Chapter 4:...The Princess

Hey Keith, you have a little something on your face."

The only answer Pidge received was a dark smoldering glare from the Red Paladin. The reaction only made Pidge's shit-eating grin grow wider.

Hunk watched the exchange and tried to hide his mirthful grin behind the large pile of pink goo on his plate. After Lance and Keith had left in the middle of training, the rest of the session had been quite uneventful with the remain paladins mostly just sparring against the Gladiators. It was dinner now, and Lance and Keith had only just showed themselves a few minutes beforehand with Lance literally having to drag Keith through the doorway.

The moment they saw the Red Paladin's face, it was obvious why Keith was struggling so hard to escape Lance's grip.

There were two ridiculously large band-aid patches plastered on Keith's face- one along the lower jaw where the bruise from earlier was. And another was right in the middle of Keith's forehead.

Hunk had pointed at the forehead one with his spoon, asking, "Where'd that one come from?"

Keith scowled and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes towards Lance. "This idiot pushed me into a wall while he was helping."

Lance sputtered in indignation at such an accusation. "I did no such thing! What are- "

Keith not so subtly elbowed Lance right in the ribs.

"Oomph! Ow- I mean…yeah, I did that…thing. Whatever. Sorry."

When the two took their usual seats, Hunk, who was sitting on Lance's other side, had heard Lance whisper heatedly to Keith, "Why do you always have to make me look like the clumsy one?"

"Because it's more believable!" Keith hissed back.

"Ungrateful jerk." Lance mumbled with an eye roll before turned to fill his plate.

Hunk resumed eating his own meal, pushing their whispered conversation aside. They had probably had one of their usual arguments while Lance had been tending to Keith's bruises.

Pidge started her teasing a few minutes into the dinner. Keith made no comebacks to any of her good-natured ribbing, but did shoot out a lot of glares and was extra violent in stabbing his spoon into his plate of goo. Everyone tried to hide their own grins, even Shiro seemed to be fighting to keep up his own composed expression. Keith just looked too funny with the over-sized bandages covering his face.

Finally, Shiro took pity on the Red Paladin and steered the focus onto Allura, asking her about how the Castle has been holding up since they'd been gone. Allura and Coran enthusiastically launched into an explanation on how in the last battle with Zarkon, the ship had sustained some damages- enough for Allura and Coran to be forced to do a supply run for parts. Since the planet they had landed on was technically still Galran territory, the mission had to be done under secrecy with both Coran and Allura having to shapeshift into local residents.

The tale was very thrilling and Hunk, as well as everyone else, listened in with great interest. Though, at the point in the story when Allura mentioned having to shapeshift, Hunk noticed that Lance seemed to suddenly light up, eyes wide and a large, toothy grin spreading across his face.

Should I be worried about this? Hunk privately wondered. He recognized that look. It was the same look Lance had when he had suggested they all go sneak out of the Garrison for a night on the town, the same look when Lance first ran head-first into the metal muzzle of a giant, blue alien warship with no caution whatsoever. It was the expression of someone who suddenly had a dumb idea and had the recklessness to actually go through with it.

Yes, Hunk knew he should be very worried.

Which is why, when everyone started to depart back to their rooms or enjoy their own private time, and Hunk noticed Lance, after whispering something to Keith, get up to follow after Princess Allura, Hunk immediately went after them.

A part of Hunk felt bad for intruding on Lance's privacy, but if he was planning on cornering Allura to pull out a bunch of new pick-up lines, Hunk was going to put his foot down. Hunk had become a lot less tolerate of Lance's flirting exploits after they had nearly gotten the Blue Lion stolen. It was not one of Hunk's favorite memories.

Hunk paused in his slinking around when Lance stopped by the entrance of the control room. The Blue Paladin poked a head through the opened archway for a tick and then walk in.

Hunk waited a moment or two longer and then quietly shambled to where Lance had been standing only a tick before. The large teen kept his body pressed against the wall and only allowed his head to visibly peek inside. He saw Lance walking to where Princess Allura was standing, silently tapping her fingers upon several hologram screens, going through series of data.

