Red sparks flew into the air as Nayni banged her fists against the cold metal floor. She was cold and hungry. Her muscles ached from her ceaseless efforts to free herself from her restraints. She banged her fists on the ground again and more sparks flew into the air. She let out a curse and sat back. Nayni glanced over at the locked door where her doppelganger was held prisoner. She pitied her but she was not going to let her body be hijacked by The Advisor. She looked around the room again even though she knew it was pointless. There was nothing in here but smooth walls, locked doors and those dim red lights.
She needed to keep her head cool. If she kept panicking she wasn't going to get anywhere. She was certain that the Paladins were coming for them. They had to by now but she had no way to confirm it. Nayni didn't even know if Lotor's plan had worked out. She just hoped that the Galra had weakened the Queen's militia. They'd need every advantage they could get if they were going to get off of this vessel. She needed to find Lance and the others. They needed to get to the Red Lion and get back to the Castle.
Nayni took a deep breath. She was thinking too far ahead. She needed to focus on getting out of these restraints. That was the first step. She had no idea when The Advisor would be coming back. It could be in a few dobashes, vargas, maybe even days. She couldn't afford to wait that long. She could still feel the small cluster of the other Nayni's memories swimming through her head. It felt like some foreign parasite had wriggled its way into her brain. They'd left her with so many questions but she'd have to wait to get those answers. It was quite possible that they would never be found out.
For now, these memories might have some answers that could help her. She had a vague idea of how this Castle was laid out now. She didn't have any security codes that she could pull from those memories and it was very likely that things had changed around this vessel since the other Nayni had been out and about. Her messy hair fell in her face as she looked down at her restraints.
She reeked of sweat and her own filth. She just kept staring at the glowing red bindings on her wrists. She kept sorting through every crevice of her brain for some kind of solution. She knew from her Guardsman training that if she didn't have the authorization or some kind of hacking tool that she was pretty quiznacked. She'd been banging her wrists on the ground in a desperate attempt to crack the projection mechanism and get it to short out. It hadn't exactly been working out very well.
She sat back and tried to relax her posture. The old tactics weren't working. She was short on time but if she kept panicking she wasn't going to be able to think straight. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. She tried to focus on her counterpart. There had to be something in those memories that could help her. Nayni found herself remembering a rather lurid one that was making her blush. Her counterpart was bound at the wrists, with these same restraints, lying in a bed. There was definitely some very unsavory activity going on. She focused harder.
Her counterpart thrashed and tried to free herself. Sweat was dripping down her face and she was making a great deal of noise. Nayni tried to push past the faint sensations she could feel and comb through the memory for anything actually related to the restraints. Her counterpart parted her ruby red lips and uttered two words. The restraints vanished and she grabbed The Advisor by his silver hair.
Nayni opened her eyes and smirked. It was a stretch but it was worth giving it a shot. She wriggled onto her side. She looked down at the restraints on her ankles. It would be really, really nice if this worked. Nayni sighed.
"Barca Barquentine," Nayni said.
She was very surprised when the restraints vanished.
"Security clearance accepted," A robotic voice chimed. "Welcome back, Nayni Nordontu Smythe."
"Idiot," Nayni mused.
Well, that was certainly interesting to hear. It was nice that The Advisor had been stupid enough to leave some of the security clearances unchanged. She hoped this little convenience would extend to the rest of the ship but she had no way of knowing until she got out of this room. She glanced at the locked door to the chamber where her counterpart was kept. Nayni felt such sadness thinking about her.
"Thanks for the help," Nayni murmured.
Nayni thought she heard her joints creaking as she got back on her feet. She rubbed her wrists to try and alleviate the mild discomfort. She couldn't just walk out the door either. If someone saw her running around in these rags they'd know immediately that she didn't belong. Nayni tore off a scrap of fabric from her shabby clothes. She used the strip of cloth to tie back her hair. At least now she wouldn't have to deal with that mess. She'd gotten out of the restraints, now it was time to focus on her next move. She needed to get out of this room and find a disguise.
"Is there something I can assist you with, Misses Smythe?" The robotic voice asked over the sound system.
If the circumstances were different Nayni would quite enjoy hearing this but at the moment it was just rather jarring to hear. Nayni looked around the room for a set of speakers or something to indicate where this AI was coming from but she couldn't really make anything out in the darkness. She just stared up at the ceiling awkwardly.
