#then of course taking the same elements and past voltron elements and hopefully making a better fusion. or at least less grimdark

[void-tiger]

...screw it. I’ll *maybe* write an AU that’s from the point Takashi first crash lands back to Earth.

You know, one that has him having a twin and a preKerb friendgroup made up of Ryou, Lisa, Matt, Veronica, and Ginger (in my fanon she’s Hunk’s sister)? You know...Shiro actually having family and friends that then includes the Paladins? (Oh...and people actually at his launch other than Keith and the Holts. Well, the ones who weren’t currently deployed on their own missions at that time.)

Lots of rambling and thought-dumping as to how that might look plot-wise in a broader sense under the cut (along with other fixits)

Veronica’s seen ribbing her younger brother but also trying to cheer him and his assigned team back up before carrying on with her Garrison Job.

The Trio still sneaks out and runs into Keith causing not-well-thought-out shenanigans beyond a successful diversion.

The Trio+Keith run headlong into Ryou, Lisa, Veronica, and Ginger who had the exact same idea as their younger siblings/the idiot (former) cadet. They ARE Shiro’s friends, afterall. Only, they’re the “scientists” and stick Iverson and the REAL scientists with the sedatives instead of Shiro. (They also made more of an effort to keep an eye on Keith than Adam ever did. They’re also well-aware that Pidge is actually Katie and keep an eye on her, too, but decided not to push her about the shoddy disguise. They *might* be covering for her regarding Iverson&Co, though.)

(Also, the Shack belonged to Ryou and Shiro. But Keith’s staying there, too. Ryou’s not happy about Keith trying to bust Shiro out without him.)

After the initial confusion, the Actual Adults (barely!) TM take over and have everyone pile into their cars while they try to shake off the Garrison and eventually regroup back at the Shack. (Keith’s driving Shiro’s old bike back since he’s the one who took it out. Shiro’s placed in the back of Ryou’s car with the seats laid flat. Ryou’s back there trying to keep him restrained until they can do triage, with Lisa taking over as the driver. Everyone else is with Veronica and Ginger. Or, they all took a ScoobyDoo van from the start vs several cars.)

Shiro actually recognizes the entire Trio, but introduces himself, anyway. (He’s a pilot, not an engineer or analyst. And although Veronica and Ginger bragged about their baby brothers and Matt about his genius gremlin sister, and Ryou definitely bragged about Hunk’s progress, it just didn’t quite work out for him to meet the cadets personally, save maybe Pidge—PR, aviation instruction, and Kerberos prep kinda ate away at his time. He did keep an eye on Lance’s progress, but...any remnants of time kinda went to Adam before the breakup and mentoring Keith. (Ryou kinda just insisted on crashing in Shiro’s post-breakup issued room until the twins finally pooled their resources to buy the Shack.))

The hunt for the Blue Lion goes about the same, only the group’s larger. Blue still picks Lance, kidnaps everyone else like a box of kittens, and goes for a joyride before getting serious. (“YEP. That’s definitely your Lion, Lance,” Veronica snarks.) The same Paladins experience the Vision as before, with the others giving them strange looks when they all randomly zonked out in tandem for half a second.

They eventually end up in Arus’s solar system. (The adults are very, very glad that they didn’t ever have time for pets. (And in this version, Ginger isn’t already a mother, and the Adults are all about 23-26, give or take.) Then internally freaking out about kidnapping a bunch of kids by accident, and kicking themselves about not having any sort of letters ready for everyone’s family. That...could’ve been thought out better (and moves to the top of their priority list. Galaxies away or not, mean purple aliens kinda implies they’ll be gone for awhile. With...a bunch of kids.)

They wake up Allura, but Ryou’s the one to catch her. Veronica twists Lance’s ear before he ever opens her mouth. (“Yeah yeah I know. She’s gorgeous. But not the time.”) (RIP, Lance’s ears...they’re not safe in any reality.) Allura and Coran pull up their starcharts...and discover the same, awful news. The adults herd everybody out to give the Alteans some space to grieve in private.

