"I loved the smell of the mountain juniberries in the early morning breeze," Allura sighed as she looked up at her father's hologram. She was sitting in a field of juniberries from Altea. She still hadn't fully processed that her home was gone forever.
"As did I, Allura," Alfor answered with a smile. The Space Mice were sitting on a floating tray next to the princess, stirring some tea to drink.
"Remember the summer berry festival?" Allura asked, "People would come from all over Altea for the harvest."
Alfor laughed a little at the memory, "I remember how the berry juice stained your favorite dress. You were so upset."
Allura laughed as well, "It took forever for Mother to calm me," the princess then looked down, tears filling her eyes, "I miss Altea so much. I miss you, Father. I wish it didn't have to be this way."
"I know Allura," King Alfor sighed, "but, as leaders, we have to do what's right for our people, even if it means great sacrifice."
"I know, Father, that's what you always say." Allura said, though the frown didn't leave her face.
The hologram door at the back of the room opened, and Coran walked in. "Princess, there you are, what are you doing up and about? You should be resting."
"Oh, Coran, can't I stay?" Allura begged.
"The Balmera Rejuvenation Ceremony took a lot out of you," the advisor argued as he knelt next to her to help her up, "Come along, to your room."
"Get your rest, darling. I will be here for you when you're well," Alfor assured her as the princess reluctantly got up to leave.
"I love you, Father. I'll see you soon," Allura allowed Coran to lead her out of the room. However, her expression was downcast as Altea faded into a dark metal room once again.
Rai was down in Zerith's lair, typing away on his laptop. Rover was hovering over his shoulder. For the past several hours, Rai had been studying the Galra crystal that they had not gotten rid of yet. It's structure, he observed, was very similar to a Balmera crystal, except something about the energy in it seemed off.
He squinted at another algorithm as the speakers in the bay came on.
"Rai, please come down to the detainment room," Coran said over them.
With a slightly irritated sigh, Rai stood up and walked out, Rover obediently trailing behind him.
Neither of them noticed the Galra crystal suddenly pulsing very brightly.
When Rai and Rover arrived, Coran was just finishing putting a device on top of Sendak's holding pod. There were two more across and below it as well. The other Paladins and C.C., who had now fully recovered from the Balmera incident, were there as well.
"Okay, guys, Sendak's almost all hooked up," Coran said as he pulled up a screen by a smaller container next to Sendak's. "But, look, I have to warn you, this technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners."
"Coran, we understand this isn't what the technology was meant for," Lelouch stated, looking confidently at their sleeping prisoner, "but if we can extract Sendak's memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon's troop locations."
"Yeah, and then we can just be like, 'Knock-knock. Who's there? The avenging fury of Voltron, son!'" Rivalz laughed from behind him.
"Fascinating. So, how exactly does this work?" Rai couldn't help but ask as he hovered over Coran's shoulder, looking at the screen.
"As the memories are extracted, they're written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands," Coran explained.
"You know what? When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship too," Milly declared with a smirk.
"You sure a ship this size would have enough storage space for what's in your head, Milly?" Kallen asked with curious sarcasm.
"...No, you're right," Milly paused before smirking, "I'll need at least five ships to store it!"
"Oh! Good one, Prez!" Shirley laughed.
Suzaku laughed a little too while Lelouch just sighed in exasperation.
"So, this is how you incorporated King Alfor's memories into the Castle of Lions?" C.C. asked.
"Precisely," Coran confirmed, before frowning, "but it's never been attempted before on an unwilling participant."
He pressed a few more buttons on the control board, and the memory machine immediately activated, a port opening at the top. Nothing seemed to happen, though.
"Uh, is this what's supposed to be happening?" Shirley asked, a little confused, along with most of the others. Even Coran looked a little bemused.
"Let's just give it some time. As Coran said, he's an unwilling participant. He'll likely resist for a while before we get any significant results," Lelouch reasoned.
No one knew how much time passed as they waited for Sendak to give in. But it felt like hours. Shirley was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, Milly was tapping her foot, and Rivalz had resorted to just twiddling his thumbs. Rai, Suzaku, and Kallen looked like they were getting impatient too.
Finally, after several resorted to sitting on the floor and Coran checking the device for the thousandth time, Kallen spoke up, "Well, I can't wait around anymore. If you need me, I'll be at the training deck."
"Me too," Suzaku sighed as he and Kallen exited the room.
More time passed, Lelouch had not left his position in front of Sendak's holding pod. At the same time, Rivalz leaned forward, looking at Lelouch's face, trying to make sure that the Black Paladin hadn't turned to stone somehow with how intensely he was staring.
Rai finally sighed, "Okay, if anyone needs me, I'll be in the lab. Maybe I can pull some information from Sendak's Galra crystal."
Rover followed after him as usual, and after looking back and forth between the exit and the others, Shirley followed him.
After another half hour, C.C. was leaning against the wall, while Rivalz was pedaling with his legs in the air.
Milly's stomach suddenly growled, "Well, guess that means it's time to eat… Come to think of it, we haven't even had breakfast yet..." She exited the room as well. At the mention of breakfast, though, C.C. followed after her as well. Even though she didn't necessarily need to, she still ate whenever she could.
"Well, I'm afraid I can't wait here any longer, either," Coran said as he stretched his arms, "I have a million duties to attend to. Between that Galra crystal infecting our system, and then fighting off those ships and performing the Balmeran Rejuvenation Ceremony, the old Castle of Lions has taken quite a beating. Every system needs to be recharged and repaired."
"I'll stay," Lelouch said, "Somewhere in Sendak's mind is the information about Zarkon that we need."
"Okay, well, while you guys do that," Rivalz said, flipping to his feet, "I think I'm gonna get my chill on. Maybe kick back with a lemonade or space juice. Something."
As Rivalz tried to leave though, Coran stopped him, "Oh, hold on there, space juice. You're going to come and help me."
Rivalz stopped short and looked at Coran, shocked, "What? Why? Why me?"
