Once upon a time…
On a planet far away from Earth called Altea, there lived a young woman named Allura. She grew up and lived on her father's farm in the Altean countryside with her parents. It was just the three of them and the animals. No girl could wish for a more perfect childhood. Her whole life she had been content living on the farm, occasionally going into the kingdom to sell things that her mother made and that their farm produced.
Her parents adored her, and all of the villagers did as well, for Allura was considered the most beautiful among them. She wore a simple light blue dress that framed her figure. She had creamy light chocolate skin and crystal blue eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. Her pink Altean markings would appear to shine whenever she laughed and all of the other women were envious of her long snowy white hair that always looked perfect. It was as if Allura never had a bad hair day!
Although Allura was aware of her beauty she did not care for the attention she got because of it. She was not an air headed girl, filled only with fantasies of finding a husband and having children. Her father educated her in the ways of business, and Allura became a rather smart young lady with hopes of taking over the family business one day and using her new skills to expand her family's market. Her mind would sometimes drift to a daydream where she met a handsome, charming young man who she would fall in love with and marry. She did want to find love and marry at some point but she knew she wanted her life to serve more of a purpose and quite frankly she just hadn't met the right person yet.
That is until one day, when she was 16 her father hired a farm boy from Earth to help with the chores since he was growing old and could not do certain tasks as easily as he used to. Allura and her mother were in the main room when Alfor walked in with a boy who Allura deemed was the most handsome yet strangest man she had ever met. He had dark raven hair in the style of a mullet, his bangs messy on his forehead, leaving gaps so his hair does not cover his eyes which had blue-grey irises. He had pale skin, which surprised Allura considering he was supposed to be a farmhand, she expected him to have more of a tan. He wore a strange red leather jacket, white and red boots, dark jeans with a belt with some pouches on it, as well as fingerless gloves on his hands and a dark grey t-shirt.
He also seemed very shy when he entered the room but as soon as his eyes landed on her his head perked up and his eyes widened. A slight gasp left his lips that went unnoticed by everyone.
"This is Keith." Alfor introduces.
"It's nice to meet both of you." Keith says softly, still a bit shy and unsure of the two women, especially the younger one.
Allura cautiously approached the boy who appeared to be around her age, maybe a bit older and tilted her head in confusion.
"Is something wrong?" Keith asks.
"Your ears…" Allura notices and brushes back his hair a bit so she can look at them, making the boy blush. "They're hideous." She says in disgust. "What's wrong with them?"
"Allura that's not polite." Alfor reprimands. "Keith's not Altean. He's a human from one of Altea's allies, a planet called Earth. I found him in the Altean kingdom. He's one of the migrant workers sent here from Earth as part of a program in the Altean Empire to strengthen our alliance with the planet. I have heard from his previous employer that he's an excellent worker and I'm sure he'll fit in well here. Allura why don't you show him around?"
"Very well." Allura says with a hint of annoyance in her tone. "Follow me Keith, I'll show you to the barn."
"As you wish." Keith replies and follows her.
After the first few weeks, Keith had easily transitioned into his role as a farm boy and was doing fairly well. He completed his chores on time, with no complaints and maximum efficiency. Both of her parents were very impressed. A little too impressed for Allura's liking. Every so often as she would be coming back from her morning ride on her hover bike she would see Keith and her father fixing up one of their other ones together.
"Keith, my boy you are a wizard with machines." Alfor laughs and places his hand on Keith's shoulder and shakes him a bit. "Every day you impress me more and more. You never cease to amaze me."
"Thank you Sir." Keith replies and smiles slightly.
"Please Keith. Just Alfor is fine." Alfor tells him. "I have big plans for you my boy. Perhaps soon you'll do more than just the chores around here."
Allura bristled with anger and jealousy as she watched from outside the entrance to the barn. Was Alfor planning on giving their farm away to Keith!? A man he had just met not a pheob ago! This was unacceptable! She could not believe her father would be so foolish! Her father left out the back, not noticing his daughter. Allura walked inside the barn, making her presence known to the Earthling.
"Farm boy." She addresses Keith and he looks at her, awaiting his orders. "Go and bring my bike into the barn and clean it for me. I want to see my face shining in it tomorrow morning." She demands.
"As you wish." Keith says and smiles at her slightly.
Allura quickly left, not wanting him to see how that small smile had caused her markings to brighten.
Over the next few pheobs this became the normal routine. Allura showed no respect for the farm boy that her father had grown to idolize. If Keith did not show respect for her as the future owner of the farm then she would not show respect for him.
"I mean who does he think he is?" She complains to the mice one quintant after collecting some eggs.
