Trial Number Three.

We're all in our lions, flying high above the clouds in formation.

"You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his or her lion," Alien Weasley says.

"No problem. Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real," Lance boasts.

I'm less enthusiastic. Last time I'd tried, I'd been interrupted, and I don't know if i'll be able to do it again.

"Perfect! Then you won't have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your lions into a nose dive."

We do as we're told.

"This is an expert-level drill you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go."

Oh, good. For a second, I thought we'd have a real chance of dying.

"Awesome," I mutter.

"Activating training helmets!"

My vision goes black. "Gah!" I yell, almost crushing my handles in the process.

"Aahh!" I hear Lance screech. "Coran, what's happening? I can't see!"

"You must learn to see through your lion's eyes," Alien Weasley tells us. "The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lions feels!"

"Mine feels scared!" Hunk whimpers.

I close my eyes, but Lance and Keith's bickering keep me from concentrating.

"You still going, Keith?" Lance asks.

"You know it. You?" comes the reply.

"Going? I'm—"

I tap the side of my helmet, silencing them all. I actually figured that out a while ago, when I was playing with my helmet earlier today. It's actually quite helpful.

I close my eyes, and try to picture my energy, like I'd done earlier. I see it, and now, I search for the energy around me. I feel a pull and focus on that. I can see something, now. I can feel more energy flow around me. I reach out mentally towards it and manage to grasp it. I feel it swirl around me and flow through me, merging our energies as one. Suddenly, I can see clearly around me, even though my eyes remain closed, but it feels different, it feels... not mine. I can see through my lion's eyes! I tap the side of my helmet excitedly, and pull up right before I hit the ground. I whoop victoriously as I fly close to the ground, an ecstatic laugh escaping my lips.

I fly over rocks and boulders and underneath archs, flying out of the canyon.

"This is amazing!" I yell in exhilaration.

"I think I'm getting this," I hear Shiro say.

"Excellent, Shiro and Nova!" I hear Alien Weasley congratulate.

I pull up and fly back to the Castle without even needing to see.

Trial Number Three is partly a success.

***

Trial Number Four.

I'm sitting in a circle in the training room with my fellow paladins. We're all facing each other and bear strange headband things on our heads. My eyes are closed.

"The most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron," Alien Weasley says over the PA. "everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential everytime you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between paladins."

His voice becomes background chatter as memories flood behind my closed eyes. I first see my five year old self on the day I first met Keith.

I shyly walk up to Keith. "Hi, I'm Nova," I tell him.

Keith hides behind his dad's legs and the man lets out a chuckle and picks Keith up. "Come on, you'll have fun," he says, "she's around your own age." he turns to me. "How old are you?"

"Five and a half!" I announce proudly.

"Well, my big boy here is seven. Have fun Keith." the man sets him down before walking away towards the group of parents.

"My daddy's turning 31 today," I tell him.

Keith ignores me and looks ready to cry. "Go away," he says.

I walk up to him and hug him. "It's okay to miss your daddy. I miss my mommy," I say. "She's away for a while and I miss her."

Keith relaxes in my embrace and I pull away and look him in his eyes. I giggle.

"Hey, our eyes match!"

He laughs at that. "Not really. Yours are lighter."

I grin. "We should be best friends!" I announce.

"Why?" Keith frowns and looks uncertain.

I shrug. "Because our eyes match," I say that as if it were the most obvious thing.

Keith shrugs, but a smile betrays how happy he is. "Okay."

I furrow my eyebrows, trying to concentrate.

Then, I see myself a few years later, sitting in the Garrison cafeteria with Keith. I say something funny and Keith starts laughing so hard that the milk he was drinking spills out of his nose. I remember that. That was a good day. But that's not what I'm looking for.

Then, my memories change again, and I see myself on that summer day, three years ago. I'm hugging my dad tightly, and he's wearing his Garrison space suit.

"I'll be back soon, sweetheart, I promise," he tells me.

I'm wearing a sunshine yellow sundress, and my hair is wet from when Keith had pushed me in the pool this morning. Keith is also here. He was there on the day of the takeoff. My dad had insisted he come, since he was practically family.

"Focus, Number Five," Alien Weasley says.

I nod and try again.

Another memory takes place. This time, me and Keith are curled up on the couch in Keith's shack, and I'm sobbing into his chest.

"He's gone. He disappeared," I say. "Him and the rest of the crew."

