#hope i did lance and shiro meeting justice

[amaranthkick]

Spy Games Ch 2

(ao3)

Shiro took a deep breath to calm his nerves. This was just a routine mission: talk to an intel agent and get information on the Galra. It’s just he didn’t do these types of missions often.

He sighed as he remembered why he took this mission in the first place. He was experimented on, tortured and had his arm replaced with Galran tech by the Galra. He had to stay at the Castle of Lions and had constant check ups to see any lasting damage or side effects from his imprisonment. All the concerned looks he’d get when his teammates thought he wouldn’t notice. He was starting to get a little stir crazy if he didn’t get out there in the field soon.

So he took the next available mission even if it was recon with minimal fighting to show them he’s ready for more missions, ready to do what he could to take down the Galra before any more people experienced what he went through. 

Coran said the informant would be waiting at Garrison Park, on a bench near the pond. He told him the informant might be tricky to work with. 

Shiro saw his mark, the person on the bench matched the description: a tall, lanky man, dressed in a blue shirt with a lion design, and expertly tossing a coin in the air. “Pidge, I see the informant and am going to make contact.”

“Roger that Shiro. -zzt-” There was a bit of static after her response but Shiro thought nothing of it and approached his target.

—

“Oh wow, uh, hi.” The target said, a little hesitant, eyes sizing him up.

Shiro tried to relax his posture and make himself look less threatening, it’d be a waste if he scared him away now. He asked if he could sit next to him, which the target allowed.

—

Holy crow, who was this gorgeous man? And he wanted to sit next to him?! Lance was pretty sure he was in heaven.

Lance had to thank Hunk for letting him on this little delivery. The client jipped him of a tip and instead gave him a roll of chips for the new casino that popped up but just meeting this guy made it all worth it.

Oh, he asked about anything of interest in the area. He must be new to the area, and lucky for him Lance has a love of gossip and knows everything about anything around here. Also he needs to keep an ear out in case the Feds somehow track him and Hunk for the ‘sudden black out’.

—

Shiro thought he’ll get a crick in his neck from nodding along as the informant talked about different people and places. He was certainly… knowledgeable. But he was sure to take mental note of these in case they have a connection to the galra; noise complaints from a factory, a club trying to be a cool secret club but everyone agreed it’s totally not, and there was a fire recently…

But then the informant seemed to catch what he was saying and backtracked. He coughs and his smile seems forced as he swears to Shiro that this area is safe.

The informant’s phone buzzes and he gets up suddenly. “Ah, gotta go. Oh wait, here!” Then he tossed Shiro a roll of… casino chips? “There’s a casino near here, you should be able to use those as a freebie, there’s no harm in trying, so long as you don’t spend too much on more coins, right? Nice to meet you!”

Shiro watched him leave a little dazed but somehow satisfied. He didn’t know why Coran said he was tricky to work with. He didn’t seem suspicious, actually he seemed pretty nice. He got lots of information, could some of them be red herrings? He tightened his grip on the roll of chips, might as well start with the casino. Hopefully he’ll find something on the Galra there.

—

Shiro was perched on a nearby apartment trying to look for places he could sneak in. His breath hitched and he nearly crushed his binoculars as he spotted the suits transferring some covered crates. He– He knew some of those grunts. They taunted him while he was chained down and he could only wait for the inevitable torture.

The Galra worked here or at least they have infiltrated this casino. He had to call the rest of the team for a full investigation.

—

“Great work, my boy!” Coran slapped Shiro’s back with a cheer. With Shiro’s warning, they were able to catch many Galra agents as they used the Casino to undoubtedly fund their wicked schemes. But with this they were able to deal some damage to the Galra.

“Ah, thanks.” Shiro sheepishly responded. “I was only able to find them because the intel agent you led me to.” Huh?

Shiro was called away by Keith before he could ask more. Coran twirled his mustache in thought.

Right after Shiro told them he was going to engage the intel agent, Pidge noticed there was some sort of jamming signal that cut off Shiro’s communicator for a moment. Keith immediately went to investigate and found their ‘intel agent’. Allura followed behind after he ran off recklessly. He tried to lead Keith to an ambush but thankfully Allura was there before everything went pear shaped.

They were about to tell Shiro the intel agent was a bust but somehow Shiro said he spotted some Galra grunts at a casino of all places.

Ah, hold on a tick, did they ever tell Shiro the intel agent he was supposed to meet was a fake?

Coran turned and hesitated when he saw the boy in good spirits as he was talking to Keith. No doubt happy his mission was a success and Allura wouldn’t be so hesitant to give him more field missions.

…Ah, why rain on his parade? It all worked out in the end anyway. He was certain the person Shiro met won’t come up anytime soon.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Lotor seems to have a lot in common with Chloe Bourgeois from Miraculous Ladybug since they both seem to have great potential of getting redeemed, but the writers decided to screw them over and make them all the sudden villan for no reason even though both shows main protagonists have done far more questionable things than them, heck both shows even romantasize the protagonists creepy stalking behavior

Hi, anon. Thanks for the note! I’ve never watched Miraculous Ladybug, so I’m afraid I don’t know too much about a Lotor vs. Chloe comparison? I’m sorry, though, if that show triggered some unhappy memories about VLD!

In terms of protagonists being worse than the villains, I personally struggle with that statement for Voltron? VLD is complicated because the show starts by treating war/battle as a fantasy violence video game. Like, the Galrans are mostly robots or one-dimensional soldiers who are torturing, killing and conquering. So our protagonists are already light-years ahead of that incredibly low baseline. And it’s easy to cheer Team Voltron on when you know they’re just blowing up robots or a pure-evil villain. It’s that whole fantasy violence thing without accountability. Then, the show gets increasingly more complex in terms of the politics, and the costs of war (with Ulaz’s death, for example), and the humanization of the enemy. But in this environment, our protagonists are still a bunch of ill-prepared teenagers running with scissors. Like, the original paladins of Voltron were leaders and rulers with a history of navigating wars and alliances. These paladins? They grew some over the show, yes, but they still had to go from playing a video game and screwing up flight simulators (or living a royal life in peace-time), to handling actual death and collateral damage in an active combat theater. I doubt Galaxy Garrison had training in their curriculum for how 17-year-olds should handle that. And all of the other older authority figures around Team Voltron and Lotor just totally and utterly failed them.

So I think my frustration with Team Voltron has cooled a lot over the years. From an in-show perspective, they were surrounded by supposedly competent advisors and intelligence officers who should have been able to at least question certain decisions or behaviors. But they did nothing constructive to prepare the paladins for war besides training them to kill.

And in the case of s5-s6, all of these experts and allied civilizations gave Team Voltron the green light on an official alliance with an empire they had seen brutally torture/experiment, enslave, and colonize. Actual weeks had passed between s5-s6. And yet, we never saw Kolivan warning the team that this was a really bad compromise for the Voltron Coalition to make; we never saw the paladins having to handle upset questions from their vast allies, who no doubt had recent memories of trauma at the hands of Galran military officers. But the instant Lotor is revealed to have also been a quintessence vampire in some way, like every other Galran officer with a body count they’d allied with, that’s the uncrossable line for Krolia, Coran, Kolivan watching this all go down—? Like?

When Shiro linked the Voltron Coalition to Galran military intelligence, what the heck did they think all of these soldier reports included? Military commanders happily sipping cocktails with locals on a beach? So I don’t think it quite hit the paladins yet that they weren’t working with uwu morally unproblematic people with easily forgivable pasts or a clear record of trying to make up for that past. And Team Voltron had zero guidance for how to navigate pursuing justice/reparations while also not leading to another war or worse outcome. Ultimately, even all of these concerned authority figures forgot about the show’s most plot-important victims that they were fine with dissolving the alliance over.

(RIP Patrulius in the harvesting pod, did you ever get out??).

The incompetency of elder authority figures also feeds into my frustration about Lance’s character, and how it was once again Coran in s8 who pushed him into this weird 1950s dating construct where Allura isn’t an agent over her own body. Like, Lance is still pretty young here, mimicking all the toxic masculinity he’s picked up on, and Coran’s behavior is supposed to be…better. Like, even Lance himself was uncomfortable in that scene, and that was wild to watch.)

And speaking of the ongoing failures of authority in the story, I still can’t believe that Coran didn’t cut in on Lotor in season 5, even, to warn him that exposure to the rift was known to make people lose control over their darkest thoughts. I could plausibly believe Allura didn’t think to question this because she was doe-eyed over Lotor and desperate for anything that could secure peace. But it’s not like Coran, who is supposed to be a king’s advisor, didn’t see this happen with Zarkon and Honerva. He could have questioned Lotor’s plans, and that actually would have been fascinating. Because if Coran, being a king’s advisor, had employed that kind of logical foresight, we might have seen something unsettling in Lotor that could more clearly foreshadow a fatal flaw he wasn’t working on (you know, like that classic Icarus Syndrome). But this show just didn’t question itself or self-reflect, lol.

So I don’t think anything Team Voltron did was them necessarily intending to be cruel where they wanted trillions to die in the name of justice, but their ignorance and the blatant inaction/silence or questionable guidance from anyone with higher credentials or experience resulted in some very uneasy outcomes.

But those outcomes were what this show wanted to keep the drama rolling.

I can’t speak for Chloe’s arc and the reason for why she misses the mark, but Lotor’s fall resulted in another several episodes of big robot battles and extended drama to meet a predetermined 78-episode directive. And given that the production team complained about having no breaks at all through the development of this show, I doubt they had time to weigh the cost of every decision they made to keep drama going. (I mean, we saw several other haphazard, concerning things happen since the beginning of the show; the colony twist wasn’t an isolated incident of plot over-complication and questionable handling of topics a;sdjfasf.)

I do think it’s easy to stay bitter about things and to let that poison everything, including even other shows. And I don’t think that’s a mentally healthy place for me to be—even though, clearly, I do still have frustrations with the art of story construction, lol. So I guess... canon is someone else’s story, but I do have control over how I respond and how I might try to tackle hard topics in my own works. And I’ve got to work with that.

I hope for what it’s worth that you can still find things worth enjoying in your other show, and that you can explore the characters and the stories in ways that are meaningful and feel right to you. It might help as well to look for shows and media that explicitly do have redemption arcs for a main antagonist or villain, or that handle traumatized or abused characters well.

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 31

This is it! The very last post of Whumptober, and the long-awaited sequel to Day 8! If you're brand new to this whump party and haven't read it yet, you'll want to go back and do so before diving into this monstrosity. And when I say monstrosity I mean, it's looooooong. I wanted to do it justice and give you guys the ending you deserve, which...I'm hoping I pulled off. I'm not used to posting stuff so soon after writing it, without re-reading and editing over a period of time! Anyway, it wasn't one that I could easily just say, oh and they rescued him and put him in a pod and they lived happily ever after, because there was a whole bunch of emotional stuff everyone had to deal with, too. Thus the length, and the postponing of this post so I could actually finish it. 

That said, this is actually more angst than it is whump, but hopefully there's enough whump to satisfy and hopefully it's a satisfying way to end the month. Enjoy!

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Day 31 (No. 29 and Alt. 7)  - Reluctant Bedrest/Found Family

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Warnings: fantastic racism, self-hatred, death mention, blood, referenced animal attack, fever, infection, hallucinations, needles, panic attacks, suicide ideation

It had been nearly a week since they abandoned Keith. Discarded him, like garbage. Dropped him off on some deserted planet like some people back on Earth used to drop off animals that they didn’t want to have to take care of. 

Shiro had always hated those people. Now he was one of them.

Except worse, because this wasn’t a puppy they had dumped on the side of the road, this was a hu-...okay, well only partly a human being, but a person, nonetheless. The person that he had seen as the little brother he never had for the past several years that he had known him. The person that he had sworn, even if only internally, to look after, always.

And sure, it wasn’t like it was his idea, but he had still let it happen. Yeah, if he had tried to fight it, Allura probably would have locked him in his room and done it without him. But he should have fought anyway. He should have let them drag him away like they had Keith that day they found out he was part Galra. Maybe they would have thrown him in a cell, too. Maybe then he’d actually be able to look at himself in the mirror now.

They wouldn’t have, though. He was human. He was trustworthy.

So trustworthy that he had turned his back on his brother, all for the sake of Voltron and the universe. 

That was the lie he had been telling himself, the one thing that had kept him from jumping in his Lion and going after Keith for days. The universe needed Voltron. Therefore, the universe needed him. He was the leader of Voltron, he couldn’t just abandon the rest of the team and disobey the Princess’ orders for the sake of one man. Being a defender of the universe meant having to make sacrifices and hard choices.

And maybe all of that was actually true, but it was only half the story. Keith needed him. As the leader of Voltron, he should be setting an example for the rest of the team to follow, and should be able to make decisions for the good of every team member without being threatened and overruled by the Princess. Being a decent person who could live with his own choices meant not going against his own promises and ideals.

He knew all of that. But both sides seemed true, and which side seemed more important changed by the second. 

To top it all off, the team had practically fallen apart since leaving Borulmyte. Not only were they down a Paladin, unable to form Voltron, but hardly anyone was speaking to each other unless forced. Allura was sulking because her father’s Lion wouldn’t accept her. Hunk, who had never seemed all that happy with the idea of kicking Keith out, seemed depressed. Pidge had pretty much locked herself in her room, he assumed furiously searching for any sign of her family. Lance was, as always, hard to get a read on, but he was noticeably quiet and stoic whenever he happened to appear. Coran had barely spoken a word the whole week.

And Shiro? He couldn’t stand to be around any of them. They were the ones who had done this to Keith. Sure, a couple had made weak arguments on his behalf at the beginning, but in the end they had all caved to Allura’s wishes and turned on him. He blamed them just as much as he blamed himself for sitting here in the comfort of the Castle while Keith...who even knew? At the very least he was alone and probably scared, even though he’d never admit that. At the worst, he could be struggling to survive, dying at that very moment, and none of them would ever know.

Whichever it was, he didn’t deserve it.

Coran had called a meeting on the bridge for something he said was urgent. It was probably another distress call, though the last one - the only mission they had attempted that week - had gone so terribly that Shiro wasn’t sure if they should even bother trying again. Running a smooth, successful mission is awfully difficult when no one wants to speak to each other, much less work in sync.

Usually he was the first one to arrive for meetings like this. Well, except for maybe Keith, but that wasn’t a thought he wanted to dwell on right then. This time, when he finally dragged himself to the bridge, the others were all already there, though none of them looked happy about it. Unlike in the past, when he always tried to keep up everyone’s morale by being focused and enthusiastic himself, no matter how he actually felt, now he didn’t bother. Crossing his arms, he let his face rest in exactly the scowl he was feeling.

“What is this about, Coran?”

“Yes, I would like to know as well.” Allura’s brow was furrowed, clearly not happy at being left out of the loop. 

The orange-haired adviser wrung his hands, staring down at the floor. “Well, it’s...this is difficult to say. But…” Drawing in a deep breath that puffed out his chest, he finally looked up, catching each of their gazes. “I’ve been keeping something from you. It’s about Number F-...Keith. It’s about Keith.”

Keith’s name had practically become forbidden, so of course it automatically caught everyone’s attention. Shiro unfolded his arms and stepped forward. “What about Keith?” he demanded.

Coran’s eyes darted back to the floor. “He gave us messages to pass on to each of you. Before we left Borulmyte.”

“Coran!” Allura hissed.

“No, Princess.” The response took everyone in the room by surprise, including Allura if the expression on her face was any indication. None of them had ever heard Coran speak that way to her, especially not to tell her no. He took another breath and seemed to steel himself. “You know that I have always served the royal family willingly, and that I see you like a daughter. I would follow you anywhere. However...you are still young. A great burden has been placed on your shoulders, and you have done extraordinarily well with it. But sometimes you make mistakes, and this, my dear...this has been a grave mistake.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that we never should have left the boy behind. Galra or not, he has never proven himself anything but the most loyal of paladins, and yet we have punished him for a crime he did not commit.”

Shiro was torn between feeling relief that someone besides him was saying it, and anger that it hadn’t been said sooner. “Why didn’t you speak up when I was trying to convince them all of this same thing days ago?”

Coran flashed him a guilty expression. “Because I was too much of a coward. I didn’t want to speak against my Princess, even though I knew what she was doing was wrong.” Squaring his shoulders, he looked around at the other paladins again. “But regardless of what anyone else thinks or decides, I can do this. I can fulfill the boys’ last request before he was left behind.”

Something in Shiro’s gut twisted at that statement, and he could see some shuffling of feet and shifting of positions around him that pointed to the others feeling the same way. No one liked to be reminded of what they had done.

“Fine,” Allura finally spat. “Do what you must to clear your conscience.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against the console with a huff.

“First to Number Two...Hunk.” Coran gave the Yellow Paladin a gentle smile. “He wanted you to know that he would miss your cooking, especially the brownies you made for him.”

That was all it took for Hunk to start crying, though he said nothing in reply.

“Lance, he said to tell you that he never hated you, that you annoyed him sometimes but were a good friend, too.”

If Shiro hadn’t been intently watching, he might have missed the way Lance’s eyes widened before he ducked his head and scuffed his sneaker into the floor.

“Pidge, your message was that he really, really hopes you find your family. And that he kept meaning to tell you he thinks you’re doing great with your bayard.”

Her eyebrows pulled in tight at the first part, but at the second she blinked as if surprised and looked away.

“And besides his message to the Red Lion that he would miss her, and to us, thanking us for the opportunity to fly her…” He turned to stare at Allura for that, and she couldn’t hold his gaze, either… “That leaves you, Shiro.”

The other messages had already left him ripped open, so he wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to handle one meant just for him.

Coran lips pursed into a sad smile. “‘Just tell him I love him.’”

He felt as if all the walls came crashing down on him all at once. He loved him. Of course he did, he knew he did, they had always treated each other like brothers. But he had never said it. And now he had, and it was after Shiro had allowed him to be kicked out of the place they had all come to see as a home.

Spinning on his heel, he marched toward the door without a word.

“Shiro, wait, where are you going?”

If it had been any of the others, he might have just ignored them. But it was Hunk, so he at least threw the answer over his shoulder. “I’m going to get Keith.”

“Shiro -!”

“No!” This time he whirled around, sending all of his fury in a glare toward Allura. “I’m done letting you tell me how I should treat my little brother! I am going to get Keith, not the Galra, but our friend, the Red Paladin, the strongest and bravest and most loyal person I know, and no one is going to stop me! If you don’t want us back here, fine. I don’t care. Find yourself new Red and Black Paladins. But I won’t leave him down there a second longer.”

It was unclear whether Allura even knew what to say to that, but before she had the chance Hunk piped up again. “I’m coming with you! Erm, if...that’s okay.”

Shiro spared him a small smile. “Of course it is.”

No one said anything as they left the room. Hunk jogged a little to catch up to Shiro’s long, quick strides before matching his pace. 

“I was a coward, too, like Coran said. Which, you know, isn’t really anything new, just...me being a coward isn’t usually at the expense of one of my friends. I was scared, to start with. Of him being, you know. Galra. But that’s stupid, really. Galra Keith is still Keith.”

“Yeah. He is.” He just hoped he was still Keith, still whole and well and not irrevocably changed, when they got to him. “I was just as much of a coward as anyone else, or more. I let the duty I felt to Voltron and the universe get in the way of the way I actually wanted to act. I should have gone after him right away.”

Hunk hummed in understanding. “Well, at least you actually stood up for him.”

They stopped off in their rooms to change into armor, then headed for Black and Yellow’s hangars. The long way, since they didn’t want to risk going back to the bridge and running into everyone else. Shiro had debated whether or not he should take Black, or just a pod, but decided that even if Allura wouldn’t let them stay, returning Black would give everyone a good chance to see Keith again and really make sure they wouldn’t change their minds.

“Since we don’t have a wormhole, it’s gonna take us a while to get there,” he told Hunk over the comms once they were situated in their Lions and starting to take off.

“I don’t mind. Just...how are we gonna find him once we’re there? I mean, he could have traveled a ways from where we...you know, left him.”

“I can track his quintessence.” The new voice took him by surprise, but not nearly as much as spinning around to find Green and Blue hovering over the Castle. “But I’ll have to be pretty close to him first. So we’ll still have to fly around for a while to try to catch a signal, then we’ll be able to narrow it down to a smaller area.”

Shiro was too shocked by their appearance to come up with a reasonable response, so he just ended up echoing, “We?”

Lance’s solemn face popped up on a video screen in front of him, followed by another with Pidge’s. “Yeah, we,” he said, mouth set in a firm line. “We’ve been stupid, and we wanna fix it. If...if we can.”

Clenching his jaw, Shiro sighed. “That’ll be up to Keith, I suppose. What kind of shape he’s in, and...whether he’ll forgive us.”

“We don’t really deserve it,” Pidge mumbled.

“No, we don’t. But let’s go ask for it anyway.”

They talked a little as they flew. It was quiet, and a bit awkward, but it was more than they had talked all week. Lance admitted that he had been having doubts ever since they left, memories of time spent with Keith haunting his thoughts. The message had just sealed the deal.

Pidge shrugged when asked about her change of heart, and quietly conceded that she didn’t think she had ever really believed he was a bad guy. She was just hurting, and he had been the perfect target to take it out on. Her desperation to find her family had blinded her.

They were several hours into a trip that Hunk calculated would take a few days when a wormhole appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. Every Lion pulled up short, exclamations of surprise echoing across the comms. 

Shiro jerked his Lion around to find the Castle looming behind them. His immediate thought was that Coran had somehow taken over and caught up with them, but Coran couldn’t make wormholes.

“...Allura?”

Her voice over the comms was more tentative than he thought he had ever heard it. “I have not yet decided to trust him. But I...I have seen how passionate all of you are about this, and I am...willing to reconsider my original stance.”

It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but it was more than he had expected. He’d take it. 

“Alright guys. Let’s go bring our boy home.”

The sight of the planet Borulmyte made Shiro’s stomach turn a flip. This was it. This was the place where Keith had been living for the past week. He couldn’t even imagine what it had been like for him. Allura and Pidge had done extensive research on multiple planets before deciding that this was the best one, and they had had plenty of “reassuring” things to say about it. He had always wondered, though, what they weren’t saying. Or what their research hadn’t turned up. There was no way that they could have known everything there was to know about a planet just from reading about it. “Livable conditions” didn’t mean enjoyable conditions.

“Coran and I will stay here with the Castle. Keep us updated.”

Shiro gave a nod. “Pidge, how close do you need to be to pick up Keith’s quintessence?”

“Within a few miles.”

“Alright. We’ll start at the drop off point. I’m gonna guess he would have headed east, into the forest, to find shelter.” That was the one reassurance he had about the whole situation, knowing that Keith was trained in survival skills. “We’ll head there first, and take it mile by mile.”

It took them the rest of the day. Only a fraction of that time had passed when Shiro started to run every possible horrible scenario through his mind of why they weren’t finding it, even though he knew that they probably just hadn’t hit the right spot yet. 

“There!” Pidge shouted. “I’ve got it!”

Relief flooded Shiro down to his toes. “Alright. Mark this location. We’ll have to go land in the desert and fly back in the Green Lion. She’s the only one small enough to fit in that little clearing over there. 

