#i enjoyed the prisoner's throne BECAUSE we got more perspective through conversation

[archerons-arrow]

me, out here realizing people who hate Jude and Cardan are reading books set *checks notes* in the kingdom and courts they rule over and are angry at their inclusion in any story set in Elfhame and are comparing their fans to acotar: the fuck you say?

[justablogfullofrandomrandomness]

Okay, over the past couple of days I've been writing something. It's the Avatar episode The Blue Spirit told from Zuko's perspective. Hope you enjoy, I worked pretty hard on it.

I had many..... What some may call.... Misadventures while searching for the Avatar. Some that people know about, others that are a close kept secret. Especially that one day. But, I'm not above admitting I do think about it a lot. I'm still confused by it. But, it's not like I can ask anyone about it. No one knows, and I'm not going to tell anyone about it, ever. However, the Avatar knows, and if he knows there's no question whether or not his friends know too. But it's not like I can go talk to them, we're enemies. Nothing will change that, not even this. Let me start from the beginning. Not the 'beginning' beginning, the beginning of this story. It started at the Pohuai Stronghold, one of the most secure bunkers the Fire Nation had. Nearly impossible to break into, but I didn't need in. I just needed on the tower. The black hood and the blue mask I wore were a precaution, in case I was seen, which I wasn't planning on happening. But if I was, no one would know it was me. And my Uncle says I don't think things through. I think them through enough! I climbed up the wall in time to hear the conversation between Zhao and Colonel Shinu.

"Absolutely not." Shinu was saying, clearly furious. "The Yuyan Archers stay here. Your request is denied, Commander Zhao."

"Colonel Shinu, please reconsider. Their precision is legendary. The Yuyan can pin a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away without killing it." I looked down to where the Yuyan were practicing their marksmanship. They clearly lived up to the legend. "You're wasting their talents using them as mere security guards." Zhao continued. I hated that guy so much.

"I can do whatever I want with their talents. They're my archers, and what I say goes." Shinu snapped. Zhao scowled at him.

"But my search for the Avatar is-"

"Is nothing but a vanity project. We're fighting a real war here, and I need every man I've got, Commander."

"But-" Shinu cut him off again.

"That's final! I don't want to hear another word about it." Zhao glared at him, but before either could do anything else, a bird screeched. We all glanced towards it as the Messenger Hawk flew to the tower.

"News from Fire Lord Ozai?" I heard Zhao asked. There was the sound of paper rustling. "It appears I've been promoted to Admiral." Zhao remarked, no doubt with a smug smirk painted across his face. "My request is now an order." Zhao walked out to the balcony and looked down at the Yuyan Archers. His archers now. I scowled from behind my mask. The last thing Zhao needed was more power. He was big enough of a problem as a Commander. I climbed down the tower, deciding it was time to leave.

The next day I was back on my ship, in the navigation room. Lieutenant Jee and I were hovering over a map as my Uncle played Pai Sho with some other crewmates in the corner. It was weird, ever since the storm, everyone, especially Jee, had been treating me different. More tolerant. I know Uncle said something to them, but what exactly he said, I wasn't sure. It didn't matter, though. At least they all weren't at my throat anymore.

"We haven't been able to pick up the Avatar's trail since the storm," Jee was saying. He pointed to the map. "But if we continue heading Northeast-" He cut himself off when a large shadow passed the window. It was another Fire Navy ship, and one of the bigger ones.

"What do they want?" I questioned.

"Perhaps a sporting game of Pai Sho." Uncle spoke up, rubbing his hands together. When the soldiers boarded the ship and entered the navigation room, they held out a scroll for us to see. It was a wanted poster for the Avatar.

"The hunt for the Avatar has been given prime importance. All information regarding the Avatar must be reported directly to Admiral Zhao."

"Zhao has been promoted?" My uncle asked, his finger resting on a game piece as he considered his move. "Well, good for him." He finished, pushing it across the board with a smile. The two crewmates he was playing against groaned. I looked away from the soldiers.

"I've got nothing to report to Zhao. Now get off my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area." The soldier said. I scowled.

"OFF MY SHIP!" I shouted, filled with rage. Uncle didn't seem to be paying much attention to what had just happened. He was focused on his game.

"Excellent, I take the pot." He pulled the money towards him. "But you're all improving. I'm certain you will win if we play again." I turned away from the others, looking out the window. I went up to the deck and started running myself through Firebending moves furiously, needing to blow off some steam. I knew Zhao's promotion was going to give me issues, but I had no idea it would quite literally halt my search. I didn't know what to do. I kicked one last blast of fire, exhausted, breathing heavily.

