Lance

"King Alfor." The guard announced as he placed his fist over his heart and bowed towards the throne while Lance gawked at the throne room. Everything was smooth, white, and glowing. Whether it be from sheer cleanliness or actual illumination sometimes you couldn't tell. 

You wouldn't see the courtyard from the the Throne room. Starting with the fact that there were no windows. Nonetheless there was still plenty to admire in the architecture of the columns and the way the entire room was laid out to draw one's eyes away from the edges of the room to rest on the throne with many subtle leading lines in the paneling of the floor and the angular glowing blue lights and orbs that decorated the walls and ceilings and hung down into the vest space of the room.

"Keith, I'm in matters with the Galra diplomat. Can this wait?" The king turned his gaze towards the pair which caught Lance's attention. Ocean eyes met Altean pinks and blues with a glance before the Siren was quickly dismissed in favor of focusing on the young man at Lance's  side.

"Sir, a gift from the Siren Empire." Keith answered.

Lance tilted his head as he looked down at his side to the young man who caught his eye and glared at him. "Curtsey." He hissed.

Lance wrinkled his nose at the guard, not pleased with his tone. He wanted to neither bow or curtesy. So often he was looking up at a man. He wanted to look one in the eyes. King or not, did it really mater in the end? They'd fuck him either way.  Quite the mood shift from not an hour ago, but that was before he was faced with the reality that he couldn't trust even those dressed as is protectors. If he wanted to defend his dignity then he'd have to do it himself. With both eyes staying level. At least until he could trust someone . . . Granted he knew that it would only take one back hand to set his straight.

Lance turned his gaze down towards the smooth floor, catching his own reflection in it as the mind looked over at him. His immediate sense of bravery disappeared as quickly as it had appeared as he was faced with the reality that he was standing before the king.

He was waiting for his life to be handed over, and all of a sudden everything was starting to crash down around him. He was going to be owned. There would be no more freedom after this moment. Everything he was to do would be under the order of his master. He could easily be thrown away if he didn't please them.

Lance dipped down into a small bow as a noted afterthought by those in the room. He prayed that he wouldn't have repercussions for his defiance. He understood that it was a high hope and that he was less than deserving of that forgiveness. In the Siren Empire he would have been severely punished for such disrespect. As a Harem it wouldn't be far fetched to imagine he'd be restrained in public to be used as a willing hole for any Siren that should pass. Afterwards he'd be thrown out of the palace due to his tainted  passage. No longer of use to the royal family he'd be lucky if he wasn't imprisonments for the remainder of his days, used as a breeder for the Empire's Military.

Lance's heart clinched at the thought, the air suddenly becoming hard to breathe and it had nothing to do with his lack of gills. He couldn't let that happen. He was a good maiden. He would obey, he would bear as many children as the Altean empire desired. He just couldn't die here. He couldn't allow himself to be imprisoned. His own empire would punish his family for his actions. He had to make sure he could return to the ocean, he prayed everyday that the young siren pups he'd been caring for wouldn't starve in his absence. He need to get back to his little siblings. He couldn't cost them their lives and his own.

Tears welled up in Lances eyes as the reality of everything started to really sink in. He was a prisoner. He wasn't here like everyone else, his punishment wouldn't be paid of in the procedural way every other Siren's debt was paid off by birthing. He would be here until he was deemed unneeded. And there was no saying what that meant. It could mean that they'd bred him until they were bored with him, perhaps he would become ill and unable to serve to carry offspring. Perhaps he's infertile? They might kill him when he's no longer wanted. They might send him back and his kingdom would keep him from his family or dispose of him.

No. No, no, no, no it couldn't happen. Lance couldn't let that happen. He took it back, he wish he would have just bowed.

"Would you please excuse me for a simple moment while I speak him?" The King said turning towards the Galra who stood straight and pressed their lips together, ears turning back with clearly displayed agitation but they did nothing to object as the King stood and stride towards Lance and his Guard.

Lance didn't dare make anymore eye contact as the king approached. He did glance up towards the Galra who was glaring at him while Alfor tugged Keith aside to speak to him privately away from prying ears.

"While the Galra Empire struggles to feed its people the Siren's send the Altean's their most skillful Whores to do their bidding. How disgusting." The man hissed  towards Lance. The Siren's gaze narrowed but he did not dare reply. I wasn't stupid enough to allow himself to be provoked by the Galra official. Instead he turned away and directed his attention to the two standing a few yards off from them.

Lance glared silently at one of the room's graceful columns. His tongue itched to spit out what he had to say but he had to hold back. 

"Keith, this is your responsibility." Alfor growled, voice rising loud enough for his conversation to no longer be a private one. Lance looked over curiously from the corner of his eye and saw his guard start to hiss something back in response.

"You are just as Valid as any other child. Allura can not take the responsibility and I am unwilling. It is your time to prove yourself to your country and for once do as your told." The older Altean snapped.

Lance caught his Guards gaze. They were angry but there was fear behind them. Lance didn't understand.

