DISCLAIMER: This is just for fun. WEP owns all rights to Voltron and the characters.
The Princess steps out of her shower and towels off. The first glimmer of light is just showing on the horizon. "Uh-oh." "I should have checked the sunrise time, today," she thinks. Lion practice starts at sunrise. No exceptions and no excuses. Because excuses can get you killed. She repeats the Commander's mantra as she stomps into her boots. Taking one look in the mirror to make sure everything is right costs her seconds she might need. But she can't resist. Making sure she looks her best before leaving her rooms is an ingrained royal habit re-inforced by Nanny's constant reminders. Checking the time she hurries out. The team has an understanding that the last person late to practice has to clean the common room. Allura hasn't had to do it yet, and she doesn't want to break that streak.
Ahead she hears Pidge humming and she lengthens her strides. No running for a Princess, she thinks echoing Nanny's teachings. Catching up with Pidge they grin at each other. He breaks into a sprint when they sight the control room door.
"No fair!" Allura whispers. Looking around quickly she starts to run. Her longer legs make up for Pidge's speed, but she can't pass him. Their pounding steps echo off the silver metallic ceilings of the castle hallways. Everytime she tries he speeds up or blocks her. Finally the castle control room doors slide open and the cross into the room together.
"HA!" Allura cries. "Tied you, Pidge."
The young Green Lion pilot laughs at her. "You have to beat me Princess. I bet you were thinking Nanny was around here." he grins wickedly. "That's why you haven't won yet," he brags.
The Princess blushes. The reminder of her guardians erase the brief glimpse of the carefree young woman she should be. A hint of guilt has her looking quickly around. Only the dark unruly hair and a flash of red indicate the presence of someone else in the control room. Keith stands up from his seat at the command console.
"No worries, Princess. Nanny and Coran aren't here, yet." he reassures her. He smiles at her, but inwardly he hates that she has to be controlled and focused instead of carefree and fun.
"I wish she could be that happy for more than a moment," Keith thinks.
Allura blushes again at his warm smile. "Good morning, Keith." she says softly.
"I don't see Hunk and Lance either," Pidge observes. He pulls out a piece of paper and makes a notation on it.
"Keeping score?" Keith asks lazily. He knows that between Lance's sharp wit and popularity with the women on Arus and Hunk's strength and cheerful nature have the youngest member of the team at a disadvantage. Pidge's genius have made him feel isolated at times and as a result he can be competitive with his teammates.
"Hey, Cap, I don't want to clean up after them. And neither does the Princess."
Allura agrees with Pidge.
Keith checks his watch. "Another two minutes and they both have to clean."
Allura moves to the side of the view screen console and waits. She slides her hands into the new pockets that she begged Nanny to add to her flight suit. It was a hard won battle since Nanny insisted they were un-Princess like and blamed the idea on the 'hooligans' of the Voltron Force. A crinkle of paper surprises her and she pulls out a folded note.
"Hmm, what's this?" she asks.
Keith looks up from his screen where he is monitoring the newly launched warning satellites. "What's what Princess?" He looks around the room in concern. Seeing nothing he focuses his attention on Allura.
Allura ignores his question as she unfolds the small note. Her eyes widen as she reads the message, "I love you in so many ways. Watch for them."
Keith sees the Princess blush and quickly hide the note back in her pocket. Her head stays lowered, but he can still see her face. His eyes linger on her. He seizes this rare opportunity to watch her without being observed. Just then the door whooshes open and Lance hustles into the control room, steps ahead of Hunk.
Keith scowls as Allura's attention is captured by Lance's theatrics. He sits down in front of the view screen again to hide his annoyance with his best friend.
"Lance wins again, Big Guy!" he shouts. He starts his victory dance until he notices Keith, Allura, and Pidge gathered around the lion tube control panel. Keith is scowling at him and Hunk. Pidge and the Princess break into laughter at his disgust and chagrin.
"Overslept again?" is the only thing the commander says to them as he raises the tubes. Both Hunk and Lance notice the sun has fully risen over the horizon and they are technically late to lion practice. They sigh and shrug.