"Is everything okay?" I heard my uncle ask from behind me. "It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order."

"I don't care what they do." I snapped.

"Don't give up hope yet. You can still find the Avatar before Zhao." I turned around, looking at him desperately.

"How, Uncle? With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar." I turned away and moved to the side of the ship, looking out at the water. "My honor, my throne, my country, I'm about to lose them all." In the two and a half years I had been searching, it had never felt more impossible. I screwed my eyes shut, driving my fists into the metal rim of the ship. "No, I can't lose them. I will not. I refuse to let Zhao win." I pushed off the side and walked off.

"Where are you going?" Uncle asked me as I passed him.

"To figure out a way around Zhao's restrictions. I'll be back." I went to my quarters and looked at the swords on my wall for a moment before taking them down and forcing them into a scabbard. I went to my table and pulled out the blue mask, looking down at it's wide grin. Whatever was going to happen, it would be for the best. It was what needed to be done. I left alone. I didn't need any help from anyone else. They would only slow me down.

When I arrived near the closest village, I quickly changed into a black outfit with gloves and a hood, only touch of color was the blue mask. I listened carefully, hoping Jee was right about his predictions. That's when I overheard some guards walking down the dark street by the alleyway I had crouched in.

"The Yuyan Archers didn't even have to try, I heard they took him down in an instant."

"Guess all that talk about how strong he is was just a bunch of Firelord propaganda after all. Did they kill him?"

"Don't you know anything about the Avatar? If they kill him, he'll just be reincarnated and then they'll have to start their search all over again! No, they're keeping him at the Pohuai Stronghold until they can safely transport him or something. Either that or they'll just keep him there, which seems like the best option considering his reputation." My eyes widened and my breathing hitched as the guards conversation faded from my earshot. Of course they took him to the Pohuai Stronghold, because when was anything in my life easy? I sighed. It's okay, it was all under control. I just had to get to the stronghold and hopefully by then I would have thought of a plan..... Maybe now that I think about it, Uncle had a point about me not thinking things through. Don't tell him I said that.

A few hours later, I watched from the bushes, studying the area before me. It's like I said earlier, the Pohuai Stronghold was one of the most secure fortresses the Fire Nation had, and no doubt the Yuyan Archers would be there, guarding their prize. Sneaking onto a tower to eavesdrop on a conversation is one thing, but actually getting in? That would be difficult. Then I got an idea. There was a road nearby. If I timed it just right, I would have a chance. I waited in silence, mask hiding my face, it would be better if no one knew it was me. Especially the Avatar. After what felt like ages of waiting, I heard it. A supply cart. I waited for the opportune moment before quickly rolling under the cart, grabbing onto the bottom and holding on tight. It stopped at the gate, and a guard checked the back, looking to see if the supplier was trying to sneak anything in. I held my breath as I watched the feet on the other side of the cart, quickly slipping out the other side and climbing into the back behind a crate as the guard checked underneath.

"All clear. Go on in." The guard said. The cart started to move again. I was in. When the cart stopped to be unloaded, I slipped out, sneaking past the guards and running into a nearby stairwell. I could hear Zhao, giving his speech of victory.

"Until today, only one thing stood in our path to victory. The Avatar! I am here to tell you that he is now my prisoner!" Zhao shouted, his voice triumphant. Cheers roared from the crowd. I was crouched as I snuck across the wall, doing my best to ignore Zhao. I had to stay focused. I dropped a rope down the side of the wall and slid down, quickly ducking into a sewer grate. So what if I got a little wet? I effortlessly squeezed through the bars, more cheers roaring from the guards Zhao was entertaining with his gloating. I knew even then his hunger for power would be the death of him one day. I managed to get into the hallways without a hitch. Well, except for that one guard that I stumbled upon. Knocked him out and took his helmet, deciding I could use it. When I reached the corridor I knew they were keeping Aang in, I threw the helmet down. The metal clanked as it hit the floor, rolling to a stop at the guards feet. I heard footsteps of an approaching guard and when he rounded the corner, I took him out, gagging his mouth and hanging him from the ceiling by his arms with a chain. A few seconds later, two other guards turned to corner and stared at the first guard. They didn't even notice me up in the ceiling above them. Too bad for them. The fourth and final guard hadn't left the door. He knew something was wrong and reached for the horn on the wall to alert other guards. I ran down the hall and threw a knife, knocking the horn out of his hand. He saw me coming at him and instinctively shot a blast of fire at me, which I counteracted by throwing a bucket of water at him, and sweeping his feet out from underneath him. I hit him over the head with the bucket, just to be sure. Then I knelt down and pulled his keys from his pocket, unlocking the door and looking at the boy who had caused me so much trouble. The Avatar was chained, defenseless. Everything I had wanted the past two years, served up to me on a silver platter. I drew my swords and his eyes widened with terror. Undoubtedly, I looked like some kind of demon. But I didn't care. I ran at him with my swords and he screamed, screwing his eyes shut and looking away. He opened his eyes when he felt the swords cut the chains. He looked up at me in shock. I realized in that moment he really had no idea who I was. I stepped closed to him and broke the metal cuffs off his wrists and then did the same with his legs, sheathing one of my swords.

