HELLO!

This is a one shot about a mute non binary person. Please respect them and their many issues (anxiety, depression, bullying)

Warning: this one shot does not have a happy ending. I didn't want to write one so I didn't put one in.

Enjoy~

————

"The Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon Kerberos has disappeared. All officers are believed to be dead. It is thought to be caused by pilot error. It is a sad day for all humanity."

The plate shattered as it hit the floor. The tiny little person stood, frozen, hands still up like they were still holding the plate. But they weren't. It was shattered on the floor.

The person clapped a hand over their mouth and gasped, eyes wide.

"Newt! Newton!" Their mom thundered down the stairs and grabbed them by their shoulders "Are you okay? What did you drop?"

Newt pointed down at the shattered plate on the floor. Their tanned, freckled face was shocked and frozen. Their long darker red hair was piled in a bun on their head. Their bright green eyes were still fixed on the screen.

Their mom turned to the tv. Then she gasped "Oh honey." She pulled them into a side hug, so she could still see the screen "That boy and that man. They were your friends family right?"

Newt nodded, eyes still wide.

"Do you want to go visit them?" Their mom asked.

Newt nodded. Their mom grabbed their hand and turned off the tv. Then she dragged them from the house and into the car. They were still in shock and were hardly processing anything other than the fact that two people they had known pretty well were dead. And now their mom was driving them to see the remaining family.

————

Newt's mom knocked on the door of the Holt's house and was saying "Colleen? Colleen I know you're there. I've come to help you."

The door opened and an absolutely miserable woman stood there. She had short blonde hair, hazel eyes and she was trembling. She saw who was at the door and opened it wider "Come in."

Newt and their mom came in and the door was closed. Colleen lead the two to the living room. Then she fell to the couch and was crying. Newt's mom sat down with her and hugged her, rubbing her back. Newt looked around, looking for their friend.

They spotted some stairs and walked up them, their feet making little pit pat sounds as they climbed.

A crash came from one of the rooms leading from the hallway. Newt walked over and opened the door. They peered inside and saw her. She was their only friend and they weren't even that close. Katie had been one of the only kids to not tease them and vice versa. Katie heard the door open and turned to look. Her face was a mess of tears and she looked beyond angry.

Newt signed Hey. Need a friend?

Katie nodded a little and walked up to them. Then she embraced them in a hug, careful to not pin their hands to their bodies.

When she pulled away, Katie signed as she spoke "Thanks. What are you doing here?"

The mute young teenager sighed and signed Saw the news. Mom suggested coming here. Wanted to see if you were alright. There wasn't a sign for Katie so Newt had always used the sign for small bird which corresponded to her nickname that her older brother had given her.

Katie wiped furiously at her tears and said "The Garrison won't tell us anything. They didn't even tell us until it was on the news."

Newt signed So you're mad?

"Of course I'm mad!" Katie turned and picked up a book off her desk and threw it against a wall "I'm furious."

Newt jumped at the noise and went to pick up the fallen book. They picked it up and placed it on a bookshelf. Then they signed Careful.

"Newt, I don't want to be careful anymore. I want to go to the Garrison and launch myself into space and find them!" Katie yelled.

Newt sighed Not a good idea.

"I know it's not a good idea, Newt." Katie scowled at them "I don't want to hear anything else. I just need some time, okay?"

Newt nodded.

Katie said "Can you leave? Please? I want to be alone."

Newt nodded and left the room, gently closing the door behind them. Then they walked back downstairs to their mother and Colleen. They were still hugging. Newt sat down on a chair and just kinda stared off into space.

————

"Mr Newton? Are you paying attention?" Their teacher's voice snapped them out of their daze and they blinked in surprise.

Then they nodded and signed Yes. Sorry.

The teacher frowned "Mr Newton if you could use your board, that would be a better idea. Or you could try talking for once."

Newt brought out a little white board and miserably scribbled his message. Then he held it up for the teacher to see. She frowned and kept talking. She seemed to pick on Newt a lot, as if she liked making them nervous and struggle. Newt knew that it probably wasn't on purpose, but the Garrison didn't exactly bring in the most accepting teachers. Plus, they tried to get Newt to not go there because of their muteness. But their mom was a a teacher here so the Garrison had to let them in.

Now they were miserable. They had wanted to come to the Garrison to go to space and explore. But they never expected nearly the whole school to hate them and tease them relentlessly.

The class ended and Newt picked up their books and left the room.

In the middle of the hallway on their way to their next class, Newt was pushed to the floor. Their books scattered everywhere and they landed hard, hands barely catching them. Newt lifted his hands and noticed that they were all scratched up now. They turned fear filled eyes up to the bully.

