Spread Your Wings and Fly

Chapter 18

ANOTHER CHAPTER! XD

Chapter 18
Pidge Pov

I shrug the guards off me as we reach my room. I hate how they hold me, like I'm a child. I may be small, but I know now I'm strong.

But I also feel weak right now. After the third trial, all I can think about is the last question. I just admitted everything I felt about Keith. I just did it. Like that. What if he'd heard? Or one of the other Paladins? What if they tell him? I start hyperventilating and my brain goes on over drive.

'He'll never like me now. All those nights learning to fight. All that anger boiling up in me. Sena said I was violent. It's true. There is a violence in me that I've never shown anyone. I'm too scared to. I'm weak. I'm useless. I'm discard-able.' I repeat this mantra as I rock back and forth on my bed.

"Pidge. Pidge! Pidge!" The voice is muffled at first but then it comes into focus. It's Sena.

"Pidge, come back!" I shake my head to clear it.

"It's all right Sena. I'm here." She breathes a sigh of relief and I know I must have scared her.

"Phew. Your eyes just glazed over and I didn't know what to do. I'm glad you're okay now though. I came to introduce you to the person who made you go through those trials." This makes me more alert than I'd been before. I look at Sena and see she's wringing her hands. 'She must be nervous. I wonder why? Is the person really that scary?'

"Pidge, the person who made you do the trials made you do them for a good reason. Don't try and hurt her. Please." I nod and wait. The doors don't open and soon, I'm getting impatient.

"Sena, who made me do them?" Sena looks even more nervous.

"I'm sorry Pidge. It... it was me. I'm the reason you had to go through with those trials." My head spins and I quickly turn my head so I'm looking at her. My anger and betrayal must be seen on my face for she shakes her head quickly.

"Pidge, I'm sorry. I had to do it. I had good reason and..." But I'm not listening anymore.

"You lied. You said you didn't know who had made me do those trials. You made me do them." My voice breaks. The hurt and betrayal cuts deep. All those days she stayed by my side and helped me after the trials. They were all for nothing.

"Pidge please. Let me explain."

"I don't want to hear your explanation. You betrayed me. I thought you were my friend. I thought you were going to help me. But it was you who put me through all this. You put me through hell. My friends are your prisoners and I'm just your puppet aren't I. Just your puppet so you can find a weakness in Voltron." Tears threaten to spill but I dash them away.

"Pidge, please. I will explain everything. Can you just give me a chance?" I gulp air and think. I really know I shouldn't trust her but... she did help me. All through those trials she was there for me. Even though I hate her and the last thing I want to do is listen to her explain, I know it would be the right thing to do. She was there for me.

"Fine. But make it quick." Her smile directed at me is small but still there. I just scowl and wait for her to start. Her smile drops slightly.

"Years ago, before even the first war against the Galran and Altean..." I listen intently to her story. It's full of happiness at first, but then it takes an incredibly sad turn. Soon, over an hour has passed and her story is finished. I wipe at my eyes, not even realizing that I'd cried. I feel immense grief for her and I understand. I understand why she did what she did and even though I still hate the thought that she did it to me after everything, it all makes sense.

"Why didn't you use your abilities to save her? Or Myzax?"

"I couldn't. Myzax's death was after I was knocked out and it was hours after I woke when I found out about his death. As for Jyx, using my powers would've drained me too much and I probably would've died myself. And resurrecting someone takes a lot of power which I didn't have since I'd been using my powers to fight off Alfor's soldiers. I-I just didn't have the energy..." she trails off and is silent for a beat.

"I'm sorry Sena. I... I should've listened to you. I came to a conclusion too quickly and I see that now. I hope you can forgive me. But I don't understand what this has to do with me." Sena's tears are still making their tracks down her cheeks so she wipes them away. I smile and I hope this conveys all I want to say but can't put into words.

"Pidge, these challenges were all part of one big test. You come into this because, many years ago, a prophecy was made. The other prisoners told it to you. Well, as you know, my mother's aim is to just try and get her son back. That's all she wants. The only problem is that she's getting her wish the wrong way. The prophecy pretty much says that you will save us all. I needed to find you because one, you're the prophesied person and two, I thought maybe you could help me soon. There's something that I wish to do but I can't achieve it without you. If you don't want to help me I understand but it would mean the world to me if you would." I think about Sena's story. I feel like I have a small idea what she wants me to do.

"You want me to help bring them back." She nods and I take a deep breath.

"Kind of. I can do most of the work but my powers only go so far. And I need someone to keep me attached to the living world. If I enter the realm of the dead without someone to keep me grounded I could be lost too. The place between life and death," she says. I think about this. I don't like the idea of being stuck in the "between" as Sena calls it. I decide to help her. But there was one more thing I wanted to understand.

"Why me? Why not the other Paladins or someone else? Another Galra perhaps? Or even an Altean?" Sena shakes her head slowly.

"I needed to be able to trust this person and know if he or she would be strong enough to help me. This might be sexist, but I prefer females to males too. They're nicer. But that was the point of the trials. Each one was to test you. The fighting was to test your endurance. The maze was to test how long you could go without loosing your mind, speed and thinking in times of trouble. The final challenge, the fire bridge, was testing if you could be truthful and if I could trust you." I shake my head in amazement. Now that she'd told me, it made a whole lot more sense.

I grin at her.

"I'll help you. On one condition. You have to let me and the other Paladins go and you have to help us defeat Haggar with the Gold Lion." She smiles for the first time in a while.

"But after I help, can I wipe their memories of me helping? They don't need to know I helped do they?"

"Sure. But you have to keep my brain intact with the memory of you helping."

"It's a deal." We clasp hands, the promise set in.

I'm feeling nervous about introducing her to the other Paladins and I feel like they might react badly. But then I remember that they won't remember what happens. Now that the Gold Lion is on our side helping, the battle will turn in our favor big time.

I'm totally not dying right now after re-watching the very last Vld episode...