“So, we’re doing this?” Allura asked, a hint of concern shadowing her features.
Keith nodded firmly. “We made a promise,” he reminded her, although his voice didn’t quite meet the level of energy he’d hoped for. “You know we can’t back out now without causing a huge uproar.”
Allura balled her right fist, gently pumping it in the air before letting her hand drop helplessly to her side. “Of course,” she sighed, “as the Queen of New Altea it’s important for me to set a good example. I have to fight the urge to walk away!”
“It’ll be a distant memory before you know it,” Keith offered with a smile, “so don’t worry about what might go wrong, okay?”
Apparently that was the right thing to say, because he was quickly rewarded with a warm, breathy kiss from his beautiful wife.
“Shall we get ready?” she smoothed, a playful wink teasing future possibilities. “If we wrap this up quickly, maybe we can have some alone time afterward.”
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Keith didn’t remember his missions with the Blades being so difficult to prepare for. Rations were always light, and there was never the need to put anything on the ship they couldn’t carry on their person. Even the communications devices were significantly less complicated.
Now there were lockers full of all kinds of paraphernalia. He was thankful they had a large enough space cruiser to carry all of it, since at first he thought they’d have to use one of the lions to manage it all.
But stealth was required here. They didn’t need any unwanted attention, which a giant metal cat would certainly draw. No, they wanted to get in and out with as little fanfare as possible, and an old Earth ship was the way to do it.
Finally, once they’d determined they had enough food to last them at least a month, and as many gadgets as they could carry to ensure they were in touch at all times, Keith and Allura called for “lights out” so that everyone could get a good night’s sleep.
It was late into the night before they themselves retired to their bedroom, the weary couple collapsing on the bed in such a state that they both fell asleep instantly.
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Early the following morning, all five of them enjoyed a hearty breakfast before piling into the cruiser. It was a mercifully short trip to their destination, having stayed in the moon’s orbit for the last few days. They’d mapped out a spot to land the tranport nearby, and transferred to a hovercraft to move stealthily toward the entrance to the giant fortress they were charged with infiltrating.
“Allura, you take the front,” Keith ordered, but with no inkling of pulling rank over his partner. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
The queen saluted him mockingly. “You always do, sir.”
If they didn’t have an audience, Keith would certainly have aborted the mission then and there. Allura had a way of teasing him that always proved to be distracting on his part. Granted, that’s what got them to this point in the first place.
As they arrived at the front gates, the spires of a castle loomed over the high fence. The walls were imposing, for certain, but not impenetrable by any means. He reached in his pocket, extracting their ticket to get in.
Grabbing his wife’s hand, he leaned in and whispered, “Are you ready?”
Biting her lip slightly, she nodded emphatically. “Let’s do it.”
With that, he turned to the other three, who had been waiting impatiently for permission to rampage the kingdom laid out before them, and with a flourish of his hands announced “Your mom and I kept our promise. Welcome to Disney World, kids!”