In the life
Chapter 12
Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated, life got in the way. Enjoy!
Two days later
Larmina stood in the corner of the hallway as she watched the happy reunion of her friends and their families. Most of them hadn't seen each other in years. Allura had set it up months ago because it would be good for everyone. But Larmina couldn't help feeling like a shadow in the sunlight that shone on everyone else. Where was her mom? She'd said she would come back one day, but that was years ago. Where was she now? Didn't she know a girl needed her mom?
/
"Well son," Martha spoke to Keith, "lunch was delicious. But how come we haven't met Allura yet? I've been dying to meet my future daughter in law."
"Mother," Keith replied, "it's kinda complicated right now."
"Love isn't complicated dear," she replied with all the knowledge of a loving mother. "You only make it complicated by fighting against it and avoiding it. It might be hard but you can fight against the hard not the love. Love makes even the hard things bearable."
Keith sighed knowing she wasn't going to give up on the subject. He hadn't told her yet what happened two days ago. How their love didn't matter anymore because the kingdom wouldn't accept it.
He did know though that Allura did want to meet his parents, even though he knew he couldn't change the subject totally he could change it a little bit.
"How bout I go take you to meet her?" He asked.
His parents shared a hopeful look and nodded. "That would be lovely." His mother replied.
They left the dining room and walked to Allura's office. She said she'd be working on all the paperwork that had been getting neglected that she needed to catch up on.
He knocked on her office door but there was no reply. He figured that she was so focused on her work she didn't hear him. So he opened the door and started to speak.
"Allura, I would like you too meet..." His voice trailed off. Allura had fallen asleep at her desk which was full of paperwork. Her pen still in her hand and dark heavy circles under her eyes. His mom peeked around his shoulder.
"Oh dear, it looks like she's fallen asleep. Poor girl, so much responsibility for one so young. I guess we will meet her another time."
"About that," Keith said closing the door behind him as they moved back into the hallway. "There's not going to be a lot of time to meet with her. I told her she should've rescheduled you all coming to another week but she wouldn't listen to me."
"What do you mean?" His father asked confused. "Why would she invite us to come on a week that wasn't good for her?"
Keith looked at the man whom he called his father. He had always known they weren't blood but he had always thought that they were from the same planet.
"Because she wanted to meet you." While there was still hope. He thought to himself.
/
So that's the whole tour, what do you think? Vince asked his parents feeling proud. His family might not have been poor growing up but they never had everything. He had always seen how hard his parents worked for him and his siblings. They had neglected their own needs to see that him and his siblings didn't go without anything. It had always been a fear of his that he would never do anything worthwhile in his life that would make his parents proud. But here he was a member of the Voltron Force and a scientist finding a cure.
"Vince we are so proud of you." His mother spoke. Her dark eyes shone as she said this but her smile wavered and she gripped her husband's hand. They shared a look.
"Mom what's wrong?" Vince was worried, did he somehow disappoint them?
"Nothing is wrong, Vince dear. It's just... time we told you."
...
Vince's heart was beating out of his chest?
"What do you mean I'm not you're son?" He couldn't think, nothing was making sense.
Tears were spilling down the checks of both of his parents.
"It's not that you're not our son, you are." His father spoke. "But we found you in a basket in our field with a note for you. And a note for the person who found you. It told us your name and that you're one of the last of your kind so you had to be hidden. We were instructed not to tell you until you were ready. And it's clear as daylight. You're ready." The person Vince had thought of as his father for his whole life reached out his hand that held a card, he could see his name on the top of that card.
/
Allura woke with a horrible headache. She was surprised and mad at herself to find out it was almost dinner time. She had completely slept through all the families arriving and she had let so much time go to waste.
There had been so much stress she wasn't even able to dream. Not that she minded at this time in her life, she didn't want those nightmares in her life right now. Putting her thoughts aside she quickly got dressed and made herself presentable. It took longer than she liked.
Dinner was about to be served as she walked into the dining room. She wore a simple but elegant white and green dress. She felt self conscious introducing herself so late in the day. How embarrassing, a queen should always be there to greet her guest. She chastened herself.
"I'm so sorry I was not able to personally greet you earlier," she spoke to everyone. "I was held up by my many duties, but not any longer. Welcome to Arus. I'm am so glad and honored to have you all here. Although many of you are only staying one week, you are welcomed here as long as you like. Now let's eat."
/
"Daniel." His father spoke when he had gotten him alone.
"Yes dad?"
"Are you sure you should be here? I know your friends assured us that they're finding a cure for you, but why don't you just come back home and do something safe with your life before you waste it?"
Daniel felt his blood boil a bit and tried to restrain it. It was so easy now to lose his temper. His dad never supported his dreams, of course his dad was going to try to have him quit just when Black was barely out of his reach.
"Don't even try to talk me out of it. I know what I'm doing and I'm not throwing my life away. Vince and Pidge will find a cure for me and then I will be the pilot of the Black Lion. I know what I'm doing.
"I bet you said the same thing when you went and got yourself infected with that haggarium stuff."
The last thing Daniel wanted was to ruin what had been a good day by arguing with his dad. Why couldn't his dad or anyone ever believe in him? He stormed off to the den before his dad could bother him more.
