#whoops almost forgot keith

[the12thnightproject]

(Sound up on vid)

Event: One Suitor, One Prompt, sponsored by @violettduchess

Suitor/Prompt: Clavis / Water

Clavis vs Emma, Yves, Rio, Licht, Keith; with an assist from Chevalier, as witnessed by Cyran

Title: The Rube Golderg Escalation

Logline: One prank leads to another... or... does it?

Genre: Chaos Fic

Warnings: There might be a pun

Word Count: ~3000

Precisely at midnight, in a room fortified by three different fail-safe traps, Clavis instantly falls asleep. The moment he face-plants on his desk, the top of his head knocks over the first domino in a line of tiles that snakes across the room. This sets in motion a chain reaction as the dominos topple one by one, until the final tile nudges a marble, which rolls down a ramp and plops into a basket attached to a pulley. The marble’s weight causes the basket to descend and a platform to rise. At the top of the climb, the platform flips a lever, and a dagger pops up to slice a string, releasing a mallet that swings down and knocks over a jar full of tiny silver balls.

The balls whoosh to the floor and rebound in a symphonic clatter.

At the noise, Clavis wakes up and leaps to his feet.

He looks around… checks his traps…

Then he corrals the balls, resets every stage of his device, and settles back at his desk again, determined to stay awake.

At 12:48 a.m., Clavis’s head droops, and as he falls into slumber, he again face-plants on his desk-–

We’re going to pause here, for this scenario will repeat another five and a half times, until 5:29 a.m. The five hours until that moment will be far less interesting than the hours that drove us to this point.

So, let us go back in time a bit…

“Haha, I know you have fallen in love with me. Even though you first set eyes upon me only moments ago, you now are so truly madly deeply attached to my person, that you’ve dropped your plans to conspire against me, your one true love.”

Further back.

“Do you want a cupcake?”

Keep going.

“You want me to instruct you on how to achieve revenge on Clavis.”

Not quite there yet… keep going.

“Congratulations. You have a son.”

That’s … too far.

Two days ago, just after ten in the morning, Yves and Licht fell prey to a pit trap. This in itself was not an out of the ordinary occurrence, as sometimes it seemed that Yves and Licht only existed for the sole purpose of falling into these traps. In fact, they had blundered into so many traps that Clavis had been forced to invent new and exciting ways to make them even more fun for his brothers, to ensure that they did not become bored with the whole enterprise.

Therefore, this particular Thursday morning, the trap had been filled with water, and –

[Right. It has been pointed out to this correspondent that “filled with water” is an inaccurate description. There was indeed water in the trap, water that Clavis himself had poured into the trap, but only to a depth of about two feet. There was not enough water to drown anyone hapless enough to fall into Clavis’ trap. Moving on.]

Where were we? Right. Pit trap… water… Yves and Licht.

Splash!

Sploosh!

Squish.

Casualties of the trap included Licht’s boots and Yves’ entire outfit, for he, unfortunately slid down the muddy sides of the pit and landed inelegantly on his otherwise elegant rear.

Normally, that would have been the end* of it, but when the muddy victims made their way back to the castle, they encountered Emma, Rio and Keith, who were out for a morning stroll among the roses.

Yves’s condition elicited immediate sympathy from Emma. Meanwhile Rio vowed that should Emma become a pit trap victim, Clavis would need to travel past the islands of Kogyoku to escape his wrath. But it was an uncharacteristic suggestion from Keith, offered in an uncharacteristic tone of voice, that toppled the first domino. “Perhaps you should get even with him. Teach him what it’s like to be the object of a prank.”

Yves paused to wring out his cravat before answering. The sight of the muddy water dripping onto the ground caused him to flinch, and Emma was tempted to hug him. However when he finally spoke, it was to shoot down the idea. “I have more important things to do than to get involved in a war of pranks.”

Then he squish-marched his way into the castle without another word.

Things might have ended there, were it not for the unlikely assistance of Chevalier, who nudged the marble forward.

(Yes. Chevalier. Really.)

His advice was quite possibly unintentional. After all, the petty pranks of his younger siblings had nothing to do with him, and there was no incentive for him to step in and help…

“You’re blocking the light, Simpleton. Also. No.” Chevalier did not look up from his book, even though Emma had been patiently waiting for him to speak to her. The eventual acknowledgement wasn’t especially flattering, but she was interrupting his reading time, which probably accounted for his mood.

[Ed. Note: No it didn’t.]

“You don’t even know what I was about to –“

“You want me to instruct you on how to achieve revenge on Clavis.” Chevalier set the book in his lap, the open pages signaling that he expected this to be too short a discussion to bother shutting it, too short even to keep his finger in to mark his place. Not that he would have done so anyway**. “It’s not worth my breath. Besides, a man who expects an attack will never let down his guard enough to be surprised.” He picked up the book again, a clear signal that the conversation was over and Emma had again become invisible to him.

“Expects an attack…” Though Emma had spoken aloud, Chevalier did not react. There had been a considering tone to her voice, as if an idea had occurred to her. It was only after she left his private library that Chevalier looked up, with half of his mouth quirked up in a tiny smile.

Perhaps the idea of a private Chevalier smile is artistic license. This correspondent will leave that decision up to the reader.

The following morning, a strategy session took place in the secondary kitchen. Though Yves had professed disinterest in revenge, he had been lured to the meeting with the promise of a recipe from Jade that Keith swore was an heirloom from his Grandmother’s kitchen. And since he was already there, he supposed he could hear Emma out…

“… what is so perfect about this idea is that we actually don’t have to do anything.” Emma went on to detail her idea. “If we set it up correctly, the prank will just work on its own.”

It was simple.

It was deceptive.

It was devious.

It was a surprise that this devious plan had come from Emma.

“You’ve been working too hard with the Bossman.” Rio examined her for signs of nervous exhaustion.

Emma decided it would be a bad idea to mention that the impetus of this plot had come from Chevalier.

Even after they all agreed that the scheme was really quite workable, they might not have ever come up with the nerve to deploy it. That was when fate stepped in, kicking that marble down the ramp.

“Dearie me, you’re having a secret breakfast meeting without me.” Clavis put his hand to his heart. “I can only think that you must be putting together a surprise for my birthday. Let me guess – we’re going to have full day to fete me? A Celebration of Clavis, as it were? Or… Carnival of Clavis! I am touched.”

At his words, the five co-conspirators immediately displayed the shamed faces that only people unused to subterfuge can do. Emma blushed. Yves cleared his throat and fiddled with his earring. Keith stuck his hand in his coat and stared at the wall. Rio looked up at the ceiling. Licht looked down at the floor.

A more guilty looking party you couldn’t find outside of a political convention.

Instantly alerted by their reactions, Clavis gazed at this gallery of rogues. “I sense a plot is in the works.”

“Eep.” Emma could only squeak.

“Nothing.” Licht’s denial was mumbled at sub-audible volume***.

“My mistress would never dream of such a thing.” Rio turned and winked at Emma.

Casually… perhaps too casually at this point – Clavis stole a pastry from the tray and popped it in his mouth. Only after swallowing it during a silence as uncomfortable as a lukewarm bath in winter did he speak. “If I were a suspicious type, one who did not believe his family loved him, I might think you all were planning a dastardly trick on me.” He added a disbelieving laugh at the end, and waited for them to deny things.

A chorus of not terribly convincing “Of course nots,” arose, after which the original members of the tea plotting party suddenly recalled that they all had tasks that immediately needed accomplished, and made their escape.

Only the dregs of their breakfast remained, and Clavis was left gazing at the space where they had been. They truly were up to something. A game… a plot… a… revenge?

Maybe… maybe filling the pit trap with water had been a bad idea?

Hm.

He resolved to be on his guard for signs of surprise attacks. Not that they could possibly come up with a revenge that rivalled his own pit traps and other experiments.

The marble had fallen into the basket, and the platform was on the ascent.

Upon exiting the kitchen, Clavis noticed Emma had paused to talk to Cyran. When Emma glanced over her shoulder and spotted Clavis, she bit her lip and scurried away.

“You too?” Clavis’s words weren’t loud enough to reach Cyran’s ears, but he had already seen Clavis peering out of the kitchen, so he greeted the Prince accordingly.

“Good morning sir.” Taking in the remains of the conspirator’s food, he added, “Did you make breakfast for Emma then?” This was said in the guarded tones of a man who has eaten Clavis’s cooking and barely lived to tell the tale.

Ignoring the question, Clavis gestured to where Emma and Cyran had been talking. “Did she try to recruit you to the cause?”

“What cause?” Cyran said outwardly. Now what? (He said inwardly).

“Dear me, there are multiple causes. I knew it. For they will need to attack on simultaneous fronts in order to best me.” All five of them were independently working on plots against him. “Thank you for confirming the existence of those dastardly plans.”

Cyran sighed. “I said what cause, not which cause.”

“Ah ha!”

“Ah ha?”

“Ah ha ha ha.” And with that, Clavis strode off, leaving a truly confused Cyran in his wake.

A short while later, Clavis discovered Emma furtively creeping out of Sariel’s office. She held something shiny in her hand that she tried to hide when she spotted him. “We meet again, my love!” He bowed over her hand, inspecting the object. It was a key. Flashing her a dazzling smile, he said, “Hahaha. Sariel gave you a key? It won’t open the door to my room, so if you plan to wait for me there on a bed of roses, it is all for naught.”

“What? No!” Emma blushed and thrust the key behind her back. “It’s for the hidden gazebo in the garden.” Her face still bright red, Emma edged away from him, then zipped down the hallway.

Once she was out of sight, a frown crossed his face. Had Sariel managed to make a key that would unlock his room? Clavis had designed that lock to be impossible to break… but just to be safe, it would be a good idea to increase the protections in his room.

As a precaution.

And thus… the dagger sliced through the string, and the mallet swooped down, releasing over the course of the day, a series of suspicious incidents, conversations and near misses that bounce through his mind like tiny silver balls…

Item One – a serving tray full of Yves’s freshly baked pastry. Just before Clavis could take a lavender-bergamot flavored cupcake, Rio rotated the tray. Had this been a suggestion he wanted Clavis to take the cake now closest to his hand? Or maybe a diversion that was aimed to ensure he took the purple frosted one he had originally been aiming for? In the end, Clavis decided he was safest depriving himself of the treat altogether, and went without tea.

Item Two – Emma and Keith (and perpetual tag-along Rio) invited him on an excursion to that previously mentioned secret gazebo. But… were they nudging him down a specific path? Clavis could not see any evidence of a newly dug trap… but danger didn’t only lurk below. He eyed the line of hedges, looking for a suspended net or hanging bucket… and in the process, stubbed his toe on an unevenly placed stone on the path. Giving up on the trek, he returned to the main garden, and perched upon a warm sunny bench in an open area where he would be able to see if anyone approached. A slight sunburn was his reward – but at least no one attacked him and no net landed upon him.

Item Three – At a party that night arranged for a delegation of visiting nobles from outside the capital area, Clavis took note of a lovely, long-legged lady who eyed him with overt appreciation. Ah… another instance of love at first sight. He would permit her to lay her heart at his feet. However, before Clavis could reach her side, the lady was temporarily waylaid by Emma and Yves. He was too far away to hear their conversation, but … what if this unknown lady had been hired as part of their revenge prank?

Alas, for Clavis, the woman was completely innocent of any conspiracy, and his less-than-subtle questioning of her only resulted in a –

Slap!

At this point, Clavis called for a tactical retreat, barricaded himself in his room, and set up a complicated alarm to help keep him awake past midnight, in order to ensure he could instantly repel a pre-dawn revenge raid.

This brings us to 5:27 a.m…

Clavis has once again fallen asleep at his desk. Regrettably, in his exhaustion, he neglected to correctly reset his ‘Clavis Personal Sleep Interrupter™’ and the dominos ceased falling mid-stream. The marble stayed at the top of the ramp. The dagger never cut the string to release the mallet. There was no cascade of silver balls across the floor.

Instead, at 5:28 a.m. there is a crash, followed by a yelp of pain outside his room, caused by one of the maids colliding with a castle footman and dropping her dust pan... on the footman’s foot****.

Awakened and alarmed by the noise, Clave jumps to his feet, grabs a weapon, and runs to his door, determined to confront an invasion. Given his mostly sleepless night, it should not come as a surprise that he forgot his own booby traps. Therefore, when he throws open the door, there is a BOOM as an explosion of pink dust fills the room. This is followed by a sploosh when a bucket of honey (stolen from Luke who will not be happy when he realizes it is gone) falls on his head. Then finally a floof, when the honey-blinded Clavis trips over a rope and falls into mini-pit full of feathers.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

(The Maid, upon seeing the pink honey and feather colored beast emerging from Clavis’s room).

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

(The Footman, deeper voice, same cause).

At 9:42 a.m. a freshly cleaned, de-honeyed, de-pinked, de-feathered (except for one tiny feather stuck to the side of his head), very tired, sunburned and slightly feverish Clavis finds and confronts the gang of five, who are, this time, enjoying breakfast in the rose garden. “What a sorry looking cabal of conspirators.” Five “innocent” looking faces greet this statement. “You’re planning a revenge prank are you not? Ah hahaha. Have I not proved that I am equal to anything you might throw at me?”

As he spoke, that one tiny feather finally loosed itself and drifts harmlessly to the ground.

After a moment of silence for the kamikaze feather, Emma, who has somehow been elected speaker, shakes her head. “Prince Clavis, no one here is planning a prank on you.”

One eyebrow rises in disbelief.

“It might be more honest to say that instead… we convinced you that we were going to prank you… and…” She waves her hand in the air. “Then you pranked yourself.”

There is a long moment of silence while Clavis ponders the ramifications of that.

Longer…

“Ah hahahah haha” Clavis throws back his head and laughs into the sky. “I knew it! You all love me! Nothing else could have motivated such a brilliant plot. Emma… Rio… Keith… and my beloved brothers… I’m overjoyed.” Indeed, it does appear that Clavis is shaking with excitement. “Only people who adore me and respect my genius could have realized what was truly necessary to trick me. Because of course, the only person who can successfully prank me is,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “Me! How deliciously intriguing.”

The conspirator’s momentary relief that he appears to be taking this so well, changes to worry at Clavis’s next announcement.  “I cannot wait to show you all how much I love you in return.”

(The end.... or is it...?)

*Pun intended

** Not that would Chevalier ever stoop to leaving his finger in a book, turning it upside down or commit the heinous crime of folding down the corner of a page. He has no need to as he always remembers his exact place.

***More sub-audible than usual

**** Though this uproar is incredibly well timed and placed, it is actually just an unfortunate coincidence. Emma, Rio, Yves, Licht, Keith and Keith were all asleep in their respective beds when this occurred and had nothing to do with the maid/footman collision. Sometimes an act of fate is simply that.

Thank you @violettduchess for a lovely event that forced me way way beyond my Sengoku comfort zone.

Also thanks to Lorei helping to ensure this isn't egregiously OOC.

[arvoze]

I really enjoyed your last post where you talk about Mike's lore and character, so I wanted to ask if you could do something similar for Keith and Luwel. I really want to know more about them and I know we got a lot of information through your art as well, but I would find it very helpful to get it all in one post for each of them. I really adore them. Keep up the great work

thank u! since it's the two of them, i'll put it under a cut. i'll try and follow a similar format for the both of them. link to the mike answer. keith will have vague references to abuse so i'll put him last.

luwel (nuzleaf) is 34 years old, slightly older than mike. similar to mike, he originally lived in the wild village of apple grove, but now lives in verdant village.

both of his parents, tangrowth and shiftry, are alive. his father, tangrowth, was a civilised doctor (civilised = pokemon in towns, speak common etc, not wild mons), who came across an injured wild mon in the woods decades ago; he'd be quick to be accepted into the wild community for his actions and would slowly begin to introduce the language of common into apple grove (learning wildspeak in the process). both mike and luwel are bilingual (keith only speaks common). luwel would be raised with the intent of also becoming a medic/doctor of some sort -- he still retains a fair amount of knowledge, but ultimately didn't follow down that path entirely. he provides medical support for the team.

he lives with keith and mike in verdant village. originally, they live in guild housing, but luwel eventually retires from the team and works as a berry farmer instead; he doesn't buy the house or anything, because he works as a farmer under the guild. this means as long as he's providing food for the guild, he can keep his home & land. this is technically only luwel's house (and sune (floragato/meowscarada), his s/o's), keith and mike are just freeloaders who show up and sleep there sometimes, since they're always travelling around. sorry i forgot to mention he also has an adopted daughter called sochi (tinkatink/tuff/ton)

his moveset is based more around functionality within the world; careful, early bird. foul play, grassy terrain, razor leaf and leaf blade. he fights when he needs to, but doesn't usually get too involved. in "present day", he uses razor leaf as a means of mass-harvesting berries from plants, since he has good control over the move. instead of using leaf blade regularly, he channels leaf blade through a stick, forming more of a scythe than anything. i've never depicted him using foul play, but it's part of his moveset specifically in reference to the fact he's the team's tactician. it's relevant, trust me.

his link move is the combination of grassy terrain+leaf blade, which works both offensively and defensively. physically, it is the weakest of the three link moves, which checks out given that he's the weakest member of the team. leaf blade's half turns to controlling multiple blades of grass that function like tendrils, originating from the grassy terrain -- they usually aren't used for offense. instead, they're used as healing bandages or defensive walls. link moves in this manner, due to their power, will sap the strength of the user -- keith and mike can both typically stay standing after using theirs (especially since it's less resource-intensive), but luwel will almost always pass out when his link move has subsided.

as a farmer, he is also a merchant. he butts head with my other merchant, big mal (cradily), practically every day. just learned i don't even have mal's main ref image on tumblr! whoops.

luwel is autistic. he has the shortest fuse and is the quickest to snap, and is also quick to break down. he experiences sudden mood changes a lot. he's a little fucked in the head, in that if a dangerous situation becomes too stressful for luwel, he detaches himself from reality entirely and falls under the belief that he's currently living out a dream/fiction. there is at least two instances (second already linked) where luwel is in the presence of actual, legitimately dangerous individuals who kill, but his mind snaps from stress and fear that it becomes a fictional performance to him. the latter eventually leads to him losing an arm. he is commonly depicted as not being all there mentally, but he's actually pretty grounded, all things considered. a very large factor of this is his desire to eat bug pokemon, specifically ledyba, due to his general fascination with food (he will talk about preparing other pokemon, but exclusively in a hypothetical sense). it isn't considered cannibalism, because they aren't the same species.

he has some passive hobbies. luwel is an avid yaoi consumer. more often than not, he'll be depicted mid-conversation holding the local newspaper. he's always interested in what's going on around him, and will occasionally try to catch up on world lore & history if he's got the time. he'd consider becoming a history teacher, but it's not really something he wants as a job. luwel loves inventory management, so he enjoys setting up the team's inventory for jobs & setting up his own inventory for market sales. he is religious, in a very passive sense, believing that legendary pokemon do tend to towns and villages and the likes. luwel just barely falls shy from the agnostic umbrella, having a personal belief in xerneas, as he grew up with the belief that xerneas tended to the woods he was raised in. he follows particular beliefs regarding maintaining the forest's bounty. where most mons might be depicted saying terms like "oh, for arceus' sake", luwel uses xerneas' name instead. he has multiple outfits, but is most commonly depicted in his blue jacket, with luwel only wearing a black and green jacket as a means of images representing the timeline where he's still part of the team. luwel likes to climb around a lot. he usually climbs over keith.

he retires from the team as he is physically a lot weaker than his brothers. luwel makes the personal choice to not evolve into shiftry, primarily because he's rather happy how he is, and he quite enjoys having the use of hands. there is a What If au where luwel evolves and stays part of the team, becoming one of the heads of verdant village's guild (keith becoming the guildmaster). the two designs for mike and keith for this what-if situation ended up becoming their regular designs, because i preferred them in comparison to their previous designs (where keith only had a cape, and mike had nothing).

ok now i start talking about keith

keith, cacturne, is 33 years old, and is the youngest of his brothers. he originated from the sand continent, but travelled to the water continent alone as a young cacnea. he would get lost in the woods and be attacked by a group of pidove, at a similar time where seedot and shroomish (luwel and mike didn't have names) were straying almost a little too far from home. they fought off the pidove together, formed a very strong bond being just young kids and all that, and keith was taken back to apple grove, where he lived with wild pokemon for a few years. as a cacturne, he lives in verdant village, but he was a resident for a short while before his brothers were.

keith does not know who his parents are. his mother, cass (cacturne), exists within the world and lives on the sand continent, but i've never had much thought about his father. his mother's partner, butcher (spidops), would function as The Dad That Stepped Up, were they ever to meet. currently, keith and cass only cross paths once, wherein both him and his mother lack any emotional attachment to eachother. keith feels somewhat empty after this encounter, as he expected it to feel a lot more fulfilling. he concludes that he's most happy with his current family, and doesn't need to form a familial bond with someone who never felt like family to him before. his father figure is guildmaster rime (mr rime, design updated since last tumblr post), verdant guild's guildmaster. the two are incredibly close, with rime genuinely considering keith to be his son; keith is told that when rime retires, he will inherit the guildmaster title and responsibilities. despite coming off as stupid and reckless half of the time, keith is an incredibly level-headed leader and an excellent commander under extreme pressure, so he's actually the perfect fit for the job.

keith's drive to be part of a rescue team comes from his very early upbringing in the sand continent. as a young cacnea who never really had a home, he would wander around a lot, and get lost frequently. on one particular occasion, he would be rescued by an escavalier and galarian rapidash duo, who talked to him in such a way that inspired keith to want to help others as soon as possible. very early on in his life, he comes across silica (hatenna/hattrem; still uncertain on when they meet). she offers him a place in a "guild", which isn't actually a guild at all, but is in fact a bandit's group. under the guise of doing good for the "guild", keith is forced to commit a lot of crimes as a child. silica becomes extremely possessive of keith because he's so easy to manipulate; she berates him often as a means of trying to make him work harder. it is worth noting that silica's actions do get worse, and she is considered to be keith's abuser. however, i don't like to detail anything further in regards to what happens between them (there is NOTHING sexual, i personally would never depict CSA with characters). usually, when i draw keith and silica in the same image together, it should be somewhat clear that they do not have a positive relationship.

when meeting guildmaster rime, he recognises the bag keith brought with him (brandishing a symbol of the bandit group; rime's been around, he recognises these kinds of things). he knows keith is a lost and misguided child, and takes him under his wing to raise as his own. verdant village's symbol - a green diamond on a black background - is based on keith's existence, although keith never actually realised this, since it's existed for as long as he could remember. he always just thought it was coincidental.

keith's moveset is entirely offensive. naughty, water absorb. thief, pin missile, bullet seed, needle arm. keith's approach is to hit hard and worry about shit later. he's intended to be a ranged attacker to make up for his lack of speed, but it's physical strength and defences that he actually excels at (again, he's just slow, so he's not actually able to punch all that well in a fight). his link move is needle arm+pin missile, which is a deadly single-target link move. whilst mike's link move hits a whole room for large AoE damage, keith's link move is devastating for a singular target. it's essentially pin missile with incredibly large, dangerously pointed pins. if he intended to kill, it would drill large holes through another mon's body (undertale logic; moves will only cause serious injury if the intent is to kill, otherwise it's just an Energy Deal that makes pokemon faint). it's used as both a melee and ranged attack; ranged is shooting large pins, whilst melee is more or less having a spiked baseball bat for an arm (there's more spikes than a normal needle arm would provide). his water absorb is brought up often.

he's a kleptomaniac and alcoholic. keith can't help but get into petty theft often, and is heavily swayed by jewels and riches. he doesn't have much of a concept of risk when it comes to himself. most of his free time is genuinely spent hanging out at the local pub/tavern/bar drinking, which is where he'd meet his eventual bf, william (bisharp) (ignore my old dnd oc in the tag lol). one of keith's personal favourite gags is being unable to flip someone off and asking someone else to do it instead.

there is a period in which keith experiences near-death, which sets mike off mentally, resulting in mike killing another pokemon. keith recovers from this. he's not one to think before he speaks, so he'll sometimes make comments that can reflect poorly on mike, making mike feel horrible. it is worth noting that both of mike's brothers forgive him for the killing.

he is emotionally void. that is, specifically to say, keith experiences a lot of positive emotions, but he can't comprehend the idea of negative ones. he experiences true anger, rarely. keith does not cry or experience sadness: he only feels hollow and empty, unable to grasp what's wrong. it's incredibly difficult to get under his skin for this reason, unless you target his brothers. it takes him around 30 years to understand that he experienced trauma and abuse, and meeting silica again is the first time he's ever had his emotions unearthed - but he still doesn't know how to process them. his lack of negative emotions actually allows him to mega evolve with ease when the time comes; i am of the belief that mega evolution can be strenuous on a pokemon's mental state and can lead to sudden violent outbursts, however, keith can keep his "emotions" in check, so he has much greater control over mega evolution than others might.

he is unintentionally very intimidating. well, sometimes it's intentional.

i am missing a lot. this is like 2k words. oops! i might go back and edit mike's at some point especially with links, but no guarantees

[5uwabbit]

Boring class at 7, so my brain gathered…

Food for thoughts!

