#arusians

Standing, Blue could only watch as the mecha stuttered towards Caleb. A boulder had Blue's tail pinned to the ground. 

Caleb wasn't responding, and neither was the Lion. 

The mecha approached the lava lake and took a clumsy step towards the pillar. The sporadic geysers erupted around the foot of the mecha, unbalancing it. It quickly regained its balance, reaching the edges of the lake and swung an oversized arm. It missed the pillar completely, hitting the space above Red's head. Kova braced herself on the railing. Her knuckles were turning white as she begged for Caleb to open his eyes and fly out of there. 

The mecha was preparing to swing again. A blast to the head threw it off balance. Green flew above the mecha, firing another blast while Yellow headbutted the rock pile holding Blue down. Together, Yellow and Blue roared, getting the mecha's attention. Yellow went for the mecha's legs. Blue flew towards Green and fired at the mecha's head. The gray mechanical beast swung an oversized limb towards the lions. It missed again. 

Closing all channels of communication, Kova connected only to Caleb. The poor boy was still slumped over in his seat. 

"Caleb," Kova stared at the still images of Caleb inside of Red. "Wake up. Please, wake up." Kova bowed her head, still gripping the banister. "Don't make me tell Cyrus what happened. Don't make me tell him." 

Inside Red, Caleb's arms reached out and flailed in the air. Through blurry sight and sweat from his forehead, Caleb found the controls. It felt heavier than it should have been. Red was fighting Caleb, refusing to spring to life like the other three. 

"Kenny, are the cannons usable from here?" Caleb could hear Kova's voice.

"Get ready to fire." The mecha from Greizian Sur was flying towards the Coeus with alarming speed. Even in the haze, Caleb could hear Kova's frantic voice. Where was he again?

In a moment of clarity, Caleb fought to stay awake as his grip on Red's controls became firmer. The screens, all tinted red, came to life before him. With thrusters now activated, Red launched itself into the air. Cooler than before, Caleb stared at the scene before him. Green and Blue were firing on a mecha the size of Blue with oversized limbs. 

"Garrett, take it down," Caleb ordered. "Griffin, Smythe, follow me." Turning Red, Caleb led the other two towards the Coeus while Cake was left to take care of the second mecha. 

The crew onboard the Coeus was firing when ready. Both Kova and Shiro were looking for weaknesses in the armor, but it seemed solid. Kenny and Shiro were manning the cannons, shooting at the mecha. Kova was staring at the screen, where Yellow seemed to play with the mecha

"Cake, push it into a volcano, and come help!" 

"I thought it was our new toy." 

"Its twin is here."

"Gotcha." Yellow pushed forward and knocked the mecha towards a tall wall of the nearest volcano. With cracks and unsuccessful attempts at standing, the mecha was covered in lava from the volcano. Yellow launched itself into the air before the lava had a chance to reach its front paws. "Heading towards you."

Red was still fighting Caleb for control, going slower than it should have. Blue and Green had engaged with the mecha, with some assistance from the Coeus. The mecha had swiped Blue away and was swinging an arm to hit Green when Yellow headbutted it. The mecha began to retract its long arms to attack Yellow. From Blue's camera, Kova could see the exposed wires. Shiro seemed to have spotted it, too. 

"Red, fire at the intersection between the arm and chest plate."

"English, Kova."

"Fire at the armpit."

"Thank you."

Ignoring the mutterings, Caleb continued his fight with Red and flew until he was only a few yards away. Yellow headbutted the mecha again, while Blue and Green were firing at its eyes and chest plate. The mecha started retracting an arm again, and the Lions cleared a path. 

With agility, Red raced up the mecha's side and fired three times, then made a sharp turn at the shoulder. Caleb had not only deactivated the mecha, but he had also blown the entire arm off. Repeating it on the other side, the team of Lions watched the arms drift away as the purple lights of the mecha flickered. 

Switching off communications to the team, Kova stared at Shiro. Shiro met her brown eyes, watching them flicker through every emotion she was feeling. The most prominent was a mix of pride and anger. 

"Tell me again why we don't need to worry about the Fire?" She had cocked her head at the last word. Even annoyed at him for downplaying this, Shiro knew Lance would be proud of how far Kova had come. With a sigh, she bowed her head. "Thank Allura it wasn't that bad." Switching on communications, Kova walked into the middle of a very important conversation. 

"We could always buy them," Cake said. 

"Oh yeah? Where?" Liz retorted. 

"The mall."

