Everything else proceeded like canon, minus the Garrison chasing them.
They trekked deeper into the desert cave, the air growing cooler, denser, more electric with every step. Amethyst—wearing Pidge's face, Pidge's height, Pidge's borrowed memories—kept her breathing steady. She'd prepared for this moment. She had studied every frame of canon. She had even crafted two contingency devices inside her sleeves.
Still nothing prepared her for the moment the cave recognized her.
A faint hum rippled over her skin like static jumping between coils. Her Maker System flickered in the corner of her vision—soft blue overlays dancing over the cave walls.
[FOREIGN TECH SIGNATURE DETECTED
PROXIMITY: 42.8 M
STATUS: CURIOUS]
Curious?
That was new.
The others didn't seem to feel anything.
Hunk kept nervously fidgeting.
Lance shone his light down the passageway, loudly insisting this was absolutely, definitely, no question the right tunnel.
Shiro was quiet, focused, but even he didn't seem to sense the vibrations running through the stone.
Amethyst swallowed hard.
'Okay. So it's just me.'
'Or… just me and the System.'
The deeper they went, the stronger the pull became—like a magnet dragging at the threads of her being. Her Maker Space UI pulsed in soft rhythm with the hum.
Then the floor dipped—and opened into the massive chamber.
There it was.
The Blue Lion.
Colossal. Graceful, even dormant. Metal paws planted as though ready to spring forward even in sleep.
Lance let out a noise halfway between awe and a squeak.
Hunk whispered something reverent.
Shiro stepped forward, the faintest breath of wonder slipping from him.
But the Lion wasn't looking at them.
A soft glow rippled across its hull, faint but unmistakable—like circuit lines awakening from hibernation.
It was looking at her.
Her Maker System flared.
[SYNC REQUEST (PASSIVE)
SOURCE: ALTEAN LION-CLASS SENTIENT CORE
PERMISSION: OBSERVATIONAL LINK ONLY]
A small window blinked.
[ Download partial structural map? Y/N]
Her heart lurched.
'That's not supposed to happen. Pidge didn't download anything in canon.' Then again Pidge hadn't had a system either.
But the System pulsed warmly, as if nudging her forward.
She exhaled. '…Yes.'
The moment she confirmed, knowledge flooded her vision in a burst of blue-white wireframes—interior corridors, engine nodes, forgotten Altean diagnostics menus. She didn't get full access, but she got enough to understand:
The Blue Lion was reacting not just to Lance…
…but to her System.
Her Maker Space suddenly brightened behind her eyes, rearranging itself. A new holographic node materialized above the blueprint table: [LION-CLASS TECH: 12% UNLOCKED].
She staggered a step.
Shiro immediately caught her arm.
"Pidge—are you alright?"
She forced a shaky nod.
"Yeah. Just… static shock. Cave air."
Not convincing.
But he didn't press.
Before she could steady herself, a surge of energy roared through the chamber. Light burst outward in a blinding wave as the Lion awakened fully—eyes igniting like twin suns.
Lance yelped and jumped behind Hunk.
Hunk screamed and jumped behind Lance.
Shiro stepped in front of them all, muscles coiled.
The Lion lowered its massive head, scanning the group… then the glow sharpened when it passed over Amethyst again. Something inside its core resonated with her—a faint echo of Altean energy tangled with the Maker System's essence.
Her breath hitched.
Compatible.
That was the only word the System offered.
Compatible with what? With me? With the System?
But Blue wasn't choosing her.
The Lion shifted its gaze.
Lance stepped forward, chest puffed out, trying desperately to look heroic despite shivering like a wet kitten.
"Uh… h-hey there, big guy."
The Lion purred—a sound like an engine wrapped in ocean waves—and lowered its head toward him.
The moment of canon locked back into place.
Amethyst exhaled through her nose, shoulders loosening.
'Good. No harmonic disruption. Lance still gets Blue.'
But the Lion's light flickered once more, brushing over her as though acknowledging her presence, her System, her divergence.
Almost a greeting.
Almost a warning.
[NOTE: SENTIENT CORE RECOGNIZES USER
RELATIONSHIP: UNDEFINED
THREAD STATUS: DORMANT]
Thread?
She froze.
Thread… like Soul Thread?
No.
No, this wasn't the same warmth.
This one was mechanical.
Ancient.
Altean.
Whatever the Lion saw in her—it wasn't destiny.
It was potential.
The Lion lifted Lance effortlessly into its cockpit, the cavern trembling as engines began to whir to life for the first time in ten thousand years.
Hunk swallowed audibly.
"How are we not dead?"
Shiro smiled faintly.
"We're about to make history."
Amethyst stood apart for a moment, the residual energy of the Lion humming through her bones.
Canon was happening.
But quietly—so quietly no one else noticed—a butterfly wing had already begun to beat.
And the universe was listening.