(Context: What ifs in role swap-ish AU, that one art of researcher Kate I did)

It would be funny if Kate was with Isaac in the oil rig. We can even count Kellyn too. 3 genius in one place but two being problems?? Bro’s gonna change the name from Team Dim Sum to Team Day Care (They can’t rid these kids cuz they’re too damn smart!). Also because crystal corruption is an interesting topic— Blake hall incident — to explore!

Not only you get Kellyn and Kate destroying the sinis trio in Isaac coding lessons, we can get Kate being silly and upgrading the tools in the office (Insert Kincaid screaming after he found out the hairspray was upgraded to razor blade 2 in 1).

Plus.. we have an interesting mix of personalities. Isaac being easily encouraged and dive right into the research not knowing what’s up. Kate as the middle ground between the other two, seems relaxed and going with the flow. Then you have Kellyn who is more critical, he tends to act on his own, a bit stubborn so they have to convince him to do things. You’re gonna be almost convinced he’s doing all this for the sake of imported, special newspaper from Fiore or other regions. He’s so unseriously serious… aka He got his own agenda and nobody in the office knows why! (Insert him sneaking around the base to find out whats up).

You bet Kate realizes something was up first because Kellyn was busy “theorizing” and “overthinking” things. (Insert her running across the hallways and stumbling into Team Dim Sum mission things). Whoops.. sorry teach.. uh.. boss?

Well typical story would be… they found out and this big show down ensues but you know what? Those three are smart minds. Yeah, Kate would pretend that it’s just a normal thing and continues to do stuff like regular. Ohhh but now Kellyn knows and they’re probably trying to convince Isaac. So wowzies, three teens plans behind the back of Team Dim Sum.

Other possibilities:

to be honest I know they can’t convince Kellyn to be a researcher. If I were Kincaid I’d look at his progress over the union and be like… tsk.. it’s a loss that I couldn’t put influence on that child. He has super great prospect, but hard to convince unlike Isaac is.

But I’m going with putting him in the lab because it’s so much funnier. I’m not missing out on him being savage to Sinis Trio (that would be hella funny).

What if we count Keith in? He got his job as a ranger and guess what? He’s breaking into the oil rig. Insert this: unexpected reassemble. Omfg you guys became nerds??? (He’s not rude, just silly like that). Now now, the showdown will be much more epic. Either

(1) it’s messy as hell. Everyone is just surprised. Maybe they ended up going back with Sven boat and bringing back important data.

(2) “Oh yeah, we were about to leave.” Keith thinking oh I’ll rescue you guys! Nahhhh we got this. Kellyn signaling Kate and Isaac to activate the showdown buttons and they just. Smoothly goes away with some diving equipments they stole from the boss. Oh shit I forgot Sven 💀 UHH maybe he’ll be driving the boat alone back.

Okay that’s it. That’s how far my brain goes. Thank you for the kind words.. I’ve been brainrotting for ages. You bet I’ll be super duper normal about them all 😭

I’m still figuring things out here hehe.. I think I’ll find out how to do a poll and do that sometimes

[stardivinefinale-moved]

...ok but pls rant about vld. i want to hear your thoughts

i will try to keep this short and i will most likely miss something because there is just. a lot about this show

ultimately vld was a lot of promises and build up, both in and out of the show which they never ended up delivering on or fucked up horribly. there wasn't even a concrete outline of the plot, they just did things as they went.

one of the best examples for that is the queerbaiting of the show, the actual endgame romances weren't planned out ahead of time so they just kept on promising that specifically klance was gonna happen, and the infamous tweet about how we were gonna meet adam in season 7 which culimanted in nothing and a minute of screentime, half of which was a break up and the other his death respectively.

all of the characters were butchered aswell, shiro got everything thrown at him and ended up as a supporting role in the last two seasons, hunk got demoted from being the token fat person who likes food and has no other personality traits to literally nothing, pidge just became more and more of an unlikeable ass, allura had to sacrifice herself, lance never ended up getting character developement either and keith actually got the character developement he needed but in the worst fucking way possible

actually, let me talk a bit more about keith specifcally because even though lance is objectively the best character in the show keith is my favorite. i just hate everything they did with him, like how he got written out of the show to be with the blade of marmora. and bringing his mom back was THE stupidest decision, i don't even dislike krolia, but keith's storyline with his mommy issues should have been learning that he has a place with the team now and that there are people who actually do love him for who he is. AND THEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN GO THROUGH WITH HIM AND KROLIA BONDING THEY JUST GOT IN A MAGICAL SPACE TIME DISTORTION FIELD AND WHOOPS! TWO YEARS PASSED BY FOR US AND NO ONE ELSE AND WE'RE TOTALLY FINE NOW. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU WRITE A COMPELLING CHARACTER ARC. don't even get me started on how he almost sacrificed himself at the end of season 4 and it never got brought up again. a character almost dying isn't important or anything.

they also fucked lance over so hard, we never ever got to actually see him interacting with his family or any flashbacks except the reunion that lasted for like what? 2 seconds? even though he is the one who missed his family the most. or how his depression never got adressed. or how him ad allura getting together makes no fucking sense at all. IT COULD HAVE WORKED but not with 6 seasons of allura just flat out rejecting him over and over again. or how in the end he was a fucking farmer as if being a pilot wasn't his dream. OR HOW HE DID ACTUALLY DIE FOR A SECOND AND NO ONE SEEMED TO GAVE A SHIT AFTERWARD? he just deserved so much better

the crew also promised so much outside of the show, all of them kept teasing that klance was gonna happen and i remember a live stream where jeremy shada talked about stuff that was gonna happen in the last two seasons and NONE of them did or that godawful picture someone in the crew posted with the characters holding up signs with Race, Gender and LGBT written on them which truly was just a slap in the face. how they handled the backlash after season 7 was also hilariously bad, like the hilariously bad tweet from pidge's voice actor about how Actually it's a story about war so the queerbaiting is actzually not that bad you guys :/

it's also so fucking funny of they accidentally let slip that they did at least the epilogue stuff last minute because one of the animators posted a picture on instagram of him working on specifically shiro's section just a few months/weeks? before the season was supposed to come out even though at that point all the animation should have already been done

fuck everyone who worked on vld except steven yeun and the writer whose name i forgot who among other things wrothe the ICONIC klance stare scene <3

these are in no way ortganized thoughts and as i said i definitely missed stuff but i will stop here for now cause i have a headache

[relatable-lancylance]

some days i feel like i put too much effort into these  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[midoriyasbones]

for your consideration: kidge in the winter

magic in the air

written for @alcego and @fujimoribaby

pidge/keith

1621 words (fic is below the cut)

includes: wintertime, sledding, first kiss, and me crying softly in the background as i think about how magical this fucking moment is

support the fic on ao3!

i’m taking rarepair prompts!

“Are you sure this is- is a good idea?” Pidge puffed out. Her feet were getting cold. Snow must’ve leaked in through some crack because the tip of her toes were wet. Truly the worst feeling ever. 

And it was nearly dusk too, so they were doing this with fleeting light, guided mostly by Keith’s own memory.

Pidge was by no means an unfit person, but there was something about trudging up a steep hill fighting a foot of snow that had her wondering if she should’ve brought her inhaler. And this wasn’t that powdery shit either. It was the wet, thick kind that made snowballs that would bruise. Usually she rejoiced in its presence as it meant she could make igloos out of the piles dispensed by snowplows. Snowmen were nice and all, but they were total bums and unable to provide a shelter. Today though, Pidge was cursing every snowflake that flitted along in the gusts that made the fringes of her scarf ripple. 

Keith of course, was having no issues walking up the hill while carrying his metal disc. “I did this with Shiro all the time, it’s fine.” 

“Your definition of ‘fine’ doesn’t really align with the Merriam Webster.” Pidge grumbled before pulling her scarf back up over her mouth. It was too cold to continue this banter. She’d rather have the scent of laundry detergent and wool in her nose than frostbitten lips.

“Who?” Keith asked, turning back to give her a confused look. 

Pidge rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help laughing a little. God damnit, how was this man so obliviously adorable? It wasn’t that he was stupid, just that he was focused almost solely on what really intrigued him. She loved the way he lit up when somebody even offhandedly mentioned one of his interests. It was like somebody was shifting a kaleidoscope and she could finally fully see all the brilliant violet facets of his eyes.  

The inside of her scarf was steamy against her lips, but the top edge was sprinkled in snowflakes. The result that every breath in was a weird combination of frigid steam. It was the kind of sensation you only experienced in winter. There were a lot of those now that she thought about it. She’d liked winter just fine before (no allergies, yay), but it wasn’t until she started dating Keith that she came to truly appreciate winter for the magical time it was.

First of all, only in winter were there so many opportunities to make an excuse to be as physically close to her boyfriend. Keith wasn’t exactly a cuddly kind of guy, which Pidge didn’t mind actually. They took it slow, didn’t even hold hands until 3 months in. It was 4 months for a hug, and now they were nine months in and he hadn’t kissed her yet. She truly didn’t mind, and gladly helped him as he slowly adjusted to being able to touch her in intimate ways (non sexual, duh). He was so cautious about it, always asking questions. ‘Does my arm go here?’ ‘Is this okay for you?’ ‘Is this normal?’. It was cute, really cute, and Pidge felt so honored that he trusted her to be that person to guide him through this. 

The cold was really helping, because she could cuddle up to him naturally, complaining about looking for warmth and he’d just wrap her up. They’d even slowly progressed to napping together. Between Keith’s naturally high body temperature, the warmth of the fire, and the cozy blankets, it was honestly a dream. And then there was ice skating. Keith was so wobbly on his skates. He clung to Pidge desperately as she slowly taught him how to move over the ice. Eventually, he was able to skate with minimal support. She’d never held his hand for that long before and it was such a simple thing, but it had her floating on clouds all the way home. 

Another thing winter created that Pidge was eternally grateful for was just snow in general, even though right now it was her mortal enemy, a foe that must be vanquished beneath her heavy boots. Snow led to really magical moments, times that you felt eager to soak up because they were only here once a year. They were spending so much more time together the past few weeks. They’d made a snowman and some snow lions. Keith even made a snow hippo. He was so artistic, it was cool to see how that talent transcribed over different mediums. They’d had snowball fights with their friends, made forts, and so much more. Pidge knew she’d cherish these moments in her heart forever. 

The final thing Pidge was glad for was just the magic winter created. Like the scarf thing, there were so many unique things about winter. There were Christmas and holiday markets and festivals. Everybody seemed so much more happy and everything was so festively decorated. The holidays may be hyped so much more than any other time of the year, but honestly, Pidge could see why. She guessed winter was just so much more magical when you had someone to share it with.  

Finally, after god knows how long, they reached the top of the hill. Pidge immediately flopped into the snow, gasping for air and looking up at the dark sky. Snowflakes fell around her, cooling her face and catching in her eyelashes. 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Keith laughed, offering her a hand to help her stand up. “It wasn’t that bad.” 

She groaned, getting to her feet and dusting off her coat. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t for you, but that was my first time going up this hill in winter. I’m not exactly primed for it.”

Keith set the sled down in the snow. The metal contrasted with its new glittery white background. Pidge could tell it must have been freshly polished or greased. Even without the sun, it gleamed brilliantly. 

“It’ll be worth it,” Keith said, adjusting himself on the sled and motioning for her to get on. 

Pidge glanced down the hill, just wanting to see how far they’d come and judge for herself if it’d really be worth it. That’s when she realized just how far up they were. Not only was it tall, but it was steep too. The snow did nothing to hide the sharp decline and Pidge sucked in a breath. 

“C’mon,” Keith said, “I’ll hold onto you, it’ll be okay.”

Pidge took a deep breath and nodded. She settled down between his legs, sitting criss cross applesauce and reaching for the handles. Instantly she felt arms around her waist and warm breath in her hair. 

She took another look down and swallowed as Keith began to move them forward with his legs. 

“Are you sure this is safe?” She asked nervously, grip tightening on the handles. 

“I’ve done it tons of times, and I’m not dead, yet.” Keith snickered, and before she could argue pressed a kiss to the back of her head. Just from that little touch Pidge forgot the snow in her boots and the frozen metal beneath her gloved hands when he did that. Everything seemed to melt as her chest fluttered. In that little blip of time, she existed only in the emotions she felt for Keith, and what a wonderful existence it was. 

And then she had to return to reality. 

“Just shut up and trust me!” Keith yelled as he pushed off with absolutely zero warning. 

Suddenly Pidge’s stomach and heart just up and left her body as they hurtled down the hill at maximum velocity. The air tore at her scarf and snatched up her hair as they whizzed by. It took her a few seconds to realize she was screaming and Keith was whooping. It was hard to hear over her own heart palpitations, you know? 

Keith leaned them left and right, zig zagging down the hill, and somewhere along the way Pidge managed to pick up their stomach again. This was actually kind of fun once you accepted death was inevitable no matter what. She caught herself laughing when they went over little bumps and soared briefly through the air. She wondered if this was what it was like to have wings. 

All too soon, they skidded to a halt at the bottom right in front of a street lamp. Keith rotated the sled so they sent up a spray of snow that covered the base of the metal pole when they came to a stop. Pidge felt like she was still on that hill, body in whiplash. She staggered out of the sled, giggling breathlessly and pulling Keith with her. With a little yelp they fell to the ground and she was beneath him, her arms around his neck.

There was crystalized flakes in his long, dark hair. Little strands of it had become wet and stuck together. His cheeks were rosy and lips spread in an exhilarated grin, the one she tried to get him to make as often as she could. His laughter was warm against her face, making up for the cold fingers that pushed a curl of her hair out of the way and the damp glove that held her cheek. 

And then suddenly it happened. There was just this feeling, this pulse, and before Pidge knew it, she was kissing him. Or maybe he was kissing her. Maybe they’d kissed each other at the same time. 

Illuminated by the warm glow of the lamp, serenaded by their own heartbeats, and framed in the softly falling snow, this was just another one of those magical moments that came not in winter, but once in a lifetime.

[choco-dipped-strawberry-lions]

WHOOPS ALMOST FORGOT TO UPLOAD THIS

Day 6: Horns

Some Deertaur! Sheith for y'all ❤️

Shiro is smitten right off the bat, while Keith tries to keep it together, but he knows he's gone for him 😌

[littlesqu1sh]

I was tagged by my dad @lilla-prinsen

1. Name: Taylor

2. Nicknames: my family calls me demon child, my sister calls me T and my friends comes up with random pet names @theo

3. Zodiac: Aquarius

4. Height : 5’3” (taller than my sister which is what I care about)

5. Languages I know: English, a small amount of German and a few words in Greek, it’s my dream to learn Greek

6. Nationality: Greek/Italian/Irish/German/ and something else that I forgot. Whoops

7. Favorite season: Spring or fall. They both have perfect weather for almost any outfit.

8. Favorite Flower: I’ve never been given flowers so I don’t know.

9. Favorite Scent: lavender. It’s soothing.

10. Favorite color: a light pale purple or the same kind of green or blue.

11. Favorite animal: dogs, tigers, dragons (those count )

12. Favorite fictional character: too many to count but I guess if I had to choose like top three; it would be Keith from Voltron, Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon, and Cloud from Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts

13. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate: tea and hot chocolate. Coffee is far too bitter. Chai tea is my favorite.

14. Average hours of sleep?: heh nice one less than 5?

15. Dog or cat: dog, they’re more cuddly

16. Number of blankets you sleep with: too many

17. Dream trip?: definitely to visit Sweden is number one, because I wanna meet @lilla-prinsen in person; but I also wanna do a tour of all of Asia

18. Blog established: this one like recently, cause I forgot my password for my long time one

19. Followers: 2? Like I said, new account

20. Random fact: I play DnD and Magic with one of my best friends and I’m gonna cry when she leaves in September because she’s studying abroad. And I just know I’m gonna miss her so much. So yeah, I’m a giant cry baby

So now I tag my sister (not by blood) @softandsquishyyyy

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

So I have read almost all the routes in Lovestruck, Seduce me the otome, the arcana, and Choices. I was wondering if you know of any other visual novels that you would recommend

Oof I’m so sorry I didn’t see this dkanwnsbbagw. I’m gonna give you the games and the LIs I recommend most if that’s okay.

I have a few....

1. Be my Princess. I’m pretty sure you’re a designer for something and get to meet the Princes from different kingdoms or something fkwnwnw. But it’s a nice game.

If you like Tsunderes I recommend Keith Alford. I actually forgot his name for a hot second whoops. But I loved him. He was kind of rude (I haven’t played him in YEARS so I’m not sure on everything sorry) but he eventually began to break. Like every tsundere lol. But he was adorable and he’s just jskansjs. He doesn’t realize his feelings at first and comes off very harsh, but underneath all of that, he’s a soft teddy bear.

But...if you like a funny and kind guy, go for Roberto Button. He is my #2. He’s so kind and nice and likes to dodge responsibility but he changes a bit for MC and she keeps him in line (or well you do I guess?). He was my first but then I played Keith and I loved him. It’s hard to decide between them but I love them. His poor Butler (Alberto) suffers trying to make him do his responsibilities. But he of course still loves the prince lol.

Actually I also recommend Glenn and Joshua. They’re both tsunderes but fall for MC. Glenn is actually a childhood friend and I can’t remember much in his route (mainly bc I didn’t play it but saw some playthroughs) and he’s so sweet. Joshua is a BIG TUFF Tsundere. He really is sweet (but he fears cats...but he did snuggle with one one time in a special episode of something for MC) and love Rice Balls...but only when MC makes them (or was it Rice Cakes...)

I never played any other guys from there so...there’s those guys

2. My Forged Wedding. You, the MC, have to pick a guy to be their fake wife for different reasons (I believe I’m sorry I haven’t played in a long time).

I believe this was my FIRST Otome game to come by. I’m not sure. I recommend Takao Maryuama and Yamato Kougami. They’re both very nice and sweet. Or well...Takao is in the beginning.

If you like Tsunderes, Yamato’s for you. He’s a teacher and is very kind once you get to know him. One of his students like kidnaps you or something and I’m gonna leave it at that ;’). If I ever wanted to live a normal life away from Lovestruck universe, I’d go with him. He’s nice and a real teddy bear and shows you love when you pass his first season. But he is a tsundere so he’s kind of rough on the edges when you meet him, but he gets used to you and is so sWEET.

Takao is just a normal guy. He’s sweet, kind, friends with Yamato (everyone in the game is friends with everyone fjsjsj), takes care of you, he’s a lawyer, and he just...knows how to keep you comfortable. He’s very sweet but can be dirty dkansbbqgw. Just gonna leave it at that ;’).

All in all the game is amazing, especially my 2 bois. And Ren is precious too. He’s a silent type so...not exactly my type. I’m the silent type in the relationship so I need a loud guy. Sorry Ren...but he is a prince I believe (?). So, he’s a kind guy, but he’s very quite and he’s actually a scientist. So I wouldn’t recommend him bc I never really played him and idk what happens but...if you like a silent type. Go for it XD.

3. Love Letter from Thief X (I believe that’s what it’s called). You, a normal person, receives a letter from a group of thieves and they come and take you and other things happen that I’m not 100% able to recall sorry.

I recommend one boi (bC I only played one boi) and it’s Riku. I believe that was his name. He was kind of sweet. I can’t remember much but I remember that I loved him so saknqbwgw.

4. Shall We Date: Angel or Devil. You, a woman that has 7 days to live because of some accident, has to give your soul to someone once those 7 days are up. I recommend Reiner and Feyril. For once, NEITHER OF THEM ARE TSUNDERES. Or not what I believe.

Reiner is a reaper. He is there to take your soul but he is kind of a flirt. He eventually begins to fall in love with you and doesn’t want to take you soul anymore, mainly bc it would mean he’d have to use his scythe and kill you, so he doesn’t want to do that. Some scary stuff is revealed to MC about him and it’s angst, but he is very sweet and was willing to fight for you. If you play him or watch the playthroughs, you’ll know what I mean ;’).

Feyril is an angel and is very kind...like an angel. He at first didn’t feel anything and was always there for you (I haven’t played him in forever forgive me if I get anything wrong...) and well...just is so nice like an angel. In the end he falls in love with you and I remember some bad things happened at the end (sort of) and there were different endings. Like sweet ending and happy ending. Different ones for each route. Also in one ending, him and MC do something interesting on the table in the library in Heaven👀.

I also recommend Latis. He is also an angel. He was your brothers angel (bc he died when she was little I believe) and he became close to you quickly. In the end he fell in love with you and asked, “If I go to hell, will you go with me?” I believe it’s because he wanted to do something dirty with the MC (like lust related. Even tho Feyril and MC did something related to that in Heaven...) and it wasn’t allowed but ya...he’s precious. Like all of these 3 bois I’ve recommended.

ACTUALLY I ALSO RECOMMEND REINER. HE IS A REAPER AND IS SO PRECIOUS. HES DISTANT BUT YALL GET A FUCKING CAT IN ONE ENDING AND FKWNWNWB.

OKAY THATS IT. I can’t really remember any other games I’ve played. I’ve played other ones but I can’t remember much that happens in them/I never finished them and didn’t really like the game. Like love letter from thief x. It wasn’t my favorite so I can remember very little from it.

