#sendak: i should avoid attention

[vrepit-sa]

Sendak jolted, more alarmed at Qessyn's jump than the roar in the distance.

Her terror when she spoke of her commander earlier had been obvious. Yet as she she instructed him to hide and rushed off before he could protest much— which he did, getting out no more than “Wait—” before she rushed off to meet that terror. Without hesitation. It was admirable, but there was no pause to focus in that admiration, and he sets out to follow her immediately.

But stopped starkly in place when he heard the commotion just around the corner mere moments after the white of her robes disappeared. Her shadow remained there just against the wall, and it collapsed into a heap with a sharp smack. Qessyn's glasses slide into view, and Sendak's expression of shock shifts into anger. Even for his anger, he was not fool enough to make himself known just just. Stiffening his legs feels like a conscious effort to battle off the instinct that makes him want to run after her, and he curls his hands into fists so tight his nails bit into his palms, grinding his teeth in the wake of her screams as they echoed through his ears.

He wouldn't be far behind. Sendak breaks away into another room, using his current counterpart's permissions to allow him access. Even ten thousand years later, it seemed galra tech wasn't entirely different; though it changed, he was able to pull up a map of the ship with ease. Eyes wandered over it, imprinting its layout into his memory before he ducked out back into the halls. It was easy to navigate by sound, after all… But the sounds of her cries made it much harder to hear footsteps.

Even so, he managed to navigate behind them without rousing attention, though it slowed his speed. It was half a varga, perhaps more, before he came to the same room from the other half of the hall, but he was stopped. There were guards coming down the way, their heads turning toward the door from which originated the loudest screams. As the sound raked over his ears, he refused to wait any longer than he needed to. The only other room was too far away.

Sendak lunges at the guards when they round the corner, slamming one into the wall with enough force to knock him out, if their attacker grabbing him by the skull and slamming their head into it didn't do it first. The other had avoided contact, and fumbled for his weapon. While he did, Sendak's leg lashed out, taking the guard's weight from his own two feet. When he dropped the rifle, Sendak grabbed it, and rammed an end into the remaining threat's head, knocking him out just as he did the other. He drops the weapon and stomps on it, smashing it into inactivity, then moves to approach the door.

It unlocks it with his signature, and he has it locked again at his back by the time his other hand has drawn his blade.

Qessyn hummed, and nodded. It made sense, if he had been pulled through reality itself. It would be jarring to anyone.

“Well, try not to worry about it too much. For now, just focus on staying out of sight. I’ll do what I can to—“

An angry roar echoing through the halls of the ship made Qessyn nearly jump out of her skin.

“VRAYAKA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU WORTHLESS SACK OF—“

Qessyn’s eyes went wide. “It’s Trekhar,” she whispered, “you have to hide. Quickly!” She ran towards the source of the shout, “I will buy you time!”

Rushing out to meet the commander, Qessyn stood at attention. “Commander. I apologize. What do you require of me?”

Trekhar let out a growl. “There you are. It would seem we have a bit of a problem.”

Qessyn’s heart began racing. “A problem, sir?”

“Yes. It would appear there is a stowaway aboard the ship.”

He watched her carefully. “Someone wearing a ridiculous outfit has been sneaking about, knocked one of the guards out cold, but not before taking an injury himself. You wouldn’t happen to have seen anything, would you?”

“No sir. But I’ll keep an eye out.”

Several moments of silence. Then, Trekhar began to chuckle darkly.

“Corpsman Vrayaka…you are a terrible liar.”

Qessyn began to panic. “A liar? Sir, I don’t understand—“

CRACK!

She yelped as Trekhar backhanded her across the face, with enough force to knock her glasses loose, sending them skidding across the floor. Falling to the ground, Qessyn clutched her cheek.

“Do you take me for a fool, Vrayaka? You think I wouldn’t notice your obvious terror? But I’m in a generous mood. If you tell me the truth, I’ll make your punishment less severe.”

Silence. Then Qessyn murmured something. “…hell…”

Trekhar narrowed his eyes. “What was that?”

Qessyn glared defiantly, looking up at him from the floor. “I said GO TO HELL!”

Trekhar blinked. “….heh…hahaha…AHAHAHAHAHAA—!”

He howled in laughter, his lips curving into a malicious grin. “All this time! All the phoebs you’ve been aboard this ship! All the torture I put you through! And this is the first time you’ve shown such a spine!”

His expression twisted into one of malevolent glee. “I’m going to enjoy this.” He grabbed her by the hair, beginning to drag her across the floor, intent on taking her to a torture chamber as her screams echoed through the halls.

[chancellormatt]

Voltron Rewrite Episode Eighteen - Where it Ends

The Five Lions of Darktron fly out from the depths of space. They cruise into a vast star cluster. Galra ships and robeasts flow through the system like mechanical rivers. Their numbers group up in places, orbits around the dozens of planets and asteroids in the clusters. As the dark paladins neared the center of the cluster, Is The Array. The teleduv along with a series of progressively smaller rings leading down from the teleduv. Robeasts gather  around each of the rings, save for the smallest one. A much smaller space station orbits around the Array.    The dark lions touchdown on one of the station’s circular landing platforms. The five dark paladins step out of their lions.    Luca is waiting for them. Beside her is a bulky galra.    “Vrepit sa.” The galra salutes.

   “My lords.” Luca bows. “It is an honor to receive you on the day of your final victory.”    “Spare me.” Zarkon grunts.    Luca only nods, but Lotor winces at the rebuke. Zarkon narrows his eyes at the large galra beside her.    “Who are you?”    “Commander Ru’vak, sire.” The galra says.    “He works directly under myself.” Sendak explains. “Seeing as our attention may be focused elsewhere, I have made him commander of our galra forces for the time being.”    “Very well,” Zarkon rumbles. “Tell us the status of the troops.”    “We’re on schedule. Everything should be in position in three vargas.” Ru’vak explains.    “And what of our enemy’s movements?”    “That is...where the bad news comes in.” Luca speaks up.    “I’m not fond of bad news. Go on.”    “They’re preparing for battle. Exact estimates of their time of arrival is unclear. But it is...possible that they will be here before the breach is opened.”    Zarkon smiles. “You lied. That was good news.”    Luca tilts her head in confusion.    “This is my final conquest. I would be disappointed if there was no battle. One final fight to cement victory over all existence!”    “It would be...wise to avoid a battle if possible.” Honerva says. “Damage to the array could be disastrous. And if even one of robeasts is knocked out of formation during the initial operation we’ll have to repeat the entire process.”    Zarkon frowns.    “I’m not presuming on your authority. Only giving you my best advice as your wife.”    “...I am not planning on waiting for them to show up. Merely relishing the possibility of killing my enemies with my own hands before victory. But if they are late to the party...then that is that. They shall live long enough to bear witness to a new reality being born. I won’t risk the plan just for my own satisfaction. See that we are not...unduly interrupted once the operation begins.”    “I’ve already seen it. Every planetary shield system we control has been brought in. There are still a few yet to arrive, but once assembles we should have a nigh-unbreachable shield to prevent any interruptions in the breach opening.” Luca explains. “Your victory is as certain as it is great.”    Her words are confident, but a flicker of hesitation enters her eyes. She glances over at Lotor. He returns the gaze, uneasy.    Zarkon, either oblivious or unconcerned at the exchange, looks up from the platform, into space the star cluster, and all their forces spread throughout. Smaller, hexagonal stations line up around the prime station.    “So, this is where it will happen.”    “...father?” Lotor asks.    “This is where everything comes to a close, son of mine. This is where it ends.”

***

   “...this is where it ends.”    The Paladins of Voltron stand around a holographic display of The Array and the countless galra ships around it. Keith scrutinizes the display, searching every angle.    “This array is how they’re going to do it.” Pidge explains. “ The teleduv will open the breach, then robeasts will draw the quintessence through acting kind of like a dam. In theory it will let them control the flow so the rate of expansion doesn’t go out of control. After that...they’ll be able to funnel a virtually infinite supply of quintessence into Darktron.”    “I’m guessing there isn’t any way to stop them once that happens?” Keith asks.    “It’s unprecedented...but once they finish energizing Darktron I’m not sure there’s anything they can’t do once that happens. They could...reshape the whole universe if they wanted to. That’s if they don’t lose control and destroy everything again.”

Keith looks thoughtful. “Is there any way to stop them once the breach is opened?”    Pidge adjusts her glasses. “If we knock the Array out of alignment, it could throw off their start up sequence.    “That will not be as easy as it sounds.” Kolivan speaks up. “The Dark Paladins  still need some time before they are ready to open the breach, but they’re preparing a shield-wall perimeter around the Array. Once in place it will be quite...difficult to stop them from opening the breach.”    “So we’ve got to get there before they complete the shield wall.”    “It would be our best chance at success.”    “How far along are our preparations?”    “Coming along as fast as possible.” Sanda informs. “But we’ll need a couple more hours before everyone’s ready for the attack. If we leave any sooner we won’t be able to bring the full brunt of our forces on them.”    “And they will have every single galra still loyal to Zarkon in between us and them, Grand Regent.” Skriel says, crossing his arms. “Not to mention their robeasts. They’ll need a couple dozen for their array but all the rest will be trying to kill us. But...er...that will not be enough to stop us! Ohoho!”    “After we get through all of that…” Keith takes a breath. “...there’s Darktron.” “Pfft! We can that hunk of metal any day of the week!” Lance declares. “Our last fight seems to suggest otherwise.” Pidge says flatly. Lance frowns. “It's true.” Allura agrees. “Zarkon and his Paladins have had much longer to learn the secrets of their Voltron. We still have no idea how to activate the armored form they used to defeat us so soundly before.” “And we can’t rely on trying to figure it out during the battle. We’ve got to accept that Darktron is stronger.” Keith says. “Then...what do we do?” Hunk asks. “The Atlas and the Paladin Crusher are probably going to be occupied keeping those robeasts off our backs. The Castle too. But I think there’s one last tool at our disposal that we might be able to make use of...” Keith sighes, then looks at Allura. “...but you aren’t going to like it.”

***

   “You’re right, I do not like this plan!” Allura objects.    She and the other paladins follow Keith down a slim corridor. A series of thick doors line the hallway. Keith stops in front of one, bringing the entire group to a halt. He sighs and turns to Allura. A scowl occupies her features.    “I know this situation is...complicated. And you’re completely justified to feel the way you do. And if you can think of a single way we can do this without his help, then I’ll turn around and walk away from this door. But if you can’t...well I don’t see any other good options. This is our best, maybe our only chance to beat Darktron.”    Her expression softens but does not entirely lose it's firmness. She gives a slight nod.    Keith turns back to the door, unlocks it, and pulls it open.    Sincline Lotor lounges on his bed inside.    “To what do I owe this visit, Paladins of Voltron?”    “...we need your help.”    Lotor’s lips twist in an expression that is equal parts smile and grimace. “I believe I’ve more than proved my loyalty to the cause of bringing down Zarkon. And my piloting skills speak for themselves. You wouldn’t be here if you were going to simply throw me into the cockpit of some fighter to join with the rank and file.”    “No. We wouldn’t be.” Keith agrees. He glances briefly at Allura, who scowls down at Lotor. “...we need you to pilot Sincline.”    Lotor chuckles. “That’s the plan is it? You can’t beat this...Darktron alone. But with my help you might have a chance?”    “That’s the idea. But I’m sure you can understand why we might be...uneasy at the idea.”    “Ah, there it is. You know I’ll help you defeat Zarkon. You aren’t worried about that. You’re worried about what I might do after the dust settles. I’ll be back in command of my most powerful weapon, and we could very well be right back where we started. I suppose I understand your concern…”    “How can we trust that you wont turn on us again, once this is all over?”    “You can’t,” Lotor says simply. “But, frankly you don’t have a choice. At least against me it's somewhat equal odds. But there’s no chance of you defeating Darktron alone. It's simply a risk that you’re going to have to take.” Allura frowns. “You may play like that if you wish. But know that the universe has changed a long since you were emperor. You will find that you do not have many allies left.” “I’ll keep that in mind, Princess,” Lotor finally rose from his bed. “Now, are we going to blather here all day, or can I get ready to kill my father for the second time?”

***    “Well let’s hope that wasn’t a huge mistake.” Hunk says. He walks down the Garrison halls alongside Lance and Pidge.    “Not like we had much choice.” Pidge points out. “It's the logical choice...even if it might come back to bite us.”    “I give him five minutes after beating Zarkon before he turns on us.” Lance says. “Just hope we can bring him down a second time if it comes to that…” He rubs his wrist, thoughtful.    Pidge eyes the gesture. “...how’s your tremor?”    “A little better. Still…” He shakes his head. “...don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ve got more important stuff to be worrying about with the attack coming up.”    Pidge shrugged. “I’m just gonna go over the analytics on those shields and see what the energy blowback threshold is in case we need to...well I’m sure it's not anything you care to hear about.”    “I never said that. It might surprise you what exactly I’m interested in.” Lance raises an eyebrow.    Pidge averted her gaze. “-anyway. I should really get to work.”    “...right.”    She turns a corner leaving both behind.    “That was...a little weird.” Hunk remarked.    “Hm.” Lance replies, noncommittally. “Well...guess I should get in a little more target practice before we all ship out. See ya.”    “Later.”    Lance starts to turn away, then hesitates. “Hunk, do you think...ah never mind. Forget it.”    He walks off, leaving a confused-looking Hunk staring after him.

***

Luca stands on the edge of the landing platform looking out over the combined forces of the Dark Paladins spread out through the cluster. Prince Lotor of Darktron approaches.    “Everything alright, Luca?” Lotor asks.    She stiffens and whirls around. “I...yes, of course. Why would you ask?”    Lotor sighs. “Is it my father? I know he is callous. And...commanding. To be honest-”    “No, no. I don’t…” She hesitates. “...your father does not bother me.”    “Something else then? Whatever it is I’m sure I can…oh. It's me.”    Luca winces.    “...what is it?”    “Please, my lord. It's nothing. And you needn't worry yourself with the concerns of-”    “-Luca, please. I won’t have you going into battle plagued by uncertainty.”    Luca sighes. After a moment, she nods.    “I...saw what happened in the colony. With the Princess. And...the other Lotor.”    “Ah...that. An imposter of course. Our enemy will sink to any low if they think they can gain an edge.” Lotor shakes his head. “I just worry they will try to use the alteans they took as a bargaining chip.”    Luca still looks uncertain. “Our people left. Of their own will. Trusted...that man.”    Lotor frowns. “This war has been hard on everyone. And the enemy is quite proficient at deception. I do not blame the alteans for their lapse in judgement. But we must ensure no...further lapses occur. Can I trust you to help me do that?”    He holds out his hand to her. She stares down at the hand and after a moment nods and takes it.    “I’m...sorry. I shouldn’t have let that imposter cause me even a moment of doubt.”    “All is forgiven. Make sure all the other robeast pilots are ready for their respective roles. Myself and the other paladins will be preoccupied, so they’ll be looking to you during the battle.”    “Understood.” She salutes.     “At ease.” he smiles. Then he turns to walk away. And because Lotor’s back is turned, he does not see the uneasy stare she places on his back.

***

   Across the stars, another Lotor stares up at the Sincline mecha. It's been set up outside the Garrison base. Metal scaffolding surrounds it, from which Garrison personnel work on it.    “...you must think I’m eager to get back inside that suit.” He says, “That I can’t wait to return to that place of power?”    He turns to find Allura standing behind him.    “Aren’t you?” She says, crossing her arms.    “...no.” He turns back to Sincline. “Living...no, existing in the quintessence field was the most agonizing experience of my life. All that power was intoxicating at first. But it was too much. Equal parts europia and pain.  Like having every atom in my body try to rip itself apart. I couldn’t tell if seconds or years were passing,” He shot her a hollow smile. “But, I suppose that was my own doing, wasn’t it? The burden of power.”    “Do you regret it, then? All the horrible things you did to end up here?” Allura asks.        Lotor stares up at the Sincline mecha.    “...no.” He decides. “Regardless of the...unfortunate nature of my actions. I still believe they were necessary. I was this close to bringing peace to the universe. Before...you and your friends turned on me.”    Allura scowls. “Is that really how you see it? You think we betrayed you!? Do you think for a second that I could have worked with you after what you did? Do you think there was any version of this where I could stand beside you after you killed my people!?”    “What I did was for the greater good-”    “-tell that to the alteans you murdered!”    Lotor fists clench. “You can hate me, Princess. But I will not apologize for my actions! Don’t forget, that I’m the reason any of those alteans are alive to begin with! Because I protected them when you and your father couldn’t!”    “You…!” Her voice cracks. “...you think that makes up for it? They trusted you. And you exploited that. Used them like a piece of machinery. I just...”  She lets out a breath and averts her gaze.“...I just once thought you were better than that.”    Lotor doesn’t say anything for several moments.     “I don’t...think it matters, in the end.” He finally says. “Even if...on some level I did regret some of my choices. I can’t change the past. Can’t bring back the people I killed. So I will keep doing what I feel is necessary. I’ve long since gone too far to turn back.”    Allura studies him. “...part of making hard choices is knowing what isn’t necessary. To know when the price is too high for an action.”    Lotor scowls. “Is that another of your father’s proverbs?”    “No, Lotor. I learned that from you.”    He hesitates at that. He seems about to form a reply when he is cut off.    “Lotor!”    Both turn to see a small crowd of alteans approaching. The twins were leading the charge, with Vatta and Sahan just behind. They are a mix of the former robeast pilots and the alteans rescued from the colonies.    “I mean...my Lord.” Dramor corrects himself.    Lotor glances at Allura but her face is impassive.    “...ease yourself. There’s little need for titles here. What do you need?”    “These youngsters want to fight.” Sahan said simply.    “We...do.” Lagmor admits.    Lotor studies them. “...why?”    “As a chance to make up for our mistake. For fighting for the wrong side.”    Lotor looks at her next and a twisted smile works its way onto his face. “What do you think Princess? Should we trust them to fight?”    Allura stares back, eyes stony. “I would rather them not be put in danger. We are facing Zarkon and all his forces. Some of which are your own fellow alteans.”    “That is part of the reason we want to help.” Dramor argued. “If they see which side we’ve chosen, perhaps they will realize how they’ve been deceived. They’re our brothers and sisters, give us a chance to help stop them.”    “And what if you’re forced to kill your fellow alteans?” Lotor asks.    The entire group looks taken aback.    “Will you stop them, if you have to? The entire universe hangs in the balance. Do you want to have to make that choice?”    For the first time the alteans look uneasy.    “Can you do what’s necessary? Even if it means you have to get your hands dirty?”    “That’s enough.” Allura says quietly, but firmly.    Lotor shrugs. “I’m only trying to make sure they know what they may have to do. Going into battle isn’t such a simple thing when people you know are the enemy.”    “I don’t plan on any alteans dying today, Lotor.”    “And are you going to be the one to ensure that?”    “Yes.”    “And if you fail, will you answer for it?”    “I will.” She replies without hesitation.    “Please!” Vatta says to Allura. “We know we’ve wronged you and your efforts to help us. We just want a chance...and opportunity to make things right.”    Allura looks the girl in the eye, saying nothing at first. After a moment she sighs and closes her eyes.    “...it goes without saying that the children and elderly should remain here. Those of you who are able bodied and still wish to fight...I will not stop you from fighting, if that is what you truly desire. I believe Coran can use your help in the Castle. There are certain functions of the ship that may only work with a full crew of alteans. Ask him where he needs help.”    “Thank you! We will not let you down, Lotor!” Vatta says. “Or you, Princess!”    With that the alteans depart. Sahan remains for a moment. She raises an eyebrow at Allura. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that line about the elderly. This old bird’s still got some fight in her yet, young lady!” Allura smiles. “I’m sure you do.” Apparently considering the matter settled, the old woman nods and joins the other. For a moment, Allura and Lotor are alone again.    “...they still trust me.” Lotor notes.    “For now.”    He eyes her sidelong.    “You haven’t told them?”    “I tried telling some of them, at first. Long before now.”    “But now?”    “I didn’t think it was necessary.”    Lotor smiles slightly. “And did you factor that into your plans of what happens after we beat Zarkon?”    “I suppose I just have faith that in time, the true colors of all parties will be revealed.”    Allura turns away.    “...after that talk of making sure no alteans die, I’m surprised you’re letting them fight.”    Allura stops in her tracks.    “...I suppose I just don’t want to deny them the chance to make up for their mistakes. At least they’re trying.”    Lotor doesn’t have a reply for that. He is left to once again, stare up at Sincline.

***

   Hunk kneels inside a hangar, working on an MFE. A panel is pulled off exposing the guts of the fighter. Hunk stares at the ship’s guts, thoughtful. Pidge walks up beside him and tilts her head in curiocity.     “Whatcha up to?”    “Just checking out one of these ships they’re gonna be sending out for the battle. They’ve tested them quite a bit, but they’ve never been in real combat. How’d your analysis of the shields go?”    She sighs. “Didn’t learn much I didn’t already know. Nothing we can use to breach those shields at long range. A direct hit from the blazing sword would probably  be able to break through one of them. But first we’d have to get close enough to do that. And they’ve got a very large army in the way to slow us down.” She shakes her head. “We basically just gotta hope we get there before all the shields are up. If there’s gaps in the barrier some of our smaller or faster ships might be able to slip through and do some damage. Or try and land a blast through all that madness, though that seems like a bit of a longshot.”    “Good thing we’re not so bad at pulling off longshots, huh?”    “Sometimes...anyway, how’s the fighter looking?”    “Fine tuned and as ready for combat, far as I can tell.”    He replaces the panel and starts sealing it back up. Pidge’s gaze shifts to the dozens of Garrison personnel around them, moving cargo and prepping ships for launch.    “Guess everyone pulling out all the stops, huh?”    “Yep. One last fight. No room for holding anything back now. One way or another...it all ends after today.”    Pidge shifts uncomfortably at that.    “Doesn’t that bother you? Thinking about what happens if we don’t win?”        Hunk shrugs. “It does. But not as much as it used to. All that worrying I did never changed a thing. We’ve just gotta do as much as we can to win, and hope that’s enough.”    Pidge doesn’t look satisfied with the answer.    “But...but what if you were worried you might not get a chance to do something you’ve been putting off?”    “I’d...stop putting it off?” Hunk says, confused.    Pidge groans. “I was worried you were going to say that.”    “Why? What is it?”    Pidge shakes her head. “It's stupid. After everything that’s happened. What’s about to happen. The stuff I’ve been thinking about is just...juvenile, in comparison.”    “Well, it might not be an interstellar war, but if it's bothering you then I think it probably does matter.”    Pidge chews on her lip thoughtful.    “So...what is it?”    She immediately stiffens.“I’d...rather not say.”    Hunk immediately looks intrigued. “Ooh...is it something embarrassing?”    She glares at him.    “Oh, it's definitely embarrassing!”    “Shut up.” She mutters.    He raises his hands defensively. “It's alright if you don’t want to tell me. But I can’t really help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”    Pidge glares at him for a moment. Then stares at her feet. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Finally she looks back up, glances over either shoulder and leans in closer to Hunk.    “If I tell you...you have to swear and I mean swear that this stays between us.”    “...of course.” Hunk says, looking uneasy at her sudden seriousness. “Pidge...did you kill someone or something?”    “I wish.” She groans.    “...well?”    Pidge looks over both shoulders once again and sighs. She adjusts her glasses.    “I think…” She hesitates, cursing under her breath. “...I think I’m...in love with Lance.”    Hunk blinks. “...what!?”    “Keep your voice down!” She hisses.    “This...is a joke? You’re playing me right now, right? In a second, Lance is going to jump out and point and laugh?”    Pidge cringes. “...no, it's not a joke. And I really hope Lance isn’t about to jump out and start laughing.”    Hunk stares at her for several deafeningly quiet moments.    “...you’re in love with Lance?”    “...yeah.” She stares at her shoes.    His eyes widened. “...wow! That actually makes a lot of stuff make sense! All those times you...oh...OH!”    “This was a mistake.” Pidge rubs her temples.    “No, no, no, Pidge. I’m sorry, I’m just...processing.”    “You think you’re having a hard time with this?”    “So...how long have you felt this way?”    She shrugs. “I guess...after that battle on the station. When I had my run in with Lotor. Lance came to rescue me, the dolt. Ended up getting just as busted up as me. But afterwards...he just said something that made me realize how I felt. And it's been nagging at me ever since.“    “Are you going to tell him?”        “God no! Why would I do a thing like that?”    “So you can...find out how he feels?”    She narrows her eyes. “Hunk. I don’t think you understand. I’m not planning on telling Lance anything. I'd just like all of this to go away.”    “Go away?” Hunk says skeptically.    “Yes! It's just...bad code. Some chemical wires in my brain getting crossed. You think I want him popping into my head when I’m trying to get work done? Not being able to think when he’s around? Having a pulse rate like a jackrabbit? You think I enjoy that!?”    “Pidge, I don’t know what to tell you. Feelings don’t usually just turn off like you’re flicking a light-switch.”    “Well, why not!?” She crosses her arms in frustration. “I sure didn’t ask for it in the first place.”    Hunk chuckled.        “What’s so funny?”    “It’s just...strange to see you like this.”    “Like what?”    “Vulnerable.”    “Who said I was vulnerable?”    “Pidge, if you really wanted this to just go away you wouldn’t be speaking to me right now. I think you want to tell him. You’re just scared of what will happen if you do.”    Her arms tighten around her gut.    “...and what if I am? Is that so crazy?”    “It's not.”    “How do you just tell someone that you...you know, feel that way about them? It boggles my mind. How can you let yourself be so vulnerable?”    “I’m not exactly an expert on the subject. But as I understand it, it's a leap. You’ve just got to take a chance.”    In a very quiet voice Pidge replies, “And what if I don’t like my odds?”    “You mean…”    “I’m not exactly his usual type: Tall. Long hair. Curvy. Hell, I convincingly played a boy for the first few months I knew him.” She shakes her head. “Who am I kidding? It would just distract both of us before the big battle. Telling him now would be a horrible idea. Maybe someday, long after this is all over. That’s the smart choice.”    “That’s one way of looking at it.” Hunk nods. “Another way of looking at it is that this might be your last chance. In case we...well, you know.”    Pidge opens her mouth in what looks like an objection, but doesn’t seem able to form the words. Eventually she just leans back against the fighter and bangs her head against the metal.    “...what did I do to deserve an affliction like this?”    “You mean love?” Hunk chuckles. “It's okay Pidge, it happens to the best of us.”    She groans. “...and why him?”    “Well I think you’re the only one who can answer that.”    She huffs. Then kicks at some nonexistent dirt of the floor. “...I don’t know. I guess...it's kind of cool how he tries so hard all the time. He pretends to be so easy-going and confident when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. And even though he’s long since proved it to everyone, he still fights so hard to show why he should be on this team. Even during his awful crusade to win Allura’s heart he didn’t just give up. No matter how many times she shut him down. Even in the end he still did the mature thing and let her go. And he never makes fun of me when I go all tech-mode, even though he has no idea what I’m talking about. Don’t you ever let him know this but he can, on occasion, be...charming.” She clears her throat. “...and dammit, he’s handsome, okay!?”    “Well…” Hunk smiles. “...sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”    “I’ve got nothing figured out! That’s the problem!”    “I still think you should tell him. But it is your choice. Maybe it is the smarter decision not to. But will you be able to live with yourself if you don’t?”    “I...need to think about this some more.”    “Alright,” Hunk nods.    “...thanks for listening.”    Hunk cracks a genuine smile. “What are friends for?”    Pidge returns a weak smile, then walks off, muttering curses under breath.    Hunk lets out a sigh, then turns to work on the next MFE.    “Hey, Hunk.” Lance says popping over his shoulder.    Hunk quite literally jumps.    “Lance! What are you doing here!?” He glances over his shoulder but Pidge is already gone.    Lance tilts his head in confusion. “I...just came here to ask you about something. Man, what’s got you wound so tight?”    Hunk smiles nervously as he rubs the back of his neck. “Guess I’m uh...just a little on edge because of the upcoming battle.”    “Oh. Okay.” Lance nods, accepting the answer. “So, you checking the specs on these fighters?”    “Y-yeah,” Hunk clears his throat. “So uh...what did you want to talk about?” “Oh, that. Right.” He sighs, “Well, there’s no easy way to say this. I think I’m in love with Pidge.” Hunk’s jaw drops. One his eyes twitches. He tries to form a response but it just comes out as unintelligible mumbling. “I know this is out of the blue. Probably weren’t expecting to hear about something like this right before the battle.” “I…no...no I was not.” Hunk finally manages to say. “Quite the uh…” He clears his throat. “...quite the bombshell.” “So...what do you think I should do?” “Uh...tell her. Tell her now. Sooner the better.” “Are you sure? What if she’s weirded out by it? Or worse, thinks I’m joking. Bet  the thought’s never even crossed her mind. “Y-you might be surprised.” “How do you figure?” “Um. Just a feeling.” Hunk tugs at his collar. “Boy, is it just me or is it getting hot in here?” Lance looks unconvinced. “After I confessed to Allura, Pidge gave me this whole speech about how I didn’t even understand Allura, so how could I be in love with her? So if I tell Pidge the same, I’m worried she won't take it seriously. That she’ll think I’m just chasing the next girl on the list.” “...well not to be frank, but is that what this is?” “No.” Lance says without hesitation. “Most of the girl’s i’ve gone after...it's just been this instant thing. Immediate attraction. With Pidge it's...different. The feeling snuck up on me. I wasn’t ready for it. I sure didn’t plan it. But there it is. One day I just realized she’s been there for me every time I’ve needed her. No matter how bad I’ve screwed up, or when I can't even hold a gun straight. She works tirelessly for the team, making sure we have every edge we need, and never asks for anything in return. And she’s the smartest person I know. Also...she’s cute when she’s angry. Even if I’m usually the reason she’s angry. For better or worse, I love that kniving, hot-tempered, sarcastic, little imp. And it terrifies me that she won't feel the same way.” Lance lets out a sigh, shoulders slumping.    Hunk stares at him and lets out a small chuckle.    “What? What is it?”    “...I’ll tell you later. Listen, Lance. I get where you’re coming from. I understand that this is a big leap especially after the last time you..well, you know. Fear’s a hard thing to get past. I know that, better than most. But just because you fell doesn’t mean you stop taking leaps. You’re scared. That’s good. That means you’ll try harder to avoid failure. Confidence is overrated. In my opinion, bravery is a lot better. And I don’t think Lance Mcclain has ever been short of that.”    Lance cracks a smile. “Glad to see someone’s got faith in me. I sure don’t.”    “So, you figured out what you’re going to do?”    “Nope. Not a clue. I’m just gonna do what I do best.”    “What’s that?”    “Wing it and hope for the best.”    Hunk laughs.    “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to it. Thanks for listening, Hunk.”    “Sure…” Hunk grins. “...what are friends for?”    Lance strides away, and Hunk is left staring at the innards of another MFE.    “...jeeze, what am I gonna do with those two?”