"Who are you?" The Avatar asked. "What's going on?! Are you here to rescue me?" I opened the door and gestured for him to follow me, ignoring his questions.

"I'll take that as a yes." The boy remarked, following me down the hall. I got a bit a head of him when I heard him gasp.

"My frogs!" He shouted. "Come back! And stop thawing out!" I took a deep breath and went back for him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and dragging him away from the half frozen frogs he was trying to stuff into his pockets. "WAIT! MY FRIENDS NEED TO SUCK ON THOSE FROGS!!!!" I had no idea WHY he said that, or what he meant by it, but I really didn't want to know. I lead him through the halls, back the way I came, and straight to the sewers. I could see the silhouettes of guards moving overhead and I gestured for the kid to press against the wall so we wouldn't be seen. He was worried, I could see it in his eyes, but I made no move to comfort him. Instead, I left my head through the grate, peering around. Once I decided the coast was clear I gestured for him to follow me up and I climbed out. The Avatar followed after me, having to jump up to grab the bars as he was much shorter than me. I lead him back to where I had climbed down on the rope and he started climbing up the wall, me following short after. We were halfway up the wall when a loud bell rang out. We'd been made.

"There! On the wall!" A guard shouted. Another guard ran up on the top of the tower and cut the rope and we both fell back towards the ground. The Avatar sent a blast of air beneath us, cushioning our fall so we didn't break anything on impact with the ground. Smart kid. We'd need that quick thinking if we were going to get out of here alive. I drew my swords, ready to defend myself. I pointed towards the open gate and I bolted for it, the kid right behind me. Guards ran at us from all different directions as Zhao shouted orders from above.

"Stay close to me." The Avatar said, running in front of me, sending a huge gust of wind at the guards who blocked our path. He got a little bit ahead of me and two guards ran at me at once with their spears. I stopped to fight them off, the kid not seeming to notice. More and more guards came and pretty soon I was surrounded, but I wasn't giving up. I had so much more to fight for. If I gave up here there would be no more hope. I felt a large rush of air and suddenly all the guards had been swooped away. The kid had come back for me. He was holding a spear with the sharp bit broken off. A makeshift staff. He looked at me for a moment before he waved his staff at me, sending my flying through the air, landing on top of the wall. I quickly got to me feet, ready to fight off the guards that were coming at me when the Avatar flew up to me himself, spinning the staff over his head to keep himself airborne. He grabbed me by wrapping his legs around my chest and we took off into the sky again. He struggled to keep in the air with my added weight, every once and a while dropping a few feet, during which I decided I wasn't a fan of flying. Spears flew at us from the ground and I focused on kicking them away before they pierced us, which only made us descend faster. We crashed on the middle wall hard, and I dropped my swords on impact. Only one more wall to clear and we were free. Well, I would be free. I pushed myself up on my elbows, my chest and stomach aching from hitting the stone so hard. The Avatar quickly got up, trying to grab his staff, but a guard kicked it off the ledge and started swiping at him with his sword. I got to my feet myself and grabbed the guard, throwing him off the wall. I quickly grabbed my swords again and we stood back to back. I ran at a couple of guards and the kid sent blasts of air at the ones coming at him. And then he took out the ones I was facing. But we didn't have much time to breath. Guards from below were propping bamboo ladders against the wall and were using them to scale it. The Avatar took multiple guards out at once, clearing off two of the ladders while I struggled on the one. There was only so little I could do with my swords compared to giant blasts of wind. But right now I wasn't the Fire Prince. I was a vigilante. As I knocked the final guard off the ladder, the Avatar handed me the two other ladders.