Allura starts to describe the Lions, but the group interrupts her. (“Uh...we kinda saw a big giant robot in our heads?” “Yeah, and it was freaky watching them all look like zombies for half a second, so hard pass.”) The rest of it goes on as usual, only Lance gets whacked for self-postulating, and Blue actually gets a description this time.

The soon-to-be Paladins split up to look for their Lions, with Keith still at the Castle. Ryou and Ginger set to work helping Coran get the Castle operational again, while Lisa and Veronica take on the task of helping Allura sift through 10,000 years of data backlogged.

-

Obviously certain events like Sendak capturing the Castle and Crystal Venom would play out somewhat differently. For one, neither Ryou or Lisa would leave Shiro alone. And at least one of them would probably stand with Coran about the ethics about all of it, even if they reluctantly agree that it’s the best option they have.

As far as Shiro’s disappearance, they catch on a LOT sooner that Black’s damaged and actually curling protectively around Shiro. (You know. Like Toothless and Hiccup. Just sayin’.) (As well as an explanation as to why Shiro ended up stored within BlackLion during the fight to protect him, while the other Paladins were not by their own Lions.)

Jiro still shows up thinking he’s Shiro, but has the others gently inform him that no, no he’s not. (Shiro may or may not be already out of BlackLion and recovering.) Jiro consents to having extensive tests done. They find all of Haggar’s implants (and discover that Shiro actually got stuck with a few of his own that Black separated from him when they extracted him out...now that they know what they’re looking at. Oh, and the Blacktashi Bond’s still well and good, but Shiro does have more trauma to work through. At best Shiro’s unconscious the entire time he was stored as energy particle. At worst? Sensory deprivation and FullBody Amputation. Nothing about Shiro being suspended in the Void could’ve been pleasant, even though Black was well-intentioned.) Once free from her control, Jiro’s more determined than ever to take her and the Galra empire down. (As well as freeing the other clones. The others share that sentiment, but especially the Shirogane Twin, who decide to accept Jiro as their “triplet from another mother”.)

Jiro still longs to be a Paladin, though. Allura and Lisa gradually over time begin to share that same longing. Eventually they feel a sort of phantom bond that mimics the one Jiro has with Black not just with the OG Lions, but also an even stronger one they can’t quite pinpoint. They eventually learn that they’re being Called by the second meteor.

Lotor’s still a rival right about the same time. However, by the time he tricks the Paladins into going after the meteor for him, the Castle’s a better match for his ship vs him getting away. (Because, you know. The OG Paladins are still with their Lions. And although Allura went with them to explore the distress call, Coran had Jiro&Co to help him man the Castle.) They fight to a standstill, then eventually call a ceasefire. They’re better about uncovering WHY Lotor wants the meteor/quintessence. Also the surviving Alteans are members of his crew, albeit still disguised to protect them from the Empire. They evacuate the colony vs sticking around. Lotor wants the quintessence first to end balmera mining and komar stripping, but also to have a second attempt at making the colony work.

Allura and Coran are shocked to learn that they’re not the last of their race, but eventually Lotor agrees to carefully continue checking Honerva’s research with Team Voltron&Co before deciding what to do with the comet, and if Lotor’s idea for “unlimited quintessence” is even possible...which eventually leads them to Orionde. (*drops better explanation about that pocket dimension HERE*) Also, the other Paladins probably make it through with both Allura and Lotor in-tow once they stop fighting the Lion and instead evade or request permission to enter (hey, it’d be a nice callback to A Bond Cannot Be Forced), but only Allura and Lotor make it all the way to the end.

When Allura and Lotor rejoin the Paladins and the rest of their crews, Lotor agrees to abandon his attempts to reopen the Quintessence Rift on the remains of Daibazaal--at best Haggar could then seize it and do unspeakable damage. At worst, all of Reality folds in on itself and collapses. There are no shortcuts.

Team Voltron press to know why the Galra covet so much quintessence in the first place:if it’s just to power their technology, then surely it’s past time to discover other means of energy. Lotor reluctantly reveals that the Galra are essentially extinct: what started as a way to extend their lifespans gradually mutated them overtime into no longer being genetically compatible with other members of their own race. They either continue taking the quintessence, or die off. Team Voltron then questions if Lotor and his Generals have that same problem--turns out, yes and no. The Galra are somehow still able to reproduce with other races (which he, Keith, and the generals are the proof of), but there are often complications with those pregnancies. In addition, Lotor and his generals spent enough of their early lives eating quintessence-enriched foods to have developed that same addiction they’re still struggling to ween themselves off of, if it’s even possible at all. 

