It was by far the worst birthday in Allura's memory. Granted, she had been cryogenically frozen for the last ten thousand birthdays—the mere thought of which made her shudder with claustrophobia—but still. This one was the worst.

For one thing, no one, not even Coran, had remembered. Normally, she wouldn't care, but the team had been pulling further away from her of late, consumed by their own concerns. Pidge spent most of her free time with her brother, pouring over prisoner records and maps of the empire. Hunk spent increasing amounts of time with the Balmerans, one Balmeran in particular. Shiro was frequently off ship strategizing with other members of the alliance. Coran had conscripted Lance for ferrying him to various supply planets for repair parts for their aging castle. Keith…well, she hadn't seen Keith since she'd thwarted the Blade and let Lotor go.

Lotor was part of the problem, actually. The team disagreed often and loudly, but her siding with Lotor, her letting him go against the team's wishes in the first place, had driven a wedge between them that she didn't quite know how to rectify without sacrificing her integrity.

Mostly, she was fine with the small amount of distance that had arisen. She loved them, and she knew they loved her. They would get past the barrier eventually. Nothing could keep them estranged for long. They were her family.

But…they were her family…and it was her birthday. She felt lonely. Deeply lonely. She missed her father. She missed her friends.

And, oddly, she missed Lotor. It had been another thirty or so quintants since he'd brought news of the trap that had yet to spring. And true to his word, he hadn't contacted her since, despite having the castle's encryption code. But it was stupid to get upset that he hadn't messaged her. She knew why.

Finally, bored of her own melodramatic thoughts, she closed the diagnostic displays she had been staring at blankly for the last twenty doboshes and headed for Blue. Maybe flying would restore her sense of equilibrium. There was an asteroid belt not too far. She could use some practice dodging and shooting.

Settling into her seat in Blue's massive head immediately settled her mind as well. She sensed her connection with the lion like a calming breeze on her cheek. She sighed and closed her eyes, briefly considering taking a nap in her seat instead. But Blue nudged her mind after a dobosh or two. The lion was itching to fly as well.

Allura messaged Pidge to let her know where they were going and to give her responsibility for the bridge until Coran's return. Pidge messaged back the code for "copy that," and Allura let Blue take the lead.

A varga and a half later, Allura had worked up a light sweat, rolling, jumping, diving, and somersaulting Blue through the asteroids. She had inadvertently collided with a few, too, though. Every time she did, Blue flashed a red warning display on her right, almost as if teasing her.

Allura had tried a few weapons combinations on the asteroids as well, practicing evasive maneuvers while aiming for small, swift-moving targets. The more she let go of conscious thought and slipped into her lion's awareness, the more successful she was at coordinating multiple efforts at once. It was like a dance. She could almost hear music—mathematical, cosmic wavelengths of light and sound. She felt calm, even as she whirled and blasted chunks of rock into bits.

Her skin hummed, her eyes closed again, and the thought occurred to her to reach out with her power to see what it would do in conjunction with Blue's. She felt the tingles intensify, and a pink mist suffused the cabin.

She had just started to reach out to the nearest asteroid when alarms started clanging, jarring her out of the dance with heart-pounding fear. Something was terribly wrong.

At first, she thought her experiment had caused it, but it quickly became clear that the alarm was from an incoming distress call.

"Yes? Who is this? What's wrong?"

"It's Keith. The Gelgrethi are under attack by Zarkon's forces."

"What? Why? Aren't they still part of the empire?" Allura pulled up a schematic of the Gelgoroth system. It was on the far fringe of the empire from where the alliance held sway. "Are they rebelling? Why weren't we notified?"

"I don't know. The Blade picked up some Galra chatter yesterday, but we didn't know what to make of it. Something about avenging the empire, but there's no indication of why. The Gelgrethi are pretty small potatoes. It's a tiny, outlying system. The only thing notable about it is—"

Allura gasped when she read the data sheet. "It's one of Lotor's." She turned Blue back toward the castle. "Did they send for help?"

"No. But it's an opportune time to free the system from Galra rule. While Lotor and Zarkon's commander fight each other for the territory, we can lead a revolution on the ground, and—"

"I don't know, Keith. We don't have any kind of plan for freeing them and keeping them free. How would we support them at this distance? They'd be cut off."

"We can't pick and choose which planets we help based on strategic location."

"I didn't say that. I said we don't have a plan."

"The Blade have a plan. Voltron can participate or not. I'm sending the rendezvous coordinates now."

"Keith—"

But Keith's image flashed out as he disconnected the signal.

