(A/N) So...this happened. My first foray into the Voltron fandom. I dunno, I guess I'm just really enamored of the idea of Shiro in the princess role. So, as always, let's take this little vehicle for a ride and see where we end up.
And I'd Give Up Forever to Touch You
Chapter 1: On the Night We Met, the Stars were Dancing
Once upon a time, which is all times and no times, but not the very best of times, there was a kingdom beneath the sea. This kingdom, the world of Arus, was ruled by two kind and just monarchs – a queen and a king who loved each other dearly. They had ruled the Kingdom of Arus in peace for many years, and had also kept peace with the kingdom of the land dwellers, Altea, for just as long. Between the rulers of Arus and the king of Altea, a glorious time of peace and prosperity was maintained.
But sadly, no time of peace can last forever, and in time, the sea queen began to fall prey to a devastating illness. As she slowly succumbed to the disease, the king, fearful of losing his beloved wife, began to turn to ever more desperate measures in an effort to cure her.
It was the queen's twin sister, the court sorceress, who finally offered the despairing king a solution. Their answer lay in quintessence – the seed that lay at the heart of all magic. But quintessence possessed both light and dark aspects and its raw form was, at best, unstable. The purest well of quintessence in their world had been sealed off many generations before in order to maintain balance in the world. If they could only tap into this well, they would be able to affect change. They would be able to stop the one they loved from dying.
Unfortunately, it would take more than a mere spell to gain access to this most taboo of places. It would take an arcane ritual of such power and dread that none before had ever attempted to perform it. But now? Now they had become desperate, and they were willing to pay whatever hideous price the ritual demanded of them.
They were willing to sacrifice the blood of an innocent.
XxX
"Give me the child."
XxX
Allura knew she wasn't supposed to be out after dark, but really, what four-year-old did something because they were supposed to? The stars had been calling to her tonight, and it would've been rude to ignore that call. Father always insisted that, as a princess, she must never be rude. Therefore, regardless of the bedtime rule, she absolutely had to do her duty as princess of Altea and go out to see what it was the stars wanted.
Indeed, the glowing pinpricks of light far above did not disappoint her. The stars seemed to shine brighter than they ever had before on this night, many of them dancing through the beautifully lit heavens in blazing loops and spirals. It was almost as if they were dancing just for her. What could she do but rise up on the tips of her toes and dance with them, giggling and singing as she spun across the sand. The faster she span, the more the salty sea breeze picked up her white hair and the skirts of her blue nightgown.
Finally making herself dizzy with her spinning and gazing up at the sky, the little princess tumbled over backward into the sand, laughing as she went. But over the sound of her laughter and the crash of the surf, she suddenly became aware of the heavy sound of one of the castle gates being opened.
Oh, no! They knew she'd snuck out. Someone had seen her. They'd found her bed empty. She was going to get in trouble! Scrambling away from the beach, Allura quickly moved to try and hide herself among the boulders at the cliff base, listening with terror for the sound of her name being shouted. Except that the sounds of angry shouting were not what came to the little princess next.
The next sounds to enter Allura's ears were those of a baby crying, its tiny wails piercing the suddenly still and quiet night. As the baby's cries grew sharper and sharper, the dancing stars overhead almost seemed to become angry, slashing and sparking furiously across the sky.
Something was wrong.
"You shouldn't have brought him, Colleen," the voice of one of her father's chief advisors, Samuel, drifted down the cliff face. "This may be dangerous."
"Nonsense," his wife returned. "You heard Honerva's message. The danger's passed. I wasn't about to leave him alone in the middle of such a fuss."
Matthew? The baby crying was Matthew? But...what were they all doing out so late at night if they weren't looking for her? If they'd been talking to Queen Honerva...maybe they were going to the Betwixt? Curiosity aroused, Allura began to creep along the base of the cliff, listening to the group as they passed by overhead.
"Now, now, I'm sure Colleen wouldn't have brought him along if there were really any danger," Coran's voice joined the conversation. "Isn't that right, Your Majesty?"
"Yes," her father answered, though his voice was much more strained than she was used to hearing it. "But I'm still not sure what we'll find when we arrive. I'd feared our next message from Arus would be the announcement of Honerva's passing...and now this. What they've done, it- it's monstrous."
More words were exchanged, but Allura couldn't pretend to understand the conversation the adults were having. All she was really focused on was keeping up with them. The sand beneath her feet was soon giving way to rock and shell, and at one point she had to stifle a cry when she cut her bare foot on one of the rocks. There was no going back now. She'd need to get help when they reached the Betwixt. So she was relieved beyond words to finally see the building coming into view along the rocky coast.
The strange building was located half on land and half in the sea, at the place where the two realms connected. Allura didn't know all that much about it, having only been inside once or twice. What she did know was that it was the place where her father went to meet with the queen and king of the sea, Honerva and Zarkon. She didn't know exactly how it worked, but what she did understand was that there was neither air nor water contained within the Betwixt. Whatever it was within its walls, it allowed both humans and merfolk to move around freely inside it.
When Allura finally reached the building, it was to see Coran, Samuel, and Colleen heading through the entryway, Colleen holding a squalling Matthew in her arms. Her father, on the other hand, was still waiting just outside.
"You all go on ahead. I'll be along in a moment," he told his advisors. Once they'd gone, he just stood there for what felt like several long moments to Allura. When he finally spoke, it was directly to her, though he didn't turn to face her.
"What are you doing out, my child? You shouldn't be here," he said softly, the tone of his voice letting her know he wasn't angry with her, though Allura did feel properly scolded when she stepped out of hiding, limping toward her father.
