#galra!spy!keith

[uniquecellest]

Some fun AU ideas for Adashi

- Adam is half Galra/human but remained unaware

-Adam is half Altean/human

-Adam half Altean/Galra

-Adam was sent to earth to be a spy however he was extremely young and does not recall his mission at all

-Adam was captured; Shiro gets recaptured and thrown into the Gladiator ring again, they have to fight. Adam doesn't remember Shiro

-Shiro and all Paladins get to Earth the day the Galra invade. Shiro ends up saving Adam before Adam can unalive and Shiro is p i s s e d they went after Earth, especially Adam

-Adam and Lance get captured at different times/places resulting in Keith and Shiro to go after them, only they have to make a choice who lives: Adam or Lance (bonus for Adashi/Klance parallels)

-Matt teasing his friends Adam and Shiro constantly being a little terror to them

-more Adam, Shiro, and Matt being the og Garrison trio

-Krolia meeting a young Adam while she's with Keith's dad and Keith's dad being a mentor/role model to Shiro

-Matt, Shiro, and Adam discover Voltron earlier and are the paladins

-Adam meets Zarkon, Lotor, and/or Sendak and goes ferral on them for hurting shiro, Keith, and the other paladins

-They never broke up when Shiro went to space making

-Adam went on Kerberos replacing Matt, Sam, or Shiro

-Adam gets captured but is released as if a hostage, he was brainwashed/had a chip put in him

-Shiro vs. Kuron and Kuron brings Adam up to emotionally hurt Shiro (lowkey pisses Keith off bc no disrespects his brothers like that)

-Shiro and Adam reunite but are stiff thinking the other has moved on. They're only around each other when necessary unaware that they're also spending longer times together again - /and of course I still want him, but I can't when he's clearly moved on/ (cue Matt and Keith pulling a parent trap)

-rebel leader Adam whether it be on earth or a different planet

-Adam helps make Shiro a new hand

-trouble makers Adam, Matt, and Shiro (i.e. Matt and Shiro causing chaos while Adam tries to get them to chill)

- teenage Adam wanting to impress Shiro so he does something stupid that could actually result in explosion from the Garrison

-Shiro and Adam having relationships with the other Paladins before Kerberos (Pidge especially)

-Adam making Shiro blush easily

(Shiro: you know what you're doing

Adam: what are you talking about. [Actually knows what he's doing])

-Shiro and Adam loving to observe each other from afar from when they're cadets all the way to when Shiro leaves for Kerberos

-Adam is secretly an heir to a great fortune, but he had cut ties with his family and didn't get it til his grandparents passed away (Adam is not the only living relative just a sole inheriter)

-Adam sees Kuron and Shiro fighting and is the meme of "hey what's x + x kuron: correct answer Adam: shoots him Paladins: that was the right answer Adam: yes, but Takashi always does this (cut to Shiro and Keith doing the same fucking movement)

- Adam giving Shiro a silent treatment for dying in space

-Adam thanks Haggar for curing Shiro before unaliving her

-nervous cadet crushes bc they're 50/50 if the other will say yes if asked on a date. Someone makes a remark on the other making Adam or Shiro punch someone. The fight is broken by the time the one who wasn't present gets there (or maybe they're pulling their crush off) and don't get the full story until the one who wasn't fighting is helping patch up the one who was

-they're roommates as cadets

-Adam or Shiro is roommates with Matt while the other has a single room (cue Matt doing his best in getting the two idiots together)

-young Keith unaware that Adam and Shiro are dating so he tries to get them together (he enlists Matt's help)

[astralscrivener]

✨ fic directory ✨

i’ve created a post to keep all of my fics in one place. all fics can be found on ao3. (last updated may 4th, 2024)

major ongoing works

STEALING OUR OWN PLACE IN THE SUN

- voltron: legendary defender: a rewrite of vld seasons 4-8. - team focus, broganes, klance, adashi, romellura - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 22/45 chapters, 251k words (december 25th, 2022) - last posted: chapter 22: season 7, episode 3: elliptical orbit

AT SKYFALL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent au in which keith and shiro are captured by the galra at a coalition gala. things become more complicated when the team’s search for shiro turns up someone else: adam, shiro’s fiancé.  - broganes, klance, adashi - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 8/? chapters, 25k words (september 2nd, 2023) - last posted: chapter 8: division and discord

ABCS OF KLANCE

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots, one prompt for each letter of the alphabet, focused on keith and lance’s relationship - variety of aus, some overlap with squad up (2017-19 modern au), mostly established relationship klance - 18 works, 87k words (may 4th, 2024) - a: artistry • b: brutality • c: comfort • d: defeat • e: elegance • f: faithfulness • g: grief • h: homelessness • i: information • j: jealousy • k: knell • l: loyalty • m: mercy • n: need • o: opportunity • p: pain • q: quest • r: rumor • s: sleep • t: trust • u: uncertainty • v: victory • w: worry • x: xenon • y: yearning • z: zero - last posted: lightning in a bottle (y: yearning)

other ongoing works

THESE 20S ARE RAWRING AND THESE DUNGEONS ARE DRAGONING

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au + d&d series started in 2020 as a stress response to quarantine - team focus, klance, adashi, romellua, hunay

• main work: the rawring 20s XD - chatfic that only updates if i think it will be funny - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author notes - 5/5 chapters, 17k words - last posted: chapter 5: there is no easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, (september 8th, 2022)