Or perhaps I was so young so-

But I hope you take my recommendations and read them! I really recommend My Forged Wedding and Be My Princess most. I loved those 2 the most. My bby Yamato and Keith being adorable tsunderes and just aAAAAAAH.

Im just realizing that there are no female in these games so I’m sorry if you wanted female. But I wouldn’t recommend females anyway bc I don’t read them so idk what happens ofkawhw. But I do know that they’re are no females in these games.

[nobodys-pearls]

For the fic prompts, adashi and 11. I read your fic "I hate space" and loved it and just want to see more drunk adashi because every time they get tipsy they get all lovey

Ahh I’m so happy that you enjoyed it I love that scene

(also if you read ‘i hate space’ this takes place during ch 13 after they save the day and all that jazz and are heading home)

11. things you said when you were drunk

“Woah, wait,” Shiro said, stopping in the middle of the hall and laughing to himself. His head felt all floaty and warm and nice and -

“Hurry up, Takashi. Lance gave us only five minutes,” Adam whined, tugging on Shiro’s sleeve and giggling when he lost his balance for a moment. Shiro pouted and closed his eyes, trying to focus.

“Right, we’ve - we’re going, but -” Shiro paused, scrunching up his nose in thought. “Where are we going again?” He opened his eyes to see Adam standing there with crossed arms, deep in thought.

“Shit, I forgot,” Adam said after a moment, but then he waved his hand. “Oh! We’re supposed to get Coran’s musta - you know, the thing on his - masta -” Adam furrowed his brow as he tried to come up with the word. “Coran’s gel and, uh, bring it back!” Shiro looked up and down the hall.

“So, what way?” Shiro asked, and Adam laughed, shaking his head.

“I have no idea.” Adam moved to lean against the wall, putting his hands on his knees and bending over. “My head is all -” Adam began to say, waving his hand as he tried to think.

“Floaty?” Shiro offered, and Adam pointed at him, his hair falling in his face.

“Yes, that.” He laughed again. “I don’t think that we’re gonna be able to do this dare.” Shiro joined him, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

“I can’t believe we even made it this far,” Shiro admitted, shaking his head, which currently felt like it was stuffed with cotton.  

“Are we lightweights now? Did we get old and now we can’t handle our alcohol?” Adam asked, leaning into Shiro’s side. He was warm. Shiro smiled.

“It’s the Nunvill, I think. Very strong.” Adam scoffed.

“If Iverson could see us now,” Adam said. Then Shiro watched as he quickly looked up and down the hall. “Oh shit, Iverson could see us now. He’s on the Atlas too!” Shiro’s eyes widened and then they both erupted into giggles, holding on to each other for support.

“I didn’t mean to get this drunk,” Shiro said, holding Adam’s hands and giving them a lazy squeeze. He felt himself leaning forward and Adam quickly shot a hand out to catch him.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been this drunk, not since -” Adam began, and then he started to blush. Shiro looked at him in confusion for a moment, and then the memory finally floated to the front of his brain. Adam’s hands on his chest, his tongue in his mouth, an empty bottle of wine between them. Shiro could feel his cheeks heat up as well, although they were already plenty warm. “Look at you,” Adam said, booping Shiro’s nose. “You have the Asian flush going on all over your face.” Shiro pouted.

“I do not.”

“Do too,” Adam teased, moving his face closer to Shiro’s and giving him a lazy smile. Shiro looked at him for a moment, admiring the way his skin glowed in the moonlight that was peeking through the window, and then he kissed him. It wasn’t one of their more graceful kisses, but Shiro felt himself being pressed against the wall, Adam’s arms caging him in on either side as he bit Shiro’s lip and asked for more. Shiro grabbed Adam’s belt loops and pulled him closer, causing a surprised gasp to escape Adam’s lips. Then Adam moved to kiss Shiro’s neck, biting and sucking until Shiro’s breathing became uneven and breathy. He wound his fingers through Adam’s hair and Adam started to go lower. Shiro laughed.

“We can’t do this in the hall, Adam. Knowing our luck Ives - Iverson will definitely catch us.”

“I don’t care,” Adam said simply, placing his hands on Shiro’s hips and sliding them up his shirt. Shiro let out another breathy gasp and he could almost feel his own pupils blow wide as he watched Adam with parted lips. “I’m so into you,” Adam said between kisses. “I don’t think you understand just how much I’m into you.” Shiro laughed again. Everything that Adam said sounded hilarious.

“I don’t think you understand how much I’m into you,” Shiro countered, his words sounding heavy and warm on his tongue. “I think the first time we kissed I almost sploded - exploded.”

“The first time we kissed I thought it was a dream,” Adam said easily, kneeling down to kiss Shiro’s hipbone.

“Adam -” Shiro gasped, his voice sounding a lot more uneven than he thought it would. Then he saw Adam looking up at him, his beautiful brown eyes half-lidded and soft.

“God I’m so in love with you, so in love that - that I -” Adam furrowed his brow in frustration. Then he laughed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m too drunk to form a sentence right now. I want to tell you just how much I love you but I just - the words -” Adam laughed again and Shiro put a hand on his cheek.

“You don’t have to say anything. I already know,” Shiro said, giving him a lazy smile. Adam grinned up at him, and then his expression became more mischievous.

“Since I can’t tell you how I feel with words,” Adam began, placing his fingertips on Shiro’s beltbuckle. “How about I show you?” Shiro swallowed, his throat suddenly too dry.

“But Iverson -”

“It’s past his bedtime,” Adam assured him, beginning to play with Shiro’s beltbuckle. Then something buzzed in Shiro’s pocket and they both jumped. Shiro looked down at the pocket of his pants in confusion and then his eyes lit up in realization, clumsily pulling his phone out. He looked at the screen and then showed it to Adam. The timer was at zero.

“Looks like we lost,” Shiro said.

“Whoops,” Adam said with a smirk. He moved to stand up, clumsily wiping the knees of his pants. “I guess we should tell Lance and Keith that we failed. Shiro laughed.

“We failed horribly.”

“What can I say? You’re distracting even when we’re not drunk,” Adam said, weaving his arm through Shiro’s and leaning against him. They began to walk down the hallway, but then Shiro stopped. “What?” Adam asked.

“We’re going the wrong way,” Shiro said, looking over his shoulder at the other end of the hall. They looked at each other for a moment and began to laugh, their shoulders shaking. “We’re hopeless,” Shiro said, shaking his head.

“Two halves of a whole idiot,” Adam said. “How were we ever able to function on our own?”

With some effort and an embarrassing amount of wrong turns they managed to get back to Lance’s room, ready to tell him and Keith about their failed mission. But when they got there they found Lance and Keith passed out on Lance’s bed, the empty bottle of Nunvill on the side table. Shiro smiled at the two of them, seeing how Keith’s arms were wrapped around Lance like he was something delicate, seeing the way Lance face was nuzzled into Keith’s chest.

“Oh I am so tempted to take a picture,” Adam whispered, picking up the empty bottle. Then he turned to look at Shiro.

“You know that they’re totally into each other right?” Shiro nodded his head.

“I don’t think Keith realizes how much he talks about Lance when we train together.” Adam let out an amused huff.

“Back at the Garrison Lance couldn’t deal with his crush on Keith so he tried to convince me to kick Keith out of the program.” Shiro let out a surprised laugh and then quickly covered his mouth with his hands, looking at Lance and Keith with wide eyes and then breathing a sigh of relief when they didn’t move. Then he heard a click and turned to see Adam taking a picture of them before putting his phone back in his pocket. “I’m saving it for the slide show at their wedding,” Adam explained, and Shiro smiled, wrapping his arm around Adam’s waist and pressing a kiss on the top of his head.

“I’m so in love with you too,” Shiro said, “just so you know,” and he could feel Adam nuzzle into the crook of his neck.

“How about we let these two have their bonding moment,” Adam offered, and Shiro grinned, nodding his head in agreement. “And let’s finish having our own bonding moment,” Adam said, and Shiro’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Shiro whispered, hearing his voice crack a little. Adam chuckled softly and move to hold Shiro’s hand, leading him out of the room.

“Tomorrow let’s just tell them that we found it, and that we totally didn’t get lost on the ship we’ve been traveling in for almost a year.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shiro said, and together they made it to their own room, Adam still leading Shiro by the hand. By the time they made it back the effects of the Nunvill had pretty much worn off, and they ended up falling asleep on the couch the moment they got through the door. Shiro couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

[stories-in-the-stars]

That Which Belongs to the Sea

Whoops, forgot the post the final update here! If you keep up with me on Ao3 (@ creeshtar), you might’ve seen that I upped the final part there yesterday. Anyways, here it is now, and I hope y’all enjoy. As always, thanks to everyone who has supported me through this fic.

~*~

Chapter 3

Part of Your World

Allura tried to rub the sleep from her burning eyes. It wouldn’t do to be presented to a foreign monarch looking half-dead, after all. Her tail was perfectly still as she waited to be summoned. Her appearance was abrupt, to be sure, but hopefully she could still be seen quickly. It was early in the third day. There wasn’t much time left.

“Your Highness,” came a voice from the door of the dim sitting room she’d been left to wait in. “The emperor will see you now.”

Allura rose from her seat and tried to smooth out her billowing white hair. She followed the cecaelia silently, heart pounding all the while. Ailing though he was known to be, the cecaelian emperor was still a force to be reckoned with. Allura had only met him a few times as a child, and while he had seemed kind but stern at first, as his health began to fail him so too did his kindness. But that had been years ago. Allura had no idea what to expect now.

The dark doors of the throne room (darker than she remembered them) swung open to admit her into the throne room as the herald announced her. Allura made her steady way towards the throne, not too fast, not too slow. She bowed low, tail curling just so behind her.

“Emperor Zarkon,” she spoke in a steady tone. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice.”

Zarkon sat silently on his throne, hunched over and perfectly still. Allura wondered idly just how bad his health really was. When he spoke, however, he sounded stronger than he seemed, but also more menacing. With his voice alone he seemed to make the entire room tremble. Allura hoped that she wasn’t visibly shaking.

“What is it you want from me?”

Allura kept her head high, her voice clear. “I would like to request access to your archives, your Majesty.”

Zarkon grumbled. “Altea’s archives are known to be replete with a great many topics, in a depth not rivaled by any other. What is it you could possibly want to know that is not contained in your own library already?”

“Alchemy, your Majesty.”

The water in the room grew heavy (although perhaps that was just Allura--this kingdom was quite a bit deeper than her home). For the first time Zarkon seemed to move, taking on a fierce posture.

“What use do you have for alchemy?” he demanded.

“No use, only curiosity,” Allura assured him.

Zarkon narrowed his gleaming eyes. Allura put every ounce of her willpower into keeping her posture formal but relaxed.

“We have nothing that would be of use to you,” Zarkon finally said. “If that is all you have come for, then you should leave.”

“But if I could simply look for myself--” Allura began insistently.

“What impudence is this?!” Zarkon thundered. “First you make an unplanned, unexplained appearance to request an immediate audience with me without thought to how that might inconvenience me, and then you think you have the right to make demands of me?!”

“Forgive me, I--”

“Begone!” Zarkon commanded.

His tone brooked no argument. Allura was promptly escorted out and she went without complaint. Or at least, no complaint that she voiced. Zarkon had told her there would be nothing of use to her, but had still refused her access to his archives. If there was nothing of use, then why refuse her access? Allura was convinced that Zarkon was hiding something.

And she intended to find out just what that was.

~*~

The guards at Shiro’s apartments did not dare question the younger prince as he hurried towards the door, no doubt looking particularly fierce with the fresh cut running down his face. One of them asked if he should send for a doctor, but Keith ignored him and threw open the doors.

“Shiro!” he called. “Shiro, wake up!”

Keith closed the door behind him and waited in the sitting room. He stoked the fire to a blaze as he waited, listening to Shiro grumble from the bedroom he shared with Adam. From the sound of things, neither of them were happy to be woken at such an hour. Keith didn’t care. This was not a matter that could be delayed.

The bedroom door flew open to reveal a less than pleased Shiro. “This had better be--”

He halted when he saw the state of Keith. He nodded to Adam, who went to send a servant for a doctor. Keith let him. They’d be fluttering over him unnecessarily if he didn’t agree to let a doctor see him anyways. Shiro gestured for Keith to sit, and sat in a chair across from him, expression full of worry.

“What happened?” Shiro demanded.

“You remember the first petition of this morning? The fisherman with the merfolk problem?” Keith asked.

Shiro nodded slowly.

“His problem is real.”

Shiro raised his eyebrows. He trusted Keith unwaveringly, but perhaps, Keith considered, this was too much. These were creatures of supposed myth, after all, but Keith was certain of what had happened. Something with hands had grabbed him, tried to squeeze the life out of him. He hadn’t gotten a very good look, but it was good enough for him to know that whatever had attacked him and Lance was very much not human.

“Tell me what happened,” Shiro insisted.

Keith obliged. “I was down at the lagoon, and I was teaching Lance how to swim--”

“Lance?”

“Do you mean the handsome guest you brought home a couple days ago? Did you finally guess his name?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Keith answered quickly. “Anyways, we were swimming in the lagoon and--and something grabbed me and dragged me down. It wasn’t any fish either. It had hands, with claws, and it tried very hard to drown me. Another one tried to drown Lance.”

“Are you sure?” Shiro pressed.

Keith gestured to his face and neck. “You think I did this to myself?!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I just--this is really hard to believe,” Shiro amended.

“I know,” Keith said. “I didn’t believe it when the fisherman came to us with his petition. But now I do.”

“But all the fishermen were fatally drowned,” Adam pointed out. “How were you able to get away?”

“Sheer luck,” Keith guessed with a shrug. “That, and…”

He trailed off, pressing his lips tightly together.

“And?” Shiro nudged.

“I think Lance was the one who rescued me,” Keith said quietly, barely audible over the crackle of the fire.

“Well, that makes sense, since Lance was the only other one there, although how he managed to get away when he couldn’t even swim at first is--”

“No,” Keith interrupted. “I think Lance was the one who rescued me from the shipwreck. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, and I don’t even know why he’s here now--It doesn’t even make sense, because I was sure that whoever rescued me could speak, and Lance can’t… But somehow I just feel like it was him, all along.”

A beat of silence passed through the room. Adam and Shiro exchanged a look that Keith couldn’t quite decipher, and wasn’t sure that he liked.

“But that’s not what’s important right now!” Keith hurried. He was thinking that he might have added too much fuel to the fire; the room was stifling all of a sudden. “What’s important is that is a very real threat facing the kingdom right now, and all we’ve done is send the merfolk more people to drown!”

Shiro nodded, his expression resolute. “You’re right. But this… This is something our kingdom hasn’t faced in centuries. If you weren’t here telling me that you’d almost been drowned by one, I wouldn’t believe that this was a real problem at all.”

“We need more information,” Adam added. “I can get a task of librarians to look up some old legends regarding merfolk.”

“We also can’t just sit around and wait while this keeps happening to people. We can’t just tell our people to not go out to sea!” Keith insisted.

“Keith,” Shiro said firmly. “The ships I tasked to patrol the eastern waters are set to leave tomorrow afternoon. That gives us enough time to briefly research effective methods of defense against merfolk and outfit our men accordingly.”

“I’m going with them,” Keith decided.

“Keith--”

But Keith leveled his brother with a fixed look that was all too familiar. Shiro paused, considering whether he should try to talk Keith out of this or not. Keith remained resolute. No matter what, he was going. There was no way he wasn’t going to face this problem directly, not after what had just happened. Eventually, Shiro seemed convinced of this.

“Fine,” Shiro relented. “But don’t you dare get drowned!”

“Oh, come on, Shiro,” Keith said airily, at ease now that he’d gotten his way. “If they couldn’t drown me this time what makes you think they’ll be able to do when I see them coming?”

A soft knock came at the door, and the doctor was admitted into the room. Keith winced as she dabbed the cut, muttering about disinfectant and how much of a pain it would be to dress such a wound, and how it would likely leave a scar. Meanwhile, the problem at hand seemed to be well and settled. Which meant, apparently, that it was time to tease Keith.

“So,” Shiro started as he and Adam leaned in eagerly. “You took Lance to the lagoon?”

~*~

Allura was supposed to be gone by now, turned away as she was by Emperor Zarkon. And she would be. As soon as she found out what he was hiding about alchemy. She’d managed to slip away from the servants that should’ve been escorting her to the small delegation she’d come with, and had no doubt they were dashing about like mad trying to find her. She had only to hope that they wouldn’t find her before she found answers, and that they were too intimidated by Zarkon to tell him they’d lost her before she found them again.

Unfortunately, she had yet to come across any tablets with even a whisper of alchemy. Her hands flew over the stones, searching, scanning, but ultimately not finding what she was looking for. She gazed hopelessly at the the shelves that were nearly as numerous as the ones in her own library. There was no way she could go through it all before being discovered. Time had doubled down on her. There never seemed to be enough of it anymore.

“You will not find what you seek here,” a harsh voice rasped from the shadows that seemed to be so abundant in this palace.

Allura whirled around with a flurry of bubbles. “I’m so sorry, I’ll leave at once!”

“I did not say you had to leave,” the voice spoke again. “I only said that you would not find what you are looking for here.”

Allura peered into the shadows. “Then… do you know where I will find it?”

“Come with me.”

Whoever it was seemed to move only in the shadows, their silhouette barely visible to Allura. She hesitated for only a second before following. As it was, she thought she heard some of the servants looking for her approaching the library. If she was going to avoid getting caught anyways, she may as well follow this person who seemed to know what Allura needed, and where she could find it.

The shadows seemed to crowd in closer as Allura followed the stranger. There was no telling if the sun had even risen yet. Allura let herself hope that it hadn’t, that time would slow down enough for her to find a viable solution. Another part of her, tired and far more cynical, said that if the sun hadn’t risen yet, it was about to. Allura made a point to ignore it.

The stranger led her to a darkened room, so dark that Allura couldn’t make out any of the features. Then the stranger lit a bioluminescent lamp, and Allura gasped, not at the room, but at the stranger themself. They were not a cecaelia.

They were a mermaid.

A very old mermaid at that, with hair as white as Allura’s and graying scales on her tail. Her eyes were dim, and had a constant, glazed-over look. She gestured for Allura to take a seat, as she herself took one. Allura waited as patiently as possible.

“There is no record of alchemy in the archives here,” the mermaid told Allura. “Zarkon is many things, but he does not lie. He only leaves things out as it suits him.”

“And what, pray tell, has he left out?”

The old mermaid hummed, as though she were unsure where to start.

“You know that Zarkon had an heir, yes?” she asked.

“I had heard rumors, but I was never certain of their validity,” Allura admitted.

The mermaid nodded. “They’re true, I’m afraid. Zarkon had--has a son. And he did indeed banish that son after an alchemical experiment gone wrong. After that, Zarkon destroyed all records of alchemy in the archives.”

“What happened?”

The old mermaid leaned back in her seat, looking reminiscent, and a touch melancholic. She took a deep, shuddering breath. Her health seemed to be about as good as Zarkon’s, Allura thought.

“He was a good boy. His heart was in the right place. He and his mother wanted to revive the art of alchemy for Zarkon’s sake. His mother had long had a curiosity regarding alchemy, and that curiosity only strengthened when she found that it was a shared interest between her and her son. Zarkon supported their academic pursuits. They both had bright minds, and he was proud of them.”

The mermaid sighed. Allura’s attention was rapt.

“Then the emperor’s health began to decline more rapidly. His son and wife began to hasten their experiments, at the expense of safety. For a while, there were no severe consequences, but the emperor started to become nervous. It was clear that the experiments were taking a toll on his family, but they would not stop. I wonder if they would’ve had they know the truth of alchemy,” the mermaid recounted.

“And… what is the truth of alchemy?”

The mermaid’s eyes narrowed. “The truth of alchemy is that, unlike magic, it is not a gift to be given freely. There is always a cost, an exchange. But neither the prince nor his mother knew this when they decided they were ready heal their emperor with alchemy. The records in the archive were not as complete as they should’ve been. When they tried to heal Zarkon… it went badly.”

“How badly?”

The mermaid did not immediately answer. Allura tried and failed to keep her tail from twitching impatiently.

“Zarkon’s wife died. In theory she knew what was happening as it was happening, but pressed forward anyways. This was her husband, after all. Zarkon was distraught, and demanded that his son undo the process at once, his own health be damned. His son argued that his mother only wanted to see him well again, but his father forced him into it anyways. Alchemy is not meant to revive people. The prince, having studied alchemy extensively, understood this. Zarkon could not, or rather… perhaps he didn’t want to understand. All he wanted was his wife back. His son wanted his mother back, but he knew it might not work. He tried anyways.”

The mermaid paused again. Her sorrow made her deeply lined face seem even more weathered.

“It worked--in a way. She was not the person she had once been, and she ailed as much as Zarkon did. She did not remember her son or husband. Zarkon was furious. He blamed his son for her state, though his son had warned him that it might not work the way they wanted. In spite of the prince having the best intentions… Zarkon banished his only child. Thus rejected by his only remaining family, the prince became embittered… There are few who know his whereabouts these days, but I would not be surprised if his solitude has only served to further foster his resentment.”

“That’s awful,” Allura breathed.

“Indeed,” the mermaid said with a nod. “And now there is no one left who remembers.”

“But you remember, surely you must know something about alchemy--”

“I have told you all that I know.”

“But… there has to be more,” Allura lamented.

“What for?” the mermaid inquired.

“I--” Allura stammered. “I’m not trying to bring anyone back from the dead!”

“But you are trying to prevent death, aren’t you?”

Allura leapt up from her seat, heart hammering painfully against her ribs. This wasn’t the same, not in the slightest!

“Thank you for your time and insight,” Allura said through clenched teeth. “But I’m afraid I must be going now.”

The old mermaid nodded. “Very well. But princess, remember, alchemy will take if something is not given. And there is no telling what it will take.”

~*~

To say Lance was impatient for Keith to return was a bit of an understatement. He’d done as Keith bid him and changed into dry, warm clothes, but it offered little relief for his frazzled nerves. Lotor’s mermaids were attacking humans, including Lance himself, and now merfolk as a whole were to blame. More than anything Lance wished he’d traded something other than his voice, anything, so that he could explain to Keith precisely what was going on.

Restless as he was, Lance found he just couldn’t wait quietly in his room. He’d been fascinated by the bed the night before; now there was simply too much on his mind to even give it a second glance. He took to wandering the large halls of the castle. They looked so different at night. They didn’t gleam or shine, and they felt larger than Lance remembered. Nighttime, he surmised, must get very lonely in this castle. His own home was smaller, but at the same time more open. Even there Lance had managed to feel lonely at times.

He ended up meandering into a cozy sitting room, lined with books he couldn’t read and lit, as much of the rest of the castle was, with a candle. Here was something that sparked his curiosity once more. Lance had always been fascinated by candles and the tiny flames that seemed to dance atop them, but he hadn’t had time to investigate more closely. Now was his chance, it seemed.