"I'm sorry, Father," she whimpered, trying to be strong and not reveal how much her foot was hurting her. "I was- playing with the stars...and I heard you all go by."
"Playing with the stars?" he asked with a chuckle as he turned to look at her.
"Uh-huh. They were calling me. We danced."
For a moment, her father looked thoughtful at her words, but when he knelt to allow her into the circle of his arms, his face became the warm, loving one she knew. He laughed quietly as he lifted her up, cradling her against his broad chest. "Did you now? Such a magnificent playmate as all that? Well, it seems to me you've payed well enough for your little misadventure. Let's see what we can do for that foot," he said as he carried her through the entryway.
"Father, were...were you all talking to Queen Honerva?" she couldn't quite help asking.
"Yes, my beloved. Yes, we were," he answered after another long moment of silence.
"But why so late? What's going on?"
"I don't rightly know, my darling. Only that Zarkon and Haggar may have done a terrible thing," he tried to explain, his expression tightening up again as she looked at him.
"Who's Haggar?"
"Honerva's sister. She's one of the mer sorceresses."
"But she did something bad?"
"I think so, yes. We'll know more soon," he said as he carried her through the corridors. Up ahead, she could hear the faint whisper of voices, but couldn't quite make out anything being said, and when they finally entered the conference room, she could see why everyone was speaking in whispers.
Honerva was sitting at the central table, looking sad and badly shaken. Her beautiful tail, deep violet with patterns of red and yellow in the scales, twitched from time to time, as if she had to remind herself not to move. Coran and Samuel were seated at the table beside her, discussing the situation in hushed whispers, but it wasn't any of this that captured Allura's attention.
Colleen had mostly managed to calm Matthew, and she'd carried him over to one of the alcoves off the main room. It was set up as a large rest area, its floor space mainly consisting of an oversized mattress. Princess Acxa, Honerva's firstborn, was seated at the edge of the alcove, her attention focused on the bed's main occupant.
Upon the bed lay a young merboy. His tail was the black of polished onyx and it was laced through with mesmerizing white markings. With the exception of a pure white forelock, his hair was the same black color. Allura had seen many vibrant variations in mer hair color. In fact, she was an ardent lover of Acxa's deep blue hair and was constantly extorting promises from the teenage princess that they would find a way to make Allura's own hair the same color. But for all the different colors she'd seen, she'd never seen two distinct colors in the same set of locks before. The boy couldn't have been any older than she was, and if she'd been old enough for such thoughts, she might have thought him beautiful, but even as it was, such thoughts were difficult to acknowledge with the myriad of injuries covering the boy's body.
There were angry red cuts up and down his arms and tail, all just barely healed, along with what would've been a very deep, jagged cut running from his right shoulder down across his chest. A much thinner cut ran across his neck, almost as if someone had attempted to cut his throat and failed, leaving damage to one of the delicate gill flaps on the right side of his neck. The injuries were capped by another jagged wound across the bridge of his nose, this one still oozing blood. The boy slept fitfully on the bed, breathing raggedly as he tossed his head from side to side and his tail twitched.
"Oh," Allura gasped at the sight of him. It didn't take much convincing to get her father to put her down before he joined the conversation at the table. Allura hurried to the alcove as quick as she could on her hurt foot, which suddenly seemed like such a little thing compared to the harm this boy had suffered. "What happened to him?" she asked Acxa.
"Something awful," the older princess answered distantly as she brushed the white hair from the boy's face.
At this, Allura mustered up the fiercest glare she could manage. Not much for her mere four years, but it was no less ernest for this. "Monstrous. A terrible thing. Something bad. Something awful. No one will tell me what's going on. I'm a princess, too. I should help. Tell me what happened," she demanded.
Acxa offered up an amused smile at this, but there was still sorrow in her eyes. "You're right. I suppose you have a responsibility like the rest of us. It's just- it's difficult to explain. Someone tried to convince him to sacrifice his life for a cause he's too young to understand. He's such a brave, selfless boy. He would've done anything they'd asked. But now-"
"Papa...Papa..." the boy cried out helplessly in his sleep, tears dribbling down his face, mingling with the blood from his wound. "Mama...no...no! You can't...they're not...take me!"
"Hush. Hush, Takashi," Acxa tried to soothe him, a few tears slipping down her own face as she stroked his hair. "It's over now."
"Takashi? Is that his name?" Allura asked, feeling tears start to well up behind her own eyes as she looked down at the boy. He seemed so sad, so helpless, so in pain. She wanted to do anything she could to help him. Acxa just nodded in response, unable to speak.
"Poor boy, poor baby," Colleen said softly, letting her free hand move to join Acxa's in stroking Takashi's blood and tear stained face. "So young to be without his parents."
"He's an orphan?" she asked, feeling her heart tug a little more in Takashi's direction as she sat down on the bed beside him. Hesitantly, she reached out a hand to rest on an uninjured part of his arm. "I know a little what that's like. My mother died when I was a baby," she said to the merboy, mindless of whether he could hear her or not. "I'm so sorry...Takashi."
At the loss of his mother's attention, baby Matthew had begun to cry again. His mother tried to soothe him, but she was just a moment too late. Takashi woke at the sound of the baby's crying, his gray eyes fluttering open as he turned his head in Matthew's direction.
"What...what's wrong?" he mumbled weakly, reaching a hand over to touch the baby's plump cheek as he attempted to sit up. "Why're you crying?"
"Takashi, please don't move. You're still badly injured. You need to rest," Acxa scolded him.
"'m fine," he murmured, failing to sit up, but still running his thumb over Matthew's cheek. "Hey...it's okay. Don't cry," he soothed, beginning to hum quietly.
