*Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Luckily for them, they are owned by WEP. This journey includes characters and history from Lion Voltron, Go Lion, Vehicle Voltron, as well as what lies within the depths of my imagination (you have been warned). This story began to reveal itself after looking at a drawing that I fell in love with, of a young Prince Lotor walking away from his mother's grave with a tear running down his face. Dear Siberian Cat, your work is inspiring. Dear Lotor and Allura, your adoring fans enjoy contributing to your lives together.

Sacred

Allura's eyes were closed as her mind was swimming in emotions, lost in her thoughts of the day. Lost in her thoughts of what the night would bring. Lotor could be here, on Arus. She knew it was too risky to leave the castle so soon. Impatient as she was at times, Allura was not going to wait much longer to sneak out of the castle. She was leaving now.

Her heart was pounding with anticipation as her muscles had stiffened in excitement of getting to see him. The cold chill of this old portion of the castle runs up her spine as Allura pulls the hood over her hair and closes the dark cloak around her, hiding her in the darkness. "If I'm going to go, it has to be now."

Allura knew she should not have attempted to leave the castle so soon, but Keith was on duty in the control room. Everyone knows that when Keith was on duty, he was usually paying more attention to his virtual chat with Maryanne, the robot scientist, than he was at scanning Arus for unusual activity. Assigning Keith to this post was the easiest way to leave undetected.

Taking a chance, Allura gathered her courage made a mad dash out of the back of the castle. The old forgotten staircase always smelled ancient and musty. Strangely enough, Allura had actually begun to like the scent of her usual escape route. It smelled like, "sneaking off to see a handsome Drule" to her now. Knowing she had to hurry; Allura jumped into the hidden, unmarked hover craft and raced toward an opening in the forest.

Earlier that day, Lotor had launched a series of tactical missiles from the comet like, orbiting planet of Philos. The destruction that those missiles caused had completely melted a city sized portion of Arusian gardens. There could have been people within that large of area. However Allura trusted that the Drule prince was good to his word that Arusion lives would always be safe in his care. It was only made to look disastrous, which he always did with extreme accuracy. Sometimes it felt to Allura it was too close to call, but she trusted Lotor completely.

When Lotor had originally come to Allura with his master plan, they both did agree that some damage needed to be done on occasion for legitimacy. Allura only agreed to his terms, with the assurance from Lotor that no Arusian lives were ever at risk of any harm. Today, Allura was angry that Lotor got too carried away, and risked too many lives of her people. She was going to confront him on the injuries of her people and renegotiate the terms.

No. This was not the truth. Allura was just excited that Lotor might personally be on her planet tonight. In their game, she plays the angry princess role so beautifully and he the love sick villain. Deep down in her core, she knew that anger was not what she was really feeling this night. She also knew that Lotor would not have fired those missiles had there been anyone within the blast zone. The injuries were only from the people who were not listening to instruction and went into the danger zone on their own free will.

The real driving force drawing her to this place was the possibility that Prince Lotor might still be there. Allura only tried to convince herself that she is just angry over the events of the day, or use that as an excuse to convince the prince of her reason to be here when she did not need to be. "No, I don't need an excuse. There is no need to play games with Lotor." She dropped the excuse and moved on.

She knew it was dangerous to see him. They have been close their entire lives, but as they grew older her feelings for him grew stronger. His portrayal of loving her in their game was not helping her resolve. The princess knew it was all for show, and that reality can be a painful pill.

In a hurry to remain undetected by castle control, she all but crashed the hover craft into the trees instead of under the cover. Allura began to run swiftly through the forest, she felt that tonight was unusually risky for some reason. Great care was taken over the years to create the perfect hidden place for Lotor and Allura to meet when they were young.

Hidden safely between rows of ancient trees, lay a long, thin, winding footpath with carefully planted flowers along the way. The mist in the wind gave her added cover as she began to slow down. "No need for him to see me running" she thought as the path gave way to a small, almost nonexistent opening within a wall of vines. Even if someone happened to find the path, only Lotor and Allura knew the way into the clearing.

This secret path leads to a good sized clearing with an unmarked grave at the end of it. Just out of sight of any Arusian surveillance system, this clearing was naturally encased within the tree lines, while rows of thin flowering vines gently hover around it and partially over. There was always a gentle breeze, fragrant with the blooming flowers all around. Allura very much enjoyed visiting this place, it was almost surreal.

Reaching the end of the path, Allura closed her eyes and caught her breath. She was so nervous, so confused by her emotions. She was so afraid that he might be here, yet so afraid that he might not. The soft breeze teasing her face started to pick up. The playful wind was filled with the light scent of her favorite flowers, which Lotor planted for her there as a birthday surprise many years ago. As her heart pounded with anticipation, Allura took a deep breath and finally opened her eyes and went in. Empty.

Allura knew that she did not have much time before someone might notice her missing. She quickly made her way to the empty field just outside of the clearing. There it was. The field was filled with more foliage and building materials than had been destroyed. Lotor always came through, how could she have doubted? The workers who lived nearby never asked questions, they just went to work as soon the sun rises and there happened to be new building materials there.

Turning around to go back, Allura tried hard not to sneak a peek toward the hidden landing platform for Lotor's cruiser. He probably would have hired a delivery service anyway, and not have risked being caught personally taking these replacement items to Arus.

For as long as she can remember, Allura had been afraid to show Lotor how she really felt. She did not wish to risk losing his closeness, and she also knew of his romantic escapades. It was better to just carry him in her heart than lose him forever. It was important that they both play their parts in front of the rest of the Denubian Galaxy until Zarkon can be defeated. Only then can Lotor deliver planet Doom, and the rest of Zarkon's conquests, over to Hazar and the Drule Empire. Arus would finally be free, and Lotor would have finally avenged his mother's cruel death.

