Chapter Text
1 year later…
Reiner sat curled up in the far corner of the cell the galra put her in, her face rested on her knees. She was hungry, scared, constantly tired but most of all lonely. She was so lonely , it felt like there was an aching hole in her chest every day, she missed her team so much and thought about them constantly. They had become like a family to her; she'd grown so close to them over the months of training and transit, Matt and Shiro felt like her older brothers and Commander Holt had become like a father. Just thinking about them made her loneliness worse, she missed them so much it hurt. She so desperately wished they would find her and rescue her, not that she really thought it would happen because Matt and Shiro were most likely dead. She would never be free.
She heard something like footsteps outside the door and curled tighter and more into the corner she tried to hide herself, shielding her face. The door slid open and light flooded the room.
“Elena ?!” She didn’t dare move, she'd finally lost her mind, she was now hearing Shrio’s voice she had lost it. Suddenly someone was touching her shoulder and she instinctively kicked out.
“Get away! Don’t touch me!” She looked up and couldn’t believe what she saw “ shiro?” Her voice was small and she was in shock instantly. She slowly uncurled herself from the corner, eyes wide. timidly she reached out and touched his hand, she had to see if he was real.
“You're here? You’re not my imagination? I’m not dreaming?”
“No Lena, I’m here,” he said, her eyes watered and she leaned forward and fell into shiro. She couldn’t believe he was there. “Lena, I’m happy you're safe but we need to get you out of here.” She nodded, Shiro stood up and Elena did too, slowly. Shiro was still way taller than her so it wasn't hard for him to help her walk, she was weak and thin but she was moving. She saw some of the other prisoners also fleeing, she saw someone else in armor like Shiro’s, they looked familiar.
“Matt?” She asked trying to place the face
“I’m not Matt, he's my brother. I’m pidge” Elena nodded slowly.
They hurried through the ship as quickly as possible with Elena winding up being carried by shiro for a good portion, eventually they made it to the hanger. Shiro handed Elena off to Pidge, who passed her off to one of the prisoners. Elena was sat down on a chair and strapped in. She couldn’t believe what was happening, she was being freed, she was getting out, shiro found her. She was finally going to be free.
\-]^[-/
Shiro watched as the drone opened the door to the cell, inside were a group of people, pidge rushed in.
“Dad?” Pidge asked
“Don't be afraid. We're here to help you escape." Shiro said
"It's you... It's you, the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can." One alien said
"Wh... What did you call me?" Shiro asked confused
"We don't have much time." Pidge said urgently
"Let's get to the escape pods. Let's go. Come on!" Shiro said but the alien who spoke grabbed Shrio’s arm
“Wait!”
“Why?!” He asks urgently
“There’s another, a young scientist, she was separated from us but I believe she’s being held nearby. You need to help her!” He almost pleaded to shiro, shiro sighed he couldn’t leave someone behind especially if they were young. They quickly ran to the next cell and Rover opened the door. At first Shiro thought the bell was empty when he noticed a small shape in the corner. He stepped inside to get a better look and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“ Elena ?” She looked thrashed and was curled up tight but he knew it was her. He touched her shoulder and she kicked him square in the gut.
“Get away from me! Don’t touch me!” She uncurled enough to see him and instantly stopped “ Shiro?” Her voice sounded so weak like it was about to break. She uncurled from her corner and reached out slowly to touch his hand. She was thin he could tell she’d always been small but not like this. One of the biggest differences from the last time he remembered seeing her was a large scar running across her face from right jaw bone across her nose in between her eyebrows to her left temple. She had massive dark circles under eyes and was extremely pale. She looked half dead. She touched his hand
“You’re here? You’re not my imagination? I’m not dreaming?” He couldn’t believe this was the same spunky sassy curious girl from the garrison; she seemed so drained like everything had been washed out of her.
“No Lena I’m here,” Once she realized he was real she collapsed into his chest, he hugged her for a moment just as happy as she was that they found each other.
“Lena, I'm happy you're safe, but we need to get out of here.” She nodded and slowly got up. With Shiro's help they got out of the cell. Pidge looked over and looked surprised at the sight of Lena.
“A human?!” Pidge asked
“Elena from Kerberos,” Shiro explained
“Matt?” Elena asked pidge,
“I’m not Matt, he's my brother. I’m pidge” Elena nodded, together with the other prisoners they started their escape. Eventually Elena couldn’t keep up so Shiro picked her up, he thought she looked light but she weighed even less. Eventually they made it to the hanger. Shiro handed Elena to Pidge so he could be lookout. A group of sentries rushed them. His arm flared painful bringing him to his knees, he could faintly hear Pidge calling to him. Next thing he knew all the sentries were dismantled on the floor.
“How’d you do that?” Pidge asked, Shiro shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he turned to the escape pod and one of the aliens stood at the window.
“Thank you Shiro,” and then the pod shot off to Arus.
\-]^[-/
Elena opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar room, she stumbled forward confused, then she saw pidge and shiro.
“Where am I?”
“You're in the castle of lions infirmary, you're safe,” Shiro said, she looked around and saw some of the other prisoners.
“How? How did you find me? How did you escape?” Elena asked, she sat down as Pidge draped a blanket over her shoulders.
“I'm not really sure on how I got out, I honestly can’t remember much before crashing back on earth. We were there looking for the red lion but wound up making a side trip to look for any of the team.” Shiro said
“Can you remember anything? Do you know what happened to my family?” Pidge asked quickly, Elena shook her head
“Commander Holt and I were separated from Matt and Shiro because we weren’t as strong, they initially kept me with your father but eventually they separated us as well. I don’t know where they took him. I’m sorry,” Elena looked down at the steaming mug in her hands wishing she knew more.