Lance raises and eyebrow at Keith's mood. He shrugs and jogs to tube 2 and grabs the t-bar to take him to Red Lion.
Allura's mind is on her note and she powers up Blue Lion without even thinking about it. But the demanding routine of flying and running attack patterns forces her to concentrate on her lessons in the lion and not on who might have given her the note. After breakfast and during her language drills her mind drifts to who it could be. Finally Coran releases her from her studies and she ends up in the garden. Surrounded by the colors and scents of the newly planted flowers she can let her mind focus on who could be the note writer.
"I don't think it's Hunk. I know he loves me, but he's like a brother. With the pilot of the Yellow Lion dismissed she continues on. "Pidge?"she wonders. "I know he has a crush on me, but I don't see him doing this." Allura remembers all the times he's angled for a kiss from her. The teasing and the looks. "As much as I love Pidge, he's like a little brother to me." Suddenly tears form in her eyes as she remembers her own brothers, killed in the early attacks on the planet. Sniffling a little, she gets up from her seat and heads to the memorial garden. Her pink gown swishes on the newly laid path. Stopping in front of the plaque embedded in the memorial plinth, she places a flower. "Dedicated to the memory of King Alfor, Queen Alinora, Crown Prince Dunnar, and Prince Kinod. They gave all for Arus. Their sacrifice is honored here."
As she stares at the plaque, tears stream down her face silently. Allura envisions her mother's smile and her father's voice. She hears her brother Kinod's teasing laugh and remembers the last time Dunnar hugged her.
Keith stands at the edge of the memorial garden. Leaning on the warm honey colored stone that he helped salvage from the old castle, he guards Allura as she mourns her family. When she left the library he followed her to the garden, in case there was a surprise attack. Doom has been quiet lately, which has the team on edge.
Nearly hidden from sight among the apple and pear trees just coming into bloom he aches to take her in his arms and comfort her. A muffled sob from her is too much for him to bear. Keith strides to her side and offers her his handkerchief. Little enough, but at least she knows I'm here."
Allura is startled at his quiet appearance by her side. She is embarrassed at being seen by the commander like this.
"Thank you, Keith," she says softly. She wipes her eyes and tried to hand the cloth back to him.
He shakes his head. "Keep it." He closes her hands around the damp square. Keith stares down into her eyes and smiles softly. "I don't need it right now." He turns away. At the end of the path he stops. "Allura, it's okay to miss them. But don't feel guilty that you don't think of them all the time." He quickly strides away toward the castle, leaving her to her thoughts.
Allura stares after him wondering how he knew her thoughts.
"Keith? Could he have left the note?" She hopes and wishes he did. "It's not really Lance's style. But Keith?" Allura turns to watch the flash of red disappear around the corner of the garden wall. She wipes the rest of her tears away with his handkerchief and reads the note again. In the distance a rumbling roar can be heard as the Black Lion powers up and leaps off the monument pedastal for patrol.
The next day there is a sunset lion practice. Doom has been attacking at night, and Keith wants the team to be prepared for night defense.
The Blue Lion pilot chair locks into place and the first thing Allura sees is a small folded piece of pale blue paper perched above the key slot. Like the first note she wonders who put it there and how they managed it. Again, there is no signature and it's computer generated. "I love your gentle smile," is all it says.
From a distance, Keith's voice comes through the intercom. "Insert keys!"
Allura stares at the words while the other lions take to the sky.
Keith appears on the view screen. "Princess? You okay?"
"What?" Allura answers him absently. She spares a brief look at the screen and looks back at the note.
"Lion practice, Princess," Keith snaps. "Everything okay with Blue Lion?"
Allura snaps back to the present and answers him. "I'm fine. I was thinking of something else. Sorry, Commander. It won't happen again." As she speaks, she has inserted the key and is blasting out of the watery depths of the lake. The spine tingling thrill she gets watching the water pour off the lion eyes as it erupts from its den focuses her mind on practice.