"Agh! I hate the Jaarans!" the Princess of Altea came storming into the study of the Royal Castle. In the walls were stored thousands of chips that could be inserted into the data port of any of the holographic display tables. Her governess put down her handheld device used to sort through them at the Princess's intrusion.
"Hate them? I heard your diplomatic meeting with them was successful," the older Altean woman watched as Allura huffed angrily and sat in one of the chairs.
"It was, no thanks to them! They threatened to go to war at every little thing! They're war mongering fools!" she expressed.
Her governess gave her a shrewd look but Allura refused to look back at her. Taking none of this, she swiftly pivoted Allura's chair and then dumped her out of it with no effort at all. Allura yelped as she caught herself on her hands and knees. She quickly stood and turned around to face her assailant with fire in her eyes.
"Now, Princess, how could you say that about a people you have just met? Your job is not to judge them but to welcome them into our ring of trade and to encourage them towards peaceful associations."
"I did my job!" she dusted off the folds of her purple dress indignantly. "But I don't trust them! And I don't understand why my father would want them associating with us! Altea may not have an active militia, but they should know that we still train our populous!"
"Princess Allura, you have no idea what those people may have gone through. Perhaps they aren't so quick to trust foreign species because they've been attacked in the past. Perhaps they've been attacked many times and have been taken advantage of. You cannot expect everyone to share your own world view. You must strive towards understanding first and to find common ground, however small. That is the basis for changing someone's mind and the basis for changing your own."
"Tell me one more time what he said," Allura requested. She was hunched over the table and leaning heavily on her elbows.
"He's the Prince of the Galran Empire, the planet is under his protection, if we're friendly we can stay, if not he'll destroy us," Hunk listed off for her.
"I really don't get it," Allura expressed. "Why would any Galra, especially if he is the Prince, 'protect' one of their conquered planets? I understand protecting it from being freed but it sounds like he's implying that he cares about the planet."
"Well he didn't look entirely Galran. He could have been half whatever the people on that planet were. It's really hard for me to guess what he's mixed with." Hunk and Pidge both agreed with Lance on that one. It could be really difficult to distinguish between features that they weren't as used to seeing. All aliens looked weird but how one weirdness was different from another weirdness was hard to extrapolate.
"Was there a Prince when you were growing up?" Pidge asked.
"None that I can recall. Unless he had a son in secret but as Emperor that seems unlikely."
"Really? Because in Earth's history there are plenty of examples of kings having secret children, especially if the child isn't the queen's," Pidge remarked.
"If you recall, Princess, Zarkon's wife was Altean," Coran reminded.
"What?!" the others all exclaimed.
"Now that I think about it, he totally looks Altean! Right?" Lance looked to Pidge and Hunk.
They nodded their heads as they saw it too.
"Right, the pointy ears, the smooth skin, the... other Altean-ness," Hunk agreed. Still hard to articulate it though.
"I don't think that's possible," Allura regained their attention. "When I was growing up, there were a number of Altean-Galran couples, but none had ever conceived a child together. Alteans and the Galra are genetically too different."
"Are you sure about that? Were there any studies done comparing DNA?" Pidge pressed.
"I... really don't remember," Allura kept glancing at Pidge's scrutinizing look and then glancing away like she felt cornered. "Besides, there's no way his wife could have lived this long so if he does have a son, it was with someone else."
"We don't know how Zarkon lived this long, the same thing could have happened to his wife," Pidge argued.
Allura hesitated before shaking her head. "I still don't think so."
Pidge narrowed her eyes. "You know what I think? I think you won't consider the possibility because you don't want the only other Altean left in the universe to be half Galra."
Uh-oh. Pidge was definitely still mad from earlier and now she was taking it out on Allura, who also didn't tell her about Shiro's fate. Hunk and Lance made quick eye contact and tried to convey a plan to each other of how to get Pidge to stop while smoothing things over with Allura. Hunk was panicking and Lance was about halfway there with him.
Allura's eyes flashed and she went to stand up in her anger but Keith placed his hand on her shoulder from behind her. "Hey," he kept her from getting up.
Lance didn't know why he hadn't noticed before, Keith often leaned against a wall instead of sitting with them, but this time he had been leaning on the back of Allura's chair. It was like the whole room took notice of that at once when Allura turned her head to look up at him.
Keith didn't say anything else to her, nor did he get onto Pidge for provoking her, all he did was give her a meaningful look that no one else in the room understood.
Allura seemed to understand though. Her expression softened and she looked more ashamed than angry. "You're right," she told him quietly before turning back to the others.
Allura took a deep breath, presumably to calm herself down, and Lance would have been glad that the conflict was resolving itself if he could focus on anything other than Keith's hand on Allura's shoulder that wasn't moving off. It was the hand that was still bandaged, the hand Keith had cut on his own knife because Lance had taken it away from him. Thoughts and feelings swirled around each other, fighting and getting mixed up, all beginning and ending with, what the hell is going on?!
