#because allura will never understand keith's choices

[oliveden]

the thing about allura is that she used to be a vampire, but not very long. as soon as she was turned, she immediately went to go turn herself back human. she never even drank blood.

it's incredibly impressive and admirable of her, but it also means she does look down on vampires who have never sought to be altean/drink blood.

she gets over it eventually, recognizing that vampires that aren't killing people aren't the end of the world, and learns to cooperate with them.

it... takes a while, though.

[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.

[bluebugjay]

Here's why Lance should have become the black paladin in the lion swap,

Firstly, Keith didn't want to lead one bit, his character is very right-hand-man, not leadership material and the show actively shows us this. His fight style is impulsive and fast-thinking and generally good for solo work, not leadership qualities! I understand the appeal of him taking Shiro's place because they were the closest and the angst of it all, (Keith feeling like he's accepting Shiro is gone, and replacing him by taking his place) but I think there's actually more sense in Lance taking up the mantel.

Lance calls Shiro his hero in episode 1, Lance is the most passionate about actually being a pilot and around this time, Lance's insecurities about not having a place in the team surface. Allowing Lance to follow in Shiro's footsteps by piloting the black lion, actively stepping into an inarguably important role in the team and being accepted as that role would be huge for him! He has plenty of leadership qualities, significantly more than Keith. Even when Keith is the leader in the show, Lance takes the right-hand-man role but is actually doing more of the correct decision making, leadership, mediating. Plus, it would make a great parallel to episode 1 of Pidge, Hunk and Lance in the training simulator where Lance is acting as the leader of their team, and even a call back to Lance being the one to pilot them all in the blue lion into space in the first place.

A great way for it to play out would be to have the team find out Keith was Shiro's choice to lead them in his absence and Keith to refuse as he does in the show, but have him reject the idea of anyone else trying to pilot it either because he doesn't want to replace Shiro. Eventually, Keith is pushed to giving in and trying to pilot the black lion, again as happens in the show. Everyone, both the characters and audience are expecting it to work but it doesn't. Keith is pleading with the lion for it not to awaken and it actually doesn't. Maybe Allura tries next but it still doesn't awaken. Everyone else thinks because they have their lions already and with the track record, there's no point in trying. The team is crushed because now it really seems like there's no hope. Later, a moment of Lance walking around the empty castle hallways, he comes to a stop at the black lions hangar, maybe he's with the mice and we get a moment of him talking about how he's always looked up to Shiro and how he wants to do him proud. Lance takes a chance and enters the black lion, he sits in the chair mostly expecting nothing to happen but then, the lion awakens and roars. Lance is in shock and the rest of the team come rushing at the sound to see that the black lion has accepted Lance. There's probably doubt from the team at the start because Lance is goofy and easily distracted, can he really lead them? But he promises he'll take it seriously and shows just that in the next few missions, etc. The team readily accept him as leader all except for Keith. At least at first.

At this moment in the show, Keith and Lance's rivalry has mostly simmered out, we get the 'leave the math to Pidge' moment and a couple others that come around because Keith is leader and Lance goes to him. With Lance instead being leader, I think it would go in the opposite direction. Keith doesn't want a new leader or a new black paladin, he doesn't want a new Shiro. He's unfairly angry at Lance for taking his place and actively restarts their rivalry by not listening to orders and questioning Lance's skills. He's in mourning for his older brother so as much as Lance bickers with him, it never gets too antagonistic because it's obvious Keith is just struggling. They have some big blow up where Keith spits out the real reason he's not accepting Lance as the leader, because he doesn't want to have to accept Shiro's really gone, and Lance responds with his own struggles of really wanting to prove himself to the team and he was afraid he was holding them back and didn't have a proper place before becoming the leader. They both get reassurance in this moment, Keith apologises and admits that Lance is a good leader and definitely always had a place on the team and Lance insists he isnt trying to take Shiro's place but the team needs a leader and he's so honoured it's him. It's their new 'leave the math to Pidge' moment.

After that, Keith falls back into being a good right-hand-man, the team work together super well which then makes Shiro's return and taking back of the leader role more jarring, which hints at something being off around this Shiro without making it obvious what. Which would also make Keith leaving for the blade even more shattering. The team would be taken off guard because they were doing so well, why would he want to leave? And it would be a huge betrayal as it leaves the red lion with no pilot meaning they can't form voltron. It would all cause Lance to doubt his place in the team again when he's left with no lion to pilot as he can't take blue from Allura. They struggle in that moment for a while because the red lion is classically picky with it's pilots, they assume it won't accept anyone new so suddenly. Now I think this could go two ways, either Allura bonds with the red lion because it was her fathers and moves from blue to red, leaving Lance back with blue, it's familiar, in his comfort zone and I think would make him fall happily back into not being a leader anymore because Blue is fun and his strongest bond of the lions. Or, Lance tries the red lion and it does accepts him and it's either implied Keith meant for Lance to be the next red paladin, he convinced Red and knew Lance could do it, or have an actual scene of Keith subtly urging Lance to be the red paladin when he leaves, because Keith knows about Lance's insecurities about not having a place in the team. Not sure which works best.

All in all, I think it would be a great twist to have Keith not be the leader and a great bit of development for Lance for him to be the leader. As well as open the door for a lot more cooler character interactions, and why not make the lion swapping more confusing while we're at it!

[coirinthyurilo]

Love Game

Lance's flirts are driving the team crazy, and Pidge suggests that one of them pay him back for some peace. Quickly excluding Hunk (not Lance's type), Pidge herself, Princess Allura and Coran, leave Keith and Shiro.

Hunk thinks Shiro is the best choice since Lance has always had a hero crush on the black paladin, but Pidge tells him that Shiro would never agree to cooperate, so Keith is their only option.

At first, after they tell him about the plan, Keith doesn't want to accept: the relationship between the two paladins is still uncertain and that seems like a recipe for disaster.

After much insistence and a mission in which Lance almost got into trouble, Keith decides to accept.

He soon discovers that Lance doesn't know how to accept other people's flirting, and it soon gets out of hand.

At least Lance isn't flirting with Allura anymore, much to almost everyone's relief. But Keith's game can't go on for long, not when he starts to feel like a creep for manipulating a person he's discovered he likes.

Things come to a head, unsurprisingly, because of Pidge: while they are on a planet for a diplomatic meeting, one of the princes shows too much interest in Lance, irritating Keith to the point that Pidge and Hunk have to push him away.

Pidge jokes and says something like, “Wow, you got into the role. You seem in love.”

In denying it, Keith says that no one would care about someone like Lance, and before Hunk gets angry, they discover that Lance, looking for Keith to see what happened, heard everything.

Lance doesn't yell or get into fights. He just smiles sadly and says he should have seen it coming. He says nothing else, and for the entire week that the team remains on the planet, he doesn't interact with Keith, Pidge, or Hunk.

Pidge is ashamed of her plan for the first time and wonders if it was worth it. There was too much peace now and all three were sure that Lance would not forgive them.

Hunk thinks it would have been worse: Lance would have forgiven one day, but that would have remained a scar and he would have continued to blame himself, thinking it was his fault. He can't apologize to his best friend because he doesn't feel worthy of asking, and he doesn't want Lance to blame himself.

Noticing the change, Shiro asks Keith what happened.

Keith tells Shiro everything and asks what he should do. Shiro scolds him and says that before he apologizes to Lance, he needs to understand how he feels. He cannot expect forgiveness if he is not honest with himself first. Then they will have to talk to Lance to make him understand that he shouldn't blame himself for other people's actions because he is better than that. The subtext message is very clear.

And Keith tries, he does, but after a sleepless night, he gets his shit together at the worst time: a faction loyal to the Galra attacks the paladins and their allies. Lance is captured after pushing Keith and Pidge into a portal with the others to evacuate, and Keith then realizes what he felt: love.

Refusing to believe that Lance is dead, Keith and the other paladins help their allies regain power.

After months, they almost succeeded.

There's a problem: the faction loyal to the Galra had druids on their side, and they had brainwashed Lance into their weapon.

Keith vs Lance fight, but Keith refuses to harm the other. When he is disarmed, he says something along the lines of “I was wrong. You are an exceptional person who deserves the stars, not to be courted as a joke by an idiot like me. You are not lucky if someone is interested in you, I am lucky to have met you.“

The speech may vary, but it must be powerful, something that makes Lance partially regain control and, realizing that he cannot fully control his body, he hits himself so as not to hurt Keith.

The battle is won, Allura manages to stop the bleeding but Lance needs a cryopod at the castle. While Lance is healing, and Allura tries to figure out how to reverse the effects of the druids' powers, Keith knocks on Shiro's door: he wants to ask him for advice on courting Lance. This time, he wants to do it right.

_

A better post of the Whump Lance fic idea.

A03 AUTHORS‼️‼️MAKE THIS INTO A FIC AND MY LIFE IS YOURS‼️

[sapper-axtual]

Keith didn't leave Voltron for Lance.

Please. please. as a Klance shipper myself, I hate when Klance shippers point to the "leave the math to Pidge scene" and say Keith left to make room for Lance to keep piloting Red.

First of all- it implies that Keith thinks Red would pick him over Lance...which seriously undercuts Lance's capabilities and Keith's confidence in him.

Second of all- it assumes that Shiro would have to take Black again now that he's back which no one was saying. The whole point of that conversation was to show that no one was saying that.

Third of all- it implies that, if Red did pick Keith over Lance, Keith wouldn't want to respect the Lions' choice. Keith is a duty-driven character. He would step up if the Lions asked him to, and he'd expect Lance to do the same. It's not about their personal feelings about it. Even if he disagreed with the Lions' choice, he would obey.

So no- he didn't leave the team to make sure there was space for Lance. It's honestly a boring headcanon that misunderstands both characters.

I also don't like the idea that he left just to look for his Galra heritage. Would Keith-yells at Pidge for wanting to go find her missing brother on day one of being a team-Kogane really prioritize learning about where he came from over serving the greater cause? He never needed to know who his mom was to know himself. He's a fighter, he's a protector, he stands up for the vulnerable because he knows what it feels like to be abandoned and powerless.