The little clearing, as it turned out, was around a creek that seemed to be clear and safe. His relief grew just a little more. If Keith had managed to end up this close to a water source, then maybe he was doing okay.

“Okay, Pidge. Lead the way.”

Hiking through the woods took almost another full day. A day in which the sun never actually rose. He hadn’t paid attention to start with, when they were still flying, because constant darkness outside had become the new norm, but now that they were on solid ground it was painfully obvious that they had yet to see light this entire time. And the temperature gauge on his helmet display was much lower than he wanted it to be. Livable? Yes. Comfortable without armor? No. He wanted to interrogate Allura and Pidge on whether they knew about this when they had chosen to send Keith to this planet, but it wasn’t the time. He had to focus on finding Keith, nothing else.

After hours and hours of walking by only the flashlights built into their helmets, during which time no one, not even Lance, dared to complain, there was finally a spike on Pidge’s quintessence tracker. 

“Over here!” she shouted, taking off at a sprint through the underbrush. 

The others followed, swatting branches and bushes out of their way. Any second, Shiro expected to run into Keith. Maybe sitting in whatever hideout he had found, or out hunting for food in the never-ending darkness, his eyebrows flying up in surprise when he saw them all rushing in.

Instead, when he stumbled to a halt beside Pidge, she was staring at the ground, and there was no Keith in sight. 

“Pidge? What is it?”

Lifting a shaky finger, she pointed. Even before he looked, Shiro could feel his chest tightening with anxiety. And for good reason, too. The stain that was illuminated on the dirt and leaves was dried, at least a couple of days old, but it was undeniably blood. It was also concerningly large, and with the quintessence tracker crackling louder than they had heard it so far, there was no getting around the fact that it belonged to Keith.

Hunk immediately began babbling his worries, but Shiro’s heart was pounding too loudly in his ears for him to comprehend what he was actually saying. For a long moment he just stared at the bloodstain. It wasn’t until Lance stepped in closer to speak that he was broken out of his trance.

“Shiro? Do you think he’s…”

“No.” Yes. He didn’t know. It was a lot of blood. But he wouldn’t allow himself to believe that Keith was anything but okay until he saw him with his own eyes. “Pidge, is there a trail?”

She tore her eyes away to look at the screen, pacing back and forth a bit before nodding wordlessly and taking off through the bush. If her steps were a bit quicker now, no one blamed her. They just picked up their pace, too, solemn and silent other than Lance quietly updating Allura and Coran on what they had found. 

Every once in a while, a small patch of dark red on a leaf or tree trunk would catch Shiro’s eye. He tried to take it as a good sign. If Keith had been able to pick himself up from whatever had happened and trek through the woods, then maybe he wasn’t too bad off. At the time. Two or more days later? It was impossible to say.

The walk from there only took a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, finally, he spotted a small cave over the top of Pidge’s head, just as the tracker grew in volume and Pidge broke into a run. 

“Keith? Keith!”

He was right on her heels, barreling through the opening, terrified of what he would find. And what he did see was almost exactly what he had feared - Keith, his skin far too pale under their flashlights, lying completely still on the ground next to the cold, charred remains of a campfire. There were rough slashes in his t-shirt, through which bloody scabs could be seen, and his right leg was almost entirely wrapped in large blue leaves tied off with what looked like dried grass. It didn’t take much guesswork to figure out that the sporadic dark stains on the leaves were blood.

“Keith.” Shiro was by his side without really knowing how he got there, sliding down onto his knees next to the unmoving figure. “No, no, no, no, Keith, come on, don’t do this to me.” He carded his hand through the messy black hair. “Keith, please.”

Pale lips parted, and a groan spilled out. Shiro nearly fell over with relief. Somewhere behind him, Lance was exclaiming his own relief in Spanish, while Hunk hovered just over his shoulder. Keith’s forehead, which he now noticed was coated in a sheen of sweat, furrowed, and he turned his head slightly to face Shiro before squinting his eyes open.

“Go ‘way,” he rasped, taking all of them by surprise. “‘re not real.”

“Yeah, yeah we are, buddy.” He stroked his hair again, then yanked off his glove so he could lay his flesh hand against his cheek, trying not to wince at the heat that met his touch. A fever. Whatever that wound was on his leg, it had probably gotten infected. No wonder he didn’t think they were real. “Doesn’t this feel real?”

Keith seemed to consider this, his brain probably having to work twice as hard as usual to process anything. Finally there was what seemed to be acceptance in those glazed eyes, but instead of seeming happy or confused or surprised or any of the emotions that they might have expected, he simply let his head roll back to the side and closed his eyes. “Come to...finish me off?”

“What? Keith, no, why would you think that?” Hunk exclaimed, dropping down right next to Shiro. “We came to take you home.”

“We’ve, uh...we were really terrible to you. It was really, really wrong,” Lance joined in.

Pidge shuffled her feet awkwardly. “Yeah. We, um. We want you to come back.”

“Even Allura is willing to reconsider, but whatever she decides, we're getting you out of here.” Shiro took one of Keith’s hands in his own and squeezed. “I never should have let her dictate how you were treated to start with.”

Silence fell for a moment. Keith cut his eyes up toward Shiro, not moving his head. “Knew you weren’t real.”

Pidge gave an exasperated grunt. “Keith -”

“Don’t worry about it right now.” Sliding his glove back on, Shiro straightened and got ready to pick Keith up bridal style. “He’s burning up with an infection. We’ll have to talk to him later, once he can actually comprehend what’s going on. For now let’s just get him back to the Castle and into a pod.”

Shiro scooped Keith up gently into his arms, causing him to cry out when his leg was jostled. “I’m sorry, bud,” he whispered. “You’re gonna be okay.” He didn’t at all like how light he felt, nor how gaunt his face looked. It had only been a week, but it didn’t seem like he had eaten much in that time.

Now that they knew where they were going, the walk back to the Green Lion went by quickly. Pidge flew them back to their own Lions, with Hunk and Lance towing Black to the Castle so that Shiro could stay in Green’s cargo hold with Keith. He didn’t want to let him go, couldn’t even keep his eyes off of him. He was too afraid that if he looked away, he would be gone, would succumb to his infection or perhaps just vanish into thin air. In the better lighting of the Lion, Keith looked all the more pale and feverish, his breaths coming shallow as he mumbled unintelligible words and occasionally whimpered with pain.

“What kind of injuries are we dealing with here, Number One?”

Shiro barely remembered arriving at the Castle and exiting the Green Lion, but there he was, standing next to Coran and a stretcher. Tenderly, he settled Keith down onto the padded surface. “Not sure. Maybe an animal attack of some kind? I haven’t been able to get a look at his wounds yet. He’s got a fever for sure, though, so they’re probably infected.”

Coran’s face turned grim. “That’s unfortunate. We won’t be able to put him into cryosleep until his temperature is back to normal.”

Gritting his teeth, Shiro found Keith’s hand and held it as they walked toward the infirmary. Poor kid just couldn’t catch a break. He didn’t deserve any of this. And now it sounded like when he was back to himself, they were going to have to go back through a whole three years’ worth of self-esteem boosting...maybe even more. He let out a long sigh. It seemed like he had just finally convinced Keith that he was worth loving, that he was important, that not everyone in his life was going to abandon him. 

Then he sat back and let everyone in his life abandon him.

Coran sucked in a loud breath through his teeth as he peeled back the crude leaf bandages. “Yes, this is most certainly infected. And I would say that your animal attack hypothesis is correct. These look mostly like tooth marks. Quite deep.”

It looked mostly like a mangled, bloody mess to Shiro. His stomach turned, not just from the smell of the infection, and he was glad that Hunk wasn’t there at the moment. “What do we need to do?”

“Well, I’ll need to clean these. You might want to hold him down for that part.”

Keith bucked and writhed under Shiro’s hands as Coran poured antiseptic over his leg, screaming in agony. Shiro was pretty sure his heart was permanently residing in his throat now. He whispered reassurances, hardly knowing what he was saying, well aware that Keith probably couldn’t hear or comprehend any of it. 

After a thorough cleaning, Coran wrapped the leg in clean bandages and pulled a thin sheet up over his waist. Shiro sank into the bedside chair, relieved beyond words that the worst part was over. They spoke very little as they went about the rest of the work that needed to be done, Coran handing Shiro the antiseptic and a clean cloth so that he could work on the claw marks across Keith’s chest, then focusing himself on preparing an IV bag of antibiotics and nutrients. Shiro gently smoothed adhesive bandages over the cuts when he was done. When he looked up, Coran was sliding the IV into place in the back of Keith’s hand.

“That should do it for now. I’m going to get a cool, wet cloth to help bring his fever down, but he should recover just fine.”

It was only then that Shiro finally allowed himself to dissolve into tears, like he had been wanting to ever since finding Keith in that cave. Burying his face in his hands, he let the tears soak his cheeks and the sobs wrack his body, uncaring for once that someone was there to see him fall apart.

A sturdy hand landed on his back, rubbing soothing circles. “There, there, lad. I know it’s been a rough few quintants, but it’ll be alright.”

“Will it?” Shiro scrubbed at his face with his flesh hand. “You should have seen him, Coran. I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to trust any of us again.”

The adviser heaved a sigh. “I don’t know, either. I’m not sure if I would be able to trust us, if the roles were reversed. But perhaps, with time, we’ll be able to prove to him that we do, indeed, care for him.”

Once Shiro had cried himself out, Coran convinced him to go change out of his armor and possibly get something to eat. He was surprised to find all three of the other paladins sprawled out on the floor just outside the infirmary, remnants of snacks scattered around them and expectant looks on their faces.

“Well? Is he...okay?” Pidge asked tentatively.

Shiro sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Physically, it seems so. He’s stable for now, at least, and Coran thinks he’ll be fine. We just have to make sure his fever doesn’t get too high.”

They all nodded slowly, seeming lost in thought. He imagined they were all thinking about the “other than physically” part that he had failed to comment on.

Hunk cleared his throat. “Is he awake?”

He shook his head. “He’s been in and out, but he’s resting pretty peacefully for now.”

“We didn’t want to, you know, be in the way,” Lance supplied. “But you can let us know when it’s okay for us to see him. Or we can take turns watching out for him.”

“Alright. I’ll let you know.” Right now he couldn’t imagine leaving his side, not for longer than he was doing right now. As he started down the hall again toward his quarters, he met another unexpected presence - Allura, lurking just around the corner from where the paladins sat, looking abnormally anxious. He stopped abruptly, not sure he was ready to see her again yet.

“I heard your update,” she stated after a moment of awkward silence. When Shiro said nothing in return, she pursed her lips. “I suppose we have some more discussions ahead of us now.”

“No. We don’t.” Allura’s eyebrows flew up in surprise, but he didn’t give her time to respond. “There’s nothing to discuss. Either you accept Keith back as the Red Paladin...and treat him just as well as the other paladins, or he and I leave. Whether or not the others stay is up to them.” 

Allura’s brow furrowed, and she dropped her gaze to the floor with nothing else to say. Pushing past her, Shiro continued to his room, hurrying through changing so he could be back with Keith.

.o.0.O.0.o.

They would tell Keith later that he had been out of it for around two days before the fever broke. All he knew was that he woke up in the infirmary of the Castle with no memory of how he had gotten there, and assumed he must have been hallucinating again. He was actually a bit surprised that the wounds from that death beast hadn’t killed him yet...or maybe they had. Maybe this was some sort of purgatory or something, though the infirmary seemed like a strange choice.

It made a bit more sense when he turned his head to the right and saw Coran sitting there studying him. Seemed maybe he was going to have to face people he had failed in life before he could move on to whatever came next.

“Are you with us this time, my boy?”

Wrinkling his eyebrows at the strange question, Keith licked his dry lips with an equally dry tongue and tried to come up with something to say, but all that came out was a raspy, “What?”

Immediately Coran went into action, producing a hydration pack from somewhere nearby and holding the straw up to Keith’s lips. The cool liquid hit his throat like a slice of heaven, and he gulped greedily.

“Not too fast, now. Don’t want you making yourself sick.”

Keith nearly whined when the straw was pulled away, but he could already feel the liquid sloshing around inside of him, so it was probably for the best. Clearing his throat, he decided he could try talking again. “What am I doing here?”

“You were in pretty bad shape when the others found you. Something had torn your leg all up, and it had gotten infected. We couldn’t put you in a cryopod until your fever went down, which it seems it now has.”

His eyes darted around the cavernous white room. “So...this is real?”

The corner of Coran’s mouth tilted up. “Yes. It’s real.”

He had kinda suspected after the water. But that left one major question…“Why?”

Before Coran could respond, the door slid open, and Keith turned his head to see Shiro enter the room. The sight of his surrogate brother had him torn between happiness and a strange sense of dread, leaving him to clench the sheets in his fists and wait for some kind of reaction to come. Half of him expected it to be disgust, or anger, or maybe just an apathetic announcement of what his new punishment for existing was to be. 

Instead, Shiro’s face lit up with a happy, almost hopeful expression. “Keith?”

“Wait, is Keith awake?” another voice called from the hallway behind him. Lance’s head poked through the doorway, making Keith’s stomach clench, before he turned and yelled back down the hall. “Hey guys, Keith’s awake!”

All at once the infirmary was filled with almost all the people who hated him, all crowding around his bed and staring down at him with faces he couldn’t read. They were going to hurt him. He knew they would, why else would they have brought him back here? Obviously they had changed their minds and decided they had been too lenient. What were they going to do to him? How much pain would he be in now?

He couldn’t breathe. Suddenly it felt like that beast was sitting on top of him again, crushing his chest, and he struggled to draw in air through an open mouth while tears stung his eyes. His hands shook where they were still gripping the sheets. People were talking, but it sounded as if his ears were stuffed full of cotton and he couldn’t make out any of the words.

He almost didn’t notice when the crowd above him dispersed, but it did help his breaths start to come a little easier. Only there was still Shiro, and he still didn’t know where Shiro stood on any of this. The Black Paladin sat down next to the bed and tried to grasp his hand. Keith yanked it away.

“Don’t...don’t.”

“Okay. I won’t touch you. Do you know where you are?”

Of course he knew, that was the whole problem. “Yes.”

“Okay. You’re safe now, Keith.”

Safe. Yeah, right. There was no such thing as safe, not anymore. He had thought the Castle was safe, that these people were safe, but he had been wrong. “Why?”

Shiro looked at him in mild confusion before choosing what to say. “We made a mistake, leaving you there. We -”

Keith rolled away, tucking his hands up next to his chest, cringing at the pain that still radiated through his leg. He didn’t want to hear it explained, how they wanted to punish him further. Yet at the same time, he needed to know what was coming. 

“Keith…”

“Now?”

It had been a long time since Shiro had needed to interpret his one word sentences, but luckily it seemed he was still good at it. “Now you keep resting and getting better until we can put you in a pod for your leg.”

“Why?”

That one seemed to give him pause. “So...you’ll be well.”

Were they really going to prolong the torture like this? Make him get well before they did away with him? He curled up tighter. “Just...kill. Now.”

“Kill? Keith -”

“Please.”

The chair scraped across the floor, and Keith flinched. Footsteps came around the bed. He tensed, waiting for the blow. The air in front of his face stirred, and Shiro’s voice came from very close.

“Keith, can you look at me, please?” When he didn’t comply, Shiro put a hand on his fists and pulled them down so that they were face to face. “No one is going to kill you. No one is going to hurt you. You’re back on the Castle because we were wrong. They were wrong about you being untrustworthy, and I was wrong about my duty to Voltron being more important than my duty to you. I’m so, so sorry that I let them kick you out, and that I didn’t come after you sooner. You will always be more important to me than the rest of the universe. You’re my brother. I love you.”

Tears welled up in Keith’s eyes despite his reluctance to believe any of it. Tugging his hands out from under Shiro’s, he covered his face again, unable to respond.

Shiro let out a long, quiet sigh. “The others want to apologize, too, at some point. But for now you should try to get some more rest. You’re still recovering from the infection.”

He didn’t want to sleep. He didn’t trust that he wouldn’t be messed with while he was asleep. But his body decided for him that it was ready, drifting off without his permission.

.o.0.O.0.o.

Keith hadn’t really improved by the next couple of days. He slept some, he ate some, and his color and temperature seemed to be returning to normal. But he regarded everyone who came into the room with the wary stare of a cornered wild animal, and he still wasn’t speaking more than one or two words at a time, if that. Just as Shiro had feared, he had reverted back to the year that they had met, except worse. 

He tried to spend as much time in the infirmary with him as he could, hoping that the company would eventually coax him into relaxing. The other paladins still hadn’t gotten their chance to talk to him. Everyone, including Shiro, was afraid their presence would trigger another panic attack. He had already nearly gone into one when Hunk had delivered his breakfast that morning, and had been extra jumpy around Coran, too.

Shiro was eating his own breakfast, trying not to focus too much on the fact that Keith’s was just sitting there untouched, when he heard a telltale sniffle. Keith was sitting up, propped on some pillows against the wall, but his head was turned away from Shiro, as was pretty common. Even so, he could see the shimmer of a tear as it streaked down his face. Setting aside his bowl, he rounded the bed and settled down on the edge, expecting the flinch that followed but still hating it.

“Talk to me, Keith.”

He didn’t expect a response at all, and especially not a long one. But Keith angrily dashed the tears away, forever hating himself for ever crying, and spoke in a hoarse whisper. “Why didn’t you just leave me there?”

Shiro’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“I was almost dead. It would have all been over. You should have just left me there.”

Heart aching, he scooted in closer, though Keith leaned even further back away from him. “Keith, no. We don’t want you dead. We want you here, alive and well, with us. If you died, I...I thought you were dead, when I first saw you. And it was like...it was like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I don’t know if I could survive it.”

Keith’s face, passive up until then, creased with a look of emotional pain that Shiro could hardly stand. “But why should I live? I’m...I’m Galra, Shiro. I’m one of them. But not even really Galra, just some cross-breed freak of nature. I never should have existed. Maybe that’s why my mother walked out on me, she knew I was a freak and she couldn’t stand to -”

“Stop it. Keith, stop.” He grabbed his shoulder and shook it, not caring at the moment whether it startled him. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You are not defined by who your parents or grandparents or anyone else were. You are you. You are Keith Kogane, Red Paladin of Voltron, best pilot at the Galaxy Garrison. You’re a survivor. You’re a fighter. Not because you have Galra blood, but because the universe has thrown every hard thing that it could think of at you and you’re still standing strong.”

“I’m not standing strong, don’t you see me?” Keith met his eyes finally, a tiny bit of his old spark of anger visible. “I’m pathetic. Maybe I was the Red Paladin, maybe I was a survivor and a fighter, but right now I don’t think I can be any of those things. I don’t want to fight anymore, Shiro. I’m tired of surviving. I just want…” He broke down into tears again, covering his face with his hands.

Moving over closer, Shiro wrapped his arms around his brother and pulled him in tight. “You want what?”

Keith’s shoulders shuddered beneath him. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t trust any of them. I can’t trust any of them.”

“I know.” 

For a long time, they sat together like that, Keith’s face buried in Shiro’s chest while he cried out all his tears. Shiro ran his fingers through his hair, trying desperately to come with anything he could say to comfort him. 

“Do you think you could listen to them, if they come and talk to you? Just one at a time, not everyone at once. I know they’re really anxious to speak to you, and I think it might do you some good, too.” Or at least he hoped.

It took him a minute to answer. “I don’t know.”

“Okay. Well, it doesn’t have to be now. But I’d like you to consider it.”

Keith just nodded.

.o.0.O.0.o.

He had been in bed for days. The infection was all but gone, there was no longer any danger in putting him in a pod, and doing so had been brought up a couple of times. But Shiro and Coran must have noticed how he shrank into himself every time it was mentioned, because they dropped the subject and just continued to let him stay there. 

He didn’t want to go in a pod. Being forced unconscious for who knew how many hours or days was just too vulnerable, and he already felt that way far too much, anyway. After all, he was stuck in bed in the middle of a ship full of people who hated him. He was pretty confident that Shiro would try his best to protect him, and Coran might, too. The Altean had taken the time to sit down and apologize to him for his role in the whole mess, and based on the way he had been treating him Keith was fairly sure he could be trusted. 

But that left four others, all who had weapons, one of whom had some kind of weird magic and was literally connected to the Castle. He didn’t feel safe, and he hated it. There hadn’t been many places in his life that he had been able to truly let down his guard and feel safe. A foster home or two, though later on he had become so jaded that even the good ones didn’t feel like they would last. The Garrison to some extent, at least as long as Shiro was there.

And the Castle. Yeah, there was always the chance of an attack, and there had been the couple of times that someone had snuck on board without them knowing. But in all of those situations he had known that there were people around who had his back, people that he could count on. It was the most at home he had felt since Shiro had left for Kerberos.

Now it was those very same people that he was afraid of, as stupid and weak as that made him. The thought was almost laughable. Him? Afraid of Lance, Hunk, and Pidge? But he couldn’t get the hatred he had seen in some of their eyes out of his head. Couldn’t forget the venom in their voices. Couldn’t erase all the times he had watched them, hallucinations or not, show up in that cave with insults on their lips and weapons in their hands, ready to make him pay for the crime of being part Galra.

He didn’t want to talk to them. But he knew that Shiro really wanted him to, and that meant he would have to do it sooner or later. Maybe if he went ahead and got it over with, they’d leave him alone more, and then when his leg was healed enough that he could actually walk it’d be easier to leave. He hadn’t figured out where he was going - definitely not back to Borulmyte - or how he’d get there, but leaving was the best option for everybody.

“Will you...stay? If I let them…”

Once again, Shiro knew exactly what he was talking about, despite the question being out of the blue. “Of course. I’ll be right here with you the whole time.”

Sinking back into the pillows, Keith hugged himself. “Okay.”

Shiro smiled softly. “Okay. I’ll send them a message and let them know you’re ready.”

Hunk was the first to come in. He burst into tears pretty much as soon as he walked through the door and saw Keith, and cried so much the whole time that his many, many apologies could barely be understood. It made Keith uncomfortable, if he was honest. He had never known how to deal with tears, his own or anyone else’s. But Hunk was so obviously genuine and straightforward, and he had always had a hard time believing that there was any part of such a loving person that could have held such malice. 

“I get it.” It took everything in him to force multiple words out, but he knew he had to this time. “It’s hard to...stand up. When...everyone else...disagrees. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay, it’s so not okay!” Hunk blubbered. “I don’t know if it would have done any good for me to say anything or not, but I still should have done it.”

Keith nodded. “Okay. You’re right. It wasn’t okay. But…” He took a deep breath. “I forgive you.”

The way Hunk’s face lit up was totally worth the difficulty of saying the words. “Really, man? Thank you. Like, really, thank you, you don’t know how happy that makes me. I know we’ve never been, like, the best of friends, but I’ve always really wanted to get to know you better, I mean if you’d be okay with that, it’s totally up to you, but maybe sometime when you’re feeling better we can like, hang out? Also I know you haven’t been eating much right now but I am definitely making you brownies when you feel up to eating them. Like, a ton of brownies. All the brownies I can possibly make. Hey, maybe you could help me make the brownies! Cooking is such a good way to bond, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it before! What do you think, does that sound okay? Or I mean, if you really don’t want to hang out with me at all, I totally understand that, too, I just -”

“Hunk.” Keith’s lips twitched upward slightly as the breathless Yellow Paladin finally screeched to a halt. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

Hunk beamed. “Great! Okay, I’m gonna like, go, and let somebody else come in here, ‘cause, yeah. Feel better, Keith!”

