#THAT'S SO LANCE AFTER KEITH LEAVES FOR THE BOM

[weaponizedducks]

desperately need to see a klance edit to cosmic love

[torveiglyart]

Red Paladin Lance!

It always kinda bothered me that they never switched armor colours. I understand why not in season 3-4 because switching the armor then would feel like accepting that Shiro is gone. They were convinced that the 'Changing of the Guard' was a temporary solution. But why didn't Lance and Allura swap when Shiro was back and Keith left?

Keith leaving was a conscious choice. They had one paladin too many, as Lance stated, and Keith felt he was the one who could, and should, leave. He had the Blade of Marmora to go to, whereas the other paladins would have nowhere to go.

The paladins knew generally where he was, and that he wasn't dead. So why not change armor?

Allura wore the pink as a symbol of mourning. But Shiro's back, so unless she really likes pink like her mother, she has no reason to continue wearing it. Lance has not flown, or talked to, Blue in a long while, and never does again until the season 8 conclusion. He's Red's paladin now.

It makes all the sense in the world for them to switch armor in the seasons after Keith's departure. So why didn't they? I think it's because of which paladin they are. Let me explain:

Keith is the red paladin. The Red Lion looks for someone 'hot-headed and stubborn', someone who relies more on instinct than skill. The traits of a red paladin are fiery, straightforwardness, impulsive, passionate, and self-certain. Keith tones it down a bit when leading the team in black and once he returns from the BoM, but he still has these characteristics.

Lance is the blue paladin. The Blue Lion looks for someone flexible, supportive, and creative. While we don't get to hear Allura's explanation of the Blue Lion, we can see why Blue picked Lance. He's a quick thinker, goes with the flow, and most of all, flexible. He makes what's given work, especially when it came to needing a red paladin. Not, by choice, necessarily, but he rolls with it.

Allura is not a chosen paladin. She does not have qualities that fit a specific lion quite as well as the rest do, but rather a mix. This is why she works as Blue's pilot. She has the flexibility required by Blue. So while she works as a blue paladin, she is technically not a better fit than Lance for Blue, but Lance is a much better fit in Red than Allura due to Keith in Black.

All this to say, it still annoys me they didn't change colours, but oh well.

[lolabearwrites]

Random things I would have loved for Voltron

-Keith never leaves w/ the BOM and stays the leader of Voltron (I have no problem with him being a blade, I actually enjoyed watching it, but I just didn't like him choosing them over Voltron)

-also! I wished we actually saw the "Galra Keith reveal" w/ the team. Such a missed opportunity.

-More of Lance being Keith's second in command. I feel like we didn't get a lot of that.

-Shiro stays dead. Look I love the man. One of my favorite characters. But after S2 it always feels like he just doesn't quite fit into the story like he used to.

-Very biased. But. Klance romance. Not the "will they won't they" shit. No. A actual relationship development. If it was written well I could see it happening maybe in s4/s5?

-Lotor and Keith friendship! Bonding over being mixed race and not fitting in.

-Keith learning Galra culture! Maybe through Lotor? Or BOM?

-Lotura. Pls. They were so cute.

-Oh, should have said this before the other three, but a Lotor redemption arc.

-A Keith and Lance ep. Because in eight seasons they never had an episode centered around them like they did for other characters. Klance had moments. But not eps.

-A Pidge arc !! She had a motivation (save her family) but not really an arc. The same could be said for Hunk.

-follow through with Lance's character development. Writers...you already set him up for it, you just had to follow through with it and actually do something with it.

-more found family fluff throughout the seasons. Because I felt like they never actually got to the level of "found family" if that makes sense

-change the armor color to match the lions. Mostly because I feel Keith wearing Shiro's armor for the first time when he takes over would also have an emotional impact.

- Coran being fleshed out. I know he's a comic relief. But I really love Coran! And I'd love to know more about him.

- I wish the team all had their own little quirks or interests, just something that didn't really have big significance to the story but made them feel more real, you know.

-okay, but It would have been amazing if team Voltron came to a planet that had no idea there was life outside their planet. Just like earth. Idk I feel like it would be funny XD

Anyway, that's my food for thought, feel free to add to this post :)

[justsomevoltronstuff]

Hello hello!

I was wondering if you write for any of the BOM members.

If so can I get angst to fluff, Kolivan and Ulaz (separately) with a medic s/o who is a member of team voltron and they get poisoned?

If not, then Shiro, keith, and lance with the same scenario.

I do believe at this point only God knows when this ask was sent in, I'm like really bad at answering reqs in a timely manner but I think everyones aware of this at this point.

I absolutely LOVED this plot idea and may or may not be writing additional parts for the Paladins as well lol

as always, I hope you enjoy! please feel free to comment/reblog with your thoughts🫶

c/w: poison; medical facility; mentions of fighting; badly written 'fight' scene; Kolivan gets wounded in his and reader is the one wounded in Ulaz's; reader is a medic so if you don't like depictions of medical practices, even briefly, this probably isn't your fic love; Ulaz’s got out of hand and is more of a small one shot than a scenario. my bad.

dividers by @cafekitsune

For as long as you could remember, you had always wanted to be a doctor. Your dream was to help people. You'd joined the Garrison Space Program in hopes of getting the opportunity to further your knowledge in multiple areas of medicine, quickly working your way into position of field medic.

Getting the chance to actually go to space had never been in your plans, you liked having your feet on the ground, where you could be more useful. But signing up for the Garrison didn't leave you with much choice in such matters.

The mission was supposed to be straight forward and to the point, you were hardly even needed. The people in charge wanted you there for the soul purpose of logging the members vitals. Collect scientific data so that the Garrison can use it for their next generation of space suits.

You had only wished it'd been that simple.

It was difficult to tell time in space. Your easiest guesses had been the rotation of meals and when you and the other prisoners were let out to fight in the gladiator pits. You loathed the days you were meant to fight and mostly kept to yourself in order to attend to wounded prisoners best you could.

When Shiro had told you he was busting out, you hadn't even hesitated in packing up any medical scraps you had left and leaving them with your apprentice of sorts. Promising to return to free the rest of the prisoners. Neither of you wanted to leave them there, but getting both of you out would be hard enough.

Getting back to Earth proved far easier than you'd anticipated with the Galran technology. You'd tried to attend to Shiro's arm best you could while he piloted the two of you home.

Home. You honestly thought you'd never see it again.

The landing was, rough. But you'd survived, and then you'd been treated as if you were a threat. Saved by a bunch of cadets before you could be transported back to the Garrison, where you probably wouldn't have seen the light of day for a good while.

Thinking back on those early days, how you'd come to be with the Paladins of Voltron in the Castle of Lions, was almost nostalgic despite not having been so long ago.

Kolivan

Organizing some of your equipment, you tried to busy yourself to not think of the mission they were on. Trying not to get too concerned for the team you'd come to think of as your family. Trying not to think of the one you'd come to love.

Before you could spiral into worst case scenarios, the door to your clinic burst open, Keith holding it open while Antok carried an unconcious Kolivan through the threshold, gently placing him on your table.

You were in full doctor mode before he was down, already gathering up various tools to check his vitals.

"What's the situation?" You asked to no one in particular.

"I think he's been poisoned. He was grazed and just collapsed not long after."

“Are you hurt?” A quick scan told you Keith was relatively unharmed.

