Disclaimer: WEP owns everything except the voices in my head and the things the voices tell me to make the characters do... Oh and Prince Rhiald...
Author's Note: This is one of my favorite chapters...
Sitting in her room, Allura gazes at the framed photo clasped in her hand. The picture is of a young boy who appears to be around 6 years old. He sports a mop of unruly black hair and dancing eyes of nearly the same color. A smile dominates his face as he gazes toward the camera. Tears fall from her eyes as she traces his image. "Keith, where are you?" she whispers. "Rhiald plans to marry me next week. I can't delay him anymore… But it's supposed to be you who I marry…" She sniffs and wipes her hand across her face. "When I look at this picture of you as a child, I can picture my children… our children… Oh, I miss you so much, Keith…"
She gently sets the picture down on the table next to her bedside before turning back to the larger table in front of her window. "I hope you don't mind, Keith, but I had Lance bring me some of your personal effects…" She reaches into the large box that rests on the table and pulls out one of his red flight suit shirts. Bringing it to her face, she inhales deeply trying to absorb as much of his scent as she can from his clothing. Smiling sadly, she pulls the shirt on over her head without even thinking about it. It hangs loosely on her small frame. Obviously too big for her, it looks odd over her pink jump suit. "You always smell so nice…" Looking into the box once more, she reaches in again, this time coming out with a nondescript book grasped in her hand. Opening it, she is surprised to see that it's his personal journal. Leafing through it randomly, she chooses an arbitrary page and begins reading.
-I'm so glad to finally be out of that hospital bed! I really wish I could get it through to the princess that she doesn't need to run away when she gets scared or worried. If only I could convince her to come to me with her concerns... She has to know I'd protect her with my life. I have to… I love her... I think I always have. I just didn't realize it until I was recuperating from this latest rescue. But as much as I hate being in that hospital wing, I'd gladly spend every day there if it meant keeping her safe.-
She runs her fingers over the neat block lettering on the page, no longer seeing the words through her tears. Breathing deeply, she flips through to another page at random and begins reading again.
-Construction on the stadium for the Space Olympics is going well so far. We're ahead of schedule so there may be some time to relax before the athletes start arriving and we have to go back on guard duty. Of course not everything has gone entirely smoothly… Princess and Nanny decided to surprise us with dinner tonight… Let's just say we weren't the only ones surprised when they walked in unannounced. Talk about timing… I don't know how I will ever be able to look either of them in the eye again…-
A small smile turns up the corners of her mouth and a faint blush rises on her cheeks at the memory of that day. It was certainly a sight she hadn't expected to see, though she definitely enjoyed it.
Flipping to the end of the book she decides to read the last entry, written the day before his birthday.
-I've decided. I'm gonna tell her how I feel. I can't deal with Lance torturing me all the time anymore. He's beaten me sparring three times this month alone. I've gotta get a grip. Even if she doesn't return my feelings, well at least I'll know and I can deal with that. I think I found something in the library that might help. Now if I can just figure out exactly which flower I need and where it grows... I need to locate it during my patrol today, so I can give it to her at my birthday party tomorrow…-
She gently closes the book and places it next to the photo on her bedside table before returning to the box…
Keith is asleep in his cell aboard the Doom craft. Suddenly he is awakened when the soft sound of a woman's voice echoes in his head. "Keith, where are you?" Snapping his eyes open, he bolts upright. He hears the voice again. "I miss you so much, Keith…" Looking around, he sees no one in the cell with him. The voice seems familiar, but he can't place it. Holding his head between his hands, he tries to figure out where it could be coming from. He's so confused. There is something comforting about the woman's words and he is sure that she holds the key to his past. She was calling for someone named Keith… Could that be his name? For the first time in months, he searches his mind for some clue about his life before waking up in a cell…
The Doom fleet rapidly approaches Arus and alarms begin to wail throughout the castle. Allura races to Castle Control, hastily wiping away her tears as she goes, unaware that she is still wearing Keith's shirt. Arriving, she sees that the rest of the team is already there crowded around Coran at the monitor. "What is it?" She asks.
"A Doom fleet just entered Arus's…" Lance begins answering her, stopping in mid-sentence as he turns and takes in her appearance. "You OK, Princess?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Lance." Her eyes plead with him to let it drop, thinking that he is reacting to her tear streaked face. "Right now we need to go deal with this threat. To your lions, boys!" She races to Black Lion's tunnel without glancing back to make sure that they are following her and missing the shared look that passes through the rest of her crew.
"Where'd she get his shirt?" The dark haired Norwegian pilot asks.
"It must have been in the box of his stuff that I brought her earlier."
"So do you think she knows that she's wearing it?" Hunk watches her back as she grabs the T-bar and disappears from view.
"I think it's sweet…" Pidge takes off his glasses in order to clean them.
The sound of a throat clearing reminds them that the princess is already on her way to Black Lion. "Sorry Coran, we're on our way." Turning as one, they race to enter the tunnels leading to the remaining Lions.
They fly out to intercept the approaching enemy force. As they get within range, a robeast is unleashed. The bright red monster resembles a giant armored, humanoid wolf. "Alright boys, let's tame this puppy!"
