Coran narrates the paladins down a trip down through memory lane, much to Allura's displeasure (some spoilers for season six)
Photographs
Good morning, paladins!" Coran announced walking into the common area, he was barely given a response as both Lance and Keith barely seemed to move from where they were sunken into the couch. Lance was still in his bathrobe and Keith hadn't even attempted to wrangle in his bed head as he was sluggishly going through the motions to pour himself a bowl of cereal. Well, something that might've been similar to cereal if it hadn't been giving off a green mossy glow.
"Dude," Lance didn't even bother turning his head toward Keith before addressing him, "Shouldn't you be doing that in the kitchen?"
"I don't see how you can put your feet up on the coffee table but I can't pour a bowl of cereal on the couch." Keith spoke, flipping the box upside down in an attempt to get the last bits out.
Lance wriggled his toes which were indeed on the coffee table and shrugged before leaning over to examine Keith's bowl. "You sure that's cereal? Last time I checked, cereal isn't supposed to move."
The red paladin glanced down at his bowl and grimaced slightly before setting it down on the cushion next to him.
"Ah! Good morning, Hunk!" Coran's voice was a chipper as ever and the paladin in question barely seemed to drag himself through the door.
He plopped himself down on the seat next to Keith and after a long moment, the red paladin glanced over, "Hey bud, I think you sat in my cereal."
"Hmm?" Hunk looked down slightly at the questionable substance smushed into the cushions and into the seat in his pants. Reaching a hand out, Hunk swiped up a glob and stuck it in his mouth, "That's not cereal, that's the new tofu I had growing."
"You can grow tofu?" Lance asked, leaning down to examine the goo.
"Well it's not actually tofu, it's a tofu tasting plant. I got from the last sector we stopped in." Hunk explained, wiping at a few of the larger chunks before giving up all together. He didn't seem to have the energy either.
"But why would you grow tofu?" Keith asked, leaning his head over, "It doesn't even taste good."
Hunk shrugged, "Well it might've, I guess we won't know considering I just sat in it."
"Eww, Hunk. What is that?"
All three boys turned to see Pidge typing away at her computer that she was holding securely against herself. Walking into the room, she was full of energy. She bustled around, grabbing at a set of funky fushia pink fruit before fully attacking the monitor with a quick swipe of her hand.
"It's space tofu." Lance murmured, stretching his arms back.
"It was supposed to be my breakfast but Hunk sat on it." Keith gave a sideways glance towards the paladin in question and he crossed his arms over his chest in a familiar brooding manner. But the tired strain of his voice only made the attempt at his signature cool and detached persona sound whiny.
Hunk frowned slightly and wiped a little at the tofu, "Hey. It's not like I wanted to sit in your breakfast, don't make it sound like that or Pidge is gonna get the wrong idea."
Pidge however, had long checked out of the conversation. Her legs were crisscrossed and she was sitting down on the floor. Her back leaned against the legs of the couch (just slightly out of reach of the dripping goo) and she was already feverishly typing at her computer. The three boys strained to look over at what she was doing.
"Wait a second, is that the radio patch we were trying to crack the other day?" Hunk stood and his sudden movement to stand caused the other two boys who leaning against him to topple into the large smear of tofu that was crushed into the couch.
Lance nor Keith couldn't hide their displeasure as it stuck to the front of their attire and their arms. Lance heroically tried to save his favorite bathrobe but the slimy green plant matter only seemed to smear and soak deeper into the cotton material. Keith couldn't get anything off his arms or his sleep shirt. Turning, he wiped his arms on Lance's bathrobe. This normally would've ended in a full blown fight but the boys were just too tired. Shrugging, Lance and Keith sunk back into the couch in their previous positions, uncaring about the tofu now patterning their forearms. Neither Pidge nor Hunk had noticed a thing.
"How did you manage to patch this?" Hunk asked, leaning over the examine the numbers, "I haven't seen a matrix this complicated since…" Hunk frowned , "Actually I don't think I've ever seen a matrix this complicated."
"That's the beauty of it!" Pidge was beaming, "It's not about cracking it at all, there is one sequence out of each side that is mismatched, so when I put it together-" Her hands swipes over the screen and the few scatterings of numbers flowed a bright green, "-the radio channel opens up! Of course it only opens one way and I would really like to open up the other. If I do that, I could upgrade the lions and probably double our range signal for communication."
