2 「Closed Door」

Lance and Hunk stared at him for a few moments.

Lance was suspicious of him, not really knowing if this alien was male or female, despite his masculine appearance. He was an alien afterall. He didn't know what to expect. He also learned some vital information about Pidge, they both did.

They knew he freaked out everytime the instructors spoke about the mission to Kerberos. It was as if he had lost someone or something, or had something taken from him.

They had no idea behind who Pidge was at the moment, but due to the arrival of Nemoi and the fact Pidge got over excited about possibly getting answers to long lost questions, they may be finding out soon enough.

However it could seem that Hunk and Lance were able to find that they were related to someone on board the mission crew. Likely being the people with the last name Holt. However, they didn't dig too deep into it. Pidge was their partner, if they wanted to share, they will in do time.

After a silent, unanimous, decision. They ended up leaving the two alone in the command center. However as soon as the two of them were outside of the room, the door slammed shut and a force field cast over it.

They were locked out.

"What the!?" Both of them instinctively turned around and banged on the door. "Hey! Who said you could lock the door!?"

Pidge glanced over her shoulder towards the door as it had locked. With the field up, they didn't even hear the two trying to get back into the room. They had been completely blocked off.

First Pidge stood up, and helped him stand up the best she could.

He was about a few inches taller than her. Around the same age, probably, but she had no idea how long his species lived or their maturation cycle. However she was more of a technological genius, not necessarily a biologist. Either way, she was super intelligent, so she could learn just about anything should she put her mind to it.

Squinting her eyes and looking up at him, she angled her head down a bit to appear inquisitive and domineering as her brow cast a shadow over her eyes. "What did you want to talk about?" She was trying to play the tough guy, but she was clearly curious and the rest of her physical demeanor was merely passive. She didn't pass off as an aggressive individual, but did appear as someone who was often underestimated.

"Are you wearing a chest binder?" He'd point to her chest, his head tilted to the side.

Her face went complete deadpan, recalling the fact that he had brushed his hand across her chest when he had rolled off of her. She had simply thought it a mistake, but was he really coping a feel?

"Katie Holt."

The Deadpan expression which had taken over her face immediately vanished into thin air as he spoke her real name. He had dismissed her friends to reveal he knew her identity.

"But... How do you know my name? That's not possible, you've been asleep for longer than I've existed." She made gestures with both of her hands, gesturing them towards him, waving them up and down vertically at him.

Smug and all, he lulled his head to the side as he looked into her big brown eyes. She was looking up at him with anticipation and more answers. She always had questions so it seemed.

Looking over his skill, Magic, on his status screen which he had shrunk down. It was clear that only he could see it, or everyone else around him ignored it. Either way, it didn't matter to him if they could see it.

'Now, how do I work magic...' He thought to himself as he began to concentrate subconsciously. He held out one hand between them, "I know many things. Katie," Suddenly a burst of Quintessence energy was sucked out small spider which had tagged along on Katie's jacket.

The little blip of white energy hovered and whirled between his fingers like a floating marble of light. Her eyes locked on it, watching its ghostly trail. Her eyes then glanced over towards where it had come from and narrowed her sights on a shriveled up, very dead, spider.

Startled by the fact it was a spider, she almost jumped in place and swatted the tiny corpse away. She then started inspecting her clothes before looking up at him, "So your like... A mage?"

Shrugging slightly, he placed the energy into his palm and closed his hand around it. Suddenly there was a notification.

「15+ QP. QShop functions fully unlocked.」

Seeing this little notification in the corner of his eye, he figured that he had just gained some Quintessence Points. From what he knew about Quintessence, there was a lot of it. So he could only assume, everything in the shop was expensive before even looking at it.

Opening his inventory, he would stare at the beginner kit. Did he want to open it? He tried concentrating on it, there was no description, only a Yes or No and question mark. Letting out a soft sigh, he looked over at her as she was staring at his closed hand.

In turn, he uncurled his fingers and revealed that the energy was gone.

"Where... Where did it go?" She was mentally taking notes, she never knew when something about this was needed.

"I absorbed it. A single spider's lifeforce, in the form of Raw Quintessence."

Hearing him speak of Quintessence, she blinked a few times. She knew about it from various theories which revolved around the creation of the universe. However from what she was hearing from him, it was somewhat different than what some scientists theorized.

"What do you mean by Raw? Can it be refined?" More information, more questions. She is the learner he knew her to be. Though she still knew nothing from him, but this seemed to be one way for them to bond a bit more until the adventure actually begun.

"The Galra refine it. It turns purple, or violet... I think." Nemoi sounded rather unsure, but he was certain that one of those colors were correct. "My species also used Quintessence to improve our own lifespans. The Emperor of the Galra Empire, after being overexposed, is over ten thousand years old."

Hearing the power of which Quintessence could give anyone who knew how to harvest let alone wield it could do, Pidge gulped. If this energy came from living things, or let alone everything, that meant entire worlds could be harvested by any force with those capabilities.

"Does..."

"Yes, that does mean the Galra destroy worlds just to obtain Quintessence, they've wiped out countless species across the cosmos for their own means." He was able to predict her question, mainly because it was a Question he would have asked.

She nodded slightly, her upper lip overlapping her lower in thought. "This Voltron, where is it?"

Shrugging slightly, he didn't remember the exact location. He just knew it was nearby, however he did know who knew where it was. Not that he was going to say anything. Timing, timing had to be right. Leaving Shiro behind, he felt, would be a mistake.

That and he doubted he was worthy of becoming a Paladin himself. The thought of becoming a hero was appealing, but he didn't see himself as a hero.

He ran away and went into hiding in order to fight another day. He let the Universe crumble, while he slept beneath a primitive world. He closed his eyes, as the guilt washed over his face.

