#she's allowed to have some complicated feelings about a friend being revealed to be galra after months of trust

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Keith (VLD) for the headcanon meme?

For this headcanon meme!

A: what I think realistically

Listen, I see and appreciate the hell out of the generalheadcanon that Lance has ADHD, but I propose ADHD Keith?  Like, hear meout here.  Fixated on aliens for his whole life, hyperfocused when he’sflying (pros in battle: very hard to shake him up; cons in battle: he doesn’talways react emotionally when or how he’s supposed to, which can be rough onthe others during a merge), prickly around most people but also v e r y attached to His People, and that specific combinationof “intense emotions that can burst out at unpredictable times”and “extremely controlled emotions when under pressure” tbh all of it justkind of reads ADHD to me.  Possibly because I myself have ADHD and ambasically just likethis terrible sword boy.  Especially the look on his face after he dumps amassive amount of information about his aliens theory at the start of the firstepisode–it just screams ‘fuckfuck fuck someone please shut me up I can’t stop talking and I can feel you getting annoyed with me’ which, like, same.

Unrelatedly, I feel like Keith knows how to pickpocket peopleand hotwire most vehicles.  He knows how to knife fight and he lives in ashack with no apparent form of income, and he definitely stole that hoverbikein the first episode.  He has some Weird Life Skills.  At some pointI expect this to become pertinent in the show with Keith boosting a spaceship.

B: what I think is fuckinghilarious

Keithscores a solid C in Emotions generally, but more specifically he just fucking sucks at noticing when someone’s interested in him.  Like,in terms of friendship and romance and/or sex, he just won’t notice.  Heand Shiro were hanging out on the regular in their big brother/little brotherrelationship for solidly eight months before Keith looked up from a book andwent “Wait, we’re friends” and Shiro was like “…yes?”

This is pertinent becauseLance, within Not Too Long, realizes that he’s actually pretty into Keith (he’s horrified, they are rivals, he can’t have a crush on Keith).  Once Hunk and Pidge–mostly Hunk, because Lance burstinto the kitchen yelling ‘SOS’ and once they got him to explain, Pidgelaughed so hard they gave themself a black eye on a table corner–talk Lancedown off the ceiling, he spends a while waiting for his feelings to go away andthen goes back to hitting on Keith casually at every opportunity, but WithIntent this time.  Keith, on the other hand, spends months being confused and distressed about the unidentifiablephysical sensations that being around Lance causes and that all translates straight into Prickly Mode.  Two conversations that happenwithin days of each other are:

> Lance telling Hunk,entirely depressed, that he just really thinks Keith hates him?  Like,clearly he has no shot there.  And Hunk is a good friend and they lie onthe floor while he listens to Lance go on at length about Keith.

> Shiro sitting Keith downand asking what’s wrong and listening to Keith’s mildly panicky outburst abouthow he DOES NOT UNDERSTAND what’s going on with him and he feels bad forlashing out at Lance but he can’t??? Stop???  And Shiro is justlike “Oh my god Keith you’re into him, you’re fucking into him and peopleon the other side of the star system know he’s into you, just fucking kiss himand see what happens.”

No one is more confused thanLance when Keith corners him alone and goes “I’m going to try somethingand if it’s a disaster blame Shiro” and walks up to Lance like he’s a wildanimal and just.  Fucking plants one on him.

Anyway, thesisstatement: Keith is a failure, and Lance is a disaster, and Shiro and Hunkdeserve plaques, and Pidge gets nothing because they believe that getting frontrow seats to this mess is it’s own reward. 

C: what is heart-crushing andawful but fun to inflict on friends

Keithhas always wanted answers about the mysteries of the world, but not like this. He has never been so bone-deep sickened as he is when he’s told that he’snot human, he’s Galra,he’s one of the monsters fighting to put the universe under a boot heel. On that shuttle trip back to the Castle, Keith locks himself in thebathroom and sits on the floor until he feels like he can open his mouthwithout hyperventilating or vomiting or both, and Shiro has to coax him out.

“Come on, Keith,” Shiromurmurs, once he’s gotten Keith to unlock the door.  He wraps his fleshand blood arm around Keith’s shoulders as a support, and Keith dimly thinksabout how Shiro tries to touch them with the Galra arm as rarely as possible. He gets it, now.  “Come on, Keith, let’s go.  We should be atthe Castle soon, it’ll be okay.”

“No, I–no, I can’t,” Keithsays, digging in his heels.  Shiro is easily strong enough to move him byforce, but he doesn’t, lets Keith press back against the wall again and makes asoothing sound under his breath.  “I can’t,” he says again.

“It’s okay, Keith,” Shirosays, and his voice is low and soft and calm, soothing even though Keithdoesn’t care to be soothed right now.  Something clutches hard in Keith’schest, and he hears a ragged keening sound as if down a long hallway, and ittakes him a moment to realize that it’s him.  “The others will understand.”

“I–they’ll be so angry,” Keithsays blankly, clutching weakly at Shiro’s vest.  “They’ll be right to be angry.”  His stomach lurchesand he might throw up if he had anything left.  “Allura will never speakto me again.”  He can see the look on her face already, the grief anddisgust and rage that twist over her face every time they face the Galra, andhe can’t see it directed at him, he can’t.

“They won’t be angry. The princess will understand that you didn’t know, and you’re a part ofthe team.”  Shiro gives his shoulders a squeeze.  “Come on, everyoneunderstood about me,” he says, clearly trying to be encouraging.  “Andyou’ve met the Blade, they’re good people.  Our allies.”

Keith can feel tears burningbehind his eyes and clenches his teeth against them.

It takes Shiro another twentyminutes to talk Keith out into the body of the shuttle, and another ten to gethim to walk out into the Castle dock.

D:  what would neverwork with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

Keith finds Allura a few hours after his heritage comes tolight.  She’s standing alone on the bridge, her hands folded behind her atparade rest, and Keith finds her by accident on his quest to find somewhere tostand alone himself.

“Hello, Keith,” she sayscoolly as he stops dead in the doorway, apparently identifying him withoutlooking away from the starscape.

“Um,” he says, wishing thathe could curl up and die instead of having this horribly awkward interaction. It takes a few tires before he can force another sentence through histhroat. “I can leave, I’m sorry.”

“The Castle is your home aswell,” she says, turning halfway to present her profile.  “Do as you like.”

Keith hovers in the doorway,frozen between the impulse to beg her to forgive him–please, please, he’ssorry, he didn’t know–andthe impulse to run and never come back.  Allura doesn’t say anything, andthe silence is tense and uncomfortable and he hates everything about it. He’s kept his gloves on all night, because whenever he looks down he seeshimself scratching at his arms like he’s trying to peel his blood vessels outof his body and Shiro had quietly recommended that he keep the gloves on sothat he doesn’t hurt himself.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts again. “I’m so sorry.  I didn’t know, that–I didn’t know.  We don’thave to, um.”

“Discuss it?”  Alluraturns her back on him again, but this time her shoulders curve as if she wantsto curl up on the floor too, maybe.  As if she wishes she wasn’t the lastof her kind–wiped out by his.  God, Keith is a monster.  “It is notyour fault, Keith,” she says, stiff and clipped, as if she’s trying to convinceherself.  “And the Red Lion chose you.  We are in a brief pausebetween battles and we do not have time to have elaborate conversations aboutthe finer points of the Galra, so.  I trust that you will not turn on us. Everything else can wait.”

“Right,” Keith whispers. The words should be reassuring.  He feels more like he’s beenstabbed in the gut.  “That’s good.”

After Shiro disappears, hefinds her on the bridge again, in almost exactly the same place.

“We must get him back,” shesays lowly.  

“I know,” Keith says. “We will.”

“Keith,” Allura says, andthis time when she half-turns to him, she beckons minutely, and he hesitantlysteps up beside her.  “I’m sorry, for the way I’ve treated you,” shewhispers, looking away from him toward the stars.  “You did nothing todeserve it.”

“I feel like I did,” Keithmutters.

“You had no hand in whathappened to Altea,” she says.  “It may take me time to let go of my anger,but.”  She sets her shoulders, looking over at him, and offers a tinysmile–the most genuine smile she’s directed at him since they found out. “If you bring Shiro back to us–back to me–that will go far.”

Keith stares for amoment, then allows a tiny smile of his own, and nods.

[starfaring-princelotor]

Ranting anon. I have a lot. I’ll try and split this into pieces. I wouldn’t say that Lotor was my absolute favorite character, but he was an enjoyable and interesting one. He was a more refined antagonist (not necessarily a villain) who had every capacity of being a great ally and friend. I won’t lie, I liked the idea of Allura and Lotor together, (1/?)