"Could you open the front door?" Nayni asked. "Pretty please?"
The door to the hallway slid open. Nayni darted behind the wall so no one outside could see her. The light from the exterior hallway poured into the musty dark room.
"Is that all, Misses Smythe?" The AI asked.
"Shut up!" Nayni snapped.
This robotic assistant was going to get her killed. A guard peeked through the open door and Nayni sprung into action. She wrapped her thick arm around his neck and pulled him back into the dark chamber. She covered his mouth to muffle his cries as she tightened her hold around his neck. This wouldn't kill him but it'd knock him out. He'd wake up in a few vargas with a very bad headache too. He thrashed and kicked for a few moments before he fell limp.
Nayni gently laid him on the ground and started pulling off his boots. His uniform wasn't exactly going to be the best fit but if she didn't mull around like an idiot hopefully no one would notice the short, middle-aged, chubby Altean woman that was bursting out of this guard's uniform. The assistant chimed to life again and Nayni rolled her eyes.
"Shall I inform Advisor Smythe that you have a guest waiting for him?" The AI asked.
Nayni tried to squeeze herself into the guard's pants and grunted.
"No thank you," Nayni said.
She hastily pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up. She deeply regretted the amount of sweets she consumed over the course of her life as she struggled with the buttons over her chest. She pulled on his helmet and tried to stuff her messy, tangled hair into it. Her fingers traced along the smooth handle of his blaster. She deployed his particle shield to test it out. The red shield erupted and lit up the room. She had all she needed now. But if she ran into a large group of guards she probably wouldn't do so well on her own.
Nayni peeked out the door and looked down the hallway. There weren't too many guards out and about but she still didn't want to doddle.
"Have a wonderful day, Misses Smythe," The AI chimed.
Nayni scowled.
"Shut your quiznack," Nayni said.
Nayni started making her way down the hallway. She walked at a brisk pace. She needed to move quickly but she couldn't draw attention to herself. She thought she was headed to where they were keeping her companions but she wasn't certain. Those memories were extremely foggy. She kept her gaze fixed on the ground as she passed by another guard.
She ran through her plan in her head. It was rough but there was a high probability that they'd need to adapt it to the ever-changing situation. She'd free her companions, get them to the armory so they could retrieve their weapons and then they'd make their way to the Red Lion. She fully expected for them to have to fight off some guards along the way. She desperately hoped The Advisor wouldn't end up getting involved. She'd only got a taste of what he could do and she didn't really want to see him in action.
Nayni made her way around a corner. The halls of this place were constructed so strangely. It was almost like navigating through some organic tunnel system that had been dug out by grubs. The ziplines and elevator shafts barely resembled the ones from the Castle she knew. The memories from her doppelganger were only remotely helpful with navigating this place. She tried to mask her confusion as best as she could. The helmet covering half of her face was very helpful with that endeavor.
She reached the doorway to the chamber that she suspected harbored her comrades. Nayni stared at the two guards flanking either side of it. She could either take them out or wait for the shifts to change. She had no idea how long of a wait that would be. Taking one guard by surprise hadn't taken much effort but two young, strong Alteans at full attention would be a whole other matter entirely. She'd had the security clearance to escape from her restraints and leave The Advisor's chambers. Maybe she had it to get into this holding room. If things didn't go very well she could always plant a blaster round in their faces.
Nayni strode up to the door. She tried to pretend that she'd done this thousands of times before. The guards still looked her up and down with a great deal of suspicion. Coran had actually been rather talented with handling moments like this. He'd been able to talk his way into any place back in the day. But he wasn't here to help her right now. The guards held out their hands to block Nayni from reaching the control panel by the door.
"What're you doing here?" One Guard pressed.
His voice was rather deep and intimidating but Nayni managed to keep her cool. Nayni put on her best scowl and folded her arms across her chest.
"How dare you question me!" Nayni snapped. "Don't you recognize me?"
They shouldn't but she was putting on her old Guard Captain act. Pretend to be tough and in charge and most people will just let you go on your way. The two guards looked at each other. It was difficult to read their expressions with their helmets on.
"Don't just stand around like a couple of idiots. Let me in!" Nayni insisted.
The doors slid open and the guards looked rather surprised. It appeared the voice recognition system did give her access to anywhere she pleased. Nayni hoped that the stupid AI wouldn't come blabbing over the intercoms again and announce to the entire vessel that she was running wild. She pushed past the guards before they got a chance to protest. The doors slid closed behind her and Nayni let out a sigh of relief.
