I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.

Enjoy Chapter 6

Mertz

Allura wanders out to the garden to find her swing in the back. She sits down in it but does nothing more as her eyes travel to the flowers ahead of her as she replays the conversation she had with Keith in her mind, wishing she hadn't brought up marriage. They had been having a good time teasing each other prior to that.

She doesn't hear the footsteps on the walkway and only looks up when Lance asks, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Silence fills the air as Lance sits on the ground in front of the swing and Allura studies him for a moment before looking away. Lance gets himself settled before reaching forward to tap her knee, "Come on Allura, I know about the link and Keith explained the soul mates thing. What's bothering you?"

A tear finally escapes Allura's eye and runs down her cheek before she asks, "Did you know Keith's wife?"

Lance looks away for a moment before he clears his throat and sits back again, "Yes…I was best man at his wedding."

Allura looks away shocked for a moment before she looks back at Lance to continue, "How did she die?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Lance blanches slightly before replying, "Shouldn't you ask Keith about this?"

Shaking her head, Allura replies, "All he said was that she was murdered, nothing else and believe me when I say, he doesn't want to talk to me about her."

Lance lets out a deep sigh before looking back at Allura. In his mind he pictures Andrea and remembers how happy and carefree Keith seemed with her before saying, "It happened about six months before we were deployed here." He pauses a moment to collect his thoughts, "I think they had been married about a year and Andrea always did the grocery shopping. Well this time, Keith had stopped at the grocery store before picking her up from work only to realize that he had forgotten something, milk I think."

Allura nods at him as Lance takes a deep breath to continue, "So they stopped at this minimart a block from their apartment. Keith was going to go get it but Andrea had jumped out of the car before he could." Lance stops for a moment and runs his hand through his hair before looking at Allura with watery looking eyes, "The place was being robbed when Andrea walked into it, the bell on the door scared the robber so he turned and fired his gun at Andrea, hitting her in the head. She died instantly."

Tears run out of Allura's eyes as Lance swallows several times to get his own emotions back under control before he finishes, "Keith blamed himself for it of course…if only he would have remembered the damn milk at the store…if only he would have gotten out of the car and insisted Andrea stay in it." His eyes meet Allura's, "You know how he is."

Allura nods and looks away before speaking quietly, "Thank you for telling me."

Lance nods before asking, "So what are you going to do with the information?"

A deep sigh leaves Allura before she stands up to move away from the swing, "What can I do? I can't fight a ghost Lance."

Lance stands as well and takes Allura's hand within his to get her to look at him, "I've known Keith for a lot of years Allura. I know he loved Andrea deeply…" Allura tries to look away only to have Lance grab her chin to force her to look at him again, "I also know he cares deeply for you. Probably more than he is even willing to admit to himself. It drove him crazy when you wouldn't speak to him Allura. The only other person who could get under his skin like that was Andrea."

Allura nods and begins to pull away with Lance speaking to her as she departs, "Give him time Allura. Keith is a stubborn ass about a lot of things, but he will work his way to you."

Allura glances back at Lance once more before turning away and walking sadly out of the garden. Lance takes a deep breath as he watches her walk back into the castle, swearing slightly before thinking, That stubborn ass better not take too long…she might not wait forever for him. Letting out a deep breath, Lance walks back into the castle while deciding to have a conversation with his best friend.

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Walking into MedTech, Lance makes his way into Keith's room to find him reading a book. Keith looks up at him and puts a book marker into the book before closing it as he looks at Lance, "What's up?"

Lance sits down in the chair beside the bed and studies Keith for a moment before asking, "So what are you going to do about Allura?"

Keith lets out a deep sigh and sits back on the bed more before answering, "I don't know."

Arching a brow at him, Lance crosses his arms and legs, "Well, you should either commit to her or let her go and find happiness with some other lucky slob."

The thought of Allura being with another man fills Keith with an indescribable anger and it shows on his face. Lance sits forward in his chair and looks at Keith with amazement, "My God…you are an ass! You don't want her, but you don't want anyone else to have her either…"

Keith's angry eyes fall on Lance, "I didn't say I didn't want her."

Lance snorts as he sits back in his chair and re-crosses his arms, "Yeah right…you've been fighting with her for the last two days for no reason." As Keith becomes even more furious, Lance stands up to leave, "I mean it Keith, either commit to her or cut her loose. Don't leave her dangling while you try to figure out what you want. She deserves better treatment than that."

