"The present comes to past," quote from Brera Sterne, Macross Frontier
Take a step back... watch the events unfold.
VERY HARSH LANGUAGE AND BLOOD/GORE WARNING AHEAD!
Hours earlier...
SIMULATION FAILED. ENDING PROGRAM
Those words shot themselves forward on everyone's helmets.
"UGHH!! What the hell did we do wrong?!" Lance shouted, his temper rising in his voice.
"You all failed to keep your sides checked and were exposed to the Galran attacks. All except Keith, Pidge and Mathias," Krolia explained, shaking her head slightly, "Keith, watch out for the ice geysers next time. Pidge, you were so close to finishing off the cruiser at the end, but you hesitated when you fired on the starboard side." Pidge gave a reluctant hum as Krolia continued, "Mathias, you paid too much attention to the fighters and not on the cruiser. If it weren't for your pinpoint barriers, you would've been dead sooner."
"With all due respect, I'm not in top shape like I was a year ago," Matthias rolled his wrist, a small pop echoed throughout his cockpit. He groaned slightly as relief flooded his veins.
"Indeed, you've lost a lot of fighting potential with the damages to your fighter, not to mention ammo and missiles, but the Galra won't hesitate, neither should you," Krolia replied.
"Roger..." Mathias slightly nodded in agreement. It's been nearly a year in space without the Castle of Lions, nearly a year on their return journey to home. Everyday, Krolia has been training the Paladins and himself to keep them on their toes. Mathias didn't mind it a lot, he was used to this kind of stuff in the Spacy and Chaos. Usually, we woke up earlier than the rest of the Paladins and was ready for the exercises when the others weren't. It was the time after that that usually was the worst. Sitting around waiting for something to happen when there is nothing. A lot of times, the Paladins would just talk amongst themselves, occasionally do other things, like maintenance or something. Every once and a while per day, they would stop to allow Mathias to come aboard the Green Lion with Pidge and Shiro. Usually, this would allow better flight, as the Green Lion could carry the fighter and thus, allowing the group to travel moderately faster than previously. Kosmo would often teleport around and bring in food that was cooked up by Hunk, though Kosmo oftentimes had trouble with trying to enter Mathias' fighter. Mathias, feeling bad that the cosmic wolf has to endure the pain of sitting in a tightly confined space, moved the back seat as much as possible to allow the wolf some room, but even then, it's not much. Everytime Kosmo appears and whines from its position, he feels ever more sorry for the poor wolf.
The team was approaching a system with several planets and a star, one that greatly resembles Earth's Solar System. They had discussed it amongst themselves to land on it and allow everyone to get some fresh air.
"Pidge, how many planets are there in the system?" Shiro asked.
Pidge did some calculation on her console, "7, two of which are able to support our life! If we want to rest, we should totally check it out!"
"Alright gang! Let's touch down on the nearest planet and-" Keith was interrupted by a signal coming from one of the two planets Pidge had described.
"I'm picking up a signal! It's coming from one of the planets that I mentioned," she stopped to play the message, the message was audio only, but from the way it came through, it was urgent.
"MAYDAY! GALRAN FORCES ARE INVADING! REQUESTING-!" The line suddenly went down.
"Alright! Everyone, get ready to touch down on that planet!" Keith ordered.
"HOLD ON, there's another distress signal coming through! It's from the other planet!" Pidge shouted in alarm. She played the distress signal through the comms.
"TO ANYONE OUT THERE, THE GALRA ARE ATTACKING WITH A VICIOUS MONSTER! WE NEED URGENT ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY!!"
"Great... more than one planet in trouble..." Mathias muttered to himself.
"Pidge, scan that planet! How many ships are attacking it?" Keith called out.
"Looks like a large fleet, lots of ground forces and the guest appearance of the beast," She returned.
"Alright, what about the other one that's being attacked?" Keith asked.
"Looks like a few small ships and some ground forces, not as bad as the other planet, but still an alarming number," Pidge replied, looking at the planet from her Lion. It looked so much like Earth, it almost startled her.
