Loving You to the Stars and Back // Keith x OC //

The Last Night

117

~Athena~

A few days passed since we saw the Altean lying unconscious inside of the Robeast. Romelle knew who the Altean was, recognizing her in an instant as soon as we brought her to the medical lab to run some diagnostics. Romelle knew the young Altean as Luka, a girl that she didn't really get along with back at the Colony. She mentioned how this Altean had this drive to be a part of something greater, which I assumed fueled her desire to help Lotor.

While the three of us waited for results outside of the room, I kept looking at Luka. Allura said something about her potentially being manipulated by something or someone because of this burning passion. I couldn't help feeling that it could be Haggar that is behind all of this, but I had no evidence. We don't even know if she's still alive.

"Do we have any updates on the Altean pilot?" Shiro asked as he looked over at Allura and me. The meeting room was packed with the Paladins, Garrison Staff, the MFEs, and the representatives of the Voltron Coalition. It was almost intimidating to have everyone in one small room, but this was an important briefing; the last one before we get launched back into space.

"She still remains unresponsive," I reply. "But she can wake up any day now."

"If we could just a little more time, we can find out who sent her," Allura added. I wanted to know if it was Haggar behind all of this, so giving us another few days on Earth would be best. But at the same time, tomorrow was the day we planned to go back out there to continue our liberation efforts.

"There's no way we'll know when or if she'll wake up," Keith said as he looked at the both of us. "We can't wait any longer. We need to go back out there and end this war before the Galra can reorganize themselves." Keith made a valid point, knowing that it was more important to end the war than wait for the pilot to wake up.

"Keith's right," Shiro says as he looked at the rest of the members. "We'll be in constant communications with Earth. If the pilot does wake up, we'll let you know." I kept silent, accepting the fact that there was no way that we would be able to postpone the launch date. If anything, I should trust that everything will be fine even when we leave Earth.

"With that being said, it's our last night here on Earth, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We may not come home for years, so I'm ordering all of you," Shiro pauses for a moment as he scans around the room, looking at every single person before finishing his sentence. "... to take some time for yourselves; go spend some time with your loved ones. You've all earned it," he says with a smile.

I looked over at Keith, then at Allura. Time off sounded lovely, but there were so many people that I want to spend time with before going to space. I wanted to take Allura to have dinner with my parents, and I wanted Keith to come too, but I felt like it might be too awkward for her to be there if my parents are going to talk to Keith the whole time. Like any parent, they want to know if their kid is with the right person and get to know them better.

"You know, it's okay if you just bring Keith to your parents' dinner tonight," Allura whispers in my ear.

I look at her in surprise. "Why? I want you to come for dinner and spend time with my family. What are you going to do on your last night on Earth?"

Allura shrugs. "I'll just keep an eye out for Luka if she wakes up," she replies.

"Allura, I know you want to get answers her once she wakes up. I want to know too, but you need to enjoy what's left before we go back to the grind," I say as I look at my sister. "If you're not going to join us for dinner, I want you to enjoy yourself and give yourself a break in some way."