"He's fine, really. You just rest, little one," Colleen tried to console the young merboy, but whatever it was about Takashi's attention, Matthew soon stopped crying. He smiled and cooed for the boy, grabbing one of his fingers in a single pudgy hand and waving it around.
Takashi winced in pain at the sudden movement, but he still smiled at the baby, not taking his arm back. "There now. See?"
Allura shook her head, gently removing Takashi's finger from Matthew's grip and taking a moment to pat the baby boy on the head before resting Takashi's arm back at his side. "You don't need to take care of anyone else right now. You need to save your strength so you can get better," she told him.
Takashi stared up at her for several moments, not seeming to know what to make of her. What he ultimately went with was a small nod and a tiny, "Hi."
"Oh, right. I know your name, but I guess you don't know mine yet. I'm Allura," she said with a friendly smile.
"Hi...Allura," he returned with a small smile of his own.
"You don't have to be scared anymore. You'll be safe here," she reassured him. "I'm going to take care of you."
"Thank you...Allura," he said slowly, taking his time on her name. For a few minutes, they just continued to smile at each other, but then Takashi's smile drifted back into a look of sadness as his gaze moved out into the conference room then back up to Allura. "You're hurt," he said, and there was such a tone of sorrow in his voice, it just about broke the little princess's heart. Never mind that he was lying half dead after who knew what had happened to him. She was hurt. That was clearly the only thing that concerned him.
"No! It's all right. Really, it's nothing," she tried to argue, at first wondering how he'd known before realizing it would be very easy to spot the trail of blood she'd left walking over. "It's just a little cut."
"No. You're hurt. Let me see," he insisted, trying to sit up again. "Let me help."
"You don't have to do anything, Takashi. I'll be fine. I promise," she said, keeping a hand on his arm to keep him from sitting up.
"Please, Allura. I can help. Let me help," he pleaded with her, several more tears dripping down his face, and the way he spoke with such heartbreak drew the princess to bring her injured foot up on the bed, though she wasn't sure what Takashi thought he could do.
"Takashi-" Acxa started in warning, but before she could say anything more, the boy pressed trembling fingers to the cut on Allura's foot. A faint purple light sparked at the tips of his fingers, connecting him to her. Immediately, Allura could feel the skin knitting itself back together. As she watched the magic work, the young princess gasped in amazement.
But as the power continued to flow between them, Allura began to see the effect it was having on Takashi. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead as the wound across his face began to reopen, seeping blood freely down onto his cheeks. The cuts on his arms and tail began to reopen as well, trickling even more blood onto his pale skin and dark scales. Allura cried out in fear when she saw the cut on his neck begin to reopen, allowing a single drop of blood to escape onto his collarbone.
"Takashi, stop! Please stop! It's hurting you! You don't have to do this! Takashi, please!" she begged him, trying to pull her foot away. But the connection between them was too strong and she found she couldn't break it. Takashi continued to pour energy into the cut, reopening his own injuries in the process. Last to begin to tear open was the deep cleft in his chest – the wound over his heart.
"Stop! Just stop! Please!" she cried, tears pouring down her face, but it seemed that Takashi himself had lost control. She saw a look of fear in his eyes before they began to glow yellow, and the energy between them sparked again, leaving the merboy's fingers with the appearance of claws.
"Takashi!" Honerva's terrified voice sounded in Allura's ear. When she looked back, it was to see the sea queen moving toward them as if she were swimming through water. Quickly flinging herself down on top of the boy, the queen pressed her forehead to his. "Be still. Be still, child," she soothed him, slowly breathing in the flare of power that bled from him. And just as slowly, his wounds began to close up again, his appearance returning to normal as he collapsed back on the mattress. The only difference looked to be that the streak of white in his hair had grown a little longer.
"I just- wanted to help," Takashi whimpered, several more tears squeezing their way from beneath his closed lids.
"I know. I know. It's all right," the queen soothed, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead as she smoothed his hair back once more. "You did help, but for now you must rest.Your body can't handle the strain. Sleep, Takashi. Just rest, dear child."
Eyes briefly flickering open one last time, Takashi turned his head to look at Allura. "Will you- still be here...when I wake up?"
Nodding slowly, Allura reached forward to brush a few tears from her new friend's face. "I will. I promise."
With a smile that was both sad and relieved, Takashi slipped back into unconsciousness. Honerva slowly sat up, breathing her own sigh of relief. When Allura glanced down at her foot, she found the cut completely healed, as if she'd never injured it at all. Looking up at the queen, the young princess felt a knot of guilt clench at her heart.
"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him," she whispered, struggling to rein in her tears.
Honerva offered her a tired smile. "You didn't know what would happen, Allura. This wasn't your doing. Takashi, he...he just wanted to help," she said, repeating his words from earlier as her gaze grew distant. "He's such a good boy. If anything...I did this."
Then, quite suddenly, the queen doubled over in pain. For a brief moment, her purple hair flashed a sickly shade of white and her features appeared gnarled and scarred, her beautiful tail going a dull gray color.
"Mother!" Acxa started in panic, swimming further into the alcove to hover worriedly over her mother.
"It's all right. It's all right," Honerva rushed to reassure her daughter, holding a hand up as she returned to normal. "We're just taking a moment to equalize. We're fine."
"So...did this ritual actually work?" Allura's father asked as he moved to stand beside the alcove.
"Not the way they wanted it to," Honerva explained as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Takashi- became frightened near the end. His panic delayed them. If they'd been allowed to finish it...it would've been at the cost of Takashi's life. I couldn't let that happen. I owe Ulaz so much more than to let his little boy perish."
