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Title: Ragged Diagonal Fandom: “Voltron: Legendary Defender” Summary: No one wants Allura to marry Lotor, but she may have to out of a duty to her people and her bloodline. Ships: Shallura Warnings: Barely-edited, language Author’s Notes: "The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire." -William R. Alger

For the MAS server and especially our Overlord, @smolsarcasticraspberry ! Shiro's not technically Altean here, but the Magical part sure applies! Also, thanks to @materassassino for the beta! <3 (6102 Words - Also on AO3)

Allura studied herself in the full-length mirror and tried not to cry. Everything about this felt wrong, but she was convinced it was right. It was the only thing she could do. It was what she must do. As the last princess of Altea, this was what was necessary. Her father’s voice rang in her ears, speaking to her of the necessity of sacrifice for a greater good. She bit her lip and bade her reflection not to cry. She would do what her people required of her, always.

She smoothed her hands over herself in her mother’s wedding gown, the color of sunlit juniberries. Elegant, a touch old-fashioned (perhaps more than a touch after ten thousand years), but classically lovely. It felt like a sacrilege to wear it for this, but she had nothing else. She could remember the pictures Mother had shown her of her wedding day to then-Prince Alfor. She’d been radiant, clearly and obviously in love with her handsome groom, who was obviously doting upon her, smiling widely.

Allura had foolishly assumed her own wedding day would be as happy as theirs had been.

Don’t cry.

7 Quintants Ago

“What?” All the warmth in the room had been blasted away as she stared in disbelief at Coran. “You aren’t serious.”

He cleared his throat and put his hands – and the missive in them – behind his back, standing straight and proper. She’d watched him do this a thousand times; he was hiding behind his role as Royal Advisor. Well, he wouldn’t have characterized it that way, but it was how she thought of it. “I am, unfortunately, quite serious, Princess.”

“But… Lotor?” Lance made an ‘ew’ face from the seat at his station. “He’s so…”

“Slimy,” Hunk finished for him.

“And he’s Zarkon’s son!” Pidge reminded them all. Allura would’ve called the reminder unnecessary but clearly Coran was getting forgetful in his old age. “We can’t trust him!”

“And what about Sh-…?”

“Keith,” Shiro interrupted before the Red Paladin could finish the question. Allura couldn’t bring herself to look to the leader of Team Voltron. Even unfinished, Keith’s question had cut her the deepest.

There was an attraction building to Shiro that she was getting hard-pressed to push aside. When she felt on the verge of collapse, he shored her up. When he laughed, she felt her heart soar. When it seemed like their task was impossible, he rekindled her hope. It was getting foolish to deny how much she cared for him.

Which made Lotor’s offer of marriage all the more ludicrous. “Why would I even consider marrying the son of our most hated enemy? You don’t really believe his nonsense, do you?”

“I don’t believe him when he says he’s ‘overcome with love for you’, but I can think of any number of reasons,” Coran replied. “Purely from a strategic view, if he’s willing to bring you inside the Galra Empire and give you access to their systems, it’d be a huge help.”

“Ohhhh, so she agrees to marry him just to get in there, get info, maybe do some sabotage, and get out?” Hunk said, a smile starting on his face.

Allura was about to say that was an excellent plan when Coran shook his head. “Information, yes, but the rest of that, no. There are also non-strategic reasons to consider this a viable actual match.” He was looking dead at her as if she ought to know them.

She opened her mouth to inform him that he’d clearly gone utterly frumtash in his dotage, but then it occurred to her. “Oh.”

“Oh? What ‘oh’?” Lance pursued.

Allura looked down at the floor, hoping Coran would explain it. And, of course, like a good advisor, he did. “Allura is the last Sacred Altean. In the entire universe, she’s the only one who can operate the teludav. She’s the only one who can safely and respectfully obtain crystals from a Balmera. She is the last of the Royal Line.”

She looked up again in time to see him raise the missive from Lotor. “Included with his offer of marriage are Lotor’s blood and DNA scans. It proves that he has Sacred Altean blood – probably courtesy of Haggar.”

“Oh, there’s a mental image I didn’t need,” Hunk muttered, sounding like he might throw up.

Coran looked back to her. His eyes were sorrowful. “I’m sorry, Princess. The decision is yours, of course, but…”

“I have a responsibility to my people,” she finished for him, nodding.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” That was Keith, who sounded almost insulted.

