~~~~Saoirse~~~~
After Olkarion was destroyed by the Weblum, Pidge and I explained everything we learned from the past, and Pidge got to work creating a program that would track the wormholes the Robeasts were coming through.
Every day the stars spoke to me, telling me that they were scared. They shook whenever they felt a Robeast take away the energy from a planet, and their fear and pain filled me with anxiety and terror.
I sighed and curled up in my makeshift bed which I moved to the cockpit. I couldn't stand to be away from the cockpit for too long since we didn't know when the Robeasts could attack again.
"Go ahead, Allura." Shiro said after we opened a transmission line to the Atlas. I got up off my bed and went over to my seat to see multiple faces on my screens.
"Atlas, we've managed to track down an Altean Robeast." Allura informed.
"You found one!" Coran exclaimed.
"Where is it? Did you engage the creature?" Shiro asked.
"Unfortunately, we were too late. It attacked the Olkari and stole the remains of the weaponized cube."
"Is Olkarion okay?"
"No." Keith answered sadly, "Olkarion is gone."
I fought the urge to cry, replacing my sadness with determination and strength. I knew we would save the universe, and after what I had heard from the White Lion of Oriande, we'll need all the strength and determination we could muster.
"The loss of Olkarion is devastating to us all, but we were able to acquire some vital information." Allura said.
"We learned from the Olkarion that the Robeasts have been traveling via wormhole, which leave behind unique energy signatures." Keith said, "Pidge created a program that can identify those signatures and pinpoint their exact locations."
"We're sending over the readings from Pidge's program now."
The information was sent and I heard a few gasps from the other line. There were so many Robeasts roaming the universe, thay it was terrifying to even imagine what they're using the quintessence for.
"Are you telling us these are all Robeasts?" Coran asked staring at the several locations.
"We're not positive, but they could be." Pidge answered.
"There's more." Allura added, "After studying the map, we noticed the signatures all radiate from a single epicenter: Oriande."
"Wait, so Honerva could be on Oriande? But I thought only worthy Alteans could get there."
"True, but she's extremely powerful." I said, "I entered Oriande even though I'm half Altean, but the energy from the White Lion is twisted. Honerva must've forced her way through into Oriande."
I had explained to everyone about my connection to the White Lion, why I was allowed inside of Oriande and the Teshirians link to the universe after our trip to Oriande. They all understood even though it took a while for them to believe.
"That's a good thought, Saoirse, but there's still a lot we don't know." Keith said, "We need to rendezvous to come up with a plan."
"The Baltuf Nebula would make a good rendezvous point for the both of us."
"Send us the coordinates, Coran."
"We'll be waiting at the rendezvous point. See you soon." Shiro said before ending the transmission.
I sighed and leaned back against my chair, closing my eyes to relax in the self created darkness.
"Saoirse, you okay?" Pidge asked.
I nodded and opened my eyes to look back at my friends' worried faces.
"I'm all right, just a little overwhelmed by this. " I said, "I mean, Honerva is strong enough to break into Oriande. And the stars are constantly afraid of the Robeasts. I'm just afraid of what could happen."
Just as I said that, Kosmo appeared next to me. He whined and placed his head on my lap.
I looked down at the cosmic wolf and smiled at him, stroking his soft fur.
"Thanks, Kosmo." I said, "I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me up when we're there, okay?"
Everyone agreed and told me to have a good sleep. I took off my armor and laid down on my bed, Kosmo lay down next to me, warming me up with his soft fur and gently lulling me to sleep.
~~~~Keith~~~~
We flew for hours, following the path to our rendezvous coordinates. I was worried when Saoirse didn't wake up, but she hasn't been sleeping well so I just let her rest for the time being.
Just then the Atlas contacted us. Shiro's face didn't appear on my screen, but his voice was coming through clearly.
"Paladins, there's been a change of plans. We just discovered that our rendezvous point has been compromised by the Galra. Meet us at these new coordinates." Shiro said.
"Copy that. Keep us updated." I replied.
"Roger that."
I entered the new coordiantes into my computer and we changed course to the rendezvous point.
A few more hours and we finally came up on our rendezvous point. We looked out at the planet we were set to meet Shiro and the Atlas.