So- no. It wasn't about finding his mom.

But!

If Keith found a really useful way to serve the cause through the Blade (reconnaissance and covert operations) that also puts him in a position to potentially understand why his mom left him, it makes sense why he'd be drawn to them.

And, more than that- if he felt like he was repeatedly failing to live up to Shiro's expectations as a leader while Shiro was back with the team, and he knew he was putting his life in danger on the Blade's missions...and he didn't feel confident that he could survive much longer in that environment...

It's just responsible to step down and distance himself.

He left with the Blade because he thought it would protect the team from him. From his own poor leadership and his increasingly-likely death.

This isn't just my headcanon- the show points to it with the scene of Allura confronting him about how Voltron needs him- right after he got back from a mission where the Blade team lost Regris and he almost got stuck in space with a leaking suit. Keith nearly died and then got lectured about the fact that Voltron needs him. Keith is grappling with the danger of the Blade- with the implications of Knowledge or Death- and the fact that, in order to learn more about himself, he'll be risking himself, then he's confronted with the fact that getting himself killed as the leader of Voltron might doom the cause.

At the end of the day, the big difference is: with Voltron, Keith's indispensable. With the Blade, he's not. To Keith- that's liberating, so of course he wants to go with them. Of course it seems like the right thing to do.

[animentality]

This is in response to an ancient ask from around 2018 so feel free to ignore it. I found that post about fandom discourse on your account and found out the sh/eith asks on your blog. So here's some clarification about it.

The majority of the bullying and harassment in the fandom was done by kl shippers, specifically the antis and the normal kl fans got caught in the crossfire. I dont know what hunty did but a major reason why they were on the kl hit list was because they were actively compiling all the harassment and vile behaviour of the fandom (regardless of the ship of choice). This doesn't absolve any harm done by sk shippers definitely but there is a big gap between the severity of bad behaviour on both sides.

The kl fans told a gay man (David Gaider) that he was a pedophile for liking sk and tried to get him fired. Harassed a non binary lesbian who worked on the show and painting her as predator and threatening to hurt her till she stopped wanting to appear at panels, threatening a voice actor's children to the point that he had to start reporting people, and the continued and absolutely vile treatment of Lauren Montgomery for 2 whole years at every perceived slight to their golden by.

The reason kl fans were called delusional by some was because they made several really bad reaches like writing entire manifestos about why kl would be canon and calling it a bible and a testament despite the show runners repeatedly saying it was never on the table and it boiling down to head canons. Insisting that every a/llurance interaction was secretly about kl and insisting every sk interaction was platonic but then redrawing those exact same scenes as kl. Insisting that Kihyun's Keith groping Shiro's tiddy art is brotherly. Telling gay men that that using words like brother or family for your crush when you don't fully understand your feelings means they have psychosexual problems and have an incest fetish then turning around and insisting that C/atradora, another ship popular with kls was actually just the lesbian experience since they were actually raised as sisters. Outside of that there was sending sk shippers gore and cp and telling one they should have died from their cancer.

As for the ages and the sk age discourse, the backstory was revealed in season 7, in season 1 the characters were introduced as 5 teenagers in space meeting aliens, which included Shiro. Now considering Shiro has always looked like an older guy even when he was a teen in the original series people went with it, even those who didnt usually read him as an older teen. Later Keith came back about 2 years older while Lance was still 17 so they started insisting that Keith was mentally stunted and therefore still a "baby adult" at about 20. This was because back when people said Shiro could be 18-19-20 that Keith being 17 is still weird. But kl fans started insisting that all ptsd sufferers were inherently abusive in relationships and that he had "scrambled eggs for brains". They also insisted that he could only be shipped with Allura who was an adult according to them. in season 2 a non canon book was released that said Keith was 18 at the start of the series and Shiro was 25. Unless people were obsessively looking at this stuff you wouldn't know that. Later Allura's va made a reference to Allura dealing with trauma like an average teen which instantly had kls throwing shiro/allura fans under the bus. Also note that they were very against lotor/lance and harassed the shippers within a week of the ship becoming a thing. Basically every ship outside of kl involving these two became problematic in one way or another, sk and a/llurance taking the worst hits. By the end of season 6 kls had their chats leaked discussing their fears of sk becoming canon and needing to cope by rereading the kl manifestos and doubling down on harassing the sk and a/llurance shippers. By this point Lauren Montomery had already liked fanart of shiro and keith making out (s2), Barlee had liked art of them snuggled up (s3), the famous "Shiro loves you baby, he's looking at keith" art had already been posted by Chirs palmer (s1), Josh Keaten had already coined the ship name (s1), Kihyun Ryu was drawing Keith groping Shiro (s6) and Bex had already made several jokes about Shiro and Keith being a couple (s1-7). At this point kl fans started harassing the staff directly and calling them predatory, after their infamous attempt at blackmailing them to make kl canon didn't work. They would change their approved non ship questions during panels to put the staff on the spot, they recorded Jeremy Shada without his consent for a scrap of kl evidence, they posted videos of children forcing them to watch vld, they posted uncensored pics of two classmates (minors) for wearing blue and red, as well as of their very very small students because they were kl coded, they spammed Jeremy Shada's posts with his gf insisting its uncomfortable cuz they look like siblings and how he should date Keith's va instead (a married man btw), they then proceeded to harass Shada when he lost his cool and ranted about the behavior of kl fans in a panel calling him awful things. They told csa survivors that they should be ashamed of liking a ship.

In a later panel for season 6 Josh Hamilton flat out said that sk were in no way related and JDS said that people would come out of the show either thinking they were together or thinking they are just bros hinting at some degree of ambiguity. It was only in season 7 after much of the thing was over that we saw their backstory, the pics that are used to harass shippers. By this point most sk shippers had a completely different backstory for them and those who shipped them from before didn't ship them in this variation of canon. He was also dating someone else during this period anyway.

As for why people ever started shipping sk in the first place, its because Bex made two snapchat posts about the very first episode refering to Shiro being Keith's true love and Shiro bringing the kids (the other three paladins) to his and Keith's date night. Mind you, both Josh Keaten and Bex were actively harassed for saying that sheith was a perfectly normal and healthy ship.

TLDR: The vld show had no show bible and the ages were never elaborated on, people didn't know shit about how sk met and a lot of the narrative is made up head canons being pushed as facts. Majority of the claims against sk shippers is revisionism that was done by antis and these things can be proven with all the records and screenshots maintained by hunty and several other blogs. That being said there were assholes in all ships, even the ones that insist they were unproblematic and innocent.

Jesus Christ.

maybe I take it back, maybe shippers are worse than power scalers.

Lord Almighty.

the Voltron fandom was fucking insane.

was it the beginning of this "two years of age difference is pedophilia" discourse too???

like.

for fucks sake.

it's just a cartoon.

they're not real.

omg they're very not real.

chill out.

thanks for sending this anon, I actually found it fascinating to read.

ships really aren't this serious. you just like whatever you like, man.

I wonder how angry the klance shippers were when allurance became a thing.

[sennerixx]

𝗠𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗮.

I've not watched all eight seasons in a while so I'm going off on what I can remember from the top of my head so I could get parts wrong. Please feel free to share your own views in the comments.

Now, I know the fandom mainly hates Allura (from what I've seen anyway) primarily because she seems bratty, self-absorbed, or "used Lance as a rebound" not to mention she had been completely discrimtive towards Keith after finding out he was half-Galra for at least two episodes.

I agree half and half with this statement, I'll explain both views.

The reason I agree is that Allura had been bratty, self-absorbed, or used Lance as a rebound because you can use the excuse that she is young, and no way should have been given the power and leadership she was given. She wasn't mature enough for it. It's like asking an eighteen-year-old to run for a country.

While I understand her character gradually developed and she became more and more mature, it was still forced upon her way to early. In the early episodes, she seemed very bratty and demanding of the paladins to form Voltron, who not to mention had just left their home planet, their lives, in a giant robotic lion, met aliens, and fought against an entire evil force and were only sixteen to eighteen? While they managed to form Voltron, I felt that Allura was pressuring them far too hard.

And when Keith, to what we can assume as we never saw it, let team Voltron know he was half Galra, not only did she struggle to meet his eyes but continued to appraise Hunk while ignoring Keith's efforts on the mission following. I can understand most of her entire race was wiped out because of the Galra but it was like Keith had been the one to slay his father or thousands of people.

With Lance, she knew Lance loved him from early on, it was pretty obvious yet continued to drag it out and then suddenly decided she loved him right after being with Lotor? to me, it really seems like she was just a rebound while Lance loved her with everything he had and that she just took advantage of that factor.

However, I also see her as a good character with decent character development. Overtime, we can see how she gradually develops into a powerful, strong character.

For example, when she began to pilot the Blue Lion she unlocked new abilities that Lance hadn't been able to, or how she gradually warmed up to Keith and accepted him, I believe she apologized for her behavior towards Keith too. And when the castle was corrupted, despite being early on, she made the first step to fight against the illusions and made the correct choice to delete her father's AI.

The first time they went to the Blamera, she risked herself to revive the planet and save it from further harm, another good intention. While Allura seems to be misguided sometimes, she mostly does have good intentions for the universe.

Overall, I think her character wasn't bad or completely shit but I do think she could've handled certain aspects of situations a lot better than she had and I love her character design just not so much her personality.

[xjulixred45x]

The Paladins (+Lotor and Allura) x Komori!Reader.

reader: feminine

Genre: Headcannons

Warnings: nothing worrisome. fluff.

Shiro

And he knows you is like "PROTECT AT ALL COSTS"

chances are they saved you from some group of idiots with bad intentions. So Shiro is a good listener after that. you stay with them because well, there is not much choice.

Cleaning up the castle a bit, cooking with Hunk, making sure everyone is well fed and happy, you pretty much become a space mom.