Lance paused a few feet away from Altean royal and politely cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Evening Princess!" Lance greeted cheerfully.

The sorrel-skinned princess immediately halted in her activity and turned around to face the Blue Paladin. The holo-screen evaporated under her delicate fingertips.

"Good evening to you as well, Lance." Allura politely replied, though her tone and facial expression betrayed her surprise as seeing Lance seek her out. She recovered within a tick and offered Lance a friendly, if not a bit guarded, smile. "Forgive me; I was merely going some systems checks on the Castle before I retire for the cycle. Is there something you need?"

Lance took a step forward, his smile growing wider and his blue eyes sparkling. "Actually there is."

Hunk held back a groan, hoping Lance wasn't going to embarrass himself by trying to seduce the princess. Hunk really didn't want to have to drag his best friend away from Allura's wrath.

The white-haired princess seemed to be having similar thoughts. Allura's smile faltered at Lance's words and her crystal-blue eyes narrowed in warning. "Lance, if you are here to try out one of Earth's odd courting rituals, I will personally throw you out of this room."

Lance hastily took a step backwards and held his hands up in a pacifying gesture, his grin falling as a look of panic crossed his face. "No! Of course! I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Alteans!"

Allura's eyebrows rose. "Oh." She blinked and the smile that spread across her lovely face instantly became much more welcoming. "I'm surprised- you've never shown much interest in Altean culture before. But I'll be happy to answer anything you'd like."

Sensing that he was out of danger, Lance relaxed and the smile on his face returned. "Okay, well my first question is…umm…" Despite his previous enthusiasm, Hunk noticed that Lance now looked a bit nervous. "umm…how do you Alteans learn how to shapeshift?"

What? Hunk mentally yelled, blinking in confusion and wondering if he'd heard Lance right. Why on earth would Lance want to know anything about shapeshifting?

Princess Allura looked stunned as well by the question. "How we learn…how to shapeshift?" she slowly repeated.

Lance looked downright embarrassed at this point, the tips of his ears reddening. "Umm…yeah?"

Allura blinked. "Are…are you trying to learn yourself? Do humans possess such abilities as well?"

Lance's blue eyes grew wide. "What? No! I mean, it'd be totally cool if we could, but yeah, we definitely can't." The lanky teen rubbed the back of his neck as he mulled over his words. "I guess what I mean to ask if how do you train yourself to shapeshift? Can all Alteans shapeshift? Is it difficult for you to stay as one alien for a long time? Do you ever get stuck as something and can't change back? Stuff like that."

When Lance's rambling came to an end, Allura's surprised expression grew quite thoughtful. "I see. Any reason in particular this topic holds your interest?"

Lance let out a nervous chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh curiosity for curiosity's sake and all that jazz."

"An interesting earth expression." Allura noted, gazing at Lance through half-closed eyes. She seemed to study Lance for a tick more before speaking once again. "To answer your questions, yes- all Alteans do possess the ability to use minor shape-shifting. However not all could- it's a skill that takes a lot of time and dedication to master and for many citizens it is not needed. As royalty, I was trained at a very early age since it is a vital skill needed for the royal duties of exploration and diplomacy."

Lance nodded to show that he was listening. "Cool, cool, that makes sense. So can you stay as a different alien for a long time with switching back?"

"No," Allura answered, "For some time yes, but not for too long. Even with all the practice and training a shifter can go through, a body always yearns to return to its original before too long. It's not natural otherwise." Seeing that Lance still looked a bit puzzled, Allura tried a different tactic. "How can I explain it? Imagine Lance if you had to hold your arms straight up in the air."

"Like this?" Lance's arms shot up, stretching towards the ceiling.

"Yes, exactly like that. Now are you having any difficulties at the moment?"

Lance grinned cheekily. "Nope, I can do this all day Princess."

Allura hummed and gave the paladin a patient smile. "I have no doubt you could, Lance. But imagine if you had to hold your arms up like that for several days with no moment of pause? Would you not start to feel the tiniest bit of discomfort? Would your arms not start to weigh you down seeking to return to their natural positions?"

