Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. I got one heck of a nasty virus, which left me unable to write (or eat, or talk, or swallow, or be upright) for a while. Blech. I'm feeling better but I'm still not at 100%. A new ailment takes center stage every day.
To state the obvious, I own nothing except my characters.
To FroofyB - I missed writing Emma. I think she's great fun to write. I'm so happy you enjoy this story, but keep writing your own, I need something to read, too! Thanks again for the compliments.
To bknbu - I'm not sure if Ginger ever wants to get married, but I know she wants a commitment outta the Garrison's (and Voltron's) most notorious playboy. And there is a huge Sven/Len/Jon plotline coming down the highway, so be ready! Thanks again for the correspondence and the coompliments.
To Sally On - Boy, do those Baltans like their sweets. Ask Chip. :) As for David, he's definitely a good guy, he's always looking out for Chris, and if that means making nice with his wife's ex, then he'll do it. A class act indeed.
To Emie Mac - I too am sad that the crew is leaving Arus soon! But you know what that means: there's a wedding and a (near-catastrophic) bachelor party on its way.
To Wade Wells - I am so grateful for your correspondence; I know how much you love this story. As for the David/Keith scene, I wanted to put that in there for a few reasons. One, as I pointed out to Sally, David's always looking out for Chris, and whatever he needs to do to take care of her, he'll do it. Two, I wanted Keith to know in no uncertain terms that Morgan IS happy without him, and he can rest assured knowing that she's with a good guy. On that note, if Keith knows that Morgan's happy and he doesn't need to worry about her anymore, then he can feel guilt-free in winning Allura back. And three, there are so many guys throwing punches (or wanting to throw punches) at each other that I thought it would be nice to have one guy speak with his wife's ex with no malice involved.
Title Song: "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim
Lotor was alone in his chambers. His command ship was in need of repairs, and after landing on Doom, Cossack had gotten to work on the hull of the ship. He never gave the general enough credit - for being such a bumbling fool, he happened to be especially gifted in piloting and general repair jobs.
Not that Castle Doom was finished. Lotor still remembered the day Voltron had destroyed his castle, and how that lowly pest with the weird accent - Sven? - had charged him off the top of the remaining tower. Then, after they'd fallen together and crashed into the moat, Lotor had managed to smuggle away to his private residence on Doom, only to meet up with Voltron on his balcony.
It was not something he wanted to remember.
His private chambers - or at least, they would have to do until the new Castle Doom was completed - sat on the top floor of the incomplete building. At least there was a roof and a door, if not much else. Sitting on his bed, he thought about what he missed most. His harem. Christiane. Allura.
It was always women and conquest with him. Then again, women were conquests to him.
As angry as he was with Christiane, he couldn't help but think back to her as his captive. Every curve of her body, the way her thick blue-black hair rippled down the creamy skin of her back...she had been incredible. And, much unlike many other women, she hadn't resisted him. She hadn't fought him off. She allowed him to do whatever he wished with her, and she smiled the entire time.
If only Allura would be smart enough to do that. Devil knows her cousin Romelle wasn't.
He thought about Allura's emerald eyes and golden hair, her lush lips and generous curves. He thought about what it would be like to move her on his bed the way he had moved Christiane. It was at that moment that he decided he still needed to possess the princess. He wasn't about to let her slip away for good.
Though the Drule king had never been patient, he realized that this was the time where he had to accept that he couldn't have what he wanted right away. He needed to wait. He needed to be strong enough to overthrow Arus and Voltron. He needed a better plan, a more thorough strategy, and more powerful tools.
At the moment, Wade and Maahox were working together on the Predator Robeast. Maahox was in the process of cultivating more Haggarium, and better-quality Haggarium at that. "It might take years, my lord," the occult scientist had warned him. Lotor had initially been vehemently angered by that statement, but now he was beginning to realize that perhaps it might not be such a bad thing, after all. If he wanted to crush Voltron, he had to be bigger. Stronger. Faster.
An enhanced Predator Robeast would be his weapon of choice.
After eating breakfast together, Jeff and Morgan ran into Sven. The Norwegian had changed back into his pair of dark-washed jeans, updated with a plain black T-shirt and black leather boots. He had dressed, they noted, nearly exactly the same way he would in his off time at the Academy.
"I'm going back to Earth with you," he informed them flatly.
Morgan shot Jeff a nervous glance. "Um..." she stalled for time. "Not that I haven't missed you, Sven, but you're really gonna take Jon up on his reward offer?"
Sven nodded wickedly.
"You do realize that you'll hafta hitch a ride to Earth on the Explorer with us, right?" Jeff asked unsurely. "The Albegas crew and mecha have to come back with us too - Red went offline, and Commander Hawkins won't let anyone or anything Albegas-related fly. God forbid Black or Blue go offline while mid-flight."