The lights in the chamber flickered on. A sickly yellow hue was cast upon the room. Four of those sleep pods were placed around a metallic table in a circle. Three of them were filled with that transparent, viscous red fluid that she'd seen from the other Nayni's memories. Floating within the pods were her three companions. A bright lamp placed over the metallic table flickered on and revealed a wide array of rather frightful looking tools. Some of them were sharp curved blades, other's were jagged and covered with spikes. Some of them she didn't even recognize. None of them looked like they were meant to do anything pleasant.
"Misses Smythe, which prisoner will you be interrogating?" The AI asked.
Again, Nayni had no clue where this voice was being projected from. She looked at the pod where Lance was. He was wearing some kind of skin-tight outfit. It was all he had. Without his Paladin armor and bayard, they would be in a rather sticky situation. The boy looked like he was peacefully asleep but she imagined that's not how things had been when The Advisor was rooting around in his mind. Nayni walked up to the pod and placed her hand on the red barrier.
"Um-open up this pod please," Nayni asked.
She heard the sound of some mechanism beneath her feet whirring and clicking. The red fluid drained from the pod and rushed off to some unknown location through a system of tubes. Lance was coated with a thin film of the stuff by the time the pod had fully drained. The particle barrier disappeared and Lance stumbled out of the pod. He hunched over and gagged. Nayni wrinkled her nose as she watched him retch up a good portion of that red fluid.
Lance groaned. He clutched his head as if he had a throbbing headache. She hoped he hadn't endured that much torture but she couldn't see The Advisor being that merciful. Nayni knelt down and tried to wipe away some of the slime from the boy's face.
"Mister McClain!" Nayni said. "Are you all right?"
Lance finally looked up from the ground. He winced when the bright lights hit his eyes. Nayni ripped off her helmet and tossed it aside. She didn't want the first thing he saw to be something that would frighten him. It needed to be a familiar face. Lance blinked a few times and stared at her.
"Whoa—Nanny, how'd you get here?" Lance said weakly.
His voice sounded hoarse as if he'd been shouting a great deal. She rubbed his back to try and soothe him.
"It doesn't matter. We're getting out of here," Nayni assured.
She helped him get to his feet and scuttled over to Tomyko's pod. She looked like some kind of ocean goddess floating in that fluid with her hair spread out around her. Nayni's heart sank a little bit when she looked at her now. Tomyko had lied to them but only about the other Nayni. Why she'd claimed Nayni had died was a mystery to her. She hesitated in front of the pod.
Nayni and her Tomyko had gone through similar difficulties in their marriage. But it had been Nayni who'd been the bossy and controlling one. Once she'd joined the Guardsmen all she did was worry about Tomyko. She kept begging for her wife to settle down on Altea. She was constantly worried that her glamorous redhead would catch the attention of someone who was far prettier and more charming than Nayni was. They'd ended up going to a Spiritualist. They'd worked through it and after that trial, their bond had been stronger than ever.
Nayni looked over the scar on this Tomyko's nose. She'd never gotten the chance to repair her relationship with her wife. She felt a new connection to her now. The Advisor had probably expected Nayni to hate her after she'd found out the truth but the opposite had occurred. She felt sorry for her.
"I want to torture this one too," Nayni said.
"As you wish, Misses Smythe," the AI responded.
Lance's eyes widened as the mechanisms began to whir again and the fluid drained from Tomyko's pod.
He looked Nayni up and down and raised an eyebrow. Nayni just shrugged.
"It's a long story, I'll explain that bit later," Nayni said.
She scuttled over to Lotor's pod. Seeing him clad in that skin-tight outfit was a tad interesting. He was built rather nicely. She'd had some mixed feelings about him from the start but now she was even more confused. Lotor had spared her life. He may have just intended to use her as a pawn in the future but she wouldn't be standing here right now if it weren't for him. She wouldn't have been reunited with Coran and Allura. Lance shuffled over to her. He was clutching at his stomach and bore a grimace on his face.
"Are you thinking about leaving him?" Lance asked.
Nayni shook her head.
"No, I owe him," Nayni said. "Open the pod."