- other works include klance-centric oneshots + snippets of the group’s ongoing d&d campaign - 5 works, 37k words - last posted: midnight into morning coffee (february 7th, 2024)

VLD FIC REQUESTS

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots across a variety of aus written in response to prompts from friends and followers - variety of ships, but mainly klance and adashi - some overlap with squad up  - 15 works, 92k words (july 8th, 2023) - last posted: distraction

major completed works

DECEIT SO NATURAL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent trilogy in which lance and keith fool their way behind enemy lines and onto lotor’s ship to steal vital information on the galra empire—only for lotor to become far more dangerous than anyone anticipated. - mainly klance, extremely one-sided lancelot - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura - 3 works, 315k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• WHERE PEOPLE GO TO DIE - lotor mistakenly believes that lance is a galra soldier spying on the paladins, and invites him to return home. keith follows him undercover as a prisoner, and quickly draws lotor’s ire as things spiral rapidly out of control. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 14/14 chapters, 49k words - completed july 9th, 2017

• DYNASTY DECAPITATED - lotor becomes vindictive after having been played for a fool by team voltron, and the team struggles to hold the voltron alliance together while fending off his rapid advances. meanwhile, keith and lance explore a new stage of their relationship and learn exactly what the other means to them. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 18/18 chapters, 67k words - completed august 7th, 2017

• STARS GO DOWN - lotor has captured lance and sentenced keith to death halfway across the universe. lance struggles to hold onto himself as he plays the role of an amnesiac, while keith attempts to fight his way back to the team, alone. meanwhile, the team, down two lions and two paladins, scrambles to bring keith and lance home amidst betrayals and tumult in the voltron alliance. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence, temporary major character death + other warnings in author notes - 37/37 chapters, 198k words - completed june 15th, 2018

SQUAD UP

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au written from 2017-19 to cope with the horrors of being in high school and the transition into college - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura and shiro/allura/matt - 25 works, 561k words - completed may 10th, 2019

• main work: squad up - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last year of high school - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 140/140 chapters, 327k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• main work: a midsummer night’s meme - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last summer before college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 27/27 chapters, 79k words - completed august 31st, 2018

• main work: because guys like us are cool in college - series of oneshots/snippets following keith and lance’s freshman year of college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 84/84 chapters, 83k words - completed may 10th, 2019

LIGHT UP THE PATH (THROUGH A SKY FULL OF STARS)

- voltron: legendary defender: 28 oneshots completed for klance au month february 2019. - klance - variety of aus, including but not limited to modern au, canon-divergent/other paladinsverse, fantasy au, and more - rated M, creator chose not to use archive warnings + other warnings in author note - 28/28 chapters, 49k words - completed february 28th, 2019

additional oneshots not mentioned here can be found on archive of our own ✨ other writing (including drabbles, snippets, and prompts from tumblr ask games) can be found in my writing tag ✨

happy reading!

[crypticbeliever123]

Lance and Keith fanart. Not sure if I ship them or not. I recently started rewatching the show and while I don't see the chemistry in that I like the fan content of them and that's the same rabbit hole that led to me shipping Steve x Tony in Marvel so we'll see where this goes.

I already started getting ideas for a reboot fic where they like each other. It takes inspiration from the popular Dads of Marmora AU concept so Keith and Lance don't know each other prior to the series and Keith is this super cool and mysterious space ninja that Lance starts crushing on and Keith is like one of the only people who notices that Lance isn't a total dumbass and is actually capable in his own right. Keith is also not as cool as Lance thinks because he's not an actual Blade member and is more their ward whose codename is "Cub". He is super embarrassed by that codename while Lance thinks it's adorable. There's other stuff in this fic idea like the Shiro clone being the one to return to Earth in the first place, fully aware he's a clone and a spy for the Galra who has Haggar in his head at all times. Allura is Black Paladin. Shiro clone who eventually goes by Sven is Red Paladin and instead of being chosen because Red=hotheaded it's because the Red Lion seeks out those with self doubt and a fire to prove themselves. Sven has a massive inferiority complex and absolutely hates OG Shiro who was saved from death by the Blades and sees Sven as a grumpy twin. They are golden retriever vs black cat energy.

[discordiansamba]

flopping back to the Galra prince Keith AU for a hot minute, thinking about Keith's secret coming out to the paladins. Because he avoids some of the pit falls that Lotor does- he does still effectively trick the paladins into going after the trans reality comet, but not because he wants it- but because he knows if he just leaves it there, then his father will eventually find it.

Better then, to trick the paladins just a smidge to put it into their hands instead.

But it also means he's not exactly building anything from the ore, and therefore Zarkon has no reason to send his fleet after him. He's dismissed from his role as emperor pro tem (which thank the ancients, THAT double life was exhausting), and though Haggar has her suspicions, he doesn't bring Narti with him to Central Command, so she can't get into her head and use her to spy on him.

What does happen is Naxzela.

What does happen is that his generals are monitoring the battle. They've been ordered to not directly interfere. But that was before it turned out that Naxzela was bomb.

The rebellion doesn't have the firepower to break the shields on Haggar's cruiser- but Kyor's flagship does. Acxa makes the decision, and knowing the consequences, she decides to surrender herself to the Voltron Coalition, since they've basically made themselves- and by extension, Kyor- official enemies of the Empire with that act. There's some debate, but the other three decide to go with her.

And Keith can't watch them being put into restraints when they made that choice to save him- to save the fragile hope that he believed in. He knows he should just keep his head down. That's what they want. But he can't do it. He's not that sort of person.