***

   “Good news: we should be ready to leave within the hours.” Admiral Sanda says.    Keith, Sanda and him stand on a ridge overlooking the coalition forces preparing for battle.    “Are you sure about those MFE ships?” Keith asks. “They’re never been tested in real combat.”    “No need to worry, Keith.” Matt says. “My dad helped build them. They’ve been rated as faster and more maneuverable than standard galra fighters. Final tests are being run, but so far everything looks good.”    “Besides, a seasoned fighter pilot will be leading them into battle, to ensure any potential issues can be dealt with in an efficient manner.”    “Seasoned pilot?” Matt askes. “Who’d you pick for that?”    “Me.”    Matt raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? You?”    “I’m not that old, Holt. And besides, I’m one of the few pilots here with real combat experience. I’m not about to miss one last chance to fly before I retire.”    “Careful. That’s the kind of stuff people say right before they die in a blaze of glory.”    “Foolish heroics have never been my style. I prefer surgical strategy and follow-through.”    “Good, I don’t need unnecessary risks out there. I plan on ending this with as few deaths as possible.”    “Word of advice: there’s never any shortage of casualties in war.”    “I know.” Keith replies solemnly.    Sanda studies him, then nods.    Below the ridge, Allura observes alteans entering the Castle of Lions. Keith takes note.    “Matt, Sanda. If there’s nothing else?”    Both shook their heads.    “Contact me when we’re ready to leave.”    “Understood.” They said in unison.    Keith nodded to them both, then descended down the ridge. It’s a steep, rocky path back down, but Keith doesn’t falter once.     “Hey.” He says, walking over to her.    “Hi, Keith.” She smiles weakly.    “So they decided to go, huh?” He nods to the alteans filing into the Castle.    “Is that a problem?”    “Not unless you think it will be.”    She studies the alteans for a moment, then shakes her head.    “It's their choice. And I am not their queen to command them.”    “But you are the Princess.”    “I do not know if they see me that way.”    “They will.”    She eyes him, doubtful. “What makes you so sure.”    “Because you care about them more than anyone else in this universe. And sooner or later they’ll realize that.” Keith grins. “They’d be idiots not to.”    Allura averts her gaze, but she does smile.    “...there’s something I want to tell you.”    Keith straightens. “...what is it?”    Allure stares into the sky. “Before I tell you, I want to know that you won’t tell the other Paladins. It's not that I don’t trust them. As a matter of fact, I trust each of them with my life. But this information would...complicate this battle to come. I’m only telling...well out of selfishness, I suppose. I just need someone to hear this.”    “Alright.” Keith nods.    Allura draws in a breath. “...the Blue Paladin of Darktron, is actually King Alfor. My father.”    “...oh.”    “Yes. it's been...difficult to process.”    “I can...imagine. When did you find out?”    “Shortly after I was captured.”    “You’re sure it's him?”    “Yes. At least, some version of him.”    “Allura…” Keith seems to gather himself. “...I don’t think I need to tell you that this is a man from another different universe. Another timeline. There’s no telling how different Alfor was in that reality.”    “I know that. I really do. But when I fought him...I saw something. A flicker of the man that raised me.” She lets out a long sigh. “But he’s the enemy. As much as I hope that there’s more of the good man inside, I know I still have to fight him. Which is why…”    “...you didn’t want to tell the other. You;re worried they’ll hesitate because of you.”    Allura nods. “They are good friends. I can’t help but think it would give them pause. I want to spare them from that.”    “I understand. I won’t tell them.”    “Thank you.”    “But…” Keith shifts with discomfort. “...did you think I wouldn’t be affected? That I wouldn't hesitate because of your feelings?”    Allura smiles, “No. I just trusted you to do the right thing anyway.”    Keith smiles back.    “Allura!” A voice calls.    Both turn to see Ayden running towards them. He grabs onto her legs and smiles a toothy grin. “Hi.”    “Hey there,” She ruffles his hair.    “Who’s this little guy?” Keith asks.    “I’m not that little!” Ayden scowls, although it ends up looking more like a pout. Keith chuckles, raising his hands in defense. “My mistake.”    “Keith, this is Ayden. He helped me get through my confinement. Even helped change some minds.”    “Well then it's a pleasure to meet you, friend.”    Ayden eyes him, dubious.    “Ayden. This is Keith. One of my best friends. And the leader of Voltron.”    Ayden’s eyes widen. “Woah. So do you like...fight lots of bad guys?”    “Yeah.” Keith smiles. “I fight lots of bad guys.”    “Cool! I wish I could fight bad guys…” He frowns. “All the grown ups are getting on the ship to go fight!”    “That’s true.” Allura agrees.    “But I wanna go too!”    Allura crouches down to be at eye level. “I know you do. And if I were you, I’d want to too. But you and the other altean children are the future. You’ve got a duty to your people to stay safe. Can I trust you to do that?”    Ayden frowns. Then he kicks some dirt. Finally he nods. “...alright.”    “Don’t worry. One day it’ll be your day to brave the stars. And when that day comes I’m sure you’ll blind us all with how bright you shine.”    He smiles at that.    “So, are you ready to return to your post, soldier?”    “Yes, Princess!” He salues.    “Go on then.”    He bows to her, nods to Keith, then runs off. Allura stares after him, smiling slightly.    “...Allura?”    “Yes, Keith?”    “I think you were saying something about how you didn’t think any of the alteans supported you?”    Allura tries and fails to stifle a grin.    “...well, maybe there’s one or two.”    “Come on. We better head to our lions..”

***

   Pidge is the last to arrive at her lion. The others are waiting in a circle when she gets there.    “Don’t tell me you were all waiting up for me.” She says.    “Well we couldn’t exactly leave without you.” Keith points out. “But now that you are here, we’re just waiting on the all clear.”    “Understood.” She takes her place in the group, a healthy distance from Lance.    For a moment the whole group is silent. Pidge shoots a glance at Lance. He shoots a glance at her. This occurs several times until their eyes meet, and they quickly avert their gazes.    “I need to talk to you.” They say in union.    They stare at each other, earning the interest of the other Paladins.    “Is...something the matter?” Keith inquires.    “No!” They say, speaking in unison again. Both cringe.    “I think...they just have something to sort out. Alone.” Hunk winks at them.    Lance clears his throat. “Y-yeah…”        Pidge rolls her eyes, then grabs Lance by the sleeve leading him out of earshot of the others. Keith looks on in confusion, while Allura watches, thoughtful. Hunk simply smiles knowingly.    They stop a few dozen feet away, turning to face each other. Neither says anything at first. Pidge kicks at some dirt. Lance rubs his arm, wrist twitching ever so slightly.    “...I should have built you another bracelet.” Pidge finally says. “There’s just...been so much going on recently. I’m sorry.”    Lance stares at her for a moment before shaking his head. “It's like I said. You’ve got more important stuff to do. You don’t need to worry about me.”    “You always say stuff like that!””    Lance looks taken aback.    “I know you don’t want anybody to worry about you, but it's okay to ask for help sometimes!”    He hesitates, then narrows his eyes. “You’re one to talk. Or did you think I forgot how you went looking for Matt without letting the rest of us in on it?”    “Alright fine! So, we’re both bad at asking for help!”    Lance cracks a smile.     “Something funny?” Pidge huffs.    He shakes his head. “Just thinking about how some things never change.”    Pidge stares at the ground. She fidgets with something in her hand.“...maybe they should.”    Lance quirks an eyebrow. “Does...this have something to do with what you wanted to say to me?”    “...you had something to say too, didn’t you?”    Lance considers. “...you first.”    Pidge winces. “...of course” She takes a deep breath, and looks down at what she holds in her hands. “Lance I-”    “-Hey you two!” Keith suddenly yells. “We just got the all clear! It's time to go!”    Pidge curses under her breath. Lance sighs in annoyance.    “We’ll be right there!” He yells before turning back to Pidge, “You were saying?”    “I…” She bites her lip, then shakes her head. Then she grabs Lance’s hand and shoves what she was holding into it.    He looks down into his palm. It's a small scrap of paper with a series of letters and numbers on it: 49206c6f766520796f75    “What is this?”    “It's…a code.”    “What does it mean?”    “I’ll...tell you after the battle.”    Lance stares down at her. She doesn’t meet his gaze.    “Okay.” He lets out a breath. “I understand.” “Y-you had something to say too?”    He shakes his head. “We’ve got to get going.”    She gives a single nod. They head back to the others.    “You sure something isn’t wrong?” Keith asks.    The two of them shake their heads. Hunk gets a concerned look.    “Alright then…” Keith closes his eyes. When he opens them, they are set on the sky above, “...it's time. Everyone to their lions.”        Keith, Hunk and Allura immediately climb inside their lions. Pidge and Lance hesitate, sharing one last look before they do the same.

***

   The Five Lions of Voltron rise into the sky. Shortly after, So does Sincline. Behind them a fleet of ships rise up behind them. Soon they are all enveloped by the shining stars and pitch darkness of space.    “I’m not great at speeches, so I’ll make this quick.” Keith says over the comm. “Right now our enemies are trying to take this universe for themselves. We aren’t going to let that happen. We’re all here. Every ally. Every friend. We look out for each other out there. It's what makes us different from the enemy. Don’t fight like you’ve got nothing to lose. Fight like you’ve got everything to lose. That’s why we’ll win. Because we’re not fighting for power or for glory. We’re fighting for our homes. For the people waiting for us. For our way of life. And if they think they can just take all that from us, then they’ve got another thing coming. And that...is all I got. Let’s go beat Zarkon, once and for all.”    And with that, the combined ships of the Coalition of Voltron make the jump deep into space.

***

   Zarkon flies his Black Lion through the star cluster. Galra ships are dark silhouettes against the harsh light of the stars. He brings his lion to a halt before the teleduv array. Over a dozen robeasts gather around the Array. Countless hexagonal stations are beginning to form a vague globe around the Array, with more still coming in.    Lotor in his Red Lion approaches Zarkon.    “Father, I wanted to speak to you about...certain details of the operation.”    “Speak.”    “I’ve looked into mother’s calculations. These alteans...I don’t think they’ll survive. Not in these robeast suits.”    “...and?”    “And I think if we took more time we could develop a safer method, they could live. There’s no reason to cast aside these lives when they’re performing such a great service for our empire.”    “...my empire.”    “You said our empire. Make no mistake, boy. I am emperor.”    Lotor grits his teeth. “...my mistake. But will you consider my suggestion?”    “There’s nothing to consider. It was an infantile suggestion. The words of a child afraid of change. If you are scared about what will happen today, go cry to your mother. I have no time for your petulance.”    Lotor’s eyes blaze. “You old bastard!”    Zarkon grins. “That’s more like it, son! Have a spine for once in your life!”    For a moment both lions hang in space, facing one another.    “What is going on here!?” Honerva demands, rising up between them.    “The boy and I were having ourselves a little heart to heart.”    “That’s one way of putting it!” Lotor snarls.    “Are the two of you really going to do this right before our final victory?”    “Oh I think you mean his final victory! Family or not, we’ve never been anything but pawns to him!”    “Lotor-”    “Tell me I’m wrong! Can mother? Can you honestly tell me he’s ever served anyone but himself!?”    When Honerva does reply her voice is quiet, “...please, both of you. Don’t do this. Not now.”    “It may be a little late for that…” Zarkon replies with unmistakable excitement in his voice.    It is then that Sendak’s and Raimon’s lions fly in.    “Emperor Zarkon!” Sendak exclames.    “What is it?” Zarkon growls.    “They’re here.”    All turn to see hundred, thousands of new lights appearing from out of the dark of space. They are not stars.    “What a sight…” Zarkon says.    “Call in the rest of the required robeasts and activate the shield barriers. We need to start the operation now!” Hoverva says. “It will take a few minutes, but if the shields get into place we should be able to open the breach without interruption.    “And miss this glorious opportunity for battle?” Zarkon says. “Why not fight them and collect the power as trophy?”    “Zarkon!” She pleads.    From inside the lion, he studies those specs growing closer.    “So very tempting….” He closes his eyes. “...but I will not risk everything just for the thrill of once more battle. We will begin the operation.”     Lotor hesitates. “The alteans…”    “Lotor, if you care for them so, then they can be remade once all power belongs to Darktron.” Honerva points out.    “In theory! We don’t know what can and can’t be done once that door is opened.”    “I can think of but one way to truly find out.”    The comms are quiet for several seconds.    “...let’s do it.”        Zarkon chuckles. “Good choice, boy. Now, let us remake the universe!”

***

   The Coalition of Voltron crashes against forces of the Dark Paladins like a hammer against an anvil. Human MFE fighters fight alongside alien ships. The new Castle of Lions blasts cruisers from the sky, flanked by galra ships loyal to the coalition. And at the spear of the attack, Voltron and Sincline ride into battle, side by side.    They tear a swath of destruction through the enemy lines, explosions popping up in their wake.    Then, a squad of robeasts arrive. They are led by one with violet lines running across it's armor.    “That is far enough.” Luce sat over the comms.    She spins her staff in an arc, before bringing it down for Voltron’s head. Voltron counters with a swing of it's sword. Luca retreats back, letting fly a blast from her armor’s chest. Voltron blocks the blast with it's shield, forced backwards.    The other robeasts close in on Sincline.    “I don’t have time for this!” Lotor snarls, moving to fly past the robeast. They block his path. That proves a mistake. No one sees Sincline’s swords being drawn. They simply appeared one moment, and two robeasts fell to pieces.    Lotor guns Sincline’s engines, tearing off deeper into the cluster, leaving a trail of energy in his wake. “Lotor!” Keith yells with annoyance. “Actually he might be on the right track!” Pidge informs. “Check this out!” A section of the cluster magnifies. It shows the array. Robeasts are gathered between each progressively smaller ring, culminating with Darktron centered in the smallest. The shield stations begin to light up, even as some still move into place. “They’re starting to activate their shield wall! If all the stations power up they’ll be completely protected! We’ll have no chance to stop them!” “Well we’re a little tied up at the moment!” Keith replies, blocking another of Luca’s strikes. “We’ll take care of that!” Matt declared, flying forward in the Atlas to smash a mighty fist into Luca’s robeast. The Paladin Crusher comes up from the flank, engaging the rest of the squad. “Ohohoho! We’ll take it from here!” Skriel says. “Thanks guys!” With that Voltron races past. But they don’t get far. They’re quickly blasted by half a dozen ion cannons. Voltron isd sent reeling. Voltron launches back into action, dodges a series of blasts and cuts through several ships. Ships blowing up behind, Voltron is about to move to it's target again, when it is tackled by another robeast. “There’s no end to these guys!” Lance exclames. Voltron kicks the robeast back, earning them some breathing room. They zero in on the station's shields popping up, innumerable energy hexagons spreading around the Array. Only a few gaps remain in the energy sphere, where some of the stations have yet to fall into place. “Hunk, fire cannon! Now!” Hunk smashes his bayard into place, and the cannon materializes, tearing a solid beam through the battle it vaporizes a dozen galra ships before finally ripping through a trio of the shields stations. That’s all they’re able to accomplish before the robeast smashing into them again, bladed spear angling towards Voltron’s neck. Voltron deflects with the sword, then lets out another blast from the cannon point-blank. The robeasts are flung backward to smash through a galra cruiser, which explodes.    Voltron then bursts forward to neatly slice all four of it's limbs off. The robests hands, limp in space.    Off to the side the remaining shield sations fall into place and the rest of the globe seals up. Only a small gap remains where the few stations they managed to destroy would have been.    “We don’t have a clear shot, and the cannon needs a minute before it can fire again!” Hunk informs them. Another robeast and more ships approach.    Keith grits his teeth, “We need to think of something!”    “...we could split up.” Lance suggests.    “Why would we do that?”    “Give them more targets. Make it easier for one of us to slip past and...take the shot.”    Keith is quiet for a moment.     “...can you do it?”    “Honestly...I don’t know.”    “...alright.”    Voltron splits back into five lions.    Keith activates his lion’s wings and tries to jump past but is smacked backwards by the swing of a robeast’s staff. Hunk and Allura’s lions become equally tied up by ion cannon blasts. Only Lance and Pidge manage to slip past the assortment of enemies.    Inside the shield, the rings begin to crackle with energy. It starts at the teleduv, then works its way back, stopping at the final ring, around Darktron. The bolts of energy coalesce into an orb at the center of the teleduv. Lance turns towards the distant gap in the side of the shield. “Pidge, If I use the railgun, I should have enough power to knock one of them out of place. Will we have enough time to get to a clear line of fire?”    “...no.”    Lance nods slowly.    “...what about a ricochet?”    “Are you thinking of…?”    “I know these energy shields can mess with the degree of blast reflection. So what angle would I be aiming for? I just need to hit one of them to disrupt their operation, right?”    Pidge opens her mouth but finds herself speechless.    “What?” Lance smirks, “Did you really think I wasn’t listening all those years you tried to explain science to me?”    Pidge allows herself a small smile.     “...you’ll need to hit between thirty and forty degree angle. But because of the energy distortion, aim for fifty and you should hit your mark. That’s just the numbers, though. The actual shot…”    “...is nearly impossible. Got it.”    Lance takes a breath, and the lion’s rail gun appears on it's back. He guides his shot, aiming for the gap in the shield. He takes another breath. Beads of sweat form on his skin.    His hand begins to tremble.    “Not now…” He mutters. He closes his eyes. “Come on!” His hand continues to shake.    “...Lance?” Pidge says in a softer tone. “I don’t...I don’t know if I can do this.” He admits, eyes opening. “I just...I’ve only got one chance at this. If I don’t make it...we’re all dead, or worse. Everyone’s depending on me and I don’t think I can do it, Pidge.” Gis voice cracks, “I’m going to miss, I can feel it. We’re going to lose because I can’t-” “Lance!” She says forcefully.    He blinks.    “If we fail...it's not your fault. It’ll be because of a million other factors. Because we didn’t get here quick enough. Because we didn’t stop them the last time we fought. Because sometimes no matter what we’ve done, it still might never have been enough. So just listen to my voice, and take the shot. You don’t have anything to prove. But for what it’s worth...I think you can do it.”    Lance looks out his lion’s viewport, at the Green Lion. “...thanks, Pidge.” “Anything for our sharpshooter.” He smiles, then turns back to his target. The crackling has only grown brighter, and the ball in the center of the teleduv seems at its apex. He zeroes in on the gap one more time. His hand has only the slightest tick, but it's still there. He glances at the hand thoughtful. Then something else catches his eye. The small scrap of paper Pidge gave him, wedged into his lion’s console. 49206c6f766520796f75 He stares at it for a moment, eyes widening. And then he grins and takes one more breath.    “Hey Pidge?”    “Yeah?”    “I love you.”    Lance fires, not a hint of a tremor in his hand.    A blinding blue beam of light erupts from the Red Lion’s back. It tears across the battlefield, threading the needle between countless galra fighters and ships. It slips through the gap in the shield, and collides with the inside of the barrier. The beam bounces off the shield, reflecting towards the Array inside. It hits a robeast, blasting the robeast away to smash into backside of the shield.     The crackling energy making up the orb grows uneven, surging up and down the rings. The orb then breaks apart, energy lancing in every direction. Robeasts are blasted everywhere, and several shield stations are obliterated.    Finally, the energy vanishes and the rings go dead.    “...I did It.” Lance says, stunned.    “Lance!” Pidge yells. “You...I...what!?”    “Yeah I’m surprised as you are.”    “Not that! I mean, yes! Great job, stopping the universe from ending, but WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY BEFORE THAT!?”    “Huh? Oh. I love you.”    There is silence over the comm for a minute.    “Woo! Good job dude!” Hunk suddenly says.    “Thanks man.”    “WHAT DID YOU SAY THAT FOR!?”    “Well for one, I meant it.”        “Don’t just-...you can’t just-...ARGHHHH!” Pidge’s voice devolves into unintelligible noises.    “This is...an interesting development.” Allura chimes in.    “As um...unexpected as all this is…” Keith says. “...I think we’ve got more pressing issues.”    The three other lions approach, dodging blasts from their pursuers. “Yeah, better shelve this for later.” Lance agrees. “Speak for yourself!” Pidge yells Lance pushes his lion into motion avoiding a stray blast from one of the cruisers. “Alright, then you wanna talk about this while we’re fighting for our lives?”    It's Pidge’s turn to dodge a blast.    “...this isn’t over!”    “I’d be worried if it was.” Lance smiles.

***

   Darktron hovers in space, scattered robeasts hanging around it. Several of the rings above are cracked, leaking violet energy. The shield around the Array now has dozens of breaches, and barely covers up half of what it previously did.    Zarkon takes it all in.    “...Honerva, report.”    “The pilots of the robeasts have been rattled but they should recover soon. The Array on the other hand...when it was knocked out of formation, some of the rings were damaged. They’ll need to be repaired before we try again.”    “And how long will that take?”    “Maybe half a varga?”    “And the shields have enough holes that they may as well not be there…” A grin splits Zarkon’s face. “...good.”    “Good!?” Honerva shouts with disbelief.    “Yes. Now, we do this like we should have from the start. Victory through battle. One last killing thrust.” He chuckles. “Make sure your people have this array ready. It’s time we destroyed the other Voltron.”

***

   The five Lions of Voltron catch up to Sincline just outside the remains of the shield barrier. A trail of broken ships lead up to its position, but Lotor has pulled the mecha to a stop. Across from Sincline, is Darktron.    “...took you long enough.” Lotor says from inside Sincline.    “I concur.” Comes Zarkon’s voice. “You knew you could not match our power, so you opted for strength in numbers. You that’ll be enough to beat us? To beat me?”    “I think it’ll be enough to kill you.” Keith says coldly.    “By all means boy. Let’s pick up where we left off…”    Darktron summons a sword.    Keith narrows his eyes, “Paladins, form Voltron!”    The lions, once again, join together. Voltron floats side by side with Sincline. For a moment the pilots of the three mechas stare each other down.    Then, Voltron and Sincline charge at Darktron.    

[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

Dangerous Clashes: III

Word Count: 3245

AN: A little longer chapter today since its my birthday. Thanks!

Whether it was smart or dumb, the guards delivered the armor to Kova's makeshift cell. She spent a few minutes looking it over, then started working. The bodysuit was like a second skin, completely different than the street clothes she wore before.

The tech on the suit was older than anything she had ever seen, but that was the privilege of attending the intergalactic hub on Earth. We mean the Garrison if you're lost.

She was attempting to use a paperclip as a pair of pliers on the location tracker when the door reopened. Ezrid, or Vhix, stood in the doorframe. Kova spared him a glance before returning to her work. 

"Are you not going to say anything?" Vhix asked, crossing his arms behind his back. 

"Should I?" Kova glanced at him again, noting the scowl that crossed his face. 

"You should be grateful for everything we've given you." He hissed. "Most prisoners rot in the cells below, never seeing their home planets again."

"Ooh, how scary." Kova mocked him. "I should be grateful for being put in a janitor's closet. That's rich."

"What are you doing to the suit?" Vhix asked, noticing her position. He was about to cross the boundary. He was about to trigger the explosion before she was ready. 

"NO!" She yelled. "Stay away from me!" Vhix stepped back, shocked at being yelled at. "I don't want you anywhere near me!" Vhix found his voice, fixing his dark blue cape.

"Aren't you overreacting, Kyla?" He smiled, talking in the tone you would talk to most children with. She stood up from her place on the floor to at least be eye-level with him. 

"I'm not the one our parents chased across the galaxy." She cocked her head. "Am I overreacting?" Vhix had no words. He only looked on with wide eyes. Almost like he didn't know what her parents had done. Without another word the door closed, leaving Kova alone once again. 

She had to finish the suit.

Right. Now. 

——————

"Cake, cover me!" Caleb yelled over the intercoms. 

"You got it!" Cake yelled back, moving his controls. The Coeus had taken another hit. This time, there was a small platoon of ships striking. The Red and Yellow Lions were deployed, against Shiro's orders. The Lions were taking heavy hits, but at least there was no attention at the Coeus. 

The Red Lion was zipping past the cruisers, all their shots missing. The Red Lion was fighting its pilot, but Caleb was having none of it. The Yellow Lion, as the densest lion material-wise, was ramming into the cruisers head-on. 

Liz and Kenny were readying the Coeus for defense, while Allie cowered in a corner. She would have to come out eventually, but for now, she was staying put. 

The Yellow Lion zoomed past the cruisers, either ramming itself through them or leaving them alone for later pickings. 

