(A/N I can't. Voltron s8 comes out in 13 days. Its not allowed. Voltron is not allowed to end. Well anyway, while y'all read this ima just be over here silently dying PAINFULLY)
She hadn't known. It wasn't her fault she had fallen for the lies. After all that time they spent together, after all those bonding moments and all those times she had questioned his loyalty. She had truly thought, that maybe, there was one good person of that race. She had believed that he was truly out for peace for the entire universe. And he sold the lie well. He hid any nagging thoughts that told him he was doing wrong and even had her thinking he was genuine. That cunning man had won her heart, and just when she thought she could trust him, he broke it and left her feeling she was useless. So when his truth broke out, she knew she had been tricked, and she was going to make him pay.
Allura's POV:
Twenty dobashes later, I had run downstairs, dressed in my Garrison outfit, all geared up and ready. I was the third one down there, along with Pidge and Lance. They were dressed in Garrison orange outfits. We were all standing around the meeting table, where Commander Holt was standing, waiting. He was talking to Pidge, who was going on about some scientific discovery she accomplished with the Green Lion. He was laughing and making conversation.
Lance looked over at me, his eyes filled with worry. "Hey," he said gingerly.
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear nervously. "Hi," I said.
"Any more nightmares?" He asked, moving closer. For once, I hadn't had any nightmares about my losses, about my family, my planet, or even Lotor.
"Glad to say none, for once," I added with a laugh. Lance smiled and watched me for another moment before turning away.
"Lance, Pidge, Allura, Hunk, and… where's Keith?" Shiro looked around, his eyes watching over everyone as he counted off Paladins on his fingers.
"Oh, I can answer that." Hunk stepped forward, taking a bite of his famous bacon-and-cheese quiche. "He immediately went straight to the Altean, checking to make sure this wasn't a hologram or some Galra technological advancement that was controlling the poor Altean from some remote location."
"Yea. If they were to do that, they'd need such far radio connections that could control brain waves from inside an untrackable secret base that the Blades hadn't already found and blown up…" Pidge thought out loud.
"Which was impossible, Keith said, but he was going to check anyway." Hunk took another bite of his slice, offering some to Pidge. She shook her head.
"Well, thanks for that intellectual statement of learning, but we need to get a move on downstairs." Shiro turned to Commander Holt, who stepped forward. "Anything we need to know, Commander Holt?"
Pidge's father shook his head. "Other than to be on guard and bracing yourself for any type of attack, we should be good."
We all marched downstairs, and my mind wandered as we walked. Could it be Lotor? No, it couldn't be. He died. Sendak's doing? Well, he died months ago. Haggar? No one had heard from her, so the logical option had been her. I even considered the rebel Galra forces who were after the Paladins personally, all those little leaders from the Kral Zera who were still angry.
But my mind always came back to Lotor.
He would forever haunt me, wouldn't he?
Anyway, we got downstairs, waited a few moments behind the door, and opened it, to see Keith already standing by the wide-eyed Altean. He looked over and stepped away, his eyes downcast. The Altean was strapped to the chair, her arms thrashing and trying to move. Coran was waiting behind her, trying to calm her down.
"There there, calm down little fella," He soothed. I smiled. Coran had always had a way with children and younger folks.
"I'm a girl!" The Altean responded. She looked over at her new company, scanning the faces until she reached mine.
"Princess Allura?" She whispered in fear. "Is it really you?"
I smiled and did a quick bow. "It is I," I responded.
Lance's POV:
The Altean is actually awake. It's been weeks since we found her, and she just woke up. Time after time we discussed where we thought they were coming from, their motives, and everything about who sent them (we weren't sure whether it was a male or female but no one could/wanted to check). And now, she is sitting here, waiting for interrogation. She looks so much like Coran its not even funny. He's staring at her weirdly like he knows her but can't put his finger on it. She recognized Allura right away. I guess the Alteans somehow got word of our operation on this side of the universe.
"It is I," Allura said after a quick bow. Her untied flowing hair reached down to her waist, even lower if I was going to actually measure. I was more busy trying to remember what our plan was for interrogation. Being a classic Lance, I had fallen asleep during the meeting with my eyes open and pretended to pay attention while I suffered from another horrifying dream where I couldn't save my friends and they failed to win the fight with the Galra, leaving me alone with everyone's floating dead bodies and the knowledge that it was my fault…
Not the time Lance.
"Hey, can you tell us at all who put you in the Komar?" Coran asked gently, pausing beside her little containment chair.
The Altean looked at him fearfully for a moment before responding.
"For years our Altean colony lived and prospered, away from the problems of the universe, safe from any harm, with only our savior Lotor knowing of us." The Altean started, staring off into the distance until suddenly they caught sight of Romelle.
"Hey, I know you!" She said, appearing to try to point to Romelle. "Were you that one girl who's entire family was taken by Lotor and always sat on the hills alone?"
Romelle's hands started to squeeze really tightly, but she let go and breathed deeply.
"Sadly, that was me." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember you."