So instead he tells Allura that if she's going to restrain them, then she's going to have to restrain him too. Because he's been lying to them this entire time. Because there never was a Keith Kogane.

"You wanted to find Zarkon's son," he says, as he shifts back to his natural form, "-well here I am."

[klanceficatalogue]

It's so awesome to see you back! I was wondering of you had any secret agent/spy aus, because I'm on a kick and they're my favorite right now

absolutelyyy - k

and i miss your face like hell by deadwriter16 (1/1 | 7,159 | Mature)

Matt nods, "come on. It’s time we get the team back together.” Well fuck, Lance thinks. It’s only been a month since they broke up. He’d expected more time. But when Galra agents resurface, Galra agents resurface. There’s nothing they can do about it, especially when they’re tracking one of the most important ones. If Lance's team doesn’t get Lotor, the whole agency’s big time fucked. ---------- Lance's team of Garrison agents has one objective: assassinate Lotor. When new leads are brought to light, they can finally do it.

//gun violence

Undercover by orphan_account (1/1 | 2,462 | Teen and Up)

Keith, an undercover spy for the organization Altea, gets captured. Now it's time for an escape, and though Keith thinks he's finally gotten himself into a ditch he can't dig himself out of, his team proves him wrong.

//gun violence

Choking On My Words Around You by good_vibes_mostly (1/1 | 8,242 | Teen and Up)

“That guy is Keith Kogane, the worst mistake of my life.” - As an L.R agent of Voltron, Lance's life is good. Yeah, he has his regrets and he definitely has his fair share of demons to contend with, but his life is pretty great overall. He thought nothing could ruin what he'd built up for himself, but when Shiro's promotion came around and they were forced to find a new A.R recruit, some of his regrets come back to haunt him.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Kuron lance and allura for the headcanon thing(if that's not too many lol)

Kuron-

Headcanon A: realistic

After that time on the ice planet he started keeping extra water pouches and snacks with him at all times

He does not like the smell of burning meat

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

He enjoyed being a paladin in monsters and mana so much he was planning to cosplay his character when he got back home :)

Also pretty decent at cooking and uses it to make fun of Shiro

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

He had even picked up some cloth he could use for cosplay, it got blown up with the castle since no one thought to pick it up with him being yknow

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

CLASSIC LIT NERD!KURON FOR THE WIN!!!!

Lance-

Headcanon A: realistic

Knows a Guy™ for everything, like even the most random and specific ass situations he just Knows someone who can get them out.

Also big fan of point and click puzzle games, and is getting pretty good at it too

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

His grandma taught him how to shoot as well as other things like administrating first aid, carjacking, how to read and write in code, impersonation, 5 different language etc. When asked why she just said "for the future" and didnt elaborate

Lance and Hunk once pretended to be toxic-couple-fighting-in-public-and-making-a-scene as a distraction for Galra long enough for the others to complete the mission

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

Because of the entire died-but-revived and altean marks thingy he will either end up dying slowly or has extended life and is going to outlive almost all of his friends and loved ones :)

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

I have said this before but i'll say it again cause this is my favourite hc. I do not care what canon or fanon says but Lance is bi with shittiest taste in men. It's alright my boy, i perceive you, i know you have kissed men and i know they all fucking sucked.

Lance went on spy missions while the entire time Lotor was staying in castle and Keith was gone

Allura-

Headcanon A: realistic

She really doesnt like healing pods, or going to sleep and first thing she does after waking up is check the date and time

Also she would have loved glitter bath bombs

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

She loves building pillow forts. Lance and Hunk showed her how to make one and that is now her go to stress relief

Also she knows how to play an altean equivalent of a hurdy gurdy but like can only play altean equivalent of Wonderwall

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

As a little kid she used to look upto Zarkon and Honerva. You know how little kids have these adult figures (not parents) they really wanted to impress? That was Zarkon and Honerva

As a kid she was much more interested in Diplomacy and altean martial arts than in alchemy despite being naturally gifted with it because she thought the lessons were too boring. She regretted than when she woke up 10000 years later

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

She was researching on altean alchemy even before Lotor showed up to feel a bit closer to her culture

Technically she can pilot any lion because of her bond with them i do not care what canon says

[alluraaaa]

for that character ask game: 12, 15, 32, 38 for keith and a character of ur choice :3

my character of choice is allura bc. look at my blog <3

12. crack headcanon

keith: his galra genes make it so he’s able to drink windex and not be at all hurt by it. he learned this accidentally and thinks it tastes nice

allura: she can, will, and does use her super strength and shapeshifting to hide in the shadows of the castle’s high ceilings. she likes it up there because 1) great acoustics, 2) she can spy on others, and 3) she can scare people

15. worst thing they’ve ever done

keith: i mean. i’d say the worst anyone on the team has done is murder but keith would think murder is on par with that one time he wasn’t paying attention and stepped on a space mouse’s tail

allura: again, murder. but she also really beats herself up for not remembering every single detail about altea and “properly” preserving its memory :(

32. something guaranteed to make them smile/laugh

keith: physical comedy. silly faces, purposefully bad dancing, slapstick, etc. hunk and lance have a bet going on who can make keith laugh most during meetings (keith doesn’t know about said bet)

allura: sigh… random XD humor. i’m sorry to say it but i feel she would think minions are absolutely hilarious

38. favorite holiday

keith: halloween because he loves the aesthetics but also, he lets his walls down a bit when he’s dressed up and no one can tell who he is. he gets sillay :-)

allura: all earth holidays are fascinating to her in their own ways, but nothing can top the altean summer berry festival. it’s neat that earth’s “valentine’s day” is on her birthday too!

