She stood in the doorway. The skirt of her dress and her long ebony hair blew in the wind. She smiled and laughed again. Her voice was beautiful music when she called, "Come with me, sweet child. Come to the garden." He ran toward her and she opened her arms.

Lance woke up and stared at the ceiling in the dark for a few minutes before Allura shifted beside him. She moaned and turned over, freeing his arm. The illuminated ticker on the wall said it was still the middle of the night. He briefly considered trying to fall asleep, but the dreams would only return on nights like this.

Lance rolled over, hugged Allura, and kissed her shoulder. She whispered his name in her sleep. He smiled softly in the dark then silently crawled out of bed. His slippers slapped the soles of his feet as he walked to the bathroom down the hall. He winced at the bright lights that automatically turned on and rubbed his eyes. Yawning, he leaned over the edge of the tub and turned on the shower. When the temperature was tolerably tepid, he stepped out of his pants and kicked off the slippers. The barely warm water made him gasp, shocking him awake and completely erasing the chance of more dreams tonight.

He stood under the running water until he was shivering. The mirrors weren't even steamed when he stepped out. He sighed when he saw his reflection. Rubbing his stubbled jawline, he tipped his head to look at how his newest scars were healing. The creature's claws has caught his jaw in front of his left ear before gouging across his collarbone and shoulder. Stretching, he leaned over the sink, muscles flexing across his broad back. He was tired, but not from a lack of sleep.

Groaning, he let his head fall back and closed his eyes. Then he dressed and tied the laces of his boots before going to the training room. This early, the others should have been asleep, but low grunting was heard as well as the telltale swish of air passing over a sword. Lance walked in, noticed Alphonse using his bayard in broadsword form, and retrieved his own bayard.

He went through a few rough warm ups and stepped in beside the older man. He was nearly the same height as the altean and had trained long enough to pick up where Alphonse was in the kata style drill. They worked together for well over an hour without saying a single word.

Lance stood and let his bayard return to normal, then pulled his sweaty shirt off. Alphonse also relaxed and returned his bayard to the weapons cabinet. "You have come a long way, Lance. I would mistake you for an altean soldier with skills like yours."

Lance went into a handstand and began inverted push-ups. "You are an incredible teacher, Alphonse. I couldn't have done it without you."

Alphonse sat and began stretching. "Is it really just my teaching, Lance?"

Lance held his weight on his flexed arms before controlling his descent until he was sitting beside Alphonse. His breathing was heavy, but steady and he stared at his hands in his lap. "He still thinks about them, his mother and Talias. He dreams and I see her alive."

A hot, heavy hand settled on his shoulder and Lance shut his eyes. Alphonse noted, "Your connection to him is as open as always." He sighed and advised, "I know you want him back, for this mission to be done, but there is no telling how long this will take. You all cherish the bonds between you and the lions, but a little privacy is healthy. Lance, you've even put a little distance between Allura. Perhaps you should consider trying to distance yourself from him as well."

"I miss him, Alphonse." His words came out wet as he tried to hide his tears. He sniffed and swallowed thickly. "I miss him and he's out there all alone. Suffering. I can't handle the thought of it continuing any longer."

Alphonse pulled Lance to his chest and hugged him. "I know, my child, but there is only so much we can do."

"It's not enough," Lance sobbed into Alphonse's shirt.

Alphonse didn't reply, only held Lance's head to his chest. Coran's wake-up call came an hour later over the loudspeakers, but Lance didn't hear. He'd fallen asleep in the arms of the Blue Paladin of Voltron.

Keith stretched and yawned as he walked to his bedroom. Acxa had already beaten him there. She sat on the edge of the bed wearing simple underwear untying her ankle boots. Keith smiled and pulled his shirt over his head. Kicking off his own boots, he crawled across the bed and wrapped his arms around her stomach. Kissing the curve where her neck met her shoulder, he smiled and said, "Good evening."

Acxa moaned and leaned her head away so he could kiss more of her. "Good evening, my lord."

Keith smiled against her soft skin and whispered, "How many times must I tell you to call me by my name, Acxa?"

Acxa turned and pushed Keith into the bed. "As many times as it takes for you to be unaffected when I call you my lord, my prince."

Keith smiled up at her with a flirty raised eyebrow. "You think you're so clever."

She leaned over, her bare chest against his, and kissed his collarbone. "I know I am." She continued kissing him, her mouth rising until she kissed the corner of his lips. She whispered with closed eyes, "Are you feeling well? You were calling out in your sleep last night."

Keith gently wrapped his arms around her waist and turned his head to catch her lips with his. He said between kisses, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Acxa looked up into his eyes with that intense expression of concern that melted every defiant cell in his body. He lifted his arms behind her shoulders and held her to himself. "I know my dreams aren't always pleasant, but there's nothing to be done."

Acxa's weight on his chest grounded him here. His dreams were nothing more than that. The dreams of a boy who no longer existed. He kissed her neck and sucked on the flesh between her collarbone and the rise of her breast. She moaned and went limp. He flipped their positions and used his hands to remove her panties without ever taking his lips off of her.

