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willadisastercry · 4 years

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the boys of voltron when pidge is on her period

TW: description of things to do with mestraution, reference to blood, and depiction of vomiting and passing out

SUMMARY: so basically the boys are absolutely clueless when it comes to Pidge being on her period, only some of them make the connection at times but they kind of eventually forget completely that she even gets it and allura can’t necessarily relate... good thing Pidge’s periods haven’t been particularly painful while she’s been in space, until this one is and she is not at all prepared.

{2:27 am}

Pidge woke up drenched in sweat.

“What the f...?” she mused groggily, blinking dumbly in the dark trying to figure out what was wrong until she felt it, the throbbing ache in her stomach just above her bladder that somehow spread insttantly to her lower back and made her hips feel like they were being wrenched apart.

“Ooowwh,” she groaned queasily, rolling to her side and hugging her stomach tightly.

Shit.

Pidge hadn’t had a heavy period since she’d been in space, she had been so busy with voltron, so physically active that it had lightened substantially and she almost forgot how painful they could be. It was sort of a blessing, that aspect at least.

But then the fact that she was in space at all was entirely inconvenient. No one got to pack before they became the universe’s greatest defender and the castle wasn’t necessarily toting the supplies humans needed, especially supplies specific to female humans. And they just didn’t carry pads or tampons in any Earth souvenir shops because why the fuck would they.

So, it was awkward enough having to explain to Allura the intricacies of the female reproductive system when she found stained painties in her bin after her first offfical space period, let alone having to relay that to Coran in order for him to create sanitary products for her. Pidge would be utterly mortified if she ever had to ask him for more than the additional supply or additionally medicine to take away the horrible cramps and other unpleasant symptoms. But she hadn’t needed to yet, so she had never worried about it.

Until now. Because now she was crying from the excruciating agony of cramps after not having any for who knew how long.

Voltron had been relatively inactive doing promotions on planets they freed from the Galra, so they hadn’t been on a particularly taxing mission in weeks. Pidge had never even considered the sudden decrease in physical activity could cause her period to come back in full force. She should have considered it. She could’ve ask Coran before... she could’ve made something to...

FUCK.

She almost cried out as the onset of another wave of cramps made her stomach churn. This was bad. Her head was already pounding and her back ached dully, for the moment overshadowed by how foul her stomach and uterus felt, taking turns pulsing but both succeeding in making her want to profusely vomit up all of the green alien goop she’d had for dinner earlier.

The boys had remarked at just how much she was eating that night. Now she knew why. And now she was really regretting it.

Pidge pulled herself up to a hunch and waited a beat as the movement ran its course, a new flare of pain spreading down her back and making its way to the joints of her hips.

She needed to do something. The pain was unbearable. Everything that could hurt, did. She blinked back dots, a small whimper escaping her lips at the thought of it not ceasing anytime soon and so she got to her feet to begin making her way to the kitchen to search for something, anything before the next wave landed and she lost her resolve.

The hallway outside of her room was dark, the only light coming from a lamp in the common room. She made her way swiftly. First to the bathroom with Coran’s alien solution of a pad. Pausing only to wash her hands before trudging on. And then she could feel her stomach pulling, getting ready for another gush of pain. She walked quicker after that, despite the deep ache in her back that threatened the contents in her stomach once more.

When Pidge finally made it to the kitchen she was blinking back more dots and leaning heavily on the counter as she reached for a glass, her hands shaking holding the pitcher as she filled it. She takes a couple of sips. Her headache was splitting now.

There’s nothing in the cabinets for pain relief, there’s usually tea... some sort of herb thing. But there’s nothing, she’ll have to go to the infirmary. And then the realization that she’ll have to drag herself all the way across the ship while she felt like this made her head spin.

Like genuinely spin. Pidge couldn’t decipher why she suddenly felt so faint, she’d eaten more than enough that night, yea sure it hurt but this didn’t warrant-

And before Pidge knew it her mind had gone blank. She didn’t remember letting go of her glass or falling but suddenly the floor was rushing up to meet her face very quickly.

The floor tile of the castle was very cold against her clamy skin and it was very helpful in reviving her, so was the insessant shaking.

Pidge blinked in confusion, but the pain that followed her renewed consciousness prevented any sort of protest. She looked up to see a very worried Keith shaking her shoulders slightly.

“Pidge! What the fuck?! Are you okay?” he rambled off quickly, his eyes working her over trying to deduce what could possibly be the problem.

“Yeah...” she said sort of sadly, but before she could even consider how to start explaining she made a humph sound and lurched forward, narrowly clamping a hand over her mouth to choke back down the saliva that had welled up in her mouth, just as Lance nearly tipped himself over with how fast he had raced to discover the source of commotion.

“What the fuck was that?” he inquired surveying the strange sight, “uh, you guys having a party or something?”

Neither of them answered as Keith scrambled to shove the bowl that previously held earth veggies under Pidge’s chin and helped her sit up before she began aggressively losing the contents of her stomach.

“Holy-“

“Lance, shut up! Pidge passed out... I don’t think she’s feeling great,” Keith explained, rubbing circles on Pidge’s back, her whole body trembling while she retched.

“Oh,” Lance softened, a pang of worry apparnt in his gut when he moved closer to check her out for himself.

He then got to work sweeping the broken glass away from where his friends sat before he lowered himself down as well. When Pidge finally came up for air she reddened immediately. This was just not ideal.

“I’m-i’m done, I think,” she rested her head back against the cabinet and held her stomach.

“So... what the heck was that?” Lance asked taking the bowl away to empty it.

“Uh, nothing—”

“Bull,” Keith interrupted. Pidge wasn’t expecting that, but then again she was talking to the king of hiding injuries and ailments and feelings, especially pain.

“No! I’m fine, really—“

“Yeahhh i’m just not buying it.”

Pidge’s heart dropped as she realized Keith wasn’t going to just let it go. Crap.

“You passed out and then almost threw up all over me, you’re not fine Pidge. You can tell us what’s wrong... it’s not like we’ll judge or anything,” Keith said gingerly and she knew he meant it. Fuck.

Am I really about to confide in these two boneheads about my period? In space?!

“You can’t laugh,” she choked as another ache stole her breath. It was looking like she would in fact have to admit she was on her period if she wanted any sort of remedy, of which she really really did.

UGH.

“We won’t, we promise,” Lance assured. She didn’t expect that either. From him at least.

“I’m on my fucking period,” she whispered almost inaudibly. Keith nodded in understanding.

“Oh! Well that explains it,” Lance breathed, “I thought you were like deathly ill or something.”

“Juries still out on that one,” Pidge grimaced, squirming as she tried to find a more comfortable position, one that didn’t put so much pressure on her hips or her stomach or her back.

“Oh, c’mon—“

“I wouldn’t finish that statement if I were you buddy,” Keith tried to hold back his laugh.

“Listen to the mullet,” Pidge warned, her death stare shutting the boy up instantly, “because only when you can handle feeling your uterus shedding its own skin without what just happened occurring can you then talk, otherwise please save it.”

Whether it was her subtle threat or the way her voice shook with her last plead, Lance did as he was told.

“So, how can we help you?” Keith offered, “I don’t feel comfortable leaving you like this, like... I mean I know you’re not traditionally sick but for all intents and purposes sure seem to be. So what can we do?”

Pidge shifted uncomfortably, unable to keep a straight face now.

“You can help me find some sort of medicine to take. Anything, literally anything. For pain, or sleep, or death, I don’t care. I’m good with whatever you can find.”

“Damn, I’m sorry Pidge. I’ve never seen you like this over your... your period before,” Lance apologized and scratched his head.

“Yeah, because it’s never been this bad,” she tried to steady her breath and shut her eyes, swaying her knees slowly from side to side because she was so freaking antsy and in such pain it was all she could to do to somewhat soothe herself.

“She look pale to you?” Pidge was barely aware of Lance hushing his worry under his breath.

“Yeah, but she’s like flushed too.”

“Hm...”

And then there was the back of a cold hand against her forehead and an exclamation of concern.

The boys looked at each other worriedly like “shit, this is bad” and then launched into a discussion on how they were going to proceed. Pidge didn’t listen to the conversation that followed, she could only focus on keeping her fist pressed against the right spot on her lower back and refraining from crying out as the pain rose and dulled and rose again.

And then Lance was nudging her, his hands out for her to take. He helped her to her feet, his hands firm on her back when she stopped to wait for the blood rush to dissipate and then guided her over to the sunken couch. Keith must’ve been asleep on it before because there was a pillow and unraveled blanket next to a curled up Kosmo.

She laid down slowly while the boys bustled around her, not having enough energy to accurately produce any theories explaining why Keith would be sleeping in here and not in his own room, saving the thought for later.

Then she was aware that the boys had gone off to wherever and she was alone with a peaceful Kosmo as another horrible pain flared up in her back and travelled to her hips.

“Fuck!” she exclaimed, unable to surpress the tears as they rolled down her face, her breath hitching now. Pidge rolled to her stomach and brought her legs under her in a sort of mock child’s pose, accidentally waking Kosmo up in the process. But to her surprise, he didn’t seem annoyed at the disturbance like he normally would’ve been, he’d stretched out in front of her and licked her face instead.

Pidge could’ve sworn he looked genuinely worried, somehow sensing that the salty wetness of her face and contorted breathing meant anguish, because he then went to comfort her. This is right about when Keith and Lance turned up with Coran and some strange alien goodies in the heat of an enlightening conversation about how a cryopod likely wouldn’t make a lick of a difference in this situation.

“Good boy,” Keith commended, petting his wolf’s head who was in a vice grip in Pidge’s arms, but he didn’t seem to mind in the least.

“Little one, I am displeased to hear of your great discomfort. If I had known these menstrautions could be accompanied by such horrible pains I would’ve something prepared sooner... but fear not, my girl, because I may very well have a few remedies that might do the trick.”

Pidge sighed and heaved herself to a sitting position, Kosmo turning himself around and nestling in her lap. The boys silently remarking at how she’d somehow looked worse than before.

Her face and eyes were blotchy and puffy from crying and her trembling was more apparent now, either from the cold of the common room or her abnormal temperature, regardless she looked like she was really going through it.

And she was because as soon as she straightened up her face fell. Keith didn’t wait even a tick before he took off barreling for the veggie bowl, vaulting over the couch just in time to once again shove the bowl under Pidge’s chin.

Kosmo whined in distress.

“My girl...” Coran lamented, fussing with the supplies they had gathered in Lance’s arms.

“Here, once you’ve calmed down try this, it’ll make you sleepy but it should ease the pain for now,” Coran had a thick blue leaf in his hands.

Pidge nodded, Keith’s hand behind her neck gripping her solidly in case she tipped over because she looked like she was about to. Her face was ashen, almost tinged green.

“I’ll get you something to wash that down with,” Lance stated and headed for the kitchen. Coran headed off somewhere too.

It took her a minute to be sure she was done but when she was she shivered and sat back, Kosmo nudging his head under her arm.

“You cold? Or just shaky?”

“Cold. I run fevers sometimes but only usually the first day and then I spew when the cramps pick up... hey look, I’m sorry to be making such a fuss so late and keep you all up for something so stup—“

“Are you kidding?” Keith seemed genuinely taken back as he draped the blanket he was using earlier around the tiny girl’s shoulders.

“Wha—don’t apologize!! You know we’d all do anything to make sure you’re okay, your Pidge! You’re like our nerdy little sister, how can we not fuss over you?” Lance said when he returned with a little laugh. Pidge managed a smile while she gnawed on the oddly textured leaf, gulping it down quickly with the water Lance brought.

“And I was up anyway,” Keith started “I couldn’t sleep so I came out to hang with Kosmo. I was surprised you didn’t yell at me for being awake when you first came in. And then I heard the glass break followed by a sloid thud, so naturally I needed to see if ya know you were alive.”

They all laughed at that. Pidge let out a big yawn.

“I forgot you even get your period, Pidge. You never let on that you’re in pain, like ever. That’s freaky, that’s like a superpower holy--”

“I’ve got just what you need, my girl!” Coran beamed, effectively shutting down Lance’s tangent.

Coran presented Pidge with a blanket.

“Uhh, thanks?” she took it from him and rubbed at her eyes.

He then held up a remote and pressed a button. The blanket started to glow, it was getting warm.

“Oh, yes! You’re the best, Coran.”

Pidge gave Keith’s blanket back and wrapped Coran’s around her middle, Kosmo seemed to like it to because he nuzzled into it and pawed at her for more of it to cover him.

“I don’t get it, if she’s feverish isn’t she gonna over heat?” Keith asked, more confused than anything, and maybe a little sad that his blanket was rejected.

“From what Allura has told me, heat sometimes soothes the cramps associated with a female human’s menstruation! It is quite fascinating, but it makes perfect sense, you see the release of the hormone prostaglandin is a hypothermic process so--”

“Okay, spare us and our simple minds. Anyway let’s be quieter, I think she’s finally asleep,” Lance pointed to a very peaceful Pidge curled up in her new blanket with Kosmo, her mouth hung open and steadily blowing on a tuft of hair with each breath.

“I think it’s time for you boys to retire as well,” Coran suggested, settling down at the other end of the couch, “I’m sure our Pidgeon has greatly appreciated all of your assistance, but you both need to rest, I can watch over her from here.”

Keith and Lance shared a look.

“What’s the harm is staying with her a bit longer, just to make sure she doesn’t get sick again or anything, ya know?” Keith postured.

“Yeah, I don’t see anything wrong with staying just a little while longer,” Lance said stretching out at Pidge’s feet, she was nestled in the corner of the couch, so Keith took to the other part of the couch by Kosmo and rubbed his nose.

And within no time the two boneheads were out. Lance’s head resting on Pidge’s leg as a pillow, limbs strewn all about, snoring like an old man. While Keith was cacooned himself in his own blanket all but his arm because it was trapped under both Pidge and Kosmo.

This was the scene that Allura walked into early that morning. She was very confused to say the least.

#voltron pidge #pidge gunderson #pidge whump #vld headcanons

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langstforthesoul · 4 years

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Lance McClain

*Both Alteans walk into the where lance is and here him talking about his home to the mice*

Allura: Home?

Lance: *tenses but relaxes* A Place where I can go… *Looks at the hologram of earth* To take this off my shoulders (referring to the war)

Coran: My boy…

Lance: *trying his best not to cry and gives a sad smile* Someone take me home…

*After training by himself and he again is talking to the mice as Shiro walks in*

Shiro: Home? C’mon Lance we’ve been over this-

Lance: *Holding back tears and glares at the ground* A place where I can Go!

Shiro: *Shocked at the volume of his voice* Lance-

Lance: *Laughs bitterly and gestures around himself* TO TAKE THIS OF MY SHOULDERS!

Shiro: *steps forward to comfort him*

Lance: *steps back with a flash of fear in his eyes* Someone take me home… *screams*

SOMEONE TAKE ME!

*in the common room with lance and Keith fighting (again) but Keith says something that crosses the line*

Keith: I’m sure everyone back home thinks we’re dead so will you please stop comp-

Lance: *tears sting his eyes as he cuts him off* Look, I didn’t power through the struggle just to let a little trouble, knock me out of position or interrupt my vision (Talking about his dream of going to space)

Keith: *realizes what he’s done* Lance I didn’t mean-

Lance: *trying his best not to break down* After everything I’ve witnessed (Referring to all the death and destruction) After all of these decisions… *tears pool out of his eyes) all these miles, feet, inches… They cant add up to the distance of me being more than a spare paladin, a fill in until a true one comes along. Just to get to a place where even if there’s no closure… *looks up at Keith with a broken look and smile* I’m still safe… *whispers* with you…

Keith: Baby…

Lance: *Lets out a shuddering breath* I still ache from trying to keep pace *starts to leave* Please just somebody give me a sign I’m starting to lose faith…

*Lance walks through the castle halls by himself*

Lance: Now tell me, how did all my dreams turn into nightmares? (Flashes of when he died after taking a hit for Allura or the time he saved Coran from the explosion) *Begins to tremble* How did I lose it when I was right there…?

Lance: *falls to his knees*

The others: *either listening from the camera room or from around the corner*

Lance: *lets out a choked sob* Now I’m so far that it feels like its all gone to pieces…

Lance: *Screams* Tell me why the universe NEVER FIGHTS FAIR?!?!

*The others have a group meeting while Lance is in his room*

Shiro: He’s trying to find-

Hunk: *gives a sad look and shakes his head* Home, a place where he can go to take all of this off his shoulders… He just wants to go home…

Pidge: Home… *glares at Keith cause they know about the fight* A place where he can go!

Keith: *tears up* To take this off his shoulders, he just wants to go home…

Coran: *actually snaps* THEN WE MAKE THIS A HOME!

Allura: *Nods in agreement* A home where he can feel comfortable and relaxed after missions.

*Everyone in the common area now with Lance*

Hunk: Talk to us man, help us understand what you’re feeling..

Lance: *sighs and looks up at the all with cold eyes and a sharp glare* Look.

Everyone: *either flinches or tenses up*

Lance: *swallows while a lump forms in his throat* I’ve been through so much pain that its hard to maintain any smile on my face *laughs bitterly* Cause there’s madness on my brain…

Everyone: *listens intensely*

Coran: *sits next to Lance and wraps an arm around his shoulder all the while pulling him closer*

Keith: *leaning against the wall while blinking away tears*

Pidge: *sitting in front of lance while holding back tears*

Hunk: *Lifts lance up and places him in his lap while allowing coran to still hold his shoulder*

Shiro: *looks down while guilt runs through him*

Allura: *wipes her tears*

Lance: *continues while his voice thickens with sadness* So I have to make it back, but my home ain’t on a map…

Everyone: *confused but don’t interrupt*

Lance: *looks over at Keith* Gotta follow what I’m feeling to discover where’s its at… I need the-

Keith: *looks up and smiles sadly* Memories…

Everyone (Excluding Keith and Lance): *Smiles at the two*

Lance: *looks away* In case this fate is forever *looks up at everyone and gives a saddened smile* Just be sure that our last days are better…

Hunk: *Holds him tighter* Lance-

Lance: *shudders* And to all of my enemies… Dios mios *chokes out a sob as he remembers haggar and Zarkon* Please give me the strength t-to look the devil in the face and make it home safe!

Shiro: *walks over and crouches down to Lance’s eye level* Now tell me, how did all your dreams become nightmares?

Allura: *places a hand on Lance’s cheek and wipes a tear* How did you lose it when we are right here? (Referring to their love and caring for him)

Lance: *jerks away from her touch* I’m so far that it feels like its all gone to pieces.. *sobbing while glaring at Allura and Shiro* Tell me WHY THE WAR NEVER FIGHTS FAIR?! I never asked to be here! I never asked to join this war! I never asked for you to constantly remind me that I’m not good enough, that I dont train or try hard enough, that I’m the goofball, that *sobs wreck through him* THAT I’M JUST A USELESS AND REPLACEABLE PALADIN! I’M JUST TRYING TO FIND-

Keith: *gently cups lances cheeks while interrupting his hysterics* A home… A place where you can go *gives him him such a adoring but sad look* to take this all off your shoulders…

Lance: *reaches for Keith* Please I just wanna go home… *shudders* Someone take me-

Keith: *takes Lance from hunk and hold him in his lap as he sits down* I found no cure for the Loneliness, I found no cure for this sickness…

Lance: *hides his face in the crook of Keith’s neck* Nothing here feels like home, I am surrounded by family but I’m all alone..

Hunk: *grabs Lance’s and and holds it between his own* We found a cure for your loneliness…

Pidge: *crying at this point and tightly grasps Lance’s knee* We’ll find a cure for the sickness…

Coran: *wiping away his own tears while squeezing Lances shoulder* We’ll make this here feel like home, my boy..

Shiro: *gives a comforting smile* We’re here for you, and you’re not alone.

*few minutes of more crying*

Lance: *gives a watery smile* Home! This is a place where I can go, to take this off my shoulder… I feel like I can call this home..

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delaneytveit · 4 years

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Satellites Part 13

WHOOOOO we’re halfway thereeee! OOOHHHHH (Actually we’ve been a little bit more than half way for a bit) but don’t worry, there’s still A LOT of story to get through. If you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider buying me a coffee!

Oh and I’m on twitter! if you want to give a follow, or watch me scream into the void about Lance in tactical gear, that’s the place!

Twitter - sfw -> @/spacemom_laney | nsfw -> @/15_agentwash

ko-fi - ko-fi.com/delaneym_15

( Part 12 ) ( Satellites Master Post ) (Part 14)

The team left at 0800 the next morning. Allura had convinced, after quite a long time, Blue to let her pilot. Though it was clear that Blue was not happy about it. The only lion that was missing was the red one.

Keith had chosen to stay behind, to much confusion of the team. Though Lance could vaguely guess why. He felt guilty. Keith had been the one to bring into question Lance’s ability to complete missions, and even though that wasn’t his intention, he knew that it still hurt Lance.

Their relationship was rocky as it was. Neither of them really knew where they stood with the other, what they were to each other, and it seemed that the present situation had complicated things even more so.

Lance was refusing to talk to Keith, and it hurt. He hadn’t meant to indirectly ground the sharpshooter. He had only wanted to voice his concerns to Allura, positive that she would be able to do something for Lance that he couldn’t.

Normally, the only kind of confrontation Keith would be willing to face was violent, but he didn’t want to fight Lance. He wanted to apologize. To take responsibility for what was happening to Lance. He owed him that much at least.

