#its before communication w shiro stops

[gloster]

FAVORITE FANFICS OF 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I know I speak for all when I say....I cannot wait to toss 2020 out the door the way Uncle Phil constantly did with Jazz. One of the things that got me through this rough year, besides family & friends & BTS, were fanfics.

It’s that time of year again where I make a list of all the fanfics that I absolutely adored. Some are by veteran favs of mine, others are new to me who just knocked it out of the park. If you’re interested in past lists, here is 2019′s list and 2018′s. If y’all are interested in doing your own fanfic favs of the year, please do so and tag me. Always on the hunt for new favs. 

So without furhter ado, my fav fanfics of 2020:

1). Another Word for Forever series by stardropdream (sheith)

Summary: Shiro knows better than to expect love in an arranged marriage. This is all for the sake of universal peace, after all, and solidifying a Terran-Galran alliance. At the very least, Shiro can hope to make a friend out of this. Becoming friends would be much easier, though, if he and his husband could actually communicate. 

With a language barrier and a mountain of cultural differences between them, getting to know Keith proves to be a challenge. Luckily, Shiro's always worked well with challenges.

2020 shockingly became the year of sheith. I ended up rewatching the show w/my bestie @littlenightdragon​. Diving more deeply into it w/my other bestie @kila09​. She and I spent the better half of this year devouring so many fanfics of them in various AUs. I came across new fanfic authors, and stardropdream is among them. 

If I could describe this series & stardropdream, I’ll take a cue from Lady Gaga: “ talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it”

This series was just PERFECTION. I’ve gotten into arranged-marriage AUs and this has been one of the best I’ve read. It was just perfection. The language barrier definitely added an extra charm to it, in which Shiro finds his own ways to get to know his husband better: both creative and funny ways. So many cute moments, so many funny moments with Hunk being the translating middle man between them, and the smut. THE SMUT. THE SMUT. THE SMUT. Just *chef’s kiss* Incredible. It was just so so sweet, and such a comfort read. I reread this series 5 times already and hope Robin (the writer) does more stories in this AU.

Please read this series. You’re not gonna regret it. It will MELT your heart. 

Honorable Mentions:

If I Called You Mine

Sail Across the Sky Just to Get to You

Finding Shelter (The Alien Baby Remix)

Say You Do(n’t)

2). The Golden Hour by @goldentruth813​ (sheith)

Summary:  After a space mission failure, Shiro loses his arm and his career. Two years later he's settled into a quiet and simple new life on his farm, but when a beautiful alien crashes in his field, he discovers the answers to his questions—and possibly the keys to his future—will come from the stars.

I’m sure no one, least of all Janel the writer herself, is surprised to see this author featured on this list. For now the 3rd year in a row. WOOOW  👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 She is the reason I got into shieth, and she just continues to put out amazing conent with them. This story by far has been the best she’s done this year-possibly one of the best ever. 

We have Shiro trying to have a simple life at the farm with his dog and animals. A curious BOM Keith who shakes things up with his boldness/innocence-and questions bound to test blood pressure, especially Shiro’s. Loads of cute moments, loads of funny moments, and also loads of oreos. 

If summary and my thoughts don’t sell you, only one thing will: reading it for yourself.

Honorable mentions:

Two Hearts in Bloom

Mountain Men

Home is in Your Heart

3). Spun like Gold by Neyasochi (sheith)

Summary: Though Shiro is currently operating his fledgling bakery business out of a decrepit food truck he got for cheap in a repossession sale, he dreams of something more: a cozy bakery and cafe on a tree-lined street somewhere, filled with the smell of fresh coffee and sugar glaze instead of diesel. A little money could go a long way to helping him get off the ground-- and luckily, Keith has money to burn.

Or: Keith takes care of Shiro’s financial woes, in exchange for a little sugar.

OMG, OMG, OMG was this story so sweet. Neyasochi already sold me with the baking/baker Shiro trope, but went a step further throwing in sugar-daddy Keith who knows his way around his manic family and cars, but when it comes to asking a cute guy out? What better way to make an impression than becoming his best paying customer?  

Honorable mentions:

oh, devour me

Healing Touch

on your hand of gold 

4). The Destiny You Sold by @tryslora​ (drarry)

Summary: In which Draco knits, Harry makes wands, and things get very tangled up between them.

If there’s one thing I love about fanfics is how they introduce you to tropes you never would consider before. Draco and knitting was a combo I didn’t realize how much I needed until now. And I love the fact knitting played a big part of the accidental bonding. Also loved the fact everyone in their friend group shipped them like crazy. Highly, highly recommend 

5) What’s My Age Again? by @lazywonderlvnd​ (drarry)

Summary: Harry Potter has had enough of pleasing the public, and his reckless tendencies are finally getting out of hand.

The Quidditch World Cup is only a week away; as Captain of the English National Team, Hermione has assured him that his immaturity won’t be tolerated by the Ministry.

And then Malfoy shows up.

(Inspired by the blink-182 song of the same name.)

It’s no secret that I’m such a fangirl of @lazywonderlvnd​. Any drarry story I read, I always love. Last year, I ADORED The Changing Lights, which was one of my favorites last year, and her updating/finishing the story was a massive highlight for me. I thank ya for that. 

This story was honestly refreshing. I’ve grown so used to Harry being responsible, always doing what’s right, that seeing a story where Harry pretty much has his middle finger in the air to “good reputation”, “being responsible,” because as he brought up: “I’m 25. I’ve been fighting all my life. I’ve earned my life to have fun.”

Okay, granted, it wasn’t quite like that but it was along those lines. And I agree. After all he went through, Harry deserves to have fun. He deserves to be reckless and make stupid decisions.

Also, it was such a blast reading a story where Harry is the brat & Draco has to keep him in line. LOVED.

Honorable mentions: 

Inside Your Mind

Aletheia

6). Chocolate and Pastry by agentmoppet, anemonen (drarry)

Summary:  When Pansy bets Draco that there is no chance he and Harry could carry out a genuine romantic relationship, he and Harry form a plan. But as their fake relationship progresses, Draco sees a side of Harry he never expected. Harry is struggling with something, pushing it far down inside him where he doesn't have to acknowledge its existence. Draco starts to worry, and then he starts to care, and then... horribly... he starts to fall in love.

Do not let the title fool you like it did me. Title alone, I was thinking it was going to be a fun, fluffy story involving baking, maybe chocolate crafting. However....it was not that at all. It was more. A lot deeper. A lot more angsty. It explored mental health, PTSD and the dangers of loved ones ignoring the signs, and contained an important message:

You can’t love someone out of their illness/disease/ addiction. Which is true and this story showed that. 

7). i’m still here by owedbetter (zutara)

Summary: "You see me."

And somehow, that makes all the difference.

If there’s one of the few good things 2020 has brought, it was Netflix bringing back ATLA to their library. Which in turn ignited my love for zutara & had me drag @kila09​ into that ship. 

This story was just incredible. The way it was written, it really felt like it could have been canon. Deleted scenes that a certain creator didn’t want us to see. The way Zuko and Katara came together, starting from their peaceful friendship after the Southern Raiders episode up, becoming closer along the way. 

I dare y’all to read this and not think OMG...is this secret canon bonus material? I definitely plan to read more by owedbetter. 

8). all the what ifs i never said by rosegardenlake (sheith)

Summary:  Keith is nine when he first notices Shiro. Shiro is gentle and quiet, always keeping to himself. Keith is rough and loud, running wherever his feet will take him, screaming on the top of his lungs into the wind. But despite that, they're a constant throughout each other's lives...if only that could be enough. As they grow, Keith just wants them both to be happy, but instead, he's falling apart.

Rosegardenlake is another sheith writer who I adored last year & adore this year as well. This was a story that I read during the beginning of quarantine-life and when I tell you the number of times Keith’s emotions of loneliness got to me, it’s a big number. 

Keith’s struggle with life after high school, after peaking in school, and his mental health reminded me too much of where I was at 2018, which wasn’t a good year for me at all, especially mentally. So that was triggering but it was also helpful since I saw how far I came. And it was beautiful seeing how far Keith came. 

Also the relationship between Shiro and Keith was just beautiful. It’s very funny how Keith was Shiro’s protector growing up and Shiro became Keith’s later on in life. There’s a chance your heart may be heavy, but will also be so swelled up with feelings these two bring it. 

Honorable mentions:

Where the Light Doesn’t Reach 

9). When Night Comes by Oh_Hey_Tae (BTS; poly ot7)

Summary: Jungkook’s tipsy, but he’s not buzzed enough to miss that he doesn’t recognize any of the four dozen people here. And seeing as his friends aren’t ones to ditch and there’s no way they’d play a prank this mean on him, Jungkook reaches the conclusion that he just walked into a stranger’s very expensive home, uninvited, and started eating their food and petting their well-dressed dog.

(Or: Jungkook shows up to the wrong Halloween party and meets the most powerful family in Seoul.)

I can easily say Oh_Hey_Tae easily one of my favorite BTS fanfic favs. Always come through with the stories, and this one was just amazing. We have Jungkook stumbling into a Halloween story, and soon enters into a intense, insane relationship with all six guys, who are already in a relationship with each other. Oh, and supernatural creatures at that. 

You do see certain relationships are stronger, deeper. For example, a lot of moments between Jin and Jungkook. Vmin has their own story and moments. But it was just so amazing. 

Fair warning. Halfway through, things get darker and Oh_My_Tae really loves playing readers diirty with the angst, but it’s so good. 

10). peace-weaver by magisterpavus (sheith)

Summary: You will be the peace-weaver, his mother told him, smiling though her dark eyes welled with unshed grief. The one who brings two bitter enemies together and ends the bloodshed and death between us, once and for all.

But men will always crave war. The Galra, most of all.

Yet another arranged-marriage AU that I loved. This particular one is well-loved in the sheith fandom. I can definitely say it’s considered one of the classic fanfics that’s been read or shared at one point or another. 

The story itself reminded me a lot of Macbeth, involving murder and dark forces at bay. The dynamics between Shiro and Keith reminded me of Drogo and Daenerys from GOT, one of my fav couples there, which only made it all the more better for me. 

I do credit the author for the creative approach they took with quintessence and Shiro’s role/persona as the Champion

Honorable mentions:

The Boy in the Window 

Sheith Demon/Priest AU

A Matter of Scale

Directive 

Honorable mentions that I seriously wanted to add to the list but this post is already lengthy. All amazing, all greats reads by various writers y’all should check out:

Hold Me Tight, or Don’t by snowfallen (yoonmin with a Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU featuring assassins and hitmen, secret identities, fake marriage, and a lot of smut)

The Prince and Pirate by Maniacani, @nerdherderette​ (drarry with a splash of royalty and pirates. Perfect if you’re needing to fill in any Pirates of the Caribbean or Black Sails cravings)

First Kisses are the Best Ones by SashaDistan (sheith in a 50 First Dates Fusion heartfelt/heart-gutting story)

freely, as men strive for right by @bixgirl1​ (drarry w/Harry explaining the many ways why Draco’s the love of his life. we love to see it)

The Sacrificed by SasuNarufan13 (sasunaru w/ dark fairytale elements similar to Little Red Riding Hood & Beauty and the beast + feat. mpreg)

Chasing Treacle Tart (and Draco Malfoy) by xErised (drarry feat. lunch lady Draco + scheming Harry + loads of fun w/sweets & more)

Red Desert by @beatitudinembty​ (taekook in a unique sci-fi AU; hard to explain but so worth a read

one way ticket to another life by starboykeith (sheith Hades x Persephone background)

Even So by lewilder (zutara; arranged marriage+ language barrier +soft strangers to lovers)

Well, lovely people, there you have it. My top 10 favorite fanfics of the year. I do notice a certain ship shows up a lot on this list, but I wasn’t kidding when I said they took over this year. Still, I tried to mix the list up with other fav ships/fandoms of mine. To the writers who created these incredible stories. I applaud you. I thank you for creating and sharing these wonderful stories. Anyone interested in doing the tag, please do. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, GUYS

[kcwcommentary]

VLD7x09 – “Know Your Enemy”

7x09 – “Know Your Enemy”

I’m just going to get right to it.

The episode starts with a shot of Neptune. With all the not-a-planet planets this show’s animation has produced, it’s really cool to see not just a planet-looking planet, but an actual existing planet. Voltron, with its kind of comically large wings are blasting toward Earth, and Pidge is trying to get in contact with her father. Given that we’ve been shown Keith able to image a Galra ship on the surface of Earth from millions of light-years outside the Milky Way, Voltron could be gathering a lot of information about the current status of Earth with visual scans. None are shown being made. Instead, Hunk wonders if they’re too late.

Sam replies to Pidge and tells them to stop coming to Earth. This is totally contradictory to the previous episodes. I’m actually laughing right now. At the beginning of 7x07 “The Last Stand Part 1,” Voltron received Sam’s recorded message: “To any beings who receive this message, Planet Earth has been overrun by the Galra. Most of the citizens have been captured. Those of us remaining are making our last stand. If you get this message, please get word to Voltron. We need help.” Then at the end of 7x08 “The Last Stand Part 2,” we see how that message was sent, with “micro transmitters, millions of them” and Sam’s message from the beginning of Part 1 is repeated at the end of Part 2. This show is giving me narrative whiplash. This message of request for help from Voltron has been included in the past episodes repeatedly, getting the message transmitted at the end of last episode was a big plot development, and now that the message from Sam asking Voltron to come help has been received by Voltron, he’s now telling Voltron to not come. This is the kind of writing inconsistencies that happen when a writing team is not working well together.

Also, Sam’s big speech at the end of the last episode, part of the message quoted above, and both previous episodes’ titles, were about a “last stand.” Sam’s big speech at the end of last episode was about boosting morale heading into a titular “last stand” battle. But as we see in this episode, Sam and those he gave that speech to have not fought some “last stand” battle. They’ve just been holding on, hoping something will change, hoping maybe Voltron would come. It makes Sam’s episode-ending speech last episode meaningless. That speech is out of place and unresolved. It’s like the writers wanted a big rallying speech scene, but wrote the scene totally separate from any of the plot of these episodes.

Sam now says that Sendak has taken over the planet (aside from it being specifically Sendak, Team Voltron already know that the Galra have “overrun” Earth). Prior to this episode, the Galra on Earth was why Earth needed Voltron, yet now with this episode the Galra being on Earth is why Voltron shouldn’t come to Earth? I’ve only just started this episode, and I already feel exhausted by it. Sam says that Sendak “will threaten the people of Earth in exchange for the Lions.” Did Sam not think of this when he sent his message asking Voltron for help?

Voltron slows down only to nearly run into several Galra ships. Sam commands Curtis to “pick up those Galra ships’ locations.” If the Garrison on Earth doesn’t already know the location of these specific Galra ships, then how can they know they need to scan for them? There’s definitely something missing in the writing. Sam has Curtis do something that causes interference so that the Galra ships where Voltron is cannot get a signal through to the Galra at Earth. Sam reports the successful communication blockage to Voltron, who only then start attacking the sentry-piloted Galra fighters. Why was Voltron waiting to attack? It’s just three small fighters. Voltron has taken out more Galra ships with one attack than this before.

Voltron’s attack is new. Normally, Voltron’s blasters are beam weapons, but now out of nowhere Voltron is using some kind of tumbling clumps of energy. I don’t understand the design decision making for this show that thinks it’s okay to have something like this that’s never been depicted before and here comes out of nowhere. Two of three Galra fighters are destroyed, and Pidge says to not destroy the third because she’s “got an idea.” Pidge has Team Voltron land the Lions on a Saturnian moon. Only then do we find out that one of the Lions caught the third Galra fighter like a dog catching a ball. All of Team Voltron loads up in the fighter, piloted by Keith. There is a weird inclusion of a shot of the mice and Kaltenecker with an Allura voiceover about hoping they’ll be okay left behind on the Lions. Was anyone in the audience watching this show worried about the mice and Kaltenecker not being in the Galra fighter with everyone else? It’s such a weird inclusion.

Team Voltron makes their way to Earth and flies right through a fleet of Galra cruisers, never being hailed by any of the Galra. Even with if the Galra think that this is just a Galra fighter, it’s not flying where it’s supposed to, so why wouldn’t anyone in the Galra fleet contact them to ask them where they’re headed?

Also, I guess the show forgot that the Green Lion can turn invisible. It’s like the show is preacting on situations that haven’t happened yet. The writer knows that the episode is going to move toward a conflict over Sendak wanting the Lions versus threatening Earth to get them. It feels forced that Voltron would leave all of the Lions at Saturn rather than come in with a cloaked Green Lion. The Paladins have successfully infiltrated Galra-controlled locations before using the Green Lion.

This episode so far has not given me any understanding of these characters’ thought process. What are they going to Earth for? What are they going to do there without the Lions? What is their plan? I don’t think they have one, they just want to get to Earth. This is just more of writing characters on this show to not behave realistically.

The Galra fighter is literally descending through Earth’s atmosphere because they’re trying to make it to make it to the surface, Keith even announces that they’re doing so, and then he says, “I’m losing altitude” like it’s a surprise. Yes, one would lose altitude when one enters a planet’s atmosphere with the intention of landing. Keith says, “Brace for impact.” It’s such fake drama. Apparently, they all collectively weighed too much for the fighter to be able to stay in flight, and Keith crashed. Honestly, their collective body weight is not that much. If an elevator can handle their weight, an advanced fighter craft should be able to too. Team Voltron walks up the hill from where they crashed, and in cresting the top of the hill, see the destruction of a city. Hunk recognizes this city, which he says is a half-hour from the Garrison.

As Team Voltron makes their way through the destroyed city, they come under attack by floating Galra balls. I guess these are supposed to be updated versions of the pyramid shaped drones the Galra had earlier in the show? Keith tells Lance he’s going to distract the drones so Lance can shoot them. Keith says, “Don’t miss.” I guess this is supposed to be playful banter? Lance takes out the drones, but then the team comes under fire from rifle-wielding sentries. The MFA pilots – because the Garrison apparently has no ground troops and has to use elite fighter pilots instead – drive in and start taking out the sentries. Rizavi and James are obnoxious to the Paladins. Given how this show’s production seemed to switch to liking their new characters more than the show’s main characters, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the MFE pilots would be written to be condescending to the main characters. James says that their weapons “neutralize [drones’] signals. It’s almost as if Team Voltron should have tried to get some information before they came to Earth, that they should have communicated with Sam and formed a plan. It’s in-story unrealistic, but this moment fits the meta-drama of the show’s poorly thought out production.

They ride to the Garrison, still behind its dome forcefield. The Pidge family reunion should feel emotional, but because of how obnoxiously this show has written Pidge, Sam, and Colleen, I really don’t care. Lance sees his family, and they all hug. Hunk watches Lance wistfully and thinks about when he left his family to study at the Garrison, though he looks older in this flashback than he did in the flashback in 7x01 “A Little Adventure.” Iverson says he’s glad to see Shiro again and apologizes for his having restrained him in 1x01 “The New Alliance.” I kind of love that Coran seems defensive of Shiro, saying, “Ah, so you’re the one who strapped Shiro to a table. I heard about that.”

Shiro responds, “You were just following orders, as any good soldier would.” Oh, the unintended irony of Shiro saying this while Sam and Iverson last episode repetitiously engaged in insubordination. Guess that makes Sam and Iverson not good soldiers then.

Shiro introduces Allura, Romelle, and Coran to Iverson. Iverson fakes being obnoxiously angry at Keith, and Keith actually demonstrates a lot of respect and salutes Iverson, only for Iverson to apologize to Keith. This moment is more tonal whiplash. Why did this show think writing fakeout tonality like this was a good thing? Keith apologizes to Iverson. Honestly, this show hasn’t shown anything about Keith back then that I think Keith needs to apologize for really. But whatever. Cosmo likes Iverson.

Keith sees James, James glares at him and walks away.

Then we get the short little few seconds the show has Shiro mourn Adam, seeing his name and picture on the memorial. The show can give the MFE pilots all last names but couldn’t give Adam one. His listing on the memorial only has his last initial, W. That’s really not how war memorials that list the names of the dead do it, they include last names. Was it really so hard for the people making this show to give characters last names?

Shiro says, “Adam, I’m sorry.” 16 seconds. That’s all the time this show gives for Shiro to mourn, for the resolution of Shiro’s and Adam’s relationship.

On to a staff meeting. Veronica reports that the Galra have been able to wipe out the resistance movement, which is interesting that it’s so quickly thrown away with a short line of dialog here since last episode ended with Veronica returning while proclaiming the excellence of the resistance. This is more narrative whiplash.

Hunk wants to know why this Garrison base isn’t bringing in more people to protect. Sam says it’s too risky. Hunk gets upset.

And then the show writes James to return to being an absolute terrible person. He yells at Hunk, “Do Paladins not understand the chain of command?” This is the ass that just last episode told Veronica that he didn’t need a “handler.” I am so sick of this show’s inconsistent writing. James yells, “Your CO said it’s too dangerous!” That CO has proven he doesn’t care about the chain of command since he and Iverson last episode repeatedly violated the chain of command. I really hate James.

Sam calls James down. Sam then says, “Believe me, I understand what you’re going through Hunk. We all have family out there.” Well, aside from Matt elsewhere in the universe, all of Sam’s family is right here safe. His saying this sounds thoroughly condescending. “We can’t lose ten people to save twelve.” Why is Sam now so cautious when he spent the last two episodes clashing with Sanda because she wanted to be cautious and Sam didn’t? More inconsistent writing.

Allura tries to be diplomatic and move the meeting along. Sam takes them to the hangar to show them the four second-generation MFE ships. Sanda just stands silently behind everyone in the elevator. I was thinking maybe Sanda was elsewhere and that’s why she hadn’t yet shown up in this episode. Coran says he might be able to help with the issues the Garrison has had in keeping the fighters powered.

And then we’re shown the Atlas for the first time, and the tone of its reveal is nothing compared to what I would expect given how much the previous two episodes kept setting it up. The reveal just sort of happens. Sam says it can house the Lions and “an entire command unit.” I actually really like the design of the Atlas as a ship (less so as a mecha).

Sanda finally speaks, “It’s built but it can’t fly.” She then says, “Everyone, there’s a subject we can’t avoid any longer. Sendak attacked Earth because he wanted the Lions, and now they’re here. It seems that we need to at least discuss our options.” Why did the episode’s writer think that this transition from here’s-the-Atlas to suddenly we-should-consider-giving-Sendak-the-Lions actually worked? The transition doesn’t work at all. It’s jarring. Why would Sanda pick right now to bring this up? I can kind of understand why Sanda would think giving Sendak what he wants should be considered, but having her be like this just feels forced. The writing just does not feel realistic to have her think that the Galra would just go away if given the Lions.

Sam yells, “The universe needs the Lions.” Except for of course right now since they were left at Saturn and the Paladins don’t have any means to get back to them. Again, what was the plan? Why in the world would the Paladins leave the Lions behind without a means to get back to them? Some miscellaneous guy speaks, agreeing with Sanda.

I do like that Allura speaks up and says, “I’ll settle this right now, we’re not giving up the Lions under any circumstances.” They do kind of belong to her, after all. Sanda yells back, “Maybe you should leave the matters of Earth to the people who live here.” Allura totally could have countered with something like, okay, fine, I won’t use my warships to help you. Shiro tries to explain how they have enough experience fighting the Galra to know that offering Sendak what he demands won’t work. Sanda says, “We barely know what we’re up against. We need intelligence.” So, did the files Sam brought with him not include information about the Galra? The Garrison can pinpoint three fighters millions of miles from Earth to be able to block their communication, but they have no means to gain intelligence of what’s going on on Earth? Instead of having the Paladins come to Earth and leave the Lions behind, they could have had at least the Green Lion use its cloak to scan around Earth and get intelligence. If Voltron could image a Galra ship on Earth from billions of light-years away, then it could totally be used for intelligence gathering. But the show wrote the Paladins to leave the Lions behind and travel to Earth without any plan whatsoever. I don’t know why I keep expecting this show to have characters behave realistically.

