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"And if she wakes up, you make her eat this, okay? It won't taste good because I don't have a mircowave, but—"
"Tiago, we have to go!" Keith shouted, his voice cracking as another explosion sounded. The college girl ceased her rambles, shoving the can of Campbell's Tomato Soup into Coran's hands. Tiago was about to tell the Altean man one more thing, but before she could, Keith grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away.
It didn't take the two long to make it outside— Tiago's dorm being right to an emergency exit— but when they did, the college girl gasped in horror.
Tiago had thought the first ship to attack had been huge, but this one was beyond compare. It was so massive that other big ships continuously flew out of it. Most of the flying vessels just sat there menacingly in the atmosphere, but about a dozen rapidly fired at the Red Lion's particle barrier.
Each time a shot was fired into the newly planted poinsettia bed Tiago would cringe, watching the flowers catch fire and turn to ash.
Keith snapped Tiago out of her frozen state by dragging her by the hand closer to the destruction. Right towards where the ships were firing.
"Keith, what are you doing!" Tiago screamed, but didn't try to make him let go. While Keith had his Paladin armor on, Tiago was completely defenseless. One laser from one of the Galran vessels would render her completely and utterly dead.
"Duck!" He shouted in response. Tiago put all of her trust in his hands, lowering her head as he did the same. A flash of light emerged from Keith's wrist, and suddenly a transparent blue shield was being held over their heads.
"How does a shield fit in there?" Tiago spoke over the destruction after she had stopped staring in amazement.
"No clue," Keith grunted. The two ran through the Lion's particle barrier, Tiago suddenly being filled up with an energy she had never felt before.
If she could have, Tiago would have stopped before ever entering the Red Lion. The mechanical— yet self-aware—beast towered over Tiago's small form, and made her feel just as she was. A small speck in an infinite universe. It gave off a vibe that Tiago couldn't quite explain, but it felt alien. That was only expected, seeing as it came from space and all.
Not only that, but it would be her first time in a Lion of Voltron, couldn't she relish in that fact?
She didn't have any time to do that though, running straight into the mouth of the ship and following Keith into the cockpit. As soon as he sat down the barrier around them fell. Keith looked to Tiago who stood behind his chair, raising an eyebrow.
"You ready?"
"Uh– I, um—"
"Let's go!" Keith smirked, pushing the controls forward before Tiago could stammer out a complete sentence. The aforementioned shrieked in surprised, wrapping her arms around the back of Keith's chair for security.
The Red Lion was fast compared to the others, according to Lance, but Tiago always brushed it off not believing that something as big as the Lions could move as quick he claimed.
Of course, she was proven wrong as Keith piloted the Lion into the sky, bolting left and right to avoid enemy fire. Her head began and spinning and the loud booms that she was introduced to a second later didn't help.
Tiago suddenly felt bile rising in her throat, and she slapped a pale hand over her mouth. Keith glanced back and his face immediately fell.
"Tiago, don't you dare," he said sharply. She nodded, groaning in disgust as she managed to swallow the warm matter. Keith sighed in relief, his full attention back to the battle.
"When is the rest of the team getting here?" Tiago groaned, waving her hand in front of her mouth as if shooing away the stench from what had occurred before.
A shot from the Galra hit the Lion in the side, and Tiago had to grab onto Keith's head to steady herself. A few of the controls began flashing red, signifying that things were about to go south.
"They better get here quick," Keith cried.
The small ships were easy to take down, and each time one of them exploded Tiago swore she could actually taste victory. Keith took them down so effortlessly that Tiago knew he was always destined to be a Paladin of Voltron.
And then the bigger ships started firing. They couldn't just shoot continuously, but instead only had one large laser that had to recharge after each use. Being right above Tiago's college which had at the least four dozen people inside, any shot that the big ships missed would result in the whole building being blown to shreds.
That meant Keith had to purposely be hit by every shot.
"I don't think she can handle much more," Tiago grimaced. By now there was not point in trying to stand, so Tiago had pressed her back against the back of the seat, pulling her knees to chest and watching her phone in hopes of anyone from the team messaging her.
"I know," Keith snapped. He was obviously becoming irriated. Not with Tiago, but the large amount of Galran ships that still remained. "One more hit and I think we're out of business!"
Tiago shut her eyes, dragging her knees closer in fear. She could hear one of the big ships charging up above them, and any second they would release the purple ray. Of course, if it fired they wouldn't die, but the Red Lion would be drained of all power and they would fall back to down to the earth.
She still didn't want that though, for she was sure it would be worse than a plane crash.
"Hold on, Tiago," Keith groaned, as a screech sounded and the large laser began heading towards them. Tiago gripped onto her phone tightly. If they went down, she wanted her phone as close as possible so she could call for help.
Just as Keith raised his arms to protect his face, several loud roars could be heard. Tiago snapped her head up, looking around the pilot's chair to look out to the sky. She gasped as a yellow flash zoomed in front of the Red Lion, receiving the blow.
"Hunk!" Tiago cried happily, able to recognize the Yellow Lion.
"Guys, you're here!" Keith spoke into his helmet. Tiago could hear the other Paladins exchanging their greetings, and she watched as the different colors of Voltron steadily destroyed the enemy's assets. Tiago looked to Keith as he chuckled.
"What is it?"
"Hunk's asking if you're okay," he responded.
Tiago smiled widely and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. We're great, we're gonna do this."
The determination in Keith's eyes burned brighter, and he calmed Hunk's nerves. "She's cool, big guy."
Tiago glanced back out to the battle, doing a double take. She observed closely, her breath suddenly picking up. Someone was missing from the fight.
