The night went by quickly. I walked into my lion's hanger with Luna, staring at its beauty.
As I walked around the hanger, I couldn't help but look out the window and stand amazed at the sunrise.
"I hope I can enjoy this time with ny friends." I said to myself, "What do you two think?"
Luna purred and somehow gave a smile. While the white mechanical lion growled in response.
Since she was born from me, I could always understand her.
Suddenly, the alarm began to blare.
"Everyone wake up! Zarkon is attacking!" I heard Allura scream through the speakers.
I smiled, knowing that this is training and ran to the control room, leaving Luna near the entrance. When I arrived, Shiro was already there, dressed in his palidan armor.
"Good morning Shiro," I said as he turned and smiled, "How are you today?"
"I'm okay Zurine," he replied, "How are you here so fast?"
"I was already awake. I was with my lion in the hanger."
As the others, except Lance, rushed in, Coran was quite dramatically I might add, trying the 'sell' the fake invasion.
"I'm guessing this isn't an actual attack?" Shiro asked.
Allura looked at us with a serious expression, "And you're lucky it wasn't, because it took you," she turned to Coran," Coran?"
Coran looked at a small white device, "75 degrees," I laughed at his mistake, "Oops sorry, my mistake, this is a meat thermometer."
Allura sighed in annoyance, then walked up to us.
"How ever long it was, it was too long," the altean princess said impatiently, "You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon."
I sighed. Allura has always been a serious, yet kind person, but now..... with Zarkon's empire on the rise, and Voltron being reunited again, she seems to be more tense than 10,000 years ago.
"Look at you," she continued, "Only Shiro is in uniform. Zurine got here before you and she's running in her royal garments. Keith, Pidge, Hunk where are your bayards. And where is Lance?"
I held go three fingers, making everyone look at me in confusion.
"Three, two, one." I said. As soon as I said one, Lance came through the door, decked out in blue pajamas, a cup in hand, and big smile on his face.
He yawned and could swear that his face was shining in the light.
"Good morning everybody." He said, taking a sip from his cup, "What's goin' on?"
"Zurine," Pidge said, "How did you know that Lance was coming in three seconds?"
I chuckled, "I've lived with each of you for three months," I replied, "that gave me more than enough time to figure out all of your timings and quirks."
Pidge looked shocked, along with everyone else in the room, but before they could say anything else, Allura interrupted.
"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the castle back in order," she said, "We had to run a test on the alarms and decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed?"
We all turned to Hunk as he let out big yawn, "Hey" he said, "You got to sleep for ten thousand years man. Monday night I was on Earth. Now we've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That's a lot to process ya know."
We all looked at him in, I don't know what our expressions were. Maybe annoyance or, confusion. Either way it was something.
"What day was it again?" Hunk asked.
"It's the third quitent of the Spicolian," Coran stated happily, "Hump day!"
"It's Wednesday on Earth Hunk." I clarified, for which he thanked me.
"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura said, reaching into the air and made a holographic screen appear.
"Over the last ten thousand years, the castle picked distress beacons from the following locations."
She pressed a button on the screen and created a map of the universe.
"So we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered the entire known universe. Earth is here, an attack on your planet is inevitable."
She waved her hand and moved the hologram to the milky way, in other words, Zarkon's next target in who knows how long.
"Oh no." Hunk gasped.
"Exactly," Allura continued, "our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the castle ready to leave Arus, during that time, you have to learn to form Voltron."
"The princess is right," Shiro said, "Let's get to our lions and start training."
But before they could leave and begin training, Pidge turned to Shiro, "Wait," she said, "I want to talk to the prisoners we saved from the Galra ship."
"Uh negative number five," Coran said as he measured Pidge's height with his arms, "I've measured you by height. The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."
Allura ordered the others to get to their lions, "Wait," she said, grabbing my hand, "You don't have a voltron uniform do you Zurine?"
I turned my head and smiled, "Don't worry about it," I said happily, "I have one, it's in the lion. I'll change and meet you guys for training."
"Do you have a bayard lady Zurine?" Coran asked. I nodded and went to my lion.
My lion and Luna noticed that I had returned and purred at my presence.
"Luna, you have to stay here okay?" I said, and Luna simply ran out to meet me on the field. She was never good at leaving me alone for long, even when I'm fighting.
The white lion lowered its head and let me inside. I quickly stripped myself of my royal garments and slipped on my uniform.
It was white with light gold markings on the other spaces, and unlike the others, it had a short skirt around the waist. I never took off the gifts my friends gave me.
I sat in the pilot's seat and held onto the controls, and let the lion fly towards the outside.
I got there first, and as the others arrived, they seemed to be quite surprised.
"How'd you get out here so fast?!" Lance said shocked. I chuckled and replied, "My lion and I are of one mind. What I think, is what she does."
