#team voltron slowly starts to come to an understanding

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Soul of a Lion (Chapter 4)

Sequel to The Smallest Blade.

Summary: After the Red Lion steals them away from the Marmora base and takes them through a wormhole, Shiro, Keith, Katla, and Lance find themselves in front of a majestic castle with nowhere to go but inside. The events that unfold while they’re there will change the fate of the universe.

Also posted on AO3 under the username “kishirokitsune”.

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4 | History Revealed

Allura was in good spirits as she made her way to the dining hall, where Coran was already seated and enjoying a heaping plate of food goo. She grimaced at the thought of eating more of it. Food goo was truly an acquired taste and she hoped Hunk was making plans to look into what was available on the planet.

Before she could shuffle off into the royal kitchen for her own plate, Hunk came bustling through the door with a broad grin on his face and a tray carefully balanced in each hand. One of the kitchen droids – a little one nicknamed 'Nikbot' for all of the times Hunk used it to transport picnic supplies – scooted along behind him, beeping in a happy tone as it carried a tray of drinks.

“I made breakfast!” Hunk announced, depositing one tray laden with all kinds of fruits and berries into the center of the table. “Or, well, I found breakfast.”

Nikbot beeped loudly and bumped into his legs.

“Nikbot and I found breakfast,” Hunk amended. “This planet has so much food! We'll be set for phoebs with all of the stuff we found, even with seven of us to feed.”

Allura cleared her throat and held out her hand, allowing her four new friends to scurry down from her shoulder onto the table. “Actually, there are eleven of us. Apparently they shared a pod with me for all of this time! You're looking at the last four genuine Altean mice!”

“Awww,” Hunk cooed.

Coran leaned forward in interest. “Well, hello!”

Allura happily introduced them, starting with the large yellow one (Platt), then the smallest blue one (Chulatt), followed by the skinny greenish-one (Plachu), and finally the pale pink one (Chuchule). She made no mention of her ability to communicate with them – Hunk certainly wouldn't approve of her spying methods, no matter that her intentions were to ensure their safety.

As the mice helped themselves to the array of fruits before them, Allura gladly accepted a steaming cup from Nikbot's tray and took a long, slow sip of the hot beverage. She hummed in pleasure and then surveyed the food, giggling as she witnessed Platt open his mouth wide and fit a whole berry into it. He turned to look at her, his cheeks bulging, and Allura giggled even harder.

“It's good to see you in such high spirits, princess,” Coran remarked as he accepted one of the cold beverages from Nikbot.

“It is going to be a good day, Coran,” Allura said in response. “I thought we could go over our itinerary while we eat. There's a great deal that needs to be done around here and planning is the best way to ensure the important details are accomplished.”

Hunk shifted a little. “I was going to take more food down to the others. I don't think they're fans of the food goo.”

Allura's smile was strained. “Then I shall be brief.” She gently set down her cup and took a deep breath, reminding herself that she needed to give them a chance to prove themselves and that getting angry over it wasn't good for her health. “Our automated systems have kept things in good working order for all of this time, but just in case, I sent out the repair bots last night to see if there's anything that needs our attention. We should have that report once we return to the bridge.

“As long as there isn't anything we need to immediately address, there are tasks that each of us need to complete. Coran, I would like you to check on the engine room. You have the most knowledge and experience in that area and I trust that you'll have it in working order in no time. Hunk, I see you've already begun your work in the kitchens. Once you're certain that the kitchen bots have everything under control, you'll be in charge of the care for our guests. Should Coran need your help in the engine room, he'll call for you.”

She went on to explain that she would be checking in on the crystal chamber, which housed the various power crystals that kept the Castle running. Using her Aspect of Spirit, she would be able to recharge any of the crystals that were running low on energy. It would take her some time to go over all of them, but she predicted to be finished by midday.

After lunch, she would take on the difficult task of speaking with their guests.

Or perhaps she'd only talk to one of them.

Yes, one at a time would be best.

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“They don't really think we'll be content to sit in our rooms all day, do they?” Katla complained as she laid on Shiro's bed and stared at the ceiling.

Next to her, Lance gave a half-hearted shrug. “Maybe it's a test?”

Katla snorted. “If it is, then it's a stupid one.” She sat up suddenly and looked at Shiro and Keith, who were going through a series of warm-up stretches in lieu of their usual morning routine. “If you give me a few doboshes to look over the sensors on our doors, I bet I could disable it without anyone catching on.”

“I think we can offer more patience than that,” Shiro spoke up. He stood up straight and raised his arms above his head as high as he could before relaxing and letting them fall back to his sides. “I don't like feeling stuck either, but we can't blame them for wanting to be cautious. Wouldn't you be, if the situation was reversed?”

“I guess...” Katla reluctantly grumbled and then flopped back down, jostling Lance.

Shiro was right, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear it.

She supposed she was meant to also feel grateful that they were given nice rooms instead of being put into prison cells where their freedom would truly be stripped away. And she was! But that didn't stop the anxiety from kicking in the longer they sat around.

“If we don't see Hunk during lunch then we'll do some exploring on our own,” Shiro said.

Keith looked at him in surprise. “What if we get caught?”

“Well, I've always been good at talking the two of you out of trouble,” Shiro joked with a fond smile.

His comment eased the tension in the room and even Lance cracked a smile – the first Katla had seen from him since their arrival at the castle. It was a smile that immediately fell when they heard a knock at the door.

None of them were surprised to find Hunk standing on the other side.

“I thought you guys might want to get out and see more of the castle,” he said casually.

Katla sat up in an instant, her ears fanned out in excitement. “Can we, Shiro?”

“I suspect I'll have a mutiny on my hands if I say no,” Shiro remarked. “Keith, Lance, what do you two say?”

Lance heaved a sigh but muttered an agreement, while Keith answered by approaching the bed and helping Katla to her feet, which earned him a smile and a kiss on the cheek.

“Everything alright?” she asked quietly.

Keith nodded and turned his head so no one else could see his lips moving as he whispered: “I'll tell you later.”

With everyone in agreement, Hunk began the tour by leading them back to the kitchen and then onto a new branch in the hallway, at the end of which was an elevator. They rode it up three floors and when the doors opened they found themselves in an odd room.

Katla peered around Keith for a better look at the massive console lining the opposite wall, her eyes wide as she took in the startling amount of buttons and switches and the various touch-screens that covered it. Above the module were wide windows that stretched all the way up to the ceiling, through which an even larger and very empty room could be seen. If Katla had to guess, the lower room took up nearly an entire floor on its own.

Shiro stepped forward, his mouth slightly ajar. “Hunk, this is... Are you sure we're allowed to be here?”

“I don't see the harm in it,” Hunk said with a shrug. He waved them in and then walked right up to the console, which lit with a soft glow as he drew closer. “This is the control room for our holo-deck, which you can see down there. You can use it make your own training exercise or use one of the pre-programmed ones, like the electrified invisible maze.”

“But if it's invisible, how do you keep from getting shocked?” Katla asked.

“Oh, well, it's meant to be a teamwork-building thing. One person is up here with a map and can give directions. If you do it well enough, there's no electrocution,” Hunk explained. “Here, let me show you how it works.”

Katla barely refrained from squealing as she pushed past Shiro and Keith so she could get an up close and personal look at how everything worked.

Hunk quickly proved himself a fantastically patient teacher and he answered all of the questions she had, as well as anything Shiro or Keith asked. He walked her through the steps to creating her own program, which turned out to be relatively easy – so easy that she probably could have figured it out half-asleep and with no prior knowledge of what any button did – and then pulled up a full list of every pre-programmed exercise they had. Everything was meticulously labeled and divided into different categories and each program had different levels of difficulty that were clearly noted.

While Shiro and Keith actively participated in the lesson, Lance hung back away from the group, not saying a word but still listening to everything that was being said.

“That's about it,” Hunk told her. “Want to try it out?”

“Yes!” Katla didn't know it was possible for her voice to go that high, but she was too excited to get her hands on Altean tech to really be embarrassed by that fact. (For something so ancient, it was the nicest piece of technology she had ever laid eyes on.)

“Something simple to start out with,” Shiro advised.

Katla barely took notice of what he was saying as she scrolled through the options, oohing and aahing over the possibilities. “Uh huh.”

“Katla, I'm serious.”

“Okay, okay. Something simple,” she promised with a sigh, resisting the urge to call him a killjoy.

Hunk said something about a track, didn't he? One they could put hurdles on for an extra challenge? Katla's fingers hovered over the selection, wondering if it wasn't too simple. The option of an obstacle course was so much more tempting...

Katla selected the track and, with the exception of Lance, they all crowded around the window to watch as the floor of the holo-deck began to warp, twisting parts of itself up into tall squares and rising slightly in the center of the room so there was a clear indentation where they were meant to run.

“So, how do we get down there?” Shiro asked Hunk.

The answer turned out to be pretty simple: there was a second door to the right of the elevator they rode up on and it opened to a moving staircase they could ride down to the holo-deck. Once there, Hunk showed them a secondary control panel.

“You won't be able to change to a different program from here, but you can change the difficulty or move things around. It also has voice recognition that you can use when one of the combat programs are active. It's a built-in safety feature,” Hunk explained.

“This is all so cool,” Katla breathed, looking around the room with a delighted spark in her amber eyes. She grinned and mischievously tapped Keith on the shoulder before sprinting away. “Catch me if you can!”

Keith's grin was a little more feral as he tore off after her.

Katla laughed as she vaulted over the first hurdle. “Shiro, Lance, come on!”

It took a moment for Shiro to talk Lance into running with them, but he eventually agreed and it wasn't long before the four of them were embroiled in a fierce game of tag while Hunk sat back and watched, a smile on his face.

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Shiro was a little wary as he entered the dining room where he was meeting Allura for lunch. After what happened the last time he tried to talk to her, he was understandably uncomfortable about being alone with her, even with Hunk's assurance that she wanted him there.

He hesitated in the doorway when he saw her already seated at the head of the table.

“Shirotak, thank you for joining me,” she said, giving him a strained smile. “Please sit. Our meal will be out shortly.”

Shiro didn't take his eyes off of her as he crossed the room to his seat. “Is it just the two of us, highness?”

“Yes. Coran has a few things he's looking over on the Bridge and will be taking his meal there. I believe Hunk is eating with your friends,” Allura said. “I thought this would be a good opportunity for the two of us to talk and... and I wanted to apologize for my behavior.”

It was the sincerity in her voice that put Shiro more at ease. “Thank you. I can't imagine that it was easy to wake and find yourself surrounded by strangers. Is there anything we can do to help you feel more comfortable?”

“I think getting to talk will help immensely,” Allura responded. “But first, we should eat.”

As if on cue, a pair of kitchen droids rolled into the room and served each of them a plate of food. Shiro was glad that there wasn't a single spoonful of food goo in sight. (But then again, Hunk had told them there was plenty of fresh food to be found on the planet, so was it really such a surprise?)

Shiro waited until Allura took her first bite and then dug into his.

Most of their meal was spent in silence, but Shiro didn't mind the time to think over all of the things he wanted to say to her, as well as to determine what he was allowed to say. Obviously, he'd have to reveal a few things. There was only so long they could keep the Blade of Marmora a secret before someone started to get suspicious, though he was pretty sure he could get away with only hinting towards a secret organization for the moment.

By the time they finished eating, Shiro had most of a plan. For the rest, he'd just have to wing it.

“I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to join me,” Allura said as the droids cleared away their empty plates. “The truth is, I don't know what to think about this whole situation. I know there's a reason why the Red Lion brought you here, but I don't understand why it's specifically the four of you. The original paladins all knew each other beforehand, so maybe that's part of the prerequisite? But that doesn't explain why there are only four of you and not five...” She trailed off, her gaze distant.

Shiro wondered how much of that she really meant to say. After a few ticks had passed and she didn't continue speaking, he said “I don't have an answer for that.”

Allura blinked and sat up a little straighter as she refocused on the conversation. “Then perhaps a question that you will be able to answer: do you know how the war began?”

“Growing up, I was taught that the Altean king declared war upon the Galra when he ordered the destruction of Daibazaal and that the retaliation of Zarkon and his forces was justified. I later learned that it was all a lie, but we don't know the full truth of things either,” Shiro paused, watching as Allura's expression softened from outright rage to simple indignation.

“My father was a general in Zarkon's army. My mother was convinced of the might and righteousness of the Empire, like many are, and she raised me to believe the same. It was something she believed in until they tried to take me from her.

“It's tradition for the firstborn to begin training at a young age. More than tradition, actually. It's an unspoken requirement that most follow without question. My mother hoped that because of my father's status as a general, as well as the fact that I was the only cub she was able to have, they would allow me to stay with her instead. The army disagreed. My mother ran and took me with her. She didn't get far.”

Shiro hadn't intended on divulging his past to her, but judging from the horrified expression on Allura's face, it was the right way to go. At least she was listening.

“That was the day my faith in the Empire was broken. From that moment on, I began to see them as they truly were and I did everything in my power to become too troublesome to keep around. I knew that one day I would be too old to stay in training and they would send me out whether they thought I was ready or not. When that day came, I would be able to sneak away and they would be too thankful that I was gone to go looking for me. But then came a day when I did something exceptionally... foolish.

“I saved the life of a commanding officer. I can't even say why I did it. In-fighting is common in the Empire and it's not unusual for them to be to the death, but when I saw someone try to sneak up behind her I just... moved. It's how I earned this,” Shiro tapped the bridge of his nose, where his scar cut across. “In return, Ranzaria saved me from my destructive spiral, and eventually, she introduced me to a group dedicated to ending Zarkon's reign of fear and subjugation. I've been with them ever since.”

“Shirotak, I... I'm so sorry,” Allura murmured.

“It was a long time ago, highness, and I would not be the person I am today had I not gone through those experiences,” Shiro said. “But back to your original question, no one knows how the war truly began. The Empire has done everything in their power to obscure the truth and anyone who did know died a long time ago. At least, until the three of you woke up.”

Allura bit her lip and lowered her gaze to the table. “We were allies, once. It... it is true that my father ordered the destruction of Daibazaal, but it was not intended to be an act of war, but of prevention. Sometime before I was born, a meteor struck the surface of Daibazaal and when it was extracted, it revealed a terrible rift that penetrated deep into the core of the planet. For a while, it merely seemed to be an anomaly and was carefully studied by a few hand-picked alchemists, but as time went on they began to realize that it was destabilizing the entire planet. Left unchecked, the rift would have eventually ripped Daibazaal apart and, after that, continued to spread to encompass the entire universe. Destroying Daibazaal was the only way to seal it and prevent such a catastrophe.”

Shiro frowned. “I feel like I'm missing something. Shouldn't it have been up to Zarkon to give that order?”

“Unfortunately, it was not our first attempt at closing the rift.”

Shiro quietly listened as Allura told the whole sad story about trying to use something called “Voltron” to seal the rift and how they had only succeeded in increasing it tenfold, as well as costing the lives of two people – Emperor Zarkon and his wife, Empress Honerva. In the midst of the chaos left from Zarkon's death, King Alfor did his best to maintain control and used his role as head of the Galactic Alliance to order the evacuation and destruction of Daibazaal.

“Had the situation been reversed, it would have been well within Zarkon's rights to do the same,” Allura said, though it pained her to admit it. “Of course, everything went wrong after that. Zarkon was somehow resurrected. My father thought it had something to do with the rift, though we never knew for certain. He declared war on Altea and the rest of our alliance, destroying each of us one-by-one.”

She clenched her hands and glared at the surface of the table. “I never imagined the war would go on for so long. I- I should have fought harder to use the Lions and fight back! If I'd only tried a little harder-!” Her voice broke as a single tear fell from her eyes. She furiously wiped it away and lifted her head. “No longer. This is our second chance and I will not let it go by. I want to know where you stand, Shirotak.”

“We stand against Zarkon and his forces,” Shiro answered, meeting her eyes. “We stand with you.”

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Coran knew that he promised Allura that he wouldn't pull an all-nighter to reconfigure the navigation system, but what harm would it do to check on one last little thing while the system sorted itself off. It wasn't like he'd be able to sleep until he knew why the holo-deck was using extra energy anyway. He'd just pop over to the control room for a quick look and then go to bed.

He looked around the Bridge one last time, checked the progress bar for the seventh time in as many doboshes, and then reluctantly left to begin his trek to his room.

The holo-deck was only a brief detour on his path and Coran swore that he wouldn't stay long. He entered the command room and had to take a moment to comprehend what he was seeing. It was more than just a little problem. The console was fully activated, as though someone was running a program at that very moment.

“Impossible!” Coran said, rushing forward. Allura had gone to bed vargas ago and Hunk wasn't known for skipping out on sleep, or for frequenting the holo-deck. He was about to begin methodically shutting everything down when he happened to glance through the window and into the room below.

Two of the Galra were there. One was the boy with unusual black hair and the other was the girl. They were playing around on one of the climbing courses, occasionally dropping to a cushioned mat below in order to start all over.

Coran found himself relaxing the longer he watched them play. It was as they dropped to the mat at the same time and began a game of chase across the floor, breathlessly giggling, that Coran realized it was an oddly familiar sight.

A long time ago, he'd been blessed enough to witness the beginning of a truly great romance. It was one full of laughter and life and only grew more beautiful once Alfor was able to catch his beloved princess. A love that was cut tragically short.

In the room below, the boy caught up to the girl and pulled her into his arms. His balance must have gotten knocked off because they went down in a tangled heap, huge smiles upon their faces.

Coran couldn't bring himself to interrupt. Eventually, he dragged himself away from the window and off to his room. His dreams that night were full of his memories of happier days when Alfor wasn't yet king and still trying to find the right way to woo the future queen.

[the-chaotic-neutral-pansexual]

Locked Up Sub!Shiro(Voltron)x GN!reader

CW: Smut, Dom/sub dynamics, chastity, praise, degradation, choking, punishment, implied prostate milking, anal sex/pegging mention, hand job, teasing, ownership, master kink, sadism mention, threats of future punishment.

Word count: 1.7k

A/N: This is my first request so it is a bit different from my usual work but I hope you are still able to enjoy it. My regular writing will resume this week.

This was written for a male reader but like most of my writing, there aren't really any gendered terms so it ended up being gender-neutral.

“You know what Shiro I’m at my wit’s end,” you say angrily “I’ve let your behavior slide for far too long without consequence.”

“Listen I’m sorry” he replies desperately. “It’s just with the team I’ve been so stressed and-”

“No” you cut him off calmly “I understand how you feel but that is not an excuse, you broke the rules” you continue. “Now you’re gonna use your words and tell me exactly what you did”

“I touched myself”

“And…”

“And I came without your permission’’

“You’re usually so good for me Shiro,” you say walking past him toward your bedroom “I’m sorry baby, but I have to punish you”

He follows you pleading “No please, I’m sorry I won’t do it again” his begging falls upon deaf ears as you reach into your toybox looking for the proper punishment. “ he continues trying to appeal to your softer nature “ come on master you know that I’m not bad, I just made a mistake. I was so needy and I just couldn’t help myself.”

Just as those words leave his mouth your hand moves from the flogger to the cage. If your good boy couldn’t help himself then it’s your responsibility to do it for him.

However, before you lock him up you decide to play with him a bit. “Aww you were needy for me Shiro?” you ask.

He doesn’t seem to notice your condescending tone as he answers “yes (Y/N), I missed you so much”

“It’s okay baby, I forgive you. Come sit” you sit on the bed, motioning for him to do the same.

He quickly moves to sit, he’s too busy falling into subspace to notice the cage you have sitting on the nightstand a mere few feet away.

As he sits down you begin groping his large, muscular frame, having your way with him as you whisper sweet nothings in his ear. You maneuver to sit behind him using one hand to grab his torso while sliding the other into his sweatpants.

“Strip for me baby,” you say, even though your tone was gentle you both knew that it was not a request but rather an order. Of course, he obliged, quickly getting up to remove his clothes before placing himself back in your embrace.

You take your hand spitting in it before slowly moving down his ripped body to wrap around his cock. He lets out a low groan closing his eyes and letting his head fall back onto your shoulder.

You use your other hand to push your fingers into his mouth, gathering some of his spit before moving to his chest to tease his nipples. Groans continue falling from his lips as you pleasure his body like he had been craving for so long.

“Does that feel good Shiro?” you ask lowly.

“Yes master, please” he whimpers out pathetically

“Please what baby”

“Please hngg- please faster”

Deciding to be nice you oblige speeding up your actions on his dick. He’s so wet by this point leaking precum all over your hand, the arousal sliding down his ass and dirtying the sheets.

With every second that passes he loses himself further until finally the only thought that remained on his mind was cumming. The only thing he desired was his release.

“Cum please master can I cum?” he begs, so blissed out that he could barely get the words out straight.

“Sure baby go ahead,” you say with a borderline sadistic smirk that was hidden from him.

“Hmmph thannnk you massterr” he slurs out the words before his mouth falls open in pleasure. Drool dripping down his chin in his fucked out state.

After a few more strokes of your hand, he releases. Squirting a big, thick, creamy load of opaque cum right in your hand. The volume couldn’t be contained in your palm thus making a mess all over his torso and your bed.

“Thank you” he repeats fully leaning back laying his body weight on you, exhausted from his orgasm.

While he’s still coming down from his high you reach over to your nightstand grabbing some tissues to clean him up.

After you deem him clean enough you reach over to the nightstand once again. Shiro lays on you eyes closed unsuspecting as you grab his soft cock beginning to position the cage.

He’s half asleep as he begins talking to you.

“I really am sorry for breaking your rules sir”

“It’s ok I forgive you,” you say while caressing his chest. You slowly begin to move your hand up.

“But just because I forgive you doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be punished” you whisper in his ear. Your hand wraps around his throat with one hand while the other finishes tightening the cage around him.

Once he fully feels the cold tight metal around his cock his eyes shoot open and he looks down. Sure enough, he was locked in a cage.

“Now let’s see if you can control yourself, Shiro”

Present-day

It’s been 2 months. 2 months of torture according to Shiro. 2 months of deserved punishment according to you.

While some may say this was too cruel you had to make sure that he wouldn’t disobey you again. The punishment was only supposed to last a few weeks but then 1 week in you caught Shiro trying to cum around his cage. Clearly, if you wanted him to behave then you needed to be cruel.

And so it went. He spent every day trying to occupy his mind so that way his neediness wouldn’t lead him to disobey you.

In the mornings he would distract himself by making breakfast and packing lunch

During the afternoon he would absolutely bury himself in work.

His evenings were spent training. Hopefully, if he wore himself out, he would be too tired to be horny he thought.

And at night he would make a nice dinner before going to bed early. At least if he was asleep then he could cum in his dreams.

After the incident at the beginning of his punishment, Shiro started to avoid you. Not necessarily because he wanted to but because you would tease him relentlessly.

You would tease him in the mornings by whispering filthy things in his ear with your raspy morning voice.