The AI responded again and started the process of releasing Lotor from his sleeping pod. Tomyko stumbled out of her pod. She started vomiting up the fluid just as Lance had. The slender woman had braced herself against a wall as the thick red slime rolled off of her body. Nayni was already trying to recall where the armory was. Maybe that's where they'd stashed the weapons and armor.
Red lights began to flash in the chamber. A high pitched siren began to blare. Tomyko looked up. Red hair clung to her face and her eyes widened in horror. Nayni's heart started racing.
"What's going on?" Nayni demanded.
The AI lowered the volume of the siren in the room. Nayni could still hear the muffled sound of it blaring in the hallway.
"Enemy combatants incoming," The AI said. "All crew members are to report to their battle stations."
A smirk spread across Nayni's round face. She'd been right. The Paladins had come for them and their timing couldn't have been any better.
Allura was piloting the Blue Lion through a barrage of laser fire. This entire sector of the star system was lit up like a supernova. Team Voltron had brought out all of the big guns for this mission. Allura had a fire in her belly. She was bound and determined to get to that Other Castle and get back the people she loved. Pidge's brother Matt was bracing himself on the back of her seat as the Blue Lion weaved its way through the battlefield.
She had originally intended to bring Pidge along but Shiro thought it was already a big enough risk to have two Paladins running around on that alien vessel. They were down a Lion too. They needed as many of them out in the thick of the fight as they could possibly get. Keith had offered to come along for rather morbid reasons. He wanted to be there in case someone needed to pilot the Red Lion. Allura wasn't willing to accept that possibility. She knew Lance was still alive. She could feel it. So Matt was along for the ride. If they needed to hack anything, he was pretty confident he'd be able to pull it off.
Laser rounds slammed into the scarlet particle barrier of the Other Castle. The protective shield wasn't flickering but it didn't possess the same brilliant aura that Allura had witnessed before. The Queen and her militia were still recovering from their brush with Zarkon's main fleet. She swung the Blue Lion around, she was doing her best to make this a stealthy approach. She watched a Terrapin dreadnought slam into one of the Queen's warships and smash its bow to pieces. Her allies just had to keep their enemies occupied long enough for Allura to break through the Other Castle's shield.
She disrupted the Queen's powers before and she knew she could do it again. She had to do it again. Coran hadn't wanted her to be the one but they both knew she was the best choice. She was the only one who could combat the Queen's powers. If things on the Other Castle were bad enough, Allura could shift her appearance to look like her enemy. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Drones poured forth from the Queen's warships and the Other Castle. None of them seemed to notice the presence of the Blue Lion growing ever closer to their capital ship. Matt leaned forward. He looked a bit nervous.
"I hope it's not as spooky on the inside as it looks from here," Matt said.
He was trying to lighten the mood and she did appreciate it. She made the Blue Lion hover a short distance from the particle barrier. It's red glow lit up the interior of the cockpit. Allura flexed her fingers as she gripped the yolk of the Lion.
"I'm going to need to concentrate for this so, please, try to keep quiet," Allura said.
Allura closed her eyes. She cleared her mind of all fear and doubt. She focused all of her energy on tearing open a hole in the Other Castle's particle barrier. She furrowed her brow and her stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots. She envisioned the tear splitting apart the scarlet barrier. She felt that energy weaken. A hole just large enough for the Blue Lion to pass through split open the shield. Allura pushed forward on the controls and plunged the Lion towards it.
Matt clung to her seat as they soared through the narrow passage. It felt completely wrong to be approaching like this. Allura was heading for where she suspected the hangar to be. If this vessel was anything like the one she'd come to know so well, they wouldn't have too much trouble navigating it. The entrance to the hangar looked more like the mouth of a beast than an artificially constructed opening. Landing in this massive strange structure was not a pleasant experience.
Allura tried to land the Blue Lion as delicately as she could. She knew it was likely that the Queen had already detected her presence. It was just another reason to try and get to Lance and Nanny as soon as they possibly could. Allura grabbed her bayard and they quickly made their way out of the Lion. Matt had already pulled up the small computer interface on his wrist. He looked over the hangar and seemed incredibly shaken.
"This place looks like something from a Lovecraft story," Matt said.
Allura had no idea what that meant but she wasn't going to inquire about it during a time like this. They ran up to what looked like a control panel near a door. Matt held up the orange screen of his interface and started typing.
"Hopefully the translator program works with these-other Alteans," Matt said.
Allura hovered closely to him. Her eyes were locked on the white text that was scrolling across the orange display. Matt squinted his eyes and paused. He pointed to a name on the screen with a puzzled look.
