I had the same dream from the other night, and the same questions were running through by mind as I lay in bed.
What is Zarkon's plan? And what could he do with those subatomic particles in my system.
I was brought out of my thoughts when a knock came from my door.
"Zurine?" A voice said from beyond the door, "Are you awake yet? It's almost time to go."
I slowly removed myself from the warm covers and walked to the door. Ut slud open and revealed Keith standing there with a small smile on his face.
"Oh, hey Keith." I said quietly. His small sweet smile turned to a look of worry. He placed his hands on my shoulders and made me look up at him.
"Are you okay, Zurine? You don't seem like yourself today." He asked. I smiled and brushed off his worry.
"I'm fine, just relieved that this battle will soon be over." I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along to our lions, "Let's get going. The sooner we defeat Zarkon the better."
We happily went into our lions and preapred for the final battle.
"White." I said in a serious tone, "Can you do a body scan on me, please?"
"You seem tense today, Zurine. Tell me what's bothering you while the scan ks in operation."
The chair I was sitting in transformed into a full body scan. The iron ring from the ground lit up and scanned me from head to toe.
"I've been having the same dream over and over again. Zarkon is telling me that I have subatomic particles inside me from the time I was captured by him. I'm afraid of what these particles could do to me, so I need to know what they are."
My lion purred as the scan was complete and giving me a full diagnostic on the particles inside of me.
"I understand your worry, Zurine. No matter what, I shall protect you from Zarkon. That's what we promised when we first met, remember?"
I smiled and chuckled, "Yes, I remember. You were always so noble and protective, so much so that you created to protect me when you couldn't be there to do so."
"Well I was created by you when you were cured all those years ago. It's my duty to protect you."
I sighed and returned to my scan of the particles inside me. It seems that the particles were too small to get a full reading on them, but I managed to get at least some information on them.
They were small enough to fit at least five of them in the nucleus of an atom. I was amazed by the size, it would be almost impossible to figure out the number of particles in my body.
They also had a special property, they held a liquid inside them. I hoped that it wouldn't do anything too dangerous, but I knew Zarkon.
He finishes what he starts. And I know that he would finish me when he has the chance.
"Everyone lock into position. We're taking this thing up." Shiro said. I oushed away my work and got into my position.
Our lion's mouths' grabbed onto the edges of the large teludav and locked on tightly.
"Princess, we are go for launch."
"Allura, don't push yourself too hard okay? If you need help, don't hesitate to pull back in." I said.
Allura smiled and nodded, then charged the main turbines. We all flew off into space, then flew our lions back to the castle to go over the plan.
"All right guys, listen up." Shiro said pulling up a holographic image of the castle and teludav appeared in front of us.
"I'll use the Black lion to lure Zarkon's fleet to our current location and make sure he's within the teludav's area of effect. Keeping the teludav hidden behind the space-fold until the last possible second is essential."
"Can we count on you, Slav?" I asked facing the multi legged alien.
"Absolutely, princess. I'll be fine." He answered confidently but then gave an unsure expression, "I'm not sure about the gravity generator, though."
"What? What was that last thing?" Hunk asked.
"Hiding a ship is one thing, but I've never had to build a gravity generator for something this large before. I know it'll work, but I'm not really sure for how long." Slav informed.
I clenched my necklace, thinking of a way to help. I let out a breath and took off my necklace. Then it hit me.
In my free time, I like to experiment with crystals, and just a short while ago I created another sapphire with the same abilities as my necklace. I dug into my armor pocket, grabbed the sapphire and handed it to Slav.
"Here, Slav." I said, "This sapphire is a copy of my necklace, which has the ability to turn anything invisible. It should help distribute the energy of the gravity generator."
Slav happily took and examimed the sapphire.
"Good thinking, Zurine. But it's still risky." Shiro said, Once Zarkon's ship is in position, Kolivan and Antok will coordinate with Thace. Together, they'll take down Zarkon's security system and upload the virus. Meanwhile, for extra measure, Zurine will use her powers of sun, moon and crystal to freeze up the engines."