"Here's the plan. Hunk, Pidge, Mathias, go to the second planet! The rest of us will go to this one and deal with the fleet and the monster!" Keith commanded.
"Objection!" Mathias' voice rang out in the comms. Everyone else gave a confused hum. "With all due respect, you don't know how powerful that monster might be! You might need Voltron! That's why I'm going alone to the second planet!"
"Mathias, no! It's too dangerous! Your fighter might not be able to take it!" Pidge argued.
"I'm aware of the possible risks, but I can take care of myself!" Mathias retorted.
"Mathias is right. We don't know how strong that monster is! We may need Voltron at our side," Lance interjected. A murmur from the others said similar things. Pidge let out a sigh, he was right. They may need all the power they have in Voltron to save those citizens.
"Alright, then it's settled. We're going down to the first planet to fight the monster. Once we defeat Galran Forces here, we'll rendezvous with Mathias on the second planet and assist him there," Keith stated, and everyone nodded. As Mathias prepared to depart for the second planet, The Green Lion suddenly floated next to the fighter. Pidge appeared on the screen of his console, she looked worried.
"Please, be careful..." she spoke with concern laced in her voice.
Mathias took a deep breath, "I'll try."
"You better do more than try, or I'll personally beat your ass and make you understand!" she responded before the screen ended and the Green Lion swerved off and raced towards the first planet. Mathias chuckled to himself as he approached the light yellow-green planet.
He flung his fighter in full power as he dashed for the second planet and broke through the atmosphere.
When he arrived, he could see a mass of Galran fighters and ground troops massing and assaulting a small outpost. It was a box like structure, but massive in size, surrounded by thousands of unusual trees. It looked like it could store about three cruisers inside of it. A Majority of the structures in the outpost were damaged or destroyed. It almost looked like this was a city at one point in time. There was a massive communications tower that pierced the sky, which is kind of ironic given the fact at how garbled the message they received was and how powerful the tower appeared. Perhaps it was damaged? More than likely. He could see weapons fire from the surface, indicating a resistance was still being put up, but from the way it appeared, it wouldn't last long.
An alarm alerted him that fighters were about to strafe run the helpless defenders below. Quickly putting a plan into action, he configured his fighter into GERWALK mode and swung down to the ground between the ground forces and incoming fighters. Raising the guns on the mecha's arms, he aimed them up at the incoming fighters and opened fire, immediately gunning down and destroying them in a ball of fire. Several more fighters appeared from around a corner of the forest, but they too suffered a similar fate. A laser reflected off of the nosecone of the fighter, but didn't do any damage. The ground forces were beginning their assault on the fighter, as weapons fire bounced off the armor of the VF-31. He swung the guns onto the drones and opened fire. The bullets created small explosions in the ground. It was like deleting multiple files. They never even existed by the end of it, not traces, no remains, just gone. The fire from the Rebels ceased as the fighter's legs touched the ground. The fighter turned around and looked back at the Rebels.
"You guys alright down there?!" Mathias shouted through the speakers. A rebel Commander slowly approached the fighter. The Commander was an Olkarian, whose clothes were tattern and damaged. He looked old to Mathias' eyes.
"Yes. We are now, thanks to you," the Commander shouted. Mathias landed the VF-31 and popped open the canopy. He vaulted over the cockpit and landed on the ground, his rifle strapped to his back. He walked over to the Commander and shook his hand.
"I'm Captain Mathias Anderson. I work side by side with Voltron," Mathias said with a small grin.
The Commander's eyes bolted open, "Voltron? You work with Voltron?! That means Voltron is still alive, and you're the Dimensional Paladin! We thought you were lost three deca-phoebes ago along with Voltron."
Mathias shook his head, "we're very much alive, and we're sorry we left for that long, but we're back and here to kick Galran ass."
The Commander nodded, "we're grateful for your assistance. Is Voltron coming?"