He woke up to explosions outside their window. Acxa rolled into a tactical crouch snagging her pistol from the night stand. Keith vanished from the bed and appeared by the door wielding his curved altean dagger. Acxa stepped to the window and pulled back the curtain. "A fleet of some kind is attacking the city!"

Keith dressed hurriedly as more explosions went off closer to the edge of the city. "They're attacking the landing pads! They're trying to strand us!"

Axca neglected her hair pins in the rush to leave. "What should we do?"

Keith pulled his hood up and instructed, "Go to the Retribution. I'll head to the capitol building and meet you there."

"Affirmative," Acxa answered before jumping out the window.

Keith was running the other direction. The building he had been granted in exchange for liberating this planet wasn't far from his designation. When he entered, the mix of galra and other alien refugees was scrambling. He went to the governor's station and asked, "What's happening?"

Governor Trest answered grim faced, "Bounty hunters. The empress's hroxlars have found you, my prince."

On cue, the monitor was filled by a scar faced alien with scales and snake eyes. When he spoke, two forked tongues left his mouth. "Citizens of Iiterai, this is your only warning. Hand over the witch's silver executioner, and your planet will be spared."

A blast shook the building and the monitor went dark. Keith grit his teeth. All this for him? The empress must be desperate. He growled out, "I'll head to the east fields to meet him. They are empty of harvests, so there will be no loss when we duel."

"No, my prince. There are too many of them. This isn't a simple party of bounty hunters."

"Trest, they will kill everyone to get to me."

Trest grasped forearms with Keith. "Then we will die with honor, Prince Keitaran. You have done much in the name of the witch-empress for our people. It is a privilege to fight beside you."

Keith knew there was no way to change his mind or those of his men. His gaze hardened and he exhaled slowly. "Alright, but we must evacuate the civilians. My ships will hold the bounty hunters at bay until-" Another blast rocked the building.

Trest nodded. "It shall be so. My prince, may we meet again."

"Vrepit sa," Keith answered.

Trest raised his sword and rallied his men. Keith joined their ranks and lowered his druid mask as he jogged beside their formation. Guards were already shepherding civilians along the wide paths toward the ships waiting for liftoff. A single scream from an alley was picked up by others as bounty hunters dropped from the sky from a ship that passed.

Keith alerted the soldiers and vanished to reach the bandits first. His blade appeared in the chest of one before they even saw him. Keith spun, yanking his dagger free and slashing another bandit across the throat. Before they even hit the ground, he vanished again and appeared to dropkick another off a ledge. Their neck gave a sickening crunch where they landed.

Gunfire hit the wall beside him and he quickly flipped to his feet and threw the dagger. It sank into the bandit's forehead and buried itself in the wall. Keith walked over and yanked it free, eyes searching for his next targets. A woman screamed from a house where flames rose above its neighbors.

Keith sprinted through the alleys and shouldered through the smoking door. Flames danced along the walls and smoke billowed from the holes the bounty hunters' ships had put in the simple construct. The woman was shouting from the first floor. Keith held an arm up against the heat of the flames and called out to her.

She was coughing with a cloth over her mouth when she wandered out of the gray smokescreen. He locked hands with her and used quintessence to blow a hole in the wall. A section of the ceiling collapsed as they ran outside. He pulled her to the other side of the road and held her arms. "You must go to the ships! The city is evacuating!"

"My baby! My baby is still in there! You must save my baby!" She was pushing against him with all of her weakened strength.

Keith looked back to the house where sure enough, he could just pick out the faint screaming of a young child. Fear clutched his heart and he instantly ran back into the burning house. The staircase was on fire. Vanishing, he reappeared at the top and called out, "Child! Where are you!"

The child screamed, "Mama!"

Keith honed in on the terrified word and risked crossing without testing the integrity of the floor. He coughed on smoke and the baby had already been in this much longer than him. He waved his hand around in the dark until he hit what felt like a wooden cradle. It rocked slightly and he quickly reached inside with both arms.

He felt her face and then the blanket she had slept in. He lifted her into his arms then grabbed the blanket and threw that over her. She coughed into his shoulder. She was alive. Keith glanced around desperate for an exit. Then a ship flew overhead and fired. The house next door exploded and Keith barely turned away from the blast before he was thrown through the wall.

He tucked himself around the child in his arms and cushioned their landing with his body and quintessence. The child in his arms was unresponsive, but breathing. He quickly wrapped her in the blanket and tucked her inside the chest of his open-faced tunic. When he rounded the remains of the house, his heart rate plummeted. He ran forward where the woman was pinned beneath a pile of rubble. He tried to lift the heavy rock with one hand and only managed to move it a few inches. The woman whimpered, holding back screams, and asked, "Did you find my baby? Do you have my Rhea?"

Keith nodded. "Yeah, I have her. You have to help me. I have to get you both to safety."

The woman coughed and blood splattered the debris and Keith's clothes. Her ribs ground together unnaturally and Keith knew it was too late. She gripped his hand as hard as she could. "Promise me she will live. Promise me you will take care of her, my prince."

The systematic sound of gunfire, combat boots, and screams being ended was approaching. Keith bit his lip and put his forehead to the woman's. "Your daughter will grow up and be strong like her mother. I swear on my life."

