"Cady," Keith took his eldest daughter by the arm and directed her to the door. "Becca, Nanny, and the children are all down in the basement under guard. I want you to go down there and tell the guards you are all to be moved into the caves. You will be taken to the rooms set aside for the royal family, stay there until either I, or one of the Force members come to get you. Understand?"
With her heart racing, Cady nodded.
Keith smiled gently and squeezed her arm, "It'll be all right, honey."
"I know, Dad."
He kissed her forehead, "Go get your brothers and sisters."
Cady hurried down the hall, her shoes clicking on the hard marble floors. She turned left and jogged down the stairs, stopping to steady herself on the handrail when an explosion shook the castle. Fear, heavy and dark, washed over her. She shook her head to clear her mind, she had a job and it wouldn't do to have her show up looking scared.
Cady nodded to the guards standing in front of the closed door to the basement room. The two men stepped aside and allowed her to open the door. Becca stood holding Tori, whispering soothingly into her ear as the little girl cried. Nicky clung to Nanny's hand, his eyes wide and wet as Charlotte stood close to Tess and Luke stood beside his mother, trying to appear cool.
Nicky dropped Nanny's hand and ran over to his big sister who caught him and swung him up on her hip. "Wha's goin' on Cady?"
"We are going on an adventure," Cady told him with forced excitement. "We're going to go down into the caves."
"Where's Mommy?"
"Mommy and Daddy…" she paused when another explosion rocked the walls. "Um, Mommy and Daddy will join us when they're done. So, uh let's go."
"I wan' Daddy," Tori whispered to her mother.
"I know, sweetheart," Becca patted her back as she followed Cady out of the room. "But Daddy has to work right now and I need your help."
"With wha'?"
"When we get to the caves, there might be people with boo-boos and we'll need to help them."
Nick laid his head on Cady's shoulder as she led them through the castle catacombs to a doorway that opened to the royal quarters in the caves.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Erik glanced down at the screen on his control panel that showed the images of the four other pilots. Their expressions were hard to read as their faces were partially covered by their helmets. The Lions rose into the air, their main objective being Vinn's ship while the Arusian Air Brigade pursued the Bittor fighters and the guards manning the turret guns took care of anyone who got too close to the castle.
The Lions were in a V-Formation as they rose steadily, gunfire surrounded them as the Arusians and the Bittors exchanged fire.
What they found hovering above Arus shocked them all. Vinn's ship was huge. Well, no, huge wasn't the word to describe it. It was gigantic, humungous, titantic, or really, really big. The five Lions were dwarfed by the immense ship.
"What do we do?" Declan asked.
It seemed silly to try and attack when they were so obviously outsized.
Erik made a split second decision and fired his blasters at the hull. They all watched as the discharges were harmlessly absorbed into the dark metal of the ship.
"Our only option," Erik said. "Is to form Voltron."
The four pilots nodded and prepared to join when a thundering flash surrounded them. Declan's image in Erik's monitor flickered and then disappeared as Blue plunged toward the surface of Arus.
"No!"
"Declan!""What just happened?"
But it was Gideon who reacted the fastest. He dipped down and Yellow followed Blue, hoping to catch his brother.
Allura watched from Castle Control, a gasp escaping her as she watched Blue fall. Her heart stopped and her knees weakened. Keith caught her arm and steadied her. His face was ashen and his hand shook as their other son raced after his brother.
Black, Red, and Green sprang into action, following Yellow. Erik put on a burst of speed and he and Gideon caught up with Blue. Erik grabbed Blue's tail in his mouth as Gideon grabbed one of her front paws. They tried to slow the descent, but they were too close to the ground. All three Lions hit the ground with an earth shattering thud.Vinn's image reappeared on the main monitor, "As you can see your Lions alone are no match for me, but without Blue Lion, there is no Voltron. I will give you time to reconsider."
A moment later Vinn and all the Bittor ships left.
"Pidge," Keith barked. "Go find Becca. We'll be bringing the boys into the infirmary. I want the Lions brought in and gone over, find out what caused Blue to fail, what hit her."
Allura stood numbly, knowing she should move, but she couldn't. Declan. Her baby. She knew it was stupid to let the boys fly, they were still so young. But Keith was convinced they could do it.
