#allura proved just how strong and powerful she is once and for all

[shehungthemoon]

Unpopular opinion but

[mythandtruth]

Voltron theories

Dark entity

The dark entity from the VLD universe is one of the most mysterious, crucial, yet most overlooked elements of the story. In Season three, we learn that this entity was the reason why the war happened. But still, this little character just appears and disappears after that, and its role seems unimportant or even misplaced.

In season eight and through other seasons it briefly appeared for a few moments and then again disappeared. In season eight it looked like this entity would become one of the most important Antagonists again, but once again we were tricked and the entity simply disappeared. We definitely got the backstory of the entity in season eight when "Lotor" said it was a being older than life itself. For conversation sake let’s say that this entity is technically the "Devil" in this universe. So Quintessence is a light energy, or at least somehow these two Types of energy came together and created realities.

I want two realities that are not dark and light. It just shapes from time. People are complex and with that so we swore and those who are part of it. it would have been an interesting idea and philosophy if they explained a little bit about this entity And it's perfect (which was supposed to be the main key of the story) but as I said it was just a side character, forgotten after the story was told.

One thing I noticed about this entity, and I still am not sure if it is canon or not, is that the entity has a different effect on each person it is attached to. I also believe that it has something to do with what their last talk was or what their strongest and weakest points in life were.

In order to prove that let's begin with the first person who was affected.

I believe the first victim of the entity was the Honerva. Like I said in my previous theory, I believe she wanted a child, but was unable to give birth to it or had multiple miscarriages because of biological problems. Honerva was able to see how dangerous the creature was, and maybe at some point decided to ignore it and to try to do other types of experiments with Quintessence.

After some years of not being able to give birth to a child and having multiple miscarriages, she was desperate. She was ready to do anything in order to save or even deliver a healthy son. At that point, she was very weak and the entity began to whisper in her ear in a similar manner to what he did to Allura in season eight, promising power for one simple request: get inside her body.

By doing so, she became possessed and slowly turned from a strong, intelligent woman into desperation and paranoia. All this time, she was carrying the entity in her body, not knowing what the consequences could be. Just like people usually make a deal with the Devil, there is a possibility that the entity promised her a healthy child, but it was unable to keep the promise. What's inside of her body at the end? It's beginning to whisper to her that she needs more and more contestants in order to fulfill her wish. At some point, Honerva became pregnant, and while feeding the entity, she was also feeding her own child with quintessence. By doing so, she poisoned her own child because the baby, even though I'm fused with the entity, could not really stand all the contestants it was getting. Or maybe it was just a Golem, a biology from my previous theory, Honerva, being so desperate, listened to the monster and even manipulated her husband to go to the quintessence field. By doing so, the monster inside of it was able to gain enough quintessence to become stronger. I believe it was even able to call for the rest of its pack, as we saw in season three. But by doing so, it killed Honerva and Zarkon. I believe the baby Lotor survived that trip to the quintessence field. He never died, but since he was conceived with the entity already present, he was in a way immune to it.

The entity made the final touch then. While Honerva was "dead", the entity researched her past in order to understand what her weakness was, and it found it. It was her son. Her desire to have a child was one thing that was keeping her alive and holding her to the edge of her sanity. But if the child was gone, she had no reason to live. That's what the entity did; it severed the connection between mother and child, making her forget all of the feelings and all of the things she did for us, her one and only child.

The Second Step was easy. It was to corrupt Zarkon. And that was very easy. It is very obvious from the first moment that Zarkon loved his wife very much, he wanted a son to but I think he always believed that no matter what even if they lose a child they still have each other. I believe so because his character did seem like that. But after many years of losing children and finally having a true I hope that his child has survived he Embrace that Hope. When The Entity " killed" the king it was easy to sever his Connection.

By erasing "Honerva" and her feelings for her son, Zarkon was already won over. In season five we see that he says " can you save the child?" as his child was the only thing that was important, and straight after that he said " take it away" like the child was nothing, just a pebble on the side of the road. Why such a change? It is simple because his connection to the child was Already gone. The only thing he loved, the only thing he cared about was Honerva and she was gone. King trying to save his son was actually his desperate attempt to bring her back by using the child she wanted so much. But after it was proven that she had no feelings for her son, his own son became nothing more but an obstacle in his life.

Just like he said in season eight. Until Zarkon realized that the queen was truly gone, he still had purpose for his son. These things show that both of them were trying to stay connected to their lives even while being corrupted to the bone.

The third person who was technically corrupted by this entity was Lotor. We have no proof of that except that his marks are different than what he should have had. During season 8, we see that being corrupted by this entity can change the shape of the marks, and Lotor's being born with deformed marks shows that he was born with the entity already inside. But I also believe that he was partially an entity. As I already said, she was connected to the entity from the time he was conceived, so he grew up with it. It was part of his DNA, and it wasn't possible for him to ignore it. This does not change what he did, or the fact that what he did was completely his fault. It simply helped him to make "wrong" decisions in his life. But I believe if Allura at least tried to save him, she might be able to. But she did not know what was happening. Maybe not even the prince was able to realize what was happening to him. After all, he never truly knew the story about his parents. All he knew was that Zarkon hated him for no reason and that, in the past, his mother was a good woman.

The fourth person who was corrupted was, of course, Allura. She was corrupted in season 8, and it happened by her own will. I believe because of that, she had some kind of control over it. The second part of why she had control is because she was Corrupted by only one small piece of this entity. She wasn't corrupted by the full flock of it. By doing so Allura was able to control it, until we reached the point when she met with the one person she could not forgive. As I said in my first theory about Allura’s trauma. She put all the faults of what happened in the past to one person - Zarkon and by doing so she was unable to forgive him or even to try to see the possibility that he didn't do it on purpose. Her hate, her desire to destroy one person who she once cared for and trust was fully out. But because she already had the power of Oriande inside of herself she was able to keep control. It can also be that she kept the control because she was surrounded by people she loved, even by her father who she tells she Had lost. But I'm not fully sure about this Theory. Because I'm sure about Zarkon, Honerva and Lotor, I am unsure about Allura. The answer to something worked differently but her but I said it might be because she had some kind of control over it. It is also possible that the small doses entity cannot fully corrupt you, but simply whisper to you and encourage your negative emotions. Similarly how it is to Honerva in season 3 and with Lotor.

The final victims were Alteans. And just like Allura they had a lot of control over what they were doing. It's possible they feel simply feeding on their fears and hate and it was done with their consent .That was the reason why they committed such a terrible things and brought so many bad decisions. At least I hope so. Because if that was not true then I have another theory about Alteans not being so nice.

All in all, this entity was supposed to be the main character, and was supposed to be the main threat. And since we know there is space between spaces, AKA the quintessence field, that is full of it. I expected it to be a fantastic antagonist who could never be truly defeated, but it turned out to be just a convenient character.

[teatimecrumpetsandsugar]

ethereal (voltron fantasy/royalty AU) (set up; part zero)

Heyo! It’s your friendly neighborhood Voltron fanfic aficionado- now your friendly neighborhood Klance writer but that’s honestly besides the point I don’t even know why you’d bring up my increasing obsession with them in this Klance fanfic that I swear everyone else will be in, too-

Today, I’ll be writing from a fantasy royalty AU with my favorite show cast ever, even though it may or may not be solely because I want to put water elemental!king!Lance in pretty dresses and makeup and just go crazy with my descriptions of gowns and other things.

I imagine, here, Lance would be from a kingdom with strong ties to Pidge’s kingdom, who has strong ties with Hunk’s kingdom, making them a powerful trifecta. I also imagine that Keith and Lance’s kingdoms are on very thin ice with one another, so Pidge encourages Lance to sit down with fire elemental!king!Keith. 

I also imagine that Pidge’s kingdom is closely allied with Allura’s and that the two of them grew up together, while she didn’t meet Hunk or Lance until she became queen. Also, I’d like to have my beloved Ruler Pidge go by she/they pronouns, simply because I see a lot of myself in the way she dresses and carries herself and I actually believe that these pronouns would fit her, alongside all pronouns.

Hunk and Lance likely grew up together in a very close ally ship and continue to be close friends well into adulthood because that’s just how they are. I can imagine Lance is very vaguely aware of Allura’s kingdom and would never dream of picking a fight with hers since, by default, allying with Pidge made him allies with Allura, but he probably doesn’t know her very well pre the canon timeline because I kind of want to build that relationship from the ground up to make up for what the show did to me-

Keith is definitely allied with Shiro, and Pidge and Shiro were always friends through her older brother, who, along with her father, abdicated from the throne and joined an adventurer’s guild instead (because they believed that Pidge would be a better fit for a ruler and decided that, given how they are, reconnaissance and exploration fit them better. She agreed with this insight, deciding to rule the kingdom the best way she knew how). Shiro, being a much more experienced king and friends with their brother, likely prepared them for the role as they grew into it; the two are on friendly terms, but allied isn’t exactly the right term as none of the people in their alliance knew Keith, so they weren’t sure they could ally with him. 

Lance met Keith at a gala years into his reign; they did not get along.

The system of Magic here will likely be dictated by what element one is born in the kingdom of, (i.e., Lance’s kingdom being the Aqua Kingdom, Pidge’s being the Spiritus Kingdom) and the strength of it in each person will be chosen based on a random set of variables that usually depends on the mood of the Gods corresponding to each element.

Lance- Water (Aqua Kingdom)

Keith- Fire (Ignis Kingdom)

Pidge- Life (Spiritus Kingdom)

Hunk- Earth (Terra Kingdom)

Shiro- Moon (Luna Kingdom)

Allura- Light (Lux Kingdom)

I imagine the reason an alliance is called for with Keith and Shiro’s kingdoms is because a traitor to Allura’s kingdom, either Lotor is planning on starting an entire mutiny with the ranks he’s managed to gather and then, consequently, conquer all of the rest of the kingdoms by force in the name of a long-dead kingdom- the Tenebris kingdom. His parents having died in the midst of a total economic crash caused by a codependent relationship with Allura’s kingdom whilst it was under her father’s rule, he was taken in by the state of Lux by Allura’s request, since they grew up together; unfortunately Lotor held lingering feelings of resentment- towards Lux, for causing the destruction of the only thing he could’ve ever considered his own by right, and towards his parents for always making him feel as if he was of no worth. He wants to conquer the entire world just to prove to himself that he is worth something, though, unfortunately, he’s on a path straight to death.

Might redeem him, might kill him off, might exile him- who knows at this point?

Hunk, I imagine, was a commoner who won the title of king through a series of magic-based trials (upon the death of the last ruler) and now keeps his entire family in the palace with him, using his title to take care of his family and citizens as a benevolent ruler. This likely happened when he was quite young- likely when he was 9 or 10, since magic is an innate thing and, in this kingdom, it’s tested in the youngest members of the kingdom in order to deem who is the most connected to their Goddess Terra.

Allura inherited her title when her own father died in the conflict with Tenebris- he went to battle with the people they’d unintentionally doomed in order to protect his daughter and his people, and died in the process; similar to her story in Voltron except her kingdom survives and Lotor and a select few survivors of the Galra become refugees.

Keith became king by beating the previous king’s son in a battle- his mother, being one of the higher ups in the government, sent word to him that the prince didn’t want to be king, so Keith wound up challenging him for the title. He won, successfully making his way into the world of prestige and getting closer to his mother. The prince left the kingdom shortly after- it’s believed that he ran away to be with someone, but no one is quite sure. All anyone knows is that he’s happy.

Lance wound up being king at a really young age- I’m imagining that, prior to his reign, his kingdom was incredibly strictly patriarchal. The previous king likely only had daughters, and the day of his death, Lance was born with incredibly powerful water magic. As a result, at the age of 6 years old, he was forcibly taken from his poor family and raised strictly to be a perfect king- however, he still saw his sister Veronica frequently in secret, the two of them sneaking around to eat baked goods and try on dresses together. When the palace staff found out, they tightened security and warned Veronica that she was no longer allowed to see him unless she wanted to be publicly executed. After his coronation (at age 8), however, he started making drastic changes to the laws that made the laws against commoners interacting with royalty more lax, and, once allowed to dress himself, started wearing dresses and makeup because it reminded him of home and made him feel as beautiful as he knew he was. He gets quite homesick quite often, and he’s still battling to get his family into the palace with him- he has, however, stripped the kingdom of its strict patriarchy. He constantly tells the kingdom that he hopes to one day pass the throne down to his own future daughter and still keeps the three princesses as his trusted advisors because he believes what happened to them was horribly unjust. The story will be told primarily from his perspective.

Shiro became ruler of his kingdom by fighting his way through gladiator ranks when he was only thirteen, winning the entire kingdom by brute force alone and leaving him with a lot more experience and trauma than he’d have liked. Being the oldest of the current generation of rulers and having inherited a kingdom that was closely related to Pidge’s and Keith’s, he guided them both through the process of becoming a ruler and the process of ruling, no matter how difficult it gets. It’s taken far longer with Keith than it has Pidge, since Pidge was raised a royal and has an innate sense of leadership and Keith is... interesting at the whole being a royal thing. Shiro, having grown up with Keith’s mother on the streets of the kingdom of Tenebris, was more than happy to take Keith under his wing- it helps the both of them come out of their shells more, so they have a mutual appreciation for one another.

I imagine this world will be vaguely futuristic and medieval at the same time- they’ll be able to have video conferences and reach other via communicators, holographic calls, things of that nature; but they’ll also be pretty old-fashioned in their manners of dress, their social systems, their currencies, and the vast majority of their laws. I hope that makes sense.

I wonder if it’s visible here that I spent three hours winging this and started getting more and more into it as I went, or if it’s obvious that I spend most of my time working with really obscure fantasy concepts. 

BAHDHAAHAHA I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS- 

If you’ve got any suggestions for relationship dynamics (platonic, romantic, or otherwise), any pitches for traits you think the characters may have based on their slightly altered backstories, or any feedback in general, feel free to share- I hope you all find this as fascinating as I did while I was writing it!

Also, @keefsteefs It’s happening, I’m doing it, it’s gonna be so fricking awesome-

[czechforrain]

Critical Role Episode 103: Are the Mighty Nein Gutless Cowards? The differences between them and the more Brash Vox Machina.

So we have just came off another episode where the mighty nein spent a lot of time deliberating and possibly trying to delay their fight with Vokodo. Trying to stack the deck as much as possible and get 3 tribal guardians, a few werebears and even a lesser diety to fight alongside them while also finding out if there was any weaknesses or exploitable backsides to this supposed god. 

And of course this leads to the same recurring topics being brought up again.

“The mighty nein are cowards.”

“ They try to run away from fights whenever possible.”

“They underestimate the hell out of themselves.”

“They draw out conflicts as long as possible going over several plans instead of making decisive moves and sticking towards them.” 

And the common reasoning for their super cautious play-style is the death of Mollymauk Tealeaf. After Fjord, Jester and Yasha got captured by the Iron Shepards, the rest of the Mighty Nein set out to ambush the party and this ended in disaster. Matt gave them several hints that this battle would be a lot tougher than they first thought but everyone was 100% in on ambush and combined with some less than stellar tactical decisions and bad rolls, we had our first campaign death 26 Chapters into the campaign. 

And then again in Episode 69 we had the Mighty Nein defeat Obann but after he died, the laughing hand did a number on everybody and fjord almost died after being grabbed by the laughing hand and everyone was beat to complete crap. 

Now these factors absolutely play a part on team morale and it informs their decisions to be more careful but I’d argue the real difference between the campaign so far is stakes. More specifically the consequences of running and hiding vs standing and fighting. 

THE STAKES

In comparison to Vox Machina, the mighty nein are less traditional heroes. Since the start of the campaign they balanced a decent relationship with the Authorities and Power structures with being involved in illegal practices such as helping the knights of requital to elevate one of their leaders to public office, working for a crime boss, providing Vigilante Justice and later stealing a boat and becoming pirates. Then after starting their quest to save Nott’s Husband they switched that balancing act to a more traditional play both sides mentality. The only difference of course being that there endgame was altruistic. They wanted to stop a war and they had to convince each side that they wanted something mutually beneficial while not appearing too friendly to the other side. 

Compare this to Vox Machina’s Four Major Arcs

K’varn

Threat: The influence of an ancient artifact is starting to get closer to reaching the surface and if unchecked could lead to major problems for the city. 

Personal: Beloved NPC Allura Vysoren’s friend (at the time) has basically been taken captive and they need to save her before she dies and she won’t go back until her dream quest journey is complete. 

Briarwoods

Threat: The Briarwoods sent gaseous assassins to kill their hostage chauffeur revealing that their influence could still reach the M9.  King Uriel had placed them under house arrest / city arrest while under investigation and their freedom was curtailed until they remove the charm on him by presumably killing the briarwoods.

Personal: The villains killed Percy’s family and took control of is city and home. Percy’s family is hinted to be alive in some manner and the reputation of the team is tarnished.

Chroma Conclave

Threat: Four Ancient Dragons controlling the continent of Tal’dorei and crushing anyone who would dare to threaten their newly seized dominion. Their current home is in the backyard of the leader of this conclave and their friend’s newly liberated hometown is also under threat. 

Personal: The head of the villains killed Vax and Vex’s parents. Tiberious was later killed by the threat and the instrumental figure in crafting the alliance betrayed and caused the death of many of the Fire Ashari.

Vecna

Threat: An old mage from the days of the age of Arcanum is planning to complete a seeding ritual to make himself a god and take over the world. 

Personal: Scanlan implores them that this is a very important quest and essentially returns for this reason. Lady Briarwood is serving the Whispered one which puts all of VM at unease. Vecna personally disintegrates one of Vox Machina. 

These arcs, along with Keyleth’s overall quest being something that she had to face despite her constant self doubts and idealism anxiety, were stuff that Vox Machina couldn’t run from. They couldn’t ignore the issues because the threats were present, personal and there were negative consequences to ignoring the call to action. 

Now compare that to the Mighty Nein who exist in a grayer campaign where the right path isn’t always easily identifiable and every action might have negative and positive consequences. 

And paralleling their journey it’s easy to see the differences.

Episodes 1-33

Episode 1-4 had them as complete strangers mainly fighting Kyrie, the devil toad to prove their innocence after the circus gets blamed for the results of the show. Then they take a job to rescue missing townsfolk from gnollish marauders. Once they arrive in Zadash, they sympathize with the Knights of Requital who desperately wants to replace High-Richter Prucine with their leader Dolan and they offer to help for some coin but the entire plan was supposed to be a series of heists, only turning violent when said the High-Richter returned and Ulog in a moment of rage killed himself and her in one go. 

They then end up whilst trying to get heat off themselves for the murder working for the gentleman who gives them tasks which he promises a healthy amount of coin for that mainly involve getting rid of monsters that are getting in the way of his business and also removing a gang / providing safe passage for one of his associates. Then unexpectedly Molly dies, and the group mentions running would be the smart thing to do but because Fjord, Jester and Yasha are still enslaved the group presses on with a strong resolve to save their missing comrades and avenge molly. 

Episodes 34-49

After this they take a trip to Jester’s hometown and they help her mom out by attacking and mutilating a customer of hers who is acting abusive and controlling in regards to his companionship with her. They end up stealing a boat because they’re not sure how to explain what happened to the guards because they essentially got into a fight for no reason. 

They sail around on fjord’s quest with Avantika for a while despite being quite unnerved by her fanaticism and her end goal to free Uka’Toa. They try to get dirt on her in which to frame her and succeed but her companion has locate object and just before the mighty nein are exposed Caleb recognizes this is a crucial moment and launches the first attack. 

They do run against a young blue dragon but it’s a situation where they all don’t have any need to beat the blue dragon and are just trying to get out. But regardless this is the first winnable encounter they actually end up running from.

Now it’s not unusual up until this point but so far most of their encounters have been quests, stuff that they are paid to get rid of, they’re told about this thing and they kill it for the most part. They’ve felt pretty generally confident about whatever springs up

Episodes 50-87

Now once we get into the Angel’s Irons section things start to change. They go into Xhorhas close up the portal and retrieve evidence to earn a favor from the bright queen before that turns into them being closely watched heroes. They smartly negotiate a truce with the giants instead of wiping them out as they were originally paid to do and free their home of the demonic incursions. They fight Obann the first time and chase after him as they try to get to the bottom of this portals business and eventually things end in heartbreaking failure. 

This kicks off to the Ancient White Dragon Iceflex heist. In this situation them not running would be catastrophic and  it’s completely understandable that they ran. However this episode did get some criticism because they had a long repeating running gag with Yeti’s undercover business that led to about an hour of planning and really slowed down the pace. 

Then a few episodes later they scry on yasha and receive knowledge that she is going to the Lotusden Greenwood to find the heart of the inevitable end. After a stroke of luck with charm person where they take the hand out of the situation they sneak up on Obann and fail at stopping him with Nott’s mage hand. This reluctance to fight here seemed a bit off to people because they already killed Obann but it’s understandable if they didnt want to engage directly though this could be classified as a winnable fight if they played their cards right. There was a hostile tree but incite greed kind of removed it from the fight vs Obann.

We then go to the Happy Fun Ball where a Golem like entity essentially hunts them through many rooms until they get to a point where they can no longer run from it and use machinery in the workshop to help destroy the thing. They probably could have kept running but the continuance of this threat eventually got them so annoyed that they chose to fight it then and there. 

Then we get the whole round 3 vs Obann where to save Yasha, there is no way that they can run away from this fight. When the fight in the cathedral ended, even if the MIX felt fine leaving him alone, Nott got charmed into following them beneath to act as a vessel to break the seal. That and obviously they wanted to give this creep who messed with Yasha what was coming to him and prevent his shenanigans from returning to cause them trouble. 

Episodes 88+

The cupcake moment was brilliant and an excellent subversion of a Hag Fight. Jester bet on herself and for the time being it worked out masterfully giving Veth a free out of her curse. 

Similiarly with Caduceus’ Family they couldn’t just leave the gorgon roam free and not revive his family when they had the chance so they stood their ground and fought it. 

Contrast this with the Dragon Turtle encounter where it’s a threat to them sure but they’re under no obligation to defeat it. Why fight for no good reason and risk death when you can just turn it into a sea slug and bounce?

Why fight Vokodo now when they can greater restoration each other and bring more allies and possibly even the traveler himself to their side? 

The main reason why the Mighty Nein have constantly ran from encounters is that there hasn’t been enough reason for them to stay and fight. When there is a reason they are pretty cautious to not go in under-prepared and thus have moments where they over plan. 

