#Nymas the silent

[jeniidrawsshit]

I was feeling bad about drawing my boy Nymas beaten up all the time, so here he is, clean and content. Also tried out a slightly different rendering style without inking! Done in CSP.

[rorimoon9597]

Pt 1 Pt 2

----------

Lance turns out to be a huge help as Keith's right hand. When he's overworking himself, Lance is there to force him to bed. If Keith's having a bad day, then Lance is there as silent support.

It makes Keith fall in love with him even more.

And the fact that Lance was determined to keep up his game with his eye colour. Keith admired the dedication to keeping everyone confused. So much so that sometimes, when they meet with the leaders of a planet, his eye colour changes more frequently. The looks on the aliens faces when Pidge explains that Humans can't change their eye, skin or hair colour at will is priceless.

Keith begins to feel as if he will burst if he doesn't do anything about these feelings soon. It takes having to fight Lotor to do that.

They're all in the castle, resting. They were so, incredibly lucky that Lotor wasn't able to go into the Quintessence field, that they were able to stop him. Sure, he was dead now, but better for a tyrant to be dead than alive still.

Krolia had fussed over him when he got back. Romelle nearly cried and clung to him. Coran had hugged all of them.

Then, perhaps the weirdest part of the day, Allura was able to bring back Shiro. Who had one less arm again. Keith had cried with relief at having his actual brother back.

They were floating through space, resting after the fight, and Keith was never one for resting. Even during his self-imposed exile to the shack in the desert he'd had things to do.

So he decided to go check up on Shiro.

"Hey," he said. Shiro looked up from where he was glaring at the bowl of food goo he'd been given.

"Hey, Keith. Do you need something?" He asked.

"You... Could say that." Keith walked into the room and sat on the bed with Shiro. Kosmo, his wolf that would now only respond to that name that Pidge had given him, joined them, lying on the floor.

"Is something wrong?" Shiro asked. Keith sighed.

"I'm so gay, Shiro," he said. Shiro laughed. Keith glared at him.

"I knew that already."

"Uh, yeah, because I came to you and Shiro when I had a gay crisis and needed help."

"Why are you telling me something that I already know?"

"Because! My crush on Lance has gotten worse. I love him now, Shiro. It's not just a crush anymore." Shiro gave Keith a sympathetic look.

"That's the hardest part. Even for me, and I knew that Adam's gay, too." Shiro placed his had on Keith's shoulder. "Don't wait for too long, Keith, or you'll lose your chance. Trust me on that. I waited too long with my first crush, and he ended up moving away and I never saw him again. Tell him when you think that the time is right."

"How do you know all this? Didn't you tell Adam that you liked him when you were sleep deprived?" Keith asked.

"Not the point, Keith. I'm trying to be a good brother to you, and part of being a good brother is to give my younger brother relationship advice," Shiro replied. Keith rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said. Shiro moved his hand to ruffle his hair.

"Trust me on this, Keith. I have actually been in a relationship before." Keith can't help but smile at those words.

"I will," he agrees.

_______

They being their journey to Earth soon after that. On the way there, they pick up Matt, Rollo, Nyma and Beezer and tell them about the whole ordeal with Shiro.

"I knew that something was off! His hair floof and eyeliner were wrong!" Matt shouted triumphantly. Pidge just shook her head at her brother. Then she dragged him off to Green's hangar to start designing a new arm for Shiro.

They still had some pit stops before Earth. One of those was to pick up some of the Olkari, who were going to help with the defense system on Earth.

After they picked up Matt, Romelle asked the question that Keith had been expecting.

"What is up with Lance's eyes?" She asked.

"I have been wondering about that as well," Krolia agreed.

"We don't know, but we have a betting pool," Pidge replied. Keith rolled his eyes.

"You get far too much enjoyment out of this," he said. Then he turned and left.

He'd let them suffer if they really wanted to.

[miraculous786]

Hi again! If it's okay can you make a fluff sequel to my previous Maribat prompt "an akward reveal" which take place during the meeting between Marinette and the Waynes who are amazed and charmed to see that Damian's girlfriend is a real ball of sunshine and also ask Riddler(who invited imself in the first story) how the heck he, Scarecrow and Mad Hatter came to adopt Mari and how they were able to adopt her since they got a criminal background please?

Masterlist

Approvals And Explanations

"So, how'd you meet Demon Spawn over here?"

"Demon Spawn?"

"Yeah - Damian."

"Oh!" Marinette realised with a blush, as she placed down her knife and fork to explain. "Well, on my first day at Gotham Academy I ended up bumping into him and apologising. He told me it was okay, and I walked off to class."

Tim squinted, then glanced down warily at his cup of coffee. The man asked, "He wasn't rude?"

She raised a brow. "...No, why?"

He scoffed. "The Brat isn't really known for being nice."

Damian scowled, but his retort was interrupted by the girl at the chair beside him.

"Hey! He isn't a 'Brat' at all, I'll have you know! Dami is the sweetest boyfriend I could ever ask for, and most humble."

Everyone around whipped their heads to Marinette. They processed her folded arms and offended expression, along with the male blushing red next to her.

Bruce smiled from his seat.

"Gotham Academy, huh?" Dick quizzed. At her nod, he carried on, "What subjects do you take there?"

"Business, Fashion and Graphic Design," her easy response was, just after swallowing another piece of lettuce. "It's because I plan on becoming a designer in the future."

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah," she shyly admitted. "I already have a business going, and I wanted to make sure I know how to handle it independently further down the line."

"But Demon Spawn doesn't take any of those," Jason noted.

Marinette fought off the urge to send a glare his way at the nickname for her boyfriend, and instead took in a breath. "You're right. However, he helped me in English classes with the language, and we're also in the same group for Gym sessions."

Damian discreetly smirked. He added in, "She managed to beat me in a match of volleyball after everyone else was knocked out."

Jason choked on the carrot stick he was eating, whilst Tim coughed up some of the coffee in his throat.

"Wait, what?" Dick questioned, tilting his head to the flustered teen that the youngest was now grinning at.

"I-It was just luck, Dami!"

"Nonsense, Angel, it was pure skill. You can ask our classmates back at school."

Marinette buried her head in her hands.

"Excuse me, Marinette," Bruce politely called, prompting her to glance up at him from across the dining table. "You said you needed help with your English classes?"

"Oh, right. I'm French, actually - I'm from Paris. I've lost the accent after all these years, but didn't enroll in any American schools before going Gotham Academy, so I wasn't too good with the language."

"Wow, never would've guessed," Jason whistled. "How long ago did you move here?"

"Maybe...two years ago? I moved to America before that, but not specifically this city. My uncles and dad were a bit...overprotective, to put it lightly, so they didn't want me to be here when I was so young."

There was the sound of a muffled protest from the side, but the girl hushed it with, "Don't deny it, Dad. You wouldn't even let me go to the fabric store by myself, god forbid to go get an education."

She sent a deadpan look to the Riddler, who was tied up to a chair nearby. Tape was plastered over his mouth, though there was still a plate a food in front of him.

Tim snorted, lifting his mug to his lips.

"Can, can I remove the tape?"

Dick shrugged, saying, "As long as he doesn't ruin the mood."

"Okay!" Marinette enthused, turning to Edward. She raised her hand to take the corner of his gag, while glaring at him in warning.

In a quick movement, she tore it off, making the Riddler yelp, "Ow! Mari-Honey, calm down!"

The female sighed, patting his back. "Sorry."

Nyma's eyes softened. "Hey, it's fine, Sweetie," he assured, smiling.

She returned the gesture, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Then, she brought a clean glass of orange juice up to his face, as he begun to drink it.

Tim raised a brow, gazing down at his cup for a second time. Meanwhile, the rest of the family watched in a confused stupor.

"You two sure are close," someone commented.

Marinette levelled a stern look to whoever had spoken - the man with a white streak at his fringe. "I hope you're not implying that I'll become the next Riddler or anything. Are you?"

Jason paled. "N-No, I'm just curious as to why you're so close. Or how you met in the first place."

Damian appeared to be very smug at the terrified attitude he had towards his girlfriend, as his lips twitched upwards. Bruce, seeing this, felt his own do the same in accordance.

"Well, I..."

The baker turned up to Edward, asking a silent question with her bluebell eyes. He understood perfectly, and nodded.

"...I was lost in Paris, and Dad helped me find my uncles."

"Mr Crane and Mr Tetch?" Bruce queried.

"Yes."

The thought of just how she had met them too lingered in the air, and the Riddler sensed it.

He sighed. "Mari-Honey's parents...they passed in a fire at their bakery years ago. Jonathon and Jervis saw it when they were in Paris at the time, and went in to save her."

Marinette gazed to the side, and everyone watched how Damian wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in for a side-hug that she willingly returned.

"They've been looking after her since," Nygma explained. "When I managed to find her uncles, I was shocked as to who they were. Long story short, us three decided to all look after her together. Oswald agreed when she moved here, too."

Silence thickened the air for a few moments.

"Marinette," Bruce softly spoke. "You wouldn't by any chance know how to bake, would you?"

She snapped her head up to him, and the man could make out the faint spark of excitement twinkling in her eyes.

Damian sent a thankful glance his father's way, as he rubbed circles on the girl's back, and Bruce acknowledged it with a faint nod.

"I shall get the kitchen ready, Miss Marinette."

~*~*~

@northernbluetongue @moonystars14 @soupfilledboots @virgil-is-a-cutie @mochegato @queenmj10

[enig998]

Kidge fic - Victorian AU

Here’s the fic I promised. :D

———————

After the sudden disappearance of her father and brother, along with their family friend, Takashi Shirogane, during a business trip, Katie Holt runs away from her small village to the vast but mysterious streets of London to find her loved ones.

Disguising herself as a boy, Katie— now Pidge— takes up a small job as a newspaper boy wondering and searching for any sort of information or clues she can find on her family.

She manages to have several useful contacts over the next few months around the city, knowing almost everything and everyone. Her favourite contacts are Rolo, Nyma and Beezer. This in turn, earns her the title ‘The Way-Finder’ among the working class and some of the nobles as well— lost something/someone? Leave it to Pidge!

Lance and Hunk are her most frequent customers; she sees them almost everyday. The former often comes frantically running towards Pidge, begging the newspaper boy to find a particular cat named Green. Said cat wasn’t exactly owned by the lanky nobleman, he claimed it belonged to a very important friend; he made sure to keep his blabbering mouth in check when Pidge often tried to switch the topic towards Green’s owner, Lance had yet to crack under her intense interrogation.

It was never hard finding Green though, in fact, the cat found her most of the time until it became apparent that whenever Lance noticed the feline missing, he’d make a buzz for Pidge.

“It’s as though she turns invisible for a couple of seconds!” Lance complained while he glared at Green who was comfortably curled on Pidge’s lap, “The other cats are definitely a handful but recently Green just seems on edge to get away from me and see you. It is ironic, considering the fact that Red is considered the more moody of the bunch; I’m surprised Green beat him to it.”

Turns out, Lance babysits five cats for his so-called ‘important’ friend; all of them are named after a colour: Black, Red, Green, Blue and Yellow.

Hunk met Pidge when he was out on a walk on a fortunate sunny day. He noticed the newspaper boy practically ogling the latest factory machines that we’re being experimented on in the warehouse the engineer worked in.

When he approached Pidge, Hunk only meant to start a small conversation with the boy, but in a matter of seconds the two were enthusiastically talking and sharing their interest and ideas on the latest forms of engineering and communications. The latter was already best friends with Lance and the two often walked by her path to greet her a good day. Out of the two boys, Hunk is the only one who secretly knows Pidge is a girl.

Even after a year of staying in London, Pidge’s search for her family has barely made any progress— it frustrates her how easy it is to find something for someone else but not being able to do the same for own herself.

Enter Keith Kogane, a young man from the infamous Galra noble family asking Pidge’s help to find his brother, Takashi Shirogane.

“That’ll cost ya’ £100, Mr. Kogane,” Pidge had already held up her hand right in front of his face.

“What?!” Keith spluttered out, “That price is absurd! I heard from Hunk that you charge someone only £5 every time you search for his cat.”

“Do you want me to find him for you or not?” Pidge shot back without missing a beat. Keith countered with a frightening glare before the two went on to a full argument about the payment.

In the end, Keith only gave Pidge £50 as an advance payment, while promising that the latter would receive the other half of the fee once the job was done.

Despite keeping her face calm and collected, Pidge’s mind was reeling, there was someone else also looking for Shiro and considering the boy’s heritage, this could open several locked doors for her in the upper ranks. Plus, since the boy was ridiculously rich, she might as well exploit him a little; she hasn’t had a decent meal in weeks because of slow business lately.

Mr. Kogane— who later allows Pidge to call him Keith, is the only customer the latter has had where the two have to work together. Pidge always works solo but she really did need Keith’s help to get some questions answered.

While working together, Keith starts suspecting Pidge’s true gender. He was known for being very observant in his surroundings and everything about the way Pidge walked, talked and appeared just screamed ‘female’ to him even though those hints were as subtle as a spec of dust on a table, hidden by the sun’s rays making it almost impossible to figure out if it’s there or not. He even noticed that on a couple of occasions, the newspaper ‘boy’ would stare longingly at the dresses that were held out on display.

A month passed where a lot of strange events took place; Shiro was mysteriously found unconscious around the the river Thames with a strange prosthetic right arm and just about no memories as to what happened or how he ended up there. While Pidge was happy finding Shiro, it hurt knowing that she still couldn’t find anything on her father and brother, nor could she reveal her true identity to him yet. After recovering him, the trio were suddenly caught by royal guards, instead of them demanding any sort of explanation, they simply escorted the three to the royal palace, where none other than Queen Allura herself had asked for their audience. Pidge could barely register the fact that Lance and Hunk were already at the royal court with them, she was still trying to grasp the concept of why she was here. Even Keith was in a daze.

Pidge glanced at Lance for an explanation before Green suddenly came running towards her and rubbed her body against the former’s legs.

A soft giggle escaped the queen’s lips, “So this is the one who you often run off to?” The white haired royal looked at Green while asking the question.

In response, the cat let out a adorable meow before setting herself comfortably on Pidge’s right foot.

So that’s who Lance’s ‘important’ friend was...

It wasn’t horrifying hearing the queen talk about an assassination attempt on her life a few days before, what was truly horrifying was hearing that her missing family were taken prisoners by them for human trafficking. Upon Lance’s recommendation, Queen Allura asked the five attendees to help solve this case; killing two yalmors with one meteorite, that’s what the royal advisor, Coran, added, whatever that meant.

“It’s simple”, Lance gestured with his right hand, “Shiro so far has had the most contact with them, plus since he’s also from the military so that makes him a huge asset.” Said man seemed to stifle slightly but held a firm posture, even though he was in a much worse condition than everyone combined.

“I’m your ticket to just about any and every party and event London has to offer,” Lance boasted before winking at the queen, “I would also like to add that I was an excellent shooter back in my military day, still am,”

His hand gestured towards Hunk, “This fine gentleman not only excels at cooking and engineering but is also a well qualified medic for the field,” the large man blushed at the compliment.

“Mr. Hotshot here,” Lance pointed while closing his hand to a fist and pointing only with his thumb continued, “also has military experience but his connections with the Galra household are extremely valuable,” the nobleman grumble while glaring at Keith.

The black haired boy could only stare at Lance in confusion, he leaned towards Pidge whispering, “... Am I supposed to know him? He seems really mad”.

Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough because Lance heard him, “You and I were in the same rank under Iverson!” He replied exasperatedly, this time pointed his index finger at Kogane, “You and I were always competing with one another!”

“We were?” Keith only arched an eyebrow.

“YES WE WERE— NEVERMIND THAT THEN!” The lanky boy cleared his throat to stop his little tantrum, “moving on. Lastly, we have Pidge, the one any only Way-finder of London. There is nothing he can’t find around these streets!” Lance ended with an excited grin.

Queen Allura stayed silent for a few moments before she asked the groups if they wanted to take up the job. Pidge was the first to accept; her family could finally be found, there is no way she could back down from this.

Before Pidge and the rest of the group were allowed to take the guest rooms of the palace— upon the queen’s insistence— Coran called behind them.

“You all get yourselves well rested nice and tight before starting the day off tomorrow— especially you Shiro”, he spoke, “Meanwhile, I shall make sure the royal servants fetch you some dresses Pidge, can’t have a lovely lady like you solving our case in ragged clothes— Oh! We’ll get some fine clothings for you as well Shiro!”

No one heard the last part; they were all too busy trying to put together ‘dresses’, ‘Pidge’ and ‘lady’ in one sentence. The court room exploded after five seconds.

Shiro was the first to speak after he finally looked at Pidge, “... Wait a minute, Katie?! Is that you?”

“Pidge is a what!?” Even the queen lost her regal demeanour.

“WHA— YOU’RE A GIRL?!” Lance was being Lance.

“Guess your secret’s out, sorry about that Pidge— no Katie? ... What do you want us to call you now that everyone knows you’re a girl?” Hunk’s reaction didn’t help calming the girl’s nerves.

Lance head instantly turned towards Hunk, “Wait, you already knew about it?!”

Keith simply nodded is head, so his assumptions were true.

Pidge could only turn to glare at Coran for his mistake, causing the man to take a step back for fear of facing the girl’s wrath, “I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret!” He said it while holding up his arms.

“PIDGE YOU HAVE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!!!” Pidge sighed at Lance’s overreaction.

It took three whole months for the case to finally be resolved after figuring out who they were dealing with; surprise surprise, the Galra household’s main branch. That involved meddling with the intimidating Zarkon, the insidious Lotor and the terrifying Haggar; all three family member’s plan involved nothing less than world domination.

During that time, Pidge was also able to find her brother and father and returned home promptly after her long goodbyes were settled with Team Voltron— another stranger idea suggested (and ironically accepted among everyone) by Coran.

Life was peaceful again for Pidge, despite receiving a year’s worth of chores as a punishment for what she made her poor mother go through when she ran away.

A couple of days later, a parcel arrives at the Holt’s doorstep and on top of the package are several letters attached to it for Pidge.

By opening the parcel, the young lady was able to find a beautiful green dress with hints of gold on the edges. It was simply the most beautiful piece of clothing Pidge had ever seen. Not even the dresses that the queen had offered her could compare to this one— technically she didn’t dare wearing any of those dresses even after her secret was out, she still had to hide her cover among her contacts.

Pidge next opened the biggest and the most heaviest letter first, inside she was surprised to find £50 that came rolling out so suddenly. The girl stared dumbfounded at the large sum before her attention shifted towards the other letters.

Lance’s letters promised many future visits, some even claimed Queen Allura and Coran might join as well. The queen and her advisor offered her the best wishes for her future; the former even asked if the two could converse like close friends and meet from time to time. Hunk asked her if she was willing to come back to London any time soon, he wanted to show her the latest factory mechanism he was working on as well as some new dishes that made the girl’s mouth water. Shiro wrote about his recovery going well with time but complained immensely about a brilliant but obnoxious scientist, Dr. Slav, who was willing to build him a new prosthetic arm.

Keith’s letter felt more like a telegram,it only seemed to acknowledge Pidge’s fee for completing her job by finding Shiro; nothing more, nothing less.

Pidge was a bit disappointed seeing how despite the partnership, Keith probably didn’t want anything else to do with her.

After a moment she gathered all her letters and put them safely in her chest before she picked up the dress to show it to her family. Suddenly, a secret letter fell off from inside the dress on the floor; it was from Lance. After reading it’s contents, Pidge couldn’t help but smile through a whole week’s worth of chores— she was practically glowing in her mother’s eyes.

It was Keith who asked for Lance’s advice on dresses.

It was Keith who blushed as red as a tomato when he chose and bought the green dress for her.

It was Keith who was now often joked around with for frequently asking everyone else about her well being.

And it was Keith who was ‘secretly’ making plans for a party or two— even though he despised the very idea of social gatherings — so that she and her family could visit London again.

‘... He practically wrote the longest letter out of all of us combined but suddenly turned shy and decided against sending it. Lucky for us Pidge, I managed to get my hands on it!’

Pidge could practically feel his excitement from the letters.

‘Who knew Mullet head could be such a romantic sap; I bid you good luck with him Pidge.

Your partner in justice and fantastic sharpshooter,

Lance

P.S. the cats miss you, especially Green’

[ramniesweet]

Voltron Season 8 Rewrite

Full disclosure: This was inspired by @lotor-and-his-generals rewrite of Season 6. Go give it a read its 100% better than the real Season 6. As the title suggests, this is a complete rewrite of Season 8. Some of the plot points here were inspired by the metas of #TeamPurpleLion (@felixazrael, @voltronisruiningmylife, @leakinghate, @dragonofyang, and @crystal-rebellion), @kcwcommentary commentaries, and @ptw30 regarding Shiro’s character arc. 

This will cover the first 6 episodes of the season (Launch Date to Genesis in case you forgot) Please note, there are a thousand ways to rewrite this egregious finale, this is just my idea (one of many floating in my brain lol) of how I think everything should of gone down. 

Warning: Very, very, very long post ahead because I tend to ramble-write. Especially if it’s a scene I really enjoyed planning.

~A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER IN THIS REWRITE~

1) Lance’s sexuality will be addressed; it’ll be one of the most important arcs he’ll have in this rewrite. I don’t mean to rag on what is canon, but you can’t suddenly thrust two characters into relationship when one of them has been harassing the other for 6 seasons and the other just went through one of the worst breakups in fiction ever. (Also that whole deal of Lance holding the LGBT sign with Shiro, like that had to mean something) Shiro will be one of the key players in his arc because he’s Space Dad and speaking of Space Dad...

2) ADAM. IS. ALIVE. Because if Hunk, Pidge, and Lance’s families were able to stay alive during Sendak’s Invasion, Adam can too! Instead of dying, it’s a fake-out death like Veronica’s. A very long fake-out death. His ship isn’t blasted head on, but one of the wings is severely damaged and he falls dead stick into the dessert. Because MIA doesn’t seem exist in the Galaxy Garrison, they report him as deceased. In this rewrite, he’s actually in one of the concentration camps, the same one Hunk’s family was in. He suffers from a painful leg burn that leads to his leg being amputated and staying on Space Crutches until Team Voltron defeats Sendak and Honerva’s Robeast. He and Shiro were reunited when he arrived at the Garrison Hospital for proper treatment and it was filled with angst, tears, and then a happy mutual understanding between them.

3) Allura’s Altean alchemy is continuously growing throughout this season. She thought that she had exhausted all the lessons she learned from Oriande between the Sincline fight and reviving Shiro. Upon learning this, she along with Sam Holt and the Garrison were able to develop new weapons for the entirety of the Atlas, including a few new MFE Fighters. This culminates in the first episode of this rewrite and going off of that...

5) Lion Swap is undone this season. I thought it made sense when I first watched it but then I realized it was purely done for nostalgia points. I highly recommend you go read @janestrider meta The Wolf, The Atlas, and The Bayard about how Black Paladin Shiro was supposed to come back in Season 7 until the the studios were forced to keep Black Paladin Keith. In reality Black Paladin Keith only lasted for one episode in Season 3, and at least 2 and a half episodes in Season 6. The rest of the time he’s either with the Blade, on his own, or gets the team in deeper trouble. (I still love him tho) So Allura gets the leadership position she deserves, Shiro gets to lead Voltron again, and Keith isn’t as much of a loner anymore!

6) (My thoughts/commentaries will be formatted like this) (I’ll provide some extra commentary throughout the rewrites.) 

7) If you want to read these rewrites individually you can start here: Launch Date - Shadows - The Prisoner’s Dillema - Battle Scars - The Grudge - Genesis

Now, are you ready? Here we go! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 1: Launch Date~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(The image above should change so that Allura is in Shiro’s place, Shiro is in Keith’s place, and Keith is in Allura’s place)

The opening of this episode is relatively the same with Pidge and Bebe watching 80′s!Voltron, Allura and Romelle talking about Luca while she’s resting in the medical wing, and finally Hunk and his family and Lance in the cafeteria. Unlike in the original episode, Lance isn’t creepily obsessive over Allura in this scene when Hunk brings up 80′s!Keith and Allura’s relationship (bleh). Instead, because he also watches the show, laughs and says “They made Keith and Allura’s story of running away from the Castle so romantic. It was Romeo and Juliet but in space!” He laughs again. Suddenly Lance gets uncomfortable and awkwardly coughs, remembering that Allura did fall in love with a half-Galra, just not Keith. Hunk notices this and tries to change the subject to cheer him up.

Hunk: It’s our last day on Earth. Boy, I thought I would never say those words but here we are.

Lance: Yeah, crazy...

Hunk: So, how’re you gonna spend these last 24 hours? Besides getting the proper 7-8 hours of sleep?

Lance (who begins to smile again): Well, my family’s having a huge dinner. Ma and Pa want to savor every minute with Veronica and I. And Nadia and Silvio wanna hear about our adventures one more time even though they hear it every night before bed.

Hunk then suggests that maybe he should ask Allura out. Lance blushes and tries to evade the subject of a date. When questioned by Hunk, he falls back to the same excuse that she’s too busy with Romelle and the Altean pilot. Hunk’s siblings (cousins?) overhear the conversation, deciding that Lance’s lovelife was more interesting then whatever they were playing. They pester and pressure Lance into asking the pretty princess out on a date. Chanting “Ask her! Ask her! Ask her!” until he finally gives in and agrees to just to get them to shut up. They cheer and return to their game. Lance sighs a mushroom cloud.

The Voltron Coalition meeting proceeds as usual but one major change: Allura is the one standing beside Shiro, not Veronica. Princess Allura is the leader of the Voltron Coalition so she should be held in the same position as Shiro if not higher. Everyone in the Coalition still defer to her even though she doesn’t have her crown yet. But because they’re on Earth, she allows Shiro to take charge of the meetings in this episode. Shiro goes through the mandatory “Is the Atlas fully prepared?” questions before he makes his biggest announcement: He will not be commanding the ATLAS during this mission. 

The Garrison and the Coalition are in shock. Iverson asks who would be commanding the ATLAS if not Shiro. Shiro says that it’ll be commanded by Allura. Even she is shocked at the development. Shiro admits that while the crew would be more comfortable with Shiro as the leader, Allura knows more about space then he does. And the Castle crystal being its main power source essentially makes it hers. Hunk then asks where Shiro will go if he’s not in the ATLAS. Keith answers the Black Lion. Team Voltron realizes that meant that Keith would go back to Red and Lance would go back to Blue, undoing the Lion Swap. Lance isn’t as agitated with this Lion (Un) Swap unlike in Season 3. He almost seems relieved that Keith is taking back Red. “Red misses you. A lot.” Is his response. 

Shiro moves aside and allows Allura to step forward. She clears her throat to settle the commotion and asks one of the medics for an update on Luca’s condition. They say that she’s sleeping and expect her to wake up in a few hours. Without missing a beat, she asks Matt, Rolo, and Nyma how many weapons they have in storage, they say they have enough to give everyone on the ATLAS one blaster for protection thanks to her alchemy. Smiling, she then asks Kolivan and Krolia if their mission of restoring the Blade has made progress. They say that while they have recruited a few before their arrival on Earth, they’ll have a better chance once the ATLAS takes flight. She moves her gaze over to Slav, who’s as fidgety as ever, and asks if they’re doing anything wrong. Slav says that there’s a 65.4% chance that something big is going to happen to them in this reality. She asks if it’s something good or something bad. Slav says he can’t make a precise calculation until again, the ATLAS takes flight. This makes the boardroom even more uneasy.

Allura once again tells everyone to settle down, saying that they’re last day on Earth shouldn’t be filled with fear, but with remembrance and happiness. “Spend the day with the ones you love.” As she says that, Shiro’s gaze not-so-subtly slides to Adam, who can’t keep a straight face and blushes. With that, Allura dismisses the meeting. Allura and Romelle exit together, Lance following very, very far behind them. Hunk, irritated, pushes Lance towards Allura. Lance apologizes profusely, Allura reassures him its alright and asks if he needed something. Lance, hesitantly and stuttering, asks Allura if she wanted to have dinner with him and his family. Allura gently rejects the invite, repeating what Lance told Hunk, and that she wants to be there when Luca wakes up. Romelle, not liking how Allura isn’t following her own advice, tells her that she’ll watch over Luca and update her if something happens. Allura thanks her but she still isn’t sure, since they have that sleepover planned with the MFE girls and are going to the mall. Romelle insists that she has fun on her last day on Earth. 

Lance silently watches them go back and forth, he sees Hunk give him a thumbs up. He also notices Keith, Shiro, and Adam (the latter two holding hands) exiting the boardroom. Keith is snorting into his hand at what might’ve been a really bad joke Adam told Shiro. Lance stares blankly, he had never seen Keith’s face twist that way before. He decides he really likes it. He watches the trio disappear around a corner before he’s brought back to the present by Allura calling his name. He hopes no one saw him staring at Keith’s suddenly pretty face.

Lance (blushing): Y-Yeah Allura?

Allura: I said that I can’t join you and your family for dinner.

Lance (hurt by the rejection but doesn’t show it): Really? Is that your final answer? You can still change your mind...

Allura (nods): Yes, that is my final answer. I’m sorry

Lance (he smiles so much that his cheeks hurt): Oh, that’s fine! No harm done! 

Allura (nods again, smiling): That’s wonderful to hear.

Lance tells her he’ll see her later and lets the Altean girls walk past him. He waits until they round the opposite corner before he sighs, disappointed. Hunk pats his back, saying he’s sorry he pushed him into doing that. Lance chuckles, saying that he kinda expected the rejection. He hears snuffling and sees Kosmo watching them, he blinks and teleports. Lance and Hunk shrug it off and walk away.

(HAHA Bait and Switch!) (Biggest change in this episode is that it’s not an Allurance Date Episode, it’s an Adashi Date Episode) 

The shopping scene is too great to remove tho. So, instead of shopping for a date outfit, the MFE girls help the Altean girls buy Earth clothing because it can get kinda boring to wear their Garrison uniforms all the time. Some extra girl-bonding between all of them (minus Pidge cause she’s grounded but she can drop by every few min). Maybe Rizavi can introduce the Altean girls to those soft mall pretzels. (The wait would be a pain tho cause they’d have to do it one at time lmao) 

Allura’s Earth outfit would have a few revisions to it: it would have a fuller skirt (Maybe those full circle swing skirts from the 1950′s) because she’s a princess. Maybe a light blue shawl too. Romelle’s outfit would totally be a modern version of her hot pink dress from 80′s!Voltron. Pidge still gives the Unilu shopkeeper her game. The girls leave and Unilu shopkeeper sees Pidge holding another game. He feels cheated but it’s revealed that Pidge and Rizavi each bought one game for themselves. Pidge’s copy of the game is the one she gave him. Rizavi and Pidge agree to take one player slot and play the game separately, No spoilers, or bust. They shake on it and all head back to the Garrison.

Keith and Kosmo aren’t chilling on the Black Lion, they’re just on one of the Garrison rooftops. Team Dad Shiro and Adam are with him too. Probably cuddling. (What good maybe-boyfriends uwu) Keith isn’t jealous of how easy-going their relationship is. Lance greets them like he did in the original episode. Adam jokes that he looked like he ran a marathon, Lance responds that he probably did. 

Shiro: Coran?

Lance: Coran

The trio nods in understanding. Keith fondly asks what crazy antics he did this time. Lance explains the whole ‘Not a Date, it’s Dinner, Ok it might be a Date’ situation with Allura. Keith congrats Lance although Team Dad notices he’s saying it weirdly. Lance corrects him saying that Allura rejected him.

However, while they were doing something he eventually forgot about Allura accidentally let it slip and Coran started his patriarchal bs we see in the original episode. Lance absolutely noped out of there but said that he would like to learn about Altean vestments another time. Keith and Lance have their Sunset Conversation. Shiro and Adam observe, not wanting to intrude. 

Suddenly, Lance asks how they (Adam and Shiro) realized they liked men. Shiro chuckles and says that it took a while for them both to realize it. They’ve lived different lives. Shiro’s father died during World War III and Adam’s parents were not as accepting of his sexuality as Shiro’s mother. He had to stay with a friend before he got into the Garrison. Adam says it’s normal for someone to deny their sexuality. “But if you think that it’s part of you then embrace it. Because it makes you you.” Adam says, Shiro lays his head on his shoulder. Keith fake gags. Lance remembers that. And then he also remembers what he was doing earlier. He tells the group that Allura needed Shiro and Keith for something. It’s about the Lions and Kosmo teleports all of them there.

Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and Coran are with the Lions. Black, Red, and Blue have their shields up. Allura says that Shiro, Keith, and Lance have to reestablish the bonds with their Lions. For Shiro, that’s pretty easy. All the time in Black’s consciousness did nothing but strengthen their bond even more. He places his human hand on the shield and whispers, “Trust me.” The shield goes down and Black rests its head against his hand, it’s eyes glowing. He smiles. 

Keith clenches his fist, staring up at Red. Lance gently bumps his shoulder, “Where’s Voltron without its right hand Lion?” Everyone laughs lightly at the joke. Keith gives Lance that soft look he always gives him. Lance decides he likes that face on Keith too and hands him back the Red Bayard. Keith approaches the shield. “Red, are you there?” No response.

Keith (sighing): Look, I know you’re mad at me. I left you to lead Voltron when Shiro disappeared. He wanted me to take his place if anything happened to him. He believed in me, he’s always believed in me, and I’m so grateful that he still does. But...I never wanted to lead Voltron. Black and I bonded out of necessity. I learned to open myself to the team when I piloted you. And then I understood the responsibility of holding a position like this when piloting Black. And I now want keep learning about this, this bond that’s beyond myself, with you. 

It takes a few minutes but Red’s shield goes down. Keith smirks, welcoming Red’s attitude again. He looks over to Lance, “Your turn.” Lance stretches his arms, “Ok, here we go.” And approaches the Blue Lion.

Lance: Blue? Heeyyy, girl~ I’ve missed you.

Like Red, Blue doesn’t respond. Lance brushes it off, he hasn’t bonded with Blue in a while it’s alright. He tries again. When Blue still doesn’t respond, he places his hands on his hips. “Do I have to use my particle barrier line on you again?” Still nothing. Lance huffs. “Then what do you want!? I’m sorry! I had to pilot Red! You know that! You were the one that shut me out first remember!?”

Allura: The Blue Lion is the most versatile of the Lions, its attacks cover a wide range on the battlefield and its flexibility is what makes it the most accepting of new Paladins. However that makes them incredibly devoted and sensitive to their Paladins. They must be flexible themselves as well as powerful to steer the Blue Lion on task.

Lance: Flexible and powerful huh? Well, the Blue Lion is a leg of Voltron. So it’s a support Lion right? Not to the same degree as Red’s support to Black but you know what I mean. When I left Blue for Red, I did it because I accepted Keith as the Black Paladin. Keith needed a right hand man the same way Shiro needed him. And then when you became a Paladin...I was willing to step away so that you, Shiro, and Keith could have spots on the team. So...I still have what it takes to pilot Blue! Because everything I did was to keep the Team together! Even if it meant leaving Blue.

Allura: Exactly Lonce!

Blue’s shield goes down, everybody cheers. Pidge says that the ‘6 Paladins, 5 Lions’ situation shouldn’t be a problem. If Shiro’s down Keith can take over, if Keith is down Lance can take over, and Allura can take over for any of them since she’s connected to all of them. Allura agrees and gives the Blue Bayard back to Lance. 

Hunk tries to imagine how crazy the team dynamic would’ve been if he and Pidge were in the Lion Swap too. Pidge jokes that they wouldn’t make it. Everyone laughs. No one notices that the Lions eyes are glowing, communicating with each other.

Dinner at the McClain’s goes smoothly. When Veronica asks Lance about Keith, she calmly watches Lance flip his lid while exchanging smug glances with Ma McClain. Ma McClain shakes her head, smiling. Nadia and Silvio want to hear about how Lance saved Allura during the Omega Shield mission. Lance corrects them and says, “She technically saved me too. It was a double save!” He laughs along with the rest of the McClains. Nadia comments that Allura really is a Princess, she has a crown, a carriage (Blue), and magical powers. She just needs a Prince. Silvio says that Uncle Lance is already her Prince. Lance grows tense, but no one notices. 

The two children ask if Lance really has to leave them so soon. Ma and Pa McClain voice their concerns as well. Lance says that its his duty as the Blue Paladin. The McClain’s are confused cause they remember him piloting Red. Veronica tells them about the Lion (un) Swap. Lance then repeats what Allura told the Paladins about Blue. The McClains are very impressed with Lance’s maturity. Veronica then proposes a toast, to Lance, to the Voltron Lions, to ATLAS, and last but most importantly, family. Everyone joins the toast.

A short montage plays of how Team Voltron is spending their last day. Starting off with the McClain family toast and transitioning Hunk and his family playing Stack-A-Ton (Voltron’s version of Janga lmao). Shay asks if she can join and is actually pretty good at it, Hunk is a proud boyfriend. Pidge and her family are making last preparations on the ATLAS, Beezer wheeling around to give them food and drinks. He then darts away when Bebe tries to jump him. The MFE and Altean girls singing along to a digital speaker in one of their bunkers. And then it ends with biggest change of the episode: dinner at the Shirogane household. 

Shiro is in his room, adjusting his clothing. He goes to move the right sleeve of his button up down, then realizes the rest of his arm is floating. He laughs to himself, watching his loose sleeve flop around as he walks around. “Need help with that?” Shiro turns and finds Adam leaning against the door-frame. “Please.” He says and Adam does the rest the buttons for him. He rolls up the loose sleeve and makes sure it doesn’t move when they realize how close they are. (UST, UST, UST, baby~) They both look like they want to say something but then they hear someone knocking on the door.

Shiro, Adam, and Shiro’s mother, Mizuki Shirogane, welcome Keith and his family. Mizuki embraces Keith like a second child and they are seated. She doesn’t bat an eye when Kolivan and Krolia apply the Galra custom of placing their weapon in front of their plates to an Earth household. (Kolivan is courting Krolia at the end of Season 7, that’s why he’s with them) Mizuki and Krolia get along exceptionally well; being two hard-working single mothers, they bond over many things. Krolia thanks Mizuki for raising Keith alongside Shiro. Mizuki says that it wasn’t easy.