"Allura?" He whispered.
"They're too young," her voice was low and angry but grew louder with each word. "I told you they were too young! But you let them fly!"
Keith took her by the arms and turned her to face him. Her face was pale and her eyes wide and wet. "Allura, he'll be fine."
"How do you know? We haven't even seen him yet! What did you do?" She pulled herself from his grasp and whirled away storming from the room.
Keith head fell forward, his chin touching his chest. What had he done?
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Erik jumped down from Black. The landing had jarred him a bit, but he was fine, a little shaky, but fine. Sky and Brina ran from where their Lions had landed.
"Erik!" Sky ran to him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he pulled his helmet off. "We have to get to the twins. Brina check on Gideon. Sky, come with me."
Yellow's hatch opened and Gideon slowly pulled himself up. Brina ran over and clambered up to help him. He took her hand and they carefully climbed down, ripping his helmet off and throwing it aside as he hobbled over to Blue as Erik and Sky pried open the hatch.
Declan's head was lolled to the side and the entire cockpit was dark. No power. Erik laid down on his stomach and unlatched the belts and pulled Declan's helmet off. He checked for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one.
"This is going to be tight," Erik said as he slid down in. "Sky, Gideon, get ready." He lifted Declan's still form through the hatch and Sky and Gideon each grabbed an arm and pulled him out.
"Dec?" Gideon gently tapped his face. No response.
"Bring him down carefully," Keith called out.
They all looked down to see Keith standing with Becca and a couple of medics standing beside a gurney.
With his heart in his throat, Keith helped them lower his oldest son to the gurney and stepped back as Becca did a cursory examination.
"Let's get him in," she said shortly. "I want to do a complete exam."
The four remaining pilots stood in silence and watched as he was wheeled quickly into the castle. Keith turned to them, his shoulders slumped and his face drawn. He suddenly looked old.
"Go," he said quietly. "Go inside and get cleaned up. Erik, Gideon, go have a medic check you out." With that he turned and returned to the castle.
…………………………………………………………
Allura followed the gurney down the hall and into the hospital wing. Becca stopped her and told her to wait in the waiting room, she would be out as soon as she had news.
The door opened and Keith walked in. He went straight over to his wife and reached out to touch her but she turned and moved just out of his reach. "Allura."
She shook her head.
Before he could say anymore Erik, Sky, Brina, and Gideon entered followed by Lance, Pidge and Hunk. Allura hurried over to Gideon as he limped in.
"Oh, honey, you're hurt."
"I'll be fine, Mom, how's Dec?"
"Becca is checking on him now. Please, go speak to Nurse Jewelia, have her check you out."
"You too, Erik," Keith added.
Sky pushed their commander toward an examining room. He shot her a dirty look while she crossed her arms over her chest and glared back. Sighing, he turned and allowed a nurse to lead him into a room.
"You all right?" Lance asked his daughter.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, falling back into a chair. "Where's Mom?""She's with Cady, Nanny and the children. We'll give the all clear in about ten minutes and they'll be up."
Brina sat quietly in one of the chairs. Noticing the look on her face, Hunk sat beside her, "You okay? Would you like to see one of the nurses?"
She shook her head and flashed him a weak smile, "No, thank you, sir. I'm just worried about Declan."
"We all are," Keith muttered as he paced the floor.
Erik walked out of his examining room, "Anything?"
Keith shook his head.
"You?" Sky asked.
"I'm fine."
Allura sat down in the chair farthest from everyone else, her hands twisting in her lap. Lance looked from her to Keith and back again, noticing the obvious distance between them. Abandoning his seat, he went to sit beside Allura, throwing his arm around her shoulders and leaning in close to whisper reassuring words to her.
Erik took the chair Lance had left and laced his fingers with Sky's.
They all sat and waited for word on Declan. Almost ten minutes later another alarm, this one more like a school bell, sounded. It was the 'all clear' signal to let everyone know they could return home.
Keith stopped and cleared his throat, "I'm going to go find Cady, let her, uh, let her know what's going on."
Allura nodded slightly.
