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czqy · 7 years

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going home (prologue)

very loosely based off the prompt “my country’s going through some issues so i’m here in hiding and you’re a civilian who lives in the same apartment complex as me” which I got at the same time as my previous multichaptered fic so. this has been a long time coming.

Keith, prince of the Galra Empire, has been sent to Earth for his safety, where he will attend the Galaxy Garrison. Initially, all he wants is to just get through school and go back home as soon as he can. This proves to be difficult and his plans soon change, throwing him into a position he never could’ve imagined.

* this is the only time I’ll be posting a chapter in full, after this I’ll only be providing links.

prologue | chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

AO3 | FF.net

“You can’t just send me away!”

“Keith, honey, please. You—”

“No! I am the Galran prince! How can I still be the prince if I’m on another planet? This is my home!” Keith stood up, clenched his hands into fists and glared at his mother.

She sighed, sat down on Keith’s bed, and patted the spot beside her. “Sit.” After a moment of silence Keith relented and sat down. “Do you think I want you to go? I know it’s hard to comprehend, but it’s also for your safety. Hey, don’t scoff at me. When General Zarkon first told me of this I was furious too, and I told him this was the safest place for any Galra to be. But you know how it is, he’s in charge, and whatever he says goes. It might not be so bad, I hear you can learn how to fly at the Galaxy Garrison, isn’t that what you’ve always wanted to do?”

Keith nodded, but kept his head down. When his mum pulled him into a hug, he buried his head into her shoulder.

“How long will I be gone?”

“I don’t know sweetie, but it won’t be forever. Cheer up, okay? We still have some time to go.”

The next day, Zarkon made a public announcement. It was done in front of a massive crowd, as well as broadcast across the whole of the Galra Empire so Keith had to be dressed suitably. His royal attire was reserved for formal events, so he only got to wear it a few times every year. It was a very impressive outfit, briefly based off the armour of the highest ranking officers in their army. The biggest difference was in the colours, he had mostly brilliant dark purples and deep maroons to represent his status. While the chest emblem for some officers and soldiers glowed a purple colour, and while some didn’t glow at all, his had a bright yellow candescence. His royal cape was also a maroon colour, but with a navy blue underlining. Keith did enjoy wearing the outfit, even though it usually meant he had to attend long and boring events.

Keith sat with his mother and watched Zarkon tell the crowd in front of them how “Crown Prince Keithen will be sent to Earth for his safety, so that he can return after the war to a new era of peace and prosperity, and oversee our empire without any interruptions”. Keith felt incredibly unamused and probably would’ve shown that fact were it not for his mother glaring at him every few doboshes. When the speech was over, a ceremony was held where Keith had to endure countless members of the Galra Empire approaching him and wishing him a safe trip, while also assuring him they will continue to dedicate their lives to the empire while he was gone. Keith shook every single one of their hands and thanked them for their devotion in response, no matter whether he actually meant it or not. By the end of the whole thing, he just wanted to go back to his room and stay there until the day he had to leave.

Fortunately, it quietened down within the next few days. Business resumed as usual and Keith spent most of his days either training, practising the universal language used on Earth, or reading up on Earthly customs. He had also visited the druids to receive his supply of Quintessence.

Quintessence was basically the reason as to why the war started, and it was so important that even as royalty Keith could not gain access to it. Needless to say, he was quite excited to have some in his possession.

“Now, Your Highness, this isn’t something to be fooled around with, do you understand?”

Keith nodded, saw that the druids were waiting for a verbal response and grunted out a “yes I understand”. He then held out his arm so he could be shown how to use it.

“Apply a few drops onto a section of your body, and then rub it in with a circular motion. When there is no visible yellow left, you should start to feel your body surge with an unfamiliar energy. It may feel intrusive at first, but you’ll become accustomed to it. Then, and I trust that you’ve been practising, you need to shapeshift into a human. You should find it a lot easier than usual, Quintessence amplifies your abilities. Try it now.”

Because a druid had applied Quintessence while explaining how it worked, Keith could already feel a tingling sensation course through his body. He then took a deep breath in and imagined the arm of a human, how different their skin colour was and how they had furless arms. He tried focusing the energy into that section of his arm and watched as it slowly transformed into something resembling the image in his mind.

The druids nodded and commended him. Still amazed, Keith kept his eyes on his now-human arm and asked why he’s taking what he thought was so little Quintessence with him. After all, no one knew how long he would be gone.