"Ugh. Hothead." She patched through to the other paladins. "Did you guys hear that?"

"We're on our way," Shiro said.

It didn't take long to marshal the paladins and make a decision. For once, they all agreed with Allura. But none of them, not even Allura, voted to sit out the fight. If the Gelgrethi were in need, then Voltron would help.

After wormholing to the coordinates Keith sent them, the paladins took to their lions while Coran raised the particle barrier. The battle had already begun between Lotor's battle cruisers and the Galra fleet.

"At least, Zarkon himself isn't leading the action," Coran said through their communicators. "His ship is nowhere in sight."

"So who's side are we on again?" Hunk asked from the yellow lion.

"We're on the Gelgrethi's side," Shiro said. "We're heading down to meet the Blade planetside. If we can help lead a revolt against Lotor's station, we can free the Gelgrethi from the Galra altogether."

Allura didn't say anything. She had no idea what Lotor would think when he found out the alliance was working actively against him. But she couldn't very well argue that they should let Lotor continue ruling Gelgoroth while fighting for the freedom of everyone else, either.

"Doesn't your boyfriend rule this system?" Lance asked.

"He's not my boyfriend."

And by the way, you should be nice to me. It's my quiznaking birthday.

"Whatever."

But when the lions touched down, it was to a very different scene than Allura expected.

The Gelgrethi held the Blade of Marmora back at blaster-point. The Blade were armed, but not engaging.

"What the hell is going on here?" Shiro muttered through the communicator.

"Let's go find out," Lance said, his lion sitting and letting him out.

Allura climbed out of her lion, unnerved by the cold reception they were receiving. The Gelgrethi seemed hostile to them, as if they were the Galra and not the ones saving them from.

"Trespassers. Your weapons are not welcome here."

The Gelgrethi who spoke seemed by his dress to be in some sort of position of power. His rounded earlobes turned red as his expression turned from mistrustful to angry.

Shiro stepped forward, edging past the Blade's sloppy line of defense. "We are here to help."

"We have heard of your help—stealing worlds from the Galra empire. We are not interested in becoming one of them."

"We do not steal worlds," Allura shouted, offended. "We offer a pathway to freedom and autonomy, to never having to sacrifice resources and self-determination to Galra tyranny again."

"So you yourselves can take what the Galra leave behind?"

"Of course not," Allura shot back, pushing her way to the front. "We trade fairly for what we receive. As all free peoples should. We fight tyranny and injustice. As all free peoples must."

"We are not under tyrannical rule. We are subjects of Prince Lotor, who provides for us, supports us, protects us from Galra interference. We are already free."

"Yeah, but what price do you pay him for that freedom?" Pidge had come to stand next to Allura, arms crossed. "Where I come from, that's called extortion."

"We feed him and his soldiers when he visits. We provide information when he asks. We listen to his counsel to our betterment. We offer him supplies, which he only takes if there is plenty. If there is lack, he refuses. There is no extortion by our definition thereof."

"Hmph," Pidge said, clearly still doubtful.

"If you wish to help us," the leader said, lowering his blaster. "Help him." He gestured over his shoulder to where Lotor's battle cruiser lit up the sky with its ion cannon.

Allura glanced at Shiro. Truthfully, she wanted to jump back into Blue and do exactly that. The battle wasn't down here, it was up there. And the longer they deliberated, the longer Lotor had to wait for reinforcements. But she couldn't be the one to suggest it. They would instantly reject her agreement as more evidence of her partiality toward Lotor. She silently pleaded with Hunk to say it instead—or even better, Keith.

Shiro sighed. "Lotor is Galra. Are you sure this is what you want?"

The Gelgrethi straightened to his full height. "If you truly are, as you claim, fighters for freedom of choice and self-determination, then you will either leave or do as we ask."

"All right, team" Shiro said. "You heard the man. Let's get up there and lend Lotor some air support."

But as Shiro strode toward his lion, one of the masked Blade pressed a hand against his chest, stopping him. "Help Lotor? Are you serious?"

"They have the right to choose, Keith. Just like the rest of us."

"But we don't have to fight. We can just leave."

"Or we can do what we came to do, and help these people. For whatever reason, they trust Lotor. We have to respect that."

At which point, Shiro shot Allura a meaningful glance that looked almost…contrite. Did that mean he was starting to trust her judgment when it came to Lotor? Allura couldn't possibly be that lucky. Either way, she headed straight for Blue, not wanting any delay on her part to lead to a change of heart from the rest of the team.

