Restoration and Redemption
Allura's heart was extremely heavy with the weight of what she knew she had to do. Haggar's….no, Honerva's grief-stricken actions had all but obliterated the multiverse. With the help of her friends and the combined power of Voltron and the Atlas, which had merged into a….Mega-Voltron?..., they were able to stop Honerva from continuing on her destructive path and keep her from obliterating the last strand of reality. With her compassion and understanding, Allura was able to reach the kind heart within Honerva, which earlier she would have believed had been completely obliterated when the Altean researcher had been infected by the Quintessence, and turned her back towards the light.
However, as Honerva had pointed out herself, the damage had been done. The last strand of existence, and whatever handful of realities it supported, was all that was left. Allura may have been an optimist, but even she doubted that it could remain stable without the other strands to maintain balance, and if it collapsed then the last of existence would go with it. There was but one chance: She had to use what Prince Lotor had taught her to convert the Quintessence powering Honerva's vessel, changing it from a destructive force into a life-giving one. If they unleashed it here, at the core of all that is, then that massive positive force might be enough of a jumpstart to regenerate the destroyed strands and restore all of the lost realities. However, even with Honerva's help it would take everything she had, and the two of them would have to maintain the process clear through to its conclusion. She knew that anything that remained here at the end of it would be obliterated (or, more appropriately, reduced to their most basic components) and the window of time between the unleashing of the processed Quintessence and the restoration of the multiverse (at the cost of everything here) was so small that escape was impossible: she wouldn't even have time to blink. In other words, this was Allura's final mission as a Paladin of Voltron.
Still, part of her was glad that her friends wouldn't be able to do anything to help. It of course broke her heart to think of how she would not be able to see any of them ever again (at least in this life) but it helped her to know that they would go on to guide the universe (the one they came from, anyway) into a new era of peace, and she couldn't imagine it in better hands. Hunk, the gentle giant, curious and fearless Pidge, stalwart Shiro, and noble Keith, who had proven to be much more than his mixed Human-Galra heritage. She was going to miss them all, but she knew before she looked in his eyes and walked his way the hardest goodbye was coming up. That knowledge didn't make it hurt any less as she took his hands in hers and Lance opened his mouth to speak.
"No," Lance said in a low, broken voice, "Allura, there- -there has to be another way."
As much as she wished that Lance was right, Allura knew the truth as she told him, "There is no other way. This is all we have."
"But you're too important to the cause. You're-" Lance countered, a sob briefly interrupting him before he continued with tears streaming down his face, "You're too important to me."
This declaration started her own tears flowing. This feeling made the crush she felt towards Prince Lotor pale in comparison, and she wished that she could stay like this with Lance forever. However, even if time didn't flow here the same way it does in any of the other realities, she knew her time here was up. If she didn't move now she would lose the strength and courage she needed to do what had to be done. "I will always be with you, Lance," Allura declared as she met his gaze again, "And I will always love you." Then there was no more words as she reached for his face and brought it close to hers. As their lips met she felt her body temp shoot up several degrees even though she hadn't shifted from this form that she had worn for the last several decaphoebs. She also felt her pulse accelerate several times its normal rate, all while she felt her heart shatter, heal itself, then shatter again, growing in size as it did so. No, it was no longer HER heart: this heart now belonged to them both, and she knew that just as she would always be with him, so too would he remain with her for what remains of her life. She didn't know how long she had remained like that, but she saw the proof of their emotional union when she broke off the kiss and saw the Altean marks appear under his eyes, marking his as no longer being a mere human (though in her heart he had been more far earlier than this.)
Allura only paused a moment more, mainly to burn this sight of her beloved into her heart forever, before she turned towards where Honerva was waiting. As she did so, Allura saw appear behind her the Paladins of old: Zarkon (as he was before his corruption by the Quintessence), her father Alfor, Trigel, Blaytz, and Gyrgan. Feeling the pride in her father's gaze, Allura felt the fear of what's to come fall from her shoulders as she thought to herself, It's time. She then walked with Honerva towards the group waiting for them, and though she didn't look at her Allura felt Honerva give a real and honest smile as she walked towards her once and forever husband. Allura herself felt like a small child again as she stared up into the eyes of her father beaming down upon her, then she turned and gave her friends one last smile before turning back and joining Honerva and the others in the light.
