This one shot is a just a preview of an AU story I am working on. I am not sure if I'm going to publish it yet. Just wait for further announcements.

Pidge is many things – daring, inquisitive, stubborn, and determined – but this? This isn't something any of them would have expected. She rarely looks in the mirror; if she does, she will remember the time she has to cut her hair. She loved her long hair. The short, unruly hair that she donned for months now is a reminder of her mission to find her brother and father. She promised to herself that until she did so, her hair will never get past her shoulders. However, it wasn't her hair that got her alarmed. It was what her long bangs were barely covering.

Two, sickle-shaped markings glowing just beneath her eyes.

She gripped the sink tightly as the world seemingly spun around her. "How…?" The markings she knew very well are Altean. The same markings that Allura and Coran have. What bothered her was not the glowing but the fact that it wasn't there before in her fifteen years of living.

She gingerly reached with one hand and winced. It hurts like hell. It was red around the edges and she was sure that her upper cheeks were swollen. She didn't know exactly what triggered them but when she removed her helmet to get changed after a harrowing day of rescuing escapees from a nearby Galran prison, that's when the markings made themselves known. The others didn't know; she only took her helmet off when she arrived to her bedroom. She doubted she would tell others.

She's not Altean, that's for sure. Neither is her brother nor her parents. She didn't have the same, elven ears that Allura and Coran nor does she contracts the same illnesses as them. Definitely not. Having Slipperies is not something she would like to experience. No, thank you. Her parents had both her and Matt do DNA tests for verification purposes when they were no older than five. It was a mandatory requirement for all those training and working in the Galaxy Garrison and their families. When she entered as Pidge Gunderson, she made sure to fabricate his DNA tests as well. She didn't want Iverson suspecting anything about Pidge in relation with the Holts.

She will definitely not tell the others.

Maybe not now, not until she uncovered the mystery of it. Slipping in her green and white, high-collared jumper, she pondered on how she's going to cover up the markings. She didn't have any makeup to use and she didn't want to ask Allura if she has any. She didn't want her poking in her business and knowing about it before she has the chance to get answers on her own. She irritably blew her bangs, only to discover that the markings have disappeared. She patted her cheeks once and twice which for some reason, have stopped hurting. The redness was still there but the swelling has subsided exponentially.

Pidge wondered if she was losing more sleep than she initially thought.

The second time it happened, she was trapped in an underground facility three weeks after. She almost forgot about it, having received intel about the possible whereabouts of her brother two weeks prior. She went alone; the other Paladins were sent on their own missions. Her intel and the mission she got coincided on the same planet. The locals were kind enough to escort her to her destination and warn her about the dangers. She listened, she really did, but the thought of finally reuniting with her brother got the best of her. The facility was considered forbidden by the locals as they believed it to be the home of the restless dead and gave a few wards to protect Pidge in her search. She kept them as a sign of goodwill but it was not the dead that roamed the thousand years-old facility but things that were never alive to begin with. Rogue robots of many sizes and shapes – all malfunctioning of age and rust – chased after her. Before long, she stumbled upon a self-destructing mechanism that was supposed to eliminate the robots all at once. What she didn't expect that they will explode rather than shut down.

The simultaneous explosions were massive and swiftly brought down the unstable foundations of the facility with it. Pidge barely managed to slip in a small, enclosed room before the ceiling caved in and effectively blocked her only way out. She tried reaching out to her Lion but she doubted Green could immediately get her out of the hundred-miles deep prison. She deigned to reserve her energy for now and wait until the Castle of Lions noticed her absence.

She didn't know how long she was trapped. A few vargas? A quintant? It was difficult to know just by seeing. The place was pitch black and she could hear nothing but her breathing and the rumble of her Lion in her mind. She knew her Lion was far above on the surface but her supposed-to-be-rescue have yet to notice her disappearance. She already tried to use the light from her armor but her search for an exit was proving to be impossible. She decided to sleep again and wait.

The next time she was pulled out of sleep, bright light was filtering against her eyelids. She thought she must have left her visor open…only to found out that the markings have made their return. For some reason, she felt warm, almost elated. She didn't know what it meant but when she heard the voices from the other side of the wreckage and the explosions that followed shortly, she knew that her friends have come to rescue her. The debris cleared and dust filled the air. She heard her name being called simultaneously and arms helping her up. Someone carried her in bridal style and hands were gently brushing her bangs and squeezing her hand to assure she's safe now. That she will be going home.

The markings were gone before any of them have seen it.

The third time it happened, she was busy fiddling with the wiring of the lighting system of Red's hangar. Keith told her that the lights have been wonky as of the late and asked her if she could check it for any computer bugs. Pidge obliged and accessed the hangar's control via her laptop. The systems showed no sign of any bugs but the map has a red spot active. The problem seemed to come from a tangible source rather than a digital one.

