[She lets her hair down to get out the sand that had gotten caught in the long white strands as the sparred, listening to him as he explains. It feels like she slapped him with the news of his father's passing. He'd never said anything about his family save for wanting to find Krolia, and she brought up her own father so many times she wonders if that had hurt him in some way. Yet the way he mentions meeting Shiro...
You can't imagine all he's done for me.
...That may be true, but now things she saw but never commented on were starting to click into place. Shiro had been his only support when they all should have been. The entire group had failed him in that respect, and any protest she may have had fall with the bits of sand down her hair as she bites the inside of her lip.
They were not peaceful. It had felt like a piece of their family had pushed away from them without warning when they should have known better. At least, that's what it had felt like to her. She wants to argue all the points he makes, but he holds up his hand and she stops again. Let him finish, a voice mysteriously like her mother's says in the back of her head and she relents. When he is done, she gently places a hand on his upper back. She should have asked rather than lecture him about his training with the Blades. And then he spent two years training and trying to figure out what went wrong.]
I know you won't. [She says it in pure faith and trust, finally breaking the silence.] ...You remember how lost I was on what to do when we first met? To Coran and I, we had just lost everything but one another and the mice... and at the same time, everyone looked to me for guidance.
[It hurts to admit; it hurts to open up, but they've let him feel isolated and alone for so long, she does so to show there is at least some common ground. Even if it means acknowledging something left unsaid.]
You don't need to apologize. Every leader makes mistakes, and we never gave you a chance to settle into it as we should have. [She looks at him with the same grief in her eyes. She feels as if she should have known but had been too stuck in ten thousand decaphoebs ago.] You are not alone in that. For example, I nearly led us into giving the other transreality comet to the Alteans in the other reality, and I am the one who led us into an alliance with Lotor; an alliance that will cost so many lives now that it is fractured.
...Even my own father was not perfect. [It hurts to admit; hurts to say that, but even his AI had admitted he'd been wrong to send the Lions away. She lowers her hand and clasps both of them together in front of her.]
None of us took Shiro's disappearance well. Lance and I were both settling into our new roles at the same time, and we never truly adapted to working together in our new formation. After you left... we were not better. We all started to realize something was wrong with Shiro. He got angrier easier, refused to listen to the group as a whole and continually left us in the dark when anything concerned Lotor. And Lance, he never stopped seeing himself as just a boy from Cuba. ...He told the mice that.
[Along with having feelings for her, but she isn't ready to think of that or if she might feel the same way. Especially not when the wound Lotor left had been ripped wide open again.]
...I do not understand all the jokes that the others toss around, and I cannot express how much your planet confuses me sometimes. Yet that has always been a beautiful part of the Paladins of Voltron. We all come from such different backgrounds, yet we all are united by both goals and camaraderie. I'm sorry for my part in pushing you away. The Black Lion chose you. He wouldn't have if he didn't think you couldn't lead us and you didn't belong.
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You can't imagine all he's done for me.
...That may be true, but now things she saw but never commented on were starting to click into place. Shiro had been his only support when they all should have been. The entire group had failed him in that respect, and any protest she may have had fall with the bits of sand down her hair as she bites the inside of her lip.
They were not peaceful. It had felt like a piece of their family had pushed away from them without warning when they should have known better. At least, that's what it had felt like to her. She wants to argue all the points he makes, but he holds up his hand and she stops again. Let him finish, a voice mysteriously like her mother's says in the back of her head and she relents. When he is done, she gently places a hand on his upper back. She should have asked rather than lecture him about his training with the Blades. And then he spent two years training and trying to figure out what went wrong.]
I know you won't. [She says it in pure faith and trust, finally breaking the silence.] ...You remember how lost I was on what to do when we first met? To Coran and I, we had just lost everything but one another and the mice... and at the same time, everyone looked to me for guidance.
[It hurts to admit; it hurts to open up, but they've let him feel isolated and alone for so long, she does so to show there is at least some common ground. Even if it means acknowledging something left unsaid.]
You don't need to apologize. Every leader makes mistakes, and we never gave you a chance to settle into it as we should have. [She looks at him with the same grief in her eyes. She feels as if she should have known but had been too stuck in ten thousand decaphoebs ago.] You are not alone in that. For example, I nearly led us into giving the other transreality comet to the Alteans in the other reality, and I am the one who led us into an alliance with Lotor; an alliance that will cost so many lives now that it is fractured.
...Even my own father was not perfect. [It hurts to admit; hurts to say that, but even his AI had admitted he'd been wrong to send the Lions away. She lowers her hand and clasps both of them together in front of her.]
None of us took Shiro's disappearance well. Lance and I were both settling into our new roles at the same time, and we never truly adapted to working together in our new formation. After you left... we were not better. We all started to realize something was wrong with Shiro. He got angrier easier, refused to listen to the group as a whole and continually left us in the dark when anything concerned Lotor. And Lance, he never stopped seeing himself as just a boy from Cuba. ...He told the mice that.
[Along with having feelings for her, but she isn't ready to think of that or if she might feel the same way. Especially not when the wound Lotor left had been ripped wide open again.]
...I do not understand all the jokes that the others toss around, and I cannot express how much your planet confuses me sometimes. Yet that has always been a beautiful part of the Paladins of Voltron. We all come from such different backgrounds, yet we all are united by both goals and camaraderie. I'm sorry for my part in pushing you away. The Black Lion chose you. He wouldn't have if he didn't think you couldn't lead us and you didn't belong.