A possible problem that can come from this risk averse approach though just made itself clear in this last episode though. There ship was destroyed because they didn’t defeat the turtle or keep the ship hidden away or sailing where the turtle couldn’t reach it. 

Because they didn’t go straight at Vokodo, either the first time or at a later day from the jump where they had a solid plan they are gonna be down spell slots if they do indeed end up not reaching caduceus in time. If they do end up reaching him in time that might mean they have to burn even more spells and will have to try again some other time. Despite there existing some benefits to playing it safe, there are also negatives and I feel like Matt has been stressing that more and more lately

Vox Machina couldn’t afford to rest when it came to the Briarwoods or the Chroma Conclave and I think if the MIX were in a similiar situation they would also step u to the plate it’s just so far they’ve been generally fine with avoiding dangerous situations when possible but it looks like things may be changing in the future. And when people they care about or places they care about are threatened by such outside sources I think we’ll see a lot of the same gumption from the MIX as we did with Vox Machina. It’s just based on there start as a secret grungy kind of illegal group that preferred to stay out of the limelight and experiences with rushing into trouble that it’s taken them longer then Vox Machina to get to this place.

TLDR; I wouldnt say they are cowards but their experiences when combined with lower stakes if they bail out of fights means that unless they feel like they cannot run away due to personal connections or a sense of duty, they probably will run if the threat looks somewhat fierce. That has helped them some risks but it also can possibly lead to more in the future. But I do feel that the story is moving towards a place where they are gonna have reasons to stand firm and fight and become heroes in their own special way.

[yelmor-boots]

History of Altea: Path to Peace

If your sensitive to genocide, assassinations, bombings, self sacrificing, or the mentioning of death, maybe don’t read this. But if you do want to read this? Just keep in mind, it is all fiction. Altea is not a real world (sadly) and I just wanted to understand Allura’s love for her planet a little more closely. This doesn’t follow cannon but I tried to chalk it up as closely to cannon as I could possibly get it. This is just fan fiction so you could choose if you accept it as cannon or not.

Now that that is out of the way, press Keep Reading to get into the history of Altea. Maybe I’ll make a follow up post explaining some of the creatures and currency of Altea, but I’ll decide that another time.

Some of the characters and points created in this post was thanks to @ttw-vld-and-other-stuff​​. Garian Smythe was her original idea and I already asked if I could use him in this post.

UNDERSTANDING THE RIFT

The Rift is pretty much a containment unit that stores all the Quintessence in the entire known Universe. Although invisible, The Rift is all around us. The Rift is constructed of Phonotonium, a gas-like element that expands particles or awakens certain chemicals to make creatures or planets alive. The barrier of The Rift is strong enough to contain Quintessence (the essence of Life) but weak enough to allow Phonotonium (the essence of Spirit) to roam freely.

    When released, Phonotonium travels between the energy of stars and could posses certain planets on its own will. Over years, Yelmors will evolve on the Planet and harvest surfacing Phonotonium to protect the Eco-system’s balance. People who evolve on those planets have a closer connection to The Rift and gain special abilities.

    (Yelmors could survive up to nine decophoebs without Phonotonium and Phonotonium surfaces every five decophoebs.)

BUILDING ALTEA

Altea was an uninhabitable planet that orbited Alfor-Plexis, a burning bright star. Because of its close range with Alfor Plexis, the atmosphere held vaporized rock instead of water. Phonotonium possessed the core of Altea and made it habitable, despite its close proximity to Alfor-Plexis. From Alch-Ories to Ande Shifts to Emii to Alteans, all creatures were evolved magical and chameleon-like.

HISTORY OF ALTEA

The Alteans discovered Alchemy during the CONSTRUCTION AGE of Altea, when buildings and food markets were being built. Alteans found that they could use the energy of another person and heal them within seconds. As well as creating small wormholes to teleport. Because of their close connection to The Rift, Alteans advanced in technology much faster. They believed it was a gift from the Gods and Goddesses.

    The AGE OF DISORDER was an age where Alteans couldn’t find peace among their people. Disagreement was frequent and many Alteans lost their jobs. Everything fell into disarray. The birth of Nendis was seen to be another gift of the Gods. Nendis was born on the streets because his family lost all their jobs but had the closest connection to The Rift in Altean history. During a rather destructive rock storm, Nendis saved the Alteans by bending the energy of all the rocks and projecting them away from the village. He was crowned ruler of the Alteans and went down in history as King Nendis the Powerful.

    THE AGE OF TERROR began when a young Altean couldn’t use Alchemy. The King — King Vamon the Brave — ordered the boy to be killed. Claiming that he was a danger to the Alteans if he couldn’t use Alchemy. Any non-Alchemists would be killed two years into showing no signs of Alchemic knowledge.

    A few years later, five Star Sailors landed on Planet Altea. They told them about the Dalterion Belt and how they were gifted with knowledge. They claimed to be on a mission to discover new planets throughout the Universe. They told the Alteans of the stars and planets they’ve seen, but the new Queen — Queen Novila the Crude — believed they were demons sent by the Gods to test them.

    Half of the Altean population left Altea with the demons and never returned. Many believed they were struck down by the Gods, others believed the demons took them to Hell. The Star Sailors left behind a single ship that the Alteans called EHI. Altean for ‘Victory’.

BUILDING ORIANDE

Half of the Altean population left with the Star Sailors. Some believed them and others wanted to see it for themselves. After seeing their planet from the stars, the Alteans agreed to travel with the Dalterions. During their travels, they studied the gift of their Alchemy and the enhanced knowledge of the Dalterions (as many did not bare such gifts).

    They studied their powers for years with the Dalterions before meeting with the water planet, Nalqoud. The King of Nalquod — King Haso — told them about their mysterious creatures, Yelmors. A very crucial animal to their Eco-system. The Alteans, Dalterions and people of Nalquod started studying the creatures, as for Yelmors lived on all of their planets and not on the ones of non-Alchemists.

    They discovered Phonotonium and studied it for even more years. Phonotonium was dangerous in the wrong Alchemist’s hands. It connected all energy so closely that it needed to be handled with utmost care. The more they learned of Phonotonium, the stronger their powers became. Dalterions could think faster, people of Nalqoud started to build palaces underwater, and Alteans could choose to make or break energy.

    With their powers combined, the Alteans, people of Nalquod, and the Dalterions all created a vortex that broke sense of physics. A gaping white hole hidden away in the depths of the Universe. Even though it was so bright and in plain sight, nobody could find it. The Alteans created a stone for all the people who wished to see Oriande and read upon all of their research.

DRUID WARS

    One day, Druids of Daibazaal gathered all of their knowledge and used it against the founders. The founders fought valiantly, side-by-side till the end. The older they got the stronger the druids became. So, the founders used their powers to create Guardians to protect the land of Oriande.

    The lion of fire; to burn their enemies if they got too close.

    The lion of water; to wash them away from the border.

    The lion of earth; to keep their defenses solid from any attacks.

    The lion of forest; to hide the entrance of the mystical land.

    The lion of spirit; to cast away any unworthy of Oriande’s knowledge.

    They called their army Voltron. Altean word for ‘Defender’.

But the Druids made a fighter of their own, anticipating a backlash from the founders. Using their Alchemy, they summoned a dark creature from the depths of creation. Many died in the process. Fifty druids were left, leaving two hundred behind them. They ambushed Oriande’s gates and many died from the lions attacks. But before all of them could be wiped out, they unleashed the beast they’ve summoned.

    The black creature attacked the lions with fury and aggression that rivaled a thousand suns. It absorbed the lions one by one, gaining its powers and becoming stronger. The creature broke through all the lions till only one was left. But the white lion could not hold the creature down.

    The founders worked together for one last time to save the guardian and end the reign of terror. They bended their own energies, combining into one spirit. Wielding their mystical sword to defend their land and holding forth their shield to protect Oriande once and for all. They pulled the entity into The Rift. Pushing themselves into the empty void and dissapearing from sight.

    The white lion recovered overtime and held himself before the vortex of Oriande.

He killed any druid that dared cross his path and any criminal that tried to rob the Archives. Only few were worthy of the sight of Oriande. Daibazaal ships got torn apart and floated around the white hole, their pilots nowhere to be seen.

    Everyone who found that place claimed it dangerous and strayed far away from the white hole. But Alteans, people of Nalquod, and Dalterions knew the truth. They built a new home on Planet Entuk, and engraved mosaics of the journey.

    Hiding compass stones all over the Universe to assure no foe ever try and cross Oriande’s path.

THE AGE OF TERROR

During the Druid Wars and the Building of Oriande, Altea was loosing more and more Alteans as more and more became non-Alchemists. Soon, a non-Alchemist Prince was born. Prince Garian. He saw the struggles of his people as he was unable to use Alchemy as well. His parents hid him from the world, getting a daughter that could use Alchemy and presented her as future queen.

    Once Prince Garian was old enough, he decided to do one of the most reckless acts of his entire life. Taking three non-Alchemists with him, he left Altea in EHI. Looking for the answers of Alchemy. The non-Alchemists who joined him on his journey were Hona, Annir Cosar, and Hieronymus Smythe.

    He learned to love outer space, appreciating all the stars and planets he came to see. He followed the coordinates installed into his ship and landed on the Dalterion Belt. He found a few old Alteans who pointed him to Planet Entuk for the answers he needed.

    There, he found a compass stone, and many other Alteans who brushed him up on the history of Oriande. Scared that his lack of Alchemic powers could get his crew killed by the Guardian, he flew in alone. Despite having no Alchemic powers, the Guardian accepted him and allowed him into the land of Oriande.

    He read through every book he could find, researching the true meaning of Alchemy. His friends were allowed inside along with him and they found more ways than Alchemy to prove themselves. To be worth something. They returned home and told the entire village of their findings.

    His sister, who was now crowed Queen Hema the Kind, insisted she step down and let him take the throne. But they came to an agreement. That he ruled beside her as a second King and call off the treacheries their ancestors have brought upon the Alteans. The Alteans learned to seek peace instead of violence cause of their actions and ended the Age of Terror.

    He was crowed Second King Garian the Knowledgeable.

ERA OF STARS

Ever since Second King Garian the Knowledgeable’s discovery beyond their planet, Alteans started to build ships that resembled EHI. They built an Altean ship called MAHI, which was Altean for ‘New Heights’. They built more and more ships and more technology advanced towns. Dalterion and Nalquod became close allies of Altea after their history of Oriande was revealed.

    Non-Alchemists were free to live among others and Alteans built a school for all future Alchemists. Their first cruiser — CEZZI (Altean for ‘Peace’) — was launched into outer space and used for meeting new planets and discovering more of the Universe every day. Oriande so far in their past that it became a childhood folk tale. Few believed in its history.

    The tale of Oriande dwindling, Wimbleton Smythe decided to dedicate his entire life to building a living relic in the name of Oriande. It was going to be one of the largest ships ever created in any planet. He was going to call it ‘The Castle of Lions’ in remembrance to the brave fight of all five lion Guardians. He promised to build it for the royals, in which they accepted almost immediately.

    Five years into The Castle of Lions’ development, a large portion of their city got bombed.

THE (first) GALRAN WAR

After the announcement of The Castle of Lions has been sent out, the Galra of Daibazaal were able to get hold of the information. They saw it as a personal attack against them since the Druid Wars were highly offensive to them and their history. They attacked without even attempting to reason, killing over fifty Alteans. It was a declaration of war.

    King Groggery the Infirm sent diplomats out to reason with the Galra but the diplomats never returned. A week later, King Groggery the Infirm was assassinated. The Galra kept attacking more and more of their land as the months passed by. The Queen sent out almost all of her diplomats and guards to reason with the Galra. But Daibazaal refused to stand down.

    A few months later, they forced the Queen’s hand when they killed the future heir to the throne. A war broke out. CEZZI, a ship called after peace, was used as their warship. All citizens were evacuated to a distant planet called Arus. Queen Elora the Warrior died in battle and Wimbleton Smythe had to become substitute King until the rightful ruler was born.

    The people of Nalqoud and Dalterion worked hard to fight along side them. But the Galra had an alliance of their own. The people of Rygnirath, a race with an incredible strength, thanks to the Phonotonium in their planet. After Emperor Vuntoz started leading the Galra, Altea’s chance at survival was next to none. He created bots that could wipe out their soldiers faster then they could blink. And was working on creating a planet destroyer to end the reign of Altea. Permanently. Blow after blow from the Galra, they were weakening and Wimbleton Smythe called all Alchemists to help perform the biggest rune they could ever fathom. No one was guaranteed to survive.

    All Alchemists were taken to Arus to say goodbye to their families for possibly the last time before returning to Altea. The rune was performed for days at a time, guards protecting the Alteans from any attackers. They covered their planet with a force field that could hold out even their own ships. Constructing it for days at a time to hold together.

    After four days of the rune’s performance, five Alchemists died from the strain. Then ten, then fifteen, then twenty-two. Once the rune was complete, only seven Alchemists were standing. But Altea was sure to stand against the Galra’s firepower.

    The Galran War didn’t hold Wimbleton Smythe back. He kept building The Castle of Lions even when he was too weak to walk. He pushed on and was adamant on finishing this relic before he died. He wanted to see the Castle perched before the entire city before he would ever give in. Any pain that came over him, he took a swig of Nunvil to numb the pain and keep on working.

    But Emperor Vuntoz was adamant on winning the war. Taking down more and more soldiers whenever they left the safety of their planet. Making more bots to attack them and working on destroying the shield that protected their planet. Vuntoz died in battle and his daughter, Empress Zorta, took over.

    Dalterion, Nalquod, and Altea started to loose hope. The rune weakened after a few more years and the Galra’s cruisers reigned fire on their beautiful city. But they kept fighting, even when all hope was lost. They promised to fight to the very end.

    The beginning of the end of the war was when six young soldiers ran into battle to assure that the war end with peace.

    The Prince of Rygnirath, Gyrgan.

    The Princess of the Dalterion Belt, Trigel.

    The Prince of Nalquod, Blaytz.

    The Prince of Daibazaal, Zarkon.

    Wimbleton’s grandson, Coran.

    And a commoner that was sure to be the King of Altea one day, Alfor.

    All fighting together to put an end to the war. The final battle went on for days at a time, many soldiers died in the process. Prince Zarkon and Prince Gyrgan stood before Altea with allies, looking for the same goal they all worked so hard to achieve. Promising that they would come out alive. Prince Zarkon fought his mother, Empress Zorta, for the throne and Gyrgan fought to redeem his civilization.

    Alfor, Trigel, Blaytz, and Coran fought to keep Altea standing. After many cuts and bruises, trying to win the fight to the best of their ability, Altea stood victorious. Zarkon defeated his mother and took over the throne. Demanding the fight to be held back and to surrender.

ERA OF PEACE

After the battle, Coran and Wimbleton were reunited. Alfor and Zarkon got crowned King and Emperor after everything. The Galra and people of Rygnirath helped the people of Nalqoud, Dalterions, and Alteans to repair the city of Altea. Alteans relocated from Arus back to Altea and an official peace treaty was called between the Galra and Alteans. After a few more years, Trigel, Blaytz, and Gyrgan became the leaders of their own civilizations.

    But Alfor wanted to keep fighting for the right of the Universe, even if he was more experienced in Alchemy than being a warrior. That’s what he kept Zarkon around for. The five leaders chose to stick together, freeing anyone who went through the same trauma as the Alteans. And over the years of fighting together for the right of the Universe, they grew a closer bond and turned friends.

    Coran and his Pop-Pop Wimbleton went to visit a Balmera and using its crystals, they were able to further expand their teleduv technology as well as finish The Castle of Lions. Alfor created a rejuvenation ceremony every few months. Keeping the Balmeras and their people alive. Wimbleton Smythe got his dream of seeing The Castle of Lions built before all the Alteans and hosted the launch party to see it take its first flight.

    Wimbleton Smythe died the night the party ended. (Thanks to @ttw-vld-and-other-stuff​ for this part of the story) When Coran got a son he called him Garian after the Prince who brought peace among non-Alchemists and Alchemists alike. Because of the tragic rune created to protect Altea, many Alchemists died and became more rare among the Alteans. But with all of their allies at their side and a bright future ahead of them, the Alteans could stand against anything.

THE LEGACY OF VOLTRON

Inside The Rift for many years, the creature defeated by the army of Voltron started to solidify and even overpower The Rift in attempt to escape. Causing tears through all realities and making the Universe unstable. Phonotonium tried everything it could to patch these tears and keep balance. But it was slowly failing. Having no other option, the element took the Rift creature and pushed it out into the world. The comet flew from The Rift and sailed through empty space.

    Desperate to find a safe point, it targeted the most alive part of The Rift in the living world.

    Daibazaal.

    The leaders of Nalquod, Dalterion, Altea, and Rygnirath were all at Daibazaal’s castle when the comet arrived. It crashed in an open part of Daibazaal and opened up The Rift. Alfor took a fragment of the comet back to Altea’s labs where he could study it more closely. The Galra covered the Rift with a force field to assure the safety of the Galra citizens.

    Their first thought was that it was a comet that could pass through realities. Theorizing that The Rift was a gateway to another reality. Alfor brought one of the best Alchemists of Altea — Honerva — directly to Daibazaal so she could study The Rift more closely.

    Honerva started studying the Rift on Daibazaal and Alfor furthered his knowledge of the comet on Altea. Alfor and the other leaders made sure to visit as much as possible to keep a close eye on the development of the Rift (and a very clear relationship between the Emperor and the Alchemist).

    When Allura was born, Alfor made sure to introduce the new Princess of Altea to his close comrade before anyone else. He started constructing ships out of the comet that crashed on Daibazaal and was horrified and impressed to see it start to construct itself with barely any help from the Alteans. When Alfor entered the lab one day to see two lions painted Red and Green, he was shell-shocked to learn that nobody touched the lions the entire night.

    Honerva was able to extract a creature from The Rift one day and it proved to be hostile when it called to even more creatures that looked the same. Many Galra soldiers stood ready for whenever the creature may break through its hold. Alfor was surprised to see the Black Lion has constructed itself once he returned.

    Wanting to understand how the lions could possibly construct themselves so freely, Alfor set to work harder on the first lion made. The Red Lion. He spent many days trying to understand its engineering before — without trying — he bonded to the Red Lion’s energy. He felt like it was speaking to him in a way he couldn’t describe in words. Communicating without sounds.

    After all the lions seemed ready to fly and their weaponry was complete, he called over all the leaders to see his work. The Lions responded to each their own Paladin and taking the Red Lion for its first flight was remarkable. It was faster than any ship Altea could wish to make and only slower than light speed. But Alfor was sure, if he tested the limits, he may even be faster than that.

    During the battle against the Rift creature, they formed Voltron and reigned victorious. The Bayard he created fit perfectly into the Red Lion and created a sword that cut through the creature easier than to be comfortable with. With its formation, Alfor could hear the distant sound of his ancestors call the word ‘Voltron’. He could only assume it the ship’s name.

    Alfor instructed The Rift to be sealed but Honerva and Zarkon fought against him. Having little power over Daibazaal, Alfor had no choice but to accept. He continued working with Zarkon on freeing the Universe while Honerva continued her research. Thousands of people were saved and praised Voltron, the Defender of the Universe. It became a symbol of hope for all of those who’ve lost it before and inspired many to go to greater heights.

    But as the Universe prospered, Daibazaal was tearing at the seams. Zarkon became more irritable and almost impatient. Alfor tried to convince him to stop the research, save his planet while he still had a chance. But Zarkon turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to his planet’s state. Kova fell fatally ill not long after the creature attacked and Honerva extracted the Quintessence of The Rift to save him. The discovery struck excitement within the Galra.

    Honerva grew too weak to continue her research. Her mind was poisoned by the amount of Quintessence she frequented every day and was becoming unstable in both body and mind.

    She claimed that the creatures were calling to her. Communicating with her. Telling her to expand The Rift with Voltron. She said it was absolutely necessary. That their discoveries could save millions and gain them unlimited power.

    Zarkon lied to the Paladins, saying he valued their friendship and the safety of his people. But his mind lingered on the endless supply of Quintessence that could save Honerva and reign them powerful. They broke into The Rift but the mission didn’t go as planned. Desperate to save Honerva, he exposed her to the Quintessence all around them and the power overloaded them.

    They died from the endless power.

    Alfor evacuated the citizens and used Voltron’s power to put an end to the Galran home world. To assure it didn’t further destabilize the entire Universe. But the over exposure to Quintessence took a surprising turn, as Zarkon came back to life and called war upon Altea.

THE TEN-THOUSAND-YEAR WAR

Zarkon attacked Altea, trying to get his hands on Voltron but Altea retaliated. Alfor tried to reason with Zarkon but knew he was too far gone. Before him was a monster. Not the close friend he has come to know. He was forced to attack with the same amount of firepower, harming the Galran citizens he tried so desperately to protect. But all of them wouldn’t leave their Emperor behind.

    Zarkon started attacking innocent people and swore to stop if they handed over Voltron. The witch by his side — Haggar — sapped the energy out of Balmeras and many people were conquered by the Galra. Alfor needed to hide the lions for good so Zarkon could never find them.

    He sealed the Black Lion in the Castle and sent the lions away. He hid his daughter away in a cry-pod with Coran and challenged Zarkon to a duel for Voltron’s power. Alfor made a life threatening plan that he didn’t tell anyone about. He connected his energy to all of the Phonotonium keeping their planet alive. He was going to destroy Altea with all the Galra in it, secretly evacuating Alteans. Zarkon attacked him on one of the main bridges of Altea and Alfor made sure he lost. The Castle of Lions took off, on course to the Planet Altea saw as a second home during the first Galran War. Arus.

    But Haggar knew of Alfor’s plans. Attacking the evacuating Alteans and killing them all before they could get away from Altea. She got Zarkon far away before Altea self-destructed. The heat of Alfor-Plexis overwhelming to the point of combustion. And no Alteans, beside Allura and Coran, survived the ending of Altea.

Where did I get these ideas?

The Rift and Altea’s Creation?

I went to look at Altea on the FANDOM page and in the trivia, they mentioned that “Having rocks as rain could be referencing models of exoplanet ‘Vaporized rock showers’” I clicked on the link and it took me to an article about Corot 7b, which is an uninhabitable Super-Earth that has vaporized rock in its atmosphere instead of water. Corot 7b has rock storms much like Altea, but I had to make sure it was habitable for them as well.

