"I was terrified they would find my fingerprints on that knife, or her clothes, so I went back and got rid of them too." Keith was stunned. Most of his shock went into the fact that Allura tried to kill Lance; why?
"How could you keep this a secret from them? From me?"
"Allura's the princess of Altea....if anyone killed royalty they'd recieve the death penalty automatically."
"But you're the prince."
"Doesn't matter."
"Well, you didn't get the death penalty automatically. You were able to tell what happened." Lance began to cry silently.
"Still...I'm scared Keith." He nodded and held Lance close.
"I won't let anything happen to you, Lance. I promise."
~~~
"Your trial is in a few hours." Amaros said, Lance's lip quivered, but he gave a single nod.
"Kay." Keith frowned slightly.
"That seems rather quick."
"Any case that involves royalty becomes top priority." A prison guard came in and took Lance's arm, pulling him up.
"Sorry your highness, but your father's making me do this." Keith wanted to object but he couldn't go against King Alfor. Lance looked at Keith with sad eyes, he reached out his hand.
Keith almost lost it.
He held his breath as he too, reached up and held Lance's hand. Lance smiled gently and mouthed the three words:
I love you
He couldn't take it. His hand slipped away and he cried into his hands. Lance turned away and let the guard take him out. Amaros looked at Keith, wanting to say something, but decided not to. He collected his things and left the room.
Keith didn't want to think about the possibility of Lance being executed. He was the prince of Altea after all, they need someone to be the heir. It just wouldn't make any sense. Alteans aren't that dumb, at least not some Alteans. Keith stood up and left, not wanting to stay in that interrogation room any longer.
"Keith." Lotor caught up with him, "So, how'd it go? I saw Lance being brought out by some guard.." He kind of figured it out already what had happened, but he wanted to ask and be sure.
"He did it." Keith mumbled. Lotor sighed and rubbed his head.
"Gosh...that's um.."
"He was only defending himself though. Allura was the one who tried to kill him first." Lotor's lips turned into a thin line.
"Oh..dang." Keith raised a brow at him, "So what's going to happen?"
"He's going to trial." Lotor nodded.
"Okay...when's that happening?"
"Can you like, stop asking me a bunch of questions? I have gone through many emotions today and I'd prefer to be left alone with my thoughts for a while."
"An emo wants to be alone with his thoughts, that like a completely intelligent thing to do." Keith rolled his eyes.
"Shut up."
~~~
It was crowded, everyone wanted to know what happened with Princess Allura and Prince Lawrence. Keith, Lotor, and Zarkon sat up in the front row with King Alfor. Keith looked at Lance; he was shaking. The lawyer assigned to him looked very, emotionless. This guy is supposed to be defending Lance? Later, Keith found out his name was Bashir. The lawyer prosecuting Lance was Haliz. He looked ready for battle..Keith hoped Lance's lawyer could prove his innocence. It felt like forever before it finally started.
"Your honor." Haliz stood up straight, "Princess Allura is found on the kitchen floor, barely conscious, her clothes missing, bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds. Prince Lawrence has already admitted to killing her. Is there anything else we need?" The people of the jury exchanged glances. Bashir glared at Haliz and stood up.
"You're forgetting that Prince Lawrence was defending himself. Allura came at him with the knife first." He rolled up Lance's sleeve, showing the cut, "See?" Haliz rolled his eyes.
"And how do you know he didn't do that to himself? He could just be making himself look innocent." Bashir opened his mouth— "And another thing. We all have heard the fact that our dear and beloved Princess Allura had a conflict with Prince Keith; we also are well aware of the so called, 'fling' the two princes share for one another. Prince Lawrence didn't like the fact that his sister didn't care for Keith, so he thinks to himself, 'if Allura was to maybe disappear, then I could marry Prince Keith.' Simple as that."
"Objection! Allura didn't just 'not care' for Prince Keith, she threatened to kill him after they were to be married! Lawrence never wanted Allura dead! She was the one making threats in the first place."
"Right, she threatened to kill Prince Keith; all the more reasons to do away with her. That way she won't be able to hurt his loved one." The jury muttered to each other and Keith bit his lip.
He's good...
"I'd like to hear from Prince Lawrence what happened." Judge said. Lance looked up at him and stood up. He proceeded to explain what happened. Allura came at him with the knife, they fought for a bit, Allura hitting him, chocking him; he had to stab her or she wasn't going to stop. Haliz snickered.
"That's a nice story." Lance looked down.
"It's true." Haliz crossed his arms.
"Okay." Haliz noticed Keith in the front row, "Your honor, I'd like to call Prince Keith of the Galra Empire to the stand." Keith frowned, looking at the judge. Judge nodded, so Keith stood up and went to the stand. "Keith, Keith." Haliz stared at him, making him uncomfortable. "How long have you and Lance been..?" Keith frowned at Haliz.
"I don't see how this is relevant." Haliz smirked at him, giving a shrug.
"Just asking. So, what happened when you arrived on Alea?" Keith sighed silently.
"I came off my father's ship and checked to make sure everyone was okay."
"And how was Lawrence?"
"He acted the way someone would act if they just saw their sister in the condition Allura was in."
"Except he actually had to 'act,' wouldn't you agree?" Keith glanced at the Altean prince, "Because he already saw her in the condition she was in."
"Well..I suppose."
"And wouldn't you find it strange that he lied at first? It would've made much more sense to just come clean in the very beginning." Keith looked down.
"Lance had his reasons to lie...he was afraid he'd receive the automatic death penalty. Even I was worried when he told me about it."
"All you seemed to care about was Lance. Hearing about the stabbing of Allura didn't seem to phase you at all."
"What did you expect me to do? Fall to my knees and weep?" Keith did not like this guy.
"How could you be so unphased, seeing a barely conscious, bloodied body? Surely it must've been traumatic for you. Perhaps, like Lawrence here, you already saw her body?" Keith frowned.
"...this has already been cleared up. I was on my father's ship-"
"That may be true. Perhaps Lance contacted you in some way?" Haliz glared at Lance, "Maybe Lawrence needed your help on what to do after he maliciously butchered her body!" Lance's jaw dropped. The jury was talking up a storm. Keith growled.
"Don't talk about Lance that way. He did what he had to do to survive." Haliz snickered.
"You say that like he's an animal. Of course, coming from an animal, that's just how your mind works." Now Lance was furious. Keith clawed at his chair and the courtroom was chaos.
"Order, order!" The judge yelled. Once it was quiet again, Judge glared at Haliz. "Please, if you can not question this young man reasonably, then I'm going to have him sit back down." Haliz nodded.
"Of course. My apologies, your honor. Just one more question." Keith's ears twitched impatiently, "If Lance is lying about self defense, and you know what really happened, would you give us the correct information?" Keith's lips parted and his eyes went wide. This guy was asking if Keith would betray Lance and turn him in. He looked down, avoiding all eye contact. Lance stared at him with a nervous gaze.
"..I—that's......" The jury began muttering amongst themselves again. The corners of Haliz's mouth curved upwards.
"No more questions, your honor."