You would give him orders while making him use your title in the afternoon.

You would undress him with your eyes while he trained before stripping off your shirt and joining him in the evenings.

You would follow him into the kitchen groping him from behind while he cooked dinner at night.

He may have been able to handle being caged if it wasn’t for you. It was almost as if you were trying to make him disobey you… again.

However, he stayed strong. After his first slip up he was finally able to control himself for the remaining time of the punishment.

And finally, after a grueling 2 months, it was over.

One night while Shiro was getting ready for bed you slowly make your way into the room closing the door behind you which alerts him to your presence.

“Hey Shiro,” you say in a flirty tone that usually occupied your voice when speaking to him.

“Hey” he replies with a heavy sigh mentally preparing himself for more of your teasing.

You make your way behind him and begin teasing all over his body until he stops you abruptly with a somewhat irritated look on his face.

“What’s wrong,” you ask with a teasing smirk adorning your features.

“Listen (Y/N) it’s been a long day can we please do this tomorrow?” he asks sounding genuinely exhausted.

“Aww baby, you had a bad day?” you ask sounding still teasing but a bit more sincere than usual.

“Yes it was hard and long and I would just like to forget about it” he states sounding defeated.

“I may have something that can help you” you resume your testing “but it will also be hard and long,” you say surprisingly able to keep a straight face at your admittedly juvenile joke.

You reach down to grab his caged cock as you grind against his ass.

“Master please don’t tease me right now i-”

“What makes you think I’m gonna tease you?” you ask cutting him off.

“That’s all you’ve done for the past two months” he whines

“Two months has it really been that long,” you ask despite already knowing the answer.

“Yes it’s been so long master” he begins to grind back against you “I don’t know how much more I can take”

“You’re right Shiro Two months is a pretty long time, you must be so pent up” you continue teasing slowly moving to rid him of his shirt.

“Yes master” he lifts his arms “I’m so full”

“Tell me, Shiro, have you learned your lesson?”

“Yes I have learned my lesson master, I will never disobey you again I promise” he all but yells out desperately “please just help me” he begs.

“You better have learned your lesson, if not then next time it will be worse” you threaten “if you disobey my rules again then I’ll have to lock up you’re useless cock indefinitely”

“Yes master I understand please just let me cum, milk me dry” he cries “Haven’t I been so good for you?”

“Yes, baby I suppose you have,” you say before moving from behind him. He whines thinking you left him high and dry again however all of his worries are pacified as he hears the telltale jingle of keys.

“My poor baby, it must hurt to be so full for so long,” you say with false sympathy lacing your tone “don’t worry tonight I’ll give you what you need” you slide his pants down beginning to free his cock from its confines. “I’m gonna milk you dry, abusing your prostate with my cock until you have nothing left to give” you state “unless you’re still too tired?”

“NO, I’M FINE” “not tired at all master I promise”

“Good because we have a long night ahead of us,” you say. Shiro was so caught up in the anticipation of being able to cum that he missed the sadistic undertones in your statement. This was going to be fun.

[actress4him]

Bonus Whumptober Content Part 2

Original Whumptober fic here

Bonus Content Part 1 here

Find it all on AO3 here

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Thanks for all of the support on the last chapter! I appreciate each and every one of the likes and reblogs and follows I’ve gotten.

Tagging @outtacommission again because Keith would not have been resurrected from the dead without his bribery.

Here is chapter 3 of this fic... see you next week for the conclusion!

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Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Warnings: referenced amputation, blood mention, referenced broken bones, self-esteem issues, suicide ideation, death mention, nightmares, abandonment issues

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When he woke again, he was lying back down on the pillow, staring up at the blank white ceiling. For one, blissful moment, he didn’t remember the events leading up to him passing out again. But it all came crashing down on him an instant later, taking his breath away.

My leg.

My leg, my leg.

My arm, my face, my leg.

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice was quiet, tentative. Not like him. “Are you awake?”

He wanted to roll over on his side and ignore him. Close his eyes, maybe go back to sleep, pretend that the world and this nightmare didn’t exist for a little while longer. The only reason he refrained was because he wasn’t sure if his stupid, wrecked body could actually manage it.

“What did you do to me?” It was only a whisper, and as slurred as it was, he wouldn’t have been surprised if it was impossible to understand.

Shiro’s breath hitched audibly. If Keith had been looking at his face, he was sure he wouldn’t like the anguished expression that he would see there. But at that moment, he didn’t have the capacity to care.

“Do you want me to...explain...how it...happened?”

No. Yes. He didn’t know. He needed to know why him losing a leg had been the best option, but at the same time he wasn’t sure if he could handle hearing about it. In the end, he just lifted one shoulder - the one that actually listened and responded right away - in a shrug. 

Shiro shifted in his seat, leaning forward so just the tip of his white bangs were in Keith’s periphery. “I already told you that you...died. On that planet. So when we got back to the Castle, you dying again was a distinct possibility. We...it’s like Fallenta said. We had to get you into a pod, even though your...your left arm was broken, and your knees, especially, were a mess from where the console landed on them.”

He paused, rubbing his palms together. “We didn’t know what would happen. I was scared to death that some of those breaks wouldn’t be able to be fixed after the pod. I mean, we were headed to Tellima, but…” His head dropped. “We had no choice. That hole in your stomach...you were dying.”

Keith could almost imagine it - the frantic atmosphere in the infirmary, the blood everywhere, the desperate conversations escalating into shouts as they debated on what to do. He had no doubt that he really had been dying, that they had made the choice they thought was best. He just wasn’t sure if he agreed with that choice. 

“When you came out of the pod, once the stomach wound was healed enough for you to be stable, Fallenta started working on re-breaking the bones so that they could be set correctly. It was...awful.” The shudder was obvious in his voice. “I’m glad she was able to do it, of course, but I’m also glad that you were unconscious the whole time. Your arm was relatively easy. Your left knee...it took her hours. It was in so many tiny little pieces. And your right…”

Automatically Keith flinched at the reminder of what was no longer there. Of the scarred, chopped off stump that lay just underneath the blanket, and the way his leg just...ended. He could see the void where the rest of it should have been even now, if he were to look down. He was purposely avoiding it.

Shiro heaved a huge sigh. “Unfortunately, your right knee was shattered in a way that had been blocking the circulation in your lower leg the whole time. The tissue down there was...dead.” He paused again. “Keith, I’ve...trust me, I’ve gone ‘round and ‘round in my head ever since we...trying to figure out if there was something I could have done differently. And...I don’t think there was. We did what we had to do to save your life. I’m just...I’m sorry that we couldn’t save your leg, too.”

His leg was gone. 

Would he ever be able to walk again? Could they find a prosthetic for him like Shiro had, that worked as well as the real thing? Even if they did, how long would it take him to get used to walking on it? Just walking, not even counting anything like running, jumping, fighting. 

Fighting was what he did. It was the one and only thing besides flying that he was good at. He was crap with a gun, he couldn’t sit up in a sniper’s nest like Lance. He needed to be able to move. If he couldn’t, even just for the time that it took to learn how with a new leg and an arm that only half worked...

They’d replace him. What good was a paladin who was crippled? Who couldn’t pull his weight? As soon as Red woke up and found out what happened to him she would realize that he was useless now. And the Princess, the rest of the team...they already knew it. They were probably already looking for a new Red Paladin. How long would it be until they dropped him off on Earth, or on some Coalition planet? Probably as soon as he was healed enough. They didn’t have time to keep taking care of an invalid, they had a universe to save.

They did. Not him. Not anymore.

“Should’ve left me there.”

There was dead silence for a moment.

“What?”

Keith tipped his head back further into the pillow, eyes roving over the featureless ceiling as if he’d see something new. “I tol’ you not to come. I tol’ you to leave me there. You didn’t listen.”

“And now you’re alive.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Keith…”

His hands fisted in the blanket, jaw clenched in sudden fury. “Don’t ‘Keith’ me. Why, Shiro? Why am I alive? What is the point? You know what all this means.”

It meant he’d be alone. And he couldn’t...he couldn’t do alone. Not again. Not when he found a group of people that he actually cared about for the first time in so long. Not when he was just finally getting used to always having people around, always having someone to talk to or distract him from the thoughts that tried to consume him. Not when he barely survived it the first time. 

He’d rather be dead than alone.

Shiro sucked in a deep breath through his nose. “That life is gonna be hard for a while? That you’re gonna have to work harder than ever to get back to where you were? Yeah, Keith, I do know. I know more than anyone else.”

Oh.

Shiro must think he was so incredibly self-centered.

He was self-centered.

He should have thought about how acting like losing a leg was worse than dying would seem to the man who had lost an arm and kept going. But instead he was all caught up in how he was going to lose everything he had grown to love and rely on. Acting like the self-absorbed brat that everyone at the Garrison except Shiro had accused him of being.

“That means I also know how hard it is to accept,” Shiro was saying. “It’s going to take time to adjust. But you will, I promise, and I’ll be here to help you every step of the way.”

Yeah, right. Keith didn’t know if he was lying to make him feel better, or if he just hadn’t yet realized or accepted that Allura and the rest of the team wouldn’t want to keep him around.

“Just...please, Keith. Please don’t say that we should have let you die. You don’t know…” His voice caught. “I’ve spent these last weeks hoping, praying that you would live. Scared out of my mind every moment of every day that you wouldn’t.”

Keith finally forced himself to turn his head toward his brother and saw him brush the back of his wrist across his eyes. Just that movement was enough to make his heart drop to his stomach. Shiro didn’t cry. At least not where anyone could see him. 

Slowly, he slid his hand out across the bed, palm up. A peace offering. It took only a moment for Shiro to take it, squeezing it so hard he thought a few more bones might break.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. And he was. Not for thinking it, but for saying it. He didn’t want to cause any more pain for any of his friends. 

That’s why when it was time for him to go, he’d do it quietly. No fuss. Don’t let them see your fear or your pain - he had learned that long, long ago. He was good at it. 

Shiro gave him a shaky smile. “It’ll be alright, Keith. I promise.”

Swallowing down the words that sprang to his tongue, he gave a nod. “Okay.”

.

.

The next morning Keith woke up to an empty room. In a way, it was a relief. They obviously didn’t see the need to watch over him and baby him twenty-four-seven anymore. But he was, for all intents and purposes, stuck. With no leg, he couldn’t just get up and leave the room whenever he wanted, head to the training room like he normally would in the morning. There’d be no training for him for a long time. 

Of course there was breakfast to think about, too, and he wasn’t sure whether to expect someone to bring it to him, or to bring him to it. Either way, he hated it. He had always hated being treated like he was helpless, and now it was even worse because he actually was helpless. 

He went ahead and made up his mind, though. No matter what their plan was, he had no desire to be carried through the Castle to the dining room where everyone would give him those looks of pity. Poor Keith. Can’t even walk by himself. It’s just too bad he can’t stay.

He was in the midst of pushing himself up off the pillows, trying to get his right side to cooperate long enough to get in an upright position he could balance in and trying to ignore the strange lightness of his leg, when the door opened and Pidge slipped in.

“Hey,” she said softly. Padding over, she perched carefully on the edge of the chair that first Hunk, then Shiro had occupied. 

Tucking his left leg up close to him - the knee creaking in protest at being used for the first time since healing - Keith cleared his throat. “Hi.” 

Silence fell, but it had never been awkward between the two. The introverted arms of Voltron. Pidge just gazed at him for a long moment, her eyes saying all the things he knew she would never actually be able to say with words. “It’s good to see you awake. I was really worried about you.” 

On the outside, she merely shoved her glasses back up into the bridge of her nose and sniffed. “You better not quiznakin’ ever do that again.”

Keith’s lips turned up at the corners for the first time since waking the day before. “Alright.” 

Besides Shiro, he thought he would miss Pidge the most of all. They got each other more than anyone else.

“So.” Straightening up, she whipped a tablet out of her hoodie pocket. “We’ve been working on a leg for you. The Tellimites have crazy good medical technology, so obviously we’re using their notes, but I’ve also been talking back and forth with the Olkari, because they’re, of course, crazy good with biological connections, and we’ve come up with a design that should communicate really well with your body and, essentially, work like the real thing.”

She launched into a detailed scientific explanation of how every inch of it worked, tapping and flicking through various diagrams that just looked like a plain prosthetic leg to him. He didn’t understand but a few words here and there, but he let her talk. This was one of her passions, and it was nice to let her be able to ramble about it for once without having to worry about being rushed. The way her face lit up was worth every second.

“So...what do you think?” Suddenly she sounded uncertain as she blinked up at him. “We definitely want your input on it. I mean, I suggested putting in a rocket booster, but Hunk pointed out that it would be difficult to control with only one. Lance wanted to add lasers that shot out anytime you stomped your foot, but that seemed pretty dangerous for like, running and stuff, so…”

It almost sounded like they expected him to still be fighting with this thing. Well, maybe he would. Eventually. After all, he wouldn’t feel right about just ignoring the existence of the war when the people he cared about were still out there fighting it, so he’d do his best to get back into shape. Maybe he could convince them to find a Coalition planet for him that had soldiers he could fight with someday.

It wouldn’t be the same as fighting with this team, his...his friends. But at least he wouldn’t be completely useless.

He met Pidge’s eyes and realized she was still waiting on an answer from him. Part of him wanted to keep his words to a minimum, not wanting her to hear his new speech impediment, but he swallowed his pride. “It, uh...whatever you guys come up with I’m sure will be great.” He actually hadn’t even been sure whether to expect them to work on it themselves, or put it off on the Tellimites or some other able species. It made sense, though, that Pidge and Hunk would want to jump on this opportunity to design something they had never gotten to do before. He forced a small smile. “But...yeah, let’s hold off on weaponizing it.”

Smirking, Pidge turned off the tablet and stuck it back in her pocket. “Alright, if you insist. Lance is gonna be super disappointed, though.”

“I’m sure.” He could hear the whining and complaining about how boring and unimaginative he was now. 

“So, I was supposed to ask you about breakfast…?”

Keith stared down at his hands. “Oh. Yeah. I don’...think I’m really ready to...try to move around yet, so…”

He was such a bad liar. But Pidge either didn’t notice or was being nice and pretending not to, merely nodding and standing. 

“Okay. I’ll tell Shiro, he’ll probably bring you a plate down here.”

“Thanks, Pidge.”

She turned back from the doorway and smiled softly at him. “No problem.”

.

.

The nightmares came that night.

And the next. And the next.

Snippets of things he didn’t remember during the day, and wouldn’t remember again when he woke. Alarms blaring. Lights flashing. A horrifying crunching sound, then crippling pain and a bitter taste in the back of his throat.

And then...nothing. No one came. No one heard him calling. He stayed there, alone and bleeding in the dark, until the pain became too much and he slipped away.

He woke with tears streaming down his cheeks and a scream on his lips that didn’t quite make it out into the still air of the infirmary, not knowing what he was even crying about other than the nauseating loneliness that weighed him down, pinning him to the bed. 

Forcing his right hand to be the one to clumsily scrub away the tears - because it was going to work, dang it - he gritted his teeth and pushed against the weight to flop over onto his side. 

Get over it. Get over it, get used to it, stop being such a baby. You’ve always known that this wouldn’t last. It’s a miracle they’ve stuck around for as long as they have. If you try to hang onto them they’ll just end up hating you before they leave. 

.

.

He got away with hiding in the infirmary for two days before Fallenta declared him well enough to be up and about, and Shiro and Allura showed up with the Altean version of crutches. They escorted him slowly down the halls of the Castle to the dining room, chatting amiably the whole way. Keith assumed it was meant to either distract him from his plight, or to keep themselves from staring and pitying.

“Hey, look who finally decided to join us!” Lance announced loudly as soon as he hobbled into the room. “It’s about time you were out of bed, Mullet-head.”

“What Lance means,” Hunk sighed, “is that it’s good to see you up, Keith.”

“That it is, Number Four!” Coran rushed to pull out his usual seat, and his smile was so bright Keith couldn’t even be mad about the special treatment. “You had us all worried for a while there, for sure!”

Swallowing, Keith fiddled with his spork, unsure whether he was supposed to respond. “Um...yeah. Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Keith.” Shiro smiled at him softly, knowingly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He just barely kept another ‘sorry’ from escaping. Instead he nodded, picked up his spork with his left hand, and changed the subject. “So, uh...wha’s been going on lately?”

That was all it took for everyone to launch into tales of short missions in the Lions, repairs on Red, and alliances with Tellima. Keith barely remembered to keep eating his goo as he watched all of the animated faces and gesturing hands with a small smile on his face. It was good to be back among his teammates. They were so unlike him in so many ways, it was no wonder that he had never really fit in with them. But he cared about them anyway. They might not feel the same way about him, but he was so glad that they had become a part of his life. 

And now they wouldn’t be anymore. Scowling down into his bowl where no one would notice, he poked at the green goo. How did I let myself get so attached? Before Shiro, it had been many, many years since he had let himself care about anyone this much. He should have known better by then. Letting himself come to consider any person or place home was just setting himself up for heartbreak.

As much as he loved spending this last bit of time with them, he almost wished they would stop acting so natural, as if they weren’t getting ready to kick him out any day now. No one mentioned a search for a new paladin. No one said whether they were headed to Earth, or some other planet. 

He wasn’t going to be able to stand the suspense for many more days. They needed to just get it over with.

.

Later that night, after waking from another nightmare back in his own room, Keith stared at the bare walls, so lifeless compared to the other paladin’s rooms. Maybe I was always prepared for this moment, after all. Or maybe he had just been kicked out and left behind so many times that the ability to settle in was impossible for him no matter where he went. 

Struggling to sit up, he groped for the crutches and pulled himself to his feet. He wasn’t going to get back to sleep anytime soon, and no one had expressly forbidden him from venturing out on his own - not that it would have stopped him even if they had.

It took far too long to make it down the four hallways between his room and Red’s hangar. Walking with crutches used a whole new set of muscles that he wasn’t used to accessing, and trying to force his right side to carry that much weight was exhausting. He had to stop and lean against the wall, panting for breath, several times along the way. 

But he made it, eventually. He paused once more outside the door, debating whether or not he was actually ready to see the damage done to Red, before he sucked it up and punched the scanner.

He wasn’t ready. 

The great mechanical beast was lying on her side, a position that somehow managed to make her look vulnerable despite her hulking size. Her legs were splayed awkwardly as if she had just been dropped there. She probably had.

The worst part, though, was that her face was nearly unrecognizable. What had once been her muzzle was completely smashed in, there were spiderweb cracks across one of her dull grey eyes, and the other was missing altogether. 

Actually, he took that back. The worst part was the cold and the silence. 

No purr in his head to greet him. No eyes lighting up in recognition of her Paladin. No warmth filling up his chest and spreading out to his fingers and toes. With Red, there was always some kind of heat. Now, though, a shiver shook his body.

Clenching his jaw, Keith forced himself a few steps closer, until he could reach out, balancing precariously, and lay a hand against her warped, dented nose. It was cold, too. 

Suddenly tears sprang to his eyes for the first time since his panic attack a couple of days before. “‘m sorry, Red.” He stroked his hand over the metal, feeling all of the bumps that shouldn’t have been there. “I’m sorry this happened to you. You didn’t deserve it. You...you’ve always protected me, and…”

Tipping his head back, he took in the mess of a cockpit again, and this time he saw flashes of his nightmare. Something sharp pinning him to the chair. Blood dripping onto the floor.

One tear escaped, sliding rapidly down to his chin. “I don’t even know how I survived this. But if either of us deserved to survive, it’s you. Please, Red...if you can hear me at all...please don’t give up. I know I...I can’t fly you anymore, but…”

It hit him then, the brutal truth of that statement. He’d never fly her again. He might never fly anything again. He’d known it ever since finding out what had happened to him, but now it stabbed him through the heart, how much he was going to miss this semi-sentient alien ship. 

Before he knew it, he was falling none-too-gracefully to the floor, one hand planted in front of him while the other remained on her snout, crutches clattering loudly to the side. The tears came in earnest, then. “Red...Red I lost my leg. I...I can’t fight anymore, I can’t fly…I’m useless.”

He’d told her that before. That time, though, she had reassured him that no, he was her Paladin, he was a defender of the universe, not useless. Never useless.

But now there was no one to reassure him. Even if she had been able, Red would know the truth. He wasn’t her Paladin anymore, he wasn’t a defender of the universe. He was useless.

Next

[corvus--rex]

Another one that's not truly abandoned, working title Code Violet. Post s.8 Omegaverse, Klance slowburn. Omega Lance has been put on medical leave by the Garrison after the war because of his PTSD, which really just translates to secondary sexism as he's the only Omega among the Paladins. But then Keith goes missing on a Blades mission and Shiro calls the team back together.

~*~*~

He could deal with torture. At least, that’s what Keith told himself, having never been through it personally. But he did know how to deal with pain. A result of too many fights and questionable decisions in his life. But the sensation that overwhelmed his senses wasn’t pain. Or maybe it was. He didn’t know precisely. All he knew at that moment was that he could actively feel every last one of his nerves. He could feel the normal everyday functioning of his body mixed with a racing heartbeat and hyperventilating lungs. And yet he felt oddly detached from it. It felt as though his Alpha was protecting his mind like a mother wolf with her threatened pup. It was a very strange sensation. It felt like it went on forever. He felt something in his body shift. Something new and wholly unfamiliar. And then the pain actually hit. It crept in slowly, radiating from his core until the blooming white-hot flames licked their way through all of his nerve endings. He might have screamed, but he could never be sure. And when the searing pain left, it didn’t go quickly. It smoldered like the embers of a bonfire, burning low in that deceptive way that made it unclear as to whether or not the charred remains were still alight. But Keith could feel it, the low, steady flame that curled its way through his fingertips and all the way to his toes. Neither mind nor body relaxed until the cool touch of unconsciousness wrapped him in its embrace. He was blissfully unaware of being lifted, carried, and finally left in a dark cell while his captors waited for him to wake.

~~*~~ 5 Movements (7 Weeks) Later ~~*~~

Lance was startled awake by his comm screaming for his attention on his nightstand. No one he knew would call at half past five in the morning. All the official evaluations he’d undergone concluded that yes, he had PTSD just like the rest of Team Voltron and everyone else who’d fought in the war, but that with his weekly therapy sessions, he was handling it well enough for active duty. He had the unpleasant suspicion that it had something to do with him being the only Omega on Team Voltron. It didn’t seem to matter, however, as he was kept on medical leave.

When he was woken at the barest hint of dawn’s asscrack, squinting at his comm’s screen, he was shocked to see Shiro on the other end of the call. He fumbled for the button, accidentally dropping the device on himself. He figured he must have hit it somewhere in his sleep and adrenalin-fueled struggle when Shiro’s sleep-deprived face popped up in the holographic projection.

“Shiro? What? What is it? What’s going on?” Lance asked, voice low and rough, his mind not yet fully engaged.