“No, it’s just Kolivan.”

Cursing under your breath, you started searching for the wound, making quick work of cleaning it and patching it up after pulling a blood sample from it.

"Get this to Pidge, tell her to run it with every type of poison we have, I need to know what was on that blade." Keith was out of the room before you couldn't even finish.

You prepped every antidote you had or could make, waiting to hear back from Pidge.

Satisfied with your preparation, you turned all your focus and energy to Antok, checking him over for injuries and checking his vitals until he huffed out an “I’m fine.” taking up position by the door and watching you as you began to pace, no more concerns left to keep your mind busy from your bedridden lover.

"Y/n."

Kolivan's voice was hoarse, but very much real. You felt tears spring to your eyes as you turned to look at him.

"I'm okay." He tried to sit up, stopping only due to your hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down on to the bed.

"Okay or not you're going to stay put until I say otherwise."

It wasn't much longer before Keith returned with the type of poison, and you had the antidote administered.

You watched as even Antok seemed to relax, he and Keith both leaving the infirmary to give you some space.

Kolivan watched in silence as you cleaned up your area, carefully stashing away every antidote for every poison you've ever come across or even just read about.

"I'm okay, my love." He says again.

"I know, but you're only okay because I know what I'm doing. You could have died today." You tried to keep the tears threatening to break at bay.

"But I didn't because you know what you're doing. I have nothing to fear if I have you."

You scoffed a laugh, glaring at him over your shoulder.

He just shrugged, holding open his arms for you. Crawling up onto the bed, you snuggled into his chest.

"The mission always comes first." He whispered, a reminder of the life you'd signed up for and willingly walked into the day you'd fallen for him.

"And I'm not saying it shouldn't, just that you don't have to be so reckless with your health."

"I am not reckless."

The pointed glare you shot him made him chuckle, holding you tighter.

"I'll always come back to you safe, my love."

"Safe enough at least." You grumbled, curling tighter around him, causing him to flinch slightly from pressure on his wound, and hold you tighter against him to keep you from pulling away because of it.

Ulaz

You didn’t often find yourself actually in the thick of battle unless the Castle was, but even then there was a level of safety.

Finding yourself actually on a Galra cruiser was not common for you. At least not since you escaped your prison. But you’d sworn you’d be back for the ones you left behind, and after plenty of arguing back and forth, you found yourself tagging along with the paladins to do just that.

Moving about the ship to find your way to the cells felt like second nature, you and Shiro leading the way. The operation was going smoothly up until you passed the hall you wished you could forget.

Ulaz had lived on that hall. Forth door on the left, knock twice, wait, knock twice again. It was ingrained in you, just as the safest path to it was.

You'd tried not to think of Ulaz or your time together on the ship, it was easier not to than to ponder what might've become of him. Had he been made? Would the other Blade's have gotten him out if he had? Was he even still alive?

Time wasn't a commodity you had as you found yourself in the cells, already wrapping up any wounds that needed immediate care and taking note of what could be done once back on the ship.

You'd been far too focused on assisting the wounded, you'd forgotten the dangers of mission and the fact that could easily turn into a battle.

The prisoner you were helping screamed just a moment too late and you felt searing pain as a blade made contact with your arm. You hardly had time to look at your attacker before all you saw was the back of a Galra soldier.

Breathing a weary sigh of relief, you finished your work and urged the prisoner to follow the others, before taking a quick assessment of your wound and the room around you, smiling when Ulaz dropped to his knees beside you.

"What can I do to help?" He asked earnestly, checking your wound himself.

"I think there was poison on the blade, so if I fall unconscious, get Pidge, the Green Paladin, to run a test to figure out what type, I should have the antidote-"

"Get away from them!" Ulaz grunted as he blocked Keith's attack.

"No, stop. He's not hurting me."

The Paladin's all looked at you like you were insane. "He's Galra, Y/n." Hunk stated incredulously. "You're literally bleeding."

"And he dispatched the one that made me bleed. Look I'll explain on the ship, but lets get these prisoners to safety."

Lance moved to pick you up, but Ulaz tightening his grip and standing effortlessly with you stopped him.

"Lead the way, Paladin." He said gruffly.

Somewhere between the holding cells and the lions, you lost consciousness entirely. Comforted by Ulaz’s presence and the knowledge you’d be safe as long as he had you.

“We’re just going to let him stay here? What if he’s leading them right to us?”

“He hasn’t left Y/n’s side for longer than it takes to go to the bathroom, does that really seem like someone who’d compromise them?”

“He’s Galra Keith.”

“And when have the Galra ever not been completely forthcoming with exactly how they feel about us? Face it Lance, even the Galra have emotions and aren’t all bad.”

“But he was on a Galra fleet cruiser, that’s not exactly a green flag.”

“Y/n trusts him, so we at least need to hear them out.”

“Do they always talk this much?” Ulaz whispered.

You chuckled, followed by a coughing fit. Cracking open your eyes and squinting against the bright lights of your infirmary. 

“This is mild for them.” Your voice was hoarse from lack of use. “You get used to it though.”

“Y/n!” Lance screeched, rushing to your side, shoving Ulaz away from you to check you over. “Keith, go get the others! Y/n how are you feeling? Do you need anything? What can I do to-” 

You reached your hand up, covering his mouth. “Dim the lights, they’re gonna give me a headache. And don’t shove the love of my life away from me again or I swear I’ll leave all your healing to those ten thousand year old pods. Understood?”

His eyes widened in shock, looking between you, to Ulaz, and back again.

“Love of your life?” The muffled question felt just as incredulous as it was probably supposed to sound. Pinning him with what he dubbed the ‘Mom Eyes’ he quickly moved to dim the lights. 

Ulaz returned to his spot beside you, gently pulling your hand up to his lips and kissing the back of it gently.

The other Paladins joined you, each taking turns to fill in the blanks of while you were out. Pidge informed you of the type of poison on the blade and how shocked she was that you actually had the antidote. Hunk mentioned the few survivors that have refused any type of healing, holding out for you to check them over. Finally, it was Allura that demanded to know why in the universe you thought bringing a Galra on board was a good idea. You just shrugged and shared a look with Ulaz. 

“Because we’re married.”

The room filled with various amounts of confused faces, indignant squawks –yes, squawks– and a barrage of questions sounding over top others. Your voice couldn’t be heard even if you tried to answer any of them.

Ulaz brought the room to silence with a laugh, an honest to goodness full belly laugh unlike one you’d ever imagined getting from him. He looked at you fondly, kissing the back of your hand once more before turning to your team.

He filled them in on how you’d met while you were imprisoned, how you’d come to fall in love, the ceremony of a wedding the two of you had completely alone in his quarters, and finally of how he was instrumental in yours and Shiro’s escape. He told them that neither of you had ever expected to meet again after that. War wasn’t kind on anyone, but especially not on lovers. 

When he’d been notified that there was an escape attempt happening at the cells you had been held in, he left his post to go check it out. 

“Knowing Y/n, I almost expected their return for the captives. I needed to know they were safe if it was them. I truly mean all of you no harm. I just wanted to make sure my Y/n was safe.”

“What made you break away from the Galra in the first place? It’s cool you’re in love with our Doc, but you’re still Galra, no offence.”

