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Chapter Text

Hi all! This is my first Voltron fanfiction but Im so excited for future events in the fic. This fanfiction will follow the story line of the show, but I will add new events to keep the story moving and you all on your toes hehehe. There are several made up planets and creatures in here, but because it's Voltron, they will sound real (for the show lol). I will also not be including several episodes, but I will hint that happened. This is so that there wont be any chapters where absolutely nothing important happens. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading it! And there will be some swearing.

Disclaimer: I am not 9 lol

Also to avoid confusion, chapter 1 starts on a made up planet, and it takes place just after the episode when the Paladins and Allura save the Balmera in season one!

Disclaimer: I do not own votron or any of its characters (Y/N) is pretty much my OC, but as you lol. And if you haven't seen the show you really should bc its awesome!

SEASON 6 HYPE JUNE 16

(Y/N) - Your name
(L/N) - Last name
(N/N) - Nickname
(H/C) - Hair color
(H/L) - Hair length
(E/C) - Eye color

Chapter Text

The new Paladins of Voltron once again successfully free a peaceful planet from Galran control. They had stayed for several days helping to reorganize the people of Taleria and return daily life to the peaceful way it was centuries before. They helped rebuild the cities and families. The Paladins worked to inspire strength among the people.

On the day before the Paladins were scheduled to leave the planet, Shiro and Allura had another meeting with the new leaders to discuss future courses of action. Hunk stayed behind to "help Coran with the ship." That just left three Paladins, Pidge, Lance and Keith, so they decided just to kill time in public common areas.

They walked through the streets of the newly freed capitol city. Both children and adults were smiling truly happy smiles for the first time in years, decades for some. This was the first planet team Voltron had liberated since the Balmera.

Keith followed loosely behind Pidge and Lance, lost in his thoughts and blankly staring around the marketplace.  He was ripped from his thoughts as Lance stopped abruptly and Keith almost ran into him. He shook off the thought of how embarrassing it would have been when everyone's attention would have immediately been drawn to him. The teen walked to Pidge's side to see what had almost caused a collision between the three of them. The Paladins were looking at a 1990's model astronaut helmet - from Earth.

"Where did you get this," Pidge asked the Talerian merchant, seeming befuddled and amazed.

"Things get lost in space all the time. My family history is a long line of scavengers and traders, so I have bunker full of just about anything you can think of."

As their conversation continued, Keith's eyes went back to scanning the area.  He had been on edge all day, but did not understand what was causing it.  His eyes found their way looking quite a ways to his left where he spotted something that should not have been on that planet.  A human girl was conversing with a merchant several stalls down.  She wore a top that could not have been considered armor - it hugged her sides and had extra material on the shoulders giving it more texture. It was grey with purple as a secondary color.

Why is there another human this far away from Earth...unless

"Pidge, Lance. I think we have company," Keith said aloud. He nodded accusingly in the direction of the girl. There was hostility in his eyes and aggression in his eyes.

"Holy shit, what? A human," Pidge quietly exclaimed. "You thinking another Galra experiment or whatever?" She asked Keith.

"I'm thinking whatever she's doing can't be good." Keith's voice must have traveled farther than he'd intended as the girl immediately looked their direction and bolted in the opposite. "And there's your proof," Keith ran after her with Lance on his heels. The four humans quickly maneuvered through the crowds and buildings. With the distance between the girl and the Paladins decreasing, the girl made a successful attempt to slow down the Paladins. With one swift motion, she grabbed hold of a pole and launched herself to a neighboring alleyway. Upon her landing, she kept close to the ground - under the heads of the crowds - hoping to confuse the Paladins.

Keith cursed as he activated his jetpack. Before landing, he looked ahead. They were almost out of the city, and they'd easily be able to catch the stranger.

"Pidge hurry up! She's getting away!" Keith scolded her.

"I'm trying! My legs aren't as long as yours!"

Almost got you

The edge of the city gave way to scattered trees. They had lost sight of the girl. The three Paladins unleashed their bayards and looked in every direction but she was nowhere.

"Where the hell did she go" Pidge called out. And just as if that were her cue, the grey and purple-wearing girl swung from a nearby tree, landing both feet directly in Lance's chest. Keith snickered to himself as that was greatest thing he'd seen all day. He focused and activated his bayard as the girl started running towards him. Pidge, who had moved to Keith's side, pulled up her bayard and fired the grappling mechanism. The girl's agility outmatched Pidge's maneuver as she jumped to her left just as it passed by her. As she did, the girl grabbed the rope of the weapon and pulled Pidge off of her feet.