"With what money?"

"The mall? Are you talking about the space mall?" Allie was now in this conversation.

"Ugh, doesn't it have a real name?"

"No," Cake and Allie responded, much to Liz's disappointment. 

"Liz, don't worry about it," Caleb reassured his teammate. "We have to get to Arus, anyway."

"I'm surprised you aren't fighting Kova to the death right now."

"He'd lose before we started." Kova was watching the screen come to life with the four panels with the helmeted faces of the pilots. Well, new paladins.

"Wanna bet?" 

"You already pilot the Red Lion," Kova said, standing up and crossing her arms. "Why do you want the Black Lion?"

"To prove how good of a leader I am."

"You aren't the one standing here giving everyone commands."

"What were you gonna do? Get in the MFE?"

"If I had to." Kova took a breath. "What were you guys talking about earlier?"

"Oh, we're down about half of the lenses in the teleduv."

Kova's stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since she started building the satellite. "Blue and Green, fly for a while. Red and Yellow, enter the bay." 

"What if I don't want to?" Caleb challenged. 

"Then Green comes in and you pass out from dehydration." Kova watched Caleb smack his lips, trying to rehydrate them. His tongue was like a desert with no end in sight. 

Yellow and Red ended up flying towards the bay, headed into the hallway, and went their separate ways. Cake headed to the kitchen to figure out what he would make. Caleb headed to the bridge to help Kova scold Dad. Shiro had always hated it when the pair would team up against him. 

Caleb stood off to Kova's side, while she handed him a water bottle and stared at Shiro. He walked down to the floor, knowing the teens' eyes were on him the entire time. Kenny had slinked away from the bridge, closing the door behind him. 

"Remind me again how the Fire isn't a big deal?" Caleb asked when Shiro didn't turn around to meet his eyes. 

"We have to tell them something," Kova chimed in. "They won't fight against an enemy they know nothing about."

"The Fire of Purification is an ongoing and classified casefile to all cadets and low-ranking officers." Shiro turned his head. "Your teams are cadets and you will be low-rank officers. You only know about the Fire because—"

"Because I'm involved." Kova looked down, glaring at the ground. "You can give the authorization. We can tell them."

"Opening the Fire's casefile will open yours, Kova." Kova looked up again. "Do you want everyone else on board to know about your past?" Caleb stared at the two. Kova doesn't talk about her past to strangers, mostly because it became a classified case after they found someone in Kova's family was involved with the Fire. She didn't talk about it. "Not only that, opening those casefiles opens the one about the failed Coalition response."

"Stop it." Caleb heard Kova whisper. "I get it. Stop." Shiro sighed, walking towards Kova to stand underneath her platform. 

"If this progresses further," Shiro sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." With a nod, Caleb and Kova left the bridge and their dad. The cheery mood in the kitchen did nothing to change Kova's expression. Caleb, on the other hand, joined right in with the discussion. Kova fixed herself a plate of Balmeran fruit and went to her room without another word. 

With the door shut behind her, she felt something off. Her knife, which she had decided was valuable enough to bring along, was thrumming on the bedside table. Out of the corner of her eye, a shadow moved against the wall. Calling the knife to her hand and dropping the plate onto the floor, Kova held the intruder against the metal door. The knife had extended into an almost full-length sword, and she had most of the blade parallel with her arm under the intruder's chin. Unfortunately, Kova recognized the intruder. 

Or at least, their association. 

"Leave. Me. Alone." Kova snarled, her irises becoming dark slits against a yellow background. The intruder had completely yellow eyes, light blue hair reaching the nape of their neck, and violet skin. Their body armor was dark gray, with the Fire insignia on their front in purple. The lightning bolts on either side of the symbol were also purple. 

"You would do nicely among our ranks." The Galra spoke, ignoring the blade to their throat. "To be among your kind. To fight alongside your brethren. To—"

"Save your speech." Kova pressed the blade against their neck tighter. "I told you before. I'm not interested." "They're looking for you," The Galra kept going. "There's a reward for you amongst the lower ranks."

"You think that's enough motivation to join?" 

"The humans of Earth underestimate your abilities. They don't appreciate you, nor will they ever—"

"Leave or I'll remind you of the last time you tried your speech." Kova's voice was low, almost a growl. Her tan skin had taken an almost gray hue, and her hair seemed to have blue highlights under the light. The Galra gulped at the threat. 

Last time, Kova hadn't been so kind. She had stabbed the last Galra attempting to speak to her about the Fire's cause. They escaped, but it was much too close for comfort. 

