All five lions returned to the center spire of the castle. One by one, the lion's eyes lit up. Shiro stood, watching the large hangar door open up. The light shone on the magnificent Black Lion. The lion took a step back and gave a mighty roar. The other five lions returned the roar. It was a moment that felt of a true victory, only to be cut short by the sound of the castle's alarm.
The Paladins jumped into their respective lions as Allura informed of Sendak's arrival. Elle could feel the surge of adrenaline as she pulled on the handles and piloted her lion following Shiro's lead.
Elle could see Sendak had already sent fighter ships to attack the particle barrier of the castle. As the paladins took a look at the battle before them an ion blast from Sendak's ship engulfed the particle barrier around the castle. Even from within her lion, Elle struggles to keep her balance in her lion.
"The barrier gets weaker with every blast!" Coran said on the comm. "Once the shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless!"
"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while!" Allura added. "But you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!"
A second ion blast hit the particle barrier, significantly affecting the shield's integrity. All the paladins felt the blast from within their lions.
"This looks bad!" Elle said watching the fighters continue to attack the particle barrier. "Since I'm not a part of Voltron I'll see what I can do from the outside until you guys can figure out how to form Voltron!" she said, ready to take flight.
"No!" Shiro interjected. "We're a team and we can't let you get out there on your own! Especially not our first time against the Galra!" Shiro's passion for the team warmed Elle's heart. "We have to put our heads together and figure this out. The only way for us to succeed is to give it all we've got! This looks bad but we can do this! Are you with me?" Shiro's inspirational words made Elle smile. He barely knew most of the Paladins but he could easily inspire them to take charge.
"I'm nodding, is everyone else nodding?" Hunk asked.
"Yes," everyone else replied in unison.
"Let's do this!" Shiro said, leading the charge out of the particle barrier. The blasters from the fighter ships were hitting very close to the lions, but haven't managed to hit them yet.
"Uh, how?" Lance asked.
"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas on how to form Voltron?" Shiro asked.
"I don't see a combine into giant robot button on my dashboard." Hunk said. Elle wasn't sure if he meant it as a sarcastic comment or some sort of comic relief.
"You guys can't keep running in a straight line or you'll get shot!" Elle said, turning her lion around. "I'll take care of the fighters while you guys figure out how to form Voltron!" Elle could feel her lion communicating with her, telling her how to properly pilot it.
"Are you sure you can handle it? My sensors picked up more than twenty of these guys won't you need back up?" Lance asked as the other lions continued to run the opposite direction. Lance checked the panel on his dashboard to see what was happening at the rear. He could see Elle using a laser from her lion's tail to shoot at the fighters and flying about.
"Elle is kicking serious butt!" Hunk said happily as the fire raining down from the ships decreased.
Elle let go of the ship that was enclosed in her lion's jaws and looked towards the team. "There's more heading from your front, don't worry about it!" More fighters came close into the range and the rest of the lions split up to fend them off.
"We've got to do something!" Keith yelled over the comm.
Elle was about to give a hypothetical way to form Voltron only to be cut off by Hunk slamming into Keith yelling, "Combine!"
Allura's face appeared on Elle's dashboard. "Quickly, Paladins!" Allura said looking stressed, "Our energy levels are getting low!"
"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine," Shiro suggested. "Take off on my cue. Elle, stay behind me in case those fighters follow us."
"Roger that," Elle said, taking the spot. She followed Shiro's lead and leaped off of the ground at Shiro's call. She fell back a little bit in case she got caught up in whatever way they formed Voltron. But suddenly, it didn't feel like she was in control of her lion. "Guys, does anyone else feel that?" Elle asked.
"It feels like we're all being pulled in the same direction!" Hunk said with a weary voice.
Looking up, Elle saw that Sendak's cruiser ship had taken hold of the lions with a beam.
"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge yelled. Elle tried moving her lion, but the beam wouldn't let her budge. As she looked back up, she could see the ion cannon fire a shot at the castle and obliterated the castle's particle barrier completely. All the other Paladins except for Shiro began saying their defeated goodbyes to the short-lived team. Elle stayed silent, trying to figure out a way from this drastic situation.
