Author’s Notes: Thanks so much to everyone for pushing me with this chapter! I couldn’t possibly have gotten it done as quickly as I did if it wasn’t for all the encouragement. Much of my problem is that I have scenes written in broken segments, and I have to find ways to smoothly seam them together while keeping in mind the evolution of the story.

As with the previous chapter, however, I must ask that if I have gone past the rating of T, please let me know. This should be the last chapter with regards to my concerns about if I have delved into an M rating. Again, I could only dilute so much without the story losing its potency.

As always…

I hope I continue to do justice to the characters and the series of Voltron, and I ask for no flames, please. However, I will accept constructive criticism in order to develop further as a writer.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I make no money. I only write about what I enjoy.

Chapter 20 – A Traitor’s Revelation

“Promise me that no matter what happens, you will resist Lotor,” Keith said staring hard into Allura’s blue eyes. He couldn’t even begin to fathom what kind of agony Lotor would bestow upon him, yet he would have no choice but to force himself to endure it.

Shaking her head, Allura took a quiet breath. “I can’t promise that…”

Keith suddenly switched into commander mode. He was in too much pain already to argue about it. “Then, I’m making it an order.”

Allura tried to sit up straight, her eyes shifting into a glaze of pure stubbornness. However, Keith recognized her look of challenge and continued talking before she would have a chance to debate him. “We have to do what is best for the people of Arus. I won’t believe that Lance and the others are dead. My gut is telling me they’re working on something, but we need to stall in order for their plan to happen. Once you give in to Lotor, that chance for their plan is lost.”

“Keith,” she pleaded as she felt him snub out her stubborn fire, “I nearly fell apart when Lotor hit your face. Please don’t make me have to endure beyond what I can.”

The commander closed his eyes and took a patient breath. He tried to think of being in her place and having to choose from between two ridiculous options. He was asking her to give up the last person to which she had any true devoted connection. If their roles were reversed, he couldn’t bear the thought of watching her in pain and agony…or worse, her death, while he sat idly, knowing he could have prevented it.

Opening his eyes Keith forced himself to stay the course. They had to stall for Lance and the others. That’s what his gut was telling him, and he would not give up that hope. Keeping his voice calm and even, Keith looked hard at Allura. “You need to stay strong and focused. Lotor needs to know that you are a dedicated leader first and foremost. I want you to think only of the people on Arus and how you’re protecting them.”

“But, I can’t lose you,” she whispered. “You’re my…”

Keith cut her off sharply, stopping her before she said something that could endanger them even further. “Your people need you, and I don’t care if you’re a pilot, a princess, or a pauper. Voltron chose you, and that is reason enough for you to fight for Arus.”

This time Allura knotted her hands into fists, sitting up as best she could against her restraints. Keith had managed to get her frustrated anger to surface, and it blazed furiously in her sapphire irises. “Voltron chose you, too. Do not try that argument with me.”

“Damn it, Allura,” Keith replied. “I hate this situation, too. If I could snap my fingers and have us back safely on Arus, I would. Now, what I need you to do is remember every last breath of anger you feel toward Lotor and keep that as your reason for refusing his wishes. Find somewhere inside yourself that you can go and hide. Look for a crack on the wall or a brick out of place that will be your focal point. Then, you stay in your memories and look at nothing but that focal point.”

Allura knew Keith was right, but could she just ignore any torture Lotor might take upon her husband, the man she chose to love? Moments passed in silence while Allura struggled with the fact that she had to remain strong despite how Lotor would break her heart. She concentrated even more on mentally preparing herself to not reveal her secret marriage regardless of what Lotor would attempt.

Bringing her eyes to her husband, Allura sighed quietly.

“You can do this,” Keith said gently. “You’re strong, and I know it’s what your father would want you to do.”

“Such a noble sentiment,” Lotor laughed suddenly. “I almost wish your father was still alive so that I could see his face as he looks upon you in my prison.”

Startled, Keith and Allura jumped at the sudden voice. They wondered how long Lotor had been there and how much he had caught between them.

The guard pushed a small table toward the cell while Lotor opened the lock on the cage. Keith eyed up the various tools on the table that he could only fathom Lotor used for torturing the prisoners.

“Well, my princess,” Lotor smiled as he stepped into the prison cell, “Have you an answer for me?”

