There has to be an After for Us ~ (shadam / klance)

Chapter 40 - Tough Love

"Blaytz," said Allura as she walked with him along the boundary between the astral plane and the After. "I have a question about the After. Does every soul go there when they die?"

"Every soul is already here," said Blaytz, "It's parts of the soul's quintessence that occupies a body and returns to its soul when the body dies."

"In that case," said Allura, "Every soul is here regardless of their actions in the physical realm? The Shiroganes described their quintessence returning to their soul as having their hate melt away. So do those who do evil in their lives, do they return to their soul when they die and suddenly they know they were wrong? Do they get endless chances to live a good life?"

"I understand what you're asking. You're wondering if there's no punishment for those who do truly evil things."

"Yes," confessed Allura.

"Hate corrupts quintessence," said Blaytz. "Corrupted quintessence degrades a soul. When the Shiroganes described that hate melting away it was their corrupted quintessence degrading and it took a tiny piece of their soul away too, but not very much. And the better you are in your life, the stronger your quintessence is and it can then strengthen your soul. So yes, for some there are many chances. Of course if one lives many evil lives and continues to bring only corrupted quintessence to their soul, eventually their soul will become so weak it will die."

"So someone like Zarkon...," began Allura.

"Ten thousand years of evil resulted in some very corrupted quintessence."

"So then is he here? Does his soul live on, weakened, but free from hate? Or did his other lives weaken his soul to death? And..." Allura knew what she really wanted to ask... "And... Is Lotor here?"

Blaytz scratched the back of his head. "Ah yes, Lotor. His quintessence became corrupted when he was in the womb through no fault of his own. He never had a chance in that life..."

"Does his soul live on?"

"If you really wanted to know if Zarkon and Lotor are in the After you could search for yourself," said Blaytz. "You've searched for souls before."

Allura sighed. "I suppose I am not prepared to know."

Blaytz nodded. "We'll save that for another time then."

That's when Allura became aware of the yelling.

*******

Lance and Keith were both yelling at once. "...TORTURE ME WITH MEMORIES..." "...NEARLY KILLED KEITH!"

Alfor just listened. It was Melenor's voice that cut through it all. "I gave everyone a simple task: Tempt the Paladins off the path and distract them with a worthiness test so I could isolate our daughter for the coronation battle. How come you, husband, seemed to interpret this as 'torture the red one to the point of soul-death?' Can you imagine the multi-universal chaos that could've ensued if you'd murdered every Keith in every reality at once?!"

"You nearly did the same to our daughter," said Alfor with a casual shrug.

"That is different! I died through soul-death and I pulled through. Allura may have managed the same. We are made of stronger stock than this one!" Melenor threw her arm out to indicate Keith.

"Hey," said Keith, insulted. "I thought you were defending me."

"Yes, by pointing out how vulnerable you are." Then she turned back to Alfor. "He is not Altean." Melenor stopped herself then said, "Not in his reality anyway."

"Wait. WHAT?!" gasped Lance.

Melenor shook her head and said to Lance, "Well, you all are in one reality or another though sometimes you're called Aursians... Doesn't matter! We are the strongest version of Alteans. You nearly killed Keith. It was only Lance's quick thinking that saved him."