Mizuki: I felt like I was raising two sons when Shiro took Keith under his wing.

Shiro (laughing): Okaa-san!

Mizuki: You knew what you were getting into, Takashi!

Adam: Oh, he definitely did.

Shiro (jokingly pushes him): Hey! Nobody asked you!

They all have a good laugh. Kolivan is slightly miffed that the Shirogane family cat, Marble, has decided his lap was a nice place to roll around, Keith tries not to snort the orange juice out of his nose at the sight. Kosmo eats the table scrapes, cause he’s not a normal wolf and he can eat almost anything. “Dang, that wolf eats more than the MFE’s!” Adam wonders how big he’s going to grow, Keith can’t answer that and (jokingly) realizes he made a mistake bringing him back with him. Kosmo whimpers and Keith offers him his grilled salmon as an apology.

While Adam and Shiro are cleaning the dishes, Mizuki offers their guests some homemade dorayaki in the living room. Keith greedily chomps down on them. Krolia and Kolivan look at the new food strangely, Kosmo. Keith offers one to his mom, “They’re a sweet...bread...sort of. Ms. Shirogane made them all the time for us. She has a secret recipe that makes them extra tasty.” Krolia takes a bite and also chomps them down. She tries to apologize to Mizuki in between bites but she remarks that she’s always cooked for big eaters. “Why do you think Takashi is as big as he is today?” Shiro blushes bright red and flicks bubbles at Adam when he laughs.

The lights in the Shirogane household flicker. Krolia, Kolivan, and Keith are ready for an attack. Marble jumps and scurries to Mizuki. She calms them down and says that its just maintenance in the Plaht city. “They must’ve gotten the city lights to finally work.” Adam gasps and takes Shiro’s hand and they run out of the kitchen. Mizuki and Keith’s family are left wide-eyed, Keith winks at them. Shiro asks where they’re going, Adam shushes him and brings his hands over his eyes. “It’s a surprise~” Shiro laughs, carefree and joyful. Adam suddenly stops and slowly removes his hands. 

“Okay, you can open them now.” Shiro opens his eyes and sees that they’re on the balcony, in the distance Plaht City is engulfed in warm, golden light. He’s in awe, slowly walking to the balcony’s edge to take in the view. “Wow...” (I imagined the Shirogane household to be house that looked over the city)

(And for extra feels listen to either of these tracks: Track 1 or Track 2)

Adam: I know the re-entry caused you some memory loss, but I thought this might bring some of them back. It was always your favorite sight. Even when you stayed at the Garrison.

Shiro: Of course I remember this. Okaa-san always brought me here whenever I had a nightmare, or a bad day, or even on a good day. When I was imprisoned...I did things that I swore I would never do. But, it was Zarkon...for him it was all or nothing. The same with Honerva. When they threw me back into the cells after every battle, this view was one of the things I always thought about. It helped me get through so much pain.

Adam:...What else did you think about?

Shiro: Sunrises and sunsets at the Garrison, Marble, Okaa-san, Keith and...(he turns around, the lights of the city illuminating his white hair) you. The very idea of seeing any of you again.

Adam (Mentally: Baby, you’re my aaaaannnnggellll~ hehehe): Takashi...

Shiro: Adam I---

Adam: I’m sorry.

Shiro: What?

Adam (looks down): I’m sorry, Takashi. I didn’t want our relationship to end like every cliche romcom with a sick character. But it did. I wanted to support you--I did support you. I stood by you throughout our entire lives at the Garrison. But I was just so worried about you. My parents left me a long, long time ago. It took me a while to realize that...that I was alone. I didn’t want you to leave me too. I didn’t want left behind again.

Shiro: (he looks down, recollecting his thoughts) I’m sorry too.

Adam: What? No, T-Takashi. You didn’t do anything wrong---

Shiro: Yes, I did. I-I...The disease that I had, everyone was doubting me. Sanda, Iverson, Keith...you. A small part of me continued with the mission to prove all of you wrong. Another part wanted to take this chance to see the stars. What I thought was my last chance to ever do something this important to me...I know I made you really, really upset. And please know that I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you. But also know that I’m not staying here this time. Not when my family, our family is going up against what might be the biggest threat to the universe.

Adam (nods): I know that. I’ve always known that. You love the stars, Takashi, you would always stare at them, as if waiting for a sign. Now they’re calling out to you and I’ll be right there beside you when you meet them. And after that...if you want...I’ll be beside you wherever you go.

Shiro (soft soft boi): Really? Do you mean that?

Adam (taking his mechanical hand): With all my heart.

Aaaannnddddd they kiss!

Adam: Do you remember what you said to me before you took off all those years ago?

Shiro (chuckles): I said a lot of things that day. It was pretty hectic. Maybe be more specific?

Adam: You said that you had a surprise for me. That you were going to show me after Kerberos.

Shiro (slowly remembers, eyes wide): Wait---did you...?

Adam pulls something out of his pocket. “Your mom gave it to me after you disappeared. She said that it’s the least that she could do to help with the pain.” He opens his hand and reveals a golden ring. Shiro stares at it in awe. He covers his mouth with his hands as Adam gets down on one knee.

Adam: When I said I wanted to be beside you wherever you went...I meant it. Takashi Shirogane...will you do me the honor of being my husband? To be together as we travel to the stars and beyond?

Shiro (eyes shining, a tear falls down his face): What kind of question is that? YES!

Adam puts the ring on his other hand and they kiss again. (Cause they’re gay Dreamworks, go all the way or don’t do it at all) Kosmo teleports in front of them, barking and wagging his tail for attention. They both look at their makeshift audience. Mizuki is smiling through her tears, Krolia has a comforting arm around her, Kolivan does an attempt at a thumbs up. Keith gestures them to look at the camera. They smile and Keith snaps a pic. “That’s definitely a keeper.”

Nothing really new with Luca and Romelle’s argument. I felt that it was a tension driven argument between two misguided people. (Which would have been some serious foreshadowing if Lotor was still alive) Unfortunately, Luca is still killed by Honerva. However, it’s like a sling shot effect and Allura hears a voice calling out to her when she’s alone.

She’s alarmed and, when the MFE girls are sleeping, goes to the medical bay. There she sees Romelle crying and Coran comforting her. She puts two and two together and puts on a steely expression.

The next day, the conversation between Allura and Shiro would have the rest of the Paladins present too. Shiro officially gives Allura command over the ATLAS. Allura asks if he’s really sure about this. Shiro says that he’s sure. The ATLAS belongs to her, she was the one that truly gave it power, not him. Adam stands behind him, hand on his shoulder. Shiro squeezes his hand. He says that his bond with the Black Lion is stronger then ever thanks to her, from the beginning they (Shiro and Black) understood each other in ways that seemed impossible. “We all need to be at our best when we face Honerva. And I’m at my best when I’m a Paladin, not a Commander.” He finishes by saying that he’s ready to lead Voltron again. Allura smiles and deactivates Shiro’s new arm to replace it with something more efficient; the Black Bayard. 

Allura removes her crystal from his arm and puts her tiara back on. Everyone in the room bows before Princess Allura of Altea.

Shiro uses his new-new hand to interlock fingers with Adam. Everyone sees their matching rings, pauses, and looks at the two for confirmation. Shiro nods and everybody cheers. Adam tells them to calm down and presents them with their colored uniforms. Instead of two gold bars, they have three. Allura will have four now that she’s commanding the ATLAS. Lance wonders how mad Griffin will be when he sees them.

Last rewrite of this episode is the grand speech given at the end. Instead of Shiro, Sam, Allura, and Keith, Allura fills Sam’s spot, giving her more speaking time. Again, she’s the leader of the Voltron Coalition and the ATLAS’ commander so she ranks higher. Her part of the speech is her commending the Earth for their strength against the Galra and promising that she and the rest of the Coalition will do everything they can to help them. “You have accepted us with open arms and allowed us to help you recover from this war. Now we will continue the fight in your honor, and for the honor of those who have fallen.” (This is why Allura still wears pink, she now wears it in honor of the humans)

The episode ends with the ATLAS taking off and our heroes posing for dramatic effect (lmao). The screen fades to black and you suddenly hear everybody laugh when Pidge does her cartoon impression again. “I’m descended from a clan of ninjaaaazzzz!” And then the credits roll.

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

Kicking off this final season with a bang! Let’s go! So a lot of things happen. It’s the first episode of the final season, I thought that the writers would’ve hit the ground running because we’re in the home stretch. We don’t need to re-introduce everyone. We have all our players in the places they need to be, this season should make the best use of those places in character development to complete their character arcs.

And this episode should keep the audience engaged so that they’re eager to roll over to the next episode. Undoing the Lion Swap, giving Allura the ATLAS, and the Adashi moments would do just that besides giving our cast of characters more development. I guess I’ll explain my reasons for doing those three things. Besides them being obviously what we need after that horrible ending.

Undoing the Lion Swap: Again, I thought it made sense when I first watched it. But then re-watching it again along with taking in other people’s perspectives on it, I realized that it was just so that JDS and LM could recreate the 80′s!Voltron lineup. Which is fine but it shouldn’t have lasted the entire series. Shiro, Keith, Lance, and Allura were all wonderful characters the way they were. They’re not exactly like their 80′s counterparts. Shiro and Allura are definitely not like their 80′s counterparts. Shiro and Black bonded over a common trauma, Keith allowed himself to accept other people besides Shiro, Lance became better focused on the group instead of channeling his other persona, and Allura was a powerful WOC and commander of the team. 

Everyone and their mother and dog knows that JDS and LM wanted to kill off Shiro but couldn’t because Dreamworks correctly predicted that he would be popular with the audiences. So instead of writing a new story about how Keith didn’t need to be a leader to be a valued member of the team, they pushed their Black Paladin Keith storyline ahead and fridged 2 characters in the process. Undoing the Lion Swap allows Keith and Lance to mature once again and further evolve into their roles as Paladins. 

This primarily shown when they reestablish the bonds with their Lions. Keith is not that great of a leader...controversial opinion but agree-to-disagree. He’s a good leader when a specific situation calls for it but he’s not the leader type. He still has the ability to lead when he continue this rewrite don’t worry lol. Same with Lance, sure he and Red seem to be better suited with Lance desiring to be better than Keith because they’re rivals, but ultimately his closest Lion bond is with Blue. Lance and Red should already have a deep bond by Season 7 but Red doesn’t come for him until the last min so that doesn’t make sense. Also the other Lions not fully respond to their Paladins is foreshadowing~

And giving Allura the ATLAS: Really, the proof is in Season 7. It was her crystal that powered the ATLAS, it was her alchemy that allowed it to transform, it’s white like the Castle of Lions and ATLAS’ mech form is more feminine looking with gigantic hips that don’t lie. Allura’s role as the Blue Paladin let her bond closer with the rest of the team. However, after Season 6, where she used her alchemy to build Sincline, enter/exit the Rift, and revive Shiro, it felt like a demotion. So her being in ATLAS returns her to the position of power she had in Season 1.

For the Adashi moments: we finally have a family for Shiro! Because he didn’t come from and egg JDS and LM! Switching The Date from Allurance to Adashi:

 1) Re-establishes Shiro’s validity as a main character 

2) Adds more depth to Adam West, yes that’s his last name in this rewrite, besides being ‘Shiro’s boyfriend that almost died’

3) Doesn’t make his only close relationship between Black and Keith

This episode should also set the tone for the rest of the season. With the combination of Luca’s sudden death, Honerva’s threat looming over them, the Allurance dinner throwing an overload of negative emotions towards Allura, and a romantic relationship with little to no development until the last minute, the viewers rightfully feel like something is off about this season. At least that’s how I felt when I started watching it. The best example showcasing the tone is at the end: when Shiro officially becomes the Black Paladin again and the Leader Trio (Shiro, Keith, and Allura) give their speeches give it the epic, robot blasting tone they desperately wanted constantly. But when they’re all posing dramatically, they almost break character when Pidge does her 80′s impression. So the tone in this rewrite is like a superhero movie, there’s funny moments, there’s serious moments, there’s romance, there’s falling outs. 

And, yes this is a show primarily geared towards children, but because of how diverse the fanbase is in age, sexuality, race etc. I’ll be sneaking in some more mature themes. And, I mean, the Voltron writers kinda backed themselves into a corner when they made Keith half-Galran and did that poorly written plotline. And then that just escalated when they introduced Lotor and his Generals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 2: Shadows~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first new scene added was just a pure Easter Egg to 80′s!Voltron. When Zarkon and Honerva are discussing baby names, the idea of the baby’s gender comes up. Zarkon and Honerva still have their conversation about combining Lotarius and Koltor’s names to form Lotor. Afterwards, Honerva then asks what their baby’s name should be if it’s a girl, Zarkon warmly suggests another name from Galra mythology: Merla, Koltor’s sister and was just as much a warrior as he was a conqueror. The flashback fades away with Honerva agreeing, smile as radiant as the sun. I would like also put some world-building with Galra culture so during this Zarkon would call Honvera his ‘Empress’ and their unborn child as ‘Kral Mir Tavaar’ (The Spark of the Empire). 

Trying to be as chronologically as possible (at least for this episode cause you can’t really tell between present day and flashbacks until the end >->), because Merla is now (and forever will be!) a Galran name, VLD!Merla needs a new name. From now on VLD!Merla will be referred to as Hira. She might not exactly look like General Hira the way Sven looks like Shiro but they both have pinkish hair and follow a white haired Altean ruler so close enough lol. Also there’s not ‘sister colony’ where Romelle supposedly was. There’s only one colony on Pollux and it’s the one Honerva convinces to join her mission to retrieve Lotor.

Before, Honerva gets to the Colony, she flies to the station where Project Kuron was being built. She closes her eyes and sees Keith’s fight with Kuron, then, through Kuron’s eyes sees that Allura brought Shiro back to life through him. Still no sign of Lotor. She clenches her fists. If the Altean Princess can bring life into her puppets, she’s sadly mistaken. She thought that Project Kuron would be her perfect army. No, she needed an army completely devoted to her. It’s then she thinks about the colony Lotor built. Eyes glowing yellow, she unleashes a wave black magic to destroy the station and every stray clone that floats away. When she’s done, her corrupted Altean marks become cracks on her face, quintessence motes floating out of them. When she touches them, she winces and uses more of her black magic to seal them. On her ship, Kova looks down at his master.

Kova doesn’t die. Nope. Can’t kill the cat. Kova’s not with Honerva actually. Another flashback reveals that Kova willing left her. Honerva is concentrating on finding Lotor, incidentally neglecting Kova. She stops when realizes that Kova’s quintessence is moving away from her, and chases after him. A Galra ship that she recently sent out is carrying him away. Instead of ordering the ship and taking him back, she doesn’t take another second to think about him and goes back to her work. She offered her pet a thousand years of life with quintessence and this is how he repays her? Clearly he’s not loyal pet he once was.

The second new scene will happen shortly after Ven’tar’s planet was destroyed and Lotor is banished from the Empire. After Lotor yells at Haggar, she too leaves him in the room to suffer in silence. As she follows Zarkon down the hall she notices Kova prowling in the shadows, slipping into the room before the doors slide shut. She stares at the door intently but thinks nothing of it as she continues walking. Inside the room, Kova rubs his head against Lotor’s arm, sensing his sorrow. Tears freely fall from his face, his one chance of changing the ways of the Galra gone forever. Lotor wonder’s if that’s how Altea was destroyed, because they refused to surrender to his monster of a father. Suddenly he stops crying and looks directly at the planet, the fire lining up with his pupils, symbolizing a new fire lighting inside him. If Altea never bent the knee to Zarkon, neither would he. He allows Kova to hop onto his shoudler as he stands up, stronger. “We have a mission, Kova.” Kova meows, as if questioning him. Lotor smiles, “Don’t worry, we won’t be alone.”

And instead of sacrificing Kova, Honerva uses the Rift Entity inside her to find Lotor. She discovers the Sincline is still active, eyes glowing, swimming around, like it was a lost child. 

A few days after she sent Luca to Earth to kill Voltron, she tries again. Closing the cracks that formed in her skin, she sees Sincline still swimming in the Rift. She then hears a faint but steady heartbeat from the cockpit. Honerva suddenly has flashbacks of her pregnancy, the heartbeat almost the same but even fainter than the one she’s hearing. It eventually stops. She gasps and falls to her knees. 

Once again, Allura feels it too on the ATLAS bridge. Someone calls out to her again, she looks over her shoulder, terrified but curious,  “It can’t be...”

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

This was probably the shortest and the easiest rewrite out of the 6 episodes (and maybe the whole season’s rewrite). It’s probably because it was the least edited out of the original season. This episode is relatively kept the same with the exception of a name change and a couple of new scenes added in the flashbacks. One thing I felt uncomfortable with in this episode was the attempt at humanizing Zarkon and Honerva. Really? Humanizing them this far into the series was a red flag to me. Come Knights of Light Part 2 through The End is The Beginning and lo’ and behold they rushed their redemption arcs. Zarkon’s redemption arc was like a flip of a switch in one episode and it took Allura mind-raping him! No, no, no, I have something very different in mind for both of these characters. 

I also added a few more scenes in so that the audience would remain torn about Lotor. Is he dead or alive? is the first question. Honerva makes repeated statements that Lotor’s dead but refers to him as the Emperor who pierced the veil aka to discover something beyond death. But Sincline still being active and Allura sensing something on the ATLAS contradicts that statement entirely.

And renaming Merla to Hira. That’s right! That one episode in Season 3 with the morally ambiguous Alteans from the alternate reality was actually foreshadowing the villain’s of the final season. Hole in the Sky was probably my favorite episode in Season 3 because we got these morally ambiguous characters that we’ve previously associated with goodness and hope and everything shiny.

Another change is Honerva’s condition. She might be a Chosen Altean but that doesn’t mean she’s going to use all that black magic and quintessence cartels/supplements for free. Her condition will continue to deteriorate throughout the series as she continues to use her black magic/corrupted alchemy. So, yeah, metaphor for doing drugs don’t do it kids it’s bad for you.

Kova’s scene where he leaves Honerva is supposed to represent how he’s gotten smarter over the years. Living for more then 10,000 years on quintessence can do that to you. He’s fully aware of the toxic relationship he now has with Honerva, how she seems to be using him to recover pieces of her own memory. As he leaves, the new scene after Ven’tar’s planet is destroyed plays out. He’s thinking about Lotor. And how could he not? He practically raised the poor guy alongside the Dayaks. Since Lotor in the flashback was starting to plan the Altean colony and recruit his future half-Galra generals, this now paints him firmly as a good guy. Or is he? Didn’t he drain them in  his second colony? Whose side is he really on? This should be a recurring question until we reach a certain episode.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 3: The Prisoner’s Dilemma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok this is where one of the major plot lines is introduced: Team Voltron atoning for what they did in Season 6. It’s always been on my mind about how Seasons 7-8 could’ve been more dynamic and emotionally charged if it was revealed that some factions of the galaxy blame Voltron for what happened during the time dilation explosion. Because let’s face it: if you throw someone into the Rift to die and said person had already publicly made plans to subdue the main antagonistic force and change it to a force for good...it’s not the best moral decision. They already redeemed themselves in Earth’s eyes but that’s only one planet in the whole universe.

Warlord Lahn’s situation in this episode is a perquisite for their conflict Lotor. (As the #TeamPurpleLion calls it microcosm to macrocosm) His What the Hell, Heroes? talk doesn’t mean anything in the Season 8 we got because we never see our heroes fix their mistakes concerning Lotor. His words ultimately ring hollow because Team Voltron are our heroes right? And heroes NEVER make mistakes right? >-> (This makes me very bitter can you tell?) 

When battling Lahn’s forces, Shiro is (sunglasses) Back in Black (hehehehehehehehe, puns), Allura commands the ATLAS. Thanks to their previous positions as Commander and Paladin, they can better communicate with their respective teams. Shiro’s more focused than ever and Allura calls the strategic shoots like the (boss) leader she is. Same with Keith and Lance. Keith is more understanding and in control with Red and Lance is more straightforward with Blue rather then being a glory-seeker.

Shiro doesn’t ask Lahn to join the Voltron Coalition, Allura does. “Warlord Lahn, if you would do us the honor of joining the Voltron Coalition. We could provide stability to the universe.” When asked if there is an alternative, Allura ponders and says that if Lahn rejects the offer, the Coalition will still provide them with any support they need. Lahn rejects that too. Setting the example for his troops, he won’t accept any help from the likes of Voltron. Not after they caused the Galra Empire to fall apart.

He pounds Team Voltron with an armor-piercing question: “If you really are the Defenders of the Universe, why is the galaxy as afraid of you as much as they worship you?”

Lahn set the example for his troops in the pior scene so they also refuse any medical attention from the ATLAS. Romelle thinks it’s typical Galra behavior and carries on. Colleen is curious and asks why as she passes out blankets. A high-ranking Galra (Let’s call him...Hazar, yay Vehicle Voltron references!) says they won’t accept the help from the traitorous Voltron. She’s confused by this and the Hazar tells her that Voltron promised to help Emperor Lotor provide Quintessence to the Empire. But then one day they Voltron attacked their Emperor in front of the Rift and were never seen again until today. Colleen turns her gaze from Hazar to the Lions, suspicious. She asks Hazar to tell her more, he demands why and she responds that she’s the mother of the Green Paladin, “And I would like to know why my daughter disappeared for 3 years.”

When Lahn lambastes Keith for being a half-breed, Team Voltron is all over him.

Lance: You better back off, buddy!

Shiro: Your views on half-breeds are unimportant and unnecessary.

Hunk: No one talks about our pal like that!

Pidge: Keep in mind that I’m around technology. I can shock you just by plugging two cables together.

Allura: Keith and the Blades of Marmora are one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever met. They sacrificed everything to save the universe. They were the ones who opened my eyes to what true Galra is! 

Because one of the major themes of this show is Found Family and goddammit if a Found Family didn’t defend each other against racists. Lahn sees this protectiveness and asks another armor-piercing question, “Do you truly have the loyalty and faith of your allies? Or are they merely following you to extract revenge on all Galra?” 

Team Voltron can’t answer that question. Adam, Kinkade, and Griffin are troubled. For their war against Sendak, it really was about defeating the Galra. But now...now (At least for Kinkade and Griffin, Adam knows everything since it comes with the package of being Shiro’s SO), they know that this whole situation became much more complex. This is important for the next episode.

Another rewrite is in relation to the title. For an episode called Prisoner’s Dilemma there’s no prisoner present in the episode. I mean you could reach and say it’s the Creature or that it’s Lahn but that’s a very far reach. So, Lahn will be holding a single prisoner on his ship. And that prisoner is (drumroll) Narti. Yeah, don’t murder your blind and deaf Galra General writers. Especially when your audience could have children with those same disabilities. She was captured and brought to Sendak’s service after the Kral Zera, stealing a ship and escaping just before he invaded Earth. Lahn found her and kept her prisoner until Team Voltron and the ATLAS showed up. They found Kova a few days after Sendak’s invasion, he came to her, hopping from ship to ship until he found her again.

Hunk immediately recognizes her as the General that choke held him with her tail. He asks Lahn why she’s being kept here. Narti speaks in a series of growls and hisses, Keith thinks that she’s being hostile to them because some Blades  behaved similarly towards him. Lahn corrects him and says that’s just how her people speak and that he could translate for them. He translates Narti, who switches to Space Sign Language. She reveals that reason why she stays his prisoner is because she still believes Lotor is alive. Team Voltron tries to tell her that she’s wrong, careful to not reveal too many details about what happened before. (Yeah there’s a thing called guilt that exists) Narti argues back that she was the first General Lotor recruited, he believed in her when even her Galra mother didn’t. To the point where he even gave her Kova as an animal familiar to help her see. He never gave up on her, so why should she give up on him?

Kova sees Team Voltron and hisses before crawling up on Narti’s shoulders. They both end up joining Team Voltron and Lahn on the rescue mission, hoping a ride in the Green Lion. Pidge actually finds the swish swish of their tails relaxing. Allura doesn’t accuse Lahn of stealing the weapons because she’s a Commander and commanders don’t blindly accuse people because of their race.

When the teams split up, she goes with Keith and Kosmo, more comfortable with a fellow half-Galra like herself. Similar to the conversation/argument that Lahn has with Allura, Keith denies that he and Narti are anything alike besides their mixed heritage. He can’t be friends, not even allies, with someone like her. Not when she supported someone as sick and twisted as Lotor. Narti signs in confusion, Keith demands that she speaks normally (Because even though he’s the leader, he’s still a bit hotheaded). Narti then penetrates his mind, telepathically saying she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. "You know exactly what I’m talking about.” No, I really don’t... Kova hisses, Kosmo growls. The conversation ends and they refuse to talk to each other. 

When they find the Creature, Kosmo and Keith nyoom! away from it at first. Narti uses her tail to smack debris in its way. They still teleport away but Narti doesn’t grab onto Kosmo. She simply stares at them when they approach her. The Creature is confused, opening its mouth to roar at her. Narti doesn’t react. The Creature leans down to sniff at her, sensing a strange connection between them, Narti reaches a clawed hand to its face. It growls before she starts stroking it, Kova butts his head against it’s tough forehead. The Creature slowly calms down. That is until Kosmo teleports beside her, scaring the Creature into attacking. Kosmo scratches the Creature’s nose and brings her back to Lahn and Team Voltron. Extremely pissed, Narti opens her mouth and reveals her two forked tongues as she hisses. Kosmo tries to swipe at her face too. Kova nearly pounces on him but Narti snares him with her tail.

By the time Kosmo teleported Narti to the cockpit, Team Voltron and Lahn had already formed the plan of turning the ship into a bomb and destroying the Creature. Narti then telepathically invades all their minds, causing all of them to yell in pain. She reprimands them for seeing something unusual and immediately deciding to destroy it. Keith tells her that it’s Ranveig’s creature from the Quantum Abyss and was experimented on by Lotor’s vats of pure Quintessence, it’s a monster who can’t tell friend from foe. Narti says she already knew that. It’s why she’s even more pissed at them. 

She says that the monster is always attacking is because they (Voltron and the Galra) always decide to shoot first. To her, ‘Victory or Death’ applies to both sides. She says that it’s pattern that she noticed with her limited interactions; they lack patience and are hilariously short-sighted.

When she skimmed the Creatures thoughts, she sensed erratic confusion and fear from them. The Creature is tired, they’re hungry, they want to rest. they wants to get off the ship. Their intrusion only added to their stress/anxiety. Even if they appear monstrous, the Creature has their own life to live. Ashamed, Keith repeats again that its his fault, Lance tries to convince him its not, but Narti agrees and he can still atone for it. Lahn snaps and asks what a bunch of half breeds and traitors to the Empire could do to fix this ‘mistake’. “It seems to me that Voltron should be known as the Legendary Failure then the Legendary Defender.” After being a semi-optimistic doormat for so long, Narti finally snaps, “Shut. Your. Quiznak. Or I’ll use my tail to strangle you over the Creatures jaw and let it devour you!” 

Everyone stares at her. Lahn smirks, baring his teeth.

Lahn: You are definitely Galra with that temper.

Narti (flicking her tail): I don’t need you approval to be a true Galra. It’s in my blood and it’s who I am. And I might be the only one who can stop them. I only ask you to be patient with me. Let me subdue them. If you truly are the heroic Paladins you claim to be, then give me this chance. If I’m wrong, then you can set off the bomb.

Everyone agrees with the plan. Keith and Kosmo teleport to where the Creature is. When the Creature seems them he recognizes Kosmo and charges. They teleport away but only a few inches from where they were.  The Creature charges and they teleport again. They continue this pattern until they reach the bridge.

Shiro’s second bayard upgrade is a shield cause he’s totally the Captain America of the group. Lahn is behind Hunk while Narti stays with Pidge. When the Creature is in the center of the room, Keith stands in front of the door and puts his shield up. Everyone is tense. The Creature realizes there is no way of escaping the circle and panics. It roars and thrashes around the bridge. Its extra limbs glow and tries to blast it’s way out of the circle. Lance hesitantly activates his bayard. Narti smacks it with her tail, he squawks indignantly, she reveals her two tongues to him and he shuts up. The magenta pulses of its blast is suddenly subdued by a pale-blue almost white glow. The particles of light seem to distract the Creature, who’s staring at them in curiosity. (Take a guess who did that lol)

Narti floats over Pidge’s shield and reaches a hand towards the Creature again. The Creature fears its a trap and tries to scare her again. Narti strokes its face again. The reason why the Creature is so calm towards her is because Narti was soothing him with her telepathy. To truly defeat a monster, one needs to have the courage to understand. Unlike the other passengers, Narti understands what it’s like to be in a foreign environment where everyone’s against you. She’s felt that way for hundreds of years because of her half-breed status. The Creature is completely calm, but it will only listen to Narti. 

Shiro: I guess that means we’re taking him with us.

Hunk: I wonder if we can teach him to play fetch...

They all jetpack out of the Ranveig’s ship and into the Lions. Pidge feels nervous comparing the Creatures size and mass to her Lions but Narti reassures her that the Creature won’t cause them to slow down. She then notices that the Lion’s are further away then where they stopped them but chalks it up to the lack of gravity. (It wasn’t cause of the gravity Pidge) They make their way back to Planet Ryker. 

Lahn swears his allegiance to the Voltron Coalition. He calls for Narti to step forward, shocking Acxa in the audience. While he is grateful for Team Voltron’s assistance, he wants to honor Narti especially. Like all Galra, he thought that half-breeds did nothing but bring shame upon the Empire. Her patience and abilities as well as Keith accepting that he was at fault allowed him to see them in a new light. He bows before them and says “Vrepit Sa.” Narti and Keith repeat the action. 

Narti catches Acxa calling her name in her head and runs to her. The two half Galra women embrace. Narti tries to tell her what really happened when Lotor struck her but they’re both too overwhelmed by emotions to keep talking. Team Voltron smiles at the sight. There is small scene where Krolia embraces Keith too, Kolivan pats him on the back. The Creature, thanks to Narti, now is slowly starting to open up to the Galra. They offer them fresh food goo that they happily devour. 

Allura welcomes Warlord Lahn to the ATLAS, he offers them any assistance in their search. (Because the Galra are really pushed to the background once Honerva became the main antagonist) Allura points out that those that have been liberated by Voltron are now back under Galran control after the Empire collapsed. Lahn admits that freeing all of them will take a while. 

Shiro doesn’t like where the conversation is going. He voices that really doesn’t want to split up the team. Especially with a threat like Honerva out there. The Paladins don’t want to be separated from Allura either considering what happened before. Unfortunately, it’s a sacrifice they have to make. Allura tells the bridge that she’ll stay with the Paladins, her alchemy might be needed if anyone is injured. They all embrace Coran and Adam and promise to keep communications open as much as possible. 

But...one more night on the ATLAS couldn’t hurt anyone. Allura has yet another dream, this time it’s the dream from the episode Clear Day. Instead of being separate visions from the entity, they’re all combined into one. The vision of Melenor in the juniberry field and where she eventually ashes away is where the dream transitions to Lotor in Sincline saying “Follow me!” and shows Voltron standing with the colony planets. She wakes with a cold sweat. The Space Mice ask her if she’s alright and she smiles tiredly and tells them to go back to sleep. (A soft rendition of Sincline’s theme should play here)

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

Guys, I turned the foreshadowing with Lotor all the up to 3000 in this episode with the monster and Lahn. The half-breed conflict should not only reflect Keith and Narti but the rest of the lady Generals and Lotor as well, further splitting the audience of where his allegiance was. Because there’s no such thing as a bad person or good person when it comes to being biracial. 

Hazar was a character in Vehicle Voltron that served as the main person in power on the villains side, although they weren’t villains cause they were looking for a new planet to colonize. Thematic hmmmmmmm maybe

Narti being alive was something I always secretly wanted. I mean they make some deaths in this series really graphic *cough*LOTOR*cough* but Narti got off pretty light. It only showed Haggar’s vision through her eyes disappear and then cut back to her laying on the floor. If played right, the writers can simply have her be, like in this rewrite, knocked out to come back to at a later time. And she was my favorite out of the Generals sorry not sorry. Her powers were so cool!

With her still kicking ass, Lotor’s goal of preserving life is brought back. It adds more conflict to the audience about Lotor. “He spared her life so that makes him a good person right?” “But he drained hundreds of Alteans remember?” “Oh yeah, but I don’t know about that anymore...” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 4: Battle Scar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We open with Team Voltron in space. Pidge is trying to track a Komar and it leads them to Olkarion. However, it’s completely drained of Quintessence and there’s a Weblum already devouring it. Pidge is horrified at the sight and immediately tries to shoot the Weblum down. Keith and Hunk, using their experience from collecting scultrite, convince her to fall back. The Weblum completely envelops Olkarion and flies away afterwards. Thinking Ryner and the rest of the Olkari are gone, Team Voltron is devastated. They fly closer to Green.

Keith: We’re here for you, Pidge. It’s okay.

(I think it’s very important that Keith is the first to say something. He knows a thing a two from losing someone important to you. Plus, it shows how much he’s matured since being The Loner of the group)

Pidge thanks them for their support. She says that they should continue looking for Honerva. Allura then senses something close by, she calls out to them. There’s no response. She tries to use Blue’s sonic cannon to amplify her call. But...Blue doesn’t respond. Lance jokingly says that Blue prefers him over her now and tries to activate her sonic cannon. No response. The two are confused.

Lance: Is anyone else having trouble with their Lions? Blue’s not responding.

Hunk: I thought I was the only one! Yellow hasn’t responded since we touched down on Planet Ryker.

Keith: Red’s been having technical difficulties but we still get the job done.

Pidge: Same with Green. I have keep manually inputting information that I know is stored in her database.

Shiro’s the only one who doesn’t experience any problems. However, they can’t call further attention to it because a familiar squishy asteroid splashes against Blue. Lance alerts the other Paladins, hopeful. The Paladins remember their first encounter with the Olkarion so they know that the asteroid carries a coded message. Pidge quickly deciphers it and the message is revealed: That the citizens of Olkarion managed to successfully escape the Komar. (pretty sure there were other aliens with them because it was the Coalitions base of operations) and are currently in need of fuel. Hunk and Pidge quickly punch in the coordinates the message carried and discover that they’re not as far away as they initially thought. 

The Lions eventually find the Olkarion ships using cloaking devices and give them an escort back to Planet Ryker. The Olkarion are hesitant to be on the same base occupied by the Galra. Allura does her diplomatic thing and comes up with a compromise between everyone: the Olkarion can use their interfaces to build more shelters for the Galra and the Galra will help with more of the manual labor because of the limited flora. However, she and the other Paladins notice that some of the citizens are acting more colder towards them then Lahn’s forces. Some of them are even glaring at the Lions. One in particular could destroy the Lions with his murderous gaze alone. He’s the same Olkari that King Lubos kept as a servant during Commander Branko’s reign. (uh oh...)

When the Paladins are abruptly called to a boardroom meeting, they bring Ryner with her because she’s the Olkari’s leader. But when they enter the boardroom, they immediately feel the tension. Everyone’s eyes are on them. Commander Iverson tells them to take a seat, Allura asks why the sudden meeting. He says that Commander Hazar has some information that he would like to share with the rest of the council. He’s sitting at the table alongside Lahn.

Hazar tells them that he worked closely with Lotor after he was crowned Emperor. He tells them that Lotor revealed to him his plan, which was offering pure Quintessence to placate the Empire. While it’s not a shock to Team Voltron, it is to the Coalition. Hazar demands why Voltron, after forming an alliance with Lotor and helping him light his fire at the Kral Zera, would betray and potentially murdered him. A murder of an Emperor by an opposing force is considered the most heinous crime. If they really are heroes, why did they do it?

Keith tells the abridged version of the story he told the team in Season 6. Romelle takes over halfway through.

Romelle: You might not believe me because I’m Altean, but understand. You’ve hunted down my people for 10,000 years. (Team Voltron cringes at that) We thought Lotor was better than you but...he was much, much worse. He committed atrocious acts towards my family. My mother, father, brother, friends...they were all destroyed by him.

Lahn: That doesn’t make sense. Did you not say that he saved you?

Romelle: No. He doomed us all. The second colony was draining Alteans of their quintessence.

Second shock to the Coalition. Hazar asks if they have proof of their claim. Romelle says that Keith and Krolia were there with her. Keith confirms this. But Hazar asks if Lotor admitted to draining their quintessence. Romelle doesn’t answer that, only repeating that they saw their bodies in the pods. Lance admits that they didn’t let him talk and cornered him after he and Allura returned from the Rift. Then ashamedly mentions Allura fired the Blue on him when he tried to subdue the conflict. They fought with him in the Rift and had no choice but to leave him there. Then they had to sacrifice the original Castle of Lions to close the rifts in the realities Lotor opened. Pidge guesses that’s when the time dilation probably happened. After they dealt with him, the Voltron Coalition was weakened and Earth was invaded. Allura speaks on behalf of Team Voltron admits that this was their mistake and apologizes to the Coalition for leaving them vulnerable.

However, Romelle refuses to admit that she might be in the wrong. Hazar pokes holes in her accusation; “If you only saw the bodies and Emperor Lotor didn’t say that he drained them, then is he truly guilty?”

Romelle: Yes! We don’t need to hear his side of the story! He would spin lie after lie to save himself! If it weren’t for us, he would’ve drained the rest of my colony! And then drained the rest of us!

Lahn: You don’t know that because you did not subjugate him to a fair trial. While we Galra do believe in ‘Victory or Death’ we also believe that if the choice was death, it must be earned. Either in battle or by trial. You did none of that. You forced the choice of death upon him!

Romelle: It’s what he deserves after destroying so many lives!

Narti signs that Lotor always put preserving life above everything else. When they invaded Puig to draw out the Paladins they only left injuries, never bodies. The same with every planet he conquered. ‘Your accusation doesn’t make sense.’ Romelle demands to know why she’s defending him. Narti says she’s not defending him, she’s doubting her claim. Acxa remains silent throughout the meeting, clenching her fist. Veronica and Keith notice but neither call her out. 