The mice had been her friends since she was a young girl. Since not many children came outside the kingdom, the mice were the only friends she had.
"He thinks he can just walk in, wow my father with his mechanic wizardry and his piloting skills when they go to sell our goods to the Balmera and that my father will just hand over the farm to him!" She scoffs. "I just want to slap him in his cute face."
The mouse on her shoulder squeaks to her and smirks. Allura's eyes widened.
"Wait you think I find Keith attractive?" She asks the mouse and laughs. "Oh please, he's from the slums of Earth. He's probably riddled with disease and-" She stops when she turns to look out over the field and notices Keith working on hacking some grain, shirtless. "Muscles." She adds softly.
She couldn't help but watch how the muscles in his back and arms rippled as he hacked through the wheat. He was very skilled with the blade her father had given him to complete this task. Another one of his many traits her father probably admired. He was sweating, the early afternoon sun beating down on him and lighting up his pale skin. He stopped his work to take a few deep breaths and then drink from his water bottle to refresh himself. Allura let her eyes trail down his muscular torso. She bit her lip when she saw how well defined his abs were, and how sharp his v-line was. Oh he could probably cut the grain using just that! If only he would lower his trousers so slightly…
"Are you enjoying the view Miss Allura?" Keith asks and Allura's face instantly heats up when her eyes quickly dart up to his face and she sees him smirking at her. How dare he….She instantly frowned at him.
"I would enjoy it a lot better, farm boy if you weren't in it." She retorts.
"The way your pupils are dilated and your blush tell differently." Keith replies and runs his hand through his sweaty hair.
"Don't flatter yourself. All Alteans possess incredible strength, much greater than any human. I have seen many men that are much more impressive than you." She argues. "Now get back to work. And put your shirt back on. My father expects the people that work for him to have at least some decency."
"As you wish." Keith says and puts his shirt back on.
Alfor noticed that Allura was not particularly fond of Keith. So he decided to let Allura take Keith with her when they went on market trips. He told her that she needed the experience and Keith could use some fine tuning on his people skills. So Keith flew them to the Balmeran market one day and sure enough her father was right. He was not good with people at all.
"This corn took five whole pheobs to grow!" He exclaimed at a customer. "There's no way six groggeries will cover it! It's worth at least ten!"
"Keith." Allura said as she placed her arm on his bicep. "Calm down. The Balmerans are a friendly people and we're happy to sell our goods to them. But they are not overly wealthy. We have plenty of corn to sell. Six groggeries is a more than acceptable price." Keith sighs and sits back down.
"As you wish." He tells her softly and Allura sells the corn.
"Why do you get so angry at our patrons?" Allura asks him as Keith flies them back to Altea.
"I have some trust issues." Keith says after a few ticks. "My mom left me when I was a baby and then my dad died when I was just a kid. I was in the Foster system for awhile but I kept moving from home to home because no one ever wanted me for long, even when they promised they would never make me move. I've always gotten ripped off. And you and your parents are good people, I don't want that to ever happen to you. So I'm going to do everything I can to prove myself to you guys, and help your farm become the best one on Altea. You're going to be the best boss ever someday." He smiles at her.
Allura stared at him in silence and awe. How could she have been so wrong about this boy? He wasn't trying to steal her father's farm, he was only trying to learn the business so she could have some help when her parents grew too old to run the farm anymore. He wasn't her replacement, he was her aid. Her crystal blue eyes sparkled with tears and she hugged him gently from her seat. Keith took a hand off of the steering wheel and wrapped it around Allura.
"Keith." Allura addresses. "Forgive me for being so cruel to you."
"As you wish." He tells her and she smiled brighter than she ever had before.
Things started to change between them after that trip. Instead of trying to avoid Keith at all costs she ended up helping him with his chores. It was definitely more fun doing work together rather than do it alone. And it was during those long days together on the farm that she started to realize…when Keith said "as you wish" he was really saying "I love you". No matter how cruel she was to him at first he never argued with her. Never frowned, never complained. Always treated her with respect and now even more kindness as their friendship had formed. She started to find him charming, and rather attractive.
One day she asked Keith to take her on a ride on the bike he fixed up with his father so they could see the sunset in the juniberry meadow. As they drove she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back. She felt safe and happy being close to him. And there was something else too. Another feeling that she could not describe. But she knew exactly what it was. When she and Keith arrived in the meadow and sat together, she decided to take a risk and see if her suspicions were true.
"Keith." Allura says and he turns to her. "Kiss me? Please?" She asks and Keith stares at her for a few ticks.
