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forgotten-daydreamer · 4 years

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in defense of Allura

Disclaimer: I do not accept any kind of hatred under this post. I expect all readers to act politely toward those who don’t share their opinion, and I expect you to expose your own ideas respectfully. Toxicity is forbidden on my blog. I don't hate any character, and this is just an analysis. Anything that stimulates a mature debate is welcomed, as long as you do it politely. Thank you!

The time has come. Long enough I’ve dwelled upon the choices that the writers of VLD have made, especially in the last seasons: in this post, I’ll focus on the decisions concerning Princess Allura.

We were introduced to Allura in the pilot of the show, and it only took a few minutes- should I say doboshes?- to understand her overall personality. The Princess stumbled out of the pod, disoriented and confused, and only an instant later- the time necessary to snap out of her groggy state- she defended herself against a possible threat, being Lance in this case: she physically overwhelmed him with only a few rapid moves, her grip on him steady. Everything about her body language and verbal language screamed “strength”, in the following scenes as well. As she remembered about her father’s death, and about her homeplanet Altea being destroyed, the initial shock faded rather rapidly, and in a few instant she recovered from it. This doesn’t mean that if she hadn’t done it she would have been weak, not at all; it means that Allura, being a leader, knew how to put her feelings aside for a better situation, in order to better focus on the mission at hand.

It’s immediately clear to us that she wasn’t minimally interested in Lance’s advances: she considered him as a teammate, and later as a dear friend, but nothing more than that was shown in the first seasons. When Lance got badly injured, she didn’t seem too worried- though she immediately jumped into action to secure the perimeter. A couple of episodes later, when Lance exited from the healing pod, she spoke to the teen kindly, relieved that he was alright. Yet, this is not a sign of being in love: all of us would be happy if a friend of ours who was at risk was said to be finally out of the woods.

Allura was very practical, focused on her mission: she wanted to save the universe at all cost. At the beginning, her continuous arguments with the paladins may have given the impression that she was annoying and too strict, but she was simply driven by passion and desire to prove to everyone, herself included, that she could do the right thing for the universe. Though she never made it explicit, it was obvious that Allura cared about the opinion that the others had about her (even when she simply insisted on thanking the Arusians) because she tried to overcome her own insecurities by making herself as useful as possible to the cause. Even when she “just” flew the Castleship, she always offered her support and ideas to improve training, strategies and team bonding.

Throughout the seasons, we learnt that Allura had the tendency to blame herself, like when she thought that the Galra were tracking the team through her, for example. Allura also threw herself into battle if it meant saving the others, like when she pushed Shiro out of the way and ended up prisoner, or when she saved the Balmera and risked her own health, pushing herself too far to do the right thing and help the innocents that she couldn’t protect during the 10’000 years of absence. So, according to the evidence we had collected in the first seasons, Allura was selfless and caring, despite everything.

And then, just when we thought we’d seen it all, Allura became the paladin of the Blue Lion of Voltron (I’ll talk about this event in Lance’s p.o.v. in a different post, don’t worry). She was uncertain at first, but ready to dive head-first into the battle, willing to learn and improve her skills. Being an Altean, she immediately connected with Blue, and everything seemed rather easy; though at the beginning her piloting skills weren’t the best, she learnt in the matter of a single episode, and if you don’t consider it quick learning, then I don’t know what it was. Added to that, Allura was also talented, “progressing a lot faster than any of [the other paladins]”, as Lance said some time later.

When Keith confessed his Galra lineage, her attitude towards him was childish, but it was how someone would have normally reacted in a similar situation. People often have a hard time accepting someone that is unwillingly part of a group whose members caused them any harm; it’s one of the principles of racism, and that’s a synonym of ignorance as well. Human minds work like that, because we all tend to associate trauma with a certain group of people, or day, or any other input: it’s despicable, and sadly most people think like that. Luckily for all the Allura stans (me included, though I stan all the main characters of this show) she overcame this issue quickly. What I like about it was that she didn’t brush it off, but she apologised to Keith in person, evidently mortified for her behaviour, and after that she moved past it, accepting her friend and overcoming their differences happily. Mature people apologise, while childish ones pretend that their mistakes didn’t happen: by making amends for her mistake, Allura showed us just how mature she is for a 18/22 year-old (we do not have an official age, so my guess is as good as yours).

Things seemed to be going well for her: she learnt how to better manipulate quintessence, she gave Keith space when he needed to find Shiro after his mysterious disappearance, she learnt how to better pilot her Lion and so on and so forth. It was all going well, until Lotor’s arrival: then, it all started to go downhill.

Lance became inexplicably obsessed with her again, and at the same time, Lotor slowly manipulated Allura. Now, I don’t personally like Lotor since he willingly commits genocide for his own purposes, but I will not dwell further on the topic for it’s not my main discourse now.

Lotor tricked the Princess into believing him, she played into his hands, blinded by love. Mind that when I wrote “love”, my left eyebrow rose impossibly high. In fact, Allura had never shown to be interested in love; surely enough, she was romantically (and sexually, apparently) interested in people as we have witnessed, so the possibility of a love interest wasn’t odd at all. It was just sudden. Too sudden, for my personal opinion.

The problem I have with Lotura (Lotor x Allura, and I specify because I had to google the ship name) is that it’s based on nothing. The team was wholly against Lotor, except for Shiro who was not himself, quite literally. Allura never gave any impression of trusting people easily: not only when Keith said that he was half Galra, but also when Shiro begged her to trust Ulaz. She was hesitant and not happy about having someone she didn’t trust on board. Thus, her sudden burst of trust toward Lotor was odd, especially when it was quite obvious to most of the audience that the Galra prince was not telling the whole truth. I also wish that we got to see more interactions between Pidge and Allura and Hunk and Allura in s6 and beyond, since they rarely talked anymore despite being on the same team. Even Allura’s interactions with Coran were so diminished in number that they looked like complete strangers in the second half of the series, and it hurt.

I mark this point as the start of Allura’s downfall: from iconic character to mere love interest, which is not wrong at all per se, but it is when any other trait and development is purposefully ignored and forgotten by the writers “for the sake of the story”.

Thankfully, Allura seemed to recover quickly after Lotor’s betrayal (the scene when she flips him like a coin? Priceless), declaring all of her hatred towards the cruelties he’d committed and how he let her down irreparably. One good thing that Lotor did- and I have to admit that it was good- was that he made Allura discover new abilities and become stronger, powers-wise speaking. Yet, all of this was secondary to her being a love interest with no other apparent purpose. Why do I say this? Because as soon as she got rid of Lotor, she got together with Lance, and to be honest it’s not quite clear to me how or why.

I can’t deny that when I watched s1, I was an Allurance shipper; I was sixteen, a hopeless goofball who believed in all the clichés. Now, however, I do realize that Lance’s advances were annoying and obnoxious (and he’s my absolute favourite character, so this shows you just how honest I’m being, hopefully), and that I’m so grateful that Allura didn’t give in. At least, she didn’t do it at the beginning. In the last season, however, she fell in love with Lance in a single episode: when he asked her out, she seemed hesitant and only accepted because Romelle pushed her to give it a try. The dinner sequence was where Allura understood that Lance wasn’t the womanizer she thought he was, but I don’t believe that in reality that would have changed anything. You don’t simply fall in love in one evening only because your date’s family tells you that this person isn’t what they seem; in fact, that would worry me even more, personally, because it would mean that my date is a total stranger.

Lance’s “I love you” was not completely uncalled for, but simply very confusing: he seemed to be over her, but he became jealous when Lotor showed up. I tried so hard to see this as a “protective brother/friend” dynamic, but that sentence leaves no space for speculation (again, I’ll talk about Lance another time). What shocked me was Allura reaction’s to Lance’s confession.

She’d never looked at him with any kind of romantic interest, and even if some scenes may be seen as such (when she resuscitates him. And proceeds to hide it from the team. Yeah, another huge disastrous plotline), it’s undeniable that the Princess had trust-issues, and for a good reason too. That one time that she went against her team’s choice and trusted Lotor a bit too much, she got used and heartbroken. So why was she suddenly so in love with a boy that she’d always treated as nothing more than a good friend? My answer is: bad writing.

If Allura had shown any romantic interest in Lance for at least three consecutive seasons out of eight- to create a deeper connection- I would have taken it without complaining much. If Lotor hadn’t committed genocide and didn’t proceed to use Allura, I would have accepted Lotura too (friendly reminder that I don’t do ship hate unless ships involve rape, pedophilia and incest. So I’m not hating on Allurance and Lotura, though Lotor is a villain and I don’t like him, but that’s just my opinion). If Allura was allowed to be both strong and romantically interested in anyone, I would have taken it. But especially in s8, the writers erased her personality, turning a bright and iconic character into dating material. It wasn't fair to her nor to Lance, honestly.

The last straw was her sacrifice: Allura died to save the universe and since it was her main goal, I’m okay with it, though it hurt as she’s my second favourite character. What I didn’t like about it was that the villains got a happier ending than she did. Lotor, who committed genocide, got to live happily ever after with his parents, a violent conqueror and an abusive hag who ripped the universe apart to be with her son (I get it, mothers love their kids, but this is far too extreme). And furthermore, Lotor didn’t even like his parents, but still for some reason he was happy to be with them again, maybe because at least he got to spend eternity with someone that loves him despite everything.

Allura, however, died without saying goodbye to Coran, the man who stayed by her side for all their- but also ours- adventures, the one who believed in her the most and who did everything to protect her. She died without getting a last look at the universe she left behind, at the people who weren’t there in her final moments but that cared for her and vice versa (Shay, Romelle, even Krolia. Even the mice, Kalternecker and Cosmo, really). Each character had about a half a minute to say their goodbyes, except for Lance, whose goodbye was the longest but also the least impactful, in my opinion. The writers played too much with the dramatic idea of it and the result was sloppy- as much as I love dramatic scenes, this was purposeless.

Allura’s last act of kindness- as if saving the whole universe and every existing reality wasn’t enough- was gifting Lance with the Marks of the Chosen. Though, I’m not sure how to interpret it. In a fic I recently wrote, I theorised that “Allura gave you [Lance] these marks because she knew that you had greatness within, and they can actively remind you of it in your darkest moments [...]”. Of course, I’m far from sure that this is the real reason. My question is, was there even a real reason, or did Allura give him the Marks for dramatic purposes? If so, I’m glad that it wasn’t confirmed officially, because at least we get to make our own theories that surely are more satisfying than “we wanted fans to cry more”. Still, I see those marks as scars, and I will talk about it thoroughly in Lance’s analysis.

In conclusion, I don’t think that Allura was bad at all. I think that, in the end, she was simply badly written, which is entirely different.

s1-s5 Allura was a strong, compassionate, empowering, trustworthy, bright, lovable and fun character and for that, she deserved a better- much better- ending. She’ll always be in my heart, and I hope that future reboots will treat her right.

I will always remember Allura dearly. As Coran said in the final episode, “Just around this table I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us, she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family”. Raising an imaginary glass, I just want to say... “To Allura”.

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mizu-writes-kumo · 4 years

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Au where Lance was separated alone at the end of s1 (and also without Blue). And it's been long like 2-3 years (and 2-3 weeks/months cause uhhh space time shit) and Lance comes back with scars and maybe a missing limb only to find there has been infighting and separation and fuck all and guys please it's been a really harrowing long ass years, you all are tearing the family apart

You know I actually kind of had a similar idea to this like a while while back. So I am going to take some bits and pieces of it and adapt it to this!

Also this is long...so more under the cut!

So at the end of season one when all the Paladin’s fall out the Castleship and wormhole, Lance ends up just in a random spot in space, though unlike Pidge there is nothing around him at all. Blue shuts down because of everything, so Lance is just...stuck in open space. But he does decently try to problem solve to one get a line of communication with someone, or two get Blue up and running. He knows some minor engineering stuff, cause it’s standard for all pilots to have basic understanding of how to fix things on their ships. Blue being a alien ship with a conscious, throws a wrench in that a little, but Lance still tries. And he is very careful to stay close to Blue at all times, and have some kind of tether connected so he doesn’t float off into space as he works. He is doing all he can...which...admittedly is a lot of begging Blue to just wake up, because like she isn’t an Earth ship he knows how to work with.

But as he works and tries different thing, suddenly the middle of nowhere open space he is in...just like...cracks open. And it’s happens to so when Lance has untethered himself to move to a different spot. Meaning he gets sucked right in, before he can grab on, and his jet pack is too weak to fight the pull. (Blue doesn’t get sucked in because she is too big). Lance get’s sucked in to the cracked, and dumped into a sort of pocket dimension. It’s this crazy forest alien jungle like place, filled with, as Lance quickly discovers, lots and lots of dangerous things that have it out for him. And the crack pretty much immediately closes behind him...leaving him stranded.

For a while (like the first few months), Lance main goal is to get out of there or get communications going. He finds a lot of things from other alien ships that have crashed there, no other friendly life-forms though. And he does what he can, and working out the best plan to get out there. But as time passes, and passes, and the tally he makes in his tree top base group to being uncountable...Lance shifts more to just surviving. Try get communications to work less and less, and he stares at the sky less and less. Why do the same thing that does work over and over again. And he just tries to survive.

On the other side of things, it doesn’t actually take the Paladin’s terrible long to find Blue Lion once Allura rescues everyone. They track Blue’s signal to the spot in middle of no where space. Coran gets a little freaked out, because it is actually a section of space where ships are known to just go missing and no one knows why. Aka...the space Bermuda Triangle. So the Paladins find Blue, but no Lance. Like there is just so signal of him, his suit would still have enough enough power to broadcast a single, no matter what. But there is just nothing. And Blue refused to leave the spot she is at, and is just sort of staring out into one fixed point is space. And all the Paladin’s sort of have this scenes. of “We can’t leave this place.” Like it just...feels wrong to them, so they stay as they try to figure out what happened to Lance.

A few days pass, and suddenly like the point in space that Blue Lion had been staring at opens up. Like tears open, and everyone just kind of stares at it. Coran and Pidge taking readings and scans off it, cause like they have no clue what it was (and maybe it would explain what happened to Lance.) It stays open for like an hour or two, then it starts to close. And as it starts to close, a tiny little ship...thing, comes shooting out, and Blue Lion moves for it. Suddenly Lance’s Paladin Armor signal is back up and running, giving all sorts of damage and other readings, and Blue returns to the Castle.

Everyone rushes to Blue’s hanger, just as she sort of spits Lance out. (Not really, he kind of stumbled out and collapsed into a roll in relief that his plan worked (or you know maybe he’s dead)). Everyone kind of cautiously race towards Lance to where he was lying in a heap on the floor. Because his armor looks like he has been through some stuff...like a lot for the maybe week or so that he has been missing. And Shiro is very much picking up on the fact that they need to not completely rush Lance. But as they approach, Lance slowly shits up, and turns around...and...

Holy quazinack, he has scars that are visible healed and old looking. And he’s thinner, in a way that was both clear he had been stranded for a while...and like he aged a bit. Also one of his eyes is completely messed up, and is missing his whole left hand. And he looks pissed as hell as he gets up to his feet.

“It’s been years, and you guys just now decide to save me.” He spits out angrily as he sort of stalks forward with a pretty visible limp. And everyone is confused, because it’s been like maybe two weeks, what the hell is Lance talking about years. They had only been there for like eight days since they found Blue lion. What in the world does Lance mean...years. However when Shiro asked, it just kind of makes Lance bit more angry, before he drills in the point that he was trapped in the place for like three years, trying to get out, or get a communication line, and trying to just survive, and barely managed to escape through the crack in the sky that was only open for like a handful of seconds. And Allura is quick to explain, no it’s only been like a couple of weeks, and the crack had been open for a few hours...and...

Coran quickly jumps in a loud statement of “pocket dimensions!” And how that was probably what Lance experiences, and how it was a (conspiracy) theory as to what happen to this area of space. That there were pocket dimensions slipped into, and disappeared. And because they were little random pockets, the rules of physics and speed of time might be different in them. They open up occasionally to release energy build up, and suck in new matter partials to keep existing. Explain that must have been what Lance experienced, and that they should really get him to a healing pod, to get fixed up and make sure there aren’t any adverse effects. Coran quickly just sort of guide Lance away before anything else can happen, and helps get him into a pod while everyone follows behind them.

Form there everyone kind of gathers themselves, and figure out what happened. Coran runs all sorts of scans on Lance while he is in the pod, that was actually working hard to fix what it could. (It couldn’t fix of a lot of Lance’s old scars and injury, but works to realign bones that healed wrong when broken, and fixed his joints and limp.) Finding that yes, Lance actually had aged a few years, and experiences a different flow of time. Allura runs some quintessence tests, to realize Lance had experience something different than normal. While Pidge and Hunk pour over the reads from the crack the opened, to find some stuff that didn’t exactly align with stuff they know about science. Shiro and Keith help out where they can. All in all they figure out that yes, Lance experience something all together different from their universe.

They all try to put together a presentation to explain to Lance once he gets out of the healing pod. Lance is a bit better when he get out, though still a bit hostile and mad that it took so long to get rescued. Everyone presents what they have to him as he eats a meal Hunk made for him. It is a lot for Lance to take in, and he does have some trouble letting go that he was abandoned for so long, because it’s just so hard not to feel that. Even knowing he was experiencing time a different rate. But he goes to room and rest and just try and readjust.

It takes a while for things to even out and sort of “go back to normal”, but it does eventually happen. Not without a few bumps in the road. Lance had some abandonment issues that surface from time to time, and become rather use to fighting for himself. Not to mention a whole a lot of trauma that happened to him, that he doesn’t talk about much. Sometimes Lance will just seem to snap over nothing. Everyone does there best to adjust to him, and be what he needs, and make it know they would never abandoned him. They kind of make sure he is never alone on a mission for too long.

And yeah...

#lance gets separated au #badass lance #vld Lance #this hurt me #but yeah

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patientfocusly · 4 years

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major canon divergences

( i don’t expect anyone to read this because it’s a lot lmao. this is more so for me to have a reference because i forget things about my own muse / canon rip. if we’re rping together we’re probably also talking ooc so anything important from this post will be mentioned to you at some point. )

( please note that by canon, i’m referring to my general main verse which includes no interactions with other muses. each interaction with a muse is put into its own verse. new interactions can come into the main verse at any point of the timeline and then diverge from that point. )

does not marry curtis. they noticed each other because they worked closely as part of the atlas crew and maybe if the time and place were different there might’ve been a chance for them to get to know each other and form something but for shiro, there is a lot weighing on his mind that he needs to wade through

( a ) shiro has been thru Sum shit and he has an endless list of reasons to be sad but i just want to make it known that shiro’s no. 1 source of guilt and just general mind-anguish is the fact that he is living in a borrowed body, that he took from someone who had to die for him to live.

( b ) at this stage he is also coming in touch with his feeling for keith which have been with him for a while, so even if he was aware of other potential interests . . . he’s not actually interested back.

adam is alive. he was critically injured in the first wave of attack by sendak and recovered enough only to provide ground support for the second wave. he remains an officer of the garrison and heads training and recruitment. he does not fly again. he’s happily married and reaches out to shiro. they’re amicable, but not close friends. maybe eventually they will be. ( this will obviously not be the case if i’m writing with an adam. )

allura is alive – i need to rewatch the end of season 8 to figure out how, but she’s alive.

after a year or so of captaining the atlas, the need for atlas to be an offensive military ship decreases and shiro consults sam and pidge for their thoughts on deweaponising his prosthesis. The new arm is still powered by allura’s crystal but looks more similar to the galra arm ( except it starts at the shoulder since his bicep??? disappeared magically ), but it’s coloured white and light grey, and the lit up areas are aqua ( same as the crystal. )

speaking of the crystal . . . the original arm was designed to operate via a balmera crystal, because that’s what most of altean designs are based off of. however they didn’t have a crystal to use, and sam says the remaining energy required for the armto work would be drawn from shiro’s own electromagnetic field. he tries it for the first time and . . . his body rejects it, in what looks like an incredibly painful and potentially fatal way, if it hadn’t been for allura stepping in and replacing the original energy source for the arm with the crystal from her tiara. we don’t ever find out why shiro’s body rejected the first energy source but here are 2 theories:

( a ) shiro’s body is actually kuron’s body, a clone, manufactured by haggar, using ~space science~ and likely some form of quintessence. the electro magnetic field coming off of the clone’s body would vary to that of a human’s, which is what sam would’ve based his calculations on. balmera crystals have incredible properties that aren’t really explained in great detail but we know how powerful they can be, regardless of size.

( b ) because it’s kuron’s body, maybe the connection to haggar didn’t completely shut off when keith cut off the arm. that flash that happens when the arm connects and shiro’s body starts rejecting it is very similar to the flash that happens when haggar starts controlling kuron earlier ( better explained in this headcanon piece. ) my only issue with this headcanon is that it implies haggar may still have some degree of control over shiro, and I just………….it’s been so overused, i just don’t want that for shiro anymore, so i’m most likely sticking to theory a !!!!!

still on the subject of the crystal, let’s talk about what shiro says after allura places the balmera crystal in his arm ; “i feel strange . . . i feel – great !” strange, as in he’s feeling something he’s never quite felt before. this is in contrast to what he feels when the first energy source is used in his arm ; “i feel . . . good,” but he sounds hesitant, like he doesn’t feel good at all, and obviously we see why moments afterwards. the great part is emphasised. he almost seems excited, like he really does feel great, and the scene cuts off with him trialling his arm by making a fist, and smiling. again, the properties of the crystals are pretty much undefined, but they are an immense source of power – what allura’s tiara contains is likely more than enough required to power shiro’s arm, and going back to how allura operated the castleship, and how shiro is able to operate the atlas, i’m loosely headcanoning that the crystal acts as a link between “captain” and “ship”, though obviously, allura herself channels quintessence and has so much more capabilities as a “captain.”

what does the crystal providing an energy source for not only the new prosthesis, but also shiro’s body mean for shiro? an external boost of energy and human-compatible quintessence is probably the first dose of anything resembling treatment shiro has had since the kerberos mission. i don’t see the balmera crystal nor altean healing pods having the power to edit genes but as far as healing goes, it must have some effect in alleviating pain and / or fatigue for shiro to exclaim, “i feel great !”

( a ) sometimes it’s difficult to write in a universe set in the future because things of our current reality ( social injustices, shit politics, technological limitations etc. ) may not be a reality say 100 years in the future, and add space and alien technology to the mix and you’re sort of left with a lot of potential for creation and imagination and progression but also hindered by the reality of present day and representing present day. i wouldn’t want to “magic” away shiro’s disease or magically come up with a cure, but at the same time i don’t want to take away the possibility for him to be potentially cured ( which is what the “i feel great !” line hints towards ) just because of the limitations of today ???????? i’m just having an inner conflict over this - i will update what i decide when i decide !!

major fanon divergences

does not qualify as space dad. it simultaneously infantilises the other paladins and takes away from their own journeys of being forced to grow up too quickly and take on the responsibility of fighting in a war, and puts undue stress on shiro who is only ~25 himself responsible for his team only in the role of their commanding officer at best

his prosthetic arm is not a sex toy, it’s a prosthesis ( refer to this post on arm related bed time activities )

shiro did not have a romantic connection with keith pre-kerberos. if anything the earliest signs of anything resembling a romantic connection would be late into season 2, but that is pending heavy plotting

shiro came from a happy family . . . he just lost almost all of it very early on. he grew up loved even though he learnt about loss too quickly ( please refer to this headcanon. )

shiro cannot sing lol . . . i dont know where this headcanon came from, but it’s sticking

i think it’s popular headcanon for shiro to have a little sister, or a big family; i wrote his backstory with his older sister before i came across this, so i’m sticking to my original headcanon because his bond with his sister is so strongly formed in my head

shiro is not afraid of death . . . but he doesn’t want to die. i feel like his relationship with death needs its own post but the tl;dr version of it is that he had a timer put on his life when he was around 17 years old. life goes from seemingly endless to suddenly very very short ( not just in the sense that his lifespan is predicted to be shorter, but that his body will soon restrict him in movement and opportunity. ) and then kerberos happens, and the arena happens, and voltron and zarkon and he’s reminded that life is short regardless of whether they give you a timer at 17. any moment could be his last and shiro has had a long time to come to terms with this. it makes him incredibly grateful for the present, and of what he’s had in the past. it also is potentially why he prioritises a mission that will take him to see the stars, over a relationship with adam ten years down the track.

if anyone makes it this far . . . ur the real mvp, thank u for reading my brain ramblings <3

#━━ ⋅ ✰ ⋆ merry crisis ! ⋮ ❛ headcanon ❜#( headcanon. )#━━ ⋅ ✰ ⋆ aw fuck ! i can’t believe you’ve done this ! ⋮ ❛ ooc ❜

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dreams-of-kalopsia · 5 years

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Snowball Effect

Summary: Lance may have been the one to throw the alien snowball that set off the snowball war between him and Pidge, but it was Pidge’s alien snowball that ended it by incurring Allura’s wrath. Now the two were stuck in a planet blanketed entirely by snow, forced to make up and work together. Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes, of course.

Second half of the @voltronsecretsanta2k19 fic for @nessajjewell, who requested a snowball fight.

Read it on AO3.

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Part 1: Snowball War

Part 2: Snow Fight

The dwarf planet came into view on the bridge’s screens. It was almost entirely white. Even though they were exempt from the punishment that awaited Pidge and Lance, Coran and the remaining Paladins felt themselves shiver. This seemed too extreme.