The bully was a tall, blonde haired jock with the brightest grey eyes Newt had ever seen. Scientifically, this boys eyes were almost genetically impossible. The boy was super tall and really buff and really hated Newt. Maybe it was because Newt was non binary or maybe it was because they were top of their class as a communication officer, thus making them a nerd. Newt could never figure it out. The bully's name was Jake.

Jake smirked down at the shivering Newt and looked down his nose "Hey shrimp."

Newt clapped their hands over their ears so they wouldn't have to hear what Jake was saying. This was the routine. Jake would push them down, Jake would start insulting them and Newt would either cry or whimper and cover their ears or run away. Sometimes it was all three. Today was one of those days.

Newt scrambled to try and pick up all their books as the gathered crowd laughed.

"Jake! You asshole! What the hell!" A voice yelled. Someone shoved Jake back into the crowd with a growl. The crowd yelled.

The person ran over and started to help Newt pick up their books and said "Hey, you okay?"

Newt looked up at them. It was a boy with long dark hair, pale skin and purple eyes. He was muscular, had a scary look on his face and was shorter than the average boy. Not nearly as short as Newt was though.

Newt blinked and put their books down. Then they signed Thank you. Then they grabbed their books from the boys arms and ran for it.

————

A little while later, an announcement was made. It was about someone getting expelled from the school for fighting. Newt had no idea who it was and they honestly hoped it was Jake.

But it wasn't.

Jake did the same routine again that day. Newt ran away.

But before they did, Jake said something "No dark haired hero here to save you now." Right before he punched Newt in the face.

The boy who had helped them got expelled.

And it was Newt's fault.

————

Almost a year later, Newt woke up in a cold sweat, shivering in fear. Their dreams were always super vivid and often ended with them dying in some painful, twisted way. They couldn't scream so they tended to wake up without alerting anyone. They shivered and panted, eyes blown wide.

Newt needed to take a walk. That was usually how they calm themself down.

So they left the dorm, wondering through the halls, avoiding any night guards by hiding in conveniently situated trash bins that were thankfully empty. Newt came across two that had already been jostled, one lying on the ground with its top off. Newt wondered if someone else was up. They shook it off and kept walking.

After a little while, Newt realized that they had a song stuck in their head. So they started walking to the beat. Pretty soon, a smile crawled onto their lips and they were dancing along the hallways. Not party dancing though. Newt had done ballet and lyrical and all that stuff for as long as they could remember. So they were leaping and sliding, moving their body smoothly and quickly through the halls. It was more fun than Newt had had since they got to the Garrison and they decided that they needed to do it more often.

Before they knew it, they had reached an exit. Still grinning softly, they pushed open the door and stepped out into the cold night air. They breathed in and out, feeling their lungs expand with every breath. It felt amazing and they were surprised they didn't do it more often.

Newt opened their eyes and stared upwards. They were on the roof and they had a perfect view of all the stars they would ever need to see. They reached a hand up and traced some of the constellations, rattling off their names and how they had gotten them in their head. Newt absolutely loved the stars with every fibre of their being.

As a child, they had wanted to hug the stars. Then they had learned that stars were enormous balls of burning gas floating in an endless vacuum that the human race called space. Newt still wanted to learn about them, but was less inclined to hug them.

They walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down with their legs dangling over the side.

Their finger brushed something.

Newt's smile fell into a curious, wide eyed look as they grabbed it and picked it up. Then they brought their hand up so they could see it.

It was what looked like a remote with a tiny satellite dish on the top. It wasn't refined enough to be Garrison tech and looked more like a homemade space communicator.

Curious, Newt crossed their legs and poked at the remote. Nothing happened. So they poked one of the buttons on the front. Nothing happened. Then they poked a button on the side. It clicked and a little screen lit up. Immediately, little pulses appeared on it, like a heart monitor. Newt narrowed their eyes and peered at them.

The wave lengths looked too long to be heartbeats. And besides, they weren't lining up with Newt's heart. Maybe it was a sonar? But there wasn't any sort of circular thing on the screen. There wasn't even a way for it to show if something was nearby, they were wave lengths for peets sake! Newt sat there, watching the wave lengths until the sun came up. They didn't really care if they were late to class, the teachers didn't seem to want them there anyway.

Newt frowned and sighed before flopping into their back. Maybe staying out all night hadn't been the best idea.

A crackling sound came from the remote.

Newt sat up again, eyes wide. They grabbed the remote and held it up. The crackelling was responding to new wave lengths appearing on the screen.

They were fascinated. Based on what Newt had gathered from the measurements on the sides of the screen and the wave lengths, this was some sort of activity tracker. It was a wild guess but it seemed accurate. Newt felt a smile curl onto their lips as they watched a continuous, long wave length zip across the screen.

A boom came from out in the desert.

