Keith and I are about to climb in our pod when Allura calls us. Well, me, more specifically.

"Nova!" she calls.

Lance and Hunk are already in hangar, Shiro and Pidge are probably in their pods, all waiting to leave together and Alien Weasley is probably getting ready for takeoff.

"Yeah?" I turn around.

"I need to warn you both," she says once she reaches us. "But mostly Nova." She turns to me. "The Purple Lion is the heart of Voltron, so mastering it will most likely prove a challenge. As the heart, its mood can change easily, thus making it very unpredictable. I do not know what awaits you, but I urge you to be careful."

I nod. "Of course," I tell her.

She nods. "Good luck, paladins."

She turns and walks away, back to the control room.

"Nova," Keith says. I turn around. "We both know that you always have a way of finding trouble."

I huff. "No, trouble always has a way of finding me."

He grins. "Right."

"It's true!"

"Nova, get in the pod so you can all take off and find your lions," Alien Weasley's voice crackles from the pod.

I climb in and take a seat next to Keith while Alien Weasley activates the pod and we fly out of the castle. I glance out the window. On one side, I see the other pod and on the other I can see the Blue Lion. the pod veers left, the lion veers right and we keep flying straight forward. A wormhole appears ahead.

"We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work," Alien Weasley announces on the com. "The good news is that according to my readings, all three of the planets are relatively peaceful."

"Relative to what?" I ask, unsure if he can hear me or not.

"So if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!"

His enthusiasm doesn't make me feel any better. The place suddenly feels like it's closing in and it's suddenly difficult to breathe and my hands are shaking as—

"I'm sure they'll be able to find us if we get lost," Keith whispers reassuringly, his hand on my shoulder.

I start relaxing. "I suppose so."

I stare up ahead, leaning back against my seat, as our pod flies into the wormhole. I can still feel residues of my near panic attack as I hold my hand in front of me and see it shaking a bit.

"It'll be fine," Keith says. "We'll be in and out in less than two hours and we won't get left behind, right?"

I exhale. "Yeah," I feel myself become more confident. "Yeah, this is gonna be easy!"

Keith smiles and I let out a laugh.

I look ahead and see the planet. "Wow," I breathe. "It's so cool."

The planet was small, with rings around it, like Saturn, and was pink and orange with some black, that I assume to be the ocean, and some white clouds peppering the scene in long stripes.

The pod enters the atmosphere— thank gods there's one— and I see that the pink areas are trees and that the orange is just desert area. The black is indeed ocean, but it looks like it's contaminated. The pod lands us in a small clearing in a big forest of pink trees shaped to resemble weeping willows.

I climb out of the pod and check around the clearing while Keith climbs out. He swings one of his legs over the opening, ready to swing the other and then jump, when a loud shriek pierces the silent forest. I jump into a karate stance, my arms raised, while Keith is so surprised that he loses his balance and crashes to the ground. He sits up and massages his back when a bird lands in between us. It's pretty plump with brown, grey and olive green feathers, beady black eyes and black feathers around the eyes that make it look like it's frowning and a beak as thick as the large ground finch's. It opens its beak and that horrible shriek comes out again. I block my sensitive ears and shoo the bird away. It flies away and I rush to help Keith up.

"Aw, it's almost as if you were falling for me," I joke.

Keith glares at me. "Yeah, well it hurts."

I feign hurt, putting a hand to my chest as I pull him up all on my own. I'm pretty strong, but really, it's Keith's light weight.

"Come on," I say.

We bolt in one direction.

"Do you know where you're going?" Keith asks.

"Nope!"

"Yeah, well it—"

I suddenly stop, Keith running into me and falling on the ground.

"Hey!"

"Shh..." I say absently.

I feel a tingling in my chest, and focus on it. Then, the tingling feeling goes away and is replaced with a tugging. I turn around and run in the direction of the tugging, Keith on my heels.

We run out of the forest and stop in front of a gate made of the purple-ish wood of the pink willow trees. The gate is open so I walk in, the tugging becoming stronger. The houses are made of orange limestone and there are many fruit stands, nut stands, vegetable stands and stands selling carpets or jewelry. The weird thing is that everything is empty. Those behind the stands or in the streets are only kids that can't be older than 15 or people older than 60. I wonder where their parents are. These aliens don't look too different from humans. The oldest are all at least a foot or two smaller than Keith and me and have brown skin dotted with yellow and blue stripes along their arms. All of them have grey hair and wear sandy colored tunics to match the desert. We get scared looks from the people as we walk.

"It's too quiet," I whisper to Keith who nods.

We walk around a corner and see an old woman surrounded by two scruffy looking men who seem to be no older than their mid twenties.

"Hey, you two!" I yell. "Leave her alone!"

They turn to us and their eyes widen when they see us. They push the old woman to the ground, her straw basket spilling trinkets everywhere, and scatter.

"Yeah, that's right, losers," I say, helping the old woman up as Keith gathers up her scattered trinkets. "Get lost."

"Thank you," the old woman says to me. "Would you two like a trinket?"

I stare at her with wide eyes. "No, no. We don't have any money."

"It's all right. It's a thank you gift. A beautiful young woman like you should have a beautiful amulet, and a handsome young man should bear our symbol for strength."

She hands Keith an armband and me an amulet and take it.

"Thank you," I whisper. "It's beautiful."

It really is. It has a circular amulet with strange writings around it and a dragon in the center that has an eyes made with a red gemstone. It's all crafted from a silver metal and infused in a gem that shines like a kaleidoscope, with swirls of forest green, deep purple, azure blue, gold, brown and a thousand other colors. I unclasp it and wrap it around my neck, but can't manage to clasp it again.

