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Lotor was surprisingly calm about Allura's wish.

Lotor mused over the offer, his long, eerie white hair floating around him. Lance's gills fluttered anxiously- he was nervous for Ulaz and Thace and the rest of the Blade, as well as the rest of the army from the other communities all over the country. He was worried for his father.

"I'll need something in return," Lotor finally said, rubbing his thumb over a glass vial on a chain around his neck. Lance was shocked to hear this. Yes, he and his father fought sometimes, but it wasn't like he'd ever consider murdering him. Lotor looked Allura up-and-down pointedly, and Lance shuddered in disgust.

"Absolutely not," Allura said firmly, wrap ping her arms around her stomach in distaste. Jeez, she'd never taken Lotor for a perv before.

"Oh, you're too quick to judge. I wasn't requesting that. More your royal quintes- luminescence." Allura frowned, her patterns glowing indignantly.

"How much?"

"Enough to complete the process... You see, in order to fulfill my request, I'd have to take enough to strip you of your mermaidian form. If I took my desired amount, it would be the exact process I perform when I change other mers every year. Just, this time it would be from a royal, which is said to be many times more powerful.

"I'd use it to complete the weapon I've been working on, the only thing that can really kill my father. No normal, mundane commoner's Quintessence would work for this. We need magic, your magic in particular."

Lance, furious, swam forward. "Over my dead body," he hissed, his sail raising threateningly. He tipped his trident towards Lotor, seething. He felt his sparks pulsing beneath his shirt.

"Then we have no deal," Lotor said, leaning back over his table. "I need all the power I can get to defeat my father. It's not such an easy task as piercing his heart. He has enough quintessence pulsing through him to regenerate a limb if he desired, I'm guessing. The man is pure madness, but he's more powerful than your little army can handle. Believe me, I want rid of him as much as you do, but I can't do it with my own two hands. Despite all my training, my endless work, I'm still a toothpick. So no, if I don't have that Quintessence, I cannot defeat him and your army will fall within the hour."

Allura grabbed Lance's arm, turning him away from Lotor and speaking in a low voice. "I have to do it, Lance. For the good of the people, I'd gladly give myself."

Lance shook his head vehemently. "No," he whispered. "Never." then looked up at Lotor, unknown emotions seeping from his every pore, "Take mine."

Lotor looked like he could laugh. "Yours? You're a mere commoner! Miss Allura has more power in her pinky than you have in your entire being. What makes you so special?"

"Lance, no-" Lance pulled off his shirt and let his energy flow to his luminescence, igniting every spot, every stripe, every blotch on his pure light blue, fluorescent self. He was glowing, radiating.

Lotor's eyes widened and he swam forward, so close their chests and tails brushed. He took Lance's chin in his hand and stared deep into his eyes. "I'm Altean as well," Lance said quietly, unafraid of Lotor. Jutting his chin out, he spoke confidently, "Son of Aldridge and Catrin Altea."

"I don't doubt it," Lotor replied, and his eyes were the only thing Lance could see. "Are you sure?" His voice was loud and echoey, and Lance couldn't break contact.

Lance paused. What did he have here? His tail. His ocean. His friends. His family. An opportunity to become the leader of a village. A legacy. The whole ocean, cupped in his palms.

And what did he have on land? His legs. The ground. His friends. Federico. An opportunity to do anything he wanted to. Keith.

And the only solution to save the ocean.

Lance nodded once. Then, everything went black.

...

The water was warm and breezy, almost like wind, over Lance's skin. His eyelids fluttered open and he was in total darkness. Someone put a hand on his shoulder and he whirled, surprised. Lotor. He seemed to be radiating light, golden and blue and white. His purple skin looked pale, and his eyes were soft and wide. "This won't hurt."

His hands danced over Lance's shoulders, soft fingertips touching every glowing blue freckle of luminescence. Quintessence. Whatever that meant. Lance couldn't remember why he was here? Why was he here?

The black water took away his memories, his inhibitions. He looked at his shoulders and watched in mild fascination as Lotor began pulling his freckles out. With his hand over Lance's shoulder, the blue pinpoints slowly raised off Lance's skin and gathered together into a growing, blue orb, which floated just above his skin. 

Lotor moved down Lance's arm, running his hand slowly over Lance's skin, just above it. Lance didn't realize that he had so much Quintessence until he saw the light coming from every pore, growing in concentrated intensity as it was sucked into the larger orb that collected all the small fragments of his blue self. 

Lance was impossibly calm, warm, and felt safe in Lotor's care. Lotor paused from his work, looked up at Lance, and snapped his fingers. Just ahead of them, like a flashlight in a forest, a bright screen appeared. Well, more of an apparition. It didn't really have defined edges, it just faded out.

"They're your mer memories," Lotor murmured in his soft voice. Lance smiled vaguely. He watched.