“Quintessence goes a long way, Your Highness; so long as you do not actively try to shift back into your natural form and maintain a basic focus on holding your shift, one application can last up to a few days. Be sure to only apply the bare minimum required though, because while you do not need to use a lot at once, you still do have a limited supply. Rest assured, however, that we will find a way to provide you with more should you run out.”

Keith headed back to his room with his bag of Quintessence and decided to keep his human arm for now. The sight was unusual for him, even though he had seen countless images of humans while honing his skill. It was different seeing something on a picture or through a video and seeing it on yourself. He wondered what he would look like fully as a human, and whether he would fit in without any trouble.

The night before Keith left he decided to go to the observatory deck and look at the stars. Strangely, he hadn’t really gone anywhere since he learnt he would be going to Earth. It felt like desertion, so he had barely even left the castle. The deck was different though, it was open to all inhabitants of the castle, but Keith found that no one went there as much as he did and it became his special place. He first stumbled upon it as a child, playing hide-and-seek with one of the servants. He was trying to find the servant and ran into the room which had massive glass panes all around and an entire view of the city. He never found the servant that round, but he decided discovering this room was worth losing all the hide-and-seek games in the world. On the left he could see the castle gardens, as well as many of the residential buildings that had purple-red lights at night. Facing forward he had the widest outlook of the city, and from the highest point. As a child, he enjoyed standing there and pretending he was emperor, looking down and watching over his empire and people. The right side was his favourite, there was no infrastructure and it had the clearest view of the night sky. Even as the years went by, when buildings changed and the whole city became more military-like the right side remained untouched, and the view was as clear as ever.

Tonight it was still empty as usual, and Keith was appreciative for the solitude. This time, unlike many previous times, he made sure to take in every view, and with as much detail as he could. He wanted to have a clear image of his home in mind while he was gone. As he stood over the city, he reminisced what it was like just ten years ago, how the empire had seemed then. Right then and there, he vowed to make sure it would return to that state when he ruled.

Moving to the right side, Keith was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotions. Over the past week or so he hadn’t properly given his situation any thought, choosing to bury it under work and training. Now that he was alone and looking at the vast sky all those feelings seemed to bubble over. He felt anger towards Zarkon for sending him away from his home, sadness for being forced to leave the only place he’s ever known, and just… defeated. He did not want to leave his home, or his people, and especially not his mum. It felt like abandonment and the last thing he wanted was to feel as if he had not properly fulfilled his role.

Wiping away a few stray tears, Keith told himself that there was nothing he could do besides make the best out of his circumstances. He would go to Earth, do whatever he had to do there, then come back home and start taking back the empire. He also decided to commit as many stars and constellations as he could see into memory, because even though the planets may be different some of the stars were bound to be the same. He would still be under the same sky no matter how far away he was.

The day Keith left for Earth was an uneventful one, much to Keith’s relief. He packed in the morning, including the bag of Quintessence and some human clothes the druids supplied, then went about his day as he usually would. Only towards night were things different from usual. After dinner with his mother, they walked to the hangars together, where they found General Zarkon and a few druids waiting.

“Prince Keithen, the coordinates for your pod have been set for Earth, and you should expect to arrive at the Galaxy Garrison within a few varga. When you do, the pod will automatically set a course to return here. I wish you the very best for your journey and stay. Please excuse myself for the abruptness but I must take leave as there is urgent business to attend to.” General Zarkon bowed, and swiftly walked off with the druids following. Keith was quite surprised he showed up to send him off, but was not amazed that he left as soon as he could. Once they were out of eyeshot, Keith turned to his mum.

“So, I—”

“Don’t be too upset when you’re on Earth okay? Try to make some friends, or at least be friendly, I don’t want you to be alone the whole time. Make sure you take care of yourself too, exercise, and the food may taste weird but please remember to eat, I cannot stand the thought of not knowing whether you are being healthy or not.” Keith’s mother suddenly could not stop talking and Keith was unsure whether to stay silent or cut her off.

“Mum! I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Okay. One last thing. Two last things. Can you show me what you look like as a human? We can check that you’ll be able to shapeshift back as well.” It was an odd request and Keith wanted to ask questions but it was his mother, and it was also the last time he was going to see her for who knows how long so he agreed wordlessly.