And Shiro is the space father.

Try to help you reach things on the high shelves. Although he finds it cute, he himself will lower things from the high wings to avoid future accidents.

He is not very sweet but he will eat everything you cook.

Yui is about 1.58 and Shiro is more or less 1.80, HUGS WOULD BE FANTASTIC.

He is by far the most gentle of all. Understand that having that attitude all the time can be a great mental drain, so if you need a break or be the one to take care of for a while. Count on him.

Saying how he appreciates how you raise the morale of the group in your own way .

It's too cute, I can't-

Keith

It is the most difficult by far, but not impossible (especially with your attitude).

At first he saw you more as a victim, a poor soul in a way. I didn't expect you to be so...lively afterwards.

See how, despite everything, you continued to be happy, cheering everyone on-CHEERING HIM, taking care of him, worrying about everyone...

It made me see you more as a survivor than a victim.

It made him respect you for handling the situation like that. At the same time he began to show more interest, in a way.

Similar to Shiro, he shows his appreciation to you for acts of service. Not only helping with the heavy stuff, but also being the first to jump in front of you if there's an attack on the castle.

Again, he doesn't have a sweet tooth, but if you ask him to try something for dinner, he'll pretend to grudgingly if he does.

When they move into some sort of relationship, not much changes, except that it's more open and the protection kicks in.

If Keith gets mad at something or someone(coughcofLANCEcofcough) he will go straight to you to vent, this is especially true when he becomes the black lion pilot. You want to know if what you are saying is valid or if you are getting carried away.

You are by far the most trusted person on the ship (along with Shiro).

Lance

Lance is the one who falls the fastest, and falls HARD

Make it very clear to him when he wants something with you, but not in the same way as when he is casually flirting with someone. They are like a little more personal questions, you know if he can have something with you.

Lance misses life on earth a lot, it is a fact, that you want to take care of him, listen to his problems and assure him that he is not the "seventh wheel" of the group means A LOT to him.

Also since you don't invalidate his concerns and contrast them with real, positive facts about him, he doesn't have to be the clown of the group to be able to talk to you.

That's probably why he fell in love so quickly.

Chivalrous ASF, opening the doors, giving up the seat, helping with heavy things that he can barely carry, etc.

There's also a bit of insecurity about dating you, he's full of doubts about whether he's really enough for you, comparing himself to the other paladins in the party. Although you shut it up immediately because you know it's true.

Cuddly! Lots of hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Especially if you did something like cook for the WHOLE group or just walked a healthy line between helping everyone and helping yourself.

He definitely wants to introduce you to his family (especially if you don't have one of your own)! He assures you that they will receive you and love you just as much as they love you!

TOO CUTE I CAN'T-

Hunk

! kitchen companions!

Both can spend hours and hours exchanging recipes, telling cooking stories, experiences, etc. and never get bored.

They have something like a system to be able to make meals between the two of them so as not to overload the other with work. eg, you the desserts, the dinner, you the dinner, the desserts, miti miti, etc.

They taste each other's food 🥺

Hunk is also considered the most morale booster in a certain way, so under no circumstances will he let you feel bad or inferior to them just for not being a paladin! You help in many other ways!

Hunk is also considered the most morale booster in a certain way, so under no circumstances will he let you feel bad or inferior to them just for not being a paladin! You help in many other ways!

It's the best shoulder to cry on if things get too tense or if you just can't keep happy for once, that's okay.

similar to Lance, he wants to introduce you to his family, his parents more than anything, he knows that children naturally love you, but it is very IMPORTANT that their parents approve of you.

Needless to say, you have it around your finger ;).

Pidge(romantic/platonic)

She's used to being the one the group cares about most as the youngest, so your joining is a breath of fresh air.

Don't get her wrong, Paladins respect her, but not in the same way that YOU respect her. You still see her as a child, but you also recognize her brilliant mind and trust her to protect you.

You are very aware of her, whether it is for her to bathe, remember to eat, sleep long enough, etc. You remind him a lot of a mother hen.

She may seem upset about this at first, but it's really because you remind her of her own mother, which makes her nostalgic and somewhat sad.

But he quickly gets over it because he KNOWS you're doing it with their best interests in mind.

Love your food, really love it, especially if it tastes like peanuts.

If he gets in trouble with Lance or any of the Paladins, he goes and hides behind you, like a little kid with an evil grin.

Damn gremlin.

Allura

Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights Girls' nights-

They become friends very quickly! She gets along very well with paladins, yes, but with you it's a whole new level.

I doubt Allura has ever been attracted to a woman, so when she starts to see you differently, she doesn't know what to do or whether to act "normal."

I'll probably even go to the other paladins for advice because lance and Koran don't help much.

I think she is the one who tries the most to hide this crush, more because she wants to give the image of a confident and determined leader, she wants to take the courage to say it.

And when she says it, she also gets nervous and somewhat clumsy. But adorable.

PROTECC will not hesitate to use brute force if you put yourself in danger.

Protective, even worse than Keith.

Afternoons of hair care with the space mice (seriously LOOK AT HER BEAUTIFUL HAIR).

Lotor

Let's be honest, you probably met him when he was held prisoner by the paladins and he had some degree of appreciation for you at first.

But then you started to worry about him (maybe because he reminded you of yourself when you were saved by the paladins) and you couldn't leave it like that.

So, for the sake of his mental health and your peace of mind, you made sure he was…comfortable in a way.

The Paladins+ Allura OBVIOUSLY didn't want you to do them, but there was little they could do to stop you.

You brought him food, water, things to entertain himself, blankets in case it was cold, you tried to make small talk, etc.

At first he just thought it was out of pity, so he rejected you the first few times.

But he realized pretty quickly that it was more like... empathy. you felt identified with him. So he wasn't so rude to you and started to appreciate that, you treated him like a living being regardless of his race. he likes you

When they let him walk through the castle of lions, he will most likely thank you for the good treatment compared to how the paladins saw him.

Try to "thank" you in other ways, mainly helping you out when the other paladins aren't around or can't handle it, learning a little more about human culture, and generally speaking more generally to pass the time.

If Allura and Keith were bad with overprotection, Lotor is that squared. Now that he appreciates you, there is no escaping affection.

Also, Lotor is TALL, even taller than Shiro, he could easily throw you over his shoulder and not even break a sweat.

He just can't help but find your human being too ADORABLE.

Sorry I couldn't think of much more for this part :')

[erithel]

I know it’s kind of hard to see how uneven klancers treat the boys in terms of content but when Klancers say how “Keith rudely brushed off Lance’s hug was Lance’s fault for being annoying as fuck” and that we’re just infantilizing Lance, it just really confirms how much the klance fandom just doesn’t care about Lance as a character comparatively. It’s okay for Keith to be rude and mean, there’s always a reason or explanation, and the other party who gets wronged by him is the real asshole, okay.🤔 nevermind that scene says something about how poorly the show writes Keith’s character and treats the found family trope, lance being “annoying” means it’s okay for a friend to be a dick to him.

I also don’t understand people who are like “lance’s arc isn’t about (insert arc of choice), it’s about him just existing as he is.” Like okay? They did that in the show where he got nothing, never got acknowledged and accomplished nothing. It’s easy for people whose favorite character got a million arcs and screentime, but saying another character who canonly didn’t get anything, doesn’t need an arc, is very patronizing.

Lance existing as an accessory to Keith in shipping is okay but heaven forbid he tries to act above his station or compete with others for roles and arc…

Oh my god what klancers are you all talking to???? Because literally everyone I talk to who enjoys that ship has an equal respect and appreciation for both characters - you know, because it's a ship we enjoy.

This is doubly confusing for me because literally if someone were to take the time to go back to the time I first started answering these asks, they would see that Lance was seen as the character who "can do no wrong." So it's honestly just weird to hear you all talking about this switch of views in the fandom.

I would also like to point out that a grand total of zero characters in VLD got actual character arcs.

Takashi "what PTSD" Shirogane Keith "he's the leader now just because" Kogane Pidge "the one who knows everything" Holt Hunk "oh right he's here too" Garrett Princess "deus ex machina" Allura Coran "comedic relief" Coran the Gorgeous Man

A character arc isn't just a story that happens to that character - or an episode or scene where that character gets more focus than the others.

It's meant to be an inner journey or transformation that we are shown over the course of the story.

If someone claims a character's arc is how they just exist as they are... That's not an arc, that's a straight line. And that's not good storytelling.

Lance's personal arc should have been about accepting himself for who he was; learning his own value as an individual. And that is different than just existing. He's still the same person, at his core, but if he just exists, he never changes.

The sad thing is that Lance clearly stated his insecurities in the show. The beginning seasons of his character were the perfect setup for an amazing character arc - and it was just such a wasted opportunity.

[dnightshade0]

Voltron reincarnation AU: Ancient Egyptian mummy lance (aka Sekhmet)

If you like this, leave a comment and/or send feedback.

In this AU, lance is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian street urchin named “Sekhmet”

These pics are Sekhmet as a reanimated mummy. Yeah I know, he doesn’t look all decayed and dead looking for a mummy. That’s because my version is meant to look something similar to the mummy from the movie “night at the museum”. I wanted lance to still look like lance (in all his handsome glory lol)

Though the in story reason is because of the blue lion. You see, when Sekhmet died, the blue lion used her mysterious power to “preserve” his body so that it never decays.

The reason why he becomes a reanimated mummy is a bit of a long story 😓

Taking place at the time when team voltron returns to earth to find it invaded by galra, the team is in the middle of a fight when a ziforge cannon powers up to attack Keith in his lion. Lance notices the oncoming blast and at the last moment knocks Keith out of the path of the beam (like the selfless self sacrificing guy lance is. And much like what lance did for Allura at the omega shield. You can see where this is going. 😖) the blast hits lance instead and because of the intensity of the cannon, it vaporizes lance (just like what happened to shiro in the fight with zarkon)

The team is devastated at the loss of their blue paladin and are forced to jump right into another battle without getting any time to morn.