As a parallel to Zarkon and Honerva by being a Galra/Altean power couple that fought for good instead of evil. Lotor is clever and diplomatic and poised, so I honestly thought that he could help Allura cool down her impulsive nature and rash temper and help her become a good leader through example. (2/?)

But in the end, all we got was Lotor giving her an ego boost that in the end didn’t even matter because she dropped him like a hot potato in what feels like a forced “girl power!!” Moment. And I feel like that’s a big problem with how Allura’s character was handled. (3/?)

She’s meant to be this wise, kind, but fierce leader lady, but unlike say, Zelda (another warrior princess,) she doesn’t display the patience or level-headedness that Zelda does, despite people making numerous comparisons between the two. The argument that she’s inexperienced falls through halfway through the series at the very least. Allura never takes any steps to curb her temper or his pushy nature. (4/?)

And somehow no one calls her out on it! A big red flag for me was her reaction when Keith was revealed to be half galra and she just…turned fucking mean for no reason. And while Keith felt guilty for something he shouldn’t have felt guilty for, everyone else was…taking her side? (6/?)

And basically the matter is resolved by him mostly apologizing and her kind of mumbling a half-assed sorry. She was literally being racist to someone she called a friend right until she found out about his heritage. Despite him having done absolutely nothing to her. And no one called her out on it. That pissed me off. It feels like the paladins personalities suffered in order to make Allura look good. Like their moralities and personalities got tossed out the window to revolve around her. (8/8)

A forewarning to Lotura shippers, I never liked the ship in the first place, so if you are looking for validation about Lotura or even Allura herself, this rant is not for you. Allow me to pitch in my own two cents about myself, Allura, the Paladins, and the comparison referring to Zelda.

Anon, let me just say this first, I adore reading the asks you sent because all of it was basically the biggest problem I had with Allura the second she was revealed in Voltron. And the main reason for that? Was how she introduced herself by being a glaringly-obvious Princess-brat trope that does not think before she decides to speak. This was her first rash and impulsive act as a “royal” Princess.

This is why I have a hard time believing those who say Allura’s racism towards the Galra is valid because, I do not know about you, but being cryogenically frozen during the heat of war then waking up and thinking the main important thing to do is call someone’s ears hideous? What happened to “the war is still fresh in her mind”? And no, suddenly opening up a journal to remember “Oh, yeah, the war! Zarkon evil! I should be angry!” does not fly with me. 

I am not saying her trauma is not real, only her reaction to it is slightly misplaced. 

In any case, let us move on to the comparison of Allura and I being similar to Honerva and Zarkon. Oddly enough, I did not see this clicking at all in the show. Mostly because, in terms of what happened between them story-wise, Allura and I are more like Alfor and Zarkon. And this is just based off their relationship. Maybe I am a man who strives more for platonic relationships in shows aimed towards children, but I really did not feel the romance at all in Lotura. 

Not even with the sickening way she suddenly started pining after me at the realization that I am half-Altean.

And this is the big point in the show. Zarkon and Honerva loved each other not because of their race, but because they just do. Alfor and Zarkon? They both use their power as royals to achieve a greater good. Except, in the case of Allura, she chose to commit unspeakable acts of betrayal based on feelings. Sounds oddly familiar to Alfor, no? Sacrificing all of Altea to ensure she lives? Because he is such a good father, pure of heart who must protect his daughter at the expense of not one, but two entire planets. 

He loves her so much, he sacrificed his own people for her. That is why Allura is more like her father in that aspect. Both rulers let their feelings control their actions. Throughout the entire 8 seasons of Voltron, Allura has constantly gone either completely irrational or completely poised for the public, never in between. She does her self-sacrificing bit way too many times and, when she coincidentally lives afterwards, she puts herself on a pedestal as if she was right in her self-indulgent martyr actions.

Which she most certainly is not, because it is common knowledge that if you want to help people, you should be actively staying alive to do so. It is as though once she believed all “her” people died, she has no real purpose to stay around after her grand plan of eradicating all the “evil” Galra from space gets completed. I am sorry to say, or perhaps not, but she really does remind me of a terrible Mary Sue who can do no wrong. Alive or dead. 

And this shit? Gets brushed aside or ignored by a majority of the Paladins. I will go ahead and blame it that most of them are all very, very young and lack the experience to speak out against those in charge. In fact, the only two who spoke against her in any sense were Shiro and Keith, even Pidge for family reasons. Shiro when he wanted to support putting myself on the throne and Keith? Well, that is a bit more complicated. 

Anyone remember the scene where Keith kept telling Allura that he does not want to hear a lecture from her, and she does it anyways because she is just looking out for Voltron and emotionally guilting him is the best way to go about it? No? Oh, right, maybe it was because she acted like a mother admonishing him for “shirking” his responsibilities. I do not even need to go on about how much I heavily dislike one of the two female members mothering her teammates.

You know what would have been a great development here? If she supported him instead of “disciplining” him as if he stayed out past midnight. Maybe not even support him! Just be like “Okay, I know this is important for you, so tell us what we need to do to help you. We’re a team and as a team we will help you however we can.” 

In this sense, Shiro was trusting Keith and doing the right thing by giving him the space he needed to find himself. Allura, on the other hand, was pushy and ultimately did not care at all for him as a person, but him as a useful Paladin tool. If he was so revered as the Black Paladin, then should she not be, I do not know, following his orders by the T? Or is her role as a royal, Altean Princess whose spirit is connected to Voltron more important?

And even before all this, she believes her and Keith are supposedly buddies now since she gave a half-assed apology for being a racist cunt to him. No one, I guarantee you, no one forgets racist comments, regardless of repaired friendships. Especially when her cold-shoulder and outright blatant ignorance is being seen as “Oh, it’s okay for her to feel like this! What do we know, we’re just humans from Earth who have apparently never read a history book.”

Before I get into the nitty-gritty details about why comparing Zelda and Allura are the same people, let me just say this concerning Allura’s hot-headed temper and unchecked racism involving a relationship with myself. That shit does not work and Allura should have taken the time to sort herself out before mixing in a “loving” relationship with an Altean and Galran man. I am all for equal support in a couple, but she did nothing to support myself as a person because she never saw both sides of my heritage. 

Allura only saw Altean blood and hyperfixated on that alone. Which, do I even need to spell out how terrible it is to judge someone based on their appearance? Based on their race? Whether in a good or bad light, she once again goes from “I will not have some quiznaking Galra on my ship” to “Your mother was Honerva? You’re Altean!” mode. It is fine to be prideful, but she should have already known the dangers of being too prideful of one’s race. 

Considering she is a royal, considering she was raised with political knowledge, considering her father and the Emperor of the Galra Empire worked together, Allura should have been aware of her Achilles Heel and understand her responsibilities. 

Okay, now, Allura being like Zelda? 

Alright, I only played a handful of LoZ games, but even I know that Allura is absolutely nothing like Zelda, even with both of them having the Princess title. 

We already established that Allura is way too rash and irrational when under any duress. Even when shit is not going down, her way of thinking is very straight forward and linear, disregarding the bigger picture as a whole for her own closeted judgements. Allura has even ignored her royal advisor’s advice too many times to count, excusing her reasoning as “It’s the only way, Coran. I must do this.”

Zelda? Zelda does not, at all, follow Allura’s way of thinking. In fact, OoT has a similar plot to Allura and myself. Link skips 7 years of his life, wakes up to Hyrule being controlled by Ganondorf, and the Princess is MIA. Though, if any of you have played the game, then you know that the Princess was actively trying to save the kingdom. Not just Hylians, but Zoras and Gorons as well. 

And the way she accomplished this was by disguising herself as Sheik. Not because she was a coward, but because she knew the importance that came with being a Princess, the next heir to rule, and the one who has the Triforce of Wisdom under her control. Key word here: WISDOM. Something Allura did not display at all in the show. 

If we are comparing Zelda to any character, she is more like the exiled Prince than Allura herself. Both Zelda and myself have the wisdom and first-hand experience of suffering under active war. Both actively saved, or tried to save, those they came across. And both understood the political discourse that hurt everyone, not just one specific race. Everyone.

But if that is the case, then Link would be similar to Allura in the sense that they both woke up to disaster. The big difference between Link and Allura? Link would not have killed Sheik once he revealed himself to be Zelda. Not even because Sheik was being deceiving. Link would understand why Zelda had to hide for her own safety, because she was vital to the plan to restore balance to Hyrule. 

Even if Link was miffed about Zelda not being truthful? He knows that, under no circumstances, can they chance the risk to kill her over his own personal feelings.

“But that doesn’t mean Zelda never curbed her temper!”