Jiro then casually waves as proof that the Galra have successful cloning...so why not just genetically engineer the next generation to NOT have quintessence dependencies and whatever other genetic mutations that are dooming the Galra. Lotor stares at the clone dumbfounded--he hadn’t even considered that. (Aka, sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to find plausible solutions to problems.) (*cue Save the Galra subplot mixed in around Typical Campy and Main Plot Adventures*)

The meteor is also used to create three new Lions, who immediately Bond with Allura, Jiro, and Lisa.

(For continuity’s sake? Let’s just say Lotor was never declared Emperor Pro-Tem, but always remained exiled/an outlaw.)

(*campy episodes*)

Pidge and Shiro finally find Matt. However, Matt now needs a brace for the leg Shiro injured while posing as “preChampion” to be able to support him. Shiro’s extremely guilt-ridden over it, but Matt assures him that ultimately it did save his life, and instead of having him transferred to a mining penal colony, he actually got transferred as a researcher after fixing the transport. After that, he bid his time for a chance to escape...which he eventually did when his scheme serendipitously coincided with a rebel attack. Unfortunately, Sam didn’t survive, Matt learned post-escape. The stress killed him well before his transport ever took him to a penal colony.

Voltron’s allies continue to grow. However, Zarkon finally recovers right about the time the Blades discover a quintessence supply chain of a new kind of quintessence...which eventually leads to the discovery of SEVERAL cloning fascilities where BlackPaladin Grade Quintessence is being harvested from hundreds of thousands of Shirogane Clones. Takashi, Ryou, and Jiro are all understandably outraged and physically sick at the revelation. Jiro also questions if his quintessence mimicking Shiro’s is the only reason why the BlackLion saved him at all [despite knowing where/having back her Paladin.] Shiro and Ryou try to reassure Jiro that that can’t be the reason/that he has his own value/etc, but Jiro’s unable to quite believe them.

The clones are finally freed (*cue tense battle here*), and like Jiro, many of them are pissed and choose to join the Rebels’ Ranks in various fields as both payback and a genuine desire to help and explore.

(*cue MORE SciFi Camp and Diplomacy etc*)

Eventually there’s another showdown with Zarkon, Haggar, and Company, spanning either into one massive battle or several smaller ones happening at once. Zarkon’s more powerful than ever thanks to the stolen Shirogane Quintessence Haggar used to revive him (that he continued to nom on up until the clones were rescued, although he still had his stockpile to ration)...but his attempts to seize the BlackLion/bust apart Voltron that way fail spectacularly. The Bond cannot be forced, and blacktashi healed eachother. 

Zarkon then summons his anti-voltron made from finally successful robeasts with living pilots. (it’s...a work in progress. as in, how does Sendak fit in, or prolly instead Sendak’s Clone, etc etc. But ultimately some of the previous antagonists return, after they got much more backstory etc in Campy TM stuff) (*cue mech battle*)

Allura finally has her match against Haggar and wins.

(Lotor&Co have their own role, but idk what)

At last...Zarkon and Haggar are defeated, with the bulk of their forces either killed, in custody, or on the run.

-

Lotor fights his way to the top of the Kral Zera to light his flame. However, his rule and insistence on change isn’t popular with the bulk of the remaining empire after 10,000 years under Zarkon. The remnants of Zarkon’s forces also try to cause trouble. There’s also tension with Voltron and the former Rebel Coalition as the universe attempts to rebuild their societies after being subjugated for so long. 

The surviving Alteans also long for their own planet and begin to rebuild their culture now that the Galran threat is finally gone, but they’re still vulnerable.

(Earth’s solar system also may or may not have been destroyed near the end of the 10,000 year war, with the surviving humans mainly being the former Galaxy Garrison, so they’re looking for their own planet/system, too.)