Shiro's voice filled the defeated silence. "No, we have to believe in ourselves! We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us! We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!" Shiro's inspiration easily brought up the team's spirit. Elle could feel the rush of excitement and her lion speaking with her. Everyone's lions split away from the tractor beam and the lions began folding themselves in ways Elle couldn't imagine.
Keith and Pidge's lions formed Voltron's arms and Hunk and Lance's formed to create Voltron's legs. The propulsion created by the formation of Voltron was enough to free both Voltron and the White Lion. Shouts of joy from each Paladin rang through the communications.
"I can't believe it!"
"We formed Voltron!"
"I'm a leg!"
"How are we doing this?"
The fight went smoothly for the paladins, as Voltron easily gave them the upper hand. Elle did her best, working the laser from her lion to give as much support as she could to Voltron. They were able to completely destroy Sendak's ship and did so with ease as Voltron.
Once everything was taken care of, everyone sat at the doorstep of the castle. A much-needed break was awaiting the paladins. Hunk was sitting down, Elle was laying face down with her helmet still on, and the rest were standing up.
Allura came down, looking proud at her warriors. "We may have won the battle, but the war has just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions."
"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing," Coran added. No, they did not. "Because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."
"Wait we barely survived forming Voltron just one time," Lance interjected.
"And just wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe," Coran said stroking his mustache. Everyone gave a soft smile at that and Elle picked herself up from her position.
"Defenders of the Universe? That has a nice ring to it," Shiro said with a soft smile on his face. He turned around to face the lions and to look at them in all their glory. A war may be coming their way, but together as Voltron, it felt as if the team had everything they needed.
That night, much later when the moon of Arus had risen, Elle was still on the bridge. She sat on the floor, looking at the stars that decorated the Arusian night sky. Elle was sure they were just as beautiful as they were on Earth, but it looked completely different. Even with her terrible memory of the other constellation, without Canis Major, everything looked different.
The door opened and someone brightened the lights from their dim, moody setting, to the usual luminous brightness when everyone was in the bridge. Elle shielded her eyes, letting them adjust to the sudden change.
"Elle?" a voice asked.
"Do you mind bringing that down? It's kind of burning my eyelids off," Elle said rubbing her eyes. Luckily they complied and brought them down to the dim lighting. Elle's eyes felt less strained and adjusted back to the dim light.
She looked over her shoulder to see Keith, back in his usual red cropped jacket. He kneeled down next to Elle's spot, hesitating to speak at first.
"Is there... something wrong?" he asked awkwardly. Keith wasn't a man of many words, nor was he a man of many interactions. But in the short amount of time he spent with Elle, she was mostly a really peppy person. Seeing her brooding in dim lighting was strikingly different than how she was on the snow planet.
"It's nothing," Elle explained plainly. "It's Sirius."
Keith was confused by her words. "How serious is it?" he asked, feeling an inkling of worry.
"No, not serious. Sirius, as in the star." Elle said bringing her knees up to her chest. "It's the brightest one from Earth's sky." Elle gazed at the shimmering lights that decorated the night sky. "Someone once told me that if I felt a little down I should just take a look at the night sky and find the brightest star. It may look small and easily overlooked by the other dazzling lights around it, but it's still the most awesome." Elle laid down, staring up at the ceiling of the bridge instead. Keith didn't make a move to talk, Elle was still essentially a stranger at the moment so how would he know what to say?
"I don't know you very well at the moment, but I'm here if you need to talk to me," Keith said trying his best to find his sincere voice. He wasn't used to having anything like a heart to heart conversation, he wasn't even sure if he was ready for one with anyone other than Shiro. Keith secretly hoped Elle wouldn't pour out her emotions to him at the moment because he wouldn't know how to console her.
Elle pushed herself up from her spot and stood up. She had some fun moments with Keith, but a few fun moments didn't justify opening up just yet. As she stretched out she said, "It's not that big of a deal." She reached an arm out to help Keith back up. He accepted her outstretched hand and pulled himself up. "There's just something I'll have to let go of." Elle began making her way to her room when Keith put a supportive hand on her shoulder.
"It won't be forever, Elle. Maybe a long time, but not forever." Elle gave Keith a soft smile, wished it were true, bid Keith a good night, and parted ways for the night.