Percy
The Paladins and I were on our way back to the ruins of Olkarion. Katie... hadn't taken it well. I sat with her the entire way back. "Y'know," I started, over the comms in case anyone else needed to hear. "My people have this concept. Most myths take place in the past, or even the present. But Ragnarok takes place in the future."
"Great," Keith sighed sarcastically. "This story again. Hey Percy, make sure you don't forget the details!"
I rolled my eyes, "Ragnarok is the prophesized end of the world. But it isn't portrayed as an entirely bad thing. Almost the entirety of the gods die along with humanity and everyone else that doesn't fall under those two categories, but afterwards, the world remains with just enough rubble left to start again and do it better this time. The old makes way for the new."
"Like a volcano," Keith clarified, "or a Weblum."
Katie raised an eyebrow, "Sounds scary." She said, "Your people go through their entire lives believing that it's all for nothing?"
I sighed, "Did the Olkari exist for nothing?"
"No!" She said, "Of course not!"
"The Olkari were incredibly knowledgeable about the world they lived in," I told her. "They must have known theirs would come to an end, but they never gave up. And Altea never gave up. So we can't give up. Then it really was for nothing."
It was quiet for a few seconds. "You heard the man!" Lance exclaimed, "Let's get back to work!"
"Atlas, come in!" Keith called, and Coran and Shiro appeared on a screen. "We're on our way back. Rendezvous at the coordination I'm sending you."
A few minutes later, we received a transmission to meet up on a different planet. I raised an eyebrow. The planet was even farther from the Atlas than the coordinates Keith sent were. It was made of mostly volcanoes, high levels of CO2 and very little Oxygen. "We'll need to use wear our helmets if we want to go out there," Katie reported.
"I'm not going out there," Hunk pouted.
"Guys look!" Keith said, "It's the Atlas! Shiro, I've got visual."
The Atlas began moving towards us. It suddenly stopped, and suddenly in its place was a Galra Cruiser! It activated the tractor beam, only instead of pulling the lions up, it pushed them down. "I can't move!" Lance reported. The other paladins each responded with their own agreement that the lions were pinned down.
"We need to get out of here!" Keith said, "We have to go on foot."
We ran out of the lions and into the woods. "Somethings coming," I said, "A drone of some kind. It's really fast. Hide!"
We hid behind randomly strewn logs and fallen trees when the drone arrived. We had activated a kind of virus in the drone so that it simply wouldn't notice us. It hadn't worked. It was somehow able to track our suits the same way we track each other. "Shit," I cursed after we had dispatched the drone. "Whoever sent that drone must have broken the encryption in our suits."
"Is there a way we can upgrade the encryption somehow?" Alura asked me, "We won't survive here for long without our armour."
I laughed mirthlessly, "Not unless one of you has the Pleiades in your back pocket."
Katie rolled her eyes, but no one else seemed to understand. "NASA's supercomputer," she explained.
Alura sighed, "The bayards work on the same encryption, they can track those too." She said, "I guess our only choice is to abandon them both. That leaves us defenceless."
"Not entirely," I said, "I made my weapons myself, they cant be tracked. And Keith has his knife from the Blades." I sighed, "Gawain!" I tossed the Red Paladin one of my rings. It morphed into a large, black broadsword as he caught it. "If you lose it I'll kill you."
"We'll split up, then," he said, "Me and Alura, Keith and Katie, Percival and Hunk."
"Percy needs his helmet more than the rest of us," Keith cut in, looking at me seriously. "His breathing is faster, and he needs more oxygen, or else he'll die." I sighed and nodded, knowing I wouldn't break him.
"He's right." I said, "Hunk and I will lead our pursuers to the peak of the mountain." Keith nodded, "Hunk, leave your armour on, they'll be tracking us anyways." He nodded
I shot Katie a look that said, 'Stay safe.' She nodded. 'you too'.
We began our trek up the cliff. I debated running us there with my powers, but we wanted the pirates to track us, and I doubted I would be able to lift Hunk anyways. Overall the trip took about an hour and a half.
Once at the peak, we found this piece of rock jutting out over the lava. Perfect. "Hunk, take your armour off now." I said, "Maybe we can make them think it's just me and ambush them." He shrugged and started removing his armour. I carried it with me to the edge of the rock.
"I'll find a spot to hide," Hunk said.
It took about 30 more minutes for the Pirates to arrive. One was a masked individual who appeared to be half Galra. The others didn't show any skin, but they were large and burly, and the mask they wore altered their voice. "Speedster," The captain greeted, bowing their head slightly. "I have been looking for you for quite some time. It excites me to finally see you again."
"Then why wear a mask?" I asked them. "I'd like to know the identity of the person I am to fight."
They reached up without a word, and the helmet dropped to the ground with a clank. It was one of Lotor's former generals. Axca had joined the Voltron Coalition, and I had asked about the other generals. "Zethrid," I scowled, her face was heavily burnt, and one of her eyes was without a pupil. "Here to get back for knocking you out?"
"No," She said, "I only want to capture you. I can use you to lure in the other Paladins of Voltron."
"And tell me, how do you intend to capture me," I countered. "If I remember correctly you've never beaten me."
"No more words," she growled, before charging me. I was feeling particularly honourable, so I started off fighting as a mortal would. It was painfully slow, but I digress. I was acutely aware that the other pirate had found Hunk, and they were now fighting. Zethrid shot punch after punch, but they rarely landed. On the rare occasion that they did land, they almost certainly broke bones. "How do you still stand, much less fight?"
I looked down at myself and shrugged, "I've felt worse." Deciding that enough was enough, I sped up and ran behind her. I climbed up onto her back and wrapped my wires around her throat. I pulled as tight as I could. She stumbled and fell. Of the cliff and into the lava. Uh oh. I grabbed her by the wrist and caught her.
