Back at it again in chapter five, and now, finally, the primary main cast is complete! Soon they'll all be making terrible life choices together. Te-Osh where are you. They need adult supervision. Who let these teens out in space by themselves.

cosmic dust

chapter five

princess

The last thing she remembered was her father's voice, telling her that he loved her.

The next thing she knew, the faint chill of a cryopod was fading from her veins, and she found herself very much not in the Castle of Lions.

"Princess Allura," an alien, the likes of which she could not place, gave her a sweeping bow of reception, "...though the circumstances are far from ideal, we welcome you to our humble base."

She was not too proud to admit that she had no idea what was going on at all, nor even where she was. But she was also a princess, born and bred, and so she squared her shoulders, straightened her back, and resolved to meet their courtesy with that of her own. Perhaps if she responded in kind, all her questions would be answered.

"I accept your greeting," she spoke, making sure that her voice projected through the entire room, "...but I must confess, that although you seem to know who I am, that I cannot say the same of you. Please, might you tell me where it is that I find myself, and how it is that I have come to be here?"

"It is a long story, and one that I am afraid we know not all of the answers to." The alien admitted. "I am known by Flos, leader of a small band of rebels against the Galra Empire. There are many others here as well who all share the same goal as I."

Galra.

Disoriented though she might be, she nevertheless felt her blood boil at that word. It was the Galra who had turned on them, the Galra who had waged war against them, the Galra who had...

...her father. What of her father?

"What of my father, King Alfor?" Allura spoke, trying to keep her panic from her voice. "Where is he now? And what of Altea? You say that you are rebels, does this then mean it has fallen? And what of the Castle of Lions? Where is it?"

For a moment, there was a lingering silence- before another one of those present spoke. "Princess Allura, it has been ten thousand years since you last woke. Altea and your father alike... they are no more."

The words were spoken with a gentle, somber tone, but it was not enough to keep her heart from breaking at them. Ten thousand years? That could not possibly be right. And her father, her planet... gone, the both of them?

That was... that couldn't be.

"That cannot-" The words slipped out of her before she could stop them, horror crossing her features. At once, she was no longer a princess, finding herself instead a frightened child, bereft of everything that she knew, everything that she loved.

And then she swallowed it back, banishing it to the deepest part of herself. She must face this, whatever it would bring her.

"And the Galra Empire still reigns?" She asked, collecting herself as best she could manage.

Flos spoke again, her tone speaking to a depth of pain and loss that Allura recognized right away. "Zarkon still reigns."

The words were like a blow to her. Here she was, flung into the far distant future, everything that she knew lost to her forever, only to learn that the monster that had taken it all from her still lived. How could that even be possible? The Galra, like Alteans, were a long lived race, but ten thousand years? That was unheard of.

"How can that be?" Allura whispered.

"In truth, we know not." Flos confessed. "Only that in these past ten thousand years, the Galra Empire has grown to cover almost the entire known universe."

"Only a few systems still remain free." It was the other alien, the one with the kind voice, who spoke again. "I am Te-Osh, princess, and I come from the borderlands on the edge of the Galra Empire."

Could this future be any more grim? A ten thousand year old reign... she could not even begin to imagine the power of the current Galra Empire. Drawing in a long breath, she steadied herself, trying to sort out her own thoughts. Her father must have sealed her in a cryopod for her own sake, but she could not imagine that he would have ever suspected that she would sleep for this long, nor that the situation would be so dire when she finally awoke.

"I understand." Allura said, even though no, she did not think she did, not wholly. Her eyes cast around the room, studying it's occupants. What had these people been through, fighting against Zarkon and his empire for so long? Many had gathered here, all from different planets, different systems, some of which that she did not even recognize.

One looked away from her almost the instant her eyes fell upon him, and she frowned, a strange feeling crawling up the back of her spine.

"How is it that you came upon me?" Allura asked.

"A small reconnaissance team," strange, she sensed that Flos was leaving something out there, "...recovered your cryopod from a Galra ship. We know not how you got there."

A Galra ship. Her skin crawled at the thought. Her father had clearly done this to protect her, but she had wound up in their hands regardless of his efforts.

"Then I owe you my thanks, clearly." Allura told them, a soft smile gracing her features. "To whom do I owe them to?"

"Te-Osh, of Kythra, and Matthew Holt, of Earth." Flos spoke, indicating both the alien that she had already been introduced to, and one that she hadn't.