"Because you're the last one here and because your activity isn't very important," Coran reasoned as he left the room swiftly.
"Wait, did I say 'chill with a good lemonade'? I meant I gotta do homework," Rivalz tried desperately to correct himself.
"No, too late."
"Fine…" Rivalz groaned in defeat before looking back at Lelouch, "Let us know if anything happens… Lelouch?"
Lelouch blinked before finally acknowledging Rivalz just as he was leaving the room, "Y-You got it."
Milly punched the buttons on the food goo machine, a bowl already in her hand. "Maybe today, we try a little crème goo-lée."
The machine opened, and two hoses appeared in front of her. She grabbed the first one and pressed down on the handle to dispense the food goo. Strangely though, nothing came out. Milly blinked and scowled. She tapped the nozzle and shook it a few times, thinking something was stuck. When still nothing happened, she held the hose up to her face to see if she could see a blockage. She was so focused on the nozzle that she didn't notice the sudden static at the base of the machine.
After shaking it a few more times and holding up again, she shrieked as a blast of food fired right in her face, hitting her eye. She dropped her plate and held her face as she attempted to blink the goo out. She cried out again as another blast of goo hit her in the rear, forcing her to take cover behind the counter.
C.C. was just about to enter the kitchen herself when a glob of goo nearly missed hitting her. With a bewildered blink, she looked into the kitchen's entrance, only to see the goo machine going haywire, shooting globs of goo all over the place, much to her shock.
"What is going on here?" she asked, quite shocked.
Milly poked her head up from behind the counter, "The goo has me pinned down!" she exclaimed with a grunt as another glob hit her in the face.
C.C.'s eyes widened and rushed over to the counter as well, expertly maneuvering around the globs of goo flying through the air. She crouched down next to Milly and ripped open one of the drawers next to her. Inside was a row of neatly stacked plates. She snatched two of them and handed one to Milly.
"We're going to have to flank the goo to shut it down," C.C. said, holding the plate.
"Okay, got it!" Milly said, before bowing her head, "C.C., it's been an honor serving with you!"
C.C. rolled her eyes before the two girls braced themselves to jump into action.
"And… GO!" C.C. shouted. The two women leaped out from behind the counter, plates acting as shields in front of them. Milly raised it in front of her face as two globs almost hit her face.
As Milly charged it head-on, C.C. swooped in from the side and leaped onto the berserk goo dispenser. She grit her teeth as she held the nozzle down with the plate, goo still flying out of it in the process. Milly then ran up to the machine itself, took hold of the nozzle's hose, and tied it tightly into a knot. This stopped any further goo from getting out of the nose, but Milly gasped in fright as the tube started to expand from the pressure of the food building up behind it. Both girls quickly scrambled away from it as more food goo began to drip from the inside of the machine. To their relief, though, it didn't explode outward and eventually slowed to a stop.
After they both sighed in relief, C.C. said, "Malfunction?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Milly laughed uneasily, "Guess the kitchen system needs to be rebooted, too."
The two made eye contact, both quite shocked about what just transpired.
"...I say we leave this Coran," Milly proclaimed.
Before C.C. could reply, the lights in the kitchen suddenly shut off, leaving complete darkness.
"...Yes, definitely leave for Coran," C.C. agreed.
Rivalz pouted as he scrubbed the inside of the pod that he had previously been inhabiting when he was recovering about a week ago.
"Ugh... Since when did 'you sleep in it, you clean it' become a Voltron rule? Also, how is it these pods have the ability to heal a human from near death, but don't have the ability to clean themselves?"
"Oh, self-cleaning pods," Coran laughed as he glanced back at Rivalz before moving onto the next pod, "Now, that's a good one! You know, this kind of reminds me of my time as a young cadet. I had just enlisted in the Altean space squad, aeronautics sub-tech nano-weaponry unit, and I was sent off to boot camp. Our sergeant had us cleaning cryopods day and night. I got so good at it, I earned my first set of stripes!"
As Rivalz only half-listened to Coran and moved on to the more inner part of the pod, he didn't notice that the pod had somehow closed behind him.
He turned around after hearing the hissing noise of a closing pod and yelled out in alarm before turning and banging on the front, trying to either break it down or alert Coran to what was happening.
"Oh—Coran! Hey! Hey! H-Hey!"
"...Oh, those were the days," Coran continued, utterly oblivious to Rivalz's plight as the pod flashed, freezing Rivalz inside and lowering back to the floor. "Anyway, you keep up the good work, and maybe someday you'll earn some cleaning stripes too."
Coran turned around with a grin, only to blink in confusion and look around. "Rivalz? Rivalz! Ah, Paladins..." he sighed in defeat. The Blue Paladin must have slipped out while he was distracted. Oh well. He'd catch him and berate him for that later.
Suzaku grunted as he blocked the attack from the gladiator with perfect fluidity and ducked under another swing from above. Kallen stood off to the side, waiting for her turn. She and Suzaku had been switching out who fought the gladiator. Suzaku was currently on his third round, and Kallen would begin hers once his ended.
Which it did moments later, as, with a sidespin, Suzaku's katana sank straight through the gladiator, which dissolved in blue light and pixels.
"You're up," Suzaku said to Kallen, swiping the sweat from his face.
Kallen grunted as she traded places with the Purple Paladin. Activating her cestus, she stood in the center of the room. "Restart training level three!"
At Kallen's command, a gladiator once again descended to the floor on the opposite end. With a blink of its blue eye, it charged the Red Paladin. With a shout of challenge, she met the gladiator's sword with her claw, and the two exchanged blows several times, the gladiator gradually pushing Kallen back.
It seemed like Kallen had it all under control until one of the strikes hit so hard, Kallen went flying to the other end. She landed hard on her shoulder and spun to a stop close to Suzaku's position.
"Kallen!" he exclaimed, running over. "End training sequence!" That gladiator fight had been far too hard to just be level three. Something must have glitched in the system. The Red Paladin grunted as she got back to her feet. Despite the sharp fall, she didn't appear hurt. Her eyes widened though as the gladiator didn't disappear, but started charging towards the two, its eye glowing red instead of blue now.