"Then...why do you look-" Coran started to ask.
"It's only temporary," she said, shifting one of her hands to look down at it. "What they stole from him...it will purchase only temporary respite from the course of the disease...a few decades more or less."
"But, Honerva, if they failed, if this is only temporary...what more did they do? Things are- out of balance. The land, the sky, the sea...they are all angered. That doesn't happen over a few stolen years," Samuel pointed out. He and his wife both had traces of the ancient fey bloodlines in them, so they could easily sense things like this.
"More than their trespass against an innocent soul...the well is barely sealed. It wouldn't take much to rip it open again. And...more than even daring to open the well in the first place...they allowed something through into this world," Acxa explained for her mother.
"What something?" Allura's father pressed.
"A nightmare," Honerva answered, not looking at any of them. Her disquiet look was for something none of them could see – something not in the room with them.
"Q- Queen Honerva?" Allura began nervously before anyone else could say anything.
"Yes, Allura?" the mermyd acknowledged, slowly looking up at her.
"Takashi...Takashi's not going to die, is he?" she made herself ask, feeling her lower lip start to tremble as another ball of sadness started to well up in her throat. She was so afraid, but she had to know.
Again, Honerva offered up that exhausted smile as she reached across Takashi's prone form to lay a comforting hand on Allura's cheek, gently wiping away the tear trails from earlier with a single thumb. "No, dear child. I will never allow that. I'll keep him safe."
"Can...do you think I could help, too? I don't think he's going to take very good care of himself," she said as she looked down at him again. She already felt horribly guilty for causing him even more pain when he'd already endured so much. She would do whatever she had to to help him.
Honerva's smile widened a little at this and she managed a small laugh as she glanced between the two children. "You know, I think you're right, little miss. Our Takashi won't make this job easy for us. I will gladly take all the help I can get."
Allura managed a smile of her own, bobbing her head in a nod. "Then I promise. I'll help protect Takashi from the nightmare," she said solemnly.
The expressions of the other adults grew uneasy at this declaration. Allura had no idea what they were trying to communicate to each other as they looked back and forth amongst themselves, but Colleen was the one to finally put some of it into words.
"Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere? Give the others time to arrive? Maybe leave the children to rest up a bit."
"Yes, I- I think that will be best," Coran stuttered out.
"Acxa, would you be able to mind Matthew for us?" Colleen asked the mer princess.
The sixteen-year-old looked ready to protest being left with them, but when she turned to her mother, the queen just gave her a very pointed look. Acxa conceded by nodding and settling herself on the mattress, holding her arms out for the baby. Once Colleen had passed him over and they were certain he wasn't going to make a fuss, the five adults headed out of the conference room, seeking some place away from young ears.
While Acxa cradled little Matthew, Allura settled herself in beside Takashi, preparing herself for a long wait. After all, she didn't care if it was an hour or a week she had to wait for him. She was going to keep the promise she'd made to the merboy. She was going to be here for him when he woke up.
Don't worry, Takashi. It's going to be all right. I'm watching over you.
XxX
The nightmare the sea queen had spoken of was the Galra.
The Galra were a fearsome race of cursed beings who had emerged from the well upon its being broken open. They were both merfolk and not, with human upper bodies and tails, but that was where the similarities stopped. The tails the Galra were possessed of were more eel-like than the fish tails of the merpeople. Their skin was colored purple and their eyes shone yellow in the ocean depths. They all possessed a very distinct set of deep blue head fins and instead of the simple webbing that the merfolk had between their fingers, Galra fingers continued on to end in claws.
They were creatures of shadow, of terror and despair and madness. They were as a plague upon the seas and wherever they went, their unbound dread went with them. They had unnatural powers even beyond what was typical of the merfolk and they were at odds with the sea people from the moment they came into the world. The sea queen immediately had the wicked race banished from her realm, and in being complicit in their creation, the sea king had fallen just as far as the cursed Galra, becoming like them, and becoming their leader.
War raged between the Galra and the children of the sea from the very start, but even so, life still had to go on in the watery world. In need of comfort and estranged from her husband, the sea queen took on a new lover, to whom she bore twin children and one final son.
XxX
"Ooh! How long? How long? How long?" Shay squealed as she zipped eagerly back and forth above Takashi's head. The eight-year-old smiled as he watched his charge swim around.
"No sooner for the asking, little oyster. We have to be patient."
"No! Don't wanna!" the little princess squealed in delight, and from any other two-year-old, such a phrase would have heralded death and destruction, but it was the collective opinion of the kingdom of Arus that Princess Shay was incapable of being anything other than a perfect sweetheart. Such was the case now as she swam around the receiving chamber, only stopping to give out hugs and kisses to Takashi and her other brothers and sisters. "Want baby brother!"
"Heh, that's definitely a first," Rolo, the queen's third-born, commented as he flipped his lavender tail up and down for Shay to chase. "Normally the baby's angry about not being the youngest anymore. What's our Shay going to do when there's a new favorite in the castle?" he asked, giving a powerful swing with his tail and sending Shay surging through the water to the next oldest, Florona.
"Shay is everyone's favorite, though," Florona pointed out as she caught her baby sister, twirling with her through the water. "This baby brother could be as adorable as ten baby brothers and she would still be the darling of all the seas."
"We'll see," Rolo returned, the smirk on his lips deepening, but somehow not quite reaching his eyes.
"Yes, we will...assuming they both come through it all right," Plaxum, the youngest of Zarkon's children, was the one to finally give voice to the fear they all had.
