Disclaimer - Voltron and all associated characters are the property of WEP.
"Photograph"
In the midst of intergalactic cold war, for the time being, things within the Denubian Galaxy had remained quite peaceful in the past few weeks. The resolve of the people of Arus and its allies had been further strengthened by Arus' queen and her prince-consort. Amidst the silence, a single ship departed from Arus, its destination known only to its two occupants.
"Are you sure you're alright with this, Keith?" Allura asked. "I know for a fact you are still looking at security footage from the last few days of perimeter scans." He quickly tapped a few buttons, hit handheld screen going blank.
"I'm sure," he replied. "I know I've been putting this off for a while. It's time I did something you want."
"Are you saying you don't?" she asked with a smirk.
"Not saying that at all," he replied. "In fact…" He gave her a sly look. "…I'm actually looking forward to it."
"You already told me we are heading to Dradin," she said. "Don't tell me that Manset had anything to do with this."
"Well, to be honest," he replied, "he did owe me a favor from the last time we were there. And I'm told the hotel he's booked us in is one of the best he owns. And yes, I did look into his records this time to make sure nothing shady was going on."
"Thank you," she said. "We definitely don't need a repeat of what happened last time."
"I couldn't agree more, Allura," he replied. "I want this time to be about just you and me." She looked at him and smiled.
"You have no idea how excited I am bout this trip," she said. "Time away from document signing, battle strategies, political maneuvering, and perimeter scans." She looked back over to see him tapping away on the screen again. "Keith!" He quickly turned it off again.
"Sorry," he said. "Force of habit."
"I know," she replied. "Let's just try to relax and have a good time, OK?"
"You got it," he replied, smiling back at her. The ship continued to rocket its way towards Dradin.
The door to the room swung open, and Keith and Allura entered. Allura gasped at the sight of it.
"It's absolutely breathtaking!" she said, grinning from ear to ear.
"It is, isn't it?" he replied, actually allowing himself to finally relax for a moment.
"The view, Keith," she said, running to the huge window overlooking the city. "I can't believe the view we have from here!" She turned to Keith. "Are you SURE Manset doesn't have ulterior motives for putting us up in a place like this?"
"I told you, Allura," he replied, "he owed me a favor. And boy did he deliver!" He walked up to the window and looked out as well, taking in the darkness being lit up by all the lights below. "Just the two of us. Alone. In an awesome room." He paused a moment as he wrapped his arms around her. "Did I mention 'alone'?" She let out a giggle.
"Keith Akira Kogane," she said, "are you trying to seduce me?" He smiled.
"Is it working?" he asked slyly. They looked into one another's eyes, then slowly closed them as their lips met. Their hands roamed each other's bodies as they kissed passionately. The suddenly, they were blinded by a flash of light. The kiss broke, and they rubbed their eyes.
"What the hell?" he shouted. As his eyes came back into focus, he saw a dark figure handing in front of the window…with a camera. Immediately he was pulled upwards. "Paparazzi?" Enraged, he flung open the window.
"Keith," Allura said, "just let it go."
"We came here to relax," he replied, "not to be hunted and chased down. I'm not letting him get away with it." He pulled back his sleeve and activated his voltcom, his suit forming over the vacation clothing he had been wearing. She frowned. He climbed out the window, and began scaling the building after him. Allura put her hand over her eyes, sighing, then turned and headed for the door.
Keith scaled the building. Upon reaching the roof, he saw him. The figure was dressed from head to toe in black, complete with a hood to mask his identity. The man ran, and Keith pursued him. They ran into the stairwell and quickly down several flights of stairs. The man dove over the banister and after several flips, landed gracefully several floors below, entering.
"It's not gonna be that easy to get away," he said aloud to himself. He leaped after him, the two swords forming in his hands, digging into the wall to slow his descent. As he approached the floor, he flipped around and swung into the stairwell again and ran through the door. The man ran down the halls crazily and knocked over a food cart in his way, trying to slow Keith down. As Keith leaped over it, a door to one of the rooms opened, and two heads popped out…one with pink hair tied in pig tails, the other a man with short hair, his glasses half dangling off his face.