(send a character + a number)

[wipbigbang]

The final round of art claims is open at @wipbigbang! We have all sorts of great stories left in multiple fandoms, and we'd love any type of fanart for them: traditional art, digital art, fanmixes, moodboards, fic covers/chapter headers...any kind of art you can imagine!

The synopses are located at https://wipbigbang.dreamwidth.org/173272.html

The form is located at https://forms.gle/yyxkCxyXJopMTyUs8.

Voltron: Legendary Defender

#180

Title: The Rites of Courtship

Pairing/Characters: Keith/Thace

Rating Explicit | E

Warnings/Tags: Graphic Violence, Non-con/Rape

(Past) attempted/threatened rape, imprisonment, mildly dubious consent(only at beginning of relationship), canon Galra-bigotry,

Additional tags: AU. Alien biology/genitalia for Keith, Keith believes he's intersex, alien culture/courtship rituals, alien gender/sexuality, alien sex, possible/eventual mpreg (that is totally normal by alien standards), Keith and Shiro are adopted siblings, Allura's Galra-related traumas get aggravated but the Paladins and Coran help her through them, Keith has three parents, quad-sexed ovoviviparous marsupial Galra, Thace is a very devoted and loving consort/husband.

Summary: During the raid on the Galactic Hub, Keith is captured alongside Allura. Trapped amid a multitude of Galra who think Keith smells like sex and have every intention of forcibly taking what they want, Keith has to rely on the one Galra soldier who seems to want to help him. Choosing a consort through an ancient Galran rite is much better than the alternative, but it still means sex with a virtual stranger that Keith isn't sure he can trust. This is just a temporary thing until his friends can arrive to help him escape; Keith can do this. (He's really not sure he can do this.)

Additional spoilerific tldr summary: Keith gets captured, not knowing he's a Galra-hybrid that is currently fertile. Enemy Galra can smell it, and a bunch of the worst assholes in the bunch are all for raping the enemy they just captured. Thace desperately searches for a way to save Keith without blowing his cover as a spy, and hits upon the idea of an ancient Galra courtship/marriage rite(s) that will make sure Keith is protected until complete, thus stalling for time until Voltron can rescue him.

Except, Voltron doesn't show up when Thace was hoping. Keith asks Thace to be involved in the rites because Thace is at least trying to help. They end up completing the rites, becoming consorts, and even after more stalling for time Voltron hasn't shown up. Faced with worse than death, they discuss things together and decide to consummate, partly because they've already started to catch feelings for each other.

Voltron is still MIA, and Keith stumbles on Thace being a rebel spy, so while navigating Keith's new situation in the Galra fleet as Thace's consort they start planning Keith's and Allura's (and Thace's, because Keith isn't leaving without him damn it!) eventual escape.

On the eve of said escape, Voltron shows up, of course, and so begins Keith and Thace trying to figure out how to fit in with Voltron as Paladin and Consort, (and Galra rebel-spy and Galra-hybrid,) and with Allura having been traumatized by her time in captivity, to help her heal. Oh, and they still have to make allies and save the universe from a very angry Zarkon (and deliver a very final 'fuck you' to a would-have-been rapist), while navigating a new relationship, meeting new (and old) family, and team bonding. Oh and face a potential pregnancy somewhere in there too.

[museaway]

Trick or treat! 👻

friend, hello! I know VLD isn't your fandom anymore, but you are receiving this scene that I'm very fond of from an unfinished sequel.

untitled

Excerpt from the sequel to the incomprehensible vastness of space. This draft is 23k and largely written, but I lost steam and burned out on the ship. I think about finishing it sometimes, but the day has never come. In TIVOS, Shiro remained as a gladiator and worked as a spy for the Blade. Keith eventually rescued him. The following scene is a conversation between Shiro and a Galran who turns out to be related to someone he knows. This is from a first draft so please excuse any quirks. VLD / sheith (referenced). 1,080 words

Seven of the eight Galra in the hold were refusing food and water. The only one that had accepted was the same one who had answered Shiro’s question about how many of them were left. Six were asleep. One, the man with the scar, sat facing the door of his cell with his arms crossed, eyes forward and determined but not focused on anything.

He was the one Shiro had come to see. He was sure he’d met him before. He’d encountered hundreds of Galra in his time in the pits—handlers, medics, others fighters like him. Could he have been part of Sendak’s circle?

The Galran wouldn’t even look at him as he approached the cell.  

“What do they call you?” Shiro asked, not expecting an answer. 

The Galran only stiffened his posture. Shiro sighed. 

“You know, where I come from, people say thanks when you save their life.”

“It was my desire to die.”

“Would you have let one of your own save you?”

The Galran took a deep breath. “You fought in the pits? Which facility?”

“I don’t know the name of the first one. The second was the arena planet. Did I meet you at one of Sendak’s parties?”

“I have never set foot on that planet.” 

There was bitterness in his words, but his disdain seemed to be more for the sport itself than for Shiro. He’d never heard of Galra who disapproved of arena fighting. Of course, what he knew of the culture came from avid fans. People who attended the matches. But it made sense that there would be people who found the sport barbaric. Maybe this Galran had lost a family member to the pits. Maybe he’d been forced to fight once himself. He’d never asked, but Shiro had always suspected that was how Jumi had lost her leg. 