(*cue MORE Save the Galra...and The Galra Have Entered The Planet Race!*)

So, you know. Basically an adaptation of Vehicle Voltron as a “post game”.

-

Aaand, yet more smatterings of SciFi Camp as they rebuild/are Really Really finally at peace, and they finally just get to explore and experience the sort of Paladinship their predecessors did before Zarkon dragged everyone into the 10,000 year war. Because exploration/campy vld stories are always fun. 

[aquaburst3]

During the Hyberbole interview, we got a clue about what’s gonna unfold next season with Lotor and the paladins...

“I think you kind of said it when you called him complicated, so I think the situation is complicated. It has a lot of opportunities for complication. And within that, I think, Lotor has a lot of sides to him. And some of them we might agree with morally, some of them we might be on board with morally. And the same goes for our team,” Dos Santos said. “They’re going to have to work out those situations. That’s one of the things that excited us most about a character like Lotor. There is an element to him that is extremely relatable. Hopefully that’ll come out a little more.”

Montgomery added, “There are definitely views that he has that our characters would, and could, possibly agree with and, of course, views that they’d be like ‘absolutely not.’ The fun is seeing how that pans out and do they work together well? Or ultimately are they not able to meld.”

“Ambiguity. That’s how we like to play it.”

From this, I can gather, that things are gonna get...well, complicated next season and there’ll be a lot of conflicting view points about how to deal with Lotor. Some of the paladins might never trust him and maybe want to kill him despite the agreement while others might completely agree with Lotor morality wise and take his side. Because of these disagreements, it could cause friction between the paladins. That makes sense, since that would seem like something that would unfold if this happened in real life. 

My main question now is, which of the paladins will take his side and completely agree with Lotor morality wise like the showrunners are seeming to imply would happen next season? 

Well...AJ and Neil might’ve gave a clue about that as well. 

During the Let’s Voltron podcast, the names that were brought up about who would get along with Lotor the best were Allura, Hunk and Keith. 

Hunk= Good food would bring people together. (As a side note, Hunk’s VA also implied that Lotor and Hunk would get along well during other interviews, especially in ones before s3 came out)

Allura=  Because they have similar backgrounds.    AJ also added, “Kimberly and I get along very well, so art will intimate life.” (Neil also made a “uh-oh” sound, which seemed like he was trying to get AJ to shut up...most likely because he was spouting out a spoiler.)

Keith= They will get along because of their similar backgrounds and attitudes. Keith will bring out the good in Lotor and ground him. 

Where will that leave the rest of the team? Well...it’s hard to say. From what Jeremy implied in the past, Lance may get jealous or not trust Lotor. I have no idea how Pidge and Shiro might react (especially Shiro, since I still think that’s a clone). I have no clue how the BOM or the rebels will react to Lotor. 

Either way, I’m curious to see how this will unfold next season. 

[ccaprico]

I’ll Find You:

Relationships: Shiro & Black Lion.

Characters: Shiro (Voltron), Black Lion (Voltron).

Synopsis: Black was at a loss. The other paladins had stopped looking for her paladin, and if they weren’t going to do anything about it, then she would.

Word Count: 2,161

A03

When Black sent her paladin across the universe, to the safest place she could find in the depths of his mind, she wasn’t expecting it to take so long for him to return. 

True, she didn’t understand how the world of the paladins worked, but she knew it wouldn’t take too long for her paladin to come back. In the meantime, she had to make do with the red paladin.

None of them were particularly happy about the change. The red paladin was ill-suited to the role of leader, too quick to jump into action before thinking. He was brash and complained about everything, most of all Black. She had half the mind to kick him out – consequences be damned – but she knew red would never stand for it. Her paladin asked her to choose him as a successor for some reason entirely lost on her. She trusted her paladin’s judgement, and it’s seemed the red paladin was just as keen to find him as she was, but damn, she didn’t enjoy a moment of it.

With the red paladin out of the way, Red all but pounced on the blue paladin. It seemed entirely irrational, with the blue paladin’s watery and happy-go-lucky tendencies, but Blue hadn’t left him much of a choice. It was wise of her to put her barriers up, forcing distance between the two. If she hadn’t, Black knew she would swallow him up and never let go.

