Author's Notes:

Thankyou for reviews. Everything's opposite in this unique 'Royal Twist' KAEX Challenge, including personalities based from both 80s Voltron episodes and fanon: Allura can cook when in normal canon/fanon she doesn't/can't cook; Keith's not vain and doesn't realise he's good looking. In this Royal Twist challenge, Allura would have this trait.

And we continue with this royally twisted little story (maximum six chapters)


Chapter Three.

[ Two years later ]

In her crisp officer uniform, Commander Allura Raimon walked across the hallowed halls of the Galaxy Alliance's headquarters. She was now a hardened soldier, stoic and unflinching.

Allura was not only a highly decorated offìcer; she was one of the youngest space explorers who had been given a team to command. Under her leadership, she led a special operations group, comprising mostly women of her calibre, assigned to unusual, high-level, covert and black ops rescue missions.

She and her team even underwent several months of intensive training, learning the latest tradecraft, the languages of high-risk planets, and piloting –including troubleshooting–all kinds of spacecraft.

Her team's recent two special ops missions were so successful, they were given commendations, awarded medals, and extra shore leave with access to exclusive R-and-R venues.

She was in a middle of a holiday when she was recalled to urgently report back to Galaxy Alliance, not to her commanding officer, but directly to Sky Marshal Graham himself.

Reaching the Sky Marshal's offìce, she was immediately ushered inside.

"Ah, Commander Raimon, please take a seat." Marshal Graham nodded at his staff to promptly shut the door. "What I am about to tell you must not leave this room, is that clear? You are here because you were highly recommended for this mission, especially after saving President Omnia and the royals of Pollux from abduction.

The stability of the Galaxy Alliance depends on this crucial mission I am about to give you." Graham activated a holo- force fìeld, with a digitised voice confìming that the room was absolutely secure.

"You are not only one of our best graduates, the special ops training you had, also helped prepare you for the mission I am about to entrust you. This new assignment would top all your missions and you need to do this one alone." A holo-screen appeared in front of Graham. He pushed forward a holo-file towards Allura. "There had been an assassination attempt to the ruling monarch of one of GA's member-planets. This is Arus, and this is the Crown Prince, the last living heir to the royal throne. Arus is an important strategic ally of the Galaxy Alliance. Unfortunately, the information about his planet may be outdated as we only have recently got communications back online after two years since the entire royal family was killed. It took a year for the new Crown Prince of Arus to bring back peace and order to his planet.

This mission is unlike your other missions, this one appears…indefìnite. Until you could completely ascertain that the threat to His Highness had been removed, then consider your mission completed. Are we clear, Commander?"

"Yes, sir." Allura glanced at the file and swallowed hard.

"Good. I want you to depart for Arus first thing tomorrow morning. You need to head to one of our top-secret military bases. They will give you one of our newest space jets that come with its own jump hoop. There is a receiving jump hoop in the planet's capital city of Altea. The crown prince himself will be expecting you. Good luck, Commander Raimon."

Without giving any indication of emotion, she gave a crisp salute. "Thank you, sir."

The Sky Marshal returned her salute, and deactivated the holo-force fìeld.

As soon as she stepped out of Graham's offìce, Allura's eyes shimmered for a moment, and then firmly placing her mask of command, the trace of glimmer was gone. However, deep inside her, her heart was beating fast, her thoughts were about to explode.

When she got home, Allura went straight to her bedroom and stripped off her uniform . She stepped into the shower stall, and the moment the arctic water pounded her body, Allura broke down and cried.

I found him. I finally found him.

xoxoxoxo

There had been visions.

And his father's spirit had spoken to Coran about a sixth pilot.

Running his hand through his hair, he couldn't understand why they needed a sixth pilot when they needed only five. They were told of an ancient story that when the time was nigh, a mighty robot shall arise from Arus. The legend had said five robot lions would come out from their dens. And Keith already had recruited his team. He was adamant he didn't need a sixth pilot.

Until one day, the unexpected happened. When Keith thought he had already secured his planet, Drule sleeper agents ambushed his supply convoy, severely injuring him.

Coran immediately sent word to Sky Marshal Graham, and the message was brief: Assassination attempt on the Crown Prince's life.

Keith knew straightaway. She's on her way.

Pacing on the designated waiting area on the tarmac, Keith dreamt of this day. She will come to you. She would protect the heir of Arus, said the visions.

He had never forgotten her. He dreamt of her constantly. In his dreams, she was frantically looking for him. He wanted to apologise about his sudden disappearance. He wanted to contact her, but he had been fìghting a war; and that communications with Galaxy Alliance was non-existent, until recently.

Recalling the details he read from the file that Graham sent, he remembered reading that Allura was still single. A twinge of hope flared in his heart.

Most especially, Keith wanted to tell Allura how much he still loved her.

After minutes of waiting, Keith saw her spacecraft landed on the runway, taxied on to the tarmac, and stopped several metres in front of him. When Keith saw her descend from her small space jet, his breath stilled.

She was wearing a form-fìtting black uniform; her hair pulled back in a tight braid. she looked leaner, more beautiful even. With delectable curves at the right places, Allura matured into a gorgeous woman.

My woman. My Allura.

