Chapter: 21: The Meeting(Allura's POV)
Allura looks in the mirror. The dress Marinette made fits her perfectly. A purple cloak rests on her shoulders, just like the blue one on her other dress. A light purple gown follows. It doesn't look every Altean, but it does look presentable.
"Thank you, this looks lovely," she says to Marinette.
"You're welcome. Though if I had more time, I would've added something to make it look more Altean."
"It's fine Marinette. We best go, the others are probably waiting for us."
Marinette nods, "Hey Allura. I was thinking that we need a new black lion pio…"
"Marinette not now. The other paladins are grieving over the loss of Shiro and aren't ready for a new leader to Black just yet."
"Then when will they be ready? Allura, this is war, and I don't think time is going to wait very long before we need to form Voltron!" Marinette retorts.
Allura hufs, and doesn't answer her. The paladins are like a family, she deserves to give them some breathing room, and not letting anyone sit in Black to determine the next leader was that. Why can't Marinette understand? Besides she does miss Shiro too, he was her equal in this war. And now he's gone.
They enter the room where the leaders of previously saved planets are, to discuss their alliance with Voltron. And Allura's a little nervous. She hasn't done this type of thing in forever.
Though it comforts her to see the paladins dressed in suitable meeting clothes designed by Marinette instead of their paladin armor. If they were wearing that this meeting would definitely feel like a war meeting instead of an alliance meeting/peace meeting.
The meeting went well, until…
"Princess, when will we see Voltron? Or the Black Lion?" asks one of the leaders. The others nod in agreement. "Well…" Allura starts unsure of what to say. Lance stands up and walks out of the room and all the other paladins, except Marinette, leave.
"Excuse me a moment,"
She stands up and goes after the paladins. She should've known a question like that would've been asked. But instead Allura had forgotten that Black hasn't made an appearance since Zarkons defeat. Why did she forget that?
Marinette's POV
All the leaders are looking confused. "Did we say something wrong?" asked Betier, leader of the Planet Lycon(not to be confused with a planet full of werewolves, because they are not a planet full of werewolves).
"No, you did not. There's just some issues regarding the pilot of the Black Lion, as the original one we started with died."
Gasps come from three leaders, "Are we not safe if Voltron has lost a life?"
This irks Marinette, "Listen here, this war has been going on for centuries! Lives have been lost at all sides! I would rather sacrifice myself to save you all, instead of being scared for my life because I may lose it, or someone I care about. Death has always been a part of war, whether killed in action or from wounds they received during battle that cannot be treated in time. So I can't promise you that there won't be any more casualties, only that when the war is over death from fighting this war will not happen because there is peace. There's a long road ahead of us, and Voltron needs all the help it can get. So are you in? Or are you out?"
"Red paladin," speaks Betier, "We will stay. Your speech has inspired us to do all that we can to stop this war and the deaths that will happen if this war continues."
The other leaders nod their heads, and relief washes over Marinette. Tikki did say that the Balck Lion will choose it's paladin when the time comes. Maybe that time is now.
Allura's POV
"Why did you all walk out?" asks Allura, trying to be gentle.
Lance speaks up, "Because talking about Shriro being gone just made it worse. That and the leaders bringing it up in how they haven't seen the Black Lion or Voltron."
The others nod, "Yea, especially since Shiro holds a special place in our hearts. He was friends with my Dad and Matt. He was Lance's hero…"
Hunk interrupts Pidge, "He was our friend and leader. No one can replace him."
"I know that! But I think what Marinette said is sadly true. We need to find who Black's next paladin is going to be." Allura states, trying to calm herself. But without Keith here, who would Black choose? Keith was Shiro's pick, but after Marinette came, Shiro didn't pick another successor. So who would fly Black?
Lance mutters, "Fine." And storms off in a huff. Allura doesn't have time to dwell on it. "As soon as the meeting is over, we're going to see who Black chooses to be his new paladin."
No one argues with her and Allura heads back to the room, while the rest of the paladins are sorting out their emotions regarding what she said. But she realizes now what Marinette said was true, they need a Black paladin, whether they like it or not. And that scares her.