In Twilight Princess, when the kingdom was already starting to fall under evil clutches, Zelda teams up with Midna, an exiled Princess of the Twilight world. I can not imagine how helpless Zelda felt in the face of Zant overthrowing the kingdom, but did she go off and leave the citizens to suffer for all of eternity? No. She accepted aid from those who were willing, even the Princess of the other world. 

And, on top of that, Zelda understood that Midna’s world and her own were like two sides of a coin. They must coexist with each other to achieve peace. In fact, I vaguely remember Zelda sacrificing herself to help Midna. Imagine that. Using your powers to help the “enemy” for the greater good. Tell me when Allura helped the Galra out of her own free will? Her own understanding that the Galra need her help just like every other race in the universe?

No, the BoM does not count. Not with her attitude shining through after her “Zarkon is in power because you guys are cowards!” spiel. Not when she begrudgingly helped save Warlord Lahn while simultaneously profiling him out of spite with “Did you buy those weapons or steal them?” And no, not when she built Sincline with myself with the intention to harvest unlimited quintessence then immediately turn around and aid in murdering me, the Emperor of the Galra Empire, over a weak accusation. 

Overall, Allura really is the type of person to barge into other people’s problems, claim “I am here to help you all!”, then throw a hissy fit when people ask for specific aid rather than follow her “My way or the highway” attitude. Terrible writing or not, she was always like this since the very beginning. It is kind of like…she had many chances to improve, but she just made her own situation worse and refused to stop to reflect upon herself.

[artswaps]

I don't ship kallurance but I LOVE being nosy about other people's projects. Whatchu got in the works 👀

I’m really mad cos I tried writing a long-ass response to this twice already!!! But my browser crashed the first time and then windows hit me with a surprise update the second lol. I had torewrite it so I’m sorry for the late reply :(

Kinda long so I put it under a cut:

Here’s an old summary for the superhero au fic (Title is almost definitely gonna change):

tbh I’m not greatat writing romance and I don’t find it particularly fun to write?? So more like kallurance-leaning slightly-shippy gen but w/ever not important OKAY SO first the backstory and oh boy it’s very convoluted and doesn’t make much sense right now so strap in: 

I was thinking the story would be set in acyperpunk-style AU, wherein Voltron is a team of underground heroes trying totake down the Galra- a sinister corporation who have essentially taken oppressive controlof the city through widespread use of their technology.  

Back when the GalraCorporation were just coming into power, team Voltron was first employed byAltea Industries- Galra’s rival company- as a heroic task-force charged withprotecting the citizens of the city. Before the story begins an “accident”happens  at Altea Industries (obviously a deliberate attack organised byGalra) that left the founder of the company dead and his daughter Allura, heirto Altea industries and member of the Voltron force, in a coma she’s yet towake up from. This is two years before the story begins.

For a short time afterthe incident, the four remaining members of Voltron (Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk) tried to keep the teamtogether and continue their work as vigilante heroes. They officially split upafter Keith leaves the group to look for his best-friend-slash-psuedo-brother Shiro, who went missing and isbelieved to have been taken by the Galra. Keith’s decision to leave caused anargument between him and Lance, which led to a rift in the team and the othermembers drifting away for their own reasons.

Keith was captured by theGalra in his attempts to find Shiro, and has spent a year imprisoned and subjectedto the torture of having his powers being experimented on. It’s revealed at somepoint that Keith let himself be captured deliberately so he could look forShiro on the inside- while he was there he discovered that Shiro has beenbrainwashed by the Galra and is working as one of their law enforcers. He doesn’t recognise Keith at all, and Keith realises that without Shiro’s help he’s stuck as the Galra’s prisoner. 

After the other three split, Lance is left as the soleactive member of Voltron, and has spent the two years prior to the start of thestory working to undermine the Galra and protect the city as much as he’s able,turning himself into a wanted fugitive in the process and living isolated inhiding. He’s the only one still in contact with Coran, who is protecting Allura while she’s in a coma, and they both spend the years watching over her and never losing hope that she’ll wake up.

I had some complicated plot stuff planned where Altea, before it was attacked, was in the middle of producing a piece of super-tech that would allow them to take down the Galra and restore freedom to the city. The tech shared the name “Voltron” with their team of heroes, and worked as a power-augmentation device that would allow the team to mentally connect with one another and boost their powers. The attack on Altea industries doubled as an attempt by the Galra to steal it, but somehow when she was caught in the firefight Allura used her astral projection ability to merge her consciousness with the Voltron device. The real reason she won’t wake up in present-day is that she’s still mentally connected to Voltron, which is locked away deep in a Galra facility, miles away. 

So that’s where everyone’s at! The story revolves around Lance trying to resurrect team Voltron- finding and reconnecting with his old teammates and convincing them to take another shot at the Galra- while also dealing with everyone’s separate trauma and the fact that poor Shiro is still mind-controlled and basically acting as the main villain for the entire first act. 

The story begins withPidge contacting Lance for the first time since Voltron’s disbandment, claimingthat she’s been sent information from an anonymous source containing Keith’swhereabouts, and instructions on how to break him out. 

Pidge and Hunk reluctantly agree to team up once again for the sake of rescuing Keith, and they break into the Galra research facility he’s being held in.

During his time as a prisoner Keith learnt that Voltron is being kept in the same facility as him and the Galra are running tests on in. Mid break-out he convinces the others to find and retrieve it.

They rescue Keith, and when they reconvene at Coran’s hideout and bring the device within her range, Allura manages to separate her consciousness from it and finally wakes up. Yay! Everyone is confused and horrified by this revelation!! Allura, you’ve been a brain-ghost infused with a piece of stolen technology this whole time?? And the Galra have been messing with Voltron without realising you were hitching a ride?? That’s gotta have consequences, right??

Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AND NOW THE SUPERPOWERS:because that’s the most fun part of superhero aus obviously

I wanted to try and be abit more creative with the powers and stay away fromelemental/bending type ones lol. The only one I’m pretty set on is Allura, the others’ powers are things I’m still working out and would love some help with if anyone has any cool ideas! I’m totally okay with everyone having more than one superpower. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Allura: 

One of the world’s most powerfultelepaths/psychics. Can communicate telepathically, “astral project” herconsciousness to other locations within a certain perimeter, and read minds. 

Perhaps has some of her VLD-canon Altean powers eg. can communicate withanimals. 

She can also manipulate other people’s thoughts and perceptions to createillusions. Can’t physically shapeshift but can create the illusion that she looks different. 

As well as abilitiesof the mind, she has a strong connection with spirit/essence; eg. can senseother’s whereabouts or tell when they’re being influenced by an externalsource. Cannot heal physical injuries but has some sway over ailments of thespirit and mind. 

Power augmentation through a conduit: Being connected to Voltron for so long merged her essence with it, so now she can wield it as a conduit to boost people’s power, or like,,, direct and control Voltron’s innate power-boosting abilities at will via her telepathy (tbh I’m bullshitting a bit here while I throw ideas around lol)

Keith: 

If anyone in this AU is gonna have element-based powers it’sgonna be Keith- either he has fire affinity (can create and control fire +heat) or I could ramp up the angst and have him go full-on Jean Grey Phoenixmode ehehehe. 

The other main idea I had was power negation- upon physical contact he can cancel other people’spowers out. This would be interesting if it’s something he doesn’t havefull control over, and I reckon it’s something the Galra would take a lot ofinterest in using to their own advantage- would also be an interesting oppositeto Allura’s power augmentation ability. 

The other things I had listed aspossibilities for Keith are all endurance/enhancement-based powers eg. Enhancedspeed, dexterity and agility, night vision, regenerative/accelerated healingetc. All of these could be innate or they could be powers given to him by theGalra in an attempt to turn him into a weapon like they did Shiro.

Lance: 

Also not settledon anything for Lance but I did want him in part to have more compulsion andcharisma-based powers that fit his more sociable personality. He hascharmspeaking, a hypnotic ability that lets him influence the thoughts and actionsof the person he’s talking to. Even when he’s not using the ability he has away with persuasion. 

I also like the idea of him having omniligualism (thepower to speak all languages) or a similar variant that allows him to be easilyunderstood by and communicate with anyone despite language barriers.

I had an earlier ideathat everyone’s powers, where applicable, would be based on their original lion’spowers in vld canon? I’ve mostly scrapped that at this point but I do stilllike the idea of Lance having a sort of echolocation type of thing- maybe morelike he can feel the vibrations of structures around him and instantly puttogether a mental-map of the area. If he knocks against the outside wall of abuilding then he can feel out the layout of the interior, along those lines.Think Toph Beifong.

I also wanna give him low-level telekinesis because I think he’d had fun with that lol.