"So what if I have to ride on the Explorer?" Sven shrugged, not seeming the least bit concerned. "That's not a problem. Besides," he added, a dark grin curving along his lips, "your Commander Hawkins seems to like me very much after rescuing your fiancée, Jeffrey."
"True," Jeff shot back, irritated, "but if he finds out about you and Len, you're gonna find yourself in deep space without a spacesuit. The commander tends to be pretty possessive of his wife."
Morgan elbowed him.
"Er...I mean protective."
Sven stared back at his two old friends, his eyes hardening to ice. "Thank you for worrying about me," he said in a tone that implied he was anything but. "It's nice to know I still have people who care about me. But anything I had - or have - going on with Lenora is no one's business but mine and hers."
Morgan shook her head fiercely. "You're wrong, Viking. She has a husband. You have a wife and a child. I think there are still a few people out there who would say that it is somebody else's business. A few somebodies, actually."
Of course Morgan would point out something like that. Sven understood Keith's old flame better than most; being a navigator required an exacting personality, and its comprehension of advanced math caused those who followed the profession to see things in black and white. There were no shades of grey, which made every decision clear-cut: right or wrong, good or bad, yes or no.
"I understand your concern," he told them, hurling his words as a weapon, "but she and I have some unfinished business to attend to. A few hours is not going to solve the ten years' worth of questions and hurdles that need to be overcome."
Jeff exhaled. "So you're saying that the commander and your family are mere obstacles? Quote, unquote hurdles to overcome?"
Sven shook his head. At that moment, he realized that no one would understand what was going through his head. No one could ever possibly appreciate what he had been through since leaving Earth for Arus - giving up his fiancée, flying Blue Lion, Haggar's cat and robeast, his time on Ebb, being captured by Zarkon's fleet, being worked to near-death as a slave on Doom, their final victory, marrying Romelle, the onslaught of the Haggarium infection, Erik's birth. There was just too much to even begin to comprehend.
He knew that only Lenora would completely understand.
"Sven, please," Morgan begged sadly. "Don't do something you might regret."
"I've already done that. The only thing I regret is walking away from her. I never should have left her." With those words, Sven turned around and walked away. He didn't know where he was going. He only knew he had to kill time until the Explorer left for Earth.
The Albegas crew, minus Morgan, sat in the common area, discussing the situation with the three mecha and Hawkins' decision to ground them until they could be repaired back at the Garrison. Unsurprisingly, Aidan wasn't too happy about hitching a ride back to Earth on the Explorer. On the other hand, it meant more time he could spend with his girlfriend and best mate, so all in all, he took the news better than his teammates thought he would.
Once their meeting was adjourned, Christiane slunk out of the common area and went off in search of Jeff and Morgan. She knew that the two of them had to be together; when he wasn't on the Explorer, he was rarely without his girlfriend - fiancée, now - and his closest friend.
But it wasn't her fiancé that she ran into. It was her brother.
Keith looked like he'd been through the wringer. In all honesty, with everything that had occurred over the past few days, he probably had. But now, as he looked at her intently with their identical eyes, she knew he had come to talk. He was finally ready to let her in.
Before he opened his mouth, she whispered, "We need someplace private. Where can we go?"
He looked at her, surprised, before remembering that she was a seer and just knew some things. "The gardens. I took a walk this morning with - of all people - David Rackens. I know the gardens are empty."
"Good." She nodded. "Though you don't have to look so miserable when you mention Dave. He's one of the best men I know."
"Yeah. I kinda figured that out." He held out his arm, and Christiane took it, eager to get their conversation underway. There was so much she wanted to tell him, and so much she needed to hear from him. "Listen. If you don't want to do this right now, I'll understand."
"There is nothing else I'd rather do right now." She gripped his arm even more tightly, as if to drive home the point. "We could go out like this, or we could go on like that. But I'd rather go like this."
Somehow, the cryptic words made perfect sense to him.
In the privacy of the gardens - Keith couldn't believe he was back there for the second time this morning - Christiane blinked at him innocently. "Are you sure it's just us, Akira-chan?" she asked sweetly. "I don't want you to be embarrassed."
"What in seven hells would I have to be embarrassed about?"
As soon as the words were out, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it upward, exposing his bare chest. She gazed at his scar silently, shaking her head. "I knew it. My visions never lie. And I didn't think Pidge would, either."
Keith looked near panic. "What are you doing, Christy?"
"A man appeared to me in my vision last night, Keith." She gazed back at him, her eyes glazing over as she recalled her vision. "He brought me to a room where you were lying with this glowing red gash in your chest. A younger version of Princess Allura sat by your bedside, weeping." She ran her fingers over the length of the scar. Time had healed the worst of it, but the flesh-colored slash would never go away. "Pidge told me that really happened, but I guess I couldn't believe it until I saw it myself."