Lance lowered his arms, wincing. "I see your point." He went silent a moment. Hunk saw him chew the bottom of his lips pensively. Then he spoke, "Okay, then what if you accidentally get stuck as something else can't change back to normal when you want to?"

Allura tapped her chin in thought, "Hhhmmm, that is an interesting question." The snow-haired princess suddenly let out an unexpected giggle. "Oh there was a time when me and my cousin Romelle were training together and both had a contest to see who could shift into the oddest alien- I won, naturally and Romelle winded up being stuck with giant Lupinese ears for the rest of the day, hehehe."

Lance let out a snort of laughter, "Try winning any contest against eight cousins, there's nothing but chaos!"

"Eight? I can only imagine! Having two was trouble enough!"

The princess and her paladin shared a laugh. Hunk watched them fondly, glad that Allura and Lance seemed to have finally found a similarity to bond over- their immense love for their long gone families.

"So," Lance finally said as he finished chuckling, "after your victory in the eternal wars of cousin rivalry, how was Romelle able to get rid of those pesky Lup-whatever ears?"

"Oh, Coran had her mediate alone for an hour." Allura answered, at last reigning in her tinkling giggles. "A big part of mastering shapeshifting is to keep a focused mind on what you're trying to shift to. A distracted or distressed mind makes holding a form very difficult. But it can work the opposite way as well. If you hold a form long enough like my cousin did and suddenly feel panicked, your body will cling to the new form as a defense mechanism. It could take some time to let your mind and body know that it is safe to shift back into its original self. Again, calming mediation and a focused mind are usually the best ways to deal with any shapeshifting dilemma."

Hunk saw Lance slowly nodded his head, looking as though he was in deep thought for some odd reason. The Yellow Paladin wondered what was going though Lance' s mind at the moment.

"Alright…calm mind, focus, got it." Hunk heard Lance mumble in a low voice.

Allura herself seemed intrigued by Lance's strange murmuring as well. However, she respected his privacy by just politely asking, "Is there anything else you'd like to know, Lance?"

Lance lifted his face back up towards the princess. "Yeah, just one more question, Allura…if that's alright."

"As long as it is decent." The princess replied smirking and raising a brow teasingly at the wannabe Casanova.

"Come on, you know I have too much class for that." Lance shot back with a winning smile. Hunk had to fight to hold back a snort at that comment. He settled for a silent eye roll.

"Anyway," Lance continued, now fiddling with his fingers in an absent-minded manner. "Um, I wanted to ask if the paladins of Voltron were made of different species. I mean, I know there were Altean paladins and now there are humans, but were there other species that were paladins as well?"

Hunk watched as Allura tilted her head at the Blue Paladin, her serene gaze regarding him curiously. "You are full of surprises today Lance."

Lance chuckled, puffing out his chest. "Yep, that's me! Always full of surprises and ready to impress, especially for the ladies!"

"Oh hush you," Allura chided, though her eyes sparkled with amusement rather annoyance. "To answer your question, Lance, yes though Alteans were the most popular race to be chosen for the titles as Paladins of Voltron, the Lions have had many species pilot them throughout the ages." She leaned close to Lance, grinning as if sharing a big secret, "In fact, the former Blue Paladin was from the Strigan race. You remind me a lot of him."

"Must have been a dashing, handsome devil then."

"Well I don't know what a devil is, but Strigans are an avian-based race. Soren had the loveliest blue feathers, but could chatter his beak off and would always show off by puffing his ridiculous crest feathers out the moment a cute alien came by." Allura let out a sweet bell-like laugh at the memory.

Sounds like a birdified Lance alright, Hunk thought with an amused smile. He imagined a peacock version of Lance strutting around, showing off his radiate feathers and had to bite down a chuckle before going back to spying on the two.