Romelle: Why is this even a discussion? What we do about Lotor doesn’t matter. He’s gone forever. We can all rest easy knowing that another threat to the galaxy has been slain by the hero Voltron.

Allura slams her hands against the table, causing it to dent, her hands softly glowing. Everyone stares at her, concerned at the display of power. “This meeting is adjourned. Everyone leave now.”

Team Voltron is left alone in the boardroom (Probably regretting everything because regret seems to be another thing our heroes don’t have in the series) No one speaks as the rest of them file out. Iverson stares at Allura, Veronica is concerned, Colleen and Sam are heartbroken, Hazar remains blank-faced as he leaves, Ryner is a bit more uneasy. The MFE’s feel awkward, uncomfortable, and bounce. Adam and Shiro have a little moment.

Shiro: Do you still trust me?

Adam: Of course I do...but I think this is something you six have to talk about.

Shiro: Wait for me?

Adam nods and walks out.

Acxa and Narti have a disagreement in the halls concerning the Paladins confession. The revelation of Lotor’s secret weighs heavy on them. Acxa wants to completely move on from her past and cut out Lotor for good, telling her that he’s not the noble prince he claimed to be. She feels betrayed because she had looked up to him. And now that there were things he even kept from them...Narti tells her she’s wrong. She’s read his mind. She knows that everything he’s said to them had been true. Acxa tells her if Lotor lied to them about the colony. Narti admits that he has lied a few times, but it’s so that its existence wouldn’t reach Zarkon and Haggar. 

Acxa: Maybe Lotor knew that you found out. Did you read his mind when he attacked you? Did he really mean to knock you unconscious? Or is this one of the rare occasions he swings and misses?

(Because two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead) Narti is insulted that a close friend would insinuate such a thing and walks away. Acxa realizes her mistake and pulls her back, saying she didn’t mean it. Narti tells her she knows. They rest their foreheads against each other, a Galra gesture of friendship, and go back to their bunker to talk more.

Back to Team Voltron. Lance rubs his face with his hands, “Is anyone gonna say it? Anyone? No one? Okay, guess I’ll do the honors: It’s our fault the universe is this way.”

The Paladins have their typical dispute about who’s fault it really is. Keith blames himself. Just like with Ranvieg’s monster, he was acting impulsively and jumped to conclusions. If he had let Lotor talk instead of just barging in at the Castle of Lions, the conflict would’ve been resolved much more quickly and peacefully. He suddenly realizes that with all his argument against Lahn that he was still Galra, he didn’t give Lotor the same treatment. The only other person he could relate to, another half-Galra. The person he thwarted the Blades plans for, the person he rescued during the Kral Zera, the Empire’s newest hope for peace...he’s gone. He clenches his fists together again. “Quiznak...”

Pidge thinks that Lotor’s still at fault. She’s 15 and she’s been through a lot of things. However, this time, she knows that there must be another side of the story. If they were going off the theory that Lotor was doing something other than draining their quintessence, he still should’ve come clean. This is a call back to the episode in the first season ‘Return of the Gladiator’ when she first accuses Shiro of hurting her brother when she only had a single prisoner recounting his experiences as proof. “This is just like when I accused Shiro of hurting Matt. Except a thousand times worse...”

Lance still blames Lotor, but his perspective changes the longer he thinks. Most would think that the blame is still stemming from his jealousy but it’s more on the fact that Lotor broke Allura’s heart. Even if his own heart was rejected by Allura, he can still care for her when she’s hurt. He thinks about how they all agreed to offer Lotor to Zarkon in exchange for Sam Holt. While he was thinking on instinct, he realizes what a horrible decision that was. He also has an epiphany that he was never Allura’s choice to begin with. If it had been between him and Lotor, Allura would’ve definitely picked Lotor. He feels really, really bad for advocating to leave him in the Rift. “Guys, we really messed up.”

Hunk blames Romelle, to everyone’s shock. When asked why, Hunk explains that to the rest of the team (besides Keith and Krolia), Romelle was a total and complete stranger. They didn’t know anything about her besides that she was Altean. Even if she did claim to know Lotor, they shouldn’t have taken her word so quickly over his. He supports Hazar’s argument, remembering more of his lessons with Dayak at Central Command. “Galra trials and interrogations have always been successful, it’s one of the reasons why the managed to take over as much territory as they did. IF we were gonna accuse him of draining those Alteans. We should have honored Galra tradition brought him there and gave him a fair trial. It’s the least we owed him after we treated him so badly at the Castle.”

Shiro fairly points out that this is a rare occasion where all parties are to blame. Keith only had Romelle to back up his story and even she admitted she didn’t know the entire story. The rest of the Paladins still had the choice to not believe them. It left the team vulnerable, emotional state, which led them to act on instinct instead of taking a step back to see what’s wrong. Keith points out that Shiro had nothing to do with it, it was his clone that present and then attacked them. Shiro says Kuron was being controlled by Honerva, forcing him to do all the things that he did. He says he still has Kuron’s memories and experiences, which is how he learned about Project Kuron. And it also means he saw and heard everything that occurred during their ambush on Lotor. “Look, I’m not mad at any of you. I’m disappointed. In you and in myself. If we had thought of other options besides point your bayards at him, the conflict would’ve gone over much smoother.

Allura’s significantly quiet during the whole thing. She harbor’s the most guilt out of all of them. If she had behaved more rationally, more like a leader, when Romelle accused him, he wouldn’t have been left in the Rift. However, she was so used to being alone. Coran was her only connection to Altea. When Lotor showed up, she refused to even look at him. After he killed Zarkon and ascended to the Galra throne during the Kral Zera, she felt like things might change if someone like him was at the helm. His Altean heritage didn’t matter to her, although it did pique her interest to his possible alchemic abilities. And then during their construction of the Sincline, she fell in love with him. Which is why the betrayal hurt more. Not Lotor’s betrayal. Her betrayal of him. She can’t accept any other story because they’re just excuses for them to feel better. 

Swap over to the hostile Olkarion outside. Some of them are packing their things, some of them are already boarding the Olkarion ships. The most shocking sight is them aiming their plant blasters at everyone else. Ryner runs to them and demands to know what’s going on. The Olkarion that was glaring at the Lions tells her that they’re leaving to find a real home. One that isn’t tainted by the Galra. Ryner says their enemy is not the Galra. The Olkarion (Let’s call him...Luben) retorts that she’s right: the Galra are not their enemy. Voltron is. 

Ryner: What are you saying, Luben!?

La-sai: Voltron gave the galaxy hope 10,000 years ago. And then they disappeared. We suffered, our children were never gifted a galaxy at peace. And when they reemerged we finally had hope again. But then they too abandoned the galaxy. Abandoned us. They led that...abomination to destroy our home. They’re no better than the Galra!

Hazar approaches him, clawed hands up in surrender. He asks La-sai to put his weapon down. Seeing a Galra, he angrily fires his rifle, grazing Hazar’s shoulder and starts spamming shots at him. Lahn tries to shot him unconscious. The rogue Olkari + other aliens start openly firing on Lahn’s troops and the Garrison staff. Some of the Olkarion ships take off. The Galra try to get into their fighters but Lahn tells them to stand down. They can’t waste their resources or risk the lives of citizens. La-sai scoffs. 

Iverson reports hostile activity to the boardroom. Allura asks if its another Komar, Iverson says no and that the hostile activity is coming from the Olkarion. Shiro tells the Paladins to get to their Lions. Iverson says that he has the MFE’s ready to launch. Allura tells him not to do that, explaining that this is Voltron’s problem. "This is our fault. We have to face the consequences or we’ll never fulfill Voltron’s purpose.” She says she’ll meet him at the bridge when she’s ready. 

The Paladins get into their Lions and Black is the first to take off. The other Lions are slower but the eventually catch up. They chase after the ships, but they don’t fire on them because of the citizens on board. And also cause the Lions are not completely following their Paladins. Instead they try to box them in and force them to land. The rogue Olkarions form canons on their ships and fire on the Lion’s. Vines entangle the Lions but they persevere. Red suddenly turns up its body temperature and uses its rail gun to burn them off, scaring the other Paladins. Keith says that wasn’t him. They have no choice but to keep them in the air, preventing as many casualties as they can. The Paladins try to talk the rogue Olkari down while simultaneously trying to get back in rhythm with their Lions. La-sai beats it in their heads that it’s their fault that their people suffered. 

Shiro tries to get the team to form Voltron, but the Lions don’t respond. “Uh, I’m not the only one not feeling that Voltron feeling am I?” Hunk asks. The Lions are no longer responding to their Paladins but they’re still boxing the rogue Olkari ships. They’re functioning on their own now. Hunk then wonders if the Lions are mad at them for what they did to Lotor. Lance dejectedly says that’s probably it. They both barely miss a shot from La-sai’s ship, Blue and Yellow hitting a hard reverse and forcing Hunk and Lance. Red and Green abandon formation, Keith and Pidge shouting at the sudden unnatural actions.

La-sai then breaks the Olkari formation and fires on the Lions separately. They’re overwhelmed. The only Paladin keeping a close bond with their Lion, Shiro is forced to go after Luben alone while the others try close in on the other ships. Luben taunts him.

La-sai: Oh, I remember you, Champion. The Galra Empire’s prized gladiator. I should’ve known you would run back to them.

Shiro (winces at the flashbacks): I’m not their Champion anymore! I’m not Honerva’s toy! I am the Black Paladin of Voltron! I am their leader! And I won’t let you hurt them or anyone else!

La-sai: You think you’re such a noble Paladin. You’re a monster! I saw every gladiator fight broadcast, King Lubos’ always watched them to entertain himself while I was forced to watch you. I saw you slay every opponent you faced. Galra, Balmera, Puigans, even Olkarion! My people! As if we didn’t lose enough to this war! You’re not worthy of commanding Voltron anymore than your friends down there!

The rest of the Paladins interrupts them through the comms while the Lions dodge the plant lasers, trying to defend him. Shiro realizes they’re doing the same thing they did in the boardroom, trying to find some other explanation to feel better. He can’t really fault them cause they’re kids but with things like the entire universe weighing on their decisions, they can’t afford to do that anymore. So instead of supporting them and further ignoring his trauma, Shiro accepts it.

Shiro: You’re right! (the Paladins quiet) I did what I did in those gladiator matches! And not a day goes by that I don’t regret every. single. strike. I’ve hurt people trying to survive. I really did. My team might defend me until their last breath, but it won’t change that I’m guilty. B-But...I know things have changed. I’ve changed. I’ve become a better person. Voltron, the Black Lion, this team...they gave me a chance to redeem myself for everything I’ve done. They became my rock throughout our journey. Even when I died, they held out hope that I would come back. And I would do everything I can to make sure they’re safe. Whatever it takes. Because I love all of them.

La-sai (scoffs): We loved you, the universe loved you. Loved Voltron. We welcomed you with open arms. You fought against the Galra. You were freeing the galaxy, protecting those who were once enslaved. And then you abandoned us! How many planets, how many families, how many lives, were destroyed because of your selfishness!? 

Shiro: How many lives will you destroy today? If you hurt anyone on this base, then you’ll become just like Commander Branko. He hurt thousands of your people just so he could have a weapon to enforce Zarkon’s rule further. If you destroy this base, you destroy our chance at rebuilding a better universe. 

La-sai: Voltron was supposed to rebuild the universe. You were supposed to save us from the Galra! You were supposed to end all of this!

Allura (over the ATLAS’ comms): Voltron is many things, but it cannot destroy the war itself. It is but a beacon, a symbol, powered by an ancient magic. Voltron can fight all the battles it wants to in this war, but it is ultimately the people’s decision to truly end it. Do you remember when we first arrived on your planet? You had all retreated to the woods, calling out for a savior with your asteroids. Voltron might’ve answered the call, but it was yours and Ryner’s decision to finally step out of the shadows and take back what was stolen from you. The Olkari knew when they learned of King Lubos’ betrayal that they deserved better than what he could offer. It was the combined efforts of them and Voltron that set the Olkari free from their chains. That is why the Voltron Coalition was formed. Because we can’t save the universe alone. We need help. We need allies. We need friends who are willing to risk everything to stop Honerva! 

La-sai: Allies? Friends!? You would put your trust in the Galra!? After all they’ve done to you? To your people? I remembered how hostile you were towards the Galra. One might say even hateful. What changed? Did they implant a device in you like they did to the Champion?

The Lions stop moving, the Paladins tense. They know that Allura’s been through more pain from the Galra then any of them. Her planet, her people, her culture lost. She hasn’t been kind to them either. From her xenophobic attitude towards Ulaz and the Blades, to her blatant disregard of Keith when he was revealed to be part Galra, and then when she thought she finally had someone to connect with in Lotor, he supposedly betrayed her. And then after all of that, Sendak invaded Earth, a result of their actions against Lotor. Everyone on the bridge looks at Allura. She closes her eyes, inhales deeply, and speaks.

Allura: I understand your frustration upon learning my new perspectives. I too was aghast that there were Galra fighting against Zarkon. But I was so blinded by my rage, by my loss, that I couldn’t truly appreciate their efforts. Now, after spending many battles fighting by their side...I see them for who they truly are. The Red Paladin, Keith Kogane, is half-Galra and one of my closest friends, who I treasure as my family along with the rest of the Paladins. Kolivan, Krolia, Regris, Thace, Antok, Ulaz, and the Blades of Marmora, they all believed in a better universe. And they took it into their hands to make that a possibility. This war has also taken things from them as well. Homes, families, this war started with the destruction of Planet Daibazaal... Warlord Lahn was once against our cause, but then he saw first hand how we all banded together as one, and he too saw that possibility. I urge you to look past your anger, past your hate, and understand that there are Galra who want this to end as much as you do.

(Damn, Allura just went full Daenerys Targaryen there)

The crowd beneath the Lions are listening to Allura’ speech, understanding why Shiro gave her command of the ATLAS. Some of the rogue Olkarion regain their senses and slowly land. La-sai is disgusted by their supposed betrayal and arms his ship with more plant cannons. He fires on the Lions. Yellow’s armor activates and leaps in front of the blasts. The Olkarion use their interfaces to form shields with the unused ships. Some of the Galra group together to protect the other aliens. Meanwhile, Green tries to fire its plant canon at La-sai’s ship and barely grazes the wing. 

Hearing the words of from the head and heart of Voltron, the Lions open their connection to their Paladins again. Hunk nearly cries with joy. They form Voltron and follow La-sai. He steeply flies up and into the upper atmosphere.

The Paladins continue to chase La-saibut Pidge tells them to stop when she realizes he’s too far gone. They fly back to the base. For the second time, Team Voltron is heartbroken, realizing that even though they have the most powerful weapon in the universe, they can’t save everyone they care about. What hurts more is that La-sai is right. They land and the ATLAS crew is there to provide support. A short time-skip happens after La-sai’s abandonment, nights falls on Planet Ryker. A small bustle of activity happens underneath the ATLAS, the numerous aliens and humans discussing housing arrangements between Lahn’s base and the ATLAS. 

Looking over the courtyard, Team Voltron discusses what happened today with the Lions. Keith says that he can feel the bond between him and Red is slowly starting up. The other Paladins tell similar stories. Shiro hugs and congratulates them for their accomplishment. Allura voices her relief as well and asked what changed. “I guess finally admitting we were wrong helped.” Keith says. His eyes drift over to Romelle, who’s starting to pull away from the activities. Her eyes narrow at Lahn and Hazar going over schematics of their base. Keith looks at her with a worried expression, Lance rests his hand over his shoulder.

Lance is in awe that they’re all working together so seamlessly, directing attention to them. Keith questions his words. Lance clarifies that while the Voltron Coalition was a united front against the Galra, he still noticed some prejudices. “Now...now, they’re working as well as we do.”

Ryner: Loss can bring even the greatest of foes together.

She approaches Team Voltron. Pidge is the first to speak, tears in her eyes, “I’m so, so, so sorry, Ryner. This is all our fault.” Bebe rubs his head against her side.

Ryner: It’s alright, Pidge. This is how life works. Some plants flourish, others wither. Sometimes we’re in control, other times it spirals out of our hands. It’s how we learn and do better. Become better than what we were. We will learn from our mistakes and grow stronger. 

Team Voltron agrees and goes down to help. The episode ends the Galra lighting little lanterns and releasing them into the sky. Keith asks his mother why they’re doing that. “It’s a Galra gesture of peace.To light a lantern means to light a new flame for oneself, to start over with.” Keith gets an idea and convinces the rest of the team to light lanterns too. The Lions look over at the sight, growling softly in approval.

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

Seems the theme of making up for your mistakes is making itself known in the season. Every story has it’s ups and downs. When The Prisoner’s Dilemma was a more positive ending, this episode has a more negative conclusion to contrast and to keep the characters and audience more alert.

This was actually the hardest episode to rewrite, between cutting down the Olkarion plot and inserting a brand new one to fill in the remaining time. While some of the people who worked on Avatar also worked on this show, VLD deals with a lot more mature themes for its young audience. ie. genocide, mass death tolls in Season 4, racism, torture, PTSD, possible metaphors for drug addiction the list could go on. With an episode titled Battle Scars, I wanted to show how the endless cycle of battles from both Voltron and the Galra are affecting the citizens. I tried to make this episode a commentary on the cycle of war.

Naturally, I went for the Olkari. Another thing that bothered me with this episode and with VLD as a whole was this is yet another Pidge centric episode. Not to hate on her, I love my Pidgeon, but I know the executives are extremely biased towards her. So instead on focusing on her sole relationship with the Olkari, I expanded it to the rest of Team Voltron. They’re one of Team Voltron’s closest allies and one of the main players against Zarkon in Season 2. Now, after three-four years of running, with their planet destroyed, and their trust broken a second time, they’ve become disillusioned with Voltron and grow in their hate towards the Galra. They want revenge on their own terms, Luben especially because of his previous imprisonment. This also echos Honerva’s manipulations of the Alteans. 

The title Battle Scars also represents what those scars are to a person. Making them stronger. This is the case with Team Voltron’s apology to the Coalition, the following discussion, and Shiro and Allura’s speeches to Luben. The Galra took everything from her, yet she learned to not fault all of them. She became the leader she is now because she moved on from those scars. She accepts the Blade and Keith as her family now. Shiro has a different lesson, he accepts that he has scars. He’s not proud of them but he accepts the trauma. To truly recover, you have to first admit that it happened to you. Doing so helped his relationship with Adam and strengthened his relationship with the Paladins. 

And this is even more apparent with the Lions, the Lions aren’t mad at the Paladins, they’re mad at themselves. It’s why they still follow their plan of boxing in the rogue Olkari but not connecting to their Paladins. They were created to bring peace to war-torn universe, instead they made it worse. Seeing them learn their lesson from Shiro and Allura helped them regain confidence to form Voltron again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 5: The Grudge~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lahn’s troops are slowly warming up to the ATLAS crew. To the point where they are challenging each other to friendly competitions in the gym. Iverson is currently competing in a push up contest with Hazar’s sister, Dorma (More Vehicle Voltron!). Adam and Curtis are keeping score. Veronica was cheering for Iverson but switches sides when she sees Dorma pull some cool moves. It ends with Iverson tapping out and lying on the mat, exhausted. Dorma commends him on his stamina before walking away to join some other Galra. Some Olkarion are in the gym too, dissecting the gym equipment and wondering what they could do to make them more effective.

The conversation about pets still happens with the addition of Adam. Adam admits that he never had any pets before, the closest thing was Marble. He says that that wasn’t really her name but Shiro always called her that because she was a calico and her coat reminded him of the marble pillars in New Kyoto and it sort of stuck. Curtis and Veronica awe over the story. 

Curtis sees Acxa alone doing the same sick push ups Dorma did and in an attempt to know her better asks if she had any pets. Acxa instead explains Narti’s bond with Kova in the typical intense Galra fashion, scaring Curtis. Somewhere in the gym the Garrison Quartet hear someone growling, agreeing with Acxa. Turns out it’s Narti, hanging from the ceiling by her tail. She lands in the middle of the pseudo-circle they’ve formed, her tail swishing around, Kova on her shoulder. She tucks it away after accidentally knocking Iverson down. 

“Keep that tail of yours under control!” Narti does the Galra salute as an apology. Kova hisses. She signs (Acxa translating) that she was grateful that Lotor gave her Kova. Kova has been there for him since childhood and yet he decided that she needed it more than him. Kova purrs as Narti scratches his ears.

Veronica asks if this is the same Emperor Lotor that attacked her. Narti says that he really didn’t. Before she could clarify, Coran calls everyone to the bridge to receive the Paladin’s latest transmission.

The Paladin’s say that they have a possible lead on Honerva and they’re going to check it out. (The decoy messages are still kept but our ATLAS crew is smarter in this rewrite lol)

The lunch conversation is kept the same with the addition of Narti + Kova. Kova hisses at the MFE’s when there isn’t a seat for Narti. She assures him that its fine and props herself on her tail. When Leifsdottir points out that it’s their Galra lineage makes everyone’s uncomfortable, Kova hisses again. Narti then signs that it’s not their lineage but everyone’s reaction to it that makes everyone uncomfortable. Acxa further explains that their status wasn’t...appreciated by the rest of the Empire.

Narti (snarkily signing): I don’t think we’re appreciated at this table either

Acxa: You’re right, Narti. We’ll take our leave now.

They do and the MFE’s look down in embarrassment. Veronica rightly scolds them and goes to find them.

Team Voltron recognizes that they’ve been tricked when Pidge points out the low oxygen levels. Shiro immediately tells them to get airborne. Hunk catches a glimpse of the hologram ATLAS and yells that they’re close. Unfortunately, the Lions still get caught in the ships traction beam. 

Pidge doesn’t tell Hunk to shut up because they’re all friends and friends don’t let things like single-modulation piss them off that badly. (Bex’s line delivery in this scene bothered me. It sounded less jokey and more ‘shut the fuck up’) When she tells them they need to remove their armor and bayards to prevent being detected, everyone points out that Shiro needs his bayard. It’s his literal right arm. Pidge realizes her mistake but can’t find another way with the time they have. Hunk proposes the idea that maybe Allura can use her alchemy to hide them. Allura says she can’t do that.

Allura: Altean alchemy connects us to living beings, as you can see, this planet does not hold any life. If I use my alchemy to hide us, it will restore the life of the planet and reveal our location.

Shiro says he’ll just have to last long enough to get his bayard back. He removes it and places it on the pile, fully preventing any detection and capture from the pirates. “Your safety is more important than my arm.”

Acxa and Veronica’s talk is same because its perfect.

Narti bonds with the MFE pilots when she notices them playing a card game in one of the recreational rooms. They might not fully understand Space Sign Language, but they know what she means when she points to the cards and then to herself. Kova doesn’t hiss but he moves away when the MFE’s try to pet him. Narti writes on a spare tablet that it’s normal for him. While they do have a familiar connection, Kova still acts out on his own, her emotions don’t dictate his actions and vice versa. 

Griffin asks if it’s true she can read minds. ‘Yes it’s true.’ Her voice echos in there heads. Her people are well-developed telepaths, it’s what made them such formidable opponents. They can prevent nearly any disaster just by skimming their thoughts. As eveident with Throk, she can also control someone for a short period of time. At the MFE’s horrified expressions, she chitters and says she won’t do that to any of them.

Narti: Although, I can’t promise not peeking at your cards...

Griffin: Oh, it’s on!

Swap back to Team Voltron and, oh yeah, Allura can still find the Lions. But because they left their armor and bayards, they can’t successfully break in or out of the ship that’s carrying them. They’re bombarded by lasers and they’re separated into pairs. Shiro and Lance, Keith and Hunk, Pidge and Allura.

Meanwhile on the bridge, Ryner manages to fully decipher the decoy messages and deduces that the person producing them is an Olkarion, correctly guessing that it’s La-sai. She takes a few seconds to pinpoint the location of the real Paladins. Coran tells Lahn to gather his troops, Lahn’s way ahead of him.

Switch back to the pairs. Lance talks about his feelings, Shiro understands and starts to suspect something. Lance says that he thought that Allura really did like him back during Sendak’s invasion. He doesn’t just feel insecure, he feels like he’s unworthy of the positions he’s held. He’s the youngest in his family, he feels like has to stand out to some people. But lately, he feels less and less comfortable slipping into ‘Loverboy Lance’. He doesn’t want to put up the act of being a ladies man anymore. Not after being rejected by Allura as both his loverboy persona (constantly) and his genuine nice guy persona back on Earth. Shiro comforts him like the amazing Space Dad he is. “You are Lance McClain, the Blue Paladin, once the right hand of Voltron. You’re our sharpshooter. Don’t think for a second you’re not worthy of a spot on this team.” 

Lance: I knew that name would catch on. 

Shiro: You insisted you were one. And look at you now.

They smile. When the pirates come for them, Shiro gets caught first. Lance uses his physicality to hide in a tree trunk. He takes down a pirate and uses the vacant rifle to free Shiro. When charging head-first backfires on Lance, Shiro uses his left arm to dive for the pirates legs and knocks him off his feet.

Hunk tells Keith that it might be too late but he’s really sorry for what he said during the Weblum mission (since he never does...). He didn’t know how to cope with everything happening to them and kinda took it out on Keith when his heritage was revealed. Keith thanks Hunk for his words and they hug. Keith hugging Hunk freely shows that Keith can open up to more than just his immediate family. It’s also a sweet reprise of Hunk hugging Keith. (I really liked their little bonding moment hehe in Season 7 and I wanted to showcase that a bit more) He tells him that they’ve really come a long way since driving his hoverbike away from the Garrison. “Yeah, and now we’re saving the universe with them!” They’re surrounded by pirates, Hunk hurls rocks at them and tackles them when they’re distracted. Keith uses his Galra strength + a fighting maneuver Kolivan taught him to take down a particularly big pirate. 

Hunk: Dude! That was amazing! You gotta teach me some of those moves!

Keith: Only if you teach me how to play Stack-A-Ton!

Hunk: Deal!

Yay! More girl bonding! Allura tells Pidge about the voice she heard at the Garrison. Pidge says that it’s normal for people to think they’re hearing someone after life-threatening events. She asks if she can identify who was speaking, saying that it might help the voice disappear. Allura says she has a good idea but she doesn’t want to tell them yet. Not until she’s absolutely sure. Pidge says its okay and to take all the time she needs. They take down the pirates using Allura’s shape-shifting and Pidge’s craftiness. Allura changing herself to a bigger size and Pidge using their superior weight and height against them. “I love being small!” 

The ATLAS shows up. Everyone cheers. “CORAN RESCUE!”

On arrival, Lahn’s forces take down the Space Pirates with ease, taking down the ships and freeing the Lions. The Lions find the 2 out of the three 3 pairs so they can put their armor back on. Allura carries Hunk and Keith’s bayards. Yellow opens its mouth and briefly allows Allura to pilot.

When they bring La-sai to the ATLAS, he hurriedly tells that their leader wants to destroy Voltron Paladin by Paladin. When Adam asks why, La-sai says that their leader had a ‘score to settle with them’. He thought that they carried the same vendetta he did, to take revenge on those who wronged them. That’s why he gave them information about the ATLAS. But he didn’t realize that the leader wanted to destroy them for good. Acxa immediately knows who the leaders are. Narti telepathically asks her if she’s sure. Acxa says she’s sure and she asks for her help to subdue them. Adam tells them that the need to move quickly if they want to do that, and also calls dibs piloting an MFE Athena Fighter. 

Everyone hears the Red Lion roar louder then ever before. “That can’t be good!” Lance shouts in the Blue Lion. Panic is evident on his face, but he knows that Keith and Hunk will hold out until they provide backup.

Our trio at the Garrison follows the Red Lion to the volcano where Ezor and Keith are fighting. Zethrid and Hunk are duking it out nearby. Allura calls out his name and chucks the Yellow Bayard at him. He catches it and starts firing on Zethrid. But Zethrid’s a tank, so those lasers do jack squat on her. She pins Hunk to the ground, his deactivated bayard the only thing between her foot and his chest. “Looks like you’re finished, Yellow Paladin.” She snarls. Hunk then remembers how his family was trapped by the Galra during Sendak’s invasion and how desperately he wanted to save them. He sees the Paladins, the ATLAS, and the Lions standing over him, his own crazy family he formed over the years.

He roars, “NO. I’M. NOT!” He gains a second heroic wind and his bayard transforms into a gigantic battle ax. Zethrid is startled and jumps back before Hunk can cut her face into green slices. 

She sees Keith slowly getting the upper hand on Ezor and bull-charges at him. Keith has Krolia’s blade and Red Bayard (Allura threw it to him during the second wind) to deflect their blows. Lance wants to use Blue’s freeze ray on them but Pidge points out that the tremors of the blast might cause the three of them to fall into the lava. In fact, the structure that they’re fighting on is too delicate for the Lions to land on. They’re stuck. Lance feels Red at the back of his mind, growing angrier. “Red, please...” Keith manages to hold the two half Galra back but Ezor kicks his feet and knocks the two weapons out of his hands. Zethrid pulls out a blaster and places it near his head, a ginormous arm around his throat.

Adam goes to immediately shoot them down but Shiro tells him to wait. Acxa and Narti reveal themselves to the couple. Zethrid and Ezor shocked that Narti’s still alive. Acxa tries to talk them down from hurting Keith. “Why?” Ezor snarls, “Because you’re in love with him?” Acxa finally tells them that no, she’s not in love with Keith. Over there battles, she came to respect him as an equal, in the battlefield as well as a half-Galra. She tells them that Keith never lost faith in her. And she’s extending that same unwavering faith to them.

Acxa: Hear my words. Remember how we first met. We were all so full of hate and rage, half-breeds rejected by the Galra.

Zethrid: Lotor used us! Used our anger to fulfill his own needs!

Ezor: He only cared about having power! Quintessence this and quintessence that!

Narti (signing and telepathically): NO! He cared about changing the Galra ways. No more conquering. No more needless violence.

Zethrid: Needless violence!? Didn’t Lotor cut you down?

Narti: No, he saved me. 

Ezor: Huh?

Narti: The witch was controlling me. I couldn’t fight back. When she saw Lotor had the trans-reality comet, she and Zarkon ordered the attack on us. Lotor knocked me out to release me from her control. He was going to come back for me after he defeated Haggar!

Zethrid: But...Lotor’s gone! (She places the gun closer to Keith’s head) They told us that. Lotor’s gone and we can’t get him back!

Narti: Maybe, but don’t make the same mistakes he did. Don’t turn to your anger.

Acxa: You’re not angry at Keith because he hurt you and Ezor...you’re hurting him because he reminds you of him. And it hurts to think about him. To think about Lotor.

(Seriously no one brings up any of their similarities in the series...) (I refuse to acknowledge JDS and LM’s comparisons of Lotor and Keith)

Zethrid and Ezor deny it. But as Narti approaches them, Ezor slowly breaks. She admits even though she hates Lotor after what happened at the Rift, she still misses him. As a leader and as her friend. And she hates it. She thought they might get closure once Voltron returned but with Lotor dead, they couldn’t get that. 

Keith starts to black out, Red roars in agitation, its rail gun forming, amplified by the volcano. The rest of the Paladins try to subdue it but it fires, stunning Zethrid and grazing her shoulder. The three of them hold on as the cliff collapses beneath them. “KEITH NO!”  Lance yells, the other Paladins horrified. They almost fall into the lava but Acxa and Narti grab on to them. Red quickly realizes what it’s done and dives into the lava underneath the rocks. Everything’s quiet. No one moves. 

Then Red slowly rises and props the rest of the cliff up so they can get to safety. The lady Generals all embrace, finally getting emotionally support they needed. Allura gently orders them to be detained. Keith is unconscious, Red butts its head against his side, wanting him to wake up. Lance jets out of Blue to prop Keith up for the stretcher.

We next see Keith lying awake on the hospital bed, a nurse checking his vitals. The doctor gently asks if he can speak. “B-B-B-” He coughs into his bandaged fist. “B-Ba-arely-y...” The doctor takes a few notes and puts a tray of rations in front of him, “Eat these before you take the painkillers. It’ll drown out the taste.” Keith thanks the doctor and slowly starts to chew on a ration. He looks down at the ration, surprised that it tastes as good as it does.

While Keith eating his rations, Lance paces outside of his room with Shiro. Krolia and Kolivan are scolding Acxa and Narti like the protective parents they are. Shiro blankly tells him he’s not helping. Lance says he knows but he still has a right to worry about Keith. Shiro agrees but admits that’s he’s never seen Lance so worried about someone. Not even for Allura. Lance confesses that when he saw Keith in Zethrid’s, grasp he was completely willing to kill her. He remembers when they were trapped on their ship and that Keith left him in charge of the team while he fought Zethrid and Ezor. Then, Shiro begins to recount how many times Keith threw his life away for the sake of the mission and how worried Lance always becomes when he does. He also tells Lance that when he and Veronica were knocked out on Earth, Keith comm calls were the loudest.

Lance doesn’t know how to feel about Keith now. He thinks that there might be something for Keith but he doesn’t believe Keith likes him back. He feels like he’s just starting to know the real Keith. Not Lone Wolf Keith he forced a rivalry on (Foreshadowing~). The Keith that knows who he is: “He’s half-Galra with a sword that can double in size, a teleporting cosmic wolf, who’s such a good pilot he can pilot two Lions, and who has my back like I have his.” He doesn’t want to ruin any that. And he’s still getting over Allura, and he knows from experience that no one wants to be a rebound. Shiro says it’s all on him and he’ll always be there lend an ear to listen to his struggles. Lance says that he always lent an ear during their missions. That’s why he’s such a dad, Lance laughs. Shiro hopes that name doesn’t stick.

Allura shows up the same time a nurse exits Keith’s room. Allura asks about Keith’s condition. The nurse says that he might have a sore throat for a few days but his mixed blood should speed up the healing process. “He’s healthy enough to see visitors.” The three Paladins sigh in relief. Shiro says that they should call the rest of their family to see him. Allura agrees but Lance rests his hand on her shoulder, out of breath, “Man, who knew pacing around the same spot a bazillion times would be so tiring?” They all laugh lightly.

The last shot of the episode is the lady Generals and La-sai in a cell together. Narti is teaching them the card game she and the MFE’s played. Kova rolls around the prison floor, finally at ease with the company around him. 

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

Oh, hey look! More people blaming Team Voltron! This time it’s the Space Pirates. A lot of things have been rewritten in this episode. Namely, Ezor’s role. Ezor didn’t die or abandon Zethrid in this rewrite, she only lost her eye in the explosion. Because she’s still alive and kicking ass, Zethrid has no motive to take down Keith personally. 

And, yeah, we’ve have 2 canon LGBT couples in this season now. Cause apparently Dreamworks can’t afford two. Lady Generals have been reunited yay! Even tho Zethrid and Ezor were brought back to Acxa in the original season, they too had poorly timed redemption arcs. They only appear in two episodes and then are revealed to be Blades during the tacked-on epilogue slideshow. Nope, they’re getting even more screen-time after this. And hopefully I do both of them justice!  

Also more Klance development yay! And also more foreshadowing when Keith fights Ezor. Every lady General is a parallel to one of the Paladins. Three guesses as to which Paladin Ezor parallels. 

Also, with Red finally diving into a volcano, we officially checked off all the Lions for being in their respective elements and getting a power boost. Blue’s happens in The Depths when it’s revealed it can still move underwater, Green’s happens in Greening the Cub with its plant gun, Yellow’s happens in The Ark of Taujeer with the ground crumbling beneath them, and Black’s happens in Blackout with its second pair of wings/teleportation powers. Coincidentally all those happened in Season 2...

Speaking of, Lance and Allura are slowly evolving into a true BROTP and not a one-sided creepy crush.Thanks to Shiro and Adam helping Lance wade his way into the LGBT Pool, Lance can healthy express his feelings and can see the line between 'Just Friends’ and ‘Something More’. There’s a short time-skip between The Grudge and Genesis so assume that Lance visited Keith more than the rest of the group.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Episode 6: Genesis~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final episode in this rewrite and oh man, is this one a game changer! Strap in palda-dudes it’s going down!

Some major rewrites of this episode are about the White Lion. The first is that it’s essentially backed into a corner. Since it only allows Chosen Alteans to pass through, Honerva abused her status as one to force her army passage and to use its home as their base of operations. It disapproves of everything Honerva is doing. However, it can’t fight back. When it does Honerva uses her black magic/Altean alchemy and some of the Olkarion Cubes to drain its quintessence. 

Which brings us to the second rewrite concerning the White Lion; it’s the most powerful of all the Lions period. It’s the equivalent to the Phoenix Force...but, you know, a white lion and not a flaming bird lol. While I appreciate the high stakes its death would continue to establish, it also means another part of Altea is lost to Allura, Honerva, and the other Alteans. I like to think that the White Lion is another Life Giver ascended into another form, one to actually watch over Oriande and give the final test to the Chosen Alteans. Now that Honerva’s plan is in motion, she’s continuously draining the White Lion. The white hole progressively becomes more unstable as she does, which allows the Komars to pass through no problem.

Okay, so the first rewrite of this episode is that, again, Allura is the one in charge of the meeting. She’s dealt with Honerva first hand so all the information concerning the search for her is given to her first. They’re the same reports as in the original episode: four Komars have landed on four different planets and are planning to drain its quintessence to power a machine that could destroy the galaxy. Allura says that the predicted paths of the quintessence surges all lead to one place: Oriande. When asked by Adam what Oriande is, she simply says it’s the genesis of Altean alchemy and that only Chosen Alteans can enter. Coran insists that Honerva must be a Chosen Altean if she can get into Oriande. Allura darkly agrees and they proceed with the plan as the original episode does. Allura gives command of the bridge to Coran as she once again rides the Blue Lion with Lance.

Allura: The universe is facing the gravest threat it has ever seen. Honerva has exploited a vulnerable people, my people, and bent them to her will. She convinced them to pilot her abominations and commit heinous acts. And now she has built a weapon that can destroy an entire galaxy. Today, we risk our lives for the greater good. We are the only thing that can stop her and defend the universe. It is time to end this war.