“Please, Paladins,” she said. “I need some time to think.”

“Lotor wants a reply within 40 vargas,” Coran put in.

“He shall have it. For now, the bridge is yours, Coran. Excuse me.” She turned and walked away, trying to keep herself at a properly regal speed until she was away from them all. Only then did she run the rest of the way to her quarters to throw herself onto her bed and sob.

She looked up when her door chimed at her some vargas later. She hurried to hide the signs of her tears before she called out, “Come in!”

The door admitted Shiro, carrying a tray. “Hunk wanted you to have these,” he said, nodding down at the cookies. “He promises they don’t have any scaultrite in them this time.”

She smiled. “That was thoughtful of him, thank you. You can just set them over there, please?” She gestured towards the vanity.

He nodded and took them over. “And… I do need to talk with you. I know you must have a lot on your mind right now, but I thought I could help.”

“Help? I don’t see how, Shiro, but I’m willing to listen.” Please, she pleaded with him silently, find me a way out of this mess. He was a strategist, an excellent leader. Her heart began to lift at the thought that her… no, the Black Paladin of Voltron had figured out how to save her.

He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the tray of cookies. “I know you’ve felt it, too, Allura.”

Oh, Ancients, I love it when you say my name. “Felt… it?” she asked aloud.

He still wouldn’t look at her. “The… the attraction between us.”

Her heart started thudding. A way out and a love confession at the same time? The cookies – though surely tasty if Hunk had made them – were hardly necessary when Shiro was giving her so much at once. She wished he’d turn around so she could see those dark and lovely eyes of his.

“I have,” she admitted, hoping to encourage him.

“I thought I could just put this conversation off. I felt it could be safely put on the back burner, set aside for more important considerations like saving the universe. But I see now how wrong I was.”

Just say it. Turn around and say it and then hold me, Shiro. I badly need to be held. I need to be cared for. Even if you don’t have a way out of this, just tell me you love me and wrap me up in your arms and we can figure this out together after that, please.

He lifted his head and turned to her. She finally got to see those lovely dark eyes of his, but they were hard and cold as stone.

“I need you to understand that it’s nothing, Allura.”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“If any part of you is holding back from this arrangement with Lotor because of me, stop. Because there’s nothing. I’m not…” He looked away from her. “I’m not interested in you that way, Allura. And Coran’s right: you could feed us information from the inside, in addition to saving your bloodline.”

Her blood went cold for the second time that day. She stared at him.

He was still speaking. “This is a good idea, not just for your people but for our mission. Play the doting and dutiful wife, cater to his ego. Once he’s convinced that you’re completely obedient and enthralled with him, you can get us…”

“Get out.”

He turned to look at her in confusion. “What was that?”

“Leave. My. Quarters,” she ordered him icily.

He nodded. “As you wish, Princess.”

When the door shut behind him, she crumpled to the floor and sobbed.

Shiro could hear her crying, and it made him want to turn around, to charge back in there and gather her up into his arms to hug her and soothe her and confess that he’d lied. It had felt like he was stabbing himself to do it, but he knew he had to.

Because as soon as she’d left the bridge, every pair of eyes had been on him. He could read them all. Three pairs – Lance, Hunk, and Pidge – had wanted to know what he was going to do. One pair – Keith’s – had insisted he tell her the truth. And Coran’s had, of course, simply insisted that he convince her.

Shiro couldn’t put his own desires ahead of a nearly extinct magical bloodline. He couldn’t prioritize his feelings over the good of the entire universe, no matter how badly he wanted to. He’d asked Hunk to bake a fresh batch of cookies and used the time to practice the hardest lie he’d ever told in his life.

I wish I could tell you the truth.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to punch Lotor in his smug snake face for even daring to suggest such a thing. He wanted to pull Allura into his arms and apologize for lying before letting the true depths of his feelings for her emerge – in words, in hugs, in kisses, in any and every way she’d let him express how very much he cared for her.

He hadn’t really realized until this. He knew she was gorgeous, she was brave, inspiring, amazing, steadfast, determined. Still, it hadn’t really hit him how much he loved her until he was tasked with convincing her he wasn’t.

But he knew he had to do this. Because he had to cut her free, for her sake. For the sake of everyone, of the countless people and planets and systems relying on them.

“Defender of the universe,” rang hollow in his heart.