"So you're the one with the sword," she cocked her head slightly to side and held her chin high.

Great so this one talks while she fights

The girl reached behind her back and pulled out a metallic stick about the length of her arm. She gripped it defensively and the stick extended to a bo staff 5 1/2 feet long. The girl had a smirk plastered to her face, angering Keith. The two melee fighters both took their defensive positions and slowly stepped closer together. Their eyes locked as if they were competing in a life or death staring contest. The two kept advancing until they were about two feet apart. Randomly, the girl gave a slight chuckle that was hardly audible. Keith was extremely confused by this, but he just gripped his sword tighter as the message in the girl's eyes changed. Once again, at the very last second, the stranger bolted to the side as Lance crashed into Keith causing the two boys to tumble onto the ground.

"Get off me!" Keith yelled before jumping to his feet. He looked to the girl who was now locked in combat with Pidge.  "She's been separating us to try and take us down one by one," Keith told Lance as the girl launched Pidge towards them.

"Who is this girl?" Pidge yelled.

"We have to act fast," Keith began to spill out a plan. "Pidge, fire your hook to grab her weapon, I'll attack head on. Lance, you flank her and shoot from behind. Oh and try not to hit me," Keith gave a lighthearted sigh as he ran to intercept the girl.

"But I don't want to hurt a girl!"

"Lance, if you think like that, you're gonna get a whole lot more fists to the face idiot!" Pidge exclaimed.

Pidge's attack was unsuccessful, but Keith was on the offensive now. He pulled down his sword to the girl's bo staff. She held her staff defensively, but seemed to struggle beneath Keith's strength. The smirk returned to her face, then faltered as if she were losing an internal war. In a shaky, lowered voice, the girl begged, "hit the side of my neck, please."  It was like a completely different person from the one he was fighting. Just as quickly as the first time, the girl switched back to an enemy.  She angled her staff down to left causing Keith to slightly lose his balance as his sword fell abruptly.  The girl then swung the end of her weapon hitting Keith on his helmet, throwing him to the ground. 

Hit her neck? What the hell does that mean?!

Keith decided he'd give it shot. The girl was distracted kicking Lance's ass, so he took the opportunity and moved in. Right as Keith neared the girl, she spun around to face him, but she was to late. Keith already had his fist moving to the side of her neck. Her expression calmed and eyes closed.

When Keith's fist landed, the girl fell to her knees, death gripping her bo staff and occasionally shrieked in pain until she fell unconscious, and the weapon fell from her hands. The three Paladins stepped back in shock. "It must be some kind of controlling, shock collar kind of...thing" Lance, trying to sound smart, failed.

"It appears like she was brainwashed, maybe by the Galra? They could have If we brought her back to the ship, I think the stasis pods and I could get the Galra—"

"Wait, Pidge, I do not think thats a good idea. She was just trying to kill us," Keith argued. Even though she had told Keith how to take her down, that does not make her good.

"There is still some humanity in her. We saw that when she told you where to hit her, and I don't know if you noticed this part, she was raising her weapon to attack you again but stopped herself and took the blow. I think she deserves a chance. Oh and she might be able to give us information about Galra activity," Pidge countered him.

"Yeah, thats doesn't sound to bad," Lance said with a flirty tone in his voice.

"I still don't like it," the red Paladin glared at the unconscious girl on the ground. Begrudgingly, Keith gave in, "fine, but Lance has to carry her."

"Well, its not like you're punishing him," Pidge laughed slightly.

"I don't care, lets just get back to the ship!" He raised his voice and stormed off back to the ship. Pidge and Lance with the girl following behind. 

 
~

Thank you all so much again for reading! Btw the purple of your clothes doesn't have any major significant meaning, its just my favorite color.

Chapter Text

By the time Keith Lance and Pidge returned to the ship with the girl, all the other paladins had returned as well and were ready to head out. Pidge explained to everyone what had happened, while Allura prepared a healing pod for the girl. Shiro placed her in the pod, and a silence like glass settled over the team. The whole team had gathered to participate in the argument that was highly likely to unfold then and there.

"I think she should join the team," Pidge declared breaking the silence and everyone's eyes were directed to her.

"You can't be serious," Keith argued.