(Yes, I put Allura’s speech here because I love Kimberly Brooks’ delivery so much)

When our heroes approach the white hole and the Komars fly out to take them down, the White Lion roars and tries to blast them out of the way, but then it flickers before roaring again. It’s more strangled because Honerva continues to drain more of its Quintessence, effectively stopping its attack. Allura’s Altean marks glow and she panics when she sees the White Lion disappear. Team Voltron jets out of the ATLAS (Adam tells them to kick that witches head straight) and heads into the white hole. The White Lion reappears and although it’s weak, it recognizes Allura as a Chosen Altean and allows Voltron to pass. (Lance or Hunk could remark how now it finally lets them through to lighten the mood) 

With the quintessence of the White Lion amplifying her magic, Honerva uses the teleduv to break into the Rift and retrieve Lotor. The visage of the White Lion flickers in pain again. Hira and her partner (Let’s call him...Raimon. WHOO Go Lion reference!) use their Komar’s to “defend their goddess” from Voltron. This fight happens a little differently. While the original episode had Voltron simply engaging in a typical mech fight with them, this time since Allura’s backseat (not really) piloting, she will occasionally tap into the power of one Lion to use its signature powers and upgrades to attack. 

This allows Team Voltron to regroup and think of strategies while also slowing down the Komars. The Blue Lion uses its attacks first cause Allura’s in it. First it uses its Freeze Ray to stop them in their tracks. Then it uses it’s Sonic Canon (which forms in its mouth since it’s a leg) to stun them. Yellow uses its armor for extra weight in kicks and to stabilize the formation when they’re knocked around. Green uses its plant gun to tie down the Komar. Red uses its rail gun to blind the pilots. Black uses its teleporting powers to better perform attack combos.

Meanwhile on the ATLAS, Zethrid, Ezor, and La-sai decide to break out and help. Narti overhears this in her head, opens their cell, and leads them to the bridge. Iverson, Veronica, and the rest of the crew have their blasters pointed at them. La-sai desperately pleads for forgiveness, he was just so angry, he didn’t know who to turn to. Iverson tells them to get back to their cells or they’ll fire. However, Ryner says they need as much Olkarian as they can to support the ATLAS. Allura agrees through the comms and cautiously allows La-sai to help the Olkarion boost their defenses and gives all the lady Generals access to the MFE Athena Fighters. Adam volunteers to fly too cause he’s a badass. Zethrid ends up saving Rizavi from the Komars chest beam. During the rest of the battle, the MFE pilots (and Adam) are in awe at the lady Generals reaction time and shot accuracy. Griffin even asks them to show him a couple tricks. Ezor flirtatiously says only if he shows them his own. Zethrid growls playfully at her girlfriend while firing at the Komars. Narti’s tail swishes comfortably in the cockpit while Acxa calls out battle formations with ease.

A brand new scene in this rewrite will take place in the Rift. The Sincline is still swimming around the quintessence, it swims from one spot to another. Thanks to the 3-4 years in the Rift it’s now hyper-aware and has developed new abilities. It received a signal in the form of Honerva’s attempt to open the Rift. It’s now trying to find where specifically its coming from so it could escape. Its hand twitches, unused to the feeling before it clenches into a fist. It moves forward and senses the signal is coming from Oriande. It could practically see it, and it also sees the White Lion suffering. Sincline puts maximum power on the thrusters and surges forward.

Now, back at the ATLAS, we’re with Slav and Sam this time, right after the time spillage. As Slav yells at Sam to take off his socks, another massive wave of energy comes from the white hole and knocks everybody over again. Slav massively panics and does more calculations. Sam asks why now he’s panicking.

Slav: BECAUSE THIS IS IT!

Sam: What’s it?

Slav (pressing buttons as fast as he can with his multiple arms): Remember I said something big was going to happen to us when the ATLAS took flight!?

Sam: Wait, that’s happening now!?

Slav: YeS ItS HaPpEnInG NoW! AcCoRdInG tO My CaLcUlAtIOsS tHeReS A 99.6% ChAnCE ThAT WhAtEvER ThIs iS, It WiLl ChAnGE EVeRyThInG!

Sam asks what they can do to lower those odds. Slav still insists that he needs to take off his socks. Sam finally relents but says he’ll do it after they restart the ATLAS’ functions. Slav shouts it’ll do for the time being.

Back at Oriande, Honerva screams in determination, sucking even more Quintessence out of the White Lion. Her corruption marks crack open again. The White Lion roars again, Allura tells the rest of the team to ignore the Komar’s and just charge at Honerva head on. She then uses her magic to amplify Voltron’s quintessence, the blue lines of her alchemy outlining each of the lions. They have a clear shot but before they can fire, the two Komar’s slam themselves against the Red and Green Lions, stopping them in their tracks. Allura closes her eyes and the two Lions roar, blasting the two Komar’s with their respective elements (Fire and Nature). “We have to attack now!” She screams.

It’s too late. Sincline emerges from the hole Honerva ripped through the space-time-reality thing (???) (#Voltron Science I guess). Honerva falls in exhaustion, stopping the drainage from the White Lion, who also falls on its paws. Sincline is launched into the air and slams into Voltron. Team Voltron screams, the two mechs tumbling freely. Hira and Raimon are ecstatic: their savior is alive, and he’s going to help them defeat Voltron once and for all! “Lotor! He has returned!” “Our goddess has done it!”

Cut back to Team Voltron, recovering from the blow and are in shock at the sight. The Sincline was back, and that meant Lotor was back. Allura feels his return and the glow in her Altean marks grow brighter, baffled by the connection she still has with him and his ship. She ignores it. Right now they have to stop him. Lance asks Shiro what they should do. 

Shiro: Stopping Lotor is our priority right now! Form swords!

Pidge and Keith use their bayards to form Voltron’s swords, rippling with more Altean magic. They charge at Sincline. Sincline looks up and on instinct, forms its own swords and charges at Voltron. They clash for a good while. Voltron occasionally gains the upper hand thanks to the individual lions powers. But Sincline evens out the odds with the enormous amounts of quintessence it’s collected from the Rift. It strikes with extreme brutality, the quintessence increasing the force of impact. The opposing mech can even manipulate that same quintessence, throwing blasts of pure energy at them. “What the quiznak!?” Oriande’s landscape starts glowing blue and purple. Eventually, Sincline strikes hard enough for Voltron to split into the five Lions like in the original episode. They all fall and form massive crates, dazed and exhausted from the previous fights.

But before Sincline can strike any of them down, something changes. Not only does it pull back from attacking, it disengages its swords. It stands there like its waiting for something. Hira and Raimon are heard cheering again, flanking Sincline’s sides. Lotor defeated Voltron! 

They’re brought to attention when Honerva stands and raises a hand towards the three ships. She praises her children for their service and asks for them to bring Lotor to her, for she desires to embrace him as a mother should. Hira and Raimon happily (and blindly) follow the commands of their Empress and take each of the Sincline’s arms. Sincline panics and fights against them. The Komars apply more strength as the push Sincline towards Honerva while it continues to struggle. At this point, everyone is (tired and) confused. Sincline wanted to fight Voltron but then it didn’t, now it resists the Komars and refuses to go near Honerva. 

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Allura says to herself. Her Altean marks glow even brighter, enough to be seen through her helmet. Somehow, she can hear the ATLAS fighting against the other Komars, then she hears the White Lion roaring in despair, finally, she hears a soft, familiar voice coming from the cockpit of the Sincline. The same one that spoke to her throughout their search.

The Sincline suddenly goes still and the voice dies down. Allura’s suspicions have been confirmed, “Lotor.” The Komars finally overpower the Sincline and place it in front of Honerva, kneeling. Honerva reaches both hands to Sincline’s head, “Come back to me.”

The door of the cockpit forcibly opens to reveal Prince Lotor. The Galtean Emperor, Child of the Void, Savior of the Altean Colony, and her son. She calls out to him. There’s no response. He lays limp against his seat, white hair longer than before, and his Altean marks glowing with the same intensity as Allura’s. Allura gasps while Honerva slowly twists her hands. Lotor is removed from his seat, descending from the cockpit and into her arms. Haggar presses her face against his neck and runs her claws through his hair, her son has returned to her. The glow on his cheeks never fades away. Honvera doesn’t notice the cracks in her hands.

Allura tries to wake the rest of the Paladins but they’re out cold. She tries to shake Lance awake but there’s no response from him. She can’t contact the ATLAS either because of interference. Seeing Honerva distracted by holding Lotor, she realizes only she can stop her. "Time to end this.” Gritting her teeth she jets out of the Blue Lion. (These next scenes should be imagined in slow mo) Sincline notices her, a single glowing eye making eye contact with her. She briefly panics, thinking that it might fire on him even without Lotor piloting but instead it continues to stare. 

However, Raimon notices and aims his chest beam at her. Keith and Red intercept the attack, drawing fire to him instead. Raimon easily gets the upper-hand but before he could destroy them (and to everyone’s shock) Sincline intercepts the attack. “What is this!?” “Lotor NO!” Sincline fights the Komar. No one knows whats happening anymore. Keith stares at the Sincline in shock and tries to wake up the other Paladins. He flies to Black first, Shiro slowly comes to. (after this we’re back in real time)

Allura leaps into the air and screams, using the Altean broadsword she created. Before the blade could reach Honerva, her eyes glow purple and she surrounds Allura in darkness. There conversation carries similar beats to the original, however Honerva questions Allura’s legitimacy as an Altean.

Honerva: I knew Alfor well. He was one of the most powerful alchemists of our generation. Melenor on the other hand...

Allura: Don’t you dare mention my mother! She would be horrified at what you are doing, what the last Alteans are doing!

Honerva: How would you know? You’ve never met her. She was not a normal Altean. No, she was not Altean at all. She might not even be considered a living being. She had a power that even Alfor couldn’t measure up to. She could’ve destroyed me if she’d survived Altea’s destruction. But I know she wouldn’t. Because she would understand why I do these things. As a mothers...(Lotor appears in her arms, she cradles him like an infant) we would do anything for our children...

Those words combined with the emotional weight of seeing the man she once (and still might) love stops her attack. She falls, tears are falling onto his visor. Even her tears can’t dim the glow on her cheeks. Now the tables have turned: Honerva can destroy the Blue Paladin now that he’s vulnerable. She stands and (still holding Lotor) stretches her free hand toward the Sincline...

Honerva: Destroy the Blue Lion.

Allura’s head snaps up, horrified. Sincline doesn’t listen and continues to fight Raimon. Honerva stretches her hand further, black and purple lightning freezing Allura. Sincline struggles to resist her command, and rips the Komars head off. Raimon thinks it’s the end for him. However, Sincline places the Komars head on a separate rock. Now it turns its attention to Honerva. She repeats her command, “Destroy the Blue Lion.” 

When Lance’s eyes open, Sincline is staring down at him. Keith eyes turn Galran again, screams “LANCE!” and charges at Sincline. Sincline’s cannon loads and Lance braces for the worst... but instead of firing at Lance, it turns and fires at Honerva. 

The blast knocks her back and forces her to release Lotor. Instead of falling, he levitates, a soft purple glow forming a sphere around him. Altean alchemy, Allura realizes. When he opens his eyes, his stare is blank. He waves a hand, gently pushing Allura to the Blue Lion. Purple spheres surround it and the remaining Lions. The remaining Paladins have recovered by now. Hunk panics, Pidge is suspicious, Keith thinks that Lotor’s capturing them for Honerva, Lance is in awe (The ‘cool arc’ between Lance and Lotor begins). Shiro tries to think of an escape plan. Allura’s in shock.

All of a sudden the Lions are thrown upward, right where they entered Oriande. The spheres are guiding them back to the ATLAS. Honerva, enraged by Sincline’s disobedience and Lotor aiding Voltron’s escape, uses the Olkarion cubes inside and outside of Oriande to absorb the White Lion. Her Komars are fast enough to avoid the shock-wave and escape but the Lions would be left stunned and be destroyed by the resulting explosion. Hira picks up Raimon and zooms pass the Voltron Lions, ordering the remaining Komars to pull back. They do so as the energy from the Olkarion cubes and Honerva’s alchemy drains the White Lion further. Allura jets off to the ATLAS and Kosmo teleports her to the bridge. She hears the White Lion’s roar again and she orders the ATLAS to fly closer.

Honerva raises Oriande’s pyramids with her alchemy, dragging the White Lion with them. Lotor lifts himself into Sincline and flies after her. The giant visage of the White Lion disappears as Honerva forces it out of the white hole. Sincline emerges soon after, glowing purple. It extends an arm and the White Lion stops moving, the sphere of black magic Honerva trapped it with slowly turns purple. The spheres around the Voltron Lions disappear, giving Sincline and Lotor more power. 

Allura tells the Paladins they need to form Voltron again. The ATLAS crew protest but she tells them if the White Lion dies, Oriande will collapse and the explosion will destroy all of them. The White Lion struggles, torn between two powerful Alchemists. It’s tail slowly gains black cracks from Honerva’s power, slowly pull it towards her. Sincline is struggling. Honerva uses one of her hands to hurl chunks of ship debris at them. A gigantic piece of rock manages to knock Sincline off balance. Voltron forms their blazing sword and slices through the parts and charges at Honerva. She uses her black magic to zap Voltron, shocking the Paladins again and draining their quintessence.

Hearing the screams of her family, Allura channels her alchemy again, marks glowing brighter than ever. The jewel in her tiara, her eyes, and hair start glowing white too. An ancient power courses through her, amplified by her proximity to Oriande. She lets out a ferocious, echoing roar, startling everyone on the ship. A massive ring of blue Altean magic forms around the ATLAS as it magically transforms again, (She does the thing that never happens in the series in the opening when all the lasers shoot out of the Castle of Lions) dozens of lasers shoot out and strike the Komars. A ripple effect happens when a laser hits Voltron and the mech glows blue and white. The Lions all open their mouths (Yes, even the Black Lion), roar, and fire five lasers. They merge into one and hit Honerva, Oriande’s pyramids black out.

The White Lion breaks free and pounces. The Paladins brace themselves for the worst. Sincline/Lotor leap in front of them and form a shield of purple quintessence. “NO!” Allura throws her hands in front of her and stops the White Lion. She gently turns her hands towards her, enormous yellow eyes turning to her, “You’re not safe here. Honerva will destroy you. Let us help you.” The White Lion seems to understand and disappears into nebula of white and blue. This allows Allura to merge it with the ATLAS. The explosions caused by the White Lions drainage are also absorbed into the ship. The ATLAS glows blue and white, bubbles and streaks of quintessence merging with its mechanics. Everyone inside the ship is floating (Slav is definitely flipping out lol), and then are gently dropped onto the floor as the glow recedes. No one pays attention to how the bridge has changed.

Honerva stares at the sight in disbelief. She was right: the Princess is clearly no ordinary Altean. She’s too powerful to even be a Chosen Altean of Oriande. 

She winces at the sudden pain in her chest. She looks at her hand. She’s wide-eyed as her hand is almost completely vanished. Her veins slowly turning into cracks in the skin, pure quintessence from the White Lion leaking out. Feeling her marks coming apart too, she uses black magic to seal them, pain coursing through her. She then wormholes the pyramids and her army away from the white hole. Although the pyramids are no longer present, the White Lion still lives within the ATLAS. Oriande lives another day. 

Sincline and Voltron are floating, quintessence swirling around them and healing any injuries they had had. Everyone watches the scene in silence. Ryner informs them that the white hole has stabilized, the lights on the ATLAS flicker light blue. No one moves. 

Sincline regains consciousness first and flies over to Lotor to gently hold him in its claws. It places him back in the cockpit. Voltron recovers and flies in front of the ATLAS, holding steady as it approaches. To the disbelief of the Paladins and everyone on the ATLAS, Allura asks Sincline why it didn’t destroy them when it had the chance. Continuing to shock everyone, Sincline responds, speaking like an AI, “Pilot unconscious. Requires immediate medical attention.” 

Tentatively, they allow Sincline on board the ATLAS. Sincline kneels in front of Allura and opens its cockpit. Lotor is gently removed from his seat, falling into Allura’s arms. Allura slowly shakes him, whispering his name. “Lotor? Lotor? Are you okay?” The Paladins, MFE pilots, and the lady Generals surround her, waiting with baited breath. Romelle looks at them in disgust. Lotor’s Altean marks are still glowing, Allura’s too. She holds her hand, allowing it to glow white-blue before resting it against his forehead. His eyes barely open when he speaks, “--lura?”

Allura: Lotor?

Lotor (gasping): A-Allura...O-Orian...the Whit-te L-Lion...

Allura: Shhhhhh, it’s okay...they’re safe. We’re safe.

As if on instinct, she rests her forehead against his, sensing his life force stabilizing. The Garrison medics put him on a stretcher and wheel him to the medical bay. Allura’s eyes follow them, filled with worry, both of their Altean marks stop glowing. The Paladins don’t know what to do, neither do the MFE’s, the lady Generals are in shock. The last shot of the episode is in Lotor’s point of view, vision blurry and barely making out the dozens of people rushing around the launch bay. His gaze is focused on Allura before he blacks out.

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

Game changers amiright? This episode is tied with Battle Scars for the amount of rewrites but it was also one of the easiest cause I knew what I wanted. Genesis is a good episode by itself but it’s anti-climatic when put in context with the rest of the season. The fights have more tension because Allura’s powers are given a major boost in Oriande, Lotor is still alive and saved Team Voltron again and now has alchemist abilities, Sincline is in control of its own actions, and the mystery of Allura’s mother is introduced. 

The MFE Ares Fighters are named after the Greek God of War, likewise the IGF Atlas is named after the Greek myth of a man named Atlas who carried the world on his shoulders. I found it fitting to name the new MFE Fighters after Athena. Athena is the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and Strategic Warfare. This symbolizes how Team Voltron will wise-up as they have been in this rewrite.  More on that later *wink* It’s doubly fitting because the pilots are the lady Generals and Adam.

Raimon was King Alfor’s Japanese name in GO!Lion. I’m just dropping all the Voltron references in this rewrite lmao.

Allura’s preservation of the White Lion by absorbing it into the ATLAS has a similar feeling to Princess Serenity revealing herself in the Sailor Moon anime's. It leaves the characters witnessing the event in awe. Oh yeah, the laser that struck Voltron did something to it besides give it a major power boost. More on that later *wink*

Altean alchemy doesn’t have a solid definition in the series, neither does anything outside of the Garrison tech. Pidge and Hunk bluntly describe it as ‘magic’ while in Season 3 Alfor said he built the Voltron Lions with his alchemy, which implies there’s a technological aspect to it. Altean alchemy is also directly tied to quintessence, evident by anything Haggar/Honerva does during the series. In Season 7 Sam says that quintessence is an energy generated by living beings while in Season 4 Lotor says there’s pure quintessence in the space between realities. So with all of that stray information, my definition of Altean alchemy is that it’s the more benevolent cousin of blood bending and metal bending from Avatar: 

It allows the alchemist to siphon energy to connect deeper with the universe and create their own unique technologies they can infuse different abilities too. Amplified by quintessence, the lifeblood of the VLD Universe. To pull a quote from the Dark Phoenix movie, “You can turn dust to water, water into life.”

This is how Allura is able to control the Lions even tho she’s not present in any of the cockpits. Besides the fact that Alfor connected them to her life force. However, there is an even more powerful magic inside her, and it’s directly tied to her mother. Even more on that later *wink*

(Phew! You guys made it through Part 1 of this rewrite. Brownie points for persisting with my rambling and inconsistencies with writing hehehe. Thank you for joining me on this adventure. Stay tuned for part 2!)

[noussommeslessquelettes]

Oh fun! Things you said mini fic? 11 or 20?💕💕💕

MM OKAY SO! Ever since I first started writing kl fic I had this idea for a fake relationship AU. I never managed to complete the plot of it so it never got written, but I’ve always wanted to write one particular scene from it, and when I got this I jumped on the chance to write it!!!

Background on the fic: fake dating AU. Lance’s brother is getting married, and they’re out of town for a long weekend for the wedding. Hunk was invited, and with that Lance and him brought Keith and Pidge as their plus-ones.

When they get there, they find out that Keith and Lance’s exes were invited to the wedding too--what’s worse, they’re attending the wedding as a couple. Keith makes the executive decision that the both of them are going to fake date and be obnoxiously in love to make them jealous. Hijinks ensue, along with feelings, the latter of which are under the cut!

Send me a ship with one of these and I’ll write a mini fic

11. Things you said when you were drunk

Preview: Keith liked to think that the phrase had been better formed in his head, but what came out ended up being, “I thought vodka crans were a Sad Lance Drink.”

Lance huffed a humourless laugh. “Well, you’re lookin’ at a Sad Lance Lance, buddy.”

CW: drinking/drunkenness, (American) underage drinking, mentions of vomit

Keith had never imagined being a fake boyfriend to be more effort than being a real one had ever been. Then again, he’d been a bit foolish to assume that anything could be easy when it involved Lance McClain.

But because Lance’s family wasn’t privy to their little secret, it meant that when the wedding party lost the Nuisance of Honour, the immediate suggestion from Lance’s mother was that Keith, as Lance’s Real Boyfriend™, lead the charge on the search efforts. And come one A.M., it meant that Keith made the call to relieve the others of their duty, and to continue the search alone.

And yes, it might’ve been Keith’s decision to start this fake relationship in the first place. But it didn’t give Lance permission to go AWOL past midnight, on the night before the wedding, when the two of them had to wake up at fucking seven o’clock tomorrow. But the world didn’t trade in the currency of ‘should’s, and that’s why Keith was riding the elevator down to the front lobby at half-past one instead of sinking back into the plush sheets of the king-sized bed waiting for him 25, 26, now 27 floors above.

At this point, he was about ready to tell the concierge to phone the police about a missing person, then fuck off and go to bed. He indulged in the fantasy of shucking this mess off onto somebody else, as he stomped up towards the front desk—squinting his eyes to contend with the reflection of the chandelier against the counter’s polished brass. Turning his head askance as he passed the hotel bar—

Wait. He froze in his tracks. The bar.

It was so obvious he could’ve smacked himself—they’d checked the fucking pool in the first ten minutes of the search, and they didn’t think of the bar?!—but he focused what little energy he had left on diverting his path, moving close enough to peer past the glass into the darkened room, and locating the one patron perched alone on a barstool. He raised a glass in cheer towards the bartender, then knocked back a swig of the drink—far from his first, judging by how very nearly he toppled out of his seat.

“Fantastic,” Keith deadpanned under his breath as Lance managed to steady himself with a hand on the bartop, his laughter ringing out clear as a bell when Keith pushed through the glass door, shadows falling over him as he moved toward the counter. “Hey asshole,” he called out, holding his tongue past that to judge just how drunk Lance was, lest he waste a castigation on someone who’d not remember a word of it come morning.

Lance perked up at the appellation, spinning in the stool and hoisting his glass up once more. “Hey, babe! C’mere.” He set down the drink—thank god—and pat a hand on the stool next to him. “Join us—whatever y’order, ‘s on me.”

Keith bit down a groan—he’d been here all of five seconds, and already Lance’s behaviour was drawing looks from the other patrons, inscrutable in the dark, but undeniable all the same. He closed the distance between them, but refused the invitation, grabbing Lance’s elbow instead and giving a tug. “I’m not doing that—let’s go.”

“Wait, wait wait wait—” his other hand pumped a five-finger ‘stop’ that bumped against Keith’s chest. He laughed, then brought the hand up between them, curling his index finger to beckon Keith closer. When Keith didn’t oblige, he added a pull with the arm in Keith’s grip.

Keith sighed, leaning forward until their eyes matched, until the humidity of Lance’s vodka breath washed uncomfortably on his face. “What.”

“They didn’t card me,” he stage-whispered. He then failed to stifle a snort, and elbowed Keith away. “Guess that’s what ‘cha get with these bougie-ass places—don’t give a fuck as long as you’ve got the money to back it up!”

Keith folded his arms over his chest. “Please tell me you opened up a tab.”

Lance shrugged, reaching for his glass again. “Told ‘em to charge it to our room.”

He groaned—Sober Lance was definitely going to try and macgyver a way to pawn the bill off on Keith. But he supposed that was a problem for later, because in the moment Lance was tipping back the last of his current drink, slamming it down on the bartop with needless fervour, and waving the other hand to catch the bartender’s eye.

“Nope.” Keith reached out for his wrist and pulled the hand down. “You’ve had enough.” He looked up to the bartender, who cocked an eyebrow at him silently as Lance whined unintelligibly in his ear. “He’ll have a water.”

“Nooo…” Lance squirmed to get out of his grasp, only to reach back out for him as his ass slid off the stool. Keith caught him reflexively, arms wrapped around Lance’s waist, Lance with two hands fisted in the front of his shirt.

He brought his eyes up, nose brushing against Keith’s cheek with the act. Keith’s heart fluttered, a stammer building in his chest that ultimately turned into the word, “Okay.”

He hoisted Lance back up onto his perch. Once he was firmly seated, Keith crashed back onto the stool behind him—the one Lance had offered him initially—and eyed the bartender as they returned with a tall glass of water.

“And the vodka cran?” They asked.

“We’re good,” Keith dismissed immediately.

They moved on to the next customer with no further ado. It took Keith a split second to register what had been said, but when he did he turned to Lance, who now pointedly stared into the countertop, his smile fallen.

He liked to think that the phrase had been better formed in his head, but what came out ended up being, “I thought vodka crans were a Sad Lance Drink.”

Lance huffed a humourless laugh, reaching for the water. “Well, you’re lookin’ at a Sad Lance Lance, buddy.” His eyes slipped shut as he tipped back the glass, downing a third of it in one go.

Keith turned to rest an elbow on the table, his fingers drumming against the varnished wood. “So you came down here to drown your sorrows?”

Lance massaged his fingertips into his eyes. “What else ‘m I supposed to do?” He dropped the hand, looking straight ahead.

“Talk to someone? You usually love doing that.”

He made a sour face. “Don’t want to. I want to forget about it.”

Keith cocked an eyebrow. “And how’s that working out so far?”

“Honestly? Pretty good ‘til you showed up.”

Keith took it on the chin—it was no secret that their friendship wasn’t always on the best footing (that is, to anyone who wasn’t tricked into thinking they were in a relationship.) And while Lance usually wasn’t a belligerent drunk, he often got a little too truthful. Frankly, Keith had sort of suspected that Lance continued to harbour a little honest animosity towards him, despite the progress their relationship had undergone, and the unfortunate feelings Keith had developed in the process.

And he supposed he should accept responsibility for that, too. What kind of dumbass suggested to his crush that they pretend to date for the weekend of his brother’s wedding, just so they could make their respective exes jealous?

(The desperate kind, probably.)

“Well… then talk to me.” It was the best he could offer—because like hell he was leaving Lance drunk, depressed, and alone in a hotel bar. “I’m your boyfriend now, after all.”

“Fake boyfriend,” Lance amended pointedly.

Keith frowned—the whole weekend, they’d been calling each other their boyfriends tongue-in-cheek, even when they were alone. It was the first time Lance had expended the effort to correct him. “Is that what’s bothering you?”

“It’s—” He groaned, running his hands through his hair. “I’m way too drunk for this right now.”

“We’ve only got one more day,” he offered in consolation, “and we don’t have to do any couple shit if you don’t want to.”

“Mm-mm.” He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” He asked. Lance shrugged, taking another long swig of water. Keith huffed. “Lance, let’s go up—”

“Y’know why we started this in the first place? Like—” He gestured between the two of them. “Us—”

“I know—”

“Dating.” His hand hung in the open air, forgotten as his eyes went unfocused, lost in thought. After a moment, Keith reached out for his wrist, lowering it back down to Lance’s lap.

“I got it. We did it ‘cause… well, to get back at our exes.”

Lance snapped his fingers, grinning. “Exactly! Look at you, smarty pants, ‘n here I thought Hunk and Pidge were supposed to be the geniuses.”

Keith rolled his eyes, nudging the water back towards him. “Focus up, Lance; what about it?”

Lance polished it off, pushing it away so he could rest his elbows on the tabletop. “Guess it leaves me as the only dumb one.”

“Not—” He groaned. “Don’t start with that shit. I mean—”

“I know what you mean,” he murmured, the brief smile slipping off his face. “I’m not that dumb, Keith. Look, we were trying to make Nyma ‘n Rolo jealous, but we failed. They’re still happy, and in love, and they think that we’re happy and in love.”

Keith nodded. “Okay..?”

“But I’m not happy.” His voice started to waver as his volume control went to the wayside. He pushed off the bar to face Keith, a desperate kind of sadness shimmering in the corners of his eyes. “We’re not in love.”

Keith took that on the chin too, though it was noticeably harder to bear. Lance is the drunk one right now, not you, he told himself. Don’t say anything that you’ll both regret. He swallowed whatever protest he’d had down, and nodded for Lance to continue.

“I want to be,” he spoke it softly, like a confession. “I want to be so bad.”

“It’s not enough to want it,” Keith admitted. He knew it all too well.

Lance sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “And it’s not enough to pretend. But it’s nice for a while, at least.” Keith offered a wry smile, and Lance’s gaze slipped to the floor again. “I don’t know, it’s hard. The two of them are, like… you can tell. It’s like they were made for each other. No one’s ever felt that way about me.”

Swallow it down. Keith reached out a hand, placing it on Lance’s knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“I knew all along Nyma didn’t love me, even though I did.” He covered the back of Keith’s hand under his palm, holding it there.

“I’m sorry, Lance.” He’d had no idea that Lance had been so serious about Nyma. For his part, he’d never once believed he was in love with Rolo. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have suggested—”

“It’s okay. It was stupid for me to pretend that it was real.” He sighed, threading their fingers together clumsily. “But it felt real, sometimes.”

“I know,” he lied. It felt like the right thing to say—and besides, what would Lance even care in his state?

“It felt real with you sometimes, too.”

Keith’s breath caught, his fingers twitching in Lance’s grasp. He’s drunk, he reminded himself. He’s drunk; he doesn’t know what he’s saying. He eased the tension in his body with a deep breath. “It’s not stupid, Lance. You… you care so much. You have so much love to give, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to share it—and you do; you share it with your family, and with your friends. And I guess sometimes, you share it with the people who don’t appreciate it.”

“And it sucks.”

Keith nodded. “I know.” And this time, it was the truth. “But one day, you’re going to find someone who’s stupid in love with you too—someone who’s never going to let you think otherwise.”

Lance scoffed. “Right.”

“I mean it. You’re worth a love worth fighting for, Lance, and you’re going to find it. And when you do, you’ll be the boyfriend of the luckiest person in the world.”

Lance smiled softly. “You’re only saying that ‘cause I’m drunk.”

“Well, I wouldn’t need to convince you to come to bed if you were sober,” he admitted. “But I still mean it.”

“Thanks,” he breathed. “Y’know, whatever guy manages to finally lands you’s going to be one lucky bastard, too.”

Keith sighed. “We’ll see about that.”

“You’re a pretty awesome fake boyfriend, ‘n I bet you’re an even better real one.”

He slid off the stool, wrapping an arm around Lance’s waist. “Well regardless, I’m about to be one hell of a great friend, and drag your sorry ass back to our hotel room.”

Lance hummed contentedly, wrapping his arms around Keith’s shoulders and leaning into him. “I want a piggyback.”

“No chance.” He tugged Lance to his feet, bracing himself when his weight inevitably slouched into him.

“Stop, stop—hanggon,” he slurred, his head slumping. “Guh, dizzy…”

Keith stilled, tapping his foot impatiently. “Have you hurled yet?”

“Mm-mm.” Lance took a step forward, and Keith took the charge onward once more.

Keith rolled his eyes—Lance was so lucky his fake boyfriend happened to be real in love with him. Keith, on the other hand, would have the misfortune of needing to watch his crush hopefully not choke on his own vomit for the next six hours. “How many drinks did you have?”

“No clue, ‘m too gay to count.” He giggled, then whispered, “Don’t tell my mommy, Keith.”

“What, that you’re gay, that you’re drunk, or that you can’t do math?”

“None. Be like… the KGB.”

“Okay, Lance.” He pushed through the glass door with a toe, marching them through before it swung back on them.

“The Keith Gay… Butts.” He dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Keith’s not proud of the laugh he had to stifle, too. “Oh, you’re so lucky I don’t have the hands to dial Pidge right now.”

“What can I say, I’m a lucky guy! Who needs a real boyfriend, anyway? I’ve already got a fake one with a cute butt who takes care of me.”

Keith typed up their floor number on the touchscreen by the elevator door. “God, you’re going to be so hungover tomorrow.”

“D’you got Advil?” Keith shook his head. “We’ll go to Marco’s room—his wife’s usually got some.”

The elevator bell rang, doors opening up for them, and he pulled Lance in. “You think you can act sober enough to face your brother?”

“Pshh, oh yeah, I got this.”

He pushed off of Keith, staggering a bit but ultimately gaining his footing. Then the elevator lurched into motion and he stumbled. Keith was ready to catch him the moment he did, Lance steadying himself with hands on his shoulders. Once stable, they brought their eyes up as one, and dissolved into a short fit of laughter.

When it eased, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck, squeezing him close. “Sorry for being sloppy.”

Keith shook his head, returning the embrace. “Don’t be; you’ve held my hair back enough times to earn it.”

“Then thanks,” he said. “For being a good boyfriend.”

He twisted his fingers in the hem of Lance’s shirt. “Anytime.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened up.

[b-kitsune]

Many ways to say I love you: Day Thirty-one.

Kidge-a-palooza 2019 Prompt: Happily Ever After. Pairing: Kidge (VLD) Universe: Post canon. Status: Part 7/7

''It's amazing you still keep those old glasses of your brother.'' Collen commented more disgusted than surprised when she saw the dirty old frame on her hands, Pidge just shrugged without giving too much importance.

''I put them on Chip when I finished it, and I needed something old after all.''

''Haven't you brought that robot? I thought I was attached to you with some kind of strange technology, it's always closed when I go through your work.''

''Nah, while I'm out Chip can take care of my work, it serves more on earth.''

She tried to stay still as soon as her mother pulled a few strands more than she should while doing an elegant hairstyle over her head. Her hair was already falling on her back like when she was fourteen, vaguely reminding that smiling and innocent teenager who barely understood the world around her. For a moment, Pidge thought she was being her again, at least that day she felt more dreamy than usual.

She wondered internally if were hormones.

Her mother hummed curiously when Pidge tightened the frame with more force than she should.

''Be careful, you will break it before the ceremony.''

''I can't help it.'' She said barely, the nerves began to return, making her hands tremble slightly. Colleen smiled sympathetically, reminding herself as scared as her daughter was on the most important day of her life.

''Everything will be fine, sweetheart. Remember that this day is to celebrate your happiness, nothing has to go wrong. Unless you change Keith's name on the altar.''

''Can I?'' Inquired worried, Colleen laughed slightly.

''Unless you want to marry someone else, it is very difficult to happen.''

''No, I think that's impossible.'' Both smiled as Colleen continued her work, watching as her daughter's hands began to relax on the old frame she still held with longing.

''Are you sure that is what you want to sacrifice for tonight?'' Pidge smiled warmly, staring determinedly at her mother through the large mirror in front of both. ''Even Matt was surprised when he knew.''

''Completely.''

The lens mount was bent and somewhat damaged by the passage of time, feeling strange on her hands as a time ago when she used it frequently to cover her feminine features with the pseudonym of Pidge Gunderson, and as part of a secret promise to her family where she would find them where they were, if she had to cross the entire universe for it.

In effect, Pidge succeeded at sixteen. Being the first teenager to be part of a group of legendary heroes made up of an archaic legend that was almost lost as a simple fairy tale. Those lenses were one of the few possessions that accompanied her throughout the trip that felt so strangely distant, although only ten years had passed since the end of the war, and the reconstruction of planets was almost complete, Pidge still felt it like a dream too far away, almost alien to her at that moment.

She remembered with longing the years in which she piloted the green lion with her friends to stop the Galra empire from the devastation of the universe, naively believing that they would achieve it without losing anything in return provided they had the lions by their side. But to this day, seeing through the window how the statue in memory of Allura rose imposingly in the distance, part of her heart ached for her sacrifice.

She didn't remember her as Lance or Coran, who still mourned their loss when they thought that no one saw them in the halls of the new castle, but was her friend and a vital figure to keep rope when her forces faltered during the war. Who never gave up on any of them and supported her at all times, even if she herself hadn't been too kind to Allura from the beginning.

That is why Pidge and Keith, after a deep conversation, decided to celebrate their marriage on the planet of the new Altea. So, everyone, both body and soul, would be in the ceremony to be partakers of their union as husband and wife.

Pidge thought it was still a dream and that she would wake up on her desk in Garrison as part of her active imagination. She never thought much about the idea of ​​marriage, her life in the search for her family at an early age, being a champion for almost all her adolescence and later becoming captain of the land defense force and training new defenders of the universe, made her desire to be part of a relationship or a family not being a high priority. Almost considering it as something that wasn't for her and that only technology and her friends at her side Pidge could find eternal happiness in her life. And possibly she would have died with the same idea.

Until her feelings for Keith grew as her relationship with her progressed even after the war, making her feelings change, and she wished had something else in her life. Something that she thought wasn't for her, and even to think that Pidge would simply not find anyone who loved her as she was in the way her family and friends did.

But he found that person precisely whom she considered vital in her life.

It was like a ghost, keeping around her silently, whispering a desire over her ear when she saw him walking at the Castle of Lions. When he supported her during the battles against the sentries and they synchronized uniquely as a team. Pidge thought those feelings died when Keith left with the Blade of Marmora, but it was still present when he came back with Lotor's truth and a new image.

Pidge remained ignorant of what she really felt for his leader and faithful friend until she realized that she could no longer hide it like a teenage interest.

One night where everyone gathered to spend a new year together on the planet Daibazaal, after alcohol loomed over their senses and the dream hit all their friends, Keith proposed her.

It took five years to start living together because of their jobs, and another five years to set a date for their marriage, partly caused by pressure from their friends to want to celebrate a marriage between the traditions of the Earth and Daibazaal.

The process was difficult to coordinate, even with the help of Lance and Kolivan who remembered in detail how the unions were made before the Galra empire took control of the universe.