    So, I decided that Phonotonium is a gas-like element made up with Quintessence and is the element that created The Rift. Seeing as Coran said in Season 7, Episode 1 (A Little Adventure) “We’re going to use the element to expand the energy particles within the cores.” It is likely it could create a barrier between The Rift and reality as well as heal uninhabitable planets like Old Altea. And Coran also responded to Lance’s “Magic or whatever?” with “Not far off”.

    Of course, this strays away from cannon a little bit cause Coran also said “The Dalterion Belt is the home of Phonotonium” but this could also be taken as The Dalterion Belt being the last planet known housing Phonotonium.

Why did I call the star Alfor-Plexis?

In my cannon, Alfor was born a commoner on Arus during The (first) Galran War. He was close with Coran, who was also born on Arus, and the Prince and Princess of Dalterion and Nalquod. His mother named him after the star Alfor-Plexis because she missed Altea.

What’s the deal with the Altean Rune?

Well, looking closely to the rings around Altea, it doesn’t look like a structure and it doesn’t even look like the rings around Saturn. Sure, this is a fictional alien world and you can just make it look like that for aesthetic but I wanted to put a bit more history behind it. And there is also a thin blue border outlining the planet like a bubble which could also be explained as a rune.

    Also, there are more non-Alchemists than Alchemists so, I needed to get rid of them somehow.

The Black Lion is originally a Rift creature Theory?

So, this is a fun one. Looking through the battle against the Rift creature in Season 3, Episode 7 (The Legend Begins), the Rift creature was adamant on not attacking the Black Lion. We see it attacking the Blue Lion, the Red Lion, the Yellow Lion, and I think the Green Lion as well. But the Black Lion was left completely unharmed.

    The Rift creature kept attacking them but left the Black Lion untouched. So when Voltron was formed, the Rift creature didn’t even try to attack. But after Voltron punched its face in, all it did was surround them but didn’t do any real harm.

    Not to mention, the Rift creature has the same structure as Voltron. The wings, standing on its back legs and a very noticeable face.

    Thanks to @ttw-vld-and-other-stuff​, we realized that the Rift creature had a lot of colors that resembled the Astral Plane.

    Just turn the hue a little more Red to signify the Red Lion POV and it resembles the Rift creature on Daibazaal almost flawlessly. It also explains how the Astral Plane exists and how Zarkon knows of it cause the Black Lion was originally his. And because Alfor’s ancestors made an army called Voltron to protect Oriande, it could explain why Alfor heard it.

The Colonies?

How does the Colonies exist if Haggar killed all Alteans who tried to escape? Well, there were still Alteans that lived on Planet Entuk for many years. All those Alteans went into hiding after the destruction of Altea and Lotor found them trying to blend in to multiple planets. Some Alteans could’ve even settled down on Earth if you like the ‘Lance is Altean’ theory.

Elora and Allura?

I wanted Allura to have a meaningful name sake, so why not the Queen who lost everything but still fought for her people?

All of this isn’t cannon but it is cannon to me. You can choose to like this story or just completely ignore it and make your own history of Altea. I tried to keep as close to cannon as possible cause I love the show for everything it is but I just wanted a bit of a connection to Altea myself. And a better understanding on what Voltron could be.

[voltrontranscript]

VForce E2: Defenders of Arus

Episode 2: Defenders of Arus

Transcript by @dragonofyang

Summary: Cadets Vince and Daniel begin their training on Arus, where they meet another cadet named Larmina. Meanwhile, Keith evades capture by Wade’s troops with the help of Hunk and Pidge. On Doom, Commander Kala and Maahox revive King Lotor and prepare an assault on Arus.

[Google Doc]

Drule Captain: Commander Kala, we’ve reached safe distance barrier from the Haggarium quasar.

Kala: Proceed with the sample acquisition. You have failed me, captain. Maahox, your attempts to harness the power of the Haggarium quasar seem futile and have cost a good portion of the fleet.

Maahox: Yes, yes.

Kala: I told you that if it didn’t work this time I would destroy you. Your irritating smile suggests you doubt my conviction to follow through.

Maahox: No, Commander Kala, quite the contrary. It is my faith in your conviction to squash the life from me that has me beaming. For you see, it seems our captain hasn’t failed us after all. In fact, I believe he’s become part of the solution.

[Transition to opening sequence, with an electric guitar playing under the following lyrics.]

Woo!

One, two, three four!

Voltron’s here, kicking down your door!

Five, six, get with it.

We blaze ‘em with the sword and they can’t get away.

Seven, eight.

We’re bringing down the hurt so we’re here to stay.

Nine, ten, we here to win.

Voltron’s here, let the games begin!

Oh! (Let’s Voltron!)

Oh! (Let’s Voltron!)

Oh! (Let’s Voltron!)

Form up, let’s go!

All night! Let’s go!

Alright, we gonna rock (rock!) and roll (roll!)

Now to rock (rock!) and roll (roll!)

Oh!

[Transition to the Castle of Lions on Arus.]

Allura: ...and we’ll conclude our tour in the castle control room where all of the Voltron missions are planned.

Daniel: Are these the doors to the lions? Can we see them?

Allura: All in good time. However, right now you’ll be going through this door to your top-secret classroom.

Daniel: Wow, our top secret classroom. Looks a lot like a classroom.

Allura: It’s equipped with just enough to suit its educating purposes.

Vince: So, there’s a third desk?

Larmina: Oh, yay. Classmates.

Vince: Well, she seems nice.

Daniel: Yeah, real nice.

Allura: Ahem. Vince, Daniel, I’d like you to meet my niece, Larmina.

Lance: Well played, knuckleheads.

Allura: As you all know, the Voltron force is made up of five separate lions that are strong individually, but are much more powerful when they come together to form the mighty Voltron. Unity is our core. These are your voltcomms. Over time you will learn all of their practical applications, but it is more than a mere tactical device. It is your link to the lions, and more importantly to each other. As I activate each of you with the power of a lion, you’re becoming part of a team. Part of the Voltron legacy. I welcome you and turn you over to Lance who has the great responsibility of teaching you how to carry this honor.

Lance: Thank you. Well, now that we’re all part of the Voltron elite, let’s begin our first class with a pop quiz.

Vince: Huh?

Larmina: Come on.

Daniel: I thought this school was about piloting the Voltron lions!

Lance: There’s a lot more to being part of the Voltron force than piloting the lions. We’re gonna test your hand-to-hand combat skills to see what we’re working with. Who wants to go first? Which of you gentlemen would like to fight the lady?

[Scene change to Keith flying Black Lion.]

Pidge: Keith, I’ve been running some diagnostics. Whatever Wade did to your lion at his secret research facility really screwed it up. The weapons systems are completely down. The power’s almost drained.

Keith: Tell me something I don’t know.

Pidge: You need to get back to Arus to recharge, but you’ll never make it flying at combat levels.

Keith: Well, it’s a good thing I’m not.

Pidge: Yeah, about that…

[Scene change to the training deck in the Castle of Lions.]

Vince: You hit her.

Daniel: I’m not gonna hit a girl.

Vince: I don’t wanna--ah!

Larmina: I’ll take you both on.

Daniel: Woah.

Lance: You ladies haven’t been in a lot of fights, have you?

Vince: No.

[Scene change back to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: Of course Wade installed a tracking device. Can you disable the signal before they reach me?

Pidge: No, I can’t seem to pinpoint the beacon’s location in the lion. They’re going to catch up to you.

Keith: When?

[Scene change to Wade in his office.]

General: Sir, our fractals have the target in sight and are about to engage.

Wade: Command the pilots to prove their worth and recover that lion in as many pieces as necessary. You’ve already lost it once, general. Have you located the former Voltron Force members now under my employment? I’d like to question them personally.

General: No, sir. They all seem to be AWOL.

[Cut to Pidge at a large computer in the Den.]

Pidge: Don’t worry, Keith. Hunk and I have been working on a contingency plan. We just need a bit more time.

Computer: Attention. The following individuals are to report to Security.

Pidge: Uh, I’ll get right back to you.

Keith: Right back to me? Are you kidding?

Pidge: Oh, you might want to take evasive action about now.

[Cut to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: What? Oh, boy.

[Cut to Pidge and Hunk in a tow-ship.]

Pidge: Download Den intelligence report.

Hunk: Downloading to tow-ship.

Pidge: Wha--? Haggar? Keith? It’s worse than we thought.

[Scene change to Planet Doom.]

Maahox: Welcome back, King Lotor.

[Scene change back to the cadets on the training deck.]

Vince: Man…

Larmina: Anytime you’re ready to start. 

Vince: Yeah!

Larmina: Cheap playground trick? That’s all you got?

Daniel: Hey, who’s the one on their butt?

Larmina: You, in about two seconds.

Lance: Alright, let’s just review your test results, shall we?

Daniel: Wait, you graded that?

Lance: No, your voltcomms did. You guys have no idea how cool these things are. Pretty soon, you’ll just think something and the voltcomm will automatically do it.

Daniel: It can read our minds?

Vince: Psh. No, dude. It must read our body’s signals. Minor muscle movements, adrenaline levels, blood pressure, and associate those with specific voltcomm functions. Probably some form of biometrics.

Lance: I was just gonna say it’s magic. It picks up on your natural talents and abilities, then adapts to strengthen them. In this case, I wanted to see what weapon it picked for each of you based on your fighting abilities. Larmina, hit this button.

Vince: Nice… stick?

Larmina: I like my stick.

Lance: Uh-huh. And how about you boys?

Daniel: What do I do with these? Reow. Whoa!

Lance: Okay, we’ll have to work on that one. Let’s see what the ol’ voltcomm has in store for you, Vince.

Vince: What is happening?

Lance: Uh, Pidge’ll look at that, too.

Larmina: Must’ve been impressed with your combat skills.

Lance: Ah-ah, I wouldn’t talk too much smack before your second period class, which is definitely more Vince’s dojo.

Daniel: More simulators, huh?

Vince: Oh! This is much more than a simulator. It’s a lion simulator.

[Scene change to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: Pidge, you gotta warn the others, but I’m gonna need some sort of distraction here. Without weapons, all I can do is outrun these guys. And I can’t do that for long.

Pidge: I know. I’m working on something. Here, it looks like there’s an asteroid field nearby. You can try and lose them in there.

Keith: Little game of cat and mouse.

[Scene change to Castle Doom.]

Lotor: I feel… a strange sensation running through my veins.

Maahox: That’s only natural, having just been raised from the grave with the power of Haggarium.

Lotor: Haggarium. As in the witch, Haggar?

Maahox: The very essence of Haggar, my lord.

Lotor: Yes! I feel the dark energy. How ironic. Haggar’s power giving me life. You call me your lord, yet I know neither of you.

Maahox: Forgive me, this is Commander Kala from the planet Darkor. What she lacks in personality she makes up for in tactical brilliance and bloodlust.

Lotor: Charming. And you?

Maahox: I am Maahox, master of experimental occult sciences and exile from Calum. These titles are related.

Lotor: Well, exile and commander, I imagine you feel I am indebted to you for bringing me back into existence. I also assume that means you want something from me.

Maahox: We can all benefit from each other. I’ll go into the details once you’ve adjusted to reanimation. For now, just know that a common hatred has brought us together.

Lotor: Voltron…

[Scene change to the cadets in the simulators.]

Vince: This is amazing!

Larmina: Woah!

Daniel: It feels like the real deal, but there’s really only one way to tell. Awesome!

Larmina: Well, I hate this techy stuff. I’d much rather be beating you up in real li--

Vince: My dojo.

[Cut to Lance and Allura watching the simulation on the bridge.]

Lance: I really like these goons, but I don’t get why you wanted me to bring them here now.

Allura: Wiser forces than myself have set this in motion.

Pidge: Allura! Lance! You guys there?

Allura: Pidge! Is everything okay?

Pidge: No. You better see this. And this.

Allura: We need to step up the curriculum.

[Scene change to Castle Doom.]

Lotor: The Voltron force. They nearly succeeded in destroying me! Now they must pay.

Maahox: All part of Kala’s brilliant plan already set in motion. Please, my lord, today is your re-birthday. You should sit back and enjoy our present to you. A neatly-packaged gift on its way to Arus.

[Cut to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: Lance taught them well. Luckily, I’m a better pilot than Lance.

Pidge: We need to disable Wade’s tracking device or you’ll never lose them. If I use their signal feed to hone in… Yeah! Got it! I found the beacon location.

Keith: It’s not like I can crawl down there at the moment, Pidge. It’s time for this cat to chase the mice.

[Scene change to the bridge of the Castle of Lions.]

Allura: We believe a dark evil is rising. We also believe each of you are going to be part of the force that defeats this evil.

Daniel: Why us?

Allura: Because you have been chosen to-- It’s a robeast coffin!

Lance: Already? It can’t be. We need to take out the lions and investigate.

Daniel: Cool!

Lance: No. Not cool. You guys stay here. Are you cool with this? Activating the lions breaks strict Galaxy Alliance sanctions. Arus will face consequences.

Allura: We have no choice.

[Scene change to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: Come to me. Closer… Closer… 

Pidge: Keith! The beacon signal’s gone. How’d you knock it out?

Keith: I didn’t. He did.

[Scene change to Wade in his office.]

General: Sir, they’ve lost the Black Lion.

Wade: Incompetent fools.

General: And there’s more. We’ve just received confirmation that the red and blue lions have been activated on Arus.

Wade: What? How? The keys, fakes! I am through with human error.

[Scene change to Keith in Black Lion.]

Keith: I better get back to Arus while I still can. Pidge, send me the--Pidge! I’ve lost power.

Pidge: Keith! Keith, do you copy? We’re almost there! Keith?

Allura: Pidge, our security detected a robeast coffin landing on Arus. Lance and I are going to investigate.

Pidge: Alright, we’ve got Keith in our sight. We’ll be there as soon as we can.

[Cut to Arus.]

Allura: That may not be soon enough.

Lance: I think I imagined a more romantic reunion with the lions. I take it back. I think the two of us just shared a beautiful moment.

Allura: No offense, but I wish the whole team were here to share it with us.

[Cut to the cadets on the bridge.]

Daniel: We can’t just sit here!

Vince: What can we do? No way, Daniel. Maybe the others are almost here.

[Scene change to the tow-ship.]

Keith: Not a lick of power in him, is there?

Vince: Pidge! What’s your ETA?

Pidge: Doing the best we can!

Vince: Well, hurry. Lance and Allura really need your help.

Keith: Um, who was that?

[Cut to Blue and Red Lions on Arus.]

Lance: Looks like we’re going to have to engage him as a twosome. You ready?

Allura: Cover me.

Lance: Allura! No!

Allura: Lance! Lance, are you okay? Lance!

[Cut to the cadets on the bridge.]

Daniel: That’s it! We gotta do something. Woohoo! Time to go fast. Aw yeah!

[Cut back to Red and Blue Lions facing the robeast.]

Allura: Hunk?

Daniel: Uh, not exactly. Eat laser! Whoops. Uh, how about now?

Allura: Daniel!

Daniel: I know, I know. Sorry! I don’t know the weapons, but I can still fly.

Lance: Daniel, what are you--

Allura: Lance, are you okay?

Lance: I think my arm is broken, but I still got some fight in me. At least there’s three of us now.

[Cut to the tow-ship and Black Lion.]

Keith: Guys, I gotta get down there. Is there any way to speed this up?

Pidge: Only if we get some power to the lion to help propel it. But we don’t have a source capable of…

[Cut to Arus.]

Allura: If we keep working together, we can keep this beast on its heels.

Lance: Yeah, but does anyone have any ideas how to get it off its heels?

Daniel: Don’t look at me for strategy, unless you want cheap playground tricks.

Lance: You’re a genius, Danny-boy. Allura, maintain your position. Daniel, let’s play.

Daniel: Yeah! Knocked you down on your ro-butt!

Lance: Nice, but not the time to gloat. Pin it!

Allura: We need to pin that other arm. We need another lion.

Vince: Did somebody say “another lion”?

[Cut to the tow-ship and Black Lion.]

Pidge: Alright, that should hopefully transfer all the lion power from your voltcomm into--it worked! Great! Now, wait, you don’t have enough power to hear me because your voltcomm is dead. Punch it, Hunk!

[Cut back to Arus.]

Allura: Come on, guys, concentrate! You’re a team. You can do it!

Vince: Here. You control the jaws while I take the legs.

Larmina: Like this?

Vince: Yeah!

[Cut to Black Lion.]

Keith: Come on, we’re almost in Arus’ gravitational pull! You can do it!

Pidge: It’s dead again. We need to try something else.

Hunk: Try it my way, with some muscle.

Pidge: What are you--

Hunk: Keith! Get ready to do your hero thing!

[Cut back to Arus’ surface.]

Lance: I can’t get a shot without losing my grip. Come on, guys, concentrate!

Daniel: We’re losing him!

Vince: Okay, I think we got it!

Allura: We need our whole team. Where’s--

Lance: What was that?

Keith: Come on! Hold!

Allura: Keith!

Lance: It’s good to see ya, old pal. You’re still rocking the mullet? Man, you have been underground for a long time.

Allura: Yeah, we’ll have to do something about that. Where are Pidge and Hunk?

Pidge: Did we get ‘em?

Allura: Pidge! You’re okay! Yes, yes, we did.

Pidge: Great. Now you wanna come get us?

[Scene change to the Voltron force and cadets standing in the bridge.]

Hunk: Hey, nice haircut. About time.

Lance: You did real good today, Dan-man, even though you lost your head.

Daniel: At least I didn’t lose my arm.

Lance: Ha. Come on. Hey, Keith. I wanna introduce you to my new hero.

[Cut to Castle Doom.]

Lotor: What was that?

Kala: King Lotor, that robeast defeat was part of my plan. It was a relic from your days: a minor challenge to bring Voltron back into the open. We have something much more powerful in store.

Maahox: What you and your predecessors failed to realize is that some of the best raw material for robeasts isn’t found in your battle arena, but in nature herself.

Kala: Eons of evolution perfecting efficient, savage predators.

Maahox: Yes, but the problem with these creatures is that they lack the brain capacity for reason. For strategy. Which is why we need to give this to our next generation of Haggarium-powered robeasts. My own evolution.

Kala: This wasn’t part of my plan! What--what did--ah!

Maahox: No, but it was part of mine. Don’t fight it, dear commander. I promise you’ll love what I’ve done with you.

Lotor: Yes, and so will the Voltron force.

End.

[golddustinourhands]

Hidge Week 2020 Day One: Alternate Universe | Midnight

They’ve been through enough wormholes and gaps in the universe to know when things weren't quite right. Hunk wished they were in an alternate universe then, but unfortunately, he knew it wasn't the case.

He knew when he wasn't himself. As they sat there waiting, he felt completely himself, nervous and afraid. All alone.

The others had gone before him and hadn't come back through the single door. He hadn't heard screaming, but their lack of reappearance troubled him.

It had all started with a mission to retrieve an orb of great magical power that had sent them to the planet Zydus.

The orb was an urban legend, but the great leaders sent them into the maze, which they had gotten through as a team with a few nicks and scratches, which had ended at a golden door. They had tried to enter together, but it spit the rest of them out and kept one.

Pidge.

The rest of them tried to fight the door, but it remained locked. Ten minutes after they had begun fighting it, it clicked open with a gentle click. They all scrambled to go, fight for Pidge, but it only took Shiro and spit the rest of them out again.

Again, the door clicked unlocked about ten minutes later. Keith went in on his own, Hunk panicking about losing their team, Lance with a hand on his shoulder, but he shook too.

The door clicked again and Lance entered on shaking legs. Hunk begged him not to go, but Lance entered the door and it clicked locked behind him.

Hunk was alone.

The door clicked open. Gently swinging out. If he focused hard enough, he could hear familiar chatter from his family at home, the familiar scents of all the foods he missed from home. He took trembling steps forward, even though he knew what waited behind the golden door was dangerous.

He bit back a scream as the door clicked shut behind him, plunging everything around him into a darkness that reached further into him than any ever had.

Something lurked in the room with him.

“Hello?” He asked, swallowing down his fear. He hoped it was one of his friends.

“You find yourself looking deep into your own self,” His own voice came to him in the darkness, confident and strong. “Any man can face his enemies, but can you face yourself?”

All at once all around him, memories appeared. Ones from the team, ones from before Voltron and the garrison. Every success and every mistake hit him at once as he traveled through the darkness.

“You’re close to the team, aren't you?” His voice asked from the shadows, confident, dark, is if it knew where to hurt him most. “But you know it won't last forever, don't you?” He couldn't see anything, but he was sure his dark self was smiling a wide grin. “What will you do when they leave and you’re all alone?”

In one of the memories, Allura, and how she had left them.

“The team is already cracking. Splitting right at the seams. Did you think you could avoid the inevitable?”

“No,” Hunk answered. “We might not always be a team, but we’ll always stay friends.”

“But there will always be one you want more from, isn't there?”

Pidge appeared, a light in the darkness, a brief snapshot. Her nose crinkled up in a deep laugh, her mouth open wide in a howl. He had told her a joke as they worked on the lions after the final battle against Zarkon and she had laughed so hard she cried.

He'd been fighting feelings for her for months.

“Even if it meant disbanding the team?”

Instead of Pidge laughing, the image turned to the five of them going their separate ways.

“You will bring the end to Voltron.”

“No!” He shouted into the void. The darkness lightened around him. “You're wrong!”

“Prove it!”

The darkness got darker.

“If you want the orb, you’re going to have to prove it. You have seven days. If you can't get her to return your feelings by midnight on the seventh day, the orb will never be yours and the team will disband.”

Hunk trembled. They needed to get that orb no matter what the cost. Shiro and Slav were sure it was absolutely essential.

“I'll do it.”

“Even if it means losing everything?”

“Yes,” Hunk answered. “Even if it means losing everything.”

In an instant, the darkness faded and a door appeared on the opposite side of the room. He rushed through it and found the others there waiting for him.

“What did it ask from you?” Lance asked, playing it off as if it were nothing.

He snuck a look to Pidge and just shook his head, trying to calm his breath.

He had seven days.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Snipets of a Red Ranger and Blue Ranger- Klance Week Day 4

I’m a simple girl, I see ‘Rangers’ I think Power Rangers and I am not sorry. And yes, it’s Samurai Rangers, I liked the season, sue me. @klanceweek​ Rangers, Cow, Lawless

Lance was restringing his bow, trying to tighten it without it snapping, which it had already done twice. Usually he wasn’t so distracted but he had a good excuse. What else was he supposed to do when he found out one of the biggest secrets the Red Samurais were hiding?