Hunk quickly added the math up in his head, "But to find the mismatched sequence, it would've taken hours. You'd have to write a whole new program." His eyes narrowed and he suddenly took in his teammates appearance, "How much sleep did you get last night?"
Pidge's eyes never left the screen, "Oh, I don't know. I think maybe two varga, three if you count the small patches I did to the program." The green paladin gave a slight smirk, "I'm not sure if that even counts as work."
"I'm honestly not even sure how you're awake right now." Hunk spoke before leaning forward in a conspiring whisper, "Don't tell Shiro but Keith, Lance and I were up till two in the morning playing Killbot Phantasm."
"Again? Last time you guys did that, Allura made us all clean out all the crawl spaces and ventilation because you and Lance fell asleep in the middle of on of her meetings."
Hunk scratched the back of his head, "Yeah she was pretty mad about that." He sheepishly laughed and gave her a side glance, "For how late you stay up, I'm surprised you haven't fallen asleep. How many days has it been since you got a good night's sleep?
"Sleep is for the weak." Pidge spoke, her eyes glued back to the scree
"Sleep is for everyone that belongs to a species that requires it."
"Well lucky for me, mine doesn't." She smirked conspiringly at Hunk's baffled features, "I've been doing some reading in the castle library and I came across an anatomy book." Pidge explained, pulling up the files onto her screen, "I scanned it into the computer and have been going through it. It has tons of information on different alien species." Hunk's eyes were glued to the hundreds of different pictures and diagrams of species that were quickly passing in his line of vision before disappearing. "I was cataloging them into my own personal data base when I came across this." The screen stopped moving and Hunk quickly read through the first few paragraphs on information. He stared at the humanoid like figure pictured on the page, "There's a chapter on alteans?"
Pidge nodded her head. She was carefully reading through the words that she had already read at least three different times. "All the information seems pretty general but I don't have any other references to back it up with. For an altean ship, there isn't a whole lot of reading about the species as a whole. I've found some history diagrams, a couple story books, some science journals- nothing with anything groundbreaking of course, but I did like this article on the mineral composition for the Balmeran crystal." Pidge pulled up another file and Hunk glanced through a couple architectural diagrams and she continued listing resources, "-and I even found an album that has Allura's baby pictures in it."
Hunk's eyes went wide at the last one, "No way. You did not!" This time, Pidge couldn't hide a laugh as she turned the screen towards Hunk, "Take a look at this one."
Coran, who hadn't much paid attention to the going on's of the paladins, perked up at those words he strolled over to where everyone was sitting. "Allura's baby pictures you said?" Coran's voice startled the pair and the bright tone loudly outmatched Hunk and Pidge's quiet whispering. Lance and Keith raised their heads and they too clamored over, Lance easily lead the charge.
"Allura's baby pictures?! I want to see!" Shoving through, Lance wedged himself between Hunk and Pidge as Coran delicately grasped the computer and held up the screen. There was a clear look of nostalgia as he traced the young altean features in the picture.
"Oh I remember this one." Coran spoke, pointing towards the picture. The crew all turned towards the older altean. Clamoring over each other, they all settled into the couch in good positions as Coran began to narrate. He pointed towards the picture, "One of the guards ended up taking that one in the royal garden." The paladins leaned in, drinking in the picture. It was of a young altean girl. Her long white hair fell in waves around her waist and the wisps of hair in front were held back by a plethora of colorful pins and a large brimmed sun hat. Her dress fell wildly down, spinning in motion.
"The princess loved to go out in the mornings before her lessons when she was younger. Her governess normally was off, finishing preparing the reading materials for the day so it was seldom that she was ever allowed to go because there wasn't anyone with the time to take her out and watch her. The gardens were relatively safe but she was just too young at the time to be wandering off on her own." Coran zoomed in at the girl's face. The picture was clearly an action shot as Allura was squatting down in the garden, grabbing at an orange and white flower. There was dirt smattered across her nose and grass stained the edges of her shoes. "When a few young, energetic recruits from the early guard shift caught wind of the problem, a few of them ended up commissioning King Alfor to let her come on the morning route with them." Coran shook his head, "I don't know if you realize, but it was a very bold thing to ask to personally take charge of the crown princess. It's an unheard of request! No senior officer, especially a general would've dared to ask such a thing. If they dared, it would be tantamount to trying to gain the biased favor of the young princess. But I suppose when you're young, it's easier to get away with that sort of thing." Another picture passed and taking its place was another image of Allura. This time, she was laughing with a large helmet over her head. She was settled up on a guard's knee, held tightly by an altean guard who was clearly trying (and failing) to remain professional. The guard's teal hair was combed and pulled back into a tight bun and there was a large broadsword strapped to the back of her plated armour. She looked every bit like a knight but any attempt at stoicism was lost as the sparkle in the woman's eye clearly showed that she was having just as much fun as young Allura. That snapshot passed quickly and Coran swiped to the next.
