The Paladin Queen (OC-Voltron Legendary Defender)

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

New Beginning

We walk a fine line between life and death since the day we are born into the universe.

Scratches and bruises can heal, but the pain of losing someone loved will persist. There is no medicine that can make you feel better or hope that a healing pod will magically repair a broken heart, it's just something you must get over on your own. The best remedy for the body and soul is time. It can pass by so fast that sometimes it will go unnoticed until it's too late and your life has gone by in a blink of an eye.

I spent almost two weeks in a healing pod, recuperating from all the stress and hurt my body endured under Zarkon's watch. The bruises on my skin had faded away and my face had returned to normal; no more blood shot eyes or dark circle under them even though I did lose a lot of weight.

Every day I spend in that pod, I had the same dream over and over again. I would stand in beautiful meadow full of every kind of flower that existed on Negetia and a stream ran in the middle of it. The water was crystal clear as it rushed down grazing over fallen rocks and water plants. Day after day, I would stand by the side of the stream while my mother stood on the other. I wanted to reach out to her and tell her how much I loved her, but an invisible force prevented me from running through the shallow stream. She would look at me with a small smile that never reached her eyes and shake her head slowly. She did not speak, but her gaze told me a thousand words. Where she was, I could not join her. I would look down to avoid seeing her as tears slipped out and dropped into the stream. I saw all the sadness and pain reflected back at me by the water and when I finally found courage to look up, my mother had no reflection. Her image slowly disappeared, taken by the wind to never return.

The past few months felt like that dream; like I was finally able to wake up from a horrible nightmare, but the image of my mother on the ground told me otherwise. It was an image that haunted me. Every time I closed my eyes, her face would appear in my head. I would not speak to anyone, if was like all the people around me faded and it was only me in my sorrow. I barricaded myself in my bedroom, huddled in the dark. Storm and the others would come to visit from time to time trying to start conversation with me but as much as I wanted to speak back, nothing escaped my lips. It was until one day my father came to me, he walked in with so much determination and opened my windows wide letting a cool breeze and sunlight into my room. I looked at him confused from underneath my covers and he came to sit by the edge placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Your mother would not have wanted to see you like this." He said softly.

"You don't know that, because she is not here." I said back after so long, my voice sounded cracked from un-use.

"She might not be here, but I know that she would have wanted both of us to stand strong and keep fighting for the cause." He said with a half-smile, "You cannot stay here forever, avoiding contact with everyone who cares about you. You are the Princess of the Drakie and as such you must be out there supporting your people... you're not the only one who mourns the loss of Talise."

I took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling thinking over my father's words. It was true, I had pulled back from those closes to me and I have closed down the link between Storm and me. I never stopped to think how the others were fairing with the situation at hand, and only thought on my own pain.

I slowly sat up looking down at my lap, "Zarkon is going to pay for what he has done." I said with a new-found determination. If only his witch had not been there to aid him and spirit him away, I could have ended this war by removing the head of the Galra.

"Now, now, revenge in never the answer, Taylin."

I looked up to gaze into his eyes, "I know that you still hold hope that Zarkon somehow can be saved, but he is beyond redemption. He has crossed boundaries that one cannot simply turn back from. He is corrupted and evil. I am living proof of that, every day I spend under him was agony. His minions would come to torture me daily, pushing me to give into his command. They treated me worse than dirt under their boots. Zarkon, must be eradicated from existence."