There were a million things that she thought about. The Galra, Altea, the Paladins, the fate of the universe. But suddenly all those thoughts went away when she entered the control room.

A small figure sat on the ground. He looked so small against the endless expanse of sky and stars. His dark figure looked close to disappearing among the stars.

"Shiro?" she reached out for him, but retracted her hand. Would he disappear if she touched him?

"Allura!" he turned to her and smiled kindly. He pat the spot next to him, inviting her to sit down. She joined him among the stars.

"What are you doing up so late?" Allura asked.

"I should be asking you the same thing," he offered a joking smile. "I, uh, couldn't sleep so I came to watch the stars."

"I couldn't sleep either," Shiro made a sound like he agreed.

"Thinking about a lot of things?" Allura nodded. "Me too."

The conversation died. Shiro stayed quiet as he looked out from the control room's large windows. Allura watched his face. It was a mysterious thing. Every time she looked at him, his face was filled with many different emotions. Concern, stress, anger, and constant fear even when he smiled. But in that moment his face only had a childlike wonder.

"I don't understand," she spoke without realizing. Shiro turned to her in slight surprise. "The, uh, stars I mean. Why do you like staring at the stars? They're only giant balls of gas," the comment elicited a chuckle from Shiro. Allura felt her ears heat from embarrassment.

"Maybe to you. You grew up connected to other planets. Earth? We didn't have any contact with aliens or other planets."

"I see…" Allura turned from the paladin to look at the stars as well.

"When I was younger, I used to stare up at the stars all the time," Shiro told her. "I wanted to know what was out there. One year, my parents got me a book on stars for my birthday. From that moment I knew that I wanted to live my life out there, out in the stars. I can't even begin to describe how I felt when I first got that wish. I- um… Allura?" Shiro suddenly stopped talking. He looked down at his hand before back at her. Allura looked down and realized that she had her hand on top of his. She racked her brain for an excuse. Without thinking, she stood up, pulling his arm with her.

"Why don't we go on a little adventure?" she smiled.

*.*.*.*

Allura was having an out-of-body experience. She barely knew what was going on anymore. There was no way that she was in her right mind, dragging both of them out of the castle (in their pajamas no less) with no sound destination.

"Allura? Where are we going?" Shiro asked from his lion.

"Hold on, it's a secret," she replied. In all honesty, Blue was in auto-pilot and she was letting it go wherever it wanted. Was this a good idea? Allura had no idea.

Eventually Blue found a quiet little planet to land on. She landed on a grassy field with no light nor civilization for miles. Allura left Blue in time for the Black Lion to land beside Blue. Allura walked over, meeting Shiro as he walked out of his lion.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest," Allura laughed. "I was sort of letting Blue fly herself, but it is quite nice here."

Allura wasn't lying. A cool breeze danced through the field. Hundreds of glowing pollen lifted from the field, illuminating the two paladins. Allura gasped and ran further into the field, dancing with the wind.

"Shiro look! Look!" she twirled. "These are icrasse flowers! They're famous for their glowing pollen!"

"Is that so?" he watched her with a soft look on his face. He couldn't help, but admire the childlike joy on her face.

"Come here!" she called out, laughing in joy. "This many icrasse flowers blooming is a rare occurrence!"

Shiro smiled and joined her deeper in the field, but didn't dance around like her. He held out his hand to catch some of the pollen. Allura joined him at his side, holding a small bouquet in her hands.

"The icrasse flower is known for its longevity, even when it's plucked. Because of this, its pollen is only released every twenty years! Locals believe that couples that bask in the glow of the pollen will stay together forever."

"Couples? You mean like us?" he joked. Allura blushed.

"We're- we're not together! So it doesn't- it doesn't count!"

"Too bad, it wouldn't be so bad having you around forever," he said. "As a co-leader, I mean," he quickly added. He put a hand on his neck out of embarrassment.

"Right," she nodded. She took this moment to look at the sky only to remember her original (secondary) intentions for leaving the castle. "That's right! I brought us out here to look at the stars!" Shiro looked at her with a blank face for a moment before looking up. She giggled when his jaw dropped.

Allura settled herself on the ground, laying on her back to look up at the sky. The glow from the icrasse pollen and the expanse of stars was beautiful. She could see thousands of shining stars from countless galaxies and solar systems. Shiro sat on the ground beside her.

"I admit, Shiro," she started, "I can see why you like the stars so much."

Shiro looked down at her and smiled. For some reason that made her chest tight. A moment later Shiro settled his head in the grass next to her.

"If this was Earth then I could show you some of the constellations. Did you know that the Greeks made stories for the constellations?"

"What are the Greeks?"

"They are people from the country of Greece. Their ancient civilization found shapes in the stars and created storied about them."

"Really? I'd like to hear some," Shiro thought a moment before telling the story of an archer named Orion. He told stories about a chained woman, brave warriors, something called a bear, and many strange creatures.

"Monsters like that really exist on your planet?!" Allura asked, mortified by the thought of a hydra. Shiro laughed.

"No, no, it was a story. Hydra was made up."

"That's a relief. I was worried about the well-being of your planet," she stated. "Earth stories are so strange."

"Well the Greeks were like that. Do you have any stories about the stars?"

"No, Altea didn't have that. But we do have stories of heroes just like your Heracles."

"I'd like to hear it," he smiled at her.

"Well there was this great hero, Kelt," she told the story of how Kelt fell for a princess and went on many trials to be with her. He slayed countless monsters and expanded his kingdom. He married the princess and became king, but then in a twist, she killed him.

"Altean stories are strange," Shiro joked when she finished.

"Not as strange as Earth stories," she nudged him. They argued about whose stories were stranger, laughing at the absurdity both planets' stories had.

The conversation died down, but left the two in a comfortable silence. Allura stared out into the stars. To think this experience was possible because she couldn't sleep that night.

"Hey Allura?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that there will be strange stories about us in the future? Like Voltron, I mean."

"If Lance doesn't stop spreading fake stories, then yes, definitely."

"It's strange to think, the ones in those stories were alive once. They may have been made up entirely or they may have been people that actually lived. I wonder what kinds of stories citizens of different planets will tell about Voltron. Will they know our names? Or will they be different? Or will… will we be forgotten?"

Allura reached out, grabbing his hand. It was warm. He was there. Shiro looked at her.

"I'm sorry. It just seemed like you were going to… going to disappear," she said, tightening her grip as if to reassure herself.

"I'm here."

"Yes, I know."

"Allura, I'm not going to disappear," he said, squeezing her hand back.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

They stopped talking. In that moment, Allura could only think of the beautiful sky and Shiro's warm hand. She fell into a warm, peaceful sleep until Shiro woke her in the morning.

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been super busy with college (and I'm actually avoiding a project right now...) and I miss posting. I've been into Voltron for a while now so I'm happy that I can finally write a fanfic for it. This particular fanfic and the one that follows was heavily inspired by Lauren Aquilina's songs. I suggest checking them out! They're amazing!