At blade-point, Kova led the Galra towards the closest exit. She watched as the Galra opened the door, and turned back as though to say more, but Kova had enough. She kicked the Galra in the gut, sending them flying towards the darkness of space and closed the door. The blade in her hands turned back to normal size when Cake came around the corner. 

"Cap?" He watched Kova carefully. The alarms went off when the door opened, but they went off before Cake could figure out what caused it. 

"Go back to the kitchen, Cake," Kova turned towards the hall that led towards her room. "I'm fine." 

Cake eyed Kova as she walked back to her room, staring at the knife in her hands. 

In what would feel like days later, the Coeus arrived onto the surface of Arus. Like the Balmerans, the Arusians recognized Shiro almost on the spot. They continually asked about the space goddess and the blessings her arrival had brought them. Shiro couldn't tell them anything other than thanks for letting the Coeus rest on Arus. 

I guess Allura is a space goddess now. Hm.

Kova was wandering the planet, looking over the open green meadows that seemed to cover Arus. Caleb and Liz were on resource collection and Allie and Cake were joking with the younger Arusians. 

Kova was supposed to be looking for the Black Lion, but her thoughts strayed to the Galra's speech, as well as Shiro's words. She could never seem to run away from her other half, never seem to control it. In her defense, no one had taught her how to use it. She had to learn how by herself, among other things. 

Soon enough, she was at the edge of a cliff overlooking a large body of water. Below her, haphazard piles of stone jutted out from the sea. As much as she wanted to scream, maybe the waves will be enough to relax her. 

She thought back to her memories with the McClain family when they would have their beach days. Kova never jumped into the water because she didn't know how to swim, but Lance's patient coaxing was enough to get her feet in the water. By the end of the day, they couldn't get her out of it. She had found a shell in the soft sand and stuck it in her plastic pail. When she got home, she scribbled the date on it and placed it on the highest shelf she could reach. It was still there, on the shelf in her room back home.

Her only thought as she climbed down the cliffside was maybe she could find another shell to match the one back home. Her feet met another shelf in the cliffside, only an arm's length from the waves. Laying on her stomach, Kova reached her hand down as far as it could go. Her fingertips almost touched the water when a roar echoed in her mind. Kova had turned around, her knife in hand, the blade had extended. 

Behind her was a cave opening. 

Lowering the blade, returning it to its original form, she stood up and walked towards the opening. With a deep breath, she entered the cave, already done with dark, underground spaces. 

The Black Lion, unlike the others, was splayed out in an awkward position. Like a toy a child had dropped and didn't pick up. Its wide jaw was open, with gray, lifeless eyes. Kova figured the tide had caused this, but she couldn't be sure. Maybe the waves had pushed it in? If the Lion were to stand, its head would likely destroy the already fragile ceiling of the cave. She didn't have a choice. She would have to go inside and manually pilot it out. Bracing herself, Kova climbed into the Black Lion's jaws. 

On the surface, Allie was being entertained by stories of the Arusians and their beliefs. They believed the space goddess would cure their famine. She and Cake had discovered there was a dam blocking the water supply to their fields. They had quickly gotten rid of the branches in turns so the Arusians wouldn't suspect a thing. A thunderous roar echoed over Arus, and the Arusians celebrated the discovery of the Black Lion. 

In front of the Coeus, each of the teens had flown their Lion in front of the Arusian village. In order, from left to right, was Blue, Red, a huge piece of space where the Coeus could be seen, Green, and Yellow. The Black Lion, circling over the cheering village, had landed in that space between Red and Green.

Kova exited, removing her helmet in the process. As quickly as the Arusians welcomed Shiro, they shunned Kova. Allie and Cake noticed the shift, much to Kova's annoyance. 

"She's one of them," One Arusian said.

"The King says they aren't to be trusted," Another spoke. "Now one leads Voltron?"

"Enough!" The King, the teens assumed, spoke. He approached Kova, who was stopped by spear-wielding Arusians. She should've figured. "We do not mean to anger you, oh great leader of Voltron. Please accept this apology dance!" A dancer scurried to stand before the King, but Kova had turned towards the Lion. "Great leader, where are you going?"

"I mean no disrespect," Kova had knelt to be eye-level with the three-foot-tall Arusian. "But if my presence causes fear among your people, I think it safer to communicate with our allies on my home planet than stay."

"Please, stay," The King pleaded. "Should we do a sacrificial fire?"