Pidge smirked and held her glasses, "And then, he'll be a sitting du-flax." She opened her eyes and saw everyone but me giving her a confused stare.
"What? A du-flax is an Altean creature with a beak and webbed feet." She was interrupted by Coran.
"We'll wormhole Zarkon 500 milliom light years away and he'll be in the Yggiz Galaxy before he knows what's hit him!" Coran exclaimed happily as the others tried to avoid his jumps and throws."
I sighed and shook my head at the Altean's behavior. Shiro turned towards Kolivan.
"What about Thace?" He asked.
"He should be getting into position now." Kolivan replied, "We've received his last communication three quintants ago. We should hear from him soon."
"Let's do it." Shiro said. Finally, the final battle between us and Zarkon is about to begin, and the universe will be freed from his hold.
Shiro boarded his lion and flew off to Zarkon's position. As we waited for our side of the plan to begin, I took off my earrings and stared at them in worry for my friend.
Keith noticed my worry, he sat down and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"He'll be fine, Zurine. You've got nothing to worry about." He said reassuringly.
I nodded, "Keith..." I said hesitantly, "Remember that promise you made to me all those years ago?"
He was caught off guard for a second before answering, "Of course I remember. It was the day before you were to leave Earth. But why mention it now?"
I lifted my head and stared deeply into his purple eyes. The eyes that held so much pain, yet so much love for me.
"I'm mentioning it... because it might be time to fulfill it."
We stayed in that position for a little while longer, just enjoying each other's presence.
Shiro appeared on screen, "Zarkon took the bait. He's got my location. Is everybody in position?"
"We've not yet heard from Thace." Kolivan said, "He was supposed to contact us two vargas ago."
"He could've been captured." Antok said.
"Or killed. We need to abort the mission immediately."
"Abort? No! We cannot back away now." Allura said.
"The Blade of Marmora does not take chances. It's how we've survived for so long."
I stood up, "You may have survived for so long, but it has held you back. Your caution is the reason Zarkon is still in power. I took a daring chance to find the next Palidans of Voltron when I was young. The Galra could've found me, yet I took that chance, and my actions gave the universe hope for freedom."
"And we are thankful for your actions, Princess Zurine, but we would rather wait than jeopardize everything." Kolivan said, "Besides, it's too late to get someone else on the inside."
"I'll do it." Keith volunteered.
"What?" Allura gasped.
"And I'll go with him." I said.
"No Zurine, I can't allow to go back into Zarkon's ship."
"Allura, please let us go inside. We'll sneak onto Zarkon's ship. Since I'm Galra, I'll be able to interact with their technology. Zurine can keep us covered with her sapphire."
"Keith is correct, Allura." I turned to Pidge, "Pidge, you can place a cloaking device onto one of pods, right?"
"Well, yeah." She replied.
"Going into Zarkon's ship is a suicide mission." Kolivan exclaimed, "I would never command someome so inexperienced, not to mention a girl as powerful as Princess Zurine, to go on a mission so dangerous."
I smiled sweetly, "Then I guess it's a good thing no one's commanding us."
Allura looked worried towards us, but with a small glare towards Keith.
Shiro wished us luck and Pidge, Keith and I went to the pod bay to ready a pod.
She slid the device into the pod and closed the hatch.
"There, cloaking device is ready to go."
"Pidge, Zurine..." We turned towards the voice to see Allura standing in the pod bay entrance, "May I have a moment with Keith, please?"
I nodded and went out the entrance.
"Sure thing. Have all the moment you like." Pidge said as she exchanged glances from Keith to Allura.
Even though I wanted to listen to their conversation, I decided to leave them alone. I smiled, knowing that Allura was finally apologizing to Keith.
I leaned up against the wall waiting for Keith to call me back, when I heard the soft purrs of Luna coming from my feet.
I looked down and saw her gently pawing my leg. I chuckled at her antics, sometimes she would act just like a little kitten.
I rubbed her head in comfort, "I promise I'll come back, Luna. While I'm gone, I want you to protect the castle and Allura, can you do that for me?"
She softly roared and ran off to the command deck. My smile faded and became an expression of fear and sadness.