Lance gazed into the flame for a long while. It moved so much like water. Subject to its own whims, and seeming so very alive. It stirred something nostalgic deep within Lance, a sort of longing for the home he’d left behind. He scowled. Now was not the time for regrets. He turned his attention back to the flame.

Unlike water, fire radiated a warmth and light all its own. It drew Lance in, and he was helpless to resist. He raised a hand in a cradling motion, letting the heat seep into his skin. There was nothing so gently warm underneath the water. Lance poised a finger just above the flame, wondering how close he could get to it.

“Lance!”

Lance jumped, and then felt a searing pain on his finger. He withdrew his hand sharply, silently hissing as the pain really settled in. Keith was by his side in an instant. He took Lance’s hand in his, studying the injury intently.

“What are you doing sticking your fingers in fire anyways?” Keith muttered, rubbing his fingers over the pad of Lance’s finger.

Lance made no move to answer.

“I was a little worried when I couldn’t find you at first,” Keith continued, not yet looking up at Lance. “Can’t blame you for not wanting to sit still though. Are you alright? Do you need a doctor to look at anything?”

Keith looked up and Lance shook his head.

Keith sighed and looked away again, his lips pressed together in contemplation. He was still holding Lance’s hand. Lance made no move to change this.

“Lance,” he began. “I’m going with our men to the east tomorrow afternoon.”

Lance felt as though he’d been punched in the chest. Keith was leaving?! He shook his head vigorously, clasping Keith’s hands tightly as though to physically prevent him from leaving. Keith smiled gently; Lance frowned.

“I know it’s dangerous, but--Lance, listen to me--I have to do this. It’s my responsibility as a prince. I know you’re worried but I’ll be back. And… well, I was wondering if you would wait for me?”

Before Lance could even shake his head, his eyes were overflowing again. It didn’t help that it seemed to concern Keith this time. Keith used his free hand to tilt Lance’s face towards his, forcing their eyes to meet. The flame of the candle was reflected clearly in Keith’s eyes, not unlike a bright star in the night sky. Lance didn’t want to look.

“Lance, what’s wrong?”

Lance shook his head; it was all he could do.

“You don’t want me to go?”

Lance nodded.

“Is it because of the merfolk?”

Lance shrugged. It was difficult to articulate that it was only a few merfolk in particular that concerned him, and that Keith should not seek to fight against merfolk as a whole. Not to mention explaining why he so firmly believed that.

“Lance, they couldn’t drown me today, and they won’t drown me tomorrow, okay? I promise.”

Don’t go, Lance silently begged.

“Besides,” Keith continued in a low voice. He brought Lance’s still-stinging finger up to his smiling lips, letting them brush across the tender skin. “That’s twice now I should’ve drowned, but I didn’t. I think I know why.”

Don’t go, Lance’s absent voice screamed.

“I think it’s because my heart belongs to the sea.”

Don’t go.

“And the sea won’t let me drown.”

Don’t go!

“I’m certain of that now,” Keith said. He punctuated the statement with a press of his lips to the pad of Lance’s finger.

Don’t go!

Their eyes met like a crack of lightning, and Keith stumbled back as though pushed, Lance’s hand slipping out of his. He fell to the floor without a sound. When he sat up, his eyes were unfocused, his mouth agape. Lance felt his heart rapping a staccato beat against his chest, sharp and insistent. He held out a hand to help Keith up, but Keith hardly noticed it.

“I won’t,” Keith mumbled. “I won’t… go? I won’t--no! I’m--I have to go!”

He stood up without taking Lance’s hand. The distrust that had briefly flared up in the lagoon had flared up in full force once again. Lance thought to shake his head again, to say that whatever had just happened wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t even sure what had just happened! Instead he just stood there, wishing that Keith would look at him again, for all that just a moment ago Lance wanted him to look anywhere else.

Keith stumbled over his words when he spoke again, “I’ll come back. I promise. And I really hope you’re here when I do.”

Without another word Keith hurried out of the room. Lance slumped against his seat, eyes still spilling over as though his emotions were simply too much for his body to hold in. There was no telling how long he sat there for, but it was long enough that the candle he’d been watching had melted down to a puddle. By then, Lance felt utterly dried up. His head was throbbing, he felt exhausted, but hated the idea of going to sleep.

So instead, Lance watched the candle as it flickered wildly, desperately hanging on to the last vestiges of its life. He watched the wick get shorter and shorter, as the flame consumed it. He watched as the flame finally reached its end, and with a sudden puff, was extinguished.

Even then, Lance remained.

~*~

When Allura returned home, the sun was nearly directly overhead. It only further served to emphasize her utter failure. She had only hours and counting. What could she possibly do in that time to help Lance?

“Princess,” a steward greeted before she had even properly settled herself after her journey. “I hate to bother you so soon after your return, but there is someone to see you. He’s been insistent ever since he arrived.”

Allura had just opened her mouth to ask who in the seven seas could possibly want to see her, now of all times, when Hunk barrelled around the corner. The steward was utterly horrified by the lack of decorum. Hunk couldn’t be bothered to care. And if Hunk couldn’t be bothered to care about appearing respectful to a princess…

“What happened?” she asked immediately, waving the steward off.

Hunk spoke in a horrified, hushed tone. “Lotor sent his mermaids to drown Keith and Lance.”

“He did what?!” Allura exclaimed. Then, more quietly, “Is Lance…?”

“He’s fine, they’re both fine, luckily I was nearby and they didn’t seem to want to deal with me, but the fact that they were there at all…” Hunk trailed off, the implication all too obvious.

“Lotor doesn’t want Lance succeeding,” Allura whispered anyways.

“But why?” Hunk asked.

Allura’s brow furrowed, everything she’d learned in the past two days all coming together in a messed up jumble that she could hardly make heads or tails of. One thing was certain though. Lotor was playing dirty, at the expense of Lance’s life. And Allura wouldn’t stand for it.

“I don’t know,” she finally said, darting back towards the exit of the castle. “But we’re going to find out.”

~*~

A shell of bright blue gleamed under the midday sun. It seemed like a perfectly ordinary, if perhaps an unusually well preserved shell. Any passerby might pick it up and think it a rather pretty trinket. And, upon doing so, would marvel at how warm it felt, at how it seemed to thrum with life. They would peer inside and find it empty.

Unless, of course, they knew what they were looking for.

Lotor turned the shell over and over in his hand, looking bored but with a touch of simmering ferocity. Anyone who knew him might think him angry. As it was, there were few that knew him. Fewer still that would not recoil as he gripped the shell hard enough that it might break. It didn’t.

Two distinct shadows slipped silently into the cove of Lotor’s agitated repose. He didn’t spare them a glance, instead keeping his attention fixed on the shell in his hand.

“Acxa, Zethrid,” Lotor greeted in a clipped tone.

“Lotor,” one of them began. “We—”

“Failed,” Lotor interrupted. “I’m well aware.”

Silence descended upon the cove once more. The mermaids did not swish their tails nervously, nor did they keep unusually still. To any outside onlookers, it might seem that they felt perfectly at ease with this turn of events.

“No matter,” Lotor said suddenly. “You did, at the very least, prevent the princeling from accomplishing his goal. And today is his final day.”

“What if he manages it on land?” Acxa asked.

“I doubt they’ll have much time for romance, what with the trouble Narti and Ezor are stirring up,” Zethrid noted with a fierce grin.

“Indeed,” Lotor agreed. “Narti has relayed that a commission of ships has be sent to assess the problem in those waters, and should be arriving close to sunset. And even if you did fail, you have at the very least given them a reason to expedite their plans.”

Lotor smirked maliciously, eyeing the shining shell once more. “Regardless of what happens, by sunset the silvertongue gift will be mine in its entirety.”

“And then you’ll have no trouble taking advantage of the chaos that’s about to take hold of all underwater kingdoms,” Acxa added confidently.

They quieted as a small, but definite shuffling could be heard from just outside the cove. Lotor had only to motion discreetly with his eyes, and Acxa and Zethrid immediately moved to investigate. Lotor himself did not bother to move, but looked far less agitated as sounds of a struggle were shortly heard.

“You again!” he heard Zethrid snarl.

“I beat you before, I—I can do it again!”

Zethrid could be heard laughing. “You think you actually beat me?”

“Leave him alone—!”

The scuffle lasted for only another moment. Then Acxa and Zethrid dragged two still struggling intruders before Lotor. Their shining, brightly colored tails were a sharp contrast to the cooler colors worn by their captors. Those tails thrashed wildly to no avail.

“Well, well,” Lotor began. “What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe this exceptional honor, Princess Allura?”

“You won’t get away with what you’re up to, Lotor!” Allura spat. “We’ve figured you out!”

“Have you now? And I suppose you’ve alerted all underwater kingdoms, told them to beware of my trickery?”

Allura faltered. It was brief, almost invisible to the untrained eye. She recovered lightning fast, and opened her mouth to retort when Lotor held up a hand.

“Don’t waste my time with bluffing. The two of you came here alone, and no one knows you’re here,” Lotor said.

“You still won’t get away with this!” the golden tailed one, Hunk, insisted though he trembled.

Lotor leaned back idly, tentacles curling in amusement. “Won’t I?”

“You won’t,” Allura said, almost more to convince herself.

“So you say,” Lotor said. “But fear scrambles reason. Fear will convince your friends that their dear little prince has been poached by humans. Fear is what will send them running to me when your kingdom finds that their one and only beloved princess has been speared by humans. Fear is what will unify them against humans, under my rule. Fear is what will return me my birthright.”

“And what makes you think any merfolk, or even any cecaelia, would be so easily swayed? They’re not so foolish as to give in to fear that easily! They’d never follow you! Not like this!” Allura shouted, straining against Acxa’s grip.

“Perhaps not,” Lotor amended with a nod. He brandished the shell. “Perhaps all they would need is a gentle nudge in the right direction. After sunset tonight, I’ll be more than able to give them just that.”

He glanced up at Acxa and Zethrid. “Take them to where Ezor and Narti are. Make sure the humans find them. I hope I don’t need to say that a second failure will not be tolerated, regardless of what the circumstances are.”

Acxa and Zethrid nodded obediently, and dragged their captives away. Lotor returned to considering the shell in his hand, this time smiling in an almost eager fashion. All he had to do was be patient for a little while longer. Only a few more hours, and the seven seas would be his for the taking.

All he had to do was wait. And make sure that the little princeling failed.

~*~

Keith didn’t see Lance before leaving.

Not for lack of trying, of course. Keith was up before the sun, and instead of getting something to eat or even checking to see how preparations for departure were going, he went straight to Lance’s room. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say. He’d been a little vague the night before, he knew, but had promised himself he would make everything crystal clear once he returned. So then, what was there for Keith to say? Maybe he wanted to ask about that strange feeling that had overcome him when he’d fallen over suddenly, that sudden urge to simply not do as he intended. Maybe he wanted to ask Lance where he’d come from, and why he’d come here, of all places, or if he had even intended to come here at all!

All these possible questions (which Keith wasn’t even sure he wanted ask anyways) were for naught. Lance wasn’t in his room. Keith tried not to be surprised, but they had been up pretty late the night before. The first place he checked was the sitting room they’d been in the night before, thinking that Lance had accidentally fallen asleep there. All Keith found was a puddle of wax that had once been the candle Lance burned his finger with.

So Keith took to wandering through the many massive halls of his lifelong home in search of a single person. He knew from past experience that it was a pain. He checked the kitchens, grabbing a small bite to eat when he found that Lance wasn’t there. None of the cooks had seen him either. He tried the dining room where Lance had joined them for dinner the first evening of his stay, thinking that if Lance had gotten lost he might stick to the first familiar place he found. No such luck. Keith felt a lead weight beginning to collect in his gut.

It didn’t help that Keith couldn’t dedicate too much of his time to looking for Lance. He asked any servant he came across if they’d seen Lance, and if they hadn’t, to keep an eye out for him. By the time Keith finally went out to inspect the ships, he very likely had the entire castle staff on the lookout. Still there was no word as he walked down to the docks. The sun was now fully over the horizon. Only a few more hours until Keith left.

Keith threw himself headfirst into preparations. Adam had gotten the librarians out in full force at the first light of day, scouring their records for anything and everything regarding mermaids. By the time Keith went down to conduct inspections the ships were being outfitted with extra harpoons and nets made of extra sturdy material. Three small boxes were waiting at the docks when Keith arrived. They were full of earplugs, a pair for each crewmember.

“Your Highness,” a curt greeting got Keith’s attention. Behind him were captains of two of the ships set to leave, Griffin and Kinkade.

Keith greeted them in an equally brisk manner. “How are things proceeding?”

“Smoothly, even with your decision to suddenly join in on the fun,” Griffin answered in a flat tone.

Keith raised an eyebrow. Griffin mirrored the action.

“We were told to expect to be at sea for no more than a week, so stocking rations has been easy enough,” Kinkade continued, smoothly cutting in between the two of them. “All the ships are ready to go in that sense. Right now we have the crews installing the harpoons and checking the nets to be sure that they’re secure. I expect you’ll be wanting to do an inspection of all the ships?”

Keith nodded, and the tedious work began. The sun rose steadily in the sky, beating down insistently on them. The ships and the crews that tended to them were impeccable. The captain of the flagship, the ship Keith would be aboard, was a gruff man that Keith had known much of his life. He’d butted heads with Iverson as a child, but now they had a mutual respect for one another. Unfortunately, that respect seemed to be eroding on Iverson’s end.

“Your Highness, you’re not actually taking the idea of mermaids seriously, are you?” Iverson asked, careful to keep his tone in check. “These country folk are out to make a fool of you.”

“So I thought, captain, until a mermaid tried to drown me last night,” Keith said plainly.

Iverson faltered at that. “You’re not serious.”

“Captain, as long as you’ve known me, have I ever joked like this?”

Iverson considered that. He was still wrestling with the idea when he slowly replied, “You’d cause trouble sometimes, but no, you’d never tell tall tales.”

Keith nodded, and moved to continue the inspection of the flagship. It was impeccable, of course. Iverson wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less. No doubt he’d had the crew give the entire ship an extra scrub down when word arrived that Keith would be joining them. They would not love Keith for that, but he could worry about that later.

“My grandfather liked to tell stories about mermaids, saying he’d seen them before,” Iverson commented.

“What did he say about them?”

“Only what every other storybook might tell you. That they were strange and beautiful and alluring, but he always added that even being half-fish merfolk weren’t so different from us. I always wrote it off as stories he liked to tell to entertain us kids, and then when he kept telling them as we got older I wrote it off as old age,” Iverson explained.

“He never gave details?” Keith prompted.

Iverson hummed. “He did like to tell a story about one merman in particular. I think he said his name was Dain or something of the sort. He’d tell us about how they were great friends, and often liked to meet up in shallow waters at low tide and trade food while talking about anything and everything. And then, he said, one day Dain stopped showing up. My grandfather didn’t know what to make of it, but he often liked to go down to the shore, saying that he hoped to see his friend again one day.”

“That’s… sad,” Keith offered lamely.

“It is, so long as it’s real,” Iverson replied with a shrug.

Keith chose not to respond to that statement. Iverson would see soon enough. In the meantime, there was an inspection to finish. When Keith stepped back onto the docks, Shiro was there. The sun was rapidly approaching its peak in the sky.

“How are things going?” Shiro asked in a low voice.

“As well as they can be, even with last minute additions,” Keith answered. His eyes glanced back towards the castle. He might have time to look around one last time--

“I hear you’ve been looking for Lance,” Shiro said. “There doesn’t seem to be a single person in the castle that you haven’t personally ordered to keep an eye out for him.”

Keith frowned. “I just… wanted to see him before I left.”

Shiro waited for him to continue without saying a word. Keith cursed Shiro’s seemingly limitless patience.

“I… last night I told him I’d be coming along this mission. He was upset, but I asked him if he would wait for me to come back. I guess I have my answer,” Keith explained, scowling.

Shiro put a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s not what you think.”

“Sure,” Keith huffed. He shrugged Shiro’s hand off of him. “I need to get ready to leave.”

He did not search the castle a second time. None of the castle staff, from servant to steward, from maid to matron, had seen hide nor hair of Lance. Keith tried to tell himself he didn’t care, that Lance wasn’t obligated to stay. He never had been. Lance likely had a home, a family he wanted to get back to. As enthusiastic as he seemed, Keith considered for the first time that Lance might’ve been indulging Keith.

Still, there was some hope that he’d get to see Lance at least once before he left. That Lance would stop him as he walked out of the castle. That Lance would run after him on the docks. That Lance would appear, waving frantically as the ship shoved off. That Keith would see a lone figure on the increasingly distant shore, and somehow know in his heart who it was.

The sun was well overhead. The ships were out on open water, and all of Keith’s hopes had been in vain.

Out on open water, even people as sensible as Iverson became superstitious. Every once in a while Keith spotted more than one sailor peering down at the water. Keith himself was helpless against the paranoia brewing just underneath his skin. The cut on his face prickled uncomfortably under the bandage. Nothing jumped out of the water with alluring songs that threatened to draw them overboard. Even so, earplugs were passed out well before they reached the designated area.

Sometimes land peeked over the horizon. Most often it was out of sight, but never out of mind. The only indication that time was passing at all was the sinking of the sun towards the horizon. It was just about to dip into the ocean when the ships turned towards the land. Once it came into view, a silhouette of a prominent lighthouse, one built for the express purpose of dividing the coastline into distinct sections. These were officially eastern waters.

The tension on the ship instantly spiked. Keith could feel it in the air, almost as thick as the salt on the wind. Some sailors tried to joke about it, to break up the anxiety that settled on everyone’s shoulders. The other two ships pulled ahead of the flagship. The three ships would be stretched out in a loose line of patrol. Any trouble they encountered, they would face with only the men they shared a ship with. That the land was so near was not a solace as it would normally be.

Fishing boats were hurrying towards land as the sun was setting. Some of the sailors waved, clearly glad that they were being taken seriously by their rulers. Others looked on with solemn faces, deeply lined and weathered from years of sailing. The lines were deepened by duress. They left Keith feeling particularly unsettled.

The sun was halfway under the horizon. The ship had been drifting idly. The sailors were a bit more at ease. Several of them urged Keith to relax too. He couldn’t. He gripped the railing tightly, staring intently at the waters. He was certain of what happened to him. He knew what lurked in the fathoms below.

Finally, something happened.

It started with excited shouting towards the stern. Keith was there in an instant. Something huge was tugging at the nets they’d cast. Some were shouting that it was no fish. Keith was right beside the sailors struggling to pull the net up. Whatever it was was struggling harder than Keith had ever come across. His heart was thudding painfully in his chest. This was the moment. The moment that would prove him rightfully vigilant or unnecessarily paranoid.

When the net finally breached the surface with its haul, Keith and several other sailors nearly dropped it right back in. The entire crew was in an uproar. Behind him, Keith saw that Iverson was stunned into a stony silence. Tangled within the nets were two people--no, the crew collectively corrected themselves as their eyes fell upon two vividly colored tails.

Two merfolk. Undeniably real, and struggling against the reinforced netting. Iverson shook himself from his stupor long enough to shout at everyone to put in their earplugs. Keith and the sailors holding up the net couldn’t. If the merfolk tried anything though, there were enough able-bodied crew members to keep them from throwing themselves overboard.

“Let us go!” the white-haired mermaid with a radiant pink tail not unlike that of a lion-fish snarled. “We’re not the ones that have been drowning your people!”

Keith set himself, passing his length of rope to a nearby sailor.

“Why should we trust you?”

“Okay, I know there’s no reason you should trust us, but consider: you’ll make things a lot worse for yourself if you do anything to us,” the golden tailed merman insisted.

They seemed sincere to Keith. Perhaps that was the trick. Keith was resolved to not be drawn in so easily.

The sunset was casting a fiery glow across the waters.

“If you’re not the ones drowning our people, then who is?” Keith demanded.

Behind him, the crew was clamoring about something, no doubt thinking that the merfolk should be speared and strung up by their tails without delay. Keith was of a different mindset, it seemed. If he could get any information out of them, he would.

“Mermaids in the employ of a sea-witch, a cecaelia,” the lion-fish mermaid explained.

Iverson was shouting about something. Keith tuned him out as best he could.

Keith scoffed. “You really expect me to believe that?”

It almost sounded like someone was shouting back at Iverson, which Keith knew was impossible because Iverson did not tolerate insubordination of any sort. Keith kept to ignoring what was going on.

“Well, yeah,” the golden-tailed merman said. “That’s kind of why we’re telling you at all. That, and we don’t want you to skewer us. Please don’t skewer us.”

There were sounds of a scuffle behind Keith, one that he could no longer ignore. Keith huffed. He didn’t have time for this. He commanded the sailors at the net to hold their captives securely and turned around just in time to see Lance charging towards him with a knife in hand, a wild but determined look in his shining eyes. Keith dove out of the way, but Lance made for the net. With an incredible swing, Lance sliced through the rope holding the merfolk. It snapped without delay. The merfolk tumbled back down to the water.

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence. Lance looked out at the crew with steely resolve. Keith gaped at him like a fish out of water. The crew exploded with a vitriolic mix of fury and fear. Lance’s expression did not change. He held himself almost regally, Keith thought distantly. That was, until several members of the crew moved forward, threatening to throw him overboard since he was so keen on merfolk anyhow. Towards the middle of the deck, Keith heard Pidge shouting his name, trying to tell him something. He couldn’t hear them.

Shouting from the water had caught Keith’s attention instead.

“Lance!” the white-haired mermaid was shrieking. “Lance! You have to warn Lance! It’s Lotor! He--!”

But she disappeared under the water before she could relay her warning. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon. The sun was still casting its last few desperate rays over the water. The angry shouting of the crew turned into a frenzied panic. Keith whirled around to see what was happening.

The crew had retreated midship. On the railing, across the ship from Keith, several tentacles were curling over the railing. Something was pulling itself up. Scratch that, Keith’s mind numbly informed him only a second later, someone. Someone not entirely unlike a merman, but with tentacles instead of a fish tail. He looked devilishly handsome, but wore an expression that twisted his refined features into something ugly. He was looking right at Lance.

“My dear, little princeling,” he rumbled, low and threatening. “You’ve worn my patience down to its sinew. I would wait for the sunset to finish you, but I’m certain you’d only find more ways to agitate me in that time.”

He advanced on Lance all the while. Lance seemed genuinely afraid, gripping the knife in his hand like a lifeline.

“It seems, then, that I’ll just have to finish you myself!”

~*~

When Allura and Hunk were caught by the mermaids working for Lotor and subsequently dragged away to be offered up as bait to humans, the sun was just starting to dip down in the sky. Allura’s exhaustion caught up to her in full force. Acxa was able to hold her down on her own, while Ezor and Zethrid held down Hunk (who struggled until he wore himself ragged). A fourth mermaid, a deep-sea mermaid that did not see as the rest of them did, could be seen prowling about. Allura guessed that she was keeping watch for the humans in whatever way she saw things.

Hunk and Allura were prevented from speaking to each other. Any time they tried to talk to one another, or even to the mermaids holding them captive they were promptly and harshly silenced. There was nothing for them to do but wait as the sun crawled steadily across the sky above.

