Chapter 11: A Royal Infiltration

As fate would have it, rather than going straight to the executions, Zarkon first ordered an immediate inquest into the Jarre incident. Zarkon wanted to know exactly how the slave boy had managed to even reach a ship, let alone managed to get to Arus and bring back Voltron when the intense magnetic fields of the Dark Nebula should have seriously hampered any attempt at approach by any craft other than a Galran one. Non-Glaran crafts required help under normal circumstances, so what had happened?

What the inquest eventually revealed was that on the night in question, with the now destroyed monument completed and all other preparations for the then upcoming birthday celebration finished and ready to go, the Commander and his men had been making merry well into the night. This included freely molesting the available Jarran women and getting spectacularly drunk. So much so that it had been sadly all too easy for the slave to reach the landing pads, grab his escape ship, and get several kilometers away from Jarre before the Commander's men had gotten themselves together enough to follow. Then, as the late Viceroy Tabor had reported, the Commander's ships, a group of Star Cutters, had fired, taking down the lost ship; the footage of the engine explosion was provided as evidence.

Unfortunately, further examination of said footage showed the ship, though excessively damaged, was still just intact enough to maintain its heading, albeit spiraling out of control. The eggheads crunched the numbers, and calculated that the ship probably had just enough velocity left in it to reach near Arus before the emergency braking system kicked in and forced it out of warp drive and down to very sub-light speeds. After that, it wouldn't have taken too long from then for the vessel to reach its intended destination, though none doubted the landing left the ship as anything less than a total write-off given the preexisting damage.

As to how Voltron made it through the magnetic fields, at present they could only guess - the best guess being pure solid stubbornness!

Once all of the facts were truly known, Zarkon went to work, and several Galaran soldiers from Jarre were summarily executed for their failure in the whole affair. This actually did rather little to calm him down, and Sakura and Yurak made a point to give the throne room and anywhere else Zarkon commonly roamed within the castle a wide berth save when summoned by the King. Meanwhile, Haggar was experimenting in her lab, attempting to develop a means for creating better robeasts. Five days after the Jarre incident, Haggar decided she was ready for her next attempt, informing Sakura of this in their quarters.

"What did you have in mind, mama Haggar?" Sakura asked, looking up from her current lesson sheet. Cova and Spinner were both grabbing a nap on the recliner, for the moment oblivious to the world around them.

"We're going to go to Arus, alone, to attempt to infiltrate the castle itself, and do what damage we can," Haggar explained.

"Just the two of us?" Sakura blinked. "Has Zarkon approved this?"

"He is currently occupied with multiple affairs of state. I've left a message for him in his office, but hopefully we'll be back before he reads it, one way or another," Haggar replied. "Yurak is also occupied with performance reviews, and won't be able to back us up, though he has been informed of my plan."

"Okay," Sakura nodded. "But what if something goes wrong and we need to make a fast exit?"

"I've quietly placed a new robeast into hiding on Arus should we need it, but with luck and a little evil magic, we should be able to claim victory without using it," Haggar told her with a slight smirk. "Shall we, my evil darling?" With that, Haggar offered her hand to Sakura. Sakura smiled and rose from her seat, accepting her mentor's hand, summoning her staff to her with the other.

"Let's go," she said, and the two used their magic to awaken their familiars, who blinked up at them groggily, making grunting noises. "C'mon, guys, we're taking another stab at Arus!" Sakura called them.

"What, again?" Spinner blinked. "Haven't they beaten us enough?"

"Never, Spinner," Haggar said. "We'll never back down until Arus is once again under Galran control!"

"And what makes you think that'll ever actually happen?" Spinner asked as he fluttered his way over to his mistress while Cova quickly jumped down from the recliner and trotted over to his.

"Because dumb luck can only take these wretched humans so far, and it has already failed them once in the worst way," Haggar cackled as she turned and began leading the way to the castle exit. Sakura briefly flashed on the death of the first blue lion pilot, Sven, and gave a curt nod.

"Yes, if we could get one of them away from their lions, it should be just a matter of time, effort, and strategy to get another, or more than one," she agreed. In the back of her mind a quiet discomfort at the idea of being directly part of more deaths prickled, but she squashed it. The good of the Empire was more important than her own silly little concerns. . .right?

"Well said, dearie," Haggar chimed, breaking her apprentice's troubling chain of thought. "So let us away, and see what evil we can accomplish."

"Whatever," Spinner grumped and drooped himself over Sakura's shoulder. Before long they had left the castle and made their way to the black space coffin they'd used previously. It was not Sakura's favorite mode of transport, but it worked. They climbed in, and moments later were blasting off for Arus once more.

Upon reaching the planet, they landed in a forested area a few miles from the castle. Once the coffin had settled on the ground, they rose out of it and saw their target in the distance. The Castle of Lions glinted in the afternoon sun, at once beautiful and intimidating.

"By now, the Princess's castle is sure to be heavily guarded, and no doubt we're sure to be recognized," Haggar commented calmly. "Sakura, how do you propose that we sneak into their accursed fortress?"

"Well, I could play the poor orphan child looking for help again," Sakura suggested. "It worked last time, after all."

"True enough, but they will know what that disguise looks like since all you really altered were your clothes," Haggar pointed out. "No, we must take it a step further, and make ourselves into completely different people so that we may both cross into the castle's interior unnoticed. But to do that, we must first find a suitable pair of people to use, and then your next lesson in evil magic can begin."

"Ooh, a new spell?" Sakura beamed. "All right!"

"Oh, yes, this will go swimmingly, I can tell," Spinner drawled from where he floated next to Cova, who stood on the ground. "Do we have a plan 'B'?" Cova yowled lightly in turn, making Spinner glance at him with wide eyes. "The moat?! You want to commit suicide?!" Cova yowled again, while the witches chuckled at their familiars' antics. "Not on your life!" Spinner snapped at his fellow familiar.

"Okay, getting in by the way the Princess uses to get to her lion is arguably an option, but there is one big problem with it," Sakura chimed.

"Oh? And what might that be, dearie?" Haggar asked.

"We don't know how deep the lion is," Sakura said. "Or, for that matter, how to access the secret passage to it, other than somehow breaking into Blue. And if we could do that, we wouldn't need to break into the castle, we'd just steal the lion!"

"Very good, my wicked student, you are quite correct," Haggar praised her student. "Without knowledge of these unknowns, using the lion as an entrance is reckless, at best. And, as you say, if we could reach the lion, we'd just steal it and go, so we'll stick to the infiltration."

"Oh, thank the evil gods," Spinner exhaled, getting another chuckle from his mistress and her master. Just then a squawk was heard overhead, and they saw an Arusian hawk flying across the sky, its aim sharp and true for the Castle of Lions.

"Hello, what's this?" Haggar leered. An opening had potentially just opened up to them. "Let's just see where that came from, shall we?" she said, and raising her staff released a very small amount of power, just enough to magically illuminate the direction from whence the hawk had come, and the two witches began heading in that direction to see what else was coming toward the castle.

At the castle itself, the hawk found a way in via an open window in the upper part of one tower, coming to land in the pot of a small potted tree in a small lounge. As it happened, the four male members of the Voltron Force were sitting on the lounge sofa and chatting about the progress the Princess was making on learning to properly fly and use the Blue Lion in battle. The squawking of the hawk drew their attention, and Hunk made to catch the bird, but as he neared his hand to it, it snapped at the large man, causing him to step back.