“I was never truly affiliated with the Galra Empire. Much like you, I seek to bring it down. I was working on the inside as a spy when I met Y/n. I am just glad they are mostly safe now. Thank you Paladins, for caring for them while I couldn’t.”

-Admin Rori💜

[callmelyc]

Just gonna start cross posting every single bit of Twitter nonsense soooo

Lance joining Keith on blade missions post war and calling him "Captain" in the most flirty tone. He does this during meetings and such just to make Keith blush or stutter in his words.

The first time lance does this it catches Keith so far off guard his reaction isn't at all subtle.

"Excuse me, Captain~" Lance all but purrs the title in that lovely lilting tone of his and Keith damn near chokes on his own spit right in front of a room of BOM personel.

He clears his throat best he can trying to gather himself- because what the fuck- "y...yes Lance?"

"What if we went in teams of two? That way at least two people could tackle that northern section there."

Keith turns to look at the map, fluster momentarily forgotten, and sees Lance is right it would make more sense.

So plans are changed with unanimous agreement and things move on.

The flirtatious captain is forgotten until it happens again, this time in the halls.

Keith is talking to a commander for one of the resistance outpost when he feels a presence slide into his side so smooth and efficiently he nearly ignores it.

He knows it's lance, it always was, and he's more surprised by the fact Lance stays so silent.

It's not until the Commander, a man named Zyre, starts to comment on lack of trust that Lance speaks up before Keith can even get a word.

"Excuse me Commander but I can assure you Captain Kogane has it all under control" he says it with a charming smile that seems to ease all of Zyres worries.

Keith never knows how he managed it with such ease and simplicity, to calm someone's worries as if it's his living purpose.

He watches as the two talk, ending with a light laugh and a kind goodbye.

As the commander leaves Lance turns to look at him, blue eyes sparkling like the ocean "what's wrong Captain?" And there it is again that flirtatious sing song of his title that makes Keith gulp. A tanned hand smoothly slides up Keiths arm making his mouth run dry "cat got your tongue?"

Keith fights the flaming blush rising up his cheeks, he turns to rush away in place of a reply knowing it was far more incriminating thid way.

If he hears Lances twinkling laughter as he turns the corner Keith makes nothing of it.

The third time is, unfortunately for Keith, during a joint BOM and Atlas meeting.

Griffin was arguing the benefit of using some of his crew alongside one of the other branches of the resistance and it was draining Keith's patience to no end.

Sure they get along now, somewhat, but that didn't mean he found James particularly pleasant to listen to.

He drones on and on about the efficiency and things he'd already covered in his pitch but despite a good amount of the room being a tad annoyed no one seemed willing to stop him...yet

That's when Keith sees It, the look™ on Lances face and he knows oh God does he know.

Lance smiles when he notices he's caught Keiths eye and tosses him a knowing wink.

Keith fights everything in him not to groan as Lance shifts to cut Griffin off without even looking at the guy. Those blue eyes zeroing in on Keith from across the room with terrifying accuracy and focus.

"Captain Kogane" he says oh so sweetly it shuts everyone up in an instant. Lance even bats his lashes for extra effect because his new favorite thing to do is apparently publicly torture Keith.

"I-" Keith starts far too distracted to even notice the way some have started giggling at his demise. Too far gone for this boy that his loss for words is so heavy for something so small.

"You had a contact in that Sector didn't you? Why not utilize them?"

It's not until after the meeting that Keith realizes others have taken notice to Lances....well, whatever it is he's doing.

Keith tries to ignore the look, the whispers, the focus. He really does. But then Shiro has that shit eating grin on his face as he walks up next to him and Keith would rather be literally anywhere else.

"So Captain Kogane huh?" Shiro asks smugly.

Keith glares at him "shut it grandpa, he's just being respectful."

That makes shiro snort "yeah sure respectful is definitely the word for that."

Keith reserved to say nothing as they walked to the cafeteria and did his best to ignore every giggle and whisper thrown as he passes.

If he thought that was bad he wasn't ready for the way people mockingly called him Captain at lunch. They'd say it with that same flirty lit and over the top gestures that made his skin crawl. Its not in a mean way, he knows. It's more in the they were clearly mocking Lances tone kind of way and Keith found that unacceptable.

It irked him to no end. If they were gonna poke fun at him fine! But don't bring lance into it.

So Keith did the only rational thing left. He left the cafeteria.

He tracked down Lance because even if he was the cause of the teasing Lance was still far better company than anyone else on this god forsaken ship.

He found him in the ships artificial courtyard humming to himself as he played with the vines.

He sits next to Lance enjoying the simplicity of the moment since they usually don't get much time like this and returns the smile Lance throws his way. It's comforting when they're together like this. Just the two of them with no prying eyes or mission discussions.

"What brings you here Samurai? I would've thought you'd eat lunch with Shiro."

Keith huffs a bit "with everyone jokingly calling me Captain I'd rather sit somewhere relaxing."

Lance frowns "do...do you not like being called Captain?"

Keith looks at lance dumfounded, he's unable to reply before lance continues "should I stop?"

"NO!"

The two look at eachother wide eyed for a moment.

A beat pases.

Two.

Lances surprise fades into a small smirk, a dangerous understanding filling his eyes "oh so you do like it when I call you Captain?"

"I- well..." He stutters trying to fight the rising heat on his ears. Keith wouldn't dare admit it out loud he can't. He can't give lance a weapon like this, his heart wouldn't survive.

But despite the lack of voicing his agreement Lance picks up on it anyways. Those sharp eyes always on target, lazer focused, and amused much to Keiths dismay.

Lance chuckles standing to leave "well, I'll see you around then Captain~"

And Keith has never wanted to smack himself more for being such an oblivious idiot.

[future-mr-red-lion]

The audio

“I’m not in love with you anymore,

i didn’t know you ever were”

fits kLance because imagine this.

Keith and Lance started getting pretty close before Keith left for BOM, Lance was ready to confess to Keith almost, he came to terms with how he felt. And when Keith left to leave space for Lance on the team, Lance thought it was because he knew how much Lance loved him and that he loved him the same. (He did of course). I mean just look at lances face in the scene where Keith leaves, it is so understanding and he’s the only one who really sees that Keith is trying to help, but after long nights, days and battles without Kieth, he realised he had to move on. He made himself like allura even more, and tried to prove it to everyone. So when Keith saw Allura and Lance ‘happy’ while he was in the abyss, he probably started to think that Lance didn’t ever like him. So when Kieth returns from BOM, Lance thinks that Keith thinks that Lance is still in love with him, so instead of just saying he’s dating allura he says

Lance: I’m not in love with you anymore (assuming Keith already knew)

Keith: I never knew you were ( realizing that if he never left maybe Lance would have been with him)

Now Lance is left feeling guilty and Keith feels like he lost something he thought could never be his. That’s why they stop standing right next to eachother all the time, and that’s why they just continue as friends liek in season 2 but not season 3. (In season 3 there was some mega hints, they were getting closer to liking eachother). They even go back to their rivalry.