"Take this!" I looked down at the ladders in confusion as the kid jumped on the third ladder and it started to fall down. "Jump on my back!" He exclaimed. I quickly did as I was told, still holding onto the ladders. He took one of them from me and aimed it down so that when the other one fell, it stood up straight. I realized what he was doing. He was trying to propel us over the wall. "Give me the next one!" I handed him the next one and he did the same. The guards below seemed to see what we were doing and one set the ladder on fire, forcing the Avatar to jump off earlier than what would have been ideal. We both tried to grab onto the ledge, but neither of our grips were strong enough and we fell down the side of the wall only to be surrounded by Zhao's men. I drew my swords again, ready to fight. All at once, they fired their blasts at us, the Avatar quickly moving in front of me to block the blow with a blast of air.

"Hold your fire!" Zhao shouted, causing all the soldiers to stand down. "The Avatar must be captured alive!" In that instant I knew what I had to do. I grabbed the Avatar and held my blades against his neck threateningly. He tensed, but made no move to escape, knowing what I was doing. Zhao seemed to know too. We made eye contact for an intense moment before he spoke again. "Open the gate." He glowered, not breaking my stare.

"Admiral, what are you doing?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Let them out, now." The gates creaked open behind us and I slowly backed out, glancing behind me ever so often to make sure I wasn't going to back right into a tree. Now that would be humiliating. I didn't know how far I had to go, or what I was going to do after we escaped, only that I had to put as much distance between me and that stronghold as possible. I glanced behind me and looked up again just in time to see something flying towards my face. It hit my mask, knocking me back. I fell to the ground, and everything went black.

When I came too, I was staring right up at the roof of a forest. The sunlight pouring in through the leaves told me I'd been out for a long time. I groaned, glancing around, my vision a little blurry. To my surprise, the Avatar was sitting right beside me, on a tree root, his knees drawn tight to his chest. He didn't even look at me before he started to speak.

"You know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, i used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together." He smiled, remembering the happy memories of his past. "He was one of the best friends I ever had. And he was from the Fire Nation, just like you." He finally turned to look at me. "If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends too?" I didn't hesitate. I jumped up and sent a blast of fire at him, hoping to catch him off guard. The Avatar flew into the air, clearly expecting it, and disappeared through the trees. I looked after him for a moment before kneeling down to pick up my mask. That's when I saw he'd made a bed for me out of leaves. I shook my head. I would never understand that kid. When I arrived back on the ship, my Uncle was on the deck, playing his Tsungi Horn beside that horrible antique monkey that he bought from the pirates.

"Where have you been, Prince Zuko?" He asked as I walked past him. "You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song." I didn't turn around as I walked down the hallway, in no mood to deal with his antics.

"I'm going to bed. No disturbances." I said quietly, bringing a hand to my head, which was still throbbing from whatever knocked me out. I laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, a million thoughts running through my mind. He knew who I was. He knew it was me, and yet he still saved my life. But why? Why didn't he just leave me there for Zhao? His life would've been so much easier. He had to have known. So why didn't he let me die? I glanced to my side, looking at the Fire Nation insignia on the wall. Was I wrong? Hunting him? I shook my head, rolling over on my other side. No, it was my destiny. I had to capture the Avatar. It was the only way for me to return home. For things to return to normal. I pushed the seed of doubt to the back of my mind, not wanting to think about it, and I closed my eyes.

No matter how long I think about it, I never could figure out why he didn't leave me there. He's saved my life twice by this point, once at the stronghold and once at the North Pole. Sometimes I wish I could ask him why, or more specifically how does he find it in his heart to show people like me mercy. But I can't. No matter what, we will always be enemies until the day we die. But.... Maybe, just maybe he was right. Maybe we could've been friends, if things were different. But they aren't. It'd like I said, we're enemies. The Fire Prince and the Avatar. But.... No. I shouldn't even be thinking about it. I have to capture him. It's the only way for me to restore my honor. For my father not to think I'm worthless, and I am not worthless. I'll show them. One day.

[blueplanettrash]

What if Iverson is Lance's dad but didn't want to be apart of his life????

I just want to say right now; I went off track with this. But I loved the idea of Iverson being Lance’s dad. I wrote this quick, it’s bad, I’m sorry. I’m going to go write another story to make up for this now. I hope you enjoy anyway! ❤️

“I think that it’s time that we talked about some stuff,” Shiro said a short time after Sam departed back to Earth. They turned to him in question, it had been quiet after Sam left; the Holt’s didn’t exactly want to talk about much, Hunk was concerned with Lance and Lance himself was too emotionally drained from before Sam left.

