"I hope you're going to tell Father you basically kidnapped me and forced me into this ship to look for Lance." Keith said once Lotor removed the duck tape from his mouth.
"Oh Keith, where's your sense of adventure?" Keith rolled his eyes.
"Back on the ship, also where our now probably very infuriated father resides." Lotor snickered and took off at full power.
~~~
"Oh my God." Lance stared at Allura with wide eyes, "YOU'RE A GHOST?!" She glared at him.
"No, dimwit." Lance cocked his head wearily.
"Speak, apparition.."
"I'm not a quiznacking ghost!" Lance leaned back.
"Language!" Allura groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Oh my..let's just get this over with. Lance, you know that person you saw in the kitchen?"
"Yeah?"
"And that person looked a lot like me?"
"Yeah?"
"Well that wasn't me." Lance—still not completely grasping the fact that Allura was alive and now standing directly in front of him—narrowed his eyes.
"Not following."
"It was actually a clone of myself."
"So....like a doppelganger?" Allura looked away in thought.
"I...suppose?" Lance raised a brow.
"How on Altea did you manage to clone yourself?"
"Just some simple DNA replication. Not that hard. Although, the hard part was being able to create a full body. Without any malfunctions. That took some time. But in the end, it was worth it."
"..why?" She rolled her eyes.
"I sent a clone just in case, and it's a good thing I didn't go in there. The plan was to kill you but, after that whole episode, some changes'll have to be made." His heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
"YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME?!"
"Relax," Allura cooed, "I'm not going to kill you." Lance sighed in relief, "I'm just going to simply mind control you so people will think it's you but instead it's me who's in that air head of yours." Lance began freaking out again.
"WHAT?!?! ALLURA WHY!?"
"Because you were the one who was supposed to be dead, not me! I was the one who was supposed to rule Altea, not you!" Lance frowned.
"So what, your jealous?" She turned red in fury.
"NO! If you become the King of Altea, then it's no doubt that—that HE will also become king with you! That's unacceptable!"
"Keith?! You mean that this is all because you don't want Keith to rule Altea with me?" She glared darkly at Lance.
"You don't understand. You'll never understand."
"You know what? I think you're right. I will not ever understand because I am not some horrible cruel racist-"
"I am not a racist! I just seem to be the only one still acknowledging how Alteans are much more superior than Galrans!"
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT BEING RACIST IS!!" Allura groaned loudly and pulled at her hair, "WHY ARE YOU THE ONE GETTING ANGRY?! I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO'S GETTING ANGRY HERE!" She rolled her eyes and walked away, "HEY I'M NOT DONE BEING ANGRY AT YOU!"
"Listen Lance, I've had enough of this. But being someone so important...you have to make difficult decisions. And, mind controlling you is the only decision I have."
"Or if you really want to make a—in your words—'difficult decision,' then you can learn to accept Keith; Galra in general." She scoffed with a smirk.
"That will never be an option Lawrence." Lance looked down at the ground in defeat.
"You know something, Allura.."
"What now?"
"I'm seriously beginning to wish that wasn't a clone I killed." Allura's eyes widened, but then she frowned uncomfortably, turning to leave. When she shut the door she paused, able to hear her brother sobbing uncontrollably.
~~~
"Hey Keith?" Lotor asked, staring out the cruiser. He looked over at Keith when he didn't get a response; his younger brother was leaning against the window in deep sleep. Lotor rolled his eyes, nudging him.
"Ow...hey hey, easy." Keith groaned, rubbing his eyes.
"We're out here looking for your boyfriend, at least have the decency to stay awake." Keith frowned.
"I didn't even want to come out here. I told you why I wanted to stay. Then you kidnapped me." Lotor glared out the window.
"So you don't care at all if...say I found him right now?" Keith tsked.
"If you found him 'right now,' I'd take a nose dive out of this ship." Lotor smirked.
"Shall I open the hatch?" Keith raised a brow, facing Lotor.
"What?"
"Take a gander at that." Keith crawled over Lotor and looked out the window, "Does that ship look Altean to you?" Keith's jaw dropped in shock. It was...right there in the open. Just there on some floating base looking thing.
"But what's it doing over here and on...that?"
"Still waiting to see that nose dive." Lotor muttered cheekily, earning a roll of Keith's eyes.
"I said I would nose dive." Lotor cocked his head.
"So..?" Keith sighed.
"The word 'would' indicates the consequence of an imagined event or situation. So it doesn't mean that I'd actually jump out of this cruiser." Lotor's head lowered and he grumbled.
"You cheater."
"I didn't think you were serious about finding him right now!...why are we even arguing about this?! Just go down there so we can look for him!" Lotor sighed and moved down to the hangar. They got out and headed inside.
"Where are we supposed to start?" Lotor asked; Keith shrugged.
"You can take that hallway and I'll go down this one-"
"Woah woah woah....wooaah." Keith crossed his arms with a huff, "Are you implying we....split up?"
"That's generally what I had in mind."
"No way. Nuh uh. Never. Ever."
"Lotor-"
"I'm going to be the responsible big brother for once-"
"-for once-"
"-and I believe we should stay together. Something could happen to one of us and we could into bigger trouble than we already are."
"I thought you liked trouble." Keith teased.
"When I only have to worry about myself. But I have to think about you now, too, and not to mention Lance. I'm the reason we're even out here in the first place. You're my responsibility." Keith's lips parted slightly, suddenly the atmosphere didn't seem so light hearted anymore. He just nodded.
"Okay." Lotor returned the nod. Keith let him lead the way, beginning to feel very nervous without the comfort of Lotor's easy going attitude.
"Keith, you okay?" He was snapped out of his thoughts and saw his older brother looking at him, concerned. He just nodded again.
"Yeah...just kinda nervous is all." Lotor reached down and grabbed Keith's hand gently.
"I'm here." He smiled reassuringly, making Keith feel better. He smiled back and squeezed Lotor's hand slightly.
"Thanks." They continued, but then voices could be heard. Lotor pulled Keith closer to him, holding an arm out protectively.
"The procedure is almost complete, your majesty." A female voice said.
"Yes, thank you Acxa, you're dismissed." Lotor frowned.
"Acxa?" Suddenly the door opened and a girl with light purple skin and short dark purple hair stepped out. Lotor's eyes widened and he backed away, backing Keith up as well.
"Lotor-"
"Sh." Acxa sighed and rubbed her tired looking eyes.
"Acxa!" Then someone else with different shades of color on her skin bounced out of the same room. She hugged Acxa and giggled. "Don't forget about me!" Acxa rolled her eyes, but a smile made it's way onto her lips.
"I couldn't ever forget you, Ezor. Even if I tried." Ezor gasped playfully.
"You are ruude!" They walked off down the hall talking amongst themselves. Keith looked at Lotor.
"..Lotor?" He didn't seem all there. "Hey-" He tapped Lotor's arm.
"Huh?" He finally realized where he was.
"Is something wrong?" Lotor glanced down the hallway.
"No." Keith's head unconsciously tilted.
"Should we be worried about those girls coming back?" Lotor shook his head.
"No, don't worry about her-them! Don't even think about them. They can't hurt us." Keith nodded slowly.
"O...kay." He decided to move from behind Lotor to the door. Keith gasped when he looked inside.
"Is it Lance?" Lotor asked Keith as he came up behind him. Keith had to blink a few times to make sure he was seeing things right.
"No......Allura."