It wasn’t hard to track the Blue Paladin down. He had locked himself in his room since breakfast. It was a good thing Keith knew the code by heart.

Punching in the code, he was relieved when the door whooshed open revealing Lance sitting at his desk. Keith could hear the volume of the headphones from where he stood, which made him cringe. The EDM music that Lance listened to was loud enough, didn’t anyone warn him of blowing out an eardrum?

Keith knocked twice before taking loud steps towards the boy, hoping that they would be loud enough to let Lance know that he was there. Lance’s anxiety had spiked dramatically since his return and it took one accidental sneak up by Pidge to inform the team that it was vital for Lance to know that you were coming, so as to avoid a swift punch to the face out of panic.

“What do you want, Keith?” Lance sighed as he removed his earphones. He swiveled his chair to look at the red paladin, arms crossed as he leaned back in his seat.

This was it, Keith had been rehearsing his apology for hours now, trying to make it sound as genuine and coherent as possible. Though at the very moment, what ever award winning speech he had come up with beforehand had vanished as those hard blue eyes stared into him.

“I’m sorry.” he blurted out, cursing himself for his lack of grace.

He immediately dropped his gaze, eyes staring at the floor. There was only a tense silence between them, and Keith begged his mind to come up with something, anything to put an end to this crushing feeling.

But of course, his mind, nor his mouth could seem to work correctly.

It was Lance who broke the silence instead.

“For?” he asked, the question forcing Keith to look up and face the boy. Blue eyes met his once more, a questioning brow raised as Lance waited for Keith to answer.

He could do this.

“I shouldn’t have told Allura about all of this. I- I didn’t know that she would take you off of missions. I should have talked to you and voiced my concerns to you, you didn’t deserve what Allura did to you and it's my fault that it happened. And I am so, so sorry for that.” He was rambling, he knew he was. How did people do this? How did they apologize?

He was only stopped when Lance held up his hand.

“I appreciate the apology, I really do. And to be honest, I’m glad that you told Allura. I don’t think she would have found out if you hadn’t. I’m not mad at you Keith.”

“You’re not?”

Lance chuckled a little, running a hand through his hair.

“I mean, I am a little bit. But I think I’m more pissed at the situation in general.” Lance leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. Looking down at his clasped hands, Lance spoke “You guys are right, I’m not okay. I haven’t been for a while and no matter how much I pretend that I am, I’m just hurting myself. I’m not getting better.” he sounded so...broken. Lance never really talked about himself, at all really. Superficial things, sure. Like how he got barely any sleep, or that he missed his mom’s cooking. But he never really talked about things deeper than that. Keith hadn’t really noticed until now, but Lance had been hiding a big part of himself away this entire time, and it only came out at his most vulnerable times at night.

A year ago, Keith would have thought of the way that Lance talks about himself as vain, but now he knew that it wasn’t really the case. Lance has been putting on a mask this whole time.

“But we don’t have time. The universe doesn’t have time for me to get better. It's a long ass process that Voltron can’t afford.”

He was right, of course he was right. Lance was vital to Voltron, even if he didn’t really see himself that way. He still knew that Voltron needed him. It was even more present today with Blue’s little tantrum about having to take on Allura as a pilot.

“But is the universe really more important than having you here?” That was what Keith was most afraid of. Lance had always been the self-sacrificial type. He couldn’t argue that he himself was any better, but Lance seemed to take it to a whole new level. The paladin would miss sleep and meals to make sure that everyone else was taken care of. He would jump in front of a bullet in a second to spare the others. On one occasion Lance had bounded into a burning building to save a few children stuck on the third floor, that had been the worst as it only reminded Keith of how he lost his father. He couldn’t lose Lance too.

“Keith-”

“No, Lance. Listen to me. The universe is not worth you throwing yourself away like that. What you need time to heal, what you went through was fucking terrible. It's no wonder you have PTSD from it.”

“We are the literal Defenders of the Universe, I can’t just not do my job!”

“I’m not asking you to stop being a paladin! I’m asking to for once in your life put yourself first. We need you, I need you! You need to let yourself heal from all of this because there is no Voltron if you continue to let your own health fall by the wayside!” Keith meant every word of it. They needed Lance. They needed him to come back, to be the best he could be, and as hard as he was trying right now, this wasn’t it.

“I’m worried for you, Lance. I can’t lose you too.” Keith’s voice was so small, he himself almost didn’t hear it. But he knew that Lance did, as the boy stood up from his seat and walked over to Keith, instantly wrapping his arms around the shorter one.

“You won’t Keith, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Keith breathed in the scent of ocean and sandalwood of Lance’s detergent, and thanked whatever higher being was there that Lance had insisted on buying his own detergent all those mall trips ago. The pompous asshole had good taste in soap, and it comforted Keith easily.

“Just promise me you’ll at least try.”

He felt Lance take a deep breath.

“I am trying, Keith. I’m trying every day.” If Keith felt the shaky breaths or the wetness on his shoulder, he said nothing. It was clear that Lance needed this as much as he did, maybe even more. “I never wished I was Shiro, more than I do right now. He’s been through everything and he’s able to handle it all so easily.”

Oh, absolutely not. There was no way in hell Keith would let Lance talk about himself like that.

He pulled away from their hug, to much of his own dismay, and held Lance at arms length. Violet eyes bore into icy blue ones. The eyes that he could get lost in, but now as not the time to think about that, Keith.

“Lance, you said it yourself. WHat Shiro went through and what you went through was completely different.”

“But-”

“No. You really think that Shiro would be in any better of a state than you are now after being treated the way you were? I have no idea the extent of what they did to you, but I do know that it had to have been absolute hell. You don’t get to compare your pain to others, just because they seem to be doing better than you. Your pain is your own, so stop being an idiot and just acknowledge the fact that those guys are assholes!”

Keith was most definitely not expecting a chuckle from the Blue Paladin, but he assumed it would be better than the alternative.

“That was good, Mullet. You come up with all that yourself?”

Keith rolled his eyes. Of course, leave it to Lance to make a joke about a serious conversation.

“As a matter of fact, I did. And I’ll say it again. As many times as I need to for it to get through your tiny brain.”

“Hey! I’ll assure you my brain is of average size. Some may say it's even above average!”

It was Keith’s turn to laugh.

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” he joked offhandedly, letting his grip on Lance’s arms finally fall.

Lance fixed him with his characteristically famous smirk that Keith knew could only mean trouble.

“Want to know what else is above average size?” Lance waggled his eyebrows knowingly as Keith facepalmed.

“Oh my god, Lance. No!”

#vld lance #lance serrano #lance mcclain #i love two blue bois and lance is one of them #lance getting to joke and be a normal human being for once #it can't all be angst #I mean it can but like #he deserves to be heard and enjoy his life somewhat #also lance and Keith??? oh yeah klance is happening

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fangirlauthor · 4 years

Text

A Rip in Time Chapter 2

Hello again! Like I said, there’s a link to this work on ao3 if you’d like to read it on there. Check the masterpost to find it.

Assuming, that is, that future Matt Holt ever stopped eating. It didn’t seem like he would - he was currently shovelling an insane number of donuts into his mouth at high speeds; he was clearly one of two things: extremely hungry, or excited about donuts. The reality was both. Not only was (future) Matt Holt hungry, it had also been a long time since he’d seen a donut, much less had one.

“Are ye done yet, kid? We’ve got questions.” Commander Iverson glared at the kid - well, at Matt; kid didn’t really fit anymore.

“Almost,” said future Matt Holt through a mouthful of donuts. “And I’m sure I’ve got answers, Commander.” Swallowing, Matt added, “There’s a lot to go through, so I’m going to need the devices I brought with me.”

“You aren’t getting those until we figure out what they are.”

“They’re databases that I’ve stored visual aids on, Commander. Nothing dangerous, basically the alien equivalent of a stored powerpoint.”

Iverson shook his head. “Still need to get them cleared first.”

“Then I guess I’ll be eating donuts until you do.”

Iverson practically growled at that. Other Matt, Sam, and Shiro - watching from behind a two-way mirror - glanced at each other and did their best to hold in their laughter. It wasn’t a joke, and if it had been it wouldn’t’ve been a funny one, but confusion has an interesting effect on one’s sense of humor.

Two hours later, someone managed to stop by with the devices future Matt Holt had brought with him. At that point, Iverson escorted future Matt to the debriefing room where several people - including the members of the Kerberos mission (and Adam, Katie, and Colleen Holt) were already waiting.

“Alright, kid. What’s this all about?” asked Iverson. “We’d like the short version, please.”

“Of course, Commander. That’s why I needed my trusty visual aids to keep me on track.”

Taking a deep breath, Matt tapped the Altean device, triggering a holographic image of Kerberos to appear. “Everything you think you know is about to change. There’s an entire universe out there - and there’s more to it than we could ever have imagined. Years ago - for me, anyway - Kerberos was the farthest a human had ever traveled. The mission was supposed to be an embodiment of everything we had achieved, of how far humanity had advanced. Instead, it turned into a showing of how little we really knew.” A breath as everyone in the room waited for him to continue. “The Kerberos mission was successful up until a single point - and it was a big one.”

Matt tapped the device projecting an image of Kerberos, and a video feed began to play. It was the video recorded during the Kerberos mission, the one that had proved to Katie Holt that the Galaxy Garrison was lying to everyone about what had really happened on Kerberos. After it played, Matt had the transmission the Galaxy Garrison had picked up play as well.

The room was full of shocked faces, Sam, Matt and Shiro most of all - Adam, standing slightly behind and away from Shiro, reached out as if to touch Shiro on the shoulder, stopping at the last moment.

“What-” Iverson began, but (future) Matt cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“I’m not quite finished yet, Commander.” He smiled, but it was thin and very clearly fake. Old memories are painful to remember at the best of times, and this most certainly could not be considered the best of times.

“Once the Galaxy Garrison caught that video and transmission, they told the public a lie - they claimed the Kerberos mission had crashed due to pilot error, and left it at that. A military funeral - closed casket because there weren’t any bodies - was held, during which the,” - here his voice broke slightly - “family members and loved ones were allowed to say goodbye. For the next few years, the world believed that Takashi Shirogane, Matt Holt, and Sam Holt were dead. Some people had suspicions that the Galaxy Garrison wasn’t telling the truth, but most of them kept quiet. My sister was not one of them - in a sense, anyway. She illegally hacked into the Galaxy Garrison’s computers and managed to see that footage before she was caught and banned from the premises. An amount of time later, she ran away and - also illegally - enrolled in the Galaxy Garrison as Pidge Gunderson, and cut her hair to add to the illusion.

“Another amount of time later - sorry for not knowing the specifics, I was busy trying not to die on an alien ship - Shiro escaped from the aliens that had captured us, the ones known as the Galra. He crashed on Earth, near the Galaxy Garrison. The Garrison wanted him sedated and quarantined, but he had an urgent message and begged them to listen to him. They didn’t but before they could completely sedate him, former Garrison cadet Keith Kogane broke into the Galaxy Garrison and, with help from a few other cadets - including my sister - got him out and safely away from pursuing Garrison forces.

“There they discovered a secret cavern and an alien ship - the Blue Lion. Shiro, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Keith ended up leaving the planet on the ship once it activated for Lance. At that point, they accidentally traveled through a wormhole and discovered what Voltron was. I’m not going to go into specifics of how, exactly, they managed to get there, but know that they did. And the universe is in a much better place because of it.

“Voltron is a superweapon, and the universe’s only hope. It is made of five mechanical lions, piloted by the five paladins. Because of some strange - we’ll call it magic - known as Altean Alchemy, the lions are practically sentient beings; they choose their paladins, and they activate only for those they choose to. Working as a team, the five paladins - and the lions they are in - can fight separately or form Voltron. The current paladins are as follows: in the black lion, Keith, in the red lion, Lance, in the green lion, Pidge, in the yellow lion, Hunk, and in the blue lion, Allura, who is an alien and not someone you’d know.” Here (future) Matt paused for another breath, ignoring the stunned faces around him. “Don’t worry, Commander, I’ll make this last part quick.

“Together, the paladins have worked together to save the universe an impressive number of times. They’ve faced robeasts, fleets of starships, and have adapted at an incredible speed for people who were thrown into this world without warning. I’m not going to go into detail about each battle they’ve fought because there’s not enough time, but know this; each of the paladins has proven time and time again that they are willing to do whatever it takes - and I mean whatever it takes - to save the universe. They are heroes, and they are a symbol of hope to the entire universe.

“Right now, a time slip is occurring - people from my time are going to start appearing here, where you are. This includes some less-than-friendly aliens, but also allies as well. Some chaotically accurate math informed us that I’d be the first here - so, as I have done, I was to inform you generally of what has occurred in the future. I’m also supposed to - and plan on - helping bolster the defenses on this planet so we’ll be a little more prepared when the bad guys start arriving. I’m going to need your full cooperation for this, though - can I expect that, or am I going to have to go rogue again?”

Everyone stared at him, shock coating their features. “I’ll, uh, give you a moment,” (future) Matt said awkwardly, deactivating the device still projecting photos of the five paladins (and Shiro).

Several moments later, Sam said, “So the first time we encountered alien lifeforms, they were hostile?”

(Future) Matt nodded. “The Galra Empire goes through the universe and colonizes - or destroys - plants and their inhabitants are usually forced to work for the empire. There is a small group of galra known as the Blade of Marmora that the Voltron Coalition works closely with. They’re on our side. Heck, one of their members is a paladin.”

Iverson asked a more pragmatic question. “And there are hostile aliens coming here? Because of this time slip?”

(Future) Matt nodded. “They’re coming, but so are the paladins and the Atlas. There’s not a lot we’ll be able to do to prepare before they get here - assuming Slav’s math is correct - but we’ll do what we can. I’ll do what we can.”

“Alright,” said Iverson. “What do we need to do?”

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angstalottle · 5 years

Text

Benders

Final part:

Lance watched on in horror as blood trickled the ice and formed a small puddle.

Its warmth was melting the floor just enough to penetrate the solid crimson mass and leave it slightly pinker than it should be.

Somehow that felt even worse then if it were just normal blood.

Almost like it was a cruel reminder from the universe that despite being surrounded by water, by the ocean, by the element tied to his very soul… that Lance was still powerless to save his people or his sister.

“Please Lotor, just let her go.” lance begged hoping he didn't look as close to crying as he felt.

He wanted nothing more than to run away and hide in his room until Allura worked him the next morning and all this would turn out to have been an awful dream.

Lotor smirked, removing the knife.

The cut on her throat wasn't too deep, any half decent healer would manage to take care of it within moment and not even leave a scar.

But that didn't change the fact that the wound was still there. And it was on Lance’s big sister who was staring at him with wide terrified eyes.

Lance hated seeing her scared. After all the times she had stared down certain doom seeing it now almost felt like she was giving up.

His hands curled into fists as Lotor wrapped his free hand around her neck.

“I'm not unreasonable. Simply give me the spirit and your sister gets to live. I'll even return your dreadful little village to the surface.”

“You think it will let you bend.” Keith mumbled just loud enough for those in the room to hear.

“What do you mean bend?” Lance asked risking a glance at Keith who suddenly looked much more confident then he had moments ago.

“He’s doing all of this because he wants to become a bender.”

“Shut up” Lotor growled threateningly.

“And not just any kind, no he wants to be like a water bender.” Keith continued a smirk growing on his face. Lance didn't know where he was going with this but he trusted him enough to see it through.

“Shut up” Lotor said again only louder this time.

“Tell me brother, do you think this will make your mother love you?”

“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” Lotor screamed shoving Allura to the side and charging at Keith knife aimed for his throat.

Lance was sure Keith would have been able to dodge or maybe even steal the knife right out of the discrassed princes hand.

However, Lance wasn't willing to take that chance.

Soon as his sister was clear the ice surrounding Lotor burst upwards in a violent spray of spikes.

If anyone asked Lance would say he meant to form the perfect little cage, when the one that was currently lodged though Lotors shoulder is a little more accurate to what he wanted.

“You attack my home and family for something you can't even gain.” Lance let the ice around Lotors feet slowly turn to water letting him drop further and further down until Lance had to crouch to maintain eye contact.

“The spirit gives others the ability to bend, if i wasn't already born a bender becoming the spirit wouldn't have made a difference. You just lost everything for a chance at nothing.”

Right as Lotors face was about to go under Lance smiled at him.

“Lets see how long you can hold your breath. Good luck getting back to the surface in time.”

With a wave of his hand Lotion was sent plummeting into the cold icy darkness of the ocean and the ice was reformed over the top.

“Well that takes care of-”

Lance was cut off by being tackled with a hug by Allura.

“You stupid brave idiot!” she cried hugging him so tightly he didn't think she would ever let go.

“Oh hang on” Lance whispered using some of the water to heal Allura’s neck.

A small glow of light later and she was fine… well physically.

“Enough, now tell me what the hell you were thinking? Coming here and… and bending when.” Allura’s eyes widened as a horrifying realisation struck her “Lance what were you planning to do.”

“I'm still going to do it.” Lance said softly “it's the only way… if i dont its the end of not just our tribe but all water benders. The fire nation has taken so much from our people please don't let them take this as well.”

Allura took his hands in hers “please don't let them take my little brother”

Shaking Lance pulled his hands away when all he wanted was to hold onto her forever.

“Keith please i… i need you to get her out of here.” Lance’s voice broke with emotion.

“Lance please there has to be another way.” Keith placed a hand on his shoulder only for Lance to grab it and use it to toss him to the ground.

“There isn't.”

He spoke softly even as he pulled up the huge wall of ice and used it to force the two people he loved most away from him.

Once he was alone he turned to the koi in the water.

“I suppose I should say something. Maybe thank you for giving me this extra time that I was never supposed to have. For letting me have a family and a life, for letting me fall in love.”

Lance sniffed as he wiped away his tears and the rest of his makeup along with them.

“This would be a hell of a lot easier if you left me to an awful life. Then I would just want to get it over with.”

His hand was shaking as he lowered it into the water.

“I'm really going to miss them… I just wish… I just wish I could stay with my family just a little bit longer.”

Lance closed his eyes as the water began to glow beneath his hand and the white drained away from his hair.

-------------------------------------

Keith knew it was too late the moment Allura was able to remove the ice blocking their path.

She screamed soon as it revealed Lance lying on the floor, his once snow-white hair a warm chocolate brown.

His eyes were closed…

He was still.

While Allura collapsed to the ground sobbing Keith tip toed forwards.

He slowly lowered himself to the ground beside Lance and pulled him into his arms.

He was as cold as the ice he lay on.

“Lance… i… I wish I could have shown you the world.” Keith whispered resting his head on the prince's chest as he finally let himself cry.

“When do we leave?”

Keith looked up in disbelief as Lance’s clear blue eyes slowly began to open.

Those eyes that stole his heart and he was sure he would never see again.

He didn't even think about what he was doing. Keith just knew one moment Lance was waking up and the next he was kissing him.

“Lance?” Allura asked tears still streaking her face.

It was only then did Lance pull away and weakly held out a hand to his sister which she was more than happy to take.

“I don't understand. I thought you died. You idiot I thought you died!” Allura exclaimed through tears of joy.

“I guess the spirits decided I had more life to live.”

The familiar lurching of their stomachs pulled them out of their celebration.

They were heading for the surface and everything was going to be fine.

It took a few days for everything to settle down again.

Lotors remaining generals were caught and tossed into a boat to let the ocean deal with them. The tribe was done playing host to them and let fate decide what was to come next.

Lance was left very weak and spent most of his time asleep in his room, with Keith keeping him company of course.

Eventually, though the fear of another attack died down and life continued as normal. Well, almost normal.

As the tribe did indeed have to lose their prince. Only not to the spirit world but to their own.

“I promise I'll come home to you.” Lance whispered as he hugged his sister goodbye.

Keith was serious afterall about showing him the world, and Lance was determined to let him.

Even if it did mean leaving him home behind.

“You know you don't have to go.” Alura replied squeezing him tighter.

“Someone has to take a stand. I can teach Shiro water bending and help them fight against the fire nation. It's my duty.”

“A prince doesn't have to do this.”

“I know, but it's my duty as someone that can make a difference to try. If i do nothing then what nearly happened to our people will keep happening everywhere else. It's time I finally do my part.” Lance smiled as he pulled away from her and took Keith's hand.

“Don't worry your majesty i'll keep him safe.”

“You better” Allura smiled “or not even the Avatar will keep you safe.”

“I wouldn't try to stop you if he did '' Shiro chuckled.

“I'll be fine Allura” Lance said as the boat began to pull away.

After all he put them through they saw no reason not to take Lotors boat for their own. It certainly would make their long journey a lot more comfortable.

It didn't make leaving any easier though.

But as they pulled away and Keith and Lance stood side by side it didn't feel like such a bad thing.

“Are you ready to see the world.”

Lance smiled bending the water around the boat to raise them up onto a large wave then letting it fall propelling them forwards through the water.

“You bet.”

#langst #avatar last air bender au #water bender lance #avatar shiro #fire bender keith #Allura #last chapter

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annoyinglyjovialbird · 4 years

Text

Voltron: Next Generation

Brittle Relations: II

Word Count: 2855

A/N: Allura, give me the power to overcome my procrastination and the ability to spell words correctly the first time.