Blue chose the princess to carry out her work, much to Black’s chagrin. She seemed much more suited to the role of black paladin than the red one could ever hope to be, but again, she had a deal to keep. Hopefully, the group could find her paladin before anyone got hurt, which seemed like a very real possibility now.

So they searched, and the red paladin charged in as expected, complaining all the way about the speed and the controls and how she wasn’t moving enough. She refused to bond with the boy, not even offering the choice of a jaw-blade in the battle. Her paladin would probably scold her for it if he was here, but he wasn’t. Frankly, he was all she cared about.

And then the imposter showed up. A man who looked and had the same biorhythm as her paladin, but most definitely wasn’t. He stunk of black magic and wrongness in a way her paladin could never smell. He tried to fly her, and although he had the same mindset as her paladin, the same good will, she refused to open up to an imposter. 

Shiro was her one true paladin.

The paladins took it entirely the wrong way, of course. The red paladin now thought he was her rightful paladin, and the group saw the imposter more and more as Shiro with every passing day. It terrified her as much as it surprised her. They stopped looking for her paladin, and started going back to freeing planets, one-by-one. She could feel the red paladin pushing at her bond, trying to force a connection that neither of them wanted. 

It was obvious that they were never going to find her paladin like this. The only who had their suspicions on the imposter was the green paladin and the princess, but neither of them were willing to act. 

So Black would do it in their stead. 

She waited until the time was right, in the lull between them freeing a planet and battling the Galra. All the paladins were tired and ready for a rest, and it was something even the imposter couldn’t force them away from. She could tell in the way his remarks became more snappish, the demands he threw over the comms line, that whatever magic lay dormant within was beginning to take hold. She had to move quickly before the others were in danger. 

When the night simulator finally turned on and her home was filled with the creaks of long-forgotten times, she moved. The hangar doors opened on her command, and she shot through them, into space. Even if the others woke up now and signalled the alarm, she would be too far away for them to track her. Not that it made a difference: she was getting her paladin back, whether they liked it or not.

Even from light years away, she could still feel the tug of their bond pulling at her soul. He was somewhere in the far reaches of the universe, with the saved-friend she saw in his memories. He was safe. She had removed him from danger. Nothing had happened to him.

...What if it she was wrong?

Her paladin deserved the world for what he put up with, and Black might have sent him some place worse than the Galra. No, nothing was worse than her ex-paladin. His corruption was absolute. But she knew about his time as a fighter, how her paladin hurt the one he loved to protect him. If the saved-friend had mistaken it for animosity... No!

With a roar, she surged forward, reaching deep within herself. The world of blank space and bright stars dissolved into a shining light, and when she returned, the tug on her bond was just a little bit stronger. How many times could she manage to transport before she was completely drained? Fifteen? Sixteen? She’d never had to jump such long distances before.

But she’d do it. For Shiro.

She carried on pushing forward until her connection to the other lions was all but lost. Green and Yellow were confused, erratic - unsure of where their leader was. But Red and Blue understood. They wanted their paladins back, to feel whole again after so long. Black just needed to know he was okay, that she had saved him after how much she hurt him.

Black wasn’t stupid. She knew how much he hurt after the first time she rejected him, back when her ex-paladin forced their connection. Some of it had been intentional, to save her paladin from the pain of the arena again, but some of it had been selfish. She wanted to see with her own eyes what had become of him. The connection had ended so abruptly, so suddenly after they went into that strange place, that knowing he was alive made her overjoyed. And then his conscious pushed against hers, and it wasn’t the kind paladin she knew all those years ago, but a creature that had become the puppet of something much darker. Something not from their universe. 

And then they crash-landed, their bond as tattered as her outside, and she needed the red paladin to pilot her. It had been an impulse decision on her behalf; to save her paladin through the red paladin. It worked, of course, but their bond became even more fractured. Laced with feelings to self-doubt and pain, traumatic memories from both of them clouding their judgment. She was in no right-mind to stop her previous paladin from connecting to her, finding their location.