The others chuckled a bit, and Pidge offered to handle it. He then whistled once and the hawk flew over and landed smartly on Pidge's outstretched arm. It was then, when it was clear the bird was tame, that they noted the small message holder strapped to its leg. They quickly took message and hawk to Coran in the control room, who upon reading said message sent immediately for Princess Allura, who came jogging into the control room a few minutes later - wearing only her slippers, tiara, and a towel, with an exasperated Gertude following behind her with a robe.

"Coran, you mustn't summon me so suddenly, I was in the bath," Allura said to her counselor in annoyance.

"So I see," Coran raised one eyebrow, trying his best not to let his mind go down paths it most definitely shouldn't. 'I think I may need to consider dating more,' he thought to himself. As for the rest of the Voltron Force nearby, they all chuckled in amusement at the scene before them, Lance and Hunk not even trying to restrain their imaginations. Keith only barely kept his brain from wandering onto a naughty path, and Pidge managed not to only by virtue of not yet having a fully active libido. Allura looked at the rest of the Voltron Force in surprise, and felt her cheeks heat up as sh realized how little she was wearing in front of them.

"Stop it!" Gertrude snapped at them, halting their laughing in its tracks. "Please show the proper respect toward a royal person!" she continued, and then turned to get the robe onto Allura to restore her to some semblance of modesty. "If you were gentlemen, you'd all turn your backs and pretend not to notice," Gertrude stated further. "And Princess, you mustn't forget who you are. What an immodest display!"

"Yes, Gertrude, I'm sorry," Allura said as the robe's sash was tied securely, her cheeks still slightly pink from the embarrassment. She then noticed the hawk now sitting comfortably on Pidge's shoulder. "Oh, where did the hawk come from?"

"It's the reason why I summoned you, highness," Coran said, now feeling far more in control of himself. "It brings a message from one of our nearby minor kingdoms."

"Really?" Allura's eyes lit up. "We haven't gotten a message from one of our other kingdoms in ages."

"Yes, and this is of the greatest news," Coran agreed. "Your mother's sister, Orla, is currently journeying here to the castle. And all these years we thought she was dead."

"My aunt?! I have a living relative?" Allura blinked in surprise. The guys were now far more composed and listening to the discussion closely and seriously.

"Yes, she left our main kingdom to journey to Trebi to marry not long before Zarkon's forces devastated our world, and until now we have had no word from her," Coran explained. "But happily we now know she is alive and well, thanks to the message brought to us by her hawk." With that, he handed Allura the note formerly carried by said hawk, and Allura read it, absorbing each word with mounting joy.

"I don't believe it, she's really coming to see me with a small entourage," Allura beamed, then blinked. "And...her daughter?! I have a cousin?"

"Well, good for you, Princess," Hunk said. "Congrats."

"Yeah, family's one of the most important things to have, you know," Lance agreed.

"I just hope her cousin isn't the snooty type," Keith commented lightly.

"Actually according to this, my cousin, Princess Elena, only recently turned twelve," Allura said, still overwhelmed by it all.

"Hey, that means she's your age, Pidge," Lance beamed at the smallest member of the team.

"Try to make good friends with her, all right?" Hunk also beamed. "Could be your ticket into royalty!"

"Sure, I'll be her friend," Pidge agreed, not catching Hunk's insinuation. "As long as she doesn't mind guys with glasses."

"We'll see soon enough!" Allura declared. "I'm gonna get dressed, and then we'll all go out to meet her!" She handed the note back to Coran, and started to head for the hallway.

"I just hope it's not some kind of trick by Zarkon and his goons," Keith commented, and she halted.

"Crap, that's an unpleasant thought," she said, ignoring Gertrude's gasp and reprimand at her language. "Coran, are you sure the letter is genuine? I have no real memory of Aunt Orla, so I couldn't say myself."

"Oh, yes, it most certainly is," Coran assured them. "We still had some old writings of hers scanned into the main computer from before her departure all those years ago, and I had the computer compare the handwriting in the letter with one of the scans in memory. The handwriting was a perfect match, it is completely genuine."

"Okay, then," Hunk smiled, "Let's go meet her then!"

"I'll be ready in no more than ten minutes!" Allura declared, and dashed off to get properly dressed.

Outside, on the road leading through the forest into the main kingdom of planet Arus, the coach of Queen Orla, Princess Elena, and their three ladies in waiting – well, in Elena's case, girl in waiting – moved slowly toward their destination. It was driven by an armed coachman, and escorted by two armed guards on foot, who trotted at a very brisk pace.

Within the coach, Queen Orla quietly sifted through some legal documents as she awaited their arrival at the Castle of Lions. Sadly, despite wanting her visit with the niece she thought long lost to be strictly pleasure, by her husband's command it was not to be. Fortunately, she already had a plan to get the annoying "business" out of the way quickly so as to move straight to pleasure.

Princess Elena, on the other hand, was getting restlessly bored, and was ready for any excuse for excitement. She wasn't even sure why she was on this trip, other than her mother had insisted she come. Her girl in waiting was even less happy about being on the trip, as she was rather shy. Finally, Elena reached the limit of her patience.

"Aren't we there yet?!" she whined.

"Coachman?" Orla called to her driver.

"About another forty to fifty minutes, Highness," he called back.

"Ugh," Elena flopped down. "Can't we go any faster?!"

"That depends, Highness," one of the foot-bound guards said through the coach's window. "Do you think the coach can pass through the woods at speed without crashing?"

"And why wouldn't it?" she snapped back, her head jabbing out the window at the guard in question.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at what can send a coach topsy-turvy, your highness," he replied calmly.

"Just sit back and relax, Elena," Orla said, still having not looked up from her papers. Elena turned to glare at her mother sourly. "We'll get there when we get..." But before she could finish the sentence, the horses suddenly halted, neighing in upset at something before them. A sinister cackling followed seconds later, and an energy bolt jumped from the woods, taking the two horses to the ground. The guards drew their swords immediately, as did the coachman who hopped down from his seat, all of them on full alert. The occupants of the coach all looked out the window to see what was going on.

"Who goes there?!" the first guard cried out, desperately trying to locate the source of the cackling. Haggar then emerged from the woods, a gleeful expression upon her aged and twisted face.

"Just me, my human fools," she replied to the question.

"A Doom bitch!" the other guard cried. "Seize her!" He charged forward, his blade held outstretched, determined to eliminate the threat to his liege and her daughter. Haggar just sneered.

"That's witch, actually," she corrected him, then raised her staff and released a single blast of energy, killing the man were he stood, the body flopping to the ground in a final spasm of pain. Haggar cackled again in delight, and the other guard and coachman made a decision.

"Run, Highnesses, get away," one screamed at his charges, and then both men dove forward to attack the Galran. Haggar wasted no time, and simply fired a blast of black flame at her assailants, ending them both viciously in seconds. At the same time, Orla threw open the coach door, and she, Elena, and the ladies and girl in waiting dove out and started to head in the opposite direction. They were less than five feet from the coach, however, when another blast of energy shot out from in front of them and circled them, holding them in place. Sakura emerged in front of them a moment later, a nasty grin on her face, her staff held aloft.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"Well done, dearie," Haggar congratulated her as she moved forward to examine their catch.

"You're...with her?" Orla stared at Sakura, unbelieving.

"Duh," Sakura responded.

"Are you out of your mind?! She's from Doom! A monster!" Elena snapped. Sakura glowered angrily at the girl, and swung downward with her staff, a blast erupting from it and striking Elena dead on, knocking her down.

