Allura keyed the entry code to her chamber door. It had been a long day, and she was looking forward to snuggling up under her favorite blue comforter and drifting off to sleep. Not bothering to turn on the overhead light, she headed for her dressing table and began the tedious task of pulling out the four evil hairpins that Nanny installed each morning.

There was only a quarter of a moon visible, but it still managed to cast a soft, yellow hue through the window and over a portion of the room. She could see well enough, so she decided not to turn on the small lamp of her dressing table. Allura enjoyed having the lights off when she could. There was something restful about it…soothing.

Allura shut her eyes and let the breeze from the open window caress her back. It was a warm spring evening, one very typical of Arus this time of year. Nanny must have cracked the window to let some fresh air in. It felt good - Allura didn’t get out much these days.

As she mindlessly ran a comb through her long blond tresses, she drew in a deep, cleansing breath. She was told to do this whenever the tension she perpetually carried around with her flared up. Doom was defeated nearly two months ago, but for some reason, it still felt as if there was a war raging inside her head. Keith said it was because she wasn’t used to a life without fighting - a life of peace, but she just couldn’t shake this underlying feeling that something evil was lurking in the wings, waiting for her to relax her guard.

The downfall of the Doom Empire could have been predicted after the death of its dark Prince. Lotor was killed…or rather murdered, by his own father in some sort of violent confrontation. Allura almost hadn’t believed the news when she heard it. How could a living being with a beating heart kill their own child? Zarkon was an evil that she would never understand. It served the great King right that half his Empire turned against his evil rule upon the news of Lotor’s murder. It took only a small military effort to destroy what remained of it.

The death of Lotor continued to weigh heavily on her shoulders, and she resented the fact. It was as if in some way, she felt partially responsible. She knew it to be utterly irrational, but she felt sorry for him. Sorry that a life with promise was wasted. Sorry that he reached out to her with all his misconstrued intentions, and she wouldn’t…couldn’t help him. Allura had always held the belief that a human being who had never known love, could never give it. Lotor was a prime example. He was driven to possess those things around him which gave him pleasure, and that’s what he thought love was. If only things had been different.

For the most part, Allura kept her thoughts private. She knew for a fact that the boys didn’t exactly feel the same way about Lotor’s end that she did. They rejoiced over his death - reveled in it. They practically giggled every time his name was mentioned. Keith was the only one who didn’t laugh, but Allura knew that he took more satisfaction in Lotor’s death than all the others combined. Since learning of the murder, Keith had only spoken of his fallen arch rival once. Allura would never forget the coldness in his voice and the distant blackness of his deep, brown eyes. “My only regret is that I’ll never get to hold his bloody, dying heart in my bare hands.”

Allura glanced up at the clock. He was most likely asleep. Even if he wasn’t, she didn’t want to bother him with her trivial worries. She knew that it would only add to his own pile of current frustrations. Their wedding was only one week away, and he was currently being put through the rigors of the ‘Nanny and Coran School of Royal Etiquette.’ Keith hardly need lessons in charm, but there was much he needed to know about royal tradition; not just for the wedding, but for the coming years. After the ceremony, he would be King, and then no one could instruct him in anything (except her, of course).

Allura took a measure of solace in knowing that she was going to be marrying her best friend. Somehow, she had always known that they would end up together. He had loved her for years, and even if her affections for him had only recently blossomed, she could now recognize him as her soul mate. Deep down, she had known her feelings all along, but she had been too consumed with other things to give them notice. After all, she had a war to win. But that was over, and Keith hadn’t wasted any time. Before the end of the first week, he had asked her. In his words, “I have to ask before Nanny gets the idea to marry you off to someone else.” Ah, a proposal born of possessive desperation. One could just choke on the romance.

Something humorous danced through Allura’s head as she changed into her nightgown. Romelle had once said, “A man will ask a woman to marry him for two reasons; money…or because he’s afraid of loosing her to another man.” Allura then asked her which of those prompted Sven’s proposal. After thinking about it, her cousin responded rather dryly. “I forgot the third reason…sex. If the sex is too good to live without, he’ll ask her.” Well, that wasn’t Keith’s reason. They weren’t as ambitious as their counterparts, and they had decided to wait until after it was “official.” Allura loved Romelle’s reckless abandon though. In some ways, Romelle was her alter ego. (Incidentally, Sven and Romelle were expecting their first child in two months.)