Shiro: 

I actually likethe idea of Shiro not having any powers originally; the Galra imbued him withsome abilities through his prosthetic arm that he wasn’t born with. The worst one isthe power to manipulate and deconstruct organic matter; the Galra intended forhim to use it to destroy and kill, but I had a thought I liked a lot where Shiro takesownership of it after they save him from the brainwashing, and he eventuallylearns to use it to heal and becomes the team’s go-to doctor.

I might scrap the idea ofhim not originally having any powers, depends if I can come up with anything.Maybe I can go back to my they-have-their-og-lion’s-powers idea and give himteleportation, and he eventually learns how to do it mentally and can astralproject.

Okay actually NightCrawler is my favourite superhero and I’m gonna fuckin let Shiro nightcrawl,fight me.

Pidge: 

Technopathy,obviously!!! She can do pretty much anything with technology, and I wasthinking that similar to VLD canon where Pidge adds her own modifications to herlion to give it new powers, in this AU she makes a lot of devices of her ownthrough her technopathy that give her access to a lot of manufactured superpowers eg. Invisibility/cloaking,electricity manipulation, some other cool stuff idk yet.

She also has eideticmemory and low-level telekinesis which she mostly just uses to help herretrieve objects in her lab when she’s hyperfocused and doesn’t wanna get up. 

Hunk: 

Hunk is an empath, which makes him goodat intelligence gathering because he can detect when people are lying throughtheir emotions. 

Also had animation/”life spark” down as a possibility, which isthe ability to bring inanimate objects temporarily to life; his creationsfollow his directions but their sentience levels are very low and they have noemotional intelligence. E.g he could hypothetically create an army out ofshopping mall dummies to fight for him, which probably wouldn’t do much physical damagebut would work as a good distraction while he hightails it outta there. Alsowould be a very good intimidation tactic cos that would be a terrifying sightahaha

Idk I don’t have a lot ofother good ideas for Hunk someone help me

Coran:

Enhanced memory, though not photographic or near-infalliable like Pidge’s is, and he’s kinda useless with it (mostly just usesit to subject people to long-winded anecdotes about his crazy life)

Omnilingualism. Thinks this makes him a gooddiplomat but historically it’s just gotten him into trouble with more people.

He’s spent the entire time since Voltron’sdisbandment guarding Allura while she’s asleep, protecting her from assassinationattempts, so it’d be cool if he had some other kind of power that allowed himto do this easily? Not anything flashy, an ability that a lot of people wouldunderestimate or dismiss as harmless, but something that’s let him keep themboth safe while she’s so vulnerable.  

AND THAT’S ALL I’VE GOT FOR NOW I hope it sounds interesting??? It’s kinda a complicated mess atm but I have fun thinking about this AU and I’d like to do something with it soon.

It’d be a mess of cheesy sci-fi drama and angst and found family so like,,, all good things. Thank you for asking about it I love to rant about my projects lmao

[bluethepaladin]

Yo blue im on a super duper important quest to find really good lance centric fics, you know, that high quality top shelf kinda stuff. ive already read ur fic but im lookin for more. Got any recs????????

hey there, friend, you came to the right place! sorry this took so long, I made this whole post and then my computer was being difficult and I lost the whole thing, so this is the second time I’m making it! thank you so much for reading when I dream it happens in blue. I’ve got some great new content on the way, but in the meantime, here are some great reads to hold you over!

>

7 Times They Noticed by @em-the-cliche

Lance was alright. He was happy. He was fine. Except when he wasn’t.

“Listen. Are you alright?”“Uh…are you alright?”“Are you okay buddy?”“Are…are you in good health, paladin?“Are…are you okay, paladin?”“Hey. You okay?”

His team mates, his second family - they noticed.

A Commutual Contract by @skaylanphear​

After a terrifying experience during which Lance, seemingly, dies, Keith is haunted by horrible nightmares of holding his comrade in his arms while he took his final breath. To the point where he can’t sleep unless he knows for absolute certain that Lance is alive.

And while the attention is surprising, Lance doesn’t really have a problem with Keith checking up on him. Or the fact that Keith only seems totally comforted when he can cuddle Lance close and hear his heart beat. After all, there’s nothing wrong with two bros cuddling. It doesn’t MEAN anything. Or, at least, that’s what Lance keeps telling himself.

At Rest (Five Miles Behind the Front) by @thisgirlhastales

Shiro is no longer the Black Paladin. He is no longer the commander of Team Voltron. He is a soldier without a purpose and a leader without a legion at his back.

Lance is a seventh wheel. He is not fit to be a leader, and perhaps not even fit to be a Paladin.

Or, in which two Paladins of Voltron learn their true worth, and finally, there is well-earned rest.

Beautiful Minds by PotatoBender

Lance used to be proud of his mental abilities. A pilot. A Paladin. Someone experienced with delving and controlling his mind. But after being captured, and enduring just a single encounter with Haggar, his castle was reduced to rubble.

Rescuing Lance was the easy part - healing him is much, much harder.

Blast Zone by bubblebucky

In the middle of a mission, a bomb going off leaves Lance unable to hear. Still, while he’s deaf, the rest of his team are the ones that won’t listen.

Boom Crash the Sound of My Ship by @maychorian​

After a Galra attack splits Voltron, the blue lion is damaged and falls toward the jungle planet below. Shiro follows, and now he and Lance are stranded in hostile territory, fighting to survive. Lance is injured, Shiro is having flashbacks, and help is far away. And the Galra just…keep coming.

Brain storm by @trickstersgambit

Lance managed for years without too many obvious issues. Those who needed to know, knew. Until it became a problem he thought he buried in his awkward early teen years.

calling me to come back by @apvrrish

Keith is a witch who owns a shop where he breaks curses on both magical items and people under spells. Love spells, family curses passed down generations, cursed heirlooms lurking the attic – he can handle them all. But one day a boy named Lance walks into his shop, and his curse is darker and more difficult to break than anything Keith has ever seen before: the curse is draining his magic, and without his magic, Lance will die. 

This is a new favorite of mine!

Dark Blue by @thunder-dor

Lance has a bad habit of comparing himself to his teammates. Lotor needs a Paladin with a weakness.

Or

Lance gets kidnapped and Keith will do anything to get him back.

This is a great fic and Jessie is a writing goddess!!!

Fighting the Surface by @tomminowrites

“Humans have shown quite the impressive drive for survival,” the Galra commander grins. “I want to see you fight against that. The druids claim drowning is quite the painful way to go.“ He tips Lance backward over the water, as Keith and Shiro struggle against their bonds. “If you surface, they die.”

Lance’s eyes widen and he’s pushed backward with a splash.

______

Keith, Shiro, and Lance are taken captive during a mission planet-side. The commander decides he only needs two paladins for interrogation, and decides to have a little fun while they wait for extraction. Lance is thrown into the deep with the threat that if he swims up for air, one of the other two will be shot. Obviously Lance would rather die than allow that.

Later chapters will, of course, deal with Keith and Shiro losing their damn minds thinking Lance just drowned himself for them.

I helped beta this one! It’s good!

Ghost of the Future & Shadow of the Past by @zizzani & @wittyy-name

When Lance is thrown through time, his future self from one year ahead is transported to the past in his place.

This Lance is faster, stronger, and markedly more mature. Not only that, but he’s distinctly more intuitive about his teammates and A LOT more touchy with Keith.

The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance’s places and restore them to their original timelines. Things only get more complicated when the Future Lance can’t seem to remember where he was when the switch happened, and he refuses to reveal anything about his own time for fear of influencing the team’s decisions.

Mirror fic to “Shadow of the Past” by wittyy_name

&

When Lance is thrown through time, he finds himself one year in the future, in place of the Lance that should be here.

He finds his team to be remarkably familiar, yet distinctly different. They have more scars, a better grip on the whole saving the universe thing, and over a year’s worth of teamwork to bind them together. But the weirdest part? Keith seems to be a lot more touchy with him. Not that he’s complaining… much.

The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance’s places and restore them to their original timelines. But despite the fact that they’re still his friends, Lance can’t help but feel a little out of place among a team that’s been through so much with a Lance that just isn’t him. And it doesn’t help that the team is on edge around him, refusing to tell him anything for fear of influencing and changing the past. Things get even more complicated when they have to rely on the team in the past to complete the switch, leaving Lance to little more than sit, wait, and attempt to fill in his future self’s shoes.___________

Mirror fic to “Ghost of the Future” by Zizzani

give out to give in by @mlp-michaeljones

So typical. So fucking typical, that Lance is the youngest and worst of his siblings, and then the kids come along and he isn’t even the cutest anymore, and he only made fighter pilot because perfect fucking Keith dropped out and even when he piloted a lion he didn’t have a thing like the others, and now he can’t even have Blue. Maybe he was the one to suggest it, but he was barrelling towards this point all along; rock fucking bottom.

