She paced in her suite with the television on. Her face and voice were still on loop on almost every channel, replaying her moment of quiet determination not to blame all the people of Earth for the actions of a few, while acknowledging that she would have to rethink things.
	But she wasn’t rethinking anything except those long moments of Takashi protecting her. She could see each hit in her mind except the first, and she could only imagine the pain.
	How long can it possibly take to heal him?
	She couldn’t bear to look at the rest of her suite, because it was nothing but reminders of him now. She’d turned the television on to try to distract herself, but it had failed. Still, some noise was better than the unsettling quiet.
	They were already hailing Captain Shirogane as a hero, as they should. They were speaking well of the Alteans defending themselves and their princess but not firing back. I should have allowed them some weapons. If she’d had a weapon or even if she hadn’t been pushed to the ground and held down… 
	Lasers, projectile weapons, these were all simple things to her. She could have done so much, she could have protected her beloved the way he had protected her. She knew that Murien was acting out of an abundance of caution, and she didn’t blame her or Kenser for their actions. They were here to protect her, not some random human.
	But he was more than just “some human” to her, and every dobosh she didn’t hear from the major or one of Takashi’s team worried her more and more. It’d been vargas since the incident; it was fully night outside. I should be in your arms by now, my love, in our bed. 
	She couldn’t help turning her head to the empty bedroom. Housekeeping had come and changed the sheets, made the bed. It looked now like no one had ever slept in it, like it had never been a constant setting for sharing her love with Takashi, like they hadn’t had pillow fights and tickle fights all over it. But, more than that, she had to remind herself that she did not own this bed. 
	It’s only our bed temporarily. Only for as long as I’m here. It can’t be ours forever. Does that say something? Does that mean our love is destined to be as temporary as our claim to this place? Even if he hadn’t been injured, she had to leave at some point. She had to return to Altea. She’d known that all along, but it had been easier not to dwell on it, to push it aside and concentrate on the time she did have.
	Time is never on our side.
	She sighed and walked into the bedroom to activate her mother’s cube. 
	“Yes, my flower?”
	It all came out. She was crying instantly as she talked to her mother’s voice, as she told her about what had happened, what had become of her beloved captain, and how she had nothing and didn’t know what to do. She fell into her concerns about being separated from him again. “What good is having an arlnath if we cannot be with each other?” she finished.
	“Oh, Allura, my sweet child. I would do anything to take this pain from you. I am so sorry this has happened. I am so, so sorry that some people’s hate and fear have inflicted this upon you.”
	“How do you know that’s why they did it?”
	“Because that is a natural response to the unknown. You are unknown to most of this planet. But just because I can understand why they’d react that way does not mean I condone it. Violence should never be the first resort.”
	“I want to be home. I want…”
	“And where is home?” her mother asked.
	She blinked. “Altea, of course.”
	“You’re just saying that.”
	“What? No. Altea is…” 
	“The planet you are from. But where is home? Where are you comfortable, warm, and safe? Where do you feel you belong? Where do you long to be the most right now?”
	She sighed and closed her eyes, seeking the answers to her mother’s questions. “Altea is still part of it. I want to be where people will not seek to harm me just because I am different. But,” she opened her eyes, “I don’t want to be there without Takashi. I want to be with him.”
	“More than you want to be on Altea?”
	“I… I don’t know. I just want things to be the way they were before all of this happened.”
	“You were always going to have to face this choice.”
	“I know.”
	“For now, is there someone you can safely contact? Someone you trust who can take you to him? You should be by his side.”
	“I don’t know that they will let me. Certainly I could visit once, as a formal recognition of the man who saved my life, but…”
	“Then tell them the truth.”
	“I can’t do that, Mother!”
	“Tell them he is your arlnath and you refuse to be separated from him.”
	“They don’t seem to know what that is.”
	Her mother was quiet for a long moment. “Have you not explained to your captain, even?”
	“I… brought it up when we were watching a ‘movie’ together. It’s like a holoplay,” she added, before her mother could ask. “This one was about two people who were in love – true love, the movie said – and how nothing could keep them apart even when it seemed he had died and she was kidnapped. I said they were meant to be together and he said that was what ‘true love’ was.”
	That didn’t dissuade her mother. “So they know the concept, they just use a different term. You march straight to his side and don’t let anyone deny you access. He is your true love.”
	“I can’t tell them that, Mother. He has rules against ‘fraternizing’ with me. He is not supposed to love me.”
	“But he does.”
	“Yes.”
	“And you love him. These things happen. You should be with him. If you must, use your excuse of formal recognition of his heroism for now. And then refuse to leave. You are the Princess of Altea. You are my daughter. No one can sway you from doing what you know to be right. Do not let them just because you are upset. Your father and I taught you to stand your ground. Do it.”
	She sniffled. “You’re right, Mother. I’ll call Major Iverson. He is good at making things happen.”