Tired as she was, Allura’s consciousness wavered the entire time. Even then she was trying to think of a way out of this situation. There wasn’t much time left. The mermaids were murmuring among themselves. Allura could hardly make out what they were saying. Her eyes were burning. Disjointed thoughts drifted through her mind as idly as the current around them.

The light was beginning to fade when Narti returned again, this time making particular motions with her hands. Acxa’s grip on Allura tightened, and Zethrid grinned maliciously. Allura supposed the humans had arrived. Her head was throbbing. She had to think of something. A quick glance at Hunk told her he was thinking the same thing. Thankfully, the mermaids didn’t yet shove them to the surface.

“The human prince is with them?” Allura heard Ezor trill through the fog of her fatigue.

“Ezor, hush,” Acxa scolded lightly.

Allura’s thoughts started to align themselves more coherently. A human prince; they most likely meant Keith. And where Keith was, Lance was likely not far behind, but Allura wasn’t able to glean any more of what Narti was saying from the others. Had he managed to get his kiss? Or was he still working on it? Judging by the sunlight filtering through the water, if Lance still hadn’t gotten that kiss, he was cutting it awfully close.

“Do we get to drown the human prince?!” Zethrid asked eagerly.

“Zethrid, keep quiet,” Acxa insisted.

“What does it matter? It’s not like they can do anything!” Zethrid retorted, giving Hunk a light shake.

“It’s not like Lotor can either,” Allura snapped suddenly.

Acxa tightened her grip on Allura painfully. “Be quiet.”

“I’m really warning you for your own good.”

“Don’t bother. We know that no one knows where you are,” Ezor piped. “By the time they do find you, it’ll be too late.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I was talking about. His plan is going to fail.”

“How? He’s got the silvertongue, and as soon as your little friend is dead and gone, it’ll be all his,” Ezor said before being silenced again by Acxa.

The thoughts whirling around in Allura’s head were a messy jumble of everything she’d learned in the last two days, but occasionally she was able to pluck something from it, something that could fit together with the last idea she’d grabbed. She had to speak quickly and with confidence.

“What makes him so sure? What does he know about real magic?” Allura demanded.

Acxa twisted Allura’s arm hard. “I said be quiet.”

“He doesn’t have the silvertongue,” Allura continued anyways. “And he never will.”

None of the mermaids responded to Allura, but she saw them shift uncomfortably. Narti moved as though to look Allura in the eyes, but having no eyes of her own, it was a little disconcerting. Allura didn’t waver. It was like the answer she’d been scrambling for these past two days was finally within reach, right on the tip of her tongue, but it was almost too late to have found it. Almost.

“Besides, you haven’t been able to keep an eye on Lance this whole time. What makes Lotor so certain that he hasn’t already gotten the kiss he needs? The sun could set, and whether you drown the human prince or not won’t matter, because Lance’s life is already assured.”

Allura was rambling, she knew. Anything to buy herself and Hunk some time. At least the mermaids were letting her talk now.

“Interesting theories, princess,” a familiar voice drawled.

Allura’s mouth snapped shut.

“By all means, please tell me what you’ve learned about the silvertongue gift,” Lotor insisted as he slipped out of the shadows. Had he been there all along?! “It’s so hard to come across reliable sources on magic these days, but I understand that your kingdom has an extensive collection.”

The shell that Lotor had been considering the night before was now attached to a thick cord strung around his neck. His gleaming eyes were intent on Allura. Allura pressed her lips tightly together. The sight of Lotor plucking Lance’s voice right out of his throat was suddenly vivid in her mind’s eye.

“No need to get so shy now,” Lotor crooned, leaning in threateningly. “But if you need some encouragement, I’m more than willing to provide.”

~*~

The sun was rising on the third day. Lance was standing ankle deep in the shallow sea water, swaying with the waves. Lance supposed he should’ve at least tried to sleep, but he just didn’t see the point of it. His mind was far too consumed with the steady climbing of the sun above the horizon. Too consumed with how little time he had left. With what had happened the night before

Lance had been a child when his silvertongue gift had supposedly made itself apparent. A child, but on the cusp of adulthood. His family fondly teased him, calling him a little guppy. More than once Lance had gotten in trouble for fighting with his siblings. They would get in trouble for teasing him too much.

(Lance smiled at the memories.)

A stuffy diplomat from a deeper kingdom had come around. Having so many children to teach, Lance’s parents rotated which children attended meetings with them, with the exception of Veronica, who was first in line for the throne and always, insistently present. That day had been Lance’s turn. Veronica had already glared at him for fidgeting several times. Lance couldn’t help it. The diplomat had been deathly boring!

Deathly boring though the diplomat was, with nothing else to do, Lance found himself actually listening to the diplomat. He was from a deep water kingdom, a rather large and enterprising one at that. The kingdom that Lance’s family ruled was quite small in comparison. Young and aloof as he was, Lance knew that much.

Lance also knew, as soon as he started listening to the diplomat, that he didn’t like this merman. He was an aggressive negotiator. That was, he had an idea of what he expected, and would accept nothing less. More than once he’d shut down Veronica, and Lance didn’t like that one bit. Even his parents were having some difficulty in getting a word in with the diplomat. It was grating on Lance’s nerves.

It was when the diplomat shut Veronica down for the fourth or fifth time that Lance finally snapped. He shot up from his seat, startling all the adults in the room. Beside him, Veronica tried to get him to sit down again.

“Let her speak!” Lance commanded, sounding older than his years. “How do you expect to get any negotiating done when you won’t let anyone else speak?! One day Veronica will be queen and you’ll have no choice but to speak to her. Get used to it, now.”

Everyone in the room had been stunned, but none so much as the diplomat, who had gone slack-jawed and glassy eyed. Veronica moved to usher Lance out of the room while their parents readied apologies that Lance was convinced were unnecessary. The guy had it coming. Before any of that could happen, however, the diplomat spoke in a manner quite different from the way he’d been speaking only a moment before.

“Yes, of course, your Highness,” he’d droned.

The silence stretched on longer as everyone processed what had just happened. Lance felt a swell of pride at the time, not knowing the effect the moment would have on his entire life. The diplomat shook his head. He looked just as confused as everyone else in the room. He cleared his throat, and continued speaking. For the rest of the meeting, he was much more courteous, and Lance’s parents and Veronica were finally able to make some ground with him. He watched Lance with a wary eye the entire time.

Afterwards, the adults around Lance began whispering. They tried to hide it from him, but Lance heard more than they intended. It was only a matter of time before he outright asked one of them what, exactly, a silvertongue was.

Lance attended more meetings after that, all the adults looking expectantly at him all the while. But what had happened with that one diplomat never happened again. At least not as far as Lance noticed. Certainly he picked up on the art of diplomacy through all those meetings and negotiations, but everyone around him attributed that to his silvertongue gift. So, naturally, Lance began to resent it. He resented it so much that he jumped at the opportunity to get rid of it.

Or so he thought.

Keith had been swayed. It was only for an instant, and Lance hadn’t uttered a word, but it had happened all the same. Lance felt awful. Even if he hadn’t ultimately changed Keith’s mind, he almost had. Had there been times, in the past two days, when he’d been successful without even realizing it? After all, Keith had no real reason to be so interested in him. Lance was a stranger to him. A stranger that was hopelessly, foolishly in love with him.

Lance breathed in the ocean breeze that swept over him. He tried to quiet his thoughts, morbid as they were, but in the absence of his own voice, they seemed to scream.

“Lance!”

He jumped, having thought himself completely alone. He turned to see Pidge sprinting towards him. They stopped a few feet away, bent double as they tried to catch their breath.

“Keith is leaving,” they wheezed.

Lance nodded.

“You knew?!” they exclaimed. Then they grabbed Lance by the wrist. “Whatever, Keith is looking for you! If you hurry you might--”

They stopped short when Lance tugged against them, not following. They looked back at him, utterly confused.

“Lance, what are you doing? If you don’t kiss him, you’ll turn to seafoam. You’ll… I don’t want you to die,” Pidge pleaded softly.

Lance shook his head. He was too tired to try and explain everything with vague gestures. There was simply too much.

“I don’t understand,” Pidge said.

Lance didn’t move to explain.

“Lance, where’s Hunk?”

Lance made a vague motion out towards the sea.

“He’s gone…?” Pidge gasped. “But--no, he wouldn’t leave without a good reason, what happened?”

Lance shook his head.

“Lance, tell me what happened!”

Lance shook his head again, with a little more force.

“Lance!” Pidge demanded, their voice cracking. “You can’t give up! Not while the sun is still up!”

Lance turned back to the sea, gazing out towards the home he’d never get to see again. Pidge screeched in frustration and pushed Lance hard enough to knock him into an oncoming wave. The cold, salt water was a shock to Lance’s sun-warmed senses. He scowled at Pidge, who stood with fists clenched and shining eyes.

“You can’t just give up! I won’t let you! And if Hunk were here he wouldn’t let you either, and even though I don’t know her all that well, if Allura’s your friend she wouldn’t let you either!” Pidge cried as their eyes overflowed in a way that alarmed Lance. “I know there’s a lot going on right now, but you dying isn’t going to help anything!”

A knot tightened in Lance’s throat. He stood up and hugged Pidge tightly, a silent apology. Pidge clung to him as they shook a little. After a moment he pulled away and tried to wipe away the wetness from their face. He must’ve looked especially concerned, because they giggled a little at that.

“Do merfolk not cry?” they asked. “These are just tears, Lance. It happens when humans feel too much of something. It’s perfectly normal. Now get off of me, you’re soaked!”

In retaliation, Lance grabbed Pidge by the arms and tossed them right into the surf. They screamed at how cold it was, but they were laughing too. Lance couldn’t help but grin.

“Okay, now that we’re even,” Pidge griped. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Lance nodded, and crouched down to draw in the sand. Pidge crouched down beside him.

“You… and Keith? Yeah, that’s his mullet alright. Oh! This was at the lagoon last night? Okay… You guys were swimming… And two merfolk… Tried to drown you and Keith?! Is that why he’s going on this mission all of a sudden?!”

Lance nodded.

“Is it really merfolk drowning humans?” Pidge asked.

Lance pointed to his drawing of the mermaids that had attempted to drown himself and Keith. Then he drew a figure with far too many limbs. He tapped his throat, and then pointed back at the many-limbed drawing.

“The one who took your voice, the one who made you human… this sea-witch is doing it?”

Lance nodded.

“Why?!” Pidge asked in exasperation. “Doesn’t he know that humans will retaliate?”

Lance nodded again.

“He knows… but then why--Unless he wants to antagonize relations between humans and merfolk again?”

Slowly, for a third time, Lance nodded.

Pidge fell back to sit in the sand, holding their head in their hands. “This is so much bigger than I thought… I mean, I knew about the fisherman’s petition, but I also knew that Keith and Shiro didn’t really take it seriously, which is why I was so confused when Keith decided to go investigate for himself, but if he knows without a doubt that merfolk are real, and if he manages to find one--”

They stopped short and stood up. Lance followed, confused.

“We have to get on one of those ships,” they decided.

Lance agreed, but wasn’t sure how they would go about doing that. Pidge thankfully, was well practiced in the art of the stowaway.

It was almost midday. Lance and Pidge were crouched behind a large stack of crates. The crews of all three ships were assembled neatly on the docks before them. Keith was there, glancing frequently back towards the castle, but was otherwise a picturesque prince. Lance sighed quietly at the sight of him. Pidge tugged at the front of his shirt. According to them, they had a very narrow window of opportunity when it came to sneaking aboard a ship. In this case especially, the captain of the flagship was all too familiar with Pidge’s antics. Their only advantage, Pidge had explained, was that Iverson had no reason to expect that Pidge might join this expedition.

The crews were dismissed to finish preparing to shove off. Pidge tugged at Lance again. It was time to move. Lance stooped down to Pidge’s height, trying to remain unseen. They whispered to him to not do that. The key, they told him, was acting like they belonged. They found a smaller box marked for the cargo hold of the flagship. They took one end of it, and motioned for Lance to take the other. Together, they carried it right up the cargo ramp. No one spared them a second glance. Lance’s heart was hammering all the while.

Pidge led them through the cargo hold of the ship, taking the box towards the back where crates were already stacked high and tied securely in place. Pidge set the box down in a corner towards the back, and Lance followed suit. Then they settled themselves behind the box in the corner.

Lance blinked. Was it really this easy? Pidge grinned. Apparently it was.

Until it wasn’t.

“Hey, who brought this box in?” someone asked.

“Don’t know,” another voice grunted.

“They didn’t put it in the right place--don’t they know how Iverson is by now!” the first voice huffed.

Pidge and Lance retreated further into their corner. There was nowhere for them to go, nowhere to hide. All they could do was sink into the shadows and hope the sailor didn’t notice. Heavy footsteps were steadily approaching when Lance had an idea. He moved forward, putting himself in front of Pidge. They tugged at his shirt frantically, but Lance stilled them.

The sailor came into view. She stooped over, intending to drag the box over to where it was supposed to go, but stopped short. Something had caught her eye. She stood up, and her eyes locked with Lance’s.

Let us be, Lance thought with all his might. Pretend we aren’t here!

She opened her mouth, eyes widening.

Don’t see us! Lance insisted. It’s not worth the trouble!

Slowly, the sailor closed her mouth. Her eyes went out of focus, looking past Lance and Pidge. Lance continued to focus on the last thought, that it wasn’t worth the trouble, that it was someone else’s problem, that someone else would find them eventually. The sailor sighed. Then she bent over and began to drag the box away, without any indication that she’d seen them at all.

Behind him, Pidge breathed a sigh of relief.

“Was that magic?” Pidge asked incredulously.

Lance slumped against the wall and sank down. Part of him hadn’t actually expected that to work. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, that he could exert his own will over someone else’s. That the silvertongue gift he’d rejected for so much of his life was actually something real that he could control.

He looked up at Pidge, who was still waiting for an answer, and nodded.

No more sailors came peeking into their corner. The cargo hold was shut into a stuffy and near-impenetrable darkness. Sailors migrated to the upper decks, their voices and footsteps becoming muffled above them. At some point the ship lurched; the sails had been dropped, the anchors raised. They were well on their way.

The only problem was, with no windows in the cargo hold, there was no telling where they were. No telling where the sun was in the sky. Pidge told Lance to leave it all to them. They crept through the darkness expertly, leaving Lance to his thoughts in that dark corner. Lance hoped they could come out of hiding soon.

Pidge came back quickly with an armful of food.

“Iverson always makes sure to over-prepare,” they explained, tossing Lance a chunk of bread. “It’s a bit past midday, so we’ve got a ways to go. I heard some of the crew saying we’d get there before sunset. I can probably get Keith by himself, and I don’t think it’d hurt to explain things to him now--”

Lance shook his head, a motion that Pidge could barely see.

“What do you mean, ‘no’? Keith is head over heels for you already, telling him what’s going on wouldn’t change that,” Pidge insisted.

Lance shook his head again, and then gestured to the space in front of them, miming a person walking away with two fingers. Then he vaguely motioned upwards, then towards himself, making a heart with his hands. He shook his head again.

It took Pidge a moment to get what he was trying to say. “You’re… not saying that you spelled Keith into loving you, are you?”

Lance shrugged.

“You don’t know? How do you--wait, do you mean you might’ve spelled him accidentally?”

Lance nodded.

Pidge bumped their head into the wall behind them, groaning in frustration.

“Lance, Keith is definitely not under the influence of any mer-magic,” Pidge half-laughed.

Lance made an uncertain motion with his hands.

“I saw you working that magic first-hand. That sailor looked like you fried her brain. There hasn’t been one moment that Keith has looked like that when looking at you. Trust me, I’ve been watching,” Pidge insisted.

Except for the night before, Lance thought to himself. Still, Pidge had a point. He couldn’t recall anytime that Keith had really seemed to lose focus around him. He always looked directly at Lance, fond and smiling. Lance smiled to himself. Pidge snorted.

“The both of you are hopeless,” they said. “So, of course, you’re perfect for each other.”

According to Pidge, they just had to wait for Keith to be alone before dragging him off to explain everything. It wouldn’t do either of them any good to be caught by the crew. They’d take them straight to Iverson, who wouldn’t bother listening to anything they had to say. All he would see were two stowaways, one of which was a known troublemaker. He would be sure to lock them up tight and keep them out of the way until they returned to land. There would be no getting to Keith then.

So they waited. Pidge scurried away every once in a while, leaving Lance to listen to the lull of waves just outside. Were it not for the tight deadline and everything else weighing on Lance’s mind, it would’ve been rather soothing, and all of this just another exciting adventure. It occurred to him during one of those quiet moments that he’d never been in a ship that hadn’t been sunk first. He wished he could explore it himself. Perhaps if everything went well, he could. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest; he was trying not to get too lost in the best case scenario.

Pidge came back after a tenth (eleventh? twentieth?) such excursion in the same manner they’d come back from all the others: unsuccessful and frustrated.

“He’s staying topside,” Pidge huffed. “There’s no way I can get his attention without getting spotted and the sun is setting!”

If Lance had a voice, he might’ve admitted that he was feeling uneasy in that moment. More than uneasy. He was scared, nauseatingly so. His hands felt like they were shaking, but when he held them up to look, they were perfectly still. Lance hugged himself tightly. If they could just get Keith’s attention without the rest of the crew noticing--

Lance perked up suddenly, hitting Pidge’s arm a little to hard in his excitement. He tapped his chest lightly, and then wiggled his fingers away. He covered his eyes and then ended with a double thumbs-up. Pidge stared.

“Oh!” they gasped after a moment. “You want to use your magic on anyone that might see us!”

Lance nodded eagerly. Now that he knew he had it, he decided he may as well use it.

“Alright then, let’s go, we don’t have much time!” Pidge urged.

Much as Lance wanted to be excited about seeing the rest of the ship, there was no more room in his chest for it. Pidge led the way with an air of certainty. Lance kept close, in case they came across any crew members. At first, everything was quiet. Good as that was for them, something about it didn’t sit well with Lance. It only served to agitate his nerves further.

Then the deck above them exploded with shouting. Something was happening. Lance and Pidge exchanged a quick glance. Someone ran down, calling for all hands on deck. Pidge looked at Lance. Moment of truth.

The narrow passages were filled with sailors in an instant. It took only seconds before they were spotted by several sailors. Lance took a deep breath, trying to focus. There was shouting, a lot of shouting. Pidge was tapping his arm. Lance was trying to focus, trying to tell them that they had better things to do than worry about a couple of stowaways, but not a single one of them were swayed. No mysterious fog descended over their eyes. None of their jaws went slack.

Instead, several pairs of hands grabbed at them and roughly dragged them up topside.

“Captain!” one of the sailors shouted. “We’ve got a problem!”

“Tell me something I don’t--” Iverson started, wheeling around and stopping short when he saw what his crew had discovered.

The majority of the crew was converged on one spot, but Lance couldn’t see why. Pidge was trying to peer through all the bodies to see what it was. In the midst of them all, Lance could see Keith. Beyond him, the intense rays of the setting sun. There wasn’t much time.

Meanwhile, Iverson looked ready to explode.

“I would’ve thought that you had the sense to leave such an important mission alone!” he shouted, speaking more to Pidge than to Lance. “We don’t have time for children’s games--!”

“None of us do! I know how important this is, that’s why we came!” Pidge shouted back.

Lance was still trying to see what was going on. He could see that some of the sailors were holding fast to a rope, but what it was attached to was just out of his sight. Keith was wearing a fierce expression, speaking to someone--but who?! If Lance could just lean a little to his left, then maybe he could catch a glimpse…

The sailors that held fast to him jerked him back just as Lance’s heart froze mid-beat. It had been the barest glance, but Lance would know those tails anywhere. How had they ended up here?! Lance decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting them free. Lance scanned his surroundings for something, anything. In front of him, Iverson was still locked in a shouting match with Pidge. On his belt he wore a large, practical knife. That would do.

Lance took a deep breath.

Then he pushed back on the sailors holding him as hard as he could. Before anyone could register what was happening, Lance jerked forward and snatched Iverson’s knife right out of its sheath. He sprinted as fast as his legs would take him. He must’ve looked especially wild, because no one dared stand in his way. Even Keith dove out of his way. There would be time for explanations later (hopefully). Lance raised the knife and brought it down on the taut rope as hard as he could. It cut through easily, and Allura and Hunk tumbled down into the water.

That, then, was one less thing for him to worry about. It was quickly replaced by another when Lance saw the fearful, angry expressions of the entire crew. Fearful humans were dangerous, his mind helpfully reminded him. They were yelling, all of them, saying how he had doomed them all, that they’d all meet their end at the bottom of the sea. Some of them had it in their heads that Lance would be better off overboard. Lance glanced at the choppy waves below. He wasn’t sure he was a good enough swimmer for that yet.

Just as it seemed Lance had to choose between throwing himself overboard or being forced, someone screamed, shrill and far more fearful than before. Everyone’s attention turned portside. A tentacle, followed shortly by several others, was creeping over the side.

Lance held the knife close as Lotor pulled himself on deck. The sun’s last rays were clinging desperately to the horizon, as if trying to give Lance a little more time.

“My dear, little princeling,” Lotor began as he advanced on Lance.

Lance held the knife in front of him. The sun was just about set, what in the seven seas could Lotor possibly want from him?!

“You’ve worn my patience down to its sinew. I would wait for the sunset to finish you, but I’m certain you’d only find more ways to agitate me in that time.”

Lance was all too aware of how quickly his breath was coming. His heart was beating so fast it felt numb. His fingers and toes were tingling. Was this the fear, or was Lance turning to seafoam already? Lotor kept on his steady advance, handsome features twisted into a fierce snarl.

“It seems, then, that I’ll just have to finish you myself!”

Lotor lunged at Lance with terrifying speed. Lance swung the knife, but too early; he sliced through empty air. Lotor grabbed his wrist with a tentacle and twisted until Lance was forced to drop the knife. Lance found himself dragged forward in spite of how he was digging his heels into the rough wood of the deck. Lotor’s hands were around his neck in an instant; Lance distantly noted that it was still tender from the near drowning the night before.

“Your silvertongue will be mine if I have to rip you to pieces to get it!” Lotor snarled as Lance kicked helplessly against him.

Meanwhile the knife had skittered across the deck, coming to a halt just at Keith’s feet. There was no question in Keith’s mind as he picked it up. Sure, Lance had secrets. He did things Keith couldn’t even begin to understand, but so desperately wanted to. Sometimes Lance looked like he wanted so badly to tell Keith something, but just couldn’t. Sometimes strange things occurred around Lance that were terribly dangerous, terribly suspicious.

Yet through it all he smiled at Keith like he put the stars in the sky. His enthusiasm had lit up Keith’s life in a way he hadn’t known possible. He sprinted towards the creature that was so insistent on ending Lance’s life. If he thought he was going to take Lance away from Keith so easily, he had another thing coming.

Just as Keith sank the knife near the base of one of Lotor’s tentacles, Lance had wrestled a hand free and grabbed at the cord around Lotor’s neck. Lotor screamed and threw Keith across the deck. Keith slammed hard into the railing; the knife went sailing into the water below. The sun had almost completely disappeared beneath the waves.