A communication link request was sent to the Coeus, which Liz immediately refused without looking at it. She glanced at Allie, who was covering her pointy ears with her hands, hoping to silence the gunfire. 

"Can you guys stop playing and knock them out already?" Liz yelled over the intercom to the boys, who weren't quick to respond. The Red Lion was drawing fire towards the enemy ships while Cake used their distraction and fear to ram them down. In the end, all but one of the ships were destroyed. 

Seeing the last cruiser fly away, the Red and Yellow lions released a deafening roar and returned to the Coeus. The Coeus had activated their particle barrier and it would be up for the next few hours until it deactivated itself. 

"Now that that's taken care of," Caleb said. The screen on the bridge appeared, showing the paladins inside their respective lions. "What's next?" 

"We're going to have to double-check every point we travel to if we're going to make another jump."

"Ugh, seriously?" Cake complained. "That will take way longer than whatever we were doing before!" 

"Well, its the only thing we've got right now." Liz was at the head of the bridge, Kova's place, typing away. Kova's console, as it turned out, was the only console with complete access to all files and consoles onboard. 

"Griffin's right," Caleb spoke, leading the Red Lion to fly underneath the Coeus. "If we want to avoid another encounter like that, we're going to have to be more careful."

"But that will take ages!" Cake groaned, rolling his eyes. 

"It's better than not doing anything," Caleb said. 

"Right, 'cause we're still looking for Kova while trying to keep the Coeus intact." Neither Liz nor Caleb were amused by Cake's comment. "Easy enough."

"Speaking of Kova, Griffin, how are we doing?" 

"The tracking is still activated, and it shows we're about one full jump away from reaching her." Liz looked away from the camera and console for a minute, staring at something off-screen. She turned back with a sigh. "I have to take care of something now, but all systems are stable and shield will deactivate in a few hours. Until then, just hang on tight." The connection between the Coeus and the Red and Yellow Paladins was cut, and Cake and Caleb were now left alone with only each other to talk to. 

Where do we even begin with these two? Cake and Caleb were on different teams since they started as cadets at the Garrison. Kova and Caleb had similar leadership tactics, but they weren't on the same level. Caleb was maybe a few months behind Kova's level of understanding. At nine years old, she repaired a major issue on the Achlys. An issue the top engineers couldn't figure out. Kova was the only thing Caleb and Cake had in common. Beyond that, there was nothing. Cake was half-Balmeran. Caleb was completely human. Cake was raised by his biological parents. Caleb was adopted by the Shiroganes at three years old. Cake lived on Earth after ten years old. Caleb hadn't even been to space. 

"This might seem like a weird question, and you don't have to answer," Cake began. Caleb raised an eyebrow. "But didn't Keith have a dog?"

"I, uh, don't know, actually," Caleb said. "Dad and Uncle Lance used to stories, but I don't know if they ever mentioned pets."

"Really? I could've sworn my dad mentioned a dog."

"Huh." Caleb sat back in his chair. If there was a dog, why wasn't it ever mentioned again? "Maybe we could ask Keith about it."

"Maybe." Cake agreed. "Hey, uh, where are you?" 

"Under." /Please say it/, Caleb thought. Kova always switched her words and Cyrus copied her. No one did it. 

"Under /where/?" Caleb erupted in laughter, while Cake looked around confused. /Then/ he realized the joke. 

"Ha ha, okay, very funny, Caleb." Cake said sarcastically. 

Onboard the Coeus, Keith and Shiro were sequestered away in Shiro's office. While Caleb and Cake disobeyed orders, Shiro was getting Keith up to speed on everything they had been doing. 

"The Fire of Purification was terminated as a threat years ago." Shiro had activated a holoscreen, showing the progression board the team had been working on. They were at the beginning of the current threats when Keith spoke. "I killed Sendak!" 

"I know." Shiro took a seat across the desk from Keith. "It seems that some of their former members resurfaced with a vengeance, and began recruiting."

"The Fire of Purification wanted to wipe out every species in the universe if it meant conserving the Galra." 

"And that mission changed with the times." Shiro leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "The Fire we're fighting today was led by a half-Galra and is currently being led by a different one."

"The one that might've taken your daughter." Shiro's eyes widened a little, shock written on his face. As quickly as it came, it left. 

"Yes. Her status is the reason for the bounty on her head."

"She's half-Galra?"

"Yes, but that's not the only thing." Shiro turned off the holoscreen progression and removed it from his desk. Taking out the tablet Kova had given him when they began this crazy journey, Shiro logged into the Garrison's database. "The students have given her the nickname 'Jax'." Shiro turned the tablet to show Keith the screen. A picture of Kova was on it. Her eyes were like steel, and her features were cut from stone. Her uniform jacket was crisp, and her hair was pulled away from her face in a bun. That was all that could be seen. Shiro turned the screen away from Keith and swiped to view the next picture. It was Kova's log. Her entire school history was there for the men to see. 

"Why do they call her that?" 

"Her teachers would call her a jack of all trades, then it became Jack. To be fair, most instructors thought she was a boy when they heard about her capabilities. Eventually, the student body would call Jack, then Jax. It stuck."

"Teachers? Instructors? Like, she had multiple people teaching her?" Keith was astounded. Even he didn't require that much instruction, and he was considered the best pilot of his generation. 

"Programming, engineering, piloting, was offered private instruction with Commander Holt but declined, and still had time to spend with Lance and our family. Before we left Earth, she was being scouted as an instructor by other schools." 

"With someone like that," Keith began. 

"She could win wars if she stood on the front lines." Shiro finished Keith's sentence. "Caleb is capable of it, too, but he isn't as hyper detailed as Kova." 

"So the Fire wants your daughter, Kova, on their side?"

"More than anything." Keith sat back in his chair, staring into the void. Shiro turned off and put away the tablet while Keith contemplated everything. 

"What are we waiting for, then?" Keith said, standing from his chair. A hand rested on his hip with an iconic smile on his face. "Let's get her back." 

—————

"C'mon, c'mon!" Kova muttered under her breath. "Change color, you stupid light!" She stood on the dirty mattress in the furthest corner of the room. The garbage bag that held her street clothes was propped against the wall closest to the emergency toilet. The dark gray armor fit Kova almost perfectly, but if she wasn't careful, there could be an opening. Her hair was tied in a braided bun at the back of her head, her helmet screen open. She was trying to change the color of the insignia on her chest plate, but for whatever reason, it didn't. The top of the insignia was blue and the bottom was the original purple.

The sewer was emptying, and her window of opportunity was going with it. Let's all say it now: NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE COLOR OF YOUR STUPID LIGHT!

Heavy footsteps rang through the room. The metal grate was horrible like that. The steps became heavier, the metal groaned louder, and Kova's heart raced faster as they approached her room. 

"Screw this!" She finally exclaimed, throwing the paperclip aside, grabbed her plastic bag, and stood at the mouth of the gaping hole. The footsteps had stopped just outside her door. Indistinguishable words were being exchanged between the guards and the newcomer, but Kova wouldn't be around to see it. First went the bag, making a disgusting brown splash on the sewer walls. It was carried only a few feet from the weak current before coming to a standstill. Activating her helmet screen to completely cover her face, Kova took a deep breath. 

May Allura give her strength. 

She jumped feet first into the hole. The brown, maybe green liquid splashed under her feet, but there was no time to consider what it could or couldn't be. As soon as her boots made contact with the bottom of the pipe, Kova ran, grabbing the plastic bag on the way. 

In her now empty room, the door opened to reveal the maniac himself with his second-in-command in tow. 

"Where is she?" Yorak asked, staring at the empty room.

"Let me see," Vhix said, pushing past Yorak into the room. His step into the room triggered the boxes of yeast the guards had brought Kova to fall into the buckets of peroxide and dish soap at their feet. As the yeast fell into the buckets, the white foam quickly overfilled the buckets, spilling onto the floor. The metal grate didn't allow the foam to stay very long, but the results were worth it. Vhix was quickly overwhelmed by the foam, slipping on the metal grate. Yorak was fuming, his expression dark. He turned his stone-cold eyes to the guard at his right. The guard, for what it's worth, was rusting their armor at the glare. 

"Search the ship," Yorak growled, whipping his head to meet the stare of the second guard. "If she isn't found, it's your lives." Vhix had somehow stood and walked away from the foam. Thankfully for him, yeast doesn't stain. The guards ran down the hallways like their lives depended on it, because they did. 

"I told you we should have kept her in a prison cell," Vhix muttered, trailing foam. Yorak sighed, staring at the mess Kova had caused. 

"If we did, she would've discovered our plans before she was ready." Yorak stalked away from the room, heading for the bridge. Vhix strode after him, still trailing foam. 

"She isn't going to switch sides so easily." Vhix shook his shoulders, then aggressively shook his cape. "She's been taught to be a paragon of power."

"As am I." Yorak turned to meet Vhix's eyes. Vhix was one of few to meet the stone-cold gaze of the Emperor and not shake in fear. The others were either dead or changed. 

Down below, Kova ran, drifted, and jumped over pipes, large lumps of something, and tight corners. She simply followed the current. Kova's sloshed steps grew faster as voices grew louder overhead. The desire to live was starting to become her. Out of some misfortune, there was no exit to the sewer. At least, no exit she could use. The water escape through a small vent at the bottom of a wall. 

Kova looked up at the metal grate, searching for a means of escape. Another hole was torn into the metal grate directly above the sewer. Another emergency toilet. Tossing her bag through the hole, Kova jumped to grab hold of the edge. The sharp, torn metal pierced her skin through the bodysuit, but it did not break. 

She was in yet another janitor's closet, but it was worth it. If the map on the wall is correct, she's about ten feet from the closest exit.

Activating the helmet's shade, Kova walked straight for the doors that led to her freedom. The door opened up, four armed soldiers running past her without a glance in her direction. Quick as can be, she slipped through the doors. 

The room was a loading bay, stocked with wooden crates and small cruisers. If she could hotwire one, it would make her escape all the better. 

"Hey! You!" A voice yelled from above Kova's head. It didn't sound like either Yorak or Vhix, so at least she was safe. "What are you doing here? This ward is restricted to—" Kova turned to face the man yelling at her. He noticed the blue on Kova's insignia. The light is pretty hard to miss. The man yelling at her stared at the faceless armored soldier with surprise, then anger. "Hey! I found the runaway!" 

With a salute, Kova booked it to the doors. The man, completely caught off-guard, panicked, climbed the railing, and jumped to the floor twenty feet below. He didn't chase after her. At least, not immediately. 

Three armor-clad soldiers marched in, holding their weapons up. Kova had made it to the wall on the other, the door that should lead outside. One of the soldiers had fired on her, hitting the door three feet from Kova's head. She ignored it, searching for the control switch. It required a password to open it. Another blast was fired, only inches from her face. 

Kova turned to see the firing squad. They wouldn't kill her. Of course, they wouldn't. That's a death wish waiting to happen. Yorak and Vhix still want her alive. 

One of the soldiers aimed at the wall next to Kova, hoping to ricochet a blast to knock her out without completely damaging her. The soldier's stance wavered, the gun along with it. Kova held her hands up in surrender, but the soldiers made no moves to apprehend her. Not until they were sure they wouldn't be attacked. The soldier's finger was prepared to pull the trigger. It wouldn't take much, just a little push. 

The entire ship took a blow, and everyone took a fall. Kova held onto the frame of the door closest to the control panel. She connected her armpiece to the control panel, uploaded her code, and the door opened. As the oxygen was being sucked into the nothingness of space, some of the lighter boxes were being thrown out as well. Kova hoped it was food so they could slow down their pursuit. As the suction pulled everything, Kova braced herself and threw herself out into the nothingness. 

Curled into a small ball, she spun until she wasn't sure which way was up and down. Is there even an up and down in space? Kova had been pulled so far away from the ship, she could see what had caused the blast. 

The Coeus had come to the rescue, firing heavy blasts to the side of the enemy ship. A particle barrier had been activated, glowing orange. Two figures were dancing in front of the barrier. It took Kova a tick to realize they weren't just any figures. It was the Lions. 

Red sped past the entire length of the enemy ship, firing on the windows of their bridge. Yellow was clawing the side Red had left unscathed. Escape pods began to leave the ship, and Red noticed. It took after them, preparing to fire again when a small blast hit their snout. Red turned its head to look for the culprit. 

Kova fired again. She was so glad the arm piece had a laser, or she would have been a goner. 

Red was hit again between the eyes. Forgetting its original prey, it flew towards the source of the blasts. 

As Red got closer, Kova hung onto her bag for dear life. She was floating into nothingness. She didn't want to be like Keith! Lost for ten years until the new generation of Voltron came to find her. They haven't even formed Voltron!

Red stopped before Kova, staring at her figure. What was wrong? Didn't he recognize her? Then she remembered she still had the shade on. Deactivating it, she stared at Red again. Red opened its mouth, and Kova floated into it. The depressurization left Kova lying on the bottom of Red's mouth staring at the top of it. Eventually, she stood and joined Caleb in the pilot seat. He was updating the Coeus on the mission. 

Kova placed a hand on his shoulder, to which Caleb lay his own over it. They shared a look, and Caleb turned Red around to return to the Coeus. Kova slept in Red's cockpit until the barrier deactivated a few hours later. 

[justheretobreakthings]

The Least of These - Chapter 4

(Previous Chapter)

Word Count: 2,174 (Total Word Count: 12,464) Read on AO3

Short update, yeah, and not exactly action-filled, but hey, it’s been what, three months? Y’all deserve something at least.

Story Summary:

There have been plenty of people throughout the universe who weren’t exactly keen on the idea of a half-Galra being a paladin of Voltron. Why should things be any different on Earth?

In light of the paladins of Voltron being officially given a clean bill of health across the board as of this morning and being approved to participate fully in reconstruction efforts, Voltron and the crew of the Atlas will be stepping back from the public until further notice. Instead, their time will be devoted to actively assisting in restoration, relief, and security services.

For this reason, Voltron in association with the Galaxy Garrison will be limiting press presence from this point forward. Certain future planned public appearances by the paladins have been cancelled, and no interviews, photographs, video, or other media may be taken of the crew of the Voltron or the Atlas without direct approval from the Galaxy Garrison Department of Public Relations. This measure is to ensure the peace and privacy of the crews and prevent interference with their work.

Questions or requests for official press authorization should all be directed to the Galaxy Garrison Department of Public Relations.

“So, what, we’re talking media blackout here?” Pidge asked, looking up from her tablet. Shiro had forwarded the press release, one that was scheduled to be officially released this evening, to the other paladins as they had gathered for their group meeting in the rec room. Pidge was the first to break the silence, and the others looked up from their own devices or from where they had been reading over others’ shoulders, as they finished reading it as well. Keith was the only one who didn’t, and instead he continued scowling down at his knees where he sat scrunched and cross-armed in the couch corner. Shiro had already shown him the press release beforehand.

“Not a total blackout,” Shiro answered. He was the only one standing, his hands grasping the top of an empty chair as he faced the others, straight-backed and authoritative. “We’re not cutting off the media altogether, that would just seem suspicious as hell. But the Garrison wants us to limit our media presence as much as possible for the time being. And for the few media appearances we do make, it seems they want us to, ah, limit the scope of discussion topics. No talking about relations with the Galra, nothing about Keith’s role on the team; we’re supposed to focus only on reconstruction on Earth, and direct the focus back onto that topic if they try to bring up anything else.”

He lifted his own tablet, pulling up the e-mail he had been sent by the communications department. “Apparently we’re gonna be meeting with them tomorrow to go over protocol for dealing with the press right now and getting briefed on whatever damage control campaign they come up with, but I thought it’d be best if you guys knew now, so we can, um, discuss it without interference from the PR people or - or judgment.” Keith didn’t miss the way Shiro’s eyes flicked toward him before he continued, “So if you’ve got anything you want to say about - ”

“Yeah, couple things,” Lance said. “First off, does this include, like, just fan photos and stuff like that? Like, you know, if I’m out walking down the street and someone wants to take a picture with the legendary paladin - ” Keith rolled his eyes. “ - Is that allowed? Or does that count as, like, an unauthorized photoshoot? Because I’d kinda hate to deprive everybody of the chance to get their very own personal pictures of this beautiful face, you know?”

“Probably,” Shiro said. “If you do that too often, it may contradict the whole thing about us all being busy and wanting privacy.”

Lance nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, guess that makes sense. Secondly, more of a comment than a question: this is bullshit.”

Shiro sighed. “Look, I know that these measures may seem a little annoying, but - ”

“No, no, it’s not the measures themselves,” Lance said. “I don’t like them, sure, but all things considered, I guess they sorta make sense. They don’t want us adding fuel to the fire, that’s fine. The bullshit is the reason they’re doing it. They decide to just cut off our media presence and drop the subject of the Galra altogether because some assholes are getting pissy about Keith?”

Keith hunched his shoulders, eyes down so as to not have to meet the gazes of the rest of the team. There it was. He had wanted to avoid trouble, wanted to avoid causing any difficulty for the other paladins. But it seemed that it wasn’t an option for him. His very presence on the team was always going to be a problem, one way or another.

“It does seem rather strange that they’re going about things this way,” Allura said with a frown. “Granted, I’m hardly knowledgeable in how Earth’s media or this Garrison works, but if there is such tension over the issue of cooperation with Galra, wouldn’t it be best to address the matter directly to the masses rather than push it into the background?”

“Apparently not, at least not while tensions are so high on the matter,” Shiro said. “Keep in mind, the Galaxy Garrison’s got its media and public relations department and all, but it’s not a news station. They’re not under any obligation to try to raise awareness of any issue or sway public opinion in any direction. Their job is the space program and military efforts, and if staying neutral on the whole thing is the best way to focus on keeping those running smoothly and safely…” He shrugged, and Keith detected a hint of bitterness in his voice when he finished, “I guess it’s their call to make.”

“Yeah, but to go straight from having Voltron be the Garrison’s media darlings to suddenly wanting us out of the spotlight as much as possible?” Hunk said. “Pretty big shift in plans, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid I’m probably to blame for that,” Shiro said. With another sigh, he moved around the chair to sink into it, pausing to rub at the bridge of his nose before continuing, “Even with all the press stuff we’ve been doing, they’ve all been about that battle with Sendak and how Voltron works and the Garrison’s operations. Tensions against the Galra were there, sure, but they weren’t really a point of focus for anyone. When I made that speech at the medal ceremony, I guess I pushed the issue in the spotlight, and also kinda made it look like Voltron was warring with the Garrison over the whole matter. Guess it was a polarizing move on my part.”

“Well, uh, for what it’s worth, I think you did a good job,” Hunk said.

Shiro gave him a little smile. “Thanks, Hunk. But, still, I should’ve thought it through more. I was fired up, and I made a poor judgment call.”

“You didn’t,” Keith spoke up. He didn’t lift his gaze, but he felt the others turn to look at him even without seeing them. “People listen to you, and they gave you a platform and a microphone, and you used that to speak up about something that matters. That’s a good thing. But you - you shouldn’t have had to make a stand about anything at all.”

He took a deep breath and looked up, eyes flicking between his teammates’ attentive gazes. “Look, I, um - I know that having a half-Galra on the team doesn’t exactly - doesn’t exactly make things easier for us. For Voltron. And it’s caused problems before, and I should’ve known it would cause problems here too. I’m really sor- ”

“No,” Pidge cut him off.

Keith blinked over at her. “No?”

Pidge scowled and jabbed her finger toward Keith. “I know what you’re about to do. You’re about to apologize for, what, existing? Being born? Well, stuff it, Keith. You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

Keith sighed. “That’s not it, I was just going to apologize for, you know, for causing trouble…”

“Yeah, trouble just based on the fact that you’re half-Galra, which is something that you can’t fucking help. It’s not your fault that people are idiots about it.”

“Look, I’m just saying, if it had been someone else on the team instead of me, someone less… controversial... hell, if I just weren’t the one piloting Black - ”

“Then it’s doubtful we would still be alive to be having this discussion in the first place,” Allura finished for him. She tilted her head as she looked at Keith, a furrow in her brow that suggested either sympathy or pity; neither was particularly appealing, but between the two, Keith hoped it was the former. “I know how the people who have this problem with you are thinking, and why they feel the way they do. And I know it’s not right. It… wasn’t right when I was the one who thought that way, and it’s not right now.”

“And, hey, long as we’re talking blame,” Lance said. “Isn’t this kinda the Garrison’s own fault? If they hadn’t pulled Keith out of that ceremony thing, Shiro wouldn’t have made the speech in the first place.”

“They had their reasons,” Shiro relented. “Admittedly, it seems they were right in thinking it was safer to keep Keith out of the spotlight.”

“You saying you agree with them?”

Shiro hesitated. “I… understand their viewpoint.”

“So that’s a no.”

“It’s just us here, Shiro,” Pidge said. “You don’t need to be diplomatic. You can say it: fuck the Garrison.”

“Language, Pidge.”

“Oh, please, I know for a fact that you swear like a sailor too when no one’s around for you to be a ‘good role model’ to.”

Shiro turned to stare at her. “How do you even…?”

“Matt shares stuff, Shiro.”

“Ah. Remind me to slap him later.”

“Will do. Seriously, though, come on. The Garrison’s PR people may be trying to keep the peace and all, but let’s not pretend they’re all-knowing or unfailing or anything. These are the same people who tried to cover up what happened on the Kerberos mission, remember? The ones that claimed you and my family were dead, blamed you for it, tried to keep everything secret when you crashed back to Earth? And now they’re screwing Keith over. Just doesn’t end with these people.”

Shiro set his jaw. “I’m… certainly not their biggest fan,” he said slowly. “But while we’re here on Earth, we’re working closely with them. I’m captain of the Atlas, after all, and that’s their ship. It’s easiest and best for all of us if we play nice.”

“Okay, fine,” Pidge said, crossing her arms. “I’ll play nice, but first you gotta say it.”

“Say what?”

“Fuck the Garrison.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Pidge - ”

“Aw, come on, Shiro,” Lance said, a grin splitting across his face. “I said it about twelve times a day while I was a cadet. It’s cathartic.”

“I really don’t think - ”

“Say it or I’ll dedicate all my waking hours to finding every reporter in the city and inciting riots.”

“For the love of - fine. Fuck the Garrison.”

Pidge and Lance both let out whoops, and Hunk even clapped, while Allura simply stared at the lot of them in confusion. Keith couldn’t stop his own little smile from escaping. “Now,” Shiro said. “If that’s all taken care of, guess we’re done here. Officer Hannegan said he’s gonna try to get some candid photos arranged of us helping at a cleanup site, so someone will let you know when that’s scheduled. You’re all dismissed.”

The paladins got to their feet around Keith, some soft grumbling among them as they made their way to the door. Shiro got up from his seat, but rather than leave, he moved to the couch settling down into the corner opposite Keith, who was still stiffly scrunched in place like he had been through the whole group meeting. Once the team was all out of their room and the door had closed behind them, Shiro cleared his throat. “How you doing, Keith?”

“Fine,” Keith answered.

“Really?”

“Mm.” Keith straightened his posture and stretched out his legs. “Really. That… went better than I’d expected.”

“Oh?” Shiro raised a brow.

“Well, I just had thought that - that the others would, uh, you know…”

“Blame you?”

Keith shrugged.

“Yeah, kinda figured you were thinking along those lines,” Shiro sighed. “Pidge was right, though, Keith. If people have a problem with you being Galra, that’s their problem, not yours.” He nudged Keith’s foot with his own and gave him a small smile. “And give your team some credit. They know that too, and they’ve got your back.”

“Yeah...”

Shiro let out a huff of breath. “I know this is frustrating, but - but for now, we’ll try to keep busy. And if anyone gives you trouble, you come to me, okay?”

“And what?” Keith asked, quirking a brow. “You’ll beat them up for me?”

“I’ll give them a scare, at the very least.” Shiro yawned and got to his feet. “Speaking of keeping busy, I gotta meet with the Atlas crew and give them this whole rundown too. You need anything, you tell me, okay?”

“Okay.”

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x03 – “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

8x03 – “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

One thing this episode has going for it is that it’s not difficult to follow the plot. There are so many episodes this season (last episode being one of them) that are incredibly convoluted and confusing. This episode is not one of them.

One of my biggest criticisms about this episode is that it doesn’t feel necessary. Given how much the confusing plot of this season could have benefited from the confusing episodes slowing down and telling the story more clearly, having okay but unnecessary episodes like this one contribute to the season as a whole being confusing. My second main criticism results mostly because of the episode’s title. I don’t think this episode properly depicts a prisoner’s dilemma story, and I would never have compared this episode to the prisoner’s dilemma if the episode had not been named that. It makes me question whether the writer of this episode, assuming he named the episode, actually understands the prisoner’s dilemma. My third main criticism is that Keith presents information about the Ranveig’s superweapon creature that he wouldn’t know based on what we saw of this creature and Keith’s involvement with it in 5x05 “Bloodlines.”

A Galra base detects “six hostile ships,” the five Lions and the Atlas, and almost instantly open fire on them. The Atlas takes out the Galra ground cannons. I guess the Rebels’ ships were being stored on the Atlas because, despite the initial Galra statement that there were “six hostile ships,” the Rebels are here, and Matt and two others dive down to the base. They somehow are able to shut down the base’s power. So, the Galra switch to using some weapons satellites. The show lampshades by having Hunk say, “How did we miss those?” This is the kind of lampshading that I less of a problem with because it’s relatively minor. The show also gives two layers of explanation for how they could have missed them: Allura says the satellites are cloaked and Pidge says that they wormholed past them. Voltron forms to deal with the satellites. I do not know why Voltron needed to use its giant wings upgrade to destroy the satellites; it makes the use of the wings less important when they’re used for what comparatively is a mundane, unemotional task like this.

There’s a montage of Garrison personnel detaining Galra, tending to some wounds, now that the Voltron Coalition controls the base. In command of the base is Lahn, previously seen as a lieutenant of the base in 6x01 “Omega Shield” that the Paladins worked to protect from radiation when the base’s shielding system is damaged. In that episode, Lahn initially turned against his base commander because the base commander recognized Lotor as the Emperor and the base commander worked with Voltron to repair the shield. Lahn got over himself when Hunk yelled at him in that episode. So now, Hunk greets Lahn, but Lahn is back to disliking Voltron. He now identifies, not with the rank of Lieutenant, but as a warlord. This episode doesn’t avoid acknowledging Hunk’s past interaction with Lahn, but I don’t get why Lahn is anti-Voltron now. The way “Omega Shield” ended, Lahn seemed to appreciate Voltron.

Lahn says, “Sendak only attacked the Omega Shield after we pledged loyalty to Voltron.” Uh, no he didn’t. Sendak attacked because they pledged loyalty to Lotor, not because they pledged loyalty to Voltron. I can understand the three-year absence of Voltron could lead to Lahn becoming a warlord, but it feels regressive that he’d be so instantly antagonistic toward Voltron now. It’s like the development of “Omega Shield” is, while acknowledged in this episode, also kind of being ignored by this episode.

Shiro says that they’re there to ask him “to join the Voltron Coalition, to help provide stability to the universe.” Unless I’m misremembering, this is the first time (aside from working with Lotor) that the Voltron Coalition has actively solicited Galra membership in the Coalition. I like that idea a lot because it suggests and symbolizes a new stage of development in the Coalition. Who would have thought back at 3x01 “Changing of the Guard” when building the Voltron Coalition became a major element of the protagonists’ goals that they would eventually be trying to talk Galra into joining?