And when Keith is about to go get axca, Lance is so worried cause he’s not sure if Keith knows that Lance still loves Keith, but he just can’t be IN love with Keith. He wants Keith to know that he doesn’t want to lose him again, and that he still matters.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk, grammar sucks, and I am crying while writing this so stfu

[goth1c-pinki3-pi3]

im writing this because my friends are being assholes and this gives me an excuse to ignore them

So, in this Bones x Voltron au, Keith is Sweets. and we all know that lance sweets had a shitty past with the foster care system so i’ll be bringing one of my favorite (if done well) head cannons in. Everyone say hi to “keiths abusive past in the foster system after his dads death”!! now keith was in the system since he was about 8-14/5 right? cus thats the general age he looks then he joins the garrison for high school and leaves (is kicked out) the final year (yada yada yada, cannon ensues.) Keith comes back to Earth and time had passed, he’s finally able to drink and shit.

But he’s been in space for so long, that he doesn’t know how to socialize. He also doesn’t know how humans work anymore, because some of his own anatomy has changed with his inevitable galra puberty. So obviously he decides to study psychology in hopes of understanding how to communicate with people.

Now the fun stuff. He gets a job into the fbi as one of the youngest psychologists because he has a good reference from the garrison (which, in my mind, is in it’s own way a military school). help doesn’t wanna go into the fbi with this big reputation of saving the world, because they’ll ask about that and wouldn’t focus on the fact that he id a registered psychologist!

Now this can either “end” in 2 ways. Either number 1 (the boring one) where instead of Lance dying, his new galra anatomy (and the trained ability to move his organs while in the BOM) makes sure he survives and Daisy doesn’t have to raise their kid without him.

Or we can go with my favorite, number 2!! Now number 2 lies in the fact that the government knows about aliens and that Hodgins regularly goes to sweets (when they’re both not clocked in) to share conspiracy theories together. Of course, they’re best friends so Keith keeps no secrets and introduces Hodgins to his mom. Its also important to point out that Hodgins is an orphan. So of course Krolia emotionally adopts this crazy lil silly guy whos like, less than a fraction of her age.

Everything comes to a blow when something causes both Keith and Hodgins to be in danger. Keith still keeps his blade with him with permission from the government because you know, he saved the world. And that blade has some connection to his mom so he sends a pulse through it to signal he and Hodgins are in danger and she races over to save them.

Yeash this made my hands hurt. Anyways this goes out to @mosscreeper-ao3 who raised thier hand when i asked if anyone would listen to me rant about my bones (2005) x voltron idea. 🫶

[comfortlesshurt]

On it, yes, indeed (on it, watch me bleed)

TWs: canon-typical unhappy ending, vague injuries

Pseud: occasionalvoltronfiction

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Character: Keith

Timeline: After Kuron is able to pilot Black, soon before Keith joins the BOM

Summary:

Tucked underneath a large bit of debris, Keith is only moderately well-hidden from the sentries patrolling the area. The goal had been to take advantage of the upset of the rest of Voltron attacking and grab the information needed in the confusion. It should’ve gone off without a hitch. OR A take on Keith's final Voltron mission before his time as a Blade.

Challenge: Seven Songs of Suffering

Read on AO3

Read on FFN

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Adrenaline pumps through Keith’s veins, and it is not helping the situation.

Tucked underneath a large bit of debris, he’s only moderately well-hidden from the sentries patrolling the area. The goal had been to take advantage of the upset of the rest of Voltron attacking and grab the information needed in the confusion. It should’ve gone off without a hitch. The major tactical benefit of having Shiro back in action is that the Galra don’t seem to have realized that Voltron now has six active members, so when all five lions are accounted for and the castleship is the only Voltron-allied ship in the entire solar system, they don’t expect a sixth force acting against them. They get cocky only to go down that much harder.

Technically, this planet is allied with the Coalition. Well, sort of. It’s conditional on Voltron freeing their planet from Galra control, which is conditional on Keith getting this information to help them target every last base on this planet without putting the civilians at any more risk than necessary. The leader they’d met with had been adamant about that. Apparently, centuries of Galra occupation had already gone a long way toward reducing the population, and they couldn’t afford to lose even more.

Anyway, the important thing is that they likely will have some assistance from the planet once they realize the Galra are actively falling, and then it will be easy to finish what’s left… if they can get that far fast enough.

It should have gone well. It was the choppy landing that did Keith in. The cloaking could only do so much with the bad intel—hopefully just outdated, but they’ve been through enough false potential ally situations that Keith wouldn’t be surprised to learn this is yet another of those traps based on intentional fake information—they were apparently working with. The supposedly deserted area of the planet he’d been pushed to target for landing wasn’t so deserted today. It could’ve been worse, but the damage is done. He’d taken heavy fire that managed to take out his ride out of here and injured him on the way down too.

Something in him tells him not to check his injuries too closely just yet, though it’s a stupid instinct. It’s not so bad that he wasn’t able to walk away from the crash. What’s he going to do when he sees? Go into some kind of shock and shut down completely? Doubtful. He’s made it this far, but he has further to go before the mission’s over, so as long as he’s not leaving a blood trail to lead the sentries and live troops right to him, it doesn’t matter yet.

It’s definitely bad enough that unnecessary risks are off the table until he can get himself into a cryopod, though, and that’s throwing him off. His gut tells him to tackle the sentries passing by in singles and pairs as usual, recognizing that those are rookie numbers for him on a normal day.

That, and the adrenaline may be wearing off if the growing twinge from his calf is anything to go by. Welp. Must be time to get moving then.

Contrary to Lance’s popular belief, Keith can control himself when he needs to. It eats at him to do it like acid bubbling just beneath his skin, but it’s not impossible. So, he resists his urges, lets the troops pass by unhindered, biding his time until he can make a break for the destination blinking on the GPS on his HUD. That being said, he’s way too close to his crashed shuttle for comfort, and it’s only a matter of time before some of them think to start canvassing the area rather than assuming he managed to immediately run off into the distance.

After glancing to both sides, he slips out from under the debris, and the way he involuntarily jerks back when he first puts weight on his leg confirms the adrenaline from the crash is on its way out. It’s more the shock of first putting his weight on it that gets him, though. He can keep going. He’s made it this far, and there’s no extraction until someone can swing through with a lion anyway. No use in being a sitting duck until that point if he can still complete the mission, iffy leg or not.

It’s not easier to forget about it once he’s in motion, even with the distraction of more attentively scrutinizing his GPS for the path to the base the intel had indicated had the location data they’d need. The good news is that it’s not the main base established on this planet, so it shouldn’t be too heavily fortified in comparison.

Every step continues to serve as a reminder of his wound, but soon enough the base comes into view, and he ducks behind a group of trees to get a better visual before approaching.

Normally, Pidge would be able to work her magic and give him a good bit of information to go off as far as the sentry headcount and the heavily surveilled areas to avoid, but what bits of the situation have been making it through the comms tell him she’s in no position to take any focus off her lion. Hunk can stand in sometimes when Pidge is indisposed, but he’s in the exact same situation. All the paladins are. With Coran needing to focus on helping them, Keith can’t ask him to divert any attention, especially not when he doesn’t even have the expertise to figure it out quickly like Pidge.

Considering it’s him that’s holding them back, it doesn’t feel right to demand more of their attention anyway. The sooner he gets this data, the sooner they can form Voltron and know where to target without needlessly taking out civilians.

So he’s going in blind, which shouldn’t be a big deal. There’ve been plenty of times the team has split into groups, leaving Keith without Pidge’s help, and he’s gotten through every one of those.

He edges his way closer to the denser tree line of a forest that seems to extend well beyond the base along one side, trying to loop around the building and come at it from another angle, one that will at least let him avoid the main entrance. No way that one’s not under heavy surveillance; he doesn’t need Pidge to point that out.

