Chapter Text
Mages were a rather rare breed to come across. It was an unspoken rule that should you ever meet one, you should do your best to get away as quickly as you could. Now, that’s not to say that no one had ever sought a mage out in a request for help, but those who did were desperate and had no other options. That being said, the people who made deals with mages often disappeared or slowly faded away until one day they just vanished into thin air.
In other words, making a deal with a mage was the same as making a deal with the devil. There were, of course, exceptions to the rule, but they were few and far in between. The ones who didn’t fall in line to the stereotypical image of a mage were often the ones who hid their nature from the public, as they deemed it safer for all parties. The rest were healers that tended to ask for small amounts of money or ingredients for their potions and medicines as payment for treatment. These were the only kinds of mages that were willingly approached on a regular basis, mainly because they were known for hating conflict and being able to heal almost anything (given that they had the right materials for it). They normally weren’t aggressive by nature, but that wasn’t to say that pissing them off wouldn’t result in unwanted consequences.
The second most well-known unspoken rule was that if you ever made a mage mad, then you better hope that they weren’t a healing mage. Healing mages were generally on good terms with any and all mages (and most other living creatures) they crossed paths with, mainly because they didn’t shy away from anyone. They were friendly and trustworthy – unless, of course, you gave them a reason not to be. So, while the healing mage might not do more then give you something that would make you sick to your stomach for a week, their mage friends might not be so forgiving. Despite being the most commonly approached mage, they were also the most feared because of the small army they almost always had.
Of course, there are beings far more terrifying than mages. Orcs, goblins, dragons, chimeras, and all kinds of other creatures roamed the earth and posed a far greater threat than a mage, simply for the fact that a mage is usually harmless unless provoked – or when a deal was made. Other creatures, however, attack for fun. While mages were perfect for scary stories late at night, it was the monsters of the dark that caused the real fear amongst people. And with the threat of those monsters becoming larger every moment, so did the threat of war. Everyone in the five kingdoms – the Humans, the Alteans, the Olkarians, the Balmera, and the Galra – were aware of this fact. But with this knowledge lied the fact that the kingdoms were suspicious of each other, for there was no way the monsters should be growing as powerful as they were. This implied that they were receiving help from someone, but the question of who was still at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts.
This distrust would surely be the downfall of them all, as none of the rulers could figure out who the traitor was and therefore refused to work together. And surely, there was no way that someone working on their own without a kingdom behind them for support would be able to build an army from the ground up. But when the core crystals that represented each kingdom glowed, the rulers realized that their situation was more dangerous than they originally thought. The core crystals of the kingdoms only glowed when desperate times were ahead – they acted as a beacon, as a warning sign. The rulers immediately knew what it was they had to do and decided to temporarily put aside their differences so that they may find the people who would become the saviors of their world, to find the people who would become the new paladins of Voltron.
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“Don’t you ever come back here again, you hear me?!”
Matt couldn’t help but drop his head in resignation as a rather terrified man sprinted past him. The number of customers he and his sister were getting were dropping drastically, and he had a feeling it was because of Pidge’s temper. But to be fair to his sister, her anger was usually justified. The young man raised his head just in time to see his sister storm back into their small clinic, anger painted clearly on her face.
“Can you believe him?” Pidge seethed as soon as Matt entered the building. She was pacing in the entryway of their home in the same place she always did – he began to vaguely feel concerned about her wearing a hole in the floor before he decided that maybe figuring out what went wrong was more important. Matt had just gotten back from a quick trip to the town to pick up some food and herbs that they were running low on. Pidge was able to grow most of what they needed as she was more of a mage of nature than healing, but there were still certain things that he needed to buy. In truth it was Matt who was the healing mage, but because business had been slow and his sister was good enough to take care of more minor injuries, he had thought it would be fine to leave her on her own for a bit while he went on a supply run. Apparently, he’d been wrong.
“Well considering how I don’t even know what happened,” Matt started with a small smile, placing his bag on a chair that was used by waiting customers, “I can’t give you an answer.” He crossed his arms and cocked a hip, eyebrow raised in question. “But do explain why we’re one more customer down while simultaneously gaining a whole new wave of rumors about how terrible we are.”
Pidge had the decency to look sheepish at that, having paused in her pacing to stand in front of her brother. “To be honest,” she started, this time with much less anger present in her voice. “I’m not even sure that guy was a customer. He came in and asked if I was the resident healing mage, and I told him I wasn’t. Said you had to make a supply run but that you’d be back soon, and that I could handle any minor injuries or illnesses he had. And I guess he saw some of the plants moving or something, cause next thing I know he’s going on and on about how you ‘shouldn’t have left a non-healing mage in charge’, and ‘doesn’t he know how dangerous that is?’. So, I guess I kinda lost it and told him to fuck off and not come back.”
Matt felt the tension leave his body as Pidge explained what happened. He knew she would have a reason for acting out like she did, and that his trust in her ability to make decisions wasn’t misguided. Still…
“I’m glad you stood up for yourself,” he said, pulling his sister into a hug that was quickly returned. “And I’m not mad that you did either. I know how terrible it is for people to talk about you like that, especially to your face. But Pidge,” Matt placed his hands on her shoulders, bending down slightly so that they were closer to eye level. “We need customers. We’re running a bit low on money, so we need all the work we can get. Now, I’m not asking you to stand there and take what people are saying to you, but at least try to hold in your temper, okay? Or send Rover to get me so that I can deal with it.”
Rover was a small, bird-like creature that Pidge had rescued after a storm had hit a little over a year ago. His wing had been injured and had therefore relied on Pidge to bring him everywhere while he recovered. Needless to say, not much has changed. Rover seemed to be permanently perched on Pidge’s shoulder nowadays, and it was clear that he had no desire to leave. Not that Matt could blame him, of course – Pidge spoiled that bird rotten.