	“And wash your face before he arrives. You’re a mess, dear.”
	She laughed a little. “Thank you, Mother. I miss you.”
	“As I miss you, my flower. Have your arlnath hug you for me.”
	“I will, as soon as I can.” She double-tapped the cube, took a few moments to think and breathe, then stood to call Major Iverson. It might take him a bit to get over here, and she could use that time to freshen up. Maybe Takashi will just be coming out of healing when I get there, and I can be the first one to hug him.
	She turned off the TV, then took the necessary steps to speak to the major privately, even if it was only voice communication. When he got on the phone, he sounded distracted. “Yes, Your Highness, what can I do for you?”
	“I need to see Captain Shirogane.”
	“He’s still at the hospital.”
	She assumed that was their term for medbay. “I understand that. I wish to be taken to him immediately.”
	“I’m not sure the doctors will allow that.”
	“Then get them to allow it.”
	He sighed harshly. “Princess, that’s not how it works here. Look, I know you and the captain are …close, but…”
	“I am going to find out where he is and show up there anyway, Major. If you know we’re close, then you should understand why I would need to be with him.”
	The line was quiet for a long moment. “I’ll send a car for you.”
	“I don’t mean to offend you, Major, but it was some of your own men who wanted me dead.”
	“It’ll be people you know personally. They’ll take you to the hospital. They’ll do what they can so you can see him.”
	“Thank you. I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
	“I don’t know that that’s the best idea, Your Highness.”
	“With all due respect, I will do what I wish, Major.”
	“Somehow I knew you were going to say that, Princess.” His end of the line went dead.
	She closed her end and went down to explain things to her fellow Alteans. Floor 19 first – Coran would, undoubtedly, need to be dissuaded from accompanying her to this ‘hospital’ – and then the guards on 18. She was done with hiding things. Perhaps Takashi was not allowed to love her, but she had no restrictions on her own feelings. 

	Keith was driving the car that came to pick to her up, and the rest of Takashi’s personal team were in the back with her.
	“How is he?” she asked as soon as she was done greeting them.
	“Not good,” Lance said gently.
	Allura was confused. “But they’re healing him, yes?”
	“Well, they’re doing their best,” Hunk told her. “He was wearing body armor, but it’s ineffective against lasers. They just melt right through it. He got hit in the chest and side, as well as the arm. And there’s the graze on his face; it didn’t do much damage but it’s impacting his nasal passages, which affects his breathing.”
	“But… he’ll be okay?” she insisted.
	“Look, uh, Your Highness,” Lance said, “I don’t know what you’re expecting of our hospitals. We’re doing everything we can for him. He’s sedated, so he’s not feeling any pain, at least?”
	“Is that,” she looked around the car at the three of them, “is that really the best you can do?”
	“I’m sorry,” Pidge practically whispered. 
	“Oh no, Pidge,” Hunk said.
	She was looking at her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry,” she repeated a little louder. “I should have found them sooner. I could have sent the warning encoded to Shiro somehow, or…”
	Allura shifted over to sit next to Pidge. “You did everything you could, Pidge. And if you hadn’t, I might have been hurt. You were working hard to help keep me safe. I appreciate it so much.”
	“But now Shiro’s hurt,” she said. “He’s definitely going to lose that arm, at a minimum, and that’s if he even survives.”
	Lance’s voice was a gentle reprimand. “Pidge.” 
	Allura swallowed hard. “He’ll survive. I’ll make sure of it.” She looked around the car. “He means a lot to all of you, I can tell.”
	“He was the best instructor we had at the Garrison,” Hunk explained. “He treated me with respect, even when I kept throwing up in the simulator runs.”
	“He’s been a friend of my family for years now,” Pidge said quietly.
	“He encouraged me even when I thought I’d never make it. I got into fighter class training because of him,” Lance said.
	“He and Keith are practically brothers,” Hunk put in. “Keith can be a bit of a hothead sometimes…”
	“‘Sometimes’,” Lance commented without much heat in it.
	“…and Shiro kept him on track and out of too much trouble.”
	“We wouldn’t be where we are today without him,” Pidge summed up.
	“And he means a lot to you, too, I think,” Lance said.
	Allura nodded. “I love him.”
	They all stared at her. 
	“I have since his visit to Altea, though I didn’t quite realize the extent of it then. Or I didn’t want to realize it, I suppose, because I knew he’d leave.” She exhaled shakily. “Which is why I won’t let him die. I don’t know what’s going to happen with us, but it needs to be our choice to make – his and mine. So he’s going to live.”
	“You have a way to help him?” Pidge asked.
	“I do, if they’ll let me do it.”
	“We’ll help however we can,” Lance said immediately.
	“Thank you, everyone.”
	The car slowed to a stop. Hunk held out a hand. “Please, let us check to make sure it’s safe?”