Though while the other paladins are heading into a fight, the blue lion takes Allura elsewhere. Everyone including Allura is confused as to why the blue lion is flying off in a seemingly random direction. Though in time Allura discovers that the lion has a destination in mind. Egypt…

The blue lion lands at the entrance of an old unusual temple in the shape of a lion. (a sphinx)

Allura is then given mental instructions from her lion to go into the temple and when inside the anti-chamber, she is instructed to open the sarcophagus and take the mummy inside. Allura is put off at the idea of handling a corpse at first but does as instructed and they both return to the garrison with the mummy.

The team is just as confused as Allura is, not understanding why the blue lion would want to raid an ancient tomb to steal a corpse.

The red lion then sends Keith mental instructions. Keith doesn’t know what to think but does as red asks. He takes out his marmora blade and cuts away the wrappings on the mummy’s face.

Everyone is shocked upon what they see… they expect to see a rotted dried out face. What they didn’t expect to see is lance’s face… lance’s very much not rotting dead face.

After this, the red and blue lion reveal to Allura what they want her to do with the body.

Apparently, much like what black did with shiro, the red lion saved lance’s consciousness inside it. And they wanted Allura to do what she did with shiro and his clone. They wanted Allura to put lance’s consciousness into the mummy.

And she did.

When she was done, the mummy opened his eyes and sat up as if he just woke up looking around in confusion.

The rest of the team immediately surrounded him in a big group hug, so glad to have lance back.

But he just looked at them and asked who they all were…

As it turns out, when Allura put lance’s consciousness into Sekhmet’s body, she ended up bring lance back AS Sekhmet!

So for a while they spend time learning the identity of this mummy doppelgänger and who he is while also trying to figure out how to get lance back.

As a mummy, Sekhmet’s powers include regeneration and the ability to turn into a swarm of scarabs.

His weapon of choice is an Egyptian lance which I can’t find the name for but have a picture of.

—————————-

Click this link To read the first part of my voltron mummy AU short story that reveals Sekhmet origin.

-> Voltron reincarnation AU <-

————————————

[lnkedmyheart]

I mean I am one of the few people who genuinely did not care for Keith Allura endgame at some point past season 2. As cute as I found them in the pod escape moment I don't really see the chemistry or any kind of grounds to truly connect on for them past the tangential ones and Keith is too fixated on Shiro for the first couple of seasons. I genuinely loved the Allura Lance development in later seasons with Lance growing into a better person and genuinely falling in love with her. I also feel like historically Allura and Keith have had a very slapped together relationship in 2 of the 3 previous iterations (I greatly prefered Lance and Allura in the og one because i genuinely dislike the celibate hero who never shows interest in the girl vs the girl loves the guy but they still end up together trope).

I did however enjoy the shallura and sheith dynamic as well and I feel shallura could have been a decent path to go down at some point but hey, I'm not gonna complain about my baby boy being queer rep. It's time we get non stereotypical rep for gay men.

I agree the whiney Keith part of the fandom is odd but I have arguably not seen enough of that in fanfics in general. I think I learnt to avoid those kind of fics early on since a lot of people who write those are generally younger people who project onto specific characters and you can usually tell within a couple paragraphs if it's that kind of fic. Most of the content I have read has been pretty in character for the most part. I also moved in Shiro lover circles so...

I would argue that Keith suggesting leaving Allura behind is harsh but also not...wrong. Not in the sense that they should have left her but Keith is capable of making difficult choices unless he himself is compromised (aka struggling with Shiro's loss). Even Allura agreed that they should have left her behind. Shiro is for all his groundedness, an idealist. He wants to protect everyone, even at the risk of making things worse for himself. Shiro the hero is right, he is your main heroic archetype, always save the people, always fight for justice, against all odds. Keith leans more realistic in that you make hard morally ambiguous choices in war and it's not like Keith has much of an understanding of war/this specific conflict like Shiro and Allura do. But yes, Keith is single minded and prone to rash decisions, he's definitely not as bad as that. For one Pidge absolutely deserved a chewing out for trying to ditch the crew in the middle of a war and Keith was right, everyone barring Lance and Hunk was dealing with some kind of loss. Mind you, at this point they did not know that the Lions would even pick another Paladin. Shiro imo was being way too lenient and probably still dealing with the guilt of having left the Holts behind and being saved instead. I do dislike the fact that Keith stopped being pragmatic and became Shiro the Hero point dos. It would have been a good comparison of how both are genuine ways of being in the middle of a war. But oh well.

I'm not really in the Keith defence squad. Lord knows I have issues with some of the Gary Stu crap that came later. But i do think sometimes we tend to expect too much from an isolated, socially inept, orphan with life long abandonment issues as he is navigating through a war in the early seasons.

I want to talk, for just minute, about the amount of self-disparagement in Shiro's statement, here. He's grievously injured, ailing, and trapped in a tiny cave with creatures lurking outside, waiting for their next opportunity to attack him.

Despite this, he's been repeatedly assuring Keith that he's "all right", and inquiring after Keith's well-being whenever he hears Keith struggling over the comms. Then, Keith expresses his belief that Shiro's presence and influence changed his life, and Shiro agrees. On the grounds that he's actively made Keith's life worse.

Keith's response to this extremely concerning assertion?

Nothing. He hears Shiro cough, tells him, "Stay with me, Shiro," and that's it.

This is an example of exactly what I mean when I say that Shiro has no support system. His best and closest friend hears him say something seriously disconcerting while in a state of utmost vulnerability, placing all of the blame for Keith's current predicament on himself, which is objectively not true, and does nothing to refute him. No, "Hey. Stop beating yourself up. We're gonna be just fine". Or, "How could this possibly be on you? Did you purposely eject us from the Castle?". Or even, "When we get out of here, we need to talk about why you feel like you don't matter and something completely out of your control is your fault. It's not like you asked to be here, either."

Maybe I'm expecting too much from a young adult with his own trauma whose interpersonal skills have already been shown to be lacking. I know I expected too much from a team of showrunners who believed that dark content automatically equals mature content, and insisted on shoving as much disturbing subject matter and questionable to outright deplorable messaging as they could manage to get away with into a series aimed at children. Shiro was never meant to heal from his trauma. The intention was to kill him to pave the way for Keith to take his place as The Chosen One.

But, in this fandom's determination to woobify their favorites to the extreme based on said favorites' moments of insecurity, they seem to have forgotten that the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast is the most blatantly traumatized member of the cast. Self-loathing and passive suicidal ideation are every bit as much a part of that as Shiro's flashbacks and the fear-induced paralysis that seizes him when a repressed memory resurfaces from the dark corners of his mind to drag him under. And, he, too, deserved all of the sensitivity, care, and love that they believe their favorites do, which makes it all the more abhorrent that he was repeatedly denied it in this show's canon.

[retvenkos]

“i hope you know cpr, because you just took my breath away.”

requested OH, BUT I HOPE YOU’RE READY BECAUSE WE’RE ABOUT TO DIVE INTO WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE DATING LANCE MCCLAIN...

— we all know that lance is an incorrigible flirt. so, oh, boy.... the pick up lines that preceded dating and the lines that continue....

there is no way you can avoid the outpouring of love that lance has for you. at any and all moments, he has something to say. even if you’re more on the shy side and really hate the attention, lance will still reach his daily count, only he’ll be more subtle - whispering pick up lines in your ear so he can see you blush, or catching you when you’re alone and spilling his heart.

— he just can’t contain it! and honestly,,,,, you grow to like it better when he doesn’t.

and all of his pet names for you are really cute, too! you give him one, at some point, and whenever you say it, he just becomes the epitome of heart eyes.

— but what’s funny is that while lance is the absolute most when talking.... he has no idea how to write it all down. he’s definitely tried to write you love letters before, but it always ends up in crumpled sheets of paper and dissatisfied groans. he just doesn’t know how to do it! if he were talking, he’d know exactly what to say, but when the page is before him... it’s like he’s not sure if it will be good enough.

when pidge finds him surrounded by at least twenty pieces of balled of paper, she definitely finds it hilarious.

>>  “you mean ‘lance the prolific’ doesn’t know how to write a love letter? aren’t you the same boy who can recite a five paragraph essay about how amazing (y/n) is?”

and when lance awkwardly explains that his feelings of inadequacy, pidge is awkward too. 

>> “oh.... well,  do you have to write them letters? isn’t saying it enough?”

and maybe it is.

(or maybe, lance gets the great idea that pidge should write love letters for him. i mean,,, pidge is smart, right?

((pidge does not know how to write love letters ~lance style~. it doesn’t end well.))

— asdfghjkl,,, okay, okay, but i think it’s critical that we all understand that lance is really in tune with his and other people’s emotions

like, this boy can sense when someone is having an off day, and for the most part, he’s pretty considerate of that fact and knows how to make things right.

he knows how to give space when you need it, or when it’s time for a hug and some soothing words.

(lance is most definitely a caretaker, so just know that you are in good hands.)

— but also, i hope you are good with emotions too because lance bottles things up like crazy. please, someone talk to lance about how he’s doing because if no one asks... he’ll never mention it.

i think it’s vital that you care for lance. you listen to him and remind him how important he is to you. lance gives me the vibes of someone who desperately wants to be seen and wants to be someone’s choice. if you show him that... well, that’s something special.

— i also think it’s important that we all have a collective understanding that one of lance’s primary love languages is quality time. 

you two spend so much time together. (i mean, you’re stuck is space. there’s not much else you can do.)

when you guys are bored, people can usually find you laying on the floor of lance’s room, telling stories about things you miss (lance talks a lot about his family) while putting on face masks or something. you probably tell him all of your most embarrassing stories, and he insists that they’re cute. that you’re cute.

>> “you think so?”

>> “definitely. you’d have to be crazy to not think so.”

>> “well, i think you’re cute, lance. amazing. perfect, even.”

and lance snorts

>> “i mean it!”

and all he can do is smile.