Mathias shook his head again, "I'm sorry, it's just me for the moment. Voltron is dealing with a literal mostrous situation on a planet nearby here. They also sent a distress call, so I broke away to help here with Voltron dealing with the threat on the other planet. Once they've finished, they will be here, I'm sure."
The Commander gave a large sigh of relief, "that is good to hear." He paused for a millisecond before jumping slightly, "forgive me! I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Exon, commander of this Galran Listening Outpost."
"Nice to meet ya. Now, what's the situation here?" Mathias asked, looking to the outpost behind Exom.
Exom crossed his arms as he looked back to the station, "not good, I'm afraid. We've lost our ability to transmit any signals, short or long. The comms tower is functioning perfectly, but the comms in general have taken significant damage, not to mention we lost contact with the communications crew. Our defences have been cut short, too. One more attack, and we may be done for."
"I assume that tower there is the building where the communications devices are being housed?" Mathias pointed to the building connected to the comms tower.
Exom nodded, "you are correct, yes."
"Alright, have your mean fall back to more defensive positions along the walls of the post, have sniper units cover their positions and watch for any movement. Let's also take this time to see if we can amass any anti-air weapons, you'll need those. In the meantime, you and I will take a team to the comms tower and get it's systems back online," Mathias ordered, which the Olkarian nodded and shouted at other soldiers, who then started moving around.
"Follow me," Exon motioned him to follow, which he nodded and the two rushed into the outpost.
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When Pidge landed on the sandy plains of the planet, she expected to see conflict. She expected to see drones and rebels duking it out.
What she didn't expect was to see mangled bodies of Rebels everywhere. The bodies were completely mangled by weapons fire, but there were a couple that had missing limbs. What caused that? No one had any ideas.
Hunk had vomited on the first eviscerated body he saw, to be fair, she didn't fare much better.
"What the hell caused all this..?" Keith muttered in the comms.
"I don't know... but stay alert," Shiro replied as they pressed forward towards a small outpost.
Lance was walking in the sand when he stepped on something hard and metallic. Simultaneously, a very distinct sound of a heavy weapon's discharge flooded the ears of everyone around, as a large orange laser bolted into the ground nearby. Everyone jumped from the sound, then looked at Lance.
"What!? I couldn't see it!" He pouted. The ground suddenly rumbled, as everyone readied their bayards.
The outpost ahead of them suddenly rose from the ground, kicking up sand and dust from the ground. It towered above the skies for a brief moment before it suddenly exploded into dust and debris, falling to the ground and creating a mushroom of dust. Out of the dust cloud above, an ominous shadow slowly rose from the ashes. It suddenly knocked the dust from the air like it was a leaf, revealing a beast, roaring with the scream of ten thousand banshees. The monster had the body of a chinese dragon, but the fur and head of a Lion, a mechanized crown was on top of his head, not to mention the metal around its body.
Everyone froze in terror as the monster bellowed at them. Pidge gulped audibly.
"EVERYONE, BACK TO YOUR LIONS, NOW!!" Shiro screamed as everyone retreated, with the monster trailing behind them.
"I hope Mahtias is doing better than we are right now!!" Pidge shouted as she ran to her Lion.
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When Mathias and Exon entered the comms tower, they gasped as they opened the door to several bodies from comms officers lying dead from debris crushing them. Mathias quickly rushed by several bodies to a nearby console, Exom running to his side.
"The comms relays are busted, but I think if you can rewire the controls from that console, you might be able to hotwire it," Mathias pointed to a nearby console.
"Why do that when I'm an Olkarian?" Exom then placed a hand on the machine, which soon started to glow a luminous light blue for a moment before he pulled his hand away. The glow faded away, and Mathias mentally smacked himself for not remembering Olkarians could do that. Mathias decided to audibly slap himself in the face, leaving a red palm print on his face. Exom gave a small chuckle as Mathias pulled down his hand from his face.