	“Very well, but only because you said ‘please.’ Takashi didn’t even ask, just hopped out and expected me to stay here.”
	Lance grinned. “Ooooh, it’s ‘Takashi’ is it?”
	Allura blushed. “Sorry, I suppose I should call him ‘Shiro’ in public. Don’t let him know I slipped, will you?”
	“Our secret,” Lance promised. Then he and Hunk got out. 
	“And, Pidge? You did everything you could. You have no reason to be upset with yourself.”
	Pidge smiled wanly. “Thanks, Your Highness.” She got out the other side.
	After a couple of minutes, the door opened for her. Keith was standing there. “Coast is clear. I brought you around back to avoid the press.”
	“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Keith,” she said as she stepped out. 
	He shut the door behind her. “The guys said you’re gonna save Shiro?”
	“Yup,” Lance declared. “They’re in love.”
	“True love,” she clarified.
	“Wow, that is serious!” Hunk said.
	“Later,” Keith barked. “We gotta get her inside. Pidge?”
	“I got it done before we came over,” she said. “Princess Allura and her ‘entourage’ are on the visitors’ list.”
	“Good. And you know which room he’s in?”
	“1305.”
	“Let’s go.”
	Allura let the four of them surround her and escort her into the building. She was curious as to what their cryo-replenishers would look like, thinking back to pictures she’d seen of the first ones to be made. But this ‘hospital’ was nothing like she imagined.
	She could see people laying in hoverbeds, monitors on the walls above their heads showing numbers and charts. People in wheeled chairs and walking with the aid of sticks – either in their hands or under their arms – and people with tubes going in and out of them.
	“Oh no,” she breathed. This is so much worse than I thought. She was afraid of what she’d find when she got to Takashi’s room.
	They took her to another elevator, and Keith hit the button for 13. Once the doors opened on the 13th floor, they went straight to a desk. “Her Royal Highness Princess Allura is here to see Captain Shirogane,” Keith told the woman at the desk.
	“He’s still unconscious,” the woman said apologetically.
	“She understands that,” Keith said before Allura could speak for herself. “He is the man who saved her life, and she wishes to see him.”
	“I’m sorry, but not right now. The doctor’s in there, so if you’ll just wait a few…”
	Allura pushed past her ‘entourage’. She ignored the woman’s exclamations. All the doors were labeled, so it wasn’t hard to find 1305. She opened it and walked right in.
	Two women were inside, standing together and talking. “Excuse me,” the one in the white coat said, “you’re not allowed in…”
	Allura ignored her and walked straight up to the foot of the bed. “Oh, Takashi…” she breathed.
	He looked like he was asleep. The scar on his face was still an angry red, and there were some clear tubes going into his nostrils. Some of his hair had gone white, prematurely aging him, but he was still her handsome captain. His right arm was bandaged up, as was what she could see of his chest. She looked at the monitors above him, but none of what they said made any sense to her.
	“I’m sorry, but you will have to leave,” the white-coated woman was saying.
	“How bad is he?” she asked.
	“I’m not at liberty to…”
	“This man saved my life,” Allura told her. “I will not let him continue on in pain when I can have him healed.”
	“Oh, man, that is bad,” she heard Hunk say behind her.
	She turned to him. The others were all in the room, along with the woman from the desk still trying to throw them out. “You know what those monitors mean?”
	“Some of them,” he admitted. “My grandma was hospitalized for a long time. His blood pressure’s low.”
	“Lasers,” Pidge said. “Probably boiled some of his blood away when they hit.”
	“Pulse is down, O2’s low and that’s while he’s on oxygen.”
	“This man needs rest and treatment, and that’s what we’re giving him,” the woman in the white coat told them. “Waneta, call security.”
	“I already did, doctor,” the woman from the desk said. “They’re on their way up.”
	“Good.”
	“Yes, very good,” Allura said. “I need to speak to them about getting Takashi the help he needs.”
	“We are doing the best we can for him,” the ‘doctor’ told her.
	“Your best is not good enough!”
	“Your Highness.” She turned back to see a Garrison soldier in the doorway. “Major Iverson let us know you wanted to visit the captain. We, uh, expected you to come in the front.” He cleared his throat uneasily. “But all you can do is see him, not interfere with his treatment.”
	“Someone was going to tell me this… when, exactly?” the doctor demanded.
	Allura didn’t care about their protocols. “His treatment is not enough!” she insisted. “If I could take him with me to my ship, he could be healed in no time!”
	“I’m sorry, but we cannot allow you to take a Garrison officer into an alien spaceship,” he said evenly.
	She narrowed her eyes at the soldier. “I’d very much like to know how you’re going to stop me.”
	“Whoa, whoa,” Lance said, trying to play peacemaker. “Look, we all want what’s best for Shiro here, so let’s see if we can’t talk this out…”
	“I have my orders,” the Garrison soldier said.