"End training sequence! End training sequence, now!" was her only warning to Suzaku as the gladiator continued to charge. The Purple Paladin managed to raise his katana in time to block the attack, but it resulted in his Bayard flying out of his hands and clambering to the other side of the room.
Too shocked to see what happened, the gladiator kicked Suzaku hard in the gut, falling into Kallen in the process, and the two rolled painfully across the floor. However, Kallen managed to keep hold of her Bayard.
Suzaku looked to where his Bayard had landed, not too far away. Making eye contact with Kallen, the Red Paladin leaped to her feet and charged the gladiator head on. With a battle cry, she clashed her claw against the gladiator again as Suzaku slid past them to scoop up his own weapon.
Upon seeing that Suzaku was armed once more, Kallen sidestepped around the gladiator and managed to trip it before both she and Suzaku sprinted for the exit. Once they were out in the hallway, the training room door locked, the two panted profusely, hoping that that was the end of it.
They didn't have time to determine what had caused the robot to go crazy, as the sword of the very robot suddenly pierced straight through the door. With gasps of surprise and slight panic, the two Paladins backed away, horrified to see the gladiator breaking down the door to get to them.
"I know you're in there, Sendak," Lelouch growled at the pod, containing the Galra commander, "My Geass might not have an effect on you, but I know you have all the answers. Give them to me." Lelouch had been down in the holding area for the past hour, and he was starting to lose his patience. What exactly did Sendak have to gain from being silent now? He had nowhere to go.
Lelouch felt frustration build up in him more than ever before as he banged his fist against the glass, "You're a broken soldier! You can't hold out forever!"
A hiss to his right cut Lelouch off. Looking to the source, he grinned in triumph as a tiny tendril of purple energy dripped into the port next to them. The mind machine was finally working, they were collecting Sendak's memories.
"Well, well, so you can hear me," the prince could only smirk maliciously.
Back in the cryopod room, Coran had just finished scrubbing the last pod just as the final one rose up. This one, however, had a surprise inside.
Coran leaped back in alarm as a frozen, terrified looking Rivalz greeted him from inside. Coran immediately pressed a button to open the pod, and the nearly frozen Rivalz robotically walked out, his skin a light shade of blue.
"Ah, ah... This pod just shut on me and locked me in, while you were rambling on about boot camp!" Rivalz muttered as he held his arms close and rubbed them up and down, trying to reactivate body heat inside of himself. All the while, he was giving Coran a big stink eye of contempt.
"You sure you didn't just trip and fall in?" Coran asked. Upon seeing the offending look that Rivalz shot him, he held his hands up in a placated gesture, "No judgment. It happens. Besides, why would the pod automatically lock and start the cryogenic freezing process?"
"To kill me!" Rivalz exclaimed as he sat down on the steps leading to the pod and swiped his jacket from the floor that he had taken off beforehand. Rivalz shivered as he pulled it on over himself.
"Now, don't get your boots in a bunch," Coran still defended, folding his arms, but eyeing the pods suspiciously, "My guess is they're malfunctioning."
"...Okay, I'm gonna float this out there. I think this Castle is haunted," Rivalz said, with a suspicious, stubborn frown.
"The ship might seem like a fantastical, magical creature to you," Coran said, twiddling his mustache, "but it's really just a big embodiment of advanced, supernatural technology that cannot be explained by science alone." Throughout this entire explanation, one of Rivalz's eyebrows raised up slowly in skepticism.
Coran blinked as he went over the words again in his head and blinked, "...Well, that does make it seem a bit haunted, doesn't it?" Despite the conjecture, Coran quickly regained his composure. "Ah, but it's not. Trust me, nothing out of the ordinary is happening here."
As Coran left, Rivalz glanced distrustingly at the pod that trapped him. He then jumped slightly as he heard faint rumbling noises coming from outside the room. With a whimper, he hugged his legs close to his chest, "I'm okay. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay..."
He leaped to his feet with a shriek of fear as the pod behind him hissed and began slowly descending back into the floor. Not wanting to be in the room a second longer, he turned and ran.
Allura was slumbering peacefully in her room. Despite her protests earlier, she really was tired and didn't realize how much until she had climbed back into bed. She had fallen asleep almost instantly. Her four mice friends were nestled in the pillow next to her bed as well.
"Allura… Allura?" a voice echoed in the room softly.
Platt awoke first, squeaking in fright and jumping behind his siblings as King Alfor's A.I. appeared in front of them. Allura awoke next, blinking in confusion before her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"Allura, dear daughter..." the A.I. smiled down at her.
"Father, what are you doing here?"
Rivalz was walking cautiously down the hall, still hugging himself due to the mildly traumatizing incident with the pod. A flicker in the distance suddenly caught his eye. The hall lights were shutting off one by one. He whimpered as the ones by him shut off and then the ones behind him, shrouding him in complete darkness. Then, one light was still flickering near the end, the figure of a man stood at the end of the hall before vanishing.
"Coran, is that you?" he called out as the figure disappeared, "Okay, stop messing with me, guys. This isn't funny!" Rivalz was really starting to freak out now.
"Help! Help!" a voice that sounded a lot like Coran's echoed from the end of the hallway.
"Hello? Coran?" Rivalz called as he ran towards the voice. It led him down another hallway that led to a line of airlocks.
"Help! Somebody!" Rivalz noticed that one of the airlock buttons was flashing red, and that's where Coran's voice was coming from, "I'm trapped in the airlock."
Rivalz's eyes widened in fear and ran towards the airlock, "I'm coming!" He opened the outer airlock door and ran inside. He stopped dead in his tracks, though, when he saw that the airlock was empty. The door behind him then slammed closed.
Rivalz laughed nervously, "Okay, ha ha. Good joke. You guys got me. Nice."
He abruptly stopped laughing when the alarm behind him started buzzing.
"Airlock opening in thirty ticks."