Pidge turned to look him in the eyes, giving him her scary dead serious look. "If she hadn't told you about the failsafe electrocution thing, we would have needed Voltron to take her down," Pidge turned back to face everyone. "She's a weapon. If we can get her on our side, not only are we increasing our strength, but we would be hurting the Galra man power significantly." The short girl brought up.

"Yeah I don't know, man. Pidge has a point," Lance said dreamily.

"Lance, shut up! You're opinion is biased. Someone please see that keeping her here, let alone joining the team, is a bad idea. What if you can't get the Galra out of her head? She'll attack."

"Well, we know how to take her down temporarily. And if we can't fix her, we'll take her to a restriction facility," Allura tried being the middleman.

"Keith remember, the girl you fought is likely one of the Druids' experiments. If that was me, would you throw me out into space, or try to get me on your side. She - whoever she is - is still human, and will fight the aliens who enslaved her," Shiro explained the other side of the situation to Keith.

"Shiro you cant be serious. She tried to kill us," Keith was on the verge of raging.

Shiro, recognizing the anger coursing through the Red is Paladin, placed his hand on Keith's shoulder, attempting to calm down the red armored fire ball. "Yes, but she told you how to almost kill her." Keith only grunted and looked away in response. "Then it's settled. Pidge, what do you plan to do?" Shiro progressed the conversation.

"I can look at her brain activity to locate whatever is making her a 'bad guy' so to say. Then, probably needing Allura's help, I can reverse that mental programming and make her, well, human again."

"Do everything you can. And make sure she stays under until you're done, and doesn't have any type of tracker on her," Shiro concluded and the team dispersed.

"Hunk, help me get my equipment" Pidge requested. The two of them left the room, leaving Keith alone with the unconscious teen. He glared at her seemingly lifeless form. He looked into her closed eyes with confusion. He could not understand what the rest of the team saw in her. She was an enemy weapon. Keith didn't care what the others said; he didn't trust her. This would not end well for any of the Paladins.

~

Keith was in the training room when the girl woke up. She had been unconscious for three days. Pidge spent the first 8 or 9 hours just watching the brain activity. At one point she asked Lance to get in a pod, so she could compare the activity side by side.  The second day of working with the girl, Shiro had to drag Pidge away from her equipment for her to sleep.

"But, I need to get her to wake up!" Pidge protested violently. "I have so many questions to ask her!"

On the third day, Pidge and Allura worked for hours until they finally succeeded. They called everyone to the pod room before they opened the girl's pod.

When the rest of the team arrived, Pidge opened the pod, and the front dissolved like magic, leaving the pod open and exposed. Allura and Coran stood side by side with a professional stature in the center of the room. Pidge sat with her legs crossed right next to the pod, fiddling with her computer. Shiro and Hunk stood on the opposite side of the pod than Pidge, and they were at the bottom of the small stairs encircling the room. Lance stood directly in front of the pod, hoping the girl would fall out of the pod, like Allura had. Keith, on the other hand, was at the far end of the room leaning against the wall with one leg pulled up to the wall giving more support. As he had come to the room straight from the training deck, Keith still wasn't wearing his signature jacket. He had it slung over his shoulder and loosely holding it with his right hand.

As Lance predicted, the girl did fall out of the pod, but quickly regained her strength and footing. Lance still held her at the arms while she looked around. The girls eyes were moving a million miles an hour trying to take in everything they came across.

"Um, hi," Pidge welcomed the girl, struggling to contain her excited urge to question the girl.

Shiro then chimed in to actually allay her definite confusion. "I know you must have questions. My name is Shiro. This is Hunk, the one behind you is Pidge. These two behind me are Princess Allura and Coran. They're Alteans. This is the Castle of Lions." Shiro pointed to the respective person as he introduced them.

"I'm Lance..and the mullet sulking in the back is Keith." Lance's tone transformed from flirty to ambivalent.

The girl took a shaky deep breath as she took in even more information at once. "I.. my name is Y/N L/N. What happened? How long has it been? I..I...I don't-" panic began to rise in her voice and the Paladins quickly took notice.

"There's nothing you have to worry about anymore. The Galra messed with your head to get you to fight for them or something, but we got that out of you. You're safe," Shiro reassured her. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Only...bits and pieces. I remember the Druids," Y/N held the back of her head. "And, oh my god! I am so sorry!" Her eyes wide in disbelief and fear.

Lance laughed slightly, "uh if you're talking about when we ran into each other on Taleria, don't worry about it. You didn't kill us, and we know that it wasn't you"

Y/N smiled and sighed in relief. "Well, thank you."

