His Beautiful Nightmare 》Voltron [Voltron WA 2017]

Chapter 11

Azalea rolled over, and felt cold metal against her cheek.

"You sleep more than Hunk does", Lance snickered.

Azalea rolled over again and smirked at Lance, who was standing under her.
"And what are you going to do about it, Lancy?", she taunted.

Lance flashed her a mischievous grin, his eyes dancing.
"I'm gonna make you come down of course. It's lunch time. You can't sleep all day."

"Who says that? I can sleep if I want to!"

"I'll give you a hug...", Lance pressured, holding his arms out.

Azalea laughed, "You really think you can bribe me to come down from the ceiling with a hug? Try again, Lancy-pants!"

"Awe man", Lance groaned, "Hugs usually get you. Come down.... pleeeaasse?"

She stuck her tongue out and rolled over, grinning to herself.
"Make me."

All of a sudden, she felt something yank on her foot. She looked down and saw Pidge sitting on Hunk's shoulders, pulling her down with a devilish grin on his face.

Pidge jumped off of Hunk, dragging Azalea down like a balloon.

"Good morning Azalea", Hunk smiled, "Or, afternoon, really."

Lance took Azalea and put her on his shoulder. Her arms were crossed in protest, but a grin was plastered to her face.

"Made you", Lance said cheekily.

Azalea rolled her eyes.
"You didn't make me", she said, "I allowed myself to be brought down. Trust me, if I don't want to come down, nothing can make me."

"Sure", he said, "Whatever. It was time for the flower to get out of bed..... or ceiling."

Lance paraded down the hall with Azalea on his shoulder, and Hunk and Pidge following close behind.

At the dining table, Hunk served... something.
Azalea could never tell.

Everyone was chatting, carrying on all sorts of conversations. Azalea smiled and zoned out, focusing on her food. She was famished after missing last night's dinner and today's breakfast.

"Hey Zales", Hunk said, breaking her thoughts, "What was your sister like? You haven't told us about your family yet"

It took everything Azalea had to not drop her spoon and run away. She slowly looked up, eyeing each of the paladins. Her eyes finally resting on Keith.
His dark eyes bore into hers, as if to say "Tell them the truth"

Azalea's blood boiled. Then she took a deep breath.
Calm yourself. Don't lose it.

She met Keith's gaze, and flashed him a grin. He raised a black eyebrow.

If he wants the truth, that's what she was going to give him. After all, he still had a question to ask her today.

Everyone's eyes were on her now. Even the princess.

"Marina", Azalea started, "Was absolutely amazing. She was tall, and had the prettiest blonde hair and jade green eyes. She was kind..... one of the kindest people I've ever met. She loved to play the flute. And.... she loved me. I was her little sister. Her sunshine. Everyone said that we were different. She was the outgoing, bright one. I was the dark, quiet one. But we were inseparable. Even after we were captured, she still clung onto my hand, telling me it was going to be okay."

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey...", Marina sang. Eleven year-old Azalea clutched her prisoner rags, on the verge of tears. Marina pulled Azalea into a hug, stroking her little sister's long raven hair.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away..."

Azalea smiled sadly.
"I was so broken hearted when I found out Marina and I weren't really sisters. I was the adopted one, found on the doorstep. But she still loved me, stayed by my side."

Until she turned against me.

"Awe that's quite heartfelt, my dear", Coran said with a small smile.

Azalea could feel her smile faltering, and she tried her best to keep it on.
"I guess it was", she said, "I loved my big sister. Still do."

"Okay, how about we change this depressing train of thought to something else?", Allura said gently, as if she could sense Azalea's distress.

"I have a new invention that I created. Its mostly a prototype now, but-", Pidge began to explain, thankfully taking all eyes off of Azalea. Except for Keith's.

Azalea's eyes flitted back to Keith. Both of his eyebrows were raised, as if to say, "Really?"

Yes really, Azalea wanted to scream at him, I loved my sister!

But she knew she couldn't shout. It just wasn't her nature. She was genuinely a nice person, just with a nearly uncontrollable side of her. The one she was afraid of.

But she learned to control it.
For the sake of herself and others around her.

Lance leaned over and put his chin on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?", she asked, chuckling.

Lance blew away a strand of grey hair that landed on his nose.
He smiled at her.

"I'm trying to comfort you. I miss my family too", he whispered.
Azalea leaned the side of her head against his forehead.
"Thanks Lancy", she whispered back.

Lance snickered.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just find it funny how hard Mullet is staring at you", he chuckled again.

Azalea allowed herself to sneak a peek, and Keith was staring at her, sure enough.

Azalea groaned as Lance could barely contain his laughter in her ear.

"I don't know what his issue is", she lied under her breath.
He doesn't trust me.
He knows about Marina.

"I think he lliiiikkkkeesss you", Lance half sung and half laughed quietly in her ear.

What?!?!

"What?!", Azalea hissed, voicing her thoughts. Nervous giggles took over her, "You can't be serious!"

Lance wiggled his eyebrows, "I seriously do. He hasn't been able to keep his eyes off of you! The guy has a serious crush! Why else would he be staring?"

Because he's plotting my downfall, Azalea thought bitterly, but just shrugged.

She shook her head a little, her grey bangs now obstructing Keith's view of her face.

Please stop staring, she pleaded in her mind.

Lance was busy taunting in her ear, causing her ear to tickle from his breathing.

She poked his nose, trying to playfully push him away.
"Stop it Lancy", she half-heartedly scolded. The smile on her face only seemed to encourage him.

"Mullet likes Flower, Mullet likes Flower!", Lance was chanting in her ear, refusing to stop.

Oh Lance....
If only you knew what was really going on.