"I don't know. However, in a week my sensors should be online after I start repairs, but who knows... Something might happen by then." He glanced away from her and went to take a few steps, only for her to grab his elbow in an attempt to lock him in place.

With his weird foreshadowing, she didn't quite know what to make of him. She was pretty sure she could take him down to his knees and force him to spill, but for some reason she didn't think he'd succumb to violent interrogation. Besides that, she found some unfamiliar warmth in his eyes which seemed focused towards her this entire time.

She was perceptive of this, but seemed to not know how to take it. Was he just interested in her because she's the first female he's seen and god knows how long? Or was he into her, because he was into her. He already knew her name, but when with her friends, used her alias.

He also seemed to know her life, at least that her family was missing and that she would go out of her way to save them if given the chance. That's when she paused in thought and tilted her head as she looked up at him.

"What are you going to do with the castle? Fight?" She asked curiously with her head tilted to the side, curious of what he was planning on doing. He was one ship, one person. There wasn't much she could see him doing.

"Should you and your friends find the Lion on Earth, I will assist you personally on your mission. Though while I'm here, I think I'll give your species a bit more hope in fighting back against the Galra in the future." He'd gesture towards the holographic display screen on the other side of the room which had showed the massage to her before. "Though my tech might me somewhat out of date, by a few thousand years, it'll still be effective against the Galra Warships, they haven't changed their designs much since the ol' days."

She stared at him for a few moments, nodding slightly to what he was saying. However, she didn't know how the people of Earth would take it. She was sure they'd accept blue prints, resources and such. However, she didn't trust the Galaxy Garrison.

Neither did he.

"Feel free to tinker with everything and anything you find, as long as–" He watched as her eyes lit up like a fire to a forge. However they dimmed slightly as she had another question on her mind.

"You've been asleep for a long time... How are you so well versed in the English language?" She asked curiously with her head tilting to the side. Had he really been hibernating this entire time?

When she asked why he could speak so well in their native language, rather than using his own, he responded with a teasing tone, "Altean Universal translator, works wonders."

As he came up to the terminal, he opened up the holographic display and revealed blueprints. Though what caught her immediately was the fact that this was a seamless holographic projector. There was no air pressure, no water, no reflective surface.

"If you don't mind using the translator, there are thousands of operating and engineering manuals, blueprints, available in this computer for you to study. Perhaps, you could design something new?"

Pidge looked over at him with the same fire in her eyes as she did before. It was as if she had just found a treasure trove of information, a new friend who was willing to give her everything.

She was about to jump right in, like before, then began to wonder why he was giving her so much. "Why are you doing this...?" She asked with a brow cocked as she turned to go through the blueprints. Even without translating, there was a motherload of information to digest and interpret.

At first he stared forward as he spoke. "Because I have lost all meaning, but I want to have meaning. I want to be someone meaningful to someone, someone like you." At the end his gaze rested on her again, watching as she responded.

"Ah, okay... Makes sense." Her response was almost automatic and drone worthy, however within a few seconds her eyes widened as she heard this. "Wait.." She turned and looked at him with a bewildered expression, her mouth partially hung open. "Did you just confess to me?"

Part of her was confused, that had just thrown her right out there into the middle of the ballpark. She could hardly understand this man. She had just met him, from what she knows, he had also just met her. Was he an admirer or something? Why did he like her so much.

The other part of her however was greedy. Should she accept his feelings and try to reciprocate them the best she could, she could use him to get her hands on all sorts of alien goods. Technology, knowledge. She could get power from him, she could use him to get all that she had lost back. Then she had thought back, he had said he had lost meaning.

Her mind was racing a million miles per second. He had lost all meaning, which meant, he was trying to tie his lifeline to her. Her chest seemed to feel like it was closing up a bit, her heart thumping loudly against her ribs. It hurt.

In that moment, he looked away from her. His fingers fidgeting, he didn't make eye contact. He was shy? He just confessed without hesitation to a girl he had just met. That and he wasn't answering her to validate.

Her face turned stern, "Don't do that." She kicked him in the shin, not hard, but enough to make him wince and look over at her. His face was ridden with guilt, even more than it had before. The guilt of a deserter. A person who longed for those lost and dead, gone forever.

Just looking at him made her chest get heavy.

"Sorry," the Nobleman took a step away from her.

She kicked him again, "Don't apologize!"

Hopeless, Nemoi felt as if he was being used as practice for kicking, punching and shocking Lance later on. When she kicked him this time however, he locked his legs around her ankle.

Grinning at him as he defend himself, Pidge attempted to pull her leg free to no avail. "Oh? Feeling better?" She seemed to soften up, causing him to release her leg.

She then gave him a playful punch on the shoulder as he shrugged, his expression becoming warm once more.

"I can't think of something like that right now. Besides, we just met," she tried to brush off his instant brew confession, but she technically didn't say that it wasn't possible. "Anyways, what do we do until next week?"

"Business as usual, I presume." Nemoi picked at his right eyelid slightly, letting it snap back into place. "Perhaps, we can play videogames or listen to your homemade tech until then?" His eyes resting on her backpack.

"Hm... So you did know about it... I saw that your signal was calibrated so only my device could read it. How did you know?"

"I don't remember, patches of my memory aren't lining up," he told a half truth, but it was mainly a lie. He however showed no external, nor internal, signs of lying whatsoever. She wasn't suspicious of this at least, she figured it was just a side effect from long-term suspended animation.

"Ah... So, can you let my friends back in now?" She patted his shoulder slightly, watching as he looked over at the door and pressed a nearby button.

Hunk and Lance both fell into the room through the open door.

Huffing slightly in a scoff, Nemoi became amused. "Welcome back, children."