“A-Are you sure about this, Princess?” Coran asked.

“Do it, Coran.” Allura’s voice lacked hesitation. “But monitor their vitals and keep the comm links open. We want them to reconcile, not die.”

For a moment there, though, everyone else hadn’t been too sure.

Coran swallowed audibly. “Understood. Approaching drop-off in five. Four. Three. Two. One.” He opened the airlock where Lance and Pidge were detained. “Blue and Green Paladins successfully dropped off,” he announced over the two’s screams.

Shiro approached the main screen, worry lining his face. “This is the turning point in their relationship.”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed. “They could return a couple.”

“Or they could hate each other forever,” Keith countered.

Hunk slowly turned towards him, eyes narrowed. “Aaare you trying to start a bet, Keith?”

Keith smirked. “Why, are you up for it?”

* * *

“Oof!” Pidge cried over the comms, though Lance couldn’t see her in the meter-tall snow. He shook off the dizziness from the drop and the snow that made it under his armor before trudging to shallower depths.

Pidge emerged eventually, very much disgruntled. “They deactivated everything,” she said darkly.

Unable to follow her train of thought, he asked, “Who did what?”

“Allura and Coran!” she answered, looking up at the Castleship hovering above them. “They deactivated my scanners and sensors—we’re literally lost in here!”

“Not forever,” Coran’s pleasant voice—turned unpleasant by the situation—reminded. “Accomplish Allura’s tasks, and we’ll be right down to get you both.”

“No! Get us out of here right now! I apologized to Vir already!”

“No can do, Number Five.”

“When I get back there,” Pidge growled, “I’m going to make you pay, Allura.”

Allura met her aggression with calm assertiveness: “I’d like to see you try.”

“Uhh, Pidge?” Lance called from behind Pidge, but she couldn’t be bothered to spare him any attention when she was still busy scowling at the Castle.

“What?”

“Are you up for another snowball fight?” he asked.

Preoccupied as she was, she missed the apprehension in his voice. “How could you even ask that? That’s exactly what got us in this position!”

“D-Do you want to fight a snowman, then?”

“I don’t think that’s how the old classic film goes!”

Lance groaned. “Stop retorting!”

“Then stop trying to get smart with me!” She turned to redirect her glare at him, but all her fuming anger dissipated when she saw what had him spouting nonsense. Numerous creatures were running towards them, snow-white and menacing. Suddenly, his nonsense made absolute sense.

Pidge summoned her bayard as Lance started shooting. It took only three shots from his bayard for them to realize that these creatures were made entirely of snow and were thus, basically, invincible.

For the second time in ten minutes, they both screamed, sprinting and fighting their way to higher ground.

“We’re gonna die! And not even because of Paladin stuff!” Lance whined.

Pidge scoffed at him. “Technically, they can’t harm us and we can’t harm them.” She released her grapple at an elephant-like snow creature. It reverted to its original lifeless form, hopefully permanently.

“They can bury us in snow! Our suits can’t regulate freezing temps for too long… we can die of hypothermia even if we don’t get wounded!”

“Stop overreacting, Lance. We just have to lose them and find a place to wait everything out.”

“Or—” Lance paused to evade a pouncing creature. It looked like one he’d seen in Syrma, although very malformed. “Or we could just do what Allura said and talk.”

She didn’t respond. He thought she was just finishing off the last few creatures attacking her. When she still hadn’t spoken after they’d been running for some time, he brought up his suggestion once more.

“Look, the sooner we do what we have to do, the sooner we’ll get out of here.” He caught a few breaths before continuing. “Don’t you want to go back?” he baited, if only to get a reaction out of her.

She shot him a glare. “Of course I do.”

“But…?” he encouraged, but she’d clammed up again. “What’s stopping you, Pidge?”

“I just—” she began. Her next words were interrupted by growling noises and sounds of many, many things lumbering and plodding through the thick layer of snow.

Lance and Pidge moved in sync to protect each other’s backs. Their training and survival instincts kicked in no matter how upset they were with each other. The creatures circled them hungrily—or as hungrily as their snowy features allowed.

Everything stilled in that one instant before the first of the pack leapt at the two.

“Go on,” Lance said as he shot at a three-headed alien snow creature.

“What?” Pidge asked, glancing over her shoulder.

“You were saying something.”

“Seriously? Now?”

“You said these things can’t wound us! So let’s get this over with!” More slashing sounds but no response from Pidge. “Pidge, c’mon!”

“I’m scared what you’ll say about me!”

Now he was the one to fall silent. Some alien snow Yeti charged at him. He slammed his shield into it, hearing Pidge do the same behind him.

That move seemed to keep the other creatures at bay. They circled them again with bloodlust and wariness. Lance and Pidge watched, ready for another wave of attack.

“You can go first,” Lance said at length, eyes following the wolf-like snow at the forefront of the pack.

Pidge almost whirled to face him but caught herself at the last second. “What?” She felt rather stupid having to ask the question twice within such a short period of time. Usually she was the one answering it, not the one asking. She really was out of her element in this odd situation in this unknown planet.

“You can go first,” he repeated, then shot at the snow-wolf just at it lunged at him. The others followed suit, and the fighting resumed.

His offer left her immobilized for a few moments—long enough to let a weird alien rat snow to get past her defense. A timely kick did the job, but it didn’t get rid of the sudden increase in the tension she felt.

“Pidge,” Lance grunted as he wrestled a creature near his size. “Are you… gonna do it or—?”

“You always let girls compromise our missions,” she blurted out, launching the bladed tip of her bayard to stab the snow creatures in its path.

He knocked down his current enemy before replying. “Hey, that was one time!”

“Is it?” Her doubtful tone made him reconsider as they finished off the remaining enemies and started running again.

“Okay,” he conceded, “maybe a couple times. But it’s not always!”

She moved on as if she hadn’t heard him. “Two. You act like you know everything.”

They were making their way up a hill now, jetpacks aiding their hike, Pidge watching their front while Lance guarded their back. His steps slowed at her words. “I had to. It’s the only time you correct me and I actually learn stuff.”

Pidge remained silent for a few minutes. She really didn’t want to do this. Not because she was scared of confrontations—she could deal with those—but because she didn’t want to hurt Lance and be hurt in return. She didn’t want to lose one of the only friends she had, and this talk was like the shortcut to losing one if they couldn’t work things out. At the same time, she felt the necessity of all this, for reasons yet unknown to her.

So she continued: “Three. You always protect others at the cost of your own safety.”

She heard a huff over the comms. “That’s what a Paladin does, Pidge!”

“No, Lance. That’s what someone who thinks they’re replaceable and unimportant does.”

The ensuing silence allowed them to catch the light crunching of snow to their right. Judging from the lack of obvious shuffling noises that bulkier snow creatures announced themselves with, Pidge expected this group to be more agile on average. She and Lance regained their breaths as they prepared for the next round of fighting.

Lance still hadn’t rebutted her. That fact made her uneasy. Very uneasy. “Do you… Do you think you are?”

“Just get ready for those creatures,” he replied, but his non-answer was a clear answer for her: yes. And she hated that more than his notorious self-sacrificing habit.

“I’ll change number three, then.” The first of the snow creatures showed themselves. Pidge planted her feet to the ground, lowered her posture, and re-centered her balance. “I hate that you think you’re replaceable—” She slashed at a distorted griffin-like creature. “—or unimportant—” Then garroted a six-legged creature with her bayard’s cord. “—or whatever it is you think of yourself.” Assuming he wouldn’t respond to that, she kept talking. “Four, you keep bugging me even if I want to be alone.” Another winged creature fell as snow at her feet. “Especially when I ask you to leave me alone.”

“I just can’t leave you alone.”

She frowned in confusion. “Why?”

“Because…” A few shots went off behind her. “Nobody really wants to be alone when they say they do.”

Her frown deepened. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Does to me,” he said so nonchalantly she actually heard him shrug.

They lapsed into contemplative silence as they crested the hill.

“Five,” Pidge huffed once they did. “I hate… that whenever Hunk and I run off to do something fun… I’ll turn around and not find you there.”

Lance had stationed himself atop a slab of ice a little farther in front and to her left, on the lookout for incoming enemies and a possible hideout, so she couldn’t see his reaction. She couldn’t hear anything other than his heavy breaths over the coms, either. Thinking that she’d done her worst, she sighed.

“I always thought you didn’t want me to follow.”

She jumped a bit. Both at his sudden reply and its meaning. “Why would you think that?”

“Because whenever I try to go after you guys, you’re already gone.” His voice sounded neutral and blasé, as if he was used to the fact. As if he’d already resigned himself to it.

Her heart sank at that. She made to move towards him, but her eyes caught something dark in the distance. It looked like… She gasped. “Lance, look!”

His gaze followed the direction she was pointing at, then directed the scope of his blaster for a better view. He gasped, too. “It’s an opening to a cave!”

They looked at each other with hopeful eyes and were about to set off when another pack of snow creatures emerged from the snowy woods to their right. They groaned.

“Don’t these things ever run out?!” Pidge complained as she slashed a creature in its chest.

“Guess not!” Lance shouted back, parrying a three-tiered snowman’s snow arms with his blaster.

She growled. “This is getting exhausting!”

“Here, let me rile you up,” he said, and she could tell what would come next.

Adrenaline rushed throughout her body. He’d already riled her up with just his preface; she wasn’t sure she could hear the rest without being distracted. She knew why, of course. She just didn’t ever want to admit it.

Lance took a deep breath to calm his nerves and regain his focus. He needed to keep what was left of his cool in order to fend off these annoying things and say his piece. “First thing I dislike about you…” He blasted two creatures in the head. “You never explain anything.”

The slicing noises from Pidge’s side grew aggressive following his words. “I do explain stuff!”

“Not to me,” he retorted, glaring at the next creature to attack before decimating it with a tad too many shots from his bayard.

“But you never ask anything!”

“You didn’t really—” He kept shooting even as more creatures appeared. “—make it easy for me.” Snow piled at his feet as the creatures turned back to snow. He heard her indignant huff but preempted her protest. “That’s why I always act like I know everything when I don’t know anything at all.”

It was Pidge’s turn to fall silent again. This alternating routine between them was getting funnier with every repetition. Add to that their current situation and the event that started all of this, and Lance would’ve died of the ridiculous hilarity of it all. Now if only he wasn’t one of the two exhausted people being chased by alien snow creatures.

Through a mix of strategy and luck, Pidge opened a gap for them to escape through by releasing her grapple to pierce a group of similar-looking snowies that had lined up to attack them. And they booked out of there, sprinting down the hill in the direction of the cave.

“Next,” Lance panted. Pidge didn’t react; he supposed she was too tired to respond. Understandable. He’d rather not speak when his lungs were already working overtime, too, but he knew that the only way to get back to the Castle was to have this uncomfortable discussion. And right now, he wanted nothing more than sleep in his bed cocooned in lots of blankets and pillows. “You… always run… off somewhere… I couldn’t follow.” He was still running at full speed when Pidge suddenly decreased her pace. He maneuvered mid-stride so he wouldn’t crash into her. “Hey! Why’d you—”

“Is that why you’re… not there when…?” she asked between puffs, turning towards him.

He was reluctant to meet her eyes, what with guilt and comprehension coloring her tone, so he waved a dismissive hand in front of his face. “Let’s keep running.” They could talk more later in safety. Continuing where he’d left off once they were on the move again, “Three. I hate that… you close yourself off… when something bothers you.”

All he got for that was a grunt, making him release a heavy breath.

“Yup. My point exactly.”

“My problems aren’t… your business.”

“It is if… they affect… someone important to me.”

They approached the foot of the hill with speed and caution. The cave waited for them just a hundred meters ahead, the shadowy silhouette of its mouth stark against the white blanket of snow, beckoning for them to take refuge. Get past the horde of snow creatures between them and the cave, and they would be safe in the meantime. Lance hoped that he and Pidge wouldn’t be sharing the hideout with another living thing out to get them.

A strategy formed in his mind while he studied the terrain and the rabid creatures before them. “Pidge,” he said, holding out his arm to stop her advance. “I’ve got an idea.” He felt her eyes on him, indication that he had her attention. “Let’s blast our way through their ranks. You go ahead and check if the cave is safe. I’ll clear a path for you and follow right after.”

Pidge nodded. “It’s a plan.” And she crouched, getting ready to sprint on his mark.

“I hate that you get all grumpy and violent whenever I talk about girls,” he squeezed in at the last moment. He didn’t want to dwell on it—at all. Hopefully she’d be too distracted and wouldn’t dwell on it, either. Much better if she’d ignore it completely.

“W-Wait, what?” she sputtered.

“Ready?”

“Lance!”

“Three, two, one. Go!”

Despite his blindsiding, Pidge set off without missing a beat. Quick recovery as always. That’s Pidge for you, he thought in admiration, summoning his bayard to start shooting at the creatures at the vanguard as he and Pidge charged by their twosome.

The creatures from this horde were larger than the previous ones, more agile and well-formed. It had taken Lance a rather long time to clear a path for Pidge. But the moment he did, she launched her grapple at the cave’s entrance and prayed it had something to hook to. Prayer answered. Using her jetpack, she jumped over the remaining distance that separated her and Lance from safety.

Pidge examined the dark interior as fast and thoroughly as she could with the limited light of her suit’s flashlight. She felt ill at ease having all her upgrades—developed to be useful for any contingency—overridden and deactivated on Allura’s command. Well, she could exact her revenge for being unnecessarily endangered like this later. She shone the light on every corner. Ground: devoid of snow. Walls: clear. Other end of the cave: covered with the same rocky walls surrounding her. Most importantly: no other living thing in sight. “Clear!” was her verdict.

She heard Lance’s whoop over the comms, accompanied by the crescendo of rabid growls and crushing snow. He was near; waiting on standby by the cave’s mouth to cover his entrance and get rid of the creatures hot on his heels would be best.

There was one thing she couldn’t wait about, though.

“Also, I so do not get violent or grumpy!”

“That right?” he huffed out, tone dubious. “So ‘accidentally’… hitting me when I… used to… talk about Allura—” Shots and whimpering sounds. “—and ignoring me for days… after fans ask for photos with me… are not violent and grumpy?”

Pidge fell into a sulky silence. She’d finally gained a visual on Lance’s helmet, so she directed a glare at it. It wasn’t like she could rebut anything he said, anyway.

“Like what, you jealous or something, Pidge?” he asked off-handedly, but even the comm-link couldn’t filter out the nervousness in his voice.

Her body returned to its fight-or-flight mode, and not because of creatures aiming their fangs at her neck. “Why don’t you answer your own question?”

“Don’t wanna… make a wrong answer.”

“You’ve got a fifty-fifty chance. You’d have to be unlucky to make the wrong one.”

He didn’t reply for a few moments. “Then… wild guess…” He was now close enough to the cave that she could probably lasso him if he neared the entrance a little more. “You’re jealous?” he hazarded in a hopeful tone, one he seemed to be trying—and failing—to keep away from his voice.

Pidge’s cheeks heated up at being found out. Nonetheless, she admitted to it with a very quiet “So you know.”

A shocked “—What?” went over the comms immediately after, but there was no time to elaborate. Lance had reached the effective range of her bayard. With snow creatures still close behind him, she determined that lassoing was the fastest way to get him to safety.

“I said…” Pidge activated her bayard, calculating the amount of force and timing needed to pull Lance away. “I’ll lasso you now.”

“What?!”

She aimed her bayard at him and released. Its cord wound around him a few times before the grapple hooked itself under his breastplate. Then she gave one hard yank, Lance screaming as her bayard powerfully reeled in the cord—and him—towards her.

After an instant release of his restraints, a sweeping survey of his surroundings, and quick thinking on his part, Lance shot at the hanging slabs of rock near the cave entrance. The rocks fell piece by piece, boulders sealing the creatures out and trapping the two of them in, at least until they were done with Allura’s tasks. The tasks were getting more embarrassing and difficult to do as they progress; he wasn’t sure he could go through this without the distraction of shooting at snowy things.

He could estimate Pidge’s position beside him based on the glowing marks on her armor, though he couldn’t see the expression on her face. Maybe that was why she wouldn’t turn on her suit’s flashlight or allow him to light his. Maybe that was for the best.

The silence would’ve been deafening if not for the scratching, shuffling noises outside the blockade. Neither of them spoke for a long time.

Unable to bear the tension anymore, Lance cleared his throat, which had suddenly become dry. “So… do you get jealous those times? Is-Is that why… you do what you do?”

“…I thought you already made a guess.”

“Yeah, but you have to explicitly confirm if it’s right or wrong, or it’ll stay as a guess.”

Pidge huffed. “Can’t you just infer? Why do you need explicit confirmation?” The glowing marks on her shoulders moved—probably to cross her arms.

“B-Because!”

“Yeah?”

“Because it would make it easier to say the last thing I dislike about you.”

She heaved a sigh. “Fine. You guessed right. Happy?”

His face flushed with heat and heart picked up its pace again. Physical exertion a few minutes ago and now emotional exertion? Man, he was being pushed to his absolute limits. As Pidge suggested, he inferred the rest. The happy giddiness that came with his conclusion sent his heart in a frenzy; he worried that it might burst if this went on longer, so he continued their talk.

“No, because that means you think I prefer someone else’s attention over yours.” He didn’t miss the quiet gasp that escaped her, and he couldn’t stop the grin spreading wide across his face. “I hate that you’ve convinced yourself that you’re not girly enough to be beautiful. Just being a girl is girly enough. And just because you don’t do or like what other girls do doesn’t make you any less beautiful.” Pidge’s confirmation had dispelled most of his hesitation, allowing him to be as honest and open as he wanted. “Do you even know how amazing you are? Have you seen your eyes when you’re intent on making everything go your way? Wait, of course you haven’t. But it’s like they’re alight with fire. If you saw them, you wouldn’t want to look a—”

“Wait, stop! Stop!” Pidge cut in with a flustered voice. “Can you even hear what you’re saying?!”

“Of course I can! I have ears! So please let me finish and don’t make me say all of this again!”

“No, no! I’ve heard enough—”

“But I haven’t said enough—”

“No, you have!”

“Pidge—”

“Just tell me one thing you like about me!” she cried out, finally silencing his protests. Even the shuffling sounds outside had paused at her outburst. “That’ll be enough. I’ll do the same.”

* * *

“I’ll do the same.”

“I don’t think we should be seeing this,” Keith said, face the same color as his Lion. His hand moved towards the main panel of the bridge, but it was pushed away by Hunk.

“Allura said we should keep an eye out for them—or ear. Right, Allura?” Hunk threw the question over his shoulder to where Allura stood watching from the center of the bridge, deeply engrossed with the video feed and hands clasped to her chest.

“Hunk’s right,” she replied. “But we should send Blue and Green out to fetch their Paladins.”

Coran quietly followed her command so they could all hear the rest of the conversation over the comm link. A glance at the panel screens showed that the Lions had left their hangars.

“Okay.”

* * *

“Okay. Let’s say it at the same time,” Lance suggested.

“But our answers will overlap,” Pidge argued.

“But it’s less embarrassing than saying it one at a time.”

She hummed in thought. “That’s true.” Her hands began to sweat beneath her space suit. “On three?”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“You.” “You.”

The universe stilled when she uttered her answer and heard his voice blend with hers with the exact same answer.

“Then… Then why…” she breathed out but couldn’t continue. Her lungs were short on air. Her heart thundered in her chest. Her whole body felt hot despite being in a planet frosted over with snow, breaking the rules of thermoregulation.

“Why what?” Lance asked. He sounded as breathless as she was, and the fact that she wasn’t the only one calmed her just enough to get more words to pass her lips.

“Why did you throw that first alien snowball?”

“Because… some Syrmi was getting too friendly with you, and I wanted to return your attention to me and keep it on me.” Lance knew that Pidge couldn’t see him, but he looked away in shame, anyway. All this was, in all actuality, his fault. He prepared himself for some reprimand, but Pidge’s reply caught him off-guard.

“You can just ask for it, you know?”

“I-I can?”

“…Yeah.”

“Well, can I have it now?”

“S-Sure.”

“And can I keep it?”

“As long as you want.”

Every question and answer grew more hushed than the exchange before them, until they were mere whispers, barely audible even to Pidge and Lance. Unconsciously, their hands sought each other in the dark, guided by the faint glow of their armors. With their hands intertwined, the rest of their bodies moved to follow, their heads closing the inches, centimeters, millimeters of space between them.

But then the ground shook, knocking their helmets lightly together.

“What the—?” Lance began, but Pidge shushed him.

“Listen!”

Silence from outside the cave. The shuffling noise of the snow creatures had stopped.

The ground shook again, and their hideout’s barricade of rocks crumbled. Light poured in, momentarily blinding them as their eyes readjusted. Despite their temporary loss of vision, they could feel two familiar presences waiting for them beyond the cave’s entrance. They knew exactly who those were.

Pidge and Lance grinned.

“Our rides are here, Lance!”

“Finally!”

* * *

“Alright! Lance and Pidge are a thing now!” Hunk cheered. “Which means I’ll be prepping a feast, Allura will be prepping for Pidge’s revenge—”

“I’m ready,” Allura interjected confidently and all too happily.

“Good to know, Allura. Pidge is merciless, as we’ve seen.” He turned from Allura to Keith, who was sulking in the Red Paladin’s seat with his arms crossed. “And Keith will be prepping himself to follow my command as the loser of our bet.”

“Do your worst,” Keith replied. He trusted Hunk with his life, but not so with his pride. And judging by the gleeful gleam in Hunk’s eyes and his love of pranks rivaling Pidge’s and Lance’s, there was just no telling what the guy would make Keith do for two whole months.

“Okay. You ready, Keith?” Hunk asked, chuckling in excitement. “Oh boy, this’ll be fun.”

Keith tried not to panic.

“For the next two months, I command you to…” There was a pause. It was too long for comfort. “…hang out much more with all of us.”

The penalty was so light and unexpected that it went over Keith’s head at first and didn’t sink in for a long time. It took Hunk’s huge grin, Shiro’s kind, lopsided smile, Allura’s gentle smile, and the welcoming expression on Coran’s face for Keith to succeed in processing Hunk’s command.

And once he did, he couldn’t help smiling back.

“I think I can do that.”

* * *

Lance had been hanging out with Pidge in Green’s hangar after a suspiciously celebratory dinner when he remembered something they’d missed. “We’ve never actually worked out five ways we can meet halfway,” he noted.

Pidge stopped tinkering with a prototype of an Altean version of Rover. “You’re right. It’s a good thing Allura forgot about it and let us back in.”

“Maybe she didn’t see the need for it anymore.” When she looked at him in confusion, he clarified, “Because we don’t hate each other anymore?”

“Huh.” She shrugged. “Guess it doesn’t matter now.”

Lance sat up in his chair, rolling it closer to her. “Wanna do it anyway?” he asked.

Pidge put down Rover 2.0.1 and faced him. She couldn’t really say no when he looked so eager. “Fine.”

“Okay. I won’t let girls compromise missions anymore. Unless you’re compromised. Then that’s a different matter.”

She rolled her eyes even as heat rushed to her cheeks. “I’ll make sure to explain stuff to you. But I can’t always tell when you don’t get what I’m saying, so you’ve got to ask me, too.”

“Got it. Hmm, what’s next? Oh.” He gave her a serious look. “Please try to open up when something bothers you, Pidge. You’re not alone. I won’t annoy you if I can help it,” he promised, and she believed him.

“I promise to wait for you. I won’t leave you behind again.”

“And I promise to always follow you.” He held out a pinky. She raised her brows at the childishness of it but humored him nonetheless. “Pinky promises are the real unbreakable vows.” They laughed.

“Last one,” Pidge said as her laughter faded into somberness. “You’ve got to stop putting yourself in harm’s way for others all the time.”

Lance averted his gaze. He made to turn away from her, but she’d already read his intention and so had gently cupped his face with her hands to stop him. His eyes remained adamantly trained elsewhere. Fine by her; he just needed to listen to what she had to say.

“Let’s state the facts here,” she said. “Out of billions of humans on Earth, Blue chose you. She’d waited for ten thousand years just for you to chance upon the cave she was hidden in. She could’ve chosen any of us, but she still chose you. Do you know how small your chance was? Almost nonexistent. And yet here you are, Paladin of the Blue Lion. Just from that you’re already irreplaceable.”

His eyes slowly met hers, and a thrill ran down her spine. She hadn’t known that they were this shockingly blue up close.

When did we even get this close? she wondered vaguely, too mesmerized by his eyes to give it any more thought.

“Also, as of today you’re the only person in the universe who holds my attention. You’re the sole keeper of it. If you go, all my attention goes with you.”

He released a quiet chuckle, his breath mingling with her breath. “Is that how it works?” he whispered, but she heard him loud and clear.

They were much closer now, she absently noted, and much closer when their noses touched. Her eyes fluttered shut.

“It is to me. You’re important, Lance. I can prove it.”

“Okay, prove it,” she felt him say.

She pressed her lips to his—slowly, gently but with no hesitation. Never hesitation. He kissed her back eagerly and just as gently.

The moment was brief, but it was warm. It thawed the uncertainties that had frozen her decisions and melted the fears that ran her blood cold. Somehow, she knew that she’d be okay. She knew that her path forward would no longer be as bleak.

“Believe me now?”

“Yeah.”

Pidge smiled.

Spring was on its way.