Keith took out a vial of Quintessence, applied a few drops to exposed areas—his head, neck, hands—and rubbed it in. This time he was thrown off balance as it took effect. His vision blurred, and it felt like he was being pricked by needles. Still, he forced himself to focus and shift. It took a little longer than he remembered, possibly due to the larger scale, but he still did it. When he was done, he lifted his head and saw that his mum was close to tears.

Immediately he surged forward and pulled her into a hug. “I’ll be okay. Please don’t cry, and don’t worry about me, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Do you remember that sheet I gave you during dinner? It’s of a bunch of stars and constellations I found, so that way if you’re missing me you can go to the observatory deck and watch them. I’ll be doing it on Earth too, so, really, it won’t be so bad.”

They pulled apart and Keith’s mum ruffled his hair. “No, I’m fine, it was just that… You look good like this, honey. And the stars idea is brilliant too, I’ll be sure to do that. Now let’s see you transform back, shall we?”

Last time Keith had just let the Quintessence wear off, so he didn’t know what it’d be like to shift back before it could happen, nor how much effort it would take. He decided to drop his focus first, and saw that immediately a portion of him returned to Galra form. When he then pictured his appearance, all his natural features came back. It barely took any time, and was a lot easier than transforming into a human. Keith’s mum watched him, looking proud.

“Here is the last thing I need to give to you, and then it’ll be time to leave.” She pulled out something from inside her robe and handed it over to Keith. He took it and saw that it was completely wrapped up, but had the shape of a dagger. He then recognised it as his mother’s personal blade.

“Why are you giving this to me? It’s yours.”

“It wouldn’t be fair if I had a way to remember my son and he had no way to remember me, would it?” She smiled and hugged him once more.

This time, they pulled apart because they heard footsteps approaching. It was odd, since Keith’s pod was the only one scheduled to leave the hangar, and no others were supposed to be entering. They both immediately turned their heads to the direction where the sound was coming from and saw two suited creatures being escorted, as well as another being dragged along the floor.

The warmth shown to Keith by his mother was suddenly replaced with a cold demeanour. When she turned back to Keith, however, her eyes softened.

“I better go check this out. Stay safe, okay? I love you always, and I’ll see you soon.” With that, and with a kiss on the forehead, Keith’s mother strode off, in a way only an Empress could. A part of Keith was glad he would be getting away from royal affairs and being part of a war, but he knew that was a selfish notion, and felt guilty for thinking it.

Keith made sure his bags were all set and loaded before climbing into the pod and turning it on. He felt the same exhilarating rush he always did when a pod blasted off but it didn’t last long. The fact he was not going to be home for a long time sunk in, and he felt overcome with dread. He turned his head around as far as he could to watch his planet grow smaller and smaller, before setting his sights forward on what was to come.

#klance #keith #klance fanfic #klance fanfiction #vld keith #voltron legendary defender #wowclunawrites

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thatgirlonstage · 7 years

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I am being wildly fucking irresponsible because I am jet-lagged and I have classes tomorrow and I should definitely be asleep two hours ago but I said I would post this chapter before the end of the week if it killed me and GODDAMMIT I MEANT IT. Take this away from me, please.

Summary: Lance wakes up in a hospital on Earth to discover he has been missing for four months, with no memory of Voltron or the Galra. Drawn inexplicably to the desert where they found him, he discovers a hut full of research and notes that may provide the key to his missing memories. With secrets and conspiracies surrounding him, and the Garrison potentially hiding far more than he could ever have imagined, Lance grows to trust the notes in the desert - but he may not believe the person who claims he wrote them.

Chapter Seven:

Lance felt light-headed. He was acutely, painfully hyperaware of everything he could feel, like his sense of touch had been dialed to eleven. The floor pressed hard and unforgiving through his shoes, his cotton shirt rubbed softly against his skin, and cool air kissed his wrists where his jacket sleeves ended. His pulse pounded harshly against his neck and his lungs felt tight. Every instinct he had screamed RUN RUN RUN. He trembled. Captain Seitz closed the door behind her.

“Don’t panic, Mr. Sanchez,” she ordered. Lance didn’t dare take his eyes off Lotor long enough to look at her. “Prince Lotor will not hurt you. He is an alien, a species named Galra. He is here working with the Garrison to establish Earth’s first contact with alien species throughout the universe.”

“You have a lovely planet,” Lotor said politely. Lance felt a chill creep down his spine at the way Lotor’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “An extraordinary amount of water.” Lance struggled to find his voice. It so rarely deserted him that the struggle itself sent another spike of panic through his chest. Finally, with a squeak and a crack, he managed to stutter out:

“You’re— you’re… an alien.” Lotor looked amused.