"Woah! He looks just like the AI virus thingy that took over the computer system that one time!" Lance spoke, leaning in towards the picture.
"Yes, that is King Alfor. A bit younger but it is him." Coran spoke, pointing between the three figures. Next to him was a young woman, clearly engaged in conversation as her arm was wrapped tightly around his. They were both dressed in beautiful gold ordinates and the dress was more lavish than anything the paladins has even seen before. Between them was a small sleeping bundle that everyone could recognize.
Pidge adjusted her glasses and leaned in, "What is this? Some sort of christening ceremony?"
"Oh! This is the official introduction of the princess to the people." Coran explained, pointing towards the lavish decorations and outfits of the people on the outskirts of the picture. "After a few weeks, the Queen's child is officially declared a legitimate heir to the throne. However, her title of princess at this stage is more honorary."
"So Allura's not the princess?" Keith asked, frowning, "That doesn't make any sense."
"Oh no! You misunderstand me. She is part of the royal family and she is the heir but at her age, to be declared the crown princess with legitimate power over any form of government, Allura had to pass a series of tests throughout her childhood and early teen years." Coran nodded his head in thought, "To be born a princess is a natural given right. But you're not born a leader. The truth is, there were plenty of cousins and other members of the extended royal family who could fight for the throne if there was any legitimate claim to the notion that the ruling royal family was in danger of bringing economic strife due to a lack of leadership." Coran twisted his mustache thoughtfully between his fingers, "In fact, there is only one instance that I can think of where there was a challenge against the one of the ruling family. But that was an exception in itself."
Pidge sat up at the new information, she felt her own marks pulse slightly as Coran's words raced through her mind, "Everything I've read about the Altean government leaves a blank hole about the rank of leadership around the ruling family." She looked at Coran who was swiping through and showing off a few pictures of the lavish halls, "What series of tests did Allura have to do?"
"Well, I'm not even sure where to begin." Coran hummed and paused over a picture, "Allura was groomed up by the finest tutors and the most accomplished teachers the kingdom had to offer. From diplomacy to language to-"
"Come on, Coran! That's boring stuff!" Lance interrupted, grabbing at the screen to pull it close, "There has got to be some embarrassing ones in here." The blue paladin quickly swiped through the pictures, passing over pictures of beautiful scenery and other snapshots of life that had many many figures moving in and out of the screen. Hunk seemed to have the same idea and he was already barreled over his shoulder to help the efforts. Together, their fingers swiped over the screen and flew through the album.
Keith crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, "Come on guys, that's really immature."
"Well you don't have to look if you don't want to." Lance shot back, not slowing down even slightly.
Walking over, Coran leaned over their shoulders. He glanced conspiringly around before putting his own finger own on the screen, "Well I'm not sure what you'd consider to be embarrassing but I do happen to know that there are a few that do show a bit more of Allura's personality." Coran's hand swiped down and his came finger to a sudden stop on a picture.
There was a great pause and Lance and Hunk erupted into laughter. They were soon joined by Pidge as she leaned over to take a look. Finally, when his curiosity became too much, Keith leaned over to take a look at the screen.
The child in the picture looked no older than a toddler. Her hair was sticking up wildly and there were a large amount of gaps in her teeth as she was wailing. Her clothes were bunched and grumpy looking like she had been abruptly woken from a nap. King Alfor looked just as upset. His hands were grasped under her armpits and he was holding her away from him like she was something strange and foul. It was obvious that he had no idea what to do. All in all it was a very comical looking picture, especially considering it was of the always composed and reserved princess they had come to know.
Swiping through, Lance barked out a laugh at the next picture, "My little sister used to make that face all the time!" Even Keith had to hold back a snort. The picture was of a very angry little girl. Her face was bright red and puffy like she had been crying. She was hunched over in a little stool that was placed in the corner, scowling at the ground. Her jumper was scuffed with marks. The little princess looked to be sitting very uncomfortably in the chair as her hand was behind her back and seemed to be angled towards her backside. Her chin was covered in a line of bandaids and her dripping nose was scrunched up in a handkerchief as she pointedly refused to look at the camera.