There was no easy was to explain his unique family line other than that they were the longest line of Power Rangers that existed. The appearance of some other Rangers, who hoped from the future to the past, had unintentionally unleashed another dimension filled with monsters known as Galra. Their world, the Netherworld, sat on the bank of the Sanzu River, water capable of destroying everything. A lord and his band of samurai went against these creatures and through their perseverance and using written talismans, they accessed the Morphing Grid, giving them the look and protection of the Ranger uniform and turning the talismans to Symbol Power. When the era of samurai ended, the lord made the samurai his retainers. And so, as time passed, the children would take their families place when it came time, defending their home. When the Red Ranger had first discovered a symbol to seal the Galra away, he was able to do so, allowing the group to split up and live not fighting for their lives.

They all eventually led back together back when his dad was his age. The seal had been cast again at the cost of the Red Ranger’s life, but it wasn’t strong enough. It became the next generations’ job to end this 19-generation long war. Lance didn’t think he’d be the one to be doing it. His main focus was to become one of the first biracial members of the Japanese Olympic archery team. He was close to, until every one of his siblings decided what they wanted mattered more and dumped the youngest with the responsibilities. His father tried to force him by stating that the Dragon Origami would only listen to Lance, but he that was a lie. Everyone else got off but because he was the last one, he had to obey orders. He put up a good fight, staying away from his family and proving himself to be Olympic material. But the seal officially broke the day of his biggest competition and even when he ignored the summons arrow, Lance was kidnapped by the Kuroko, the shadows who served the samurai families, and thrown into a car. He might not have wanted to be there, but he wasn’t an asshole who would walk away when people needed help. He did make his position very clear, his father had to get one of his siblings to take his place because he wouldn’t stay.

Once everyone heard his whole story, they were mostly understanding, including their leader Keith. Hearing him promise to talk to his dad almost seemed too good to be true but he’d heard him calling his dad. Then it made sense when Allura told him the big secret.

Keith, wasn’t born into the Red Ranger line, because the pervious Red and Pink ranger did the biggest no-no. they had a kid together. to make sure there was always a Ranger from each family line, they were instructed to not fall in love with one of their teammates. Keith was actually the kid of a Kuroko that somehow had caused the Lion Origami to react to him. Allura was technically the Red Ranger who could cast the Sealing Symbol. Her weekend shopping trips, were actually trips to a secret temple where ancestors of the same people who helped their lord discover the Sealing Symbol would teach it to her until it was perfect.

Keith was willing to help him, because technically he wasn’t supposed to be doing this either. He was just a stand in until the time was right. Lance still didn’t know what to do with this information. He was glad they trusted him with it, but it was only cause they all thought he’d be leaving.

“Lance?” Keith called from the other side of the door as he knocked. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

Keith came in, closing the door behind him. He dropped down on Lance’s bed, looking at the mess of the low table that was covered in archery care stuff. “Guess I know why you disappeared after we got back from the baseball game.”

“It was a little league game and baseball makes no sense.” Lance threw out, feeling tense. He knew why Keith was here.

“So, Allura told me she talked to you when you guys were keeping an eye on the kid’s house.”

“Yeah, talked.”

Keith always looked so self-assured and confident, that to see him so unsure and nervous was weird.

“I hope your not upset that I’m doing this for Allura. My father was killed during a Galra attack and he was getting civilians out of harms way. Allura’s dad took me in, even when everyone said I wasn’t worth it. They kept pushing him to marry someone so he’d have a kid to carry on the Red line, but even knowing that it would be Allura, he still treated me like I was his kid. So, I don’t mind being a stand in for her. If it mostly keeps her safe, then I’ll do it.”

Lance let out a huff. “Wish my siblings cared that much. You’d give up everything to help her but everyone expects me to drop everything to make them happy. I won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I know. I get why you want to leave, but the Blue line is usually the second in command and in my opinion, someone who’d still help even when he wants a way out is a pretty worthy.”

Lance was honoured. How was he supposed to still act like a spoiled child when someone who didn’t even have to led a team and take the most hits did?

“Thanks for the compliment but,” he said instead, plucking at the string on his bow, “the Olympics are waiting for me.”

“Fair enough. And thank you for keeping this secret. We’ll tell them eventually.”

“They’ll understand.” Lance reassured. He was sure they would. It would be the 4 of them against everything. He just wished he’d be there to help if it went badly.

                                                    __________

Getting mind controlled was not fun. Just that morning things were going great. He and Keith had a sparing match and he was so close to actually beating Keith and Keith told him his dad would finally come to the Samurai House and talk. Then that annoying big talking mind controlling Galra made a mess of everything. All it took was a hit and he became a mindless drone who turned his sword against his friends. He was lucky Keith was able to snap him out of it with that burst of Symbol Power but his dad thought it was a glaring sign that he needed to stay with the team. So, he might have been thinking of maybe staying but he wanted it to be his choice, not forced by his dad. And now his head hurt more.

“Lance?”

“Come in.” he called, keeping his arm over his eyes.

He heard Keith turn the light off before he felt him tap at his arm to move it. He let out a grateful groan when he felt an ice pack drop on his face.

“I’m sorry things didn’t go well with your dad.” Keith said, the bed dipping as he sat down.

“You know, I’ve actually considered staying.” Keith stilled but stayed silent, letting Lance continue. “My whole life I’ve always been the scapegoat or had things taken just to satisfy the older ones. Much as I want to, I can’t be too mad at Marco and Veronica, they had good reasons. Everyone else, not so much. I just want one major decision in my life to be made by me.”

That sat in silence as Lance calmed down and hoped his head would stop hurting before Keith asked something.

“If you do decide to stay, would you consider being my second in command?”

Lance laid there, trying to decided if Keith was serious just from his voice alone. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s fine. Do you want me to go?”

And leave him stewing in thoughts he didn’t want to hear? Not a chance.

“Tell me about your dad.” It was the first thing that came to mind and for a moment he was gonna take it back when Keith started talking.

“He was probably one of the only Kuroko who couldn’t cook.”

                                                   ___________

In a turn of events, Lance knocked on Keith’s door. The fight against the half Galra Lotor was finally over and they were getting closer to defeating them. They’d see how much farther they could go once Shiro was able to unlock the Black Box, but for now, while Keith recovered, they could breath.

“Come in.” Lance opened the door, his eyes drawn to Keith’s exposed back as he struggled to pull his shirt off. It was getting harder and harder to not get a crush on Keith. He had to keep reminding himself that it was what got Allura’s parents into trouble in the first place. He was starting to see why they had the problem in the first place. How was he supposed to stop how he felt?

“Need help?” Lance offered.

“Sure, second-in-command.”

At dinner, he announced he’d stay with the team and publicly accepted Keith’s offer.

He was able to get Keith’s shirt off without aggravating his wounded arm too much. The view of his chest was distracting.

“I’m glad you decided to stay.” Keith said, pulling his eyes up. “It would have been hard to form the same bond with one of your siblings.”

“Yeah. I’m glad I did too. Finally feels like I can make my own decisions and not get looked down at.”

“You? Never?”

God, it was the compliments, it had to be. How else would he feel like a shy person when around Keith at times? They stood there, staring at each other when Lance couldn’t take it anymore. He kissed Keith. Keith didn’t push him away, if anything, he tried to pull him closer as he kissed back. Lance was careful as he rested his hands on Keith’s neck, not wanting to pull away when he did.

“We shouldn’t.”

“We really shouldn’t.” Keith said, using a finger to pull Lance back in and kiss him again.

This was so against the rules. Then…why did it feel so right?

                                               _______________

Lance was getting ready for bed when a quite knock came to his door. Keith slipped in when Lance opened the door. The hallway was already dark and Lance would bet that Coran would be by any minute to come check on them.

“Hi.” Keith said.

“Hey.”

The air was slightly tense. It wasn’t because of all those secret kisses and hard to keep promises about waiting until the war was over. It was what happened on that island. A small island an hour’s boat ride away that had cut off contact with the outside world because a Galra had burned a fear making talisman. The new addition to Zarkon’s crew, Sendak, had invited a Galra who believed in the blaster as opposed to the sword. It was like watching the era of samurai die, but thankfully Bandor, the same kid who led them to discover the hidden Bull Origami, had created a blaster to use with their swords. At the sight of Lotor still alive and standing had pushed Keith into overdrive. The fight had been bad and Keith got hurt. Words that Lotor said about Keith being just like him had gotten to him. Lance considered them lucky he was able to find them after Keith took off. Things were tense when the whole fight was over and they hadn’t talk anything out.

“Here.” Keith handed him a bag from LOFT. In it, was a lightweight scarf. Similar to the one Lance gave Keith as a makeshift sling and that he dropped when he went after Lotor. “I know it’s not the same colour but…”

It was red, close to the red Keith’s favourite jacket was. It was a claim and an apology.

“I shouldn’t have run off and I should have listened to you. You were right, I’m not like him, but the thing is…he’s kinda right.”

“What do you mean? Keith you can’t actually think that you care more about fighting than anything else.”

“It’s not that.” Keith started to look how he did when he first came to talk to Lance about the big secret involving him and Allura. “It’s more than just how we see fighting. It’s…down to our biology. He might have given his soul to become who he is, but…I was born like that.”

“What are you saying?”

“Lance…I’m half Galra. That’s why I kept taking Lotor’s words to heart. I didn’t want to be like him, lusting for battle.”

Half Galra? Like Lotor?

“But Coran said the House is warded against Galra. How are you not hurting right now?”

“It’s for full blooded Galra. That’s another reason most of the people who were here during your dad’s time didn’t like me. My dad was ‘spellbound’ by a female Galra. Somehow, they had be and she gave me to my dad to keep me safe.” He put spellbound in air quotes. “My dad wasn’t spellbound. My mom didn’t follow under Zarkon’s control and was actively looking for a way to be human. I don’t know what happened to her, just that I wanted to be the same kind Galra she had to be for my dad to fall in love with her. But Lotor’s words-”

“were wrong.” He should so be paying attention to what Keith said. He was half Galra, like Lotor, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. The guy in front of him was Keith, his leader and the guy he liked. He fought like hell for his team and he deserved nothing less than his support. “The only thing you share in common with that guy is being half Galra. But you’re living proof that you don’t live in obsession.”

“Well, I do have one obsession.”

Lance looked confused when he realised what Keith was talking about and went red. “Oh, you mean me. Well, can’t blame your good taste. Just know that Lotor is wrong about you. When you tell the others, they’ll see that.”

Keith gave Lance a thankful smile before leaning up to kiss him.

“I thought we said no more until after the war?” Lance said, though he just wanted to pull Keith back for more.

“How am I supposed to wait when I have the best thing here? It’s starting to become hard to not kiss you all the time.”

“Good, I’m not the only one.” Lance said, capturing Keith’s lips again.

After the war, after he told his secrets, whatever. Lance knew what his next big life decision was. To stand next to Keith for as long as he could.

[yurio-plisetksy]

Resurrection - Part ll: Lotor x Reader

Summary: The paladins discover something strange on their radars. Something they’ve never seen before, and while the possibility of it being Lotor excites you, the other are everything but happy that he’s back.

WARNING: None

Part l / Part ll

“You have to see this.” Allura tells you as the two of you hurry towards the main control room of the ship. As the doors slide open, you’re met with 5 concerned faces looking up at a monitor with shows two dark red dots.

With vague intuition, you ask them what’s wrong, and Shiro seems lost about what to say.

“They’re quintessence signatures… but while we are aware of Honerva’s use of quintessence, there’s one more…” Pidge informs, scanning the red signatures and confirming they are indeed signals of quintessence.

“There have only been two cases of this much quintessence in any being ever… which were Haggar and… Zarkon. But this signature is more powerful than we have ever measured before.”

Your eyes widen with immediate recognition. It would be impossible for Zarkon to have risen from his grave, which only leaves one more option. The one uncertainty that had never been confirmed deceased, but was only left behind.

“So you’re saying Zarkon has been revived and now has even more power than before?” Lance questions with an understanding amount of confusion, and Pidge shrugs as she responds.

“That, or-”  

“Or Lotor is still alive.”

You finish her sentence, and while everyone’s mood drops at the second option, a bright smile appears on your face.

Hunk swallows thickly at your words, but while hope floods your senses, the tension between the paladins increases. They share looks between one another before settling their gazes on you.

Meanwhile, you’re busy tracking the location of the energy source, only to find out they are coming in your direction already. Which must mean Lotor is already looking for you. 

There’s warmth spreading from your chest up to your cheeks, and the thought of finally seeing Lotor again seems like a miracle. Something you have dreamed of ever since he got lost, and continued to haunt your thoughts each and every night.

But your moment of bliss is interrupted by Shiro, who places a hand on top of your shoulder and snaps you out of your train of thoughts. There’s concern written over his features, and you immediately recognize the look.

“I’m not leaving him again.” You state before he can even open his mouth. There’s a warning in your eyes that tells them not to mess with you. Not after their decision to leave him.

“This can’t be right, ___. Even if it’s him, the amount of quintessence he contains is highly dangerous, and we should keep our distance.” 

Pidge notices something on the monitors, and while she fully agrees with Shiro, Lotor is currently docking onto their ship, and forcing his way inside, which catches her attention.

‘Guys, they’re here!” She exclaims and their attention hurries towards the monitors. Allura curses under her breath, and everybody flees towards their seats.

“How did they get here so fast?”

“I’m not sure, but they made it through our defensive fields and are heading for the monitor room now!”

“Lock the doors, keep them sealed in the first dock as long as you can!”

The mood shifts within the room. They’re desperately trying to keep Lotor and his guards contained, but somehow he makes it through the sealed doors with ease, he’s slipping between every crack like water. Each room he enters comes closer to the one you’re in, and with each panicked report from the Paladins your heart skips a beat. 

“They’re here! Lock and secure, grab your weapons!” Shiro calls out and turns around to face the doors, his teammates following his example and getting ready to fight whoever enters. They’re not even focusing on you, not even noticing your fingertips working on your keyboard and granting the guests access to the room. 

The doors slide open just when Keith notices your position, catching the way you open the doors for Lotor. He’s cursing in your direction while keeping his weapon aimed at whoever stands in front of the doors.

“Are you insane, you’re about to get us all killed!” 

You ignore his dramatic response in favor of locking eyes with whoever stands before you. You’re expecting to see a pair of calming blue eyes, the gaze that had always managed to calm you down, but instead you’re met with two glowing orbs. It has your breath staggering. 

Out of pure shock, the Paladins lower their weapons slightly and eye the intimidating presence that barged into their ship. He’s alone, which makes no sense, because how could he have gotten through your almost indestructible security on his own. It was close to impossible, however Lotor proved you wrong. You figure the answer lies within his eyes, and you approach him with that in mind.

“Lotor… you’re alive.” Allura stutters, but Lotor ignores her words. He walks towards you, which has the Paladins continue their aims. He doesn’t even offer them a single glance as he walks past them, a loaded weapon directed towards every part of his body while he does so, which seems to care him as little as Allura’s statement.

You’re looking up at him with wide eyes, your heart pounding within your chest and your breath hitching as he now stands in front of you. Tall, handsome, but more intimidating than you had ever felt him to be. In instinct, you reach out to him, and run your knuckles over his cheekbone, hoping your imagination wasn’t creating illusions. But he’s there. He’s really there.

“___…” He speaks for the first time, and your name sounds so heavenly coming from him. Before you know it, tears are running down your cheeks, and your lower lip trembles at the sight of him. Before you can even tell him anything, he pulls you into a tight embrace, and you’re enveloped within his strong arms. 

The paladins continue their aim at the tall prince, undecided whether they should accept his sudden presence or continue to act upon their hateful feelings towards him. Pidge is the first to lower her weapon, which comes with a defeated sigh. Seeing you cry out of happiness has her rethink her actions. How could she hurt someone who meant this much to you.

The other follows quickly after, only Keith and Allura still grinding their teeth about his arrival. Lotor hasn’t even taken notice of them, too busy enjoying you back in his arms. Finally he can touch you, kiss you, embrace you, after weeks of mourning over the thought he couldn’t even say good-bye.

“I’ve missed you, my love. You look as beautiful as ever.” He tells you, a small smile on his features that has your eyes twinkle up at him. 

“I’ve missed you more…. but how?”

He’s not surprised by your question, but he wishes to deal with that later. Right now he wants to hold you. Keep you close against him, feel your lips move against his. However, as he takes notice of the other paladins, he understands that they won’t just let him take you back to his ship. 

“That is not of importance right now. I need you to come with me.” He tells you, and it has your smile drop just the slightest bit. You couldn’t just leave the paladins, they were your family. They had been there for you through thick and thin, even consoling you when you lost Lotor.

“I know you want me to go with you, but I want to know what happened to you first. You changed Lotor, you look so much different than when I last saw you.” 

Allura seems pleased with your answer, sighing to herself and dropping back down in her seat. She doesn’t agree with how things went, but an explanation didn’t sound so unreasonable at this point.

Lotor tenses at your words. He had expected you to accept and go back with him instead, but now he was forced to explain something he wasn’t even sure of himself, and even then the possibility you’d go back with him were smaller than anticipated.

“You have to come with me if I do. Also, I am not exactly sure what happened, only that Haggar was the one to do it.” 

This intrigues the group. Honerva had been looking for him after all, even when it seemed to have been a lost cause. They wonder if Lotor’s aware of her real name, but as Lance mentions it, a burst of anger is thrown in his direction.

“That witch is not my mother.” He snaps, sparkles of quintessences rising from his balled fists as he narrows his eyes at the blue paladin. Lance flinches at his loud voice, and holds his hands up in defeat.

 Keith senses something, and glances towards Shiro to see if he notices too, but the man remains unaware. Lotor seems taller, sharper, more aware of what’s surrounding him. He’s always been intelligent and very perceptive, but it’s as if his senses have increased drastically. He towers over your presence, casting a shadow over your now seemingly small figure. 

“Even is she truly is Honerva, I won’t ever consider her to be family of mine.”

Venom slips between his words, and you can easily tell his disdain towards her is none but honest. There’s hurt written on his features, and anguish within his heart. Everything Haggar had done to him in order to keep her position beside Zarkon would never be erased from his thoughts.

You’re troubled between decisions. You want to go with him, have him tell you everything while keeping you close against him. However, this is not the Lotor you once fell in love with. Physically it is, but his mind is in a whole other state than when you met, and it scares you in some way.

[tiny-opal-essence]

Pocket Paladin Chpt 15

Mind-Meld Memories

“Alright everyone, seeing as we have one paladin too many for our usual mind-meld training, Pidge has designed a new version of it,”  Coran said.

‘Hear that?  You’re an extra, unnecessary paladin.’

Well, I’m still a paladin, so *pbbt*.

‘Sticking your tongue out at your own thoughts?  How mature.’

“Would you care to explain, Pidge?”

“Sure.  Basically, with this new software, we can train in different types of terrain and weather, all simulated by our minds.  While in the mind meld, we will feel everything, like temperature, wind, pain.  If something in the training would kill you in a real fight, you would just be knocked out of the mind meld until the end of the simulation.”

“Cool, but how is that going to help me?  I’m still going to be 3 inches tall in the simulator.”

“Actually, you won’t be.  You can think of yourself being back at your normal height while in the mind meld according to Pidge.”  Shiro commented.

“Wait, seriously?”

“That will let you be a bigger help during training.  *gasp* No pun intended.”  Allura put her hand in front of her mouth in shock.

“Don’t worry about it, Allura.  I know you didn’t mean it like that.”

‘Are you sure about that?’

“You said we would feel everything in the simulation.  If we get a cut during training, would that show up on our actual bodies?” Keith asked.

“No, it wouldn’t.  There shouldn’t even be any residual pain from it when you’re out of the mind meld.”  Pidge answered.

“Oh thank God.” Hunk said in relief.

“Any other questions?  No?  Let’s get started.”  Pidge said as everyone put on their helmets.

It was dark for a few seconds as the program booted up.  Once it did, Lance had to close his eyes from the bright light.  As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw that things looked smaller.  That is, they looked normal.  The trees towering over him didn’t make him feel as small as before.  When he touched the trunk of the tree, he could feel how rough it was, as if he really were in a forest.  The scent of pine was heavy in the air.  The snow *crunched* under his feet and he could see his breath.

He continued to look around and saw the rest of his teammates pop into existence in the simulation.  They were the same height as him.

“Oh my gosh, Pidge, you were right!  I’m normal size!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!”  Lance ran over and hugged the now shortest paladin.

“Yeah, yeah.  Glad you’re enjoying it, Lance.”  She responded with a grin.

No one noticed the soft, fond smile on Keith’s face when he saw how happy Lance was.

Lance let go of Pidge and was immediately grabbed in a hug by Hunk.

“Oh, I’ve missed being able to do this.”

“Same here, big guy.”  Lance hugged him back.

It’s nice to get an actual hug.  Nothing against the “hand hugs”, but they don’t compare to the real thing.  Plus with an actual hug, they’re not worried about hurting me.  Speaking of hurting me…

“Hunk, I can’t breathe.”

“Sorry, Lance!”  Hunk exclaimed as he quickly let go.  

“Hey, it’s fine.  Never apologize for how strong of hugs you give!”

“This simulation is incredible,” Shiro said as he looked around.

“You can actually feel how cold the snow is,” Allura added on while sticking her hand in a snowbank.

“It must have taken a long time to design all this,” Keith commented.

“It did, but it’s worth it, right?”  Pidge asked smugly.

“Paladins, can you hear me?” Coran’s voice sounded in the comms.

“Loud and clear, Coran,” Shiro responded.

“Wait, Coran, are you in the simulation too?”  Lance asked.

I didn’t see him put on a helmet.

“No, I just get to control the simulation and see what the 6 of you are seeing,”  Coran answered.

“This isn’t going to be like when you were the loremaster during Monsters and Mana, is it?”

“I promise I won’t be as devious or mad with power.”

“Monsters and Mana?” Keith asked.

“Oh, it’s this cool game we played while you were with the Blade.  You get to create a fantasy character and go on a quest.  The loremaster lets you know how difficult each task is and you roll a die to see if you accomplish it or not.”  Lance explained.

“Sounds…complicated.”