"Form Voltron," Shiro said once they were all back in their lions.

In the seconds it took them to do so, another arrival joined the commander's fleet in the fight against Lotor.

"Oh, quiznak," Lance said. "It's one of Haggar's robeasts. This day just got a whole lot worse."

The robeast focused its attention immediately on Voltron, of course, which Allura felt somewhat relieved about. Even with his trans-reality ships, she doubted Lotor could take on a robeast by himself. They were too powerful, fueled with too much quintessence and magic. And Honerva really outdid herself with this one.

"Crap, did you see it just obliterate that communications installation?" Pidge said. "Its laser blast seems to convey some kind of computer virus. If it hits us, Voltron is dead in the water."

"Anybody got any ideas for how to take this one out?" Shiro said.

"Uh-uh."

"Nope."

"Holy crow, here it comes!"

"Pidge, get that shield up!"

"I don't think the shield will—"

Allura screamed with effort as the robeast's powerful ray hit her energy block dead center.

"Wait," said Pidge. "What's happening? It's not hitting our shield."

"Allura, what are you doing?" Shiro snapped. "Was that you?"

"Yes," she said, hoarsely. "I couldn't let it hit us."

"She's right," Pidge said. "If that ray so much as touches us, it will infect all of Voltron, all the lions. None of us will be able to fight back."

"What do we do?" Hunk said.

"Separate. At least until we come up with a plan," Shiro said. "If it hits one of us, then the others can still fight."

Allura pulled Blue out of Voltron and whirled around. "Pidge, you should cloak your lion," she said. "It can't hit you if it can't find you."

The green lion obediently disappeared from view.

"I'm going to shoot it from multiple angles, try to find its weak spot," Lance said. "Cover me."

"On it," said Hunk from the yellow lion.

As the others engaged the robeast, tactically harassing it in coordinated attacks, Allura hung back, letting Blue float away from the melee as she thought the predicament through.

It was only a matter of time before one of the lions was caught in the deadly ray. What would happen, then, if Pidge couldn't fix it? What if a lion was lost forever? How would they ever defeat Zarkon without Voltron?

And what of Lotor? His cruiser was still bravely battling an entire fleet. His ship's particle barrier had fallen, and the hull was taking heavy fire. How many crew had he already lost? How much longer could he hold out?

Allura knew she and Blue had a special connection, and she suspected that her power, melded with her lion's, could do things no one had ever seen before. But she had never tried it. She had no idea what releasing control of her innate magical abilities and amplifying it through her lion would do to her, not to mention anyone near her. But what choice did she have? They were running out of time.

She cleared her mind, like she had in the asteroid field only a few vargas ago. She reached out to Blue and whispered her ideas, asking for permission. Blue purred in her mind, which Allura took as consent. So she opened up, unshackling the power she felt simmering beneath her skin.

"Allura, stop." Lotor's voice rang sternly from her communications display. He must have finally used the castle encryption code she'd given him. "It is too much, even for you."

"Do you have another suggestion? Because if that weapon touches any of us, we are adrift. We have a few ticks at most."

He paused for a moment before saying, "Retreat. Leave us."

"No quiznaking way."

She punched the communications dash to disable transmission. She'd been at war the longest of any of them, besides Coran. It was time she stopped letting them all constantly second-guess her judgment.

"All right, Blue. Let's finish this. Form jaw blade."

Then, eyes closed, she lengthened the blade into a spear, just as she had in the fight against the koti on Sala. But with Blue's power added to her own, she felt stretched past the boundaries of what she could hold, her skin barely containing the blending of energies.

She sensed the planet, the system, the far flung stars, and every lifeform in between, like tiny fires in her mind. If she wanted, she could reach out and take that quintessence, bend it to her will. But instead, she drew from the deep well in her own body, amplifying her essence to a fever pitch, leaving Blue to harness and wield it.

Then together, they danced, diving toward the robeast, avoiding its mechanized tentacles the same way they had dipped and weaved through the asteroids. The lion slashed at the heavily armored sides with the glowing spear, disintegrating metal and flesh wherever it touched. The robeast howled in anguish, its cries sounding synthesized and distorted, as if radiating from a tortured machine.

It redoubled its efforts, focusing its deadly laser on the blue lion doing the bulk of the damage.

"Allura's magic seems to be inoculating her lion from the virus," Pidge shouted from her cloaked position. "A couple more swipes from that thing, and the beast'll be toast!"

