Stars In Our Hearts

Part 8

We walked back into the castle after finishing up our training for the day. Keith and Lance were arguing, nothing new. I sat down at the table with Hunk and Shiro as Keith and Lance made their way over. Coran came in. "Are you and Allura almost done getting the castle ready to leave?" I asked. "Just about, in the meantime, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!" Coran lifted the lid off of the plate. Hunk's excitement was instantly killed along with all of our appetites. It looked like food goo with huge maggots coming out of it. My face twisted in disgust at the sight. It didn't smell nice either. "This brings back memories that I wish to put aside" I covered my nose. "What could this remind you of?" Keith asked. "I once went on a little trip to a crime scene with my mom...and I think you get the idea" I answered. Hunk began inspecting the monstrosity that was in front of him. Hunk then went off to the kitchen to 'spice things up'. "Well, if you guys need me, I'll be in my room practicing" I got up from the table. "Practicing what?" Lance asked. "Dance, it's my daily workout routine, then I'll probably go train against the gladiator on the training deck" I said. "After our Voltron workout?" Lance crossed his arms. I nodded. "I have nothing better to do than to train so" I then walked off to my room. Pidge had made me a little computer so that I could continue to practice. It would only take me ten minutes tops to learn the entire dance. 

I had just finished when someone knocked on my door. "Yeah?" I asked. "Food is ready!" it was Keith. I walked out, now in my normal clothes. "Good because I'm starving" I smiled. "Let's hope Lance hasn't eaten it all" Keith smiled back. When we got to the dining room, Lance looked like he was in heaven. Keith and I sat down and immediately, Lance and Keith were eating like savages. I laughed at them as I ate, not like them. Suddenly an alarm went off. "What now?" I asked. Allura pulled up a giant screen and it showed a little creature running behind a rock. "What is that?" Keith asked. "I don't know what it is, maybe it's a local Arusian" Allura answered. Not gonna lie, it was a cute little alien. "It's adorable" I stated. "But it could be a threat" Keith said. "Then that'd make it an adorable threat" I responded. "Like you" Lance smirked at me. I jabbed him in the side, which caused him to double over in pain. "Let's go welcome them" Allura said. We all followed her. we walked up to the bush that we saw it jump into. "Greetings, we know you're in there, no harm will come to you" Allura said. The little creature jumped out with a sword. Keith stepped in front of me. "Wait, it could be dangerous, drop your weapon" Keith held up his bayard. "Noone takes Klaizap's weapon" the little alien held his sword up. "Keith, put that away! Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies" Allura ordered. "I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors, our village is over Gazrel Hill, I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers" Klaizap stated. "What makes you think she's angered?" Allura asked. "Destruction everywhere for the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky" Klaizap explained. "I think he's talking about Voltron" Hunk whispered. "Yeah, I got that" Lance replied. "I assure you, you haven't angered the Lion Goddess" Allura placed her hands in front of her. "How can you be sure?" Klaizap asked. "Because she's right here" Allura gestured to me. My eyes widened. Klaizap stared at me. "Uh, yes, she is correct, I am the Lion Goddess and I promise you I am not angered" I smiled at Klaizap. He gasped before getting on his knees and bowing. "Oh, you don't have to do that bravest warrior, but please take us to your village so that we can meet our neighbors" I said. Klaizap instantly got up. "What about fighting Zarkon?" Keith asked. "Part of the paladin's mission is to spread peace and diplomacy" Allura replied. Then we got to our lions. "Why would you say I'm the Lion Goddess?" I whispered to Allura. "Because you're a paladin and you're able to bring others together" Allura answered. 

We arrived at Klaizap's village. Talk about cuteness overload. I smiled at all of them. "Oh Lion Goddess, I King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness" the king came up to me. "Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology" the king said. Then one Arusian came up and music started playing and the Arusian started dancing. "There really is no need for this" I said. "Moontow stop, the Lion Goddess has refused our apology, start the sacrificial fire, we must throw ourselves in" the king instructed. Then a fire was started. "There's no need for sacrifices" I quickly put an end to that. "May we proceed with the dance?" the king asked. "That would be preferred" I sighed. Moontow resumed dancing and at the end all of the Arusians bowed. "You can all rise" I said, more like pleaded. "I appreciate it, but I'm not great enough to be worthy of your worship, I put all of you in danger by accident, I'm the one who should be apologizing to you all" I stated. "I'm Melody, these are my fellow paladins of Voltron and this is Princess Allura, we hope to live alongside you as friends" I smiled. "But the mighty robotic angel, has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?" the king asked. I shook my head. "No, it's here to protect you and everyone else in the universe" I replied. Then we were all brought into hugs by the Arusians. One of them jumped on Keith. "I don't usually hug strangers but uh, man, you are cuddly" he said as he patted the Arusians head. I giggled at him as I was busy being bombarded with hugs. I looked over as the ground started shaking. Something had entered the atmosphere. "We gotta get to our lions" Keith said. All of the Arusians began to run. "Everyone get inside!" Allura instructed. "I'm on it!" Hunk ran right past her. She was confused. "Not you" Keith dragged Hunk in the direction of the lions. I then got into my lion. We began flying towards whatever just came crashing into the planet. It was some giant Galra monster. Pidge and Shiro's lions had just been tossed around by it. We immediately began firing at the monster. "Lay down some cover fire so they can get out of there!" I heard Keith. I nodded. Hunk had his lion head-butt the monster. "Is the Galra behind this?" Hunk asked. "Probably but I've never seen anything like it" Shiro said. "So what do we do? Shoot at it? Get rid of its weapons? Call it names?" Lance asked. "If we want to beat this thing, there's only one thing we can do" Shiro replied. Then we turned into huge awesome robot Voltron. "Remember we are one unit fighting with one goal" Shiro said. "Yeah, to bash in some alien head" I smirked. We started flying at the monster. Keith went in with a punch but it was blocked but then Pidge also came in with a punch and hit the monster right in the jaw. Then we came smashing down on the monster. Then it hit us with a giant energy ball. As we got up, the energy ball came back at us. We were just barely able to dodge it. "I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!" Keith commented. "Yeah, so how's this monster kicking our butts?" Hunk asked. Then the monster came hit us right where I'm at. "So that's how we're gonna play?" I was fuming. I took a deep breath as I remembered something Allura told me. 

