swim with me? [klance au]

Into Battle

He was nearly halfway through the mess of fighting, both above and below him, when he saw a flash of familiar white luminescence. Looking up, Lance saw his father. Carlos was surrounded by two Galra, being circled like prey as they struck out. He already had a large cut along his ribs.

Ignoring Allura's orders to stay close, Lance zoomed upwards, flipping his trident around and ramming the butt of the weapon into the stomach of one of the soldiers, yelling out in a crazed cry as he shoved the soldier up and away from his father. Spinning, he screamed as he whipped his trident towards the face of the other soldier. This one ducked. Smart. Then skedaddled, zooming down and out of sight in the fray.

Lance looked back at Carlos, who was floating there, stunned, and Lance smiled at him, genuinely, before rocketing off, not stopping before he was out of the battle, which took a surprisingly long time. He hadn't sized up the battle accurately- it was giant.

Allura was waiting for him on the other side of the fighting, on her own as she battled a Galran. Lance powered towards her, trident aimed at the soldier, and watched in satisfaction as the purple-skinned warrior swam off.

"Let's go!" Allura shouted, then took off towards the huge clusters of rocks in the near distance. Lance was right beside her, adrenaline pumping. His gills felt like they might rip at how hard he was breathing.

The two skimmed the sandy floor as they approached the rocks, which were now recognizable as giant makeshift homes, huge rock igloos like the ones in the village back home, times 10.

The rock homes were empty, though, everyone at the battle. Those who were unable or unwilling to fight were back at the main kingdom, waiting for news of the battle. But after seeing how evenly-matched everyone was... Lance had no clue who would actually win. Did it come down to which leader died first? He hadn't even seen Alfor and Zarkon.

"He should be in the back," Allura called over to Lance, who nodded. They rose off the sandy floor and glided over the rocks, searching for something that could befit a prince. Allura was the one to see it first in the dark, murky water.

A small structure surrounded by flowing strands of seaweed, guarded by two soldiers. Allura pointed, and the two slowed, looking as majestic as they could while heaving for breath. The guards, who had bulging muscles and giant swords, eyed the two mers with disgust.

Allura was composed. "My name is Allura Altea. I'm here to see Prince Lotor. He should be expecting me." One of the guards stepped aside to let Allura in, but the other blocked Lance when he tried to follow.

"Who're you?" She grunted, shark tail churning the water beneath her.

Lance held his ground (and his trident, tightly). "Lance Altea." It sounded foreign on his tongue. He flashed his luminescence like he was trying to prove a point. The guard growled, then let him in.

There wasn't much of a hallway before Lance and Allura were right in the room with none other than the Dark Prince himself. The room was more of a cave, with a high, rocky ceiling made of piled rocks and a wide floor.

All over the walls were shelves of bottles and containers of glowing liquid and other anatomical abnormalities. In the middle of the room was a big stone slab, flat on top, which seemed to be serving as a table, and it had a few stone tablets and other random objects on it.

The prince's back was to Allura and Lance as he pushed through a cluttered shelf on the wall behind the table, and they could hear him muttering to himself quietly. Allura cleared her throat, and Lotor whirled, nearly dropping the corked bottle of something he was holding. It was dark green and looked like barf.

Lotor's eyes were bright with surprise as he surveyed his two visitors. His hair was long and shockingly white, and his skin was light lilac, smoothing into his black fin. What surprised Lance, though, was that Lotor almost seemed to be half mer.

He had the same luminescence markings on his cheeks, glowing white, and he had a sail instead of a dorsal fin. It was all very unnerving- lance had never heard before that Lotor was half Galra, half mer. Was that even possible?

"Guests," Lotor greeted loudly, grinning and holding his arms out. Lance held his trident tighter, jaw set. "You must be the Allura. It's good to finally meet you in person," Lotor said happily, holding out a hand for Allura to shake. She did, and it made Lance uncomfortable- could they really trust this guy?

"And you must be...?" Lotor trailed off, looking expectantly at Lance. He realized that Lotor's scleras were yellow instead of white, and his irises were a deep indigo. That was odd too- the Galra had purely yellow eyes and mers had white scleras, like humans.

Lance decided that was another thing he could add to his evidence that Lotor was some sort of hybrid. Maybe it was a secret that everyone but him knew. It would be logical- he wondered if everyone else knew that he was an adopted royal.

"This is Lance- my friend and my personal guard," Allura introduced, which Lance quirked an eyebrow at. Why wouldn't she introduce him as a fellow royal? Was she hiding something from Lotor? Maybe he was overreacting.

Lotor held a hand out to Lance, and when they shook, Lotor's hand was cold and strong, and his purple skin was a bright contrast against Lance's dark brown. Lance clenched his fist around his trident. He didn't trust this guy.

"Make yourself at home, please," Lotor motioned towards two rock stools leaning up against the wall, but Allura shook her head.

"I'm sorry to decline, but we're here to make a deal."

Lotor raised his brows, then hopped up to sit on his table crossing his arms and gazing serenely at Allura. His white hair, floating around his head like a halo, made him look like a ghost. His fin, translucent and dark grey, waved in the water below him.

"A deal, eh? You definitely sound like an Altean now." Now it was Allura's turn to cross her arms over her scale-covered chest. Lotor laughed, signaling that it was a joke, "But I'm intrigued. What could I possibly give you, princess?" Lance wasn't sure if Lotor was using the title in a demeaning tone. He stayed silent.

"We need you to kill your father."

...

me oh my

qotd: what are your names? you can use a fake one if you'd like, i just feel weird always referring to you guys by username- and even though i'm bad with names, i'll try my best to remember. do you guys know mine? hehehe

loveloveloveyou!!