Chapter Text
Shiro busied himself throughout the night by trying to remember every game of Monsters and Mana they’d played so far.
The critters that he and Pidge had encountered didn’t match any of those they had fought before. He had no idea what to call them or what their weaknesses were, other than what they’d observed the day prior. The forests, meadow, and streams they adventured through weren’t familiar, either. He wondered if the game world varied depending on Coran’s instructions, or if it was vast enough where there were plenty of areas he and his friends had never yet seen.
How far away was the nearest village? Would it be the one that was attacked like in Coran’s introductory story? Was there any way for them to find an inn or shop to buy food and supplies? He and Pidge hadn’t earned too much coin yet from their battles, but he was positive much more fighting would greet them in the morning.
His left hand kept busy upon Pidge’s head, petting and stroking her brown curls. The gentle rise and fall of her body as she stayed tightly curled up in his lap, cheek pressed to his right thigh and her arm draped loosely over his knee, kept him grounded and calm when the noises echoing in the environment around them threatened to chill him to his core. There were howls, yelps, buzzing… his mind wanted to wander and imagine what types of creatures they belonged to. When he felt too nervous, his fingers would run once more through Pidge’s bangs, and it kept him from getting carried away.
The first glimpses of light peeked in from above the rocky overhang they were sheltered beneath. Shiro blinked slowly up at it and stifled a yawn. He wondered if they should head out soon or if he should let Pidge sleep longer. Gazing down at her, his face broke into a serene smile. She’d tilted onto her back and her hand was draped across her forehead, face relaxed as she slept. Shiro knitted his eyebrows and brushed some bangs from her face since he could no longer reach to play with her hair. Her cat ears gave a gentle twitch and Shiro had to stifle a laugh at the sight.
Though he wanted to find their friends and be sure everyone was alright, he really was glad that it was Pidge he’d found first.
A loud, drawn out scream echoed through the cliffs behind them, and Shiro’s entire body froze. A shiver ran up his spine. He scanned their surroundings with wild eyes before quickly but gently shaking Pidge’s shoulders.
“Pidge. Pidge, wake up,” he hissed. She groaned and stirred, but she didn’t sit up until he continued pressing urgently on her arm.
“What, Shiro?” she asked as she squinted her eyes against the light. He slid from his spot once she was no longer lying across his lap, and rolled toward his staff. She watched him with half-lidded, curious eyes, which grew more alert when she realized he was preparing to fight.
She cracked her back quickly before springing to her feet. Shiro was already standing and he waved for her to follow him toward the forest edge where he’d gone to collect firewood only a few hours prior. Clumsily, Pidge followed. Her limbs still argued against being awake.
“What happened?” she asked after they’d pushed back into the treeline. She turned sideways to slip between two bushes that Shiro unceremoniously forced himself through.
“I heard a scream. Not sure what it was,” he explained. Pidge jogged a few steps to come up beside him and looked up to gauge his expression — his face was determined, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes. She fell back half a pace, a prickle of raised skin spreading over her neck and arms. Both hands reached to grab her daggers as she prepared for battle.
They pressed further into the dark, misty forest. Shiro whispered only once more to ask Pidge to stay close to him. She remained near enough that his cloak kept whipping across her ankles as they walked, but she continued glancing over her shoulders while he kept watch ahead.
A small grunt escaped Pidge’s lips as she ran into Shiro’s back. He’d stopped, and once he felt her collide, he held his left hand over his right shoulder to motion for her to wait. Her ears twitched as she strained to listen for any noise. There were faint voices and a gentle pitpat of footsteps.
“Stay alert,” Shiro hissed. She nodded and they continued to their left to circle around the area. Pidge continued to listen and her thumbs plucked at the end of her daggers’ handles.
“Three voices,” she whispered. Shiro looked back at her. “I believe.”
“How can you hear that?” he asked. Pidge quirked an eyebrow and pointed her blades toward her ears. Shiro looked a mixture of impressed and amused.
He rubbed her head for a second before he motioned for her to lead. Pidge skipped ahead silently, crouching low and weaving around trees, following the distant voices as best she could. Slowly, they grew louder, until they came to a dead stop.
Pidge halted and Shiro paused right behind her, hunched over to shield her small frame. Both hands curled around his staff and his body tensed as he listened for any movement.
He was knocked to the ground with a yell as a large object collided with his shoulders, knocking Pidge off balance as well. She stumbled but turned in place to try and recover and check on Shiro. She charged in a flash, dropping her daggers in time to tackle Shiro’s attacker away from him.
Tiny hands scratched at Lance’s face as he burst into laughter. Pidge screamed, “I’M GOING TO DESTROY YOU, YOU IDIOT!”
He squirmed and swatted at her hands between laughs, finally catching onto her wrists and holding tightly. Pidge struggled, growling and kicking.
“Hey Pidgey, we’re supposed to be on the same team,” he said as he flipped her off from straddling his stomach and onto her back on the ground. He smirked up at Shiro when he rose, but the smirk vanished when he saw Shiro’s dark expression. “Well, you two look like you had a bad night.”
“Lance, get off her,” Shiro growled as he brandished his staff. Lance let go of Pidge’s wrists, fell onto his backside, and held his palms up in surrender. He shouted out when Pidge dove at him again, and they wrestled for a few seconds more before Shiro tore them apart.
“As much as I want to let Pidge rip your arms off right now,” Shiro started as he wrapped his right arm firmly around her shoulders and pulled her against his body to keep her in check. “I need answers. What was that scream a while ago?”
“Oh, that? Pfsh,” Lance waved his hand dismissively, a cocky grin returning to his lips. “That was just Hunk. I snuck up on him and he freaked out.”
“Where’s Hunk now?” Shiro asked, looking around. Lance shrugged and motioned toward his right.
“Somewhere over there. With Allura,” Lance said. “I was alone all day yesterday and found their camp this morning.”
Shiro narrowed his eyes and let Pidge go as Lance waved for them to follow. With a bounce to his step, he led them toward the rising sun, soon coming upon a small clearing in the forest.
“Shiro! Pidge!” Allura cried, excitedly springing to her feet and running toward the trio. Pidge pushed past Lance and met Allura in a hug and they swayed back and forth with big grins plastered on their faces. Shiro let out a slow sigh of relief and smiled at their reunion.
“Hey guys!” Hunk said chipperly. “So that’s where Lance went off to.”
“My ninja senses picked up on them,” Lance pointed to himself with his thumb as he marched toward the fire and plopped down on a log.
“Where have you guys been? What have you been up to?” Allura asked as she pulled away from Pidge but clutched her shoulders tightly. “Come, sit down — are you hungry?”
“Starved, actually,” Shiro said, and his stomach gave a loud growl when he noticed a pleasant aroma in the air. He strode to sit next to Hunk against a large boulder, and Hunk nudged him with his elbow, a tired grin on his lips.
Allura led Pidge to sit next to Lance on the log bench, but when Pidge attempted to claw at Lance again, she sat between them.
“So… Your day yesterday — you seem to have survived just fine,” Allura said with a grin. Her hair was tied back into a tight ponytail and several braids lined her head above her ears on each side. She wore a chainmail shirt with deep blue leather over it, silver pauldrons and vambraces, and high leather boots over gray leggings. A double-sided axe leaned against the log not too far from where she sat.
“Yeah. It was long, but not too rough,” Shiro said as he gave Pidge a small smile. Her cheeks flushed and she returned it.
“We met in another forested area across a stream from here,” Pidge explained. “Have you guys had to fight a lot?”
“Hunk and I had to fight off a troll late last night,” Allura explained as she shared a soft smile with the Yellow Paladin. “But other than that, we’ve just been exploring.”
“Where’d you wake up?” Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
“The middle of a field. There were these lizard things all around, and I ran my ass off into the forest,” Hunk admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. His hair was shaved on the lower half, a short and tight ponytail at the crown of his head. He wore a red tunic, a belt at his hips, and black trousers with black leather boots. A lute lay near his feet.
“And I woke up in a cave not far from here,” Allura said. “We met up after I heard Hunk’s screaming.”
She gave him another smile, but he fidgeted in his seat. His eyebrows furrowed heavily then returned to normal as he studied their fire.
“Where’d you get the supplies?” Pidge asked. There was a tiny cauldron set directly on their fire with a vibrant soup boiling within. A couple chipped wooden bowls waited on the dirt ground.
“We, um… ‘borrowed’ them from a hut we found inside the forest,” Allura said with a slight shrug. Pidge grinned at her.
