He had failed.

No matter how he looked at the situation, there was absolutely no way for the male not to blame himself. Wasn't the Black Lion's Paladin supposed to be the leader? Who took care of each one of the team? How could he let that happen? The man addressed usually as Shiro couldn't quite get the fact around his mind. But there was no time, not when he held a wounded teammate with his shaking arms. He could feel the warm, dense liquid run down his limbs, but the blood was not his. But hers, Pidge's blood. She had taken a full blast in plain torso, her armor being the only defense that prevented her from dying on the spot.

"Hold on, Pidge. We're almost there." He managed to say, his voice urging and worn due the soreness that his throat felt. He'd shouted way too much in the last few hours, after all. The only reply he got was a grunted complain from the smaller Paladin, who kept her eyes shut tightly in pain, though she seemed to be containing any other display of discomfort pretty well. That didn't make Shiro feel any better.

The Green Paladin had her arms wrapped around Shiro's shoulders, keeping her face buried in the the crook of his neck. Pidge's breath against his skin send shivers down his spine. So weak and irregular. The Black Paladin couldn't do anything but to run back to the castleship to get the younger one into the healing pods. He had to be quick, Pidge wasn't going to last long.

"Mm... Shiro-" The Green Paladin mumbled, her voice shaky and emitting the pain she passed through in that very moment. Said man immediately looked down to his agonizing teammate. Despite how much he wanted, eye contact was impossible. Pidge kept herself in the same position, mainly focusing on controlling her breath. " 'S fine..." She didn't want him to feel guilty over her own stupidity. She let her emotions take over. She was too reckless.

And now she was paying the consequences.

She twisted on her stomach, though attempting not to lose the small grip she held around Shiro's shoulders. It hurt like Hell, the small Paladin was well aware that that specific area of the torso was one of the most sensitive parts of the human body, the great amount of nerves was the clear cause of that. Her skin had stopped burning and became numb, as if her brain had given up on warning her system of the damage. Pidge mentally scolded herself repetitively, how could she have been so... Stupid?

Shiro wouldn't argue, not in this situation. He could only try to give her hope and verbal support. "You'll be fine, Pidge. I promise." The older Paladin assured, though he had no idea of how far their destination was. He mentally growled at his uselessness in the present. He could protect her -this time, however, he failed- but couldn't heal her. Not when the wound was too deep. God, how did he let that happen in the first place?

Shiro's mind went back to the time where everything went wrong.

"I would not advise you to take your Lions to this mission." Princess Allura calmly spoke to the team gathered in the training deck. After an exhausting day of practice, the Altean woman had decided to send the Paladins to a simple scouting mission in a 'peaceful' planet. It seemed simple enough for the tired team, and a great opportunity to test their ground resistance. "You do not need to attract unwanted attention."

"Understood." Shiro, the only Paladin that actually looked with energy, replied with a single nod of acknowledgment before placing his helmet back on his head. "You heard the princess. Let's suit up." Several grunts of complains echoed through the training deck, those belonging to the exhausted Paladins. "Come on, guys." The leader urged as he walked out of the room, followed by the rest.

It took them short to land on the newly found planet. It being rather desert and mountain-y for them to walk all day. Lance, whose pod arrived first, was the only one to groan out loud. "C'mon, this is too much." The Blue Paladin complained as soon as the rest of team Voltron arrived. "Give me a break."

"Stop complaining." Keith retorted with an annoyed tone, Lance's cries for rest already itching the back of his neck. The black haired Paladin looked over to their leader, who had just gotten off his own pod. "Where do we go now?" He inquired to Shiro with a raised eyebrow and his arms folded across his chest. The leader remained silent for a mere few seconds, his mind running through options of procedures.

"Let's split up so we can cover more ground in less time." It seemed simple enough, a plan they've gone through several times in various missions. And, so far, it had worked pretty well according to the records, so it sounded perfect for the tired team. As if out of nature, the group had already divided in three parts. Keith and Lance -who despite their constant bickering, worked along pretty well-, Hunk by himself (not that he was eager to venture on his own, but they all only wanted to go through the mission fast), and lastly Shiro and Pidge. Once the team was settled with general indications, they parted ways.

It took three hours for Shiro and Pidge to encounter some sort of danger. Three damned tedious hours of just walking around, hoping not to get trapped in an endless circle. They attempted to start small conversations, but it didn't quite worked for the time being. Though one question that the youngest Paladin made stayed roaming in Shiro's mind.

"Are you scared?" The question had arrived so suddenly that it took the Black Paladin all his efforts not to come to a halt. Pidge seemed absolutely serious, and Shiro didn't quite know where it had come from.

"Of what?" After regaining his composure, the leader questioned back, his dark gray eyes focused now on his fellow teammate that walked just a few meters ahead from the former. There were many things he- they, could be afraid of. The Galra, never returning to Earth, being recaptured (that mostly went on Shiro's side) and, of course-

"Scared of dying." Her voice lowered and so did her tone, Pidge's voice now being a mere whisper even within the silent atmosphere that surrounded them all. Of course she would ask that, Shiro mused, despite how strong she was at her young age-and believe him, she was rather strong-, she was still terrified of not being able to save or see her family again, of dying before even knowing their location. The leader was well aware of that and took it as a personal job to bring the Green Paladin hope at any adversity.

"Of course I am." Shiro truthfully replied, his tone emphatic and kind, "But I know we'll make it out alive. No matter how strong our foes are, we will pull through. Alright?" Pidge refrained herself from making any response other than nodding, but even that gesture was interrupted by a loud sound. An explosion. The young Paladin turned fully to look at Shiro, nervousness overflowing her honey eyes. "Let's not-"

There was no time. Before the Black Paladin could reply, the two found themselves running away from a wave of blast from an unknown source. But the pair knew who was responsible for them, but without their Lions, the team couldn't fight fairly.

The Galra took them by surprise. Mistake number one.

Yo! Fena (AKA: Feryaylove) here!

So, here's the start of a short story I'm making for this wonderful show I have fallen in love with. It is my first fanfiction of this fandom, so I apologize for the OOC!

Also, if there are any mistakes and things of the sort, please let me know. English isn't my first language and I'm still trying to develop more writing skills in this language. You'll be great help.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to comment, suggest and PM me if you want. I'm always open to new things and stories (so if you want me to write you up some one-shot, we can talk).

Thank you for reading,

Fena~!