"She's not a monster!" Sakura snapped as she did so. Orla leapt to her daughter's aid, finding the girl bruised and her dress a little singed, but otherwise all right. Elena's temperament, on the other hand...

"How dare you!" Elena snapped. "I'm a Princess! I can have your head for this!"

"Scary," Sakura chided. "You should be more worried about whether you're going to get to be a slave, or robeast food."

"You wouldn't dare!" Elena snapped again.

"Try me," Sakura smirked.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," a male voice chimed from behind them, and Elena glanced back to see Spinner sitting on the seat of the now abandoned coach, and, to Elena's growing anger, munching on her fruit snacks! Orla also noted Cova sitting in the grass next to the coach, the cat purring softly, yet menacingly. "Could get unhealthy. For you, I mean," Spinner droned on to Elena, then took another bite of the peach he was working on. "This is really good," he commented offhand. Orla stared back at Sakura again, the young witch girl's face unwavering.

"What have you done to her?" Orla glared at Haggar, her meaning clear.

"What do you think I did?" Haggar asked in return, then arched an eye as she fully took Orla's face in for the first time, moving forward and seizing the Queen by her chin. The Queen's face was slight, yet beautiful, with medium green eyes and flowing blonde hair that went to the small of her back. She wore a blue dress with light pink lining under a purple royal robe, a dark blue belt with a red jeweled buckle around her hips. In lieu of a crown, she wore a green, emerald laced headband, and her look was completed by a jade bead necklace with a four-inch ruby at the front. "My, my, you rather resemble the wretched Princess of the Castle of Lions," Haggar commented. "Wouldn't you agree, dearie?" she added toward Sakura. Sakura also stepped forward for a closer look, and also noticed the resemblance.

"Huh, she does," Sakura agreed.

"The Princess of the Castle of..." Orla blinked at the description, a new panic seizing her heart.

"You mean my cousin?" Elena asked, her voice surly, and Orla grimaced at her daughter's moment of rank stupidity. Haggar and Sakura then took a moment to really look at Elena for the first time, too. The girl sported dark blue eyes, medium brown hair that was tied at the base of her head into two pony tails and went to just past her shoulders, and her face, whilst retaining a few slight signs of receding baby fat, greatly resembled her mother's, though obviously far younger. She wore a simple white dress with a white traveler's cloak over it, and a simple blue string necklace with a round beryl on its end. A purple sash-like belt was wrapped around her waist, and a small jeweled blue headband sat atop her head..

"Cousin?" Haggar leered happily. "My darling, we have our disguises!"

"Well, in that case..." Sakura raised her staff again. "Nap time!" she cried as another blast erupted from her wand and rendered the two royals unconscious. She then turned to the ladies and girl in waiting, while dropping her energy circle. "Pick them up and carry them. Stay between us and you might get to walk out of this alive," she waved to the unconscious royals. The three servants nodded meekly, and the two ladies lifted their Queen while the girl hefted up her Princess, and with Haggar leading the way and Sakura, Spinner, and Cova following closely behind, they headed off to a nearby ruined stone building that the two witches had passed earlier.

Once inside, the witches cast a simple illusion spell to cloak the place for the time being, and had the three servants bring the royals to a room in the back, and simply had the royals laid on the floor. After, the two frightened red-headed women and the brown-haired little girl collapsed against the wall, holding one another as they shivered in fear. The witches, however, ignored them for the moment, focused on their royal prey.

"And now we'll begin our magic cosmetic face lift, my darling," Haggar said.

"Yay, new spell time!" Sakura smiled, eager to learn this new trick.

"Now, watch carefully as I do this, and then perform it just as I do," Haggar instructed, then focused on Orla's unconscious form. "El roy muel roy... Exchange my form for hers!" she chanted, her arms raised and spread wide. As Sakura watched carefully, Haggar spun her magical energy around herself, chanting the phrase a second time, and the woman on the floor glowed brightly, as did Haggar, and before everyone's eyes Haggar transformed into a carbon copy of Queen Orla. Her clothes even changed to match the Queen's dress, right down to the belt, headband, and necklace. "Alright, dearie, your turn," Haggar said to Sakura, in Orla's voice.

"Right, here goes!" Sakura said, and turned her full attention to Princess Elena. She rose her hands, spread them wide as Haggar had, and began the chant. "El roy muel roy... Exchange my form for hers!" Sakura chanted, focusing all her power as hard as she could, doing her best to mimic exactly what Haggar had done. She spun her magic around herself, and the Princess began to glow as her mother had before her, and Sakura began to glow as well, and then changed. It wasn't quite as smooth a transformation as Haggar's had been, but the end result was the same – Sakura was now a carbon copy of Elena, headband, necklace, dress and all.

"Well, I'll be," Spinner quipped from where he floated over the floor next to Cova. "She actually got it the first time."

"Hm, yes, though her weaving was marginally inaccurate, she has indeed managed to disguise herself adequately, and it is unlikely anyone will notice the illusion," Haggar/Orla agreed.

"Hehe, I can't wait to see how well this works on the Princess and her allies!" Sakura, in Elena's voice, giggled delightedly.

"W..what are you going to do to us? To Queen Orla? To Princess Elena?" the girl in waiting asked, still shaking in fear with the other servants to the side.

"You probably don't want to know," Spinner spared them a brief glance.

"Well, then," Haggar/Orla said, waving a hand and magically inducing another wave of sleep upon the servants, "Shall we head out to meet the Princess of all Arus?"

It had only taken the Voltron Force about thirty minutes by horse, once Allura was dressed and ready to go, to reach where the royal coach had stopped. The evidence of something gone wrong was all too clear – three dead guards, an apparently abandoned coach, and two horses lying down unconscious, just barely alive. An immediate examination of the scene lead to the obvious conclusion – the royal entourage had been ambushed, but by who? And where had the Queen and her daughter gone?

Allura left five of the eight guards who had accompanied them at Coran's, and more to the point Gertrude's, insistence to try and help the horses, police the bodies, and see if there was any salvaging the coach while she, the force, and the remaining three guards followed a set of faint tracks down a side path into the forest on foot in hopes of finding the missing royals.

"Aunt Orla! Cousin Elena!" Allura called out, fear filling her heart at the thought of losing her only family so soon after learning she had them. "Aunt Orla! Cousin Elena!"

"Hey, what's that over there?!" Hunk jabbed a finger to the side. They all turned to look, and spotted a woman and a young girl lying on the ground near a tree. They dashed over to look, Allura bending down to lift the woman up in her arms to a sitting position, Pidge doing the same with the girl while the guards took up positions and the rest of the force watched carefully.

"Oh, Aunt Orla, are you okay?" Allura asked as she held the woman, running a quick check of her vitals as Pidge did the same for the girl.

"You sure that's her?" Lance asked.

"Yes, Coran showed me a picture of her before we left," Allura replied. "She's older, obviously, but it's definitely her."

"Which makes this Princess Elena," Pidge said. "She's alright, by the way, just passed out from the looks of it."

"Yes, the same with Auntie," Allura agreed. "Aunt Orla, please wake up." They waited a moment longer, and then 'Queen Orla' groaned and opened her eyes.

"Who...who are you?" she asked, staring at Allura's face up close for the first time.

"I'm Allura, your niece," Allura replied. "We came to meet you, and found your carriage abandoned and the guards dead. What happened?"

"We were attacked, and my daughter, Elena, and I barely managed to escape," 'Orla' said. "Bandits and rogues." Just then, 'Elena' awoke, and glanced up at Pidge.