At the recollection of her name, he did a double-take and looked at the Galran’s face more carefully. Although his features were rougher, a blending of genetics, Shiro thought he could see some of her in him. 

“Your mother,” he said. “What was her name?”

The Galran laughed humorlessly. “Since you are asking that, I assume you already know.”

“You’re her son?”

“Was.” The Galran looked up. “I was her son before she betrayed the empire. She was discovered working with a group of traitors. They were stealing ship parts that belonged to the Empire, with the intention of selling them on the black market. She agreed to provide information in order to spare our lives. I was fourteen. We lived as outcasts. She fought to put food on the table. But she was alive because she had betrayed not only the Empire but the people she had worked with. She was dishonorable. As soon as I had an opportunity to enlist, I joined the army.”

“I’m sure she did what she had to in order to protect you,” Shiro said.

“Did you know she was an operative for the Blade of Marmora?”

With Jumi already dead, Shiro figured there wasn’t any harm in confirming it. “Yes.”

“I learned that after her death. She’d been recruited by them before I was born. The rest had been a front to protect them.” He closed his eyes. “Such loyalty.”

Shiro wasn’t sure what he should say. The Galran’s words didn’t match his expression. Although his posture was rigid and he spoke bitterly, his face was a child’s longing for his mother.

“Jumi talked about you,” Shiro said and the Galran flinched. 

“She was ashamed of me.”

“That’s not the impression I got. She missed you. She wanted to see you again after the war.”

“You were close with her?”

Shiro crossed his arms and smiled lightly. “Close probably isn’t the right word. She took care of me. She’s the reason I got out of there.”

“What a waste of a life,” said the Galran. “She spent it in the pits like a commoner.”

“She was pretty accomplished with biotech. Made a lot of modifications to this arm.” 

He held it out. The Galran gave it a cursory look, trying not to seem impressed, although his eyes gave him away. He must not have known that about her. Twice, he cleared his throat before continuing. 

“How did she die?”

“I’m not sure,” Shiro said. “One day she just stopped coming.”

The Galran nodded and inclined his head. “Sendak was not kind to traitors.”

Sendak had not been kind at all. Shiro could still feel the searing liquor at the back of his throat, hear the low rumble of his laughter. He shuddered at the memory of that crooked smile backlit by the light from his arm.

“The Blade of Marmora doesn’t support putting Lotor on the throne,” Shiro said. That wasn’t information he should be sharing with outsiders but he felt it was something this Galran needed to hear. The Galran looked up suddenly. 

“How do you know this?”

“We work with them,” Shiro said. “Listen. We’re on course for Central Command right now. There’s no guarantee Zarkon will ever retake the throne. We are about to hand you over to Lotor unless you can give me a reason not to.”

The Galran’s eyes widened. “You would let us go?”

Shiro lowered his voice. “I could hand you over to the Blade instead. My partner’s one of their leaders. I can call him right now.”

“The human?”

“That’s right. His mom’s also a member. She probably knew your mother.”

“What’s her name?”

“Krolia,” Shiro said. 

The Galran squinted like he was trying to remember something from a long time ago.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you once we turn you over to Lotor,” Shiro said. “But the Blade won’t harm you. You might not have the same end goal, but right now you’re working toward the same thing.”

After a few seconds, the Galra said, “What about my team?”

“You can all leave together.” 

“Your Princess would allow it?”

“I’ll speak with her,” Shiro said. “The Blade will probably insist because you’re a legacy.”

Almost a minute passed. Eventually, the Galran took a deep breath. “I request you contact the Blade.”

Shiro nodded. “Sit tight. I’ll be back.”

“Brin.”

“Excuse me?” Shiro said.

“My name.” Brin didn’t smile, but his eyes didn’t hold as much malice. Shiro walked out of the hold and tapped his watch.

“Allura, I just spoke with one of the Galrans in captivity. There’s been a change of plans.”

[lilflowerpot]

This is probably a spoiler if you decide to take this course of action, but I need to ask: Is krolia a member of the druidic church in little blade.

Because in the part in which keith is debriefing kolivan on what happened after he got attacked kolivan says something like ‘for you she will come’ which seemed really personal(?) to me.

I know that it could also have the implication of it being because he is a former paladin of voltron and is kinda like the middle man between the blade and voltron which makes his role important but it also implies that it could be due to personal relations.

I hope this made sense because i am so tired rn but oh well

Anyways love you!!

💜💜💜💜

Once again I shall direct your inquisitive little hearts towards my FAQ, because as I've said several times over: asking after the specifics of the narrative, irrespective of whether or not that is the direction I intend to take it, is inherently a spoiler,,, if I were to tell you yes? Spoiler! If I were to say no? Still a spoiler! Particularly when it comes to Krolia!! By the very nature of her role as Keith's absent galra space-spy mother, she raises a lot of questions and her character has a great deal of inherent emotional weight for our favourite marmorite, so while I love that you're engaging with / theorising about my writing, I simply will not answer queries of this nature one way or another.