Allura swallowed hard and felt her eyes glance over to Keith. She had decided their fate. As her eyes shifted to a spidering crack in one of the bricks, the prison around her melted away and became the old Castle of Lions she once inhabited as a child. A memory of her father came to her, and she was now a little girl again running through the hallways, engrossed in a game of “Seek and Catch” with him.

-- -- -- -- --

Haggar sealed the chamber door behind her as she entered her room. Coba raised his head from his snuggled position on the mat beside her bed. The witch crouched down to her devil cat and scratched behind his ears gently. From a pouch at her side, she offered the familiar a morsel of fresh meat that she had set aside from her meal.

Coba instantly began purring and gently took the offered food from his mistress, savoring the sweet-flavored meat.

“Ve’she dolo b’enu, Coba,” Haggar whispered telling the feline to have a pleasant nap and a bountiful hunt after he awakens.

Coba settled down onto his mat again and watched with silent interest as Haggar began to light candles and burn musky-scented incense. The witch then moved to her meditation pillow and settled upon it. She allowed the candles to make shadows upon the walls as she inhaled the scent of the incense. After a few moments, her eyelids fell closed, and she felt herself drift into the surreal world of her meditations.

With each breath that she took, she fell further away from the conscious world. Slowly, the sensations of Lotor’s betrayal began to grow even more imminent and close. The acrimonious stench around his aura developed a bitter taste in her mouth, but Haggar forced herself ignore it. Her mission was to discover a betrayer, not complain about a temporary sensation.

Images slowly swirled out of the mist contained by her mind, and the final battle flashed within her meditation. Voltron reared his head back as though in ultimate agony, and the Lions pulled away from each other, falling helplessly to the ground below. The spirit that had once flowed within each of the mechanical beasts suddenly sucked itself into the Black Lion.

Haggar felt herself frown for a moment. She tried to determine exactly what that meant, but the pictures shifted suddenly, and her understanding was lost while the new images grew clearer.

It started with a shroud of pink fabric, as though the thin material was blowing in a gentle breeze. Slowly, it layered into the full skirts of a gown, and Haggar realized it was Princess Allura pacing in a secluded room. The girl’s face was concerned, but her emotions were running wild with excitement. Her fingers held a small cloth, an old piece of material given to her from a previous generation.

Haggar tried to distinguish the significance of the heirloom, but darkness and shadows took over the image.

Strangely, though, the emotions did not fade. Instead, pale images took shape within the darkness. Haggar distinguished the profiles of two faces, and the figures muttered unintelligible words in hushed mumbles. The soft, orange glow from candles subtly lit their profiles, gently illuminating the room in delicate brightness.

A vivid explosion of lightning flashed, and for a brief moment the figures were lit up in daylight. As clearly as if they were before her, Haggar saw Princess Allura and Commander Keith on their knees with hands clasped before them. There was a sincerity and a devotion to their emotions that emanated between them. A bond formed around them, an invisible union that could only be seen from the auras of their spirits.

The lightning flash receded, and the image of the princess and her commander faded into nothingness.

The darkness of a prison cell now took over. Haggar’s original vision came to her once again as she saw Princess Allura in a position that forced her upon her knees. The young monarch’s face was lined with tears of regret and anger while her heart was being torn into shreds, as everything she lived for was being destroyed.

Everything the princess loved was being equally destroyed. Her planet was dying, and her beloved Voltron was lying in scraps on the ground of Arus.

Everyone she loved…

Haggar suddenly paused and took a sharp breath, understanding the vision now of the princess and the commander. What she felt between them this time was how the warmth of their human hearts beat rapidly in a single rhythm. What she thought was unintelligible chatter were promises and vows. The bond around them came from the seal they created from a fateful kiss.

Silently, the crown of Arus fell to the floor where it laid as though dead, and the revelation became abundantly clear. The princess of Arus had secretly unified with a commoner and given up her title and her position. It was finally the missing link Haggar had been seeking to the visions. The unity between the young leaders had been hidden well, but not well enough.

Haggar understood now why her visions would not produce Lotor’s betrayer earlier. Without the princess and commander’s life energies nearby, she previously couldn’t see the complete vision.

The witch suddenly opened her eyes, as she finally understood that it was the princess who would betray Lotor. The one thing he so longed to possess was no longer his to own.

“Survive it, my prince, and you will become stronger,” Haggar whispered. “Your betrayal rests before you.”