Once she broke through to the other side Allura couldn't see her father or the other previous Paladins anymore, though she could feel that they were still with her giving her strength. For that matter she couldn't sense Lance or the rest of her friends on the other side, likely having been returned to their lions (at least she hoped so.) Before her was a spherical vortex of dark energy, the manifestation on this plane of the Quintessence contained within Honerva's ship.
"You know you don't have to do this. You could go back with your friends," Allura heard Honerva say beside her. For a moment the suspicion that the old Honerva or even Haggar was reasserting itself within the woman had crossed Allura's mind, and she feared that Honerva was planning to use this to again try to create her "perfect" reality. When Allura turned to look at her, however, all she saw in Honerva's was pain: the pain of her loss, the pain of having come back to herself too late to be a proper mother to Lotor, and the pain of all those lives she ruined and destroyed in her futile pursuit of her selfish desires, and underlying all that a grim desire to do whatever it takes to make things right, even if it costs her life. Honerva gave Allura a sad smile as she continued, "This situation is my fault, it's my cross to bear, my penance to pay. I don't mind dying here, but you don't have to die too."
Hearing the kindness and compassion in Honerva's words, Allura had no trouble imagining how she had managed to win Zarkon's heart and hand in marriage. Allura returned her smile with a warm one as she replied, "No. Even if I was able to tell you how to perform the conversion yourself, and even if you had the strength to do so, this responsibility isn't yours alone. If I had been able to reach Prince Lotor earlier, if I had heard him out at the rift, then this situation might not have come about in the first place. This is my fault as much as anyone else's."
"You mustn't blame yourself, child," Honerva countered, "My son's twisted destiny was set in motion eons before the humans woke you from your slumber, set in place by the monster my husband had become and the shell that wore my face. There's nothing you could have done."
"I'm still staying," Allura declared, "For my friends, for our people. For all the realities that were wiped out yet might come back, and for those realities still here that are counting on us to save them: I'm doing this."
Honerva then nodded her acceptance, and Allura explained to her what she learned from Lotor, then they took up places on opposite sides of the vortex of dark energy. They extended their hands out towards it then, after Allura looked and saw Honerva nod that she was ready and Allura did the same, they projected their energies out towards the mass of Quintessence. Almost immediately Allura was struck with an incredible amount of pain, more than she ever felt during her interrogation sessions back when she was captured by the Galra, more than she thought any sentient being was capable of enduring. Having before taken herself to the brink back when she used her own energies to restore those of the Balmera, Allura thought that she had been prepared for the challenges this would pose, but now it was looking like she had been foolishly optimistic to think that she could do this even with Honerva's help.
It might have been the pain making her delirious, but Allura could have sworn that she heard a voice within the Quintessence agree with her that what she was doing was folly. The dark, disturbing yet rather seductive voice told her that rather than changing the Quintessence she should instead use it as it was. It said that if she drew the power into herself that she would live forever, that she would have the power to save her friends and her universe all by herself. She would be a hero and everyone would worship her as a goddess for all time. For a maddening moment she felt that she could actually see it: the universe at peace, the grateful masses cheering, herself and Lance relaxing in a resplendent room as their many children played rambunctiously at their feet. The image was so beautiful that, for a moment, she was sorely tempted. Then she remembered Honerva and Zarkon: how they were when her father introduced them to each other, how they fell in love and got married. Then she recalled how exposure to the Quintessence changed Zarkon from being Alfor's closest and most trusted friend to the one who would murder him and countless other innocents across the universe. Even worse Honerva's exposure caused her to lose herself and any chance she had of being with her child. This steeled Allura's resolve and she redoubled her efforts into the energy pouring out of her, and she was certain she heard frustrated howl before the voices were silenced.