Turns out, Sam’s files from the Castle of Lions does have information, the Garrison apparently just hasn’t bothered to go through it. Allura points out that those files would still have Sendak’s memories taken from him way back in 1x11 “Crystal Venom.” (I miss the show being as well written as it was back during “Crystal Venom.”) Pidge agrees with Allura that the memories could “give us some insight into Sendak’s plan.” I mean, those memories wouldn’t contain anything that has happened to Sendak since the first season of the show, but okay, sure.

Miscellaneous Garrison guy takes Allura, Pidge, and Colleen to the room-filled computer network that they’ve had to use to process the Altean data files. Why is Colleen with them? “Sifting through that much information is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” the guy says. Tangent: I’m not a fan of that idiom – like trying to find a needle in a haystack – because it implies something that is near impossible to do. The thing is, finding a needle in a bunch of hay wouldn’t be all that difficult, just use a good, strong magnet.

Sam shows Shiro and Coran the inside of the Atlas. Coran says that a ship like the Atlas might need “two or three battleship-class Balmeran crystals” to be able to be properly powered. Shiro kind of jokes, “I don’t suppose there are any Balmera nearby.” Coran then laughs rejectingly, “In this young galaxy?” This is more of this show not doing any research. The estimated age of the Milky Way is over 13-billion years old. There was a study released in 2018 of a star in the Milky Way that’s not quite 2000 light-years from Earth; that star is approximate 13.5-billion years old. Even without the increased precision of determining this star’s age, age estimates for some globular clusters in the Milky Way have been dated to over 12-billion years old, and those globular cluster studies were published in like 2003. Current best estimates for the age of the universe is 13.8-billion years old. The Milky Way, despite how Coran was written to act here, is not young.

Allura comes across some prosthetic arms and legs hanging on a wall. The miscellaneous Garrison guy says that they’re designs Sam has made for injured soldiers. “Like everything else, we don’t have an adequate power source to make them viable,” he says. Of course, this is foreshadowing Shiro’s upcoming new arm. I’ll tell you right now, I don’t like his new arm, and I’ll have a lot to say about it soon. Pidge has found Sendak’s memories.

There’s a sudden, jarring transition to a flashback of Hunk working on a car’s motor with his father. And as sudden as we transitioned into the flashback, we transition out of it to Hunk in the Garrison. Keith stops to talk to Hunk, “I’m not really good at talking with people. I don’t expect you to open up to me, but if there’s ever anything on your mind—” I can’t really say that I’ve liked much in this episode, but I really like Keith in this moment. This is the kind of reflection and building of relationships that the show desperately needed more of. Hunk doesn’t wait for Keith to finish before launching into an understandable rant about Earth being occupied by Galra. Hunk says, “I know it’s stupid, but I used to daydream about coming home to a peaceful Earth.” This continues to be a really good character moment, the kind that this series has seemed to have actively avoided having for a long time. Hunk feels bad that he doesn’t know if his family is okay, he feels a bit envious that Pidge and Lance have theirs right now and he doesn’t.

Then Keith says, “Look, Hunk, I never told you this, but of all the Paladins you’re the one I’m most impressed by.” It does feel really weird that Keith says this about Hunk and not about Shiro. But then, I guess if the show has Keith referencing “of all the Paladins” and Keith isn’t thinking of Shiro as a Paladin, then it’s technically not Keith ignoring how important Shiro has been to him in the past, I guess. Keith continues on to support Hunk emotionally, and Hunk then grabs Keith and hugs him. The emotion of the scene is really nice, even if it feels slightly off re: Keith’s relationship with Shiro being ignored. Hunk then says he’s going to get his family and Keith says he’s going with him.

They sneak to get one of the Garrison’s vehicles. Absolutely unrealistically, James and Veronica have been standing in the dark by one of the vehicles, like they were waiting to catch Keith and Hunk. James says, “My problem is that I don’t want to see our only hope for saving Earth get hurt.” The writing then does yet another switch-flip in the tonality of character behavior. Now, suddenly, James is all helpful and says he and Veronica are coming with Hunk and Keith. I am tired of this show’s whiplash. I can tell that the writers throughout this series think these whiplash moments are good writing, but they’re just not.

Sam joins Pidge, Allura, and Colleen. I still don’t understand what Colleen is doing here. If the show had established her to be skilled with computers or something, I’d get it. If they had her say something about just wanting to be around Pidge, I’d get it. They get the memory files working by creating a system similar to how the Castle worked with Alfor’s memories. Pidge has Sam test it by asking the memories questions, the hologram of Sendak answers. Sam asks the hologram to “explain to me your methods for conquering planets.” The hologram says there are many ways to do it, conquering primitive people is easiest. Allura asks about more advanced civilizations, and the hologram says, “There are always those willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. That’s why it is best to find something they value more than themselves and make that the target.” This is nicely consistent with how Sendak thought back in 1x05 “Return of the Gladiator” when he decided to attack the Paladins through attacking the Arusians. Pidge and Sam ask a few more questions, and then Allura asks, “What if a planet refuses to give up, no matter the cost?” and the hologram answers, “If a planet refuses to give up, then we annihilate it, but only one planet has ever refused: Altea.” Allura cuts the hologram off. She’s clearly emotionally bothered by it.

In some ruined city, Hunk, Keith, James, and Veronica are doing something unexplained in the standard way the writers think having characters do miscellaneous stuff without explanation is interesting. Veronica, apart from the rest of the group, attaches a triangle to a doorway, and James says she’s successfully sent a signal and now they just have to wait. Hunk has another really short flashback of cooking with his mother.

Hunk, Keith, James, and Veronica are waiting in a sewer until some old dude shows up and tells them to come with him. They go to some location where there are a few maps and stuff on tables and walls. He says, “Amazing, the rumors are true! Word of the Paladins’ return has inspired the resistance.” This completely contradicts what Veronica said at the beginning of this episode that the resistance had been wiped out. And since she was the one who contacted this guy in this scene, it would seem she knew the resistance wasn’t wiped out, so why did she earlier say it was?

They look out of a window down to some Galra facility. Veronica says, “Is this where they’ve taken all the prisoners?” Considering the size of the population of Earth, it would be impossible for “all the prisoners” to be in any one location. The resistance guy says that it’s a workcamp Sendak is using to mine for materials he’s using to build something. Veronica says that if the labor-force has been moved inside the Galra camp, then they can’t get to Hunk’s parents. So, is this supposed to be the city near the Garrison base, or is it a different city? Is Hunk originally from super close to this main Garrison base? How else would they assume that Hunk’s parents are here instead of elsewhere? This story does not feel like it has the actual planetary scope that it should have.

Shiro goes to talk to Allura. She says, “Sendak’s memories were hard to hear, but it did remind me of something my father once said. He told me that there were those with the power to destroy and those with the power to create.” She reveals Shiro’s new arm to him. She must be really good at manufacturing to have built this in such little time.

Hunk is looking through some binoculars down at the Galra camp. He sees his parents and vows to get them out.

This episode has a couple of truly nice moments, but a lot of it still bothers me. I don’t like all the tonal whiplash. I don’t like that the Paladins came to Earth with absolutely no plan whatsoever. I don’t like the way this show continues to write Sanda. I hate James. And I hate that the 16 seconds in this episode is all we get of the resolution of Adam for Shiro.

[sasspan]

the stars rewritten

summary: five realities that didn’t happen and one that did.

wordcount: 2,565

(dedicated to @junimullet, whose kind messages gave me the motivation to finish this fic half a year after i started writing it! thanks for renewing my love for k/a 💕)

ETA: ao3 link

---

5.

They took Allura’s bedside vigil in shifts.

Coran was the one who sat by her for the first few hours, and then Lance for the next few. Romelle came in for a while, the mice perched on her shoulders, then Pidge, followed by Shiro.

Keith tapped in at three in the morning. Shiro gave him a tired smile and a clap on the shoulder by way of greeting.

“Chin up, Keith,” he said on his way out. “Hunk’ll come by in around four vargas to take over.”

Keith nodded. The door slid closed, and the room was quiet.

Slowly, he walked to her bed. Slowly, he sat down next to it. Slowly, he pulled his gaze to Allura’s face.

It was hard, looking at her, the sallowness of her face, her closed eyes. It was hard, knowing that there had been a chance of her not being here at all.

What was he supposed to do? He knew that Romelle had sung to her. That Coran had told her old childhood stories. That Pidge had brought in a bouquet of juniberries grown in the hothouse—they were wilting in a vase on the table.

He thought maybe he should talk to her. Tell her it would be all right. Tell her how she had saved them, all of them. Tell her about Daibazaal and Altea, about Voltron. Tell her he was sorry.

He thought maybe he should hold her hand.

Hers were lying on top of the sheet, curled into loose fists. They looked so small there; no bracelets, no bayard. He remembered holding them when the two of them were spinning in a void of stars, clutching them like a lifeline. They had been small out there, too.

Keith reached out—

—and Allura gasped for breath.

Keith withdrew as though he had been struck. The very next moment he was reaching forward again, helping her sit up as she shuddered and coughed.

“Keith,” she managed after several minutes, and the relief that cut through him at the sound of her voice was so sharp and hot that he couldn’t quite speak.  “Keith,” she said once more. “What happened? Where are we? Is everyone—”

“Allura,” he said, finding the words at last. “Allura. We’re fine, everyone’s fine. We’re all right. We won.”

Her eyes caught his, held him still. She said, wonderingly, “We won?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

Allura drooped back onto her pillows, her hair a silver pool beneath her. “We won,” she repeated, almost cautiously, like she was testing the way the words felt on her tongue.  “What about Honerva? The other realities?”

“They’re... Honerva disappeared,” he said. “And the other realities, they came back…you restored them.”

“I restored them?”

“Yeah. You saved us.” Keith swallowed. “You saved everybody.”

And she’d nearly died doing it.

Allura looked around the room, at the flowers and the get-well-soon cards at her bedside. Pidge’s card, at the front, had a roughly scribbled picture of the Blue Lion under the words We Love You!

“Voltron,” she said, “what about Voltron?”

Keith’s hand clenched at his knee. He did not want to be the one to tell her.

Regardless, he said, “It’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“It, it disappeared when Honerva did.” The words were wooden and graceless in his mouth; Shiro could’ve said it better, Hunk could’ve said it better. “There just wasn’t—I guess there just wasn’t enough quintessence to bring everything back, and…”

And that had been the end of it. Voltron swallowed up by that endless white light, the paladins spit back out like watermelon seeds.

“Oh,” breathed Allura, and crumpled.

Keith looked away as the tears slipped down her cheeks. He was miserably out of his element now, and all he could think of was the way her face had looked in that strange other dimension, that collective consciousness.

I know the risks, she had said.

The quiet steadiness of her voice. The acceptance.

The memory hit deep.

“I’m sorry.” It tumbled out of him before he could stop it.

She stared at him with wet eyes.

“Allura. I’m sorry,” he said again, and then it was a flood rushing up his throat, so thick he could hardly breathe. I’m sorry about Voltron. I’m sorry about the Castle. I’m sorry about your father. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

He could not bring himself to voice it. So instead Keith laid his open palm next to hers on the bed.

She did not move for several ticks. And then, Allura placed her hand in his.

.

.

.

4.

She didn’t need an escort, not really; the mission was a simple visit to the planet Puig, meant to strengthen diplomatic relations. Guards, she’d argued, would make everyone more on edge; and that couldn’t possibly be conducive to a peaceful alliance.

But Lotor had insisted repeatedly, and she’d finally agreed to take along a single guard as a precaution.

So he had sent one of his generals, the slight one who always wore a kerchief around his face. Keith. He followed her like her own shadow, silent and unshakeable, as the Puigians led her on a tour of their capital city.

Occasionally she would catch his gaze. He did not look Galra, not the way she was used to; and she knew, of course, that he was not fully Galran, just like all of Lotor’s generals, but…still. It was unnerving. How quietly he followed her. How the blade flashed at his hip. How dark his eyes were.

Allura pushed the feelings down, or at least attempted to. She owed the Puigians her full attention; they were potential allies, after all, and she was the leader of the Coalition, a paladin of Voltron.

So she focused on the tour, on the food and dance and song. She focused so much that she let her guard slip.

“Princess!” shrieked her guide, and Allura, too late, registered the rush of cool air on the back of her neck, the shadow that loomed behind her, blocking the sun. Metal whistled as it cut through the air, and she reached for her bayard, knowing there wasn’t time, knowing—

A bang, a grunt, a thud. She turned, whip in hand, to see a huge figure slump to the ground, an axe falling from its grip.

Keith stood behind it. The blade in his hand shimmered indigo. His kerchief had slipped from his face, so she could see the long scar reaching up his cheek.

He dipped his head, his eyes locked on hers, fathomless. “Princess. Are you all right?”

.

.

.

3.

“Keith,” murmured the prince’s advisor, the tall one with the broad shoulders. “Maybe we should think about this.”

“We can’t, Shiro,” the prince snapped. “This is something I have to do by myself. A bunch of amateurs from some random planet are just gonna slow us down.”

“Random?” Pidge clamored.

“Who’re you calling amateurs?” Lance demanded.

“Settle down, cadets,” said Coran, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. “Perhaps the word ‘amateurs’ has a different nuance here than it does on Earth, eh?”

“Not the way I mean it,” said the prince coldly. He whirled around, his cape sweeping over his shoulder, and began to stride away.

Allura glanced at everyone else, frozen with indecision (or in Lance’s case, rage) before hurrying after him.  “Prince—I mean, your highness—please, just hear us out.“

The prince turned to face her, and she was suddenly taken aback by his proximity. He looked so young, so human. Except for the tapered ears and the violet marks beneath his eyes, he could have been any other cadet at the Garrison. It was difficult to believe he was an alien who had been asleep for ten thousand years.

“Well?” he said. “Say your piece.”

Allura swallowed back her surprise. Now wasn’t the time to be tongue-tied; everyone was depending on her. Coran, the other cadets. Her father. She couldn’t let them down. 

“When I found the Blue Lion,” she began, “I…felt something. As if…I was destined to find it. As if my life was leading up to that moment. When I flew it, I could…it was almost like we were one being.” She paused, inhaled deeply. The weightless exhilaration of that first flight had not yet left her veins.  “There has to be a reason for this…for all of this. It cannot all be a coincidence. And…the Galra must be stopped. Allow us to join you. Let us to fight by your side.”

The prince was watching her warily, his shoulders tense. Like he had never been offered help before, and did not know how to accept it.

“Please,” said Allura.

Keith let out a breath, and closed his eyes.

“I hope I don’t regret this,” he said.

.

.

.

2.

When the aliens came, there wasn’t any big deal made about it; it was quiet, hush-hush, the whole thing kept under wraps.

“The Garrison’s worried that telling the world about this would cause mass panic,” Shiro told him. “They figure ignorance is bliss, for the time being.”

Keith grunted noncommittally. He didn’t really care about Garrison politics, but it was annoying that he didn’t have security clearance to hear this stuff firsthand.

That changed the following month.

“Me?” he said when Shiro gave him the news. “Why do they want to talk to me?”

“Not them,” Shiro said. “Just her. The princess.”

“But why?”

“You’ll see,” said Shiro. He smiled at Keith from the seat of his hoverbike. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, cadet.”

“Yeah,” said Keith. But already, he knew he would. He had to; there was no way he couldn’t. Shiro hadn’t said much about what the aliens had done to help him, but Keith had realized: they had fixed Shiro. Healed him, so his strength stopped withering away, so he could stand tall once more.

It was the sort of debt that could never be repaid. Keith still wanted to try.

He was taken to a conference room in the communications building. The princess was seated at a table inside; she rose when he entered.

“Keith,” she said, coming forward, holding out a hand. “How wonderful to finally meet you. My name is Allura.”

“Princess,” he said uncertainly. He took her hand, and, for a bizarre moment, wondered if he was meant to kiss it. But no; they shook, and then pulled away.

“Shall we sit down?” she asked.

They sat across from each other. The princess had a sheaf of papers before her that she sifted through. “I want to thank you for agreeing to this meeting. I’ve heard…quite a bit about you.”

What, exactly, had she heard about him? He wanted to ask, but found that he had trouble meeting her gaze. There was something about her eyes; they were bluer than the desert sky, unearthly.

“Before we start, I suppose you have some questions for me,” she said. “I’m more than happy to answer them.”

Keith frowned down at the table. Questions…he had too many to count. “Why Earth?” he asked at last. “Why now?”

“I’m not quite sure myself,” the princess admitted. “I was asleep in my ship for thousands of years without any disturbance. But… for some reason I was awoken, and led here.” From the corner of his eye he saw her fingers flex and relax, grasping. Her voice softened and became almost dreamlike. “It’s almost as if… as if there’s something on this planet that I’m meant to find.”

The words stirred something in the depths of his chest. Something I’m meant to find. He knew that feeling, that feeling of peering out into the night sky, that inexplicable pull. Like a voice, calling your name, waiting for an answer.

His silence seemed to encourage her. “Commander Iverson tells me that you’re one of the best pilots here.”

Keith was quiet for a moment longer before shrugging. “Sure. Griffin and Rizavi aren’t bad either.”

“Perhaps. But Shiro tells me that you also have a…tendency of getting into trouble.”

This surprised him into looking up, and he saw that she was smiling at him, those strange blue eyes dancing.

He coughed and glanced away. “So what—what exactly did you need me for?”

“Well,” said Princess Allura, “have you ever heard of the legend of Voltron?”

.

.

.

1.

“I thought I would find you up here.”

Keith tipped his head in her direction. “You gonna report me?”

“Perhaps I should… but I think I’d rather join you,” Allura admitted. She could not see his face, but she thought he might have smiled at that.

She came up to join him at the edge of the roof. The view from the top of the Garrison really was breathtaking, especially at night; the desert unfurled before them, dimly red-gold, interrupted only by the dark shapes of the plateaus on the horizon.

She glanced at Keith out of the corner of her eye. He was not looking at the Earth below them, but at the stars above. His brow was furrowed. She knew without asking what he was thinking of.

“I spoke to that engineer cadet earlier,” she said instead. “Hunk. He told me the signal frequencies that I asked him to track have been getting stronger these past few days.”

“Good,” muttered Keith. “I’ll go back to the caves again this week.” He looked at her. “You’ll come with me?”

“Yes,” said Allura steadily. She had only been to the caves once before, but there was something about that place…

Keith nodded. He turned back to the stars. “Thanks.” They stood together for another minute. “Thanks,” he repeated, suddenly.

Allura blinked. “For the caves?”

“No. Yes. Not just for…” Keith trailed off, his voice low. “Just. Thanks.”

It was hard, for both of them. It was hard, without Shiro or her father or Coran to provide a guiding hand. It was hard, knowing that the people they loved most had been flung into the stars, lost somewhere in the cold emptiness of space.

But at least they had each other. Not for the first time, Allura found her heart soft with gratitude that she did not have to do this alone.

“We’ll find them,” she whispered to him. A secret to tuck into their hearts, a spark of hope to carry them through this dark.

“How,” he started, then stopped. Again she knew without his saying what he meant. How do you know?, he was asking. How can you be sure?

She couldn’t, really. It was not a promise she could make. But a promise that she could make was that whatever happened, they would face it together.

Allura reached out, and clasped Keith’s hand. For a moment he was still; then, slowly, his fingers curled around hers, rough and warm.

.

.

.

0.

He saw her once, after.

He was at a refugee planet with Acxa and Ezor and the rest of the Blade, handing out cans of food and folded blankets, when a flicker of white caught his eye.

Keith looked up without meaning to, and—

There she was, standing in the crowd. Looking right at him.

Her face. Her eyes. Her smile. Pride and grief and joy and longing. A million things at once.  Breaking his heart all over again. 

There was no breeze, but strands of her hair lifted slightly, glinting like pearls in the sunlight. Lighter than petals, lighter than feathers, lighter than air itself.

When he blinked, she was gone.

[sp4c3-0ddity]

Title: loose thread Fandom:  Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating:  Teen and Up Pairings:  Gen Characters:  Pidge, Hira Warnings:  Drugging Word Count:  ~1640

A/N:

fantasy AU (because it’s me) for @badthingshappenbingo!! Prompt:  Can Only Move the Eyes

you can also read it on ao3 here

not beta read

prompts that have been filled are marked with an X, prompt requested is circled

Pidge is slow to wake. Her eyelids stick together, sight bleary and clouded no matter how many times she blinks to clear it. Her first thought is how exhausted she is, how she wants nothing more than to roll onto her side and slip back into a warm dream; and with it still so dark she sees nothing, she should sleep while she can.

She must've ignored Shiro's scolding and Minerva's prodding and stayed up too late again.

"What are you even doing while the rest of us are asleep?" Lance asked her once. "Something you don't want the rest of us to see?"

"Yes," was her easy, clipped, irritated answer that she regretted as soon as she registered the teasing that was in his voice and the scowl that rose to his lips before he bid her a terse good night.

It's rare Pidge wakes without someone - her mother, once upon a time, and Minerva more often lately with a nudge to her mind - waking her, so it's a wonder she still needs sleep. Her eyes slip shut again as a sigh escapes her, and she raises her hands to stretch.

Or she tries to.

Her arms refuse to obey her; she can't even lift them off the thin mattress, and when she tries to raise her head or shift her shoulders to shrug off the quilt, she can't do that either.

"W--"

Her heart skips a beat at the sound of her own pathetic whimper. Why can't she even move her lips to speak, to demand of her own body why it won't do as she asks it?

Her feet and legs are as rigid as her hands and arms, utterly useless and disconnected from her will, and it doesn't take long for Pidge to come to the conclusion that she can't move anything.

Her whole body is sticky with sweat under the quilt, her clothes uncomfortable against her skin. She tries - desperately, so desperate sweat beads along her forehead with the effort - to wiggle, if only a little, but a wordless, frustrated sob slips from her when she can't.

Panic grips her, and it's all Pidge can do to breathe. Her lungs ache, heaving in shallow bursts of air while her heart pounds wildly. Oh, God, what's happening to her? Where is she? Is this even her room at the Castle? She can barely see anything, it's so dark, it's--

It's a blindfold, she realizes. A strip of cloth covers her eyes - and how--how could she not have noticed that?

Where--where's everyone else, all her friends and Matt? Shiro, Lance, Hunk...

Minerva!

Frantically she reaches out to her - why did she not sooner? - seeking for that invisible bond and tugging with all her mental strength and--

It stretches beyond her view. No matter how much she tugs, it refuses to tauten, so Pidge is left pulling an endless thread that connects nowhere.

No, no, no! Pidge seeks Minerva as she would any thought that slipped from her grasp, sifting through her mind; it's like misplacing her brother's glasses or her journal, but so much worse.

Hot tears prick at her eyes and bile rises into her throat. Minerva, she thinks, desperate, where are you?

Her faithful and impossible friend, her closest companion, the griffin she raised from an egg...she wouldn't just ignore Pidge's pleas, would she?

Unless she fell victim to poachers.

A new fear creeps into Pidge; her stomach roils with nausea. Minerva came to her rescue more times than she could count - her friends' griffins came to theirs, always quick and fierce when protecting their flock - but now she needs Pidge.

"Fledgling," Minerva called Pidge, always full of fondness and occasionally with a touch of exasperation.

"Why do you call me that?" Pidge wondered once.

"Young and flightless," Minerva replied in her simple diction. How far she'd come from when she could only communicate in memories and images...

Pidge snorted and said, "I'm practically your mother!"

"Flightless!" Minerva insisted with a click of her beak. She nuzzled Pidge's hair, making her giggle, and added, "Need rescue from predators. Hatchling?"

"If you call me 'hatchling' I'm never bringing you wool to play with again."

Minerva screeched indignantly as Pidge laughed.