-- -- -- -- --

Keith felt his cheek start to swell from the blow that struck it. The cut on his lip opened again, trickling warm blood down his chin. He stared blankly before him for a moment, catching his breath. Then, his eyes caught sight of Allura as she stared into nothingness at an invisible spot on the wall. She refused to look before her, and her eyes were rimmed with tears. Some of those tears had spilled over her cheeks, silently falling to the dirty floor before her.

“You’ve been teaching her well, Commander,” Lotor smirked. “In the past, before you and your friends arrived, she would have succumbed to my request before the first strike.”

“The princess and Arus are not yours and never will be. You’re wasting your time.”

“I’ve just barely begun,” the prince corrected. “She will give in once I find the right persuasion.”

Moving to Allura, Lotor grasped her hair and forced her to look at him. “Stubbornness was your father’s mistake. I expected you to have better sense than him.”

“I have the sense to refuse any alliance with you,” she muttered.

Suddenly, Lotor released Allura and spun to Keith. His boot landed hard into the commander’s stomach.

Keith’s body involuntarily tried to fall forward, but the chains kept him from moving. His pained cough filled the chamber.

Allura closed her eyes and tried to push the sound from her mind. When she opened her eyes again, she took a deep breath and studied the forked crack that was her focal point. She concentrated on the dirt that filled it and was scattered around it, trying to imagine what kind of creature made its home in the broken brick. She outlined the shape of the fractured brick with her eyes and studied every last grain of dirt within it.

“How can you not care about what you’re doing to him?” Lotor asked Allura.

When she refused to acknowledge his question, he stepped next to her and forced her to look at Keith. “You can see he’s in pain, and you’re doing this to him. Just promise me Arus and your companionship, and his agony stops.”

I can’t keep ignoring your pain much longer, Keith, Allura thought silently. Her heart splintered at his swollen eye and the blood that spilled from his lip and nose onto his white uniform. Keith suddenly morphed into a blur before her as Allura’s eyes filled again with tears. Her breath grew heavy as she tried to concentrate her efforts into remaining calm.

“Only you can stop this,” Lotor whispered. “Until you say otherwise, I will continue.”

Allura closed her eyes again, allowing the wave of tears to pass. She knew that Keith would not want her to give in for anything, as she had to think of her people and her planet first. Every part of her wanted to cry out to Lotor to stop hurting Keith, but there were thousands of people on Arus who needed her to protect them. They were the reason Keith told her to resist Lotor, and they were the reason why she was enduring a heart that was breaking with every sound of his pain.

The lifeless bodies from the recent raids of her planet suddenly flashed into Allura’s mind, and it gave her the resolve she needed to remain steady. She hated Lotor now more than ever. He was incapable of kindness and his senseless attack on Keith was more than proof.

Opening her eyes finally, the broken brick became her focus again. Her tears slowed down, and she felt Lotor leave her. The echo of another punch filled the chamber, and her breath caught for a moment as she lost her concentration at the sound of Keith’s groan. Then, she started counting the grains of dirt around the hole again.

She secluded herself in more memories. This time, she was with Keith in the darkened hallways of the castle. They dared glances when no one was paying attention, and they held hands in the cavern. When they escaped the world around them and could just be alone, Keith’s fingers brushed her cheek and knotted in her hair. His lips touched hers bringing warmth and joy to her very soul. His arms protected her, wrapping her in an invisible shield where she was safe and loved. She was with him again the night they took secret vows, her memories recalling every word and syllable they shared in their promise to each other. She thought about how they had spent hours that night slowly becoming one as they explored their bodies to the symphony of a thunderstorm while it swept through the countryside.

Then, the sound of Lotor’s blackened voice shattered those memories.

“What is this?” the prince asked as he pulled on a piece of cloth that was sticking out from Keith’s belt.

Allura brought her eyes forward, the protection of her memories destroyed by the hatred in Lotor’s voice. The Drule Prince was holding a handkerchief in his hand, Allura’s gift to her husband. Lotor stared at it, holding it with curiosity, seeming to wonder if he would have ever known such a gift. Then, his eyes flashed with pure, blatant hatred. He knew the symbol of courtship, the token a princess would give to her knight.

“And, what has he given you, Allura?” Lotor asked. His voice was dark, unforgiving, and his yellow eyes were clouded with a hate so pure that Allura felt herself flinch.

Catching sight of something hanging near her hip as though sliding free, Lotor snatched the object.