I wondered if I should tell Keith about my dream, but then decided against it. I didn't want anyone to worry about me when the final battle is about to commence.
Their worry would throw everyone off their way, and then our battle would be lost and Zarkon would continue to enslave the universe.
It's in my nature to keep my problems to myself and not make anyone close to me worry. Even when I was sick, my mother and father would tell me to tell them when I was feeling bad. Even if it was just a simple cough or loss of breath, I would have to tell them.
Sadly that didn't work out for me, as I kept all the pain of my sickness to myself. Thus making it worse as it continued to grow worse.
Suddenly, the door opened and Allura walked out smiling. She noticed me by the door and nodded.
"Good luck, little sister." She said before leaving. I smiled and walked into the bay area and joined Keith in the modified pod.
We took off and glided through space towards the Black Lion.
"By the look on Allura's face, she must've apologized and you forgave her, right Keith?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yeah, and I gave her the same promise I made to you years ago. I'll keep you safe, and bring you home after we defeat Zarkon."
I wrapped my arms around his back and buried my face into his raven locks, silently praying that Keith and I would make it back home with everyone safely in check.
"I've got Zarkon in the hook. Bringing him yiur way. Keith, Zurine, are yiu ready? We've only got one shot at this.!" Shiro asked.
"Engaging cloaking device. Moving toward the flert now." Keith turned on the cloak and sped up to reach the fleet.
"Roger that, I can't see you but I'm locked onto your signal. I'll clear a path."
We flew through the fleet, avoiding the explosions casued by the Balck Lion's attacks on the fleet.
"Thanks, Shiro. We're coming in hot!" Keith shouted as we crached into a lamding rock.
I held onto the pilot seat as the pod shook and slid into the ship. Omce we stopped, we activated our bayards and prepared to fight.
Two soldiers fired their guns at us. Keith cut one down in a single swipe of his sword, while I took doen another with my lance.
Keith grabbed a gun and we ran through the ship. We made it to the docking bay in just a short tick.
We heard footsteps and quickly hid behind the dock's wall near a ship. I grabbed Keith's free wirst and activated my sapphire, covering us in a protective invisible field.
Once the footsteps passed, we got up and ran to the door. Keith placed his hand on the scan and the door instantly opened.
We walked through and snuck around quietly, even though we were invisible we still needed to be cautious.
We stood around a corner.
"Okay, you've made it to the lower communication deck." Kolivan said through our helmet coms, "head left down that corridor."
We did as we were told and headed down the corridor.
"Based on the schematics from Thace, there should be a large door up ahead. This is the central hub for rhe Galra fleet."
Sure enough, there was a large door in front of us.
"I see it." Keith said.
I felt white exited the castle and help the fight with the other lions. I miled at the thought of my lion helping without me. I hoped that she would be okay.
The door opened and we wasted no time, running into the hub and to the main controls.
"Kolivan, we're in. Now what?" I asked.
"Now you must reset the system, using the codes Thace obtained. It'll be down for a dobash. That's when we'll upload the virus"
Keith plugged in the code, but a rapid beeping signaled that it was invalid.
"It doesn't seem to be working." Keith said.
"Try it again." We weren't able to retype the code as the door beeped open.
We ducked for cover and I turned us invisible. We watched as a Galran walked into the room and to the control panel.
He wqs covered in cuts and bruises and breathed heavily and out of rhythm.
I didn't sense any evil coming from him, then I noticed the sword on his belt. It was a blade from the Blade of Marmora.
He was Thace!
He typed into a code, but was interrupted by the door sliding open anf revealing cloaked and masked people.
"And now we know you were attempting to shut down the system." One of them said.
In a tick, they flung themselves towards Thace as he frantically typed away. He removed his hands from the screen and turned around.
"You're too late." He said.
"No, Thace. You're too late." The masked man said, "we already changed the code."
Indeed the computer beeped rapidly as the code was invalid.
The cloaked men jumped high into the air and used dark magic to form black orbs in their hands.
They were abiut to attack Thace when we came into action.
