I could get used to writing shorter stories. I feel super accomplished after such brief idea bursts from the plot bunnies. Anyway, thanks to the reviewers, your comments are greatly appreciated and enjoyed!

I also find it amusing that VLD has its own category, but Voltron Force or the Comics have to share with the original. Oh well, I don't make the rules, I just post my stories here for all to enjoy and wonder what form of prescription drugs I was on while writing. Sadly none of the fun ones.

Chapter 3: Memories

Takes place shortly after the events of Crystal Venom - where the castle went crazy-pants (a technical term) on the team, and Allura made the decision to delete her father's memory program to save the castle ship and the team.

Words did little to describe the pain she felt in her heart.

Her world in the last week… ten thousand years and some odd hours… however you quantify her last week of conscious life brought challenge and heartache.

The last thing she remembered before placed into a cryo-sleep was the trauma of her world attacked, her father giving up hope of survival and the fear of running.

Add to that, once awakened, the fresh round of alien men arriving on her doorstep. They had their hearts in the right place, mostly, but comparing them to the paladins of old, well, there was no comparison really.

Spending time with them those first days she wondered if they could ever form Voltron. Miracles of miracles when it counted, they succeeded. The goddess of fate had finally been kind in some regards with them pulling together. Heavens knows she tried to assist in the bond building. Yet they fought among themselves, kept secrets, and still did not fully trust their comrades.

Had she been able to concentrate on much more than the most recent loss of her father's memories and data in the A.I. chamber, the feeling of something missing from the group would have been apparent.

While Shiro filled the role of a good leader on the outside, something was off… his crew listened to him, depended on him, but still, doubt crept into their hearts at times. He was not quite the leader of a King Alfor caliber.

King Alfor. Her father. Long dead, she knew, but at least with the A.I. program, she could almost forget that he could no longer hold her in his warm and strong embrace. Seeing him and hearing his voice comforted her through those first days awake. He helped her pick up the pieces that settled from the battles of old.

"Gone, he's gone," Allura sobbed into her pillows. Her room in the castle had been one of her favorite places as a child, but now, it felt cold. Even wrapped in the blankets of her bed, with a hot cup of Altean tea on her bedside table… it all felt hollow.

The team tried to console her, and yet all she wanted was to curl up and sleep once more. Looking over at the stillness of her room, she wondered how long she had stayed hauled up in her fortress of solitude.

"I've been nothing but a cry baby," she chastised herself. "Even the mice are sick of hearing me complain."

With a sigh, Allura, the Princess of Altea knew she needed to get a hold of herself.

If you fall apart, then the whole team could crumble. We don't need that right now. Her thoughts had her sitting up and rubbing her face. Around her eyes, she could feel the puffy and irritated skin from crying.

I might have scared the poor things away looking like this, she mused as she got out of bed and walked to her vanity.

"Definitely scared them away," she tried to laugh at the state she was in at the moment. "Some Princess you look like. Get it together Allura."

From behind her, the chatter of the four space mice that were connected to her thoughts caught her attention.

"Well hello little friends," she began bending over from her seat to open her hands for them to step into her palms.

The small animals did so without hesitation. The fattest mouse went straight to hugging her cheek as she brought them nearly at eye level. The smallest followed, and soon all the mince save the one with the serious eyes and pointed nose were hugging her. Pulling back a bit, she noticed the mouse held something behind its back.

"You say you've got something to make me smile?" She asked, speaking the internal voice that they shared. The mouse nodded and then held up the small chip-like device.

"What is this?" She asked not knowing what the tiny creatures brought. The four quickly began to mimic out the scenario that she easily understood from just listening to them.

"I need to put this in the A.I. chamber…" To be honest, her desire to go anywhere near that room remained low. How can I ever go there and deal with my father or the flower field not being there? She wondered.

The mice were quite insistent.