“There’s tons of edible vegetation in the forest if you just look for it,” Hunk explained when he fell to his knees. He cupped the edge of his tunic over his hands to shield them as he grabbed the cauldron and gave it a swish to stir the soup.
“You sure it’s all safe?” Shiro asked. Hunk looked back at him with a raised eyebrow and a pout. “We seem to be stuck in here, for real — Lance — so we’ve gotta be sure we don’t make any mistakes and get sick or hurt.”
“Why are you saying my name?” Lance asked incredulously.
Pidge tensed. “Because it’s your fault we’re stuck here, idiot!” she cried and leaned around Allura. The Princess wrapped her arms around Pidge to stop her mid-dive and pushed her back to her seat.
“Hmph, is not.” Lance crossed his arms with a huff.
“You spilled your space Capri Sun on the game, then it freaked out,” Shiro said matter-of-factly. “So yeah, it kind of is.”
Lance raised his eyebrows, puppy dog eyes aimed at Shiro. The sorcerer rolled his eyes with a shake of his head and dropped his staff to the ground.
“Any sign of Keith, Matt, or Coran?” Shiro asked. Allura, Hunk, and Lance shook their heads. “We should focus on locating them today, then.”
“Hey, so, Shiro… if we’re ‘stuck’ here… how exactly do we get out?” Hunk heaved himself to his feet and returned to his spot against the boulder. He crossed his arms high on his chest and tilted his head to meet Shiro’s eyes.
“My best guess is we’ve gotta win. Just hopefully that doesn’t mean fighting Coran.”
“We always have to fight Coran, though,” Lance said. He stretched his legs out in front of himself and bunched up his shoulders.
“Shiro thinks that if we get hurt here, we get hurt in real life,” Pidge explained. “I don’t think this is some type of dream, either. Everything feels far too real. I can even feel it when I get experience points, and a bush scratched me yesterday and I actually bled.” She pointed to the small cut on her cheekbone and everyone looked to her with concern etched in their features.
“Thanks, Lance,” Hunk said. Lance groaned.
“It was an ACCIDENT.”
“Playing the blame game won’t help us,” Allura said. She reached a comforting hand to place on Lance’s shoulder. “Shiro’s right — we need to find the others first, then we can concentrate on getting out of here.”
“Where should we start?” Pidge sat forward and clutched at the log. Her nails dug into the decayed bark.
They all exchanged looks. Nobody wanted to make the first suggestion.
“All I know is we shouldn’t split up again,” Shiro finally said.
“We would cover more ground if we split up, though,” Allura suggested. She gave Shiro a small smile when he frowned. “We don’t have to go far, and can mark our path and meet back in the middle.”
“We’ll see what kind of plan we come up with. I’d just rather none of the team gets stuck being alone,” he said. His eyes wandered to Pidge, who was toying with the small pouch she’d tied into her sash the day prior. “It stayed.”
She gave him a toothy grin. “Guesso.” Shiro moved to reach into his cloak pocket so he could give her her share of their loot, but Pidge quickly shook her head. “Hang onto it for me.”
“You guys get some nice things?” Lance sat forward with a greedy glint to his eye. He bounced in place. “Lemme see.”
“No way, thief,” Shiro teased.
“Pidge is one too!” Lance said defensively as he pointed to her. “She even copied me by being an animal.”
“Furry,” Hunk corrected with a giggle. He shrank back when Pidge and Lance both glared at him. “So, Shiro, you actually chose something other than a Paladin. I’m impressed.”
Shiro’s cheeks flushed. “Y-yeah. I’m a sorcerer. Not gonna lie, it’s pretty cool to be able to use magic.”
He gave Pidge another small smile when she looked at him, smug grin plastered on her lips. She leaned to Allura and bumped against her shoulder.
“Warrior?”
Allura giggled. “Yep.”
“And a bard, Hunk?” Pidge asked him as she nodded toward the lute. Hunk looked to her and down to his instrument, picked it up, and cradled it in his lap.
“Yeah. I almost went with a monk and now kind of wish I did… we won’t have a healer,” he scrunched up his face in thought and strummed his fingers over the strings of the lute. It hummed gently, perfectly tuned. “Though — you guys noticing that we’re not exactly bound to our classes’ rules? Last night I could play whatever I wanted on this, and even sing, and I don’t remember starting out knowing any skills like that before.”
Shiro raised a curled finger to his lips, thinking hard. “You know, come to think of it… There’s a good chance we AREN’T bound by rules. I mean, I obviously only do the amount of damage a level two sorcerer could do, but I have more control over how I use the magic, and it’s not exactly like Pidge and I were taking turns while fighting. It was a free-for-all."
“Maybe since our consciousnesses are in the game, we can treat it more like real life,” Pidge suggested. “Like you said — damage is going to be the same. I’d imagine magic users will still be bound by mana. But we could potentially use different skills than what we would normally have if we were playing the game following the rules.”
“Breaking the rules. I like it,” Lance said. He slid from the log and his torso whipped back as he moved to stretch. Loosening up, he pointed to Pidge with a lopsided grin. “So that means all those times I played this class paid off. I know exactly how to do this. How ‘bout you and I go train a bit, Pidgey? I’ll teach you how to thief.”
Pidge perked up, raised both eyebrows, and sat forward excitedly. “Really?”
“Worth a shot,” Shiro said. Pidge sprung to her feet and ran toward Lance, who turned and quickly led her away from camp.
Allura watched them retreat until they were just small shapes mixed in with the trees. She turned back to Shiro and Hunk — Hunk had his eyes closed as he tried to get a feel for his instrument, and Shiro watched him with a curious expression.
“So once we eat, we’ll head out,” Allura suggested. Shiro looked toward her with a brisk nod. “I do think we should split up. Just for short increments — we can use our weapons to mark trees, or drop stones — something so we can find our way back to one another. It’d be best to find the others sooner rather than later in case something happens.”
“I don’t really want to split up, but it probably is the best plan,” Shiro said. He sat back and crossed his arms. “We can leave this fire lit while we go and use the smoke from it as a marker. Maybe Keith or Matt will see it, too, and head over here.”
“Do you know what class Matt chose? Keith said he was going to be a paladin, at least,” Hunk said, eyes still closed as his fingers plucked at chords.
“No idea about Matt,” Allura said. “Shiro?”
Shiro shrugged. “He played all types of things in our games on Earth, so I’m not sure what he’d prefer.” He reached his left hand up to scratch at his jaw, surprised to feel just the slightest amount of stubble. Growing facial hair cemented the idea in Shiro’s head that they were there for real.
“You said you were level two, Shiro,” Allura said as she narrowed her eyes. Her legs crossed before her as she sat back on the log and she tilted her head to the side. “How’d you know that?”
Shiro lowered his hand from his face, gave an open-armed shrug, and folded his arms again. “While Pidge and I were fighting we noticed a strange feeling after our kills. It felt like a magic mist was being absorbed into our bodies. Right before setting up camp, we took out one of those lizard things Hunk was talking about, and it was like… a surge of warmth filled my body. Pidge felt it then, and earlier when she was fishing. We assumed that was a level gain — no idea what else it could be.”
“Huh.” Hunk finally opened his eyes and lowered the lute to his lap. “Now that you mention it, I felt something like that after the troll we fought.”
Allura nodded in agreement, her eyebrows raised high.
“Maybe we should look for low-level enemies to fight today as well so we can grow more powerful,” Allura said. Hunk scrunched his face in a pout while Shiro nodded.
With a deep sigh, Hunk set down his instrument and slid away from his seat again, dropping to his knees and cautiously sniffing the cauldron of soup. He reached behind himself into his belt to take out a small, short dagger, and used it to spear a bright green root vegetable. He blew on it for a few seconds, tasted it, then sat back onto his feet.
“Food’s ready,” he said as he looked up to Allura then over his shoulder to Shiro. “We’ve only got two bowls so we’ll have to share. You guys can eat first.”
He once again used his shirt as protection and lifted the pot from the flame. Carefully, he dunked each bowl in far enough to scoop a helping of soup inside and passed one to Allura first, then Shiro.
“Thanks, Hunk,” Shiro said as his stomach growled once more. He hunched over to carefully blow on the hot liquid.
“I’m gonna go find a bush,” Hunk muttered as he got to his feet and retreated into the woods. Shiro and Allura shared amused glances.
“Even in a fantasy world, Hunk’s a great cook,” Allura said with a pleasant sigh after taking her first sip of soup. Shiro nodded quietly and drank some broth as well. He straightened up to look into the distance and check in on Lance and Pidge, but they were nowhere to be seen in the thick forest. Shiro’s insides twisted with unease.
