Hell Hath No Fury

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its characters nor any of its alternate universe personas. So sad, I could become fond of a Lotor with green eyes…

Part 5 of the Chivalry story arc: 1. Chivalry; 2. Lion House Restored (& 2A. LHR – Allura's POV); 3. Doomed Quest; 4. Alternate Choices; and 5. Hell Hath No Fury. While some of the stories can be read as stand alone, this one must be read AFTER Alternate Choices for it to make sense.

Rating/Setting: Rating is T, bordering M. There are some topics that could be triggers for some people; I will try to post warnings for those chapters. However, I'm never graphic or explicit in any of my writing. If you've read Alternate Choices, you should know what the trigger topics are. Setting is DotU in flavor.

Chapter 4

That evening Allura lay in bed, with her head on Keith's shoulder drawing imaginary designs with her finger on his chest. "What is it they say on your home world? A penny for your thoughts?"

Keith tightened his hold around her slim form. "Not sure my thoughts are even worth a penny at the moment. However, I'm pretty sure that you know what I've been thinking about."

With a hint of mischief in her voice, Allura responded lightly, "Well, I can think of two things that you could be thinking about considering what we were doing recently." Then her voice lost its joking vibe. "Or you might be thinking about the discussion we had at the castle."

Keith planted a soft kiss on the top of Allura's blonde head before speaking. "While our recent activities would be incredibly pleasant to think about, I'm afraid that I was thinking about the castle discussion."

"You're still set on Lance?"

"Are you still set on Naveena?"

They both sighed instead of answering. Neither of them wanted to argue over this topic while on their long-awaited honeymoon, but neither wanted to let time slip by without coming to a decision.

Allura decided to broach the subject first. "Tell me why you are so set on Lance. I know it is more than his being your best friend."

Reaching up to still her fingers that were still tracing patterns on his chest, he said thoughtfully, "I've known Lance longer. I know exactly how he can fight. I know he's a crack shot with whatever weapon he has, and I know that he'd die trying to get you back home." Keith's fingers reflexively tightened over Allura's delicate hand. When he felt her fingers move, he released his grip and turned to face her. "Sorry." Allura nodded and then he asked, "Why is it that you are so adamant about Naveena going instead of Lance?"

After wiggling her fingers slightly, she laid her hand back down on his chest. This time she didn't make patterns but instead felt the steady rhythmic pulse of his heart beneath her palm. Looking from her hand to his eyes, she said, "Naveena is an unknown in the mirror-verse, and I think that is a positive. There's no way that Lance could get anywhere near Allura Alt. He will be too recognizable. Even if Naveena is a member of the Resistance, you never saw her or heard her mentioned. It is logical to assume that either she is with the Queen, dead, or currently a minor player in the Resistance. I know that you haven't been around Naveena as much as the rest of us. You were gone for more than two months on the challenges while I was here getting to know her. She's a good consistent fighter and she knows explosives." Allura stopped for a moment and smirked at her husband. "And she's not a hot-head."

Keith frowned at Allura and said, "Lance is not a hot-head." But seeing the gleam in her eyes, he let out the breath he was holding and chuckled. "Okay, so I can't say that with a straight face. Lance can be rash at times, but he's reliable and he's never rash about things that concern you."

The princess moved so that she was lying partially across his chest with her arms braced on either side of his head. She felt his hands slide down her bare sides, until they held her lightly at the waist. Looking into his eyes, she knew this conversation was about to end, so she said, "I prefer Naveena to go, but it won't change the fact that I'll be going. I think we've discussed this enough. I think it's time we got back to our honeymoon." Leaning down, she kissed Keith and let thoughts about rescues and mirror-verses slip from her mind.

As Keith succumbed to Allura's soft lips, he realized that they hadn't made a decision. But at the moment, he didn't care.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The weeks and months slipped by. Since they wouldn't know when an attempt to take Keith would happen, it was decided that they would have two plans in place. Plan Mirror would involve taking Lance. Plan Fury would take Naveena. Lance and Naveena were never to go off-planet on assignment together. One of them was to be available on Arus at all times. It was a little restrictive, but since they were still fighting Doom, they didn't do a lot of partner missions off-planet. Both plans would involve contacting Pollux and Garrison. Arus would be extremely vulnerable with three Lion pilots gone. Even with Sven, they would only have the four Lions to use with no option of Voltron.

The Alliance had also agreed to send a fleet immediately to Arus' planetary system upon contact. Between the two fleets, Arus should be adequately protected until the three pilots returned. Keith had talked to Coran about contingency plans in case some of them didn't return. The Princess knew it was his plan to come back, but she also knew that he was the one most likely to die in the mirror-verse. Not because of errors on anyone's part, but because Keith would have the arm band on. He had been told that it could deliver an electric jolt that could stop his heart with just a thought from the Queen of Altea. Allura Alt would rather see him dead than let him return to his universe.

The wind whipped through Allura's hair as she rode in the speeder beside Lance. Her thoughts went to events of the day. The Council meetings had gone well. At least there wasn't anything exciting to report to Keith when she got to Altea Hall. She was fine with that. Having 'exciting' things to report usually meant disagreements at the Council meetings. She brushed a piece of hair away from her eyes. The speeders always played havoc with her hair, but she loved the feel of the wind on her face. She thought back again to Keith's recent discussion with Coran about 'what-if' situations resulting from a mission to the mirror-verse.

The 'what if' scenarios always involved what to do if there were casualties on the mission. She didn't really want to talk about them, but she knew it was necessary. As Altea Hall came into view, she thought about how they had lived six months like this. Living with this possibility over their heads was a little draining. If it were going to happen, she'd rather go ahead and get it over with, because one way or another, the threat would be gone. She hadn't told Keith, but she didn't plan on leaving Allura Alt alive in the mirror-verse. She couldn't live with the ever present fear of her coming back to take Keith. The spirits didn't say anything about giving her any more amulets either. There was a strong possibility that this would be her only time to cross over and back. If she had to do it, Allura Alt would regret that decision.

"Allura?"

The speeder was stopped outside her getaway home and Lance was calling her name. Smiling at her friend, she said, "Sorry, Lance. I guess I was wool-gathering."

Hopping out of the speeder, he went to her side and opened the door, even though he knew she was happy getting it herself. "Not a problem, my Queen. I'm sure you were just thinking about the meal Keith is preparing."

Laughing, she said, "He promised it would be ready when I got home, but I'm pretty early. I'm sure it won't be ready."

Winking as he helped her out, he responded, "Oh, I'm sure you can think of something to do to kill the time until everything is ready."

Allura winked back at him, "Oh, indeed I can, Lance."

Shaking his head as he went back around the speeder, he called over his shoulder, "Teasing you isn't as much fun anymore. You hardly ever blush, Allura."

"Well, it hasn't stopped you from teasing yet." She called. "By the way, tell Naveena I said hello. I'm sure you're having dinner with her this evening." She saw a faint tinge of color on his cheeks as he began turning the speeder.

"I'll be sure to pass the message along, my Queen. Have a good evening."

She waved as she watched Lance take the speeder out of sight. Smiling she turned to Altea Hall and thought of the big name for the little house. It was with these thoughts in mind that she entered the cottage only to find her alternate had beaten her home.