— and ! since you guys are stuck out in space and can’t exactly ask your families for advice on the ~dating~ scene,,,,,, you both bombard shiro.

he’s just a tired dad,,,,,,, he just wants to rest,,,,,,,, but if lance isn’t asking him about what to get you for a gift, you are asking shiro for flirting tips so that you can dish it right back to lance.

shiro tries to tell lance to get keith’s help but keith is like ??? why would you come to me ??? and doesn’t know what to say

(lance eventually ends up asking hunk, and it’s truly the smartest idea ever. hunk is a romantic. you guys just don’t want to see it.)

and you somehow end up asking coran for pick up lines and ohmygod,,,,,, they’re so bad,,,,, lance adores them.

— and i think your relationship is so playful! you definitely train together, and you actually give each other good tips. you also compete. a lot. lance loves a good competition! and besides, don’t you want to see who’s the better pilot? or the better cook? or the better swimmer? 

— also! if you’re a massive nerd about something, lance lives for listening to you ramble about something he barely understands. it’s about the excited fire in your eyes. it’s about the intimacy of sharing something so important to your self-concept.

and please listen to lance ramble about his interests. sometimes, he feels like no one ever really sees him as anything more than the flirty one. but if he’s super knowledgeable about something and you ask him questions about it??? he’ll love you forever.

— oh, and lance is big on holding you,,,,,, in any way, shape, or form, he just wants to hold you. that can mean cuddling! hugs! holding hands! interlocking pinkies when you’re standing next to each other on the bridge! he just likes knowing your there. lance will want to put his hand in your back pocket! he will want to do any kind of cheesy, rom-com-esque actions that he can possibly think of. 

just wait until allura tells him the cheesy, altean couple things,,,,,,

— but what i also can’t stress enough with lance is that he is always asking you if you are okay with stuff, and it’s honestly goals. please extend the same courtesy back to him, because truly, how often are people asking lance what he wants?

— oh, and you guys work so well in battle together. you always have the other’s back, and while you’re probably not as chatty when you’re being shot at, you probably still get a few comments tossed back and forth.

— and after a fight with the galra? after you’re sore and dead tired? you definitely wander into the lounge, only to find that keith has sprawled out on the couch, so instead of pushing him over or going to your room, you just,,, lay on the floor.

lance walks in, not too long after, and he comes over to you like ??? you okay? and you’re eyes are closed, but you raise a hand in greeting.

>> “i’m fine.”

so lance sits down beside you. for a moment, it’s nice, actually, but then the ground is hard, and honestly, when was the last time someone mopped these?

>> “so... are you always going to lay on the ground after a battle?”

>> “Only the epic ones.”

and lance laughs, but he doesn’t get off of the ground. he doesn’t leave, and instead, he tells you about this amazing save he saw you do. and you smile and tell him about how you saw him heroically save keith

(keith grunts in dismay at that)

and lance looks at you, smiling wide, stars in his eyes, and you both lean in for a kiss.

>> “you taste like sweat,” he mumbles.

you laugh, and he can feel it against his lips

>> “war,” you correct.

>> “you taste like war,” he agrees.

>> “and you taste like heroics.”

>> “and i’m officially out of here,” says keith, clearly traumatized.

and you both laugh because the paladins are just idiots in space (affectionate)

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

taglist: @maybanksslut​, (and @biqherosix​​, because i crave validation) // add yourself to the taglist here!

[kosmo-mckogane]

im really curious whats your opinion on bp lance?

-gay alien (im glad i made your week with the previous ask btw<3)

Ok let's do this *cracks knuckles*

So. Lance as black Paladin. There's a concept I have a lot of mixed feelings about.

I'm gonna start off by saying that bp Lance is definitely a much better idea than bp Keith. While Keith, at the core of who he is as a character, lacks every ideal trait for the role of bp (which isn't bad! leading Voltron just wasn't for him is all), Lance actually displays some of those traits.

"The black lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation."

Lance may not be everyone's first choice of a 'born leader', nor is he in control 100% of the time, however he does have the ability to take control in a situation when he needs to and make decisions for the benefit of the team, and knows what to say to get them to follow him.

He's very good at taking everything into account and finding the best solution in situations (which be barely ever gets recognition for, might I add).

Lance taking the lead definitely would have been a compelling arc for his character, especially seeing as he's never usually taken seriously. It would have given him more development and respect as a character.

And I do understand people's reasoning behind the headcanon. I personally was left with quite a sour taste in my mouth to see Lance so genuine and desperate to prove himself,

only for him be treated like a joke once again.

A lot of people saw that spark and ambition in him, and were rightfully disappointed that it was all for nothing. And I agree. At this point, if any one of the Paladins who are left (besides Allura) deserves to pilot Black, it's Lance.

Instead, he was left feeling second best to Keith once again, always expected to follow him and try to fill his shoes.

And Lance definitely deserves better than that.

However, all of this doesn't change the fact that the very concept of the Paladins switching from one lion to another was just a terrible idea.

From the beginning, it's made clear that each paladin has a special, unique bond to their lions. It was an unbelievable coincidence - some might say fate - that they, the perfect matches for their specific lions, were brought together and hand delivered to the castle.

"As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

When you start switching lions with each other, it lessens the weight of those bonds. Now, it doesn't feel like the Paladins are special or chosen for any reason at all. It just feels like anyone who concentrates hard enough could pilot a lion if they wanted to, as others have pointed out (see this meta on how the lion switch was bad for every character it affected).

It just makes no sense at all for someone to be able to pilot multiple lions.

The only person for whom it could possibly make sense to have the ability to pilot multiple lions is Allura - but that's for a whole other post.

So, Allura aside, lion switching is just a terrible idea. It's detrimental to all the characters, as well as the plot and the whole idea of Voltron. Lance definitely deserves to be treated better, but if we're looking at changing canon, there are many better ways of providing that.

What I would have loved to see is some kind of arc for Lance where he takes the lead in a different way. Maybe the team decide to follow one of his plans, finally taking him seriously for once. He wouldn't be the black Paladin, no, but he would get to show off what he's really capable of.

And maybe after that mission is successful, the team will realise how valuable Lance's skills are, and he'll take on a more active role in providing input for battle strategies and making decisions.

Because I don't think Lance needs to become like Shiro or Keith to be worthy and valued. I love his bond with blue, and I love the potential for him to grow into who he was always supposed to be, and not into a different person.

[quintessenceofdust73]

Veronica, whose analytical mind had reached the same conclusion as Colleen and Sam, exclaimed, “It’s a suicide mission!”

“It’s too dangerous!” Coran exclaimed. “We can’t allow it!” He was so angry that he was nearly sobbing.

“If I were still the Black Paladin, I would never allow the team to do this,” said Shiro sternly, trying to keep his temper in check. “Keith, you must reconsider this course of action.”

“This is the only course of action because it’s the only path that leads to victory. And let me remind you that you’re not the Black Paladin anymore, Shiro. I am,” Keith said coldly.

Shiro glared at him across the conference table, clearly stung by his words. “I’m still the captain of this ship and ultimately I am the one who is responsible for my crew and the mission. I forbid you to——“

“You only command this ship, but I am the commander of Voltron. The team supports my decision. There’s nothing you can do to stop us.”

“Is this true?” Coran asked. He looked at the other Paladins. “Surely you don’t support this madness!”

“Katie can’t go on this mission!” Colleen interjected in a tearful voice. “She’s too young!”

“We’re her parents. We forbid it!” Sam added. His face was red with fury.

“Mom, Dad, I love you very much, but I am an adult now, and you don’t speak for me anymore,” Katie said gently as she stood up. “I speak for myself, and I support Keith’s decision.”

“But don’t you understand? There’s no way back to our reality if you go through the rift to seal it from inside.” Veronica’s face was wet with tears. “Lance, please talk some sense into them!”

Lance’s expression was grim, and his uncharacteristic seriousness frightened Veronica a little. He gave his sister an apologetic look before he spoke. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I believe Keith is right.” Lance stood up. “We were chosen for this mission the day we became Paladins. Whatever skills we have as warriors and pilots—“ he looked at Keith and Shiro, who were still glaring at each other—“or with engineering, technology, or quintessence,” he said as he glanced at Hunk, Pidge, and then finally Allura, “those abilities were not the reason why we were chosen. The lions chose us because of what kind of people we are. I know this because they chose me, and I’m not a great warrior, or a genius, or an alchemist, but they still chose me.” Keith and Katie both gaped at Lance in astonishment, and Allura nodded, her eyes shining. “I think they chose each of us because of the sacrifices that we are willing to make.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes, attempting to hold back tears.

Colleen saw that her daughter had been trying very hard to keep her emotions in check as well, but when Lance was finished speaking she released an involuntary sob. Katie turned her face away from her parents and towards the front of Lance’s uniform coat to hide her tears from everyone. Lance hid his tear-streaked face in her hair as he held her close.

Hunk stood up. “Lance is right. Most of us were just scared kids when we were chosen, but somehow the lions knew exactly what kind of people we would grow up to be. I’m standing in support of Keith’s decision. You guys are just trying to stop us because you love us, and I totally get that, but this is war, and in war sometimes people you love have to— have to—“ Hunk broke down at this point and began to sob uncontrollably. Lance and then Pidge turned to look at Hunk as soon as they heard his broken sobs, and they both moved to embrace him as the three of them wept together.

“Keith, I know you mean well, but there must be another way,” Shiro said quietly. “I’ve been in your position before. I know what you’re willing to sacrifice, but—“

“This is the only way, Shiro, and you know it. We both have been in situations where we were ready to sacrifice ourselves for the team, but you haven’t ever been in the position that I’m in now. I have to sacrifice my friends to save everyone.” Keith’s already raspy voice was raw with emotion. “This isn’t a choice between victory or death. Our only path to victory is through death.” The look in Keith’s eyes was so tormented that Shiro could no longer bear to gaze upon him. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Keith bowed his head, desperately trying not to cry in front of everyone. Allura stood up then, not to speak, but to embrace Keith. His shoulders shook as he broke down in Allura’s arms.