Keith kept his eyes on Lotor. He recognized the photograph he had given Allura during their secret marriage. He got a cold, sick feeling as he watched the prince strangely assessing the items in his hands.

Allura felt her heart sink at the loss of the photograph. She only kept it with her to have Keith nearby when he couldn’t be. It was foolish, she knew, but she couldn’t bear to leave the wedding gift he gave her hidden in some stuffy box in the castle.

Lotor continued to study the picture, taking a moment to compare the images in the photograph to the commander. There was a connection in the physical features, and Lotor felt his blood instantly boil, as he understood just what the objects in his hands signified.

Looking to Allura, Lotor wanted to hear it from the princess. He wanted her to tell him with honesty that she had betrayed him. Lotor’s bloodlust was boiling over, and he wanted to inflict torture, pain, and death. He wanted Allura to feel the hatred that he suddenly felt.

The Drule prince’s voice grew even darker, dripping with the lust of violence. “Why do you carry this, Allura?”

She couldn’t think of any reasonable answer that would calm him. His immoral hate-lust exuded off him like an inferno’s heat, and she could feel it burning her from his near distance. Allura feared telling him the truth, but she feared even more that if she lied, it would invoke something even more terrible and unimaginable. Unable to find any words, Allura breathed in silent prayer, wishing she would awaken from this nightmare.

“Stubborn as always, Allura,” Lotor growled. He brought the picture to one of the torches and held it above the flame so it smoked slightly. “What is it worth to you?”

Again, the princess’ voice remained silent. She looked to Keith, wishing she could apologize for her foolish mistake. His eyes grew shades darker in a way that she had never seen as he watched Lotor slowly burn the photograph.

“She was going to put it in the castle vault for me when you decided to attack Arus,” Keith lied.

Lotor dropped the picture into the flame. It slowly fell to the floor, still burning. The corners of the photograph began to curl and bend while black ash formed where the flame had passed. Without warning, Lotor landed a fist hard into Keith’s face, opening a new cut on his cheek. “You don’t lie well at all, Commander.”

Keith closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as the pain seared through him again. The physical pain was one thing, but now Lotor had found a way to attack his very soul. The last physical object he had left of his parents had become nothing but an ashen mark upon a dungeon floor.

Lotor gritted his teeth, hatred spilling like the blood down Keith’s chin. “Since she won’t talk to me, tell me, Commander, why do you have her handkerchief?”

“My allergies acted up,” he lied again.

“I’m not a fool!” Lotor shouted. Suddenly, he spun to the princess, blinded by rage, and the back of his hand came across her face. “A commoner! You unified with a commoner! You harchok! You were destined to me.”

Allura squeezed her eyes closed and could no longer hold in her tears. The strike of the hand on her cheek was only a physical attack, something that would merely leave a bruise. In time, the injury would heal itself, and she could live with that. Allura could even live with the insult of being called a harchok because she didn’t care that Lotor considered her someone who sold her body for money. To her, it was only a Drule slur word, and she knew she was above that. She may have sacrificed her position as princess, but she was still a lady bred with intelligence and compassion.

The prince’s discovery of her marriage, however, broke her. She betrayed Keith, and she betrayed their love. They had hidden the relationship from everyone but Lotor, despite all their precautions and careful planning.

“You bastard,” Keith growled. He wanted one moment to be free, and he would suspend the pain in his body long enough to strangle Lotor with his bare hands. One minute was all he needed. He could not allow anyone to strike his wife or harm the woman he vowed to protect.

Lotor turned back to the man who stole his position as husband to Allura. He threw the handkerchief onto the floor and took the whip from the table that was placed just inside the prison cell. “Now, she can truly watch you suffer.”

The sound of the whip echoed off the cell walls, and Keith’s cries of pain shattered Allura’s heart. She had no idea how many times the whip had struck, and she couldn’t even imagine keeping count. His once-white uniform lay in bloodied tatters around him on the floor, and the sides of his shirt had turned pink from blood seeping into the torn clothing.

Allura was consumed by another wave of helpless tears.

Keith felt his head fall forward in agony. Every lash of the whip sent red-hot fire across his back, and he could feel the heat of his blood trickle down his skin. It felt warm and sticky in the few places where he still managed to have some feeling. The cold, dampness of the dungeon seeped into his cuts, chilling his bones. Sweat trailed down his body, the salt of it stinging in the open wounds of his back.