"Okay... now, let's see what we got back..." He typed on the alien holokeys for a moment before a couple screens pulled up in his face. "Looks like we got 27% of optimum capacity back. That gives us enough power for very short range transmissions only."
"We need to try and get long range communications back online," Exom argued.
"One step at a time, commander. There are some people in Voltron who specialize more into this than I can. Let's try to see if we can send out a transmission to them," Mathias replied. Exom nodded, then strolled to another computer when an explosion rocked the building, kicking dust in the air. The two coughed harshly as they looked back at the field. The Galra were attacking again, this time with a much larger force. The sounds of explosions and lasers were muffled by the walls around them. Mathias looked up to the commander, "send a transmission to Voltron then get everyone into defensive positions! I'll take care of any air threats!" Mathias ran out of the room before Exom could respond.
Mathias ran through several streets, the explosions and laser fire grew ever more intense, the ground shaking beneath his feet. He growled at the fact he parked his fighter in the middle of the field.
When he got to his fighter amidst the fighting, he hopped into the cockpit and closed the canopy. A stray laser strike shook the fighter as it rose into the air. He groaned as he looked up to see multiple fighters strafing him. Changing to Battroid mode and raising his weapons, he opened fire with his mecha's rifle in his hand. One by one, the Galran fighter either came crashing down onto the drones below or exploding in mid air. He managed to shoot down eleven fighters, but the twelfth was more lucky. The fighter dodged Mathias initial barrage of bullets, and lined up an attack. The drone managed to get off one good shot before it too was brought down. The attack the Galran fighter managed to push out shot into the rifle of his gun, disintegrating it in a ball of fire before exploding. Growling, he turned back into GERWALK mode and saw a dozen more fighters approaching. Opening the missile bays, he knew he didn't have a lot of ammunition left. He needed to make this volley count. Highlighting the enemies with his visual targeting scanners, he let loose the last of his missiles. 14 missiles flew from the fighter and collided themselves with the remaining Galran fighters. Mathias smirked, but then grunted as an explosion from the top of his fighter nearly slammed his face into the console. The cannon on the top of his fighter was destroyed by ground fire. He growled audibly as he trained the guns down on the drones and gunned them down. An alert caught his attention as a missile from the surface. His eyes widened as there was not enough time to react. He screamed when the missile connected to the lower back portion of his fighter, exploding shrapnel everywhere. The arms and guns were blown off from the body, and a leg was entirely engulfed in flames. The fighter stuttered before falling to the surface. Mathias threw the controls to the left, as to crash into the forest and not damage the outpost. The fighter slammed into the trees and the ground, throwing Mathias forward and hitting his head hard on the console. Fires erupted around the fighter's now mangled body.
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Voltron staggered backwards as the tail of the lion-dragon whipped their chest. Everyone screamed from the impact. The lion-dragon tried to attack again, but Voltron acted fast. Keith grabbed the tail of the creature, while Pidge blasted one of the metal components off of the body. The creature roared as Voltorn swung it around like a toy and threw it a very large distance away. The creature did not stur.
"Did we get it!?" Hunk asked, sweat pouring down his face.
"I don't know... but keep on your guard," Keith replied, breathing heavily. The creature suddenly rose from the ground, but this time, all of the metal was gone. It still held a ferocious glare to its face, but it didn't hold any aggression. Voltron readied itself as it drew up its sword, in case the monster charged, but nothing ever happened. The creature seemed to give a very small bow to the mechanical being before diving into the ground, never to remerged. Voltron then tilted over, flopping onto its mechanical back, everyone grunting simultaneously as the ride ended.
"It... It's over..." Keith huffed out.
"It was being controlled, acting as a battering ram for the Galra," Pidge added.
"The Galra would take beasts like these and make them their slaves. They truly are vile," Allura muttered with venom in her voice.
"We weren't able to save those Rebels... but we did at least save a creature from the clutches of the Galra," Shiro replied. All of a sudden, a communication came through their speakers, it was from the planet that Mathias had gone to. Everyone expected some good news, but fate had other ideas.
