A/N: Greetings! First off, I'd like to dedicate this fic to the talented Crystallion12 (check her stories out, they're amazing), it's quite short, and I might make it longer, but let's see how it goes. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: V:LD and all its characters belong to Dreamworks, not me.
If there's one thing Allura has always loved, it's the sky.
Altea had two moons and an enormous sun, so Allura has seen breathtaking sunrises and sunsets with colours she couldn't imagine existed and contrasting horizons. She's seen stars so bright and prominent as well as entirely black skies of late nights and early mornings. She's seen the tempest of a storm and the calm that came after and wondered how such an agreement between two sides of nature was possible.
Before the Paladins of Old fell, she'd seen it all. The sky had captured her heart long before she acknowledged it.
Ten thousand and some years later, she's used to the idea of never seeing it again. She barely thinks about it anymore in the midst of more important things to worry about if she's completely honest. Things like integrating Earth into the Intergalactic Alliance. She gets so caught up in her latest preparations for a diplomatic meeting the next morning that she almost doesn't hear the knock at her door.
"Yes, Come in," she says, not looking up from the stacks of paper she's been sorting through all night.
Why have Earthlings not moved past such an archaic method? She wonders in frustration.
"Princess?" Comes Shiro's tentative voice from her door. He steps in, the door hissing shut behind him, and stops at the mess of papers surrounding a very tired Allura with her hair thrown up into a bun, but several hairs sticking out. "Princess, do you know what time it is?" there is concern in his words.
She looks at the clock on her wall with a frown and puts her head in her hands, "Ugh."
Shiro smiles knowingly, "Alright, come on. You need a break," he says holding his hands out for her to take.
"Shiro, I've got a meeting in a few hours and I still have to-"
"What I mean is," he pauses, gathering his words, "I want to show you something. It'll be quick, I promise," he replies. She pouts slightly at him, and he mimics it, exaggerating it slightly more as a resigned smile crosses her features and she takes his hand, hoisting herself up from her position on the floor and stepping around the papers.
Shiro leads her down the hallways of the castle, but instead of going down to the main entrance, they go up to where Black's hangar would exit. Since the Castle's upright and landed, it would be the highest point for kilometers. The perfect spot. He climbs the ladder from Black to the very top of the hangar and opens the doors outward at the very top, afterwards reaching his hand to help Allura out.
The air is cold. The sun hasn't yet come out, and the stars shine a little less prominently than on Altea in the dark blue sky with an inverted depth that could act as an ocean. A pang of longing in her chest brings a ghostly sting to her eyes, which if Shiro noticed, he didn't mention.
"Perfect timing," he says, smiling at her, "Just a few more ticks now." He turns to look at the horizon.
She doesn't know what she's supposed to be looking for, but she does the same. When the first rays of light peek from below the horizon, she's transported back to her childhood in Altea.
It's not until it's right in front of her that she realizes how much she's missed it. Sure, ignoring it is one thing, but when Earth's sun comes out, steadily but humbly claiming ownership of the sky, it's like it set an entire production in motion. The sky starts to brighten, from dark blue into a lighter blue and somehow forming shades of pink and orange and yellow to contrast. She's seen this before, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful.
Then she spots the difference. Strange brush strokes darker than the sky but not quite as dark. Like a grey that gets darker as the colors of the sky get more intense. As the sun floats above the rest of creation, its warmth crawling deeper into her, there are more. In different patterns all over the vast expanse of watercolors. Some look like an explosion that has been frozen in a snapshot of time, others look like a transparent blanket of scales, but Allura's never seen anything like it.
She doesn't realize she has her lips parted and tears in the corners of her eyes until the cold starts to sting. She reluctantly turns away from the spectacle unfolding before her to address Shiro, "what… are they?"
He looks at her with a different smile. One filled to the brim with such emotion. It says more than his words. It says that he hasn't seen such a sight in as much time as she has. "They're clouds."
Clouds. The word itself sounds ethereal. Like it's part of a dream. She turns back to admire the world's awakening, thinking how at home she feels despite the distinct difference, however, she takes one last look at Shiro and gives him the smile that's been bubbling in her. A smile of gratitude and homesickness and happiness and empathy all at once.
"Thank you."
And once again, the tearful smile between them says much more than the words that were exchanged.
A/N: If Altea has no rain, it has no clouds. No way the razor-sharp, boiling hot rocks come from clouds like on Earth. Thanks for giving it a read! Any suggestions, comments, and constructive criticisms are always welcome!
Crystal, thank you for being such a wonderful fangirlion to me and I hope this is up to your standards. I'm thankful that I got to meet you, and I hope your life is as great as your personality.
Until next time!
rainbowrider1290