She'd never heard of Earth, and the pale skinned alien that was presented to her appeared to be Altean- almost. The ears were wrong, rounded and small, and he possessed no markings, other than the small scar that marred one of his cheeks. Standing next to him was one very similar to him in appearance, so much so that she knew that they must have been related somehow.

The small one did not look pleased, for some reason.

Hovering behind the both of them, arms folded and eyes still averted, was the one who had declined to meet her eyes. His skin was of the same color as the two that flanked his front, except where it became...

...was that... was that purple?

"We did not do it alone, princess." Te-Osh spoke, and Allura broke her gaze away from the small group of strange aliens. "Without the assistance of these two pirates, we may never have been able to retrieve you from that ship."

Flos seemed to scoff at that. "Yes, for which they had already been handsomely rewarded. They have quite received their thanks already. I know not what you intended by bringing them," and there was unmasked scorn in her voice, "...here."

"You seek Voltron." Te-Osh said simply. "And yet, you would chase away one of its paladins."

Voltron?

Allura's eyes went wide, her breath catching in her throat. It was a word that brought a flutter of hope to her chest- Voltron! It still existed, which means that her father's plan to hide it away must have worked.

And one of its paladins? Here? Where?

"The halfbreed is no paladin, Te-Osh." Flos almost seemed to spit, and it was enough to make Allura recoil. "I do not know by what trick it has managed to tame the red lion, but it has no right to sit in its cockpit, much less pilot it."

The red lion! Her father's lion! It still lived, still thrived!

And yet, why did she seem so angry? Halfbreed? Trick? What did she mean by-?

"The halfbreed has a name, you know." The small alien- Earthling- spoke up, her voice carrying loudly in spite of her petite size. "You could try using it. It's the least you could do after he's stuck his neck out for you."

"For which he has been paid!" Flos protested.

"Enough!" Allura's voice cracked, resounding throughout the room like a whip. "Voltron is Altea's legacy, and I will not be left out of discussion related to it. Tell me, Te-Osh," and she turned towards her as she spoke, "...is the red lion's paladin truly here?"

"Yes, princess." Te-Osh spoke, her voice once more growing soft. "He is."

"In that case, I would very much like to meet him." Allura told her, choosing to ignore the prickling sensation at the back of her neck. "All the more so if he assisted in my rescue."

"He is no paladin, your highness." Flos repeated, her tone more terse than before. "He is Galra."

Galra.

Just the word was enough to make her blood freeze, thoughts turning to static in her head. The red paladin was Galra? Her father's lion was in the hands of the enemy? Eyes scanning the room once more, searching out where this Galra might be, they once more fell back on the one whose gaze had torn away from her, only to find this time, that he met her eyes.

And she knew at once why he had looked away the first time.

Eyes, glowing golden in the dim light of the room, stared back at her. Flecks of purple traced the otherwise pale skin around them, before fading into elongated, purple ears.

Galra.

She did not miss the way the two aliens- the Earthlings- seemed to flank either side of him, as if to protect him. Indeed, they seemed to possess features that mirrored of some of his own- if he was a halfbreed, then it was obvious to her what the other half was. They viewed him as their own kind, clearly, as opposed to one of the monsters who had torn the universe asunder.

He'd said, some part of her faintly realized, not a single word in his own defense the entire time.

She did not know why that struck her so.

"The red lion called to him." Te-Osh spoke, and Allura forced herself to tear her gaze away from the Galra. "It speaks to him."

"The red lion was in the Galra's possession." Flos scoffed. "Who knows what they could have done to it during that time."

"And yet you trust him enough to hire him." Te-Osh shot back. "Or did you merely send him to the front lines because you hoped to be rid of him, so that you might claim the red lion for your own?"

And something about that, Allura decided, did not sit well with her. Galra or no, if that was the kind of tactic these rebels used, sending others in to fight for them, unwilling to put their own lives on the line, then it didn't make them much better than the empire.

She did not know what to think of this. But if the red lion had truly called out to this Galra, if it truly did speak to him... then perhaps the choice was not hers to be made.

"Silence!" She snapped, her voice cutting through the room once more. Turning her gaze, she let it fall back on the Galra, her brows knitting together. "Speak. I want to hear your name."

For a long moment, the Galra merely held her gaze- before he finally broke his long held silence. "Keith."

Keith. Not a very Galra name, she found herself thinking, unless they had changed their naming patterns in the past ten thousand years.

"Then tell me, Keith," she began, "...are you truly the red paladin?"