"Mayday! Voltron! If you can hear this! We're being overrun by Galra! Captain Anderson is holding the Galra off, but- oh... oh no... everyone ru-!" There were several explosions before the line went dead.
"Everyone! Separate and take off!" Keith threw his controls forward... but nothing happened. He felt the Lions separate, but he wasn't moving. He tried again, but no dice. "My Lion isn't responding!"
"So is Green," Pidge returned.
"We have to wait for the Lions to rest," Allura huffed out.
Pidge rested her head on her controls, "I hope not for long..."
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Mathias groaned as he rubbed his head, he felt a warm, sticky liquid on his hand. He knew it was blood, he could smell it immediately. How long was he out? He had to find out. He shook with pain as he popped open the canopy, grabbed his rifle and EX-GEAR system, which immediately enveloped around him. He flew away from the inferno, and looked behind him. He frowned as his greatest fighting machine layed on the ground, enveloped in smoke and fire. Commander Talyor would not be pleased if he saw this. He then flew over to the Rebel's line of defense around the city. He saw Exom take cover behind a broken stone wall, a carbine in his hands. Exom looked over to see Mathias fly over and land near him, crouching as he handed.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Exom screamed with anger, "you were out for two hours!"
"I was shot down, give me a break!" Mathias retorted, readying his rifle, "what's the situation here?!"
"We've lost the first and second defensive lines, and we're currently holding out to allow everyone to leave!" Exom replied, ducking his head down when an explosion rang nearby. Mathias thought for a moment before standing up.
"Get everyone inside and evacuate the outpost, take everyone with you. I'll hold them off while you retreat," Mathias readied his rifle.
"You're going out there... alone?! ARE YOU SUICIDAL?!" Exom shouted in pure confusion and fear.
"Not suicidal, just doing my duty as a soldier and a defender... hey... after all," Mathias looked back at him and winked with a smirk, "I am a Paladin, after all..." Exom just stood there in disbelief for a moment before another explosion brought him out of his trance. Mathias pointed away from the battlefield, "GO!" Exom slowly, yet reluctantly nodded, then rushed out of the combat field.
Mathias turned his attention to rapidly approaching drones, all aiming at him. Quickly pulling up his rifle, he aimed at the head of the first drone and fired, the bullet ripping off the drone's head as sparks flew from the body. Lasers soon flew all around him as he readied his rifle and continued firing. Drone by drone, enemies fell before him, but they never stopped coming. On several occasions, they would flank his sides, catching him off guard for a moment, but he quickly dispatched them, too. A shot hit his back, then another hit, then another. The EX-GEAR systems erupted in sparks. Mathias growled and turned 180 before mowing down three more drones. He growled as he hopped out of the EX-GEAR system and rushed forward several yards from the main outpost gate and into the open. An explosion rang behind him, signalling his EX-GEAR's destruction. He looked back to the front lines to see drones had soon surrounded him, and without the ability to fly, he was in a bad position. He readied his rifle, but also activated a sidearm in his right pocket for a last resort. Mathias didn't stop attacking as his drones fell around him. He let out a roar as he knocked down a sentry that too close, then shot it in the head. He looked up for a moment and noticed several Rebel ships leaving the outpost, leaving him all alone to fend off the horde of drones. He smiled, knowing that he may have saved dozens of lives from the Galra.