"Okay, joke's over! You got me!" Rivalz said desperately, looking around to see who could possibly be pulling his prank on him that was being taken way too far.
"...twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven..."
"Guys?" Rivalz asked nervously before it finally registered to him that this was not. A. Prank! He ran up to the outer doors and started banging hard on it, "Guys! Eugh! Help!"
"What was the first rank you held in Zarkon's army?" Lelouch questioned the purple memories as Sendak continued to sleep in the storage pod, "Where did you find the Red and Purple Lions? What is Zarkon's greatest weakness?"
"What makes you think you can possibly defeat him?"
The sound of Sendak's voice, echoing through the room, startled Lelouch with a jump. He whipped his head back to Sendak but saw that the commander still continued to slumber.
Lelouch blinked. What was that? Was he going nuts?
He swallowed slightly before turning back to the memories, "If you were to attack Zarkon, where would you strike?"
There were a few more seconds of silence before Sendak's voice filled the hall once again, causing Lelouch to jump back again.
"Why strike at all when you can join him?"
Lelouch looked once more at the Galran, so still in his holding pod. No one else was in the room with him. It was just him and Sendak.
For a moment, Lelouch thought Sendak's good eye opened. But once Lelouch blinked, it was closed again.
What was going on?
"I bet if we can modulate the dynamics of this crystal, we'll be able to reverse engineer a lot of Galra tech. Don't you think, Shirley?" Rai asked Shirley in Zerith's hanger. He was typing away on his laptop again as Shirley stood off to the side. The Orange Paladin didn't seem to be paying much attention, though. She was facing the hanger entrance. "Shirley, are you paying attention?"
"Huh?" she jumped at Rai's voice, "Oh, sorry, Rai."
"Are you okay?" Rai asked her.
"Yeah, I-I just-I just have a weird feeling all of a sudden," Shirley admitted, rubbing her arm.
"Is this about the lights flickering earlier?" he asked kindly as he walked over to the Galra crystal. As the two made their way to Rai's lab, the castle lights had flickered on and off several times. The first time it happened, the lights shut off so suddenly that Shirley had screamed and refused to let go of Rai's arm until they got to Zerith, shivering the entire way. Only then had she peeled her hands away from the Green Paladin.
"Yeah, a little," she admitted.
Rai laughed lightly but gave her a reassuring smile, adjusting some of the sensors on the crystal, "Relax. I'm sure the castle's just glitchy. It's ten thousand years old. There's bound to be a few problems here and there."
"Yeah, it does seem like the ship is not currently trying to kill us," Shirley said with an uneasy smile.
Satisfied that Shirley was calm again and all the sensors were in place on the crystal, Rai called over his shoulder. "Okay, so, all the sensors are on the crystal. Hit the switch, will you?"
"O-Okay," Shirley said as she walked to Rai's computer. He had shown her earlier which button to press and was about to when the laptop and the rest of the equipment started floating in midair. Immediately after, Shirley's feet also left the ground. She was floating in midair!
"Shirley, did you accidentally hit the anti-gravity switch?" Rai asked in bewilderment as he was also floating in midair, along with Galra crystal.
"Um, no! I didn't hit anything! Is there an anti-gravity switch?" she exclaimed in alarm.
Rover started beeping hurriedly as if panicking himself. The bot tried flying towards the doors, but he went too fast and slammed into the wall instead, causing him to short out.
Rai gasped upon seeing his friend get knocked out. He'd fix him as soon as he got back on the ground. Rai then looked back at the Galra crystal. He spotted one of the sensors attached to it. If he could reach it, he may be able to guide himself back to the ground. He strained out to reach the tube but saw that he had floated too far away from it, much to his own frustration.
"No!" he shouted, "I'm too far away!"
"Okay!" Shirley shouted, "Hang on, Rai. I'm going to swim toward you!" Shirley started trying to perform the breaststroke in the air, but because there was no moving air around them, she barely moved and was simply stuck air-swimming in place. When she saw that the breaststroke wasn't working, she tried front crawl and even butterfly paddle. Finally, she went limp from exhaustion, "That's it. I'm all out of moves."
"Help! Help! Help!" Rivalz screamed as he continued to bang on the airlock door, his panic rising more and more with each strike.
"...twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven..."
While Rivalz continued to scream for help, Kallen and Suzaku came sprinting down the hall, the rogue gladiator still pursuing them relentlessly.
Suzaku grunted as the gladiator's sword clashed with his while Kallen stepped back and away. That's when she spotted Rivalz in the airlock.
"Kallen!" Rivalz shouted frantically.
"...six, five..."
"What are you doing in there?!" Kallen asked, shocked.
"Kallen! Watch out!" The gladiator had kicked Suzaku away and had taken a swing at Kallen. She managed to dodge away in time, so she wasn't hurt.
"I need help!" Rivalz shouted, "Because if you don't get me out of here right now, I'm going to be sucked out into space!"
"Doors opening."
"I'm getting sucked out into space!" Rivalz screamed as the second and then third airlock doors opened. The wind rushed past Rivalz as the pressure from outside began to drag him backward. Fortunately, Rivalz was able to clutch the inside of a wall outcropping. He held on for dear life as Kallen and Suzaku continued to fend off the gladiator inside.
Finally, Suzaku was able to lock his and the gladiator's swords. Neither of them could move. Kallen ran to the airlock door and made eye contact with Suzaku as her hand hovered over the button. With a nod, Suzake used what remained of his strength to shove the gladiator in the door's direction. Once the robot was pushed against the door wall, Kallen slammed her hand on the button, opening the outer airlock doors. The two immediately dove to the sides to avoid getting caught up in the vacuum as the gladiator spiraled out into the universe outside.
Suzaku then leaned over the side and extended his hand towards a still screaming Rivalz, "Suzaku! Come on!" he gasped as he latched onto his hand over the Purple Paladin's, who managed to pull him to safety. Once Rivalz was back inside, Kallen slammed her hand on the button once again, shutting the airlock doors behind them.