The Coeus appeared on the other side of the wormhole with the beauty and grace of ocean liners. Its splendor, even in ruin, could rival its sister ship, the Atlas. Its beauty could not, however, make the trip enjoyable for its crew onboard. While the Coeus remained intact, many of the teens in the bridge were having a hard time staying intact. Many of them were green, holding their stomachs or covering their mouths with their hands to hold down their lunch. Cake gagged, trying in vain to stop his lunch from coming back up. As he gagged, it made Liz begin to do so. Kova took deep breaths, calming her stomach. Caleb and Allie were matching shades of green, gripping their consoles to control themselves.

"We are NEVER traveling through a wormhole after lunch again." Kova had shut her eyes in hopes of calming her stomach. And will. With various forms of agreement from the others and a retch from Cake's direction, the teens fled to their rooms. Kenny watched the entire scene unfold from the comfort of the engine room with a plate of sliced fruit in front of him. He scoffed as they fled, shaking his head as he took a bite of one of the slices. It turned into mush in his mouth, but at least it wasn't moldy.

"Please, I implore you, I must speak to the half-Galra," Darrar's voice shook as he spoke to Shiro through the glass of his makeshift prison.

"Like I've said before, whatever you need to say to them, you can say to me." Shiro was firm, with arms at his side. Darrar still wore his dark armor, while Shiro wore his Colonel Jacket. Darrar's violet hair had been held back by a scrap of fabric in an updo, messy after days onboard. The poor man looked defeated and desperate, begging with his dim eyes. Shiro's stone cold expression softened slightly as he turned to look at something off to his side. As Darrar noticed Shiro's wavering expression, he tried to look at whatever it was. The edges and corners of the glass obscured the being too much for the Galtean to really see them.

"Who is there?" Darrar pleaded, banging on the glass. "Please, summon the half-Galra!"

"Enough!" Shiro said over the pleading, silencing Darrar. He sighed. "Enough." Without another word, Shiro walked away from Darrar, who slammed the glass as he realized he was being left alone again. His shouts were met with withering silence as the steps grew silent. Darrar collapsed on the ground, tears brimming his eyes as the realization hit him like the cold metal floor.

He was as good as dead. Yorak won the war without even trying.

Far away, a voice alerted the crew of a landing, but Darrar could only hear the blood rushing in his ears and the almost silent hum of the Coeus. As Darrar closed his eyes to attempt to sleep, screams echoed in his mind. His fellow cadets when they began training for running away. His mother when he and his brothers were torn away from her. Seklok's when he displeased the Emperor and left for dead. As the screams overtook him, he was shaken violently. His whimpers became screams as he tried to fight off whatever was dragging him away.

Kova held on to Darrar's shoulders as his screams stopped and his eyes opened. His shaking never stopped. Neither did his tears. The poor man was tortured enough. Behind Kova, Allie clutched the first-aid kit with tight fists. They heard the screaming and ran towards the observation bay. As Darrar sat up, Kova dragged him towards the closest wall. Sitting on the floor, Allie and Kova calmed the man down. Both Allie and Darrar seemed to process the other's Altean markings at the same time.

"It's okay," Kova whispered under her breath. "It'll be okay." Kova slipped a bracelet on Darrar's wrist, activating the magnetic field. Even if they were on the same side, Darrar still wore enemy colors.

"Who are you?" Darrar asked Kova, then turning to Allie. "Where's the Colonel?" Allie didn't meet his eyes, unpacking the first-aid kit. Kova met his eyes after triple-checking the magnetic field had been activated on his bracelet.

"I'm Kovalia Shirogane, Paladin of the Black Lion. This is Allie, Paladin of the Blue Lion." Darrar's eyes widened, but Kova wasn't done. "I understand your name is Darrar, and you've been wanting to speak to me."

"Yes, of course. I—" Darrar tried to stand up, but his wrist kept him down. As he looked, a bracelet connected to the floor kept him down.

"I'm sorry, but it's a security measure." Darrar nodded his head, sitting back down. He looked up to meet Kova's eyes again. "We came to ask you about the colonies."

"Of course." Darrar nodded again. "Where are we?"

"We have just landed on Senfama. The Colonel decided it was best to join an expedition."

"Expedition?"

"I cannot answer what it is."

"Is it because I'm a member of the Fire?" Kova nodded her head.

"I am going to remove your armor piece by piece. Are you feeling any sensitivity or pain in any particular area?"

I'll spare you the details. It took two hours as Darrar flinched and twitched as the armor was removed, and Allie had to make sure he didn't have any injuries. Then when Darrar wore only his bodysuit, the girls put Keith's old poncho over Darrar's head to remove the bodysuit. The time was halved. Regardless, it took too long. With even more spare fabric, they made the baggiest pair of pants in the universe, using a long strip from the back of the poncho as a belt.

When they were done checking for injuries, they began their questions. What is the status of the Galtean colonies? Where are they? How long have the colonies been under Yorak's reign? What did he want with so many Galteans? How long had he been involved in the war? On and on the interrogation went, until they had covered topics twice. Allie left to grab a bottle of water while Kova kept watch.

"I can help you get your Lion back," Darrar said after a few minutes of silence. Kova shook her head, taking something out of her pocket. It was a small black box with the Fire insignia on its side.

"You've been tracked." Kova handed Darrar the box. He looked stunned, confused even, to see the small box. "A similar tracker was found in the mecha we encountered."

"He knew," Darrar whispered under his breath. He handed the box to Kova, who put it back in her pocket. "He knew."

"Who?" Kova asked. "Yorak?" Darrar didn't say a word. Kova would have turned off the tracker, but she didn't have her tools on her. Allie came back and held a closed fist in front of Darrar. He held his hand open to see two little pills in his palm.

"They should help you sleep so you can heal a little faster," Allie explained, taking Kova's place so the latter could stand and dust herself off. "The water is for you." Darrar took the pills after a moment of hesitation, and had big gulps of water. "When you awake, alert us. Have a good rest, Darrar." Allie stood, following Kova to the door, letting it shut behind them. They dimmed the lights in Darrar's room and deactivated the bracelet. Hopefully, his commanders would find him before Yorak did.

"Coeus to crew, call in." Kova had walked to the bridge, turned on the screen, and began sorting the camera angles. "Sec."

"Here."

"Griffin."

"Here."

"Garrett."

"Here."

"Kogane."

"Here."

"Colonel and older Kogane."

"Double here." As the boxes lit up with every person calling in, Allie had typed in their names as the boxes lit up. When the Coeus landed on Senfama, the crew left in pairs. Caleb and Liz were in charge of water. Kenny and Cake were undergoing repairs to the ship and the satellite. Shiro and Keith had to search the planet for lifeforms and food. Allie and Kova stayed behind to watch over Darrar, and make some minor research. Why isn't Keith on the screen too? Kova was too lazy to connect Keith's suit to the Coeus's software.

"Did you deactivate the tracker?" Shiro asked.

"Yes, sir. I also saved the universe and found my Lion."

"Kova."

"I haven't gotten to it yet." Kova rolled her eyes, and looked for her tools. "We just got back."

"Sending map of Senfama to crew," Allie announced, and every camera on screen had looked down at their screens. "Senfama is a jungle. There should be a large body of water ahead."

"On it," Liz confirmed, jumping forward with Caleb on her heels. An alert came online, before the power was cut short.

"Hey, uh, Kova?" Kenny asked. "Is there any way to return to the Balmera and get more crystals?"

"Power source isn't holding up well, is it?"

"Nope." Kova fiddled with the tracker she found on Darrar, hoping an idea would come to mind.

"Random question, Ken." Kova looked up at the screen. "What did you do with the extra solar cells?"

"Solar what?" Keith asked, but he was ignored.

"How do you know about the missing solar cells?"

"Long story. Where are they?"

"I, uh, brought them onto the ship. Why?"

"Kenneth, I need you to think, okay?" Kova had leaned forward to rest her forearms on the railing around her console. "If wired correctly, solar cells can be made into..." Kova trailed off on purpose to let Kenny come with the answer.

"Solar panels!" Kenny and Cake exclaimed at the same time.

"I'll send the materials up." Kova nodded her head, and finally managed to deactivate the tracker. "Allie, cover me." Kova walked down to the engine room, leaving Allie alone on the bridge. Using the Paladin Tracker, or the Teenager Tracker, Allie watched as Liz and Caleb creeped closer to the water source and Shiro and Keith inched further from the Coeus. That's when the entire ship went dark.

"Kenny?" Allie's voice shook as she looked around. "Guys, this isn't funny!" Not even the hum of the ship answered her. With only the sunlight streaming in from the large windows, Allie walked up the stairs to the door. Before she could even leave the bridge, she heard Kova's voice.

"Get back in the bridge!" Kova yelled, and Allie listened. She and Kova were the only ones still wearing their normal clothes, so when Allie fell down the stairs to her seat, it hurt. Kova kicked, sending a figure cloaked in dark colors into the console. The figure went to punch Kova, but she side-stepped, Allie froze when she saw a flash of purple on the front armor piece of the dark figure. "Allie, your bayard!" Quick as can be, Allie summoned her bow, pulling the string back so the quintessence arrow could form. Now if they could stay still. Kova took a blow to her abdomen, collapsing on the ground. When the figure tried to pin her, Kova pulled the figure's leg out from under them. With a quick turn, Kova straddled the figure's hips from behind, holding their arm with one hand and used the other to push their shoulder to the floor.

"Are you alright?" Allie asked, limping up the steps.

"Fine." Kova gritted her teeth as the figure began resisting. "Do you know how long it's gonna take to replace all those wires? This ship is hard enough to maintain!" Kova began to rant. "Allie, help me pull their helmet off." Allie's eyes widened as she held the string taut, reminding Kova of the arrow. Kova nodded towards the door, so Allie aimed in the dark and fired the arrow. The ding could be heard around the world. As the bayard detransformed, the figure tried again in vain stand up, but Kova was faster. With their arm still in Kova's grasp, Kova reached around her back to grab the knife in its sheath. Allie had grabbed the matching pair of Darrar's bracelet from Kova's pocket and put it around the figure's right wrist, as it was the only one touching the ground. Letting go and standing up from the figure, Kova activated the magnet. As the figure stared at the bracelet holding them down, Kova pushed them against the console with the knife point at their neck.

"Deactivate your helmet or I rip it off," Kova growled, sneering at the figure and their dark outfit. The figure didn't move, so Allie pulled the helmet off their head. While Allie didn't recognize the Galra woman, Kova did. Her expression darkened while the Galra woman's softened.

"Kyla," The woman said. She got the knife point even closer to her neck and Kova's angry eyes.

"Call me that again and you lose your head." Kova stood after her threat, deactivated and collected the bracelet, and stood in front of the door. "Allie, this is Krolia, one of the Galra representatives."

"I'm not just that."

"You're right about that." Kova crossed her arms. "She's the reason a half-human and half-Galra exist in the first place."

"Oh, please." Krolia stood, rubbing her wrists. "You make it sound so bad." Kova scoffed in response.

"What are you doing here?" Kova reached behind her to sheath the knife. "I don't get the point." Allie silently died as the pun set in, but Krolia moved past it.

"I saw your declaration. Pretty impressive how far the family goes."

"We aren't family."

"I beg to differ, Kovalia." Krolia crossed her arms, too, leaning against the console. "Headstrong, advanced, and prefers using a sharp instrument."

"Get off the ship."

"I came for my recruit. Where is he?"

"I'm shocked you didn't see him as you cut the power to the entire ship." Kova stepped aside from the door. "Darrar, get your butt over here!" Footsteps became louder as they approached the bridge. Darrar had dressed himself in his Fire armor since there were no spares onboard. At least he had the decency to look sheepish at being caught.

"Daibazaal sides with Voltron," Krolia said as she passed the angry teen. "It's wonderful to see you again."

"Wish I could say the same." Kova blocked the hall leading to the transport bay, leaving only the side door as the only way out. "May we never encounter the other again." The door opened, and Darrar jumped out first. Krolia's eyes softened, hoping to appeal to the teen. Kova wasn't having it, watching as Krolia jumped out. Stomping over, Kova slammed the door shut, and marched herself to the cut power lines. Allie followed her, since the bridge was scary to be in alone.

"Why didn't you say anything about Keith?" Allie asked after Kova began her tedious work.

"What about Keith?" Kova continued working, connecting wires with electrical tape.

"There is only one half-human and half-Galra hybrid that reached an age to reproduce." Allie began her thought process. "That hybrid sired three children, and you have confirmed the status of all three second-generation hybrids. The first-born is a maniacal genius, the second-born is a plant genius, and the youngest, which is you, is a—"

"A wannabe genius," Kova said, slamming the door closed. As the door secured itself, the power slowly came on, with the lights turning on the brightest they go before returning to their pre-sliced state. "How did you figure out Kenny was the middle child?" Allie shrugged as they went into the bridge.

"Yorak has called you his sister many times before, and you've never denied it. He seems much older than Kenny, and you've never denied Kenny as your sibling, either." Kova chuckled as she approached the console and reactivated all systems.

"Sec to Coeus, do you hear me?"

"Coeus to Sec, we're all clear." Various sighs of relief and cheers came from the team as they continued their errands.

"Keith is your father, and Krolia is Keith's mother." Allie had made it to her chair, where she began checking her injuries. "You met your grandmother," Allie looked up. "And you didn't seem too happy to see her."

"I'm not." Kova muted the Coeus to properly look Allie in the eye. "She had a chance to change what had happened and she didn't." Kova shrugged, and unmuted the Coeus. Allie looked on as Kova smiled at Caleb's screen because he was one misstep away from falling into the water. While his suit may be waterproof, it wasn't float-proof."

By the end of the first day on Senfama, the teens celebrated finding edible food on a planet. That's a first. An alert came on while they celebrated, and Kova opened it. She expected it to be a systems alert, since they still haven't cleaned the Coeus's filters, or even an electrical failure (only Allie and Kova know what happened with Krolia and Darrar). Whatever it was, it should be fixed soon.

She was wrong and she alerted the team of such.

It was a weblum alert, and it was headed for Pidge's location.

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thespacenico · 5 years

Text

to the future (2.2k word klance oneshot)

。·:*:·ﾟ★。·:*:·ﾟ☆

Socializing is hard.

This is one of the many reasons that Keith has never been a particularly big fan of social events, in any capacity. It’s one of a number of things he wishes he could change about himself sometimes.

Sometimes, he wishes that he were better with people, or at the very least that he enjoyed being around them in the first place. Maybe if he were more personable, they would enjoy being around him, too, but that’s never really been the case.

Connecting with people has never exactly been his strong suit, although there are the few people in his life now who make him think that it can be worth the effort. First it was Shiro, then Adam, then the entire team of Voltron—eventually his mom, even, although that’s a relationship they’re both still learning to navigate.

It’s not that he’s asocial, necessarily, but he truly doesn’t understand why anyone would want to constantly subject themselves to something that to him is so draining. There’s only so much he can take of polite smiles and obligatory handshakes and small talk with strangers he’ll probably never seen again and yet are scrutinizing his every move, as if they’re just waiting for him to mess up.

To think that there are some who voluntarily do things like this on a daily, weekly, or even a monthly basis and genuinely enjoy it is utterly bewildering to him.

This, being the post-saving the universe intergalactic diplomacy ball that he and the rest of the former paladins were invited to. And some, being Lance, who Keith has seen interact with more people tonight than Keith thinks he’s interacted with in his entire life.

He’s watched Lance bounce around from table to table, group to group, corner to corner all night, with no sign that he’ll be stopping anytime soon.

It’s admirable really, the way he so effortlessly moves throughout the room with so much grace, acting in all the right ways and saying all the right things. He’d be jealous if he weren’t so caught up in the frequent flash of Lance’s smile, and the sparkle in his eyes every time he cracks a joke, and the long column of his throat when he throws his head back to laugh along with whoever he happens to be talking to. Not to mention how the blue theme of the suit tailored just for him (they’d all received one) brings out the blue of his eyes infinitely more than usual.

Not that he’s been staring. Very openly. All night. For no reason whatsoever. He’s gotten enough grief from Shiro already.

Only there is a reason, because eventually it’s not enough to satisfy the tugging in his gut—the one that’s been bothering him for long enough that it’s begun to make him tired, and restless, yet he doesn’t have the courage to follow.

He slips away the first chance he gets, stepping out of the noise and the crowd of the ballroom and into the quiet of a small, secluded balcony outside, overlooking a vast expanse of the planet that’s essentially one enormous garden, he’s realized. The sounds of friendly chatter and upbeat music immediately dims once the doors are closed behind him, and he takes a moment to breathe before finding himself leaning against the delicately ornate banister, arms folded, staring out at the stars scattered across the darkening sky.

Time always seems to go by faster this way. It’s easy to get lost in his thoughts once they have his full attention, and he’s been alone with them long enough that he doesn’t mind it too much—except for times like now, when the topic of his thoughts are something that’s been bothering him long enough that he desperately wants to share them with someone. One person, in particular. That’s something else that sets him apart from everyone else, he thinks, although he doesn’t have much time to ponder that before he’s interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Thought I’d find you out here.” Keith starts slightly, glancing over his shoulder to see Lance carefully closing the balcony doors behind him. “Mind if I join you?”

He doesn’t really wait for Keith to answer before making his way over to stand beside him, but it’s not like Keith was about to turn him down, anyway. “Just needed some air,” he says by way of explanation, turning back to look out over the greenery and flowers and foliage below.

Lance hums, crossing his arms over the banister and leaning forward. They’re close enough that their shoulders brush, and usually Keith prefers to have his personal space, but he’s found that he never really minds when Lance is the one to invade it. He doesn’t mind a lot of things about Lance, actually.

But it strikes him then that Lance is out here, instead of in there, and he’s confused enough about the why that he glances over questioningly. “What about you?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you out here?”

“I noticed you were missing,” Lance answers easily, face still tilted up to the sky, and then continues before Keith can even consider the implications of that. “What are you thinking about?”

“You,” is what Keith might have answered, if he were braver. But he’s not, so he turns away and settles for something vague. “A lot of things.”

“What are you gonna do?”

Keith thinks he has whiplash from how quickly the conversation keeps changing directions. He doesn’t even register the question for a moment, blinking up at the stars before turning away again to find Lance peering curiously back at him. “What?”

“After all this,” Lance clarifies. “With the war being over, and the restoration efforts Allura’s putting into place, and everyone going back home—what are you gonna do?”

Keith stares at him, frozen and unresponsive under the intensity of Lance’s gaze. It’s something he’s thought about a lot, but never really spoken to anyone about. Now that he has the chance, the uncertainty of it all seems so much more palpable, somehow.

“Do you think you’ll go back to the Blade?” Lance prompts.

That snaps Keith out of his daze. “No,” he answers firmly. Then falters, shoulders slumping slightly as he looks away. “Maybe? I—I don’t know.” He shifts his weight from one side to the other, studying a small cut on his hand that he doesn’t remember the source of. “I kind of had something else in mind.”

“Like what?” Lance asks, and from anyone else it would sound prying, and intrusive, but from Lance it only sounds genuine.

Keith already feels like he’s said too much, but for some reason he’s not so afraid of that anymore. That doesn’t necessarily make it any easier, though. He bites his lip, fully aware of Lance’s gaze still on him as he considers what to say. “Do you remember… on our way back to Earth, we got stuck in that weird game show.”

“The one where I was almost burned alive?” Lance breathes out a slow, thoughtful sigh mixed with a laugh. “How could I forget?”

“I wasn’t exactly fair to you.”

Lance’s quiet laughter fades, and out of the corner of Keith’s eye he sees Lance turn to better face him. “What? It’s not like that was your fault—”

“Not that, I mean—” Keith huffs in frustration, and Lance immediately goes silent, brow furrowed as he waits for Keith to collect himself. “I mean at the end. When we were all forced to choose one person to leave and… I picked you.”

They both know exactly what he’s talking about without actually saying it, if the following quiet is anything to go by. “Oh,” Lance says softly.

Keith clenches and unclenches his fists against the banister, because he still can’t quite bring himself to look at Lance anymore. “What I said about you—I didn’t mean it, the way it sounded. And I’m sorry.”

“Keith,” Lance starts. “You don’t have to—”

But something has shifted in Keith’s chest, something heavy and all-encompassing, and he doesn’t want to let himself lose that momentum so he grips the railing and looks up to meet Lance’s gaze. “Do you remember what you said?” he interrupts, trying to ignore the nervous fluttering in his stomach. “About me?”

Lance’s eyes are searching, flicking back and forth between Keith’s as he gauges his response. “Why?”

The yes is implied. They both know this.

“Do you still want that?”

Something strange passes over Lance’s face then, something entirely unreadable and therefore terrifying. He slowly, deliberately pushes himself up and fully turns to face Keith properly, one arm still resting across the banister. “What do you mean?”

Keith feels out of breath, as if he’s just run an entire marathon instead of standing motionless in the exact same spot for the past fifteen minutes. “I mean—do you… is it too late?”

Lance’s expression is something careful and calculated, as if he understands entirely but is still afraid of being wrong. “Keith, what are you trying to say?”

It all comes pouring out at once, altogether exhilarating yet horrifying because it feels like his entire heart is on the line now, stripped bare just for Lance to see. “I want to be it,” he breathes, his voice remarkably steady despite the furious churning of his stomach and the desperate ache in his chest. “I wanna be the future you talked about. Or even just a part of it, if you’ll let me.”

The lengthy silence that follows is almost unbearable. Keith doesn’t even realize that he’s abandoned the railing in favor of standing almost pleadingly in front of Lance, who only has his hand laying across the railing now. His heart feels like it might burst out of his chest the longer that Lance keeps looking at him like that. Because Lance’s eyes are wide, his lips parted slightly, a small gust of wind ruffles his hair across his forehead, and it’s not fair because Keith wants to kiss him.