For a moment she saw no change, and it appeared that they were accomplishing nothing but pouring their lives away. Then a spot of light appeared at the core of the darkness which spiraled out and slowly began to overtake it. Yes, it's working! Allura thought to herself as joyful tears began to stream down her face. So great was her concentration on her task, so enraptured was she at the beauty of their results, that Allura found herself surprised and startled when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and an unfamiliar male voice said, "Excellent job, Your Highness. We can take it from here, thanks." Before she could look to see who was talking to think to shrug the hand off, Allura felt the hand tighten on her shoulder as she was lifted off her feet and she was hurled powerfully from where she was standing. Landing hard on the ground far behind her (or rather what stood for it in this place) Allura bumped and tumbled along it for a bit before rolling to a stop. Though her arms and legs were shaky and unsteady beneath her, Allura quickly got back to her feet and looked back towards where Honerva and the Quintessence was. There she saw an unfamiliar man (human, at least in appearance) standing where she herself had been just moments ago, energy pouring out of him just as it had been out of her into the Quintessence, which itself seemed to be continuing the conversion proccess that she'd started. She didn't know who this guy was or why he was doing this but she had to get back there, she needed to finish what she started.
Before she could take a single step in their direction, however, Allura felt a restraining hand land on her shoulder that was just as powerful as the first, a similar voice assuring her, "It's alright, Your Highness. We know what we're doing. You did the hard part of initiating the proccess, but we're more than capable of keeping it going without you." Allura then turned to look at the one holding her back. This guy was wholly unfamiliar, but he was unmistakably human: from the small wrinkles at the corners of his deep-blue sad eyes to his close-cropped and tousled brown hair, even the small scar on the left side of his chin only seemed to add to his handsome visage as he gave her a half-smile. As her brain caught up with the sudden and unexpected change of events Allura realized that this stranger wasn't merely similar to the one who forcibly took her place before the Quintessence: they looked and sounded exactly the same! Shaking the fuzziness out of her head, Allura steadied her voice as much as she could as she said, "I don't understand. Just what….who are you?"
"Our name-" the stranger began to say before correcting himself, "My name is Julian Hynes, from the kingdom of Wistermere, as is his."
"But just what are you?" Allura asked in confusion, "Androids? Clones?"
"No, I assure you that we're just as human as the friends you left behind, who had made it back to their home just fine," Julian #2 told her in a soft tone.
"Are you twins then or something?" Allura asked him.
"No, we're the same person actually," Julian clarified for her, "though, to be more accurate, we're in fact time-remnants of the same person."
" 'Time-remnants'?" Allura repeated, unfamiliar with the term.
"Time-remnants are a byproduct created as a result of our numerous trips though time and space," Julian explained, "Basically we're the same person as we were at different points of our lives, though we're separated in such a way that what happens to one of us doesn't affect the others in any manner."
"But how did you get here?" Allura asked.
"We often take these streams, as well as the void in-between them, in our travels," Julian told her, "The two of us were drawn here by the crisis facing the multiverse, though we were relieved to find that you had the situation well in hand by the time we arrived. If anything permanently bad had happened to Elsa and Anna because I wasn't there to save them I would never have forgiven myself."
"But…" Allura started to ask, but she was cut off by a sudden brightness. Looking over she saw that the Quintessence was nearly all light now, only a few spots of darkness remaining within it.
"Sorry, Your Highness, but there's no time," Julian told her abruptly, "I'm more than happy to answer whatever questions you have left, but we'll have to do so aboard my vessel on our way to get you home."
"But I can't go!" Allura insisted as she attempted to break free of his gentle yet firm and immovable grip, "I can't leave Honerva! I have to…!"
"Go, Princess Allura," Allura heard Honerva tell her, and she looked to see her smiling as she said, "Our people need you now more than ever."
"Exactly," the Julian who took her place in the processing of the Quintessence agreed, "This is easier, and quite frankly more boring, than sailing a world-line stream during a category 9 time-space distortion event. We've got this in the bag, so don't you worry and get out of here already."
"But….but…!" Allura tried to argue, but she found her words eluding her.