"Wait, is that Granny?" Matt asked.
"Nanny," Allura corrected.
She leaned in closer and looked at the name. Nayni Nordontu Smythe was not the name she had expected to see on the list. But it was the closest thing that Allura could see. That little discovery was something that would have to be discussed later. Allura nodded to Matt and he tapped on the name. A freshly downloaded map and a small tracking program appeared on his interface. A cluster of white dots was moving down a hallway. Allura grinned. She'd half expected to find them all stagnant, in a cell block, but she wasn't surprised to see that they'd figured out some way to escape.
"Let's go," Allura said.
Allura and Matt darted down the hallway. She held her bayard at the ready. Thankfully, it appeared that most of the crew members were occupied with the intense battle that was going on outside. Matt's gaze kept flickering between the map on his interface and the stretch of hallway in front of them. Allura was so desperate to get to them. She just wanted to see Nanny and Lance's faces. She wanted to see them unharmed and safe with her own eyes. The boots of her Paladin armor slipped on the sleek surface of the floor.
Matt directed them around which corners to take. Their comrades were moving just as quickly as they were. Matt's fingers scrolled through his interface as he ran after Allura.
"It seems like they know where they're going," Matt panted. "How could they though?"
Allura skidded around a corner.
"Tomyko's probably been here before," Allura said.
It didn't really matter. Nothing mattered to her right now except getting to them. She was getting closer to them. She didn't need Matt to tell her that. Allura could almost feel them. She could hear the sound of fighting going on the down the hall. Her heart started racing. Matt turned off his interface and reached for the blaster on his hip. Allura held out her bayard, ready to deploy her chainwhip as soon as they came upon the enemy.
Laser rounds were bouncing off of the walls. Nanny had a red particle shield deployed and a guard pushed up against the wall. Lance was clad in his Paladin armor, as he fired into the group of guards. Allura threw out her chainwhip. It wrapped around the neck of one of the guards and she yanked him forward. Lotor ran his sword through the restrained guard and flashed his silver grin at Allura. Matt and Tomyko fired their blasters. It was a scene of violent chaos.
Allura kept extending her chainwhip to help wrangle up stray guards so her comrades could pick them off. By the time it was done, Allura was desperately trying to catch her breath. Nanny's typically neatly styled hair was a mess and the red uniform she'd hijacked was drenched in sweat.
"Lurie! Are you all right?" Nanny asked.
Allura just smiled. Of course, that's all Nanny would be concerned about. Lance was shocked to see her. He even looked a tad angry. Allura just grabbed him and pulled him in for a hug. She could feel the Blue Paladin stiffen a bit before he relaxed. Nanny raised an eyebrow and had the tiniest of smirks on her face. Lotor sighed and brushed a strand of silver hair away from his lavender face.
"These happy reunions are lovely but we should probably focus on getting out of here," Lotor said.
Nanny furrowed her brow. She looked back down the hallway. Allura rested her hand on Nanny's shoulder. She looked down at her guardian and could just tell that something was weighing heavily on her.
"Nanny, what is it?" Allura pressed.
It looked like Nanny was wrestling with some great problem in her head. Allura knew they'd probably been through a lot but Nanny didn't look afraid. Her state of distress seemed to be due to something else.
"I'm sorry, Lurie, but there's something I need to take care of before we depart," Nanny said.
Lance was quite taken aback.
"Uhh-sorry, Nanny, but we kind of need to haul ass," Lance said.
Nanny shook her head. She was a stubborn woman. Nothing was going to stop her. It didn't feel right to Allura but if Nanny wanted this that badly she was going to help her. Lotor appeared to be more than a little annoyed by the situation.
"And what is the pressing reason that has you wanting to stay on this cesspool?" Lotor sighed.
Nanny just ignored him. She looked up at Allura. She seemed to be silently pleading with the Princess. Allura wanted to whisk them away back to their Castle but she couldn't take seeing Nanny like this. If she had unfinished business she needed to take care of, then they'd deal with it. Allura sighed.
"All right, let's take care of it- quickly," Allura pressed.
"Thank you, Lurie," Nanny murmured.
She darted down the hallway. Lance and Lotor still did not seem eager to be heading back further into the vessel. Nanny led the way. She raced down the hallway with such determination. She seemed to know exactly where she was going too. Allura was hot on her heels. The same deep instinct that had driven Allura to them was pushing Nanny forward now. Nanny led them through the labyrinth of intricate hallways.