“They’re fine, Shiro,” Allura assured when she saw him scanning the trees. He turned to her with knitted brows and her lips once again spread into a smile. “Lance is probably just teaching her how to be stealthy. He’s played a thief nearly every time we’ve played Monsters and Mana — almost as much as you’re a paladin. So, if we really aren’t bound by learning new skills like we normally would be, it’ll be a great benefit for them to train together.”
Shiro nodded, but he couldn’t push away the dread inside that something could possibly happen to his friends in the game. Something could happen to Pidge. He lowered his head again and blew steam away from his food before pouring more carefully into his mouth. He watched the fire as he chewed.
“Hey, Shiro,” Hunk said as he hurried back to the camp. “You said you guys crossed a stream, right? Where was it?”
Shiro looked back at Hunk and with a wince, quickly swallowed some too-hot soup. “Not sure. We wandered through the forest quite a bit to find you guys. But,” he looked up at the sky to try to remember the direction which the sun had risen so he could gauge direction, “I think it was south of here.”
“Okay. There was a super, super tiny stream close to here so we could get water for the food — maybe it led there. But it’d be nice to go back and wash up a little. Tonight, maybe.”
Shiro nodded in agreement and set his empty bowl on his lap. He offered it to Hunk to eat next, and Hunk thanked him before grabbing more food for himself.
Allura set her bowl on the ground and stood up to stretch, then picked up her axe. She winked at the boys before she strolled away to the edge of the clearing and started to train. Shiro watched her for a few moments, impressed at how she already had a grasp on how to use it, before he picked up his staff and moved away from the fire to practice as well.
He spent some time trying to concentrate on channeling his fireball attack and focus on how it felt — the feeling that coursed through his body and arms as the flame formed between his staff and right hand; the way he felt a release of energy as he pushed it toward the sky. Was that his body expelling mana? He wondered if it would replenish on its own over time or if he’d have to use recovery items eventually to be able to continue to use his magic.
He glanced back toward camp when he heard the return of Hunk’s music. Shiro grinned — Hunk was actually pretty good at playing. The song grew louder as Hunk grew more confident, and he rocked side to side gently as he played.
Shiro jumped back a step when Pidge appeared in front of him, seemingly from nowhere. A devilish grin spread across her face as she closed the gap between them.
“Hey Shiro,” she purred as she stood on her toes to get closer to him yet. Shiro felt heat rise from his neck and spread over his face to match the way Pidge’s hands slid slowly up his chest. He swallowed hard.
“H-hey, Pidge,” he said, and he moved to take another step backward. Pidge followed, her body nearly pressed up against his. “Have fun training with Lance?”
“Mmhmm,” she said as her fingers gently grazed over his neck. “I’d rather be grinding with you though.”
Shiro’s heart skipped a beat. “ She means fighting monsters for experience ,” he told himself, though her look said otherwise. He swallowed again, his throat unexpectedly dry, and his eyes flashed down to Pidge’s lips, parted slightly but still turned up in a sly grin.
He looked back to her eyes just in time for her to pull back, her face full of mirth as she burst into a fit of giggles. Shiro spun on his heel when he heard Lance chuckling behind him as well. Lance stood, one leg crossed behind the other, with a big grin on his face as he tossed a few coins into the air and caught them.
Shiro reached into his pocket. Some of the items he and Pidge looted the day before were gone. “Lance,” Shiro said icily. His face was still red and hot from Pidge’s advancement but irritation was now mixed in. “Give it back.”
Pidge giggled and pranced through the grass and around Shiro, arms behind her arched back as she looked up at Shiro with a spritely smirk. “How’d I do?” she asked Lance with a tilt of her head. He caught his trinkets a final time and raised his knuckle to wipe away an invisible tear.
“I’m so proud of my little thief apprentice,” he said with dramatic flair. Shiro’s eyebrows lowered as he glared between the two thieves. With a huff, he turned, grasped his staff tightly, and marched back to camp.
The grin vanished from Pidge’s lips as she watched Shiro storm away. Her heart sank a little. Maybe she’d taken it too far? Lance had told her a good way to distract someone while taking their belongings was with flirting. Naturally, Pidge wanted to test it on Shiro — it’d been ages since she’d tried to get a reaction from him in that way. The blush that crept up his cheeks while she got close was more than satisfying, but if it upset him… was it really worth it?
Pidge took one look at Lance before hurrying back toward the others, concern on her face.
“What was that about?” Allura asked as she returned to her spot as well. Shiro grunted in reply and Pidge gave Allura a small frown. Lance tossed his arm around Pidge’s shoulders from behind once he caught up.
“Teaching Pidgey how to distract a victim,” Lance said. He grinned at Shiro, who had his back to the group as he leaned against the opposite side of the boulder from Hunk. He held his cloak tightly around his body and stared into the trees without a word.
Pidge’s heart sunk even more. She wondered if she should apologize to him — maybe she made him uncomfortable?
“Here,” Hunk said, and he offered both wooden bowls to Pidge and Lance. “You two eat quick so we can get moving.”
Lance and Pidge took the bowls and plopped down onto the dirt to hurriedly eat the cooled soup. Hunk moved from their camp a ways before he tilted the empty cauldron upside down and shook it to remove the last droplets of liquid. He strode back to the group while hanging its handle around his belt.
“So we’ll split up,” Allura said. “We’ve five so we should go in a group of two and three.”
Hunk made a noise in affirmation. “Who with who?”
“I’ll go with Shiro,” Pidge said, almost too eagerly. She cringed inwardly at herself. “We worked really well together before.”
Lance looked to her with slightly narrowed eyes, and she shrank back a little.
“Probably a good plan to have one thief per party,” Allura said with a little nod as she nibbled on her knuckle. “Let’s just stick with the groups from before, then. Pidge — those are daggers on your back, right?” Pidge gave a little nod. “Slash trees every few yards with them to mark your trail so you can make your way back here. I’ll do the same with my axe. Before we leave, we should feed this fire a little more so it lasts longer.”
Hunk once again made a noise to confirm. He took the emptied bowls from Pidge and Lance and carefully shook them out before sliding them into the empty cauldron. He then waved Allura toward him and the two made their way to the treeline to gather more wood.
Pidge watched Shiro’s back with a heavy heart. He still hadn’t turned back toward them. Did her little joke really annoy him that much? She supposed that if he’d flirted with her but didn’t mean it, she’d be hurt, too… But she did mean it. He just... couldn’t know that.
She punched Lance in the arm and caused him to flinch, cry out, and drop the coins he’d snatched from Shiro. She hurriedly grabbed them and sprung to her feet, then gently padded through the grass to stand before him. He didn’t move, but he looked up at her slowly as she held out both of her hands to offer him the stolen money.
Shiro could see the guilt in Pidge’s features. He knew now she’d been training, but the bit of excitement and quick letdown he’d gotten from her when she got that close to him had caused a dull ache in his heart. He found himself wishing that she’d want to get that close and flirtatious with him for real.
Shiro sighed very gently through his nose, grinned a little, and met her eyes. “Khajiit has wares if you have the coin,” he said with a thick accent.
Pidge grinned too, snorted, and joined Shiro in a laugh. He reached out to close her hand over the coins.
“Keep them. Half of it’s yours anyway,” he said, and he held his hand over her fist for a few seconds too long. He quickly pulled away when he saw a blush creep up her cheeks and withdrew his hand into his cloak’s sleeve. “Put the pouch to good use.”
Pidge nodded and twisted around to open the small pouch hanging from her sash. She dropped the coins in and pulled the drawstring tight.
“Is it okay?” she asked him with raised eyebrows. “That we’re on a team again?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he put softly, which earned more color in Pidge’s cheeks. He slid away from his seat and stood to crack his back.
Pidge shuffled in place and looked down at her dirty feet while she waited for her face to cool down. She stole a glance back toward the center of camp — Lance quickly looked away. Was he watching Shiro and her talk?
“Which direction will you two be taking?” Allura asked when she returned with Hunk and two armfuls of firewood. They both got to work building up the fire.
Shiro looked in all directions and finally settled on a place away from the sun, where Pidge and Lance had run off to train earlier. “We’ll go this way,” he said with a jab over his shoulder. “Not sure how directions work here but I’m just going to call it ‘west.’”
“I don’t think we’ll be encountering any compasses to prove that theory wrong,” Pidge said. She climbed, with some effort, to the top of the large boulder and sat down at its peak. Lance was plucking blades of grass one by one. “Lance, anything else I should know about being a thief?”
