I've always believed that the characterization of Princess Allura was missing something important. I wasn't able to put my finger on it growing up, but now as an adult, I feel like there could have been something more for her than just being a damsel who almost always ended up in distress.
With that in mind, I've taken a number of liberties with our favorite heroes and their characterization for this story about Allura, her planet, and of course our favorite commander.
Having borrowed a little bit from the anime, a little bet from the WEP story created around the anime, various comics and Voltron Force, I'm adding my own twists and turns to the lives of our favorite Fab Five.
It may take a little getting used to, but I think in the long run it will be worth it.
Warnings: None at this time
Prologue: Hidden Away
The nightmare had been haunting her since her last visit home. Voltron would fly up into the sky, a beautiful goddess beckoning him forward only to be torn asunder. His magnificent spirit ripped into five pieces that merged with the five lions that had once been his body.
You must watch and prepare…
"Prepare for what?" She cried in response, her heart thundering in terror.
Again, Voltron rose into the heavens, his voice calling to her. You must watch and prepare…
This time, as his body was torn apart she watched as the city of Leonne, capitol of Altaire and home of the Royal Family of Arus, which surrounded the castle itself was vaporized. Everything above the ground, buildings, men, women, children, all gone in an instance.
A shriek escaped her lips as she took in the horror of what had just happened.
Daughter of the Lion Heart, you must watch and prepare!
This time, she heeded their protector's command. Never had she remained in the throes of terror so long. She had never seen Leonne disappear into nothingness.
He flew into the heavens a final time. Again, she watched as he was torn to pieces and began to fall toward her planet below.
The city of Leonne again vaporized leaving nothing but charred earth marking where it had once stood.
The dreamworld spun around her faster and faster, events thundering by.
The Blue Lion plummeted into the lake that surrounded the small peninsula the castle stood upon.
The Red Lion, careened into the Golen Volcano.
The Green Lion, more nimble than his brothers, rebounded from twice before burying itself deep within the forest of Helene.
The Yellow Lion slammed into the deserts of Avenoth, a mound forming over it, guarding it from the burning winds of the
Black Lion seemed to recover from the fall, floating toward the castle, a dais raising over the bridge that he touched down upon. She watched as stone formed up around him, the essence of his lion nature captured in a winged lion sculpture, watching over the world he had once protected.
The devastation of war sped by and she watched as Zarkon, Emperor of the Drule Empire, approached her father, who stood valiantly between Zarkon, her mother and three of her siblings in the Valley of Zohar.
She took note of her mother's swollen abdomen and gasped. A seventh child?
And then it began. A duel. And then her father's lifeless body upon the ground, Zarkon cackling in glee and turning toward her mother, her sister and two of her brothers with bloodlust in his eyes.
Her eyes squeezed shut as their screams echoed in her ears.
"No! Make it stop! Please make it stop!"
Daughter of the Lion Heart, you must watch and prepare.
A scream escaping her lips, the blue eyed daughter of Alfor the Lion Heart bolted forward, exploding from the dream world and into reality. Her head struck the bottom of the bunk over her head.
She covered her mouth as a squeak escaped her lips and held her hands there for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. She was alone in the on-call room. No one had been there to witness her distress.
Falling back against the pillows she tried to slow her racing heart.
As the last of six children, she had been considered a happy accident that occurred when all four of her siblings had blossomed into adulthood. Her closest sibling, Leonine, was seventeen when she arrived.
Luckily for her, being born so late in the game that there honestly was never a thought that being sixth in line to her father's throne meant she would ever become the crowned princess. It also meant that the moment they realized she was a prodigy of sorts that they were able to encourage her intellectual growth without being concerned about protocol or politics.
It also meant that the youngest Daughter of Arus was no longer tucked safely away within the Castle of Lions on planet Arus with her parents and her guard to protect her.
Instead, she was raised in the custody of her Governess Hys du Llyons who posed as her aunt, Here, on Earth where she attended the Space Academy under a similar provision provided to young Baltonian children.
Allowed be placed in accelerated educational programs she quickly breezed through the general education and initial collegiate curriculum. With an interest in science and medicine she found herself encouraged and pushed through her medical education, coming out ahead of the curve and her peers, ranking second in her class.
Her mother and father had even managed to get away long enough to attend her graduation from medical school and her aunt Orla had made the journey to Earth when she had completed her residency.
Now an accomplished surgeon, she still lived in her Nanny's modest home about a quarter mile off of the academy campus and less than two miles from the hospital she now worked at.
While living on Earth had allowed her some normalcy outside of the eye of the paparazzi, it also left them twisting a tale of lies to hide her identity. They had too as a part of their agreement with the then commandant of the Academy, now Space Marshall Graham. With that came rules, regulations and responsibilities of being a Garrison Officer, complete with thirty days of leave a year which she used to travel home to Arus.
That didn't make it easy on Nanny. Nanny wanted nothing more than for her young charge to be pampered, to dress and act the part.
Instead, her dresses were tossed aside for surgical scrubs, her heels for sneakers and combat boots, and even a great deal of her everyday clothing exchanged for fatigues and the occasional flight suit.
Tonight, eight months into her first year as an attending trauma surgeon, the eighteen year old woman found herself exhausted. Nanny had always complained that they worked her too hard, but when it came down to it, because of her connections and unexpectedly high security clearance due to her station, she had it easy in comparison to her peers.
