This is for everyone who is familiar with all the Voltron properties. I hope you will get a giggle out of this.
I have no claim on any of the Voltron shows or comics, though I love them all in their own ways. My thanks (and apologies) to anyone connected with Voltron, Defender of the Universe (aka DotU or 80's Voltron), Devil's Due Comics, Voltron 3D, Voltron Force and the new VLD. I enjoyed all the other comics as well but since this is just a short funny piece I didn't hit everything. **UPDATE: Please note this was written after VLD Season 1. The character has improved as the series has gone on. **
Enjoy…
Most importantly, thank you to my friend Animebookchic for reading this over for me. I also thank my virtual sorority/fraternity of Voltron fans for their insights, writing and art over the years.
"Excuse me? I believe there's been a mistake, I requested coffee." Allura said quietly to the maid setting out the dessert service after dinner.
"Pardon me, your Highness." The maid said as she curtsied. "Nanny changed the cup out just as I was leaving the kitchen for this herbal tea. I'm so sorry. I'll be right back…"
Allura sighed. "The tea will be lovely. Thank you, you can leave it." The maid again bobbed a curtsy and went back to the kitchen.
Allura stared at the cup. She had slept poorly for the last two nights and, as well as she hid it, two people had noticed and expressed their concern.
First, Nanny. She attributed Allura's sleep difficulty to her duties as Blue Lion pilot. If Allura would only stop flying, all her troubles would cease. Then Nanny blamed Allura's workload as Princess and being single. If Allura would only marry a prince he could share or take over her duties with the planet so she could focus on an heir. On and on. It would seem that Nanny now blamed caffeine.
Allura sighed and gamefully drank her tea with a benign smile. Everyone was focused on Hunk relating an amusing story about taking Yellow Lion to a local school. Everyone, that is, except the second person who'd noticed the fatigue two nights of sleeplessness had caused.
Keith. She noticed how he tried to focus on Hunk's tale but kept looking at her with concern. While there was a stubborn adolescent part of her that wanted to shout at him that she was perfectly fine, thank you very much; there was another part of her that was glad of the attention. When Keith had asked her at breakfast yesterday if she was alright, she had admitted that she hadn't slept well. He didn't belabor the point but she knew he had made up an excuse to shorten practice that day and again this morning on her account.
Dessert was cleared from the table and the group rose as Allura left the table.
"Can I talk to you, Princess?" Keith asked.
She nodded her assent. Keith looked around to make sure everyone else was moving toward the door before he spoke.
He continued. "I guess you didn't sleep great again last night." It wasn't a question and that irritation began to grow again.
Just as she was about to tell him where he could put his overprotective concern, he said, "I picked these for you." He held out a handkerchief with something wrapped inside. Allura opened the bundle to find some very fragrant lavender.
She looked at Keith in surprise. "Thank you, they're lovely."
"My mother said lavender helped with a good night's rest. Actually, I think she thought lavender fixed just about anything. She'd put a bundle of lavender under my pillow when I was little if I couldn't sleep. I saw a field of them out on patrol today and I thought it might help."
"I'll be sure to try your mother's remedy tonight, thank you." She appreciated the concern in a way she couldn't quite articulate to herself and any of her petulance vanished without a thought.
Keith gave a small smile and escorted Allura from the dining room to join the others.
The next morning Allura found Keith in the control room checking a data pad and approached him.
"Good morning, Princess. How'd ya' sleep?"
"Oh, wonderful! Thank you so much for the lavender. I slept beautifully but I had the oddest dreams."
"You did?" Keith looked around to make sure Coran and Nanny weren't in the room. He was sure they wouldn't approve of her talking about lavender under pillows and dreams to a lowly person like him.
"Yes. Each dream was almost like an alternate reality. Everything seemed so real."
"Were they nightmares?"
"No, just very different. The first one I recall was almost as if I was in one of those comic books that you boys love to read. I knew who everyone was, but we all looked so different and it was a bit dark."
"Dark? Like night?"
"No, dark as in sinister. You boys were all older and had difficult pasts. Lance was in prison for something to do with a senator's wife and a flyby. Sven kept reading a book called Catching Rye, I think, before he joined forces with our enemies. Pidge was so much more sad and lonely. Hunk was labeled difficult and shunted into a garage position. You'd been in something called the Marines, lost your fiancée in an accident and taught at a martial arts school. You were all told to come here to steal Voltron by Commander Hawkins. I wore some very tight outfits Nanny would NOT approve of. Can you imagine me in very short pants well above my knees and a shirt that hid less than it covered?" Allura was breathless by the end of her summary.
"Wow, that was some dream." Keith couldn't help it as his eyes wandered over her body as she bade him imagine her in a skimpy outfit. "Wow, that was some dream." Keith repeated and shook his head to clear it. "I had no idea lavender would do that. Maybe we need to get rid of those flowers, Princess."
"Oh no, it was the best night's rest I've had in ages. That wasn't the end of the dream though. The next part was as if we were in a highly-stylized cartoon. It was several years in the future. We'd defeated Zarkon and Lotor but someone named Wade had taken over the Garrison. He had a vendetta against Voltron. Haggar had exploded into a celestial body. Lotor was raised from the dead by a mad, occult scientist. Somehow I'd acquired a spirited niece named Larmina even though I have no siblings. Isn't that odd? We had cadets too. Vince was lovely but that Daniel was clearly unstable. Pidge had grown into a handsome young man who had a secret identity as a holographic band and his eyes turned green. Hunk used to be a race car driver of some kind and he was very into loud music. Lance was tall and well-muscled but his face left something to be desired. Sven was deranged and had stolen his child away and he had blue eyes. Oh and you were gorgeous!"