It was a red and black planet, covered in fire and smoke with barely any signs of life around. It even seemed as if it was breaking apart. And there was no sign of the Atlas anywhere nearby.
"Coming up on rendezvous point. Straight ahead." Pidge said as we approached the planet, "Can someone wake up Saoirse?"
"No need, I'm awake." Saoirse answered.
We landed cautiouslyon the planet's surface. None of us moved from our places, taking in the surrounding area. There were several volcanoes around us and bounded trees still scorching from the lava rivers flowing down the mountain.
"Anyone else find it odd that Shiro changed the rendezvous point to this?" Hunk asked.
"Yeah, count me in on that one, Hunk." Saoirse agreed, "The energy here is almost dead. Not exactly the more vibrant place for a rendezvous. Why would my brother choose this place to meet?"
"I'm reading high CO2 and low oxygen in the atmosphere." Pidge informed us, "We'll need our suits to breathe if we go out there." Pidge said.
"I'm not going out there." Hunk said. All of a sudden, the monitors beeped.
"They're here." I said.
~~~~Saoirse~~~~
I waited with the others, expecting to see the Atlas float down to meet us. But instead, I felt hateful energy coming through the clouds.
"Atlas, we have a visual." Keith announced to whatever was flying down to the surface. I looked up and saw the Atlas floating down towards us, but it wasn't right at all.
I gripped my controls tightly, the hateful energy becoming more clear than before.
"Keith, we need to get out of here, now." I said urgently, "This energy isn't good at all."
Keith turned around to ask why, but we were cut off by the Atlas flickering in the sky.
Purple plates of digital cloaking remnants flickered over and under the Atlas as it was quickly revealed to be a Galra cruiser.
"Paladins, get airborne immediately! This is a trap!" Keith shouted and we all took off.
But just as we were about to escape, we found ourselves being covered in a red light and smashed back down to the ground. They had us pinned down.
"It's just like when we got caught by those pirates!" Hunk said.
"We're about to be captured again!" Lance shouted.
"Emergency ejection!" Keith ordered. I quickly told Kosmo to hide in the lion and ejected myself into space.
I met up with the others as they landed on the scorched surface. All six of us began running towards the burnt forest as one of the fighters shot at us with no mercy.
"Atlas, come in!" Allura shouted trying to get in contact.
"Atlas, we're under heavy fire!" Keith shouted.
"The Atlas isn't receiving our communications!" Pidge said.
The shots came and the fighters flew over us to hit their marks but falling as we ducked and dodged the shots. We ran for a little while longer until the fighters stopped firing and flew over us, not detecting our presence in the burned forest.
We crouched down behind a few of the broken burned trees and watched as she cruiser hovered over the Lions to keep them still and pinned to the ground.
"That beam has the Lions pinned." Hunk said.
"We must have been set up. But by whom?" Allura asked.
"Someone filled with nothing but hate." I said.
"What do you mean?" Pidge asked.
"There's a powerful energy inside that cruiser, and the only emotion I can feel for it is hate and spite. There's also a sense of revenge swirling around in that energy. What for, I don't know. But whoever that energy belongs to is dangerous. We need to find a way to get out of here fast."
Suddenly, a small drone ejected from the cruiser and flew close to our location.
"Guys, we have incoming. It's closing fast." Pidge whispered. Lance held his gun tightly in his hands, ready to shoot any enemy or drone that came our way.
Just then, the drone flew above us and open fired. We all shouted in surprise and ran away as fast as we could, but slowly I felt some of my strength leaving me as my fever steadily got worse.
"We need to lose it." Hunk said, ducking his head to dodge one of the lasers.
"Isn't there anything we can do to throw it off our scent?" Lance asked as he slid under a falling tree.
"Yeah, I've got an idea, but I need a minute." Pidge said.
"I'll buy you some time." Hunk said, stopping and turning around to shoot off multiple mini-blasters which attached themselves to the trees and forced at the drone, creating a smoke cloud.
I stood next to Allura as we held up our shields to protect Pidge while she carried out her plan. A couple short minutes later, Pidge pressed a final key and turned back around to announce her success.