Allura could feel her strength draining, though. She wasn't sure she had more than one pass left in her. Then suddenly, the robeast lashed out, wrapping its tentacles around Blue and squeezing while electrical pulses shot through both lion and paladin. Allura screamed, and then panted when the electricity flickered out.

"Blue?" she called, panicked when the lion didn't respond. She shifted the controls, her nerve endings on fire, trying to wake up her lion. "Come on, Blue. I need you."

Another jolt of electricity rocketed through the cabin. This time, Allura was ready for it, though, and she pushed it away from her with an ever expanding sphere of rose-tinged gold. As the light touched Blue's controls, indicators flipped on, beeps greeted her ears, and a ferocious growl echoed through space.

Allura's communicator came back online mid-cheer as the paladins saw Blue coming back to life.

"You're still caught in the tentacles, though, and we have no idea how to get you out without one of us falling into the same trap," Hunk said.

"Perhaps we can be of some assistance," said Lotor's voice in her ear. "Decloaking in two, one. Slav, fire when ready."

Allura caught sight of one of Lotor's trans-reality ships off her port side just as its shipboard cannon shot a strange looking pulse at the robeast's nearest tentacle. The tentacle's blue phosphorescent light blinked a few times before going dark completely and sloughing off the robeast's body.

"It worked!" Slav crowed. "Now there's a 37.3% chance it will work again."

"Bastard stole my cloaking tech—I knew it!" said Pidge from her own cloaked lion just as Shiro said, "What the hell was that?"

Ignoring Pidge's comment, Slav said, "I isolated and analyzed the virus matrix and wrote a program that counteracts its binary sequence. The laser rewrites—"

"Rewrites its code!" Hunk finished. "Genius!"

"All right, Slav!" said Lance. "Let's take this nasty octopus down."

"Hunk and I will hold back the fleet," Shiro said. "Lance and Pidge, stay with Allura. Distract the robeast while Lotor and Slav free her lion."

"Copy that," said Pidge as the green lion rolled in for another attack.

But Allura saw new tentacles forming even as Slav's anti-virus ray worked to free her from the ones that ensnared her. The ray wouldn't be enough to finish the robeast, so Allura rebuilt the javelin in her mind, knowing that she would only have one shot at it, knowing the others wouldn't approve.

When the last tentacle fell away, the first new tentacle snaked out to reestablish a hold on Blue, but instead of ordering a Blue away, Allura directed the lion to fly full force into the center of the robeast at the same moment she reformed the spear straight through the heart of the monster. Allura used every ounce of energy she had left to throw up a spherical shield around the imploding robeast, herself, and Blue, to contain the blast and protect her friends.

Light filled the sphere, flooding Allura's senses. A disc of still brighter light emanated from the center of the robeast, rolling outward and disintegrating everything in its path, the way it had the koti pack on Sala. Allura prayed that her shield would hold after she disintegrated, prayed that the trans-reality comet's special properties would somehow protect Blue. But as the wave of light passed through her, she felt nothing but a gentle surge of warmth. The disc had somehow recognized her and left her alive. Then it dissipated as it hit her shield.

She checked Blue's sensors, but the robeast seemed to have been erased as well. All traces of it were gone. So Allura dropped the shield, allowing the paladins access once more.

"—went poof!" Lance was shouting through the communicator.

Shiro added, "I don't know what you did, Allura, but I'd prefer it if you warned us next time."

"What of the Galra fleet?" Allura asked weakly. She barely had enough energy remaining to sit upright in her chair.

"Honestly," said Hunk. "They took one look at your glowy, pink ball of death and hightailed it out of here."

"Are you all right, Princess," Lotor asked. She winced slightly at the formality but was too exhausted to object.

"Yes, fine. Tired, but unharmed."

The trans-reality ship banked left then and headed back toward Lotor's damaged cruiser. Allura felt oddly disappointed. Blue purred reassurance in her mind.

"We should go check on the Gelgrethi," Shiro said. "Allura are you up for it?"

"Yes, of course," she said, straightening in her chair with effort so she could maneuver Blue back to the planet.

The Gelgrethi threw an impromptu feast in their honor, and though it wasn't technically for Allura's birthday, she pretended like it was. She even danced once with Hunk, though her energy reserves were so low that she kept nodding off during the toasts and speeches.

She didn't see Lotor in the crowd, though she somehow sensed his presence. He wasn't there, but he wasn't far. Allura was so drained that she actually felt woeful that he seemed to be avoiding her. Normally, she'd push the pathetic notion out of her mind, but she was so tired, and so lonely, and it was her birthday…

"Allura?"