"What?!"
"I mean, that's not to say that you aren't handsome now of course, but your skin was tanned and your eyes were a piercing crystal blue. You'd obviously spent some extra time in the gym because you were better formed than Lance! Oh my! I'm sorry, that was inappropriate to say." Allura blushed as she finished speaking. Those uniforms really didn't leave much to the imagination, she thought.
"Uh, that's okay. It was just a dream, right?" Keith knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help add, "Was your appearance different too?"
"Oh yes! My hair was completely straight, I had a new diadem and my eyes were a lovely green. Apparently, Nanny had retired and I picked the loveliest off the shoulder dresses and I had a skin-tight uniform like you boys did."
Keith chanted a mantra to himself. Eyes above the neck, eyes above the neck, eyes above the waist, NECK, I MEANT NECK!
Keith just stood there for a few moments. Skin tight uniform and off the shoulder dresses. Keith needed to set his mind on a different path than the one he was currently on and asked, "W-w-was that the last part?"
Keith entreated any deities listening, Please, no skin-tight outfits. I can't take many more skin-tight outfits.
"No! The next one was this early CGI environment. I woke up startled from that one, thank heaven."
Allura paused to think then continued. "The last part was just a complete departure from the others. Coran and I had been thrown into cryostasis for 10,000 years after Zarkon destroyed the planet of Altea."
"Wait, I thought Altea was the name of your kingdom?"
"It is! But in the dream, it was the name of our home planet and Arus was just a planet the castle had landed on and sat on for 10,000 years."
"Okay, home planet destroyed, I'm with you. Gee Princess, these are really detailed dreams."
"Yes, yes! Alteans had pointy ears and were able to change our form to suit the occasion. I sounded very posh, if I do say so myself. Coran was younger and very… quirky? How did I forget, Pidge was a girl in disguise!"
"Well, I'd definitely keep that part of the dream to yourself around Pidge." Keith offered with a smile and then asked, "Did we all have pointy ears or just you and Coran?"
"Just Coran and I, you were all from Earth. Sort of, but let's not get into that. Where was I? Oh yes. Hunk was a gourmet genius with a lot of intestinal issues. Lance was well, Lance and accosted every female he met. He looked more like himself but he had the oddest face and expressions. Sven was named Shiro, at least I think Shiro is supposed to be Sven, but it was all wrong because Shiro was the leader. Anyway, at least your uniform colors finally matched your lions. You were in Red, Lance in Blue, Pidge and Hunk were as they are now and Shiro-Sven was in black. We kept wormholing around the universe. You know, I was quite an unpleasant person! I didn't want to trust anyone and I was rather unkind."
Oh thank goodness, Keith thought, no mention of outfits.
"Oh! And I had flowing white hair and much darker skin. My uniform was similar in this dream but it was certainly more snug than the real Coran and Nanny would approve."
Keith stared at Allura. Damn. Why does she keep dreaming about sexy frigging clothes?
"So, what do you think, Keith?" Allura asked as she looked up into his face.
"Princess, that was one fantastic dream. What do you think though? Your people seem to put a lot of stock in visions and dreams."
"Well, Nanny wasn't a part of any of the dreams. I've been thinking that I might be getting old enough to ask her to attend to other duties and let me have a lady's maid. She does boss me around a bit," Allura said, "but please don't tell her I said that last part. It would break her sensitive heart."
Keith thought, Stones don't break that easy, Princess. Aloud he said, "Hmmm, yeah, that could be. Maybe your subconscious was pushing through there."
"I'm a bit concerned about how angry and bossy I was in the last dream. I want to grow into a strong leader but also someone that my people will look up to and love." Allura deflated a bit. Keith sensed that of anything else her imagination had concocted this part made her uneasy.
"I don't think you should read too much into it. You, Princess Allura of Arus, are already the leader you're talking about. You are strong. You are looked up to and you are certainly…" Allura's eyes lifted to his in expectation of his next word, "…loved."
Keith looked away and turned to his data pad as a lifeboat. "Even if any of those dreams were reality it wouldn't matter because I bet you still want to help people in those scenarios. I bet you are still willing to sacrifice yourself for others. Who cares what you look like or we look like? Who cares what those other Alluras did or didn't do? No amount of skin-tight clothing can change that!" He realized what he'd just said and flushed redder than his uniform. Allura giggled. "WAIT! Umm, I mean, no amount of re-imagining can change that." Smooth Keith. Real smooth.
Keith took a deep breath and continued, "Princess, THIS Allura will always be my favorite."
Allura blushed deeply and lowered her eyes in shyness. "Thank you, Keith."
The pair stood there in awkward silence for a few moments.
"We've got about two hours before practice. I guess I'd better hit the gym if I want to live up to 'dream' Keith." Keith quipped with a self-deprecating laugh.
Allura giggled while she covered her mouth as if to keep the laughter in. She smiled coyly and said, "Oh good, I'm glad we have a little time. I have some ideas from my dream to run by the seamstress before we suit up."
Allura turned quickly to go. She didn't need to look back to know Keith was still standing there with his mouth hanging open.