Allura slid under the covers and let her mind gloss into a blissful haze. But before she resigned herself to the sensation of sleep, a nearby thud startled her to alertness. Not the ‘jumping up’ kind of startle but a perfectly still kind of paralyzing fear - like when you were a child, and you thought that a demon was under your bed.

She held her breath and listened. Nothing. Just the wind from the barely cracked window.

“Hello?” she asked to the now pitch black room. “Nanny?”

Suddenly, she saw something move in the shadows. (Or was it a shadow moving?) She could barely see it at the far end of the room, creeping silently across the floor like a delicate, swirling mist rising from a lake in the cool morning air. But whoever (whatever) it was, it was slowly inching toward her.

“Stay where you are,” she said, starting to panic. “Don’t come any closer!”

And then suddenly, if it had been her imagination, the mysterious shadow disappeared.

Allura let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and fell back onto her pillow. She needed more rest than she thought. Literally, she was starting to jump at shadows.

She closed her eyes…and then it was on top of her. Instinctively, she went to scream, but a silencing hand blocked her call for help. All she could manage was a muffled whimper. Without needing to see her attacker, she began kicking violently in the dark.

Her arms flailed underneath the blanket, but she couldn’t get them out. It was sitting on her, pinning her to the bed. She bucked only to be held back by two strong, human hands. But it didn’t sound like a human; it growled like some sort of animal trying to subdue its prey. She writhed and squirmed, but the beast held her fast.

She tried to move it into the stream of moonlight that streaked across the edge of her bed. She wanted to see the intruder. But he brought the struggle to a close with a whisper.

“Allura…be quiet.”

Out of sheer curiosity, she stopped resisting and fell silent. After a few seconds, the grip of the attacker’s hand slackened over her mouth.

“Don’t scream. Please, don’t scream.” And he released her and sat back on his haunches.

Both were breathing heavily.

‘Stay calm,’ she told herself. “Who are you?” she demanded in a harsh whisper. “Who dares…”

He moved into the light.

The onslaught of emotion was of something she had never before known - relief, horror, fright, fear, excitement. It just couldn’t be! But it was.

“Lotor! But I thought you were…”

“Dead, my dear?”

She stared at his perfect countenance. He didn’t seem nervous, but he didn’t seem cocky either. She almost didn’t recognize him simply because of the expression on his face. He seemed afraid…concerned…sad. His demeanor actually subdued her alerted senses. She felt calm; for some strange reason, she knew she was not in any danger. His eyes told her that.

“I needed to see you,” he said. “Are you well?”

“How dare you intrude upon me in the privacy of my own bedroom, and ask me how I’m doing.”

His expression did not change, but he closed his eyes. “All I’ve been able to think about is you, Allura. I couldn’t live with you thinking that I was dead.” He opened his eyes and gazed at her earnestly in the dark. “Did you…care?”

She knew what he meant, but she would never tell him the truth. “Did you care when you killed my people time and again with your robot soldiers, your robeasts, and your lazon-powered weapons?” He regarded her words intently, and for once, he seemed affected by them. He sat back and his face disappeared into the darkness. “Lotor, you should leave. Before they find out you’re here.”

He sighed. “And you wouldn’t turn me in? You wouldn’t call for them now to take me to rot in your dungeon? What if I told you I would rather rot in your dungeon than live as a King on a lavish planet? Would you believe my love for you then?”

She still whispered, but threatening tears strangled her vocal chords. “You only think you love me, Lotor. You don’t even know what love is.”

His voice became angry. “And who does know what love is? Your Captain? Do you think that he will love you as I would have?”

Word of their impending marriage had no doubt reached the far corners of the galaxy by now. It seemed like the only Universal language was gossip.

She became furious. What gave him the right to speak of something he was so utterly ignorant of? He would never understand it; he was too blinded by hate and jealousy to even begin to comprehend what real feelings were. Surprisingly, it was this which drew her to him, but not at the moment. He was attacking the one thing that no one would ever insult or undermine; her love for him. Suddenly, she felt possessed to speak what she had for so long kept bounded within her private thoughts.