Pidge is as useless and helpless as a hatchling griffin now; the quilt covering her - barely keeping her warm in this drafty room - may as well be a chain winding around her body for all the success she's had throwing it off.

And she doesn't even know where she is or how she came to be here.

Pidge probes her mind - it's the only weapon left to her - and her memory. She remembers...something. She and Keith sneaking into a village for supplies while their griffins hid in the trees; Pidge insisting Keith go ahead without her when she overheard someone saying her father's name; assailing the speaker, a stately woman with a beauty mark walking alongside a shorter, bespectacled man; the two taking Pidge into a tavern for a drink and a chat...

Pidge swaying on her feet as she left them and Minerva's wings spread wide and blotting out the sun before it all went black.

They drugged her, Pidge realizes, and somehow they took Minerva from her too.

She'd cry, sob, and scream if she could, for the tightness in her chest and the fear in her gut. What now? Is she just to lie here and wait until the drug wears off - what if its effects are permanent? - or until her captors deign to pay her a visit?

A muffled creaking of rusty hinges makes her breath catch, and a heartbeat later heavy footsteps approach. A voice buzzes, but Pidge's ears are so full of cotton she barely understands.

Rough fingers tug on her head and untie the blindfold. An intense light - too bright and pinpoint to be natural - blinds her, and she has to blink tears from her eyes.

The intruder sets aside the light. Their face, too blurry for Pidge to make out any features, hovers over her, but this time she hears a deep, feminine voice, "...sure you...questions."

Pidge thinks she can guess the missing words. An awful anger - for Minerva, for herself - that would twist her lips and make her spit insults were she able fills her, and she glares up at the indistinct face.

She hopes they can see the hatred in her eyes.

The figure crosses their arms. "My...Commander Hira...Altean... - or I was." They laugh bitterly, and the mattress sinks beneath Pidge as they take a seat. "We are both fugitives...the Empire, are we not?"

Pidge blinks furiously, forcing her eyes to focus; the woman's - Commander Hira's? And she's an Altean? - words are becoming easier to distinguish, and her face blurs less until she can make out a pair of gleaming, metallic blue markings on her cheeks and pointed, elfin ears.

Pidge thought all Alteans died out - killed by the Galra - generations ago...does this mean some live?

It doesn't matter; she has to escape somehow, but her body is as unresponsive as ever.

Pidge wants to demand what this Commander Hira wants of her. She wants answers about her whereabouts, about her condition, about Minerva, but she can't ask for anything.

And her impotence infuriates her.

"I apologize for drugging you, Lady Green," Commander Hira says with a heavy sigh. "I am afraid it was necessary for your sake - and your Gift's sake - as well as mine and my men's."

Why did she call Pidge Lady Green? And why did she say "gift" as if it was a proper noun?

"You see"--Hira stands and paces around the round, stone-walled room with her hands folded behind her back--"we simply cannot have an angry griffin rampaging for its rider while we conduct our study, so until we find an alternative, you and your Gift must remain drugged."

Minerva is her "Gift"? And...study?

"Now, I heard tell that the Green Guardian favors those with curiosity and intellect," Hira explains, "so I see no harm in sharing some details of the study with you, captive subject or not."

Can it be? Her captor wishes to hand her information so easily?

Far be Pidge the one to protest.

Hira stops at the end of the cot. "You may have noticed that your little...connection to your Gift is a rare thing," she says. "The like of it is mythical and its nature a mystery, and so my lieutenant and I are eager to study it. You said your father is Sam Holt, Lady Green; is he not a naturalist?"

A sick feeling takes hold of her, her heart squeezing in her chest. She has an awful idea what Hira's study entails - oh, how she regrets parting from Keith and approaching her!

"Then you of all people will understand what we seek to accomplish." Hira leans over Pidge and takes her chin in hand, the touch making her skin crawl. "We wish to replicate this bond you and your Gift have forged," she says, "and we will weaponize it to exterminate the Galra and take back Altea."

Wait, then did that mean--

"Do not fear for your Gift's life," Hira tells her, her thumb stroking Pidge's cheek as gently as her own mother would and her gaze holding hers. "It is a rare creature, but you..." Her fingernails dig into her skin so sharply and suddenly she gasps. "To forge a new bond, we must break the existing one, and if it cannot be done through other means, then I am afraid you will be this study's first casualty."

Pidge's blood runs cold with understanding. Hira will take Minerva away from her and force someone else on her. She'll kill Pidge without remorse...and she won't even have the chance to scream.

[nyctolovian]

Summary:  Meet the parasite Vree

A/N: I was supposed to post this yesterday (i posted on ao3 yesterday) but um... welp, its like  that sometimes.

Also, I just did a refining of the plot annd uhhhhh it just grew by like.... 6 chapters???? im??? so??? screwed??? I've never written anything this long seriously before and uhh ((im srs when i say this is a huge ass feat for me please support my sed writing ass))

Special thanks to @lunasloveliess and @oorubixoo for beta reading this :D This chapter was pretty difficult to write.

The walls of the quarantine room were pristinely white, and the room smelled clean. It wasn’t hospital-clean, or Galran-jail-clean. It was just neat, like a new untouched bedroom. There was a large glass pane that let Lance see into the room next to his. Below it was a speaker and microphone, so Lance assumed this was going to be the mode of communication he was going to use if the team wanted to speak to him while he was still in quarantine.

He wondered if he could ask Allura to turn on the air-conditioning. But there was no communication button anywhere so he probably couldn’t activate the communicator on the wall from the inside. He rolled over onto his other side, and onto the side of the bed that had yet to accumulate his body heat. He had dumped the blanket onto the floor because it was making him heat up way too quickly. But not before inspecting it and counting the number of flowers, petals and Altean bee-sparrow-rabbit hybrids (Sparabbees!) printed on it.

What? Was Lance bored? Oh, no, not particularly. Why would you say so? (Yes, he was dying of boredom.)

He’d been in here for god-knew-how-long with nothing to do. Immediately after his body checks in the cryopod, he was sent here to wait for the results. That was fair. Lance wouldn’t want a possibly rogue paladin running about the castle either. He also knew that the others would talk about this issue separately before coming to find him, although they did not mention a word of this. But it was probably a given.

He sighed. This was the second time he was locked up in a windowless room with absolutely no stimuli. This time, he had a bed though. And possibly someone else with him. But it made no difference if that someone refused to talk.

“Hey, you,” Lance said aloud. “I know you’re there.”

No response.

“Helloooo?” He groaned. “Seriously, there’s no use hiding. You already revealed yourself! And I know you can hear me, alright?”

No response still.

Lance groaned and flopped onto his back. “Stop pretending you aren’t there! You either start talking or get out of my body right this instant.”

I’m sorry… But I can’t. Get out, I mean.

Lance startled. The voice was finally talking to him! He tried to regain his composure. “W-Why not?”

I-I’m not really sure. Sorry. I’ve tried to but I seem to be… stuck. I-I don’t know why. Leaving my host’s body was never an issue but I seem to be locked in by your tissues. I’m sorry, the voice replied.

“Wait,” Lance said. “So you’re a thing? With, like, a physical body and stuff?”

Yes, I have a body.

He let out a sigh. “That’s… less frightening than some spirit thingy existing in my head or something.” It sounded… less druid.

I’m not the work of a druid. I assure you.

Lance bounced upright. “Okay. Wait. So you can read minds?”

Well… yes, I can read my host’s mind.

Lance sighed and scratched his head. “Okay, how can I know that you’re telling the truth that you aren’t druid? For all I know, you could be lying to me. ‘Cause it seems like this mind reading thing is pretty one-sided.”

There was a moment of silence before the voice said, T-true. I don’t have concrete proof, but do you recall the dream you had? While you were in the so-called healing pod?

That strange dream. “You were the alien in the jar? Everything was from your perspective, right?”

Yes. And everything you saw and felt is genuine.

“Oh, then are you…”

Yep. A very specific feeling was transmitted to Lance. If the voice could clear their throat, they would at this point. The name is Vrizerain. But most call me Vree.

“Oh. Uh… I-I’m Lance.”

They chuckled. I’m aware. But nice to meet you. Properly.

Lance rubbed the back of his head. Vree seemed kind of polite and nice. Lance didn’t get any bad vibes from them and, for some reason, he felt inclined to believe in them.

Maybe it was the fact that even though he couldn’t read Vree’s mind like they got to read his, he could still feel a slight bit of his emotion seep into his words.

It really felt like Vree was just as confused and worried as Lance was about the situation. And their apologies felt sincere. Every word was spoken with care, like they were tiptoeing in a nursery during naptime.

Or maybe it was the fact that he had seen the dream through Vree’s eyes.

The momentary comfort of seeing their friend, Frivirion; the visceral fear of watching the druids enter, which could only spell danger; the genuine agony of… it all, expecting the same fate to eventually befall them. Lance realised that they weren’t meant to be shared. The memory was so personal — the emotions so raw, it made Lance feel like an intruder.

With those emotions echoing in his chest, Lance decided, “I’ll trust you. For now.”

Lance wasn’t as bored as he was before, having someone to talk to for most of the remaining duration of his quarantine, but the door of the room next door opening was still a huge relief for him. He leapt off his bed and rushed to the glass pane in excitement.

In came everyone, all looking tense. They closed the door behind them. Their mouths moved, but Lance couldn’t hear a word. They talked to each other for a while longer before Allura gave Coran a nod. Then, Coran fiddled with the control panel in front of the window pane on their side. The speaker crackled for a while before falling somewhat silent, save for the added ambient sounds from the other room, but otherwise, everyone remained quiet. Lance stared at the team, waiting for someone to speak.

It took a while before the silence was broken.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said. “Can you hear me?” He was the most calm in this situation. Somehow.

“H-Hey. Yeah. You’re clear.”

“We’ve got some results,” Pidge said as she flipped through the pages of her folder. Her voice was rather soft, like she didn’t know how to speak to him now. Honestly, Lance couldn’t blame her. “We ran some checks and there’s this worm-like parasite in stuck in your spine.”

Parasite?! Vree whined loudly in Lance’s head.

“Your tissues seemed to have healed over it in an unusual way… Probably because of the healing pod.”

Oh… That… would explain why I’m stuck like this.

Lance asked, “Is there a way to take the… well, parasite out?”

Lance! Not you too!

“Surgery, maybe,” Hunk said. “But it’s going to be, like, really difficult considering how it’s practically attached to your spinal cord. Removing it might cause spinal damage. I mean, none of us here are medical experts, so unless we’ve got a doctor, we don’t really know what to do.”

Lance winced.

“We will try to find a surgeon who can remove the parasite,” Allura said. “But… we shouldn’t get our hopes too high.”

Parasite again. Stop calling me that.

Bending down to Pidge’s height, Coran flipped through the folder in her hand. Pidge visibly cringed at the page that Coran, who swiftly took out the piece of paper, had stopped at. “Here is the thing, Number 3,” Coran explained as he pressed the paper against the glass pane for Lance to look at, “the creature living in your spine now looks like this.”

Lance leaned into the glass and squinted at the picture.

It was a grotesque black-and-white photo of a creature lodged between what looked like the bones and nerves of his spine. It looked like some kind of half-worm, half-spider thing.

Coran lifted the page off the glass slightly to point at the image of the parasite. “The creature is lodged between the disk of your vertebrae and entangled with some of your spinal nerves. It’s rather tricky, you see?”

That’s a whole lot of mess I’ve gotten into.

“You can say that again,” Lance said in response to both Coran and Vree.

“We will be running one more test for you. But for that, we will require Princess Allura to enter your room,” Shiro said.

Everyone on the other side was tensed up again.

“We’ll be on guard,” Keith said, lifting his bayard up for Lance to see. “Just, um, don’t transform or attack Allura or something, and we’ll be fine, I think. She’s just coming in to check on your quintessence stuff. It shouldn’t hurt…” He glanced to Allura for affirmation, and when she nodded, he looked back at Lance. “Can you do that?”

I suppose that’s fine…? If that’s really it, Vree said. Can we trust them?

Lance smiled. They wouldn’t lie to him. “Okay, yeah. Allura can do her thing. No problem.”

Allura was let into the quarantine room. Everyone else was deathly still. “Hey, princess,” Lance said with a tiny wave. He chuckled nervously. “W-will this hurt by the way?”

“It should not,” Allura assured him. She raised her palms towards him and wrapped them around the crown of his head. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Then, Lance and Allura began to glow a soft light.

Allura slowly opened her eyes and revealed her glowing purple irises. The light faded. “Your quintessence is still the same,” she said.

“So Lance is still Lance?” Hunk asked, his hands clenched in front of his chest.

“Yes. His soul has not been changed fundamentally.”

Everyone visibly relaxed with a sigh in unison.

“I could sense the quintessence of another creature in your back, as expected. And its quintessence is intricately entangled with yours. Like a bond of some sort,” she continued.

Like a telepathic one?

Allura yelped and leapt back.

“Princess!” Coran yelled.

Keith charged in, pushing Allura behind him, as Hunk and Pidge followed behind. Eyes determined, they brandished their bayards at Lance, who raised his arms in surrender.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Sorry.

“I’m half-convinced you’re doing these things on purpose,” Lance muttered bitterly.

“W-Wait,” Allura said, gently nudging Keith away. “Lance, have you established a telepathic bond with the parasite?”

For the last time, I’m not a parasite… Lance could almost sense a pout in Vree’s voice.

“Well, yeah. And Vree doesn’t really like you guys calling them a parasite,” Lance said.

I can talk through you, so anyone with direct skin contact with you can hear what I say.

“Skin contact lets him talk to others apparently,” Lance explained.

Tentatively, Allura placed a hand on Lance’s arm. “Like this?”

Yep! That’s right!

A frown creased Allura’s brow as she tried to process this new information. “H-How unusual,” she mumbled.

“Wait, Princess Allura, you can actually talk to the para— to the thing?” Shiro asked.

Allura nodded.

“That sounds kinda gross. Talking to some worm thing, I mean,” Pidge commented.

Before Vree could respond to that, Allura asked them, “Is speaking to multiple people possible?”

Um… Yeah, I think so.

Allura seized the closest person, Keith, and made him hold Lance by the hand. “Say something.”

Um, hello again.

Keith blinked several times, surprised. “H-hello? I guess?”

And, Lance, I’ve been meaning to ask this but what is this strange feeling in your chest whenever this—

“Vree! Alright! Okay! Um! Uhhh...” a red-faced Lance shouted to interrupt Vree. “Anyone else want to try out this whole new concept of speaking to aliens through direct contact?”

Eventually, after much talking and convincing, everyone was in direct contact with Lance, who was weirded out by the number of hands on his arms.

“You want to do a self-intro, Vree?” Lance asked.

I am Vrizerain from Regeunde. Most call me Vree.

“Wait. Did you say you are from Regeunde?” Coran exclaimed. “But we visited the planet right after we rescued Hunk and Lance, and there was… no one left there.”

The Regeunders… are extinct now. Or at least, they’re not on Regeunde anymore.

Coran sighed loudly.

My kind are the Immarin, and I assume you don’t know of us. The Regeunders never found out about us either. We attach ourselves to other species so we can blend in with the Regeunders.

“So what I, um, transformed into,” Lance said.

“But I thought Regeunders were small cats,” Keith said, turning to look at Coran.

Are they? Well, they’ve been gone for ten thousand years. We don’t really know what they look like anymore. I’m sorry.

“Evolution?” Hunk suggested. “A lot can change in ten thousand years. Especially if the Galra threaten the planet.”

Pidge nodded at the possibility. “Transformation is pretty useful if you are threatened. Essentially, Lance and this, um, Vree have a symbiotic relationship at the moment where the host, I assume, offers nutrients while the symbiont provides an alternative defense mechanism.”

That’s right. The amount of nutrients we can usually obtain outside of our host’s body is only enough for survival. We need a lot more if we aim to live longer and reproduce.

Lance paled. “Hold up—”

We clone outside of the host’s body, Lance.

“Okay, that’s a relief. You know, too many movies I’ve seen have these weird creatures being inside humans and bursting—”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted, “I beg you to stop. It’s kind of bad enough as it is right now.”

“Okie dokie. Yep. That’s probably a good idea.”

“How did you attach yourself to Lance?” Coran asked. “Surely not on Regeunde. They didn’t even get to reach that planet.”

“Long story short,” Lance replied, “Remember those cuts on my back? I landed on a pile of those, um, specimens, plus all the glass, and while I was like that, they kinda crawled in through the wound in my back.”

Pidge cringed. “Ugh, gross, gross, gross.”

“Well, it was only because of Vree that I could make it out of the ship. They helped me navigate through everything and stuff, apparently.”

“So what else can you do, uh, Vree?” Allura pressed.

I can read Lance’s mind. And I know that he’s currently thinking of this movie called Alien. Specifically the part where this man’s chest—

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Shiro said.

Sorry. That’s fair.

“You can read his mind,” Hunk said. “As in, everything he’s thinking?”

Um… Yeah. It’s to facilitate efficient communication between me and my host.

“That is…” Allura pursed her lips. “That is rather dangerous… isn’t it? For us. It would be terrible if our information were to be leaked out.”

“We need that surgery asap,” Hunk said. “I don’t trust that parasite.”

Lance felt Vree’s discomfort like a itch in his chest. Umm… Sorry but I- Well, I’m not a para—

“Look here,” Hunk yelled, glaring at Lance’s back. “As far as I’m concerned you’re invading my best friend’s body. You’re a parasite. And, now, you’re even invading his own private life! I don’t care what the purpose of your mind reading is, it’s personal. We all have things we want to keep personal.

“Hey, Hunk,” Lance said, shrugging as best as he could with all the hands on his arms. “It’s not that—”

Hunk’s eyes darted upwards. “Lance, we don’t know this Vree friend of yours. You shouldn’t be accepting this so quickly. For all we know, this Vree creature can be dangerous. Letting anyone into your brain and thoughts is never a good idea.” He huffed. “And I assume that puma thing I saw was you?”

Well, um, yes—

“And it wasn’t the lizard thing that killed the Galra either, was it? It was you, right?” Hunk continued. “That thing was dead after all. I bet you killed it too.”

You’re right agai—

“I knew it! I knew it, knew it, knew it! That thing has been bothering me from the beginning! Do you guys not understand the danger of this?!”

Pidge was the first to pick up on what Hunk meant. “Lance’s body was controlled without him knowing.”

A shudder ran through the rest of the team as Lance laughed nervously. “Hey, um…”

Vree tried to explain, I only have partial control over his body’s actions while in the transformed state. I can’t control a thing while he is, um, normal. And Lance was unconscious previously so I could control his body without a hitch.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed quickly. “And Keith probably saw today that I had control over my own actions as well! You know, it’s like one person is using the trackpad and one person is using the mouse on the same laptop at the same time.”

“Lance, you knew about this?!” Hunk breathed, outraged. “That thing used your body to… to kill all those Galra like that! Without you knowing a thing!”

“I-It can’t really be helped, right?” Lance smiled back in reassurance. “Besides, I was in mortal danger and stuff, so Vree actually saved me. Although I wished everything wasn’t done so brutall—”

Hunk cut him off. “Lance, this means there could be a next time when you are unconscious or sleeping or — I don’t know — and- and that thing can just use you to do whatever shady business it wants or even murder us! Do you understand that?”

I promise I won’t do that. I really don’t mean any harm, Vree pleaded. We, Immarins, as a species are generally—

Hunk groaned loudly and let go of Lance, refusing to hear another word from Vree. “As if we can just take your word for it. We’re not little kids. A pinky swear that you’ll do no harm isn’t going to convince us.”

Everyone was holding their breath. Their eyes were on Lance, as though pleading him to say something in response, because no one else knew what to say — even if they could muster the courage to speak up.

“Look, Hunk,” Lance’s voice was gentle. “Vree’s just trying their best.”

“I’m just trying to protect you, Lance,” Hunk replied, looking at Lance earnestly. “And this team. We can’t risk it.”

“I get it,” Lance replied, voice firm now. “We’re all worried, but Vree’s scared too. And it’ll be difficult from here on out if we’re all super defensive and stuff.”

“Lance, why do you trust it? What makes you think you can trust it?” Hunk shouted, punctuating his sentences with gestures. “Why aren’t you more wary?”

“H-hey,” Keith said, “Hunk.” He looked between the Red and Yellow Paladin, somewhat regretting speaking up. “I’m sure Lance has his reasons. Right?”

“Yeah.” Lance stood his ground. “I may not be able to read Vree’s mind, but I can feel their emotions. I know that they are genuinely concerned and sincere. And, right now, you are hurting them.”

“Those so-called emotions,” Hunk said, air-quoting, “can be some way to dupe you, Lance. Did you even learn anything after Nyma tricked you?”

Lance gasped softly.

“Do you want a repeat of that again? This time, it won’t just be your lion, Lance! You can’t trust this parasite!”

“But what else can I do but trust Vree?” Lance screamed. “Vree’s there and we can’t just get rid of them. Not unless I want to severely damage my spinal cord! You guys said it yourself! So all I can do is trust them and pray for the best. I’m scared too, okay? But what other choice do I have?”

Hunk’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Or you could just lock me in a cryopod for the rest of my life until we can take them out,” Lance said, sarcasm dripping from his words. “You know, that way I won’t have any thoughts for Vree to access, and there’s no way for them to do anything with my body. Would you like that instead?” His breath hitched as he realised what he had just said. “Oh. Oh no,” he breathed. “Oh god, Hunk. I-I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“No,” Hunk said, holding his hands up. “You’re not wrong.” He rubbed his eyes roughly with his palm and let out an exasperated groan. “I’m out. I’m out.”

“God. I’m sorry, Hunk,” Lance stuttered out in alarm. He pushed everyone aside and seized his best friend, who froze.

With bated breath, the world waited. Then, with gentle, warm hands, Hunk pried Lance’s fingers away from his arm. “Please just give me some space.” With that, he left, closing the door behind him lightly.

Everyone in the room stood still, not uttering a word. It was so unusual to see Hunk flare up like that, but it was even more unusual to see the two best friends yell at each other. It felt almost surreal to witness this. A bitter taste was left on everyone’s tongue.

But Lance had it worst. His chest was aching with guilt, and his head was hot with anger, both at everything, and at himself. His lungs were searing with the urge to yell, yet he felt that he had no right to raise his voice any further.

God. Why the hell did he have to yell and say things like that? Why did he have to be stuck with this wreck of a situation?

The first thing to break the heavy silence wasn’t even a noise.

I’m really sorry.

[storiesbeyondthestars]

Black Paladin Lance and Why It Won’t Happen. Heads up, this is really long and does not contain pictures because I am tired (it’s almost 2am so if there are typos...sorry.)

Look, I like Lance, I do. He’s one of my favs! The thing is, I really, genuinely think that ‘Black Paladin Lance’ is not only completely unnecessary towards his development, but it actually makes it completely shallow.

Yes, you can get it to work with AUs and in fanfiction, but at this point, in the final season of the show, they are not going to have a permanent lion switch. There is too much plot as it is, they’re not going to do that again.  Not only that, but with the way they have the characters and stories set up, it’d be a huge disservice to both Lance and Keith.

(I can hear hardcore Lance stans screaming at him right now, blocking me or scrolling past this super quickly.)

The thing about Voltron that someone pointed out in a great post recently is that the fandom clings to, well, the fandom version of the show and the characters. I do too. I love all the rich headcanons and backgrounds the fandom has created.

But canon is another thing all together. All the Paladins have different stories and themes. Of course, many of them overlap with one another, and just because the focus on a person doesn’t include a specific, overarching theme, doesn’t mean they can’t experience parts of it. That’s a confusing statement, so let’s get right into Lance.

Lance’s story has never once been about leadership. Not at all. Lance’s desire to fly Black came from a place of self-worth, which is absolutely one of his themes. (Along with love, though all of them technically have this theme in different ways, but Lance’s specifically is romantic love.) That doesn’t mean that Lance can’t develop as a leader. Oh no, he’s definitely done that, but it’s not the focus of his journey.