“How soon can you get to the Garrison?” Shiro answered, sounding more awake than he looked.

“Um, probably about an hour. Why? What’s happening?”

The face of the Atlas’ captain darkened. “Keith’s gone missing. He was supposed to check in one movement ago, no one’s heard from him and they can’t trace his comm. It’s the second one he’s missed. Acxa and Kolivan are here requesting a team from the Coalition.”

Lance was awake. He knew Keith was away on another mission, he’d heard it directly from the man himself. He knew Keith would be out of reach for a while. He knew he wouldn’t know if Keith was ok until the mission was over. But he also knew that Keith was expected to keep to the check-in schedule, sending a scrambled message to a secure communications outpost that would then be sent on to Acxa, who was leading the Blades for the duration of the mission. It was almost overly complicated, but the mission was one that required careful stealth. It was the only thing Keith had been allowed to say about it before disappearing for what was supposed to be an extended 3 phoeb mission.

Acxa made sure to keep Team Voltron informed when it came to the check-in schedule, letting them know that Keith was ok. He had made the first three check-ins, even if the team was kept in the dark as to the messages’ contents. Acxa knew that there was a possibility that he could miss a check-in, but as long as his comm was active and could still be traced, she would know that the mission was still going. If he missed more than one check-in, it would raise alarms. Shiro said that he’d missed one a movement ago, which meant that he should have checked in again and hadn’t. If Shiro was calling to say that Keith had missed the check-in, and not that the mission was confirmed to have gone wrong, well, Lance didn’t quite know what it meant, but it wasn’t going to stop him from finding out.

“I’ll be right there,” he said, fully awake and already half-dressed.

Shiro nodded and cut the call.

Forty-five minutes later, Lance was walking into the conference room. He was surprised to see that he was the first one there save for Shiro. Lance was the only one of the team who wasn’t either assigned to the Atlas or stationed at the Garrison. Given his leave status, he’d decided to stay home with his family. The Garrison knew where to find him if they wanted to.

Taking a seat in the middle of the table, Lance leaned forward, resting his arms on the metal surface. “Who else is coming to this?” he asked.

“Adam, Pidge, and Hunk, Acxa is bringing Kolivan, and against my wishes, the MFEs will be here as well. They don’t have the security clearance our team has. They were involved on the front lines, but they’re not us. And they know even less about the Blades. But Iverson ordered it, so they’re coming.”

“Kinda surprised I still have the clearance,” he muttered, even though he knew Shiro would hear him anyway.

“And you know that if I had any real say, you’d be on the Atlas with us. You’re an outstanding pilot, the best at small team tactics I’ve ever seen, and I know no one can iron sight a target like you can. We wouldn’t have made it through several of our missions with Voltron if it hadn’t been for you. I don’t know if you realize it, but we never would have won the war without you.”

Lance looked up at that. Shiro was watching him, the Alpha’s expression one of pride and affection. “How’s that? We did it as a team. I wasn’t any more or less important than anyone else.”

Shiro shook his head. “Not at the end. You’re right about that. It was a team effort. I meant before that. Back when we rescued Slav. We only had one chance at getting him out, and we almost didn’t. If you hadn’t made that shot, we never would have succeeded that day, and – as much as I hate to admit it – Slav’s input and genius went a very long way in helping us win. Without you, none of it would have happened.”

Shock and realization flashed across the Omega’s face. “I – I never thought about it like that. I just did what I had to. We needed him, and I just did it. I never put it together like that.” He stumbled through his words, understanding the weight of what he’d done hitting him. He started at Shiro’s hand on his shoulder.

“I hadn’t either until recently. But that wasn’t a conversation to be had over a call. And I want you to know from me that I have been fighting Administration over your forced medical leave. It isn’t Iverson who’s sidelining you, it’s the heads of the Medical Division. They’re the only ones who can overrule him. Your evaluations confirm what we already know – that you're fit for active duty. The shrinks know it, we know it, even Iverson knows it. I don’t know why the med admins won’t clear you, but I have an idea, and their thought process is wrong. Being an Omega has nothing to do with your capability as a Garrison officer. We will get this sorted out.”

Lance stood up in a rush, nearly knocking the chair over, and crushed his pack Alpha in a tight hug. “Thanks, Shiro,” he mumbled into the Alpha’s shoulder.

“Anytime. I mean it. You’re more than just your service record. You are still, and always will be, part of the pack. Part of our pack. You do know that, right?”

Lance huffed a laugh into Shiro’s shoulder. “That’s about the only part I haven’t questioned. I – I miss him, Shiro. I just want to get him back safe.”

Shiro pulled back, holding onto Lance’s shoulders. “We will. We’re not giving up, not even if I have to go after him myself.”

The door gave a soft hiss as it slid open and closed. Lance and Shiro snapped to see who was there.

“We interrupt something?” Pidge asked, Hunk standing beside her.

“Lance! You made it! Oh, man, I am so happy to see you!” Hunk practically yelled, rushing in to wrap his old friend in a crushing hug.

“Yeah, I made it. I'm happy to see you too, Hunk,” Lance said far more softly and returning the enthusiastic hug.

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[chibi-pix]

Hey guys!  I felt it was a good idea. I want to share photos and a bit about the cats I have. Some are at home (Mama’s place), some at my Grandpa’s place.  So, how about it?  Time to introduce the cats!

Name: Soot Age: assumed 6 or 7 years (adopted three or four years ago) Location: Home Skills: Pissing people and cats off while being adorable. Occupation: professional asshole Likes: Yogurt, Pop Tarts, hiding under my dresses, chasing the ladies, and horror video games. Dislikes: Kisses, vacuum cleaners, my singing Extra: Soot has no understanding of my personal space. Under my skirt, across my chest, trying to get into my yogurt, you name it. He loves snacks, especially smoothies made with milk, yogurt, and frozen strawberries. He does not show signs of lactose intolerance. When we adopted him, he was so scrawny. Now he’s a chonk. He may be a smidgen overweight, but he’s happy. 

Name: Christmas Age: maybe 17? (Adopted three or four years ago) Location: Home Skills: healing purrs Occupation: Polite old lady Likes: Snuggles, giving her own cat scans, making my leg go numb Dislikes: someone trying to clean her butt, someone getting the mats out of her fur, me not paying attention to her Extra: She’s an older lady. She’s a bit sore with her age and maybe weight; she struggles to move, but she always comes to sit on my lap or shoulder for love. Her purrs are comforting and helps with my headaches. With her age, she doesn’t groom herself like she used to, so she gets mats. Mama and I have to team up to get them out.

Name: Bandit Age: possibly 17? (She’s Christmas’ sister and adopted with her) Location: Home Skills: telling time without a clock Occupation: Judging others

Likes: treats, catnip, the laser pointer, calling for the manager Dislikes: being picked up, being pet too much, me being one minute late giving her her treats Extra: She’s always silently judging others. Me singing? Judgment. Another cat licking a bag? Judgment. The videos I watch? Judgment. My sneeze? She’s damning me to hell, I’m sure. However, she is kind and caring, If I’m not feeling well, she’ll let me rest longer. 

Name: Baby Boo (Baby) Age: maybe 14 or 15? (Adopted three or four years ago) Location: Home Skills: Summoning demons from the dark pits of hell and turning invisible in the shadows Occupation: witch’s familiar Likes: lurking in the shadows, being pet, sitting on her tower and watching over the peasants, yogurt (but she is lactose intolerant, so I don’t let her have any) Dislikes: demons not obeying her, when the Hellgate suddenly opens up while she’s enjoying a snack and it interrupts her, dancing, and Soot. Poor Soot.  Extra: This is the cat of a witch and I’m pretty sure while she appears to be in her teens, she’s actually the ancient spirit of a scorned witched, cursed to live out her eternal life in the form of a cat, watching over witchlings and commanding legions of demons. She is also the one most likely to kill me in my sleep, but she doesn’t because I’m her person. Thank you, Baby. You make me a proud witch.

Name: Cimmaron (Cim) Age: 11 or 12 (adopted on a farm when he was a year old) Location: Grandpa’s Skills: being cute Occupation: executive art supervisor Likes: sitting with me while writing or drawing, trying to wake up Grandpa, milk from cereal, gravy from beef stew Dislikes: showers (not that I force him) Extra: Cim is a wholesome lad. He likes to chill and see what’s up. He tends to follow me around when he’s not spending hours sleeping on mine or Grandpa’s bed. He accompanies me for my showers, keeping an eye on me.  He was most likely reincarnated and therefore has the soul of a gentle old man.

Name: Buffy Age: seven (adopted when he was about a year old) Location: Grandpa’s Skills: sleeping Occupation: horny freeloader Likes: reminding the dogs who are about fifty pounds each that he was there first, boiled chicken, yelling for attention and then snubbing those who are willing to pet him, Voltron: Legendary Defender Dislikes: being picked up Extra: This freeloader doesn’t contribute. He caught one mouse when he was a year and a half old and that was it. He tends to jump up on my bed to cuddle one of the dogs and watch cartoons with me. He knocked up another cat that my grandparents adopted.

Name: Horatio (H) Age: about 6 (born at the house; Buffy is the father) Location: Grandpa’s Skills: sleeping, eating, and screaming Occupation: screaming freeloader Likes: food. Cat food, chicken, bacon, apple pie, toast, anything he can get to. Dislikes: being picked up, my sister Extra: This guy. He is an absolute chonk. We know he is. But he won’t exercise for anything and when we try to feed the other cats, he shows up wanting food, too. He’ll scream whenever he sees fit and when someone would check on him, he just walks away. He also likes to lay across an entire step on the stairway. Asshole. But cute. His three sisters were adopted by a nurse who took care of my grandma. He’s now an only child pretty much and he sure tries to remind us of that and tries to get us to spoil him. Also, while he loves toast, we do not give him toast. We have birds who have plain wheat toast with their breakfast; one of them dropped a piece and before one of the dogs could get it, Horatio laid down with it and started eating it.

Bonus of Buffy and Horatio.

Name: Foreigner Age: Unknown (stray) Location: Grandpa’s Skills: existing Occupation: supervisor Likes: Walks with grandpa, keeping an eye on Grandpa when he’s working in the yard, sleeping in my chair, chasing after my feet Dislikes: Other cats and dogs invading his space, Ink (another cat) Extra: He just showed up out of nowhere, as cats tend to do out in the country. He was skittish at first, but he warmed up to Grandpa very quickly. Now he’s just part of the family. He is not allowed in the house because he doesn’t get along with the indoor lads and Grandpa’s got a bird. Foreigner also supervises when the horses get out, making sure we’re all okay and can get them back.

Name: Ink Age: unknown (stray) Location: Grandpa’s Skills: Hunting Occupation: Wanderer, professional barn protector Likes: catching mice and other pests on the farm, being admired, keeping his plans for world domination a secret, sunbathing, making cars stop on the road because he’s an idiot who plays in the street and thankfully cars don’t go through often Dislikes: Feriegner Extra: This is a cat with a plan. He was probably sent here from another planet or is a warlock in cat form, slowly observing others and planning to dominate the planet. He wanders off for days at a time, perhaps looking for weaknesses in the planet’s defenses. He’s done with everyone’s shit, but love and affection restores his faith in humanity.

And that is it. These are the lovely cats of my life.  I hope you all enjoyed meeting them.  Until next time. 

Editing to add Myst. She’s fictional, but she’s still a cat.

Name: Myst Age: eternal (created three years ago) Location: going back and forth between the spirit realm and the mortal plane Skills: can go through walls Occupation: existing Likes: sleeping on shoulders, chasing ghosts, people, sleeping on the computer Dislikes: holy water Extra: Myst is a spectral cat from an unknown location. She’s rather recognizable for her fairly transparent body and skull-like face. She floats, shifts size, can be a blob, is very expressive, and doesn’t shed fur. Of course, she sheds a sort of ecto-plasm and it’s hard to wash out. She’s a wholesome cat who likes attention. 

[voltrontranscript]

VLD S8E7: Day Forty-Seven

Season 8 Episode 7: Day Forty-Seven

Transcript by @dragonofyang

Summary: Kinkade and Rizavi film a vlog that follows a relatively normal day on the IGF-Atlas with its humorous moments and the stress of battle.

[Google Doc]

Kinkade: Hello. This is Lieutenant Ryan Kinkade, MFE pilot. The time is 0600 hours. It’s day forty-seven. And this is a glimpse at day-to-day life aboard the IGF-Atlas.

[Cut to Kinkade brushing his teeth as the camera floats over his shoulder.]

Kinkade: Last night, I unpacked my video gear and decided to document the crew. I know it seems strange, but before Earth was attacked, I didn’t go anywhere without my camera.

[Cut to Kinkade running on a treadmill.]

Kinkade: Back home, people asked me why I liked recording things. They also asked me why I didn’t talk that much. To both of those things, I’d always say… [grunts]

[Cut to Kinkade doing pull-ups.]

Kinkade: Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.

Romelle: You’re recording? Why?

Griffin: Kinkade has always been, uh… an individual who’s most comfortable observing and reflecting on life. Being a fighter pilot was actually his backup plan.

[Cut to Kinkade wearing a blindfold as he works on his blaster rifle.]

Kinkade: It’s true. I learned how to shoot with a camera before I learned how to shoot with a rifle. I guess filming is just a small piece of the larger puzzle that makes up the picture of who I am. Hm.

[Cut to Kinkade turning the camera on once more and walking to a fighter jet.]

Rizavi: So you’re really shooting another documentary? Please tell me this is going to be more exciting than that project you did for Mr. Pollard’s biology class about yeast.

Kinkade: That was actually about the process of fermentation. Yeast converts carbohydrates into carbon diox--

Rizavi: Boring! Okay, look, if this little documentary is how history will remember us, I’m gonna help you spruce it up! How many cameras do you have? What’s your visual effects budget? Do you have any smoke bombs?

[Cut to Keith and Pidge facing the camera as it focuses on Pidge directly.]

Kinkade: Okay. We’re set.

Rizavi: So, uh, catch us up on what’s going on.

Pidge: Right. Well, the Atlas is headed to the Grei-Aye system where we’ve identified the remains of a disabled robeast.

Rizavi: Oh! Those things are pretty dangerous, right?

Pidge: Do I need to explain that the robeast was one of the ones used in Honerva’s intergalactic ritual?

Rizavi: No, it’s fine.

Pidge: Okay. Um, so, once the Atlas arrives in orbit around the planet, the other Paladins and I will head down to the surface to secure the robeast and hopefully find its Altean pilot.

Rizavi: Ugh, okay. Keith! Why don’t you tell us about the dangers of this mission?

Keith: Well, every mission has some inherent dangers. For this one, we have to be especially diligent about the robeast. Even if it’s not fully functional, it can still pose an extreme threat. Combine that with the hostile Altean that’s probably still in the vicinity, and you’ve potentially got threats on multiple fronts.

Hunk: Hey, guys. What’s up? You making a movie? Cool. Can I be in it? Now, wait, if this is an action movie… is it? I don’t wanna be in it.

Rizavi: Hunk, we’re trying to do an interview here.

Hunk: Oh, sorry. Yeah, my bad. I just came by to see if you wanted to try this new recipe I’ve been experimenting with. This is just the first pass. The final version of it will be coming soon. No, Bae Bae! Not for you! I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’ll make you some doggy treats later.

Kinkade: What’s the recipe? Can we watch you work?

Hunk: Well, yeah! Yeah, this’ll be great! I’ve secretly always wanted my own cooking show.

Rizavi: What? No! Keith was just telling us about the mission and all the dangers! We’re not losing that to document cooking.

Kinkade: But, I like cooking.

Rizavi: It’s like you’re trying to make this boring.

Hunk: Whoa, first of all, cooking is not boring, okay? And it can bring people together. Some of the best times of my life were spent breaking bread with loved ones.

Keith: So, is this interview over?

Rizavi: No! Great, now the talent’s getting restless!

Iverson: Everyone, report to your battle stations immediately! I repeat… battle stations immediately! This is not a drill!

Rizavi: The camera!

Kinkade: Leave it! We need to go!

Rizavi: But this is gold!

Kinkade: Come o--

Iverson: MFE pilots, report to hangars alpha-bravo! Scrambling fighters in five! Paladins, stand by for launch.

[Scene change as Bae Bae finds the fallen camera and carries it around.]

Shiro: Where did it come from? Veronica, get me eyes on it!

Coran: That thing just appeared out of nowhere!

Shiro: Iverson, fire when ready!

Iverson: Target acquired! We’ve got lock! Wait. No… we lost it! Target has gone dark!

Veronica: Electromagnetic radiation from that planet is overloading our radars.

Shiro: Voltron, do you have a visual? I repeat, Voltron, do you have a visual?

Keith: Not yet. We’re going in now! Stand by! We can’t see a thing in here!

Griffin: Copy that. We have zero visibility as well. We need a visual.

Curtis: Roger. Trying another avenue. Scanning for biometrics. Visual acquired!

Coran: Incoming!

Iverson: Recharging all starboard cannons!

Curtis: Sensors are offline!

Iverson: What is that thing?

Coran: It’s massive!

Shiro: Iverson, open fire!

Coran: Direct hit! It’s coming back around for another shot!

Shiro: Veronica, prep shields!

[Scene change as the camera falls down a vent into Sam and Slav’s workstation.]

Sam: Whatever hit us just knocked loose the gravity generator! Grab the flaxum assembly!

Slav: I can’t do that! It’s red!

Sam: Is this one of your crazy probability, reality things?

[Scene change to a hallway as soldiers float through to their stations.]

Shiro: All crew, report to stations and prepare for Atlas transformation--

Atlas Crewmember: Go, go, go!

Shiro: --in T-minus thirty seconds!

[Scene change as Bae Bae finds the camera again and carries it.]

Colleen: Bae Bae, what are you doing out here? And what’s this in your mouth? A camera? Come on, girl.

Shiro: All crew, prepare for Atlas transformation sequence in five… four… three… two… one!

[Scene change as the camera dies, then powers on again facing Kinkade once more.]

Kinkade: Camera’s fully charged. We’re good to go. The time is now 0900 hours. We just experienced a minor mishap aboard the IGF-Atlas, but we’re back on track. In the future, we’ll hopefully be avoiding creature-occupied gas planets.

[Cut to Kinkade floating through a hallway.]

Kinkade: Hey, Seok Jin, where you headed?

Seok Jin: I’m transporting these samples back to Earth. Commander Holt thinks it can help with the recovery efforts there.

Kinkade: Well, they couldn’t have picked a better man for the job. Take care, man. Hey, Seok Jin… we’ll miss you, buddy.

[Scene change to the camera looking into the mess hall, where Vrepit Sal is cleaning tables and then rotates to face the hallway.]

Rizavi: There you are! Tell me this thing was recording during the attack! That was so intense! Oh, this documentary’s gonna be awesome!

[Cut to Kolivan sitting in a small office facing the camera.]

Kolivan: I believe our heading readout en route was 92254739.275. Wait, no. It was 9.265. Yes. That was our heading per our readout just prior to our deployment.

Rizavi: [mock snoring]

Kolivan: Our teams vary in size. Often we use the three-person unit, but it’s not unusual to have a four- or a five- or perhaps even a six-person unit. Seven seems rare, but... it could happen.

Rizavi: Okay, I like everything you’re telling me, but let’s just try it a little less like you’re reporting the facts to your commanding officer and a little more like you’re telling your friend an exciting story in the gym. You understand?

Kolivan: Yes, understood.

Rizavi: Okay, good. Why don’t you tell us about your last mission?

Kolivan: Our last mission took place on planet K-V Exus. The Blades divided into three four-person teams and we escorted approximately twelve rescue crafts to the surface. I believe our heading readout was 359.222--

Rizavi: Thank! Thank you! Okay, I think we got it!

Kolivan: But I wasn’t done.

Rizavi: Yeah, you nailed it. Yeah. We need to get someone more exciting in here.

[Cut to Coran leaning into the camera as it slowly attempts to focus on him.]

Coran: Then the Atlas started firing with everything it had! And don’t forget the white hole is swirling right next to us the entire time! Oh, no, it’s about to close! Meanwhile, not one, but two, yes, two, robeasts are attacking! Shiro’s shouting out orders. “Coran, get closer! Iverson, open fire!” Beams of quintessence energy are converging from all over the galaxy! Ah! You know, you could just imagine it.

[Scene change to Rizavi turning the camera on in Slav and Sam’s workspace.]

Sam: Welcome to the engine room. What you see here is just a tiny part of what keeps the ship functioning.

Rizavi: Slav, you’ve created some incredible technology. What do you think of the Atlas?

Slav: I can respect any engineering that extrapolates for transmutation, but I wish the writing was in Altean.

Sam: He’s mentioned that a few times.

Rizavi: So what are you doing now?

Slav: Right now we’re about to adjust the gravity generator, which was fractionally increased during our last battle.

Sam: Yes, our gravity generator is actually a fluid system, ever-changing depending on the specific needs of the location, so it requires recalibrating from time to time. Okay, adjust gravity generator back down to .12.

Slav: Copy. Adjusting now.

Sam: What did you press?

Slav: I don’t know! Which one is the two again? I can’t read these weird symbols you call numbers! Hey, big guy, toss me over! Oh, no. Directly on a crack!

Kinkade: Weird.

[Cut to the camera focusing on some juniberry shoots in a pot.]

Colleen: Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s an Altean juniberry. The first one to bloom in nearly ten thousand years. I managed to get it to grow by resequencing the genetic code of a similar plant. I wanna give it to Allura. These are our fertilizers. We have fish emulsion, worm castings, Kaltenecker manure. Just so much great recycled poop! And this is our lighting station. I like to say our lighting array is literally out of this world! You know, because we’re, you know, on a space ship.

Rizavi: Can I take a shot at this?

[Cut to the camera panning across the crops in the grow room.]

Rizavi: Welcome to extreme space harvesting! Where we have plants and crops and super fertilizers all under one roof! Meet Colleen Holt, the botanical genius behind it all.

[Cut to Colleen sitting in a chair in the grow room.]

Colleen: I guess I just liked plants all my life. I’ve done a lot of research, but I know I have much to learn. I guess… I like… the challenge. I’m sorry, where am I supposed to be looking?

Rizavi: Without Colleen, all life aboard the ship could perish. One bad crop, the introduction of one foreign pest, and it’s all over.

Colleen: I just like plants.

Hunk: Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something again? I just--I just came in to see if Colleen had a very specific type of yeast.

Kinkade: Yeast? What for?

Rizavi: Oh, no.

Hunk: It’s that recipe I’ve been working on. I think I got the topping down, but I’m still trying to figure out the sweet bread.

Colleen: Well, I have so many strains of yeast, it’ll make your head spin. I got AB972, S288C. I even have O unilateralis. Don’t mess with that one.

Kinkade: Are you getting this?

Rizavi: Unfortunately, yes.