"Hush, Plaxy," Florona scolded the twelve-year-old, clapping her hands over Shay's ears to keep her from hearing such awful words. "Of course they'll be fine."
"We don't know that," Plaxum continued obstinately. "Gyrgan said she shouldn't have another child. He's said it this whole time."
"Plaxy, that's enough. You mustn't scare the little ones," Florona insisted, her vibrant red hair swirling through the water as she hugged Shay tightly against her chest.
"No, Flo! No!" Shay complained loudly, struggling to escape her older sister's agitated embrace.
"Shiro?" Rax suddenly spoke up from his place beside the boy on the seaweed rope lattice. "Is Mama okay?"
Takashi offered the youngest prince a reassuring smile as he reached a hand down to tousle his soft gray hair. Neither of the twins could properly say his name, so they'd taken to just calling him Shiro. Even little Matt had picked up on it on their trips to the surface.
"She's going to be fine. Your mama just needs your good thoughts."
At his words, Rax nodded solemnly, shifting just a little in the lattice so that he could sway in the current without having to move too much himself. Then he closed his eyes and a look of intense concentration settled over his face.
Takashi couldn't pretend to understand everything the healers said as they came in and out of the queen's chamber, but he did know that things weren't going well inside. All he could do, all he was permitted to do, was give the youngest of the royal children hope that they wouldn't be without their mother. Of all of them, only he knew just how awful that was. Queen Honerva and her other advisors had been kind to him, but...it just wasn't the same as still having his own parents. This wonderful
family that had taken him in still didn't quite change the fact that he was an orphan. His official position was playmate and guardian to Rax and Shay, and he would take on that role with the new little prince as well. It really was the least he could do for his queen, as she preferred he didn't use his healing abilities.
He'd gained somewhat better control over them these three years, but every time he did use them, a few more of his dark strands of hair would turn white, and the queen always said she didn't want to learn what would happen if his whole head went white. So she'd decreed he was only to use those powers when there was no other choice – and even then...
"Has there been any word?" Trigel asked as she swam into the chamber with her own newborn in a sling around her chest. Newborn mermyds could swim within the first few hours after birth, but they did also tire easily, so most new mothers tended to carry them around until they became stronger. The chief engineer's son was already quite strong for his age, but they could also all tell that little Hunk just very much enjoyed being in his mother's arms.
"Nothing good," Rolo answered. "This one just doesn't seem to want to be born." He didn't need to say how bad off the queen must be. Even out here, the taste of blood was already in the water. The metallic flavor must have been truly oppressive in the queen's chamber.
"Well...I suppose there's nothing for it but to wait," the chief engineer conceded as she moved to join Takashi and Rax in the lattice, being careful of Hunk all the while.
After a time, when Rax had nearly exhausted himself from good thinking and Shay had begun to wind down from all her excited darting about, Hunk began to get fussy in his sling, crying softly while his little yellow tail swished through the water.
"Now I know you aren't hungry, little one. What could be wrong?" Trigel asked, though she smiled affectionately down at her son.
Leaning across the lattice to get closer to them, Takashi reached out a hand to pat the baby boy's head. It wasn't long at all before he was singing quietly – an old song he remembered hearing his mother sing...long ago...
I pray you'll be my eyes
And watch him where he goes
And help him to be wise
Help me to let go
Every mother's prayer
Every child knows
Lead him to a place
Guide him with your grace
To a place where he'll be safe
Rax cuddled a little closer to him and Shay sighed happily as she snuggled up to them in the lattice. Takashi could see Trigel smiling as Hunk started to settle, all of them pleased to hear Takashi singing. In most things, he'd been told, he took after his father, but there was one very distinct thing he'd inherited from his mother – an exquisite voice. The most beautiful on land or sea, he'd sometimes been told. He didn't know if it was as wonderful as all that, but he did know that people smiled when he sang. He could make people happy with his singing. So when there was nothing else he could do, he would sing.
I pray he finds your light
And holds it in his heart
As darkness falls each night
Remind him where you are
Every mother's prayer
Every child knows
Need to find a place
Guide him to a place
Give him faith so he'll be safe
As Takashi meandered his way through the old melody, he began to notice that the other three royal siblings had ceased their anxious drifting about the chamber, each one gradually joining them on the lattice to listen in.
Lead him to a place
Guide him with your grace
To a place where he'll be safe
By the time he'd finished singing, Hunk and the twins had all drifted into an easy sleep, each one smiling faintly. Even obstinate Plaxum was smiling at him from where she'd situated herself a few rungs up on the lattice. Rolo sighed as he shook his head, though he still smiled at Takashi.
"Y'know, little Shiro, someday you're going to tell us why you're squandering that singing voice joining the Guard instead of training to be one of the court musicians."
"My father was a member of the Guard," he said, not for the first and, he was sure, neither for the last time. Rolo and the others knew exactly who his father had been. Ulaz Shirogane had been a member of the Palace Guard, the elite cadre of warriors dedicated to protecting the royal family. Takashi had every intention of honoring his father's memory by taking up his former position.
"Right, right. But your mother was a court singer, too. Don't suppose her memory needs to be honored," Rolo pointed out. The eldest prince was a musician himself and this was a constant source of debate between the two of them.
"Now, Rolo, I believe you're well aware that it's Takashi's decision to make," Trigel scolded the prince mildly, reaching over to pat Takashi's shoulder in thanks for the lullaby.
Rolo just shrugged. With nothing more to add to the conversation, that soon tapered off as well, leaving the small group to wait out the night in anxious silence, only occasionally broken by Takashi's singing. It was when the young boy was coming to the end of another song that something began to happen.