Only after the danger was passed did they all take a moment to catch their breaths, sliding down the wall of the hallway.
"Rivalz, what were you doing out there?" Kallen exclaimed.
"Who was that guy?" Rivalz asked almost at the same time.
"Oh, no one! He was just trying to kill us!" Suzaku answered, just as aggravated.
"Well, is he the castle? Because that's who's trying to kill me!" Rivalz shot back.
The three blinked at one another before they realized how dangerous the situation indeed was, before the three of them bolted down the hall, yelling in fear.
Allura blew the petals off of the juniberry from the field she and her father were sitting in. The fragrance was still fresh, as if the simulation around them was real.
"Altean flowers are the most beautiful," Alfor sighed as the petals flew past his face.
"It is sad that I will only see them in my dreams," Allura said sadly, "But when I wake, my memories are like these spores, scattered in the wind."
"Altea is not merely a dream, Allura. It still exists. The Altean flower, you can see it. You can touch it," Alfor said, picking up another flower and handing it to his daughter, "I can take you there. I can take you home."
"You can?" Allura asked, quite surprised. Was it really possible that Altea was still there? That her people weren't truly gone?
"Would you like to go home?" Alfor asked, kindly.
"Yes. I want to go back to Altea, Father," she answered immediately.
"Then come with me, and I will show you the way," Alfor stood up with his daughter, and the two of them left her room, which had been where the flower scene had taken place. The mice squeaked in alarm as they watched them both go. Something weird, and wrong was happening.
"Wait. Wait, wait. I have an idea. Grab on!" Rai shouted in the lab. He and Shirley were still floating in zero gravity and hadn't been able to do anything to remedy the situation. But Rai now had an idea as he extended his hand towards Shirley.
The two of them strained and groaned before they finally did make contact with each other, locking their hands together. This action caused them to twirl in the air, now Rai's back was facing the hanger door instead of Shirley.
"Yeah! We did it! Now, what?" Shirley asked, confused over what Rai was planning.
"Now, kick me as hard as you can!" Rai instructed.
"What? No! We're friends!" Shirley protested, looking at Rai like he was nuts.
"No, no. Kick me so I can fly across the room and get to the control panel," Rai explained, pointing to the door so Shirley could see.
Upon seeing it, Shirley nodded with a nervous smile. Rai spun around so that Shirley's foot was planted on his butt. Then, with as much force as she could muster, Shirley pushed off of Rai, sending him flying to the other end of the room just like he said he would.
Rai grinned as he approached the control panel. He was almost there. However, moments later, he realized he miscalculated the kick's trajectory. He wasn't flying low enough!
"Oh... oh, oh! No, no, no!" he exclaimed as he collided with the hanger door and then the floor. He was now floating away from the panel and back to where Shirley was.
Fortunately for both of them, the hanger doors opened anyway to reveal Suzaku, Kallen, Rivalz, Milly, C.C., and Coran on the other side. This allowed the gravity function to kick back in, and Rai, Shirley, and everything else in the room landed back on the ground with a thud.
"How can you guys be taking a nap while this castle is trying to kill us?" Rivalz exclaimed in disbelief as the group walked in behind them.
"Taking a nap? We've been floating around in Zero-G! You know how scary that is?" Shirley asked frantically as Rai ran over to Rover, scooping the bot into his arms.
"That's not scary! That's fun! I was almost ejected into space!" Rivalz ranted angrily.
"Yeah, well, C.C. and I got attacked by killer food!" Milly countered.
"Oh yeah?" Kallen exclaimed, "Well, Suzaku and I had a robot, trying to kill us!"
"I don't care what you say, Coran," Rivalz said, turning to the advisor with an angry glare, "this castle has gone apples and bananas!"
Coran groaned. He had an idea of what was happening now. He looked mournfully at the Galra crystal now lying haphazardly on the floor, "Perhaps the infection from Sendak's Galra crystal is worse than we thought."
"Then why don't we just get rid of it?" C.C. asked as if the answer should be obvious.
"I wish it were that simple," Coran said, "but it's too late. When Sendak plugged it into the ship, it corrupted the entire system."
"Sendak…" Suzaku muttered, before his eyes widened, "Wait! Where's Lelouch?!"
"We're connected, you and me. Both a part of the Galra Empire," Sendak's voice rang through the room.
Lelouch glared venomously at the commander, "No, I'm nothing like you!" he spat.
"You're a survivor. A leader. Just look at what's in your eye."
Lelouch's hand instinctively went up to his left eye, covering it. He grit his teeth, "That doesn't mean anything!"
"It's the strongest part of you. Embrace it," Sendak continued to taunt, "The others don't know what you know. They haven't seen what you've seen. You'll never beat Zarkon. He's already defeated you."
"That's not true!" Lelouch shouted back, viciously.
"It's just like with your father, a fellow emperor! One who sacrifices everything to obtain victory."
"What?" Lelouch gasped, stepping back, eyes widening.
"You're using everything now. Even your fellow Paladins. They're nothing but pawns to you. Face it. You claim you're nothing like him, but he's already broken and reformed you in his own image."
"...Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Lelouch screamed, covering his ears and bending down as if in agony.
"Do you really think a monster like you could be a Voltron Paladin?"
"I said, shut up!" Lelouch shrieked, his Geass instinctively activating, lightning crackling in his hands as he swung out and punched the pod door, causing it to crack significantly. Lelouch took several deep breaths before looking up at Sendak slowly, tears gathering in his eyes.
Lelouch suddenly yelled out as Sendak's face smiled maliciously at him. Without thinking, Lelouch slammed his hand on the ejection button, and the pod containing the Galran commander shot out into space.
Tears spilled over Lelouch's eyelids as he slid down the wall of the containment unit, still panting heavily, cold sweat dripping down his form.
"I remember how you used to dance around this very ballroom," Alfor reminisced as he led Allura into the hall, "I can still hear you giggling."
"Oh... Those were happy memories," Allura said sadly.