Newt jumped, jostling the remote in their hands, and looked up. A masssive blue mechanical lion was flying and zipping around in the desert. Newt stood and held the remote up and pointed the satellite dish at the lion. The wave lengths on the screen went crazy and the remote made a continuous, angry sounding buzzing noise. So it was a movement gauge.

Newt watched, fascinated with the wave lengths that they didn't even notice when the lion disappeared.

Someone grabbed their shoulder and growled "Out for a morning walk?"

Newt turned and frantically shook their head, fear in their eyes.

The professor frowned at them and dragged them back to the school "Detention again, Mr Newton. Third time this month. Be glad your mom is a teacher here. Otherwise you would be gone already."

Newt angrily thought If you all bothered to learn sign language, I wouldn't be in detention all the time! But, of course, they said none of it.

The most sound they could make was a terrified, choked sounding squeak when the teacher pushed them into his office and closed the door.

————

The next day, Newt learned that three Garrison students had disappeared two nights ago. They were gone without a trace and no one knew where they went. Newt had an idea, they had probably disappeared in the blue lion. But they couldn't share that. No one would listen to the little non binary mute kid.

Newt was sad to hear that some people who had been nice to them had disappeared. Lance and Hunk. They were nice and helped them when they saw them. But they mostly spent their time on opposite sides of the school.

Newt learned next that Pidge had disappeared. They didn't show their shock and sadness. They knew that Pidge was a nickname given to Katie by her brother. It had become her alias when she had wanted to join the Garrison. She had been posing as a boy for nearly a year now.

So they stayed quiet, like always, and went through their classes, passing with flying colours on each test.

This went on for a year. Until something happened.

————

Newt was running, tears streaming down their cheeks. Their books were far behind them in a pile in front of Jake who was laughing. Newt had finally cracked under him and had started to cry like a scared child. This had only given Jack more teasing material and boy had he ever taken advantage of that. He had called Newt so many things that they didn't want to repeat them ever again.

Their legs burned as they ran, barely getting enough air gulped down into their lungs. They needed to get away. Get as far away as possible from Jake and everyone. No one was left to defend them. Not even that dark haired, purple eyed stranger who had for some reason intervened and gotten expelled for it.

Newt slammed into their dorm and grabbed a backpack. They filled it with a warm and oversized purple hoodie, a thick pair of socks, some books, the remote they had found, the little photo of a spaceship that was their inspiration and a little stone. The stone wasn't really a stone, it was a piece of jade. It was flat and smooth as can be with a divot in one side. It was called a worry stone and Newt had had this one for as long as they could remember.

Then Newt yanked off their school uniform, red hair falling everywhere in messy waves and curls. They pulled on a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and put on a pink t shirt over top. Then they put on a pair of black ripped distressed high waisted jeans and tucked the shirt in. They switched their uniform shoes for a pair of pink converse and pulled a grey toque onto their head and braided their hair down one side. They grabbed their backpack and sprinted from the dorm, finding the exit they had used so long ago.

Panting for breath, Newt emerged onto the roof of the school and darted to the edge. They didn't intend to die so they were checking to see how low it was.

It wasn't high enough to hurt them so they tossed their bag down before jumping down themselves and rolling upon impact. Then they were up and running again, doing the roll in one fluid motion. Newt sprinted out into the desert, in the direction they had seen the blue lion emerge. Maybe they could find a nice cave to live in.

As they ran, tears dripped down their cheeks and fell to the ground, leaving a splattered trail of spots of darkened wet sandy ground. If anyone bothered to find them, they would just follow the trail like in some sick fairytale where breadcrumbs are replaced with tear stains. If they hadn't been so horribly miserable, Newt might've snorted. Of course, no one would come looking for them. Their mother had always tried to accept and help and love them but even after years and years of them using neutral pronouns, she still slipped up all the time and acted annoyed. Plus their little family had suffered a hardship.

Newt's condition wasn't biological. It was a traumatic response to a traumatic event.

Nearly nine years ago, Newt and their father had been at home. Someone had started banging on the door, yelling about killing and stabbing and murder and blood. Newt's father told Newt to hide in a cupboard just as the person broke the door. Newt had watched helplessly through a crack between the doors to the cupboard as their father was stabbed to death. When the person left, Newt had crawled out of the cupboard, the little six year old crying silently as they went up to their fathers corpse. They had spent an hour counting the knife wounds, until their mom came home.

She had hysterically asked them what happened but they couldn't make a sound. They had scribbled a note in their limited six year old vocabulary and told her a bad man came in and poked dad with a sharp. Newts mother held the note to her face and sobbed.

Newt hadn't spoken since. They couldn't.

Something caught their eye. It was a shack. Minor relief flooded through Newts little body and they ran up to the front. Hopefully it was empty and abandoned so they could have a place to live.