"That's enough standing around here. You must be hungry," Allura moved the conversation to the mess hall where Paladins told Y/N about their mission to take down the Galra Empire. They explained the Lions and Voltron as they ate their food goo. The team answered all of Y/N's questions to the best of their ability for the rest of the evening. Before everyone dispersed, Shiro asked Pidge to give Y/N a quick tour of the main areas of the castle, and give her the spare room near Pidge's.

Pidge showed Y/N to the lounge and other common break areas, the training room, the holodeck, the Lion Hangars, and every other important place location in the castle.

"Everything here is so much brighter than on the Galra ships. I like this."

The two girls walked side by side talking about everything and nothing as if they'd been life-long friends. After probably half an hour, the Pidge and Y/N reach the Quarters Hall.

"Is there anything you remember - other than the Druids and kicking our asses," Pidge laughed (a real laugh) to lighten the mood.

"No, I can't remember anything. Not even from before the Galra captured me. I remember Earth, but nothing about my childhood or my family," Y/N told Pidge longingly.

"We can be your family now," Pidge gave a friendly smile. "Well, this is your room. I guess this is where the tour ends. Need anything?"

"Uh, I'm ok. Thank you," Y/N walked in the room and looked around taking in the surroundings.

"My room the just down the hall on the right.. if you ever need anything or just wanna talk. Its good to have another girl on the team. Anyway, good night."

Y/N only smiled in response as Pidge left. The girl sat on the floor semi-flabbergasted. For so long, she had been a prisoner of the Galra, sleeping in an unfurnished, metal cell every night. "This, this is mine?" The girl was so overwhelmed. She only had vague memories of her life on the Galra ships, and now everything had been completely reversed. While the fact that she couldn't remember her past bothered her immensely, she believed that she could get past that.

The girl relocated to laying down comfortably on her bed. With the lights off, Y/N stared peacefully at the ceiling. Suddenly, the girl was stabbed with a overwhelming sensation of doubt. What if they're working with the Galra? What if they're worse than the Galra? What if all these bright welcoming lights are just a cover up for what they really do here? Y/N panicked. She sat up and hugged her bare knees in distress. The girl wanted to trust them, but her mind told her it would just lead to more pain and suffering. "But they seem like good people; like they're telling the truth. Ok, I'll make a deal myself, if things started heading downhill I'll hit the escape pods. Pidge showed me where they are," Y/N said quietly to herself.

The girl let her mind wander to the new faces she'd met, evaluating what she'd seen of their personalities. Allura seemed like a mom and Coran seemed like the crazy uncle that everyone loves. Hunk seemed caring and sweet and sometimes afraid, but beneath he seemed brave. Lance was...something. He seemed nice, but if he continued to flirt with the girl, she knew it would get old real quick. Pidge, Y/N liked her. She had only just met her a couple of hours ago, but she guessed that both of them being girls made it easier for her trust her more. She acted like a sister to Y/N. So open and caring. The girl smiled to herself as if she was reminiscing childhood memories. Her mind then wandered to Shiro. The strong leader had endured the torture of the Druids as well. Despite his pain, he was so understanding, patient, kind. He tried to hide how much pain he was really in, but Y/N saw straight through him.
Unlike the other Paladins, the red one, Keith, she couldn’t tell much about him. He never spoke a word and plastered an unreadable expression to his face. Y/N couldn’t tell if he didn’t like her or if he didn’t know what to think either. She put Keith aside a focused on the whole team.

Everything was going to be ok. The Paladins were her family now.

~

Chapter Text

Y/N awoke after a long restful night. Unaware of the time, the girl got to her feet and walked to a small dresser with two deep drawers on the far side of the room.  There were a couple pairs of loose grey shorts, leggings, tank tops, and big sweaters. She opened the second drawer, and was looking at a set of purple armor which looked very similar to her own.
Y/N was still wearing the white healing pod suit; she just hadn't bothered to look for or ask for a different change of clothes. The girl stripped, keeping the undergarments, and pulled on a grey tank top and purple accented pants.

Y/N walked out of her room into the corridor, and headed for the mess hall.

"Perfect timing," a voice behind her called as she closed the door. Y/N spun around in surprise to see Shiro rounding a corner walking towards her. He his tight black tee hugged his biceps, a feature Y/N had not noticed the day before. Her eyes widened for a split second then returned to normal hoping he hadn't caught her gaze.