When the room was empty again, Shiro leaned over and squeezed his hand. “How do you feel?”

“Good.” He was surprised to find it was actually pretty true. A small burden had been lifted from his chest.

“Good. You ready for Lance or Pidge?”

Keith’s heart started beating double time again. “Lance.” Even though he had been more active in the process of his condemnation, Pidge’s response had hurt the worst.

The boy that came into the infirmary wasn’t the Lance that Keith knew. He couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off the floor, or his hands, or anything but Keith and Shiro, and when he spoke his voice was so soft it was barely audible. 

“I don’t know why I did it.” He picked at a loose thread on his jeans. “I just get...so emotional, so caught up in the moment sometimes...I’m really just as much of a hothead as you are.”

If his demeanor and apology hadn’t caught Keith’s attention, that statement did. Lance, admitting he was as bad as Keith at something? “Thought that was because...I’m Galra.”

Lance’s face pinched. “Yeah. I said some pretty stupid things. I mean…” He shrugged. “Who knows, maybe it is because you’re Galra. But still, it’s...you’re just you. And that’s okay. Maybe we don’t always get along, but I don’t really think you’re evil. I mean, I guess I kinda thought you could be. It was stupid, though. I’m an idiot, that’s what I’m getting at. There’s no real explanation, just...I’m sorry, like I said.”

Part of Keith wanted to accept that. Part of him didn’t think he could. “I...thanks. For apologizing. I think...maybe I can forgive you...soon? Maybe not yet. But, yeah. Soon.”

Lance nodded. “That’s fair. I didn’t really expect you to, like, at all, so…” He finally flicked his eyes up to meet Keith’s. “I think you and I could use to work on some things, anyway. Like, you know, not acting like we hate each other. Because I don’t. Hate you, that is. And I’m...pretty sure based on what Coran said that you don’t hate me, either.”

“No. I don’t. And yeah, that...that sounds good.”

“Okay. Good.” A brief smile flashed over his face, then he nodded again and excused himself.

“You still doing okay?”

Keith pressed his lips together. “Think so. I’m nervous, though. About Pidge.”

Shiro smiled sympathetically. “I know. Just give her a chance, ‘kay?”

Pidge shuffled into the room in a very similar fashion to Lance, eyes on the floor. She perched on the very edge of the chair that each paladin had occupied, kicking her feet back and forth since they didn’t quite touch the floor. In a low voice, she said her apology and explained that she had let her hurt over her family get the best of her, but insisted that it didn’t excuse her blaming him. 

It took a moment longer than the others for him to find his words. “I remember what it was like...missing somebody. Believing that they were still out there, but not knowing for sure. I mean, it wasn’t my actual family...unless you count my mom, which...at least I knew she chose to leave. So, she’s...probably fine.” Just didn’t want him. “But Shiro is the closest thing I’ve had to family since...since my Pops. And it’s hard. I mean, I kinda went ballistic, broke into a commanding officer’s office, punched a bunch of other officers, and got kicked out of the Garrison.”

“You what?” Shiro broke in, sitting forward, then realized his interruption and sat back, waving a hand. “Never mind. Sorry. We’ll talk later.”

Pidge snickered a little, and Keith took that as encouragement to continue. “But, yeah. I know how hard it is, and I would never, never wish that on someone else.”

Her head popped up, eyes wide and wet behind her glasses. “I know you wouldn’t. I know...I know you didn’t have anything to do with it, I never should have said something like that. You...you’re right, you understand probably more than anyone else, and I…” She trailed off, ducking her head as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Once again, there was someone crying in front of him, and he didn’t know what to do. But he was pretty sure what any of the other paladins would have offered in this situation, so… “Do you, um...need a...hug?”

The next thing he knew he had an armful of Pidge, curled up on the bed next to him and leaving tears and snot all over his shirt. He patted her back awkwardly. “You’ll find them. I know you will.”

“Why are you comforting me? I’m supposed to be in here helping you to feel better, this is not how this is supposed to work!”

Keith frowned. “Um...sorry?”

Pidge glared at him, not at all intimidating with her sopping wet face. “No, don’t apologize, that’s my job, too!” 

“Sorry!”

She punched him in the ribs. “You’re a good hugger. Why are you such a good hugger.”

Keith was just getting more confused the longer this conversation went on. “I...don’t know? It certainly isn’t from practice.”

Tilting her head back, she narrowed her eyes at him as if she could see into his mind. “Do you not like hugs?”

“No, I...do.”

“Then I’m gonna hug you. Every day. From now on.”

“Aw, can I get Keith hugs every day, too?” 

Keith startled a little bit when he realized that Hunk and Lance had returned to the room, but forced himself to relax. This was okay. They weren’t going to hurt him. They had all been very open with him, and even though it was going to take some time, he thought he could learn to trust them again.

“I...guess?”

“Yay!” Hunk settled onto the end of the bed, and Lance took the now empty chair, folding his long legs up into it. Shiro scooted forward again to be in Keith’s line of vision.

“How are you feeling now? Think maybe you can keep surviving a little longer?”

He felt Pidge tense in his arms, and Hunk’s face froze while Lance’s went carefully blank. Keith swallowed. “Yeah. I think...maybe I’m ready for that pod now. So I can finally get out of this bed and...I don’t know, kinda figure this out all over again.”

Shiro ruffled his hair fondly. “I’m glad. We’ll all be there with you for every step, okay?”

There was one more question, though. “What about Allura?”

Shiro’s face darkened slightly. “I’ve already told her she can either treat you the same as everyone else, or we’re leaving.”

“Nah, we won’t leave,” Pidge piped up. “There’s more of us than there are of her now. We’ll just stage a mutiny.”

Keith laughed awkwardly. “Somehow I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“I don’t think so, either, because I think she’ll come around,” Lance said. “But the point is, Mullet...we’re gonna support you.”

“You’re part of the Space Family now, dude!” Hunk cheered.

“Exactly,” Shiro smiled. “And Space Family has to stick together.”

The others kept chattering quietly, someone throwing in something about “ohana” in a weird voice, which triggered a whole conversation about some movie that he didn’t care about keeping up with. Closing his eyes, Keith let his body truly relax for the first time since before going to the Blade. 

And he felt safe.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Thanks so much to everyone who joined me this month!!! This was my first ever Tumblr writing challenge, and it was a blast. You guys are what made it so much fun, with all the comments and likes and reblogs! Thank you!

If you want more Keith whump from me sometime in the future, you  can follow me on here, on FFN, or follow the series "In which I whump Keith" on AO3...and if you haven't read Abyss yet (my first Keith whump fic!), you should check it out!

Happy Halloween and Happy Whumping!

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 209

209

The problem with supernatural senses was the ability to hear everything. Lance sympathised with Keith, cringing in second hand embarrassment for how his fiancé tried to talk to Pidge. Keith’s awkwardness was a thing of legend. There were a lot of “ums” in his sentence, and he’d twice assured Pidge “that it was okay if she didn’t want to”, before he finally asked if they could talk. The pair of them heading into the house as Hunk kept his eye on them.

“Catching” Hunk staring, Lance decided to say fuck it to manners. Hunk wasn’t upsetting Pidge on purpose. Shay wasn’t upsetting Pidge on purpose. They just weren’t quite clicking and though it wasn’t his place to say it, he didn’t want Pidge to feel left out because her best friend was dating the woman of his dreams

“Hunk, what’s up?”

“Pidge just went off with Keith... I thought they were going to check on Shiro and Curtis... I’m just... uh, I’m kind of wondering why they left”

Scratching the back of his head, Hunk stumped the other “adults” at the table. Allura and Coran both nursing empty tea cups, with Krolia kicked back and holding her half empty beer near her stomach

“It’s nothing to be worried about. They’ll be fine”

“Yeah, but... Dude, don’t you think she’s been acting weird lately? She doesn’t message me as much as she used to, and she didn’t defend how useful UV light could be to hunting vampires”

Hunk took the bait. Sure, Lance had been leading him

“Keith noticed Pidge isn’t happy and he’s gone to have a chat and make sure she’s okay”

Hunk gaped at him. Lance would have chuckled at his friend’s surprise if he hadn’t squashed his ego down. He didn’t want to hurt Hunk, nor did he particularly enjoy the conversation they needed to have. Shay pressed her lips together for half a moment in thought, before breaking her silence

“I can’t remember anything that would have upset her. Are you sure she’s upset?”

“Pidge is learning how much adulting sucks. We’re all in relationships now. We don’t do the fun things we used to do together. We don’t have games night anymore. We don’t hunt. Her best friend is moving in with his girlfriend and she wants to be involved. You guys haven’t done anything technically wrong, she just misses the old times. She’d decapitate me for the hell of it if she heard me. She’s feeling a little insecure right now, but Keith’ll calm her down”

Hunk immediately teared up. Nooo. Not Hunk tears. Whenever Hunk got teary, he did too

“I didn’t... I didn’t realise”

The first tear rolled down Lance’s cheek, causing him to sigh at himself mentally. He was so weak when it came to Hunk tears

“That’s because you haven’t done anything wrong. I’d be mad if you had and my face wound be all scary. Everyone grows and changes. Keith and I can hardly deny we’re very focused on each other. It’s really easy to do when you’re in love. Maybe at the end of the night you could suggest a games night? Or you could have her look at properties with you? She’d probably be able to blackmail the realestate agent into giving you cheaper rent...”

“I didn’t...”

“Dude, I know. I’m in no position to talk either. I let her down too. I let all of you guys down. I love you, bro. I love her, too. You guys are my family. Pidge just needs a little reassurance your still best friends for life... I kind of hope they’re not inside too long, I need to pee... I can’t wait for this pregnancy to be over... I want to meet them already”

Allura placed her hand on his shoulder

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon. We all can’t wait to meet them. You and Keith shall be amazing parents”

“Yeah. It’s going to be weird not having them inside me anymore...”

Lance loved it when they moved. He loved resting his hands on his belly and feeling them moving. Already so full of life. He loved belly rubs from Keith, and the way Keith cuddled into his stomach, peppering kissed to his stretched skin as if trying to kiss their twins through it. But everything else was getting too much. The joint pain. The fatigue. The constant heavy feeling in his chest. The last week of feeling constantly ill. His stupid yoyoing ego that couldn’t understand how a pregnancy had weakened him so much. The fits of anger. His overly active sense of smell. He was tired... and tired of waiting... but he... he also wanted to wait until he went into labour naturally so he could keep feeling them inside of him. For years he’d wondered how it’d feel to be human again. To fall in love and do all the other amazing things humans did... He’d never felt more human than in the last month of his pregnancy. He wasn’t sure he could mentally cope with his ego if he and Keith did chose to wait much longer. Mums to be were amazing. Movies just didn’t do justice to all the ups and downs of pregnancy. Feeling a tingling in his skin, Lance looked down at his arm, realising he was starting to burn under the lack of cloud cover. He wanted to give Keith and Pidge privacy, but if he stayed outside much longer, he’d go up in flames... Then again, Keith did say he was “smoking hot”.

*

Lance’s living room had also been transformed. The same bunting that hung outside, hung from everywhere it could inside. Stopping by the bathroom, Lance waddled in on Keith and Pidge mid-hug. Keith probably didn’t know what to do with being hugged so fiercely, still, it was a nice moment between the pair of them

“Hey, guys. Got room for one more?”

Breaking the hug, Pidge moved to make space between her and Keith. Lance waddling over to drop himself down between the pair of them. Yeah. Keith had a point. Maybe it’d be better to deliver early rather than feel cramping when he sat wrong, or sat too fast. He’d recognised that with fatigue came pain sensitivity. Small cramps had been happening more often over the last week, and he’d been reduced to crying over them more than once.

Leaning in, Keith kissed his cheek, Lance smiling at the action because he was so grossly in love with Keith that even a small kiss still managed to make him feel a million times better

“I thought I left you outside?”

Lance moved to show Keith the start of the sunburn on his arm. He’d run it under cold water to ease the burn, but it was still warm and tender to the touch

“You did. Apparently too much sun is bad for vampires... who would have thought?”

“I did wonder if I should find you an umbrella...”

“I’m fine. Plus, I’ve got my two favourite people here, so I thought I’d come stock up on some love”

Excusing himself to the bathroom, Lance knew he’d upset Hunk yet Hunk had to figure out how to make things right with Pidge without his meddling. He probably could have been more tactful about things, and picked a better time to bring the subject up. This was supposed to be party, not a counselling session. Feeling the twins kicking up a storm, he took Pidge’s hand, placing it on his belly. His friends were good about not just touching his belly without asking first, Pidge the one who seemed to hesitate the most when it came to feeling him being bashed up internally

“I think they know that their Aunty Pidge is here”

“Either that or they’ve inherited Keith’s inability to sit still”

Keith pouted, Pidge poking her tongue at him causing the werewolf to huff

“Lance is just as bad as I am”

“Lance has changed a lot since you came into our lives. You both have. You can tell you two are dating. You’ve got that old married couple vibe where you finish each other’s sentences and sound the same”

Lance couldn’t deny it. Keith had picked up so many of the expressions he used. And Lance had definitely picked up Keith’s habit of swearing openly.

“That’s what happens when you fall in love. Actually, Keith and I have something to tell you. We’re madly grossly in love, not just in love”

Pidge rolled her eyes at him

“I already know that. One bite between you and you’ve both turned into idiots”

“You know what they say, “Once bitten, twice stupid””

“Dude, it’s “once bitten, twice shy”. But I like your one better. You bit Keith to save his life and you both turned into love struck morons with a shared brain cell between you”

Keith frowned heavily at Pidge’s joke, Lance snorting due to how true it was

“He really does feel like the other half of me. I’d be happy to share a brain cell with him any day of the week. I know you’re worried about the future, but you’re always going to be a sister to me, and an aunt to the twins. No more sad, Pidge, not when she’s a scary little ankle biting gremlin that we all love”

Pidge pulled her hand back, looking to her lap

“Hey, you know I’m proud of you, Katie. You’ve been through a heck of a lot, like the rest of us. Things might have changed and they might be scary, but you’ll always have a home here with us... provided you don’t bring your work home and destroy my house with your experiments”

Pidge groaned deeply

“You blow up a circuit board once and they never let you forget it. And, if you call me “Katie” again, I’m going to give you a dead arm to go with that dead body of yours”

“Oh no! The gremlin’s getting angry. Quick, babe. You’d better make her a coffee before her wrath descends upon us”

“Fuck you”

“I’m flattered, but I’m in a loving and committed relationship... I mean, if I were two decades younger...”

Pidge punched his arm to shut him up

“You suck”

Lance continued with his shit stirring mood

“Quite well, don’t I, babe?”

“I’m not getting into this, but yes”

“See, my skills have got Keith’s stamp of approval”

“You’re going to have my footprint stamped to your arse if you keep traumatising me like this”

Wrapping his arms around his gremlin, Lance kissed her hair. Pidge trying to shove him off

“I love it when you’re mean. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you”

“Keith, help. Lance is being weird”

Keith hefted him back so Lance was laying awkwardly in his arms looking up at his fiancé. Bopping him on the nose, Lance went cross eyed as Keith let his finger hover

“Babe, leave the bitey creature alone. She’s fine. More importantly, did you put cream on your arm?”

Lance didn’t really prescribe to the use of burn cream seeing he healed on his own. Cold water would forever be the best things for burns

“Burn cream isn’t always good for burns, aaaaand the aloe vera is in our bathroom. Which is upstairs, and totally too much effort right now”

“You can’t ignore it. Where else got burnt?”

“I don’t know. Stop picking on me. I thought we were picking on Pidge”

“We’ve done that. I’ll grab the aloe vera, and Pidge can get you some blood. We have the whole day to relax... provided no one’s gone and planned party games”

Pidge burst that bubble. That tiny bubble of maybe fitting an uncaught nap in... This fatigue thing was ridiculous

“Oh, dude. There’s totally party games. We’re going to set up penalty beer pong under lunch”

Keith scrunched his brow. From how he was positioned, Lance kind of wanted to poke his finger right up Keith’s nose. It was like his nose was staring down at him, begging to be poked

“Should I be worried?”

Lance didn’t like to brag, but beer pong was his jam. His first time through college not so much, second time, he was pretty much undefeated. With how long it took to set up, it wasn’t usually one of their party games. Poor Keith had no idea what penalty beer pong had in store for him, Lance would have to defend his fiancé’s honour

“Seeing it’ll be you and Lance facing off, you should definitely be worried. Buuuut I totally didn’t tell you that. If you two are going to keep being gross, I’m going to go back to the party”

Whelp. Keith was on his own then... It was nice knowing him

“It’s okay, Pidgeon. Go forth and abandon us. Leave us... be that way... We’ll be back out as soon as I’ve had some blood and this sunburn starts healing. Maybe I should change into something longer, I don’t want to burst into flames at my own baby shower”

Keith bopped him on the nose again, before helping Lance sit back up

“That’s probably a good idea, babe. You’re smoking hot as it is. That’d make you literally flaming hot”

Pidge was completely right. They really did share one brain cell. The idea leaving a stupidly huge grin on his face that Pidge called “creepy” before leaving the pair of them.

*

Penalty beer pong... of all the things they could have played, they’d chosen some kind of abomination that belonged in hell. After lunch, Hunk had taken Lance aside, while Matt and Pidge took Keith inside. Both of them forced to wear headphones so they couldn’t hear each others answers to the questions for their friends had prepared. Keith felt very very dumb. 20 questions on Lance should have been easy... but their friends had really wracked their brains being creative and going for the odd, mostly unknowable things that he was supposed to know about his “boyfriend”.

With the living area the only place big enough to fit all of them, the coffee table was covered with a thick piece of plywood where the cups were set up. Keith didn’t like to admit that he’d never played beer pong. He’d never had the kinds of friends that did, nor did he go to college. One of the more popular games at Blade headquarters was darts with knives instead of darts, and vampire faces for targets. You took a shot if you failed to stick the knife in the vampire when it was your throw. He’d never been invited to play with James and the rest of them... He and Shiro used to have shooting target competitions, but that was just the pair of them with the winner getting out of some mundane house chore, that Adam usually scolded them about.

Kneeling across from him, they’d both avoided the penalty cups so far. Keith thought not getting the ball in one meant not having to drink what was it in. No. Instead the penalty was played out for each question they got wrong about each other. Each cup contained some kind of condiment construction Keith really wanted to avoid. It started tame, first with chilli sauce, then soy, then vinegar... slowly progressing in quantity and combination. The last cup was a grotesque mix of what seemed to be a little of everything from Lance’s pantry. Having swapped questionnaires, Hunk and Matt were their quiz masters. They were fifteen questions in, Keith not feeling the effects of the vodka he’d had to chug when Lance got the ping pong ball in his cups. His fiancé, not able to drink, was delegated water. Keith wasn’t sure that Lance actually won anything from playing against him seeing he’d have to pee the moment the game was done.

“Lance. What is Keith’s most annoying habit?”

Throwing the ping pong ball, his fiancé landed it perfectly in the cup. That’s how it went. Question, throw, answer, shot...

“His amazingly lacking self confidence since turning into a werewolf”

His damn fiancé got that one right... like the rest of them.

“Keith. How many years, combined, did Lance spend attending University?”

How the fuck was he supposed to know that? He didn’t know how long it took to be a lawyer... he didn’t know how long it took, or if Lance had any recognition of prior training to drop the amount of time he was required to study, plus his fiancé was a smart little shit... Lance looked sympathies and smug at the same time. Yeah. His questions were far easier than Keith’s had been. Tossing the retrieved ping pong ball, it landed in one of the penalty cups

“Um... I’m going to with... um... 12 years”

Lance groaned, Keith knowing he’d gotten the answer wrong. Matt delighted in telling him

“11 years and six months. Apparently being a lawyer in the early 90’s meant less time in class... Your first penalty shot is chilli sauce. Bottoms up”

If a jalapeño’s had sex with another jalapeño, then their offspring continued in breeding, that would only explain the fire in Keith’s mouth. His eyes running as his throat burned. That wasn’t simple chilli sauce in there

“God... it burns... what the hell is that?”

“Ghost pepper sauce”

Lance shot Matt a glare

“That’s not very nice. You guys are dicks”

Matt shrugged at Keith fanned his burning mouth

“Then he shouldn’t have gotten the question wrong”

“We didn’t really talk about it. Babe, you okay? Rieva, can you get Keith some milk, please. You guys are banned from giving Keith chilli ever again”

“Chill, dude. He’ll survive. Right, it’s your turn”

Lance plucked the ball from what looked to be soy sauce, unamused Keith’s ego wanted to flip the stupid board of cups over. Their friends were slightly laughing at his reaction to the chilli and Rieva hadn’t gone to get him a glass of milk

“Okay, Lance. What’s Keith’s deepest secret that he’s hiding at he moment?”

Keith had answered “He’d always believe in mothman until his dying breath”. Lance hummed at the question

“That he doesn’t hate Lotor as much as he says... it’s either that, something to with me, or something to do with his crush on mothman”

“Correct...”

No. That wasn’t correct at all! The game was rigged

“You two didn’t bother telling us that you’re engaged! Which is a secret to do with Lance, so technically correct!”

Suddenly Keith got the feeling that beer pong was less about what they knew about each other and more about what the group suspected and wanted to confirm

“They’re what?!”

From Pidge’s yelling, she mustn’t have been in on it... So this was all Matt’s idea to get them to confess to their secret engagement?! He could strangle him for putting them both on the spot like this. Right. He could play it cool... yep. No secret here

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, dude. We found the empty ring box in your bedside drawers. Why didn’t you tell us?! Do you know how happy we are for you guys?! This is awesome... Maybe not as awesome as Rieva saying yes to me, but we’re supposed to be your friends! We need to have a party to celebrate this”

Ahhhh. Keith wanted to laugh in relief. They hadn’t been caught yet, and now it seemed like a pretty fun idea to mess with Matt for going through their things

“That’s was from Krolia. There was never any ring in that box”

“You expect us to believe that?”

Keith glanced to his mother, Krolia shrugging as the others also looked to her

“Miriam and I both thought they’d make the cutest grooms. It’s not my fault he hasn’t proposed yet”

“What makes you think I’d be the one asking? Lance could always ask me, right, babe?”

“Yep. I totally could have been the one to ask him”

Sharing a look, Matt and Hunk both chuckled. Their “Sunshine Teddy” shaking his head

“Man, we all know Lance is the romantic one. He’d spend everyday waiting for you to ask, rather than asking you. Then, he’d expect the whole fairytale night. Dinner at a fancy restaurant. A bouquet of red roses as big as him...”

Hunk counted on his fingers, Matt adding as Hunk stalled mid-thought

“Don’t forget the champagne and the hotel room”

Hunk quickly counted those two on his fingers

“Yep. Lance is too much of a romantic”

Matt nodded quickly

“He’d drop hints too... Romcoms. Jewellery brochures... Though you’d probably miss them like you missed Valentine’s Day”

The pair were ganging up on him, Keith depressed about the fact they were right. Lance would have loved all that, but his fiancé didn’t need all that. He’d proposed in a horrible hotel room...