[Camera cuts to Kinkade and Rizavi floating through a hallway.]

Rizavi: The time is 1200 hours. We just got word that we are in the Grei-Aye star system. The Paladins will be heading down to the surface of the planet any second now.

[Cut to the camera facing Allura, Lance, and Keith in the hangar for Black Lion.]

Rizavi: Lance, how are you feeling about the mission you’re about to go on?

Lance: Oh, hey. I’m feeling good, I guess. Maybe a little tense. Maybe a lot tense. I don’t know. Why’d you have to ask me that question?

Allura: I think what Lance is trying to say is he’ll be fine. We all will.

Keith: Let’s move out.

[Camera cuts to Kinkade and Rizavi standing a ways away from Blue Lion as it launches.]

Rizavi: Right now, we’re headed to the situation room where we’ll be monitoring the Paladins in real-time.

Kinkade: By the way, you know we’re not gonna be able to bring our camera into that meeting, right?

Rizavi: Says who?

[Scene change to the situation room where Veronica, Coran, Sam, and Shiro are all facing a screen showing a no-signal symbol.]

Sam: Come in, Pidge. Are you reading us?

Pidge: Okay, we’ve just touched down on the surface.

Keith: We’re at the crash site now.

Pidge: That’s the robeast. It looks disabled, just like our intel reported. The Altean should be nearby.

Shiro: Paladins, brace for incoming!

Hunk: I didn’t know it could do that!

Keith: Take cover!

Shiro: Paladins, report! We’ve lost visual. Bridge, lock onto that ship now!

Curtis: Yes, Captain. Adjusting to long-range parameters. Locked on!

Shiro: Light it up!

Curtis: Direct hit!

Lance: Nice shot, Atlas!

Hunk: Yeah, thanks for the cover!

Shiro: Bridge, stay on alert.

[Cut to the Altean viewscreen of Pidge’s point of view through her helmet.]

Allura: Stand by, Atlas. We’re approaching the ship.

Hunk: Guys, there doesn’t seem to be a pilot inside.

Keith: Hey, guys. Over here.

Pidge: Keith’s found something. Let’s go! Give me a second. Just reconfiguring to this barrier’s isometric frequency. There! That should do it.

Keith: Atlas, our target is acquired.

Overlapping voices: Yippee! Alright! Yeah!

Shiro: Great job, everyone!

[Cut to Kinkade and Rizavi floating through another hallway.]

Rizavi: We just got word that the Paladins have returned from their mission. Maybe we can catch a glimpse of this new Altean.

Kinkade: This’ll be the sixth Altean pilot we’ve recovered from the powered-down robeasts left behind after Honerva escaped Oriande. Allura keeps trying, but she hasn’t been able to get any information from them as of yet.

[Camera cuts to Rizavi standing outside a room marked “Authorized Personnel Only”.]

Rizavi: Commander Shirogane said you two were needed on the bridge. We’ll cover your station.

Woman: Yes, Lieutenant.

Rizavi: There! Oh, man, I think we missed the beginning.

Romelle: Tavo, please. You and I grew up alongside one another. You must trust me. We’re here to help.

Tavo: We were told you are a traitor, and I can see now that it is true.

Allura: I’m done talking with him. I’m done with all of them.

Kinkade: Uh, what are you doing?

Rizavi: Sh! I got an idea.

Lance: Anything?

Allura: No. He was just like the others. A true believer in Honerva, and there’s nothing I can say that would make him think otherwise.

Lance: I’m sorry.

Allura: No, I am. These Alteans are the key to unlocking Honerva’s plan. They’re my people, but they won’t speak with me. You have no idea what it’s like to find out after ten thousand years that you’re not the last of your kind… only to be rejected by them.

Lance: I don’t. But I wish every day there were something I could do to change it all for you. You’ve suffered more than anyone should in a thousand lifetimes. But still you persist. Through the pain, you inspire. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you.

Kinkade: No, that’s private.

Rizavi: Kinkade, what are you doing? That was our love angle!

[Camera cuts out, then focuses in on Romelle’s face.]

Kinkade: Please don’t touch that.

Romelle: Oh, sorry.

Rizavi: So, Romelle, you know these Alteans from your time on the colony?

Romelle: Yes, I lived alongside them for many decaphoebs. They are good people.

Kinkade: What do you think would make them join forces with Honerva?

Romelle: I don’t know. But you must understand, my people were hunted nearly to extinction. They’re afraid. And this Honerva… she’s turned that fear to aggression. If there was just some way to get through to them.

[Cut to the mess hall.]

Griffin: I’ve never seen anything like it. All those tentacles… so nasty.

[Cut to the kitchen where Hunk is stirring something purple in a pan.]

Hunk: Oh, hey. You’re just in time. I was just about to add the yeast Colleen gave me. No, Bae Bae! Bad dog!

[Cut to Kinkade and Rizavi sitting at a table with Allura.]

Kinkade: First off, thanks for doing this, Allura.

Allura: You’re welcome.

Rizavi: Maybe we can start with the Alteans we have aboard.

Allura: What about them? They’re on the wrong side of this war and they refuse to speak with me. There’s nothing else to say.

Rizavi: So, you’re frustrated?

Allura: Yes, I am. Oriande was destroyed, Lotor is back, and we aren’t any closer to tracking down Honerva. She’s out there, right now, planning something, preparing, and growing stronger. And we’re here flying around in circles, searching for Fraunhofer lines that don’t appear and scanning for wormhole signatures that don’t exist!

Rizavi: Do you think we’ll ever find Honerva?

Allura: No. I think she’ll find us.

[Camera cuts back to Hunk in the kitchen, this time wearing oven mitts.]

Hunk: Okay, it’s been a long day, but I’m finally done.

Kinkade: What is it?

Hunk: It’s an authentic Altean dessert! I’m gonna give it to the Alteans. Coran helped me with the recipe, but I think his memory was, like, a little bit fuzzy, so, you know, I did some improvising. No big whoop.

Kinkade: You did this for them? Why?

Hunk: Well, I don’t know. Because food has a way of reminding people of moments in time. That’s why I made a dessert. Usually, when you eat dessert, you’re pretty happy, right? Who knows? Maybe this’ll help those Alteans remember some moment that made them smile. Something before all this madness. That could go a long way in building a relationship. Well, that’s just what I think.

[Cut to the Alteans in a holding cell as the camera zooms out and pans to face Hunk.]

Hunk: Please, eat. Look, it’s good! Mm, really!

Tavo: You made this? It reminds me of home.

Hunk: Well, I had a little help from someone born and raised on Altea. A-and I know you don’t wanna talk with them, but Allura and Coran know more about your homeland than anyone alive. They were on Altea until its final day. They both would’ve stayed and died to protect it if Alfor hadn’t sent them away. That’s how much they loved it.

Tavo: I heard Altea was one of the most beautiful places in the universe. Did your Alteans ever tell you about the zyo crystal springs outside of the capital? The stories say those cliffs were more beautiful than all of the stars combined.

Hunk: They never told me about them. But I’m sure they’d love to tell you themselves.

[Scene change to Kinkade sitting in casual clothes facing the camera.]

Kinkade: This is Lieutenant Ryan Kinkade, MFE pilot. The time is 2300 hours. Day forty-seven aboard the IGF-Atlas is officially done.

End.

[forgotten-daydreamer]

in defense of Allura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[justheretobreakthings]

Perchance to Dream

Written for @gentronlegendaryfriendships

Day Three: Telepathic Bond | Crying in Front of the Other

Written for @badthingshappenbingo

​Prompt: Sleep Deprivation

Word Count: 5,092 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Characters: Keith & Lance Read on AO3 My house, my rules, my ko-fi

Story Summary:

In the stress-filled days following Shiro's disappearance, it becomes clear that Keith is in desperate need of a good night's sleep. Lance and the rest of the team are determined to find a way to make that happen.

It was understandable that Keith would be in a bad mood as of late. After all, now that Zarkon was out of commission, a lot of political matters across the galaxies were up in the air, and the paladins were constantly meeting with one planetary leader after another. They were still having to keep up with battles and missions, and although the Blade was lending its assistance wherever it could, it still felt like they were spread thin now that they were short one paladin, and battles were that much more difficult now that they couldn’t form Voltron.

And, of course, there was the matter of what Shiro’s absence meant for Keith.

The other paladins didn’t have a whole lot of detail about what Keith had gone through when Shiro had disappeared on the Kerberos mission, since Keith wasn’t exactly eager to share any details about his past with anyone, but there were some things he couldn’t hide, not when some of his teammates were witnesses to them. Like the fact that Keith had been expelled from the Garrison for disciplinary issues within a week of the news of Kerberos breaking, or the fact that he had been living in self-imposed isolation for a year afterward, with no sign of having had contact with any sort of family or friends or of any family or friends even existing, until Shiro had finally returned, whereupon he steadfastly took up the role of Shiro’s right-hand man while remaining stubbornly closed off to everyone else in the Castle of Lions.

So, some emotional regressing was probably inevitable, and the rest of the team had formed an unspoken agreement to let it slide when Keith was snappish with them, when he skipped group meals and bonding sessions, when he stormed out of meetings, when he’d take the Red Lion out on yet another fruitless search for any sign of Shiro without letting anyone else know he’d be gone.

It was understandable, sure, but that didn’t mean they weren’t allowed to be irritated by it. And Lance was accustomed to being irritated by Keith, so it wasn’t like this was anything new. Just more of the same.

And more of the same also meant more venting about his Keith-related frustrations to Pidge and Hunk, who were annoyingly not particularly receptive to hearing about it.

“Look,” Pidge told him during one of these rants, cutting him off right in the middle of a very impassioned tirade about Keith having rammed into his shoulder in the hallway earlier that day without even stopping to apologize, “I’d be annoyed too, but cut him some slack. He just lost his brother, again. He has the right to be in a bad mood.”

“A bad mood, sure,” Lance said. “But there’s a limit to mood badness we should be willing to tolerate. Not like he’s never been a grouch before, but now it’s at the point where it’s messing with public image and missions. And team morale.”

“Him shoulder-checking you in the hallway really screwed up your morale that badly?”

“There’s no fucking way he doesn’t know he owes me an apology,” Lance snapped. “He’s just intentionally being a dick.”

“You always say that when it comes to Keith.”

“It’s always true.” He sighed. “Come on, help me out. When you get into a really bad mood about the situation with your brother and dad, you still pull yourself out of it after a while. What’s the difference there, huh? What do you do that Keith doesn’t?”

Pidge bristled. “I don’t get into ‘bad moods’, it’s perfectly justifiable to be pissed the fuck off when a tyrannical empire kidnaps your family and - ”

“Hang on, whoa, I wasn’t saying it wasn’t justifiable!” Lance said hastily. “I was just - ”

“So, what, does it mess with your fucking morale when I get grumpy about - ”

“I think what Lance is trying to say,” Hunk cut in, “Is that, when you’re feeling extra upset about the whole setting, the anger still settles. It’s just not sustainable to stay so angry for a longer period of time, you’d completely burn out and wind up basically breaking down. You’re mad about the whole thing, and rightly so, but you temper it enough that it doesn’t keep you from functioning and interfere with daily life, right? Meanwhile, Keith’s temper’s been flaring a lot longer than is healthy. It’s no good for him to not be coping.”

“Yeah,” Lance said with a nod. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was gonna say.”

“Like hell it was,” Pidge muttered, but thankfully she let it go for now. “It’s not like I’m doing anything to work through the anger, really. Just, like you said, it burns out. Eventually I just gotta sleep it off, get some air, wait ‘til I can focus again.”

“Ah, okay, so Keith has to sleep it off,” Lance said. “I’m sure a nap will make everything all better again.”

“Hey, you asked how I deal, and I told you. Not my fucking problem if you don’t like the answer.”

“Well,” Hunk said slowly, “It… actually could help.”

Lance frowned over at him. “What do you mean?”

“It’s kind of a well-known fact that lack of sleep basically kills your mood, right? Just think of how cranky toddlers get after they miss a nap. I mean, I’m not trying to say Keith is a toddler or anything, or that this is a temper tantrum, nothing like that. But, well, he’s been really pushing himself trying to find Shiro, and he hasn’t really been recharging. He’s still up earlier than the rest of us, and a couple nights ago when I woke up halfway through the night and went to get a snack, he was up pacing the hallways.”

“Huh,” Pidge said. “Come to think of it, I’m usually the last one to bed, but I have heard Keith still moving around in his room a few times while I was heading to my room to sleep. And he’s been yawning a lot in diplomacy meetings. More than usual, I mean.”

“Oh!” Lance said. “And our last team training session, I was totally kicking his ass on reflex time against those drones! Normally he’s like, almost as fast as I am, but he was stumbling around like a drunk! Think that was because he was tired?”

“Lance, he normally has the fastest reflexes out of all of us,” said Hunk.

“No, no, we’re pretty much even. My reflexes just look slower to you guys because you’re more used to seeing them.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s how it works,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “But hey, the point stands. Bit of sleep would probably do him some good.”

“Well, if it means a possibility of a slightly less pouty Mullet stinking up the place? It’s gotta be worth a shot.”

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

The next time Lance encountered Keith in the hall, he didn’t wait around to get brushed off or bumped into. Instead he strode straight up into the path of Keith’s stomping boots, earning himself a level glare that he pointedly ignored.

“Hey,” Lance said, “Cancel any plans you’ve got for tonight. We’re doing a sleepover.”

“... What?” Keith said, blinking uncomprehendingly.

Lance wasn’t sure if Keith was just taken aback by his abruptness, or if he actually didn’t know what a sleepover was. Just in case, he explained. “You know, we all gather together, have some quality bonding time, get as comfortable as possible, then pass out and sleep through the rest of the night and, if we did it right, half of the next day too. We’re all meeting in the paladins’ lounge, at - at half past, uh… fuck it, Altean clocks are stupid. Once you start seeing someone heading that way in pajamas, it’s time.”

“No thanks,” Keith grunted.

He moved to step around Lance, and Lance held out a hand to block him. “Wait, you gotta hear me out first. We’re all gonna put on our paladin pajamas and lion slippers - that’s all mandatory, by the way, sleepovers are very strict about dress codes - and gather up all the pillows and blankets we can find, and we’re going to basically transform the lounge into a massive blanket fort. And Pidge is gonna bring her caterpillars along to join, and they’re basically the softest things in all of existence, and we’re gonna taste-test some of Hunk’s new dessert recipes he’s trying out, get nice and stuffed before we go to bed. Basically, this is gonna be the best night’s sleep any of us have had in years.”

“I’ll pass.”

“No, look, you can’t pass. It’s team bonding.”

Keith huffed. “We do plenty of team bonding in all our battles and meetings. And speaking of which, we’ve got more important things to be focusing on than blanket forts.”

“Well, yeah, but how are we going to be able to focus on those important things if we don’t take some time to relax in between? All work and no play makes Keith a dull paladin.”

“All… what are you talking about?”

Lance sighed. “Okay, look, I’ll level with you. The whole team’s been kind of, uh, concerned, lately. About your mood. And Hunk noticed you haven’t been getting much sleep lately, and frankly it’s making you even more of a grouch than usual - no offense, I mean - so we figured - ”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Keith growled. “Yeah, I’ve been in a bad mood. Do you wanna guess why, Lance? Can you think of anything that might have happened lately that may be worth getting a little bit upset over? What could I be concerned about, huh? What could I possibly have going on that’s more important than a goddamn sleepover?!”

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about,” Lance said. “Maybe if you got a decent night’s sleep, you wouldn’t be yelling at me right now.”

“I’m not yelling!” Keith snapped. “And I definitely don’t need you to be monitoring my sleep schedule!” He stepped around Lance, and this time, Lance didn’t stop him. “Have all the sleepovers you want, but leave me out of them,” Keith muttered as he left.

Lance slumped as he watched him go. He had figured that it would take a bit of convincing to get Keith on board for a sleepover, but he hadn’t actually expected him to get angry over it.

God, he definitely needed a nap.

“Stupid, stubborn Mullet,” Lance grumbled under his breath, scuffing his shoes against the floor as started back to the lounge.

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

The sleepover may have been a no-go, but that didn’t mean they had to give up on Operation: Make Keith Actually Get Some Sleep quite yet, especially since, in the coming quintants, the dark bags under Keith’s eyes, the disheveled state of his hair and his clothes, and his irritability were all increasing before the very eyes of the rest of the team. If any of them had had any doubts over whether he was sleep-deprived, they were certainly dashed by now.

But since apparently Keith had some sort of issue with his teammates actively encouraging him to sleep, they agreed that they would have to try more subtle methods to get him past his insomnia, help him sleep without letting him realize they were doing it.

Lance initially proposed raiding the med bay for some sort of sleeping tonic and slipping it into his food, but that idea was shot down immediately by Pidge explaining that it would be too risky to use a medicinal sleep aid on someone when they didn’t know how it would react with his biology, and Hunk saying that drugging Keith without his knowledge and consent was just an extremely sleazy and messed up thing, and making it clear that he found it very disturbing that he even had to point that out to them.

But there were other things to try, discrete ways to try to make the Red Paladin a bit more susceptible to some solid sleep. Hunk planned out dinners over the next few nights that heavily featured poultry and whole grains, which he explained to Lance induced the production of some sort of sleep hormone - Lance honestly had sort of zoned out the moment Hunk started throwing science into the conversation. Pidge messed with the lighting in the living quarters to dim the lights in Keith’s room, just enough that he probably wouldn’t notice the difference, but would also have a slightly easier time falling asleep despite the light.

Even the Alteans got in on it, as it seemed the human paladins weren’t the only ones who had taken notice of Keith’s insomnia. Allura had them all do meditation shortly before the castle’s night cycle began, under the pretense of it being a training exercise for the paladin bond. Coran, who it turned out was an ardent advocate of aromatherapy, pumped some sort of faint fragrance into the air vents in the living quarters, which smelled a bit like lavender and vanilla, although with a certain tartness to the scent that was distinctly Altean.

And yet, even after all of that, they still weren’t seeing a change. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Lance decided to try his own hand at it a few quintants into their new subtle approach, figuring it couldn’t possibly hurt. He waited in his own room with the door kept open, until he saw Keith pass by in the hall and called him in.

“What?” Keith asked. The word came out sharp and tetchy, but lately that was how everything Keith said sounded, so Lance paid it no mind.

Instead, he simply held out his headphones. “Would you mind giving this a listen for me? I think something’s a little weird with the audio, like it’s scratchy or something, but it’s hard to tell. I wanna know if I’m just imagining it.”

“Wouldn’t Pidge be better with audio stuff?” Keith asked.

“With fixing it, yeah, but right now I just need someone to give a second opinion.” Lance bounced the headphones in his hand. “Come on, please?”

Keith let out a long, low breath, but he obliged, taking the headphones and sitting on the edge of Lance’s bed as he placed them over his ears. Lance gave him a thumbs-up and pressed play on his music player, watching Keith’s face carefully. This was a special mix he’d been using for the last couple of years, and the fact that he’d had his player in his backpack with him when they’d wound up in the Blue Lion was a godsend. A playlist of soft guitar songs and light Caribbean ballads with steady and melodic percussion beats, all interspersed with ocean sounds. It had lulled him to sleep every night since he’d been in the Castle of Lions.

The mix played for a few minutes before Keith moved one of the earphones aside and said, “I don’t hear anything weird.”

“You positive?” Lance said. “Listen real closely, all right? Close your eyes, it’ll help you concentrate.”

Keith did, and his eyes stayed closed for another few minutes before he shook his head. “It all sounds fine to me.”

“Well, that’s good,” Lance said. “Guess it was all in my head after all.” He accepted the headphones as Keith handed them back to him, then cleared his throat. “So, ah, did you like that music? You looked like you were enjoying it.”

“Sure,” Keith said with a shrug.

“Hey, that’s - that’s cool. Gives us something in common. You know, if you want, you can borrow my music player for a while.”

“That’s all right, you keep it.”

“No really, I think you’d like it. You could, like, give the whole mix a listen, let me know what you think. I bet you’ll enjoy it, I’m sort of known for having great taste in music.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Lance asked.

“Since when are you so eager to let me borrow your things?”

“Uh, since always? I’m generous.”

“Lance, last week I accidentally used your toothpaste instead of mine and you acted like I had stabbed you.”

Lance huffed. “Our bottles look completely different, how could you possibly have - ? You know what, not important. Just, I’m up for sharing now, okay? So come on, just take the music. You’ll like it.”

“Not until I figure out what you’re trying to - ”

“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m just trying to help you, Mullet! This is supposed to be relaxing! So could you quit being so goddamn stubborn for once in your life and just take the stupid headphones already?!”

A pause of silence stretched between them as Keith’s expression slowly fell to a dark scowl. “Oh my god. Is this seriously about that stupid sleep thing again?!”

“Yes,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “You know what, yes, it is. And honestly, we shouldn’t be having to go to this much trouble to get a grown-ass adult to actually take a nap, and this is getting really ridiculous - ”

“Wait a minute, ‘we’?”

“Well, it’s kind of really fucking obvious that you haven’t gotten half a dobosh of sleep in ages, but since apparently you’re too proud or something to admit you actually need help, the rest of us have had to intervene to keep you from just straight up dying of exhaustion.”

“For the love of - I don’t need anyone’s help to sleep!”

“Oh, like hell you don’t. Look at you, the bags under your eyes are so big I’d have to check them at the ticket counter. I don’t know why you’ve gone and decided that having trouble sleeping is something you’ve got to be ashamed or whatever’s going on in your head, but - ”

“I can sleep just fine! I don’t want to sleep!”

“What, because you’re being so damn productive in those extra waking hours you get when you don’t? You’re not exactly doing yourself any favors here.”

“It’s got nothing to do with that!”

“Well then what’s it got to - ”

“Do you know what happens every time I fall asleep?” Keith snarled. “You know what I see every single time?”

“Uh…” said Lance.

“I see Shiro.” Keith crossed his arms, his scowl deepening. “Every time I close my eyes to go to sleep, it’s Shiro. Sometimes I see him bleeding out in the hall of a Galra base. Sometimes I see that gladiator arena he told us about, and he’s in the middle of it, barely hanging in there. Sometimes he’s just floating out in the middle of space and he’s cold and he’s too far from anyone or anything to get help. And sometimes it’s just the Black Lion, getting shot to smithereens right in front of me in the middle of battle and I can’t do anything to stop. He’s hurt and he’s dying and I just do nothing.

“Because that’s what I did, didn’t I?” He choked out a dry laugh that was completely devoid of any humor. “He got taken, right under our noses, and we didn’t even know until we got back to the hangars. He could be dead, or being tortured; maybe the Galra have something in mind for him that’s so horrible we can’t even fathom it. And we could have prevented it, but we didn’t. And it’s all I can think about, and when I’m asleep, it’s all I can see.