The Black Lion was always an interesting one. It absolutely is special. Its Paladin is the guardian of the sky/space, it’s the biggest lion, it’s the head/torso of Voltron (literally the brain and heart), and it requires the most energy from their Paladin. However, it was never deemed as more important than the others. That’s something that came entirely from the fandom. It makes sense that they’d look within the group to find the next person to fly Black. You don’t want to bring an external factor into an already built dynamic, not when it comes to the head.

Lance himself is absolutely selfless. He will always put himself before others, however, even back in S3, when he sat in Black, he was thinking of proving himself. He didn’t want Black to be a leader. He wanted Black because he thought it was the only way that he could ever be worth something to the team.

That is why Lance becoming the Black Paladin would have been an absolutely horrible move for his character at that point. We saw how much Keith struggled, and when it comes to missions, piloting, Keith is pretty confident in himself. He didn’t know how to communicate and was far too emotional at the time to listen properly. Now, imagine Lance, who’s unsure of his place on the team, trying to lead at that point? I’m sorry, but you would have had Keith bailing out with Red all the time. He was in a bad place. Again, at that point, Allura probably would have talked over him. Pidge and Hunk, we’ve seen how they don’t always take him seriously. And can you imagine the blow that would have hit him when Shiro came back?

Lance would have crumbled underneath all of that. We saw Keith slowly break down, and Lance isn’t that different from him. Keith would have honestly been a shitty right hand to Lance at the time. Too emotional about Shiro, and Lance wouldn’t have been able to focus on chilling him out alone. It had to be the other way around, with Lance being the one to say ‘you done fucked up’. Lance works better that way. He works better taking a step back to observe before striking. He’s an excellent right hand.

Now, that being said, as he grows, he absolutely does fit into the footsteps of being a leader. If things were different, he absolutely could have been the permanent Black Paladin.

Lance has always been compared to Keith. In reality, we know Keith didn’t see him as a rival. Lance was barely on his radar. In fact, Keith’s rival was probably James, who I imagine was second in that class, becoming first again after Keith got the boot. Yet, Lance still focused on Keith, not James.

From the beginning, it was obvious that Keith was painfully, naturally talented. He even had the favour of Shiro, Lance’s hero. Instead of trying to actually better himself for himself, that type of thinking is more along the lines of ‘the only way I can be better is if I’m in the top spot. That’s the only way I’m worth something’.

Can you see what I mean by how horrible a message that is? Especially for the single most relatable character in the show? The one that they used to bring us into the story?

Look, I get it, I actually used to think that way too. It was only when I started doing things for myself, and not to be the best, that I stopped feeling so anxious about things like that. That’s why I know it’s a horrible way to try and deal with self-worth.

If Lance became Black Paladin, yes, he finally surpasses Keith. He’s finally at the top of Voltron. That could be a very good thing for him, just in a different world where things are different.

Why? Because Lance’s insecurities about his place on the team, his usefulness, largely have been addressed. We see this in S3. He didn’t think Keith would be a good leader, but he respected Black’s choice and instead of arguing, put aside pride to help. To reign him in, to actually be a very vital part of Voltron. We SEE this in the show. His bayard changes. He becomes more confident. He takes on more leadership roles.

Then we see that start to break apart when Kuron takes over Black. Lance still tries, because he thought that was his place. He thought he finally found where he belonged. He’s drowning and crashing and burning, doubting himself again, isolating himself. He’s losing that confidence he gained.

Stepping into the Black Lion directly after that would never have worked for him. He would have second guessed himself over and over again, which in turn would make everyone else second guess him too. Everyone BUT Lance (when it mattered most) did it to Keith.

Going back to Keith. He cares about Lance, he does. He has a bit of an issue with authority though. Except for those that completely earn his respect. For an orphan in the system, one that everyone has shrugged aside, and has assumed the worst of, that’s not at all easy to do. There is one sure-fire way to do this for him though.

Lance did this by proving himself to Keith in S3 by not giving up on him. Who does that remind you of? The one person Keith listened to without question. Keith didn’t question Shiro’s leadership at all. Keith does agree with Lance’s plans when Lance can explain them to him, but at the same time, sometimes he would just walk out a door, you know? It doesn’t make him an awful person, just flawed.

But what about now? Lance had plenty of leadership moments in S6 and 7. That’s true. Everyone did listen to him when Lotor’s generals attacked the castleship and Kuron was down. Even Keith did (though Lance had already gained Keith’s respect at this point). After what Kuron did though, all the times he belittled them, I think Lance would have caved a bit under the pressure to be the Black Paladin. Keith doesn’t now, because he’s has two years to let go of the past, two years to become more comfortable in his own skin.

Lance? Lance worked hard to get Red’s respect. That should not be understated. So many people just want Lance in either Blue or Black, with Red as a stepping stone in between. That’s bullshit. Red is the hardest lion to earn the respect of (kind of like the Keith), the hardest to fly. Lance is absolutely kickass with Red.

We see Keith choose Lance to lead in his absence, or we see him rely on Lance over and over again when he’s the Black Paladin. Keith, the one person Lance has always wanted to outdo, relies on him. Keith doesn’t doubt Lance. Keith knows he’s worth something. Do you realize how powerful that actually is? How much that lifts someone up. I don’t care if you ship them, but their story arcs involve one another any way you look at it. Lance needs Keith to be the leader. That configuration of Voltron is where he understands exactly who he is and where he fits in.

I mean, just so there was no confusion about people overlooking what was shown to us in the show, they bluntly said this in his book.  They released those books after S7 for a reason (they could have released them before, but didn’t). Lance basically says that being the RED Paladin helped him figure out where he belongs, helped him realize that he is worth something.

“Kaylee, that doesn’t mean he can’t be the Black Paladin. It only adds onto that.”

This is where you have to consider the type of show this is. Despite people complaining about it, it’s not the Keith show. It’s not the Shiro sow. It will never be the Lance show. It’s a team thing. You have to consider character growth for everyone.

Keith going back to Red instantly negates his entire leadership arc. It negates all of Shiro’s belief in him. It would make Lance becoming Black Paladin absolutely hollow. It doesn’t make sense for Keith’s story, especially not in the LAST season where they’re trying to close up story arcs.

Keith’s themes include leadership and opening up to others. He has always clung to the familiar in the past (his knife, Shiro, Red). It’s when he’s pushed into uncomfortable areas that he grows (as do most characters). Keith didn’t want to be the Black Paladin, but he grew up. He accepted it. He has fond memories of Red and the past, but as he learned to do with Krolia, he lets go of the past. He knows now that he needs his team, even if he relapses from time to time. (We have each other).  Keith is still growing into a leader, working out the more personal and intimate details of his team (like comforting Hunk). He’s still not done there. Shoving him back in Red would instantly stop this development, because he’s back in a comfort zone.

I do think that we’re going to see Lance pilot Black at some point, but I don’t think it’s going to be permanent. I think Black will let Lance fly them the same way they let Keith did when he saved Shiro (at the beginning of S2), probably to help Keith in some capacity. Maybe they even manage to form Voltronl though that would be difficult since they’d need someone else in Red…though that’d be a great time to let Coran finally pilot Red for a moment, then we don’t have to deal with Allura going into Red and then everyone switching back once they get Keith back, it only comes down to Keith and Lance here.

I can absolutely picture them having a moment that mirrors Zarkon and Alfor (which works well both as is, since Keith’s part Galra, and Lance has a broadsword and similarities to Alfor, or can also work if you like the theory that someone may try to get Keith to be the Emperor). Keith is going to ask Lance if he wants to take Black, just like Zarkon did with Alfor.

What’s more powerful? (I’m sorry, these are terribly biased, but oh well.)

Lance accepting. He goes into Black, only getting the position at this point because Keith backed down. Keith goes into Red, completely blowing away all of character development for him as a leader. They now have to do more team building to figure out this new Voltron during what will be a terribly busy last season, but hey, Lance is finally top dog so that’s what matters.

Lance appreciates the fact that Black let him in. There was a little bit of validation there that was needed. However, he insists on going back to Red, because he knows that’s where he belongs. He no longer questions his place on the team, and he’s choosing this. Insecurities? What are those? Lance has got this covered. Keith’s development? Still in-tact. All the team bonding in S6? Not thrown out the window.

I get why people like Black Paladin Lance, but I genuinely think, as a person who loves both him and Keith, that it’d be the absolute wrong move for BOTH of them. You may have your own interpretations, that’s fine, this is just mine.

[peacevine]

Birth of an Emperor

While Fable is busy entertaining the hatchlings, his journal sits unattended on a desk. Some of the ink is still fresh; even then, it’s placed in a corner just so that the shadows fall onto it, obscuring both the book and the writing inside.

WAV 12

Today, the hatchlings behaved well - thankfully. I feel more comfortable leaving my post behind, then, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. Sprout came back from her morning trip out foraging - she told me it was further north than usual - and stood at my tent, asking me to come with her.

I think now is a good time to take her up on that offer. Most of the kids are asleep, and it won’t be long for the rest.

WAV 13

I forgot to finish yesterday’s entry. It wasn’t too long ago that our Order’s leader suggested we keep track of our daily activities to better coordinate the Clan, and I’m still trying to get into the habit. Pinch me if I mess up again.

Where was I? Yesterday, Sprout took me out north, around where she went that morning. We went to a little clearing among the pine trees, where she led me to a grave. When I asked her who was buried there, she said that she didn’t know - it just stood out to her, was all. To be fair, I think she had a point. It looked pretty new.

I couldn’t read the dates very well - the stone was new, and particularly ornate at that - but the writing was done poorly. But if I read it right, it was a child’s grave.

WAV 14

Sprout urged me to go there again. The grave looked new, but there were no flowers on it yesterday. Neither were there any today. She’s busy making her first preparations for next week’s meals, so I should go. I’ll go ask Greenskeeper if she has anything for me.

WAV 15

I can’t stop thinking about that grave. Are we the only ones who know about it? Where did the child’s parents go? Why haven’t we encountered the mother yet?

I should probably focus on my work first. I’ll come back tomorrow.

WAV 16

I have a lot to write.

When I went back on my own this morning, the grave appeared to have been reopened. It didn’t surprise me much at first; it did look as if whoever made it had no shortage of wealth. But it wasn’t long until I found out the cause.

In the bushes, I spotted movement. I thought I’d found the thief, but…

How do I even say this? I’ll have to pray no one else reads this. From now on, I’m hiding this thing.

In the bushes was a hatchling. Well, I believed it to be - but it was so much more than that. Looking back at the gravestone now, I realize that not one, but three names (Bai Shi - Bai Ru - Bai Die, if my memory serves correctly) were engraved on it - that must’ve been what threw me off.

I’d always believed tales of Emperors to be nothing but myths. Most of us did, really. We simply didn’t want the opposite to be true. But here I am, writing my daily now-private report while one is nibbling on my tail.

I have to go, so I’ll end this here. More tomorrow.

WAV 17

Right. More on the Emperor.

I didn’t even know Emperors could be made of hatchlings. It doesn’t seem to be quite as malevolent as its adult counterpart, thankfully, just somewhat stronger than the average hatchling (don’t worry, I haven’t introduced them to each other) and destructive only in a playful, curious way.

It looks surprisingly well, too. It seems the children were triplets: their markings and coloration hardly differ, and there were no separate birth dates listed for them. They also died only recently; their eyes are sunken and the wings are somewhat torn up, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve been too afflicted by the inevitable decay.

I wish I could call them by their names, but I don’t know which name belongs to which head. When I call one of them, all three look up. Therefore, I’ve decided to call the collective Emperor Bai.

WAV 19

I don’t know what I want to say. I’ve been observing Bai’s behavior for the past few days, while hiding it from the rest of the Clan. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but I want to minimize any risk of possible harm befalling Bai. It would be disrespectful to their mother if anything happened to them.

I realize now what happened to the mother. Surely, she must’ve realized what she had done by burying her three children together? Her grief was so great that the thought never crossed her mind at first, but once she realized what could happen, she saw no choice but to flee, flee as far as she could: not out of fear of consequences, but so she could forever live with the thought her sons were merely at rest.

I hope she’s alright. I certainly can’t blame her.

WAV 23

The thought of Bai and its family plagues my mind, haunts me in nightmares. Do I really want to know how this came to be?

I asked our Order’s leader, Shiroe, whether any great disasters had happened recently. I cannot seem to make out on my own what the cause of death was: it could be anything. I also told him that I had family up in the northern Sunbeam Ruins, who went there first before I, too, left the Windswept Plateau. I pray he believed me.

He told me there were no natural disasters that he heard of, but that a brief plague struck that area. Though it took only shortly for the sickness to vanish, just as quickly as it came, several fatalities were reported nonetheless.

That explains a lot, then.

WAV 25

So far, all my observations point towards the Emperor not posing any threat. Most of us are larger and stronger, anyways. Either way, it seems the heads really are just curious and playful - they sometimes bite and knock things over, but none of it is more than a slight nuisance. But the smell of rot is growing stronger, and I’ll have to figure out some way to move Bai further from the Clangrounds if I want to keep its existence a secret.

It also appears it is yet too young to use magic, or at least use it with any significance. It has definitely made attempts, though - but none of them resulted in anything more than a bright light emitting from its mouths for a few seconds before fading away. Could it make for a good nightlight?

Anyways, my next plan is to figure out how to move Bai away from here. That, and attempt to communicate - I’m not sure whether the triplets could speak or not, but their responses to me have been nothing but growls. If I can teach the Emperor to speak again, what would it say?

GRE 02

I told Sprout about Bai. She didn’t seem to mind too much, surprisingly - but I can definitely tell she isn’t done thinking about it yet. She said she’s mostly relieved the grave wasn’t desecrated by some outsider (after I told her this, she stopped visiting it).

She agreed to help me find a way to continue taking care of it, as well as promising she’d prepare extra portions of food so I no longer have to sacrifice mine. A hatchling may not eat much, but three incredibly active hatchlings?

I’m glad she wants to help me. It’ll make this far easier.

It’s late and the hatchlings aren’t in bed yet, so I’ll finish this here. Goodnight.

[riboku]

How do you feel about Voltron's new season?

christ why would you ask this lmao it’s not like i post my opinions on here on a regular basis??? anyway this gives me a good opportunity to rant tho so

1. HAHA okay let’s just get the big fucking issue out right here but i was absolutely mad with how they marketed this season based on lgbt rep! this has been said before (and probably better lmao) by other people, but what they did was in extremely poor taste and is pretty low tbh. they hyped up and marketed that voltron would have lgbt rep in this season, and hyped up adam as a character, then were so incredibly vague about it and didn’t confirm anything on screen and killed adam off lmao.

anywAY this ended up fucking long and i threw in some positives i enjoyed from the season at the end of this post, but this is 95% a big fucking long rant about the issues i have with this season so it’s going under a read more!!

and like, before i get into this more i’ve also seen people mad about people getting mad which is ??? but the most common things i’m seeing people saying are ‘stop being mad your ship didn’t happen!!!,’ ‘it doesn’t matter what happened shiro is still gay so there is still rep,’ ‘this is NOT queerbaiting guys! -insert screenshot of dictionary definition-,’ and 'they’re at WAR guys people die during a war’

okay. one lmao how tf did this get to a point where people think it is a ship issue because it’s not. idgaf about shipping or who ends up with who, i will likely be indifferent regardless! do not give a shit! not about shipping! nobody is talking about shipping??? also this could have LITERALLY been avoided mostly by the insertion of a few words. they could have gone with something as simple as 'if you do this, the wedding’s off. i won’t be here when you get back’ bam. insta confirmation! no vagueness there! and then like, not unecessarily kill a gay character off for no reason lol. what happened here is an issue with largely how this was marketed vs how they delivered. they marketed the fact they’d have lgbt rep pretty extensively. and adam! they talked about how we were going to meet adam this season. hyped him and him and shiro’s former relationship up in their promo materials and posters. like, this doesn’t happen on its own lmao. this was a conscious marketing decision that they went with beforehand knowing that they were not going to confirm anything on screen and knowing that they were going to kill adam off. and like, if you need an analogy to get this??? let’s say some fast food place does a whole campaign on how their burgers are made of REAL beef. maybe they don’t specifically say 100% beef, maybe they do, w/e, but they hype the fact that their burgers are real beef and not fake stuff like crazy and their consumers hop on that. then you get there and it’s like. 35% beef. people are mad! is it still made of beef? well, yeah. but they have misrepresented themselves a bit here and probably should have never said anything in the first place. bad business move. and as far as hyping up adam??? that’s like coming up with a new product line and deciding to axe it. BUT ADVERTISING IT ANYWAY. lol. and then people are upset with the company when they go to buy it. literally does not make sense. like, regardless of what you expected to go down with these characters or how you feel about them or literally anything, this was a conscious decision on their part and they should have not marketed it like this.

as far as shiro still being confirmed gay, yes that is true and great! but it still wasn’t confirmed on screen and not the issue at hand here! the issue is still how they marketed lgbt rep for this season without really delivering and killed off a gay character without reason. if your issue is the use of the word queerbaiting then lmao okay, whatever, maybe it’s not the most 100% accurate use of the word idc but that is a semantics issue and is deflecting the issue at hand here. like if you wanted to sum up the issue with all this in one fucking word that would be pretty accurate and the closest thing to describe what happened! like come on guys i work in advertising but this??? is not that hard of a concept to understand. they utilized lgbt rep in their marketing for this season. if you’re marketing something, that content has to be targeted towards a certain audience. if you are marketing lgbt rep, your target audience is likely going to be - shocker - the lgbt community lmao. AND FINALLY if you’re going with the 'people die in war’ thing like. okay. yup. that happens. from a marketing perspective though, it’s still dumb to advertise a character and then kill them off. like, if you’re using a cHARACTER in your ads you uh. generally expect people to feel something for that character lmao otherwise there is no point, and seeing as how many fanfics and fanart and shit popped up of adam before the season even aired??? def a lot of attachment there. so literally if they had done this with any other character it would have been stupid? but doing this to a gay character is a whole other mess of worms and is in very poor taste! fucking stop killing off gay characters for no good reason, it’s a gross trope with a long history behind it! also unless something is plot related and done well, there is literally no point for killing off your characters lmao. doesn’t matter if it’s war, it’s just shock value at that point. that scene was a couple of seconds at most, and literally nothing about the season would have changed without it. moot point. this is not a case of character death that has moved the plot significantly or significantly affected the story or the character.

like, as a queer person i’m mad and very disappointed. do i still like the show and its characters? yeah. did i enjoy the season? yeah. will i still watch it? yeah. but this whole thing was still a fucking mess lol. that being said, some positives:

2. lmao ok that gameshow episode gave me serious ergo proxy flashbacks to when they did the whole 'i’m suddenly and inexplicably on a magical gameshow hosted by a weird entity with my life on the line??’ deal

3. hunk development???? good and it’s about time, star of the season tbh. i really hope they continue with the diplomat angle for him!

4. pleasantly surprised by ezor and zethrid, now let’s hope they’re not fucking dead lmao

5. atlas was uh. weird? weird.

6. granted i stayed up all night to watch this so my perception by the point i got there was uhhhh but the finale was odd and kinda fell flat, especially in comparison to how much of an impact last season’s had. that being said, the season overall was pretty enjoyable?

7. sorry but during the whole time they were drifting through space in their lions i just kept thinking 'where is kaltenecker tho’ and then at first i thought acxa had went with them so then i was wondering where tf she was too and my sleep deprived brain’s beautiful answer to that question was 'wait what if acxa is with kaltenecker???’ yeah.

8. matt’s new design looks gr8 but it looked pretty familiar and again, sleep deprived brain was like 'oh my god he looks like discount space judeau’ so hope you know that

9. V E R O N I C A also i really super enjoyed the earth team!!! like idk how i feel about james yet because they went pretty hard on painting him as a jackass as a child lmao so i’m positive but also on the fence about him, but i adored the others and i hope we see more of all of them!! ALSO ROMELLE loved her to death too. and the cosmic wolf. yes.

10. okay so as soon as shiro got his new arm my first thought was 'i bet him and sendak are going to have a floaty arm showdown’ and i was very glad to be right

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Keith hated leaving Lance. He hated leaving his sons and he hated the air ducts of Galra ships just as much. Well maybe not as much, but it was definitely close. Thanks to the chaos of the black goop, the Galra soldiers had barricaded themselves in the bridge of the ship making it easy enough to slip on board unnoticed, but after quintants of sneaking around the ship through its air ducts, Keith was about ready to blow it up. The only problem was that while there was quintessence on the ship, and the ship would readily explode, the destruction caused probably wouldn't be enough to destroy the infection. So there they were. Laying in the air duct above the bridge, watching as Galra soldiers succumb to the spreading black goop. Each time one died, they were dragged from the bridge and dumped outside the doorway. The already small skeleton crew had been reduced from 15 to 6. It wasn't the nicest thing to watch, but it was all they could do as they waited for the commander to make his move.

 When the number finally fell to three, Keith was sure it was time to make their move. They already had the data, and once it was transmitted back to the castle, the others would be able to bring their lions, or even the castle and the ship could finally be destroyed. He was so desperate to get back to Lance and their pups that it was all he could think about. He worried if Lance was eating, or sleeping. If the pups were alright, and had they settled despite his absence. He'd give almost anything he could not to be stuck in the air duct with his mother. They'd barely talked on the trip out, and being in the ducts hardly spurred conversation on. Unlike the previous blade missions, this wasn't straight in and out, but he didn't have the time to wait. Pulling out his blade, he looked to his mother, expecting her to agree, instead she scowled at him, waving for him to put his blade away.

 It was another few vargas before the next death, this time they didn't bother dragging the body out. Seemingly realising there was nothing he could do, the commander of the ship called someone Keith hadn't been expecting. With everyone dying, he'd thought maybe the Galra wanted to take out someone he had a grudge against, or maybe he'd swallowed his pride and called for help. Instead, Keith found himself staring down at Hag-Honerva. Catching the gasp that nearly escaped, below them the commander knelt as he immediately launched into explanation over what had transpired on the ship. The cold twisted smile that graced Honerva's lips was revolting to look at. It turned his stomach worse than watching all the soldiers died. With an air of glee, she directed the Galra commander where to send his ship, before waffling on about how his death would serve the greater good of the empire. Honerva knew exactly what was happening, and she was happy about it? These men were Zarkon's men. Lotor's men. And she was happy they were dying? That made no sense.

 It was another quintant and a half before both the commander and the last remaining soldier died. The black goop that had leaked from the bodies of the dead, came together to form a black entity. One that was sentient enough to know how to work the control panel for the door, or perhaps it was drawn to the energy in it. Whatever it was, it rose up and covered the panel, the door opened and it slid out as if on its search for its next meal. This stuff was seriously wrong... and they'd let it into the world. Waiting a few ticks to make sure it wasn't coming back, his mother than pulled out her own blade, slicing through the air duct with ease.

 Dropping down, his mother went straight to work while Keith stretched out his aching and cramping muscles. Seriously, they'd only left the duct systems for unavoidable bathroom breaks. He hadn't eaten, he hadn't slept and just the thought of crawling back up into the vents... that was a big fat no!

