Brighter Than the Stars: A Voltron Fanfic (Keith X OC)

Chapter 6

Violet felt different.

It was a strange feeling, but oddly right. She felt comfortable in a way she'd never been before she'd changed.

Slowly, sound began to reach her ears. Beeping and soft murmuring.

There was a hiss, and Violet fell out of the cryo-pod with a gasp, her eyes flying open. Someone caught her before she could eat the floor.

"Vi?" Lance fixed his gaze on her worryingly. "Are you okay?"

"Not in the slightest," Violet said. "What happened?"

There wasn't a trace of humor in Lance's expression. "After you defeated Lotor, the quintessence exposure caused your body to fail. We thought you were dead. But you had ... changed. You should probably see for yourself."

He helped Violet stagger over to the nearest cryo-pod, where her reflection was mirrored on the glass. Violet gasped sharply when she saw herself. She looked completely different; her skin was paler, no longer the tanned shade it had been, her ears were pointed sharply, and she had faint stripes crisscrossing her shoulders. She had spots along her forearms, like a leopards, and patterns weaving along her palms.

Her markings had changed, no longer sickle-shaped under her eyes; rather, they were crescents, like a symbol of stars. They were still gold, though, the color contrasting against her face. Her eyes, which used to be copper-colored, were now almost wholly gold.

But there was more. Tiny pinpricks of light glowed under Violet's skin, like there was some kind of flashlight in her chest that was shining through.

Violet had no words, so Lance spoke for her. "Allura can explain it better than me," he said, voice haggard, "But you're some kind of species that can manipulate quintessence. The ability was dormant in you until you shape-shifted into your original form to save us. This is what your species looks like. They're called Erythians. They were wiped out a long time ago, but they were allied with Altea. King Alfor knew their empress personally. She died when their planet, Erythia, fell."

Violet felt stunned. Lotor had been right - she wasn't human, or half-Altean. She was a whole other race entirely. She was an ... Erythian. Some long-forgotten race that had died out thousands of years ago and left her with a mother she'd never known and weird abilities that changed her entirely. She curled her hands into fists. Somehow, Violet had thought discovering her heritage would answer her questions – would complete the puzzle her life was. But it had done nothing but point out more misshapen pieces for her to be confused over.

Now, though, she realized that she had been wrong. Violet didn't need answers, or her past to be revealed, or to be told who she really was. She knew who she was – part of Voltron, the paladin's friends and allies – and she didn't need anything else to feel complete.

Violet blew out a long breath, peering at herself in the reflection. Was it what her mother would look like? "I have abilities?"

"Yeah. Erythians were, like, connected to the heart of the world or something cheesy like that. They can control quintessence - and are immune from exposure to it. That's how you survived being in the rift for so long. Apparently they can also heal, shape-shift, teleport, et cetera. Basically superpowers."

"So this is me now." Violet stared at her hand. "My ... my scars are gone. When I was twelve, Lotor decided that I favored my left hand too much. He wanted me to be ambidextrous. So he cut my palm from here-" she drew a line along her hand- "to here. I couldn't use my hand for four weeks because he didn't let me see a healer. But by the end I could use my right hand better than my left." She stared numbly at her palm. "I had a scar. It - it's gone."