“He was there for me during my darkest hour when I thought my people had only days to live! He threw his entire life away to defend a world that wasn’t even his! He held his feelings for me in check for years because he knew that I wasn’t ready for them! And He never thought of himself first. I would never think to question his love, because it wasn’t something that was instantly there. It grew like a tree in the forest; slow but steadfast. It was beautiful at times and painful at others. It was difficult…and yet easy. And now I am his, and he is mine. Although I don’t know why I bother trying to explain any of it to you. Your delusional mind is incapable of understanding anything that doesn’t have to do with causing pain.”

She waited for him to reply with one of his token comments, but all she heard was her own rapid breath. She wanted to say, ‘Get off me!’ But she didn’t. She waited…and waited.

He finally spoke. “As I will never understand your love for him,” he snarled at the mere mention of his enemy, “you will never know of my love for you.” He paused. “I can see now how this all must end.”

He lifted himself from her bed, and after endless minutes, he took a step toward the open window. “If it will prove my love for you, I will leave you to your captain. But you must do me one favor in return - never again let the words pass your lips that I don’t love you.”

She wanted to yell, she wanted to spit in his face, but something in his eyes called out for sympathy. He was the child of a monster, a token of evil, but he was still a creature of God. Would she have been any different if she were in his shoes? The thought gave her pause.

“Lotor, I wish you a life of peace. May you find what you are looking for.”

He offered a sad smile and opened the window to climb out into the night.

And then everything happened within one terrible minute.

Allura heard a telltale noise right before her chamber door slid open. The Captain lunged at the intruder with brandished sword in hand. So quickly that she almost didn’t see it, Lotor drew his laser sword and met his attacker head on. The two rivals clashed thrice before splitting to opposite walls.

Allura wanted to fly out of bed and run to her Captain, but Lotor was in her path. She let out a choked gasp from the sheer desperation of it all. It was perverse horror, and all she could do was watch to see what would happen next.

Each man stood completely still, entranced in each other’s evil intentions. It was then, for the first time, Allura could see the depth of the black hatred that ran between the two. She could see it in both sets of eyes. It was beyond anything human, and it was lustful, and wicked, and it made her pulse quicken with fright. She had to do something or it would all end badly.

“Keith! Leave him to go in peace. He didn’t come to harm me.”

He barely gave her notice, remaining fixated on his target.

That’s when the situation turned. Before she knew it, Lotor had her in his clutches. She moaned and fought to drop to the floor in protest, but his grip was unrelenting.

“Drop your weapon, Commander.”

He did as was ordered, and there they stood in a place in time that never should have happened.

Slowly, Lotor eased forward with her in his arms until they stood a mere arm’s length from her Captain…her brave, unselfish Captain.

She gripped at the arm that was slowly choking off her airway. “Lotor, please…”

“Release her!” he demanded sternly.

And that’s what Lotor did. As she fell to the floor, she heard the menacing hiss of laser electricity cutting through air. She didn’t see it, for if she did, she would have certainly died right there along with him. She looked up just in time to see him fall to his knees.

She screamed, but it wasn’t enough for him to hear. His world was drawing to its silent conclusion.

She didn’t hear the murderer leave, nor did she hear his pleas of forgiveness. She only heard the breaking of her own heart, and the maddening screams coming from her own throat.

She reached for him as he fell to the floor, his head coming to rest in her lap. His injured neck and chest bled with a raging intensity, almost as if the life force was racing to escape his mortal body. The blood fell freely over her hands and onto the pretty pink nightgown that for so long had been her favorite.

“Just give me a minute,” he said, and his eyes closed. As his quivering body exhaled his last breath, she prayed for God to take her. She felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders…

Allura bolted upright. She was freezing cold, and drenched in sweat. It was a dream, and a very bad one at that.

“Keith?”

“Honey, I’m right here.” He smiled, but his dazzling dark eyes were intent with concern. He had firm hold of both her shoulders; he had been trying to wake her.

“You were screaming, so I ran. Bad dream?”

“The worst.” She held onto him so forcefully that she’d nearly dragged him into bed with her.

There came a scuffling outside, and then came the storm. Coran, Nanny, the rest of her friends, and about two dozen guards rushed to her side in a fevered frenzy. Upon deducing that things appeared normal, Coran’s expression relaxed.

“What happened? What’s the matter?”

“I had a bad dream, Coran. I’m sorry everyone. You can, uh, go back to bed.”