	“I have a duty and a debt to this man,” Allura told him, matching him glare for glare. 
	The soldier pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Get the commander up to thirteen, please. This is above my pay grade.”
	“I will speak to whomever I have to in order to get Takashi out of here.”
	Hunk was talking with the doctor. “What about his arm?”
	“I’m not allowed to share that information with you,” was all she said.
	“He doesn’t have any family left!” Hunk protested.
	Keith stepped forward. “Hold on.” He pulled out his identification and held it out to the doctor.
	She swiped through some things on her tablet, then looked at his ID, then back to him, and sighed in annoyance. “Emergency contact, listed as next of kin. Very well. Do you consent to having these people…?”
	“Just tell us how he’s doing,” Keith said, putting his ID away.
	“Not well, as your friend here surmised.” She seemed put out by that. “Heart and lungs are not functioning at full capacity, the right arm is going to have to be amputated, and his body is under significant stress despite the sedatives. We can’t figure that part out.”
	Allura’s eyes widened. “Let me…”
	“Ma’am…” the doctor started to protest.
	“Let her do what she wants,” Keith said.
	The doctor huffed. “She can touch him – carefully – if she wishes, but I’m not okaying his release from this hospital.”
	Everyone cleared out of her way, and she ran around to the bedside. “Takashi.” She laid her hand on his brow, smoothing the now-white hair back so nothing would be between her palm and his forehead. She spoke in Altean. “I’m right here, arlnath. I am right here with you.” She closed her eyes and focused her energy.
	She found his quintessence almost instantly. It was panicked, it was afraid, but then it synced with hers and the frenetic pace began to ease. “I am uninjured,” she whispered in Altean. “Because of you, my love. You saved me. Let me save you.”
	“Amazing,” she heard someone – perhaps the other woman in the room? – breathe. “His brainwaves are dropping into sleep.”
	“What is she doing?” the doctor asked.
	“Helping him,” came Keith’s clipped reply.
	Allura opened her eyes in time to see the faint glow of her hand recede. She pulled it away and bent to kiss his forehead there instead. “Sleep well. I’ll get you out of here and healed soon,” she whispered, before straightening up and returning to English to address the others in the room.
	“How long until the commander arrives?” she asked.
	“I’m here!” a voice said from the doorway. “I’m here.”
	Pidge brightened and darted out of Allura’s eyeshot with a cry of “Dad!”
	“Hey, Katie. What are you doing here?”
	“Helping the princess. She says she can heal Shiro!”
	“That so?” A man in a Garrison commander’s uniform stepped into view. He had a full head of gray hair and spectacles which he adjusted a little. “I’m Commander Holt. How can I help you, Your Highness?”
	“I can heal Ta- …Captain Shirogane, if I can just get him to my ship.”
	“How’s that?” he asked pleasantly, as if they were just having a light conversation.
	“We have a body scan of his from when he was on Altea. Our cryo-replenishers can draw on that information to restore him.”
	“You can fix all of this with one of these ‘replenishers’ of yours?”
	She cast a glance over at Takashi. “We can keep him alive, at any rate. So many vargas gone by without proper healing…” She looked back to Commander Holt. “I do guarantee he won’t die.”
	The commander considered this, then looked at the doctor. “What do you say about what we can do for him here?”
	“I can’t guarantee that he’ll live, if that’s what you’re asking.”
	“Well then, that settles it.” He looked back to her. “We’ll help you get him to your ship.”
	“Sir!” That was the voice of the soldier from the doorway. “Are you sure that…?”
	“I’m sure that Shiro deserves to live. This is an excellent opportunity to gauge the Alteans’ medical technology as well.” He smiled at Allura. “Besides, my wife’s planning to bake his favorite pie for when he comes to. She already bought all the ingredients. I’d hate to tell her it was all for naught.”
	She smiled back and Pidge hugged him. Commander Holt looked back towards the doorway. “You heard me, Ball. Get an ambulance. We’re going to escort the princess and the captain to her ship. Lights and sirens the whole way; screw the traffic lights.”
	“Aye, sir.”
	“Ohhhh, Dad, if Mom heard you talk like that…” Pidge warned.
	“Our secret.” He kissed the top of her head.
	Allura’s smile widened. “Thank you very much, Commander Holt.”
	“If you can save him, then you have my thanks, Your Highness. He’s a good man, a good soldier, and a good friend. He deserves a medal, not a hero’s funeral.”
	“I will not let him die,” she promised.
	The doctor sighed. “Commander, Corporal,” that last was addressed to Keith, “I need transfer paperwork signed, if you’ll both come with me.”
	“Of course.”
	Allura turned to smile at her unconscious arlnath and combed her fingers through his hair. “You’re going to be alright. I promise.”
~End of Chapter 5~