Disclaimer: WEP owns Voltron and its characters. The story and the other characters belong to me.
I want to dedicate this chapter to Miss Cubbie! A comment she made helped turn this chapter in a different direction. Thanks for the love, Cubbie, my kindred spirit from halfway around the world. I guess we shall have to see where the story goes from here. ;J
Rated T/ M for fun and innuendo.
Chapter 21: Crash
Keith looked at the clock next to his bed. Almost 9:00. He was pacing back and forth in his room, waiting for someone to come and retrieve him. He glanced around his quarters. His bookshelves were bare, the closet empty. As of tomorrow night, he would be sharing a room with his wife. A warmth washed over him at the thought.
Keith had had a relatively quiet day. He hung out with his brother and old Academy buddies in the rec room, playing cards and watching movies. In the afternoon, Keith and the Lion Force took Kurt and the members of Vehicle Voltron on a patrol in the Lions. He smiled as he remembered the glimpse he got of Allura in her ivory gown. She was breathtaking. His contented thoughts gave way to a feeling of apprehension and dread. He tried to shake it away.
It had been two weeks since he and Allura had gotten engaged and returned from Lumos. Doom had been unusually quiet. There had been no major attacks. Arussian Intelligence had gotten no data that indicated Doom was aware of the engagement or wedding. That bothered Keith. Prince Lotor may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but he usually surrounded himself with people who more than made up for his shortcomings. Maybe their cautiousness had paid off and Doom truly was in the dark, though he was sure the presence of the Explorer in Arussian airspace would tip Doom off that something was up. Keith prayed that they could get through tomorrow without any major surprises from Doom. After that, he felt like he could face anything they threw his way.
Keith was also dreading this bachelor party. Lance and Sven had sent Keith to his room after a dinner of pizza and beer so he could rest and so that they could take care of the last minute preparations. Lance had assured him that the festivities would be casual and low key. With that in mind, Keith had pulled on a pair of comfortable, worn jeans and a red polo shirt.
A knock on the door grabbed Keith's attention. He walked over to answer it. Keith took a step back in surprise. Standing just outside the door were Lance, Sven, Pidge, and Hunk. Jeff, Cliff, and Kurt beamed at Keith from behind them. Even Prince Cedric had decided to join the party and waited with a huge grin planted on his royal face.
"Well, Bachelor," Lance called. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I will ever be," Keith sighed.
"Wow, don't be so excited," Sven quipped sarcastically. He slapped Keith on the back good-naturedly.
"Where are we going?" Keith inquired. He had made it very clear that he didn't want to venture far because of the ever present threat of Doom. He wanted to have quick access to the Lions if the need arose.
"Don't worry, Cap," Lance replied. "We are not going far at all. In fact, we are not even leaving the confines of the castle."
Keith looked at Lance in utter confusion. "What?" he asked.
"We have set up our own private party space in the castle hangar. Now come on, let's go!" Lance snorted as he caught Keith's look. "Don't worry Keith. Just some drinks and pool, that's all!"
Keith grinned at his best friend in relief and appreciation. He followed behind the group as they made their way through the castle to the main hangar bay. No one noticed Keith with his comm out. He sent a quick text message before slipping his comm back into his pocket, a grin quirking at the corners of his lips.
Allura glanced down as her communicator chirped. "Got it!" she giggled. "Come on, girls. Let's get ready!"
The group of men entered the castle hangar bay. Keith looked around, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Lance beckoned for the group to follow him back toward the storage garage. Adjacent to the main hangar bay, the Castle of Lions featured a large truck depot. It was a staging area for the disbursement of goods from across Arus. Lance led the group to one of the end storage units. The group walked inside and Keith stopped short.
The space had been transformed from an empty storage space to a modern, functional bar. The chrome and plastic bar ran along one side of the large space, black stools lined up along it to hold party patrons. Behind the bar, Keith could see a well-stocked liquor cabinet as well as a tap with at least 6 different types of beer. On shelves both above and behind the bar, new glasses of all shapes and sizes gleamed in the low light. At the back of the large space, a small raised platform sat to serve as a stage. Small black tables with groupings of three or four chrome chairs sat facing the stage. The opposite side of the room looked more like an arcade with pinball machines, video game consoles, an air hockey table, billiards, and dart boards. The whole room was decorated in the primary colors of the Lions, with black dominating. The word Lions' Den had been painted on the wall behind the bar and was glowing from black lights. Keith gaped as he looked around. He turned to stare at Lance.
"Did you do all this for me?" he croaked.
Lance grinned toothily. "Well, kind of," he responded. "I have always wanted to create a social space in the Castle of Lions for us and some of the other young staff. Your bachelor party was the perfect excuse to finally make it a reality. Now, we have our own real bar."
"This is amazing, Lance," Keith mused. "I don't know how to thank you."
"Aw! It was nothing," Lance replied. "How about this? Promise me you will have a great time and promise me you won't get mad."
"I won't get mad at what?" Keith asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Never mind," Lance interrupted. "Just promise."
"Ok, fine, I promise," Keith laughed, feeling very relaxed. He walked toward the bar.
Cliff served as bartender and started making drinks and pouring shots for the men. "What are we drinking, mate?" He called to Lance.
"How about a round of Jameson for our toast to the Bachelor," Lance suggested.
"Coming right, up!" Cliff called. He poured eight generous shots of Jameson whiskey and lined them up on the bar. Lance and Sven passed them out before handing one to Keith.
Sven cleared his throat. "I would like to propose a toast," he began in his thick accent, "to Keith, future King of Arus and husband to Allura, current Commander of the Voltron Force, and always and foremost, our friend!" He downed his shot in one swallow.
