"Selena? Is that you?" Keith said, still not sure she was really standing before him. Blinking a few times, his stiff military training kicked in and he saluted his fellow officer. "Captain Aimes, welcome to Arus."
"Still so duty bound." That comment was more of a sigh as the woman repeated the gesture before moving her hand to touch his chest. She smiled, as Keith remained impassive, and sort of annoyed. Her hand dropped and she turned towards the others.
Lance and Hunk watched the scene between the two captains with interest. They could hear and see the tension in their commander as his happy demeanour with Alex changed quickly to one of a guarded distance with this Selena.
Coran cleared his throat, and Keith instantly introduced everyone.
"Princess, excuse me again. It's quite a surprise to introduce you all, but this is Captain Selena Aimes, Captain Aimes, this is her Highness, Princess Allura of Arus." Selena looked over the princess before bowing. "And the Voltron Force, along with Coran, personal advisor to the Princess."
"You'll have to excuse us your highness. I didn't radio ahead our arrival because then you would have set up a formal greeting and I so despise formalities." Selena said with a smile as she walked away from Keith and towards Allura. "We also had a little malfunction of the communication systems aboard the shuttle until we were well within your atmosphere."
Allura didn't know why but there was something about this woman that caused a strange feeling inside her. This woman... It seemed like she had something hidden, something was off about her. For the life of her, Allura couldn't place it exactly. On top of that, the questions whirling in her brain about the affectionate way this woman touched Keith; it was like they had a history together. Smiling simply, she tried to push all the confusion out of her mind.
"I am glad your shuttle made a safe landing. I am sure our crew can look into it if you require." Allura said only to get a nod from the woman as the attention of the red head moved to the rest of the force.
"Oh my! Lance you have grown more handsome since we last met." Selena started as she moved closer to the Red Lion pilot. "Well since Keith won't give me a hello kiss, would you mind?" She smiled. Lance didn't look too thrilled but complied with a friendly kiss on the cheek. He wasn't one to miss up a kiss with a beautiful woman, not matter who it was.
"Not bad, I've had better." She looked over to Keith and smiled. "So Keith, are you going to ask why I'm here?"
"I was waiting for you to inform us of your mission." He said sounding a little angry with her lack of military procedure. "Please, enlighten us. Why are you here?"
"Would you believe I came to see you?" Keith shook his head at her statement and instantly crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh come on Keithy." She said as she took hold of his arm. "Well to be honest that was only an added bonus, but I did bring a message for you from the Garrison and the Admiral of the Lunar Fleet."
Allura, seeing the closeness that this Selena was getting to Keith spurred her into action.
"Why don't we discuss this after a light dinner? Unless it is urgent?" Getting no response from the female captain, the princess continued, "I am sure you all must be tried from your journey."
"Thank you Princess. It was a long trip. And I do believe we would all like to freshen up a bit." Selena smiled as she let go of Keith's arm.
"You will join us here in the castle, as our guests, won't you Captain Aimes? And of course I'll have Nanny set up our guest quarters for you and your crew."
"Sounds wonderful."
Nanny came out and led the crew of women to their rooms. "I'll stop by a little later Keith." Selena whispered to Keith as she and the others left to follow Nanny.
Keith winced, with all the commotion he forgot about the pain in his chest and the pressure of his crossed arms seemed to aggravate it.
"So Keith, I remember the last time you and Selena were in the same room together…" Lance started talking with a smile on his face. "As I recall you had to get a cast on your leg from a nasty fall out of a window." Keith closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustrations which only caused more pain. "I wonder what she'll do to you this time."
Lance stopped smiling when he realized Keith was in pain and had to steady himself on a crate near to him. Allura ran to his side instantly.
"Keith you need to rest. The doctor told you to stay in bed." She said worriedly.
"To bed, oh fearless leader!" Lance motioned for Keith to exit the docking bay.
The team guided their injured Captain to his room. Pidge brought some fresh bandages and Allura carefully changed his shoulder dressing. Lance and Hunk watched as she tenderly took care of their fearless leader as he sat on the side of his bed lost in thought.
"Maybe I should take over being Captain for a while." Lance said in all seriousness seeing Keith slowly ease into bed. "You've reopened that little number on your shoulder enough times."
"Not happening Lance." Keith smiled as he tried to assure the others he was fine. It was just the constant painful throbbing of his body was wearing him down… and now there was added issues his brain was trying to run through.