#voltronsecretsanta2k19 #voltron secret santa #nessajjewell #voltron #plance #sorry for the double tag!#writings

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answrs · 5 years

Text

Catbun Shiro AU

I promised to post my notes for this au and then never got on the desktop to do it, asdfkl sorry y’all. :x @headspacedad this one’s for you. (I reeeeeally hope this isn’t too confusing, it’s mostly a big jumble of notes for the au assembled in relative order to something resembling a plot. so uh, you’ve been warned. there’s pictures at the end though!)

Important note on setting, since I’m deathly allergic to basically anything besides the existence of characters post season 2, the whole deal with the castle is pretty malleable as a setting to me. basically, castleship wasn’t destroyed, at least not entirely. it’s disabled and most of it is too damaged to inhabit, but the lion hangars and the controls are still functional, if a bit beat up. (tbh mostly because it’s much easier than trying to juggle everyone with the lions as the only transport). so they’ll end up setting up camp close to the lions with Allura and Coran having a quick way to get to the control room to steer the castle out of any action they fall into, since the weapons/defenses are basically shot. no time travel nonsense or other funky shenanigans either, but the characters are all there.

also I’ve never written voltron before and it shows asdfkl but I TRIED AND THAT’S WHAT MATTERS

Now that’s out of the way, the actual good part of the au, the plot! :p

It happens when Allura tries to smash “their” Shiro into the clone’s body. Something goes wrong, or maybe Shiro’s soul is just so affronted by the idea of them expecting him to just... nonconsensually wrest control from an already occupied body. But he’s still being yanked back onto the mortal plane and if he doesn’t have a body his mind will die, so either subconsciously on his part or purposefully on Black’s, it rebounds into the nearest available viable occupancy.

The group watches as Allura struggles, frustratedly trying to shove “Real” Shiro into the traitor’s body, but before they can comprehend the shock and despair on her face as the tendril of essence is ripped away from her, the black lion roars and bursts away, no pilot at the helm and racing towards stars-knows-where.

It’s a small junk planet of sorts, with no obvious humanoid or sentient species. Shiro is groggy and stumbling around because there is very much something wrong with his limbs…

(the black lion seems much larger than he remembers and oh look he can see his reflection in her plating now and whoops…)

The body looking back out at him from the mirrored surface is some sort of small quadruped creature. Its fur is entirely black, or possibly a dark gray, but for the tuft of bright white on the head just like his former body’s had had. did whatever stuck him in this thing have just that sheer luck finding a body, or was that obnoxious hairstyle just inexplicably tied to his soul now-? (he can feel Black huffing her laughter in his mind, she'd had the option of a body with matching fur to her namesake color, but his quintessence had bleached his new little mane going in. or… something to that effect, at least. he'd gotten much more fluent in translating her thoughts and images into words in that void of her mind, but a year could only teach you so much with a whole universe's worth of cultural (and species) divide.)

rolling the steel grey eyes- again just like his own- or would it be former? body ("windows to the soul", a quote surfaces in his memory), he goes back to plotting out this new vessel. It's quite fluffy, but he can make out two long ears that remind him of a rabbit. the hind legs are elongated like one too, though not to the extent an Earth's species' would be, he thinks. The tail poking out just behind them is short too, but reminds him more of the grouchy old cat his grandmother kept when he was growing up. opening his mouth, the similarities to the old bobtail seem to extend to its dentition too, pointed fangs indicative of whatever species this was being at least some sort of predator. Life hadn't been kind to the former inhabitant, and not just that this body had been recently vacated. nicks are evident on an ear, and he'd bet the unkempt fur covered up at least a few scars of its own. But thankfully none of his own scars had seemingly crossed over on top of the rest. he can very much feel his (formerly) missing arm… paw? and he starts when it finally dawns on him just how much easier his breathing is without that huge scar marring the bridge of his nose.

the team arrive to find Black lying in a covered clearing of sorts, calm as can be, and shields down. nothing seems amiss but as they get closer, Lance with his sharpshooting eye is the first to spot something on Black's muzzle. with everyone on edge after the clone, even the local fauna don't get a pass from their scrutiny and they ready their weapons, but the moment a charge starts to hum the shields slam up, startling them.

(the clone = Ryou/Jiro/Taka, Shiro’d called him many things watching him from his place in Black, which is absolutely of course not just an excuse I’m making up because I can’t decide what he decides to go by so I just keep using them interchangeably sorry if it’s confusing D:)

Once the team collects Black and her finally returned passenger, Shiro absolutely is constantly sitting on Ryou's head, or riding on his shoulder, or just generally hanging out around the clone.

(Honestly, at first it's also because he's not entirely sure he trusts anyone, clone or not, not to do anything rash and he'll be damned if he's not be there to prevent another tragedy.)

(He's still rather indignant on the man's behalf, honestly, and even if he can somewhat see why the group reacted how they did he doesn't accept their actions. And he's been watching the guy through Black basically the whole time, it was so obvious to him the poor kid was being controlled against his will. Not to mention his reaction afterward, how he doesn't trust himself and is afraid of hurting anyone even tied up and literally disarmed in the back of the cockpit the group is convened in. Maybe Black has rubbed off on him with treating her chosen paladins as cubs to be protected, but he sees him almost as a little brother and it rubs him the wrong way how he's being treated by the group. So even if the comfort he can offer him is little and a bit strange, he'll chill on his leg for hours for a nap and some eventual fingers combing through his fur when the clone is finally distracted enough to not be thinking about it.)

It’s possible Shiro had been part of Black long enough to pick up how to communicate through the lion's bond, and uses it to talk to his new little brother. (It’s certainly a lot easier than constant, neverending charades)

Telling the kid to ask the others to remove the restraints, to which Jiro steadfastedly refuses, half because he's afraid of himself, the other because (to the other's confusion, since they only hear the clone talking out loud) they absolutely would not believe that the request isn't just his own and he was making it all up. Gets kind of heated because Shiro just will not let it go despite his refusal, because to him he obviously isn't dangerous and doesn't see the problem here. He's been disconnected from the problems of the living for a bit too long perhaps, and while he knows on a level there’s distrust between the team and the clone, and even the clone with himself, because he's seen the man’s soul and has known him much longer in a metaphysical sense he kinda forgets others don’t automatically see in that way.

There's one point early on, that the group first learns Shiro can (and has been) talking through the mind link to him. Lance notices the small fluffy body half inside of his bag, rummaging around through his toiletries. He’s been going crazy with all the extra fur on this body (it might even be shedding season for the creature, and it's just so. damn. ITCHY.) and he's desperate enough he’s resorted to getting the scissors he knows are hiding in there out himself. Except no one knows what he's doing and eventually break to come ask the clone if he knows what the fuck is going on and what he's trying to tell them, to which he's like, he wants you to trim down the fur?? he's been driving me insane complaining about it the past few days?? can he not tell you himself?? (he thought Shiro could and had been talking to the others just like he had been to him the whole time. and was just choosing to complain and annoy him constantly for whatever reason instead of asking them himself)

Piloting the lions in a battle the first time is... not great. There's a nearby planet being attacked and Red nothing short of demands her pilot back, allowing Blue a perfect excuse to grab Lance again, because Black's got two perfectly semi-functional pilots right here, so really, what's the problem? the paladins eventually figure since Black refuses to respond to Keith and Red is practically banging down the door to his mind while ignoring Lance that it's better to have four lions than two and fly in their original configuration, leaving Allura to pilot the remains of the castle to a safe distance since the weapons and shields are damn near useless in a fight right now.

None of the paladins would want to fly with Jiro, and he doesn't trust himself enough to do it even if they would, but Shiro can't exactly reach the controls right now and she's been out of the battle long enough and the galra are converging and ffs, Black just has to do everything herself now doesn't she... Cue a very terrifying sudden scene of his body going lax with a blank look on the poor clone's face, eyes glowing the bright yellow of the giant lion as he robotically stands up and goes straight to the awaiting lion's maw, ignoring or discarding any restraint with impossible strength as the Alteans and company scramble to stop him, only to ram into metal or shield as the lion scoops them both up, apparently tired of waiting. (They didn't notice, but the small passenger's body clinging to the material of his shirt had also gone ramrod straight, but Black is very much telling both of them to Cat Up and just get over here already)

thankfully they don't have to form Voltron, since there's absolutely no way they'd be able to just then, even if the rest of the team somehow thought only the "real" Shiro was at the controls. after the battle Black finally allows the others to enter, and en masse they burst in to find The Traitor™ sitting in the seat, lone hand on one part of the controls, Real Shiro™™ situated on his knee, paws resting on the other half. Clone is eyeing them guiltily, but not moving in order not to jostle his passenger, who’s just now turning to look at the small audience, blinking owlishly as he finally manages to disengage from Black's direct connection. (he's spent so long enveloped in that nebulous and vast mindspace he needs to remember he has a body to return to now, mismatched as it is.)

---

and now some pictures! pro-tip, turns out it’s much harder to mix together a cat and bunny than i’d ever expected like what??? ah well, have a doodle of The Fur Boi

And a little pre- vs post- haircut inspo:

#vld #vld au #vld shiro #voltron #headspacedad #mine #answrs does plotshells #how tf do you tag this #ive never written voltron before and it shows omf

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wittyy-name · 5 years

Photo

June’s Eighth Patreon Oneshot is Now Available

As part of the Special Offer I hosted in June, every patron of the $35 tier got to give me a prompt for a oneshot. These oneshots will then be patreon exclusive and available for all patrons for $3 and up. One more to go.

Prompt: Coran and Allura wake up early and go to Earth in search of the Blue Lion. Alien / human shenanigans ensue.

Canonverse - Alternate start to season one - 10,658 words From the moment she fell out of the pod, Allura knew that nothing would ever be the same. Alone in her father’s Castleship, with no one but Coran at her side, she sets out to do the one thing that she knows will save the universe from Zarkon’s tyranny: find the lions, find paladins, and unite Voltron once more.

Being the most calm and accepting of the five, they decide to find the Blue Lion first. Though they can’t pin point her exact location, they find out she’s been hidden on a far away planet called Earth, inhabited by beings who have yet to explore the universe.

Not wanting to frighten or alarm the Earthlings, Allura and Coran decide to infiltrate the closest government facility in search of information. A place called the garrison.

If you want access to this oneshot, many others like it, drabbles, early access to chapters, outlines, and other rewards, please check out my Patreon!

Reblogs appreciated! Excerpt Below…

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Ten thousand years.

Her home. Her people. Her father. Gone.

All gone.

The galra more powerful than ever. The empire still raging across the universe. Zarkon still reigning despite the long years.

It had been a lot to take in. A lot to handle. And she can’t say she did it all with grace. It had been hard. But she clung to two bright spots in the darkness that threatened to consume her: Coran and Voltron.

The fact that Zarkon hadn’t found the Lions yet is a miracle in and of itself. One that Allura fully intends to take advantage of.

She’ll continue her father’s legacy. She’ll avenge her people and take down the galra empire. She’ll set things right.

All she needs are the lions and a new team.

“What a brilliant planet to hide a Lion on,” Coran mumbles, not without some awe.

“Why is that?”

“Everything we see here,” Coran says, gesturing to the screen. “Is all new. The inhabitants of this planet have only made these technological strides in the last few millennia. At the time the Blue Lion would have been placed on this planet, it would have been wild and void of any sort of intelligent life. At least, any that Zarkon would be interested in. A primal planet, void of anything beneficial to the galra empire. Save resources, I suppose. The planet is rich in that. But there would have been no locals to help mine such resources. And all the way out here on the fringes of the universe, who knows how long it would have taken them to find it.

“And now!” He throws his arms back, grinning wide as his eyes flicker over video feeds. “The inhabitants, these humans— what a silly name— are thriving! A whole planet’s worth of civilization, built up around the Blue Lion. Without them ever knowing!”

“So none of them have found the Blue Lion?” Allura asks, curious as she makes her way to Coran’s side, brows furrowing. “Even in all this time?”

“I can’t find a single report or documentation of a mechanical Blue Lion anywhere in their recorded history. If she’s been found, she’s been kept hidden.” He turns to her then, voice softer. “Do you think you could pin point her location now that we’re closer?”

She nods. Short and quick. Decisive. Stubborn will hardening her features and pride pulling her head up high. “Yes. I’m certain I can.”

Until she had tried— prompted by Coran— she hadn’t been certain she would be able to find any of the lions. She’s never done so before. There had always been someone else— like her father— to man the ship’s helm. To tap into the sentient energy that runs through the castle ship. To hone in on the Lion’s energy and connect.

She hadn’t been sure she’d be able to, and she’d been afraid to try. But with Coran’s encouragement, she had, and it had worked. She’d felt her consciousness expand the universe. Tugged through the dark void along colored lines. Pulled toward the familiar energy of the Lions, of Voltron. All the while encouraged silently by Black, locked deep within the castle ship, consciousness not connected with her own but giving her a gentle push all the same.

She had hoped to find her father’s lion first, but Red remained a mystery. Her thread was weak and unstable. Almost unwilling to be found. But the yellow, green, and blue threads blazed. After some research, they decided to pursue the Blue Lion first. Not only was she the most accepting, but the planet she was hidden on was the furthest from galra influence.

A good place to start.

Allura nods once more, a determined and excited fire steeling her heart against the ache. “Right,” she says, short and clipped. “Let’s go find Blue.”

“Wait, princess!” She pauses on her way to the helm. “I think it would be unwise to fly the castle ship any closer to the surface, lest we be spotted.” She raises an eyebrow, and he takes a half step back to gesture to the screens. “This race… from what I’ve gathered, they’re growing, and they have potential, but they’re still young. They’ve only just started space exploration, and they’ve only barely managed to scrape the outer reaches of their own solar system. More than that, it seems they do not believe, on a wide or official scale, that intelligent alien life exists.”

Both eyebrows go up at that. “They’re ignorant enough to believe they’re alone in the universe?”

“It seems that way, princess.”

She hums, thoughtful and frustrated, eyes roaming over the display of information. They’d only gotten as close as they dared. Close enough to hack into one of the nearby roving satellites to access the network of information the planet has at their disposal.

They’re in for quite a rude wake up call, she thinks. Aloud, she says, “So if we show ourselves, it might not only cause a panic, but make getting to the Blue Lion more difficult.”

“That is my belief, princess.”

She frowns, excitement and anticipation souring into the nibbling teeth of irritation. “How should we extract her then?”

“Might I suggest some good old fashioned Altean infiltration?” There’s a mischievous gleam in Coran’s gaze. A smile playing at his lips that lifts his whole face, crinkling the crows feet at the edges of his eyes. “We can find the closest establishment to the Blue Lion’s whereabouts, and take one of the smaller cruiser pods down to the surface, leaving our ship on the dark side of the planet’s moon. Infiltrate their society. Learn about them. Find the Lion.” At Allura’s initial hesitation, he continues, “We need paladins, princess.”

“They don’t even believe aliens exist, Coran.”

“True. Perhaps they’re not made of the right stuff to be paladins, but… maybe they are. It’s a good of a place as any to begin our search.”

He has a point, and she sighs. “Very well.” She focuses in on a video taking a moment to really observe these people— these humans. She’s kept herself separated from them, mentally and emotionally, building up a wall to keep her from acknowledging a fact that makes that sore spot in her heart ache. But now, she doesn’t think she can turn from it. “Hey, Coran?”

“Yes, princess?”

“They… kind of look like Alteans, don’t they?” His features soften as he turns away from her, to the screen, and she hurries on. “I mean, obviously there are differences. Their ears, for one, are hideous. They have no markings, and from what we’ve gathered, they have none of the natural abilities we have, but…”

But they have the same basic shape. Five fingers and five toes. Similar facial features. A variety of skin tones and eye colors and hair types.

If she squints, if she ignores the obvious differences… she can almost pretend that she’s home.

“But…” She continues, softer. “They’re close enough to be comforting, don’t you think?”

Coran’s voice is merely a whisper. “I do, princess. I think it will be good to be among people again.”

And that’s when she realizes, despite all his endless enthusiasm and positive attitude, despite the strength and willingness he’s exuded, pushing them both forward, holding her spirits up... behind it all, Coran is just as lonely as she is. He has that same ache.

“Hey, Coran?”

“Yes, princess?”

“Let’s go to Earth.”

#voltron fanfiction #canonverse #canon divergence #patreon #wittyywrites

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curiosity-killed · 5 years

Text

a misadventure

@tybalt-tisk this got. so out of hand

Word count: 5108

22. Caught in a storm

For the team’s two strategists, the whole trip is a spectacular failure of planning. A back-roads trip across the state was one thing, but starting that trip at four PM on a day with ninety percent chance of thunderstorms for the next seven hours was something else entirely. And that something else was, simply put, just stupid. They’d pulled off onto the shoulder to figure out where they were since road signs were largely obscured by the pouring rain, and Shiro had shut off the car because they were approaching empty faster than they could find a gas station. And then, once they’d figured out the quickest route to a station, he’d gone to turn the car back on – and it had sat there, dead and dark as the castleship after being hit by an entire fleet. “No no no no come on,” Shiro coaxes, and gives the key a twist. For its part, the engine seems to try – it whines and almost starts to catch only to sputter out into nothing. Shiro gives one more try before slumping back, defeated. He stares at the steering wheel, hand still on the key as if he can’t quite comprehend their current circumstances.

Allura isn’t much help; they’d agreed she could drive – but only on back roads and only when there weren’t any cops or houses around. The speed limits on the roads here, in a wholly new and mostly incomprehensible unit, feel too slow after a lifetime of hyperspeed, and she has an unfortunate habit of misjudging their speed until she’s going nearly double the recommended limit. It was fine in the empty desert around Keith’s old home, but it isn’t so fine on highways with other cars around to be demolished.

“Shit,” Shiro finally says. “Is there a way to restart it?” Allura asks. Finally relinquishing the key, Shiro rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head.

“Not without another car,” he says, “and not in rain like this.” He pulls his phone from the charging port in the middle console and thumbs it on. Blue light bursts into the dark car, illuminating the way he purses his lips in an annoyed twist. “Do you have any service?” he asks, looking up. The backlight catches in his eyes with the motion, picking out bright specks till they almost look starry. Allura taps her own phone, a gift from the Garrison, and shakes her head. “Nothing,” she admits. Sighing, Shiro leans back in his seat and tilts his head back as if he’ll hear some answer from the drumming of the rain on the roof. Allura stares into the dark, trying to summon up even the faintest sketch of a plan. She knows what to do if her ship dies, knows who to contact and how and different fixes to try, but these cars are a totally different type of technology than what she’s used to. It doesn’t help that rain isn’t exactly a concern in deep space. She frowns. Cants her head and squints into the night. “Look,” she says, pointing. “There’s a light.” Shiro follows the gesture, squinting past her finger into the night. After a moment, he gives up and turns to her. “I can’t see it,” he admits. “Is it moving? Like another car?” She shakes her head. It’s a wavering thing in the rain, but the light shines steady and gold up ahead. She can’t tell how far it is – is still unused to measuring distance in something other than time – but it doesn’t seem terribly far off. “I think it’s a house,” she says. They sit on that for a moment, both staring in the same direction and mulling over the idea neither one wants to be the first to suggest. At last, Shiro reaches down and unbuckles his seatbelt. The key gets tucked into his pocket and he looks to her as his hand settles on the door handle. “Is it close enough to run?” he asks. Allura tilts her head, eyeballing the distance. They could both probably make it, she thinks, but with the weather and the mud, it’s safer not to. She says as much to Shiro and he nods. “Alright. Ready?” he asks. They duck into the rain and catch each other at the hood of the car, colliding as the mud sucks down their feet and sends Shiro sliding towards her. She catches him, laughing, and pushes him back toward the middle of the road. The rain is coming down hard enough to almost hurt now, sheets of it pouring on her head and shoulders like some goliath upending a lake on their heads.

Together, they slip and slide toward the flickering light. The road seems like it’s meant to be rocky, but most of it has turned to a custard-like consistency, with chips of gravel mixed in throughout. Within minutes, their clothes are so saturated that the water starts running straight off them and not even soaking in, and when they’re close enough to make out the outline of the house through a windbreak of feathery trees, bowed in the wind, Allura’s shoe gets caught in the goop and Shiro has to help tug her free. When they finally get her foot loose, it’s minus the shoe. “Whatever,” she says. “Come on, let’s run!” It’s a wild last sprint, their feet still sinking in too deep to get good purchase, and the rain spitting in their eyes hard enough to make them squint. When they finally reach the front door, they’re laughing and disastrous. Her hair’s gone stringy and lanky with the water, sticking to her face, and Shiro’s bangs are plastered in a white spread over his forehead. They steady each other on the front porch, finally out of the freezing torrent, and take a deep breath before Shiro reaches out to press the doorbell. There’s a minute where it seems they’ve made it all this way for no reason; the house lays silent and dark before them, no movement within. Just when Allura’s about to ask if they can just sit it out under this little roof, a light turns on inside and footsteps approach the door. A middle-aged woman opens the door, wearing a thick sweater and frowning. Her gaze runs over the both of them before falling on Allura’s ears and freezing. For a moment, Allura can see them exactly as this stranger does. Mud coats them from feet to knees and splattered up the rest of their legs. She’s wearing one battered and mud-soaked shoe, her other foot encased in a thick layer of muck that’s slowly sliding off her skin to leave a messy outline on the floor, and her ears stick out from her bedraggled hair, clearly alien. “Hi,” the woman says. “Hi,” Shiro replies, “sorry to bother you so late, but our car broke down about a half mile back and we were wondering if we could borrow your phone.” The woman follows his gesture back the way they came, as if she’ll be able to spot their little SUV alone in the dark, before turning back to them. She runs her gaze over the two of them one more time, still seemingly unconvinced, before nodding. “Alright,” she says. “Come on in.” “Are you sure? We can wait out here so we don’t track mud in,” Allura offers. The woman snorts and waves off the offer, stepping inside to hold the door open for them. “I have three kids in elementary,” she says. “Mud is nothing new.” They traipse in obediently after that, though Allura catches Shiro wincing at the tracks they leave on the dark tile. Before they leave, he’s going to offer to clean them up, she knows. Their host disappears around a corner and returns with a slim black phone that she offers out to Shiro. He has to pull out his own phone to get the rental car company’s number, and then he tucks the phone between his ear and shoulder, turning slightly away. Allura chafes at her arms, letting her gaze wander over the home while Shiro talks. She can hear voices, children’s, coming from a bottom floor though she can’t make out what they’re saying. It certainly sounds like more than three, but children seem to have the ability to impersonate a crowd even when they’re alone. “You have a beautiful home,” she remarks. The woman smiles, following Allura’s gaze around the exposed dining room and sitting area. They’re simple but clearly well cared-for: the carved wood trim looks old but recently polished, and the furniture is tidy and arranged around a fireplace built into the wall. “Thank you,” the woman says. Footsteps approach, and a second woman rounds the corner carrying towels. She offers one out to Allura first, who takes it gratefully and wraps it around her shoulders. She’s still dripping a steady puddle onto the tile, but the towel is an immediate buffer against the chill, and she pulls it tight around her. “Thank you,” she says. “We really are sorry to intrude on you like this.” The newcomer brushes off the thanks and settles in beside the first woman, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. “Don’t worry about it,” she says. “Marcia and I’ve been there before, and this weather is hell to be stuck in. I’m glad you found us at least.” The first woman, Marcia, hums and gives a little nod of assent. She only comes to the other woman’s shoulder, even with her hair pulled up high in a ponytail, but the way she’s got her arms crossed over her chest and feet set make Allura think she’s used to being underestimated. Shiro hangs up with a sigh and offers the phone back to Marcia who takes it and folds it back into her crossed arms. He turns to Allura, looking tired. “They can’t do anything till morning,” he says. It’s not a total surprise, but she’s still disappointed. That had really been their only avenue. To have it fall through makes their entire chaotic run through the rain seem worthless. “We have a guest room,” the second woman says. “Why don’t you just stay the night?” “Oh, no, we’ve already interrupted your night,” Shiro starts. “What are you going to do? Go sleep in your car?” Marcia interjects. “This way you can wash up, get a good night’s sleep, and figure it out in the morning.” Shiro subsides, shoulders bowing a little meekly, as if he’s been chastised. Allura has to bite her bottom lip not to laugh, and she turns back to the women instead. “That would be wonderful,” she says. “Thank you so much.” Marcia seems appeased, and moreso when Shiro accepts the other towel. It doesn’t reach all the way around his shoulders, but it makes a good effort. “If you want to leave your shoes here, I can take you to the room so you can wash up,” the other woman says. “I’m Casey, by the way.” Being barefoot somehow makes the muddiness of their legs that much more striking, but they leave their three shoes in a muddy little line by the door. “Thank you again, Casey,” Shiro says. “I’m Shiro and this is Allura.” Allura wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that the introduction is unnecessary - the two of them make a distinctive pair, and they’ve been on every kind of media since the war’s end - but neither Marcia nor Casey comment. Instead they form a little line as Casey leads them to the guest room and Marcia follows a step behind them. It’s on the ground floor and has an attached bathroom that seems easy enough to negotiate. There’s only one bed, but Allura brushes that from her mind. All the paladins - and Coran and Kosmo - have spent nights huddled together for warmth or comfort or lack of space. Just because it’s only her and Shiro now doesn’t make it any different. “I’m sure we have some clothes that would fit you, Allura,” Marcia says, “but I’m afraid nothing will be your size, Shiro.”