But there was Pidge, looking at herself in front of a mirror with a completely white dress, as part of the Earth's traditions. She didn't want to be a princess, much less wear a dress too heavy to wear as Coran and Lance suggested, so she opted for a simple fall that fits elegantly on her waist, and sleeves that opened at the end giving her an appearance almost fancy as Krolia's suggestion, being the way traditional Galra dresses wore for a marriage ceremony. It felt like a fairy, almost thinking that it had come out of Tolkien's classic books.

But it was also a gift from Keith. And a way to show her that she was completely committed to both parts of his blood.

When her mother finished decorating her hair in a large braid that fell from the side of her neck, she saw that Colleen's eyes began to flood with tears.

Pidge's heart was compressed with happiness and sadness when she saw her mother so excited.

''Please don't cry mom.'' She asked in a groan, holding her own tears. ''If you cry, you will make me cry and Nyma will have to put on makeup again.''

''I'm not crying, I promise.'' She smiled giving her a warm hug, being careful not to ruin her hair. ''I never thought that this day would come, I am so happy to know that you will not die alone.''

''Mom!''

''What? It was a valid fear.'' She chuckled as she dried the tears that escaped her eyes. ''We will never be forever, and I know you love your friends very much, but is not the same, Katie, and even matt found a lovely relationship with that girl Nyma. I know you are a person strong enough to be alone, but your father and I are very happy that you have found someone who loves you as much as we do.''

''I will consider it as the way you tell me that you are proud of me.'' Pidge answered, answering her hug. Colleen hummed in affirmation.

''I've always been.''

 ...

 ''You know? If you keep moving, you will make a hole in the floor.''

''Can you leave here?'' Keith inquired irritated as soon as Lance took it to stop him. ''I don't remember inviting you.''

''You didn't it, Pidge did it! I didn't know you still hated me with everything we've lived together.'' He groaned with one hand on his chest and another on his forehead, in a dramatic pose. Keith sighed heavily as he moved again to walk around the place. ''Come on man, it shouldn't take long.''

''She had to be here twenty minutes ago.''

''Hey.'' They heard a greeting that both caught their attention, Shiro came with an outfit that Keith vaguely reminded him of the role-playing paladin that Coran used to make them play when they visited him, giving Keith a warm hug as soon as he saw him. ''How are you?''

''It could be worse.''

''Lies! Shiro, Keith just kicked me out of his marriage.'' Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith to explain himself, he just made a gesture with his hand downplaying the matter.

''I'm worried, Pidge had to arrive many minutes ago.''

''Well, I ran into Nyma on the way. She told me that Pidge arrived late at the Hotel during the morning to be put on makeup so she will surely be late a few more minutes.''

''Did you hear Keith? Pidge will come, it's not as if she regretted eternity with you or something.''

They both realized how Lance's poor choice of words made Keith pale completely, sitting on the side of the altar to hide from the few guests who were sitting inside the chapel. Shiro shook his head avoiding hitting Lance for making Keith's nerves increase dangerously.

''You are amazing.''

''Sorry, I didn't know that could affect him. I mean, it's Pidge! She will not regret a courtship of years a few minutes after getting married.''

''But it's still Keith, Lance.''

Shiro said as if the answer was completely obvious, sitting next to Keith who had his head held between his two hands. Shiro looked sideways, watching carefully who was inside the chapel. He could see Curtis talking to the MFE pilots next to the entrance. The old commanders of Lotor observing the Renaissance paintings on one side and Krolia next to Samuel sitting in the first ones talking animatedly about some random subject of not enough to listen.

Shiro took a couple of cigarettes out of his inner pocket, which Keith didn't expect his friend to light, eagerly placing his lips as he approached the fire Shiro held between his fingers. Lance gasped as soon as he saw him, but preferred not to say anything at that moment. He knew that Keith really needed to relax even at the cost of that disgusting vice he had acquired during his years of humanitarian aid work.

After a few minutes and a couple of whiffs, Shiro broke the silence.

''You know Lance is playing.''

''What if she really doesn't come? What am I supposed to tell my mother? Or Kolivan?''

''You're overreacting much more than me in my marriage.'' Shiro replied laughing at his paranoia.

''That's because you knew Curtis loves you.''

''So you think Pidge doesn't?''

''She could find someone better. What kind of future can I give her? I spend most of the time traveling through the universe than with her.'' He looked down dejectedly. ''I wouldn't be impressed if she got tired of me...''

''Keith, I think you've let Lance's teasing get under your skin. Katie is as in love with you as you are with her.''

''… Do you think?'' He looked up at Shiro, he nodded smiling warmly, releasing another puff of smoke.

''I think so, she wouldn't have agreed to marry you if she wasn't because she was completely sure of what she was doing. It would be an offense on your part that you doubt her feelings. Don't you think?''

''I think you're right.'' He answered thoughtfully.

''Besides, I can attest that in marriage you often think if you chose correctly or not. Feelings change, but as long as you trust each other and can support each other there will be nothing to separate you from her.''

''Do you think we are able to support each other in spite of everything?'' Keith questioned putting out the cigarette. Shiro laughed openly.

''Well, you were the arms of Voltron, there is no one else in the universe that is able to support you as you two do.''

Keith smiled wistfully, those words echoed in his head vaguely recalling those days of the war in which he and Pidge were able to fight against ships full of enemies, with a facility and displacement that seemed to be made to be together.

Suddenly, people began to enter, claiming that the car in which Pidge was coming was already on its way.

Keith took a deep breath before getting up and being hugged by Shiro, much more confident and determined than he was minutes ago.

''Ready?''

''Ready.''

They placed themselves in position, waiting for the bride to enter through the main door. It was the first time that Keith wore a Galra suit like that, a black suit where he joined together with a violet-colored armor that gave him the impression that it was to honor the combative blood of his people. His mother watched him nostalgic from the front row, perhaps thinking about what it would be like if his father were there to see him marry the woman he chose to spend the rest of his life.

But Keith didn't feel sad at all, his father accompanied him at all times, as part of the energy of the universe that connected with each being even if he had left a long time ago.

Like Allura.

He heard the music begin as soon as he saw Samuel carrying the most beautiful woman the world had ever observed. Pidge wore a suit that seemed to have mixed both traditions, causing his heart to compress with bliss. He saw her laugh nervously as she approached enough to appreciate her better, her hair fell on the side of her neck, reminding her of the photo she was holding with her brother before the launch of the Kerberos mission.

Years ago, Pidge and Keith realized that, in one of those photos, he and Shiro were on one side watching some of the missiles that would be used for the flight. Pidge had laughed alluding that they were perhaps destined to meet. And at that moment, as soon as he received a warm hug from Samuel Holt and took his daughter's hand, he knew it was a reality.

Both were destined to be together, in whatever way.

When Pidge approached him to stand in front of the altar, she grimaced for a moment, drawing Keith from a strong movement that confused more than one person.

She gasped away in disgust.

''You smoked!'' Many people hummed worried, the discomfort of Pidge's face was evident and Keith felt he was in serious trouble until he remembered an obvious fact.

''You were thirty minutes late!''

''… Yeah, you're right.''

The panic disappeared as quickly as it came when both were placed in position, making more than one person laugh at the unique and honest dynamics of both.

 ...

 ''Keith was so nervous that it seemed that at any moment he would pass out, and Pidge looked like she would never have worn such high heels, but everything went well. I didn't know that the Galra were in the habit of burning their past possessions during ceremonies, it was quite interesting to see Pidge decide on Matt's glasses and Keith for his father's jacket.'' A slight sigh left his lips as he continued playing with the grass. ''I wish you were there to see it.'' Lance placed a new junyberry next to the statue, as part of his tradition every time he visited Altea. ''But I know you were there, proud of both.''

He swallowed the lump that stuck in his throat for a few moments at the thought that, somehow, he was convincing himself that his presence through life was the way he was satisfied to be close to the person that loved. Lance was happy for his friends, but a small part of herself felt full of envy when they started the first dance as husband and wife. He wanted to accompany them, but he needed a moment to remember that he was still there, beside him, recalling the beauty and grace that characterized her so much.

''I miss you so much Allura.''

A strong current alerted his senses so quickly that he relied on the marble not to be carried, Keith and Pidge who were laughing on the outskirts of Hunk's jokes were shocked when they saw how the blue lion descended from the sky, which he undertook flight to an unknown place in the universe almost a decade ago.

Everyone ran to the Allura statue where the lion seemed to have descended. There, like a lost dream, the white hair of two people welcomed a new future that they thought they would never be able to have for the cruelty of a few.

Lance ran as soon as he recognized the first figure who visited him almost every night, her promise had been real, she would never stop being by his side.

The blue lion began a new flight, her mission was accomplished and the future of their paladins was now in their own hands.

Happily ever after.

[starlight-matrix]

Cold

@vldangstbang Behold, my 2019 Voltron: Legendary Defender Angst Bang fic!

Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Violence, Major Character Death

There is a scene toward the end of the fic that may be very triggering for some audiences, so please be very careful! There is a marker labeled “First Ending” and if you might be triggered by some extreme violence, please just stop there. I’ll put an explanation of the scene at the very end of the post for anyone who is curious and wants to know without reading the actual content. Stay safe!

The first time Lance meets Keith, he gets punched in the face.

It’s his own fault, really. Everyone knows not to approach Keith Kogane when he’s pissed off. Lance decides to approach Keith when he’s in the middle of a fight, which is, in hindsight, a fucking stupid decision. Some time after the fact, however, he finds he doesn’t regret it.

The first time Lance meets Keith, he gets punched in the face.

It’s his own fault, really. Everyone knows not to approach Keith Kogane when he’s pissed off. Lance decides to approach Keith when he’s in the middle of a fight, which is, in hindsight, a fucking stupid decision. 

(Some time after the fact, however, he finds he doesn’t regret it.)

He makes the dumbass decision halfway through the second semester of eighth grade, when he really should be in the library studying for final exams instead of in the school courtyard, flirting with Nyma Johnson while Pidge and Hunk laugh at him from a bench ten feet away. It’s blessedly beautiful out, just enough clouds for it to not be sweltering, but still few enough for the sun to shine down and brighten up the grey of the school.

Lance is in the middle of a slowly ebbing conversation when a sudden ruckus from the other end of the courtyard catches his attention. Loud shouting and sounds of a scuffle are audible in the distance and Lance excuses himself to see what the fuss is about. By the time he reaches the source of the noise, a crowd has gathered, students cheering on two teens pushing and shoving at each other like fighters in the center of a ring.

Lance immediately recognizes one of them as Keith Kogane. How could he not, when the guy’s practically the school prodigy? It takes him another few moments to recognize the smaller kid as a sixth grader who rides his bus and is generally quite obnoxious.

And, of course, Lance’s first instinct is to attempt to dispel the fight. On his own. A fight between Keith Kogane and someone who very obviously does not regret pissing him off.

As previously said: a fucking stupid decision.

“Hey, guys, I know you’re both mad but if Iverson catches you fighting you’ll probably get in-”

Before Lance can finish his sentence, Keith’s violet gaze is turned on him, and pain blossoms in his cheek as he gets caught up in a fight he really shouldn’t have had anything to do with. Hunk and Pidge are shouting in the distance as Lance stumbles backward from the force of the hit, his mouth tasting of iron and aching terribly when he lifts his hand to the swollen area. He glances at Keith and immediately wishes he hadn’t. The guy looks absolutely livid.

More shouting ensues and Lance tunes it all out, returning to Hunk and Pidge and letting his two friends fuss over him. The crowd suddenly disperses and Iverson’s voice cuts through the chaos in the courtyard screaming ‘Kogane’ at the top of his lungs. Lance looks past Hunk inspecting his cheek to see Iverson grabbing Keith by the arm, shouting at him about the school rules and how many infractions he already has.

Iverson stops his lecture to drag Keith back into the building, and for a split second, Keith’s gaze meets Lance’s once again. This time, Keith almost looks apologetic.

News of Keith’s expulsion is the first thing he hears at school the next morning, and Lance doesn’t see Keith again, nor does he expect to. Rumors about the raven-haired prodigy spread and quickly fade away. People stop talking about him as if they’re both terrified and vaguely awed by him. Keith disappears from everyone’s list of conversation starters, and Lance can’t help but wonder if there was anyone in their school who actually knew him beyond his reputation.

Lance is undeniably excited for his first day of high school. He has his favorite sandwich tucked away in his bag, he’s wearing his favorite outfit, he’s sitting on the bus next to his favorite friend. Lance doesn’t think the start of his day could possibly get any better.

He also doesn’t think the start of his day could get any worse, which is a mistake on his part.

The first thing Lance notices as he’s stepping off the bus is Keith’s form in the parking lot, next to a bright red bmx bike with chipped paint and a fraying seat. His hair is longer, though not by much, and Lance grudgingly admits that the mullet doesn’t look terrible on him. Keith is taller too - again, not by much - and Lance offhandedly wonders if anything else about him has changed.

(The angry curse Keith spits out when someone bumps into him doesn’t encourage that particular train of thought.)

“Lance? What’re you glaring at?” Hunk asks.

“Keith Kogane.” Lance replies, the distaste spilling out before he can pretend it’s not there.

Hunk follows his line of sight and quirks his brow. “Isn’t that the guy who punched you last year?” He says dismissively. Lance shoots him an incredulous look. “Hey, man, you got in the middle of that fight all on your own, even though you knew his reputation. That hit was just a side effect.”

“I kept biting my cheek for a week because it was all swollen!”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should learn not to butt into people’s business.”

“Says you, Mister I’m-Going-To-Pry-Into-Your-Love-Life-Until-I-Ruin-Your-Chances-At-Romance!”

“Again, totally your fault,” Hunk counters matter-of-factly. “You’re the one who blatantly insulted Rolo in front of Nyma when he just so happened to be her best friend.”

Lance frowns and crosses his arms over his chest indignantly, knowing Hunk is right. Of course Hunk is right. Hunk is always right. “Yeah, well, you’re not the one who got punched in the face for trying to keep a sixth grader from getting pummeled. Or who got slapped by the girl you like.”

Following Hunk through the front doors of the school, Lance watches Keith fade into the crowd of students and instead turns his attention toward a familiar length of blonde hair. Nyma is standing only ten or so feet away, right next to Rolo, smiling her perfect smile and laughing her perfect laugh. Lance pointedly doesn’t acknowledge their linked hands, or the way Rolo leans over to kiss Nyma on the cheek. Hunk makes a noise of understanding and leads him further down the hall.

Pidge is leaning against a pillar where the hall opens up into the cafeteria, scrolling through her phone and glaring down at whatever she’s looking at. When Lance and Hunk call out to her, she tucks her phone into her pocket and waves back with a half-smile, grey bags under her eyes.

“God Pidge, did you even sleep last night? You look like hell.” Lance says.

Pidge frowns. “Gee, thanks Mr. Casanova. You sure know how to make a girl feel beautiful,” She deadpans, shoving Lance with her shoulder. “And no, I didn’t. I was up late playing Overwatch with Matt.”

The three of them maneuver through the hall and plop down at an empty table in the cafeteria to compare their schedules, chatting about Overwatch and Pidge’s brother, Matt. Lance and Pidge both silently mourn the fact they don’t have any classes together. He and Hunk have three of the same classes though, which is a good thing. They continue their conversation about video games until Pidge brings up a sore (not really) subject.

“Hey, did you guys know Keith goes here too? I saw him walk by right before you guys showed up.”

Lance groans in loathing, and Hunk answers for him. “Yeah, we saw him when we got off the bus. Lance isn’t too happy about it, but it’s not like we have to hang out with him or anything.”

“But he goes here! Which means we could end up in the same classes!” Lance complains. “If I have to relive the trauma of being punched in the face by him every day, I’ll be miserable!”

“Stop being so dramatic, you big pissbaby. It’s your fault he hit you anyway, you’re the one who butted into his fight.” Pidge points out. 

“I have the worst friends! Neither of you are supporting my perspective on this!”

“That’s because your perspective is flawed.”

Lance shoots Pidge and Hunk equal looks of ‘I-Can’t-Believe-I-Trusted-You’ and they both firmly ignore him. Before he can make a bigger show of pouting, the bell rings overhead, and the three of them are standing to find their respective classes. Pidge grumbles incoherently as she heads off to the gym and Lance wishes her the best of luck, hoping and praying none of the staff will give her any trouble concerning the locker rooms. He and Hunk split ways in the hall between the science and mathematics buildings, Lance not quite appreciating the fact that he has maths class first thing in the morning. Can’t be worse than having P.E. first, though, he thinks.

His immediate thought when he walks through the door of his new maths class is “Oh God, it actually can be worse,” because there in the middle row, looking ridiculously content sitting in a maths classroom, is Keith Kogane, eyes distant as he stares at the whiteboard at the front of the room. Lance notes that he has earbuds in, and silently hopes Keith gets busted by the teacher. Moving to take a seat as far away from Keith as possible, Lance looks up at the whiteboard and scowls at the sloppily-drawn seating chart in one corner.

His morning only seems to get worse when Lance walks up to the seating chart and realizes he has to sit right next to Keith. Apparently there isn’t anyone with an “L” surname in this class.

Glaring at the whiteboard for far longer than is strictly necessary, Lance turns and maneuvers through the rows of desks and drops his bag onto the one to Keith’s right with a loud thump that makes the raven-haired boy jump, much to Lance’s amusement. Keith shoots him a glare and folds his arms over the table, resting his head on them with a sigh. Lance’s victory smirk melts to a frown. Did Keith not remember him? There wasn’t even a hint of recognition in that glare; what if Keith simply didn’t know him? Lance huffs and sits down, admittedly disappointed.

A couple minutes later, the second bell rings to announce the end of the passing period, and the teacher stands from her desk to introduce herself. Lance turns to see if Keith is paying attention (he’s wearing earbuds, so clearly he’s the type who doesn’t care about class, Lance thinks) and realizes that his earbuds aren’t actually earbuds; they’re simply aux cords plugged into hearing aids in both of Keith’s ears.

Lance wonders how he never previously noticed Keith wore hearing aids.

He also wonders how the whole ‘aux cord turns hearing aids into earbuds’ thing works, but that question is dissipated by Keith catching him staring and raising an eyebrow. Lance quickly looks away and focuses his gaze on the teacher, who starts to explain the class rubric. Lance can feel Keith’s eyes on him for another few seconds, but he doesn’t look back, and when he glances at Keith again in the middle of class, he’s dutifully taking notes as if nothing had happened.

Lance tunes out most of first period, simply due to the fact that the teacher handed out a syllabus at the start of class that specifies everything she’s saying to them in perfect detail, word for word, so it’s pretty redundant to listen to her say it all over again. Lance finds himself watching Keith out of the corner of his eye. As soon as the teacher had started talking nearly half an hour ago, he’d produced a couple of barrettes from nowhere and pinned his hair back so it wouldn’t fall in front of his hearing aids, and Lance can’t stop his brain from telling him it’s cute.

The entire time the teacher drones on about classroom etiquette, Keith is jotting down everything she says in his notebook, writing so fast Lance can hear his pencil scraping over the page, and a subtle glance at Keith’s notebook tells him it’s likely that Keith is the only person who will ever be able to actually read his notes. It’s weird for Lance to see Keith so focused and peaceful - the only emotion he’s ever seen on the guy is anger; intense, furious anger.

But here, in a maths class of all places, Keith looks strangely calm. There’s no hint of frustration in his face and his eyes only ever leave the front of the room when he’s pausing to take notes.

The bell is ringing before Lance even notices the time flying by, and he quickly looks away from Keith in an attempt to keep his absent staring a secret. He listens to Keith shuffle about beside him as they both put away their things, and when Lance looks up again, Keith is across the room and walking out the door. Lance waits a good long moment before following, meeting Hunk in the hallway outside and making no mention of Keith as he’s swept up in conversation.

He doesn’t see Keith again that day. When Lance gets home that night and his mother asks how his first day of high school was, his response is: “It was a very enlightening experience.”

Lance continues to silently observe Keith throughout first period maths. He doesn’t get to do so as fervently as he had the first day of school, since after the introductions of the first day, they’re immediately thrown into actual classwork and assignments. Lance doesn’t enjoy maths - he doesn’t hate it, of course; he understands the practical nature of everything and doesn’t have enough of an issue with the content to really dislike it at all - but he finds himself actually looking forward to it every day, simply because of all the things he notices about Keith.

He learns that all of Keith’s notebooks are space-themed, with planets and nebulas on the fronts of each one. He learns that Keith’s favorite pencil is a red mechanical one with rubber grips; he once watched Keith miss a good two minutes of the lecture in favor of rooting through his bag in search of said pencil when there were two other, perfectly usable pencils already on his desk. He learns that Keith takes his hearing aids out when the class gets too loud during work time.

Lance watches Keith out of the corner of his eye whenever the teacher pauses her chatter, and Keith never catches him staring, always absorbed in the lecture with tunnel-vision focus Lance is somewhat jealous of. The constant observation causes him to have a little more homework to do after school, but he can’t bring himself to break the habit. He’s too curious about Keith, about how this ragged teen who once showed such livid anger manages to look so soft.

A month has passed since the start of high school when Lance speaks to Keith for the first time.

He’s walking out of his American History classroom during lunch, having forgotten his jacket on the back of his chair earlier in the day and gone back to fetch it. The classroom is in a short hall that is almost impossible to find without some kind of help unless you’ve been there before, and Lance’s heart jumps into his throat when he trips over a pair of legs sticking out from next to a trash can in the walkway. He catches himself and turns to find Keith sitting on the floor up against the ugly brown brick wall, knees now pulled to his chest as he stares back at Lance.

“Keith?!” Lance says, visibly surprised. Keith’s brow furrows. “What are you doing here?!”

“Um...eating lunch?” Keith deadpans, gesturing to the sandwich in his hands.

“Yeah, but why are you eating lunch way out here? Wouldn’t it be better to eat in the cafeteria? This hallway isn’t even indoors, you’ve gotta be freezing your ass off.”

Keith simply shrugs. “Cafeteria’s too crowded. And noisy..”

Lance nods in understanding, even though he can’t really relate to Keith’s point. He’s always felt a little at home in chaos - it’s simply a side effect of growing up in a busy household.

“You sit next to me in maths, right?” Keith asks. Lance nods. “And you’re the kid I punched last year too, aren’t you?”

Lance is shocked to hear him say that, and it must show on his face, because Keith shrinks a little smaller and turns his violet eyes to the floor, and Lance can’t help but notice the pink flush that reaches up to the tips of his ears.

“I’m sorry about that, by the way. I didn’t mean to hit you, especially not as hard as I did. I thought you were one of that kid’s friends, joining the fight to back him up. I acted on reflex.”

“Oh.” Is all Lance can say, and after a few seconds of silence, he pulls his jacket on against the cold and takes a seat on the cement next to Keith, far enough away so they aren't touching but close enough that he won’t have to talk too loud to be heard. 

“Why were you fighting him, anyway? He was a sixth grader, what did he do to piss you off so bad?” He asks.

Keith looks up at him and then away, as if pondering his answer. “...he stole something that was really important to me. And then threatened to give it to the Principal and get me expelled.”

“Whoa...wait, what the heck did you have that could get you expelled??”

Again, Keith hesitates, and Lance finds a pair of violet eyes on him once again, studying him, as if Keith is trying to gauge whether or not he can trust Lance with whatever the answer is. Lance can’t blame him for it. After the fight last year, it’s a totally plausible theory that Lance would take Keith’s answer as blackmail to get him in trouble- revenge for getting punched in the face.

“...a knife,” Keith says after a long moment. “It used to belong to my parents. That kid stole it out of my bag during P.E. and threatened to take it to Iverson so I’d get expelled from the school. That wasn’t the actual reason I got expelled though, ironically enough.”

Lance doesn’t say anything, obviously waiting for an explanation, and Keith’s face tilts up into a smile that makes Lance think his assumption that Keith was just a rude fuck is very wrong.

“I punched Iverson in the face.”

“You punched Iverson?!” Lance blurts, grinning from ear to ear. “Dude! That guy was an asshole! Man, sucks that you got expelled for it though, with how rude he was to all his students.”

“Yeah. He was going off about how I was supposed to be a good example, spewing shit about how I’m a prodigy or whatever and shouldn’t be getting into fights and ruining my image. Made it seem like my image being ruined somehow ruined the school’s image too,” Keith explains. “They weren’t going to even suspend me for the knife thing, but then Iverson said it was stupid that I cared so much about a gift from two people I never even got to meet. And I fucking decked him.”

“And that’s why you got expelled. For decking Iverson.”

Keith nods, and Lance is in awe. He can’t say he wouldn’t expect such a thing from Keith - after all, he is known for being prone to fighting - but to punch Iverson, the meanest adult Lance has ever laid eyes on, is something he considers to be incredibly admirable despite the fact he definitely doesn’t condone violence. Keith seems to loosen up a little at the fact that he’s smiling, which Lance watches with keen eyes; the way his knees drift farther from his chest, the way his head lifts up from where his shoulders were stooped low.

Lance’s cell phone vibrates in his pocket, startling them both, and he pulls it out to find a couple texts from Pidge asking him where he is. He’d completely forgotten about his normal lunch plans in the unexpected conversation with Keith. He texts her back saying he’ll be right there.

“My friends are waiting for me, so I gotta go,” Lance says, standing and brushing dirt off the back of his jeans. “If you want, you can come eat with us. We eat in the courtyard, so it’s not loud. And it’ll just be me, Hunk, and Pidge. They’re both nice, I’m sure they’d like you.”

Keith looks at him with wide eyes, and Lance offhandedly realizes that this is the first time he’s ever actually spoken to Keith. He also remembers the fact that Keith did, in fact, punch him in the face last year, and while he knows Hunk and Pidge don’t hold a grudge over that, Keith doesn’t. Lance almost expects Keith to decline his offer and never talk to him again.

But then Keith smiles, a small, soft smile, and gathers his things. “Sure, I’d like that.”

Keith easily becomes a natural part of their group. He’s awkward that first day, not knowing how to act or what to say, but he quickly warms up to Hunk and Pidge, and after about two weeks it’s hard to imagine what their group would be like without Keith.

Lance doesn’t stop his observations. His eyes are constantly on Keith, taking in everything about him. He learns that Keith loves everything there is to love about space and its infinite possibilities. He learns that Keith is a good artist, and prefers drawing nature and space to anything else, but can still do amazingly realistic portraits. He learns that Keith has lived with his current foster family since he was twelve, and that this is the longest he’s stayed in one place in his entire life.

He learns that Keith was born with good hearing, but a degenerative disease caused his ears to slowly become less functional, and now he can’t hear anything without hearing aids. He learns that said degenerative disease could one day cause Keith to be completely deaf.

With Keith opening up to them and showing his true colors more and more, Lance comes to see that he really isn’t a violent person at all. When they hear stories of Keith’s fights from his point of view, they learn that most of the time, the other person was goading him or did something cruel that most definitely deserved a good hit. They learn that Keith sometimes has trouble controlling his emotions, and that when he gets angry or upset, it almost always ends badly. They learn that Keith doesn’t feel guilty for any of his outbursts, save one: the one with Lance.

That in itself is gives Lance goosebumps, and when Keith first tells them, he swears they’re both red in the face. Keith says he feels guilty for hitting Lance when he was just trying to help.

Of course, Lance forgives him - he already has, in his mind at least. Keith starts to adjust his old routes through the school so he can join the group on their way to class, suddenly appearing at Lance’s side from seemingly nowhere so they can walk to lunch together. And because he’s with their group most of the time, he gets halfway through the school year without a single fight.

The first time Lance learns anything substantial about Keith’s home life, he doesn’t even realize it.

It’s raining out - not the gentle, peaceful kind of rain, but the kind of rain that makes your skin ache and soaks you to the bone. The four of them made the regrettable decision to walk to the arcade instead of riding the bus straight home after school, and they spend a good twenty minutes racing through the downpour before they finally make it to Pidge’s house. 

Colleen Holt offers to dry everyone’s clothes and make them all hot chocolate, and offers to drive Lance, Hunk, and Keith home afterwards. Keith gently denies a ride home, even though Colleen insists that cycling home in the rain is a terrible idea, but then the storm slows into a sprinkle, so she stops pushing. Lance and Hunk have spent enough nights in the Holt household to have clothes there, and Pidge offers up some of her brother’s old clothes for Keith to wear.

Lance is mostly dry, snug and warm in a pair of blue lion-themed pajamas Pidge says are tacky when Colleen hands him some black plaid pants and a bulky maroon sweater that looks like it’s from the early 80s to give to Keith. He finds Keith in the upstairs bathroom, and when he pushes open the door that isn’t all the way closed, he catches Keith with his shirt halfway off, his back exposed and showcasing several colorful bruises painted along his spine.

Lance expects Keith to hide himself, and he’s right, as Keith whirls around and turns toward him, back now hidden against the wall. Lance turns his gaze to the floor and sets the stack of clothes on the bathroom counter. “Uh, Colleen wanted me to bring these to you...sorry for not asking if I could come in, that was bad manners. I’m just gonna…go. Now.” 

With that, Lance retreats out the door and pulls it shut, pointedly avoiding Keith’s gaze. However, the image of Keith’s violet eyes wide in shock stays in his head long after he’s back downstairs.

They don’t talk about that incident at all that night. Keith comes into the living room with his hair curtaining his face and takes a seat on the floor in front of the couch, right in front of where Lance is sitting cross-legged next to Hunk. He counts this as him being forgiven, and when their clothes are done drying and Colleen is piling everyone into the Holt family stationwagon, Lance’s eyes stay on Keith’s form until the car is too far away for him to see that mop of black hair.

Over the next few weeks, Lance’s gaze is on Keith more than ever before, and he starts to see ticks in his friend that he’d not quite seen for what they were previously. He catches on to the way Keith sits, arms tucked close to his body, back slightly hunched, as if he’s trying to occupy as little space as possible. He watches the way Keith is always hyper aware of his surroundings, how his gaze lingers on anyone who walks by their lunch spot, how he flinches whenever someone is too loud or when someone gets too close. How he never sits with his back to anyone, always sitting against a wall or tree or in a spot where he can see the entire courtyard.

Lance notices how he’s never seen Keith without his signature red hoodie on, sleeves all the way down and black fingerless gloves covering his hands. He notices how Keith’s hair is always left to curl around his neck and most of his face. He doesn’t have the same P.E. class as Keith, but according to Hunk, who does, Keith never changes into his uniform in front of others.

While Lance has no concrete evidence to back up his theory that Keith is being abused at home, the pieces of Keith’s behavior that suggest it are overwhelming.

One day, after at least two weeks of theorizing, Lance finds himself on the complete wrong side of town from where his house is. He’d taken a few wrong turns walking home from the arcade he was at with Pidge and Hunk - from whom he’d turned down rides, since Hunk and his mom weren’t going straight home and his house is further away than the Holts’ - and is suddenly in a neighborhood he’s never actually been in before except for on the school bus, and even then, he’s always so engrossed in conversing with Hunk he never really notices the scenery change.

The houses here are small, tiny, even, and all of them are in varying states of disrepair: yards of dead grass full of weeds and litter. Lance can’t help but feel rather uncomfortable in such an environment, and he’s on the verge of calling his mom to come pick him up when shouting from one of the houses catches his attention. 

It’s incredibly noisy, even though it’s at least two houses down from where Lance is standing. He can make out that the argument is centered around money, though he can’t tell what the two sides are, or distinguish between who’s yelling what. But then the shouting increases to full screeching and a door is thrown open with a crash that makes him think the door might have actually been broken, and a short frame stumbles out, a fist from inside the doorway connecting with their face and then pulling the door shut again.

It isn’t until the person is out in the yard that Lance recognizes them. It’s Keith, and the fact that his theory is suddenly being proven true makes his heart wrench in his chest.

Lance waits until Keith is collapsing onto the curb before he walks another two house’s distance so he’s at the edge of Keith’s brown lawn. Keith looks up and sees him before he can speak, and the look of pure shock mirrors the expression he was wearing that day so long ago when Lance caught him by surprise in Pidge’s bathroom. It’s a bookend, he thinks to himself; a moment in the beginning of a realization that happens later on, exactly the same.

“Lance?” Keith says, words quiet and stunned-sounding. 

Lance nods with an awkward half-smile and twiddles his thumbs in front of him, taking a few more small steps toward Keith. “Hey.”

As he steps closer, Lance can see Keith’s condition more clearly in the fading light. The street lamps flicker on just as he stops about two feet away from his friend, and suddenly he sees the way Keith’s ear is split open, blood trailing down the side of Keith’s face.

“God, Keith.” He says, taking a seat next to Keith on the curb, glancing back at the house with an ache in his stomach. 

Lance pulls his sleeve over his hand and inches toward the wound. Keith starts, leaning away, and Lance pauses. Their gazes meet and Lance feels his stomach sinking further when he can only interpret the expression on Keith’s face as fear. But then Keith’s features soften, and he lets Lance use his sleeve to wipe off the blood trailing down the side of his face. There’s only the sound of their own breathing and a dog barking somewhere in the distance, and Lance barely registers that he now has Keith’s blood all over the sleeve of his favorite jacket.

When the blood is mostly gone or dried onto skin, Lance carefully dislodges Keith’s hearing aid from his ear. It’s broken, a long crack going down the entirety of the speaker and exposing the wires within. Lance gives it to Keith, who looks down at it with a quiet huff. 

“This isn’t the first time this has happened, is it.” Lance says, more a statement than a question.

“...no,” Keith says. “But it is the first time he’s broken one of my hearing aids. Usually he avoids hitting near them, since they’re so expensive.”

“Why haven’t you told anyone? You could get him arrested. A guardian shouldn’t act like that.” 

“I know. I only live with him because he’s the only person in the area who could take me when I got kicked out of my previous foster home a while ago,” Keith explains, curling his fist around the hearing aid and pulling his knees to his chest. “And...there are a couple of reasons why I haven’t told anyone. Mostly because I don’t want to have to leave this neighborhood.”

Lance waits for Keith to continue, and he does.

“When I was younger, I had a foster brother. His name was Takashi Shirogane but everyone called him Shiro. We lived here together. We were really close, or...so I thought, at least.”

A car drives by, casting stark shadows against Keith’s face. Keith’s eyes dart to the ground, to Lance, to some point in the distance. But Lance can’t bring himself to look away.

“When he turned eighteen, he got kicked out and disappeared. I thought he would come back for me, even just to visit, but...he never did. But I don’t think he would just leave and never come back, you know? So I chose to stay here in case he ever comes back. He won’t be able to find me if I get sent to some other house in some other town.”

“Keith-”

“That’s not the only reason, though,” Keith interrupts him. “I was planning on running away, when I first started high school. He started treating me worse because he thinks I’m more of man now, since I’m older, so I should be able to take it. But then you spoke to me that one day, in the hall. And you invited me to sit with you and Pidge and Hunk, and you didn’t make it a one-time thing, either. You let me keep coming back, day after day.” 

Keith leans into Lance, and Lance lets him. “Did you know that you guys are the only friends I’ve ever had in my whole life, aside from Shiro?” 

“No, I didn’t know that.” Lance whispers. 

Keith doesn’t seem to have anything else to say, and Lance doesn’t know what else he can say, so they sit there in silence until Lance’s mom calls, demanding to know where he is. He explains that he got lost and that he stumbled across a friend’s house, and that he really doesn’t know where the hell he is. Keith supplies his home address and Lance’s mom says she’s on her way there. Silence falls once again when Lance hangs up.

“I should go back inside before your mom gets here.” Keith says after a moment.

“Keith, are you kidding?” Lance gapes. “You shouldn’t go back in there, period!”

“It’ll only be worse if I stay out overnight. And I don’t want to be a burden, not on you or your family or anyone else. I’ll be fine, Lance.”

Lance wants to argue that Keith’s definition of the word ‘fine’ has to be drastically skewed for it to apply right now, but he has a feeling it’ll only cause problems, so he says nothing. Keith stands, and Lance does the same, and before Lance can do so much as wipe the minuscule pieces of gravel off his jeans, Keith is hugging him and burying his face in the crook of his neck, carefully aiming his wounded ear away from Lance’s jacket to avoid getting any more blood on it. 

It’s Lance’s turn to be surprised - he’s never seen Keith hug anyone. Physical touch has been a slow thing for Keith. Pidge had to teach him what a fist-bump was. Yet, here he is, arms wrapped around Lance’s torso, fingers clinging to the fabric of his jacket as if Keith doesn’t want to leave him after all.

But then Keith is pulling away, and he says a quiet “seeya” before disappearing inside his house.

Lance almost expects the yelling to pick up again, but it doesn’t, and only a few minutes pass before he hears his mom’s voice  calling for him from her car a house over. He climbs into the passenger seat and apologizes for not having called earlier, and he vaguely explains that he got so caught up in talking to Keith that he didn’t notice the time passing by. It isn’t a lie - Lance doubts he’d ever be capable of lying to his mom - but it isn’t the whole truth, and while he wants to tell someone about what’s happening to Keith, it’s not his truth to tell.

And so he keeps it in, only half-listening as his mother recounts her day and blatantly ignoring his siblings as they start rambling about the chaos of life when he gets home. He sits through dinner without adding much to the conversation, and if anyone notices, they don’t say anything about it. His older sister gives him a dirty look when he misses her question about whether he’ll be bringing Pidge and Hunk over anytime soon, and he slips into his room before she can complain.

When Lance gets to school the next day, he pretends not to notice the lie in Keith’s story that the now-missing hearing aid fell out and got stepped on the day before.

A week later, Keith comes to school with a black eye and cut lip and a wrist that twitches whenever he tries to use it - the only injuries Lance has ever noticed outright, though he wonders if maybe he only noticed because he knows - and Lance decides he has to do something, whether Keith wants him to or not. 

Lance calls Pidge and Hunk over to his house that weekend under the pretense of a dinner with his family. It starts out just like any normal dinner with them over: Hunk helps cook dinner and chats avidly with Lance’s mom in the kitchen, Pidge beats Lance’s brothers at Mario Kart and effectively distracts them from bugging everyone else, and all of Lance’s siblings talk at a mile a minute to get ‘embarrassing school stories’ about Lance from both his friends. 

