Continued Reality: A Voltron Fanfiction

RETURNED

     Lance yells as he flies out of the portal. He falls to the ground in front of it, but jumps back up and tries to re-enter. "Princess Lyna, no!" But the Kloflax is still forcing him out.

     Keith steps up behind him and places his hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's okay," he says sadly. "We all tried to stop her, but she told us it was her destiny. The Kloflax seems to agree."

     "How can you be so cool about this?" Lance shouts. "How can you—" But he stops as a new sensation comes over him. "What the...?" He involuntarily touches his Altean markings as they suddenly glow brightly, but then stop as quickly as they began. "No..."

     "What is it, Lance?" Keith asks.

     "I... I feel empty now," Lance replies. "I feel alone. Allura is gone!" He begins to panic.

     "Is she?" Pidge says with a smirk. When Lance looks at her questioningly, she tells him, "Turn around."

     Lance's hearbeat begins to quicken. He turns around slowly, still not allowing hope to grow. Even once he sees Allura step out of the portal in a sparkly white dress, he doesn't trust his own sight. This has to be a trick! It can't really be her... can it?

     "Allura?" He says, hesitantly stepping towards her.

     She smiles at him warmly. How long he has been waiting to see that smile again! "Hello Lance," she says. It isn't a thought in his head. It isn't a vision. It is her actual, individual voice speaking aloud to him.

     Finally, the reality sets in. Unable to hold back any longer, Lance runs to her eagerly. He picks her up and spins her around as she laughs joyfully. That beautiful, sweet laugh he has longed to hear for what feels like an eternity. He sets her back down, and the two of them share a long-awaited kiss, full of every bit of the passion and love they feel for each other. He holds her close, never wanting to let her go again.

     "Alright you two, break it up!" Hunk says jokingly. "We all want a turn to welcome Allura!"

     As the other Paladins greet and hug Allura happily, Veronica rushes at Lance and embraces him so tightly he almost falls over. After she lets go of him, she punches him hard in the shoulder.

     "Ouch!" He shouts.

     "Don't ever do something stupid like that again!" She shouts at him through gritted teeth, though still managing to smile with relief.

     "We're so glad you're back, Allura!" Pidge says with happy tears in her eyes, hugging the princess.

     "I am relieved to see all of you again," Allura says as Lance stands beside her and drapes his arm around her. "Where I was before... It was strange, and I still don't completely understand it. But there is nowhere I'd rather be than here, with all of you." She stares down at the ground sadly as she adds, "Though I wish it didn't come at the price of someone else's life."

     "We all wish that didn't have to be the case," Keith says. "But Lyna did it willingly. She felt that it was what she was meant to do."

     "I know," Allura says. "I was able to speak with her briefly before exiting the portal."

     "Really?" Lance says. "What did you talk about?"

     Allura chuckles. "That is between me and her," she replies.

     Romelle suddenly rushes forward and embraces Allura. "I missed you so much!" She says, tears filling her eyes.

     "I have missed you too, sister," Allura replies. It warms Romelle's heart to hear her say this.

As the group exit the temple and begin to follow the Celarians back to Queen Vleela's palace, Keith falls into step next to Allura and Lance. "So Allura, about what happens now..."

     "I know," Allura says. "I'm supposed to use Altean alchemy to defeat the Mrawls."

     "Yeah, that seems to be the next part of the plan," Lance says. "But what I don't understand is what the planet you showed me in that vision has to do with anything."

     "I had almost forgotten about that," Allura says. "Maybe we should go to it, try to find out what's so important about it." She sighs when she realizes, "But it's in the Altean system. We're all the way out here with no way to wormhole back."

     "We should probably deal with the Mrawl problem first," Keith says. "As soon as we get back to our lions, that's where we'll go."

     Allura nods in agreement. As Keith walks away to catch up with the Celarians, Lance pulls her closer. "I wish we didn't still have a mission to go on," he says. "I want to spend some time together, just the two of us."

     "I want that too," Allura says. "But I think the safety of the universe takes precedence over our wants."

     "Yeah, yeah... It always has," Lance says with a chuckle. He then kisses the top of Allura's head fondly as they continue to walk.

Veronica smiles as she watches Lance and Allura together. She is so glad that her brother has found happiness again! She only wishes she, herself, could find that same kind of happiness. She glances around the group and sees Keith walking ahead with their Celarian guides, and sees Pidge staring at him but walking quite a distance behind him. She sighs as she thinks about the agreement that she, Romelle, and Pidge came to. It is now obvious to her that Keith would never have liked her the way she likes him. It will still take some time for her to get over him, though.

     As she watches the others around her, she notices that someone seems to be missing. She realizes that she hasn't seen Bellin since Princess Lyna stepped into the portal at the temple, and now she worries about where he might be. She looks all around, even falling farther behind the rest of the group to look. She is about to rush ahead and tell Keith that Bellin is gone, until she finally sees his figure off in the distance.

     "Hey, why are you so far behind?" She asks as she approaches him. Once she gets closer, she realizes there are tears in his eyes.

     "I'll catch up," he replies. "I just... needed some time alone."

     Veronica nods in understanding. "I'm really sorry about Lyna," she says genuinely.

     At the mention of the princess's name, the worry on Bellin's face deepens. "I have failed..." He says so quietly that Veronica almost misses it.

     "Why would you say that?" She asks.

     "I am a Royal Guard," he says, avoiding eye contact. "My job was to keep Princess Lyna safe. She's the whole reason I came along! And I couldn't even stop her death. I'm a failure..."

     "Hold on a minute," Veronica says. "You are not allowed to think that way about yourself! No one could have stopped Lyna. It was her decision to make. It doesn't mean you failed at your job, it means she succeeded at hers. And it also means that you now have a new job."

     "What do you mean?" Bellin asks, finally meeting her gaze.

     "You're still an Altean Royal Guard, right?" Veronica replies. "Well, Princess Lyna may be gone but Princess Allura has returned! Your job now is to protect her."

     Bellin scoffs. "Princess Allura is the Savior of all the universes, a former Paladin of Voltron, and her boyfriend is a current Paladin of Voltron," he says. "She doesn't need me to protect her..."

     "I'll bet if you asked her, she'd beg to differ," Veronica says.

     Bellin ponders this. He still doesn't seem totally convinced, but he smiles anyway. "Thanks Veronica," he says. "I appreciate your trying to help. Really."

     "Of course," Veronica says. "Now come on, let's catch up with the others."