There was a knock on the door suddenly that caught the attention of the crew. Lance went to see who it was and saw his sister's face smiling.
"They said you'd be in here, what is this, a party or something? Oh… what happened to him?" She gasped as she noticed the princess checking and finishing her application of new bandages. "When were you going to tell me he was hurt? I wouldn't have jumped on him if I'd have known- I'm sorry Keith." Alex said as she ran to the unoccupied side of the bed. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No, I'm fine, really. I just… I mean" Keith looked up to Allura and shared a small sad smile knowing she was not going to like him trying to brush this off again.
"You will not leave this bed until dinner is served and then only if you are feeling well can you come and eat with us." Allura said sternly, her eyebrows were raised and her expression told she meant business. "Now I think we should leave you to get some rest."
"I'll try… Don't worry Alex, we'll catch up later." And with that everyone started for the door and left Keith in bed.
"Alex, did you have time to freshen up yet?" Allura smiled, she had taken an instant liking to the girl. And with her being Lance's sister and close to her age, it was nice to know she could trust this girl as family.
"Not yet. I wanted to hang out with Keith and Lance, catch up a bit first. Are you sure he's going to be ok?"
"Tis but a scratch," Lance said in a bad accent, one Allura couldn't place, but the boys all laughed.
"Keith's had worse." Hunk assured her.
"He just is stubborn, like normal for him. Why don't you go with Allura and then meet us in the rec room. You don't have to wear formal clothes here…" Lance said stretching his arms to emphasize the lax dress code they had.
"I am surprised you got Keith to let you wear that while on duty." Alex poked her brother's arm.
"Hey! We're ALWAYS on duty of some kind here. Besides, he likes wearing his jumpsuit, which isn't exactly Garrison dress code."
When they reached the split off in the hallway that lead in one way to Allura's wing and the other to the rec room, the boys went their way while Allura walked with Alex in the other direction.
As the three guys made their way to the rec room and flopped down in their usual seats the door swished open to reveal a less formal looking Selena, now dressed in jeans and an academy shirt.
She smiled sweetly at the men and sat herself down close to Lance at the far end of the couch.
"So what really brings you out this far in the galaxy Captain?" Lance asked not wanting to know the official Garrison reason, but why SHE came on a delivery mission. He never did like Selena, especially when she had started to pursue a relationship with Keith back in the academy. She carried a reputation of being one of 'those' girls, granted he, himself, had a reputation that was very similar... but Keith didn't deserve what she pulled. It did cause him some pain knowing she would do anything, or anyone, to get ahead in her career.
"And how does Keith fit in with whatever scheme you're hatching?" Lance asked giving her the once over.
"Well I was sent to personally give a message to your Commander. Then once I am done with that I suppose I will need to speak to her Majesty about a similar issue from the Garrison. It's of the utmost importance I assure you." Lance noted that she did look serious when she said all that.
"Can't they just send a message over the com link like normal?" Lance asked suspiciously.
"Speaking of Keithy, where is he?"
"He's resting at the moment and he's not to be disturbed… by anyone." Lance added noticing her looking around the room.
"Oh well. We'll just see about that." She said as she stood and was about to go towards the door.
Lance surprised all in the room with his quick reaction to stop her. Grabbing her arm, he stopped her movement towards the door.
"No way Selena! You had your chance with Keith… and you left him. He's found a little happiness here, so just leave him alone!"
"Happiness here? Are you an idiot Lance?" Selena pulled her arm away from him and placed it on her hip. "His career is stalled at the moment and don't tell me you subscribe to those fairy tales of the royal princess and her knight? I saw how she was looking at him. The virgin princess- she probably blushes when one talks of kissing?"
"I've never hit a woman before, don't make me start now." Lance seethed. The argument got the attention of Hunk and Pidge away from their project.
"It won't work. How can she be any good to a man like Keith?"
"Just leave them alone Selena. For once in your life be nice and think of someone other than yourself."
Selena looked at Lance, a little taken back at first, but then narrowed her eyes at the other man.
"Fine. Whatever you say Lance." She said and threw her hands up in defeat. "I'll be in my room until dinner, please be a dear and send someone to get me."
And with that, Selena walked out of the rec room frowning.
"What a bunch of idiots!" She hissed as she made her way back to where her crew rested. "I've got a job to do, and I won't let anything get in my way!"
The rest of the walk had not cooled her head and as she entered the room, she was even more annoyed to see the prissy princess sitting with her crew chatting like old friends.