"We can create new memories, Allura," the King reassured her as he extended his hand to her.
The princess smiled as she 'clutched' her father's hand. To everyone but her, though, the room shifted into the main bridge, her hands landing on the teludav controls. The crystal above illuminated with light. Allura smiled as her father appeared beside her.
They were going home to Altea, at long last.
"Lelouch?" Suzaku called as he and the others made their way back to the holding cells. The Purple Paladin's eyes widened as he spotted the Black Paladin, still curled on the floor, clutching his head and shaking.
"Lulu!" Milly exclaimed as they ran over, "Are you okay?"
"What happened?" C.C. asked urgently, kneeling next to him.
"Where's Sendak?" Kallen asked as C.C. helped him to his feet. He still continued to tremble, though. Kallen's eyes widened. She'd never seen Lelouch like this, so torn apart and scared. It was a whole new world for her.
"I... I had to get him out of here," Lelouch stuttered. He stuttered! "I was hearing his voice. He... He can't be trusted on this ship."
"It is the ship!" Rivalz said quickly, "I got stuck in a cryopod, then in an airlock. Kallen and Suzaku got attacked by a robot, C.C. and Milly got attacked by food, and Shirley and Rai were stuck in zero gravity for who knows how long! It's been a weird morning."
Any further discussion of this was interrupted by an alarm blaring through the room. Looking behind them, a red screen appeared on the upper wall, signaling a wormhole jump.
"What? How is that possible?" Coran exclaimed. Only Allura was capable of making wormhole jumps, and as far as he knew, she was still in bed resting.
Or… was.
"What is it?" Kallen demanded.
"The ship is starting a wormhole jump!" Coran exclaimed, quite frightened.
The group immediately ran towards the bridge. Upon entering, they were shocked to see Allura standing on the teludav, and the vacuum of space zooming past them from the jump.
"Allura, what's going on?" Lelouch exclaimed.
"We're going to Altea. We're going home," Allura said happily, looking back at them, "My father is taking us."
Seeing how dangerous the situation is, everyone ran forward, intending to stop her.
"Stay away from my daughter!" Alfor shouted angrily as his face appeared on the screen before them, and a barrier rose up around Allura.
"Uh…" Shirley gasped.
"Allura! Wake up!" Suzaku exclaimed, "None of this is real!"
"Why is she even doing this?" Milly asked Coran.
"The crystal must have corrupted King Alfor's artificial intelligence. It's taking over!" Coran deduced.
Utterly oblivious to their plight, Allura continued to pilot the ship forward, Alfor's A.I. appearing beside her.
Finally, the ship stopped, but it wasn't in front of Altea. In a flash of light, the castle stopped in front of a massive darkened star.
"We're headed straight for a star, and it's about to explode!" Rai yelled.
"Father, I can see Altea," Allura exclaimed happily, bringing slowly closer.
"Allura! Allura, wake up! What you're seeing isn't real," Coran exclaimed as he ran up to the barrier wall. Allura remained oblivious and giggled at whatever invisible creature was in front of her.
"Hey, Lelouch," Rivalz said, turning to the Black Paladin, "use your Geass on her!"
"My Geass?" Lelouch asked, sounding shocked.
"Yeah! Just command her to stop! Or wake up! Or whatever! It should work, right?"
"...No, it won't," Lelouch shook his head, "I already used it on her once already."
"What? When was that?!" Kallen asked.
"It was back on Arus, during the party. She was talking to me and hinted that she and I had something in common. I got suspicious and used Geass on her to tell me what she meant. That's how I found out that she knew who I was, or who I used to be. And besides, even if I could use Geass, I doubt the A.I. will give me a clear shot to do so!"
"The juniberries, the most exquisite flower of all," Allura murmured blissfully.
"This is bad! This is bad! This is really, really, really bad!" Shirley screamed on the verge of a panic attack. Rivalz looked like he was about to join her as well.
C.C. then walked calmly up to the barrier. "Coran, back away, now," she ordered.
"What? But-"
"Is this real?" Allura asked, looking around in wonder.
"Of course, it is real, Daughter. That flower you're touching is real," the A.I. said with a smile.
"Just trust me," she said, placing her palms face down on the wall, "dying here isn't an option. It won't be direct contact, but it's worth a try."
C.C.'s forehead started to glow bright red, her Geass symbol illuminating the area.
As Allura brought what she thought was a juniberry to her nose to smell it, she suddenly gasped. The world around her suddenly morphed into what looked like a wormhole, and she was the sole occupant of it. She was flung around violently before everything faded out into black and white. Her eyes widened as she saw two planets aligning, people that had similar markings to C.C. lined up in long rows. Finally, the wormhole seemed to end in a flash of light, and she saw...
"You!" she gasped as the hulking figure turned around to face her, it's glowing eyes narrowing. The corpse of her father slid off his sword with a sickening thud.
"No! Father! Altea! No!" she yelled, clutching her head.
"C.C., what are you doing?" Lelouch asked, alarm but also curiosity swimming within him.
"I'm just feeding her some shock images," she explained, "I can't tell what she's seeing, but it should be enough to snap her out of whatever trance she's in."
"I think you did enough!" Suzaku exclaimed, running up and placing a hand on her shoulder to pull her away.
"Suzaku, wait!" Lelouch placed his hand over Suzaku's to stop him.
C.C. gasped, turning back in horror, "No! Not now!" she gasped again, her mark lighting up still.
Lelouch and Suzaku's eyes were wide as images flashed through their minds as well. It was a little more familiar to Lelouch as it was the same vortex that originally had granted him Geass. He wasn't sure if Suzaku saw the same thing, but he saw something.
Just like before, the vortex eventually ended, but this time, Lelouch saw a crowd of people, throwing stones at what looked like an old church, and on the side of the building… was the symbol of Geass!
"Wha-what is this?" Lelouch gasped, "It's different."
The scene shifted into a figure in a long cloak that was kneeling. The character turned, and Lelouch realized that it was a nun, a nun with the same symbol that C.C. had on her own forehead. The scene shifted again, they were back in Japan, an old shrine.