"Call through to the castle, let them know we're going to be out here a little longer"

"You know I'm calling Lance then"

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"I've been trying not to think of him and the pups, but fuck. I really want to go back home"

"You know we can't, not yet. We haven't seen Haggar since she emerged from the rift. You keep watch while I access the ship's mainframe"

"Mum, I really don't think there's much I can do against a glowing black entity from another universe that we don't actually know how to defeat without using Voltron"

"No, but you can take out the sentries if they show up"

"Fair call"

 Ascertaining the ship's destination, Keith's heart was in his throat as he called through to Lance. His fingers had shook so badly he nearly hadn't been able to call his mate to begin with, as he knew the moment he heard Lance's voice, he'd want to be home with him. It was really kind of pathetic how much he missed his mate... and absolutely everything about him. He didn't even have something physical to hold on to, to remind him of his family waiting at home for him. When the call ended without Lance answering, his mind went straight to the worse case scenario. Growling as he kicked the ship's terminal, Krolia shot him a scowl

"Keith"

"Lance didn't answer"

"Maybe he was in the shower? You don't need to get so angry"

"Or maybe he was ignoring me. I haven't even messaged him since we left"

"Because you've been busy. Try the castle instead"

He didn't want to talk to everyone else. He wanted his omega. He wanted to know Lance was alright. Continuing to scowl at him, Keith was left with no choice but to call through the castle. Unlike with Lance, Coran's face popped up on the small holographic screen almost instantly 

"Keith! What a pleasure to see you"

"Hi Coran. I don't suppose you know where Lance is? Is he alright?"

"Lance? He was around earlier. Is something wrong?"

"No... maybe. I tried calling and couldn't get through"

Stepping back, Coran moved to make space for Shiro and Hunk 

"Hey Keith! How goes the mission?"

"I'm sick of air ducts. How's Lance?"

"He's alright. So are the pups"

Lance was alright? Without him? He'd expected his mate to be a nervous wreck or something... at least depressed

"He misses you, but we've been so busy, he hasn't had time to stop lately"

"You've been busy"

Clearing his throat, Shiro took over the conversation 

"With you gone and the Galra in chaos, we've been helping the smaller populations of the coalition with transport jobs and such. The people need to see Voltron and the lions are still working hard"

That made sense

"Yep. Shiro's been working us like dogs"

"What about Lance? He's supposed to be in command"

"People wouldn't really listen to him. Shiro's known as the Black Paladin, so they're more open to his views and opinions. Lance doesn't seem to mind though and he's been working hard"

"As long as he isn't working too hard and skipping meals again"

"He's been eating. Allura and I have been helping out with pups when we can. And if we have to go off world, they stay here with Coran"

"And I"

Interrupting Hunk's interruption, Shiro seemed almost pleased with the fact he'd been playing babysitter. Keith half wished he could climb through his communicator and punch the alpha in the face. These were his sons. Not Shiro's and he wasn't happy about the thought of Shiro playing dad while he was gone

"Keith, Lance is really ok. So what's up?"

"Everyone on the ship's dead. We couldn't help them as they were all infected. The commander called Haggar before he died and she instructed him to set the ship's destination towards the edge of Zarkon's old territory. It's probably going to be a few more movements before we can finally get back"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure Lance is alright. We've all been spending time with him"

"Thanks. We all know how easy it is for him to feel lonely or left out"

"Shiro's got us eating all three main meals together and training together when we don't have missions. He's also been sleeping Red, so I'm sure that's helping"

Lance was actually eating three proper meals? And training? And going in missions and looking after the pups? It was almost like his mate had been waiting for him to leave before making a real effort to get better. The moment the thought entered his mind, Keith scolded himself. Lance was always trying in his own way... 

"Keith, send us through the coordinates and we'll head out to meet you"

"You should wait on Olkarion. We've had no idea where Haggar was or what she was up to, if Voltron shows up, she's likely to spook"

"Mum has a point. She's expecting this ship, so for now it's better we stay on board until we reach the final destination. With the soldiers dead, there's only the black goop and the sentries to worry about"

"You can't seriously be planning to stay on a ship infected with that stuff"

"You should fall back to the glider and follow at a distance"

Wow. Shiro really had stepped back into command like it was nothing

"The Galra ship is faster. We'll call it anything else happens"

"Alright, just make it back in one piece"

Cutting the call off because he was pissed, Keith kicked the terminal again

"Keith"

"Don't. I don't want to hear it. I know Voltron needs a leader, but that is supposed to be Lance. He knows what to do and how things work around there. Shiro's been out of the loop for too long"

"I know you don't like him, and I don't either, but he's back and we all have to get used to it. Besides, he doesn't even remember what happened"

"That's what he said"

"You don't believe him"

"I don't know. I don't like him around my son's, and I don't want him around Lance any longer than necessary"

"Look, if they've found some kind of way to make it work, then for now it's best you put it out of your mind. You trust Lance, don't you?"

"I don't trust Shiro"

Letting it drop, he knew he hadn't answered his mother's question. He trusted Lance, but anything could happen while he was away. The way Hunk and Shiro made it sound, it was like his mate and his sons didn't miss him at all. Was he being stupid to believe Lance would wait for him to finally return home?

  *

Somehow they'd now been gone a whole phoeb. A whole phoeb, and they'd only just begun their trip back home... but Keith wasn't even sure if he'd be welcomed back home when they arrived. After failing to reach Lance that first time, he'd been sure his mate would call... or message... or even better, miraculously appear right in front of them with that cocky smile he used to always wear. As an alpha, his pride should have been dented over the mere thought of being saved by an omega, but this was Lance and he missed him like quiznak

"Keith?"

Looking down at his hands, Keith realised he'd gripped the metal controls of the fighter jet hard enough to leave an indent. Sure his was agitated, he had been since they'd snuck off the ship, but leaving dents... that wasn't normal 

"Sorry. I just want to get back"

"It's more than that. I can smell the anger on you"

"I told you! I just want to get home to Lance and the pups!"

Yelling hard enough to make himself flinch, Keith pried his fingers off the controls 

"Keith..."

"No. I don't want to talk about it"

"Too bad. I'm your mother and I'm concerned about you. Talk to me"

"I miss Lance. I really miss him. Do you realise we've been gone for a full phoeb?"

"I know. Have you talked to him?"

"No. He hasn't even messaged me"

"Then call him"

"No. He might be sleeping. I don't want to disturb him"

"Then leave him a message"

"What if he's moved on..."

"Are you serious?"

"You're the one who didn't trust him! Now you're defending him! Why hasn't he called me?! Why? He didn't even say goodbye and he has to have known I called! What if he's finally realised I'm not the alpha he thinks I am? What if he's decided Shiro is the alpha he should be with!? What am I supposed to do then! I love him mum..."

Looking over his shoulder, he found his mother was busy tapping away on her communicator 

"Mum!"

"I'm just calling Lance"

"You're interfering!"

"And you stink like anger. It's a long trip back to the castle"

"I'm sorry I stink!"

"Good, now shut up"

 "Are you telling me to shut up?"

Pidge?

"I thought you were calling Lance?!"

Half whisper yelling at his mother, he was confused 

"Hello Pidge, it's Krolia. I was actually trying to get in touch with Lance"

"Um, Lance isn't available right now..."

Isn't available? What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh, he's not? Do you not have a way to contact him?"

"It's not that simple. Shiro and Allura just escorted him back down to his quarters"

"What?! Why?! What's wrong with him?"

"Hi Keith. It's not what you think, Lance went into heat this morning"

So they let Shiro take his mate down to his room! Did they learn nothing at all from what happened the first time Shiro went to "help" Lance with his heat?!

"What the fuck! Pidge, how could you do that!?"

"Lance is safe! Allura is with him"

"It's not ok! Get Shiro away from him immediately!"

"Keith, it's not like last time! Lance and Shiro have been talking. They've found a way to work together. Maybe it's time you get over it all

Snarling, Keith bared his teeth. He couldn't fucking believe this. Even actually using the word fuck didn't help his rage. At least now he knew why the base of his stomach was so warm. He was entering his rut... 

"Fuck!"

Screaming the word, his mother growled back at him

"Pidge. I'm going to have to go. Keith's having a minor cardio infraction over this"

"Well tell him Lance is safe, and Hunk has bathed both pups. We'll put them in a pod for the time being"

"Thank you. We're returning, so we should be back within 4 quintants"

Just enough time for Lance to go crazy with need and fuck Shiro.

 "Keith, I know it seems bad..."

"It seemed bad! Are you shitting me?! You have no idea what it's like for Lance when he's in heat, and he's so sexy... the way he rocks and moans..."

Ending his sentence with a growl, he wanted blood. Lance was the only omega on the castle. Allura and Coran might not have the same second dynamics, but this was Lance. And Lance was just too erotic. His soft caramel skin, his wide blue eyes, his soft sweet lips... the way his back arched and the way he moaned. Everything about him was so perfect. Just thinking about him naked and pinned beneath him, his rut was rushing to set in. He needed Lance. He needed to bury himself as deeply as he could into Lance's curvaceous arse, and fill his mate with his seed. To filled him completely. To watch his stomach swell with their pups... he was lost. His pheromones filling the small cockpit and his vision misting with the need to breed, he hunched over as he started to pant

"Keith, you need to breathe. Your rut's only going to hit harder if your angry"

That made no sense. He already wanted blood, how much worse could it get? Not to mention he was probably going to end up masturbating in the cockpit... where his mother was. No one should have to endure that. He might be a horny teenager, but his mother didn't need to see that... and he didn't need her trying to help him when all he wanted to do was jerk off... where was an intergalactic restroom when you needed one?

 Somewhere between the 5th and 6th hour of being stuck in his rut, Keith couldn't take the pain between his legs anymore. His underwear was plastered against his pulsing erection with pre-cum, while the initial throbbing of need had passed pleasurable and now bled into the realm of "if he didn't cum, he was a hundred percent certain his penis was going to fall off". Growling, he fumbled to get his pants undone, wiping at the sweat that stung his eyes. He was too far gone. All that mattered was cumming. Plunging his hand down his underwear the moment he could, he grabbed his soaked erection and began to pump. Lance... all this seed should be in Lance. Rocking into his fist, he threw his head back as he howled, coming so hard his knot popped, despite the fact his mate wasn't there. Trapped in his underwear, he soaked his pants completely through, as if he'd wet himself. Quiznak. He wouldn't have been surprised if he did. He couldn't stop cumming, and he was mentally exhausted from trying to contain himself. Slumped back in his seat, tears ran down his face. He needed his mate.

 Yoyoing between arousal and anger, and a desperate need to hold his age, his mother finally took pity on him. As he broke down in tears over not being able to hold Lance, she grabbed him from behind. Her arm wrapped around his neck as his exhausted form tried to fightback. Holding him fast, he couldn't even claw to get her off, despite the fact his alpha was furious at being restrained, but part of him didn't want to fight. He was just so tired and he'd never had a rut this painful before.

 Slipping in and out of conscious recognition, his mother had moved him from the pilot's chair of the fighter jet and into the back. His cum soaked pants hand been peeled off, though his boxer briefs were still on, and his jacket covered his over active crotch. Moaning in pain, he let his legs fall apart as his hand slid back down between his legs. Just masturbating wasn't helping, and after his mother had knocked him out, he'd woken up overly angry, threatening to slit her throat if she knocked him out again... so she hadn't tried again

"Keith, are you with me?"

Grunting response, she was lucky to be getting that

"Allura is bringing the castle out to meet us. She couldn't just jump out to us, so we'll be rendezvousing in a few vargas. Can you hold on until then?"

Hold onto what? His never softening penis? Grunting again, his hand was already beginning too move again, while his other hand slid lower. He'd never actually played with his arse before, but what he was doing wasn't working, and Lance loved being fucked... and all the other things he did to him. Not thinking things through, he pushed three fingers in without preparation. His arse might be soaked with his own cum, but he really wasn't ready for the pain. Howling, he clenched around his fingers, drawing them deeper inside. Unsure what to do, and panicking slightly, he wriggled his fingers, brushing against something that had sent waves of pleasure through him. Rubbing the spot he saw stars as he came. Wow. Other than the pain, he could kind of see what Lance loved so much. That sweet spot...

  *

Lance had no idea how long he spent sprawled on the bathroom floor. He couldn't cum, and Keith wasn't coming to help him. His omega was distraught by the lack of his mate, to the point he wondered if Keith even cared about him. He had Keith's stupid bonding mark on his neck. His mate was supposed to be there to help him with his heats. He hated it! He hated this body of his. He hated his being an omega. What good had it brought him? A mate that wasn't there when he needed him... a best friend that didn't know if hugging him was going to trigger some omega need inside... an alpha that looked at him like he was T-bone steak in front of starved mutt... two dead children and two more he couldn't take care of. What was the point of any of it?! It all just hurt. If he wasn't Keith's then he didn't want to exist anymore... or maybe Keith had never wanted him, and regretted giving him his mark.

 With shaking fingers, Lance whimpered as they traced over the scar on the back of his neck. He was internally fighting with his omega over what came next. His omega screaming at him not to be stupid. To think things through, while also screaming at him that it was job to be bred. Piercing his skin with his nails, he screamed silently as he tore at the bonding mark. His throat was so ruined from calling for Keith, all he could taste was blood. Forcing his nails deeper, his body spasmed liked he was having a fit as his blood began to run down his back. The backlash from trying to mess with the mark made his stomach rebel, and he threw up over his legs. He couldn't do this. He couldn't go through his heat without Keith.

 Passing out from pain, he was laying face down in the shower when he came to. He felt different. He was exhausted and sore, but that was very distant. As if some kind of barrier had formed between him and his feelings. He was there, but he wasn't at the same time. Maybe this was what it was like for everyone else when had an episode? He was just a background character in his own body. With a low moan, he climbed to his hands and knees. It was weird. He knew he should be feeling so much worse. The world was swimming before his eyes after all, but... he couldn't stop himself.

 Stumbling from the shower to the bathroom counter, he couldn't even see his own reflection in the mirror. The condensation covering it was just that thick, and he half kind of wondered if he even still existed. Grabbing his towel with clumsy fingers, he wrapped it around his waist before pushing away from the bathroom counter and making his way through the bedroom, and out to the corridor.

 Clutching at the wall, he didn't know where he was going. The world wouldn't stop spinning, yet his feet wouldn't stop moving. He needed something and he felt like he should know what it was, but he didn't. He just had to keep moving.

 Making it to the bridge, he half slumped against the door as his hand slapped the wall, missing the door pad completely and leaving it smarting. It was another 4 attempts before he finally touched it, and he fell less than gracefully through it. He could smell it. Something that smelt like home and something that filled him with fear and sent his heart racing. Ignoring the scent of home, he rolled over and whined, arching his back like he was presenting himself. There was only one person in the room and that person could give him what he needed 

"Lance!"

The way his name was called had him moaning without being touched. With pleading eyes he looked up to the alpha. Shiro... 

 Crawling towards Shiro, the alpha ran to meet him half way 

"Lance, what are you doing?"

Sliding his hands up Shiro's legs, he used them to brace himself as he buried his face against Shiro's crotch

"Lance! You're bleeding"

Biting Shiro's thigh, the alpha grabbed him by the hair, throwing him back onto the floor of the bridge 

"Lance, you need to calm down"

Engulfed by his heat, Lance spread his legs, the towel slipping down to expose his painfully swollen erection and leaking opening. Feeling no shame, he slid his hands down between his legs 

"Lance..."

With a mischievous smile, he thrust his fingers into himself, letting out a long and silent moan. His hips began to rock desperately as he finger fucked himself openly

"Quiznak... Lance"

"Alpha... hurt me"

His voice was wrecked, barely a whisper

"I'm not going to hurt you..."

Frowning as Shiro squatted down in front of him, he could see he was getting under the man's skin. So why wouldn't he just take what he wanted? He had before... with surprising speed, he launched himself forward, pushing the alpha down and landing in his lap. Being half hard, Lance cried out as his arse came into contact with Shiro's crotch. He needed to be knotted

"Lance, stop..."

Shiro's protests morphed into a moan as Lance ground down hard against him. Taking Shiro's hand, he raised it to his throat forcing the alpha to grip him there as his hands went to Shiro's belt. With a snarl, Shiro flipped them over, the alpha smashing his mouth against Lance's parted lips as Lance finally got Shiro's pants undone

"Lance. No! You don't want this"

Still feeling disjointed from his body, he couldn't actually say he needed, but having a powerful alpha over him, he wasn't about to let that go. Wrapping his legs around Shiro's waist, he tried to impale himself on the alpha's covered erection. Growling, Shiro lifted him by the throat and slammed him down 

"No. Lance. I won't hurt you ever again. You don't want this. Not with me"

Then why wouldn't he give him what he needed? Turning his head, he looked across the floor as he tried to take Shiro inside of him

"Omega. Stop it!"

His hips stuttered mid rise, as Shiro used his command on him. Temporarily frozen from the command, he couldn't stop Shiro from climbing out of his hold

"Now stay still. I'll have Allura help you back down to your room"

Sliding his hand down Lance's chest from his throat, Lance's orgasm tore through him. After vargas of not being able to cum, he let out a broken sob of relief, before passing out beneath Shiro.

  *

"Keith! Wake up, we're here"

Blinking groggily, Keith slowly came too. For some reason he was now covered by a blanket and his mother had both her hands cupping his face

"L-Lance..."

"Keith, before you see Lance, you need to know he's sick"

The heat pooling between his thighs slowed a fraction as his mother's words sank in

"Sick...?"

His voice was hoarse and unnaturally gravely. The words hard to form and push out

"His heat is so intense, his body can't handle it. He's burning up with a fever and hasn't eaten or drunk anything since it started. You're going to smell everyone else on him, but it's not what you think"

Trying to scramble up, his heart was racing, and for some reason he couldn't turn his neck properly. It felt stiff, and exceptionally tender 

"I know you want him, and he wants you, but you need to be careful with him. He physically can't take rough sex right now, and if you're not careful you could kill him"

"Need... need to see him"

"I know you do. Now, I'm going to help you to your room. Lance is there, but Keith, do you understand he's sick?"

"Sick..."

"Good. Now up we go"

He really didn't understand Lance being sick. All he could think about was breeding him. Lifting him as he was a rag doll, Keith tried to fight to stand, but his limbs wouldn't cooperate.

 Smelling Lance as his mother stood him up, Keith snarled as he shoved her away

"Keith, be careful!"

She might as well have been talking to the door, because the moment it opened, he was gone. Rushing over to Lance, he literally ripped his clothes off as climbed into bed. Already flushed, and with his legs spread, Lance offered no resistant as he shoved into his mate less than gracefully. This. This is what he needed. His needy slut of an omega filled with his seed. Snarling, he rocked back before slamming into Lance as hard as he could. Grinding and rocking, inside his mate was so hot and tight. Fitting so perfectly around his aching erection as Lance's passage rippled pulling him in deeper. The lewd sounds of wet skin hitting wet skin from Lance's slick seeping between them sent him over the edge way too fast. Knotting his mate, Lance whimpered beneath him, cumming across his stomach as he did. Growling at the erotic display, Keith finally started to regain his composure for the first time in quintants. Wiping his face, he stared down at as his mate as his breathing slowly began to even out. Lance was pale and he smelt wrong. He smelt sickly sweet, but that was pushed aside when he realised what the true problem was. It was Lance's breathing. Each breath a rasp, before being puffed out of Lance's cracked lips. Leaning down, he took Lance's face in his hands. Quiznak. He was hot. Far too hot. Especially given Lance was laying on their bed completely naked. He shouldn't be this hot

"Lance?!"

Shaking his mate, he got no response. Nothing to say Lance even realised he was there. Panicking, he hefted Lance's limp body up against him, before forcing his own body to obey him.

 Rushing into the bathroom, he moved straight into the shower, blindly cranking both taps as sank to the floor with Lance in his lap

"Baby, baby wake up"

Sliding his hand up Lance's back, he found when he hit something sticky. Pulling his fingers back, his eyes widened at the blood on them. With Lance still limp, it was easy to move him sideways to take a closer look. His heart dropped as his anger flared. Lance's bonding mark was covered in bloody scratch marks. Is that why his own neck hurt? Because Lance had screwed with his bond mark? Leaning in to sniff the site, he growled at the lingering traces of Shiro's scent. His desire to possess and monopolies every last piece of his mate reared its ugly head. Despite being deeply knotted inside, Keith began to rock his hips again. Lance belonged to him, even if his omega thought he could leave him, he wasn't going to let him.

 Waking mid-shower, Lance started to cry as his hands gripped Keith's arms. Instead of pulling back and asking if his mate was alright, he pushed his lips against Lance's as he continued to fuck his mate. When Lance tried to break the kiss, Keith caught his bottom lip between his lips and bit hard enough to prevent Lance from trying to escape. Letting out a small whine, he felt his mate finally begin to move his own hips. That was something. Keeping Lance's lip trapped, he waited until his knot had reformed before finally releasing it and running his tongue over it 

"K-Keith"

"I'm back"

"It hurts"

"What does?"

Letting go of his right arm, Lance tapped his throat

"Your throat hurts?"

Nodding, Lance let his hand drop 

"You're sick, and you have some serious explaining to do"

Looking down, Lance sniffled 

"Don't look away from me"

"'m sorry"

"If your throat hurts, then be quiet"

Snapping at Lance, his mate let out a sob. This was definitely not how this was supposed to go. He was back with Lance. That's all he'd wanted, but now he was snapping at him when Lance wasn't well at all. Reaching up, he turned the shower off 

"I'm taking you back to bed. We'll talk once we've slept"

Keeping his mouth shut, Lance didn't protest as Keith was forced to be creative about getting them off the bathroom floor. After that was easy... because he didn't bother drying them off. Instead he carried Lance to their bed, and positioned them so his mate was sitting in his lap, while he laid back. Almost hesitant, Lance lowered himself down, placing his head on Keith's chest in line with his heart

"'orry"

"I get it. I'm sorry too. Look. Just get some sleep and we'll talk about it later"

Have knotted Lance twice, he was exhausted. He couldn't talk to his mate until his anger subsided, but even then, Lance couldn't even reply properly. Grabbing the closest blanket, he pulled up and over the pair of them.

  *

Lance knew Keith was mad. He'd smelt it on his mate when he'd come too in the shower, but he was way too exhausted to do or say anything much about it. Waking with his mate rutting up against him in his sleep, Lance rolled his hips in response. Now his alpha was here, his heat wasn't quite so painful, and given how full he felt, Keith had probably been suffering just as badly as he had. Leaning down to kiss Keith, he pushed himself up slightly so he could actually ride his mate. Once they were knotted together, they'd have a window to talk before he needed to be knotted again. Moaning into the kiss, he squirmed as he tried to get Keith deeper inside of him. He wanted more... no, he needed more. He needed everything that Keith could give him and then some. Lance let out an "oof" as Keith flipped them both over and started slamming into him. His body still felt hot, but each thrust was helping to soothe the heat. Pushing his lips against Keith's again, his mate deepened the kiss, completely dominating his mouth until he came with a whimper. Keith was slightly more vocal, as he snarled into Lance's mouth. His heat might have settled, but Keith seemed to still be in his rut. Not sure what to say or do, Lance wrapped his arms around his alpha, nuzzling at the side of Keith's head. Pressing a kiss to Keith's sweaty hair

"Lance, are you ok?"

"Y-yeah..."

Ouch. Talking hurt. It felt like he'd swallowed razor blades, and couldn't remember what he'd done for his throat to be so tender

"Are you?"

"I'm better. I need to apologise for last night"

Shaking his head, Lance tried to play it cool

"I don't remember"

"I lost my temper"

"I'm sure I deserved it"

"No baby. You're sick and I still mounted you"

Lance blushed despite the fact that Keith was currently technically mounting? or was it mounted? inside of him and was still pumping his hips as he continued to fill him with his seed

"That's what happens when I'm in heat and you're in a rut. You smell of it"

"And you still smell sick"

"I'm ok... better now you're here"

Sighing, Keith pulled back so he was kneeling between Lance's legs, his hands moving to massage his stomach, right where the worst of the cramps hit 

"Do you remember anything that happened since your heat began?"

He remembered being sick and tired, and not being able to cum

"No... did I do something?"

"You tore at your bonding mark"

Lance's hand flew to the back of his neck as his eyes widened. Memories of Shiro licking at the wound came rushing to him as his heart leapt into his throat 

"Baby?"