He flips his comms over to the passive mode, wary of the possibility of needing to communicate something in a hurry later and not having his hands free to start the mic in the moment. It’s something Shiro gets on him for annoyingly often, but Keith’s gotten better about it. He’s still not on board with leaving the mic on at all times—there’s no damn reason they all need to hear him panting and grunting as he navigates rough terrain at top speed while he’s nowhere near potential combatants—but it’s second nature to switch it on once he hits the more active parts of missions.

There’s some comfort in knowing they’ll hear if something happens to him once he’s deep into a Galra base or when he’s about to get into something else dicey. They may not like him all that much, but they’d never leave him for dead. They’ve proven that much many times over, even times where it’d made more sense to leave him behind.

“I’m looking for a way in now,” he advises quietly once the mic is on. “Shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“You’re just getting there now?” Pidge asks.

“More Galra than I expected on the way. Got held up.”

“Well, can you speed it up, mullet? We need to form Voltron and take everything out before we’re all exhausted from taking this fleet on.”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” he shoots back.

“Easy to say when you’re not the one getting shot at! Go faster!”

“Alright, settle down,” Shiro orders. “But Keith—the faster you can get those locations, the better. We’re dealing with more Galra than we expected up here too.”

“On it,” Keith mutters, barely getting to appreciate the lack of a jab on Lance’s end over the now definitely increasing pain jabbing at his leg.

It takes a couple minutes, but he spots what looks like a side entrance and sets a path toward it.

A shot rings out.

“Fuck,” he hisses involuntarily when a corresponding pain blooms in his abdomen.

He freezes while he takes in a shaky breath and groans as the sting grows during the exhale.

“What!?” Shiro’s voice crackles through the comms.

Shit. His mic was still on passive mode, wasn’t it?

Not that that should be his biggest concern, he realizes with a start accompanied by the sound of another blaster shot. This one only succeeds in taking out a chunk of tree to his left, but the ongoing threat is enough to send him careening away in search of cover further from the base.

It only sinks in that he’s down for the count when he can’t run in a straight line for the life of him. There’s no way he’s taking on any guards or managing any high-stakes sneaking like this.

“I got shot,” he finally mutters in the mic when he gains some distance.

A branch snaps, too near for comfort, and he shuts his mouth and looks down at his feet as he picks his way forward, avoiding anything that could make a sound and reveal his own location to his pursuer.

He tunes out the voices overlapping through the comms to focus on making his escape undetected, slowly reaching up to dim the volume to near silence once he’s settled into a position with a slightly better vantage point to spot anyone approaching from the direction he’s fleeing. Wrapping his arm around his stomach doesn’t relieve the pain at all, but there’s a comfort in it, even if he has to contort oddly to also keep his bayard at the ready. It doesn’t stop him from trembling in the wake of the pain.

Minutes pass by with no indication of anyone continuing to follow before he risks taking some of his focus off his surroundings and notches up the comms volume just enough to properly make out everyone.

“—ith, respond!”

“Sorry, here,” he hastily whispers. “Had one on my tail, but I think I lost him.”

“Alright, what’s the plan? Can you complete the mission or do you need an extraction?”

“Uhh… extraction,” he murmurs. “I’m sorry, Shiro. I can’t do it.”

“We’ll figure something else out. Hang tight while we take out the fleet so we can send someone your way.”

Keith nods, catching himself after a second and realizing he’s not in a lion with a video feed anymore.

“Okay,” he whispers then, letting himself lean back so the tree bears more of his weight before the strain of standing upright can weaken him any further.

When he looks down, he finds blood trickling down the front of his leg armor and starting to puddle on the ground. He jerks his head around to look back the way he came, but the bleeding must not have been too fast because there are no signs of it outside of where he stands now. Small mercies.

He lasts about a minute more before the wooziness kicks in regardless of the tree’s flawless support, and he has to let himself slide down to the ground when blackness starts to overtake his vision. He reaches up to pause his own mic feed before allowing himself one misery-filled groan.

Nausea creeps its way in, and it’s a focused effort to keep reminding himself it’s in his head. It’s just the… the pain, or the blood loss, or the shock. Something. He’ll be fine. He just has to make it long enough for someone to find him. Then his body can do whatever the fuck it wants. Not now.

The blackness that had receded when he first sat down starts tunneling his vision once again, and he has a frenzied moment to realize his body’s not going to hold off until he’s rescued before he’s out completely.

----------

The timeless blip to falling out of a cryopod is always confusing, and jumping from passing out alone deep in enemy territory to falling out of the pod even more so.

“Keith!” Pidge’s voice yells out as he falls and arms wrap around him before he can try to bring his own limbs under control and stop from braining himself on the floor.

“Man, never do that to me again!” Hunk exclaims from much closer, and when he can convince his eyelids to slide open, it’s to the sight of Hunk keeping him upright against his chest. “I thought you were dead when I got there.”

“Sorry,” Keith tries, still struggling to catch up with his own memories.

“You worried us,” Shiro chastises from further back.

“You must be starving,” Hunk adds. “What do you want me to make for you?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m just… I’m gonna go sleep off the cryopod,” he says.

It sounds like a weak excuse to his own ears, but no one stops him from leaving.

Shiro’s barely a minute behind him and lets himself into Keith’s quarters without knocking. Leaving the door open, he jumps straight into a lecture from the doorway.

“Keith, none of that was okay. Not telling us you were hurt before that shot? Not letting us know you were going to need an extraction as soon as you crashed the cruiser? How are we supposed to make plans when we’re missing information? When you don’t communicate with us, you put the whole team at risk, not just yourself.”

“I was—”

“Look, I don’t know where this is coming from, but we can’t afford for you to backslide like this. I get you’ve got trauma—we all do—but the rest of us have worked to overcome our bad coping mechanisms. There’s no room for you to be so reckless and to refuse to communicate your needs on top of that.”

“I didn’t—!”

“No, Keith, I don’t want to hear more excuses about this. I’ve been more than understanding, hoping you’d be able to work on it yourself, and you’ve just taken advantage of that up to this point. It needs to stop. Period.”

“Yes, sir,” he deadpans, sinking into a false apathy that fills him with cool familiarity even after years away from it.

“Take the rest of the day off and do whatever it takes to get it out of your system. I expect better communication on the next mission. I’ll be handling the team for today.”

He doesn’t spare Keith another glance before he walks out, shutting the door behind him and leaving Keith in silence. He sinks down onto the bed.

Maybe it’s time to rethink Kolivan’s offer to go full-time.

[erithel]

I have read all of iybms fics like it’s the last drop of water in a desert. She’s a wonderful and exceptional writer and her love for Lance’s character really comes comes through bc she puts him through a heroes journey and actually gets the good the bad and ugly parts of him and working with them as just aspects.

But that’s another thing that bugs me about the difference in the way keith is treated and lance is in the fandom. The fandom kind of pretends Keith is flawless. And I am totally serious about this.

