Chapter Text
She slashed the bayard across the hologram's chest. The 'soldier's' form spasmed for a moment before disspearing. She turned to the cowering paladin, a hand on her hip.
“Hunk, seriously, I thought you said you'd been practicing!” Pidge frowned at the much bigger paladin.
Hunk rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. “I have! You know my bayard is made for long distance fighting,” he held up his cannon.
Pidge rolled her eyes and summonded her shield, “you do have a shield, though.”
Hunk pursed his lips and looked away, “okay, so maybe I haven’t been practicing as much as I said, but it's hard to get away to train!” He protested.
Pidge sighed, “I know what that's like. It's hard to get away from the cast- I mean, it's hard to get away too.” Pidge mentally slapped herself, she almost gave away her identity.
The paladins were a secret group of rebel fighters that fought against the King Zarkon, his wife, Queen Haggar, and their son, Prince Lotor. As part of their secrecy, they all had a secret identity that they told no one, even the other paladins couldn't know. The only two people who knew were the Princess Allura and King Alfor's right hand man, Coran.
Hunk ran a hand through his dark locks and looked up at the clock on the wall, “oh, shoot, I have to go!” Pidge followed his gaze and her eyes widened at the time.
“Wow, I need to go too.” She didn't waste any time going to the change rooms and packing her armour away. She peeled her leotard off and and pulled a green tunic and a pair of brown trousers on over a cream undershirt. She pushed her glasses on and grabbed her bag just as she heard Hunk talking with another person, Lance.
“Where's Pidge?”
“He's getting changed in there,” Hunk said and Lance entered. He was still in his guard outfit- a white and gold blazer with two gold stripes on his shoulders. She pulled the tie out of her long hair and it fell over her shoulders and back.
Pidge rolled her eyes, “dude, you realise that we're supposed to keep our identities secret.”
Lance shrugged and started unbuttoning his blazer, Pidge averted her eyes and swung her satchule over her shoulder. “I had to get here quick so I could train before my next shift.”
“One day you're going to get all of us killed,” she growled. Lance rolled his eyes as Pidge turned and stalked past Hunk, who was still taking his armour off. “Bye.” Was all she said as she headed into the tunnels.
The tunnel system the Paladins used ran under the entire three kingdoms. They were built after the Altean, Galra and Human kingdoms declared peace 150 years ago. The tunnels were old, yes, but they worked and were sturdy enough to live another 150 years, at least, until they collapsed.
Pidge turned left down the route she had memorised. She made an effort to walk around the puddle that was in the middle of the stone floor and, yet again, she made a mental note to ask Hunk if he could fix the leaky tunnel. The floor sloped up and the damp and dark tunnel started to lighten. Pidge could hear the birds chirp as the sun came over the horison. Pidge groaned as she realised how late she was, talking with Hunk and Lance had distracted her long enough for the sun to rise. She emerged from the bushes and snuck through the beautiful and well-kept gardens. She tip-toed over the manicured lawns and brushed past the perfectly shaped bushes. She thought, again, about how stupid it was to waste so much time and energy on a garden.
She pressed up against the brick wall and checked left and right for any dawn patrols before turning and finding the first handhold. Using a sturdy vine as a foothold, she lifted herself off the ground and crept up the vine covered stone wall. She huffed as she lifted herself onto the open window. She rolled into the room with a groan and laid on the ground for a few moments, catching her breath. She slowly stood up and headed to her bed. She undid her tunic and pulled it off along with her pants and undershirt. She picked her shift off of the floor where she had dropped it and pulled it over her head. She stuffed the clothes into her satchel and hid it under her bed. She laid down in the oversised double bed and didn't bother pulling her blanket over her as she close her eyes.
However, before she could drift off, there was a knock on her door. The familiar pattern of the knock told Pidge that it was her brother, Matt.
“What do you want Matt?” She half called out-half groaned.
He opened the door and peeked in. “Hey Princess Pidge,” he smiled at her.
“Don't call me that.”
He rolled his eyes, “fine, Katie. I didn't see you at breakfast, I was wondering if you were okay.”