It makes sense; both of them are shorter than Allura, but she’s closer to their size - and can shift if necessary. It would take about five of Marcia to match up to Shiro’s height and breadth. “That’s alright,” Shiro says, though he has to be thinking of the duffel bags they both left in the car out in the storm. “If you want to change into a towel, we can give your clothes a quick wash at least so they’re clean and dry once you’re out of the shower,” Casey volunteers. It’s an innocent enough offer and a generous one at that, but Shiro still flushes till the tips of his ears are bright red. He mumbles out agreement and thanks, and the two women step out of the room, closing the door behind them. There are two sets of towels hanging in the bathroom, and Shiro passes her one of them as he walks around to the other side of the bed to change. Living in the kind of close quarters they have these last many years, they’ve had to change in the same room before. Still, something about this setting - the single bed, the soft lamp glow - turns them sheepish, and they turn their backs to give each other privacy. Allura can hear him tug off his clothing, the wet slap of his t-shirt falling to the ground and the quiet sound of him stepping out of his pants. She resolutely doesn’t glance back. It would be wrong, she knows, even as she wonders if he’s thinking of the same thing. When they’re both wrapped in the matching beige towels, Allura takes their wet clothing to Casey, waiting outside the door. Shiro had put up token protest, but the towel is only large enough to wrap around his waist, and she knows he hates when people stare at the scars covering his chest and back and arms. Some are gnarled and twisted beyond comprehension and some cut too precise a line to be anything but intentional surgery. Even when they’re trying to be polite, strangers can’t keep their eyes from catching on them, whether the poison-purpled knots dotting his left hip or the precise pink Y cutting across his chest and down to his navel. She doesn’t want that reaction marring this sweet little home, and so she tells him to hop in the shower instead. “We’ll get these washed and dried as quick as possible,” Casey says, taking the sopping bundle gingerly. “When y’all are done cleaning up, feel free to come out to the kitchen for something warm to drink.” Allura smiles her thanks and heads back to sit on the foot of the bed and wait. Shiro’s prosthesis sits on one of the nightstands, powered down and oddly large alone on the nightstand. It’s always seemed the right size on Shiro’s frame, but placed beside a lamp and small stack of books, it seems bigger than usual. Shiro takes a quick shower, but she still has a few minutes to sit and eye the chipped purple polish Lance painted on her toenails three weeks ago. She could shift them into any color in existence and some past the bounds of human sight, but she likes the process of painting them instead. There’s something about sitting together in their pajamas, her knees tucked to her chest and facemask drying tight on her skin, while Lance methodically strokes a new color over them. It makes her feel young, somehow, carefree even if only for an hour. The bathroom door opens. “All yours,” Shiro says. She looks up with a smile and drops her feet down from the bed to walk over. His hair’s still dripping, but it’s ruffled up on all sides from the towel. Her shower is quick and perfunctory. Mostly, she just wants to get the mud off and warm up, and scalding water achieves both goals quickly. After drying off her hair, she wraps the towel around her once more before going back to the bedroom. Opening the door, she nearly laughs aloud. In her absence, Shiro has nestled under the covers and brought them up around his shoulders until he’s only a face and a shock of white hair amidst marigold-and-tan fabric. Leaning against the door frame, Allura suppresses a smile. “Cold?” she asks. The blankets shift in a way that suggests he’s shrugged underneath them, and he grins a little, sheepish. “The towel doesn’t do a whole lot,” he answers. She snorts and walks over to hop up onto the bed, on top of the covers. She isn’t quite bold enough to join him fully, and one hand keeps a firm hold on where her towel’s tucked into itself over her chest. Still, she settles in close enough that their shoulders are touching through the blanket.

“Casey said to come out for warm drinks after we showered,” she says. Shiro hums and closes his eyes partway as if already enjoying the bliss of tea or cocoa or whatever drink. She smiles at the sight, endeared by the silliness of it. He has to spend so much of his time focused, serious, calculating odds and determining best strategies. It’s good to see him relaxed like this. It makes her relax more fully into the pillows propping them both up, settling into the warmth of their body heat. “Think she’ll return my pants first?” Shiro asks. “No, I think the two wives are going to make you walk around naked while their children are home,” Allura retorts. “Oh, so it’s only because the children are here?” Shiro replies. One side of his lips is quirked up in a grin, teasing and amused in equal parts. “Of course. Otherwise, it would just be a private show for the three of us,” she replies. “To pay for their hospitality.” “The three of you?” Shiro objects, laughing outright now. “So you get a free stay and I have to do all the work?” She hadn’t realized her slip-up till he pointed out, but she plays it off. “Well, as Coran would say, you’re the one with the sex appeal, Shiro the Hero,” she teases. That makes him fake gag, and she starts laughing, the banter broken. He grins at her laughter, and they catch each other’s eye. For a moment that should feel too long, they simply sit there smiling at each other. They’ve been here before, caught in a beat that stretches into timelessness until one of them finally looks away, but now, Allura thinks she might – There’s a knock at the door. The moment breaks as they both turn towards it, jerkily, as if startled out of a dream. It takes another beat before Allura realizes she should get up and answer it and then makes her body follow that impetus. Marcia stands on the other side with a neat stack of clothing. “Here you go,” she says. “They’re just some sweats, but we also found a set my brother left here a couple Christmases ago that might fit Shiro.” “Oh, thank you!” Allura says, accepting the stack. The whole set is ridiculously soft. “Whenever you’re ready, the kettle’s hot,” Marcia says before stepping back and letting the door close. Allura turns back to the room and holds the stack aloft as if it’s a trophy. “Clothes,” she announces. Her tongue is suddenly clumsy, as if still tangled around the words she didn’t get to say in that gilded moment. Shiro pops a thumbs-up out of the blankets and makes his way out of the cocoon to take the clothes she passes to him. Like Marcia said, they aren’t anything fancy. A pair of black sweatpants combined with a faded red t-shirt with the name of some university half-erased from the front. They’re both nubby and soft, though, and Allura sighs in relief as she gives her hair a last squeeze with the towel before hanging it back up in the bathroom. Shiro’s changed into his borrowed clothes, as well and stands rubbing the fabric of the t-shirt between his flesh fingers. He looks up when she comes back in and lets go of the fabric. “It’s soft,” he says. Neither of them have had much chance to wear - or feel - soft things recently. Their flight suits aren’t uncomfortable, but they’re utilitarian. They’re tough enough to offer protection against attacks and flexible enough to let them bend and fight and maneuver. Formalwear for all their diplomatic functions is always a little too stiff, a little too neatly pressed. Soft is something almost alien nowadays. “Tea?” she asks. A smile curls up his lips, and he gives a nod. They walk together to the kitchen, following the sound of Marcia’s quiet voice and the yellow light splashing out of the room and across the hallway. Casey’s standing by the stove, a hip leaned into the counter, while Marcia sits across from her, tucked up on a barstool. They both look up at their entrance and smile. “You look a little warmer at least,” Casey says. “Much,” Allura affirms. Marcia pats the stool next to her in invitation, and they settle in at the counter as well. There’s a small black kettle on the stove and a mug in front of Casey and Marcia both. Two others, the same watercolor navy, sit empty by the stove. “Tea or cocoa?” Casey asks. “Tea, please,” Shiro says while Allura opts for the sweeter option. Casey adds a dollop of whipped cream to the top of the cocoa like a puffy white hat, and Allura smiles as she cups her hands around the mug, delighted. Watching her, Shiro shakes his head. There’s a little smile on his lips. “I don’t get how you think that’s better than milkshakes,” he admits. “Because I saw where milkshakes come from,” Allura retorts. It’s well-worn, now, but she can still recall the horror she and Coran shared when Lance first showed them Kaltenecker’s secret. She has since been introduced to myriad dairy-based foods but the original horror still shadows milkshakes. “She’s kind of a city girl,” Shiro explains to the other two, as if they aren’t all extremely aware that Allura wasn’t from any city they might know. “Being introduced to cows can be a lot to take in,” Casey admits, but she’s smiling as if amused. Before they can say any more, there’s the pattering of bare feet up stairs and across the hall. “Mom—” A little child, with round cheeks reminiscent of a toddler, stands in the kitchen entryway, eyes wide and mouth parted. Their eyes are, undeniably, all on Shiro and Allura. “Is that – Princess Allura? and Captain Shiro?” they demand in a whisper. There’s a moment where Casey and Marcia seem posed to intervene, to cover for them and claim it’s just a coincidental resemblance. Instead, Allura lifts her hand and gives a little wave. “I am,” she admits. “Hi.” If their expression before was shock, now the child turns to limp-bodied awe. Their shoulders slump, eyes widening further still. For a moment, no one in the kitchen moves. Finally, uncertain, Allura sets down her cocoa and stands up to walk over to the child. She can’t help feeling a little ridiculous and almost sorry: this child is probably used to pictures of her in sweeping gowns or at least her paladin armor, and now she’s padding across the tile in someone else’s old sweatpants. She bends down a little and offers out her hand anyway. The child takes it tentatively, as if they aren’t quite sure it’s real.

“Hi,” Allura repeats. “What’s your name?”

“Lyra,” they answer rotely. “It’s nice to meet you Lyra,” Allura says. “Your moms are helping Shiro and I on a very important mission for Voltron.” If possible, Lyra seems even more stunned by this information. They don’t take their hand back, still gently moving hers up and down as if they’ve forgotten to let go. “Would you like to meet Captain Shiro, too?” Allura offers. The title feels funny in her mouth, not one she’s ever used. He’s always been Shiro or the Black Paladin or, rarely, in stolen moments that seem centuries ago, Takashi. Lyra nods, and Allura guides them gently to where Shiro’s stepped down from the stool and crouched so that he doesn’t tower over the child. He offers out his prosthesis, and Lyra takes it as readily as they took Allura’s hand. “Hi Lyra,” Shiro says. “It’s nice to meet you.” Lyra looks between the two of them slowly, as if trying to make sense of this situation. They look to their moms, still waiting patiently by the stove.

“Why’d you come up, Lyra?” Marcia asks. That seems to jar the kid enough that they finally let go of Shiro’s hand, though they can’t bring theirself to step away. “We ran out of snacks,” they explain. They turn back to Shiro and Allura. “It’s my birthday. Do you want to watch the movie with us?” It comes out all in one rush, and Shiro freezes before turning his head to catch Allura’s gaze. She shrugs. There is no way they can say no.

“If it’s okay with your moms, we’d love to,” she says. There’s the sound of the fridge door opening and closing, and Casey rounds the corner of the counter with a tub of grapes balanced on her palm. Allura snags her and Shiro’s mugs from the counter, passing Shiro’s to him when he straightens. Lyra latches onto his free hand to pull him down the hall and downstairs, and the rest follow. “I appreciate you humoring her, but you really don’t have to,” Marcia says quietly as they wait to file down the stairs. “I’m sure you both have more important things than watching kids’ movies.” Allura gives a little shrug and smile. “We came out here because we heard there was a giant corn palace,” she confesses. “I think this actually is the more important thing.” Marcia’s eyes go wide briefly, and she bites down on a laugh that still emerges as a smile. She gives a nod. “Alright,” she says. “That seems pretty fair.” They wind up squished into the couch with Lyra and two other children her age. Allura’s pressed into Shiro’s side, nearly on his lap, in order to fit, and Lyra squeezes in on her other side. If they were still cold from the rain, they certainly aren’t now. The movie seems to be a sort of animated fairytale, with talking animals and a captive princess. She’s not familiar with the story, but it’s easy enough to pick up. She settles in, cocoa still held in one hand and the other arm pinched between her and Shiro. Halfway through the movie, Shiro jostles her side and murmurs a quiet ‘sorry’ as he pulls his arm out from between them and stretches it up and around her shoulders. A little smile escapes her, and she rests her head on his shoulder as if it’s nothing at all. His hand falls against her arm, fingertips gently brushing back and forth over her skin. By the time the princess is returned to her family and the roguish love interest redeemed, Allura’s mug is empty and Lyra’s collapsed against her arm, fast asleep. She catches Shiro looking at her, expression all soft, and Allura smiles.

Marcia rises on quiet feet, a silhouette in the blue-lit room, and shuts off the TV. The children are carefully situated on makeshift beds on the floor, and Shiro settles a blanket over Lyra before they tiptoe out of the room after Marcia and Casey. “Thank you both,” Casey says when they’ve made it back upstairs. “It was nothing, really,” Shiro says. “Especially with how generous you have been.” Marcia shrugs. “You both have done more for the entire planet than we know, I imagine,” she says. “Universe,” Casey corrects mildly. Allura gives a sheepish smile, and Shiro rubs the back of his neck. The whole situation feels somehow much sillier now that they’re outside the comfortable darkness and fantasy of the children’s movie. Standing in their borrowed clothes with hands cupped around empty mugs, Allura can’t imagine feeling any less like a defender of the universe. They part ways shortly after, Marcia and Casey heading upstairs, presumably to their own room, while Shiro and Allura head to their own. The bed’s cool after the warm press of the couch, and they gravitate towards the middle together. In the darkness, Shiro’s hair nearly glows, and Allura reaches up to brush his bangs back from his forehead with a gentle hand. She’s tired enough, comfortable enough, that the gesture comes without thought. He presses into the motion just a little, like a cat into a caress. A smile curls up his lips, and his gaze rests warm on her face. “Sorry I got us stuck in this mess,” he says, though he doesn’t really sound apologetic. Laying here like this, Allura can hardly imagine the night going any other way. Where else would they be? Staying in some hotel room, five feet apart in separate beds after an uneventful drive through the rolling hills. It seems so bland in comparison to all this, to the warmth of this family’s farmhouse and the softness of Shiro’s gaze on her. “We wanted an adventure, didn’t we?” she asks. She trails her hand down through his hair before letting it fall to the mattress between them, aimless. That earlier moment, suspended, comes back to her, but she still doesn’t know what to say in it. Before she decides on anything, Shiro’s hand emerges from the blankets to rest over hers. His fingers slide into the gaps between hers and he gives a little squeeze. She smiles, tugging in her bottom lip under her teeth. It’s hardly a daring move, but something effervescent tingles deep in the base of her spine. “Long as it’s with you,” Shiro says.

She closes her fingers over his, rubs her thumbtip against his pinky. She doesn’t know what to say in response to that, except that, perhaps, there isn’t anything to say at all. She shifts to bring them a little closer, so that their ankles tangle together, and Shiro unfolds his arm to stretch out behind her pillow. Outside, the rain pours on, thundering into the roof and lashing against the walls. Here, nestled together in their borrowed sweats under the heavy quilt, she’s exactly where she wants to be.

#shallura #shiro #allura #voltron #voltron fic #this got just totally ridiculous im so sorry

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tiny-opal-essence · 5 years

Text

Pocket Paladin Chpt 13

Solar Flare

“I’m glad Coran found that box of doll clothes in the storage room. It’s nice having some new outfits.”

“They’re not really new if they’re 10,000 years old,” Keith commented.

“Well, they’re new to me. And they look amazing.” Lance was happy to be wearing more normal clothes. He never thought he would miss jeans so much. It was surprising that Alteans 10,000 years ago would have a similar material. The clothes were a bit big on him and the giant tags annoying, but they helped him feel a bit better about his whole situation.

“I wonder if there’s any more where these came from.” Keith thought out loud as he looked at the bin currently resting on his nightstand.

“I hope so. Maybe I can help Coran look through the storage room. Who knows what’s in there.” Lance was once again leaning over the side of the bin and digging through the different clothes. “Ooh!” He started leaning more forward to try and grab something.

“Careful, Lance. You might-”

Lance fell in the box and disappeared beneath the surface.

“-fall. Are you ok?” Keith looked but didn’t see Lance.

A few seconds later, Lance stuck his arm up above the layers of doll clothes holding something victoriously.

“Got it!” Lance made his way to the side of the bin with the piece of clothing.

“Do you need help getting out?”

“Nah, I’ve got this.” Lance tossed the clothing over the edge before reaching up. He was just barely able to grab it as he kept sinking slightly in the doll clothes. He started pulling himself up but was struggling to get over the edge. After trying for a little while, he decided to take Keith up on his offer. “Okay, maybe I could use a little help.”

Keith brought his hand down into the bin so Lance could climb on.

“Seems like those were acting like quicksand.”

“More like the pit from gymnastics,” Lance commented as Keith brought his hand down to the surface of the nightstand.

“I didn’t know you took gymnastics.”

“Only for a little bit. Never really had the upper body strength for it.”

That and there wasn’t always enough money for mi familia to pay for it.

Lance walked over and grabbed the article of clothing he had fallen in retrieving.

“Who would have thought that Alteans 10,000 years ago had hoodies? I mean, what are the chances?” Lance said as he put on the hoodie. He left it unzipped because that’s how he wore his at normal height. Also because the zipper was awkwardly large. He did notice that the jacket was slightly baggier that he was used to, but it was still comforting to have.

“It is interesting how similar some of these are to our clothes.” Keith agreed as he shifted through the items in the bin.

Lance tried not to be bothered by how easily Keith was able to dig through the doll clothes. It just reminded him of how small he was.

They continued talking for a while. Neither of them knew how things got so far or who started it, but everything they said kept building up until Lance said “At least I have a family!”

He realized just what he had said as soon as the words were out of his mouth and instantly regretted them. Before he had a chance to apologize, he found himself lifted in the air as Keith stood up. As he was brought up in front of Keith’s face, he realized that Keith had pinched the hood of his jacket between his fingers. He also noticed that Keith’s eyes were solid yellow. He *gulped* in fear as they narrowed at him.

“You don’t get to say that. You have no idea what I’ve been through!”

Lance swung a bit as Keith moved his hand slightly. Keith didn’t seem to be aware of what his actions were doing to Lance.

“Keith…You’re scaring me.” Lance didn’t even try to hide his fear.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. Everything’s all about Lance and how great he thinks he is.” Keith moved the hand pinching Lance’s jacket more, causing Lance to kick at the air as he was dangling.

Lance felt his arms starting to slip out of the jacket sleeves and quickly tried to lift himself up to not fall out of the jacket. He winced as he felt the sleeves digging into his armpits. It was a struggle to keep his arms there both because of the pain and his instincts wanting him to reach up and get Keith to let go of the jacket. The sleeves dug into his skin more as Keith swung him around again. He couldn’t help the cry that came out.

“Ahh! Keith, Stop! You’re hurting me!”

“How could I possibly be hurting you? I’m not even touching you. You don’t think what you said hurt me? Oh wait, that’s right. You never think about anyone but yourself!” Keith jerked his hand to emphasize his point. “Yeah, my family might be gone, but at least they wanted me. Yours sent you away as soon as they had the chance.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to regret his choice in words as he saw the hurt look on Lance’s face. He froze for a few seconds trying to string together an apology.

Lance was in a state of shock. Was that true? Did his family really not want him around? He was vaguely aware of Keith’s eyes returning to their normal purple color as his muscles went lax and his arms slipped right out of the jacket sleeves.

Keith snapped out of it and saw Lance falling and quickly caught him and placed him on the nightstand.

Lance was still in shock and just staring ahead blankly as he tried to blink away his tears and catch his breath.

“Lance, I…I…” Keith started reaching a hand down towards Lance but quickly retracted it. “I’m sorry.” With that, Keith ran out of the room.

The door shutting behind him is what snapped Lance out of it.

“Wait, Keith!” Lance climbed onto the floating tray and flew into the hallway, but Keith was nowhere to be seen.

Where did he go? I have to apologize for what I said.

‘Do you? Don’t forget what he said.’

Yeah, he said sorry. And I think he really meant it, so if you could shoosh so I can think, that would be great.

‘But what he did terrified you. Why should you owe him anything?’

Because what I said was wrong. I never should have said it, let alone thought it. Now let’s see. If I was Keith and I was upset, where would I go? He didn’t go to his room, cause that’s where we just were. Maybe the training deck? Yeah. Let’s try there.

Lance flew the tray down the halls hoping that he would find Keith. When he got there, he only saw Shiro.

“Hey, Shiro,” Lance called out.

“Oh, hi Lance.” Shiro avoided a blow from the gladiator bot. “Pause training sequence.” The bot froze. “What brings you here? Getting in some extra training?”

“No, I’m just looking for Keith. I thought he might have come here.”

“I haven’t seen him. Did something happen?”

“I just wanted to talk to him about something. Roommate stuff. I’ll keep looking.”

“I’ll let you know if he does come here.”

“Thanks, Space-dad.”

Shiro rolled his eyes in an amused way before going back to training. Lance flew back out into the hallway.

Okay, so Keith wasn’t there. Where else would he have gone? Well, he did say that you sedate bad thoughts with hot chocolate, so maybe he went to the kitchen? Worth a look.

When Lance got to the kitchen, he only saw Pidge and Hunk tinkering with some of the kitchen appliances.

“Hey, have you guys seen Keith?”

“I thought I saw him run past here a few minutes ago.” Hunk answered.

“Thanks.”

“Why are you looking for him anyway?” Pidge asked.

“Do I need a reason?”

“I guess not, but I’m still curious.”

“I just need to talk to him about something. Bye!”

“See ya!” they chorused as Lance flew down the hallway.

He saw that the door to the library was open and thought maybe Keith had gone in there. He went in but didn’t see Keith anywhere. What he did see was Allura sleeping at a desk with her head resting on an open book. Chulatt and Plachule were turning pages in other books on the desk while Platt had joined Allura in slumber.

Chulatt noticed Lance was there and *squeaked* while waving to him.

“I’m awake!” Allura’s head shot up, causing Platt to wake up as well.

“Hi, Allura.”

“Oh, hello Lance. Did you come to help me and the space mice again?”

“Nah, I was just looking for Keith. I was wondering if you saw him, but you were sleeping. Are you doing ok?”

“I’m just fine. I can go on a little less sleep if it brings me closer to finding a solution for your predicament. Don’t worry about me. My magic has been getting more in control. I can levitate items for a bit longer than before. It still might be a while until I learn enough to break the spell on you, but I will not rest until it is broken.”

“You probably should rest, though. You were drooling on the pages.” Lance gestured to the book Allura was in the middle of.

“I was merely resting my eyes for a moment. What time is it?”

Plachule *squeaked* an answer.

“That time already? Perhaps you’re right, Lance. A break might do me good.”

Chulatt *squeaked* again.

“Oh, really? It seems Chulatt saw Keith run past a few minutes ago.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you guys later.”

Lance was once again flying down the hallways of the castleship when he saw Coran working on something in the wall.

“Hey, Coran.”

“Lance my boy, what brings you out here?”

“Not much. What are you doing?”

“These pipes have been making some weird noises that I don’t quite like the sound of. Me and Chuchule are working on fixing them.”

Chuchule poked her head out of the wall and *squeaked* a greeting to Lance before getting back to work.

“You wouldn’t happen to have seen Keith run by, did you?”

“He ran past not a dobosh ago, but he looked upset. Do you mind telling me what happened?” Coran stopped what he was doing and turned towards Lance.

“We had a minor disagreement that got out of hand really fast.” Lance felt comfortable telling Coran what had happened. Coran was the one who hadn’t wanted to tell the others about the switch incident after all. “I said something I shouldn’t have and really hurt Keith. I’ve been trying to find him to apologize, but haven’t been able to track him down.”

“Did you check the training deck?”

“That was the first place I looked.”

“Hmmm. All I can tell you is that he ran off that way.” Coran pointed down the hall.

“Thanks, Coran.”

“Anytime, Lance.”

Lance continued down the hallway for a bit and realized he was heading towards the hanger.

Of course! Keith would go talk to Red. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?

‘Do you want the reasons in alphabetical order?’

No, shut your face.

Lance flew into the hanger and saw that Red’s force field was up.

Bingo.

Lance saw Keith sitting on Red’s front paw and talking to her while she was laying down like the sphinx. As Lance flew closer, he realized how ginormous the Lion seemed from his height.

Yeah, we can think about that later. Right now I have to apologize to Keith.

After a bit of internal debate, he decided to listen in on Keith’s conversation before letting him know he was there. He got closer and was able to hear what Keith was saying to Red while staying out of sight.

“I really messed up, Red.”

Red *purred* encouragingly.

“No, I did. I told Lance that his family didn’t want him. What kind of person says something like that? Especially to Lance. He loves his family more than life itself.”

Red let out a comforting *purr* as she rubbed her face against Keith, being careful not to knock him over.

“What he said made me so angry I couldn’t think. I just reacted. And then I didn’t listen to him when he said I was hurting him. I almost killed him because I let my anger get the better of me.” Keith brought his knees to his chest and buried his face in them. “I feel like a monster.”

“You’re not a monster.”

Keith looked up and flinched slightly at Lance’s voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you. We need to talk. Can you tell Red to lower the force field?”

“I’d rather keep it up.”

“Ok, that’s fine. But if I lose my voice yelling from all the way over here, I’m blaming you!” Lance said jokingly.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Heightened hearing, remember?” Keith pointed to his ears and twitched them slightly to emphasize.

“Oh, right. It’s cool that you can wiggle your ears like that.”

“They’re less cool when they get flattened by my helmet.”

“Guess I never thought about that. Maybe Hunk and Pidge could adjust your helmet so there’s more room.”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, but we still need to talk.” Lance got back on track. “I’m sorry for what I said. It’s a horrible thing to say to anyone, so I don’t blame you for reacting. How you reacted terrified me, not gonna lie, but…I forgive you.”

“You shouldn’t. You almost died because of me.”

“And you caught me before that could happen, so thank you.”