“Hell, I got nightmares after the Kerberos thing too, imagined his shuttle crash-landing against that stupid moon and wound up with that playing over and over every night. But at least that time, it wasn’t like it was my fault. Not like I was there and could have done anything. Not like I’d ever seen Shiro hurt and scared before, so my stupid brain couldn’t use that for reference. This time, though?” He tapped his temple. “It’s all there. Just waiting to play out.”

He took a shaky breath. “If I stay awake as long as possible, though, just let my body pass out when it can’t handle being awake for one more second, I don’t dream. I guess I’m just, like, too exhausted for the subconscious to do anything but wait for me to wake up. So I can’t sleep until I absolutely have to, you know? Because if I don’t I end up - I have to see - ” He gritted his teeth and scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“... Shit, dude,” Lance said, slowly lowering himself onto the bed next to Keith. “I, uh… I didn’t know.”

“You weren’t supposed to,” Keith grunted. He lowered his hands and Lance could see the glistening of tears there before he brought his knees up, wrapped his arms around them and buried his face in them. “God, you’re not supposed to see this.”

“Why not?” Lance asked softly. “Keith, if you’d told us what you were dealing with, we could’ve helped you out.”

“How?” Keith snapped. “You can’t control what I dream about, you can’t undo what happened to Shiro. I just - I have to deal with this.

“Keith, you don’t need to - ”

“Yeah, I do.” He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “Okay? And this isn’t me being stubborn or anything, I’m just stating facts. This isn’t something that can be fixed, it’s just something I - something I have to figure out. Somehow.” He coughed. “So, please, Lance. Stop trying to help. Tell the others to stop trying to help.” With one last sniff and failed attempt to blink away the now cascading tears, he stood and turned away. “I’ve gotta go,” he mumbled. “Should really get to the training deck.”

“But - ”

“Don’t - don’t tell the others. About this. It’ll just… make them worry.” And before Lance could say anything in response, Keith was out the door.

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

It was several vargas later that Keith finally stopped training and came back to the living quarters, and by then the castle was well into its night cycle. Keith was drenched in sweat, trembling somewhat from exertion as he trudged his way back toward his room.

So, the sight of Lance standing in front of the door probably wasn’t a welcome one, and Lance was unsurprised by the glare he received as Keith approached, which deepened further as he spotted the music player in Lance’s hand.

“What the hell are you doing?” Keith asked.

Lance took a deep breath. “I, uh - I had a bit of an idea. I know you said you don’t want me to, like, get involved in - in this whole thing going on with you, but I gave this a lot of thought, I really did, and I think you should hear me out. I’ve got something you really need to try.”

“Lance,” Keith sighed. “We already went over this. I don’t need you to help me fall asleep. And besides, the music, the beach sounds? They just don’t work for me, okay? There’s no point in - ”

“No, okay, I know we went over all of that,” Lance interrupted. “But this is different, I swear.”

“Lance - ”

“Look, this is either going to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done for you, or a stroke of absolute genius. It’s like fifty-fifty and we won’t know which one it is until we try it. So, here.” He held up the headphones. “Just give it a shot.”

Keith frowned down at the headphones, but slowly, he obliged, taking them from Lance’s hand and positioning them onto his head. “All right,” he said, closing his eyes. “Ready.”

Lance nodded and pressed play, then watched Keith’s face. At first he remained stoic, then, gradually, his brow began to scrunch in confusion. Lance held his breath as he watched, and after about a minute Keith’s eyes opened to look warily at him. “What… what is this?” He moved the headphones down, and Lance could just hear the sound of the playing track: a voice, soft and tinny at this distance from the earpiece but still confident and sincere. “We’re entering a new era of human exploration of the unknown universe, and every one of you has the ability to become part of history.”

“That,” Lance said, “Is a speech that was made about five years ago at my middle school, and probably a couple hundred others. By a certain Galaxy Garrison lieutenant I admired very much.”

“Yeah.” Keith brought the headphones off his head completely to stare at in his hands. “Thought I, um, recognized it. How did - how did you even get a recording of it way out here?”

“I downloaded a video of it that was on Youtube, converted into an MP3. Listened to it while I worked on my Garrison application, because that stupid application process was frustrating as shit and I needed the motivation. Guess I just never deleted it.”

“...Oh.” Keith kept staring at the headphones for a while longer before slowly moving them back up onto his head and closing his eyes again. Lance watched as he stayed still, for long enough that Lance was starting to wonder if Keith had forgotten he was there, when Keith finally opened his eyes back up and pushed the headphones aside again. “It’s… nice,” he said softly. “Hearing him talk. I’d… forgotten… how nice that was.”

Lance gave him a small smile. “Yeah. That’s the idea. See, I got to thinking, about the stuff I was having you try listening to before, and how you didn’t find it relaxing the way you were supposed to, and I realized, like, the reason that that stuff calms me and helps me sleep, is because it’s for me, specifically. Like, the Timba music is stuff I’ve been listening to my whole life, that I’d play in my room at home all the time, and the ocean sounds, they make me think of swimming and going to the beach with my family and laying down on a surfboard to watch the sun and stuff. And, you know, stuff like that, it makes me feel at home, right? It feels peaceful, and familiar, and safe, and that’s all good for getting a good night’s sleep, and for keeping the bad stuff away.

“But for you, well, none of those sounds are really home to you, are they? The music genre’s kinda niche, and I figure you’re more into… I dunno, punk rock? Post-hardcore? Some genre where your mullet might be considered acceptable. And as for the ocean sounds, I mean, you lived in the middle of the desert and you don’t even swim.”

“I can swim,” Keith said.

“Eh, you don’t so much swim as just ‘not drown’, but whatever,” said Lance. “Point is, they weren’t the right sounds for you. So I asked myself, okay, what sort of things would make Keith feel at home? Duh, explosions. But then I realized explosion sound effects would probably be hard to sleep through, so I went searching through my MP3s and found this. And, like, it works doubly well because if you fall asleep with this playing and Shiro shows up in your dream, then your subconscious or whatever might connect the two. So instead of him, um, going missing or - or stuff like that, dream-Shiro will start giving a motivational speech instead. You know, how sometimes when you’re asleep and dreaming and you hear a sound in real life and your brain just sort of incorporates it into the dream? I mean, it’s just a theory, but it has to be worth a shot, right?”

“Lance, I dunno if - ”

“Yeah, I don’t really know for sure either. Might be a little out there. But, you know. I just thought maybe this could be, uh - this could work. Here, you can set it to play the track on a loop like this, see.” He held up the player to show him. “And the whole thing is about an hour long, so it’ll probably only make it through one loop, if even, before you fall asleep, so you don’t need to worry about it getting super repetitive and driving you crazy. Now, the real motivational stuff is only at the beginning and the end. The whole forty-five minutes or so in the middle is mostly just talking about the Garrison’s programs and how to apply and stuff like that, but that’s still probably better than nothing, right? You can dream about Shiro in teacher-mode or whatever.”

Keith bit his lip in thought, eyes darting between Lance and the headphones, before quietly saying, “... Yeah. Maybe.”

“Try it, at least. For the team’s sake, yeah? ‘Cause we’re all kinda worried about your health at this point, and - and I don’t care what you say, you really need a good night’s sleep.”

“...Okay.”

“Okay?”

Keith nodded, reaching and hand out to take the music player from Lance. “I’ll try it, at least.”

“Great!” Lance said, face brightening. “Let me know tomorrow how it goes, okay?”

“All right,” Keith said. “And, um - just - for the uh, for the - I just - it’s, um, it’s nice to know that you guys all - ”

“Yeah, you’re welcome, Mullet,” Lance said. “Now, go the fuck to sleep.”

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

For the first morning in a long time, Keith wasn’t the first paladin up and about. In fact, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were all already halfway through their breakfasts when Keith finally showed up in the kitchen, blinking drowsily against the light. But it was a different drowsiness than usual. The sort of drowsiness that came from just having woken rather than from desperately needing to go to bed.

Wisely, none of them made any remarks about the change. They bid him good morning and asked if he’d like to join for breakfast, as casually as they would have on any given morning on the castle before Keith’s whole insomnia episode began, and he accepted, his focus entirely on the food in front of him.

Lance waited until Hunk and Pidge started their own conversation, distracted enough by each other not to pay the rest of the table any mind, before tapping the table near Keith’s plate and giving him a questioning thumbs-up. Keith nodded, and Lance smiled as what he had already suspected was confirmed: Shiro’s speech had worked.

Lance was a goddamn genius.

And in the following quintants, as Keith gradually grew less irritable and the bags beneath his eyes started to fade, it became easier to believe that maybe, the team could get through this. Keith could get through this.

He just needed his goddamn genius teammates to help out a bit sometimes. That’s all.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 127

127

Sitting on Shiro’s bed beside his brother, Keith felt devastated all over again. Yes, Shiro could confirm that he had been held with Lance, and that Lance was doing relatively okayish all things considered, but that was it. He couldn’t explain why they’d been returned in one piece, or how. No one had any of the goddamn answers he needed, and now Shiro was as helpless as him given both their boyfriends were missing.

Describing the cell they’d been held in, Shiro remembered a fair deal, even able to sketch out the rough details of the room on the iPad Coran have given him. He’d said Lance hadn’t given up wanting to get out and get back to him. His idiot boyfriend more concerned about what Keith was going through than his own situation. It was so Lance that his chest ached. Hearing that Shiro and the others had been used as a distraction, made Keith feel utterly stupid for not taking Lance with him. He felt so fucking useless he couldn’t bring himself to contribute to the conversation. Seeing Rieva and Matt reunite stung. The couple nuzzling into each other as they peppered kissed between assuring each other they were okay. That Rieva would be shot when the others came back without a scratch made no sense in any sane world. At least he wasn’t Sam. Colleen had ripped the older man a new one for making her worry, Sam sheepishly apologising, though he wasn’t in any way to blame.

On Shiro’s other side sat Krolia, a down little towards Shiro’s knee, rather than up at his side like Keith was. Shiro hadn’t let go of his hand since his grey eyes had fluttered open. Keith knew his brother needed the physical contact as much as he did. The trace evidence had been processed and passed onto Kolivan and the other Blades for processing. Meaning he was once again useless. This feeling fucking sucked. Before Lance he’d never known love the way he did now. His heart all broken, barely held together by the lingering thoughts of his beloved boyfriend... His brother, the ever workaholic, wanted to watch Lance’s abduction video for himself. Keith didn’t think he was strong enough to watch it again.

Knowing Lance was out there trying to get back to him only drove him to want to start working everything over from the top again, despite knowing there wasn’t some magical clue to find. He hated to admit it, but maybe this time Lance would have to save himself. Maybe this time all those promises would be broken and he’d never see Lance again... Maybe if he hadn’t been so goddamn stupid he wouldn’t have lost the love of his life, and be left almost all alone again with his family... but this was different now. He’d let down everyone in the room by losing Lance... like... like he’d let down his father by not being there in his final moments.

“Keith, you need to calm your breathing down, kiddo”

He was working himself up too much. He needed to sleep but just couldn’t

“Sorry...”

“We’re going to figure this out”

“How!? He’s still missing! Curtis is still missing!”

A sleepy Keith could be a very cranky Keith

“And we’ll work this out. You’re not going through this alone. We’re all here and we’re a team, kiddo”

He knew that. He just... he wanted to hear them blame him. To acknowledge this was all his fault. He didn’t want pity. He didn’t want them to blame the people who took Lance and Curtis without blaming him for letting it happen. Coran had expected something... they... they should have gone together as a group. They should have left earlier. He shouldn’t have spent the last time he had with Lance oiling and maintaining his blades. Miriam was now confined to resting there at VOLTRON because he’d let this happen. He couldn’t forgive himself. Not until he had Lance back in his arms and even then...

*

Lance eyed his new cell mates in suspicion. An invisible barrier between them and him and Curtis. Lotor had shown up and now he was here, and Lance didn’t know what to make of it. Matt, Shiro, and Sam had been taken away. Gas pouring down from the ceiling, knocking everyone except for him out. Then Lotor had been brought down. Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor unconscious and traded for his three unconscious friends, Lance torn between rushing their captors and not placing the others in danger, and being confused as hell over why Lotor was being imprisoned when he was like a prince to the vampire community. Despite his usual bragging mouth, Lotor remained tight lipped. The scent of human blood clung to him, though the vampire didn’t seem to care. Then again, he wasn’t starving like Lance. Lance could see the way Lotor was shaking. Fists and jaw both clenched tightly. Whatever Lotor’s plan had been, things hadn’t gone the vampire’s way and Lotor was seething with fury. The questions Lance had for him couldn’t be voiced. He feared Lotor would snap, or his ego would make his head go fuzzy again. So instead, they watched each other like the two caged predators they were as their friends slept by their sides, Lance could only wait for the others to be returned, then they might finally have the numbers to turn the tide on this captivity thing.

Hours passed, Lance worn out from being on edge. This was the longest Lotor had kept his smart comments to himself. Lance wondering if the vampire was planning his escape, or simply not talking because he was sulking. It wasn’t until Curtis started stirring that he felt he could finally breathe easily. Rousing slowly, Curtis blinked up at him. Lance uncomfortable sitting in one spot so long that he’d moved Curtis to rest with his head in Lance’s lap. Sleeping gas was more effective on Curtis than Lance had thought it’d be. Curtis drooling enough that Lance was concerned he’d been going to drown on his own saliva. Groaning, Curtis went to sit up, Lance holding him down by the shoulder

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Take it easy”

“What... happened?”

“They gassed you guys... and took the others away. I’m sorry”

He should have fought their captors... or generally done something. Their friends still hadn’t been returned. Lance feared that they were doing horrible things to them... horrible things that they had planned for them. Curtis groaned again. Lance imagined he most probably had a headache from the gas

“How... long?”

“A few hours”

Lotor finally spoke. Lance jumping as he wondered if Lotor had been mad at him and that’s why he hadn’t spoken

“Lotor?”

“Your friends are gone. Thinking of them won’t change the situation”

“What do you mean they’re gone?!”

Lotor knew the whole time and was only saying this now?

“I mean they were traded as they were unnecessary objects”

His friends weren’t fucking objects! He... he was relying on them to come back. He didn’t know how to protect anyone! He wasn’t a master strategist! He was just a simple vampire who was near on starving. Growing at Lotor, his ego slipped, hand tightening on Curtis’s shoulder

“If that’s all you’ve got to say for yourself you can shut the hell up”

“I’m merely stating the obvious. Or did you perhaps think they’d return to save you?”

“What are you even doing here? Did you betray Allura?!”

Curtis groaned. Lance realising his nails had started piercing his friends skin. Quickly he released Curtis in shame

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“No... my head hurts... what do you mean Shiro’s gone?”

“I traded myself and my generals for your friends”

Lance scoffed

“Right. That’s why all of you are here. Sure”

“That little conniving bitch Narti sold me out for the promise of a pardon upon return. We’re being held until passage can be secured. It seems my mother is quite eager to set eyes on you”

A shudder ran down Lance’s spine. Honerva may want to see him, but he had zero rush to lay eyes on her. And what was this about Narti? She was silent, moody, sullen and judgemental. But she was supposed to be Lotor’s faithful little witch. His witches were under VOLTRON’s protection because they were with Lotor. Whatever she’d been offered had to be more than just a pardon... If anyone was going to betray Lotor, Lance would have had his money on Acxa ditching him first. She always seemed somewhat annoyed watching him... It went to show you never knew what people were really thinking... It also explained Lotor being in such a foul mood. He always got what he wanted. Lance expected him to be tucked away from all of this after all his preaching about Sendak being too dangerous. His pompous arse probably thought he could simply waltz in and demand their release or something equally egotistical.

So. Then what happened now? Lance knew where the gas release was, but that wouldn’t be any use against the vampires who’d brought Lotor down... Maybe Lotor had gone against Sendak? But then... then that would mean Shiro, Sam and Matt hadn’t been released. If Lance was in Sendak’s position, he wouldn’t have released a hunter. Shiro could have been a future bargaining chip. Then again, Sendak probably saw humans like cattle. So weak and insignificant that there was no point wasting resources on keeping them alive. Trying to objectify his friends left him mixed up inside. He didn’t want to think of them like that. The lives of his friends weren’t worthless. There was safety in numbers and now that number had been cut by three dependable people. Lance knew Zethrid and Ezor had helped Keith, but what would they make of the betrayal of their friend?

“Do not look so alarmed. If you obey, things will go much easier for you”

“Fuck you. Of course I’m going to worry about my friends”

“Really? I think you should be more concerned with yourself. You’re letting your true nature show. Have they not fed you?”

“No. They don’t feel us”

“Ah, then we are lucky we have humans here. You must be starved”

“Not so starved that I’d stoop to your level. And don’t act like you understand when you stink of human blood”

Lotor moved his hands, appearing to be examining them

“I had a small rat problem to deal with. That particular piece of vermin won’t be causing any more trouble. It had the nerve to betray me. The nerve to set us both us. It had this coming”

So Narti was dead. Dead and her blood was what clung to Lotor. How could he sit there so calmly? Did he really feel no remorse for taking Narti’s life? Once again, if he was Sendak, he would have imprisoned her. Tried to draw as much information from her as possible about VOLTRON. Did Lotor kill her to protect that information? Or did Lotor kill her to spare her what was to come? Why was he trying to justify death? There were other things he needed to know

“Does anyone know you’re here?”

“I was asked to leave by Allura. I had grown rather fond of not being under the thumb of my father... but she wouldn’t listen objectively. She had no desire for me to stay any longer, and since you make for the most interesting of specimens, I decided I may as well be where the action is”

“Are you saying you did this for me?”

Lotor shrugged, a moment passing so long that Lance knew he wasn’t going to get an answer to that question. Like, if Lotor was trying to do a good thing, he could have at least said as much in his own way

“Then do you have some kind of plan?”

“Not to die. Though, I may face some backlash. Sendak was quite taken back to learn the true paternity of that child in your belly”

Lance opened his mouth to immediately deny what Lotor said, until it hit him and he promptly shut his mouth. Lotor had said “child” not “children”. Had Narti informed Sendak it was twins, the lie would have been found out the moment they examined him. They could test for paternity, but that would take time. If Sendak contacted Honerva and informed her, she may want evidence. She may also be more inclined to not hurt the baby if she thought it her grandchild. The thought of being held by Lotor sickened him. As did denying Keith was the father of their twins. He was proud to be Keith’s boyfriend. Lying brought time, but he wasn’t comfortable with at all. If Lotor was going to lie like that, he’d preferred the man said Matt, like their baby would some kind of vampire cross werewolf. Fucking Lotor.

Lotor raised his voice, confirming what they’d thought suspected over being monitored

“For now we should rest. I doubt my mother would be happy to hear of your treatment. You could lose the child without blood, and she would lose the chance to study you. I doubt anyone would wish to stand before Zarkon and have that conversation”

“You know I only drink from blood bags”

If they were listening, Lance wanted to make that very clear

“Because you’re weakling without the stomach for fresh blood. You’d be unstopped if you fed on fresh blood”

Hopefully their little “talk” had reached someone who’d bring him blood. Poor Curtis had to put up with two vampires now, and he didn’t want to vamp out on his friend. He’d sit and behave, then fuck Lotor, he was going to find a way to get him and Curtis free of this. He and the twins were getting back to Keith. He was going back to his boyfriend, no matter what it took to get back there.

[why-did-i-join-this-fandom]

youngest!voltron member headcanons? like the reader is the youngest out of all of them and she gets constantly babied, maybe for a more specific part she proves that she is just as strong as the other by saving the team when they're kidnapped

I didn’t write the whole “reader getting kidnapped” thing as a headcanon.  I hope you don’t mind.   This was super fun to write!!  Thank you for requesting!!  Please leave some feedback so that I can improve my writing.

Word count: 1439

Being the youngest member of Voltron:

You’re obviously the baby of the group (even though you’re only a year younger than Pidge)

If you joined at the beginning of their adventures, then they’re more likely to trust you to hold your own.  But, if you joined later on, they are more likely to baby you

Hunk is probably the second person to start to not baby you.  He’s probably baking or cooking and you start opening up to him.  You both talk about your families back on Earth.  Maybe you have a younger sibling that you had to defend, or maybe an older sibling taught you how to defend yourself.  Either way, you end up telling stories about the times that you defended yourself and others.  Hunk is still cautious about letting you fight, but at least he knows that you can defend yourself well

Pidge is the first person to not baby you.  She understands that being younger doesn’t mean that you are weaker.  While she can be a bit standoffish, when you do get her to open up, she gets you to help her with training and her technology.  You may not understand everything technological, but it’s still nice to be able to help her and be there to listen to her.  Overall, she understands that you can hold your own and will be there to defend you when the others start babying you.

Keith is surprisingly okay with you fighting.  That doesn’t mean that he won’t baby you, though.  He’s more of the type to train you so that you don’t get hurt.  It’s likely that he’ll be wary of you coming on missions.  If you end up getting hurt, he’ll scold you and train you even harder.  He doesn’t really “baby” you, it’s more of him making sure that you don’t get hurt or die.  It’s either him training you to be your best, or him refusing to take you on any missions.

Allura totally denies that you are strong enough to fight.  She’ll send you on smaller missions that she knows won’t include (much) fighting.  Although her intentions are good, it still makes you mad that she doesn’t seem to trust you.  She sets a tight schedule for your training and barely lets you take any breaks.  The difficulty level for the training is lower than you need, but she’s reluctant to increase it.  Overall, she’s worried that you’ll get hurt, and will likely be like a worried older sister.

Coran is totally for you fighting.  If you are in the castle’s training room.  On the easiest difficulty.  He tries to assign you smaller tasks to stop you from training and going on missions.  No matter how fast you complete the tasks he assigns and how ready you are to fight, there’s seemingly an endless list of things to do.  On the rare occasion that he does let you on a mission, it’s always something small.  You could be collecting something from an abandoned planet and he would still send the whole team to protect you.  He doesn’t like the idea of you getting hurt and will assign you chores around the ship.

Shiro is totally Space Dad(™).  He is strict on not letting you go on missions.  Even the smallest missions are a no from him.  This puts a rift between you two.  You know he means well.  It’s just so frustrating that he won’t even let you show him what you can do.  Not only that, but he tries to not let you do anything dangerous.  Fighting?  No.  Training?  Nope.  Missions?  No way!  Even ovens are off limits for you.  He just wants to protect you and make sure that you don’t get hurt.  You tell him that he might as well baby proof the castle and he actually considers it.

Lance is 100% the protective older brother.  He’s similar to Shiro in the way that he doesn’t want you to get hurt, but deep down, he knows that you can hold your own.  He’s had experience with younger kids and he knows how fragile they are.  But, he also knows how strong they are.  Truthfully, he misses his family back on Earth and is desperately trying to hold onto something familiar.  While Shiro is baby proofing everything, he is babysitting you.