“Keith is romantic. Sure, his idea of good date is a trip to a shooting range, or some other combat related activity, but he’s very romantic. I don’t need all the fuss, I just need him”

Hunk faked feeling faint as he grabbed Matt by the arm, Matt playing it up and acting as if he were concerned

“Hunk?!”

“I’m okay... I never thought I’d live to hear Lance say something so unLance like. Pregnancy has changed you, man. Next thing you’ll give up watching your soap operas... Dude, my heart can’t handle the changes”

Keith mentally thanked Lance for trying to stick up for him. He wasn’t the world’s greatest fiancé, yet he felt better that Lance thought he was good enough for him. His fiancé had more to say on the matter

“You two keep picking on Keith. He’s awkward and he’s a little emo, but he makes me happy. We could get engaged in a room so dingy that Jesus couldn’t save it, and I’d still be happy”

Hunk waved his arm, kind of weirdly and kind of as if he were trying to gesture “how big this was”. Keith felt his lips turn upwards as Lance pretty much told everyone they’d gotten engaged while away, yet none of their friends would put two and two together

“But as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always been a sucker for those big movie engagement scenes”

“Movies aren’t real life. Matt, that box wasn’t any of your business. What were you doing in our room?”

“Helping Shiro and Curtis build your present. We were looking for an adjustable spanner”

Lance leaned back to rest his weight on his hands, bottom lip wobbling

“You know the tools are kept in the laundry, and you know you’re not supposed to be in my room...”

“We were...”

No one messed with Lance’s room, or his bed. Lance washed and changed the sheets alone, swapping the blankets whenever the whim took over

“I don’t care. I’m sorry, but I can’t... I need air”

Keith jumped to his feet before Lance started started struggling to his. As Coran went to help the vampire, Lance slapped his hand away with a sad “sorry”. Moving to Lance’s side, Keith looped his arm around his waist

“You guys can take over playing. No listening in”

[somekindoftuber]

vld youtuber AU

youtuber AUs are really fun so here is my take (with klance):

Shiro runs a channel where he restores/repairs motorcycles. It’s really popular because he has a great on-camera presence and soothing voice, not to mention he’s very good looking. He has the facial scar and white hair and has mentioned that he’s a veteran, hence his prosthetic right arm. Keith works with him, and Shiro always introduces him in the intros of his videos, saying, “And my brother Keith is here to be my right hand.” They have a fairly large following, posting weekly videos. Keith mostly stays quiet, except to answer Shiro.

Lance runs a music channel that’s half comedy and half serious, playing guitar and ukulele. He does acoustic covers of songs that should be impossible to do acoustic versions of, and sometimes does comedy lyrics of popular songs. He also posts blooper videos where his cats interrupt him or knock over the camera. He posts one or two times a week, his videos are usually short. He also streams games on Twitch, usually playing music and making people laugh over the mic.

Shiro sometimes does Q&A videos to answer fan questions. Keith usually doesn’t participate, except in the video about their pets. Shiro introduces their two cats, and Keith’s dog Kosmo (who’s a Blue Bay Shepherd mix and is absolutely massive).

Shiro’s channel pops up on Lance’s recommendations one day, and it’s the pet video. Shiro’s cats are in the thumbnail, a giant black shorthair and a long haired red tabby, so he clicks. He instantly likes this guy, his cats are cute, and the quiet, scowling brother in the background with the giant bear-dog is fun to watch. So he subscribes. He finds out that he really likes their videos, despite knowing absolutely nothing about motorcycles. Shiro makes it easy to follow, and he even learns a thing or two.

Lance hears a song he recognizes in one of Shiro’s videos and gets an idea. He gets his guitar and does a comedy cover of the song, making it about repairing motorcycles. He’s proud of the silly lyrics, not able to keep from snickering a few times, and posts the video. He shoots the link over to Shiro, and crosses his fingers.

Two days later he gets a response. Shiro comments on the video saying that he loves it and it made him laugh. Lance is over the moon, and keeps watching Shiro’s videos and commenting on them. Shiro sometimes comments on his and it’s great. As the months go by, Shiro becomes something of a hero to Lance. He’s cool and confident and everything Lance wishes he could be.

Not to mention that his broody little brother is really, really easy on the eyes. Keith is gaining a fanbase, his wiki page full of what few scraps viewers can find about him - including a blurry screenshot of a moment when his shirt rode up to reveal an nondescript tattoo on his hip. There was a good deal of speculation as to what it was of. Not that Lance read that particular reddit thread. Or commented on it. (“I bet it’s a wolf,” he most certainly did not write. Several people agreed.) Who can blame him? Lance likes puzzles and mysteries. What’s more mysterious than a youtuber who never talks and has all of his social media on lockdown?

Lance gushes about Shiro’s channel one night to Pidge, who’s finishing undergrad. Casually as ever, she says, “Yeah, I know Shiro, he’s an old friend of Matt’s.” and Lance loses it. Demands to know more, demands that Pidge set up a meeting. Pidge rolls her eyes, and says maybe, maybe during spring break.

Lance decides to do a charity stream, like he does often. He asks some of his youtuber friends to help promote, including his best friend Hunk who runs his own casual cooking channel (Hunk never shows his face but his videos are still really fun). He tweets about it, feeling pretty good. His last stream went really well and they hit their donation goal. When Lance checks twitter the next day, he’s absolutely beside himself to see that Shiro has retweeted his stream link, saying “My buddy @LanceyLance is doing a charity stream! Check it out!” He may have bounced in his chair and flapped his hands a little when he read that.

The stream goes super well. They surpass their donation goal by hundreds, and he gets a lot of chat messages from people saying they found it via Shiro. Once it’s over, Lance composes an email to Shiro to thank him. He considers mentioning what Pidge says for several minutes before deciding to just go for it. He finishes his email with “PS - I think we have a friend in common?? My buddy Pidge - Katie Holt - says she knows you. Or are you a different Shiro?”

He sends the email before he can second guess himself.

Two days later, he gets a reply, and Shiro confirms that he knows Pidge since he went to high school with her older brother, commenting that it’s a small world. Lance plays it cool, but doubles his efforts to get Pidge to introduce him to Shiro.

“Spring break,” she repeats, then yells at Lance to let her finish her paper.

It’s almost two months until then, so Lance occupies himself with making videos, streaming, and watching Shiro’s channel. Keeping an eye on where Keith pops up in the videos, silent and intense. When late March finally arrives, Lance packs a bag and piles in the car with Pidge for the five hour drive to her hometown, which is apparently also Shiro’s hometown. Pidge’s parents welcome him, and it takes an entire day of nagging Pidge to get her to call Shiro. He’s free the next day.

They head across town to Shiro’s garage and Lance is stoked. So stoked. And as Shiro comes out to meet them, he’s struck by one thing: Shiro is far taller in person than he looks on camera. He shakes Lance’s left hand and shows him around, the bike they’re working on, the cameras, the editing software he still uses, even though it’s a little outdated.

Lance is halfway to asking Shiro if he can meet his cats when the door opens. “Shiro?” a voice calls. “They’re roping off the west side of the street for something. Do you want me to move your --”

He stops when he spots Lance, and Lance sort of feels his breath stop in his chest at the sight. Running gear, hair pulled back, skin glistening with sweat, and a sleeveless shirt with a pair of earbuds hanging out of the collar.

It’s Keith. And Lance has to remember to breathe, because like his brother, he’s taller in person, but he’s also hot. Like crazy hot, goddamn. Even drenched in sweat with his hair sticking to his face and neck and flushed from a run, he’s stupidly gorgeous. The videos absolutely do not do his eyes justice, not even a little, all sharp and intense and deep blue.

He’s just sort of standing there stuck, but thankfully Pidge rescues him with a loud clearing of her throat. Then Shiro swoops in and introduces Lance to Keith. He’s quiet, like in the videos, and slips away as soon as Lance’s attention is elsewhere.

Once Keith is gone, Shiro asks Lance if he’d like to be in a video on his channel, and holy shit. He agrees before he even knows the details, and Shiro laughs. They agree to have Lance come back in three days to film. Right when they’re leaving, Keith re-emerges, showered and changed. Lance waves goodbye to him and hopes Keith doesn’t notice the way Lance’s eyes sweep up and down his body.

Lance spends the next three nights pouring over his guitar.

When he goes over to Shiro’s to film, he’s almost bouncing with excitement. Shiro goes over what they’ll be doing before they start. Lance is downright giddy as Shiro does his intro and calls Lance a “special guest” before they get started. Lance is mostly holding parts in place or passing Shiro tools as he works on the old bike they’ve been hired to restore, but it’s still fun, even if he’s sweating within the first half hour. Keith hovers in the corner, off camera, playing with his phone and looking bored. By the time they finish, he’s covered in grease and exhausted, but happy. Shiro stops filming and they take a break, cracking open a few beers.

Before it’s time to leave, he gets the okay from Shiro and sets up his own camera, bringing out his guitar. He wasn’t sure if he’d have the guts to do this, but Shiro smiles at him, and it all feels okay. Lance turns on his camera, does an intro, and begins to play. It’s an original song, one he wrote just for the occasion over the last few sleepless nights. It’s about new friends and fresh starts and connecting with others and maybe it’s a little cheesy, but it’s heartfelt, and the acoustics of the garage somehow bring it all together. And when he finishes and shuts off his camera, the awed look on Shiro’s face is absolutely worth it. Even Keith looks a little surprised, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

He says goodnight to them both and goes back to the Holt family home, showers and changes, and goes to sleep feeling like it’s Christmas and his birthday and the first day of summer vacation all at once.

Pidge has to go back to school to resume classes eventually, and Lance is her transportation, so he has to go too. They stop by Shiro’s garage one last time to deliver a tupperware container of fresh baked cookies, courtesy of Mrs. Holt, and Shiro shakes his hand again. When Lance says goodbye to Keith and shakes his hand, he swears he sees the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Something he’s never seen.

He spends the entire five hour drive back with excitement buzzing in his veins. He can’t wait to edit and post that video.

CONTINUED IN PART TWO HERE

[raiyakun]

Two Worlds 

━━━━━━━ ☆ ━━━━━━━

As always my brain randomly decides to kick into overdrive when thinking of AUs so it took on a life of its own (ADKJSHDKASD), but this was very fun to think of so please have the rest of it under the cut.

(TW for those who might be prompted to check out W: [mostly minor] character deaths, violence, blood, which get more prevalent in later episodes. The music volume changes quickly at certain points too. My concept so far only covers the early half of the series, but still TW for mentions of violence, blood, and minor character deaths.)

(Also a sidenote because I’ve had comments with other AU concepts (；´∀｀) This won’t be a 1:1 AU. The basic premise stands but I make a bunch of changes especially with character roles like splitting and/or splicing roles.) 

❝Keith Kogane is the hero of the immensely popular action mystery webcomic W. Marco McClain, the series’ artist and writer, has become practically a household name as everyone has gotten addicted to the story of Keith, a young man who once rose to fame as the prodigy who became the youngest Olympic judo gold medalist at 18 under his father’s training but gets embroiled in a series of tragedies and injustices as his father is later found dead in their home and his mother discovered missing, with Keith framed and later imprisoned for the murder and abduction by the ambitious prosecutor Zarkon Daibazaal.

Keith is later proven innocent and released following a year in prison, then disappears from the public eye for years only to reemerge later as the successful co-CEO of Voltron Co., and alongside his mentor and brother figure Takashi Shirogane, co-CEO Allura Altea, and assistant Acxa Marmora, he establishes W, a TV program that aims to solve criminal cases and mysteries and give people the justice that they seek for. But Keith’s ultimate goal is to find his father’s killer and his mother’s whereabouts, a goal which he will stop at nothing to achieve.

Meanwhile, Lance McClain is a new resident in the esteemed cardiovascular and thoracic surgery department of the Garrison University Hospital under the tutelage of Professor Iverson, who doesn’t exactly have the most stellar impression of him. That is, until Iverson learns that Lance is the younger brother of Marco McClain, writer and artist of W. Lance sees this as a chance to get on Iverson’s good side and decides to visit his brother Marco, who in reality has had little contact with his family after dropping out of medical school to pursue being a comic artist, much to the disapproval of his and Lance’s parents. His sister Veronica, herself also a doctor at the same hospital, advises him against the idea, but Lance decides to push through.

At Marco’s studio, though, Lance learns through his friends Hunk and Pidge, both assistants to Marco, that his brother has been missing since the previous night, which is a problem since the deadline for W’s latest chapter was the next day. They have absolutely no idea where he could’ve gone, and in the middle of their conversation, Lance finds out about Marco’s plan to kill off his comic’s main character, much to his disbelief. Hunk brings him into Marco’s room to show the last panel he’d worked on his tablet, showing Keith lying in a pool of blood on a hotel rooftop after getting stabbed by the story’s mysterious killer.

After Hunk leaves him alone in the room to attend to a call from the editor, a bloody hand suddenly shoots out from Marco’s tablet to pull him in, and Lance finds himself on a high rooftop, with nobody but a bloody young man with a mullet at his feet. 

Lance is incredibly confused, but quickly jumps into action and helps out the man, saving him from dying from a collapsed lung by puncturing his chest with a pen, the man’s eyes opening for a split second just as Lance does so. After paramedics arrive to bring the man to the hospital (with Lance feeling quite proud he managed to save someone under pressure. Take that, Iverson!), Lance is thanked by the hospital’s manager, and Lance learns the name of who he’d just saved: Keith Kogane.

Wait. Is it a coincidence? For him to have the same name as Marco’s character? But Lance recalls the bloody hand that pulled him in and realizes how the man was lying exactly like Keith in the drawn panel was. And at the corner of his vision, Lance catches the words To be continued appearing out of thin air just before he finds himself back in Marco’s room. 

And that’s how Lance’s curious experiences with moving between reality and (what should have been) fiction begin. What’s worse is that whatever events that happen while he is in the comic world end up getting reflected in W’s story, to the point that Iverson accuses his of forcing his brother to base a new character on himself.

And Marco is little help to Lance’s predicament. He reappears like nothing happened and refuses to listen to his younger brother talking about what he experienced, instead cryptically proclaiming that he needs Keith to die in the comic, even if it goes against what the readers and his editors (and Hunk and Pidge) are hoping he would do.

Lance manages to save Keith’s life a second time after getting sucked into the W world again, and he discovers that the world follows a weird logic that revolves around its main character, and that Lance would only be able to get back to the real world whenever something shocking to Keith happens. 

As for Keith, meeting the man who saved him on the rooftop that one fateful night leads him to believe that he has the key to his existence, his purpose. But the man seems elusive and....very weird. He has a nameーLance McClainーbut it’s as if he swims in and out of existence, with no one knowing him or him disappearing without a trace. But despite his friends’ doubt, Keith is resolute that Lance McClain holds the answer to the mystery governing his life.

The question is, is that a mystery both him and Lance are prepared to unravel?❞

(end of Part One)

This was getting long so I just decided to bunch the rest of some important details into bullet points (；´∀｀) (there’s a LOT more since a ton of stuff happen in the series so there’s a bunch more to come after this. Some might be confusing if you don’t know what happens in the series but I’ll try to clear them up in later posts ksdjfhksdfj)

Romance isn’t a big point in W, but its readers popularly believe that Marco is building a love triangle with Keith and Allura, with whom Keith shares a hatred for Zarkon and some common ground due to her parents also having been murdered, and Acxa, who used to work for Zarkon but whom Keith convinces of Zarkon’s evil and hires as a personal assistant-slash-bodyguard. Lance believed this too, at first, since when they were younger Marco told him about his plans, although at present Lance isn’t sure if Marco still intends it since he’s only played with the idea in the really early chapters but has not touched upon it again. (Later, when Lance and Keith realize they’re falling for each other and the comic IRL begins to turn into a romantic comedy, Iverson rants at Lance about how the story is getting completely ruined by the “new character Lance” and that Keith should’ve gotten set up with one of the two heroines, only for Lance to yell back at him “Well how are you completely sure Keith is into girls in the first place!”)

Shiro’s role is a combination of Do-yoon’s and Hyun-seok’s from W. He was an athlete also trained by Keith’s father and a close family friend. He took Keith in after his release from prison and became the program manager of W. (No, he does not get Hyun-seok’s fate.)

Hunk and Pidge share Soo-bong’s role, although their reactions to realizing Lance can somehow get into the webcomic world are very different: Hunk is extremely anxious while Pidge gets excited and curious.

Keith’s father was murdered by stabbing, and Zarkon framed Keith as the murderer with the knife that Keith got as a gift from his mother as the murder weapon. It’s what Keith secretly keeps under his pillow (which Lance is aware of, much to Keith’s shock. But Lance only knows it thanks to having a lot of knowledge about the webcomic details from the real world).

Lance gets caught by the police in the comic a similar way that Yeon-joo in the series does, but this isn’t due to any purposeful set up by Allura or Acxa the same way the series did for So-hee. I really don’t like how the writing treated So-hee sdjkfsdkjfksf. Lance genuinely becomes friends with Allura and Acxa, and instead it’s Zarkon, thinking that he can use Lance as the key to send Keith to jail permanently, who’s the reason Lance is caught by the police. Allura and Acxa try to help him out but are prevented by Zarkon until Keith’s return.

Marco used to be very close to both Veronica and Lance when they were younger, since all three used to share a love for comics and Marco had a talent for drawing (and although they don’t remember it at first, both Lance and Veronica contributed ideas to what eventually became W). But their parents wanted them to aim for “real” jobs and pressured Marco into studying medicine. While Marco rebelled and left, becoming a small artist that anyone barely knew until W blew up, Veronica chose to bury her love for comics and pursue medicine, thus becoming a doctor. Lance is caught between the two routes they took (wanting to pursue his own dreams like Marco or persisting in the field with Veronica). Despite looking stern most of the time, Veronica is indeed worried and cares for both her brothers.

Eventually, Veronica gets roped into the mess as well, especially after Marco gets attacked and sent to the hospital and when she finds a hysterical Hunk and Pidge yelling about them and Lance getting chased by a killer only for her to find Lance passed out and so weak he needs to be hospitalized.

Eventually, both Lance and Veronica realize that they are able to influence the W world too, since the comic’s logic recognizes them as “part-creators” due to Marco having taken inspiration from them when he was originally planning the comic. I may or may not have a Veracxa agenda here KJFHKDJFHDKSJFHD. Bottom line is: instead of just Yeon-joo and her dad in the original, the three siblings can get dragged into the comic. Okay I admit there is a Veracxa agenda here.

Aaaaaannnnd more to come because W has like 3-4 arcs and both my sister and I can’t stop watching it because it’s cliffhangers everywhere KJDHKJSHKSDJFHKDF

[cloudywithachanceofwatering]

shatt - peter pan'd

prompt by - @princesss353 [ thank you so much !! it means a really stupid lot to me when people give me prompts . i hope i did you didly good justice !! :"DDDD ]

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preface - an au where shiro is peter pan and he meets wendy who is adam . matt is tinkerbell and gets jealous .

notes - i added pidge as rosetta , lance as silvermist , curtis as iridessa , keith as vidia , hunk as fawn , allura as periwinkle

i'm moving really far from the traditional because i have literally never watched peter pan in my entire miserable life . whoopsies :""""""""">

so uh i'll be saying their names as per usual because tinkermatt , katierose and shiropan sound like literal trashbags filled with even more unbiodegradable trashbags . and we don't like that kinda shite here .

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" there's this new boy that shiro's brought back . isn't that interesting ? " katie whispered as shiro flew around , with him , frolicking in the cool night sky . " shut up , i'm not blind , " matt muttered angrily , his wings flapping a bit harder and much more harshly . " chill out , it's just a newbie , it's okay , " katie patted his back as he flicked her hand away and fluttered up to try and catch up with shiro .

matt fluttered around as nimbly as his unproportionally large wings could get him to , swerving and dodging other fairies and plants before finally catching up to them . " shiro , who's this ? " he cocked a eyebrow up at the newcomer , subconciously staring him up and down . katie followed playfully , albeit cautiously , behind him .

" a little love triangle i smell , " she whispered teasingly as she flicked between shiro and matt's gaze . " lance's going to get a kick out of this , " she exaggerated , fake punching a bit before spiralling up to find him . matt tripped her as best as he could , but her wings were better suited for her and she just cackled off , spiralling upwards fast .

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shiro just nervously let go of the newcomer's hand , slowly so matt wouldn't notice . but alas , matt has always could see . he turned his head sharply and narrowed his eyes . " i didn't know you were gonna miss teatime for what ? this newcomer who you could've left for keith to figure out ? " he hissed softly , his wings flapoing more erratically . " i-it's nothing much matt , don't worry !! i-i'm just nearly done and i'll send adam back soo - i mean the newcomer !! " shiro stuttered nervously , his hand scratching the back of his neck as he averted matt's piercing gaze .

matt instantly got that

1) this was'nt just any new fairy ,

and 2) a human . :/

he narrowed his eyes even more , reading his nervous and panicked face . matt cocked his head sideways , smiling tightly like a rosebud . " you can't hide any information from me , sweetie , " he said sweetly , bitter sap dropping from his words like it was secreted from his lips . his narrowed eyes turned doelike and innocent , yet his stare gave it all away .

he faced this ' adam ' calmly . " why don't you introduce your new ... ' friend ' ... to me , " matt drawled , feeling increasingly angrier . " why are you so frustrated and pent-up ? it's his job to show me around and stuff , right ? " adam glanced at shiro hintingly , trying to get out of this hot nectar brewing .

" uhm . y-yeah . gotta do all that . a-and like , we need to get a-moving along s-so yeah , " shiro backed up a bit trying to escape .

matt just huffed and snarled a bit , showing his teeth to shiro , " you can't lie to me , eventually he's suddenly ' coming to show him around , sorry can't hang out , gotta stay with newbie os he doesn't get lost , oh no i have too much gotta miss teatime three more times , ' and you expect me to believe you ? " and just like that , matt did a sharp 180 degrees downwards and went back to his home in the pixie tree .