“Why would you thank me? I’m the reason you were falling in the first place.”

“Yeah, but you’ve always been there to catch me. So I’m going to thank you whether you like it or not!” Lance said defiantly.

“I don’t deserve it. I should have known better. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that line.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was in the system, other kids would say things like that at school. I got in a few fights because of it. It just…sets me off.”

“It’s a trigger for you, isn’t it?” Lance said softly.

“Yeah, and hearing you say that just…I saw red. It reminded me of all the times I’d heard it before.”

“I am so sorry. I never should have said or even thought that.”

“I’m the one that should be apologizing. I never should have grabbed you like that. I should have listened to you when you said I was hurting you. And what I said about your family. You told me how hard they worked to save up so you could apply to the Garrison. And then I went and said something like that. And you almost died. It just makes me feel like a monster.”

“Like I said before, you’re not a monster. You’re my friend.”

“Lance, I need you to be straight with me-”

Yeah, no can do. Cause it ain’t no lie, I’m bi bi bi.

“-did my eyes flicker yellow again?” Keith was afraid to hear the answer.

“No…they turned solid yellow.” Lance reluctantly admitted.

“I knew it,” Keith said defeatedly. “It keeps getting worse. Maybe you should room with someone else.”

“What? Why?”

“What if I lose control of that part of me and I can’t stop myself before I hurt you?”

“Keith, we’re friends. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“But-”

“Nope. Shut your face. Red? Mi feroz Roja? Can you let me in?”

Red immediately turned off the force field.

“Why did you do that?” Keith paused and listened to Red. “I know we both served as your paladin, but…” Red ended the conversation. “What did you call her?” Keith turned back towards Lance.

“I called her my fierce Red, cause that’s what she is. Fierce.”

Red *purred* happily.

“Now, come on. You look like you could use a hug, Keith.”

“…A hug would be nice.”

“Alright, bring it in.”

Keith reached for Lance but suddenly brought his hand away once it was a few inches from Lance.

“Ow!” Keith winced and shook his hand.

“Keith! Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just forgot about the force field on your floating tray when it’s in the air.”

“Right. Sorry. At least we know it works heh heh.” Lance sheepishly said as he landed the tray on Red’s front paw next to Keith.

“Yeah, at least that.” Keith put his hand down so Lance could climb on. He brought him up to his chest and held him against it like before.

“Feel any better?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, thanks.” That weird warm feeling was back. Keith wondered if Lance would be able to tell him what it was. Lance is the most emotionally intelligent of them all. But what if it was something bad? How would that make Lance feel after what had just happened? It’s better to just be silent on it for now.

Red *purred* again.

“Red wants you to know she misses you.” Keith translated.

“Aww, I miss you too, Roja,” Lance said.

“I’m actually kind of jealous.”

“Why?”

“You’re able to make strong connections with others so easily. I’ve never really been good at that. It took me almost dying for Red to accept me. You were able to walk right up to her and she let you in.”

“What can I say? I have a way with the ladies.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“It was kind of weird having to form a connection with her after Shiro was taken by the Galra. She’s a lot different than Blue.”

“I know the feeling. Having to bond with two different lions was difficult. You did good with Red. She likes you. My connection with Black wasn’t nearly as good as mine with Red. It was more out of necessity than actually being right for the position.”

“I think you did a good job. Black wouldn’t have let you pilot her if she didn’t think you were worthy.”

Red *purred* in agreement.

“*sigh* I miss being able to hear Red and Blue talk. I know they had to cut their connections with me so you guys could form Voltron while I’m fun-size, but I still miss them.”

More *purrs* came from the hanger.

“Blue wants to see you.”

“Wait, you can understand Blue?”

I thought we could only understand the other lions when they formed Voltron?

“No, but Red can tell me what she’s saying,” Keith said as he placed Lance back on the floating tray.

“Oh.”

That makes sense.

Lance looked across the hanger and saw that Blue’s eyes were lit up. She was also wagging her tail slightly.

“How could I say no to mi hermosa Azul?”

Blue started wagging her tail more. As Lance and Keith got closer, Blue laid down with her head on the ground to get closer to Lance.

“What does hermosa mean?” Keith asked.

“It means beautiful, cause she’s my beautiful Blue. I guess you could say she’s bluetiful.”

Keith looked at Lance with a confused expression on his face.

“Get it? Blue-tiful?”

Keith only looked more perplexed.

“*sigh* I love how scrunched up your face gets when you’re confused.”

Shut up brain! Why would you say that out loud?

“O…k.” Keith didn’t know how to respond to that. He still didn’t get what Lance was talking about. Why would he be purposely mispronouncing beautiful?

Blue tried to get closer to Lance. She and Red started *purring* up a storm, with Keith translating for Lance.

“Blue can’t believe how small you are.”

“Well, she’s not alone there.”

I can’t believe how huge Blue is. Can she even see me?

‘Probably not. You’re not that significant.’

Hey, nobody asked you!

Blue moved away a bit so she wasn’t as intimidating.

“Blue’s sorry for crowding you, Lance.”

“That’s alright, hermosa.”

I’ve kind of gotten used to it.

Blue continued *meowing* before Red gave a short *chirp*

“She’s worried about you.”

“Aww, that sweet of you. You don’t have to worry though. Sure, I’ve had a few close calls, but I’ve got these guys to look out for me.” Lance gestured to Keith. “I’m going to be fine.”

Keith felt a bit uncomfortable when Lance gestured to him. Even though Lance had said he forgave him, Keith couldn’t stop thinking about what he almost did. Keith didn’t feel like he should be trusted with protecting Lance.

Blue and Red started going back and forth for a while. Blue let out a *growl* and seemed to glare her eyes at Keith.

“What are they saying?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know. Red’s blocking me.”

Red was able to get Blue to stop *growling* at Keith and eventually opened up the conversation to Keith again, ending with a small *growl*

Keith *gulped* before translating “Red says that they both hope you get back to normal soon.”

“It sounds like Red said something else,” Lance commented.

“That was just for me.”

“Oh.”

Keith looked at the clock on the wall and saw what time it was.

“Looks like it’s almost time for lunch. We should get going.”

“Awww. But I want to keep talking with Blue and Red.”

“We can come back later.”

“Alright. Any idea what’s for lunch?”

“No. But Hunk’s making it, so it’s going to be good.”

“Good? I think you mean amazing! Adiós hermosa azul y feroz roja!” Lance waved at the two lions before flying the floating tray out of the hanger.

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

(Here’s what the Lions were saying. [ ] means Keith didn’t hear it)

[Oh my gosh! I thought Allura was exaggerating how small you were, but I can hardly see you!]

[Blue, you know he can’t hear you, right?]

[I know, but he’s so tiny. I just want to hug him and never let go.]

“Blue can’t believe how small Lance is.”

[You should give him some space. We’re intimidating even when he’s normal size.]

[I didn’t even think about that. Sorry, Lance!]

“Blue’s sorry for intimidating Lance.

[Are you doing ok? Are the others being nice? Do you need anything? How much longer are you going to be like this? Allura keeps telling me that she’s getting closer to a solution, but it’s not coming soon enough. When do you get to be my paladin again? I miss flying with you!]

“Blue’s worried about Lance.”

After listening to Lance’s reply, Blue felt relieved.

[That’s good. Red, why didn’t you translate everything I said?]

[We said the same thing.]

[No, you didn’t pass on what Allura told me.]

[They both know that Allura’s working on it. That didn’t need to be said.]

[But we both know Lance. He served as a paladin for both of us. You know he needs reassurance.]

[Yes, but Lance doesn’t want the others to know, and since we have to go through Keith to talk to Lance, we really can’t do that. I love my paladin, but reassurance is not his strength. It also might not be entirely well received given recent events.]

[What recent events?]

[Keith and Lance got in a fight and Keith almost seriously injured Lance.]

[HE WHAT?]

Blue glared at Keith.

[Calm down, Blue.]

[No, I won’t. Not when your paladin threatened to hurt mine!]

Blue started *Growling.*

[He was my paladin too! And there was no threatening. Things got out of hand and both of them said and did things they shouldn’t have. Both of them apologized and I can tell you that Keith is tearing himself apart on the inside for what he almost did. He cares about Lance. The last thing he would want to do is hurt him!]

Blue stopped *growling* and seemed to calm down.

[*sigh* I know that. And we both know that Lance likes Keith, so I can forgive him too. But if he ever does hurt Lance, I’m going to hunt him down.]

“Blue and I hope that Lance gets back to normal soon. Also, if you hurt him, we’ll make you regret it.”

[Looks like he got the message]

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

Allura had been flying the castleship for nearly a varga after lunch. She had to manually fly it for a few varga a day in order for there be enough residual power for it to fly on autopilot during the night. They were still heading in the same direction Lotor had been.

“Are you sure this is where Lotor went? He could have changed direction along the way.” Coran asked.

“I am quite sure. The Falleans said one of their traders had spotted Lotor’s ship coming through here. Their information has been reliable thus far.”

“I understand that princess, but this is not the safest of sectors in the universe.”

“Precisely why Lotor would go through it. To throw us off the trail. We have to go through it in order to catch up to him and see what his plan is.”

“Very well, Allura. I do wish the castle ship moved faster. Due to its size, we don’t move as fast as Lotor’s ship, which gives them an advantage. Perhaps now that I’ve fixed those noisy pipes, I can upgrade our engines.”

“I’m sure Slav has some ideas on improving our speed.”

“Hopefully he can just send blueprints and schematics. I don’t like hearing him insult my grandfather’s work.”

“Your grandfather did a wonderful job building the castleship.”

Suddenly, an alert popped up on the screen. *Warning! Nearby star experiencing elevated solar activity. Please take precautionary measures*

Allura turned on the comms in the castle ship. “Paladins to your stations! We’re about to pass through a solar flare!”

Luckily, most of them had been nearby.

“Why do you need us up here? It’s just a solar flare.” Keith wondered out loud.

“A powerful solar flare can completely wipe out electronic devices.” Hunk explained.

“And I for one don’t want to have something mess up my laptop,” Pidge added on.

“What do you need us to do, Allura?” Shiro asked.

Allura gave out orders and the others did as they were told. The wave hit, causing the entire castleship to shake. The lights flickered and the door to the bridge started opening and closing of its own accord.

Less than a minute later, everything stopped. The lights came back on and the door remained closed.

“Is everyone ok?” Shiro asked.

“Define ok,” Pidge responded.

“Wait, where’s Lance? He never came up here.” Keith pointed out the missing paladin.

“Let me check his tracker.” Pidge typed on her screen. “Looks like he’s on his tray on one of the lower levels. He’s probably just doing some exploring.”

“But why didn’t he come up here? I said everyone should come.” Allura wondered.

“Well, would Lance really have been able to do anything? The last time we let him use one of the consoles he messed up big time.” Pidge pointed out.

“And I wouldn’t want to explain to him why he shouldn’t help. He’s my best friend. I can’t do that to him, even if it’s for the good of the team.” Hunk said.

“Haven’t you been teaching him more about the consoles, Coran?” Keith asked.

“I haven’t had a chance yet. Things keep popping up. And I want to make sure I don’t offend him when I ask if he wants to know more. He thinks me and the space mice are the only ones that know about what really happened.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to find a good way to word it.” Allura encouraged.

“It looks like everything’s back to normal on the ship, but we should do a walk through on each floor just to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.” Hunk suggested.

“We should let Lance know what we’re doing. He can help us look.” Keith suggested.

“True. Hey, Lance!” Pidge called out on the castle comms. “We’re going to start checking the different floors to make sure everything’s ok after the flare. That means you too. And before you start complaining, you can start with the floor you’re on right now. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”

“Pidge, I think you’re being a bit mean. You’ve been talking down to Lance a lot.” Hunk mentioned.

“Well, I can’t really talk up to him while he’s like this, can I?”

“Pidge.” Shiro used his Space-dad voice.

“Fine. I’ll apologize after we’ve made sure everything’s working.” Pidge divided up the floors for everyone to walk through.

Coran and Allura stayed back for a moment as the others left to check on their respective floors.

“I still think you shouldn’t have told the others about what Lance did.”

“It was for the good of the team.”

“But what about Lance?”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

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

Lance was flying down one of the hallways in the lower levels of the castleship. He had his helmet with him, but he wasn’t wearing it, even though he had promised his friends he would. What could possibly hurt him with the force field on the floating tray? Besides, how else was he supposed to feel the wind in his hair? He had made sure that the others weren’t nearby.

Don’t want another lecture on safety. Shiro’s “not mad, just disappointed” line is devastating. Maybe I should ask the space mice if they want to fly around with me. I might have to bribe them so they don’t tell Allura.

‘Do you honestly think that would work? Nothing stopped them from telling Allura all about your epic failure on the last mission. Can you really trust them?’

Right.

He was near the storage room when Allura’s voice rang out over the comms. “Paladins to your stations! We’re about to pass through a solar flare!”

Lance was going to head towards the bridge but hesitated for a moment.

What if they don’t want my help?

‘There are no “ifs” about it. You heard what they said after the last mission. Besides, Allura said paladins, not paladins and Lance.’

I’m still a paladin!

‘Are you? Which lion are you bonded with again?’

None at the moment.

‘Well, there’s your answer. You’re not a paladin if you’re not bonded with a lion.’

There’s more to being a paladin than piloting a lion.

‘Really? Like what?’

Umm…

‘See? You can’t think of anything.’

Helping my friends! Which is what I’m going to go do!

Just as he was about to start driving the floating tray to the bridge, the castleship shuddered and the lights started flickering. The tray started bucking underneath Lance.

“Whoa!” Lance reached for the console but was knocked down as the tray jerked again.

Somehow his helmet had gotten wedged between the console and the tray. He tried to crawl over to get it and let the others know what was happening, but before he could, he was launched off of the tray.

No worries. The forcefield will stop me.

He flew past where the forcefield should have been.

Unless that’s not working either.

Lance barely missed slamming into the door to the storage room as it opened and closed of its own accord and for that he was grateful. That didn’t stop him from thinking about how painful a landing he was going to have.

Now I really wish I was wearing my armor. Or at least my helmet.

He saw that he was heading towards an open box of some sort. As he got closer, he realized that it was a jewelry box. He hit the open lid and bounced off into the box.

At least it was a soft landing. He winced slightly. Well, softer. Yeah, that’s going to leave some bruises. Better than being dead, so thank you weird pillow walls and lids in jewelry boxes.

Lance was laying there trying to catch his breath when he heard a *creak*. He looked up and saw the lid starting to close.

“No no no no no!” Lance tried to get up in time to stop it from closing, but he was just a second too late. He heard a *click* as darkness swept into the room.

Please don’t let that be what I think it was.

Lance got on his knees and tried to push up the lid, but it didn’t budge, confirming his fears. He had hit the lid just hard enough to get it to close and lock shut with him trapped inside.

“HEY! IS ANYBODY THERE? I’M IN HERE! LET ME OUT!” He started banging against the lid in the hopes that one of his friends would be nearby, even though he knew they were all on the upper levels. That’s why he had come down here after all. To fly on the floating tray without his helmet and his friends being none the wiser.

He realized that the box wasn’t tall enough for him to stand in, but he could still sit. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw it was not the pitch blackness he had thought at first. A small amount of light was coming in from the keyhole. He crawled over and looked through it.

He could see the door had finally decided to stay shut and the lights in the room were on.

Guess whatever that solar flare did is done.

Pidge’s voice echoed out over the comms. “Hey, Lance! We’re going to start checking the different floors to make sure everything’s ok after the flare. That means you too.”

Wait, I usually complain about things like this! They’ll realize something’s wrong when I don’t respond and come looking for me!

“And before you start complaining, you can start with the floor you’re on right now. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”

‘Doesn’t look like they’ll be looking for you anytime soon. But really, why would they bother? You got yourself locked in a jewelry box. How embarrassing.’

Yeah, well, I can get myself out. I just need to reach through the keyhole and push the pins, right?

Lance tried to do that, but his arm was too big to fit.

That awkward moment when you wish you were shrunk slightly smaller so you could get out of a situation you are in entirely because you were shrunk in the first place.

Lance worked to control his breathing as he brought his knees up to his chest next to the keyhole. In. Out. In. Out.

You’re ok, you’re ok. At least there’s light.

As soon as he thought that, the lights turned off.

Of course. The lights in the storage room are motion sensor. Great! And since I don’t have my helmet, I can’t tell the others what happened to me! This is just fantastic!

“CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?”

He kept hitting the lid as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. It hurt every time he hit the lid due to the bruises from his landing, but he kept at it, hoping that one of them might come looking for him. No such luck. He stopped pounding on the lid.

He felt like the walls were closing in, even though he couldn’t see them in the darkness.

Deep breaths. Go to your happy place, Lance. You’re at Varadero beach. The sun is warm and the water’s cool. Everyone’s there. The rest of team Voltron and your family…your family you might never see again because you died shrunk and locked in a quiznaking jewelry box! This isn’t helping!

He could feel the blood pumping through his ears faster and faster.

What if they never find me? How would they even know to look in here? They wouldn’t think that the box had been open. Sure, there’s a camera in this room, but Pidge said that it likes to short out sometimes. It probably didn’t get anything thanks to the flare.

He didn’t know how long he had been curled up in the box. His throat was starting to feel like it was closing up, making it harder to breathe.

They’re never going to find me, are they?

His breathing became more and more shallow as tears started to fall.

I’m going to die here. Alone. In the dark. And they won’t even know what happened.

Every breath in was shorter than the last.

Would they even miss me? Coran would, Hunk too. Maybe Keith, or is that just wishful thinking? Everyone else would be glad to be rid of the weak link on the team. And this way, they get rid of the problem without having to lift a finger. It’s better this way.

That was his last thought before he drifted off into unconsciousness.

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Realities without Lance: 106 (+6)

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#angst #pocket paladin #voltron #VLD #klance #g/t klance #g/t writing #g/t #Giant/tiny #shrunk #Shrinking #stories #writing #keith #Lance

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naruwitch · 5 years

Text

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 18: Collection and Extraction

Rai's fingers flew across the keyboard in a blur. His eyes were focused solely on the computer's screen. He barely even noticed that everyone else had crowded behind him to look as well. It had been three days (quintants according to the Alteans) since the massive fiasco with King Alfor's A.I. and Princess Allura had finally recovered from the Rejuvenation Ceremony on the Balmera. Now Rai was tapping into the memory data that they had managed to extract from Sendak before Lelouch had sent him off into space.

"Somewhere inside Sendak's memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon," Allura said confidently.

"I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories," Coran said with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it," Suzaku added, "but I'm not super comfortable with this either."

"I understand," Allura said before standing up straighter, "but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon."

"Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe," Rivalz grinned, already daydreaming of the battle to come.

"Anything good yet, Rai?" Lelouch asked.

Rai only sighed in frustration, "We were only able to salvage bits and pieces."

"Okay, but we need something to work with," Shirley said, sharing similar feelings of frustration, "right now, we don't even have a decent map of the Empire."

"Do we even need a map?" Kallen asked with a frown, "After ten thousand years of conquering, I could probably fire Aka's laser at like any random point in space and hit a Galra ship somewhere."

"Well, if we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one," Milly suggested.

"Hey Lelouch," Rivalz said, looking at the Black Paladin, "you have experience kicking Britannia's butt as Zero. Why can't you just do the exact same thing here? Just 'Zero up' and challenge Zarkon to a fight."

"It's not that simple, Rivalz," Lelouch said with a frown, folding his arms. "The only reason I've had so much success on Earth is because I already know the enemy so well. Most of my opponents are my own half-siblings, people I've grown up with and know on a personal level. Because of that, it's much easier to predict their movements and actions. On the other hand, we, including me, know little to nothing about Zarkon. He's been building this universal-sized empire for ten thousand years. That's longer than humanity has even been alive. We're not going to tear it down overnight with seven inexperienced-" Kallen cleared her throat loudly, and Suzaku crossed his arms with a slight frown as well, "-mostly inexperienced pilots and one support ship. The last thing we want to do right now is hit him where he lives, it'd be a huge mistake."

"Why not use your Geass on him and force him to stop?" Shirley suggested.

"I could try that," Lelouch agreed, "but there are some problems there too. I need to make direct eye-contact for Geass to have any effect, so doing that alone will be difficult enough. Also, there are too many unknowns about this situation. When I tried to use it on Sendak, he was able to counter it. Not to mention that something he said worries me."

"And that would be…?" Suzaku asked.

"When Kallen and I confronted Sendak, and I attempted Geass on him. After he countered it, he mentioned people called the Druids, saying I 'paid a visit' to them."

"Hey, now that I think about it," Rai said, turning his head back to them, "he said the same thing to me when I fought him."

"Do you know anything about this, C.C.?" Lelouch looked up at the green-haired woman.

Surprisingly, she shook her head, "This is the first time I've heard of them as well."

"So instead of getting answers, all we have are more questions," Rivalz sighed. This was starting to get frustrating for all of them.

"Okay, anyway, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus," Rai announced, turning back to the screen, Altean and Galran symbols started to appear in front of him, "Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a 'Universal Station.'"

"Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" Shirley asked, leaning over.

"Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be 'Galactic Hub,'" Rai countered.

"Or 'Space Base,'" Suzaku suggested. Everyone turned to look at him questioningly, "What?" he asked, looking confused.

"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now," Coran said as he walked over towards the primary monitor. As he pulled up the coordinates, two giant planets and a small moon appeared on the screen, but as far as they could tell, there was no sign of a Galra base anywhere.

"So... where is it?" Rivalz asked, looking confused.

"I don't know," Coran said, looking bemused. He rechecked the screens in case he put the wrong coordinates. They were correct, though. "Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates."

"Maybe he remembered it wrong?" Kallen suggested.

"Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories," Rai said as he clasped his hands together seriously.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," C.C. said.

"I agree, let's go take a look," Allura said with a determined frown.

o~o

They decided not to wormhole to the coordinates as the team had no real idea of what would be waiting for them on the other side. If they were lucky, there would be no enemy ships ready to shoot them down upon exiting a wormhole. But, they learned early on that the team was rarely that lucky, so they choose to manually fly there instead. It took several hours for the Castle to finally get within range of the coordinates that they picked up from Sendak's memories. Rivalz, Milly, and Shirley had ended up falling asleep halfway through.

"We should be close enough to get a good scan," Allura announced, shaking the trio from their slumber, "but far enough away to avoid being noticed."

The Castleship slowly crept around the first planet that oddly looked like a smaller version of their Solar System's Jupiter. As they did so, their target slowly came into focus. Located in the middle of the two planets and the moon, was a small base that seemed to be carved out of a meteorite. A couple of Galra cruisers were already lodging there, and another was slowly coming into port.

"There it is," Rai said gravely. It was a lot smaller than they thought it would be. However, considering how hard it was to locate, they couldn't dismiss the station due to size alone. There had to be something the Galra wanted to hide to have so much security around it.

"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners," Coran explained as wave patterns and other information appeared on the screen before them.

"So you can only see it if you really know where to look," C.C. observed. She chuckled slightly, "Clever."

"Huh, it's almost like a space version of the Bermuda Triangle," Kallen compared.

"From the looks of it, this place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire," Suzaku added.

"Wait, I'm confused," Shirley said, "if this place is basically just a glorified airport, why did they need to hide it?"

"There's probably more to this than what we're seeing," Milly offered.

"I agree," Lelouch nodded, "there's no reason that the Galra would go through all the trouble to hide this place if it was simply another outpost or port. Something else is happening here."

"Then, we'd better go down to take a look," Allura said as she tapped on the hologram screen. She pulled up the base closer to her. A small area around the middle of the base lit up and expanded, "We'll need to enter here: the central control building."

Suzaku blinked, before looking at Allura incredulously, "I'm sorry, Princess, did you say 'we'?"

"I'm going with you," Allura said with a determined frown, "I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Suzaku asked nervously.

"I agree with Number Two, Princess, I'd rather you stay here," Coran said.

"I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Allura glanced around as if daring one of them to protest. Most of the Paladins looked away, not wanting to catch Allura's eye.

"I'm going as well," C.C. said, "both Lelouch and Shirley are contracted with me, and I'd rather be there to make sure they survive than watch them die."

Shirley turned a small tinge of green. Despite it being quite generous of C.C. to accompany them, she still wasn't used to some of her antics, most of which were quite morbid.

"...Fine. Suit Up," Lelouch relented with a sigh.

"What?! Lelouch, you can't be serious!" Suzaku exclaimed as everyone else in the looked up at the Black Paladin in shock.

"I understand the concern Suzaku," Lelouch said calmly, "but the Princess brings up a good point. With her experience at these ports, we can find what we're looking for faster. Besides, she's not going to be alone, we'll all be there as well."

Suzaku still looked uncomfortable, and Coran looked downright horrified, but the plan was in place. And now it was time to implement it.

o~o

"We'll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Rai's modifications to Zerith, we'll have thirty seconds of cloaking," Lelouch had explained before they departed.

Zerith zoomed around the side of the planet, cloaking activating like a blanket being thrown over her. In a wide arc, she carefully landed near the rocky top of the base.

"I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst," Coran offered. "That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But, after that, it's up to you to be out of sight."

Looking down from the rocky outcropping, the base looked much bigger up close. Their destination, the central control building, as Allura called it, was right in the middle of it.

o~o

"Interference clear in three, two, one," an automated male voice ran through the control center. A single Galra soldier stood guard on top of the central platform, and down below were two sentries handling the other controls.