~flashback~

I had gotten up to get a drink during the middle of the night. To my surprise, Allura was also up. "Allura?" I questioned. "Oh, Melody, what are you doing up?" she asked. "I just came to get a drink, you?" I answered. "I'm just thinking" she replied. "About Voltron?" I sat down next to her. She sighed. We had just barely managed to form Voltron so I could see why she was worried. "Melody, I want to tell you something about you and your lion" she suddenly said. I raised a brow. "Me and my lion?" I questioned. She nodded. "You're the paladin of the Gray Lion, as I stated before, you bring people together, I've seen it in your training, I know that you full heartedly trust your fellow paladins and your lion" she began. "Yeah? I mean, I'm someone who trusts people very easily, it doesn't take much, but if you break it, it'll be hard to get it back" I said. She smiled. "If you ever feel like Voltron is in dire need, let your trust in others take over" she stated. "Huh?" I asked. She laughed a bit. "Your teammates trust you just as much as you trust them, time and time again, you've come to save them, so they all trust you, you've created a bond with all of them" she said. I nodded, still not sure where this was going. "The Gray Lion is built off of trust for not only others but yourself as well, so when you feel the need, let that trust take over you, the Gray Lion will sense what you're doing and it will then use that power of trust and make Voltron even stronger for about an hour" she continued. My eyes widened. "You're telling me that I have the power to make the most powerful weapon in the universe stronger?" I questioned. She nodded. I sat there in shock. She laughed before getting up and telling me good night. 

~flashback end~

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I concentrated on nothing but the energy of the others. I then had this tingly feeling in my chest and it grew every second. "Is anybody else feeling tingly in the chest?" Lance asked. "So it wasn't just me?" Hunk questioned. "It feels like it's growing" Pidge exclaimed. "Is it from that thing?" Keith asked. "No" I huffed as I could feel my body become exhausted. "Melody? Are you okay?" Shiro asked. "We better end this quick, We'll only be stronger for an hour" I panted. "You heard her, let's take this thing down" Shiro said. "Wow, you can really feel the energy surge!" Lance exclaimed. "Yeah you can feel the added strength in the lion!" Hunk added. We managed to keep it away from the village. Shiro then explained to us that he's fought this monster before when he was Zarkon's prisoner and explained to us how we were going to defeat it. We shot when the monster was at its weakest point, even with the added strength, the monster didn't stay down. "Hey guys, I think my lion's telling me what to do" Keith said. "Whatever it is, hurry up and do it because he's about to fire his third shot" Lance exclaimed. We were then hit again. Suddenly Keith's lion had a sword and we cut through the monster, making it explode. "Wow, that was amazing Keith!" I praised. "Thanks" Keith replied. "Now, can we......" I was breathing heavily. Making Voltron stronger was draining the strength and energy in me. "Melody?" Lance questioned. "Let's get back to the castle" Shiro instructed.

Once I was out of my lion, I collapsed. Luckily, Keith was there to catch me. "Easy there" he helped me stand. "What's wrong? I mean yeah that guy was tough but you shouldn't be this drained" Lance put his hands on his hips. "Melody!" Allura came running over. "You did it!" she cheered. I smiled. "I felt like it was needed" I exhaustedly smiled back. "Felt like what was needed?" Pidge asked. "Yeah, you guys mind filling us in?" Lance questioned. "That extra boost in strength was all Melody's doing" Allura grinned. "WHAT?" everyone shouted. "I already explained it to her and I'll explain it to you but first, let's have her rest for a moment" Allura said. Keith helped me inside. I sat down in the lounge, ready to pass out. "Now I'll explain, you see, Melody trust each and every one of you, and you all trust her" Allura began. "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?" Lance asked, crossing his arms. "Trust is the biggest strength in a team, so Melody is able to convert the trust you all have with each other into strength and therefore can make Voltron physically stronger" Allura explained. Everyone's jaws dropped. "All because she's the paladin of the Gray Lion?" Pidge asked. Allura nodded. "All of the lions are meant to be bonded with their paladin but the Gray Lion is built solely on the trust of others as well as the paladin themself, which is why it needs a paladin that brings people together" Allura placed her hands in front of her. "Someone who gets along with everyone" Hunk said. "Someone who comes to everyone's rescue" Keith added. "Someone who's always there for everyone" Pidge fixed her glasses. "Someone who's the prettiest pilot ever" Lance grinned. We all ignored him. "And someone who puts everyone else above them, even if it means their life" Shiro smiled. "You guys need to stop being all mushy and stuff, it's kind of weirding me out" I said, sitting up. "Mushy? You mean like this?" Pidge teased as I was suddenly engulfed in a group hug. "Okay, seriously though, now is enough of that, you're gonna make me sick with all of this lovey dovey stuff" I stated. They only laughed and continued.