Keith and Allura jumped apart as the shrill ringing of the castle alarms filled the air.

"Oh no, not now," Allura pleaded.

"Come on," he grabbed her hand and they raced from the library.

Lance and Hunk were in Castle Control talking to the guard on duty.  Pidge ran in from the work room while Sven hurried back to Romelle's room to check on her.  Koran and Kadmus appeared right behind Keith and Allura.

"What's going on?"  Keith demanded, crossing over to the main console.

"Doom, it looks like a dozen ships," Lance told him.

"But no coffin," Hunk muttered.

"Fighters?"  Allura asked.

Lance nodded.

Keith opened a line of communication and announced, "You have entered Arusian airspace, state your business."  He felt Allura come and stand beside him.

There was no response.

"You have entered Arusian airspace, state your business or we will be forced to fire upon you."  Keith knew the guards had manned the turret guns as soon as the alarms had gone off.

In response, the castle shook as a shot was fired, hitting the north tower.  They could hear the turret guns returning fire. 

"To your Lions," Keith called running to his entry tube.

******************

"What's going on?"  Romelle whispered to Sven.  They were in her room, she was curled up beside him, wrapped tightly in his arms, as they listened to the fire exchanged.

"It's probably Doom," he told her.

She shuddered and turned her face into his shoulder.

"It's alright," he soothed, running his hand over her hair.  "It's alright, noting vill happen to you, I promise.  You're safe."

"Why can't he leave us alone?"

"I don't know, honey, but I do know you're safe.  Keit probably already has de Lions in de air."

Romelle tilted her head back and looked up at him, "And you want to be up there with them right now."

He smiled softly and kissed the top of her head, "Dere is no place else I'd rather be den right here vith you."

Romelle brought her hand up to the back of his head and brought his mouth down to hers.  Sven was more than a little surprised, but he gladly gave into her.  Romelle rarely initiated any moments of intimacy.  It was always him who kissed her, took her hand, or hugged her.  He knew that after everything Lotor had done to her as part of his harem, she was intimidated by men and terrified of being touched.  They had been together two months before she felt comfortable enough to kiss him, that had been the day he had contacted Keith.  For his own part, Sven couldn't get enough of her and he would never stop touching her, holding her hand, stroking her hair, kissing her, but he didn't want to frighten her away.

"I love you," he whispered.  "And as long as I am here, you have noting to vorry about, I vill keep you safe.  I promise."

Another shot shook the castle.

Romelle sighed shakily, "Come on, I want to know what's going on."

"Are you sure?"  Sven asked as she untangled herself from his arms and stood.

She nodded.

With a reassuring smile, Sven took her hand and they made their way to Castle Control where Koran and Kadmus stood watching the fight.

*************************

Keith watched as Blue was hit before firing three shots of her own and hitting a Doom Fighter.  He knew she was capable of handling herself, but it was somehow different now.

A dozen Doom Fighters had entered Arusian airspace and circled the castle, randomly firing.  The Lions split apart and managed to take down half the ships without a problem, but more arrived, a half a dozen more along with a large transport ship, but no coffin.  Yellow and Green followed four Fighters who had taken off in the direction of Alforia.  Blue followed three Fighters who had flown over the woods while Red and Black circled the castle to take care of the others.  It didn't take long for the Fighters to either be shot down or forced away from the castle and off the planet.

Fifteen minutes after the Fighters had arrived, Keith called for a roll call.

"I'm here, but Red took a beating," Lance replied, rubbing his sore neck.

"Yeah, Yellow's alright, don't know if I can speak for myself."

"I think I sprained my wrist, but Green seems to be in good spirits."

"Allura," Keith tried to open a connection with Blue, but no response was returned.  "Allura!  Respond immediately!"

The four pilots held their breath and waited.

"Koran, do you have a fix on her homing device?"  Keith asked frantically.

"No, Captain, I don't."

"Alright, Hunk, Pidge, I want you back in Castle Control, see what you can do about honing in on her homing device.  Lance, you and I are going to circle, see if we can find anything."

"Yes, sir," the Force called back.

Lance pulled Red up and circled above the castle and then went higher.  They were gone.  He watched as Black flew over the woods, searching for Blue, wanting to find her, but afraid of what he would find. 

Keith felt his heart racing and his palms sweating.  This cannot be happening, he thought.  "Please God, let her be alright."  He didn't realize he said that out loud until Lance replied.