Lahn asks, “What’s the alternative?” and Shiro replies, “If you want peace, if you want to end this war, there can be no alternative.” Is this supposed to be where the episode’s title is relevant? Is this supposed to be the decision that Lahn, as the titular prisoner, is faced with making? The prisoner’s dilemma is a game theory thought experiment about cooperation, but it’s about two prisoners and whether they’ll cooperate with one another to remain silent, whether one will defect to turn on the other, or whether they both will defect out of thinking the other will defect. The prisoner’s dilemma says that while the most beneficial option is if both prisoners cooperate with each other and remain silent, because both will know the other is offered a benefit to defect and speak against the other, that each will most likely speak out against the other to blunt the effect of the other speaking out against them. So, Lahn is a prisoner here being offered a deal, and he’s debating whether he should take it or not, but who’s the other prisoner the existence of which creates the dilemma? It’s a very specific episode title, and the episode doesn’t really match that specificity.

Keith tries to say that despite “victory or death” being the Galra tradition, that things can be different. Lahn yells, “What do you know of the Galra?” Keith states his being part-Galra and being a Blade of Marmora. Lahn does not have a high opinion of the Blades, calling them “mutinous.” Lahn tried to commit mutiny against his base commander and against Emperor Lotor in “Omega Shield.” Lahn really is hypocritical, applying his traditionalism only when it’s convenient; his supposed preference for Galra tradition was something he rejected in his argument with his base commander, while his base commander cited Galra tradition as proving Lotor’s legitimacy. Of course, here, Lahn expresses racist negative opinions of anyone who’s only part-Galra.

The base receives an odd, repeating communication, which Lahn identifies as a distress beacon from a Galra sentry. Pidge has trouble processing the communication to learn the location it was sent from because apparently Team Voltron used EMPs during their attack, but their usage was never actually shown as part of the attack sequence earlier, so this narratively comes out of nowhere. She does eventually identify the communication source as a Galra cruiser. Lahn identifies the ship as one of several he sent on an assignment sometime prior.

The story feels a bit contrived in removing the Atlas from the upcoming action by having Shiro say it will take them hours still to process all the Galra. So, Voltron alone is going. Lahn reacts incredulously by saying, “Voltron is going to save the Galra?” They literally saved him in “Omega Shield,” so it makes no sense that he would think it absurd that Voltron would save Galra.

Keith takes Lahn with them. Lahn tells them that the ship was “out gathering munitions.” Allura’s reaction is odd, she asks him, “Were they buying them or stealing them?” They’re the Galra, why would she think they were stealing weapons from someone else? For that matter, why would she think they were buying them? The Galra produce their own weapons. Just because the Galra Empire is fractured does not mean that their production facilities have all ceased functioning. Her comment makes no sense. Lahn says, “If you must know, they were salvaging them from an abandoned Galra base.”

They arrive at the cruiser, the one is intact, the others that had been part of the same mission are mostly debris. Keith and Lahn teleport into the cruiser with Cosmo and open an airlock so the other Paladins can jetpack in. Artificial gravity is off. Keith assigns tasks to everyone, and Lahn grumps about being given orders. Hunk and Lance and Keith are looking for survivors in different parts of the ship, while Allura, Pidge, and Lahn are to examine the ship’s security logs to try to figure out what happened to the ship.

Given the problems this series has with its story across its seasons, this really is comparatively minor, but I noticed it and it personally gets to me, so I’m going to talk about it. Allura, Pidge, and Lahn are on the bridge, looking at records. Lahn uses jetpack-like thrusters in his boots to ascend to look out a high window. When he gets to what position he wants to be in, his boot thrusters turn off, and he stops ascending. But they’re in (very near) zero gravity right now. There is no counter force to stop his movement. His boot thrusters just turn off, there is no counter thrust to null his inertia. So, he should keep moving upward instead of becoming stationary. This is a show set in space, so I’m going to often pay attention to how accurate a show depicts physics. This show was inaccurate in this depiction. Again, I totally recognize this as comparatively minor. If my problems with this series was limited to stuff like this, then this show would have been amazing. But I can’t help that I do still notice errors like this.

Lahn says, “Everything I’ve spent years fighting for taken away in an instant!” What instant is he referencing? The Galra Empire didn’t fracture into a civil war “in an instant.” It happened over time. Allura tries to sympathize with Lahn by talking about how she lost her planet and her family; from her perspective, she did lose them in an instant because they were in a state of existence, then she was knocked unconscious, then when she regained consciousness they were gone and it was 10,000 years later. So, in an instant for her, yes, for him, no. Lahn ridiculously (as in I think the director’s decision to have him react this way is ridiculous) suddenly erupts in anger, “You’ve never had to earn power, it’s always been given to you.” Not true, of course; Allura has totally had to struggle to put together a force capable of pushing back against the Galra (not that I necessarily expect Lahn to know this). “You’re looking for something you once had,” uh, Lahn literally just a few seconds ago said he was too. “Security, peace, happiness. Those things have never been part of a Galra soldier’s life.” His rant suggests that he wants those things despite his seeming to also condemn those things. It’s spastic and weird. Allura says that there is a way other than through force to get something one can call one’s own. The show heavy-handedly has a shadow pass from over Lahn’s face as she says this to him.

Again, is this supposed to be the prisoner’s dilemma he’s supposedly in? But also again, the prisoner’s dilemma requires a second prisoner that he would have to be considering acting against. Is the Galra Empire as a whole supposed to somehow be the other prisoner? The concept of the prisoner’s dilemma is that it actually would be best for both prisoners if they cooperated with each other and neither of them accepted the offer from the people imprisoning them. If Lahn is one prisoner and the Galra Empire as a whole is serving as the other prisoner, then is the show actually trying to say that Lahn would be better off not accepting the Voltron Coalition’s offer? I really cannot think that the show is intending to say that, but since they, through the episode’s title, is applying the prisoner’s dilemma to this story they are effectively saying so, that is if the Galra Empire is supposed to be functioning as the other prisoner. Also, part of what makes it a dilemma for the two prisoners is that they think the other prisoner will turn against them out of self-interest, but the Galra Empire, if it’s supposed to function as the other prisoner, is not capable of accepting an offer identical to what is being offered to Lahn. The Empire cannot join with the Coalition against Lahn. So, that’s a huge part of the premise of the prisoner’s dilemma that just does not make it applicable to Lahn’s situation.

Pidge does her thing and determines from its shadow the shape of a creature that seems to have attacked a guard in a security video. Lance and Hunk then discover that creature draining energy from the ship’s energy crystal, the process of doing so causes the creature’s shape to alter. Somehow the creature hears the radio communications from Pidge and Allura coming through Hunk and Lance’s helmets. The audio is played as if their communication is being broadcast externally into the room, but it should only be in their helmet, so the creature hearing it feels contrived. Also, everyone having helmets on suggests that there is no air in the ship, so sound wouldn’t carry whatsoever, so the creature shouldn’t have been able to hear the communication. It seemingly attacks Lance and Hunk but is revealed to have only run past them.

The creature uses the ship’s still active security system to see Keith and Cosmo on a camera. A Galra sentry seemingly asks Keith, “Who are you?” Keith identifies himself, and the sentry seems to ask, “Where are the rest of the Galra,” and Keith states which planet they’re on. Then it’s revealed that it was the creature technologically manipulating the sentry to be able to ask its questions of Keith. It then attacks. The creature, like too many on this show, has an energy blast from its mouth.

Pidge says, “Keith and I were in communication just before we got disconnected.” That is such a tautology, and I have to imagine that writing it to be a tautology was unintentional.

The ship starts moving, heading toward the Galra base. Keith arrives on the bridge to join the rest of the Paladins and Lahn. Lahn confirms that this ship was sent to get supplies from Ranveig’s base, which we last saw in 5x05 “Bloodlines,” in which this creature was revealed as Ranveig’s rumored superweapon. Keith says that the creature was created “to destroy Galra and only Galra.” Keith continues, “Ranveig found the creature in the quantum abyss and experimented on it with Lotor’s quintessence. He trained it to take out his Galra enemies, but he couldn’t control it. The beast couldn’t differentiate between adversaries and allies.” There is nothing in “Bloodlines” about the creature being created to destroy only Galra, nothing about the creature being found in the quantum abyss, nothing about Ranveig being unable to control the creature. “Bloodlines” has Kolivan say, “We’re not sure of the weapon’s specs,” and that episode doesn’t even reveal that the weapon is a creature until the very end when Krolia uses it to kill the Galra commander who attacked the base. What Keith is saying now in this episode sounds like he’s supposed to have gotten this information from “Bloodlines,” but there’s nothing in “Bloodlines” to suggest he did. Keith isn’t even shown in “Bloodlines” to explicitly learn that the weapon was a creature. So, the new details about the creature in Keith’s exposition in this episode and his even having that information is a retcon.

I really don’t like the idea that the creature was created to only kill Galra. I think it would have been more interesting if the actions of the creature in this episode came from the creature trying to avenge itself against the Galra for the suffering that they subjected it to. It’s been shown in this episode to be able to manipulate computer systems, so it is clearly intelligent. It would have been nice to have seen the Paladins sympathizing with this abused, intelligent creature rather than blowing it up.

Keith claims fault for what’s happening now, but I don’t understand how he could feel fault for this. He did not release this creature, his mother did. Again, he never knew what the weapon was during that episode, and he had no idea that Krolia planned to release the weapon on the Galra as part of an escape plan. This is absolutely contrived in order to create justification for Lahn’s distrust of the Paladins. Lahn now says, “It’s what you’ve wanted from the beginning: something to get rid of the Galra for you.”

Keith wants to use the self-destruct of the ship to kill the creature. The creature shows up on the bridge and attacks. The group tries to make it through a door, but get separated, Keith and Lahn on the side with the creature, everyone else safely through. The creature tries to mouth-blast Lahn, and Keith knocks him aside and shields the blast. The creature comes again for Lahn, who screams, “Victory or death,” but Keith uses his bayard to create a large rifle cannon and shoots the creature. The creature touches a wall and melts the wall away, which is not an ability it has ever been shown to have. The spot in the wall that the creature is at when it melts through does not match with the spot it’s shown to have melted through after it’s done so. This spot afterward is in holographic display, yet the display keeps functioning; something is wrong with the animation there.

Keith asks Lahn, “Do you trust me yet?” and then blasts through the door to get out. The creature comes at them again, Keith blasts a hole in the side of the ship so that they can be blown out into space. The ship explodes. The Lions come for their respective Paladins.

Back at the base, Lahn gives a big speech to a bunch of Galra about how they’re needed to try to create stability, about how Voltron has twice helped him out.

I know that Axca came to Earth at the very end of last season, so it would make sense that she hooked up with Voltron and the Atlas after that. But it feels weird to have her just randomly standing in a group shot listening to Lahn. Also, it’s weird that she came seemingly unexpectedly to Keith’s father’s grave, but we haven’t gotten any conversation between them about her doing so.

Pidge later informs the group that information she gained from the Galra cruiser suggests there’s another mecha from Honerva, and Allura again suggests to Shiro that they need to adjust their mission to account for knowing Honerva is out there. Shiro’s obstinance does not match his character whatsoever. He says, “Thousands of innocent souls are waiting to be liberated from what remains of the Galra Empire, we can’t just change course.” Of everyone, Shiro in the past has seemed the most willing to modify the group’s plans to accommodate new information. But I guess that can be handwaved by saying that wasn’t the real Shiro but the clone. Keith suggests that the group split up, that Shiro and the Atlas continue doing what they’re doing, while Voltron goes and looks for information about Honerva. This is totally contrived to keep Atlas from being able to help Voltron.

Then Keith infamously says, “Voltron is stronger now, more than ever.” And it’s an absolute insult to those who’re offended by the show’s unceremoniously booting Shiro out of the position of Black Paladin so that Keith can have the spot and the resulting revised Paladin roster.

The episode ends at the pyramid on Oriande. Honerva creates a wormhole with the pyramid and one of her mechas goes through it.

So, unlike many episodes this season, this one is not a disaster. It’s not a great episode either. It’s just okay. I still think that titling it “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” creates a lot of problems since using that title invites analyzing the episode compared to the elements of the prisoner’s dilemma concept. This episode does not successfully represent that concept. I personally find it annoying that Lahn is back to disliking Voltron despite their previously having saved his life, his base, and all the Galra stationed on that base. I find it annoying that Keith has a lot of information that he’s never shown receiving about the creature. I find it annoying that the episode is separating Voltron and the Atlas because doing so totally feels contrived. These criticisms are small compared to the major criticisms I have about the much of the rest of the season, so that results in this episode not being bad, but again, just okay.

[voltron-s7-8-rewrite]

Lions' Pride, Part 1

This is part of my Voltron Season 7 & 8 re-write. If you are interested start HERE

PREVIOUS

The two Paladin teams successfully deactivate the weapons systems on the Zaiforge cannons that they infiltrated. However, in the time it took to complete that task, the cannons were launched and already made it into space.

The four cannons that the MFE and Lion's attacked were damaged, but are still operational. The Paladins contact the Garrison and let them know they are going after the other cannons in their Lions.

Krolia takes her ship back to the Garrison as the Paladins pull Keith's signature move -launching themselves into space as their Lions come to collect them.

Once in, the Paladins begin attacking the remaining cannons, however they soon find themselves under fire, as the cannon's launch bases double as defences for the cannons. The MFE's see this, and thanks to the Faunatonium upgrade Coran made to their ships, they have the power to attack the bases for the Paladins.

                                                    __________

Seeing his weapons attacked on all sides, Sendak tries to divert the Paladin's and MFE's attentions by ordering his main fleet to attack the Garrison.

As Krolia returns from the canon, she sees his fleet on course to the Garrison.

                                                  __________

Arriving back to the Garrison, Krolia warns them about the ships heading their way.

Realizing they can't hold out on the ground anymore, Shiro, Coran, and Sam quickly try to figure out a way to get the Atlas flying. Their only option is to use the power from the shield generator, which would leave them vulnerable. Sanda orders them to do it, and prays it will work.

                                                  __________

The Garrison's shields go down, and Sendak's ship takes this chance to attack, however, the MFE's return from taking down the last of the bases, and begin to engage his forces.

                                                  __________

Even using all the power the Garrison has to offer still isn't enough to get The Atlas flying. Sam offhandedly says that at this rate it would take the power of a black hole to get it working. His statement causes Coran to remember the crystal that was formed from the Castle of Lions, and with pride, places the last piece of the ship his grandfather built into The Atlas' crystal chamber.

With that The Atlas bursts to life; as the systems all come online, Shiro orders the surrounding officers to their stations and tasks, but quickly realizes Sanda is there and apologizes for overstepping his authority and hands the bridge over to her.

Sanda smirks and tells the officers to do exactly what Shiro said, as his commands were made with good judgment. She and Shiro share a nod of respect, then she gives the command for the Atlas to take off.

                                                  __________

The Paladins, seeing The Atlas launch, victioursly cheer. The triumph of The Atlas gives them all a second wind as Keith encourages the others to quickly finish bringing the cannons down so they can help their friends.

                                                  __________

The Atlas and MFEs engage Sendak's forces together. Sendak's forces sends out their fighters that the MFEs target, as The Atlas attacks the larger ships.

As the battle rages on, Shiro asks Krolia if there is any way they could infiltrate Sendak's ship and take the canons down from there. Krolia says she believes it would be possible, and Shiro asks her to take him over.

Sanda, listening to their conversation, cuts in and tells him that she will go with Krolia instead. Shiro argues that she is needed to command The Atlas, but Sanda says The Atlas needs it's real commander, and that is clearly meant to be Shiro. He is dumbfounded, but she tells him how she's been observing him since their return, and has seen that as he is respected and accepted by both the Paladins and Earth's forces. He's the only one capable to command The Atlas and bring both sides of the coalition together.

To the delight of those on the Bridge, Sanda promotes Shiro to Captain of the Atlas, and to a high position in the Garrison. Shiro is taken back, but realizes this the purpose he's been looking for since he left the Black Lion. He thanks her and accepts the role.

Shiro steps up to the command console as Sanda steps down. Iverson asks for his orders, and with a smile Shiro starts giving commands as Sanda and Krolia head out.

                                                  __________

Flying over in Krolia's fighter, she and Sanda are able to get into Sendak's ship without a problem, however, as they land, sentries approach. Not wasting time, Krolia leaps from the ship and takes them all down in several quick moves. Shocked by her abilities, Sanda gets out and tells Krolia that she's glad she's on their side. Krolia smiles, and leads her through the ship.

Avoiding the sentries, the two find the crystal and place charges on it. Not wanting to wait around, they start heading back to their ship, the explosives going off as they run.

The bombs do the trick and the crystal is destroyed, shutting the ship, and even more importantly, the cannons down.

However, the explosion draws the attention of Sendak's soldiers, who spot Krolia and Sanda escaping. The sentries and soldiers begin firing on them as they flee. The two women don't waste time in staying to fight, instead, shooting what they can as they go.

Their luck runs out as one of the Galran soldier's shots hits Sanda. Krolia stops and runs back, taking the soldier out, before going and grabbing the wounded Sanda.

Krolia gets them both back to their fighter, and flies them out of Sendak's ship. Placing her ship on auto pilot, Krolia goes to Sanda and looks the wound over. Sanda can see on Krolia's face that she's not going to make it. Krolia tries to tell her to hold on, but Sanda says it's alright, she accepted this was a possibility when she decided to go.

Krolia offers her hand to hold for comfort, and Sanda accepts it with a smile. She says she doesn't think anyone has thanked Krolia for all she sacrificed in order to protect Earth. She says she recognizes the weight of the choice Krolia made and thanks her for protecting their home. She asks her to continue protecting it, and Krolia promises that she will.

Sanda passes away as the ship docks in The Atlas.

                                                  __________

With Sendak's ship and cannon's powered down, the Paladins form Voltron and destroy the cannons first, before quickly taking down the rest of Sendak's fleet.

With Sendak's lone battle cruiser remaining, Voltron and The Atlas face it head on. After all the pain, suffering, and terror Sendak inflicted upon the Paladins, their people, their home, and the rest of the universe, the time for justice has come.

Shiro gives the order to fire.

From his bridge, Sendak shouts in rage and defeat as Voltron and The Atlas unleash all they have on his cruiser, annihilating it, and him from the universe.

                                                  __________

Joyous over their victory, and Earth's freedom, Lions disengage from each other as they return to the planet's surface to land.

Exhausted, but euphoric, the Paladins call to The Atlas for an update on how they are doing. However, an object bursts through the atmosphere and crashes into the ground before them.

Shocked and confused, The Atlas comms the Paladins and asks what that was, as their scanners are going haywire, unable to make out what it is.

As the dust clears the Paladins stare in horror as the Robeast that destroyed Olkarion slowly stands.

Notes:

So, while I wasn't trying to completely change people's minds on the canon Sanda, hopefully my version was more tolerable for you all.

I wanted her to be more like a real character, and not just a clichéd antagonistic force to fill a roll. Here she is an active hero, who died a heroic death while doing all she can for the good of her people and universe, and embracing others who have done the same.

I really think this character could have had some great potential to have been heroic, and gone out in a way that would have made viewers feel an impact. But as it is in the show, I sure didn't feel anything towards her, 'Eh, guess she redeemed herself' death.

.

Now, as for Shiro and The Atlas.

Like I said in my notes for S7E1&2, I do know a lot of people wanted Shiro back as Black Paladin, and saw his role with The Atlas as a demotion. While I completely understand how the story, as it is in canon, gives that feeling, it shouldn't have. I think the problem with it and why it gives that feeling is because of the way his promotion was handled, and then how his relationship to the others diminished and became unnatural in the last two seasons.

See, pre-Kerberos Shiro had been devalued by Sanda and the Garrison due to his illness. They didn't believe in his abilities, instead only saw his disability. They wanted to hold him back from his desires, and then when things went wrong, they used him as their scapegoat.

Having the Garrison -and in my version- Sanda herself, see all the worth they had been blind to before, and promote him to both Captain of The Atlas and a leader in the Garrison should not be a demotion, but actually an exclamation point on his story.

The people who once tried to hold him back and use him, saw the error of their ways, and then choose him to be the one they would listen to and follow. That's a big deal!

I think the thing season 7 and, especially 8 failed to do with Shiro was show how VITAL he is to both the Paladins and the Garrison. That he is the bridge that could bring both sides together in order to become a working unit.

You see people joke about Shiro being "Space Dad" to the Paladins, and it's really kind of true. While he literally did raise one of them, he was a mentor to them all. He laid the foundation for them to become the team they are now.

The Paladins are now out from under his wings and on their own, their path set right due to his guidance. Having him go back to being the Black Paladin would be saying that he didn't lead and guide them well enough the first time.

Instead of having that kind of regression, we get to see that he continues that mentor role that he loves, but on an even bigger level. He, Takashi Shirogane, is the one who will guide Humanity as it takes its first steps into the bigger universe.

That's pretty freaking awesome.

.

Aside from that; rather then a huge, completely impossible, and absolutely ridiculous fight on the outside of a ship that's burning its way through the atmosphere, The Paladins and Atlas just blow Sendak out of existence.

Yeah, it's not as 'cool' as a one on one fight between Shiro and Sendak, but it's not like Shiro got to take him out anyhow. Besides, while Sendak was certainly an adversary for Shiro, I don't agree with the whole "Sendak was Shiro's archnemesis and Shiro should have taken him out!" mindset.

The guy terrorized all the Paladins. Yes, he tortured and tormented Shiro, but his attack on the castle also nearly killed Lance, he invaded and corrupted Allura and Coran's home, leading to the death/destruction of the last remnants of Alfor, he used innocent people and the Paladins themselves against each other, and that's just some of the things he did in S1E6 & 7. We're not even getting into what he did while leading 'The Fire of Purification' in a spree of terror and subjugation across the Earth and the Galaxy at large.

To me, everyone had a right to take a piece out of him. So, both Voltron and The Atlas get to take part in taking him out.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

NEXT

[farmhandler]

A Little Extra

Rating: T

Relationship: Shiro/Sendak

Additional Tags: Mating Cycles/In Heat, Body Image, chubby!Shiro, implied Mpreg

Chapter: 1/1 | WC 6.9K~

Read on AO3

Summary: It wasn’t as if Shiro was blind to the weight that he’d gained when he’d been pregnant. That was par for the course, and in the months that followed he’d been focused on just getting through each day.

But now, staring at himself in a shirt that was a few sizes too small, it was like being given a wake-up call.

A/N: Commission for @saltyhedgeh0g aka the lovely lovely Shannon, who asked for Bound-verse Shiro's first heat post-baby, where he's self conscious about his figure. Sendak still wants to hit it (duh).

With everything that was going on in his life, Shiro had nearly forgotten all about his old clothes.

The twins demanded his constant attention, and he hadn’t gotten rid of his paternal wear until a few months in, when he’d started being considered for public appearances and figured wearing clothes that were clearly made for someone with a large middle was excessive, no matter how comfortable they were.

He now had a plethora of new clothing in his wardrobe, both from the castle’s stores and items Shiro had purchased at their favorite space mall.

He happened upon the shirt while cleaning his room. The twins’ toys were littered about his floor, alongside a few bottles he had forgotten to clean and pack up. Some of his clothes were packed in the corner, lying forgotten.

The room was basically a pigsty, but he hadn’t had the time when every day he was kept busy.

Shiro picked up Sendak’s underwear that had gotten caught in the bedsheets and held it up for inspection, already able to tell from the scent that it had been worn at least once. Sendak’s scent was heavier than a human’s, particularly in his extremities.

After a moment of hesitation, Shiro shoved the fabric against his nose, inhaling the scent of his mate. He felt his shoulders relax, tensing leaking out of him. Sendak had been away the last few weeks on a cluster of Blade missions, but as of this afternoon they were both going to be at the castle. Since Shiro’s first heat was coming up very soon, Sendak had been put off Blade missions indefinitely until it was over.

Plus, having him around meant Shiro could actually get something done. He was currently in charge of watching the twins, entertaining them in the other room while Shiro cleaned.

Shiro started shoving all their dirty laundry in the basket when he noticed that a clean shirt had was mixed in with the dirty ones. Shiro lifted it up into the light, a smile forming on his face at the memories that it brought forth.

It was the one that had belonged to Keith’s father, and it had lasted Shiro for several years before he’d gotten knocked up by his then-estranged mate. He didn’t think too deeply about how small it seemed compared to his other clothes until he was struggling to pulling it down over his shoulders.

Did it shrink? he wondered, smoothing his hands down over his front. It fit, but only just, and Shiro was already itching to take it off.

He looked around for something reflective to use. There wasn’t a mirror in his room, and the one in the bathroom wasn’t full-length, but Shiro walked in anyway, stepping back to get as much of himself in view as possible.

What he saw made his heart thump uncomfortably in his chest.

It wasn’t as if Shiro was blind to the weight that he’d gained when he’d been pregnant. That was par for the course, and in the months that followed he’d been focused on just getting through each day. He was well acquainted with his own stretch marks and a little extra bulk, but he still fit in his suit, so he hadn’t given it much thought.

But now, staring at himself in a shirt that was a few sizes too small, it was like being given a wakeup call.

Shiro prodded the flesh gathered around his waist. His abs had been replaced with a soft stomach and a layer of fat that he didn’t remember being there before, and his chest was even softer, his nipples large and poking through his shirt from consistent breastfeeding.

Whereas he’d once had a rigorous training routine and a daily workout, his time was now occupied by taking care of his kids and saving the universe, which didn’t leave him with much free time.

Wearing a shirt that didn’t fit him made it all the more obvious how far he’d let himself go.

He hurried to take it off, hastily dropping the shirt onto the floor.

There was a flash of concerned curiosity from across the bond. Shiro hadn’t even thought to close it off, and he was hesitant to do so now, lest he raise Sendak’s suspicions, so he didn’t bother taking the bait, instead walking back into the bedroom to finish cleaning.

The laundry basket he set near the door to be taken out, and the bottles and toys he collected to bring to Sendak next door.

He was just about to knock when it slid open and Sendak filled his line of view, both twins sitting in each arm.

“Oh, hi!” Shiro smiled up at him, moving to take Ayame, the first to start reaching for him, exchanging her with the bag full of things he’d collected from their room.

“Dadda!” she cried, waving her hands lazily at him. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were drooping.

“Hi, honey.” Shiro nuzzled her cheek with his nose. She hiccupped, then swayed. Shiro encouraged her to lean her head against his chest. He addressed Sendak, “Did you just feed them?”

“I’ve been wearing them out,” Sendak clarified. “I’m hoping they will be too tired to cause a fuss during naptime.”

“Good luck with that.” Shiro shifted Ayame so she was resting more comfortably, nestled in the crook of his arm. “They’ll never stop being trouble.”

“Be that as it may, I was hoping to spend some time with you. Alone.”

Sendak’s words carried a heat that Shiro would be a fool not to recognize. Since he’d gotten back, Sendak had been especially touchy.

Shiro’s mind flashed to the scene in the bathroom as Sendak brushed his palm up the underside of his arm, right over the fat.

“I think I’m gonna get some food,” Shiro said, stepping away. “I’ve also got to wash these, and I can do that in the kitchen.”

He pretended not to notice the slight downturn of Sendak’s mouth as he put Ayame in her crib. She was dozing, so after tucking her in, she thankfully went straight to sleep.

“I will come with you,” Sendak said, still holding the very active Ellar.

“I’ll be back soon,” Shiro assured him. “You keep wearing her out and then I’ll meet you later. Okay?”

Sendak nodded without reply, still frowning, and Shiro left, heading for the kitchens.

He really was hungry, so on arrival he piled a plate full of flavored goo and set it down on the counter across from the kitchen sinks, munching on it while he worked. They used sonic sinks and no water was involved, so it didn’t take Shiro long to finish cleaning the bottles and a few of the plastic toys that were dirty.

Sendak didn’t speak with him through the bond, which Shiro was grateful for. They’d gotten adept at reading each other’s moods, and Shiro didn’t feel up to trying to explain himself.