“What about?” Pidge asked glumly. Matt stood beside her, gently rubbing her shoulder in comfort.

“It’s obvious that our lack of communication with our families is affecting us, I think that talking about them would help us bond further as a team and give us something to look forward to when we get back,” he suggested, eyes drifting over the team to gauge their reactions.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Shiro,” Allura said, breaking into their circle.

“I don’t know guys, wouldn’t it make us miss home more?” Hunk asked nervously.

“There’s no harm in trying, if it’s not beneficial to us we don’t have to try again,” Matt reassured them as the rest of them nodded in agreement.

“Excellent, I’ll get the mind meld ready,” Coran stated, twirling his moustache, ready to turn and set up the training room.

“No, no mind meld Coran, we’re going to do this the human way,” Shiro said. At that, the rest of the paladins relaxed, heaving out a relieved sigh.

“Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to use the mind meld? That way nobody would be able to hide anything from each other,” Allura asked in honest confusion.

“It’s not about keeping secrets from each other Princess, this is to help each other get our troubles off our chest, we’ll only share what we want to share,” Shiro explained as the paladins gathered around him closer. “Sometimes it’s better just to talk to people close to us to help with our feelings then let everyone just see what we’re thinking about,”

“Any complaints?” He asked the group. Nobody stepped up and Shiro nodded. “We’ll meet in the lounge in a few then,”

“Does anybody want to start?” Shiro asked looking around the circle. After a few moments of no one wanting to step forward, Lance silently raised his hand and scooted forward.

“Well, I have two brothers and two sisters, Mark and Maria are both older than me and Caleb and Sophie are younger than me, they’re also twins,”

“So you’re a middle child,” Pidge huffed with a smile. “It makes so much sense,”

“Shut up,” he pouted. “We live with my mom, grandpa and grandma and my dad stays at the Garrison,”

“Why is your dad at the Garrison?”

“He’s an instructor there,” he revealed somewhat hesitantly.

“Wait, really!? Did we ever have him?” Pidge asked, sitting up straighter. Lance sighed, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously.

“I really don’t want to talk about it guys,”

“Why? Do we hate him or something? Are you guys not close? Hunk rambled

“No we are, just, when he was working we didn’t seem close, you wouldn’t know that we’re father and son,” he admitted quickly.

“I don’t remember any McClains though,” Keith hummed in thought.

“I applied under my mom’s maiden name,”

“Aww man, that’s not fair, we can’t even try to figure it out now,” Hunk whined.

“Maybe I don’t want you to figure it out,” Lance growled, curling up on himself.

“Back off guys, clearly he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore so leave him be,” Shiro cut in sternly. They sat back, mumbling out apologizes in Lance’s direction but he wasn’t listening anymore.

He didn’t want anyone on board to know who his dad was; pretty much everyone on board was very vocal about their hate for Iverson; especially Keith. He couldn’t exactly blame them but he was completely different when he wasn’t teaching.

Before he attended the Garrison he told his dad that he wanted to keep it a secret. He really wanted to make friends that weren’t just nice to him because he was the Commander’s son.

Obviously, he couldn’t be biased towards Lance either, just because he was his kid. He had heard many stories of people getting away with hideous things just because their parent was a high ranking official in some way or another. He remembered the week or so before he left for the Garrison, talking to his dad on the phone.

“Just because I’m the Commander, don’t think that you can get away with things. I’m going to treat you just the same as any student during class. You’re going to address me as Sir, just like any other student during class, got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,”

“Good,” he paused for a few moments. “I’m glad that you’re coming out here, I don’t get to see you as much as I want to,”

“We miss you too dad,”

Sure sometimes he could get a little hurtful during an assessment, but let’s be real; they were being drilled for the military. Military space travel to be exact, if he can’t take a little heat for something as dumb as not being able to work as a team, how would he deal with taking someone else’s admonishments. He would admit that the little stunt of threading the needle when he should have been taking a safer route was a bit irresponsible.

It didn’t change the fact that the last conversation he had with his dad was him yelling about his failure in the simulator. Usually, he would call him back and talk him through his mistakes after they were done but he was called away on other business; which happened to be Shiro crash landing in the middle of the desert.

