Allura Does Arus

The sun was started to set on Planet Arus. The mixture of orange and red hues gave caused the clouds to look like they were on fire. One such cloud parted as Black Lion flew through it. Keith was tired. He had been searching this sector of the planet for hours and yet he could find no sign of the creature that had attacked the previous night. The calming, surreal setting was taking its toll for Keith was fighting to keep his eyes open.

“Hey Keith,” Lance said of the comm..

“Go ahead Lance,” Keith replied while stifling a yawn.

“We’ve been at this for hours and haven’t found anything. What do you say we head back to the castle, grab some dinner and then come back out?”

“I’m with Lance,” Hunk chimed in. “I’m starving and the lions could use a recharge.”

Keith wasn’t in the mood to argue. They needed to find that robeast before anyone else got hurt, but he also knew that they couldn’t help anyone if they were distracted by hunger. He quickly agreed with his companions and headed back to the castle.

“Pidge,” came Keith’s voice over the communication equipment in the control room. “Pidge, are you there?”

Despite the urgency to locate Haggar’s latest robeast, the shear monotonous atmosphere of the control room had caused Pidge to fall asleep. Not even Keith’s voice suddenly breaking through the comm. channel was enough to bring Pidge back from the depths of his dreams.

“PIDGE!”

“He was dead when I got there!” Pidge screamed.

Everyone in the control room stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Even Keith was caught unawares of the remark.

“Who was dead when you got there?” asked Keith.

“Uh..no one, just forget,” Pidge hastily replied.

“Well, now that you’re awake, would you please inform Allura that we’re headed back in and that we’ll continue the search once we’ve had dinner,” Keith stated.

“Sure thing,” Pidge said, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth.

Allura had just finished hiding the panties that she took from the village when your communicator chimed. With a heavy sigh she answered the call. “Yes?”

“Princess, Keith wanted me to inform you that they are headed back in.”

“Did they have any luck finding the monster?” she asked.

“No, but the search will continue after dinner.”

“Thank you, Pidge. I’ll see you at dinner.” With a heavy heart Allura signed off. Until they found the robeast, no one on the planet was safe. The loss of life so far was too just much to stomach and any more would be unacceptable. As she thought about the little girl that they rescued, her mind drifted to the empty house that she explored. Allura felt something take over as her mind went back to the bedroom. Allura’s eyes began to glaze over as she remembered her actions but just as quick as the memories came, they left her and she realized what she had just done.

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked herself. “That woman and her family are dead and violated her home.” Allura felt a sudden sickness over take her. In her mind, she knew what she had done was wrong but at the time her body made it feel right. Allura pulled open the bottom drawer of her dresser and reaching underneath a few garments she found the panties that she had taken. Allura stared at them for several moments.

“These shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have taken them,” she scolded herself. In sudden anger and disgust, both at herself and at the mysterious robeast, she threw the panties off to the side. Allura sat on the floor, staring at where the delicate fabrics had landed. She wasn’t sure what to do. She felt confused, exhausted, angry, remorseful, selfish, feelings that she had never truly felt before. Without thinking, she crawled along the floor and picked the panties up. Holding them in her hands, she collapsed to the floor crying, clutching the undergarments close to her.

“LOTOR” came Zarkon’s booming voice. Everyone in the space port stopped what they were doing to watch their beloved king march across the floor to face his son.

Lotor, who was busy directing loading crews and soldiers onto shuttles was irritated that his father interrupted him. “What is it now, father?”

“Would you mind telling me what you’re doing with my troops?”

“I’m taking a fleet to Arus,” Lotor stated defiantly.

“I distinctly recall ordering you to leave that planet alone. Were you not listening?” The anger in Zarkon’s voice rose.

“I listened and then I ignored,” Lotor replied.

“As your king and as your father, you will do as I say.”

“As the Prince of Doom I have conquered many planets. Until Voltron returned, my enemies cowered at the mere mention of my name. I have single handedly dispatched the rulers of entire kingdoms and brought whole planets to their knees. You may be my father, but you are not my king. Once I defeat Voltron, your crown will belong to me.”

“You insolent whelp!” Zarkon bellowed. As quickly as he could, Zarkon swung his cane at Lotor.

With lightning speed, Lotor drew his sword and block his father’s staff; the clanging broke the silence of the frozen space port. No one dared to speak or even breathe as father and son faced off.

Haggar watched gleefully from the shadows, this was exactly what she wanted. “Lotor is no match for King Zarkon,” she said to herself. “But this confrontation will distract Lotor so that he will be less effective in battle and it will buy me time to speed up my plans for Allura.” Once again she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but everyone was preoccupied with the fight between father and son that no one noticed her leaving.