Hunk and Coran both noticed where Lance was staring.
"Fine," Allura conceded. "I won't rule it out as a possibility."
Pidge's spice calmed down as well.
"Perhaps instead of discussing the origins of this Prince, we should discuss what to do about him," Coran cut in to make sure nothing further would happen between the two strong willed young ladies.
"Coran is right," Allura let it go. Pidge crossed her arms, a sign that she wouldn't apologize anyway. "I think at this point we should start acting like Zarkon is still alive. Even if we can't confirm this, I agree with Pidge's earlier assessment, for this Prince to have not succeeded the throne, the Galra must still have an Emperor."
"So then what are we doing about it?" Pidge asked.
Allura's intensity returned, but for a different reason. "This 'Prince' could be an opportunity for us. If we capture him, we'd have leverage against Zarkon."
"Woah, woah, woah," Hunk objected. "You're talking about kidnapping, right? Since when do we do stuff like that? Aren't we supposed to be the good guys in this?"
"It's not that bad, it's not like we're going to torture him, Hunk," Pidge remarked too casually for Hunk's comfort.
"You were ready to fight Allura five seconds ago and now you're agreeing with her?!" Hunk was flabbergasted.
"Well, I think she's right about this one," Pidge argued back.
"What?!" Hunk turned to Keith since he had diffused the situation between Pidge and Allura just prior. "Keith?" he pleaded.
Keith looked between Hunk and Pidge. He took a few seconds to think. "If it works," Keith shrugged.
"You can't be serious," Hunk's frown got worse as he was beginning to loose hope.
"If it has the chance to work, I'll agree with Allura." Allura looked over her shoulder to smile at Keith.
Hunk thought for a moment about reminding everyone that Shiro would definitely not approve of this plan, but saying something like that could really only make things worse right now. Instead, he turned to Lance and saw that he was still glaring at Keith's hand like it was a great offense to him personally.
"Lance?" Hunk asked, hoping that he had been paying attention to what they were talking about.
"I don't like it," Lance responded immediately. He looked Keith straight in the eye. "I don't think we should try becoming something we're not."
Keith looked startled by him and reflexively removed his hand from Allura as he took a step back. It looked to Hunk like he hadn't even made the connection that Lance had been staring as his hand at all. There was a momentary flash of hurt on Keith's face before he was glaring back at Lance with his fists balled at his sides. Did Lance's words have a double meaning to Lance? Did Lance's words have a double meaning to Keith? No one in the room, not even the two in question, could tell.
"Lance. As the paladins of Voltron, your job is to defend the universe. The Prince of the Galran Empire surely has committed countless atrocities and we must bring him to justice," Allura declared fiercely.
Lance's glare turned on Allura to the surprise of everyone. "You don't know what he has and hasn't done. We only just found out about him! If he's done all of that, why haven't we heard about him before? That planet we went to didn't look occupied, it looked like it was just him and the regular inhabitants."
"Do you really think that the son of Zarkon could be innocently stopping by planets and browsing their street markets?!"
Lance gave a fake chuckle and looked back to Keith. "You see what she's trying to do? She just wants revenge and she'll go through any Galra to get it!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock.
"Okay, Lance, you're not helping!" Hunk got up and went to Lance, pulling him out of his chair and turning him away from the others to get him to stop glaring at the other side of the table. Hunk kept him in his arms so that he couldn't escape but Lance complied easily enough. Keith turned away as well letting his glare hit the floor so that it wasn't liable to kill Lance.
"Keith," Allura had turned around in her chair to grab his hand and pull him back closer to her. He shook away her touch and remained facing away.
Hunk then looked to the only person left who might be able to rectify this situation. "Coran, please tell me what you think," he begged.
Coran was looking at Lance with a great deal of concern. He inhaled sharply making his orange mustache twitch but fall perfectly back into place afterward. "Well... Kidnapping of important personnel is allowed in the Altean doctrines of war. However, considering everyone's heightened emotional states, I do have to call into question the morality of this."
Hunk breathed a sigh of relief.
Coran looked to the Princess and Keith. "Revenge is a hidden enemy. It lurks in quiet corners of your chest, and just when you think you've caught it, it consumes your heart." He looked to Pidge. "Rage breeds counterproductiveness. The more you let your rage brew, the more problems you set in your own path." He looked to Hunk as he finished quoting Altean proverbs. "Always strive to do everything for the right reason. All will be accounted for. Every last deed. Until there is never a deed that wasn't done."
Recognizing the quote, Lance and Keith both reacted. Lance turned in Hunk's arm to watch Coran's face, looking to decipher the proverb, whereas Keith's shoulders relaxed and Allura finally got a hold of his wrist to pull him to her side.
The paladins were all silent for a while. What were they supposed to say to that? Hunk was hoping this would change half of their minds. He looked at Pidge. She had her head down and seemed to be thinking things over again.