An impact hit him hard in the back, blood splattering from his back and mouth. He swung out his rifle and shot another drone. Another hit in his stomach. He staggered back, but raised his rifle and blasted another drone. He pressed his hand on his stomach, then pulled it away to look at it. Blood covered his entire palm. A sharp breath entered his lungs and diaphragm. More hits on his body, as pain erupted through his entire body. He roared in pain, screaming his throat out. Red filled his vision, he pulled up his rifle, and continued firing. Drone after drone fell, hit after hit he took through his entire body. His back, his legs, his sides, his arms, his chest. It was a miracle his face wasn't hit yet. He couldn't feel his left arm, so he had to hip fire from his right hand. Blood soaked his entire uniform and skin. Then, the last hit that brought him down was from the last drone standing. The drone stomped over the slumped body of Mathias and looked down at him, then looked up to the fortress, firing on the outpost. What the drone didn't see was Mathias whipped his last resort side arm and aimed it on the drone's head and pulled the trigger. There was a distinctive sound from a pistol that pierced through the head of the drone, as it fell to the ground. Mathias took a couple of deep breaths before his arm flopped to his side, dropping the pistol to the ground. The ground cluttered from the pistol slamming into the rocky ground. Mathias looked up to the skies above. This vision was blurred, his body was cold. His eyelids felt heavy, and only increased in weight. He saw several large figures in the sky... Lions. They arrived. He gave the weakest smile, then his vision was cut off from the world.
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The Lion's eyes roared with life once again, as they stood up. They were back! Everyone's eyes soon soared with relief as they took to the skies and the stars.
Pidge smiled to herself, Voltron, despite being weaker than normal, still was able to kick ass! When the Lions broke through the atmosphere and into space, Pidge noticed a small Rebel craft approaching them, it must've been from the planet Mathias had gone to, but Pidge looked around and didn't see him. Where was Mathias at? A communication came through, as an Olkarian came into view on the monitor.
"Paladins! It's good to see you in the fight again!" The Olkarian seemed extremely relieved.
"Thanks. Who are you?" Shiro asked.
"I am Commander Exom, leader of the Rebel forces on Raaxum 1. To cut the story short, we're evacuating the planet, Galra had overrun it," Exom replied.
"Wait! Where's Mathias?!" Pidge asked in a panic.
"Last I saw of Captain Anderson, he was holding the Galra off while we were able to escape the battle!" Exom returned. Pidge's eyes soon turned to worry, as she blew past everyone to get to the planet. Pidge could hear a collective voice of her name being called from the others, but she didn't care as she punched through the atmosphere. The others soon followed suit and flew next to her. They soon approached the ruins of an outpost, most likely the Rebel's.
"MATHIAS?? MATHIAS?! IT'S PIDGE!" She called through the comms. Static as her only response. Worry fueled her blood as she examined the landscape. "MATHIAS?!" Still nothing.
"U-Uh... guys... you need to come to me, NOW!" Lance shouted, his voice was shaking.
Pidge followed to Lance's coordinates, only to freeze in place. A large smoke cloud hovered over the fires of a shot down plane. Mathias' VF-31A. Pidge could see the extent of the damage from the skies. The once lustrous black and blue was now muddies away by dirt and dust. The arms and guns were blown completely off of the body. One of the legs was entirely covered in black ash, several areas still lit ablaze. The other was damaged, but still relatively intact. The ground around was completely disturbed from the crash landing. Pidge and the others set the Lions down as close as possible, with Pidge being the first one out and running to the cockpit. She hopped to the canopy and looked inside. Empty. She didn't know if that was caused for relief or concern. She noticed that the EX-GEAR system was gone, as well as his rifle. A sign he wasn't dragged out, as more than likely, an assailant would've only grabbed his rifle and him, without knowing the EX-GEAR system even existed.
"He's not in here!" Pidge shouted.
"He must be in the outpost then! Pidge, you and Lance take the outer perimeter of the outpost, everyone else, we're going in!" Keith shouted as everyone nodded and ran to their designated point.
Theme: Melody Chubak - Aura Sala ~Hikaru Kaze~ plays
Pidge and Lance ran through a field, littered by bomb craters and bodies of drones and Rebels. They passed by a gate-like structure that was enormous to the two humans. That's when Pidge noticed something in the ground. Shrapnel and metal wings. She kneeled down and rubbed some soot off of the metal. Faded white letters appeared, some in english and some in japanese. It read 'EX-GEAR 32740261', but Pidge didn't read the rest as she dropped it to the ground. Lance rushed to her side when she gave an audible gasp. She then looked around her, then noticed a mass of drones around a specific location. She rushed to the very small mound that the drones massed around. When she cleared over the obstruction, she froze as her face became pale. She soon spirinted to a body surrounded in a very large pool of blood, weapon's fire was present all around it. That body was Mathias', he was laying in his own blood. His face looking to the stars, his eyes closed, but a soft smile on his face. His body was pale. Pidge pressed a hand on his neck. Badum... badum... there was the ever faintest heartbeat present. She didn't even realize she was crying until her vision blurred from tears in her helmet. She threw it off and into the distance. The skies around her began to darken, as clouds formed in the sky.