With a handful of friends who still were occasionally uncomfortable because nearly a decade separated them in age, along with her security detail, life was as good as she could expect. Fourteen months stood between her and the end of her contract that meant a final trip home to Arus where she could join Doctor Gorma, the Royal Physician as a surgeon that served her people.
A sigh escaped her lips. "You must watch and prepare," she said softly to herself before shrugging off the blanket and climbing out of the bunk. It was foolish to dwell over such horrible dreams.
Making sure that both her pagers and cell phones were secured to her hip again, she stretched her arms over her head and slipped out of the on call room just in time for her second phone and trauma pager to go off.
Scowling in confusion, she pulled it from it's clip and entered her twelve digit passcode before the message displayed.
Exodus protocol initiated.
Exodus protocol? There were six people that could initiate a quick and dirty extraction that resulted in the evacuation of herself and her security detail.
Her mother, father, and their advisor Coran could initiate such a mission from Arus. On Earth, Admiral Charles McClain, Space Marshall Michael Graham, and Rear Admiral Cynthia Hawkins.
Checking the time, her first thought wasn't to follow the instructions flooding the text message screen of her mobile phone, it was for her patients.
Looking down at her pager she scowled as Sacci, the head of her security detail found her. I
"Don't even think about it," he hissed.
She blinked in surprise as he divested her of her primary phone and pagers, leaving them at the nurses station just outside of the on-call room.
"Dr. du Llyons," the head nurse called in surprise. "We have an incoming trauma. There was a skirmish just outside of the asteroid belt and they're bringing in casualties."
"I can't just leave," she said, drawing the nurse's wide eyed stare.
"According to Admiral McClain, we're getting out of here now. Seelah, Rosai, Niscona, Julianna and Roxxy are already waiting."
Seelah, Rosai'a, Niscona, Julianna and Roxxy were all a part of her security detail. Despite the fact her cover had been well kept since day one, these five women were always with her through every step. That meant Julianna who did not have the capacity to be a doctor or a surgeon was now a scrub nurse. Roxxy and Niscona managed their medical degrees but neither had the capacity for surgery. Roxxy took a post in the ER and Niscona in the ICU. Seelah and Roxxy both worked as MPs assigned to the hospital.
The fact that something had been going on long enough for her detail to be ready to pull out meant it was big.
"You heard Rebekkah, we have incoming trauma. I'm a surgeon first and foremost. Sacci, I can't just leave."
Sacci's grey eyes narrowed, his voice far louder than she would have preferred. "Your Highness, you may be a surgeon but for the next fourteen months you are also an officer in the Garrison and you have been issued a direct order by Admiral McClain to get you royal all off world! If Hys were here she'd have you sedated and thrown over her shoulder already. We leave, now!"
He gripped her elbow painfully and pulled her through the halls which were now teaming with hospital staff despite the late hour. Behind them the nurse who had advised them there was incoming trauma stumbled after them as Allura shouted orders for her patients.
"And for Lt. McClain," she grey haired woman asked, scribbling notes on a datapad as she followed.
The lieutenant had been injured in a skirmish and brought in the day before complaining of acute stomach pain. His commander, a dark haired man named Kogane had watched her like a hawk as she palpated his abdomen. His dark cobalt, almost black eyes had narrowed in confusion as the lieutenant declared he was suddenly feeling better and was in no pain at all before she shoved him out of the way and slammed her gloved hand on an alarm.
Had Lance McClain been out in the thick of it when his appendix ruptured he would have died. Luckily he'd been in her emergency room and even though he wasn't a trauma case, she had been the doctor on call.
"He's grounded for at least three months. I don't want anyone clearing him for duty for at least three months. Watch for infection and make sure they start decreasing the morphine."
Sacci nearly plowed into the Commander she hadn't seen since she had wheeled the lieutenant into recovery.
She scowled as the momentum of Sacci's hurried pace put her directly into the commander's path.
"Doctor, you okay?" He asked, his brows knitting together.
You must watch and prepare.
The voice echoed in the back of her head and to her surprise, the commander looked around for a moment in confusion.
"Did you hear that," he asked.
She swallowed hard and jerked her arm from Sacci, but before she could ask if he had heard Voltron's voice too, her guard pushed himself between them
"Your highness, we don't have time for this!"
The commander blinked in surprise. "Your highness?"
She nodded and bit her lip. Something screamed in her that she needed to stay. She couldn't leave this man. Of all the men in the universe, this man was important to her and she did not know why.
Now was not the time and she knew it. "Commander Kogane, my apologies. Doctor Rudland will be taking over the lieutenant's care. I am needed -"
"We do not have time for this," Sacci snapped, jerking her away from the confused commander.
"Hey, that is no way to treat a lady," Kogane hissed, his eyes narrowing as he looked down his nose at Sacci, coming to her rescue.
"Commander, it's okay. Sacci is the captain of my guard. We're being evacuated. Please excuse us."
Confusion flooded his blue black eyes. "Evacuated?" He asked, his arms crossing for a moment over his chest. "Doctor, don't you know this is one of the safest places in the universe?"
She looked over her shoulder as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his fatigues, allowing herself to be pulled into the lift at the end of the hall. Their eyes only met once before the lift closed behind her.
You must watch and prepare…