“Indeed,” he said. Lance sucked in massive breaths, trying to slow his racing heart.

“Okay. I’m talking to an alien. Okay. But why…” He trailed off as the realization hit him. A hysterical laugh bubbled up between his lips. “Oh God. You— you think— that we were abducted by aliens. That’s why no one could find us. You think we were— like telescope man with his conspiracies— what happened, were we beamed up into the sky by little green men? Did they steal some cows too?” The slightest hint of confusion flashed across Lotor’s eyes, but he smoothed it over.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Lance?” he asked. Lance did not like the way Lotor tasted his name, rolling it around his mouth for just a second too long. The insistent voice in his head cried out RUN RUN RUN. He almost did. He almost turned and bolted, desperate to escape this room, to put as much distance between him and this purple monster as possible. But Hunk and Pidge were still missing. So instead he dropped like a stone into the nearest chair, not sure if he was relieved to be off his shaking legs or just more terrified that he was no longer immediately ready to run.

“Captain Seitz, perhaps you better explain…? I’ve only recently arrived, after all,” Lotor said, taking his own seat and resting his chin on his fingertips.

“Very well,” Captain Seitz said. “The Garrison established first contact with aliens almost eighteen years ago when one crash landed here. There had been limited incidents before that, but this was the first time an alien arrived with a translation device that allowed proper communication, and the first time we actually had the technology to jerry-rig something capable of interstellar transmissions.

“Since that time, the Garrison has been establishing contact with several alien races. We have primarily been in cautious negotiations with Prince Lotor’s people, the Galra Empire.”

“Empire?” Lance asked, finally tearing his eyes off Lotor to glance at Captain Seitz. She nodded curtly. Lotor spread his hands in an open gesture.

“Empire is such an ugly word in your history,” he said. “Our goal is unification and peace, not subjugation.”

“But you’re a prince.” Lance almost jumped at hearing his own voice, surprisingly steady. “Your Empire has monarchs. Meaning you rule by birth, not election.” Lotor smiled and his smile was all teeth.

“I can give you a lesson in the niceties of Galran politics later, if you really want me to, but trust me that it is not quite that simple.”

“A year and a half ago, we sent three of our best and brightest to space, ostensibly on a scientific mission to Kerberos,” Captain Seitz continued. “This was only a cover-up for their real mission: to become ambassadors to the Galra. We were hoping, should they be successful, that we might finally be ready to inform the rest of the world of what we knew without fear that we would immediately spark an interstellar war. However, there were complications.” She paused briefly and Lance’s eyes flickered to her. “A race called the Alteans caught wind of our planned negotiations.”

“The Alteans are a dangerous people,” Lotor said. “They have a natural ability to manipulate quintessence, which gives them immense power. Power which they have used to commit unspeakable horrors. They have meddled in the forces of life and death in ways that other races of the universe find abhorrent and unnatural.”

“What’s this ‘quintessence’ stuff, exactly?”

“It is the natural raw energy and life force present in all living things,” Lotor answered. Lance’s eyebrows drew together.

“So… quintessence is the Force and the Alteans are all Siths?” he asked, glancing at Captain Seitz. She gave him another curt nod.

“That is much how I understood it, Mr. Sanchez.” She glanced at Lotor and then picked up the story again. “The Alteans also arrived at Kerberos, hoping to interfere. The Galrans fortunately managed to rescue Commander Holt and his son Matt. However, the pilot, Takashi Shirogane, was taken captive. Prince Lotor, why don’t you take it from there?”

“Hold up,” Lance said, horror sitting in his stomach like a stone. “Shiro was captured by a hostile alien race – and then you faked his death and both of the Holts’ by blaming him for a crash that never even happened? Captain Seitz, what the f— How could the Garrison do something like that?” Captain Seitz looked at him icily.

“It was necessary to preserve secrecy or risk people all over the Earth trying to get involved in an alien conflict they know nothing about. A pilot error was the most simple and believable explanation.”

“You could have said the ship malfunctioned,” Lance said, glaring at her.

“Not if we wanted any chance to send another mission to space within the next five years – and thus have any hope at all of continuing negotiations with the Galra, or bringing the Holts home.”