"Who..?" she started to ask.

"My name's Pidge, of the Voltron Force, and it's alright, Princess Elena, you're safe now," Pidge told her. "That's your cousin, Princess Allura, holding your mom."

"My hero!" 'Elena' declared, clasping her hands, and then wrapped her arms around Pidge's shoulders in a tight hug.

"Uh..." Pidge blushed, not sure what to do next. "You're welcome?" Lance and Hunk watched, snickering in enjoyment. Allura shifted her grip on Orla a little, and blinked.

"My god, you're as cold as ice," Allura observed.

"Just shock, and the exposure," 'Orla' replied quickly, pulling away from Allura to try and get to her own feet. "I'll be fine with a little rest and food."

"Okay, let's get them back to the castle before anything else happens," Lance stated, and the team agreed. 'Elena' let Pidge go long enough to get up, and then clamped back onto his arm, much to his nervousness. But he remained polite, and allowed her to remain on his arm for the moment. They returned to the carriage and the other guards, and were informed that the coach was savable though it had been looted of some of its cargo, but the horses were too far gone and had had to be put down. Allura nodded at that glumly, not really surprised but dismayed all the same, and they took their horses and headed back to the Castle of Lions, two guards staying with the re-hitched coach to get it safely there a few steps behind them. 'Orla' rode with Allura, and 'Elena' insisted on riding with Pidge, to the boy's growing discomfort.

Half an hour later they arrived at the Castle of Lions, and 'Orla' and 'Elena' were escorted to the gates. Waiting there was Coran and Gertrude, the latter of which stepped forward to pay greeting to the long thought lost royal and her daughter.

"Greetings, your highness, how are you? Welcome back!" Gertrude greeted them jovially. "And greetings to you, as well, Princess Elena, I hope your stay is a good one."

"Greetings, ma'am," 'Elena' replied.

"Yes, greetings, miss," 'Orla' replied as well, causing Gertrude to blink in surprise.

"Miss?" she blinked. "But surely you remember me, Queen Orla."

"Uh...," 'Orla' stammered, a slight panic entering her mind at her cover being potentially blown already. Why hadn't she considered the fact that she didn't know who Orla knew at the castle? It was an unforgivably sloppy oversight.

"Of course you do!" Gertrude firmed up. "Gertrude, Senior Court Lady, and Allura's nanny practically from the day she was born!"

"Ah, yes, Gertrude, how could I forget," 'Orla' said. "Time has been kind to you."

"Not as kind as it's been to you," Gertrude responded, and went to kiss the 'Queen's' hand, only to trip and fall to the ground. The boys, save Keith, chuckled at her expense, but Gertrude quickly rebounded, dusted herself off, and gestured toward the castle as if nothing had happened. "Come, let's go inside," she said. They all proceeded toward the gate, which, at Coran's signal, was opened, and they entered.

"Greetings, your majesties, it is an honor and a privilege to have you here," Coran stated as they entered.

"Of course, thank you, sir," 'Orla' nodded curtly.

"Good to be here, mister," 'Elena' added.

"It's Coran, Princess," Coran gave the girl his name, all the while keeping one eye on 'Orla.'

"Whatever," 'Elena' shrugged, then pressed closer to Pidge, whose arm she once again was glued to. "Pidgey, will you give me the grand tour?"

"Uh, sure, no prob.," he said, then blinked. "Pidgey?"

'Orla' suddenly stopped short, and shook violently.

"Auntie, what's wrong?" Allura asked.

"MICE!" 'Orla' snapped, just barely keeping her real voice from slipping through. "I hate mice!" Allura blinked as 'Orla' shielded her eyes, and glanced where she'd been looking to see her friends, the space mice family, on the floor a short ways away, squeaking and cheering their friend's family's arrival. "Get them out of my sight at once!" 'Orla' demanded.

"Hey, those mice are heroes around here," Lance defended the little squeakers.

"Yeah, we love 'em," Pidge agreed.

"Seriously?" 'Elena' stared at Pidge incredulously. Haggar absolutely detested rodents, mice especially, and hence had created Cova as she did to keep Castle Doom completely clear of any and all of the horrid little beasts. Sakura herself had had little contact with the creatures for that very reason, and thus didn't really care one way or the other, though the man and boy's reaction to them was somewhat surprising to her. She thought the little animals were actually kind of cute.

"Platt, Chuchule, take your family elsewhere, please," Allura said to the parent mice. "I'm sorry." The four mice looked highly displeased, but left peacefully, if unhappily. The pink matriarch Chuchule, sole female of the group, had to drag one of her children away by his tail when he tried to stay behind.

"You trained them?" 'Elena' blinked as the mice departed. "I didn't think that was possible with rodents."

"Your cousin did most of it," Pidge commented. "She told us they were her closest friends growing up."

"Uh, huh," 'Elena' nodded, then squeezed into Pidge once more. "Now, about that tour?"

"Uh, okay," Pidge said, feeling a few drops of sweat sneak down his cheeks. "This way, first, I guess," he lead her down a hallway at random. Meanwhile, Allura did her best to calm her 'aunt'.

"Come, Auntie, let's go to my room," she told 'Orla'. "I have some keepsake dresses from mom you could borrow if you like."

"That'll be fine," 'Orla' replied as she was lead away by Allura. Lance, Hunk, and Keith decided to go to the lounge and relax until dinner time, excusing themselves. As they were left alone, before returning to their duties, Coran and Gertrude traded a brief glance, one that communicated a single question: was there something just a little bit. . .off about Queen Orla?

In her bedroom, Allura distracted herself sifting through her inherited dresses looking for a good one for her aunt to don later. While the princess was distracted, 'Orla' attempted to sneak up behind her with a cord to strangle the girl, but was halted when the squeaking of the mouse family, having retreated to Allura's private chandelier, drew Allura's attention. The sight of the rodents caused 'Orla' to drop to the floor in revulsion and shivers. The mouse family tried to communicate to Allura that her 'aunt' had just tried to kill her, but she brushed them off, and again asked them to leave. She then helped 'Orla' into her bed and suggested she take a nap, setting a white and blue dress aside for her, and left to tend to other things.

"Annoying little mice, I know how to get rid of you!" Haggar hissed to herself after Allura was gone, and concentrated on sending a message to Cova.

In the ruins, Cova dozed quietly, while Spinner floated nearby in meditation. Haggar's voice suddenly chimed in her familiar's mind.

'Cova, my sweet, come to me, there are several little, fat, mousey morsels for you to devour at the Castle of Lions,' Haggar's voice told her familiar. 'Make a feast of them, my pet!' Cova awoke and yowled, rousing Spinner.

"Huh? What?" he blinked, and Cova rowled and purred before taking off, Spinner following quickly behind him. "A mouse feast at the castle? How?" he asked, and Cova mewed and growled. "Oh, why did I ask?" Spinner said to himself. The two moved quickly through the woods, arriving at the Castle of Lions after forty minutes, and noted only two guards patrolling at the main gate.

"And how, pray tell, do you intend to get past them?" Spinner inquired. Cova yowled in reply, to which Spinner responded, "Boredom, mostly." Cova just sneered, and waited patiently for his moment, dashing forward and inside when the guards were on either side of the gate, facing towards the sides of the bridge rather than the front. Against his better judgement, Spinner flew speedily yet quietly behind Cova, making entry far easier than he would have imagined possible given the security only a few weeks prior. Quickly they took to the shadows, finding places to stay unseen until they were ready, and Cova could locate the first or more of his intended prey.