Everyone trying to baby you is so stressful, that when you land on the next planet, you practically bolt outside.  You just want some space to breathe.  The planet was practically abandoned, so you weren’t too worried about the potential danger.

Maybe you should have listened to everyone...

  You were surrounded by aliens.  Not thinking much of it, you tried to tell them that you meant no harm and tried to introduce yourself to them.

  “We know who you are.  You are the baby of Voltron.”  You noticed the evil look in their eyes.  “You will be our leverage against Voltron.”  They readied their weapons, and leapt at you one by one.

  “Guys?  I think I need a little help.”  Your voice came out between grunts and gasps.  It was better to get a hold of the team first, then you could worry about fighting them off.

  Allura was the first to hear your plea for help.  Her response came after about a minute of silence on their end.  She called everyone else and got them to gear up.  While they were gearing up, you were getting increasingly worn out.

  “We’re on our way.  What’s going on?  Are you okay?”  

  “I’m holding up.”  You were interrupted by a swift kick to the gut.  “No major injuries.  They’re trying to use me as leverage.”  They kept attacking, but you kept dodging.

  “Keep fighting.  Voltron is on its way.”

  You kept fighting.  You didn’t want to kill them, but you also didn’t want to be kidnapped.  Knocking them out was a temporary solution, but it seemed to be the best one for now.  The team approached as you fought off the last ones.

  “[Y/N]!”

  The sound of the team yelling for you distracted you briefly.  The last alien took its shot, hitting you in the arm.  You let out a pained yelp, but continued to fight.  You were covered with cuts and bruises.  It hurt like hell, and you wanted to give in to the pain, but you didn’t.  The team was so close.  You had to prove yourself to them.  You had to prove that you could help them.

  Team Voltron landed as you knocked out the last alien.  They crowded around you and started to yell at you for being so reckless.

  Getting tired of their yelling and scolding, you finally spoke up.  “Can’t you see that I’m okay?  I defended myself without any of your guys’s help!  Why can’t you trust me?”  They stopped talking.  “I just want you to trust that I can defend myself!  Almost everyone is treating me like a baby!  You keeping me from fighting is hurting me more than actually fighting ever would!”

  Shiro spoke up.  “Let’s get back to the castle, we’ll discuss this more when we get there.”

  Everyone silently agreed, and made their way back to their lions.  The ride to the castle was tense.  When everyone landed, you walked out with your head held down.

  Pidge was the one to break the tension.  “She’s right, you know.  We all keep babying her.”  She paused to think.  “You guys may not like the idea of her going on missions or fighting.  But, I think she’s proven that she isn’t as weak as you guys think.”  You send a nod to her, silently thanking her for defending you.

  “Yeah, I mean, she always talks about how she defended her younger siblings and how her older siblings taught her how to defend herself.”  Hunk was second to your defense.

  Keith reluctantly chimed in.  “I’ve been training with her, and she’s actually kind of good.”  He doesn’t say anything else, but he didn’t need to.

Lance, Shiro, Coran, and Allura were exchanging thoughtful glances.  The tension slowly rose in the room, before they all nodded at each other.

“Alright.  We’ll try to be a little less controlling.  You’re going to have to double your training and prove that you can handle yourself.”  Shiro spoke.  Lance, Coran, and Allura all reluctantly agreed.

  You wanted to argue that what just happened was enough proof, but you knew that it would be better to just agree with them.  “Thank you.  I promise you won’t regret this!”  With a huge smile you ran over to hug them.

  Maybe almost getting kidnapped was just what you needed.  It’s funny how things work out.

[haleykim84]

Wondering if you have any good Sheith recs? Love Klance but in the mood for some Shiro.

Hi anon!

Thanks for the ask!

While I'm usually more of a gen girl, I do enjoy reading Sheith, so I definitely have some recs for you! Now, considering you've asked me, your resident Keith whumper, for recs I'm going to assume you like Keith whump, yes? ;)

None of these have any smut, by the way, since that isn't really my thing. I just like to read about Shiro taking care of Keith :)

Our stories of the gentle fall by Idrilka (19K) Author's summary: The Galra prison cell sees no light. (Or: Shiro and Keith get captured. Shiro tries to hold on and keep Keith alive at all cost.)

Let me stand (tremblingly before you) by @paladin-pile (5K) Author's summary: Keith is beat to hell. He’s covered in soot, scrapes, and bruises. An angry red scar covers most of his cheek, and there's dried blood in his hair and on his forehead. A whimper leaves Shiro’s mouth and Keith’s face morphs to worry, though he doesn't move from where he’s braced against the seat.

“Shiro-” Keith starts, but Shiro interrupts him.

“Who did this to you?”

It’s the only thought his mind can produce, and Keith drops his gaze to the floor. There’s a few beats of silence as Keith opens his mouth, then closes it, looking down at his bruised hands.

“Haggar.”

(After coming back from the dead, Shiro's mind is disturbingly blank. He's lonely and pining hard for Keith, but Keith is keeping secrets)

you, in a fight you lost by @arahir (6K) Author's summary: Keith loses a fight with Haggar. It's bad.

It’s too much to take in at once—there’s blood on Keith's face, in his hair, streaked down the white of his Paladin armor on one side. A mark spreads across his cheek like a bruise, dark and lurid, and he’s holding one arm at an odd angle—

No, it’s broken.

He takes a halting step toward them. The splatter of blood hitting the floor is audible.

That's how they learn Altean healing pods don't work on Galra.

Faith by pholo (@mighty-trash) (1.5K) Author's summary: Whilst held captive on a Galra ship, Keith is confronted by…Shiro?

Warning for attempted non-con.

Of desert grains and cosmic dust by wolfsan11 (40K) Author's summary: Soon after a fallout with one of the members of the team, Keith is inflicted by a strange illness that ravages his body and mind; something that takes him ever closer to the brink of death. Despite their differences, the Paladins are desperate to save the life of one of their own.

Now, if only Keith would figure that out.

Behind Locked Doors by pholo (@mighty-trash) (4K) Author's summary: Pebbles sprout up between Shiro's fingers. It feels as though the dirt stretches on and on forever under his hands. Pidge heeds Lance's command, and soon she, Hunk, and Shiro are all on their knees, scratching and cutting at the earth, searching for a flash of color amidst the cool rocks and soil. “It's an impermote,” Allura explains as they dig. “A microscopic parasite that feeds on emotion. It's using Keith's memories to illicit a more powerful emotional response.”

“And doesn't he hate it!” Keith says. “His anger tastes delicious.”

Unlock the Rain by Lionescence (22K) Author's summary: Adjusting to their new relationship, Shiro struggles to get Keith to open up to the rest of the team. He understands, of course, that between disappearing twice, dealing with a clone, and leading Voltron in his absence, Keith's walls are higher and as insurmountable as they have ever been. Despite their newfound love, Keith seems lonelier and further away than ever.

A well-meaning gesture from a grateful alien allows those walls to come down. Just not the way anyone expected.

Keith wouldn't know. He's only two-and-a-half years old.

region of the summer stars by astrainclinant (32K) Author's summary: Shiro's life revolves around his job and his team and occasionally dealing with his trauma. The young man who was dumped onto his doorstep is a new development.

Roots by pholo (@mighty-trash) (1K) Author's summary: "Keith tries to remove the suit slowly; precisely. The suction-cup nature of the suit has caused Keith’s blood to dry caked to his skin. Keith grinds his teeth as he works, determined not to cry out when he tears open his shoulder wound. It’s been five minutes, and he’s barely pulled the suit down past his biceps."

Shiro comforts Keith after the Blade trials.

Here you go, Anon! These are my absolute favorite Sheith fics (with Keith whump ;)), and they are all amaaaaaaazing! Hope you'll enjoy! :)

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 6

Today’s fic is definitely a dark one, though it does have a happy ending. Allura gets a moment to shine, and Hunk gets several. Make sure to check the warnings and let me know if I missed any!

Read on AO3

Read on FFN

Day 6 - “Get it out”/“Stop, please”

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Warnings: restraints, non-consensual body modification, fantastic racism, blood, vomit, gore, graphic descriptions of brain surgery

“You can’t do this!”

Keith yanked at the restraints that held his wrists against the table. It was fruitless, he knew, he had been trying ever since they strapped him down several minutes ago, but that didn’t stop him from trying again. If he could just get his hands free, he could get up and knock these psychotic racists off their feet. 

“They’ll stop you. Voltron will stop you!”

He couldn’t see any of the people looming over him, not with his face forced down into a hole in the table so that the back of his head was excruciatingly exposed. That didn’t mean he couldn’t feel their presence. They didn’t even speak, didn’t acknowledge his protests and threats. To them, he was already just an object lying there, nothing to concern themselves with other than to prep him for their procedure. He kept pulling on the straps, almost as if determined to prove them wrong. 

A buzzing sound that he would recognize anywhere started up and made his stomach turn a somersault. Suddenly what was about to happen to him was very, very real, and Keith was very afraid. Arching his neck back as best he could, he shouted at the top of his lungs. “No! No, stop! Don’t...don’t do this!”

“Hold him.”

Briefly a lab coat appeared in front of him, then a pair of hands braced themselves on either side of his head and shoved down hard. There was no fighting against Altean strength, especially not from that position. The buzzing drew closer. Keith flinched violently at the first contact of the blade, though it only swept gently down the back of his scalp, taking large clumps of hair with it. He gritted his teeth to hold back a sob.

A minute later and that part of the job was done. A wet cloth swept over the newly shaven area, cleaning off small bits of hair left behind. Every touch made a shudder run through Keith’s body.

“He’s prepped.”

“Thank you, Noraja.”

More hands on his head, this time poking and prodding. “Alright, making the first incision now.”

Keith’s whole body tensed. This was it, his last chance to fight. “Stop, please! You don’t understand, I’m not like them! I’m a Paladin of Voltron, I help people! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Make sure you keep him still.”

“Don’t worry, sir, I’ve got him.”

Then there was something slicing into the bared skin, and it hurt just as much as he knew it was going to, but even worse than the pain was the knowledge that it was not in the least the worst part of all of this. Tears stung his eyes, but he blinked rapidly to banish them. He wouldn’t beg anymore. He wouldn’t. It did no good, anyway. His team was clearly not going to be able to save him, regardless of his boasts. The best that he could do was live his last free moments with as much dignity as possible.

The pain in his head intensified. The Altean surgeon had made at least two cuts by then, though Keith lost track of what was happening after that through the pain and the feeling of blood pouring out and being methodically blotted away. 

There was another whirring sound, and if the razor had scared him, this froze him with absolute terror. 

“Ready to drill.”

It didn’t really hurt. Somehow, there was no new pain, but Keith screamed, anyway. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t actually feel the drill going in, the vibration of his entire skull and the knowledge of what was happening was enough to send him over the edge. 

He was gonna pass out. He couldn’t pass out. If he passed out, he would wake up and they would be done and he would have missed his last chance to actually live, however horrendous this life now was. 

So instead, his stomach heaved and emptied itself onto the floor beneath him. The person holding his head didn’t even seem to flinch. His vision faded in and out as the horrible drilling continued, but he held on until it finally, mercifully stopped. 

“Alright, the hard part is done.”

“Looks good, Doctor.”

“We’re ready now for the hoktril.”

The hoktril. The thing that all of this madness was about. The metal device that these alternate-universe Alteans were so proud of, that they were about to implant in his brain through the holes they had just drilled through his skull, that would sap all of his free will and leave him as a mindless slave. All because Commander Hira found out that he was half Galra, and Allura and the others hadn’t been able to stop them from overpowering him and dragging him away.

“Please,” he choked. His earlier determination not to beg was forgotten in the midst of the panic that seized his chest. “Please!” 

For most of his life, Keith had been prepared to die. Particularly now, when he faced death every other day. Dying didn’t scare him. But this...this was much worse than death. This fate terrified him.

The metal went in with a sickening squelch, cold against his cut open skin. 

“It’s a perfect fit.”

Tears overflowed despite his best efforts, rolling just onto his cheekbones before succumbing to gravity and dropping to the floor. Any second. Any second now they would complete the process, turn it on or whatever it was they had to do, and Keith would be no more. How aware would he actually be? Did the hoktril actually delete free will as they claimed, leaving him neutral and complacent, or would he be trapped inside his own body for the rest of eternity, screaming where no one could hear? He’d find out any second now. And then it would be too late.

“Alright, now pass me the -”

“Stop right there! No one move!”

Keith gasped in a shaky breath. He knew that voice!

"E-Empress So?"

He let out a sob of relief. Allura was here. Allura was here, and she sounded mad.

“Everyone take your hands off the black paladin and back away slowly.” That was Lance. He had on his business voice, and they must have had their bayards out, too, because miraculously, every hand lifted until it was only the straps holding him there. 

“Empress, I apologize, but there must be some kind of misunderstanding. You see, our orders come from Commander Hira, and -”

“And I outrank Commander Hira, do I not? Everyone out, now.”

“But the procedure is not finished, he’s still a danger-”

“Now!”

Allura’s tone brooked no argument. There was a shuffling of chairs and feet, and Keith felt the presences that had hovered over him all this time retreat. A door clicked shut, and the team exploded.

“Oh my stars, Keith!”

“Holy quiznak.”

“Dude, I’m so sorry -”

“Guys, I can’t, I can’t I can’t, I’m gonna…”

This was followed by the unmistakable sound of Hunk losing his lunch somewhere across the room, but Keith’s attention was on the others who had approached him. A gentle hand rested on his back, and he couldn’t help but tense. 

“I’m so sorry, Keith,” Allura began from above him. “We tried to get here as fast as we could, but Hira had us detained for ‘obstruction of justice’, and -” Her breath hitched. “I’m so, so sorry. Thank the stars we didn’t arrive any later.”

Keith couldn’t reply. He was so incredibly, undeniably relieved to have them there, but he still couldn’t stop shaking and crying. As Allura and Pidge began murmuring together about scientific things, a pair of armored knees appeared in his vision, followed by a round, slightly pale but still smiling face. 

“Hey buddy,” Hunk greeted him softly. “Give me a sec, I’m just gonna…” Fetching a towel from somewhere nearby, he threw it over the puddle of sick so that he could scoot in closer, hunching over so that he could be almost directly below Keith. It had to have been uncomfortable, but seeing a familiar face eased just a bit of the lingering fear.

“Hey, you’re okay now. Those bad guys are gone, and nobody’s gonna hurt you anymore, I promise.”

“Get it out.” It started as a whisper, but quickly grew to a frantic near-shout. “Get it out, get it out, please…”

“Yeah, yeah, we will! Okay? Shh, just...just try to take some deep breaths…”

The tears wouldn’t stop coming. “Please. I just want it out.”

Pidge suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision, squatting down to see him. “We’re gonna work on that, okay? The good news is, they only made it through putting in the metal base piece. None of the actual important pieces were inserted. So it’s just a matter of removing the base and getting you back to the Castle to heal.”

As she vanished again, Hunk smiled at him. “Hear that? It’ll be gone before you know it. Just hang in there, bud.”

Lance’s voice came through the table. “Hey Keith, I’m just gonna put my hand on your head, okay?” He did so without waiting for a response, and Keith immediately panicked.

“No! No!” Kicking out against the restraints, he fought against the hand holding his head down with all his remaining energy.

“Whoa, whoa! It’s okay!” 

He barely registered the hand disappearing, but he did hear Lance speak again, closer to his ear this time. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, man, I shouldn’t have...I won’t touch it again, okay? Promise. I just wanted to help you stay still while they were getting it out.”

Keith stopped struggling, though his body trembled anew. “I’ll keep it still,” he managed. “I swear.”

“I know you will,” Hunk replied, still keeping up his perky demeanor. “Hey Lance, unhook that hand for me, will ya?” 

The red paladin obliged, releasing Keith’s right hand from the strap and helping him maneuver it up toward his head. Hunk grasped it in both of his own.

“I’m right here for ya, okay? Feel free to squeeze as much as you need to.”

Keith gave a shaky nod. “‘Kay.”

The sound of the metal coming out was almost worse than going in, but it was more than worth it to feel that foreign pressure disappear. Keith shut his eyes with a long sigh, letting the last of his tears slip out. Hunk, to his credit, only turned slightly green, and kept on holding his hand and uttering reassurances the whole time. The other three worked quickly to tape on plenty of gauze, then helped him sit up very slowly with lots of support.

“Your beautiful mullet,” Lance groaned dramatically. “I can’t believe it’s ruined.”

Somehow Keith was able to huff a quiet laugh. “It’s only hair, Lance. It’ll grow back.”

Allura came around in front of him and clutched both his hands. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. We need to get you back as soon as possible.” She looked around at the rest of the team. “Getting out of here may not be easy, but let’s make it quick, alright? For Keith.”

“I volunteer for Keith-carrying duty!” Hunk announced.

Keith ducked his head. “Nobody needs to -”

“Nuh-uh, I don’t want to hear it.” Before he could say another word, Hunk had scooped him up off the table. “I promised you no one else would hurt you, and I’m gonna personally make sure that promise is kept.”

[corvus--rex]

So, to start off with, these are a little rough. Mostly cleaned up for spelling/grammar, but there are things that are more like placeholder notes in exposition form that would be written out if I went back to it.

This one's working title is Quantum Fracture, is "in universe" non-canon compliant, and is set both near the end of s.2 after ep.9, and a few years post s.8. It's also only semi-abandoned. I like it and want to keep going with it, but I've hit a wall and just can't do anything with it right now. It has (sort-of) time travel and "Galra genetics are weird" resulting in Klance kids. It does also switch between times, but those sections have punctuation separators.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lance, Pidge, keep watch on the area. Keith, Hunk, and I will go down to check it out,” Shiro said over the comms.

“Got it.”

“Copy that.”

Green and Blue split off from the V-formation, flying over the asteroid while Black, Red, and Yellow landed on its surface. Lance and Pidge kept a visual track on their friends while keeping their scanners active for anything in the area. Team Voltron had been on their way back to the Castle after liberating another planet from the Galra Empire when Pidge’s more finely-tuned scanners picked up on what looked like an abandoned Galra base embedded in an asteroid. Shiro made the call to check it out and let Allura and Coran know what was going on, keeping Lance and Pidge on watch. The Black Paladin took point, with Keith right behind him. Hunk brought up the rear, man-portable cannon ready for whatever might try to sneak up on them. The facility was powered down, a layer of dust on every surface.

“Looks like it really is abandoned,” Keith said, “I don’t think there’s anyone or anything left here.”

“Agreed, but I want to complete a sweep of the facility. Never know what might have been left behind,” Shiro replied.

They continued on, not making any real effort at stealth, but only made it about another 20 feet before a side door creaked and flew open, Keith finding himself blown out into space, despite Hunk’s effort to prevent it. Keith tried to use his jetpack to redirect himself and head back to the facility, but there was just enough gravity generated by the density of the asteroid field to pull him toward the nearest surface. He bounced off the next asteroid, damaging his jetpack in the process. It sent him away from the asteroid field and into open space.

This isn’t how this was supposed to go, Keith thought as he floated in the void, then realized just how much Lance was rubbing off on him. His back hit a second, smaller asteroid, and he bounced off into the nothingness. Come on, Red. Where are you?

He felt the shift in the vacuum an instant before the sensors in his armor picked it up. The short chirp announced the sensors’ findings, bringing it up on the HUD. The display’s minimal capabilities showed the slight variant, a faint ripple in the fabric of space.

“The fuck is that?” he asked the void of space.

He hadn’t expected an answer, and didn’t get one. What he did get was the familiar mental pressure of the red Lion, immediately followed by the equally familiar golden glow of the robotic cat’s eyes. Red swallowed the paladin’s free-floating body, and he rolled through the slowly pressurizing corridor before the artificial gravity activated. He had only just taken his seat in the cockpit when he heard Pidge shouting across the comms.

“Keith! Are you ok? There was a spatial-temporal fluctuation right next to you.”

“Yeah, I felt it, but I'm ok,” he answered, exhausted from the mission and subsequent launch into space.

Green came up alongside Red, guiding them back to the Castle, Blue right behind them. Once the three Paladins were back aboard the Castle of Lions, Pidge insisted that Keith go to the medical deck, just in case.

“Ok, fine, Pidge. But I'm fine. Really,” Keith protested while simultaneously giving in.

She didn’t trust him to really go, but she was also concerned with the anomaly she found, so didn’t question it when Lance volunteered to make sure Keith went.

“Keith, what were you thinking?” Lance asked when they were alone.

“I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t anything I did and Hunk and Shiro will figure it out. Pidge is more worried about the space-time ripple we encountered. But I'm fine. Really.”

Blue’s Paladin stopped in the middle of the empty corridor. “You scared me, cuervo. I saw you get ejected into empty space without Red or any of us nearby. Pidge said she was going after you, but still…it scared me.”

“I don’t think we should hide anymore. I think it’s time to let the team in on our secret.”

The pair had been dating secretly for a month at that point, intentionally keeping their relationship from the rest of the team. Keith didn’t think they would have been taken seriously to begin with, and Lance agreed. After a late-night talk, they both decided to give it time and let themselves settle into their budding relationship. But it was beginning to make them behave differently, especially on missions. They became focused on where the other was and it was causing mistakes. This last mistake could have been deadly, although Keith was right, he hadn’t done or not done anything that led to the deserted Galra base’s small side door opening and pulling the Red Paladin into the cold vacuum of space.

“Yeah, I think you might be right,” Lance admitted.

Keith took his boyfriend’s hand, linking their fingers together, and headed toward the medical deck. Coran met them there, no doubt having been called by Pidge. Keith was thoroughly checked over by way of the Castle’s scanners, and as far as they could tell, not a molecule was out of place. After finding out that Keith was at least partly Galra, Pidge and Hunk had thrown themselves into a reprograming project to the medical deck’s scanners, integrating human biological standards. They were surprised to find that the scanners were already programmed with Galra standards, and that was when Coran told the entire team about the original Paladins, Zarkon included.

Instead of the lounge or one of their bedrooms, Lance and Keith instead went to one of the Castle’s many observation balconies. Once they were alone, Keith let himself crumble, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and holding on as tightly as he could. Lance gently returned the physical connection, understanding that the events of the morning had affected him more than he would let on in front of anyone else. He waited until he could feel the tension drain and knew that Keith was just sneaking middle of the day snuggling.

“You better now?” Lance asked.

Keith sighed softly against Lance’s neck. “Yeah, I think so. We should probably go see what Pidge found before anyone wonders where we went.”

“I don’t wanna,” he protested, holding on tighter.

Keith laughed and pulled away. “Well, if we stop keeping all this a secret, we won’t have to worry about where and when anymore.”

“Ugh. I guess.” Lance’s tone was overdramatic as usual, but his blue eyes sparkled with excitement at the idea of being open about his relationship.

Stepping backward out the door, Keith led the way toward the Lions’ hangars and Pidge’s lab. Halfway down the second to last corridor, Keith tripped over the smooth floor. He caught himself mid-stumble and stopped completely.