When it becomes clear that Allura is a better pilot than him, Lance steps down as the Blue Paladin. It is, after all, the obvious decision. Lance is, and has always been, the afterthought.

But who needs an afterthought?

He Don’t Fuckin Care by ya_ya_rose

Lance knows how to hold his own. But he isn’t indestructible. 

Huddling for Warmth: The Movie by @maychorian

The paladins are heading back to the Castle of Lions after another successful mission when Shiro suddenly realizes that something is wrong. Lance isn’t responding on the comms.

Love and Other Questions by @squirenonny

One week after news of the Kerberos disaster broke, Pidge receives a new Mark–proof that Matt is still alive. She breaks into the Garrison to find him, only to find herself caught up in the fight for the fate of the universe.

Keith keeps his arms covered so he doesn’t have to watch Shiro’s scars compounding on his skin–but doing so means cutting off contact with his romantic soulmate, who greets him each morning with a new (and terrible) pickup line.

Shiro and Matt thought they were the luckiest people alive when they found out they were going to Kerberos together. But Shiro hasn’t seen Matt’s untidy scrawl on his arm in almost a year, and he has no idea if his soulmate is even still alive.

[Canonverse Soulmate AU with romantic and platonic soulmates (and some gray areas in between)]

Perihelion by @eclecticinkling

After growing up in the shadow of war, Prince Lance of Altea would give almost anything to bring peace back to his people. So when a Galran ambassador arrives with an offer to make that a reality, Lance knows he can’t refuse. Even if it means binding himself to his enemy’s prince for as long as they both shall live.

say you’re gonna break my fall by @apvrrish

Keith tries to deal with being the leader, and also tries to deal with his feelings about Lance. It’s a process.

Keith looks up and sees Lance staring at him, head tilted at an angle. His eyes are just barely visible through the visor, but his mouth is twisted into a puzzled curve.

“Sorry,” Keith says, flushing. “Lost in thought.”

“You okay?” Lance asks, falling into step alongside him as they follow the others out of the ship.

so much more than space dust by @ad-asterism

When a cryopod malfunctions, Lance is left with amnesia. As he struggles to figure out where he fits in the new formation of the team, the rest of Voltron is racing against the clock to figure out where Lotor will strike next- and their only clue is hidden somewhere in Lance’s lost memories. Lance will have to find a way to remember what he’s missing- or come to terms with what he’s forgotten.

Taking One For The Team by YukiSetsu

A mission gone wrong lands Lance and Pidge in a dangerous situation. When communication with the rest of the team is compromised, they have to take drastic measures to escape. Pidge can only hope that they get out before things get worse and one of them breaks. Especially Lance.

The Reluctant Soldier by @banditywrites

Lance is badly injured on a mission and struggles with his role as sharpshooter.

Thirty-One Days by SidneyJean

Lance experiences loss, in all its ugly faces, for the first time after beginning his journey as a Paladin and discovers just how that changes a person over time. It…doesn’t happen the way he expected. The people around him begin to change, and so does he.

Trembling Lips by @newtsckamander

Lance is an emotional person who cries easily (and does the trembly-lip thing a lot) but tries to stay strong in front of the team.

OR

Five times Lance stopped himself from crying in front of his teammates, and the one time he couldn’t hold it back.

Universal Fates by @celty-me

Alfor, Zarkon, Trigel, Gyrgan, and Blaytz set off on missions across the galaxy to gather pieces of an artifact so Alfor can complete Voltron.

Zarkon encounters a human boy with a missing arm fighting as a gladiator.Trigel encounters an enslaved young human girl whose genius is being exploited.Gyrgan encounters a human boy who disabled a pirate ship he and his people had been chasing.King Alfor encounters a young half-galra boy who aids the king and Coran when they are cornered by bandits.Blaytz encounters an Altean boy enslaved on a slave trading planet.

Each ally feels compelled to rescue and adopt the orphans they encounter, setting the wheels of fate into motion.

While each child carries the scars of their past, they form bonds too strong to ever be broken. They will find friendship and family with each other, and maybe love, even as events threaten everything they know and care for.

wanna be known by you by @bluewriters​

Sometimes Lance feels like he’s been stained blue, the colour of his lion seeping through his skin as he chokes on cold stardust, and he is drowning in waves of blue, blue ocean. Lance has never been afraid of the ocean before.

He rolls over and turns off the lights. He doesn’t sleep.

Watching You Fall by @emerald-ashes

Shiro couldn’t find Lance. He knew he was in danger after his communications ended abruptly. But he certainly wasn’t prepared to find Lance dying on the floor of a Galra base during one their missions.

Words Fail by EagleInFlight

A mind-melding exercise goes wrong, and the five Paladins are now trapped in Lance’s mind. To escape, they must delve through Lance’s memories. Lance learns that in order to save his friends, he has to stop running. But to stop running means to face the worst of himself.

[eastofthemoon]

The Empress’s Tears- Chapter 6

Today’s theme was ‘different’ for Kallura Month, so here’s the next chapter.  Sorry for the wait.

@kallurapositivitymonth

Title: Empress’s Tears: Chapter 6

Rating: PG

Series: Voltron Legendary Defender

Characters/Ships: Keith/Allura, Lance, Sven, Pidge, Hunk, Slav, some OCs

Summary: he paladins end up in the Altean Empire reality again, but this time they’ve also gone back in time and Keith makes a big discovery.

Archive of our Own

Lance kept his back to the wall as he peeked around the corner and then checked his tracker. “Looks like Hunk is up ahead.” 

  “Then it’s a safe bet he’s being guarded as well,” Sven added and frowned as he looked at the tracker. “We’ll have to deal with the guards.”

Lance shut his eyes in thought. “If we try to fight them they’ll probably just call for backup. Maybe we could knock them out.”

Sven gave a smirk that reminded Lance of Shiro when he got an evil idea. “I got just the thing,” he said as he reached into the pouch on his belt and brought out a small black sphere. “Knockout gas, but I only have the one on me so we’ll have to make this count.”

“Great,” Lance said as he reached for it. “I’ll go, toss it at their feet and you cover me.”

Sven pulled back his hand. “I’m sorry, but I should go and throw it.”

Lance’s body tensed. “But...I’m the faster of us.”

Sven arched an eyebrow. “Yes, but these spheres are a bit tricky to handle and I’m more use to it than you are.”

Lance gave him a dry look. “It’s a sphere with gas? What’s so complicated about me throwing it?”

“You need to type in the password before you throw it.”

“Why would you include that for a bomb?” Lance hissed.

“So, a person doesn’t accidentally sent it off. We’ve had problems with that before,” Sven argued as he tried to keep his voice down.

Alright, that’s a valid point, Lance thought. “Then just tell me a password.”

Sven gave him a thoughtful frown. “Lance, you have the better weapon for covering me.”

“And...you probably have better aim,” Lance insisted desperately. “Look, just let me do it.”

“Why?” Sven asked and sounding close to losing his patience. “Why is this so important?”

Lance growled. “Because if I go there’s no chance of you getting shot again…” He swiftly shut his mouth and turned away. “Crud..I didn’t mean to say that.”

Sven blinked at him and slowly his eyes softened. “Shot again..like last time?”

Lance gave a sigh as he turned away. “Yeah, and last time you got hurt because of me.” He turned back to him. “I don’t want that to happen again.”

Sven patted his shoulder. “It’s war Lance, and unfortunately people get hurt as a result. You fight the Galra in your reality, so you must know this.”

“I do,” Lance said, but then his gaze hardened. “But my armour has a better chance of taking that shot over yours. I had a better chance of being hit and not getting as injured as you did.”

Lance had been replaying the scene over and over in his head. He didn’t know what kind of material the Guns of Gamara used, but Lance had a high suspicion the Altean made armour he wore was a bit stronger than theirs. Sven shouldn’t have taken the bullet for him. He shouldn’t have almost died because of him.

Sven gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed his neck. “You are right, and at the time I had a feeling it could handle the blast, but...instincts took over.”

Lance raised his head and stared at him curiously. “Instincts?”

Sven sighed. “I was not able to tell you this before, but I know the version of you in my reality.”

Lance’s mouth dropped a little. “Wait? You mean there’s a rebel version of me?”

Sven nodded. “He is older than you, but he is a good friend of mine and when I realized you were another version of him…” He gave a shrug. “I felt I had to protect you as well and my instincts just took over.”

“Ssoo,” Lance said slowly, “you pushing me out of the way was because you felt like you were also protecting your ‘Lance’.” If that was his name in this reality.

“Yes,” Sven said as he patted his shoulder, “although, truth be told, I have a habit of trying to protect all of my friends.” He gave a chuckle. “My Lance and Chief gave me quite a scolding while I was healing.”

