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Fire Prince Lotor intertwined his fingers with those of his bodyguard, Acxa, trusting the long sleeve of his robe to hide his hand from view. It was always risky expressing affection in front of the troops, but it was likely that they had already noticed and didn’t care. Of course, they might not be so unfazed if they knew the whole truth.
Standing off to Lotor’s left, Zethrid chatted with the soldiers. She spent a lot of her time acting like one of them rather than part of Prince Lotor’s inner circle, and the soldiers seemed to appreciate that. Ezor and Narti were currently away, scouting ashore for the target of this expedition. They didn’t interact much with the soldiers, who were uneasy around Narti and didn’t understand how she could ‘see’ without sight, not knowing that she used her airbending to do so.
The secret truth was that these trusted agents in Lotor’s ‘inner circle’ were really his romantic partners and his partners in crime. Literally.
To atone for his ‘mistake’ of being too lenient on his first colony, Lotor had been ordered a few months prior by his father, Fire Lord Zarkon, to either find the hiding place of the last remaining airbenders who had escaped Zarkon’s attack seventeen years prior, or to bring him the Avatar. Presumably, this was why Lotor was hunting down Voltron, a masked individual rumored to bend all four elements.
What neither Zarkon nor the soldiers aboard Lotor’s ship knew, however, was that Lotor had no intention of handing Voltron nor any airbenders over to Zarkon. The real reason why Lotor was trying to locate Voltron – or, rather, the group of people who collectively wore the mask and carried the name – was to seek allies to assist him when he eventually rebelled publicly.
More than all this, the truth that would really shock the soldiers was that Lotor and his girls were secretly the masked rebel known as Sincline. The same rumors surrounding Voltron also surrounded Sincline – a mysterious figure who could bend all four elements – and some debated whether Voltron or Sincline was the Avatar. If only they knew the truth.
Once Ezor and Narti returned to the ship, Ezor grinned and said, “Good news! Voltron’s camping out just a few miles inland.”
Lotor returned her sharp smile. “Perfect.” He turned to the crew, raising his voice as he said, “Stay docked here while I and my generals scout ahead. Stealth is essential.”
The crew murmured assent, securing the ship to dock overnight while Lotor and the girls gathered supplies to camp overnight. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, Lotor planned to approach Team Voltron peacefully early in the morning.
After setting up camp, the team was finally able to practice openly with their elemental abilities. Lotor worked to counter and defend against Acxa’s fire, Zethrid’s earth, Ezor’s water, and Narti’s air, balancing his defense with strategic sword and elemental parries according to the attack.
Once exhausted, the five piled together into one tent, enjoying the luxury of being able to sleep together away from the prying eyes of the Fire Nation. Lotor slept closest to the tent entrance, wanting to shield his girls.
In the morning, they’d talk to Voltron. For now, they slept, warm and safe.
~*~*~*~
Lotor awoke with a rush of power and adrenaline, airbending by reflex to blast back the stranger leaning over him. He registered a strong sensation in his gut and looked down to see a knife-hilt sticking out. Likely, the only reason why he wasn’t being overwhelmed by pain was because of the power-rush filling him.
His first instinct was to go after the attacker, but he heard Avatar Marmora’s voice in his head. “Knowledge or death. Survey the situation.” Lotor rose up into the air, vaguely noting the lack of a tent in his way. He surveyed the situation as he readied fire attacks, feeling the glowing power filling him assist his dual-element-wielding. To his right, his girls were jumping up into battle positions around him. Despite the darkness, Lotor could see a ring of six unfamiliar fighters quickly readying their elemental attacks.
An unfamiliar female voice shouted, “WAIT!! Voltron, stand down!” Looking over in her direction, Lotor realized that this was the same person who had stabbed him. Why was she telling them to stand down? Wait, Voltron?!
The rest of Voltron let go of their attacks aside from a single waterbender, and Lotor’s own team backed up closer to him. They glared at the waterbender, but the boy stepped forward. “Wait!” he interjected. “If he’s the Avatar, I need to heal him!”
Heal him? Lotor looked at the knife-hilt again, and the last piece of advice his father ever gave him came back to him. “Only kill the Avatar if he is in the Avatar State. If he dies outside the Avatar state, he will reincarnate. Do not repeat my mistake with Marmora.” With the realization that he was dying, Lotor let go of the Avatar State. He nearly collapsed, but Zethrid caught him and lowered him to the ground with surprising gentleness.
Immediately, Ezor knelt beside him, using the water she had readied for battle to heal the wound. Lotor’s consciousness was already beginning to slip, succumbing to the pain now that he didn’t have the Avatar State to sustain him. Even so, he registered the waterbender boy kneeling at his other side, adding his own water and power to the wound site.
“I need to pull out the knife, okay babe?” Ezor said soothingly. Lotor managed a slight nod.
The removal of the knife brought a fresh wave of pain, submerging Lotor’s consciousness.
~*~*~*~
The first thing Lotor was aware of was the weak thrum of healing energy coating the stab wound on his abdomen, which only faintly throbbed now. He opened his eyes to see the back of Ezor’s head as she laid on his chest. Glancing over, Lotor saw that Voltron’s waterbender was passed out beside him, perhaps worn out from healing. Weakly, he looked around to see that the other girls were also inside the newly fixed tent.
Lotor wanted to close his eyes and fall back asleep, but then Acxa called, “Lotor! Are you okay?”
Forcing a weak smile, Lotor nodded. “Still hurts, but I think I’ll survive.”
Ezor sat up, withdrawing her water from Lotor. “Sorry I couldn’t do more. Even with Lance’s help…” She yawned, looking clearly exhausted.
“You saved my life,” Lotor said with certainty. “Thank you.”
The waterbender, Lance, woke up and looked over with an apologetic smile. “Sorry we tried to kill you. We thought you were going to try to hurt us, but Acxa explained everything, so… we’re sorry.” He stood up. “I’ll just leave you guys alone. Call me over if you need more healing.” With that, he walked away.
Lotor looked at Acxa questioningly, and Acxa explained, “They initially thought that they’d stabbed the wrong person. I had to explain that, yes, you are Prince Lotor, and that your father has no idea that you are the Avatar.”
“She also had to stop me and Narti from killing them in revenge,” Zethrid added, and Narti nodded in agreement.
“And she helped Lance and I come to an agreement about switching off on healing you. We would’ve burned ourselves out otherwise,” Ezor added.
“I also traveled back to the ship earlier to inform them that we plan to stay ashore for a few days,” Acxa added. “I figured you wouldn’t want them to hear about this… incident.”
“Thank you,” Lotor said sincerely, looking first to Acxa, then to the other girls. He tried to sit up, but Ezor and Zethrid immediately stopped him.
Narti leaned over and signed, “Rest. We can talk with the others later.”
Lotor hummed in acknowledgement. “Stay with me?"
“Of course!” Ezor exclaimed, laying back down beside him. Acxa, Zethrid, and Narti followed suit, curling up around him. Lotor instantly felt safer.
Perhaps Lotor was the unluckiest person in the world, having to hide who he was and appear to be trying to appease his father, caught between the side he was really on and the side he pretended to be on in this war, but with his girls around him, he felt like nothing else mattered.