"I see something up ahead, do you see it?" asked Allura. Finally something different in a land of grey memories. Allura had been beginning to doubt her ability to navigate Shiro to the astral plane.
"I see it too," said Shiro. "Whatever it is."
It looked like rainbow light shining out of a giant prism. As they approached, it seemed like the prism was actually a triangle shaped doorway.
"Could this be the gate the Goddess was talking about?" asked Shiro.
"I'm willing to bet a snarlcop on it," said Allura. What else could it be? Holding Shiro's hand firmly, she stepped through the gate.
Stars all around and what appeared to be clear glass under their feet. The strangest thing was directly in front of them. It was an escalator heading up so far she couldn't see the end of it, but she could tell it was pointed towards the red and blue stars.
"I think we go up," said Shiro.
As if in response a disembodied female Altean voice said, "Please step forward in an orderly fashion."
"That answers that question," said Allura, leading Shiro forward so they could step onto the escalator and begin their ascent.
The voice continued as if it were over an invisible loudspeaker. "Arms and legs do not need to be kept inside as you are not really here.
"This is a reminder that what you are experiencing is a manifestation of your mortal expectations of physical distance needing to be passed in order to travel.
"Manifestations may vary and your companions' experiences may differ."
Allura turned to Shiro, "You are seeing an escalator into the sky as well?"
"Oh yeah."
"At least we are seeing the same thing."
The voice was continuing, "Safety is not guaranteed.
"You are entering the astral plane at your own risk.
"Risks include loss of sanity, loss of memory, loss of sense of direction, and loss of essense, aka 'going poof.'
"The Ancient Ones are not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen physical bodies."
Shiro sighed. "I don't like how any of that sounds."
"Shall we turn back?" asked Allura, jokingly as she gestured to the steps behind them. If they wanted to escape, going backwards down the stairs would only keep them in place. They'd need to jump off the side.
"This is not a recording," continued the voice, "This is your imagination.
"The passage of time is not what it appears.
"Existence is a lie.
"Life is meaningless.
"Abandon hope...
"Abandon hope...
"Abandon hope..."
The recording was skipping, or she supposed, Allura was imagining it skipping.
"Abandon hope..."
It was like hypnosis. It was making Allura dizzy. She felt Shiro's grip tighten on her hand as he must've been feeling the same disorientation.
When Allura was younger, before she reached her womanhood day, Allura had drank nunvil once with a friend. An entire bottle split between the two. They'd laid on the floor, her body heavy with what felt like extra gravity, watching swirls of colour dance on the ceiling. She'd watched an entire galaxy's birth and death play out in front of her eyes before her mother had found her in that state and nursed her sober again with water, balken stew, and an ice bath.
Allura felt that sensation again, like time was nothing, like her body was just a memory, like her life was something she'd dreamed up.
"Abandon hope..."
"Princess...," it was Shiro's voice. Allura remembered Shiro. The one with the black...no white hair. "Just keep holding on to me. I don't know what's happening, but we need to stay focused. Focus yields patience or something like that..."
Allura felt his hand in hers. She touched their clasped hands with her free one, letting that be a focus point, letting it un-blur her vision. Then she used that free hand to climb up his arm, fingers creeping, to his chest. When she found a shoulder, she let the hand wrap around his back and dipped her body forward so she came to rest against Shiro in a hug, his free hand finding her back as well.
"I haven't had a friend since I was a child." Allura was crying, she didn't know why she was or when she'd even started crying. "Since then, I haven't had friends, I've had duties."
"You have friends, Allura," Shiro promised her. "Dear ones."
"I don't know what to do next," confessed Allura and she realized she didn't mean on this journey. She meant in general. In life. She didn't know what being the last surviving monarch of a long lost planet meant anymore.
"Abandon hope..."
"We'll figure it out together," promised Shiro. "That's what friends are for."
Allura lifted her heavy head up. She wanted to see those stars. The red and blue. She wanted to know that her path was still set. When she'd first stepped onto the escalator she'd expected to be dropped off at the top and step into the astral plane like it was the top floor of the space mall. Instead what she saw ahead was a lightning storm above their heads, pink and purple bolts clashing and the escalator heading straight for it.
"Are you seeing this?" she asked.
"Abandon hope..."
"I am," said Shiro. "Just hold on. Don't listen to that voice."
"Abandon hope..."
"Let's take our hope with us," continued Shiro, ducking his head against Allura's as they mounted closer to the lightning.
Allura closed her eyes, burying her face against Shiro's chest. She thought of when she'd lost hope. Of when her father had touched her neck his magic, promising to see her soon, and she found herself passing out and knowing what that meant before her eyes fully closed. Alfor had abandoned all hope. He would protect Allura, but he would let Altea fall. And she'd fallen too. Fallen into a deep sleep. 10,000 years of sleep. 10,000 years of nightmares. And the first thing she'd seen when she'd woken up were Lance's ocean blue eyes.
Lance's eyes...
Lance's smile...
Lance's hideous ears...
Lance... Keith... Pidge... Hunk... Shiro... Hope was human. Hope was new paladins delivered to her castle from thousands of light years away. Allura had never really stopped to appreciate the blessing they were. She'd been so focused on what needed to be accomplished and so quick to dismay when they performed less than perfect, but in this void where she saw the flashes of lightning even with her eyes pressed shut, in a place where no hope was meant to pass, she felt them for the miracle they were.
Lightening crackled around her. The air smelt like burning.
"Abandon..."
Allura clung to Shiro like he was all five paladins. Like she could spread her love and gratitude to their hearts through his body. She focused on that feeling. She burned Hope for warmth inside her like a candle, like a bon fire, like a wild fire stretching beyond her into time and space itself.
"...Hope...hope...hope..."
Then...
Quiet. Stillness.
Allura opened her eyes and stepped out of Shiro's embrace, careful to keep his hand locked in hers. She looked around and saw the blue and red stars burning brighter than ever. She saw the astral plane stretched out around them.
"Shiro, we've made it," said Allura, but then she turned to look at him and nothing...
The hand that had held his moments ago closed around itself, her fingers touching her own palm.
"No! Shiro!" Allura yelled.
"It is alright," said a calm voice behind her. "I sent him away so we could speak privately, but he is protected by your love. No harm shall come to him."
That voice... Allura couldn't trust her ears because they were pulling up a sound from so far back in her memory it couldn't be real. She almost didn't dare to look, but then when she did the tears in her eyes were instant, drawn up from the deepest well of her broken heart.
"Hello, daughter..."
The sight in front of her was too pure for her to have ever dreamt up.
"Mother?" gasped Allura.