Keith

Keith tore his eyes away from the maiden to look up at the King. Alfor had never once become angry in front of him much less towards him.

His father turned over his shoulder to look at their audience before he grabbed ahold of Keith and dragged him out of the room and into the hall he'd just walked through with the Siren.

"You will take the Maiden as your own and-"

"No!" Keith snapped, no longer afraid to disrespect the king while their audience remained on the opposite side of the door.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not your son! I'm not a royal prince, and I can't succeed you to the throne! I'm not even an Altean. And I'm not Galra either. Why would you want a halfbreed following in your footsteps? I'm not worthy to even reside in the royal wing of the palace but I still do. I won't let you put me on in line for the throne." Keith's blood was boiling. He could feel the itching sensation under his skin that he was turning. If he looked in a mirror he was sure he'd see the splotchy evidence of his Galra heritage as it blossomed over his skin. "I'm not your son. You should have sent me to the Blades years ago and let me train with them them so I could be one of your finest guards."

He glanced away from the king to catch a glimpse of himself in the window next to him that overlooked the courtyard flora. He could see yellow eyes glaring back at him as if to drive his point home. He didn't belong.

"Do you not think of me as your father?" Alfor asked after a long beat of silence between them.

"That isn't what I meant."

"Well it sure sounds to me like that's exactly what you meant. Is your name not Keith Yorak Kogane Alforson? Is your heritage not in your name without your title as Royal Prince of Altea?"

Keith crossed his arms. "I know you are my father. But your forget that in my name   Resides the heritage that sets me away from you. Kogane, the name of my true father. One who had nothing to do with you, and Yorak which is proof of my Galra heritage as if this isn't enough!" He raised his violet hands up for the king to see. "Is this what you want? You want a Galra spawn sitting on the Altean throne?"

"No. I don't." His father glowered. As much as Keith wanted to prove his point, it still hurt to hear said so plainly.

"I want to see" Alfor continued, using a hand to turn Keith's gaze back towards him. Keith hadn't realized that tears had begun to collect at the corner of his eyes until one slid down his face. His father looked so sad as he looked down at Keith. "Your child on the throne. I want to see that after your long rein over the kingdom at Peace with the Siren and Galra Empire that a child of Galra, Altean, and Siren blood takes the throne to uphold the unity I'm trying to forge. I want to see your sister's future children, hybrids just like yourself running and playing in our halls when they come to visit from the Galra empire along with their father Lotor."

Keith shook his head as Alfor continued. This was too much. Keith wasn't made for the throne. He was a warrior. He was too quick to retaliate. He wasn't wise or patient like his father. He would be a poor man to set on the throne.

"I want to see someone who has accomplished something greater than I ever could have."

"I'm not going to force myself onto someone I don't know." Keith said shaking his head, taking a step away.

"That is your personal choice. But you will be the next King Of Altea. There is no one better suited. And as of now you will resign your involvement with the Blade. It was my mistake to ever let you join them. You need to take it upon yourself to learn the responsibilities of becoming a leader." His father sighed while looking at his son sadly.

Keith's eyes went wide. "No, you can't do that!"

"I can and I have." The king said turning away from Keith.

"I won't stand for it! I'll never be King! You can't make me. Allura can take the empires and join them. If she's courting the Galra prince then why not take the easy way out? Why make me suffer for something that in another life would never affect me? I'm not of royal blood Alfor! And you're not my father!" Keith didn't wait to see the Kings reaction as he turned away. He could feel the eyes of the Altean on him though as he stopped to look over his shoulder before he entered the throne room. "Find someone else to fuck the thing!"

He fled, sprinting down the halls, shoving past a few of the laundry servants as he rounded a corner. His boots shrieked on the floor as he passed the windows in search for the closest exit.

This wasn't fair. Keith was not the prince of Altea. He'd never believed the load of shit Alfor always told him. But this was too far. He'd never known that the king believed his own lies, that he thought Keith would actually one day be suit to lead their country.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Someone yelled after him as he shoved his way out into the court yard. He didn't reply. He didn't even look back as he sprinted towards the expanse if nature that guarded the Kingdom's doorsteps.

The man couldn't take that away. It was all Keith had. It was all he'd ever been able to prove himself in. He'd never been acceptable at anything else. He'd disappointed every tutor he'd ever had. He  was more than adequate in his studies, but he was unable to grasp the necessary diplomatic skills that was required of any leader. He couldn't even follow orders as a warrior or figure the most tactile way to accomplish a mission. He was just skilled in reacting to the world around him. He adapted. But he couldn't just adapt to this.

He slowed his running as he neared the edge of the courtyard wall. On nearly three sides of the courtyard the palace was surrounded by the capital of the Altean empire, but behind it the nature that was artfully tamed in the courtyard gave way to the wild forests of Altea.

Altea has once been a planet that was widely inhabited. Altean and Galra caught over lands and borders all over it's surface. They destroyed the land and stripped it of life. They'd farmed the ground until it was dead and sucked the resources from their home until they found the entire planet at risk of collapse. People were dying. The land dwellers and sea creatures were suffocating dropping dead or washing ashore.