"Could you, please?" I ask Keith, who ties it for me.

"The runes mean 'courage and compassion' in our native tongue," she tells us.

"That's so cool," I say.

I catch sight of his armband, and notice it's made of a similar silver metal with the same dragon made in the same silver metal with a red gemstone for the eye. All along the bracelet are the same runes as mine has carved in the strange kaleidoscopic gemstone.

"You two aren't from around here, are you?" the old woman asks.

We shake our heads. "But we're on a quest," I say.

"May I ask a question?" Keith dares.

"Go on, go on," the old woman says. "Go ahead and ask."

"What is that?" Keith points to a figurine of a lion made from the strange kaleidoscoping gemstone sitting in her basket.

"That's one of our goddess, Skåa," she replies. "And the dragon is our god, Sâel, made of Sâelite, the gemstone that saved our people from poverty over fifteen thousand years ago. The goddess is younger, but she brought destruction when she appeared. We still give her offerings in hope of calming her anger, but to no avail."

We've reached a small jewelry stand where two little girls stand and rush to the old woman.

"Grandmother!" they both exclaim as they hug her.

I turn to Keith. "Could it be..?"

"I think so," he replies. "We should check it out."

I nod and turn to the old woman. "Excuse me, ma'am, but where could we find the goddess?"

She turns to us, a curious sparkle in her heterochromatic eyes that all of her seem to share, one yellow and one blue.

"Just outside outside our village, in a cave," she replies. "But you should watch out for the Galra. They took over our our Sâelite mines, which stand between here and the cave. They do not welcome strangers and may take you the way they took all of our strong men and women."

I thank her and we excuse ourselves. I take a few steps, but turn back and run to the old woman.

"I know it all seems lost," I tell her. "But your goddess heard you. She's sending help. She's sending Voltron. Don't lose hope."

She smiles at me. "I believe that help is already here, my dear."

I smile, a bit confused by her statement, and hurry back to Keith, who waited patiently for me. He smiles at me, a twinkle in his eyes that I can't place.

"And you, young man," the old woman calls. "Take care of her. She is worth more than you can see."

Keith nods, though he looks confused. I laugh and drag him away.

We exit the village and use the binoculars to find the cave. It's a cave in a plateau not far from the village, encasing it and the whole forest like a crater.

"There's the mines!" I point to an area smack in between the lion cave and the village. "Well this ought to be fun. Let's go."

We make it to the cave entrance when two Galra patrollers spot us and start shooting at us.

"You go ahead, I'll—" Keith starts, but I grab his arm and pull him in a run, cutting him off.

"You are not dying because you wanted to be a hero, 'kay?" I yell. "Not if I'm around to stop you from doing something as stupid as that! Capiche? So, stop it!"

We run in the cave and keep on running until Keith trips and I skid to a stop, feeling a side stitch in my side. I can barely make out Keith's silhouette in the shadows, but he's still on his knees, trying to catch his breath. I clutch my side and brace myself against the rocky wall, sweat dripping down my brow.

Just then, the cave wall starts glowing in a calming lilac color and I look over. My hand is sitting in the middle of one of dozens of lion carvings that are currently glowing purple.

I stare suspiciously at the ground. "I swear, if I fall again..."

I hear the rocks falling before I see them, and pull Keith out of the way just in time to avoid both of us getting crushed. When the dust clears, our exit is blocked by rocks, but at least the lions are still glowing, so we have light.

"Great," I say. "Thanks, lion. Now we can't leave."

"Nova..."

"What?"

"Look."

I turn and look. Keith is pointing upwards, his face slack with awe. I look up and see a circular opening climbing high, high, leading right outside. There are ladder rungs that are glowing purple.

"I... I suppose we climb now, right?" I ask.

I step forward and start climbing, hoping Keith is following me.

It takes us a few minutes to reach the top, when I do, I twist around and collapse on the ground throwing my arms up in the air while my legs still dangle over the edge.

"Free!" I cry.

"Hey, move over," Keith calls. "I want to get out, too."

I scramble to my feet as Keith hoists himself out. I glance at my watch. It's been almost an hour and a half. I peer over the edge. We're standing on a tall spire, among a whole forest of tall spires, sitting beyond the plateau that encases the village. I turn around and see the purple staring down at me, encased in its force field of purple honeycomb pattern.

"There you are!" I yell, rushing to tackle the force field, my heart swelling with joy. "You are a tricky one, aren't ya?"

My lion was much smaller than Lance's, and the hologram of it showed it to be smaller also than the Red and Green Lion, but I still love my lion.

"You are a strange person," Keith states.

I turn to face him. "I prefer the term fabulously weird."

The ground beneath the Purple Lion glows lilac purple and the force field vanishes as my lion roars and bends down, opening its mouth for us to walk. I walk in, Keith on my heels, and take a seat in the pilot's chair.

"That was surprisingly easy," I say. "I'll admit it, I was expecting some sort of Hunger Games type challenges."

Keith laughs. "Yeah, me too."

I crack my knuckles and put my hands on the handles. "Let's get back to the castle," I say.

My lion roars in response and we take off in the sky.

"You know what, I'm gonna call you Violet. You like that? Maybe Vi for short."

I feel my lion rumbling and I assume it's a purr.

"I think it likes it," Keith says.

"She. it's a she, but yeah, I think so, too."

We fly back into the wormhole.