“Chief?” Lance asked.

“Our leader’s nickname, but that’s enough talk,” Sven said as he patted his shoulder. “Point is, it was not your fault I was shot. It was my decision, and even if you weren’t a version of my friend ‘Lance’ I have feeling I would have done it anyway.” He gave a smile. “If you are like my Lance, I have a feeling you would do the same thing in my place.”

Lance thought about that and suddenly recalled back when that bomb went off in the Castle of Lions. Without a second thought, Lance had shielded Coran to protect him from the blast.

“Yeah..I would have,” he admitted with a blush, “but that doesn’t mean I like it when people get hurt because of me.”

“Me neither, but it will happen sometimes,” Sven said as he held up the sphere. “I promise to be careful this time at least. So, will you allowed me to take out those guards?”

Lance looked to the sphere, glanced back down the hallway where Hunk was being kept and took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said as he morphed his bayard into his blaster, “and I’ll cover you.”

Sven nodded like he’d been expecting it and began to move ahead of Lance. “Stay behind me,” he whispered as he reached into his pouch and brought out a small mask that covered his mouth and nose. “Also, make certain your face is covered to you don’t breath in the gas.”

Lance hit the button on his helmet and his face was covered as they began to move into the hallway. Sven quickly picked up the pace and Lance held up the gun as he chased after him. Within a few tics, they spotted a door and two Altean guards ahead of them. The next few tics seemed like it was slow motion for Lance.

The guards cried out and pointed their blaster at Sven. Lance got a few shots in as Sven dashed forward and typed into the sphere. He then swung back and tossed it directly at the guards.

The sphere rolled to the feet of the guards and a subtle hiss was heard as the gas was set free. The guards coughed and gagged as they collapsed onto the floor. Lance quickly went over and felt relief as he saw while the guards were breathing, but were no longer awake.

“Let’s hurry,” Sven said as he went for the door. “Gas won’t last forever and we don’t want them calling for friends until we’re out of this place.”

Lance nodded as he moved to the door and froze as he spotted a digital lock on it. “Quiznack,” he grumbled as tapped his communicator. “Guess we’ll need Pidge to-”

Sven took out his gun and shot it at the lock. The lock sparked as the cover fell off. He grinned as he looked up to Lance. “We design our guns specifically to take out Altean technology.” He put it back into his belt. “Sometimes direct approach is best.”

Lance gave a small smile at that as he pressed the button on the side. The door grunted, then slowly slide opened to reveal a well furnished room with a nervous Hunk standing in the middle of it. Hunk looked ready to fight, but his fists dropped to his sides as Lance waved at him.

“Yoo hoo,” Sven greeted with a wave. “Missed us?”

“Oh man,” Hunk exclaimed as he looked ready to burst into tears and snagged the both of them into a bear hug. “I am so happy to see you guys!”

Lance grunted, but gave a hug back. “Good to see you too, big guy.” He glanced around the room and chuckled. “But man, if this is how Alteans keep their prisoners, maybe I should get captured too.”

“Nope, terrible idea,” Hunk said as he let go. “The food is terrible, trust me, dude. Coran is a gourmet chef in comparison and they only gave me this room because Keith agreed to stay put if I wasn’t hurt.”

Lance paled at that. “Wait, is that what happened?”

Hunk nodded as he reached for his helmet that was on the bed. “We tried to escape, but we got caught and that creepy empress threatened to place one of those implants in my brain if Keith didn’t listen.”

Lance’s hands tightened on his gun. “That’s sick.”

“Why did you not call for help?” Sven asked as he gestured to his helmet.

“Tried several times, but all I got was static,” Hunk explained as he prepared to step out. “I’m betting they install something in this room to block signals…” He stopped and spotted the guards. “Um...what do we do with these guys?”

“Let’s stash them in the room,” Lance said as he put his blaster away and went to pick up a guard’s arm. “And if that room blocks signals like you said, if we lock them in they can’t call for help.”

“Good thinking,” Sven said as he picked up the other guard. “But we have to hurry.”

They tossed the guards into the room. Once the door was shut, Sven reached into his pouch and brought out a small device that attached itself to the door.

“Makeshift lock,” Sven explained as he pressed some buttons to set it. “Slav’s invention and will take awhile for the Alteans to figure out.”

“Okay, good,” Hunk said as he pointed over his shoulder. “Let’s go get my bayard. I know where they stashed it and then we can get Keith.”

“Allura’s got Keith covered,” Lance replied, “so we’ll just focus on getting back to the others.”

Hunk frowned. “Allura? But what if she runs into the empress?”

“She’ll be okay,” Lance said with a forced smile, “at least that’s what she said.”

“I hope so.” Hunk gave a shiver. “That lady is mega creepy.”

“That’s the vibe I’m getting,” Lance said before Sven lead the way and they ran down the hall. “But our Allura is mega tough. She can take her.”

At least, Lance hoped she could.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith lifted the cape around his shoulders and cringed at his image in the mirror. “Nope, this is still weird,” he muttered as he let it slip from his fingers and drop to the floor like a stone. He hand a hand through his hair.

Keith didn’t want to weary any of this stuff, but he was going to have to wasn’t he? The empress would be back soon to have dinner with him. He didn’t want to wear the stupid clothes, but if he didn’t would Hunk pay for it? Keith didn’t know just how far the empress expected him to be obedient.

The fact that she allowed him to keep his bayard felt it she was trying to test him. If Keith so much as even tried to activate his bayard and get out of here, Hunk would get punished for it. The empress never said it, but Keith could sense that was it’s meaning by leaving it in here. Her bizarre way of training him he suppose.

His thoughts drifted to that photo he saw of the Altean him and the empress together. Did he have to obey all her commands? They had looked actually happy to be together. Or was it possible he was forced to marry her?

No, something in Keith’s gut told him that wasn’t the case. The smile the Altean him did not look faked or forced. He of all people should be able to tell.

Footsteps were heard at the door. Keith swallowed as he turned and the door opened. However, instead of dread, Keith felt his joy soar as he saw Allura, HIS Allura, enter. Her eyes locked onto him and she looked just as happy to see him.

“Keith,” she breathed and looked him over. “You’re alright.”

Keith nodded as she rushed towards him. “Am I ever glad to see-”

She engulfed him into a hug. Keith stiffened, but slowly wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug.

“Thank the ancients,” she whispered into his ear. “I was afraid the empress...I don’t even want to imagine it.” Allura gave him another squeeze before releasing him. “What about Hunk? Is he alright?”

“He’s fine,” Keith said as he let go. “The empress promised not to hurt him as long as I didn’t try to escape.” He rubbed his neck. “At least for the time being.”

Allura took a deep breath. No doubt she’d been fearing they were being tortured or worse. “Then, let’s get out of here,” she said as she reached for his hand. “The others are waiting where the rip is so we can go home.”

Keith began to follow, but then ceased. “Wait, I can’t.” He pointed to the collar on his neck. “I need to get rid of this first.”

Allura’s eyes widened as she reached out to it. “What is it?”

“It’s a tracking collar,” Keith said with a growl. “The empress put it on me so she know where I was at all times.”

A cold fury entered Allura’s eyes. “Of all the..” She shook her head as she examined. “I don’t recognize the style, but perhaps we can get Pidge to-”

More footsteps were heard. Keith paled as he saw the clock. “Quiznack, it’s her.” He grabbed Allura and yanked her to the closet. “Allura, you got to stay hidden.”

“What?” Allura said as she was shoved inside. “Keith, what’s wrong?”

“It’s the empress,” Keith spoke, “just stay quiet and don’t come out.”

Within tics, Keith shut the door just as the empress entered. He quickly tucked his hands behind his back like he was a kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar. “Um...hi,” he greeted.

The empress tossed him a quizzed look. “I saw the door had been opened, but I see no one else is here.”

Keith’s fingers fidgeted and he tried his best to not glance to the closet. “A servant just dropped by to give me more towels.”

The empress looked to the door and sighed. “I need to speak to Hys about better training the staff. They should know better than to leave a door open.”

Keith relaxed at it as the empress picked up the cape on the floor. “You’re still not dressed.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. “I told you, I like my armour better.”

The empress chuckled and looked amused. For some reason, Keith didn’t feel that was a good thing. “Being naughty are you?” she voiced.

The empress approached him and before he could pull away she wrapped her fingers around his neck and fingered the collar. “Well, there is more than one way to get you dressed.”

She pulled her face closer. Panic filled Keith’s mind. Crud! Crud! Crud!

The closet door burst open. A whip shot out, wrapped around the empress’s wrist and pulled her to the ground. At the other end, Allura stepped out with her bayard in hand as she glared murderously at her.

“Don’t you touch him,” she said with her voice full of venom.

