A/N:Hello everyone! This is my first official foray into online based publishing. My initial work was going to be another story altogether, but the fantastic authors in the Voltron universe have inspired me so much, that this will be my first one published! A shout out to some of my inspirations: Aryea, Paulina Ann, KathDMD, Mylari, Cpt. Kallan Beyda, AlluraBlue4, Limetwist and of course, CubbieBlueMako. I hope I don't embarrass you with this.

This takes place between DotU and VF. It's my take on explaining how the characters features change a little from one to the other. There is lots of poetic license taken, but there is some science to make this plausible in the future.

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron, just my imagination.


Allura entered her quarters, letting the door slide closed behind her, before slumping against the doorframe. It had been a very long day. Hell, it had been a long week. Keying the lock code to keep out the myriad of attendants who seemed to just come and go these days, she shrugged out of her flight suit and lingerie and put them in the chute to be laundered. Pulling a robe behind her, she went to the bathroom to start up her shower, wishing that the week's events would just slide off of her the way the dirt and sweat did.

Allura snorted a little at the thought. Nanny would no doubt correct her that a princess did not sweat, but merely glowed, and she did not get dirty, just… needed to freshen up a little. She probably didn't swear either, but that had not stopped her from doing so just a few moments ago.

Stepping into the water, Allura let the water flow over her head, slicking it against her scalp. Grabbing the shampoo, she started methodically washing the long tresses carefully, trying to avoid unnecessary tangles. After finishing the task, she allowed herself to relax with the water, letting her mind wander to the reason for her rather foul mood as of late. She sighed. It really was her fault that this had all started to begin with.

Allura's eyes had started to change colour.

As strange as it sounded to outsiders, this was not an unusual occurrence on Arus. The twin suns had an unusual effect on human DNA, making slight changes to the epigenome in adults after a number of years. Fortunately, the changes were often of a benign nature - recessive genes would express themselves and dominant ones fade for a time. These changes would often be minor in nature, such as hair colour and texture, nail thickness, slight variations in skin tone - and the one that was currently affecting her now - eye colour.

In the past few months, Allura had noticed that the blueness in her eyes had started to change slightly, but hadn't thought that much about it. Gene Change, as it was generally called, was common enough and many thought of it as a sign of a person's growing maturity. Most young people welcomed the changes as a sign that they were now fully adult members of society. Allura, for her part, had been happy to use the changes as an excuse to renovate her wardrobe somewhat, and get a more current and adult, sophisticated look.

It shouldn't have been a surprise, but she couldn't help but be a little shocked when she had looked in the mirror yesterday morning and had seen a pair of vivid green eyes staring back at her. She had actually stood there and stared at her reflection for ten minutes before snapping out of it and running to the control room so she wouldn't be late for Lion practice. She had kept her eyes down all through the briefing and the practice had been a washout – she had made so many errors that Keith had to snap at her to pay attention. Instead of staying to face the music afterward, she had slipped out of the after-practice meeting and gone back to her room to evaluate the changes more objectively.

At first glance, she hadn't changed all that much. Her face sort of looked a little thinner, but that would happen as she aged anyway so no real surprise there. Her voice sounded a little deeper to her, but she couldn't really be sure about that. Her hair colour appeared to be a little more golden, but the real change there, was that it went from being quite curly to almost completely straight. That actually made her a little excited, as her hair before was a real pain to get into her flight helmet and it had to be styled daily in order for it not to appear as a flyaway mop. Hair that went in one direction when it was loose would be a nice change.

No, the thing that was the most drastic was the emerald green colour of her eyes, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. They seemed to dominate her face. She had never considered herself vain, but looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. It looked like another person was staring back at her; that she wasn't really herself anymore.

It was in that moment of weakness that Nanny had chosen to make her entrance into her outer room. One look at her face had made Nanny drop her towels and sheets in a pile to run over and enthusiastically hug Allura. She had cried on Allura's shoulder that she had "made the change" and how she looked so grown up and queen-like. Nanny went on for a few more minutes until she realized that Allura was not joining in the discussion and asked her charge what was wrong. Allura had shrugged and pursed her lips in thought. She didn't quite know what to say. It was all so new; how do you tell someone that you don't know who you are when you look in the mirror? That you're not sure that you are the same person as the one who went to bed last night?

"Nanny, do you think I'm…" What... me?... real?… the same? "Pretty?" She finished lamely instead.

Nanny beamed at her. "Ach, yes, my child, you look beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! Why? Are you not splendidly pleased by the results?"

Allura shrugged again and tried to think of an excuse for not being completely thrilled, as Nanny seemed to want her to be. "I guess I'm just thinking of the boys. They're going to tease me terribly over the new look. None of them have changed nearly so much." It was true that the gene change had not overlooked even the members of the Voltron team, but their changes had been much more subtle. Most of them had their eye colour change, but only by subtle variations. The same could be said for their hair as well.

Pidge was the only one whose eyes had changed like hers and his face had thinned down a little, but that effect was subtle. As a result of his Baltan physiology, the man had done some significant growing and filling out in the past few years and that had changed his look much more than any Gene Change could ever do.

Keith had changed even less than the rest. His eyes were still a coal black to match his thick hair. His face and physique had changed subtly; his face had a more chiselled look and his body had become even more lean and defined, if that was possible. He had been working out more, though, so maybe his even more gorgeous face and god-like body were the result of his hard work, she thought dreamily.

Allura brought herself up firmly at the errant thought. Her feelings for the Commander notwithstanding, it was inappropriate to be thinking about him that way with Nanny staring at her that closely. That was not a conversation she wanted to have.

"Those ruffians had better not be saying anything to you that is not appropriate to be saying to the royal ruler of Arus! I will tolerate no disrespect - in this or anything else, related to your person. I will not have your looks or conduct besmirched by that band of low-brow hooligans …"

"Nanny! They are my friends and our planet's saviours, and I won't have them besmirched in my presence either! I'm also a big girl and I think that I can handle a little ribbing by the boys if it helps with morale and team unity. I shouldn't have even brought it up. Please don't involve the boys in this."

Nanny didn't answer but just started fussing with her hair and collar, which in retrospect, should have been her first clue that the subject hadn't really been dropped at all.