Chapter 18 - Through a Glass, Darkly

For now we see through a glass, darkly;

But then face to face:

Now I know in part;

But then shall I know even as also I am known

The first day she arrived on the ship she allowed herself to grieve. The pain was too much. All she could see in her mind's eye was Arden's face as tears streamed down his cheeks, the dusty surface of the planet bright and tan, contrasting with the brilliant blue sky above. She could see the griffon's final send off as it magnificently beat its tawny wings, sailing through the air and giving a final cry before peeling away from sight and returning to Fleogas.

After they had made it safely back into space the paladins slowly began to peel away. Coran had offered a hand, leading her through the hallways to the dormitories and bringing her to her room. She had weakly protested, recognizing the large space as a captain or other higher ranking officials' room, but the advisor had dismissed her complaints easily, stating that he and Allura had decided it would be the best suited for the ambassador and royalty of Fleogas. With a final goodbye he left her standing in the brightly lit space, unsure of what to do with herself.

Eventually her feet trudged over to the bed in the corner, body flopping on top of the blankets as she wriggled her boots from her feet. Even with the exhaustion she faced she found herself unable to sleep, the action eluding her mysteriously. After tossing and turning for nearly an hour she gave up, staring at the wall instead. Tears seemed to evade her as well; perhaps she truly had finally run out of her supply after crying in the team huddle of the paladins. She felt exhausted, knew that her eyes were puffy. Pulling herself to her feet she walked into the bathroom to splash them with cold water.

She looked a mess. The wind on the surface of the planet had messed up her hair, along with the various pats on the head she received from her brothers as well as the long, windy ride on the open air transports. Her eyes were bloodshot, staring back at her in the mirror as though a zombie from the apocalypse. Splashing her face with water and drying it off with a towel provided, she began going about fixing her hair. Undoing the bun at the nape of her neck she set about pulling all the strands into a high ponytail, then braiding it and forcing her hair into submission.

Feeling slightly better and at least more confident that she no longer looked like the walking dead, she set about personalizing her room. The bags she had packed sat in the middle of the floor, and she took in the small closet, desk, and drawers she had been offered. Immediately she began with her clothing, removing items and hanging them up or neatly refolding them and putting them into drawers.

Organization. It felt good to do even the most menial tasks, something about the monotony of folding clothes and filing everything away in an orderly fashion. In a way it felt as though she was restructuring her physical space, allowing her time to structure her thoughts in a similar fashion. Gathering the white cape she had worn on the procession she placed it in the back corner of the closet. She probably wouldn't need to wear it for a while now. Various pieces of her uniform that she had packed away were folded neatly, readjusted from the shuffling they had endured in the bag, her hands gently slipping them into the drawers.

Finally there were three things left to organize. Grabbing the last bag she unzipped the top, freezing. Gingerly plucking the first item off the top she stared in surprise at the velvet blue gown, a modest but stunning number that she had worn at multiple state occasions. She certainly hadn't packed this away. Slipping it onto a hanger and plunging back into the bag she was met with a variety of items she was one hundred percent certain she left back at home. There were at least two more gowns she didn't remember packing, along with two pairs of formal slippers and a variety of small jewelry boxes. With confusion she organized them dutifully, though thoroughly bewildered. Had someone repacked her items?

Reaching into the bottom of the bag, her hand struck a black, nondescript box. A letter had been taped to the top, and Almira pulled on the note first, eyes widening at the familiar, elegantly sloped script.

"You are not just an ambassador; you are and always will be a member of the royal family. Wear these things with pride, and know that we go with you. - Mother"

The tears had dried, but the note pulled at her heartstrings. Opening the box she gasped in recognition, the silver diadem glistening even in the stale lighting of the castle. It had been recently polished and cleaned, the diamonds brilliantly dazzling even brighter than she remembered. It had been years since she had worn it, and she touched the top with familiarity at the sloping curves. Her mother had known about Alastrine's proposal. Folding the note back up she placed it inside the box with the crown, closing the box and placing it on her desk. She would figure out where to put it later.

It now made sense why she hadn't recognized half the items in this back. Her mother had repacked it, with full knowledge of what Almira was to face on her journey. Her heart squeezed in thankfulness, sparing a moment to mentally thank her mother before turning to the next bag.