“It’s not once you get used to it.  It’s a lot of fun.  We should play it sometime.”

“You wouldn’t even need a hologram of your character, you could be the game piece yourself while you’re like this.”

“You’re right Pidge!  *gasp* It would be just like when they played giant wizards chess in the first Harry Potter movie!  That would be so cool!”

“Didn’t Ron almost die during that?”  Keith asked, concerned about Lance.

“Yeah, but Monsters and Mana is a hologram.  Lance wouldn’t have anything to worry about.”  Pidge answered.

“Wait, you’ve seen Harry Potter, but you’ve never heard of Guardians of the Galaxy?”

“Yeah?  What of it?”

“Nothing.”

You’re a hard guy to figure out, Keith.

“Alright.  Is everyone adjusted to the simulation?”

“Yes.” The paladins chorused.

“Good.  Now, your first mission in the simulator is going to be a simple rescue, just to test the programming.  Prince Apollonia has been taken by the Morris Day 6.  You need to figure out where they took him and free him.”  Coran declared.

“Shouldn’t we be practicing fighting Lotor?” Shiro asked.

“Yes, but I need to get more data on how his team works to get an accurate model of them in the simulator,”  Pidge explained.  “Once I do get that, we’ll be able to train to fight them.  For now, we make do with generic villains.”

“We should start looking for clues as to where the Prince may have been taken.” Allura declared.

“How about a couple sets of footprints heading that way?” Lance pointed in the direction the tracks in the snow went.

“Good eye, Lance,” Keith said.

“Guess you guys can call me ‘Eagle Eye Lance’ from now on.”  Lance did his finger-gun thing.

“Nope.  Not doing that.”  Shiro stated.

“Let’s see where these go.” Hunk said as the group started following the tracks.

It was silent on their walk save for the *crunch* of the snow.  They soon arrived at the edge of a clearing.  In the center of it was a tent.  There were 5 girls standing guard of it.

“Coran, I thought you said they were the Morris Day 6.  There’s only 5.”

“Lance, use the heat vision on your scope,”  Allura recommended.

“But I don’t have my bayard, remember?  It wasn’t affected by the spell.”

“Well, here in the simulation, you have your bayard.  You’re the only one that has heat vision, so can you please use it so we can see if Prince Apollonia is in the tent?”  Pidge stressed the please.

“Ok, ok.”

Touchy.  Alright, how do I get this to activate again?

“What are you waiting for Lance?” Pidge asked.

“Give me a sec.  It’s been a while since I’ve used this.”

The bayard turned into a gun in his hands.

Ok, good.  Now how does heat vision work on this thing?  Oh yeah!

Lance looked through the scope.  “I see two people in the tent.  It looks like one of them is walking around the other one.  The other one’s just sitting there.”

“That’s more than likely Prince Apollonia,” Shiro commented.

“And the one circling him must be the 6th member of the Morris Day 6,” Allura added on.

“Only question is, how do we get him out of there?” Keith wondered out loud.

“Maybe we could do a distraction.  Divide their forces.  It would make it easier to get close.”  Lance suggested.

“Sounds like you just volunteered,”  Pidge smirked.

“I did not!”

“Mmm, you kind of did, Lance.” Hunk also smirked at Lance.

“Hey, we don’t gang up on teammates,”  Shiro said.

“But he makes it so easy.” Pidge teased.

“Just for that, you two get to go with him.”

“But-“

“No buts.”

Pidge and Hunk both *groaned* out loud.  

‘They don’t want to work with you.  Working with you is a punishment.’

Lance tried to not focus on those thoughts as the garrison trio walked around to the other side of the clearing.  They let the others know when they were in position.

“Everyone ready?”

“Initiate operation lost in the woods.” Hunk said.

“~OH NO, I AM A SMALL CHILD WHO HAS BECOME HELPLESSLY LOST IN THE WOODS.  WOE IS ME.~”  Pidge yelled out towards the Morris Day 6.  “I still don’t get why I have to be the child lost in the woods.  Lance’s voice carries more.”

“Yeah, but you look more like a small child.”  Hunk said.

“I resent that!”  Pidge hissed out.

“What Hunk’s trying to say is that they won’t expect anything from you-”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Pidge had a bite in her tone.

“-so you can kick their butts and prove them wrong at the same time.” Lance finished saying.

“Didn’t like where that sounded like it was going, but I like where it wound up,”  Pidge commented.

“You have to yell again, Pidge.  They’re not moving from their position yet.”  Allura said over the comms.

“Uggh, fine.  ~THIS IS THE QUICKEST WAY TO THE MARKET.  MOTHER SAID THAT I SHOULDN’T TAKE THE SHORTCUT THROUGH THE WOODS WHILE CARRYING SUCH PRECIOUS CARGO, BUT I AM SO TIRED OF CARRYING ALL OF THIS GOLD.  AND NOW I AM LOST.  WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO?  BUT LOOK!  THERE’S A CLEARING UP AHEAD.  PERHAPS I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN HELP ME.  I CERTAINLY HOPE THERE AREN’T ANY THEIVES OR RUFFIANS THERE.  I HAVE NO WAY OF DEFENDING MYSELF~.”

“It’s working Pidge!  We’ve got 3 of them coming our way.”  Lance focused the scope on the approaching targets.  The 3 members of the Morris Day 6 got closer.

“Hello, little one.  You look lost.” One of the three knelt in front of Pidge while the other two remained upright.

“Oh, I’m not lost.” Pidge had a smirk on her face.  “Now!”

Hunk and Lance jumped down from their respective trees onto the two standing kidnappers.  Pidge took the last one down with an uppercut from her bayard.

“Alright!  We took care of three of them.  Let’s get the other ones.”

“Wait, I’ve got an idea,” Lance said as they looked at the unconscious members of the Morris Day 6.  “Sweater swap!”

“Is now really the time to be thinking about that, Lance?” Pidge asked.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.  More along the lines of ‘Disguise mothertrucker!’, like that old vine.”

“Isn’t it ‘Disguise Motherfucker!’?”

“*gasp* Pidge, you can’t use language like that in front of a child!  Shiro’s only 6, you know how impressionable children are at that age!” Hunk said with mock offense.

“Really?  We’re bringing up me being a leap year baby again?”  

“Can we focus back on the mission?  What were you thinking, Lance?” Allura said through the comms.

“Me and Hunk can put on these guys’ cloaks and sneak up on the other two standing guard outside the tent and take them down.”

“What about me?” Pidge asked.  “Don’t I get to be a part of the sweater swap?”

“It would look suspicious if one of the three shrunk.” Hunk said.

“It would look suspicious if only two of the three returned.”

“She has a point,” Keith commented.

“Yeah, that would be more suspicious I guess.” Lance agreed.

“Let’s grab their weapons.”

The three of them quickly tied up the unconscious kidnappers and took their cloaks and weapons.  They then quickly made their way to the tent.

“Where is the gold that child was yelling about?”  One of the two guards asked.

“What gold?  Oh, yeah, it turns out, there wasn’t any gold.” Hunk nervously said.

The guards looked at each other.

“What he’s trying to say is that it was a trap.  Some common thieves in the area looking to make a quick buck.  But we showed them.”  Lance quickly said.

“And what did you do with your adversaries?”  The guard on the left asked.

“We left them tied up to a tree.  They’ll know better than to cross the Morris Day 6 again.”  Pidge answered.

“Interesting.”  The guard on the right said.

“You sound different since you came back.”  The left guard added on.

“Oh, you know, we’re just a bit out of breath, that’s all,” Hunk responded.

“Really?  Your voice just dropped a whole octave because of adrenaline?  Is that what you’re saying?”  The right guard said.

“Yes, that’s exactly what he’s saying.”

The guards pointed their weapons at the three of them.

“You are not our teammates.  Everyone knows the Morris Day 6 is an all-female group.”  The left guard said.

“You kept referring to yourselves as male, proving beyond doubt that you are imposters.”  The right guard added.

“Oh no, how could these two have tricked me?  In all the chaos, I must have mistaken them for who they claimed to be.”  Pidge tried to lie her way out of the situation.

“You are an imposter too.  Did you think we would not recognize the voice of the one who called out?”

“Oh quiznak.” All 6 of the Paladins said in unison.  They could also hear Shiro face-palm through the comms.

The two guards began to fire at the three standing in front of them.

“We’re on our way,” Keith said as the rest of the group ran to support their other members in the field.

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge managed to avoid being shot and were able to take the left guard down.

“Leader, we have a situation!” the right guard yelled before firing once more at Lance.

Lance wasn’t able to get his shield up in time and braced himself to get hit all the while thinking-

Oh please don’t let me get hit by another weird space thing.

And he wasn’t.

“Lance?  Where are you?” Hunk looked around but didn’t see his friend.

“Did Lance get hit, Coran?” Pidge took down the right guard.

“No, he’s still there with you.”

“Down here!”

The others had joined the group at that time and looked down.

“I guess I thought myself small so I wouldn’t get hit,” Lance said.

The others started to approach but stopped when the remaining member of the Morris Day 6 emerged from the tent, holding Prince Apollonia in front of her as a human, err, alien shield.  She was holding a ray gun to his head.

“You take one step closer, and Princey here is finished.” She said as she started moving towards the group.

Lance was still slightly dizzy from suddenly changing height.  He was also on the ground in the space between his team and the leader of the Morris Day 6, who was unaware of his presence.

Keith was torn.  They had a mission to do, but if they moved, the leader would kill the Prince.  But the leader kept getting closer to Lance, and they couldn’t warn him to get out of the way without alerting her to his presence.  If he tried to attack her, she could kill the target and the ensuing fight could kill Lance.  Even though it was a simulator, Keith didn’t want Lance to feel what it was like to die.  Even if it wasn’t permanent.

Finish the mission, or protect Lance?  Mission?  Lance?  Mission?  Lance?  Why is Lance in my thoughts so much?  There has to be a way I can protect Lance without jeopardizing the mission.

Keith didn’t have to worry about that choice in the end.  The leader was suddenly flipped onto her back as she let go of the Prince.  Standing in front of her was Lance at his normal height with his right fist raised to the sky.

“And boom goes the dynamite!” Lance said.

“How did you…?” Allura started to ask.

“Oh, I just thought myself big again.  And it was so cool!”

“Yeah, and we saved the Prince.”

“I thank thee all for thy bravery and courage.  Now, I must returneth home to Lake Minnetonka along First Avenue.  I pray that we meeteth again on a better occasion.”  Prince Appolonia spoke before disappearing.

“Woohoo!  We won the simulator.”  Lance yelled out.

A red X suddenly appeared over everyone’s head.  

“What does that mean, Pidge?” Keith asked as he poked at the one over his head.

“That means we failed the simulator.”

“But we saved the Prince,”  Allura questioned.

“You did, yes, but Lance cheated,”  Coran said through the comms.

“How did I cheat?”

“By changing your height at will.”

“But the first time wasn’t intentional.”

“But the second time was.” Coran pointed out.  “While in the simulator, you need to act as you would in real life, not depend on the unique things that you can do while in it.”

“I would say that I used my resources wisely.”

“Wait, if Lance can choose his height at will in the simulator, does that mean we could too?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t see why that would be important,” Shiro said.  “Lance’s cheating means we lost.  We shouldn’t cheat the system.”

“Yeah, but if we can change our heights too, we could see from his perspective.”

“So, we could see what it’s like to be tiny?”  Keith asked curiously.

“Yes, exactly, Keith!” Hunk said excitedly.  “You guys can’t say you haven’t honestly thought about what the world looks like for him while he’s like this, right?”

“It’s crossed my mind a little bit,” Shiro responded honestly.

“I already have a bit of an idea what it’s like thanks to my link with the space mice, but it would be interesting to know more,”  Allura commented.

“I’m curious,” Pidge said.

“Me too.” Keith agreed.

“Well, if we all think ourselves tiny, we could see how Lance sees the world!”

“Maybe before we do that we could get Coran to change the scenery, to somewhere more familiar?” Lance suggested.  “It might help everyone be more comfortable.”

“Just a tic.”

Their surroundings fizzled out, leaving them in a black void.  Soon enough, they found themselves in the living room area of the Castleship.

“Does this work?”

“Yep.  Thanks, Coran.” Lance responded.

“So…how do we do this?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t know.  I was just thinking about not wanting to get hit by the guns.  Maybe think small thoughts?”

“Better than nothing,” Pidge said as she and the others all closed their eyes to concentrate.  

Lance soon saw his friends begin to shrink before his eyes.

“It’s working!  Keep going, guys.”

Smaller and smaller they became as they thought small thoughts.  Lance continued to stare down at them as they stopped.  They opened their eyes and shook away the blurriness of their vision.  As they looked up at Lance, they all back-pedaled, unprepared for how intimidating he looked.

Is that what I looked like that first morning when I almost… Keith thought.

“Oh my God,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, that’s intense.” Hunk commented.

“Oh, sorry.  Didn’t think about what I would look like from that perspective.”  Lance gently kneeled on the ground in front of them, though the ground still shook slightly.  “Is this better?”

The others nodded their heads.

“Is this what it felt like when you first shrunk?” Allura asked.

“That depends.  How are you guys feeling?”

“Intimidated,” Allura answered.

“Scared,” Keith said.

“Freaking out,” Hunk added.

“Nervous, but curious,” Pidge responded.

“Overwhelmed,” Shiro stated.

“Then you’re all definitely feeling what I did.  Don’t know if that’s good or not, but we all understand the situation.  Do you guys have any questions?”

“How do you handle all of those feelings?” Keith asked.

“I just try to focus on the happy thoughts and how nice it’s going to be to be back to normal.”

“Would you be willing to pick me up?  I want to know what it feels like.” Pidge asked.

“Um, sure,”  Lance said as he brought his hand down flat in front of the rest of the team.

“Is that what it looks like when we get ready to pick you up?” Hunk said with a hint of nervousness.

“Yeah…”

“Cause that’s kind of terrifying.”

“I’ve gotten used to it.” Lance shrugged.

Pidge hesitatingly climbed on his hand while Lance struggled not to twitch too much.

“Ok, I totally get what you were saying before, Keith.  It does feel kind of weird having someone climb on your hand.” Lance commented.

“Weird from my end too,” Pidge added.  

“Any other takers?”

“Sure.” Hunk said as he approached the hand.

“I’m in,” Keith responded.

“Me too,”  Allura said.

“Same here,” Shiro said.

Lance brought his other hand down as well so everyone could fit on them comfortably.

“You guys sure are a handful.”  He joked as he started slowly lifting them up to the counter.

“Good one, Lance!”  Hunk responded with only a hint of nervousness while the others *groaned* at the pun.  Hunk then decided to look down as the group was carried up.  “Ok, looking down was a mistake.” He said as he scooted back towards the middle of Lance’s hands.

“Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming the first few times,” Lance commented.

“A bit?!” Hunk looked up at Lance.

“You didn’t think I got used to it just like that, right?” Lance responded.

He was extra careful as he placed his hands down on the surface.  He stayed kneeling while everyone stepped off.  He noticed that they were shaking slightly.

“My legs feel like Jell-O,” Pidge said.

“I feel like I just stepped off a rollercoaster,” Keith added.

“Really?  ‘Cause I was going a lot slower than when I pick up the space mice.  *gasp* Does this mean they feel like that whenever we pick them up?”  Lance worried out loud.

“No, if there was anything any of us were doing that affected the space mice like this, they would have told me,”  Allura answered.

“I think it’s just because we’re just not used to being this height,”  Shiro added on.

“Just give us a minute to get our counter, err, table legs, no, umm…” Keith’s face scrunched up in thought.  “Our land legs back.”

Keith looks cute like this.  I wonder if he thinks I look cute at 3 inches tall?

‘You already know the answer to that.  No.’

Yeah, I know he’s straight.  All the girls just flocked around him at the garrison.  And he never dated any of them, which just made them want him more.

‘Remember Gretchen Smith?  And how she only went out with you to try to make Keith jealous?  How she never actually liked you?’

Yeah, I remember how she was a total Beotch.

‘But you still felt like Keith took something from you, causing you to make up this rivalry, to try to prove you actually are worth something.  But you were never good enough on your own.  Even before you were shrunk you always needed help.’

Shut up!  I’m over Gretchen, and I’m over the rivalry.  Me and Keith are friends.  I wish we were more, but I know he’s straight.  There’s no way he would ever go out with me.  That’s never going to happen!

“Lance, are you ok?” Lance realized Keith was looking right at him.

“Hmm?  Oh, yeah, I’m good.  Just lost in thought.”

Hopefully I wasn’t doing a face journey.

“You guys find your land legs?”

They all nodded.

“Yeah, but I think I’m ready to be back to normal height,” Pidge commented.

The others voiced their agreement and thought themselves back to normal.  As soon as Hunk was back to normal height, he wrapped Lance in a hug.

“I’m so sorry if we’ve ever been too rough with you while you’re shrunk.”

“It’s ok, Hunk.  Once everyone got the hang of things it’s been fine.”

“We’re all going to try and be more gentle with you while you’re like this,” Shiro said.

“I agree.  Now, thanks to the simulator, we have a better grasp of what this situation is like for you.” Allura added on.

“Thanks guys, but you’re doing great already.  You don’t have to change anything, please.” Lance really wanted his friends to stop worrying about him.

“Alright, Paladins.  I’m going to bring you out of the mind meld now.” Coran stated.

Everyone closed their eyes for a few seconds and opened them back up to reality.  They blinked as their eyes adjusted.

Lance wished he could have stayed in the mind meld a little longer.  It was nice being back to his normal height, even if it was only a simulation.

Now back to reality with tiny Lance.  Wahoo.  Can’t you just feel the excitement?  At least my floating tray’s fixed now.

He managed to hide how he was feeling from the others.

“Who’s ready for lunch?”  Hunk asked.  “I made more pastelitos for the team per Lance’s request.”

“Yes!  Thank you, Hunk!”

Winner winner pastelito dinner!

“Lunch sounds good,”  Shiro said.

“We can continue to work with the simulator afterwards,”  Allura stated.

“I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen in a bit,”  Pidge called over her shoulder as she walked towards the console.  “I’ve got some updates for the simulator.”

“This is the first time we’ve used it and it worked fine.  How can you already have updates?” Keith asked.

“Just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.”

“Alright, Shuri.”  Hunk teased.

“That counts as your final guess, Hunk.”

“No, it doesn’t.  Come on Pidge.  It’s the last day of the bet.  Let me have another chance to guess your real name, please?”

“Fine.  One last chance after lunch.  Then we’ll see who’s 20 GAC richer.”

“Deal.”

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“It looks like the rain’s stopped,” Axha said as she looked up to the sky.

“I bet Kova’s glad it was only a small shower and not a downpour.” Ezor looked over at Kova who did not look happy to be in the rain, no matter how light it was.

Narti was petting Kova to calm him down while he perched on her shoulder.  A drop of rain fell from the thick foliage and landed right on Kova’s head, causing him to *hiss* and dig his claws into Narti’s armor.  She got an amused look on her face at this.

“How much longer do you think Lotor’s going to be?” Zethrid asked as she tried to help Kova calm down.

“He’s relaying the message to our allies on the neighboring planet.  There’s a lot of details to get down for the plan to work.  It could be a while.”  Axha answered.

“What even is the plan anyways?  Lotor hasn’t really told us much.  Maybe like 12% of the plan.” Zethrid wondered.

Narti shrugged making sure that Kova didn’t fall off her shoulder.

“The more people that know about a plan, the more likely things are to go wrong.  I’m sure he’ll tell us more when he can.” Axha said with blind trust.

“I stopped trying to figure out Lotor’s plans a long time ago.  All I heard was that we got the rest of the quintant to relax and that’s exactly what I plan to do now that there’s a break in the rain.” Ezor commented.

They continued walking through the forest until they found themselves on a ledge overlooking a lake.

“Do you think it’s safe to swim in?” Ezor asked as she looked down.

“One way to find out!” Zethrid quickly ran up behind Ezor and lifted her into a princess carry.

“Zethi, what are you doing?” Ezor laughed as Zethrid ran closer to the end of the ledge.  “Babe, stop, no, no, no!  Wooooh!” Ezor continued to laugh as she clung tighter to Zethrid as she lept off the ledge and down into the lake below.

Narti and Axha looked over the edge and saw Zethrid and Ezor resurface in a fit of giggles.

“Come on you two!  The water’s great!” Ezor called up.

Axha and Narti both took a step back from the edge.

“Do you want to go first, Narti?”

Narti pointed at Kova who was just not having it.

“Come on, Axha.”

“Yeah, stop being such a stick in the mud!”  Ezor and Zethrid continued to taunt from below.

“See you down there, Narti.”

Narti and Kova both nodded in response to Axha before starting down a path to the shoreline below.

Axha stepped onto the edge and took a deep breath.  She dove off the ledge and did a nearly perfect swan dive.

“Nice, Axha!” Ezor commented when she resurfaced.

“Show off.”

Axha splashed some water in Zethrid’s face in good fun.

“Oh, it’s on!”

By the time Narti and Kova found their way down to the shore, it was a full-on splash war.  Narti managed to find a relatively dry patch of the forest floor for Kova to lay in before joining the others.  It had been a while since they had had an opportunity to relax and they planned to enjoy it as long as possible.  

Half a varga later, they were all floating aimlessly in the lake.

“It’s too bad we weren’t able to grab him before his team found him,”  Zethrid commented.

“Yeah, there was no way he could get out of that box on his own.  It would have been perfect if we’d just been a little closer.”  Ezor added on.  “Now they’re going to be more protective of him.  That just made our job that much harder.”

Narti nodded her head in agreement while Kova *meowed* back on the shore.  

“They’re still going to take him with them on the lower risk missions though.  Maybe we could do something with that?”  Zethrid suggested.

“That’s what the setup on the last planet is for.  We’re going to give them a reason not to take him with them on any missions.”  Axha explained.  “That way, we can take him from the ship while the rest of their team is outside of it on the low-risk mission without having to worry about deactivating the ship’s particle barrier.”

“Why does Lotor always tell you more than the rest of us?” Zethrid asked.

Axha shrugged her shoulders.  “I’ve been working with him longer than the rest of you.”

“True,”  Ezor responded.

“Maybe we should head back to the ship.  It’s almost lunchtime.” Zethrid suggested.

“Yeah, my fingers are starting to get wrinkly,” Ezor added.

The group headed back towards the shore.  Narti shielded Kova from Zethrid as she shook herself dry.