Keith stared in shock and then internally moaned. Why couldn’t she stay hidden?!

The empress scowled as she untangled her wrist. “How dare you? Who do you-”

Her words vanished as her eyes and Allura’s locked onto each other. Slowly the empress climbed to her feet and the two began to encircle each other like a pair of lionesses.

“When you said there was a me in your reality,” the empress said to Keith without removing her eyes off of Allura, “you never mentioned she came with you.” She looked over Allura in a thoughtful manner. “My goodness, I’m so young.”

“I am nothing like you,” Allura spat as she glared at her.

“Perhaps not now,” the empress said in a bitter tone, “but if your war with the Galra was anything like my was, you best brace yourself.”

Allura seemed to flinch at that, but her eyes narrowed as she moved closer to Keith. “Listen, I do not wish us to fight. I am only here to collect my friend and to return to our reality.”

Keith wanted to reach out to Allura, but the empress blocked her path. “You mean back to a war that will cost millions of lives?” She scoffed and pointed at her. “If you care anything about your friend you will leave him here with me where he’ll be safe.”

“Right,” Keith said with a growl, “because being a prisoner is so much better.”

The empress glanced back to him. “It’s better than being dead.”

“Perhaps to you it is,” Allura said as she held out her whip, “but that is not your choice to make.”

The empress crossed her arms as she shook her head at Allura. “You are as foolish just as I was once. Do you honestly believe I’ll let you take him because he’s your friend?”

“Keith is more than just my friend,” Allura said was she’s glanced to Keith. “He’s family. He’s...He’s…” Her eyes widened and she gave an over confident smile. “He’s my betrothed!”

Keith choked. What did she just say?! Over the empress’s shoulder he stared with his jaw dropped. Allura’s face was unreadable, but judging by her eyes she was saying “Just go with it!”

The empress looked equally surprised as she glanced back to Keith. “You..did not mention this to me.”

Keith swallowed as he tried to give a casual shrug. “Um..it was a sudden engagement.”

“Yes, it was,” Allura shot back as she marched over and took hold of Keith’s arm. “So, I have first claim to him.”

Keith twitched an eye. He knew logically Allura likely made up this lie to convince the empress to let him go, but it still made him feel like he was a doll being fought over.

“Well, I see,” the empress said as she approached Allura and touched her arm. “Let me congratulate you then.”

She seized Allura’s arm, yanked her away from Keith and swung her across the room. Allura grunted as she collided and knocked over the vanity table. The mirror shattered as it fell to the floor.

“Allura!” Keith tried to rush to her, but the empress shoved Keith onto the bed and beat him to her. The empress’s hands sparkled with magic. Keith’s eyes widened as he scrambled off the bed.

The empress can do magic too! Bad! Bad!

Allura rubbed her head, and managed to roll away just before the empress pounced on her. Seeing the shards of glass, Allura grabbed one and like a dagger scratched the empress’s cheek with it.

The empress cried out in pain as he pressed a hand to her cheek. Allura reached out to Keith. He reached out to her, but then felt something grab him from behind. Keith struggled as pink energy lifted him off the ground and to his horror the same thing was happening with Allura.

Only the pink energy was wrapped around her neck and almost choking him. The empress’s hands were both raised with pink energy erupting from them. Her cold eyes looked onto Allura as she approached.

“You surrender to me, right now,” she threatened, “and I’ll let you live.”

Allura glared back at her. “Never, I’ll never surrender.” She lowered her hands despite the strain that was on her neck. “Father would be so ashamed of you.”

The empress looked sick for a brief moment, before fury replaced it. “You don’t know understand anything!” Her right hand formed into a fist. Allura cried out as the magic tightened around her neck.

Keith had to think fast as he looked around him. Something. Anything. Then an idea struck him.

“You’re right, we don’t,” Keith said as he tried to lift up his bracer. “But I do know one thing.” The empress turned to him with the fury still in his eyes. “I can’t replace your husband. No matter how much you want me too.”

He brought up a holographic image of the wedding photo. The fury on the empress’s face vanished. She looked lost as she stared at it. “When did you-”

Her grip on Allura seemed to loosen and she coughed as she was able to breath again. Keith felt relief at that as he continued.

“I know he and I are connected, but I don’t have his history with you. I don’t have his memories of you.” Keith gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, but no matter how hard you try, I can’t become the man you lost.”

The empress’s face was unreadable. Her eyes locked onto the photo, and then looked back up to Keith. She lowered her gaze and dropped her hands to her sides. Keith and Allura both dropped to the floor, and without a second though they ran and clung to each other.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked as he checked her over.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Allura said as she hugged him tightly. “Just a bit winded.”

They looked back to the empress who still hadn’t spoken a word. She raised her hand and placed a finger over a bracelet. With a soft click she pressed a button on it and the collar on Keith’s neck instantly released. It fell to their feet and Keith gave a hard swallow.

What did this mean? Could they believe it?

The empress looked away and pointed to the doors. “Go. Go back to your reality.”

Allura’s eyes widened. “You’re letting us go?”

The empress didn’t look at her. “Yes, but you’ll have to fight my guards on your own. If I order them to let you pass they’ll question my authority. If you get caught again, I will not help you.”

“Understood,” Keith said as he went over to pick up his helmet and bayard. “Let’s go, Allura.”

The princess nodded and was about to go, but the empress grabbed her shoulder

“A word of advice to you,” the empress whispered. “If you truly do not wish to become me, do not let anything happen to him.” She pointed over to Keith. “Take care of him and you may not have to share my fate.”

Allura opened and shut her mouth as her eyes shone with a pity. “I will, thank you.”

The empress turned away from her. “Now go, before I change my mind.”

Allura didn’t halt and rushed up to Keith’s side. He took her hand, and together they ran out of the chamber. Keith didn’t look back to the empress, but he imagine she was struggling not to cry. Instead, he glanced to Allura and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

[phantoms-lair]

Voltron AUs part 2

 Here’s my second AU. This one is way more serious. It also contains some spoilers for Season 3, So I’m gonna put it under a cut.

This is based on a theory I had about ‘Shiro’ in Season 3 that was thankfully debunked in episode seven. Like everyone and their cousin, Peter and I didn’t believe Shiro was really Shiro (both of us think Shiro’s been Yui Ikari’d, though I’m beginning to think he’s in a different reality). But, as Black reacted to him, at the same time Peter and I had a terrible thought.

What if Shiro was Zarkon?

Like, the most important thing to the Galra Empire was to take down Voltron, So while Haggar’s tending to his wounds, they hatch this scheme to use her magic to make him look like Shiro down to the arm. Then she creates a copy of Shiro’s mind (using the same method as in the clone theory) and makes Zarkon’s mind and personalty dormant so ‘Shiro’ will be more realistic.  Then at the perfect time, she’ll break the Spell, and Emperor Zarkon will be in the perfect position to destroy the Paladins.

Seeing Zarkon in episode seven proved this wasn’t the case, but this AU goes with ‘But what if it was’. The infiltration was a success and at the crucial moment, Haggar releases the spell and Zarkon’s mind is free.

The only problem? It’s actually free. For the first time in ten thousand years his mind if free from the effects of the Ooze’s corrupted quintessence. And he’s aware of what he’s done. What’s he’s turned his people into, what he’s done to his closest friends.

Zarkon is horrified. 

And to make matters worse, the ones he’s meant to betray to their deaths are children. Of the Earthlings, only the one he replaced was fully grown and Kaity’s just barely into adolescence. This is wrong. Beyond wrong. Not to mention Shiro’s mind is still there, he still feels what Shiro felt towards them. And he makes his decision.

Emperor Zarkon is dead. He’s not worthy of the Black Lion, and now he understands why. But of Being Shiro is what they need, he’ll be Shiro. He’ll fight against the corrupted mass his empire has become and remove it’s cancer from the galaxy.

Meanwhile Haggar doesn’t know what went wrong. Why did her spell fail? Why is her Emperor still that pathetic Earthling? She needs to get him back and fix what went wrong.

To which Zarkon doesn’t have enough Nopes.  He avoids Haggar and the druids at all costs, something none of the other castle residents think twice about, since he’s been their prisoner twice.

There is one other person/entity aware of the deception. The combined consciousness of real Shiro/Black Lion. Though broken there are still scraps of the bond to Zarkon. He could sense him which was why he wasn’t allowed to pilot.But through the bond he could sense the genuine remorse and regret. Since he is doing his best to help, he’s giving him a chance, but if he reverts he’s going to be so much space dust. Until then, this is hilarious.

He’s going to get revealed at one point as not the real Shiro. Either eh’s forced to give himself away, or the guilt overcomes him. He doesn’t tell the whole truth of who he is, but that he was sent to infiltrate and turned sides.