"Hey, Sheri," he said, "that kinda looks like my…"
"Just get back inside, Chip!" she shouted with a devilish grin. "I'm not through with you yet!" She ducked inside, pulling him in as the door slammed shut.
The man turned a corner and came upon a dead end….well, it wasn't exactly a dead end, as the elevator was there. He pried open the shaft, looked back once at Keith approaching, and dived in. Keith looked into the shaft and watched the man leap from side to side of the shaft with great agility, coming the rest atop the elevator as it descended to the bottom floor.
"You gotta be kidding me," he said aloud to himself. He dove in and also leaped from side to side, slowing himself down. The man opened the hatch and ran out of the elevator as it opened. As soon as Keith touched down, he did the same. The man ran through the bar, dodging patrons as he went. Keith ran in and was stopped by a man that stood a foot taller than him.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. Keith looked him in the eye.
"Anywhere I want!" he shouted as he gut checked him with an elbow and flipped him onto a table, breaking it. He turned and took off after the mysterious man. They ran through the casino. The man tried to lose Keith in the rows of slot machines, but Keith was clever. He leaped atop the machines and followed him from above. Panicked, then man headed for the exit. Keith leaped onto the last machine and flipped off it, continuing persuit. The machine went off and money spilled into the lap of a young Drule woman. She looked over at the bulked up man beside her and shrugged her shoulders.
"Beginner's luck?" she asked.
The man ran out of the hotel and down the street. Keith was getting closer and closer. The man leaped to a flagpole and swung up on to a fire escape. Keith of course followed, chasing him down the fire escape and down into an alley. The man ran at full sprint, but Keith was not about to give up. As he got to the bottom though, his foot got caught in the ladder and he fell. He got up, but knew he'd lost too much footing. He continued to run though. The man turned his head for a split second to see that Keith was gone, and….BAM! The man ran right into a forearm and was clotheslined to the ground. As Keith finally caught up, trying to catch his breath, he looked over and saw Allura looking at him, rubbing her hands together with satisfaction.
"Really?' Keith asked. She smirked.
"Now let's see who's behind the mask," she said, helping the man to his feet and pulling off the hood.
"Pidge?" Keith said, bewildered. "What the hell were you doing spying on us and taking pictures?"
"Look," he said, "it's not as bad as it sounds."
"Try me," Allura said, looking at him with disdain. Pidge let out a nervous chuckle.
"Well," he said, "I needed extra money to replace my gaming equipment. Cheddar thought my cables looked tasty and chewed through the lot of them! I was walking around the castle bummed about it, Nanny saw me, asked me what's wrong and well….a deal was struck."
"Pidge, next time you need something, just ask," Keith said.
"And by that we DON'T mean candid pictures to give to Nanny!" Allura added.
"I'm sorry, guys," he said, looking sincerely apologetic.
"It's ok," Keith said. "Just head home and give your report that nothing bad happened. We'll replace the cables for you, and everybody's happy." He patted Pidge on the back. "Oh…and this." He took the camera from Pidge, and he and Allura walked back towards the hotel.
"Come on guys!" he shouted. "That was my new camera!" He sighed and walked away.
Keith and Allura walked back into the room, his armor melting away, and the energy returning to the voltcom. She slammed the door and turned around, the deadbolt locking behind her.
"Now," she said, "where were we?"
"I believe we were…" he started to say.
"Removing that voltcom," she said, detaching it from his arm and casually yet seductively tossed it aside. He held up the camera, then showed her the picture.
"It's actually not a bad shot," Keith said laughing. "What do you think?" She pulled the camera from him and tossed that too. She wrapped her arms around him, and once again, they began kissing. Moments later his hands reached around the backside of her jumpsuit, slowly pulling the zipper down to her lower back, exposing her flesh. As they kissed and he slowly began to slide the jumpsuit off her right shoulder, he abruptly stopped for a moment.
"What's wrong?" she asked. He smirked and pressed a button on the wall, closing the blinds. The lights then went out.