“But not Shiro,” Lance said. There was a frenzied energy itching under his skin. Captain Seitz’s cold eyes should have been enough to dry his mouth for a week, but he felt a need to defend Shiro. It was an imperative coming from somewhere inside him. In a jolt of déjà vu, it reminded him of the surge of protectiveness he’d felt for Kent a few days ago. Two people thrown to the wolves by everyone they should have been able to trust with their lives.

“Wait and hear the whole story,” Lotor said, his voice soothing. Lance turned his glare to the alien, suddenly a bit less afraid. Anger curled in his gut, burning everything else away. If he was still going to run, he’d like to give Lotor a good sock in the jaw first. “There are not many Alteans left. Most of them have been killed in the bloody wars they have waged. The Galra Empire first grew as an alliance of planets who sought to bring down the Alteans and stop them draining planets to harvest quintessence. However, despite their small numbers, they remain a massive threat, because they possess the most powerful weapon the universe has ever seen. It is called Voltron.” Lance felt something jolt down his spine at that word. For the briefest moment, he had vision, all indistinct and dissolving, as if he were seeing it underwater. He saw something massive, colored in red, green, blue, yellow, and black, with glowing eyes that pierced him to the core. It was gone so fast he wasn’t sure he hadn’t just imagined it. His eyes met Lotor’s and something flashed across them, as brief as the vision and probably just as imaginary. After all, there was no explanation for why Lotor should look triumphant.

“Voltron is a massive robot, made of five combined robot lions,” he continued. Lance’s bewildered disbelief must have shown on his face. “Trust me when I say, it is far more frightening than it sounds. Nothing – no weapon of our own creation, no fleet of ships, no number of planets – can stand against the destruction that Voltron is capable of unleashing. However, Voltron requires five pilots, who must match the quintessence of each lion.”

“I thought you said quintessence was only present in living things?”

“The lions are living things.”

“They’re robots, but they’re alive?”

“They are robots animated by infused quintessence,” Lotor explained, a hint of impatience in his voice. “They are very much alive, and they choose their pilots carefully. With so few Alteans left, it has become extremely difficult for them to replace pilots when they die. In fact, the last pilots were all killed a number of years ago, and the Alteans have not been able to replace them. The Galra Empire has been able to make some impressive headway against the Alteans in Voltron’s absence. Until, that is the Kerberos mission.

“The witch-queen Allura and her royal advisor, Coran, kidnapped Takashi Shirogane – Shiro – and made an extraordinary discovery: humans have the correct sort of quintessence to pilot Voltron. Not every species can, you see.” One of Lotor’s ears flicked like a cat, drawing Lance’s eyes to it, fascinated despite himself. “A few Galra have the potential – but very few. Most of the other races that can do not exist anymore. The Alteans wiped them out to prevent any chance that another people could steal their weapon away from them. But now they are desperate. They made Shiro the pilot of the black lion.

“Then, about five months ago, Shiro briefly escaped. He managed to steal a ship, and return to Earth, where he crashed—”

“The meteor,” Lance said. As soon as the words left his mouth he knew, without a single doubt in his head, that it was true. “That was the meteor. The telescope man was right. It was a crashing ship.” Lotor inclined his head in agreement.

“Unfortunately, the Alteans followed him, and while retrieving him they took the opportunity to kidnap four more humans that matched the quintessence of various lions. You and your friends were three of them.” Lance just stared at Lotor. He’d half-guessed where this was heading, but hearing it said out loud just made it sound beyond absurd.

“So I’ve been fighting an intergalactic space war for a bunch of evil Sith aliens,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I wouldn’t do that, though. And – and neither would Hunk or Pidge, and definitely not Shiro.” Lotor shrugged.

“One of the Altean quintessence arts is mind control. The witch-queen happens to be particularly skilled in that area. Why do you think you cannot remember anything that happened in the past four months? You were brainwashed.” Lance was shaking his head almost involuntarily.

“No, no, no, this is crazy. This is crazy. How would I have gotten away? I can’t possibly have gotten caught up in something like that and not remember any of it.”

“We’re not sure how you got away – we’re only happy that you have,” Captain Seitz said brusquely. “In fact, we’re hoping that you can help us.”

“Voltron is not inherently evil,” Lotor said. “If we could manage to steal the blue lion – your lion – from the Alteans, you could pilot it for us. Even better, if we manage to break the witch-queen’s hold on all of your friends, we could have all of Voltron on our side.”

“Who was the fifth pilot?” Lance asked, scrambling for something concrete and understandable, any question he could ask that would make the world turn right side up again.

