https://goo.gl/images/oc6WDZ

Allura and Lance swam to the bottom of the ocean, eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness. Lance held his trident tightly, alert and prepared. Raising their sails to their full height, Lance began to light his luminescence, but Allura stopped him. "We don't want to attract attention."

Sliding stealthily across the sandy bottom, Lance and Allura picked up speed as the floor began to dip lower. After a few minutes of swimming, Lance began to see faint lights in the distance, blinking in and out. He squinted and stopped Allura from moving forward with a hand to her shoulder.

"That looks like the battle," he said quietly and she nodded in response.

"We set up camp closer to the harbor, but the Galra camp should be just beyond the front. Lotor is there- he's been camping out here for quite a while. We need to get to his cove before the fighting gets too bad. He'll be able to help us." Allura sounded sure of herself, and Lance could only hope that Lotor would actually be willing to help.

"We should go around, then," Lance said, pointing to the right of the flashing lights which he could only assume were luminescence.

Allura looked at him sharply, eyes set. "No. We fight our way through. This is a war, Lance. You take the left, I'll take the right, and stay right next to me. Plow right through and keep moving. Do not stop, not for anything."

Lance steeled himself, nodding. Allura was right. "Full luminescence now, show your heritage, Lance. You're an Altean. You're strong. Fight like one."

Allura gathered her hair back into a ponytail, pulled two daggers out of her satchel, and rocketed forward. Lance was right behind her.

As the two mers quickly approached the battlefront, and Lance realized the situation. Mers against Galra. Hundreds and hundreds of finned-beings, the muffled clash of metal underwater, battle cries and screams. Lance smelled blood in the water. And if there was blood, sharks were soon to come.

Lance had never seen the Galra up close. But now, as he and Allura zeroed in, as fear, true fear, crept over his heart, Lance realized why they were so notorious.

Purple-grey skin and flashing yellow eyes, their faces were set in rage, white fangs showing through their lips. Their tails were black and like a shark's- the fin was vertical instead of horizontal. They had luminescence too, theirs purple. It glowed eerily in stripes along their tails, on their necks, on the tips of their ears, which were pointed. Instead of sails, they had large, sharp dorsal fins, which had thin outlines of purple light.

They fought with long, curved blades as sharp as the tridents and spears the mers fought with, and damn, did they know how to use them. Agile and fast, their combat evenly matched the mers, which was good in its own way. Fewer casualties, but more of a fight. Eventually, one side would tire out, and Lance could only pray it wasn't the mers.

As he scanned the battle, for a split second, he thought he saw two Galran's fighting, but then realized that one of them was a Blade, and he felt a surge of hope. The Marmora were elite, stronger than the Galra even though their numbers were few. He had hope.

Allura and Lance launched into the battle, and everything slowed to slow-motion. Lance watched as pairs around him fought, a mer and a Galran, shrieking and screaming, tails churning the water so much it was hard to swim.

Lance flipped through openings, under tails, and struck out with his trident. Most Galran's were able to see the attack and dodge the sharp points with a frightened shriek, but Lance was able to hit his weapon over the head of a galran soldier, promptly leaving him unconscious. Lance didn't stick around to watch the soldier fall to the sand.

He was nearly halfway through the mess of fighting, both above and below him, when he saw a flash of familiar white luminescence. Looking up, Lance saw his father. Carlos was surrounded by two Galra, being circled like prey as they struck out. He already had a large cut along his ribs.

Ignoring Allura's orders to stay close, Lance zoomed upwards, flipping his trident around and ramming the butt of the weapon into the stomach of one of the soldiers, yelling out in a crazed cry as he shoved the soldier up and away from his father. Spinning, he screamed as he whipped his trident towards the face of the other soldier. This one ducked. Smart. Then skedaddled, zooming down and out of sight in the fray.

Lance looked back at Carlos, who was floating there, stunned, and Lance smiled at him, genuinely, before rocketing off, not stopping before he was out of the battle, which took a surprisingly long time. He hadn't sized up the battle accurately- it was giant.

Allura was waiting for him on the other side of the fighting, on her own as she battled a Galran. Lance powered towards her, trident aimed at the soldier, and watched in satisfaction as the purple-skinned warrior swam off.

"Let's go!" Allura shouted, then took off towards the huge clusters of rocks in the near distance. Lance was right beside her, adrenaline pumping. His gills felt like they might rip at how hard he was breathing.