The Galra was bored. Nothing exciting ever happened at this base. Why was he the one stuck here handling cargo deliveries? He yawned as if to prove his point.

He then heard the entrance behind him open. He blinked and looked back, only to find that there was no one there.

"Huh?" was the only thing that came out of his mouth before something suddenly hit him in an uppercut. He went flying backward over the railing and landed unconscious down below. The two sentries immediately raised their guns, only to look around in confusion to find no assailants. They never got the chance to sound the alarm either as two blaster flashes later, they were lying crumpled on the floor as well.

Shirley sighed in slight exhaustion as her Geass turned off. Before the group had entered the control station, Shirley had used her Geass to make them all invisible, at least to the enemy's eyes. It was the most amount of people she'd had to use it on so far, and she didn't expect it to be so draining.

"Great job, Shirley!" Rai praised with a smile, "Just sit and rest for now, okay?"

Shirley smiled gratefully at the Green Paladin before doing just that, practically falling on the bottom step of the stairs and leaned against the wall.

"It seems your limit of how many you can turn invisible is higher than nine so far," C.C. observed, as that was the number of people there, including Shirley herself. "You could easily smuggle an entire strike team into any situation without detection."

"And it's a skill we will likely be using in the future," Lelouch finished, giving Shirley a nod and a smile. The Orange Paladin blushed at Lelouch's praise. It felt good to be noticed by her crush.

The group wasted no time tying the Galran up and hiding him in the upper corner, as well as move the two sentries out of the way. Rai was in the process of connecting his laptop to Rover, who was in the process of scanning the Galran station's network. Kallen and Suzaku glanced out the large windows to the center to make sure that no one spotted or noticed the assault.

"How's it look out there?" Lelouch asked.

"All clear. For now anyway," Suzaku confirmed as Kallen nodded.

"This shouldn't take too long," Rivalz said, as he helped connect the last wire to the little drone.

Rai's computer blinked to life as he started to type furiously on it, "We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes." In front of him, the screen beeped as numerous algorithms and data began swarming onto the screen. Despite the chaos, though, Rai's face didn't change. He seemed to know what he was looking for as a pixelated face of himself appeared on the screen and seemed to start laughing as data was transferred. "I made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Milly actually gave me the idea on how to do it."

"Well actually, it was more or less Nina's idea," the Yellow Paladin confessed, "but do you guys remember when we studied algorithms back at Ashford? And then Nina told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets or something like that?"

"Your point?" Kallen asked before Milly could get too carried away.

"Yeah, right, anyway, she said-"

"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt," Suzaku said before Milly could finish, "but I think we got company." A giant shadow of another Galra ship passed overhead, likely here for a delivery or pickup. It slowly lowered itself until it landed in the middle of the port.

"We should get out of here!" Kallen exclaimed as she and the other Paladins, plus Allura, Rover, and C.C. crowded around Rai and his laptop.

"Just need a few more seconds," Rai said, his typing seeming to speed up.

"Stay low. We need this intel," Lelouch ordered quietly.

The control board in front of them suddenly blinked to life as the group gasped.

"Get down!" Suzaku hissed as everyone scrambled out of the way as a screen appeared before them. Another Galra, likely the commander of that ship, was staring back through the screen. He grunted in surprise and confusion when no sentries or fellow Galra greeted him.

"What do we do?" Shirley whispered urgently. The Galra hadn't turned the transmission off. If he got too suspicious that something had happened, he could sound an alarm, and that was the last thing they needed right now.

"I think he's waiting for a signal or something," Rivalz guessed.

"Leave it to me," C.C. hissed as she stealthy dragged herself and one of the downed sentries towards the control panel. With barely a grunt, she hefted the robot to its feet and moved its elbow around as if it were pressing buttons. Due to how close the sentry was to the screen, the commander didn't see C.C.'s hand controlling it. She then somehow got to not only wave at the Galra, but also give a thumbs up. How she did that they had no idea. The Galra on the other end still looked a little confused but waved back slightly in acknowledgment before closing the transmission. The immortal sighed in relief that that had worked. She'd had to do a lot of unorthodox things on this adventure so far. Well, unorthodox, even for her anyway.

"Thanks, C.C.," Lelouch said graciously.

"Don't mention it," she shrugged. So long as everyone was still alive, she didn't really care what happened. Though, not getting captured would be a bonus as well.

"Okay, download complete," Rai announced as Rover disconnected from the control board, having gotten what they needed.

"Okay, what's it say?" Kallen asked a little impatiently.

"Nothing!" Rai exclaimed in frustration and continued to type. "This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out."

"So we basically just wasted our time," Kallen deduced with a scowl, voicing everyone's current thoughts.

"Welp, can't win them all," Milly said, "a few busts were bound to happen."

"Let's return to the Castle before we're spotted," Lelouch decided as they all got up to leave. Rivalz helped Shirley to her feet as she still was recovering from her Geass usage.

To their surprise, though, Allura spoke up, saying something for the first time since they had gotten in, "Hold on. Rai, do you know where that ship is headed?" the Princess gestured the one that literally just docked.

Though confused by the sudden request, the Green Paladin answered, "Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command."

Allura stood up straight, "That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us."

"What?!" Suzaku gasped as he and the others stood up, "No, absolutely not!"

"How are you even going to get in?" Shirley asked curiously.

"I'm going to walk right through the front," Allura smiled confidently as she takes off her helmet.

Then right before their eyes, the Princess started to change. Her dark skin became a purple color, and she grew in height by about another foot or so. Everyone stared, mouths open at what just happened.

"H-how did you do that?!" Shirley gasped, voicing everyone's question.

"The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations," Allura explained with a proud smile. "It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history."

"So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?" Milly asked, leaning in closer.

"How many different colors can you be at once?" Rai asked next, turning his attention away from his laptop for a moment.

"Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" Rivalz asked, all three leaning in, waiting for their answers.

Allura blinked a couple of times, not expecting such questions, but fortunately had answers for all of them, addressing one by one. "No, just one at a time, and I will need a change of costume. I can use his uniform as a disguise." Allura said, turning to the still unconscious Galra officer.

"You're not going in there alone," Lelouch said authoritatively.

"Excuse me? I do not need your permission," Allura fired back.

"It's too dangerous. I'm going in with you," the Black Paladin decided.

"You will stick out like a Choferiak's nose," Allura countered.

"You're going to need that nose, Princess," Rai interrupted before they could argue further. "We're still not sure how, but somehow Lelouch's Geass can interact with Galra tech," Rai then reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a flash drive. "He can interface with their systems and use this drive to gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here."

"If Lelouch is going, then so am I," C.C. said and continued before Allura could protest. "Lelouch is one of my contractors and will be in a dangerous situation. At least Shirley will be safe here with the others."

"...Fine, you can come," Allura finally relented.

"Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central," Shirley said, looking out the command center's window.

"Hold on!" Suzaku exclaimed, "How exactly are you going to get Lelouch and C.C. aboard?"

Allura, C.C., and Lelouch looked at each. That may be a problem. They needed to come up with something fast.

o~o

Lelouch honestly felt somewhat ridiculous and also embarrassed. Mainly because of how close C.C.'s… assets were to his face. A little too close for comfort. He had a feeling C.C. wasn't too happy about this arrangement either, but this was the most comfortable way that they could fit into the small cart that Allura, now disguised in the Galra's uniform, was currently carting towards the ship. Despite this, though, it seemed this plan was working as the only stop they made was, Lelouch assumed as he couldn't look up, in front of the ship.

"Move along," the muffled voice of a sentry gave before they started moving again.

Allura blew out a breath of relief as she and her cargo walked right past the guards and into the ship. The hard part (they hoped) was done.

o~o

"They're in," Suzaku announced, breathing out in relief himself as he Kallen, Milly, Rivalz, and Shirley watched the disguised trio enter. Despite that success, though, Suzaku couldn't let go of the tingling feeling on the back of his neck that this was still going to go horribly wrong.

"Hey," Kallen said, catching everyone's attention, "what do you think is in those giant containers?"

Before Allura was allowed to enter the ship, two sentries came marching down the ramp, carrying two large capsules. They couldn't tell what they were from their position, but they looked yellow and were glowing.

"Maybe… Fuel?" Shirley guessed. It seemed like the most logical answer.

"Makes sense," Milly agreed, "A base like this likely has tons of spare fuel and supplies when ships need to make an emergency landing of some sort."

"Maybe this guy will tell us," Rai said as he and Rover sat, or hovered in front of one of the sentries they disarmed and knocked out earlier, "What is coming in and out of this station?"

The sentry's front light suddenly started flashing yellow, like a warning light. "Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown," the automated voice announced as the robot then slumped forward.

Rover bleeped, sounding like he was both frustrated but also slightly mocking his fellow robot.

"I couldn't agree more Rover," Rai smirked before turning his attention back to the sentry, and typing on his computer again. "So you're not talking, huh? We'll see about that."

"Whoa, check out that guy!" Kallen suddenly said as the others, except Rai, looked back out the window. In front of both of the canisters now was a creepy-looking robed figure.

Rivalz blinked before a thoughtful frown crossed his face, "Hey, uh, this is going to sound pretty random, but… what exactly is a druid?"

"Well, if you're looking for the Earth definition, they're supposed to be priests, magicians, or even soothsayers in some ancient religions. I don't think we really use that term on Earth anymore, though," Suzaku said.

"Wait… so the Galra have a religion?" Rivalz asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Technically, any cultural way of thinking could be considered part of a religion," Milly pointed out.

"Does conquering the entire universe count?" Kallen asked sarcastically. That quickly shut that conversation right up.

Curious about the person they were making a fuss over, Rai briefly glanced out the window. When he saw the figure, he gasped. Soft yet malicious laughter rang in his ears, and several figures, all with white bird-like masks, were leaning over him. He was strapped to a table and couldn't move-

"Rai! Rai, snap out of it!" a voice brought him back to reality. He blinked as Milly's concerned blue eyes swirled into view.

"Are you okay, dude?" Rivalz asked, hovering behind the class president.

"Yeah… that guy down there, he's definitely familiar," Rai confirmed shakily.

"So… this guy is a druid then?" Shirley asked, looking out the window again.

"I don't know, but whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept a secret must have something to do with him," Kallen said, "I'm going to go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," Suzaku said, walking up behind her as she turned to leave.

The Red Paladin looked back with a scowl, "Suzaku, I'm not the sickly, frail girl you know from school. I can handle myself."

"I don't doubt that," Suzaku said, but continued on, "but if this is one of those druid people, we don't know what he's capable of. It's best to have a back-up just in case."

Kallen continued to scowl before finally letting out a forceful sigh, "Fine. Just don't get in my way."

As the two walked out of the door, Shirley looked nervously at the remaining Paladins, "They can handle themselves, right?"

"They'll be fine, don't worry," Milly said with a reassuring grin.

o~o

Meanwhile, onboard the Galra cruiser, Lelouch, C.C., and Allura glanced out from one of the hallways just as a pair of sentries walked past. From where they were, they could see the corridors crawling with robots. It was going to be challenging to get past them all.

As another sentry walked past, Allura then heard a tapping sound. Looking to the source, she saw that Lelouch's hand was pressed up against one of the walls, and his finger was tapping in a slow rhythm.

"What are you doing, Lelouch?" Allura whispered.

"I'm timing the sentries," Lelouch answered back in a low voice.

"So, you noticed as well?" C.C. asked with a small grin.

"Noticed what?" Allura asked, not quite following.

"The way the sentries walk," Lelouch explained. "Every time we've been on a Galra ship or base, I noticed that the sentries walk in a distinct pattern. Since then, I've been timing them. We should be able to sneak past them easily if it works."

"Will it?" Allura asked.

"Well, one way to find out," C.C. said as the trio turned around and scrambled down the hall just as another patrol came around the corner. They hid behind one of the outcroppings until they passed. Lelouch then led them around another corner, right before another patrol from the other side came up. The plan seemed to work as each time they heard a sentry patrol, Lelouch tapped the rhythm of their walk. Once they were gone, they would dash around another corner. No one, Galra or sentry, saw them.

o~o

Kallen's eyes narrowed as she watched the druid person lead the two sentries with the capsules down a small metal chasm. It looked like they were heading deeper inside the base. Now that Kallen got a better look at it from her and Suzaku's perch, it looked similar to a warehouse.

It didn't take long for the warehouse doors to open, and the Druid lead the sentries inside with their cargo.

As Kallen and Suzaku sprinted to keep up with them, the Purple Paladin was still shocked at how well Kallen matched his speed.

As the doors began to close, the duo leaped down after them with their jetpacks, making it in just as the doors closed behind them.

o~o

Rivalz had taken two of the wires that Rai had attached to the sentry's head and began pushing the two open ends together. This resulted in the sentry's arm wobbly being raised up and landing clumsily on its head.

He laughed as he continued to press the wires together, "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!"

"Stop torturing it, Rivalz," Rai scolded, but he couldn't help but chuckle along with Shirley.

"I'm sorry. I just…" Rivalz said before putting the wires down, "I've had a lot on my mind lately. Like, I guess I still haven't gotten over the fact that not only is Lelouch a member of the Royal Family, but he's Zero too? I mean, who would've guessed that, right?"

"He's a valiant superhero sporting, not one, but two secret identities!" Milly dramatically proclaimed. This caused everyone to laugh again.

"Okay, I think I can teach this hunk of junk to help us," Rai said as he looked up at the robot, "Would you like to help us, Mr. Robot?"

The sentry's head mechanically swiveled in Rai's direction before it started rapidly shaking its head, making a rattling sound.

"Whoops…" he muttered, turning back to the laptop. Rover let out a few beeps, sounding like laughter.

Despite the silliness happening around her, Shirley suddenly frowned sadly.

"You okay, Shirley?" Milly asked.

"Yeah, I just… I keep thinking about what Lelouch told us. About what happened to his mom and Nunnally. And their dad just threw them away like they were trash! What kind of a father does that to his own kids, Emperor or not?!"

"Yeah. I regret to admit this, but up until Lelouch told us about what he's really like, I actually kind of admired the Emperor," Rivalz admitted with a disgusted frown.

"If I ever see that son-of-a-bitch face to face, the first thing he'll get from me is a slice to the neck," Rai growled.

No one protested the action, all of them thinking about similar things. To believe that the most powerful man in their nation was capable of such cruelty towards his own family!

Speaking of family... "...You know, we've been away from Earth for a while now," Milly said. "Has anyone been keeping track of how long we've been gone?" Everyone shook their heads, they hadn't. Milly sighed, "Fair enough. I'm guessing it's at least been long enough for people to notice that we're missing. I wouldn't be surprised if our school pictures are all over the news."

"Wait, if that happens-" Rivalz started before Milly interrupted.

"Yeah, even with the little my grandpa can do to stop it, Lelouch and Nunnally's cover has probably been blown sky-high by now," Milly admitted. "Once someone from the Royal Family sees Lelouch's photo, I doubt it'll take long for them to connect the dots. Both Britannians and Japanese."

"Would the Japanese recognize Lelouch and Nunna?" Shirley asked.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't," Milly continued. "Their 'deaths' are the whole reason that Britannia suppresses Japan so severely, they think the people there killed two members of the Royal Family. If a Japanese faction got a hold of Nunnally, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to use her as a bargaining chip. Heck, Britannia itself could do it too, just like they did the first time."

There was a heavy silence for about five seconds as they all absorbed this information. Shirley, with clenched fists and a determined look on her face, then stood up. "Well then, once we're done here, I say the first thing we do is swing back to Earth and get Nunnally ourselves, quiznack to the Galra tracking us! She doesn't deserve to live a life like that! She deserves to be with Lelouch, and no one else!"

A chorus of agreement echoed Shirley's statement. Rai then thought of something else, "Hey, speaking of deserves better, we may be able to do more than just reunite them! The cryo-pods! Maybe they can heal her blindness and legs! Lelouch said her blindness was from trauma, so that means her vision should still be fixable since there's no physical damage. And if those don't work, I'm sure there's some alien species out there that have the ability or technology to help!"

"It would be wonderful for Nunnally to walk again. For her to have a normal life! Then Lelouch won't have to worry about her twenty-four-seven!" Shirley nodded immediately after.

"Haha! I'm sure he'd worry about her regardless. Still, either way, I'm sticking by Lelouch," Rivalz declared, "even if it means standing against Britannia."

Milly then pulled out her Bayard, it flashing into its kusarigama form, "For Lelouch and Nunnally!" she exclaimed, holding her weapon in front of her.

The other three quickly caught on to what she was doing and stood up with their own Bayards activated. The weapons joined Milly's as the wielder's held them up in the center of their circle.

"For Lelouch and Nunnally!"

o~o

The remains of sentries filled the hallway as the two Paladins stalked cautiously into this next room. They crouched down low to prevent the druid person from noticing them. In the room up ahead, the walls were stacked with layers of more canisters, all filled with the same liquid, yellow substance.

"What the heck?" Kallen whispered, "How many of these things do they need?"

Suzaku frowned. Something about this room sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't tell what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Then one of the capsules was brought towards the center of the room, where several outcroppings met in the middle. At the center was a giant ball of energy, trapped within a glass ball. The capsule slid into place over the top of the ball, and the yellow substance slowly started leaking out the bottom and hitting the ball. But unlike spreading out like water normally would do, it was more like one of those penny donation boxes, as the substance started swirling around and around inside of the glass. Once it hit the bottom of the orb, it began to build up, slowly filling it.

Then the Druid, standing on one of the platforms, started to move. He lifted his dark grey hands up in front of him, and then in the blink of an eye, volts of violet energy shot out from his palms and hit the orb, causing the liquid inside to turn a bright purple. The pair watched it get absorbed into the energy ball in the center of the glass as the lightning ringed about it. Finally, slowly from the bottom of the orb, heavy-looking purple liquid dripped from what almost looked like a claw. It emptied into a much smaller container waiting at the bottom and started filling up slowly.

Both Suzaku and Kallen could only watch wide-eyed at what they just witnessed.

o~o

Allura, C.C., and Lelouch finally managed to evade the sentries long enough to find what they believed to be a control panel. The only person there was a single flesh and blood Galra. And he wasn't wearing a helmet either, as it was placed to the side of him.

Lelouch smirked and just walked right in, removing his own helmet. This was too perfect! When he was right behind the Galra, he cleared his throat.

The Galra promptly turned around to see Lelouch. Before he could shout for help though, Lelouch's Geass flared to life.

"Stand guard outside this room and don't let anyone in until we're finished here," he ordered as the Geass flew into the Galra's eyes.

As the telltale red ring encircled them, the Galra relaxed and saluted to Lelouch. "Vrepit sa, sir," he replied before replacing his helmet, picking up his gun, and moving to the room entrance to stand guard, just as Lelouch ordered.

Allura watched slightly uncomfortable as the Galra seemed to mindlessly do as Lelouch commanded. She understood that was how Lelouch's power worked, but to see it in action was still unsettling.

"That should delay any more patrols that come by," C.C. said, "but we should still hurry."

"Right," Lelouch nodded as he approached the main control panel. He quickly inserted the flash drive the Rai had given him into the board, then he activated his Geass once more, but this time for a different purpose. The familiar flicker of electricity traveled down the Black Paladin's hand and into his fingers as the control panel flashed to life.

"Rai, I'm in," he said through his helmet, "start the download."

"Generating access code," Rai confirmed from back at the central command deck. His familiar pixelated face appeared on the scene in blue, and soon, several bars appeared before Lelouch. "We're in."

Before Rai could get too far into the download, though, a Galra insignia appeared on the scene and started buzzing.

"Rai, there's a problem!" Lelouch warned, a small bead of sweat trickling down his face.

o~o

"Sit tight. I'm trying to work around this," the Green Paladin reassured as he typed madly on his computer, Galra text spiraling through it.

"Rai!" Lelouch urged impatiently.

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" he replied back desperately, biting his lip in the process.

o~o

"What's going on here?" another Galra asked, walking up to the Geassed Galra. He tried to step inside, but the guard blocked him.

"No one is to enter this room until the business inside is resolved," he said monotonously.

"What? What's going on in there?" the soldier asked.

"I'm under orders not to let anyone in until the business inside is done," he repeated in the same tone. He then pointed his gun at the Galra. "If you continue to persist, I will be forced to take extreme action."

The Galra backed off, looking somewhat alarmed before he finally relented, "Fine!" he then stalked off.

Allura out a breath of relief when the soldier left. She was worried that she may have had to step in for a moment. However, it seemed Lelouch's plan was working, for now.

"Rai, hurry up," Lelouch hissed, "we nearly had our cover blown!"

"Almost done," Rai answered through gritted teeth.

o~o

Kallen's visor morphed into a built-in video camera as she began to look around the room, or facility would be a better term for it.

"Coran, you need to see this."

o~o

Kallen's video feed connected to the main bridge of the Castle. Coran gasped.

"I've never seen anything like it," he breathed.

o~o

"What is that?" Milly asked as the video was also shown to the other four Paladins still in the command center.

Suddenly, from behind the quartet, the Galra sentry finally blinked to life and answered them.

"The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe."

"Hey, what do you know, he does work for us," Rivalz grinned at Rai. Though the Green Paladin wasn't listening to his comrade. Quintessence? Why did that sound familiar?

"What?" Coran asked from the Castle, "Impossible!"

"Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements." the sentry continued.

o~o

"Hey, did you all catch that?" Shirley asked through the commlink.

"I can't believe it! They've found a new way to acquire quintessence!" Coran exclaimed.

o~o

"Okay, guys, we're going to steal some of this quint-whatever," Kallen said.

"What? We are?" Suzaku asked, looking at Kallen like she was nuts.

"We need to know more about this stuff," Kallen replied back with a hiss, "and what better way than to get it right from the source?"

Suzaku looked like he wanted to protest. This was way too risky, they could get caught! But, seeing that Kallen also did have a point, he relented.

o~o

"Hey, look," the same Galra from earlier approached the Geassed Galra again, "I really need to get in there. Can you just step aside?"

"I'm under orders not to-"

"I get that you have orders, this will only take a tick!"

Before the Galra could shove through, the Geassed one, pointed his gun at the officer and fired.

The Galra froze in shock before his hand instinctively reached for his belt, his finger pressing down on the button just as before he collapsed.

Alarms started blaring from all over the ship. The button the Galran had pressed had set them all off!

"Security alert! Security alert!" an automated female voice rang through the halls.

Lelouch ripped his hand away from the control panel and tore the flash drive from the port. He turned, and with a small pistol, he had brought with him, shot the Geassed Galra in the skull. He collapsed to the ground in a heap by his comrade. Allura ran up and pressed the door lock as they heard multiple footsteps heading their way.

"I think we're in trouble," C.C. said surprisingly calmly.

"You think?!" Allura demanded as the door started to develop dents from the multiple assailants on the other side.

Another Galra officer that heard the gunshots was attempting to break in. Before he could fire his gun again, Allura burst through the door, slamming the officer against the other wall. She then swiped the Galra's weapon away from him, arming herself with it.

Lelouch and even C.C. froze in the doorway for a moment, looking at Allura in shock. They had no idea she was really that strong!

"What?" Allura asked, confused by their faces.

They didn't have time to ask more questions, though, as a horde of sentries started shooting at them from the other end of the hall.

"This way!" C.C. shouted, dragging the Princess and Paladin down the hall.

o~o

The quintessence had just finished filling into the small container. The platform it was on slowly started moving in Kallen and Suzaku's direction. It was the perfect opportunity to take it.

Kallen leaped from her side of the wall and snatched the container off the rack, barely making a sound. Suzaku caught her before he body could slam against the wall.

"Okay, we got it, let's get out of here," he muttered.

Kallen nodded in agreement, though she did take a moment to examine the canister more closely. She had a suspicion that this stuff wasn't just used for fuel. Why else would it have to be so well hidden? There had to be another purpose behind this stuff.

"Come on-" Suzaku halted his words when he looked back into the room. The druid was gone, "Uh oh!"

"What?" Kallen asked. She got her answer as the druid appeared right behind the pair and zapped them straight across the room, Kallen lost her grip on the canister in the process. The druid promptly transported over to it and picked up the quintessence carefully as if it were a precious artifact.

"Okay! Plan B!" she exclaimed, pulling out her cestus and charging at the druid. Suzaku wasn't too far behind her with his katana at the ready.

The druid calmly set the quintessence down on another platform before vanishing into the air again when Kallen swiped at him, only to appear a couple feet away. This time Suzaku attempted to strike at it, katana swiping the air as the druid vanished again, this time behind Kallen, who tried to swipe at him back, only for him to disappear. Again.

"Quick running and fight, you coward!" She screamed as she looked around.

"Kallen, above you!" Suzaku shouted as he spotted the druid on the platform again.

The Red Paladin just barely managed to spot the druid before has was forced to dodge out of the way as a purple bolt of lightning hit where she had been just a moment ago.

Suzaku's brain momentarily screeched to a halt when he saw that. "That's just like… Lelouch!" he whispered before he was forced to dodge the lightning attack as well. Other than the coloring, the attack seemed almost identical to the attacks that Lelouch used thanks to his Geass.

The two Paladins dodged around the lightning before the two bolts collided, causing an explosion. As the smoke cleared, the Druid paused, wondering if he had disposed of them.

He got his answer as Suzaku suddenly leaped up in his jet pack from behind and attempted to kick the druid as he spun rapidly. The druid once again vanished to another platform, but Kallen had been waiting for him. With a battle cry, she swung her Bayard on what she thought was the druid's arm, only for him to block it with a flash of purple energy that seemed to grind against Kallen's weapon.

