Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.
Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Setting is DotU but is definitely AU – see challenge info below.
Response to Cheetoy's KAEX Challenge "A Royal Twist." "What if Keith was the surviving Arusian Royal Prince and Allura was an Earth born hometown girl turned GA Starpilot? How will the prim and proper Prince deal with falling for a strong-willed GA pilot of no royal line? Sadly, Nanny and Coran insist on a Princess for our dear Kogane... But how shall they deal with the Drule Prince(ss)? Can they find their Happy Ever After?"
Chapter Twenty-Six
The week went by quickly and once the prince had his okay from Dr. Gorma, the match was set up. The martial arts challenge would be first and then the sword fighting.
Lance had been spending extra time in the gym and would stop working out whenever the prince would come in. He had seen Keith smile when he stopped, but no need to give the prince any more info on his fighting style. As for Prince Keith, Lance hadn't seen him work out or anything. True, he had been injured, but he had to be doing something. It made him a little nervous not knowing. But now, time had run out.
Because they didn't want knowledge of the prince's ability (or lack thereof) to get out, only the team and Coran were attending the challenge in the gym.
Both men eyed each other carefully as they waited to be told to begin. Physically, they were very similar in build. Keith was maybe an inch taller than Lance, but that was it. As for weight, they probably weighed within ten pounds of each other. Both were dressed in mid-thigh shorts that weren't fitted but weren't very loose either and their hands were encased in fingerless gloves.
Hunk let out a deep breath, his eyes glued to the two men as they began to circle each other. "This is not going to be pretty."
Concerned blue eyes flickered to Hunk and then back to the two men. "You don't think they'll really hurt each other do you?"
"You've got to be kidding me." Hunk said as he looked at Allura as if she had grown a second head. "You saw Lance fight at the Academy."
"Yeah, but, Keith's a prince-" she began somewhat hesitantly.
"Ha!" Pidge said from her other side. "He may be a prince, but he looks like he knows what he's doing. If Coran was truthful, he'll be capable of doing some damage."
"And he feels he needs to prove a point with the lieutenant." Hunk finished as Coran indicated it was time to start the match.
Allura's eyes grew wide, "So Keith will do his best to take Lance down and Lance will be looking to put him in his place."
"Yep," Hunk said as Keith went for a takedown. The prince was successful and Hunk grunted at the fall that Lance took to the mat. "The lieutenant knows that Keith needs to have a security detail and he'll do whatever is necessary to prove it to him.
Allura looked with concern on the two men she considered her friends out on the mats. Lance would do whatever it took… Yes, Hunk was correct; this wasn't going to be pretty.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At the end of two rounds, it was a tie. Keith had taken Lance in the first round, but the Garrison grad had used that round to size up his opponent and his tactics. By doing so, Lance had taken the second round. The winner of the fight would be determined in the final round which only had a couple of minutes left. It's was anyone's guess who would win.
Lance eyed the surprisingly capable prince. After the match, he would speak to Coran about helping with the training of the team. Obviously the royal advisor had been good at his original assignment of Man at Arms during King Alfor's reign. But right now Lance needed to focus on the prince. Keith needed to know that he was in danger and needed to have security. The match was about even and he needed to do something to turn the tide in his favor. Then it came to him… and he hated it, but he knew he had to do it. Prince Keith had to realize that he needed some protection. He had to realize that the enemy wouldn't fight fair. That meant that he wouldn't either. Lance looked behind Keith and frowned and then started moving forward, but not toward Keith.
Keith knew that Coran was behind him, was something wrong with Coran?
That's all it took for Lance. The prince lost focus and turned to glance behind him and Lance shifted his direction on a dime. Managing to get a leg sweep in before the prince regained his focus, Lance dropped Keith to the floor.
The realization that Lance had tricked him came too late to Keith. In addition, when it did come, it came with anger that further clouded his judgment. When he rolled to his side, Lance was immediately there, wrapping him up in a rear choke hold. As he started losing consciousness, he tapped on Lance's arm signaling that he was giving up. He moved to the side and caught his breath for a moment. Turning a murderous glare on the Alliance lieutenant, he said, "You cheated."
Lance stood and began taking off the gloves. Green eyes turned to angry brown ones as he answered. "No, I misdirected you. I never said a word. You made the call to drop your guard."