A despairing cry echoed into the receiving chamber from beyond the doorway to the queen's chamber. Takashi shook himself from the half sleep he'd fallen into and swam toward the curtains concealing the entryway. That had been Blaytz. Even making such an uncharacteristic sound, he would know the general's voice.
"Blaytz, you really ought to leave. Now," Gyrgan's scolding voice came from beyond the curtain.
"But my son-"
"You can't help him now. I don't think you want to see this. Just take Acxa and go."
They're dying, Takashi realized in pained shock. Honerva and the new baby prince...they're dying right now. I have to do something.
Just a few years ago, he would've needed physical contact to make the healing work. Now he could do it with just a clearly defined image of the person he wanted to help. So he pictured the queen in her chamber, struggling to give birth to her last child, and he gave her what he could of his healing energy, feeling the power drain from his body as he offered it to his queen.
The young mermyd didn't see the results of his desperate gamble right away. In fact, the next thing he became aware of was coming to with Trigel and the royal siblings all gathered around him, looks of worry on their faces.
"He's awake!" Plaxum cheered.
"Oh, thank goodness," Florona said softly.
"Takashi, you know that was dangerous," Trigel scolded him.
"Did it work?"
"He's all right?" Blaytz's voice drifted into their midst. When Takashi looked up at the entryway, it was to see the general just outside the curtain. When he saw Takashi awake, he moved down to gather the young mermyd in his arms, offering him a grim but relieved smile as he carried him into Honerva's chamber.
"Thank you," he said, voice no louder than the sweep of a gentle current. "Thank you...Takashi Shirogane. You saved my son. You saved them both."
"Is she angry?" Takashi asked, too tired to be nervous. He was just as content to let the general carry him.
Blaytz chuckled quietly at this. "Perhaps a little, but more than anything else, I believe she's just relieved her son's alive."
"I am, too," Takashi said, unable to help cuddling a little closer against the large mermyd's warm chest.
He could tell that the filtration system in the royal chamber had been turned up to its highest settings in an effort to clean the blood from the water. The room was still cloudy with the stuff, but Takashi could tell that the taste was already starting to clear. His gills eagerly gulped at the swiftly swirling water, the oxygen beginning to wake him up a little more.
Honerva was situated in her kelp hammock, secured very tightly to keep either her or the baby from drifting away. Acxa was by her side and Gyrgan was moving anxiously around the queen, still checking her over after the difficult labor. The new baby prince was resting in her arms, suckling contentedly from his mother's breast.
Though the queen did look relieved, there was still sadness in her eyes as Blaytz carried Takashi to her. When the general came to her side, she reached out a hand to examine the new strands of white in his hair.
"Takashi..." she trailed off mournfully, not seeming to know what to say.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, though he met her gaze with a look that said he didn't regret what he'd done. "I had to. I'm supposed to protect him."
Honerva gave a pained laugh at his declaration, her expression a strange mix of sorrow and fondness. "Wouldn't you at least like to know his name before swearing your life to him, little warrior?"
"Uh-huh," Takashi said softly, nodding as he looked down at the baby in the queen's arms.
His skin was the same warm tan color as his mother's – a color Takashi had once heard Allura refer to as 'sun-kissed', though such phrases didn't always make sense to him. The little one's tail, on the other hand, had more of Blaytz's coloring in it. The scales were a vivid blue color, sprinkled generously in several places with iridescent markings that tended toward ruby and sapphire. When the baby briefly blinked his eyes open, Takashi saw that they were a deep blue color.
"Lance," the queen answered quietly, dropping a kiss on the baby's head. "His name is Lance."
"Lance," Takashi repeated in wonder as he watched his new charge nurse. "Hi, Lance."
The baby prince briefly released his mother's breast to shift in her arms, and when he went searching for his food source again, he made several precious cooing sounds that felt, to Takashi, almost like a spear through the heart. As had happened when Rax and Shay had first smiled at him, he knew that Lance had won him over completely. He would do whatever it took to keep this little mermyd safe and happy, just as he did with Rax and Shay, with Hunk and Matt.
With Allura.
He'd failed before, but he was not going to fail this time. He was going to protect his new family – no matter what it took.
XxX
The young merboy was better than his word. No better guardian could have been asked for for the queen's youngest children. He cared for the pod of young mermyds like they were his own siblings. Even as the rest of the kingdom became consumed with the conflict with the Galra, he always saw that his young charges were looked after and able to just be children.
Even though it may not have been the wisest thing to do, such a demand sometimes required leaving the relative safety of the underwater kingdom. In order to escape the harshness of the war, the young mermyd would often take his charges up to the surface to visit their friends there.
XxX
Allura breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of her slippers and onto the sand, curling her toes in the soft, grainy stuff. Stepping out of her shoes was always the moment she knew she could really relax, just shuck off all of her cares and leave them up at the castle so she could be with her true friends – and today she had a surprise for them.
"Come on. Come on!" Matt cheered eagerly, tugging on Allura's hand to hurry her along the beach, down to the little cave that was their sanctuary. The Betwixt was a place for affairs of state, so when it was just them and their friends, they'd needed to find somewhere else to meet. That somewhere had turned out to be a small seaside cave nestled among the cliff faces – a place with enough dry rock for the humans to sit on during low tide and enough water for their mermyd companions to be comfortable. It was the perfect spot.
And today it was going to become even more crowded.
Allura watched her step more than she normally would, mindful of the tiny bundle in her arms. As careful as she'd promised to be, her father and Matt's parents had only allowed today's expedition when they'd heard she would be meeting up with Shiro. Well, she would just have to prove herself as trustworthy as her best friend was. So despite her own eagerness, she made absolutely certain to watch each step as she began to climb the spray-soaked rocks toward their cave.
