The Gold Paladin

Chapter 16 - Home Again

Night perched on the ledge of a rare window on the Castle of Lions. She was alone.

It had been five days since the final battle, but her mind was still reeling with so many thoughts.

Everyone was okay, thank goodness. Besides a few minor wounds, no one had been seriously hurt. And that person she had rescued...

Who was he?

Shiro.

Everyone had freaked out on Shiro's arrival, but always told Night, "We'll tell you later."

Is there something I don't know?

Shiro was fine besides the fact he was starving to death (literally) and severely emaciated, but otherwise, his eyes were bright as ever as he told the five paladins about his adventures before he found them.

"So, I steal the Galra fighter and escape my prison, and catch a glimpse of Voltron. That was the key. So, I follow that direction, for what? Six days? My air supply, well, all supplies really, were running low, so I knew I was nearing the end... But all of the sudden, I'm in the middle of a battle. All these battle cruisers speed past me, so I think, what the heck is going on? Then I see this giant gold thing, and it smashes me into the side of an asteroid and tries to shoot me with lightning. So, I crash onto the stupid rock, and just hunker down, trying to stay warm and alive in the last hours of my life. But then the same giant gold thing, which I can see is a lion now, comes and rescues me with some random girl."

That was Shiro's account of what happened, anyways. Night had rescued Shiro from the brink of death. It turns out he was a former Paladin of Voltron until another key battle when he mysteriously disappeared. That was when they had decided to bring out Gold and replace him. So, Night was a replacement.

"So... you were a Paladin, huh?" Night had asked.

Shiro laughed. "Not just any Paladin. I was the leader of Voltron. I flew the Black lion, before Keith took over for me."

"Wait," Night kept asking so many questions. "So, Lance used to fly... Blue?"

Shiro nodded politely and waited for Night to finish peppering him with questions. Which was quite a while.

After about two hours of talking with Shiro, she had figured out basically his whole life. And the mystery of the pendants.

It turns out Shiro had been given both from someone on his home planet, Earth.

Every Paladin here was from Earth. Even herself, Night figured. Keith said she was born there. Shiro had lost the black pendant when he had been captured by the Galra for the first time, two and a half years ago.

Now, Night had the black pendant, which Shiro said she could keep. She wound it around her bayard, and let the black teardrop shape dangle free. The jewelry would transfer to the actual weapon when her bayard would transform, too. Which was nice.

It was so quiet in the castle at this time. Everyone was still totally wiped from the battle, and even though it was just past dinner, all the paladins had retired to their rooms for the night.

She looked at her palms, which were still a mess of cuts from her twin blades. There was some bandaging around them, but as Lance had noted, it was hard to put any type of bandage on someone's palm.

Night traced her finger of one hand down the maze of cuts, recalling how she even got that injury.

The Phoenix.

As a last resort, she had summoned her double swords and slammed them into the ground. That created a huge shockwave, which in turn brought down the whole arena. It had also called down a huge Phoenix made of lightning, and that Phoenix had brought Keith back to life. Because apparently, he was dead.