He didn’t know what happened to him; it’s not like he kept tabs on Lance all the time. What if he saw him on the bike heading towards Keith’s shack? What if he saw him in the tent rescuing Shiro? What if he thought it was his fault that Lance went missing?

Every question that he asked himself bounced around in his head. What if mom blamed him too? Oh God, he wanted to go home now.

“Lance?” He shook his head and looked over at Shiro who was sending him a concerned expression. “Are you okay?”

“Actually I think I’m going to head in for the night, I’m not feeling too hot,” he sighed, pushing himself up.

“Well, okay then,” Shiro trailed off as Lance walked to the doors.

“Feel better Lance,” Hunk called as he walked over the threshold. He waved back at them as the doors shut before letting out a long sigh and walking back to his room.

It was never easy thinking about home. He missed his house, he missed his family, he missed his friends. It was even harder trying to think about what they were doing. He couldn’t imagine that his dad was taking his disappearance too well; he didn’t think that any of his family would be but he couldn’t imagine the pressure of keeping his post while he was going to be mourning as well.

He tried to push away as many memories as he could to solely focus on finishing the war and getting back home. It seemed that everyone shared the sentiment and point their nose to the grind to help Lotor secure his throne so they could leave everything to him.

Lance was happy to say that he had been wrong about Lotor and when they finally asked if they could go home; Allura and Lotor smiled at each other and dismissed them from their duty.

They weren’t ashamed to say that they had burst into tears at the statement. They always knew that they weren’t prisoners but at the same time, they felt like they had a responsibility to protect the universe when it couldn’t protect itself.

Allura ended up relinquishing the ownership of the lions to their paladins. At first, they were surprised at the turn of the events but she only smiled and said that she doubted that they would let them off the ship without them. Thankfully, he was back in Blue since Keith returned to the team on his mother’s advice.

“What are we waiting for!?” He suddenly burst out in excitement. At that they all ran down to the hangers, suiting up and readying their lions. They shot out into space, hovering around the Castle as Allura prepared a wormhole for them.

“I’m sad to see you go, paladins,” she admitted in the silence of space.

“Don’t worry Allura, I doubt this will be the last time that we meet,” Shiro said happily. The wormhole growing in front of the Castle.

“If you’re ever in our solar system, give us a call!” Lance cheered before ploughing into the wormhole. Just like the first time they went through, they appeared at the edge of Kerberos. Quickly Shiro patched into the Garrison frequencies and relayed their position and to not attack.

Unlike before, the Lions took their time getting back to Earth and the paladins watched in awe as they passed the planets. Being in their own solar system put everything they had just done in perspective. They never thought that they would be going anywhere near another solar system, they never thought that they would meet other intelligent life in their lifetime. They did so much more than that though, they became the figures that everyone depended on.

As the lions flew around each other, happily corkscrewing to the surface, they could see the instructors of the Garrison lined up outside the building. They didn’t have any weapons drawn, they just watched as they gently touched down to the ground. Even though they didn’t patch through, they expected maybe a tank or something to intimidate them or something.

“Is anyone else confused?” Keith asked as the lions crouched down, their maws opening to release their paladins.

“If they try anything, the Lions won’t allow it,” Shiro affirmed, stepping out of Black’s mouth, his helmet covering his head. The rest of them followed suit, lining up orderly in front of their lions.

Tears welled up in Lance’s eyes as he saw his father sternly looking down on them in assessment. It became too much and he swiftly pulled his helmet off and sprinted towards him with a cry.

“DAD!” He called, a faint wobble in his voice. It only took a split second for the realization to sink in and Iverson was bounding forward as well, his features slack in disbelief.

He crashed into the solid warm mass of his dad and clutched on for dear life.

“Lance? Is that really you?” He asked quietly, pulling back slightly to pat at his face as if someone were wearing a disguise to fool him.

“It’s really me, dad,” he confirmed with a small smile. His jaw clenched and his face scrunched up as he pulled Lance into a tighter hug. As Lance’s arms reached around to clutch at the familiar Garrison uniform, they dissolved into sobs. Their lost family had been returned to them and they couldn’t be more relieved.

“Where did you go?” Iverson asked, rocking the both of them gently as they tried to calm each other down. Lance sighed and snuggled further into the hug.

“It’s a long story dad,”

After he had calmed down and the paladins were given a place to rest, as expected the questions started. He didn’t think the first one would come from Keith though.

“I punched your dad?”

“You punched my dad,”

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