“YOU IDIOT.”

“Keep your voice down.”

Keith wanted to tear his hair out. “You were supposed to tell her the truth,” he hissed.

“I was supposed to do no such thing,” Shiro replied, taking another sip of nunvill. “I was supposed to do exactly what I did do, which is to make things easier for her.”

“She should drop-kick Lotor into the next galaxy,” Keith insisted. “She should be with you! C’mon, Shiro, even I can tell that.”

Shiro snorted once but didn’t laugh. Keith fell into a seat next to him and waited.

Eventually, Shiro commented, “As much as I’d love to see her kick his ass, that can’t happen. There are few enough Alteans as there is. Lotor’s at least ½ Altean, and he has the correct bloodline.”

“So he claims,” Keith muttered.

Shiro shook his head. “I had Pidge check the message he sent over. It has actual scannable samples included. The Castle verified it: he’s Sacred.”

“He’s a douchebag.”

“Keith.”

“He is!”

“That’s not helping.” Keith watched him slug back some more nunvill. “I’ll get over her, Keith. And, because of what I did, she’ll get over me even faster. That’s what needs to happen.”

“You’re going to send her to the Galra and who knows what they’ll do to her?”

“Lotor will protect her. She’s a trophy for him. Let him think that’s all she is, that he’s won. She’ll prove the Galra Empire’s undoing while he’s busy preening like the peacock he is, and she’ll preserve her race’s most valuable bloodline while she’s at it.”

“By sleeping with him.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“She has to have sex with him.”

“KEITH.”

“She’ll…”

“DON’T. Say it,” Shiro all but growled at him. “It’s not helping.”

“If it’s getting you angry, it is! You know she doesn’t want him! She wants you!”

“Keith, you can’t say that. No one can say that but her.”

“She would be saying it if you hadn’t just lied to her face!”

“I am swearing you to secrecy, Keith.”

“The hell you are.”

“I Am. You and I took an oath.” Shiro looked up at him, dead in the eye, and Keith sighed.

“I know, I know,” he groaned. “But this…”

“Is a secret I’ll take to the grave with me. And so will you. Because we promised each other.”

“Fine.” Keith sulked, but Shiro had tied his hands with the reminder of the oath they’d sworn back at the Garrison: to always tell each other the truth, to always have each other’s backs, and to always keep each other’s secrets. He couldn’t let his mentor and best friend down now. But it ate at him, to watch Shiro be miserable while the woman he clearly loved was going to head off to marry a man she didn’t love for the sake of “duty.”

Keith hated that word. He hated the way it was used, almost always by those who had power and authority and thought that that alone meant you were obligated to obey them. It was used to get respect for those who had done nothing to deserve it. Duty was a shield for fools and cowards and a sword for bullies and tyrants. Duty was a paper-thin purpose for those who had none of their own.

“Duty” was about to ruin the lives of two people Keith cared for. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

Shiro’s hand cut through another training drone, and it dissolved into pixels before disappearing. He ducked and rolled to avoid a blast and came up to slice through the gun the next drone held. He feinted with his glowing hand and kicked back at the one coming up behind him, knocking it back as he took out two more with a swiping slash.

It was like meditation for him. It let him give vent to his feelings while also letting him step away from them. He just flowed through one motion into the next, like a particularly lethal form of dancing.

It’s better this way, he told himself for easily the thousandth time. She shouldn’t be with me anyway. She’s a princess. I’m little better than a weapon.

Slice, dice, hack, slash.

Feint, punch, kick, dodge.

Glints of purple at the edges of his vision as he swung his hand.

He tried not to think of Allura’s face when she’d boarded the pod to go over to Lotor’s ship.

He tried to push the smarmy snake’s voice from his mind as he’d magnanimously invited them all to the ceremony – under guard, of course. No weapons allowed.

Then I shouldn’t go at all. Under the right circumstances, I would be your end, Lotor.

Because of his arm. Because of this thing where his right arm should be. Haggar’s voice in his mind. “You could have been our greatest weapon!”

Why?

Why him? Not in the oh-boo-hoo-why-me sort of way, but what was it about him that had the witch convinced he had such powerful potential?

He cried out as he was struck from behind and hit the floor. He’d gotten lost in his own thoughts, fallen out of the flow. “End training sequence.”

