Allura felt as if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Lance, her little brother, stood a mere ten feet away from her, looking just as shell shocked as she did.
Without warning, tears started running down Allura's face and she very quickly made her way towards Lance, immediately embracing him in the biggest, most anticipated hug they could both ever possibly wish for.
Lance could feel his older sister sobbing into his tense shoulder, her tears staining his navy-blue shirt. Slowly, he hugged her back. Seeing Allura after 10,000 years seemed so unreal, having only seemed like wishful thinking for the few months he'd been awake. Even though he was aware Allura was put to sleep before Altea was destroyed, Lance could have never guessed she would still be alive today, and hugging him.
Lance didn't cry simply because he was too overwhelmed by emotions to even possibly begin to comprehend or process how incredibly thankful and lucky he was.
Sadly, their family reunion was cut very short, for Lotor had other plans. "Allura my dear, it is so nice to see you!" Lotor sneered, approaching the newly reunited pair.
Almost instantaneously, Keith sprang into action, shielding the siblings with his bayard in ready position. "At ease, pretty boy. This doesn't concern you." Lotor concluded, summoning the guards, who had just entered the room, to restrain Keith with full force.
Keith groaned as he hit the marble floor, the wind being knocked out of him as four guards restrained his each of his limbs, while the fifth rested himself upon Keith's chest. At the least Lotor was smart enough to identify that Keith was in fact a threat rather than dismissing him, but man, Keith wished he did dismiss him.
Lance shivered, sensing Lotor's malicious aura approach him. His back was still turned, Allura now cowering into his shoulder, most likely afraid of losing him again. He breathed in heavily, enjoying the comforting scent of Allura's hair, the intoxicating fragrances that only belonged to crisp, fresh air. The scent of freedom, for he was about to lose it. Again
Allura didn't let go, even when she heard Lotor's combat boots hitting the floor, rapidly closing in. She blatantly refused to let Lance out of her sight, and she didn't see Lance trying to stop her, so she had no intention of letting her precious baby brother out of arm's reach, never again.
Eventually, Lance was forced to turn around and face the man he most despised in the entirety of the universe, a man who willingly attacked and conquered planets for fun, a man who used Lance for pleasure and leverage, and a man who repeatedly stripped Lance of his freedom, now also going to leave his sister absolutely torn.
Allura stood behind Lance, clutching onto his shoulder whilst sweat ran down her forehead. Filling her with fear for the possible confrontation she was about to witness. Allura was clueless, all she knew was the past, but nothing as of now. She has absolutely no idea of what Lotor and her little brother's relationship was, and in all honesty, she was afraid to find out.
"Lance. My dear, we must go if you wish for nothing to happen to your beloved planet, and your dearest sister." Lotor whispered just loud enough for Allura and Keith to hear, all while he caressed Lance's cheek.
Lance shuddered at Lotor's touch, he found Lotor repulsing. Utterly and absolutely repulsing, ever since they were 13. However, Lance recovered quickly, taking Lotor's hand in his own, smaller tan ones, making sure they had eye contact whilst Lance's eyes soft pleaded that Lotor leave his loved ones be. As always, Lotor easily fell for Lance's captivatingly glassed over ocean stare, soft hands, and small pout, there was no need to speak when silent pleading was just as effective.
Allura could feel Lance's inner turmoil, she could see how unhappy he was when he was forced to speak to that vile creature, she sensed the actual suffering he put himself through for the safety of this planet. Like a true Altean prince, Lance puts his people first, always. He'd always had, even when it wasn't at all convenient for him.
She wanted nothing more than to stop this, but she had no idea how. She was paralyzed, scared, and on the verge of bursting into tears once again, but she wanted to be strong. For Lance, for her team, for this planet. So, she placed her had on Lance's shoulder, and gave it a light, hopefully reassuring, squeeze. A squeeze which she was sure he translated as 'You do what you have to, we'll get you out of there. I promise' message.
Lance inhaled, nodding his head before giving Allura a light kiss on her temple. He then approached the heap of Galra guardsmen and a very helpless Keith, immediately commanding they release him once Lance was close enough. Of course, they obliged, and Lance helped an unstable, bruised rib Keith off the floor.
Keith felt awful, mostly psychically, but also emotionally. He was frustrated. Frustrated that a man like Lance was forced to wake up next to a man like Lotor. Angry that a living being was viewed as a simple object of pleasure. Lance didn't deserve that, Keith may not have known him that long, but he knew that Lance deserved so much more than a treacherous snake like Lotor. Even if it was all a game, Lance still shouldn't have ever had to consider it.
Keith clutched his ribs with his left as Lance held his other hand innocently. Their gazes met casually, the room responding with a shower of shifting colors. Maybe it was just because Keith was in excruciating pain and his body was sending him warning signs, but he could have sworn it was more than that. For the few colored seconds they shared, Keith's heart did summer-salts, enjoying every chance he got to ponder in Lance's oceanic gaze, his genuine smile, his lightly freckled cheeks and nose, his sun kissed skin; Lance was so clearly deserving of someone better than Lotor, if you could even really consider Lotor a person.