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knocking a few fairies and growling even more irritated , people started to avoid him the moment he reached into his sack of pixie dust . he slammes the door behind him and fell into his bed , trying to not rip up everything in from of him . he screamed into his pillow , but pretty much everyone in a five mile radius [ in human , not fairy ] could hear it .

and then katie winced as she heard it from all the way by shiro's side . " maybe go uhhhh , i dunno , apologize ? i mean , teatime is pretty big for matt after all , " lance winced , the nearly dew on the tree leaves spiking up . katie just stared right into his soul blankly , a bit shaken up . " why does he have to though ? he didn't do anything wrong ! " adam protested as nearby fairies all simultaniously created a circle around them in order not to get into it .

katie laughed painfully . " oh , you naive child . oh dear . this isn't going to go good . where's curtis , that light bringing boy ?? " she fretted a bit , fear building up a bit more and more . " uh , probably with her little glowy fireflies but i'm pretty sure he's using pixie dust to speed up at this point , " lance sighed defeatedly . " good luck shiro , have fun , we're there for backup . "

adam huffed furiously , having enough . " what's up with this ? can't you tell shiro's just being a good friend ? obviously , you wouldn't know - everyone's so pent-up ! stop being so flipping rude and irritating , especially that other browned haired fluffy freckled boy-girl hybrid thing !! i honestly can't tell if they're female or not - at this point , they might as well should be . it's so feminine , doesn't look anything like a boy to be frank with you . "

and basically everyone who had created a circle created a even larger circle and went full one mile radius in human length .

katie and lance waved nervously goodbye before they got into any trouble , because goddamnit was the whole crew going to whack his adam butt .

once keith got wind of it [ ha ] , he sent the message along to hunk and allura so they could make some peace gifts for matt to soothe his erratic soul , even more so than keith's .

quickly , everyone dispersed as far as possible from adam and shiro . even shiro flew all the way to the wintery section . " you see , you must not say such evil things like that , don't be so curt !! you're not curtis !! besides , you're going to get us all in trou - "

" well it isn't my fault he's the one brewing trouble like it's coffee ! " adam snapped back quickly , trying to pull away from shiro's iron grip . " let go of me ! what's wrong with you uptight fairy people ? " he hissed , frowning . shiro cringed , " your words you will regret very quickly . c'mon , we gotta go far before they catch us . just ... remember your surroundings okay ? no time for tour . "

after a while , shiro sighed and paused for a second , tired . " listen , this is slow-drip coffee - intense flavour . not just any kind of coffee . speak carefully , " shiro warned . and that actually made brave and naive adam a bit wary .

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back in the matt house , things were brewing badly . the coffee was intensely bitter and even more so with matt's bitter sap secretion .

hunk and allura had brought peace presents of items to fix and wonderful parts for hin to tinker with , persuading him to work on it to get his mind off as katie gave him little plants to take care of . lance soothed him , gifting im handpicked pebbles , a beautiful seashell comb , seaweed scarves and coral hairclips . curtis let his two little firefly buddies blink happily and dance around as he set up a little place for spiders to weave soft curtains for him .

" yknow , it isn't so bad . nobody thinks as horribly as adam does . i like your feminine curves , very complementing for your sharp features , " lance said gently , combing his hair as katie patted his hand . " i think that you'll quite enjoy fixing my collinder lamp that i've finally decided to give in to you , " she laughed gently , smoothing out his messy soft curls and pinning them down .

but even with all their nonstop efforts , matt still adorned the same angry frown , staring blankly past everyone .

lance poured a bit of tea for everyone , and hunk presented some little treats for them to all share on matt's anvil table . " i know you enjoy scones and macaroons and such soft delicacies , so here's a little test recipe - friendly for fairies and woodland animals ! " he beamed proudly , as the rest oooh and ahhhed in awe .

matt's gaze broke for a second the moment he heard ' scones . ' " ... are these the super soft and buttery ones ? " he cracked out , his voice ruined from the massive pillow scream . he gazed at it longingly , his frown sloely disappearing as he glanced up to hunk's face .

hunk beamed even brighter , comparable to curtis' fireflies . the fireflies lights blinked happily , their wings showing even more happiness . " listen my guy , not even i have tried it ! and i'm hunk's top of the top tester !! tale the first bite , your honour , " lance bowed , and the rest followed along . carefully , matt took a scone and bit into it .

" i have ascended . "

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keith , in that time , had rounded up shiro and adam . " listen , if it wasn't that you were my best mate , i would have beat you and your big mouthed ' friend ' up , " keith whispered dangerously . shiro gulped , resigning to his fate . " at least matt is appeased to some extent ... riiiiiiiiight ? " shiro breathed out even quieter than keith's words . " oh , how i hope , " adam replied sarcastically , every inch of wariness expelled from his system as he started rolling his eyes . to top it all off , he mocked keith as he crossed his arms sassily , giving him a ' whatchu gonna do now ? ' smirk .

keith narrowed his eyes - " you better hope so , i'm only here to be making sure shiro doesn't get hit up too much by the rest . " keith led them back to matt's home quickly , a bit to fast for shiro's liking .

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shiro gulped loudly as keith rapped on his door , adam snickering softly at the childishness of all oof its decor - flower door knocker ? gates made out of old forks and spoons ? a little succulent garden and pond ? to top it all off , a ridiculously small yet intricate table for two with gold legs and a flower centrepiece . a singular large flower . hanging bowls of plants from his patio too - how much more stupid could it get ? little flower shaped lights ? pfft !

matt had happily hopped to the door , wanting to share some of his yummy gifts and the rest waiting , clearing their throats and shifting anxiously . he didn't notice through his wonderful mood , smiling brightly as he opened the door . " hello !! who's there ?? wanna come in i have scones an - " his face fell and darkened , shiro with a tight lipped and forced smile as adam stood casually with crossed arms , snickering a bit as he saw matt .

" sorry to ruin your mood , but they deserve a little pain from the rest , " keith said too coolly , a naughty little smile peaking a bit . matt noticed it and scoffed a bit , proceeding to tug keith's hand to signal him to come in . " say the password , takashi , " matt stared with creased eyebrows , tilting his face up a bit to stare him down even harder . " u-uh ... i-it's teatime ? " he uttered nervously , second crossing and doubting himself even though he's said it thousands and thousands of times .

to his pleasant surprise , matt smiled brightly . " okay !! come in , 'cause i wanna give you a scarfie that lancey gave me and pin your little fluff with a pink coral clip and all , " he bounced up and down a bit , his wings fluttering with excitement . shiro calmed down , breathing out as he realized he wasn't breathing and pulled matt in close to hug him , feeling even better when matt hugged back .

" i shouldn't be all evilly and all , plus i still gotta do my workies and finish my teatimey and dress up my sister and the rest and visit mama , " matt bounced back to his seat , drinking tea and slurping quietly . " i'm sorry if i'm meanie , i just want shiro's huggies , that's all , " matt frowned , slurping his tea even harder .

the atmosphere immediately relaxed as shiro stepped in and stood next to matt and gave him a tiny kiss , matt's wings flutterring a bit faster the moment shiro's lips pushed against his soft , dense brown hair . matt smiled happily , a soft mhmm of approval from allura .

keith held hunk's hand and squeezed lightly , his dark emo evil heart melting a bit . oh no . a true disaster . hunk just smiled and shoved another scone into his face happily .

lance wrapped his arm around katie and melted , her laughing and wrapping her arm around his waist , tightening her grip and releasing it .

curtis put down his teacup into his saucer and scratched his fireflies under their chins , pleased that matt did not implode .

adam just looked around the room , instantly feeling pretty trash about the mean things he'd said about fairies and matt . really , they're just overprotective of one another as fairies .

apologies and some hunk tears were shed and a very pleasant teatime occured , albeit late in the afternoon .

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epilogue - soon after , a little magical queen decided that he could stay , and he gladly did .

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note - IS HUNK REALLY SO UNPOPULAR THAT HE DOESNT HAVE A TAG ?? :"""""///// NOT TAGGING SHIPS BECAUSE ITS VERY LITTLE AND UH

Its 0016 so thats why i didnt put the ending apology also i donT KNOW HOW SO YEAH END BYEBYE AAAAAA

Damn 30 tags aight then

Goodnight !!

[rueitae]