They finally came upon a massive set of doors. They seemed to be decorated in whatever twisted sense of fashion that these other Alteans possessed. Nanny stared up at the doors. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath. Allura wanted to ask her what was going on but she didn't think now was the time. This didn't seem like something Nanny wanted to talk about. Maybe later she'd open up about it but for now, Allura just wanted this to be finished so they could make their escape. Lotor let out another overdramatic groan of frustration.
"Why must we doddle?" Lotor pressed.
Nanny scowled.
"Shut up, you bunghopper," Nanny snapped.
The Guard Captain looked to Tomyko. Her ears drooped.
"I just want Tomyko to come with me," Nanny said.
Allura's heart skipped a beat. She didn't want to leave her alone again. She didn't know what was behind that set of elaborate doors.
"Are you sure?" Allura asked.
Nanny sighed.
"Just let me do this my way, Lurie," Nanny pressed.
Allura recoiled. She didn't like it at all but she wasn't going to argue. They didn't have time to argue. Nanny stepped forward and leaned in towards a control panel.
"Let me in, please," Nanny said into the speaker.
A robotic voice seemed to emanate from the air itself.
"As you wish, Misses Smythe," the AI said.
Hearing that sent a chill down Allura's spine. The doors to the chamber slid open. All that Allura could see beyond was darkness. Nanny looked to Tomyko. There was so much pity in the Guard Captain's eyes.
"Come on, Tomyko," Nanny pleaded.
Tomyko hesitated. She looked absolutely terrified. Tomyko looked over all of their faces. It looked like she was silently asking for one of them to step in. Tomyko finally relented. She approached Nanny, clutching her blaster. Allura felt a crushing sense of dread come over her as she watched the two Alteans step into the darkness.
Tomyko could feel the energy radiating from this room. She knew who it belonged to. She didn't need Nayni to tell her. When the doors slid closed behind them she felt like a space mouse trapped in a cage. Dim red lights flickered on and Tomyko saw Nayni hovering in front of another door. This other Nayni was nothing like the one Tomyko had known. She was rough and grumpy just like Tomyko was. She wasn't the delicate beautiful woman that Tomyko had come to love. Seeing that round olive face was still an agonizing reminder.
Tomyko crept towards the door. She had no idea what lay beyond it but something just felt horribly familiar about it. Nayni looked up at her. Her expression wasn't grim or angry. She looked sad. She was looking at Tomyko with such ruth.
"I won't tell the others that you lied," Nayni said.
Tomyko's heart sank. Somehow, Nayni had found out. Tomyko wanted to feel something. She wanted to feel some form of remorse but she couldn't. After all of these years of pain and suffering all she'd been able to cling to was that lie. The truth hurt too much to accept.
"Why did you say she was dead?" Nayni asked.
Tomyko stared off into space. She could still see her wife dancing in her head. She could still see the frilly and lacy pink dress that she'd worn at their wedding. She could still see that smile on her round face, full of desire and hope. Tomyko's bottom lip started to tremble.
"It felt like she died that day," Tomyko said. "It felt like I died that day too."
She'd thought Nayni should've been angry. She expected her to be angry. Tomyko would've been angry if someone had lied to her like this. But Nayni didn't fly into a rage. She didn't look like she felt betrayed. It looked like Nayni understood.
"You and I are very alike," Nayni confessed. "At least from what I saw."
Tomyko's hand was shaking. She stared at the blaster in her grasp.
"She's in there," Nayni said. "She's floating in one of those pods like some trinket on display."
Tomyko felt sick. She'd expected her Nayni to be gone by now. After all those years, her wife must've passed on. But she was still here. She finally felt the tears starting to come. Tomyko took a deep breath. She didn't want to cry in front of this woman. As familiar as her face was, it would be like falling apart in front of a stranger.
"Was she happy?" Tomyko gasped.
Nayni was starting to tear up too. She stared at the floor and nodded.
"For a time," Nayni said. "He wouldn't let her slip away at the end. Even though it was what she wanted."