The drones stopped, then fizzled out of existence. Shiro got up and arched his back, wincing at the spot where the blow had landed. Three vargas until the wedding. He didn’t want to be there, but he hoped for a chance to get Lotor alone, to warn him what would happen if he mistreated the princess even once…

He shook his head and headed for the infirmary. Strictly speaking, he didn’t need it for the bruising he’d gotten, but his last round in the pod had awakened new memories for him. And Haggar’s words were eating at him more than usual lately. He’d use the aches and pains of sparring as an excuse and hope his subconscious would be useful for a change.

It was a voice unlike any he’d ever heard.

It was his mother’s voice.

It was Allura’s.

It was strange and familiar all at once, unidentifiable to his conscious mind yet it sang through his bloodstream like an old friend, comforting in a way he’d never known.

The voice was, and it was in him, around him, it both was and wasn’t him, it just WAS, it existed as it always had and always would and it said his name so beautifully he wanted to laugh and weep at the same time.

And the voice spoke of destiny.

The future is malleable, but some things are inevitable. All stars collapse, all stars are born. The manner and the methods may vary, may change, may alter and shift, but there are points in time and space which will come to pass, no matter what.

The voice told him he had passed one such point already.

The voice promised him another. And another.

Destiny was not done with him yet.

And when the pod released him, it wasn’t just his hand glowing, but his entire arm lighting up purple. The purple worked its way up into his body, and he tried to fight it, tried to push it down, but it filled his head, made his eyes glow but not yellow like the visions and nightmares that kept him from sleeping but purple...

No. NO. NO!

He shut his eyes against the corruption, but it made him feel sick, like taking too many G’s.

Open your eyes.

And he did. He opened his eyes and the purple blasted out of them, ejected and rejected by his body. His eyes still glowed, but they were blue-tinged white now, and it settled over his body, pushing out the evil of the Druids’ magic. It pulsed down his arm, where the Galra energy lived and was strongest.

It hurt, ached like an old injury flaring, but he focused.

The white energy flared and crackled as it pushed the dark magic of the Druids out. The darkness within his arm hissed and popped in response, tried to fight back, but eventually his entire arm glowed white, bright and unsullied.

He came to on the floor of the infirmary, Coran and the paladins around him chattering concern.

He pushed himself to his feet, and activated his hand.

Everyone quieted instantly.

Shiro looked at them. “We’ve got work to do.”

“Are you sure that drone didn’t hit your head?” Hunk asked him.

“Explain this,” he challenged, lighting his hand again. It was the same hand it had always been until he activated it. It glowed white, and Pidge was running some analysis on it as they talked on the bridge.

“It just can’t be,” Coran repeated.

Keith pressed, “You’re saying some random chick told you you could do this?”

“Was she hot?” Lance wanted to know.

“I never saw Her. And I don’t think She’s just ‘some chick,’” he chided Keith lightly. He looked to Coran, who was still shaking his head.

“Just impossible,” the advisor was muttering to himself.

“Here’s the preliminary analysis,” Pidge declared, bringing it up on the main screen for them all to see.

“Okay, and…?” Keith wanted to know.

“Hey, hey, that looks familiar,” Hunk chimed in. “Kind of like…”

“This?” Pidge finished for him, and brought up a similar energy signature on the screen right below the one from Shiro’s arm.

“Yeah!”

“What is that?” Lance asked her.

Rather than answer right away, she pulled up two more energy signatures and split the screen into four parts to display them all. They weren’t identical, but all four were strikingly similar. “Well, obviously the first signature is Shiro’s arm. The other three are all key Castle systems: bridge control, crystal energy transference matrix, and, of course, the teludav.”

Shiro looked up at Coran, but he didn’t seem surprised. He was still muttering to himself.

“So… all the systems that Allura controls,” Hunk summed up.

“But you’re human,” Coran protested. “You’re from Earth, not Altea!”

“I’m part Galra,” Keith reminded him. “And I don’t look it, do I?”

“Yeah, I’ve looked,” Hunk said, “no purple on him anywhere I can see.”

Coran was still in denial. “This just shouldn’t be possible.”

“What shouldn’t be possible?” Pidge verbally prodded him.

“If this is right,” the advisor gestured at the signatures on the screen, “then Shiro’s… Sacred.”

They were all quiet for a moment until Keith declared, “I’m going to go get Allura back.”

“Hold on, Keith,” Shiro said. “You can’t just go charging in there.”