A large knapsack, the item bulged and strained at the seams, ready to explode at any given moment. Flipping the top of the bag open she began picking out items one by one, laying them around her until she was surrounded by her entire arsenal of weapons and armor. Her kukris and spear had obviously been cleaned recently, surfaces glistening and without a hint of the damage they had sustained during the operation. Almira knew that Arden must have repaired everything before packing it away, and she was touched once again. Even as she had been moping around in despair for the majority of the two weeks, everyone around her had been working to support her from the ground up.

Fortunately, there wasn't much to be said for the armor. She had forgone the sparkling silver set during the operation in favor of her traditional stealth ops uniform, meaning that this set in front of her was still in perfect condition. She hung in in the back of her closet, next to the white cape and behind the various gowns. The weapons she also placed on her desk, along with the helmet. Perhaps she would need them soon, but not now.

Then came the last item; the package Alastrine had handed her just before take off. She unwrapped the black paper fully on her bed, setting aside the badge and taking a closer look at the cape. Similar to the white one she owned, this one was black with reflective black vines embossed around the edges. It was subtle, though most definitely expensive and luxurious to the look and touch. The pauldrons consisted of raven black feathers, soft under her fingers as she gently caressed them. The entire ensemble was fierce, and she felt honored to have such a thing made for her.

But along with the other items she hung the cape up, sliding it to the back of the closet again. The badge she placed on her desk along with the other items, sliding into the chair and wondering briefly what to do with them. Eventually she began fiddling with the various drawers on the desk, slipping items in and out multiple times before satisfied with the way things were. Even the bulky helmet fit into the bottom drawer, much to her surprise. With the surface clean she stood up, surveying the room one more time.

Done. Everything was put away. Almira felt doubly exhausted now, but her mind was too awake at this point to sleep. Looking to the clock, she noticed that it was well into the late afternoon, if it was anything to go by in deep space.

There was nothing left for her to do here. If she sat down on her bed, she knew she would be tempted to mourn and slop around, feeling sorry for herself and succumbing to the dark depression that threatened to drag her under. Shaking her head, she couldn't let that happen. Grabbing a jacket that she had folded, she slid into the comfortable black material, zipping it all the way up to her chin.

She had to keep moving.

"So, what's our next step?"

After Almira had been escorted to her room and the rest of the team worked to stabilize their position, the paladins had gone off to change back into their normal clothes and grab a bite to eat. Refreshed and ready to work, they had settled back into their stations. Lance in particular was eager to get going; for two weeks after the Fleogan's victory they had been busy with peace talks and strategy meetings with the military elites of the country. It had been a while since they had been back on the ship, nearly a month since they initially decided to take the excursion to Fleogas in order to find new allies. But with all said and done, it was time to get moving. The other paladins seemed to agree, eyes turning to Pidge.

The green paladin sifted through her screens again, pulling up the old schematic she had found a while back. "Last we talked, we were debating between investigating Fleogas and that Universal Hub from Sendak's memories."

"Ohh, yeah," Lance crossed his arms, brow furrowing as he tried to recall his exact words. "That was the, uh, 'space base' thing right?"

Pidge rolled her eyes, light reflecting off her glasses. "For lack of more technical terms, yes, Lance." She passed a piece of information over to Coran's station, who immediately began searching, hacking away at his console.

"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Space Hub Base on our screens now." With a press of a button an image projected on the screen in front of everyone. Nothing but a few asteroids and a bunch of blank space appeared, much to the confusion of everyone.

"Sooo," Lance drawled, obviously disappointed, "where is it?"

Coran frowned, crossing his arms and stroking his moustache with a hand. His eyes were fixed on the image, as though staring at it long enough would reveal the answers. "I don't know. It might just be that our long range sensors can't pick up anything at this distance."

"Maybe he remembered it wrong?" Keith offered a thought, but even he was uncertain of what exactly could be the cause.

"Unlikely."

Heads swiveled quickly, surprised at the voice that sounded from the back of the room. No one had heard the doors opening and closing, so absorbed in the conversation and their thoughts that they missed the white haired woman's entrance. Various cries of excitement sounded from the room, making golden eyes fill with warmth at the reception. Walking forward into the room she continued to speak as she moved, black boots clicking on the floor. "Back on Fleogas, we have a similar sort of memory preservation system. Most of the memories are rooted deep within a person's subconscious, so the file would be preserved even if conscious memory failed. If the file is too corrupted, there would be some sort of notification in the coding."