“Uggh.  I hate how humid it is on this planet.  It makes my fur go all poofy.”

“Aww, but I love your poofiness, babe,” Ezor commented.

“How am I supposed to be intimidating when I look like a walking ball of fluff?  The other planet was nicer.  All that warmth and not nearly as much humidity as here.”

“Yeah, but at least it rains here,” Ezor responded.

Kova *hissed* at being reminded of the rain.

“I think Kova agrees with me that the other planet was better.  What about you guys?”

“I like this planet better.  You can’t exactly go swimming with that tall grass everywhere on the other one.” Ezor said.

“I like this one too.  There’s more cover with the forest here.” Axha voiced her thoughts.

“What about you, Narti?” Zethrid asked.

Narti shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh come on, Narti.  You can’t leave it at a tie.  You have to pick a side!”

Natri shook her head with an amused look on her face.

“You can always ask Lotor, babe.”

“I could, but he’d probably say something about how it doesn’t matter which planet we like better since the most important one for the plan is the next one.”

“One way to find out.”  

“We can wait for him back on the ship.  It looks like another storm’s coming.” Axha observed as Narti picked up Kova and let him hide from the rain in her hood.

“Let’s see if we can beat it, for Kova’s sake,” Ezor said.

Kova *chirped* in appreciation.

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The paladins were on their way back to the training deck after lunch.  The pastelitos had been delicious, but what else would you expect from Hunk?  Lance noticed that the others were walking slower than normal.

Maybe it’s because of a food coma.  I know I go slower when I’ve eaten a lot.

‘But they did ask if you needed them to walk slower so you could keep up with them on the floating tray.’

Yeah, and I told them no.  They’re just walking slowly cause they ate a lot, right?

Lance thought back on some other things that had happened during lunch.

Hunk had offered to lower the height the floating tray floated at if it was too high.  Lance appreciated the gesture but told him he’s fine with it where it is.  Hunk had said that if Lance ever changed his mind, he would help.  It seemed that after everyone got to see the world from Lance’s current perspective they had become more protective than they had become after he had almost suffocated in the jewelry box.

The rest of the team had gently encouraged Lance to stand further back from the edge of the table during Lunch.  This, even though to him it was like 5 ft. to the edge of the table.  He wasn’t about to fall off the edge.  He figured having to stand a little bit further from the edge really wasn’t that big of a deal, but they kept giving him worried glances and trying to act like they weren’t.  They were acting like helicopter parents.

He knows they care, and he’s glad they do, but there’s a point where it becomes overbearing.  He needs room to breathe and he just wants them to realize that he can handle himself while he’s like this.  But he doesn’t say anything.  Given enough time, things will go back to normal.  Everyone else will realize they’re worrying over nothing and pretty soon Allura will fix him and they can all just forget this ever happened.  It’s really not a bid deal, even if his thoughts keep circling back, planting seeds of doubt in his head.  He tries to ignore those thoughts as the group enters the training deck.

“Alright, Hunk.  This is your last chance to guess my real name.  Get it right, I give you 20 GAC.  Get it wrong, you give me 20 GAC.  What is my name?” Pidge asked, certain that Hunk wouldn’t be able to guess it.

“Ok, I thought about it all through lunch, and I think I’ve got it.  Katherine.”

“Is that your final answer?”

“Yes…no…uh…yes.  Final answer.”

“That is not my name.  Pay up, Hunk.”

“Aww.  What is your real name then?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“But you have to.”

“I never said I would tell you my real name if you lost.”

“Well, then how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Would I ever lie to you, Hunk?”

“Yes.  Yes, you would.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Lance said.

“Wait, you knew?  And you didn’t tell me?  Lance, you’re my best friend, how could you not tell me?!” Hunk dramatically responded.

“That would be cheating, Hunk,” Lance answered with a teasing smile on his face.

“We can go double or nothing if you want to try again, Hunk,” Pidge suggested with a smirk.

“Nope.  Trying to guess it was way more stressful than it should have been.”

“*hem-hem*�� Allura cleared her throat.  “Perhaps we should be refocusing our efforts on training?”

Everyone agreed.

“Is there anything else the simulator can do?”  Lance asked.

“There’s a lot that it can do.” Pidge began explaining.  “One thing it can do is shift through someone’s memories and create scenarios based on previous situations they’ve been in.”

“Wait, it can look through our memories?” Shiro asked.

Pidge nodded.

“Would it be able to help me fill in the gaps in my memory?”

“It could help, but I don’t know if it could fill in every gap.”

“Maybe it could help you figure out the rest of the project name you’ve been trying to remember, Shiro.”  

“An excellent idea, Keith!” Coran exclaimed.

“That could give us the edge on Lotor,” Allura commented.

“Me and Coran can get that set up right now.” Pidge and Coran went over to the console.

Lance noticed a flicker of hesitation in Shiro’s eyes.

“Do you want to do this now?” Lance asked Shiro.

Shiro thought for a moment before responding determinedly, “I want to know what they did to me.”

“Is there anything the rest of us can do to help?” Lance asked.

“We could all go with Shiro through his memories as moral support.  If that’s ok with you, Shiro.”  Pidge responded.

“That might help, but I should be the one asking if you’d be ok with it.  There’s a lot of blank spots from both times I was a prisoner, and what I can remember is…not good.  They forced all of us prisoners to fight creatures we had no hope of beating.”

“Like Myzax.” Keith commented softly.

“Exactly like Myzax.  They would also force prisoners to fight each other in horrible situations where the only way out was death.  Yours or someone else’s.  It didn’t matter to them.  They wanted blood and a show.  They had us fight each other to discourage us from befriending the others and rebelling, I’m sure of it.  We never knew if we could trust anyone we were with.  All you could do is hope you wouldn’t be the one chosen to fight that day.  I can’t even remember how many I fought.”   Shiro’s voice cracked as he tried to keep his composure.

“We won’t let you face it on your own.”  Allura reached for Shiro’s hand.  “We’re a team.”  She squeezed his hand comfortingly.

“We win together,” Keith said.

“We lose together.” Pidge continued.

“We fall together,” Hunk added.

“We rise together.” Lance finished.

“I’ll get everything set up,” Coran stated.

“Are you guys sure you want to do this?  What you see might change how you see me.” Shiro was still giving them an out if they wanted to use it.

“Shiro, you’re our friend.  Also our Space-dad.” Lance received one of Shiro’s signature Space-dad glares at the comment.

“There’s nothing in your memory that would ever change what we think of you,” Allura assured him.

“Alright everyone, grab your helmets and we can get started,” Coran said.

Everyone got back in the positions they had been in earlier that day.

“If things get too intense for you Shiro, please let us know,” Coran stressed.  “I can bring you out of the mind meld splickety lit.”

“Thanks, Coran.” Shiro smiled slightly upon hearing Coran mix up the phrase.

Once more they found themselves in the mind-meld.  Lance was glad that he was the same height as the others again.  It was nice, even if it was only temporary.  All they could see was darkness.  

“Ok, so how does this work?”  Shiro asked out loud.

“Just think about something and the system should do the rest,” Coran answered from outside the mind-meld.

Suddenly there was a burst of bright colors and overlapping sounds.  No one could make out any of it.

“Try focusing on a specific memory.  You’re overloading the system!” Coran commented.

“Let’s start with something simple.  Maybe something that all of us were present for?”  Allura suggested.

The colors came more into focus and the sound became less muddled.  The team saw images of themselves from months ago.

{So what’s the plan?  We go in there and just *pow pow pow* and free the prisoners?}

{What was that noise?}

{Lazer guns.}

“I remember this!  This is from when we went to save Hunk’s girlfriend!” Pidge teased.

“She’s not my girlfriend.  At least, not yet, I mean, if she wants to be.  I don’t have the guts to ask.  What if she says no?”

“Come on, Hunk.  You’re a catch!  You just have to tell her how you feel.”

“You’re one to talk, Lance.”

“Hey, we’re talking about your love life, not mine.”

“Maybe we should get back to helping Shiro?” Keith interjected.

{Okay, enough with the bad sound effects.  Besides, it’s more like *blam blam blam*}

“Alright Shiro.  Try to focus on your time with the Galra.”  Allura said.

Shiro took a deep breath before everyone was surrounded by darkness once more.  Images began to fly by, faster than any of them could make out.  All they could tell was that there was a purple tint to them.  The sound of weapons clashing and people screaming filled their ears.  The images slowed down and started to go like a slide show, pausing for just enough time for everyone to see and hear.  An old man holding a sword standing next to Shiro.  The man dead on the floor, sword at his side.  The crowd chanting “Champion!”

Shiro tried to shake the memory away, not wanting to think about that moment.  He tried to focus on the memory of the project name, but his thoughts started spiraling out of control, getting louder and louder.

“Think of your happy place!” Lance yelled over the noise as everyone grabbed hands in a circle to try to ground Shiro.

They were suddenly in a new memory.

{I'm going to be a paladin again.}

{Oh, come on now. Do you really want to play a paladin? You could be something completely different: a maven, a mage, a cleric, a klazgool, a bard.}  

{Don't know what's more fulfilling than a paladin.}  

{You're already a paladin in real life!}

“Your happy place is playing Monsters and Mana?”  Pidge asked.

“More the part with being a paladin,” Shiro admitted sheepishly.

“Are you ok, Shiro?” Lance questioned between Keith and Hunk.

“Do you need me to bring you out of the mind-meld?” Coran asked.

“No, I’m good.  Just…forgot how intense some of my memories are.  I’ll be ok.  We need to figure out the name of the project.”

“Yes, but we do not wish to do that at your expense,”  Allura stressed beside Shiro.

“If you need time to catch your breath, we can wait,” Keith added from the other side of Shiro.

“We might be able to, but the universe can’t,”  Shiro stated.  “Every tic we wait is one more tic the Galra Empire has to destroy worlds.  The fate of the universe is in our hands.  I can get through this.  For the universe.”

“For the universe.” The others echoed.

Bright lights started flickering in the mind meld as Shiro tried to focus on the memory.  Then a memory of him being trapped with purple water starting to pour into the space.  Next, he was on a lab table with Haggar cackling in the background.  Then darkness.  It stayed that way for a while.

“Is something supposed to be happening now?” Hunk whispered to Pidge.

“Shhh!” Pidge and the rest of the group said in unison.

“This is a memory, just one that I wasn’t entirely aware during,” Shiro stated.

Everyone quieted down once more.  They heard a muddled *thump, thump, thump* getting closer.  Footsteps.  Heavy ones.  Probably guards.  The sound became less muddled as the guards seemed to stop in front of Shiro in his memory, though it still sounded like they were underwater.

{How long do you think this one’s going to last?}  *Glass tapping noise*

{Given what happened to the last one, I give it a movement, maybe less.}

Both of the guards laughed at the second one’s comment.

{And then we get to start over with the next one.}

Everyone tried to ignore the happy *sigh* the first guard let out.

{The witch’s project is ambitious, though the name is a bit obvious, I mean Project Kur-}

{Hey!  You’re not supposed to say the name in front of them!}

{They’re in stasis.  They can’t hear a word we’re saying.  Don’t let the witch get to you, newbie.}

{…It is a bit on the nose, though, right?  Project Kuron.}

{She could have thought of a better name for it, don’t cha think?}

Shiro suddenly let go of Allura and Keith’s hands and backed away from the circle.  His face was pale.

“You can bring us out now, Coran,” Allura said.

“Right-o.” It took Coran only a few moments to get everyone out of the mind-meld.

Just like before, they all had to blink to get their eyes used to the lights again.

Unlike before, Shiro was very much shaken.

“You know what that word means, don’t you, Shiro?” Allura spoke softly.

He nodded.

Everyone turned to him to hear what the mystery word meant and see why it had affected Shiro so much.

Shiro took a breath.

“Kuron means clone.”

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Realities without Lance: 122 (+2)

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[nexthecryptid]

This is Home Ch. 2

Summary: 

A pack called the Galra are up to something, and it's somehow tied to the disappearances of creatures, and the increase of demonic activity. Keith had somehow stumbled into the danger when he found his mother, making the choice to stay away from his friends to keep them safe. But in the end it didn't even matter. They've got targets on their heads, and the Galra are slowly closing in on his home town Arus. He isn't sure how to face his friends... Two years was a long time to be gone. ... There are rumors that are floating around VLD University, crazy ones. While some of them Lance could tell was him or his friends, there are others that were... inexplicable. To make matters worse, he's having dreams again, dreams about someone who just vanished. It felt like he was being haunted. Lance didn't know he was going to have other things to worry about until the ghost revealed himself.

Prefer to read it on A03?  Read it Here!

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The chime was what caught his attention each time, pulling him away from his thoughts as he glanced towards the door.  His chest filled with warmth that he wasn’t all that prepared for, the sight bringing him emotions that he had once tried to shove away.  But he let it linger, watching as the group walked in with smiles on their faces.

Hunk and Pidge lead the group into the cafe, talking about something with such excitement that Pidge was practically bouncing as they made their way in.  Shiro and Lance were close behind them, his chest tightening for a moment.  He was watching them talk with such pride, Lance saying something that quickly made the group erupt in laughter.  Allura, who had been behind them with Adam, said something that only made the group laugh more, their smiles bright and laughter warming the already cozy cafe.  It seemed less lonely, less quiet.   

He didn’t mean to stare, didn’t mean to watch as long as he did, but the pain in his chest compelled him to.  He watched as the group ordered their drinks, Shiro and Adam walking away to grab them a large table.  Something ugly twisted in his gut as he watched Lance confidently flirt with the man behind the counter, successfully making the barista flush with embarrassment.  It didn’t seem to go anywhere as Allura shoved Lance along, quickly apologizing for his antics when Pidge piped in with something.  It soon morphed into the two of them bickering playfully, taking jabs at one another as Hunk tried to get the two of them to settle down.

He couldn’t help but smile at them, the familiarity of the group almost too much for him to handle.  He was about to look at his phone when he caught eyes with Lance, the tightness in his chest worsening when it wasn’t a bright blue sparkling at him, but rather a beautiful rich chocolate, looking as if they came straight from a Lindt commercial.  Warm, and inviting.  They were beautiful.  

But they weren’t the eyes he had come to miss when he became restless at night.  They weren’t the eyes he had known for years.  Ones that could strip every wall he had ever built up and see right through.  Eyes that used to bring him such comfort when he felt like the world was falling apart.  Eyes that would only shatter and swirl with emotion when they were alone with one another.  Eyes that were as bright and welcoming as the person they belonged to.  

“You’re thinking about them again, aren’t you?” The voice was soft, reminding him that he wasn’t here alone.  Reminding him that he had been staring. 

Keith blinked a bit before giving a polite wave to the man he had been looking at, trying to play it off that he had recognized him from somewhere.  It had worked at the other smile politely before joining his friends, friends that he had imagined were his own.  He looked to Krolia, waiting for her to sit down with their drinks before responding.  They had settled in the corner, their view of the cafe comforting as they waited.  

“I am.” He admitted quietly, taking a glance around the cafe.  Krolia hummed a bit, handing him his coffee before taking a sip of her tea.

“You miss them.”  A statement, not a question.  

“I do.  They’re going to be starting their Senior year at the University next week.” 

“You should be with them.” He frowned.

“I want to be but…  But I can’t.  Not yet.” He sighed, staring down into his coffee to avoid any look she may try to throw at him.  

They were quiet for a moment, Keith thinking that it was over when he heard his mother sigh.  He took a chance and looked at her, relieved that she was busy scanning the area.

“Tell me more about him?” She asked softly, the question taking him by surprise.  It felt like there was something to it, like she had expected something to happen other than getting an answer.  He wasn’t sure though, confident that he told her pretty much the gist of everything, including his friends.

“Who?” He asked.  

“The human boy.  Lawrence I believe?” She clarified.  He couldn’t hold the small snort at the mistake she made, doing his best to hold in the rest of his laughter when she frowned.  “Am I wrong?” 

“His name is Lance.” He corrected, coughing into his fist to cover his amusement.

“I told you.  I am very bad at remembering names.  But yes.  I was referring to Lance.” 

“I’ve told you about him.” He argued, raising a brow.

“Yes.  But I know less of him then I do of your other friends.” She argued back, and he could definitely tell where his stubbornness came from as they only stared at one another for a moment.  

“I’m sure that’s not true.” 

“Hank-” 

“Hunk.” He interrupted to correct, motioning her to continue when she nodded.

“Hunk is an engineering student.  He is also called a ‘teddy bear’ a lot and arguably the one who gives the best hugs out of your friends.  You won’t admit it though because you’ll never hear the end of it.  He is a phenomenal cook, and an even better spar partner.  Despite his appearance, he is very strong and can be very protective when it comes to your friends.  He is a human.  Peggy-” 

“Pidge.” He snorted, deciding to remember that.

“Pidge is the small one, but can also be intimidating.  They match the characteristics of a cartoon mad scientist in your opinion.  They are also often called a gremlin despite the fact that they are human.  They are snarky and sarcastic, but ever the loyal one.  They are also the video game champion, and you are constantly impressed by their ability to code and invent despite the fact that you have no idea how it is done.  Alice-”

“Allura.” 

“Goodness!” She huffed, clearly frustrated that she couldn’t remember their names.  

“It’s okay.” He reassured, chuckling a bit.

“Allura,” She sighed before continuing, “is the one you all consider the ‘mom’ friend.  She is the most intimidating out of your group, as well as the most knowledgeable in a variety of fighting techniques.  She is full of wise advice, and she is also a very powerful witch who has provided assistance on many occasions.  She wants to work internationally.  She is also the one who helped you feel more comfortable with who you have romantic interest in.  And then…  Shiro.” A pause.

“That’s right.” He said warmly.

“Shiro is the ‘dad’ friend and arguably the most responsible out of your group.  He likes to make puns in almost every scenario and everyone finds them funny but will never admit it to his face.  He and his family took you in after your father passed, and is someone that you look up to.  He is working on becoming a teacher, and he works well with kids.  He has taken a liking to an artist that is also trying to become a teacher, in which you used to relentlessly tease him about.  He is also like us, fond of taking the form of a lion.” 

“Wow.” He couldn’t help but smile at how much details Krolia remembered.

“The only thing I can recall of Lance is that he is human, and also a part of your group.” She said with finality.  

She proved her point when he tried to think of a time where he had told her about him.  But all he could remember was him avoiding the questions, or just mentioning small bits in pieces in the stories he had shared.  Truth was, it was hard to talk about him.  It was hard just saying his name on most days.  

“Were you two not very close?” She asked, sounding like she was trying to be careful.   He blinked a few times before snorting, shaking his head a bit.  

“Close?  He was my best friend.” He admitted.  He took a sip of his coffee, taking a moment to think of what he would say.  The better question was where to start?

“Oh?”

“We met when we were kids, but we weren’t really friends until middle school.  He tried to befriend me earlier, but I was just too damn stubborn, too angry.  But it never stopped him because he was stubborn too.  He would challenge me in everything we did, sports, academics, even eating lunch!  He would call me his rival, declaring it to the world as if it had that much of effect.  It was his way of trying to be my friend, even when I kept telling him that I didn’t need any, didn’t want any.  He was so damn persistent, and eventually…  I gave in.  We stuck together ever since.” He said, knowing he had some dumb smile on his face.

“He sounds like a good person.” Krolia hummed, smiling warmly as she listened.  Lance just had that type of effect on people.  Making them smile, even when he wasn’t around, even when a person hadn’t actually met him.  

“He was.  He was stupidly selfless when it came to others, caring about them, sometimes more than he cared about himself.  He would help in any way he could, make them smile, laugh, motivate them when they were struggling, even if he wasn’t feeling all too good himself.  He just…  has this ability to know what exactly to say or do when it counted the most.  He was just the type of person that could make the room brighter, just by walking in!  And his smile…  I never knew a smile could be so warm, so contagious until I met him.” He said fondly.  

“You speak as if he wasn’t alive.” 

“I used to try to convince myself that he wasn’t.” 

Krolia did something that he wasn’t entirely expecting, eyes widening as he watched her laugh into her tea.

“The more we speak, the more I see myself in you.” She mused, reaching out and gently taking his hand.  

“Yeah?” 

“Yes.  I’ve been in the exact same position that you are in right now.  In love, but away.” She said softly, Keith’s hand tightening around hers.  She gave a comforting squeeze.

“When I left you and your father, I had left to fight a battle to keep you two safe.  It was painful, and there wasn’t a day where I didn’t think of the family I had left behind.  But it only served to encourage me to continue fighting.  I decided that the best thing to do was stay away, that it was needed to keep you safe.  Like you, there were times where I tried to convince myself that you two didn’t exist, moments where I tried to forget.  It was impossible though.  In the end, I was so desperate to see you two, to be with your father again.  When I made it back to our city…” She took a moment, her eyes growing sad and distant, “It was already too late.  Your father had passed away and you were gone.” 

“You did it to protect us.  You didn’t know.” He reasoned.  Keith had to come to a full understanding as to why Krolia left, as to why she never came back.  He was angry, sure, but he understood and forgave her.  He’d be a hypocrite if he told her she should have done differently.  

“No, but I still regret my decision.  Even if I had done it out of protecting the two of you, I still had chances to come back, still could have made a better effort.  I’m sure if I had, we could have found a way to protect you.  Together.  Your father was strong, but I stayed away out of fear.  I…  Keith, don’t make the same mistakes I did.” She sounded like she was begging, her eyes shining with unshed tears.  

His jaw tightened as he squeezed her hand, letting her words fully sink in.  He didn’t leave with the intention of never coming back, in fact, his plan was to come home early for a variety of reasons.  But he had become a part of a large and dangerous situation after finding his mother, deciding that returning wasn’t an option, not wanting to drag his friends, his family, into something they were completely unaware of.  He didn’t want to lose them.  

But…  wouldn’t he end up losing them in the end anyway?  He had practically abandoned them, disappearing off the face of the earth as if he had never existed at all.  At least when Krolia left, she told her father the reason.  He hadn’t.

The thought made guilt crash over him like a wave, violently tossing him around despite his body never moving a muscle.  It made him nauseous, drowning him in memories and choices he had made; in future scenarios and reactions that were impossible to predict.  He could feel the anxiety lapping at the back of his neck and washing over his shoulders, tensing with discomfort as he bit the inside of his cheek.  

He opened his mouth to respond, unsure of what he was going to say, when Krolia looked away from him, the chime of the door distracting them both from their conversation.  