Bound

Read my whumptober collection on Ao3

Wild West AU!

~~~~~

The world spins as the ground smashes into Lance’s face. The impact worsens his headache and hurts like a headbutt from Ol’ Kaltenecker, but he can hardly find the strength to really register the pain. 

No sooner as he finally manages to place a palm on the prairie ground to lift himself up, he’s dragged to his knees by his assailants. The jerking motion sends fresh, sharp wave of pain through the top of his head and he has to shut his eyes to not throw up at the swirly sights in front of him. 

“What’do we do boss? Shoot him? Hang him?” Levidy squeals in delight. “Maybe… maybe we can scalp ‘im?”

Lance groans. An idiot Levidy might be but he’s under no false pretenses that he would shoot Lance without hesitation if ordered. Not that Lance is any less of an idiot, riding out to check on a cattle rustling tip alone. 

Catch up on the paperwork, Pidge, then I don’t have to do it, Lance mocks himself. I’ll bring you back a nice steak for lunch no problem!

Even in his dazed state, he hears the train whistle. His heart sinks, even if they let him live, he won’t make it to the station on time to collect the package he ordered for Pidge. 

“I think our dear sheriff deserves to go out with a bit more pomp and circumstance, Levidy,” says the leader of the gang. Too smart for his own good, Steelman always seems to be two steps ahead of the law. If he’d just let Pidge come with instead of trying to keep her out of his elaborate surprise...

“Bind him,” Steelman orders. “And make it tight,” he continues almost cheerfully, “he’s proven to be slippery when he wants.”

Lance glares, willing Steelman - blurry as he is to Lance - to drop dead where he stands. Growling, he rises from knee to foot, working for leverage.

Steelman clicks the safety off his custom revolver and points it at Lance. “Let Levidy do his job, Sheriff. We’ll let you do yours in time.”

“I will see you get justice,” Lance vows, though he slumps to his knees, wrists already burning as he tugs at the rope snug to his skin. “You won’t get away with this. Everyone knows the train is coming for this herd, and the time.” He can’t help a smug grin. “You’ll be tracked down before you can take one steer.”

But Steelman’s cruel smile just grows wider and more menacing. “That’s where you’ve provided a surprising boon for us.” The rope winds around his chest, keeping his strained arms uncomfortably close to his body. “You see, trains stop automatically if there is an accident. And you, dear Sheriff, will provide us with that accident.” 

The rope tugs in exclamation before Levidy ties it off. It doesn’t hurt, but Lance’s chest constricts at the knowledge of what is to become of him. 

Levidy hauls him roughly to his feet and Lance refuses to move, he can at least stall for time in the slim chance someone else is out here. “I’m not going to help you with your insane plan.”

Steelman clicks his tongue in disappointment. “I’d hate to blow your brains out right here, it’d be a pity to sully the wildflowers.” He gestures forward with his gun. “Move.”

Lance stumbles forward, pushed from behind. 

He hates being out of control of the situation. The only one he’d ever trust to tie him up like this is back at the office doing paperwork because he was too lazy to bring her along and do it himself when he got back. 

Levidy drags him up the grassy hill by the collar of his shirt. Lance barely keeps up, unable to tell what is up or down, his boots and pants scraping on the dirt, throat tight every time he’s pulled. 

Finally, he’s allowed to lay on the ground. But this ground isn’t hard like the soil, its distinctly iron. 

Rail iron. 

“Nice and easy, Levidy, make the good sheriff comfortable.” 

Lance tries to focus, blinking rapidly until his head settles. The railroad track goes on as far as he can see - in the distance already he can see the steam from the engine of the Continental Express. 

And he lies in its direct path, neck literally on the chopping block when the wheels come rolling through. 

He should move, and he tries, but his legs are stuck. Levidy hovers over them with rope - tying him to the track then. 

Quiznak, he’s really going to die here. 

“Pidge is going to kill you,” he spits - at the very least he has his pride. “I guarantee you that.”

Steelman walks over the tracks and kneels, pistol still in one hand. The madman cups the other under Lance chin, and pushes back punishingly. Lance chokes, his neck strained so far that he can almost see behind him. His captor holds him there, looking him over as if examining golden specks on a rock. 

“I think I will miss you, Sheriff,” he says regretfully, though Lance knows its fake. “But do not worry about your little deputy. Her brains will be put to good use once I have her, and if not, there are other ways to put her to use.”

Lance inhales sharply. “Don’t you touch her,” he seethes.

Steelman lightly pats his cheek, as if comforting a small child. “I will take good care of her,” he says cruelly, “I promise.”

“You worthless piece of s-mmmhhmmmm!” Lance yells angrily, as loud and as obnoxiously as he can even after the gag is tied at the back of his head. 

“Sweet dreams, Sheriff.” Steelman stands and tips his hat in mock respect. “I’ll toast to you later tonight as I take the train and your deputy to San Francisco.”

Then he leaves, out of sight far too quickly for Lance’s liking. 

Lance screams, squirms, twists, every type of movement he can think of to escape, but even as he loosens the rope slightly it holds fast, exhausting him and cutting into his skin. 

The train whistle is closer, he can see the line of freight cars rumbling over the hill. Lance struggles harder. 

Lance has regrets. Though he’ll die on the job - just the thought of being decapitated this way chews at his insides, not that he’ll be around to feel it much longer - he can’t help but think that he always expected to go out guns blazing like Shiro had, regardless of Pidge’s conspiracy theory that he was still alive.

He regrets not marrying Pidge years ago. Waiting until they could pass the badge on to someone else seems like foolishness when he reflects on it. She won’t even get the postmortem cash from the government - at least she knows where his life savings are kept, she can use that to pick up the search for her brother again.

She’s going to receive the package addressed to him, ring intended for her, after he’s died. Because if he’s sure of one thing, Pidge will be able to outwit Steelman.

The ground rattles and him with it. 

The shrieking sound of the train breaking fills the air. It’s stopping, Lance realizes a flicker of hope. But it’s far too late. Even if the Conductor has seen him and applied the breaks he’s still going to die. 

Lance breathes heavy and rapidly, because soon he won’t have a head to do so at all. He cries in fear because no one will see him, there is no one to hide from. 

The train whistle gets louder. Lance can smell the burnt coals and feels the crackle of electricity from the wheels against the rails. The breaking becomes nearly unbearable in his ears, more shrill than barkeeper Coran singing in the saloon. 

The sky goes dark. A wheel brushes up against his neck.

And stops. 

No more squeal of the breaks, only the cooling down of the engine. 

He isn’t dead. In a rare moment, Lance can’t find his own voice as he stares directly up at the front of the engine. If the train had failed to stop any sooner than it did…

“Lance!”

Against all odds, his deputy and the love of his life jumps out of the engine, her signature green boots pounding on the ground. 

Never in his life has he been more overjoyed to see her.

Pidge kneels before him with horrified eyes behind her empty frames, ripping off his gag.

Lance gasps. “How did… you were at the office…”

She flops on top of him, which Lance immediately decides isn’t fair as he can’t exactly hug her back. “Like I was going to stay behind and do paperwork while you investigated something that smelled like Steelman and his flunkies,” she tells him with a choked voice. 

“But.. how did you know I’d be…”

Pidge sniffs. “Because he’s a showman. There’s no way he’d pass up something like this when he sees it in the movies. Quiznak, Lance,” she sobs into the rope around his chest. “I thought I was going to lose you.” 

Lance laughs, though he feels no humor in it. “I guess I can’t die, not as long as you’re my sidekick.”

Though she still cries, Lance catches the briefest of smiles and a distinct laugh among the tears. “We’ve talked about this, I’m not your sidekick, goofball.”

No more waiting. Not after this far too close for comfort incident. “What about my wife?”

A moment of silence before Pidge raises her head, an incredulous look on her tear stained face. “I just spent the last few hours in fear for you life, you nearly died, and you’re proposing now?”

Lance smiles, pleased to get a rise out of her - the thrill of catching his normally ‘prepared for anything’ deputy off guard. “I can’t think of a better time,” he says, pouring all sincerity into his voice. 

Pidge huffs in frustration, but yet she smiles. “How can I say anything but yes if you put it like that?”

He shifts uncomfortably, the soreness of being tied up finally getting to him. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day… but can you untie me before we kiss?”

Lance knows he’s screwed when Pidge gets a defiant gleam in her eye. “You don’t need your arms and legs to kiss me.”

Well, Lance thinks as she leans down and meets his lips with her own, at least the kiss is worth it. 

[fandomseverywhereassemble]

He Stayed Quiet

Hey guys!!! So, recently, I listened to a beautiful song by @lovelylangst (seriously, it’s so beautiful I still get goosebumps listening to it, so hit them up if you want to listen to it.)  I wrote down the lyrics at the end, but the words themselves don’t do the song enough justice.

Anyway, I got some of the greatest inspiration to write a little something based off of that song.  And here it is!  I hope y’all enjoy.

(Trigger warning for abuse.)

Being quiet was harder than most people would think.  Especially for Lance, who was always so bubbly and happy and smiling.  If there was noise in the Castle, it was because he was making it.  He couldn’t sneak around the Garrison as Hunk or Pidge could.  He was always the one who bumped into a table, knocked something over, and alerted Iverson or whoever was on duty that there were cadets out after curfew.

He was the one who would get kicked out of the library because he was laughing too hard and too loud.  Yes, Lance, you really are being that loud. Pidge would roll their eyes and say.

He was the person who had no clue how much noise he was actually making.

He was the person who couldn’t quite grasp that whispering and talking were two different things until he was well into fourth grade.  Sometimes distinguishing between yelling and talking were difficult for him.

His entire life, people were always telling him to be quiet: his older siblings, his teachers, his friends, the librarian, his parents, the list goes on and on.  But now, no one was telling him to quiet himself.

Lance was doing it on his own.

Shiro was different.  Lance knew.  He had had his suspicions for a while, but now that Shiro was getting more violent, it was getting harder and harder to believe that he hadn’t been changed by his second stay with the Galra.  Maybe Keith had been Shiro’s impulse control, but the possibility of Keith being anyone’s impulse control was laughable.

It first happened when Lance had interrupted the black paladin in the middle of a strategy meeting.  There was a flaw in the plan that could have caused Pidge to become overrun if they weren’t paying attention at the exact right moment.  He didn’t even realize that Shiro had been talking until the damage was already done.

The Galran arm’s metal fingers were digging into the meat of Shiro’s bicep.  There was murder in the dark-grey eyes currently trying to bore a hole through the red paladin.  Lance had never before felt so small, so insignificant, and so inconsequential.

That mission had gone by without a hitch.  Pidge’s infiltration went effortlessly well, and they were able to avoid the guards that undoubtedly would have caught them otherwise.  Lance was feeling pretty good about himself.  He was laughing loudly with Hunk about some story that Coran was telling them.  Neither of them knew exactly what was being described, but the faces that the Altean was making and the sound effects he was somehow generating had them howling with laughter.

Pidge had come in somewhere in the middle of the story, and they had laid their head on Lance’s lap.  They silently thanked him with their eyes and didn’t protest when the red paladin ruffled their already ruffled hair playfully.

Allura entered not long after, and her eyes lit up when she heard Coran’s story.  She interjected her own points every few words.  Her eyes lit up in pure joy; not even Lance’s cheesy flirting could bring her down.

All good and happy things had to come to an end, however.  Lance excused himself to take care of business.  Pidge hissed when their head fell to the cushion, its pillow having left.  They glared good-naturedly at him as he rounded the corner, a smile still on his face when he ran into a wall of muscle.

Shiro stood in his way, his arms were crossed in front of his chest, with his prosthetic in front.  That was new.  Usually, his other arm hid the metal one from view as if he were ashamed of it.  His face was as hard as the metal posing as flesh.

The black paladin was taller than the others by a few inches at the most -excluding Pidge- but now, Lance felt like he needed to look two feet above himself just to look the team leader in the eyes.

“Lance!  You’re just the person I was looking for!”  His voice wasn’t normal.  It wasn’t robotic, but the enthusiasm seemed incredibly forced and insincere.  The casual ups and downs of his voice were the same, but they still weren’t right.

Lance kept the smile plastered to his face from his time with the other paladins.  “Yeah, I just need to run to the restroom really quick; I’ll be right back!”  He pushed past Shiro.  The hallways were tight enough as it was without a giant from one of Coran’s stories blocking his way.

The Galran shot out and grabbed Lance’s upper arm, squeezing tightly and pressing him up against the wall.

“Shiro?  Can this wait for like, two minutes?  I really gotta pee.”  Lance raised an eyebrow at the older man.

Fingers dug further into Lance’s arm, and the tips of his fingers started to tingle slightly.  “I just wanted to thank you.”  Shiro smiled, but the motion didn’t reach his eyes; it barely even reached his mouth.  “For graciously interrupting me during the meeting.  We never would have been able to spot such an obvious and vital problem if it weren’t for you.”

Lance’s dark blue eyes widened slightly.  “Oh, sorry about that.  I’ll be honest I wasn’t listening that closely because I saw-”

“Oh, my mistake,” Shiro said.  His voice was dripping with something that Lance couldn’t quite identify.  “If you weren’t paying attention, I guess all is forgiven.”  His grip hadn’t let up slightly since they started this conversation, and Lance’s hand was beginning to go numb at an alarming rate.

He smiled shyly back at the leader.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you, and I really don’t mean to cut this conversation short, but unless you want me to go right here, and right now, I really need to use the restroom.”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Shiro spat.  He curled the metal fingers deeper into Lance’s muscles before he released it.

Feeling came back to his arm as blood rushed to where it was supposed to be.  It felt like he had dipped his entire left arm in near-boiling water for a split second and pulled it out just as fast, burning hot then freezing cold.  He massaged the area that Shiro’s hand had dug into as he made his way to the communal toilets.

As soon as he was finished, he rolled his sleeve up to expose the flesh that was already starting to darken from a light brown to a dark black.  He hissed as he felt around the tender skin gently.

It was in the precise shape of a handprint.

The door swung open, and Hunk stuck his head into the room.  “Oh, there you are!”  He laughed.  “We were starting to wonder if you had gotten lost.”  He went to the sink right next to Lance’s to wash his hands.  “I tried to give Pidge a piggy-back ride because Allura and Coran didn’t know what one was, and the little goblin licked me!  Not even slightly.  There was so much tongue and saliva involved.  I am even more terrified of them than I was at the Garrison.”  He raised his eyes to look at Lance through the mirror.  “Woah, where did you get that?”  He gestured vaguely with his chin toward the fresh bruise.

Lance quickly rolled his sleeve down and wracked his brain for an explanation other than ‘Shiro went Alpha on me’ and settled on: “Oh, during the last mission I had a little run-in with a guard.  He caught me a little unaware.  That’s all.”  He threw one of his award-winning smiles in the mix as well.

Hunk pouted his lip out slightly and looked skeptically at his friend in the mirror.  “Why didn’t you say anything?  That looks pretty rough.”

“It’s nothing.  I’m sure I’ll be fine soon enough.”  He smiled and slapped Hunk’s shoulders.  “Now what do you say we show the Princess and Coran what a real piggyback ride looks like?”

Things weren’t fine soon enough.  During training sessions, Shiro would hit him a little too hard a little too often.  The handprint on his arm had taken two weeks to heal.  For those two weeks, he had trouble aiming his bayard, and it showed.  He almost hit Pidge rather than the console that he was supposed to be hitting.  He did hit Hunk instead of a training bot one day.

Shiro hit him harder, more often.

Once, when Lance found himself on the ground, he pushed himself up and felt something in his chest snap.  A broken rib, he was told.

He really should take it easy on those missions, and not get himself hurt.

It became rare to see Lance without any blemishes on his once pristine and perfect skin.  He never wore short-sleeved shirts anymore, not that he had in the first place, but he started making sure that that’s all his wardrobe consisted of anymore.  He asked Coran for concealer after he ‘ran into a doorframe’ and he was cursed with a black eye.

Pidge just rolled their eyes because ‘they knew he was clumsy, but this is a new level, Lance.’

One by one, they all slowly stopped noticing every new injury that Lance was sporting.

One by one, they stopped noticing how Lance would never speak at team meetings anymore.

One by one, they stopped caring.

And through it all, the hurts, the bruises, and the false smiles, Lance stayed quiet.

Thank you so much for reading this; I really hope you like it!

Here’s the song that this was based off of, but seriously, hit them up to listen to them singing it.  You won’t regret it.

I stayed quiet

I didn’t tell a single soul

I stayed quiet

And its the truth I hold

I let you bruise me

I let you break

And I stayed quiet

With the force it takes

I didn’t want to sully

Ruin your good name

So I stayed quiet, once again

Oh, I stayed quiet*

I made it my place*

I stayed quiet*

Even though it was fake*

I stayed quiet*

Ruin my name*

I stayed quiet*

From all the things I could say*

I stayed quiet*

Oh, I stayed quiet*

Yes, I stayed quiet*

Oh, I stayed quiet*

You ask me why* I stay quiet*

Is cuz I-I* had to deny* it

If I did it, I would end up

Like that girl, you left*

Buried in the dirt*

I stayed quiet*

Yes, I stayed quiet*

Oh, I stayed quiet*

Yes, I stayed quiet*

I stayed quiet

Didn’t ruin your name

Didn’t sully your fame

Didn’t take the blame

I stayed quiet

And in return

All I do is get hurt

[panda-noosh]

Heyooo, I haven’t gotten this idea out of my head and thought you could it the most justice - fugitive/hiding out for Lotor and reader after Zarkon announces to kill them, reader is there to convince voltron to give Lotor refuge? Thanks so much for opening requests 💖💞✨💞💖

   “You don’t have to do this.”

   He said that like it was so simple, as if you were able to just put his life on hold. He was Lotor at the end of the day - you knew full well he would never let you put your own life at risk for the sake of his, but this was different.

    You weren’t putting your life at risk. You were putting your dignity at risk.

    You clenched your teeth, resisting the urge to spin around and tell Lotor to just shut up. This was going to be difficult enough on its own without his smooth voice ringing in your ear, trying to tug you back from the plan at hand. You needed to just get this over with, and then you would be safe.

    If all went to plan.

   You raised your hand and knocked on the door. A simple gesture, but the knock echoed in your head, followed by an abrupt and eerie silence that made your head spin; they weren’t going to answer. Somehow they had seen that it was you and Lotor approaching the doors, and they were going to shut you both out and leave you for dead. Zarkon was going to find you and there would be absolutely no hope after-

    The doors shot open, and a voice boomed through.

    “Hurry up and get inside. The doors can’t be open for long.”

   Lotor grabbed your arm protectively, shooting you a cautious sideways glance. You simple grinned at him, no longer caring about the risks - nothing could be as dangerous as standing outside whilst Zarkon’s men were looking for you. 

    You grabbed Lotor’s hand in your hand and rushed into the warmth and welcoming aura of the castleship that you had heard so much about. The walls were adorned by Altean crystals - crystals you hadn’t seen in a long, long time. It made your heart hurt, the memories of your forgotten and destroyed planet. Gently, you trailed your fingers along the crystals in question, admiring the way they responded beneath your skin. They glowed, recognising the Altean in front of them.

    Lotor stepped up beside you. “Do you feel at home?”

   You were just about to reply when the doors up ahead shot open and suddenly multiple large guns were being thrust in your face. You stumbled back, Lotor grabbing a hold of you and stepping in front of you protectively. He snarled, glaring at the Paladins who were now stood in front of him with an equally as vicious stance.

    “What the hell are you two doing here?” Lance demanded.

    “Oh trust me, Paladin, this was our last resort,” Lotor growled back.

    You pushed Lotor to the side and stepped forward, bowing gracefully to the warriors in front of you. Pidge even had the decency to look surprised at the action, ever-so-slowly lowering her gun as she took in your appearance. Despite your relations with Lotor, the Paladins of Voltron had never been an enemy to you. Though they had no reason to trust Lotor, they had never given you the same grief.

    You were thankful for those bonds now, hands raised to show you were weaponless.

   “We’re not here to start a fight,” you said as gently as possible. “We’re here for help.”

   Lotor shivered at the word, clearly not accostomed to asking for help from anybody - especially not a group of people who claimed to hate him.

    Shiro raised a brow, staring at you directly in the eyes. “What kind of help? We have no weapons for you.”

   “We don’t want weapons,” you said. “We want refuge.” You gritted your teeth, remembering the speech Zarkon had given, telling his people - his followers - that if any of them saw you or Lotor, they were to kill you both on sight. 

    You recalled this very story to the Paladins, all of whom fell silent and lowered their weapons as you spoke. You could feel Lotor’s presence behind you, the way his arms rubbed against your spine as he trembled with anger and fatigue - neither of you had slept in a number of days, too busy looking for a safe haven to stop for rest. The food you had been eating hadn’t been too filling, either, meaning your stomach groaned with the need for proper nutrients even as you spoke.

    Once the story was over, the Paladins fell silent for a number of seconds, a silent discussion that consisted entirely of side-eyed glances and the odd shrug, as if pondering over whether or not to trust you.

    “We don’t need your acceptance,” Lotor suddenly growled, and you squeezed your eyes closed. “We can take our chances back out there, but-”

   “No, we can’t,” you hissed. “Zarkon wants Lotor dead.”

   “Can you blame the guy?” Hunk said.

    “Lotor isn’t the problem here,” you continued. “He thinks that what Zarkon is doing is awful - just like we all do.”

   “Get him to tell us that, and then maybe I’ll believe you,” said Keith.

    You turned, glancing at Lotor over your shoulder. You gave him no look of warning, no prompting shove, because you knew you didn’t need to. It didn’t matter how angry Lotor became, he would never claim to believe that his father was doing the right thing - not for anyone. Not whenever his fathers actions had affected him so brutally.

    He inhaled deeply, looking back at you as he said, “The only reason my father wants me dead is because I’m against his actions. I’m not helping. He thinks that means I’m some kind of rebel.”

   “So he put his own son on the chopping block?” Pidge asked.

   “Y/N and I both,” Lotor corrected, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around your waist. “He’s going for everything I love - starting from the very top.”

   You bit your lip, gently leaned into Lotor to tell him that you heard him, that you would never give up on him, no matter how many threats Zarkon put out for your life. You were going to stay by his side for as long as it took.

     The Paladins - once again - shared unsure glances before Lance stepped forward. His actions shocked you, especially when he reached forward and ran the back of his knuckles against the marks on your cheeks. You stiffened beneath his touch, had to tighten your hold on Lotor’s arm to stop him from jumping forward and sending his own knuckles into Lance’s face.

    “Altean,” he whispered. 

    “My home planet,” you confirmed, just as softly.

    Lance’s eyes met yours for only the briefest of moments before he span around to face his friends. “We have to let them in. I think they’re being genuine.”

   Hunk’s eyes widened. “I didn’t take you as the easy type.”

   “We’ve lost too many Alteans as it is,” said Lance. “Allura and Coran will be heartbroken if we don’t at least give them a chance to speak to people like them. They think they’re the last of their kind.”

     “Lotor isn’t a full-born Altean,” Pidge brought up.

   “My mother was Altean,” said Lotor. “But I understand if Y/N is better suited to whatever meeting you plan on setting up.”

    “Let them sleep first,” said Shiro. 

    It went quiet.

    It took a little while for the meaning behind his words to actually set in, but once they did, your eyes widened and your jaw had fallen agape.

    Shiro shrugged. “Don’t think too much into it.”

   “You’re letting us stay?” you exclaimed. 

    “Again,” Shiro replied, already turning to start down the hallway, “don’t think too much into it.”

   +++

   “You were incredible out there.”

   Lotor wound his arms around your waist, tugging you into his chest as you worked at the mirror, unfastening the clips that had held up your knotted hair for the past three days.

    You met his eyes in the reflection, giving him a tiny smile. “We’re safe now, aren’t we?”

   “Thanks to you.” Lotor paused. “Well, as safe as we can be. I’m sure my father will find a way to track us down eventually.”

   “At least we’ve made his job that little bit harder.”

    Lotor smiled, nuzzling his head in the crook of your neck and placing a soft kiss against the flesh. “You’ve always been one to look on the bright side, haven’t you?”

   You turned in your seat, wrapping your arms around his middle. “Only since I met you.” 

[psychicscavenger]

The Spell

@deathbystorm Hi! I was your Shance Valentines Exchange gifter! One of your prompts was for a sleeping beauty type au where they get together afterwards, but Shiro had never intended to tell Lance his feelings for him’

Hope i did the prompt justice! You can read at ao3 here or I’ll post the fic under the cut! Enjoy~

Title: The Spell

ship: Shance

tags: sleeping beauty elements, light angst, fluff, angst with a happy ending

It was supposed to have been a simple diplomatic mission.

Shiro and the rest of the paladins had been invited to a planet for a possible ally ship and hopefully persuade their ruler to join the Coalition against the Galra. The people so far, no matter how beautiful with their tough rock-like exteriors and shimmering eyes, had been very rude with even their King snorting at the idea of joining sides with Voltron. Allura had done all that she could to persuade them but their King seemed uninterested, thinking their small Geode monsters would be enough defense despite the fact they were less than a quarter size compared to Voltron itself.

So they had a brief interlude, the King announcing a quick break with some of his loyal subjects meeting and interacting with the Paladins, thankfully they were hospitable in ways the King wasn't. In fact, the King's son Prince Pyrite was more welcoming than he was. Especially towards a certain paladin who he was sharing a small private conversation with that had Lance giggling cutely every five minutes which made Shiro's blood boil.

So it wasn't exactly known that Shiro had fond feelings towards the Blue Paladin, feelings more fond than the ones he had for the rest of his teammates. He was and always had been a private person, usually going after his interests in a quiet manner however he had ultimately decided a long time ago not to pursue anything regarding his crush towards Lance. One reason being Lance was very flirtatious with him and just about anyone he meets. Shiro recalls with a bitter laugh how one time, Lance had even flirted with a Galran enemy during a mission.

"I was distracting him for you!" Lance had huffed while the rest of the others had laughed at his offended expression while Shiro had sat quietly in the corner, trying to get the image of Lance making bedroom eyes at the blushing agent out of his mind. The most disappointing part was how the flirting had actually worked to their benefit, a fact Shiro was not amused by.

So yeah, Lance probably wouldn't take it serious if Shiro were to come forward with his feelings. There was also the issue that he was essentially Lance's superior officer temporarily given his status of being Voltron's leader. Maybe it wasn't a big deal but Shiro didn't want any relationship of his to be seen as some kind of power imbalance, especially with someone he cared for deeply, so he would do the right thing and keep it to himself. No matter how infuriating it was to watch Prince Pyrite's hands wander closer and closer to Lance's backside every minute they spoke.

"Shiro!" The Black Paladin turned, hoping his glaring wasn't too noticeable as he faced Princess Allura who had a concerned expression as she glanced around, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Allura?" Shirp prompted, curious as to why the Princess was acting weirdly, for her anyway.

"Shiro, we need to leave now. Coran just informed me he had been reading through some communication logs between members of the Coalition when he stumbled upon a log that was between the Galra and our hosts. From what Coran's told me, it seems they were going to do a trade, our lions for their independence." Shiro's eyes widened at that.

"I'll inform the others, we'll make a silent escape so as not to draw too much suspicion." Shiro spoke with Allura nodding in agreement. She slipped away then, heading over to the banquet table where Hunk and Pidge were while Shiro turned back towards Lance only to see he was gone as well as the Prince.

Oh hell.

Shiro quickly made his way over to where he last saw them, noticing a nearby dark hallway that branched off from the main room everyone was in. A sinking feeling in his gut, Shiro made his way down the hallway, hand glowing up in defense as two separate voices bounced across the walls. He pulled out his communicator, sending a warning to the other paladins, telling them to get to their lions as quickly as they could as he slid along the wall, keeping his back against the sturdy bricks until the voices stopped followed by a dull thud noise that echoed throughout the hallway. Ducking his head around the corner, Shiro gasped at the sight of Lance sprawled out on the floor, one of those goblets from the party spilled over the tiles, the puddle of liquid creating a galaxy swirl on the floor, the juice shimmering prettily as Prince Pyrite stood over an unconscious Lance, laughing maniacally in triumph.

"Mighty Voltron indeed! Your precious Blue Paladin has fallen as will the rest of you!" He gestured, sounding just like a Disney villain as Shiro skid to his knees by Lance's side, checking his vitals and sighing gratefully that Lance wasn't dead but rather sleeping. Shiro glanced to the galaxy drink and back at Lance, knowing right away Lance had been given some kind of poison by the Prince which had Shiro's grip tightening protectively even more before turning towards the Prince once again.

"What did you do to him?" Shiro ordered, his hand glowing up once again as the Prince scoffed.

"Please, like we'd ever join your silly Coalition. The Galra promised us our independence and freedom if we at least gave them one of those prestigious lions of yours. Father and I decided why not also dispose of its pilot as well?" The Prince smiled, which was anything but friendly as Shiro scoffed, angry.

"And you think the Galra will honor that? What's stopping them from taking your planets resources? Even if you handed all of the lions over, they will still invade your planet and drain its resources. They don't care about allies as much as they care about making others fear them." He berated. He once again brought out his communicator, alerting the others of the situation before quickly scooping Lance up into his arms, not paying attention to the prince who hung back unwilling to fight as well as reflecting over Shiro's words.