He looked up at her with one raised brow. “Be quiet and be quick,” he said as he lifted a handful of torn grass and dropped it against the breeze. It flew and scattered across camp. “We don’t have super high damage without skills and we’re medium armor class, so obviously don’t go trying to tank anything. Basic stuff. You’ve played games like this before — really, it’s all the same.”
“Any magic-user advice, Hunk?” Shiro asked as he tossed his staff from hand to hand. Hunk brushed his hands off on his pants while he stood.
“Watch your mana. And hey — we’re not rule-bound. Experiment and try to do different spells,” Hunk said. He picked up his lute and hung it across his back by latching it onto a strap. “Be careful, guys. We’ll meet back here when the sun’s close to setting again, unless we stumble into each other somewhere else. Okay?”
Four voices made hums of confirmation. Lance stood, gave Pidge a thumbs up, and threw his arms around Hunk’s and Allura’s shoulders before the three took off toward the south.
“Ready to go, Shorty?” Shiro asked. Pidge tensed for just a second. It had been years since he used that term of endearment, even though it was an obvious choice for her. He offered her a hand and she slid hers into his grasp before standing atop the rock and scampering down on the pads of her feet.
“Hey, Shiro?” she asked as he let go. He responded with a questioning hum as he turned toward the west and began to walk. She stayed a pace behind him. “You should call me that more.”
“What, Shorty?” he asked with a curious tone. He peered over his shoulder at her. “I’m surprised that doesn’t annoy you.”
She shook her head. Shiro looked ahead and skipped a step to fall back to Pidge’s side.
Pidge rubbed her arm and watched the grass beneath their feet as they headed back into the treeline. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times, unsure of whether to say what was on her mind or not. Finally, with a turn of her stomach, she forced out, “Someone I was really, really close to on Earth called me that all the time. I miss it.”
Shiro once more looked to her with surprise. He pushed a low-hanging branch away so Pidge could walk past it without ducking and slid past it himself before clearing his throat.
“Who? Do I know them?”
Pidge’s shoulders tensed. “Maybe.”
Shiro pushed his lips to the side. Her voice held the familiar tone that said she didn’t want to elaborate. He wouldn’t push it.
“Mark a tree,” he said as he paused in his tracks. Pidge pulled one of her daggers from its sheath and took a couple heavy swings at eye level to carve a deep gash in the form of a “V.”
“V for Voltron. Nice.” Shiro chuckled. He pressed ahead, Pidge close on his heels.
They traveled in silence, pausing only to mark trees every few yards or when Pidge insisted she heard something. She’d stop, her hears would twitch a few times, and then she’d motion for Shiro to continue. He grew less amused and more impressed at her heightened sense of hearing, and wondered if Lance’s wolf ears had the same capability.
“A monster,” Shiro said after they’d circled a gigantuous tree trunk. He lifted his staff and waited for Pidge to remove her second dagger. They made eye contact and shared a brief nod before sneaking closer to the creature. It had a serpentine body and three sets of wings, with feathers covering from its cheeks to the tip of its tail, which was forked at the end. It turned at the sound of Shiro’s footsteps and three rows of eyes greeted them, all pupils narrow slits.
“Careful,” Pidge said as she inched in a circle around it. She used her silent footfalls to her advantage. “There’s something dripping from those teeth. It may be poison.”
“Let me see if my magic works first, then, since it’s ranged,” Shiro said. He felt his muscles tense when he saw the shimmery violet liquid ooze from the creature’s many fangs. He held the end of his staff in front of him with his left hand and cupped his right towards it, and concentrated on his fire magic. If he focused on the feeling he got from the charging up phase, possibly, he could make it larger.
“Shiro,” Pidge said with urgency. The serpentine monster had arched its head back, similar to how a snake would prepare to lunge. Shiro sucked in some air and stretched his staff and hand outward quickly. The fireball grew to twice its size just in time for the monster to attack, and Shiro threw it directly at its unhinged jaw. It hit its target, but Shiro dove to his right and rolled — the attack did heavy damage but did nothing to stop the creature’s trajectory.
“Nice one!” Pidge cried. Swift feet padded through the grass and she slid feet-first across the ground. She dragged both her daggers across the long tail of the beast, cutting deeply, before she tumbled into a tree with a grunt. She recovered quickly, though, and watched Shiro shoot a steady stream of fire at the monster’s head when it lashed out toward him. “Woah.”
“Pidge, duck!” Shiro cried, and she dropped to a squat just before a heavy feathered wing would make contact with her head. It slammed into the tree behind her and knocked chips of wood across her body. She sprinted, hunched over, toward Shiro, and paused at his side long enough to wind up and toss one of her blades toward the center of the monster’s body. The handle made contact with its scorched flesh but bounced lamely onto the ground.
“Worth a shot,” Pidge said as her face fell. Shiro stopped his flamethrower attack just in time to whip his staff around and use it to block a swing of the creature’s tail. Pidge flinched and stumbled backward a step. “Th-thanks.”
“No problem,” Shiro said through gritted teeth. He was starting to wonder if this creature was far too high a level for them to take on. Pidge slinked behind him and began to run around the edge of the clearing to try and get her dagger back. He watched her while he shuffled sideways as well and tried to come up with his next plan of attack.
The serpent let out a piercing screech. Both of them cringed against the noise and their vision went blurry. Shiro could hear Pidge swear across the way as he clutched at his forehead with his right hand.
“Some type of confusion attack or something!” Pidge cried from somewhere to his left. Her voice sounded strained. “Avoid attacking until you can see straight!”
Shiro cursed too. He swung his staff out in front of him to block another lash from the creature’s tail, and jogged backwards against the treeline for some cover. Its eyes looked to be burned shut, and its body had taken massive damage, but its movements didn’t seem to be slowed at all.
“Pidge!” Shiro called. He couldn’t see her amongst the trees and dust kicked up from the fight. “Where are you?”
No answer. Was she hurt, or was she trying to be stealthy?
He closed his eyes for just a second and shook his head forcefully. Upon opening his eyes, Shiro noticed his vision was mostly cleared, so he began to charge another flame attack. He watched as the monster’s long tail arched into the air as it searched blindly for one of them to attack, and Pidge rolled beneath its body, grabbed her dagger, and sprung to her feet just before its tail collided with the ground. She stumbled from the force behind her and fell to her knees beside Shiro.
A few more seconds, and he could let another attack soar. He took in another breath, steadied his nerves, and prepared to launch the giant ball of fire toward the monster. But he diverted his attack at the last second, aiming instead toward the trees, as a figure in dark grey armor charged in, their ebony sword gleaming from the light of his attack. Pidge turned onto her backside, and Shiro quickly lifted her to her feet by the elbow. In awe, they both watched their new ally finish off their foe.
With another deafening screech, this time thankfully with no adverse effects, the creature writhed and fell. In a giant puff of smoke, its remains vanished and were replaced by a gentle rain of copper and silver.
The figure turned and lowered their weapon. A smug smirk spread across purple lips and he wiped some sweat from his brow.
“Keith!” Shiro cried. He charged toward his friend and wrapped him in an uncomfortable hug — the armor Keith wore was made of bulky, hard metal.
“Hey guys,” Keith chuckled as he patted Shiro’s back. He stabbed his longblade into the ground once Shiro let him go, only to be tackled back a few steps by Pidge.
“You look like a Galra!” she laughed as her head clanked against his breastplate. Keith grinned and rubbed her hair.
“Nice ears,” he said. She backed off from him with a big grin. “You guys alone?”
“Right now we are. We found Hunk, Allura, and Lance this morning but split up to look for you,” Shiro said. He wiped his face off on his sleeve, finally aware of the dripping sweat on his brow. “Any sign of Matt? Or Coran?”
“Coran’s held captive. I assume it’s part of his story,” Keith said. He backed up a few more steps to allow for Pidge to collect all the coins that had scattered across the ground. “I saw him being dragged away in a cage by a group of what I guess were NPCs right after I woke up in an alley.”
“You woke up in town?” Pidge asked as she struggled to fit more coin into her pouch. She picked up the last of the loot and walked on her knees to Shiro, only to shove her hand into his pocket to drop in the rest of the change.
“Yeah. Not much left of it, though. There were others heading out and talking about going to ‘Witherton’ or something like that. May be another village,” Keith explained. He reached down a gloved hand to help Pidge to her feet.
“No Matt, then?” she asked disappointedly. Keith shook his head with a frown, but it inverted quickly when Pidge’s cat ears flattened against her head.
“I can not believe those just did that,” he said. He quickly covered his mouth with both hands to hide his wide grin and dimples. Shiro smirked when Pidge’s bottom lip stuck out, her ears moving from flattened with sadness to irritation. A small change, but it reminded him of his childhood pet cats.