It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with carrying a little extra weight. Hunk was a larger man, who ate just the same as the rest of them and did the same drills. He wasn’t ashamed of his size, and Shiro didn’t expect him to be.

He glanced down at his stomach, slightly distended in its relaxed state. He sucked it in, tensing the muscles, and for a moment he could imagine the layers of fat falling away, revealing the hard muscles he remembered lying underneath.

When he relaxed his stomach again, it seemed to bulge out even more obscenely.

“There you are.”

Shiro’s shoulders tensed, but he forced them down when he felt Sendak’s knuckles brush the back of his neck. He dragged his wrist over Shiro’s scent gland, then turned him around for a kiss.

“I’ve hardly seen you since I returned,” Sendak said, tilting his chin up. “Are you certain you’re not avoiding me?”

Cleverly disguised as it was, the question was somewhat genuine. Sendak didn’t like to let matters lie when Shiro was distressed in any way, and as close to his heat as he was, pumping out more pheromones in preparation, Sendak could probably sense his unease.

“No! Of course not. I’m just…” He shrugged, leaning in when Sendak drew him close. “It’s been a while. And I know that the implant is supposed to work as birth control, but I’m still nervous. I don’t want another baby.”

“No?” With one hand, Sendak cupped Shiro’s cheek, and with the other, he groped at his ass, squeezing it. Shiro tried to pull away, thinking about what he’d seen in the mirror, but Sendak held him still, mouthing hungrily at his throat.

Shiro held back a whimper as his teeth brushed the scent gland. He was especially sensitive during pre-heat.

“Last I recall, you were very eager to have me breed you,” he murmured, pulling Shiro flush and aligning their hips. Sendak was still as brawny and strong as he’d ever been; he hadn’t borne the weight of two galra children on his hips, and sometimes Shiro resented him for that. Just a little.

Like now, when he splayed his hands across his strong chest, muscular pecs outlined by his thin shirt, and saw the clear contrast between their bodies. Sendak was all hard lines and Shiro—Shiro was soft and squishy.

What little arousal that had been building inside Shiro quickly faded. If Sendak noticed—which he certainly did—he didn’t say anything about it. He pressed a soft kiss to Shiro’s jaw.

“Yeah, that’s not happening again.” Shiro pushed at his chest. “I’m on birth control, and if I wasn’t, just the thought of any more of those little monsters running around would be birth control enough.”

Sendak’s lips quirked. “They do so love to cause trouble, and they can’t even walk.”

Shiro shuddered at the thought. “I am not looking forward to that.”

“Neither am I.” Sendak gave Shiro’s ass a firm pat. “Which is why we should take this chance to…reacquaint ourselves.”

‘Reacquainting’ turned out to mean cuddling in bed. Sendak crowded Shiro against the wall scented him thoroughly, rubbing and kissing every inch of skin that he could reach. Shiro’s thoughts earlier left him feeling strangely self-conscious the whole time, but if anything, it spurred Sendak to double his efforts, scenting Shiro until his skin felt rubbed raw.

“There are other ways to get your scent on me, you know,” Shiro gasped into his mouth, rutting lazily over Sendak’s thick thigh.

“I like you like this.” Sendak cupped his cheeks, brushing their noses together, “in my arms and at my mercy. And I will have you like this, until you decide to tell me what is running through your mind.”

Shiro tried not to stiffen too obviously. Based on Sendak’s knowing look, he didn’t exactly succeed.

“Something is bothering you,” Sendak said conversationally, like he was talking about something entirely unrelated. “I would have you tell me, if you are willing to share.”

A long time ago, Sendak might have tried to force it out of him. He would have shoved and pushed and pulled until Shiro admitted to what he was feeling. And sure, it had worked then, and sometimes it might have been what he needed. Maybe he needed it now—he didn’t really know—but Shiro appreciated that Sendak was giving him time, rather than attempting to pry the words out of him.

Even if Shiro didn’t know what to do with time, or what to do with himself. The solution should have been simple: work out, get buff, become the muscular giant he used to be. But that would take so much work, and Shiro was exhausted enough from being a parent and running around the universe with Voltron. He was just too tired most days to even manage more than a single training session.

“I just feel—” Like a whale.

“Like a whale?” Sendak repeated, puzzled by the human idiom.

Shiro swallowed thickly. Sendak was in and around him, his scent burrowed into Shiro’s skin, and he felt—disgusting.

Sendak was still waiting for him to provide him with an answer. Shiro didn’t have one.

“I’m gonna go get some water,” he said instead, crawling past Sendak, who didn’t stop him, but watched him go, making no effort to conceal his concern through the bond. Shiro felt it clearly, mingling with the doubt and revulsion rolling inside him.

It would help if Sendak would stop touching him all the time. Every opportunity there was, he would take it, grabbing at him or rubbing his face across his scent gland. It wasn’t that Shiro hated it, per se, but if he would just stop touching him so much, then maybe—

“Shiro?”

Shiro blinked. He realized he’d been staring at Hunk for the last minute, and that Hunk was looking at his cybernetic hand, which was gripping his spoon hard enough to bend the metal.

“Sorry,” Shiro said, setting it down carefully.

“Are you okay? Like, actually okay? Because you know you can tell me anything, and remember the last time you hid something from us? That didn’t turn out so great!”

“It’s nothing like that, Hunk,” Shiro said. He attempted a smile. “I’m just thinking about some things.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Shiro folded his hands in front of him, considering his words carefully. Hunk was an alpha, which meant that he was even more eager to help Shiro in any way possible.

“How do you,” he paused, “feel,” an even longer pause, “about.”

Hunk nodded encouragingly, his gaze open and his concern evident.

“Shiro—”

“It’s silly,” Shiro said. “Forget I said anything. You seem very confident in yourself, and I admire that a lot. I admire a lot of things about you. You’re a good teammate, Hunk.”

Foot, meet Shiro’s mouth.

“Uh, thanks?” Hunk laid his hands on the table, fingers twitching towards like he wanted to reach out and soothe. “But, Shiro—”

“I’ve gotta get going,” Shiro said, abandoning his meal and heading for the door. Sendak would be waking the twins for their morning feeding. “I’ll see you later! Thanks again!”

“You’re welcome!” Hunk called. “Even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything!”

Keith had agreed to watch the twins with Lance for the duration of his heat. Shiro wasn’t worried about them being bad babysitters; in all honesty, he was more worried for Keith and Lance than he was the twins.

Shiro stared at the doorway leading out of his room, aching to go find his babies and rub his scent all over them. Pre-heat always left Shiro feeling restless, preferring to do things on his own and in his own way, so he knew he was better off leaving the twins in more-or-less capable hands, especially if he misjudged the timing.

A hand landed on his shoulder.

Sendak, of course, was excited to share their first heat together. They didn’t get a lot of alone time with the twins around, and living in a castle filled with other people meant a quick diversion wasn’t always an option.

Shiro felt excited about the prospect, but with this being his first heat while not pregnant, and what with his body the way it was, excitement had transformed into nervous irritation.

He grit his teeth, trying to withstand the fingers brushing his throat for the thousandth time.

Right before his heat, Shiro usually didn’t like being touched. He felt itchy and uncomfortable and crampy, and he knew that Sendak was aware of this, but he seemed to have forgotten it; he had remained glued to Shiro’s side all morning, and as the hours stretched on, Shiro had had it.

He couldn’t hold back the angry snarl as he whirled on Sendak.

“Will you stop touching me?” Shiro snapped, tossing the pillow he’d been holding at Sendak’s face.

Sendak didn’t react other than to raise his hands in a placating gesture that only further incensed Shiro.

“I apologize,” Sendak began, and he went to say more, but Shiro cut him off.

“Are you done? Do you really want to touch me that much?”

“Yes,” Sendak replied in an instant. He drew close to Shiro’s side again, brushing his palm over Shiro’s heated cheek. “I am aware you don’t like me ‘smothering you’, but your scent has sweetened considerably. You’ll forgive me if I can’t help myself.”

“My scent,” Shiro repeated numbly. Of course it was his scent. Of course. What else did he expect?

“That upsets you,” Sendak observed, puzzled, and Shiro hated, hated that he was having a hard time closing off the bond when he could barely concentrate on the nest he was trying to build.

“No, it doesn’t. I’m not upset. I love that you love the way I smell. You know I do.”

“Shiro, you cannot lie to me,” Sendak began, like he was talking to a small child. “You have been upset for some time, and I have not asked because you seemed particularly averse to it. But you will tell me now, before your heat begins.”

“Oh I will, will I?” Shiro crossed his arms. “Well you’re out of luck, because nothing’s wrong. I feel great! Just great! Amazing!”

Sendak took a decisive step forward and Shiro stepped back, glaring daggers.

Normally, Shiro wasn’t this angry. Normally, he would be a little irritated, but otherwise companionable for the most part. Now, with his feelings multiplied and intensified, he could barely stand to be touched by Sendak even though that was exactly what his body wanted.

Sendak did not attempt to approach him again, reading the signals that Shiro was sending out loud and clear. After a few minutes of waiting—for what, Shiro wasn’t sure—he stepped towards the door with the claim that he was going to get them water bottles and some snack bars.

“Okay,” Shiro said, forcing a calm to his voice that he didn’t feel. His restlessness was only made worse at the thought of Sendak leaving their nest. “You go. I’ll just…sit here.”

After Sendak left, Shiro sat himself at the edge of the bed, running his hands over his knees in repeated motions.

He felt itchy. He wasn’t in heat yet, but it was approaching fast. Shiro glanced at the door.

A part of him wanted to go after Sendak and apologize. It wasn’t wrong for Sendak to want to touch him. They were partners—mates. It was normal behavior.

He glanced down at his stomach, lips curling back.

I need to work out, he thought.

Now?

Sendak’s reply jolted Shiro to his feet. He was always aware of him, even with this distance, but Shiro’s mind was all over the place. He’d somehow completely forgotten about the link.

No. But at some point I need to get into my old routine.

Impossible. You would exhaust yourself.

Shiro didn’t reply. The truth of the statement didn’t sit well with him, and on Sendak’s return, he denied the protein bar that Sendak shoved in his face.

“You haven’t eaten in hours,” he pointed out.

“I’m okay.” He wasn’t that hungry.

Sendak dropped it in his lap. “Eat.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Sendak’s jaw clenched. Shiro stared up at him, ready and raring for a fight, but then Sendak visibly calmed and he sat down next to Shiro without another word about it.

Suspicious, but relieved that he hadn’t taken the bait, Shiro set the bar next to him and started messing around on the pad that Allura had given him. On it were all the baby books and pamphlets, but Shiro had also loaded up a bunch of novels for downtime. Not that he usually had any.

He was so itchy. It felt like his skin was trying to claw its way off his body, and even the soft shirt and silky pants weren’t enough to soothe him. He’d prefer to be naked at this point, but—well.

To top it off, in the middle of reading the first page of one of the novels, his cramps started up.

A part of him had hoped that he wouldn’t have to deal with the cramps that came with heat now that he was on alien birth control, but the moment that he felt his uterus tighten, he knew it was over.

Half an hour later, and aside from four trips to the bathroom while his body emptied itself in preparation, Shiro hadn’t moved. He lay curled up in bed, a whimpering mess. It was miserable, and to make matters worse, Sendak stayed at his side, but he didn’t touch him. It was in respect of Shiro’s self-imposed rules, but the more that he hurt, the more that he was regretting acting like he had.

Shiro lasted another ten minutes before he gave in and crawled over to the other side of the bed, inserting himself in between Sendak’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, relaxing once Sendak wound his arm around him. Just the scent of his alpha made it slightly more bearable. “I’ve been such a jerk today.”

“You’re going into heat for the first time since you birthed the children. You are understandably stressed.”

Sendak stroked his flank and kissing what skin presented itself, layering them atop Shiro’s head and throat intermittently. Shiro melted against his front, rubbing his face into the fur on his chest.

They laid like that for some time, while Shiro breathed through the worst of it, waiting for the awful sensation to dissipate. Sendak kept up the attention, even going so far as to massage the muscles around Shiro’s lower back and his pelvis to alleviate some of the pressure.

It was overall lovely, and Shiro was more than a little grateful. Being surrounded by his scent helped with the worst of it, and there was nothing better than being held in Sendak’s firm embrace.

Despite the cramps, and despite the itchy state of his skin, he’d nearly started to doze, but then his stomach suddenly grew molten hot; for a moment, Shiro felt like he was about to vomit. He swallowed repeatedly, waiting for it to pass, and then the heat dissipated and settled down into his hips.

On his next inhale, the very air he breathed seemed different.

Sendak was wearing a pair of pants—his sleepwear—and nothing else, and Shiro suddenly decided he shouldn’t be wearing anything at all.

“Let’s get this off you,” he murmured, voice going soft and sweet. He smoothed his hands down Sendak’s front, fingers teasing at his waistband. He was so focused on running his hands all over Sendak’s sculpted body that he barely noticed when the gentle warmth began to ramp up.

Sweat broke out over his skin, and he shivered.

Sendak didn’t resist, helping Shiro pull his pants down over his hips, tossing them to the side. His sex was resting soft in his underwear, but after a moment it began to thicken. Shiro made a sound, laying his hand over the massive length. It was warm under his palm, and as he wrapped his hand around it, it gave a distinct twitch.

Shiro licked his lips. “You smell so good right now.”

“I could say the same,” Sendak replied. He tipped Shiro’s head to the side and buried his nose in his throat, his chest expanding into Shiro as he inhaled. “Mm, your scent is so sweet. You smell incredibly fertile.”

Shiro’s breath hitched. “Fertile? I…forgot that you could tell.”

Sendak’s hand landed on his hip, kneading the flesh there.

“Here as well,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to the swell of Shiro’s breast. “A tempting sweetness.”

Shiro’s breath came out in a rush. He pressed his face into Sendak’s chest, hands coming up over his biceps. He was so strong. Sendak had always been strong, but Shiro for some reason couldn’t get it out of his head how strong Sendak really was.

“My big, strong alpha,” he said quietly, digging his fingers into Sendak’s firm pecs. “That’s not all, right?”

“Hm?” Sendak paused where he’d been about to pull off his underwear.

“That’s not the only reason, right? My scent?” Shiro’s thoughts tumbled in different directions, and it took him a second to collect himself. He kept getting distracted by the thick root of Sendak’s cock peeking out from his open waistband. “You don’t think I’m…”

“You know what I think of you,” Sendak said. He sounded completely puzzled. “Is this related to what has been bothering you?”

“I…”

Was there any point in denying it anymore?

“I feel disgusting,” Shiro admitted in a rush. “My hips are big, and my ass is huge, and I’ve got all this baby weight that won’t go away, and I’ve got all these—these ugly stretch marks all over my hips and stomach, and—” He stopped, flushing under Sendak’s scrutiny. “I-I just feel gross. I haven’t been this chunky since I was a teenager.”

Sendak continued to stare at him.

“You are…upset by how you look?” he said slowly, like he was trying to make sense of it.

Shiro shrugged. The doubt in Sendak’s tone only made his embarrassment compound further.

Sendak cocked his head. “I had assumed that you wanted to look like this.”

“What?” Now it was Shiro’s turn to stare. “Why would I want that?”

“But you look—” Sendak paused, as trying to search for words; words that Shiro didn’t want to hear.

“Not nearly as attractive as I used to?”

“Ravishing,” Sendak finished, his tone final.  

“You’re kidding me. This?” Shiro gestured down to himself pointedly. “I’m not exactly at peak physical fitness anymore. People used to call me buff.”

“You are still muscular.”

“Sure, but I don’t look like it anymore.”

Sendak’s eyes raked his figure.

“You believe you must be visibly muscular for me to find you attracted,” he realized aloud. It sounded so shallow when put like that.

“No! I mean…I suppose I’m just having a hard time understanding. I know there’s nothing wrong with the way I am, but I can’t imagine that—that you would want this.”

“That I would want you, my mate,” Sendak said, amused.

“Well—"

“The—how did Lance put it—the love of my life?”

Shiro’s cheeks flushed a darker pink, and he squirmed, not only because of Sendak but the strength of his scent, which seemed to reach inside Shiro and take hold of him, squeezing him from the inside out. He could feel himself getting wetter, and when Sendak’s fingers brushed his cheek, he leaned heavily into the touch.

“Sendak,” he breathed. He tried to slide close, but Sendak held him at bay, and Shiro didn’t understand why until he tugged Shiro’s shirt over his head and splayed both hands across Shiro’s naked torso.

“I see a body that has supported the lives of my family.” Sendak kissed the top of Shiro’s right breast. He was hard; Shiro could smell his arousal. “Fed them. You have scars from battle, hard fought and deserved. Are these ‘stretch marks’ not the same?”

Shiro didn’t have a reply. He hadn’t—he’d never thought of it like that.

“It was a battle of a different sort, and you came out the other end alive, more beautiful than I have ever seen you.” He kissed Shiro’s sternum, a rumbling growl working up the back of his throat. His scent laid over Shiro like a thick blanket; he was starting to lose focus. “These scars are just a point of honor as much your stretch marks. You are no less worthy for them.”

“I—” Shiro didn’t know what to say. He shivered when Sendak moved his mouth to the side, sucking directly on Shiro’s nipple. He knew how sensitive they were. “Sendak.”

“You carried the lives of our children inside you.” Sendak lifted Shiro’s leg so he could reach between his thighs, his breaths becoming heavy with arousal. Shiro wriggled closer, the burning need in his belly blazing to life the moment Sendak’s fingers came close to his hole. “You have fed and nurtured them, and you are healthy. There is nothing more arousing to me than you as you are now.” He paused. “You’re already quite wet.”

“Sendak.” Shiro shivered again, tiny shudders working through his body. Sendak sat up and grabbed him by his hips, turning him around. Shiro went willingly, eager to present himself.

He wasn’t aware he was already pleading with Sendak to fuck him until he dragged his cock over the slick dripping out of him and the air was punched right from his lungs.

It was different, during heat. Just that teasing touch made his fingers itch to push down Sendak and find relief himself.

“Fuck me,” he demanded breathlessly, digging his nails into the sheets. Every breath he took smelled and tasted like Sendak.

“I feel your need,” Sendak growled, “but you will wait. I will not hurt you.” A flicker of amusement. “Not until you beg for it.”

There was a sense of calm that tried washed over him from Sendak’s end of the bond. Tried being key, as it did little to quell the need rising, forming a sharp needlepoint.

“Please.”  Shiro pushed back against Sendak’s cock, reaching with one hand, trying to translate to him how much he needed it. “Please, Sendak, please fuck me.”

At the first push of his cock, the moan that came out of Shiro was obscene. He spread his legs, bearing down, a plea on each breath, and when Sendak pushed nearly all the way in, Shiro’s moans turned throaty and loud. Sendak’s cock was huge, but Shiro was wet, and after a few more pushes his hips met Shiro’s, buried all the way to the hilt.

The tentacles teased the inside of his thighs, brushing over the slick and spreading it. Relief hit Shiro like a tidal wave, rolling over the pain of taking something so big so quickly, but it still wasn’t enough. Grinding himself back on Sendak’s cock, Shiro gnawed on his knuckle as his first orgasm hit him.

He trembled, twitching with aftershocks, and a second later he whined, tipping his head back, vying for more. And Sendak gave it to him.

He fucked him with the same brutal efficiency that Shiro remembered. He basked in it, each thrust relentlessly sharp and pounding, chipping away at the burning heat. He pulled Shiro back against his hips, grinding into him until Shiro squirmed as he came internally again, his cock still flushed.

He came once more after that, and he was working up to a fourth as Sendak fucked him, but by then he was so desperate for a knot he wanted to grab at Sendak’s hips and hold him in place until he could feel it. He tried, wriggling, reaching for him, but Sendak grabbed his wrist and stilled him, thrusting his sex to the hilt in one vicious thrust.

“Fuck,” Shiro gasped, his hips flooded with pleasure. It felt like his body was on fire. “Need you to knot me. Please, please, pleaseplease—yes!”

He cried out in relief when he felt the tentacles wriggle up inside him, forming the knot. It was unpleasant—the first knotting was always the most intense—but he needed it. He needed Sendak’s knot plugging him up until he was so full there was no doubt in his mind he’d be pregnant by the end.

“Yes,” Sendak said, reading his mind. “You’d easily become pregnant from my seed. Mine.”

“God,” Shiro gasped, spreading his legs, trying in futile to make more room for the massive knot. He was vaguely aware that Sendak was coming, but it was drowned out by the rush of being knotted, being so full again. “Oh, god.”

Soon after that, Shiro lost all sense of time. He was pretty sure Sendak did, too. Being bonded like they were meant that the fever of heat affected Sendak as well. Not as severely as it did Shiro, sure, but they didn’t stop fucking for hours.

At one point, when Sendak was fucking Shiro against the wall, hips wrapped around Sendak’s waist, their eyes met, and then they were kissing for the first time since his heat had started. Sendak was heedless at first of the sharp canines, but as Shiro melted into him, wrapping his arms around his neck, their coupling inexplicably softened.

“I want another baby,” Shiro breathed, swallowing Sendak’s answering groan with another open-mouthed kiss. “Want your baby. Wanna have your baby again.”

“You’ll have it,” Sendak growled. He grunted, hoisting Shiro up higher so he could fuck him in several punishing thrusts. “I will give you any number of children. You’ll be full and fat and mine.”

“Yours, yours,” Shiro chanted, framing his face with his hands. “And you’re mine. My alpha.”

In the back of his mind, Shiro knew that he wouldn’t get pregnant. He knew, and he would be glad for it later. But in those moments, while Sendak was pumping him full of come, stroking the sides of his face and biting into the bondmark, he couldn’t quite quell the sense of disappointment in knowing he wouldn’t be able to share this with him again.

And then there was the rest of his heat.

Shiro had had so many heats throughout his life that the intensity never surprised him. He was used to it.

He wasn’t used to this.

Through Sendak, his need seemed to echo back at him, a never-ending loop that had Shiro pawing at Sendak every single second, begging to be plugged on his knot. Sendak did his best to deliver, knotting him any time as asked, at one point going so far as to knot him three times in quick succession.

It was never enough. He wanted everything Sendak could give him. It didn’t matter what Sendak thought they should do; Shiro couldn’t focus on anything other than the fire burning a hole in his gut.

“Eat,” Sendak said, his words cutting through the haze that was slowly dissipating after another successful knotting.

Shiro was bathed in sweat, caked in fluids, and he felt exhausted enough to sleep for a year. Even so, he hadn’t found slept just yet. Maybe it was because their minds were connected, but he couldn’t seem to fall into the mid-heat slumber that was meant to give him a break, instead heading into round after round.

Shiro eyed the protein bar warily as he took it out of Sendak’s hand.

“Not really hungry,” he muttered, but unwrapped it with shaking fingers, taking a bite regardless. Sendak watched him like a hawk, his gaze never once leaving Shiro’s face until he’d eaten half.

“I could keep you knotted like this,” Sendak said, as much of an offering as it was a question. He stroked a hand down Shiro’s flank. “If you would like to rest.”

Shiro shook his head. He laid his arm over his forehead and sighed.

“I’ll sleep when my body’s ready. I think. There’s a reason we don’t stay knotted during heat. Even with toys. ‘S not safe.” His word slurred together as his mouth opened in a jaw-cracking yawn. “We could go into toxic shock. Or something.”

Sendak grunted in assent. Overall, he didn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of more sex. Shiro rolled his eyes and waited for Sendak to pull out and the fever to take over.

Eventually Shiro did sleep, and when he did, it was deeply. Instead of the occasional nap to rejuvenate himself, he slept for hours, his dreams twisted and strange.

When he woke, he had no clue what time it was. Sendak mentioned something about it being evening before he fell asleep, but he couldn’t remember.

Sendak was still asleep beside him. His scent was thick and warm, settling over Shiro, tempting him. Ignoring that, Shiro went to pee, but by the time he’d returned, barely a minute later, he was crawling on top of Sendak, grabbing his cock and angling it inside him.

“What a lovely picture you make,” Sendak said, his voice low from sleep, blinking up at Shiro blearily. He flashed his teeth in a vicious grin as he sank his claws into Shiro’s thigh and fisted his cock with his other hand, prompting the first of another round of orgasms.

Later in Shiro’s heat, when he wasn’t so desperate, they had more intent to linger and take their time.

Somehow, at some point Sendak ended up knotting Shiro in front of his bed. They’d started with Shiro bracing his hands on the edge, but then Sendak had cupped his full chest in both hands and lifted him up, supporting him while he rutted into Shiro languidly.

“You really—” Shiro stopped to moan, his shortness of breath attributed to the way the change in angle had Sendak’s sex gliding over his prostate. He slid his hands over the back of Sendak’s, curling his fingers in between his. “You really don’t mind the, the way I look?”

“I love it,” Sendak rumbled, an instant, honest reply. He slid his hands down Shiro’s torso, feeling every inch and curve before planting his hands greedily over the widest parts of his hips. “Your body is full from a life well-lived. Life that I’ve helped provide and nurture.” He thrust in again, and Shiro’s toes curled. “From life we have created.”

“Fuck,” Shiro rasped. It was hard to feel bad about himself when he could tell just how deeply Sendak felt about him. “You really mean that, oh my god. And I know I’ve said this a few times now—”

“A few dozen, perhaps.”

“—but I really want another baby.” His moan softened into a whine when Sendak pulled out slowly, thrusting back inside with a wet squelch. “I’m going to hate myself for thinking that later.”

“Just think: if you didn’t have that pesky implant, we could have more.”

Shiro’s following laugh was a little desperate, it melted into a low cry when Sendak finally knotted him, taking his time, slow enough that by the time Shiro came, his legs were quivering, shaking from pleasure. He would’ve collapsed if not for Sendak’s arms holding him up.

Once it was over, they laid in bed for another hour, cuddling up together, basking in the feeling of not needing to fuck for once. When Shiro shifted in Sendak’s arms, his ass throbbed, a reminder that the next few hours were going to be very unpleasant.

“Do you still want another child?” Sendak asked, nuzzling the top of his head.

“You’re only saying that now hoping I’m still thinking about it.”

“Well?”

“I love you, but we are not having another baby.”

Sendak chuckled, tilting Shiro’s head back so he could kiss him. “That is not what I asked.”

“Ugh. You know I want another baby, but we can’t.” He squirmed as Sendak’s fingers teased at his ass. “Don’t. Maybe when all this is over we can have another, but I’m very happy with the two we have now. Which I’d like to see.”

Sendak perked up at the mention of the twins.

Together they got in the shower. Sendak suggested that they use the sonic function for a faster exit, but Shiro wanted the hot water for his sore muscles—particularly his thighs and calves. He stayed under the spray for a ridiculously long time, dozing against the wall, and it was Sendak who eventually forced him to get out.

He wiped Shiro down with the fluffiest towels they had available, massaging his arms and legs while he did so, careful of the various claw wounds that had been left in the wake of their mating.

“How do you feel?” Sendak asked quietly while he was wringing out Shiro’s hair.

Shiro hummed, eyes closed. “Feel good. Sore, but that’s not unusual. I love you.”

“And I love you,” Sendak returned warmly. What felt like years ago, he’d barely been able to articulate caring about Shiro, and now—now they were in love.

Shiro smiled sleepily up at Sendak, pushing all the love and affection he could through the bond. He felt Sendak take hold of it, his one eye that was gazing at Shiro bright.

[roggling]

A Talk

Relationship: Kallura (Keith x Allura)

Rating: General Audiences

Word Count: 1895

Summary: Keith and Allura finally talk after the mess of events the past few months and some confessions may be discussed.

After the fight with Sendak and the Altean-powered robeast, the Paladins had to rest for a while before being able to go out of their room. Allura, the alien, was naturally the first one to heal completely.

She was up and at it a full week before the rest of the Paladins. It gave her enough time to get up and have a conversation with each and every one of them.

