Chapter Three

When Allura entered the study, Keith was already there waiting for her. He had his back turned to the door, facing the large windows at the sunset. He did not turn as she neared and she came to stand behind him when he finally did. He looked down at her, her close proximity giving him a whiff of the light fresh scent that was her. She looked up at him expectantly, waiting for his words of wisdom concerning her behavior outside.

"Space Marshall Graham wants us to go to Earth," he told her with no preamble.

Her eyebrow arched, her lips pursing. "What did you tell him?"

"I haven't replied yet. His was the message that I left to read. He said it was an order that we come, not a request."

She smirked. "He can't order me around."

"No, he can't. But he can order me around and I can order you around," he said with a feeble attempt at humor.

She let out a short humorless laugh, seeing it, but not appreciating it. "The day you give me an order outside the field of battle is the day I blast your feet off."

"I think we should go," he said. He turned around because her closeness was playing with his senses and he needed to think straight for this one. "What we're doing is too important for us to ignore a chance to fix it before something worse happens."

"Are you changing your mind about this, Keith?" she asked.

She was glad he wasn't facing her to see the expression on her face because she knew her shock and fear was too great to be hidden. His strength had kept her going. She had relied on him to stand by her during this situation and if he changed his mind about it, she wasn't sure she would know how to continue. He was her link to Galaxy Garrison and the sounding board she bounced ideas off of. She had thought that they had started this as a team, rather than him backing her up as she led their little rebellion against GG. But if he had changed his mind...

"No, I haven't," he replied. "But we need to keep an open mind. If we can somehow make the satisfactory changes without the massive movement that we had been planning, it'll be for the better."

He knew better than she did that the faster this was resolved, the better prepared they could be for the next attack. If recruiting Niloc was any indication of what Zarkon had planned, they were in big trouble and problems with GG would precede any kind of plans they could make to defend themselves better. As much as he despised what they had done to try to cut off Zarkon's attack at the head, he knew that the Alliance needed them to survive. Which was why he had agreed to Allura's plan of taking over, but not destroying Galaxy Garrison. They needed it.

Keith closed his eyes briefly, feeling a gigantic headache creeping in. Allura sighed and went to sit on the couch nearby. It wasn't comfortable as it was only in the room for show, but she barely noticed it. Too many things were flying in her head for her to notice something as minute as discomfort.

"Is it just us that are invited to go?" she asked.

"He didn't mention otherwise."

"Schedule another intervid conference during our stay at GG," she said. "It would be best if everyone could at least hear what we're going to be doing. I'm not going into this alone."

"We aren't going to be going into this alone."

She didn't look at him.

"I haven't changed my mind about what we're doing," he said.

"It seems that way to me judging from your behavior. What happened to the unfairness with which they treated us...the massacre that they could have prevented? You seemed to have made an about face the second Graham contacted you. I thought you had lost all allegiance to GG."

"I have," he said, but even as he said it, he knew that she didn't believe him.

"Send out that message," she said. "Set the conference within the next five days and we we'll leave tomorrow so we can prepare a schedule."

"Yes...Your Highness."

He went out the door, all the while feeling her stare upon him. He didn't turn around to meet her eyes and when he left, the Princess' shoulders slumped, dejected. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

What am I going to do now?

"I don't like you going on a trip wid just him, Princess," Nanny argued as she packed Allura's bags.

"Please, Nanny. I can take care of myself," Allura scoffed.

She turned to take a flightsuit from out of her closet and out of the corner of her eye saw Nanny quickly whip a pale blue dress off a hanger and into a bag. She bit back a sigh and held her tongue. She didn't need to start another argument. The older woman had been nagging her about Keith for nearly half an hour and her ears were burning.

The two bags Allura had were packed and ready to go. She was dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit with a white turtleneck underneath, sleeves rolled up and the zipper slightly lowered. The royal seal was emblazoned above her heart and on her right bicep was the Voltron seal, a stylized blue V encircled with gold olive branches on a white background. The Blazing Sword was in the center of the V, slicing through its middle. On her collar was a small silver crown pin, indicating her royal stature. It was her best looking jumpsuit, having been worn only once before. The other ones, faded and a little worse for wear, were packed in one of her bags when Nanny hadn't been looking.

She met Keith in the docking bay where Black Lion waited to be boarded. Keith had one duffel bag at his feet and was wearing a jumpsuit identical to hers except it was black and the V on his Voltron seal was black to match his Lion as hers was Blue to match her Lion. On his collar were three pips indicating his rank where her crown was and he had numerous patches here and there. He nodded and she nodded back. Beside Keith, Lance looked amused, sensing the breach between his two friends.

"Did you children have a quarrel?" he teased.

Allura threw him a withering glance. "Put my bags in the back."

"Yes, ma'am."

He grabbed the bags and handed them to Hunk, who handed them to Pidge, who scowled at being the last in line again. He headed towards Black Lion, grumbling under his breath about spoiled Princesses and pilots. Keith made one last check of the ship and gestured for Allura to board.

"Are you sure about this, Your Highness?" Coran asked, putting a gentle hand on the crook of her elbow.

"Yes," she said. "I know what I'm doing."

"Take care."

"I will."

He hugged her briefly and she gave him a small smile of reassurance. She then turned and after nodding at the three pilots, entered the Black. Keith gave them all a wave and followed her in. They moved to the cockpit and she took the passenger seat without a word. He readied the Lion, its engines coming on with a low whine. They got clearance from Lance and shot out of the docking bay. They were in space within a few minutes.

"How long is this trip going to last?" Allura asked, probably the longest sentence she'd said since they had met in her study.

"Two days," he replied.

"I'm going to get some rest if you don't need me, then."

She stood and headed for the back where there were two cots for them. It was a tight squeeze and Nanny would have vehemently refused to let her go, had she known that Keith and Allura would be sleeping in the same room, but it couldn't be helped.

He frowned at the viewscreen, not wanting to look at her. "Fine."

She felt the incredible need to stick her tongue out at him, but fought the urge back. She left the cockpit and the doors hissed shut behind her. He sighed loudly. As stubborn as she was, he wanted to make amends. If not for their relationship, but for the Alliance, because she was going to need his help whether she wanted it or not. He put the ship on auto-pilot and went to the back to have a little talk with Allura.