Tomyko just nodded. The tears were rolling down her slender face. The Advisor had given her Nayni something that Tomyko hadn't been able to. She didn't know what exactly but if he'd made her happy that's all that mattered. As much as Tomyko despised him, as much as she wanted to see him lying in a pool of his own blood, she still was grateful to him for that. Tomyko's marriage had fallen apart. It had been slow and painful but it had been due to her paranoia. She knew that. She just wished she'd told Nayni. She desperately wished she could've held her wife one more time and told her she was sorry. She wanted to tell her that she never stopped loving her.
Nayni patted Tomyko on the back. She was trying to hold back tears too.
"She wants to die," Nayni said. "She doesn't want to be trapped like this."
Tomyko took in a breath. She felt like her throat was closing up. She couldn't hold back the sobs anymore.
"It should be me," Tomyko choked. "I should do it. I owe this to her."
Nayni nodded. Tomyko had this blaster. She could make it quick. She could make it easy and painless.
"As soon as that door opens, he'll come," Tomyko said. "He'll kill anyone that he comes across."
Nayni seemed to know it too.
"All of you should go," Tomyko went on. "I'll stay. I'll take care of her."
Nayni stiffened. She couldn't look Tomyko in the eye. She knew what this meant. They both knew what this meant.
"He'll kill you," Nayni said.
There hadn't been a need for her to say it. Tomyko smiled weakly and looked down at Nayni. She'd hoped to see her wife like this. She'd hoped to see the spread of those crow's feet and worry lines. She'd hoped to grow old with her but she'd robbed herself of that opportunity. The Advisor had gotten that blessing. It appeared he hadn't cherished it. Even he was too greedy in the end.
"I always knew this was going to end with me dying," Tomyko said. "I just didn't think I'd get the chance to make things right with her."
They both stared at that door. That solid slab of black metal was taunting her. Behind that door was all Tomyko had ever wanted. Behind that door was the fire that had fueled her to fight. Her failure had been immense and it had been bitter but this was her chance to finally redeem herself.
"I know your Voltron can stop them. Promise me you'll bring an end to this, once and for all," Tomyko said.
Nayni nodded.
"I'll do it forher and for you," Nayni said.
Tomyko took in several deep breaths. She rocked back and forth. This was it. This was how it was going to end. Fate had brought her here. Some unknown power was giving her a second chance. Tomyko shuddered as more tears ran down her face. Nayni looked up at the ceiling. She opened her mouth but hesitated.
"Open the door," Nayni said. "And deactivate the hibernation pod."
"As you wish, Misses Smythe," the AI chimed.
Tomyko was shaking. She bit down on her bottom lip as the door slowly slid open.
"Go," Tomyko murmured.
Nayni hesitated for barely a moment. She finally tore her gaze away from Tomyko and sprinted back to the hallway.
Time seemed to slow. It was as if eons were slipping by as that door slid open. Tomyko's knees quivered. She could barely command herself to walk forward. The alarm system continued to blare. It was so deafening that Tomyko couldn't hear the commotion going on outside. She watched the red viscous fluid drain from the hibernation pod. Her Nayni looked like a withered doll. She was so frail. But she was still so breathtakingly beautiful.
Tomyko caught the delicate old Altean in her arms. She watched the red fluid slowly pour out of the corner of her mouth. Tears rolled down Tomyko's cheeks as she cradled her wife in her arms. By now, Nayni and the others would be running down the halls. They would be pushing for the hangar as quickly as their legs could carry them. Her Nayni's eyes fluttered open. The violet orbs didn't hold the same twinkle that they used to.
"Tomyko," Her Nayni croaked.
Tomyko cupped her round face in her hands. The Advisor was coming. With every tik that slipped by he was drawing closer. Tomyko smiled. She could barely make out the image of her wife's face through all the tears.
"I'm so sorry-I failed you," Tomyko sobbed.
Her Nayni reached up weakly. Her bony finger traced along the hem of Tomyko's sleeve. Her thin, wrinkled lips parted. Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to breathe.
"I forgive you," Her Nayni whispered. But please-"
Tomyko nodded.
"I know, my love," Tomyko said.
She could hear the sound of the ornate doors sliding open. Tomyko pressed the barrel of the blaster to her Nayni's forehead. The gun trembled with the uncontrollable shaking of her slender hands. Tomyko closed her eyes. A wave of sobs wracked her body as she pulled the trigger. Her wife's body fell limp. The Advisor's cry sounded as if it was a million miles away. A smile spread across her face. She felt the warm relief of peace finally come to her. And when The Advisor wrapped his cold hands around her delicate neck, she felt no pain.