Hunk gave her a bear hug when she got close enough, thanking her for bringing Shay to him. Allura giggled and hugged Hunk tight, reassuring him that he needed to see her after so long. Shay hugged them as well, offering Allura her own thanks.

Later, Allura visited Pidge. The Holts and Allura ended up talking about hundreds of different ways to improve the defenses, technology, and figuring out a way to accommodate all the aliens that Allura will be bringing in.

After Pidge visited Lance’s room, extremely intimidated when she sees Lance’s entire family watching her like a hawk on its prey. Allura looked at the family doe-eyed and she saw Veronica’s smug face. After the initial shock, they all got along and had a wonderful time talking about family and traditions.

“Um, guys?” Lance addressed his family, “Could you give me and Allura some privacy?”

“Allura and I,” Veronica corrected her younger brother, “But, sure.”

Lance thanked his family as they filed out of the room and his brothers sent him some winks. Lance blushed but rolled his eyes, punching Marco in the shoulder.

Once the family was out the door, Allura played with her feet and she looked at the floor, “Listen, Lance… I don’t-“

“I know,” Lance admitted.

Allura rose a brow, “What do you mean?”

“I know,” Lance sighed, “I know you don’t like me like that. And I don’t think I like you like that either.”

Allura’s eyes widened, but let Lance continue, “I’ve liked you since the first day I saw you. You were a beautiful princess that fell in my arms. I thought that maybe I can have a fairy tale ending like the one that I would read as a kid. And for a moment in our battle, I thought that we could have it.”

Allura looked to the side, “I didn’t mean to lead you on, Lance. I truly believed that I liked you back, but…”

“-But you aren’t the one for me,” they both said together in unison.

They both looked at each other with small smiles and Allura rounded the bed to give him a hug.

“I hope you find someone, Lance. Someone who fulfills your needs. Not exactly who you want,” Allura whispered.

Lance smiled and hugged her tighter, “I hope you and Keith work things out.”

Allura pulled away immediately with wide eyes, “What?”

Lance shook his head fondly, “Oh, come on, Princess. You really think Lancey Lance wouldn’t notice the thing you two had when everything started?”

Allura crossed her arms and huffed, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on, Allura,” Lance teased, “That fight between you two when we were stuck in space just screamed jealousy and unresolved tension.”

Allura looked to the side and Lance asked, “Have you talked to him yet?”

She shook her head and Lance sighed, “Well, you should. We both know Keith would rarely start an emotional conversation, but this is a conversation you two can’t avoid.”

Allura nodded, “Alright, thank you for everything Lance.”

“Anytime,” Lance smiled and let Allura go on her way.

When Allura arrived at Keith’s room, she leaned on the doorjamb when she sees Krolia and Keith talking quietly, the mother sitting by Keith’s side and holding his cheek fondly.

Keith sensed the intrusion and he turned his head to look at Allura. She sent a small wave and he smiled, “Hey, Allura. Come in.”

Allura took a shy step inside and asked, “How’s your head?”

Keith shrugged, “Not that bad. I’ve been through worse.”

Allura shook her head fondly and rose a skeptical brow, “Sure you have, Keith.”

The two fell in a comfortable silence, not noticing Krolia slip out of the room.

“I never got to apologize,” Keith said.

“Apologize for what?” Allura turned towards him fully, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“For those horrible things I said to you when we were stuck in space,” Keith explained.

“You already apologized,” Allura reminded.

“No,” Keith shook his head, “I apologized to the team, it was pretty half-assed too. The monster in front of us kinda cut it short. Anyways, I feel like I owe you a bigger apology.”

Allura sat on the bed and listened.

“I didn’t mean to sound like such a jerk. I had no right to attack your father or insult you either. I’m truly sorry,” Keith looked down at the sheets bunched up in his hand.

His eyes widened when Allura’s hand covers his and lift his gaze to look back into Allura’s warm, blue eyes.

“Apology accepted,” Allura smiled and Keith returned his, releasing a sigh of relief.

“I also should apologize for my words. I did not mean to sound so angry. I completely understood your reasoning. I guess I just…”

Allura looked away and Keith leaned a bit closer, “You what?”

Allura returned the eye contact and responded, “I guess I was just still hurt you left us.”

Keith eyes widened and he looked away. Allura tightened her hold on his hand and leaned in closer, “Did you leave us because of your insecurities as our leader?”

Keith’s head snapped back and Allura quickly explained herself, “I remember your face when we talked after your Blade mission where your teammate died. You seemed to be in disbelief whenever I would tell you how important you are to the team.”

Keith sighed, “I…wasn’t very confident in myself at the time. I always wondered why the Black Lion chose me and I would refuse to believe that I was the Black Lion’s Paladin. I…was scared. I became so close to you guys and I’ve never been so close with anyone other than my dad and Shiro.”

Allura tilted her head to try to see his face, but Keith just looked towards the door and smiled, “But after I found my mom, I learned what it meant to feel loved and accept it. I stopped being scared to love. I discovered myself in those two years I spent in the abyss and I understood I was meant to be the Black Paladin.”

Keith grabbed Allura’s hand with his other hand, “I missed you guys so much when I was there. I scared myself when I found out I missed my bickering with Lance.”

Allura laughed along with Keith at that and the two fell silent.

Keith let go one of Allura’s hands and scratched the back of his neck, “Also, I didn’t really think you were the one to blame about Lotor. I was just…angry. I never liked the guy.”

Allura smiled, “I understand. I was also quite miffed with him after I found out his intentions.”

Keith chuckled, “I saw. You body-slammed him when you found out.”

Allura huffed, “That wasn’t funny, it was a serious situation.”

Keith laughed a little harder, “I know it was. But…you gotta admit it was funny when he bounced off the floor.”

Allura fought back a smile, “Keith… you’re being mean. That must’ve hurt him a lot.”

He laughed harder, “He knocked out completely! I’ve been waiting forever to do that, but you beat me to it!”

Allura gave to the temptation and started giggling along with Keith. The two leaning back and their shoulders shaking, grasping their gut as their sides started hurting more with each passing second.

Allura’s giggles died down and she smiled as Keith continued laughing; she liked the sound of his smile.

“Look at us,” she said, Keith calming down to let her talk, “It takes a near-death experience to talk about our feelings.”

Keith smiled sadly, “Well, at least the surface of mine.”

Allura froze and her eyes widened at the revelation, Keith later adding, “Mine go way deeper.”

A blush spread across her whole face. Keith smiled softly and she calmed down enough to do the same.

“Same here,” Allura admitted.

Keith closed his eyes and smiled, Allura pressing her hand against his cheek, and he chuckled, “I never thought you’d actually-“

“-Why wouldn’t I?” Allura smiled, “You are an amazing man, Keith. You were always the one I’ve wanted.”

Keith rose a brow, “What?”

Allura chuckled, “What were you thinking when I kept finding excuses to be next to you? Why do you think I ran away with you?”

Keith shrugged, “I don’t know, I sort of thought that you didn’t want to be alone.”

Allura smiled, “Close, but I wanted to be alone with you.”

Allura slyly slipped in her hand in Keith’s bigger palm and she intertwined their fingers.

Keith smiled, “It’s a wonder you didn’t figure out how I felt.”

Allura rose a brow, “Well, you don’t really voice your emotions, Keith.”

Keith chuckled, “You’re the first person I’ve opened up to other than my parents and Shiro. You’re the only one who I’ve put down my walls to.”

Allura smiled, “You’re the only one I’ve truly loved.”

Keith froze when Allura closed in and whispered when her lips were just a hair’s breath away, “What about Lotor? Lance?”

Allura shook her head, “They weren’t the men for me. I followed them for the attention, not for my feelings. You, however,” she caressed Keith’s cheek, “You’re the only one who has my heart.”

Keith glanced down at Allura’s lips and licked his own. Allura saw this and asked, “May I?”

Keith nodded, “Yes.”

The two sighed in pleasure as their lips finally found their place, shifting against the other’s lips. Keith lifted his hands and cupped Allura’s cheeks, her thumb caressing his cheek as they kissed softly.

The two parted with a soft smack of their lips. Keith licked his lips and his eyes looked down back at her lips and joined their lips again, this time a little rougher. Keith tried to fix his position, but when he shifted on his bed, he hit the back of his head against the headboard and Keith broke the kiss and grimaced.

“I’m so sorry! Did I bite you?!” Allura worried.

“No, no, it wasn’t your fault,” Keith chuckled, “I just hit my head against the headboard. My head’s still hurting from my major concussion after my Lion crashed.”

“Oh,” Allura sighed in relief, “Then you should rest.”

Allura stood up and played with her fingers, “Besides, I still have a meeting with Commander Iverson and Pidge’s dad.”

Keith smiled back, “Alright, see you later?”

Allura nodded.

Keith grabbed Allura’s hand and pulled her in, placing a goodbye kiss on her lips before letting go.

Allura blushed and giggled, “See you, later, Keith.”

Allura walked out of the room in a dreamlike state and leaned against the shut door and sighe in utter bliss. A sound brought her back to reality and she gasps when she sees the Paladins and Shiro all “casually” leaning against the wall.

They all had sheepish smiles and a blush on their cheeks. Allura blinked and then screamed, “How much of that did you see!?”

[rainforestgeek]

If you lose your strength to stand (I’m gonna reach for your hand) part 6

And here is chapter six!

AO3 link

Keith recognized her instantly. One of Lotor’s old generals, the blue one with big eyes. He wracked his brain for her name – Acxa. She slipped her way through the fringes of the crowd, nearly invisible if it weren’t that she was the only person in the city not socializing and celebrating. Something Keith could relate to on principle, but the last time he’d seen her she was working for Haggar – who was with Sendak. Never mind that she’d saved his life that night.

He reported this to Selick. The agent’s gravelly voice responded. “What is her position?”

“A couple hundred meters south of the City Palace. It looks like she’s making her way there.” Keith slunk in the shadows parallel to her path, trying to pass and cut her off. Selick told him to keep his eyes on her. He checked with the border patrol for their status.

“It’s been inactive,” Nox reported. “Do you want us in the city for backup?”

“No. The general may be attempting to draw us to her and leave the boundaries unguarded.”

Keith kept pace with Acxa. Her path began to veer closer to his own. He quietly told the others, “Lotor’s old generals have been working with the druid witch, so keep your eyes peeled for robeasts.” That was when he saw his chance: a narrow but open split in the crowd straight toward his target a few meters away. It was a noisy area and the opening was in her blind spot. He swiftly closed the distance, grabbed her arm and locked it behind her back, and slipped his dagger against her unarmored waist.

After training with the Blades for a long time, Keith learned all the major weak spots on galran bodies (including, apparently, his own, which clarified his dad’s old war with the medical establishment). His blade was pressed against a major artery running down her right side. If he slashed or stabbed that spot, she’d bleed out in less than a dobosh. It was a pretty dumb weakness, but like many bipedal species galra often left their torsos minimally protected to avoid restricted agility in battle.

Acxa twitched, as though about to defend herself but stopped. Smart. Keith could kill her before she’d be able to do anything with her free arm. Trying to be as discreet as possible, Keith pushed her forward and hid them behind a monumental, silvery pillar framing the City Palace’s front steps. It seems he intercepted her just in time. He pinned her against the metal.

“Where’s Haggar?” Keith growled.”

She looked at him coolly. “Why should I tell you that?”

“Because she’s a demented witch who tortures and experiments on people.”

“Not much of an answer. Besides – ” her tone was frustratingly nonchalant “ – you won’t be able to stop Haggar, no matter what I do or do not tell you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Keith summoned a pair of alien handcuffs and secured Acxa’s wrists behind her back. “Selick, I have the general I was following captured. We’re just outside the palace. Keep watch for the red one and the big one.”

“I have eyes on the latter,” replied Kivva. “She’s close to your position, Keith.”

“Do NOT engage the other general, Keith – I can hear you thinking it.” Keith rolled his eyes. “Get out of there, we’ll take care of her.”

“Yes, sir.” He turned Acxa around and pushed her toward the Blades’ rendezvous point. Unfortunately that split second with his knife pulled away was all she needed.

Keith hit the ground hard, vision spinning. Somehow she’d swept his legs out from under him with one foot. She shoved her boot against his neck, cutting off most of his air supply. A brief image flashed through his mind, of a similar but much more playful position he’d been in just a day ago. He saw light brown eyes instead of yellow and blue.

What the fuck. Chalking it up to oxygen deprivation, Keith shoved aside the memory of Matt’s smirking face. He summoned his sword. The slash at Acxa’s abdomen barely grazed her,but only because she jumped off him and out of range. Keith gasped for air, stumbled to his feet, and attacked.

It was easily his most goddamn frustrating fight to date. The ex-general was unarmed and both her hands were restrained, but she still evaded each of his attacks fluidly. And holy crap, she knew how to kick an enemy where it counted.

A deep voice bellowed out, “ACXA!” That same second Keith heard the distinct sounds of laser fire start up. The burly general with huge ears charged toward them, dodging the snipers trained on her. In his moment of distraction, Acxa rammed Keith with her heavily armored shoulder and knocked him off balance. She spun and snatched her gun out of his holster.

The newcomer – what was her name again? – slashed Acxa’s bonds and promptly got shot in the leg for pausing her evasive maneuvers.

Acxa trained her weapon on Keith. “Zethrid, call it in,” she ordered. Zethrid was yelling and dodging fire, looking way passed annoyed. The hit had barely slowed her down.

On impulse Keith lowered his mask. He and Acxa stood in a frozen standoff for several moments. She was too far away for him to attack with his sword and she had a short-range energy pistol aimed and ready. Whether he charged her or not, his chances of getting shot looked much higher than getting to stab her.

A shadow passed over them with a great whooshing noise. A dark, slightly beat up spacecraft hovered over them with the cargo doors open and a ladder hanging down. Once Zethrid had leapt on board, it moved closer to Keith and Acxa and she grabbed hold of the ladder, eyes and gun staying trained on his face. He watched, frustrated and helpless, as they sped away, vanishing into the atmosphere in a matter of ticks.

--

Lance’s good mood began to sour at the sound of Shiro’s voice in his ear like a cold wind. “Paladins, get back to the surface. Now.” The Black Paladin sounded tight and on edge. Shiro never used to make Lance feel nervous, except in fanboyish excitement. Nowadays, unless he was in a particularly good mood, Lance tensed in anticipation every time Shiro talked to him. And he sure as hell did not sound like he was in a good mood.

“We’re coming. Did something happen? The festival and feast shouldn’t be over for another – ”

“Lance. Just get down here. You, Hunk, and Pidge meet us on the bridge.” Shiro’s comm cut out with a sense of finality.

Lance looked over towards the Yellow Lion. “That was weird, right?”

Hunk responded, “I guess something got past us?”

“Well that is what Keith was for. Let’s go see if he did his job.”

They blasted toward the planet, ducking and dodging through the debris field the fight had left behind. Lance couldn’t help but grin at the sight of enemy ships blasted into shrapnel. They’d dealt a major blow against the rogue galra today.

Mostly thanks to Pidge. He and Hunk covered her back while she snuck aboard, but let’s be honest: taking down that battleship was all her. It was crippled and dead in space, completely the handiwork of one tiny girl with a huge brain.

Lance soared into the atmosphere and flipped open a channel to Pidge.

“Hey Pidge, just making sure you heard Shiro say get to the bridge.”

The channel was silent. Like, completely silent. Frowning, Lance double-checked the connection. Yep, that was definitely Green. Maybe she’d turned off her helmet? Lance hit the button that makes a light flash inside the other lions’ cockpits to signal a they were trying to be contacted.

“Pidge? Where are you, are you okay?” She still didn’t respond. Hunk tried to get her with the same result.

Oh, god. What if she got really hurt? That blast was pretty huge. But she sounded fine! Okay, she sounded rattled, but –

Panic setting in, Lance repeatedly smashed the light signal, trying hard to get her attention. Hunk kept calling her name. Lance told him to shut up, listened intently, hardly seeing what was in front of him. And he heard nothing. Not even the sound of her breaths.

Lance landed Red roughly in her hangar, hitting the floor too fast and too hard, making her grumble at him. But behind her irritation she sympathized with his fear. He leapt out of her mouth before she’d even finished lowering her jaw and hit the ground running. Nothing but his heart pounded harder than his feet as he sprinted to the Green Lion’s hangar.

Hunk rattled away in his ears, “Oh god, she’s still not answering! Maybe her helmet’s damaged? Maybe she just disconnected? Did something happen to her, Lance! Is Pidge okay?!”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know that, Hunk?” Lance snapped. Hunk went quiet. Lance skidded to a stop in front of Green, who towered regally over him.

“Pidge!” Lance shouted. “PIDGE!”

For several heart-stopping moments, nothing happened. Just Lance sweating and heaving and staring at a giant, motionless robot with the sound of blood rushing in his ears. He tore off his helmet and threw it to the side in frustration. Hot tears forced their way out of his eyes. “Come on! Let me in!”

His plea must’ve done something, because Green flickered to life and finally lowered her head to grant him entrance. Lance gratefully sprinted into the dark cockpit and nearly crashed into the pilot’s seat – where a small figure sat still and slumped over. Like a doll with the strings cut. Lance carefully removed Pidge’s helmet and took her face in his hands, inspecting her carefully. No visible injuries, but her skin was unnaturally pale and clammy. Her thick bangs clung to her sweaty forehead. He pressed his fingers under her jaw, where he was relieved to feel a warm, steady heartbeat throbbing in her neck.

Lance gathered Pidge into his arms and carried her out into the hangar, where Hunk stood in the doorway with eyes the size of plates.

“She’s alive,” Lance rushed to tell him, “but knocked out. And I…I don’t…” Lance looked helplessly at the Green Paladin’s limp body. Out here in the light, he could really see how scorched, scratched, battered, and even dented her armor was. She may not have been gushing blood, but that didn’t mean she was safe.

Hunk looked her over when they reached him. “God knows what kind of internal injuries she’s got. Let’s get her to the med bay.” Hunk moved to take her, but Lance held her closer to his chest and started walking. He distantly heard Hunk radio Coran.

Lance tried his damnedest to get there quickly without jostling Pidge too much. He didn’t want to make her injuries worse, but he also couldn’t risk taking too long to get her in a healing pod. What if she was bleeding internally? What if she bled out before they got there? What if she’d hit her head and he couldn’t tell under all that fluffy brown hair and she had brain damage –

Oh my god, shut up, Lance told his melodramatic brain, and tried to stop thinking. Pidge’s cheek was pressed against his shoulder. The armor fogged slightly where her breaths brushed against it. If she didn’t look so sick, he’d think she were just sleeping.

Coran had to all but pry her out of Lance’s arms. While the old Altean medic eased her out of her battered armor and into a white medical bodysuit, Lance paced around the room trying (and failing) not to worry. He felt like his very blood vessels were shaking with fear. He couldn’t even relax once Pidge was safe and suspended in the healing pod. He leaned over Coran’s shoulder and craned his neck to get a good look at the monitor with Pidge’s readings – never mind that the Altean runes may as well have been Japanese for all that Lance could understand it.

“Is she gonna be okay? These things can heal anything right? Right? She didn’t sound hurt when she got out, but oh god we should have made sure – what’s that red flashing? What does it mean?”

“Whoa, calm down, number Three.” Coran didn’t bother pushing Lance off of him. “Pidge is going to be fine.”

Hunk dropped his head onto Lance’s shoulder and sagged against him with a relieved sigh.

Coran continued, “She got herself quite a lot of bruises, a few fractures, a little internal bleeding…but that appears to have clotted nicely already. From what I can tell, she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion from the battle. Her sympathetic nervous system took quite a lot out of her today..”

Lance almost cried. The tension fled from his muscles and left him ready to collapse. Which, under Hunk’s considerable body weight, he did, and both paladins ended up sprawled on the floor. Lance’s heartbeat finally slowed to something reasonable.

Behind them the medical bay doors hissed open. Frantic footsteps echoed into the room and Matt Holt skidded into view. He didn’t spare a glance for the other men in the room, just glued himself to the glass of Pidge’s healing pod. A familiar figure with dark, messy hair and black armor followed more slowly. He approached Matt and hesitantly squeezed his shoulder.

“KEITH!” A stressed and jumpy Hunk sprang upright and swept Keith into a tight hug. Maybe because he himself was emotionally strung-out, Lance burst int hysterical laughter at the expression on Keith’s face, which was smushed against Hunks chest plate.

Matt turned to them and glared. “Anyone care to tell me what happened to my little sister?”

Lance coughed and sobered. His voice stopped working.

Hunk saved him from trying to answer. “She snuck aboard Sendak’s frigate, blew it up, got back to the Castle, and passed out from over-exertion. The blast beat her up, but don’t worry!” Hunk added quickly. “It wasn’t anything too major. She’ll be good as new by…when’s Pidge getting out, Coran?”

Coran stroked his ginger moustache as he examined Pidge’s readings. “Oh, should be around tomorrow morning. But with a metabolism as fast as Number Five’s it may well be sooner.”

Matt reattached himself to the glass, gazing wide-eyed at Pidge’s sleeping face. “My little sister is such a fucking badass,” he announced in an awe-struck voice.

Well, that answers the question of where Pidge gets her sailor mouth, Lance thought. His older siblings had washed his tongue with soap for saying less. A throaty chuckle from his left distracted him, and he whipped his head around to see Keith smiling at Matt. His eyes crinkled around the corners and his cheeks were slightly pink. His expression was so soft that Lance barely recognized him.

“Hey, Keith.”

“Yeah?”

Lance paused. “What happened down here that made Shiro call us back so urgently?”

The pleasant look on Keith’s face darkened. “You were right about needing ground support. Lotor’s old generals were in the crowd. Two of them got away after we stopped them from blowing up the City Palace. Lotor captured the third trying to assassinate Allura.”

[nutella0mutt]

VLD Poly Week: Royalty & Rebellion

“Please, Your Highness, just stay back.”

“God Shiro, how many times have I told you not to call me that.”

“Your whole life. So you should know by now I’m not going to stop.”

Matt sighs, and Keith drapes an arm over his shoulder, much to Shiro’s chagrin. They all know Keith does it just to irritate Shiro. Matt loves it, just like he does any time he’s treated like a regular guy.

“It’s alright, Matt,” Keith says with a wink. “We got your back.”

Matt can’t keep the beaming grin from his face. He can count on two hands the number of times he’s been called just ‘Matt.’ He gives into his impulse and drags Keith in for a deep kiss. Keith makes a show of arching into the royal and clutching at his lapels. Shiro rolls his eyes at the spectacle.

“When you children are all finished, we have a council to attend. At this point we’re already fashionably late.”

“Ah, you’re just jealous, Shiro. There’s plenty of me to go around.” Matt makes an exaggerated kissy face at his other boyfriend, and Shiro really should just ignore it, but he comes in close for a kiss anyway.

“But we’re gonna be late,” Keith teases as Matt groans into Shiro’s kiss. They stall for a few more minutes.

It turns out they never actually make it to the council.

Shiro had just reached for the door handle when the gunshots had rung out. He and Keith immediately fall into their training, covering Matt with their body as they draw their guns, eyes alert. Screams start up and the doors bang open. Shiro herds the three of them into a corner to avoid the stampede of panicked people. He’s surveying the scene, taking stock of the survivors and noting any visible signs of blood or injury. He needs to know what he’s dealing with.

“Matt! NO!”

Keith lunges for the determined royal, but Matt evades his grip. Shiro manages to snag him before he charges in.

“Now’s not the time for heroics, Matt! We need to keep you safe!”

In a surprising show of strength, Matt wrestles out of Shiro’s hold.

“You’re wrong, Shiro! This is exactly the time for heroics! The people need me!”

The look only lasts a minute, but to Shiro it passes much longer. He sees the image of the prince grow from a child into a man. Sees the determination settle on his face. Is reminded that at his core Prince Matthew has always dedicated his life to his people. And now he just might sacrifice it for them. Shiro tears his eyes from the prince to watch Keith come to the same conclusion. They both love Matt, but his duty has always been clear. The moment ends and the present comes slamming back.

“Fuck! Fine! Matt get behind me and stay close!”

Shiro flicks off the safety and leads them through the throng of evacuating people. A man is standing at the podium with a gun at the princess’s head. The king is on his knees, but despite the blood on his suit he looks uninjured. Keith comes up beside Shiro and gestures to the single body on the floor, resting in a pool of red. Shiro can make out the rumpled clothes as being those of the butler. A damn shame.

“Looks like he gave his life for the king’s,” Keith whispers near silently.

Prince Matthew stands tall as he approaches the front of the room. Shiro and Keith flank him, both guns pointed at the target. It takes Shiro a second. The man is wearing one of those Anonymous masks, but by the build and outfit Shiro can tell it’s Sendak.

“Put the gun down, Sendak,” Shiro says calmly. "Let the princess go.”

Sendak laughs and shakes the girl in his grasp. She sobs. Matt throws out a hand placatingly.

“It’s okay, Katie. Everything will be fine.

“Sendak, please,” King Samuel says quietly from the floor. “You can have whatever you want. Just let my daughter go.”

“Ha! As if you have anything I could want. Actually, wait, you do. Your death!”

As Sendak rambles on, gloating and boasting, Shiro tunes him out. There’s something not quite right with this picture. Subtly, he catches Keith’s eye and makes a tiny gesture with his finger against his gun. It’s part of their code for situations just like this, and Keith moves forward, lifting his gun threateningly.

“Ah ah ah! Hold it right there!” Sendak shouts, focusing on Keith. “Move and I shoot!”

As Keith attracts Sendak’s attention, Shiro slowly moves around to the peripheral. There’s something more than just a hostage situation here. Sendak is stalling. But for what? Is there a bomb? Is he waiting for backup? Shiro keeps his eyes alert and his steps steady. He sees Matt push Keith aside and get up right into Sendak’s face. Shiro feels his heart stop.

“Let her go you bastard! Take me instead!”

“Matt, no! Get back!” Keith’s trying to pull Matt back, but he can’t keep his gun sighted on Sendak at the same time. Sendak has had enough of Matt’s defiance and has aimed his gun right at the prince’s forehead. Both Katie and the king cry out, and Shiro’s moving, but then there’s a gunshot and a deafening boom and everyone’s thrown back and the lights go out. (end part 1)

For @polyvldnetwork ‘s VLD Poly Week!

Sept 24th: Flowers / Tattoos

Sept 25th: Royalty / Rebellion

Sept 26th: Heart / Soul

Sept 27th: 4 or more

Sept 28th: Broken / Whole

Sept 29th: Beach / Mall

Sept 30th: Free Day / AU

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Reunion

Summary: Shiro’s reunion with Adam doesn’t go at all how he expected.

Also on AO3 and fanfiction.net

I wanted to write something cute between these two before Season 7 arrives and breaks my heart into ten-thousand pieces. No, I haven’t watched any part of episode 1. In fact, I’ve been trying to avoid all spoilers. Yes, I realize writing this is probably going to ruin that attempt.

Basically, everything I put in here is based on what I’ve seen from the trailer and from what brief little bit I know of Shiro and Adam’s relationship. (Which is almost nothing.)

I’ll say it now; the bonus section is silly and probably mildly-out-of-character for everyone.

Reunion

There was only one person on Shiro's mind when they got back to Earth. It only intensified when they learned that Sendak's forces had arrived ahead of them, terrorizing the threatening the human population in their absence. The knowledge that the Galaxy Garrison had opened its door as a shelter and that similar shelters had been opened across the planet, gave him only a small measure of relief.

He had so many other things he needed to worry about. So many other things that needed to be done, if they were going to beat back Sendak. He and the other paladins, with their expertise in fighting the Galra and knowledge of alien tech, were more useful working with Iverson and the other commanding officers of the Garrison. And he knew that, but still...