“They are still just scared kids,” Coran observed quietly, his face damp and his expression filled with weariness and pain. It was when Coran spoke these words that Shiro finally lost his self-control: his bottom lip quivered as tears cascaded down his cheeks. His organic hand flew to cover his face as his metal hand formed an angry fist.

There was a sudden outcry of anger and grief from every corner of the room. It seemed that nearly everyone who wasn’t a Paladin was shouting simultaneously.

While Keith stepped into the shadows to try to regain his composure, Allura wiped her eyes and faced the chaos in front of her.

“My friends—“ she said softly. Apparently, no one heard her. “Dear friends—“ she began again.

“BE QUIET! THE PRINCESS IS SPEAKING!” Coran bellowed angrily. The room fell silent except for a few quiet sobs and sniffles.

Allura’s hands were shaking slightly. “My friends, there was an ancient saying among my people. It has been said that love shows us what we want, but war shows us who we are. I know that you all want what is best for the ones you love, but doom is upon us.” She paused so that all could consider the meaning of her words. “What Lance said earlier was absolutely correct. These brave Paladins were chosen by the lions because of what is in their hearts. This selfless love is what gives each of them—each of us—“ she corrected, “the strength and the courage to do what we must, and that is to stop Honerva and seal the rift between the realities. It is the only way the multiverse can be saved. We must sacrifice Voltron.”

“But what about the Paladins? How will you ever get back home if the rift is sealed?” Romelle asked.

“There may not be a way back for us,” Allura admitted. “But if the Paladins go beyond the rift and face whatever is on the other side of it, we may be able to save this reality. It is true that if we embark on this mission, we may face oblivion, but if that happens, at least we will have each other at the end of all things. There is comfort in that.” She stood between Keith and Hunk, and she took the hand that each of them offered her. Beside her Hunk held Katie’s hand, and she, in turn, held Lance’s.

“We are united in this,” Keith remarked. “This is why we were chosen to be Paladins. This is our destiny.” There was a faint glow around the eyes of all five Paladins, and in the massive hangar where the five lions hibernated, each of the five metal beasts arose in turn and roared so loud the ship vibrated.

An eerie silence fell upon the Atlas in which no one dared to speak.

From The Greatest Gift, the second prequel to Defenders of the Multiverse

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30250131

[atlas7seo]

Touching on your points

1. I also agree that Shiro's return was when things started going downhill. However, I also understand the choice to bring him back to some extent. The biggest problem is that they backpedaled too quickly, Shiro genuinely was only gone for like 5 episodes and that was not enough time.

Personally, I would have left it ambiguous for 2 seasons and then revealed he was alive. And if that was the case, I want Shiro to have been doing something. Like make the clone plot more of a thing. It would have been fun if the show had gone to a more, I guess, suspense route where they were trying to figure out who the real Shiro was.

While I agree he should probably have stayed dead, I also wanted to actually follow through on the PTSD plotline they set up for him and make Adam an actual character for his development. So yeah if I did end up rewriting it Shiro would be my biggest problem child.

2. Lance becoming a farmer was such BS, and also, while it was kind of cute in the moment I somewhat hated Allurance in seaspn 8. It stomped on Lance's character a lot. I've personally never seen the 80s version, but I do agree that Lance would be more of a Han Solo type. So yeah if Lance did get an arc in my hypothetical rewrite, it would be the self-love confidence kind of one.

Also maybe I would actually do something with that sword Lance got, bc honestly it was sorta pointless. I would probably also make Klance canon instead of Allurance bc Allura really just did not reciprocate till the last minute, but that's my opinion.

And YES Lance would totally become like a Garrison instructor.

3. Other crap floating around in my head

- my hypothetical season 1 has been planned in my head for so long and I would spend like the first 7 episodes actually getting the lions. I would like put Green on Olkarion, Yellow on the Balmera, Red, Black, and Blue stay the same. So like hypothetically they would stay with the group because I would say the castle crystal wasn't strong enough to warp. Then help out a little because Pidge is trying to find their family, Hunk is genuinely kind, Lance was already the Blue paladin, Shiro is Shiro, and Keith follows Shiro. Then like "no one" knows who will pilot each lion, but then they like prove themselves on each lions' respective planets and like have a "calling" moment

I feel like it would hammer home how important the lions are. I would weave it naturally with episodes we already have in season 1 like the 2 episodes where the castle is attacked by Sendak and they go to the Balmera is where Hunk gets Yellow and so on.

- I kinda want to change Zarkon's motive. Like hear me out. Let's just say after 10,000 years he is the way he is. But I feel like the quintessence poisoning would only exacerbate an actual flaw in his character. He was technically somewhat a scientist in flashbacks so what if the original conflict was innovation and future benefit trumps moral dilemmas. AKA tricking the paladins to open the wormhole to save your wife. There's a scientific thing that the older you are the harder it is to change your ways and mindset. So what if the original conflict was over innovation and knowledge. The war of morality rather than oooo space Hitler. But over 10,000 years, Zarkon's mind continued to deteriorate into the dictator we knew in the show? Idk I would definitely need to flesh it out more. But this way Zarkon can continue to be the general space conquerer the show intended, but have the empire still fall under these beliefs.

That would make Lotor's other conflict with sacrificing Alteans make more sense and be more of a conflict. Make him more complex.

- I would also do more filler/episodic episodes to flesh out the world more.

- maybe some coalition episodes where they have small ops with members of the blades or people in the coalition. Really build up that supporting cast.

- Also maybe make my left hand au madness I've posted about Canon in my story for better themes and imagery-

I have so much more but I'd been here for hours if I kept going.

POV the urge to just rewrite Voltron

[willadisastercry]

More than ‘just a little tired’: aftermath turned aftershocks part 3

tw: discussion of sever burns and re-burning, lots of pain, also lots of heavy emotions, ptsd symptoms towards the end

Keith is in a lot of pain from just having his wounds cleaned but complications arise that make the relief of the pod that much further away. Tensions are still high and everyone’s emotions are running rampant as they are forced to watch their friend be in so much distress, their friend who never let on when he was anything other than angry, who is now crying and begging for it all to stop. Keith is desperate, his stoic facade has shattered but his body refuses to pass out and they still have to separate him from the bits of the suit that remain...

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

(( haven’t edited yet so ignore for now if it’s riddled with errors or some parts make zero sense lol, enjoy!!! ))

The infirmary was both eerily silent and brimming with commotion, nearly devoid of any conversation or background noise at all aside from muted whispers and the gentle clink of tools as the sound of Keith’s pain filled every dreadful square inch and left little space for much else.

Shrio was still perched on a stool with both hands clasped securely around the one of Keith’s that was accessible, the other hanging over the edge of the table limp and unmoving. 

The older boy spoke calm reassurances to him in a low voice, the sentiments themselves not so much soothing as the steady cadence of them were.

It was clear he was still suppressing every wince and grimace though his resolve to remain unbothered seemed to be weakening as he fatigued further. And so Shiro’s gentle tenor worked to ground him as his wherewithal plummeted, the neutral pressure on his hand giving him something else to focus on and keep him from panicking while he lay somewhat paralyzed.

He hadn’t moved much as they cleaned his back up after they gave him the muscle relaxant, not that he could if we wanted to, not when his whole body felt about as solid as jello. The only movements possible were occasional reflexive twitches or sudden bursts of shuddering breaths that had whoever was poking his back pause to give him a minute to steady himself.

That was until the team had separated him from as much of the under-suit as they could with just tweezers and saline... because about 30% of what they’d sectioned off around each wound was still attached and not coming free no matter how hard they pulled or however much saline they poured.

It was then with everything cleaned away that they saw how severe it was, how little of the blur of soot around each blast could actually be cleaned away because it wasn’t his skin that was charred, it was the suit itself.

They couldn’t fix that with tweezers but they had to remove the melted material so the pod didn’t heal around it somehow.

Keith’s attention was admittedly elsewhere when the disorienting haze of pain granted him a few moments of clarity once he realized the only hands still touching him were Shiro’s.

It took him a while, but he was able to cut through the fog enough to vaguely tune in to what was going on around him. He has missed the beginning of the conversation that Shiro was having but it wasn’t hard to piece together what was happening.

“The process should be relatively seemless if I use this—“ Coran noted grimly as he presented Shiro with a scalpel that had a cord attached to the end of it “—the scarring will already be minimal given the pod’s capabilities and the fact that these are mostly second degree, but in order to remove the bits that remain I must burn number four again to sever what joins his flesh to the undersuit...”

Shiro had figured as much and so had Keith.

Well no, his addled brain hadn’t figured much of anything coherent in a while, he just wasn’t surprised to hear that it was the only solution.

Keith wouldn’t consider himself as handy as Hunk or Pidge but he knew his way around tools from having a bike and living on his own for so long. And he couldn’t come up with anything else on hand other than a hot knife that would do that kind of job either.

He also didn’t really care how they did anything anymore. He didn’t have the energy to when all he wanted was for this to be over.

Exhaustion seeped into his bones like radiation, clogging the channels in his marrow where his blood should flow and making his entire body feel so very heavy. It was the kind of weight that lulled you into a deep sleep, yet Keith remained awake, his nerves fried and his mind wired.

Shiro sighed, bowing his head to catch Keith’s pleading eyes one last time before nodding, giving Coran the go ahead.

It’s not that Coran was hiding the tool from the other paladins or what it did, that much was sort of obvious. It’s just that the question didn’t concern them, the decision wasn’t theirs to make. Shiro was their unofficial health proxy now that they were in space and called these kind of shots for all of them, but that was especially true for Keith since he’d already sort of been doing so back at the garrison before Kerberos.

The paladins were of course privy to deciding what happened to their own bodies regarding altean remedies or lesser pod stays since some of the options are pretty out there and if they aren’t absolutely necessary, then they aren’t mandated. But all decisions were passed by Shiro who ensured that their younger counterparts were entirely clear on what they were or were not agreeing to before Coran or Allura did anything, given the situation allotted time to take such measures.