"Actually, it reminds me a little of you, Pidge. You used to go stomping around the house like that whenever Matt would take your toys." They all startled at Shiro's voice and Pidge whipped around.
Hunk caught his chest with one of his burly hands, "How long have you been standing there, Shiro?"
Shiro stuck his hands out of his pockets and leaned his elbows against the top of the couch, "Long enough."
Hunk glanced around him, "Uh… you didn't pass anyone in the hallway, right?"
There was a knowing glance in Shiro's eye and he winked, "I didn't see Allura, if that's what you mean." The whole group seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief and they all (including Shiro) leaned in to take a look at the picture that the black paladin had commented on.
Coran leaned down, "Oh I remember this one. Navi ended up taking this." There was a fond smile in his voice, "Some of the royal family had come up from the northern region and were passing through. King Alfor had invited them to stay and visit for a few days." Coran laughed slightly and he passed the screen around so everyone could get a better look.
Lance grinned and he zoomed in the photo, "Ha! What'd she do? I bet she played a prank or something."
"Nah, she totally stole cookies from the kitchen," Hunk nodded his head in a sage like manner.
"You're the only one who would steal food from the kitchens, Hunk." Keith examined the picture, "Nah, the princess doesn't seem like she'd be big into pranks."
"Are you kidding?" Pidge leaned down to glance at Keith, "The princess is totally the pranking type! Have you been a part of our training sessions for like the past forever?"
"Remember the paint bot, Keith." Hunk nodded his head with Pidge's assessment, "I still think the stain on my left knee is from those things."
"Was it fighting?" The other Paladins quieted down as Shiro ventured a guess, "You said her cousins were in town."
"While both are excursions that ones that she has indulged in," Coran turned towards the boys, "This picture is one where she got in trouble for striking her cousin." At the other's looks, Coran continued his explanation, "The princess didn't get along with her cousins, or should I say that they didn't get along with her. It escalated to extreme levels during her teens years, but that's a story for another time- I think it stemmed from jealousy but whatever the reason, the castle was always a bit chaotic when they came to visit." This time, the older Altean couldn't help but smile as he carefully swiped through to the next picture, "All the guards knew about it and after a few years we started a betting pool of how long it would take before something was said that started a quarrel. I only ever indulged a few times but as a result, whenever any of the extended royal family came to visit, the guards snuck their personal cameras on them. After all, the only way to win the pool was with photo evidence."
"And King Alfor was okay with it?" Pidge asked, "Isn't there something kind of strange about taking secret pictures of the royal family."
"You would think," Coran agreed, shaking his head, "The sad part was the King Alfor encouraged it! It was Allura's mother that disapproved. The king thought it was hilarious, I remember his booming laughs echoing the halls over a few of the pictures." Coran smiled and fondly looked down at the picture on the screen, "There wasn't much that got the princess so riled up and so it was almost a little nice to see that there was still some childhood and life in her. This is my own personal option but I think that was the reason King Alfor invited them at all."
Coran held up the next picture and the Paladins were stunned by the ferocious action shot. Allura was a little older in this one. Her beautiful dress was held tight with decorative ribbons. It was a bit fancier than the other ones but it's cream color was marred by a bright purple stain down the front. But that was barely attention grabbing as everyone's eyes were glued to the little fist that was buried knuckle deep into another girl's face. The princess was clearly mid shout as her other hand was balled against her side. A glass of some purple unidentifiable liquid was falling to the ground. There was a collective wince at the photo and Lance was dying laughing at this point.
Hunk let out a low whistle, "Oooo, that looks like it must've hurt."
"That dress was one of Allura's favorites. Her mother had gotten it for her at the beginning of the spring season. She had worn it for all twice before Yvette had "accidently" spilled her drink against the front." Coran swiped through the next few that showed the two girls dissolving into a small wrestling match and tears as they were dragged apart. "I don't think I remember Allura's mother ever being so strict with the princess before or after then. The stain eventually came out but poor Allura was inconsolable over it."
"That's pretty good form too." Shiro examines the angle of the photo, "Excellent right hook. Allura got her good. I wouldn't be surprised if her nose was broken."