But he can’t, not until he knows for certain that he’s allowed to.

He doesn’t have to wait long before Lance makes the decision for him.

Lance’s hand disappears from the banister and finds the back of Keith’s neck instead, and before Keith even has the chance to speak, Lance swiftly closes the little space that remains between them and kisses Keith himself.

Keith forgets how to breathe. But the initial shock dissipates instantly and then he’s kissing back just as eagerly, eyes falling shut and one hand coming up to take a fistful of Lance’s suit, if nothing but to steady himself. Lance’s other hand slides around to the small of Keith’s back and presses him closer, tilting his head to deepen the kiss, and Keith lets him, following his every touch, his every movement.

Which is telling, he thinks absently, as Lance pushes and backs him up against the railing without ever breaking apart, and Keith’s lucky he has Lance to anchor him or he may have gone toppling over the side. Either way, he would follow Lance anywhere if he had the choice.

“Dude,” Lance pants, breathless, which is a strange thing to say just before he presses another kiss to Keith’s lips. “What took you so long?”

“I was scared,” Keith mumbles, distracted, as Lance begins to press more kisses to the corners of his mouth, his cheeks, underneath his eyes. “I didn’t know if you meant it the way I wanted you to.”

“You,” Lance murmurs, an answer to the unspoken question that still remains between them, Keith clinging to Lance’s waist as Lance kisses the underside of his jaw, and pulls back to look him in the eye. “You’re it for me.”

And he captures Keith’s mouth again with his own, and it takes everything in Keith’s power not to collapse against the banister behind him with how overwhelming all of this is, in the best kind of way he never knew there could be.

They never do go back inside to join the others for the rest of the night. Neither of them have to say anything to know that they don’t quite want to let go of this moment yet—new, unfamiliar, and maybe a little bit scary, but theirs, nonetheless. Even after they’ve broken apart they stick close to each other’s sides, speaking quietly or not at all, never not touching in one way or another.

The future is never certain, Keith decides. That’s been one of the few constants in his life, and he’s got a long list of things to prove it. He would say it’s scary if he hadn’t grown accustomed to it over time, although that doesn’t make it any less disheartening, or difficult to think about.

But it’s infinitely easier to take on, and infinitely more exciting to look forward to, when he has someone like Lance by his side. Keith has never been the most sentimental person, but Lance has always had a way of bringing out those parts of him.

To us, Keith thinks later, head resting on Lance’s shoulder, Lance’s thumb tracing lazy circles across the back of his hand as they stand together and watch the stars.

And to the future.

#klance #my writing #voltron #vld #keith #lance

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mermaider00 · 5 years

Text

The Black Lion’s Choice

(An AU fic)

“I can’t believe it. I just can’t! Can you guys?”

In the hangar of the Black Lion inside the Castle of Lions, Lance spun around to his teammates and friends. He had his paladin’s helmet under one arm and a brightness in his eyes as he looked at everyone who was left waiting with him. Keith, Shiro, and Allura only stared back at him.

Lance’s armor was freshly polished and his face held a gleam from a sheet mask applied that very morning.

Keith, with his arms crossed over his own red and white armor, gave a shrug from Lance’s excited outburst. “I don’t know. Nothing’s happening.”

“It’s gonna happen,” Lance argued with a determined nod. “Shiro said so.”

Shiro held up his hands in defense. “I didn't exactly say what you think I said, Lance.”

“I think we all heard you loud and clear, buddy. Today, Black is getting herself a new paladin.” He turned back to the Black Lion, sitting quietly and majestically and gigantically. His chest puffed up and he set a fist on his skinny hip. “And that paladin is gonna be Lancey Lance.”

“I’m... honestly in awe by this news,” Allura muttered. Unlike the other two boys, she wasn’t dressed in her armor, choosing instead to wear her flight suit for comfort. Shiro was without his too, she realized, glancing over at him and frowning some. He was back in his civilian clothes, and seeing his usual vest zipped up against his chest was somehow a disheartening thing to her eyes. A vest he’d needed help to zip up, she thought sadly, considering he was without his prosthetic arm that had been destroyed, and a new one had yet to be built for him.

After the battle with the clone of their Black Paladin made by the witch Haggar, Keith had told her that the spirit of Shiro was trapped inside the Black Lion, kept safe there by the beast machine after his body had been incinerated by quintessence. With the great power of magical Altean Alchemy, she had extracted that spirit and replaced it inside the body of his clone. The time waiting for that body to accept a foreign soul had been tense and painful, but they’d managed it.

In doing so, his bond with the Black Lion had been destroyed, and Shiro could no longer pilot her.

An end of a great era, Allura thought with sorrow. But perhaps it would make way for something new?

Would the choosing of Lance as Black Paladin begin a great and glorious new era for Voltron and the Coalition?

“I think we should go over it one more time,” Allura suggested, coming to stand next to Shiro. His new pure white hair would take some getting used to. “In case we’ve missed something?”

“Good idea, Allura,” Lance said happily.

“Yeah good idea,” Keith muttered with an unconvinced lift of his brow. “Because I’m having a hard time understanding it.”

“What’s not to understand? Shiro said I’m gonna be Black Paladin.”

“That’s not what I said,” Shiro grumbled out, sighing deeply and rubbing his temples with his one hand for a few moments before he went through all he knew yet again. “Let’s go through the timeline. All of your written and oral reports tell me there was an altercation with Lotor that resulted in a big misunderstanding between Team Voltron and the Galra Empire, which could've threatened our alliance with the greatest faction in the known universe. During this altercation, Keith takes out my clone, and Allura ultimately saves my life.”

“You mentioned the Black Lion speaking to you,” Allura added, staring up the great head of Voltron before them. “When she was keeping your soul safely inside her. Would she speak to you in the same way the bond works between Lion and paladin?”

“It was... something like that.” Shiro sighed again, softer this time. “The bond is like a voice in your head that isn’t a voice at all. The Lion gifts you with new abilities to unlock when the bond is strong enough, and they can sense you as if you were one being. Black has also been known to show me events of the past during an astral projection, but it isn’t a voice. None of those things are a voice, it’s all just deep emotional and spiritual connection. My experience with Black while she housed my soul was something else entirely.”

“Still not understanding,” Keith cut in. “If she cared about you so much and had that kind of connection with you, why is your bond broken now?”

“I don’t know,” Shiro admitted, finding the yellow eyes of the Black Lion and once again trying to feel something. He felt mostly nothing. “The whole time I was in there, it felt like she was waiting for someone. She took me, my clone, and even Keith to fly her, but the choosing of Keith to take my place only happened because I influenced it, and she temporarily agreed. I don’t know exactly why she’s not accepting you anymore, Keith, but I think it has something to do with her waiting.”

Keith went quiet as he tried to think. Apparently, the only reason he was able to pilot Black was because Shiro made it all happen after he’d died and been absorbed by the beast machine. Black would not take him at her controls anymore.

But the Red Lion had welcomed him back home.

Allura crossed her arms over her chest. “This was all so much easier to manage when I just assigned you all to your Lions. Now you all have history with more than one of them that makes this predicament entirely too complicated.”

“Black won’t take me or Shiro,” Keith began, seeming to speak his thoughts out loud now. “But Red took me back and won’t take Lance. I thought maybe the Lions wanted our original lineup but that’s obviously not the case, even more so since Blue still wants Allura.”

“She’s waiting for someone,” Shiro said again. “It’s why she won’t let me fly her. I think she’s been waiting a long time, and she’s finally standing firm and getting what she wants. When I was with her, it wasn’t like the bond when you’re a paladin. I heard her voice. I heard her speak to me.”

“What did her voice sound like?” Lance asked.

“It’s... hard to describe. I felt it everywhere, in my ears, in my head, in my heart and even in my blood. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced with her before. She told me her paladin was a boy she knew. One who longed to fly her, who was part of the team, and one who was as quick and sharp as the Altean blade he wielded. All of those things describe Keith,” Shiro continued, giving a rueful smile to his longtime friend. “But apparently Keith is not the one. And the only other person who meets all those requirements... is Lance.”

“Yes!” Lance cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Not only had he polished his armor for the occasion, he had polished the armor of the Black Paladin, and was wearing it proudly. “I mean, it’s sad to leave Red. I’m definitely gonna miss that speed, and Blue has bonded pretty hard with Allura. Hunk doesn’t fight with a sword and in his heart we all know he prefers being with Yellow. I’m the only other guy left. And I’m a guy without a Lion now.”

“It does make sense,” Allura said. “What doesn’t make sense is how the Black Lion is responding at the moment.”

“I know, what’s up with her?” Lance murmured as he stared up at Black again.

The Black Lion looked anything but receptive to a new pilot at the moment. With two former Black Paladins and one possible new one in the hangar, her safety shield was up around her body positioned in a sitting pose. A waiting pose, Shiro thought again, but the waiting should end any moment. When they had originally found Blue in that cave back on earth, Blue’s shields had been up as well even though her next paladin had entered the space with her.

It had taken a little time for Lance to break through the shields, and carry them all off to their destiny.

Keith then suggested, “Maybe Black doesn’t like the fact that you’re wearing the Black Paladin armor before she even lets you fly her.”

Lance looked down at his chest and the black symbol of Voltron painted there. “That can’t be. I think I look kinda dashing. It just means I’m ready for her.”

“Girls don’t like it when you’re presumptuous.”

“Okay, stop before this turns into a thing,” Shiro interrupted before a spitting match between the boys could begin. “Lance, you’re the only one of us who makes sense based on what I know. Black has been waiting for you. Maybe it was solving the altercation with Lotor peacefully instead of resorting to emotional violence that couldn’t be taken back, or maybe it was you mastering the skills of two other Lions, I don’t know. But you will be Voltron’s next Black Paladin.”

“You’re quiznaking right!” Lance said excitedly, setting his black and white helmet down onto the floor and approaching the safety shields around the Black Lion. “C’mon, girl, loverboy Lance will treat you like a lady.”

Allura heard the entrance doors to the hangar whoosh open. Someone was entering. Probably Coran or Pidge.

“Maybe...” Lance continued softly, narrowing his eyes in thought. “Maybe I’ll just do the same thing I did with Blue, huh? Maybe I’ll just knock.” The boy lifted a hand, fisted it before knocking with the exact same pressure he’d once used to knock on Blue’s shields.

And just like that... the shields went down. Lance grinned in victory.

“Princess.”

Allura and all three men spun around at the sound of a familiar voice. Through the doors entered Emperor Lotor, the sound of his boots clicking along the floor and his hands placed gracefully behind his back. His eyes held no desire or appreciation for a quick break with Team Voltron and his mouth held no friendly smile. He entered the hangar with what felt like regret and obligation oozing from his skin, and he was quick to be rid of it.

“Our meeting, Allura. Shiro,” Lotor added, nodding to the one man in the room that didn’t make his heart clench inside his chest. “I’ve anchored my flagship to the Castle of Lions, as you’ve requested. I don’t have much time to give you or your comrades. My Empire needs me.”

After a woman named Romelle had been brought back from the Altean colony beyond the Quantum Abyss, she had accused Lotor of unspeakable crimes that ultimately turned out to be proven false, and nowhere near as heinous as she’d believed. It was a misunderstanding that had cost Team Voltron a lot, the biggest loss being the Emperor of the Galra’s trust in them. Blooming friendships had ended and Voltron was to return to Princess Allura’s castle instead of being given another home aboard the Galran Central Command.

Not only had friendships and camaraderie been ruined... but any possible romances as well.

Allura tried not to frown. The biggest mistake of her life had been made when she’d chosen the word of a stranger over their most important ally.

The alliance between Voltron and the Empire, however, had survived the devastating fallout.

Protecting the innocents of the universe from being threatened by another Zarkon was far too important to all of them.

“We will be right with you and your subordinates, Emperor Lotor,” she said softly, folding her hands in front of herself and setting her shoulders back instead of slouching forward. “There is a quick matter we’re addressing at the moment.”

Lotor’s eyes studied the scene before him. So much was different, he realized, staring at the new appearance of Shiro and the new armor the boy with the high-pitched voice and pointy chin was now wearing. The armor of the Black Paladin, he saw, his white brows lifting in surprise and maybe a little amusement as well. The armor of his father, and standing before the Lion his father flew too. Shiro, the only one aboard the castle Lotor did not carry any resentment for, was not in uniform at all, and held a very masked disappointment inside him. He would no longer be Black Paladin, Lotor realized.

Without Shiro, Team Voltron had all but collapsed before the earthling solider had returned in the form of a clone.

What would happen to them now?

“You will fly the Black Lion?” Lotor asked Lance out of curiosity. He wanted to leave the Castle as soon as possible, but this was a very interesting thing to behold.

“Damn skippy,” Lance answered proudly. He’d always known his day would come. “Look, she even dropped her shields for me, what a good girl. Hey, Allura, I might even be the first guy in intergalactic history to fly three Lions, huh? We should be writing this all down.”

“Yes, Lance,” she uttered, trying to sound cheerful but it certainly wasn’t showing on her face. “Ah... Lotor, I think you should be here for this moment. Lance will soon be Black Paladin and the head of Voltron, though Shiro and myself will still lead. I think it’s best for you to be aware of any new developments within our group.”

Lotor didn’t answer her. Instead, he stared up at the Black Lion. A spectacular beast machine, he thought, and one that came with an emitting warmth within her hangar. Could the others feel the warmth too?

Deep inside his head, he heard a very soft calling that was somehow both familiar and unknown.

“Well, it’s time to boot up my girl,” Lance declared, picking his helmet up from the ground and setting it over his head in preparation. “Once I get the hang of her controls, I think we should fly out in formation, just to see how it feels. And I’ll form the head!” he shouted with a dramatic deepened voice, doing a little jig before taking a few steps closer to the Black Lion.

Lance then yelped when Black’s shields shot back down, sending him back a few inches before it could slice off his toes.

Allura gasped, and Keith and Shiro straightened up in shock.

“Hey,” Lance groaned, pushing himself up from lying on his back. “What gives! First you let me in then you throw me out? What’s wrong with her, Shiro?”

“I... I don’t know,” Shiro said softly, his eyes quickly traveling all over Black for some foreign intrusion that had spooked her. “I don’t know what happened.”

“Maybe she doesn’t like you,” Keith said.

“Oh shut up, Keith!” Lance barked. “She likes me just fine.”

“Something isn’t right,” Allura murmured. “What could have gone wrong?”

“Shiro, you said she wanted me.”

“That’s not what I said!” Shiro all but yelled, then stopped to take a breath. “I only told you what she told me and we’re coming to these conclusions ourselves with machinery we still don’t really know or understand. I could be wrong, and she’s waiting for someone else.”

“But...” Lance lifted himself back to his feet, bowing his head a bit before shaking it and turning to them all. There was a slight redness in his cheeks right under his eyes. “I don’t have a Lion anymore. If I can’t fly Black then I don’t fly at all. It makes sense. You said it makes sense, Allura.”

“These are magical machines, Lance,” Allura calmly told him. “I can’t possibly know what they want at all times. Perhaps my father could, but I cannot.”

“This is the Black Lion,” Lotor then interrupted, taking a few steps closer to the beast machine, and quietly marveling over it. “The Lion that is the most skilled in combat and the one who takes the most energy from her paladin. Perhaps you do not hold enough energy to her liking, young man.”

Lance scoffed at him. “That’s ridiculous, I have more energy than everyone in this room. Back on earth, I could go to school at the Garrison all day and then party with the ladies all night.”

Nearby, Keith rolled his eyes.

Lotor stared up at the Lion, continuing to feel that warmth. He’d once been inside it with Shiro, what felt like an eternity ago. Even then he’d been aware of its power and the great toll it took from her paladin. The Blue Lion was friendly and the Red Lion was picky, but the Black Lion took only the great leaders who could carry the burden and form Voltron.

“There’s something,” Lotor murmured, looking straight ahead at the safety shields, the light reflecting in his blue eyes that were still shadowed from the fallout he’d experienced with those he’d once considered his friends, and more. He lifted a hand, claws pointed up. Warm, so warm. “She is... waiting.”

All four paladins went still behind him.

And when Lotor placed his hand on the shields of the Black Lion, they instantly went down again.

Not only did they go down... but Black moved, and gave a great roar that rocked the Castle of Lions.

Before, Shiro had felt nothing from Black. He’d tried, again and again, sitting in front of her or touching her or even climbing into the cockpit to take hold of her controls, hoping something would happen, that she would communicate to him again, or wisp him away to the astral plane for more answers about what she wanted and who she was waiting for.

Now, the very last and dying embers of his connection to the Black Lion flared to life like a great inferno, and the knowledge he’d been craving crashed into him like a raging storm.

I’ve been waiting... for the baby.

Her voice, he was hearing it yet again. Shiro’s eyes widened, went as white as the hair on his head and as bright as Black’s as she celebrated the return of the baby she’d been waiting for. He saw it all before him, saw the past as it was instead of a simple story Coran could only repeat from memory. He saw the paladins of old, including Allura’s father and Zarkon before corruption. He saw Haggar, smiling and glowing as a younger woman.

No, not Haggar, Shiro thought as he watched closely. Honerva. She’d once been called Honerva.

And inside her was... a baby.

A baby the Black Lion had waited patiently for.

I felt his heart beat. I felt his heart stop. His tiny, tiny heart. I tried to save them all.

Shiro watched as Zarkon offered Honerva to the rift out of desperation, his eyes zeroing in on her swollen middle covered by the baggy cloaks she wore to conceal her belly. Zarkon and Honerva had tried to keep their pregnancy a secret, knowing they would not be received kindly by anyone because of Honerva’s deteriorating condition in the pursuit of science that had come before her own unborn child.

And they’d all died. All three of them.

I have been waiting centuries for the child of Zarkon. I know him. I see him. I want him.

Together, he and I will fly.

Shiro suddenly gasped loudly, clutching his chest when the images were sucked away and the last of those embers fizzled out to nothing. The only hand he had left clutched his chest and only then did he realize he was being held. Keith had his shoulders, that worried line between his dark brows. Allura had a hand on his cheek and kept repeating his name, and Lance stood nearby for support.

Lotor only stared back at him.

“I’m fine,” Shiro breathed, rubbing back his white hair. “I’m fine.”

“What did you see?” Allura asked him, taking a step back to give him some space. “Your eyes were glowing, and so were the Black Lion’s.”

“She wants Lotor,” Shiro announced, knowing it to be true now without a doubt. “That’s who she’s been waiting for. She wants you,” he said to Lotor. “She wants to fly with you.”

“What!” Lance exclaimed, even stomping a foot down. That slight redness on his cheeks turned into a frustrated blush. “But... I’m supposed to fly her. I changed my armor and everything. You said...”

“I know what I said,” Shiro told him sternly. “This time, I know. Her paladin will be a boy she knew, and Black has known Lotor since before he was born. One who longed to fly her, who was part of the team, and one who was as quick and sharp as the Altean blade he wielded, that’s what she said. There must have been a part of you that wanted to fly the Black Lion of Voltron,” he then said straight to Lotor. “Every boy at some point wants to be like his father, to earn his father’s respect, even if that feeling is fleeting and he doesn’t deserve it. You’re also part of our team, whether you’re happy about it or not, and you’re an Altean swordsman. You meet all the criteria. You, Lotor, are the next Black Paladin.”

What a thing to hear, Lotor thought as he looked at Shiro, ignoring the others staring open-mouthed at him now. Following in his father’s footsteps, just like Zarkon, he thought, feeling the pain in his chest as he heard the ugly comments in his head all over again. This is how he would follow in his father’s footsteps. This is how he was just like Zarkon.

The Black Paladin, Lotor mused, glancing up at the great beast machine. She had been calling to him all his life, and he hadn’t known her voice or her warmth.

The Black Lion then leaned down to him. He wasn’t afraid though she was a gigantic being, and the hangar was filled with the unmistakable sound... of mighty purring. Black gently set her snout against Lotor, and the purring increased.

You are my cub now.

He heard her, Lotor thought with wonder. He heard her clearly, as if she’d opened her mouth and said the words.

Without thinking of the others, Lotor couldn’t help but place his hands on the Black Lion, his cheek against her metal, and close his eyes to feel that all-encompassing warmth he’d been without all his life. That intense love he’d never been properly given.

And during these quiet and meaningful moments, he shared his thoughts with her, his emotions, his deepest of feelings. She had to understand. She had to know.

The Black Lion accepted it, and would wait again.

“Oh, so now she’s purring,” Lance spat out, ripping his helmet off and wanting to chuck it in great disappointment. “Blue or Red never purred at me.”

“Lotor,” Allura began, needing to forget Lance’s feelings for now. There were more important things to discuss. “You must fly her. You must become Voltron’s next Black Paladin.”

It would be hard to voice his decision, Lotor knew, caressing Black one last time before she eased away, and sat up straight. It would be so very hard, but his heart could only take so much in one lifetime. It had been one tragedy after the next, and now he was finally able to change this universe for the better and live without others constantly hurting him.

Now, he would live without great hurt.

“I appreciate the offer, Princess Allura,” Lotor began, then turned to them with the poise and calm of an Emperor. “But I would not join this team as is even if you all dropped to your knees and begged me.”

Lance’s mouth fell open, Keith winced, Allura paled some.

Shiro... couldn’t say he was surprised. Not even a little.