[entrepy]

A list of Shiro’s scars & where he got them from ( for my own reference because I’m always forgetting what my headcanons are akdjfhg. )

The suture scars from the Galra taking his arm ~ I headcanon that the decision to take his arm came from Haggar, who sat in on a trial and recognised that Shiro would be all kinds of helpful in the future to her ( perhaps she had a vision of the five human paladins and how convenient it would be to have a spy among the ranks. Then again, Ulaz also recognised something in Shiro, so perhaps it was nothing more than his defiance in the arena that he became the chosen ). I imagine this is about 7 months into Shiro’s imprisonment, also 7 months without any medication. There are signs of contractures in his right hand fingers, something that has become noticeable when he stops using his right hand during battles. Haggar’s solution is amputation, which also gives her enough flesh and DNA to start the cloning process, and rewards Shiro with a weaponised prosthetic for his trouble, which, of course, plays into her own plan because she needs Shiro to be an even more formidable force than he already is. Because these are surgical scars and Ulaz was the surgeon, I imagine the surgery minimised unnecessary scarring ( so Shiro doesn’t have the roguish scarring some fanworks depict !! ) 

The most obvious one is the scar across the bridge of his nose. I originally headcanoned this as a battle wound, much like his others, but it’s a perfectly symmetrical wound, which seems unlikely in the heat of battle especially across his face. Once Haggar had his DNA for cloning, she also needed his mind. She doesn’t ( at this point ) have Allura’s abilities to transfer ~essence~ between vessels, so would’ve had to use good ole fashioned tech. I imagine something similar that was used on my boy Bucky Barnes for brainwashing, was used on Shiro to extract not just his memories, but the very essence of himself, allowing a complete duplication of mind, body & soul. The majority of Haggar’s work is based around Quintessence so it makes sense that the tech she used on Shiro for mind-extraction would also use Quintessence, but humans are not compatible with this. Even Keith gets burned by it, but recovers, presumably due to his Galra lineage. Whatever singed Shiro across his nose, was the contraption Haggar used for mind-extraction. ( Prompted by this post. ) This mind-extraction process was also responsible for Shiro’s hair turning white at the front.

Shiro has Hangar’s claw marks on the right hand side just at his waist when Haggar attacks him during Allura’s rescue. The scar extends from his navel, wraps around his side to his spine, as the wound “grew”. The scar doesn’t fully heal in the Altean healing pod, but when he comes out it looks much older than it is.

A burn mark in the shape of a hand on his left upper thigh from where he ( read : Kuron ) cauterized an open wound after his “escape” from the Galra ( after the real Shiro died ). As a consequence of Shiro now living in his clone’s body, he also has all of Kuron’s injuries. As this was in the early phases of Operation Kuron Stage 3, Haggar’s interference was minimal so I think Kuron’s actions here mimck what Shiro would have done in the same situation. 

( The rest of this list are non-canon scars, and not a completely exhaustive list either, and all he got in the arena ) ( I may add more to the list above as I re-watch Voltron ~ these are the ones I know from memory only !!!! )

Mouth shaped bite (roughly 30 small triangular incisions of teeth ) on the fleshy part of his left shoulder, closer to his neck than the ball of his shoulder.

3 claw marks from the top of his right shoulder down to just under his right shoulder blade

1 deep gash scar on his chest from the inner left clavicle across his left pectoral (in an outward direction). 

A smaller gash scar intersects closer to his left side (received the smaller one later). 

Multiple scars on his abdomen and lower back ~ he couldn’t tell you when he got them or who gave them to him. He was in a constant state of healing between trials and injuries usually piled on top of each other. 

A different set of 4 claw marks on the back of his lower right thigh (not as deep as the set on his back). 

A chain shaped burn mark loops twice around his right calf from a kusarigama-like weapon of choice from one monster that also could pass electric current through it ( Shiro only survived this electrocution due to his cybernetic arm collecting the discharge ). 

[maudlxne]

It was an unstable science for a good reason. Even she had voiced her concerns several times to Lotor - all of which fell on deaf ears. Earning nothing more than a clasp to her shoulder and a whispered out ❛ Trust me, Acxa. ❜ that did little to quell her unease even back then. He was so confident that it would work. Too proud to admit he might be in over his head. That's how they got to this point. Arrogance.

❝ Yes. Six. Shiro was killed and Keith took over as the black paladin. Allura took over the blue one, and Lance the red. ❞

The only reason she wouldn't fully chalk Shiro up to being human was the fact that despite his clone body being made and engineered with his human DNA - it had been tweaked. Modified. Or ❛ perfected ❜ as she once heard that witch utter under her breath. Removing any weaknesses that would have made her future puppet less useful. Part of her wondered . . . is that what became of Narti? Had they lost her and never knew it? Or was she a genetic undertaking this entire time - a stowaway spy for the empire that entire time? Well - no use in wondering that now.

Azure blue hues blinked for a moment - shaking her head at his question.

❝ I'm just surprised by the differences. At first, I had thought absurdly you may have traveled backward in time. Yet it appears not. Luckily for you as that would have been a far more difficult problem to fix. Strange how most of the core is similar yet the details aren't. In your universe - were you also at war against the Galra? ❞

he had known that crossing realities was possible, he just didn't think it would happen to him. it was an unstable science, one that aunt pidge drabbled in every so often, but it was far from her main research. apparently, whatever haggar & zarkon had done was enough to make whoever researched afterwards hesitate. be more cautious.

kai never pushed. it was fascinating, yes, but kai wanted to focus on their reality & their own universe. he knew what had happened during the war, & sometimes it was hard to place the same voltron paladins with the same ridiculous family he grew up with.

he missed them already.

"there are six paladins here?" he blinks, tilting his head in confusion. he must have misheard. "most are the same, i think. uncle shiro is still human, though. au--princess allura was never a paladin, but she did pilot some lions when needed. but lance . . . isn't human. lance is the nickname the other paladins gave my mother. apparently 'prince allonzon' was a mouthful. they switch between lance & al'zen a lot. my father was the blue lion's pilot for awhile, but isn't her paladin." he trails off, noticing her expression. "what? did i say something odd?"