"She'll be fine, man, we'll find her."

Keith ignored him and asked, "Pidge, Hunk, you find anything?"

"Not yet, Cap.  You?"  Hunk replied as he worked on tuning in her homing signal.

"Even if she had crashed, Blue would still be giving off a signal," Pidge told him.

"And we would have noticed if Blue had gone down in the woods," Lance added.

Keith knew they were trying to reassure him, but it really wasn't helping.

"Keith," Lance said gently after they had searched for half an hour.  "She isn't here."

"Let's head in, we'll regroup in Castle Control and see what we can find."  Keith sounded a lot more calm than he was.  He didn't know if his head was going to explode or if he was going to punch his fist into Black's onboard computer.

"Nothing," Pidge said glumly as Keith and Lance entered Castle Control.

"It's like she just disappeared off the face of the planet," Hunk muttered, tweaking a few more knobs, getting no response.

"She can't just have disappeared," Keith roared.  "Find her!  No one rests, no one eats, no one so much as goes to the bathroom until we know where she is!"

Sven laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Calm down, Keit, ve'll find her."

Keith shook his hand off and whirled on Pidge, "Why haven't you contacted Doom?"

"W-we tried," Pidge stammered.  "Th-there was no r-response.  The, uh, the c-castle is empty."

"You think they have her?"  Lance asked.

"What else?  We searched the planet and couldn't find anything.  She followed three Doom Fighters into the woods and disappeared.  No one saw her go.  Where else is she?"  Keith jabbed frantically at the air, gesturing wildly.

Kadmus shuffled over to him and laid a hand on his arm.  Immediately, a calming warmth flooded through Keith.  "Calm yourself, Captain, calm yourself.  You will find her, but not if you are irrational."

Keith took a deep breath, "Alright, guys, just do what you can.  I want a line open at all times in case Lotor tries to contact us.  I also want the four of us to start a rotation, I want a Force Member on the board in here at all times.  Keep trying to contact the castle on Doom.  We have to find her.  I am going to start contacting the Garrison outposts on every planet in the area and have them keep an eye open for Doom and Allura."

************************************************************

"What do you want?"  Allura asked Lotor.  Her voice shook, not from fear but from anger.

"I think you know what I want, Princess," Lotor smiled. 

Lotor had arrived on Arus after his Fighters had forced the Lions apart and led the Princess' Lion away from the others.  With his father gone, Lotor was now able to do things his way and that meant going after the Princess, not Voltron.  He knew that once he had her, getting the giant robot warrior would be easy.  Taking the large ship used to transport coffins and robeasts, they swooped down and captured Blue before the rest of the Voltron Force even noticed.

Allura stood before him, her hands bound behind her back, her helmet tossed aside, and her hair mussed.  Lotor smiled at her, giddy with the knowledge that he had her and her precious Voltron Force could do nothing about it.  She was completely his.

"You're pathetic," she snarled. 

With a grin, Lotor waved a guard over, "Take her to the holding cell and secure her.  I will deal with her later."

With her head held high, Allura went with the guard.  She wasn't worried.  She knew Keith would find her.  It was just a matter of time.

***********************************************************

"You find anything yet?"

Keith looked up from the videophone he was using to contact neighboring planets and Garrison outposts to see Lance standing beside him.

"No, no one has seen her or any sign of Doom.  They are all keeping an eye out for them and will contact us if they find anything."

"She'll be fine," Lance whispered.  "We'll find her."

"It's been nearly four hours, Lance, and we have no sign of Allura or Lotor," Keith stood and rubbed his neck.  "I think we should go to Doom."

"But Pidge said there was no response."

"I know, but we might be able to find something."

"What's the plan?"

"You and I are going to investigate Doom, Hunk and Pidge will stay here and wait for word."

Lance nodded slowly, he would have gone to the ends of the Universe and back if it meant finding Allura and bringing her back safely.  "When do we leave?"

"Ten minutes."

**********************************************************

Allura tried to move her shoulders, but her wrists were shackled to the wall straight out to the sides and slightly above shoulder level.  Her upper back was sore and starting to cramp up while her arms were going numb. 

