Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not amidst joy.
-Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans
Chapter Five
Alana felt a small amount of amusement at the thought that she was finally flying Voltron. And with no hands, no less. The amusement was short-lived, as her target soon loomed in her perceptions, and with the Blazing Sword, she drew the Core's magic into Voltron. She could tell that the robot was close to filled to capacity, but she just needed enough to take the rest down with her. Magic knew magic and the remnants would follow her when she brought them all back down.
She tried not to think about the last moments with Ethan, when he had pushed her even as she was leaving and she entered Voltron by dancing up the sword and into the robot. Ethan had held Merla back, though it was a shaky hold, but Archent had moved as fast as he'd promised and Jack had struck true. Merla's scream had been terrible and Alana had felt her energy spread out and disappear. That had relieved her...but she wished she hadn't felt Ethan leave. There was no reluctance on his part when he left, just a simple satisfaction at a job well done. The first thought she had was that he was ready to go. He hadn't said goodbye, but she could feel his love brush against her mind and she wanted to weep. She wanted to go to her parents, to her sister, and curl up in their warmth and cry for her lost brother. He'd been so brave, had taken charge so easily, that it hurt her to think of what he might have been had he lived.
Centering herself, Alana concentrated on Voltron. Ethan had told her what had to be done and she was not going to let him or the rest of the planet down. Flying Voltron easily, she went back down to the tunnel that Jack had dug out when he'd blasted out of the Core and she followed it back down. It was just a matter of closing up the tunnel and sealing Voltron back inside. The cavern seemed to be the perfect size for it and the top of its head brushed the cavern's ceiling. She wondered if this was where he was built.
The Blazing Sword was still sparking with the magic that she had gathered and she had Voltron point it at the rubble that it had blasted in order to seal the tunnel. She made another seal, this time with magic, keeping the Core back in. The excess magic leaked out of Voltron out of its own accord but the rest remained. Voltron was silent as ever, a guardian statue to keep those who sought out the Core at bay. Like generations before hers, Alana would make sure that the secret remained just that but should someone learn of the Core, Voltron would be there to make sure that this did not happen again. Whoever sat in the throne would make sure of it.
So you really are the Defender then, Alana said to it. Do your job well. Protect us from ourselves.
After making sure that everything was secure, she left.
The earthquakes had stopped and they could hear the cheering of the people inside and outside the castle. Lance had announced that it was over, that Arus was free, and everyone had been so happy that they did not ask themselves why the King, Queen or any of the Royal children had not made the announcement.
They brought Alana's body to her room. There was a narrow streak of white in her hair, a little to the right of the center, that had not been there before; a physical manifestion of what she had been through. She was still breathing, but barely, and Keith and Allura sat at her side while Bethie sat at her feet. She was exhausted but she could not rest now. The war may have been over for the rest of Arus, but it continued for the rest of her family. All she wanted was for Alana to open her dark eyes and look at them and then she could rest. Ethan's death wore at her, Jack's near sacrifice had nearly pushed her over the edge, and she was not sure how much more she could take. Her hand rested lightly on her stomach and she thought of how she was going to tell her unborn son about what had happened before his birth...she wasn't sure if she had it in her to tell the story.
She looked over at her parents and saw how tightly their hands were clasped. Her father had a strong arm around her mother's shoulders and he held her close as they stared down at Alana's sleeping face. He looked haggard and her mother looked like she'd lost hope. They had lost their son and they were having to face the fact that perhaps they'd lost another one of their children as well. Not for the first time since this had all started, Bethie thought of how hard they had fought the first time they had to wrestle Arus from the hands of a madman. Merla had turned their lives upside down, had reminded them that they were not invincible, and that they would always be in danger. She was afraid of what kind of world her son would grow up in and hoped that he would live a life of peace, like what her parents wanted for her and her siblings, but she was very aware now of how easily that could be taken away.
"Ethan spoke to me, you know," she said quietly.
Her parents' eyes shot to her face.
"What did he say?" Keith asked, his voice hoarse.
"Goodbye and that he loves us."
The breath Keith expelled was heavy and he bowed his head, covering his face with his hands. Allura put an arm around him, resting her wet cheek against his back.
"He died bravely, Keith," she said. "We have to find comfort in that."
"Our son, Allura...our son...."
"I know, Keith."
The grief on her mother's face was such that Bethie had to look away. She closed her eyes and she reached out to her sister for the umpteenth time but this time, she felt something there.
Alana groaned and they all jumped to their feet. Allura grabbed Alana'a hand.
"Wake up," she said, tears in her voice. "Please, wake up, Alana."
Alana opened her big dark eyes and smiled for them.
"Okay," Alana said simply.
She sat up and put her arms around her parents. Bethie did not have to look at them to know that they were crying. She reached out and took Alana's hand in hers. Turning her head sideways, Alana smiled tearily at her and squeezed her hand tight.
After they put Alana and Bethie to bed, the sisters insisted on sharing Bethie's bed that night, Keith and Allura retired to their own chambers. It was exactly the same as Allura left it and she merely smoothed the sheets down. Keith slid in, clad in his underclothes and she did not bother putting a nightgown on after she'd taken her clothes off. He reached for her even as she was curling her body against his and their lips met without a word. There was no sense of urgency as they comforted each other in the best way they knew how and their hands glided over curves and planes that they knew well. They had missed each other, needed each other and they needed to connect in this way before any other. For Allura, it was needing to feel protected and loved by the man she had long ago entrusted with her life and to bring back some kind of normalcy to a life that had been turned inside out. For Keith, it was needing to hold his wife after thinking that he had lost her for good, and to let go of the worries and fears that had built up inside him.
Later, she laid in the circle of his arms, silent tears running down her cheeks. He brushed them away with his fingers, his touch gentle. She was trembling, all that had happened that day catching up with her, but he tightened his arms around her. At first he thought that he did not have anything left in him for her, but when she went into his arms after coming out of the Black Lion, he found that just needed to touch her and when her arms went around him, it was enough. He'd shut her out once before, after he'd killed Niloc, and he could not do it again...did not want to. His outburst in Castle Control had opened the floodgates and he was weary. He needed her. The loss of his mother had left a scar in his heart, but the loss of a child had cut him off at the knees. Nothing had prepared him for this, even during the times when he considered the fact that putting his children in the Lions could come to this. But he understood why Ethan had done it because it was easy for him to put himself in his son's shoes; Ethan had recognized the right choice and he made it. It hurt Keith, but he understood.
"I love you," he whispered to his wife.
"I love you, too," she said, kissing his neck. "I'm sorry I couldn't get him out of there, Keith."
He frowned.
"It wasn't your fault, Allura," he said. "Don't blame yourself. Don't do that. Ethan was old enough to make his own decisions."
"I should have ordered him out of Shadow Voltron," she said, burying her face in his shoulder.
"No," Keith said softly but she could hear the pain in his voice. "We raised a good man, a loyal Prince. This was his destiny. He was the only one who could have ended this the way it did. He gave us our future back, Allura. I need to believe that...I have to believe that to be able to keep my head about this. When it comes down to it, he was taken too early. It wasn't fair. If I could give my life for his, I would."
"No more death, Keith," Allura said, caressing his face. "I have had enough of it."
"I'm going to miss him. I miss him already," Keith sighed resignedly, blinked away his own tears.
"Bethie says that she's going to name her son Ethan."
"Good. That's good."
"We'll be able to go on after this, right, Keith?"
"We did before."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"You're the one with all the hocus pocus. Check the future."
They looked at each other and smiled.
"Yes," he said, holding her closer. "We'll be able to go on."
"For once, you're right."
"What do you mean for once?"