Some of the crew rushed forward to help their prince, distracting Lotor for the briefest instant. It was all Lance needed. He kicked Lotor right in his middle, the sensitive spot where skin met tentacles, and yanked as hard as he could on the cord. It snapped as Lotor doubled over. His grip on Lance loosened enough for him to pull free.

One last ray of sunshine nearly blinded Lance as he stumbled over, and smashed the shell with his hand against the deck.

Lance hardly had time to register the pain in his hand as a veritable gale threatened to rip the air from his lungs. His entire body felt like it had been flooded with ice, his legs felt like they were being stabbed with shards of broken glass. Through it all, he vaguely registered the taste of salt on his lips. Had he been too late? Had he turned to seafoam after all?

“Lance!”

Keith’s voice cut through the all the overwhelming noise like a beacon in the night. Lance whipped his head up, breathing hard. The sun had set. His hand was bleeding and his legs didn’t feel right. They felt like--

“He’s one of them!” one of the sailors screeched.

Lance didn’t care about them. Instead his eyes found Keith, whose eyes were fixed on the bright blue tail that had taken the place of Lance’s legs. His expression was unreadable. Was he confused? Shocked? Did he feel as though Lance had lied to him all along? Lance hoped not.

“Keith--” he started, and then gasped. Keith’s eyes widened further.

Lotor, meanwhile, had recovered and was positively livid. He dragged Lance back to him by the tail and coiled a tentacle around his throat.

“Rescinded bargain or no,” Lotor snarled. “It makes no difference to me!”

And then Lance was being dragged bodily towards the edge of the ship, where Lotor perched precariously on the edge. Lance resisted all the while, gasping and feeling utterly helpless. Lotor turned towards Keith with a smirk.

Without a word, he disappeared under the roiling waves with Lance in tow.

Keith waited for the space of a breath. Then he sprang into action, grabbing a harpoon and hoisting himself up onto the railing.

“Your Highness--!” Iverson protested fiercely over the shrieking winds.

Keith didn’t even spare him a glance as he dove into the waves after Lance.

“Damn fool of a prince is going to get himself killed,” Iverson growled. “Man the harpoons! Cast the nets! If you see anything that isn’t the prince, fire on sight!”

“Don’t, some of those merfolk are on our side!” Pidge shouted.

Iverson turned to them once more, and a second storm began to brew.

Below the surface, things were no more calm. The currents raged, not one of them following their usual paths. Allura and Hunk were struggling against Lotor’s mermaids again. Lance was still being dragged like a ragdoll behind Lotor.

“So, tell me princess, which part of your friend do I have to rip out of him to get what I want?” Lotor demanded. “Or will I have to kill him and find out for myself?!”

“Don’t!” Allura pleaded. “It’s not something you can take from him!”

“We’ll see about that,” Lotor sneered. To the mermaids he said, “Offer them up to the humans. I’m sure they’re more than eager by now to put their harpoons through merfolk tails.”

While Lotor talked, Lance searched for a way to get free. Brute force wasn’t working. Lotor had him well overpowered. He needed something to work with, a weapon, preferably something sharp. The ocean seemed to answer his pleas as a particularly fierce current brought the stolen knife back to him, settling in the silt just within Lance’s reach. Before Lotor could haul him away again, Lance sliced up on the tentacle that held fast around his neck.

Lotor roared as the end of his tentacle fell away. Zethrid reacted first, releasing Hunk to slam into Lance right where skin met scales. Lance’s nerves screamed with pain from the tips of his fingers to the ends of his fins. Behind Zethrid, Ezor and Narti were left to deal with Hunk, who seized the opportunity to break free of his captors. Acxa, distracted by Lotor’s injury, struggled to keep Allura in check.

“I may’ve failed in killing you before,” Zethrid cried victoriously as she pinned Lance to the ocean floor. “But I won’t fail again!”

Only as soon as the words left her lips a harpoon suddenly sprouted from her side. Her resulting gasp was small and frail, quite unlike anything Lance had heard from her before. The hands on Lance loosened enough for him to break free as Zethrid keeled over, hand grabbing weakly at the harpoon. Everyone looked up to see where the harpoon had come from.

Floating near the surface of the water, with a fire in his eyes that could not be quenched by the entire ocean was Keith. Keith, who was now conspicuously weaponless and vulnerable. Lotor, still reeling from his injury, bared his teeth viciously.

“Get him!” he commanded of the mermaids that could still swim.

Lance made to get there first, to swim Keith to safety and hopefully convince him to stay there, but just as he launched himself up, Lotor dragged him back down. Lance had to admit, he was getting really sick of Lotor throwing him around like this. He turned to scowl fiercely at Lotor’s furious expression while Allura and Hunk swam to help Keith.

“I will get that silvertongue from you, mark my words!” Lotor hissed.

“I get the feeling that if you need magic to get folks to listen to you, maybe you’re not worth listening to in the first place!” Lance spat, nearly sputtering over the feeling of his voice.

Lotor did not take kindly to that retort. “You don’t even know how to use it!”

“You don’t even know what it is!”

Instead of replying, Lotor grabbed the severed portion of his own tentacle and began speaking in a tongue that did not sound at all natural. The blood still oozing from the severed limb began to bubble and fizz. Above the water, lightning flashed dangerously, the thunder deafening even underwater. The severed limb seemed to dissolve into an eerie, glowing foam around Lotor’s hand, and when it cleared away he held a long, delicate knife in his fist, poised to strike.

Lance brought up his knife just in time to block Lotor’s strike. He flipped his tail and twirled out of Lotor’s reach. Lotor pursued him doggedly as the storm overhead raged on.

Said storm was a major inconvenience for Allura and Hunk, who were helping Keith stay above water where he could breathe while fighting off three mermaids at once. In addition they had to keep an eye on the humans on the ship, even as it was tossed around like a fragile toy. Already one harpoon had sailed dangerously close over their heads. Allura was fed up with it.

“Are your own people so daft that they can’t see we’re trying to help you?!” she demanded of Keith.

“They probably think I’m in danger!” Keith sputtered as another wave slapped him in the face. “Just stay close to me, if we’re lucky they’ll hit one of the other mermaids!”

“And if we’re not lucky?!” Hunk asked.

Keith didn’t immediately reply. “Let’s just hope we’re lucky.”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Keith was yanked from their grasp and pulled underwater. Two harpoons loosed immediately, almost hitting their marks. Allura and Hunk wasted no time in diving back underwater after Keith. Narti and Ezor held fast to him even as he kicked and struggled, while Acxa darted towards Allura and Hunk with a harpoon in hand.

Hunk and Allura split, allowing her to speed right past them. Hunk swam to help Keith. Allura was left to deal with Acxa, weaponless and exhausted beyond belief. Allura didn’t want to have to kill her, but it seemed Acxa was intent on doing just that to her. Behind her, Hunk managed to wrestle Keith away from Narti and Ezor. Another harpoon shot through the water, slicing so narrowly past Narti as to leave a cut on her arm. She didn’t seem to react to it.

Acxa charged at Allura again with devastating speed. The tip of the harpoon caught the skin just above Allura’s torso, but she ignored the sting. Instead, she grabbed the staff of the harpoon and tried to wrest control of it from Acxa. In strength, it seemed, they were evenly matched.

Ezor and Narti were grabbing at Keith again while Hunk tried to bring him back up to the surface. Not far below, Lance and Lotor’s knives were locked together again, neither having a particular advantage over the other. It was an all around stalemate. Anyone could take the day.

It didn’t stay that way for long.

Lotor grabbed hold of the hand that Lance had cut open on shards of the shell that had trapped his voice. He swiped a thumb across the wound, speaking in the strange tongue of his once more. Lance tried to pull away, but Lotor had him in an iron grip. Lance didn’t want his blood boiling in his veins. Fortunately, that’s not what happened.

Unfortunately, Lotor’s palm began to glow with some mysterious force that Lance quickly decided he wanted nothing to do with. Lotor grinned as he swiped at Lance with his glowing hand. Lance barely managed to roll out of the way.

“Merfolk blood is such an effective ingredient in alchemy,” Lotor said. “Yet so tragically difficult to come by. I wonder if your blood will be any different from the blood I’ve used before!”

He thrust his hand towards Lance, issuing a blast of energy that struck Lance square in the chest. Lance struggled to breathe as he was sent careening through the water. Before he could recover, Lotor was on him again. He pinned Lance down with several tentacles. Lance realized in horror that he’d lost his knife. Lotor held his glowing hand aloft. His own knife was still grasped tightly in his other hand.

Before Lotor could deliver his blow, a harpoon shot just in front of him, leaving a long, thin cut across Lotor’s chest in its wake. Both Lotor and Lance looked to see where it had come from. It was Keith once again, this time supported by Hunk. Narti and Ezor were racing towards them. Lotor drew back his hand, attention solely on Keith and Hunk now.

Just as his hand shot forward, Lance launched himself up and grabbed at Lotor, trying to stop Lotor. He was a second too late. An arc of energy shot through the water, but Lotor’s hand jerked wildly when Lance threw himself at him. The blast went right past Keith and Hunk and instead collided with Narti, whose form seemed to fizzle violently, and then dissolved into the water around them.

Ezor, who had not been far from Narti, looked horrified. Even Acxa, who was still wrestling with Allura, took pause at what had just transpired. Lotor spared just as much sentiment for Narti as he had for Zethrid; that was, none. Instead he turned his attention back to Lance. His hand was no longer glowing, but Lance had a feeling Lotor didn’t intend for it to stay that way as he raised his knife instead.

Allura looked from where Narti had been so callously dispatched to where Lance was in real trouble with Lotor. She was still in a stalemate with Acxa. She jerked against the harpoon between them as hard as she could, as she had done before. Only this time Allura whipped back as Acxa suddenly released the harpoon. Allura finally had the advantage. She did not, however, take it. Not as she looked at Acxa, who before had seemed so fierce, so dedicated, and saw a real, genuine fear. But not of Allura.

“Go,” she told Acxa.

Acxa’s eyes widened.

“Go!” Allura commanded.

Acxa, or at least her sense of self-preservation, didn’t need telling twice. She swam towards Ezor, who was still reeling over Narti’s destruction at Lotor’s hand and immediately swam for deeper waters. All that was left to deal with was Lotor. And, Allura mentally added as another harpoon plunged into the water, the humans above that were no doubt scared senseless.

Said humans could hardly keep a hold of themselves as wave after wave pummeled the ship. Several times now Pidge had nearly been swept right overboard, only to be caught by some helpful hand or other. If they were a better swimmer, they might’ve already joined Keith and the friendly merfolk.

Meanwhile, Iverson was still refusing to listen to them. The sailors were jumpy and unable to see clearly. Pidge was certain that of the harpoons fired thus far, none of them had been at actual targets. They had to get out of this storm, but Iverson refused to leave without Keith. Noble as that was, Pidge knew he was in safe hands. Iverson believed otherwise.

So Pidge did what they did best. With no hands holding them back, they caused all manner of trouble on deck. They filched a knife off of one of the sailors and set to cutting away all the nets that could potentially tangle up their friends. Between the storm and the harpooners looking out for merfolk, no one took any notice of Pidge.

Next order of business: the harpoons. Shoddy as their aim was, there was always a chance that the sailors could hit their friends. Pidge was under no illusion that they could fight off every sailor that had a harpoon, but they could at least make things harder for them. First they cut loose all the spare harpoons overboard when no one else was looking and allowed them to tumble overboard. At the very least, it meant that the crew would run out of harpoons sooner than later.

All the sailors not on harpoon duty were running around like headless chickens trying to secure the sails. No one was watching where they were going. Even Pidge hadn’t spared a thought to it until the were running around the fore of the ship, and saw in a brief instant of illumination by lightning a massive outcropping of rocks. They swore to themself as they pounded across the deck to find Iverson.

“Captain!” they shouted over the storm.

On instinct, Iverson turned, but scowled when he saw Pidge.

“I don’t have time for your sabotage--”

“There’s rocks ahead! We’re going to crash!” Pidge interrupted.

Iverson halted momentarily, but then continued to shut Pidge down. Pidge had just about had it with him.

“Did it ever occur to you that my life is in just as much risk as anyone else’s on this boat?!” they hollered at the top of their lungs. “I don’t need to be a troublemaker when there’s already this much trouble going on! Now get this ship turned around before we all--”

A horrible, gut-wrenching crunch could be heard over the waves, and the ship jolted backwards. They were too late. Thankfully Iverson didn’t think to waste his time trying to exert his authority over Pidge again.

“Abandon ship! Make for land! I want at least one harpooner in each lifeboat! If you see the prince, get him to safety!”

He grabbed Pidge by the back of their shirt, throwing them on the first dinghy he saw. Several sailors clambered in after Pidge and immediately dropped it down to the water. They were almost instantly overwhelmed by the storm. Pidge scanned the waters for their friends. The harpooners were far more likely to hit a target they saw this close to the water, even in spite of the storm. Pidge could stop the one harpooner on their dinghy, but not all the others. They could only hope that their friends managed to stay safe.

Beneath the waves the currents ran wild. Were Keith not holding tight to Hunk, he very likely would’ve been swept away already. They’d resurfaced for a moment, and Hunk tried to put Keith up on the outcropping of rocks that the ship had just crashed against. Keith refused to stay.

“If you want me to stay you’ll have to keep me here yourself!” he shouted when Hunk pleaded with him to stay.

There must’ve been something in his tone that brooked no argument, because Hunk resignedly held out a hand. Keith took it, and together they dove back into the waves.

Allura had gone after Lotor with a harpoon, but her aim had been way off and in her haste to keep Lotor from harming Lance she’d gotten herself tangled up in Lotor’s tentacles. Lotor turned his attention back to Lance, who was securely pinned down and rapidly tiring. Lotor took another swipe of the blood from Lance’s hand. He turned to Allura.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?”

Before he could try anything, however, Hunk and Keith charged, instantly overwhelming Lotor even with all his tentacles. He yelled incoherently, and instead of blasting Allura he aimed down, causing a cloud of silt and sand to erupt all around them. Lance felt hands grabbing for him as Lotor’s tentacles released him. He took them, trusting that they were hands of a friend and not foe, and shot up to the surface.

The hand in his was Keith’s, who coughed and gasped as soon as they reached the surface. Lance and Hunk helped him up onto the rocks so he could breathe a little easier. Beside them, Allura leaned against the rocks, utterly spent. The storm was howling furiously.

“Did we win?” Hunk asked tentatively.

“I doubt it,” Allura said. “Most likely Lotor intends to--”

But what she thought Lotor intended to do was lost as the ship crashed into the rocks at that very moment, the sound almost as overwhelming as thunder. They could only watch as the crew scrambled to abandon the rapidly sinking ship. Lance inhaled sharply.

“Pidge is still on that ship! We have to help them!”

“Lance, wait!” Keith shouted, grabbing hold of Lance’s wrist before he could go too far. “They still have harpoons! They could end up spearing you clean through, no matter what your intentions.”

“I can make them believe my intentions!” Lance insisted.

“It’s too dangerous!”

“They’re in danger too!”

“I know that!”

“Then let me help!”

“I can’t lose you, Lance!” Keith all but screamed. Lance finally stopped struggling against him. “I thought I lost you once--I can’t do that again!”

Their eyes locked, Lance’s on the verge of crumbling resolve and Keith’s on the brink of desperation. His mop of black hair was a sopping mess. Lance found him all the more handsome for it. Keith was holding Lance’s hand now, the injured one, gently drawing his fingers across the wound as though that alone could heal it.

Beside them, nearly forgotten, Hunk spoke, “We can do it. We can get everyone to land safely.”

“What?!” Keith and Lance snapped simultaneously.

“I know it’s dangerous, but they only got about one harpoon per dinghy, if that, and they’re more concerned about not capsizing. If we’re quick and careful, they’ll see that we’re helping them, right?” Hunk reasoned, voice trembling all the while.

Allura considered the idea. “If we start where Pidge is, that might make things easier. And if we bring Keith with us, they’re far less likely to fire. At least I hope they are.”

“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go!” Lance exclaimed.

This time, Keith had no argument. He took Lance’s offered hand and held tight as they plowed through the stormy waters together, Allura and Hunk’s vivid tails acting like a beacon in the dark as they led the way. Lance tried to stay above the surface as much as he could for Keith’s sake, but the towering waves made that difficult to accomplish.

As they approached the group of lifeboats, several harpooners noticed the approaching mermaids and raised the harpoons in warning.

“Stay your hands!” Keith commanded as loudly as he could.

A harpoon flew overhead anyways.

“I said stay your hands!” Keith repeated, voice cracking under the strain. “They’re here to help!”

“Very persuasive,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s ear. Before Keith could retort, Lance continued, “Now, let’s get you into one of those boats!”

“No,” Keith refused, clinging tighter around Lance’s waist. “I’m not letting you go.”

“You won’t be! I just need to make sure you’re safe--!”

No sooner had those words left Lance’s lips than Keith slipped right out of his grasp and under the waves. Lance didn’t hesitate to follow him down. Lotor was waiting, tentacles curled around Keith and the knife to his throat. Lance halted. The threat was clear.

“Now, little princeling,” Lotor began, tapping the tip of the blade against Keith’s skin. “This has gone on long enough, hasn’t it? Give yourself up, and I’ll spare your darling human prince.”

It was a lie, Lance knew it, but what other option did he have? Keith was shaking his head as much as he could, but between the lack of air, Lotor’s hold on him, and the knife held against him, there was only so long he could last if Lance didn’t do as Lotor said. But Lotor would dispose of Keith anyways, if only for the sole purpose of breaking Lance. Lance couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.

Lance’s posture went from resigned to resolved.

“No.”

Lotor actually looked surprised. “No? And here I thought you loved him!”

“I do,” Lance said. “But I’m not going to give myself up to you, and you’re not going to kill him!”

Lotor tossed his head back and laughed.

“You really think you can exert your will over me?!” he sneered. “I’ll give you one last chance--it’s all he has time for anyways--give yourself up, and I might let him live.”

The currents rushed past them as fierce as any gale.

“Let him go!” Lance commanded.

The thrum of the waves pounded in his head.

Lotor grinned maliciously.

A cacophony of thunder rumbled overhead, the sound shaking Lance to his very core.

“Very well,” Lotor said, poising his knife to strike. “His fate is thusly sealed.”

The surface of the water dipped dangerously low as the ocean prepared for a strike of its own.

Allura and Hunk were in danger.

Pidge and the other humans were in danger.

Keith was in an incredible amount of immediate danger and Lance could feel his thoughts screaming, a sound that grated his nerves down to his bones until Lance could hardly stand it anymore.

Blue eyes met yellow in a flash of lightning.

“Stop!”

Above the water, Allura and Hunk didn’t realize that Keith and Lance had disappeared until it was too late. Even with Pidge trying to convince everyone that Allura and Hunk were on their side, several harpoons were raised and ready to strike. Allura and Hunk were certain they couldn’t dodge them all. Before the humans could strike, however, a massive wave threatened to swallow them all up. It was just as treacherous for Allura and Hunk as it was for any of the humans.

Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed.

Just as Hunk and Allura were bracing for impact, a shockwave rippled through the water. The wave that threatened to decimate them all collapsed instead of breaking over their heads. Above them, the storm stopped abruptly, clouds clearing away as though commanded.

In the fathoms below, the Lotor jolted back as though slapped in the face. Keith kicked free of Lotor’s hold and immediately swam to the surface for air. Lance couldn’t find the strength to follow. He was sinking down, all but the barest remnants of life sapped from him. At least Keith was safe, he thought as the edges of his vision darkened. At least Lotor had been stopped.

His vision sharpened once more as he was grabbed around his middle and slammed into the ground, his head hitting a rock hard. Lotor, consumed with wrath and practically feral, held Lance down with his tentacles as he held his knife aloft. Lance was helpless to stop him. He couldn’t even muster the strength to command Lotor to stop again. Lance closed his eyes, consciousness already fading as Lotor brought his blade down.

His last thought was that at least Keith was safe.

Lance didn’t see Lotor stop suddenly. Lance didn’t hear the grunt of agony that Lotor let out. He didn’t see the harpoon shoot through Lotor’s chest. He didn’t see as Lotor let the knife drop, hardly making a sound as his body slowly dissolved into sea foam.

Keith, swimming just above Lotor, saw it all. When his harpoon found its mark, he swam down through the newly formed foam to grab Lance. He knew Lance couldn’t drown, that it was impossible, but Keith wanted to make sure he was okay without having to worry about drowning himself. It was a struggle, hauling Lance up to the surface, but Keith managed.

“Lance!” Keith gasped as soon as he could. Lance didn’t respond; his head lolled to one side.

Keith grunted as he scrambled to get them both up on the nearest rock. Lance was dead weight all the while. Keith didn’t realize his hands were shaking until he was on his knees, bent over Lance and turning his face towards him.

“Lance,” he repeated, pleading. “Lance, please wake up, I told you I can’t lose you again, please.”

“Lance!” Allura and Hunk shouted, swimming up towards them.

“What happened?!” Allura demanded.

“I don’t know! One moment I was trapped and about to be killed, and then Lance told--no, commanded him to stop… and he did,” Keith explained. “I came up for air and grabbed a harpoon that had washed up against the rocks, and when I went back down, Lance was pinned down and unconscious.”

“The silvertongue,” Allura immediately said.

Keith was perplexed. “The what?”

“A gift of magic that Lance was born with, but never really had any control over. It was what Lotor wanted from Lance in the first place,” Hunk replied.

“I never thought it could be so powerful as to stop a storm,” Allura added.

Indeed, the clouds overhead had cleared away, revealing a sky bespeckled with a few stars and illuminated by the full moon. Keith couldn’t be bothered with any of that. His attention was focused solely on Lance, breathing shallowly and still unresponsive. The lifeboats drifted over, wary of the merfolk but worried for their prince.

“Is he going to be okay? This gift of his, it doesn’t hurt him normally, does it?” Keith asked.

“I--I don’t know,” Allura admitted. “Information about the silvertongue is scarce as it is, and while I’ve become something of an expert on it in the last two days, I’ve never heard of it used on this scale before. It’s possible he just overexerted himself.”

Allura did not articulate what the other possibilities might be.

Keith turned his attention back to Lance, tracing his thumb over the swell of Lance’s cheek.

“Please, please, open your eyes, tell me you’re okay,” Keith whispered, so softly that his voice was lost among the sound of the waves.

He rested his forehead against Lance’s, exhausted both physically and emotionally. Around them, everyone else was quiet. The only sound was that of the waves, gentle now, as though repentant for their earlier behavior. The wind had calmed to a breeze, softly shushing through the air. And then, faintly, a hum so quiet that even Keith missed it. He did not miss what came next.

“Keith?”

“Lance!” Keith gasped, moving to hold Lance’s face in his hands.

Lance chuckled. “This is a nice change of pace, isn’t it?”

When Keith looked confused, Lance continued, “Usually it’s me waiting for you to come to, isn’t it?”

Keith snorted, and began to laugh in earnest. “I suppose it is.”

“Your Highness!” Iverson called as the lifeboats drifted closer towards the rock they were perched on. He did not look happy.

Keith rolled his eyes. He couldn’t have one moment of peace, could he?