Shiro tried to cast a fifth inconspicuous look around in an attempt to find him. When he returned to the conversation, Sam Holt gave him a knowing look.

“Go find him, Shiro,” he said. “You won't have any peace until you do.”

Shiro blushed at how transparent his desires apparently were, at least to Sam, but he had a good point. He honestly couldn't remember half of what they were talking about, and his exhaustion was only part to blame. He looked to the other paladins, taking in the way Lance was leaning heavily against Hunk, who'd spent the past ten minutes drifting off to sleep, only to jerk back away. Pidge was swaying on her feet and Shiro would worry about her falling over if it weren't for the fact that Keith was next to her, keeping a sleepy but wary eye on her. Allura kept fidgeting with her hands in a desperate attempt to stay away and keep focused. Even Coran and Krolia were struggling, and poor Romelle, so determined to stay alert, looked as though she was about to drop.

“Alright team, get some rest. We'll pick this up again in a few hours,” Shiro told them.

“What about you?” Keith asked.

“There's something I have to do first. I won't be long,” Shiro promised.

Keith looked like he wanted to argue more, but kept his mouth shut and nodded. Shiro suspected if he took longer than fifteen minutes, Keith would personally hunt him down and drag him back to where they were sleeping.

After a quick word with Sam, he set off, making his way through the crowd.

Before Kerberos, people would stop and stare because he was The Takashi Shirogane, ace pilot, and poster child of the Galaxy Garrison. They stared because of the respect he commanded and the awe he inspired.

With his return, they stared at a broken man; a ghost of who he once was in more than just appearance.

Shiro ignored them all and focused on his goal.

He needed to see for himself that Adam was okay. It didn't matter how things ended between them. It didn't matter if Adam turned him away. What did matter was seeing him alive and unharmed.

Shiro could only stop and watch him, caught off-guard by the sudden rush of emotions that hit him when he saw Adam again for the first time in two years. He was talking to a group of cadets, paying no attention to anything else around him, which gave Shiro ample time to regain control. He'd seen all he needed, but something held him there, rooted to that spot.

And then Adam looked over. Absolute disbelief colored his face, his eyes going wide as he hurriedly began pushing his way through the crowd with a growing desperation. He stopped just before Shiro, taking a moment to look at him.

“Takashi?” he asked, his voice cracking.

Shiro smiled sadly back. “Hey, Adam.”

Adam sobbed and took Shiro completely by surprise when he threw his arms around him, holding him tight and close. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I wished I could have taken it back the moment you left. I never should have said those things to you. I never should have made you feel like you had to choose. I'm so sorry!”

Shiro could only hold onto him with his remaining arm, stifling his own tears into Adam's shoulder. “You're still here,” he mumbled, barely managing to get the words out.

Adam shuddered as he dragged in a breath and drew back slightly to get a better look at Shiro's face. He reached up to caress along his jawline and trace a finger across the scar on the bridge of his nose, as if trying to reassure himself that he wasn't imagining him; Shiro really was there, alive, in front of him.

“I'm not going anywhere, Takashi. I love you.”

Shiro closed his eyes. It was so much more than he expected. So much more than he deserved. He opened his eyes again, gazing at the face of the man he still loved with all of his heart. “Marry me?”

Seconds stretched on as Adam stared up at him with wide eyes, his lips slightly parted in surprise. “I...” His voice broke, but he pressed on. “No fair. That's no fair, Takashi. I had this whole plan. This whole, stupid proposal planned out and here you are, asking before I can get the chance to,” Adam said. A tiny, hysterical laugh bubbled up, but he was smiling, his eyes glistening with fresh tears.

Shiro could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You had a plan?”

“I did. It was a week after you left. I had this whole vision of what I'd do when you came back. How I'd go to the Garrison to see you land and be one of the first to welcome you home. Then I'd get down on one knee and... and ask you to marry me.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Shiro whispered. “Much better than mine. I'm sorry I ruined it.”

Adam shook his head. “You haven't ruined anything. You came home to me, even after everything I said. I don't deserve you.”

Shiro's heart twisted in his chest at Adam's words. It would be so easy to respond the same – to start a back-and-forth of who was less deserving of the other. (After all, Shiro had left first when he chose the Kerberos mission over Adam.) But he didn't want that. He had to believe that they were equally deserving of each other, or else what was the point?

“We both deserve this. This is our second chance and I'm going to take it. I just need to know that you feel the same.”

“Yes,” Adam said without hesitation. He raised up on tiptoe, sliding his hand to the back of Shiro's neck, guiding him in for a long, overdue kiss. When they both pulled away, breathless, Adam playfully ran his fingers through Shiro's short hair.

“So, uh, about your new look...”

“What, you don't like the hair? I think it makes me look distinguished,” Shiro joked.

“Ha,” Adam said dryly. “As your fiance, I think I'm going to have to insist that you dye it. Everyone's going to think I'm in love with an old man.”

Fiance.

Shiro couldn't stop a grin from breaking out across his face at the word. Pure elation swelled in his chest and he couldn't help but swoop in for another kiss. And then another. And another. Until Adam was laughing from the number of kisses being planted all over his face.

Somewhere between them all, Shiro managed to whisper: “I love you.”

BONUS

“Hi, I'm Adam. Shiro's fiance.”

Lance spat out the food goo he was eating, eliciting a disgruntled glare from Hunk, who was both disgusted by his friend's lack of manners and the waste of their precious food supplies. Pidge looked between Shiro and Adam with mild surprise, ignoring whatever was happening next to her. Allura and Coran looked excited by the news, while Krolia and Romelle appeared curious. And Keith...

“Well it's about time,” Keith said, staring at Adam, who shook his head and pointed to Shiro. “Seriously? You two are a disaster.”

“Keith,” Shiro chastised, though he sounded too amused for it to be effective. He paused as a thought occurred to him and he frowned at the current Black Paladin. “Wait, why did you think it was Adam who proposed?”

“Because I helped pick out the rings.”

It was Shiro's turn to be surprised as he turned to face Adam. “You got us rings?”

Adam nodded. “Well, I did say my plan was to propose to you the moment you got back. Most people do that with a ring.”

“Shiro, you proposed without getting him a ring? What kind of example are you trying to set for the rest of us?” Pidge teased, too amused to sound properly (albeit fakely) scandalized by the whole thing.

Shiro buried his face in his remaining hand in sheer embarrassment. “It was spur of the moment, okay?”

“Now, now. Leave Shiro alone,” Allura said, coming to his rescue. “I'm sure it was all very romantic and Adam doesn't seem upset. So how did you ask? Give us all of the the details!”

Adam tried not to laugh at Shiro's misery at the line of questioning, but failed. “Oh yes, it was very romantic. I told him I loved him and his response was 'marry me?'”

There was a momentary uproar as Pidge and Keith couldn't contain their laughter. Lance was quick to get over his temporary confusion and had moved on to bemoaning their leader's apparent lack of romance skills.

“Awww,” Hunk cooed.

Which was followed by a brief silence and an unexpected “Hunk, what the fuck?” from Pidge. And then the noise resumed, with Lance calling out Pidge for her foul mouth while Hunk argued his defense.

Adam pressed a quick kiss to Shiro's cheek. “Don't worry, babe. We'll get the rings and have a better proposal story before we tell our parents.”

[t3hwh1t3p4nth3r]

Lotura Week Day 4!

Shiro was trying to bite back the pain, frequently hissing through clenched teeth.

 Keith removed his belt and folded it over before putting it in front of Shiro’s mouth. Shiro bit down hard on it as Pidge and Matt tightened the binding around what was left of his right arm. His mechanical one had been wrenched off by a large piece of debris, taking a fair chunk of his flesh with it. The belt didn’t keep him from shouting as they cauterized the wound shut.

 “That’s only going to work for so long.” Pidge said, tossing some of the blood soaked rags aside. “Without proper treatment, there’s still a fair chance it could get badly infected…”

 Allura was sat against a wall shaking her head, only a few feet away from where she had gotten sick. Everything had been going so well. They weren’t terribly far from Earth now. They had traveled so far for so long and had only minor incidents. This had to be Sendak. They had learned he was still alive, but they hadn’t known anything about his plan. Had he tracked them? Had he known that they would head to Earth? If he did…

 She was very nearly sick again at the thought alone.

 Shiro was the only one severely injured in the initial attack. Everyone else’s injuries were minor. They could tend to the majority of them themselves.

 “I think we really messed up…”

 Everyone turned their attention to Hunk as he spoke. He shook his head lightly as he continued, glancing around at all of them.

 “I think we really messed up… Turning on Lotor like that… Leaving him the Rift…”

 “What?!? You heard what he did! Romelle showed us what he did! You’re saying we should still be working with him!?! That we should have given him the chance to keep draining the life out of innocent people!?!” Keith may have changed in a lot of ways while he was gone, but it was apparent that his temperament wasn’t one of those things.

 “All I’m saying is that… We didn’t really hear his side back there. And he was the Galran Emperor. He was the only reason things were staying at all stable in the Empire. With him gone, what’s gonna stop them all from trying to seize power, planets and whatever else they want for themselves?”

 Pidge gave a small nod.

 “I think Hunk might be right… There’s almost no equilibrium any more. Without anything to stand in the way, everything has turned to chaos… We’d probably be better off if he was still here.”

 “With that monster gone, my people can finally be safe and truly free!” Romelle had remained rather quiet until now, tending to Lance’s larger scrapes.

 “We have a saying on Earth: Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don’t.” Matt kept his voice level and calm. It showcased the discipline he had learned while working with the rebel forces. “You may no longer have Lotor to deal with, but there has to be at least one other person that knew the location of New Altea. It’s likely that information could be used as a hefty bargaining chip by the right person. Your people are at even more risk now than ever, because now ANY Galran warlord could show up to claim the colony. What happened to your people was awful, I’m not denying that. But as things stand now, it could get much worse for the surviving Alteans.”

 The air in the room was heavy, the sounds of explosions and structures crumbling being the only noise.

 Shiro spoke, his voice weak and still showing his pain clearly. “Is there any way… We’d be able to even get him back?”

 Coran shakes his head. “It’s highly unlikely… We don’t even know if he survived… Overexposure to raw quintessence is incredibly dangerous and has shown itself to be lethal before. Besides… Even if he did survive, we have no way to access the Rift. We sealed the entrance to Rift that was at Daibazaal. There are likely similar Rifts scattered throughout the Universe, but we have no way of knowing where they are or how they’d be connected.”

 “Or IF they’d be connected…”

 “Exactly. And we simply don’t have the means to open a Rift without the Castle of Lions.” Coran’s expression dropped further. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do to get him back. We just don’t have the power.”

 A large blast from Sendak’s ship landed only a few buildings over from where they were hiding. Allura glanced out the window, spying the ship.

 “Power…”

 “What was that Princess?”

 “Coran. You said we didn’t have enough power to try to bring Lotor back from the Rift. If anyone did have such power, I think it would likely be Haggar.”

 “Oh, great idea…” Pidge’s mood had been incredibly surly ever since they landed. The sudden turn of the situation for the worse did absolutely nothing to improve it. “And I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to help us out. Not to mention, she’s probably halfway across the quiznaking universe.”

 Allura shook her head. “I don’t think so. Sendak… He’s essentially become her puppet. After all the times her Beasts failed her, I think she would want to stick close by. In case something went wrong. That way she could easily fix the problem. I think she’s on that ship with him.”

 “Ok. Let’s assume that’s right. Then what? We’d still have to find a way to make her use her powers to open the Rift and then figure out how to get Lotor out before she realized something was up and closed us in there too.”

 “I know, Pidge. But what better choices do we have? With Lotor’s ship fighting alongside Voltron, we could easily dispatch Sendak here and now before his damage can spread any further. We’ve already seen that Voltron alone isn’t enough in this fight.”

 That was a point no one could argue.

 Lance’s tone was soft and a bit rough from smoke he’d breathed in earlier. “If Allura thinks it’s the right thing to do… Then I’ll stand behind her decision.”

 They all looked around at each other, sharing glances that were at once determined but unsure.

 “Another impossible mission for Team Voltron…” Hunk sighed with a forced smile. “Well… What’s the plan?”

 000

 After making the necessary repairs to Green, Allura, Pidge and Lance made their way to Sendak’s ship, hidden behind the cloaking technology. After the drop off, Allura and Lance would be on their own.

 As expected, the ship was crawling with sentries and officers. There were a few Galrans who looked uneasy, almost scared.

 The likely cause of that discomfort made her voice heard.

 “I want you to double his restraints. Ever since he was a child he’s found ways to get loose.”

 “Mistress Haggar, with the restraint around his neck, I don’t believe that’s-“

 The man’s words are cut off with a startled, choking sound.

 “I was not asking for your opinion on the matter, Lieutenant. You could not possibly understand Prince Lotor like I do. Now, do as I say.”

 There’s the sound of a body falling to the floor followed by coughing.

 “Of course… Mistress Haggar..”

 Lance and Allura exchanged glances of vague horror and shock. Haggar did indeed have the power to open up the Rift. And she had already done it. She had already retrieved Lotor.

 Allura opened up the communication on her helmet, her voice a whisper. “Lotor is on the ship. Haggar said he was restrained. That… that means he must be alive.” The small break at the end did not go unnoticed. Her relief was apparent, especially to Lance who could see her face.

 It was bitter sweet for him. He was so happy to see her look almost happy. She hadn’t ever since the incident. Afterwards, she had started second guessing her reactions. They all had. Well, almost all of them. Romelle and Keith had remained adamant that they had made the right call in leaving Lotor behind. No one else could honestly say they shared that confidence, though. Like Hunk had said earlier: They hadn’t even tried to hear Lotor out.

 Though he was happy to see her happier than she’d been in a while, he was still a bit sad about it too. Sad that it wasn’t him who was making her happier. He’d tried multiple times, and he had succeeded in getting a lot of smiles to cross her lips. But they were usually pretty fleeting. They were small distractions, but they didn’t actually help to get rid of the hurt. And he did feel like they had been growing closer lately, just… not really in the way he had wanted. Their friendship was feeling stronger than ever. But he couldn’t help wondering if that was all it was destined to be: An amazing friendship. Nothing more and nothing less.

 But that was ok. He felt lucky to have a woman as incredible as Allura in his life at all, let alone as a close friend. He knew his feelings would probably never change. He would continue to love her, and to fight for her and whatever made her happy. And if that meant he’d be fighting for Lotor, so be it. As long as Allura ends up happy, he’ll be alright with whatever makes it happen.

 They carefully made their way through the ship, narrowly avoiding detection a few times. They had lost sight of the Lieutenant a little while ago, but they knew they were in the right general area. They ducked into an alcove as one of the doors opened, the Lieutenant emerging.

 “That ought to hold him.”

 They waited for him to round the corner out of sight before they dashed over to the door. They were surprised when the door opened without any sort of security measures seeming to be in place. They soon realized it was because this had been a rushed cell. The room wasn’t meant for containing prisoners or anything of value.

 As the door closed behind them, Allura removed her helmet.

 Lotor was strapped to what resembled an operating table, tilted upward slightly. There were two heavy restraints on each of his ankles, each of his wrists, each of his shoulders, around his middle and around his neck. Even Lotor wouldn’t be able to escape from this.

 Her voice came out soft and hesitant, not at all how she had intended.

 “Lotor?”

 His brow furrowed at the voice before his eyes slipped open. They were shifting between the eyes Allura had come to know and eyes of pure yellow.

 They snapped shut once more soon enough, Lotor turning his head as far away from her as he could manage. His jaw was tight, as was his voice.

 “Enough of your games, Witch!”

 Allura flinched at his biting tone but soon shook it off, trying once more.

 “Lotor. Please. It’s me. It’s REALLY me. Allura.”

 “ I already lost her! You needn’t continue mocking my pain!”

 Allura approached. As she did, she saw tears starting to spill from his shut eyes. Were they from anger and hate towards who he perceived her to be? Or were they because he missed her? Because he had loved her? And she had turned her back on him?

 Tears slid down her cheeks to as she moved in front of him.

 “Witch, I said –“

 Allura pressed her lips to his before he could get his thought out. His surprise was evident when she pulled away.

 “A… Allura? It’s… Really you?”

 His eyes started shifting less, settling on the familiar eyes for longer.

 Allura nodded.

 “Yes.”

 His eyes settled for the final time, back to the way they’d always been. His tears started to flow harder, his head hanging as much as the restraints around his neck would allow.

 “Allura, I’m… I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you, I just… I didn’t know how. I-“

 She shakes her head, gently covering his mouth with a hand.

 “I’m sorry too. I promise, I’ll hear your explanation. But it can’t be now. Lance and I have to get you out of here.”

 Lotor glanced over Allura’s shoulder, noticing the paladin for the first time.

 “How do we get you out of these?”

 Lotor shook off the mild embarrassment he felt at having cried like that in front of one of the paladins.

 “The panel beside Lance. It opens. They put the keys in there.”

 It took a moment for Lotor to get his legs under him. He had evidently been restrained for a while. Once he recovered, though, they made their way into the hall.

 “We’ll need to make our exit quickly. They frequently check to make sure I’m still there. The witch’s orders. It won’t be long until they discover I’m missing and realize someone got onboard.”

 “Where exactly are we going? Pidge’s drop off and pick up point is back that way.” Lance gestured in what he believed to be the general direction of where they had come in.

 “Lotor, do they have your ship here as well?”

 Lotor gave a nod.

 “Yes. They’ve been making repairs to it. Haggar realized the potential of it and likely wants to use it as a means to put an end to Voltron. She can’t do that if she doesn’t have it though.”

 “You know, to be fair, you kinda used it to try to put an end to Voltron too…” The look that Lance got from Allura read loud and clear: NOT THE TIME!

 Lotor winced slightly at the paladins words.

 “Yes… You’re right… And I… Well, there really is no way to apologize for what I did or what I said. There’s no excuse…”

 “Boys, we’ll discuss it later. The hangar is ahead.”

 Thankfully the only ‘people’ in their way were sentries. That didn’t make the fight necessarily easy, but it did mean there was a little less chance of an alarm being sounded that would send in more attackers.

 Only a little less. They had just gotten inside of the Sincline ship when a loud alarm started sounding. The hangar would soon be swarmed with sentries and officers.

 “Uh, Lotor!?! Not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything, but maybe getting us out of here would be a good idea!”

 Lotor growled as he fought with the controls trying to get Sincline started and going.

 “They made less progress than I had anticipated. It’s because they left it in one piece. Hold on to something! This will not be my best flying.”

 Allura and Lance did as they were told.

 Lotor gave up fighting the controls, aiming a sharp kick at it instead. It worked, jostling the stuck mechanism sharply into place. They shot forward just as the sentries flooded in, the ship taking multiple hits from the blasters.

 With the main mechanism back in alignment, Lotor had better control of the ship. It was clear to him that there was still much that needed repair. For now, though, he’d settle for a convincing bluff. He stabilized Sincline, facing toward Sendak’s ship. He drew the dual swords, hoping the threat alone would be enough to scare them off.

 He didn’t have to find out. Three of the Voltron Lions soon came up to join them.

 This clearly did the trick. It didn’t take long for the ship to create a portal and start to leave.

 “Shouldn’t we stop them!?! They’re going to get away!”

 “No, Keith.” Allura’s tone was calm. “All of our ships are too badly damaged to survive a true fight right now. We’ll have to wait until our paths cross again. I’m sure it’ll be sooner than we would like. For now, we should make repairs and tend to our injuries.”

 They all returned to the ground to do just that.

 It was a new start. A very awkward and tense new start. But a new start none the less.

(Holy shit this is hella long. I hope you enjoy it if you manage to get through all 2682 words of it. Shit. Anyway, this one is late too, but not as bad as my last one. Hopefully I can be on time for the next one at least)

(Prompts: Dystopian AU/ Equilibruium/ Complementary. That last one is  abit debatable)

[404gendernotfound]

Road Trip (Lance x Reader)

Summary: This one shot takes place after season 7. You are going on a road trip with the guys from Voltron and you end up in a room with Lance and Cosmo at your first road trip stop. Everyone kind of knows that you really care for Lance and Cosmo seems to have a plan how to get you two together.

Contains: lots of fluff

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 3,2K

Enjoy!

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It’s been a while since Voltron came back to earth and the paladins fought against Sendak. After all of them recovered, earth started to rebuild its cities. Now, a year after the catastrophe, they decided to go on a road trip and asked me to come along. And of course I couldn’t decline that offer. I’ve started to be friends with them especially Lance after they were brought to the hospital. I was looking after them and we started to become really good friends. So now we were packing the two trucks for our road trip.

“Do you have everything, Shiro?”, Allura asked while still packing some stuff into the trunk of the second car. “I think so. Everyone put their stuff in the car?”, he asked and we all nodded.

“Then I guess we are ready to take of”, Allura said and we all laughed.

We then got into the cars. We leased 2 trucks with 3 rows to sit in so that we would have enough space for our bags and all the other stuff we needed for the road trip. Shiro and Allura would be driving the two cars. The paladins and I would be riding in Shiros car and the others would be with Allura. We nearly fought over the seats and then I ended up with Lance on the backseat. Hunk and Pidge were sitting in the row in the middle and Shiro and Keith would sit in the front. Allura and Coran would sit in the front of the other car, behind them Krolia and Romelle and Cosmo of course would lie in the back and sleep.

“Why do I have to sit with Lance?”, I protested and heard Pidge laugh in front of me.

“Cause you’re the only one that can handle his crap without losing their mind”, Keith said from the passenger seat.

“Hey!!!”, Lance instantly shouted which made Shiro laugh.

“Allura, are you guys ready?”, Shiro asked through the communicator Pidge had installed in both cars.

“Yes, we are ready. You drive in front of us and we follow”, Allura answered and Shiro started the engine.

“Ok guys. Now lean back and let’s go”

We first drove some miles on the highway and then changed to a country road. (And of course we all started to sing “Country roads”.) Lance started to annoy me pretty fast so I decided to put on my headphone and listen to some music to relax. After some time we stopped and I put my headphones down. Shiro looked back at us.

“I’m gonna fill the tank and you guys can get some snacks from the shop if you want to”, he explained and Hunk, Lance and Keith already left the truck.

“I’m gonna stay here with Pidge”, I announced and Pidge nodded.

Shiro left the car too and now we were all alone. Just us two girl and some awkward silence. I heard Pidge clear her through before she started to speak.

“Soooo…how do you guys get along?”

I looked at her confused.

“I mean you and Lance. You seem to hate each other pretty much”, she continued and I laughed.

“Nah…Lance…he just gets on my nerves a lot. I don’t actually hate him and I think he feels the same. We just joke around a lot and make each other mad for no particularly reason. It’s just fun to see how the other one gets angry”

“So you two do like each other”, Pidge said with a knowing smile.

“Yeah…WAIT! WHAT! NO! IT’S NOT LIKE YOU THINK IT IS”

I felt like she caught me. I would always decline to like Lance. I mean like him more than a friend. I just had the feeling that they would start mocking me if they knew that I actually really cared for Lance.

“Girl you don’t need to hide it from me I can see right through you. I know that you like Lance a lot.”

She leaned over the backrest and whispered the next part.

“And you don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone”

“Am I that obvious?”, I asked smiling defeated.

“I guess as a girl I can sense when someone likes someone else. But trust me the boys have no idea”, she explained laughing and I joined her.

“You’re right. They are too dumb to notice stuff like that”

“Who is too dumb to notice what?”, I suddenly heard Keith from the front and my heart nearly fell to the ground.

“How long have you been there already?”, Pidge and said completely in sync.

“Not long. Don’t worry. I didn’t hear anything”, he said while winking in my direction.

Oh he definitely heard what we were talking about.

“Keith I swear. If you tell someone I’ll kill you”, I said while gesturing with my hand that I would slit his throat.

“I wanna see you try”

I just threw him an angry gaze and then turned my attention back to my phone. I had a new message.

Lance: Do you want some chocolate?

Me: Yeah why not

Lance: The dark one as always ;P?

Me: You know me too well

As I looked up from my phone again I saw Pidge and Keith looking at me with a grin on their faces. Keith then formed a heart with his hands and made a kissy face making my head heat up.

“Oh I hate you so much”, I shouted while throwing a pillow from the backseat at Keith.

He caught it and just laughed throwing it back at me. Pidge turned to me again and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t mind him. He is just stupid.”

Then the car doors opened and Shiro, Hunk and Lance came back. Hunk went to the trunk of the car to put away some stuff while Shiro and Lance already sat back on their seats. As Hunk sat down again and closed his door Shiro made sure that Allura and the others were ready to go again. We then continued to drive to our first location. A small vacation house at a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere. On the ride there I continued to listen to music. After some time I felt Lance tap my hand and turned my head to see that he was holding a bar of dark chocolate in his hands. I took it with a smile and then looked at it. There was a post-it on the back of the bar. “Sorry for annoying you ~ Lance” was written on it and my heart started to beat faster as I read it. I then turned around to him and gave him a big smile. I put my headphones down and opened the chocolate.

“It’s ok…and thank you, Lance”, I said while breaking a piece off the bar and giving it to him.

“You’re welcome”, he said and then put the chocolate into his mouth.

I knew that Lance really liked dark chocolate so I always shared mine with him. We continued to eat the chocolate until there was nothing left of it. It was already getting dark and I heard Lance yawn next to me.

“How long will we still be on the road until we get to our first location?”, I asked and Keith looked at the navigation system.

“We should be there in about 2 or 3 hours”, Pidge said while typing on her laptop.

“Man, I’m getting tired”, Lance said and yawned again.

“Then get some sleep”

Lance took a pillow and leaned it against the window. He then laid his head on the pillow and tried to sleep in this uncomfortable position. I saw how he tried to fall asleep but failed. There was enough space here to just lay down on the seats. But he would have to lay his head on my legs so that’s probably what he tried to avoid. I tapped on his shoulder so that he would open his eyes and look at me. He turned to me and I tapped on my lap.

“You can lay down here. That’s a lot more comfortable”

“You sure?”, he asked and I think I saw a light shimmer of pink on his cheeks.

“Yeah. Just lay down already before I change my mind”

He laughed and then laid down. His head rested on my lap facing the backrest in front of us. I didn’t know what to do with my arms so I just placed one hand on his shoulder and the other awkwardly behind my head. I heard him laugh and looked down at him.

“You can put your hand in my hair if you want to”, he whispered and a slight blush creeped onto my face.

“Uhm…ok”, I whispered back and softly put my hand into his hair.

Wow. It was so warm and soft. I kinda automatically started to run my hand through his hair and at the same time caressed his arm with my other hand. He didn’t seem to mind so I just continued to do that. He started to move after some time and turned to face me.

“Do you have some calming music on your phone? I can’t sleep like this”, he explained.

“Sure.”

I pulled out my earbuds and gave them to him then connecting them to my phone. I searched for some slow ballads or other songs that were perfect to fall asleep. I found the song “Fix you” and pressed play. I gave Lance my phone to adjust the volume and then he gave it back to me. He now still laid with his face facing my stomach which made me get really nervous but he didn’t seem to want to turn around so I just let him stay like that. I then put my headphones on to listen to the music with him. I was so glad that it was possible to connect about 8 different headphones to this phone being able to listen to music with a lot of friends without disturbing other people. Lance seemed to dose off pretty quickly and I just continued to watch him sleep and listen to some calming songs. After some time I dosed off too.

~time skip~

“Aww look at them. Do you see how cute they are?”, I heard Pidge say before I opened my eyes.

“Oh I think she’s awake”, Hunk whispered and I looked around.

I put my headphones down and saw that Lance was still sleeping on my lap. Pidge was leaning on the backrest and taking pictures. The others were just watching us. I felt really uncomfortable right now.

“Are we already there?”, I asked still a bit sleepy.