“They’re here.” She said softly, sitting back and letting go of his hand. They shared a look, one that told him that it wasn’t over.  

Keith nodded and sat up, sipping his coffee as he shoved all thoughts of his friends away.  He gave himself a mental shake, quickly reminding himself as to why they were there in the first place.  

A large group of creatures had been causing trouble for creatures and humans alike.  They called themselves the Galra, and they had been dabbling into things they shouldn’t have through experimenting.  To make matters worse, a large amount of humans and creatures were going missing, and they were the ones responsible.  Ever since Keith had found his mom, he had been doing his best to help her not only protect her own pack, but to stop the Galra before they were a threat to his friends back home.  It had been going as well as you expected, but the Marmora pack wasn’t one to back down from a challenge Keith had learned.  

“Krolia!  Keith!  It’s nice to see you again!!” Thace greeted, smiling warmly.  Krolia stood and shared a tight hug, repeating the action with Ulaz who only smiled and nodded in greeting.  Keith awkwardly waved, getting up to shake hands with them.  He couldn’t help but notice the computer bag Ulaz was carrying, noting that he had placed himself the furthest away from the crowd.

“It’s lovely to see that the two of you are in good health!  How did your trip go?” Krolia asked, all of them taking their seats.  This was where their conversation was coded.  Where a passerby simply assumed they were friends or relatives getting together to talk about a trip or to catch up, they were really talking about a recon mission the two of them had just returned from.  

“It went well!  We were able to study and discover some new information on the old civilizations we had been interested in.  They were hidden in the back of the library we visited and we were fortunate to come across it.  The librarians were a little weary at first, but we were able to convince them to show us the records when we told them that we were studying about the Galran civilization.” He sounded satisfied as he said that.  Keith and Krolia shared a look.   

We were able to find new information on the groups the Galra had been targeting.  It had been buried deep, but we were able to access the files.  The Galran that we had been with had been suspicious but we were able to convince them that we were loyal to the pack.  

“Did you learn where some of these civilizations may have originated from?” Keith asked.  

Was there information as to where to locate some of these groups?

“We did.” Ulaz said, pulling his bag onto his lap and pulling a laptop out, plugging a USB drive in before logging on.  

“We also learned of other civilizations that we weren’t aware of.” Thace added.  

There are a lot more groups then we had initially suspected.  

That made Keith frown a bit, the concern clear on Thace’s and Ulaz’s face as they pulled their information up.   

When they pushed the laptop to him to look at, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting.  The files that were on the USB drive were folders labeled as the ‘civilizations’ they had been talking about.  He didn’t look at the names thoroughly, simply scrolling to see just how many files there had been before looking to the first one.  

Altean

Arusian

Balmeran

Mer

Olkari

His heart dropped.  

“Tell me about the Altean civilization.” He demanded.  

“Keith?” Krolia asked, frowning a bit.

“Why is the Altean civilization under your research?” He asked.  Why was he looking at Allura’s last name?  

“Well…” Thace hesitated, probably confused, before gently pulling the computer and clicking on what he assumed was the folder.  After a moment, one that felt like hours to Keith as he began to bounce his knee, Thace cleared his throat.  

“The Alteans are known to have practiced witchcraft.  They were around for ages before suddenly disappearing without a trace.  Finding an artifact has proven nearly impossible until recently.  We found that there are photos that have been connected to the artifact, so it may actually help us.  Each civilization has similar information, some more than others.  This one in particular only gave us images to work off of.” He explained, turning the laptop around again.  

A coven that called themselves Alteans.  They are of old magic and very rare to come by, but they have somehow found one of the witches recently.  There are pictures that show us information that will help us locate them.  The other groups have similar information.  This coven has the least information as of now.  

Keith gripped the table harshly, his nails digging into the wood as he looked at each image.  

In a bout of cruel irony, on the screen were files on every single one of his friends, the one on Allura having the most information.  He swallowed hard, the guilt from earlier returning.  He had taken into account that there was always a chance that they would somehow be dragged into it, but he had always tried to keep an eye out on any information regarding Arus.  

He sat back and ran a hand through his hair, his knee bouncing more as he stared at the information before him. 

“Have you researched the Alteans?” Ulaz asked, seemingly picking up on his distress as he tried to play it off.  

Have you met an Altean?

“My friend back at school had done a project on them.  I’m the one who helped take these pictures.” He said, hoping they would understand.  When their eyes widened, he figured they had.  

My friend is an Altean.  And all of them are our friends.  

…

Keith could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he headed towards Krolia’s car, waving to Thace and Ulaz as they walked in a separate direction.  He kept quiet as he got in the car, still processing the information that had been shared with them.  If he hadn’t already been frustrated with his conflicting thoughts before, he was certainly frustrated now.

Chaotic…  

That was the best word to describe the amount of emotions swirling inside of him.  All he could really focus on was the thought of it already being too late, thinking back to what Krolia had said.  Sure the information they had was very limited, but that isn’t to say that they hadn’t sent someone, or even a team, to search for his friends already.  

He pulled his phone out and quickly pulled up the news website that focused on his hometown.  He clicked onto the page that mainly focused on missing persons, looking through the list.  To his relief, there weren’t any names that he recognized, going back to the main page.  He scrolled through some of their recent articles, looking for any signs that an accident could have been faked, covering for a death, or even a story on a freak accident.  Again, to his relief, he didn’t find anything that stuck out.  They were all pretty ‘normal’, a fire at a restaurant that was on the other side of town and a car accident due to a drunk student.  No deaths, no tragedies.

He did come across an article that was puzzling though.  

Weird Sightings in Empty Forest.  

He frowned and clicked on it, checking the date before reading on.  

...The claims from students about weird sightings in the town’s forest have become more frequent and strange as we get closer to the new year.  Rumors are spreading through the campus that is keeping both students and staff on edge.  

Some of the more popular claims include sightings of water seemingly floating through the air, producing a small glow before it suddenly flees or falls to the ground.  Others include the sightings of wild life, such as a bear, lion, and on occasion wolves.  Some students also claim to hear voices in certain areas of the forest, singing, screams or even laughter.  

Authorities are puzzled by these claims, but have not moved forward with an investigation.  

“No one has been harmed by any of these claims.” Chief Iverson says when asked why he hadn’t sent a team to investigate.  He believes the claims of wildlife, but the ones of voices and floating water he does not.  

“I’m sure it’s just students pranking one another.  Or even students being under the influence.  But no matter.  We must take the claims of wildlife seriously and order that one is to go into the forest for their own safety.” 

What do you think of the rumors?  

“Did you find something?” Krolia asked, concern evident as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder.  

“There’s been weird activity in the forest back home.  After we make sure they’re safe, we should check it out.” Keith said, showing the article title to Krolia.  

“Okay.” She agreed, pulling away from the curb and heading towards the highway ramp.  

He took a deep breath, setting his phone down and running a hand through his hair for the nth time that day.  

He only hoped that everyone was okay.  

[what-the-floofin]

Hello there! I’m been a follow for a while now but I never send in an ask xD. BUT I wanted to say that I love your art style so much and especially the Voltron centaur crossovers! They are just so cute! Also I have a question, who is more willing to give back rides to humans from the Voltron gang? I feel it would the lance or hunk since they seem to have a stronger build and as for Keith....well he’s Keith so who do you think ?

Awh thank you very much. My AU runs on a Everyone Is Taur sortof deal, without an intermixing of centaur and human, but I’m cool to flex somethinking around for the fun of it.

 So hmmmmm…

Yeah, given it being a nice situation and one of willingnessand all that good vibe stuff, Lance and Hunk would be pretty chill with it allround.

Hunk’s more tolerable for any kind of seat the person mayhave, so if they’ve never sat on the back of a taur before he’s probably theguy for it – slow and steady is his preferred pace anyway. He’d offer pointersif they’re nervous or seem to be open to criticism. He knows he’s big, and howthat can seem intimidating, but will keep being pretty much himself becausethat always feels the most genuine way to prove he wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyonein what would – technically – be the more vulnerable position.

 Someone with better balance and self-control would suitLance more – he might be able to move smoothly and reduce bumpiness by a greatdeal, but I feel like Lance would just have much more sensitive sides. An unbalancedrider with legs bashing all over the place trying to hold on… he’d simplyrather not have that, thanks. But he’s as equally open to offering as Hunk, evenif he is pickier. Chances are he’d have seen them on Hunk prior anyway, soknows what he’s getting into.

 Shiro would have also been pretty patient and open about itonce - though I feel if it wasn’t a little kid for a passenger, he’d rather know the personwell beforehand. Attain a mutual respect, y’know. After the whole Arena thing(in whichever concept) though? Very put off with the idea, (politely) steersclear of any such situations and wouldn’t offer a lift for anything out of anemergency. And even if it was an emergency, he’d be very tense and edgy with a movingweight on his back – though also being him, he’d power through the discomfort withas many brusque ‘I’m fine’s as it’d take.

 Pidge would much rather notbut doesn’t wholly abhor it, so long as they fit okay and sit still. Tallpeople can suck it. She’s also the sort that prefers to know the person she’sallowing on her back. Though even then she’s more like… ugh, if I must. You’ve got legs that workperfectly fine though.

See also: Your heels so much as touchme and I’ll throw you, no questions asked.

She’s also probably the sort to just, stop dead short ifthey got even the slightest bit pushy about anything. Just nope. Nope. Get off.I’m in charge here bucko and you’ve just lost all privileges.

 Keith is a very strong no. That’s his space, and he doesn’tlike people where he can’t see them on principle. In fact, don’t even touchhim. It’s a one-way ticket to the pain train and you can’t say you weren’twarned. He’s definitely the bucking bronco if someone was just plain stupidenough to try something so dumb as an unconsented climb onto his back. He’s themore instinctual and reactive one, so it’s safe to apply ‘angry horse’ in thiscase.

 Allura is also pretty much no, but in a much more diplomaticfashion. She has her standards and would only find it acceptable if 1) sheoffered and had never been asked prior, and 2) they really couldn’t do withoutit. Otherwise, don’t expect it, and do not treat her anything less than equal -or may the gods have mercy on your soul.

 Coran, on the upswing, would be utterly delighted, as he’sconfident in his position and itgives him a lot of time to regale his lengthy tales and wisdoms (which, if he’smoving fast enough, they’d be very inclined to staying for the whole story!) Hedoesn’t mind the effort and is keen enough to guide one right on the proper etiquetteand sitting form all the while. Anyone involved here better be prepared for a lot of talk they cannot easily escape from. 

[castlestormed]

Substitute

SUMMARY:

When Keith rejects the responsibility and Allura is rejected for it, Lance steps up to the plate.

Or at least, he tries to.

(an exploration of Lance as a potential Black Lion pilot candidate.)

[ bittersweet, genfic, au, canon divergent from s3 ]

CHARACTERS:

Lance, Black Lion

w/ Allura, Keith, Pidge, Hunk

Read elsewhere: [A03] [FFnet]

---

Filling in. That’s what Lance is good at, or so he thinks.

So when Keith rejects the responsibility and Allura is rejected for it, Lance steps up, jabs a thumb to his chest and says, “I’ll do it.”

He’s being totally serious about it too. Shiro’s been missing long enough for his return to have gone from certain to uncertain to questionable bordering on indeterminable. He’s had a lot of time to sink his thoughts into this, a lot of time to think about the consequences of a missing teammate and what that meant for Voltron and their ongoing battle with the Galra empire.

It’s weird how simple it is. The team needs the Black Lion, a leader, a good pilot. He’s not sure about the other two but if there’s one thing he’s confident about, it’s that he’s a damn good pilot.

“Let me try,” he says into the silence because everyone, it seemed, was too preoccupied with staring at him.

“You’re kidding, right?” Pidge pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and the frames catch a beam of light that momentarily obscures her squinted gaze. “You?”

That hurts a little but Lance brushes it off. Sticks and stones.

“Why not? Keith doesn’t want to step up —”

“That’s not—! It’s not that I—” Keith stutters, uncharacteristically flustered. There’s a good two seconds of him trying to push out words before he folds in on himself and bites out a stilted, “I just… can’t. Won’t. Sorry.”

Lance smothers a spurt of irritation — and pity, though he'd be loathed to admit it. Keith looks... lost. More closed up than usual. If this were about anything else, Lance would have maybe tried to muster up some sympathy. Maybe.

But this was about survival. This was about saving the world.

Keith’s name had rang out the loudest when discussions about who would take over the Black Lion began in earnest. The Red Lion was Voltron’s sword arm and literal right hand, after all. The princess pointed out that the previous Red Paladin — her father — had been something like a second-in-command, and that Keith had been filling a similar role.

Aaaaand as if the universe couldn’t be any more pointed, Keith reluctantly revealed that Shiro himself gave him his blessing (if he was to be believed).

Yet despite all the brightly-lit signs pointing his way, Keith was determined to stay out of the running because… because he didn’t want to? Because he was afraid of admitting that Shiro isn’t around anymore?

Lance doesn’t get this at all.

Thing is… yeah. Shiro isn’t around. There’s no skirting around that, and the motionless Black Lion in its hangar was the most critical sign. Keith was hot-headed, sure, but wasn’t he also sort of military-practical, to a fault?

If I were Keith, he’d said to himself when he was musing over his options, then what I need to do is obvious. The universe needs Voltron. Voltron needs a Black Lion. I can pilot the Black Lion. So ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, I pilot the Black Lion.

It wasn’t even a matter of ego anymore; it was a matter of necessity. It was a matter of the universe’s safety.

If I have a skill that can be useful, I use it.

Not using it? Kind of a dick move. And also kind of a questionable move because why wouldn’t you help people if you had the power to do so?

He didn’t always understand where Keith was coming from but he'd never pegged him as selfish, until now.

“Like I said,” Lance says, turning away from Keith with a roll of his eyes, “he doesn’t wanna do it. And our next best option couldn’t make Black budge at all today.”

The princess’s arms tighten around herself and Lance can identify with the feeling she so openly projects.

“Yes, unfortunately the Black Lion has chosen to reject me,” she says, somehow managing to sound gracefully upset. She hasn’t worn any of her usual dresses since Shiro’s disappearance. In her pink-accented spacesuit, she would have fit right into the team. If anyone truly deserved to pilot the Black Lion, it was her — not Keith.

She turns tired eyes on Lance and gives him an equally tired smile. “I don’t see why you shouldn’t try, Lance.”

Warmth bursts through his chest — until she turns that tired smile on the whole room.

“And if Lance doesn’t work out, I believe the others should attempt it as well. Just in case.”

Hunk makes a startled squeaking noise, Pidge lets out a grumbled Ugh, and just like that, his carefully considered plan of solving everyone’s problem by volunteering to be the responsible one was downsized into a group effort. Nice.

Lance is quick to pick himself up though. This is good. Even if it were Hunk or Pidge and not him, at least they would have a Black Lion again.

Pidge goes first — “To get this over with,” she says tersely — and lasts a minute before tagging out. Her dismissive attitude doesn’t bother Lance. The youngest and smallest member of their team is more useful (and safe) behind the scenes anyway.

Hunk goes next, anxious energy tensing up his shoulders. Hunk has never spoken about wanting to be a pilot but Lance compares his friend’s broad frame to the sturdy bulk of the Black Lion and thinks that maybe Hunk would be the better match if it came down to the two of them. Shiro’s absence had been a blow; maybe Hunk and his big heart was what the team needed right now to fill that void.

(Better than Lance who could get stuck in his own headspace sometimes and went overboard with the jokes when a lighter touch was more appropriate...)

But not that many minutes later, Hunk exits the Black Lion, unsuccessful and somewhat relieved.

“Guess we saved the best for last?” he says with a sheepish grin, and Lance gives him a hi-five for that before taking his turn.

 ---

 It is quiet in the cockpit, so quiet that he can hear the thrumming of the castle from outside. He takes a seat and drums his fingers on the armrests, surveying a dashboard not unlike the one in Blue.

His nerves ramp up as the silence settles around him. Blue's response to him had been instantaneous and intuitive, like picking up a new sport and making the happy discovery that you were naturally adept at it. The Black Lion's continued stillness didn’t bode well.

—but this was the Black Lion after all. The leader of the pack. Of course it wouldn't be that simple. He had to prove himself!

How though?

He coughs into the curve of a hand. “Hey, big guy. It’s Lance — you know, Blue’s pilot?”

There. Friendly but not too friendly; he figures that if this Lion was anything like its missing pilot, it probably wouldn’t appreciate an overly casual approach.

“Normally I’d try to sell you on my good points but I think I’ll just cut to the chase.” He clears his throat. “We, uh, we kind of need you out there. Think you have it in you to give me a shot?”

The silence stretches over his question. Lance swallows his unease. He reaches for the handles on either side of the chair, gingerly curling his fingers around the hand grips. He had hoped that the contact would spark something, build a connection like the one he had with Blue but… nothing. Of course.

Well, the show must go on.

“C’mon,” he says. “I’m not that bad. I can do it; and if I can’t, I’ll figure out how. Just ask Blue! She can totally vouch for what an awesome pilot I am!”

Nothing again. That last part might have been a bit much.

Okay, okay. Maybe a slightly different approach.

This time Lance closes his eyes and reaches with his mind.

Black? Uh, Black Lion. We need you, man. Look, I know I’m no Shiro but I’m here, I’m ready, and I’m… kind of all you’ve got right now. You turned down everyone else--

/ n o t  t r u e /

The response comes so quickly that, at first, Lance isn’t sure if the words come from his own doubts or from the Lion. A sequence of images seem to come into focus all at once in his mind's eye, all with an undercurrent of red and a burst of emotion that he doesn’t immediately recognize. He feels a strong  pull towards them but they move too quickly. He reaches out, grasping in vain — then vertigo clenches around his stomach, quickly replaced by pain as he trips over his own feet and crashes into the metal floor.

Lance lays on the ground for a good minute, gritting his teeth.

Also painful? What Black is trying to say.

“He doesn’t want to do it, okay?” he snaps. “He didn’t even want to try. There’s no talking to him once he’s made up his mind. That’s why I told you — it has to be me.”

His vehement declaration rings strongly (confidently, he thinks, with pride) in his own ears.

But following the pattern of this attempted conversation, it too is swallowed by the stillness of the Black Lion’s cockpit.

Lance bites down resentment as he picks himself up from the ground. It's tempting — so tempting — to kick that stupid chair. He doesn’t, though. Instead he glares at his dark surroundings, like he is staring down the great beast itself.

A guy could take a hint… but seriously?

This whole thing was stupid.

“I don’t even want to be your pilot,” he mutters, and there’s a stir in the air, like a chuckle, which gets on his nerves. “What? I don’t! And guess what, dude? Neither does Keith. But which of us is standing here right now, trying to take responsibility for it?”

(He deserves some credit for showing up and trying, right?)

(He deserves some credit for caring, right?)

“Maybe Keith really is the best guy for the job, but as I’ve told you a million times, he doesn’t want to be here. I am and I do— I mean, I know I just contradicted myself there, saying I didn’t wanna be your pilot, but...”

His gaze drops to the ground as he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. But the quiet now is different from the stillness of before. It gives him some courage to keep going.

He clears his throat again and says, “I figured I could just... fill in, you know? ‘Cause we kinda need you. The universe needs you. And we can’t get you up and running without a pilot, right? So I can do it, until he’s ready. Okay?”

Lance is a little surprised to find that he means it, too. Like, real talk, he can’t imagine himself leading Voltron, de facto or otherwise. Keith, though… Keith could probably do it. When he finally grows a pair and learns how to put his personal shit aside, anyway.

“O-or, Allura,” he adds hastily, uncomfortably aware that he is just babbling now. “I still think it’s weird that you didn’t pick her, but I guess you have your reasons, huh? Just. Yeah. This’ll be a temporary partnership, you and me. Because we need you. And I’m your best bet right now.”

He opens his arms and tries a smile.

“So… partners?” he asks hopefully.

And he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

...it’s excruciating. It’s worse than the first time he ever confessed his feelings to a crush. At least the girl had been nice enough to put him down gently. Today he learns that giant metal lions are not nearly as kind.

Enough time passes that it’s become too tiring to keep up the smile. He drops it, shoves his hands into his pockets, and finds his way out.

 ---

 The whole team looks as tired as Allura when he drags his failure of a self over to them.

“Black’ll come around,” he says, eliciting a few wan smiles. They scatter to do their own thing not long after that.

Lance should have gone straight to his room but he finds himself slowing down and waiting till he is completely alone before retracing his steps. He stares at the Black Lion from the entrance of the hanger. It stares back with blank, dead eyes.

There’s a war going on, he wants to tell it, and you can do something about it. But here you are, sitting on your metal claws, for dumb reasons I can’t understand… kinda like Keith.

Huh. Maybe you two are meant to be.

That wasn’t the point though. He was here so that he could fill that spot — a spot that was necessary but unwanted. That’s what he’s good at, or so he thinks.

But of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

Getting into the Garrison wasn’t. Enduring as a cargo pilot wasn’t. Making it to fighter pilot wasn’t. Leaving Earth and fighting this impossible-sounding war with impossible-sounding technology certainly wasn’t...

So. Not easy? He was used to that.

He reenters the still, metal cockpit, and says, “Let’s try this again.”

[linipik]

I am so down to read even more of the pjo au!!! And its so well written and fits the universe extremely well!!

Really?! u are making me blush! and thank you so much, this is so refreshing to do, to have this AU out of my chest. Thank you Voltron x PJO AUpart 1 | part 2 | part 3

I wanted this part to be longer but …yeah… here it is

we left with: a passed out Allura arriving to chb, a dead cyclops and Keith realizing that he has a real crush on Lance…also the quest to get back Matt

THE QUEST FOLLOWS UNDER THE CUT 

SOME ALLURA BACKSTORY

The real deal is that the gods have gone radio silent to the romans FOR A LONG TIME long enough for praetors allura and lotor ( an apollo son btw) to worry too much what if they did something so wrong the gods take retaliation or something? truth is also that saturn (roman chronos) have been using this need to keep the camp jupiter running to poisoning lotors mind to get it against the gods for abandoning them and the usual demigod sad stuff… thats why he convinced allura to go look for the gods since she is so good with the mist and stuff while he stays…and basically reigns. But all in “”good heart””. 