"Shiro, hi! Good morning," Y/N tried as hard as she could not to sound socially awkward.

"Good morning Y/N," he smiled, "you hungry?"

"Famished," she laughed, relieved.

~

The rest of the team had just arrived as Shiro and Y/N walked in. Pidge's eyes lit up like stars as if she had something that she desperately wanted to do. The team talked and argued about the most random and unimportant of topics; it calmed Y/N to be a part of human teenager-style conversations.

"Pidge fine! What do you desperately need to get off your chest," Lance said, his tone sinister in a joking manner. The young girl hadn't expressed her particularly overly-excited mood during the meal, but everyone could tell she was waiting for something.

Pidge laughed slightly before saying, "as we all know the newest member of Team Voltron doesn't have a bayard however, Keith, Lance, and I first hand experienced how talented of a soldier, fighter, person she is. Which is why I took the liberty of making a few modifications to her bo staff," the youngest member sparked the attention of everyone. "Oh! And one more thing, Y/N doesn't have a Lion and we cannot throw her into space with just a jet pack. Which is why I think we should build her a mech, like a titan or something, so that she doesn't.. you know... go crazy,"

"One thing at a time Pidge," Shiro chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm.

Y/N was already thrilled. The team split up to change into their combat suits. Then Y/N would meet Pidge in the Green Lion's Hangar to get the weapon, and Pidge would give her a quick explanation of additional features she added. The rest of the team would wait in the training deck.

~

With Pidge's modifications, the girl's bo staff could split into two pieces. She added small blades which fold out along the edges of the weapon to portray a double bladed lightsaber - just without the lightsaber part. Another function with the blades is folding out from the top and bottom of the weapon to portray a spear. When the blades are retracted, one function causes electricity to flow through the ends. The middle of the staff was a different material with a grippy fabric, making it easy and safe to hold.

Pidge also made slight modifications to the girl's armor. The armor's appearance was almost the exact same; now the armor extended to cover all of her arms. Pidge added a shield and made it space proof with a helmet.

The two girls parted ways at the training room. Pidge hauled ass to the observatory platform above as Y/N walked through the doors to the training deck. She gripped her weapon excitedly, ready to try it out.

Keith stood with his arms crossed in the observatory platform. He was annoyed that Shiro had forced him to be there. It was just a training session - for the girl who had tried to kill them no less.

Keith set aside his thoughts for the time being as Allura started the Gladiator simulation. The girl's eyes scanned the entire area, not knowing what to expect. The mech dropped from the trap door in the ceiling just as countless others before it had. Keith watched as the sword-wielding mech charged towards the girl, but she easily outmaneuvered it. She leaned just slightly to the right to dodge the sword. As it swiped diagonally across the empty space where Y/N had been mere seconds prior, the girl pulled the end of her weapon to connect with the mech's face like an uppercut. She quickly followed through, releasing the side blades, she wasted no time in slicing the mech clean in half. It disintegrated and the simulation ended.

"That was outstanding," Lance praised.

"Its level one," Keith retorted, not in the least bit impressed.

Allura increased the difficulty, but the ease with which Y/N defeated the mechs did not decline.

"Fascinating, she seems to be adapting to the new functions as if she's always had them. She's a natural with melee weapons," Pidge gaped in awe as Y/N destroyed another mech.

"Ok Y/N," Allura spoke over the intercom. "This may prove to be more difficult."

The Altean princess began the simulation. Another mech dropped from the ceiling, but, unlike the previous gladiators, this one wielded a rifle. Keith was subconsciously drawn to the intensity of the training match.

Keith stepped closer to the glass separating him from the training room. The mech opened fire towards the girl with 50 feet of space between the two. The teen girl raised her new shield. Keeping her head down and extremities close as to not stray outside the shield, she charged straight at the mech. When she neared the mech she lowered the shield, dodged to the left, and as the mech followed her with a trail of training bullets, Y/N gripped her bo staff blocking the bullets which would have come into contact with her. She continued blocking and dodging as she advanced across the little distance which remained. She dove forward and somersaulted just behind the mech and stabbed through its back with the spear blade.

Keith could no longer contain how impressed he was as his eyes widened to violet golf balls. He had never seen skills as honed as his own before.

...Maybe

He shook himself from those virtually inconceivable thoughts. Keith's violet orbs met the girl's E/C ones, and he suddenly realized he was watching with great interest. The others noticed this behavior as well, but they said nothing and he ignored them.