"Please, Allura," Honerva pleaded with her, giving Allura the biggest and most warming smile she'd ever seen on her face, "Go, live. For my son and myself."
This last entreaty, made without the slightest bit of resentment and more than a little fondness, destroyed the remainder of Allura's resistance. Nodding her acceptance, Allura shed some final tears for her fellow Altean and stopped fighting against Julian as he opened some sort of portal and pulled her through it.
Well, they're finally on their way, and I'm alone again just as I anticipated I would be at the start of this, Honerva thought to herself as she watched the human newcomer Julian pull Princess Allura though the portal he apparently opened up just before it closed behind them, then she mentally corrected herself as she recalled that Julian's double was standing across from her on the other side of the Quintessence they were changing together. Though he was unmistakably human, the way he smiled at her reminded her of Zarkon and the day they first met all those eons ago. For a moment she imagined that it was actually her husband standing across from her, telling her just how proud he was of her. It was almost enough for her to wish that her family could be here with her in her final moments. Almost.
Still there was something in Julian's eyes that she thought she recognized, and Honerva found herself unable to stifle her curiosity as she said, "Um, Julian, was it? It wasn't just my near-total obliteration of the multiverse that brought you here, or that prompted you to take Allura's place in its restoration, was it? There's something bad in your past that you feel responsible for, isn't there? Something you're trying to atone for."
Julian looked surprised at her observation, then he chuckled as he said, "Very astute of you. Yes, the truth of the matter is that I wasn't always as proficient with my abilities as I am now. Once, long ago, I was young and arrogant enough that I felt I understood my powers enough that I could use them however I wished. My dear little brother paid for my arrogance with his life."
"I'm sorry," Honerva apologized, truly sorry that she unearthed such a painful topic.
Julian, however, smiled kindly as he waived her off, saying, "You're right, of course. Much of what I do is motivated by that loss and a desire to keep others from feeling the pain and sadness that I caused my parents and kingdom to feel, that I live with everyday. Of course I have a personal reason for coming here as well, beyond my guilt that will never go away."
"This Elsa and Anna you mentioned," Honerva nodded in understanding.
"Elsa and Anna are sisters, and they're as dear to each other as my brother was to me," Julian explained, "Elsa, well, she is….important to me. To all of us, really, as my others and I share the same heart even though our minds and destinies are our own. I've never really told her, of course, as my ongoing quest keeps me from being with her. However, if I can keep her from feeling the same pain I felt, if I can help her keep her sister safe, that would be enough for me. That's mainly what brought me here: I was afraid that the reality they were in was going to be destroyed, and I had to get here to stop or reverse that at any cost."
"I can understand that," Honerva told him as the Quintessence grew even brighter, thinking of her own lost family.
"You know, what I did for Allura I could do for you as well. It would be a simple matter to summon another of my time-remnants to fill in for you," Julian told her, then as she started to protest he spoke over her and said, "I know that you're going to say that there's nowhere for you to go, but there is that reality where your husband and son are still alive. As that reality is restored I can make sure that nobody there remembers your first visit, give you a second chance to have your family again."
If Honerva was honest with herself, the prospect was more than a little tempting, but then as she opened her mouth she said, "Thank you, but no."
"You sure?" Julian asked her, quirking his eyebrow in curious surprise.
"I am, thanks. My own husband and son are waiting for me, and I don't want to keep them waiting," Honerva told him with a smile, "But if you could do me a favor and perform that memory modification you mentioned anyway? I don't want that Zarkon or Lotor's memories of their wife and mother to be tainted by what I had done."
Julian smiled in understanding as he said, "As you wish."
"Thank you," Honerva told him gratefully as a tear traced down her cheek, then the radiance of the converted Quintessence expanded to fill her field of view and she saw no more.
"That's just so incredibly sad," Allura remarked as she wiped a tear away, "and you have been alone ever since?"
"Pretty much," Julian confessed, "Much of my time has been spent out here, trying to find which of these countless realities is the one where my lost home can be found."
"And you never found it?" Allura asked him, even though she was pretty sure that she already knew the answer.