Seconds after she entered, her crew realized their commander was present and quickly stood and saluted.
"At ease ladies. After that flight, you all deserve to take a break. You're on vacation for a few days while I take care of my part of the mission details." Selena smiled as they all sat down again. "Go find yourself a cute bachelor, but remember I called dibs on Keithy."
There was a combination of groans and cheers from the crew. Selena smiled wickedly seeing the confused and jealous look on Allura's face. She may have a mission to deal with, but why not play with her a little bit.
Alex instantly saw what Selena was trying to do. To tell the truth, Alex didn't think much of her commanding officer; other than the fact that she was fair to the crew and rather skilled, her reputation trailed along not too far behind to make her much of an honorable commander.
Vaguely she remembered that Keith and Selena dated for a bit. It ended badly to say the least. And there was something about Allura and Keith that gave her a vibe as if there was something between those two. She saw it in his eyes when he introduced them, then she saw it in Allura's eyes while she tended his wounds earlier.
Now this look of confusion over Selena's comment… Alex was positive something was going on. A quick talk with her brother later would confirm it.
"So when do you normally serve dinner here on Arus your majesty?" Selena asked sitting down with the ladies. If she couldn't go find Keith, sitting here was the next best thing.
"Please Selena, call me Allura. There is no need for formalities, like you said." She smiled trying to seem friendly, even though Allura already disliked the woman before her.
"Alright then, Allura."
"Dinner will be in at least an hour. Nanny always is making such a fuss about guests. She loves to entertain, but doesn't get the opportunity to do it so often." Allura smiled looking at the women.
"But we're happy to have you join us." She continued. It was a new experience to have a large group of women driven with the goal of protecting others in common. The boys were great and all, but they definitely were just not the same.
"I think this calls for some girl talk to pass the time. It's been so long since I've been allowed to take a break from being in uniform." Selena proposed.
The topics started off with questions about Voltron and Arus. Allura enjoyed the group of women, some were very witty while others appeared to be a bit more reserved and analytical.
As the discussions continued, the topic of romantic fairy tales and the almost medieval motif of the castle being the perfect backdrop began.
Some of the other women began to recant stories of boyfriends and first kisses. Allura laughed along with the group, she enjoyed hearing about their triumphs and often-funny escapades in love.
She had never experienced a true 'girl-talk' session before. Even with Romelle, their conversations didn't often lead to such things, until recently that is… Sven's move to Pollux had started a new era for her cousin. One Allura had hoped she would soon experience.
"Selena, so what's with you and the Voltron Force Captain?" One of the crew asked, and soon all the girls got excited. Allura listened to the coos and discussion of tall, dark, and handsome types.
"Keith? Well …well alright." Selena smiled and began telling her tale, not forgetting to leave out the chance to see the proper princess squirm.
"Well, we met during the first year at the Academy. He was the top of his class not to mention on track to break tons of records and most importantly the top of everyone's 'Want to get their hands on' list." Selena sighed and the others nodded in agreement. Allura listened in silence wondering just what kind of relationship Selena had with Keith.
"Yes, Keith and I." Selena sighed. "He was that cute, boyish-handsome type back then, and well he's only gotten better, more defined now." She smiled.
"How did you two get together?" Another of the crew women asked.
"Well, of course I fell for him the moment I saw him. Every girl does, but it was so like Keith to not be interested in anything other than courses. After a year I learned I had to take the initiative." Selena recounted.
"The day we had our first kiss, oh God what a good kisser he was, was during the academy's swimming tests. The three most desirable bachelors and of course their tag along, your brother Alex, were done. Keith placed first mind you; Jeff and Keith were always in a big competition. But anyway, Jeff, Lance, Sven and Keith were all in those nice swim trunks, I felt faint just looking at him. I got to the high dive near the deep end of the pool and dove in. It was a good dive too, but then, I got a cramp." Selena touched her leg and the girls who were paying attention to the story gasped.
"I thought I was going to drown, until I was saved… Keith jumped in and rescued me. He held me close as he swam to the side of the pool. I must have forgotten to breathe, because he pressed his lips to mine and tried to resuscitate me." She smiled broadly. "Of course I was surprised when he did that, so I must have grabbed him and kissed him back. He must have liked it too- because we were kissing until the instructor pulled us off each other."
"That's so cute." The girls swooned and giggled. Allura and Alex were the only ones not drooling over the story. Both looked at Selena in disbelief on the under handed way she got Keith to notice her.