Matt was still bouncing excitedly from rock to rock when she finally managed to make her way into the cave with her bundle. She was relieved to see that they'd been the first to arrive, giving her ample time to get settled on one of the more level stretches of stone floor. All the while, the tightly wrapped bundle in her arms began to squirm all the more.
As always, the first sign of their friends' arrival was Shiro's head peeking just above the water, his face rising no higher than his eyes, just in case there was danger and he needed to make a quick retreat. When he saw that everything was as it should be, he lifted his head properly out of the water, offering Allura a smile before beginning the unpleasant task of coughing up the water in his lungs so that he might switch to his body's air-breathing system.
The whole process took only a few minutes, but Allura always thought it looked painful. One nice thing about the Betwixt was that there was no need for this whole switch. Once Shiro had gotten himself situated, he gave the other little ones permission to come above water, one at a time so he could help them all through the process.
Hunk was first to come up, as he always had the most trouble adjusting. By the time Shiro had gotten him breathing air, the little mermyd needed to swim to the rocky shore to lie down beside Allura, who was sitting with her bare feet just in the water.
"There we are, Hunk. All right?" she asked him, reaching over a hand to pat his shoulder. Hunk rolled onto his side and offered her a tired smile.
Lance was the next to surface. As usual, the two-year-old prince tried to behave like vomiting up water didn't bother him, but Allura could see the hint of exhaustion in his playful smile as he swam closer to her, trying to get a look at the wriggling bundle in her arms.
"What'sit? What'sit?" the little one asked, jumping as far out of the water as his small body could manage.
"You'll find out," the princess said with a knowing smile as Shiro helped Shay out of the water, holding her up while she coughed and expelled water. At four, she and Rax were a little better able to handle the process.
"So what's this big news?" Shiro asked once Rax was up out of the water. "You said we had to come up as soon as possible."
Allura was about to respond when the bundle in her arms answered for her with a particularly loud baby burble. Sick of her confinement, one-month-old Katelyn Holt furiously kicked her arms and legs free of the blankets her mother had wrapped her in, waving them in the air just to prove she could.
All of the young mermyds gasped in awe at the sight of the baby, Shiro the only one among them who'd actually seen a human baby before.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Katelyn Holt, Matt's new baby sister," Allura introduced with pride, holding the baby girl up for them to see, despite her wriggling.
"They finally decided she was old enough to come out?" Shiro asked. Of course they'd all known that Kate had been born; Matt had been able to talk of nothing else. They just hadn't known when they'd be allowed to meet the new baby.
"Yes, they did," Allura said, giving an awkward smile as she struggled to hold onto the baby girl.
"Shiro, lookit! Lookit!" Lance squealed, pointing excitedly before doing several loops through the water. Then he came up to the edge and lifted himself up beside Allura, trying to get a better look at Kate.
Allura turned the wily little girl so that Lance could see, but Kate herself was not so cooperative. Seeming to turn her nose up, the baby made a displeased sort of sound and turned her face away, burying it in Allura's stomach.
Lance's expression immediately soured at the baby's snub. Turning his own nose up, he swam to another part of the cave, calling over his shoulder, "Fine. Don't like her either."
"Lance, you need to give her a chance. She's just a baby," Shiro scolded lightly.
"Mm-mm," the young prince snapped back, not looking at any of them.
"Well, if you're going to sulk, you'll be doing it alone. The rest of us came to see Katelyn," Shiro informed him.
Lance just huffed, still keeping his face turned away.
"All right. If that's your decision," Shiro said, making a show of looking away from the little prince, though Allura could see that his attention was still half at the corner of his eye, always making sure that Lance was all right.
"Can she walk?" Shay asked as she and her twin moved in closer.
"Oh, no. Certainly not. She's not even old enough to crawl yet. Humans don't start walking until they're about a year old," Allura explained gently as she extricated a strand of her hair from Kate's sticky grip.
"So...you carry her 'round 'til she can walk?" Hunk asked, wide-eyed.
"Well...yes," Allura said, unable to come up with any other response.
"That's stupid," Lance grumped at them from his section of the cave.
"You were a baby once, too, Lance," Shiro pointed out.
"Didn' hafta be carried everywhere," the young mermyd argued, lifting his tail to irritably slap small waves against the stone wall.
"Why can't she walk?" Hunk asked, scooting a little closer to Allura. "Don't her legs work?"
"Well...I suppose not," the princess answered after thinking about it a moment. "Human babies aren't as developed as merbabies are when they're born. Kate's body isn't strong enough to support her weight yet. She needs time to get stronger before she can swim and run with Matt and I."
"Does that mean someone had to carry you around when you were a baby?" Shay asked.
"That's exactly what it means," she answered with a laugh.
"I don't believe it," Rax stated with a shake of his head.
"Believe it. I remember the days when Matt was too small to walk," Shiro told them, winking as he nodded toward the five-year-old, who grinned and waved at his mer friends. Hunk, Rax, and Shay all stared at him in amazement.
"But how do you escape if there's danger?" Shay wondered.
"Hope somebody loves you enough to carry you away," Matt said as he gently patted the tiny curls on his baby sister's head. "She's loud and annoying sometimes, but I like her."
"Can we see her feet?" Hunk asked suddenly.
"Hunk, that's not polite," Shiro scolded him. "You shouldn't just ask to see parts of other people's bodies."