"I got it. It shouldn't be able to detect us anymore." She said.
"Then let's get out of here." Lance said as he and Hunk stopped shooting and the drone flew past us.
I sighed in relief, letting down my guard for a brief moment before a heavy pit sunk in my chest.
After barely even a minute of being in the clear, the drone somehow detected us and began firing once more.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Hunk panicked as we ran and slid down into one of the trenches, hiding behind the massive land formations.
Keith held up his shield to protect Allura and I from any ricocheting debris.
"We need something to draw its attention!" Keith shouted.
"I've got it!" Allura said, running around the formations and onto the hill behind the drone. Using her bayard whip, she wrapped it around one of the trees and sliced it, then pushed herself against the trunk so it would fall on top of the drone.
Unfortunately it missed and the drone escaped, but we had something else. The could of dust and dirt created from the tree's impact into the ground provided perfect cover for Keith to throw his sword ar it.
It was a direct hit and the drone fell to the ground completely destroyed. We came out of hiding and Keith retrieved his sword.
"Huh, good job, Keith." Lance said, "I mean, I was just about to do that, too, but that's cool." Keith groaned.
"I might be able to hack it." Pidge said, sitting down on the ground and hacking into the drone. As she continued to hack through the drone's systems, she looked confused.
"This is Galra tech, but it looks like it's been infused with Olkari elements." Pidge explained, "The subatomic micro-filament is single modulated before it goes through its attenuator. Wow."
"It's strange. This energy does have remnants of Olkari energy." I said finally able to feel the drone's energy now that it wasn't trying to kill us.
"So it's pretty amazing, huh?" Hunk asked.
"Yeah." Pidge said.
"Oh, look at that, it's single modulated, not double modulated. Huh." Hunk pointed out.. Pidge frowned, annoyed.
"Oh, shut up, Hunk!" She said, "This thing has been locking on to our key encryption protocol that's built into our suits and bayards."
"How did they get that?" Keith asked.
"To be able to create something this advanced, you'd have to be a genius." I said, kneeling down next to Pidge so I could examine it with her.
"Can't we just turn our suits off?" Lance asked.
"Negative." Pidge answered, "And if the drone had our encryption protocol, then so does that cruiser and anyone on it. If we want to avoid detection, we need to lose our suits and bayards."
"Remove our armor? In this place?" Allura asked.
"Has anyone read the atmosphere? Oxygen low, CO2 high." Hunk reminded us, "We're not gonna last long. A few hours, tops. We need our suits to survive."
"Yeah, at this point, we'll survive longer without them." Keith said.
"So, keep our suits on and risk getting blasted, or take our suits off and try to live long enough before dying from poisoned air." Lance contemplated.
After much consideration, we stripped ourselves of our armor, except for Keith.
I slid out of the hard armor and held my breath as I took off my helmet. Immediately I could feel the cold wind blow through the atmosphere. I could feel myself grow pale and weak just from breathing in the poisoned air once.
"Saoirse? Are you all right?" Allura asked as she saw me turn pale.
"I'm all right." I said.
"Guys, I'm gonna go a different way and see if I can find out who's tracking us." Keith annoucned.
"Are you sure, Keith?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yeah, this way they'll have to divide and conquer. Hopefully that'll give you time to escape and get the Lions back."
I sighed and agreed to let him go become a distraction.
We walked away from our piled up suits and wandered through the dead burnt forest. I tried to connect to what little energy was left in this planet, but there wasn't much to go on.
"We sure the Lions are this way?" Pidge asked.
"Every direction looks the same." Hunk said.
"Oh, what I'd give for a GPS right now." Pidge complained.
"We cannot allow ourselves to panic." Allura said, "Clearly, we've relied on our tech far too much. We need to focus if we're going to get out of here."
We stopped for a moment, giving me a chance to connect with the stars and beat myself up for not thinking about the stars in the first place.
"Okay, I'm lost." Allura said in defeat.
"What do we do?" Hunk asked.
"Our Lions are that way." Lance suddenly said.
Everyone looked towards him, confused by his sudden statement.
"How do you know? Do you have a scanner you've been hiding?" Pidge asked.