Immediately Pidge returned to her screens, parsing through the data to return to the precise location of Sendak's memories. Hunk shifted in his seat, "Uh, how long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to get the idea of what's going on here." She stood behind Pidge's chair, eyes roving over the code and speaking in a more subdued manner. "Do you see that section there?" She pointed to the screen where some sort of bracketed area stood out. "That's an indication of an error estimation. If the system detects even fifteen percent of an error, it'll tell you where and the statistical margin."

"Huh, that makes more sense. I thought it was some sort of memory itself."

"They're difficult to discern if you're not familiar with the specific programming. But it looks like that memory is…" Almira squinted her eyes as she decoded the information. "Most likely due to head trauma. We can disregard that for now."

"So the memory we're looking for…" Pidge began typing away, Almira watching over her shoulder as the human girl worked quickly.

Lance slumped in his seat. "Great, I thought there were two technophiles in here, but now there's three."

"Didn't think you knew such a big word, Lance."

The red and blue paladins glared at one another, but it was broken up by Almira's casual comment. "I began my work in the Technology Brigade before I moved into the Wind Benders. Stuff like this is pretty easy, although I might be a little rusty."

"From what you've said, it sounds like your homeworld's technology is still similar to Altean tech."

At this Almira stood straight, looking at the princess. She couldn't help but smile wryly, grin lopsided on her face. "The Alteans were incredible engineers. If it isn't broken, don't fix it, but upgrades aren't below us either."

"Got it!" Pidge and Almira peered back at the code, heaving a sigh. "It looks like it's uncorrupted completely."

"Which means that this memory is correct." There was a thoughtful look that came over Allura as she stared intently at the projected image. The asteroid certainly looked barren, but if there was a chance that this memory was correct… "Then there's only one way to find out then."

Roaring to life the castle began to move once again, hurtling through space. Almira was impressed; she barely felt a thing under her feet, unlike the ships back at home. Perhaps she would have to have a deep conversation with Coran about the specific mechanisms and subtleties that drove this ship.

"So, what more can you tell me about that system?"

Almira's ears perked up, and she slid around to rest on the arm of Pidge's chair. "Okay, so what do you already know…"

As the hours passed, Almira found that this wasn't such a bad way to pass the time. She found that there wasn't too much she had to teach the paladin, and instead she found herself learning many new things. The small details she did have to share, Pidge accepted gratefully and enthusiastically, typing away so quickly and so energetically Almira was worried that her fingers would fall off or the keyboard would snap into pieces. So enveloped in their small world, Almira found that for the second time that day she finally forgot her worries and fears.

It would take time to move forward, but these were the right steps. The duo stared at lines of code until their eyes grew sore, forcing them to stand and take a break from all the excitement. But it was only brief as the two bounced ideas back and forth, and they sat down immediately to hack away at some other project. Chattering away and speaking in technical jargon made her feel right at home, and with the easy going personality of Pidge, Almira found herself relaxing more and more, the jokes and sarcasm she often wielding returning to her naturally.

She was well on her way to recovery, and for the first time in a while she genuinely looked forward to what lay ahead.

"I know you accuse me of not telling Almira things, but you should take a look at yourself at some point."

The four princes watched as the castle had slowly lifted off into the clouds above, turning into a speck in the distance as it barreled through the planet's gravitational forces and plowed into the darkness beyond. Space; the frontier that was as familiar as it was foreign. For ten thousand years their people had been chained to the planet's surface, forgetting how they had once soared the skies with the multitude of other races that peppered the universe. They had been allies, comrades, and enemies with countless others. Long forgotten, they now reared their head and dared to look beyond their prison.

Arden trained his eyes on his king-brother's figure, red eyes watching the skies for as long as they could before returning to meet Arden's gaze. The two younger princes had turned their attention to the conversation as well, lingering on the periphery. They were not a part of this, but it concerned them just as well.