"What's going on with them?" Erik whispered into Sky's ear.
"I have no idea," she whispered back.
A door opened and Gideon limped out, his left ankle tightly wrapped.
"Oh, sweetheart," Allura leapt to her feet. "How are you?"
"I twisted my ankle," he said. "Nurse Jewelia wrapped it and she said I should stay off it as much as possible."
"Sit, sit," his mother motioned to the chair she had just vacated.
"Any word on Dec?"
"Not yet, sweetie," she ran her hand over his hair.
They returned to their quiet vigil. Allura took over the pacing Keith had started. Erik slid his arm across the back of Sky's chair, his finger tracing small circles on the back of her arm. Gideon stretched his injured ankle out in front of him as he tapped the arms of his chair.
A few moments later, Cady burst into the room and went straight to her mother, hugging her tightly. "How's Declan?"
"No word yet, honey, where are the children?"
"Nanny and Aunt Darcy are looking after them."
Keith stood beside the open door, his arms crossed over his chest.
"All right," Becca entered the room with a small smile on her face. "Declan will be fine," she assured them all. "He was knocked out and has a slight concussion. He has a couple of bruised ribs, a broken small finger, a sprained wrist, some bumps and bruises and a twisted ankle. He'll be fine in a couple of days."
Keith let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Can I see him?" Allura asked.
"Of course," Becca said. "He's sleeping, but you can sit with him for awhile."
"Why don't you guys go clean up and change," Keith said to his team. "We'll meet in an hour and go over everything you remember."
….………………………………………………………….
Declan woke a couple of hours later, sore and disoriented. Allura sat in a chair on the left side of his bed, holding his hand in hers and lazily drawing circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. Keith sat on the other side of the bed, his eyes shifting from his son to his wife to a spot on the wall and back again. Gideon had pulled a chair up beside his mother and sat with his injured ankle elevated on the side of the bed. While Cady and the others checked back frequently.
"Wha' happened?" Declan mumbled quietly.
"Your Lion took a hit, son," Keith leaned over and whispered. "How do you feel?"
"How's Blue?"
Allura squeezed his hand, "Don't worry about her, how are you?"
"I hurt all over. What happened with Vinn? Did we beat him? Tell me what happened."
"He got away, but don't worry, we'll get him next time," Keith assured him.
"But you don't have to go back up there if you don't want to, honey," Allura added. "We can find someone else to fly."
Declan furrowed his brow, "What? You don't want me to fly?"
"No, you can fly, I just thought that you might want to take it easy."
"I want to fly, Mom."
Keith reached over a pressed the button to alert Becca, "Don't worry about that right now, Dec, just get better. I know Becca is going to want to check you out."
"I can still fly, can't I?" He asked his father quietly. "I'll try harder next time, I won't get hit."
Keith looked up at Allura, but she had looked away, her lips pursed and dark pink spots appearing on her cheeks.
"Of course you can still fly," Keith said. "We'll talk about it later."
………………………………………………………………………………..
Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge had met with the four other members of the team earlier and gone over all that had happened. It seemed that Vinn's ship had some cloaking device, the castle radars had not picked up on the immense size of it. Keith had assured Erik that he had been correct in calling for Voltron, he was their only defense against a ship that size.
They had been dismissed and Keith and Gideon had gone to sit with Declan while the others went their separate ways. It was getting late. Lance and Hunk returned home while the three other team members retired to their rooms in hopes of finding some sleep.
Sky tossed and turned for the better part of an hour before accepting the fact that sleep wasn't going to visit her any time soon. She flipped through the book she was currently reading and realized it couldn't hold her attention. Skimming through the channels on her televiewer showed nothing worth watching. After fifteen more minutes, she realized what her problem was.
She didn't want to be alone.But it was late, after eleven o'clock and they had to get up early the next morning. But her need for companionship outweighed her fear of bothering him and she slipped from her bed.
The only thing that surprised Erik about the quiet knock on his door was that it hadn't come an hour earlier. He too was having trouble sleeping and had been debating whether or not he wanted to knock on her door.