“We should keep moving,” Shiro said. His voice was full of mirth as he watched Keith try to contain his giggles. Pidge reached both hands up to cover her ears, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. Shiro tossed his staff to his right hand before reaching his left out and gingerly prying her arms away. She looked at him with a pout before going to inspect Keith’s sword.
“This looks powerful,” she said.
Keith coughed a few times into his hands. “Yeah. It’s pretty sweet.”
“Is that what you started with?” Shiro reached for the handle as Pidge was gently gliding her finger across the blade.
“No. I earned it. I had like, a regular steel sword to begin with, but I did a lot of fighting yesterday and eventually got this off a wraith.”
“Wraith?” asked Shiro as he plucked the sword from the soft ground and gave it a few swings to test its weight.
“Yeah. Like those things in Lord of the Rings,” Keith shared a smirk with Pidge. “It was like all clouds and shadow under a torn cloak. Really tough to fight.”
Shiro looked to his friend as his brows knitted in concern. He held the sword out to Keith, who took it and hung it on its belt — he must not have found a scabbard to go with it. “You need to be careful out here, Keith. We may be able to get hurt for real.”
Keith let out a shallow chuckle. “We’ve all dealt with worse than a few fantasy creatures. Relax, Shiro. Fighting Galra and Robeasts is way tougher than this.”
Pidge chewed her bottom lip and bobbed her head in agreement. What was a monster or two compared to malicious, advanced-race aliens with superweapons?
“I’d really rather none of us have to make that comparison for real,” Shiro said. He moved toward Keith and slapped his left hand onto his armored shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Pidge hurried toward the giant tree to carve in their “V” before joining the boys as they pushed through the brush. She stayed a few paces behind them, but between their shoulders, so she could equally see and protect both.
“You were fighting all day?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded. He was watching his feet as he walked — the iron boots he wore seemed to irritate him a bit. “What level are you?”
“Level?” One side of Keith’s mouth turned up in amusement. Pidge hurriedly explained their discoveries with experience and earned a more thoughtful look. “No idea, to be honest. I know I felt what you’re talking about, but I didn’t count at all. Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Shiro said while nudging Keith in the side. “The way you took out that snake thing made you seem pretty badass.”
“I am badass,” Keith teased with a push to Shiro’s arm. Shiro chuckled as he stumbled to the side and came back to mess up the back of Keith’s hair.
Pidge smiled up at them from behind. Many things had changed over the years, especially regarding their relationships and personalities. But one thing stayed consistent — Shiro and Keith. They were always the first to pick on each other as well as the first to show one another affection. It brought her back to Earth, four years prior, to better times when they, along with Matt and her, were inseparable.
“Pidge, look sharp,” Keith said to snap her from her thoughts. She looked between the boys’ shoulders to see another of the same serpentine creatures they’d just taken down. “Can’t get stronger without a little work.”
Keith pulled his longblade from his belt and charged. Shiro, as reflex, charged up another fireball and threw it toward the serpent’s face immediately after Keith’s blade dragged lengthwise down its body. The fireball hit, the creature screamed and writhed, and Pidge sprinted forward to get a hit in so she wouldn’t miss out on the experience.
A strange sensation similar to going down the largest fall of a roller coaster came over her body as she charged at her foe. Dagger facing out the back side of her fist, she dragged it parallel to the cut Keith had made on the creature’s body. It dug deep, and she leapt away at the end of her attack to land yards away on one knee.
“Nice one, Pidge!” Shiro called as he let loose another attack. She looked over her shoulder to see him using the flamethrower she’d witnessed not ten minutes before, and Keith wound up for a swing of his sword. She rose to her feet, adjusted to holding her daggers more firmly, and backed up a few paces before she took a deep breath and sprinted in a circle around it.
Shiro lowered his weapon and ran to his left to get out of the way of a wing attack. It narrowly missed him — just barely catching the tip of his cloak. He rolled to break his fall and came back to his feet as Pidge sprinted, full speed, for another attack, this time head-on. He watched as she ran, trying to determine if she was using a new skill or just going on instinct.
“Run, Forrest, run!” Keith cried with a slight laugh as he spun in place post-attack. He swung his longblade over his shoulder and started toward their enemy, but stumbled in his step as he saw Shiro fall to his knees and clutch at his head.
Shiro’s heart missed a beat at Keith’s words. In a split second the dense, dark forest they were inside was replaced by a deep orange field, divided into evenly painted rows. Many feet pounded the ground but his eyes were focused on a black number five. “Run, Forrest, run” echoed in his mind in three familiar voices.
He fell to his knees when the vision disappeared and clutched at his head, breathing heavily. He heard a voice call his name, but it sounded distant… distorted. Suddenly aware of how fast his heart was beating, Shiro clutched the front of his shirt with his right hand and looked up to see the giant serpentine creature they were fighting collapse to the ground in a puff of smoke.
A hand clutched his shoulder tightly and Shiro heard his name again, but this time it was clear. He looked to Keith with wide, confused eyes. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I just looked over, and you’d collapsed,” Keith said as he dropped his sword. He waved his hand in front of Shiro’s face, and on cue, Shiro followed the movement with his eyes. Satisfied, Keith patted his cheek a bit. “Maybe the thing confused you or something. You okay?”
Pidge pushed to her feet after a wobbly landing. She could hear the puff of smoke behind her, and grinned knowing she’d managed to take out their foe. A deeper sense of pride filled her when she felt the fairy-dust tingle of a level up. She turned to ask the others if they felt it as well, but her face fell immediately when she saw Shiro on the ground, Keith waving his hand in front of his face.
“Shiro!” she cried, immediately sprinting toward him. He looked up at her with a dazed expression, and started when she fell roughly to her knees in front of him. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
Shiro stole a glance to Keith, whose eyebrows were deeply furrowed. They were concerned, but he really had no concrete answer for them as to what had just happened.
“I’m fine,” he said, his voice wavering. He gave them both a small smile when they looked unconvinced. “Just… probably got confused again, like Keith said.”
Pidge pushed her lips to the side and shared a look with Keith. From his expression, he didn’t believe Shiro, either. She sighed. She’d press more later, maybe. “Can you stand?”
“Y-yeah,” Shiro said. Keith and Pidge both sprung to their feet and offered him their hands. He placed one of his in each of theirs and let them pull him upright. Keith reached to pick up his staff for him while Pidge brushed dirt and grass from his cloak. “Should pick up our loot.”
“My bag’s full — do you have pocket space, Shiro?” Pidge asked. He looked into her eyes and dug his hands into his pockets, nodding at her briefly.
“You sure you’re fine, dude?” Keith asked as he pressed Shiro’s staff back into his hand. Shiro nodded again to try to reassure Keith. They watched Pidge scramble around the ground to pick up their reward.
“Definitely worth fighting these things.” Shiro hurried over so he could hold open his pocket for Pidge to drop her collection inside. “What’s that?”
Keith hurried to where Shiro was pointing and bent to carefully pick up a few long fangs. He tapped them against his leg plates to rid them of a dusting of dirt. “Fangs. Wonder if they have any magic properties.”
“Careful, Keith. They have poison on their teeth,” Pidge said quickly. Keith approached her and held them out in the palm of his hand.
“They seem clean,” he said. “The poison secretion probably stops when the body poofs away.”
Shiro hummed curiously and picked up one of the teeth to inspect it. “Hopefully there’s an NPC in town that can explain what some of these things do.”
Keith nodded in agreement but moved to deposit the three trinkets in the firm leather bag attached to his hip. Shiro quirked an eyebrow when he saw it was half full.
“You’re rich.”
Keith shrugged with a grin. “Lots of fighting means lots of loot.”
“Let’s go,” Pidge said as she pushed the last few coppers into Shiro’s pocket. She reached up to poke her finger gently into his cheek. “Feeling okay?”
Shiro nodded and rubbed her head with his left hand. Wordlessly, they took off into the forest again.
A couple hours, many Voltron-graffitied trees, and a dozen wild encounters later, and a clearing came to view — and beyond, a village. The three exchanged excited grins.
“Let’s go!” Pidge said as she took off through the meadow and pushed once more through grass that threatened to swallow her.
“Hang on,” Shiro called. She stopped in her tracks and glanced back to him. “We should head back to camp and wait for the others.”
“Let’s just check out town first,” Keith said with a hand to Shiro’s left shoulder. He squeezed it gently. “We can get some supplies and answers about our loot. Maybe even upgrade your and Pidge’s equipment.”
