Fics By Elle

Allura watched as the shirtless Lotor stormed off after a brief conversation with Greig during which time he tried to help the man had just punched full in the face. She then watched Greig speak with the small group of security guards that had assembled, guard captain included, then turned and walked back to them.

“What was that all about?” Emily asked before Allura could think to form a sentence. It had all happened so fast, Lotor had been attentive to her and even caring then he storm down upon the guard captain and broke the poor man’s nose.

“Drules are…” Greig paused as if looking for the right words. “Very possessive, I guess you could say.” Greig shrugged, looking back at the security crew as they started to gather evidence and take photographs of the scene. “Lotor is more so than others because everything he ever had was hard won. He perceived that the guard captain was responsible for not detecting this plot and he created. We are not quite used to your ways.”

“How is the guard captain even responsible?” Allura asked after a moment, mulling over Greig’s words.

“For letting someone get so close to you with a threat,” Greig replied, as if it was obvious. “The man’s job is to protect and he failed to so do in this instance.”

“That is a very black and white assessment,” Emily commented, but she nodded. “You said that the bomb was made with common compounds?”

“The investigation I ordered will give us more information, but I believe so,” Greig confirmed. “I will stay here and oversee the investigation.”

“Where did Lotor go?” Allura asked hesitantly, not wanting to seem eager to be in Lotor’s company. When she was with him, he really seemed to see her. She felt like a silly little girl again, desperate for attention from someone who cared.

“Lotor is returning to the ship to monitor the transmissions before and after the explosion to see if he can determine who the culprit is,” Greig replied.

“I will help you,” Emily volunteered, a little eagerly, Allura thought. Allura just nodded though knowing that the two of them had security issues to attend to. She turned and saw Coran and Nanny waiting for her.

“Princess, I think that you should stay inside the castle today in the royal wing,” Coran said, motioning her away from the destroyed room and into the bowels of the castle where she would be safe. She nodded and let herself be herded back to her bedroom door, her mind not really functioning wholly.

“You should call off this wedding,” Nanny said harshly once the group was in front of Allura’s chamber doors. “That monster cannot be allowed to stay here! Just look what danger he brings with him.”

“There will be more to come if she doesn’t wed him,” Coran chided.

“Zarkon’s men will attack regardless of if I marry Lotor or not,” Allura snapped, knowing that this moment would come. A confrontation about the marriage was long over due with Nanny, it just reminded her of the futility of the situation. “Zarkon has been looking for an excuse to raze the entire planet to the ground and now he has it. We need Lotor’s armada and we need his knowledge of the Drules to make it out of this one.”

Nanny seemed rather taken aback by Allura’s tenacity. Normally Allura caved into Nanny’s ridiculous demands with a little pressure but on this Allura wasn’t going to budge. She had chosen this route for the greater good of Altair and all of Arus. The other nations of Altair were behind her decision and so was Coran, Allura didn’t feel the need to listen to Nanny scold her for something that was beyond her control.

“Surely Voltron will be able to…” Nanny began.

“Voltron is a powerful weapon,” Coran agreed. “But a weapon all the same and Lotor has been able to incapacitate it on several occasions. I can only imagine that Zarkon is more cunning and vicious than his son when it comes to war strategies. We cannot take the chance and lose everything that we have.”

Nanny seemed a little dumbfounded but Allura was happy that Coran was on her side on the matter.

“But…” Nanny uttered. “Good always triumphs over evil…”

“If that were the case,” Allura snapped. “My father and mother would still be alive.”

Nanny just humphed at that and stormed away. Allura watched her go, knowing that she should feel guilty at her treatment of her caretaker but the guilt never came. Coran was beside her and not admonishing her so she just sighed, knowing that Nanny would be back for another round sooner or later.

“The ceremony is tomorrow,” Allura remarked absently to break the silence that had fallen. “And I have no dress.”

Coran stood from a moment, staring off down the hall that Nanny had stormed down, the lines on his face looking deeper than normal.

“There is something that I want to show you, Allura,” Coran sighed and motioned her down the hall to the rooms that she didn’t enter often. Allura didn’t go down those old halls anymore, not since she was very young. The memories of her family always seemed to linger there and it made her sad to remember what she had lost.

Coran took her to a suite of rooms that was very feminine in decor but obviously rarely used. The walls were white with hand painted flowers from floor to ceiling. All the furniture was covered in canvas to ward away the dust but what she could see of the furniture it looked white with carved gold encrusted engravings.

“This was your mother’s private room,” Coran explained. “She did not always share a room with your father.” Coran brought Allura to a tall wardrobe which he pulled the canvas from to reveal more white engravings with gold inlays. Coran opened the wardrobe to reveal one single garment hanging within, hidden in a garment bag. “This was your mothers. I believe it will fit you.”

Allura pulled down the zipper and realized quickly what she was looking at. Pristine white chiffon hung on the hanger, an a-line, empire waisted strapless wedding gown fit for a queen. Not just any queen, her own mother.

“Coran!” Allura gasped.

“Yes, Allura, it was your mother’s.” Coran sighed. “I kept it from you because I didn’t think that we would get this close to the wedding.” Allura looked at him in surprise, noting the guilt apparent on his face. “The more I think about it, the more I think you should have this. Your parents marriage was arranged as well.”

“It was?” Allura was surprised. No one had ever told her that her parents had an arranged marriage and she had always thought that they had a great romance before they had wed. She had idolized them, but now as she stood in her mother’s private suite it started to make sense. “Did they care for each other at least?”

“They got along well enough,” Coran said. “I’m sure with enough time they would have come to love one another. Zarkon ended their lives too soon for us to know. Your mother was a very willful woman, much like your aunt Orla. Your father wasn’t used to such a passionate and obstinate woman.”

That made Allura smile, to know that her mother was a strong woman. It also gave her hope, that she wasn’t the only one in her family who had faced a marriage that they didn’t want. Her parents might have loved one another give enough time. It wasn’t perfect but it was a worthy goal.

“Thanks Coran,” Allura said as she pulled the garment bag from the closet. “Why have you never spoken of my parents before?”

“Don’t you remember?” Coran asked, surprised by her question.

“Remember what?” Allura asked, confused.

“When you were younger,” Coran explained. “You didn’t want to accept your parents death. You forbid Nanny and me from talking about them at all. We went along with it until you were ready.” Coran shrugged. “We just got so used to not talking about them, that we never brought it up again.”

Allura was so young when she lost her parents. She didn’t remember making such a declaration. She just thought that it was normal for staff never to mention them and for Coran only to mention her father when necessary.

Allura sighed. “I don’t remember that,” she admitted. “I’d like to learn more sometime. Right now though, I have to try this on, get it dry cleaned, and possibly hemmed.”

Coran nodded and walked Allura back to her chamber, opening the door for her. She knew that Coran and Nanny wanted her to stay in her room for the rest of the day, just like when she was a child. Allura closed the door behind her once inside, listening to the latch click. The day wasn’t even half over and she was already quarantined to her room. She hated it.

Allura went to her own closet and took the dress out of the garment bag and hung it where she could admire it. The gown was exquisite, almost everything she could have imagined herself. Judging by the decor in her mother’s old suite, Allura had more in common with her than she thought.

As she looked over the layers of chiffon that made up the skirt of the dress, she thought of a way to make the dress perfect for her. To still respect her mother’s dress but to still make her own.

Allura pulled out her console and dialed the only person she could think of.

“Emily, I’m in need of a new seamstress. One that can alter a dress overnight.”