She sat up and leaned on her elbows. “I'm going to brunch with Allura and-“ she rolled her eyes-“Lotor.” Matt cringed at the name, “I don't think I should fill up on breakfast.” She lied. Thankfully, Matt believed her.
“O...kay. Well, if you want to get to the brunch on time then you should start to get ready.” Matt opened the door fully and walked to her, sitting on the bed. He noticed her eyebags and asked, “are you sure you're okay? You look exhausted.”
Pidge- sorry, Katie -nodded, “I'm fine, I was up late, coding.” She lied. It was a believable lie, she was sometimes caught on the computer at stupidly late times often.
Matt ruffled her long, honey-coloured hair and stood up, “You need to be ready in one and a half vargas.”
Katie punched him jokingly in the arm, “use hours like a normal person!”
He chuckled, “sorry, I guess I've been around Alteans too much.” He grinned and Katie copied him before he headed out of her room, shutting the door behind him.
Pidge let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She flopped back down onto her bed and rubbed her eyes, trying to blink the sleep out of them. Sighing, she rolled out of bed and headed into her joint bathroom where she took a much needed bath and washed her hair. When she came out in a shift with a fluffy towel wrapped around her head it was much more humid than it had been before. She grumbled about the bugs before heading into her wardrobe and pulling out a light green summer dress with gold embroidery. She pulled it on over her head and threaded the gold laces through the holes on the front panel of the dress. The light green skirt ended just above her knees and had two very pale, almost transparent layers of underskirt. The gold embroidery made a lace-like pattern on the edges of her skirt and it shimmered in the early morning sun that was shining through the still-open window. She pulled her hair into a half up-half down style, pinning the stray hairs back away from her face. She decided against her glasses, choosing to put eye makeup on for once. After covering up her eyebags, she put a cream colour all over her eyelids and put a light brown in her crease. She made a small wing and put a light coating of mascara on, just to slightly darken her eyelashes. She checked the time and, seeing she still had over half an hour left, she put on a gold, shimmery eyeshadow over her lids and used a tinted lip balm. Happy that she looked nothing like the sweaty, tired and mangled boy she'd been before, she got up and pushed her feet into a pair of dark green flats.
She headed out of her room and almost ran into her guard, Tsuyoshi. He had been standing right across from her door and his large build hadn't left much room in the small hallway.
“Ah! Tsuyoshi!” Katie grumbled as she stumbled back.
“Sorry! Sorry!” He fumbled as he tried to help her.
She slapped his hand away, “I can do it myself.” She snapped. She adjusted her dress and checked her hair before heading down the corridor. She walked down the stairs to the massive foyer with her guard following after her. Matt was waiting for her, his guard, Olia, standing next to him. Her canine-like nose twitched as she stood perfectly; arms by her side, shoulders back, chest puffed out. Katie was still surprised that Matt insisted on a canine guard. Their species was frowned upon by many royals, some still considered them to be wild animals. But, Olia was a great and loyal guard, always willing to prove her worth to the royals and even other guards. She was the perfect guard. Katie looked back at her guard, embarrassed. She stopped next to Matt and watched as Tsuyoshi seemed to relax instead of stand at attention like he was supposed to. Katie scanned his face and saw how tired he looked; he had dark bags under his eyes and every blink looked like a struggle to stay awake. He looked exactly how she felt.
“You look nice,” Matt's voice snapped Katie out of her observation.