“Keith?” Lance asked, “Mi cuervo, you ok?”

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

“Keith! What the fuck was that?” Lance called over the comm.

“Dunno, but my speeder’s sensors caught it. Heading back now,” Keith answered from inside his modified speeder.

Modified, that was, by Pidge, who had retrofitted all of the Lions’ speeders to be able to fly in space. They were still fairly short-range, not capable of straying far from the Lions. It meant that Keith was still in visual range of Red when the Lion’s sensors spiked with the anomaly’s fluctuation.

Lance was waiting at the door to the cockpit when Keith came in. The tail of the raised French braid that normally ran halfway down his back was draped over his shoulder. Lance had insisted on braiding his husband’s hair that morning. Keith had groaned and asked why, seeing as it was just a simple recon mission. “Because you’re pretty, the twins are at school, we have time, and I felt like it,” was the list of reasons Lance rattled off as he made Keith sit. He didn’t mind it, but they usually saved more complex braids for diplomatic missions, not “drive down the street for space readings” missions.

Keith had had his second puberty while in the Quantum Abyss with Krolia, and it ended up being a good thing she was there. Alone, he would have assumed that the abdominal cramping, chills, fever, nausea, and full-body pain meant that he was dying. Krolia, however, recognized the symptoms of the shift in her son’s body to that of a Carrier and becoming physically capable of conceiving and carrying a baby. She told him that his half-human status may well have rendered him infertile, but they didn’t have the resources to look into it at the time, and the middle of a war wasn’t the time to worry about it. So it surprised both Keith and Lance when he found himself pregnant not long after the war ended, and they welcomed their twins Andra and Ori five and a half months later after a normal Galra-length pregnancy. The twins birth records had their names down as Andromeda Artemis and Orion Fenris Kogane-McClain, names that were called with increasing frequency now that the twins were five.

Keith sat himself in the pilot’s seat, pulling up the sensor readings from both Red and the speeder. They looked the same to both himself and Lance, but Pidge would be able to make better sense of them. But something about the anomaly was bothering Keith. It took a good minute of staring at the readings to realize that it was similar to how spacetime behaved near the core of the Quantum Abyss. And something about thatbothered him even more.

“You ok, cuervo?” Lance asked, leaning against the edge of the display panel.

“Yeah,” Keith sighed, “Just something about that anomaly reminds me of the Quantum Abyss. We’ll get it to Pidge and figure it out.”

The trip back to the new Castle was short, Red bypassing the reconfigured IGF-Atlas and heading directly for his hangar on the original Castle of Lions. After the end of the Galra War and the brief, but intense, war with Honerva, the Voltron Coalition needed a permanent – and mobile – base. The Atlas reshaped itself, wrapping around the Castle like the defensive walls of an ancient castle around its keep. Its completed size rivaled that of Galra Central Command, now the seat of the newly-formed Galra Collective.

Team Voltron’s power couple – beating out Shiro’s marriage to Adam – crossed the distance to Green’s hangar, where Pidge still maintained her personal lab. They found her buried in her multi-screen setup, one screen dedicated to the call she was on with her long-distance Olkari girlfriend Malyn, the others covered in technical readouts, diagrams, and blueprints.

“We’re back,” Keith announced when they walked in.

“Oh good. Anything weird happen out there?” Pidge said, taking Keith’s comm.

“The anomaly is behaving like the core of the Quantum Abyss.”

Pidge shoved the device into her computer a little harder than she intended. Except for her ongoing call, she wiped everything off the other screens, replacing what was on them with the readouts from both Red and the speeder. Her amber eyes flicked from screen to screen, already analyzing.

“I’m really sorry, Malyn. I have to call you later.”

“Of course. Is everything all right?” Malyn asked, concern laced in her voice.

“I’m not sure yet. We found a spatial-temporal anomaly, but it’s behaving differently from anything similar I’ve seen. Maybe…there was one…nah, that was different…”

Malyn laughed, she always found her girlfriend’s analytical mind adorable. “I’ll let you get to that. We’ll talk later.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, Malyn. We’ll talk again later, promise,” Pidge apologized again, but Malyn waved her off, still laughing, and cut the call.

“So, you'll let us know when you’ve found something?” Lance prompted.

“What? Yeah. Right. This is weirder than anything I've ever seen like this…”

Lance and Keith shared a look, knowing that Pidge was fully invested in the data and that she wouldn’t leave her computer unless she was physically removed. Deciding on the tactical retreat, they left her to it, heading back to their apartment on the Castle.

The Atlas hadn’t been the only thing to be reconfigured. The Castle of Lions had undergone its own renovations, the old single rooms turned into apartment-like suites. Shiro and Adam maintained Garrison positions onboard the Atlas, but retired to the Castle at the end of every day. Lance and Keith settled into their apartment after their two month long honeymoon. Hunk was splitting his time between the Castle and Balmera, sharing his space with Shay when they were there. Pidge mostly used hers as an excuse for more tech and a separate workspace, but Malyn stayed there with her when she could get time away from rebuilding Olkarion under Ryner’s guidance. Coran had decided to keep his old room the way it was, and Allura felt that her own rooms didn’t need the upgrade. The rest of the rooms stayed the same for the new Altean crew running the ship at a proper capacity.

It wasn’t until they got back that Keith realized Pidge still had his comm. “Well, shit. I’ll be back,” he said, heading for the door.

Lance decided to follow him out into the corridor.

“Why?”

“Because,” Lance answered, “I have nothing better to do and I can watch you walk away all day.”

“What the fuck, Lance?” Keith groaned in mock frustration.

“No, that’s after we get your comm.”

Keith turned, intending to call Lance out on exposing him like that, but stumbled, relieved that Lance was close enough to catch him.

“You alright, cuervo?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just tripped,” he said, but stopped. Something was wrong. He could feel the braid hanging over his shoulder from when he stumbled, felt the strength in Lance’s arms. No, this was wrong. He looked up. There was a small scar he didn’t remember being there, and the blue Altean marks were definitely new. His own body felt foreign. It was shaped differently, taller and broader than it should be. His voice was different, a little deeper, a little huskier than it should be. “Lance?”

“Keith, love, are you really ok?”

“I…I don’t know.”

Lance helped him to stand, leading him back to their apartment. Once inside, he sat Keith on the couch. “What happened? Exactly,” he asked.

“What does – is this about the anomaly? I told you before that I'm fine. We had Coran check me out. There was nothing wrong. Where are we anyway?”

“We didn’t have Coran check you out. There’s an entire medical crew for that anyway. We’re home, on the Castle. What do you remember from this morning?” Lance’s entire tone was cautious. Something was very wrong with his husband, but he wanted to have at least some answers before bringing it up with anyone else.

“We were coming back from a mission and stopped to check out an abandoned Galra base in an asteroid field. One of the side doors opened and I got blown out. There was a ripple in space-time, and I got close to it in nothing but my armor before Red came to get me. But I'm fine. I told both you and Pidge that.”

Lance remembered that mission. Overall, it was unremarkable. The base didn’t have anything useful. But there hadn’t been any temporal fluctuations. Yes, Keith had ended up floating through the void, but nothing happened other than that. The only reason he remembered that mission in particular was because that was when they decided to tell the team that they were together. It had been ten years since that mission.

“Ok. I do remember that. But, that was ten years ago. That was when we decided to tell the team that we’d been dating for a month.”

Keith’s face flickered between shock, bewilderment, and terror. Ten years? There was no way that could be right. But the evidence was right there. His own body and voice were different. He could see and feel how long his hair had gotten. And then there was Lance. He was beautiful as ever, and it certainly seemed that they were still together, but he was different. The scar, the Altean marks – how and when the fuck did that happen, and why? – and there was the fact that he was broader, more muscled, not slender and willowy like he had been. He processed everything in real time, not saying a word in that time. It had apparently been longer than he thought, because Lance was looking up at him from where he’d tilted his head to the side.

“Keith? Mi cuervo? What is going on?”

“You…you still call me that? It really has been ten years?”

“This has to be related to that anomaly,” he muttered. “Yeah, it’s really been ten years. And, yeah, I do still call you that. A lot’s changed in ten years, but not that. Stay here. I need to show you something. It might help.” Lance stood, leaving the room for their bedroom, coming back in less than a minute. He extended his free hand, bringing Keith over to the table where they both sat. Lance placed a ring of smoothly twisted and woven silver metal and carved crystal that shifted between blood red, cobalt, and vibrant violet on the table between them. “Do you remember this?” he asked softly, “Do you remember when I gave you that?”

Keith stared at it like if he could untwist it mentally, he could remember what it was. But he couldn’t, because Lance had never given him anything like it. It was definitely something he could see Lance picking for him, but as far as Keith knew, he never had.

“No, I don’t,” he had to admit.

Lance sighed, a tinge of sadness to it. “Ok. Something happened with the temporal anomaly we found earlier and that Pidge is still analyzing. I know you’re really Keith, but I don’t think you're my Keith. What you said happened this morning happened ten years ago for me. We need to go check in with Pidge and see if she’s figured anything out yet.”

“Ok,” Keith agreed, rising to follow Lance, “I shouldn’t know anything else. Not yet. But at least I know we’re still together.”

“We certainly are,” Lance agreed, taking Keith’s hand, “We’ll figure this out. That anomaly might have fucked with your memories somehow, but we’ll figure it out.”

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

“Yeah, fine.” Keith stood on his own, suddenly realizing that they shouldn’t have been a corridor and a half away from Green’s hangar, they should have been close to their apartment in a completely different part of the castle. Everything seemed ever so slightly bigger, except for himself and Lance. His braid was gone, and he was wearing clothes he hadn’t seen in years. And Lance looked so young. This was the thin, wiry boy he’d fallen in love with more than ten years before. The one without the Altean marks he’d gotten when Allura revived him after saving her from an energy blast. But he heard Lance call him by that familiar pet name. That alone left Keith with more questions.

“We need to see if Pidge’s gotten anywhere with that anomaly,” Lance said.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed. When had his voice gotten higher?

Keith stopped when they walked into Pidge’s lab. It wasn’t what he was expecting. This was the lab of a decade earlier. The one with the laptop she’d brought from Earth along with the equipment she had either repurposed or built from scratch. It startled him, and he froze in place.

“Keith, seriously, are you ok?”

“I…I don’t know anymore. Everything is wrong. Where is everyone else?”

“Hunk and Shiro are heading back from the abandoned base now. That door just malfunctioned after going so long without maintenance. And there was absolutely nothing important there,” Pidge answered, still focused on her computer screen. She realized part of what he said and turned around. “Wait, what do you mean ‘everything is wrong’?”

“You’re looking at a spatial-temporal anomaly, but it didn’t happen now. There shouldn’t have been one here. I…I think I might be from your future. Or, at least, sort of. I don’t look any different to you, do I?”

“No. You don’t. Get back to the part where you think you're from the future.”

“I don’t know how much I should tell you. I don’t know if it could upset the timeline. But I know when I am now.” He turned to Lance. “It’s been about a month now, right? And we had that talk?”

Lance nodded, trying to understand just what his boyfriend was saying about the future. “Yeah, and we did talk about it. Just a few minutes ago. But if you're from the future, I don’t know if talking about that now will help. It also doesn’t answer the question of if you’re Future Keith, what happened to Present Keith?”

“I don’t know. Best case, he switched places with me. He’ll be confused and probably a little scared, but I know he’s in good hands there. Fuck it feels weird talking about myself in the third person. Have you found out anything about the anomaly here?” he asked Pidge.

“Well, I think so, but I've never seen anything like this before.”

Keith came up behind her, looking over their temporal disruption. It was identical to the one he’d found in his time. He had no question now that he had switched bodies with his 18-year-old self. But at least there were a few things he didn’t need to worry about hiding. He knew he was at least partly Galra at this point. He wouldn’t meet Krolia for a little while, so he would have to keep that one to himself. But it also meant that he hadn’t been through the Quantum Abyss yet. There was no way he could tell them about that without explaining everything. He would have to be subtle with asking about the war.

“I have, but I can’t tell you anything specific. Like where, why, or how. And even knowing what it is, I don’t have your science brain, Pidgey. I have no idea how it works.”

Both Pidge and Lance were staring at him. Not because of what he said, but how he said it. He’d picked up a lot of linguistic quirks from Lance over the years, and no longer gave it any thought at all.

“You sound like Lance,” Pidge said finally.

“We’ve all spent a lot of time together over ten years,” Keith replied, avoiding the real question.

“Sure. What canyou tell me about this?”

Keith pulled Hunk’s usual seat over, sitting beside her. Lance perched on an empty spot of desk space, suddenly wanting to be closer to his boyfriend, or whatever he was at that point.

“It’s specific to a single point in space, but not this one. But that’s the problem. I can’t tell you anything about where it is or what it is because you haven’t gotten there yet. All I can say is that space and time work very differently there due to massive fluctuations in gravity, which is why this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because there’s something there that affects the gravity in a way that it doesn’t where we found it.”

“Basically. It’s more like what affects gravity there doesn’t exist anywhere else, especially where this anomaly was found. It’s also far smaller here than it should be. Like the difference in scorch marks between Lance’s rifle and Hunk’s autocannon.”

“So, this anomaly is a precise shot, and where it should be is a huge mess,” Lance said.

“Pretty much,” Keith agreed, “But I really can’t tell you about it because there’s something vital to the war there and I don’t know how it would change things if you found out about it now. It wouldn’t be good. There are other players you don’t know about yet.”

Pidge continued typing away at her laptop, the 3D render of the anomaly rotating on the screen. Lance wanted to watch the progress, but he couldn’t focus on it. His attention was solely on Keith. Except for his earlier phrasing, he didn’t think Pidge had picked up on just how different he was. Body language, mannerisms, almost everything had changed in some way except for his physical appearance. And there was one thing Lance had noticed almost immediately after Keith started talking about the anomaly. He was pretty sure Keith wasn’t aware of it, but he had been running his left thumb across the ring finger of the same hand, like there was something missing. Lance thought about bringing it up, but decided not to, heavily suspecting Keith would just say that it was something else he couldn’t talk about.

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[otterknowbynow]

Gotcha Day (3/3)

The catalyst for Team Voltron adopting a dog might be an offhand demand from Lance, but let’s be real: several of them are very much on board with this plan.

Written as part of Gentron Week 2020 as a combination of the prompts “Adopting a Pet Together” and “Cultural Exchange”, in two three parts.

Part 1 Here | Part 2 Here | Also on ao3

Keith sleeps terribly, of course. She’s warm, for one thing, so temperature regulation is next to impossible. And any time he moves she moves too -- at one point ending up draped over his legs, which would maybe be fine, if it didn’t mean they were trapped. When she starts whining around fourth varga, he supposes he must have fallen asleep at some point, since that’s the only explanation for the groggy way he’s dragging himself into consciousness now. 

“Yeah, alright,” he grumbles when she steps her front paws onto his back and sticks a very cold nose against his ear to whine directly into it. “I get it.” He carefully extracts himself from under her, moving her to the side of his bunk that’s against the wall, and sits up, scrubbing at sleep-heavy eyes. Folding his legs under him, he turns to look back at her. “I guess you probably need to pee, huh.” As if in answer, the hyrassie leaps over his lap and to the door to his quarters, whining again. Before she can escalate to anywhere near the shrieking sound they had to contend with last night, he makes a gesture at the control panel so the door will slide open, and she dashes out. “Oh, shit,” he mutters -- right. A leash would have probably been a good idea. 

He follows the faint sound of whining and catches up to her at the entrance to her deck -- thankfully on the same level of the castle as the paladins’ quarters; they made a good choice there -- where she’s scratching at the door with two hoofed feet and the whining is threatening to grow again. 

“Shh, shh,” Keith mutters at her, and activates the panel to let her in, grateful that she came straight here when the entire castle could theoretically have been accessible. The first thing he does once he follows her into the deck -- Turnip practically flying to the patch of grass -- is go to the chest of essentials they’ve set up by the door and stick a lead in his pocket. Sure, he can probably just carry her to the lounge to hang out until the others get up, but if there’s any hope of not being stuck there until someone comes to take over, he should probably try to get a leash on her. Keith is musing over the harness and collar options that Coran seems to have dug up from the castle’s recesses when he hears the door swish open again and looks up to see Shiro standing in it, looking a little too casually curious. 

“How’s she doing?” he asks immediately, and not at all casually.

“See for yourself,” Keith says with a shrug, trying to work out how the straps of the harness he’s holding are supposed to go around a six-legged animal. He may as well have not said anything, though, since Shiro is already halfway across the room and kneeling on the ground, with both hands outstretched. Turnip, seeing him and having apparently taken care of any business she needed to attend to, races over joyfully, before stopping abruptly and jerking her head back slightly from his right arm. Slowly, she moves her nose closer to it, investigating. Shiro waits, not moving, whispering reassurances to her until her tails give a low wag, and then scratching her under the chin with his hand. She tentatively licks at the metal fingers of it, and he grins down at her. Keith is surprised to find he’s grinning, also, given how crappy he feels overall. 

--

They try keeping her in Shiro’s quarters that night. He’s adamant that they should crate train her -- everything he’s read says it’s best practice, apparently, and Keith can’t help but support that option given the uncomfortable sleepless hours when she was on his bed. He’s a bit surprised that Lance doesn’t demand she stay with him, but apparently even just hearing about the fit she threw in the middle of the night is enough to deter him. He does volunteer to go with Coran to find something suitable for the pup to sleep in, though, which Keith hopes means he feels at least a bit responsible. 

“Looks like we’re all set,” Shiro says as Coran clicks the last support of the crate into place. It looks remarkably like an ordinary dog crate, to Keith at least, and they’ve put one of the cushions in it to try to make it more homey.

“Sure hope so,” he says, shooting Coran a look he hopes will be interpreted correctly as a reminder that he’s not going to take sole responsibility for the hyrassie pup overnight again. The Altean gives him the tiniest of nods in response and stands, dusting off his hands and looking over at Shiro. 

“It should be just fine, I think, especially if you give her a couple of those treats Hunk whipped up this afternoon -- the boy’s a wizard in the kitchen, especially with baking -- reminds me of my cousin Ira.” Lance, who Keith would normally expect to be annoyed at too much commentary from Coran, just smiles instead. 

“He sure is,” he says, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket and leaning against the wall by the door back out to the hallway. “You know he’s this close to figuring out sourdough biscuits? Like, perfect ones, I mean, since obviously even the quote-unquote failed attempts --” he’s mercifully cut off from continuing by a tone announcing there’s someone at the door. 

“That’ll be him and Pidge,” says Shiro, gesturing at the door panel to let them in, one sleepy hyrassie pup in tow. They coax her toward the crate, Hunk pulling out a couple of crunchy-looking treats that smell good enough that Keith almost wants to eat them himself. Almost. Luckily, they seem to smell even better to Turnip since she extends her head as far as she can to sniff at them as Hunk moves them toward her crate. When she walks in, she settles down almost immediately to demolish the treats, which sound as crunchy as they look, Keith lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and Shiro grins at all of them. 

“Well, that’s settled,” he says, waving them toward the door. “Goodnight, everyone.” 

And Keith is relieved to find himself in his quarters with no wriggly puppy and no shrieking, just peace and quiet. He climbs into bed, grateful that at least if his sleep is disturbed tonight, it’ll be by the usual suspects, rather than an all-too-present animal. 

Or so he thinks. Instead, he nearly knocks his head against the wall next to his bunk when he’s awakened again by that same shrieking sound. Looking at the timekeeper by his bed, he sees that at least it’s a bit after fourth varga instead of first, but he’s still not exactly thrilled. Where is Shiro that he’s not already handling this? Keith shoves his face into his pillow, pulling his blankets up around his head to block out the noise as best he can. Shiro will take care of it, he thinks. He probably got woken up just now, also, so it’ll just take him a second to get the crate open and get Turnip to her deck...but the sound keeps going on, and when he can’t take it anymore, he rolls out of bed, grabs his jacket from its hook, and shakes his head a bit to clear it before heading down the hall to Shiro’s quarters. 

Weirdly, he’s the only one of the paladins who seems to have noticed the sound. He can understand how it happened the first night -- since his room is closest to the deck they’ve set up for Turnip, with the Alteans’ quarters on the other side -- but shouldn’t at least Pidge have heard something? When he gets to Shiro’s door, he pokes a hand at the panel irritably. She’s still just keening away in there, which -- he notes as the door slides open -- doesn’t seem like something Shiro would just let continue. 

“Keith, what’s up?” Shiro’s voice comes from his bunk, where -- Keith can see from the light spilling in from the hallway -- he’s still at least half-asleep. 

“What do you mean, what’s up?” he asks, frowning. “Can I -- please --” he doesn’t wait for an answer, going straight to the crate in the corner of the room and opening it to release a highly relieved puppy. He picks her up quickly, before she can dart out of the room or -- worse -- pee on the floor. “She’s been screaming for like, ten minutes.” 

“She has?” 

“Did you not...did you not hear her?” 

“I haven’t heard anything.” Shiro sits up, picking up the timekeeper next to his bed and squinting at it, frowning in the dim light. “I’d be up in like half a varga anyway, but..” He trails off, and Keith is still a bit too stunned by a new realization to say anything for a moment. It’s just his luck that the new puppy -- a puppy he did not ask for, important to note -- apparently cries at some frequency full humans can’t hear. 

“Just another joy of being part-galra, I guess,” he mutters, as Turnip happily nuzzles at his hand before licking it. He grimaces, wishing he’d grabbed his gloves. “I’m gonna take her to her deck.” 

“Yeah, go for it -- I’ll meet you there in a couple minutes -- dobashes -- whatever.” 

She’ll have to sleep in his room, Keith realizes as he walks her down to the door to her deck. Allura has the mice, and Coran has already said no once. He draws a bit of comfort from knowing that at least she’ll be in a crate from now on, even if it does mean he’ll be getting up a couple vargas earlier than he usually would. 

“You’re lucky you’re this cute,” he mutters as he gestures the door open and lets her down to race over to the miniature Altean field. 

--

Lance helps him move the crate later that morning, once the rest of the castle residents are up. They don’t bother folding it up again, carrying it between the two of them down the hallway. It’s awkward and heavy, and Keith is grateful for his gloves keeping it from digging into his hands too uncomfortably. 

“Can’t believe you’re stealing my puppy,” Lance says, a hint of a whine creeping into his voice. Keith can see the corners of his mouth twitching too, though, and he lets out a small huff of amusement. 

“Stealing, my ass,” he says. He gestures at the control panel as they approach his door, and adds, “I didn’t ask for any of this.” 

“Stealing her right out from under me,” Lance continues dramatically as they put the crate down in the corner of the room. He opens the door to it and resettles the cushion inside. “Like some kind of...puppy-smuggler. Thief.” 

