Allura paced. She was not usually give to pacing. She saw it as a waste of energy, but she found herself with a surplus of energy that she did not know what to do with. She had been tried to get some work done, but her mind refused to concentrate. Her feet led her back to Castle Control where Hunk was tracking Keith and Lance's progress millions of kilometers away.

"Where are they?" she asked, putting her hand on the back of Hunk's seat.

The big man nearly jumped in the air. He turned to look at her, his eyes wide and a hand over his heart.

"Are you taking sneaking lessons from Keith? I didn't even hear you come in."

"You learn to walk quietly when your life is in constant danger," she said wryly.

He chuckled and turned back to the screen.

"The signal is fuzzy, but from what I can tell they're underneath the dungeon," he replied.

She squinted at the screen and saw two blue dots stationary underneath the outline of Castle Doom. She chewed her lip anxiously, wishing that she had something to keep her busy. She wasn't worried about them; she knew they could take care of themselves. She wanted to be there.

"Do you think they can get to him?" she asked Hunk.

"Since it's Keith and Lance, I think that they have a good chance of getting in," he replied.

"How good of a chance?"

"Seventy percent at the most."

"They must care about Sven a lot to risk themselves like that. In Zarkon's domain no less."

"They do. It must feel good to have someone care about you that much, huh, Princess?"

"I wouldn't know," she said flatly.

"Trust me, people will risk their lives for you."

"Only because I'm a princess. Not because they care about me," she said. "Let me know if anything changes. I'll be in the docking bay."

Hunk turned to see her walking away. "Sure."

He wondered about her sometimes. She and Keith shared some of the same characteristics, like coolness under pressure, for even though Allura yelled a lot during some of the more dangerous situations they had been in, she got things done. But one thing different about them was that Keith was well-liked by those he commanded, while Allura was not. She was not a people person. She could talk military strategies and politics, but when it came to the inanities of life, she was clueless. Not that he could blame her that. She had lived underground and trained so that one day she would become the leader her father was. She did not mix with the other children. She didn't have the chance to cultivate her social skills, to make the long-lasting friendships that they rest of them treasured.

He watched his two friends blast their way into the dungeons to get to their childhood friend. Allura did not know what it was like to care about someone so much so that you'd give your life for them. Although she was doing all she could for Arus by flying the Blue, she didn't do it for the individual people, but for the whole because it was duty. Not because she loved them.

Hunk wondered if there was a man out there who could capture her seemingly empty heart. He would need a blowtorch to warm her up. He snickered at the idea and turned back to his work.

Keith wiped the dust from his goggles as it settled around them. He and Lance were now directly underneath the dungeon floor. Lance raised the laser cutter, which resembled a rifle, and began to slice through the floor. The beam of light coming out of the tool was invisible so they didn't have to worry about anyone seeing it. They would have to worry about someone hearing the racket they were going to cause when the piece of floor landed. They could only hope that no one would be standing on it. That had happened before.

Lance finished cutting and they jumped out of the way as the circular piece fell down. They had their blasters out at ready in case shooting began.

"I'm going up," Keith said. "Cover me."

Lance nodded and Keith jumped up to grasp the edge of the floor to pull himself up. He immediately rolled to one side and when he saw he was clear, gestured for Lance to come up. They quickly found a computer console and Keith put the flat diamond-shaped gadget Pidge had give him in the input/output slot. The screen flashed white then a map appeared with a small red dot in one corner and a green dot in another, an arrow and the words "You are here" flashing over it.

Lance chuckled. "Fun guy, that Pidge."

"He's in the cell in the end of the corridor on the left," Keith said. "I'll take the lead."

Lance charged his blaster to its highest power level and followed Keith. They stuck close to the walls, opposite from each other, Keith slightly ahead. They reached the locked door that they knew held Sven. Lance held his blaster up as Keith got down on one knee, a tiny explosive device in his hand. He slipped it into where the bolt locked into the wall and it let out a small hissing sound, smoke coming out of the crack a moment later. The door opened with a snick.

Suddenly, a guard crept up behind Lance and put him in a headlock. Keith had his blaster in his hand in one second and in the next shot the guard with complete accuracy, killing him with one blast.

"Thanks," Lance said, gasping. "I owe you one."

"No problem," Keith said. "We better hurry. The rest will be coming when they realize this one is down."

Romelle stood quickly as two black robed figures entered the cell. Moving quickly, one grabbed Sven and the other took her hand. She hesitated a split second before realizing they were trying to save them. She let herself be led. The other seemed to have trouble dragging Sven along and his partner took Sven's other arm and put it around his shoulders. He looked behind him to make sure Romelle was following. They descended through the hole and hurried to the ship.

The guards followed Zarkon's orders and took chase. They fired at the retreating figures but were careful not to get either of the ones in black.

"Shoot the girl," Zarkon said through their comm links.

Romelle screamed as she took a blaster shot in the back. Lance whipped around and caught her before she fell. She forced herself to ignore the excruciating pain. She reminded herself that it could not even compare to the pain she had felt in the past and what she would feel in the future if they didn't escape. She pushed him towards where the other held Sven.

"Go...I'll be fine."

He nodded and took up Sven again. One of them turned every once and while to fire a shot. Romelle pushed one of them out of the way and supported Sven in his place. Keith fell back slightly to return fire. He ducked behind a rock and fired at the surrounding walls. The rock fell, temporarily blocking the way. He ran to catch up with the other three.

"HAUL ASS, KEITH!!" Lance screamed in his earpiece.

Keith jumped into the ship as Lance was starting it up. He took the pilot's seat as they heard shots being fired on the hull. Lance energized the laser cannons and began firing at the Doom guards.

"What are you waiting for!" he yelled frantically. "Lift off!"

"Shut up," Keith said through clenched teeth.

Keith steered the ship back towards the tunnel they had dug and using the rear cannons, sealed it shut. Lance ripped off his mask and pushed his hair back from his face. Keith did the same, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"We've got three squadrons waiting for us on the surface," Lance said. "They're tracking us, but we're too deep for them to shoot at."

Keith opened a channel to the Castle of Lions. A surprised Hunk answered.

"We need back-up," Keith said. "Get over here."

"The Princess thought you might," Hunk said with a small smile. "She and Pidge are on standby about five minutes away from Doom. I'll alert them of your status."

A second later, Allura hailed them.

"We're on our way," she said. "Give me your coordinates."

Keith sent their coordinates. "Good thinking, Allura."

She nodded and closed the link.

"I'm going to stay down until they get here," Keith said. "Lance, see what you can do about Romelle."

Lance stood and knelt next to the slave girl. She could barely keep her eyes open. She was bleeding profusely and he swore under his breath at their thoughtlessness, but the first thing they had to do was shake the Doom guards. He lifted her gently as he could in the their small space and had her kneel with her back to him. He cut open her dress and reached into their first aid kit for tape and gauze. He wiped the wound clean and pressed hard, taping the gauze firmly to her back.

"Has Sven woken yet?" Keith asked.

"He has been for the past month," Romelle replied weakly. "But Hagar visited him yesterday and he hasn't regained consciousness since."

Lance finished dressing her wound and she sat back.

"Don't fall asleep," he warned.

"I'll try not to," she said.

They waited until ten minutes later, Blue and Green Lions appeared on the scanners.

"Here comes the cavalry," Lance cried.