/
Three days later
/
A beautiful red sunrise lit the Arus sky. The red sun was creating all kinds of pinks and oranges that stretched all across the horizon. Paying a beautiful silent tribute to that tragic day twenty years ago.
As beautiful as the sunrise was it was nothing compared to the person Keith held in his arms.
They had spent the night together on the terrace. Neither of them had slept. Allura had been to stressed and scared to sleep and Keith refused to let her suffer alone.
"Are you ready for today?" He asked, knowing that everyone in the castle would be up soon and needing her.
"No. It's hard to believe it's been twenty years. It just feels like another day without them but they add up. Years add up. All I have is memories and those fade besides the painful ones..." She drifted off in thought and he held her tighter.
They stood there in each other's embrace until they started hearing motion in the castle.
"I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can be strong enough for this Keith. Normally in the past I've just taken it easy on this day but I can't."
"You can and will Allura." He spoke reassuringly. "You can make it just until tonight, I'll be by your side the entire day. Lean on me and use my strength."
She didn't say anything more and neither did he. They were both lost in thought, today was going to be one of the most stressful days of his life. Allura only had two more days until she officially became engaged and they still hadn't discovered the traitor yet. Knowing his luck Maahox was bound to attack again today.
/
"Larmina, you are avoiding your responsibilities!" Allura yelled after her.
"I'll get to them later, I have to do something else now, something more important."
"What could be more important at this moment?"
"Nothing that concerns you okay?"
She saw the look her aunt was giving her and she had enough.
"Stop trying to control me all the time, you're not my mother, so stop acting like it."
With that she ran out of the castle ignoring her aunt calling her.
Larmina had found a note on her pillow from her mom telling her to meet her in the apple orchard an hour before noon. Her mom had finally come back. Nothing was going to stop her from meeting her.
...
There she was, she couldn't believe her mother was standing ten feet in front her. Her long red hair waving in the wind, her brown eyes had a strange sadness to them.
"Mom?" Larmina asked nervously, it was almost too good to be true.
Arlena stood with open arms. "It's really me."
Needing no more invitation Larmina ran straight into her mother's arms. All those years of loneliness melted away during their hug. Her mother was back, finally back and here to stay.
"Mom, I'm so glad you're back. I have so much to tell you, so much to show you!"
"I bet you do, but I'm not going back to the castle."
Larmina looked at her mom confused.
"What do you mean? You're not leaving again, you just got back!"
Her mother looked at her with sad eyes. "I can't stay here Larmina, it's too painful. There's too many sad memories, too many reminders of pain. I came here to get you, then we can leave."
"I'm not going anywhere mom, I'm part of the Voltron Force, they need me."
"No!" Her mother said firmly and almost angry. "You think they need you but they don't, they don't need you risking your life when there is absolutely no reason..."
Larmina cut them off. "They do need me mom, Allura couldn't be a pilot anymore and I was the only one who could take her place."
"The fact that your aunt lets you ride into danger proves how irresponsible she has become."
"Mom, you know Aunt Allura is the most responsible person alive."
Her mom sighed. "Enough, I'm not fighting with you about this. Don't you want to be with me? We can finally spend time together and be a family again, mother and daughter."
"Of course I want to be with you! I've always wanted that! Don't you know how bad a girl needs her mom? But I'm not leaving I have responsibilities here, just like you did, but when dad died you abandoned them, you abandoned me!" She was crying now. "How could you mom?"
Her mother gently gave her a hug. "My dear dear Larmina. I never meant to abandon you. I guess I did. When your dad died I was crushed with so much grief I could barely breath. If I stayed I couldn't have been the mother you needed. So I left, to get stronger, so I could be the mother you needed."
"No you ran away mom. I was grieving and I didn't run away, neither did Allura. We stayed and we picked up the pieces that dad and you left even though everything was still crumbling down. But we found peace and happiness and you could've too.
Tears streamed down her mother's cheeks. "Larmina I..."
Larmina's voltcom started going off. "Hold on moment. I have to go, my team needs me."
"Why? What wrong?" He mom asked anxiously.
"I don't know, but I just got an urgent code, something is very wrong."
"So you're just going to run into unknown danger?"
"Yep."
"But you could die!"
"My team could die if I don't, you see around here we think of more than just ourselves."
Larmina regretted saying that the moment she saw the pain it caused on her mother's face but it was too late. She ran back to the castle and prepared herself for the worst.
/
The whole force was in the control room with Allura, Coran and their families having lunch and trying to figure which suitor was the traitor. When all of the sudden they were frozen in fear. The big screen started playing old security footage from a ship a long time ago.
No no no! Allura screamed in her head. It was playing the dream she couldn't awake from, except this wasn't her dream. This was the video footage of that horrible horrible day.
She wanted to run, to scream, to shoot the screen with her arrow. But she couldn't, fear had plagued her. Just as it has plagued her five year old self. And apparently everyone in the room too.