Shiro looked to the sky and weighed his options. It would be good to get supplies. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Pidge took off without hesitation once more, and Shiro and Keith shared a smirk before they followed her at a brisk run. They arrived at the town’s edge, panting heavily, and were greeted by a pair of guards who inspected them with suspicion as they passed. An assortment of noises and smells poured forth from within and the three pushed into the thick crowd to look for a shop to stop inside.
“Pidge,” Shiro said urgently. She’d nearly disappeared a few times already, enveloped by an assortment of NPCs heaps taller than her. He reached forth a hand to clasp onto her shoulder. “Stay close.”
She pouted. “Put a leash on me.”
Keith snorted into his hand.
“Sadly out of leashes,” Shiro teased with a flick to Pidge’s ear. Keith once again raised his hand to stifle a snort, which turned into a fit of laughter muffled by his palm. Shiro raised an eyebrow to him in question, and looked to Pidge to see her shaking her head with her hands over her face. “What?”
“Nothing, Shiro,” Pidge said. She groped around for his cloak behind her without a look and took a handful of the fabric. “Come on.”
Confused, Shiro latched onto Keith’s elbow to drag him along as well.
“There, Pidge,” Keith pointed ahead toward an old wooden sign marked with a carving of a tankard. His voice was still laced with amusement, even minutes later. Pidge dragged Shiro by his cloak toward the tavern, and Shiro pulled Keith by his arm.
She let Shiro go to push the door open with both hands. An air of laughter, ale, and home-cooked food welcomed them. All three paused just inside the doorway to take in the sight and smells. Their stomachs growled.
“It… wouldn’t hurt to buy some food… right?” Pidge asked weakly. The boys whined a little in agreement.
Keith led their way toward the counter. Pidge climbed onto the only empty seat and Shiro stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, his staff rested against her back. Keith leaned across the counter to speak to the barkeep — he had to shout over the noise, and withdrew after a short exchange.
“He said to grab a table, and we’d be brought a menu,” Keith said as he leaned in close. Shiro and Pidge nodded, and they slid away to search for some empty seats.
Shiro steered Pidge by her shoulders toward the back where he’d spotted an empty table in the corner. Keith made a path through the crowd for them, and they’d nearly sat down when a voice called out, “KATIE!”
Pidge halted and looked around, only to see the backs and shoulders of travel-worn NPCs of every possible class and race. She looked to Shiro for help and raised her eyebrows when a grin broke across his face.
“Matt! Get over here, you asshole!”
Pidge stood on her toes and clutched Shiro’s shoulder for balance to try and see over the crowd. Her brother was standing up from his spot on a high stool, surrounded by a group of rough-looking NPCs. With a quick word to them, he made his way toward his friends.
“There’s my little sis,” Matt said as he scooped her up from the waist. He laughed as she grunted against his tight embrace, and her face deadpanned.
“You’ve been drinking ,” she said accusationally when she smelled his breath. He set her on her feet to turn and share a hug with Shiro.
“Just one,” Matt said with a chuckle. He let Shiro go and turned to clasp Keith’s hand tightly, both pulling toward the other and slapping each other on the back.
“Come sit with us,” Shiro said as he excitedly pulled out a chair for Pidge. She plopped down and eyed her brother as he whispered something to Keith.
“Where’ve you guys been? What’ve you been up to?” Matt asked as he took the final seat. He leaned across the table and beamed at Shiro. “All going well?”
Pidge leaned away, startled, as the layered, scarf-like wrappings around Matt’s shoulders started to wiggle. He seemed unfazed as he listened to Keith talk about their recent fights. But Pidge reached a curious hand to poke at the movement and earned a squeak in return. She cried out in alarm, too, and Matt turned to her.
“What? Oh… Guys, this is Cheese.” Matt reached into his scarf with both hands and withdrew a small creature who protested against being removed from his bedding.
“Awwww,” Pidge cooed as she reached her hands out, fingers flexing. “He’s adorable.”
Matt handed Cheese to her. He was no larger than a few-months-old kitten, but was… a griffin? No, he lacked the front legs, and resembled a hawk more than an eagle. Small tufts of feathers adorned his speckled, brown head in the position of ears, and he had petite, folded wings. The fur beneath Pidge’s fingers was bristly but clean, and a bushy tail more like a chinchilla’s than a lion’s whipped nervously against the table. “Hiii, Cheese.”
Shiro grinned crookedly and reached to scratch Cheese’s back as Pidge let him onto the table. He nipped his small beak in Shiro’s direction before he scurried back to Matt’s shirt and hid once more in his wrappings.
“He’s been nervous since we came in here,” Matt said with an apologetic smile. “Too rowdy, I guess.”
“Are you a ranger?” Shiro asked. He remembered Allura’s summoning abilities when she chose to be the bow-wielding class. Matt shook his head.
“Druid. I woke up with Cheese next to me, so I figured he was the animal companion the class description told me about,” Matt said. He leaned back to allow a barmaid to drop a worn piece of parchment onto their table. “Thanks.”
He waited for her to retreat before asking if they had money. Pidge unhooked the pouch from her hip and plopped it onto the table with a smug look. Her brother shook his head with a chuckle.
“Got it.”
“So what’ve you been up to?” Shiro asked. He slid the menu toward Pidge so she could order first, but she screwed up her face as she tried to read the foreign text.
“Yesterday was a lot of traveling and looking for you guys and fighting,” Matt explained as he leaned toward his sister. He frowned at the menu. “Today was more of the same til I found this place and stopped to get some info.”
“Info?” Keith asked. He had his sword between his legs protectively as he leaned over the table, arms crossed. “What did you find out?”
“Apparently the village Coran talked about really was attacked.”
“Yeah, I woke up there. Barely two buildings are still standing,” Keith said.
Matt straightened in his seat. “There was a group of seven that attacked it. Rumor has it they were asking around for a group of adventurers. Said they owed them something, but the guys I was talking to made it sound like they just wanted a fight. Who knows. The bad guys were going door to door in town before finally just going berserk. They set buildings on fire, killed people… til the sun started coming up. Then they just left... or disappeared — there’s varying accounts.
“I wasn’t able to find anyone who’d actually seen them, but from what I gathered, they were like ghosts. Dark, shadowy — you could only see detailed features if you got close enough, but you’d be lucky to get away.”
Shiro felt a shiver course through his body. Was this what they were up against?
“I’m gonna go get this translated,” Pidge grumbled as she slid out of her seat. She disappeared once more.
“But more of that later — what about you guys?” Matt asked as he reached a hand into his scarf to scratch Cheese. Shiro nodded to Keith to start, and he gave a brief account of the previous day, elaborating more on the fight that earned him his new blade. Shiro told of his and Pidge’s adventures next, and ended with meeting up with Keith just in time for Pidge to return.
“Okay, so standard — ale, water, stew, leg of some bird I can’t pronounce — probably like a turkey leg? Quiche, bread with cheese… let me know if you have questions,” she said as she slid the parchment to the center of the table. “Matt, did you eat?”
“Nah, I just weaseled a drink out of the guys,” Matt said with nod toward the table he’d previously been sitting at. Pidge rolled her eyes at her brother and looked up as their waitress returned.
“What can I get you, darlings?” she said in a husky voice. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked around the table.
“An ale and quiche, please,” Pidge said as she looked up at the broad woman. Her bright green eyes crinkled at the edges in a smile. “Would it be possible to order things wrapped to go, as well?”
“Sure thing.”
“Enough bread and cheese for a party of seven, then, please,” Pidge added.
“Have you a bag?”
“Um… not really.”
“We can sell you a leather satchel for an additional fee,” the woman said. “Fifty copper.”
Pidge hurried to count the money in her coin pouch while the boys ordered their food. She came up a copper short, but Shiro handed her a few coins to supplement it. She thanked him and looked up to tell their waitress that she wanted to get the satchel. With a final nod, the woman left.
“Do I get to see drunk Pidge?” Keith asked teasingly. Pidge quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Have you even had liquor yet, sis?” Matt asked with a grin. She pouted.
“At some Voltron-thanking feast she has, I think,” Shiro said.
“You’re not even old enough to drink,” Matt said. He poked her in the cheek. “You’re only twenty.”
Pidge swiped his hand away. “We’re not exactly in the US right now. I don’t give a damn.”
All three boys chuckled at her and she glared down at the wood grain of the table, flicking her copper pieces between her fingers.
“If you cover the satchel, I’ve got the rest,” Shiro said. “Plenty of silver.”