Reah sees this and its like oh no, and when she founds Allura she immediately loves her and sees in her the way to not let saturn break the spirit of her grandchildren since he is basically instigating the hate from the demigods to their parents (and other demigods maybe??). she sees in allura a way to not repeat the same saturn family breaker story that is happening with lotor going against the gods. so she is the one who transports allura to camp half blood , actually the one that leads her is a big ass lion but cyclops attack them and he dies defending allura and it is so sad (then revealed by reah that such is the circle of life and the lion reincarnated in a cub who is going to be allura’s but bear with me) but she saw on allura the energy to face the patriarchal oppression against saturn and lotor in camp jupiter. BUT she fails on telling Allura that Lotor is the one behind everything, since Reah thinks/knows that Allura still dont have the support system to go against Lotor herself…because of romantic feelings.

ALSO, Lotor despises Apollo for knowing things and still letting them happen while with the help of the gods a lot of terrible things can be avoided, couldnt they?  but he would never refuse to use any kind of power, which makes apollo think he is important enough to lotor. Still,  that’s why he is siding with chronos. 

ANYWAY

Allura is at chb, and when she wakes up all repaired thanks to apollo cabin magic and she remembers Reah asking her to not reveal the other camp and making her swear over the river styx. so, she cant tell them there about the other camp bc if they expose themselves probably chronos is gonna go after them too and bye new greek allies. Anyway, Allura explains that in California *wink wonk* mount othrys has been appearing slowly and it only means chornos is  kind of waking up  and it can only happen bc some…demigods (lotor and the romans but she cant tell) are siding with chornos.

 BUT she goes with the legal void of just saying demigods who never made it to chb. But keith is like intense staring at her and  why that  SPQR on her shirt…that is obviously roman like on his coin but after all romans where kind of related to greeks ?? he need to know more about this. and while he is basically interrogating Allura about this and she is avoiding his questions Lance kind of confuses this in Keith being interested in Allura and OH NO.

And shiro is all like, rough demigods? I knew some of those at the gladiator thing in the labyrinth so he is gonna help allura because he is sick and tired of demigods putting themselves at risk because the gods are never clear to them and he feels mildly responsible since it is usually zeus rules the ones that fuck demigods more… so he is going with Allura.Keith jumps at the opportunity of getting away from his latent crush on Lance AND know more about this roman jargon Allura slips while talking and that means  he gets to do TWO things at once!The new quest trio ( shiro allura and keith)are ready to go sooner than pidges who still needs some preparations and now Lance is all….what cha mean Keith AND Allura..are both going and he is all confused because he is caring too much about it. Is he Jealous? of….?? Keith maybe? of course it is of keith! since he is NOT into him, and if Allura, the wonderful mysterious and powerful new demigod who saved them from the cyclops, goes with Keith, monster slayer and extremely capable hero… she probably will end up liking Keith (because who wouldn’t like keith and his cool moves) 

And when they are partying and pidge is still asking Shiro all the details he can remember about the matt last whereabouts and hunk is basically asking for all the tips on NOT dying on a quest and Lance is into interrupting ANY Keith-Allura interaction , the six of them are basically walking to the edge of camp  but when they all suddenly feel in the forest in their way out is when they get a prophecy of dodona (thank you garnny Reah) along the lines  that the six of them were to go IMMEDIATELY because in like a week Mt Osyris will be at its strongest and thats when there would not be gong back, that both quest were actually one and the same and only finding the missing family member they will get  there.

they are like oh yes the missing one is matt, OBVIOUSLY, And well, six is not an unlucky number for quests….but Keith is like NO - bc he dont want to spend time worrying about certain inexperienced in quests demigods -, pidge is like YES because that means finding her brother with more help.  hunk is like NO this means more problems and danger , Lance is like HELL YES i get to go with allura and keep an eye on keith so he doesn’t get all the glory and the girl. Allura just want to go and wonders why greeks cant follow simple orders, But Shiro is just “CHILDREN LISTEN, we aint separating. not for our lives. we are only strong in numbers”And team voltron parts immediately to the place hunk has traced technology like shiro’s who coincides with the last place shiro saw Matt: Arizona

BONUS OF THE CERBERUS QUEST (Shiro Matt and Adam failed quest)

Matt had to get back cerberus bc some demigods took him and Persephone wasn’t getting any of that so she went for “who is the brightest demigod so he can bring back my dog instead of me telling my husband”  and  That’s how the trio went directly to hell/the Hades. since they had to start looking somewhere.

Adam is an Hermes child, having a sword power and can know when shit are traps who only went on this quest because Shiro insisted on also going and he had a really bad feeling about it.  his relation ship with Hermes is hermes going all “no dont do that my boy” and adam going “what if i do anyway” but hermes respect he is so straightforward.Matt is an Athena son, who wasn’t too sure about going on a quests until he wanted to graduate from camp demonstrating to his sister that demigods have bright futures out there. 

how did the three brightest and oldest demigods in camp half blood got themselves lost, probably dead and separated?

On their way there shiro and adam get on each other nerves to the point when they both say  “i will do it my way”. Adam is all there is something is deeply wrong with this quest LISTEN TO ME we gotta NOT do this, but Shiro is there for proving this quest successful,Matt is just in the middle… but at the end chooses shiro bc he wants to be the prove of a future for pidgey. And then they get separated in the underworld, never getting to cerberus.Shiro> A zeus child is the best way to get any revenge on zeus and all the gods represent and he is forced to fight in the gladiator arena against monsters and demigods alike, losing an arm.

Matt > ended up in the labyrinth alone passing doors avoiding any kind of evil demigods and creatures without much of a physical fight  bc he is bright that way.  discovering much more stuff about the demigods away from camp and only wants  to see his sister again

Adam> got himself into tartarus because he is unlucky that way

THANK YOU AND I AM SORRY IT TOOK SO LONGANY QUESTION I LOVE TO KNOW THEMI will probably write the rest of the quest, since I already have a draft of it And thanks to @themindoflore specially, i appreciate with all my heart that you asked me about this au 

[sol1056]

character arcs as questions, followup

I’m going to quote only some of the responses (and break a few up to separate out the topics), since a lot of them overlap. 

a note about Yuuri on Ice 

truth and lies character arcs

the difference in the midpoint

learning lessons: Yuri, Hunk, Lance

the need for agency

Behind the cut. 

a note about Yuuri on Ice

@jeannettegray @cristak and the anon who sent me the two-parter about Yuuri all had various observations: Yuuri didn’t need the gold, his story isn’t over yet, his anxiety was secondary to his romance. For a more thorough meta on Yuuri’s arc, I’ll send you to @caramelcheese​​. Her meta goes deep, and maps pretty close to how I see that story. 

I used YoI as an example because structurally, Yuuri’s story is not a change arc. He’s not all that much different at the end from who he was at the start; he began as one of the top six in the world, and ended there (unreliable narrator issues aside). As someone raised in a loving and supportive family, he's new to romance but love itself is not a wholly unfamiliar experience. 

You can debate the exact nature of his question, if you like. Structurally, his story still isn’t a change arc, and that was my point. 

truth and lies in character arcs

another anon:

...you gotta think of your characters stories from a want vs. need perspective as well. Maybe. Our character wants to win something, but importantly, needs to learn something and the external validation/reward is less important than self-validation/growth...

If you’re writing a change arc, then yes. That type centers on the conflict between the lie the character believes (influencing what they want), and the truth they must learn (what they need to do or be).

That lie is really just a coping mechanism. It’s something they learned would keep them safe, and it did --- until the instigating event pushes them into new world. Now, what once helped becomes their greatest harm. 

The longer they cling to those lies, the greater the narrative punishes them (the try/fail cycle). Their dark night of the soul is when they must let go of their lies and face their truth. Doing so will change them, often radically, as they become their authentic selves. 

But that’s not the only kind of arc you can write. 

I’ve talked about the different kinds of character arcs before. I didn’t go that much into flat arcs, but I did call out two: 

In a maturity arc, external factors force the character to overcome doubts or disadvantages, which in turn are the key to victory. Wonder Woman being temporarily overwhelmed at the magnitude of the fight she’s taken on is a midpoint of a flat arc. She fights her demons, reaffirms her truth, and gets back in the fight.

In an alteration arc, the character has a change of perspective. A corporate successful attorney sees the damage they helped cause, and their midpoint is a re-evaluation. The second half of their story, they’ll fight using the same tools, but now in a different direction. Other than that shift in their view, they’re still mostly the same.

Any arc can be posed as a question, of course. A maturity arc is just the easiest, because it really is a yes/no question: can the character do X? With their truth already in hand, the try/fail cycle doesn’t punish the character for clinging to a lie. It punishes the character for refusing to let go of that truth. 

Yoon-Hee has to get through the civil exams undiscovered, survive dorm life among boys, and evade a professor who knew her father. Yuuri has to run a gauntlet of competitions to re-establish himself, effectively starting from scratch all over again. Shiro is tortured, tormented, forcibly ejected from his lion, brutally wounded, and loses potential allies too soon; even his own lion seems to be working against him.  

None of these three ever really question whether their goal is good; instead, they doubt their ability or worthiness to achieve the goal. They ask: how much longer can I keep this up? What if I’m not up to this? Can I really do this? 

Kim Weiland describes it as: “In short, they have a Doubt—and it keeps them seeking throughout the story, even as the undeniable power of their conviction in the Truth transforms other characters around them.”

The character holds their truth in defiance of the world’s lies, and in the end, the character doesn’t change all that much. Instead, they change the world. 

Unless, of course, the answer is no.

the difference in the midpoint

If the dark night is resolved with the realization they’ve been going about this all wrong-headed and need to try something new, it’s a change arc. If the dark night pivots on self-doubt over whether they’re able or enough, it’s a flat arc.

If Yoon-Hee had hit the midpoint and realized she’d been believing a lie that said education is the only measure of worth, and then threw herself into finding a husband, that’d signal a change arc. When she picks herself up, determined to work harder towards her goal, that confirms she’s got a flat arc.

If we say Yuuri’s midpoint is his breakdown in the parking garage, a change arc would dictate he must realize he’s been believing a lie. That doesn’t happen; his midpoint revolves around believing in his own ability, and his need for Victor to be there when Yuuri falters. It’s a high-stakes and intense moment, not a brooding midpoint like Captain America often gets. But it’s still a clear flat-arc style of midpoint.

Shiro’s midpoint is more complex than the other two examples, as he arguably goes through it twice. One dark night begins at the end of S1 and continues to the middle of S2; the other covers S3 to the end of S6. In at least the first case, Shiro’s choice is to double down, fight Zarkon, and end up bonded stronger with Black. In S2, Shiro regains his certainty, confident that his answer will be yes, as long as he stays true to himself. 

learning lessons: Yuri, Hunk, Lance

from another anon:

let’s say ... the main character is very self-centered but needs to learn to become part of a team ... what’s more satisfying, getting the gold medal in the end or getting a strong team/friends and seeing that external rewards don’t matter as much as personal/interpersonal ones?

Any arc can create a satisfying story, so long as the arc is brought to its natural conclusion. It really depends on the character, and what kind of story the writer wants that character to experience. 

In YoI, the younger Yuri has a classic change arc. He believes a lie in which a gold medal would validate his self-worth. The best instigating events are ones that appear to satisfy the lie so thoroughly that the character simply cannot refuse, but at the same time, sets the character on a path towards that midpoint realization. 

A chance to use Victor’s routine is exactly that, wrapped up in one gold-medal package. But like every good instigating event, there’s a stinger in the tale: the routine assigned requires Yuri be true to himself --- expressing selfless agape --- rather than cling to the persona he desperately wishes were true. In that, Yuri’s arc is also a failure: he doesn’t change. He clings to the lie he believes, and the story hands him a gold for the effort. 

on the previous question-arc post, @speakswords commented:

Lance and Hunk have questions, they've just been abandoned by the storyline. Hunk’s was something like 'can he step up to plate to do a job that must be done even if he doesn't want to?' Lance's was something like 'can he prove his worth.' ... Lance's question has answered with a resounding no, despite the narrative setting up and providing all the necessary pieces to give Lance's arc a yes answer. 

Hmm. I think what muddies those examples is that fear (Hunk) and insecurity (Lance) can also be expressions of self-doubt. After pondering it, I can’t actually tell. If either ever got a clear outline for their development, that outline got tossed or watered down. I won’t say bad writing so much as... well, an ensemble’s tough to write well. Sometimes characters get handed shortcuts instead of actual arcs. 

What I’m thinking happened to their arcs is they got switched mid-stream from a change arc to a flat arc. That would take as many words to explain as I’ve already written, so if you want me to keep going on that, send an ask. I’ll put it on the list and tackle it as its own post. 

the need for agency

on my post about Shiro’s arc, @gundamgirl17 commented:

While I disagree that withholding agency for Shiro is inherently wrong ... [I want] him to grow and complete his arc and have a happy ending as much as the next person, I don't see anything inherently wrong with the writers making him a tragic character instead.

I respectfully disagree in the strongest possible terms: withholding agency is absolutely wrong by every storytelling measure. 

Chuck Wendig (as usual) puts it best: 

Character agency is, to me, a demonstration of the character’s ability to make decisions and affect the story. This character has motivations all her own. She is active more than she is reactive. She pushes on the plot more than the plot pushes on her. Even better, the plot exists as a direct result of the character’s actions.

A story that negates a character's choice, or blocks the character from acting on that choice, is a bad story. I don’t mean bad/good in the sense of message or morals. I mean bad writing, plain and simple.

We never saw the crucial decision points onscreen: when and why did Keith accept his role after so long being reluctant? When and why did Shiro stop being a paladin? When and why did Allura decide she returns Lance’s feelings? When and why did Lance set aside his easy-going perspective and turn so grim? The one time we saw a character grapple with anything --- when Hunk decided to rescue his family --- the story never let him follow through. If he had anything to do with his family’s rescue, we never saw it.  

I am totally sympathetic with those fans who seek the silver lining, who say Shiro’s pride in Atlas is a sign he’s moved on, has a new place, and will do well there. But I never saw him choose that. 

Shiro’s arc began as a question. At the end of S2, the story answered, and said no. Shiro had fought and struggled and tried, and in the end, he paid for his convictions with his life.  

Whatever he’d learned in the time since, the story didn’t let him act upon it. Whatever he might’ve seen as his options, the story didn’t give him a chance to consider or decide. Whatever he might’ve felt in regret or hope, the story refused to show. The story required he fill a specific space, the plot required that he be happy about it, and the writing hollowed him out to make it so. 

The most common complaint I’ve gotten post-S7 --- beyond representation, plot logic, or shipping --- has been about S7′s lack of heart. Some of S7′s lingering hurt comes from a sense of those broken arcs, and the way that brokenness turns every win into a loss from another angle.

What broke those arcs, though, was the story reducing the characters to puppets, pushed around by the story. It turned a complicated narrative into a recitation of events, play-acted by empty characters. I have my theories on what sent everything in this direction, but I’ll leave that for another post. 

[maryannalush]

Rant on Voltron season 8

I dont know how long this will be and im sorry if i ramble.

Okay so i just finish watching Voltron and let me tell you i am not amused. And it is more than just the last episode. I mean that was pretty weak in my opinion. I know some people liked it. Power to them. But not me. I felt like my intelligence had been insulted.

First i will start with Allura. I knew when I first started watching Voltron that she was going to die. And at first i was like "yea okay, last altean, i see where they are going with this". I didnt really like her character at first. She seem to happy, and just to much. But as the seasons when on i felt like she gained something. She wasn't just this hollow, one dimension, self sacrificing character. But at the same time i felt like she was constantly trying to die to save people and that's good and all but it was way overused (not just with her but all the paladins) and i just felt it was really stupid. Like you are the only people who can save the universe (and all realitys) and yet you are willing to throw away your life at the drop of a hat. 💁‍♀️ bitch what. And then with her romance with Lotor. That just rubbed me the wrong way. I get it. She thought he was the last one of her kind. I just felt forced. Like really forced. It felt to me like a plot point and nothing more.

Then we have Lance. Some things with his character were really good. Like he was a ladies man but not in the creepy way that a lot of them are played out to be. He was kind and never tried to really force his was with Allura and i loved that. He respected her and didn't treat her like some object that he could have if he tried hard enough. Everyone knew he liked her but he wasn't constantly showing her with affection and offers and gifts like i have seen over and over again in TV shows. It was really refreshing. But outside of that there wasn't much to his character. He could shoot well, yea. But that's not really a character trait. Just a skill. I think they could have done so much with his character if they tried. But he was literally like a side character the entire time. Nothing about his character really shown through the whole show. He was just sure of himself and sometimes but the team in danger. Plus he was super annoying at times. Don't get me wrong i think hes a good character but just way under done.

Next us Keith's character. I think he went though the most changes thought Voltron. With a few occational backtracks. He started out as this out cast kid who didn't like authority and wanted to be alone (the emo kid) into someone whole led the fight against the Galra. (More about becomig leader later). And i loved his character growth, but we didnt really get to see it happen. One minute he was with his mom outside of the Colony the next he's back with Voltron and hes ready to be a leader. Before he left he was still this kid who was running away from responsiblitly, running g away from being the Black Paladin and then he gets back to the ship and boom hes a leader. I understand he aged and matured and probably learned a thing or two from his mother but we never really see that. Shiro was alway "ill never give up on you" but it didnt make him the leader. Another thing that frustrated me was when Shiro left for space Keith got himself kicked out of the Garrison. Its kinda like all the stiff Shiro did to get him in and keep him in was for nothing. Especially after they thought he died. All those flash back and the time he spent with him added up to nothing. Sure it was used later to show the bond between them and help them a time or two, and that great, but i feel like that could have been achieved though the other things they went through. I also find it weird that no one ever knew that he wasn't fully human, i feel like something would have shown before he activated the Blade. All other half breeds showed outwardly that they were part Galra but he didnt. He looked totally human until then. Once again i think it was a plot point. Especially when Allura was avoiding him because he was part Galra was super stupid, or at least i thought. Mainly because i feel like really had no reason to dislike him, like he never did anything and she was like "thats because your Galra". He wasn't mean or anything. Loner, yes. I dont know it just kinda made me made.

Pidge is next. I feel like Pidges main thing was learning to accept herself and find her brother. I like how they did it and that she didnt start dressing girly once they found out. She was who she wanted to be. And being male or female didnt change that. Even when she got back to earth. I also low key forgot they were looking for her brother and farther like half way through because they never really made way on it until she saw the picture of her brother. I mean yes they hinted at it. But it seemed like she put it on a back burner, then all of a sudden it was all she cared about. And that just doesn't seem very Pidge to me. And even thought she is a girl they didnt make her less of a character than the rest like Allura was for a while. She was always super important and stayed that way.

I dont really have much to say about Hunk. I loved him and he was a good supporting character to the main people but that's just about all her was.

Okay now one of the things i really didnt like about the whole thing. The switching lion. Why, why..... why. To me it felt silly and unessisary. At the time Keith was no where near being ready to pilot the black lion and Allura had been a dull character. Lance was perfect for Blue and Keith for Red. But when they switched it made me feel like they were being forced into role that really didnt belong. I feel like Allura should have piloted the black lion in Shiros absences but given it back when Shiro returned. She had shown.she was a leader and respected by everyone and it was almost a slap in the face to see her in the blue lion. And Lance in the red lion felt wrong too. Shiro should have stayed Black paladin and in his absence Allura. Like a mom and dad duo. (Not ship wise tho) They gave off the vibes of both being the leaders, Shiro being the to and Alloura his second i command. As i srated ealier Keith did eventually step up as a leader but i feel like as the red lion he could have been a leader like Shiros right hand man. I feel like the shift was unessisary and cause more problems then it solved. And then they didnt change out fits either so you have the red paladin wearing a blue outfit and the black paladin wearing a red outfit. It irked me to no end seeing that. Like you change lion you change suit. Boi 😤🙏

And then the last season. Oof. I feel like it was pulling in so many different directions. It was so much confusing, more like info overload. They could have either made another season or took some pointless thing out. Like they kept having to prove their bond with each other every other episode. It got boring. I under stand it happening once or twice but how often i heard Keith saying we have to work together it the power is within was over kill. They already established they were super strong together. I understand they wanting the audience to know that were strong but really. Almost every episode. Come on. Give me a break. It almsot it like their bond before wasn't really a bond so they had to do it again. But whatever.

Now Alluras death. Let me tell you that made me mad. Like wtf. The was they did it was alomst lien they pulled ut out of their ass. "Hey how should we end this" "i dont know... it had to be something epic" "how about all the paladin combine their strength with all the last paladins and Hagger and fix the universe and channel it thought Allura ( how i thought it should have gone. Because we literally see the past paladins before she goes but idk) " naw lets just kill Allura and make it as unrealistic and simple as possible". I feel like they could have done so much more, something so much more meaningful. It just felt so rushed and almost pointless. Like they didnt know what to do and took out the most useless paladin and called it a day. It just wa ssooo freaking stupid and dull. And then when They were saying goodbye they were all okay with it. Didn't question it. Didn't try to come up with a different solution like they have done ever time in the past that someone tried to sacrifice theirselves. Nope just was like if you say so. Boop. Big freaking ooof. Like ever other time someone tried to sacrafice themselves they found a was to do something else but there they where kind ooc a bit. And lance. Man. I feel like he was under reacted. That was the love of his life. The girl he would never get over a d he barely argued. Like no. No. Just no. All his character development, poof gone. All im saying is they wouldn't have just accepted it. Of all the things they went through i just dont think they would.

Lastly the after credit(?) Thing. There was so much wrong with that. Like lance. I feel like he would have not moved on per say but found someone else to love. Because Allura wouldn't have wanted him to grow up and be alone for the rest of his life. It was sad and kinda pathetic. She would have wanted him to find a nice girl and have little baby lances. Instead he was forever heart broken and unable to move on. Blah. And Chip i wanted more about chip. Why did she build him. Was he supposed to be a son like figure because he looked like a child. Did he even work. I have so many questions. And then Shiro marring some random bimbo. They had no build up, nothing. He just in a few shots aboard the Atlas. It felt like a last minute decision. They could have done so much with them becoming a thing. But nope they show Shiro may or may not have been with Adam and then decided just to give him a random gay marriage. They aaidsomething about him finding happiness but never once did it seem like that was what he was looking for throughout the show. Not like Lance was. He never even seemed interested in anyone thought out the whole thing. Like maybe he traveled the first earth mission thought space or something idk. It made his character feel sallow.

End of rant. If you disagree with me or think i jave something wrong feel free to discuss it with me. Like and adult.

Thanks for your time.