Chapter Text
The sound of running footsteps grabs your attention as you quickly stand, and everyone runs into the room. Allura wasn’t present, which means King Alfor’s corrupted AI must’ve tricked her by this point.
“Shiro, Y/N, are you- Shiro!” Pidge exclaimed as she ran to his side. Keith slammed you against the wall, his eyes glaring daggers at you.
“What did you do?!”
“What I had to!” You shoved Keith off you. “Shiro was hallucinating on the account he hadn’t had any sleep for several days. He was going insane, thinking Sendak was somehow talking to him in his mind. I just did enough damage so that he’ll be sluggish.”
“Damage? What damage?” Lance exclaimed. Before you could retort, an alarm blared, and Sendak’s pod was ejected from the castle. You tried to get to it, to stop it, but it happened in the blink of an eye. His pod was gone as soon as you touched the glass.
“NO!” You shouted in fury, punching the wall enough to leave a dent and abrasions along your knuckles. Keith went from angry to worried as he saw you hit the wall with such force. The alarms blared once more, showing the castle was getting ready for a wormhole jump.
“The ship is starting a wormhole jump!” Coran exclaimed.
“Haul Shiro with us if you have to. We need to stop King Alfor!” You shouted as you took off running to the bridge. Hunk and Keith carried Shiro to the bridge as you all entered, seeing Allura in the central controls with a smile on her face.
“Allura!” You exclaimed. “Stop the ship, it’s a trick! The castle-”
“Is going to Altea. We’re going home!” She smiled as she looked back at everyone. “My father is taking us.”
You, Pidge, Lance, and Coran charged for the princess as she steered the ship. The central barrier activated, giving you a thorough shock that knocked you off your feet.
“Stay away from my daughter!” King Alfor’s corrupted AI exclaimed as his face appeared on the monitors.
“The crystal must’ve corrupted King Alfor’s artificial intelligence. It’s taking over!” Coran shouted. The wormhole ended, and the destination was a star ready to explode.
“We’re headed straight for a star, and it’s about to explode!” Pidge shouted.
“But all Allura sees is Altea,” you noted. Coran ran up to the barrier, slamming his hands on it.
“Allura! Allura, wake up! What you’re seeing isn’t real!” You couldn’t hear what Allura was saying, your ears still ringing from the shock. Seems you’ve injured your shoulder due to the forcefield’s blowback.
“That flower you’re touching is real,” King Alfor said.
“But where is the fragrance of the sweet junierries?” Coran shouted. As soon as Allura realized it wasn’t real, she was kicked out of the central controls, King Alfor’s AI taking over as he continued to head for the star. Lance caught her before she fell to the ground.
“Father, please, I beg you to turn this ship around! If we don’t do it soon, we will all perish!” Allura pleaded as she pressed against the forcefield.
“I know. That is my intention.”
“What? Why?!”
The next few moments were King Alfor’s AI fighting its corrupted self, continuing to try to persuade Allura to give up. Eventually, she sent the paladins to their hangars to slow the castle’s descent into the star. You and Coran worked to try and get the engines shut off temporarily while Allura ran to disconnect and destroy her father’s AI. You can see the worry on Coran’s face.
“Don’t worry. She’s strong, she knows moving forward is better than moving to the past. Believe in your princess, Coran.” He gave you a nod in response.
A few minutes later, the central barrier and the hologram of King Alfor fizzled out. Coran looked on solemnly.
“She did it…”
The alarms blared, scanning the star and seeing it as an immediate sign of danger. Allura ran back to the central controls as you opened a frequency to the paladins.
“Get in the hangars, we’re leaving!”
As soon as everyone was inside, Allura quickly opened a wormhole and passed right through it just as the star exploded. After you were all safely from danger, everyone gathered again on the bridge to give their condolences to the princess.
After ensuring she was okay, Coran escorted her back to her chambers. You gave her a quick check-up and headed off to the containment room. Keith followed you and saw you stop and stand where Sendak’s pod was ejected from. The dent in the wall was still there.
Guess it wasn’t just his imagination.
“Y/N, it-”
“I’m sorry for doing what I did to Shiro,” you sighed. “If I’d known it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place… Sendak still got ejected from the ship and I…” Keith placed a hand on your shoulder, pulling you into a tight hug.
“It’s ok, we’ll get him next time.” You hugged him tightly in return.
But you don’t know what’s coming… You thought to yourself, holding him tightly.