“Watch me.”

“No. Coran’s not through explaining. Because in all of this with Allura and Lotor and the bloodline and all that, you’ve never explained what a ‘Sacred Altean’ actually is.”

Coran sighed harshly and folded his arms. “Yes, well, you lot never seem interested in my explanations.”

“We are this time!” Lance hooted. “Spill!”

Coran cleared his throat. “Well, you have to understand the ‘sacred’ designation is more traditional than anything else. It hearkens back to a time when it was believed that the royal bloodline and a few others were directly blessed by the Goddess of the Universe, She who was responsible for creating all life. She’s the source of quintessence, according to legend, and Her cult on Altea used to be the most widespread and powerful. It had dwindled in the last days, no longer quite as ascendant as it used to be, but it was still going, of course. We had many different religions and belief-systems.”

“Was Haggar part of the Goddess Cult?” Shiro asked.

Coran walked over to his station and pulled up a screen. Altean words scrolled past until one set flashed. “She was a priestess, it looks like. Not the High Priestess though. In fact,” he pulled up some more data in Altean, “this shows that she was passed over several times for higher-ranking positions.”

“Did she start her own cult then?” Lance wondered.

“Maybe. Or maybe she went over to the Dark Side,” Pidge mused. She pulled up another screen at her station and sent it to the front. “This is the energy signature my computer pulled when it was hooked up to Shiro’s arm before.” She pulled up the current one and overlapped them: they looked like the backbone of a double helix. “This can’t be coincidence.”

“So, the Galra are the Sith and the Alteans are the Jedi?” Hunk asked.

“More like the Druids and the Sacred Alteans specifically, but basically, yeah,” Pidge confirmed. “That’s my current hypothesis anyway.”

“Dude, does that mean Shiro just got blessed by an actual GODDESS?” Lance wondered aloud.

“Those are just legends,” Coran repeated.

“Whatever,” Keith shrugged. “Shiro’s arm’s energy signature matches the Castle systems. Isn’t that good enough for him to marry Allura?”

“Keith,” Shiro practically growled.

“What?”

“That’s just his arm,” Coran pointed out. “No offense, Shiro, but it’s a false arm attached to you. It’s not you. Look, everyone, I don’t want her to marry Lotor anymore than you do, but it’s necessary.”

“Necessary for what?” Pidge countered. “Coran, a lot of evolution can happen in 10,000 years! Humans are proof of that, after all. If Alteans had been allowed to survive all this time, who knows what they’d look like or be like?”

“I’m not talking about the hideous ears you all have,” Coran reminded her. “I’m talking about the Sacred part of the bloodline here.”

“Test his blood,” Keith declared. “Test his blood the same way we tested Lotor’s.”

“That’ll take time,” Pidge said. “And the wedding’s in a little over a varga.”

They all looked to him.

Shiro thought of the voice. Of what it had said of destiny. Of what he felt now – about his arm, which glowed white in response, and also about Allura.

He looked around at his team. “Take what you need to start the scan, then get dressed for the wedding. Stall for time as much as you can, but do not say anything to the princess. We don’t want her thinking there’s a way out if it turns out there isn’t.”

“On it.”

Shiro looked up at Coran. “And if it turns out I’m… ?”

Coran smiled. “She’s like a daughter to me. It’s only my position as Royal Advisor that’s ever had me advocating for her to be with a slimy luirass like Lotor. I’d much rather she be happy – and away from him.”

Shiro smiled back. “Thank you, Coran.”

Present

She probably should have scolded Keith, but she honestly couldn’t blame him for his behavior. She couldn’t blame any of them. In a way, she was glad that Keith had triple-checked security (and nearly picked a fight with the guards); that Hunk had sent half the food back to be redone (and accidentally eaten most of the other half); that Pidge and Lance had given her soon-to-be husband an earful or three about the proper ways to treat a princess. She knew they’d all done it to put off the inevitable, and she had lived vicariously through their stalling tactics.

The rational part of her said the sooner this was gotten over with, the better. But the part of her that wanted to kick and scream and fuss was happy to have the distractions and delays. So she hadn’t scolded any of them.

She was a little surprised Shiro wasn’t there though. She figured something was holding him up, and that’s why the team were pulling their shenanigans. When she tried to ask Coran about it – and about what had held him up as well – she’d gotten some evasive answers that made her think that maybe, just maybe, Shiro cared more than he’d led her to believe. That it hurt him to watch her be married off to…

Wishful thinking. And what point to thinking this now?