Keith grits his teeth while watching Lance walk out of the room. As the door closes, the anger drains away and leaves confusion in its place as Keith pushes his head back into his pillows and searches out Allura in his mind.

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Allura lies in her bed looking up at the starry night in her room, thanks to Keith's birthday gift, when she feels his presence in her mind, 'Keith? What's wrong?'

She senses his confusion and sadness before hearing his melancholy voice, 'Just wanted to make sure you were alright.'

Allura sits up in bed and flips off the star globe before turning on her lamp, 'I'm fine Keith, but are you?'

He doesn't respond to her for a while and just as she is about to stand and grab her bathrobe to walk to MedTech, his voice once again fills her mind, 'I'm hurting you…aren't I?'

Feeling slightly confused, Allura asks, 'What do you mean Keith?'

She feels more of his confusion and sadness before he speaks again, 'Because I don't know what I want… I'm hurting you.' Allura doesn't answer at first and her own sadness fills her before she replies, 'A little…but only because I want to be with you Keith. I want to love you and you won't let me.'

Allura feels his frustration coming through and she sighs, 'I can wait Keith…I care enough for you to wait while you work through this.'

His voice becomes slightly quieter when he responds, 'That isn't fair to you.'

A small smile crosses her lips as she replies, 'Some things are worth waiting for…'

She hears Keith's quiet response, 'Yes they are…'

Allura sits back on her bed, curls back up under the covers and switches off the light again throwing the room into darkness. She searches out and feels Keith calming down some as his frustration leaving him, and she sighs out, 'Good night Keith…' then closes her eyes.

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Back in MedTech, Keith lets out a deep sigh as Allura's calmness pours out to him. He reaches over to switch off the lamp beside him before answering her once more, 'Good night Allura.' and closes his eyes to go to sleep.

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Allura awakens the next morning and sighs as she stares at the ceiling of her room. Turning her head, she looks at her clock to find that normally she would have to be up for practice by now. But with Keith in MedTech, they won't have practice until Dr. Gorma releases him.

Sighing, Allura throws back the covers and rises to walk into her bathroom as she thinks, I need to clear my head…a flight in Blue should help.

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Lance strolls into MedTech and Keith's room in time to hear Keith growl at Dr. Gorma, "I'm fine doctor…no headaches, no blurry vision, now please release me!"

He almost laughs at the disgruntled look on Dr. Gorma's face as Keith continues to glare at him. Lance watches as Dr. Gorma writes something on his data-pad before responding, "Very well, but you will report back to me Commander if you experience any light headedness or nausea."

Keith grits his teeth while nodding at the doctor before getting off the exam table and walking over to Lance who smiles at him while saying, "I would say good morning, but don't want my head bit off."

Lance does laugh as Keith snorts at him, "Let's get out of here."

Following Keith out of MedTech, Lance is silent as they walk down the hall until Keith turns his face to him, "Everyone ready for practice?"

Letting out a sigh, Lance responds, "Hunk and Pidge are waiting in control."

Keith stops in the middle of the hall as a feeling of unease fills him, "Where's Princess?"

Lance stops a step ahead and turns back to Keith, "Out in Blue already. She wanted "some time to think" as she put it."

His feeling of unease increasing, Keith starts walking again, much faster, to control as he reaches out to Allura through their link, 'Allura, where are you?'

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Allura lets out a relieved sigh as she flips Blue in the air and then speeds up to race along the sky as the sun fully rises in the sky. Feeling peaceful and content for the first time in a long time, Allura takes a deep breath and pushes Blue up above the clouds to view the sky above.

The deep blue color shines off of Allura's eyes before she dips Blue back below the clouds again and turns to fly back toward the castle. What a wonderful morning…I'm glad I came out! A smile crosses her face until Keith's sudden anxiety fills her before she hears his voice, 'Allura, where are you?'

The smile leaves her as she answers, 'I'm up in Blue, heading toward the castle. What's wrong?'

Before Keith can answer her, Allura cries out as Blue lion jerks from a missile hit. She jerks the lion around to face the Doom ships coming at her and she reaches out to Keith, 'I'm under attack! Lotor!'

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Keith shouts, "NO!" and starts running for castle control, Lance quickly following him, yelling, "What the hell is going on?" Keith runs into castle control yelling, "Raise the tube! Lotor is attacking Allura!"