"Um," Lance continued, "Should somebody go after Hunk?"
Suddenly, the yellow lion flew in, Hunk apologized for his tardiness.
"Alright guys," Shiro said as our lions stood side by side, "Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync."
Allura's face appeared in our cockpits, "Feel the bonds with your lions and your comrades. Focus until you feel six become one."
We nodded and took off, "By the way Zurine," Keith said, "What part of Voltron is the white lion?"
"Yeah I was wondering that too," Lance said, "So what part is the white lion?"
"The white lion is the center to Voltron." I answered, "The heart if you must call it something."
We flew around in formation, me hanging out in the back, waiting for them to form Voltron. I could feel the lions' energies strengthening, but everyone was not in sync. Therefore, Voltron would not appear, and the white lion woyld never become the heart.
"Clearly this isn't working," Shiro stated, "Let's touch down for a little bit."
"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Keith suggested.
We decided to try it. I stayed on the sidelines, since there was now way for the heart of Voltron to be stacked up like a cheerleader pyramid.
Unfortunately, only Lance was in the right place.
"Everyone," I said, "I don't want to dampen your spirits, but..... Lance is the only one in the right spot."
"Yeah, Zurine' s right," Shiro said, "Hunk, you're supposed to be the leg."
"No no no,"Hunk denied, "I'm pretty sure I was the head last time we did this."
"Hunk," I said calmly, "Take it from the palidan of the heart of Voltron. You are the leg with Lance. The red and green lion are the arms, and the black lion is the torso and head."
With a little arguing, they stacked back together in the correct form. But it still wasn't enough to form Voltron.
"You guys have the placements right," I sighed, "But you still aren't focusing enough to form Voltron."
"How do you know if we're focusing or not Zurine?" Pidge asked me, a little sneering in her voice.
"As the heart of Voltron," I explained, "The white lion is able to sense the other lions. The energy from the lions is rising, they're ready to form Voltron, but all of your energies are jumbled, mixed together and splitting apart."
They tried to focus even more, but nothing happened. It was so quiet, that I could hear the dust blowing with the wind outside.
"Is everyone bonding and focusing?" Shiro asked. Everyone answered no.
"Why was this so much easier before?" Lance asked and Shiro suggested a small break.
"Sorry to interrupt," Allura said from the castle, "But I might be able to help. Yesterday, you were able to form Voltron when you were in the heat of battle."
Allura was happy, because she needed to run some tests on the castle's functions. Suddenly, lasers fired from the castle and a shield appeared around it.
We all scrambled and ran in formation. Allura called it running tests and inspiration for forming Voltron.
Lance firgured that it would be a good idea to run back to the castle. His plan was thwarted by the force field.
"Allura!" I shouted, "This will not help us, in fact, this will only make it worse. Allura!"
I kept shouting, but my friend did not listen.
Our training was over for the time being, and we were all in the lounge, trying to relax, except for Shiro, wherever he was.
I was back in my royal dress, petting Luna whose head was on my lap, while the others stayed in their uniforms.
"Are we at full power in condenser number five yet?" Allura asked as she entered the lounge.
"No, still at eighty four percent." Coran replied.
Allura was happy to see the us in the lounge, thinking that we had formed Voltron. But when Keith told her that the particle barrier shut down and the lasers stopped so we flew back in, she was a little angry.
"What are you guys doing in here?" Shiro said as he walked in, "We're not taking a break."
"Shiro's right," Allura agreed, "You should be training."
"We've been training," Hunk groaned, "When are we going back to earth?"
"I'm not going anywhere until i find my family." Pidge said determined. I had heard about Matt and Mr. Holt going missing on a mission to Kerberos the day I arrived at the castle of lions.
"How are we going to right?" Lance frustratingly asked, "We can't even form Voltron."
"I'm not surprised," Coran said, looking at his device, "The original palidans fought hundreds of battles together, side by side, like a pack of Yelmors linked at the ears."
"Thank you for that Coran," I said, standing up, "But I think the problem lies deeper. From what I've heard from all of you, your survival instincts are what helped you form Voltron, but that will only get you so far."
"Lady Zurine is correct," Coran said, "You have to work on being a real team. Perhaps you should try working on the training deck."
"Wait a minute," I said, "Let me change first." I closed my eyes and focused my energy on the necklace I wore. Suddenly, my royal garments were replaced with my palidan armor, and my long haor was in a high ponytail.
Everyone stared at me with shock.
"What the heck just happened?" Hunk asked.
I laughed, "I have a certain ability, and that was just part of it."
We all walked over to the training deck, when I felt something warm on my hand. I loomed down to see another hand on mine, then looked up to see Keith.
We stopped for a moment, he looked longingly at my left hand.