"Excellent work today Y/N. That will be all for today, meet us in the lounge," Allura dismissed everyone from the training deck.

Keith was relieved that Allura had learned humans have a limit. The Paladins made their way to the lounge, and the girl was right behind them. Keith waited for the girl to sit, then he sat on the opposite side of the room. The team released a shower of praising comments, admiration of her skill.

Shiro entered the room with a water pouch for Y/N. As Shiro sat down, Lance asked, "where did you learn to fight like that?"

The smile on Y/N's face faded slightly, "...probably from the Galra." The mood which hung in the air immediately became tense.

"You still can't remember anything?" Pidge asked sympathetically.

The girl leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees, and she shook her head. "Nothing other than the living conditions." Her gaze was directed to her feet, and the girl squinted slightly trying - to no avail - to remember... anything.

"We don't need to be worrying about that now. You're one of us now," Shiro smiled assuringly. Shiro had a certain aura about him which could always calm the girl.

During dinner, Allura asked Y/N how she had been adjusting to life in the Castle of Lions.

"Nothing short of what I expected, but Pidge's tour of the castle last night helped immensely. Now I at least know where I'm going," the girl laughed. "But, I love this place. It may be my lack of being anywhere else, but oh well."  This sparked laughter in all the Paladins.

~
Whelp I cant end chapters

Chapter Text

About a week had passed since the girl had joined Team Voltron.  She and Pidge spent nearly all day everyday working on the Titan for Y/N until they were almost finished. With occasional help from Hunk, the project progressed efficiently. The Paladins frequently stopped by the Green Lion hangar to check up on the girls' progress and to see if they needed anything. Shiro and Lance had to drag the two of them away from the partially completed mech twice so that they would eat something.

In the passing days, Y/N didn't see much of Keith. He was always either in the training room or on the Holodeck. This didn't really bother the girl as she enjoyed herself plenty when hanging out with Pidge, Shiro, or anyone else.

One morning, while Pidge and Y/N were adding the final touches to the Titan, Allura called everyone to the Holodeck. She informed the Paladins (you're a Paladin too congrats) that they were nearing a Galra controlled planet, and we're going to liberate it.

"Paladins, get to your Lions! Or in Y/N's case, your Titan," Allura dismissed. "I will tell you when we arrive, then exit the hangars."

They reached their respective combat/flight capsule and awaited orders.

"Alright Team Voltron," Shiro called attention with his strong, commanding voice over the coms. "We'll be arriving at the planet minute. We need a plan. As soon as we get out of the wormhole, Allura and Coran scan the system for Galra battle ships orbiting the planet as well as ships within the atmosphere. We'll need to take out ships off the planet immediately.

"By the time they realize whats going on, the ships will already be destroyed and won't have time to release fighters," Lance exclaimed proudly as if the plan was his idea.

"Exactly. We'll have to move quickly after that; any Galra forces that may be in the atmosphere will surely notice by then. Our primary objective is to keep the fight away from the planet, keep it in space. Lance, and Y/N, you enter the atmosphere and direct all forces to space where the rest of us will be waiting. Make sure they notice you.!" A slight smirk spread across Y/N's face.

"Get ready Paladins," Allura's voice called over the coms. "We're leaving the wormhole now."

The Paladins flew out of the hangars and took off into space. Just as Shiro predicted, there were several ships outside the atmosphere orbiting a nearby planet.

That must be the one

"Team Voltron, engage!" Shiro ordered once the team was in range, and the ships were destroyed in seconds.

"Alright!" Lance celebrated with excessive enthusiasm.

"Don't celebrate just yet," Y/N warned. "We've got incoming from the planet." The girl put her Titan into a nose dive with Lance close behind. There were no war ships in the atmosphere, but there were hundreds of fighter pods heading their way.

"This'll be of cake."

"Y/N hi, by the way, please leave some for us," Hunk joked in a manner one would normally not expect from him.

"Oh don't worry about not having any fun. There's plenty for everyone," the girl laughed as she dodged out of the path of a plasma cannon.

Everyone stuck to the plan, and soon nearly all Galra forces were destroyed. Morale was high.

"Oh no"

"Oh no?! What's oh no? What's going on up there?" Y/N asked as she destroyed another fighter.

"Galra reinforcements! A lot of them to!"

The coms exploded with not so confident comments.