The two skimmed the sandy floor as they approached the rocks, which were now recognizable as giant makeshift homes, huge rock igloos like the ones in the village back home, times 10.

The rock homes were empty, though, everyone at the battle. Those who were unable or unwilling to fight were back at the main kingdom, waiting for news of the battle. But after seeing how evenly-matched everyone was... Lance had no clue who would actually win. Did it come down to which leader died first? He hadn't even seen Alfor and Zarkon.

"He should be in the back," Allura called over to Lance, who nodded. They rose off the sandy floor and glided over the rocks, searching for something that could befit a prince. Allura was the one to see it first in the dark, murky water.

A small structure surrounded by flowing strands of seaweed, guarded by two soldiers. Allura pointed, and the two slowed, looking as majestic as they could while heaving for breath. The guards, who had bulging muscles and giant swords, eyed the two mers with disgust.

Allura was composed. "My name is Allura Altea. I'm here to see Prince Lotor. He should be expecting me." One of the guards stepped aside to let Allura in, but the other blocked Lance when he tried to follow.

"Who're you?" She grunted, shark tail churning the water beneath her.

Lance held his ground (and his trident, tightly). "Lance Altea." It sounded foreign on his tongue. He flashed his luminescence like he was trying to prove a point. The guard growled, then let him in.

There wasn't much of a hallway before Lance and Allura were right in the room with none other than the Dark Prince himself. The room was more of a cave, with a high, rocky ceiling made of piled rocks and a wide floor.

All over the walls were shelves of bottles and containers of glowing liquid and other anatomical abnormalities. In the middle of the room was a big stone slab, flat on top, which seemed to be serving as a table, and it had a few stone tablets and other random objects on it.

The prince's back was to Allura and Lance as he pushed through a cluttered shelf on the wall behind the table, and they could hear him muttering to himself quietly. Allura cleared her throat, and Lotor whirled, nearly dropping the corked bottle of something he was holding. It was dark green and looked like barf.

Lotor's eyes were bright with surprise as he surveyed his two visitors. His hair was long and shockingly white, and his skin was light lilac, smoothing into his black fin. What surprised Lance, though, was that Lotor almost seemed to be half mer.

He had the same luminescence markings on his cheeks, glowing white, and he had a sail instead of a dorsal fin. It was all very unnerving- lance had never heard before that Lotor was half Galra, half mer. Was that even possible?

"Guests," Lotor greeted loudly, grinning and holding his arms out. Lance held his trident tighter, jaw set. "You must be the Allura. It's good to finally meet you in person," Lotor said happily, holding out a hand for Allura to shake. She did, and it made Lance uncomfortable- could they really trust this guy?

"And you must be...?" Lotor trailed off, looking expectantly at Lance. He realized that Lotor's scleras were yellow instead of white, and his irises were a deep indigo. That was odd too- the Galra had purely yellow eyes and mers had white scleras, like humans.

Lance decided that was another thing he could add to his evidence that Lotor was some sort of hybrid. Maybe it was a secret that everyone but him knew. It would be logical- he wondered if everyone else knew that he was an adopted royal.

"This is Lance- my friend and my personal guard," Allura introduced, which Lance quirked an eyebrow at. Why wouldn't she introduce him as a fellow royal? Was she hiding something from Lotor? Maybe he was overreacting.

Lotor held a hand out to Lance, and when they shook, Lotor's hand was cold and strong, and his purple skin was a bright contrast against Lance's dark brown. Lance clenched his fist around his trident. He didn't trust this guy.

"Make yourself at home, please," Lotor motioned towards two rock stools leaning up against the wall, but Allura shook her head.

"I'm sorry to decline, but we're here to make a deal."

Lotor raised his brows, then hopped up to sit on his table crossing his arms and gazing serenely at Allura. His white hair, floating around his head like a halo, made him look like a ghost. His fin, translucent and dark grey, waved in the water below him.

"A deal, eh? You definitely sound like an Altean now." Now it was Allura's turn to cross her arms over her scale-covered chest. Lotor laughed, signaling that it was a joke, "But I'm intrigued. What could I possibly give you, princess?" Lance wasn't sure if Lotor was using the title in a demeaning tone. He stayed silent.

"We need you to kill your father."

...

me oh my

qotd: what are your names? you can use a fake one if you'd like, i just feel weird always referring to you guys by username- and even though i'm bad with names, i'll try my best to remember. do you guys know mine? hehehe

loveloveloveyou!!