Allura laughed at this, despite the sudden redness in Shiro's cheeks. "It's okay, Shiro. They've just never seen a baby's feet before. I'm sure Kate won't mind if you look at them, but there's nothing I can do if she won't be still long enough for you to see," she informed the little ones, carefully laying Kate down on the small stretch of rock between her and Hunk.
Once she was properly free of Allura's arms, Kate began to wave her arms and legs in the air all the more wildly, shoving away her blankets and kicking up the tiny dressing gown her mother had placed her in that morning. For all Hunk tried, he couldn't seem to get ahold of either of her feet. It was almost like Kate knew what he was after and was doing her level best to play keep away with the young mermyd.
When Hunk finally managed to snare one of Kate's little feet, she squealed with delight, sticking a single tiny fist in her mouth and gumming at it. Hunk took the moment of victory to examine each tiny toe. He still couldn't seem to make sense of it, but then he noticed the way Kate was giggling and took a second to tickle her foot before finally letting it go.
"Hi, Kate," the two-year-old said, waving at her. The baby waved her foot at him in response.
"Guess you got a new best friend now, huh," Lance huffed at him from his sulking area. For a moment, Hunk looked really hurt, but then he shook his head and slipped easily back into the water, finning his way over to the young prince. Matt also jumped into the water to swim after them.
"It's okay, Lance. She didn't like me at first either, and I'm her brother."
"Oh, my," Allura started with a small chuckle, figuring she probably shouldn't listen in on the little boys' conversation, but she turned her attention back to little Kate just in time to see her flip over into the water.
Or at least the baby girl would have done if Shiro hadn't been right there to catch her. Allura didn't even have time to cry out in fear before her best friend was cradling Kate in his arms not an inch from the water.
"Whoa there, little one," Shiro soothed, his own voice just on the verge of fear. "I know the ocean's a fun place to be, but I don't think you can swim yet. It'll be a little while before you can join us in the water. This'll have to do for now."
Allura breathed a sigh of relief as her heart rate slowly returned to normal. Shiro had saved the day yet again. So much for her plan to prove she was just as trustworthy as he was.
"I shouldn't have set her down in the first place. Thank you, Takashi."
"No trouble," he said, his smile shifting from Kate up to her, causing Allura's own uncertain smile to lift a bit at the corners. "I guess Kate'll be just as much a handful as Matt was."
"I wouldn't doubt it. I can take her back if you like."
"No, it's fine. I can hold her a bit longer," he said, a different sort of smile moving onto his face as he looked back down at Kate. It was the look Allura saw in his eyes whenever he was watching Shay and the boys play. Whatever came, the princess could see that Katelyn was now just as much under Shiro's protection as all the others were.
And Kate seemed just as taken with her new guardian as all the others were. She smiled and laughed for him, cuddling up close against his chest without squirming too much, but she did eventually begin to get grumpy as she got sleepy, fighting to stay awake against the gentle rocking of Shiro's arms and the rising motion of the tides. But when she started to whimper, Shiro countered with the weapon it seemed no one could resist – his voice. Rocking Kate in the cradle of his arms, Shiro began to sing to her.
Once upon a time
And long ago
I heard someone singing
Soft and low
Now when day is done
And night is near
I recall this song
I used to hear
As Allura listened to the lullaby, she found herself leaning closer to Shiro, having to remind herself not to lean so far over as to just fall in the water. She'd done that before and interrupted his song. She'd never been able to figure out what, but there had always been something about Shiro's singing that made her feel at home...safe and happy...content...
My child, my very own
Don't be afraid; you're not alone
Sleep until the dawn
For all is well
The princess wasn't sure when during the song the other boys had drifted back over, but at some point they had all swum back over to hear Shiro's lullaby. Not even Lance's fiercest grudge could stand up to Shiro's singing.
Long ago this song
Was sung to me
Now it's just a
Distant melody
Somewhere from the past
I used to know
Once upon a time
And long ago
By the time the song had come to an end, Kate had fallen asleep in Shiro's arms. Matt had climbed up out of the water and the four young mermyds were drifting at the surface with distant smiles on their faces. Reluctant though Shiro seemed to relinquish the baby girl, he looked up at Allura with an apologetic smile.
"Well, looks like I've just about put everyone to sleep. I'd hate to cut it short today, but I should probably take these little fish home before I lose them altogether."
"Of course. We'll also be needing to get these two into some dry clothes before they catch colds."
"That's silly, Allura," Matt mumbled sleepily. "Fairies don't get sick."
"Maybe not, but you're not all fairy, Matthew Holt," she reminded him with a gentle poke to his tummy.
"All right, everyone, say your goodbyes," Shiro told them. The twins waved to Matt and Allura, and Shay swam over to press a light kiss to Kate's tiny head before slipping beneath the water with her brother. Hunk did the same, whispering a small 'goodbye' before following suit.
That left just Lance still at the surface, waving to Allura and Matt before turning to look at the baby in Shiro's arms with uncertainty. Then, deciding to take the chance, he swam up and dropped another light kiss on her head. When Kate yawned widely in her sleep and shifted in Shiro's arms, Lance had to stifle a pleased giggle.
"See? Not so bad, is she," Shiro said quietly. The young prince shook his head, grinning happily as he also slipped beneath the water.
"Goodbye, Kate," Shiro said, also kissing her forehead before passing her up to Allura. "Don't give the princess too much trouble."
"We'll see who causes trouble. See you soon?" Allura asked her friend as she climbed to her feet.
"As soon as possible," Shiro answered with a nod and a smile, and as always, he didn't duck back beneath the water until she and Matt had climbed out of the cave.
XxX
(A/N) All righty, shall we keep going?