"Well, now you see it." Keith wrestled his shirt down over his chest. He didn't particularly care to see the scar; he saw it enough every day of his life. "Though I don't know what the purpose of all of this was."
"Yeah, I didn't, either." Her eyes flashed, annoyed. "So I took the liberty of reaching out to the princess this morning."
"Oh? And what did you have to say to her?"
"Nothing. I didn't have to say anything, and I wouldn't have, except it would have been terribly rude not to. I just needed to touch her bare skin to have my answer. And when I grabbed her hand, I saw exactly what I needed to see."
"Which was?" Keith knew he was in the doghouse with Allura, but he would still defend her, no matter what.
"She's The One, Keith. She's your One. The two of you are supposed to be together. So if you don't stop ruining it, you're gonna end up grieving for the woman you lost for the rest of your life." She paused to narrow her eyes. "You're gonna end up like Sven."
Keith's head reeled from the mountain of information his sister shot out at him. "What do you mean, Allura's The One? That soulmate talk is just fluff."
"Call it what you want, but it's the truth. For reasons we'll never understand, your heart and soul are inextricably linked to Allura's. Just the way mine are to Jeff's, Morgan's are to David's, and Sven's are to Lenora's."
Keith stopped breathing. "What?" he gasped out when he finally caught his breath.
"The idea of The One is real, Keith. It does exist. It's the term to describe two people's hearts, minds and souls being unified as one. The term soulmate is kinda cheesy, but it does somewhat accurately describe the condition." She shrugged. "And like I said, if you continue to blow it with Allura, you and Sven are gonna end up in the same miserable boat together."
"I don't want to blow it with Allura." Keith felt his voice break along with his heart, and he struggled to remain strong. He was the captain of the Voltron Force, after all. He chose to ignore the comments about Sven for now; there would be ample time to put the pieces of that twisted jigsaw puzzle together later. "I've always known, on some level, that she's The One. I've always felt a connection to her. Even when I was underground on the mission to retrieve Black, I sensed that she was always with me."
"That's great. That's a profound example of what I'm talking about." She drew Keith's face in to meet hers, and for a moment, nothing existed except for two twin pairs of turquoise orbs. "That connection is what sets you apart. No one else has it, and you will never have that same strong bond with another person. Don't get me wrong, if The One dies, or is separated from you for an extended period of time, the universe will create another person for you to share a similar bond with, like a consolation prize. Except that bond will never be as strong as the bond you have with The One." She shook her head. "There's no consolation prize for you here, Keith. Not even Morgan. There's only Allura. So for the love of all that is holy, don't ruin it."
"Geez. Way to drive the point home, Eiko-chan."
"I have to. I've got to make sure I get it through that thick skull of yours." Finally, she let go of his face and backed away, looking back at his chest again. "I think the man in my vision wanted me to see you like that, Akira-chan. He wanted me to see you as fallible. He wanted me to know that you're flawed."
"Well, gee," he shot out sarcastically, "that's great."
"No, not like that. This man wanted me to know that despite your shortcomings, you're a good man, and there is no one better to lead the Voltron Force. You're not perfect, but you don't need to be. And because you're not perfect, I can accept that I'm not perfect, and I can forget whatever's happened between us in the past and tell you that I love you, I've missed you, and I need you in my life."
Finally, finally, Keith felt everything was okay between the two of them. They were flawed. They were fallible. They were imperfect. And yet, they were brother and sister, and there was no grievance between them that was too great to overcome. He wrapped his arms around Christiane, feeling grateful and humbled for the chances he'd been given. He'd been given a second chance with his sister, and all he had to do now was convince Allura for a second chance as well. For some reason, he knew that once he overcame the hurdles that stood immediately in the way of his happiness with his princess, he would never blow it again.
Gripping hands, they headed back to the castle, feeling better than ever. For the first time, Keith felt his day was looking up. He was actually smiling when Christiane asked him, "Do you think you and Allura will make it to Earth for the wedding?"
Keith looked down at her. Normally, he wouldn't risk it - how could two Voltron pilots be so irresponsible as to leave Arus when Lotor could turn around and attack again? - but now things were different. There were now three cadets who had been trained to pilot the lions, and Pidge had made major updates to the castle's defenses. Life would go on if he and Allura took some time for a holiday, especially if the holiday entailed his sister's wedding.
"Yes, absolutely. We wouldn't miss it for anything."
"Thank you. It would mean everything to me if you two were there."
Keith nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Christy, you and Allura...I don't know how you did it, but somehow, the two of you have made me a different man. A better man. There is no way I'd ever miss the wedding of my sister and my best friend. If I'm not there, it means I died."
She giggled. "Well, I'm glad you'll be there."
"Trust me, I don't plan on missing it."
Once back inside the castle, Keith felt much better about himself and his life. Things were finally starting to head in the right direction after his dark fall. And for the first time since he'd earned the title, he felt that there might be a reason to retire the term Captain Crankypants.