"I... why?"

"That's what I want to know. I come back and you're not only in heat, but you're sick and you smell like Shiro"

"Keith..."

"I'm not saying you did..."

No. He was practically screaming it at him with the look on his face. Covering his own face, he tried to turn away from Keith. What had he done!?

"Lance..."

"I don't know. I don't remember!"

Whisper yelling the words, he finished with a whimper

"Hey... come here"

Pulling him up and into his lap, Keith nuzzled his neck as Lance's wave of need began to form again. Letting his head loll back, he exposed his throat to Keith. He was so scared and confused over why he smelt like Shiro and if he'd actually let the alpha mount him like he had the funny feeling he had... if he had, Keith definitely had the right to tear his throat out. Why did have to go into heat when everything had been going so well? He'd been doing so much better... he'd finally found some of his old spark, and now he was reduced to a slut for the nearest available alpha? It wasn't fair

"Lance, you need to eat and drink. You're still sick"

He was going to say something selfish, and he prayed Keith wouldn't hate him for it 

"I just want you"

"I'm here. Let's get through this and then we'll work everything out"

 As Keith lavished attention on him, Lance just felt sicker. The first quintant or so was spent fucking on almost every surface they could, and when Keith couldn't keep up, Lance had put on a little bit of a show, using his own fingers to fuck himself in front of his very appreciative mate. But after the third quintant, he stared to feel sick and wanted his heat to hurry up and pass. Even being knotted by his alpha didn't help cool the fever gripping his body. He couldn't eat or drink, and if he tried, it didn't stay down, and long showers only left him cold and shaking. It was like his body didn't know what to do anymore.

  *

Keith was scared. A normal heat lasted around 5 days, 7 wasn't as common but it did happen. They were approaching the end of Lance's second movement of being in heat, and his mate was just about lifeless. His body was covered in bruises and possessive hickeys, though his own was just as bad. They'd managed to talk a little the morning after he'd arrived back home, even remarking each other repeatedly, completely tearing up each other's necks in the process, but now his mate was struggling so badly, and this last week had been painful rather than pleasurable. He wasn't sure if it was related to the ring on Lance's finger, but he didn't dare take if off incase he impregnated his mate. Or if, and he felt like a quiznak for even thinking about it, if Lance's continued heat was psychosomatic. His mate didn't remember the start of his heat, which didn't sit well with him at all, and his nightmares were getting worse. Trying to spend a heat with an omega that had thrashing nightmares... he ended up tearing Lance more than once as his mate had forced his knot out, but then Lance would turn around and climb into his lap almost immediately. His alpha didn't want anyone else near Lance, as his sweet scent was still demanding he be mounted, but he was too scared to think straight. With Lance whining almost inaudibly in his sleep, Keith finally made the call. Forcing himself to let his mate go and go in search of clothes for both of them.

 Getting dressed in near record time, he had to be careful as he dressed Lance. The slightest movement had him whimpering, and the pained expression on his face was doing all kind of bad things to Keith's heart. Lifting Lance into his arms, he crawled off the bed, mentally flinching as he jolted his mate. Leaving their quarters, he walked as fast as he dared, carrying Lance straight up to the healing pods. This wasn't right. It wasn't normal in the slightest.

 When it came to finally placing Lance into the open healing pod, his mate tried to clutch his arm

"I'm right here baby"

He was right there, but he was about to lock Lance away in a glass box because he was so useless. Undoing Lance's fingers from his shirt, he pressed a kiss to Lance's palm as he stepped back. His mates hand was still raised as the pod sealed him away completely. Collapsing on the spot, Keith hadn't even realised he was crying until he saw the tears hitting the floor. His alpha was angered over him sealing their omega away, but he didn't know what else to do.

 Sitting in the pod room, Keith couldn't say how long had passed before the door finally to the room finally opened again. It could have been mere doboshes, but it felt like deca-phoebs before strong arms were wrapping around him. Leaning into the hold, he could tell it was Hunk, simply by the almost unpleasant feel, but he didn't want to let him go

"Keith?"

"I don't know what to do"

Breaking down in sobs, he was probably worrying the hell out of the fellow alpha, but Hunk hushed him as he rocked him

"What happened?"

"I don't know! Lance... his heat... he's still in heat and he's sick... I don't know what to do"

"Come on buddy. He's probably going to be in there a while"

"I can't leave him"

"We'll send Krolia down. Right now, I don't think you should be alone"

"I can't..."

"Keith, I know you're worried about Lance, but he's in the best place he can be. You should have seen him while you were away, he was doing really well"

"He... he was?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you all about it if you come and eat something. You haven't been eating, have you?"

"I tried, but Lance couldn't keep anything down"

"Then for his sake, you need to eat"

He didn't want to leave his mate, but he still let Hunk pull him up. Maybe if he understood had happened while he was away, he'd be able to work out why Lance was still in heat.

 Guiding through the castle and into the kitchen, Hunk sat him down on a stool

"Don't fall over. I don't want to explain to Lance why you're in pod"

As Keith went to open his mouth, Pidge yelled out his name 

"Keith! Oh my god! You stink, but are you ok? Where's Lance? Is he resting?"

Looking over his shoulder, Pidge's smile faded, and both Allura and Shiro rushed past her. Allura coming to wrap her arms around him, while Shiro placed his hand on his shoulder

"What's wrong?"

"We need to send Krolia down to the pod room to be with Lance"

"Lance is in a pod? What happened?"

Keith's voice cracked with emotion, as he leant into Allura's hold

"He's sick... really sick..."

Keith wiped at his face 

"And he's still in heat..."

"We were wondering where you two were. We thought maybe you just needed a couple of days to recover before you woke the pups up"

He'd forgotten his sons. Well, he hadn't forgotten them, but he'd been too focused on Lance 

"Were they ok?"

"Yeah. We put them into a pod after we found Lance was in heat. Hunk bathed them, and made sure they were all comfy and cosy"

"Thank you..."

"No problem. I couldn't just do nothing"

"It means a lot that you did... what kind of a father am I!? All I've been thinking about is Lance"

"Keith, it's alright. Can you tell us what happened with Lance?"

"I don't know. I mean. He was sick when I came back, but he started feeling better and then he got worse again. He couldn't eat or drink, and he started having nightmares"

"His heat was pretty intense before you came back. He had a slight episode, but he'd already hurt himself before that happened"

"He had an episode?"

"He did. He walked up to the bridge, probably looking for you. Shiro was there and called us, so we took him back down to your quarters. His heat was so strong that even I could smell it rolling off of him, and without you, he couldn't really deal with it. He came down with a fever most probably because of that. I believe Pidge said he was "heat sick", meaning his body couldn't handle the intensity of his heat"

Looking up at Shiro, Shiro gave him a thin smile 

"Don't worry. Nothing happened, he was more exhausted than anything"

"Probably because he was whining nonstop for Keith. That's how we think he hurt his throat"

So while he'd been doubting Lance wanted him, his mate had been scared and trying to call for him. He should have been here. Rather than hiding on a stupid Galra ship

"Did mum fill you in on what happened on the mission?"

"Yes. But we can talk about that later. Hunk, can you make him something like a soup. His voice sounds just about as bad as Lance's 

"No. Lance's was worse. I could smell the blood on his breath"

"Lance will be alright"

"You don't know that"

"I do. We all do. He was trying so hard while you were gone, you would have been so proud"

"Everyone keeps saying that, but he didn't even call me once..."

"That's because we've been busy. You were gone for a whole phoeb, and during that time, we had something like 10 missions. It was crazy"

"It was 11, and mostly logistics instead of actual battle"

"Of course we couldn't go into battle without Keith"

"My point is, Lance was doing really well so I'm sure he's going to bounce back"

"We don't even know why he's still in heat. I feel like my rut has passed, and even trying to keep up with him in his weakened state was bad enough. I'm fine, and he's not"

"He wasn't due to go back into heat yet either"

"He wasn't?"

"No, that was supposed to be in like 6 more movements"

"Then why is he in heat?"

"The night before he went into heat, he came up to the bridge because he missed you"

"That's right, the two of you talked"

So Lance had talked to Shiro and had gone into heat a few vargas later. Forcing down a breath, he couldn't deny he wasn't jealous

"Only about how he missed Keith"

"He tried his hardest not to let it show, and the pups really missed you too. We all did"

"Thanks guys. I feel stupid, but I'm just really scared something is seriously wrong"

Hunk sighed as he placed a bowl down in front of him

"It's chicken soup, though it is from a can. To make a proper soup out here would take vargas and trip down to the village"

"The village?"

"We're back on Olkarion, though you wouldn't have noticed because you've been with Lance"

"Do you think they'd know how to help Lance?"

"The only thing I could think of is maybe removing his ring"

"No! I mean... no. If Lance falls pregnant again so soon..."

Keith glared at Shiro, the alpha voicing pretty much exactly what he was thinking 

"I don't think we're ready for more pups, and that's the exact reason why I didn't remove it. I know they could be aborted, even without him knowing he'd conceived, but I just can't do that to him. He still mourns the first two he knew he couldn't keep"

Shiro's hand tightened on his shoulder before releasing him. He'd hit a nerve with the alpha, one he probably should have left alone

"I don't know then. Maybe it's best we wait for the pod to open? Perhaps because he so tired, or because you weren't there, his body can't process being in heat"

"So what? It's going to start all over again once he gets out?"

"Maybe?"

Great. He really couldn't go through that again. As it was, his testicles were trying to climb back up inside of him. He didn't think he actually had anything left to fill his mate with...

"Keith, why don't you head into a pod once you're done eating. Your neck looks painful, and we don't need you getting sick"

"It's not that bad"

Darting around Shiro, Pidge pushed his hair up as she let out a long whistle

"That looks like it could be getting infected. Maybe Lance's neck got infected too? The human mouth is really disgusting if you think about it"

"I don't want to think about it. I just want Lance and my kids"

"Then you're going in a pod once you're done. We'll all watch over you and Lance"

"And if he wakes up before you do, I promise we'll take him straight back to your quarters"

He wasn't ok with that. Not by a long mile, but that wasn't what his friend wanted to hear. Nodding his consent, he picked up his spoon and began working away at the somewhat disgusting soup.

[mrcatlion]

vld s5 spoilery thoughts

hey, so, I know that I dont usually post stuff like this on here(or anywhere else), but some of it is future fan comic ideas that I want to test, and I need to vent.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on when is an ok time to post fanart based on s5? I’m thinking of putting a spoiler warning on top of some works, but I’d still like to know everyones thoughts before I post anything.

but yeah, spoilers under the cut

So, I’m just going to preface this that I still feel an intense emotional reaction to thinking about Sephiroth’s downfall in Final Fantasy VII. Like, I made an AU where Cloud or Zack just give a little bit of emotional support to Sephiroth during his time in the library and because of that, he has a better time dealing with learning about all the bullshit surrounding his linage. And after seeing The Last Jedi and Black Panther, there was this hole in my heart for a good, interesting villain redemption that I was craving.

And its because of this that I dont know if Lotor’s arc in this season was actually good, or if I just really needed him not to be Sephiroth.

THEY LITERALLY HAD A SCENE WITH OUR LONG WHITE HAIRED BOY LOOKING THROUGH AN INFORMATION ARCHIVE THAT HAD LIFE CHANGING INFO ON HIS MOM and they didnt pull a sephiroth

Im still ready for anything to happen to everyone at this point, but I just really like that they could have gone down making him a backstabbing fuckboy. Like when Allura got the Altaen Alchemy magical chosen whatever, Lotor’s response to his own shortcomings was not a tantrum, or even an envious grimace, but instead he was really supportive of her. Like, he was happy for her? and genuine??!?!? And he felt comfortable enough to tell her about some really intense abuse from his racist dictator dad???? AND SHE WAS SUPPORTIVE BACK!?!?!?

I just didnt know I really needed Allura and Lotor being supportive friends. He could backstab her the first episode of season 6 and I’d still be like “at least I got to enjoy it for a few months”

Going backwards tho, It was kind of weird that Haggar/Shiro/Kuro had to sneak Lotor a weapon during the hostage exchange. It was a great fight scene, but I feel like they could have at least given him a communicator to talk to them in case something went wrong? The one solid thing in season 5 is that Galra culture has evolved to include a lot of backstabbing and power play, and its kind of a miracle that they had the real Sam Holt on the ship at all. I was not convinced that Sam was not another hologram until Pidge touched him. That episode had a lot of weird moments(Matt’s hair loop skips in one scene and I died). I also feel like if they gave a little more time at the end to let Zarkon’s death sink in a little bit too. Even just a moment for someone to walk up to him and be like “yeah he’s dead. Kill confirmed” would have helped.

Also I cant stop thinking about how bored Lotor would get in that cell, but the minute he hears Shiro and Allura coming, he’d jump back to his feet like “ive totally just been standing here the whole time”

I also doodled a comic where Allura hugs Lotor and afterwards Lotor attempts to hug everyone else. I dont even care if its in character or not, I’m making it an no one can stop me. I just really need to make it.

I’m really hoping for Lotor to just be able to be a nice leader with Voltron as political and emotional support. The galra get to start working on getting that colonizing out of their system, Lotor gets an actual family. He’s probably going to be usurped next season, but I’m still content imagining that his reaction to the Garrison trio’s antics as a light scolding followed by “invite me next time”

I dont know why, but I find it funny that, the one thing Sam Holt did was suggest hacking the tree virus, and then leaves.

Also, Sam Holt is the best space dad. Coran is best space uncle, but Sam is best Space dad, no contest.

ALSO I CANT GET OVER CORAN’S RANDOM PARASITE GAG WHAT WAS THAT JOKE WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT

I realized watching the Galra fighting each other, and going back to the tree planet, and just the succession of power in the Galra while the blades set up to destroy the Galra elite, Voltron scratches that need for interesting alien species and cultures and variety that I always craved watching Ben 10 as a kid. I wish vld existed when I was a 13 year old so I could get into it when I had time and energy.

Pidge and Hunk were good. Pidge was the best achieving her dreams. Hunk could have done more, but at least he had some good lines and might have joined the ‘lowkey concerned for shiro’ club with Lance and Allura.

Speaking of Lance, I’m kind of unsure how I feel about him? I was really into his arc with self doubt and identity as the team sharp shooter and being a great second in command, and the sword thing kinda felt like a weird side step on all that buildup. On one hand he had genuinely good interactions with Allura, but still devolved into unwarranted jealousy at times? w/e. At least he ended on a good note, but I feel like all the stuff that I was getting into with his character isnt there anymore? idk

Actually, rereading this over, I’m hoping that that ending note with Lance and Shiro kinda hinted that Lance is still a really good second in command, and he can be support for both Keith and Shiro as leaders.

Keith was there. Im kind of disappointed that no one talked about Keiths actions at the end of the last season, but oh well. Kolivan had to have known who he was sending Keith to, right? I cant tell if this is going to be some Marmora loyalty test, if Kolivan was knowingly orchestrating that family reunion, or if he just didnt know. I’m also hoping to see if they touch on how the more Keith learns about his bio family, the more he seems to be drifting away from his adoptive brother...

Also tho, I have no idea what Haggar’s actual motives are, but this season had a lot of cool stuff for her? Like, I think they’re implying that Haggar genuinely wants the best for Lotor, but knows that if he takes the thrown, the weight of Galra empire will destroy him. But she also hasnt told Lotor who she really is for some reason, and I’m still scared that that knowledge could also mess with him, because it sounds like Haggar has also done some traumatic stuff to Lotor despite/because the struggle just to get her zombie baby. It seems like she’s trying to look out for him with project kuron? IDK??? I love Haggar so much but I’m also so scared at what she could do to everyone???? I’m still full force ready for Kuron to be confirmed tho.

Actually, I think that by the end, there were some other fancomic ideas that I have in production that are still technically in character? So as long as I can get them done by July, I should be good!(of course one of them was the Halloween fancomic...)

So yeah, all in all, s5 had a lot of things that I really needed emotionally, however I am  prepared for dreamworks to rip my heart out and smash it into the ground.

[radiantmists]

in a million ways

my @vldplatonicsecretsanta​ gift for @neutralvld-feed​! I hope you enjoy it :)

“Oh,” says Pidge.

Coran looks away from the latest reports on rebel supply movements to find Number 5 frowning at her screen. Scattered around the bridge, the other four paladins stir at the faint dejection in her voice.

“What do you mean, ‘Oh’?” Lance asks. He’s derisive, but there’s a note of concern there that makes Coran smile.

Hunk’s eyes dart with paranoia. “What is it? Is there a Galra ship? A battle cruiser?”

Pidge frowns. “No—”

“Is it a fleet of Galra? Is it Lotor? We haven’t seen him in a while, but he still has that comet ship. Is he finally making his move? Or is it another comet? Or—”

“Hunk!” Shiro calls. “Calm down. Whatever it is, we can handle it as a team.”

“Thank you, Shiro,” Allura says. “But Pidge, the castle’s sensors aren’t picking up anything. What have you found?”

“It’s nothing important,” Pidge says, shoulders curling. “Just… I was calculating how long we’ve been up here, and… it’s December 22nd.”

“Oh,” Lance says, recognition mixing with melancholy. Looking around, Coran finds Hunk and Shiro both frowning as well.

He has just enough time to share a mystified look with Allura before an alarm sounds and sends the paladins scrambling for their lions.

***

“Shiro!”

Allura jogs into the Black Lion’s bay and watches as their leader removes his helmet, leaving tufts of white hair sticking out of his bangs.

“Allura?” he asks, gesturing for her to walk with him. “Is something wrong?”

“I was actually planning to ask you that question,” she answers. “Earlier, on the bridge… Pidge calculated the date in your Earth calendar system, right?”

“Oh.” Realization spreads across Shiro’s face. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry if this is an insensitive question,” she continues, “but is today some sort of day of remembrance for your species? All the others seemed so sad.”

“Day of…” Shiro trails off in thought, then shakes his head. “No. Pidge said it’s the 22nd, right?”

Allura nods hesitantly. “But if it isn’t a day of remembrance, then why…?”

“It’s a holiday,” Shiro says. “Or well, there are several holidays around now, but one of the major ones is Christmas, on the 25th.”

“A holiday?” She questions. “Then why did you seem so sad?”

Shiro frowns. “Well, Christmas isn’t a huge deal where I’m from, but a lot of the holidays around now are considered family occasions.”

“They’re homesick,” Allura realizes.

“We all are,” Shiro agrees.

“I wish you could go home,” Allura says quietly, looking down. “I wish I could go home, and I chose to fight Zarkon. I didn’t realize when we first met how it must feel for all of you to suddenly have the fate of entire universe placed on your shoulders. But… we need Voltron.”

Feeling Shiro’s hand on her shoulder, Allura looks up into his resolute gaze. “I know,” he says. “And the others do too. We might not have expected this, but I think the others would agree that if we could go back in time to before we made the jump through that wormhole, we’d all make the same choice.”

Allura can feel tears welling up in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Shiro says before gently squeezing her shoulder, eyes softening. “And thank you, for making this place feel more like home.”

He leaves then, but Allura is rooted to the spot, struck with sudden inspiration.

When she’s sure he’s out of earshot, she raises a hand to her communicators. “Coran.”

“Yes, princess?”

“I need you to make some calls.”

***

Lance brushes a bug off his arm, making a noise that’s more like a yelp than a scream despite its ridiculous size and multitude of legs. They’ve been wading through this jungle long enough that he’s pretty much screamed out.

“Doesn’t this seem suspicious to you?” he asks.

“No,” Pidge responds flatly.

“Really? Coran sends the four of us out on three-day paired missions to ‘strengthen our bonds as paladins,’ but Allura gets to go to the space mall with him?”

“Well, Lance, five is an odd number, so someone was going to be left out…”

“But Allura’s the newest paladin! Shouldn’t she have the most bonding to do?”

Pidge grunts instead of responding, which Lance has learned means that she thinks he’s got a point but doesn’t want to admit it. “What’s your point? If it’s so suspicious, what do you think is happening?”

Lance groans and kicks another monstrous bug off his foot. “We all get boring, pointless, disgusting missions while Allura gets to go to the mall. All I’m saying is that it’s really obvious who Coran’s favorite is.”

“I mean, it is pretty obvious,” Pidge says. “He’s known her since she was a baby. And she’s the only person he knows from before their entire planet was destroyed and they were put into cryosleep for ten thousand years.”

“…Yeah, I guess.” Lance looks up at the canopy glumly, before his mouth quirks up. “Hey, you know what else is obvious?”

“What?” Pidge asks, turning around when she notices his playful tone of voice.

“That I can get to the top of that big tree faster than you!”

“Wh—hey, no fair! You’re like twice as tall as me, you can’t get a head start too!”

“All’s fair in love and—Pidge, bayards are definitely cheating!”

***

“It’s kinda funny,” Hunk says. “We’ve been in space for less than two years but I’ve changed more than I did through most of high school.”

“Uh-huh,” Shiro responds distractedly, looking for another handhold.

“And I guess part of that is being treated like an adult all of a sudden, you know? Like, this much responsibility is going to make you grow up a bit.”

“Sure.” Hunk was probably using the chatter as a coping mechanism, so it would be best to let him keep going, right?

“Though I don’t exactly feel like I’m an adult right now, with the whole ‘go off to this obscure planet and get these random flowers, you don’t need to know why just trust me’ thing with Coran.”

Shiro hums, half in distant agreement and half in thought. Finally, he’s forced to simply scoop a wedge of rock out with his arm. The higher up they get, the more the rock is worn smooth from years of the kind of high wind gusts Shiro really doesn’t want to think about right now.

“But at the same time, this mission just proves my point, because when this whole thing started I’d have panicked just considering it, but right now my main thought is that I’m hungry.”

“Hi, hungry, I’m dad.”

Silence.

Shiro blinks, looking down. Below him, Hunk’s grimace is slowly turning into a wicked grin.

Mentally reviewing what he’d said last, Shiro stutters. “I mean, I’m Shiro—”

Then he cuts off, because now that he’s made the mistake of looking down, his eyes have drifted past Hunk to where the lions, looking uncomfortably small, wait for them to return with the plants Coran sent them to retrieve from groves on top of the tallest rock formations in the galaxy. Shiro swallows convulsively.

Hunk is cackling. At least someone’s happy.

***

“Coran, they’re five doboshes away, are you done yet?”

“Perfection can’t be rushed, princess!”

Allura rolls her eyes as she dismisses the communications window, then whirls as she hears the swish of doors opening. Shiro and Hunk stroll onto the bridge, both holding a preposterous amount of red flowers.

“You’re back!”

Shiro frowns, which means she must not have done a good enough job of covering panic with excitement.

Hunk doesn’t seem to notice, though. “Yeah, we are, so do you think you could tell us what these were even for? Please?”

“You’ll have to ask Coran,” Allura dismisses. “But—wait a moment, the other two will be back in a moment, and then we can all go ask him together!”

“Oh… kay,” Shiro responds hesitantly. Allura smiles back.

Inside her mind, she’s frantically communing with the mice to determine how long she’s going to have to stall.

“That’s… really creepy,” Hunk says, staring at her face, and Allura realizes that she never stopped smiling at Shiro.

“What are you talking about?” she asks, quickly returning her face to normal. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary going on at all.”

Quiznak, she’s such a terrible liar.

Thankfully, it’s at that point that Pidge and Lance enter the bridge. Hunk shrieks, and the two new arrivals look mystified.

“Lance, there’s a…” Shiro trails off and gestures in the general area of his hair, apparently at a loss to describe the monstrosity on Lance’s head.

Lance simply plucks it off with a tired sigh and drops it into the waste chute before turning to glare at Allura.

“Never. Again.”

Shiro nods. “We can all go ask Coran what this is about now, right?”

Not allowing any further room for discussion, he heads for the elevator, the other paladins hurrying after him.

“Where is he?” Shiro asks.

