Secrets Between Blood

Chapter 22: Prince Daman (Part 2)

Allura's POV:

(Wait. whaaaat? Someone else's POV? )

As soon as I got to the holodeck, I ran in and up to my father's quintessence. His image appeared in front of the quintessence.

"Allura! Please! Don't do this!" He begged, his image glitching.

"Father, I have to. I'm sorry." I said, trying to walk passed him.

"Wait!" he yelled. Suddenly, the entire room went dark.

"Ah! Father!?" I said, looking around me. Everything was pitch black. Then, small balls of light appeared. They were slowly falling down from above me.

"Allura, what about all of my memories? My life with the ones I love?" His voice echoed around me as the balls of light started showing images of his past. I gasped, looking over all of the fond memories of he and I together. Of him and my mom. Of Zarkon and Honerva and everyone together. Happy.

I felt someone grab my hand, and I whirled around to find Lance looking at me sadly. For a moment, I thought I could see tears in his eyes.

"Lance?" I whispered, and he nodded to behind me. I turned, and Alfor was standing there again. I took in a shaky breath, stepping forward. Lance was staying by my side, just as shaky as I was.

Just before I reached him, a memory floated down in front of us. It was my father, tackling someone. I took a closer look, and I gasped. The man looked just as my father did at the time. Except, his hair was in a side braid, long, all the way to his waist. My eyes went wide.

"W-wait. Who is that?"

Lance's POV:

I looked to Allura in shock. "She doesn't know who that is, either?" I thought as I scanned more memories of the two.

"Oh, so that piques your interest? Well, that would be my twin brother, Daman." Alfor answered, and I looked at him even more shocked. I caught him glimpse at me and then, he smirked? Why would he smirk? ...Wait, does..?

"Daman was long forgotten in the kingdom because they didn't quite approve of his behavior." Alfor continued, and Allura was blinking rapidly in confusion.

"W-what? What do you mean?" she asked in utter disbelief.

"I mean, he never wanted to be a royal. He always wanted to become a pilot, much like you were, in fact. But as you know, royals must follow their duty to their people." I clenched my fists, angrily glancing at Allura. I could see the hidden pain in her eyes.

"So, Daman took his life into his own hands and left. Fell in love with a beautiful woman. Had a beautiful son. He became a pilot and left with his family to travel. Left just in time to avoid Altea's destruction." Alfor explained, and Allura gasped. When he looked at me again, it took me a minute to realize where this was going.

"That's not all. Daman's kin is still alive." he said, and Allura stepped forward, releasing my hand.

"Really? Who!? Where!? Are there others!?" she started yelling, and I took a small step back.

"I will tell you everything if... you don't destroy my quintessence." he said, and that's when Allura remembered about the star. She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around Alfor. It was faint, but I could hear her whisper to him.

"Goodbye father." His eyes faded back to blue and he smiled.

"Goodbye Allura." he replied, and he looked at me. As she squeezed him tighter, he smiled at me. I smiled back, nodding respectfully (and thankfully.)

Then, as I heard a small crack, everything went back to looking like the holodeck, and Allura shattered King Alfor's quintessence container. She dropped to her knees and started crying, hugging her arms around herself. I took a deep breath, stepped up, and pulled her into my arms. As I slowly carried her out of the room, she sobbed loudly against my chest. I bent my head down to Allura's, pressing my forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry." She responded by pressing back, sobbing even louder (and messier.)