“Keith Kogane,” Captain Seitz answered, and the world spun like a tilt-a-whirl. Lance felt another hysterical laugh burst out.

“You have to be fucking joking,” he gasped. He knew it was true, with the same certainty that he’d had about the meteor crashing. That dream had not been a dream. Captain Seitz’s eyes were cold again.

“I assure you, I would not joke about any of this,” she said. Lance buried his head in his hands.

“This is insane,” he moaned.

“Insane it may be, Mr. Sanchez, but it is still happening. Prince Lotor and his entourage arrived shortly after the Alteans abducted you and your friends. He informed us that it was likely that the Alteans would be back, harvesting potential future pilots and draining the rest of the planet of its– quintessence.” She fumbled the word slightly, the only break Lance had yet seen in her composure. “With your escape, it is likely they will arrive at any moment. If you want the planet to survive, you will help us.” Lance’s fingers curled, digging against his temples. Lost memories pounded his skull, trying to escape. This whole situation was wrong, horribly wrong.

Something warm and soft brushed against his hand, gently tugging it away from his head. Lance looked up to discover Lotor had somehow stood up and crossed over to him silently, and was crouching down beside him, one hand wrapped around Lance’s own. Lance yelped in fear, ripping his hand away from Lotor and springing out of the chair and away so fast he almost toppled over. Lotor stayed where he was, a look of sympathy on his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said softly. “I know this may seem overwhelming. But I am here – the Galra are here – to try and help. Earth does not need to face this danger alone.” Lance clutched the hand Lotor had grabbed to his chest, staring wide-eyed. Lotor stood back up, keeping his distance. “For whatever comfort it may offer, if you broke free of the witch-queen’s control, I have high hopes that your friends can do the same.” He glanced at Captain Seitz, who remained a stiff, impersonal presence. “It is a lot of responsibility, but you have an opportunity to save your friends, to protect your family, to rescue the entire planet. That is a gift.”

Lance pressed his clutched hands closer to his chest, trying to steady his breathing. His instincts still screamed at the sight of Lotor, adrenaline spiking and pushing him to run, run, run. But however mad the story, the evidence was standing in front of him, purple and impossibly tall, with its head tilted slightly as if in curiosity. Aliens were real, and at least some of them were already on Earth.

He couldn’t ignore it. He couldn’t go home and look Cal in the face if in a week’s time he might be dead and Lance hadn’t tried to stop it. He couldn’t conscience the idea of tiny little Max being beamed up into some spaceship and wiped of thought and agency. No matter how much it felt like his heart was trying to claw its way out of his throat, he couldn’t walk out and leave Hunk and Pidge behind. Shiro, captive for almost a year and a half now, could not be doomed to oblivion, and Lance owed him whatever meager help he could possibly offer. Even Keith, as abrasive and infuriating as he was, deserved better than to live a warrior with no free will. So Lance asked the only question he could, swallowing past the tremor in his voice.

“What do you need me to do?”

“For the moment, nothing much,” Captain Seitz said, her voice neutral. “You will go home and you will keep all of this secret – from everyone, including your family. You will set up regular appointments with Dr. Ito so that we may continue to talk. It would be best to cancel your appointments with your current therapist. Now that you know the truth about what happened, you would only be lying to her.”

“I will be happy to continue to answer any questions you have about Voltron or the Galra,” Lotor said. The smile that didn’t touch his eyes was back. “I am also interested in getting to know you better, Lance. Before the wars began, there was a time when the pilots of Voltron were revered across the universe. I never thought I’d have the chance to meet one that wasn’t trying to kill me.” Lance didn’t trust himself to speak, so he just nodded. After a moment of silence, Captain Seitz turned and opened the door.

“I’ll walk you out,” she said. Lance turned to follow her. As the door swung shut behind him, he heard Lotor call after him.

“I’ll see you soon. Lance.” The door closed before Lotor could see the shiver that ran down his spine.

He and Captain Seitz trudged back up the hallway in mutual silence. She nodded to Dr. Ito as they reemerged into his office. He glanced up, smiling at Lance.

“Same time on Thursday?” he asked. The part of his mind that had finally stopped screaming RUN when he’d gotten away from Lotor screamed TOO SOON, but he nodded anyway, his mouth dry. Captain Seitz continued to follow him, all the way back to the front door. She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder before he left.

“One question, Mr. Sanchez,” she said. Lance turned back. “You mentioned ‘the telescope man’ a couple times in there – who exactly were you referring to?”

