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Altea did not have rain, not in the sense that Earthlings understood. Lance had balked at the idea that fireballs of molten rock raining down on the planet every few deca-phoebs could compare, but it was the closest thing they had. Altea had been a very warm, volcanically active planet. Mist would appear every now and then, but condensed water actively falling from the sky? Unheard of.
For all the planets that Voltron had travelled—worlds covered with snow, ice, and even underwater—Allura’s first experience rain just happened to be on a small planet in an average-sized system, located in a remote, quiet part of an average-sized galaxy.
Earth.
Specifically, the desert in New Mexico.
She hadn’t truly gotten the opportunity to appreciate the place until after the Galra were effectively removed and Earth was once again a self-governing conglomeration of isolation and abundant creativity. It was quickly becoming the new hub for the Voltron Collation, and it made sense, really, what with the majority of the Paladins hailing from the planet. Seeing old friends and making new allies as she wormholed ship after ship of delegates, refugees, and aspiring new members made the new world seem more familiar by the quintant. But there were aspects of it that were still uniquely Earth. At least to her.
That was the rain.
Her first rain. She remembered standing outside, watching dark clouds loom overhead. The air around her felt electric and alive.
“Something is off.”
“Huh?” Hunk looked up from the back of the rover, recently laden with scraps and broken pieces of Galra ship that the Garrison had been scavenging for parts. “I mean, I guess they’re a little weird and pointy, but we’ve gotten pretty used to gutting them for what we need.” A pause. “That makes it sound way more brutal than what we’re actually doing.”
Allura shakes her head. “No, I mean the air. It smells different. And those clouds are darker than usual.”
“Oohhhh.” Hunk’s mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ as he followed her gaze up towards the sky. “Oh, yep. Yeah, it’s definitely gonna rain.”
Allura’s eyes widened. “It’s going to rain?”
Hunk nodded and straightened. “Looks like a bad one, too. We should probably get inside before it hits.”
But Allura didn’t want to get inside. Coran had to coerce her, filling her head with thoughts of not knowing how this ‘rain’ would really affect three wayward Alteans if they were caught in it.
So she watched through the glass, enraptured as the clouds drew close. A wall of haze seemed to roll in from the distance until the light from the sun was dimmed entirely. Then the Garrison grounds were drenched. There was no sense in raising the particle barrier for regular desert weather.
She wouldn’t leave the window, watching with a mixture of awe and tranquility.
Shiro caught her several times after, every time a new rainstorm hit. Allura could be found silent and still by a window or large viewing port, hands folded neatly in front of her as she stared out silently into the distance. She did change places every now and then and he was curious as to exactly why—was it just where she happened to be at the time the storm hit or was she strategically moving about? It really wasn’t any of his business. He wasn’t sure why he questioned it at all.
But question it he did. Allura had always been a studious and dedicated worker, if sometimes erring on the side of pushing others towards and beyond their limits, but more often her own. It would be a pot calling the kettle black sort of situation if he were to point it out, and previous attempts to do so hadn’t been successful. But when a rainstorm hit, he knew that she would pull herself away from whatever she was throwing herself fully into in order to watch it pass by. It was as if the rain called out to her.
Perhaps it did. She was the Blue Paladin, now.
One morning the rain hit early. It was still the height of summer during the monsoon season, so they scheduled practice and drills around some weather patterns if possible, and others in order to directly face the elements and prepare for the worst. Shiro was up early to retrieve some diagnostics on the ATLAS, but he rerouted as soon as he saw the morning brief of weather and atmospheric conditions for their region.
It didn’t take long to find her down on the ground level, standing in front of one of several floor to ceiling windows. While she would sometimes walk around the Castle in her nightgown and robe, she was never seen around the Garrison in anything but uniform. He wondered what happened to the clothes she must have brought with her.
Because she did, didn’t she? Clothes from the Castle.
Shiro shook his head clear of the thoughts that were none of his business as he approached. The only indication that she noticed his arrival was her reflection in the glass as her gaze shift upwards towards his own mirrored image. Her smile was light, but it reached her eyes.
“Good morning, Captain.”
Shiro huffed, holding out a can of tea towards her. “It’s a little too early for ‘Captain’ to be coming from you.”
Allura’s smile widened as she accepted the can. “It’s never too early for call and accord. You of all people should understand that.” But when she looked down, she raised her brows. “Jasmine?”
Shiro blinked. “That’s what you drink, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she paused, actually pulling her gaze away from the window to look at him properly. “I’m surprised you noticed.”
His mouth hung open for a minute. He hadn’t noticed that he’d noticed. How could he verbalize that?
Wasn't it just obvious?
Allura pulled the tab on the can as she turned back to the window. “Thank you. “ She took a sip. Shiro shifted his gaze out towards the tarmac as well. The rain had just begun to hit the pavement.
They stood together in silence for a while. Allura never had company in the times he had caught her watching the rain before, but if she minded it now, she didn’t voice it. Every now and then he would cast a glance her way as if to gauge whether he was being an intrusion or not, but her shoulders seemed relaxed. More relaxed than they normally were, actually.
“You really like the rain, huh?”
Ah. As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. Not by her reaction—she only turned to look at him with a curious expression—but because of how…just wonderfully stupid they suddenly seemed to his own ears.
Allura nodded, shifting easily back to the view. “Yes, I do.”
