The square was filled with people.
Not just humans, either. Balmerans and Olkari and Taujeerans - every race of every alien Voltron had helped had come.
Come to Earth - to rebuild. The planet was in despairing condition, but, slowly, it had begun to heal. With the help of all these people. Some of them she knew, too - Matt and Nyma and Krolia had arrived a week ago.
Violet stepped onto the stage, feeling like her chest was going to burst with joy. Somewhere in the Garrison, Keith would be waking up, along with the other paladins.
She was sorry she wouldn't be there when he did.
But she had something she needed to do first. Violet drew in a long breath; Coran, flanking her, gave her an encouraging smile. Shiro was supposed to be here, but he was getting fitted with a new arm that Allura had designed, and couldn't make it, so Violet had volunteered to go in his place.
She opened her mouth and began to speak.
-
Keith blearily opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Krolia - sitting on the edge of his bed. Smiling. That was a good sign. Kolivan sat beside her, his mouth curved into a rare smile.
Keith's head hurt, but other than that he felt fine. The memories of the fight were flooding back to him; fighting the robot, Voltron falling from the sky, and...
"Violet," he said, throat dry. He sat up, panic rising. "Is she-?"
"She's fine," Krolia replied. "We all are."
Keith's head fell back against the pillow, relief washing through him. They'd survived. The robot was defeated, Sendak gone ... Earth was saved.
"You might want to see this," Kolivan added, gesturing to a TV on the table. Keith looked over as Krolia pressed a button on the remote, and Violet's voice filled the room.
She was standing on a platform, and there were hundreds of people before her. Keith blinked in surprise. She looked beautiful, her hair longer than he'd last seen it, almost to her chest. She was glowing - with an inner light of some kind.
"Hi," Violet said. "My name is Violetta, but you all can call me Violet - or, better yet, Vi. I've found that I liked the nickname." She smiled faintly.
"You are all gathered here today to honor the fallen. The people that stood side by side in our fight against the darkness that has plagued our home. They will not be forgotten."
Her eyes closed briefly, and Keith knew she was remembering a face with kind eyes and dark, wavy hair. "We stand here today because of them," Violet continued, her voice ringing throughout the square. "Because of the way they hoped, the way they dreamed, the way they fought and lived. Not because of the way they died.
"If there's anything I've realized in my fight, it's that death isn't what changes you. It's the opposite, actually. It's the life you've lived - the people you've fought with - that changes you.
So while these heroes will not be forgotten ... their legacy will never die.
"Because of us. We are the ones who will carry on their story. We are the ones who will fight while they cannot.
"They gave themselves up bringing down the darkness. But in doing so, they gave us light. It was blinding at first, I know. But we used that light, however much it hurt our eyes, to beat back the darkness in their honor.
"There are so many different people here today. Dreamers and warriors and ghosts. But we all have one thing in common. We fought. And we will fight. To vanquish this never-ending darkness - to bring in the light. Because it's our duty to end the darkness once and for all.
"Today, we honor the dead. But we also honor the living. Because wherever we stand, we all fight for the same cause. Together, we stand. Together, we fight."
She smiled again, so many emotions flitting across her face that it took Keith's breath away. "Together, we can change the world.
"All we have to do is try."
-
Violet and Veronica stood side by side, looking down at the tombstone.
"I can't believe he's gone," Veronica whispered. "Just like that."
Violet put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "He's at peace." She gazed down at the grave. "There's only one more thing we need to do."
She drew out the chip Kieran had given her. "Are you ready?"
Veronica nodded. "I'm ready."
Violet let out a breath and placed the chip on top of the grave. With a beep, a projection appeared before them. Violet flinched. She was staring at the face of her father.
"If you're seeing this," Kieran said, voice low, "Then something has happened to me. I ... I'm sorry if that's true. But if everything went according to plan, then you, my daughters, will never have to look at this again."
Veronica's hand found Violet's. "I'm going to tell you the truth," Kieran continued. "All of it. It's high time you knew, especially Violet.
"My name is Kieran Idalia. I am one of the last Erythians in the universe, the ancient race that lived thousands of years ago. Our species died down and was presumed dead, but the royal line continued. The Queen of the Erythians couldn't stand by and let her people die out.
"You must know, the Erythian hierarchy is based on power. My family had the most - gold markings signify great power, and I was supposed to marry someone of similar status."
Kieran closed his eyes, smiling. "But my heart had already been taken. By another Erythian - your mother. Ivy."
Tears filled Veronica's eyes. "We fell in love at first sight," Kieran said, smiling sadly. "But my family rejected her - she had next to no power, red markings rather than gold. Told me we couldn't be together. So I left. I severed all my ties to my family. I made a home with Ivy on a remote location called Earth.
"My family demanded I come back. When I didn't, they tried to force me to come. I refused, but not quick enough that they learned that I'd sired a child. My little Violetta."
Tears slipped past Violet's eyes, and she bit her lip to stop them from falling. Kieran continued, his face saddened. "I feared that they'd come for you. So I hid. Ivy and I shifted into human forms and tried to get Violet to do the same. But something went wrong when you shifted - a human body couldn't contain all the power stored in you. So we tried to get you to shift into an Altean, but your magic faltered halfway through. You became half-Altean, half-human. But it was enough."
"I had Veronica, and things were well. But then they came back - for Ivy.
"I couldn't bear to see her hurt. So I pretended she'd died of some human cancer, and she fled, promising to return to me. And then I hid myself from them entirely. To keep the two of you safe."