“Yeah. The others already checked out the house and brought some stuff inside. We just couldn’t wake you two up. You were so cute.”, Keith explained and made a ridiculous face, like he was fangirling over us.

“Oh just shut up. Go inside already. I will wake Lance and then we’ll join you.”, I announced and Keith, Hunk and Pidge left the car.

I cautiously pulled the headphones out of Lances ears and then softly shook his shoulder.

“Lance, wake up. We arrived”, I whispered.

He still didn’t move so I shook him a bit more. He started to move and slowly opened his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”, he said stretching his body and turning to face me.

“We’re here already”, I repeated.

“Oh. How long did I sleep?”, he asked and rubbed his eyes.

“I actually don’t know. I fell asleep too”, I said laughing.

“We should join the others in the house”, I then proposed and he nodded.

Lance sat up and left the car with me. We took our bags from the trunk, locked the car and then went inside. It was already pretty dark but still bright enough to see the outline of the vacation house. The house was big enough for us all and had 3 rooms for 4 people each. We walked into the living room to see Hunk, Allura, Krolia and Romelle in the kitchen, while Shiro, Keith, Coran and Pidge tried out the gaming console that was installed in this house. Cosmo was just chilling on the couch watching the others play. I sat down next to Cosmo and started to pet his head. He laid down on my lap and pressed his body against me.

“You want me to hug you Cosmo?”, I asked and he nodded as if he understood me.

“Who’s a good boy? You are”

I hugged him and continued to run my hands through his fur. Lance sat down on the other couch and looked amused at us.

“Man. I wish I could hug someone too”, he said laughing.

Not even a second later Cosmo teleported and dropped me onto Lances lap and then teleported back. We both instantly turned red like a tomato and I stood up fast to go and scold Cosmo.

“I told you not to just randomly teleport people, Cosmo”, I told him and heard Keith laugh.

“Oh come on. Don’t be angry at him. He just wanted to fulfil Lances wish”, he said smiling.

“That doesn’t make it better!”, I protested.

I sat back down and looked at Lance.

“Sorry”, I apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t that bad”, he said laughing and made me blush.

“Hey guys we should talk about the rooms. Who is going with whom?”, Allura asked.

“I already made a plan”, Pidge announced.

“We girls sleep in the room on the first floor. The boys sleep in the room on the second floor to the left and the rest sleeps on the right”

“But wait. We are 5 girls and 5 boys and Cosmo”, I realized.

“Yeah. That’s why you, Lance and Cosmo share the third room”, Pidge said and I nearly chocked on my spit.

“What?”, I asked at the same time as Lance.

“You two are best friends so there shouldn’t be a problem right?”, she asked and Lance and I looked at each other.

“I guess”, he said shrugging his shoulders.

“OK, so it’s settled”

After we had lunch we spend some time in the basement. There was a room with a billiard table and Lance and I won all rounds. We had a lot of fun. We decided to go to bed around 10 pm and walked up to our room. Every room had his own bathroom right next to it so that we wouldn’t have to share one bathroom. I put some stuff out of my bag and walked to the bathroom door.

“I’m gonna shower first if that’s ok with you”, I said to Lance.

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

After I had showered and got dressed in my pyjama I walked over to my bed to find Cosmo sitting on it. Lance walked to the bath while I tried to bring Cosmo to get down from my bed.

“Oh come on. Please let me sleep here Cosmo.”

But instead of moving he just spread himself out even more. If he would continue to do that I would have no choice to sleep with Lance in the other double bed on the other side of the room. I tried so hard to move Cosmo while Lance was in the bathroom but he didn’t even move an inch.

“You really don’t want me to sleep alone do you?”, I asked him and he whined.

“So you want me to sleep with Lance in one bed instead”

He began to swing his tail excited. This wolf tried to be so smooth just to get us two together. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m actually kinda glad.

“Well if you insist on it. Then there’s no turning back.”

I heard Lance open the door and he walked in with just a pair of boxer shorts on. I nearly couldn’t look away from his naked upper body. He walked over to his bed and sat down.

“Looks like Cosmo is occupying my bed.”, I casually dropped and Lance laughed.

“So you’re gonna sleep on the floor?”, he asked laughing.

“I though about sleeping in your bed if you don’t mind me joining you…I mean sleeping with you…I mean next to you…oh crap you know what I mean”

I blushed more with every part of the sentence and Lance seemed to be really amused about me being flustered.

“I don’t have anything against it. As long as you don’t steal my blanket”, he laughed.

“Ok. So you’re gonna sleep like that or what?”, I asked pointing at his upper body.

“I normally sleep like this but I can put a shirt on if you want me to”

“No no. It’s fine”

I walked over to the bed and laid down on the right side while Lance laid down on the left side. I turned my body around so that our backs would point to each other. We laid there for some time until Lance started to whisper.

“Are you still awake?”

“Yeah”

“You can’t sleep either?”

“Yeah”

“Wanna turn around and talk?”

“Why not”

I turned my body around so that I was facing Lance. He smiled at me and I just smiled back at him.

“I think Cosmo is doing this on purpose”, I started the conversation. “Yeah. I think so too. First the teleporting and now occupying your bed. It seems like he wants us to get together”

“Weird. I thought the exact same thing. And he even reacted really exciting as I asked him if he wanted me to sleep with you in this bed. I guess he really likes the thought of us being together”

“Who wouldn’t”, I heard Lance mumble and then he suddenly went silent.

“You didn’t hear anything. I’m just gonna stay silent for now”, Lance said and turned to look at the ceiling.

“Wait a minute Mr. McClaine! Did you just say you like the thought of us being together?”, I asked.

“Well…maybe I said that…is that bad?”, he asked kinda shy.

“Um…actually…I like that thought too”, I stuttered and saw Lance turn to me again.

“Really? I thought you didn’t like me”

“What? NO. I do like you. I like you a lot. Just because I was mocking you from time to time doesn’t mean that I don’t like you”, I explained.

“Wait. Does that mean we both like each other a lot?”

“I guess so”

I was starting to get really nervous. Lance was just a few inches away from me, so close that I could grab him if I wanted to.

“If we both like each other a lot, is it then ok for you if I cuddle you?”, Lance asked while scratching his neck nervous.

“It’s more than ok for me”

Lance scooted closer and put an arm around my waist pulling me against his chest. I put my arms around his body too and pressed my body against him.

“Is it ok like that?”, he asked whispering.

“Yes”, I mumbled against his chest.

We laid like this for some time before he started to speak again.

“Good night princess”

“Good night sharpshooter”

[brittysaucefanfic]

Operation: Voltron

Part 20

Lance

(First)(Previous)(Next)(AO3)

Lance's breath is caught in his throat as he waits.

Sendak has his full attention as he looks Lance over. Lance likes to think that curious deja vu look has nothing to do with Lance himself. He prefers not thinking about the consequences if Sendak actually recognized him. Sendak takes his sweet time looking him over, or maybe time has just slowed for Lance. Like a cliche slow motion shot in a movie.

"You must be the man we talked to about a job earlier." Sendak says, looking away and turning back to the doorway Lance stands in. He gets the hint, and lets it swing shut behind him before stepping forward with a cocky smile, heart racing so loud in his ear he feels like the people can hear his fear from it.

"That's me, what are we looking at exactly?" Lance says, stepping forward more with all the cocky confidence he could muster. Leandro, his alias for the mission, was a cocky asshole who objectified women and had a penchant for irritating people. So like his normal self, but ten times worse.

"What's your name?" Someone asks harshly beside Sendak. A brute of a man stands beside Sendak, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Lance recognizes him, from a file he was given by Keith before this all started. Apparently they had been able to get some people on the inside of Zarkon's operations. This guy was called Antok, another alias. The bottom half of his face was covered in a mask.

Lance makes sure to wipe his expression of any recognition.

"The name's Blue Lion, but you can call me Leandro." Lance says, chucking his hip out and reaching into his jacket to pull out a toothpick to chew it. Like he said, asshole. Had to be the biggest asshole on this planet. Someone else speaks, standing closer to Lance than Sendak. There's four of them, Sendak, Antok, this guy and a woman.

"I thought the Blue Lion was caught and arrested by the FBI?" The guy says, slim with a creepy looking face. Eyes just a little to wide to be normal, smile sharp, and teeth even sharper, like vampire fangs. A shiver tries to break through, but Lance cools it with a smile. He picks his toothpick out of his mouth and uses it to point at the guy.

"Amateur, the real Blue Lion, me, would never be caught." Lance says. He hears a snort in his ear and fights off the urge to scowl at Pidge, clacking his teeth hard, making Pidge hiss. She had outfitted Lance with a very discreet ear piece, shoved so far into his ear that if he rubbed his ear, it would probably harm his eardrum. He also had a tooth microphone, and the latest of contact lens cameras. If Pidge typed into the lens thingies he would see floating words in front of him.

It was a last resort, didn't want Lance to be caught reading thin air.

The group seemed to take it as it was, moving on and laying out the plans for the heist. It seems more complicated than necessary. The woman was to charm her way close to someone with a key pass into the building and swipe it off him, then give it to the creepy guy to use to get the truck into the gates. Antok was chosen to run the cameras on loop for five minutes while the heist went down.

Lance would be smuggled into the building, and had less than five minutes to get the jewels and get back to the truck without being seen. Easier said than done when he realized they left a lot of pertinent information out, that Lance already knows of from Keith. Which includes hand and eye scanners, and a layer of personnel guarding the warehouse, then he had to locate the jewels and get through it all backwards and back to the truck.

Within five minutes.

The heist was to go down tomorrow night. So Lance had until tomorrow night to prepare his tools and knowledge for a heist he wasn't ready for. It isn't the first time Lance has had to do rush jobs, but this was just a bit insane. Lance agreed anyways, despite the glint in Sendak's eye promising him much misfortune if failed.

The thought of what Sendak would do to him if he saw past the cocky smile sent a surge of impractical panic through his chest. He could feel it tightening on the way back to the Castle, heart pumping faster than normal. He's pretty sure he's having a slight panic attack. And why wouldn't he? Sendak physically clamped a hand over the creepy guy's mouth to avoid giving Lance the information he needed for a heist. Which probably meant Lance was recognized. Which was bad. And panic inducing.

Lance marched back into the castle, ripping out his contacts and pulling out his ear piece before the entire team was inside the building. He marched over to the workbench Pidge and Hunk uses, setting the devices down more gently then the anxiousness in his veins suggested possible. The tooth would have to be taken out by Pidge, lest Lance ruin the technology. This team may be a well payed and government sanctioned operation, but Lance doubted they had all the money in the world. 

Lance paced around the room, rubbing his hands together, babbling in a mix of languages. He had no control over what he was saying, breakdowns like this rarely allow him to make coherent sentences in a chosen language, despite his mind being clear. He could hear the sounds of footsteps cautiously tracing his path as he worked from one wall to the other, mind working like a freight train. 

“Lance?” Allura asked, her accent slipping, making the alias sound more like ‘Lonce’. Lance ignored her probing question, preferring instead to keep pacing, but he halted as he came face to face with Shiro. Shiro seemed to actually look concerned, but Lance doubted he really cared. Lance was a criminal, and the person who tormented his brother for three years.

"What's wrong Lance? Why are you so anxious?" Allura said, now standing behind him. Lance whips around, knowing that Allura was the one he should be wary of the most out of everyone. He knows what she did, what caused her to leave the military. He knows just how dangerous she really is. His breathing picks up again and his eyes unfocus.

Is he hyperventilating? Probably.

"Because he recognized me! Sendak recognized me, he had to of. And that's bad, for everyone, but especially for my health." Lance said, throwing his hands in the air then bringing them down to start chewing on his nails. Which sucks, because he just got them done not too long ago. He broke away to babble again. He should really stop that.

Lance stepped around Allura and continued pacing.

"I spent years making sure that guy thought I was dead, that he finished the job." Lance said, so quietly he was positive no one could hear him. But he didn't care, he just wanted to get out of here. Take off the anklet like he's so tempted to try, and go off the grid. Collect every dollar he's stashed away and live on a farm or something. Retire.

But Keith would hunt him down.

Right? He's been so vigilant, tracking Lance's every move, hunting him down like the BloodHound he's named after. Maybe Lance will never be free, always forced to look over his shoulder and live a life of secrecy. He's on the verge of a complete mental breakdown when he's forced to a stop.

Hands on his shoulders stop him in his tracks, clamping down hard. Not painful hard, but like forceful hard. And not forceful hard as in he has no choice but to obey, but forceful hard as in very persuasive. And not persuasive as in threatening, but persuasive as in relaxing. What was he doing again?

Right, freaking out, he forgot.

The hands on his shoulders force him to turn, and dark violet pools fill his blurry vision. It only takes a second of looking into those eyes to clear his eyesight up a little bit, no longer caught in a panic induced meltdown.

"Breath." Keith says. A simple and lonely word, which should be useless against the state Lance was spiraling into. Keith demonstrates by breathing really loud and slow, and Lance knows what he's doing. But he soon finds himself sucking in a deep breath, the tightness on his chest loosening, as he breaths in time with Keith's. Keith nods, slowly, and after a moment Lance nods back. He can breath again.

"Better?" Keith asks.

Lance takes a second to calm his frazzled nerves, sucking in slow breaths to calm down. His arms drop to his sides, now that he wasn't chewing away a nice manicure. It takes a moment, but Lance musters up a shaky smile.

"What are you, a one word wonder Kogane?"

Keith cocks an eyebrow then snorts, clapping Lance lightly on the shoulder.

"At least we know you aren't broken anymore. Now let's get you prepared for a heist." Keith says. Lance huffs in indignation, but he dutifully follows Keith's lead, prodding at the man to start up an argument. Something about hippos maybe, Lance doesn't care. Nor does care for the eyes following his movements across the room.

******

(First)(Previous)(Next)(AO3)

[nomadicism]

Do you think the nostalgia goggles for VLD is hurting the show? Maybe this is a biased opinion but I've been seeing people less excited about S7 because of the way the writers go out of their way to make the Lion Switch 'work' when it just can't anymore( for example. removing Shiro's bond to black in the most undignified way being the biggest and ongoing outcry in the fandom.). It's almost like people enjoyed the show more when it started out doing its own thing.

Hi thank you for the Ask! (this answer is a long one)

I don’t know if it’s nostalgia goggles…at least…most of the fandom should be too young to have them? Or did you mean the writers?

I grew up with DotU, and I don’t mind the nods to DotU except in very specific instances, and a lot of that has to do with how the show affected me as a child in the 80s. There are two things that I judge every iteration of Voltron on (not gonna go there right now though), and it has to do with a few things that I hated from the Lion seasons of DotU. The Vehicle Voltron season of DotU had very little in it that I disliked, so any reboot of Vehicle Voltron would probably disappoint me, my nostalgia goggles would definitely be on tight, I can own that.

Trying not to harsh everyone’s dash with two critical posts in a row, so the rest in after the “read more.”

I have no strong opinions about the lion swap (but I sympathize with those that do), except for one tiny nitpick about how it appears as though they dropped the lion-bonding premise from S1-S2, which might relate to what you’re saying about “people enjoyed the show more when it started out doing its own thing.”

That was S1-S2, and the overall tone of those seasons is what had me stay around for S3 even though I was extremely skeptical for how they would write Lotor’s character (which relates to the two things that I judge every iteration of Voltron on). S3-S6 may as well be a different show, but I don’t think that’s due to lifting moments or concepts from DotU. I think this is more about tone, and likely, too much going on all at once and not enough episodes to pace those things better…that can be very subjective though.

While I enjoyed S3-S5 and there are moments and concepts from S6 that I enjoyed, the Things I’ve Already Bitched About sucked the joy right out of the show for me. I don’t hold a negative opinion about how Shiro ends up (no longer Black Paladin?), but there is something awkward there, and “undignified” is certainly a word that I would use to describe the team standing around Kuron’s body at the end. I don’t want to dwell on that…but ew.

I’ve avoided posting about the Kuron/Shiro thing because…I hate clones popping up outside of HARD sci-fi (where the ethics and implications can be explored). I don’t use that word lightly. I have a very strong anti-clone and/or backup twin bias (and that’s me, that doesn’t mean that I think writers shouldn’t use clones). With my bias in mind, the writers managed to wrap-up Operation Kuron in a way that I more-or-less liked, which is saying a lot. But again, I see how it really bothered or disappointed a lot of other fans, and I sympathize. My bar was pretty low for where it seemed like that plot was headed and so my only requirement was that if Kuron was a clone, then I wanted Shiro to already be dead (and I don’t mean that in a negative way, only because it just wouldn’t make any sense if he were still alive) and that’s what we got. I love Shiro as a character and I’m glad he’s back! I guess? Kuron was alright too? UGH. CLONES.

Now that I’ve written this, I’m getting a bad feel that it’s almost as if Kuron was cheap way to do “What if Shiro betrayed the team?” without any of the implications associated of dealing with a betrayal by the “real” Shiro. I guess I did find something else to complain about, because the Lion-Rejection-Leads-to-Lion-Swap-Leads-to-Betrayal-Arc was already done with Sven in the DDP comics and it was fantastic. No clones necessary.

Back to tone…I came for the S1-S2 humor and light tone that occasionally had a few dark-or-serious moments but was overall fun and enjoyable. By end of S6, it is a very different tone with little joy…and it is a tone that I would be fine with if it were not for the double standard setting.

S7 may see a change in the setting…like if Earth is destroyed by Sendak then that would be enough to get my attention again (sadly, as much as I’m loving Haggar/Honerva I don’t see her story moving forward much in S7). I have zero optimism that the double standard setting will change, which makes the contrasting tones very incompatible for me, especially when the tone swings back-and-forth between extremes within a few episodes as shown in S6 with Dayak and the DnD episode vs The Colony and The Black Paladins. If I want dark tone, I can get that someplace else, and done much better, much more consistent, and without a double standard setting that glosses over things/consequences that other shows of a similar genre do not.

It may seem strange that I would want the show to go darker at this point, but to me, if S7 goes back to the tone of S1-S2, then—for reasons I outlined in my posts about double standard settings—what would have been the whole point of S3-S6? Except, as you’re getting at (if I’m understanding you right), the point would be about those nostalgia goggles on the part of the writers, but also, I suspect that there was a strong desire to re-use ATLA’s Azula breakdown as a way of leaving a signature mark on the franchise.

This (and the rest of my criticism as of late) does not mean that I think the show is terrible. There are many great moments, and overall I think VLD is well done. But there were things from S1-S2 that felt like promises…and S6 broke those, and that isn’t what I signed up for. I’m getting the sense from what I’m seeing from those who are upset about the lion swap, that this is a similar issue of “not being what y’all signed up for”.

Finally, I see plenty of fans who are excited about S7, and I’m happy for them. For those of us that are less excited, for whatever reason, sometimes that happens.

My suggestion, for those who “aren’t feeling that Voltron feeling” ahead of S7 is to:

Figure out what you’re curious about or interested in seeing, and deciding if it seems like the show will even explore those things;

Avoid reading/listening to anything from anyone involved in the show (b/c Reasons); and

Find a fan with a similar mindset but more energy for the show to review S7 for you and let you know if it’s worth your time. You can always skip episodes or fast-forward through anything you’re not enjoying.

As for myself, there are a few things that I am curious about, but I’m probably not going to watch S7 right out the gate, and instead wait for someone who is of a similar mindset to let know if it’s worth my time. At the very least, I had already planned on skipping any episodes that had anything to do with revisiting The Colony, so I’m sure that I’ll be skipping around other episodes too, if/when I watch them. Or just wait for the series to finish out, and then skip around episodes from there, or read a review to see if anything that I’m curious about is even explored.

[maychorian]

Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #54

A little shorter this week. I took some vacation days and did a lot of other stuff besides reading fanfiction, because yeah, ironically, I read the most fanfiction when I’m at work.

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Know Yourself by exclamation Words: 28,139 Author’s Summary: In trying to reconnect to the black lion, Shiro makes a worrying discovery: he might not really be Shiro. Suspecting that he might be a clone, Shiro decides to go on a mission back to the Galra science base where he was held captive. He’s not ready to tell the others what he suspects yet, but when Matt catches him sneaking out of the castle, it’s clear he’s not going on this mission alone. Shiro has to find out what was done to him, and if there is another version of him out there in need of saving. My Comments: Excellent exploration of the Shiro clone theory with some awesome plot twists, great characterization, and powerful action scenes. I really enjoyed this a lot.

The Christmas Episode by FunkyWashingMachine Words: 1,422 Author’s Summary: It’s Christmas on the castle ship, and no one loves it more than Lance. To his slight dismay. My Comments: Sweet and funny and just a little angsty. Lance deserves a happy Christmas, for sure.

Precious Cargo by LightPinkTheColorOfMyAura Words: 5,315 Author’s Summary: The team is tasked with rescuing an alien princess. Pidge and the others are not very excited to watch Lance fall all over himself for a pretty girl, so they decide to keep him…busy. When their plan falls through and they find someone unexpected, Lance pulls through like they should have expected. My Comments: Sweet, a little angsty, very cute. I don’t wanna spoil the twist, but it’s good. I enjoyed this very much.

Beacon by glitteringconstellations Words: 21,863 (6/?) Author’s Summary: An emergency mission to answer a distress call wasn’t unusual. The urgency in Allura’s voice wasn’t necessarily unusual, either—she was very much of the mind that Voltron was obligated to answer every single distress callbrought to their attention. Being the defender of the known universe came with a certain number of responsibilities, after all. But seeing the pinched, pale look on both Allura and Coran’s faces when they converged on the bridge was unusual. “The universe is vast even in terms of those planets still yet beyond the grips of the Galra. But…. the distress call came from the Terra Firma Quadrant.” Earth. My Comments: This story is absolutely harrowing, evoking all kinds of horrific things from Earth’s past, but on a global scale. Really, really, amazingly good. Very suspenseful and exciting, and it’s very cool to find a story not quite like any other Voltron fanfic I’ve read. Highly recommended if you can stand some pain.

Breathe by SuperKat Words: 2,192 Author’s Summary: The first wave of panic hits Keith out of nowhere. One second, Lance is “catching him up” on everything that’s happened since he left Voltron, and the next second Keith has a flash of memory – the two of them, walking through this hall, talking and bantering, just like this – and suddenly his breath leaves him. My Comments: I have a soft spot for someone having a panic attack and someone else talking them through, as anyone who has read my stuff will know. This was a great one.

Christmas on the Castleship by slowbronite Words: 1,939 Author’s Summary: The team raids the Space Mall’s Earth store for Christmas decor and subsequently freaks Coran out with the concept of Santa Claus. My Comments: Very cute fic with a slight focus on Coran that I really enjoyed. Happy paladins are always good to see.

War Games by FunkyWashingMachine Words: 2,160 Author’s Summary: The paladins build opposing pillow forts and declare war. Shiro is both liaison and collateral. My Comments: So cute and funny, gah, it’s wonderful to see the kids enjoying themselves. I’m pretty sure Shiro was pretending to be neutral just play off both sides, though, sneaky.

fight in the ring by ebonynightwriter Words: 2,605 Author’s Summary: When a rescue mission goes south, Allura and the team find themselves in a hard situation. // “Wait, Shiro’s the Champion?! Since when?” My Comments: Very cool little action fic.

Geslorp’s House of Terrors by AmnesiaticRoses Words: 6,815 Author’s Summary: Lance is excited when Hunk agrees to visit a carnival-style space haunted house with him. The haunted house should be fun, and Hunk’s reactions should be funny. But Lance forgot to account for the power of technological curiosity… My Comments: Cute fic with my favorite boys having an adventure together. It kind of backfires on Lance, haha.

Plundered Plumage by Quiddity Words: 5,374 Author’s Summary: Something odd crashes to the deck of the ship during a sudden storm. An avian. More common than their siren cousins, but stil rarely seen and never captured. Until now. Captain Sendak wastes no time in securing the exhausted avian, Shiro, intent on handing him over to the Pirate King Zarkon for his own gain. However, Keith, sold to Zarkon as a slave as a child and forced into a life of piracy, just might have trouble sitting back and allowing that to happen. My Comments: Really fun Pirate AU with Keith taking a big, big risk to save Shiro. The fic is short, but the world feels fully realized, and I loved the cameos from the other characters.

Rebuild all your Ruins by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions) Words: 6,074 Author’s Summary: There are consequences to Shiro’s refusal to kill. Pain hasn’t worked on him so far, but another tactic might. My Comments: This is hurt with no comfort, so know what you’re getting into. Awful stuff, but very well-written, as always.

Where the Heart Is by SmolGooDragon Words: 5,153 Author’s Summary: Lance has graduated from the Garrison at the top of his class, and will be leaving for a mission to space in a few weeks. He’s happy to be with his family and everything is going perfectly, but he feels like there’s something he can’t quite remember… like something’s missing. My Comments: Starts out as Lance going home to see his family, but there’s a twist! A good one! I don’t wanna spoil it. Just read the fic. If you like the hurt!Lance recs I typically post here, you will love this story.

Don’t Forget to Call Home by isabeau25 Words: 8,827 Author’s Summary: Just because Keith has decided to join the Blades of Marmora, doesn’t mean the team is going to let him disappear from their lives. My Comments: Absolutely beautiful fic about the other paladins keeping in contact with Keith while he’s away in Season Four. I especially loved Lance here; isabeau25 always writes Lance so very, very well. But everyone else was wonderful too. The end scene, after Keith’s nearly disastrous decision, is especially warm and comforting. So, so good.

Burning Bright by IcyPanther Words: 9,693 Author’s Summary: Last chance, they told him. If this family didn’t work out then it was back to the group home for him. And as much as Keith disliked the foster system, he hated the group home. He’d endure anything life threw at him to avoid going back. But when he meets Shiro, Keith realizes that, perhaps, there’s more to life than just enduring. His world is about to become a whole lot brighter. My Comments: Heartbreaking and heartwarming backstory for Keith and Shiro that matches up with my personal headcanons very nicely. I really felt everything Keith was going through, from the despair to the pain to the dawning pleasure and ultimate joy. So good, so satisfying, I just love it.

Seven Vargas by VelkynKarma for buttered_onions Words: 18,006 Author’s Summary: Shiro has a bad habit of disappearing unexpectedly. But the team really should have anticipated it this time, with him being the most wanted person on the planet. My Comments: This is a thrilling read of the action/adventure type, but with a healthy dollop of pathos, too. Shiro has a really rough time of it, but it was great to see him constantly fighting to get himself free by whatever means he could, and of course the others’ frantic need to find him and rescue was lovely.

Signals From Space by Eastofthemoon Words: 3,814 Author’s Summary: Fame spreads farther than anyone could have known. My Comments: Lance’s family is sweet and funny and perfect, and this is a delightful way for them to find out that Lance is alive. The final chapter was especially heartwarming.

reprise, refrain by obstinateRixatrix Words: 8,180 Author’s Summary: When the castle picks up an Altean distress signal, Allura desperately hopes to find surviving Alteans. She does - just not in the way she was expecting. My Comments: I like the canon version of this episode just fine, but this is also a very fun alternate take, and much easier on Allura’s heart, I think. All of the OCs are delightful.

What Happens Under a Full Moon by imperiality Words: 9,136 Author’s Summary: When Lance accidentally partakes in a new planet’s ritual under their greatest full moon, the paladins have to find out how to reverse his spell. Or, he could have just taken off the mask to begin with. My Comments: Fantastic worldbuilding here, very immersive and enjoyable to read. It’s like taking a journey, traveling with Lance through this exciting festival he enjoys so much. And the solution to the trouble he finds himself in made me very, very happy.

Previously Recced Fics That Updated:

The Purity of Sin (22254 words) Home and a Half (109291 words) As Color Fades Away (217819 words) Gate Keeper (119177 words) Why it sucks to be a snake in space(59933 words)