There he was, a baby, curled up in a kind-looking woman's arms, as she looked down at him in her lap, stroking his forehead. Catrin. Who Lance could only assume was his father, Aldridge, was behind them, smiling like a father should. Proudly. Lovingly. Lance tried to think of Carlos and Elena, but his mind drifted back to the light.

The screen flickered, and it changed to a new memory. Lance as a young toddler, trying to power his tail like his cousins did, but only getting a few feet off the ground, little tail churning up the sand below him. His luminescence glowed indignantly as he tried, again and again, to swim right. 

Again, a flicker, and this time, Lance was craning his neck around to look at the first spike on his back, the start of his sail, with more to come. 

His first time with legs, nearly drowning in shock.

Learning to walk on the beach after dark with his father.

His parents introducing him to his new siblings with soft voices and kind smiles. Lance remembered saying, 'I'm gonna be the best big brother'. 

Lance and Hunk and Allura weaving baskets, laughing. 

Seeing Keith for the first time.

In the tub, when Keith saw him as himself for the first time.

Reporting back to the community.

"Swim With Me?" Keith's arms around him in the ocean.

In the tub as Keith looked after him.

Having to swim away.

Lotor collected from one arm, then the other, then moves from the tip of his fin, up his tail, through his sail, up his spine and ribs, and over his collarbone until all that remained was Lance's markings on his cheeks. They glowed. Happiness. 

"He's your inamorato," Lotor mused like he was surprised. Upon Lance's puzzled look, Lotor sighed, "True love, you know? See, this isn't so bad, you'll be with him."

Lance felt weak. He couldn't see his lower half. He smiled anyways. "Keith," he sighed. He felt drowsy. 

Lotor pressed his thumbs to Lance's cheeks and inhaled, closing his eyes. "You'll be alright, young one."

...

Allura watched nervously as Lotor held onto Lance's head, both of them as still as statues. She wanted to stop them, take back the sacrifice, think of another way out, but she didn't want to try to push Lotor away and end up hurting Lance. So she floated right beside him, watching Lance's eyes go haywire beneath his eyelids. 

She nearly screamed as he dissolved in gold light and her hand passed right through where his back had just been. Lotor was holding something in his hand, grimacing. 

She was about to start yelling at him, but Lotor held up a hand, "Please, don't. I have a migraine. Lance is fine, I sent him back to his uncle's ship. Let's get this good and done with so that you can go back with them." Lotor placed the object in his hand into Allura's palm, "Don't drop it," he muttered, irritated.

Allura looked down at the orb she held and realized with a tremor that it was the exact same color as Lance's luminescence. She was holding Lance's essence right now, everything that separated him from the human world, everything that connected him to the mer world, to his legacy, to her and everyone else who loved him.

She was holding Altean quintessence and everything that made Lance, Lance. She nearly dropped it at the thought of that. Instead, she looked up at Lotor, who was rummaging around in a back room which was connected to the main room. 

He came out with a dangerous-looking sword that probably tripled as three other weapons as well. It was about 4 feet long, black, and had these odd empty wells along the shaft, as long as a line down the center of the blade.

"Galra technology," Lotor said over his shoulder to Allura, "May I have the quintessence?" 

...

Lotor looked like an actual prince and not a weird, mystical witch as he swam towards the battle slowly, holding the sword by his side, Allura on his opposite.  They scanned the fighters for Zarkon's presence and found him almost immediately. He sat on a large rock behind the fighters, guarded by three, looking intently at the battle. 

Allura could feel Zarkon's power from here. It made her sick to her stomach. Yes, she might not completely trust Lotor, not after the previous events of the night, but she'd be worried for anyone who wanted to face that kind of power.

But Lotor looked confident, and she put all her faith in him as he gave her a final, straight-lipped look, then turned to his father, readied himself, and charged.

If he won, this all would be over.

...

guys, im yawning every other word haha im so tired. camping is exhausting lol. im legit going to bed right after i publish this, and you should too if youre reading this and it's late. sleep is fun. 

i apologize if there are any errors in here, im so tired guys... sleep for my sake lolol 

i'll try to update again tomorrow. who knows, i might even finish the fic lol. doubt it. we have a maximum of 4 chapters left at most, at the least, two. so it's probably gonna be three tbh lol

i wanna thank you now, while im delirious from sleep deprivation, for sticking by my side through this story. some have you guys have been here since the first chapter, some of you just arrived. wherever you are in the mix, i love and appreciate you so, so, so much. you guys make me so excited to publish chapters, i get so happy when i see you guys excited about a scene or laughing at something one of the characters have said. you're truly the best. 

sorry for getting sappy, im good at that lol

anyways

qotd: meme edition- here we have two writers memes bc i love them. if you write, which ones are you? which ones do you think i am lolol (i wanna know what i seem like lmao) (btw from the qotd earlier this afternoon, my name's Cal^^) i'll let you guys know which ones i think i am tomorrow^^

i love you!! (and memes) (and sleep)