Pidge nodded without looking up and played with her coins while she listened to the boys talk about their situation. Shiro filled Keith and Matt in on their observations of the lack of rules and their mortality, and Matt added on his own experiences to further prove the theory. Their food arrived — Pidge and Keith got quiche and ale, Shiro some stew and water, and Matt the bird’s leg and some yak’s milk. They chatted about heading back to camp while they ate.
“Here’s your satchel and bread, darlin’,” the barmaid said as she set the full leather bag onto the table between Pidge and Matt. “Can I get you anything else?”
Pidge asked if there was a bathroom, and Matt hurriedly corrected to “privy.” Their barmaid directed Pidge to the back of the building, and Pidge excused herself.
“Downside of being actually in the game, I guess,” Keith said as he drained the last of his ale. “I’ll be right back, too.”
Keith slid from his seat and left his sword with Shiro, who once again inspected the blade with an impressed look. Matt snuck a large piece of meat under his scarf to feed Cheese.
“So you were alone with Pidge for an entire day, huh,” Matt said as he gave his companion a second treat. He looked to Shiro and his mouth pulled back to one side in a curious grin. “Anything good happen?”
Shiro’s face flushed. It had been quite some time since Matt had so much as mentioned his crush on Pidge. In fact, it had probably not happened since Shiro first realized he even had feelings for his teammate — just a few weeks after returning to the Castle ship after being rescued.
“Um. We talked a little,” Shiro said quietly. He leaned Keith’s longblade against the side of the table.
“About?”
“About… why she’s been mad at me,” Shiro said. Matt’s face fell.
“Well, that’s not fun. What did she say?”
“She said it was something I couldn’t control, and it wasn’t my fault but wouldn’t tell me what it was,” Shiro said. He picked at the nails on his left hand with his thumb, eyes cast downward. When he stole a look at Matt, it was to find his friend looking at him with pity. “You know what it is, don’t you?”
Matt sat back in his chair and reached his hand under his scarf to pet Cheese. “Nope, sorry, bro,” he said. Shiro frowned deeply. He could tell when Matt was lying. But similar to Pidge, Matt had a way to clearly say he wouldn’t budge without having to articulate it.
“She also found out about my nightmares,” Shiro said with a sigh. Matt looked into his eyes at that.
“Nightmares? Do you get PTSD nightmares about the Galra, too?”
“Y-yeah. You too?”
Matt nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I mean, not often. I’m sure yours are way worse. But I definitely get them. How’d she find out?”
“I was having a nightmare while she kept watch, I guess.” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck.
“What’d she say?”
Shiro wasn’t able to answer, as Pidge quickly slid back into her spot.
“Maybe it’s cause it’s a fantasy world built by an advanced alien race who even ten thousand years ago were more civilized than most, but there was both toilet paper and a place to wash my hands and to be honest I think I’m about to cry from being so thankful,” Pidge said when she returned. Shiro and Matt shared an amused look. “What’re you guys talking about? What’d who say?”
“The barmaid. She asked if you wanted more ale and I said no, sorry,” Shiro said quickly. He glanced at Matt, who shook his head, before looking back to Pidge and watching her once more count out her copper pieces.
“That’s fine. I probably shouldn’t get dehydrated,” Pidge said. “Before heading out, we need to find a shop. There may be waterskins or something that we can buy.”
“Good plan,” Shiro said. “We’ll go when Keith gets back.”
Their waitress returned, and Pidge offered the handful of copper while she asked what they owed for their meal. Shiro counted out silver for the rest, Keith returned, and they left.
“Point me in the right direction,” Pidge said as she adjusted her new satchel across her body. She looked up to the cloudy sky, hoping it wouldn’t rain, as Shiro guided her through the crowd.
They found a general store. Matt let Cheese onto the counter to play with the old shopkeeper’s granddaughter while they spread their trinkets onto the counter to get information about them.
Most were “junk” items that they sold for more copper and silver. The fangs they’d found, however, had special properties that could boost the bearer’s magic proficiency.
“Three silver and I’ll string them together for you,” the keep offered.
Pidge looked up to Shiro. “Do it.”
“I feel bad spending it on myself.”
“Shiro, you being better at magic will help all of us,” she said as she reached into his pocket for the money. “Besides, half our loot is yours, and you deserve nice things.”
Matt grinned at Shiro when he looked to his friend helplessly. Pidge handed over the silver, and the deal was done. She leaned her elbows onto the counter and bounced on the balls of her feet while she waited for the shopkeeper to finish with Shiro’s necklace. Shiro moved away from the counter, though, to join Keith in the back of the shop, where he was checking out a rack of jewelry, all labeled with symbols depicting different elements.
“Wonder if they boost spells,” Keith said quietly when he sensed Shiro behind him.
Curious, Shiro grabbed a ring with a yellow stone inset to it. He slipped it onto his finger, and turning toward the wall, he raised his staff and right hand. He concentrated on the magic coursing through him. Gradually, a ball of static formed before him. Keith gasped.
“Hey, hey,” Keith said as he marched back to the front counter and approached the child playing with Cheese. Cheese let out an annoyed squawk when his scratches were interrupted. “Those rings — what do they do?”
The child shrank back. In a small voice, she answered, “They grant the user new elemental powers.”
“What do you mean ‘new’?” Keith asked.
“Sorcerers have one base element,” she said with furrowed brows. “They have to use items or train to learn new elements.” When Shiro, Keith, Matt, and Pidge exchanged looks, she added, “You’re all really stupid, aren’t you?”
“Ha ha,” Keith said with a glare in her direction. “How much? And can he use more than one at once?”
“Five silver a piece. And I don’t know. Ask Grandpa,” she slid from her chair then and scurried into the back room where the shopkeeper was working. Pidge spun to look at Shiro with an excited grin.
“No, Pidge, I’m already getting a necklace.”
“I don’t care! We can afford it. Shiro, you could use all elements, it’d be so cool,” Pidge said as she ran toward him and clutched his left arm. “You could be the Avatar.”
Shiro snorted at her reference and shook her off so that he could remove the ring he’d tried on and place it back on the rack. “It’s fine. I’ll just learn it a different way.”
He returned to the front counter and Pidge responded with a despondent harumph .
It was only a few moments more before the keep returned, a corded necklace with three fangs strung at the bottom hanging from his fingers. Shiro offered the silver in exchange for it and tied the necklace around his neck.
“How’s it feel?” Matt asked as he picked Cheese up and placed the creature on his head. Cheese chirped happily and flapped his wings at Shiro.
“Not any different, honestly,” Shiro said. “We’ll see how it is when we fight.”
Pidge leaned back over the counter and asked about waterskins. She dug into Shiro’s pocket for enough money to purchase seven of them and lifted her bag to the counter so they could be arranged next to the cloth-wrapped food.
They thanked the old man for his business and left. The streets outside had begun to empty and a light rain fell from the sky. Pidge held the satchel close to her body — she hoped it was waterproof.
“Let’s start making our way back,” Shiro suggested. The rest nodded, and he led the way toward the end of town they’d come in at.
By the time they reached the open field, it was raining pretty steadily. They broke into a run once out in the open. Pidge made it to the treeline first and stopped to catch her breath and check on the food. Satisfied that it was dry, she shook her head to rid her cat ears of water. The boys caught up and she wove through trees to look for her V-marks while they took a short break.
“Over here!” she called with a wave. They hurried to catch up, and they set out to follow the path back.
Pidge hung back with Matt while Shiro and Keith led. She asked her brother about his class – he had a rapier at his side, but otherwise used calls to summon more creatures to fight alongside him, and Cheese was a surprisingly vicious fighter.
“So you’re a Disney Princess,” Pidge said with a smirk as Matt bragged about how many crows he was able to call to his aid during his morning fight against some goblins.
Matt deflated. “Not fair, sis.”
“I’m glad I found you,” Pidge said. She kicked her feet through the grass and watched them as she walked. “I don’t like it when I don’t know you’re safe.”
Matt gave his sister a small smile. He inched closer so that he could put his arm around her shoulders, and Cheese scurried down his arm to nestle instead between Pidge’s ears. “I’m fine, Katie. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. Rolo and Nyma really like when I’m around, though. Having more on their crew makes missions go so much faster.”
Pidge nodded in understanding. Cheese whimpered, turned in a few circles, and lay down more securely in her hair. “I like having you around too, you know,” she said. She lowered her voice even further. “And Shiro does, too.”
Matt pulled her closer to his side. “I know. I promise I’ll stay for longer this time. Mmk?”
Pidge hummed in confirmation. They walked on in silence and kept an eye on Shiro’s and Keith’s backs. No creatures popped out of the darkness, but rain still made its way through the trees to keep them cold and wet. The air became steadily more humid and a haze grew among the trees, making visibility worse.