"No. I just looked at the volcano." He answered, gesturing to the volcano in front of us. I quickly understood what he meant.
Lance smiled back, "It was to our left when we came in, so I put it to our right side, and that's the way out."
"And the stars are telling me the same thing." I added.
"How can you--"
"The stars may be covered by the clouds, but that doesn't mean they can't see what's happening below." I cut Pidge off.
All of a sudden, before we could move on, a flurry of lasers shot at us. We ran away and hid behind some large boulders that were sitting nearby.
"More drones?" Allura asked in panic.
"No. Look!" Lance said. We peeked from behind our hiding place and saw a hoard of space pirates shooting at us.
We ran again, tripping and stumbling over rocks and dead roots.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath us felt soft. The loud sounds of earth cracking threw us off, and soon, deep into large twisting caverns below.
I screamed in fear and surprise as I went in the same direction as Pidge and Hunk down the dark tunnels.
We landed harshly on the ground at the end of the tunnel, but we quickly got back up and started running to escape the hunters chasing us.
"You think I forgot about you, Angel, tiny paladin?" A familiar voice echoed off the stone walls, "I'll make you pay for what you did to me!"
I quickly recognized the voice as the bounty hunter that tried to capture me, Pidge and Matt when we found him.
The dark tunnels were slowly lighting up with the bright color of the molten lava that flowed on the ground and walls.
The heat was beginning to worsen as we panted and sucked in what little air we could before Hunk collapsed onto the ground exhausted.
"We need to hurry." He said, "They're right behind us."
"The CO2 is poisoning us by the minute, ans we don't know where we're going." Pidge said, "We can't keep running."
I coughed harshly, the air taking its affect faster than I thought. Perhaps it was because of my lack of healthy sleep. I was exhausted and this air wasn't helping any. I didn't even know if I had enough energy to summon my wings.
"Okay. What do we do?" Hunk asked.
"We have to make a stand." Pidge said.
Hunk and I nodded, and we discussed a plan to trap our pursuers. We quickly scrounged aroumd the area and took what we needed for our trap. Leaves, logs, strong vines, whatever we could find for our traps.
After finsihing it, we waited in the forest for them to spring it. It didn't take long for the enemies to track us down.
"That human boy isn't here to help you this time. And I've upgraded since we last met." The bounty hunter taunted us.
The enemies triggered the large log which swung at, but they dodged it, just in time for the next trap to be sprung.
It was simple 'vine wrap around you ankle and suspend you in the air' kind of trap.
We ran out of our hiding place as soon as they were completely trapped.
"All right! Nice work!" Hunk praised us.
I grabbed the one of the blasters and Pidge grabbed a small GPS.
"Found the Lions. This way." She said breathlessly. As we ran, I smiled brightly when I felt something familiar energy our way.
We looked up with excitement and saw the Atlas flying over us. We cheered happily, but quickly coughed since the CO2 levels taking a great effect on us.
"The boy who wears red is in danger." I heard the stars warn me. My eyes widened.
"Pidge, Hunk, I'm going to go find Keith." I said beginning to sense Keith's energy somewhat nearby.
"Wait! Saoirse, why now? We can pick up Keith when we get back to the Atlas." Pidge said.
"I trust the stars' words. They said he was in danger. So I'm going to help." Before they could say anything else, I began running towards the volcano.
I followed Keith's energy, but he was growing tired fighting off another energy. I gasped when I recognized the energy from before. It was so full of hate, but I could remember it well from previous battles.
I ran even faster, trying to summon my powerful wings. Just then, I felt the warm energy focus on my back and my wings appeared. I traveled even faster up the volcano side until I reached one of the larger pools of magma.
I hovered in the air for a moment before I spotted two figures on the edge of a cliff overlooking the boiling magma.
Their energies were easy to read. One was Keith. The other.... and old and furious enemy.
"Keith!" I shouted, flying down near the two and landing far enough away to see them without making the enemy drop Keith into the pool below. The enemy turned around and I finally got a good loom at their face..
It was Zethrid, one of Lotor's former generals. She had been through a lot as the left side of her face was burned,, the fur singed off and her left eye permanently blinded. Just then, I heard something in the sky.
