"So this is where you found the lion?" I asked Hazel as everyone got off of Reyna's hoverbike. "Weird place for a lion to be hiding."

"I didn't find the lion... exactly." Hazel said, turning on a flashlight. "It's hard to explain."

"Is it just me, or does Jason look like he just figured out something bad?" Frank asked, pointing to Jason as he was looking at Olly and Percy like he just discover oxygen or something: bewildered and confused.

"He probably just figured out that he has a metal arm or something." I said, rolling my eyes. "Nothing to worry about."

"I highly doubt he figured out that he has a metal arm." Nico said, rolling his eyes. "He's smarter than that. Besides, he's looking at Olly and Percy that way, not his arm."

"So how do you know Jason?" Frank asked as Reyna caught up to us, Olly, Jason, and Percy talking to each other and rounding out the rear.

"Well, I joined Garrison at a young age." Nico explained. "When I was like... ten or something."

"That lines up with when you ran away." Hazel interrupted.

"Hazel, you saw what Dad was like. With both of our mom's gone..."

"I know, but I was only eight then. You shouldn't have left me. And you didn't even come when... when..." Hazel looked down at her feet, as if trying to fight back the invisible tears.

Nico sighed, exhausted and looking completely guilty, as he kept talking to us. "Anyway, Jason and Reyna were two of the oldest kids in our area at twelve years old. Jason felt pity for me since I was kind of a loner, still kind of am, so he adopted me into his friend group with Reyna. When he and Reyna were sixteen and I was fourteen, Jason got conscripted early. He was still around, so we ate dinner together all the time."

"Then, a year ago, Jason got sent on that Kerberos Mission. Six months later, the report came out about him being dead. Shortly after, I dropped out, but since Nico was so young, he stayed." Reyna interrupted. "We haven't seen each other since. During that time, I found Hazel wandering the desert by herself. I took her in. Had no idea she was Nico's sister. Today, we saw the escape pod crash and we followed it. I heard Jason screaming, so we made a quick plan to save him. Didn't expect Percy to be there, so I guess it's a good thing you guys came along."

Hazel walked into the cave and pointed at something against the wall. "I found that in here years ago."

Against the back wall, it looked like there were cave markings that were in the shape of a lion with different symbols surrounding it.

"I think this is an alien languge!" Olly said excitedly, walking up to the symbols and inspecting them, the screens in his smart glasses visibly going through what looked like an entire dictionary. "It looks ancient..."

"You understand any of this?" I asked, walking up to Olly and putting my hand on the wall. The markings and symbols started glowing orange starting at my hand.

"What the..." Hazel started saying, looking at the walls curiously.

"Does this not normally happen?" Frank asked nervously.

"If it does, this is the first time I've seen it." Hazel said uneasily. "This never happens when I come in here by myself..."

"Ya hear that Leo?" Olly asked jokingly. "You broke it."

"I did not break it!" I complained, stomping my foot onto the ground. The ground opened up at my feet and I fell through, hitting a slide and sliding all the way down. The exit was a little elevated from the ground, and by a little I mean elevated by three feet, and once I was through, I landed on my butt. "Ow..."

"Leo... are you dead?" Olly's voice asked, echoing through the slide.

I turned around and saw a massive, orange metallic lion sitting down, covered in an orange force field. "No... but you guys should probably come take a look at this..."

"Coming down." Olly yelled as I heard him hollering on the way down.

"Be careful! There's a three foot drop outside of the tunnel." I yelled inside as Olly came barreling down. He kept his legs extended and practically jumped out of the tunnel and landed feet first.

"Show off."

"Oh whatever!"

One by one, everyone else came down the slide. Frank was next, who didn't hear my warning about the drop and fell face first, who was quickly followed by Hazel. Poor guy didn't even get a chance to get up before Hazel came down as she landed on Frank's back gently. The two hurried out of the way as Nico, Reyna, Jason, and Percy all came down at the same time, forming a dog pile at the exit of the slide.

"I tried to warn you." I said, shaking my head.

"Is this the lion?" Reyna asked uncertainly.

"I think so..." Jason said, laughing nervously. "If I'm being honest, I have no idea what the lions look like."

"Welp... we're screwed." I said, walking towards the lion. Suddenly, arrows sprayed in front of my face. I slowly turned back towards the group. "I think it's already pretty well protected..."

Olly pointed towards the lion. "Go."

"What?"

"We need to prevent the Galra from getting it. Go."

"But Olly!" I complained.

"Leo..." Percy said, glaring at me behind Olly. Olly was also glaring at me, his steely grey eyes piercing into my soul.

"Okay, okay. God, I'm going. Just... don't glare at me. It's super freaky. Your stares could date each other! They're so scary!"

"W-What!?" Olly asked, his face growing red. Did... Olly have a crush on Percy or something? "Just go before I push you myself!"

"Fine! Damn, this is so unlike you Olly. You're usually so quiet and shy, but now you're barking orders? What's up with that!?" I asked myself as I hugged the wall where the arrows were fired from. I looked down below and saw a trip laser embedded into the ground. I looked back at the group. "Anyone got a knife?"

"Why?" Reyna asked suspiciously.

"I need to disarm this trap if I have any hope of getting through. I need a knife."

Reyna rolled her eyes as she walked over and handed me her knife, the hilt covered in a white bandage. "Don't cut yourself on it."

"Got it." I said, giving Reyna a thumbs up, as I jammed the knife into the rock by my feet, cutting the device in two.

