Prompt: New Beginings

Category: Angst-y

Timeline: Immediately after season 8 (note that this was written before s8 was released)

Summary: The war is over, now what?

Other: I made so Allura doesn't know what a kiss is because I wanted to so deal with it.

"Aren't you going to help Coran load their ship?" Lance asked, as he past the Black Paladin with a box of earth gadgets.

Keith let out a sigh of reluctance and pushed away from the doorway he had been standing in. This didn't feel right. Nothing about it felt right. After everything they've been through. Saving the universe, saving earth. How could they just up and leave? There was no reason for them to abandon the paladins now.

As Keith helped Hunk load a crate of earth finest foods, he mentally scolded himself. Of course Allura and Coran should go with Romielle to rebuild the new Altea. It was Allura's duty as princess, er queen. And there was no role for her on earth, well Keith could think of one. She had often told him since they'd returned that she felt out of place on earth. As much as Keith wanted her to stay, he knew she had to go. She'd never be happy here. Earth wasn't where she was meant to be.

At the same time, Keith wanted to plead that she would stay on earth. Stay with her friends. Stay with him. But he knew he couldn't, which infuriated him. Unbeknownst to his fellow paladins, Acxa had approached him a few days before with the offer to help him take over the crumbled remains of the Galra Empire. Her argument had been that Keith was a good leader of Voltron and would lead the Galra into a new age of peace. He had declined her offer. Not because he didn't think he could do it, look at everything he's done since Shiro crash landed on earth, but because he didn't want to leave the only family he had. His new begining looked bright up until Allura announced her plan for the new Altea.

It wasn't until then that Keith realised he didn't want to leave Allura. He felt a bond between them, something he wanted to keep as long as possible. He could live with only seeing Lance, Pidge, and Hunk every now and then. Shiro would be harder to part with but still the thought of being away from Allura, again, cut even more. He had no clue why he felt this way. He didn't know what the feeling was or even when it started. But it was there. And Keith couldn't imagine a new begining without Allura.

Allura watched as Coran directed the incoming cargo to various parts of the ship. She had a few personal boxes loaded into the blue lion but the bulk of it would be with Coran and Romielle in the earth ship. The atmosphere of the hanger was a combination of excitement, disappointment, and sadness. Yes, much sadness. The vibe matched Allura's mood perfectly.

She knew she was doing what was best, leaving to lead a new colony of Alteans into a new age. But it was hard for her to say goodbye. Of course, she'd be back from time to time for a quick visit but she'd spent the past two years of her life with these people. She'd ate with them, trained with them, woke up to them arguing, cried with them, confided with them, rejoiced with them, gained victory with them, saved the universe with them. Everything she'd done since she woke up had been influenced by them. She honestly wasn't sure how she would get along without them.

But Allura had to be optimistic. This was a new begining for her, a fresh start. She is getting the chance to follow in her father's footsteps. Try as she might, the Altean still couldn't get herself to fully accept that this was her path to take. She'd miss her new family dearly. She'd miss Shiro's insistence on drinking from the same mug each morning, Pidge's constant nightly snoring, Hunk's comforting good-morning hugs, Lance's support and even his jokes, and Keith. Allura couldn't really pin what she'd miss about Keith. She would just miss all of him. His hair, his eyes, the small smile he tried to hide when Pidge metaphorically burns Lance, his adorable poker face. Everything, just everything.

The princess caught herself smiling fondly in the black paladin's general direction. She quickly turned away and tried to distract herself by checking the controls on the bay panal. It didn't work. Her mind soon found it's way back to the human. Allura wanted so badly to just be able to leave without getting emotional. But, alas, that was impossible. She'd apparently grown attached to Keith, to her surprise. She knows how it feels when he's gone and she can't picture her new begining without him. This is the cause for her hesitation. This is the gravity pulling her to the place she could never call home.

Allura chanced a glance at Keith. He was stacking bins of movies that Coran insisted they take with them, Allura has Lance to thank for that, and seemed to be very dedicated to the task. His dedication only made Allura question whether her sudden emotional attachment to him was one-sided. She let out a huff and headed to check on Blue. If only she could ask him to come with. But she could never do that for the same reason the she could never stay. Earth was his home. And Altea was hers.

"I can't believe you're actually going," Pidge mumbled against Allura's clothes. They were down to the last of the goodbyes, the paladins. The shorter woman pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Allura did the same as she replied. "Me neither. But it must be done."

Hunk let out a sob of both joy and sorrow and flung himself at the princess for a hug. Allura soaked in the warmth of his hug. It was the simplest of gestures yet Hunk always gave the best. "You're kinda like my sister, Allura. Which means you have to come and visit cause you're like family," Hunk stated, still embraciing her.

"We ARE family, Hunk. Of course I'll come visit," she replied. Again, she wiped a tear as she turned to Lance.

His eyes were glazed over even though he was trying his hardest not to cry. The two looked at eachother for a second before Allura pulled him into a hug. "Thank you Lance," she said against his shoulder. "For pulling me up when the universe pushed me down."

"It was my pleasure, princess," he answered, voice breaking a little. He dug his nose a little deeper in her hair and gave her tight squeeze before pulling back. "And take good care of Kalteneker for me."

Allura let out a chuckle. "I still can't believe you are giving me your cow."

"I can. He's always done strange things," Shiro joked from next to Lance. Allura turned to him, wiping still more tears. Great, she was a total mess of emotion. Shiro opened his arms for a hug as he continued. "Stay safe Allura. And if you ever need to talk, Pidge and Matt got the intergalactic communicator working so don't be afraid to call. And expect nothing less then three calls a week."

"Thank you," she sniffed, pulling away from him. "I will look forward to them." Allura looked around for the one person she was dreading saying goodbye to. But he was nowhere to be seen.