I looked up and saw the MFEs circling around above us. Shiro and Axca both jumped from one of the ships. I turned back to Zethrid and saw her shift Keith into a choke hold, a blaster charging in her free hand as she pointed it at us.
"Zethrid, don't do this!" Acxa begged.
"Let him go!" I demanded.
"I knew you'd come. Now you will feel what I felt." Zethrid said, squeezing Keith tighter in her grasp.
"It's over. You're surrounded."
"You think this deters me, Acxa? I welcome death now that Ezor's gone."
Acxa looked down and sighed, then took off her helmet to look at Zethrid face to face.
"Zethrid, I know you hurt." She said, "Ezor hurt, too. That's why she left you. She couldn't keep holding on to the anger."
Zethrid was taken aback, but she scowled and didn't let go of the anger she held.
"Stop!" She demanded.
"Hear my words." Acxa continued, not fazed by Zethrid's anger, "Remember how we first met. We were all so full of hate and rage, half-breeds rejected by the Galra. Lotor used us. He led us down a painful path, a never-ending cycle of destruction and loss. Now's your chance to break that cycle... with me, with Ezor. She wants you to leave the rage behind."
"I'm too far gone. She'll never take me back!"
I saw Keith grit his teeth as the hold tightened even more around his neck.
"Wait! Please!" Acxa begged, "Don't let the rage control you."
"All I have left.... is revenge!" She aimed her blaster at us, preparing to fire, when I reacted upon instinct.
I stretched out my hands, my vision changing to see her energy points. I focused on the points in her legs and chest. She quickly stumbled back, letting go of her weapon and loosening her grip on Keith.
All of a sudden, a shot was fired, and Zethrid let go of Keith before falling down off the cliff.
Keith quickly turned around and grabbed Zethrid's hand before she could fall too far down.
I blinked and my sight returned to normal before I ran to help Keith bring her up.
Once we got Zethrid back up to safety, we took her back to the Atlas, patched her up and locked her away in the prison holds.
Us paladins were checked out in the medical bay and given treatment. I fell asleep almost immediately after returning to my room, thankful to actually had a real bed to sleep on.
~~~~Keith~~~~
I went to go make sure Saoirse was all right. She hadn't come out of her room since she was released from the medical bay. I knocked on the door and it slid open. Cautiously I walked inside and smiled when I saw her sleeping peacefully in bed.
I turned around to walk out the room, when I stopped and noticed something about her.
I went closer to the edge of her bed and kenlt down to get a better look. Her hair.....
More and more of the black color was changing. Most of the time her hair was in a ponytail, so I didn't notice it until now, when her hair was sprawled out against the white pillows.
Almost a third of her hair was now blue, silver and white. It used to be only a single strip of her bangs that were these colors, but now it's getting worse.
But why? Is this a sign for something connecting to her Teshirian side?
I carefully held her hand and watched her sleep, wondering what exactly was happening to her.
And what would result from this...
~~~~Saoirse~~~~
I stood in front of the white portal to the other side. The people I most cared about were watching with tears in their eyes.
"Please, Saoirse, you can't just leave us like this!"
I gave her a small smile and hugged her small frame, but she didn't stop crying into my chest.
"I won't be gone for long. You have to be patient. I will come back. That's a promise."
I looked over at the rest of my friends and walked over to the one I loved the most. He was crying, something he barely ever did in front of others.
He walked over to me, the small girl in my arms pulling away to allow him to hold me. He wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face in his warm chest. I would miss this so much more than anyone could understand.
"Do you really have to do this? Isn't there another way?" He asked.
I pulled away from his chest and stared directly into his dark gray-purple eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry, but this is the only way reality can be saved without a long lasting sacrifice." I answered sadly.
"Any sacrifice will hurt us, Saoirse! I can't lose you, not even for a minute!"
I placed my hand on his cheek and wiped away his tears before kissing him one last time.
"I love you, Keith. And I promise to come back, alive and well." I promised, "I may look a little different when I come back, but I will be back."
Slowly, I let him go and backed away, getting one last look at my loved ones before turning towards the portal....
Heading for the unknown... and leaving my heart behind.