She wouldn’t cry. She would hold her head high and show Lotor – and all of the Galra – what a princess of Altea was truly like. No sniveling child but a proud leader, willing to sacrifice for her people. She turned from the full-length mirror and headed for the door of her dressing room.

She was going to be married.

Whether she liked it or not.

The Paladins lined the aisle as if they could protect her from the Galra soldiers filling the pews. She ignored the audience and focused on the giant “window” – likely a viewscreen – projecting an image of an aetherite window straight out of every Altean worship temple she’d ever been in. It was a rainbow of colors, as if the sun were rising just beyond it, as if they weren’t on a Galra ship out in the interminable darkness of space. She appreciated that far more than she did the fake juniberries in the bouquet she was carrying (another “gift” from her groom).

“You look radiant,” Lotor said as he joined her, just as she walked past Keith and Lance.

She took his arm as tradition required. “Thank you.”

“I am surprised though. Only four Paladins?”

She arched an eyebrow. Coran’s evasions were all pointless; she hadn’t bought one of them when he’d peddled them to her, so she doubted Lotor would be more gullible. She came up with her own. “Disappointed in not having all five paladins of Voltron aboard your ship and away from their lions?” she asked him mildly. She probably shouldn’t be accusing her future husband of such things.

He sighed. “You’ll learn to trust me in time, Allura. I am defying my father out of my love for you.”

She eyed the not-insignificant harem that filled the first few rows of seats. “Love does make people do strange things, I suppose.”

“I will prove it to you every chance I get,” he promised, but it rang in her ears like a threat.

I am not looking forward to tonight.

Their officiant was to be a sentry drone, it appeared. She supposed that was fitting, and wondered idly if this meant she wouldn’t be required to show any more emotion than the robot.

As they took their places in front of everyone, the doors to the “temple” slammed shut. She whipped her head towards the sound and then narrowed her eyes at Lotor, but he just smiled at her. “My dear, it’s just so everyone knows the ceremony is beginning and that late arrivals or early departures would be disruptive.”

She didn’t like it, and everything in her screamed. She exhaled and looked to the officiant. “Very well.”

The officiant began to drone, “Soldiers of the Galra Empire, Paladins of Voltron, we are here today to celebrate the joining of Prince Lotor of the Galra and Princess Allura of Altea in sacred matrimony. Here, in the sight of all you good people…”

Allura looked over the crowd. Lotor’s harem, the soldiers, the Paladins still standing at attention along the aisle, unwilling to take their seats, and the remaining pews filled with sentries. If we wanted to attack, this would be an ideal time. He’s got most of his command staff here… But who was there to charge in? Shiro and the Black Lion?

It was a nice daydream, that he’d come swooping in to save her from a life of misery and duty, but he’d made his feelings clear enough. Still, he wasn’t here, and she hadn’t been given a satisfactory answer as to why.

But it didn’t matter. For whatever reason, Shiro wasn’t coming for her. She had made her choice, as a princess had to. It wasn’t about what she wanted. It was about what was best for her people and the universe.

But then an alarm started. “What’s going on?” Lotor demanded of the officiant.

It stopped reciting its programmed vows but before it could report, the door to the room had a new opening blasted into it. Allura brought up her arm to protect her head, but when she looked back, it was the Black Paladin himself striding into the room. He wasn’t in dress uniform the way the other Paladins were, but in his battle gear, and his hand was just starting to dim from its… white?!

“What the...?” Lotor snarled.

“Shiro?” she asked, feeling adrenaline and hope start to surge.

“You don’t have to marry him, Princess.”

“She’s chosen to,” Lotor declared smugly. “For the good of her people. As a proper leader should do.”

“Then it’s not really a choice, is it?” Shiro shot back. “But she has one now.”

“What? YOU?” Lotor laughed heartily.

“The blood results?” Pidge piped up.

Allura was very confused. “Blood results? What are you talking about?”

“Uploaded to the Castle systems,” he confirmed. “As Princess of Altea and commander of the Castleship, she should have access to all of its information.”

She arched an eyebrow, but lifted her hand. She was still wearing her command bracelets, wedding or no. The gold flashed and brought up a screen for her, and she gasped at what she saw.

“Impossible,” Lotor snarled, seeing the backside of the screen.