They crept up to a window and looked inside. Empty. Newt decided to wait for a while and sat on the swing outside. They put their backpack down on the ground and kicked their legs.

Maybe this could be good. No one here would bother them. There was no one here anyway. And if someone did live in the house, Newt could just leave again. No big deal, they would just ask for one nights sleep in this person's house before leaving again. Hopefully the person was hospitable.

So Newt swung lazily on the swing, kicking their legs and waiting to see if anyone came home.

————

The sun was setting and no one had come so Newt assumed that the place was deserted.

They grabbed their back pack and tried the door handle. It was locked. They ran around to the back, checking for a back door. No door. They sighed and went back to the front.

Newt pressed their hands to the window and tried to slide it up. It wouldn't budge. They tried sliding it down. Still nothing. So they tried to push it sideways. Finally it squeaked horribly and moved at a snails pace. Newt winced and grit their teeth against the noise but kept going.

Eventually the window was open. Newt kicked down the screen inside and dropped their backpack into the shack. Then they climbed over the window sill and fell to the floor inside with a thud. They rubbed their hands over their face before standing up and dusting themselves off. Then Newt went to explore.

The shack was tiny, a few body lengths long and a few more wide. There was a little bathroom with a cracked mirror, there was a couch in front of a coffee table in the main room. There was a tiny and almost unusable kitchenette with, somehow, running water. There was a small coffee maker and a toaster. The mini fridge had some fruit, some bread, some other food and something that Newt didn't want to know what it used to be. They grabbed that container and chucked it out the window as hard as they could.

They watched as it flew out into the desert and the glass shattered.

Then they noticed the wall.

It was just a regular wall but it was covered in a whole bunch of maps and pictures and polaroids and newspaper clippings and red string connecting things. In the centre, there was a really big and crumpled map of the desert with furious red circles around some mountain peaks. Next to that was some bright red writing that said 'ENERGY!' in capital letters.

Newt frowned at it. Apparently the person who used to live here had been a conspiracy theorist worthy of the X Files. They grabbed their backpack from the ground and plopped it down on the kitchen counter. They opened it and stuffed their stuff in a small chest of drawers opposite the couch. Then they shoved their backpack in a corner. Newt pulled off their hat and flopped onto their stomach on the couch, shoving their face into the cushions.

After a minute or two, they decided that they needed to calm down and they sat up and rubbed their eyes harshly. They kept rubbing their eyes, like it would wipe all the memories from the Garrison from their brain.

But it didn't. All it did was wipe away any tears that still remained.

Newt stood and went to the bathroom. They turned the sink onto cold and splashed a whole bunch of water in their face. It was harsh and almost painfully cold and they hissed through their teeth at the sharpness.

————

A bang shocked Newt awake and they fell off the couch and onto the floor. They opened their mouth in a silent shocked yelp.

Newt brushed the hair out of their face and stood up. They had found a knife the night before and they grabbed it off the little side table as they went to the door. They peeked through the peephole and looked outside. No one was there. Confused, Newt moved to the window and looked out. They scanned outside and couldn't see anyone or anything alive.

Even more confused, Newt opened the door, knife still in hand, and started walking around. Nothing was out of the ordinary out front.

When they got to the back, they nearly dropped the knife in surprise.

A massive white machine was sitting there. It was so big, Newt was having trouble putting it into perspective. It was like Optimus Prime on steroids big. Bigger even. And it was shaped like a lion.

Wait. A lion?

A lion had taken the three Garrison students a while ago, hadn't it? This couldn't be the same one right? Newt shook their head. This one wasn't blue and it looked... bigger. Like forty times bigger.

Newt really did drop the knife when an image flashed in their brain.

Them climbing into the lion. Flying into space. Stars zipping by. Shooting ships. Flying and flying and flying and flying.

In a trance, Newt put their hand up, palm forward, towards the lion. A fizzling blinding white light appeared at its chest and swept down to Newt. It touched their hand. Then Newt watched in amazement as a lion started to form from the light's point of contact with Newts hand. It was almost like watching someone pour liquid light into a mold, nose first.

The lion made of light opened its bright yellow eyes and pulled its nose back a little from Newts hand.

Another image flashed in Newts brain.

Come with me. The lion seemed to be feeding information into their brain Come with me.

Newt nervously signed Okay. Then they ran back into the house and grabbed their stuff, shoved it back into the backpack and ran back out to the lion. The lion made of light fizzled and disappeared. Then the mechanical lions eyes flashed yellow and the massive machine leaned its head down and opened it mouth to let Newt in.

Newt didn't look back as they ran into the lion.

————

As soon as Newt was inside and safely seated at the pilots chair, the lion took off, shooting at impossible speeds up into the galaxy. Stars zipped by in distant beams of light and Newt didn't realize they were smiling so hard until their smile muscles started to hurt. They sat forward and closed their eyes and brought their arms out like a child pretending to be an airplane. The lion purred happily and spun.