After a moment of reminiscing, Allura's smile slowly started to fade. Her eyes looked sad and gazed out to somewhere far, far away. "I do miss Soren. I miss all of them. At least I am grateful that was not present to see them eventually fall." Her eyes closed and Hunk saw a tiny tear form at the corner her eye.

Lance looked torn at see the princess look so tearful. He glanced bashfully away, his face sorrowful and red with embarrassed regret. "I'm sorry, Allura. I shouldn't have asked. I…I never meant to make you upset."

"No, Lance, you have nothing to apologize for." Allura quickly assure him, wiping her eyes. She let out one last tiny sniffle before composing herself, straightening her back and looked as dignified and regal as ever. "There is nothing wrong with remembering the past. In way it helps me remember what I'm fighting for."

Hunk felt his heart go out to the Princess and, for a brief moment, felt the urge to reveal himself so that he could embrace her in a comforting hug. All of them knew how hard Allura strived to ensure that Voltron become strong enough to stop Zarkon so that the fall of her planet and the death of her loved ones would not be in vain. It was a miracle that she could suffer through so much but still remain the strong, confident leader that she was.

Hunk's thoughts on Allura faded as Lance's voice hesitantly spoke up once more.

"Allura…"Lance began and Hunk caught a faint quiver of fear within his voice. "Were...were any of the former paladins Galra by any chance?"

The Yellow Paladin's mind short-circuited in shock at the question. The air in the room seemed to become still, all noise muted.

Allura closed her eyes and turned her body away from Lance. Her voice was low as she answered, "Yes. Only one."

"Zarkon." Lance finished for her.

Allura whirled around, her azure dress billowing behind her, and fixed Lance with a wide-eyed stare. "How did you know?" she demanded.

Lance rolled his shoulders, lightly swaying on spot as he answered, "Let's just say Lotor can be quite talkative when he's trying to run a sword through you. Bet if we had fought long enough, he would have named the accomplishments of every evil family member."

Allura stared at him in astonishment a heartbeat more. Then she looked away guiltily, frowning. "Coran and I did not mean to keep such a fact secret, especially from Shiro. But it seemed wise at the time- you were all so new to everything. We did not wish to scare you off by revealing the Paladin's darkest secret. That it was one of your own that brought the downfall of the universe upon us." She gazed imploringly at Lance, a pleading gleam in her eyes. "Please to not tell the others- not yet. Our spirits are finally high once again- let there be some peace for a little while longer."

Lance looked a bit troubled, but he still nodded. "Sure, I promise."

Hunk felt a chill go down his spine at this horrifying revelation. How could have Zarkon- the most evil, twisted creature in the entire universe- had been chosen to become a Paladin? Not just any paladin, but the pilot of the Black Lion- Head of Voltron and leader of the rest? How could the lions, who were supposed to have wisdom beyond all mortal understanding, have made such a grave mistake?

What did that mean for the new paladins? A dark, dangerous thought crept up from the back of Hunk's mind. If the lions had been mistaken before, could their decision to choose Hunk and his friends have been mistakes as well?

Hunk tried to push that thought away, instantly regretting ever eavesdropping on Lance and the Princess. He was about to turn and walk away, when suddenly he saw the princess take a step towards Lance.

He paused, interested peaked once more. Hunk cursed his insufferable nosiness.

Allura's eyes- such a lovely balance of sky blue and dawn pink- stared searchingly into Lance's own deeper blue ones. After a heartbeat, Allura suddenly took Lance's hands into her own, gently grasping her delicate fingers around them.

Hunk felt his jaw drop. His friend seemed to share his own surprise. Lance was staring at their intertwined hands in disbelief before looking back up as the princess spoke.

"Thank you Lance for rescuing Keith and the Red Lion from the hands of Prince Lotor," The Altean princess said, her expression solemn and her voice sincere.

Then a shadow seemed to fall over Allura's face, darkening her eyes and turning her voice sharp and cold with barely concealed hatred. "The last thing we need is the right arm of Voltron in the hands of a wretched Galra. That species has defiled the sacred name of Voltron once and the universe has suffered ten thousand years because of it. Never must we make that mistake again!"