"Not yet," Julian answered her, "I've searched a good number of these realities, with a few of them featuring places that are similar to my home, but none of them ended up being the my childhood home."
"And now you might not ever find it," Allura said morosely as she looked around at the void around the strand their ship (unusual design, was it a boat?) was traveling through, recalling how it was previously crisscrossed by other streams much like it.
"Of course I haven't given up," Julian told her, "It might be a bit more challenging if the worldlines regenerate in a different pattern than they were arranged previously, but I have no doubt that Honerva and my other will succeed."
Almost as if in cue there was an explosion of light back where they had come from, and the barren skyscape was alight with the numerous reality streams crossing it once more. After glancing around for a second (probably to confirm that everything was back to how it was) Julian turned towards to the core and gave a respectful bow as he said, "Thank you."
Realizing what that flash of light likely was, Allura found a tear involuntarily leaking from the corner of her eye, her thumb rubbing over the smooth surface of the strange translucent stone Julian had handed her upon boarding his vessel, as she softly said, "Honerva…" Feeling a hand gently rest on her shoulder, Allura looked up at Julian as he gave her a sympathetic smile and said, "She's with her family now, finally at peace."
"I hope so," Allura said wishfully as she tried to imagine Honerva being reuinited with Zarkon and Lotor, a happy family at last. As she did Allura noticed a faint gleam out of the corner of her eye. Looking down she saw that the stone in her hand, which was merely a translucent green before, now had a speck of light shining at its core. Confused, she partially covered it with her other hand. However, the light was still showing there, which meant that that it wasn't merely a refraction. "Julian? Do you see…?" Allura started to ask, but she stopped when she realized he wasn't standing there anymore. The ship wasn't that large and was extremely open, much like the ocean-traveling vessels of old, so she quickly located him standing near the bow scanning the skies in earnest. After a moment he fixated on a spot in the skies off to the left and Julian let out a breath he probably hadn't realized he had been holding, the tension leaving his shoulders.
"Found your home?" Allura asked Julian as she approached him. Julian looked over his shoulder and gave her a small smile as he replied, "Wouldn't that be something? Sorry, but no."
"Elsa and Anna then, perhaps?" Allura added. The surprised look in Julian's eyes told her that she was on the right track. "You mentioned them back at the core, I take it that they're important to you."
"Indeed they are," Julian confirmed, "Anna is just as rambunctious and fiery as my own brother was, and just as fierce: she's wickedly dangerous with a frying pan in her hands. As for Elsa, well…"
When Julian trailed off and didn't look as though he would be continuing, Allura offered, "You love her, don't you?"
Julian looked extremely uncomfortable as he rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I'm not sure that I would go quite that far, but she is important to me. I've helped a number of people since I was taught how to control my abilities, received more than a few offers to stay from them, but I hadn't felt tempted to take them up on it with the exception of when I helped Elsa and her family."
"But you didn't?" Allura asked him. Julian shook his head as he answered, "I couldn't: Finding my way back home, making things right there, it's far too important for me to just drop it on a whim."
"You didn't even tell her how you feel, at least?' Allura asked him, thinking of her feelings for Lance and wondering how it would be possible for someone to keep those feelings inside and to themselves. "I wouldn't do that to her," Julian said with another shake of his head, "there was no telling how long my quest would take, and once I find it I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, if ever. To open up to her like that then leave possibly for forever, that would be beyond cruel, and she'd experienced enough pain as it is."
"But….I don't understand…" Allura started to say, but Julian raised his finger to stop her as he stated, "Sorry to stop you there, but we're here."
"Huh?" Allura said in confusion, then she followed his gaze to her hand still clutching tightly around the stone he handed her, which was now glowing much more brightly than ever before. "This stone?" Allura asked for clarification.
"This is but one of a number of such stones I found on my journey, and I discovered that they have some rather unusual properties," Julian explained, "For instance, the closer you are to the one to the one who occupies a special place in your heart the brighter the stone glows. With the eternal sea being in the shape it was I figured that it would be rather difficult to determine exactly where I needed to bring you back to, so I had you hold that stone to serve as a divining rod of sorts to find the place. Even now, with the multiverse having been brought back the way it was, the turbulence from its restoration is making it beyond difficult for me to determine where or even when we are."