“You didn’t even like her when we brought her back,” Keith says, trying to keep his amusement out of his voice. It’s creeping in anyway, though, he can hear it. 

“So my judgment slipped for, like, a second!” Lance stands up, dusting off his hands so he can prop them on his hips indignantly. “That’s no reason to steal a man’s dog!” 

“I can’t even steal her long-term, not if I’m getting back to Blades training next week -- movement -- whatever.” He hopes that will settle it. Can’t steal something if you’re not here to keep it. 

“What’s gonna stop you from just taking off to the Blades, puppy in tow, huh? I bet that guy --- Kolivan -- would be all for having a deer-puppy-shark on the team. You’ll raise her up to be her own canine special ops unit, and then where will I be? Puppyless! A broken shell of a man!” 

“God, you’re ridiculous,” Keith says, rolling his eyes as he heads back out into the hallway and starts walking away. “You coming to the lounge to see your dog one last time before I steal her away forever?” He hears Lance slide the door shut behind him, and he catches up a few seconds later. 

“Keith, seriously, you better not monopolize her time now. Like, I was joking back there, you know I was joking, but you can’t just take over, like, she’s all of ours, you know that, right? Just because she’s sleeping in your room doesn’t mean she’s more yours than the rest of us, and --” They’ve reached the lounge, and as he gestures the door open, Keith is incredibly relieved that the rest of Lance’s words are drowned out by a gleefully yipping puppy, who is decidedly not going to be his sole responsibility from now on, as if that would even be a desirable outcome. 

--

“I’m not sure we’re ever going to be able to just give her free run of the castle,” Hunk is saying later that afternoon as he gathers up the pieces of yet another chew toy Turnip has shredded mercilessly with her razor teeth. “Not if this level of destruction is any indication.” 

“I mean, she is a puppy,” Shiro says, grinning from where he’s sitting on the floor against the couch, Turnip curled up napping in his lap. Her middle set of legs jerks every once in a while, and she’s growled at least three times in her sleep so far. Katie wonders idly if there’s a reason it’s the middle set of legs, or if it’s just that the back ones are folded under her and too squished to be a part of it. “She might grow out of some of it.” 

“I don’t know about that.” Hunk shakes his head a little, dropping the pieces in a waste chute at the corner of the lounge and dusting off his hands. “They’re supposed to keep needing to chew, like, forever. And a lot.” 

“It seems like if we give her enough alternatives, we should at least be able to keep the important machinery and stuff safe,” says Katie, grabbing her tablet from beside the couch she’s sitting on and opening a note. “Do we have any toys she hasn’t destroyed?” 

“Uh, a few, but a lot of those even are hanging on by a thread.” Hunk wrinkles his nose, sitting down on the couch next to her so he can see the tablet screen. “Like, the one ring seems like it’s holding up mostly okay, but even that’s got some divots starting from her teeth.” 

“Seems like we should figure out what that’s made of and go from there,” Katie says. “You good here, Shiro? Hunk and I should probably go down to the lab.” 

“Yeah, we’re good,” Shiro says in a tone that suggests it’s a bit absurd to think they’d be anything but. He scratches behind Turnip’s ears gently. “Besides, Lance at least said he’d stop by once they’re done on the training deck. By all means, go do some R&D.” 

--

By the time Keith gets the call from Kolivan that he needs to start a new phase of training, they’ve fallen into a routine. Turnip sleeps through nearly to fifth varga before she starts whining, and he manages to get enough shuteye that that’s not the nightmare it could be. He doesn’t need all that much, anyway, as long as it’s relatively peaceful. 

They’re never alone on her deck for long. Even if he can’t hear Turnip wake up, Shiro can certainly hear Keith, and he usually shows up just as Turnip is finished relieving herself and ready to play, which works out well for everyone involved, especially with the nigh-indestructible toys Hunk and Pidge manage to produce. It’s just a few at first -- a rope toy of extra-strong fibers, a ring with some give in it that she somehow can’t rip through -- but pretty soon it becomes a game of who can come up with and produce the best designs that are also functional. 

One evening, the night before Keith is going to rejoin the Blades for a while, Hunk comes into the lounge holding a nondescript bag. Everyone’s off-duty at the same time, for once, since the bridge is automatically retuning its maintenance protocols, and he stands in front of them looking utterly triumphant. 

“Gotta say, I’m particularly proud of this one,” he says, then makes a dramatic fanfare sound with his mouth as he pulls something out of the bag. 

“Was that supposed to be a trumpet?” Keith asks.

“It’s clearly not a trumpet, Keith. It’s a cow.” Lance manages to sound both dismissive and slightly awestruck at the same time. 

“That’s a pretty incredible likeness, Hunk,” says Shiro, still holding the other end of a rope Turnip is pulling at enthusiastically, seemingly unaware that any conversation they’re having has anything to do with her. 

“Isn’t this a toy for her to chew on?” Allura sounds somewhat baffled. 

“I mean, yeah,” says Hunk, frowning at the cow in his hands. “That’s the idea. I used a new polymer we developed that’s firmer than the first one -- less give, more for dental care than general play -- that’s why there’s this texturing for her teeth.”  He indicates one of the legs of the cow, where he’s shaped ridges and spikes that do seem to approximate a toothbrush. If a toothbrush also kind of resembled a medieval morningstar.

“And it’s made to look like another living creature? One we ideally...don’t want her chewing on? Wasn’t the idea that they might be friends?” 

“Oh, I forgot about that,” says Lance. 

“You forgot you got us all into this by claiming you were some kind of cow-whisperer?” Pidge sounds as amazed by Lance’s lack of recall as Keith is. 

“I never said cow-whisperer!” Lance objects. “I said she needed a puppy friend. All cows need a puppy friend; it’s a fact of life.” 

“Shall we go introduce her to our fair lady Kaltenecker, then?” Coran slaps his knees twice and stands up, stretching. As if in answer, Turnip races over to Hunk and leaps toward the cow toy, snatching it out of his hand and giving it an emphatic shake when she lands back on the ground, growling. 

“Maybe we wait until she’s slightly less puppy,” says Hunk, inspecting his hand carefully for injury. “Maybe what Kaltenecker really needs is a calm adult dog friend.” 

[fangirlauthor]

A Rip in Time - Chapter Four

Hello! Here’s chapter four, it’s also posted on ao3 (there should be a link to this fic in my masterpost)

Preparing for an attack that’s already happening isn’t easy. It means you’re behind, on the defense, at a disadvantage. Fortunately, they have Voltron and the Atlas - which means they’re almost on the same playing field as their enemies. Why almost? Because if a team is only as strong as its weakest member, then their team isn’t strong at all. Of course, Matt, Shiro, and the Paladins had known this from the get-go; they weren’t expecting their past selves to understand and be equipped to deal with the things they would end up facing. 

Unfortunately, knowing beforehand they would be at a disadvantage wasn’t helpful in any sense. In fact, some Atlas crewmembers started underperforming - anxiety makes people do that. Fortunately, Shiro was able to keep them calm enough to get everything setup, but there was no way he could’ve prepared so their past selves would stay completely calm. 

“Shiro, I’m going to help Matt get the comm viewer set up and get people in safe locations.” Pidge grabbed a small bag from the cargo bay of her lion before strapping her helmet onto her belt and heading outside. 

“Copy that. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Pidge said before muttering to herself. “I’m going to need it.”

“Katie!” Matt, long haired and tall, was standing just outside her lion, in front of a crowd of people who were busy gawking. 

Pidge tried to scowl mockingly, but ended up smiling anyway. “You didn’t last very long without me here to help you out, did you?”

Matt huffed. “I was doing fine, thank you. No help was needed.”

“Really? Because you looked half dead when I got here. Also, there’s a dead looking, purple version of younger Iverson lying on the ground behind you.”

Matt whirled around. “What?! Why is he purple?”

Pidge rolled her eyes as she walked over to the crowd in front of the building containing the debriefing room. “I think it’s because that’s a Galra shifter who convinced you they were Iverson.” 

“Wait, what-”

Pidge glanced up at the sky as several Galra attack ships were shot down by a blue lion. “We have to hurry. Matt, come on. We don’t have much time.”

Jogging to keep up with her, Matt said, “What do we need to do?” 

“I need to get something set up in the debriefing room. I’m going to need a wide-lense camera that can stream things, and I’m going to need it hooked up to the ongoing stream.” She glanced at him. “You did start the stream, right?”

“I- I think so? It should be started, I asked someone to start it, but that whole thing with Iverson-”

“Ugh. You are so annoying. Figure it out, then get the past versions of me, the other paladins, Shrio, dad, you, Adam, whoever you think necessary, I don’t care - into the debriefing room. Oh, and make sure the other Garrison workers know to get inside and take precautionary measures like they would if bombs were being dropped in the area.”

Matt scrunched his nose. They were almost to the crowd. “That sounds like a lot of work, what exactly are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to be setting up the comms viewer in the debriefing room and-” she stopped as people in the crowd started screaming. Pivoting on her heel to find several Galra foot soldiers approaching, she drew her bayard. Instead of her normal hand-to-hand combat weapon, it took the form of a small pistol, which she used to shoot several of the soldiers before they were close enough for her to use her normal weapon. 

Pidge turned to find Matt staring at her, hands in his pockets. Slowly, once he saw that she was looking at him, he took his hands out of his pockets and tapped his wrist where a watch would be. Rolling her eyes, Pidge nudged an unconscious Galra soldier with her foot before running to catch up with Matt. 

“Tie them up or something so they won’t kill you when they wake up!” she yelled to a Garrison guard as they passed by. Ignoring the shocked stares she and Matt got as they ran toward the building, she said, “That’s what else I’ll be doing.” 

Matt huffed again. “The workload still feels a little unfair to me.”

“Deal with it.” Pidge ran toward the debriefing room. “And deal with it quickly.”

Matt turned toward the crowd as the crowd turned to him - most of it anyway. The rest were busy staring at the space battle going on above their heads. 

“Hey!” Everyone looked at Matt. “If you aren’t Shiro, Adam, Sam Holt, uh, Matt Holt, Katie Holt, Keith, Lance,  or Hunk, then go ahead and take standard air raid precautions. If you are one of those people, get to the debriefing room.” The crowd blinked at him. “Quickly.”

----

“Why isn’t there a plug? There needs to be a plug!” Pidge kicked a chair as a small group of people walked in, some of them very young, all of them familiar faces. 

“Is everything alright? Do you need help?” 

“I’m good, dad. Besides, you haven’t been kidnapped and sent to an alien scientist work camp yet, so I doubt you’d be much help.”

Sam nodded, his eyes distant and confused. “Okay.”

“You all good, Katie?” Long-haired Matt walked into the room holding a small bag which presumably had the camera in it. 

“Yup, all good. Just a few more seconds and I’ll have the comm viewer up and running.”

“What’s a comm viewer?” little Hunk asked, young Lance, Keith, and Katie nodding in agreement with his question. 

“It’s a thing, that does a thing, that lets you see things.” Pidge yelped as something shocked her. 

“...what?” asked Adam, confused. 

Matt finished tying his hair back and stepped in to explain. “She means it’s a device that lets you listen in on comm conversations while seeing the people in question.” He glanced at Pidge’s setup. “I’m guessing that this one is going to let you see all or most of the people at once, instead of just showing who’s talking.” 

Pidge nodded. “Exactly. That’s what I said.”

Matt smiled and rolled his eyes. “Yup. Exactly what you said.”

They sat in silence for a few moments before Pidge said, “There!” as several displays popped up in front of them. On one, four small-ish icons could be seen, showing every paladin in their lion except Pidge, because she was currently in the room. On another, Shiro, with a full head of white hair and a scar across his face, could be seen. On the third, a view of the battle was visible. 

Once Pidge turned the volume up, indistinguishable shouting could be heard as each person shot at enemies and warned friends of foes. 

“What-” said Shiro, watching himself on the screen. “What do we do now? Also.” he whirled toward long-haired Matt. “Is that why you made a joke about an arm?”

Matt was saved from answering as Pidge said, “Now I call my lion. That’s when the real fun begins.”

[roguepaladin]

Shallura prompt? Rock concert!!!

Congradulations you have just recieved a 2300+ word essay! 

This was fun to write, is it romancey enough? I don’t know, but it was fun!

_

It was freezing!

On this late winter evening, where temperatures dipped below zero and the winds picked up; Allura found herself standing out in the bitter cold, holding on to last bit of warmth her body had left to give. You had to be crazy to be out here, but crazy she had been when agreed to accompany her cousin Romelle to a concert.

Romelle’s favourite rock band ‘Voltron’ was in town and she practically begged Allura to go with her. It wasn’t everyday a famous band came to their city of Altea. Romelle called it her one and only chance to every see them in the flesh, and Allura had to be there to catch her when she fainted.

‘What kind of name is Voltron?’

‘It’s their concept!’ Romelle explained.

‘They use their combined powers as musicians to form the new sound of futurist rock electro! - Allura, stop making that face, you have to come! Please please please!’

So, she eventually agreed, though it took her some time to understand the whole ‘mystical space lions taught them the way’ mythology… and to stop laughing. Now, she was slowly regretting everything!

Romelle made they arrive early in order to get the best spots in the standing area. A plan that had them standing out in the cold for nearly 4 hours. Please be worth it she begged. Granted she didn’t have to pay for the ticket as part of the deal. She looked at her cousin, even in this cold, Romelle never lost a bit of excitement, and she chatted away animatedly. Apparently, her favourite member was the drummer named Hunk and she even wore his colour; a yellow t-shirt and a matching signature headband. Allura looked around noticed many others in line also wearing yellow, some green, but most were dressed in blue, red or black. The reds and blues didn’t seem to like each other. Romelle said it was about a dumb rivalry between the lead singer and the guitarist.

After assessing all the colours, Allura started to feel out of place in her pink puffer jacket. Not that everyone was dressed in team colours, and she also felt they were just like her; here against their will.

When doors finally opened, Allura was dragged by her cousin up to the very front of stage. As close as they could get that was not actually standing on stage. Romelle pulled out her homemade posters and handed one to Allura. On Allura’s poster in bright yellow letters was ‘Feeling unsupported?’, which she supposed made sense with Romelle’s ‘I could be your other leg’.

The house lights went down and the avenue filled with screams as the band took to the stage. A large screen began to play a video, that made them scream more as it introduced the band members over the sound of deafening rock music. When the stage lights came on, Allura didn’t think it was possible for the crowd to scream louder but they quickly proved her wrong.

‘FORM VOLTRON!’

The leader singer screamed in the microphone and the crowd chanted back

‘DEFEND THE UNIVERSE!’

The band immediately started playing their first song, it was now Allura got a proper look at the band. The each wore their signature colour so she knew immediately recognised Hunk at the drums. According to the intro video; D-Jing at the launchpad was the group’s only female member Pidge. Next strumming away at the electric guitar was Keith. Standing next to Keith was the Leader Singer, Lance who seemed to be trying his best to sing a note over the sound of the guitar. The final member, dressed in all black except for his silver dyed bangs was Shiro, jamming away at the bass. Allura felt herself staring at him for most of the set. While the others were high energy, he had a calmness in his manner. He even struck her more when he took over for Lance and sang the bridge, which made half the crowd go wild. His voice was strong and steady and didn’t feel out of place in the lull of electronic beats. Romelle looked over to her cousin-

‘Ah-ha!’ she smirked.

‘What?’

‘I see you’ve decided to join team black, don’t worry, everyone falls for Shiro first’

Allura blushed, ‘I- I’m not falling for anyone’

Romelle laughed.

‘Its nothing to be ashamed of, Shiro is the leader of the group for a reason, he writes all the songs too’

Allura ignored her cousin’s smug face. Though she had to admit he did stand out the most for someone not wearing a colour.

She on the other hand, stood out very clearly dressed in bright pink and standing in front within the ocean of hardcore fans.

At the end of the song, the band took time to introduce themselves. Lance talked the most but he also seemed to have the most fans and he looked very proud of that. Allura was sure Romelle screamed out her left lung when Hunk said a small hello and waved his drumsticks. Keith just waved, and a fan at the back screamed out marriage proposal. Pidge hyped up the crowd with a few beats. When it was Shiro’s turn to talk, Allura felt herself become nervous. She didn’t know why but she felt like his eyes had glanced a bit longer on her than others. The crowd went wild as he smiled over his microphone. He then simply thanked everyone for coming to show, thanked the venue and introduced the next song.

Over the course of the next five songs, Allura wondered if she imagined him staring. His eyes would look up quickly in her direction and quickly down. Perhaps Romelle was right and she had developed some cliché crush on a rock star, because there was no way she could catch the eye of someone famous that easily. This wasn’t a movie where the next moment he would jump over the stage and proclaim her to be the most beautiful thing in the world. However, she was losing count of how many times he stole a glance at her.

‘Maybe he was staring because I’m staring’ She thought, and she blushed at how creepy she must be right now. So, she decided to turned at look at Romelle, who now had long tears down her face because Hunk wouldn’t stare her way. Judging from the way he played those drums, Allura highly doubted he could afford to look away for fear of messing up. She comforted her cousin and tried to help her enjoy the rest of the show.

Allura kept fighting her strong urge to look back over at the bassist, so she decided to close her eyes and dance instead. She had to admit that they sounded very good, not something she would listen to everyday but they played well and the crowd had a good energy. So, she danced, and pulled her cousin into a dance. It was there in the midst of her swaying she caught those eyes, and this time she was 100% sure he was staring this time. Her head moved side to side so he was none the wiser that her eyes were locked on him. He even seemed to be enjoying her watching her dance. Suddenly self-conscious of her dorky moves, she mis-stepped and tripped over the person behind her. Allura watched as his expression change to shock and fall out of view as she slammed onto her back. She was completely mortified! Over the sound of music, she could hear Romelle call out to her, as she tried to pick herself. It was in this process she was interrupted by a sharp pain to the side of her head which threw her back onto the floor, effectively knocking her out.

—

When Allura came to, she was lying on a sofa in what seemed to be the backstage area of the venue. As indicated by the vibrations and muffled sounds of music coming off the walls. She moved to sit up, and could feel her sides and head ache in protest.

‘Don’t get up too fast’ came the voice of woman, it was steady and monotone.

Allura looked over and noticed a tall older woman sitting across from her.

‘Where am I?’

‘Green room. I don’t know what you did to knock yourself out but you were lucky to not be trampled on’

It was then Romelle entered the room, signalled by her delighted squeal at seeing Allura awake. The other woman in the room made a face like her ears were ringing.

‘Are you okay?’ her cousin questioned, examining her up and down.

‘I’m fine, it only hurts a little’

‘That’s a relief! You caused quite a scene!’

Allura felt her face grow hot, ‘W-What…What do mean caused a scene?’

The tall woman got up from her chair and walked over to the pair.

‘For starters, we had to stop the show until we could remove you safely’ she stated as if telling her charges for arrest.

NO! Allura grimaced, they had to be joking, how embarrassing!

Romelle however was smiling at her.

‘Don’t be embarrassed, everyone is SUPER jealous of you right now’

Romelle then described the events after she blacked out. Shiro having seen her get kicked in the head, had stopped the performance immediately and ordered everyone to get out of the way.

‘and guess what!’ Romelle squealed-

Allura had no time to response before Romelle continued on detailing how Shiro, escorted by a few security guards, carried her backstage!  

‘-and I explained to Krolia, that you were my cousin so she let me in’  

Allura looked over at Krolia who seemed to regret that decision as Romelle couldn’t seem to keep from squealing excitedly about everything.  Allura wanted to sink into the floor, what if he thought she made a scene on purpose. She wanted to go home, but her head really hurt and Krolia refused to let her off the sofa. There she was forced to stay another 20 minutes until-

‘THANK YOU, GOOD NIGHT!!!’

The sound of the crowd roaring was heard from the other side of the wall. They had missed the rest of the concert. Not that Romelle seemed to mind, her cousin’s misfortune was working in her favour. She was back stage! Hunk’s jacket was on that chair, if only she could just reach out and touch it! Oh, why won’t Krolia just leave the room and stop watching her like a hawk!

Allura’s heart began to race as she heard the voices of the bandmates come closer to the door.

As the door opened, the sounds of the crowd screaming for an encore filled the room, but none of that seem to register to Allura’s ears as Shiro strode across the room towards her.

‘You’re awake! How are you feeling?’ and he had a genuine concern in his eyes.

Allura couldn’t seemed to find her voice. So Krolia answered for her and drew his attention away to band matters as Allura’s now understood her to be their manager. The other members came to ask her the same questions and here Romelle did the talking with a slight bias in answering mostly Hunk’s questions. Lance and Pidge were polite, lance more so and Keith seem to be just as mute as she was. The attention was overwhelming as thoughts battled to stay present while imagining all the ways she was possibly carried by Shiro. She blushed as she thought of him carrying her ‘princess’ style.

‘Let’s go home…’ she finally managed to say. Which was not something anyone expected a fan to say in this situation. She however was not a fan, and wanted to get far away from those piercing eyes as soon as possible.

Allura pushed herself off the sofa and grabbed her cousin’s hand.

‘Thank you and I’m really sorry I made you have to stop your show, and from what I remember I did enjoy it, so please don’t think it was done on purpose’ and with that she turned and left.

Reluctantly Romelle left the room behind her cousin knowing her excuse to be in that room just went up in flames.

‘Stay here, I’ll go get our bags and coats’ she sulked off and left Allura to stand in backstage area.

The door to the green room opened, which Allura didn’t notice until the person who came out was standing next her.

‘Allura?’

She jumped, and turned to looked at Shiro.

‘I’m sorry, that is your name, right?’

She slowly nodded and he looked relieved.

‘Don’t apologise, I know I’m the reason you fell and got hurt tonight’

‘What…what do you mean?’

‘Well, I was kind of staring at you down- I MEAN! not you…I was staring at your SIGN and then eventually…you’ he seemed nervous to admit that last part.

‘My sign…?’

‘Yeah, ‘Feeling unsupported’?’

‘Oh, well that wasn’t really mine, it was my cousins’’

Shiro now look extremely embarrassed, brushing his hand against his neck nervously.

‘That-Actually makes more sense…it was yellow after all…’ he mumbled.

It was now Allura noticed the hand on his neck and connecting arm was an artificial and extremely well made prosthetic. Did he think she was making a jab at his disability? She wouldn’t- She didn’t know!

‘Anyways! I’m sorry…for that, I’m glad you enjoyed the show, it’s not often I get see someone dance like that’ and he managed a smirk and mimed her.

Allura blushed, she knew it! He was laughing at her moves!

She wanted to tell him off but Romelle reappeared and he excused himself. Stealing one last glance as he closed back the door to the green room. Leaving her with a bundle of confused feelings. If he thought her sign was mean, why was he still evidently flirting with her.

That, however she would have to ponder another day, because for now she had to listen to Romelle describe every detail of her 2-minute conversation with her idol.

END