[discordiansamba]

POV: You're Shiro. You are having what very well might qualify as the worst year of your life.

The kid you've been mentoring, that you've started to think of as a brother has gone missing with four other cadets. There's no trace of him. They all just fail to show up for class one day, and never come back. It's devastating, enough to make you pull out from the Kerberos mission.

Your fiancee gets sent in your stead. He doesn't have much choice in saying no, otherwise the mission gets scrapped entirely.

Then the Kerberos mission goes missing too. Pilot error, they say.

But you can tell behind the scenes that something is brewing in the Garrison's high command. They're keeping something from you. You just don't know what. Matt and Katie both agree that something fishy is going on, and this is only confirmed when they get into the Kerberos probes and find no evidence of a crash.

But there's more. Further back on the probe's recording, what looks to be a strange blue lion shoots past Kerberos, before disappearing into some sort of glowing blue portal. The date on the recording is the same day Keith and the cadets disappeared.

You confront the Admiral with the evidence. You don't tell her how you got it. She stares at you for a long time, long enough that you start to think you might just be about to get charged with treason. But instead she brings you in on what the rest of the Garrison high command already knows- that there has been evidence of activity that could only be described as alien.

Half a year later, Sam Holt returns to Earth, with tales of a Galra Empire on his lips. That the missing cadets have become something called paladins now, fighting a war that's spanned ten thousand years already. Keith is with them.

And he's got video to show you.

Keith is purple. You recognize him right away- he still looks like Keith, even if he's purple now. Apparently, he's half-Galra. His mother was a spy. Your fiancee is also there. Apparently Keith rescued him from something called a gladiator arena. He looks like he's been through hell.

(he's also gotten kind of ripped)

Sam builds fighters that can stand up to the Galra Empire. You're put in charge of assembling a team to fly them. You hope you won't have to use them, but you do. Aliens invade.

Two years later, you finally reunite with Keith and Adam.

[wanderingsofal]

An Act of Rebellion

Keith is many things: A soldier. A halfbreed. Sendak's betrothed. A spy who's spent years working his way into Zarkon's inner circle. But he's also impatient. Impulsive. Frustrated at his inability to find the one thing he knows will help defeat the empire once and for all. And his growing interest in the Champion, a prisoner by the name of Shiro, isn't helping matters. Unless Shiro happens to know something about the location of Voltron. 

---

This is entirely the fault of @spaceprincekogane, who has done some amazing art to go with this story, and was the one who gave me the idea in the first place. The story should update weekly both here and on AO3.

---

Chapter One: The Champion

For Keith, the gladiator matches had always been a disgusting parallel to the history of the Galra Empire; cheering masses of Galra watching as aliens fight to the death in the midst of blood and pain and fear. Sometimes, as he turned to see Sendak leaning forward on the edge of his seat, eagerly awaiting the next kill, Keith wondered if any of this was worth it. If, at the end of it all, all of his patience and waiting would pay off and Zarkon’s empire would fall. Getting him into the emperor’s inner circle hadn’t been easy. It had taken years of maneuvering from agents of the Blade of Marmora, many of whom he had never met, to even get him near to this point, just a few feet away from Emperor Zarkon himself.

He was close enough now that if he wished, he could draw his blade from its hidden sheath and plunge it deep into Zarkon’s heart before anyone was the wiser. If only it would be that easy. Ten thousand years had allowed the emperor to build a strong core to his empire, one that would survive even his death. No matter how much he might want to just act, if Keith wanted his actions to mean anything he needed to find the one thing powerful enough to destroy not just Zarkon, but his empire. He needed to find Voltron.

He hated this, the waiting and watching, to be so close and yet still so far away. Sendak knew something about Voltron, of that Keith was certain. All of the intelligence they collected lead in that direction. Thace’s last missive even hinted that the commander knew the location of one of the lions. But two months at his side as his second, and then three more as his personal play-thing and betrothed had revealed nothing. If he didn’t get somewhere soon Keith half expected he would be clawing his own skin off.

“AAAAAND NOW!” cried the announcer in the center of the arena, drawing Keith’s eye to the force shield that was slowly fading out to reveal the next poor bastard they’d picked for the final match. He could just see their shadows. One large and hulking, clearly one of the Druid’s Robeasts. The other was smaller, bipedal, a silhouette Keith had never seen before.

“HERE HE IS!” the announcer continued, jumping away from the ring. “THE HERO THAT FOUGHT ONE HUNDRED BATTLES AGAINST OUR FIERCEST CREATURES AND CAME OUT ON TOP! THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND, THE CHAAAAAAMPIOOONNN!”

The force shields vanished amidst loud cheers and an alien was pushed into the ring. Keith frowned, unable to identify his race. The male (he assumed) being was a little on the small side for a Galra, though still a head taller than Keith himself. He had pale pinkish skin and short black hair, and the simple prison uniform clung to his large muscles, defining his shape. He was not, Keith noted, given a weapon, but neither did he seem to have been subjected to the Druid’s experiments. Keith suspected that they wanted to see how far they could push him; find his limits before meddling with his body. Already he had lasted far longer than most prisoners thrown into the arena, if this was the same Champion Keith had been hearing about for the past several cycles. It was the first time he had the chance to see him fight, but from all he heard, this prisoner fought like a monster.