"Here, here!" the men all chorused as they too guzzled their shots.
The drinks kept flowing. Keith was feeling great and he was having a great time. He had just beaten Hunk in a buzzed game of air hockey when there came a soft knock at the door. Keith looked up anxiously. The door slid open to reveal a beautiful redhead dressed in one of the castle maid's uniforms. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I don't mean to interrupt. Koran sent me to see if you were in need of anything."
"Don't apologize," Lance yelled across the room. "Come in, come in! Join the party."
"Oh, no thank you, sir," the maid said meekly.
Lance pushed Keith toward the maid. "Have you met our Bachelor?" he asked the woman.
"Lance, what are you doing?" Keith asked in alarm. He looked into the terrified eyes of the maid.
"Oh no, I haven't," she responded quietly. The look in her eyes transformed from one of panic to one of a predator. "Nice to meet you, big boy," she purred. She proceeded to push Keith backwards into a chair that Lance had placed behind him. As Keith fell into the chair, an old Def Leppard song began playing. The maid ripped off her uniform hat and flung it to the side. She started moving her body seductively to the beat of the music. Keith's eyes bulged as the maid began slowly unzipping her gray dress to reveal a slinky silver bikini underneath it. He looked over to glare at Lance when he finally realized what was happening. Lance grinned back at Keith before he raised his glass and downed another shot. Keith scowled before he turned his face back toward the woman. The woman shook the dress off her shoulders and allowed it to pool on the floor. She walked seductively toward Keith and then straddled his thighs. As she began gyrating gently against his lap, she leaned over and pushed her cleavage into his face. "I hear it's your last night as a single man. It's my job to make sure you enjoy it," she whispered as she licked gently at his ear.
Keith moved desperately to get away from the onslaught, but he was stuck. I am going to kill Lance; I am going to kill Lance! he thought as he pushed himself as far as he could into the back of the chair. It was at the moment that a collective gasp could be heard coming from the direction of the door. Keith's view was blocked by the stripper in his lap; he had no idea what the sudden commotion was.
A loud "Get the fuck away from him!" could be heard echoing across the storage space before the woman was forcibly removed from Keith's lap and flung to the floor. Keith looked up into two raging, furious blue eyes. Allura turned around and shrieked at the stripper, "Don't touch him! Get away from him! Get away from my castle. You are not welcome here! If I ever see you touch him again, I will kill you. Get out!" She glared red-faced at the woman. The woman looked from Keith to the Princess to Lance. She grabbed her dress and ran to the door as fast as her high-heeled stripper shoes would take her. The whole group turned and watched as she scurried out the door.
Keith looked around in a daze from his seated position. He was still slightly buzzed. Allura stood in front of him, hands on her hips and face as red as a tomato. The men who had been a part of the bachelor party stared from Keith to Allura and back again. The women who had come to crash the party with Allura looked around at each other with eyes as big as saucers. No one said anything until Lance gaped as he stared toward the door. "What the fuck just happened?"
Allura turned toward Keith, tears streaming down her face. "You promised me," she whispered. "You promised me no strippers." She turned and ran from the bar.
"Allura," Keith called after her. He turned toward Lance and Sven. "You promised me!" he growled as he turned to run after her.
There was a long, awkard silence after Allura and Keith had exited the bar. It was Jeff who finally broke the silence. "What the hell are you ladies doing here anyway?" Jeff asked Lisa. "This is supposed to be the bachelor party."
Lisa shrugged, "Keith texted Allura to let her know where you guys were going. He thought it would be funny if we crashed the bachelor party. Allura wanted to hang out and celebrate together. She said Keith assured her there would be no strippers." She glared pointedly at Lance.
"Hey, so I lied!" Lance scoffed. "Come on, Keith deserved a true bachelor party. I never imagined his bride would show up."
"Now what?" Hunk asked.
Prince Cedric walked over to put his arm around Tatiana who had crashed the party with the rest of the girls. "I think we should continue the festivities," he stated. "There is no point in ending the party. Let's celebrate both the bachelor and the bachelorette."
"But they're not here," Pidge pointed out.
Everyone turned to look at Lance. "Ok, ok," he relented. "I will go talk to both of them and bring them back here." He left the bar as the music started up again and the drinks continued flowing.
The beautiful red-headed maid headed away from the castle. She walked quickly, trying to put as much distance between her and the party as possible. She was humiliated; she knew that her work as a stripper was not looked upon with favor, but she had never been made to feel so small. Lance had hired her a week ago to perform for a small bachelor party. She had no idea that the bachelor party was for the Commander of the Voltron Force. Even more surprising was finding out the bride-to-be was no other than the Princess of Arus.
The redhead frowned to herself. As a native Arussian, she was loyal to her monarch and the House of Arus. She was surprised to learn that the Princess was betrothed. No formal announcement had been made. This was the first she had learned about it. She couldn't wait to get home and call up some of her girlfriends and spread this juicy gossip.
She had just entered the last stretch of woods on her way to her house when a strong pair of arms grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with a gloved hand. "Hello, my beauty," a voice drawled in her ear. "I see you are coming from the Castle of Lions. Perhaps you can give me the information I need." He turned her around to face him. Her terrified eyes stared into a pair of yellow ones. The breeze caught and stirred the man's long white hair. "If you give me the information that I need, I will let you go, unharmed. If you refuse to speak or if you lie to me, a fate worse than death will befall you. Do you understand?"
The terrified woman nodded anxiously in agreement.
"Good," Lotor said. "Let's go to my lair where we can talk."