“Yeah,” his litter sister said in that resigned tone of hers. “I’ll try. But no promises, okay?” Matt snorted, raising a hand to roughly mess with her hair.
“You’re such a brat sometimes,” he teased with a wide grin, ignoring the indignant ‘hey!’. “But I suppose that’s fair.” Matt turned back to his bag, laughing when he caught sight of the glare Pidge was attempting to maintain. She had been attempting to learn how to be more intimidating (and based off the way that guy had sprinted away she was succeeding), but Matt found that he could never be scared of his sister. Scared for her, maybe, but never of her. But apparently, she hadn’t done as good as a job as he thought, as the guy from earlier was back. And this time, he wasn’t alone.
“We came to apologize,” the woman said in a strong and sure voice. She had beautiful long white hair, a tall, rather muscular figure, bright eyes and Altean marks. The fact that she was Altean caught Matt’s attention more than anything. Altea was a ways away from where they were, and the woman didn’t seem to be the traveling kind. But he’s been wrong before, so he decided to focus more on the reason why they were here.
“My name is Allura,” the woman continued. “And this is Lance. He was merely surprised – I can assure you that he meant no harm.” Matt heard Pidge snort, and a quick glance showed that she had crossed her arms and turned her head away. He decided now was probably a good time to start talking.
“It’s alright,” he said with a smile that he didn’t quite mean, hands held in placating gesture. Pidge was the most important person in the world to him, and anyone who hurt her automatically put themselves on his watch list. “We appreciate that you came back to apologize.”
Allura smiled at him, and Matt had to take a moment to wonder if all Alteans looked that pretty. A glance at Lance showed that he had Altean markings as well, only his were blue and Allura’s were pink. A quick once over showed that while Lance was attractive, he didn’t have that same aura that Allura did. Of course, that was probably his slight bias speaking – Lance had made Pidge upset, and Allura had brought him back to apologize. Satisfied that the difference of attraction was more because of their actions than looks, he turned his attention back to Allura.
“I appreciate that you didn’t automatically kick us out,” she responded before a small frown formed on her lips. “I’m afraid we’re in need of some help, and you are the only healing mage that we’ve heard about for miles.” Allura paused at that, a more hesitant look taking over her features. “You…are the healing mage, correct?” Matt let out a laugh. “Yeah, I am. Here, come over this way and tell me what you need.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Allura following him over to his counter, Lance and Pidge behind her. The two were stuck in a staring match that consisted of glares and little huffs more than actual staring, but as long as no one made a mess of his clinic it was fine.
“So,” Matt started, moving behind the counter before resting his arms on top of it. Pidge moved to sit on the stool next to him, not taking her eyes off Lance. It made him want to snicker – they were acting like the first to look away would lose. Though, maybe they were simply continuing as a matter of pride. He resisted the urge to fondly shake his head at his sister’s antics and resumed talking to Allura. “What can I do for you?”
“Yes, well, you see,” she started, sounding much more nervous than she had when she first entered the clinic. “Our friend was hurt a little under day ago, and we were unable to get immediate treatment as none of us are healers or even doctors. Like I said you were the closest option, so we made our way over here as fast as we could.”
Matt nodded, a small furrow in his brow. Pidge and Lance had stopped glaring at each other and were now looking at him. “So where were they hurt, and how badly? Do you know what injured them?” Allura and Lance exchanged a glance, the latter subtly shaking his head while the former bit her lip. Matt let out a sigh before speaking again. “Look, I don’t particularly care what you guys were getting up to that resulted in someone getting injured enough that they require my help. I’m not about to go telling the authorities if it was something illegal, or anything like that. But I won’t be able to help unless you tell me exactly what their symptoms are, or better yet, bring them here so I can look at them. Or take me to them if they can’t move.”
After a few moments of silent conversation passed between the two Alteans, Allura turned back to him with a sigh. “He was hit on his side by a druid.” That caused both Matt and Pidge to freeze. Druids were…well, they were the worst of the mages. They were the few that would attack people without even being provoked, and they always moved to kill. They strengthened their powers by sucking the life force out of living things and requested horrible deeds of anyone who asked them for help. Getting hit by a druid’s attack and managing to survive was surprising enough, but lasting almost a day later without immediate care? “Pidge, go fill up my supply bag – get all the herbs you can, even if you don’t think we’ll need them.” Pidge rushed off to do as she was told, and Matt quickly grabbed a second, larger and padded bag that resided under the counter before filling it with different bottles of potions, medicines, and ingredients. He noticed the concerned looks on the two Alteans and decided to start talking as they packed.
“Druid attacks are incredibly unpredictable,” he explained. “There’s no set way to heal one of their attacks without being able to see the damage they did.” Finished with his bag, Matt slung it over his shoulder before taking hold of the one Pidge held out to him and pulling that over his other shoulder so that the two bags formed an ‘x’ across his chest. “Pidge, grab the mixing equipment and lock up behind us.” His sister nodded and moved on to her next task. “Okay,” Matt turned to Lance and Allura. “Take me to see him now. We’re racing against time here, and any time wasted could be deadly.” He knew he was scaring the pair further by the way their faces paled, but he needed them to know how serious their friend’s condition was. Luckily, they seemed to catch on quick. “I’ll take him back,” Allura said, voice shaking slightly. “Lance, wait for the other mage to finish up and then take her back as well.” Lance nodded, obviously nervous by the way he was drumming his fingers along the side of his leg. Allura then turned back to Matt, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “This way,” she said before taking off. Matt let out a quiet curse before chasing after her, doing his best to hold his bags steady as he ran. For their sake, he hoped that none of the ingredients were damaged in the trip.