"Lance, we need Voltron!" Shiro ordered as calmly as he could, the direness of the situation evident in his voice.

"Go! I can handle it down here," the girl gave an order of her own. She knew that if the situation was as dire as everyone was making it sound, they needed Voltron more than she needed Lance.

Shortly after this the Galra began to do what they'd been trying to avoid. "Hey, you guys almost done up there?"

"Hard to tell, what's going on?" Shiro answered her.

"The Galra are starting to target the cities," the newest Paladin redirected her Titan to intercept the fighters.

"Hold them off as long as you can, but don't take any risks!" Shiro ordered with intense emphasis on the last part.

No promises.

Y/N quickly scanned the city which she presumed was the capital. Most life forms were below the surface which gave the girl immediate relief. The part that stressed her out though was there were life forms above ground and the fighter were heading straight for them. After a split second evaluation of the outcomes, Y/N determined that if she were to shoot down the fighters they would ended up crashing into or near the civilians. But it was her best option. She shot down the fighters, but instead of hitting the civilians, the fighters crashed into the base of a tall building near the civilians. It began to lean.

Shit thats worse!

Y/N boosted the engine of her Titan to reach the civilians, but by the time she reached them, it was almost to late to do anything. She covered them completely, shielding them from the falling building. She struggled to keep the Titan from collapsing which would surely crush the civilians underneath.

"Ok Y/N, we're on our way. Where are you?"

"Um, look for smoke and fallen building. Please hurry, I don't know how....much longer... I can keep... this up." She could hear the disappointment screaming at her through the silence.

Not much time passed before, the Lions unburied Y/N and her Titan. They tried to get Y/N to move her Titan, but she objected strongly.

"Nope, no. Civies first," the girl argued. No one argued back, Lance exited his Lion to escort the civilians away from the dangerous location.

~

After speaking with the planet's leaders and a little clean up, Team Voltron returned to the Castle of Lions. Y/N was the last one to arrive in the Holodeck from her hangar. She was met by an overprotective-looking Shiro.

"I told you not to take any risks!"

"Yeah, well. I didn't listen to you," Y/N huffed with low key sass. Then, with a more professional tone, "any risk which could result in fewer civilian casualties, is always a risk worth taking."

Her response brought a smile to Shiro's face. "Nice work out there today, go get something to eat."

The girl left the Holodeck and Shiro turned to Keith. "So what, she had a bad first impression. Keith you know that wasn't her that you were fighting that day."

"Yes, Shiro. That seems to be the only thing I've been hearing for a week. I don't know man, its... its not the fight that has me on edge around her now. I just have this feeling about her, I don't know how to describe it. But, this feeling... I hate it, I don't trust it. I don’t trust her," Keith shared his thoughts on the matter for the first time.

"Well," Shiro put an arm around Keith's shoulders. "Today she ran under a falling building to protect civilians and wouldn't get out from under the building until all of the people were out. You judged her evil the moment you laid eyes on Y/N. Give her chance. Maybe she's not as bad as you think," with that Shiro left the room; leaving Keith alone with his thoughts.

~

Y/N spent that evening in the training room. She was forcing herself to spend an entire match using only one function of the staff. Little did she know Keith was watching her from the observation platform. He admitted that her fighting style and techniques were impressive, but thats not what he was wanting to find out. Ever since they brought her to the Castle, he'd ignored her entire presence. He had believed she would turn on them, and wanted the other Paladins to realize that. The others saw something in the girl that was undetectable by Keith. But the girl made Keith feel someway he couldn't describe; he couldn't discern what the feeling was and this annoyed him more than anything. Thats why he stood in above the training room watching Y/N. He hoped this would help him name the feeling, and then he would ignore it.

The girl had been running the simulations for over half an hour. She was impressed by the Gladiators, the only training match she'd been in that was as immersive as this, was against actual people. Out of nowhere, her vision suddenly turned white and still images of a large mass of people flashed across her eyes. The images were barely discernible as it looked like a flashlight was being shone on a glossy picture. Almost just as suddenly as the images appeared, they were rashly jerked away and pain surged through the girl's body as she slammed into the ground.

The gladiator had thrown her halfway across the room while she was temporarily incapacitated. Y/N's weapon had been thrown from her hands as well, so she struggled to maintain her balance as she climbed to her feet. About halfway to her feet, her eyes regained complete focus just in time to see the gladiator take another swing at her. With no time to come up with a plan, Y/N was once again thrown across the room. While in midair, the images returned accompanied by a sharp pain through her chest. She saw a still image of four tall, cloaked figures surrounding her. She had no way of protecting herself against the gladiator with the images flashing in and out of her mind.