Lotor gave the Black Lion one last look before gracefully making his way to the exit of the hangar.

I will come back for you he told her, and knew she heard him through their bond. One day, we will fly together.

I will be waiting, my cub.

“Now that I have defeated the Fires of Purification, now that I am supplying the Galra with unlimited quintessence extracted humanely and have the last living population of Alteans under my protection and loyal to me after saving them from extinction, I must say that I do not need to form Voltron to defend this universe. Everything I have worked and bled for, everything I almost died for,” Lotor added, staring at each and every one of them, “is now well within my grasp. I will be awaiting you, Allura, and Shiro aboard my ship for our meeting,” he said, the doors whooshing open for him. But before he left, he turned to them one last time.

“When it comes time to choose the next generation of Voltron paladins, I will answer the call to fly the Black Lion and lead them. She is waiting patently for me and I will not disappoint her. But I will not fly alongside this team who so quickly called for my death.”

Lotor walked through the exit, held their gazes as the doors began to close.

“Perhaps you should ask Romelle,” Lotor told them, and grinned as the doors closed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Lotor Appreciation Day!

#vld #voltron #shiro #allura #lotor #lance #vld keith #voltron legendary defender #no4forlotor

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musicanddancingthroughlife · 5 years

Text

Langst/Klance -- Pierrot

Okay guys, I know I forgot to upload something last week but this is like. My longest chapter yet, I guess. It is Klance, which I haven’t written in a while, and it’s probably super rough cause I hate myself and won’t go back and edit, but hey, have. Other than that, I hate myself and that sums up a lot of aspects of my life right now.

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“Hunk? Hunk, where’d you go? All right, so Coran isn’t as good of a cook as you are, but I think by now we should be used to that, there’s no need to run from it.”

Lance stopped short when he heard loud sobs and that too quick breathing that signaled Hunk’s anxiety attacks. Lance didn’t hesitate, though. “Hey, Hunk? Can I touch you, buddy?” His friend shifted under his mess of blankets, shivering and shaking. Lance swept him up into a hug, holding close for a few minutes before he grasped one of Hunks’ larger hands in one of his own. He settled their joined hands on Lance’s chest, Hunk instantly using lance’s heartbeat to steady his gasping breath.

It took several minutes, but Lance sat patiently, whispering reassurance and comfort in both English and Spanish. Once he was sure Hunk was calmed down, he pulled back into a tight hug, letting Hunk weep into his neck, uncaring of how the tears were dampening his clothes and making him uncomfortable. “Wanna talk?” Hunk nodded, but it was still a while before he said anything. And when he did, Lance felt his heart stop.

“Lance, what am I doing here? I’m not a pilot like you guys; I don’t even like flying. How can I save the universe if I can’t even do basic flight exercises like today’s?” And with that, he burst into a fresh wave of tears.

Lance contented himself with rubbing Hunk’s back, letting him cry out his insecurities and frustration, but he didn’t let that stop him from trying to assuage those fears. “Come on, man, you’re one of the two smartest people on our team! 50% of our brain power! Maybe something like 33% if we’re really gonna count Coran, but let’s also keep in mind that you’re the reason we’re not dying of starvation or too much exposure to goo, so at the very least, you deserve more credit than that. And you’ve come so far! Yellow is lucky to have you as her pilot! And you’ve got some of the top skills in the training rooms, don’t you? You’re just behind Shiro and Keith!

“And come on, it’s not like you’re the only making mistakes! Remember last week when I accidentally used those weird pellet gun things and shot Shiro in the ass? And what about when I was racing Keith and wound up making both of us crash into the ground? Was that stupid, or what?” Lance belted out a laugh, cringing inwardly when it sounded just a little too loud, but thankfully Hunk didn’t seem to notice. He just let out a weak giggle, but Lance could see that there were still tears in his eyes. That was fine. He had plenty of stories to entertain Hunk with.

Keith was annoyed. Why was he always the one having to track down Lance when he wandered off? It’s not like Keith was his keeper or anything. Hell, he didn’t even like Lance!

…Okay, maybe that was a lie, because what wasn’t to like? Honestly, Keith was just as infatuated as he was irritated, even at that moment, which was impressive because at that moment, Keith felt more horrified at what he was hearing. First, the very idea that Hunk was doubting his worth on the team, was ridiculous, and he wished that he knew what to say in order to make him feel better, but at least Lance was handling that okay. Keith just wished it wasn’t at Lance’s own expense.

At first, he was just surprised at hearing Lance recount those stories, stories which made Lance look like an idiot who can’t do anything right. He was pleased to hear that Hunk was seeming to cheer up, but he also knew that Lance’s laughter wasn’t completely honest. There was a tinge of pain to it. Lance normally tried to avoid reminders of those moments, and here he was, voluntarily sharing them, just to help a friend.

More laughter spilled from the room, and Keith bit his lip. Lance’s laughter was sounding more and more broken as he continued sharing stories. Thankfully he had begun reminding Hunk of all the good he had done, both before and after Voltron, but the tears in Lance’s voice were starting to hurt him. Thankfully, it was really only a couple minutes later when Hunk and Lance stepped out of Hunk’s room, arms slung over each other’s shoulders. Keith felt a pang in his chest.

“Keith!” Hunk’s eyes were rimmed with red, but the beaming smile he gave Keith told him that Lance had succeeded in making his friend feel better. “Did you need something?”

“Coran and Allura wanted me to tell you guys that we’re ready to have dinner, if you want to join us.” His eyes drifted over to Lance, and found himself amazed by how Lance was able to mask the pain in his eyes. Sure, Keith could still tell, because he was actively looking for it, but no one else would have any idea. How did he do that? Why would he do that?

Hunk quickly ducked under Lance’s arm to clasp a large hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Well, let’s get to it, man, I’m starving!” And Hunk began to drag Keith away, leaving Lance behind to follow. Keith glanced back, but when he did, he just saw Lance flash a wide grin at him, and then Hunk was pulling him around a corner.

The next time he saw Lance was a few minutes after he and Hunk had seated themselves, when he quietly slipped into the dining hall. He was just a little too quiet while they ate, but nobody else seemed to notice, and that’s when Keith resolved to keep a closer eye on his sharpshooter.

“Lance! You’re not nearly fast enough!” Lance’s concentration broken, Pidge managed to catch his foot with her katar. Startled at the unexpected catch, she accidentally shocked him, and Lance yelped in pain, crashing to the ground.

“Oh my god, Lance, I am so sorry!” Pidge started to rush over, but Allura stopped her before she could.

“Lance!” she snapped impatiently, “get up, now, and try again!” Lance was amazed. She wanted him to what? He just got shocked with who knows how much electricity! Hunk and Keith stared in shock, first looking at Allura in disbelief, then at Lance, still on the ground, trying to breathe through the pain coursing through him, and finally at Shiro, begging him to do something. He stepped forward.

“Allura, come on, we’ve all been training for hours. We’re exhausted.”

“You guys are fine. Go get some rest. Lance still has a lot of work he needs to do, and he’s never going to improve if he doesn’t stop wasting our time!” These last words were focused on Lance, who squeezed his eyes shut, shooting hand rhythmically flexing and relaxing. He felt a stab of shame in his chest. Of course, she was right. He was the weak link. He was behind everybody else in hand-to-hand, hell, even Pidge just took him down! They were never going to get anywhere with him being such a baby about training.

“Allura—” Shiro began, but Lance cut him off.

“No, she’s right.” Lance shakily got to his feet, small gasps and grunts escaping him as he forced his wobbly legs to support his weight. “I can do better, just let me go again.”

Shiro looked less than impressed. “Lance, you can barely stand. Let’s just call it a day and we can hit it hard in the morning.” And hell, Lance wanted nothing more than to be able to take a break. He wasn’t positive how long they had been going so far, but he knew it was at least a couple of hours – usually they train hand-to-hand for two, taking turn so everyone could rest, and so that they could each practice with varying styles and techniques. Then they would take an extra hour in the shooting range, and then move on to team building exercises before finishing for the day. Briefly, he wondered how long Allura wanted him to continue practicing.

“There, you see? He gets it, at least.” Oh, he got it all right. He was a failure, as usual, and he needed to work harder to catch up, to not bring his friends down. People could die if he wasn’t good enough. Lance gritted his teeth, preparing himself to go again. “Come on, Pidge, I won’t make it as easy on you this time.”

“Actually, I believe Coran needed both Pidge and Hunk for a project today, so if you two would go get showered and then meet with him, that would be fantastic.” Allura’s face was set, decisive. Pidge and Hunk were done for the day. Lance blinked.

“Okay… Shiro, will you run through it with me again? I know I can get it.” He really didn’t, but he wasn’t going to stop until he did, so it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

“Lance, I need Shiro so we can plan our next course of action. Got that, Shiro?” Her voice was hard and unforgiving, but still, Shiro hesitated, looking back at Lance almost questioningly. Lance shook his head. “It’s fine, Shiro, I’m sure Keith will help me?” Keith stepped forward, but Allura spoke up again.

“Honestly, Lance! Keith spends too much time training as is. You are the only one who needs the extra practice, stop trying to guilt the others into staying behind to help you. Keith, I don’t want to see you anywhere near the training room until tomorrow, when we are in fact scheduled to train.” The look in her eyes dared Keith to argue, and Lance knew him well enough to know that he needed to step in.

“Don’t worry, Princess, I can do it on my own. More fun to have company, but you’re right. Keith deserves a break.” Lance couldn’t look them in the eye. Not only was he going to struggle with the training itself, but now he was going to be isolated from his friends for who knows how long. What a day.

Keith clenched his fists, anger rushing through him. Lance was trying just as hard as any of them! In fact, he was trying harder than most of them! This was ridiculous, and he had no idea why Allura was acting the way she was. Like Lance needed a punishment or something! But with Lance agreeing with her, Keith couldn’t see how he could stay behind to help him with the combination.

“Lance, if you need to see the combo again – though you really shouldn’t, seeing as Shiro and Keith demonstrated it numerous times for you and you would have it if you had been paying attention – you can recall it on the databases here in the training room. You will practice until you get the combo, and until either Shiro or myself can confirm that you know it.” And without another word, she swept out of the room, calling to the other paladins on her way out.

Slowly, hesitantly, Pidge and Hunk wished Lance good luck, before they left to find Coran. Shiro look sympathetic, but ultimately, there wasn’t much they could do. Especially where Lance was willing to just put in the extra time. Already, he was gulping down some water, shuffling and shifting to allow his feet to find the beginning stance. Keith wanted nothing more than to stay behind, to offer some help or advice or dammit, even just some company! Lance needed people, and to cut him off from everyone like this was unnecessarily cruel. But before he could even offer any encouraging words, Lance was moving his way through the combination, slowly mapping out each step. Keith sighed, but then he followed the rest of their friends out of the training room.

Hopefully Lance would be okay.

Of course, none of them saw Lance again until way after dinner. The other paladins had long since headed to bed, but Keith had been unable to sleep and was in the middle of debating whether it was safe to go to the training room or not when Lance came stumbling out of it. Trailing behind Allura, he looked beaten and exhausted. His hair and clothes were soaked through with sweat and Keith suspected he was favoring his leg. Meanwhile Allura looked smug, pleased with the knowledge that her slowest paladin was improving, that they were that much closer to defeating Zarkon. Lance slowly shuffled towards the kitchen, but Allura stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she questioned.

Lance frowned. “I haven’t eaten yet…”

“It’s far too late to be making another mess in the kitchen,” she looked at him disapprovingly, and Keith felt anger rising to the surface. “It’d be best if you slept instead. Eat in the morning.” Keith gaped at her, but he was unnoticed by the two of them. Really, that just meant that once Allura had turned Lance towards the direction of their bedrooms, Keith was in the perfect position to see the pained resignation cross Lance’s face.

Before he even realized it, Keith had retrieved some light food from the kitchen and was knocking on Lance’s door. He left the foot on the floor, where Lance would hopefully see it, and then scurried around the corner as quickly and quietly as he could. He heard the door open, there was a few seconds of silence and then some rustling before the door shut again. When Keith peeked around the corner, the food was gone.

Only a couple days later, and Keith was again frustrated about Lance. It looked like he still hadn’t recovered fully from that long night in the training room, and he couldn’t understand why. Shiro had been really careful in making sure that nothing like that happened again, but that didn’t stop Allura from pushing Lance’s limits as hard as she could get away with when Shiro wasn’t looking. But despite this, Lance still looked so tired all the time.

That night, at dinner, Keith kept a close eye on Lance. He seemed normal, though tired, and it wasn’t until after dinner that he realized Lance wasn’t retiring to his room like most of the rest of the paladins were. Instead, he headed to the training room. Keith camped out outside, bored out of his mind, but more determined to find out if Lance was really okay or not. Lance logged a good three hours before he finally came out of the locker room exit. He was breathing heavily, gasping for air, and muscles loose and trembling, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Keith forced himself to relax as he followed Lance down the hallway from a distance. Lance gulped down a water pouch, and then set off to the Lion Hangar, where Pidge was still absorbed in her latest project.

“Pidge.” It was quiet, and the reaction was slight, but Keith still recognized how Pidge flinched and her shoulders shot up to her ears. “When are you going to go to bed?”

“None of your business!” Pidge spat, and Keith was more than surprised at the venom in the girl’s voice. Lance only sighed.

“Pidge. You need to sleep. Please.” Was this why he was so tired? He was trying to make sure Pidge was getting to bed? Keith looked at Pidge critically. If that was the case, he really wasn’t doing a good job. But, he realized with a pang, that wasn’t his fault. No one else was trying to get Pidge to sleep at all, and it was obvious she desperately needed the rest.

“Fuck off, Lance, I don’t need a babysitter.” Lance flinched, but refused to back down. “Come on, just one night. You haven’t slept more than a couple of hours in who knows how many days.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Have you been keeping tabs on me?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Well no one else is and the only people who really care are who knows where and I’m trying to find them, so leave me alone.”

There were a few moments of silence where Keith wondered if he should intervene. Before he could, Lance spoke up again. “I know you have nightmares, Pidge.” Pidge froze. “Come on, did you really think I wouldn’t notice, kid? You’re pushing yourself too far. Keep it up and you won’t control when you collapse from exhaustion. You’ve gotta sleep at some point. At least this way, you’ll have more control over when and how.”

Pidge shook her head, but even Keith could tell that her eyes were glazing with tears. “Pidge, come on. I’ll stay with you. You don’t have to worry about nightmares. I chase nightmares for my siblings all the time.” Lance’s hands fisted briefly, then relaxed again. Pidge looked up at Lance pleadingly. “Would you really stay?” she asked hesitantly.

Lance bent down without another word, scooping her up into his arms. “Of course I will. If Matt can’t be here to do it for you, then I’ll gladly fill in for him until he can, don’t worry.”

When Keith saw them the next morning, Lance looked even more exhausted than before, but Pidge was obviously more relaxed and clearheaded.

Everyone expressed their joy at Pidge getting rest, and they praised her for finally taking some time to herself.

She didn’t mention a single word about how Lance basically had to force her to finally get some sleep, or that he was the whole reason she felt comfortable for doing so in the first place.

And no one else seemed to notice how Lance was so tired he could barely keep a handle on his emotions during training that day.

In fact, Keith suspects it was because of that loose grip on his emotions that the disaster that was training really occurred.

“Lance, come on, really try here! Everyone else is working so hard, and they’re doing great, just try a little harder for us! We’re a team, and we can’t be that if we have to drag you along on missions.”

Keith knew, okay, he knew that Shiro was under a lot of stress. He was still young, only a little older than them, and he’d suffered a lot of trauma that no one should ever have to go through. But, really? Lance was so tired, and he was trying so hard, and he was doing so much for all of them. He didn’t deserve this.

Lance, though, merely looked up at Shiro from where he was laying on the floor, eyes bleary and unfocused. Shiro clenched his jaw, visibly willing himself to dredge up some of that incredible patience he’s always preaching at Keith about. “Lance, if you won’t take this seriously, then we have no reason to keep you on as a paladin. I’ve been trying to defend you from Allura, but honestly? She’s right. You need to work harder and take this more seriously, and if you can’t even do that then I don’t know why you’re bothering to stick around.”

Keith glanced around for help from Pidge and Hunk, but they were far on the other side of the training room, and hadn’t noticed what was happening yet. Keith slowly stepped forward. “Shiro, maybe we should…” Shiro barely glanced at him when he walked past, all but racing out of the training room, leaving Lance an overtired and emotional mess on the floor. At first, they both just sat there in silence, but then Lance visibly steeled himself, taking a deep breath and choking back tears. And when he finally staggered to his feet, wiping his eyes clear of any moisture, Keith felt like his heart might break.

“He’s right, it’s fine. I’m going to go take a breather, and I’ll come back to try again after dinner, I think. I need to get this right.” For a moment, Keith couldn’t breathe, his heart and soul ached so much for this sad, lost boy in front of him, but before he could gather his thoughts enough to speak, Lance had taken off.

He didn’t see him again until very late in the night, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective. Keith had been heading to the kitchen to get a water pouch, but instead barely managed to stop himself from walking into Shiro having a panic attack. Keith was more surprised by that than by the fact Lance was talking him down from it. He had Shiro’s hand clutched against his own chest, helping him to time his breaths, and he was gently chattering away about his family, joking with Shiro as if it wasn’t a one-sided conversation during which the other participant was having a full-scale attack. It was impressive, but when you looked closely, it wasn’t hard to see that Lance’s hands were trembling, and there were tears in his eyes.

Some time later, it was evident that Shiro was too tired to notice any of those things, as he instead broke down into tears once he’d calmed down enough. Lance stayed with him the entire time, and Keith kept a silent vigil over his friend. The two of them didn’t retire until the day castle had begun shifting into its day cycle. And if anyone else noticed that Lance was starting to look a little less vibrant, a little less happy, a little less excited about life, they didn’t say anything. Lance appeared to wish to just brush it off, and Keith was content to bide his time.

But that wasn’t going to last too long.

“I don’t know how to help you, okay!” The quiet that followed that outburst was just as loud. Keith couldn’t bear it. Lance should never look this depressed, this dejected. “Lance.”

There was silence, Lance refused to glance up and acknowledge Keith, so he tried again.

“Lance. Please. Look at me.” Another few seconds of silence before Lance shook his head weakly. Feeling the pain in his chest tighten, Keith tried again. He had a vision of Lance comforting and coaching Hunk through a panic attack, Lance running himself ragged training for Allura’s peace of mind, Lance’s willingness to sacrifice his own sleep to ensure Pidge slept, the trust and faith he placed in Shiro, despite consistently feeling that Shiro didn’t even like him, forget about trusting him.

“Just. Please. I just want you to be honest. Be you. Please, just be selfish for a few minutes. I promise, I’ll still be here. I don’t… I don’t need you to be anything but yourself. Please.” Still silence. “You’ve done so much for all of us, and I need you to know that even if you didn’t stretch yourself so thin for all of us, we would all still love you. We would still value you. You’re our friend. None of us knew what we were getting into, but we do all know that none of us would be here without you. We wouldn’t have even found Blue, we would’ve give up, I don’t know what exactly, I just know that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, and that we can’t do this without you!” Keith’s voice went soft, and Lance stood frozen, looking back at Keith with a shocked expression. “I can’t do this without you, Lance, and I can’t stand to watch you push yourself so hard and get no credit or appreciation or even a thank you. You’re worth more than that to me, and I know you’re worth more than that to the others, too.”

Lance’s lower lip trembled. “I can’t not help them, Keith.”

Keith stepped forward, placed gentle hands on Lance’s shoulders, carefully pulled him into a hug. “I know, Lance, I know,” This close, he knew to keep his voice quiet, murmuring directly into Lance’s ear. “I love you for that, but you can’t push too hard too fast. You deserve better, and we want more than that for you. I promise. Just talk to us, we can be there for you, just like you’re there for us. I’ll be there for you, if you’ll let me.” Keith felt his face flush, but he forced himself to stay put. Lance needed him more, right then.

They stood there for several minutes, no sound save for Lance’s quiet sobs and Keith’s hushed reassurances and promises.

“I’ll try.”

#langst #klance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #vld #vld fic #voltron #voltron fic #voltron legendary defender #fluff #emotional hurt/comfort #hurt/comfort #no triggers i think #mywriting #jessi rambles

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shaishinx · 5 years

Text

Visions

The first time Keith sees it, it breaks his heart.

He's watching a familiar sun set along a familiar horizon and he's wearing a familiar uniform... For a moment he thinks maybe it's a vision of the past, but then he realizes he's sitting on top of the black lion, his new companion—the space wolf—by his side, and he feels a lump in his throat at the idea. He's home.

He's home and he doesn't look much older than he currently is.

Not much longer... Keith allows himself to hope.

From his current point of view, this ghost in memories yet to come—an outer body experience he’s learned to love and hate at the same time—present Keith watches himself stare out at the same desert he’d stared out at a thousand previous times, but now it held a completely new meaning. Future him looks content, and Keith wonders if they’d won the war against the Galra. If they’d done what they sought out to do and saved Earth. Is he working at the Garrison now?

He took a seat on the other side of the wolf, the side that Future Keith wasn’t occupying, and he thought for a moment that the pup had acknowledged him, but before his mind could linger on how that couldn’t have been possible he hears Lance’s voice. Lance.

Lance had showed up in a couple of the space-time visions so far. Small scenes of irrelevance.