Lotor grasped Keith’s hair and forced him to look at Allura. He leaned in beside him and spoke quietly. “She is no longer worthy of me because of your tainting. Once you are dead, the harchok will be given to my loyal prison guard, the one who is standing outside this cell.”

Keith’s eyes flashed over to the guard that had earlier told his assistant that he wished for a royal woman, and as enraged hatred filled Keith, the torture of the whip was forgotten. He pulled with all the strength he could, hoping there was a rusty or broken link on the chains. He had to get free. He had to stop Allura from being subjected to such cruelty.

Lotor brought a fist into Keith’s kidney, and the commander suddenly slumped with numbness.

“Stop this!” Allura screamed, as she couldn’t take it anymore. She knew now that Keith had to be wrong about Lance and the rest of the Voltron Force coming. She could stall no longer, and she would willingly sacrifice herself to the Drule prince if it would spare her husband further agony. “I’ll be your queen.”

Lotor stood and slowly moved before Keith, addressing Allura. “I’ve given you more chances than I should have. Instead of aligning with me earlier as you should have, you lowered yourself to this insignificant commoner. You’re no longer worthy of me, and Arus will be leveled to nothing. Now that Voltron is dead, it will be easy to destroy Arus and claim it under the Drule Empire.”

Unexpectedly, Lotor sent a booted foot hard into Keith’s ribs. The agony that filled the commander’s torso told him all he needed about the broken bones in his ribcage. Then, without mercy, Lotor’s fists and boots landed hard into Keith’s back and stomach. A few more punches struck his face, bringing on new swelling and new open wounds.

After a while, Keith’s breathing had become ragged and shallow. It was no longer possible to get the necessary air he needed when his ribs were bent awkwardly, closing off one of his lungs. It was hard to breathe when he couldn’t even move from his slouched position, where his diaphragm was collapsed under his weight. He couldn’t feel past the agony of the beating to be certain if the bruising inside his body had caused any internal bleeding. Unable to keep his head up, he had slumped in the only position the chains allowed him, his breathing an insufficient wheeze. He barely heard Allura crying when the blackness he fought against finally took him.

Exerted and gasping for air, Lotor stopped the physical attack on the Voltron commander. Sweat trickling down his face, Lotor was finally satisfied. If the commander survived longer than a day from the wounds he received, it would be a miracle from the gods of the underworld.

Allura felt her body shake with hatred. Her face was soaked with tears she never thought she would have to shed. Her eyes glanced to Keith, and her heart burst into shards. He looked dead, and she blamed herself. If only she would have put the picture in the safety of the fireplace with her parents’ belongings, it might not have escalated to this point.

Lotor moved beside Allura and knelt on the floor. He took a moment to admire his handiwork on the Voltron commander. He didn’t try to hide the disgust in his voice as he leaned to her ear. “After the commander is dead, you will be given to the guard, Graf. He had been begging for a royal harchok for months now, and I think a used, former princess is better than no princess in his eyes. I suggest you pray your husband dies soon if you don’t want to watch him suffer for long.”

Then, Lotor was gone. Allura collapsed in defeat under the weight of the emotional pain. Her head hung in shame, and the tears that covered her face spilled to the ground, soaking the dirt. Everything in her life was gone. Everyone she ever loved would truly be gone. Her prediction of the monarchy dying had come true, but not at all in the way she had intended. Arus would become nothing more than a dust ball, and the monarchy of which she was once a part would disintegrate under the bombardment of Drule ships.

Footsteps sounded before Allura, and she raised her eyes reluctantly to the guard. Graf’s smile was sickening and frightening. “Finally, a royal prisoner of my own. I waited this long, I think I can wait until he’s dead.”

Allura took a shuddering breath and brought her eyes to Keith. She knew exactly what his last dying wish was, and she was going to find a way to get free. Then, she was going to revive Voltron. What the Drule didn’t know but she did was that Voltron’s spirit was hibernating inside the Black Lion. Her mission now was to resurrect Voltron and stop the Drule before they destroyed anyone else’s lives.

-- -- -- -- --

Author’s Additional Notes: Keith’s instructions for Allura to hide in her memories was inspired by two episodes of the TV series “The Unit” called Pandemonium, Part 1 and Pandemonium, Part 2, in which Mac was being tortured. He managed to survive it by living in the memories of his wife and family.