You will see Lance get criticized six ways from sunday about his looks, his attitude, the way he behaves etc etc. But point out that Keith had a bad habit in s1-3 of being callus with feelings and lives and desires of his team (willing to sacrifice allura to the galra, berating pidge for wanting her family, bringing his knife to the BOM hq jeopardizing his life and Shiro and the plan AFTER HE WAS WARNED)and uncaring about how his actions hurt the common cause and his teammates, you get the common line about his tragic backstory and why it was actually the team that is in the wrong! Like when he went AWOL abandoning post as leader of voltron to go blading and the rest of the team got mad when they almost died? The fandom blamed the team entirely for almost dying and, worst, making Keith sad!

Like yes Keith’s tragic backstory influence his actions, but they are still his to take and when he acts poorly great character interpretation is when fans understand how he is in the wrong and have him do better. The showrunner let him get away with it and the fandom does too!

It’s what leads to “keith is a noble character and lance isn’t” cracks and why it bothered me so much.

So I'm going to approach this one lightly, because I don't want this to turn into a Keith-negativity thing.

I'm not saying what you are saying is wrong, anon, I just don't want to open the floor up to people now posting asks just hating on Keith (because that has happened with other characters in the past).

That being said -

No character is or should be flawless. That's just boring.

The flaws and struggles in any character is what makes them interesting.

Keith is a flawed character. He made a lot of poor and single-minded decisions in the early seasons, and because of the time skip on the space whale, we never got to see him learn from those mistakes.

The real issue here with this for storytelling (and let's be honest, life) is that a tragic backstory is an explanation for certain behavior.

But it is not an excuse.

Using Keith's tragic backstory as a crutch for poor behavior comes across the same way to me as someone being rude and then trying to brush it off with something along the lines of "oh, I'm a Scorpio that's just how I am."

As for the scene you are referring to where the team was angry at Keith, and he ended up leaving...

Hear me out.

That scene was from Keith's POV.

So I can understand a bit more why people react to that scene the way you described.

It's harder to tell with animation or comics because there is no narrator, but when the camera lingers on an emotional response from a certain character, that is meant to put you in that character's shoes for a moment.

And in that scene we see Keith's face fall as he turns and walks away.

People get angry at the team for making Keith sad because you are meant to feel what he is feeling.

Our of anyone else, Lance has moments like this the most (which is why this whole "people disliking Lance's character" thing is so weird to me, still).

Both Keith and Lance are noble, just in different ways. As I said in a previous post, Keith is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's what I have to do." Lance is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's the right thing to do."

Characters are complex - or at least they should be. And they can't be complex without flaws.

[kay---arts]

Writing Ideas

Hey! So, as always, feel free to chat me w/ story ideas, but here are some things that have been in my list for a while. Let me know if you’d like for me to write any of them! Remember that I will do other fandoms, but voltron is my hyperfixation rn so it’ll mostly be that lol. Please do not use any of these.

- Going into more detail about Garrison days! Like Keith and Lance’s views of eachother back then and how it evolved into the future.

- Lance teaches Keith how to swim because Keith is a Desert Boi™️

- Keith in the bom during the Voltron Show lmao and when he sees Lance on the rope routine like...

- Lance joins keith after the war!

- Lance leaves instead of Keith joining the bom

- Klance playing twister but like comedy (idk whether to do nsfw or not so you guys have to choose)

- Picture this: Keith plays classical piano. Hunk hears about a classical concert nearby and drags Lance with him and Shay to wingman (even though theyre engaged). They have good seats so Lance can see Keith’s hands, and the second Keith starts playing, Lance falls in love. He has to talk to this guy! Don’t want to spoil anymore this would be so fun to write

- Kuron blinded Keith’s right eye with the blade along with the scar - broganes bonding

- THIS IS MY LAST RESORT legit j Lance learning abt tea from Shiro abt Keith’s emo phase that would be so funny lmao

- Pidge needs sleep

- Voltron but like a Eurocentric murder mystery

- 5 times Catra didn’t say she loved adora, and 1 time she did

- Season 5 of ML but I do it MY WAY and I KILL LADRIEN

[dwelling-the-deep-blue]

I might just be nostalgic for season 3 klance dynamics but I always loved Black Paladin!Keith in early Voltron

Would have loved to see him actually grow into the role more because in the show he’s kinda forced into it with Shiro being gone and before he really settles he leaves for the BoM and in the later seasons the whole close connection to the rest of the team is kinda…not there? I would have loved to see him stay Black Paladin after Shiro returned (give the man a break he deserves it lol) and getting used to having to actually work together with others, growing out of this self-dependent mindset he was forced to adopt before the start of the show and actually learn what it can mean to rely on others but also have a team that trusts and supports him

I feel like when he came back later and took over as leader again there was such a rift between him and the other Paladins because their whole dynamic had changed and he changed and it felt…off? idk I was just hoping he’d have his character development alongside his team instead of separate from them, having the writers commit to the whole “lone wolf rebel learns to rely on others and make friends” thing for good could have been really nice but he was never allowed to grow out of that completely I feel?

And I really liked Lance as his right hand (not just because of ship reasons) because Lance has always been such a people-person? He wants to be accepted by others and feel helpful and since he’s such a social butterfly he was the perfect foil for Keith when he didn’t really have any good people-skills yet. Not to say that Lance being Black Paladin wouldn’t have ever worked but the way the early seasons were set up I think being the right hand of Voltron could have been a really good arc for him but it only really worked with Keith there…Shiro always felt like more of an already competent leader, he didn’t need a right hand to actually help him with leading so Keith was more of a character foil to him in other departments so when Shiro came back as Black Paladin it kinda felt like Lance had nothing to do anymore? Shiro doesn’t need help with people-skills, he’s plenty balanced on his own as leader

(side note: talking about early season dynamics I kinda feel like having Allura be the Red Paladin to Shiro and Lance back in Blue would have been really interesting because she was portrayed more grown up and competent in leadership in the first half of the series so having her support Shiro would have actually made sense in a way? But I digress)

And Black Paladin!Allura…hm I don’t really have a solid opinion I guess? It could work but I feel like then there would have to be a lot more re-shuffling in the lions to make it satisfying? Because Keith doesn’t really work as her right hand (at least not with the way his character got developed in the series which is not meant to be a criticism just an observation), Shiro maybe would work but feel like a step backwards for him and for Allura tbh and Lance in early seasons would kinda feel…idk, i think having him be her right hand in early seasons when he was still obviously crushing on her would feel a bit …too much, but in later seasons i think same as with him being Shiro's right hand he'd not have much to do ig? Allura is also plenty competent on her own as a leader and i think she worked really well having a leading role as diplomat in the Votron coalition and later a more supportive role in the Blue Lion as she grew closer to the team (also a nice development from being one of the last surviving members of her race and growing into having a family again I loved that)

honestly i think arguments could be made for all characters on why they would be a good fit for Black Paladin but i personally think from a character foil perspective who gets to be their right hand has more of a narrative impact and can make just as much of a difference for the individual character development?

its honestly a testament to how good the characters were set up to begin with that they don't have to stay confined to their one role the whole time (but also: Pidge and Hunk kinda really fit their respective lions I JUST WISH HUNK ACTUALLY GOT MORE DEVELOPMENT IN HIS ROLE NOT TO MENTION OUTSIDE OF IT like some others, even Pidge got that much :/)

long story short: i can see all three options working with the right kind of adjustments made to the rest of the team and their character arcs but in the context of the show that we got i liked Keith's early arc and wish the writers actually went through with it instead of sending him on a half show long side quest

And if you’d like, elaborate on why!