The smug way Lance carried himself no longer irritated Keith like they seemed to do in these alien flashbacks. Keith was growing more and more fond of all of his teammates the longer he stayed on this space whale, but he had come to learn just how much Lance had left an impact. Keith knew that growing up, surviving had been less of a necessity and more of a ‘fuck you’ to all the people that wanted to see him fail. He hadn’t cared about school, or himself, or the people around him. It wasn’t until he met Shiro that those destructive thoughts really started to shift... but even then Keith wanted to be better for Shiro because the man deserved that. He wasn’t really doing it for himself. Finding his passion at the Garrison was just a bonus.

Lance, however, pushed him in ways that no one ever did before. He pushed and pushed and challenged and challenged, and before any one really knew what was happening, they were bettering each other. Out on the battlefield, Lance was the first person he could rely on. If not solely because the loud-mouthed teen wouldn’t have been able to live down failing to his “rival”, but because they’d tested each other so much that they knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses only too well. And now here the tall boy was... and he was wearing... wearing...

What the fuck is he wearing?

As soon as present him thought the words, future him took the liberty of voicing them aloud. It was... a date... Lance had said. A date with Allura.

Future Keith was unfazed by this information. He was too comfortable really, considering present him thought he could hear something cracking, thought he could feel a knife being plummeted into his chest. However, when he looked down and saw no injury, he became frustratingly too aware that the blade was metaphorical. And when he looked back up at Lance, their future conversation now muffled background noise to the deafening way his heart shattered, he realized that somewhere along this stupid, crazy journey, he had given Lance that weapon to destroy him.

—

Keith gasped for air, sitting up from his make shift bed on the cave ground.

Krolia wasn’t around, probably hunting for breakfast.

He rubbed at his chest and blinked at his lap, replaying the images and words in his mind over and over again.

He... liked Lance. Maybe, loved Lance? If the way he ached was any indication.

He’d never really given it thought before. It just wasn’t on his list of priorities with this war going on, but now... well, now it was all that he could think about. Did Lance and Allura get closer in his absence? What are they doing now? Was his found family moving on without him? Was this the price he was paying for leaving? It’s been seven months so far... maybe the team already won the war. Maybe they didn’t need him after all. Maybe Lance doesn’t need him after all.

When did he start needing Lance?

Keith’s face fell into his hands and he tried to quell his restless thoughts. He tried to stop all the hurting. Not just from Lance, but from everyone. He missed them. He missed them so much that he thought the flames of his regret and his yearning—this inner hell of turmoil he began to fall into—might actually burn him alive.

“I don’t regret being with her.” Lance started speaking in this next vision before Keith knew he was there. Future Keith’s hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, signifying time had passed in its length, and he had stopped washing the dishes to turn around and look at the blue eyed boy—no, man. He turned to look at the man sitting at the dining room table behind him.

Lance was holding a mug of something hot in his hands, but not drinking from it, as if soaking up the heat into his cold lifeless body. Because that’s what Lance looked like... devoid of his usual life. His eyes were less, his skin was less, he... was less.

Present Keith ignored, for now, the Altean marks under this Lance’s eyes to listen harder to the conversation. He must have been talking about Allura. Which means they had broken up some how, in some way. Is that what had made Lance less Lance? Is that why he looked as if pain was something foreign to him now, but “numb” was something he was all too fluent in? Both present and future Keith’s ached, but stayed silent as Lance continued his absentminded musings.

“I’m happy that I was able to be with her because I think I would have regretted not doing it. I would have regretted not asking her out, or not knowing... and I think that would have been worse... in the end.”

Future Keith sat in the empty chair besides this empty Lance.

“I think she loved me, and I know that I loved her, but I don’t think that it was the right kind of love.”

“Lance...” Future Keith began.

“I just mean,” Lance carried on, moving his gaze from the wall to his mug as if it had answers, “I couldn’t be what she needed.

“But you were what she needed,” Future Keith cut in. “Allura was so focused on everything else. She was focused on every one else besides herself. She didn’t give herself the chance to take a break or know what happiness even was, and she wouldn’t have if you hadn’t stepped in.” He laid his hand atop Lance’s urging him to stop fiddling his thumb against the mug’s ceramic. “I’m not saying that you guys would have worked out—“ Lance threw him a glare, “what?” Keith asked sheepishly.

Lance rolled his eyes before sighing, “No, you’re right. I don’t think we would have. But that’s what I mean. I couldn’t be what she needed. I’m no Lotor. I’m not this suave and collected, perfect specimen of a man...” Present Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, clearly missing something. “...you know, despite all the evil shit he did. I’m not strong enough to rule a people like him, or her. I mean, look at me now, Keith. She wouldn’t have wanted this for herself, this farm.” Lance lifted an arm to gesture, almost violently, towards the window. Present Keith looked out at the view, feeling more and more confused the more the vision went on.

“First of all, you’ve been preaching suave and perfection since the moment I met you.” Future Keith said with a slight smile, a hint of joke under there somewhere.

“And she hated that.” Lance scoffed lightly.

“Second of all,” Keith ignored, “this farm was a good decision for you after everything that happened. No one blames you for wanting to take a step back from all of it. No one faults you for turning down the teaching offer at the Garrison. Everyone took a step back.”

“You didn’t.” Lance countered. His eyes were piercing. “You went straight into politics with the Galra, and aided in the relief effort.”

“Lance, you make it sound like you didn’t help me with all of that.” Keith pursed his lips. “You make it sound like you’re sitting here doing nothing while the rest of us are changing lives.”

“I’m running a farm, Keith.”

“A farm that supplied me with food to give to all of those families. A farm that supplies Hunk with fruits and vegetables that are normally grown in different parts of the universe, but with Pidge’s evil genius mind, was able to help you find a way to grow them right here. On your farm. You’ve given a lot of people who have lost their entire world some normalcy on Earth. You’ve given them familiarity on a planet that isn’t their own. That’s amazing. The Altean flowers you have blooming here have become a symbol of hope for every man, woman, and child. What you’re doing here is important. You are important and you have always been important, Lance. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

Lance offered a small smirk, “maybe a few times more.”

“I’m beginning to feel like you just like hearing me try to convince you.”

“It’s a good boost to my ego.”

They smiled at each other in the silence, and only then did Keith realize his hand was still on Lance’s. He moved it away slowly, hiding it in a stretch that he’d faked so as to not seem so obvious that his heart was now pounding in his ears. Present Keith could hear it though.

“I don’t regret being with her. “Lance started again, looking back through the window and reiterating his earlier point. “I don’t think know if we would have worked out now that I really think about it. I just wanted to be there for her and be what made her happy. I think you’re right that she would have carried on being angry and thinking that everything was on her shoulders and her shoulders alone. I’m happy that I was able to be there for her to lean on. I’m happy that I was able to give her something before she gave us everything. She only knew pain from the moment she woke up with us, you know? And I wanted to take that away from her. She was so strong, Keith. I wanted to be that strong. I wanted to be her strength.”

Lance took a sip from his mug as a brief pause of thought passed between them.

Present Keith thought the vision might end right there, but just as it began to blur out he heard his future self say, “You’re a lot stronger than you think you are.”

It’d been a while since he had any visions. The ones that really mattered to Keith any way. Keith didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing considering how many questions he now had that were killing him repeatedly day in and day out. He filled most of his days with training, which really wasn’t unusual for him, but even Krolia could see that he was working himself up too hard and too quickly. He’d pull a muscle before too long, or at least injure himself in some shape or form.

Every time the visions touched him they were small, to quick to really see anything. Some times they were things of the past, making him ache with guilt and self-pity. He should have said nicer things to Pidge when she wanted to leave and find her family that time back on Arus before Sendak fucked their shit up. He should have spoke more with Hunk, or learned more from Coran and Allura. He should have goaded Lance less and worried Shiro less. He should have done a lot of things and he hoped that he’d get off of this stupid whale any time soon and be able to do those things that he regretted now.

#klance #voltron #lance #keith #fics #visions #klangst #angst #text #shaishinx #wip

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astranne · 4 years

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Crossover Idea Transformers/Voltron

So, another idea. Boy- today is the night of story ideas. I’m totally writing an oneshot about this, probably in german.

This one is about Voltron, yk rainbow paladins, flying giant robot-lions and fighting some aliens as a big robot-angel. And the transformers, yk big robos who can transform in cars and such stuff. But the storyline is from the new Voltron serie of Netflix.

Anyway. So, Primus has the Primes, his warriors, so who says, that his brother, Unicron (chaos himself) can’t have fighters too? And I imagine, that even if Primus and Unicron are trillions of years old, are still brothers and they still care about each other and all that. Even when they are fighting. So, if anyone has seen Transformers Prime, the serie, Megatron was a servant of Unicron. And after all this shit happend, Unicron realised, that you can’t rule with hate and fear and all the bad stuff. So he talks with Primus, (Primus a proud bro, that he finally sees his mistakes) and they search for a candidate. But nobody is good enough and time flys by. Cybertron is in peace, Megatron came back and is now friend with Team Prime.

(Probalby should also mention, that Unicron’s earth is not the earth of Voltron... yk. It has similarities, but the humans of Unicron are much stronger and all like that. Like a super soldier.)

In meanwhile the Galras take over the KNOWN univers. You see the capital letters? KNOWN UNIVERSE. They have no idea about Primus/Cybertron and Unicron and all that. The bots and cons and all my robos are living in peace, absolut bliss and stuff... until a girl lands on a near planet. Naturally they notice and find her in a escape capsule from the Galra. She isn’t even human anymore, almost all limbs are replaced with a ‘high-tech’ protese. But worse, she’s dying. The bots/cons, (like they are in groups but one race? I’m just calling them bots, like for every race, decepicons and all the ones) can’t do much, they could heal her, if she would be totally a robot/machine, but she still needs blood and food and yeah. So Optimus goes to the core of Primus, because he knows, she is important. He can feel it. (spooky)

Primus heals her, makes her fully human again but he knows, that she’s the one. The warrior of Unicron. (And Primus, but that comes later) And from the timeline... she’s from earth, like Voltron earth in the year 10 or something. Like in the middle of the Romain Empire. She was kidnapped by Galra, because why not. And they are assholes. Most of them.

So now this girl, Diana, lives on Cybertron. She draws her energy from Primus, so she can live with the bots. She becomes friends with everyone, but her favourite is Predaking. (Is like the kindest girl but absolut badass. A little bit naive, but still cute) They have a father/daughter relationship and it’s just fluff. But one day, she dies. Team Prime went on a mission and because Diana can fight, she went with them. Predaking is mad and doesn’t want to belive that she’s dead. So again, she was brought to the core of Primus. Primus could save her, but now is the time, she becomes his brother’s warrior. He tells Predaking of his plans. Predaking just wants her to life, so he sacrificed himself for Diana. Diana becomes a bot/predacon. Unicron gives her some of his powers and since Primus transformed her, she’s now also a Prime. And because of that, Primus creates a new star saber, Unicron too. Diana, now bearing the name Predaqueen to honor her ‘father’, united the two swords and became the first CRON (A Unciron warrior) and a PRIME. So her name is now Predaqueen Prime.

When she comes back to the surface, everyone is losing their shit. But after some time they can accept, that she’s not Diana anymore, she’s Predaqueen, a leader, a fighter, a warrior.

Megatron becomes the second Cron, names himself Megacron and is like the right hand of Predaqueen. She improves the whole army of Cybertron, becomes an ambassador, unites the two races of Primus and Unicron and is the voice of the gods/primordal beings or what ever they are. Everyone knows, there will be a fight, and they need to be prepared.

So yeah, fast forward to the Voltron serie. Primus and Unicron tell Predaqueen that soon Voltron will be activated, so she needs to be prepared. She goes to earth (Voltron earth), goes to the Garrison and meets Shiro there. (Totally not a hint to her ship. Can you feel the sarcasm? Anyway) Her name is Diana Prime and she’s the best pilot, becomes a professor? instructor? Idk what the name is, she’s teaching the kids, while Shiro prepares for his mission. Totally sexual tension there (she’s an ancient warrior, but not dead), totally Keith losing his absolut patience, like everybody else. Before Shiro is leaving, the sneaky boy (Keith) forces them to kiss. (He’s grounded but it was totally worth it) There are some cheesy farwell words, Diana tells him to be careful. She knows, this is the start of Voltron, and it’s not going to be nice.

Diana looks after Keith, she promised it Shiro after all and is still teaching. (there are totally many of the students crushing on her.) (Is the look important? Because, I imagine her as a tall woman, slim but athletic, her hair ridiculous long and bronze broun, with blue and violett streaks. Her eyes are golden and she has tattoos on the shoulders, the sign of predacons. (like there where all the bots have their marks/signs.) On her back are all symbols of all the races of Cybertron, in the middle the sign of Unicron and Prime.) Ugh-

Anyway. She meets the next paladins of Voltron and can only sigh. She took Keith under her wing, teached him some moves so he’s a little bit prepared, but the rest? Pidge is alright, she’s a smart girl. Hunk will do okay. But Lance? Oh boy- He’s totally like Knockout, he wont take it seriously until some one dies or is hurt. And then it’s most times to late.

When the three sneak out to rescue Shiro, Diana just watches with a smile. She waites until the next morning. And I can totally see this scene.

Keith talks with Shiro about his time in the galaxy and then Shiro says:

“How did you know to come save me when I crashed?” And Keith answers, “You should come see this.” They walk to his house, until Shiro stops.

“Wait, Keith- what... what about Diana?” Keith smiling softly and walking backwards.

“If you want, I can call her. She’ll be glad you’re back.”

Ugh, soft Shiro-

Anyway

The five find the blue lion, Shiro or better Keith forgets to call Diana and when he remebers, he’s somewhere in the universe. They form Voltron, kick for the first time Galras ugly ass and begin to train. Some days after Diana stands before the castle, Allura panicking, because this is a human and-

“Shiro, darling, we need to talk about your disappearance in the fucking universe.” Lance, Hunk and Pidge are confused, because that’s General Prime? In the universe?

Shiro tries to explain everything, but Diana/Predaqueen just smiles adn tells him, she knows already. He’s naturally confused and then she tells him about her mission, who she is and all that. He has a big mindblow but is happy, that Diana is back. Some fluff, because why not and Diana decides to tell the team.

“I am a Cron and a Prime.” Everybody is just blinking, because she says it like it explains everthing. With a smile, she connects herself with the castle and shows the story of Unicron and Prime.

“And then I became a warrior of Primus and Unicron, their voice and the leader of their children. They sent me on this mission, to watch over Voltron, over you and nudge you in the right direction.” Again some blinking, until Lance speaks up.

“So, you are basically another Voltron? And there is a whole planet of Voltrons like you?” Pidge facepalms, while Keith sighes. Coran has stars in his eyes, while Allura is glad, that others fight with them.

“No. Every bot has his own mind, they are like humans, but instead of flesh, blood and a heart, they have metal, enagon and a spark. The Primes, Optimus and I, and the Crons, Megacron and I, are the strongest. We lead the Cybertrojans in war, we are the voice of Primus and Unicron.”

So now the storyline is pretty much the same, Predaqueen is with Allura in the castle, when Voltron fights, because she’s their secret weapon. When they fight in the centre of the Galra Imperium, Predaqueen transforms for the first time. She’s normally as big as Voltron, but transformed as a predacon probably five times so big. She activates the space bridge and calls all the other predacons (her people, Shockwave cloned a few more and Primus also created new sparklings) They attack the Galra force, completly surprise them but still don’t win. Voltron barley escapes, but Predaqueen detransforms and attacks the wive of Zarkon, Honerva. She know’s that many will die and the universe will probably be destroyed, if she doesn’t kill her. Honerva goes nearly mad, this beast just attacks them? To be a bit dramatic, Predaqueen summons the presence of Unicron. She’s in her bot-form, but in human size. She glows with pure power, everything near her just dies, explodes and is destroyed. In her hand is the dark star sable, pulsing with chaos and death. Unicron totally roasting the Galras, calling them petty beings and such. Honerva is killed and you would think, the Galras would stop now, but no. Lotor is wants revenge. So he still takes over the Galra Imperium and builds this ships. But this time Megacron is making his life pure hell. Ah, so Lotors new ships are made out of a rare komet or what ever? Hmm, Megacron has the enagon of Uncrion and that’s chaos himself. Bitch, wanna try again?

So now Voltron is freeing the known universe, while Predaqueen helps. In the end, Cybertron is revealed, the Cybertrojans are now like the green lanterns? Keeping peace in the universe, because they are the ‘children’ of Prime and he’s creation himself. (I think so... or did I understand something wrong?) Voltron is still active, but now a symbol of peace and union.

Shiro and Diana/Predaqueen love each other dearly, but she still outlives him, sees how her family grows, how her children have grandchildren and so on. But still, Shiro will be her only lover, just because fluff. And basically the reason of this crossover? Because I think he deserved better.

Yikes... ugh, so if someone wants to write a story about this... I don’t mind, just tag me so I can read it and also reblogg it.

I didn’t second read it, it’s almost midnight and yeah... if something doesn’t make any sense, I’m swiss.

Masterlist

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chancellormatt · 5 years

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Voltron Rewrite Episode Fifteen - The Imprisoned Princess

The Dark Reality - Ten Thousand Years Ago

King Alfor looks down at a burning Altea. Tears stream down his face, as he is helpless to do anything else.

“Don’t act like you didn’t see this coming, Alfor” A voice says from behind. “Your people burn because of your actions.”

“You...monster!” Alfor whirls around to face Zarkon.

The pair of them stand on a suspended walkway hanging on the remains of the altean royal palace. The fires cast the pair in angry light.

“I wonder,” Zarkon says, “did you weep this much for Diabazaal? Did you even hesitate? Or were you eager to finally have an excuse to remove such a thorn from your side?”

“I did weep for your world, Zarkon! But do not compare my efforts to save the universe with this...this butchery!”

“There it is again. King Alfor, up on his moral high ground. Well in case you haven’t noticed, there isn’t much ground to stand on anymore.” Zarkon nods down to the burning fields that used to be Altea.

“You talk to me like a bitter enemy Zarkon...but you were my friend. A brother to me…” His eyes look very tired then. “But this...this isn’t the Zarkon I fought beside. Not the hero I knew. You are a warped shadow wearing the skin of my friend. How could someone like that do this to my people!? To my...my wife...oh stars, my wife.” He pauses, staring downward for what seems an eternity. When he looks up, his eyes are hard.

“One way or another…” Alfor summons his bayard, forming it into a longsword. “...this ends now.”

“At last, we agree on something.” Zarkon materializes his own wickedly curved bayard sword.

The two paladins charge down the walkway at each other.

Alfor’s first strike is a thrust for Zarkon’s midsection. The large galra turns the strike away and kicks Alfor in the chest. Alfor goes flying backwards across the walkway, only barely managing to land on two feet.

But Zarkon is back upon him almost immediately, unleashing a flurry of strikes. Alfor blocks the series of blows, but the power of each one pushes Alfor back further. Alfor ducks beneath the final swing and shoves his own sword upward, grazing Zarkon on the shoulder.

Snarling, Zarkon knocks aside Alfor’s followup and grabs the King by the head. He slams Alfor’s face into the walkway’s railing, dazing him. As Alfor stumbles back, Zarkon swings again with his sword. The blow is only just blocked but the force throws Alfor down onto his back.

Zarkon jumps up, sword plunging downward to pin Alfor to the walkway. Before he can be skewered Alfor throws up a hand, firing off a blast of blue lighting that blasts Zarkon backwards.

Zarkon lands on his back, much like Alfor.

Both leap to their feet, Zarkon moving in for the sword swing, while Alfor unleashes another blast of lightning.

The lighting strikes Zarkon, wrapping it's glowing tendrils along his body. Zarkon cries out in pain and anger but he does not fall. In spite of the alchemical lightning, he takes a step forward.

“Th-that’s your problem...Alfor…”

Another step forward.

“...you have never been…”

Another step.”

“...as strong…”

Another.

“...as ME!”

Zarkon swings his blade.

Alfor stumbles back, gripping his gut where the blade struck home. He sways, trying to remain standing. Then, he drops his sword and falls to his knees. He looks up at his former friend, face awash with pain and sorrow.

“You may kill me...but you will never have what you really want. You will never have Voltron!”

Zarkon chuckles, then laughs. He steps back and continues his mad cackle. Alfor looks on with confusion. Eventually, Zarkon regains his composure, looks back down at Alfor and smiles.

“Oh, Alfor...my men sent word just before I found you here. Your ploy to send the Lions away didn’t work.”

Alfor’s eyes widen.

“Yes, my men captured them, along with the Castle of Lion while they were trying to flee. Still, I must commend you. It very nearly worked. My men said it was fifty-fifty odds. Seems the coin didn’t fall in your favor, old friend.”

“Allura…” Alfor says with horror. “Wh...what about my daughter?”

Zarkon stares down at Alfor, as if hesitating.

“...she fought to the very end. Too much like her father, it seems.”

The light in Alfor’s eyes dies. He slumps over, drained completely. For a moment, both are silent. The crackling of the fires and occasional distant blasts are the only sounds audible.

“...just end it already. I want to join my wife and daughter.” Alfor finally says

Zarkon raises his blade, but stops before the swing. Alfor waits. The blade never falls.

“...no.” Zarkon says, lowering his blade. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Alfor looks up, mystified.

“I wanted to kill you at first. But that wouldn’t be the real punishment, would it? Being returned to what you only just lost, if one believes in that sort of thing. No...the far greater penance would be to live, knowing that you were the reason for the death of all that you loved. Only being able to watch as I use Voltron to conquer the rest of the universe.”