This is one of the rare instances where Shiro had little choice in how to handle the matter. There was only one option and Keith would continue to suffer if he wasted time worrying about what none of them could control.

And it wasn’t even that he was too out of it to know what this meant and be able to deliver the green light himself, the fear on his face when Coran said ‘burn’ was more than apparent. But the kid was so goddamned rational about things no one his age should be able to rationalize that it was clear he had already evaluated and come to terms with the predicament in those brief moments of hesitation before Shiro agreed.

His eyes fall closed again and Shiro thinks he can hear the screams already.

The gravity of the decision seemed to dawn on everyone else a beat later, an anticipatory silence replacing the anguished weight that hung on all of them seconds before.

Everything moved slowly for a moment, the rise of chests halted, the chitter of mice quieting while they searched the princess’s face for answers until reality crashed back down on the castleships’ inhabitants like the tidal surge of a hurricane. The green tinge on Hunk’s face deepened several shades and Allura absently slid a waste bin closer to him, her movements robotic, like she wasn’t all there anymore. Pidge’s sobs from her helpless position on the adjacent cot were almost as painful to hear as Keith’s.

The only one to contest the idea was Lance, the sheer horror of what was about to happen registering on the blue paladin’s face like it was a death sentence for his friend.

“No, that’s torture! You can’t possibly think that’s a good idea, it’s barbaric, it’s—“

“Lance, calm down.”

“I will not calm down! Don’t you see how insane this is?!”

“There’s nothing else we can do. Don’t you see where the hell we are? We’re in space. We are light years away from human healthcare, we kind of have to work with the resources that we have!”

“But there has to be another way! I don’t understand why you’re not trying to figure something else out first... haven’t you hurt him enough today, Shiro? For fuck’s sake, aren’t you supposed to be his br—“

“Do it—” Keith punches out in a harsh whisper, effectively silencing the argument “—j-just do it already.”

His voice was gravelly and weak from all the shouting, his waning energy evident in the exasperated punctuation of his words. He’s fairly sure he won’t remain conscious long enough to be truly traumatized by the a procedure and was growing more irritated the longer they delayed it.

Keith appreciated that Lance had a conscience but also knew full well that he was stuck on the agony he was emoting since he usually never emoted at all, and probably not imagining just how awful it must actually be if he was advocating that more pain be inflicted so the sweet relief of the pod came sooner.

Lucky for him, Coran seemed to grasp the concept well enough on his own.

“Alright my boy, as you wish... Allura you might want to grab something for him to bite down on.”

What remained of the upper half of his under suit lay on him in tatters, his back bare except for the front section beneath him with strips of black littered over the table and floor. There’s a square of material missing on his thigh but the rest of the bottom portion is pretty much in tact.

The wounds looked worse free of all the blood and shredded bits. Like so much worse. But Keith didn’t have to see or be told how horrible it looked, he already knew that however bad it appeared, it hurt a thousand times worse.

“I have a topical anesthetic here that should numb the surface tissue but I’m afraid I can’t make any promises about nerve pain that might go deeper... it will still hurt a great deal.”

Talking was hard. He didn’t have the energy to stay awake let alone speak, but since his body was denying him that mercy, he figured forcing himself to communicate might speed the process along.

“Kay... s’fine,” was all he managed in response, his head swimming slightly as he forced the words out.

Allura’s face came into view then, smiling with so much sadness behind it as she lowered a hand to Keith’s flushed and tear stained cheek, gently coaxing him into opening his mouth.

He was sort of confused as to why until she brought a small hand towel folded in a tight roll up to his chin. His eyes widened a bit but he hummed in understanding and parted his blood encrusted lips so she could place it between his teeth.

They hadn’t had a chance to fuss over the gash on his face with everything else they were focused on but he was also very much laying on top of it. The cut itself also didn’t appear to be giving him much of an issue, but the fact that he was resting his cheek in an ever dampening rag as it caught his blood was woefully uncomfortable, the swelling laceration under his eye endlessly agitated with every reflexive jerk.

The sight might’ve been more alarming if his back wasn’t so horrific.

Shiro searched Keith’s lidded eyes when Coran pressed a button that had the tool whirring to life with a warm orange glow before he set it aside to warm up. They were sluggish and bloodshot and slow enough in meeting his gaze that would’ve had him majorly concerned should he not already have dozens other reasons to be.

“The spray might sting a bit at first... just bear with me lad.”

Coran’s voice was pinched and level, his statements clinical and his hands deft.

He’d already gathered that Keith didn’t need things explained before they were done like Shiro who needed to feel like he was in control of his own body when being tended to, or Pidge and her unwavering need to know absolutely everything ever, or Hunk and his already debilitating anxiety regarding the unknown.

No, he was like Lance who didn’t want the details, didn’t need to know what was happening or when. In fact, he reacted worse when he knew.

Keith needed things done without preamble. It didn’t matter how much it would hurt, he just needed it to hurt before the anticipation that it was about to could consume him. And Coran would do whatever he could to ease the red paladin then, so if that meant working fast than he would work fast.

“Nngh...” Keith choked out against the towel, nearly gagging on it when his entire body jerked as soon as Coran started spraying despite the medicine running through his body to specifically lessen reactions like that. But the man didn’t slow once he started, not even for Keith’s muffled pleas.

The spray did in fact sting. It stung a lot.

His head flew back and his eyes screwed shut as he struggled to breathe through the application, jerking despite himself each time the liquid landed on his raw and burning wounds.

The cloth trapped between his clenched teeth had him sputtering on the spit in his mouth and he almost welcomed the fear that flooded his body when his throat closed to keep from inhaling it.

“I know, bud... looks like just a bit more and then hopefully some relief.”

Shiro looked so young when he was like this, the knitted worry lines on his forehead almost out of place for the age he looked then. Keith didn’t like seeing him like that, it’s what he looks like when he’s having a rough day with his ptsd, so he closed his eyes against the tears that were brimming in the corners of them and took in long, purposeful inhales while Coran finished up.

He felt it as soon as the anesthetic started working, a discernible cold partially quenching each tiny inferno that was at the center of his injuries. It didn’t do much more than place a lid on the fires, not putting anything out completely but it was something and had him sagging into the table at the small bit of respite.

“I’ll be right here the entire time, okay? Coran will try to be as quick as he can but you can do this Keith, you’re strong, I know you can do this...” Shiro rambled, his timbre still subdued and settling.

It was nonsense. It was absolute nonsense he was babbling but the older boy’s voice never wavered and the constant presence of it hung on Keith’s battered body like a warm blanket, soothing the biting chill of anticipation that spread over it before the endless waves of agony started all over again.

“It’s going to be okay, bud.”

Keith clung to his words like they were a broken board from a sinking ship, the only buoyant thing in sight that could keep him from sinking right down with it.

“It’ll be over soon...”

He felt himself physically calming the longer he spoke until suddenly his chest didn’t feel as tight.

“...and then you can rest.”

Because he believed him. He believed that Shiro wouldn’t tell him he would be okay if it wasn’t true.

“We’ll get you set up in the pod...”

And for just a second, he actually believed it would end, that it wouldn’t last forever.

“...and then you’ll start to heal...”

The breaths he took were urgent, almost greedy as he relished in the temporary peace from everything. From the pain, from his anxiety, from feeling so fucking helpless.

“...just a little longer. I promise.”

Shiro made a point not to make many promises to Keith, even if he never planned on being anything other than good on them. He knew that too many had been broken for him to trust a vow like that. The words were empty, just another tool for people he trusted to bait him with before they left.

In Keith’s experience, everyone always left.

“I am going to begin now, remember to breathe lad...”

Before Keith had been holding back most of his exclamations of pain, biting his lip or cheek and setting his jaw to swallow them back before they escaped.

He wasn’t exactly sure what it was that made that impossible now, maybe since he knew the pain would be insurmountably worse or maybe because his body was too tired to expend that kind of energy anymore, either way the only thing muffling the sounds then was the towel keeping him from biting clean through his tongue.

The way his back arched when Coran brought the scalpel down looked like it shouldn’t have been possible in his condition. Keith didn’t know it was possible either but wasn’t too focused on the logistics with how intensely his lungs were screaming as he realized he could no longer move air in or out with how shocking the pain was.

It was like he’d been electrocuted, his muscles spasming and his nerves glitching in override.

“Shit, someone help me hold him down... come on damnit, hold him still!” Shiro ordered when it was apparent that Keith was incapable of controlling his reactions as Coran kept at it with the tool.

The movements were violent and quick, more convulsions than Keith’s own will, but they happened with each slice which made it difficult for Coran to work, so Hunk and Lance repositioned themselves on either side of the table and pinned his chest down wherever was most absent of injury while Shiro kept his head still and attempted to talk him through it.

Allura wasn’t having much luck in soothing Pidge either who was hysterical with her hands clamped over her ears. The guilt she felt over being the reason Keith was now in such intense pain was overwhelming and the princess was deeply concerned that she was going to make herself sick or reopen her only somewhat mended wound.

“Huh, huhh, huh... AHGh!”

Coran ignored how his fingers were blistering from working around the red paladin’s struggles.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry...”

Apologies were pouring out of Shiro like his own blood would.

But Lance didn’t buy them. He couldn’t grasp how their infallible leader missed someone being injured this severely.

And for it to be Keith of all people.

He’d spent half of his young adult life on his own, looking out for himself, no other support. He wasn’t used to having a team to look out for him especially since the last time anyone had was when Shiro had taken him under his wing. Shiro who had pretty much promised not to give up on him only to leave for Kerberos and never come back.

And what’s worse, as if anything could get worse at this point, was that Keith genuinely hadn’t wanted their help. He would’ve insisted he was okay whether or not his injuries were known regardless, but Shiro overlooking him in the heat of the moment had only fueled his warped view on taking care of things himself. It made him think he didn’t deserve any help, like he was being selfish for even suggesting he might not be okay when Pidge was also hurt.