"End.." the girl tried to get out the words, but couldn't get to it. "End.....end..."

~

Chapter Text

Keith had no idea what was going on. He manually shut down the simulation, called Shiro to help, then ran to the training floor.

She was hunched over on the floor on her hands and knees. The girl held her head in the palm of her hand, her eyes wide open, but didn't seem to be focusing on anything in particular. Keith ran to her side. "Y/N what's going on with you?" A hint of concern was just barely noticeable in his voice. The girl's heavy, uncontrolled breathing reflected the panic inside of her. Keith didn't know what to do. Keith reluctantly placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, and she was ripped from whatever was torturing her behind her eyes. Shiro ran through the doors at that moment. Keith turned his gaze back to Y/N, and, despite still breathing heavily, the girl looked much better.

"Y/N!" Shiro called, expressing the concern which the younger boy would not. "Keith told me you were going crazy; are you ok?"

Unable to produce complete words, Y/N held her hand horizontally and shook it side to side, indicating that she has been better.

The two boys took Y/N to the infirmary where they met Pidge who was already setting up equipment to hopefully find out what Y/N's shut-down was. The girl sat down on a table and hugged her knees to her chest while Pidge finished typing up the programming.

Keith, as usual, wasn't much help when it came to the mentally and emotionally damaged. He leaned against the wall awkwardly, not knowing if he should leave and let Shiro and Pidge handle it, or stay and do... something. He noticed the girl hugging her knees and looking blankly at the adjacent tables. She stared wide eyed - lost in deep thought. Should he walk over to her? Keith pushed himself off the wall, but backed down thinking he'd just be in the way.

After mulling over the decision in his mind several times, the boy gave in. Keith looked to the ceiling and released a quiet, long exasperated sigh. He loosely stuck his hands in his pockets as he slowly - and reluctantly - trudged towards the girl. The girl never altered her gaze. Keith reached the bedside and placed an ambivalent hand on her shoulder. The boy mirrored Y/N's previous expression while the girl quickly darted her attention to Keith. She looked at the teenager's face and noticed something different than the usual annoyed and occasionally angry expression. She couldn't quite name what she saw. Definitely not kindness; maybe concern? Softness? Possibly a hint of empathy.

Pidge approached the two Paladins which marked Keith's chance to leave not awkwardly. As he walked away, Pidge and Shiro started talking to her, but Y/N didn't hear a word of it. She was to focused on the complete change of heart in Keith. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought.

~

The next day, the team gathered to help decipher Y/N's visions. Pidge had given the girl a strong space sedative, so she could sleep peacefully without having to watch the torturous visions.  The girl's visions were projected through a holographic image. Shiro recognized the cloaked figures surrounding her as Druids, the same ones who had tortured and experimented on him.

"These must be your memories," Allura told the girl. "Flashbacks of the last, well, however long you were with the Galra. Fortunately, they should become more vivid, and also less frequent as time goes on."

Relieved by this news, the team relaxed, and returned to their normal daily routines. Y/N joined Lance, Shiro, and Coran on the Holodeck. Hunk and Pidge headed to the Yellow Lion's hangar to study the dark power crystal Sendak had connected to the ship. And Keith headed to the training deck to clear his mind.

~

On the training deck, Keith activated the simulation. He kept the Gladiator at a relatively low level, so he could be lost in thought and still fight without having his ass handed to him.

Keith started to fight and let his mind wander to the recent events of Team Voltron. After saving the Balmera, they had gotten a new team member, who had tried to kill them the first time they met. Said new team member got new armor and a battle mech. She risked her life saving civilians, then came back and almost got herself killed in a training simulation.

I guess, with what Allura said, she'll be ok once the flashbacks stop.

Keith couldn't stop thinking about the night before. He pulled up his sword defensively to block the Gladiator's swing, and cursed himself for thinking them. He shook these thoughts from his head. He shouldn't even care about the girl. She had tried to kill him. He didn't care that the others thought she'd "redeemed" herself, she's getting everyone to let their guard down and as soon as they do, she'll take that opportunity to attack again. These flashbacks are just going to be an annoyance.

~
ok guys sorry for the pretty short chapter. But exciting things happen in the next chapter. It should be up by the end of the week!