"And well deserved, if I might add!" Coran cheered at the picture, "If only you could've seen the queen that day. Think she was strict with the princess?" He shook his head with a laugh, "After seeing to Allura, the woman went storming across the castle with such a commanding aura! In all my years I never saw the woman so cross before in my life! I don't know what she said they didn't come back for another three cycles."
"This one's of you, Coran." Keith spoke, swiping through past the next two before turning the computer towards the man in question. Coran nodded his head and examined the photo. He looked a bit younger, his hair was a bit longer and the was a clear sign of youth in his shoulders and muscles in his arms.
"When this photo was taken, I had already been Alfor's personal advisor for many deca-phobes." Coran spoke. His attention turned towards the other figure in the photo and his eyes grew sad. Reaching out, he thumbed the smiling face of his son in his shining recruit uniform. He quickly turned the page and instead began to explain a few more of the pictures.
They passed a few more they were all so absorbed in them that they didn't notice when the door slid open.
"This one is a good one! It was taken during the Annual Summer Harvest, one of Altea's biggest celebration. This year was a bit difficult to host as the boiling rains swept from the earlier evening left the whole kingdom covered in mud." Coran smile down at the picture, "Normally we'd try to make sure that the streets were clean for the parade but there just wasn't enough time."
There was a collective snicker coming from all sides as their heads leaned in to examine the photograph.
"That's a whole lot of dirt to try and get out of your hair." Hunk remarked, pointing his finger down at the small princess in the photo that was covered head toe in. Even her shining hair was filled and matted with grime, but even then the dirt did nothing to hide the toothy smile of the princess who was holding a pile of silvery, glowing petals. King Alfor was right behind her, swooping down to hold her up under her arms so she could stand on her feet. But it was obvious that her previous attempt to walk had sent her falling into the mud.
Coran gave a wily smile and flipped to the next the next picture, "Oh it took more than just a few baths to get it all out."
Pidge and Hunk let out a collective aw and Keith grimaced and he averted his eyes and did his best to appear as nonchalant as possible as he did his best to ignore the next picture.
"Oh come on man," Lance preened, jabbing his elbow into Keith's side, "Are you really that uncomfortable?"
"No." Keith refuted, shifting his eyes away from the photo that Coran, Pidge and Hunk were making ridiculous noises over, "It's just, is this really necessary?" Keith asked, his face going slightly red.
Why the quiznak would he ever want to see some old picture of one of his teammates in the bathtub? It was weird, no matter how cute she looked with the bubbles foaming over her face to look like a little santa beard.
Lance gave a wolfish grin and leaned forward, "You were an only kid, right? bet your family has a ton of embarrassing baby pictures of you in the tub or potty training." Lance's grin only sharpened at the blatant alarm in Keith's shifty expression. 'Gotcha.' Leaning way into his personal space, Lance patted Keith, "What? Is little ol' Keith embawassed?" The blue paladin's voice inflected with a high pitch as he over exaggerated baby talk at his teammate.
"I didn't grow up in that kind of household." Keith crossed his arms over his chest with a subdued , frosty look, "Stop getting on my case. Just because your parents were embarrassing doesn't mean mine were."
Across space, deep within the territory of the Galra Empire was a small scouting fleet on their way to meet with Warlord Ranvieg.
"Aachoo!" Krolia wiped at her nose and glanced around at the empty bridge before looking back down at the small photograph that she had been examining. The scouting missions that she normally went on for Ranveig gave her a lot of time to kill and freedom to help along her fellow blade members. However, there were times like this she still couldn't help but dread the boredom. When she was alone, she couldn't help but bring out the picture. She wasn't supposed to keep any compromising personal items on her but she couldn't help but hold this one close to her heart.
She loved this picture of Yorak. He was so small, bundled up against her. He had a silly look on his face as he stared into his mother's eyes. She had very quickly realized it was his pooping face and she had made sure at the time to label the back of the picture as such so she would always remember. Even now she still remembered the fragile grip he had around her finger. It was incredibly weak and yet at the same time, he was so strong. Krolia had never known something so beautiful and yet so frightening. It was frightening to come to terms with the truth that she truly would do anything, even fight Emperor Zarkon himself to keep him safe. Everything she did was for Yorak. She thumbed the frayed edges and carefully smoothed it over before sliding it back into her breast pocket. It wouldn't do any good if she was found with it.
But still, in the comfortable silence of the bridge, Krolia pondered the matter. Did her boy still wear that face when he pooped?