She watched in horror as her father refused to arrange a marriage with Zarkon. Zarkon's face filled with rage as he yelled the command to have her parents killed. It was all too much, Allura fell to her knees as her parents collapsed lifeless on the floor. "No!" She had screamed. Why hadn't anyone turned the screen off, why was everyone just standing there helpless. She couldn't let it go on anymore she had to stop it.
The tape continued to play. Allura could only crawl, but she would get there. She would stop this nightmare.
"King Zarkon, what shall we do with the child?" The guards had asked.
"Whatever you want, just as long as you keep her alive. She's going to marry my son one day. Ugh, but for now take her to a room and make her stop weeping, she's giving me a headache."
The sounds of screams and whips followed.
Before she could reach the screen the footage had paused and a voice spoke. Maahox was standing right in front of her.
"I'm surprised you can move. The fear potion I released in the air was supposed to stop everyone in their tracks. I took the same fear you felt during that video clip and multipled it's effects, I thought it would add a nice touch." He laughed evilly.
Taking heart Allura stood up, powered on her voltcom and pulled back her bow and arrow aiming it right in his face.
"I'm not a helpless little child anymore, I've spent the last twenty years of my life fighting that fear and if you think that's going to defeat me you're a dead man. Now why are you here?"
Maahox laughed again.
"You're so delightful thinking you're going to shoot me. You might as well put the bow and arrow down. You're not going to kill me. You're going to surrender."
"And why would I do that?"
"You wouldn't want me to blow your planet up now would you?"
"You're bluffing."
"Quite on the contrary, I am one hundred percent serious." He held a small black remote with a red button in his hand. He moved the image on the screen so he could show her exactly where they had planted the bomb.
Last week I had my robeast plant it, what fools you are for thinking I'd give up so easily! You should have known I was up to something more. So what is it going to be your Majesty? You can either surrender and be my prisoner or I can destroy your planted right here right now." Maahox looked deep into her eyes as a malicious smile formed on his face.
Despair hung heavy in her heart, there was no way she could get that remote control out of his hand without him activating it. She was going to have to give in to his terms, there was no way around it.
"Why do you want me when you could just take the planet?" She had to know, if he wanted he could have her and all her people as slaves this instant, why did he want just her?
"You will be the downfall of Voltron."
"No I won't. Voltron would never risk the safety of Arus and the universe just to rescue me."
"I'm not so sure about that, not when the commander is in love. I don't think he'll rest till your safe. But let's say you're right and they don't try a rescue attempt. What do you think will happen when I turn you into a robeast and they'll be forced to kill you? They will come and I'll be ready. That is as long as you don't destroy them yourselves, you're going to be quite a powerful robeast. The time is up you can come with me now or I'll blow up your planet to bits."
There were so many emotions tumbling inside her; despair, anger, worry, surprise. She wanted to fight and she couldn't. Now she was going to die, just like her parents. There was no way she would let Maahox turn her into a robeast. Even though no one else could move or talk she felt the tension, she could hear them shouting for her to stay. But she had no choice. She could feel Keith's eyes burn into her back, she could feel his heart breaking, it felt just like her own. Had it only been this morning that she stood safe in his embrace?
She couldn't meet anyone's eyes because then she wouldn't have had the strength to do what she needed to do.
"Don't come after me." She said to them.
"If I do this, if I surrender do you promise to dislodge the bomb and leave my people in peace?"
"I'll dislodged the bomb after a time but that's all I can promise."
"You may have won for right now Maahox, but you will not get the victory you are seeking." Her head held high and shoulders back she surrendered gracefully.
"I'm sure you would like to think that." Maahox handcuffed her and removed her voltcom. "Can't have this now can we?" He said and laughed.
He turned and made eye contact with everyone in the room before he spoke next. "Don't think of following us too closely, the bomb is still intact and very very active. I'm leaving my servant here, I shall be notified if anything happens. In the mean time I'll continue to play this delightful footage I found."
Maahox lead Allura out to his ship. She stole a glance behind her when they had reached outside, she knew in her heart this would be the last time she'd ever see her planet. There was no coming back, not for her. A tear trickled down her cheek as she stepped onto Maahox's ship and watched her home disappear.
/
"NO!" Keith yelled with rage. As soon as Maahox's ship left the fear had lessened even though the video clip still played.
He couldn't lose her, he wouldn't. Before anyone could stop him he was already in Black. He was going to get Allura back now. Red was all he could see, anger tinting his gaze.
All of the sudden he was thrown out of Black, the Black Lion had finally rejected him. But why, why now?
He could feel the message in his heart that Black gave to him. He had chosen Allura over the Force. He almost put those he protected for so long at risk just to save her. He had chosen and he couldn't be commander anymore.
He didn't know what exactly this would mean for the team, but they would worry about it later. Right now they had to figure out how to get Allura back.
He got back to the control room only to have Lance hit him on the head.
"Dude! What were you thinking?" Lance yelled at him. "I know we have to get Allura back but we have to take care of the bomb first! That's the whole reason she surrendered!"
"I know Lance!" Keith yelled back. "I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry. You would've done the same thing if it was Keira."
Lance only scowled back at him. Keith knew that Lance was right though, they had to remove the bomb before they had any chance at rescuing Allura.
"Pidge, how soon can we get this bomb removed?"
