Author's Note: I started the end of this chapter a long time ago - it contains one of my favorite scenes in the entire trilogy, as well as a little tribute for all of us old-school diehards out there. I really, REALLY hope you enjoy it.
To Emie Mac - It's been a little too long since we've seen your man, so I'm throwing him in here. Don't worry, he'll see Chris soon enough.
To Petronille - Thank you for sending hugs Christiane's way! After everything she's been through, the girl needs them. And Voltron didn't bulk out, but the Haggarium in Lotor's armor sure made his King Robeast grow. Because, as you would say, Lotor is just horrendous.
To bknbu - Did you know that some of the "Lance" sandals are on sale? Not the best colors, but still...and GO, black-lipped chickie Voltron!
To Wade Wells - Lovey, you know that if I had the chapter written, I'd post it for you yesterday. Unfortunately, lots of things like to get in the way. BOO! Doesn't work understand that we've got a battle to carry out and a wedding to get to?
Title Song: "Make This Go On Forever" by Snow Patrol
The Air Team was out on patrol, their five mecha joined to form the Strato Cruiser. They flew ahead of the Explorer, set on a direct path towards Arus. Jeff couldn't keep the grin off his face. It wouldn't be much longer now.
Of the five of them on the Air Team, only Wolo was out of the loop - he had been two years ahead of the rest of them at the Space Academy, and therefore knew very little about Keith Kogane. The rest of them were looking forward to their old friend's wedding. Especially Jeff. Whoever would've thought that my old roommate would be able to take the plunge? And with a princess, no less?
The Air Team captain still couldn't believe that, for better or for worse, he and the other Voltron captain were brothers-in-law. He had never expected to fall for Christiane, and he certainly never expected his wife and her brother to make amends after so many years apart. He also hadn't expected Keith to give them his blessing, or to leave Arus to attend their wedding, but he had. The least he could do now was return the favor.
Wow. This means I'm gonna be related to a princess.
"Hey Jeff? Are you daydreaming in there, or what?"
Ginger's voice over the intercom shook him out of his thoughts. "No, just thinking, Gin," he responded. "You know, the usual stuff. I'm excited to see everybody and watch my old roommate tie the knot. You know, that sort of thing."
"Yeah! I get to see my brother, too!" Chip chimed in.
"Yeah, and you know I'm excited," Rocky added. "I mean, this'll probably be the only royal wedding we ever get invited to. I'm just glad I brought my good suit."
"Rocky," Ginger informed him, "we're all glad you brought your good suit."
"Man, it'll be good to see Darrell again," Chip sighed. "It'll be nice to relax at the castle, too. Hey guys, what do you think they'll serve at the wedding? You think there'll be some nice cocktails and an open bar?"
"There had better be," Wolo snorted. "I bet they serve Kir Royales. That's a pretty nice cocktail. It seems perfect for a royal wedding."
"Or they might serve something like a Bellini," Rocky offered. "Yum."
Chip laughed. "You like Bellinis, Rocky?"
"Yeah. Who doesn't? Why, you got a problem with that, Short Stack?"
"Nah. You just don't seem like the Bellini type, that's all. You seem more like a PBR or a Beast on the couch type."
Ginger covered her face to hold in her giggle. "Wow, Pabst Blue Ribbon in a can. Wow." She shook her head. "Well, I, on the other hand, hope that there's champagne as far as the eye can see. All different types. Moët, Clicquot, Cristal, Dom, and all the other ones too. A girl's gotta dream."
With a grin creeping over his face, Jeff added, "Yeah. Speaking of wedding cocktails...I bet they'll serve Lemon Drops, too."
"Jeff," Ginger told him warningly, "when we land on Arus, I am going to kill you."
They all laughed. For once, it felt nice not to have to worry about the Drules or combat or forming Voltron. They deserved this break. It would be good to see their friends and family again. It would be nice to take some time off and bask in good company, knowing that they were all together again.
Arus wasn't too far away now.
Seven hells. What do I do now?
She felt different at the helm of Voltron. Well, obviously she would - this was unlike anything she had ever piloted. But it wasn't that. Physically, she felt different, and she knew that it had nothing to do with the new psi link she'd formed with her fellow pilots.
Though that felt different, too.
Through her monitor, she saw the King Robeast charging straight for them. Move! Pick up your feet and move!
In Blue and Yellow Lions, Hunk and Sven obliged, but they weren't fast enough, and Lotor's robeast was too powerful. He rammed into them, the spikes nearly piercing the breastplate, and Voltron went sailing through the air, landing on its back. Lenora's breath caught in her throat as she smacked her head against the back of her seat. Ugh. That hurt. Placing her hand over her temple, she looked over her shoulder to check on the cadets. "Daniel, Larmina - are you two okay?"