Hunk took a step away from the doorway, eyes wide and looking unsettled. The raw hatred and repulsion coming from the princess' words and expression was unnerving to witness, especially since Allura was usually the beacon of sereneness and kindness. But Hunk understood her feelings- the Galra had taken everything from her just like they almost taken every from Shay and the Balmerains. Hunk felt enraged himself whenever he was remembered the horrible existence his beloved rock-skinned friend had had to live through.

Hunk was pulled away from his thoughts of Shay when he heard Allura's voice speak to Lance, suddenly full of concern.

"Lance is something wrong? You look quite pale."

Hunk snapped his gaze back to his best friend and felt a jolt of alarm at how pale and wretched Lance suddenly looked. He almost looked like he was about to be sick.

Allura, her forehead furrowed with worry, reached out to place a hand on Lance's cheek. "Lance, are you feeling well?"

Instead of melting into the princess's hands like Hunk expected his lovesick friend to do, he saw Lance take a shaky step back. The tan-skinned paladin visibly gulped, a bead of sweat falling from his forehead.

"Y-Yeah. Just now realizing how…how close of a call Keith and I had." He said in a voice that trembled slightly.

Princess Allura blinked at him. "Oh, I see." Her puzzled expression then melted into a kind, sympathetic smile. "Well, take heart in that knowledge Lance that you and Keith will not have to face Prince Lotor alone in the future. We are all here to support you."

The princess placed a reassuring hand on Lance's shoulder as she finished speaking. Hunk saw Lance stare at the hand and then glance back at Allura's smiling face- But instead of looking happy, Lance looked downcast. A beautiful princess was comforting him- why wasn't Lance smiling back? Hell, why hadn't he even ruined everything with a terrible pickup line yet? At least then Hunk would know that Lance was okay.

"Thanks Princess," Lance finally said, "That's… great to hear. " The Blue Paladin took a step away, letting Allura's hand fall from his shoulder. He forced a small smile on his face. "Thanks for the talk…we'll have to do it again sometime. Call it a second date!" Lance added in a light, humorous tone.

."Oh Lance!" Allura shook her head in disapproval, scowling irritably at him. However, Hunk saw a smile tug at her lips as soon as Lance had his back turned.

Hunk backed away from the entrance before Lance could see that he had been there listening in. When Lance walked through, he didn't even seem to notice Hunk at all. The lanky, dark-haired teen looked disheveled, his face pale and his eyes wide and distressed. Hunk felt his gut twist with discomfort just looking him.

Still not even noticing that his best friend was standing just a few feet down the hall, Lance whirled around in the opposite direction, probably to his own room.

Hunk stared after his retreating friend, debating on whether or not to go ask him what was up when a voice suddenly piped up from behind him.

"There you are Hunk!"

Hunk let out a squeal of surprised and spun around to find Pidge standing behind him, staring up at him with a questioning expression on her face.

"What are you doing standing around here for? This morning you promised to meet me at the hangars after dinner to work on the upgrade for the Yellow Lion?"

Hunk's mind was so wrapped around Lance's strange behavior that it took him a couple of ticks to register what Pidge was saying. Once it got through, he slapped the side of his head in agitation at his own forgetfulness.

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that Pidge! I was on my way and got…um…well…distracted." The large teen fidgeted, not daring to meet the Green Paladin's eyes out of fear of judgement for being caught spying on two of their friends.

Pidge narrowed her sharp eyes up at her taller teammate and made a "hmmph" noise of irritation, but luckily didn't question him further. She turned around and started to head towards the elevators, gesturing for Hunk to follow. "Whatever, you can tell me about it while we start on the upgrades."

Hunk followed dutifully behind her, listening as she launched into a long-length bullet point of every repair and modification she was planning to make on the Yellow Lion. Hunk did his best to remain attentive, nodding every few seconds, but as they at last came to the elevator that would lead them to the hangars below, Hunk came to a realization.

Lance hadn't been heading to his own bedroom- he had been heading to the opposite direction. There was only one other bedroom that way.

Keith's.