Newt was enjoying getting away from their planet much more than they had anticipated.

Newt opened their eyes again and looked out through the screens. Planets and constellations that they had never seen, even through the most powerful telescope, were going by the window. It was incredible and Newts mouth fell open. They didn't even start to wonder or worry about how far they were from Earth. In that moment, they hardly cared. The only thing they were feeling was glee. Pure glee.

Abruptly, the lion slowed down and a planet was floating in front of the beast. It had diagonal ridges going all the way around and they were high enough that they stuck up out of the atmosphere. Newt stood up and stared at the mountains.

They didn't seem geologically possible. Mountains that tall should crumble because of the planets gravity. Numbers zipped through Newts brain as they calculated about how high they were. They confirmed that the mountains were not geologically possible. For any material on Earth that is... were these mountains made of something else? Maybe a carbonite or some sort of pumice? Pumice and maybe a carbonate alloy of some sort would be light enough but would they be strong enough to withstand the planets gravitational pull? Newt had so many questions.

The lion roared, interrupting Newts train of thought. It was less of a train and more of one of those bullet express trains because it moved so fast. Newt looked up and saw five other lions, all similar structures to that of the white lion that Newt was in. There was a red one, a green one, a yellow one, a blue one and a black one. Newt noticed that they didn't seem nearly as big as the one they were in.

They frowned. Were these the white lions friends? What was going on?

More questions.

The white lion sent them a message Meet with them. They won't hurt you.

The lion seemed to understand sign language so Newt signed Who are they?

The lion purred You will find out. Then it fell silent.

No, not it.

He.

The lion was a boy.

Newt smiled and sat down and gripped the controls. They thought to themselves Nice to meet you.

The lion purred Nice to meet you too.

————

The lion set himself down in a clearing, next to a castle like ship that made the lion look miniature. Newt gaped up at the structure and ran some numbers.

The castle appeared to be made out of a similar material to titanium. Newt roughly estimated the dimensions and calculated it's surface area, plus the four turrets and the even bigger tower in the middle. Then they estimated about what percent of the inside of the castle was made out of the material and calculated how much it weighed. They had expected a bunch more but it turned out to be surprisingly light for its size, which was gargantuan. So, not light at all but it was proportionately light and... never mind. Explaining Newts brains bullet express train of thought would be like trying to explain photons and how they make light crystals to a three year old. Not possible.

The lion spoke to Newt You should get out there.

Newt shook themself and jogged through the lion as it bent down and opened its mouth. They hopped down from the ramp and stood up in front of five people dressed in armour.

Newt's inner and subconscious thoughts went about calculating their weights and heights and BMI and endurance while Newt's conscious mind went about looking at their faces. The last tiny slice of Newt's brain power went to freaking out about what was happening so far. That was the more or less human part of their brain.

Newt immediately recognized them all. Takashi Shirogane. Hunk Garrett. Lance McClain. Pidge Gunderson a.k.a Katie Holt. Then they squinted a little at the last person.

The last person was a positively gorgeous woman with white hair pulled up into a bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were bright sky blue and her skin was a dark coffee brown. She had strange crescent pink shapes on her cheekbones and her ears were pointed.

Newt's brain went to work trying to figure out why she had those differences. Maybe they were brith defects? But no natural human could ever have pink markings that bright. And the ears. Maybe they were the result of selective breeding or selective gene manipulation? That was really unlikely though. No one would purposefully have babies with people just because of the shapes of their ears. All of this happened in under two seconds.

The tiny slice of regular human brain finally got Newts attention and it clicked for them that they were technically seeing dead people. Their eyes widened and their jaw fell open.

Then they started signing frantically What the hell is going on here?!? Katie you better tell me what's going on or I'm going to wring your neck! Unfortunately, they were waving their hands so hysterically, they might as well have said Apple seniors home freight car hummus dictionary.

The team's eyes widened and they drew back a step. Maybe they didn't like freight cars.

Then Katie waved her arms around to get Newts attention and signed Calm down. Then she said "Newt. Breathe."

And Newt did. In and out. In and out. In and out.

Then they signed a little slower How?

Katie's mouth fell into a line "Well, you know how the Kerberos mission disappeared?" Newt nodded and Katie continued "A year after, there was a crash. Shiro crashed back on Earth after being abducted by aliens. Then Lance, Hunk and I went out to find him but were stopped by Keith who had already gotten Shiro.  Then we went to find a Blue lion and then we were blasted off into space. Now here we are. How did you get here?"

Newt pointed to the massive white lion behind them and said This came to pick me up. After I ran away from the Garrison-

Katie cut them off with a shout "You ran away from the Garrison?!? Why? You're a genius!"