The other paladins realized quickly that Keith was not with them. They felt sympathetic for the princess but more disappointed in Keith. "He's never been good at goodbyes," Shiro reminded quietly. "I'm sorry Allura."

Allura felt like breaking. The man she had taken such a strong liking to, didn't even care for her enough to bid her farewell before she traveled across the universe. More then that, her friend, a confidant, wasn't there to encourage her that this was a good idea. He was just gone.

The Altean wiped away her tears. It was probably for the best. If Allura saw him, she might change her mind about leaving. Or about not asking him to come with her. She turned her attention back to her chosen family. "Well then. I guess this is it," she stated. "But let's not call it a goodbye, that's too emotional. Let's call it a 'see you later'."

The paladins nodded in agreement, Pidge surprisingly unable to stop the steady flow of tears. Allura gave her one last reassuring hand squeeze before boarding her lion. This was it. The start of her new begining. The prologue to a different story. 'One without Keith,' she couldn't help but think as she made her way to the cockpit.

"Allura," came a male voice from behind her. The princess's heart skipped a beat, recognizing it immediately. She slowly turned around, afraid that it had only been her imagination. It wasn't. The black paladin stood before her with his eyes locked on hers.

"Keith," she said, half to herself. "I thought you didn't like goodbyes."

Keith glanced at the floor before looking back at her, determination etched in his features. "I just wanted my goodbye to be private."

"Oh?"

"Look, Allura. I need to tell you something before you go. It probably won't make any sense to you and you might hold it against me forever but I just have to get it off my chest." Keith paused, crossing his arms. He directed his attention to the floor once again but kept it there this time. "I really like you. Like, can't-stop-thinking-about-you like you. I don't know how or when it happened but somewhere along the line, it did. And now we are all supposed to start a new life and I can't get you out of my head. I don't know what I'm gonna do now that you aren't going to be here on earth. Alls I want in my new life is seeing you every day. But I know this probably weirds you out. Which is why I waited to tell you until right before you leave so that you never have to talk to me again, if you don't want to."

Allura was sure her heart just stopped. Correction, exploded. Was he saying what she had longed for him to say since they had landed on earth? Was he really doing it right before she was scheduled to leave?

In her silence, Keith looked to her again. His eyes seemed to say that there was so much more he wanted her to know. He had just lowered his wall. His guard was completely down and he looked so vulnerable and shy. He had apparently taken her shocked silence as rejection and turned to leave with a dejected sigh.

"What if I can't imagine a new life without you either?" Allura asked in a wavering voice. Her words caused him to stop walking but his back was still toward her. She continued softly, hesitantly. "What if I can't-stop-thinking-about-you like you too?"

A moment of silence passed. To Allura it felt like years but it was only a few ticks in reality. Right when she didn't know if she should keep talking or just continue to the cockpit, Keith spun around. He covered the space between them in a few large bounds.

Allura gasped quietly as his left hand came to her cheek and his right found a place on her waist. They locked eyes for a brief nanosecond before Keith's closed and Allura felt something on her lips. A light bulb went off in her head. This was like from those movies that she watched with Pidge. The earth custom of showing love to another.

Once she recognized this, Allura took no time in closing her own eyes and reaching her hands up into Keith's hair. It looked silly on the movies but now Allura understood. The feeling of having Keith so close and holding her so gently made her feeling all giddy inside. She felt the gentle pressing of his lips disappear and slowly opened her eyes. Keith's right hand had somehow ended up on her other cheek which provided him with perfect vision of her framed face.

They looked at eachother for another second as Keith leaned his forehead against hers. At that moment, Allura was glad he had grown since they'd met. She rather enjoyed looking up at him.

"What if there was a way I could go to space with you again and help you build the new Altea?" Keith asked in a quiet, mesmorizing tone.

A smiled grew on the princess's face as she looked at him with prodding eyes.

"I haven't told anyone this but Acxa offered to help me gain control of what's left of the Galra. She wants me to lead them to a new age. I had declined, so I could stay with you. But now that you're leaving for Altea..." He left off, a smile also on his face.

"The Alteans could finally live in peace with the Galra once again," Allura replied. She pulled his hands into hers, diverting her eyes from his gaze. "And I wouldn't have to leave you."

The black paladin couldn't help but chuckle and smile. "You'd still have to leave Hunk. And Pidge. And Shiro. And I guess even Lance."

Allura locked eyes with him once again. Her face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. "I will be fine as long as I don't have to leave you."

"I like the sound of that."

They stood for a second longer before Keith started backing away. "I gotta go say my goodbyes and get Black. But I will be back."

Their hands stayed together for as long as they could before being torn apart. This time it was Allura's turn to kiss Keith. She reached for his hand and pulled him back to her, capturing his lips with hers. The second kiss was way better then the first. But alas, this one had to end as well.

Keith pulled back and removed his hands from her hips. A smirk was spread across his face and an equally playfull look was in his eyes. "I really do have to go get my stuff. But we will deffinately continue this later." He gave her a peck on the lips before quickly exiting to prepare to leave.

Allura watched him go. She couldn't stop smiling. She'd be stuck like this forever. After he was out of sight, Allura pinched herself. She still wasn't sure if this was real. It's highly unlikely that the guy she was pining for liked her back. But then again they did just kiss, twice. And he did just offer to leave his home planet to be with her.

The princess let out an enthusiastic squeak and hurried to the cockpit of Blue. She'd already had to start a new begining once, and that lead her to Keith. So now, this new begining looked a lot brighter knowing he was by her side. Honestly, she couldn't have a new begining without Keith. It was impossible.

Luckily for the both of them, they were starting their new begining together.

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~ Pickles