Shiro made his way back to the lions easily with no other issues. Keith had been waiting to extract them in Red as Black and Blue had already taken off back towards the castle, the bonded link between them and their paladins telling them it was time to abscond. He settled back in the cockpit with Lance still asleep in his arms, wondering how bad the damage was and a little unsettled at how Lance seemed so at peace..almost as if he were dead. Once everyone had made it back to the castle, none of them bothering with talking about the species and what had just happened, they immediately moved to the med bay and set Lance on one of the beds, waiting impatiently as the machine started scanning him over, searching for anything amiss in tase a pod needed to be used, all while Lance hovered in the air, still in blissful sleep.

"Aha! It seems the Price had persuaded Lance to drink some of the narcocious berry wine, a powerful sleeping potion made by the berry that can put most species to sleep forever, including humans it seems." Coran explained, twirling his mustache in wonder since he hadn't heard of these things in deca-pheebs. Hunk fidgeted with his hands, eyes grazing over the lifeless body of his best friend as he spoke.

"We can wake him up though right? I mean we need Lance to form Voltron obviously, but I don't want him to sleep forever! Plus, what about when we get back to Earth, what will his family say? Oh no, Veronica will hunt us down..and kill us." Hunk fretted as Pidge patted his arm to calm him down.

"Chill Hunk, I'm sure there's some way we can break the spell. Right Coran?" The younger asked as Coran nodded.

"Indeed Number five! There is a way to break the spell, with a kiss from his one true love!" Coran announced much to the displeasure of the others who bored matching expressions of disbelief and bewilderment.

"Great! How are we going to find someone to kiss Lance?" Keith grumbled. Coran merely snapped his fingers in the air and urged them out of the med bay, Shiro giving one last glance towards the sleeping paladin before following after the others to the main room where Allura piloted the castle.

"After we started taking on allies, so many of the planets citizens sent grateful letters to each of you, I'd say most of you have your own fanbase by now, especially Lance. He's incredibly popular apparently." Coran clicked on some file and a million different pictures and letters popped up of Lance posing with different alien species they had rescued from the Galra. Shiro felt a smile tugging on his face as he gazed at the wonder and glee that adorned Lance's face in every photo.

"If we send out a request to our allies to help our situation, I'm sure one of these fans has to be his true love and break the spell." Coran noted with Allura nodding as well.

"Brilliant Coran! Hopefully we should be done within the next varga and I'm sure Lance will be most excited to meet his true love." She stated excitedly while Shiro felt a pang of despair plant itself in his gut, sure he was happy they'd wake Lance soon but at the same time it would be a bummer to watch some other person, Lance's true love kiss him. He tried not to be too bothered by the idea, as well as when what felt like another few days rolled by and there were hundreds of aliens now at the castle, waiting to plant a kiss on the Blue Paladin's cheek. They decided even if Lance was asleep, the paladin probably wouldn't be okay with strangers kissing him on the lips. Plus, the spell never specified where he should be kissed, so it was a slight loophole. As the hours went by their anticipation became grim as each alien had to turn away in sorrow as Lance did not wake up. The paladins and Alteans grew less hopeful as Lance remained asleep after each kiss to his forehead, cheek, or hand. After what felt like a week had been by, it was down to the final three aliens, only for none of their kisses to work as the Blue Paladin remained asleep, blissfully unaware of the torture he was putting his teammates through.

It went on for weeks like that, they visited many ally planets in hopes somebody could awaken Lance only to be left in disappointment when nothing happened. Shiro took to spending most of his time in the med bay, his hand ruffling through Lance's chestnut locks, wishing the other were awake, to fill the rooms with his boisterous laugh and playful personality. Shiro thought Lance resembled too much like a corpse in this state, his light breathing being the only implication he was even alive, the image a little too haunting at times giving Shiro a chill at the idea.

The weeks became a month and everyone was losing hope by the minute. They had been avoiding any confrontations with the Galra if they could help it, since they were down by one lion and Blue was not lowering her shield for anyone anytime soon, making their situation more desperate. The others had taken to retreating into their own headspaces, Hunk was excessively cooking and baking, wanting to perfect some recipe involving garlic knots so he could present them to Lance when he woke up soon.

They were avoiding the possibility of 'if' for now.

Pidge had greatly missed the older paladin's presence, choosing to spend most of their time with their gadgets in the med bay beside Lance's hovering form. Keith had taken up training almost every second of the day to work off his anger at the situation and concern for his friend as he felt helpless to aid his friend while Allura and Coran constantly kept looking for ally planets that could possibly help as well as researching for another way to break the spell. Shiro spent most of his time reflecting on his thoughts, memories, and regret. His late nights wandering the halls grew more solemn and quiet since Lance used to join him sometimes when he usually took a bathroom break in the middle of the night. Shiro chuckled to himself, recalling fondly how Lance would try to stay up with Shiro as late as he could before eventually succumbing to his own sleepiness, making Shiro the one to take him back to bed and tuck him in. Those late night talks meant everything to Shiro as he learned a lot about Lance those nights.

He learned Lance was the youngest of five children and claimed he was his parent's favorite. "The baby is always the favorite Shiro! Everybody knows that!" Lance had griped when Shiro questioned whether that was true. He learned Lance missed his home very much, talking about Varadero Beach any chance he could. He loved looking at the stars at night, had a particular brand of moisturizer he used the most, talked in his sleep, loved playing with his niece and nephew, and could sing really well. Shiro wasn't sure when he had developed stronger feelings towards the Blue Paladin, but he certainly regretted not telling Lance his true feelings, wishing as he sat by Lance's side, brushing his fingers through chestnut locks that he could tell him his true feelings.

Luckily, that chance came sooner than he thought it would.

They were all in the med bay, running more scans on Lance to make sure everything was okay (mostly to make sure he was still just in a deep sleep) when Pidge suddenly snapped their fingers in realization.

"Guys! I may have found the answer!" No sooner were the words out of their mouth, Hunk grabbed the front of their jacket, a crazed look in his eye.

"Well spit it out Pidge!"

"I'm trying to! Anyways, what if Lance's true love doesn't have to be in the romantic sense? What if platonic love or even familial love could break the spell?" They asked excited for the possibility as the others now were.

"Coran? Is this possible?" Allura asked hopeful as Coran thought over it.

"You know what Number Five? I'd say we give it the ol' mature noggin assessments enhancement attempt!" Pidge merely blinked at him before shrugging his words off. "We use the expression 'college try' but I'm assuming it means the same thing as whatever you were suggesting."

"Hmm 'college' a funny word if I've ever one," Coran stated, talking more to himself than the others who gathered around Lance's bed unsure. Keith eyed everyone, looking obviously uncomfortable with what they were about to possibly do.

"So ah..what do we do?" He asked turning away pointedly as Hunk glanced around.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about kissing Lance, I know he's not dead but,"

"Oh for the love of Beyonce! Move!" Pidge shoved both of them out of the way, ready to get this over with. The younger paladin leaned down, pressing their lips to Lance's forehead, cheeks burning up in embarrassment as the others stood there waiting in anticipation. Pidge stood back up, eyes roving over Lance's face waiting hopefully only to sag in defeat as Lance remained sleeping, not even a slight twitch.

"It's okay Pidge, here let me try." Hunk scooted in front of them and eagerly leaned down to kiss the same spot where Pidge did, leaning back up with hope only to look crestfallen as Lance remained asleep even for his best friend. This made the others nervous now, if Lance and Hunk's bromance couldn't break the spell, what could?

"Keith?" Allura asked, wondering if he was still going to try only for the other man to groan unwillingly before quickly yanking Lance's hand towards himself and planting a firm but gentle kiss to his knuckles. Like Hunk and Pidge, Keith was met with a light snore from Lance that had him growling in annoyance.

"He's not going to wake up no matter what we do!" He griped as Allura decided it was time for her to take a shot with her kissing Lance's hand like Keith did only to sag in disappointment when the other still slept.

"Shiro?" Coran prompted, noting the other hadn't tried yet with Shiro nervously glancing at the others, slightly less hopeful this will work out. He shifted closer to the bed, leaning down and running his fingers through Lance's hair once again, thumb caressing the side of Lance's face before he knelt down and kissed Lance's forehead, a part of him wishing and hoping that this would work and he'd get to see those blue eyes once more.

And indeed he did.

With a slight groan, Lance's eyes fluttered open sleepily, the motion announced by Hunk who nearly pushed Shiro aside to hug his best friend with Pidge and Allura joining him as Keith and Coran stood back relieved. Shiro stood still, amazed that the kiss had worked! He gave a slight laugh of happiness and relief as he cradled Lance in his arms, pulling him close in a hug as the others enveloped themselves around them as well. Lance, who was confused by all this attention merely yawned before joking that he was being squished.

"Guys what's going on? Was I gone or something?" Lance asked once the group hug was over, mildly wondering if he had been in the cryopod again for a while again only to be met with such amused faces full of relief. The biggest surprise was Shiro who still had his arms around him and looking down at him with the softest expression he'd ever seen on the man.

"Yeah Lance, you were gone for a while and we just we really missed you." He explained somewhat with Lance nodding along, not really understanding it but knew how choked up the others were given their teary reactions right now. After a few more rounds of hugs and tears, Lance was allowed out of the med bay after a quick scan proving he was fine where the team informed him of what happened, regarding the prince poisoning him, the spell, and trying to find the right person to break said spell which caught Lance's attention immediately.

"So you guys were just kissing me until I woke up?" Lance asked, his nose scrunching up at the idea he essentially made out with so many different aliens and his hot teammates and of course he was unconscious through it all!

"Well, not quite, the spell said true loves kiss could break it so we searched for everyone you had flirted with and then Pidge got the brilliant idea that it could be true platonic love or even familial and its must've worked considering it was Shiro who brought you back to us." Allura explained much to Lance's confusion and Shiro's mortification.

"Huh..really?" Lance eyed Shiro, his cheeks darkening and the look curious which had Shiro making up a quick excuse about them needing to get the word out to the allies about Voltron being back. The team separated after that, Hunk going to present Lance his garlic knots, a batch he made that finally worked out with Pidge and Keith staying with Allura and Coran to help notify their allies. Coran was especially excited to announce it was a fellow paladin that, "Brought our Loverboy Lance back from dreamland!" Shiro noted Lance yawning once more (there were still traces of the poison still left in his body that would wear off eventually) and offered to help him to his room to rest, which Lance responded with a sleepy nod, getting up and making his way towards the exit, Shiro right on his heels.

With Shiro guiding him back to his room, Lance felt his heart fluttering wondering what he should do given his crush had essentially kissed him! Oh, of all the times he had to be asleep it was when Shiro kissed him! As the two paladins walked in, Lance groaned and flopped on his bed, ignoring Shiro's amused snort as the taller sent a curious look Lance's way.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy you finally woke up after so long." He teased but dropped it as soon as Lance turned to glare back at him.

"Hardly! Mostly I'm just embarrassed you had to find out about my super secret crush on you this way! It's like a story from my niece's fairytales book! So embarrassing! Ugh!" Lance turned around and groaned into his pillow, unaware of the flustered man still standing beside him. Shiro cleared his throat a couple times, trying to get his nerves together as he tried to figure out how sentences worked again.

"S-so you have a crush on me?" Shiro asked hesitant if he should approach this topic when Lance rolled over and sighed. He had such defeated look on his face Shiro almost wanted to drop the subject but Lance spoke before he could suggest it.

"Yeah might as well since it was you who kissed me..wait a minute!" Lance launched to his feet nearly tipping over in his sleepy glory but thankfully Shiro caught him, holding him gently against his chest as he recognized the knowing look on Lance's face.

"It was true loves kiss that woke me up! And it was you!" Lance pointed out as Shiro felt his ears burning.

"Well..I, yes. It was. Or rather required for the spell to work." Shiro suggested but Lance kept on, now pacing across the floor as he begun to think.

"But If I only woke up when you kissed me then that means you're my true love Shiro, but how? You're so cool and well known while I'm just a cargo pilot from Cuba you've never heard of so maybe its wishful thinking to ask this but, do you like me? Like-like me that is." Lance fidgeted with his thumbs, blushing at the thought which Shiro found adorable. He sighed as he crossed over to Lance, putting his hands on his shoulders and taking a deep breath, the jig was finally up, might as well, but knowing Lance liked him back made it much easier now.

"Yes, I do like-like you. Have been for a while and while I wasn't planning on telling you because I myself thought I was being delusional imagining the possibility an 'us'. Now, after not getting to see you everyday with your bright smile, your wonderful laugh, and cute snores, I realized that if I could go back in time and confess to you before the spell ever happened I would. So I'm saying it now." Shiro's arms slid down until they took Lance's stunned hands in his own, caressing the soft digits as he gazed gently into Lance's eyes as he spoke,

"I'm in love with you Lance. Not sure when it started, but I want you to know that even if you might not want to pursue this..thing between us. Just know I'll always care for you deeply in my heart." With a new burst of confidence and affection, Shiro leaned in to press a kiss against Lance's cheek, wanting to show some sign of his physical affection which brought forth a brilliant crimson blush to bloom across Lance's whole face.

"I-Shiro..I can't believe you said those things to me. I must still be dreaming, quick pinch my side for me!" Lance ordered turning in Shiro's grip a little as Shiro playfully groaned.

"Lance I'm serious, I meant every word I said." He stated gazing into Lance's eyes as he spoke. Lance's lips quirked up into a smile as he leaned forward, eyes fluttering closed before he planted a small kiss on Shiro's lips an action that left the older man breathless as he stood there stunned before Lance pulled back, smiling cheekily.

"Then I mean every word when I say I'm in love with you too." Lance breathed when they broke apart. Shiro felt as if a mass of butterflies had sprung loose in his gut, the feeling so light and airy it almost tickled. As he pulled the younger man close again, the two joining in lip-lock once more, he knew he would never doubt his feelings for Lance ever again.

[blueplanettrash]

We’ll Meet Again (Part 8)

It’s literally been like six months since I posted the last chapter. I think I might focus on updating old stories right now until I get motivated to write something new. I hope you guys enjoy! 💙

They still had a long way to go before they were fully merged with each other, but it was clear to the others that at least Shiro and Lance were getting a bit closer in their relationship then they had before.

If they would just fucking stay in the same room together.

Keith didn’t know how much longer he could watch them bump into each other in the halls of in the kitchen and awkwardly stutter and blush their way away from each other. He honestly wanted to bang his head on the counter. Or maybe their heads into the counter. Maybe they would jump up to defend each other. Yes. Next time, Shiro’s head was meeting granite.

Fortunately, the plan to slam Shiro into a counter was interrupted by an emergency transmission by a nearby planet. Although they tried their hardest to stay out of harm’s way, they couldn’t exactly ignore a planet’s plea for help and immediately flew out. It wasn’t long until they were on the ground aiding in evacuation and ground fighting.

Allura and Coran kept their eye on the action from the Castle, carefully sending out instructions to the paladins. As they canvassed the area, they saw Lance and Shiro facing off against a group of Galra soldiers, as the group pushed closer, it forced Lance and Shiro closer together until their backs were pressed against each other. They glanced over their shoulders at each other before smirking and lashing out against the soldiers.

They moved perfectly in sync as if they had been fighting together their whole lives. As Allura and Coran watched in awe, they spun around each other, punches and kicks flying over each other’s back as they ducked. With a grin, Shiro picked Lance up and spun him around the circle of enemies, Lance kicking them away.

They let out laughs of joy as they easily beat the soldiers back forcing them to retreat. They chased them away from the city until they were escaping to their ships. As they disappeared from the atmosphere, they turned to each other wide smiles on their faces. There was only a slight hesitation from Shiro before he scooped Lance up into a hug, his hand going behind Lance’s head to press it into his shoulder. With a small laugh, Lance wrapped his arms around Shiro’s back and squeezed comfortably.

“Good God finally,” Keith’s voice huffed over the coms. With a blush, they jumped apart and started stuttering out apologies and explanations to each other.

“Aw Keith, you just ruined it,” Hunk complained.

“At least it’s a step forward,” Pidge added.

“Can you please stop?” Lance whined with a blush as the two of them started heading back towards the Castle.

There was a moment of complete silence.

“cAn YoU pLeAsE StOp?,” she mocked. Shiro let out a snort and covered his mouth. Lance let out a gasp and gave him a blinding smile.

“We’ve got another spicy memelord on board,”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!” Shiro argued with a wave of his arms. Lance turned to him with a pout.

“Why don’t you want to enjoy the spice with me?”

Shiro looked at him with dead eyes before spinning around, “I’m leaving,”

Lance choked out a laugh and ran after him, jumping up and latching onto Shiro’s back.

“Do they even fucking realize?” Keith droned. At his sides, both Pidge and Hunk shook their heads with a small sigh.

“Of course not,”

He laid gasping against the cold floor of the hangers, hands pressed against the wound in his stomach.

“Zarkon why?” His voice came out weak, his voice hitching slightly. There was no trace of the kind-hearted Galra he knew, his eyes were overtaken by a purple glow.

“I am the only true paladin of the Black Lion,” he growled, before turning and stalking out of the hanger, the black bayard clutched in his hand. Sheeva watched him with wide eyes, not completely understanding what was happening. He tried to crawl forward, attempt to get any sort of help but he collapsed with a painful whine.

“Alluran,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes closed. He curled into a fetal position and attempted to stop the blood flow but nothing was working. He choked as the panic finally took hold and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Alluran!” He sobbed. All he wanted was to see his fiancé, to hold him close until the pain was over. He paused at the thought. They were never going to get married. They were never going to truly belong to each other. A new sense of urgency dug into him and he attempted to drag himself over to the doors again, if he got out, there would be patrols along the hallway and maybe he would be saved.

He didn’t want to die alone. He didn’t want to be found cold and gone in the hangers days from now. Would they even know it was Zarkon? Would he get justice for his death?

He collapsed only a few yards later, arms trembling with exhaustion. He beat his hand into the floor at his weakness. With a glance up, he could see the door still miles away from him.

In all his life, he never imagined that he would go out like this. He trusted Zarkon with his life, with everyone he loved. He trusted him to take care of Alluran if anything ever happened to him, now he just hoped that he would leave him alone. That thought was quickly dashed though, he knew how powerful Alluran’s emotions were. He worried what would happen to him without him here.

“My love, take your time,” he whispered, as his eyes slowly glazed over.

Shiro’s eyes snapped open with a gasp. For a minute he just stared up at the ceiling and let the tears slide down his cheeks and wet the inside of his ears. He had never felt such crushing sadness before. He knew that what he just saw wasn’t just a dream, but his own memories.

He pushed himself up to sit and crawled out of bed with a rustle of the sheets. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep any more that night, not with the heavy cloud that was looming over him at least. He didn’t bother to change out of his pyjamas and just slipped on his lion slippers before leaving his room to wander the halls.

The first thing he was aware of was the crushing loneliness that was overtaking his body. There was nothing left for him on the face of this planet anymore. His love was dead and the only merit at the moment was that he would be joining him soon.

He blearily looked up at the figures surrounding him, being for him to take a bite of food, or a sip of water, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He knew in his heart that what he was doing was selfish, that he should be helping his people fight back against Zarkon since it was clear that he wasn’t just going to stop after murdering his apprentice. He should be trying to stay strong like Allura always was able to but he just couldn’t.

He knew that Allura would never hold it against him and for that he was thankful. It made the devastation that he was feeling just a bit lighter sometimes.

It was times like that, that he thought of Sheeva and would be drawn back into his mind. He thought of all the times that they wouldn’t get, the memories that they would never get to make with each other. Not in this lifetime anyway.

His fingers weakly squeezed against Allura’s hand, he could feel himself slipping. It was time.

“I’ll see you on the other side,” the words quietly left as his eyes slipped shut.

He woke without a word. Tears were rolling down his face and his heart ached with the memory of loneliness and hopelessness. He curled up on his side, letting himself fall back into the despair for a moment before slipping out of bed and out into the halls.

They were making progress over the past couple of weeks, he knew that the rest of the paladins were getting sick of them but they didn’t know how hard it was to constantly relive the memories of a past life. They didn’t know how hard it was to fall in love again after losing that person before. He was so scared that if he fell in love with Shiro with or without their past selves that he was going to lose him again.

He already knew how much it hurt the first time it happened. If he was killed again, he didn’t know how he was going to react.

He sniffled and wiped his arm across his face. He wanted more than anything to have what Alluran and Sheeva did, but it was hard after seeing what happened to them. But he couldn’t deny the rush of emotions that overtook him when Shiro was near. He felt so safe and happy when they talked or he even just smiled at him.

It was both a shock and relief when he walked into the lounge and saw the top of Shiro’s head peeking over the top of the couch.

“Shiro?” He called, his head turning to look back at Lance.

“Oh Lance, hey,” he responded, head turning to keep his eyes on Lance as he walked closer and sat beside him on the couch.

“Why are you up?” Lance asked. Shiro sheepishly looked down with a blush on his face.

“Nightmares,” he admitted. Lance swallowed and nodded his head in sympathy.

“Me too,”

“Was it about…you know, Alluran?” Shiro asked hesitantly. At the reminder of the memories, Lance bit his lip and nodded his head even as tears welled up in his eyes.

“What about you?” He echoed. Shiro sniffled and nodded his head as well.

“Maybe we should talk about this?” Lance suggested. Shiro didn’t look up but silently nodded his head again.

“Shiro, despite what everyone else thinks I haven’t realized; I am in love with you and I know that you’re in love with me,” he started, not flinching when Shiro reached out and weaved their fingers together.

“Is it that obvious?” Shiro asked with a slight smirk. Lance huffed out a laugh and tightened his hold on his hand.

“I guess you’re just a bit easier to read when I’ve already fallen in love with you before,” Lance teased.

“Sounds about right,” Shiro agreed with a smile but it fell at the frown on Lance’s face. “What’s wrong?” He asked with concern, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind Lance’s ear.

“I’m just so scared,” he whispered, leaning against Shiro’s side. “I already lost you once and it completely broke me and now we’re in a war, what if I lose you again?”

Shiro frowned and wrapped his arm around Lance, holding him securely.

“I will do everything in my power to never leave you again, just say that you won’t leave me alone either,” Shiro pleaded, turning to push his face into Lance’s hair.

“I won’t” Lance promised, tilting his head up to rest it in the crook of Shiro’s neck.

They sat in each other’s company, silently shedding tears until they fell asleep, clutched in each other’s arms.

“WAKE UP BITCHES!” The two of them awoke with a shock, scrambling away from each other, breathing hard and eyes darting around wildly. They both glanced over to see Pidge with a shit eating grin on her face and the rest of the team looking on casually.

“Really Pidge?” Sheeva groaned, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

“Wait, Sheeva?” Alluran asked, turning to look at the Altean. Sheeva’s mouth dropped open and he lunged back over to finally embrace his love.

“Alluran!” He cried with excitement, hefting the prince up with a laugh and spinning the two of them around. Alluran giggled maniacally, clutching Sheeva’s neck for support.

“I’ve missed you so much darling,” Allura said quietly when his feet met the ground again.

“As have I,” Sheeva agreed, resting his forehead against Alluran’s. Without a word, Alluran pushed himself up on his toes and kissed Sheeva.

“Fucking finally,” Keith muttered with a grin.

Part 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

Stories Masterlist

[fangzeronos]

SDCC 2018 wrap up

Ok now that SDCC is over, I feel like I should do a little wrap up for the weekend. I got to sit and wait for all the trailers and news to come out since I couldn’t afford to go, so this is gonna be strictly from the “Nerd on the Couch” perspective. I’m putting a read more in case anyone wanna skip this.

 Titans: The trailer was alright. Robin’s in a bad place because of Batman so his “Fuck Batman” line is justified. Starfire and Beast Boy could still use some work, but it was only the first trailer, so we’ll have to reserve judgement until the show comes out. I’m looking forward to it anyway.

 Young Justice Outsiders: It’s actually real. I thought for the last two years we’ve all been thinking it’s not coming and that we’ve all been living in a dream about wanting it back. I was in the middle of the store when I saw the trailer and my heart stopped. Two minutes of Season 2 recap, including Wally’s ‘death’ (HE ISN’T DEAD ALRIGHT!? HE’S JUST IN THE SPEED FORCE AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE DAMMIT!!!) before we get the new footage. The new characters look amazing, Geoforce looks like he’s going to be a good character, hopefully we’ll get Terra since she’s “been missing for two years”. Still waiting to see M’gann, Kaldur, Beast Boy, and the rest of the season 2 cast, but I’m excited for this one more then Titans.

 And since both shows above are going to be on the DC Universe Online service, I can see paying $75 a year for it if we’re going to get more Young Justice. With all the shows coming out on DCUO, like Harley Quinn, Stargirl, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and all of the older shows like Batman The Animated Series, Wonder Woman, the older DC movies and the comics, I can justify paying that much for a yearlong subscription.

 Supergirl: Season 4 looks like it’s going to be interesting. Agent Liberty seems like a decent antagonist, but with the way this show has done in the past, hyping a villain for the first half and then swapping it with a generic bad guy for the second, I don’t have much hope. It looks like they’re toning down the relationship drama from season 2 and 3, which is good. I’m honestly thinking they’re going to screw Lena’s character development and have her go evil Luthor judging by how season 3 ended with her “We can begin phase two” line and having the Harun-El made up that she gave to Alura. A few quick shots of Alex as Director of the DEO sporting a new haircut, nothing too revealing except for the Supergirl spacesuit at the end. I saw it and my mind went to the first Injustice 2 game trailer from 2016 with the armored look. I’m looking forward to the new season, not keen on it being on Sundays before the Charmed reboot but have to get the viewers for a remake somehow.

 Arrow: Oliver Queen in prison. That’s a hell of a concept for the season. We know something’s going to change and he’s going to be out by the fourth or fifth episode, possibly earlier. Decent shots of the other characters, Dinah wearing SCPD riot gear was a nice touch, Laurel-2 denouncing vigilantism makes for an interesting idea considering what the hell she’s done in the last seasons. Diaz is fine, not enjoying having him around again but since he didn’t get killed at the end of the last season, it’s fine. Longbow Hunters might make for interesting fodder, but we can’t be sure until the show starts. I’m sick of Felicity, but that arguments been done to death. We all know it was Roy in the Green Arrow suit in the end of the trailer. If it had been Diggle, we’d have seen his face and since we know Roy’s back, it doesn’t really give us many options to choose from. I’m glad it’s on Mondays now so I can watch it and keep up instead of being behind.

 Legends of Tomorrow: It looks great. This one has become one of my favorites on the network and I’m glad to see they’re getting more episodes. Hopefully this season doesn’t get shafted and end up getting thrown to a different night or time or cut in the middle for a different show. Bringing Constantine back for a regular spot is a good move considering what they’re going to be dealing with thanks to the fallout from killing Mallus. Dragons, demons, all sorts of magical and mythical creatures. “Couldn’t we be heroes just a little longer?” made me laugh and it’s that sort of thing that makes Legends stand out to me. It can be dark and gritty but still lighthearted and fun. It’s what Flash started to be and it’s what Arrow needs to be. I’m glad it’s going to be on Mondays along with Arrow.

 Flash: Coming off of the reveal that Mystery Girl is actually Barry and Iris’ daughter (which I’d had a feeling about anyway since she was so giddy at the wedding in the Crisis crossover), Nora seems to be a fun addition to the cast this year. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what she messed up, why she came back, and why didn’t she learn from Barry’s mistakes about screwing with the Timeline. Cicada looks to be interesting, and I hope he’s going to be the main villain for the year. I want to know more about how Caitlin was Frost before the Accelerator and Flashpoint happened, or is it a side effect of Flashpoint two years later? Guess we’ll find out in October.

 Aquaman: The trailer looked amazing. This might just be part of what the DCEU needs to get its shit together and stop being so grimdark. Wonder Woman proved DC movies can do fun and lighthearted and still hit some dark themes and notes, and this looks like it’s going to do the same thing. Jason Mamoa looks as badass as he did in Justice League, Amber Heard is beautiful as Mera. Atlantis looked amazing. I’m thoroughly excited and December can’t come quick enough to see this.

 Shazam!: One of my favorite DC heroes, man. Zachary Levi just killed it in this trailer and I was laughing the whole way through. If the movie keeps that same energy up, I’ll be damn happy. March release for this one and I’m ready to go!