Pidge and Hunk were not trying very hard to muffle their laughs as the red paladin tried and failed to mask his embarrassment. "Yeah, Keith," Pidge spoke, leaning forward with an amused expression, "Why are you so embarrassed? It's not like they're your pictures. And even if they were, everyone was a infant once. That's just part of living." Pidge's self assured, sound reasoning died as Shiro loomed in their view and pulled out his wallet.
"Is that so, Katie?" Shiro asked, lifting a brow as he opened up the folds of his wallet, "Well I suppose if we're sharing, I happen to have a few pictures of my own."
As soon as Pidge caught sight of the set of photographs in Shiro's hand, her face darkened to a deep red and she immediately shot to her feet, "Shiro!" Hunk barely caught a glance at the worn photo of two cheesing, diaper wearing, curly haired little kids before Pidge scrambled to try and to grab them from their team leader. "Put those away!"
"Why?" Shiro's faux confusion was poorly done as the amusement in his eyes clearly gave away the act, "I thought you said that everyone was a baby once?"
"Stop being mean, Shiro!" A low whine that emulated from the back of Pidge's throat as she just about climbed up the back of Shiro in an attempt to swipe at the them. He held his hand up high out of reach and gave a teasing grin. It was funny that despite everything he had gone through, somehow his wallet had survived. He wasn't sure how but when he had been found all those years later passed out in Earth, the Garrison had brought his old ID to match credentials that it was really him. The Garrison was a lot of things but Shiro had a high amount of respect for their standard of privacy. Everything else in his wallet hadn't even been touched.
In between the boys' bickering, Hunk's booming laughter and the general chaos, no one had noticed when the door had slid open to give entrance to the final resident of the castle.
"Whatever are you all laughing about this morning?" Allura asked, her brow etched with confusion as she came upon the scene, "I've been expecting you at the training deck for nearly a half hour and…" Allura's voice stuttered to a stop and the scene completely froze as everyone else turned to the princess.
Hunk's face went white and he grabbed at the forgotten computer but Allura had already gotten a clear look at the image on the screen.
"P-Princess!" Coran sputtered out, looking over at the other Altean in sheepish shock.
The princess seemed to completely lose composure as another look at the computer screen caused marks on her cheeks gave a few quick pulses. There was a whole mix of emotion and her face became something unreadable as her line of sight was held by the young face of King Alfor.
Her flustered reaction was funny but it wasn't even close to Keith's. During the struggle the laptop had landed right on his lap, leaving him to look like the guilty party. The red paladin has completely and utterly horrified at the sight of Allura. His face drained to white and he couldn't even stutter out a word to her before he had shoved Lance off and taken off and exited the room in a quick bolt.
Allura glanced through the other occupants of the room, her eyes barely managing to even look at Shiro before her marks once again gave a very faint glow before going completely dormant. With her initial reaction reigned in and under control once more, Allura pierced Coran with a look. "What, in the name of King Groggery the infirm, is going on?" She didn't wait for his response before whipping around towards the remaining four, "And why aren't you all on the training deck?" Her laser focus shifted and went solely on Pidge. She leaned down towards the green paladin, "Last time we trained I gave an assignment for you to work on your aim." She lifted a brow, "I suppose if you're up here, you've must've seriously improved since yesterday afternoon." Stretching her arms above her head, Allura's body relaxed and she gave Pidge a smile, "I suppose a reassessment is in order then."
Pidge squeaked ever so slightly, stiffening at Allura's words. She had been training long enough to know that the princess' disarming smile was anything but friendly. Pidge abandoned her attempts to take Shiro's wallet and stumbled from the room with some mumbled garbled about needing to train. She didn't even try to grab her laptop, that was a lost cause.
The remaining paladins glanced between Allura's unreadable expression and each other. A signal went between Shiro, Lance and Hunk. They gave a guilty glance to Coran who was beginning to catch onto their scheme. He shook his head and his events were filled with betrayal. It did nothing to deter them from dispersing in opposing directions. Each of them gave fleeting excuses of training as none wanted to be caught alone with the frightening looking Allura. As the door closed behind Shiro, he looked back at the closed doors and couldn't help but laugh a little. He had never known someone to turn purple from embarrassment before.
Author's Note: I've been insanely busy these past few weeks with wedding stuff. This chapter and the next will tide you guys over until I can finish some requests