He slid the door open and smiled at the sight that greeted him. His eyes traveled from her tousled hair to the purple t-shirt with an elephant head on it that was just a little snug to the baggy pajama pants with big bright green and blue vertical stripes to the white sock with multi-colored smiley faces all over them. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she looked up at him, almost shyly.
"Hi," Erik whispered.
"Hi."
"What can I do for you?"
"I, uh, I…" Heat rose to Sky's face and she silently cursed herself for behaving like a dithering fool. "I was just wondering how you were doing."
"I'm fine, Sunny."
"Oh, okay then."
He reached out and grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere. With his other hand, he cupped her cheek, "What about you? How are you doing?"
"Okay." She whispered, tilting her face into his hand.
"Schuyler."
"I don't…I don't really want to be alone." She admitted quietly.
"That's good," he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Because neither do I."
"Can I crawl into your sleeping bag with you?"
He chuckled, "I don't know if that would be a good idea."
"No one will know."
"I'm not worried about what anyone else thinks. I'm worried about what I will do with you in my bed."
She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, Erik, I can take care of myself."
"Promise to behave yourself?"
"No."
"Okay," he stepped back and pulled her into the room with him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Do you own just one pair of matching pajamas?"
Sky looked down at what she was wearing and then at Erik who was wearing a perfectly matched set of dark blue pajamas. "I wear what's comfortable. Besides, who cares what I wear to bed."
"I do," he teased.
"We can't all be as perfect as you," she teased back. "And what I wear to bed is none of your concern."
He stepped closer and slid his arms around neck, "It is if you're planning to share my bed."
The way he said that had the heat rising to her face and spreading to every inch of her body. Sky leaned into his embrace and rested her cheek against his shoulder, closing her eyes. "Declan will be okay, won't he?"
"Yeah," Erik sighed. "I hope so."
"I can't help but think…" she trailed off.
"Think what, babe?"
"What if…what if it had been you?" Her words came out in a rush. "What if it had been Black who had been hit and not Blue? It would have been up to me to lead? I couldn't lead the team if you went down! Declan should be second, or Gideon."
"Sky," he gently rubbed her back with both hands, hoping to soothe her. "If that happens you will lead because you can. You were chosen to be second because you are the best one for the job. When the moment comes to step in and lead, you will. I know you will and you can. I have complete faith in you."
She tightened her arms around him, "I don't know what I'll do if you get hurt."
"You'll lead the team to victory because you have to. You don't think I worry about you? This is what our parents and Keith have been warning us about. When it comes right down to it, we have to be soldiers first and it's going to be hard, but we'll get through it, I promise."
Pressing her face into his throat, she whispered, "I love you, Erik."
"I love you too, Sky."
The stood, wrapped around each other until Erik felt her grow heavy against him. With a smile, he whispered into her ear, "Come on, I think we need some sleep."
Sky let him lead her to the bed where she curled up next to him, her head on his chest, her hand clutching the front of his shirt. While his fingers gently stroked her back, she felt herself relax and had just drifted into that blissful space between sleep and awake where all sounds were muted and you knew sleep was just around the corner when I quiet knock on the door jolted her back to the real world.
She groaned and tightened her grip on his shirt as Erik sighed and moved to get out of bed. Smiling, he dropped a kiss on the top of her head, "Come on, Sunny, I have to see who it is. Just stay here and be quiet." He got out of bed and moved his comforter so it was bunched up and blocked her from the view of whoever was at the door.
"Brina?" Erik sounded surprised when he opened the door.
Sky narrowed her eyes and fought the urge to jump up and chase the other girl from the room.
"I was just wondering if you had heard anything about Declan?" Brina whispered.
Sky shifted in the bed so she could peek between the folds of the comforter and glare at the Green pilot. Brina wore a short robe that hid whatever slinky thing she wore to bed and accentuated her long legs. Her hair was perfectly mussed so it had that messily sexy look going. It took every ounce of willpower to keep from yelling out that she was liar and she was only here to hit on Erik.
For his part, Erik leaned against the door frame, blocking her view of the room so Brina couldn't see the bed and tried to steer her back to her room. While Sky was thinking silly, envious thoughts, Erik was only thinking about crawling back into bed and feeling Sky lay against him again.
