***
Saber Rider lay back against the soft leather seat of the spacecraft. His eyes began to close, pulled inexorably shut by the force of his sheer drowsiness. He drifted off into slumber, remaining just barely conscious enough to hear the soft footfalls of his mother as she stood beside him. He felt a blanket being draped over him, and then the gentle touch of his mother's hand as she pushed back his bangs in a movement as familiar to him as his own name. It had been a part of young Saber's bedtime tucking in, and he had to admit that something deep inside of him had missed it.
They had been relaxing on planet Yuma – him, April, Colt and Fireball – idly discussing the possibility of visiting planet Yacarob – the famous beach-resort planet – for their upcoming three weeks of R&R when his parents had called him. They really missed him, they explained. It had been nearly seven months since they'd last seen each other face-to-face. They were planning a vacation tour, and please, could Saber join them? It had been so long since they had all gone together, on vacation, as a family.
Spurred by guilt, filial duty, and an honest desire to see his family again, he told the others to plan without him. They, of course, were rather disappointed to lose him – but, as he pointed out, he had been gone from his family for a rather long time, and he owed it to them to visit. Besides, he added hopefully, maybe the vacation tour would be short enough that he could join them on Yacarob later.
April pulled him aside later that night to talk to him privately. "Are you sure about this, Saber?" she asked him quietly. "You know how…stressed you become, sometimes, when it comes to family visits."
April had honest reason, more than the others, to be wary. The last time Saber had visited his family, they had – as usual – began to talk about his military career. The Riders had always had a tradition of service in the armed forces, but his parents would rather he had served in the UK's own army instead of enlisting in Cavalry Command. And besides, he had done it long enough, they thought. Wasn't it time he came home? He did have duties at home as well. April knew that the Riders, wonderful people though they were, tended to see the New Frontier as something quite separate – and therefore not really concerning them and their blood – from their own lands. The fact that their son was practically a legend in the New Frontier and helped to defend it from the Outriders hardly touched at all upon their thinking. And though Saber was not the sort who needed to have his every exploit acknowledged and acclaimed by everyone he met, April also knew that his parents' casual indifference to something that was so much a focus of his life hurt him.
To make a long story short, Saber broke off his visit and came storming back to Planet Yuma. April was the only other Star Sheriff on-planet at the time – Colt was visiting Robin, and Fireball was competing in the Daytona 500 on Earth – and she saw a captain angrier than she had ever seen him before, eyes stormy and injured at the same time; he spoke very little to anyone, and spent most of his time in the base's practice rooms.
People learnt to clear a room whenever the Star Sheriff came into it with that look meaning he was about to engage in serious swordplay – and though there were other people in the base with some skill with the blades, not one of them offered to fence with the Highlander. April, the only person who could approach Saber without fear when he was practicing, saw him use more types of weapons than she had ever seen before. His usual cavalry saber, Japanese katanas, Italian spada filos, Scottish claymores, basilards and Nordic saex – even, once, the polished bamboo used in arnis. When he was practically demolishing a training dummy with a huge double-handed sword that was about as long as Saber was tall, April finally decided that perhaps they needed to talk.
Saber finally calmed somewhat, and the ones in charge of training supplies at Cavalry Command thanked April. By the time Fireball and Colt came back, Saber was his old self again, and had talked to his parents over the vidcomm. Still, April felt a pang of worry when Saber announced his upcoming family reunion.
"It'll be all right, April," Saber reassured his teammate. "Mother and Father and I hammered out a sort of…well, I suppose you could call it a treaty of sorts, in our letters and calls. Don't worry."
"Alright," April conceded. "Anyway, far be it from me to tell my captain what to do." She grinned at him. "Still, Saber, remember that you've got a scheduled trip to Yacarob if you need it, okay."
"I shall."
Now, two weeks into his vacation, Saber was pleased that April's (and, he had to admit, his) worry was misplaced. There was no mention at all of his coming home to 'resume his duties' or leaving Cavalry Command. They had visited a few truly charming planets, and Saber went skiing and mountain-climbing and visited a beach almost as nice as Yacarob was – all in two weeks. He had a few friendly matches with his father, who reluctantly admitted that perhaps the time his son spent roaming the galaxy had given him a bit of an edge – for Saber now knew (and used) more weapons-styles than his father did.
Of course, they had to visit a few of his parents' friends, which involved dressing up. Saber rather disliked it, but bore the visits with good grace – if his parents, after all, could make allowances for him, he could for them.
They then arrived at their last destination, where Saber learnt why his parents had been to nice to him.
"WHAT?!" He gaped at his parents, the King and Queen of the UK – or, as the more old-fashioned Arusians would say, the Prydain sector. "What do you mean, betrothed?" Saber Rider, prince of the UK, heir to the Unicorn throne, and Star Sheriff, demanded.
***
AN: Time out for a brief author's note. Obviously, I'm playing fast and loose here with the canon of both series. To the purists out there, I apologize. Maybe you could regard it as an alternate universe? It's been a long time since I've seen an episode of either series. And I really wanted to make a SR/Voltron crossover that was, well, original. That post about the real, official SR/Voltron crossover inspired me. I would give my eyeteeth to see it, BTW. Any thoughts on where I could get it?
Does anyone know what color Saber's eyes are? I thought they were blue, but in Anny's pics they're green – and I looked at some screenshots, and you can't really determine the color from there. I made them green in this fic, BTW. About the Saber being a prince thing – well, it's pretty definite his family's at the least nobility. Maybe we could pretend that his parents or grandparents got really good at political maneuvering and ascended to the throne. About the part of his having some problems with his family – I kinda got the idea from a post in the ML I once saw. And I ended up rambling more about it in this story than I really planned to. It just ran away with me. About the weapons-bit – if Saber's so legendary and so good with the sword, I don't think it's too over the top that he would be acquainted with a variety of styles. Flexibility and multiplicity of techniques would make for a better swordsman anyway. If he can shoot, walk tightwires, and live with Native Americans, I don't see why he can't be good with more than just the sabre. About the arranged marriage thing: I know that I'm making Koran and Saber's parents sound a little more, well, domineering. But in this story they're honestly convinced that not only would the marriage of Saber and Allura be tremendously advantageous to both Arus and the UK (which is, BTW, based on the UK I described in House Rider) but also that both of them are made for each other and will fall madly in love if only they're shoved together for a little time first.So basically I'm begging the readers to suspend their disbelief for a little while reading it. Please? Thanks. And please, please, please, give feedback. Feed the hungry! Tuppence a pound! ^^;;