"You actually kept the ring?" He said.
I smiled and rubbed the red ruby on the ring, "Of course I did," I said, "It was gift from a friend."
I saw his eyes light up when I said that and I could feel something warm radiate from him.
As we came to the training deck, Coran tested the speakers and microphone.
"Listen up guys," he said, "The palidan code is to put your teammates safety above your own."
Suddenlym drones came out from all sides, and our test was to protect the others from harm.
I focused, feeling everyone's energy and the drones power.
I heard Pidge scream as she fell.
"Protect your teammates." Coran said.
Hunk was kicked out next. I ran over to the others and held my shield up to protect them.
The drones intensity increased. I heard Keith and Lance fighting about their egos. Man, they really have changed over these last few years.
I was the only one left standing at the end of the exercise. We gave up and went to the next trust exercise.
Lance stood in the room, a large holographic maze filled the training hall.
"To form Voltron you must trust in each other," Coran said, "This ancient maze will teach it to you. Your teammate can see it, but you cannot."
"Now listen," I said, "If you touch the wall you'll get a slight shock, so please listen carefully Lance."
Lance put on his helmet and turned up to snile at me, "Don't worry Zurine," he said, "I always listen."
"Really? When did you listen to anyone when they said not to climb up that tree to get fresh honey?"
I could hear everyone snickering behind me, while Lance turned bright red, "Okay, it was one time!"
"More like seventy two times Lance. Let's begin."
"Take two steps forward." Keith said, while Lance complained about his partner.
"Like I said," Keith continued, "Take two steps forward, turn right and take three steps that direction."
Lance walked forward, but was met with a shock as he hit the wall.
Let's just say that, that partnership didn't end well.
We kept going until it was my turn to do the maze. Pidge was guiding me through, and I passed easily.
We moved on outside and flew in our lions. Coran instructed us to put our lions into a nosedive.
Everyone panicked when the screens went black.
"Ahhh!" Lance screamed, "Coran what's happening? I can't see a thing!"
"You must learn to see through your lion's eyes." Coran said, and I was ready.
"Are you ready my friend?" I asked my lion and it purred in response.
I closed my eyes and connected with my lion, when I opened my eyes, I could see clearly.
Everyone went either crashing or flying off. It was only Shiro and I left.
We both pulled up right before we touched the ground and dodging the rocks in our way.
"Excellent Shiro and Lady Zurine."
We went back to the castle and sat in a cirlce in the training room.
"Now the most important part of palidan training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron." Coran said.
We closed our eyes and began to open our minds to train.
I saw everyone's thoughts. Keith's home appeared in my mind. I can't believe he still lives there. I smiled at the thought.
Lance was thinking of his large family. I wonder if they're doing okay.
Hunk thought about food. Haha, I can remember his mother's magnificent cooking.
Pidge was fuzzy, but I could tell that it was a picture of her and her brother Matt. She looked so happy.
And Shiro was thinking of the Galaxy Garrison. I wonder how the teachers are doing?
I was thinking of my home Planet Arisa, before that fateful day. But I was so deep in thought, that I went too deep into my memories.
My face was scrunched in discomfort when I heard the screams of my people as they vanished. The bright light that took my people shone in my face. And the sight of crimson red flashed.
"Pidge stop thinking about your girlfriend!" Keith said, snapping me out of my trance.
"I wasn't!" Pidge yelled back, "Hunk was poking around my head."
We breathed in again, and my memories came back. I saw that horrible day again and again.
I felt the tears scream down my face as I saw my parent's terrified face as they were struck down in front of me.
I was so young when that light took away everything I had. My kingdom. My family. My people. I don't know how, but I woke in a cryo pod and was sent to find the palidans.
"Zurine! Zurine wake up!" I heard someone shout. My eyes flew open and a small scream escaped my lips.
I frantically looked around for any sign of danger, but calmed down a little when I saw my friends.
"Hey calm down," Keith said quietly, "It's alright. Are you okay?"
I gulped down as much air as I could, and nodded.
"Hey you guys," Pidge said, "Maybe we should take a break and let Zurine rest for a minute."
Everyone agreed, suddenly, the roar of my lion Luna came rushing into our ears. Luna ran into the room and lay right next to me. I laid down on the floor, a bag of water in my hand and my head on Luna's stomach.
I calmed me down when I lay on Luna, her soft purrs were relaxing.
"What the heck was that scene?" Lance asked, "It was horrible."
"I know," Hunk added, "I don't think I'll ever get those screams out of my head."
I opened my eyes and pet Luna's soft white fur, "That scene was from me," I said, everyone looked at me, "It was the day I lost everything. They all just....vanished."
"What are you doing lying around?" Allura said as she walked in with mice on her shoulder.