They passed the clearing that Shiro and Pidge had fought the first feathered serpent in, and Shiro looked back at Pidge to share a look. “ We’re close ,” it said. She gave him a small smile before reaching up to scratch at Cheese’s back. He’d decided her head was too small to perch on comfortably and instead lay his small head between her ears, his legs perched just inside the neck of her vest. His wings were draped loosely over her shoulders.
“This is a little weird,” Keith said as he dropped back a few steps to walk along Pidge’s other side. She looked up at him in question, but followed his nod to look at Shiro, who joined at Matt’s left shoulder.
Pidge frowned and looked down at her feet. That’s what Keith meant. There hadn’t been a single time since just before the Kerberos mission that the four of them had been together. Just the four of them. She tried to push back the sick feeling that tugged at her insides as she leaned into her brother’s side more. They had been inseparable, but now… they were separate more often than not.
“What was that?” Shiro asked quietly. All four stopped, and Pidge reached a hand to her head to pet Cheese and let him know to stay quiet. Matt lifted his companion from her head and she twitched her ears as she strained to listen.
“I don’t hear anything,” she said as she leaned across Matt to look up into Shiro’s face. He furrowed his eyebrows and squinted through the haze.
“What did it sound like?” Keith whispered.
“Branches cracking,” Shiro said. Keith frowned and put his right hand onto the handle of his sword. He motioned for them to continue in a single file. Pidge led, her ears perked and alert, followed by Shiro, Matt, and Keith brought up the rear. With narrowed eyes, he scanned in every direction. Cheese took to the air at Matt’s command to inspect the area.
They were getting closer to camp — Shiro could feel it. But he could also feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up with the apprehension that something was near. Pidge paused now and then to hold a hand up to the rest of the team while she closed her eyes and listened hard, only to wave them on again to continue. Her hesitancy did nothing to calm his nerves.
They stopped in their tracks when a crack of thunder echoed through the trees. A roar followed, and Shiro could see Pidge jump out of her skin in his peripheral vision as he searched hastily for the source of the cry. A metallic shing behind him told him that Keith had drawn his sword, and Cheese came barrelling through the leaves overhead. He screeched before landing on Matt’s outstretched arm.
“An ogre,” Matt said after he shared a look with his familiar. Shiro looked back at Matt with knitted eyebrows and clutched his staff tightly. Pidge pressed against his side.
“Should we run or fight?” she asked with a glance between each of them.
“We’ll see how big it is first,” Keith said. He took a few more steps ahead. “And decide then.”
Matt followed after he whispered to Cheese, and Shiro looked down to Pidge. She cringed.
“What?”
“Footsteps — big,” she said. Her eyes met his as her ears twitched between each distant sound. Shiro bit his lip in apprehension.
He turned to follow Keith and Matt, and Pidge kept directly behind him. She reached behind for her daggers and twirled them in her hands, trying to decide which position was best to hold them in.
They arrived at their camp, and as should be expected from the rain, the fire had gone out. There was no sign of Hunk, Allura, and Lance, though the sun was likely close to setting. It was hard to tell with the storm overhead.
Keith scanned the area and Matt sent Cheese to the air again to search. Shiro was about to suggest searching for their friends before another loud roar echoed in their surroundings, this time a lot closer. A loud warcry followed.
“Allura,” Shiro said. He met Keith’s eyes and they both took off at a run in the direction they’d heard her voice. Pidge shouted at them and broke into a sprint to follow, Matt close on her heels.
She hurried to the lead and called behind that she would use her hearing to find the way. Her skin was littered with goosebumps from the chill of the rain and fright from the sound of the footsteps that grew nearer. She swore she could even feel the earth tremble beneath them. Swallowing hard, she clutched at the satchel on her hip to prevent it from bouncing against her so much as she ran.
A strum of a lute carried through the trees as Pidge pushed back into the forest. Hunk . She wondered what type of spell he could be casting with his instrument. She leapt over a bush like a hurdle and heard the branches give as her party mates forced their way through. The footsteps were growing louder, and she could hear the clash of metal against flesh to join them.
“There!” Keith shouted as they came to the edge of the forest again. A meadow spread before them — the same one Pidge and Shiro had travelled through the day before. A flash of lightning illuminated the area, and they saw three figures surrounding the source of the roars and crashing footsteps. An ogre nearly the height of the Green Lion took a long, sweeping swing of his club, narrowly missing its targets.
Keith sprinted ahead, Pidge and Matt followed, and Shiro took off last. Cheese swept past his ear with a drawn-out screech.
Pidge dropped her satchel to the grass as she neared. “Guys!” she called. Lance looked back to her at her shout and a relieved look washed over him. A smudge of blood adorned the left side of his forehead.
Keith charged the ogre at the same time as Allura. Both landed leaping blows to its side and back and it let out another angered roar.
Shiro watched as Hunk pulled his lute around to the front of his body and hurriedly strummed out a tune again. He felt a warmth course through his body and paused at Hunk’s side when he swung the instrument to his back again, trading it for a new shortbow.
“That’ll give you about five minutes of increased attack power,” Hunk shouted.
Shiro nodded in understanding and hurried to summon a fireball. To his surprise, the blaze formed much more quickly and the result was larger. He launched it at the ogre with a cry but missed by a foot. He ran past Matt to get out of the ogre’s field of vision and charge up another attack.
Matt had his arms stretched toward the stormy sky and his eyes glowed a bright white. He didn’t say a word, but after a few seconds, a dark cloud appeared on the horizon and grew steadily larger. Cheese swooped past his ear and dove at their foe, scratching at the ogre’s broad and meaty shoulders with long, thick claws.
In a moment, the cloud had approached. A swarm of bats followed Cheese’s command to swipe back and forth across the ogre’s body. They flew away to regroup and Cheese let out long screeches to command them.
“Pidge, we’ll get behind it and attack,” Lance yelled against the sound of increased rainfall. Pidge squinted through the stream of water running over her face and nodded. “Have you figured out the guided attack, yet?”
Pidge remembered fighting the serpentine creature with Shiro and Keith earlier, and the feeling she got when she’d finished it off — like falling, but in control.
“Kinda!”
“Choose a spot to attack and focus. You’ll be drawn in and land a decent strike.” Lance pushed some water from his eyes with an impatient palm. He twirled his sickle in his right hand. “You think you can get up its back near the neck? You’re decent at climbing.”
Pidge chewed her bottom lip for a second before she gave Lance a confident nod. He nodded back and gave her an encouraging grin before he turned to look at the ogre. Allura and Keith were at its heels, dodging its club while they tried to land attacks at its legs.
“I’ll try and go for its wrist and see if I can get it to drop its weapon,” Lance said. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“On three.”
Pidge focused her eyes best she could through the mist and rain. She found her target right at the base of its neck. She twirled her daggers in her hands once before gripping them tightly.
“One.”
Shiro was using his flamethrower attack again.
“Two.”
A barrage of arrows came from Hunk, and one struck its target in the ogre’s face. It writhed and roared, and Allura landed a hit on its calf. It still stood upright, though. Pidge bent her knees and dug her bare toes into the muddy grass.
“Three!”
She and Lance took off. She had to sprint at an angle to get around to its back side, but she was fast. She could do it. Not once did she let her eyes off her target, and she relied on her friends to get out of her way as she ran if need be. She felt the wind from Cheese’s wings as he swooped in for another attack, and the heat from Shiro’s flamethrower.
She heard a yell from Lance and the ogre cried out — a hoarse scream more than a yell. A crash and a splash came next, and her heart leapt to her throat. Did Lance manage to make it drop its weapon?
A few more steps and she leapt. She used her momentum to scurry up the ogre’s back, not daring to take her eyes from her target at the base of its neck. One, two, three more steps, and Pidge swung her right arm with a scream. It made contact with thick flesh, and it took more effort than she’d expected to drag it through. Her left arm whipped around for a follow up attack as soon as the first dagger was freed, and she was ready to jump away when she felt a jerk at the back of her neck.
“Ahhh!” She was pulled into the air by the collar of her vest. Her dagger was left behind inside the ogre’s flesh, and the one still clutched in her right hand threatened to fly from her grasp as she was swung through the pouring rain. She heard her friends yelling below, but couldn’t make out words as the wind whipped across her ears. She grunted as she abruptly changed directions, and was suddenly let go, flying, limbs flailing, through the air.
“PIDGE!” Shiro’s voice screamed before she landed on the slick ground with a crack and a thud.
Everything went dark.