“Shiro,” she breathed. “You’re…”

“Blessed by the Goddess,” Keith finished for her. “You don’t have to marry this slimy piece of shit, Allura.”

But she looked to Shiro.

“I lied,” he said, eyes locked on hers. And they weren’t hard or cold any longer. They were the same deep, dark eyes she’d dreamed of losing herself in, even with the visor of his helmet in the way. “I wanted to make it easy on you. I thought it would hurt you more to do this if I told you the truth, and I thought you had to do it.”

“The Druids chose him to experiment on because he had the potential for this,” Pidge put in.

“And that potential’s been realized now,” Keith said.

Before she could say anything, Lotor bellowed, “ATTACK!” and the temple descended into chaos. The Paladins had somehow smuggled in their helmets and bayards, so even mostly unarmored, they were proving to be hard foes for the sentries and soldiers surrounding them.

Lotor lunged for her, but she ducked and swept his legs out from under him. “Think again, luirass.”

He was back on his feet in no time. “You’re going to belong to me one way or another, Princess. You and the power you possess will be mine.”

“Well, at least you’re being honest now,” she replied as he attacked her again. He was fast, but she could easily keep up. “You know, that’s the foundation of all good relationships.”

“You lost your chance at a ‘good relationship’. I would’ve made things so sweet for you before all of this; it would’ve been like a fairy tale.”

“I never did like fairy tales much.” She summoned up all her strength to knock him back, and was gratified to see him hit the far wall. “This princess rescues herself, thanks.”

And then Shiro was at her side. “We don’t have time to argue!” He pulled his helmet off.

“What?”

He jammed it onto her head. “Hold on!” He grabbed hold of her arms and spun them, putting his armored back to the aetherite window just before it exploded.

The viewscreen – as suspected – flew into shards and Allura realized suddenly what Shiro’s plan was. “NO!” But it was too late.

The vacuum of space sucked them out of the ship; icy darkness surrounded them as glittering shards of viewscreen and the petals of fake juniberries from her dropped bouquet danced around their bodies. Shiro went limp in her arms from the sudden shock to his system and she pulled him close to her.

“SHIRO!”

Before she could say anything else, they were swallowed up by… The Black Lion! Thank the Goddess.

She carried Shiro to the cockpit, tucking him against one of the consoles before hopping into the seat. “Please, I know I’m not Shiro, but we have to get him out of here.”

There was a brief pause and then the seat brought her forward to the controls. She wrapped her hands over them.

“Thank you. Let’s go home.”

She paced outside the pod Shiro was in. Coran had used more of her stored residual energy to wormhole them away once all they were all back in the Castle. It had taken quite a bit of reassurance (and some hectoring from Coran) to get the Paladins to let her be alone in the infirmary. She stopped pacing to look up at him as the pod set him right.

We must’ve looked quite the sight: me walking out of the Black Lion, carrying you in my arms, your helmet no doubt a very strange accessory to my mother’s wedding dress. She looked down at it; it was a bit tattered at the hems now, and she offered up an apology to her late mother for the state of it.

The pod opened, and she whirled towards it to steady Shiro as he emerged. She yelped a little in surprise when he pulled her in for a hug, then laughed in relief and hugged him back. “You brash fool,” she teased, not meaning it in the slightest.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” he breathed.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she replied. “And don’t you ever pull such a stunt again.”

“I won’t, so long as you don’t try to marry evil dirtbags anymore.”

“Never again,” she promised. “Though I’ll point out that I didn’t think I had much of a choice.”

“You did. You do.”

“Do I?” she asked, pulling away a little so she could look at his face. “Tell me the truth now, Shiro, and I’ll forgive you for lying before.”

His gaze was warm, and she felt like she might melt from his smile. “I love you, Allura.”

�� “There, see? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” She beamed and hugged him again. “And that’s more important to me than all the Goddess blessings in the universe. Though that part was an unexpected stroke of good luck. Because you know Coran’s not wrong about my duty to my bloodline.”

“Well, I’m not a sacred Altean,” he pointed out. “Just a sacred human, I guess.”

“You’re Shiro. That’s all I need.” She leaned back. “Because I love you, too.”

He leaned back in towards her and she met him halfway. He threaded his fingers into her hair as they kissed, and there was an energy between them that was beyond science’s electrical or chemical impulses. It was magic.