Coran quickly hits the button to raise the dais and Keith doesn't even slow down as he runs for Chute number one and Black lion.

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Allura fires proton missiles at the oncoming ships and then cries out, "Ion knife!" as she runs Blue lion through another one. An ominous laugh comes over her comm. unit as Lotor appears before her, "My love…you are finally alone. Land now and come to me quietly or be shot down and taken forcefully. The choice is yours."

Taking a deep breath, Allura cries out, "NEVER!" and turns Blue lion to fire on Lotor's command fighter. But Lotor fires first and Allura pulls hard on the controls, putting Blue lion into a dive to avoid the missiles. As she tries to pull back up the navigation controls start to shake and won't respond. Starting to panic Allura cries out, "Come on Blue, pull up!"

Looking at her monitors, she watches as Lotor fires more missiles at her as she continues to pull on the controls. Allura starts screaming as Blue lion is struck and she loses control while heading for the hard ground of Arus.

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Keith pushes Black lion as fast as he can as he reaches out to Allura, 'Hold on sweetheart! I'm on my way!' The lack of response from Allura fills Keith with a dread he can't describe as he yells out to the men, "Hurry up dammit, she's in trouble!"

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Lotor laughs victoriously as he steps out of Blue lion with an unconscious Allura in his arms, "At last…you are mine." The sound of roaring lions approaching has Lotor hurrying to his craft. He quickly straps Allura into the seat behind his, tying her hands down before getting back into the pilot's seat and taking off.

As he gets into the air, Lotor spots the lions coming at him and he radios into the fleet, "Get those Doom ships after those lions. Keep them busy until I have secured the princess."

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Keith's heart is in his throat as he watches Lotor's ship take off from a grounded Blue lion while they are still quite a ways away. He screams, "NO!" as several Doom ships fly at them. Lance yells at him, "Keith, get your mind in the game or we will all go down!"

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Keith calls out, "Proton missiles!" and starts firing on the ships while trying to reach out to Allura. The silence and the lack of emotions returning to him have Keith swearing mentally as he calls out, "Lotor has Allura and she is unconscious! We need to get Lotor's ship!"

Lance swears as he takes out another Doom ship before asking, "How in the hell are we supposed to do that with all these ships on us?"

Pidge calls out as well after taking out two more ships, "They just keep coming Cap…there is no way we can handle them all and save the Princess."

Keith fires more missiles at the oncoming ships before yelling, "DAMMIT!" He continues to take out ships as he watches Lotor's ship begin to leave Arus airspace. Swearing profusely he calls out, "I'm going after him, I'll evade or destroy ships until I get at him."

Hunk yells out, "NO CAP! You can't go it alone!"

Before Keith can argue further, Lance responds, "He isn't going alone. I'm going with him, Hunk, Pidge, keep these Doom jerks off our backs as much as possible then join us when you can." When both have acknowledged, Lance continues, "Lead on Cap…I've got your back."

Keith takes a deep breath and pushes forward, going through Doom ships, evading or destroying them as he heads for space with Lance right behind him.

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Lotor docks in one of the three command ships that are standing by outside of Arus' airspace and gets out of his craft. He calls out to a nearby robot, "Order the commander to take off, each ship heads into a different direction as planned."

The robot responds, "Yes sire." and walks away to follow the orders given.

Turning back to his ship, Lotor undoes the restraints on the princess and pulls her out of the ship. Carrying her in his arms, Lotor starts for his room on the ship, his mind jumping to the pleasures he has planned for the trip to the Doom controlled planet of Tyrus.

As he nears his room, Lotor listens to Allura's soft moan, "Good, she is starting to come to." He looks down on her still closed eyes, "It won't be any fun if she isn't awake."

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Keith and Lance finish fighting their way out to space and Lance starts swearing when he views the three ships in front of them, "How the hell are we supposed to know which one she's on?" Keith studies the crafts ahead of them then listens to Lance swear some more, "They are starting to leave Keith, in different directions! How do we find her?"

Keith shuts out Lance's voice and concentrates hard on Allura. He senses her starting to wake up and his eyes move to the ship in the middle of the group and his eyes harden, "The middle ship Lance, we attack the launch bays and get in that way."

Lance starts to question, "How the hell do you know…?" then yells, "Wait for me!" as he follows Keith as the lions head for the ship.