The woman smiled through her pained tears. "Thank y-"

Keith bit his lip and closed her eyes before squeezing his own shut. He heard the bandits approach and a deadly rage built inside him. "There he is! Get him!"

Keith stood and double checked that Rhea was asleep inside his tunic before glaring at the bandits approaching at a run. He knew his power radiated from him, but for whatever foolhardy reason, these bandits were not afraid. They should have been.

When the first reached him, he vanished and reappeared behind them with his knife backhanded through their spine. The bandit screamed as Keith shoved back and down, severing every muscle from his shoulders to his hips. And yet he was not dead.

The rest of the bandits stalled when they saw what he had done to their friend, but their fate was sealed. He was oblivious to their terrified screams as he lived up to his title of silver executioner, though there wasn't enough justice gained from their deaths alone. Through the com of one dead bandit, Keith heard the rest of the bandits start to panic as their comrades were suddenly silenced.

Keith took a steadying breath and checked on the girl again. Still asleep, though she would need medical attention. The sound of engines made Keith look to the landing bay where the ships of the evacuating civilians were taking off. A bounty hunter's ship flew in low, but before it could fire, the Retribution darted past and fired upon it. The bounty hunter's ship went down in flames.

Keith started running toward the open field to the west and signaled Acxa where to meet him. With practiced skill, she dropped the ship less than twenty feet from him. He vanished and appeared in the loading bay two ticks later and the door closed a tick after he landed. The ship took off once again as Keith made his way to the bridge.

Acxa announced, "Captain on deck."

Keith called an officer over and gently removed the child from his clothes. "Take her to the infirmary. She needs to be treated for smoke inhalation."

Acxa asked, "What are you orders, Keitaran?"

Keith highlighted the largest vessel of the assembled bounty hunter fleet. "Target the engines. I don't want them to be abled to escape. Have the rest of our fleet target the other ships, but wait for my signal."

"We won't have much time, my lord," the coms officer replied.

Keith nodded. "I won't need much time. Acxa, get me close. Those bastards are going to wish they'd never been born."

Keith paced toward the bounty hunter with the forked tongues as he crawled away across the bloodied bridge of his ship. He begged, "Please, pl- have mercy!"

Keith let him try to stand on his broken leg and balled his fist around the hilt of his dagger before punching the bandit again across the jaw. He spun and fell with a wet splat. Keith commanded, "Get up." The bandit whimpered in pain and fear. Keith shouted, "I said, get up!"

The bandit's palms slid in the blood of his comrades as he failed to do as told. Snarling, Keith grabbed the bandit's jacket shoulder and lifted him above the desk. "Now, open a hailing channel on every frequency. I want everyone to see this."

The bandit's hands trembled as he managed to do as instructed. Then Keith wrapped one arm around the bandit's chest to hold him upright and pressed his dagger to the bandit's throat. "This is Prince Keitaran, the silver executioner of Witch-Empress Honerva, and this disgusting creature, is a bounty hunter lured by the price Blood Empress Krolia of the house of Lethua has placed on my head. Look around me. Take in this exact image." Keith was livid, shaking in anger. He knew the carnage around him was enough to make even the most steadfast constitution quake, that he was covered in the blood of his enemies. "This is what awaits any who prey on the weak under my protection. This is what those without honor will find as their reward."

With one motion, he slit the bounty hunter's throat and let him drop to the floor. At his signal, his fleet opened fire upon the bounty hunters. Keith opened the monitor side view so that everyone watching his message would also see the decimation his fleet caused. Keith said, "Let this be a warning to all who oppose the Witch-Empress. Choose your side wisely, or expect my shadow and the flash of my dagger to be the last thing you ever see."

He ended the call and lifted his mask to vomit. He gagged for a minute before Acxa said in his earpiece, "I'm ready to pick you up."

Keith wiped his mouth with his sleeve and answered, "I'll meet you in sixty ticks."

Back aboard the Retribution, his fleet was about to finish off the retreating vessels when Sendak's destroyers appeared to cut them off. Keith groaned as the ship received a hailing call. He straightened up and accepted the call from the captain's chair. "Sendak, what a pleasant surprise."

"Indeed. I saw your message and thought you might have bitten off more than you could chew. Shall I assist?"

Keith forced a toothy smile. "You have my deepest gratitude, commander." Sendak scowled and ended the call. Keith rubbed a hand over his face and opened the channel to his commanders aboard the other ships. "Escort the Iiteraians to the surface away from the burning capitol and assist in what way we can. I will-"

"My lord, your mother is calling."

Keith's shoulders dropped. This couldn't be good. He chewed his lip and answered the call. "Hello, mother."

Haggar's expression was reproachful beneath her hood. "Keitaran, you have caused quite a bit of trouble this morning."

"It was nothing I couldn't handle."

"Foolish boy." Her harsh tone made him flinch. She instructed, "Join Sendak's fleet and return to my side, my son."

Keith answered grudgingly, "Yes, mother." She ended the call and he already dreaded the lecture awaiting him when he reached the base she had made their home.