Letting her curiosity overpower the painful feelings, Allura conceded and stood up. Still in her flowing nightgown of soft pinks, she stepped out of her room, with her mice friends still in hand.

Making her way through the castle, she felt thankful that no one saw her. She didn't want to deal with the others quite yet.

Walking slowly into the room that once held precious memories, she knelt at the base of the repaired A.I. projector.

The small rodents all took a place on the floor watching and encouraging their Princess to insert the device. The same mouse that handed her the chip, the one with the long face and grayish fur, nodded to her and for a moment, a flash of a certain man in a red jacket came to her mind. The mysterious paladin of the Red Lion and the slender mouse both had a similar air of silent support to them.

Almost laughing at the thought that the mice certainly did remind her of the new team, she decided to see what her friends had brought.

"Here goes nothing," she gave them a small smile and the machine instantly came to life.

Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes went wide at what she saw.

The lush fields of Juniberries once more appeared before her. The magenta colored flowers contrasted against the green grasses and filled her heart with happiness. While the mountains on the horizon were a new addition to her usual scene, and the flowers looked slightly different, she could tell what they were.

"How did?" She stopped and looked at the happy mice. "Did Pidge and Hunk salvage some of father's memories?"

Her question was met with a mini-conference between the mice before they told her not really.

"Not really?" Her confusion grew at the weird answer.

The four mice smiled and took off, scattering in the tall grass, also enjoying the new projection.

"I'll thank Pidge and Hunk later." She smiled and laid back among the flowers. While still sad about losing her father's memories and presence, the fields of flowers helped ease her troubles.

Closing her eyes, Allura allowed herself to relax once more.

Her confusion certainly grew after a short conversation with Pidge and Hunk in the Green Lion bay area. The pair of techno geeks, whatever that meant she asked herself after hearing Lance regularly refer to the two as that, had admitted to helping in the device's creation.

They said that the data was unsalvageable, she thought to herself. And it was Keith's idea to create the images…

Both Hunk and Pidge told her that Keith had done most of the picture rendering, surprising them all with his computer knowledge and ultimately his creativity in the scene.

Keith Kogane. Her brows scrunched a bit, not knowing what to make out of the distant, yet so emotionally aware man's actions.

Pidge mentioned Keith went back to the training room after their task finished. That was where Allura headed, determined to ask a few questions of the Red Lion pilot.

Entering the viewing room above the actual training floor, she expected to find him fighting another of the castle's simulated fighters, but that wasn't the case.

Instead, the dark-haired man stood shirtless in the middle of the room. She could not yet see much of his face, as his black locks once more shielded them. With slow and fluid-like movements, his arms, legs, and body… floated. The graceful moves looked almost like a dance, but also as if he was fighting an invisible enemy in slow motion.

The actions of the man had her staring, unable to look away. As he turned fully facing her, she could finally see his face. Allura noticed that he had his eyes closed and controlled his breathing. It truly mesmerized her, and the Princess nearly forgot her mission.

Leaving the upper chamber, Allura went down to the training room, hoping that the sounds of the doors wouldn't stop his… whatever he was doing.

Sadly the swish of the door and her entrance did interrupt the man's movements.

Keith, still shirtless and lightly glistening with sweat, looked up to find the Princess standing before him in her nightgown.

A slight blush painted his cheeks, and he quickly tried to find his discarded shirt.

"Princess…" he spoke up wanting to end the silence between them. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Keith, oh, um… I… sorry I interrupted you. It was beautiful, whatever that was." She spoke aloud; amazed she didn't say the first thing that came to her mind as she caught a better look at his chiseled chest. The almost sun-kissed completion he had, appeared even lighter over the skin of his muscled chest.

"Tai Chi, well a variation of it really." He said rubbing the back of his neck and turning quickly to grab his dark tank shirt from the floor.

Allura watched as he did so, and felt shocked finally noticing the marks that crossed his back. Scars. They looked well healed, but they remained clear to any observer.

