#IDK what to do with it honestly ahaha I was rambling. This has zero focus sry

[bosstoaster]

the squad falling into a mirror universe, though, in which voltron is evil and the galra lead the resistance. (goodguy!prince lotor and shiro crackship? crackship.)

Well, first question: Are their mirror verse members of the team, or is it a different group?  If the Alteans never split the lions it wouldn’t have gone to Earth, so Imma just assume it’s not them as pilots.  Also because avoiding entropic cascade failure.  Because I’m a dork.

One assumes the lions are the same: they don’t particularly have morality of their own, just a bond with a paladin.  Giant metal lion robots don’t care who does what, they care about who pilots them, and as long as they have the right traits that’s what matters.

But maybe they come in their universe’s version of the Black Lion, because Reasons they were all in it and Shiro used the astral projection/universe slightly to the left headcanon handwavey jumbo, so these five weirds randomly show up IN THE FUCKING BLACK LION and now there’s two?  Why are there two?  The current Black Paladin is Not a Fan.  What are you doing???  Give up your lion to us now so we can destroy this false copy you’ve made.  You assholes.  Our lions, not yours, copyright infringement.

So our Pals are all sharing a look inside the lion like whaaaat the fuck, and they’re halfway to trying to land to explain when Hunk realizes that these Alteans aren’t just firing on an enemy: they’re firing on the planet and it’s cities.  Full of civilians.

That’s when they all get nervous.  Pidge mutters something about growing beards.

And that’s when they’re contacted by Prince Lotor of the Galra Rebellion.  Please please do not give up your lion and maybe chase them off?  You don’t have to do anything else but please they’re killing innocents.

They turn off the comms for a few minutes to argue: is this some kind of trick?  Can we trust the Galra, even in a different universe?

But in the end, the answer is obvious: they can’t let civilians be slaughtered.

So they fight.

It’s not a long tussle.  It’s only a warbird and the other Black Lion, and they’re clearly not willing to engage an opponent they can’t destroy without issue, and Shiro’s bond with Black is strong.  So the Altean ship flees, and they’re left not sure what to do.

That’s when Lotor invites them to land and come talk.  And, because they have no idea what else to do, they accept.

Which is where they meet Zarkon and Haggar.  Zarkon here is old, no longer a leader of his people, content to act as an advisor to his son, and Haggar is basically his chief science officer.  She finds Shiro’s arm fascinating, and the idea of alternate universes amazing.

Shiro damn near climbs up a wall to get away from her.

They’re filled in and it’s... well, it’s hard to handle.  No, it’s not Allura leading - Allura’s been dead for thousands years, after all - but it is her descendant leading the charge.  And more importantly, it’s so hard to trust these hated figures.  Even when Zarkon is fondly reminiscing over the days he used to have such a bond with his lion, Shiro’s skin crawls, and they all tend to bunch in together protectively around him, or he’ll instinctively shove them behind him.

Which is why Shiro ends up working a lot with Lotor.  He isn’t someone Shiro knows, isn’t someone who makes his skin crawl.  Instead he’s clever and detail oriented, seeing the forest as made up of the trees.  He knows everything going on his his empire, and Shiro admires that, while Lotor admires Shiro’s charisma: no one would automatically defer to Lotor if his father hadn’t smoothed away.  It’s not a trait he inherited.

They can’t fight Voltron with one lion, but maybe they don’t have to.  Maybe they can confuse the bonds, stall out the lions, keep Voltron from being a problem.

It makes Shiro’s skin crawl to do to someone what was done to him, but if it means saving lives, he will.

And in return, they have more time to figure out how to go home.  Enough time here to help and give the Galra a hand, and then go back where things make sense.

When they do go back, it’s not on purpose, but in a battle between the Black Lions.

When Shiro sees their Prince Lotor for the first time, his heart skips.

It doesn’t last long.