It was his turn to pause as he crossed his arms, metal fingers folding over his bicep. “Is it okay if I ask ‘why’?” Hopefully that sounded better.
She gave a quiet, contemplative hum. “I suppose…it reminds me of home, in a way.”
That surprised him. “I thought Altea didn’t have rain? Or not rain like this.”
Allura’s lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, the reflection of her eyes a little distant. “No, it didn’t. We had clouds, so water existed in the atmosphere, but I think it just wasn’t conducive to precipitating in this way. I’ve tried to learn what I can about the ‘water cycle’ here on Earth. It’s very interesting.”
She exhaled lightly. “It isn’t the rain itself, it’s…” How to explain it. She pressed her free hand against the glass. “It’s that the world seems to change when it does rain. The air feels alive and pulsing. It’s as if the planet itself is being rejuvenated and I can connect to it in ways that are reminiscent of rituals from the Capital. I know it isn’t the same thing, but…there’s power and life mixing in those clouds and it’s given down to everything on and within this planet.”
Allura smiles fully then. “It’s beautiful.”
Shiro’s eyes don’t leave her.
“Yeah, it is.”
She turns again, facing him with her smile.
Something cracks.
A flash of light flickering across the sky and into the building, followed a few seconds later by the familiar deep roll of thunder.
If Allura wasn’t fully invested before, she was clearly at that point. Her eyes widened and it was if she had suddenly been rejuvenated as she turned back towards the glass with a newfound glee.
“Thunder! And lightning!”
Shiro followed her gaze. “’Very, very frightening…’”
“Is it scary?”
“Oh, uh—“ That reference was probably not worth the explanation. “It’s nothing, never mind.” Though that made him realize. “There hasn’t been a real thunderstorm since we came back, has there?”
Allura shook her head. “No, but I’ve heard about them. Rain and thunder and lightning…” It didn’t take more than a few seconds for her to consider. She suddenly downed half of her tea in one go, then set the can aside before immediately making her way towards the nearest exit.
Shiro did a double take between Allura and the can, then quickly fell into step after her.
“You’re going out into it?”
“I’ve waited all this time and I can’t any longer! It’s just water, isn’t it?”
“Water and electricity—“
The warning in his voice missed her entirely. She hit the panel by the side of the doorway and they slid open in welcome.
Allura was out in the storm before he could get another word in.
She ran out onto the tarmac, looking up towards the sky as the rain hit her face. The droplets had already become heavy and plentiful and she was soaked in less than a minute. Shiro stood in the doorway, watching as she held her arms out in a welcoming embrace to the elements.
They both stood like that for several minutes until she turned to face him, looking happier than she had in weeks.
Had it been weeks since he saw her smile like that?
“I was right!” She exclaimed. “I’ve never felt so refreshed.”
He couldn’t help but smile at that, folding his arms once again. Another roll of thunder and flash of lightning. Allura turned her gaze back to the horizon in awe.
Then she dropped to her knees.
“Allura—!“
He was in front of her within seconds, though she was looking up to him like he had grown a third arm.
“What?”
Shiro found himself standing with his robotic hand reaching out to her. “I…thought you fell?”
Her brows furrowed. “No. I just wanted to see if I could feel it.”
“Feel it?”
She nodded and placed her hands on the tarmac. Another roll of thunder. She looked a little disappointed.
“Perhaps the asphalt is in the way…”
Oh. He got it. Shiro shook his head, relaxing his stance.
“Thunder is…the sound of expanding air, I think. It’s not in the ground, but you can feel it in buildings if it gets close enough.”
That seemed to intrigue her. “Will it get close enough?”
He looked towards the wall of darkening clouds heading their way. “Probably. And the closer the storm gets, the less delay there is between the lightning strikes and the thunder that follows. So we probably shouldn’t be out here for too long.”
Allura looked up at him hopefully. Hair that was normally in a neat bun behind her head was now drooping slightly, with locks and strands plastered all about her face. He could swear her markings were almost glowing, but that might have been his imagination.
“But not now?”
The urge to get her inside died completely with that look.
“Not now,” he conceded. “We’ve got a few minutes, at least.”
Allura seemed to take that as a challenge to get everything she could have out of her thunderstorm experience. He watched her run further out onto the tarmac, try to catch raindrops on her tongue like Lance had told her one could do, and instead get them in her eyes. He stood with her as they counted the seconds between lightning strikes and clasps of thunder. He laughed with her when they finally made their way back inside, listening to their boots make ridiculous squeaking noises and leaving multiple hazardous puddles of water in their wake.
He smiled with her as they tried to dry off their heads, at least. Their uniforms were a lost cause.
“I’m gonna need a shower.”
Allura all but smirked. “Some water to wash off the water?”
He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, then opened it again. “…When you put it like that.”
She laughed lightly, dropping her towel to her shoulders.
“Thank you.”
“Well, when you’re right, you’re right.”
She shook her head. “No. Thank you. For my first rain.”
He paused, his flesh hand holding the towel to his own head. “You’ve seen plenty of them before.”
Allura leveled her gaze with a nod. “Yes, I had seen plenty of them. But experiencing it…it’s everything I could have hoped for.”
She smiled, the blue and pink of her eyes being the exact opposite of the storm raging outside—bright and warm.
“So, thank you, Shiro.” She placed a hand on his metal arm. “And I am glad that I had someone to share it with.”
She was right. Rainstorms did make him feel alive, again.