[torveiglyart]

He has arrived. Like the prophecy foretold~

aka me living up to my last post.

As much as I love Black Paladin Lance, I think it only would have worked after the whole Lotor thing. Back in season 3, Lance respected Keith as their leader and vice versa, but, had the roles been reversed, I think there would have been a struggle on both sides. Keith would have a hard time respecting Lance as an authoritative figure, and Lance would struggle listening to Keith and not always lead with the team's needs in mind. Lance was kind of Keith's impulse control in the new set up, whereas a RP Keith and BP Lance would create a power imbalance. Keith respects Lance as an equal, and Lance respects Keith as authority. When Keith leaves, however, the dynamic shifts.

Lance respects Shiro as his hero and leader, but Shiro consistently does not acknowledge Lance as his right hand, and by extension, his equal. Lance is pushed aside again and again, but everyone else listens to Shiro so there's not much he can do. When Keith comes back, there's a new relationship between the two.

Lance appreciates Keith's insight and decisions more after the lack of acknowledgment from Shiro, and Keith is more accepting of authoritative figures telling him what to do thanks to the BoM. It's at this point where a BP Lance would work out. How it would get to a lion switch again, I have no clue, but I do think a changing of the guards part 2 would be a good way to show Lance's character development instead of *sighs* garfle warfle snik and allurance.

Honestly I think allurance should have happened sooner and then like a whole 'soul searching filler' episode where they break up on good terms. It's too often we find permanent or sad endings with media relationships. It would have been nice to see a "hey maybe this doesn't work. Friends?" from Lance and Allura.

Okay, another unrelated thing (sorry). Can someone please tell me the real reason Keith voted Lance in GWSnik? 'Cause "I don't want to spend an eternity with you" is sooooo not a legit answer. He should have voted himself if that were the reason. Is it because he felt bad for Lance? He didn't want him getting called dumb for an eternity? He didn't think anyone else would vote him? Does he actually think Lance was the best person to carry Voltron? Or is he just a sad gay in space?

I guess you can answer in the comments or a reblog but, yeah! Those are my thoughts on Black Paladin Lance! Thanks!

[whineandcheese24]

so I was rewatching the Feud episode of Voltron and I noticed that each of the reasons they gave for choosing each other to leave the game show came true. Hunk chose Allura because he thought the universe needed her more than the rest of them, and she was the only one who could ‘defeat’ Haggar. Allura chose Pidge because she thought that she and her family were the only ones who could continue what her father built, which is exactly what Sam did with the Atlas and what Pidge continued to do after season 8. Pidge chose Hunk because Hunk is friends with everyone and can bring everyone together, and when the war ended he used his cooking to bring everyone together. Lance chose Keith because ‘he’s our leader plus he’s half galra, so I think he’s, like, the future” and Keith uses his leadership skills and galra lineage to transform the BoM from a secret agency to a humanitarian organization helping people everywhere. Keith said he didn’t want to spend eternity with Lance, and Lance was the only one who went to live back on Earth full time and not focus his life around the rest of the universe. I don’t like a lot of season 8, and I think the voltron writers made a lot of mistakes but this made me appreciate the ending a lot more, even if I don’t like it

[vldkeith]

Ren, why is the blade so bad?

ok. ok. im in the headspace now. here we go

why the blade was bad as a mechanism for character growth and plot momentum: an analysis by ren vldkeith

allow me to remind you of keith's character in voltron: legendary defenders. we are first introduced to him through the words of other characters, lance and commander iverson. iverson heralds him as a larger-than-life, ridiculously talented pilot with an antisocial streak and authority issues. this tracks with keith's official introduction, wherein he is attempting to break into garrison property, alone, to save shiro, his only personal connection. then we have lance, who characterizes keith as his rival; given what iverson said, however, we know this to be false, and thus lance's opinion on keith says more about himself than about who he is describing. both of these keith-related pieces of dialogue, together, serve one purpose: to establish keith as a talented loner. he's an ace pilot, a hermit, a military maverick, and a never be hurt again archetype. okay? okay.

the character arc keith began by joining voltron as part of a team was overcoming his chronic lone-wolfism and learning to trust, love, and have fun with others again. he's already "the best pilot of his generation"; any skills he has to learn on that front are in the vein of learning to harness his talent in a way that can be helpful to others and not just service his own impulse, strict standards of value, morality, and relationships. he needs to learn to rely on and trust others--this is clearly what the first seasons of voltron were working toward, and even if they hadn't been, i would argue that they should have been, because any other character arc keith takes would not make sense (hint, hint).

so! with that established, enter the blade of marmora, a rebel military organization that comes into the story in season 3, just as keith is getting "used" to piloting the black lion instead of the red lion as the Leader of Voltron. based on various character beats & dialogue from keith, we know he wanted to join the bom to further understand his galra side and, specifically, the knife his mother gave to him. the knife's power only accepts him after he says the line, "it doesn't matter where i come from. i know who i am." the knife accepting keith means that the bom does as well. the fact that keith is able to join the blade of marmora specifically after realizing that he doesn't need them to have a sense of self is, in itself, pretty boring and shoddy writing; it makes sense in a kind of platonian "only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it" way, but it's a fairly surface-level take on the concept anyway. but for our purposes right now, we can accept it as valid.

so, keith fucks off and joins the blade after just a single season dedicated to developing his teamwork and leadership skills, half of which he spends failing in his new role by leading the team into battles they aren't ready for, not caring about communication between members, and overall just showing he's still struggling with being a team player just as much as he ever was. only near the end of the season does he begin to turn this around, but that development is cut short by him joining the blade.

now, following the line of thinking that keith's character are was meant to/could/should be "learning to connect and work with other people using his talents," what could him leaving the team, his friends, and his family to join an organization that explicitly values results over lives and the greater good over the individual contribute to this arc? it seems to be the exact opposite of the lessons the narrative was pushing keith to learn--he's not part of a team anymore, but goes on solo missions. he's not valued as a living person, but just on the basis of the skills he can offer to the org. if the seminal revelation keith has in season 3 is that it doesn't matter where he comes from, why did they put him with a group that is his connection point to his mother--aka, literally where he came from? i don't want to get too freudian about this, but it's off.

my assumption, then, would be that putting a character like keith into a situation like this would serve to sharpen the pitfalls in his former way of going about life, to further drive home that opening himself up to friendship and teamwork is good by giving him a taste of his old ways, by saying, "look, this is where rejecting people and recklessly using your talents will leave you--a place where you are not valued as a person, where nobody cares whether you live or die except for how it will affect their far-reaching goals. is this what you wanted? is this what you still want? are you sure?" it's the ghost of christmas future, showing him where he'll end up if he keeps shirking responsibility (learning to lead the team or even just work with them) and closing himself off to interpersonal relationships. the only way keith joining the bom at the time he did would make sense to me narratively would be is if it functioned as a warning.

that's not what happens, though. keith joins the blade, has a few scuffles with authority that he gets over without much mess, returns to team voltron a few times as a guest star to prove what lessons the blade is teaching him about leadership and teamwork (presumably off-screen, since we only ever see keith alone, disobeying authority, or directly subscribing to the blade's ideals a la that one moment where we are meant to think he went back to save someone because he cares about life but it was instead because they had practical importance to the blade's mission lol), goes back to the blade, and finally sets himself back up with voltron full-time to end out the show. at this point, he's a full-fledged leader character, not unlike shiro before him. his character arc has been completed; he gets screentime, sure, but it's mostly to show how much of a rogue action hero he is, a transformation that feels at best unearned based on the text of the show, and at worst out of character to his former maverick personality. keith becoming leader of the blade at the end of the show is the culmination of these disparate elements.