"MATHIAS!?!" Pidge shook him slightly, she looked up to Lance, who wasn't even paying attention in the distance, "LANCE!! GET EVERYONE HERE, NOW!!!!"
Lance faced her with a questionable look, "why, what's going o-!?" Lance walked up to Pidge and saw the sight. He quickly nodded, muttering something before turning on the comms and speaking in a hurried and panic tone. Pidge then turned her attention back to her injured friend, who suddenly seemed to stir slightly. He barely opened his eyes, still keeping a small smile.
"MATHIAS! STAY AWAKE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE OKAY!" Pidge screamed as she pulled out a bandage from a pouch. She cursed audibly, knowing that this would do jack-shit to stop the bleeding.
"...Katie..." he barely whispered, it's like he never spoke, just moved his mouth.
"Mathias..." She stopped, trying to give a fake smile, but tears flushed down her face, proving the opposite effect.
"...didn't know you were an angel..." he laughed slightly, only to spazm slightly when he gave a hoarse cough, blood spewing up from his mouth. He groaned slightly in discomfort.
She laughed, but it was a laugh that was hollow, "oh, shut up you resilient bastard..." she tried to laugh this off, but it had no effect.
"Listen, katie," Mathias raised a shaky hand and grabbed her arm, stopping her hand from moving. She perked up slightly and looked down to him. He continued, "...I need... to tell you something... important..."
Katie's eyes teared up again, as she tried to go back to cleaning up a wound, "y-you can tell me when we p-patch you up! We can-" she was interrupted by Mathias, using the last of his strength available, pulled her arm downward, thus pulling her down as well. The taste of blood entered her mouth, as Mathias had pulled her into a kiss. The two kept for a moment before Katie pulled away slowly, her mouth stained with blood.
"I love you..." He rasped out before his arm slumped to the ground and his face fell to the side.
Katie grabbed his shoulders and shook him, slightly, "MATHIAS?!" No response. The skies soon began to pour rain, landing on her, Mathias and the blood around them. She buried her head into his chest, crying. It was at this point the others had arrived onto the scene, horrified by the sight. Keith, Lance and Shiro were speechless, Allura had tears running down her face and Hunk vomited away from them but also still displayed tears. Quickly going into action. Shiro, Lance and Keith picked up Mathias' body and rushed to the Black Lion. Allura and Hunk remained by the distraught Katie, who was now audibly whaling to the skies. They remained like this for a moment before Katie was entirely drenched in water.
Allura rubbed circles on the young girl's back, "let's get back to the Lions, so you can change and dry off." Allura looked up to Hunk and nodded, who nodded back and grabbed Mathias' rifle and sidearm, then began walking back to the Lions. Katie looked down at herself, it was only then she noticed a majority of her armor was drenched in red. The once emerald green colors now had blood pulsating on its plating. Katie didn't even acknowledge that Allura had even picked her up, her mind was just blank. This hurt just as much as losing Matt and her father to the Galra, if not, a little more.
When they got to the Black Lion, they overheard a conversation between everyone.
"...do you mean the pod won't heal him!?" Lance shouted. Katie, while not physically jumping, perked up when she heard Lance scream in frustration.
"Lance, calm down and let Coran explain!" Shiro said gently.
"HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU BE SO CALM IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS?!" Lance practically ripped his vocal cords with that screech, leaving Allura to cringe slightly.