He held her gaze for a moment longer- and in the span of that moment, she could read the conflict in his eyes, without pupil though they were. "I don't know."

It was a frank admission- so frank, that it took her aback. She did not know what she had expected from him, but uncertainty was not it.

"And what of your feelings for the empire?" Allura asked.

At that, all the conflict in his eyes vanished. "I despise the empire."

The amount of venom in his voice was too real to be anything but the truth.

They wanted her to locate the rest of the Voltron lions.

She could understand why- Voltron had the power to stand up to the Galra Empire, to Zarkon. It was a symbol of hope, and in a war such as this, having a symbol that could be rallied around was important.

And from the sound of it, that was something they very much needed at the moment.

The rebels were losing. That they had managed to hold on for this long was a feat in and of itself, but the amount of territory that they held grew smaller and smaller each year. The Galra Empire was thriving, and the rebellion?

It was struggling.

And she wished that she could help them- really, she did! But it wasn't that simple. It was true that her father had connected her to the quintessence of the lions, but that didn't mean she could locate them all on her own. In order to do that, she would need both the Castle of Lions and a Balmeran crystal, neither of which she had.

She didn't even know if the Castle of Lions still existed.

Her only option, she knew, would be to try and communicate with the red lion. But she was not its paladin, so in order to do so, she would have to do so through him.

The option was... she frowned, halting midstep. The rebels had been courteous enough to provide her with a small room, which she could not deny she was grateful for. It meant no one would have to see her like this- lost, and without direction. Altea might be long gone, a concept which she still found herself having trouble grasping, but she was nevertheless still a princess.

Princesses did not pace.

Not in public, at any rate.

Did she believe Keith when he said that he despised the Galra Empire? Yes, of course. She'd very little doubt that his claim was true.

Did she trust him? Not on her life.

It wasn't just the fact that he was Galra- or half Galra, at any rate- or the fact that he was a pirate. It was something more than that, something that she could not quite put her finger on. Something... something about his quintessence, she supposed, that felt as if it were out of place.

She was not the great alchemist her father was. She'd barely just begun her training when Zarkon had launched his invasion, seeking to claim the Voltron lions for himself. But she had the bare bones of an alchemist's education, and it was enough for her to tell that there was something about the half Galra's quintessence that was... disrupted, almost.

(Unnatural, some deeper part of her seemed to whisper.)

It was a disquieting notion.

She didn't even know if he'd still be here, on the base. He wasn't a rebel- he may have already taken his small Earthling companion and left. Were she in his shoes, she surely wouldn't have chosen to stay herself- not when it was made amply clear that almost no one wanted him here.

In fact, she'd dare say that only Te-Osh, and the taller Earthling wanted anything to do with him.

But then, he also hadn't said a word of complaint against the things that were said about him. She hadn't been able to see his eyes while all of it had been going on, but she'd been able to see his shoulders- the way that they slumped in resignation, as if he were accustomed to this sort of treatment. As if the treatment that he received from Te-Osh and the two Earthlings was the exception, and not the rule.

It... made her pity him, in a strange way.

It was a feeling that she grappled with- after all, the Galra had taken so much from her. Her father, her home, her people... so why should she feel anything but contempt for one of their own?

A Galra had been a paladin of Voltron once, and look how that had turned out. Why should she assume that this time would be any different?

Perhaps it would have been easier to accept were it any lion other than the red lion. It had been her father's, once.

She did not trust Keith.

But perhaps, she thought, she could trust their seemingly mutual hatred of the Galra Empire.

She had to admit, she really had expected that he would have left by now.

She found him in one of the hangars, lending them a hand loading supplies. This was Te-Osh's crew, she'd been told, the rebels who had come here from the borderlands.

The difference with which they treated the half Galra did not go without notice. There was no uneasy feeling here, no sense of him not being welcomed- if there was anyone keeping his distance, it was Keith himself, and not those around him.

Before she even so much as got the chance to approach him, she found herself intercepted. It was the smaller of the two Earthlings, the one whose name she did not yet know.

"Princess Allura," the girl spoke, planting her hands firmly on her hips, jerking her head up so that she could meet her eyes, "...what brings you here?"

It would seem that her earlier judgement had not been wrong- she was very clearly trying to protect her companion. Though she did not know her name, she had overheard some things about this one already- that she was a pirate, who worked in the service of Keith. For someone who had supposedly been stolen from her home world by him, she seemed to be awfully defensive of the half Galra.

Not taken, then, Allura decided- but willing.