Lance's heart danced happily inside his chest, holding his gaze with Keith's, however, Lance understood they had an audience, and part of the audience was Lotor. Although he would have preferred to stay the way he was, Lance decided to quickly engulf Keith in a hug, Keith's sudden complaints singing in his ears. "Listen, please." Lance begged, his tone dead serious, whispering into Keith's ear.
After a second of silence, Lance assumed it was okay to continue. "Take care of Allura. I guarantee she'll be a mess as soon as I get on that Galra ship. Don't worry about me. You have a universe to save." Lance concluded, pulling away from their tight embrace only to find a rather upset looking Keith, tears threating to escape the corners of his eyes. Clear frustration written all over his face.
Without another word, Lance turned reluctantly, preparing himself to face a string of constant and overwhelming panic, helplessness, and general, stomach wrenching, fear.
Allura's pristine cheeks were streaked with a constant flow of tears, the tears flowing harder with every step her little brother took towards Lotor. She wanted nothing more than to stop it all, but in the kind of situation Allura was witnessing, diplomacy wasn't going to fix it, using the right spoon for every soup was not going to solve anything, having a well-fitted dress was useless, even using force seemed hopeless. So, Allura stood there, watching her anxiety ridden brother walk himself over, alone. Always alone. "I'm sorry, Lance." She sobbed, falling to her knees, quickly feeling Keith's arms wrap around her for comfort.
Lance could hear Allura's violent sobbing whilst he approached Lotor, however he never faltered, because if he did, even for a millisecond, he would give everything up for one more whiff of Allura's hair, a small taste of fresh air. So, Lance didn't falter, he couldn't afford too.
Once close enough, Lotor slinked his arms around Lance's hips, and it took every inch and fiber in Lance's being to not instantly back away in fear and disgust. Instead, Lance happily complied, letting himself go numb as Lotor pulled them closer together, the word no meant absolutely nothing to Lotor, so Lance stopped saying "no" a long time ago.
Keith was boiling, he could feel his ears turn bright red, radiating heat. He may not have been psychically acting on anything, for he was aiding a very troubled Allura, but mentally, Keith had decked that purple skinned bastard six feet under. Lance looked so blank, as if he was a broken record, having gone through this scratch for hours on end, and the sight was upsetting, even for someone who only knew him from suggestive photographs, and less than an hours' worth of interaction.
Lotor thoroughly enjoyed Lance for a solid minute or two before commanding the guardsmen to civilly escort Allura and Keith out of the town hall. As they did so, Keith was extremely compelled to burst into that marble embellished room and scream at Lotor, scream and attack him for all the pain he caused, for imprisoning Lance for who knows how long, for conquering planets, and for being a cocky, arrogant, asshole, but Keith didn't, he couldn't risk getting Lance in any more trouble than he already was. Besides, some of Keith's ribs were bruised and possibly fractured, so fighting wasn't an option at the moment.
They both limped their way through the hallways, too devastated, emotionally and psychically to even speak. Eventually reaching the outside to find their entire team waiting anxiously along with a rather concerned Matt. "Where's Lance?!" Matt asked frantically, examining Allura and Keith suspiciously.
Of course, Allura wasn't necessarily ready to talk about it, and in all honesty Keith wasn't either, but their team needed to know. "Due to unfortunate circumstances, Lance left with Lotor, and we haven't a clue as to how to save him." Allura was the one who spoke, surprisingly, suddenly appearing more composed. More normal. Keith quickly objected, "Allura you aren't ready to save hi- ", but he was interrupted, "HE IS MY BABY BROTHER. I WON'T LET HIM FIGHT ALONE!" Allura huffed, angry enough to almost appear to be steaming.
Now Keith was slightly agitated, "Hey, I'm not your personal punching bag." He remarked, glaring slightly at the princess. Finally, Shiro stepped in, "Hey guys, we are a team. We can work this out when both of you are more composed. Please let's just go, okay?" Shiro asked politely, standing almost completely in between the argumentative pair. "Fine." Keith sighed, kicking a cloud of dust up before walking towards the castle with Pidge and Matt. "Okay." Allura followed, sticking next to Shiro for they enjoyed each other's company.
Allura could admit, she felt awful about treating Keith so disrespectfully and wished she didn't take her anger out on him, but she did, and she had to fix it. She sat in her sleeping chamber, Blue lion onesie and all, for it was dark out and near the time Allura tended to fall asleep.
After careful deliberation, Allura brought out a simple Altean card deck from an old trunk that rested on the top shelf in her closet, they weren't different from Earth's because numbers are the same in every language, and she made her way towards Keith's dormitory.
She knocked twice before a drowsy Keith answered the door. Allura presented the cards to Keith and his face immediately lit up, the first thing Allura and Keith ever truly bonded over was card games, and Allura assumed this would be a good way to apologize.
Keith allowed his onesie wearing, card loving partner to enter the room, immediately sitting down, comfortably, to talk about what game they were in the mood to play exactly. In the end, they settled for a simple game of Garbage, and suddenly the tension around them was gone, now it was just two close friends playing a card game.
Hours passed, and by the time either of them glanced at the clock, it was 1 am earth time, "Holy shit! You should go to bed, Allura." Keith giggled, hugging his knees, happy he reconciled with one of his closest friends. "I really should. Night, Keith." Allura responded, getting up slowly so the blood won't rush towards her head. "Night, Allura." Keith smiled as the door slid shut.