Lance takes the initiative and flies ahead in an attempt to ram the monster's chest and knock it off balance. Before he can get close enough, the robeast seems to anticipate his move and steps aside allowing the Red Lion to fly past harmlessly. Just as he clears the creature, it reaches out; grabbing the Lion's tail and yanking it back sharply. Inside the cockpit, Lance is thrown from his seat by the sudden, violent change in speed. Just as quickly, the robeast releases its hold and the Red Lion falls limply to the ground. The monster calmly turns to square off against its remaining opponents.
"Lance! Are you alright?" Allura shouts into the communicator, but there is no response and the Red Lion remains sprawled on the ground, motionless.
This time it's Pidge who surges forward in the Green Lion and launches a series of scatter missiles towards the beast. Just as the warheads near the monster, it anticipates the attack and has already activated a shield to block the bursts, redirecting them back upon Pidge. They explode, catching his Lion in the eruption, knocking it sideways, completely out of control.
Before she can react to this latest event, Prince Lotor makes contact with the Black Lion pilot. "Princess Allura, the word on Doom is that you have chosen a prince to marry. I would like you to re-think your choice and accept my proposal instead. I can offer you the galaxy as my Queen…"
"Never Lotor! I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man in the entire universe. And no robeast of yours will change my mind!"
"We'll see about that… My offer won't last forever Allura; you would be wise to give it more consideration instead of just dismissing me out of hand…" His words come out in a menacing snarl before he slams down a gloved fist, severing the connection.
"Pidge! Can you hear me? Lance? Hunk, Sven, we've got to think of a way to defeat this thing. It keeps anticipating all our moves before we make them… I wish Keith was here. He'd know what to do…" She closes her eyes and tries one more time to connect to him, wherever he is. Reaching out mentally, she is shocked to feel him much more strongly than before and snaps her eyes open in surprise. "Keith…?" she whispers his name uncertainly. "Could it be? Are you here somewhere?"
Unaware of what is happening in the cockpit of Black Lion; Hunk takes this opportunity to fire his proton missiles at the wolf-like head. Just as with the other attacks, the creature seems to know what is coming by the time the weapon launches, countering it perfectly so that it rebounds against the Yellow Lion. The third lion ship falls helplessly to lie next to its red and green companions.
Focusing intensely, Allura opens her mind again reaching out for Keith's. "Keith, I can feel you, you must be somewhere close… Please answer me… We need your help!"
Suddenly, the monster shakes its head viciously and falls heavily to its knees. A soul shattering howl rends the air as the creature presses clawed hands to its pointed ears. "What…?" Sven looks around trying to figure out what is happening. Noticing that the Black Lion hasn't moved in some time, he opens a connection to the princess. "Princess, are you alright? We should strike now while the Robeast is disoriented." His melodic voice distracts her and she shakes her head in order to regain her wits.
"Sven? What happened? I thought I felt Keith's mind and was trying to connect to him…"
"The monster, it's confused…"
"Could it be…? Sven do you think…? Could he be *in* there? Controlling it?"
"That would explain how it anticipated our moves… He would be the only one who would know what we would do before we do it."
"We have to find a way to disable it without destroying it. Sven, do you think you can do that if I keep him distracted?"
"It's our only chance, Princess. Let's hope it will be enough…"
"OK, here we go…" Allura brings the Black Lion close to the wolf-like creature before closing her eyes and reaching out again… "Keith, are you in there? Please come back to me… I know you won't hurt me. I know you love me, and I love you too… Stop fighting us…"
Sven watches as the robeast stops moving and stands mesmerized facing the Black Lion. "Good job, Princess. I think you have his attention…" His words are a quiet whisper within his pilot cabin. He slowly approaches with the Blue Lion and is pleased when the monster completely ignores him, remaining transfixed by the spell Allura is weaving between them. He edges closer and closer, afraid that any swift movements will break the trance. Finally, he gets close enough to the creature to create a lion rope net and ensnare the monster within it. Pulling quickly, he traps the beast, binding its appendages. "Got him, Princess. Now we just have to figure out what to do with him. And we have to wake up the others…"
"Bring him to the desert. Use your water burst to flood the area and create mud to bury him in. I'll get the others and we'll meet you there to figure out our next move."
"On my way…" The Blue Lion lifts off, the netted creature dangling from his mouth.
Allura lands the Black Lion and exits her cabin to check on the other three pilots. She enters the Red Lion and finds Lance lying on the floor next to his seat. He has a bloody nose, but she doesn't see any other obvious injuries. Kneeling down next to him, she reaches out and gently shakes his shoulder. "Lance… Lance… Wake up Lance… Arus to Lance…"
"Hmmmffggn…" He tries to roll away from her refusing to open his eyes.
"Lance! Get up now!"
"Huh? Wha? Allura?"
"Get up, Lance. I think we found Keith!"
"Keith! But where? How?"
"Sven and I think he is controlling the robeast that just attacked. He anticipated every move any of us made. It seemed hopeless, so I reached out for Keith and felt his mind nearby. At the same time, Sven noticed that the monster became disoriented. I used my connection to him in order to distract him long enough for Sven to capture him, but not before you, Pidge, and Hunk were knocked out."
"Where is he now?"
"Sven took him to the desert and turned it into a mudflat to bury him in. Can you rouse Pidge and Hunk and then join us there? I wanna go see if I can figure out how to get Keith out of that thing…"
"Sure, Princess!"
She races back out of the Red Lion and is in the air seconds later.
Author's note: I know Blue might not be strong enough to carry the monster alone... But I believe in magic and ask you too as well... :-)