For the first time in days Alastrine's shoulders drooped. He looked exhausted. The weight of the crown was truly no longer hypothetical or metaphorical, and although he bore the burden well it was tedious more often than not. It was a wonder how their father had maintained such a farce for all those years, playing the nobles, military members, and civilians alike with his ruse. How had he managed to play the part of a traitor and secret holder with all the other responsibilities on top of him? How had he not cracked under the pressure? Arden could see that Alastrine was being clawed at from every direction, and it wasn't the first time he was thankful that the dirty family secret had been exposed and disposed of before his brother had ascended.

His face was troubled as he responded. "Almira doesn't need to know what's happening. All she needs to do is keep her head facing forward and remain concerned with paving the way. Once she does need to look back, we'll have settled everything."

Arden raised an eyebrow, surprised at the confidence in his brother's voice. "Well, at least someone's confident."

They had sent Almira into space with a mission; act the part of the foreign emissary, and be of some use to her homeland. It was true that it would help set the tone for interactions going forward, and Allura hadn't been entirely opposed either. In a way, the Altean princess had been thrilled to spearhead the beginning-or technically, the restarting-of the Altean and Fleogan alliance, just like the days of old. Perhaps it was because the princess still remembered those days with astounding clarity. For her, it was a few years in her past, not ten thousand years behind her like it was for the Fleogans. But in any case, all parties benefited from the decision; the Fleogan nobility was able to get Almira off their plate, Alastrine had a contact going into space to prepare for additional alliances, Allura received some sort of emotional benefit as well as diplomatic, and Almira had come back to life with the promise of a job that still managed to loosely tether her to her homeworld. Everything was picture perfect, and operating smoothly.

Or it should have been. With Almira off their hands the nobles had immediately turned to the next looming problem on the horizon: imminent war. They reluctantly accepted the fact that the planet had been freed, but it was only a harsh reminder of the chaotic future that lay ahead. Eventually the Galra would find out and return the favor, most likely attempting to subjugate the planet once more. If they found out that Fleogas was allying themselves with Voltron, then the punishment would be even more harsh. This was the concern of the nobles; how were they to defend themselves against such a giant and all encompassing enemy with fleets beyond their wildest dreams?

Of course, Akil's division had begun outfitting the planet with galactic defenses, as well as preparing aircrafts for entrance into space. The third prince was consumed with a mixture of oversight and creative endeavors, taking him away from the castle more often than not. Eaghan's presence at home was much the same; he was whisked away for strategy meeting after strategy meeting, brainstorming and creating brand new protocols for how to interact with invaders or other people that passed through Fleogan air space. He worked hand in hand with Akil's teams, meaning that the two were more often than not together, although far from the royal palace.

That left two royal siblings to babysit the nobility. As king, Alastrine had his hands tied halfway behind his back; he still maintained the role of general of the army, but with nobles to keep moderately happy and on his side he had to compensate. Forced to play nice, he was unable to speak his mind as freely as possible, more often than not finding his cheek muscles twitching from the false smile he constantly had plastered across his features.

Which then left Arden to do the dirty work and play "bad cop." Where Alastrine placated the nobles, Arden was forced to do the more persuasive work. It wasn't fun. In fact, it was so terrible, he found himself half distracted by his next diplomatic moves in the court even while he was training at the base, a permanent scowl etching into his features. With Almira gone, his grumpiness was only growing, and even his men were beginning to be more wary about his temperamental explosions.

Alastrine kept his hands clasped behind his back as he faced Arden fully. "I only keep positive because it is the only path we have. The four of us, and every high ranking commander in the army, understand that we must be prepared with or without the nobles' consent. Their approval only makes things easier."

Heaving a sigh, Arden folded his arms across his chest. "And of course that responsibility falls on my shoulders."

"Gods know that I can't do that job, Arden." Eaghan mirrored his brother's position, folding his arms across his chest with difficulty as the heavy fabric of the tunics made it difficult to move his arms. "And Akil's busy enough as is. Sometimes I look at what they're doing and my head wants to explode."

"You think your head wants to explode? Try being me." Akil rolled his eyes and playfully jabbed an elbow at the youngest brother, who bristled playfully at the gesture.

"It is for the best that it is you," Alastrine conceded more gracefully. "Even I'm unsure that I'd be able to do the job alone."

Arden's brows furrowed. "Yeah, and you were always the diplomatic one. Imagine how I feel, trying to wrangle that snake pit."

"Oh, trust us. We see."

Growling, Arden took a step in Eaghan's direction. "Watch it, shrimp."