“Oh,” Lance said, a feeling of relief spreading across his chest. “That. It was some conspiracy nut I ran into in Bluff Park. He recognized me from the news. He was babbling on about me getting abducted by aliens, had all these blurry photos of the meteor and everything.” He shrugged. “I mean, I guess he was right, but he didn’t actually know anything. He’s just some guy with a tinfoil hat who got lucky.”

“What was his name?” Captain Seitz asked. Lance frowned.

“I have no idea. The guy was kind of freaking me out so I ran away as fast as possible.” Captain Seitz nodded.

“Alright. Thank you for coming, Mr. Sanchez. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Right,” Lance said.

His first breath of fresh air felt like such a relief after the claustrophobic underground tunnel and conference room that Lance thought his knees might give out from under him. He stumbled his way almost in a daze to the bullet train, climbing aboard and sinking into a seat. A Garrison lieutenant working his tablet gave him a brief glance from across the aisle but otherwise ignored him. The train pulled out of the station, speeding across the desert. By the time Lance finally caught his breath, they were halfway back to town. He glanced up. The sun was still high and blazing. He had time. His brain was screaming so loud he could barely think. He needed to be somewhere quiet, far quieter than Cal’s apartment in the middle of the city.

Kent’s shack was always as quiet as death.

Louisa ran her thumb idly along the edge of her tablet, scanning the cafeteria. Lance should stick out like a sore thumb without his Garrison uniform on. An endless parade of cadets in white and orange rolled by, chattering with each other, moaning about homework and simulator drills. The officers and higher ranked members created a wall of gray on the opposite side of the room, many of them working through their lunch, fingers swiping across tablets and tapping on phones. Iverson was standing near the door, she saw, glaring at cadets as they came in. She felt a brief wave of trepidation that he might be waiting for Lance too – her little brother did not need Iverson shaking him down on his plans to return to the Garrison right now.

Her fears were allayed when Iverson straightened up at the entrance of a young blonde captain that Louisa didn’t recognize. The woman paused, saying a few words to Iverson, and the two of them walked into the cafeteria together. Louisa sighed, sitting back in her chair and checking her watch in annoyance. She only had an hour-long lunch break. Surely Lance couldn’t still be in his meeting with Dr. Ito. Had he run into another friend?

She shot off a text, and then, impatient, called him. His phone went straight to voicemail.

“Lance, you empty-headed schmuck, where are you? I’m going to be late for class if you don’t show up soon.” She stabbed the hang up button with her thumb, sighing. With a last glance around the cafeteria, she stood up and got in line for food, chewing her lip. “If I have to sneak off campus to go check on that kid…” she muttered to herself. “Cal better be keeping an eye on him.”

Lance sank into the couch in Kent’s shack in relief. There was no sound here but the desert wind. His eyes raked across the piles of paper strewn about the room, more orderly than when Lance had gotten here but still helplessly haphazard. There was only so much organizing he could do.

His gaze drifted to the map pinned to the conspiracy board, the thick Sharpie lines circling and pointing to the caves that Kent had found. Caves full of drawings of a blue lion. A blue lion, just like what Lance had supposedly piloted.

The connection had sparked in his brain the moment Lotor had mentioned ‘robot lions’ – but he hadn’t said anything. He’d barely been able to speak from shock and fear anyway, except when he’d gotten angry about Shiro. There wasn’t much he could have said anyway, not without giving away the existence of the shack and his own many definitely unlawful visits to it. But if the lions belonged to a bloodthirsty race from among the stars, why were there drawings of it on Earth?

REMEMBER THE GARRISON LIES.

“Well, you were right about that, Kent,” Lance told the air. “You were sure as fuck right about that.” He breathed slowly – in through his nose, out through his mouth, counting to five each time. “The question is… how much are they lying?” In and out. “How much are they being tricked?” In and out. “How many different stories are there? How many people think they know the truth but have been fed a lie?” In and out, in and out, in and out.

He pushed himself up from the couch and walked over to the map, running his fingers over the words ENERGY SOURCE. “I guess I knew I’d eventually have to go out there myself,” he mumbled. “I’ll try not to repeat your late night freezing cold desert adventure,” he added, a slight smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He glanced at the window. “Not today,” he decided. “Tomorrow I’ve got to go to the police station, and find out what that detective wanted to talk to me about. I’ll go on Wednesday, when I’ve got the whole day free.”