However, when Keith looked at her, he saw no sign of any emotion in Allura's beautiful blue eyes. Did she still remember him? What was that stoic facade she held? As he continued to stare at her, he saw a brief spark of recognition. She remembered him. But when she blinked, the bright shimmer in her eyes receded, hidden behind a tightly held mask. A strong, capable twenty-two year-old commander impassively stared back at him. Assessing her as she walked towards him, there was strength in her demeanour.

xoxoxoxo

For Allura, seeing Keith patiently waiting for her, seemed surreal. He was alive and in the flesh. His hair was longer, and he looked more handsome. By all that was holy, Keith Kogane, at twenty-three, was one hot-as-hell, sexy-as-sin royal prince. She didn't know whether to hug him or throttle him hard.

After the last time they met, Allura spent weeks trying to find Keith and contact him. His friends didn't know where he was, and the Academy's registrar even denied his existence. They even showed her there was no Keith Kogane in their student registry. Like he was deliberately wiped out from the GA's database.

For the past two years, Keith had plagued her dreams, where he'd constantly called out to her.

During Allura's difficult days, she had daydreamed of spending the rest of her life with the man who stole her heart.

For now, Allura stared at him impassively.

xoxoxoxoxo

Keith approached her with eager strides; he wanted to hold her in his arms, only to be stopped by her outstretched hand.

"It is an honour to meet you, Your Highness." Allura dropped her large duffle bag on the concrete tarmac.

Keith met her handshake, surprised there was no emotion in her voice. "I hope your flight went well through hyperspace."

"It was uneventful. I would like to go straight to the point. I was sent here to protect you, Your Royal Highness," she said. She watched Keith pick up her duffle bag, motioning her towards the awaiting hover-car.

She glanced around, perplexed. Where was his security detail? "I would need to speak with your head of security."

Placing her military duffle bag at the back seat of the hover car, Keith replied, "I don't have one. I have a strategist who also is my family's royal advisor." He opened the passenger side door for her. "Whatever pre-conceived ideas you have about royalty, just drop it, Allura. And just call me, Keith. You used to call me just by my name." Keith said, smiling. He settled on the driver's seat and started the hover car.

Allura blinked, sat on the passenger seat, and stared at him as he began driving. His smile disarmed her, just like he did during their years together on Earth. She wanted to ask him a million questions, but all were suddenly forgotten with his handsome profìle, his wind-swept hair, broad shoulders and—

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was, or where I was for two years," Keith began, breaking her thoughts. "No one on Earth knew my background except Graham. My heritage didn't matter on Earth. It wasn't important, I wasn't even intended to inherit the crown, let alone rule a planet. I was third in line. My two older brothers were already heir and the spare. That's why my parents let me attend the GA Academy," he explained as he continued to drive the hover-car towards an uphill climb.

What? He could hear my thoughts now? Allura arched her brow. Staring at him, she noticed there were scars on his forehead, hidden under his unruly, shoulder-length hair. His hands too showed evidence of scarring, as he held the steering wheel. Shaking her head, she replied, "You just suddenly disappeared. No one knew where you were, even your friends didn't know."

"That morning after I left your apartment, Sky Marshal Graham himself whisked me away to a secure location, until they found a way to send me to Arus. When I got home, my planet was in chaos, and we fought hard for a year and eventually succeeded to push the invaders away," he replied quietly. Keith tried to push the dark memories of his fìrst year back home. His constant thoughts of Allura kept him sane.

They sat quietly as the car sped, until a large, imposing castle with white gleaming facade was within view.

"We're now in the process of slowly rebuilding the planet and communications were recently back online. We're steadily working on minimal staff at the castle right now." Keith raised a finger in the air. "I constantly kept insisting that things are different now. Though, I must warn you, there are staff members that still insist all that pomp and circumstance." Keith rolled his eyes and smirked. He hated all the frumpy, pretentious crap of royal court.

"A prince of a planet, who lives in a shiny, white castle with a moat and drawbridge. Seriously?" Allura narrowed her eyes. What era are we living in? Why do I feel I'm in lala-land?

"I love your sense of humour, Commander. There is hope for you yet." Keith laughed as he stopped the hover-car at the castle's doorsteps. "Ah, here's the welcoming party."

"Your Royal Highness, you were not supposed to drive on your own," A high-pitched, shrilled voice spoke, which sounded too pompous for Allura's taste.

"Now, Lady Hys. I just picked up our new chief of security. Surely, I would be safe in her capable hands." Keith winked at Allura.

"The Galaxy Alliance sent a woman to protect His Highness? Is this a joke? What and where the universe had gone to? Are we in an upside down world?" The woman in poufy, white uniform sputtered as Allura alighted from the hover-vehicle.

Allura's eyes widened. She was taken aback by the backward ideals that the woman held.

"That is enough, Lady Hys. I would appreciate it if you would show full respect to my protector." All humour escaped Keith's clipped tone. Keith glanced at Allura apologetically. See what I have to deal with? Then, facing the two elderly individuals, Keith said with a formal tone, "Lady Hys and Advisor Coran, I would like you to meet Commander Allura Raimon, she's GA top graduate, their best soldier, and their most brilliant special ops commander. Allura, meet the Castle of Lions' Head of the Household and my Strategist."

Allura shook hands with them, then promptly grabbed Coran's attention and began her queries about the castle's defences.

Coran gestured to Allura to walk with him. "We can continue this discussion on our way to Castle Control."

Keith turned to Lady Hys, "Please have a room prepared for Allura, the one adjoining mine." When he saw that she was about to throw a retort, Keith raised his hand, "Safety protocols, Nanny. End of discussion." He slung Allura's duffle bag and walked inside the castle, leaving his shocked household staff behind.

Lady Hys stood frozen; her mouth hung agape in astonishment. Shaking her stupor, she pulled her sleeves up and marched back inside the castle.

(TO BE CONTINUED)