I walked passed the arrow trap to make sure it was safe, and then I picked up a small rock. Frank looked at me, worried. "Leo... what are you doing?"

"Checking for more traps! I've seen this in old movies, so maybe it'll work." I explained, getting ready to throw the rock.

As soon as the rock hit the ground, a trap door was triggered, but stayed open, spikes went up in two sides of the room and in the ceiling, and fire started spraying from the ceiling in front of the lion.

"Well that's just a little excessive..." Percy said, walking towards me, the rest of the group in tow. "You think the rest of the area is safe?"

"Yeah... but the fire..."

Percy's eyes narrowed in determination. "I can handle that. But you think everything else is okay?"

"Yeah."

Percy turned to the rest of the group. "Let's go."

Everyone slowly walked forward, careful to avoid any of the dangerous things, until we came up to the fire.

"How are you going to handle this?" Olly asked curiously to Percy. "Technically speaking, you'll get third degree burns if you go through there."

Percy closed his eyes and held out his arms. When he opened his eyes again, they were stark blue, as if he had been struck with electricity in contrast to his normal sea green eyes, and water shot out from all directions, quenching the fire above long enough for everyone to get through. Once through, Percy's eyes returned to their normal color. Olly and Jason looked perplexed, while most of the group was just spooked at what just happened.

"How did you do that!?" Jason asked.

"I'm starting to remember things little by little." Percy said, smiling slyly. "Maybe a month ago, I got separated from you."

"What about Magnus?" Olly asked seriously.

"I think he got seperated from us a while ago..." Jason answered. "I could be wrong though..."

"Anyway, I think during a check up or something, they discovered something off about my blood, so they put me on a different ship for a while to do... experiments on me."

"What'd they figure out?" Olly asked.

"That I'm half human." Percy said simply.

"I'm sorry... what?" Nico asked. "You're half human?"

"Yeah... my dad was part of a species of alien called Atlanteians. The population was about 50/50 when it came to having legs." Percy motioned to his legs. "Judging by the fact that I am standing up, my father and I part of the half that has legs. Anyway, the experiments they did on me awakened some powers that were kept dormant. That water thing I just did was just one of many."

"That's so cool!" Olly said excitedly, acting like a little kid. "What other powers do you have? Can you communicate with sea life? Can you make air bubbles? Can you make tropical storms? Can you bend humans to your will since we are, after all, 75% human?"

"You'll figure out all in good time, Olly." Percy said, laughing a little, but also looking sad, as if the way Olly was acting brought up an unpleasant memory.

"Well, at least we got to the- WAAA!" I said, attempting to lean against the lion's forcefield, then fell through. "Ow..."

"When did the force field go down?" Hazel asked, confused.

"Does it matter?" Reyna asked. "We can get to the ship now."

My head felt like the inside was burning as I went down on the ground.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Frank asked, worried.

You need to get out of here.

"What?" I asked wearily, hearing a voice in the room. "What do you mean I need to get out of here?"

"Leo... who are you talking to?" Hazel asked gently.

"You can't hear that?" I asked, worried.

You aren't safe here anymore. Those people need Voltron. Get your friends inside of me and leave. You are the only one who can hear me because you are a Paladin. Now hurry. Those army guys are going to find you at any minute.

"A Pala-what?" I whispered to myself, then shook my head. "Anyway, I feel like we should get into the lion..."

"Why?" Olly asked.

"I... I think he's communicating with me." I said, Olly looking at me like he sensed my uncertainty. "He's saying that the Garrison guys are going to find us, so we need to get inside."

"I'm sorry, did you say he?" Jason asked.

"It's hard to explain, but we need to go!" I said, standing up. "Come on!"

I started running towards the lion and ran into the opened cargo bay. Frank grabbed Nico's arm and hauled him towards me. "L-Leo!"

"Frank, why are you dragging me!" Nico yelled, disappearing into the cargo bay with Frank.

"Let's go Reyna!" Hazel said, almost glaring at Nico through the open doors. "Nico already left me once. I am not letting him leave me again."

Hazel ran towards the open doors as Reyna glanced at Jason, Percy, and Olly. "You three coming?"

"May as well." Jason said uneasily. He and Reyna walked into the lion, leaving Olly and Percy outside.

"I don't wanna go back to containment." Percy said, grabbing Olly's hand. I couldn't see very well from where I was standing in the cargo bay, but it looked like Olly's face was flushed red. "You coming?"

"I want this stated now: this is a horrible, horrible idea that will probably result in our deaths." Olly said nervously, but looked into the cargo bay. "But I don't think I'd want to die unless I'm with you..."

Percy gave Olly a strange look as Olly looked down at his feet. "People." Plly concluded. "You people. Because I like you guys."

Once Olly and Percy were inside, the doors closed, as if the lion knew that everyone was inside.

"So... what now?" Nico asked.

Fly me.

"He's telling me to fly him." I said, walking to what looked like an elevator.

"Uh... no." Nico said, almost glaring at me. "No offense dude, but I think the only reason you got into the fighter ship program is because Reyna dropped out. I'll fly him."

NO! Only my Paladin can fly me, and that is you Leo!

"No need to yell, God." I said, rolling my eyes. "The lion is insisting that I fly him. I don't think he'd like you flying him Nico."

"Why you?" Hazel asked.

"Orange keeps calling me a... hey, what are you calling me?"

A Paladin. You are one of the nine Paladins of Voltron.

"It... It's saying..."

"What's it saying?" Frank asked curiously.

"That I'm one of the nine Paladins of Voltron."