Keith and I ran out of hiding spot, still cloaked in invisiblity. Keith activated his Blade and flyng it towards the one of the men.
The blade hit the man in the back, shocking him to the point where he screamed and vanished into thin air.
He reappeared farther bacl towards the door and shot black lightning towards Thace.
He dodged it easily, but I was not one to take chances. I released Keith, making him visible again and ran to the masked man.
The enemy shot black lightning at Keith and he easily dodged it.
I ran up to the masked man and activated the special ability in my armbands.
One band stayed on my left arm, while the other moved to my right. The gold bands grew and traveled down my arms, creating a pair of gold armored gloves that would never break.
Keith jumped but was shot down by the cloaked man, sending off the fllor and down under it. He activated his jetpack before he could fall any farther.
I stood side by side with Thace and punched the enemy with all my strength. The plus side about these gloves were that it increased my endurance and strength by three.
Keith rejoined the battle, swinging his sword but not hitting the enemy.
The enemy flew above us and and shot at us with his magic, which we quickly evaded.
He was about to attack again when Thace grabbed him, threw him over hsi shoulder and into one of the power towers surrounding us.
The cloaked man screamed in pain as he disappeared into the air.
Keith took a few breathes in and turned towards Thace.
"Thace, I'm Keith, a Palidan of Voltron." He said.
Thace looked down at his sword, "And a fellow Blade, I see. I guess we haven't failed."
"Oh and this is Zurine." I removed my cover and showed my face.
"Good to finally meet you, Thace." I said. The fellow blade smiled at me.
"It's good to finally meet the legendary child of the sun and moon."
I reutned his smile, "Quickly m, you guys work on this part, I'm gonna go to the engines and do my part."
"You got it, Zurine." Keith said, he gave me a quick hug and I ran to the main engines.
I ran through the halls under my cloak of invisibility, following my instincts on where go to.
I ram through a large door and found one of the main engines.
The Galra noticed that the door had opened, but reaided their weapons to fight.
With my armkred gloves, I ran and knocked all of them out one by one.
As they lay unconscious, I concentrated on my crystal powers and encased the entire room in white crystal.
I ran out of the room and ran ti the next one, doing the same thing to the second engine.
After I was done, I ran back to the docking bay and ran out the ship.
"White, I need a pick up!" I shouted as I flew through space.
I looked to my right and saw the teludav and the castle completely exposed. Then I saw my lion rush towards me and open her mouth.
I climbed into my lion and took the controls.
"I'm here everyone."
"Zurine, where's Keith?" Shiro asked.
Suddenly an explosion erupted from the side of Zarkon's ship.
The red lion flew out of the castle and picked up something. The purple lights illuminating the ship darkened.
I silently cheered. The plan worked!
"Keith, are you there?" I asked.
His face appeared on a screen in my cockpit.
"Yeah, I'm here Zurine." He replied with a smirk on his face.
I smiled and watched as the teludav activated.
The largest wormhole I've ever seen appeared over Zarkon's ship. Slowly, the ship was engulfed by the wormhole while his smaller ships exploded on impact with the wormhole.
"Everyone, hang on! Here we go!" Coran shouted to all of us. The castle flew away from the teludav and back towards it.
"Hurry Palidans. We must make it in before the wormhole closes!"
We all flew behind the castle into the wormhole.
"Coran, how's Allura?" Shiro asked.
"She's weak, but okay?" I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Take care of her, Coran. We'll handle the rest from here." I said.
We exited the wormhole along with Zarkin's ship.
"We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Pidge exclaimed.
"See, I told you we could do it." Slav said.
"It's not over yet. Everyone, form Voltron!" Shiro ordered.
We formed into our respective pieces and attached to each other. I sat happily in my lion as I became the heart, but suddenly I felt my heart stop for a moment before returning with a loud thump!
I breathed in deeply, trying to steady my heart.
'What was that?' I thought, but I had no time to think about that.
It was our final battle between us and Zarkon. And I was not about to let my team down.
I needed every ounce of strength I had in my body to fight.
Because if I didn't give my all in this fight, and it the heart of Voltron were to stop... then the universe would be doomed.