'Forgot to breathe, my… what do the boy's say, my ass? Yeah, my ass she forgot to breathe!' Allura snarled to herself.
"We dated for several months. It was heaven. I never knew he could be so devastatingly romantic. We watched sunsets together, and we were even paired up for combat practices several times..."
"That was until he found out you were using him." Alex added in feeling the need to correct the story a bit.
"Alex, dear, come on now. You're just jealous that Keith saw me as a woman and not his best friend's little sister."
Alex saw red with that comment. Yeah, she knew Keith saw her as a little sister, but having this woman flaunt things in front of her and Allura made her angry. Selena had already broken Keith's heart, from the sound of the stories, she obviously didn't hurt as much with the breakup and now… the only motive for bringing up their shared past was to try and hurt both him and Allura.
"I do recall you were the one who would invite friends over to your house when Keith would spend the night. You had such a big crush on him- and it looks like you still do." Selena continued.
"He's my big brother!"
"There you go with the 'my brother' thing again- try adopted... not even that really. He was perfectly fine without a family, why did he need yours?" Selena replied rather catty.
Alex wanted to strange her commanding officer. If it wasn't that she was Keith's –adopted- sister and Lance's real sister, she was sure she would have been looking at a reprimand for her tone with a commanding officer, even if they were off duty.
Allura sat there frozen through the whole argument. At first she was trying to picture the Keith she knew in a relationship with such a woman and then Alex's remarks about family… she was confused to say the least.
'Keith not having a family? What?' She mulled over the thought of Keith not having a family. 'He, nor the others, except Pidge, mentions their families much, so I guess I just took for granted...'
"Alex, it's ok to be jealous. But I'm sorry but Keith and I love each other. We're the perfect couple, always have been, always will be."
"Until you threw him out a window." Was Alex's reply to that comment.
"What?" Allura finally spoke up. She was utterly confused. 'Love? Threw him out a window? What is going on?'
"We broke up towards the end of his last year, but not before I gave myself to Keith." She paused to look at the horror on Allura's face and the anger on Alex's.
"You… and Keith?" A crew member gasped.
"I gave him everything- oh and I thought he was only a good kisser? Wow was I wrong."
"That's enough Selena." Alex said standing up, not wanting to hear more. Selena knew how to push people's buttons.
Deep down, it felt as if something inside Allura shattered. She felt the sting of tears bubbling in her eyes. And yet she refused to cry. It really wasn't her place to feel so… so betrayed.
'Selena and Keith were lovers? But why does this hurt so much?' She asked herself controlling herself to not cry.
"It was great while it lasted. But then it didn't work out. Too bad, you know what they say about first loves." Selena didn't know why, but she was taking pleasure in hurting Allura like this. She could see the anguish on her face.
"Well, that might not be true, especially when your first love pushes you out the window. Keith got his head back on and dumped your butt for lying to him all the time. It sounded more like you used him Selena! You're such a -"
But before Alex could finish, Allura stood up and rushed out of the room.
"Oh did I upset the princess?" Selena laughed. Alex snarled at her and left to catch up with Allura.
"Allura, wait up." Alex yelled trying to get the other girl to stop. It was to no avail as she noticed Allura only increase her pace and duck into a room with a swish of the doors.
Alex sighed and ran towards what she assumed was Allura's bedroom. Thanking her luck, the door opened for her as soon as it sensed a presence in front. Noticing the large extravagance of the room, Alex was taken back. Even with the stories from Lance of Arus being like a world out of a story book, she was speechless at the room's extravagance. It was much more than they had seen in the passing hallways.
Moving closer to the large bed with an ornamental headboard, Alex couldn't help but feel for the woman lying face down on a plush looking comforter.
"Hey, it's ok. Don't let Selena get to you."
"I…I…don't know what is wrong with me…" Allura sniffled still hiding her face with embarrassment with her actions. She had left the room abruptly feeling the losing battle with her tears. Self-loathing was something that she felt at the moment… when there were so many more important matters, so many others suffering more than she was… how could she let herself cry over this?
"You love him don't you?" Alex said as she sat down and rubbed the other girl's back.
"No!" She blurted out sitting straight up and looking into Alex's comforting eyes. "I… I can't… Not after hearing that." She said in a small voice.
"Come on Ally. Selena was being a real… well she's… not a nice person. She used Keith and well, Keith made a mistake." Lance's sister shrugged, not knowing exactly what Keith was thinking. "I don't think he had never let himself be in love before, so he didn't know what he was doing." Somehow Alex knew her words were not the comforting support Allura needed.