“You are head strong, Lotor,” Zarkon said as he parried a swipe from Lotor’s blade. “But you are arrogant and self absorbed, which blinds you.” Dodging another strike from Lotor, Zarkon swung his staff around to Lotor’s side.

Lotor blocked the side swing but was caught off guard by Zarkon’s boot hitting him from the other side. Rolling away, Lotor came up to face his father again, angered by the pain in his side. “It is not arrogance father, but confidence. You’re old and too set in your ways to realize that your methods are no longer effective.”

Lotor launched into another attack, Zarkon did his best to fend off his son, but the younger man was faster and Zarkon caught a glancing blow along his forearm. The pain angered Zarkon and he looked down to a small trickle of blood emerge from the small cut. He realized that Lotor was playing for keeps and that he actually means to kill him.

“Well father, are you just going to stand there licking your wounds?” Lotor taunted.

Zarkon felt an overwhelming desire to teach his son a lesson, but he also felt something else. Memories of his days as a front line soldier flooded into Zarkon’s mind. Although the cut was no where near fatal, Zarkon felt alive. It had been so long since he tasted true combat that he had forgotten what it was like. Lotor’s challenge and the knowledge that everyone was watching him gave Zarkon a renewed strength. With speed and agility that no one knew he had, Zarkon launched his attack against his defiant son.

Lotor, in all his arrogance, believed that he could best his aging father. He was unprepared for the fury of Zarkon’s attack. Constantly backpedaling and dodging, Lotor did everything he could to avoid the sting of his father’s staff. Blocking and parrying was all he could do to survive the onslaught. High, low, left, and right, it seemed that Zarkon’s staff was everywhere at one time. Strike after strike connected with Lotor and he struggled to maintain his stance, but it was to no avail. Before he knew it, Lotor was lying on the space port’s floor, staring up at his father. Blood poured from a split lip, his cheek felt bruised and swollen. Lotor felt pain all over his body.

“On your knees, Lotor,” Zarkon commanded.

Lotor had no choice but to obey, and so he silently knelt before his father.

“Although you openly defied me, insulted me, threatened me, and tried to kill me,” Zarkon stated as he pulled his staff away from Lotor. “I will not stop you from attacking Arus, this time.”

Lotor looked at his father questionably. “What’s the catch?”

“The catch is, if you fail, you will not be allowed to return until you have proven that you are worthy to wear the crown.”

“As you command, father,” Lotor resigned.

With no other words said, Zarkon left the space port and Lotor returned to directing the shuttle crews. One way or another, he would succeed in defeating Voltron and taking the crown of Planet Doom.

Dinner at the Castle of Lions was anything but usual. There was no jubilant celebration, nor were any wine glasses raised. There was no laughter and the normal chatter was reduced to the mere sound of food being munched. Keith looked as though the weight of the world fell upon his shoulders. Allura’s eyes were still slightly red, revealing that she had been crying for an extended period of time. Lance, who enjoyed making fun of Nanny’s cooking, offered no comment on the evening’s meal. Pidge’s usual bubbly demeanor was as flat as the table and Hunk, who normally gobbles up anything in front of him, paced himself considerably. The entire Voltron Force, including Coran, barely had an appetite, though they pushed themselves to eat.

“Has there been a progress with the young girl that we found?” asked Keith.

“No, none,” Allura answered softly.

“Dr. Gorma said that if the girl doesn’t come around in the next few days that he’ll have to move her to a special facility where she can get better help,” stated Coran.

“You mean a mental hospital,” Lance remarked.

“Is that really necessary?” asked Pidge.

“There’s not much else to do, Pidge,” Coran answered. “She’ll require medical care that we aren’t capable of providing.”

“It’s just not fair,” Pidge said as he poked at his food.

No one spoke through the rest of the meal. As the last plate was taken away by the castle’s staff, Keith stood and looked around the table.

“I know this has been a hard time for all of us. Whatever it is we’re dealing with isn’t like robeasts of the past. This one is more vicious and more cunning and we have to stop it. But we can’t do that by moping around the castle. There’s a little girl who’s family is gone because of this monster. But if we don’t go out and find it, other families will end up like hers. We’re the Voltron Force; we can push ourselves through this and stop this creature from doing any more harm.”

“Keith’s right,” Coran said. “The fate of Arus depends upon you five. You must go out and stop whatever caused this devastation.”

One by one the members of the Voltron Force stood, anger, depression, sorrow, all melting away and in their place confidence, determination, and resolve sprang forth.

“Let’s roast us a robeast,” Hunk said enthusiastically.

“Let’s go team, we’ve got a planet to save,” Keith shouted.

With renewed vigor, the Voltron Force rushed off to the control room.