The Kururugi shrine!
"This-" Suzaku muttered.
The scene shifted again, it was C.C. in a pool, unclothed, holding her abdomen and sobbing.
"No… stay out of my mind!" she shouted just as more images flashed before them. The final image was of another figure. Neither Lelouch nor Suzaku could make out anything too distinct from him, but they could tell whoever it was was male, had long, flowing hair that nearly reached his lower back, pointed ears, and… purple skin? The figure turned their head towards them. They couldn't see his face, but Geass was also flashing in his eyes.
"Is that…" Suzaku started.
"...an Altean?" Lelouch whispered to finish.
"Stop it!" C.C. choked out, closing her eyes as tears trailed down them, "Why now? You're… unveiling me."
Alfor and Melenor's faces flashed before her eyes once more before Allura screamed, "No! That's enough!" She screamed one final time before stumbling out of the barrier and falling on her butt.
"Allura!" Coran exclaimed, racing over to her. The other Paladins had stood there in shock over the chain of events that happened. They didn't want to end up like Lelouch and Suzaku by touching C.C., but even if they didn't see what exactly that was, it was still scary to watch.
C.C. also stumbled back with a gasp, Suzaku and Lelouch catching her instinctively. The two boys blinked and shook their heads. Numerous more questions were cluttering their minds. Unfortunately, the time for interrogation was not now.
Allura had also come to her senses as Coran helped her up. She blinked in confusion before she turned around, and finally, she saw the dying star.
"That's not Altea!"
"When that star goes supernova, it will destroy the entire system," Rai cried out, "Allura, you must reset the course and get us out of here!"
Allura attempted to get through the barrier, but it wouldn't budge. Alfor's A.I. then appeared, hands over the teludav pillars.
"Father, please, I beg you to turn this ship around. If we don't do it soon, we will all perish!" Allura exclaimed desperately.
"I know. That is my intention," Alfor said calmly.
"What?!" Allura asked, shocked, "Why?!"
"Don't you see, dear daughter? Zarkon can never be defeated," the A.I. said, turning to face them, his image flickering in and out as if someone else was trying to patch through somehow. "He's been ruling for ten thousand years."
"But we must continue to fight!"
"Fight for what? It is all over for Altea. You don't have to live a lifetime of war. You can be with me and the rest of your people."
"Father, please!" Allura begged, "The Paladins and I can still stop Zarkon! Somewhere in there, you must want that to happen."
Alfor's image suddenly shifted. He looked grave, and they could see fear lingering in his eyes as he addressed his daughter, "Allura, my A.I. has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source-" his image flickered again back to the aloof Alfor as he continued to tempt Allura again. "-We can stroll across the Blossom Canyon every morning, just like we used to. Remember how much you loved that?"
"I remember..." Allura said as tears flooded her eyes, knowing what her next course of action must be, "I'll see you soon, Father," she then turned to face Coran and the Paladins. "I've got to get into the A.I. chamber to disconnect my father's power source manually."
"But that means losing King Alfor forever!" Coran exclaimed. The other Paladins looked at Allura sadly. They knew how much Allura loved her father. He seemed like a good man. He didn't deserve this.
"Are you sure there's no other way?" Lelouch asked, despite the situation. Deep down, he didn't want Alfor to leave either. For some reason, the feeling he had in his gut reminded him of when it finally sank in for him, as a nine-year-old boy, that his mother was gone forever. Now it felt like he was losing her all over again in the form of the Altean sovereign.
"No, there is not!" Allura said, shaking her head, "Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the Castle's descent into the star."
As Allura ran for the door, Coran started running towards the main control panel, "I can try to override the system to open the hangars."
At that statement, the Paladins rushed to their elevators and raced to their Lions.
Outside, the Lions all exited their bays. They didn't engage an enemy outside, however. Instead, they turned toward the castle and latched onto it with their front claws. With all the firepower they had, they attempted to push the castle away from the star. It slowed down, but the castle still fought to get closer and closer.
Allura rushed into the A.I. chamber, the small ball of light, morphing into her father before her.
"Don't do this! ...You must!" Alfor said, glitching in and out of his pure form and the one the virus had overtaken. "All my memories, all my knowledge will be lost forever! ...Do it, Allura. If you are to live, we must say goodbye."
Allura bowed her head, looking away from her father, "I'm sorry about this, Father." She pressed a button on the A.I.'s control board and a large red sign in Altean that asked if she really wanted to erase the A.I. before her. Upon pressing the 'yes' button, Alfor's form vanished, and the capsule containing his memories rose to the surface.
Allura stretched forth her hand to end it all, only to stop short with a gasp. The container emitted small balls of light from within it, and the room went dark around her.
When Allura opened her eyes again, the balls of light became images. No, not images. They were memories. King Alfor's memories. He was hugging a young Allura in the field of juniberries, her giggling in his arms. Another memory showed her a few years old, in a blue dress being twirled around by Alfor, both of them smiling and happy. Another, when she turned around, saw her another year older, placing a mauve flower behind Alfor's ear, her hair tied back in braids. Another had her on Alfor's shoulders, laughing gleefully. More memories continued to swirl around her, tempting her to stop.
"This is not real," Allura said with finality. "This is all in the past." As Allura ran back to the controls, more memories of her childhood flashed before her eyes, attempting to stop her. She stumbled but was not deterred from her course.
She stopped short with a gasp, though, as an image of her as an infant, being cradled in her father's arms appeared before her. She stepped backward, tears streaming down her face and clutching her chest, her heart throbbing with sorrow.
"You don't have to fight, Allura. You don't have to make this sacrifice," Alfor said as he appeared from one of the memories. He approached his daughter but stopped just within arm's length.
Upon hearing her father's words, though, Allura rushed forward and enveloped her father in a hug. The late king gasped at his daughter's action.
"Goodbye, Father," she whispered as the A.I. began to crack.
Alfor's face softened, before smiling sadly, "Goodbye, Allura."