“It’s okay Lena, what matters right now is that you're okay. We’re going to keep looking for the others.” Shiro said resting a hand on her shoulder, Elena nodded.
“How long had it been,” Elena asked looking up at them.
“About a year since they lost contact with us on Kerberos,” Shiro said, Elena s eyes widened and mouth dropped open.
“What?” She breathed “no, a year? We’ve been missing for a year? Wait, That means I’m 16 now,” for some reason the thought had never crossed her mind, time had become less and less of a thing she could measure and eventually gave up on trying to keep track.
“Happy belated birthday,” pidge said smiling at her,
“Thank you,” Elena looked around and saw one of the aliens from the prison, he spoke to her
“I am glad to see your alive, we didn’t know what happened to you after you were taken away,” Elena was a bit surprised
“I didn’t know you were concerned, I’m sorry,”
“Of course we were, your so young and we could tell you weren’t doing well. After you were taken from the other human and champion you seemed unwell but once the older human was taken away you got worse,”
“He’s right your really underweight, malnourished, dehydrated, the list goes on,” pidge said “it makes sense we humans are social creatures we don’t do well in isolation,”
“‘Champion’ why do you keep calling me thar?” Shiro asked
“You really don't remember? Unbelievable! You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name ‘Champion.’ I was there, as was the other young Earthling.” The former prisoner explained he continued his story “We were all prisoners, forced to fight for the entertainment of Zarkon. That day, we were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated. Slaughter awaited us all. This ‘Matt’ was the first of us sent to fight. But fate had other plans. You were so thirsty for blood, you injured your fellow Earthling.”
“You hurt my brother?! Why?!” Pidge shouted, Elena pulled back a bit unsure of this new revelation. She was nervous why would Shiro hurt Matt?
“No, it can’t be true.” Shiro said in disbelief.
“I was there, all of us were expect her,” he pointed to Lena “they said they had other uses for her,”
“After my brother was injured, where was he taken?” Pidge asked hurriedly.
“I know not,” the alien answered
“I don't believe it. There's got to be more to the story. I-I couldn't have hurt my friend. Wait. That ship we were held captive on crash-landed on this planet. They'll have logs of prisoners, some information.”
“I’m coming with you!” Pidge shouted as she ran off after him, Elena looked around at the others she wished she could have tagged along but understood she was still weak. Suddenly she realized she needed to use the bathroom, whatever pidge gave her seemed to run right through her system. She got up and went to the door.
“I’ll be back later,” she peaked out into the hallway and saw no one, cautiously she stepped out and the door closed behind her. She started exploring the castle, it was beautiful and elegant. She wandered around and found a large training room, she made a mental note when she found the kitchen, she found a large dining room and eventually she stumbled into a large command room.
“Woah,” she said as she looked around at the large windows, she walked up to one that overlooked where the ocean met the shore. The planet was absolutely stunning, suddenly an alarm started blaring and Lena jumped back surprised. The large window changed zooming in on something in the sky, it was falling towards the planet and looked Galra. Elena stepped back and gasped,
“No, no why are they here, how did they find- how,” she couldn’t finish a thought, she’d just gotten free and she couldn’t go back. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think she just felt the need to run away. She turned and took three steps before her legs became jelly beneath her. She used a chair to guide herself to the floor where she hyperventilated and tucked her head in between her knees. She just couldn’t cope with the thought of going back. Would they hurt her as punishment for escaping? Would they kill her? They might she’d tried before and she’d paid greatly. She didn’t even notice that she’d started crying, tears ran down her face and gathered on her chin. She had no clue how long she sat there frozen, occasionally she heard the sound of an intense battle outside which only made it worse. Suddenly someone touched her shoulder, she jumped back and looked up at a woman with dark skin and Snow White hair. She had pink triangles under her eyes and pointy ears?
“Don’t touch me! random elf lady!” She yelled and scooched away, Elenas adrenaline was still high and she had no clue who this woman was or how she’d snuck up on her.
“Elf lady?!” She said appalled “what does that mean?!”
“Who are you? Where’s Shiro?” Elena was so shaken in that moment she just wanted something to anchor her something she knew. The elf woman took a deep breath
“My name is Allura, Shiro and the other paladins are on their way back.” Elena relaxed a bit, she could tell now this woman didn’t mean harm “what’s your name?”
“Elena, Elena Reiner,”
“Are you alright?” Allura asked, Elena went to nod but then started to cry a bit again and then shook her head
“I just got so scared, I saw that thing and I thought I was going back… I just couldn’t…” Allura reached out and pulled Elena into a hug and Elena fell into it. Elena had become so touch starved and hadn’t even noticed. This was the first hug she’d had since Commander Holt had been taken away. She buried her face in Allura’s shoulder and cried. The hug felt so comforting for a moment. She wasn’t on an alien planet millions of light years from earth, instead she was sitting on a mountaintop in western Washington, she could almost smell the pine forest. Suddenly she realized where she was and who was n’t hugging her. It was a slap in the face but she managed to compose herself and keep from shattering completely in a stranger's arms. She pulled back and wiped her eyes.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said embarrassed,
“Don’t be,” Allura said “It’s okay,” she wiped her cheek and winced from the rough material of the galra prison outfit on her face.
“Hey, would you like to get out of those clothes and clean up? It might make you feel better?” Allura offered
“I Don’t have anything else, they took all of my stuff.”
“I’m sure we can find something,” Allura said a sly smile playing on her lips.
ART!
this is Elena
before and after the Galra