"And over here we have the guards' mess and kitchens, so nothing really exciting there," Pidge said indicating a couple of nearby doors as he and 'Elena' passed through a second floor hall. He then scanned around the hall, trying to determine where they should head to next. "Let's see, I think there are some spare storage rooms around the corner, but I don't really come to this part of the castle much."

"Well, why don't you show me how you and your friends access the Voltron space lions?" 'Elena' asked. "Oh, and who flies which? And where are they hidden, other than Black, cause, well, that one's kinda obvious."

"You wanna see the Control Room?" Pidge said in surprise. "Umm, okay, I guess that's all right. Lemme see, where's that elevator?"

"Up a few floors, is it?" 'Elena' smiled.

"Near the top, actually," Pidge said.

"And my other question?" 'Elena' leaned in a little closer, batting her eyelashes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that," Pidge felt his sweat level raise a notch. "Well, I fly Green Lion, Keith, our leader, flies Black, Lance flies Red, Hunk flies Yellow, and your cousin, Allura, flies Blue herself."

"Really?! Wow, she's so brave!" 'Elena' crowed over her "amazing cousin". That, she thought, and really obnoxious and annoying with her persistence! By this point Pidge had lead them around a couple of corridors, and had finally spotted the elevator ahead.

"And where the other four lions are hidden when not being part of Voltron?" 'Elena' pushed.

"Uh, yeah, not really allowed to give that one out," Pidge waved his free hand in a sign of nervous defense. "Actually, other than Allura's, which is a lot closer than you might think, I'm not one hundred percent sure exactly where the lions are in juxtaposition to the castle," Pidge admitted with a nervous laugh.

"Oh?" 'Elena' looked at him closely, her eyes showing curiosity and that she was unconvinced. "Well, I bet that lake outside is pretty deep, huh?"

"The lake?" Pidge blinked. "Um, about fifty to sixty feet down at the deepest spot, according to Coran. Probably could do some decent scuba diving if you had the gear for it."

"And now really glad we didn't try that swim," 'Elena' commented quietly, her eyes wide in surprise at just how deep the lake was.

"What?" Pidge blinked.

"Oh, look, the elevator!" 'Elena' exclaimed. "To the Control Room!" And with that, she dove forward, dragging poor Pidge at a suddenly slightly accelerated pace.

A few minutes later, they emerged onto the desired floor, and Pidge lead 'Elena' into the Control Room, where Coran currently sat at the main controls working on the main computer. He turned when he heard them enter.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked.

"The Princess wanted to see where we run things from," Pidge nodded in her direction.

"Ah, I see," Coran nodded. 'Elena' stared around in wonder, marveling at the chamber in question.

"Wow, it's so big and techno!" she released Pidge to clasp her hands. "So, how do we get from here to the lions?"

"A special shaft, highness, set up by your uncle, King Alfor's, forebears long ago," Coran replied.

"Ooh, so the royal family's known about Voltron's bits being here for a while, then?" she asked cutely.

"A few centuries, at least," Coran admitted, his eyes scrutinizing the young girl before him.

"But then, why didn't anyone use him years ago when Zarkon attacked?" she blinked in confusion.

"Because Zarkon blitzkrieged us so suddenly that everyone in the castle was taken prisoner or dead before we had a chance to even try to deploy the lions," Coran commented, though both youths immediately felt like Coran was holding something back. 'Elena', though, opted to push onward, stepping forward to get a closer look at the main control console position in the center of the room.

"Well, obviously you've made up for it since. So, any chance I can actually get to go inside one of them?" she smiled as cutely as she could.

"No," Coran replied simply. "Pidge is a huge exception, and only because he is fully flight trained and actually knows what he's doing in them. You and any other child we cannot allow near them, for safety reasons." 'Elena's' eyes grew annoyed.

"Oh?" she said. "Cause I heard through the grapevine that there was another kid in one of the lions recently. Green, in fact."

"What, you mean Fran?" Pidge blinked. "I only let her in to get her out of the red rain Zarkon's cronies hit us with cause she'd lost her mom and there was nowhere else to take her at the time. We were in kind of a hurry." He failed, however, to notice 'Elena" briefly stiffen.

"Her?" she said, slightly lowly, which Coran did notice.

"Pidge, why don't you take her highness somewhere else now?" he suggested. "I have some work to do."

"Can't I at least see how they get down to them?" 'Elena' asked, once again pouring on the cute.

"No, highness, that's for launch purposes only," Coran answered her, then turned to Pidge. "Pidge, please?"

"Okay, okay," Pidge said, reluctantly taking 'Elena's' arm again. "Let's go, Princess. Anything else you'd like to see?" She thought about it, but quickly decided that continuing to push for the lions would get her nowhere, and at this point potentially set off alarm bells, so she went for the next best thing.

"How about. . .your room?" she leaned into him as she re-tightened her grip on his arm.

"Uh. . .anywhere else?" Pidge asked as he lead her out of the Control Room. Coran quietly watched them go, thinking to himself.

Elsewhere, Cova and Spinner sat quietly, patiently waiting for a sign of what they came for. Cova then sniffed, and let out a low purr, quietly alerting his current partner. Spinner glanced around carefully, and then saw it – a small, blue furred Arusian mouse, carrying a piece of cheese so big it was a wonder the mouse could see where it was going. Cova carefully stepped forward, ready to pounce on his prey. . .

Pidge watched as 'Elena' took a glance around at the available books in the castle's main library. It had taken nearly the entire elevator ride down to convince her to go here instead of his room, but somehow he'd talked her into it, and better yet, she had released his arm so he was free. 'Now, if I could just find a way to. . .perfect!' he thought to himself as he saw a guard walk by.

"Hey, you, wait a sec," he quickly dashed over to the man. "Could you keep an eye on Princess Elena for a bit? I, uh, need to. . ."

"Of course, sir," the guard nodded, moving himself to where he could watch the 'Princess' quietly and with discretion. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Pidge said, and dashed away, down the hall, and straight to the nearest lavatory to take care of "business". Meanwhile, 'Elena' finished looking over the castle's available tomes. There weren't many at present, as though the collection was slowly being built up and/or gathered together, which, considering how long the castle had been available to bring books to, wasn't all that surprising, really. Still, nothing particular to write home about, nothing particularly catching her eye, other than a few looking surprisingly new, as though recently printed, so she decided to return to Pidge - only to notice he was gone.

"Pidge?" she blinked. "Where'd he go?"

"Down the hall for some private time, ma'am," the guard replied, causing 'Elena' to turn and look at her shadow for the first time. She'd noticed him out of the corner of her eye, but as it was hardly her first time being shadowed by a guard, she'd paid it no mind earlier.

"Private time?" she asked, then smartly walked out of the library and glanced down the hall, both ways, but saw no immediate sign of Pidge's whereabouts.

"To your right, ma'am," the guard told her, and she turned and headed in that direction, again initially seeing nothing to indicate her prey's location. A few moments later, though, a water flowing sound reached her ears, then stopped, and a moment after that a door to her right opened and Pidge emerged, looking very relieved.

"Ah, so much better," he said to himself, then blinked when he saw 'Elena' in front of him. "Princess, uh, hi. . ."

"Pidge, why'd you leave without saying something?!" she demanded.

"Um, 'cause. . .it was. . .personal. . .?" he stammered.

"Personal?! What, you think I don't understand basic necessities?!" she snapped at him.