Blinking, she wondered how she could have missed them from the viewing deck.

His shirt quickly covered the marks, and after a calming breath, he turned. Allura could tell that he didn't want to talk about what she saw, it was in his eyes.

"Oh, um,"

"Tai Chi is an ancient Earth form of meditation; it looks like fighting, and the moves can be used for that… it's a technique that Shiro taught me after I... first met him." Again, his tone in remembering a particular place or memory meant it was not up for discussion.

"So Princess, what can I do for you?"

"How far in the simulator have you gotten?" She asked instead. It was hard to tell if Keith would answer her questions at that point, but she didn't want to waste this time alone with him.

"Um, I haven't wanted to try anything since Level Three went on that rampage to murder me earlier." He smiled looking up at the place where the training droids would drop down when called.

"Wow, level three? That is quite impressive in only a few days."

"I've been getting the hand of this Bayard."

"It took me months to get to that level."

A look of amusement crossed his face.

"I know, I don't look very strong, but father wanted everyone to know how to fight. And well those few years after Zarkon turned on us, everyone needed to fight."

"I wasn't trying to say you couldn't," he quickly clarified. "It is just that the image of Princesses on Earth usually doesn't equate to a warrior. Don't get me wrong; I think it's good that women can protect themselves and their loved ones."

"Did you learn to fight at your Garrison?"

Keith scoffed a bit before he spoke.

"I knew how to fight before that, not very well… Shiro took me under his wing, taught me meditation to try and contain my emotions. The Garrison, I suppose in a way helped me gain more skills, yes, but the price they asked for in return… I had issues with that."

"It sounds like you and the others had a different experience at this school."

"Different situations for sure." He added mysteriously. Changing the topic, he noticed the small device in her hands.

"So, did you test it out?"

"What? Oh, this? Yes, I wanted to thank you," she began, "for making this." Holding up the device, he had played a large part in creating.

"Did it help?" He asked. Keith hadn't known what came over him with feeling the need to do something like that for Allura. It was just that she looked so devastated on the bridge after destroying her father's data. She did that for us… to save us.

As Shiro and the team crowded around her to show their support, Keith knew that the touchy feely thing was not for him. That was when the idea for the new image came to him. She had mentioned some kind of flowers once. And while he had never seen the particular ones she grew up around, there was a scene of flowers that brought peace to his heart.

"It did, but I have to ask… how did you get the image from the data? Pidge said it was unrecoverable."

A look of confusion crossed his face.

"From where?"

"Well, the image, Keith. It was the one from my father's memories. The fields of Juniberries?"

His continued look of shock now had her equally bewildered.

"Um, that image, it didn't come from any data. I asked Pidge and Hunk try to recover parts, but it didn't work. So, I coded something from a story… it is about the only thing I can remember from my mother. She would tell me stories of far-off lands, one in particular with fields of flowers. Altumian, I think she called them. I don't remember much at all of my time with them, but that image and her voice… it's been my peaceful place ever since. I thought you could use it too." He scratched his nose, feeling slightly embarrassed telling her all that. Once more, it just seemed right to talk to her about things he wouldn't share with others… not even Shiro.

Allura stayed silent listening to his account of how he knew the image.

"I don't understand the rage that builds up in me at times, but imagining those fields help calms me."

Oh my, she thought, trying to look normal and calm. The Galrianlian word for Juniberries is Aruthiam. It is close enough to what he said... but how could he know of them when he's from Earth? Arus gave Galra a great deal of the flowers during our peaceful times, but no one would know that besides Coran, me… and maybe Zarkon?

"I just wanted to do something for you. Try and make you smile, because you need to keep smiling. You're the positive one after all," he tried to joke, but it fell flat only getting a slight smile from her.

"Keith…" she summoned the courage to confront him about the flowers, about the apparent understanding of the controls multiple times on the different ships and more. These series of events could not be coincidence.