"LANCE! Let him explain!" Keith shouted, silencing the Cuban to an angered state.
"R-Right, as I was saying, the pod can't heal him because it used up a majority of its energy to keep Shiro alive. It wouldn't be able to sustain him at all, given his condition. Which is why we need to bandage him up and keep him under constant surveillance. Considering how close the two were, Pidge seems like the best option," Coran explained, his voice was without his usual charm, "the next best thing we have are a few masks, which I think I can convert to fit your breathing requirements, some larger painkillers, several blankets and some light medical supplies. Beyond that, I don't know if he will make it..." Katie's eyes fell to tears, burying her face into Allura's armor. It was at this moment everyone noticed the two that had entered the cargo bay. Knowing how close she was and not wanting to alarm her further, the group decided to drop the conversation slightly.
"Hunk, try to get into contact with Commander Exon again, see if he can give us any locations of nearby planets that can help us. Allura, can you take Pidge to the Green Lion, please?" Keith asked gently. Allura nodded as she carried the young girl out of the larger Black Lion and into the Green Lion. Placing her on a bench, Allura grabbed a towel and gently dried off her hair, Katie not even reacting to her environment, but instead, fainted to the bench into a restless, yet dreamless slumber.
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When she woke up, Pidge was laying on a bench in the Green Lion. On the other side was Allura, Keith, Krolia and Shiro talking amongst themselves. Looking past them slightly, she could see Mathias under an oxygen mask and several blankets. They were scarlet red, but several had different colors, an indication blood had bled through them. The bench he was lying on was also covered in blood. She had only caught the end of a conversation they were having.
"...not doing well. The mask is only giving him enough for his body to last at most a week," Krolia sighed.
"We need to find some help. Exom said there was a system not too far from there that has a couple civilizations that might have some medical supplies," Shiro returned.
"How long would it take to get there?" Keith asked, looking down at Mathias.
"At max speed... a few days," Shiro flumped over slightly.
"HE MAY NOT HAVE A FEW DAYS!" Keith shouted with riveting anger. Shiro suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I know... but let's hope the universe is on our side," Shiro seemed to have a glare that tried to be hopeful, but was losing it with each passing moment. He looked over to Pidge, who was wide awake and listening, sitting on the bench. His eyes widened slightly, "Pidge? How are you feeling?" Pidge looked away slightly, curling herself up by bringing her knees closer to her chest. She didn't speak, which was to be expected from Shiro's point of view. Everyone looked at the direction of Pidge, then back to each other.
"I'll be back in a few minutes. Keith, can you help me out with something?" Krolia suddenly asked. Keith gave her a confused glance, but nodded as the two left the Green Lion's hangar, leaving only Allura and Shiro with her.
Shiro slowly approached her and sat next to her, placing an arm on her shoulder, "can you do something for me?" She nodded, but it was only faint and tucked in by her legs. Shiro took a deep breath in, "Mathias is going to need someone to look over for him, and Krolia can't do it all the time. Could you be with him for a while?" She nodded again, but tears formed in her eyes. Shiro pulled her into an embrace, which she accepted and just let out everything in her. She wailed for what felt like an eternity to her. Shiro kept her in his arms for a few minutes, before pulling away, allowing Allura to give Pidge a towel to clean herself somewhat off. Pidge reluctantly grabbed it and rubbed it on her face.
"We'll be leaving to go to the system that Exom told us about, okay?" Shiro gently asked, while standing up. Pidge pulled the towel from her face and nodded one more time, sniffling as she did so. Allura and Shiro looked at each other, then left, only Pidge and Mathias remained. She slowly stood up on wobbly legs and shakily made her way to her friend... no, her lover. She collapsed next to him and buried her face into the blankets, bawling her tears into the blanket, her muffled cries echoed in her ears. She cried until she had no more energy to cry and her world blackened around her once again.
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Apologies for this one coming out much later than intended! I've been super busy with school and life!
Hope to produce another chapter much sooner, but I can't make any promises!
Peace!