The Gold Paladin

The Sixth Death: The Heart. The Smile. The Light.

Everyone stared at the woman that had just hugged Allura. Her scars shown to all the eyes of the world, even her feet were scarred. And the sclera of her eyes were tinted red, as if she was crying just a few moments ago before Fifth disappeared. Unlike all the other Deaths, she looked genuinely happy to see the group, smiling without a care in the world.

"I apologize for asking that so suddenly." Sixth said, referring to the hug she had received from Allura, "It's just that... when Novae was me, she used hugs as a way to read someone's emotions. It helped them, especially the child victims of this war, to feel as if they were not alone. And at the same time, many people needed to know that they had a friend. I am the Sixth True Death, the heart that beats for those without one. A smile for those who frown and cry. The hand that helps those in their despair find the light once again. Hopefully I can help in helping you understand the pain Novae has went through. Now, are you ready?"

The group nodded, not hesitating to learning more about their friend. They were so close to the final death, the most recent death, and because of the past deaths, they wanted to know as much as they could about their friend.

The white space they stood in changed. Not to a horrible scene of war. Not to some kind of gruesome sight of Novae being tortured. Instead, it was a peaceful scene they were looking at.

It was a scene of Novae holding a child in her arms, several other children surrounding her as she hummed a sweet lullaby for the children.

"You see, Novae was not only a warrior in the war or the Blue Star of the Rebellion. To many, she was a safe place for anyone who needed comfort of protection." Sixth said to the group, smiling at the sweet scene in front of them, "Over the thousands of years the war has been raging, many families were torn apart, as you have seen from the previous Deaths. And that includes many children being orphaned, their families killed in the fight against the Galra. The Third Death spoke about planets that were used as shelters for children to live, and train if they so wished, in peace for as long as possible."

Novae held the child even closer as the he began to cry for his mother in his sleep. Though she constantly used her voice modification technology to sound masculine, many of the children quickly figured out that she was a woman. But, thankfully, they promised to keep her gender a secret until they chose to leave the planet to fight in the war. After they came of age to fight in the war, Novae sent them off with their memories of true self being wiped away. It was a way to protect them. A shame she didn't think about doing that to the children hundreds of years before.

It would've saved many lives from that witch's interrogations.

"Um, Lady Star?" One of the children asked.

"What is it, Layei?" Novae asked.

"Do you think that the war will be over one day?"

Novae never really had an answer to that question, but she knew that the end would be coming very soon. It was so close and she could feel it. Novae hugged the child in her arms tighter, the child smiling in his sleep and snuggling closer into her chest.

"Don't worry. The war is going to end one day." Novae said with so much love and hope in her eyes that it spread to the other children.

"How do you know that the war is gonna end?" One of the older children, possibly about eight years old, looked at Novae with a glare in his eyes, "The war is never gonna end, and even if it does, then it's gonna happen after we're all dead."

"Hey now." Novae scolded the boy, "That's no way to think, Celian."

"Oh yeah, and how else am I supposed to think? The war has been going on for thousands of years and the Rebellion isn't even close to ending it. What else am I supposed to think?!"