"I understand the concern, but I think we need to do this. We know where the Prince is and the Galra aren't expecting us to attack. We won't have another opportunity like this again," Allura spoke up.
"But what if he really hasn't done anything wrong? What if he's not involved in the war?" Hunk persisted.
"We won't hurt him. We'll just capture him and hold him to get Zarkon to come out of hiding. And if we can get any sort of information from him, imagine how much that would help our war effort," Allura explained.
"Half your paladins don't like it, Princess. We can't do it if we don't agree," Lance's glare was back on her again.
"Well then, what do you suggest we do?! The last time we fought Zarkon, one of us didn't make it! We need an advantage or something like that could happen again! And it's not just our lives I'm worried about, every day we wait instead of doing something, the Galra take more ground! This is the best opportunity we've gotten so far and you think it's okay for us to waste it?!" Allura shouted, glaring back at him.
Allura looked like she was ready to yell more and Lance was ready to shout back but Keith stopped them both when he thought of something.
"Wait," he interrupted. "The Blade of Marmora have been fighting Zarkon and keeping track of information since the war started. We can ask them what they know about the Prince and then we can decide what to do about him. They might be able to help us repair the Castle as well. I say we ask for their help." He turned to Allura to speak directly to her, "There are only six of us, we need more allies than the Blade to win a war of this scale."
Allura mulled over her response, twisting her tongue in the inside of her mouth. "That seems reasonable," she relented.
Keith looked over at Lance with a scowl and a question in his eyes.
Lance held Keith's stare until the pressure was too much. "Fine!" he threw his hands up. "We'll do whatever you say, oh great leader!" he said with spite dripping in sarcasm.
Keith's face very clearly showed hurt this time.
"Lance! What's your deal?!" Pidge shouted at him.
"Don't act like you didn't do the same thing to Allura!" he rounded on Pidge.
"Okay! Nope! We're not doing this!" Hunk grabbed Lance more firmly. "This is not how a team should act, so this meeting is over! We can regroup once everyone's calm and Coran has contacted the Blade!"
"What do you mean once Coran has contacted the Blade? Keith and I should—" Allura started to argue.
"Nope! The only one of us who can look at anything objectively right now is Coran! That goes for me too, so fair is fair, meeting over!" Hunk started to pull Lance toward the door.
"Wait a minute! You can't just end a meeting on your own!" Lance started to protest, fighting to stay in the room.
Hunk picked Lance up and carried him forcefully to the door.
"Put me down, Hunk! You're going to let them get away with their stupid plan!" Lance squirmed for all he was worth.
"No, it's over," he said with finality. "You guys too!" he looked back at the rest of them. "Everyone out!" and he left the room with Lance trapped over his shoulder.
They heard Lance's shouting get quieter as they got further away.
"I have to agree with Hunk on this one, Princess," Coran stood from his chair to her right. "The three of you should also leave and get space from each other."
"Yeah, I was going to leave anyway," Pidge stood and headed straight for the door. She stomped as she went, leaving Allura with her heckles raised when Pidge ignored her as she passed by.
"Fine." Allura stood swiftly and grabbed Keith's hand. "Come on, Keith."
She barely took a single step before Coran was blocking her path. "No," he told her. "You and Keith should be separated too. For you to clear your mind you must be alone."
Allura gave Coran and pleading look. She would not ask him for what she wanted outright, but all she needed was for him to step aside.
Keith suddenly swiped his hand away from hers. "That's fine. It's easier to be alone anyway," he said with his eyes on the floor. He walked around them both and left without looking back.
Allura watched him go with sad shimmering eyes but she couldn't ask him to wait, especially not with Coran there. Now alone, face to face with the man her father had entrusted to protect her, her feelings started slipping out, pouring down her face in rivulets carving out real-estate along the way.
"Alright then. I'll go," she nodded and pushed past Coran.
"If Keith went to the training deck, you'll have to go somewhere else," he called to her.
She stopped in her tracks.
Coran sighed softly, deciding he'd talk to her back of need be. "Princess, you're trying to lead the team when you're not meant to. You need to let the one who is step up on his own."
"But Keith agreed with me," she said stiffly.
"But would he have come up with the same plan had you not suggested it so forcefully?"
Allura didn't answer.
"Have you noticed that when no one else steps up, Keith does? He's always had these qualities but they've been hidden from us by Keith's willing submission to Shiro. Keith submitted to Shiro and therefore the others did. If you were to allow Keith to lead you instead of trying to lead Keith yourself, then perhaps the others, and more significantly Lance, would allow the same. As long as you remain stubborn, Keith cannot take his place and this team will continue into chaos."
Allura's shoulders stiffened into wound knots. Coran waited, knowing that she was thinking.
She gathered her dress and briskly left through the door. Coran sighed again, weary this time. It would take more time than that for that one to face herself.
A/N: Oh boy! Anyone up for some group therapy? Do they have that in space?