Newt flinched and nervously signed Jake.

"That dickhead is still bothering you?" Katie clenched her fists "I swear if I ever see him again I'm going to-"

Shiro grabbed her shoulder and said "Woah, Pidge, calm down. Mind introducing us to your friend here?"

Lance said "Actually Shiro, Hunk and I already know her." He walked up to Newt and stuck out a hand to shake "Newt right?"

Newt nodded and shook his hand. Then they signed Not she. They.

Lance blinked "What?"

Pidge said "Newt is non binary. They use they/them instead of she/her or he/him."

Lance blinked again before smiling at Newt "Oh. Ok. Sorry about that. I'll work on it."

Newt smiled nervously at him. Then they turned to Hunk and waved. Hunk waved back and signed How are you?

Newt smiled, noticing that his movements were nervous and timid, like he had just learned. Newt gave him a thumbs up and Hunk grinned even wider.

The woman with white hair asked "Why do you keep waving your hands around? Is it some form of communication?"

Shiro said "It's called sign language. It's a way to talk to deaf people who can't hear what you're saying. Newts not deaf though, right?" He turned to them.

Newt winced and shook their head and signed I can hear all of you. I'm mute.

Pidge translated "They're mute. Can't talk."

Hunk cocked his head to the side "I never asked if it was biological or not. Is it?"

Newt flinched so hard that they nearly fell over and stared at the ground. Then they crossed their arms, sign language for I can't talk right now.

Pidge knew why "Let's not talk about that."

Hunk frowned "But-"

Pidge sent him a harsh glare. Hunk snapped his mouth shut.

The woman said "Well, since you don't know me, my name is Princess Allura. This is my castle." She gestured to the castle ship. Then she gestured to the white lion behind Newt "And that is something I never thought I would ever see."

"Why?" Hunk asked.

Allura frowned "Let's get back onto the castle. Then we can all sit while I explain. Would you like to join us, Newt?"

Newt nodded, still hugging themself. Then they signed I would like that, thanks Allura. I gotta get my stuff though.

Allura blinked "What did he- um sorry. What did they say?"

Pidge smiled "They said 'I would like that, thanks Allura.' But they need their stuff so they'll be right back." Pidge turned to them and said "Why did you use the sign for angel?"

Newt blushed Signing isn't very accurate. Angel isn't the worst I've ever come up with.

Pidge snickered and asked "But isn't it a little cheesy?"

Newt flushed and signed At least I don't call her small bird like you.

Pidge laughed "I think Matt has the worst sign name though."

Newt smiled softly and nodded Yeah. His is M Skinny. They signed the letter and then the word. Pidge laughed.

Then they followed the team onto the castle ship. But not without letting the lion know.

They didn't want him to worry about them.

————

Allura sat them all down in what looked like a council room and began to tell the story.

"Ten thousand years ago, when my father built the lions, he had lots of remaining material from the comet. So he made the biggest lion he could which turned out to be the white lion that brought Newt here. As soon as it was built and powered up, it roared and flew away." She said "My father managed to catch view of it flying away on some security cameras so we knew what it looked like. It has never chosen a Paladin before." She looked at Newt with a question in her eyes "Until now."

Newt wanted to shrink into themselves. Everyone was staring at them, even the weird orange haired man named Coran who they had met just a few minutes ago.

They nervously signed Why me? I'm nothing special. I'm mute and I'm non binary and I've been bullied my entire life and have one friend. Why would a magical beast choose me?

Katie frowned, sounding reluctant and guilty "Yeah. I'm not trying to insult you, Newt, but you've never been good at defending yourself. Ever. Sorry."

Newt shook their head and signed No, you're right. Don't feel bad.

Lance frowned "Did you just call yourself useless?"

Newt nodded, face expressionless.

Lance scowled "No one is useless. No matter how useless you feel. Everyone is important in their own way."

Newt flushed and looked down.

"Anyway, so the white lion hasn't even appeared anywhere in ten thousand years. Now Newt is it's Paladin. What now?" Shiro asked.

Newt signed He. The lion is a boy.

Katie blinked and said "Oh okay. Uh, Shiro, the lion is a boy."

"Sorry. Newt is his new Paladin." Shiro said "What now?"

"We figure out what he does for Voltron." Allura said "But you all need to get training. Go on, go. I'll explain everything to Newt here. I'll try to figure out what they're saying."

The Paladins groaned and left.

Allura turned to Newt and said "Alright we need to come up with a system." Newt nodded and Allura kept talking "Teach me a little bit. Of the signing language you use. Please. I'd like to be able to communicate with you."

Newt nodded again.

Then Allura asked "Show me yes."

Newt signed Yes. Allura copied a few times, whispering the word as she signed it.