"There you are Princess!" Lance's voice interrupted them once more as he strolled into the room. "Oh, Keith's here." His voice sounded less enthusiastic than just seconds before. "Wait a minute… Keith, are you putting the moved on the Princess? You sly dog!"

"What? No!" Keith felt the red flush fully across his cheeks. Looking at the brown haired man, Keith wanted to ask how anyone could be so dumb, but withheld the comment.

"Well, good. Let a pro show you how to make the ladies swoon. You'll just get rejected and make things awkward with your brooding is all."

"Whatever Lance, I have to go... find Shiro," Keith made an excuse to leave before he and Lance really got into it. He hated looking stupid in front of Allura, and as much as he didn't want to leave, having Lance spread rumors about them would make things difficult.

Without another word, Keith retrieved his red jacket and left the room.

"Well good riddance," Lance smiled, turning his attention to Allura. "So how you doing?" His trademark lady killer smile turned on Allura, to no effect. "Coran was looking for you. He went to check on you, and you weren't in your room."

"Thank you, Lance. I'll head to the control room now." She said without paying the other man much more attention. Her eyes were still looking at the door in which Keith had used to leave. "If you'll excuse me."

And she too moved to exit the room.

"Well fine then," sighed Lance. Allura was not going to fall for his charms quickly, but then again, he liked a challenge.

"Oh Princess, there you are," came Coran's voice as he stood at the front console of the ship.

Now fully dressed in her long gown, Allura entered the room, still deep in thought until she stood next to her advisor.

"Sorry if I worried you. I needed some time and well, it's been long enough. I couldn't let myself be depressed. Father has long been gone, and I received a gift of getting more time with him. I was selfish. Not many can say they got to say goodbye to their loved ones."

"It's alright Princess. No one is angry at your reaction," he comforted her.

"We have too much work to be done, so I'm back and ready."

"Glad to hear it, Allura. I've been working on cleaning up the systems that went on the fritz like a pack of wild Enttrophants."

"Much appreciated. I have a feeling we will be debugging the castle for some time to come." She hesitated on whether or not to ask the question she had in her head or not.

"Coran?"

"Yes, Princess?" The red-haired man turned and noticed that Allura held a slightly conflicted look on her face.

"I was wondering if you could pull up the scans the castle did on the paladins?"

"The one that happened when they first arrived?"

"Yes, that one should do it."

The quirked eyebrow from the other man had her hoping that he would not ask why she wanted this information. Luckily the expression passed, and Coran began typing away on the computer.

Pulling up the data files, he turned to her.

"Anything particular you needed to see? I've not had time to go over it myself. I wonder if their stomachs can handle an actual four course Quizaptrian meal. They didn't seem to like the warrior's lunch the other day." Allura allowed her friend to continue on about nothing of much importance, as he tended to do at times, and instead looked at the file marked Kogane.

"Can you send them to my room? I think I might look at them another time. Just wanted to make sure they were there if we ever need them... for medical purposes and the castle isn't functioning correctly again." She covered her real reasonings well.

"Marvelous idea, so have you eaten yet? I think Hunk is going to be making some new dish using a few herbs he got from Shay."

Later that evening, after an amusing meal experience with the team, Allura retired to the A.I. Chamber to once more enjoy the field of flowers.

In her hand she held a data reader, reading over the scans from earlier.

From first glance, everything appears to be quite similar to the others... but when looking deeper, something is very off.

What are you Keith Kogane? Do you even know what you have inside your veins? Or who your ancestors are? She wondered.

His scans showed a mixed composition. There was something, sometime in his past that the human species combined with and alien race. She was not experienced enough to know if it was Altean, Galrian or one of the thousands of other races that roamed the galaxy. But there was indeed something special about the red paladin.

End chapter three!

Ok friends, that is it for chapter three. I think one more chapter will be coming and then I think I've run out of interludes for the current season. Until next time!