“Oh,” she looked down at her dress, smoothing out the crinkles, “it's the one Dad gave me for my birthday.” Matt nodded, remembering. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but before he could, Sam, Iverson and Colleen entered the foyer. Iverson and Sam were arguing about something, but stopped when they saw the two children. “We'll continue this with Alfor.” Sam said before turning to his son and daughter, beaming when he saw Katie was wearing the dress he gave her. A guard walked over to Iverson and talked to him under his breath. Iverson nodded before dismissing the guard, “the cars are ready, we have a long ride ahead of us so we'd best get going.” Sam nodded and Iverson led the way out of the huge front doors, ushering the royals down the marble stairs. As Katie was making her way down the stairs, Tsuyoshi tripped and stumbled into her, almost knocking her over. She cried out in surprise which made Iverson spin around and glare at her guard. “Tsuyoshi!” The guard stood up at attention, his hand flying to his head in a salut. Iverson looked like he was about to burst with anger, his cheeks flushed and his only eye narrowed. “I'm fine.” Katie butted in before Iverson could scream at Tsuyoshi. “Really. It was just a mistake,” she lifted her chin. Iverson narrowed his eye, but turned around to lead Sam and Colleen to their car. She heard Tsuyoshi breathe out a sigh of relief behind her. “Thanks,” he breathed. Katie shrugged and walked down the last few steps, heading towards the scond car as her parents climbed into the first one. Olia had the door open and Matt was already inside, they were both waiting for Katie to climb in. She hopped into the car and clicked her seatbelt in, Olia shutting the door behind her and climbing into the driver's seat. Tsuyoshi climbed into the passenger seat as Olia started the car. She followed the car in front of them, turning out of the palace's gates. Katie was so tired, and the gentle rumbling of the car was so relaxing... Before Katie knew it she was being shaken awake by her brother. Matt smiled and rubbed her shoulder, “we're almost there.” Katie blinked a few times before yawning and stretching. She must have drifted off, the last thing she could remember was passing through the outer towns of their kingdom. She looked out the window at the passing gardens. Now, she thought their gardens were over the top, but the Altean gardens made the Human's gardens look basic. They sped past fish pools and sculpted bushes that must take hours to maintain every week! They passed a huge tree that had a swing hanging from one of the thick branches, in the swing was a female altean with long blonde hair, pale skin and green cheek marks that matched her green, pink and yellow dress she was wearing. Sitting on a tree stump a few feet infront of the blonde was a dark skinned, male altean with long, dark dreadlocks and yellow cheek marks, he was wearing a much simplier outfit, a leather tunic and navy pants over a cream undershirt. They both wore jewellery, the female wearing dainty gold earings and a thin gold chain around her neck and the male wearing chunky rings and bracelets. He had a sketchpad between his legs and was glancing up at the female every so often, obviously drawing her. Both of their cheek marks were glowing slightly as they laughed at something, the blonde throwing her head back. As her car sped past, Katie saw them look over and she looked away. They kept on driving, flying past a huge group of alteans, all different sizes and colours, all royalty, Katie guessed, looking at their fancy and a little over-the-top clothes. Thankfully, Alteans had a much simpler and pastel sense of fashion, opting more for comfort than looks, nothing like the massive skirts and tight corsets humans thought was fashionable.
They left the party behind and drove through a huge set of gates. As they passed through, Katie could see the Castle of Lions' long bridge and it's tall, metal walls. Katie pressed her finger up against the glass and stared in awe at the gorgeous craftsmanship of the Castle. She loved how slim and aerodynamic the shape of the Castle was, almost like a spaceship, she loved the clean lines and colours. Everything about the castle had been carefully planned out, exactly like Katie liked things to be. The car stopped at the start of the bridge, where two alteans were standing, a blonde and a red-head. The blonde female was a head and a half taller than the male redhead.
The car door opened and Katie climbed out, smoothing out her skirt and hair, and Matt followed her, pulling the creases out of his tunic. She turned to the two alteans. The girl had long blond hair that was braided back into two ponytails that reached her hips, her eyes were purple and she was wearing long earings that dangled from her pointed ears. She was wearing a pink and white long shirt with a dark teal belt at her waist that matched the pants she had on, the long sleeves of the shirt were teal and matched her white and teal knee-high boots. The boy had short redish-brown hair that spiked up at the end, a style Katie had seen many male and even female alteans having. His eyes were teal and he wore a brown and dark green shirt with a red sash around his middle. The sleeves were a paler green and he had black and grey boots on over his greyish-green pants. They had matching teal cheek marks and their eye and face shapes were the same, the boy just had a more defined jaw. They both bowed before the girl started speaking.