When Keith and Katie arrived, I didn't know. But there was Keith, helping me pull the general back onto the cliff. "Hey, brother." He panted after we had gotten Zethrid onto the rock. "You owe me a game of chess." I nodded.
The Atlas(the real one) flew overhead as Katie wrapped her arms around me from behind. "Hi..." Her voice sounded breathless. My heart was struck with worry, "Come on," She said, pulling me to my feet. "Let's go find Keith's boyfriend so we can get off of this shit planet." I laughed at the unnecessary curse and followed her, leaving the Black Paladin stuttering behind us.
Line Break
We were in the Atlas' briefing room, going over the plan to charge Oriande tomorrow. I admit I wasn't exactly paying attention. ADHD, what can you do? Suddenly to room got a bit warmer. I sat up. Is it Apollo, or... Odin. My eyes widened. He walked out of the shadows and looked around. He had about 5 blasters angled at him in an instant.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Veronica demanded.
He stood there with his trademark small smile and eyepatch. His typical polo shirt had been replaced with a suit and tie, as well as a nice pair of pants. "Hi there!" He greeted cheerily, sounding vaguely like a pirate. Blasters inched closer. He held his hand up, likely believing it would make the Garrison officials feel better. I didn't. "Hey Perce, Ryan, you mind telling your buddies to stand down?" He shot me a pointed look.
"Everyone stand down!" I exclaimed quickly. Shiro looked at me curiously. I was barely aware that Mr. Holt was looking between me and Odin suspiciously as if he saw some sort of resemblance. "If this man wanted to kill us, we would already be dead," Shiro repeated the order and the weapons were stowed away. For now, at least.
"Thanks, Perce." I rolled my eyes at the nickname that only Keith used. "Great ta see ya, though I can't say I appreciate you using my ghost as a curse." He said, not reading the room in the slightest. I saw the original members of Team Voltron freeze, looking at my grandfather. Odin turned to me, his expression serious. He leaned in close, speaking quietly. "They need you. I'll be in your room when you are ready. This is not open for negotiation, grandson." I bowed my head, and he left the room. Fuck. I knew he was talking about the Greeks. Chiron had come to me to explain the situation with the Giants before we left Earth. He had asked me to fight, and I had said no.
I walked over to Shiro and leaned in close. "He wants me to return to Earth for a day." I whispered, "I don't exactly have a choice."
He sighed, waving his hand. "Go to them." He said, "24 hours, or we're coming to get you." I nodded in thanks.
I quickly explained the situation to Katie. "You better come back safe." She warned me, "Or I'll-" I cut her off with a laugh.
"I know, I know. I give it 18 hours, tops." I kissed her temple and left the room.
In my room, Odin stood there, now in full battle armour with his arm outstretched. I took it, and we flashed away.
When the light faded, Odin was no longer there. I was standing on Half-Blood Hill. The Romans had set up a palisade of sorts, and there looked to be some form of duel going on. It was Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, versus a Roman legionary I didn't recognize. There were people watching them, and Clarisse appeared to be losing. If no one was interfering then there must be something on the line for both sides. After looking into the future quickly, I ran towards them, knife at the ready.
Jumping in, I used my dagger to parry the spear jab of the legionary, moving it to their throat. I also had a blaster aimed at Clarisse to make sure she didn't capitalize on my interruption. "Prissy?" She said in shock, "I thought you were off-world."
"I was," I said blankly, "Then you nearly got yourself killed." I whirled on the legion, "And you, why are you all fighting the Greeks? Where are the Praetors?"
The legionary, thankfully recognized me. he dropped his weapon, putting up his hands. "Jason Grace and Bianca Di Angelo have travelled to the Mare Nostrum and been declared enemies of the state." He reported, "Praetor Reyna only said she was going to retrieve something, and flew off atop her pegasus. That was two weeks ago and she hasn't been seen since."
I sighed, "Who is in charge in their absence?"
"Octavian, sir. He has named himself the Pontifex Maximus." I groaned.
"Take me to him, and don't call me sir." I turned to the Greeks. "All of you, back to your cabins and stay there! Now!" I shot them all looks, and they left without a word.
Octavian had dressed himself in lavish robes and golden chains. Next to him was a boy draped in lion skin holding the Legion's Eagle Standard. The augur greeted happily, me as if he thought I wasn't here to threaten him. "Perseus!" He exclaimed, "A pleasure as always! I'm so glad that you've decided to join us in the fight against the Greeks."
I rolled my eyes. "I am not here to fight for you." I spat, "The Greeks are not my enemies, nor are they yours."
Octavian blinked, "But-"
"But nothing!" I snapped, "You call yourself a god, and yet insist on believing in some thousand-year-old feud! The Praetors? The ones you declared the enemies of the state? They were sent on a mission to the ancient lands by the mandate of the gods themselves. A detail you ignored in your pursuit of power, by the way. Praetor Reyna will be arriving any minute now, with the Athena Parthenos. You will surrender what little power you really have, and I will forget that we have ever met. Clear?"
I didn't wait for an answer, I stormed out of the tent to find the nearest centurion. Dakota stood up straighter. "You shouldn't have come," I told him. He looked at me curiously. "The Pontifex Maximus holds no military power whatsoever." Just then, the shadow of the Pine tree seemed to reach out, and The Athena Parthenos Stood there in all of its glory. At the base, there were three people. There was Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, Reyna, daughter of Bellona and Praetor of New Rome, and a satyr whom I didn't recognize.
I ran over to them, helping them stand. "Percy?" Nico asked.
"That's me," I smiled. "Been a while, huh? You're what, 13 now?"