She expected him to give up with her then. To call it quits and head back to his world, one so different from her home but just a beautiful. Why would he want to spend time with such a disloyal machine, one that could even choose between her two paladins? She wanted to accept Shiro, but he couldn’t commit, freezing up when she tried. She wanted to reject Zarkon, but that would mean giving up on the man who had helped her so many times in the past. 

Split between the two paladins, she did the only thing she could do: bring them to her realm.

It was so obvious, then, which one she wanted. Shiro – it would always be Shiro. Her paladin. Her perfect, traumatised paladin who accepted all her flaws, and she accepted all his. It was completely different from Zarkon, who always saw her as a weapon. And for once, she was free. 

She vowed that would be the last time she ever rejected him, and she planned to stick to that promise until the day she was too battered to live. 

She travelled for days, pushing her thrusters to the edge and using her teleportation whenever an obstacle got in her way. The castle was long gone, but her paladin was still so far away. She was somewhere in the middle, between going home and finding her paladin. And she was already on the edge of breaking down.

Black endured – for her paladin, for herself. She only had one, good jump left until she was out of quintessence, and her fuel was running on fumes, but she endured. She needed to rest, or find a power source before she really did find herself stranded.

Her saviour came in the form of a massive gas planet off in the distance, with huge storms raging on the surface. The scanners picked up a mix of metallic hydrogen and titanium as its core, surrounded by clouds of helium, nitrogen and various other gases. It didn’t matter to her: the sky was her element. As long as there was air, her power could return.

She delved into the gas planet head-first, soaking up the quintessence. Pieces of scrap metal scratched across the hull, tearing away her black paint, but it didn’t matter. She could survive being a bit battered, as long as she could continue. It took time for the quintessence of the planet to soak into Black, especially given how depleted her reserves were. Where Red survived off heat and Blue off the ice, Black’s was much more versatile. Her element was everywhere, which meant she could feast on it almost anywhere, but at a price: she gathered the least amount of quintessence from it. Usually, it wouldn’t bother her, but now...

Finally, her thrusters were full.

Without a second to spare, she surged back out of the gas planet, erupting in a cloud of metal and ice as she went. How many hours did she spend soaking in the gas planet? She didn’t know, but it was too many. He was so close – she could feel their bond pulling them together, searching for one another.

It was too much. She wanted her paladin now! 

Her scanners finally picked up on livable planets ahead, any one of them having the potential to hold her paladin. One looked like an ice planet, perfect for the short, flabby creatures she identified on the surface, and the next was a sandy desert. Neither had her paladin. 

She went through each planet one-by-one, searching as far as her scanners allowed for her paladin. Until, right on the very end – she found him. On a planet as dark as the astral plane, in a city to the edge of one of their continents.

The atmosphere burned around her as she pushed forward, shooting like a fallen star toward the city. Her paladin was here, somewhere, and she would find him. Her bond shook with the amount of force she put into it, screaming to the other end that she was here for him. Here to bring him home.

And he called back.

A surge of warmth shot through her circuits as her paladin appeared on the top of one of the buildings, still wearing his paladin armour with his saved-friend in tow. Black never thought she’d see the day where she lost her composure. But- it was him – thank god it was him – he was alright – he was okay – why didn’t he come back after so long?! 

She landed on top of the building, waiting for an answer. It came moments later, as her paladin looked sheepishly around for the others. It was just her. She came for him. 

His mind opened to the question, revealing everything. The team would be better with a change of leadership. He was needed here, to organise the rebellion like a good leader would do. The others could survive without him dragging them down. He loved them too much to do something like that.

And it hurt, because she knew how much he loved her, but he didn’t know how much she loved him. After everything that happened, she never showed him. Not until now.

She didn’t waste a second before swallowing him, pushing her mind against his. He should feel everything: how much she missed him, how much she needed him. It had been a nightmare with the red paladin. How, in the moment where she sent him away, it had been the toughest thing she ever had to do. Never again would he doubt his importance to her or the team. Never again would she let him think – even for a moment – that she wasn’t lost without him. 

He responded in tow with promises to never leave again. They were in this together, until the day her ex-paladin was free of his nightmare and her true paladin could finally rest easy. 

After months of trying, she found him.