One

     The rubble of what once was a temple wall was quickly scavenged and used to rebuild homes. Despite their best efforts to halt Lotor's attacks, more of the city had been destroyed than saved. All the Voltron Force could do now was try to help rebuild.
     Commander Keith hefted a usable cinderblock onto his shoulder, feeling it begin to bruise his collarbone already. Arching his back, he turned to lug the stone over to where his friends were helping to repair a farmer's house, and caught the sound of whimpering, barely audible even to his sensitive ears. Turning sharply, instinctively, he lost his grip on the brick and it painfully scraped his flesh though his uniform.
     He leaned further into the rubble, pulling aside the collapsed wall fragments. His mind primed his body to deal with the wounded animal, possibly aggressive due to injury. Lifting away a flashburned panel of crumbling drywall was a greater challenge than he thought; moving one bit of wall caused other, some of heavy brick, to creak and crumble. He nearly dropped the debris he was battling with when a pair of wide, frightened eyes trapped him in their stare.
     She was perhaps ten at the most, but her eyes were those of an ancient; she'd seen far more than was normal for her years. Or perhaps it just seemed that way from their color, a pale ruddy pink, like blood on water; haunted eyes. The child drew away from his outstretched hand, mewling like an abandoned kitten. He offered a gentle smile.
     "It's okay... I won't hurt you..."
     After some persuasion, he'd gotten a name out of the little girl. Sella merely shook her head when he asked her about parents. Sighing heavily, Keith lifted the little girl into his arms, her left ankle too bloodied for him to feel comfortable allowing her to walk. She rested her head against his chest, pressing close.

     This was not the reaction he expected from finding a lost little girl. As soon as they saw her, most of the villagers shied away, even as he pursued them in query about her parents. A lean elder with the small, gleaming eyes of something reptilian stepped forward and blocked his path before he could go any further.
     "That-That... child... has no parents. And if it does, they'd never admit to birthing such an... abomination!" His voice was so thick with hatred that it made Keith's stomach roll. He felt Sella draw closer to him, shivering a bit, and looked down at her fine, soft hair and pale, frightened face, dirtied and smudged with soot, plaster and a tiny bit of blood.
     'What's wrong with her?' he asked himself, mentally shaking his head.

     No one objected to him taking the child with him, although more than a few berated him for inviting the devil in. While he understood their fears of the unusual child, he could not forgive them the level of cruelty they had shown by ostracizing her as if she were a parasite. He would be glad to get back to Arus and away from these closed-minded people.

     Coran spent over an hour discussing with Keith, and rather loudly, the implications of taking the child, most which involved potential issues of abduction, and the fact that he was going to attempt to become a parent when he was still a child in many eyes himself. Keith fought back vehemently with how they treated her, and how they were happy to see her go. Sella had refused to leave his side, and latched onto his body tighter as they argued over her. Keith abandoned his usual stoic manner, nearing tears as he fought for her. Coran had never seen the sixteen-year old so passionate about anything before as he was about this child staying with them on Arus. He reluctantly consented. Keith turned smiling eyes to Sella, who beamed and jumped up to hug him around the neck.

     Keith had to hold her hand as Dr. Gorma examined her. She was terrified of people, and no one could blame her, but if Keith trusted him, then he couldn't be all bad...
     The doctor concluded that her ankle was just twisted and cut, and would be fine with a bandage and a bit of ice in a few days. She was also a bit underweight, but because of her nature, he couldn't tell if she was anemic or not without running some tests. Sella was not about to cooperate to let him draw blood.

     He couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Sella dashed about the room they'd prepared for her. She was used to sleeping in streets and empty temples, so a real bed was a treat. She'd looked up at him with trepidation at first until he convinced her that it was okay, this room was all hers. The problem came when he turned to leave.
     Sella attached herself to his leg again, looking up at him with hurt eyes. His heart ached for the little girl, but he knew that for a sixteen-year old boy to be sharing a room with a ten-year old girl who wasn't even his sister would look terribly wrong. He tried to explain this to her, and that he would be just down the hall, but it didn't seem to do much good; she still looked a step away from tears. Convincing her to stay put for just a moment, he dashed to his room, returning a moment later with a navy blue dragon plush.
     "Sella, this is Ryusama," he smiled, sitting down on the carpet with the violet-eyed stuffed animal. It looked almost more like a bird than a dragon, but that didn't matter, "He's always guarded me, and now he'll guard you." He held out the plushie wyvern to Sella, who took it reluctantly.
     "But... who'll protect you now?"
     "Well, Ryuusama hasn't had much to do since I came here because the Black Lion's spirit is always watching over me now. But he's always done a perfect job of keeping all the bad things away before that, so I know he'll keep you safe..." Keith felt a tickle along his spine, then in his hair and laughed, "And so will they."
     "Who?" Sella looked around, her crystal-fragile voice wavering. Keith reached up into his hair and plucked a small blue mouse from it, dangling him by his tail as he lowered him to the ground. Sella stared as the mouse, squeaking his annoyance at Keith for handling him by the tail, was joined by four others, three blue, one pink.
     "Sella, this is Cheddar, Tsuki, Inky, Cheesy, and Toady," he introduced the mice in turn, "They live in the castle and know more about what goes on here than anyone else."
     "Even you?"
     "Well..." Keith smiled, laying one finger against his jaw and winking, causing the little girl to giggle. The mice swarmed over her, chittering happily as they crawled through her hair. Keith watched bemusedly, feeling a warmth that he hadn't since his parents died. He remembered begging his mother for a little brother or sister every birthday, every Christmas. She'd always just laugh, ruffle his hair, and say "we'll see" and "some day". Somewhere deep down he felt that she was finally keeping her promise.

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