"Excuse me, but 'when'!?" Allura asked in startlement.
"Here it's possible to not only travel to other realities, but also to different points of that reality's history," Julian explained, "We might be at the point where you left your universe, or 13 years before, or even 178 years after. If I could read the worldline I might have been able to pinpoint the entry point more precisely, but with this much interference all I can say for certain is that the one you care most about is here."
Allura numbly went over to the railing going around the side and sat down on it, deflated. The thing that had kept her going after leaving Honerva to finish restoring the multverse with the other Julian was the thought that she would be rejoining Lance and the others, but now even if this stone worked the way Julian said it would for all she knew she could be showing up when he's on his deathbed, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, having moved on from mourning her "death" years ago. To rejoin the world only to lose him all over again: Allura would have rather went out saving the multiverse with Honerva.
Allura felt Julian's hand rest gently on top of her head as he said assuringly, "Everything is going to be alright, you'll see. You just have to have faith that you are where you need to be." in that moment, Allura felt like everything would be fine.
And then Julian gave her a hard shove.
It was so sudden that Allura was caught off-guard and didn't have time to fight back against him, to cry out in shock or protest. Before she could process what happened she found herself stiffly toppling backwards over the railing she had been sitting on and falling into the void beneath the ship. As she tumbled end over end, Allura got a better look at Julian's ship. It did indeed look like one that would be used on the water, much like the one Lance said that he wanted to take her out on when they got back to Earth after defeating the Galra Empire. This one looked much older, however, as there was no engine that she could see on this one: not one to move it through space nor through the water, so she did not know how Julian was making it move as even the sails were rolled up (not that there was any wind in this place to fill them.) What's more is that the metal covering its exterior didn't seem to be a part of the original design, but by the same token she couldn't tell how they were attached. She saw no bolts, no welds, nor any seams created by micro-fusion, it was one enigma after another. Before she could ponder it any further, however, she tumbled through a portal that appeared before her, catching one last glimpse of Julian's ship before the portal close behind her.
Planet Altea, Allura Memorial Garden
Lance took a deep breath of the night air, feeling it invigorate and soothe him. It seemed as though the air was so much fresher here than it was back on Earth, as if either they had never known pollution here or they simply were better at cleaning up the mistakes of their past than his people were on Earth. Then again, this planet had only been "here" a mere handful of years (at least as for as he and the other remaining Paladins could tell), ever since Alllura sacrificed herself to save al that is, so that might have something to do with it.
My people, Lance thought to himself as he fingered the marks under his eyes that Allura had left him with, I've often wondered if I'm Altean now, still human, perhaps both? I've considered having that checked out before, but that felt like I was being an ungrateful child, picking apart a generous gift from a loved one to see how it worked, to determine if it was worthy of me rather than if I was worthy of it. Of course I haven't been ill since then, and choosing to stay in this environment pretty much full time has probably been a huge part of that, but that won't likely remain so forever so I'll likely need to have that checked out sooner whether I want to or not. Lance sighed and shrugged, mentally preparing himself to accept that whatever happens does so for a reason, that was a lesson Allura had left him with along with these marks.
Allowing himself a smile, Lance walked forward the remaining distance and laid Allura's favorite flower at the feet of her statue as he said, "Hi, it's me again." Lance paused for a moment before chuckling and saying, "Yeah, I know it can be annoying, choosing to meet you here every time, but it's so beautiful here so can you blame me?" After another moment's pause Lance holds up his hands in surrender as he relents, "Okay, okay. Next time we'll go somewhere else, I promise. Maybe we can finally take that boat ride together." After listening for a moment more Lance agreed, "Yeah, I think I would like that too."