She climbed the ladder next to the control panel and began fiddling with the buttons and wires as she tried to find where the problem lies. She found it – an old wire frazzled in the middle. The two ends were almost about to split and needed to be changed. Fortunately, she brought in some spares in her pocket and temporarily cut of the hangar from the Balmeran crystal. Carefully detaching the frazzled wire from its slots, she began attaching the new one. Once it was finished, she switch on the hangar's connection to the crystal.

Nothing happened.

Pidge frowned as she shined her light in the control panel to see if she missed something. The shadows from the other wires were blocking parts of her work and she leaned in closer to get a better view. Her foot missed the step and she slipped. There was a brief moment of weightlessness and pain on her cheeks when something grabbed her by the collar.

Pidge lifted her head to see the Red Lion holding her up by his mouth. His yellow eyes glowing brightly against the darkness as he lowered her carefully back to the ground. She could see the light from the markings at the corner of eyes but her gaze was transfixed on the Lion – not her Lion – who just saved her life. He casted her an acknowledging look – almost a fond one – before returning to its previous position. His eyes dimming right before the lights flickered back into the hangar.

The fourth happened a week after and it was an ugly situation. The Castle of Lions received a distress signal from a planet in the same star system as Olkarion. The planet was thousands of light years away, hidden just by the edge of an asteroid belt. It was nothing like Olkarion. Where Olkarion thrived in the harmony of nature and technology, the planet was almost at the end of its days. Its rocky terrain was inhospitable with an atmosphere so thin and waters dark and murky to sustain any more life. The last of its dwellers were gaunt and weak, barely able to speak. They told them of the Galran druids that were sucking up the planet's quintessence for hundreds of years and their wish to see their planet to be free one last time. The Paladins were reluctant to leave them at such state but the Allura and Coran assured them they will stay to watch over them. Shiro promised them they will grant their wish no matter what.

Their march toward the Galran facility was the shortest one yet and within a few doboshes, Pidge has sneaked them in without raising alarm. They found the druids in the heart of facility taking the last remnants of the planet's life force. The battle that ensued was a ruthless one. The Paladins are angry. This planet and its people deserve better, better than being fodder for the Galran empire. The druids fought back but were overwhelmed.

All except one.

One who was looking down at the Green Paladin.

The druid sneered at her, taunting her for being so small and so weak, so helpless in the face of her foes. Pidge wanted to rip that mask of her face and smack her bayard on her face. The sharp end of bayard lurched forward but the druid seamlessly disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Her cackle echoing off the walls as she mocked at her and stabbed her sword on her back as she reappeared behind the Paladin. Pain blossomed on her stomach as she shrieked and fell on knees. Blood splattered on the ground beneath her as the druid cackled in delight as she twisted the sword against her flesh. Someone was calling her name but it seemed so far away.

"Pitiful Paladin." She cooed. "So weak, so small, and in such wonderful pain."

Anger surged her, as palpable as her Lion's. Green is a voice in her mind urging her to fight back and her cheeks were burning up like hot iron. Her hand reached out to the blade on her back and pulled it off in quick agonizing seconds. The druid stumbled back as Pidge twisted and turned. Her feet leaping off the ground as her bayard pierced through the flesh of the long-dead. The druid trembled beneath her, eyes wide in fear through her mask's sockets.

"A-Ancient One…!"

And then, she exploded in ashes and the scent of tar. The world slunk into darkness as Pidge collapsed and the markings faded. The last thing she remembered was the colors of blue and yellow before everything dissolved into nothingness.

Pidge was dreaming, and in her dream, she was a little girl again of seven years old. She was sitting on her father's lap as she and her brother pored over a photo album. Sam flipped to the next page; an old photo catching the attention of Matt.

"Dad? Who's that?" He pointed to the photo that was browning on the edges. A man and a woman were standing before what seemed to be the Colosseum in Italy. The man has an arm around the woman's shoulders who was smiling tenderly at the camera.

"They," Sam told them. "Are your grandparents. That's your grandfather, Jacob Holt, and this," He tapped gently on the woman. A fond look in his eyes. "Is your grandmother, Ariela Holt."

Matt blinked at him and then, peered to Katie. "She looked like Katie."

He was right. The woman in the photo is strikingly beautiful, almost divine. She is almost as tall her husband and her eyes are kind and intelligent, as if she has seen the secrets of the universe and lived more years than anyone could. The way her eyes crinkled and lips turned into a smile is similar to the younger Holt's, if not less mischievous. She looked like an older version of Katie with longer hair down to her waist and a loving and motherly gaze that seemed to penetrate from the photo itself.

Sam chuckled, patting his daughter on the head. "Yes, yes she does."

Katie looked at him with bright, curious eyes.

"And I believed she's destined for greatness."

"Like me!" Matt grinned, puffing his chest.

"Of course." Sam smiled, ruffling his hair. "It runs in the family."