Feeling guilty, she noticed that they were both shaking off the shock from the impact. "Yeah, we're okay," Larmina uttered. She lifted her aquamarine eyes to the Space Marshal, then gasped out, "Gods, Len, you look -"
"Everybody okay?" Cutting the cadet off, Keith's voice rang out through the intercom. He sounded different...a little richer, a little more majestic.
The rounds began. Lance, Hunk, Sven. It wasn't just Keith; everyone sounded a little different. Even her own voice sounded off to her as she responded to the question. "I'm okay, Keith. Just a little shook up. The cadets are okay, too."
"Quick, Len! We need a weapon. Lotor's incoming!"
"How do I do that?"
"It'll come. Just say the words." Voltron lifted its right arm up as a block against the King Robeast, but it was no use. The spikes on its chest, longer than even the length of the Blazing Sword, kept Voltron away from its body.
She narrowed her eyes. We need a weapon that we can throw. Preferably something that can chop off some of those spikes so we can let the Blazing Sword finish the job. She opened her mouth, but her lips were dry. She smacked them together, feeling a thick, waxy coating over them as she did.
What in seven hells...? Why did it feel like she was wearing her black lipstick? Why was everything so off about this mission? She didn't have time to even think as Larmina and Daniel both shouted behind her, "LEN!"
The words were out of her mouth before her brain had even formed them. "Form Throwing Axe."
Black and Red clinked together, and Red Lion withdrew with a Norwegian double-ended throwing axe. Smiling to himself, Lance remembered the night before, when Lenora had asked him to be the Headmaster for the Arusian Space Academy once it was built. She had flung the same axe at the target after she decimated his bullet hole with hers. Yup. That's my Sis.
"Throw it, Lance!" she commanded hoarsely.
The first time Voltron threw Lenora's Throwing Axe instead of Pidge's Boomerang Shield, there wasn't much power behind it. It was awkward; a new weapon and a new movement at the most inopportune time. But it worked well - on that first pass, it sliced off a length of the spikes on the Haggarium armor, making it easier for the Blazing Sword to penetrate. When the weapon returned, the psi link between the team members proved unnecessary, as both Lance and Lenora grinned gleefully before throwing the axe a second time.
There was more power behind the second throw, and the length of the spikes on the King Robeast's breastplate were nearly shaved off. As the axe returned to Red Lion, Keith grinned savagely. They had their opening. They had to take it.
"All right, team, form Black Center. And then we form Blazing Sword and finish this, once and for all."
Vince locked his VoltCom onto one of the many electrical panels down the hallway. Immediately, his eyes flashed, and a pathway lit up along the floor. "Pidge! Allura! Wherever we are - it's giving us a way out of here. Come on, let's move!"
The princess and the Green Lion pilot barely heard him. They stood in front of the monitor, their eyes glued to the screen. A black-lipped Voltron. Pidge knew that when he formed Green Center, Voltron wore a black ninja mask over its mouth, but who would have thought that the mighty robot could wear black lipstick, too?
Just like Len. That was the answer. Pidge knew who was in the cockpit. It wasn't Daniel or Larmina. It was Lenora. He wondered if the princess knew it, too.
Looking over at her, he noted the contemplative expression on her face. She was overwhelmed by this new Voltron; she stared at the screen as though in a trance, her emerald eyes unblinking.
"Allura! Pidge!" Vince's cry sounded panicked now. "Come on! Let's get out of here before we can't anymore!"
Kid's got a point. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he dragged Allura away from the screen and towards the door. Vince looked relieved, and extended an arm to take one of her hands. But they both noticed that she didn't remove her eyes from the monitor or look ahead of her until it was out of sight.
None of them saw Voltron shifting back into Black Center.
Whatever weapon the King Robeast had - it looked like a scimitar, it was so similar to their own - it was no match for the Blazing Sword. Especially not now.
The five members of this Voltron Force had no idea why the energy was so different during this battle, but it was. It translated to every aspect of the lions and interconnected robot, including their weapons. Though the Blazing Sword was nothing new, it had a new power and strength behind it. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that Keith was a well of raw anger right now as he wielded it, but that was beside the point.
Blazing Sword sliced through Lotor's scimitar cleanly, cutting it into pieces as though it was made of nothing more durable than aluminum foil. "Now we finish him," Keith growled as both Red and Green Lions hoisted the weapon over Voltron's head. "Do it!"
Like so many robeasts before him, the King Robeast fell prey to the most dependable weapon in the robot's arsenal. The Blazing Sword plunged hilt-deep into Lotor's chest through the impaired Haggarium armor. Voltron withdrew quickly and stood back.