She had tried to take in her surroundings, but there were no windows and the only light was a small sliver that slid in under the door.  Whenever someone walked past, the shadows moved across the floor and Allura tensed with apprehension, but no one came in.  She had no idea how long she had been in there, it was impossible to guess how much time had passed.  But she wasn't worried, Keith was coming.  He would not just leave her here, he was on his way.  She was sure of it.

The door opened and Allura raised her head to see Lotor sweep in.

"Princess, how are you?"

"Just fine," she croaked.

"Good, good, glad to hear that."  He crossed the room to stand in front of her.  "I hate seeing you shackled up like this."

"Then let me go."

"Oh, I would love to, but I believe it is in my best interest to keep you under control for now."

"You will never have control over me."

Lotor smirked, "You are so feisty.  I like that about you, but I'm afraid it will get tiresome after a while.  Once you see that this is it, you're mine now, we will break you of that."

"This is not it," Allura hissed.

"You think your precious Voltron Force is coming to get you?"  He chuckled and then lowered his voice, bringing his face within inches of hers.  "They don't know where you are.  They cannot get through our cloaking device to get a signal on you and we aren't going back to Doom.  If, and I mean if, they are able to ever find you, it will be too late."

She swallowed painfully, "You're lying."

"Am I?"  He brushed his lips over her cheek, noticing the shiver that ran through her.  "I would never lie to you, Love."  He gripped her chin in his hand and held her in place while mashing his lips against hers.

Using the only weapon she had, Allura bit down on his lip, tasting the coppery flavor of blood.  Lotor growled with rage and whipped his head back while Allura turned her head to the side and tried to spit the taste of him from her mouth.  Stars flooded her vision as pain screamed in her head when Lotor struck out and slammed her head against the stone wall.

"Don't ever try anything like that again," he snarled, wiping at the blood on his lower lip.  "Next time, I won't be so kind."  With that, the Prince of Doom whirled on his heel and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Left in the dark, frustrated and in pain, Allura let her sore head fall forward as a whimper escaped her lips.  "Keith."

***********************************************************

"It's completely deserted," Lance said as he circled around the castle on Doom.

"No, not completely," Keith corrected.  "There are some slaves still around, which makes me think Lotor is planning to come back at some point."

"She's not here, Keith."

"I know."

"Let's head back and see if they've found anything."

Keith pulled back on Black and they flew up and away from Doom.  He knew Allura wasn't there, but he had to try.  He had to do something before he lost his mind.  Where was she?  Deep down he knew she was still alive, if she was dead, he would know it.  He shook his head, he could not let that thought enter his mind.  She would be fine, she had to be.  Not just for him, but for Arus.  What would happen to her planet, her people, if anything happened to her?

"Keith?"

"What Lance?"

"How are you holding up?"

"How do you think?"

"Lotor isn't that smart, we'll find her."

"But he has the witch."

"And we have Kadmus."

Keith nodded, "But can he do anything?  He hasn't come forward to help."

"Maybe he's waiting for us to come to him."

"I'll talk to him when we land."

Keith and Lance entered Castle Control to find Kadmus waiting for them.

"You wanted to speak with me, Captain?"  The wizard asked.

"We need your help," Keith said desperately.  "Allura's been gone for six hours now, every second she's gone she's in danger.  Is there anything you can tell us that might help?"

Kadmus nodded slowly and leaned heavily on his walking stick, "The anger has grown.  She was taken by the Prince of Doom."

Keith nodded, "We figured as much."

"He will not kill her."

"But he will hurt her."

"She is strong."

Keith's mouth fell open, "I know she's strong, but that doesn't mean we sit on our hands and wait for him to hurt her!"

"You misunderstand me, Captain.  Yes, he will hurt her, you know that and that is what is upsetting you so."

Keith ran a hand through his hair, frustrated, "Yes it is, among other things.  And the longer he has her, the more he will hurt her."

"He loves her."

"No he doesn't!"

"Yes he does, just not in the same way you do."

Keith opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say something but not knowing what.

Lance hurried over to the main console to see what Hunk was doing and to get out of what was about to turn into a very private conversation.

"She will be hurt, but she will survive.  I have seen your children," Kadmus said seriously.

Keith's face turned a brilliant shade of red, but beneath the frustration, anger, and absolute terror, was a pleasant feeling.  Their children?

"I cannot tell you where she is because I do not know, Captain, they are hidden behind very powerful magic, Haggar's magic.  But don't give up, you will find her."