It wasn’t true. But Lance knew that Keith couldn’t always decipher those kinds of things, the subtle messages in tonality that other people would’ve instantly picked up as, ‘no, I don’t actually hate you’ but completely eluded him.

Because Keith was extremely literal. He was also a self sacrificial idiot. Kinda like Lance. Not the literal thing, Lance almost never spoke literally.

But Shiro knew that, he knew that Shiro knew all of that about Keith and yet here they were.

His eyes were glossy and he was livid. It didn’t make any sense. They were supposed to look out for each other. It was Shiro’s whole philosophy and here he was, a complete hypocrite.

Pidge let out a strangled hitch then that broke Lance’s focus on analyzing whatever the hell had gone down on that mission.

The guilt was raging an almost identical fire in her chest, licking at her lungs like there was lighter fluid on them and threatening the sinews that had just barely latched across the chasm in her abdomen.

Hunk wished he could cry, wished he didn’t have to be so close to the terrible mess that was his friends’ back or the sounds he was making.

He didn’t know how many more he could stand to hear. How many more times he could handle the pang of terror in his chest when one escaped the lips of either of his friends.

Anytime anyone was hurting he felt like he was too. Like he had an access pass to their pain or some wicked ability to envision exactly how it must feel. And between Keith bucking beneath his hands and the guttural groans smothered by the towel, Hunk’s stomach was flipping dangerously.

Keith’s strained huffs had turned into hysterical shouts.

“Coran,” Allura deadpanned, her voice low and deadly.

They’d started off with a sort of restraint but it hadn’t taken long for them to raise in volume. He hated it, he was too tired to be so vocal and his throat was aching, but he couldn’t help it.

If it was up to him he would’ve just relaxed and taken it. He was used to simply enduring in the moment and compartmentalizing as he went. He had no experience in allowing such real reactions, in being so vulnerable against his every will.

Taking it silently would’ve been just as painful, there was no changing that, but maybe then he wouldn’t have had to see everyone so upset.

But he couldn’t relax. And he couldn’t use his twisted reason to logic himself out of it.

“This is cruel-I can-I can ease his suffering with my powers, move aside and let me—“

“Princess.”

Coran sounded distressed, almost pained. It was the first hint of emotion he’d shown since they’d dragged Keith into medbay.

“You couldn’t heal him without going into a pod first or it would start depleting the quintessence of your life force... we don’t have time for that, you know what my answer is—“

“But it’s worth it! Just a second, even just a touch would make the world of a difference, please—“

“Allura... come on, let him work.”

Lance looked angry still, and Shiro wasn’t sure he blamed him anymore, but the princess’s voice was shaking and his hand on her arm was pulling her away from Coran gently.

And she let him, the sob that erupted from her throat startling everyone. But Lance was there, the usual smirk he wore when speaking to the princess noticeably absent as he braced his her shoulders because they were shaking too.

Shiro is pressing Keith’s chest down flat where Lance had been after he Coran hissed at the heat of the tool while he continued to thrash.

The energy in the room was so dark and heavy it was almost sinister.

But the worst part was seeing it on his face. The desperation in his expressions was gutting. It felt like a sort of betrayal, which in a way it was, but so was the alternative.

Shiro tried to keep up his rambles of assurance but found the sentiments catching in his throat.

It had become wildly apparent that they were more comforting to him than they were to Keith, but he repeated them still, the same nonsense over and over again like a prayer. The swipe of his metal thumb clearing the endless stream of tears out of his eyes was the only constant other than the sound of his own screaming sobs.

And the pain.

His sobs and the pain.

It was blinding and it was everywhere. He couldn’t get away from it. Couldn’t get away from himself or the terrible sounds he was making.

All of it was suffocating. The fire poker dragging against his already charred skin, the hands holding him still, Shiro’s words, his own cries, all of it.

The air was filled with a bitter and nauseating heat, the smell of his own flesh burning permeated it and made him cry harder.

He wanted to throw up, wanted to pass out, hell if he died right there he wouldn’t have even minded.

He just wanted everything to stop.

He didn’t think he could stand much more of it but his body wouldn’t give in. His screams had morphed into one piercing and continuous wail as every limit he had was tested and shattered.

Keith thought he could handle pain fairly well, but this was absurd. This pain was otherworldly.

It’s only when he spits the rag out for the millionth time and begins chanting his own prayer that Shiro really wavered, his hand halting abruptly as he went to put it back between his teeth before they tore through his tongue the next time Coran moved his tool.

But Coran had taken the glowing metal away for a moment and was fiddling with something, so when Shiro leaned in to replace the cloth he could finally make out what he was saying.

“...D-d-d-da-dad... pl-please, dad... dad m-make it st-stop... dad...”

The words were slurred and barely audible with how wrecked his throat was, but there was no denying it.

“Oh, Keith...” Shiro breathed before his jaw was working to muffle his own pitiful sounds.

He was in such a delirium that he was calling out for his father, the man who Keith hadn’t called out to in years because he was dead. He’d left him in the most final way someone could leave.

Shiro didn’t know how many promises his death might’ve broken, just that the words Keith was uttering were what finally broke him.

Allura’s cheeks were still wet with tears but stepped forward anyway and moved the towel back into place, her hands running through and smoothing down Keith’s wild locks all tossed out of place from writhing.

She bent down to speak softly into his ear, Shiro didn’t catch much over the ringing in his own while his eyes locked into place on the towel in his mouth and the blood staining his chin and neck, though he thought he heard something about him being strong, him doing so well...

“Shiro.”

The hand on his arm didn’t make him jump because he couldn’t feel it. The room was expanding and he was shrinking because Keith’s whimpering was beginning to sound like the despairing cries before someone or something died in the arena.

The arena...

His eyes open wide and flit around wildly, the room abruptly fitting back to size.

“Huh?”

Shiro was good at snapping himself back to reality when he needed to, good at functioning at half capacity just to see through whatever he was in the middle of until it was safe to let the lights of the arena bleed into his present.

Not that acknowledging his memories was ever safe. And not that reliving them in his cabin was any safer.

Just easier.

“What is it?”

“I’m starting again...”

He hadn’t noticed that he’d backed up into Pidge’s bed or that her tiny hand had wound its way into his.

“...and he’s asking for you.”

“Right.”

His voice was sturdy again, hands no longer trembling. He could do this.

The whirring of the tool sounds too much like his metal arm, it glows orange instead of purple but that doesn’t seem to matter because it’s cutting into Keith’s skin all the same and the screams that escape his mouth cut into Shiro just as bad.

But he pushes it all away. He can unpack the emotions that rise up with it later but Keith needed him now.

The initial twitches that wracked his brutalized frame when Coran brought the tool back down had Allura turning away and the smoke that rose up with the first slice had Hunk clamping a hand over his mouth and nose. But the princess’s hand never stopped brushing through his hair and Hunk kept the grip on his shoulder firm.

They could feel his muscles loosening, could feel the power of each jerk dwindling.

And then they watched with heavy consciences as even his steady cries quieted, his body finally waving the white flag.

“I’m sorry...”

Shiro chanted it so many times that the syllables blended together and turned into something else altogether.

Keith’s breathing was more erratic than it ever had been and it didn’t seem like he could see straight anymore so Shiro lowered his forehead to Keith’s and draped his metal arm over his neck.

Both were damp with sweat that created condensation on his hand, his hair wet with it and plastered all over, but Shiro couldn’t find it in him to care. He needed him to know that he was there, that he hadn’t left.

“I’m here, Keith. And I’m sorry...”

But his cheeks were flushing with something other than straight up exertion. And Shiro felt it, felt his hand go cold while all the blood raced to his head. He knew what was happening but he wasn’t worried.

He was relieved.

“I’m so sorry...”

The rag falls out again because his jaw had gone slack and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. Shiro didn’t move to fix it.

His breathing still irregular but falling into a more even rhythm.

Lance looks stricken and Hunk is rather green when they let go and step back.

Pidge had finally found the ability to relax abs was slumping into the bed, eyes glued to Coran’s hand who was still not done.

Still not okay. Still not in a pod, but no longer in pain.

Hunk took exactly one deep breath before devolving into tears. He was done being strong, but Lance never seems to get the luxury and was pulling him into a hug that didn’t have him standing any straighter or have his chest working any less, but it was something.

Coran’s hands move slow and he doesn’t seem to feel the red welts on his fingertips from wrestling with his tools. But he looked more at ease with Keith blissfully unconscious, like he was breathing again.

Shiro was still holding Keith’s hand. It was ice cold and looking sort of blue with the white blotches dotting it. He leaves his other hand on his neck where his skin is hotter, figuring if the cool metal could be useful for anything other than killing, it might just be that.

Lance eyes the distance in Shiro’s gaze, the rigidity in his movements, and he thinks he understands. He thinks he can overlook his anger to remember that the guy is still human.

He’s almost scared that he was speaking out loud when Shiro rakes his grey pinpoints around the room, not appearing to actually see any of it before passing over Lance’s briefly. Hunk has his head burrowed in his chest as he fights to regain his composure but he musters up a small smile for him despite being otherwise occupied.

It’s a peace offering. A sad one at that, the corners of his mouth barely perking up, but it’s something.

Shiro wasn’t sure if he returned it but his heart felt lighter once Lance did that.

The energy in the room was still buzzing but it was less stifling, not as heavy as it had been moments ago.

The artificial sunlight starts to turn purple again and he can hear desperation mix into the buzz and for a second Shiro is worried that Keith has woken up. In a bit of a panic he drags his gaze back down to find his eyes still closed and his face still scrunched up like he hadn’t escaped the pain entirely with sleep.

But that was infinitely better than him sounding like them, the dying things he was hearing.

He vaguely wondered if the medbay was a safe enough place to let the purple flood in and ultimately decided that it didn’t matter.

He’d staved it off long enough, was strong for Keith when he needed him to be.

And so he lets himself drift.