As the King Robeast shuddered, awaiting its final condemnation, the three captives followed the lit floors that had showed them the path to their freedom. Upon exiting the ship - I can't believe that Lotor had the gall to take us back to his command ship, Pidge thought sourly as he took in the extent of their surroundings - they noted sparks and flames.
"What the devil is that?" Allura cried out nervously.
As the King Robeast exploded into full flames, Voltron stood triumphantly, Blazing Sword over its shoulder. Its lips were no longer black, as Keith was back in command, but it no longer mattered. Nothing mattered to him besides Allura. He sensed that his princess was free, and commanded his pilots to disengage.
The five lions landed and rested, poised with their heads on their paws like real cats. Allura gulped nervously, looking over both shoulders, once at Pidge and once at Vince. They'd all seen it. She'd seen it.
Voltron with black lips.
Hunk emerged from Yellow Lion first. He looked subtly different, dressed in his usual yellow-and-grey uniform, but it had long sleeves, not short. His brown hair was a little longer, falling past his jawline, held off his forehead by a thick brown-and-yellow bandanna.
Lance stepped out of Red Lion next. The differences in him were immediate; Allura's eyes shot straight to the blue-and-grey uniform he wore. His light-brown hair was cropped much shorter, and his face wore a shadow of stubble.
Keith looked almost regal as he exited Black Lion. His hair flowed down his back, not like his old mullet, but in thick, glorious blue-black waves that complemented his turquoise eyes. He stood in an almost defiant fashion, his arms crossed over the chest of his red-and-grey uniform.
Sven stepped out of Blue Lion next.
Allura gasped as she took in the clean-shaven Norwegian, dressed in the black-and-grey uniform. He looks healthy, she thought, healthy and happy. There was light, not purple, behind his slate-blue eyes, and the ring finger of his left hand was adorned with a thick platinum band.
Green Lion opened its jaws, and Lenora emerged hesitantly. The most obvious change was that instead of her Space Marshal uniform, she wore the green-and-grey Voltron pilot uniform. Her chestnut hair was tied back in a thick braid rather than her standard side bun. And, commanding attention, her lips were painted black.
Vince stared at the five of them, confused, as Allura and Pidge exchanged secretive glances. They were seeing something special. The classified files. This was the Voltron Force prototype - the five originally-chosen members.
As Sven wrapped his left arm around Lenora and she brought her left hand to his, their matching platinum bands gleamed in the sunlight. Allura and Pidge realized that the two would have been married for a long time already. Things would have been so much different, the princess thought sadly, if Graham had allowed her to come to Arus instead of sending Pidge.
She knew that Pidge sensed it, too.
Then, suddenly, the trance-like spell was broken, and everything returned to how it had been. The uniforms, hairstyles, and black lips all returned to normal, leaving everyone standing exactly where they were - including the Polluxian royal consort with his arm wrapped around the Space Marshal.
"Elskede," he began to plead his case again.
"No." Lenora wriggled out of Sven's embrace. "Not again. We can't do this. We can't." She trotted away from her old fiancé and over towards Hunk. "Tsuyo, could I catch a ride back to the castle with you?"
"Uh..." Helplessly, Hunk looked over at Sven. "Sure, Lennie. Whatever you want."
"Great." With that taken care of, she moved over to the captives, where she embraced Pidge. "Darrell," she whispered, removing the key from her weapons cache and handing it to him, "thank you for letting me fly your Green Lion. Larmina and Daniel are already in there." Before he could respond, she turned swiftly and planted a kiss on Allura's cheek. "I'm so glad you're safe. I'm so glad you're all safe. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll see you back at the castle."
The Space Marshal returned to Hunk's side, and he reluctantly followed her into Yellow Lion. "Guys," he shouted as way of departure from his teammates, "I'll see you back home. Later!"
Allura swallowed. She felt as though she was in a daze. What just happened here? Then, suddenly, Keith was there, solid and smiling and lifting her through the air. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her lips to his for a kiss.
"He's gone, Love," he told her. "Lotor is dead, and you'll never have to worry about him coming after you ever again."
She smiled back at him, her emerald eyes full of emotion. "Now I can marry you and not worry about Doom making a scene, or causing trouble, or coming between us. Nothing is going to come between us ever again." She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
The only thing that brought her back to reality was her niece's persistent shout. "Aunt Allura! Aunt Allura!"
Keith let her out of his embrace, and she scooped the cadet into her arms. "It's time," she told the girl tearfully. "It's time. Larmina, by the end of the day, Blue Lion will be yours. You will be the new and official pilot." She smiled sadly, turning her gaze towards the Norwegian. "You'll ride back to the castle with Sven."
"Good. You're coming with me." Keith encircled his arm around his soon-to-be bride. "And you'll always be with me, Allura. I don't plan on ever losing you again."