She smiled and said "Okay, what is no?"

Newt signed No. Again, Allura copied a few times.

They kept going, Newt showing Allura the words she asked for and them signing them. Then she would repeat it. This went on for a few minutes.

Then Allura said "Alright. That's good for now. I need to show you something. Come with me." She stood and gestured to Newt to follow. They stood up and followed the princess from the room.

Newt felt really really small while walking through the hallways. They felt like they seemed to be expanding. They were suddenly hyper aware of just how big the universe is and they felt themselves starting to panic a little. But they stayed focused and forced themself to walk behind Allura, one foot in front of the other. Just keep going. They kept breathing, slowly, in and out, in and out.

Allura stopped in the entrance of a room and Newt nearly bumped into her.

She turned and said "In here is your armour. If you are to be a Paladin of the White Lion, you are to have this armour and wear it into battle. You must also prove that you are worthy of the White Lion. If it deems you unfit at any time, it will leave."

Newt's teeth were chattering with nerves but they nodded stiffly. Allura pushed a button and the door slid open. Inside was a large tube standing upright in the middle of the room. Inside the tube was a suit of armour that was all white with a few glossy, almost silvery designs and accents. It was beautiful. Newt walked forward and touched the glass around it and wondered how they could ever be worthy of something like this.

Allura said "Change quickly. Then I must give you something." The door slid shut.

Newt felt really really self conscious changing so they pulled the backpack off their back and tried their best to change without showing any skin. They pressed the glass and the armour came out, falling over. Newt slowly put it on, implanting how it went on and what clicked into which piece into their brain. Then they put the helmet on their head, tucking their long hair up in the back. They shoved the rest of their clothes in their backpack. Then they opened the door.

Allura was standing their and when she turned around, her eyes widened and she said "Good, it fits you. Now, the bayard." She offered her palms up with a handle thing resting in them up to Newt.

Newt took it and examined it while she talked "This is a bayard, the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It will form into whatever weapon it sees for for the Paladin. Try. Will it to change."

Newt gripped it a little harder and the thing sprung to life. A light glowed from it and formed into a shape, much like the lion had earlier that day. It formed what looked like a crossbow with what resembled a knife sticking out right below the place where it was fired. Newt examined it. Based on Newts limited knowledge of weaponry, it appeared to be a long range weapon for shooting at enemies but also looked like a pretty decent close range weapon which could come in handy. It was relatively heavy but Newt assumed it was much lighter than the average crossbow.

They looked up at Allura and blinked. Then they put the crossbow away and signed What now?

She frowned and sighed "I'm sorry, we'll have to wait for Pidge. I don't know what you said."

Newt pouted momentarily. Then they followed Allura from the room.

————

"Paladins, your newest addition is ready." The Princess smiled and waved to Newt as they walked in. The Paladins turned and Newt immediately felt self conscious. They brought one hand up to their other elbow and looked at the floor.

Shiro smiled kindly at them "You look good."

Newt blushed furiously and waved their hands around, like they were batting the compliment out of the air. Then they signed Please don't compliment me.

Pidge ignored this and said "Yeah you look ready to fight."

Newt had to sit down. So they sat down hard and covered their face with their hands, shaking their head.

Pidge snorted "You never could take a compliment, could you?"

Newt shook their head, face still covered.

Allura smiled "Why don't you join them in training today, Newt? You should learn to use your bayard."

Lance stood up "What is your bayard?"

Newt summoned the white bayard and willed it to change. It lit up and turned into the crossbow. Newt noticed that this time it was mounted on their wrist so it was now more of a point and shoot weapon. Interesting.

Lance walked over and grabbed it, examining it carefully. Newt leaned away, uncomfortable and not used to kind physical contact.

Nobody seemed to notice how uncomfortable they were and everyone came closer, examining the bayard and getting closer and closer into Newts personal space. Newt started to tremble. Their eyes blew wide in fear, their mind being taken over by flashbacks to the many times that Jake had attacked them.

And suddenly they were on the floor, curled in a ball, shivering with their head in their hands. Their teeth were chattering and the bayard was gone and the Paladins crowded around them, still getting closer. Newt started to hyperventilate, desperately trying to get air in and out of their lungs.

Finally they couldn't take it anymore and screamed.

It was shrill and piercing and the Paladins backed away, hands clapped over their ears. They screamed and screamed and screamed, not even sure if they were making a sound or not because their eyes were closed and they couldn't see the Paladins reactions.

And then they couldn't breathe so they stopped screaming and was bent over, on their hands and knees, coughing like someone who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. The coughing was awful and it hurt and it was loud and it felt like they were going to cough up a lung. But they couldn't stop, they just kept coughing and wheezing from lack of air. Tears leaked out of their eyes and dribbled down their face.