Kieran's eyes closed. "These are the coordinates to the planet Ivy is hiding on. It's one of the settlements where Erythians and other races can live in harmony. She should be there, waiting for me. Maybe one day, I will find her with both of you, and we can be reunited at last."
It was too much. The tears flooded down Violet's cheeks. Her mother was waiting for him.
She'd be waiting forever.
"I'd hoped to outlast my family, lie low until they forgot about me. But then ... then Violet was taken." Kieran's face contorted in pain. "And I devoted all my time to finding her. The irony was, it wasn't the Erythians that had found her. It was the Galra.
"When I get her back - if she's watching this now, I already have - I'll tell her the truth." Kieran's eyes fell. "The reason my family wanted me back so much was because I was their only heir. Without me, their line would be extinguished."
Kieran looked up. "But the royal line didn't die. It was passed onto my firstborn."
Violet's heart stopped beating.
"Violet. You're the heir to the Erythian throne."
Everything went white.
Violet didn't remember when she'd fallen. All she knew was that her legs had given out and now the soil was pressing against her knees and she trembled before her father's grave.
A queen.
She was a queen.
And an Erythian.
It didn't make sense.
She was Violet. Not an Erythian heir. Just Vi.
Kieran had to be wrong. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding.
"I'm so sorry," Kieran was saying, his words floating to her ears. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to bear this burden. But I can't hold it from you any longer, Violet. You don't have to accept this. The Erythians are dying out, and have been for thousands of years. They ... might not survive if they don't have a leader to guide them. I could never be that leader. But you could.
"I told you that you would change the world someday. All you have to do is try." Kieran leaned in. "I love you both."
"I love you too, Dad," Veronica whispered, and the projection turned off.
The sisters were quiet for a long time before Violet felt someone's arms wrap around her. Veronica crouched beside her, embracing her, and whispered, "I'm not going to tell you how to move forward. But I'll be with you when you do."
Violet nodded, too stunned to speak, and leaned into her sister's warmth.
They stayed like that for a while, until Violet finally found the strength to stand and wipe her eyes. She and her sister made their way from the graveyard, up the rise and down to the valley the Garrison base sat in; as they walked away, Violet spotted someone coming up the slope.
Her heartbeat quickened.
Acxa saw her and lifted her hand in a wave.
Violet started to run.
She practically jumped at Acxa, flinging her arm around her friend's chest. Acxa laughed, hugging her back. "Good to see you, too."
"Violet?" Veronica approached, brow creasing in surprise. "Who is it?"
"Oh," said Violet, drawing away. "Veronica, this is Acxa, my friend. Acxa, this is-"
"Veronica," Acxa breathed. "The sister you talked about. You always celebrated her birthday, even when she wasn't there."
Veronica blinked in surprise, and then her face broke into a smile. "Thank you for standing alongside my sister," she said. "You were there for her when I wasn't."
Acxa smiled as well. "Not as much as I should've been," she replied. "I'm here to join you once and for all. It's good to see we both made it out, Violet."
Violet's lips curled, despite the lingering grief of the truth just revealed to her by her father. "Yeah," she said. "It really is."
-
Keith insisted he was well enough to get out of the infirmary, but his concussion confined him to bed rest for another day. Violet was working on recovering the broken pieces of the robot she'd fought, but she spared a day to visit him.
When she walked in, Keith was awake. "Hey."
His lips quirked. "Hi."
She sat down at the foot of his bed. "Did you see my speech?"
"I told you that the nickname would grow on you."
Violet smiled. "It helps to - remind me. That I'm not the Violet that's done horrible things with Lotor or the Violet that's a royal Erythian alien - that I'm Vi. and that there's no one else I'd rather be."
Keith blinked. "Royal?"
Violet let out a breath. "There's a chance that I'm a queen and the heir to the Erythian throne."
A beat of silence. And then-
Keith's face softened. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." she fiddled with the bedsheet. "I have two choices: refuse to accept this - turn away from my heritage and continue fighting as an Erythian, but not a princess. Or..." her fingers stilled. "Reclaim my throne. Unite my people - draw them out from wherever they've been hiding for thousands of years."
Keith scooted closer to her until he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. "I know you've already made the decision. You've been fighting your whole life; you're not going to stop now. So ... I'm here for you. I'll be with you every step of the way so you don't have to fight alone. Okay?"
Tomorrow. Tomorrow she'd face the paladins and rebuild her home. Tomorrow she'd make plans for visiting her mother. Tomorrow she'd start gathering her people and creating a kingdom from scraps of blood and ash.
For now, she just leaned into Keith's comforting warmth. "Okay."
Keith patted the spot on the bed beside him, and she lay down beside him. Violet let her head settle against Keith's chest, and he kept his arm around her shoulders, lazily tracing the stripes on her arm. Violet felt her eyelids grow heavy, her breathing deepen.
"Thank you, Keith," she murmured. "For doing this with me. To be honest, I ... have no idea what I should do next."
Keith said softly, "You don't have to. We all know what you're doing to do."
She smiled. "Really? And what is that?"
He kissed her forehead. "Change the world."
-
It had been almost five months after the robot's attack. When Violet had felled the robeast with a blast of her power, it had burst apart into hundreds of pieces. They'd just recovered the head of the robot.
Sam Holt took Violet down to the sector where they were trying to reform the robot. "As you know," he said, "We've never been able to find the power source that gave the robot it's strength." He paused. "Until now."
They stepped out of the elevator, the robot's head becoming fully visible. Violet gasped.
It was an Erythian.