After dinner, Lance swiftly ushers Pidge and Hunk up to his bedroom and blocks the door with his desk chair to make up for his door not having a lock, placing both hands on his hips and turning to his friends with what he hopes is a serious expression that doesn’t betray the worry he feels for Keith. 

“Okay, why are you looking at us like that? You look like you’re about to scold us or something.” Pidge inquires, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at Lance.

Lance lets the serious expression slide off his face and takes a seat in his desk chair against the door. “Um, so last week I found out where Keith lives by accident, and I kinda found out his foster dad is abusing him, and technically he never asked me not to say anything and he came to class the other day all injured and I honestly can’t ignore it now that I know, so. I want to do something, but I don’t really know what I should do, and you guys are smart so I thought you could tell me.”

“Whoa, that sounds like some pretty heavy stuff.” Hunk says, concern riddling his features.

Pidge nods and rests her chin in one hand, focusing on something across from her with pinched eyes. “We should definitely tell someone. But we shouldn’t involve the police right away, it might be too much for Keith. We should take it slow, subtle.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Lance agrees. “So who should we tell?”

“Your parents. They’re probably the best people for this. They’ll be understanding.” 

“Don’t you think Keith would be overwhelmed by my family, though?”

“Oh, definitely. You just have to be there to help him out when it gets too intense.”

Lance takes a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this then.”

One week later, Lance has a plan. 

His entire family ends up involved in it somehow, and Lance is grateful to have such a large family: it means he has a lot of support. Pidge and Hunk were eager to help - and their parents all agreed to help as well - and Lance has to admit that the two of them came up with most of the plan themselves. Lance just provided the most crucial part. An endgame.

The endgame? Getting Keith into a safe space: Lance’s home. 

Now, they just have to convince Keith to go along with it, without him actually knowing the plan.

Lance does his best to act like there’s nothing out of the ordinary. He doesn’t want Keith to be suspicious of anything, or worse- think Lance doesn’t like him now that he knows the truth.

He waves at Keith when he gets off the bus with Hunk. He groans when Keith reminds him they have a maths test in about fifteen minutes. He listens intently as Pidge rambles about how Matt’s supposed to be coming home next month, and that he’ll be bringing his college roommate.

When Hunk and Pidge split off to go to their own homerooms, Lance turns to Keith and begs for a run-down of the formulas they need to know for their test. He hasn’t studied; he was too caught up in planning to even remember. But he knows Keith studied. And even if he hadn’t, he knows Keith is too good at maths to not know. So he begs Keith for help. And, like the good friend he is, Keith does.

They spend the precious few minutes before the start of homeroom running through all the material they’d learned the past month, and by the time the bell rings, Lance feels at least a little bit prepared for the test.

(He still fails, which he doesn’t find out for another week, but he tried, and that’s what matters anyway, right?)

It isn’t until lunch period that their plan really goes into action.

“Hey, so my brother’s birthday is today,” Lance starts - and it isn’t a lie. “and my family’s got plans to bake him a cake and set up for like, his birthday party and whatnot. He’ll be at work until like seven pm, so my mom said I could invite you guys to come help with the setup.”

“Well, you know I’m coming. My moms already told me your mama invited them to do all the food prep.” Hunk answers immediately.

“I’ll call my mom and let her know. It’s not like I have plans or anything.” Pidge says.

They all look to Keith at exactly the same time, and for a split second, Lance is worried Keith will suspect the entire conversation is scripted (which it is), but he just looks awkward and nervous.

“You won’t be a burden if you decide you join us, y’know.” Lance says.

It must be like Lance was reading Keith’s thoughts, because Keith’s ears turn pink, and he shifts a little in his chair. Pidge and Hunk nod and hum in assent to Lance’s statement, and Keith looks to be considering his options: he can accept, and hang out with his friends in their home environment for the first time since that rainy day that feels so long ago, or he can decline, which would ruin Lance’s plan completely, however unintentional.

And either Keith is finally starting to truly warm up to them, or Lance is just plain lucky, because Keith smiles - a rare, toothy, beautiful smile - and says, “Sure. Why not?”

Lance beams in return, can see Hunk and Pidge beaming as well, half out of relief their plan is working and half out of pure happiness, because Keith is coming with them, and while it isn’t a big deal, really, Lance suspects all three of them see it as some kind of milestone.

With that part of their plan sorted, normal conversation resumes, and when the bell rings, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge share a thumbs up between each other the moment Keith’s back is turned. He doesn’t seem to suspect a thing, and Lance is grateful, because the entire plan hinges on Keith staying oblivious and not getting angry at Lance for concocting the plan in the first place.

Lance tries not to think about what’ll happen once Keith inevitably realizes he’s been betrayed.

After school ends, Lance calls his mom to come pick the four of them up, because Hunk is the only one who could actually ride home with him on the bus. She’s expecting his call. True to script, he asks if she can come get them, and she asks if it’s just going to be Hunk and Pidge. Lance feels himself smiling when he says “No, Keith’s gonna be coming too. I know you wanted to meet him.” and he can imagine she’s smiling, too, because aside from Hunk and Pidge, she was the first to accept Lance’s plan, and had dove headfirst into helping with the preparations.

They chatter rather aimlessly while they wait for Lance’s mom, everyone but Keith a little bit on edge with the secrets they’re keeping, and Lance is grateful it only takes her about five minutes to arrive (he suspects she may have already been in her car, ready to go, when he called).

“You must be Keith!” She says as they all pile into the car. “Lance has been chattering on about you for a while now, I almost thought he’d abandoned Hunk and Pidge completely!” 

Lance sputters, can feel his face growing red, can feel Hunk and Pidge’s eyes on him. He turns to look out the window, because he doesn’t want to see the knowing looks they’re surely giving him. And he doesn’t want to even imagine what kind of expression Keith has.

“I bet he just badmouths Keith for being better than him at everything.” Pidge says snidely.

“Hey!” Lance squawks, because he has absolutely been doing that, but no one needs to know. Especially not Keith himself. “He’s not better than me at everything! And I don’t badmouth!”

Lance can see his mother side-eyeing him, eyebrows raised. He knows she can see straight through his horrible attempt at saving himself from embarrassment. Which is pointless, because he’s already embarrassed. And, because she’s Maria McClain, he watches her smirk and roll her eyes as she turns her gaze back on the road and continues talking like nothing’s happened.

“So, how was school, then? Anything noteworthy happen?” She asks, perfectly mundane. “How did you do on that test you forgot to study for?”

Keith is chuckling in the backseat, Lance knows it, and he shoots the guy a look that he hopes conveys how utterly betrayed he feels. “Hey, I’ve been busy! Doing...stuff.” Right, because that wasn’t at all ominous. Keith just raises an eyebrow. “And besides, Keith helped me study! This morning. Before the test. That counts!” 

He doesn't sound at all convincing, but everyone is entertained to some degree, and while Lance kind of wants to point out how they’re all entertained at his expense, it’s nice to see a smile on their faces. With all the planning they’ve been doing and the nature of the situation at hand, it’s been a few days since Lance has seen Hunk’s eyes crinkle around the edges or heard Pidge’s full belly chortle. And Keith...well, he’s chuckling, and that’s something Lance recognizes as rare.

The ride from Alternia High School to the McClain residence is spent in constant chatter. Lance steers the conversation away from himself and his mistakes, and they get talking about cakes and party decorations and what kind of music should be played and oh yeah, Andi doesn’t even like cake, so what on Earth are they gonna do now? By the time they pull up to the quaint grey and white house Lance has known all his life, Hunk and Maria have narrowed down a list of four food choices to prepare in place of cake, and Pidge is playing space trivia with Keith in the back.

Toni and Camilla’s matching Frozen bikes are toppled over on opposite sides of the front lawn and on a normal day Lance would have been wondering who was watching them if they weren’t in the car with his mother, their full-time babysitter. But this isn’t a normal day. 

“Alright kids, let’s get to work!” Maria says, turning to wink at everyone before climbing out of the car, waving her hands in an encouraging gesture Lance immediately interprets as “hurry up.” His friends also grasp the message and soon they’re all clambering up the steps onto the front porch of the McClain residence. Maria kicks a basketball out of the way of the door and opens it with one hand while texting with the other, and, once inside, is nearly bowled over by small children.

“Tio Hunk, tio Hunk!” Toni and Camilla, their words overlapping as they interrupt each other and compete over who can manage to get to Hunk first. 

Hunk, to his credit, has mastered the role of ‘doting uncle’ and scoops them both up at the same time, one in each arm, and lets them throw their arms around his neck and pepper his cheeks with kisses. Pidge snickers into her hand, and Lance can see Keith trying not to laugh, too.

Lance puts on a fake pout and crosses his arms over his chest. “Hey hey hey, since when is Hunk the favorite uncle?”

“Since always!” Camilla says with a smile, giggling even more when Lance scowls.

“Oh, come on,” Pidge pats him on the back. “You can pout and complain over being abandoned later. We have a birthday party to set up, remember?”

Nodding, Lance lets Pidge wrap one hand around his arm and her other around Keith’s, and pull them both after Maria, who has disappeared into the kitchen. There are three other adults in the kitchen already - Lance’s father, who appears to be rummaging through kitchen drawers; and Hunk’s moms, who are greeting Maria with kisses on the cheek and both seem to be holding an assortment of dishware. His sister Melissa is standing on a step-stool in the living room, holding a roll of red paper streamers and looking incredibly bored. Half the roll is already taped up on the wall and Lance wonders why the hell she isn’t taping the rest of it up instead of standing there.

“Did you find any tape yet, dad?” She calls across the room, sounding annoyed.

“Not yet, just be patient! Why do we have so much junk in these drawers?!” John McClain calls back, sounding equally as annoyed..

Ah, that makes sense.

“You should have told me we needed tape earlier, I could’ve grabbed some on my way home!” Maria says. Lance watches her cross her arms and frown disappointedly at his father.

It’s quite funny, actually, how easily she can throw even her own husband into instant regret.

“I didn’t know we were out of tape in the whole house! I could have sworn we had more in one of these drawers, but we have so much random crud in them that even if we do have more, I don’t think I’d be able to find any if I looked around for ten thousand years!”

“Still, I think tape is a pretty important thing for a birthday party, don’t you agree?”

“Are they fighting?” Pidge asks quietly, leaning close to Lance’s ear, as if trying to be discreet. “I thought it was impossible for your parents to fight.”

Lance laughs a little to himself. “Oh, trust me, they fight sometimes, and this is not it.”

John and Maria are still bickering over the obvious importance of tape in any kind of situation that involves decorating, and Hunk bypasses all of it to offer his personal tape roll to Melissa, who looks like she’s about ready to keel over from holding her arm up so long. She smiles gratefully and continues hanging the length of streamers, carefully climbing down the step ladder to move it a few feet over before climbing back up to curl and hang more. It looks amazing, Lance thinks.

“Tio Lance, whos’ that?” Camilla says, tugging on Lance’s sleeve and pointing at Keith. 

“That’s Keith,” Lance answers with a smile. “He’s my friend, like Hunk and Pidge. And I think,” Lance leans in close to Camilla’s ear, Toni leaning in to eavesdrop. “He could use some hugs.”

Toni and Camilla nod very seriously, turning toward Keith with a synchronized rhythm that could actually be considered quite creepy, like they’re the twins from The Shining or some shit. Keith, who has clearly been watching the conversation - most likely because it was about him - has a very quizzical expression on his face and Lance puts on his best evil grin as he watches Toni and Camilla practically barrel into Keith’s legs, wrapping their arms around him as best they can.

Pidge full-out belly laughs at how completely out of his league Keith looks, hands hovering above Camilla and Toni’s heads like he’s not sure if he’s allowed to hug them back, but then they’re giggling and he smiles, genuinely smiles, and his gloved hands rest on their shoulders as they rub their noses on his calves. Lance doesn’t mention that they might be wiping off actual snot.

“You’re tio Keith now!” Toni tells Keith, clearly not willing to accept rejection. “Come help us with our project! It’s the most important project of the whole party, mama said!”

“The most important? What is it?” Keith questions.

“Decorations! The plate ones!” Camilla yells in Keith’s ear. “We have to make ‘em ‘cause mama  said a party has to have plate pictures! The best ones!” 

“From the best artists, mama said!” Toni agrees, beaming.

“Wow,” Keith says, crouching to Toni and Camilla’s height. “That really is the most important.”

That feedback seems to be the final building block in Toni and Camilla’s easy love of Keith, since as soon as they hear him reiterating how important their job is, they each grab one of his arms and almost make him fall over in their haste to drag him over to what Lance assumes is their designated “decorating area” in a corner of the living room. They spout out questions on if Keith is a good artist and what kinds of things he can draw, and Lance finds himself simply waving the three of them off when Keith looks back at him and Pidge, as if asking what to do.

“Do you think we should save him? I doubt they’re gonna give him back unless you go tell them he has a different job to do.” Pidge asks.

“Nah,” Lance says. “This’ll keep him busy so we can talk to mama and the others.”

“Fair enough.”

While Keith is occupied with drawing on the paper plates Toni and Camilla hand him - turns out he’s a really good artist, who knew? - Lance drifts from person to person in the most natural ways he can, making sure everyone knows what’s going on with Keith. He takes Melissa’s place hanging the streamers when she complains about her arm being sore. He relieves his father of the search for tape by telling him Hunk had some, because apparently no one had done that yet. He hunts down and cleans some dishes Lily and Sunny Garrett needed but couldn’t find.

He, Hunk and Pidge drift past each other while helping prepare and trade information, some of it useful - like Pidge’s discovery that Andi will be home an hour early because of an unexpected hour change due to the time of year - and some of it not - like Hunk’s unnecessary comment on how Lance keeps glancing at Keith and is eventually gonna give them away. Which actually is helpful, now that he thinks about it, but the smirk and eyebrow wiggle Hunk gives him really isn’t.

When the brunt of the preparations are done, Lance breaks away from setting the table to grab the paper plate decorations Toni, Camilla, and Keith were meant to be making. He finds his niece and nephew practically laying on top of Keith, whose face is almost obscured by carpet as he valiantly tries to continue drawing what looks to be Camilla in a princess dress while the two kids are bouncing up and down on his back, clearly having gotten bored with coloring.

Or maybe less bored with coloring, and more intrigued by Keith. Lance doesn’t know which.

Keith looks up when Lance approaches, and Lance effortlessly scoops Toni off Keith’s back. Toni protests with an obnoxious whine but doesn’t make any attempts to get up when Lance sits cross-legged on the carpet and plops the boy down in his lap. Camilla stops bouncing and Lance is pretty sure he hears Keith heave a sigh of relief, but he doesn’t mention it.

“How are the decorations going, kids?” He asks, ruffling Toni’s hair. 

“Uber good!” “Good!” Toni and Camilla say, their sentences overlapping. “Keith is uber good at drawing! Just like us!” Camilla continues. 

“Uber good? Where did you learn that?” Lance questions.

“Lourdes!” 

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Is Lourdes your other sister?” Keith asks, eyes still on his paper plate drawing. “You’ve never talked about her before, just Melissa.”

“Yeah, she’s the middle sister. Melissa’s the oldest, then Andi, Lourdes, me, and then these two little pains in the butt.” Lance explains, ignoring Toni and Camilla’s whining about being insulted.

“So you’re technically the baby of the family, then.”

Keith still doesn’t look up from his drawing, but Lance can see the corners of his mouth quirk up and knows he’s smirking, as if this were some funny joke. Which it isn’t. Toni and Camilla laugh at it anyway, and Lance frowns. “Maybe! But that doesn’t mean I’m any less mature!”

“Oh right, as if Lance and mature even belong in the same sentence.” Says a new voice.

Lance turns to find Lourdes standing right above him, holding two huge paper grocery bags and looking like she’d just rolled out of bed despite it being early evening. One of the perks of college, Lance supposes- everyone’s too Done and Tired to care about appearances anymore. 

“Okay, first of all, rude,” Lance snaps, scowling up at his sister with his hands on his hips. “And also, what the actual heck do you have in those bags?”

“Four lemon curd cheesecakes, a box of those vegan pumpkin cookies Melissa likes, and about six rolls of tape. Mom texted me to get some stuff because apparently she completely forgot that Andi doesn’t like cake and needed an emergency backup. Lucky I wasn’t home yet.” Lourdes replies, ignoring his scowl. Her eyes land on Keith and she raises an eyebrow. “Who’s he?”

Lance stops scowling and Keith finally looks up from his drawing, confused and maybe a little bit sheepish. Lance opens his mouth to answer, but Toni and Camilla beat him to the punch.

“He’s Keith!” “He’s Lance’s friend!” “He helped us with our pictures!” “Yeah, he’s uber good!” The two of them talk over each other, as always, but their explanation (if it can even be called that) gets across well enough. Lourdes smiles at Keith and Keith tentatively smiles back, grunting in discomfort as Camilla flips positions on his back to gesture wildly at his drawing. “He’s drawing me as a princess!” She says, beaming from ear to ear like it’s the best news in the whole world.

“Whoa, that’s pretty cool!” Lourdes sets the paper bags to the side and crouches down next to Lance and Toni, peeking at Keith’s drawing and whistling. “And it is uber good, just like you said.”

“Yeah, uber good!” Toni parrots. 

Keith mumbles out a “thank you” and watches Lourdes ruffle both Toni and Camilla’s hair before standing back up again to take the paper bags to the kitchen. Lance watches her go. In any other situation, he would’ve expected her to tease him- because yeah, he’d talked about Keith a lot, even before he’d involved his entire family in his plan. He’s still kind of surprised she didn’t tease him, even a little bit, but the smarter part of him knows it’s because she doesn’t want to make it obvious that everyone in Lance’s family knows who Keith is, even if it wouldn’t be that strange.

“Lance! We need to get the desserts set up, come help get this cheesecake on the table.” Maria yells as she makes her way over to them. “Toni, Camilla, go ahead and put your decorations up.” 

Toni and Camilla scramble to gather all the paper plates strewn about the living room floor. Keith helps them and lets the two kids drag him to the dining room table, showcasing where to put the paper plate art and chattering on about how “the angle has to be perfect” or something similar. Maria reaches Lance’s side and walks with him toward the kitchen where the cheesecakes are.

“It looks like he’s opening up. That’s a good thing.” She says, smiling warmly at the three. Lance knows she’s talking about Keith, and his own gaze falls on the boy. He nods. 

“Have you figured out how you’re going to explain this all to him?” 

“Not yet.”

Lance can feel his mama’s gaze on him, and he just keeps watching Keith. He watches him struggle to get one of the half-bent paper plates to stay neatly upright against a bowl of oranges, watches Toni and Camilla watch him, waiting, watches them applaud when he moves away and the plate doesn’t topple over. Then one of them bumps the table and causes it to fall, and they both start apologizing profusely while Keith looks on like he’s waiting for death’s sweet release.

“You’ve been brave with this plan, mijo.” Maria says, tucking an arm around Lance’s middle. “You know Keith might not react well. He’s probably going to be hurt, if he’s as guarded and private as you tell me. But I think it’s good that you’re here for him. Sounds like he needs it.”

Lance rests his chin on her head. “Yeah, I know he does. I just hope he doesn’t hate me after.”

Andi hadn’t been included in any of the plans for helping Keith, since it was all meant to overlap with a Super-Secret-Birthday-Bash Andi couldn’t know about, so the shocked expression on his face when he comes home to a horde of people screaming “happy birthday” at him in varying volumes is entirely genuine. He leaps about a foot in the air and the (empty) plastic cup he’d been holding goes flying across the entryway, almost hitting Sunny Garrett in her smiling face.

“The fuck?!” He yells, half-glaring at everyone.

“Language, mijo!” Maria yells back, though she’s still smiling from ear to ear. She pulls him down to her height and presses a kiss to his cheek. “It’s your birthday! Your surprise birthday party!

Andi makes a face like he’s constipated and then tilts his head, eyebrows going upward in a yeah-that-makes-sense fashion. “I feel like I should have expected this.”

“Well, it’s good that you didn’t, it would have ruined the surprise. Now come on, we got you cheesecake.” Maria pats him on the back and leads him out of the entryway, toward the kitchen. As she passes by where Lance is standing with Hunk and Pidge, she nods to Keith - still stuck in a Toni-Camilla sandwich - then winks and keeps moving. Andi notices the exchange and shoots Lance a confused look. Lance just shrugs. He’ll have to explain everything later.

For now, he has a message to pass on: it’s time to make Keith Kogane a McClain.

(Or, well, get him used to the McClains. Saying they’re gonna make him a McClain is weird. Like he’s gonna marry into the family or something, which is definitely not what’s happening here.)

(Later, Lance sees that Keith does become a McClain, as wholly as if he’d been born one.)

Dinner is a whirlwind of energy, with the ever-so-embarrassing Happy Birthday song ritual that has Andi’s ears turning red and food being passed around and everyone talking at once with at least four separate conversations going on at any given minute. Everyone’s eager to talk to Keith, and if it were anyone else’s birthday Lance would probably feel terrible for his friend taking the spotlight, but it’s Andi, and one glance at his brother confirms that Andi’s most likely grateful to have the attention on someone else so he can eat his cheesecake in the rare, temporary peace.

Keith is introduced, a little belatedly, to everyone at the party and they all take their turns making conversation with him, asking about his art and how classes are going and if Lance is just as annoying at school as he is at home. Lily and Sunny ask him for an opinion on the pizza they’d all had for dinner, and when he expresses his gratitude, they start on about whether or not he likes cooking or baking. Turns out, he’s never actually baked anything in his life, and the only thing he knows how to cook on his own is mac & cheese. The women look personally offended.

They promise to teach him how to cook at least a few basic dishes sometime, and Lance smiles to himself at the barely-there grin on Keith’s face when Sunny ruffles his hair.

Lance gets roped into a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos by Toni and Camilla, and he loses every round because he’s too distracted, watching Lourdes and Keith where they’re sitting on the floor across the living room. He can’t hear what they’re saying, but by the time the game is over, Keith is bright red and Lourdes is cackling like a Disney villain. Which she is. Lance swears.

Melissa gathers Toni and Camilla and bids everyone goodbye over the sounds of their protests. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning, calm down.” She says, when Camilla starts crying.

“But tio Keith won’t be here tomorrow!”

Lance thinks it’s adorable how attached to Keith the two had become over the course of the evening. Camilla continues to sob and Toni looks like he’s on the edge of crying too, and Melissa sighs, probably bone tired. Lance moves to try and calm them, but then Keith is crouching low to hug the both of them, still looking totally out of his element but perhaps a little less terrified.

“Hey, I’ll come back and visit sometime, okay?” He says. Toni and Camilla nod. “I promise.”

The two siblings cling to Keith a little longer before pulling back and hurrying to their mama, sobs replaced by little baby sniffles. They all wave until the door is closed behind them. 

“So, who’s up for some MarioKart?” Pidge suggests, raising an eyebrow..

“Oh hell yeah! I’m gonna whoop your butt, Holt!” Lourdes easily accepts the challenge.

Pidge, Lourdes, Lance, Keith, and Hunk all end up crowded on the living room couch, trading off controllers whenever one person loses. Both Lance and Lourdes’ legs are in Hunk’s lap, and every once in a while he makes a face at their feet, though he makes no move to push them off. Pidge is sitting with her neck up against Lourdes’ side and the rest of her body flopping over the armrest like a limp noodle, and Keith is squished into the space between Lance and the other end of the couch, hands leaning on the armrest to avoid getting bumped by Lance’s elbows.

It’s mundane, and familiar, and comfortable, and Keith looks so relaxed, and Lance prays that it means his plan is working. He prays that Keith will understand, once everything is explained. He prays that Keith won’t hate him and run away and refuse help like he did before.

He prays that, no matter whether this fantastical plan succeeds or fails, Keith will be safe.

Lance’s nerves get the better of him, and he gets no higher than seventh place on any round. Pidge and Lourdes wipe the floor with all of them, expectedly, stealing first place from each other over and over until they’ve got about the same amount of wins. Keith does surprisingly well for a MarioKart beginner and Lance finds himself watching Keith more than he’s playing the game. 

Thoughts swim in his head of the worst possible outcome of the night, where Keith calls him a traitor, storms out of the house, and refuses to talk to Lance ever again. He imagines what he’ll say, what he’ll do, what expression will be on his face. He imagines what would happen if Keith just… went with it. If he easily accepted that Lance just wanted to help, and chose to stay. That’s the outcome Lance wants, and he’s more than a little bit terrified of the other possibilities.

He wants Keith to let him help, wants Keith to be safe, wants Keith to be happy. 

Lance’s hasn’t been in the game for several rounds now, and he only half-notices Pidge’s eighth win of the night. He’s staring at Keith’s fourth place ranking when Maria calls for them all to come into the kitchen for cocoa. There’s a lot of shuffling and stumbling and Lourdes almost falls on her face, but they all make it into the kitchen laughing and smiling from ear to ear.

He and Keith are the last ones into the kitchen, and he watches his mama gently tap Keith on the shoulder and usher him back out of the room, handing him a mug of cocoa on the way. And oh fuck, here we go. Lance holds his cup but doesn’t drink. He tunes out the MarioKart character stat debate going on beside him, is too busy watching his mom and Keith. He knows what they must be talking about- knows she must be explaining their plans to Keith. It’s nerve-wracking.

Lance knows the exact moment Keith realizes that everyone who was at that party, aside from Andi, is 100% aware of everything going on in Keith’s life. He knows because Keith’s head snaps around and sharp eyes land on him- glaring, cutting holes in his skull, full of hurt and anger.

This is what Lance was scared of.

Keith turns away, and Lance feels his stomach plummeting into the ground. Does Keith hate him now? What’s he thinking, of course Keith hates him now. How could he have thought everything would work out just fine? They’re not in a damn fairytale- this is real life, with Lance’s real friend, whose secrets he’s spilled to practically everyone he knows. Lance knows his intentions were good, but does that really outweigh the fact that he’s meddling in Keith’s life? They haven’t even been friends for that long. A couple months at most. Lance has no right to tell Keith what to do.

No more than two minutes into Lance’s staring-off-into-space-silent-guilt-parade and movement snaps him out of his thoughts, and Lance watches Keith storm around the living room, collecting his things. No one is talking about MarioKart now. Everyone is watching Keith.

“Keith, mijo, at least let me drive you home. It’s late.” Maria asks, her face full of concern.

Keith shakes his head, avoiding eye contact, and yanks his shoes on. He looks back at Lance and Lance feels like he might crumble under that gaze, because Keith is fucking pissed.

The front door opens and Keith leaves, closing the door behind him, and without really thinking, Lance races after him. He’s wearing socks and cargo shorts and it’s past dark in late autumn, and he’s freezing the second he walks out the door. “Keith!” He yells, his feet already sore from running on cold pavement. “Keith, wait!” Keith is fast, and he doesn’t slow down.

Lance catches up and has to stop himself from grabbing at Keith’s arm, because the last thing he wants right now is for Keith to react on impulse and get them in another bad situation.

“Keith, please listen to me! I just wanted to help-”

“Help?!”

Keith whirls around and Lance takes a stumbling step back. Keith is glaring at him, expression clear even in the dim street lighting. He looks small, somehow, his shoulders hunched in and his arms pulled close, hands balled into fists at his sides that Lance can’t help but stare at. 

“Do you really think spilling my private life to everyone you know is gonna help?! What if they tell the police?! What do you think is gonna happen?!”  

“He’s abusing you, Keith!” Lance says, trying not to shout. “What if we can get him arrested?”

“And what if you do?! Lance, the whole reason I haven’t told anyone about this is because when social services finds out, they’re gonna relocate me. Another family, another town- that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid! I finally made friends, I don’t want to leave. But you know what? It doesn’t matter now, because clearly the friends I made don’t care about my fucking privacy.”

Keith’s words sting, like little needles stabbing into his skull, and Lance says nothing. Keith looks angry, and hurt, and there are tears in the corners of his eyes that twinkle in the lamplight. What can Lance say to him? After all that? Keith’s right. Lance fucked up. There’s nothing else to it.

Lance watches Keith turn around and leave. He stands there on the pavement until Keith’s form disappears around a corner and then he stands there a little longer, because he’s… in shock. 

This is what he was afraid of. This was the worst case scenario.

Finally, when Lance’s socked feet are numb and his whole body is shivering, he turns his back on where Keith’s gone and walks back up to the house, where Maria, Lourdes, Hunk, and Pidge are all waiting just inside the door, the same expression of concern mirrored across their faces.

“He left.” Lance says. “I- I fucked up. Really bad.” 

“Oh, mijo, this isn’t your fault. You did what you thought was right.” Maria says, pulling him into her arms. “Sometimes, when we do something out of love, it backfires. That isn’t our fault.”

“I don’t think Keith’s had a lot of love in his life. Maybe he just doesn’t understand.” Hunk adds.

Lance nods against his mama’s shoulder, and she pets his hair for a bit. Once they all discover how freezing cold Lance is, they gather around to smother him with blankets from the couch and Maria makes another round of cocoa for everyone. Conversation is slow and strained, and Lance tries to tune out most of it, but every time he slips into feeling absolutely miserable about hurting Keith, Hunk or Pidge or Lourdes says something funny that has him giggling despite it all.

When the cocoa is gone Maria finally ushers everyone to bed, and Lance ends up in his room with Pidge and Hunk shoved in next to him on the bottom bunk. 

“What should we do now?” Lance asks into the dark, Pidge’s hair tickling his cheek.

Hunk, already half asleep, mumbles into his shoulder. “Just give him space. He’ll come ‘round.”

Keith does not come ‘round. At least, not very quickly.

When Lance and Hunk get of the bus on Monday morning, Keith doesn’t wave at them from his bike, doesn’t follow them to where Pidge always waits, doesn’t walk with Lance to maths. 

Keith doesn’t give Lance so much as a side-eye during class, and Lance says nothing. 

It’s like they’ve gone back to the first weeks of school, when Keith was just “that kid who punched me that one time” and Lance was “the one who got in the way.” Keith doesn’t walk with them to their classes, doesn’t sit with them at lunch, doesn’t share his notes with Lance or argue about the probability of aliens with Pidge or let Hunk fuss over his hair like a surrogate mother.

And Lance says nothing. Keith has every right to avoid him- to avoid all of them. Lance feels bad that he’s ruined Pidge and Hunk’s friendship with Keith too, just by getting them involved. But he does his best to stay positive, to not let what happened with Keith drag him down too much.

(He lies. It eats away at him as he tries to sleep, and no matter how many times Hunk or Pidge or his mama try to tell him it’ll all work out, Lance can’t seem to figure out how it possibly could.)

Around a week and a half passes before Keith approaches them again, and when he does, he has another black eye over the one that had finally started to heal, a gash on his eyebrow, and a thick ring of bruises around his throat that have Lance’s stomach churning. When he looks Keith in the eye his heart sinks too, because Keith’s expression isn’t angry, or hurt, just… tired. 

“Dude, you look like you’ve lost a Kaiju battle or something.” Pidge blurts out. 

Lance blanks, because what the fuck, Pidge?! But then he hears Keith actually laugh- not quite a happy laugh, more the awkward kind of laugh, the kind of laugh you laugh when it feels like the world’s falling to pieces around and you have to laugh because if you don’t you’ll just start crying.

“Yeah, well,” Keith says, his voice cracked and raw. “It definitely feels that way.”

Pidge snorts, and Hunk sighs, and Lance stares at Keith. He should say something. But what? Apologize? He already has, and Keith didn’t take it too well. Should he explain himself? He thinks that might make Keith even angrier- it would sound like Lance thinks Keith is weak and helpless.

But Keith doesn’t want to talk about the failed “rescue mission” half-disguised as Andi’s birthday party. Keith doesn’t mention it at all, just asks, “Can I sit with you guys?”

No one answers. Pidge and Hunk are clearly waiting for Lance to make the call, and Lance appreciates the gesture, even though he doesn’t think it’s earned. Keith waits, not mentioning the fight they had or how Lance betrayed him or even anything more about his wounds. Keith waits, watching Lance watch him, and Lance thinks that Keith’s question never needed to be asked.

“Of course you can.”

For the first time in what feels like an eternity, they’re all together, joking and laughing and poking fun at each other, just like friends should. Keith is smiling, and laughing, and Lance is happy. 

When they all get out of class at the end of the day, Keith is waiting for them in the main hallway. He seems nervous, more nervous than he had at lunch, but he debates with Pidge the logic or not-logic of a comic series they apparently both read and Lance decides not to mention it. Hunk joins in on their debate once he has a better picture of the context and Lance listens with a laugh, not really understanding any of it but enjoying the ridiculous things they use to justify their side.

They all say hi to Mrs. Holt and wave dramatically at Pidge as their stationwagon pulls out of the parking lot, and Keith falls behind as Lance and Hunk make for their bus. Hunk goes on ahead with a playful nudge at both of them and Lance pauses, watches Keith, tries not fidget.

Keith looks at him and his expression is sad, almost desperate. “Lance, I’m really sorry about the other night. You didn’t deserve to get yelled at. You were just trying to help me, and I didn’t want to admit I needed help. I just- I’m not used to people being nice to me. It caught me off guard, still does, and I think I didn’t know how to cope with your family treating me like I’m… one of them. So I picked the first excuse I could to get mad and I treated you like actual shit. I’m really sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, you had every reason to get mad-” Lance starts.

“No, I really didn’t!” Keith interrupts him, quietly catching himself with a whispered apology. “You wanted to help me, and you did what you thought would help. You told people you trusted and I got mad at you for it. That’s not fair. It’s not fair for me to reject you when you’re just trying to be a good friend. I think I understand what that means now, y’know. Being someone’s friend.”

Lance finds himself smiling, because this is what he wanted Keith to understand- that he has friends, people who love him and care about him and want him to be safe. He wanted Keith to understand that he has people who want to help him. People that will help him, if he asks.

“Keith,” Lance says, holding a hand out for Keith to take, if he wants. “Wanna come to my house tonight? You did promise you’d visit Toni and Camilla again sometime.”

Keith stares at him for a moment, and Lance wonders if maybe he should have said more, if he should explain more of his process or how much his family loves Keith or apologize again, even though Keith doesn’t seem to think he’s at fault. He wonders if this is too forward, asking him to come over again like it’s not big deal. He wonders if Keith will say yes after all that’s happened.

Keith smiles, shy and small and real. He takes Lance’s hand, and says, “Yes, please.”

That night, when Lance and Keith are snuggled up in blankets on different bunks in Lance’s bed, Lance explains to Keith every aspect of his plans to get Keith into a safer place.

Keith listens, doesn’t say anything until Lance is finished. A heavy silence hangs between them.

“How many people were involved?” He asks.

Lance counts on his fingers. “Well, my whole family, aside from like, Toni and Camilla. And Andi, since we couldn’t tell him about the party. Hunk’s moms, Hunk and Pidge, Pidge’s parents- we had backup plans in case you’d rather stay with Pidge or Hunk than me. So… ten people?”

That heavy silence falls again, and Lance finds himself fidgeting, anxious and impatient. He picks at hanging threads from the mattress above him, fiddles with the hem of his blanket, and waits.

Finally, a reply. “That’s a lot of people.”

“Yeah.”

“That means I’m important to you, doesn’t it?”

Lance blanks, for a second, then smiles from ear to ear, because yes, Keith finally gets it. “Hell yeah you’re important to me, dude! You’re one of my best friends now! That makes you a VIP.”

Lance hears Keith’s soft, raspy laugh echo in the darkness of the room. “Sweet.”

Just like how Keith became a part of Lance’s little friend group in no time at all, Keith becomes a part of the McClain family pretty much within the span of a single night. 

No one so much as bats and eyelash when Keith joins them at the breakfast table the morning after his first night staying over, and in the week since, he’s had personalized allergy-free lunches made for him by Maria, had an hour long Nicolas Sparks debate with Andi, and had his makeup done by Melissa, Lourdes, and Toni and Camilla, all on separate occasions. 

(And yes, Lance forced his mama to take pictures on each of those separate occasions.)

Maria drives them to and from school, picking up Hunk along the way most days. She takes him and Keith out to buy coats and new jeans, because Keith didn’t bring a whole lot with him when he left home and he doesn’t actually have a good winter coat, which is sacrilege in her eyes. 

Lance offers up his own bedroom to share with Keith, and at first he’s nervous. He’s always had a hard time sleeping with others in the room, because he’s a restless sleeper. He moves around a lot. He makes noise. Growing up, Andi constantly complained about being kept up by Lance shaking the bed, until finally Melissa moved out and Lourdes offered to share with him. 

Keith? Keith does not complain. Keith sleeps like a rock. It usually takes Lance a good while to fall asleep, even with his earbuds in playing ocean songs and all possible light blocked out by an eye mask. Keith, however, simply lays down and passes out, and does not move until he wakes.

It’s almost like we were meant to be, Lance thinks. The sentiment makes him giggle.

Everyone adores Keith, dotes on him and teases him and treats him like he’s been a part of the household from the very beginning. Lance can’t help but wish that Keith never has to leave.

(Lance worries. He worries so much. When they turn onto the main hall in school one day and Keith’s foster dad is standing there, talking to a teacher, and Keith looks so pale and small and scared, Lance grabs his arm and guides him to another exit, Hunk doing his best to calm Keith and Pidge watching behind them like a hawk watching for a potential predator. Keith stays home from then on and Maria lets him. And Lance worries. How long, exactly, can all of this last?)

“Is Toni gonna die?” 

Lance looks at Camilla and resists the urge to smile, because despite the nature of her question, she doesn’t seem even the slightest bit concerned for her brother’s well-being. 

“No, Camilla, he just has the flu. He’s not gonna die.” He says, patting her on the back.

Camilla turns and glares at him for making her stumble and Lance has to hide his smile behind a hand. She finishes off the braid she’s doing in Keith’s hair and turns to Lance, holding it out in his direction with the most begrudging expression a five-year-old can have. She’s Melissa’s kid, that’s for damn sure. Lance takes the end of the braid and ties off the elastic for her.

“All done! Look, look, look!” Camilla says with sudden enthusiasm, shoving a plastic play mirror into Keith’s hands so he can see the masterpiece that is his new hairdo.