“The ballroom,” Allura responds. “But, erm, he might be busy now, so maybe—”

Taking in Shiro’s flower filled arms and impatient expression, Pidge sighs and jabs the button.

You have thirty ticks, she tells the mice, and ignores the panic they send back.

“Allura, is everything alright?” She meets Shiro’s concerned eyes and feels a stab of guilt for worrying him. “You seem… distracted.”

“I’m fine, it’s just—”

The doors swish open, and Allura steps out into the ballroom, bracing herself.

Bells chime, interrupting the strains of what Allura’s been told is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as they filter out of the castle’s speakers. Small lights in a variety of brightly clashing colors are strung across the walls. Sprigs of red berries and pale purple leaves hang over the ballroom floor.

As Allura watches, the mice plug in a cord, and a large six-pointed star lights up an eye-searing bright blue against the back wall. Below it, a large table is laden with food that looks strange even to Allura’s well-traveled eyes. In the center, Matt Holt lights a set of nine candles, then returns the center one to its place slightly above the rest. Nearby, Shay sets an empty green vase at the end of the table.

On either side of the ballroom, two huge, strangely conical trees occupy the corners. One is silvery-blue with tiny circular leaves and is covered in small red candles. The other, pastel pink with needles, hosts a variety of circular baubles as well as some more… quirky ornaments. Coran stands on a ladder, attempting to wrestle a model of what appears to be a winged Unilu in a dress onto the highest branch.

It’s… not quite what she was hoping for. Biting her lip, Allura turns to the other paladins. “Happy Holidays?”

Red flowers flutter gently to the floor, Hunk’s arms hanging limp at his sides. Shiro’s managed to keep his grip on his own, but his eyes dart wildly around the room as a smile slowly overtakes his lips. Pidge is covering her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes, and Lance just… gapes.

It’s a bit of a mess, maybe even an eyesore in some places, but—they like it.

“Well,” Allura says. “Go on.”

***

Coran surveys the room, feeling warm.

The Castle of Lions has hosted grander parties than this. A part of him remembers elegant dignitaries from across the universe twirling gently across this very floor, recalls with bitter nostalgia the way that Alfor and the other paladins of old had once practically lit up the room with awe at their victory galas. There are so many people who should be here—who would, if it weren’t for Zarkon.

But the scene before him keeps the melancholy from seeping into his bones. Hunk and Shay smile as they eat the closest approximation of ‘fried chicken’ Coran could manage. Matt and Shiro watch with a mixture of fondness and concern as Pidge gestures animatedly by the silver tree, candle flames flickering in the air currents generated by her excitement. Lance, twirling a red flower between his fingers, says something to the princess, and Allura’s delighted laugh rings out.

He closes his eyes and lets the sound settle over him, the joy in the room seeming to fill the gaps his soul—not perfectly, but…

“Coran, you okay?”

He opens his eyes and turns to Lance, smiling. “I’m wonderful, and glad to see you’re enjoying yourself.”

Lance grins. “Yeah, it’s a great party!” The expression softens. “I think I really needed it—we all did—so thank you.”

Smiling, Coran shakes his head. “It’s not just me you should be thanking—Matt, Shay, and the mice were invaluable for setting everything up, and it was Allura’s idea in the first place.”

“Really?” asks Pidge, and apparently their conversation has attracted the whole room’s attention. “I mean, it’s amazing, really, but… what made you decide to do it?”

Allura blinks, twisting her fingers together. “Well, you all seemed so sad when you realized what time of year it was, and I wanted to help. And then I asked Shiro, and he said this was usually a time where people went home to be with their families, and…” She takes a deep breath, eyes sliding away from the gathered humans to rest somewhere behind them. Coran wants to take her hand, but she looks like she needs to finish this. “And… I know Voltron—fighting Zarkon—took you all away from your homes, and I know how that feels. But I wanted all of you to know how much you mean to me. Training together, living together, forming Voltron—I feel like…” She pauses, clearing her throat. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that— you’re home!”

Hunk grins. “Allura’s right! I mean, I miss Earth, but this place is home too, and you guys are family.”

Allura blinks. “No—I mean, yes, exactly that, but—”

“Hey guys,” says a voice behind them, and Coran turns.

He just has enough time to register pale skin and purple suit before several voices shout “Keith!” and the world dissolves into motion.

He finds himself on the floor in the middle of a pile of people, arms wrapped around each other. Next to him, Keith is smiling even though the combined weight of at least four tackle-hugs must be crushing him.

“You came back,” Shiro says, delighted.

“Of course I did.” Keith’s smile grows. “I’ve heard there’s no place like home for the holidays.”

The paladins all groan and the group hug squeezes a little tighter, and Coran thinks that the Earthlings responsible for this tradition were definitely on to something.

[crytill5am-blog]

Crushing Waters [Part 2]

Hoo boyyyyyy, i hope y’all like the second chapter/part! I probably won’t being doing a lot tomorrow or the day after as I have an exam coming up that I need to pass, but I’ll be back to updating everything soon!

ALSO: refs of Lance’s body structure slightly; Dunkleosteus, shark parts from, face ref/inspiration [THESE ALL HAVE LINKS]

Above the water was rage and chaos.

Shiro swore loudly into his comms, swerving away from the area he’d seen Blue go down in, trying to avoid the hot laser blasts coming from the Galra ship that had just floated out of the fucking ocean. Good camouflage for a ship that’s the same shade as the waters surrounding it, the black paladin thought blandly, fighting off his increasing panic when the Blue Lion hadn’t surfaced yet.

Red shot past black, Keith’s angry growl reverberating through his helmet as he engaged the ship. Hunk’s panicked cry of ‘Lance!’ was drowned out by laser fire and Green had disappeared, using her cloaking abilities to the team’s advantage against the giant Galra ship. Black let out a roar as her pilot used his piloting skills and her abilities to hit the Galra ship with all he had, Shiro trying to keep an eye out for Blue, hoping she’d surface, knowing that it had already been too long since Lance had gone down. 

‘At least he’s wearing his helmet,’ Shiro thought to himself, turning his complete focus to the ship. He ignored the gaping pit in the bottom of his stomach, an uncomfortable fear filling him.

“Keith, focus Red’s blasts one the ship’s canons, try take out as many as possible!” Shiro called out, seeing Red maneuver around the ship to follow his orders, “Hunk, use Yellow’s armour to your advantage, but focus your smashing to the ship’s control center, Black and I will help with that.”

“What about Lance? He and Blue are still down in the water! We should be going down to make sure everything’s alri-”

“Lance is completely capable of taking care of himself Hunk, calm down. He’ll be fine, I’m sure, okay?” Shiro called out, trying not to let his own discomfort from the still submerged pilot and lion seep into his tone, “Pidge, can you try hacking into the Galra systems to get their shields lowered?”

“Already working on it!” The youngest paladin called back from wherever they and Green were hidden, “If it makes you feel any better Hunk, I’ll try scan for Blue and make sure everything’s alright with Lance, okay?”

Hunk hesitated, before sighing and slumping within his own seat, “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks Pidge.”

“Little help over here guys!” Keith yelled irritably, trying to take the weapon blasters down and avoiding the shots coming at his Lion. 

That seemed to snap everyone back into action, and the next few minutes were full of chaos. Nothing seemed to work; Pidge wasn’t able to get around the shield programming quick enough, Hunk and Shiro weren’t able to hit the control center without being shot at, Keith was having trouble attacking so many weapon’s without Lance as back-up. It was slow going, and all of them were getting more desperate as time went on, still without Lance or Blue bursting from the waters.

And then the ship was pulled under.

It was loud above the still waters, too much noise, too much disturbance, the air tasted wrong. 

He bared his teeth, snarl ripping from his throat, the call of the waves stoking the cold rage burning, burning, burning within him, channeling into the depths as he tugged.

He gazed up at the thing in the sky, too loud, bad smelling, the waves were angry and distraught, it was their fault, the waves wanted them gone, drowned, silent.

He pulled up the well of power, the waves lifting up high, high, high, enveloping it, crushing it, pulling it back down into the depths, the rage fed, dampened.

Something called to him, soothing him, crying for his return. He went back down, swam fast and sure and strong.

The jaws opened, the scent of home and security beckoned him within the metal beasts maw.

It shut, and he waited.

The comms had gone silent and still as everyone watched the waters settle and calm, the monster wave from before disintegrating with the consummation of the Galra ship. A feeling of unease from the climactic end settled within the remaining paladins, none of them wanting to voice what was running through their minds.

Hunk was the first to snap out of it, a sudden fear overtaking him, “Guys, wait, wait, Lance is still down there with Blue, oh god!” 

The panic in the Yellow paladin’s voice made everyone return back to reality as Shiro and Hunk both dove their Lions into the water, frantically trying to find Blue among the wreckage of the Galra ship and desperately hoping that nothing bad had happened to Lance. 

Above the surface, Keith hesitated to follow, hearing his Lion’s displeased rumble at the thought of entering the violet waters of the planet, deciding to wait beside Pidge anxiously for the other three to come back up. Pidge was too busy scanning the waters, their own worry for Lance filling their mind as they couldn’t seem to connect to his helmet, the cold claws of dread filling their stomach.

It didn’t take long for Black and Yellow to resurface, towing a non-responsive Blue up with them, “We need to head back to the castle, Lance isn’t responding to his communicator and I’m worried his helmet might have come off during the tumble into the water!” Shiro called out through the comms, unsteady and worried voice as unsettling as the sudden sinking of the Galra ship. 

The paladins flew back to the castle-ship as quick as they could, Pidge contacting Allura and Coran to get them to prepare a healing pod, just in case.

Once they’d all entered the flight bay, the paladins scrambled out of their cockpits, Hunk and Pidge the first ones to rush over to the powered down Blue. They were followed closely by Shiro and Keith, then Allura and Coran, both wearing anxious expressions in regards to the Blue paladin’s health.

As the six of them rushed closer to Blue, there was a sudden, gravelly rumble that came from within the Lion, followed by a sinister hiss. Shiro froze, automatically activating his arm and stopping the others from going any closer to Blue. The black paladin shot his team a look, especially Hunk, who seemed like he was about to snap at Shiro (and boy, wasn’t that surprising, seeing Hunk-kind, sensible, smart, gentle Hunk-ready to throw down with Shiro in his worry for his best friend). 

“Did you hear that?” Shiro asked warily, seeing them all respond with hesitant nods. He swallowed thickly, and motioned for everyone to stay there as he quietly started walking towards the Lion, hesitant for the growls and snarls that rung throughout the hangar.

Blue’s eyes lit up sluggishly, and he maw opened to let out a copious amount of sea water, along with a squirming and struggling body. Shiro froze, breath picking up pace as the creature-far too big to be Lance, too big and too wide and too hunched over to be their Blue paladin, oh god-moved to stand on its four limbs.

It seemed to be some sort of cross between a multitude of different sea creatures; it’s body was long, slim muscle that shifted and moved with held back tension, thick, but surprisingly pretty gills adorning the sides of its torso. Two large swimming fins hung from the back of its legs, probably used to help propel the creature through water in bursts of speed, arms lanky and long, enough so that it could walk comfortably upon two or four legs. Wicked sharp claws tipped webbed fingers and Shiro swore he saw those claws dig into the metal flooring of the hangars easily, like a knife through hot butter. A long, smooth and muscular tail, shaped as that of a shark, with the upper fin starting at the small of the creature’s back and tapering off halfway down the tail, swung dangerously behind it. It’s back legs were crouched low to the ground, quivering with unleashed tension, and Shiro spotted one of those back claws that you often see on birds, curved dangerously along with its four front webbed toes, just as sharply clawed.

It was scenting the air around it, taking in big gulps through its mouth, a long snakelike tongue flickering out to taste the scents in the air. Shiro let out a fearful gasp, and it’s attention suddenly snapped towards him. Shiro froze at the sight of its jaws, lips spread in a wide snarl over what looked to be weird armoured and fused teeth, much like those of the long extinct Dunkleosteus on display. It didn’t seem to have ears or a nose-aside from the small holes close to its mouth-but its wide eyes and double slitted pupils made Shiro freeze, as if something instinctual and long buried warned him of the dangerous predator in front of him. It’s head seemed vaguely humanoid, and Shiro held back a panicked, hysterical laugh at how it’s face and head seemed to closely resemble that of a video game character back from earth, right down to the second shark tail and fins that sprouted from the back of its head. The majority of the creature’s body was covered in shades of blues and browns, and there were beautifully delicate looking fins on its arms and the backs of its calves.

The black paladin and the creature were both frozen, staring at one another cautiously. Shiro knew not to make any sudden movements, choosing to slowly, so achingly slowly, start to move back towards his team mates behind him, suppressing the fear of what he’d find in Blue’s cockpit once they managed to get past the creature. 

It kept its eyes and attention on Shiro, growling lowly and threateningly at him when the black paladin moved too quickly, though it didn’t seem like it was going to attack.

All was going well... until its attention suddenly snapped towards Keith, who had started a slow, if impatient walk around the creature and towards Blue. The shock and sudden knowledge of the other paladin being so far behind it seemed to make the creature snap, and it lunged for Keith.

“No!” Shiro cried out, tackling the creature and hearing a wild sound as they both fell to the ground.

It was quiet, quiet, quiet, the scents surrounding him familiar, a curl of warmth and safety filling its chest with satisfaction, even if the taint of fear and anxiety bittered the air around it.

The big one was familiar, he knew to defer to the big one, knew the arm could burn and destroy, knew the big one was Alpha, leader, pack and pod. But the Alpha’s own fear made him uneasy, unwilling to drop down and show his belly in trust.

Alpha was moving back, letting him calm, letting him catch the taste of everyone in the room, knowing them all, knowing his pack, his pod.

The sudden movement of the red one behind him made him angry-the red one should not move, the red one is away from the pack, going closer to HIS metal beast, his Blue, he wanted to sink his teeth and claws into the red one.

He lunged, sound ripping from his throat even as the Alpha pushed him to the ground, made him want to submit, but he was bigger than the Alpha now, could easily toss him off and claw at his arms until fresh blood spilled.

He yowled, anger and fear on his tongue as he went down, trying to claw the Alpha or attack the red one, he didn’t know, but he struggled, flung the Alpha off of him, swiping sharp claws and snapping strong jaws.

He stopped when red’s pained voice-tone came back to him from his Blue.

“O-oh Gods, he’s-he’s not here, Shiro, fuck Lance isn’t in Blue!”

[butteredonions]

Hihi! You mentioned on AO3 you have no prompts for Ulaz and Shiro right now, so...if you're still taking prompts, would you mind writing one about Ulaz and Shiro - maybe at the Blade headquarters? Thanks!

Ohhhh I do not mind. I do not mind at all.

Technically they aren’t at the Blade headquarters here, but. Um. I’m not sorry. 

:D

–

Kolivan is not pleased when Ulaz calls him from halfway across the galaxy.

“There were no other options,” Ulaz repeats, for the third time. Kolivan stares back at him from the communication screen, silent and impassive. His mask is down, but it’s no improvement: Kolivan’s face is nearly as stoic and unreadable as if he had the mask up.

Nearly. Ulaz isn’t fooled. The tick in the corner of Kolivan’s eye and the small flare of his nostrils give him away.

“Be that as it may,” Kolivan says. His tone speaks volumes, too: brusque, blunt, syllables sharper and harsher than usual. ‘Not pleased’ is an understatement. “I cannot permit you to come blindly back to headquarters after such a foolish sacrifice.”

“My actions were not foolish,” Ulaz insists, defensive and heated. The comm unit in the stolen Galra ship is small, made smaller by the tracking devices Ulaz ripped out and dismantled with his bare hands. The ship was intended for short journeys; it was never meant to make the long trek Ulaz faces now. “Against your timing, perhaps, but not foolish. Thace is still on board. He will remain as informant for as long as physically and feasibly possible.”

“The choice was not yours to make.”

“And yet I have made it.”

“At what cost?” Kolivan asks. The comm image blurs for a tick before it steadies, stable. “Your plan has failed. This was your alternative?”

Ulaz casts a glance over his shoulder. Shiro’s asleep, propped up against the far wall - ‘far’ is a generous statement. This ship is too small. Shiro’s tucked his back into a corner, his arm cradled to his chest. He’s sleeping off the drug and what Ulaz is fairly certain is a concussion.

“No,” Ulaz admits, quietly, “This was not part of my plan.”

Kolivan sighs, less an exhale and more the irritated flare of his nostrils again. “Then you have sacrificed your position for nothing.”

“I have sacrificed it so that we might gain,” Ulaz snaps. “To turn the tides, by removing what Haggar hoped to be her greatest weapon and retaining him for our own use. Saving his life. The Champion would not have survived her second experiment. Would you leave another member of an innocent species to die?”

“We cannot save the lives of everyone,” Kolivan reminds him. Ulaz resists the urge to close his own eyes, roll them towards the ceiling in exasperation. Kolivan’s ‘caution’ has saved the Blade of Marmora from discovery innumerable times, but sometimes - sometimes their leader’s ‘caution’ is a frustrating, stupid unwillingness to act.

And he calls me foolish.

Ulaz draws in a careful breath. Lets it out. Patience. Patience will win this fight.

“We must save Shiro’s planet,” Ulaz insists. “Zarkon will go after the Blue Lion now that he knows its location. He will stop at nothing to obtain it. Once he has two Lions, do you really think he will stop until he has all five? How is sitting by and allowing that to occur not worth the risk?”

“Then take him there,” Kolivan says. “Take the Champion to his home. Let him defend them, if he can.”

“He cannot,” Ulaz says. ‘Asleep’ is a generous term; Shiro’s unconscious, more like. The drugs still course through his system, wearing at the concussion, weaning away the pain of the violently broken arm. Shiro does not feel it now, but he will when he awakens. “He was injured during our escape. An accident. I cannot abandon him now.”

Kolivan does not answer. Ulaz resists the urge to fidget and maintains eye contact, steady and immobile. This is right. A surprise, yes, but right.

“You are certain Zarkon knows of the Blue Lion’s location,” Kolivan says, at last.

“Yes,” Ulaz repeats, firm. Shiro sleeps behind him, barely more than two arms’ length away. The stolen ship is small. “I would not have abandoned my post for any other reason.”

Kolivan is silent for so long Ulaz fears the connection has frozen.

“What is your plan, then?” Kolivan asks, at last, and Ulaz fights down a grin.

Patience always wins.

“Send ships to Earth,” Ulaz says. The starmap on his display shows the small planet, out of reach and the wrong direction for Ulaz and Shiro’s little pod. “Stop Zarkon before he reaches the planet. I am bringing Shiro back to headquarters.”

“The ships we can discuss,” Kolivan says. “The rest - ”

“It will be at least a quintent before we arrive,” Ulaz says, cutting Kolivan off. Ulaz was prepared for this, too. “I have disabled all tracking beacons on this ship, and we will switch over to a second one in the Arkelion system. I can plot additional double-backs into our course than what I already have, but cannot tarry too long.  Shiro needs aid, quickly, and I have no such supplies on hand.”

“The Champion,” Kolivan begins, but Ulaz isn’t done.

“Furthermore, Zarkon has every reason to believe we are dead. I detonated two explosions to cover our escape. Thace himself will vouch for me. Our escape, while perhaps ‘ill-timed’, could not have been more secure.”

Kolivan is silent. Behind Ulaz Shiro groans, the noise weak and involuntary. Ulaz doesn’t turn. The new hitch in Shiro’s breathing, the slight shift of fabric against the grating of the floor, is enough.

The sound must travel through the speakers. Kolivan’s eyes flicker to the side, over Ulaz’s shoulder.

“He is with you,” Kolivan says. A statement.

“Yes,” Ulaz says, simply. “Shiro needs aid. Would you deny it to him?”

Kolivan doesn’t speak. His gaze remains fixed over Ulaz’s shoulder, face creased in a deeper frown. Immovable, except for that tiny twitch at the corner of his nostril. A widening of his eyes, ever so slight.

The risk is worth it.

“Would you deny yourself the chance to meet the Champion in person?” Ulaz teases. “He defeated Myzak. He survived the Twins of Terror. He even defeated-”

“I will speak with the others,” Kolivan snaps, and closes the comms.

Ulaz chuckles to himself and ends the connection, too.

“Is it true?” a hoarse voice asks, from behind him. Ulaz finishes powering down the communications, taking his time.

“I was not expecting you to awaken for some time,” he admits, turning round. “How are you feeling?”

Shiro blinks blearily up at Ulaz from his position in the corner. He’s only half-awake by the barest of technical definitions.

“ ‘m here,” Shiro says - whatever that might mean. His words are soft and slurred, his eyes half-lidded and straining to focus. The drug remains at work, then. Ulaz had calculated a lower dosage for today intentionally, but his calculations appear to have been off. Does the drug work differently when its recipient receives only part of a dose? Or is this the result when its recipient crashes from an incredible adrenaline spike immediately after? Shiro’s file is unavailable to consult; Ulaz makes a mental note regardless.

“Is that true?” Shiro whispers. He swallows. The motion looks painful. “What you said.”

“Many things are true,” Ulaz answers obliquely. He sets the ship on autopilot and rises from his chair. Shiro shrinks further into the corner, a reflexive action matched with his panicked intake of breath. Ulaz freezes, waiting.

Of course. Shiro scarcely has reason to trust him. Ulaz freed him, yes, but Ulaz also has…they have a history, regrettable as it might be. One action, however gracious, however grand, can barely override that.

Patience. Patience wins the battle.

“You will have to be more specific,” Ulaz prompts, crouching to a lower height. He makes no move to mask his actions or intent. Even crouching Ulaz is still taller than Shiro, but this height should be less intimidating.

If Shiro’s even tracking that train of thought. One of his pupils isn’t dilating correctly, a funny observation and size compared to the other. Ulaz frowns, leaning in a little closer.

“Haggar,” Shiro clarifies. The word’s a struggle to get out of his throat. “Her - experiment. What - what was her plan for me?”

Ulaz considers. Shiro meets his gaze, inasmuch as he can with his eyes struggling to remain open. He is exceptionally vulnerable like this; injured, ill, three feet away from someone who until this morning had been most definitely one of his most frequent tormentors. The smell of his fear and panic in their small space is bitter and sharp. This may not be an arena, but Shiro is fighting his own battle in this ship: a battle he also has no control over, sailing through unknown territory towards an equally uncertain welcome.

Protectiveness clenches at Ulaz’s heart, fierce and bitter in its own way. The force of it surprises him.

Patience. Ulaz cannot change the past, no, but this much he can atone for.

“Haggar wanted your other arm,” Ulaz says.

Shiro flinches violently. The motion hurts him; he cries out in pain. Ulaz lurches forward, stopping himself just in time. Shiro only curls in on himself more, clutching his forearm to his chest.

Ulaz cannot reach Shiro. Not yet. Shiro is so vulnerable, like this. He is so small.

“Is that w-why she broke it?” Shiro gasps. Tears prick at his eyes. His voice is so quiet Ulaz might have missed it if not for his own superior hearing.

“She did not,” Ulaz corrects, frowning. “The injury occurred during our escape. An accident I did not plan for. You twisted at a bad angle and broke your arm after the sentries attacked. The explosion caught you off guard.”

Shiro just stares, wide-eyed and unfocused. A young animal - no. A fellow being, a person, trapped and in pain.

“Oh,” Shiro whispers, at last. He’s shaking somewhat, another involuntary response. His body’s been pushed past its limits. Ulaz wishes again for Shiro’s file.

“And you are not going to remember this conversation either, from the concussion you sustained crashing into the ship itself,” Ulaz says, softly. The amount of gentleness in his words surprises even him. Huh. “Here. Your arm will need a sling if it is to heal properly, and not aggravate further until I can get you to a healing pod. Would you not let me set it?”

Shiro stares at him for so long Ulaz is afraid he, too, has been frozen in communication. Lost in time and mistakes neither of them can amend.

