Percy
How could they have known? Who sold us out? Will the paladins be okay? These thoughts ran through my head as Coran, Mr. Holt and Shiro tried to get the Atlas in the air. I knew what was going to happen, but I was still worried.
"Percy!" Mr. Holt called to me. "Any ideas?"
I looked around. "Two options," I said. "Multiple supermassive black holes, or-"
Coran blinked, "of course! Why didn't I think of this before?" He pulled a necklace from underneath his shirt. It was a small diamond.
Shiro seemed to recognize it, "Commander Holt?" He said, staring at the diamond.
Sam scanned the crystal when he arrived. It would be able to power 3 ships just like this one! I opened up a panel beneath where the captain stood. "This is where we had previously planned to place a Balmeran Crystal." Before we could do anything, the diamond glowed and shot into the panel independently.
"We'll, that works." All of the ship's systems began coming online. It was incredible, with cannons, lights, and that screens even I didn't know existed.
"Sub-systems fully powered!" Veronica reported
"Mega-Thrusters are online!" Adam (Shiro's husband)continued.
The IGF-Atlas slowly rose into the sky.
Shiro immediately took charge of the situation. "Veronica, you're on radars, keep us posted. Commander Iverson, take the weapons and get the cannons online ASAP. Coran? Get the helm."
"Yes, Captain!"
"Percy, you built the MFEs basically on your own, you know them better than anyone. Bring our pilots home."
I grinned. "Yes, Sir!"
He looked around to find everyone on the bridge staring at him expectantly. "The bridge is yours, Shiro." Mr. Holt said.
"I could use an engineer?"
He saluted. "Yes sir."
Line Break
The paladins had come back to the fight. We could now safely target Sendak's cruiser. "We can't get close!" Coran shouted, "They've got all of the cruisers in the way!"
"Paladins," Shiro said, "can you open a path?"
"Not likely," Keith replied, his voice strained."we're busy with these cannons."
"Sam," Shiro started. "What if someone infiltrated Sendak's cruiser and took control of its crystal? Would you be able to stop the cannons?"
"I think so," Mr. Holt replied.
I snapped to attention. "I'm going in."
"I'll come with you!" Shiro tried.
"Not this time, Cyborg," I said. "You're needed here."
I suited up and moved to the gate. "Percy," Mr. Holt said, "are you sure about this?"
"Positive. Open the hatch." The door slid open, and it was chaos. I jumped out of the Atlas bay, and into the void of space. Using my Jetpack, I navigated my way through the battle to Sendak's cruiser.
It wasn't complicated to get inside, I just used a runway for the Galra fighters. I sped down the winding hallways until I eventually reached the Balmeran Crystal. "Mr. Holt, I'm here. What do I do?" I turned on the device he had given me before I left. As he had told me to, I plugged it into my suit.
"Ok Percy, this might be a little strange." Sam warned, "I'm going to use your brain as a computer node."
"Just don't peek through my memories and I'll be fine." I touched the end of the device against the crystal.
There was a dullness in my mind. It was like a sharp point at the back of my head, like someone was trying to break in and could get through. Then purple lightning arched through the device and then my body. The pain was immediate, like millions of fire ants biting every inch of my body at once. I didn't react at all.
There was an explosion and time slowed down. Not enough.
There was a searing pain in my back and everything went dark.
I awoke in a familiar-looking white room. I remembered that place. It was where I had spoken to Leto, and learned that the gods are real. Meeting her led me to meet Hermes, Hades, and Keith, and here we are.
There was something different this time, though. Last time, Leto had been here when I arrived, sitting in a chair reading a book. Now, the room was barren—no chair, no calm feeling, and certainly no goddess. "Not what you were expecting?" A voice said. I turned around to find someone I never expected to see again. It was my mom.
"Mom?" I choked out, taking a shallow step toward her. She met me halfway.
"Oh, my beautiful boy..." She put her hand on my cheek. She hugged me, I and a feeling I hadn't felt since I was a baby welled in my chest. I felt safe. I wrapped my arms around her.
"I didn't think I would see you again," I said, tears pouring down my face. "I still haven't figured out how to live without you."
"You're too busy thinking about other people." She said, "Whether it's me, or your brother, or your girlfriend." I blushed. "You care too much. I am happy to see the man you are becoming. But also sad," I looked at her.
"Why are you sad?" I asked her, "You're in Elysium, arent you? I made sure Hades put you there."
She pulled back from the hug and took my face in her hands. "I am sad because my only son doesn't care about himself."
Tears began leaking faster and I closed my eyes. "What do I do?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to go back, but... I'm afraid," I said. She nodded sadly.
"There is a lot to fear, unfortunately." Mom said.
I heard explosions behind me. A door had appeared. If I listened, I could hear people shouting. Keith, Mr. Holt, Lance, Hunk, Coran, Alura, Shiro... Katie. All of them called my name. All of them shouting for me to come back. "You're not done," My mom said. I nodded. I turned and walked towards the door. "Percy?" She called as I touched the handle. I looked at her, "The box I left you? I think you've figured it out." I smiled and nodded, she was right.
I twisted the handle and walked through the door.
Suddenly I was on the floor, in the chamber of Sendak's ship. I stood up, my helmet had been knocked off in the blast. I pulled it on. "Hello?"