"You wouldn't," The new Altean said, seeming to sit straighter. "I was only a little girl when you disappeared. Then the Galra guards appeared who normally followed Lotor around and told us we were in danger. They said, "someone's coming to hurt you." They said, "if we don't leave, everyone left will be killed." So we followed, thinking Lotor already had a plan because he was essentially our king. We were each led in a cell as our planet was evacuated, and I was in our family cell, with my mother and father. The ship took off and we all fell asleep, still set on the sleep patterns of our planet. When we awoke, the guards came and took all the adult males, needing them to come and vote on our plan." She stopped speaking, looked down at the ground, and a tear fell down her cheek. "Nobody saw them for weeks, so one day, when we were finally allowed out for a meal, I sneaked around all the guards and entered the chamber where Father went. But what I saw was not my Father, or a meeting, or even morally correct.
"They were in their seats, all hooked up to a bunch of machines. Each machine seemed to have a glowing substance thing inside, and when I looked at all the people, they had these lifeless expressions that instantly told me they weren't with us any longer. Logically, I knew my Father was dead, but emotionally, I ran to check for him, feeling my eyes burn with tears and my cheeks turn wet with tears. I looked at every body, recalling Marella's Father from down the street, or Mr. Vadel, my old teacher. But I couldn't find him… until I had finally thought I was done."
She started crying, tears running down her face. Keith looked over awkwardly, like the emo kid he totally was, as Coran and Romelle rushed to help her. Romelle started speaking to her quietly. The Altean wiped her nose as Allura began to speak.
"What happened next?" She asked slow and evenly.
"Well, I found him all right and started crying a lot. He had been a famous Altean person, at least in our little town. They called him Sir Alston, but I only knew him as Father. He called me his little Gabrielle, which means "God's strongest woman". He always thought I would grow up to join my aunt Antoinette on Lotor's planet, so he named me Gabrielle. I knew that everyone would be sad over the loss of his life before I realized that every male above the young age was killed here. Well, I knew it had happened, but it hadn't quite clicked.
"So just when I started to get up to find Mother, a Galra guard grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth with his hand. I tried to scream but he choked me and told me if I didn't keep quiet he would hurt my family and he would kill me. So I obeyed, quietly following him through the halls until we stopped outside a door.
"He told me, 'you better keep quiet and let me do the talking.' He said, 'your mother would be very disappointed in you if you disobeyed your elders.' And of course, I knew that was exactly how my mother would respond, so I kept quiet and was shoved inside the door. Inside there was a witch with a black hood and purple evil magic stuff all around her. There was a giant robot off to the side, all cued up as if it was about to be filled. The Galra guard behind me pointed his gun at me and said he had found an Altean worthy to be fit for the honor of fighting. The witch, in her growly, low, evil voice, said she was pleased and would exact her magic on me. I tried to run but she pulled me back somehow with this electric zappy power and put a spell on me, knocking me unconscious and unaware of my movement until I woke up here."
Gabrielle looked at Allura, her face filled with wonder. "Lotor once mentioned he had found the Voltron commision, and he had found the long-lost Princess. We had all gasped in wonder and hoped to meet her."
Allura walked over and gave her a hug. "Well, now you've found me."
I'm a Paladin of Voltron. I fight day after day defeating the greatest enemy ever known. I have actually died and been revived before, yet I can't stop my heart from exploding with love for Allura and all her amazingness.
Allura walked back by me, standing awkwardly. She was fidgeting and taking deep breaths. I reached over and put my hand on hers. She looked up at me and thanked me silently.
Allura's POV
"Aw, it's okay Gabrielle. We've got you now." Coran soothed, holding her hand gently as a grandfather would. Coran was so great with everyone. He had always helped me out when I was a little young Princess. He taught me how to ride our Altean version of human bicycles, he taught me how to behave in public, and he always secretly snuck me Altean cookies under the table. When Father was out and about and there was a dangerous storm, he had been the one to tell me it was really dangerous and I should never touch it. When Mother had had her untimely death, and Father was off on a Voltron mission, Coran had held me close, telling me it was okay, and he would be there for me. He was like a second father to me, and he would always be close to me.
"Has there been any word from my people?" She asked suddenly, shoving Coran off and looking at all of us. "I really want to know how my mother and my sister and my brother are doing… do you think they are okay? I haven't seen them in a year."
Lance and I looked away, coincidentally towards each other because of timing. I heard Keith begin to explain that they had sent a troop of Blades to her planet but hadn't heard anything except her as I looked up and saw Lance staring at me in that way that always made this goofy feeling inside of me arise. I looked into his eyes for a split second and wished I hadn't. It might've only been a split second, but it felt like an eternity. That was the second time I had ever really noticed what a lovely color his eyes were.
I heard Gabrielle sniffle and I returned to the present. Oh, Gabrielle was probably barely 16 decaphoebes old, but here she was, fighting in a war she didn't know anything about.
"Any news about Lotor?" She asked hopefully, maybe clinging to the hope we still knew of his whereabouts.
I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn't, the memories folding back, slowly tearing me apart. Lance spoke for me.
"Lotor… Lotor wasn't the guy you thought he was." Lance said slowly, explaining the story of how Keith had found Romelle, they broke into Lotor's secret evil base, and how we defeated him in the quintessence field. With each new sentence, Gabrielle's face fell and eventually, she asked Lance to stop. I found myself regretting hearing the story again. Each time it reminded me of how stupid I had been. How weak, how vulnerable, and how gullible.
"We should let her be with Coran and Romelle," Pidge said, suggesting a break. "I think she's had all she can handle today," Pidge added with a look at all of us. We said our goodbyes and left, venturing into the kitchen to discuss. But I couldn't stop thinking about Lotor. He might be physically dead, but he had permanently scarred me.