“You saved me,” Shiro whispers. His eyelids flutter, miserable; he’s fighting the concussion and the remnants of that drug desperately. He’s losing.

“I did,” Ulaz agrees, and even permits himself a small smile. “May I help you now, too?”

The surge of protectiveness flares up again, heated and determined. That isn’t the surprise.

The gentle flush of warmth in his chest when Shiro finally nods, and allows Ulaz closer -

Oh.

Well.

That’s new.

[shiroe-is-my-baby]

Childish, Pettiness, & Stubborness

Summary: Shiroe and I can be really frustrating when it comes to an argument

W: self-insert, fluff, childish behavior

((I do not condone this type of behavior and hate that I wrote myself acting like this but I needed more arguments with Shiroe. Plus, I needed an excuse to show our childish sides lol))

When I am angry, it’s very hard to get me to relax. Especially since I love to be right. It’s a flaw that I have, and I’m always the one to hold a grudge. Mostly because I want to be right all the time. But this time, I was definitely in the right. There was no argument about it, although someone had to fight with me. The one man who hardly ever argues with me about anything, decided that he would stand up to me. This one time, he did it in the worst way possible.

Not only did he snap at me in front of the entire guild, but he also proceeded to piss me off to the point where I refused to talk to him. It had been several days now, and Shiroe and I have not spoken a single word to one another. We exchange glances in the hallway or cut our eyes at dinner, but we have not even said hello since our argument ended the other day.

Everyone else felt extremely awkward when the two of us were in the same room. It’s hard to be mad at someone when you live with several other people under one roof, it’s even harder to be mad at someone who is not only your boyfriend but also your guild master. Everything that needs to be relayed goes through Akatsuki, since she is my best friend and Shiroe’s right hand man-woman. The last time we talked, I remember her telling me to just forgive him, but I couldn’t. Not when I knew that I was right.

Yes, it was pretty petty. In a relationship, the last thing that you want to do is ignore and not communicate. But I was just so angry at him. I wanted nothing to do with him in this moment. Not until he apologized for embarrassing me and talking to me the way that he did. It’s funny, because I started to forget what the entire argument was even about. All I could remember was that I was pissed at him, and I was not going to talk to him until he came to me and said ‘I’m sorry’.

Today I was downstairs, minding my own business when Akatsuki appeared beside me. I was so used to her popping up at random times that I barely even batted an eye. I smiled at her, mumbling a quick hello. I knew why she was here. And she knew exactly what my response would be.

“Ashley, Shiroe wants to see you again,” She said in a mumble sort of way.

“Is it to apologize?”

“He didn’t say. I’m sure that he just wants to talk to you.”

“I’m not talking to him unless it’s to hear an apology.”

“Okay,” She said with a small frown, “I’ll tell him.”

She didn’t seem too happy to be relaying that message, but she knew that there was no convincing me otherwise. We’d been friends long enough for her to know that I’m extremely hard headed and loud spoken. Her and Shiroe know that a little too well, and in situations like this its hard for them to see me so quiet. I’m sure that to them it’s very strange.

She disappeared once again to no doubt listen to Shiroe’s mumbling about how I should just talk to him like an adult. But I was going to be as big of a child as he was being a few days ago. He didn’t have to yell at me in front of everyone. He didn’t have to do the one thing that he knew would set me off. But he did, because he knew that it would push my buttons. He knew just what would make me crawl into my shell and shut up. But this time, I was going to make sure that I won this argument. If I had to ignore him for a month, I’d do it. No matter how hard it may be.

“Are you two really still not talking?” Naotsugu asked, somehow overhearing the conversation.

“I’m not saying a word to him until he apologizes.”

“He’s really in the dog house this time. I didn’t realize you were this mad at him.”

“Of course I am! And I’ll ignore him for as long as it takes. Just look how irritated he is that I won’t just quit being so stubborn.”

“Oh, I know. I’ve had to listen to it a couple of times yesterday. Just give him a little break, okay? Y'know that he’s…”

“Also stubborn?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The man nodded his head, causing me to chuckle softly. He wasn’t wrong. That was the one thing that Shiroe and I had in common. We could both be incredibly stubborn when we wanted to be. We seem to think we know best. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t miss him. I missed him so much. Not talking to him was extremely hard, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. Shiroe would only use that against me somehow. I couldn’t let him or anyone else know that I was caving in to him.

I opened my mouth to speak some remark, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I knew just who those locks belonged to, and I immediately shut my mouth. Naotsugu raised an eyebrow, before putting a sigh when he realized that Shiroe had entered he room.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I mumbled, waking towards the front door.

Some fresh air would do me good right now. I’d be able to be away from him, and I can think clearly without being pissed. I knew that he wouldn’t follow me, which is another reason why I was trying to rush out the door. It was incredibly childish of me, I know that. But giving up would be even worse. I wasn’t going to be the first one to apologize when I did nothing wrong. When all I ever did was give a damn about this relationship.

But before I reached the door, I felt a hand on my elbow and a soft voice in my ear.

“Ashley, will you please stop being this stubborn and talk to me?”

I ignored the eyes that kept staring at me, begging me to say something. I’d never seen him look this way before. It looked almost… apologetic. Swallowing hard, I glanced up at him quickly, before cutting my eyes back to the floor. I tried to force my arm from his grasp, which he only held onto tighter before letting go after another attempt.

It didn’t help that he looked absolutely adorable, looking at me with slightly frustration and pleading eyes.

“I already said I’m not talking to you.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you’re already are talking to me.”

I looked up at him with narrowed eyes, watching him try to hide the twitch of his lips that wanted to form a humorous smile. Mouthing ‘fuck you’, I turned towards the door. Shiroe grasped my arm a little tighter, but not enough to hurt. I sighed rather loudly, taking a quick glance at him from over my shoulder.

He grasped my chin, holding it still between his thumb and index finger. My heart pounded in my chest, noticing how close he was to me. Now was not the time to get soft! Shiroe frowned a little bit, noticing the fight in my eyes.

“Ashley, please? I hate seeing you this mad at me,” He said.

“Then, don’t do stupid crap. Like yell at me in front of everyone.”

“I’m sorry about that. I know it was wrong. But I’m not the only one who’s been acting like a child.”

I breathed a sigh, seeing the seriousness in his eyes. He was right. I had gotten what I wanted, but it didn’t feel right. It felt like the complete opposite. Who knew an apology would feel this bad? I swallowed my pride, taking a step towards him and embracing him. With my face buried in his chest, I began to quickly mumble against him.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I was being really stupid,” I said.

It took a lot to admit that, but I felt slightly better. Shiroe placed his hand on top of my head, giving it a soft pat. I knew he was doing it on purpose, which is why I didn’t say anything. “It’s okay… I was too,” He said with a laugh.

Lifting my head, I looked up at his soft smile. That’s another thing he and I have in common. We can be pretty childish. It may not be often, but when we want to we can be. “I love you,” I said.

“I love you too,” He said as he pecked my forehead softly, “Now, will you talk to me now?”

“Oh, but Shiroe, I already am.”

He laughed at my imitation of him, rolling his eyes. In one quick motion he tightened his arms around me, causing me to groan and squeal loudly. I had definitely missed this. I couldn’t imagine ignoring him like that ever again.

[superpotatesme00]

(Pidgance Fanfic) by AIR

Notes:

Hey everyone! here is the update to my contribution to this beautiful and rare ship!

Read: [Previous] || [Next] || [AO3 Link]

SO HERE IT IS^^

Becoming Aware

Chapter 2/3:

Mountains, Hills and Valleys.

Double-takes are things that can occur with your eyes, and also with your mind. So, it’s no surprise certain things are never forgotten, and continue to be remembered. Regardless if you’re willing or not.

How long had it been since the trio had left the garrison…? A few months? A year? Pidge calculated and soon agonized over the sufficient time it had been for her to have shown at least minimal signs of puberty. She groaned slightly and slouched her body as it sank deeper into the foamy water. The annoying thing was that Pidge had never really thought about her appearance before. Although, she did find it a bit difficult to cut her hair before joining the Garrison. But, she knew it would grow back, and as a bonus, her hair was now easier to manage and significantly more convenient for the type of intergalactic crime-fighting she was in! Even her face…she had never worried about her looks back home. Back then all she cared about was working to reach her brother and father’s level of accomplishments…Then at the Garrison it was only finding her family that mattered. She never thought twice about her “team” and she never broke from her role as a “boy.” But lately, she had become a bit disappointed with her appearance, like how she wishes she didn’t pass SO MUCH as a boy…Pidge was never one to judge others based on looks but instead by first impressions, and what worried her now was that her first impression with everyone had been that “she” was a “he”. Even though her actual gender had been revealed, she felt she wasn’t feminine enough.

Lance drools over pretty girls… Wait-!

Pidge shot her body out of the water as she splashed her arms around in anger.

“WHY DO I CARE ABOUT LANCE’S BEING GIRL-CRAZY?! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TYPES OF GIRLS HE LIKES!!!”

Her hands clasped down on her head and furiously scratched about as she tried to break away from her stupid thoughts. She stood over the water, taking in large angry breaths before huffing them out.

“Pidge…?” A voice called out to Pidge from behind.

“WHAT!” Pidge’s head snapped around so quick it startled the bystander.

She quickly noticed it was Allura who was watching through the heavy steam.

“Oh, Allura- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Pidge’s shoulders relaxed and she straightened her back.

“Are you alright? You look furious.”

“Oh.” Pidge sat back down in the water and sank so deep that only her eyes and frizzy hair were visible. Bubbles rose as she mumbled that it was nothing from under the water. The princess stood next to the edge of the tub with an arched brow that questioned the bizarre attitude.

Great. The one time I decide to use the fancy baths…

Pidge faced away from Allura with her arms crossed and brows pinched together. Her eyes glared out into the heavy steam and her bottom lip stuck out like a brooding toddler.

Pidge had never dared to use the castle’s communal bath before. It’s not that she disliked baths, it was more that she felt over exposed in the communal bath. The baths were so big that instead of having built them separate for men and women, the castle simply had a schedule to designate its singular use accordingly. Usually, she would shower in her chambers after morning practice or at night if she needed time to relax, but lately things hadn’t been the most “relaxing” for her. Things for Pidge had been….tense…to say the least. And what’s more is that the usually cool and composed Allura, had an uncanny knack for prying into drama she found “interesting.” Just like the time she wanted Pidge to admit she was a girl.

Ever since the “bathroom” incident a couple days ago, it seemed that everyone (including Allura) were catching on to the tension between her and Lance. Pidge was now resorting to evasive maneuvers.

“Mind if I join you???” Allura had a hint of excitement in her voice. An excitement that set off a red flag for Pidge and her privacy.

But, maybe Pidge really did need someone to talk to…?

She decided to take a leap and open up to Allura just as the Princess was settling into the warm waters.

“Um! Allura-!” HOLY CROW.

Pidge’s eyes almost popped out of her head when she turned to see the sizable mounds that stole her attention. Allura hadn't noticed Pidge's exaggerated face of utter shock, and instead made herself comfortable in the bubbly water next to the small paladin.

“Boobs….” Pidge tried to look away and could only quietly remark about the size.

“Hm?”

“N-nn-nuthing…” Pidge squeezed her eyes shut and looked away. Her face burned a bright red.

“Oh that’s right! Actually you know Pidge, I’ve been meaning to talk to you- But it just never seems like I can get a hold of you!”

A grimace crawled over Pidge’s face as she remembered how quickly she would leave and turn corners to avoid any encounter with the curious Altean.

“I wonder why…haha…W-what is it?” Pidge forced a smile at the Princess.

“Well…First of all, your morning practices have been…awfully strange.” The words hit Pidge square in the chest and she felt Allura’s eyes settle on her in search of an answer.

Oh quizznack…

The past couple of days had been a hectic mash up of clusterfucks. Pidge could’t control her emotions and for whatever reason that seemed to completely escape her logic she was unable to keep her cool around, you guessed it, Lance. Out of everyone, she for some reason would go ballistic when anywhere near the lanky goof. Just like how Allura had pointed out, the morning practices were probably the worst examples. This morning’s practice had been going incredibly well. Everyone was on top of their game. The drones couldn't keep up with their moves and everyone was flowing in sync as Hunk blasted away the larger drones; Lance took the long distance shots; and Pidge swung around in sync with Keith after Shiro would single-handedly take down the gladiator. The recent defeat of Zarkon had everyone high on a major confidence boost. Allura and Coran just stood and watched in awe at the unfolding of a seamlessly choreographed action scene. Everyone had grins on their faces and you could almost here their thoughts bursting with self praise.

Perfect!

That was how you could describe everyone’s team work recently, that was before it backfired… It was pretty minor at first. Pidge accidentally bumping in Lance’s arm. The contact felt like a small static shock but she quietly brushed it aside to regain concentration. But, the more Pidge attempted to push it aside the more she found her eyes drawn to Lance. Lance really was a good shot. Even in hand to hand combat Lance had the most advantage when it came to distance and range. Pidge admired that and also wished she could swap her small body. But it wasn’t just the small envy she felt for Lance’s long limbs. Pidge loved seeing that face of concentration he had when he was serious. A rare sight, but whenever he was absorbed in something he would furrow his brows and bite his bottom lip. It was really cute…The way his blue eyes would narrow as they looked down his scope, and that cocky smirk that would light up when he hit his target always felt like a tight squeeze in Pidge’s chest.

Lance was the only thing in her sight, and she unfortunately lost all awareness for her surroundings. Lance for whatever reason had accidentally missed a target and instead grazed the back side of Keith. Meanwhile, Pidge had lost her footing, instead of pulling herself up, she ended up attached to a drone that swung her around until she slammed into Hunk. Hunk was a big guy but the unexpected impact from Pidge’s body weight sent them both toppling into the bickering blue and red paladins.

“Ooh! Numbers 5 through 2 are down! This leaves us with Number 1! The last one standing!” Coran’s voice boomed enthusiastically through the speakers.

Shiro was too in the zone to realize any of the commotion and continued to one by one defeat the drones of the remaining training level. There was a reason Shiro was their leader, and his skill was easily shown when he took down the last gladiator with just one swing of his cybernetic arm. The robot spilt into two at the feet of the kneeling black paladin, and the clunk of metal echoed through the training deck.

“And Shiro is victorious!”

Coran’s voice finally broke Shiro’s concentration as he realized his fellow paladins were nowhere in sight. He straighten up and turned to find a dog pile of groaning teenagers dead on the floor.

“What are you guys doing?” Shiro’s face was filled with confusion.

Out from under the pile escaped a mullet headed Keith.

“What the HELL Lance!? You could’ve blasted my ass off!!”

Hunk, who was on the top of the pile sat up a bit and rubbed his head in confusion.

“Why are you yelling Keith??? And where are Lance and Pidge” Hunk’s head turned quickly from side to side and could not find his fellow Garrison cadets.

“You’re sitting on top of them Hunk.” Allura’s voice held a back a disappointed sigh as Hunk scrambled to get up off of his smaller companions.

“Jeez Hunk! I know you’re a big guy but would it kill ya to lay off the late night snacks!” Lance winced in pain as he sat up rubbing his head. He felt a small weight keep him from getting up and looked down to notice a fluffy haired Pidge sprawled on his stomach and lap. A small blush formed on his cheeks.

“Hey Pidge, you ok?”

Pidge propped herself up on all fours and adjusted her glasses. She nodded and attempted to grab hold of something to pull herself up.

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine-“ Her word stopped short as she felts the warmth of Lance’s chest on her out reached hand and her eyes focused on the position she was in.

Lance leaned in and attempted to grab hold of her shoulders. “You hurt anywhere?”

So close!

She panicked and quickly back rolled out of Lance’s reach. Her face flushed bright red and steam practically blew out of her head as she tried to scrambled herself up, stumbled, landed on her butt, and crawled back into a wall. Her high pitch squeal kept everyone’s eyes locked on her.

“Iii-ii-I’m FINE! Yeah, uh-ACTUALLY. I was g-gonna go…work on my LION! YEAH THAT”S IT!”

No one could say anything before the door shut behind the fleeing paladin.

The attention turned back to Lance who was left limp on the ground in confusion. His arms were still extended.

“What did I do…?”

Allura continued on.

“-and lately you’ve been eating so quickly! You don’t even give us enough time to say anything to you! You even asked me to switch seats with you, but you were fine next to Lance! I didn’t refuse because you seemed so desperate but..-“ Allura’s words were cut short and Pidge noticed her pointy ears twitch slightly.

“Unless…Did Lance do something to you!”

“No! No, it’s not that…” Pidge really didn’t want to relive the bathroom incident again and quickly thought of something to say and quench the Princess’ insatiable curiosity.

“Actually…I’ve been really insecure…of how I look…” The paladin wasn’t lying…She just preferred to talk to another girl about her physical insecurities, rather than what was really bothering her…Lance.

The Altean’s ear perked up and her brows arched in surprise.

“Oh! But why would that make you feel insecure Pidge?”

Pidge sunk into the water again.

“I-it’s just that, you know…like some girls have mountains and hills, and others…have valleys.”

Allura didn’t quite understand what she meant and just scanned the face of the small girl. Pidge noticed her confusion and dumfounded expression. She didn’t want to have to spell it out for Allura.

“Jeez! What I’m trying to say is that you got these huge mountains while I got these nonexistent valleys!”

The green paladin shyly covered her chest from underneath the water and shot a glare to Allura’s chest. Allura look between her chest and Pidge’s chest for a second until it finally clicked.

“OH! NO no! Pidge, the size that a woman has doesn’t matter-! Besides, you are still young and have much growing to do! Don’t try and compare yourself to me. You are your own person.”

Allura could feel Pidge’s depression gloom over her.

“It’s okay Pidge. Physicality isn’t the only thing that matters. You are incredible just being you! You are the most intelligent and witty of the paladins and have shown that whether you’re female or male you are no less in ability! You the first female pilot and I have never seen such an adept paladin in my life!”

Pidge’s eyes had finally turned to look at Allura.

“You really think that Princess?”

“I know so! And on top of all that, you are very pretty as well!”

Pidge blushed and let a small bashful grin over take her cheeks. But she quickly lost her resolve as she remembered something.

“But, I mean, Lance is crazy about you.”

“Lance? (*chuckle*) Oh, no. I’m not interested in him.”

“But, everyone thinks you’re beautiful. I do, too…” Pidge’s legs folded closer to her chest in the water.

“Thank you Pidge. I feel the same about you too!” Allura’s eyes were gentle as she gazed at her fellow teammate.

Allura had never really talked to Pidge for this long before. She always felt that Pidge was a bit difficult to understand. She also felt that Pidge didn’t care for any close friendships. But, seeing Pidge so small and vulnerable made Allura feel almost motherly. And what made it even better was that Pidge probably had never really opened up to anyone but her. Pidge was just like any other girl, or person. She had insecurities. It was also in that moment that Allura came to realize that green paladin mentioned Lance quite often.

“Pidge…do you by chance, have feelings for Lance?”

Pidge’s face felt hot and she struggled to answer.

“N-No. He’s an idiot. I’ve known him for a while now and that has never changed. He’s always flirting with girls and getting himself into trouble with that inferiority complex of his. He’s over confident and-…and he’d alway force me to bond as a team…back at the Garrison he never left me alone. Even when I’d criticize him…even now he always has our backs and he’s actually pretty reliable…”

“So, he’s your friend?”

Pidge had never realized it before…All the time she had spent with Hunk and Lance had felt so useless and stupid (at the time). But, also…strangely fun. A nostalgic feeling overtook her.

Hunk and Lance were her friends and out of everyone in the garrison or even this castle ship, they were her the one’s she felt closest to.

“No, Hunk and Lance are my best friends.” Pidge’s eyes held confidence in her answer.

Allura smiled gently at the resilient paladin as she came to the conclusion that Pidge did, indeed, have feelings for the blue paladin.

She probably doesn’t realize it herself. But, maybe I’ll just keep that a secret for now…

Allura looked down into the soapy water.

Is my chest really that big??? The princess couldn’t help but wonder.

Pidge noticed Allura in a daze and figured that she didn’t quite believe what she had mentioned earlier.

“You know, Shiro really does think you beautiful Allura.”

Pidge couldn’t help but giggle a bit at the visibly flustered Altean.

“WHAT?! NO! THAT CANNOT BE TRUE!”

The princess was baffled and held her hands to her blushing cheeks. Pidge continued to giggle at the flustered princess who was now sinking into the soapy water.

Although, Shiro had never told Pidge those exact words, she knew by the way he looked at her.

Allura is important to Shiro.

****

Let me know if you like this and stay tuned for Chapter 3/4! :D

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[muzdiir]

au where keith isnt involved in voltron until much later. lance, pidge, & hunk find the blue lion themselves, along w shiro, & end up on the castle w allura & coran. they do their “find ur lions” thing, w lance being sent to find the red lion & its pilot. except its in the most unlikely of places: tucked away on an erupting volcanic island on a literal waterworld

when he tries to land on the island, hes nearly blasted to bits by volcanic debris & lava. blue is knocked out the sky & rockets into the surrounding waters. the collision is enough to not only knock lance out cold, but it also cuts communications to allura & the castle. he wakes up, stranded on an alien planet, no way to contact his crew, hundreds of feet below the surface & sinking fast.

hes staring out, watching the waters get darker, murkier, alien fish swimming by in ever decreasing amounts. massive, bizarre creatures swim pass, vaguely reminiscent of earth’s sea creatures, but just slightly off.

minutes go by & all thats about him now is inky darkness. blue creaks & groans under the increasing pressure, but shes built with the best materials, stuff that can survive warp space, laser battles, hundreds of years of disuse (thats what lance keeps telling himself, anyway).

his head is full of stabbing pain & the lights on the dash are a cosmic swirl in his eyes. hes desperately trying to get blue to respond to any of his button-mashing, gear-jerking attempts, but shes silent. lances eyes prickle with tears & his heart slams out a heavy, erratic beat, & he finally stops, overcome with frustration. he hunches over the console, eyes squeezed shut, nails digging into his palms.

he hiccups a sob & then suddenly he cant stop. he cant help but think about his family, about pidge & hunk, allura & coran. he’ll die down there, looking for some robot lion to fight some alien super villain hes never heard of, no light, no working ship, no one to say goodbye to.

he cries until his throat is sore, his nose hot and tender, eyes crusty, until he has no more tears to shed. exhaustion washes over him, heavy & sudden. he looks around in a daze, the lights around him a blur of blue and red and green and purple—wait, purple?

lance snaps to attention and there it is again: a flash of lavender across the viewing screen, once, twice! is it another foreign sea creature? some sort of alien angler fish? his gaze is trained on the screen, watching, waiting for another glimpse—there! thru black depths swims a long, thin creature, gliding slowly past. just barely, lance makes out the vague form of a humanoid.

it takes a moment, but once the connection is made, lance’s hand snaps out, slaps desperately at the dash controls, hoping one of the buttons does something to draw the creature’s attention. it works—the tint of the screen changes, slides off, & the light from the…fish man? shines a little brighter.

whatever it is, it catches the things attention. suddenly, thru the darkness appears a face, remarkably human but at the same time, distinctly not. glowing yellow eyes stare back at lance, framed by a swath of billowing black hair. its highlighted by the same lavender light that caught lances eye in the first place; it emanates brightly from strange, rune-shaped markings all over its body. its arms are human, ending in lithe, clawed fingers, each connected by a thin stretch of flesh. from what lance can see, the—person?—has a decidedly sharklike body, streamlined and fit. long fins, each with their own glowing rune, protrude from its tail, sharp, pointed, keen-looking.

lance is taken aback. it looks like some sort of mermaid—definitely not the redheaded singing type, tho. hes scared; what does one do in a situation like this? do they stay in a dead & sinking ship, or do they take their chances w an alien shark person?

lance wastes hardly a minute before running to the back of the cab & climbing into his suit.