To his surprise the youngest brother stood his ground, playfully matching Arden's posture again with eyes blazing brightly. "Always have, and always will be, brother mine."

Alastrine sighed at their bickering, shaking his head. The duo had always had clashing personalities, although the eldest had to admit that there was something different about Eaghan's tone. He was more daring, less snobbing of Arden, more willing to play with him…

Everything about his actions screamed "Almira." Even with her gone, she was never truly lost. Pieces of her lived on inside of them, the memories making their muscles twitch in reminiscence. Even in that short amount of time since she had ascended into the Altean spacecraft, the ghost of her was still tangible.

It was what focused Alastrine back on the situation. "Regardless, Almira has her job, and we are left with ours. She's done enough for us. We must all play our part in the coming times."

They were on the clock now. With every passing moment a Galra fighter drew closer. Almira grew further away. Sadness, fear, despair; they were all emotions that surged through every person on the planet. A time of subjugation had been replaced with a time of anxiety and uncertainty, the dark future approaching with greedy hands encroaching and wrapping around their throats.

And yet anything was possible. It was in the fact that they had literally done the impossible, the unthinkable. Who had ever though that they would throw off the bonds of their captors and rejoice under the free, blue skies? Certainly it had been a hope, a dream, but even dreams were flighty things, elusive and dancing beyond where fingertips could grasp. Fleeting, tempting, and just tangible as it slips between the cracks of fingers and hands, just like the wind. But they were the masters of the wind, and they had seized that dream and thrown it to the ground. It had been done. The limited had become the limitless, and now they dreamed with open hearts and silver tears that spoke of grief and happiness beyond words.

Alastrine knew this all. He felt the weight of the past, present, and future on his brow. He had been pruned for the throne all his life, and yet found himself in a situation no one could have ever imagined. He knew intimately the legacy that sat before him, but also knew that he was not the only one. It was on their four shoulders that afternoon. Four brothers who understood intimately the weight that royalty paid, the physical struggle that continued to unravel as time progressed. They knew the secrets that had been forged in order for them to stand on that dusty ground, looking to the skies as they watched hopelessly.

One more person understood. Even as Alastrine felt the distance grow larger beyond his imagination, he still held onto the hope that she would never become a dream. He wanted to hold on to the hope that he would see her again, embrace her again, and tell her everything. The truth, unbridled. He would beg for forgiveness, and he would look into golden eyes and know that everything was fine. Even if she hated him, she would know his heart, and she would understand. That was who Almira was.

Closing his eyes, he tuned out the sounds of Arden and Eaghan bickering away, Akil's muffled laughter as he mediated. In darkness he imagined Almira's figure, turning away for the final time and walking without looking back, just as Arden had instructed. His hands physically remained behind his back, but his fingers twitched as he mentally reached out for her.

Gone. Like a dream that slipped between the cracks as memory began to fade, he stood helplessly as she strode into the darkness, head held high even as she walked further and further away. Perhaps she would shed her form and surpass everything they could have ever imagined. Potential, unbridled and in its raw state, ready to be shaped.

She would find that her limitations had changed in space, more restricted in some areas while wildly limitless in others.

It was then that Alastrine realized that, when she did return, his baby sister would never be the same.

AN: It's been an honor, Mr. Obama

Over 100k. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see this story going beyond 40-60k. I'm pretty proud of what I've written, and I hope you've enjoyed it as well. This concludes Limitless! I plan on revisiting some chapters and brushing up on some minor story details, but those won't be terribly important since they won't shift the plot or any major points. Again, thank you so much for sticking with me. Thank you megane-chan in particular, for coming in with those awesome reviews that motivated me to finish editing and publish what I had sitting around. Words cannot describe my appreciation for the reviews given by everyone at this point.

The next update will probably be an alert that the sequel is going up, unless I decide to upload any shorter, quick snippets here. Again, I haven't even started writing the sequel; I've only begun outlining, so it's going to take some time to get the ball rolling. I have some concrete ideas, but I want to flush out more of it before I begin writing. Thankfully, the series is now over, so I can figure out what I want to do and how I want to manipulate the story structure.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone who has read thus far. You give me life and motivation, and I hope that I have succeeded in writing a story that is convicting and true to what I had intended.

Until next time!