Then he started to lean into her and whispered "As you wish." Before their lips met and Allura felt her heart swell with joy, the love she had been harboring for Keith pouring out of her in waves as she deepened their kiss and Keith eagerly returned her fervor and held her in his arms to keep her steady. It was the most incredible thing Allura had ever experienced. And she was so happy that her suspicion had been correct and that Keith did in fact love her.
Once the truth had been revealed Allura and Keith tried their best to keep their love a secret. They tried to do chores together in the barn where her parents could not see them so they could have a few doboshes alone where they could kiss and whisper sweet nothings to each other. Keith would now accompany Allura on her morning rides. Sometimes together on the same bike, or when Allura was feeling a bit frisky she would request that he take a separate one so she could race him. He beat her every time. It was mildly upsetting to her so he promised he would give her a few driving and piloting lessons sometime so that she could improve. She asked him once where he learned how to be such a skilled pilot. But he turned away from her and stiffened, and Allura sensed the pain that the question must have caused him so she did not bring it up again.
However, there was a question that he brought up that caused them both immense joy.
"Allura will you marry me?" Keith asks taking a knee on the ground before her and presenting her with a bouquet of juniberries.
"Yes!" She exclaims and throws herself at him, causing them both to roll down the hill and land before the wheat field. "Yes! Yes!" She repeats as she peppers his face with kisses. "Oh Keith it would make me the happiest girl in the world to be your wife!"
"I'm so glad! Because I wouldn't be happy with anyone else. You're the only woman for me Allura. So beautiful, kind, smart, talented, funny you're an amazing person. Meeting you was the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"Hey you're forgetting the man who brought you here in the first place." Alfor chuckles and walks down the hill to the couple.
Allura runs up to her father and gives him a tight hug. Her mother came to stand beside her and hugged her too.
"Keith came to me last week and asked me for permission to marry you. There was no way I would have said no. I see how happy and in love you two are. Don't think I haven't noticed you two sneaking around…" Allura's face instantly heated up and the mice squeaked in shock but Alfor simply laughed and placed a kiss to his daughter's cheek.
"Once you two are married your father and I will retire." Allura's mother tells her. "And then you and Keith will take charge of it together. I know you'll do an even better job than your father and I did."
"Oh thank you so much mother! This is the happiest day of my life!" Allura sobs and embraces both of her parents and drags Keith into the hug as well.
Unfortunately that happiness did not last long. Allura's mother fell ill within the next few quintants and despite the Altean's medicine and knowledge, she could not be saved. She died two movements after Keith proposed. They mourned for quite awhile. Her father became depressed. If Allura didn't have Keith with her, she didn't know how she would react. He was her rock, the one thing she could cling to in this sea of despair. At least she had their wedding to look forward to. Or so she thought…
"Why can't we get married?" Allura asks Keith and her father during a discussion they had at dinner.
"I don't have enough money to pay the bridal fees." Keith tells her. "I allowed Alfor to cut my salary back so we could afford to pay for your mother's medicine, and later her funeral. There's hardly any money left for the mortgage much less our marriage."
"So we won't get married?" Allura asks sadly.
"Not yet but I have a plan." Alfor says.
"I'm going to go and work at the Garrison on Earth, where I went to school for awhile before I came here." Keith explains. "They want me to give pilot lessons to their students. And the pay is really good."
"So you're leaving us?" Allura asks, her voice cracking.
"Only until I have enough money to marry you." Keith tells her and squeezes her hands. "Believe me the last thing I want to do is leave you but if it means I can marry you after being gone for a pheob or two, trust me it'll be worth it." He assures her.
They had a very heartbreaking goodbye the next morning. They had spent the night before sleeping in the same bed, just holding onto each other, savoring every last moment. As Keith stood at the entrance to the barn with his bags Allura kissed him passionately, wanting to memorize how his lips felt against hers, knowing she wouldn't get to for awhile and she didn't want to forget how they felt against hers. But eventually they had to part.
"Promise me you'll come back soon." Allura requests, as he presses his forehead against hers.
"As you wish." Keith tells her before leaving down the path to head to the kingdom where he would take a ship back to Earth.
Within a movement after Keith left, Alfor fell ill. But it was worse this time because they could not afford the treatment to save him, having poured everything into saving her mother.
"Father please don't leave me." Allura begged. "I can't be alone. I won't know what to do without you. I don't think I'm strong enough to run our farm by myself."
"My dear daughter." He groaned and held her cheek. "You are much stronger than you know. You can do it. I know you can. Besides, Keith needs you."
"And I need him." Allura says. "I would not be able to go on without him."