“Welcome to the Castle of Lions. I am Romelle and this is my brother, Bandor. We will be taking you to your meetings. Princess, Coran will be taking you to Princess Allura,” she gestured down to the end of the bridge where Kaite could see a small figure waiting. She nodded before starting to walk down the bridge, Tsuyoshi following. She heard Romelle talking with her brother and parents, but her voice faded as Katie walked away. She reached Coran he smiled, his moustache rising and wrinkles forming around his mouth and eyes.
“Lovely day, isn't it, Coran?” Katie smiling back.
“'Tis,” he inclined his head in agreement and they shared a knowing look. He turned to Tsuyoshi and Katie swore she saw the same look pass between them as Coran asked how he was. “Where's Charles?”
“He's resting, he was on guard all night,” Tsuyoshi informed Coran.
“Takashi mustn't let you two sleep with all the shifts he gives you!” Coran exclaimed.
Tsuyoshi chuckled, “no, he doesn't!” Coran chuckled while Katie shifted awkwardly, she'd never heard someone talk about the head of guard jokingly.
Coran clapped his hands together, “enough chat, I need to take you to the Princess and come back before Lotor gets here.” Coran turned on his heel and walked briskly into the castle. Katie had to almost jog to keep up with his long strides and her guard's quick pase. Before long, they reached Allura's room. She was standing outside her door, chatting with another Altean. The female altean had short, slicked back magenta hair, blue eyes, tan skin, green cheek marks and a small mole just below her lip. Allura laughed at something she said, her dainty hand covering her mouth.
Coran cleared his throat and Allura looked over. She dismissed the guard, “it was lovely to talk, Hira, but I must attend to my duties.” Hira noticed the human princess and bowed her head before heading down another hall. Allura turned to Katie, “Katie! It's so lovely to see you!” She scooped her in for a hug and Katie reluctantly slid her arms around her ribs. Allura held on for too long and Katie pulled away.
“It's nice to see you too, Allura,” she smiled.
Coran cleared his throat again, “I will be back soon with Lotor.” Allura nodded and he headed away.
“Come in, come in,” Allura ushered Katie into her room. Tsuyoshi stayed outside, saying he had to wait for Coran to come back. Allura shut the door and Pidge relaxed instantly, her perfect posture and smile gone, replaced with a slouch and a frown. She headed to the table that was set in the middle of the room and slumped down on one of the chairs. “Long night?” Allura asked. Pidge nodded.
“I was up training and I forgot about this thingy,” she gestured to the table, which was covered in a lace tablecloth and china plates and teacups.
Allura shook her head, “you could have cancelled.” She looked concerned as she sat down in the chair next to Pidge, placing a dark, manicured hand over one of Pidge's pale, freckled and scarred hands. She shook her head.
“I couldn't leave you alone with Lotor,” Pidge curled the hand under Allura's into a fist.
Allura sighed, “I don't know what you have against Lotor!”
“He's a galra! Our enemy!” She hissed.
“He's a gentleman. Besides, he's only part galra,” Allura defended the prince. “You don't know Lotor like I do.”
“Did I hear my name?” Lotor's smooth voice called out. Katie spun around on her chair to face the prince and his four guards. She spotted Tsuyoshi standing behind Zedrith, looking awkward and uncomfortable. She cocked her head slightly and Tsuyoshi relaxed, walking over to her chair and standing a few feet away. Zedrith, Narti- and her cat-, Ezor and Acxa took up positions around the circular room, pressing their backs against the curved walls.
“Lotor!” Allura stood up and smiled, walking over to Lotor. He pressed his lips to her hand as he bowed low, Katie almost cringed. Lotor nodded to the human, he had learnt long ago to not even try to touch her, let alone kiss her. Lotor whispered something to Allura and she giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand. Katie rolled her eyes.
“Shall we begin?” Lotor asked, sitting down in one of the chairs after pulling out a chair for Allura.
“Oh, yes, of course!” She reached across the table and grabbed a small remote. She pressed one of the buttons, “someone will be here in a moment to bring us some tea.” She smiled at Lotor, “how has your mother been?” She asked polietly. It was no secret that Queen Haggar was mentally and physically sick.