In a flash of light, the capsule shattered, the room returning to what it once was, memories and capsule pieces scattered everywhere. Allura watched sadly as the lights faded away like stars in the sky.
Back in the castle's bridge, Coran and C.C. watched as Alfor's A.I. flickered and then vanished from existence along with the barrier to the teludav.
"She did it," Coran muttered sadly, before steeling himself and facing the star in front of them. Now that Alfor's A.I. wasn't corrupting the system, alarms began to blare all around them as the castle sensed the impending danger as it still trickled at a snail's pace towards the star.
Outside, the Paladins and their Lions still continued to struggle to push the Castle back. They were all relieved when Allura's face finally appeared on the screen in front of them in their Lions.
"Paladins, get to your hangars. We're getting out of here," she ordered.
Nodding, everyone swiftly returned to the hangers just as Allura opened a wormhole to get as far from the star as they possibly could. At full power, the castle charged away from the star and plunged into the wormhole just in time. Moments later, the star shrunk and then exploded outward, dust and fire raining everywhere, engulfing its surroundings.
After escaping the wormhole, the crew found themselves surrounding a distraught Allura on the bridge. They all felt so sorry that Allura lost her father once again. Most of them couldn't imagine what she was going through.
"I'm so sorry about your father, Princess," Shirley said sadly.
"...We all are," Lelouch murmured, glaring at the ground.
Allura looked up at Lelouch's face, another wave of sadness filling her. She remembered that Lelouch had sought counsel from her father when he was deciding whether to leave the team or not. He likely saw Alfor as another parent, one that he deserved. From what little she'd heard from the Brittanian Emperor, he wasn't fit to be anyone's father, especially Lelouch's.
Allura smiled kindly at Lelouch, putting a hand on his knee for comfort. She then stood up and faced the others, "Thank you. But that was not my father. The real King Alfor was a great man and a great father. He may not be here with us anymore, but his dream lives on through all of us, and his legacy is Voltron."
The door flew off its hinges as Britannian military men stormed through the clubhouse.
"Prince Lelouch! Princess Nunnally!" Jeremiah yelled as he entered through the door with Villetta Nu behind him, "Please, answer me if you are here!"
Doors were slammed open, and windows opened and closed relentlessly, as the soldiers attempted to find some clue of life in the house. Much to their shock, most of the house seemed deserted. The beds were bare, no food lay in the fridge or pantry. It looked like no one had lived here for years.
"No sign of them, sir," one of the privates reported back.
Jeremiah grimaced. The moment he and Villetta had seen the news report, they knew that if they could locate the prince and the princess, it could be their chance to reclaim their honor and positions that were lost to them by Zero.
Jeremiah turned to Villetta, "Are you absolutely sure this is the right place?"
"Positive! I checked the school records, their address was already included in it." She pulled out her phone to look up the student file she saw on a 'Lelouch Lamperouge,' the boy that they were positive was the long lost prince.
Upon pulling up the student body roll, though, Villetta froze. She refreshed the screen. And did again. And again. And again.
"They're not there!"
"What?!" Jeremiah gasped, looking over her shoulder. She was right. On the roll where the name 'Lamperouge' should be, was vacant, it just went on to the next student on the list: Lewis.
"How is this possible?" Jeremiah demanded.
"Perhaps I can answer that," another female voice said from behind. Turning, the two Purebloods were greeted by none other than the Knight of Nine herself, Nonette Enneagram. She had arrived in Area 11 just over a week ago without warning. Viceroy Cornelia didn't complain, though she was quite annoyed with the unannounced arrival, the more soldiers to deal with the Elevens, the better. The knight, for the most part, only took part in battle when asked, and had spent a majority of time researching the same academy that Jeremiah and Villetta had been scooping out.
"Lady Enneagram!" Jeremiah gasped, and bowed respectively, "I-I apologize, I didn't realize you were coming."
"Well, I'm here now," the Knight waved away the apology before stepping into the center of the room. "And as for the answer, I wouldn't be surprised if our little Lulu had this planned from the beginning."
"Planned? What do you mean?" Villetta asked.
"Think about it. The Ashfords have backed his mother, Marianne vi Brittania, since she became a Knight of the Round, even long before that. I wouldn't be surprised if they assisted in contingency plans in case we came too close to finding him and Nunna," despite the explanation, a layer of sadness did paint her tone.
"W-Why on Earth would he want to hide from us?" Jeremiah asked, shocked, "We're loyal to the royal family! If he thinks we aren't competent enough to protect them-"
"On the contrary," Nonette interrupted, "I do believe that he knows that, which is why he is hiding from us. Need I remind you why he and his sister were sent to Area 11 in the first place?"
Villetta grimaced as Jeremiah gasped, before lowering his head in shame. It was a low blow, but still possibly a fact.
"...Prince Lelouch…" he could only mutter.
"How long are we staying here, Sayoko?" Nunnally asked.
"Just a little while," the ninja maid assured her charge, "once we find a more secure shelter, we'll head there."
"...Do you think Lelouch is okay?" Nunnally asked, trembling in her tone.
The maid's eyes widened before she slowly knelt by Nunnally's chair, "I'm sure he is. He loves you, Milady. No matter where he is, I'm sure he's doing everything in his power to get back to you. I just know it."
"...Okay," Nunnally nodded, accepting the answer.
Sayoko nodded before standing back up and slipping outside the safe house. She looked out over the vast ocean that surrounded the island of Japan. She instinctively rubbed her apron pocket. She still wasn't sure why, but one of the specific instructions Lelouch had given her, should his identity or Nunnally's be discovered, was to bring this item. She wasn't sure why her master seemed so attached to it, but she didn't question the order.
But despite the heavy wrappings around it, she could tell it was a knife.
AN: And done! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it! And your requests have been granted, now you know what's happening on Earth again! I'll leave the speculations up to you, but you'll just have to wait a little while longer.
I'll hopefully begin the next chapter by this weekend, so stay tuned and R&R!