The Red Paladin gasped as the energy became too strong, and she was shot backward with a scream, agony racing up her right arm. She hit a canister of yellow quintessence hard when she landed.

"Kallen!" Suzaku shouted in alarm as Kallen curled in around her injury. She looked down at her hand, blistering and charred from the attack. A trip to the cryopod was definitely in store for her after this.

Suzaku leaped backward himself as the druid tried to fire at him again. Fresh adrenaline running through his veins as his jetpack activated and propelled him to Kallen's location.

"Rai! We need an extraction now! Hurry!" he shouted into the comm as he landed on the shelf close to Kallen.

o~o

"Rai, fire up, Zerith! We're coming in hot!" Lelouch ordered as he, Allura, and C.C. continued to run down the hall. Lelouch was quite shocked that he was keeping up with the two women, but assumed his fight-or-flight instincts had kicked in and were helping him out with that, so he didn't question it too much.

The group then screeched to a halt as two more sentries appeared in front of them, guns raised.

Allura, the only one suitably armed, lifted the gun to try and fire… only for the shot to blast in the entirely opposite direction. The blast hit one of the sentries that were pursuing them from behind.

"Wha-" Allura asked as they turned to look. Lelouch growled and turned his Geass on once more, having tossed C.C. his pistol, and zapped one of the sentries while C.C. shot the other one. After they collapsed, Allura took the fallen sentry by C.C. and flung it at the incoming robots. It collided with them, causing them to fall, but that wouldn't stop them forever.

"I thought you said you'd traveled around the galaxy. I mean, you fly a spaceship. How could you possibly not know how to hold this correctly?" Lelouch demanded as he swiped the rifle from Allura's hands and turned it around and handed it back to the Princess.

Hearing more steps behind, Allura yanked the two of them down the hall, holding the rifle right this time.

"I'm tense. This is a tense situation!" Allura explained, but before Allura could say anything else, the intercom came to life once again.

"Secure hatches. All personnel take positions for departure."

"Not good," C.C. said as they picked up the pace further.

o~o

From inside the command deck, Rai promptly unplugged the wires. He scooped up his laptop, leading the other four Paladins back towards Zerith.

o~o

Kallen and Suzaku were jumping and leaping from wall to platform as they barely dodged attack after attack from the Druid behind them. Strangely, the druid didn't seem too concerned with the fact that while he was trying to shoot the Paladins, he was partially destroying some of the quintessence that was being stored on the base also.

Suzaku, at one point, managed to leap in front of Kallen, with his shield up, to take one of the blasts. The shield absorbed the attack, but the force of it sent him flying backward and hitting Kallen. Fortunately, they managed to land on one of the shelves of quintessence. They then slid down a conveyor belt that was transporting another quintessence canister towards the center of the room.

Believing they could possibly use it as a partial shield, Suzaku stood up in front of Kallen to protect her, as he was currently the uninjured one. The druid soon appeared above them on the conveyor belt as well, hands shimmering with purple sparks of electricity.

As the canister stopped at the center of the room and the druid approached ever closer, Suzaku readied himself for what would probably be his final stand.

That turned out not to be the day he died though, as the building suddenly shook violently, causing the druid to lose balance and his attack fire just above Kallen and Suzaku's heads. It cracked open the canister instead and spilling the thick yellow quintessence all over them. However, Kallen got the brunt of it being closer to it.

From above, the ceiling exploded, forcing the druid to vanish in a retreat. Zerith's lithe form then landed right in the center of the facility, and she opened her mouth to let the two Paladins in.

"Get in!" Rai shouted from inside, "We've got to get Lelouch, C.C., and Allura!"

The two didn't hesitate as they sprinted into the mouth. As Suzaku made it in, Kallen took a moment to look back at where the druid had been standing. She growled in fury when she saw that he was gone. She finally stepped inside, and as Zerith's mouth closed, Kallen felt a tingling in her right hand, the one that had been badly burned earlier. She looked down at it, only to gasp in shock, as the yellow quintessence seemed to close in on the injury, and fresh new skin grew in its place.

"Quintessence… what the heck is this stuff?"

o~o

"This way!" C.C. shouted as they made a sharp turn down another hall dodging laser blasts from behind still.

"Formulating navigation. All crew, assume secure hyper-speed positions."

"Hurry! We can't leave once the ship goes into hyper-speed!" Allura shouted as they felt the ship vibrate as it began to lift off the ground. She had also ripped off the Galra helmet she had been wearing.

From outside, Zerith leaped onto the top of the central command tower, and the six Paladins inside watched in horror as the ship prepared to jump.

As alarms continued to blare, the trio raced into the room, C.C. slamming her hand on the door panel before sprinting to a pod. Sentries continued to fire at them as the door closed. Before they could get one of the escape pods to work, the sentries started jamming themselves into the door, trying to force their way in.

Allura rushed forward and attempted to force the doors closed, but even her strength wasn't enough for the outpouring of robots trying to bust in. C.C. and Lelouch attempted to help her as much as they could, pushing against the door with her.

Behind them though, a pod was preparing for launch, once it did, and no one was in, they'd be trapped for good and heading straight for Zarkon!

"It's taking off! Get in the pod!" Allura ordered the two humans trying to help her.

"No! We're not leaving you behind!" Lelouch shouted in protest.

The Black Paladin then yelped as he felt hands grab him by the collar of his uniform and fling him backward. He landed hard inside the pod, to see C.C. relaxing from throwing him.

"Lelouch, you can't die here!" she shouted, "Not before you prevail! Over the past and over the outcome of your own actions!"

Lelouch could only watch in horror as the pod doors closed, and the entry doors were wrenched open, and sentries swarmed to two women on the other side. Allura sighed in relief as C.C. sent Lelouch a reassuring smile before the pod took off away from the ship, its single passenger trapped inside.

Just as Lelouch's pod exited the battlecruiser, it jumped into hyperspace, taking Allura and C.C. with it.

"No… NO!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the floor of the pod as it glided smoothly towards Zerith, who floated close by, waiting to retrieve him.

After Zerith collected the pod and Lelouch exited it, he solemnly walked up to the cockpit, the other six Paladins waiting patiently for him. Upon seeing that Lelouch is the only one to enter, though, they immediately can tell something is wrong.

"Lelouch, where's Allura?" Suzaku asked, ice flowing through his veins.

"And C.C.?" Shirley added.

Lelouch had yet to raise his head as the others crowded around him in concern.

"Lelouch?" Rivalz asked anxiously. He had never seen Lelouch look so… shattered.

"They sacrificed themselves to save me," he finally whispered, barely holding back tears.

"Wait-So, they're still on that ship?!" Rai exclaimed in alarm, similar expressions on the others' faces too.

"The ship that's headed to Zarkon's Central Command?" Milly asked.

"The place you specifically said is way too dangerous for us to attack?" Suzaku asked, feeling like an ice cube had just been dropped down his back.

"It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Allura," Lelouch said, a determined and angered frown on his face, "Or C.C. for that matter."

"But, Lelouch, you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do!" Kallen reminded him, eyes wide.

"I know what I said. But now we don't have a choice," Lelouch glared back through the window into the abyss the ship disappeared into. They were correct, this would likely be the most stupid move they could ever make. But if Zarkon got Allura and C.C., it was over.

And no matter what, that could not happen.

#Fanfiction #AU #Voltron #Code Geass #lelouch lamperouge #c.c.#kallen kozuki #suzaku kururugi #rai (lost colors)#shirley fenette #milly ashford #rivalz cardemonde #princess allura #coran

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the-inept-artist · 5 years

Text

A Small Correction - PART 2

Originally posted: 11/05/2018

~oOo~

The rules were simple: keep an eye on the two paladins. Light teasing was accepted, so long as it didn't turn into forcing fate.

Pidge had bet fifteen on a month, and Hunk had placed five on the same. "Because," he reasoned as Pidge introduced the newest gambler, "unless I have a solid reason, I never go against Pidge's instinct. And on the off chance she's wrong, I don't want to lose too much."

"Coward," Pidge said jokingly as she wrote down Veronica's offer.

"I'm smart, not a coward. Trying to minimize possible losses here."

Coran had bet thirteen gak on two weeks, which roughly translated to forty dollars, so he and Veronica had unofficially teamed up, the two having the most to lose.

Shiro and Allura weren't betting. Nobody had told Shiro because they were afraid he would shut down the operation. Allura, on the other hand, would probably be too enthusiastic, giving the game away. "She went a little overboard when she found out I was a girl back when we saved the Arusians." Pidge explained.

"Wait, Allura knew before we did?" Hunk asked. "I mean, I get Shiro, he knows your family, he would figure it out. But Allura?"

"The space mice are huge snitches."

Now, the day after Pidge had set her straight, Veronica was on her way to her little brother's room in the Garrison. With new knowledge in mind, she wanted to see the crush firsthand. Reaching the door, she knocked sharply. "Just a sec!" a muffled voice called.

The door opened. "Hey, sis," Lance said in surprise. "Sorry, I was expecting Keith. We're going to race over the desert. It's been a while since we did anything just for fun."

Veronica hid a smile. "Don't worry, I won't stay long. I just want to catch up. We never really got a chance to talk, all things considered."

Lance chuckled. "Yeah. Things were pretty nuts." He opened the door wider. "C'mon in."

"Thanks." Veronica cast a quick glance around the room as she walked in. Sparsely decorated, with just a few books on the night table and blue bed covers. A stark contrast to the room covered with posters and clutter back in Cuba. But she was willing to bet twenty more dollars the amount of skin care products in the bathroom were the same.

"So, how was life in space?" Veronica asked as she sat on the bed. Lance shut the door and moved to sit beside her.

"Honestly, not all it's cracked up to be. I nearly died in an airlock failure once."

Veronica's eyes widened. "How?"

Lance went on to explain of how the castleship had been corrupted, and many other stories. Some had his big sister laughing, others had her wide-eyed and in awe, and a few caused her to tightly hug him, just to confirm he was still alive and not a cruel apparition.

"Just how many times have you nearly sacrificed yourself?" Veronica demanded, not angrily. Lance had just told her about when he knocked Allura's lion out of the way of an electric shock, taking it himself.

"Ah…" Lance thought for a moment, then gave a sheepish smile. "Lost count?"

Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. To Lance, she probably looked exasperated, but in reality, she was trying to hold back tears. "You idiot. You heroic, selfless idiot."

Lance laughed. "Sorry. I guess it's, like, ingrained in me now. If I see someone about to get hurt, I automatically run to take the hit. Paladin code, y'know?"

"Still." The siblings sat in comfortable silence. Then Veronica spoke up. "So what do you think of the others?"

"Hm?"

"The others. Your team. How close are you all?"

"Pretty close. To form Voltron, we need to have a really strong bond, not just with our lions, but also with each other."

"Yeah, so what do you think of them after living for a year in space with them?"

Lance sighed thoughtfully, zoning out, probably remembering dozens more adventures and little moments that meant so much. "Well, Shiro is always looking out for us. Not just as a leader, but also like a father. We actually gave him the nickname Space Dad after he shut Pidge out of the castle's computers to force her to get some sleep. There was a mix-up with a clone, but we eventually got the real Shiro back. The team wouldn't have been the same otherwise. We can always go to him, no matter what the problem.

"Hunk is my best friend; has been since before we found the blue lion. He's an amazing cook, which is great, since Coran sucks at making food that's actually edible. You can always trust him to point you in the right moral direction. He might get scared at times, but he won't back down. In my opinion, that makes Hunk even braver.

"Pidge is our tech genius. She can crack any code, given enough time. She also has an uncanny ability to get to the source of a problem. She notices things most of us don't, and that makes her really valuable to the team. You don't want to cross her, though. Her bayard is both cute and deadly.

"Princess Allura is somehow both delicate and kick-butt. She certainly knows more about the universe than any of us, including Coran. She took over the blue lion for me when I moved to the red lion, which honestly takes guts. It's not easy to fly into battle knowing there's a chance you won't return. The rules for Pidge apply to her as well, though; don't get her mad unless you want to be judo-flipped.

"If Shiro's our Space Dad, then Coran's our Space Uncle. At least, that's how I think of him. He's like the guy who isn't actually related to anyone, but we keep him around because he's fun and weird, in a good way. Coran sometimes has strange ways of doing things, but he certainly comes through in a pinch. Back when we had the castleship, if things got rough, we could always count on a few blasts from Coran."

Lance fell silent. Veronica gazed at him, touched. It was clear her little brother had forged incredible friendships with his teammates. But—whether intentionally or accidentally, she didn't know—he had left out the one she most wanted to hear him describe. "And…what about Keith?"

"Hang on, I'm thinking. Mullet's a tough nut to crack." Lance fell back on the bed with a fwump, arms splayed, staring intensely at the ceiling. Veronica giggled at his expression, then immediately felt like crying. She didn't think she'd ever get to see him do that again.

"All right, I got it. Keith is like a flame. He can be calm and collected, but then turn around and flare up if he feels something isn't right. He prefers to follow his instincts, which are sometimes pretty spot on. Out of all of us, he's had the roughest time. His mom is part Galra, which caused Allura to be cautious of him for a while, but she came around. He lost his dad when he was a kid, so he's had to fend for himself. Keith has some trust issues, which is understandable, but we, especially Shiro, are helping him to move on. He's got a strong sense of justice, and while his views sometimes seem selfish, he really only wants to do the best he can for the universe. And I'd say he's doing a pretty darn good job. Y'know, despite the mullet."

Veronica didn't know if it was the light playing tricks, but she could've sworn there was a faint blush on Lance's cheeks. Either way, she had never heard Lance speak so fondly of someone. "Sounds like you care for him."

Lance jerked at the sound of her voice, as if suddenly awakening from a deep sleep. "Wha—no! I don't have a crush on him!"

Veronica smirked. Gotcha. "I just said that it's sounds like you care for him. Not that you have a crush. Although, the fact that that's what your mind immediately jumped to…"

Lance paused, then narrowed his eyes at his sister. "That's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

The redness on Lance's ears and neck had nothing to do with the light this time as he whirled to face Keith, nearly falling off the bed. "Nothing!"

Veronica stifled her laughter. "Hello, Keith."

Keith nodded at her, leaning against the doorframe. "Hey, Veronica. Lance, I've been waiting by the hovercrafts for half an hour."

"O-Oh, sorry! I'll be right there." Lance said. Veronica smiled inside as she noticed the stutter. Oh, little brother. You've got it bad.

Keith looked at him curiously but left without asking questions. Lance turned to his sister, the blush fading, but not completely going away. "This does not reach Keith."

Veronica shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay."

Lance pointed a finger threateningly at her. "I mean it. If Mullet hears about any of this, I will personally sic Kosmo on you. Understand?"

"Lance, I get it. I promise I won't tell Keith." Veronica held up a hand, getting off the bed and moving toward the door. "I swear."

Her little brother stared at her for another moment before relaxing some. "All right." He left the room, presumably to catch up with Keith.

Veronica exited behind him, closing the door. Turning in the opposite direction, she set off to find the other gamblers. Lance never said I couldn't tell anyone other than Keith. Pidge'll want to hear this.

#Klance #KeithxLance #LancexKeith #VoltronLegendaryDefender #Voltron #VLD #legendaryspacegays

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vldkeith · 3 years

Text

Blackbirds

submitted by our beloved klance day!

The mission wasn’t supposed to take this long, let alone be this dangerous. It’ll be a quick two hour tops mission, Lance. You won’t have to be with Keith for that long, Lance recalls Pidge groaning. He remembers it all so clearly. All the paladins, Allura, and Coran standing in the Catsleship’s bridge, planning their next mission to gather intel on newer planets and species that may have evolved in the past 10,000 years. The group had decided that, because of the agility of the Red and Blue Lions, it would be Keith and Lance who would get to go to the not at at all dangerous icy-rocky planet of Piyak. Not at all dangerous, huh? “You still there, Keith?” Lance huffs into the intercom. “Okay dude, just stay where you’re at. Don’t move. You’re already hurt enough.” In a raspy reply, he gets the “Copy that,” from Keith.

Lance wishes he was next to Keith. Not just because he likes him, but because that would mean the mission would be going ok. Heck, they might have been on their way back by now. But it was wasn’t like that. Far from it, in fact. It all started when they were landing. Coran explained many things about Piyak’s atmosphere and surface, but it’s extremely high winds were not one of them. As soon as the Lions entered the atmosphere, they got separated. Going every which way, they had both crashed a good distance away from each other. Blue had managed to crash a bit more gracefully, but Red can’t say the same. Based on Keith’s intermittent descriptions, his lion was pretty banged up, and so was he. Like, really bad. Lance could only imagine what he must be looking like right now. He pushes the thought away and continues trekking through the terrain with the help of his jetpack. Piyak was a fairly mountainous planet, but the peaks were not steep, and ice filled the cracks of rocks and boulders. It was foggy and cloudy, which obscured his vision a little, but it wasn’t anything Lance’s helmet system couldn’t handle. So far, they hadn’t come across any significant life, and Lance hopes it will stay that way. “Lance-!” Keith suddenly shouts through the intercom. “Where are you?” “I’m here, buddy. I’m going as fast as I can. Remember, I had to first tell the team that we were stranded, and that took a bit of time. I’ve already triangulated your position,” he replies. If only he could run faster. “O-okay. I’m outside of Red now. I found a little cave and I just- ow! There’s this huge gash going down my side and it hurts. Lance, it’s getting bad-” “Woah, okay, Keith! Slow down. It’s gonna be okay. I’m almost there. Deep breaths.” A pause occurs and Lance knew it was Keith just eye-rolling at him. What was “deep breathes” gonna do? Well, Lance didn’t have a better consolation, so it would have to work for the time being. He hears a sigh and then “Copy.” —————– It wasn’t too long after before Lance spots a giant red robot cat who’s size and color contrasts it’s background. Lance basically sprints towards Red and tries to find the cave Keith was talking about. He takes a good look at the lion and understands what Keith meant by “practically dead”. She was collapsed on the ground, and many large and small scratches lined her. Coran and Hunk should probably be able to fix her. Maybe. Lance managed to enter inside, just incase there might be any useful supplies for him and Keith. Finally, he left with some bandages and an artifical lighter that could simulate the heat and look of a real fire. Lance then promptly departed from the damaged robot in search of the boy. He saw a rocky grotto nearby and started heading in that direction. Thankfully, it was the right ‘little cave’ and Lance spotted Keith almost immediately. “Keith! I’m here, Keith!” Lance crazily waves his arms up and down to capture his teammates attention. Keith finally looks up and lifts his arm a little in acknowledgement. He drifts towards the boy and sparks the fire. After it looked big enough, Lance positions himself next to Keith. Keith’s descriptions of his injuries were severely underestimated. Not only did he have a scary large wound going through his right hip, but he have several noticeable cuts and wounds all over his face and body. Keith was breathing more heavily than normal, and it looked hard for him to even keep his eyes open. Honestly, it looked like he wouldn’t make it. Lance decided that was enough thinking for now. “So, how are we holding up, Keithers?” He asks as he tries his best to wrap the bandages around Keith’s biggest wounds. “Well, you already see all my injuries and I feel dizzy, heh. I’ve been better,” he coughs. “Um, I checked the air quality. We can take our helmets off,” he points to his helmet on the ground. Lance removes his helmet, but keeps it close to him. Once he did all he could with the bandages, Lance slides to Keith’s left. Keith leans on his shoulder. “Hey, I need you to stay awake for me, okay? We have to wait for the team to get here, which shouldn’t take too long, but we never know, right?” Keith mumbles affirmatively in response. “I might die here,” he blurts out suddenly. “Don’t say that.” “But, Lance! Listen-” -CRACK hiss! Keith was interrupted by.. something. From the volume of the sound, whatever creature made it must have been large. Both of them snapped silent, eyes wide, and they shared the same horrified glance. “Stay quiet,” Lance whispers. He gets up slowly and tentatively steps towards where the noise came from. Carefully, he pulls out his bayard and the object flickers open to reveal his energy rifle. Lance pulls the weapon up to eye level and waits…. “LANCE!” He quickly turns around to see a giant, black, slim monster in front of Keith. It was definitely not friendly. It’s tongue was flicking in and out, dripping what was presumably poisonous venom. The giant bug looked ready to pounce on Keith any second. Lance starts shooting. Blam! Blam! Blam! The monster falls to the ground next to Keith, barely moving. Lance pushes it away and returns to his spot with Keith. “Well, looks like we found our ‘new and evolved’ species,” Lance sighs. “Are you okay?” Keith nods slowly, now breathing even more heavily. He squishes himself up to Lance, and Lance wraps his arm around him. “Let’s talk about something different,” Lance says. He just needs Keith to stay awake a little while longer, so keeping him talking would be the best way to go about it. ————— The two paladins converse about many things ranging from favorite candy, the garrison days, and even a few childhood memories. The fire had died down by a lot, but the lighter only works once, so the two had to resort to just body heat. Lance assumes about 50 or so minutes had passed, but there was still no signs of the Castleship or his other teammates. He had also noticed that Keith was providing a lot less to the conversation as time passed, which was worrying. “Hey, you still with me?” Lance whispers. Keith only hums in response. “You need to stay awake for a little bit longer.” “I know,” Keith mumbles. “It’s cold. My cut hurts a lot. Are you sure I can’t sleep?” Okay, Keith was really out of it. Lance tried to think of something that would at least give Keith a startle without hurting him. There was only one option he could think of. Maybe the fog of the planet was really getting to him, or maybe it was out of real desire, but Lance closed his eyes and slowly leaned over to Keith’s face, giving ample time for the other boy to push away. However, Keith didn’t do anything, and they kissed. On the lips. It was a quick kiss; not special at all. The action was enough, however, to make Keith yelp with a start. “What was that for?” Keith’s eyes were wide, but his voice was still quiet. Lance’s face flushed a bright red, and he hoped Keith couldn’t tell. Searching for the right words he replies, “I- I just needed you to wake up a little. I’m sorry. Did it help?” “I’m up now, I guess,” Keith looks away. Several silent but seemingly long minutes pass. Lance decides this needed to come to an end, otherwise Keith may be prone to close his eyes. “You know that song ‘Blackbird’? By Paul McCartney and John Lennon,” Lance asks. Maybe Keith would stay awake if had to actively sing something. “Yeah. Pretty sure I memorized it back in highschool.” “Sing it with me?” “Ok.” The two start singing. It wasn’t a perfect harmony, but it didn’t need to be that way. As long as Lance heard Keith’s voice along with his, things would be okay. “Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise” “Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes and learn to see All your life You were only waiting for this moment to be free” “Blackbird fly, blackbird fly Into the light of a dark black night” “Blackbird fly, blackbird fly Into the light of a dark black night” “Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise You were only waiting for this moment to arise..” “You were only waiting for this moment to arise,” Lance starts. He pauses and waits for Keith to say the last line with him like they were supposed to. “You were only waiting for this moment to arise,” he repeats again. Lance looks over to his side. No. No. No. No. No no no. This can’t be happening. There Keith was, eyes closed and barely breathing. Panic filled Lance. He shook Keith almost violently in to get his attention again. “Hey, Keith! Wake up, WAKE UP! KEITH PLEASE, IF YOU CAN HEAR MY VOICE, SAY SOMETHING!” Hot tears started to form and roll down Lance’s face as he attempts to wake the almost lifeless boy in arms. Keith can’t die. Not here. Not now. Lance kisses Keith again and again on his forehead, left cheek, right cheek, but nothing was working. “Wake.” Kiss. “Up.” Kiss. “Please.” Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Lance buries his face in Keith’s hair and cries. He whispers. “Please, wake up, man. I still need you.” ———- Just then, a bright, teal glow enveloped the shallow cave. Lance jerks his head around quickly and practically laughs he’s so happy. “LANCE!” “PIDGE! SHIRO! Oh thank God you’re here oh ok just take him. Slowly! Keith’s alive but that’s just about it,” Lance yells too quickly. Shiro heaves Keith up and races towards his lion. Pidge stays back to inspect the large dead monster-bug. After taking a few pictures and typing a couple things down, she drifts towards Lance. “Hey, are you ok? Any injuries?” She prompts, ready to take action. “No, I’m fine. Just a couple bruises,” Lance replies absent mindedly. He looks back to the mouth of the cave where Shiro carried Keith out. “It looks like you’ve been crying,” Pidge starts. “Is that about Keith?” “I- yeah. It is. Things got really bad, and they still are, and I don’t even know if he’s gonna be okay. Like, I know I shouldn’t be worrying; he’s in good hands now, but,” Lance pauses. He chooses his next words carefully. “He just means a lot to me, y'know?” “You mean your major crush on him?” The girl swiftly adds on. Lance turns red. “Hey! Wait, you knew about that? Am I that obvious?” “Well…” “Fine okay, maybe I do feel that way, but really, I do care about Keith so much; as a friend or otherwise.” Lance crosses his arms and looks down. He might never even get to tell Keith that. Pidge places her hand on his shoulder, “I know you do.” And just like that they’re hugging. It reminds Lance a lot of when his younger siblings used to hug him. He was taller than them, so the hug was sometimes awkward, but it still felt good. Lance squeezes Pidge tight. ————– ————– It’s been almost two weeks since the whole Piyak fiasco, and Keith was still in the cryopod. Currently, Lance is in the kitchen, trying to get the food goo ejector to, like, eject the food goo, but like always, it’s stuck again. Lance wasn’t even sure if he wanted to eat anything. He hadn’t really been that hungry lately. “He’ll be fine, son,” Coran had told him. “Keith has gone through a lot, and we can’t for sure say when he will come back out, but I’m confident in our healing technologies.” “He’s right, Lance,” Allura chirped. “Go get some rest. You’ve taken quite the beating too.” Well, Lance has been 'resting’ for the past 12 days. “Quiznak,” he mumbles to himself. “Lance! Keith woke up!,” Hunk enters the room, practically breathless. “What?! And nobody even told me! What kind of friends are you?” Lance runs up to Hunk, dropping his plate. “Listen, man. I just got the news from Coran too. Apparently he wanted to keep it a 'secret’ so we don’t overcrowd Keith when he woke up,” Hunk continues. The thought kind of made sense. “Anyways, you can go see him now. Pidge told me about your little, ahem, feelings for him.” “That little brat. Thanks, Hunk!” Lance says, but he wasn’t sure his friend even heard him because he had already dashed through the door and into the hallway. ———— If there was a record for running to someone’s room the fastest, Lance was sure he had beat it. The distance from the main kitchen to the paladins’ bedroom hallway was pretty lengthy, but Lance had managed to get there in no time. He slowed down after reaching his bedroom door to catch his breath. He still didn’t know why Keith had chosen the bedroom right next to Lance’s, but he was grateful that he didn’t have to walk much further. He rehersed his lines in his head, so he was to remain as smooth as possible, and approached the door. Knock! Toc! Toc! “Come in.” The door wooshed open, and Lance slowly approached Keith. It was dark inside, save for the faint teal lights lining the ceiling corners. The boy was laying down on his bed, covers pulled up over him, as if he was about to fall asleep. “I’m sorry,” Lance starts. “Did I catch you at a bad time?” “No, its fine,” Keith sits himself upright, and Lance positions himself on the bed in a way that he was facing Keith, but his legs still touched the ground. “How are you feeling?” “Much better,” Keith sighs. “I guess there really is nothing a good two weeks in the cryopod can’t fix. I have a huge scar on my side where that bad cut was though.” An awkward silence follows. “Um, thanks for staying with me on the planet, by the way. I definitely would have died if it wasn’t for you,” Keith continues. He crosses his arms and looks down. Lance didn’t really try to make eye contact either. “No problem, dude. I mean, who would I be if I wasn’t the one saving your butt all the time?” Lance smiles. Maybe he can lighten up this awkward tension. “Oh, Lance!” Keith plays along, placing his hand dramatically his forehead. “You’re my hero!” They laugh a little and now the silence that followed from that exchange was a little more bearable. “I guess I should go, huh? Mr. Keithy needs his beauty rest,” Lance sighs, still keeping up his playful tone. He goes to stand up when suddenly Keith’s hand grabs on to his. “Wait,” Keith blurts. “Can you stay?” “Hmm? Why?” Lance sits back down and moves a little closer to Keith. Keith let’s Lance’s hand go and shifts a little. Even in the faint light, Lance could see the pink that suddenly lined the other boy’s face. “I want you.” “Dude, I’m like, right here.” “No, I mean. I want us.” “Us?” “Look, on that planet, Piyak, I was so scared that I was gonna die, but I was even more scared that I wouldn’t be able to tell you that-” “You like me,” Lance finishes. He takes Keith’s hand again. “Yeah,” Keith admits. “This is gonna sound really stupid, but I think I want be your boyfriend or something. I don’t know.” He squeezes Lance’s hand tighter. “Hmm, maybe that can happen,” Lance smirks. “Look at me for a second?” Keith glances up. Lance leans forwards, and placing his hand under the other boy’s chin, he kisses him. For real. Unlike on Piyak, this was a special kiss. It was long and warm and comfortable. Lance doesn’t even know how to describe it, only that he just doesn’t want it to stop. They part away. “That was,” Keith begins. “That was wow.” “'Wow’? Is that all you have to say?” Lance smirks. “I was thinking something along the lines of 'wonderfully amazing’, but now that just sounds cheesy.” “You ARE cheesy, Mr. 'Look At Me For A Second’. I mean come on!” Keith is now actually laughing and burying his face in his face. “Shut up shut up! I’m a romantic at heart, okay?” Lance giggles along with him. Honestly, he didn’t mind being called cheesy when it came to Keith. Hearing his laugh was kinda worth it. Hmm, maybe Lance was actually a little cheesy. Keith’s laughter dies down, and he finally looks up again. “Does this mean you will stay with me?” “Pfft, as if I was gonna say no. Move over a little. I’ll spoon you.” Keith gives the okay, and scooches to the left, facing the wall. Lance lays down right beside him and pulls the thick blanket over both him and Keith. He wraps his arm around the boy. Its really warm, actually, and it makes Lance get a little tingly in his stomach. Everything sort of drifts away in a sense. Like there is nothing else in the universe but him and Keith. Lance likes that thought. “You comfy?” He mumbles into Keith’s hair. “Mhm” “Good night.” “'Night.” “Did you know that I really like you?” “Lance, I swear to God.” “Okay, okay. Sleeping mode activated.” And with that, Lance closes his eyes. He wouldn’t mind spending all of eternity like this. Not one bit. -Klance Day