"Ally, he doesn't love Selena. I'm not sure he ever did." She continued. "It is true they were a couple for almost a year, but Keith soon saw her true self. I think he was trying to break up with her for most of the relationship. But Keith… he, well, he's not good at emotions and things like that. Selena was, and still is, power hungry. She dated lots of guys. She went after Keith probably because Keith was the academy's best cadet. She wanted the glory that came with dating him. She kind of toyed with him over and over. When he found out about some of her other hobbies and confronted her, he kind of was in a sticky situation…"
"What happened?" Allura asked finding Alex's words helpful and soon her tears ebbed. The younger girl had a soothing quality to her; she defiantly was related to Lance. Curiosity also winning out to hear a truthful account of the story she has just heard.
"Apparently she was keeping a few things from him. He found out one night that she was using him to get access to a few places and things only reserved for the top cadets. Lance made comments about her cheating on him too. This is Keith we're talking about, so we'll never really know the full story, but in the end also forgot to disclose something else with him."
"What was that?"
"Apparently her last name was different back at the academy. Now everyone knows she is Admiral Aimes' daughter. Apparently she wasn't allowed to use his name for some reason at the academy."
Alex stopped and looked at Allura, confusing in her blue eyes.
"Admiral Aimes was Keith's mentor of sorts, and well the night he found out, the admiral pretty much walked in on them. Lance says that Keith went out onto the balcony to hide, but he lost his balance when Selena suddenly shut the door on him." Alex sighed. "He realized who she really was. And her reputation for sleeping around and being a power thirsty person came crashing down with him. He broke his leg that night. I'm sure Lance has made jokes about that. He never lets Keith forget it."
"I don't understand…"
"Lance and the others were trying to get him to open up when this whole thing happened." Alex continued. "You must have noticed how closed up he gets about personal things. Well, he's only gotten worse since that experience. I hate it. He'll risk his life getting hurt for others and thinks nothing of it, but he can't and doesn't like being emotionally vulnerable. He's been through so much… please Ally just give him time. He doesn't love Selena and well, I had always hoped he would find someone like you." Allura was shocked at what Alex was saying.
"Please, don't shut him out because you think he doesn't love you. Or Selena trying to talk big about something that probably never happened, because I know he does have feeling for you."
"How can you be so sure?" Allura asked looking at her hands and then back up to Alex's.
"He was to. The way he talks about you in his letters home. I've only been here for a short while and I already notice how he talks to you, how he looks at you. Lance mentions how he's risked his life for you… I'd say he has to love you. But he's afraid to open up again. He's…"
Before Alex could finish the swish of the door and a rustle of long skirts stopped the conversation. Nanny came in the room looking rushed and a little frantic. She must have run to find them.
"Princess, there you are. We are now serving the meal in the ballroom. Please hurry and finish preparing. Oh, it is so nice to have female guests again in this castle."
"Thank you Nanny." Allura said thankful that her crying had stopped and her eyes were not puffy. Nanny left quickly to finish the last minute serving issues and Alex hugged Allura tight.
"Ally he's not going to say anything until you make him see you feel the same way. Knowing Keith, he feels he doesn't disserve you and you deserve someone better than him. Don't ask me why, but I bet he does. It's just his way."
"Thanks Alex, you're so nice… I just, I've had this feeling for a while for him. More than what I feel for the others… I think it is love. Is it supposed to hurt this much, hearing about past stories?"
"It's called jealousy. You love him so much that you can't stand him being with another." Alex let go of Ally and stood. "And you do know he's not with anyone, right? He hasn't ever dated any other girl that I know of, and there's no way that Selena has anything left with him. So go get 'em!" Alex made a fist pump action of encouragement before she smiled as her stomach rumbled.
"Now how about we go and get something to eat? And don't let Selena get you down; Keith's going to let her have it. She won't get very far with him."
Allura smiled a silent thanks to Alex.
Alex's words had indeed comforted and encouraged her; however, there were issues that still eluded her.
'Just what were Keith's feelings?' He had done a lot for her and her planet, but was that just because it was his job? She was confused.
Allura shrugged off the questions and quickly went to her mirror to do a final check on her appearance before showing Alex to the dining room.
"Thanks Alex. You know, you really are like your brother."
"Princess, I don't know if that is a compliment or an insult." Alex winked and started laughing.
**Thanks for reading, more chapters to be edited and uploaded soon!