At this point they could hear the Paladins trying to figure out what was wrong.

"What's happening?"

"Is Newt okay?

"Pidge, what do we do?"

"I don't know! They've never done this before."

And then Newt was coughing so hard that they felt bile rise in their throat. They clapped a hand over their mouth before retching. Bile dropped through their hands and they started to cry. Air was going in and out of their lungs.

Newt crumpled to the floor, lying on their side with a hand over their mouth, eyes tightly shut and body shaking with sobs.

Everything hurt.

A hand touched their shoulder and their body took over and they slapped it away. The person recoiled. Newt kept crying, trying to slow down their heart and breathe. Just breathe.

It was no use. Their lungs weren't processing that they were breathing.

Yellow spots danced in Newts vision.

They were going to black out.

They opened their eyes wider and looked up at the concerned faces of the Paladins. They were still way too close.

With a twitch and a violent shudder, Newt fell unconscious.

————

The next thing Newt knew, they were falling.

Panic seized their brain and they started flailing.

Someone caught them.

More panic.

They shoved the person away and crumpled to the floor, heaving for breath, hands planted firmly between their knees.

Their eyes cracked open and they saw that they were wearing something else. Someone had changed them. They looked up again, eyes brimming with tears and saw the Paladins. They backed away, scrambling backward, bumping into a wall, and started to shiver like a scared animal.

Shiro started walking forward, hands out "Hey, calm down, we're not going to hurt you."

A voice screamed "Get away from me!"

Newt pressed their back harder against the wall. Whoever had spoken didn't sound happy.

The Paladins were standing still. Shiro had stopped coming closer. Newt had room to breathe. So that's what they did. They leaned their head back against the wall and closed their eyes. They breathed in through their nose and out through their mouth. In through their nose, out through the mouth. In for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, out for 8 seconds. They felt a few tears fall from their eyes and slide down their face. In and out. In and out.

"Newt." Pidge's voice was quiet.

Newt, without opening their eyes, signed Sorry about all that. Had a panic attack.

Pidge said "I didn't know what to do."

Newt smiled bitterly, eyes still keeping them safe from seeing anyone, Well it's not like you ever asked or made any effort into comforting me.

Pidge sounded hurt "Newt, what?"

Newt kept signing I was always the one comforting you and you never returned the favour. Wow, you're such a good friend.

"Newt I-"

Newt held up a finger Save it.

"I didn't know you were this bad."

Newts eyes flew open and they burned in anger, two different coloured flames burning at the girl. They signed slowly, menacingly Because you never asked.

"I did, didn't I?" She sounded terrified.

Newt stood up, using the wall as a support so they kept their balance No. You never asked. For all the years we have known each other.

Pidge had tears running down her cheeks "Newt, I'm sorry."

Newt scowled at her and she flinched backward. Then Newt signed Tell that to my hurt pride. You were my only friend. And you treated me horribly.

Pidge's eyes widened "I was your only friend?"

An angry tear ran down Newts cheek And another thing you never asked about. Do you really think the mute non binary kid had friends? No. I have been depressed for years, Katie. Ever since my dad was killed. That's why I'm mute, you know. Muteness caused by a traumatic event.

"Newt, I never knew that was why! Your mom just said that you were born with it!"

A voice that Newt didn't recognize started shouting "That's because you never asked! You believed her when you could have just asked for the truth!"

Newt felt hot tears run down their cheeks.

They registered the Paladins shocked faces.

Their eyes widened.

Their hands flew up to their mouth.

Pidge was looking at them with a strange expression "Newt, I want to start over. Why did you go mute?"

Newt signed My father was stabbed to death in front of me. There. There it is. That's why I'm so messed up.

Pidge gasped and pressed her hands to her mouth "That's why?"

The Paladins expressed their confusion and Pidge explained. Newt was glaring silently at them the entire time.

Lance looked over at Newt with a sad, putting face and said "Newt that's awful. I'm so sorry."

Near scowled at him and signed Yeah it is awful. That's why I'm mute.

Now all the Paladins were looking at them with pitying looks.

Newt lowered themself into a slightly crouched stance. The Paladins flinched a little, thinking that they were going to try and fight them. Newt ran at them. They picked up speed and was about to crash to crash into the Paladins. At the last second, they pushed off the ground and leaped over their heads in a dive. They rolled to the floor and told up, now on the other side, having clear access to the door.

Pidge gaped at them "When did you learn to do that?"

Newt frowned Another thing you never asked about. I'm a parkourist. They ran off.

If they were going to be stuck in space, they would do it on their own accords. Not because their only friend was here. Not because the bullies were back on Earth.

Because they wanted to.

No matter how much dislike they felt for Pidge in that moment. They would stay because space was better than where they were before. If it got worse, they could just leave.

And Newt was good at running away.