"I wish to speak with Keith, if I may." Allura told her.

"About what?" She asked, her gaze not wavering. "Anything you have to say to him, you should be able to say to me."

She'd wondered how such a small girl could possibly be a pirate, and she supposed she'd found her answer. What she lacked for in size, she more than made up for in spirit.

"I wish to see the red lion." Allura told her plainly. "If I were to commune with it, I might be able to shed some light on where the other four lions are located."

The girl held her gaze for a moment longer- before seeming to draw back, apparently satisfied with that answer. Turning on her heel, she switched to a language that Allura did not recognize. "Keith! C'mere a sec!"

"Yeah?" The voice that called back answered her in the same language, and she recognized it as Keith's. Perhaps these two did indeed come from the same world then. They continued an exchange in it, heedless of anyone else around them.

His mood, surely, was vastly different than from what it had been in the meeting room. He smiled as he spoke with the small Earthling, showing quite the impressive set of teeth- another Galra trait, she thought. His jacket had been tied around his waist, leaving his arms largely bare, proving what she had suspected- that the purple color of his fingers ended there, leaving the rest of him quite pale.

He truly looked to be a crossbreed between an Earthling and a Galra- and she found herself wondering how such a thing had come to pass. From what little she had heard of Earth, it was a primitive planet, whose people had yet to leave their own system. How was it that there were two of them all the way out here, so far from home? And furthermore, how had it come to pass that one of their own had produced a child with a Galra?

To the rest, he might keep himself at a distance, but to the small Earthling girl, he seemed far more open. Friendly, even.

He also, she thought, looked exhausted.

"Princess," Keith finally spoke to her, returning to Common, "...you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes." Allura said, almost hesitating for the span of a moment, wondering if this really was a good idea. Even if he held no love for the empire, he was still a Galra.

But the Galra had also once been their allies. Perhaps she should not be so quick to judge.

"Is... is the red lion here?" Allura asked.

"We left Red back on our ship." Keith told her. "Pidge said something about you wanting to use it to find the other lions?"

Pidge- so that was the girl's name. Thank goodness someone had used it, because she'd nearly been too embarrassed to ask at this point.

"I am not certain if it will work, but it is a possibility." Allura told him.

"This better not be some kind of trick to take it from Keith." Pidge frowned. "He's the one who stole it back from the Galra, you know."

"You stole it from the Galra?" Allura asked. She knew, of course, that it had been in Galra hands at one point- but she hadn't known that Keith had been the one to take it from them.

"I steal a lot of things from the Galra." Keith supplied, arching a brow. "Why do you think they hired me?"

"Keith here is basically the only person stupid enough to make a living off of stealing from the Galra." Pidge noted, grinning from ear to ear, seeming to elbow her companion in the side.

"You say that like you don't help." Keith shot back.

"A fair point." Pidge admitted. "But you're the one who was crazy enough to make a break for it from Central Command."

Ah, Allura thought to herself- they had forgotten that she was here. Watching as Keith fixed his full attention on the small Earthling, she could only watch the scene unfold with admittedly, no small amount of curiosity. "Hey, I didn't have very many options, okay?"

Clearing her throat, Allura drew herself back into the conversation. "I can promise you, Pidge, that this is no scheme. If the red lion has truly chosen Keith," and she could not deny that the idea still did not sit well with her, resolved though she was to accept it, "...then it is not my place to object to it."

"Well in that case, I guess we could let you talk to Red." Pidge said with a shrug.

"Excellent!" Allura smiled. "How long do you suppose it will take to fetch it?"

"Oh," it was Pidge who spoke, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, "...I don't think it will take long at all. Keith?"

"Not long at all." He echoed.

The tall Earthling had joined them, as if he was summoned just the same as the red lion had been. Hanging in the back with the smaller one, the two of them seemed to be conversing in that same strange language, and she didn't need to understand what they were saying to pick up on the fondness in their voices.

Definitely related, Allura thought, trying to bury the way it made her feel sick for home.

"So uh," and there was a strained awkwardness to Keith's tone, drawing her attention back to the here and now, "...what exactly am I supposed to do here?"

"Channel the red lion's thoughts to me." Allura stated simply.

"Uh-huh." Arching a brow, Keith tilted his head. "And how do I do that?"

"Put your hand on the lion." Allura instructed him. "And call out to it."

"Mm." With a slight frown, Keith hesitated for the span of a moment- before he placed his hand on one of the red lion's legs, closing his eyes.