"Then when I am gone I will watch over you and make sure you two will be together." Alfor promises before his eyes close and he releases his last breath.
Allura collapsed into tears as the mice consoled her. She buried him the next day beside her mother. As she walked back to the house she worried about Keith. He should have arrived at Earth by now, why hadn't she heard from him? When she arrived back at the house and found she had received an official message from the kingdom she let out a cry of anguish and again collapsed on the ground in tears as her worst fears came true. Keith never made it to Earth. His ship was ambushed by some sort of rebel group or band of pirates. They didn't know for sure, because they left none alive. But one report managed to come from the ship before it was destroyed. The attackers had luxite blades. But it was impossible to track that metal because it was so rare. So Allura was truly left with nothing. She had lost her parents, but at least she knew why they died. But Keith…she would never know what happened to him. She knew he was dead. But she would have at least liked to know how he died so that she could have something to blame. Something to seek revenge against for taking her love away from her. But she couldn't even have that.
"I will never love again." She tells the mice and they all hang their heads low in sadness and grief.
A pheob later the residents of the kingdom gathered before the castle to hear Prince Lotor's announcement. He made quite a fuss over gathering every Altean on the planet who was able to come and witness this. So it had to be important. Once everyone had gathered in the courtyard Prince Lotor walked out of the castle and everyone was silenced so they could hear the Prince.
"My fellow Alteans I have gathered you all here for a very happy and important announcement." He says happily. "As you know, my father King Zarkon, despite not being from this lovely planet, loves it dearly, as does my mother Queen Honerva. Together the two of them united the Galra Empire and the Altean Kingdom into the most successful Empire in the Galaxy!" He exclaims and everyone cheers. "But a kingdom is only as strong as it's ruler. And since we have such a large Empire, I am going to need some help if I am to take on the responsibility of ruling both the Galra Empire and the Altean Kingdom together as allies. So naturally, that means I will be taking a wife."
Murmurs of excitement spread through the crowd and Lotor silenced them politely.
"Yes I know it is very exciting. The woman who I am to wed was once a commoner like yourselves. But I don't think you will find her quite so common anymore." Lotor says and steps aside as the castle doors open again. "I present to you my fiancé, Princess Allura."
Everyone cheered and bowed as Allura, wearing her new royal gown and circlet walks out to stand beside Lotor. However, she was not smiling. Her heart was breaking. It's not that she didn't like Lotor. He was very kind to her and did everything he could to make her comfortable and happy. And he was rather handsome. But nevertheless she did not love him. Keith was the only man she would ever love. But she knew she would never see him again. And she could not bear to be on the farm without him or her parents. So she agreed to marry Lotor when he came and proposed to her as a means to escape and try to find some new happiness as a ruler of her Kingdom. She was more in it for the politics and the chance to help her people than the power, wealth and the title. She didn't care for any of those things. But despite her best efforts to move on. She just couldn't seem to get rid of her grief over Keith and her parents. She soon started to believe that she would never know happiness again. Sometimes she dreamed she was back in the juniberry meadow in Keith's arms again. That was the highlight of her life, nothing would ever compare to it.
The only joy she found now was in riding on her bike through the Altean wilderness. A few quintants after her engagement to Lotor she was out riding when she noticed some people who appeared to be lost in the woods. She slowed her bike and stopped next to them.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" She asks.
The smallest one amongst them, wearing a green and white sweatshirt, with long grey shorts and orange boots. They had short brown hair that looked messy. She looked at their ears and saw that they resembled Keith's. She felt her heart clench at the thought of him but the knowledge helped her classify that this person was human. They pushed up their glasses and smiled at Allura.
"Greetings Miss. My friends and I are travelers from Earth who have lost our way." They said. "Can you give us directions to the nearest village?"
Their voice sounded like it could be a girl's but Allura wasn't too sure what gender this person was. Their two companions appeared to be male. One was a bit taller than the one who greeted her and had short darker brown hair, and a darker skin tone, similar to hers. He wore a brown jacket with a white hood, a blue t-shirt and blue jeans. The other one was huge. He appeared to be human but he was definitely some sort of hybrid. Perhaps a balmeran/human mix? They seemed harmless enough.
"Of course. The capital of the Altean kingdom is a few miles back that way. You should reach it in two vargas. But aside from that there's not much around here." Allura explains.
"Good." The small one says with a more sinister tone in their voice and Allura's heart dropped into her stomach as the tallest one approached her. "Then there'll be no one to hear you scream."
Allura was about to scream for help but she was silenced by the large human pinching the side of her neck, cutting of just enough oxygen that she passed out.