If Alfor’s eyes were horror before, they are utter dread now. “I...I can still stop you! Somehow I…” His voice trails off, lacking the energy to finish the sentence.

“Stop me?” Zarkon leans down and grins. “Alfor, you’re going to help me do it.”

“Never.” Alfor says, in a voice just above a whisper.

Zarkon chuckles. “Honerva may have lost her memory for now, but I’m sure in time we can put things right. With her help, we’ll twist you so far you’ll barely be able to remember your own name. But don’t worry, I’ll leave enough of you for the pain to remain.”

Alfor is speechless.

“Look on the bright side. You get to continue doing your duty as a Paladin of Voltron. And I’m going to make sure you’ll never be able to stop…”

Prime Reality - Now

Raimon carries an unconscious Allura down the landing pad of a shuttle. He steps out onto the soft soil of the altean colony. Zarkon and Lotor stand in the middle of a town square, with a small crowd of onlooking alteans on the periphery. At the precise center of the square is a metal post jammed into the ground, with a chain dangling from it's top.

Raimon carries Allura over to the post, ignoring the stares of the onlookers. He lays her down so she sits with her back against the metal. Then, he reaches up and pulls down the chair to begin wrap around her wrists.

As he does, Allura begins to blink and moan groggily. ‘

“Where…?”

Suddenly her eyes shoot open and tries to leap to her feet. Raimon shoves her back down, then locks the chain in place.

“You!” She says in an accusatory tone. “You can’t...couldn’t…” Her voice loses its strength and trails off as she stares up at Raimon. Impassively, he pulls the chain taut, forcing Allura to her feet, with her arms stretched above her head.

“Oh, it's really him, Princess.” Zarkon chuckles. “But deep down, I’m certain you already know that.”

Allura gets a foul expression and averts her gaze. However, her eyes quickly find their way back to Raimon. The man does not meet her gaze, rather he doesn’t seem to look at anything in particular. His eyes are distant, almost dead.

“Well then, Princess. You wanted to see your people? Here they are!” Zarkon sweeps an arm across the alteans.

Slowly, Allura tears her eyes away from Raimon to get her first good look at the alteans. They come in all ages, but elderly and children are the most common. All look back at her with some mixture of fear and uneasy.

Allura smiles at them weakly. Many avert their gaze or shift uncomfortably.

Lotor clears his throat. “Father do you think it entirely wise to do this? What if she ties to incite them to-”

“Is their faith in you so weak?” Zarkon asks immediately, “And if it is, what matters? You know how to maintain loyalty no matter what. I’m sure I’ve managed to teach you that much.”

“Y...yes, father.” Lotor says reluctantly.

Zarkon smiles down at Allura. “Let her say whatever she wishes. It will not matter in the end. That is my purpose in bringing her here. To show her that our victory is inevitable.”

Allura scrowls, her posture and expression regains some of its original defiance. It is somewhat spoiled by her uncertain gaze occasionally drifting between Raimon and the alteans.

“I have work to be doing. Enjoy the stay, girl. Soon your friends will be joining you.” And with that, Zarkon walked away. Lotor followed shortly afterwards, only pausing briefly to shoot an uneasy glance at Allura.

Finally, Raimon turns to go.

“...I don’t care what reality you’re from.” Allura said suddenly. “My father...King Alfor would always fight to the bitter end to stop men like Zarkon! Especially to protect his people. If you’re my...if you’re Alfor, then I know there must be some part of you still fighting him!”

Raimon stops in his tracks. He stays there unmoving for a long moment. Then he says, “There is no longer any Alfor…only the servant of Zarkon. Only Raimon.”

He leaves. Allura watches him go, wilting.

Eventually she forces herself to turn her gaze back to the still staring onlookers. She seems to regain a modicum of strength at the sight of them. She closes her eyes and takes a breath.

When Allura opens her eyes, she has a smile on her face. It is a weak ragged, unconvincing smile. But a smile nonetheless.

“H-hello...my name is Princess Allura. I’m here to rescue you.”

***

“Dammit!” Keith swears, slamming his fist into a wall. “We fell right into their trap!”

He and the other paladins are back inside the Garrison base. They are all either standing or sitting inside a living area. Sullen expressions are on all their faces, save Keith’s. His is one of unbridled rage.

“I can’t believe what a complete idiot I was!” He punches the wall again.

“Easy, Keith.” Shiro says gently. “This isn’t all on you.”

“The hell it isn't! I was in command, I had final say! This is my mistake! It's my fault they got Allura!”

“And do you think anyone else here would have made a different choice? It was a risk, yes. But at the time, it seemed a worthwhile one. Lance? Hunk? Pidge? Would you have made a different choice in Keith’s position?”

“Probably not…” Lance admits.

Hunk shakes his head.

“It...seemed to make sense, risks notwithstanding.” Pidge says.

“And how about you, Shiro?” Keith retorts. “Would you have made such a colossal screw up? Would you have put her and everyone else in danger like that?”

“Keith...did you forget?”

Keith tilts his head in confusion.

“I did.” Shiro shrugges.

Keith blinks, looking more confused.

“Back when I was leading Voltron, Allura and I infiltrated that ship to get information. I barely got out and she ended up captured.”

“...right.” Keith replies, embarrassed.

“So no, you aren’t the only one that can make bad calls. And this also isn’t the first time Allura’s been in a sticky situation. She’ll manage, she’s a paladin too. So with that in mind, what do you think we need to do?”

Keith takes a breath before responding. “...calm down and plan our next move. We need to get Allura back, but at the same time can’t go in half cocked. That’ll just lead to more mistakes.”

Shiro nods with approval. “Alright then, seems like you’ve got a handle on things.”

Keith smiles. “...thanks.”

“Anytime.”

The door opens on the far end of the room.

“The Princess has been captured!?” Coran says marching in.

“I...yeah.” Keith replies.

Coran takes a breath and look as if about to rant but hesitates, then shakes his head and sighs.

“I suppose...that’s part of the job.” He says finally. “Really doesn’t do my stress levels any favors, though.”

“We’ll get her back, Coran.” Keith swears.

Coran nods slowly, then more quickly. “I know”

“Grand Regent!”

Keith cringes. He turns to see Skriel run inside, followed by the other galra commanders.

“I only just heard what happened to the future empress! I swear to you that Urok, Erva, Mutava and myself will not rest for an instant until she is rescued! Even if it means laying down our lives! And by the stars if it comes to that, they will know that it was the mighty Skriel who-”

“Enough.” Keith sighes. “No ones going anywhere until we have a handle on the situation. Going in half-cocked isn’t going to help anybody. You guys will have your chance to help, just not yet.”

“...understood.” Skriel says, looking disappointed.

“And stop calling Allura the future empress!”

. In spite of the situation, the other Paladins stifle snickers.

“Of course.” Skriel winks

“And stop winking!”

“Uh...right.” Skriel straightens.

“Now...anyone have ideas on what to do first.”

“Well you could start by seeing the message we just received.” A new voice says.

All turn to see Admiral Sanda now at the door. “Seems like you’ve gotten yourself into quite the mess.”

“Yeah, well...what else is new?” Keith sighs. “Now what’s this message you’re talking about?”

Sanda pulls out a handheld device that projects a large holographic image in front of them. It shows Zarkon.

“To this reality’s pitiful excuses for Paladins: Hello, it's me. Your proper ruler. I understand some of you are having trouble accepting that. It's understandable. Weak minds often have difficulty comprehending their betters. You will not bow without a fight. To that end…”

The feed changes to show a new subject. Allura chained to a post, in the center of the altean colony. The paladins all gasp.

“As you can see...your friend is waiting for you.” The feed switches back to Zarkon. “I dearly hope you don’t keep me waiting.”

With that the feed goes dead.

Keith's fists clench, then tremble.

“...the colony.” He says finally. “That’s where she is.”

“You and your mother went there, correct?” Sanda inquires. “Do you know a way in?”

“We got in once, but that doesn’t mean much. Lotor wasn’t there at the time, and this was long before Zarkon took over. I have no idea what kind of new defenses he’s added by now.”

“Well then it sounds like you’re back in the same position as before. Only this time the bait is far more enticing, and you can’t afford not to take it.”

Keith says nothing for several moments, apparently thinking. Then, his eyes widen and he straightens.

“...we do have one person that knows both the colony and Zarkon better than anyone.”

The other paladins look confused then their eyes widen with realization as well.

“I think it's time we talked to Lotor. Our Lotor.”

***

“I know this must be hard to hear...but the man you serve is not who you think!” Allura exclaimes.

The alteans reply with angered boos.

“We don’t want to hear your lies!” One woman shouts.

“Traitor!” Says another.

“Please you have you listen to-” Allura tries to get in.

“Keep you mad ramblings to yourself!”

Allura continues to try to reason with the increasingly angry crowd.

“I’m trying to help you quiznak it!” She eventually shouts.

“Help us by shutting up!” bellows an older man.

She grits her teeth with frustration, but does not give up.

“Please! He’s using you for his war! He-”

But she is soon drowned out by the angry cries.

“Oh dear Princess, your foolishness would be comical were it not so pathetic.” A loud voice declares, breaking through the clamor.

The crowd opens a wide berth to reveal Prince Lotor standing behind, with Luca at his side. The former has a gloating expression. The later averts her gaze when Allura looks at her.

“I must say, it was entertaining for the first hour, but it's really gotten quite dull.” Lotor says.

Allura sneers. “I see you finally grew a spine. And here I thought you might be too scared of what I had to say to these people you’ve been manipulating.”

Lotor scoffs. “I was, at worst, concerned for their welfare in the presence of such deceptive ideals. But my people are loyal to their very bones. You cannot break that with a few poorly constructed lies.”

“The only one telling lies here, is you Lotor.” Allura shoots back. “Or would you like to be the one to tell these people that you are an imposter?”

“Quit your slander of Lotor!” One altean hisses.

Lotor chuckles. “Don’t let her provoke you.” He turns to face the crowd. “That goes for everyone. You only empower this woman by listening to her ramblings. Let her serve as an example, nothing more. Please go back to your duties.”

Reluctantly, the alteans mumble agreements and begin to disperse.

Allura watches biting her lip with frustration. Lotor smiles with satisfaction before he too turns to go.

“...I wonder if Zarkon reigns you in the same way you just did with them.”

Lotor freezes.

Allura shakes her head. “No, on second thought, I’m sure he uses a much firmer hand on you.”

Moving like a blur, Lotor whirls around and strikes Allura across the face. Everyone is stunned. Even Luce blinks with shock. There is fury in Lotor’s eyes.

“You will not speak of things you know nothing about.” he says with barely-suppressed rage.

Allura spits. “I don’t know why you continue to follow that vile man, father or not. You could always just kill him like our Lotor did.”

“Do not repeat that lie again!” He shouts.

“Why!?” Allura shouts back. “Are you so afraid of him that you can’t bear the thought of trying!? Or are you just terrified of what life would be like for you without him pulling your every string?”

Lotor pulls his hand back to strike again, unbridled fury on his face. Then, he seems to notice the staring crowd of alteans for the first time. Slowly, he lowers his hand and composes himself.

“...it's not worth it.” He spits out, before marching off.

Luca looks curiously between him and Allura. She shoots an uncertain look at Allura before running after Lotor.

The crowd remains for several more moments before they too, one by one, disperse. Finally, once alone, Allura sighs and slumps against the post.

***

High above it all, in a viewing station, Zarkon stares at a screen from which he watched the exchange.

“How...troubling.” He growls to himself.

***

Lotor, pilot of Sincline born of the main reality, sits alone in his cell. His glowing eyes stare at the blank wall opposite him.

Suddenly, the door pulls open and Keith marches in, with Shiro and the other remaining Paladins. Lotor turns his head, but is otherwise unresponsive.

“I need your help.” Keith says simply.

“Isn’t that funny? Because I don’t need yours.”

Keith narrows his eyes. “We could make things better for you here. Nicer cell, anything you want.”

“Not interested.” Lotor waves a hand. “I’m quite comfortable here.”

“Zarkon has Allura.” Keith tries again.

“How unfortunate.” Lotor replies coldly.

“He’s keeping her captive at the altean colony. Your altean colony. Where he’s also been using them as living weapons.”

“...that too is unfortunate. But do you know what else it is?”

“What?”

“Not my problem.” Lotor turns his gaze back to the wall.

“I thought you said you wanted to help defeat Zarkon.” Keith says through gritted teeth.

“Maybe I don’t care anymore. Or maybe I just like seeing you feel what it's like to have the rug pulled out from under you.”

“Hard way it is, then.” Keith nods.

Lotor is looking up with confusion when Keith grabs him by the collar and shoves him against the back wall. Lance and Hunk move as if to stop him, but Keith waves them off, and they hesitantly step back.

“You will remove your hand from me or I will remove it from your arm.” Lotor hisses.

“No, shut up. I’m going to talk and your going to listen!” Keith barks back.

Lotor is surprised by the outburst, giving Keith all the time he needs.

Zarkon has Allura. I am going to get her back. And right now you are the best chance of making that happen. I don’t like your Lotor. You’re a liar and a killer. But right now, I don’t really care about that, because frankly, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the Princess back. If you don’t cooperate, the only difference that makes to me is that while I’m on the way to bring her back, I’ll make sure to stop and drop you into the nearest black hole. So how about you pick up what’s left of your ego, and stop pretending like you don’t want a chance to kill your dad a second time.”

Lotor stares down at the shorter boy for what seems like an eternity. Then, strangely, he smiles. It's a striking sight, with his new darker features.

“Remove your hand and we’ll talk.”

Keith lets him go and steps back. Lotor sweeps his gaze across the Paladins who all stare daggers at him. Lotor lets out a hollow chuckle.

“Seems you lot have more spine than I thought. Alright. I’ll help. If only to remove Zarkon’s vile hands from my precious colony. But I go free. That’s my price.

Keith hesitates. “...not until this is all over.”

The others look surprised at this but do not speak up.

“Fine. But I at least have to get out of this cell. I might have been lying about it's comfort.”

Keith nods curtly towards the door.

Lotor starts to move but Keith catches him on the arm.

“You make me regret this and I really will drop you down a black hole.”

Lotor sneers in reply. “Threaten me again and see what happens.

Keith glares back but releases him. Lotor strides out of the cell, head held high, as if he owned the place.

“Oh yeah this is a greaaaat idea.” Lance remarks.

Pidge elbows him.

“What?”

Shiro eyes Keith. “You sure about this?”

Keith shakes his head. “Not really, but we’ve made our deal with the devil. Let’s see what he’s bringing on his end.”

***

Keith, the other Paladins, Lotor and their other allies conviene around a table in one of the Garrison’s briefing rooms. Lotor sweeps an unimpressed look across the room’s occupants. His eyes briefly meets Acxa’s but they turn away just as quickly. His gaze soon settles on the faces of the galra warlord commanders.

“Well now, I knew you were in league with the Blade of Marmora, but I did not realize that any real galra military commanders had joined your cause. Skriel I’m most surprised to see you here. Didn’t you want the throne for yourself but couldn’t make it to the Kral Zera?”

Skriel folds his arms and smirks. “Aye! I coulda gotten that throne if it hadn’t been for those pesky arganterian pirates. But that’s in the past now. I’ve the one man in the galaxy I can accept besides myself as leader, and that’s Grand Regent Keith Kogan!”

Lotor’s eyes widen and he turns back to Keith. “Grand Regent? My you’ve gotten far for a half-breed.”

“I don’t have any less galra blood than you.” Keith points out.

“True enough. But mine was royal. Do you really think you can hold onto the throne when your lineage is some earth-man and a turn-coat mother?”

Krollia flinches. Keith looks about to strike Lotor.

“Hey man!” Lance suddenly shouts, surprising both. “How about you shut up before I deck you myself!? Keith’s risking a lot asking you for help, but I’ll be honest, I’ve wanted to punch you since the day we met, so keep talking and why don’t ya see what happens?”

Both stare at Lance, dumbfounded. Keith regains himself first.

“...thank you Lance, but that’s alright. He was only trying to provoke me after all.”

Lotor smiles again, but with less malice in it this time. “So you are capable of seeing subtly after all. Good. Zarkon will provoke you with far more than that, and with much larger stakes at hand.”

“Right. But word of advice. Don’t talk about my mom.”

“As you wish. Now, I assume Zarkon has contacted you? Perhaps leveled some kind of taunt or ultimatum?”

Keith nods to Pidge who taps a key on the table and a hologram appears above. Lotor watches intently as a projection of Zarkon’s message plays.

The message ends, and Lotor closes his eyes.

“...well?” Keith asks.

Lotor opens his eyes. “Bring up everything you have on the colony, and enemy movements around the Quantum Abyss.”

Kolivan steps forward and taps several keys. A holographic projection of the Quantum Abyss appears, with the colony specifically being magnified. Several galra vessels highlighted in red are shown in and around the Abyss.

“This is the best we can get for enemy movements in the area. Intel is limited as Zarkon has taken great efforts to compartmentalize everything. If we had more time we’d be able to get a clearer picture, but…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Lotor shakes his head. “I just needed confirmation.”

“Of what?” Keith asks.

Lotor frowns. “That this Zarkon is the same as my real father, that he thinks the same way. What you have here confirms just as much. I’d know those formations anywhere. It really is him. Now, Is all his military might held here?”

“Many of his forces are spread about to other locations, but the bulk of them seem to be here.” Kolivan reports.

“There is one other location of significance.” Mutava speaks up.

The blades look confused, which causes a smirk to form on Mutava’s lips.

“So you don’t know everything. How nice to hear.” he plugs a device into the table, and a new projection appears. It is of the teleduv, in space with several larger rings build around its circumference, and one smaller ring within it's center. Construction on the massive rings continue. Dozens of galra ships and silver robeast surround it.

“The teleduv…” Kolvian muses. “We haven’t been able to get any information on it since the attack on the station. Haggar, or Honerva rather, cleaned house after the incident. How did you get this?”

“I have my sources.” Mutava shrugs. “You may work hard to insert spies in key positions, but I prefer to pay off the average engineer or workman. So much easier. Anyway, it seems that they conversely moved the teleduv after our little attack and have concentrated many of their robeasts there for protection. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to their intentions with the device.”

“I might have something later.” Pidge speaks up. “Those files we stole from the station should be done decrypting soon.”

“This is...concerning.” Lotor notes. “It always is when you don’t know what Zarkon is up to. But ultimately, this is irrelevant. For now our goal is retrieving All...The Princess. Anything else is a distraction.”

“Agreed.” Keith nods. “So, how do get past Zarkon and his forces?”

“Not easily. My father could be a fool at times, but he knew battle strategy better than almost anyone.” Lotor allows the barest hint of a smirk, which ends up looking more like a sneer. “But there’s no one in the universe who knows my father’s tactics better than me.”

“Can you outsmart him?”

“Possibly. The Princess makes this...difficult. As long as he has her he will be able to manipulate you and force your hand into meeting him in battle. That is where he is strongest.”

“What about his weaknesses?”

“His arrogance. And his pride. He could have threatened to kill the Princess. It might not have worked, but he’d have lost nothing. But wants to beat you in battle. Show that he’s the strongest person in the universe. He needs to show the universe that, lest he shows even the slightest bit of weakness. But at the same time, it won't be so simple to get him to appear in person. Pride works both ways. He won't fight himself if he thinks the battle is above him. That’s what minions are for.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“Ideally you would infiltrate the colony and snatch the Princess from under his nose. But that’s a great deal easier said than done. And he’ll be expecting you to do that.”

“We got in easy enough.” Keith nods to his mother.

Lotor scoffs. “That was when I controlled the colony. I had limited resources and Its primary purpose was to keep people in, not out. The Quantum Abyss was supposed to be barrier enough for any outsiders. Apparently, that proved false. But this is far different. Zarkon will have countless ships guarding any approach vectors. That’s not to mention any upgrades on the dome’s security that he’s certainly made. Even if we somehow make it past all of that, I’m sure he’ll have at least a couple of traps inside the colony itself.”

“Again, I’m not hearing a plan.”

“Well I don’t exactly have much to work with here. Meeting Zarkon in force is suicide, but subterfuge is nearly as risky...” Lotor hesitates for a moment. “...there is one possible way…”

“Go on.” Keith urges.

“It's...something I set up should something similar happen. A backdoor, if you will. A hidden transport tunnel connecting the colony to the far side of the planet. It was well concealed, so I doubt Zarkon has found it. With a good enough distraction, we might be able to slip a small team onto the planet, and circumvent all the dome’s security.”

“What kind of distraction?”

“Remember when I said my father wants to beat you in battle?”

“Yeah…”

“Well the one thing that might entice him to fight is all of you to bring an all out attack in your Lions, and whatever else you have. With him occupied, the planetary defenses might be thin enough to slip through.”

“Yeah let’s just ignore the part where Zarkon can form Voltron and we can’t.” Pidge says.

“With the Atlas and the Lions we might be able to hold out long enough.” Shiro points out.

“Alright.” Keith muses. “For the sake of argument, let’s pretend we do all that and meet Zarkon head on. THen we’d need to send in say...the Blades to do the infiltration and get Allura out. It's definitely risky but I suppose-”

“There...is a catch.” Lotor cuts in.

Keith sighes, but motions for him to continue.

“The tunnel will only open in response to my biometrics.”

“In other words…”

“I have to be on the mission.” Lotor said flatly.

“No.” Keith says firmly.