Most of them did. Keith remained, clutching one of her hands with the both of his. “You can go back to bed, Coran. I just want to talk to Allura for a second.”

The two shared a look of the same concern, and the weary advisor nodded. He had known Keith for too long to think his intentions were anything but noble. Coran bowed briefly to the Princess and headed back down the hall, slippers flapping in his wake.

Allura let her gaze linger on Keith’s concerned expression and down-turned mouth. He stared at her with question in his eyes, but she remained alone with her thoughts. Absently, she ran a warm finger tip down his rugged cheek, all the while drinking in every detail of his beautiful face, hoping to restore her sense of reality. Blessed, kind reality. She wanted to take for granted that he would always be around. Her experience knew too much of the reality of death, and yet somehow, he seemed immortal. The dream was an unpleasant reminder that he too, was human and prone to that which we must all come to someday. She tried to force the thought from her mind, but it was too late. The tears came.

Keith closed the chamber door and crawled into bed behind her, cradling her in his arms. “It was just a dream, that’s all. Nobody can hurt you.”

Allura was nearly distracted by his bold gesture, but the picture of him lying dead in her arms would not allow her to be comforted. Somehow, it had all seemed so real. She tried to talk, but the words came out as more of a whisper. “Not me.”

“What was that, sweetheart? I couldn’t hear you.”

“Not me,” she said again. “My dream - no one was trying to hurt me.”

Keith was beginning to think that having her lean against him was not the brightest thing he’d ever done. Here she was crying after having this terrible nightmare, and he somehow finds it…exciting. He shifted her position against him and concentrated his attention elsewhere.

“Tell me about it. What happened in this dream of yours.”

“Lotor.”

“Honey, Lotor IS a nightmare.”

Allura gave him a playful swat across the thigh. “Quit trying to make me laugh. I’m having a crisis.”

“Many apologies, Your Majesty. Please continue.”

Allura’s eyes darkened with the memory of it. “Lotor found out we were engaged, and he came back and…and…and…he…” She couldn’t even finish. If they passed her lips, the words would make it even more real.

Keith began running his fingers through her damp, knotted locks. “Allura, Lotor is dead. He can’t hurt you, me, or anyone else ever again. Besides, I would never let anything happen to you…ever, so you can stop worrying your pretty little head over it.” He kissed her on the forehead and didn’t like the unnatural warmth of her skin, or the way it glistened heavily in the dim light of the room. “Honey, maybe I should take you to see Dr. Gorma.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Why is it that every time I act a little off-color, everyone tries to send me to Dr. Gorma? Any more visits to Dr. Gorma, and I’ll have my medical degree.”

“Now who’s trying to make who laugh?”

Allura snuggled back into his arms. She knew what would make her feel better, but she wasn’t sure if he would go for it. He had been stubborn about this kind of thing lately. “Keith?”

“Hmmm?”

“Will you sleep with me tonight?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not?”

“Because if Nanny or Coran catch me in here, they’ll kill me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because Nanny said, ‘If I ever catch you sleeping in the Princess’ quarters, I’ll kill you.’ It was a very special moment that Nanny and I shared. She nicely laid out all the rules that apply until after we’ve married…just in case there was any confusion, or I had other ideas.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “Nanny is just over-exaggerating. I really don’t want to be all by myself.” She said it so sweetly that Keith had to laugh. Only he could see through her ‘I’m Allura and beautiful, and I want something from you’ routine.

He shook his head, quite aware that he was already in trouble. “Oh no…here comes the charm.” She began massaging his knee. “Uh oh, now I’m really done for.”

She ignored the comment and continued, now very much enthralled in the game. “I’ll be all alone and scared. I’ll wake up, and you won’t be here to protect me, and …”

“Okay, please stop. I’ll stay. Just…stop.” The intent was to come across as annoyed, but he came off sounding soft. It was no doubt that this was going to be the first of many things that he would be giving in to. But it mattered very little to him. He’d give her the galaxy if only she asked. “Just don’t tell anybody. I value my life.”

She giggled in victory as he crawled into bed with her. “One more week,” she said.

“One more week.”

From that night on, all her dreams were happy ones. But then again, who needs dreams when reality is so much sweeter.

-The End-

Or it is?
Actually, it is...the end, I mean. You know what I mean.