as media critics, we now must ask ourselves: what was it that keith wanted, and how does that compare with what he needed? wants vs needs is something you learn in media studies 101 (trust me, ive literally taken the class), and it describes the difference between superficial character growth and actual, meaningful character growth. my answer to this question is thus:

keith wanted to know who he was and understand his own story. keith wanted to do what he thought was right for the future of the universe and lead on his terms. keith wanted to live a solitary life so he wouldn't get hurt by losing people again.

keith needed to understand that his genetics and past trauma do not inherently determine who he is--he can make that decision. keith needed to learn that other peoples' opinions matter and have value, and may even be better than his. keith needed to let others in for the sake of his happiness.

it is my argument, therefore, that the blade of marmora and bom leader keith gave keith everything he wanted, but nothing he needed. it was a shallow decision made to ensure keith would retain his protagonist power once the showrunners decided, at different intervals, that shiro was 1) boring; 2) traumatized/dead; or 3) gay. keith got the shiro role because the showrunners were sick of shiro's character, and this came at the expense of keith's entire character arc, shiro's complexity, and the found-family plotline of voltron as a whole. it's bad writing, it's a nonsensical end to the character, and finally it's just fucking weird that the organization fighting against the galra still upheld its freakish racial purity standards and aesthetics. also keith leading a group of women is antifeminist too idk.

happy fuck the blade day.

[bluemantics]

DID SOMEONE SAY FIC RECS? (Somewhat) niche, canonverse fics below as requested! I tried to stay under 10K hits, so y'all please make sure to give these fics some extra love. Though I will say that some of these are written by pretty well known klance authors!

1. Who Won? by sleapea

Pining | G | 2K

Lance grips his bayard, and it transforms into a long, Altean broadsword. A sword.

Keith gapes, and Lance smirks, advancing on him with a low laugh and a swing of his bayard. The swing is steady and practiced, and Keith thanks the stars for muscle memory as he manages to block in time. He falters slightly, still stunned, and Lance hums.

“Surprised?” Lance grins at him, and a violent blush spreads up Keith’s neck.

2. hey mom, i met a boy by disasteralex

Post-Canon | T+ | 16.5K

“Do you think you can love two people at once?”

“I think you can love different people for different reasons but in equal ways. But that doesn’t mean any of those loves are lesser than the rest.”

The war was hard. Its end is even harder. But when Lance breaks, Keith and the others are there to help him heal.

Somewhere along the way, Keith finds his place in the universe, Shiro gets his happy ending, and Lance learns to fall in love again.

3. Ruby Heart by infinitesongbird

Pining | T+ | 12.2K

While on a mission to the planet Mora, Lance and Keith find themselves in an alarming predicament when Lance touches an alien flower. The predicament in question: They can hear each other's thoughts now - every thought, no matter how passing or involuntary, broadcasted for the other to hear. And the real kicker? It's irreversible.

Will this bond bring them closer together, or will it be the thing to finally destroy their already strained relationship?

4. running with your eyes closed by perfchan

Post S5 | M | 36.5K

Being lost versus feeling lost. Remembering versus imagining. Time

When a solo mission for the Blade takes an unexpected turn, Keith is left stranded. When Voltron’s alliance with Lotor and Shiro’s strange behavior have mixed everything up, Lance is left wondering where he fits into this new team dynamic. This is a complicated story about time and space and fighting and persevering, and the simplicity of connection.

5. Stay, Don't be Busy by Cakepopple

Post-Canon | T+ | 2.2K

Keith's back on Earth after a mission with the Blades, and Lance half expects him not to visit. But of course he does. He always does.

6. you mark everything i do by orphan_account

Established Relationship | T+ | 6K

Some people do ridiculous things when they're in love, like trip over nothing and faceplant into the pie they're holding, or get tattoos of each other's names in tacky hearts on their arms.

Lance and Keith get each other's paladin symbols tattooed over their hearts.

7. Two Truths and One Lie by miraculousstorytelling

Implied Relationship | G | 2.2K

While half of the team is out on a supply run, Lance suggests the remaining team play a game to pass the time.

8. Through Time and Space by Hidden_Pineapple

Comfort | G | 4.4K

We all know Lance is homesick. But what happens when Pidge figures out how to make an accurate calendar of earth? Lance realizes just how much he’s missed. And even then, its only the tip of the iceberg. (...)

9. scattered stars by Crawlingthroughashes

Pining | Not Rated | 1.7K

Lance wore his heart on his threadbare sleeve, visible for the perusal of wandering eyes.

Keith, on the other hand, kept his heart carefully concealed beneath skin that was stretched too tight and bones that felt too heavy for his body.

10. Into the Shadows by iybms

RP/BP dynamics | T+ | 712

A joint BoM/Voltron mission has gone just a little bit wrong, leaving Keith and Lance alone, hiding.

Hope you like some of these op & anyone else looking for niche recs!

need kl fic recs…. Oouugghh

[callmelyc]

Thinking about Keith away on a bom mission with kos and the guy he's gathering Intel from is crafty, fights dirty and most importantly: He has his own kosmo.

It's a rough fight, Keith wasn't at his best he should've known better but he went in alone anyways.

All he can think while dodging hit after hit is how much lance is gonna rip him to pieces for being so reckless again. Hell he'd be the first to admit he deserves it but he can't be thinking about lance right now. Every stray thought, every image of lances worried eyes is a distraction he can't afford.

So Keith pushes through with as much strength he can muster. The guy is blinking in and out of existence faster than any lightning strike, almost too fast for Keith's galra eyes to see but just bright enough to spot in this dingy building.

Keith tries to utilize his own cosmic wolf the same way this man seems to be. Blinking in and out in a dance of lightning and clashes of thunder, but he slips up...

It only takes a tic, one small instance where his hand missed the clawed hand slicing down at him.

The injury he gains from this is the worst he's had in a long while...

The blood loss is near instantaneous when the metal claws leave his side. It makes him dizzy, nauseous with the taste of copper the moment they snap away from his skin but if he gives up now lance would kill him-

Lancelancelance

Oh God what would he do if he hurt lance by dying like this....

As he falls to the floor hand grasping at the wound weakly attempt to stunt the bleeding, he wraps an arm around a worried kosmo.

His last thoughts while feeling kosmo blink away is of lances face looking down at him in worry. Keith could almost swear he felt lances arms around him then and could even say they felt real....if just for a moment.

Que a kosmo so worried he does the impossible.

He blinks them To the person he knows would help Keith, the one they both trust without a second thought, their safe space, their home- He blinks them to lance sending a dying Keith right into lances arms in the middle of the Atlas, in the middle of a meeting.

"Keith?!"

And kosmo knows he did the right thing when lance starts barking orders getting Keith to a pod and coming back to make sure kosmo is safe too.

He feels a gentle hand pet his head "good job kosmo, you did so good baby boy"

Kosmo weakly nudged the hand too tired to do much else and gains a wet chuckle from lance "rest up bud, you saved his life....thank you for bringing him to me.."