Continued Reality: A Voltron Fanfiction

"I NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE"

     "Paladins!" Romelle says excitedly. "I can't believe all of you are back!"

"Well, not all of them..." Coran says. He whispers to her, informing her of Shiro's death.

"Oh no," she says, her excited expression disappearing and replaced with one of sympathy. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Shiro was... well, amazing." She approaches the Paladins and, one by one, proceeds to embrace them. She even hugs Veronica, whom she remembers meeting at the Galaxy Garrison.

"Yeah, it's been hard..." Keith tells her. He is surprised when his voice chokes up as he says this. He still can't seem to talk about Shiro without getting upset. So he tries to blink back the tears that threaten to appear, and focus his attention on the mission at hand. "It's great to see you, really. But we're actually here on some really important business."

"Ooh, what is it? Maybe I can help," Romelle says.

"Could you maybe convince the icy princess to let us use the new teleduv?" Lance asks, receiving a glare from Keith in return.

"Icy princess?" Romelle repeats. "I don't think she's that cold, but I can certainly talk to her for you."

"That would be great," Keith says.

"Thank you so much," Pidge adds.

"It's no problem, really," Romelle says. "Around this time she's usually still at Princess Allura's statue, so I'll just go have that chat with her right now." At mentioning Allura, she suddenly covers her mouth and turns her gaze toward Lance. "I never got to say how sorry I am, Lance," she tells him. "You meant so much to Allura. Truly."

"I know," Lance replies with a half smile. "I, um... actually have some news to tell you when you finish talking to Lyna." His markings glow for a couple ticks, and then return to normal.

Romelle stares at him, eyes wide. "Does it happen to have anything to do with that?" She asks.

"As a matter of fact, it does!" Lance says.

"Well, I look forward to hearing it," Romelle says. She then gives the group a small wave, and heads outside the castle to find Princess Lyna.

After Romelle leaves, Lance is suddenly struck by something she said about Lyna. She's usually still at Allura's statue around this time? He approaches Coran and pulls him aside privately. "So, about Princess Lyna... Does she visit the statue of Allura often?" He asks.

"Every single morning and every single night," Coran replies. "She sticks to a routine closer than a sifflegump sticks to a draffenseem!"

"Ummm... okay," Lance says, trying to ignore whatever the heck Coran just said. "Do you know why?"

"It's always been a mystery why sifflegumps are so fond of draffenseems, but I've always had a theory that–"

"No, no, no," Lance says, waving his hands to stop Coran before he goes any further. "Why does Lyna visit Allura's statue so often? She never even knew Allura, did she?"

"Oh," Coran says. "No, she never knew her."

"Then what's the deal?"

Does it really matter?

As usual, Allura's thought in his head causes his markings to glow. Coran stares at them for a few ticks, and then says, "How about a deal, hmm? I'll tell you a bit more about Princess Lyna, despite the verbal lashing I'll get from her if she ever finds out, if you finally explain to me what's going on with those markings of yours. What do you say?"

Lance hesitates until he gets a response from Allura.

What are you waiting for? Of course I want him to know!

"Well Coran, the thing is... Allura is kind of still alive," Lance tells him.

Coran gasps. "What? But how is that possible?"

"I don't know all the details. Actually, she doesn't know all of them herself. But here's what we do know..."

Lance explains everything he knows to Coran about Allura's situation, with her filling in a few gaps for him. By the time he is finished giving this news, Coran's eyes are misty with tears.

"I... I never got to say goodbye to her," he says, his voice breaking.

Oh, Coran... Allura says sadly.

"Wow..." Lance says, suddenly feeling really bad for Coran. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I never really thought about it."

Coran sniffles. "So you can hear her? Right now?"

"I can't hear her, no," Lance replies. "She puts thoughts into my head."

"But you can still communicate with her," Coran says. "And she can hear you?"

Lance smiles. "Not just me. She can hear you, too."

Tears of joy and relief begin to streak down Coran's face. "Oh, thank the ancients!" He shouts, suddenly giving Lance a tight embrace. "Allura? Allura, I can't even describe how much I miss you! And I'm so very sorry... I'm so sorry I failed you."

Failed me? What is he talking about?

"What do you mean?" Lance asks, equally as confused as Allura.

"I was her legal guardian. Her protector," Coran explains. "It was my job to keep her safe. What happened to her... I should have been able to prevent it somehow."

Coran, no! What I did was my decision. Nothing anybody said or did could have stopped me. I did what I felt was right.

Lance repeats Allura's thought to Coran. "And just for the record, I completely agree with her," he adds.

Coran nods, but Lance can tell he still isn't completely convinced.

Lance sighs. "I'm sorry you weren't able to be there with her like we were," he says. "But trust me, I tried as hard as I could to stop her. I loved her too much to let her go like that... But, I also knew that I had to let her go because I loved her so much."

Lance... Allura says affectionately.

Coran sniffles again, and wipes away his tears. He manages a weak smile, and places a hand on Lance's shoulder. "I'm just happy that she's still with us, through you."

Allura places one more thought in Lance's mind, and then his markings quit glowing. He smiles as he says, "She said to tell you she loves you and misses you too, and that she wishes she could talk with you like old times."

"Me too, Lance," Coran says, his voice still shaky. "Me too..."