The prince stood as well, but kept his distance. "Misdirected, cheated, tricked – they're all the same."
Holding both of his gloves in one hand, Lance patiently said, "No, they're not. If you think that your adversaries won't try to trick you or misdirect you, you are sorely mistaken."
Keith knew he made sense, but he didn't like it and he wasn't ready to admit it.
"He's right you know," Hunk said walking up. The large pilot knew that Keith liked him and he hoped that friendliness would help take the edge off the situation now.
Striping off his own gloves, Keith walked between the two men toward the locker room. "It doesn't matter now."
Coran had been quiet to this point. As they all looked at the door of the locker room, Coran said, "I know why you did it and he'll come around." He waited for Lance to turn toward him before continuing, "But Lieutenant, you should be prepared to be routed in the next contest. Even angry, he will wipe the floor with you." A small smile turned up the corners of Coran's lips.
"Um, we are using wooden swords, right? Not the real thing?" Lance asking jokingly.
The smile was still on Coran's face as he said, "Actually they are made of a special composite material that we make here on Arus. The uniform that you wear will be coded to respond to the exact composite make-up of Keith's sword and his uniform coded to your sword. When his sword comes in contact with your uniform, a red mark will appear on your uniform where he struck you. Your own sword won't mark your own suit at all."
Pidge walked over and said, "Sounds a little high tech."
"Not really," Coran said. "It just a simple matter of sensor coding. We just happen to have these and sports type equipment because a lot of that was stored below the cavern where the former gym was located in the castle."
"Make sense," Allura said. "The old castle didn't look like it was built to have gym facilities. I can see where they might have built them in the lower levels as time passed."
"Indeed, Allura," Coran said with a smile. Looking over at Lance, he said, "You better head on in young man and get ready. I'm sure that Prince Keith will be ready to go in just a bit."
Feeling slightly uncertain, Lance only nodded as he headed toward the locker room. When he entered it, he saw that Keith was coming out of the shower. Yeah, rinsing off the sweat from the fight was probably a good idea. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when the prince beat him to it.
"I'm not in the frame of mind for a 'buddy talk.'" Keith grabbed his uniform that was hanging next to the one that had been found for Lance and moved to a different section of the room.
Yeah, this is going to take some time for the prince to get over, Lance thought as he stepped into the shower.
Fifteen minutes into the sword match…
Allura looked at the two men who were once again circling each other. The agreement had been for Lance and the prince to fight until one of them was disarmed. It had been obvious less than five minutes into the match that Prince Keith could probably disarm Lance any time he wanted. But he didn't. He was drawing it out. Keith was trying to prove a point. He had proved that he was a master at the sword, but he also proved that he really did have a temper. Allura looked at Keith's pristine white uniform and then over to Lance's red streaked one. Lance hadn't landed a blow to the prince while Keith had landed multiple blows in multiple places. In a real lazon fight, Keith would be hacking Lance into pieces, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the point he was making.
The room was quiet except for their breathing. Keith watched Lance with a wary eye. It was time to end the match. He had proved he could land blows at will wherever he wanted. He didn't need misdirection to win. Keith struck at Lance and Lance lifted his sword with his arm extended out. Keith moved in as he pushed down with his blade causing Lance's blade to become more horizontal. The prince then quickly placed his free hand around Lance's hand at the base of the hilt. Rotating his hand and Lance's, he forced Lance to release his grip on the sword. As he released it, Keith neatly slid his hand around Lance's sword hilt. The lieutenant's sword was now in Keith's hand and basically followed the line of his arm pointing toward the prince's own back. Lance straightened himself as Keith flipped the extra sword so that he held it correctly in his hand. Keith bowed to his commander and then tossed both swords to the side.
Everyone watched as the prince left the room without another word.
It was Coran's voice that cut through the silence and the sound of the lieutenant's breathing. "Give him a couple of hours to cool off."
Lance leaned over to place his hand on his knees. His breath was still somewhat quick. "Don't worry. I'll give him the time." Looking over to Coran, Lance saw that the advisor was smiling. "And yes, Coran, he is a master." Righting himself, he left for the locker room shower as the other teammates whispered about what happened.
Hunk, Pidge, and Allura watched Lance leave. Their quiet conversation centered around what would happen between the prince and Lance now. They had just begun to get along. Now this. Would Prince Keith be able to let it go?