The man stared up at the assembled crowds with an open hostility Keith had rarely seen in the arena. He stood tall, defiant, a commanding presence even weaponless and in prison rags. Dark, angry eyes met Keith’s calculatedly bored gaze, and for a moment he was lost in a whirlpool of swirling steel-grey light. Then the champion looked away, releasing Keith from the pull of that penetrating gaze.

“Who is he?” The words were out of Keith’s mouth before he stopped to think. Sendak looked at him in surprise.

“Finally taking an interest, I see?” He was grinning, smug bastard. He knew Keith hated these games, and took a sick sort of joy in making him attend.

“Something like that,” Keith admitted, unwilling to indicate more than a passing interest. He walked a thin line with this relationship, defiant enough to keep Sendak’s attention but submissive enough to not seem like a threat. Anything out of character, and he risked drawing the commander’s suspicion. “I’ve heard my men talking about the Champion like he’s some sort of god. I’d like to see if he’s as good as they all say.”

Before them, the alien faced off with the Robeast, circling, keeping his back to the arena. Sendak leaned closer to Keith until the fur of their ears brushed. Keith repressed a shiver, hating the feel of even that much physical contact. Sendak chuckled.

“Well then, that is indeed the Champion. I caught him on one of my patrols out to the edge of the empire. He’s a native of some backwater planet whose people haven’t even managed to reach the edge of their system, but he managed to take down six of my soldiers before we were able to subdue him.” The commander sounded impressed.

“Why capture him?” Keith asked, projecting disinterest. In the ring, the Champion rushed the Robeast, one quick hand reaching up to grab at the creature’s weapon. He tugged on the blade, swinging his legs up to plant a solid kick on the Robeast’s chest, sending the beast reeling back and away from the champion. When he hit the ground, the man rolled and jumped to his feet, the Robeast’s blade in his hands. “Why not kill him and remove the risk to your guards if he escapes?”

Sendak chuckled, a dark and unpleasant sound. “Surely you know me better than that. He has information he has yet to reveal, but he will break eventually, I’m sure of it. And even if he does not, the Druids will turn him into one of our greatest weapons.”

Keith felt a growl building low in the back of his throat, but willed it down. Now was not the time to express his views on those creatures they called Druids and their vile experiments. Instead, he asked another question.

“What information?” Mentally he crossed his fingers. Sendak seemed to be in a sharing mood, but one never knew when that mood would turn.

“He had traces of Altean energy on him,” the commander growled, leaning forward as the Robeast attacked with spinning blades where most species would have hands. The champion dodged, slipping under its guard to come up, thrusting his stolen sword up and through the center of the creature. It sparked, sending the champion dancing away to avoid burns, then slowly toppled over onto its front. The champion raced forward and withdrew the blade, backing quickly away with his weapon pointed at the downed beast. It didn’t move.

“Altean?” Keith blinked, glancing at Sendak before turning back to the arena. Altean energy after this long could only mean one thing. Voltron.

“He will tell me what he knows,” the commander told him smugly. “One way, or another.”

A hatch opened in the back of the Robeast, releasing a smaller creature that flew at the champion. This foe was smaller and more agile, dodging each of the champion’s blows and attacking with ferocious intent. It buzzed around the man’s head, razor-bladed appendages snaking out to cut at him, tearing at his shirt and leaving long bloody gashes in his skin. He ducked and rolled away. The beast followed, getting in a cut at his shoulder. Keith leaned forward, sitting on the edge of his seat. The champion lashed out in a flurry of blows. The beast dodged, but not quickly enough, as one metal arm went flying.

In retaliation, the blades spun faster, making a whirring sound audible even high in the stands. It dove at the champion, who jumped away just in time. One limb snaked out, glancing across the champion’s nose and leaving a shallow gash in its wake. Keith half rose before he realized what he was doing and forced himself back down, thankful that Sendak’s attention was now fully focused on the match. The champion swung his blade, and the Robeast crashed to the ground in a pile of wires and sparks. The man looked up, angry eyes once more meeting Keith’s as blood dripped down his face. It was a sight the young spy would not soon forget.

Around Keith, the crowd rose to their feet in a wave of motion, cheering and clapping for the champion. The man didn’t even seem to notice. His hard gaze remained level, challenging, directed straight at Sendak and those around him. He continued to stare until the guards came and forced him back behind a new force shield. The Galra felt the loss of that gaze like a physical thing, slumping into his seat like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his relief going unnoticed in the general post-games pandemonium and the commanders’ usual collecting and paying of bets.  One thought burned its way into his mind:

He had to meet the champion.

Chapter 2 >>

[keithkoganevltrn]

Keith followed closely, keeping pace with Belost the best he could with his much smaller stature. The half-breed's shoulders squared at the question, he hadn't thought he'd get this far without a fight, but here he was. Hopefully he could actually learn something useful for the blade.

"I'm small, I can fit in plenty of places a standard Galra can't, sir," he stated this as if it weren't entirely obvious. Idle conversation. "I also know my way around plenty of planets that aren't warmed up to Lord Zarkon's rule, yet. I have influence there. If someone flees there, I can find them."

He was confident, trying to pour himself into this with every fiber of his being. "I was told you were one of the best," Keith paused for a moment, taking note of the speed of their walk with the speed of passing sentries. "So Commander Sendak sent me to you, Chief. The best spy of his ranks training under the best tracker of his ranks seemed like the only logical thing to do."

[suitboxers]

my final keef piece for the awesome @nekocielp! <3 Since this was Galra!Keith I thought itd be really cool to make him look like his mum :D