"Uh, well, no, not that, just. . .umm. . .that is to say. . .," he took a step backward, trying to figure out how to calm the young Princess without making even more trouble. But she was having none of it, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You weren't trying to ditch me, were you?!" she asked.

"Duh," he whispered, then realizing she could still hear him, said aloud, "I mean, no, not at all! Just, you know, catching a. . .breath. . .?" 'Elena' glowered at him sternly, then glomped onto him hard.

"You're not getting away, understand?!" she told him, her glower then turning into a rather creepy grin. "You're mine, Pidge, all mine!"

"Help me. . ." Pidge glanced toward the guard, who just smirked.

"I think that's above my pay grade," he said. Pidge glowered at him, then sighed in defeat, and turned down the hall.

"This way to the lounge," he said, and 'Elena' giggled delightedly. As they reached the corner they could hear the sound of a mouse screeching in panic and dashing quickly. They turned the corner to see Platt diving into a mouse hole in the wall, and Cova swiping one paw inside trying to get him, Spinner flying in the air just behind him.

"Hey!" Pidge snapped as 'Elena' just stared in surprise. The two familiars turned to him, also in surprise, having not expected to run into someone so soon.

"Uh, oh," Spinner quipped, then opened his maw wide, tilted his head back, then snapped it forward slightly as a blast of magical heat emerged from his mouth and shot past Pidge's shoulder and into the wall behind him.

"Aah!" Pidge unwittingly shrieked as he jumped aside, one arm pushing back and shielding 'Elena' as he did so. The two familiars took the opening and booked away down the hall as fast as they could. Pidge glanced after them as they flew out of sight.

"Those two. . .they were. . .oh, no. . ." he said, mostly to himself.

"What now, Pidgey?" 'Elena' asked. And what the hell are those two doing in here?! she thought to herself in slight irritation.

"I have to report this to the others, immediately!" he answered, and quickly dashed down another hall, 'Elena' following close behind.

"You saw the witches' familiars?" Keith stared at Pidge, not wanting believe it. They were in the lounge, each relaxing in their own way, save Pidge, who was standing. 'Elena' was no longer with him, at least for the moment – he'd passed another guard, and had him take the young 'Princess' down to the grand hall and her cousin, much to 'Elena's' chagrin.

"How's that even possible?" Lance glanced up from his book.

"Maybe Princess Elena has him a little dazed," Hunk teased.

"It was them, the cat and the Spinner thing! No mistake!" Pidge snapped at them, and Keith jumped to his feet.

"All right, Pidge, I believe you," he said. "I'll report this to Coran, while you three find those familiars, quickly!"

"Right," Lance said as dropped his book on the coffee table and stood up, Hunk standing as well.

In the control room, Keith made his report quickly. Coran listened attentively, then sighed.

"This is most unsettling," he said. "The thought passed between me and Gertrude that something about Queen Orla was somehow off."

"It did?" Keith blinked in surprise.

"Yes, and now the two familiars appearing in the castle suggests something as well, something all too terrible," Coran stated.

"You mean that Orla is Haggar?" Keith asked. "You really think she's capable of such a trick?"

"As I have no true knowledge of her limits, we cannot rule it out," Coran nodded. "This will hurt Allura dearly, I can already imagine her reaction..."

In the grand hall, Allura was setting up for the dinner to be served, assisted by several maids and 'Elena'. Allura was setting some vases of flowers upon the grand table while 'Elena' was tending to place sittings. What no one seemed to notice was that something seemed to be on 'Elena's' mind. Coran and Keith entered and walked straight to Allura, Coran tapping her shoulder to gain her attention.

"Yes, Coran? Keith?" she asked as she looked up.

"I regret to inform you, Highness, but Queen Orla may not be what she seems," Coran said quietly. Allura mulled that over, making a final adjustment to her bouquet.

"You suspect my Aunt of something? Can you be sure she hasn't simply changed a lot since you last saw her?" Allura asked calmly. "Do you have any proof?"

"The familiars of Haggar and her apprentice have been spotted inside the castle," Coran informed her. "Please, Princess, I ask only that you be very cautious." Off to the side, 'Elena' had started watching them very carefully, almost nervously.

"We need to stay on guard, Princess," Keith stated. "We don't want to have another incident like with. . ."

"Fine, I get it," she snapped. "But still. . ." Just then there was some noise and they turned to look up at a second floor balcony to see 'Orla' watching them. The maids began commenting among themselves about the Queen's beauty, and Gertrude entered from the side pushing a cart carrying a bowl of liquid upon it.

"As beautiful as always," Gertrude said to herself. 'Orla' came down a flight of steps, intercepting Gertrude as she reached the ground floor. "We have some of our best punch here for you, Highness," Gertrude said to the Queen.

"Thank you, Gertrude," 'Orla' replied, and Gertrude continued onward to the table. I hope Cova has gotten rid of those foul mice, 'Orla' thought to herself, then glanced down the hall to spot 'Elena' placing place mats at the table, the girl glancing in her direction and raising her eyebrow as if to say, 'What's going on?'

Meanwhile, the rest of the Voltron Force were checking the hallways, searching for the familiars. Hunk was getting a little agitated, and the others were on high alert. In a rafter above them, Cova and Spinner watched as they walked by underneath them, Cova lightly growling and hissing.

"Not a good idea," Spinner warned his partner, but just as Hunk asked aloud where the two familiars could be, Cova dove down, scratching Hunk's face lightly as he went by. Spinner dove down as well, smacking Hunk's forehead with his tail. "Hi! Bye!" he shot at them as he zipped after Cova, his wings beating furiously.

"Okay, I think I found them," Hunk said as held his hand over the scratch.

"That was the witches' pets, all right," Lance said as the two vanished around a corner at top speed.

"Told you!" Pidge said. "Now what?"

"Well, if they're here, then it's possible their masters are, too," Lance said. "We need to catch them. Any ideas?"

"I know," Pidge smiled, "How about we catch a blue cat with a blue mouse!"

Pidge quickly sought and found the mouse family hiding in one of the store rooms, and managed, somehow, to convince Platt to be the bait to, hopefully, lure out Cova and Spinner. In the meantime, Lance, Hunk, and a group of guards quickly waxed a corridor floor in their chosen capture zone, preparing to trap a pair of magical cats. Once they were done, they signaled Platt, who bravely strolled out into the hall, cautiously, until Cova dove out at him. Platt dashed away into the trap zone, and Cova followed, Spinner flying out as well to run down their prey. Suddenly both bait and ground bound target lost their footing, slipping about.

"What the..." Spinner halted himself. Cova yowled and hissed in displeasure. "Slippery? How. . .a trap!" Spinner snapped. And then Hunk dove out from the other end of the hall, Lance and Pidge right behind him.

"We got them, hurry!" Hunk cried, and then the three proceeded to fall prey to their own trap, their feet slipping out from under them. Spinner glanced in their direction.

"Oh, leaving yourselves open for me? How nice," Spinner commented, and started opening his maw for a blast. Before he could fire, a rope snapped out and snared Cova by the neck, causing him to yowl even more in distress, and drew Spinner's attention away from the V-Force. "Huh?! Uh, oh..." he cried, and then another rope snapped out, snaring him around the middle and, more to the point, immobilizing his wings. Gravity then took over, and Spinner dropped straight to the floor, only able to give out a shocked cry of surprise before he hit the ground. "Ow," he managed to murmur once he was down. The others looked up to see the one who had successfully trapped the two, Keith.