"Percy!" Mr. Holt's voice rang through the comms. "Thank goodness you're alive. Listen, the lions destroyed the Zaiforge cannons, but without the crystal, Sendak's ship is falling. You need to get out of there!"
I shot towards the door. Once I reached the exit of the ship, I stopped. Sendak was there, all alone. "Sendak!" I called him. He fired his floating arm toward me, and I dodged out of the way.
"So it is you," he said, "I will succeed where Zarkon could not. I will avenge my city, by killing an Aesir-spawn!"
"Zarkon got pretty close," I said, "look how that turned out."
I was in front of him before even I realized I was there. I had gotten faster, somehow. The time I took to figure out my bearings allowed him to react. His arm shot back into place, trying to crush me. I got out of the way just in time. I tried to slash at him, but the blade bounced harmlessly off his armour. I tried again at his throat, but he grabbed my arm and stopped the blow. I growled. I need a new plan. I dropped out of his grasp, and time slowed done. I looked up. Normally, everything was moving at least a little bit, but Sendak was completely frozen. I looked at him curiously. There was a look of controlled rage and determination. I climbed up onto the Commander's arm, Closed my eyes, and quickly sunk my dagger into the back of his throat, right where debris had pierced my skin when I fought Zarkon. The sick part of me made sure to cut between the bones in his spine. I jumped back and time sped up again.
Sendak collapsed, and there was an explosion where he lay. I looked up. As it turned out, Voltron had been about to save me from Sendak. "Hey, guys!" I said through the radio. "I handled it, don't worry."
I heard them laughing, and I noticed something. I was... breathing hard. "You okay, Perce?"
"Yeah, it's just. I've never been out of breath before." I said, "That sucks."
I noticed that the cruiser was still falling. Voltron's left arm lowered next to me, mouth opened. I walked in.
Line Break
I sat in the chair nearby as Keith slowly drifted awake. I had our chess board with us, in case we were feeling up to it. Krolia was sitting by the foot of the bed, Kolivon at the windowsill. "Percy?" he mumbled blearily, sitting up. "Mom?"
"Hey, brother," I said softly. "You shouldn't have put me in the Atlas. I missed all of the fun."
He laughed softly, "If that's what you count as fun, sure." He said, "Is that...?"
"Our board?" I forgot I had taken it with me when I returned to Earth. He hadn't seen it since. "Yeah, wanna play?"
"Always, Perce." He said, sitting up. I pulled a table closer so I wouldn't have to put the board on the bed. "Shouldn't you be with Pidge? I would never ask you to choose me over," I cut him off.
"I was there when she woke up." I laughed as we finished setting up the board. "I wanted to stay, admittedly, but she insisted that you would need me more than she did."
At that moment, all of the Paladins, as well as Shiro, Coran, and Matt crowded into the room. I saw Mr. and Mrs. Holt standing at the door, an amused look on their faces.
"Hey guys," Lance chirped. "We're doing great, thanks for asking. We think the Black Lion took the brunt of the blast."
Keith rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you guys are feeling well."
"Ooh," Matt said, "You guys playing chess?" I nodded, taking the first turn. "I call the next game! I still need to get Percy back for the last time."
"Last time?" Sam grinned from the door.
"Percy and Matt played a game of chess after we found him," Lance explained to anyone who wasn't there. "Matt got destroyed."
"Whenever Percy and Keith played," Hunk said, "It would get so intense that we all started making bets."
"What is Chess?" Kolivan asked, "Is it an Earth game of some kind?"
The game began. Everyone wanted to play at some point, most of them against me or Keith. I played so many games my hands started going numb, but I didn't care. I grumbled at my losses, to Kolivan, who was simply too good at planning ahead, even though he hadn't played before, and Keith, Keith and I had played a few games, after realizing that only Kolivan could beat us.
We both started scribbling in our notebooks. "What are they doing?" Mrs. Holt asked, "Does this happen every time they play? I saw them during the game, I thought they were just planning ahead."
"Yeah, they do this every time," Kaite explained. Sam, Krolia and Kolivan also listened closely. "They keep track of every turn they make and plan a few extra turns. So, if something happens to one of them or one of them has to leave, they both have the other's notebook, and they can play one final game. They also have some kind of petty feud, so they keep a score as well."
"A score?" Matt asked. I guessed he didn't know about that. "Who's winning?"
"39 to 44, in my favour!" I boasted.
"39?" Keith asked, "I thought it was..."
"I played the ghost game when you joined the blades." He nodded in understanding and scratched something out of his book.
A nurse poked her head into the room. "Um..." She started nervously. "Is there a Pereus Achilles Jackson here?" Everyone but Katie and Keith looked around. I raised my hand. "There's a Mr. Brunner here to speak with you. He says it s urgent."
I rubbed my neck nervously. "Yeah, I should probably go talk to him. Excuse me, everyone." I walked out of the room.
Keith
"Who's Mr. Brunner?" Katie asked me, "The name doesn't sound familiar."
"Mr. Brunner is Percy's mentor," I explained. "Nice man, very wise."
"Think they would appreciate it if I went to say hello?" Shiro asked me, I shrugged.
"I can hazard a guess at what they're talking about." I said, "I think Percy will shut the subject down quickly anyways."