I try to focus. A picture of my family, plus Keith appears in front of my eyes. It was taken before the takeoff. Four of them. Dad had one, another was in the living room, another with Keith and the last one in my messenger bag. I focus harder. Finally, I picture my lion, but it keeps flickering back to the picture. The lion comes forward, but fizzes up.

"Keep your minds open, work together. Good!" Alien Weasley says encouragingly.

I try again, but it always comes back to the picture, or memories of the days after. The ceremony, Keith comforting me, my mom locking herself in her room, my sister and brother taking a short leave from their job in Phoenix to help us out... My lion fizzes back up up again and slowly flies towards the others before vanishing again.

"Keep focusing! Only two to go!"

"Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith snaps and I open my eyes. "Nova..."

His words die in his throat. I know that they all saw my memories, but Keith didn't know I'd started crying. Neither did I. They were silent tears. Tears of exhaustion, and anxiety, not just grief.

"I wasn't!" Pidge snaps back. "Hunk was rooting around in my head."

"I thought we were open," Hunk says. 'You can look in my head hole."

"Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes!" Alien Weasley snaps. "Clear your minds!"

We start again. I'm thankful that no one except Keith saw that I was crying. I close my eyes and try again. It starts off good, my purple lion moving towards the rest, forming the chest... until the dam breaks.

I see myself jumping in my dad's arms when he tells us that he was offered to be a part of another exploration mission to Venus. Pidge's lion also turns back into the photo of her and her brother.

"Pidge!" Lance complains. "Nova!"

Pidge rips off the headset. "I'm done with this! Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head" she says.

I stand, pulling off the headset. "I— I'm sorry," I tell them, hating the way my voice cracks and shakes. "I can't do this."

The others turn to look at me, but I turn away before I can see their faces. They probably saw the tears. I choke down a broken sob as I run out of the room, not listening to their protests.

I run out and turn down the hall, but I don't make it five feet. I hit my back against the wall and slide down, a hand over my mouth to keep the sobbing under control, to no avail. I sob into my knees, shaking all over.

"Tr...Trial Number Four is a fail," I say.

I hear footsteps coming outside, but don't bother looking up. They get closer, and I tell myself to move, but I can't. I feel the person crouch next to me, I feel their heat and lean into it. The person pulls me into a hug, which I reciprocate.

"It's okay," the person whispers. "It's all okay."

I recognize Keith's voice.

"Ke... Keith?"

The crying has calmed down a bit. We pull away and Keith takes a seat next to me.

"We're taking a break now," he tells me. "They're waiting for us, but we have time."

I let out a humorless laugh. "It's been a while," I say.

Keith knows immediately what I mean. "Yeah," he agrees. "You haven't cried like that in three years. This is the second time you have a breakdown, right?"

"Yup," I say flatly.

I'm a sensitive person, but I don't have a meltdown every time something sad happens to me. It's only happened twice to me. When Dad disappeared... and today.

"Why'd it happen this time?"

I take a breath. "Stress. And exhaustion. Probably tears from all the stress that was put on me after Dad disappeared," I confide. "Being the last oldest child in the house after the twins left, I suddenly had more responsibility. You helped out whenever you could, but it was still extremely stressful. You already know that that's why I have insomnias. I suppose a meltdown was bound to happen."

"I hate the repercussions his disappearance caused you," Keith admits.

"Don't we all?" I stare blankly at the opposite wall.

It had also caused me my panic attacks. I never told Keith, but he took a guess. Keith stands up and offers me a hand. I stare at it.

"You wanna get up on your own?" he asks.

I look up at him. "I don't know, is that an option?"

"Nope."

He grabs my hand and pulls me up. Together, we make our way back inside the training room. The others are sitting in the middle of the room while Alien Weasley hands out drinks in packets, with straws. They all turn to look at us when we walk in. We take a seat and Alien Weasley hands us our drinks.

"Sorry for running off like that," I say sheepishly.

"It's fine," Shiro tells me.

"You have been working hard," Alien Weasley admits. "Maybe it's time to relax a little."

I take a sip and shrug. Tastes like water.

"What are you all doing lying around?" I cringe at Allura's voice. Uh-oh. "You're supposed to be training!"

The mice are sitting on her shoulders, but she still looks intimidating, so I don't say anything.

"Just resting a bit," Alien Weasley says. "You know, you can't push too hard."

"What do you mean, "can't push too hard"? Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you face the Gladiator."

I groan, but quickly finish my alien water and get up. I'm not even that tired from training, since there was practically no fighting, just lion and Voltron bonding. The only real combat action was the drone drill.