Drawing in a long breath, Allura held her own hand out, hesitating for the span of a moment herself, her gaze lingering on Keith's own. Before she could change her mind, she placed it on top of his own, feeling the way it flinched underneath hers, the way his breath hitched in his throat the moment she'd touched him.

She felt a small shudder run down her spine, the contact seeming to amplify her perception, confirming beyond a shadow of doubt that the half Galra's quintessence was abnormal. Still, she buried it down, focusing on the task at hand. She didn't even know if this would work, but right now, it was the only thing that she could think of.

At first, there was nothing.

Then, a low hum in the back of her mind, a presence, not unlike one that she had felt before. Her father's visage came to her in a flash, and with the underlying fondness it brought with it, she knew that it must have come from the red lion.

After all these years, it still remembered him.

It was enough to make her heart ache, but she could not linger on it. Perhaps there would be time to mourn, to grieve, later- but right now, she had to focus.

A spark of green, a low hum. Like a stream of bubbles, the feeling of potential rose up inside of her- and seemed to drift away, carrying her gaze behind her.

There, startled by her sudden stare, was the small Earthling.

Drawing her hand away, breaking the contact, Allura turned fully on her heel, closing the gap between the two of them. Kneeling down, she cupped Pidge's chin in her hands, staring inquisitively into her eyes, as if seeking out something.

It was there! She wasn't sure how she knew, but there was no mistaking what she sensed- it was there, deep inside her, and that was enough to give her hope.

It was only when she heard the soft voice of the taller Earthling- Matthew, she recalled- did she realize she was also doing something rather embarrassing.

"...why's she touching you like that?"

Drawing her hands back, Allura's face lit up, taking a few steps back. Pausing to clear her throat, she straightened her back, trying to act for all the world as if nothing had happened.

"You," she spoke, fixing her gaze down on Pidge, "...are the green lion's paladin."

A beat.

Then three voices at once.

"Oh man, yes! I get my own flying space lion!"

That was... an interesting way to speak of Voltron, but it had been ten thousand years, so perhaps it would be best to let it pass.

"Wow, Flos is going to hate that."

Oh dear, he was right about that. She absolutely would.

"I knew it... I knew my sister was the coolest."

Ah, see? Related. She knew it.

"Now," Allura spoke, beaming in spite of herself. How could she not? She'd just found a paladin of Voltron, and she was under her nose the whole time! "...all we have to do is find the green lion."

"I'm guessing that's the part of this that's easier said than done?" Pidge ventured.

"I am afraid so." Allura admitted. "Perhaps if I had a crystal, I would be able to channel your energy through it in order to pinpoint the green lion's location, but I am uncertain if that will work."

"I mean... it's worth a try?" Pidge said. "But where would we even find a Balmeran crystal?"

Allura blinked at that, tilting her head. "On a Balmera?"

"That's kind of the thing, princess." Matt spoke up, his expression grim. "Most Balmera have been turned into mining colonies by the empire."

Her heart sunk at that. She had never had the chance to accompany her father on any of his journeys to the Balmera, but she had heard such wonderful things about them from Coran. To think that they too, had fallen into the hands of the Galra Empire... did they know no compassion?

"That's... awful." Allura stated.

"What about the crystal on our ship?" Pidge asked, glancing over towards Keith.

"That's a Galra crystal." Keith pointed out. "I don't think using it for something like this would be a good idea. They do a whole bunch of weird cosmic bullshit to it after they yank 'em out."

Weird cosmic... what in the world did a bovine's excrement have to do with anything?

"I always just thought the reason the Galra made them glow purple was because they liked color coding." Matt admitted.

"We could always try the black market." Keith offered. "It's probably our best bet."

The black market! Leave it to a pirate to suggest something like that.

"I'm honestly just amazed that you didn't just suggest storming gung ho onto a Balmera to get one." Pidge noted, arching a brow.

...perhaps the black market was a better idea, yes.

"Look, we're going to be hot for awhile, so I just thought it might be a good idea to pawn off what goods we've got now while we still have the chance." Keith pointed out.

"Hm, yeah, it is kind of getting a little crowded on the ship." Pidge observed, her brows knitting together.

"Wow, listen to my little sister, talking like a real space pirate." Matt sniffed. "I'm so proud."

"Alright then," Allura spoke up, breaking into the conversation while she still had the chance, "...so it's settled. We go to the black market."

Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at her.

"We?"

Undaunted, Allura stared right back.

"We."