As soon as she stepped out of the Blue Lion, Allura eagerily removed her helmet. As much pride as she had in wearing the suit, her hair got uncomfortable in the helmet and it sometimes left her with a headache after awhile. She was glad to be back in the Castle in good spirits; they had made a lot of progress in the last month, checking up on the members of the Voltron Coalition and making sure that they were in good shape after the fight at Naxzela. Everyone seemed to be doing well, which made her feel a little better about having to deal with Lotor. His presence made things tense at times, but Pidge had set up various ways to keep an eye on him throughout the Castle; Allura had her own way of keeping tabs on him, but for now, she kept that secret to herself.

Allura joined the others as they made their way to the bridge. Hunk and Pidge were arguing over some game from earth that Allura didn’t understand, and Lance was gloating to anyone who would listen.

“I wouldn’t complain if we went back to Puig just for fun,” Lance said. “They definitely have some of the finest babes this galaxy has to offer.”

Shiro frowned at him. “After forcing Lotor to free Puig, we might be going back soon, but that doesn’t mean-”

“Say no more,” Lance stopped him. “I’ve already set up some dates. Now I don’t have to worry about bailing on them.”

“Dude, we haven’t even been gone that long,” Hunk said. “How did you even?”

“A master never reveals his secrets.” Lance stroked his chin as they entered the bridge. Allura couldn’t help but groan, but she was glad his attention wasn’t on her at the moment.

“Welcome back!” Coran beamed at them, looking a little too relieved at their return. Beside him stood Lotor, who regarded the Paladins with indifference. Allura forced a smile on her face and stepped forward.

“I hope nothing too exciting happened to you while we were gone,” She said, her eyes falling to Lotor.

“Oh you know, we’ve just been having a blast,” Coran smiled, twirling his mustache nervously. “Lotor is a great conversationalist.”

“Tell me, Princess, how are the Puigians?” Lotor smirked.

“Just fine,” She said tursly. “Coran, have we set coordinates on the next planet?”

“Ah yes, we’re ready to leave.”

“Perfect.” She said, standing at her podium. While the other paladins had gone off to change, understandably not wanting to be in the same room as Lotor, Shiro remained beside her. He gave her a concerned look before taking his seat. Allura inhaled deeply as they continued on with their journey. Lotor constantly had her on edge, and if she wasn’t careful, he’d get the better of her.

***

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Later that evening, Allura stood alone on the bridge, looking out into the field of stars. She never got tired of being in space. Something about it made her feel less alone; maybe it was because it was were she got to spend the most time with her new family. A soft squeaking sound interrupted her thoughts and the family of mice came up to join her. She sat down on the edge of her podium and scooped one up in her hands.

“Do you have any news for me?” She asked them. They responded in a series of squeaks and she smiled.

“Well that’s good, but if you’re not watching him, then who is?”

“I put Pidge and Hunk on spying duty,” Shiro said, coming up behind her. “I thought the mice could use a break.”

Allura jumped slightly and set the mouse down. She turned around and frowned at him. “... How did you know that I was using them?”

“Because it seemed like a smart idea,” Shiro smiled. “So it was no surprise that you would use them.”

“Well, it does feel a bit nice that someone else knows about it now… not that I don’t appreciate the effort that Pidge put forth. I just felt like he would expect us to use technology to spy on him. I don’t think he’d be expecting a group of mice.”

“Probably not. But I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you want.”

Allura stood up and smiled up at him. “Thank you, Shiro… I know I haven’t been acting like myself since Lotor arrived. And don’t think that I haven’t noticed that you stay in a room if Lotor is there with me, but I appreciate that. Sometimes I don’t trust myself to be a good leader when I’m around him. I don’t like the idea that we have to put some trust in him, but I understand that we need him for now if we’re going to make any progress with Zarkon.”

“You’ve been handling it fine, but you don’t have to make any difficult decisions on your own,” Shiro said, his expression softening. “The fact that you considered all of your options before accepting Lotor into the Castle shows that you’re a good leader. I think we made the right decision, even if it was a hard one to make.”

Allura glanced out the window. “You’re not concerned about the Blade? We don’t know much about Eioa…”

“No, I am… but they knew the sacrifice when they left. Hopefully this risk pays off.” Shiro’s gaze went to the window and he seemed a little lost in thought and Allura watched him carefully. Ever since escaping from the Galra, she knew that he was still getting headaches every so often, though he never showed it in front of the other Paladins. He snapped back into the swing of things quicker than expected, but it still worried her to a degree. Shiro was never one to show any weakness and Allura worried that he was forcing himself at times; he hadn’t given himself enough time to adjust to being back. It was harder than she would have liked to admit while he was gone. She valued his skills and friendship, but she pushed herself to carry on while he was missing; she had to be a leader at that time, but she never got to tell him how much she missed him.

“Are you alright, Princess?” Shiro asked, looking at her. Allura didn’t realize that she had been staring at him and gave him a weak smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just… Are you alright?” She asked hesitantly, trying to find the right words. “Ever since you came back- I… I suppose I worry about you sometimes.”

Shiro smiled, but it masked how tired he really was. “Allura, I’m-”

A red light blinked on Coran’s dash and Shiro went to address it.

“It’s the Blade,” he said with a puzzled look. He pulled up a screen, but it remained black. A brief image appeared, showing the cockpit in disarray. The image on the screen distorted then went black again.

“Something’s wrong,” Shiro panicked.

Allura quickly moved to her podium again. “Alert the others,” she said fiercely. “We’re going to Eioa.”