"I haven't heard anything," he said. "I'm sure that if anything were to happen, they would tell us. Becca didn't seem too concerned about his injuries, which leads me to think he'll be just fine."
Brina twirled a lock of hair around her finger, "Okay, I, uh, I guess you're right."
"He'll be fine, Brina."
"Thank you, Erik. I guess I just need to hear that."
"Good night."
"Good night, Erik, thank you." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Sky inhaled sharply and as soon as the door slid shut she hissed, "Skank!"
Biting his lip to keep from smiling, Erik crawled back into bed and laid on his side so he could look down at her, "Stop that, she is your teammate and she was worried about Declan."
"We're all worried. That was just an excuse to see you."
"Isn't that what you're doing here?"
"Yeah, but that's different."
He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, I'm your girlfriend, I'm supposed to come to you for comfort."
"I'm her commander, she came to me for reassurance."
Sky narrowed her eyes, "You enjoyed her coming to your room, didn't you?"
The smile finally broke across his face and he kissed her cheek, "Sunny, I enjoyed you coming to my room, but even more, I enjoy seeing you get all riled up like this."
"Excuse me?"
"You're jealous."
"I am not!"
"Shhh," he pressed a finger to her mouth. "Yes you are and it's flattering. You really love me."
"Not at the moment," she grumbled.
"And when you get angry, your eyes get really dark," he traced his finger over her eyebrow and down her jaw. "And your cheeks get red and you keep licking your lips and you look really hot." His voice got a little quieter and he leaned closer with each word until he caught her mouth with his.
"That's not fair," she whined when they broke apart.
"Listen to me Schuyler," he rested his forehead against hers. "I love you. Brina and Declan have something going on. There is nothing and there never will be anything between us. You have no reason to be jealous of anyone. You are the only woman in the world for me."
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his middle, "You better believe it."
"You don't look angry any more."
"Does that mean you don't find me attractive any more?"
"No," he sighed and rolled over, taking her with him so her head laid on his chest. "You're still cute, but, well, it just isn't the same."
Sky giggled softly, "You'll just have to find more ways to annoy me."
He stroked her back with his fingers, "I'm sure I'll come up with something."
…………………………………………………………………………...
Keith walked slowly back to the room he shared with his wife. For the first time in over two decades, he had do idea what to do about her. He knew she had spoken out of anger, but her words had cut him deeply. Did she really blame him for Declan's injuries? Had he made a mistake allowing the twins to fly? Declan was eager to get back in the pilot's seat, but was that because he felt pressured into it?
Taking a deep breath, Keith entered the code to slide open the door to their bedroom. What he saw almost knocked the breath out of him. He quickly crossed the room and knelt beside the bed where his wife was sitting, her face in her hands, sobs wracking her body.
"Allura?"
She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and repeating over and over, "I'm sorry. I am so so sorry."
Keith caught her and sank to the floor with her on his lap. He held her and rocked gently, his face pressed into her silken hair. "It's okay, baby, it's okay."
Unable to look at him, Allura closed her eyes, "I didn't mean it."
"I know."
"If they couldn't do it, the Lions wouldn't have chosen them. I just…"
"I know, Allura," Keith pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"They're just children."
"They're practically adults, honey, and they are amazing pilots."
"I know."
"We need them."
Allura turned her face into his shirt, "They're my babies."
Keith smiled and rubbed her back, "I know how you feel, but they are the best ones for this job and we need them."
"I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to them."
"They'll be fine, all of them, I promise. We are better prepared and have better Intel now than we did when we were fighting. We will win and get back to our normal lives."
She tilted her head back and looked up at him with wet, tired eyes, "I love you, so much, Keith and I am so sorry about what I said."
He stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers, "It's all right, baby, I was feeling the same way."
"I know you would never do anything to hurt the boys."
"I think this was more difficult on us than it was on Declan. All he can think about is when can he get back in his Lion."
Allura smiled wistfully, "He is his father's son."
He kissed her gently, "And Cady is definitely her mother's daughter. She acted quickly and Becca said she was able to keep the calm down in the caves. Even leading them all in a sing-along to keep spirits high."
"We've done a great job with our kids."
"Yeah, we did."