He retreated from the board, reaching into his pocket to turn his phone back on. It beeped with a slew of messages from Louisa. “Shit,” he mumbled. “I totally forgot I was supposed to have lunch with her. I’ll make it up to her on Thursday. If that Lotor dude doesn’t scare me half to death again.” He looked up, staring around the shack. He hadn’t turned the light on, so it was illuminated only by the sun, beginning to sink toward the horizon. Streams of light filtered through sheets and dust, slowly fading the words off paper. “Have you ever been terrified without having the slightest idea why, Kent?” he asked. “Have you ever felt like you’re going to burst at the seams, and you can barely breathe, and your pounding heart is the only thing you can hear, but the worst part of it all is that you just have no idea why you’re so very, very scared?”

Chuck sucked in the chilly night air, pulling the blanket close around his shoulders. Three days straight in front of a computer had done nothing but tell him that after breaking a teacher’s arm and getting expelled from the Garrison, Keith Kogane had, to all appearances, vanished into thin air. He had not returned to his foster family, he had not registered at any school that Chuck could find, and he had not done anything obvious like use his email. He didn’t even have any social media that Chuck could find. Even if he did, Chuck was willing to bet it would be completely blank after his expulsion anyway.

That left the more intense and difficult hacking as his only recourse. Getting into security cameras, trying to track him down with facial recognition and the like – all of that was well beyond him. So he’d gone into one of his forums and DM’ed one of the newer members, one of the slew that had joined after the Kerberos mission. Their username was just ‘pigeon.’ They didn’t post much – and seemed to be disdainful of a number of the threads on the forum, calling the commenters “delusional” on more than one occasion – but what they did post, they’d hacked straight off an actual Garrison computer. They rapidly got a reputation in the forum. pigeon was one of those people that was almost frighteningly good with computers. The joke was that if you asked pigeon to hack the Pentagon, their only comment would be “give me half an hour.”

Hey pigeon— I need a favor, if you’re willing to help me out. I’m trying to track down a former Garrison student, Keith Kogane. He got expelled not long after the Kerberos mission and seems to have vanished. Think you could find him for me? We can negotiate a price.

There hadn’t been a single peep from pigeon in response, though. They hadn’t even seen the message. Frustrated, he scrolled back to try and find pigeon’s most recent activity, and it seemed they hadn’t posted anything in almost half a year. Their last message had only been one sentence:

Does the word ‘Voltron’ mean anything to anyone?

There were no replies.

Out of options, Chuck had come out to Bluff Park to try and clear his head. He gazed up at the stars, tracing the constellations. It took someone truly absurd, he thought, to believe they were alone in the universe. He could respect people who thought that they just hadn’t made contact with any aliens yet – but even that made little sense to him. In the vast and infinite universe, shouldn’t there be at least one species that had evolved far enough to figure out wormholes and pocket dimensions and how to jump through space? Shouldn’t that species have sent out its ships across the universe, exploring far and wide, seeking all other signs of life? He had believed this, wholeheartedly, from the time he was a child. He’d grown up watching alien movies and had accepted as fact that humans had run into aliens over the course of history. It had sent him reeling to discover that most people in the world didn’t share his assumptions.

“Excuse me.” Chuck turned with a sigh, the blanket twisting with him. He’d long since learned to recognize the false politeness of a police officer about to kick him out of the park.

“I’m just stargazing,” he said, talking before he’d even laid eyes on the man. “I have the blanket because I’m cold, not because I’m trying to sleep here. I’m not homeless.” He finally got himself turned to face the cop. It wasn’t one of the ones he recognized. The man had dark hair and shockingly white teeth. He was smiling.

“Are you Charles Kennet?” he asked. Chuck frowned.

“I am,” he said cautiously.

“You’re the administrator of those discussion boards about the Garrison – all the ones about how they’re hiding aliens from us and the Kerberos mission was a cover-up, right?”

“Officer, am I in trouble?” Chuck asked. He loosened the blanket, shifting his legs to make sure they weren’t asleep.

“Did you meet Lance Sanchez the other day?” the man asked, advancing closer. Chuck jumped to his feet.

“Sir, who are you?” he demanded. The man paused. He had not stopped smiling.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” he said. His tone was soothing, as if he were speaking to a spooked animal. “This might pinch a bit.”

Something sharp pricked Chuck’s neck, and then all he knew was blackness.

#voltron #klance #lotor #lance mcclain #written in sand #my writing #memory fic

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