The home of the Siren's has been polluted, their pups killed by sickness and garbage until their populations were diving to all time lows. They had done nothing. They lived as one with their home and planet. They hadn't been using it as the Land dwellers had. Some legends say that is when the people of the sea turned on the Land. Once the most beautiful creature anyone would ever lay eyes on gave up their ocean beauty to buy the hearts of man.

They're still beautiful, but nothing like the enchanting, irresistible, and captivating beauty that Altea has naturally be gifted them with. Their magic gave them the aura that would draw forth the lust of those they were hunting. Their love songs became alluring death calls for those unlucky enough to hear them. They turned  from a delicate, welcoming and peaceful race, into nature's greatest killer. Hundreds of thousands the Siren's killed. They ate the flesh of those they captured for all their fish had been Polluted or killed. They hurried their corpses in the sand and placed within them the seeds of the oceans life in hopes they would take root.

Slowly, ever slowly they started to bring life back to their home as they removed it from the surface. But nothing they did could save them from the substances and trash that polluted their home. It was an Enlightened Altean that started to put together what was happening. The oceans and the planets weather was fiercely attacking its inhabitants. This Altean started to lead the Empire into a revelation. Less and less Alteans were dragged down to the bottom of the ocean as Siren's witnessed their doings. Their waters near the empire started to clear and the air started to return to the ocean so they could breath bellow the surfaces once more.

The Galra were not graced as well. Without the resources, knowledge, or sciences or follow suit they targeted by the sirens every moment one would set foot near the sea until the point where the Galra and Siren Empires were at full out war. Divers were went bellow the surfaces to find those few Siren communities hat still survived so that later ships could be brought down to harpoon those Sirens they could get. More often than not far more Galra would be taken to the death then sirens. But even so it was damaging to the Sirens limited populations. When a Siren has a litter of pups they could only ensure that they would all survive near Altean waters. If not then they would be lucky that they would have one pup survive.

After generations of war between Nature and the land dwellers things began to settle. All of Alteans relocated to their capital. The forests started to regrow and animals started to reappear. The sirens came to the surface with the Scales of the fins of fish they'd hoped to use magic to revive. But once seeing the power the Alteans possessed with science they gifted their precious pieces of the past for the Alteans to replenish the oceans with the creatures they drove to extinction.

Present day Altea had strict laws and borders. Nature controlled as much of the planet as the people could sacrifice. The only spaces not covered by the natural habitat that slowly regrew was the main city and few suburbs. Beyond that was simply farm land before it gave away back to forests. An interstate connected the Alteans to the Galra Empire which was more or less forced to follow suit in the layout after sanctions on the country left the people starving. The Alteans started to help the Galra once they agreed to follow the new interests to protect the planets life at all costs.

The Galra Empire were sadly suffering from food shortened. Their species relied heavily on the fresh meat of the fish from the ocean die to their more predatory evolution from their original home before a colony was forced to relocate after the destruction of their planet by a planet devouring creature.

Altea was raising fish to replenish the oceans, but a few decades of production would not produce enough fish to replenish the seas so that one could actually hope to catch more than one that happened to stray near the surface. That was what the Diplomat was there for. To discuss the protein shortages running rampid across their empire.

Keith shoved at an invisible
Panel that opened up an opening for him to slip Through to escape into the sea of trees. The darkness bellow the jungles of Altea was beautiful for it was never actually dark. The undergrowth of the thick rain forests were lit by hundreds of bioluminescent plants and creatures. The Alteans were just as bright as the rest of the creatures that lived in the thick darkness. Their marks glowing to life when they entered the nature.

Keith himself had markings. The lines that appeared along his darkened skin when he shifted appeared glowing a delicate white. In the darkness they were far more apparent. Streaks ran from the inner corner of his eyes down his cheek and along his jaw line before disappearing Down his back. Aside from those he was speckled with glowing freckles that could only be seen under the energy of the magical forest. He had never stripped out of his clothes while out in nature so he didn't know of what else he possessed that wasn't on his face.... not that he didn't want to know. He just had no casual excuse for stripping in the forest.

He ran a ways into the forest downs. Memorized path he'd made over the years. This forest was his. It was were he was allowed to escape, where he could pretend like he could have a life where there was nothing but natural beauty and life surrounding him. He'd been running from politics all of his life. He hated it. He hated it so much. It was what had evidently cost him his mother according to his commander who happened to know his mother. But that was all he revealed. His father had been lost in a rebellion attack. They'd lit part of the city on fire and his father had saved five people before he perished after getting trapped in the fire.

Tears swelled in Keith's eyes at the thought. He didn't want to deal with what had torn his life apart. He couldn't. This wasn't for him, Alfor couldn't force him to rule. He joined the blades because he felt like he might actually make a difference there.

He collapsed into the flowing grass and ferns and and tried to resist the desperate urge to scream.