#klance #voltron #klance fanfiction #klance fanfic #I LOVE ITTTTT ITS SO CUTE 🥺🥺🥺#some of the things u wrote are def interactions kenzie and i have had as klance so i love that. so in character in my book #submission

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amairawrites · 5 years

Note

⭐

I know most people who follow my tumblr came here because they read To Be Vulnerable.

So I’m going to talk about the story behind Fragile! You can go read it here.

It’s my least-read fic on AO3, currently the newest posted (I’m not counting chapter updates on TBV). But the abandoned WIP it came from is the oldest fic I wrote in the VLD fandom. Fragile was one of the early sections the fic, chronologically.

Stand By Me was always an ambitious project that I was never really going to finish – a full series rewrite, from the perspectives of Pidge and Shiro, completely abandoning the idea that this was ever supposed to be a child-appropriate show and diving straight into the very real effects of war on teenagers and young adults.

I, uh… clearly don’t do cutesy fluffy stories?

So, the basics: very slowburn eventual Keith/Pidge ship, left off at 36k words (some of which had been color-coded gray to mark it as no longer what I wanted), probably rated M or E for vaguely described awkward teenagers having their first time together and references to rubbing one out, and a whole lot of violence.

I adapted small bits of the show adapted to meet the tone or plot twists I had been planning. For example, when Ulaz first infiltrates the castle and flings Pidge across the hall, she collides with Keith, who cushions her fall, then gets back up to attack. In Stand By Me, he stays by her side and instead assumes a defensive pose over her to protect her.

A lot of it was working the song Stand By Me into the story as a thematic element as well as a way for the paladins to bond. Originally, Shiro sings it to Pidge when she’s stressed and upset and missing her family. Later, after he disappears, she finds Keith sitting in the observation deck (Did the castleship have one in the show? Who cares! You can do anything in fanfics!) singing the song to himself, and joins in.

I also jumped on the idea of the paladin bonds extending beyond paladin-lion to allow the paladins to connect to each other. It varied between characters, but the general idea covered sensing basic thoughts and emotions, as well as physical proximity and well-being.

Oh, and that everyone’s bayards could change shape with enough focus and a strong enough bond with their lion etc.

Ultimately, it shaped up to be a far more violent, raw, and emotional story than VLD was. I dropped it because I couldn’t figure out a satisfying ending after the major climax. I also decided a lot of what I had written earlier didn’t fit with what I was aiming for later, and that was a problem when I basically jumped around from start to finish and left huge gaps of plot development untouched. Then a lost of the plot points I was running with felt unsatisfying or downright bad, and then….

Yeah. I’m also a better writer now than I was when I started writing it.

And, if you’re still curious, I’m sharing another snippet of Stand By Me behind the cut. Feel free to message me with more questions about it, too!

Warnings for graphic violence in the first scene, and extremely mild sexual content between teenagers in the following scene.

Context: When Lotor’s crew encounters the paladins in the fanfic timeline’s equivalent to early s3 (Shiro is missing), it gets very violent very quickly. This is at the end of their third encounter, where Lotor is actually trying to kill them.

*****

“Keith! NO!” Pidge screams, spinning towards him.

His skin is split up the side, and she can’t tell where his blood ends and the red accents on his armor begin. The same red splatters up the blade of Lotor’s sword.

Time seems to slow as her bayard crackles to life. Lotor raises his arm for a finishing strike.

Lotor is a skilled, accomplished warrior. He could easily defeat opponents twice his size, one-handed and blindfolded. He has sent Pidge flying across hallways without any effort. In his eyes, she is not, and never has been, any threat to him.

Which is probably why, when Pidge lets out a feral screech and sprints at him, he barely gives her a second look, a flick of his sword.

A flick that somehow positions it perfectly for her to disarm him.

Keith meets her eyes and mouths some kind of protest.

She’s sure her mind has gone offline. Her body moves of its own accord. Distantly, she’s aware that the other Paladins are charging in behind her, and she knows they’re there, but they might as well be figments of her imagination, shades of reality that don’t matter. All sound is muffled, all thought ceases. She can’t do anything other than keep her eyes locked with Keith’s. She can’t hear anything other than his desperate, shaky breaths.

She can’t lose him, too.

The grappling hook of her bayard wraps around the blade and her hand yanks it back. Her head turns for a brief moment to track it as it skitters across the floor, as she crouches, scoops it up, and swings it upwards.

Through Lotor’s right thigh, opening his abdomen, and ending at a bone in his left shoulder.

His face is the textbook picture of shock, of surprise, mouth drawn open in a silent gasp, eyes wide, eyebrows arched, as though it was frozen in that position long before his own sword broke his skin.

Blood, purplish and hot, erupts out of his chest in spurts. Pidge relaxes her arm, nearly vomiting at the soft squelch his wound makes as she lets the sword drop.

Sound is back. Time is back. Everything is loud and fast and overwhelming and she’s going to be sick.

And Lotor falls forward, collapses onto her, leaks on her. Someone is shrieking, screaming, crying, and she doesn’t even realize it’s her until Hunk pulls the dying prince off and drops him to the floor. There are entrails on her thighs, and some sick part of her mind actually pauses to wonder if Galrans or Alteans have digestive systems configured like humans’ and maybe those are intestines?

Then, as if it’s not enough already, Lotor actually gurgles his final breaths, and Pidge tastes bile and acid in her throat, feels it in her nose, and – oh, she’s actually vomiting now.

She yanks her helmet off and scrambles over toward Keith, only for Hunk to grab her around the waist and pin her to his side.

“Hunk, let me go! Let me go! I have to – have to get to Keith. I have to protect Keith,” she half-sobs, her voice shrill and pinched. None of her kicks or punches have any effect, and his grip is starting to hurt even as his voice soothes, and she has no fight left in her anyway.

“It’s okay, Pidge. You already protected him. Lance and Allura got him, and he’s going to be okay.”

******

Lotor grins viciously at her, yellow eyes crinkling with joy at his handiwork.

Keith is dead.

He’s dead, and it’s her fault that she couldn’t stop Lotor in time. She cries out, lunges for him, but nothing she does can touch him. He’s too fast, too strong.

The walls start to curve and droop inwards and he just laughs over her.

Purple blood splatters out his chest.

Lotor hisses her name, her failure.

But it’s not Lotor anymore – it’s Shiro, and he’s dying on her bayard, and she’s killed him, she’s killed him, she’s a murderer.

“How could you?” he asks. Purple blood streams out of his mouth and lands on her face, and the droplets start to spread, consuming and erasing everything in their path.

He’s disintegrating outwards from his chest, and screaming at her, and she’s screaming at herself. The blood on her face is dripping onto her hands, staining them red and purple, and her skin turns black and dead.

He glares at her as she begs for him to stay, and she tries to claw at his shoulders but her hands are nothing more than bone now, and she can’t move. Then she can’t speak.

She can only watch as he vanishes, only listen as he tells her how she’s fallen, how she’s a monster, how she has failed.

Then she can’t hear, can’t feel, can’t…

“Pidge! Pidge! It’s just a dream!”

She lurches forward, gasping and coughing.

She’s in her bed, in someone’s arms. Arms that are rubbing up and down her back.

“It’s just a dream, Pidge,” Keith murmurs into her hair.

She bursts into tears at his voice, and he hugs her tight.

He’s alive. He’s here, done with his time in the healing pod, looking good as new. She doesn’t know how long she clings to his jacket, but he doesn’t complain.

“I… I was too late, and Lotor killed you,” she eventually chokes out, and he holds her tighter. “And… and then when I killed Lotor, it was actually Shiro.”

Saying it out loud brings on another burst of tears, and a third arm around her shoulders.

She whips around, at least as much as she can with Keith still squeezing her. The other three Paladins are in the room as well. Lance is next to her, his face the very portrait of brotherly concern, Hunk and Allura flanking him.

Right. Lance has sisters. He knows the sound of nightmare screams.

The smile on Allura’s lips is meant to be reassuring, but the concern creasing her brows ruins the effect and just makes her look bewildered. The waver in her voice doesn’t help either. “We came to let you know Keith was awake, but…”

The silence stretches into awkwardness, until Lance slides in behind her, all splayed limbs and smug smiles.

“We figured you’d get more use out of the handsomest pillow in the galaxy.”

Pidge giggles, despite herself, and Keith reaches past her to grab her pillow and whack Lance square in the face with it, finally smiling at his muffled “Hey!”

“Pidge,” Allura begins again, “will you be alright?”

Lance’s arms stretch out to her, his smile dropping from smug into sweet, and Pidge scoots up to him, letting him fold her in his embrace.

“I got you, Pidgita,” he purrs, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and it’s almost like having Matt here, and the tears well up again.

Keith snuggles up on her other side, and it’s almost like having Shiro there, and she finally cracks out, “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Well, the beds weren’t designed to fit five Paladins, but…” Allura trails off, her tone all mischief. She and Hunk share a look before they both shrug and jump onto the bed anyway, to the immediate protests of the three under them. They crush their victims for a few ticks before Hunk peels off the pile and starts pushing the mess on the floor toward the walls.

“I’ll just go grab my mattress, then.”

It takes a few moments for his words to register, what with the distraction of Lance’s fingers combing her hair.

“Wait, really?”

He shrugs again, as if it’s obvious. “Well, yeah. I mean, you’re already settled in, and Allura and I won’t fit on your bed too.”

They take up their vigil on the floor, mattress framed by all Pidge’s tech clutter, and she wants to thank them all for being so supportive, but the words that exit her mouth are, “You know, Lance, you’d have much better luck with the ladies if you were sweet like this rather than trying to be suave.”

“See if I come comfort you next time you have a nightmare,” he says with an exaggerated pout, but pulls her closer anyway.

Objectively, the pile on her bed can’t be comfortable for anyone except maybe Keith, who is curled up with his head resting on her chest. But the security everyone seems to get from each other, judging by their contented sighs as they settle in to sleep, overrides any anticipated aches and pains.

******

Pidge drifts into consciousness somewhere in the late morning. Her room is still dim, and silent aside from the soft sighs Keith makes as he sleeps next to her. At some point, the others must have returned to their own rooms, or got up to go about their day.

Slowly, she eases out of bed, careful not to wake him, and pads over to her bathroom. Her eyes burn and her face feels sticky and gross and the rest of her body has that odd sweat funk, and nothing sounds as good as a nice, hot shower.

She had taken it for granted, when she first got here, that there were giant showers in all the rooms and they used regular hot water. Over time, after eating nothing but goo for weeks on end and drinking what smells like moldy hot dog water entirely too often, she’s gained a new appreciation for the fact that Alteans don’t clean themselves with dust baths or wash in undiluted ammonia or something else equally unappealing.

However, not even the spray of water feels that great right now, as it stings against the previous night’s dried tears and sears into the raw skin of her cheeks.

Pidge blinks rapidly, but rather than clearing away the old tears, she only succeeds in bringing on a wave of new ones. A high, keening wail tears itself from her throat, bringing with it some kind of directionless grief.

Sliding down the wall of the shower, she hugs her knees to her chest and gasps, trying in vain not to cry.

“Pidge?” Keith, his voice still a sleepy rasp, pokes his head past the bathroom door. “Are you okay?”

She tries to answer, but only manages an unintelligible series of screeches and cries, her throat simultaneously weak and tight. A moment later, Keith’s face makes its appearance at the edge of the sliding shower door. She tucks her arms and legs closer around her.

“Hey, can I come in?”

This time, Pidge does manage to croak out a word. “Yeah.”

He leans in, hissing when the water strikes his shirt. “Fuck, that stings. Ugh. Give me a second.”

Pidge nods, and watches mutely as he pulls his shirt and jeans off, movements stiff and slow, far from his usual fluid grace. Now he’s just as naked as she is, and her eyes track to the jagged red scar tracing a line from his right thigh to his right armpit.

Raising an eyebrow, Keith sits across from her, angling his body so none of the water sprays directly onto the new skin, pulling his left leg in to hide behind. “Like what you see?”

Her face flushes, and she’s sure it’s just as pink as his scar is red. “Does it hurt?” She reaches towards his waist, before catching herself, flushing even deeper and snapping her hand back to her lap. “Sorry. I mean, I know it can’t feel that great, even with the healing pods, and… sorry. I should have been quicker to stop him.”

Keith scoots closer, grabs her hand, and pulls it to his chest. Neither of them breathe as he drags her fingertips down the line, to his ribs and waist and pelvis and thigh. His skin is so soft, taut against the muscle underneath it, and her blush probably covers every inch of her body now.

��It’s a little raw, and aches like a bruise,” he suddenly answers, making her jump and twitch back. His lips quirk up into a smirk and he twines his hand with hers. “Thank you, Pidge.”

“It’s Katie,” she blurts out. His eyebrow arches again. Shit, she’s blushing even harder now. “My real name is Katie.”

“I gathered, but….”

Her mouth works faster than her brain, and every word makes her want to die of embarrassment. “I mean, we’re sitting here in the shower, completely naked. It doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know my real name.”

“Sure, Katie,” he answers, smiling. “I already knew.”

“Oh.”

They keep their eyes locked on each other’s face as much as possible, occasionally dropping their stare downward, until it’s too much for Pidge, and she uncurls and flings her arms and legs out.

“Look! Just look! Holy shit, just get it over with!”

His eyes go wide and jaw falls slack. He bypasses pink entirely, instantly flushing a deep red all the way down to his sternum, even while his gaze roves over every inch of her. His mouth opens and closes a few times before he looks away.

“Well?” she demands.

“You’re… very pretty, Pidge,” he murmurs, hunching his shoulders up.

She giggles, hating the sound, but she can’t fight the grin on her face. She pulls her limbs back, sitting in a normal cross-legged position, and rakes her wet hair away from her face. Keith is still red all over, hunching so far that his face is half hidden behind his left leg.

Pidge looks him up and down. “Your turn?”

“Nooo, no please.”

“You’ll have to stand up eventually, you know.”

He doesn’t respond, only pulling his legs closer and folding them in front of his – oh. Ohhhh.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Keith.”

He grumbles some garbled string of words she can’t quite pick up on over the sound of the shower.

“Besides,” she continues with a grin and a nod towards his crotch, “he’s got good taste.”

“Oh my god.” Keith draws his arms around his knees and hides his face entirely. His blush spreads to his elbows.

She sighs. “At least move over so I can take my shower.”

“I – you know, fine. Here, look.”

He stands, slowly, his right side stiff and tense, and holds his arms out, turning in a circle for her.

He’s all muscle, lean and slim and dangerous. The defined V of the middle of his back is mirrored at the bottom of his abs. A small patch of fine hair trails down the middle of his chest, picking up again just below his navel and down to his crotch. The spray from the shower splashes off his shoulders and back as he stops and drops his arms, framing him with an ethereal mist. His hair is plastered to his face and neck, his mouth pressed into a line as he waits for her to speak.

Her eyes drift from head to toe and back.

He is gorgeous. How has she never noticed before now?

“Wow,” Pidge breathes, then immediately wants to smack herself for sounding like some dazed airhead – and feeling like one, too. She rises to her feet and sweeps his hair away from his forehead. “To answer your earlier question, yes, I like what I see.”

Keith half-gurgles, half-whines, hiding his face in his left hand, as his right goes to shield his groin. He and Pidge both let out nervous giggles. She slides by him, blushing so hard her head spins as her bare thigh brushes against his.

“Pidge!” he squeaks.

“Sorry, sorry. Here,” she grumbles, leaning out of the shower and grabbing an extra washcloth, “you can use my stuff.”

They retreat to opposite ends of the shower, facing away from each other, and hastily clean themselves.

“Hey Pidge? Can you get my shoulder? I can’t quite reach it.”

She turns back around, and before she can oblige, her eye catches on a series of small, puckered scars next to his left hipbone. Because curiosity has been known to override all her other senses, including common sense, she reaches out and brushes her fingers over them.

Keith freezes.

Slowly, his hand peels hers off of his hip. No other part of him moves.

He’s trembling.

“Keith?” Pidge lifts her eyes to his, only to be met with the most fearful expression she’s ever seen. “What happened?”

After a few deep breaths, he lets out a shuddering sigh and droops slightly, looking so ashamed that Pidge has to wonder if they’re self-inflicted. Or maybe he ran with a bad crowd, or –

“Cigarette burns from my foster mom, when she was drunk. My… fourth or fifth home, I think. The last home.”

Her mind short-circuits and her eyes jerk back to the scars. There are at least a dozen, some larger than others. She pulls her hand free from his and places her palm over the marred skin, holding steady even though he shivers and flinches away. She doesn’t miss his sharp gasp when she places her other hand on his right hip.

He’s so tightly wound, so rigid and scared, and she wracks her brain for the right words, coming up empty.

“There’s nothing I can say to make it better, is there,” she finally sighs.

Keith’s eyebrows raise slightly.

Pidge curls her fingers into his hips and mutters, “I suppose she’s lucky I’m not on Earth, because I might just kill her for hurting you.”

His eyebrows raise straight to his hairline.

“Shiro almost did.”

“What?”

“I mean, he didn’t, but he was so angry. He somehow got custody of me instead, even though he’s not an actual foster parent, and he was going to officially help emancipate me after he got back from Kerberos, but…”

She takes a step closer to him, and he draws her into a loose hug, as little of their bare skin touching as possible for it to still count as an embrace.

He brushes his hand along her left shoulder. “What’s this?”

Pidge knows what exactly he’s looking at without having to ask for clarification, the circle of odd spots that aren’t freckles but dust her skin like them. “Bullies in middle school. They thought it would be funny to stick the nerd with a bunch of mechanical pencils.”

She feels rather than hears his growl.

Then Keith dips his head down and presses his mouth to those little scars and her brain short-circuits for an entirely new reason. Her hands grip his hips even tighter, keeping him in place as she twists forward to tuck her head against his collarbone. The breathy sigh that earns her, hot against her neck, sends a rush of adrenaline straight to her chest.

Which means it’s the perfect time for her door’s comm to buzz. They jolt apart as though zapped.

“Pidge, it’s Allura. I wanted to see if you and Keith are awake yet,” comes the muffled voice from her bedroom comm speaker.

She quickly holds a finger to her lips and Keith nods. “Redirect comms to bathroom,” she states, turning to face the shower door, and a speaker next to it chimes in response. “Hey Allura, I’m just showering. We’ll be out soon.”

“Oh! Sorry, Pidge. Take your time. Is Keith alright?”

“Will do, thanks. He’s doing well, just a bit stiff.”

Keith chokes behind her, and she has to stifle her own laughter as she realizes the other way that answer could be interpreted.

Fortunately, Allura is oblivious to Earth slang. “I should have figured. He had quite a bit of damage to the underlying muscles. Even with the sleeping pod, it’ll take some time for them to be back to normal. Well, when you’re done, we have some data from Lotor’s ship that needs analysis.”

“I’ll be right on it. See you in a bit.” She waits a moment, then, “Reset comms to bedroom.”

After a beat, Pidge half-turns and very, very openly checks out Keith. “Just a bit stiff.”

“Oh my god, Pidge,” he groans.

She bursts into laughter, nearly cackling, as she quickly scrubs his shoulder. “I’m going to go dry off your shirt, and you can take your time finishing up.”

“Take my… what?”

Her eyes flick down again. “Just make sure it all gets down the drain.”

“Pidge!” Keith yelps, flushing bright red again.

She just grins and steps out of the shower.

Ten minutes later, after his shirt has been wrapped up in a towel and wrung enough that it’s only barely damp, Keith emerges from the bathroom.

“You’re terrible,” he says, scowling at her, wearing only a towel around his waist. He slightly purses his lips as he studies her sweatshirt. “That’s getting a bit worn out.”

“And too small,” Pidge grouses. “But I don’t have anything else.”

She towels off her hair, then does the same to Keith, and they quickly get dressed.

The look on Lance’s face as he sees them both exit her room together, hair equally damp, is so priceless that Pidge can’t help but start giggling again.

Keith just curses under his breath.

“Aw, don’t worry Keith,” she purrs, “I promise to do my level best not to think of it during our next group memory exercise.”

“Pidge!”

He’s bright red again, and looking more embarrassed than he was in the shower, but a ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

She can’t even remember why she had been so upset.

*****

#fragile #fanfic #WIP graveyard #Voltron legendary defender

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