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Not for the first time, Allura found that she couldn’t sleep. Sometimes, it was easier to sneak into Blue and curl up in one of the small rooms there. There was something comforting about being with her lion.
It was one of the only good things left from ancient Altea. Not like the Alteans that were now their enemies.
She crossed her arms as she walked down one of the hallways at the Garrison. She quite liked Earth. In a way, it reminded her a lot of Altea, though the fact that water regularly fell from the sky was odd. She was used to storms of sharp glass and hot rocks. Not only that, but lions were real here, and apparently dangerous, since everyone else had stopped her from going up to pet one . On Altea, they had been beasts of myth. It was why Voltron separated into five lions instead of a real, more sensible animal like a Klanmüirl.
Allura had to wonder if there was some form of fate or destiny at work.
She shook her head. She was trying to stop her running thoughts, not start existential ones.
Looking up, she stared out the window, up at the stars. It was so much easier to see them from Earth compared to Altea. She could see why the Paladins had wanted to return there so much. She could even see herself wanting to stay here, but the other Alteans. She wasn’t really the princess of anything anymore, but surely it was her responsibility to help the Alteans that still existed ?
The ones that keep coming to fight them with consistently worse weapons.
She stopped when she saw movement in one of the rooms. It took her a moment to realize that it was Keith. He was sitting by one of the windows in the large meeting room, staring out at the sky. He was wearing one of those orange and white hospital outfits again. She found them uncomfortable when she had to wear one after Voltron broke apart, but at least they all had them on. Now he was the only one that had to wear it after what happened.
In fact, what was he doing there ?
“What are you doing here?”
For a second, Allura was confused . She looked around, and realized that the voice had come from the other entrance to the room. It wasn't at all directed at her.
Keith looked up as Lance approached him. “Was going crazy in there.” She couldn’t see what kind of expression he had, since his back was facing her.
Lance scoffed as he knelt down beside him, but the annoyed look on his face melted into a soft one filled with worry. “You can’t strain yourself. We don’t have healing pods yet and you—“ Lance’s voice cracked.
Instantly , Allura was pulled back to the day before. Back to when the Altean, armed with one of those swords that could sap quintessence from the body, came up behind Lance . Her heart had leapt, and she tried to yell to him, to get him to move. She discarded her helmet when it mud coated it, so he couldn't hear her. She was too far away to do anything.
At the last second, Keith had appeared from out of no where. His bayard was absent from his hands as he threw himself between Lance and the sword.
She would forever hear Lance’s horrified cry of Keith’s name as the Black Paladin fell to the ground; a pool of blood forming around him . She had been the one to disarm the Altean while Lance tried to stop the bleeding, but that hadn’t mattered.
Allura would never forget Lance begging Keith to hold on, begging her to help him. As exhausted as she was, she almost hadn’t been able to do anything. Keith had an alarming amount of quintessence in him (it was something to look into later on), and she had been able to pull from that to heal him . To at least stabilize him until they could get him to the hospital.
Judging from the fact that Keith was still in pain and should have been in bed, it hadn’t been good enough. He would be okay though.
She suddenly felt out of place, watching as Lance brushed a lock of Keith’s dark hair out of his face. She felt like she was intruding.
Lance yawned, and said, “Come on, you should go back to bed, get some sleep.”
“Don’t wanna. You can go.”
“I’m not leaving you alone again.” He scooted closer Keith, and with only a bit of hesitation, he slid his arm around his shoulders, and tugged him closer . “I’m not.”
Keith moved so that Allura could see the side of his face now. He looked down with a soft smile on his face, and then looked up towards Lance. She knew that smile, she had seen it on his face a million times before, but it only clicked now what it was.
Her lips tilted up into a smile as she saw Lance look down at him with the same look.
Something twisted inside of Allura. It was nothing compared to the understanding and happiness that hit her too.
How could she be mad or even disappointed at two people who had looked at one another like that? When it happened every time they thought the other wasn’t paying attention for so long?
Allura’s mind told her to go, to stop staring and intruding on the moment, but she couldn’t help it. There was something so sweet about watching Keith slump down against Lance’s shoulder as the other boy stroked his hair .
Lance yawned and looked down at Keith. He sighed, shifting him as he managed to pick him up. He struggled a bit, because there was no way that Keith was light, but Lance persisted.
He probably would have done a lot better if he didn’t look like he was going to pass out himself.
To be fair, Lance had spent most of the day sitting in the waiting room to hear about Keith. He even refused to change out of his blood-soaked armour beforehand.
Without warning, Lance looked in her direction. A startled sound escaped his lips, arms shaking as he nearly dropped Keith. Allura darted forward to help stabilize them both.
“Allura?” Lance stared at her with wide eyes.
“Don’t drop him,” she warned. There was no way that would be good for his injuries.
“Uh, how long were you there?” he asked awkwardly .
She paused, wondering how to answer that. A flash of a brightly coloured gameshow came to mind, and her lips tilted up in a mischievous smirk. “Long enough to see why he’s the future.”
It took Lance a second to catch on (he was tired , so she’d forgive him for that now), and when he did, his face turned red. Despite that, the same soft smile from earlier appeared on his face as he looked down at Keith.
“You look like you’re about to drop,” Allura noted, stepping beside Lance. “I could carry him, if you’d like?”
Lance shook his head, despite his yawn and shaking arms. “I got ‘im.”
Narrowing her eyes, she moved in front of him and said, “Hold him in front of you.”
“Uh, okay?” Allura helped him move Keith, who only stirred slightly , which wasn’t like him at all. It looked a bit awkward, with Keith’s arms now around Lance’s shoulders. Lance struggled to hold him up by his thighs with their chests pressed against one another. “Uh, this is so much worse. I can carry him normally .”
She shook her head. Without warning, put a hand behind Lance’s shoulders, the other going behind his knees. In one swift movement, she scooped up both of them at the same time.
Lance yelped again. He scrambling to hold Keith close with one arm, the other going around her shoulders. “Allura!”
“Huh?” Keith lifted his head from Lance’s chest, blinking at him for a moment. He then looked up at Allura as she started to walk. With a loud yawn, he laid his head back down. “This is fine.” He was out again a few seconds later.
Lance couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, and prompting Allura to giggle. They looked ridiculous, with her carrying a stack of young men in her arms with ease.
In fact, James Griffin stepped into the hallway, took one look at them, and returned back to the room that he had been in.
The trip to Keith’s room was quick. Allura was careful to deposited Lance onto the bed, who held Keith close to not hurt him more.
“Uh, thanks?” Lance asked her, looking rather embarrassed.
“I didn’t want you dropping him,” she replied, tilted her chin up. Her playfully haughty attitude vanished as she frowned. “Lance, we almost lost him today.”
The embarrassment vanished, turning into something else as he looked down at Keith.
“I know.”
“I know all too well what it’s like to lose someone you love. There are so many things I wish I could go back and tell them,” she said slowly . The hand that had been trailing up and down Keith’s arm paused. “You got a second chance. Don’t let it go to waste. He looks at you the same way you look at him.”
Lance stared at her for a moment, before that soft smile appeared on his face again as he looked at Keith. “Yeah.” He held him a little closer as he looked up at her with a different kind of warm smile. “Thank you.”
Allura laughed lightly and nodded her head. “Get some sleep.” She turned to leave, stopping at the door to look back at them. She watched as Lance re-situated them so that they were side-by-side. He wrapped his arms around Keith, mindful of his injuries.
There was a slight twinge in her heart, but more than anything, there was a warmth and happiness. She couldn’t help but smile broadly as she turned and closed the door with a soft click behind her.