Cocking his head to the side, Lance said, "What's new? Oh plenty! First off, Shiro and Curtis apparently decided to spend their second honeymoon here installing the Coalition's latest project: the long-range personnel transporter. I know, I know. The guy retires from the military but he just can't stop working. At least he's not fighting anymore, he's more than earned a break from that. And can you believe that soon we won't need ships to traverse the galaxy? It's mind-blowing! Oh, we'll still need them, however, for when it comes to exploring strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, but at least amongst our own allied worlds going from one to another would be as simple as taking a walk."
"Hunk's business is really picking up," Lance continued, "It seems as though he and Shay are always being called into diplomatic meetings as caterers. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I honestly feel that Hunk's unique cooking talents has done more for promoting peace throughout the universe than any that we've managed as Paladins of Voltron."
"Pidge and her folks are doing well in the training of the next generation of Legendary Defenders," Lance continued, "They're here right now on training exercises. Pidge even has herself a girlfriend now. It's not really serious between them right now, mainly just hanging out and doing things together when they're not busy with school and training, but that's to be expected at their age. I often find it rather easy to forget just how young Pidge really is, what with everything we've been through and that she's accomplished."
"That's not the biggest news by half, though," Lance announced, warmth spreading thought his chest, "Keith and Acxa are getting married and he asked me to be his best man! Can you believe it? Our own Lone Wolf has been tamed and is settling down. And him asking me to be Best Man? I never would have seen that coming for a million years! I mean he and I started off like oil and water and remained like that for a good long while. I would have expected him to ask Shiro, but apparently he will be giving the bride away (as her parents are long gone, apparently.) Gotta say, though, it felt pretty good for him to ask me. And then he's gotta throw a wet blanket on the whole thing by asking me if I have started going out again yet. I gotta say that the wolf imagery is rather appropriate for him as he refuses to let that bone go, and as time goes on he just asks me more and more often, though thankfully he didn't ask me at all that first year. I think that he just really missed you...we all did. Anyway I didn't want to put a further damper on the mood around his announcement by telling him off, so instead I thought to get him off my case by telling him about how a young mother of one of my students had asked me out." Lance sighed then and shook his head as he said, "I couldn't go and mislead him, however, not after he went and asked me to be his Best Man. So I immediately informed him that I had turned the lady down as gently as I could."
"Oh, Lance," he heard Allura say to him remorsefully, "I'm so sorry!"
"It's perfectly all right," he assured her, "I mean she seemed a bit disappointed, but it seemed that she understood. I mean I saw her sitting in on a few of my lessons, so I'm sure that she knew about the way I felt about you, the way I still do and probably always will. Not that there was likely too many people in the universe that didn't know about us by this point. Still, between helping my family on their farm and teaching others I haven't had much time for socializing. Also I find teaching more fulfilling than I could have imagined, with the way those little faces light up as they soak up what I have to tell them, so I really don't feel as though I'm missing anything. Well, maybe a degree to make it official, as I'm currently only an honorary instructor: maybe I should look into that….sometime…"
Lance trailed off as his brain caught up with his senses and realization broke through his reverie. He had often heard Allura talk to him during these conversations, it was a large part of why he liked to have them as it soothed him, but something was quite different this time. In each of the past instances the voice he heard respond to him was definitely in his head, likely drawn from his memories, but this last time he was sure he heard her speaking from somewhere behind him. Lance slowly turned on the spot, then his heart faltered as he gasped in surprise: there, standing at the edge of the garden, was Allura herself. She appeared a bit bewildered, somewhat disheveled with leaves and twigs in her hair, but otherwise she looked exactly as he remembered her the day she said goodbye before she went with Honerva to sacrifice herself to save all of creation. He half thought that this was some lying dream, that he would soon wake to find that none of this was real, and yet it continued as Allura's gaze drifted back and forth between himself and her own statue behind him. Maybe I should have had tonight's conversation somewhere else, Lance bemusedly thought to himself, thinking of how uncomfortable he might have felt coming across a huge memorial statue of himself while he was still alive. He racked his brains for something to say, but even though his mouth worked fine his words failed him. Finally Allura, shifting her weight from one foot to another and fiddling around with something glowing brightly in her hand, cleared her throat uncomfortably and said in a halting voice, "So, um, can we talk?"