“Give me a minute,” Keith said to Lance. Lance nodded, letting his eyes flutter shut again as Allura and Hunk moved to see if he was alright.

Keith stood to face Iverson and the whole crew.

“What happened here was the direct result of the actions of a few, not the many. The same thing happens among humans. The merfolk you see here have saved my life multiple times between them, and they would do the same for any of you. They are not our enemies, nor should they be,” Keith said, almost beseechingly.

The sailors shuffled uncertainly among themselves, but none moved to immediately attack the merfolk. That was a start, at least. Keith ordered them to head back to shore, and added that he would join them at his earliest convenience. Even Iverson didn’t argue. They went obediently, or perhaps they simply wanted to get as far away from the merfolk as possible. Pidge waved as they passed by, and even hopped out of the boat they were in to join them.

Keith sat down next to Lance as they went. Lance, still on his back, turned to Keith.

“So what now?”

Keith shrugged. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Lance!” a voice shrieked in the distance, one that made Lance finally sit up.

“Oh, no…” he groaned.

“What? Who is it?” Keith asked, barely able to see the approaching figure even in the light of the full moon.

Before Lance could answer, a mermaid with a steely blue tail leapt out of the water and tackled Lance in a fierce hug. Lance hugged her back.

“Where have you been?! Everyone’s been worried sick, and I’m sorry I was so harsh but you really shouldn’t have taken it out on everyone but I should’ve listened better and--!”

The mermaid stopped when she saw Keith and Pidge, realizing for the first time that there were humans among them. She gasped and retreated into a defensive posture. Behind her, two more mermaids peered out of the water, holding weapons and ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. She relaxed only marginally.

“Veronica, this is Pidge, the human I’ve been friends with for years, that told me about all the stuff I collected,” Lance introduced. “And this… this is Keith. The human I rescued from that shipwreck.”

“And from countless other things,” Keith added.

“Actually it was Hunk that rescued us in the lagoon the other night--” Lance caught his sister’s eye and stopped abruptly. “Er, right. Keith, Pidge, this is my eldest sister, Veronica.”

“That’s Princess Veronica to you,” she tacked on sharply.

“Princess?” Keith repeated, looking at Lance. “Then that means you’re--”

“A prince? Yeah, that’s me, prince of my own kingdom…” Lance chuckled, almost nervously.

Keith sighed, smiling. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find something that--”

Beside Lance, Veronica cleared her throat pointedly. Her arms were crossed and her expression stern. Even Keith had to recoil slightly. She was a force to be reckoned with.

“As much fun as I’m sure you’re having, I’m going to need an explanation,” she demanded.

Everyone exchanged glances.

“Then I suggest you make yourself comfortable, cause it’s a long story,” Lance advised.

The story, beginning several days earlier and told from up to five different perspectives at once, took the greater part of the night. Lance began with his part, adding a brief soliloquy about his lifelong fascination with humans for Keith’s sake (“What does it matter?!” Veronica insisted. “It adds depth to my motivation!” Lance snapped back.), and stumbling over the parts where it was very clear that he was over the moon for the human at his side. Keith blushed deeply at those parts, smiling from sheer elation.

Between all of them, gaps were filled, new information shared, and other trivial things revealed (“You and Hunk were spying on us the whole time?!” Keith exclaimed. “Can you blame us, given the circumstances?” Hunk asked. Keith paused, and slowly said, “Fair.”).

There were markedly fewer stars in the sky when they finally finished, exhaustion finally catching up to them all. Even Veronica looked considerably fatigued.

“I should probably get back to shore before the crew thinks you’ve drowned me,” Keith said through a yawn.

Lance held out a hand, and without a word Keith took it. They slipped into the water together, Lance snaking an arm around Keith’s waist as they made their leisurely way towards the shore. Hunk offered to help Pidge back to shore, a help they gratefully accepted. The two of them, along with Allura, swam a ways behind Keith and Lance. Veronica, however, was not intent on giving them the luxury of privacy.

“You realize that one of you is human and the other is a merman, right?” she asked in her usual straightforward manner.

“No, it had completely escaped our notice, Veronica,” Lance snapped. “And in case you weren’t listening, I was human for a couple days.”

“Yeah, at the cost of your voice and leaving your whole family behind.”

“It wouldn’t be such a big deal if humans and merfolk could learn to coexist!”

Lance readied himself for the inevitable argument, the inevitable shutdown that always came. It never did. Instead, Veronica looked thoughtful. He knew he shouldn’t, but Lance allowed himself to hope.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Veronica sighed. “Lotor was only able to cause as much trouble as he did because of the disconnect between humans and merfolk. If it hadn’t been for you and your friends, it could’ve gotten much worse.”

Lance didn’t say anything. He held his breath, not daring to believe that this could possibly be real.

“If you’re looking to open up negotiations,” Keith began. “I know a prince or two that would be willing to listen.”

The sun rose on a fourth day that Lance hadn’t been certain he would have. Things seemed to move far too fast from there. He had to part with Keith and go home to assure the rest of his family that he was alive and well, but when they parted this time there was a promise that they would see each other once more, a promise that they could openly keep.

Shiro arrived not long after sunrise, having travelled as speedily over land as he could when he heard what happened. It was a bit jarring to be introduced to not one, but several merfolk. Not only that, but according to Keith they were to open up negotiations with the merfolk so that they could all live in peace--relieving as it was, it was a bit much to take in at once.

Once the date of negotiations was set, the merfolk left. Lance lingered a little longer than the others, whispering promises of a reunion. When he finally left, Keith stood at the shore for a moment longer than necessary, his heart already longing. Shiro came up behind him, setting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Together they turned back to the humans that had gathered along the shore to see what was going on. There was work to be done.

The work was tedious on both ends, full explaining and re-explaining. Lance was all too aware that he could speed things along, especially as he practiced his silvertongue on willing participants and gained a tentative mastery of it, but the idea of forcing his will over someone still didn’t sit right with him. Better to genuinely convince people, even if it meant that it would be that much longer before he could see Keith again. Besides, he had another use in mind for his newly rediscovered and immensely powerful magic, that worked for more than just swaying people to his desires.

The sun rose and set over the various kingdoms. Days melted into weeks, and then into months. Keith had never been especially patient, and the days wore on his nerves. He escaped down to the shore whenever he could, hoping that Lance was just as impatient to see him again. If he was, they never crossed paths. Keith remained steadfast, and when the sun dawned on the day that would signal the beginning of negotiations, his nerves were buzzing with excitement.

“You excited?” Adam teased as they made their way down to the beach.

“What do you think?” Keith huffed as he felt his cheeks grow hot.

“I think you’re going to pass out if you don’t breathe,” Shiro joined in. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll be just as excited to see you as you are him.”

Keith could only nod. If he jumped eagerly every time a merfolk poked their head above the water, no one pointed it out. The human delegation stepped into the shallow waters to meet the delegation. There was Veronica, and Allura, and a couple other merfolk that Keith didn’t recognize. Thus far, no Lance. Keith forced himself to breathe. Lance had made him wait before but had always come back. Keith had no reason to believe it would be any different today.

And yet as negotiations began and Lance was still conspicuously absent, Keith found himself utterly unable to focus on what was being discussed. The merfolk had some qualms about human fishing methods, which usually tended to harm merfolk, and humans were always afraid that merfolk would drown them for the fun of it. Something along those lines. Farther out in the waters, Keith noticed the waves becoming particularly rough. The skies, however, were perfectly clear, and the wind was not nearly fierce enough to warrant such an occurrence.

Still, nothing came of it, so Keith had no choice but to participate in negotiations, which went surprisingly well in spite of the years of distrust that lingered between the two peoples. Even so, they took the greater part of the day. The sun was setting as they were wrapping up, deciding on how best to seal the deal. By then, Keith found himself unable to mask his disappointment. He wanted the formalities to be done with so he could ask Veronica when he could see Lance again.

“Perhaps a marriage,” Veronica suggested, snapping Keith out of his sullen thoughts.

“A marriage?” Shiro sputtered, just as confused and alarmed as Keith. “Well, I’m already married, but my younger brother--”

“No,” Keith cut in.

Everyone present gaped at his outright refusal. Keith looked away, not wanting to explain himself.

“Keith,” Shiro reprimanded gently.

Keith huffed. He didn’t have to accept, he knew, but he did have to at least hear them out.

“As I was saying,” Veronica continued. “As it happens, we have the means to allow one of our own to live among humans, as you know we’ve done before. We believe that, since we have this option, it would make an excellent show of good faith in the contracts drawn up today to have one of ours marry one of yours.”

Shiro looked to Keith, who was still silent. Keith uncrossed his arms. He had to at least try to appear unaffected. And he had to hear out the idea. The entire idea.

“Who do you have in mind?” Keith asked as evenly as he could manage.

“I would’ve thought that would be obvious by now,” a new voice broke in, one that was almost unfamiliar to Keith.

Everyone turned in interest. There, walking towards the human delegation on his own two legs, was Lance, smiling brightly with open arms. Keith dropped all pretense of decorum without a care. He sprinted towards Lance with wild abandon, nearly sending them tumbling down when they finally collided. He wrapped Lance in a crushing hug and spun him around, revelling in the sound of Lance’s laughter.

“How?!” Keith sputtered. “You didn’t make a deal with a sea witch again, did you?”

“No!” Lance laughed. “You forget that I have a magic of my own.”

“But--the silvertongue--I thought--”

“It’s more than just commanding people to do what you want. Remember how I stopped the storm all that time ago?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

“It turns out that the silvertongue gift is literally--it’s just like--” Lance attempted, tripping over his own words.

“It’s like an extension of the ocean itself,” Allura added from where she sat in the shallow waters. “It’s most often been used to sway people's opinions, particularly those humans that merfolk have wanted to drown in the past. But in studying the gift extensively these past few months, we discovered that just about anything can be commanded by the sway of the ocean. Even Lance’s own body.”

Keith turned back to Lance, who was still grinning. “Took me this long to actually make it work though.”

“It was worth the wait,” Keith assured him.

“So,” Veronica cut in sternly. “I take it your opinion on the idea has changed then?”

The members of both delegations looked expectantly at the two of them, wrapped up in each other as they were. Keith looked back into Lance’s eyes, the only ocean he could possibly drown in now. Has his opinion changed on the idea of spending the rest of his life with the man in his arms?

“It has,” Keith said without looking away from Lance.

The delegations seemed pleased, and left the two of them to it. Keith trusted Shiro to handle the details.

“I don’t know if I’m convinced,” Lance said, his voice lilting. “Marriage is a pretty big deal, after all.”

“Oh? Then I’ll just have to change your mind,” Keith insisted, the space between them growing ever smaller.

“I suppose you will,” Lance whispered into the scant space left.

As the last of the setting sun’s rays shined upon them, their lips met each other as the shore met sea: gently, but with inevitable certainty, and tasting of sea salt. Keith and Lance smiled into the kiss, pressing their foreheads together when they found themselves smiling too much to keep kissing.

It was the perfect start to their happily ever after.

[thelionshoarde]

shance; vld6 reaction fic

@pink-contrail and anon mentioned lance calling shiro silver fox and i was just ALL OVER THAT except not REALLY because i had some feels and this got carried away and in the end I’M NOT SURE WHAT I REALLY EVEN WROTE?? AT ALL?? this is very strange but it is also for you shance fam, cause i love you. (gonna tag for a touch of ableism? boys going through tough times and dealing with it okay but not great and yelling at each other a little bit? feelings?? pre-relationship??)

you can also read this on ao3 here

“Hey,” Lance said, loitering by the door. “What are, uh... dude, what are you doing?“

Shiro pursed his lips, not bothering to look up from the clippers in his hand. His thumb was resting just below the button to turn it on, hesitant, just as it had been for the past five minutes. “Hm..”

“...Shiro? Should I --”

Shifting his hip against the edge of the sink so that it dug in, Shiro tried not to let his shoulders tense.

“-- want some help? I used to buzz my brother Marco’s hair all the time, you know. Got pretty good at it. No rough patches or weird lines or anything, I can --”

bzzzzt

Lance stopped talking, and Shiro could feel him hovering just on the precipice of the entrance way to the bathroom. He’d been doing that ever since Shiro’d woken up, really, treating him with distance and caution.

Well, except for that second time when he’d burst into tears and apologized in a high, choked voice for not hearing him, as if it was his fault that this had happened, as if it was Lance’s fault that Shiro had been dead, and as if it meant something that it had been Keith who got him back, and --

It did mean something. What Keith had done was... so much. More than Shiro had expected. More than he had dared to hope.

But it --

It wasn’t --

Huffing a frustrated breath, Shiro clicked the button again, letting silence fill the bathroom once more. It seemed suspiciously bright, suddenly, the overhead lights flaring at the corners of his eyes, like light through a prism, or water droplets. His shoulders heaved, just a little, and he leaned harder into the sink, shoulder twitching.

Why did everything feel like such a mess? So much confusion, so much uncertainty? What was Shiro supposed to think? How was he meant to react? Keith looking at him with those bright eyes. Pidge barely looking at him at all. Allura heartbroken and Lance wandering about like he’d forgotten his place in the world, too quiet and shuttered, it --

It sucked. A part of Shiro just wished he could go to sleep and not wake up until the universe started making sense again.

“You know...” Lance said, voice careful but still managing to startle Shiro. He had gotten caught up in his thoughts again, swirling and swirling, so fast and frantic. God, he was so tired. Rest, Allura had said, and he had so why didn’t it feel like enough? Why --

Frustrated, Shiro blurted out, “Just -- out with it, Lance. I’m not going to break if you speak your mind, okay? Just because I died the once doesn’t mean I’m going to drop dead at the first --”

“Whoa,” cut in Lance, voice sharp. “Whoa, whoa! What are you talking about?!”

Shiro dropped the clippers into the sink with a clatter; turned around and leaned against the sink so he could give Lance a strained smile. He half-hid his face beneath his hand, rubbing wearily at his forehead, knowing that his expression would still come off as pinched.

“Nothing,” he said. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

Unconvinced, Lance leaned back dangerously far on his heels, eyes narrowed. “Sure,” he said, mouth twisted in suspicion. “Sure, yeah, definitely nothing. Should I -- Should I get Keith?”

Should I should I should I.

“I dunno,” Shiro drawled, sagging back in sudden exhaustion. “Should you? Seems to me like you’re awfully unsure of yourself these days, Lance. Not exactly fitting for the Red Paladin, don’t you think?”

This time, Lance rocked forward onto his toes, eyes narrowed to near slits, a slight flush of annoyance touching his face. It almost made Shiro smile.

“Fine. You wanna know what I think? I think you’re having a pity party in your bathroom, Shiro. Party of one, and that’s not cool. If you want to hack off all your hair, go for it. Just do it! Be bald! Bald and beautiful, baby, I’m sure you could pull it off --”

Damn, Shiro thought, blinking hard; almost forgot what a mouth he has on him.

“-- so just stop wallowing already, and let us help you. It’s not like it was easy for us, either, all right? Like, not easy AT ALL, DUDE. You don’t think we’re all reeling, here? You think you’re the only one who died, Shiro? Nope! Spoiler alert! That select group also includes me, in case you were wondering! And ohhh no, poor Shiro, his handsome boyfriend goes above and beyond to save him --”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Shiro whispered, heart pounding.

“-- who cares,” Lance exploded, arms waving wildly. His face was flushed bright red, eyes gleaming. “It doesn’t -- that’s fine. That’s the point, Shiro. All of this -- everything -- it’s going to be fine. But we all need some time to not be fine, okay? So stop acting like we’re all, I dunno, crazy for dealing with it in our own ways, yeah? Or like we’re offending you for trying to give you the space and respect you deserve, you --”

“Lance,” Shiro said, helplessly, fingers curled so tight around the lip of the sink his knuckles ached.

“-- you idiot,” Lance finished, eyes shimmering with tears.

“Uhm,” tried Shiro. “Do you want to, ah, sit down? Take a deep breath, maybe?”

“Shut your face,” Lance groaned, rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes with a showy grimace. “Ugh, this is -- exhausting.”

A corner of Shiro’s lip quirked; his heart was still racing, unsettled. “...Yeah. It really is.”

“I hate emotions. I’m returning mine. Do not want. Send to good home. Or bad, I don’t care, I just don’t want them anymore. First my one crush crushes on someone else and then gets betrayed, and I’m not -- I’m not going to try anything, okay? I’m not gonna be that guy, but shit. How am I supposed to feel, exactly? And then my other stupid crush gets a fairy-tale ending, and it’s just -- I’m done. I’m soooo done. I’m going to become a nun as soon as we get to Earth, Shiro, I swear it.”

...Shiro’s mouth felt dry. He wasn’t certain he could breathe.

Delicately, he asked, “Your...other stupid crush?”

Lance went still as the grave.

“Uhm. Pretend I didn’t say that.”

Shiro thought about pushing. He really, really did, but... the space and respect you deserve. Right. He could do that too, even when it felt like he was drowning, even though everything seemed too much, and distant, and strange. Even being back in his body was weird -- the sound of his heartbeat -- the way his teeth clacked together.

“I missed this,” he said instead, without meaning to.

Confused, Lance crossed his arms, leaning against the doorjamb once more. He still looked nettled though, ready to go off again. “What?”

“Your -- noise.”

Incredulous, Lance’s eyebrows rose, mouth dropping open in offense.

Oh, shit. Abort, Shirogane, abort!

“That came out wrong,” he rushed to explain, throwing up a hand -- whoops, wrong one. Just his right shoulder twitched, and Shiro jerked his head down to glare at it, annoyed. At least it made Lance pause, long enough for Shiro to say, sheepishly, “It was... real quiet, with Black. I could... everything she saw, I saw. But it... it wasn’t nearly enough. And you -- you’re warm, Lance. Loud, and bright, and I -- I remember thinking when the silence got to be too... too much, that I really missed you going off on one of your diatribes.”

“Huh,” said Lance.

Shiro shrugged, like he was trying to roll the awkwardness off him.

“I don’t really know what I want,” he admitted, feeling -- embarrassed, wrong, ashamed. “I feel like I should. I should. But I just -- I’ve been gone so long. And I had so much time to think that I’m not sure I know what to think anymore, you know? You’re all so... You’ve been living your lives, but I just... stopped.”

Lance flapped his hand at him dismissively. “Who says you have to? Huh? Who says any of us need to know what we want? Who says it can’t change, Shiro? That we can’t change our minds over and over again?”

“I...”

“Who.”

“No one,” Shiro yelped, “Fine. No one! It -- ugh! Lance, I don’t. I don’t want to do this right now, I just want --”

“To shave off all of your hair?”

Shiro grimaced. He’d almost forgotten about the reason he was in the bathroom to begin with. His hand was shaking when he brought it back to his forehead, rubbing hard at the skin beneath his bangs. “I just... it reminds me of all that I’ve lost.”

Snorting, Lance said dryly, “And a shiny bald head won’t? Just leave it, Shiro. Let it settle. Give it time.” Shiro rolled his eyes to the ceiling, because that hadn’t been subtle at all, ha. “It’s okay to start again. We’re not going anywhere. You’ve got time, buddy.”

“...it makes me look old,” Shiro admitted, nearly mumbling.

“Ha!”

Narrowing his eyes, Shiro twisted his mouth so that he wouldn’t accidentally smile. Lance was grinning at him, mood as mercurial as ever. Steadier, yes, more prone to startling insight, but still as willing to rise to a challenge or give in to humor as he had been, before.

Shiro wished he knew what all he had missed; he wanted the pieces of the puzzle, to see how and where he fit into all of this.

He wanted --

“What?” he forced himself to ask, though his tongue felt clumsy and strange. “You disagree?”

Almost gently, Lance teased, “Shiro, you’re a Silver Fox if there ever was one.”

...Huh.

“You just like white hair,” Shiro said on autopilot, not even thinking about what Lance had said earlier about --

“Yeah, well,” Lance muttered, scratching beneath his jaw and side-eying the medicine cabinet with intense interest, “hair isn’t really what makes someone attractive, you know.”

-- crushes.

As in plural.

“Right,” Shiro coughed, and what the hell, why was there heat rising in his face?

“Give it a week,” said Lance, eyes flickering back to him and then away again. “A week, okay? And if you still want to buzz it all off let me know. I’ll do it for you, okay?”

“...Okay,” Shiro allowed.

Lance nodded; one short, sharp jerk of his chin, and then he was grinning brightly -- Shiro couldn’t tell if it was fake or real or what, just that it was near blinding -- and started to walk himself lazily backwards, toward the door. “Well, then, my duty is done. I’m just gonna, go -- leave you to it, and --”

“Lance,” Shiro asked, lurching forward fast to catch him before he hit the door. “Why did you come here? I mean -- did you need anything?”

For a moment, Lance just looked at him, something in his gaze that Shiro couldn’t place. Something serious about the set of his mouth that made his heart beat unsteadily again. Uncomfortable, Shiro wanted to look away, but --

Somehow, he didn’t quite dare.

“No,” Lance said, simple and easy, “Just checking in.”

Weird, how his stomach felt all wobbly and strange. “Thanks,” he said, and had to lick his lips; they felt painfully dry. “Do you -- later, will you come back? Can I ask you... questions? About...”

Careful, Lance said, “Keith would --”

“Keith wasn’t here,” Shiro said, voice a little too loud. He cleared his throat, and said more quietly. “He wasn’t... here, with you guys. With me. And we’ve... we’ve already talked. I -- like I said, Lance. I missed your noise. I want to talk to you.”

He tried to grin a little, knowing it was crooked, but still hoping it would be enough to convince him. By the way Lance only looked more skeptical, Shiro didn’t think it worked, but --

“Sure,” Lance said. “That’s. Uh, fine. I’ll be by later, yeah? After dinner?”

Shiro nodded eagerly, and then said, dumbly, “Sure! I mean, yes, please, I’d... I’d like that.”

Thankfully, that was enough. Lance laughed a little, shaking his head, but shot off a little casual salute and spun on his heel, leaving with a lazy, rolling stride that Shiro found... a little distracting.

Maybe.

Everything was so confusing. Nothing was what he remembered. And it just -- he didn’t know how to deal with it, he didn’t, what was he meant to do with any of this, he just --

Spinning on his heel, Shiro stared at himself in the mirror, gaze defiant.

God, even his eyebrows had gone white.

Just give it time, he thought, trying hard. A week. Give it -- a week. Then he thought, ...Silver Fox, huh? and watched a grin steal its way across his face, a little smug.