Camilla has spent a good fifteen or twenty minutes twisting three smaller braids into one gigantic plait that’s about as wide as Keith’s head, with bumps at different angles and crooked chunks of braid and little hairs that didn’t quite fit into the plaits sticking out every which way. It looks terrible, Lance thinks, but in the cute, learning-curve kind of way that can only really be achieved when you have a five-year-old who has only ever done the hair of dolls decide to give you a makeover.

Lance fully expects Keith’s face to contort into something that portrays how much Camilla might need to practice, but Keith just smiles, turning the mirror this way and that to get a view of every angle he possibly can. He’s beaming, and Camilla is beaming, and Lance fucking giggles.

How can a guy who didn’t know what a fist bump was a few months ago, be so good with kids?!

“It’s amazing, Camilla,” Keith says, handing her back the mirror and feeling along the plaits with his fingers. “I love it. Thank you.”

Camilla squeals and throws her arms around Keith, probably dislodging part of the braid as she jumps up and down in her excitement. Keith has spent long enough in the McClain house to be very much used to Toni and Camilla’s boundless energy, and he just laughs, a soft, comfortable laugh, gently patting the braid back into place (still crooked, but a little better) when Camilla stills.

The three of them are all bundled up in late-autumn-early-winter-weather clothes, sat outside on the front walk to avoid contracting the flu from Toni and getting sick themselves. Lance is sat on the steps of the porch with his jacket pulled up as far as it’ll get on around his neck, while Keith and Camilla are on the walkway with a few blankets between their butts and freezing concrete.

It’s been ten days since Keith started staying at the McClain house, three days since he stopped attending school, and Lance feels an ache in his stomach, like their luck is going to run out soon.

An unfamiliar car pulls into the driveway.

At first, Lance eyes the car with vacant curiosity. Their house is at the dead-end of a street and it isn’t uncommon for their driveway to be used as a turn-around for lost drivers. 

One glance in Keith’s direction and Lance instantly knows that something is very, very wrong.

Keith looks scared. His face is ashen, eyes blown wide, hands gripping the blanket beneath him like a lifeline even as he scoots in front of Camilla almost on instinct. Lance is on his feet and moving toward them before the car door can open. And when it does, all hell breaks loose.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” The man shouts, in a voice Lance barely recognizes from that night so long ago. “You fucking ran off for an entire week, you think you have the right?!” 

Lance doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what to say, it’s like a horror movie is happening in front of him. The man shoots out a hand and grabs at Keith’s hair like a murderous villain, lifting him off the ground and dragging him a good few feet forward, as if Keith weighed nothing at all. 

“Get off, asshole!” Keith shouts, kicking at the man and shoving at his hand, trying to dislodge the fingers tangled in his hair. “Fucking let go!” 

Without thinking, Lance lunges for Keith and pushes at the man’s hands, shouting for him to let the fuck go and fuck off, what right does he have to treat Keith like this? Camilla is wailing and Keith is swearing and Lance is shouting and the man is yelling at Keith for being a brat and disobeying curfew, what a fucking idiot, how dare he. If there was a neighborhood watch, surely someone would have called the cops by now, with all the noise they’re making.

Lance takes an elbow to the face and stumbles, falling on his ass and catching himself with one hand that he’ll definitely be picking rocks out of with tweezers later. Keith is screaming his name and then screaming curses at the world. Keith’s foster dad kicks the feet out from under him and Lance watches Keith get manhandled, kicking and scratching and biting, toward the man’s car.

Lance climbs back onto his feet and a door opens, but not a car door- the front door of the house is thrown open, and Lance doesn’t think he’s ever been so grateful to see his dad’s face. 

John McClain, Captain of Lions Beach Police Station, walks out like the eye of a storm, calm and collected. He lifts one hand out at Lance as a cue to stay right where he is and Lance does stay. He hears Camilla’s cries soften and turns to find his mother in the doorway, one arm cradling a coughing Toni and the other holding Camilla close, both kids’ faces pressed up against her and shielded from the drama. When she catches Lance’s gaze, she smiles, small but reassuring.

“Let him go and put your hands up!” John demands, loud and stern.

Keith’s foster father pauses, but only to glare at John as if he were the scum of the Earth. “Why the hell should I listen to you? You kidnap my kid and then think you can order me around?!”

John pulls out his badge, and the man suddenly looks very, very scared. He drops Keith instantly.

Keith scrambles to his feet and runs for the house, grabbing at Maria’s sleeve as soon as he’s near. Lance picks up Camilla so Maria has a free arm to hug Keith. He can feel Keith shaking, can hear his heavy breathing, but his eyes refuse to leave his dad and the scene before them.

“John Doe, you are under arrest for trespassing and assault. You have the right to remain silent.” John pins the man up against his own car and handcuffs him. There’s a police siren in the distance. “If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you…”

A police car pulls up to the driveway just as John is finished, and out climbs two officers Lance vaguely recognizes, probably from some potluck or another. The two new officers take over and Keith’s foster father disappears into the police car. A minute later, an ambulance pulls up.

“Lance, mijo, take Toni for me, okay?” 

Lance sets Camilla down and takes Toni, who is fast asleep despite the chaos. Maria kisses all three of them on the head before wrapping both arms around Keith and starting down the steps. 

“I called Melissa and Lourdes, they’ll be home soon as they can be. I need you to stay here for a little while, okay? Take care of Toni and Camilla?” Maria says, her smile strained.

‘Why can’t we go with you?’ Lance wants to ask. But he knows why. There’s no telling how long it will take to sort out everything that’s just happened, no telling what will happen to Keith or if they’ll get in trouble for harboring a runaway or- or- Lance shoves aside thoughts of Keith’s foster dad getting off scot-free and Keith having to go back to him. His parents will never let that happen. 

So Lance just nods, tries his best to smile, and stays. Keith peeks out around Maria as they walk toward the ambulance and Lance doesn’t know what to say. So he says nothing, just watches as his parents disappear down the road, and prays that Keith will be with them when they return.

Lance takes Toni back to bed in the living room and Camilla helps him lock up every window and door in the house. He makes it into a game and manages to win a bit of laughter from her, which he counts as a feat. But as soon as they’ve settled in the living room next to a sleeping Toni, she releases all her questions on him in rapid succession. Where did nana and papa go? Why did the big truck take Keith away? Who was that man? Why was he being so mean to Keith?

Lance hugs her close and tries to explain. “You know how the bad guys in movies can be really mean to the heroes, and at the end the heroes beat the bad guys in a fight?” Camilla nods. “Well, that man that hurt Keith was a bad guy. Papa’s at the police station to make sure than man gets in trouble for being mean, and nana’s at the hospital to make sure Keith’s okay. That’s where the big truck took him- it’s an ambulance, they come rescue people who are hurt and heal them.”

Camilla nods, taking his cobbled-together explanation as fact. “When will tio Keith come home?” 

Lance gives her a shaky smile. “Soon.”

Half an hour after the first responders have come and gone, Lourdes gets home, and Lance tells her everything their mama didn’t have time to mention. Camilla is fast asleep and when Lourdes pulls Lance into her arms, he cries, because he’s worried. He lets out all the emotions he’s been holding back, because he couldn’t bear to cry in front of Camilla and make her more scared.

John calls not long after Lourdes gets home to say that Keith’s foster father is in holding and that the specifics of the arrest will be handled by other officers, and that he’s heading to the hospital to check on Maria and Keith. John tells them not to worry, that everything is going to work out.

(Lance still worries, but he forces himself not to focus on it, because John McClain is not a liar)

Melissa gets home after the call, Andi gets home an hour after that, and they wait together in the living room, huddled like wolf pups waiting for their mother to return with food for the winter. Toni and Camilla wake up and demand movie time, and three episodes of Tangled: The Series later, they’re asleep again, along with Lourdes and Andi, who are both exhausted from their days.

Lance is exhausted too, body and soul, but he can’t find it in himself to sleep. His mind is going a mile a minute with thoughts of Keith and their parents and restraining orders and relocations and what if Lance could track down Keith’s brother? His fingers fidget with whatever they touch and Lance fights the urge to text Hunk or Pidge for help, because he’s not sure if he should share yet. What kind of rules are there in sharing this kind of thing? Would he get in trouble for telling them?

“I can hear you overthinking from all the way over here, Lancey-Lance.” Melissa says, using an old nickname that he hasn’t heard from her in years. “Do I have to ask what’s on your mind?”

Lance looks around Lourdes and Camilla’s sleeping forms between them, locks onto Melissa’s calm gaze, so much like their mama’s. “I just… I can’t stop thinking about what’ll happen to Keith. What if mama and dad get in trouble for letting him stay here? What if social services take him to some other family in some other town and I never get to see him anymore?”

“Lance, Keith ran away from a man who was abusing him. I don’t think mama and dad could get in trouble for protecting him even if dad wasn’t a police Captain. They’ll fight for Keith if they have to, you know that. And besides, they have a little trick up their sleeve they haven’t told you yet.”

Lance narrows his eyes at her. “What kind of trick?”

Five and a half hours. Keith’s ER checkup takes five and a half hours. Lourdes is awake again and doing homework in the dining room, Melissa is heating late-night leftover fried rice, and Andi is still passed out in the living room with Toni and Camilla. Lance is sat across the table from his sister, trying to focus on his own homework, but he has to keep reading the same sentences over and over again because his brain is too distracted to comprehend the material.

Lights stream through cracks in the dining room curtains and there’s the sound of an engine, of car doors opening and closing, of footsteps on the stone walkway and hushed voices outside.

Lance is on his feet in seconds and heading for the front door, Lourdes at his heels. He hears her talking to Andi, probably trying to wake him up, hears Toni and Camilla’s still-sleepy voices, but he doesn’t wait. He pulls the door open and there are his parents, coming up the steps.

Keith is wedged between them, a duffel bag in his arms. He’s smiling.

Everything in Lance wants to throw himself at Keith and squeeze his brains out in a hug, but he has no idea how injured Keith might be, so instead he throws himself at his mama and reaches an arm carefully around Keith to pull him closer. Keith comes willingly and Lance feels fingers in his jacket, holding tight. It doesn’t take long for everyone else who’s awake to join the hug.

“I’m fine, really.” Keith says in Lance’s ear, answering the question he hasn’t even asked yet.

Lance deflates, tension flowing out of him. Keith is okay. Keith is home. The hug huddle starts to disperse and Lance is shoved aside by Camilla, who tackles Keith ‘round the middle and sobs into his coat. Maria pulls Lance closer and kisses him on the cheek, hands in his hair, and Lance leans into her with a smile even as his eyes stay on Keith and Camilla. Keith drops the duffel bag onto the porch and kneels to Camilla’s height, hugging her back. She sobs a bit more and everyone starts to gravitate back into the house, but Lance stays, watching.

“That scary man came and hurt you and then the hospital people took you away-” Camilla says between hiccups, one hand wiping tears while the other clings to Keith’s jacket with an iron grip. “And Lance said you would be home soon but then it was a really long time and I missed you!”

Keith smiles, and Lance swears there are tears in his eyes. “I missed you too. All of you.”

No one asks for a full story from John and Maria McClain until Camilla has been detached from Keith’s torso and put to sleep again, Melissa having made the decision to simply stay the night rather than try and drive home. Toni is balled up in one of the armchairs and Camilla is splayed across the fold-out couch in the living room, dead to the world despite her earlier energy.

Andi is half-asleep and groggy but he lets Lourdes pull him into the dining room and sit him down to hear the news of the night. Lance sits with his chair right up next to Keith’s, their shoulders up against each other, the steam from their cups of tea mixing, their fingers just a few inches apart.

“So, there’s a little something we didn’t tell everyone while we were making plans for the party, simply because we weren’t sure how it would work out if needed. But,” Maria explains. “when we were thinking of ways to truly help Keith, Melissa suggested we apply to be emergency foster parents. That would mean if a foster child nearby was displaced, they would be brought here, Keith included. And your father was able to find out that there are no other such families nearby.”

“Which means that when Keith was taken into social service custody, he was automatically put into your custody after the hospital cleared him, right?” Lourdes asks, beaming.

Maria nods, and Lance wants to cry, because his parents are amazing, so beautifully amazing.

“As foster parents, we will only have custody of Keith until a family chooses to adopt him. And you guys seem to enjoy having him around so we talked to social services about how we could go about adopting Keith to be a part of our family, permanently.” John starts, expression smug as he drags out his sentences. Lance and his siblings are hanging onto every word. “Of course, we asked Keith first if he would like to stay, and, well, you wanna tell them what you said, Keith?”

All eyes lock onto Keith and he shrinks under their gazes at first, clearly exhausted and ready to sleep and perhaps still adjusting to having siblings, but then he smiles, brighter than Lance has ever seen him smile, and Lance’s entire body seems to heat up. “I said yes.”

Lourdes starts to cheer and Andi whacks her upside the head, reminding her that there are kids asleep in the next room over. Lance wraps his arms around Keith and Lourdes is pouncing onto them just seconds later. Keith melts into their hug and Lance couldn’t possibly be happier.

If someone had told fourteen-year-old Lance that he’d end up with Keith Kogane as a brother in under a year, he never would’ve believed them, but right now? Being with Keith just feels right.

✿ First Ending, Fin. ✿

“What the fuck do you mean, we missed Keith’s birthday?!” Pidge yells, enraged. “You mean his birthday was like, a week after we became friends, and he never told us?! Dude!”

“He said he’s never celebrated his birthday before, since he doesn’t actually know his real one. I think he just… didn’t think it mattered? I mean, this is Keith we’re talking about.” Lance says.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are sat at a corner table in the obnoxiously busy cafeteria, their normal spot being damp and freezing with early December rain. There’s less than a week before winter break starts and the three of them are despairing over the fact they’ve missed Keith’s birthday.

“Well, maybe we can still do something? It might be a little late, but it’s better than nothing.” Hunk says. Lance nods. “Besides, he’s a McClain now. And the McClains are great at parties.”

Lance snorts a laugh, because that’s something Keith learned very quickly- there have been two more birthday parties since Andi’s, and both had hours upon hours of loving setup behind them. The McClain family goes big or goes home. Hunk knows that, has been a part of that mindset for as long as either he or Lance can remember, and he chuckles too, leaving Pidge to roll her eyes. 

Someone’s yelling in the distance and Pidge shoots a glare down the hall in the direction of it. “I forgot to tell you guys, Matt’s bringing his college roommate home for Christmas break.”

“Oh, I remember you mentioning it.” Lance says, sucking down the last of his Capri Sun.

“Yeah, well, apparently Matt cried over the phone because his roommate doesn’t have a family to spend the break with, so mom told him to invite the guy to spend the holidays with us.” There’s more yelling and Pidge frowns. “I’ve only heard stories about him so far, but he seems cool.”

“What’s he like?” 

“He’s in the same major as Matt, so he’s an astrophysics nerd. Matt has a total crush on him so I know he’s buff as shit and he has this cool scar over his nose, and he’s Japanese, so I’m pretty sure Matt’s used anime puns. Apparently he talks in his sleep.” Pidge pauses, clearly thinking up more tidbits. “His name’s Takashi but Matt says everyone in their classes calls him Shiro-”

“Wait, Shiro? Like Takashi Shirogane?” Lance blurts out. He remembers the name.

Pidge tilts her head at him. “Yeah, do you know-”

A high-pitched scream cuts through their conversation and everyone whips around to look at the origin of the sound. It’s a young girl Lance recognizes from his English class, Rom or Roxy or Ro or something similar. But Lance’s eyes don’t stay on her for long. Because there’s a gun.

(If you had told eighth-grade-Lance-McClain that his first thought, when caught in one of the most terrifying situations he could have possibly imagined, would be “what would Keith do?” …)

What would Keith do.

Lance knows Keith. Lance knows Keith. Knows how determined he is, knows how protective he is, knows how strong he is and how quick he is to take action, knows how many fights he’s been in- knows he came out on top in every single one, despite whatever consequences followed.

Lance knows if Keith were here, and he hopes to God Keith isn’t, that he would charge the kid holding a gun and firing on people Lance has known most of his life.

Lance can’t charge the kid holding a gun. He’ll die if he charges the kid holding a gun. He doesn’t want to die to the kid holding a gun. So he searches for the next best thing and instantly his eyes land on Romelle, the girl who screamed whose name he suddenly remembers clear as day.

She’s crumpled and crying and only a few feet away, and Lance drops to the ground, doesn’t let his eyes leave hers as she watches him come closer and closer until his hand touches hers.

She looks up at Lance and Lance smiles a shaky smile, fumbles for reassuring words. 

She looks up at him and starts wailing.

Lance looks up, at the shadow behind him, and there’s the gun, inches away from his temple.

Keith can’t breathe.

He sits on Lance’s bunk, huddled in a corner, staring at nothing. His eyes are rubbed raw and he can’t bear to move from his spot, can’t bear to leave the room, can’t bear to see Lance’s family - his family, now. It hurts too much to see the tear lines on their cheeks, the bags under their eyes.

So he stays on the bed, curled in Lance’s jacket that still has faded bloodstains on the sleeve.

❀ Second Ending, Fin. ❀

For those who scrolled down to get that content warning- there’s a school shooting scene at the end of the fic. I’ve not experienced a school shooting or any kind of shooting, but I’m sure it’s absolutely harrowing, so I don’t want anyone who might be sensitive to that content to be hurt. Please be careful!

[angels17324]

The Violet Paladin Ch. 9 (Keith x Reader)

Word Count: 1322 Update Schedule: Every Monday [Masterlist] [Prev]

We stared at it, without knowing what was it in making its presences all the more menacing. Zarkon had sent yet another monster to fight us. At least that's what we assumed it was... expect Hunk, who was very optimistic about what could possibly be in there.

"If it's the same monster from Arus we already know how to beat it," Keith spoke.

"I highly doubt they'd send the same monster if we beat it once already it just doesn't seem like something they'd do," I chimed in. We formed the sword and the shield and watched as the chamber depressurized to release its monster, It was quite different, I didn't have time to think as it began firing on us and attacking.

We weren't able to counter attack at all, so Shiro decided it was time to split up... this didn't help either apparently, it's many lasers were able to follow all of us. The attacks weren't letting up until Allura fired at it with the castle but was quickly attacked as well.

"Keith, draw its fire, I'm coming in from above," Shiro ordered as we all flew around, I was mostly trying not to get hit while also keeping it aiming away from the Balmera.

"Roger that!" Keith announced. Keith fired at it successfully drawing it's fire, however as Shiro went for the attack the beast fired at him. "We need to find its blind spot,"

"I don't think this thing has a blind spot," Pidge said as she flew.

"We've gotta take out the laser eyes," I said.

"We will cover you from up here," Allura shot at the beast before drawing all its fire.

"Princess pull back to get out of its range now," Shiro ordered.

"We will not abandon you," Allura told him.

"You're not, we're about to pull back too," Shiro reassured her. "Lion's to the mine shafts, it's the only place it can get us," Shiro ordered, I flew into the same tunnel as Lance and Pidge, while the others went into the other tunnel and Allura returned into orbit.

We got out of our lions, and I ran towards Lance and Pidge. I glared at the taller male.

"What?" he feigned innocence.

"You know exactly what and when this is all over we're having a talk," I jabbed at his chest. Pidge looked quite confused at the conversation but chose to ignore it as we opened up communications with the others. Allura sent us a diagram of the Balmera dying. It was painful to watch. Coran told us what would happen to the Balmera.

"We need to get all the Balmeran's to the castle of lions before the planet implodes," Allura told us. We quickly came up with our plan of action to provoke and evade, while Allura convinces the Balmerans to come to the castle of lions.

The six of us returned to the surface and got the beast to start attacking us again, this was both a little fun with all the maneuvering we're getting to practice but terrifying not knowing what's happening on Allura's side of it. After a short while, we saw the castle land meaning Allura had successfully convinced the Balmerans to come to the castle. However, the small bit of happiness from that was soon cut short as the Balmeran's got trapped. We needed a new plan and quick.

"Hey guys, something's happening over here," Hunk told us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Remember how Keith's Bayard formed the sword well I think there's a way to take down those eyes."

"Well, whatever it is, we need to try."

"Form thingy!" Hunk shouted... "It didn't work,"

"We haven't formed Voltron yet Hunk!" I told him. The beast turned its sight on the castle where Allura and the others were performing what they had called a rejuvenation ceremony

"Everyone follow me! Form Voltron!" Shiro shouted, as we flew together and formed the giant robot. Keith fired his laser as we stood in front of the castle. Hunk was able to form a laser cannon which we used to blast the beast. The beast fired another blast at us, which we met with our own trying to hold strong from the powerful waves coming from the two blasts meeting, We redirected the blast away from the castle.

The beast got ready for yet another blast, this beast just doesn't give up. We flew away from the castle its blast following us. Suddenly a screen appeared showing all the spots we needed to hit.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Hunk asked.

"Let's see what this can do," Shiro said as the shoulder cannon was reformed and set out several blasts hitting each of the beasts then right before our eyes the entire Balmera radiated with a beautiful blue glow, before disappearing.

The beast stood up and began to fire at us yet again, this time we flew head-on Keith getting a direct hit to the beast's chest sending it flying back. Which seemed to have finally defeated it hopefully as it has yet to get up. We disbanded Voltron and landed running towards Allura and Shay. When the ground started shaking, we looked up to see the beast was getting back up yet again.

"Oh no..." I silently whispered. It charged but another blast, but crystals began to form around it sealing the beast.

"No way," Hunk breathed. We all stared in shock and amazement as the Balmera had just saved us. We looked around as small crystals formed on the ground. "Oh, who's a good Balmera," Hunk scratched the surface of the Balmera treating it like a dog.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked.

"What? It's alive, and wovs my scwatches," Hunk cooed and scratched the surface some more, Keith facepalmed at this. I couldn't help but laugh at this, because of how adorable yet normal this seemed to be for all of us now. Allura decided we were staying for at least the night to recharge the castle.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a certain teen I needed to have a talk with attempting to sneak away.

"Oh no you don't Lance," I glared at the boy who stopped right in his tracks.

"Yes, (Y/n)?" He asked I dragged him away from the group.

"You heard my conversation with Allura didn't you," I said.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Because Allura was the only person I told and if she would have told anybody it most likely would have been the mice,"

"Fine, I did hear a small bit of your conversation but might I also add as a younger brother to two sisters I know what they act like," He said.

"Is it that obvious?" I buried my face in my hands.

"To a trained eye," Lance proudly smiled. "Don't worry big brother Lance will help you out!" He cheered.

"Yeah one problem with that, I'm older than you Lance." I stared at him.

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Considering your track record, I'm good." I laughed and walked away remembering just the other day with Nyma and before that with Allura and honestly who knows who else.

"Hey!" He called after. I ran away towards the castle laughing more. I'm really starting to love hanging out with everyone and becoming a team. If only I had known what would happen in the following days.

[Next]

Tag List~ @somebodytouchedmysaeran @ittie-bittie-tittie @izabellah816

[goldstonegolem64]

Book 1 Hope returns  Chapter 37 Leonidas the prideful By goldstone Golem 64

ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQ820nUujk

At the Galra central commande  

 Quinn was in the medical bay  standing in front of a Healing pod that held his twin sister. Quinn heard the door opened and turned a saw Lady haggar, Root Rot and Skyver standing there quietly looking at him . “Lady Haggar i am sorry for failing in my mission please spare my sister and i will take all the punishment myself” Quinn said a s kneels before her 

“Stand Child i don’t intend to punish you for failing this time and to honest i expected you to fail  this mission” Haggar said 

“ You did” Quinn said as he looked up surprised  

“ Yes now get off the ground I have a new mission For the three of you.” Haggar said 

“ Yeah boy get up and get ready” Skyver said 

“ Yes it’s time to make the red river Run Boy “ Root rot yelled With a smile on his face 

Quinn got up from the floor “ What is this Lady Haggar ?”

“We found a rebel listening  outpost nearby and i think it will be the perfect testing  for cyclone’s turbines and The gravitational field of polares and i get Rot root to stop trying to eating the gaurds  and i need you to watch over them  “ Haggar said a little Annoyed 

“ Sorry i’m so hungry for some fresh meat that i get a little nippy when ever i people’s back turned “ Root said with a predatory growl in his voice 

Skyver walked closer towards  Quinn and wipered “He ate two guards that thought he had escaped from his cell “

“ How the hell did they think he got out of the cell he’s huge “ Quinn said confused as he followed Haggar out of the medical bay 

“ He’s surprisingly stealthy for a big guy “ Skyver said 

“ i didn’t get this big by being an idiot. I may act like a simple minded brute but i’m a really a tactical man and before the empire appeared i was the head of my Clans hunting party “ Root rot said as his head turned a full 180 to look at them 

Both men looked terrified 

“ So what happened to your clan after the empire showed up?” Skyver asked 

“ I will never tell that is my secret to keep. Now let’s get to the fun part” Root rot said with a wicked smile as the three of  hem Walked into the Hanger bay.

Elsewhere 

Shiro found himself in the middle of a weird purple plane. He had been there for a while he didn’t know how long he was here for. It wasn’t the first time he was here but he still didn’t know what this place. He had walked around here for a bit not knowing where to go seeing as this place looked the same no matter where he went but sometimes as he walked he would see Keith just walking around looking confused by what was going on. But when he saw Hunk ,pidge or lance not moving at all which confused him they all were looking up and talking to someone that was just out off his sight. He wonder why he or keith hadn’t see whoever this mysterty person was . He had to ask them later when they woke up. 

He keep walking around the empty plane. But as he walked he heard the sound of people Taking and a banging sound echoed throughout the plane . 

“ Hey big guy time to walk up “ A familiar voice said  as the plane he was in started going dark. Then he walk up and found himself walking out of the healing pod that he had been placed in and fall forward and was caught but someone 

“ i got you big guy “The voice said 

Shiro’s sight was blurry for a bit and blinked for a few times before looking at the person who had caught him it was Rolo “ Hello Rolo How are you ?” He asked

“ I’m good how bout you” Rolo replied 

“ I just walk up and How long was i out for anyway?” 

“ You and the others were out for the three Days, Jay went on a solo mission and we found a Trader moon so will be able to replace the cracked disks and we decide to go to a nearby rebel outpost before we head to the main base” Rolo said 

“ Ok now how are the others?” 

“ Well keith woke up first then followed by Lance,hunk then Came pidge and finally you. Also Adam and Jay have something important to tell you when we get to the bridge  “ Rolo said as Shiro got to his feet 

“Should I be scared about this ?” Shiro asked looking At rolo

“ No i don’t think so. You should let them explain now get dress and meet up with the other at the bridge” Rolo said 

“Alright them “ Shiro said

After getting dressed Rolo explained in more details on what had happened the passed three days. first was how Matt showed off a system that He and pidge had been working that tracked Galra movements. how Most of the crew tried to get the loins to bond with them but no one could make it work and How Adam and Jay got into a wrestling match along with other not to important thing that had happened the passed three days . then they entered the bridge to find everyone talking to each other. Everyone turned to look at at the Shiro and rolo  

“ Morning Shiro “ Jay said giving a two finger salute 

“ Go to see you up and running again “ Adam said as he walked towards Shiro and kissed him on the check.

“ Yeah it’s good to be up “ shiro returned adams kiss then he looked up to Jay “ So what Happened between you two while i was A sleep anyway” Shiro asked as jay’s face went a little pale as everyone turned to look at him 

“ Well it’s a long Story” Jay said taking a few steps back near one of the tube that lead to one of the lions  

“Oh No you dont “ Allura yelled as she grabbed Jay by the front of the shirt and pulled him into a headlock 

“ Ok Ok I won’t leave “ Jay yelled

“ What is going on?” Shiro asked

“ She stopped me from leave before i told you that your going to be a dad welcome to parent Hood.can you let me go now Allura?” JAy asked as she let him go “ Now let me explain how this happened “ jay said a 

Twenty minutes later Shiro was sit on the floor trying his best to process what he just heard. 

“So this gain child will have curtain aspects of their parents like a normal kid right ?” Shiro asked as he held the first of his metal arm   

“ Yes it will you have two week until it’s born so decide if you want it or not because if you don’t i’ll take care of them in your stead. “ Jay said as he rubbed his upper arm as everyone looked at him.

Shiro looked at Adam then to Jay “ I, We need time to take more about this But i’m not mad about your mistake but i am mad that you keep this for me for a long time.” Shiro said 

“ That hurt more then the punch i was expe”Jay was cut off by A punch to the stomach by keith causing Jay to double over 

“ Keith what the hell” Lance yelled 

“ No lance i earned that one” Jay said as hre place his hand onto keith shoulder using him as leverage

“ Sorry about that i went onto Autopilot for a second there “ Keith said 

“ No again it’s fine i eared that one so don’t be sorry . Now to change topics Coran please explain a trade moon please “ Jay said 

“ Well Traders moons are dangerous black marks that are own by a race of space pirates called the Unilu. So we need to be very castion of what were doing. So keep one hand on your wallet and the other on your bayard” Coran said Then everyone turned to look at matt and Ace. Matt , Nyma and rolo were all trying to hold back laughter while Ace was smiling While no know what n-7 was doing 

“ Oh i can’t while to be there “ Hunk said sarcastically

“ So who is going and who is Staying ?” Pidge Said 

“ While Me and my team have dires to go through So were Staying behind” Ace said as the Matt and the other groan a little 

“ I’m Going to Stay behind and try to deepen my bond with the black lion “ Shiro said still holding his wrist .

“ Well i’m going “Allura said

“ I’m sorry Princess but it’s to dangerous “ Coran said 

Allure frowned A little 

“ Don’t worry boss i’ll buy you something Nice “  Jay said as he and others left the bridge. 

“ Make sure it’s Sparkly” Allure said 

“ can do boss” Jay replied as the door closed behind him 

Allura sat down and looked over to Shiro who was still sitting there holding his wrist.

“ Are you Alright Shiro do you want me to bring Jay back here.?” Allura asked 

“ No” Shiro said 

“ Then what is on your mind then ?” Allura asked as she walked over to him

“ I Just wonder how raising a child in a war zone will affect the child’s development and will they get what i had or what will happen to the child if i die before they are born. Also why would jay not tell me early about this. I mean i get it he has his plate full with three kids of his own to watch over but still this is a huge bomb just to drop on someone. “ Shiro looked like he as about to cry “ i’m not ready to be a parent not yet. But i saw how happy Adam was when i walked in. “ pause for a moment and collected himself  “i always had a plan for my life. But now i’m fight a cross Galaxy war with a kid on the way what am i going to do about this. “

“I think you should just see where it leads you life is sometime better when you don’t have a plan. i mean life gave me you give and it’s been going pretty well. But that’s just for me” Allura said 

“ Your starting to sound Jay “ Shiro said laughing a little 

“ Well he does have that effect on people” Alura replied 

“ Well thanks for the pep talk. Princess but i’m still going to need sometime to think this over.” Shiro said as he got up and started to walk out of the room. but he stopped at the door and turned around “ Thanks again Allura i need that “ 

“ Your welcome Shiro and if you ever need some one to Talk to i’m always he “ She replied

“  I will “ Shiro said as the door opened and he walked out 

Allura had a smile on he face as she sat back down “ Now what am i going to do now” Allura wondered as she did this the Altean mice crawled onto to her lap and looked up to her and She looked down to them and then a silent conversion began between the Allura and her pet mice “ Oh dinner and A show that sounds lovely “ Allura said with a smile                          

Elsewhere  

Coran was leading Keith ,Lance, Pidge , Adam Hunk, And Jay towards an Altean pod 

“ So why aren’t we taking the Cargo ship that has a huge amount of space has to plasma gun to the front and it has auto defence turrets on it when we’re not there to protect it.See as were going to a black market ?” Lance asked 

 “ Because there is a warrant out for it and the reason for that because again we are the most want people in the universe  lance we now have a combined  bounty of over two billion Gac. So i’m not risky us getting caught over a space ok man” Jay said as he was putting on his salvager helmet there were small dents in the helmet from where Fairin  had tried to crush his head back on phobos   

“I’m guess that’s why you were wearing your salvaging gear before the meeting “adam said Jay turned to look at Adam and gave him a thumbs up. Adam 

The team was boarding the Atlaen pod when the sound of Hooves running across the metal floors Everyone turned to See Usamu running towards them with a bag on his back  

“Wait for me “ Usamu said as he ran up to Jay looking ready to go “ I heard you were going to a traders moon and i want to tag along “ the young boy said with a smile on his face 

“ Ok then little buddy know. But does Bastion know that your here or did you just ghost your brother ?“ JAy asked 

“ no when i heard you were going i just grabbed my bags and ran down here as fast as possible. Usamu said with a look of realization followed by two more sets of footsteps running behind him. As Fitz and Bastion ran in both panting 

“ they know now “ Usamu said with a awkward smile on his face 

jay Shrugged not caring “ Ok now where we’re going is dangerous and i need all three of you if all three of you are coming along. I need you to stay close to me ok” Jay said taking his helmet off to show off the sirius look on his face .Bastion Grabbed Usamu and pulled them close and was talking to him. Jay looked over to Fitz Are you Coming along Bud?” Jay asked      

“ ok” Fitz said as he shrugged and walked into the pod

“ Are you two coming or not ?” Jay asked Both Boys

The two Boys looked up at him   

“ Sure “ Said Bastion

“ i was coming no matter what “ Usamu Said  as he followed his brothers 

Jay felt some one starring at him then he turned to look at Coran who was Staring at him for bring kids to A black market. Jay just strugger again and Said “ I will be with then the whole time so don’t worry Coran and i have this “ then Jay showed of his Bayard in it’s holster. Then he walked into the Atlaen pod. 

Coran shake his head but didn’t what want to push it. then Sat down in the plot seat and then the Pod took off  and flow towards the swap moon.

“ So what do you think will see  when we get there?” Hunk Asked 

“ I don’t know but i’m ready for anything “ Keith said   

“ Hey Jay “ Pidge said 

“ Yes pigeon “ Jay said as he looked up from the book he was reading 

“ Why did you bring the Boys along?” She asked 

“ Yeah it does seems pretty irresponsible of you to bring them to a black market “ Hunk add

Jay Closed his book and looked at them all “ Does anyone remember that Coran is  and was a sleep for over ten thousand years right” 

“ Right “Keith said confused he looked toward the others. Then to Adam who was listening to Usamu talk about something not paying Attention to what was going on. 

“ What do that matter “ Pidge counterd 

“ Well when i first heard of a Traders moon from Allura and Coran when i got back from new haven i need to know if they were still around so i asked   Matt and the others to see what was different from what coran had told me and it turns out that swap moons are just moo size Swap Hall or what you guys call Mells ” 

“ Mells do you mean Malls?” 

“ That’s its Thank you Adam. See were just going shopping and i mean how much trouble can we get into at a mall” Jay said with a smile on his face

elsewhere Shiro was walking towards the hanger to the black lion and stopped and took a deep breath and walked into the hanger and saw the black lion standing there intimating to look at and the moment he walked into the room the black lion lowered its head and opened its mouth to let him in. Shiro walked into the lion’s mouth  and into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot’s seat “ ok Bud how do i make are bond stronger?” Shiro asked  and as he did the black lion started to move on it’s own and it took off into space “ Woah hey stop” Shiro yelled as he tried to stop the black lion to no avail so he just let the black lion fly off into the great unknown

back in the Traders moon  Coran and the Other were stand in the entries of the Trader moon’s main aera 

“ So this is a traders moon one of the most dangerous places in the universe “ Lance said sarcastically as he looked at the clean beautiful mall plaza 

“ Well i feel like i over prepared for this” Jay said as he removed his helmet fix the bun on the back of his head.

“ don’t let the looks fool you this place is a place of scum in villain “ Coran said before leaving the other Paladin as he went off to look for the Skulltire plates 

“ So All in of losing these costume all i favor say i” Lance said

“ I” Everyone said  

in the sectury room A fat  Galra was running on his elliptical 

“ I have been giving an the most important job in the universe and i Varkon will defend this Trader moon from all threat and make my Empire proud “ Varkon said as he was run then He looked at the security screens and something caught his eyes. He got off his elliptical and walked over to the screen and watched as Hunk, Keith, Pidge ,Lance and Adam throwing Away their costume ‘ Space pirate trying to disguise themselves as normal civilians. But you won’t fool me Varkon chief of Security”

BAck with the other 

“So we meet up back here in an Hour i guess “ Jay Said as he was place his sons costume in to his back 

“ Or when ever coran Find those disk” adam said 

“ Should someone go after him Just to make sure he dose get in trouble” Hunk said

“ 3-2-1  Not it “ hunk, Lance, Keith, Pidge and Adam said 

“ Not i. darn it Come boys lets help Coran not get arrested “ JAy said and started walking Away. But then He turned Around put his hand in his pocket pulled out his wallet and Hand Adam a card “ this Card As Over two hundred thousand gac on it also when a Gain is born they will rapidly grow up  and will stop about three weeks after there born so they will as smart and the size of a three to four year old so buy a lot of clothes and make sure it’s unisex just to be on the safe side and the code is 2207 .” 