Every time Lotor arrives on Arus with a fleet of Doom bullies and calls out her name, Allura's heart races. She has to remember to breathe whenever Lotor begs her to be his bride. The few times he has managed to pull her into his arms and penetrate into her soul with his brilliant felines, her knees become so weak she fears giving the whole scheme away. They came close the day Merla put her into the Cosmotron. Lotor risked everything to save Allura and she wrapped her arms around him in return. "Yes, Merla. As a matter of fact, I do love him back" Allura smiled at the memory.

Before heading back to the trail, Allura made her way back into the secret place and over to the unmarked grave. She gently placed her hand on the stone. As she looked down, she noticed the fresh cut flowers selectively placed on ground by the stone. Allura's heart skipped a beat, Lotor was here. Just then her heart began to ache from the memory of this stone. She knelt to the grown and lowered her head. "I'm so sorry Lotor." That memory was of Allura, and the young handsome Drule laying his Arusian mother here to rest, many years ago.

Inhaling a deep breath of the chilled, flowery air, Allura reflected back to that fateful night. It happened at the beginning of Zarkon's blood lust for power. Over the years, his bloody conquests had become almost unnatural. Zarkon even went as far as to experiment on himself for more physical power, which had mutated his body and twisted his mind. As Zarkon's cruelty intensified, he was ultimately rejected by the Drule Empire which he was attempting to overrule and take over himself.

This rejection had put Zarkon in a rage beyond control. Turning off the monitor at the control station, he went to the first person he saw which was his beautiful Arusian prisoner and mother to his only heir. She had been waiting for him in the crown room, again to beg for the release of her imprisoned Arusians. Her attempt was to hide her son Lotor with one of the prisoners. King Alfor had found a family to raise Lotor as his own if she could secretly get the young prince to Arus without Zarkon.

This was not the first time she had dared to beg for a pardon of the Arusian prisoners. Zarkon had agreed that he would release the Arusian prisoners of war, if she would become his wife and provide an heir to the Doom throne. Zarkon lied, but that did not stop her from begging for their lives continuously.

This time was the wrong time for that request. In his enraged state, Zarkon brutally murdered Lotor's mother, not even caring that his son was present in the room. Lotor had risen up to fight for his mother's life, only to find himself being pulled away by empathetic Doom guards. Most of the guards on Doom were hoping that Lotor would someday grow up to defeat his father and free the planet. The guards held the fighting Lotor safely at bay, away from Zarkon until it was over and Zarkon was gone.

Thanks to those Doom guards, the young prince had managed to escape his father's wrath. He snuck outside of the castle during the night to steal his mother's body from the trash compactor where she had been tossed. There was no time to mourn for the loss of his mother. Prince Lotor quickly gathered his mother's broken body and took her to the only friend he knew that he could trust, Princess Allura of Arus.

Allura shivered as she recalled that fateful night as if it were yesterday. She remembered hearing the faint knock at her bedroom window late that night. As the young princess slid out of bed and peered out of her window, she was shocked at the sight of her Drule friend covered in blood, with tears pouring down his face. She remembers being frightened at the site of Lotor's condition. Something was terribly wrong. She recalls pointing a shaky finger toward the forest. Lotor knew exactly where to go.

This secret place was where Lotor and Allura often escaped from their parents as children to play. It is where they shared their first kiss as teens. This secret place was a small, hidden clearing. It was one of the few places on Arus that was hidden from any surveillance. Only Lotor and Allura knew where to find it.

That fateful night, Allura remembers running out of the castle in her nightgown, as she raced toward their secret path in a panic to help Lotor. It was there, in their special place, that the two of them knew that it was the right place to bury his mother. This was now sacred ground. Lotor will always protect it with his life, as will Allura.

Shaking off this painful memory, the princess remembered that time was short. She had turned back to walk briskly down the path toward the unmarked hover craft. All the while her mind was drifting to the tall, handsome, Drule prince who dangerously consumed her thoughts. "The irony" she sighs, "Lotor pretends to be obsessed with me to fool Zarkon and his supporters, when I'm the one who seems to be lovesick over him."

Just this thought was enough to replace the sorrowful lump in Allura's throat. There was part of her that was afraid of the future when Lotor finally does defeat his evil father. What happens to their relationship then, will she ever see Lotor again? "I'm sure we will still be great friends" Allura reminded herself.

As Allura climbed into the craft, she looked up into the darkening sky. She saw a burst of light breaking through the darkened sky and wondered if it was Prince Lotor. Her heart pounds in her chest as Allura catches her breath, "I have too much work to do for this kind of distraction."

As the commercial transport ship blasts out of Arusian airspace, the pilot did not even look back. The crown Prince of Doom was looking forward to a soothing backrub by his favorite staff members to shake off the day. Helping to protect Arus made him feel honorable, and it also helped to reduce the rage he felt toward his father every time he paid respects to his beloved mother's grave.

Part of him yearned to wait for Allura, as his desire for her was actually starting to materialize. He knew that this part of him had to be pushed aside. Prince Lotor knew that he must stay on course and do what must be done, with solid plans and a clear head. Changing his lifelong relationship with his oldest and most trusted friend would be a disaster, not only to their friendship but to their very important game.

Back on Arus, Allura finally settled into the hover craft and covered her hair with the cloak. Firing up the hovercraft she began to head back to the Castle of Lions. She made her way out of the hidden hovercraft platform. As soon as she turned the corner, she went into a screeching halt. As princess Allura looked up at what was blocking her way, she found that she was staring directly into the snarling face of Keith and Black Lion.