[rkrosememories]

hello everyone, i hope you’re all well. happy rkfifth! five years, that’s a fair portion of time, half a decade in fact! i was contemplating on whether i wanted to write up one of these posts, as i usually do something similar when my own personal anniversary with rookies comes around, but for the sake of this being the big ol’ 5, i’m willing to do it. let’s take a walk down memory lane shall we and see where it all began for little ol’ me ( i got a job interview today, yay! )

i joined the krp community in august 2014, and rookies was one of those rps i considered joining, and a part of me wishes i did. i didn’t though, i found the large size of the roleplay to be somewhat intimidating so i ended up going on to make my own idol themed roleplay; which was fairly successful in its own way! ( r.i.p apollokrp ). but, i did end up meeting steph there, and eventually, i would end up being convinced to join rookies in july 2015; bringing forth my first rk muse, rkseokmin ( that’s dokyeom of seventeen, btw ). he didn’t last for long, and neither did my other two muses rkkyungri ( yes, i roleplayed kyungri prior to this, looking back, she was sort of like rkrose, being from australia and all ) and rksana, who i brought to rookies in july 2015 and december 2015. and now, looking back i don’t really have any strong attachments to these muses, i think i really just brought them in on a whim, and it wouldn’t be until the following year that i truly found my place at rookies.

come may 2016, season three of the mgas had begun and i decided to give rookies another go. damn rp! pulling me in and trying to get me invested! this time round, i brought forth a muse which y’all will definitely be familiar with. rkjuyeon, who was known as rkseo back then. and for anyone newer, that’s rksaercm. it all began with her, my tall dancing gay who had ambitions of idoldom since a young age. she had auditioned with her cousin in a process called the deathmatches ( you guys, if you weren’t around during like ... early 2016, you won’t know the pain of reserving / applying etc. as the old main blog was ancient. anyways, bless the rookies team for keeping everything going for so long ) and she failed to make it through. meanwhile, her cousin ends up winning the whole goddamn program. what a fluke. i did end up dropping her though, although she did return a few months later in september!

and we fast forward to july 2016; enter rkrose. blackpink’s iconic dance practice video was released and instantly fell in love, with one member in particular ( everyone was ranting and raving about lisa, but i couldn’t take my eyes off of the girl with braids in her hair ). that girl, was park chaeyoung, who like me, is a fellow australian! i instantly knew that i had to bring her to rookies, along with rose and keith ( who play lisa and jisoo, and eventually lari would end up completing the rkblackpink lineup that we know today with jennie ). looking back, i don’t really know how i envisioned rkrose to be; i mean, she was signed to royal within her first six months of being at rookies! she won the kt & royal contest, if ya didn’t know! she is probably the muse i am most well-known for, likely for not so good reasons. she’s been through countless “scandals” in her time, things of which are likely both of our faults. i’m not ashamed of her though ( more so of my own actions ). i think she’s a good egg.

when rookies gave us permission to go ahead with third muses, i think we all went a little crazy. i’ve had quite a few third muses, some whom i’m sure i can’t really remember, but rkchangkyun and yugyeomrk come to mind; i’m sure some of you might be baffled to know that i’ve ever actually roleplayed a male before, considering the fact that all i talk about on twitter is girls and girl groups. ah i forgot i did actually bring rkclaudia to rookies, aka moon hyuna. but we come full circle, and in march 2018, we meet rkkyungri, who is my third and final muse at rookies ( unless y’know, y’all wanna open up fourth muses to the public rk, because i’m down for that, i have many stories to share still wink wonk ). she was unlike any of my rookies muses; an ex-idol who failed at achieving her dream the first time round.

so, here we are, december 2018; i’ve given you a rather comprehensive and detailed run down on my past with rookies, muses wise that is, because there is a ton more to talk about. and i shall, because i want to be able to commemorate this special occasion! i think it is healthy to reflect on things that have happened in the past, so we can learn from our mistakes and better ourselves as people and writers. i have had my fair share of negative and positive experiences at rookies, and i think it’s normal to. rookies is a really big place, and people are bound to bump heads and not get along, that’s just human nature. i think that a good portion of my problems at rookies have been because of miscommunication. so new members, please take a leaf out of my book and remember that communication is key! also don’t get swept up in ooc drama and take your problems to the mods! that’s what they’re here for ( and they do an excellent job of it, thank you guys <33 ).

i really am invested in rookies; invested in the plot, the characters and their stories. i think it’s so amazing that we have a place on the internet where things can unfold and happen in real time almost. krp can be so fast-paced and it’s refreshing to see a place like rookies. i don’t think i could ever truly leave rookies behind, well, one day i’m probably going to have to, but that is another thing; rk is always there. rookies has reached five years. five! years! and that is a momentous occasion, because some rps don’t even see five months. as someone who has been an admin countless of times in the past, i have always wondered how rookies withstood the test of time, and now, having been apart of rookies for nearly three years, i think i understand now. many things go into making a roleplay work: the admin team and the members must work cohesively together, and i think we at rookies all do a good job of that. 

i have learnt a lot at rookies, and i think i definitely have a lot more to learn and experience. i must say, going into the new year, i really want to work on being more productive. some of you amaze me! replying every week, getting those points! you get that, pal! it’s really, really inspiring, and i want to be more like that. i’m honestly amazed i’ve made it two years at rk, as i’m someone who gets bored easily ( i also have commitment issues to some extent ). there have been countless occasions where i’ve wanted to give up and drop my muses, be it lack of motivation or drama, but the sole fact that i’ve dedicated two whole years to creating these characters is an incentive to keep going. i’ve always loved writing and i love that i have a space to share my creativity, interests and dreams with like minded people! i think that rings true for a lot of other people, but i’m sure y’all have your own reasons for sticking around.

i don’t think a post like this would be complete without some shout outs, but this part for me will probably be lacking, whoops. maybe i can make that another goal of mine. socialise more.

steph ( @jungwooxrk​​ ), thank you for introducing me to rookies and convincing me to join. we’ve been friends since december 2014!?! which feels like a long ass time. you were my first real internet friend and i’m very grateful to of met you. thank you for writing with me and putting up with me!

rose ( @rklisa​ ), keith ( @rkjisoo​ ) & lari ( @rkjennie​ ), rkblackpink is precious and means so much to both me and rkrose. although we don’t talk as much as much as i would like ( or we should??? ) i’m so happy that we’ve got y’all, i hope that our girls can experience many more things together. 

shinobi ( @rkkangjoon​ ) thank you so much for putting up with me. we’ve been through a lot of crap but i’m really thankful that we’re still able to talk despite everything. i hope you know that kangjoon will forever be important to rose, he was her first real boyfriend after all! thank you for putting up with us both! we love you! <33

peach ( @rkhaechan ) i don’t think rkrose would be who she is today without you and the help of jaebum. after a year of depression i think she’s back on her feet though!! toughest 12 months as a writer! but, despite everything we’ve been through, i’m so thankful we’re still able to talk. i also love your new muses, haech is a cutie & i love him very much :((((

lemon ( @rkyena ) aaaaaah i can’t believe i forgot to put you in here, i’m so sorry. thank you sO MUCH for putting up with me and my forgetfullness. i really love seoyoung as a muse and i’m excited to see her grow as an idol! also saeseo?! 

nana ( @younghyunrk​ ) i’m so thankful that i get to talk to you almost everyday!? i feel as though these past few months we’ve been able to get close which is exciting because you are awesome & i treasure you a ton! i’m excited for whats to come in the following months for our muses! hopefully we meet when i fly over your way sometime soon! i love youuu!!! <33

royal and sphere trainees! i would tag you all, but i’ll be here forever. thank you for making me feel included, even if i don’t participate in the group chat! i love our group antics, like photocard swapping, that was fun. thank you for taking care of both me and my girls, rose and saerom. i would like to work on getting closer to y’all!

and our incredible mod team, you know who they are, they know who they are. thank you so much, for everything you do. you guys keep this place safe, happy and running for all of us, all while writing for your own muses and keeping up with real life stuff like work and school?! incredible! amazing! fantastic! thank you for being so accepting and welcoming and supportive. i love y’all a ton and i don’t think this little message truly explains how grateful i truly am. thank you, for all that you do. 

i’m sorry if i forgot anyone in particular, i probably did and i’m sorry; i don’t have the greatest memory. just know that i’m grateful for you! even if we’ve never spoken to eachother before! thank you for making rookies the place it is! that being said, i should probably work on wrapping this whole thing up, since it’s getting pretty darn long and i would like to do some things today prior to this job interview i have later ( please send positive vibes, i’m going to need them ; _ ; )

these past two, nearly three years have been absolutely wonderful. i’m bummed i didn’t join rk back in the day but maybe the fact that i joined later was a good thing? i mean, everything happens for a reason right? these years have been hard and tiring but also very exciting and rewarding, and i’m very enthused to see where 2019 takes me and my girls, along with you and your muses! lets work hard and be happy, happy rkfifth everyone <3

  - lots of love, from sacha!

[roggling]

Acxa is not used to the cold, she hates it, but she didn't know Earth could be so cold so she is not prepared for it at all. When Keith touches her he notices that she is freezing and covers her with a hat, gloves, scarf and a million jackets cause he doesn't want his crush getting sick. Acxa wanted to protest that she could handle it (LIES) but no one had cared so much about her in such a long time that she accepted her fate as a galra burrito. Also her crush is touching her and she is 🙃💜

So, like, I just...I guess this was some sort of an experiment for me? Kacxa really hasn’t had much romantic feelings (I still love the ship to pieces tho) so I tried? And it came out pretty long? Whoops? Enjoy? Read under the cut?

When Acxa arrived on Earth, she had no idea just what she was getting into. It was primitive compared to many planets she’s visited, but, when finding of how old the planet was, she realized that Earth will be more advanced than anything she’s ever seen.

That’s the people of Earth, the planet itself is beautiful. Keith and the Paladins had shown her around in their free time, taking her to some of the most beautiful places she has ever seen and building up their bond from acquaintances to friends. But a wacky thing about Earth is that it has a strange climate.

In the daytime, the temperatures are fairly warm in the desert; it isn’t as hot as some other planets she’s visited.

In the nighttime, however, the desert drops to extreme cold weather. Some of the coldest she’s been in.

This, she learned on the ride to the Kogane residence for the Holidays. The Paladins all went to their families, Allura, Coran, and Romelle tagged along with the McClains for the holidays, for the seasonal celebrations for the first time since their return.

Since she had no family, the Paladins actually made plans to celebrate the holidays together the following day to pass time with her and as friends. Krolia, however, stepped in and invited Acxa to their shack for Christmas, Keith almost immediately agreeing to the idea.

He totally got teased for it by Pidge later on.

Acxa sped through the desert sand on the dirt bike the Garrison lent her and she sped her way to the coordinates Krolia gave her. The sunsets in the desert were beautiful, some of the most beautiful she’s ever seen on a planet. Sure, it was nothing compared to the sunsets multiple suns at the same time, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Her hair swooshed behind her as she sped faster and faster and Acxa felt the air cool exponentially as the sun descended under the horizon. She shivered and attempted to pull at the cloth at her neck to cover more skin. It didn’t work, but she didn’t mind it that much and she shrugged it off.

After a while, Acxa finally saw the shack in the far distance and she slowed the bike, swinging her feet off the seat as she approached the steps. She leaned it against the porch’s banister and she shivered when a chilly breeze nipped at her nose.

She let out a shaking breath and she gasped when a puff of white flowed out of her mouth, her eyes widened and she cupped her mouth and whispered to herself, “What the quiznak?”

Acxa then felt a warmth from her breath and she sighed, starting to blow into her hands, the warm breath ricocheting back onto her face.

She took the two steps to the house’s porch, her shivering getting more intense

with each second she spent outside. The warm glow of the house’s light coaxed her to walk faster and she mustered up the courage to knock. She lifted her hand to knock on the door at the same time as the door opened. Her hand fell back to her side and her eyes widened when she stood face-to-face with Keith.

His lips curled up in a small smile and he greeted, “Umm. Hi.”

Acxa smiled and returned the greeting, “Hi.”

They just stood there awkwardly, both adults avoiding each other’s eyes trying to hide their blush, before they both heard pounding footsteps approaching them. Krolia stood behind Keith, her entire form bundled in multiple jackets, scarves, and sweaters.

They both looked over Keith’s shoulder to look at Krolia and the older Galra smiled, “Acxa! You made it just in time! Come, I’m making something called “hot chocolate”.”

Keith blinked and his eyes jumped from between Krolia and Acxa, a horrified look on his face and…blush? No, that must be from the cold. Keith doesn’t blush. Heck, he rarely smiles outside of Team Voltron.

Acxa smiled and stepped into the threshold when Krolia pulled herself and Keith away from the door. She sighed in relief that it was slightly warmer in the house than it was outside, but her breath was still iced and she was still puffing.

Krolia went ahead and headed back into the kitchen to let the young adults talk. Keith stuffed his hands in his pocket and gestured to the couch, “Uh, sit down.”

Acxa slowly sat down, surprised to find the seat much more luxurious than anything she has ever sat on before and she sunk into the couch’s soft, cold cushions.

Keith looked down at the shivering girl and he immediately shrugged off his jacket and offered it to her. Acxa looked up confused and Keith elaborated, “Take it. I guess mom forgot to tell you how cold it gets down here.”

Acxa took it hesitantly, her claws brushing Keith’s knuckles, and she shrugged it on. Keith left her to put it on, Acxa fighting off a deep sigh when the warm fabric immediately warmed her up. She crossed her arms and dug her head deep into the high collar, a faint masculine smell filling her nostrils with its soft scent.

Keith then came tumbling back inside wearing a new jacket and carrying three other articles of clothing in his hand. Acxa looked up owlishly and Keith ordered, “Stand up.”

Acxa followed the orders obediently, although she didn’t know how he’s gained so much power over her, and stood. Keith then proceeded to lead her arm into another jacket, his warm hand holding hers sparking more heat in her body than both jackets combined.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she stuttered.

“You’re cold. Galrans are more sensitive to cold than humans are. You need these,” he explained.

“I can put on a jacket myself,” Acxa argued.

Keith chuckled, “I know. I still want to.”

Acxa tried to look at his eyes, but he hung his head low and his bangs partially covered his violet eyes. His raven hair started brushing her nose as he took a step closer to put another jacket on her. Now, his nose was just a hair’s breath away from touching her own and their hot breaths are mingling together, the only sound coming from their breathing.

Then, when Keith tried to put her right hand in its sleeve, he couldn’t get it around the two other jackets. Keith looked up sheepishly and smiled nervously, “Uh, could you, twirl around?”

Acxa twirled around and she felt Keith slide her arm up into the sleeve. However, when she turned back to face him, she tripped on the rug under the couch and she clashed into Keith, his hands immediately placing themselves on her waist to steady her. Her head landed on his chest and she immediately balanced herself.

Yet, she still doesn’t know why she’s still holding on to him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered almost inaudibly.

“It’s fine,” Keith responded just as quietly.

“There’s a mistletoe above your heads,” Krolia added loudly, making both adults jump, though still not letting go of their embrace.

Both looked up with wide eyes and, sure enough, there was a mistletoe plant hanging from the ceiling from a red ribbon. Acxa went red in the face once she recognized the plant from Lance’s jokes in the Garrison.

From her understanding after Lance explained succeeding to catch Allura under the mistletoe when one is caught under the mistletoe, they need to kiss the person

they’re with or they get fed to the klanmürl. Or something like that.

She felt the blood rush to her face and her eyes widened. Before she could look at Keith’s eyes, she took interest to the floor and glued her gaze onto the very interesting rug.

Keith, however, had none of that.

He took her chin between her thumb and middle finger and lifted her face to look up at him.

Her eyes looked up into his purple eyes: his first feature she was intrigued by. They were kind. They were intense. They were passionate. They were caring. They were powerful. They were wise. They were the windows of his soul. And right now, she’s scared to identify the look he’s giving her now; it makes her feel warm, makes her feel safe. It’s doing something to her, she doesn’t know what. All she knows is that she likes it.

“I’m just…going to give you two some privacy,” Krolia added, immediately dashing out of the room after she sees the tension between the two.

They don’t even react to the interruption; their gazes are glued to the other’s eyes.  

Her eyes are like magnets, Keith decided; they lure him to her. Those eyes were hidden from him the first time they met, hidden by a mask meant to hide her from him. Those eyes were angry with him the second time they met, both of them held at a standstill in their first encounter as enemies.

Those eyes were glaring at him the third time they met, but it was right after she saved him from an attacking Galra. Those eyes were attacking him the fourth time they met, him having returned from the abyss and her fighting on the opposite side again.

The fifth time, though, was the first time he truly thought about her eyes. The fifth time, they fought on the same side for the first time. The fifth time, they connected in a way he never has with anyone before.

After that, he couldn’t keep track of the times he’s been mesmerized by her eyes, heck, he couldn’t count the times he’s been mesmerized by her period.

And now really shouldn’t be the time to do an introspection of their relationship. Not when she is in his arms and her breath hitting his neck. Not when she’s looking like that while looking at him like that.

“We don’t have to-,“ Acxa swallowed her words down when Keith pushed his lips

on hers. The two of them kissed each other ravenously, eating each other up and pulled themselves closer than they had ever imagined.

Keith’s hands gripped onto Acxa’s top-layered jacket and pulled her flush against him, the jacket balled up into his fist as he feverishly moved his mouth against hers.

Acxa moved her hands to Keith’s jaw, her fingertips gently brushing the skin right under his ears, smiling when Keith kissed harder with each brush of her fingers in that area. When Keith would pull away for air, Acxa barely gave him breathing time before smashing her lips on his again and sliding her tongue into his mouth. That roused out a noise out of him that she just found more delicious

After some…tongue maneuvers…the two ceded and kissed themselves out of their high. Their once-long kisses shortened to short, cute pecks on the lips, nose, neck, and forehead until the two finally calmed down enough to be able to form words in their head.

Acxa smiled up at Keith and he returned one equally warm and the two stood in a comfortable embrace before breaking out in hysteric laughter.

“That was…” Acxa began, her giggles dying down.

“Unexpected…” Keith finished, wiping a tear from his eyes.

“…Late seemed more appropriate for my situation,” Acxa corrected.

“Well, it’s only been a few months for me,” Keith justified.

“Three years, Keith. I’ve been waiting for you for three years,” Acxa teased.

“You did not wait for me that long,” Keith argued, the two adopting an unusual teasing tone.

“I did too. I don’t just let anyone escape from my clutches. Nor do I save just anyone from losing in a fight,” Acxa smiled, her eyes wrapping around Keith’s neck again.

“Really?”

“Yes. They have to have the flippity hair,” to emphasize her point, Acxa brushed her fingertips on his forehead and moving his bangs aside.

Keith smirked, “Shut up. You fell for this flippity hair.”

He didn’t give her time to respond before he started kissing her again.

“You see that Tex?” Krolia asked the air, a smile playing on her face as her son exchanged kisses with the sweet girl in the living room.

She didn’t wait for a response. She wasn’t expecting one. He was long-gone before she could do anything, but she still felt him there with her.

“We made that.”

Outside, the snowflakes dancing in the night sky danced faster, hitting the wind chimes out their door.

Krolia smiled. “Merry Christmas, Tex.”

[theglowqueen]

Shiro: If I don’t make it out, I want you to lead Voltron Keith: Nooooo Shiro don’t talk like that Pidge, immediately: Oh shit boi what up

[asian-hero]

It’s nice to see a fellow imagines, hello! Could you do a thing where the Paladins (+ Allura and Matt) have an s/o with a cat who only likes their owner and the Paladins trying to get the cat to warm up to them?

Cats are so cute! Also, I am the proud owner of two pugs, so sorry if any of this sounds ridiculous for a cat! More under the cut since this turned out longer than I thought it’d be

Lance:

I wholeheartedly believe that Lance is magic when it comes to getting animals to love him

So when he meets your cat, he gets a little discouraged (and a little offended but he’ll never tell you that)

He’ll literally try anything in the book to try and get your cat to like him: cat toys, buying cat food that’s way over priced, etc.

Once let the cat eat some of Hunk’s cooking but later got scolded by his s/o 

Eventually gives up trying to bond with your cat, choosing to sulk and sit on the couch

That’s when your cat decides to curl up next to Lance, getting ready to take a nap

You’ve taken at least 20 pictures to document this moment in history

Keith:

Doesn’t really care if your cat doesn’t like anyone else but you

What he does care about is the fact that your cat seems to keep stealing you away from him

Whenever he tries to get close to you, your cat seems to magically appear out of nowhere 

You two are on the couch about to watch a movie? The cat sits in between you. About to make dinner together? Whoops! Look like the cat is standing right on the counter, between you and Keith. Your a million miles away from home in space? Looks like your cat somehow became a stowaway and is now attached to your side. (I’m pretty sure you get the point)

It’s a little less of Keith trying to bond with your cat as it is Keith competing with your cat

Eventually concedes, mainly because you guilt tripped him

Your cat never warms up to him necessarily, but they do snuggle into his leg every now and then

Hunk:

Who wouldn’t like this ball of sunshine?

Hunk doesn’t try and force your cat to like him, he just plays with the cat because he simply loves animals

Unlike Keith, Hunk doesn’t mind that your cat is always with you

It’s one more thing to cuddle!

Will 100% give your cat food while he’s cooking (he just feels so bad when the cat gives him those sad eyes!)

Although he isn’t as upset as Lance, he does feel a little sad when your cat still doesn’t seem to warm up to him

Eventually your cat warms up to him (your cat almost seems to like Hunk a little more than they like you!)

Pidge:

Not only does your cat not like Pidge, but Pidge doesn’t like your cat

They just aren’t a cat person, or animal person, really (I don’t count those fuzzy things in season 2 as animals nope)

Isn’t as bad as Keith, but definitely a contender 

Would much rather hang out with robots than a obnoxious cat

Doesn’t get upset if your cat takes up all of your attention, but will eventually get a little jealous 

The closest thing you will ever see of bonding time is when Pidge starts playing with the cat toy (the one that looks like a fishing rod, I forgot the name) 

The only reason they did that was so your cat would leave them alone

Has had thoughts of locking your cat in a cage once or twice 

Shiro (lord help me why does his name keep changing to shirt):

At first he doesn’t even notice that your cat is a bit clingy towards you

When he realizes it, he honestly doesn’t really care

As much as he loves animals, he’s not offended if your cat wants to stay with you

Will try to bond with your cat though, buys snacks and toys for this cat

Once went out to get some groceries (or whatever is in the space mall) and came back with a gigantic cat tree

Your cat warms up to him pretty fast (mainly because they know that Shiro constantly has snacks)

Occasionally you’ll come back and find your cat nestled under Shiro’s arm while they both take a nap

And of course, you join them

Allura:

As much as I love my queen, I’m almost positive that she doesn’t get along with animals (what can I say? Disney lies, not all princesses get along with animals)

She is a diplomat, and she can’t look serious when there is cat hair all over her

Doesn’t even bother trying to bond with your cat, she just doesn’t see the point in it

Every time Allura is with you, your cat begins to hiss at her

Allura always hisses back

Also doesn’t understand the difference between bonding with a cat and a dog

Once tried to play fetch with your cat, your cat just looked at her then went back to taking a nap

Won’t try to bond with your cat unless you bug her about it, and even then she doesn’t really try

Matt:

Unlike his animal hating sister, Matt absolutely adores your cat

He’s a bit more obsessed with trying to bond with your cat than Lance is (but not by much)

He knows all the tricks to get animals to like him, from letting them have their space to giving them treats constantly

Is not deterred when your cat gives him the cold shoulder, it only drives him further 

You once witnessed Matt wearing cat ears and meowing at the cat

When you asked him why, he just said “I want them to feel accepted”

Is constantly holding your cat like a baby, never letting it walk if it doesn’t need to

He cuddles with your cat more than he cuddles with you (you can’t be offended though, they’re both too cute)