“It's the only way.” Lotor replies matter of factly.

“After everything you’ve done, you think I’d trust you with that? Trust you with bringing back her!?”

“Keith,” Krollia steps in. “It's not as if we’re forced to sent him alone. We can keep him in line.”

“I don’t like it.” Keith shakes his head. “Even with Blades there, he could pull something. He knows that place better than anyone, how do we know this isn’t a trap of his own?”

“Do as you wish.” Lotor replies coldly. “I’m only telling you what I think is your best chance at retrieving the Princess. If you don’t like that, then maybe you can try your hand at fighting Zarkon without my help.”

The two stare each other down for several long, uncomfortable moments.

“...I need some air.” Keith finally says, before walking out of the room.

***

Allura remains chained to the post, now looking weary. It is now night at the altean colony, and besides Allura, there is not a soul in sight.

She looks up at the synthetic moon of dome, and sighs.

“Father what would you do?”

An image of Raimon flashes in her mind.

Allura cringes and shakes her head.

“Must Zarkon ruin every good thing in this universe?”

She sighs and leans back against the post. She closes her eyes, as if to rest.

“...psst! Hey lady!” Someone whisper yells.

Allura’s eyes shoot wide open. She scans her immediate surroundings, seeing nothing in the darkness.

“Down here!” The voice goes on.

Allura looks down to see a young boy standing right next to her. He has a curious expression on his face.

“...hello.” Allura says, with confused optimism.

“Hi.” The boy waves nonchalantly. “So you’re supposed to be the bad guy, huh?”

Allura winces. “Is that what Lotor says?”

“Yeah.”

“And what do you think? Do I seem like a ‘bad guy’?”

“Lotor says bad guys can look nice.”

She sighs. “In that, I have to agree with him.”

The boy doesn’t reply, choosing to instead stare up at Allura.

“So...if I really am the bad guy, why would a nice boy like you be hanging around me? I could be dangerous.”

The boy merely shrugs. “Did you really mean what you said about Lotor? The part about him not being the same Lotor?”

“I did.” Allura says without hesitation. “...why? Do you think I’m right?”

Again the boy shrugs. He does a double take before leaning in to speak the next. “He...seems kind of different from before.”

“Different how?”

“He doesn’t remember anybody’s names. Lotor used to know all of us. He also kinda acts more...I dunno, careful? Like he’s scared of something’. Old Lotor was never scared of nothin. And that’s not even mentioning his scary parents. Especially that Zarkon guy…”

The boy shivers. “And I know I’m not the only one that’s noticed it. The other kids agree with me. And when my parents don’t think anyone’s listening they talk about it too sometimes. They still worship and serve Lotor and everything, but they seem a little confused.”

“They should be confused.” Allura nods. “They’re being used by a very bad man. He looks like the Lotor you’ve known, but he is not him. He’s taking advantage of your trust and worship and using it for his own evil means.”

“Why would he do that?” The boy asks curious.

Allura gives a pained smile. “Because we alteans are capable of great things. We have so many gifts, but unfortunately there will always be people like him who want to exploit us...” Again, Raimon, Alfor’s face flashes in her mind.

The boy looks down, uncomfortable. “My mom says that we used to have a whole planet to ourselves. That people used to look up to us. But we almost all got wiped out, and now this is all we got. And if it weren’t for Lotor we wouldn’t have even that.”

Allura nods carefully. “Yes I...suppose that much is true.”

The boy’s expression grows sad. “So, if we used to be so awesome, how come we’re like this now? All bunched up here, scared an’ hiding. At least the ones Lotor picks get to see what it's like outside. The rest of us just gotta sit and wait. If Lotor’s really been replaced with a bad guy, then what can we do? Seems like all we’ve done for a long time is get pushed around.”

Allura’s eyes grow hard with determination. “What you do is stand up on your own two feet. Show them that we’re more than their pawns. All it takes to prove bad men wrong is to show them that we’re still willing to fight to do the right thing. That’s...something my father used to say.” She frowns, but slowly it grows back into a smile. “We’re a proud and noble people with a great history. How about acting like it?”

This makes the boy smile. “Ya know...you’re pretty nice for a bad guy.”

At that Allura chuckles. “I try.” She grows serious. “But be careful about talking about this. I don’t know what Lotor will do if he finds out, but certainly nothing good. Having courage doesn’t mean being careless.”

The boy nods quickly, face concerned.

“Man this is all so...scary. I just wish the old Lotor would come back. I bet he’d beat up all these bad guys.”

Allura is quiet. She opens her mouth, then closes it again. The boy looks up at her, confused. Staring down at him, Allura sighs and shakes her head.

“It's nothing. Just be careful, as I said.”

The boy nods again.

Allura tilts her head in curiosity. “By the way, what’s your name?”

The boy grins. “I’m Ayden!”

“Nice to meet you Ayden. My name is Allura. I’d shake your hand but…” She shakes the chain.

Ayden chuckles.

“Ayden!” A distant voice calls. “Where are you!?”

Ayden flinches, and gets a guilty expression. “That’s my mom. Looks like she figured out I’m not in bed.”

“Well then, you better get home and back in bed, before she finds out where you’ve really been.”

The boy nods and starts running. “Night Allura!” He calls back.

“Goodnight Ayden.” She smiles back.

The boy disappears, leaving Allura alone again.

This time, when she stares back up at the artificial moon, she is smiling.

***

Keith steps out into the night air, expression sour. He strides out onto the dirt ground, kicking up dust in his wake. He finds a decent-sized rock and plops down. He glances up at the night sky but his gaze quickly turns down to the dirt.

Shortly there is the pitter-patter of feet behind. Keith stiffens and turns around. He relaxes when he sees that it’s Kosmo approaching.

“Hey boy.” Keith smiles as the wolf walks over to sit beside him. “Sorry I haven’t had much time for you lately, buddy.”

The wolf barks in agreement. Keith shakes his head, and starts scratching Kosmo on the top of his head. The wolf lays down and it's tail begins to wag as Keith continues his scratching.

“We’re gonna be going back to the Quantum Abyss soon.” Keith explains. “I bet it’ll be nice to be home huh?”

The wolf predictably, does not reply.

“Then again maybe not. Was kind of a crazy place to try and survive in wasn’t it?”

Kosmo barks, and Keith cracks a smile. He shakes his head and looks up at the night sky.

“...quiznak. How did I get us in this mess. I could really use Allura’s advice right now. Isn’t that ironic?”

“Well, I’m no altean Princess…” Comes Shiro’s voice. “...but I’ve been known to give advice from time to time.”

Keith turns to see his mentor approach.

“This seat taken?”

Keith shakes his head, and scoots over. Shiro sits and the two are quiet for a moment. The only sound is Keith scratching Kosmo’s head.

“...be honest with me Shiro, am I screwing everything up?” Keith finally asks.

Shiro studies him. “Do you think you’re screwing everything up?”

“I made a really bad call agreeing to go meet those alteans. Then I couldn’t stop Allura from getting captured. And now, the best plan I can come up with is to trust in the guy who tried to kill us less than a year ago. I’m trying to keep my hold on the situation, but it feels like everything’s spinning out of control.”

Shiro scratches his chin. “Well you asked me be honest, so I won't tell you that everything’s turning up roses. We’re in a rough spot, that’s for sure.” “You can say that again.” Keith agrees. “Trusting Lotor...I’m just terrified that this is going to be one more bad call. One more screw up.”

“Well Keith, it's not like you’re the only one in there. Kolivan, you mother, the other blades. If you can’t trust Lotor, you can at least trust them to handle him if anything goes wrong. You’re the leader of the team, so yeah a lot of the responsibility falls on you. But part of that is knowing when to trust the people under you with a task. You might be the head, but the rest of the body’s there for a reason.”

Keith sighs. “You’re right, as usual. I guess we just gotta hope Lotor isn’t completely making all this up.”

“Worst case scenario, we just improvise.”

“Yeah, that never goes wrong.” Keith smirks, shaking his head.

They grow quiet again, as Keith begins staring at the stars again.

“You’re getting better at it.” Shiro says with a smile.

“At what?”

“At showing how terrified you are.”

Keith stiffens.

“Relax, it's normal. Every leader is scared that they’re doing the wrong thing and making a bad call. The key is not showing it, and you’re doing alright.”

“You still saw through me.” Keith replies scratching the back of his neck.

“I’ve got a bit of a knack for spotting stuff like that.” Shiro shrugs. “...so you’re really worried about her, huh?”

Keith hesitates, then nods his head. “...yeah. I know she’s probably fine and knowing her, already working on her own escape plan by now. But...it still sucks. Not knowing, I mean.”

Shiro pauses. “...yeah. It does suck.”

Keith laughs. “Really? No words of wisdom or guidance for that one?”

“Nah. Some things just suck. But that’s life. We’ll get past it.”

Keith nods with determination. “Yeah we will.”

Kosmo barks in apparent agreement.

Shiro looks down at the wolf and chuckles. “Sure would be nice if you could just use Kosmo to jump in, grab Allura, and jump out.”

“Yeah it would, ” Keith smiles. “But even he has limits.”

“Oh yeah?”

Keith nods. “Usually he needs line of sight, or has to have been there before. Limited distance too.”

“Ah well. Never is that easy, is it?”

“Nope.”

Keith gives the wolf one last scratch and stands up.

“Well…I’ve wasted enough time out here.”

Shiro gets up and they both start walking back to the Garrison Base.

After a moment, Keith smiles and shakes his head. “You know Shiro, I have no idea what I’d do without you.”

Shiro frowns. “You’d get by.”

“You kidding? I’d be completely lost.”

“Well you’d better figure it out.” Shiro’s frown deepens. “I may not always be here to give you advice...”

“Hey, quit talking like that.” Keith says serious. “And that’s an order.”

After a moment Shiro shrugs. “Yes sir.”

“Now let’s go in there and pretend this plan isn’t as crazy as it really is. Because...that’s what leaders do?”

Shiro smiles widely. “Now you’re getting it.”

***

Morning rises in the altean colony. Alteans begin to rise and go about their daily tasks. Allura still receives many dirty looks, but none try to engage her this time. The sun continues to rise and as it does Allura begins to pant. Her breaths start to grow ragged.

That is until a short while later, when an elderly woman approaches her. The woman walks with a slow gait, age wearing heavy on her. She carries a basket in her hands. Strangely, she looks on Allura with a more curious than hateful expression.

“Well...I’m not impressed.”

“...s-sorry?” Allura stutters, coughing.

“The way everyone talks about you, I figure you ought to have horns, scales and be able to breathe fire. Instead, I see a young girl strung up and left out to dry.”

Allura blinks with surprise.

“You haven’t had anything to eat or drink have you?” The woman goes on.

“No…” Allura replies, uncertain.

The woman shakes her head and reaches into the basket. She pulls out a glass bottle of water which she opens holds up to Alllura’s lips.

“Come on now, drink slowly.”

Allura draws from bottle, taking slow but long gulps. The woman pulls the bottle away, empty.

“...thank you.” Allura says genuinely.

The old woman shrugs. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Allura.”

“Well Allura, I’m Sahan.”

“Nice to meet you, Sahan.”

Sahan studies Allura, tapping her chin.

“So, Allura. How does a nice young girl like yourself end up here, tied to a post?”

“Why don’t you ask Lotor?”

“Because i’m asking you.” Sahan frowns. “Now don’t make me ask again, I may be old but I still know how to discipline an unruly child.”

Allura smirks at that, which Sahan doesn’t seem to like.

“I’m here because I was trying to help some alteans that I thought wanted to be free of Lotor. It turned out to be a trap and I was imprisoned here.”

“And why would you think someone would want to escape from here?”

“Because believe it or not, Lotor isn’t who you think he is. He’s an imposter who’s manipulating your affections so he can use you as pawns in his father’s war.”

Sahan studies her for a long moment. “...are you a loon?”

“I’m not crazy, fi that’s what you’re asking.”

The old woman chuckles. “Well you must think I’m one then, if you expect me to be able to swallow that story.”

“Oh? And you haven’t noticed anything strange about Lotor, since his return? Forgotten names? Unusual behavior? Bringing strangers into the colony? Fighting alongside the Galra Empire, the institution which displaced you all in the first place?”

Sahan says nothing, opting to pilfer through her basket instead.

“Let’s...pretend I think your words hold some weight. I didn’t say they do, but let’s...pretend. Who would that make you then? You’re altean, that’s for sure. But I’ve lived here as long as anyone, and I don’t recognize you. Where are you from? Are there other surviving alteans on the outside?”

“I’ll answer your last question first: Not really. To my knowledge only myself and one other survived, besides those from this colony. As for who I really am…” Allura straightens. “I am the last of the royal altean line. Daughter of King Alfor, I am Princess Allura. And whether you believe it or not, I am here to help my people.”

“Princess, huh?” Sahan says skeptically.

“Ask Lotor yourself, if you do not believe me. I think he will admit to that much, though I’m certain he will call me a coward and a traitor to my people with the same breath.”

“Well if you really are the Princess then-”

“Sahan!? What are you doing over there? Don’t listen to that viper!” An older man calls over.

“Oh stuff it down your gullet, Merv! I can talk to whoever I please!”

The old man reddened at that, but Sahan paid him no heed and turned back to Allura.

“So girl, if you’re the Princess, then where have you been all these years?”

“My father, King Alfor sent my advice Coran and I away to protect the Castle of Lions and the secrets of Voltron from Zarkon. We slept for many millennia in stasis, until new Paladins arrived to help us begin to fight back against the Galra Empire.”

Merv, maintaining a foul expression, slowly walks over to the pair. He stops dozen feet or so back, and continued to look on disapprovingly, but said nothing more.

“So if that really is true then...you used to live on old Altea?” Sahan asks carefully.

Allura smiles and nods. “It was the most beautiful planet in the universe…”

As she continues to talk, more curious alteans approach. If questioned, Sahan always gives a curt reply and asks Allura to continue. However, as the number of alteans grows, the more they simply listen. She smiles and winks when she sees Ayden in the crowd. He returns the expression.

“...and if the wind hit them in the right way, it sounded like those whispering trees were singing.”

The alteans are glued to Allura’s every word on the subject of Altea.

Sahan smiles wistfully. “My...grandmother told me about those. She used to tell me lots of stories of how grand old altea was.”

“It certainly was…” Allura remarks, equally wistful.

The two are silent for a moment. Then, Sahan seems to notice the crowd around them for the first time. She sweeps her gaze across them, and nods seeming satisfied by the number.

“Allura,” She says, growing serious, “there's something I’m going to ask you, and by stars you better answer me truthfully.”

“Alright.” Allura nods for her to continue.

Sahan takes a breath. “...many of our youths have gone to fight alongside Lotor in those monstrous contraptions. Many have not come back. Did you kill any of them?”

Allura’s eyes blaze. “You have been lied to. Those altean pilots are alive.”

The is a series of gasps and mumbles. Sahan puts up a hand silencing them. She studies Allura, as if searching for any sign of deception.

“...can you prove this?”

Allura frowns with uncertainty. However after a moment her eyes widen.

“I believe I can! If those alteans died in battle, there’s no way I would know any of their names, would there?”

“...perhaps.”

Allura draws in a breath. “Dramor, Lagmor, Gratva…”

As she rattles off names, many from the crowd let out sounds of shock and joy.

“...Vatta.” Allura finishes.

Sahan’s eyes widen but she otherwise remains guarded.

“I’m going to need a little more than that.”

Allura thinks for a moment. “Well Gratva is a stubborn older fellow…”

“That he is.” Sahan nods. “What about Vatta?”

She considers. “...perhaps it was my imagination but there seemed to be something between her and that Dramor boy-”

“That’s her. For reasons I’ll never fathom she loves that fool-boy.”

Sahan lets out a sigh of relief and smiles warmly. “Thank you.”

Allura nods in reply.

“So you believe me then?”

“About them being alive? Yes. I said nothing about the rest of it.”

“And yet, this means that Lotor lied to you.”

“Or he was mistaken.”

Allura sighs longsufferingly. “I understand your hesitation but-”

“All of you are to return to your duties!” A voice bellows through the crowd. Luca walks through the crowd of alteans. They collectively look down as if in guilt. Except for Sahan, of course. Luca strides up to stare Allura in the face.

“You are not to speak to them.”

“Or what?” Allura replies.

“There will be consequences.” She turns back to the alteans. “Leave now. Lotor’s orders. This woman’s propaganda is clearly affecting you all. Return to your duties.”

The alteans quickly disperse, with only a handful hesitating.

“Thank you, Allura.” Sahan says quickly. “For telling me that my granddaughter still lives.”

“And thank you for listening.”

Sahan smiles. “Well after a certain young man vouched for you, I had to find out for myself.”

Allura looks over at Ayden and nods in appreciation.

“You will return to your duties.” Luca repeats.

“Luca I remember when you were in diapers don’t you talk down to me.”

Luca hesitates but ultimately remains her stance. Sahan gives Allura one last nod, before turning to walk away, with the remaining alteans in tow. Luce turns as well but stops, shooting a curious look over her shoulder.

“You can’t really think we’ll turn on Lotor.”

Allura shrugs. Luca scoff and looks as if to leave, but hesitates once more. When she speaks next it seems to be with a great deal of effort.

“...why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you save me? When the trap was sprung, you threw me out of the way.”

“It...was the right thing to do.”

“I betrayed you, I’m your enemy!” Luca hisses. “That makes no sense!”

“That’s not the way I see it.” Allura says simply.

Luca stares at her, shifting from foot to foot. Then, throwing up her hands in frustration, she stomps off, leaving a smirking Allura behind.

***

When Keith and Shiro return to the briefing room, they are surprised to find a commotion among the room’s occupants. It seemed to somewhere between argument and discussion.

“What’s going on?” Keith asks, and all eyes turn to him. Then, they shift over to Pidge, who adjusts her glasses nervously.

“That data that we stole just finished decrypting. I’ve been spending the past few minutes going over it and trying to interpret what it all means…”

“And?”

Pidge sucks in a deep breath, and forces herself to look Keith in the eye. “I know what happened to the Dark Paladin’s reality. I know why they came here.”

“Go on.” Keith says, uneasy.

“It's all detailed here in Honerva’s notes.” Pidge brings up an image of Voltron, with several energy readouts beside it. “Zarkon a machine unlike any other and what could be done with it is almost unfathomable to any sane person. Unfortunately Honerva and Zarkon aren’t sane. They thought that Voltron could serve as a conduit for all the universe’s supply of quintessence.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means that they were going to open the floodgates of the quintessence field, with Voltron as the focal point. They were going to try and energize Voltron completely with all the quintessence in their universe.”

“Like what Lotor did with Scincline?”

“No.” Lotor shakes his head. “What I did only soaked up a tiny portion of that sea of energy. Zarkon was trying to draw in the whole space-damned ocean.”

“But isn’t that...infinite?”

“Pretty much.” Pidge nods. “The amount of energy that would be funnelled into Voltron would effectively be endless. If Zarkon were to be inside Voltron when that happened assuming he survived...well he’d basically become all powerful. All the universe’s energy at his disposal. The notes say that Zarkon wanted to reshape the universe to his will, to make a reality where no one could ever resist his rule again.”

There is a collective shiver among the rooms inhabitants.

“Well...what happened?” Keith finally ask.

“Their calculations were wrong.” Pidge explains. “Nothing, not even Voltron could accept all of that energy at once. Voltron survived but the strain that trying to funnel all of that energy put on the fabric of space-time was unbearable. It actually frayed the fabric of their entire universe. They didn’t have much time after that. They used all the energy they were able to draw in to bore a hole into our reality, and the rest of it is history. The Darktron reality is just...dead. Torn to pieces.”

The room grows silent. Keith swallows hard, and forces himself to ask the question on everyone’s mind.

“...do you know what they’re going to do next.”

Pidge looks sick. “Some of the notes were more recent. The reports there indicate that...they’re going to try again. ”

“They...they’d really risk destroying a second universe? After what happened the first time?”

“Yes, but they have a resource they didn’t have before: the alteans. They have a unique relationship with quintessence and the colony was pretty much a gold-mine for them. Honerva plans open another breach to the quintessence field with the modified teleduv, and then use alteans in robeasts to filter the flow of quintessence, before in turn passing it off to their Voltron. With enough of the alteans she thinks she manage the massive flow of quintessence this time.”

“Is she right?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. The amount of math here...I could spend years going through it all.”

“So in other words, we have two nightmare scenarios. We just don’t know which one is most likely.”

“That’s pretty much it.”

Keith closes his eyes and sighs. When he opens his eyes, they are hard as stone.

“Then I don’t think I need to tell anyone in this room that failure is not an option. We will not let this happen to our reality. We’re going to stop Zarkon, and that starts with getting Allura back. We’re gonna need her to form Voltron and kick Zarkon and his cronies back down the hole they crawled into our reality from.”

He turns to Lotor. “We’ll do it your way. What do you need?”

“A ship. Fast one, with stealth.”

“Done.”

“And, whether I like it or not, I suspect I’ll have some company.” Lotor’s eyes flicker over to the blades, Acxa in particular.

“That’s right.”

“Then the only other thing I need is form you, is to distract Zarkon.”

“I think we can manage that.” Keith nods, he sweeps his gaze across the allied leaders of the Coalition. “Any question.”

There are none.

“Good.” His eyes narrow. “Let’s go get our Princess back.”

#voltron #season 8 #allura #keith #kallura #lotor #voltron legendary defender #rewrite #fix it fic #keith x allura #plance #shiro

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