Her heart stopped for a full tick. She turned to see Lotor standing behind her as if she'd conjured him. Her cheeks flamed with heat, embarrassed at what she had just been thinking and relieved that she had picked that very moment to retreat into shadow.

"You're here," she said stupidly.

"As are you."

She couldn't read his expression in the darkness, but then she often couldn't read his expression so that was hardly new.

"Are you going to yell at me for putting your allies at risk with my experimental magic?" she asked, wanting to get it over with if that indeed was his plan.

"No. Though, I was somewhat annoyed that you ignored my advice to retreat."

"We weren't going to just leave you…" she started hotly, then calmed her tone to admit the truth. "I wasn't going to just leave you."

"You should have," Lotor insisted. "But I'm grateful that you did not."

"Why did the Galra attack Gelgoroth?" she asked. "Was this the trap?"

He shook his head. "You will know it for a trap if it springs. You must still avoid the Zaleph system at all costs. Today's purpose was merely to cripple my resources."

"But why?"

"Haggar sees me as a threat to the empire. And I am. Just not in the way she thinks."

"What can I do to help?"

Lotor smiled. "Just keep doing what you're doing, Princess."

"I prefer it when you call me Allura," she admonished him.

"I know," he said softly, his gaze never leaving her face. She could feel it all the way to her feet. As if the disc of light were passing through her a second time.

She almost reached for him then. To do what, she had no idea. But at the same moment, he moved, breaking whatever spell she was under.

"I have something for you," he said, almost awkwardly, and he opened a compartment in his suit and pulled out a small box.

"Happy birthday," he said, handing the box to Allura.

She took it, staring gobsmacked at him. "How did you know it was my birthday?"

"You're a historical figure. It's not a secret."

"I—" She stopped, not knowing what to say. The box was about the size of a teacup, an unmarked gray. "Thank you," she managed finally.

"You're welcome, Allura."

Then he bowed and walked away, disappearing into the night.

"What did he want?" Lance asked, as he and Hunk joined Allura. Then he saw the box in Allura's hand and added, "What the quiznak is that?"

"Birthday present," Allura answered absently.

"It's your birthday?" Lance said, sounding garbled.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us it was your birthday," said Hunk. "Where am I going to get stuff to make a cake?"

o~o~o~o~o

After the party began to slow, Allura made her way back to the castle, specifically to Blue's bay. She sat cross-legged on Blue's paw, holding the box Lotor had given her. She opened it carefully, not knowing what to expect. What she found left her breathless.

It was a juniberry flower carved out of some kind of stone, impossibly light for its density and colored with luminescent paint in the signature white and pink shades of the Altean plant. Her favorite.

She remembered telling him about the flower, about how it only bloomed once a year. But the rest of what she had said about it had faded from her mind. What did he mean by giving it to her now?

She inspected the box again, but there was no note, no explanation. So she examined the flower closer, thinking the message might be hidden in within it. She traced the edges of the the blade-like petals, the three-pronged pistil, the stalwart stem. But if Lotor had included a message, it was too well hidden for Allura to find.

"Princess?"

Allura nearly dropped the flower in her startlement.

"Keith? What are you doing here?"

Keith, still in his Blade uniform, sighed as he stepped closer to Blue and stopped. "I came to apologize. For the way I've been acting. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Especially on your birthday."

He looked so remorseful that Allura didn't have the heart to stay angry at him. She stood up and bridged the distance, meeting him in the middle.

"I, of all people, understand why you are so bullheaded about defeating Lotor."

"You do?"

"Of course. It's partly my fault. I held being Galra against you. I treated you like you were suddenly evil. Naturally, you would want to prove me wrong by taking down any Galra not working with the Blade."

"It's not your fault, Princess," Keith said, dropping his gaze. "I just couldn't get over the fact that he's the son of Zarkon. How did you? Get over it, I mean."

Allura thought of her alliance with Lotor on Sala, of the conversations that revealed who he truly was when even he didn't really know, of his many willing sacrifices to save her. But none of those were where it started.

"You got me over it, Keith," she said smiling softly at him. "When I realized that no amount of Galra blood could ever make you evil, I finally figured out that evil was an action, not a species. And not a family, either."

Keith nodded, his expression looking more relieved than she'd seen it in a long time.

"I'm not sure I'll ever see what you see in him, but…maybe I can give him the benefit of the doubt."

Allura hugged him. "It's good to be back on your good side," she said.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far."

She laughed as they walked back to their friends together.