"We're just resting a bit princess," Coran said, "Zurine had a nasty flashback and we wanted her to rest a little."
Allura quickly turned and rushed to my side, checking my temperature and bodily health.
I smiled and waved her off, "I'm okay Allura. It's not my sickness returning, just a back memory."
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. They were wondering how I could smile like the sun, when my heart was darkened.
After a little bit of rest, we were ready to train again. This time, were facing the Gladiator.
Everyone took a place and adapted to a fighting stance with their bayard weapon.
I held my white bayard in my right hand, but it didn't transform into a weapon.
The gladiator emerged from the ceiling, and chaos broke loose.
Hunk couldn't control his large blaster and was soon hit.
Pidge couldn't handle the strength of the gladiator and eventually landed on Hunk.
I jumped over the gladiator after it had hit Lance in the head. My bayard turned into a bow staff and struck hard on its head.
The gladiator faltered for a second, before my bayard turned into a sword. I took my chance and swung it, slicing the robot in a perfect half.
My bayard turned to normal as Allura enetered the room.
"That gladiator was set for the combat of an Altean child!" She exclaimed, "Zurine, a girl who as never fought a gladiator beat it with a single swipe of her sword. You aren't even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!"
"Allura!" I shouted, grabbing the woman's attention, "Everyone here is trying their best, even me who is still recovering from that flashback. You must understand that humans need time. Trust me, i know these five better than they know themselves. They need encouragement and practice, not harsh words and even worse training."
Everyone stood up and walked to my side. Allura sighed and led us to the dining room.
Allura and I went to change into our normal clothes and when we arrived, lunch was served. When I sat down, coran pushed a button and handcuffs connected us together.
"Hold the phone!" Lance said.
"I saw a lot of individual performances today," Coran said, but you're still struggling as a team."
I sghed and picked up my fork to eat. Luck for me, I was able to eat with either hand with no trouble.
I let my right hand move with Shiro's left hand, and fed myself with my left hand.
I was pulled as the others tried to eat, but by the time Allura got fed up with it, I was already half way done.
"How the heck are you eating to smoothly Zurine?" Keith asked, maybe a little jealous of my dual handed abilities.
"I'm ambidextrous." I answred and returned to my meal.
"Do earthlings ever stop complaining Zurine?" Allura asked, "Only for a little while Allura, but trust me, once you get to know them you'll love them."
"Can't you give us a break?" Shiro asked, "Everyone's beem working really hard today."
"Yeah," Keith said, "We're not just some prisoners you can just toy with like...like..."
"Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" Lance exclaimed.
"Yes, thank you Lance."
"Alright you do not yell at the princess!" Coran shouted.
"Oh the princess of what?!" Pidge yelled, "We're the only ones out here and she's no princess of ours." She was stopped by a flying piece of goo.
"Three, two, one!" I counted as the goo food war began. It was indeed fun, and once it ended we were all laughing, and Allura was happy that we were working together.
I smiled and unlcoked the handcuff on my wrist.
"Wait a minute!" Shiro said in surprise, "You could unlock youself this whole time?"
I laughed, "Yes, but it was fun was it not?"
We all rushed to our lions and prepared to form Voltron.
"Everyone ready to do this?" Shiro asked.
"Rodger that!" Pidge said.
"Let's do this!" Exclaimed Lance
"Yes sir!" Keith confirmed.
"I was born ready!" Hunk said excitingly.
"I'm ready my friends." I said. Our lions roared as they formed Voltron.
I felt the warm and protective energy of Voltron form. My white lion folded up into a large V sign and latched itself onto the chest of Voltron.
We celebrated as we went to the lounge.
"Man that was so cool!" Lance exclaimed, "I'm so charged up, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."
"Not me," Keith said, "When my head hits the pillow, lights out."
"Hehehe," Pidge chuckled, "I think Zurine's way ahead of ya Keith." She pointed towards me and as they saw, I was already asleep.
I was breathing softly on the belly of my sleeping white lion Luna. They all smiled at me.
"Alright then, we should get some rest," Shiro said, "Keith, could take Zurine to her room?"
Keith agreed and lifted me bridal style into his arms, my lion waking up and following him closely. He walked to my room and lay me carefully onto the bed.
He sat on my bed next to me and look longingly at my sleeping face. I turned in my sleep and faced him, my ledt hand showing off the ring he gave all those years ago.
He reached out his hand gently caressed my cheek.
"I've been wanting to see you again for so long." He whispered. His cheeks turned red as he leaned down to kiss my cheek, but quickly realized what he was doing and pulled away.
He quickly stood up and walked out of the room, not knowing that I was awake the whole time.
I sat up, Luna purring on my lap.
"You like him don't you Luna?" I asked, "I like him too." I felt my cheeks heat up as I fell asleep again.