Back in the grand hall, 'Orla' and 'Elena' sensed the sudden panic and discomfort, respectively, of their familiars, 'Orla' letting out a light gasp. They glanced around carefully, noting how the maids were busy finishing getting the hall ready for dinner, and Allura was checking some decorations nearby. 'Elena' took the moment to move around toward the stairs, ready to dash to the control room and seize it if need be. 'Orla', meanwhile, waited a few moments more before moving over to the punch bowl. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching before slipping a small red bottle from her sleeve, opening it and pouring its contents into the punch.

Time for plan B – this poison will make them sleep forever, and if I can maintain this disguise a while longer, I can take the throne by inheritance, and make Arus ours again! she thought to herself. Unbeknownst to her, Keith had arrived on an elevated platform behind her that overlooked the hall just in time to see her drug the bowl. A moment later 'Orla' jerked back in fear as the rest of the V-Force came in, Platt sitting on Pidge's shoulder, and an animal cage holding the two familiars in Hunk's hand.

"You're the bravest mouse around, Platt," Pidge congratulated Platt. "Why don't you tell the "Queen" how you helped catch her blue cat?" Platt squeaked happily, leapt off of Pidge's shoulder to the table, scampered across, and leaped at 'Orla', managing to bite her hand before she jumped away. He let go and dropped safely back to the table. Allura jumped forward to catch her aunt as she tumbled slightly.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, though she fearfully suspected the answer already.

"Don't be fooled, Princess," Keith said, drawing their attention to him where he still stood overlooking them. "We now have additional evidence that "Orla" is Haggar the witch!" Before Allura could object, he leaped down and scooped up the punch bowl, carrying it to the animal cage, which Hunk had placed on the floor. Keith held the bowl over the cage where the trapped familiars could see it up close, and the two edged backward. "A few moments ago I saw "Queen Orla" slip something into the punch," Keith stated. "So how about I give some to these two and see what happens? Maybe I'll just splash it on them."

"You wouldn't. . ." Spinner stared, his eyes slightly widening, while Cova hissed and yowled in panic. 'Orla', on the other hand, seethed, knowing the jig was up, and grabbed and tossed a chair at Keith, causing him to drop the punch to the floor harmlessly.

"Fine, you want to see Haggar?" 'Orla' asked, as she moved in front of the cage, and then dropped the disguise completely, becoming Haggar once more, her staff magically forming in her hand as she did so. The maids shrieked, and evacuated the room, post haste. Meanwhile, the guys quickly surrounded Haggar, determined to capture her as well, whilst Haggar just chuckled merrily. Allura stayed where she was, momentarily stunned.

"We got her trapped," Hunk said.

"You think I'll be captured so easily? That you're a match for my magic?" Haggar chuckled. "And aren't you forgetting something? Something rather important?"

"What are you - oh, crap, Elena!" Lance realized, too little too late as 'Elena' suddenly grabbed Pidge from behind.

"Oops, not today," she chimed, then giggled in her true voice as she followed her master's lead and dropped her disguise, returning to being Sakura. "You're coming with us, Pidgey! You belong to me now!" She held her staff, having also magically conjured into her hand during the transformation, upward with the top perilously close to Pidge's face.

"The apprentice," Keith growled. "We should have known you got both of them."

"Belong to you?" Pidge said over his shoulder. "Why would. . .wait, is this why Haggar intended to let me live that time? She was gonna give me to you?!"

"That's right, little one," Haggar smiled. "My evil apprentice desires your indefinite company, and so she shall have it!"

"What, didn't your friends tell you?" Spinner asked from the cage.

"Wait, you knew?!" Pidge glanced at his comrades. "Since when?!"

"Since Sven died," Lance admitted, his eyes batting toward his young friend. "Back then she referred to you as, uh, the...'cute one'." Pidge's eyes widened in terror before looking toward his captor.

"Oh, no," he quipped.

"Oh, yes, my Pidgey," Sakura grinned from ear to ear. "At last, you're all mine."

"Lance, quick, grab the old bat!" Hunk leaped forward to grab Haggar, Lance snapping out a hand to do the same, but Haggar leaped upward and back flipped away, the two missing completely. It was a rather impressive move for such an old woman, but the Force wasted no time in admiration. As Haggar landed, fate turned crueler as Gertrude chose that moment to enter carrying a loaf of bread upon a plate, Haggar knocking the bread out of her hands and taking hold of the woman from behind with her free hand, her nails arched into Gertrude's face and her staff held at the ready. Sakura quickly maneuvered herself and Pidge over to them as well.

"What did you do with the real Orla and Elena?!" Allura demanded as she started snapping out of her shock.

"They're safe enough, if it really matters," Sakura replied. "Good luck finding them, though."

"And if you want this one to be safe, you'll unlock the cage and free our familiars at once," Haggar demanded, pressing one of her nails to Gertrude's face, the woman holding herself as still as she could. Keith weighed the options before him.

"Only if your apprentice lets Pidge go, too," Keith said, and Haggar merely cackled.

"I'm afraid your little friend is nonnegotiable, human," she sneered at him happily. "He goes with my darling Sakura, and that's all there is to it. Now, our familiars!"

"No way!" Hunk snapped. "You're not taking Pidge..."

"Do it, Hunk," Keith cut him off. "Open the cage." Hunk, Lance, and Allura just stared at him a moment. Then Hunk glanced at his young friend, still held in Sakura's grip, nodded, and went over to the cage. He bent down, opened it, and Spinner practically broke mach as he flew out of it and to his mistress's side. Cova, on the other hand, slowly stepped free, then leapt up on Hunk to scratch him with a loud yowl of displeasure before dashing over to his own mistress. Haggar cackled delightedly at this.

"A nice farewell touch, Cova," she told it, then turned to her enemies. "Cova never has liked confined spaces," she commented idly.

"Claustrophobe, huh?" Pidge asked calmly, while noticing his commander reaching behind his back and pulling a laser gun out. Sadly, Haggar also noticed Keith's movements, and fired a blast from her staff at him, Keith barely dodging in time, the gun dropping from his hand as he moved. Sakura then turned and fired a shot from her own staff at Hunk and Lance, who also barely managed to dodge. Then Haggar, having decided Gertrude was of no real use to her anymore, released the woman, shoving her aside, and then unleashed a magically created storm level wind, causing all the others to duck and grab cover as furniture and items from the table went flying and were smashed into the floor and walls around them. Sakura fired another blast in their direction, attempting to further aid her master, when Pidge took his chance, grabbing the arm she was using to hold him and flip her, Judo-style, over his shoulder, taking her by surprise as she let out a small shriek. Pidge twirled around to place a foot on her shoulder as he continued to hold her arm.

"I got you, you little...you!" he started to say, then stopped in shock when Sakura looked up at him, Pidge seeing her true face for the first time that day, a face he could never forget. It was clean now, her hair free of dirt and properly styled, but it was her, the same "peasant" girl that had been "attacked" by the mysterious butterfly-winged panther creature and taken away that day, that had lured Sven to his death. Sakura actually beamed a smile at him upon seeing the recognition in his eyes.

"You remember me!" she squealed lightly, then rose her staff to snare him in a magic lasso, yanking her arm free in the process and leaping to her feat again, Pidge's foot being thrown off her shoulder and the boy losing his balance and dropping to one knee. "But don't think you've escaped your fate!" she declared to him.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Hunk cried, and began dashing toward her, but Haggar sprang faster, tossing her staff through the air to sever the cord holding up the chandelier, which plummeted down toward Hunk's head, the man having to jump aside in mid stride. Haggar then glanced toward Sakura, slight concern in her eyes.