“ Thanks man” Adam said as he 

“ Your welcome Now boys lets go” Jay said as he followed coran with the boys in toe 

“ Ok Keith can you come with me and help me find a clothing Store “ Adam asked as he started to walk away 

“ Alright “ Keith said Following behind his brother in law 

“Alright i’m Going to look for a gift for Shay and then  the food court See yea “ Hunk said as he went on his Leaving Pidge and Lance Alone together

“ So what do you want to do Pidge ?” Lance asked 

“ Don’t know want to just walk around until Coran or someone gets into trouble “ Pigde asked 

Back on the black lion 

Shiro was just sitting there letting the black lion fly he didn’t where he was going how long they were flying.  He couldn’t control it and he couldn’t contact the others. He was just stuck there not know what was going on until he noticed that the darkness of space started turning a dark red which Shiro found weird“ Where the hell are you taking me black “ Shiro said to himself as the black lion stop in front of a destroyed planet. Shiro was confused even more “ So Where are we now “ shiro asked and as he asked everything turned a blinding  white and when he opened his eye he saw the planet no longer destroy. But as he stared at the planet he notice two objects flying towards the planet. The Another Flash went off and Shiro saw the two objects and he realized that the two object were massive meteorites . He also saw hundreds of small ships flying towards the two meteorites. Followed by another flash and shiro found himself inside of a building Where both meteorites were being examined by alteans, galra, Olkiar and other races . he looked around the area as saw the blueprints of the lions then another flash went off and Shiro was now looking at a completed Black lion   

“ So this is your origin then “ Shiro said to the black lion 

“ Yes it is my Paladin “ A voice said from behind Shiro

Shiro quickly turned around  in his sat to look behind him and Saw no one and turned back with to what he was looking at and saw that he was no longer in the Altean hanger and Found himself looking into space and saw a small squadron of Fighter shooting at the Black lion. As the Black was being shot at A part of wings Appeared on the back of it and It changer straight at the enemy ship and seemly fased right throw then getting behind the enemy ships. the Black lions quickly turned Around and opened fire on the Enemy ship’s engines. Shiro wonder how he was going to get that Ability and as he wonder this Another flash appeared and shiro found himself no longer in the black lion’s Cockpit e found himself back in the purple plane with the black lion just standing there not doing anything. 

“ What did i just see, why am i back here. How do it help Strength are bond please tell me what all that was supposed to tel me ?” Shiro asked to the black lion 

“ It was supposed to tell you my Origin Shiro just like you said early ” The same voice as before said behind Shiro again .Shiro quickly turned Around to See a Towering figure in armor that Matched what Voltron looked like when the lions  combined it had a helmet in the shape of a lion that covered it’s face it looked down on shiro with a neutral look on it’s eyes. 

Shiro felt a little intimidated by the huge figure in front of him. “ My i Ask a question then?” Shiro said 

“ Ok then Ask anything you want My paladin “ The figure said 

“ Why is Zarkon still connected to black. How come keith can pilot the black lion. how do i strengthen are bond. “ Shiro asked 

“ Keith has a fire in him i haven’t felt sense Zarkon or you it just needs time to grow. second My bond with Zarkon is broken he is just forcing the old one to linger much longer then it should. “ the figure said 

“ How do we break that bond then ?” Shiro asked 

“ That is easy prove your self to Black “ the figure said 

Shiro was taken  aback by this “ i thought i proved myself  to black already?” Shiro asked 

“ There is a difference between black letting you pilot him and proving yourself to him” the Figure said as the figure walked over to the black lion ”

“ Ok then how do i do that “ Shiro asked 

“ you will find out soon enough” The figure said before disappearing 

“ Wait what does that mean ?” Shiro asked and his question was quick answered when Zarkon appeared in front of him   

“ So boy you finally come to challenge me here i am impressed by your brave boy” ZArkon said as he readied himself to fight “ 

“ Alright Black time to prove my worth.” Shiro said as he activied his Arm as both he and Zarkon charged at each other. Shiro and Zarkon clashed  

“you Are strong boy “ Zarkon said as he kicked Shiro in the stomach sending Shiro flying backwards Shiro quickly got to his feet and Ran at Zarkon and throw severely punches which zarkon quickly blocked with his massive forearms “ and you are quit peresetain as well i commend you on that “ Zarkon said as he jumped back and Shoulder bashed Shiro in the Chest sending Shiro Flying Again.Shiro hit the Ground and rolled on the ground for a bit before Zarkon Changed at him kick him in the stomach Again “ But you are not strong enough to fight me “ ZArkon said as he grabbed “So just give up i don’t wish to kill such a great warrior ” 

“ No i won’t give up as long as i has something to fight for i will never surrender to the likes of you so you better just kill me now “ Shiro said defiantly

“Well then you die with Honor Boy” Zarkon said As he raised his other hand about to punch  a hole into Shiro when he was sent flying himself from behind  by the black lion. Zarkon hit the ground and looked up to see the black lion Stand there next to Shiro” NOOOO!!!! “ Zarkon Yelled as he got back to hiss feet and charge at Shiro only to be fired upon by the black lion’s mouth beam . Zarkons eye snapped open and he was back in his throne room “NO Noooo NOOOOOOOOOO” zarkon yelled as he no longer could connect to the black lion

Shiro on the other hand was still in the Astar plane getting back to his feet and turned to look at the black lion “ So have i proven myself to you?’ Shiro asked The black lion let out a soft growling sound of approval. “Ok them now how do we get back to the castle” shiro ask  and as he did Another flash went of and shiro found himself back in the hanger of the black lion “ So we never left uh that was new” Shiro said 

a Few minutes later after running thought what he had just seen Shiro decide to talk to Allura about this. As he made his way out of the black lions he heard a voice in the back of his head 

“ My NAme is Leonidas the prideful and the being who live in of Voltron  you have earned that much Takashi Shirogane. “ Leonidas said before disappeared again 

Shiro smile as he heard this and continued to walk to the bridge and when he arrived the bridge he found that everyone there and a cow.  “Hey everyone is that a cow?” Shiro Asked confused

“ Her name is Kaltenecker “ lance said with a smile 

“ Ok i will asked about what happened there but right now i need to Tell you all that i” Shiro was cut off When a message appeared on the screen Followed by a video that played 

The video showed a Women in rebel gear Bleeding from a gash in Her shoulder “ To Any rebel who Can hear this my Name Is Able whitehorn i am stationed at listening outpost  on Eve-on 3.Original we thought it was just a normal sandstorm. “ The Sounds of Gun and blaster fire could be heard outside” But then we lost contact with the other two out post here. “ the Sound of screaming came next “ But then something got in to the base it started killing and eating my squad then more of them started to appear” The sound of the door been banged on “ Shit to any one who could hear” She was cut off be a huge spiked vine that pierced her stomach.the vine pulled out Albe fell lifeless to the floor to show a hole in the door. The paladins watched as the door started to be ripped open and a huge man in Galra armor walked in his face was covered by a huge flower. the figure then began to smash the console causing the video to freeze on the picture of the huge looking right at the paladins with a twisted smile on his face  

[voltron-s7-8-rewrite]

Lions' Pride, Part 2

This is part of my Voltron Season 7 & 8 re-write. If you are interested start HERE

PREVIOUS

Recognizing the Robeast, Pidge tells the Paladins it’s what killed Olkarion. Keith orders the Paladins to attack, but the Robeast sees them coming and counters. It attacks mercilessly, easily beating the Lions down without being impacted by their attacks.

 Keith calls out to the Paladins, saying that he knows how exhausted they all are, but they have to keep going, this Robeast destroyed Olkarion and killed their friends, they need to fight in their honor and prevent the same fate from happening to Earth. He tells them to use their bond to connect and draw strength from each other.

 Hearing his words encourages the others. They listen to him, sharing their strength with each other, boosting Voltron’s power back up.

                    __________________________  

 The Atlas arrives, and Shiro gives commands to fire. The Robeast is too quick and is able to send the attack back at them, making a direct hit and damaging the ship’s systems.

 The Robeast rushes to attack it head on. However, thanks to The Atlas’ distraction, the Paladins were able to form Voltron and come charging down, slamming the Robeast away from the ship.

 As The Atlas backs off to try to regain some power, the Robeast brandishes two sickle weapons and stands against Voltron.

 Seeing those sickles, Pidge warns the Paladins those weapons are what the Robeast used to drain Olkarion. Keith says they need to be careful about how they approach fighting it with one sword. In response, Pidge’s and Lance’s Lions raise their bayard control panels, the two immediately plug in their bayards; causing the creation of two swords for Voltron to wield.

 Both the Robeast and Voltron wielding their weapons, they once again engage in battle, trading blows with each other.

 For a while, both seem to be evenly matched in ability until the Robeast surprises Voltron with an attack from it’s chest, blasting them with a dark energy weapon.

 The Paladins attempt to use their shield, but the Robeast takes advantage of their disorientation and stabs Voltron with it’s blades, and begins siphoning Voltron and the Paladin’s quintessence.

                                  __________________________  

 The crew of The Atlas see Voltron in distress, but they are unable to assist, as they are still trying to get control of their systems back. Krolia says they have to do something, and Shiro quickly orders the MFE’s to launch and help out.

 The MFE’s begin to fire on the Robeast, but they are unable to make any sort of dent, or even distract it from Voltron.

                                  __________________________  

 Meanwhile, Fighting through the pain of having her Quintessence drained, Pidge is able to activate one of Voltron’s arm cannons and blasts the Robeast away. Unphased, the Robeast gets right back up.

 The Paladins struggle to recover, barely able to find the energy to move. Lance asks if they recognize this feeling, and Hunk says it’s just like when they got hit with the Komar while fighting Zarkon. Allura deduces based on that, that this has to be Haggar’s doing.

 As the MFE’s continue to attack the Robeast, Keith sees that their attacks do nothing against it and tells them to pull out, as they are only going to end up getting hurt.

 Seeing that Voltron is starting to recover, Shiro agrees, ordering them back.

 The Robeast once again goes to attack Voltron, but the Atlas is finally able to charge enough power to a cannon to fire and blasts it back.

 The Robeast counter attacks, and takes out the Atlas’ shields. It then blasts the ship with a dark energy from it’s chest, once again forcing the ship to retreat.

 Pidge takes the opportunity to study The Robeast’s dark energy attack, and realizes it’s using the Quintessence it absorbed from Voltron, making it even more powerful. Keith tells the Paladins that can’t allow the Robeast to get close, and orders everyone up. The Paladins work together and get Voltron standing. They form their canons and attack from a distance, dancing around the Robeast when it tries to come close.

 As they fight, Hunk warns the others that they are getting too close to where Sendak’s prison camps are, so they take the fight to the sky, shooting at the Robeast from above.

 During the attack, the Robeast is able to block a blast, causing the beam to hit The Atlas instead.

 The Paladins are momentarily distracted at their own friendly fire, and the Robeast seizes the opportunity to fly up and stab Voltron with its sickles, driving them back down to Earth.

 Impacting the ground, Voltron is unable to move as it’s slowly drained of its Quintessence.

                                  __________________________  

 Shiro watches, horrified as Voltron is too weak to fight back. He asks Krolia if Kosmo could teleport the Paladins out, but she says as soon as he’d get in there, he’d be in the same predicament as the Paladins. Veronica calls to them, and they watch as Voltron loses power and the Robeast disengages from it.

 The Robeast then turns and aims it’s dark energy at The Atlas. The ship's crew asks Shiro for commands.

 As Shiro tries to form a plan, his Altean arm, resting on the command interface, reacts and begins to flow with the Altean Alchemy Allura embedded into it.

 Shiro looks at his arm in shock, then closes his eyes and focuses on the bond he has to the Alchemy though his Quintessence. He places the arm back on the interface and allows the Alchemy to flow through the The Atlas’ systems. The colors of the command panels shift from orange to blue as new systems and weapons unlock within the ship’s design.

                                __________________________  

 On the ground, the Paladins slowly regain consciousness. They attempt to muster up the energy to move, but are too drained at this point. The Robeast turns from The Atlas, seeming to know they are awake and comes over to finish them off. But before it reaches them, The Atlas attacks with its new weapons. The blast does some damage to the Robeast, but it’s still not enough to take it down.

 The Robeast flies at The Atlas, aiming its sickles to strike, but a beam shot down from the sky blasts it away. The Robeast turns and looks up as the clouds part and The Narti, followed by a fleet of Rebel ships, fly down and begin attacking it.

 As they watch, Keith realizes the Robeast’s energy attack is similar to Prorok’s Robeast. He tells the Paladins that they need to attack the Robeast when it opens its chest to fire. Focusing on their strength as one unit, the Paladins get up. Together they use their bayards to activate the Blazing Sword and jetpack. Blasting forward, Voltron catches the Robeast off guard, and stabs it through its opened chest.

 Fire from the sword explodes out of its back, and the Robeast releases all of the dark energy it had built up. Voltron is caught in the blast, and the Lions are torn apart from each other.

 Seeing the violent dismantling of Voltron, Shiro comms the Paladins, asking them to respond.

 It takes a moment, but one by one they all do. Injured and weak, but alive, the Paladins get their Lions up and find that the Robeast is down for the count.

 Lance jokingly says that that wasn’t too hard. The others laugh, exhausted, but happy it’s over.

 Keith begins to ask how everyone is holding up when the Lion’s surge indicators suddenly blare. Hunk and Pidge quickly examine the Robeast and realize it has a self destruct mechanism that’s counting down.

 Allura asks if they can evacuate the area in time, but Pidge says based on her readings, the explosion alone will unleash enough power to take out half of the world.

 The Paladins quickly suggest different options as Keith realizes what this means. He calls to the others and they quiet down. He tells them they don’t have the time to waste, they need to get the Robeast off of Earth themselves. The Paladins come to the same realization Keith has, there isn’t time for any other way. They have to get the Robeast out of here themselves. Silently, they all step up.

 Not having enough energy to form Voltron, the Lions work together to pick the Robeast up. They fight their own exhaustion to fly it off the planet, passing The Atlas and The Narti as they take it out of the atmosphere.

 Keith tells the Paladins that it was his honor to have them as his family, and asks them to give it all they have. Using the last of their strength, the Paladins send the Robeast away from Earth in time, but are caught in it’s detonation.

 Their friends and loved in The Atlas, The Narti, and Rebel fleet are left to watch as the offlined Lions crash down to Earth.

                                  __________________________  

 With the battle over and Earth free, the Garrison holds a memorial for those who were lost. Humans and aliens alike gather to pay their respects as Shiro gives a speech to honor the fallen, and inspire the living to look to a brighter future.

                                  __________________________  

 In the Garrison’s hospital, the Paladins spend time with their families, as they recuperate from their battles and crash.

 Shay and her family visit Hunk, meeting his parents and cousins.

 Matt arrives on Earth and reunites with Pidge and his parents. Introducing them to N-7 and bringing Nyma and Beezer to visit Pidge.

 Lance’s family listen as he shares all the adventures he and the Paladins had together, delighting and inspiring his niece and nephew with the stories of the greater universe that’s out there.

 Allura, Coran, Romelle, and the Space Mice spend time together, bonding as their own family unit.

 Keith awakens in his hospital bed to find his mother, Kolivan, Shiro, and Kosmo waiting there for him.

 Over time the Paladins heal, and with the Rebels and the Blade’s help, humanity picks up the pieces and begins to rebuild.

                                __________________________  

 The Garrison recovers the pieces of the Robeast that fell to Earth and Sam takes Allura to where they are examining the fragments. He explains that the machine is not a Robeast, but actually piloted Mech.

 He turns and asks Allura to prepare herself as they open the cockpit.

 Allura is shocked as the Garrison officers pull an Altean out of the wreckage. However, her alarm turns to horror when the Altean is fully removed. While the design is different from the one she saw in the alternate universe, there is no mistaking the Hoktril implanted in the back of the Altean’s head.

                                __________________________

Notes:

So, now we're just finally starting to scratch at the surface of what my original theories for where VLD's story was going to go. I'm interested to see what you guys will think.

.

Obviously one of the biggest changes here is that Atlas never becomes a mech. I'm sorry if people liked it, I didn't.

The mech just came way too late into the story to be able to become connected to it. That made it to feel so out of place. And really, other then making several small appearances here and there, it really didn't do anything until the final battle when Voltron merged with it.

If I had more time to go into tes anhe mech and develop it, give it its own battld story lines, I would have kept it. But seeing that I only have 14 more episodes to rewrite, and a lot of things to cover, I don't have that option. So I cut it.

I did give it a weapons upgrade, though. I figure Shiro could have a special connection with the ship, much like Allura's connection to the Castle of Lions; sense in this version of the story, she embedded Alchemy in his arm. T

his does not mean Shiro has powers of Alchemy, just that he can use the bond Allura created in him to connect with the ship and make super cool wiz-bang things happen.

.

There's only one more story for my version of Season 7 left to post, then onto the Season 8 rewrite!

Hope you all are enjoying. Thanks for reading! Have a nice day~

NEXT

[jeniidrawsshit]

Wip of a character sheet for Nymas! I love my little bladesinger wizard. Pose ref was used

[blackwomenconfessions]

I wish black Beauty gurus would be more consistent & strong with thier shade criticism. Esp. lightskin ones. Sometimes they’ll be like, “this foundation is the last shade so if you’re any darker than me and Amandla then you might not like it, but I really like it because...” like noooo, if there’s not a shade for Nyma Tang then I’m not using the foundation at all. I’m not Tang’s shade but I’m not gonna silently settle and feature something when I know that it’s lacking for some of my sisters.

[codevassie]

For the writing promt, how about shatt museum date? (btw i love a sky full of stars soo much =)

CV: There is literally no excuse for this being this late. I’ve gone through the excuse of school work many a time. I went through spring break. I went through an actual musuem last week and that was it. Literally no excuses left. Even though it is very very super late, I hope you enjoy anyway! And I’m glad you liked asfos; thank you so much!!!!

Matt’s hair had grown longer in the time they’d been apart. Shiro expected it would have hung over his eyes if Matt hadn’t tied it up in a weird knot back on his head, his glasses pushed atop to keep back the sprigs that the ponytail couldn’t pick up. He was sitting at the tables outside the museum as Shiro approached, head in some book, eyes squinting as he tried to make out the text in the shade of an umbrella.

Shiro chuckled, but decided to stay quiet as he came near, taking the moment to really savor it. Matt looked beautiful; he always looked beautiful, but it had been so long since they’d seen each other face-to-face that Shiro felt he could root himself to this spot for the rest of the day and be content.

Except, he knew he wouldn’t. Because Matt was so close. And it had been months.

“You’re going to hurt your eyes more if you don’t use your glasses,” he said as he stepped into the only light Matt had, casting a shadow over his book and person. Matt’s head bolted up, eyes alight and excited. He jumped up, throwing his arms around Shiro.

“Takashi!” he exclaimed, laughing. Shiro wrapped his arms around Matt in return and felt the other squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

“You’re going to suffocate me before we’ve even gotten into the building,” Shiro gasped out. Matt, for a moment, squeezed harder just to prove a point, then stepped back, a wicked smirk on his face.

“You’ve grown weak at school,” he challenged. “You used to be able to take my hugs.”

“And you used to be a weakling with noodle arms,” Shiro countered. “What’s your school doing to you? What are you eating?”

“Monster and canned ravioli, typically,” Matt answered, and the sad thing was, he was probably telling the truth. Shiro frowned at him.

“Matt,” he sighed, but he couldn’t scold him. Maybe later. Right now, he was too happy to see his boyfriend to give a damn. “So,” Shiro said, finally stepping back a bit to look up at the building they were standing in front of, “An art museum. What made you decide that?”

“Not everything in my life revolves around space and computers, Shiro,” Matt teased, but Shiro raised an eyebrow and Matt sighed. “What? I thought we could get cultured.”

Shiro laughed. “When have you ever cared about being cultured?”

“Well,” Matt scratched the back of his head, “You seemed pretty interested in that art appreciation class you took last semester. So, I figured, why not?”

“Oh,” Shiro said, eyes widening. He hoped his face didn’t look as warm as it felt.

“Besides, that means you can be our tour guide,” Matt said, teasing again, and Shiro laughed.

“A single art appreciation class isn’t going to make me a tour guide, Matt.”

“Let’s test it out, Mr. Shirogane, then we will see,” Matt said, then tugged him into the museum.

-/-

Matt was squinting at his book again.

“What is that?” Shiro asked, distracted from the statue they were looking at. According to the placard, it was made of wood and raffia.

“I got it from the gift shop. It’s stuff about the pieces, but it’s hard to navigate,” Matt answered, flipping through a few pages, then sighing. He tossed the guidebook to Shiro. “Your turn. Try to figure it out. Also, take a picture of me with this guy.”

“You want me to look through this book and take a picture at the same time?”

“I assume you are a man of multi-tasking abilities, Shiro.”

Shiro sighed, then took out his phone and snapped a picture of Matt making double peace signs next to the statue. He smiled at the phone, quickly made it his new background, then went to the book. They walked as he flipped through it. Matt stopped at the next piece over.

“We’ll never make it through the whole museum if we stop at every piece, Matt,” he warned, but Matt was reading the placard, probably not listening. “Put on your glasses,” Shiro, for probably the hundredth time that day, reminded his boyfriend. Matt nodded and let the inertia slip the glasses onto his nose. Shiro snorted while scanning the guidebook. “Found  it.”

“No way!” Matt exclaimed, causing a few people to look their way in irritation. Matt crowded at his side, peering at the picture in the book, and, sure enough, it was the piece in front of them. “How???”

Shiro just laughed, walking over to the next piece and rattling off some of the information about it from the guidebook for them both to hear.

-/-

They were sat at one of the many benches throughout the museum. The benches were placed so people could admire pieces for longer periods of time. And, sure, Matt and Shiro admired plenty, but their legs were killing them and the bench was a blessing for that too.

“I never realized museums were so much work,” Matt said, slumping against his boyfriend.

“You mean, when you aren’t jumping around from rocket exhibit to rocket exhibit?”

“Hey, that tires me out too,” Matt said and Shiro shrugged. “This is still a lot of fun, though. I don’t know a whole ton about art, but it’s really nice.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Shiro replied, resting his head atop Matt’s. He set serene eyes on the oil piece before them. An ocean, a cliff, two little boys and colors mixed so beautifully that Shiro wished he knew a bit more about art to understand how it was so beautiful.

“I wish we could spend time together like this more often,” Matt sighed. Shiro twined their hands together without moving too much, never taking his eyes from the painting.

“I wish our campuses weren’t so far away from each other,” he agreed.

-/-

“I have never wanted to touch a piece of art more than I have right now,” Matt whispered furiously into Shiro’s ear, eyes trained on a marble statue. “How do sculptures do it?”

Shiro looked at it too, eyes scanning over the woman’s smooth cheeks and the folds and creases of her dress. It was truly amazing. It was stone. It was marble. But it looked so soft, malleable.

“Beats me,” he said. Their hands were still linked, and he dragged Matt away from the sculpture to some of the silver pieces in a glass cabinet.

“Artists, man,” Matt murmured. They entered another room, this one filled with more modern-looking art. Matt sucked in a breath at a light display and practically ran to it, dragging Shiro by the hand. “Fuck,” he swore, his eyes reflecting the glow as they took it all in. It was hard to take his eyes off of, the art that was Matt in his awe. Eyes wide, a galaxy of wonder in them, light illuminating his face like he was gazing on heaven itself. It made Shiro feel like he was the one looking at heaven.

At the thought, Shiro suddenly felt his face and neck explode in heat and he tore his gaze away, looking towards the lights with Matt. He couldn’t really focus on it. After what he had already seen, it didn’t hold the same magnificence.

-/-

Shiro’s feet were killing him as they approached the exit of the museum, but he wasn’t tired, per se. It was strangely invigorating, going through a museum; always something to see next. You never wanted to sit down because there was always something else, something new, around the corner. There wasn’t the same promise at the exit of the building, but he was pretty certain his body was carrying him through despite the fact. It didn’t seem to care about the exercise anymore.

The sky was beginning to dim outside, to Shiro’s surprise, and he checked the time on his phone.

“Wow, I didn’t realize it was getting so late,” he remarked. Matt frowned, looking over his shoulder at the time.

“I don’t want to leave yet,” he whined, but it was soft and sad. Shiro squeezed his hand.

“I’ll walk you to the metro?” he asked, and Matt nodded.

As they walked down the streets to get to the next station, they remained silent, but stuck to each other like glue. It would be the last time they saw each other in person until the end of semester. Finals and projects and papers would start to pick up, and that, with Matt’s job and Shiro’s internship, would make it impossible to plan another day trip. Shiro tried resigning himself to more Skype calls, which were usually the highlight of his day, but, standing there with Matt, real and in the flesh, it was hard to go back.

He decided not to think about it again until it was time. For now, he savored being next to his boyfriend.

When they approached the station, they stood between the entrances to the two platforms, one going uptown and the other downtown. Shiro eyed the sign to downtown over Matt’s shoulder and felt something tug at his heart. He looked down to Matt’s hazel eyes, taking him in like it would be an eternity before they saw one another again. It felt like it would be.

“Call me when you get back to the dorms?” Matt asked and Shiro nodded.

“Don’t eat canned ravioli everyday just because I’m not there to stop you, okay?” Shiro replied. That got a small smile out of Matt.

“Tell Pidge and Keith and Allura I said hi.”

“Tell Rolo and Nyma not to drag you into too much trouble,” Shiro returned. Matt rolled his eyes.

“You act like they’re exclusively troublemakers.”

Shiro laughed. Matt’s eyes went to the clock near them, biting his lip, and shoulders going down. “The next train will be here soon, probably,” he said.

Shiro held onto Matt’s hand tighter. “Do you have to go?” he asked, heart desperate, but he already knew. They were both so busy.

“The fair’s tomorrow,” Matt said apologetically. “The invitation’s still open.”

Shiro shook his head. “My paper’s due Monday. I still have so much to do for it, and there’s a tutor session on Sunday.”

Matt nodded. He’d known this too, but it never hurt to try. They didn’t want to leave.

The clock ticked on. Their eyes locked and an understanding passed between them. Shiro leaned down, giving Matt one last lingering kiss, trying to commit it to memory for the next month and a half they would have to be apart. It was too long.

When they parted, Matt stepped back once. Twice. Three times before waving and turning his back, pulling out his metro pass and stepping through the gate. After the gate, he looked over his shoulder one last time before he got caught up in the crowd and was carried away.

Shiro stayed between the platforms, watching the entrance to the downtown platform for longer than he’d like to admit before sighing and turning to his own station.

He could survive until the end of term. They still had Skype.

Shiro already found himself looking forward to the next call.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD4x05 – “Begin the Blitz”

4x05 – “Begin the Blitz”

The Paladins are back on Olkarion. I really don’t understand why the show this season has spent so much time sitting around on Olkarion. Even when the story goes to a different location, they keep coming back here. They aren’t doing anything that would require them to be on Olkarion though, so I don’t know why they’re here. Everyone is currently standing around having a conversation through transmission with Kolivan and Keith. Kolivan reports that Zarkon seems fixated on Lotor, and Shiro wants to use that as a distraction to attack. He identifies some “line of planets” in which only one planet remains under Galra control: Naxzela. It’s in instances like this where the show confuses me so much. The Galra are supposed to be a universe-wide dominating force. But for a line of planets to be even remotely relevant, we would have to, at most, be dealing with a single galaxy here. One galaxy is tiny compared to the universe.

“If we capture Naxzela and solidify that line, we can cut off all the Galra troops behind it from central command and use our position to defeat them,” Shiro says. It really bothers me when people write space-based stories and don’t understand the scale of space. Here, they’re talking about a line. Space is three-dimensional. It would not be difficult for the Galra to simply go above or below the line to get around it.

“Wow, we could take back a third of the Galra Empire in one, fell swoop,” Pidge says. Again, this show confuses me with its scale. What Pidge says here would require the Galra Empire be located in only one galaxy, not the universe-wide force the show has depicted it as before and will again. This is just more of VLD’s infamous inconsistency.

Their plan is to attack several locations at once: a communication hub and two zaiforge cannons. These cannons can apparently shoot things that are very distant. I didn’t get the impression that these three locations are all in the same solar system that Naxzela is, so that would mean these cannons can shoot across lightyears. That is absolutely absurd. The rebels will attack one of the zaiforge cannons, and the Blades of Marmora attack the second cannon. The goal is to seize the cannons and use them against the Galra. Voltron will be attacking the Galra on Naxzela, which thankfully looks like an actual planet.

Kolivan reaffirms what Pidge said earlier: this plan will put a third of Galra territory in Coalition control. Sigh. The entire time this scene is going on, Keith is standing beside Kolivan. Keith never speaks. Why did they not give Kolivan’s dialog in this scene to Keith? There’s nothing that Kolivan says that explicitly needed to come from him. Keith’s the main character, not Kolivan, yet Keith just stands there, motionless, silent, like an afterthought.

Lotor and his remaining generals are heading somewhere and he won’t tell them where, only giving them coordinates. Ezor wearing her helmet feels strange since the giant sock that hangs off her head would have to be wrapped up and stuffed inside the helmet. Ezor debates with Axca about Zarkon’s order against Lotor, but Axca says they have to trust him. Finally, we’re getting fallout from Lotor killing Narti: Ezor wrestles with the idea of trusting Lotor now. Given Axca’s facial expressions, Ezor’s comment does get to her, but she ultimately dismisses the idea that they can’t trust Lotor. This is the kind of scene that this show needed more of.

Team Voltron “gathers the coalition.” This montage makes the Coalition look smaller than it’s been described in previous episodes. Paladins go and directly talk to small groups of Coalition members, maybe a few dozen people per meeting. Shiro describes the Coalition as “friends and allies from across the universe.” Ugh, this show can’t even be consistent on the scale of the setting even within a single episode. Now, we’re back to everything being universe-wide. So that then brings me back to the fact that a line of planets in one galaxy is tiny. A line of planets in one galaxy would not portion off a third of the universe. (The idea of a line drawn with planets in different galaxies is nonsensical, so they have to be within the same galaxy.)

I guess the Paladins return to the Castle Ship on Olkarion after going and talking with a few dozen members of the Coalition at various locations because we get another shot of them standing around, Kolivan and Keith still on the display screen, but now there are also rebels standing around with the Paladins. I don’t know.

Lotor and the generals arrive at the location he’s directed them to. Zethrid says that her “scanners don’t detect anything.” Lotor says, “they’re not supposed to.” And then, after they move through a thick dust cloud, they come to Daibazaal.

Are you kidding me? Lotor’s generals are so unfamiliar with Daibazaal, the destroyed homeworld of the Galra, that they didn’t immediately recognize they were going to it when Lotor gave them the coordinates of their destination? Ezor doesn’t even recognize it when she sees it, asking Lotor what this place is. I do not whatsoever buy the idea that elite generals of the Galra Empire are so unfamiliar with the homeworld of the Galra that they don’t know this location. Also, it might be a significantly destroyed planet, but it’s still enough mass that made up a planet, so how did Zethrid’s scanners not detect it?

Lotor reveals that Alfor’s plan to destroy the rift by blowing up the planet failed. Lotor has had a team construct an “inter-reality gate on the rift.” His goal is to use his Sincline ship to enter the rift and “harvest the unlimited quintessence that exists in the layer between realities.” This somehow instantly reassures Axca, who reaffirms her faith in Lotor. I still don’t understand that if quintessence is life energy, then why is there so much of it in the rift. Lotor tries to fly into the rift but then seemingly just flies through his gate.

Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer have joined the rebels and have been working with Matt and coalition forces. This is a huge change in their characters that occurs offscreen. It sure would be nice to be allowed to see character growth when it happens.

Allura gives some big speech to the whole of the Coalition. She announces their “full scale attack on the Galra Empire.”

The Galra communication hub passes through some “dark zone” periodically, and that’s when Pidge and Hunk infiltrate it. It literally goes dark during this time, so this “dark zone” is just when a moon of a planet passes between the hub and the local sun? There really is not reason a communication hub would be placed in orbit between a planet and that planet’s moon. I would think a hub would be positioned in an unabstructed location. Orbiting a planet would always make communication blocked by the planet too.

Pidge and Hunk successfully take out the base commander, Pidge hacks the hub’s computers with only a couple button presses and puts in place some program that will make the Galra Empire think their communication hub is functioning normally for eight hours before they can figure it out. Okay. Hunk says, “Until then, no calls get in or out.” If none of the Galra Empire’s communications will get in or out from their communications hub, I think someone would notice long before eight hours have elapsed.

Matt and the rebels attack their assigned zaiforge cannon. The Rebels have what looks like a dozen ships, and they’re fighting a larger number of Galra fighters. The show has shown a single Lion having trouble with even fewer fighters, and the Lions are supposed to be the most advanced battleships ever. That makes it hard to believe these rebel ships could handle the Galra, although the scale of this battle feels more real to me.

The Galra fire the zaiforge cannon, and hit all of the rebel ships except for the one(s?) Matt, Rolo, Nyma, Beezer, Olia (aka the dog person who hasn’t been properly introduced despite apparently being the leader of this mission), and some woman in armor (or possibly an android?) with a facemask that completely covers her face (or is it her face if she’s an android?). How convenient that all the characters with speaking parts, except for the literal frog-man who ribbitted once, survive while the rest get blown up.

A Galra reports that “a third of the rebel forces have been decimated.” Oh, the unintended irony of that line. I know we now use the word “decimate” without any numerical definition attached to it, but the word does technically mean to kill one-tenth of a group of people. So, killing a third is a lot larger than a decimation. But again, our modern/colloquial usage of the word “decimate” has been separated from its historical meaning. I’m a word-nerd, so I can’t help but to notice these things.

We’re shown the cannon blasting nine ships, and before this we’ve only seen twelve ships at most, but here the dialog says only a third of them apparently were destroyed. I guess it’s just an inconsistency between the script and the animation?

The Blades of Marmora are on a planet trying to seize their assigned zaiforge cannon. Once again, this show has a non-planet planet, and this one looks like a tooth. Keith is finally given some dialog. Somehow, the Galra staffing this cannon on whatever planet this is can “detect a large mass entering planet Naxzela’s atmosphere,” but they lack communications to report it. Is this cannon supposed to be in the same solar system as Naxzela? I had the impression that these are supposed to be notably distant places. Again, the scale of where all these events are taking place is so undefined that I don’t know. The Blades seize control of the cannon.

Voltron attacks Naxzela.

Back with the rebels, there are nine ships hiding behind an asteroid. The android? suggests the Blades use their cannon to knock out the shields protecting this one. The zaiforge cannon is fired at the asteroid. It makes a long, sustained blast, but it’s taking a long time to break through the asteroid. Remind me how the zaiforge cannon is a threat across astronomical distances when it takes a lot of time to destroy a nearby asteroid?

Voltron easily destroys huge portions of the Galra forces and base on Naxzela. Something that none of them can “see” keeps blasting them. Apparently, there’s previously undetected, cloaked mines that only now start exploding. Pidge can detect them now though, even though all she did was touch a few buttons, so it doesn’t seem like they shouldn’t have been unable to detect them before. Pidge says that “there’s just too many to maneuver through them.” They got through them just fine to get to where they are now though, so I don’t know why they can’t move through them just as easily as they did before they started exploding. Allura uses Blue’s ice cannon to freeze the mines so they can maneuver through them before they explode. Ugh. That really seems nonsensical to me.

So, Voltron separates just long enough for Blue to freeze them, then they fly out of the mines (the distance between the mines look like they could have flown out, especially when separated into their respective Lions without freezing them) and then reform into Voltron. At this point in the show, I’m really tired of the Voltron forming animation.

Lotor stands on a chunk of rock, looking at his gate. Ezor, Zethrid, and Axca stand distant from him talking about their situation. Ezor comments that Lotor’s plans have failed. Zethrid says, “He’s going to turn on us as soon as it’s in his best interest.” She and Ezor keep going back and forth about how, for their own sake, they need to “take him down” first. Axca says nothing but walks over to Lotor. She draws her weapon, says, “For Narti,” and then shoots Lotor. Apparently, their weapons have a stun setting, so Lotor’s unconscious.

Keith has his cannon shoot across distant space at the other cannon. His blast easily takes out the other cannon’s shield. So, high tech forcefield defensive systems are easy to take out with a zaiforge cannon blast, but the rock of an asteroid takes a long time to get through? The rebels are shown as almost instantly capturing their assigned cannon. There’s a montage of Coalition forces attacking miscellaneous wherevers.

Lotor has been bound, and they’re all in their ships. He realizes they’re going to turn him over to the Galra, so he dislocates his shoulders so that he can access the ship’s controls, and he ejects Zethrid into space. He takes the one ship and jets off, while Zethrid is picked up by the other ship. Axca says, “There’s still one option left.”

The communication hub comes back online.

A Druid tells Haggar, who’s kneeling in the middle of an open room overtop some glowing glyphs on the floor that Voltron has reclaimed a big portion of the Empire. Haggar responds, “Good.”

Huh?

Haggar, who earlier this season was condemning Lotor for his having lost control of some minor outposts on the edge of the Galra Empire, is now okay with losing, according to what was said by multiple characters in this episode, one third of the Empire’s territory?

I’m so divided on this episode. It has beautiful animation. And it finally spends some time dealing with consequences of behavior in the interpersonal relationships between Lotor and his generals resulting from his having killed Narti. Of the story told in this episode, I think these scenes with Lotor are the most interesting. Despite the details of the Coalition’s attacks bothering me, I like the general idea of this plot. This season spent so much time having our heroes not really doing anything that it’s nice to finally have some movement.

But I’m baffled by the scale of the setting. Here, in one episode, in some scenes they talk as if they’re dealing on galactic scale, but then in other scenes (and in a lot of previous episodes) the scale is universal. The show just can’t be consistent on this because I don’t think the writers for this show understand the magnitudes of scale that are relevant in space.

And then this weird ending with Haggar acting like she’s fine with everything. I know she’s got her magic plan to counter next episode, but the way this episode has her react feels so inconsistent with how she was angry at Lotor. I think the fact that I enjoyed the scenes with Lotor this episode, and then to have this annoying ending with Haggar just reaffirms how boring Haggar is for me. I know the episode wants me to end going, Oh no!, Haggar the villain has some diabolical plan! But the effect her ending scene had on me was to remind me of how much I did not miss her during the rest of the episode.

[ao3feed-keithshiro]

Every Step Leads Closer to You

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Qfi35a

by Deveroux

Truthfully, Keith liked being alone. He preferred it. But when faced with the unnaturally empty and silent halls of the Atlas, he finds himself swept away in a sweet surprise.

Words: 3272, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Coran (Voltron), Keith's Wolf (Voltron), Krolia (Voltron), Kolivan (Voltron), Romelle (Voltron), Matt Holt, Acxa (Voltron), Veronica (Voltron), Iverson (Voltron), Sam Holt, Colleen Holt, James Griffin (Voltron), Nadia Rizavi, Ryan Kinkade, Ina Leifsdottir, Shay (Voltron), Nyma (Voltron), Beezer (Voltron), Vrepit Sal, Space Mice (Voltron)

Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Marriage Proposal

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2Qfi35a