 He tells them everything he knows about the Galra Empire's working (verbally if forced to give himself away and if overcome by guilt he write several reports to give to them) and how the Galra with the most power are puppets of the Quintessence Ooze. He doesn’t give his real name, but asks to be called Kuro instead. He also tells them Zarkon is dead or good as. “Haggar’s the one who exiled Lotor in the first place. She doesn’t like or trust him. She never would have recalled him if there was any chance of Zarkon recovering.” 

Absolutely no one trusts him, but the fact that he would willingly die if that was their decision helps (his only stipulation is the Earthlings not watch. he still has the face of one of their friends and they don’t need to see that.). One of the Blades tests that by going into an executioner's stance and attacking. It's a test, but one that draw blood, basically leaving a shallow cut on his throat rather than taking his head off. But Kuro didn’t run or even try to fight back. He would calmly face his death if that’s what was wanted.

He had the exact opposite reaction when Allura made a snide comment about ‘leaving him somewhere for Haggar to find’. It’s only lucky that the Paladins find him in the process of spacing himself, and he still has to spend time in the healing chamber for the damage done. But yeah, the mere thoguht of being reclaimed by the Galra is enough to send both Siro and Zarkon’s tactical minds into a panic

Hunk is the first to start trusting Kuro again, followed by Lance. Both because they didn’t have as strong a personal emotional bond as Pidge and Keith to Shiro and because they’ve both been controlled by the Bakku. They know what it’s like to not be in control of your actions and have far more sympathy towards him. If any of his intel helps find the Holts, that would be a good in route to Pidge.

Keith gets captured at some point and without him they can’t form Voltron to save him. Kuro thinks of a way to save him. Problem is, it’s a suicide mission. Keith would escape, but whoever went in would die. Kuro doesn’t mention this to anyone, just starts gearing up. The life of a paladin of Voltron vs ‘Evil Emperor Zarkon’ is no contest in his mind. And even if Keith hates him, he still cares for him. It’s as he leaves he’s feel a purring in the back of his mins that’s familiar to both Zarkon and Shiro and he almost cries. Black’s forgiven him, at least enough to let him pilot him to save Keith. (Which is what brings Keith and the Alteans to at least grudging respect)

I also want to do a bit where they get brought into the Lion’s mindscape and Kuro’s convinced the jig is up. They’ll see who he is in his mind, that he’s Zarkon. Only when he get there he’s still looking like Shiro. Black Liojn/Shiro greets them all and explains to his confusion “In here, you’re who you truly are. And no matter who you were, you’re Kuro now.” And maybe as an aside only Kuro can hear “You weren’t lying when you told the Emperor Zarkon was dead”

Also Kuro’s feelings on Allura are complicated. He remembers being her favorite Uncle and wants to spoil her rotten. But that has to contend with memories of killing her father and destroying her home, which leaves him wracked with guilt. If you combine that with Shiro possible having romantic feelings for her, that is a landmine of emotions that Kuro is terrified to touch.

Snippet bits:

"Even though I was controlled, I still did terrible things. If you must call me something, call me Kuro. In his language Shiro means white and it's fitting. He was the light of hope for the universe. I'm the opposite. A black mark on it. But I would rather die right this minute as Kuro then spend another second as who I was forced to be"

"Why is that witch obsessing over you?" Allura demanded. "She knows you've turned traitor by now. Why is she trying to recapture you instead of killing you?"

Kuro gulped. "It's difficult to talk about - I'm trying alright?!" he exclaimed at the looks Allura and Coran were giving him. He buried his face in his hands. "She is...she was.... She was my wife, okay?"

The silence around the table was deafening.

"In case you've forgotten, Alteans and Galra were allies. She was strong and smart and...kind. So very kind.  We...we even had a son." He hated that he could feel his human eyes tearing up. He wished he was strong enough to hide his feelings, but he couldn't help but think about when Lotor was born and how different he'd have grown up to be if everything hadn't gone so horribly wrong.

"And now, I don't know how real any of our relationship was. Looking back with clear eyes, she was being manipulated by the Ooze long before the planet exploded. She was one of the Altean alchemists working on it and well, the ones that survived are the druids if that tells you anything."

Allura let out a little gasp.

"I made many bad decisions before things went wrong, and I thought I was doing them for her sake. But I was a tool long before I was being controlled. And now I don't know is that's some small part that's still my wife trying to get her husband back, or if the witch doesn't want to loose her favorite tool. But either way, if she gets her hands on me, she'll use the tainted quintessence at her disposal to turn me back into a monster. One worse than any of her robeasts."

"Anyone sitting here?" Coran inquired

Kuro shook his head. "You know there isn't." Kuro was well aware he was the single least liked person in the castle. He was a spy and an infiltrator after all. One who had gotten there by impersonating someone they loved dearly. And they didn’t know the half of it. "I miss it though. The closeness"

"From before you were outed?"

"Then too, but I also have all of Shiro's memories of before that. And with the Holt's before even the Paladins. And on the other side of things, my team before the corruption happened. Three bands I was proud to call my brothers. Now one's dead, one's missing, and one hates me. All of which is my fault."

"They don't hate you. Well, Lance and Hunk don't hate you, and I think Pidge is coming around. Keith's a bit, well, Keith."

"And Allura hates anything connected to the Galra, and rightfully so."

"Not rightfully so." Coran shook his head. "The Galra did many terrible things, yes. But She was just as venomous at the ones who's who risked everything to save us. And how she treated Keith was beyond the pale." he sighed. "I wanted to say something, but didn't know how, not with what she's been through."

"What you've been through too." Kuro gently reminded him. "The Galra cost you so much. I cost you so much"

"You were controlled and manipulated," Corna reminded him.

"That shouldn't have mattered!" Kuro clenched his fists. "I should have been strong enough to resist it."

"I can't tell you how often Lance and Hunk think that about the Bakku. They've gotten past it, mostly. Still a few nightmares." More than a few honestly, especially on Hunk's part.

"In the end they still saved the day though. I destroyed everything."

"Someone helped them. No one helped you."

"Someone tried. And I killed him for it." Kuro said bitterly.

"Perhaps. But I think Alfor always knew it wasn't really you. He knew his best friend wouldn't start a war like that."

Kuro's head whipped up. "You know who I am?" he asked, fear in his voice.

"I know who you used to be." Coran corrected. "You told us yourself, didn't you. There was no way for Zarkon to still be alive."

Kuro...Zarkon flinched. "Are you going to tell Allura?"

"No, at least not until she can handle the reality that we were just as much to blame as the Galra."

"But-"

"It was an Altean Alchemist who convinced everyone to keep the rift open. It was the same Altean who manipulated the Emperor who loved her into ripping it wider. And it was the King of the Alteans who destroyed the Galran home world."

"Only because there was no other choice." Zarkon growled.

"Perhaps, but an interesting thing I realized. We never told the Earthlings, when we explained things in the beginning. If it was so forgivable why not mention it? Allura's put Altea up on a pedestal. And until she can accept our hands aren't completely clean," he sighed. "She still has some growing up to do."

"So what now?"

"Nothing changes, though would you mind indulging me in a curiosity."

"Certainly, I told you before, any knowledge I have is yours."

"Well this is a bit personal. 'Emperor Zarkon' would never have agreed to be permanently turned into another species. But if Haggar, or should I say Honneca-"

"Haggar, please." Zarkon pleaded. Foolish is might be, he wanted to keep the memory of his wife separate from what she became.

"Right, if Haggar could change you back, she would have long ago."

Zarkon grinned. It wasn’t friendly.  "We decided that I should have sole control of turning back, once I regained my memories. That way we wouldn't have to worry about her changing me at the wrong time. The control was a glyph of tainted quintessence." He rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, past the prosthetic to reveal faded purple markings."

"Huh, Thought a glyph would be more glowy."

"Oh it would be," Zarkon's grin was downright ferocious. "Remember how different the Galra crystal was from the standard Balmeran one? It takes significant time to corrupt them to the point they won't actually purify our systems. Last time we visted the Balmora, before I was outted, I asked for a small bit of Crystal. Just a sliver broken off from the battle, not enough to power more than a toy, but enough to disrupt a glyph."

Coran could see a small scar through the center of the glyph, now that it was brought up. "But that would mean-"

"I can never revert to my old form. I will be in this human body till the day I die."

“Does that make you human then?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I am. I don’t now who I am.” He leaned back.  Shiro’s mind isn’t gone from my own. And I know his thoughts and experiences influence me, but I have no clue to what degree. Am I truly a clone of Shiro with some Galra memories? Am I a traitorous Galra, trying to escape my own guilt by pretending I’m human? If I’m not Zarkon and I’m not Shiro, who am I?”