“Quiet well. She is starting to be able to walk around by herself, I even found her the other day practicing some basic spells,” he chuckled. Katie wanted to flip the table over or smash a plate against the wall- Haggar was a powerful witch, if she could cast even just basic spells so quickly after her sickness... who knows how quickly she could be back on the battle field! Katie swallowed and pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, forcing a smile on her face.
“That's wonderful! How long do you think it will take her to take back her spot on the throne?” She made it sound like an innocent question, just a curious princess wondering about her ’friend's’ mother.
Lotor thought for a moment, placing a slender finger on his chin, “the doctor said almost a year, but if she is already able to change the colour of a block, then I believe a few months at the most. Of course, Father wouldn't let her go to battle for another year, at least.” Katie relaxed a little- a few months, they should be ready to stage an attack on the Galra empire by then.
“How is your Father coping with your Mother being sick?” Allura looked concerned as she placed a hand over Lotor's. The Altean glanced over at her and Katie saw a flicker of something in her eyes. Her eyes widened with realisation- Allura was gathering infomation for the rebellion! Katie blinked in acknowledgment and Allura looked back at Lotor, her expression soft and her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“He has been a little out of sorts, but has been commanding his troops and empire just as strongly. He is fixed on wiping out the rebellion after what they did to my Mother,” Lotor lifted his chin proudly.
Allura nodded, “that rebellion... it's awful the things they do...” she shook her head and scruched up her nose. If Katie didn't know better, she'd think that Allura really did believe the things she was saying.
“Filthy creatures,” Katie put in.
Lotor nodded, closing his eyes and looking like he was going to cry. He placed a two fingers on the bridge of his nose and Katie heard a small sob. Allura moved in closer, “Lotor, are you alright?” She placed a hand on one of his shoulders. Katie thought she saw the corner of Lotor's mouth quirk up, but it was so quick she didn't know if she imagined it.
He lifted his chin and shook out his long, silky hair. “I'm fine. Just a little emotional about my Mother.” Allura moved her hand from his shoulder back to his hand, apologising for bringing the topic up.
The door opened and all of the guards turned to see Romelle walking in with a tray. On the tray was a teapot and a small plate of altean treats. She walked over and placed the tray on the table, pouring each of them a cup of tea. “Milk? Sugar?” Katie shook her head, Allura asked for one sugar and Lotor asked for milk and three sugars. Romelle ‘accidentally’ spilt some of the milk on Lotor, she apologised but Lotor just waved it off. Romelle collected her things and started to head back out of the room.
“Thank you Romelle,” Allura smiled at her. Romelle brightened and smiled so wide Katie was sure that her lips really did touch her ears. Romelle's marks glowed a little as her cheeks turned pink. She turned and almost skipped out of the room. Katie sipped her tea as listened to the other two chat. It was nothing interesting, just gossip that the two heard from servants and guards.
Katie was glad when Coran came to get them, she had been bored of their conversation half an hour ago. She stood up and followed Coran, her guard, Lotor and his guards following her.
“It was lovely to see you again, Katie,” Lotor said, his tone saying the opposite.
“Same here,” Katie said with the same tone. Coran led them through the castle in a painful silence until they met up with Matt, Sam, Colleen, Iverson and Zarkon. He towered over Iverson, who was one of the taller humans, and glared down at his son.
“Let's go.” The Galra king turned and led the way down the castle's bridge to a car that was waiting for them. They climbed in, Lotor's guards going into another car. The cars took a few moments to start up, but drove off as soon as the engines were on.
Colleen smiled, “I know this may sound rude, but I'm glad they're gone.” Katie nodded and Matt and Sam laughed.
Coran nodded to them, “the royals thank you for joining us.” He bowed his head and smiled to them.
“Thank you Coran, tell Alfor and Melenor that we thank them for holding the meeting at the Castle of Lions,” Sam nodded.
“Yes, thank Allura for me as well,” Katie asked him. Coran nodded, wishing them a safe trip before they headed down the bridge towards their cars. Katie and Matt climbed in to one car with their guards in the front and Sam and Colleen climbed in to the other car with Iverson in the front. Katie watched out the window as the gardens flew past. She took one last look at the castle as they drove away.