"Are you alright, my darling?" she asked as she summoned her staff quickly back to her hand.

"Just my pride bruised," Sakura replied. "Didn't know he could do that." A charging cry drew their attention in time to spot Lance and Keith rushing them, and Haggar thrust a hand out, creating a red web that caught and ensnared the two.

"Oh, no, not this again!" Lance cried, remembering how Haggar had used the same power to catch him once before on the day Sven was lost to them.

"There's no end to her tricks!" Keith stated.

"Of course not, fool! I am a master of evil magic!" Haggar happily said back. "There are none here who can even begin to cope with it!" But then, as Haggar started to cackle, and Sakura started creating more magic binding around Pidge, the portrait upon the far wall began to glow vibrantly.

"You are wrong, evil one," a ghostly voice spoke to the room at large. "I, King Alfor, have the power." And in that instant Haggar's net and Sakura's binds snapped and faded, Sakura falling back a step as Pidge, this time a little wiser, leapt away from Sakura. Haggar hissed, turned, and dashed for the door, grabbing Sakura and dragging her with her as she went, the two familiars hot on their heels. Two guards tried to stop them in the hallway, but Haggar blasted them down with a single shot from her staff without even slowing, then finally reached a window. She blasted it away and jumped out, Cova jumping up on her shoulder for the ride, using her powers to make her and Sakura safely glide down to the ground while Spinner glided beside them on his wings, at which point they bolted in the direction of their space coffin.

Unfortunately, they'd escaped on the wrong side of the castle, and thus were having to effectively take the 'long way' around to the coffin. Long enough that the Voltron Force was able to board their lions and launch into the air in pursuit. Blue spotted them quickly and and hit the ground a bit behind them, strolling after them and knocking aside a couple trees. Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the thump, and her eyes widened fearfully.

"I think she might be angry, mama Haggar," she cried.

"Whatever gives you that idea?!" Spinner snapped as he began flapping his wings faster.

"Keep running!" Haggar roared, then the Blue Lion leered down on them mere inches away. "Clawbeast!" Haggar screamed, and the ground shook, throwing Blue off balance. Then a giant beast burst from the ground. It was multiple shades of green with what looked almost like thigh guard on the front of each leg, three spikes emerging from each, and hands that were little more than four huge claws in a circle. A huge hook-like talon emerged from its lower legs just above its three-toed feet. To top it off, its head bore a huge mane-like fin around it. It swung one mighty claw hand and knocked Blue Lion off its feet and into the nearby lake, then jumped after it. The rest of the lions jumped in, too, and the battle engaged. Only moments, and the Clawbeast knocking the lions around like toys, later the lions burst from the water and formed Voltron.

Voltron came back down just as the Clawbeast burst from the water, firing flame blasts upon the robot as it went, but Voltron dodged away and formed his sword. Voltron took one mighty swing and slashed the beast from shoulder to hip. The robeast fired off one last feeble shot from one of its leg spikes, revealing them to be missiles. Voltron dodged, then slashed the monster from shoulder to hip on the opposite side, creating a perfect, fatal 'X'. The Clawbeast then finally exploded into nothing, and Voltron turned to once again seek out the two witches, only to see them already in their coffin and rocketing away quickly. The coms briefly lit up, Haggar's voice crackling over the slightly out-of-synch frequency.

"You win this time, Voltron," she declared. "But we'll be back!"

"And next time, Pidgey will be mine!" Sakura's voice piped in, and then the transmission ended as the coffin proceeded to break atmo.

"Should we follow them?" Lance asked from his lion.

"No, we need to find the real Orla and Elena, if they're still alive," Keith decided.

"As soon as we can," Allura agreed.

"Right," Hunk added.

"First things first," Pidge cut in. "About Sakura's. . .attraction to me?"

"Uh..." all three adult male members of the team paused.

"Don't look at me, today was the first I heard about it, too," Allura chimed.

"Yeah, sorry about that, lil' buddy," Hunk apologized.

"It didn't seem right to burden you with that right after Sven died, and, well. . .," Lance added.

"After, we just kind of. . .forgot. . .and kept. . .forgetting. . .," Keith finished lamely. Pidge just scowled.

Shortly thereafter, they used the messenger hawk to locate the real Orla and Elena quickly, telling it to take a message to them. When they arrived, they felt a tad ashamed of not noticing the ruined building before, but then quickly figured that the witches had hidden it with magic to prevent that from happening. Entering, still in their flight suits, they quickly found the two royals and their ladies and girl in waiting, the group having awoken shortly before and were just pulling themselves up to a sitting position, Orla and Elena still working out where they were.

"Aunt Orla, we're here!" Allura cried as she dropped to her aunt's side.

"Allura?" Orla asked, and Allura nodded, and the two hugged. Allura then turned to her cousin.

"And you must be the real Elena, it's nice to meet you," she offered her hand.

"Yes, you, too, cousin," she joined the hug, and then turned to the rest of the V-Force. "And they are?" Keith quickly reintroduced himself and the V-Force, and after quickly noting Allura's flight suit, Elena asked one pertinent question.

"The witches, did you destroy them?" she asked.

"Sorry, Princess Elena, I'm afraid they got away," Lance apologized. Elena was not pleased, but didn't push it.

"I just wish I knew what that monster did to that poor little girl to make her choose Doom's side?" Orla pondered as Allura helped her to her feet while the ladies in waiting did the same for Elena. A brief time later, again, and they were back at the castle.

"This is the Castle of Lions?" Orla asked.

"Yes, welcome," Allura assured her.

"I'm really here," Orla marveled at the sight of the place.

"Wow," Elena agreed.


And so the Aunt Orla incident is concluded. Dear lord this took a lot longer than I originally thought it would! The first unexpected hurdle was that I'd somehow forgotten how little time Haggar actually spends in the castle as Orla, and how little she actually did once she was. Which in turn hampered my intended plans for Sakura as Elena making moves on Pidge. I actually had to scrap a few ideas simply because I couldn't figure out how to put them in without it feeling painfully forced. And before I forget, while Elena is an OC, her name isn't – Elena is Orla's original Japanese name, lovingly recycled for her daughter. Hope no one mind's.

And just to add to the fun, I hit a massive amount of writer's block, and, sadly, kept letting myself get drawn away from this to other things( 's Papa's Gameria's are very addictive, and the "Legendary Defenders" show, awesome as it is, wasn't helping). But thankfully a couple new fans appeared, and their wonderful reviews got my butt moving again, and I found a way through the block, and finally got this chapter done.

And not one, but three over sites in the original material, both Voltron and Golion, that I felt need to be touched up. First, Keith's gun – in the actual episode he pulls one out, but then it just disappears without ever being used, just poof! So I threw in him dropping it while dodging Haggar to account for it. Second, in the same scene no less, after Haggar tosses her staff and brings down the chandelier, the staff is just suddenly back in her hand a moment later, so I added her magically yanking it back to herself. And finally, believe it or not, in the original Golion there is no explanation for the sudden appearance of the Deathblack Beastman/robeast, nor is there any comment that Honerva even knew about it! Voltron added her calling it "Clawbeast" when it appeared, but otherwise didn't actually change anything on that note, so I opted to add Haggar's comments about planting it in advance early on just to properly connect it to the bad guys.

Whew!

Okay, onward. Time for a villain to fall, and a Prince to take the stage! Til then.