 Godzilla: King of the Monsters: It’s frigging Godzilla, fighting his own list of bad guys. Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, all classics that should have been in the first one instead of the MUTO. I’ve always been a Godzilla nerd, so when I saw this trailer I was geeking the fuck out. I’m definitely excited for this one.

 Now, you’re probably wondering, “Hey, where’s Voltron in all of this?” and you’d be right that I haven’t talked about it yet. I have spent three days milling over the reveals from the Voltron panel and been trying the right ways to word things, so I don’t seem like I’m being an asshole and damning myself with what I’m going to say. Now, with that out of the way.

 The season 7 trailer looked good. We’re going back to Earth, so who knows how much time really has passed since the only indication we’ve had was the week that Kuron was in the Galra fighter before Keith and Black found him back in season 3. I’m sad to see that season 8 is going to be the last of VLD, but I can understand why, since they were only approved for so many episodes. Going back to a 13-episode season is the best thing they could have done. Keith piloting Black still kind of irks me, but with Shiro only having one arm, I guess it makes sense. I would much rather have Allura in Black, put Lance back in Blue, and give Red back to Keith, but that’s a whole other post.

 The big thing people took away from the panel was “You’ll meet Shiro’s significant other, Adam.” When I saw that on Twitter, I was…. I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed. You’ve had six seasons of moments between Shiro and Allura, the Hand Touch, the way she looked at him when he said “You found me” at the end of the season, how adamant they are about saving each other every time they’re in danger, Shiro’s resolve to get her back in Season 1 after she threw him into the shuttle and got taken by the Galra. And now it’s all thrown out of the airlock?

 No offense to the writers, Josh Keaton who gets mad credit for keeping this close to the chest and not revealing anything, the fans that are a fan of this plot point for the next season, but I’m not a fan. Don’t get me wrong, LGBT representation in animation/kids’ media has come a long way in a few short years. Look at Steven Universe. One of the main characters is a literal fusion of two she-pronoun using space rocks. I just feel like this is shoehorned in like a checkmark on an RPG character creation. “PTSD? Check. Missing limb? Check. Male POC? Check. What else can we check to make people happy? OH! Gay! DOUBLE CHECK!!” is what it feels like to me. To me, this feels like the writers have been shadow stalking Tumblr, AO3, FF.net, everywhere else Voltron is big and made their choice but what the popular ships were in the search results.

 Make Shiro gay, fine. Make him bi, that’d be a better option because then we can ship him with whoever we want and not get comments that say that shipping Shiro with Allura or any other female member of this show is gay erasure. By saying “Shiro’s gay”, you’re shooting all of the other Shiro ships in the face. Shieth shippers are over the moon, Shallura shippers are sitting in a corner, Klance shippers are looking between the two going “WTF”, and the rest of the internet’s like “Why is it a big deal?”

 I feel like I should stop there about this. This is already more then a page in my word doc.

 SDCC 2018 was fun to watch from a distance. CW brought some good trailers, DC killed it with 8 trailers, and Voltron is what it is. Now begins the countdown for SDCC 2019.

[maychorian]

For wump bingo, what about "needing to pause and close their eyes because they're light headed, exhausted, or have a bad headache" with Krolia and Lance?

This one went very long for some reason. Hope you like it!

Whump Bingo! Here’s the post. Here’s my progress.

Krolia knew what propaganda was. She knew how it worked. So when she’d seen a broadcast of The Voltron Show, as most of the universe did, she assumed that it was almost entirely nonsense. Once she got to know the paladins herself, she found that that was mainly true.

There were glimmers of the stage personalities here and there, certainly. The Green Paladin was very smart, and the Black Paladin was very heroic and brave, the perfect image of a leader. The Yellow Paladin was probably the farthest from the stage persona. Hunk made jokes on occasion, certainly, but Krolia wasn’t surprised to learn that he was also very smart, very kind, and very brave as well, even when he didn’t believe it of himself. The propaganda, in this case, had done a grave disservice, though Krolia understood the need for archetypes in show business. The real Hunk was much more appealing and personable than the show Hunk. It was a shame that the entire universe wouldn’t get a chance to know his true self.

The one who probably lived up the closest to his counterpart in The Voltron Show was the Blue Paladin. As Krolia got to know this crew of young people from a backwater planet, it seemed to her that Lance was always performing. Always flirting, always joking, always showing off. He got serious on occasion, too, but even in the middle of strategy sessions and intergalactic conferences, he had a tendency to make side comments to lighten the mood or take the pressure off someone who was struggling. It was a skill in itself, one that Krolia by no means despised. But she did wonder if Lance ever stopped performing.

“Is he always like this?” she asked her son, aside, the first time she was introduced to the entire crew and Lance went off on a rant admiring her beauty, then comparing her to Allura, then demanding that Matt Holt back him up, which Matt Holt did with apparent pleasure. It was almost a comedy routine, one that seemed polished and practiced. Krolia found herself charmed and annoyed in almost equal measure.

Keith just nodded wearily. “Yes, he’s always like this.”

Krolia hummed, eyebrows lowering, and he looked at her face in something like alarm. “Lance is a good guy, though, I promise. Very loyal once he considers you part of his team. Or family. We didn’t get along so well at first, but after Shiro disappeared for a while… Let’s just say he stepped up to the plate. Better than I did. He’s an asset to the team, and a very good friend.”

Krolia gave him a smile. “I don’t doubt that. I just find this showboating…a bit offputting.”

Keith huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “Yeah, you’re not the only one. Hang in there. It gets better.”

And it did get better. As Krolia spent time with Lance, especially when they went on a goodwill tour of planets that had just joined the Voltron Coalition, she wondered why Lance bothered to hide behind the flirty, loverboy facade at all. His normal personality was plenty sweet and sincere enough. It was a twist of irony that he was more charming when he wasn’t trying to charm.

But there were definitely some folks who fell for Lance’s stage persona, who even loved it, came close to demanding it. In public appearances, there was always a crowd of young citizens, many female, cheering for the loverboy Lance and asking for his autograph, his smile, a moment of his time. Sometimes private meetings with politicians and planetary leaders carried the same expectations. People wanted Lance to put on a show, to win their support with his wit and his personality.

For the most part, Lance soaked up the attention. He enjoyed being fawned over, though sometimes the strain of it would show at the end of a long day. He enjoyed the feasts and the parades, the galas and the ceremonies.

And Lance truly, honestly tried to use his power for good. While he enjoyed personal accolades, he was quick to turn it away after a moment of enjoyment. “It was my team who saved you,” he would say. “All of Voltron. We all want to defend you and help your planet.” He would talk up the individual merits of all of his team members, praising them in the most effusive language imaginable.

He turned it to Krolia, too. “Hey, don’t forget our allies in the Blade of Marmora,” he would say, clapping her on the shoulder and pushing her forwad. “This is Krolia. She was with us on that last mission, and it never would have succeeded without her. We’re all part of the Coalition together.”

This did not always go over well. In fact, it rarely did. Most beings looked at Krolia and saw only the color of her fur, the truth of her heritage. They saw a Galra, not a Blade, and to far too many people in the universe, “Galra” meant tyranny and cruelty and subjugation, not a force for justice and freedom. Lance got grumbles and looks askance, sometimes outright hostility when he tried to turn the praise to Krolia and her organization.

Still, Lance did not stop doing it. He never stopped trying. He honored and respected Krolia and her comrades for what they did, not who they were. This, more than anything else, endeared him to Krolia.

Lance was a good boy. And he was young, barely more than a cub. As she got to know him, Krolia was eventually able to see when the pressure started getting to him.

His smiles would become a shade less broad, his eyes a bit less bright. He hesitated in his speech, fumbled momentarily for words. It was never a big difference, not enough that most people noticed. But Krolia was not most people. She was a Blade, and she had been spying on those who did not want to be seen for a long, long time.

At this particular event, Lance seemed to be struggling more than usual. He kept pausing to close his eyes for a moment. He narrowed his eyes against the bright lights shining in his face, sometimes even shading his face with one slender hand. After Krolia saw his shoulders trembling, she’d had enough.

She stepped closer to the podium where Lance was speaking and leaned over into the microphone. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I just received an urgent message from Voltron. Paladin Lance and I will need to retire and confer. Excuse us, please?”

The politicans and citizenry who had gathered to the meet the representatives of the Voltron Coalition nodded instantly, waving their hands and telling them to take their time. Krolia put her arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulled him into a back room, though he eyed her curiously the whole time. He let her manhandle him, though he was obviously confused.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Krolia reached for the light controls and dimmed them considerably. Lance sighed in relief, his knees shaking, and leaned back against the wall. His eyes closed for only a few ticks before he opened them to look at Krolia again. “What’s this about? I didn’t hear anything coming over my helmet. Do you have a special communicator or something? I want a special communicator.” He muttered the last sentence, sounding strangely childish and petulant over being excluded.

Krolia smiled fondly and patted his shoulder. “No, nothing like that. I just noticed that you were having trouble, and the light seemed to be bothering you. Is it better in here?”

Lance blinked several times. “Yes, much better. Thank you.”

Krolia nodded and stepped back. “Then we’ll stay in here for as long as it takes for you to recover. Do you know what’s wrong? Are you sick? Overtired?”

Lance shook his head slowly. “Nah, nothing like that. It’s just a headache.”

“Do you experience this often? This is not the first time I’ve seen you squinting or closing your eyes in bright light.”

“It comes and goes. I admit it’s a little worse this time. Something about the spectrum of light on this planet might be harsh on my human eyes, I guess.” He looked worried. “I was trying really hard not to show it. I don’t want to insult our hosts. Do you think anyone else noticed?”

“I don’t think so.” Krolia stepped over and hand a careful hand over his head, and Lance closed his eyes with a soft sigh. “I just noticed because I’ve been watching you for so long, cub.”

Lance opened his eyes to look at her, a soft smile appearing on his face. “Cub? You think of me as a cub?”

Krolia shrugged and pulled back, abashed. “You’re my son’s age. You’re all cubs to me. I know you’re a warrior, but…”

Lance released a light chuckle. “It’s okay. You didn’t offend me.” He reached out for her hand again and placed it on his own forehead, sighing as the cool pads of her fingers touched his warm skin. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Krolia shuffled a step closer at the encouragement, pressing her hand more fully over his forehead. “Let me know when your headache is better. We’ll go out when you’re ready, and not a moment sooner.”

Lance hummed his appreciation, and they stood there in the dim room, shoulders pressed together, for a good long while.

[braincoins]

Title: Surviving Memory Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Summary: Shiro has the opportunity to get his lost memories restored. But is he ready for that? Ships: very light background Shallura Warnings: blood mention Author’s Notes: This one's kind of personal for me. Channeling some of myself into Shiro here. But, really, isn't that what fanfic's all about?

As usual, props out to @materassassino for her beta assistance!

(2,903 words - also on AO3)

           “I-I’m sorry, you can do… what?”

           Ryner frowned just slightly. “Our translators should still be working. Do I need to run a scan? I can have it fixed in…”

           “No, no,” Shiro rushed to reassure her. “Your translators are still working. I’m… mostly sure, anyway. No, I’m just… I don’t know what to think.”

           “How would something like that even work?” Hunk asked.

           Ryner brightened as she always did whenever she got to explain something. “Brain matrices aren’t really that different from any other organism or compound. Much more complex, of course, but foundationally very similar.”

           She went on explaining to the Paladins, but Shiro wasn’t really listening. Her earlier words echoed in his head. “We believe we can restore your lost memories.”

           It was Pidge’s voice that snapped him back out of it. “Oh, so it’s basically like defragmenting a drive!” She got a bit loud when she was this enthusiastic. The mere sight of Olkarion tended to raise her voice a few decibels on its own.

           “Yes,” Ryner agreed. She turned back to Shiro. “So we won’t be able to see your memories, if that is what is troubling you. It does not function that way. It just brings your own mind into alignment. You are the only one who will have access to these memories, I promise.”

           He nodded and cleared his throat. “Y-yes, I… I understand. Thank you, Ryner. It’s kind of you to offer. Olkari technology never ceases to amaze me.” She smiled at that, and he forced a smile in return. “I…”

           He was going to say he needed to think about it. But the thought came to him that his locked-away memories might contain valuable intel about the Empire. He squared his shoulders.

           “I’d be glad to get my memories back. Thank you. How soon can we do this?”

           “We’re still bringing it back online,” she said. “It’s one of our older tech pieces, from before the Galra showed up. It was hidden, damaged; they probably didn’t even notice it. We’ve repaired it, but I want to make sure we get the power levels right before we use it. Tomorrow at the latest.”

           “I’ll help!” Pidge offered. Hunk was right there with her. Lance and Keith were studying him carefully as the two techies of the team followed Ryner out.

           “I’m going to get some rest before then,” Shiro said, heading for the door.

           “Hey, Shiro,” Lance began.

           “I’m fine, Lance.”

           “You’re not,” Keith insisted, running up to keep pace with him.

           “Look, if even Keith can tell, then we know something’s up,” Lance declared.

           “I appreciate the concern, you two, but really. I just want to get some rest. I’m just tired, that’s all.”

           Thankfully, they left him alone after that, but before he was totally out of earshot, he thought he heard Lance say something like, “Don’t worry, I know what to do.” That was worrisome. He decided to head back to his room on the Castle, where he could lock the door, just in case.

             He lost track of time, laying on his back in his bunk, staring up at the ceiling. This shouldn’t be a big deal, he chided himself. But it was. And, if he was being honest, he knew why; he just didn’t want to admit it. Not even to himself.

           He didn’t want to have to face what he’d done in that lost year. He didn’t want to know whether he had only ever defeated bloodthirsty fighters like Myzax or if there had been innocents as well – other prisoners who didn’t even know what they were in for. What had he done to survive?

           He didn’t want to remember everything they’d done to him. Was there more than just his hand? Nothing else was as obvious, but that didn’t mean the new arm was the only change they’d made. Had he been tortured into giving up information about Earth?

           He hated the shattered quality of what memories he did have, hated how he would stumble over them seemingly at random, and how they would cut him and make him bleed. He hated not knowing things about himself, but at least when he didn’t know for sure, he could pretend it was all okay. He could console himself with, “Well, I don’t know, so I’ll just assume the best.” That was how he got through the bad times.

           Sometimes, Sendak’s voice still haunted him. Monster. He tried to shut those memories out, too, but it just insistently reminded him of ejecting a captive into space. He’d done that. With his own hand – not even the Galra replacement. If he could do that, what else was he capable of? What other sins lurked in the darkness of his own mind? He couldn’t begin to atone if he didn’t know what they were.

           But… he was a Paladin of Voltron. He was helping people, saving people, freeing people. That was enough, right? Even without knowing how much blood was on his hands, Voltron would cleanse him. The peoples of the universe would grant him absolution for all of this. At worst, he would die, and then it wouldn’t matter any longer. Not that he wanted to be dead.

           Deep down, he wanted to live in peace. He wanted that for everyone. Freedom, peace, justice. But there was a dark undercurrent of revenge in him. And if he wanted that – all of that – he needed to do this, to get the intel that might help them bring down the Galra Empire, free everyone, and destroy the evil that had stolen so much from him and warped his existence this way.

           They’d meant him to be a weapon. And maybe he was. But he wasn’t under their control any longer. He would be their downfall.

           But… he’d have to face the fears lurking inside him, the shadowy unknown that he hated so much. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he was fearing. Maybe it would be better than he dared to hope. He couldn’t – wouldn’t – know until they defragmented his brain. One way or another he’d know. He’d know what had happened. What he had done. What they had done. He’d know it all.

           The door chime startled him. Oh quiznak, it’s time. I have to do this. He got up and started walking towards the door. “Who is it?”

           “It’s Allura. Lance suggested I speak with you.”

           He stopped moving and stifled a groan. “I’m fine, Allura, really. Go back to what you were doing.”

           “He said it was urgent.”

           “It’s not, really. I’m fine.” He went back to his bunk, just to sit on the edge of it. Staring at the floor would be a nice change of pace from the ceiling.

           “Can we at least discuss this without the door in the way?”

           “I’m. Fine,” he insisted. “You have more important things to worry about than me.”

           There was a pause and then the Castle’s soft voice said, “Override acknowledged,” and the door slid open.

           He shot to his feet. “Wha-…”

           Allura had her arms folded, standing there in the doorway. “Do you really think that you can bar me from any room in my own ship?”

           He sighed. “Allura, I’m…”

           “Fine, yes, you’ve said. But Lance and Keith told me about the meeting with Ryner earlier.” She walked in and the door shut behind her. “And there is very little in the universe more important than the health and well-being of the Black Paladin of Voltron.”

           He studied her. “You’re not going to go away, are you?”

           “Not until you talk to me.”

           “Okay, fine. But I don’t know what there is to talk about.” He sat back down on his bunk.

           She walked around to sit next to him. “You aren’t at all nervous about this?”

           “Why should I be nervous? Olkari technology is amazing, and I trust Ryner not to put me in any danger.”

           “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. Are you looking forward to having your memories back?”

           No. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve hated feeling like part of me is locked away. I’ve hated not knowing. This will fix all that.”

           “Yes, but… then you’ll know.”

           “That’s the point, isn’t it?”

           She huffed. “You’re being stubborn.”

           “You’re not one to accuse other people of stubbornness.”

           “The fact that I am well-acquainted with it means I recognize it easily in others,” she declared. She laid a hand on his shoulder. “Shiro…”

           He pulled away from her. “I’m going to do it, so there’s no point in any of this.”

           “But you aren’t entirely sanguine about it, or you wouldn’t be hiding in here.”

           “I’m not hiding! I’m just resting!”

           “Exactly!” She stood. “You work more than I do!”

           He barked a laugh. “Not even close. You’re a workaholic, Princess, and that’s a fact.”

           “Okay, almost as much as I do. That’s not the point. The point is, you don’t like to rest. You don’t like to sleep. You don’t spend time just laying around when you could be doing something! You. Are. HIDING.”

           He practically jumped to his feet to glare at her. “You want to know why I don’t sleep? I don’t sleep because I can’t! Because these things I can’t even remember terrify me so much that I wake up! If I don’t know what they are, I can’t face them, and if I can’t face them, I can’t beat them!”

           “So what are you doing now then?” she shot back at him. “Getting in one last terror-riddled nap?!”

           That deflated him a little. “No, I…”

           She settled down as well, though her tone was still strident. “You’ll have to face those fears to defeat them, you’re right. And if you do this, you’ll know what they are. And that’s what has you hiding.”

           He scowled. “Don’t talk like you know what I’m thinking.”

           “I do!” she shouted. She cleared her throat and took a moment to calm down. “I do know. It’s not exactly the same, but…” She lowered her gaze to the floor rather than look at him. “I don’t know what my father’s last moments were like. I don’t know what my planet’s last moments were like. And sometimes, that haunts me. Sometimes, when I try to sleep, I imagine what it might have been like for Altea. And I imagine it happening again and again: to Shay’s Balmera, to Olkarion, to Arus, to every planet we’ve helped and saved.” She raised her head again just enough to barely catch his eye. “I imagine it happening to Earth, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Those fears wake me shivering and sobbing, Shiro.

           “Would it be better to be certain of Altea’s fate? Maybe. Maybe not. It would make my fears for all the other worlds that much sharper, bring them into greater focus. And nothing I can do, nothing I can find out or know, will ever bring Altea back to me.”

           He jerked a little when he felt a touch on his left hand, but then eased when he realized it was Allura reaching out to him. She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Your memories of what happened in captivity could be useful to us, I’ll admit. But there are other ways we can find those things out. If you aren’t ready to do this, then don’t. The Olkari machine isn’t going anywhere. You don’t have to do this now.”

           He shook his head. “This is the quickest way, the most efficient.”

           “Stop thinking like a paladin, just for one dobosh?” she asked gently.

           He looked down at their joined hands, took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. “I…” He had to do it again before he could get the words out. “I ought to be happy about this. I really, really don’t like that I can’t remember what happened. I don’t like feeling shut away from a part of my own life. But at the same time, I know that there’s not likely to be much that’s happy in those memories.”

           He looked up to face Allura again and swallowed hard. “I’m afraid.”

           She nodded. “That’s understandable.”

           “I have to be brave, for the mission, for the intel we could get, for the sake of the entire universe. That’s my job, that’s why I’m here. That is…” His right hand balled into a fist next to him. “That’s the only thing I have that keeps the nightmares away.

           “I don’t know what I had to do to survive, Allura. I don’t think I want to know, because then I can pretend that I’m still the same man who left Earth intending to go no farther than the edge of the solar system. I can pretend I’m not a monst-…”

           He was surprised when she laid a finger against his lips, and it shut him up instantly.

           “You’re not a monster, Shiro. Are you the same man who left Earth? No. I’m not the same person I was before my father put me into that cryopod. We grow, we change. Sometimes what changes us is good, and sometimes it’s bad.”

           Her finger fell away. “I wish that what had happened to you hadn’t. It would mean you wouldn’t be here with us now, and I don’t know what would have become of any of us if you and the others hadn’t arrived on Arus. But it hurts me to know that they hurt you so badly. And I am so, so sorry for it.

           “Ultimately, this is your decision. I cannot make it for you. But if the only reason you’re going ahead with it is because you feel you must, for the mission? Then don’t. You’ll have the chance to do it later.”

           “Will I?”

           She smiled wanly. “If I have anything to say about it, yes, you will.” She reached for his right hand. The fist loosened enough for her to link hands with him. “You’re a good man, Shiro. The best man I’ve ever known, apart from my father. I am so, so glad to have you with me, and the universe is incredibly lucky to have you as the Black Paladin.”

           “I just… I don’t know,” he sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden.

           “What if it were Keith who had to make this decision? What would you tell him?”

           “I’d…” He sighed and admitted, “I’d tell him to make his own choice and that he didn’t have to do this if he didn’t want to.”

           She smiled, a little more genuinely this time. “See?”

           “’Course, he’d probably go ahead and do it anyway.”

           She chuckled softly. “Yes, well, that’s Keith. You’re not him. Make your own decision.” She squeezed both his hands once before letting go. “And if you ever need to talk, please come to me. Or to Keith or Lance or anyone. Please?”

           He nodded. “I will.”

           She seemed satisfied with that and started to leave.

           “Allura.”

           She turned back to him.

           “Thank you for sharing that with me. About your dreams. You… That was… incredibly personal, and you didn’t have to do that.”

           “It was my decision to do so,” she replied. “And you’re welcome.”

           “And if you ever want to talk – about anything – I’d be glad to listen.”

           “Thank you, Shiro. I might take you up on that sometime.” The door opened for her and she left.

           He stood there for a moment longer, then realized he should talk to Ryner about his decision. He felt too tired to walk over there, but he could at least call.

              “…so thank you, but not right now,” Shiro’s voice said over the comms. “I appreciate the offer though, and I might take you up on it later.”

           Ryner nodded. “Very well, Shiro. Thank you for letting us know.”

           Keith practically pounced as soon as the link closed. “See? I told you he didn’t want to do it.”

           “Yes, your observation was very astute,” Ryner agreed, “but I hope you can appreciate my desire to hear it from Shiro himself, considering that it was his memories in question.”

           “Yeah,” Pidge put in, “Imagine if Lance volunteered you for something you didn’t want to do!”

           “Or turned down something you did,” Hunk added.

           “That’s different,” Keith said.

           “How so?” Pidge pursued.

           “Because Lance is an idiot.”

           “Oy! I’m standing RIGHT HERE, Mullet!” Lance was getting screechy.

           “It’s just the truth.”

           “Hey, my plan actually worked! So who’s the idiot now?”

           “You’re a lucky idiot.”

           Pidge snickered. “Or an idiot with eyes.”

           Keith turned back to her. “What do you mean?”

           “Oh, come on,” Hunk moaned. “You’re closer to Shiro than any of us, and you can’t tell that he likes Allura?”

           “And that she likes him,” Lance replied. “I mean, if I had to lose Allura to someone else, of course it’d be Shiro.”

           “He hasn’t said anything,” Keith said defensively.

           They all groaned.

           “Paladins, can this discussion be had somewhere other than here?” Ryner interjected.

           “Right, sorry!” Hunk smiled. “Hey, let us know if there’s any other cool tech we can play, er… help with, yeah?”

           “Of course. Thank you both for your assistance.” She watched them leave and shook her head. It was oddly reassuring to know that the Defenders of the Universe were just normal people with normal lives. Well… for certain values of “normal,” anyway.

[pixieprixess]

Back to You (ShiroxOC!Lilith) SAILORMOONAU

Wondering if I should make a part two to this, but we'll see. Hope you like it!!

@panda-noosh

~

"Everyone, we must transform!" shouts Allura looking at everyone. Pidge, Axca, Veronica and Lilith look at her. "It seems the enemy is much closer than we think!"

"RIGHT!" shouts the girls nodding.

"Moon Prism Power!" Lilith calls out turning into Sailor Moon. She wears a white leotard with a blue collar that has three stripes on it, light yellow shoulder pads, and a blue skirt, along with a red bow on the chest and at the back. She also wore a pair of red knee-high boots with a white border at the triangular top and crescent moons, gold earrings consisting of a stars with a crescent moon beneath, her hair tied in a very loose braid, feather barrettes in her hair, and a choker with a golden crescent moon on it with a clip that is similar to her transformation brooch attached to it. 

After everyone transforms, the girls run towards the source of the problem.

"The black out goes on!" Axca, as Sailor Jupiter, calls out as they continue running. "It couldn't be that the energy of everyone in the city was..." she pauses, she couldn't think about it.

"This is scary," Veronica, as Sailor Mars, shivered. "It's the first time I've ever encountered the world so dark."

"Look!" calls out Pidge, as Sailor Mercury, points in the distance. "There's a light coming from the very top of Tokyo Tower!"

Gulping, Lilith looks in the distance. "Let's go there!" Allura, as Sailor Venus, spoke confidently.

Pidge gasps heavily, "No!" Pidge begs Allura. "Princess! Coran and Hunk are in the command center!" Pidge touches Allura's arm gently. "You should escape there!"

Lilith looks back with a small frown adorning her face, but it was hidden lightly. Why did she feel like that? Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she looks at Allura.

"Then it's our job to protect you!!" Lilith ordered to her. Pursing her lips, she looks forward. Her thoughts overwhelming her head.

'My heart is restless,' thought Lilith putting her hands together. 'Tuxedo Mask?! I hope he's alright.' Lilith looks to the sky gently. 'He hasn't collapsed has he? ... Shiro ... Shiro-kun!'

Shaking those thoughts out of her head quickly, the girls head out quickly and they all run towards Tokyo Tower. Lilith taking the lead while the girls followed her. When they were at the bottom, they had to think of how they were going to get up there.

"We're going to the top!" Allura told them. "Nobody let go!"

Allura conjures up a bubble to get them to the top. Lilith became absolutely nervous, but she had to protect her people. The city was counting on the Sailor Scouts. Allura guided the bubble to the top, Lilith could see a man sitting there with a smile on his face. His brown eyes glistening in the moonlight.

"So, you've come." He said, Lilith tenses a bit but she tries to brush it off.

"Sucking up human energy!" Lilith begins her speech. "That's something even a God is forbidden to do!" Lilith stands strong in front of the man. "Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice! Sailor Moon has arrived!" Lilith points at the man finishing off with; "In the name of the Moon, we'll punish you!"

Lilith summons her Moon stick and closes her eyes. "Moon Healing!" She calls out opening her eyes pointing her stick in the air. "Escalation!"

Before anything can happen, the man sent an energy at Lilith and it knocked her over.

"Sailor Moon!" the Girls shouted out.

Lilith's eyes widen as she fell. Closing her eyes as she fell, she was beginning to feel like death was coming for her. Then someone caught her bridal style. Lilith looks up seeing, Shiro, as Tuxedo Mask, there.

"Tuxedo Mask!!" Lilith gasps out and wraps her arms around his neck in a hug when they land in the middle of the tower. Thanking the heavens he was safe in her head. "It's dangerous here!" Lilith warns him slowly unwrapping her arms around his neck looking into his grey eyes. "We'll defeat the enemy!!"

Shiro stares at Lilith curiously. Lilith shakes her head finishing her sentence. "You go as far away as you can!"

Before he could respond, Shiro felt Lilith's lips on his. Her eyes were closed while his eyes widen in shock. After she broke it, she jumped away with confidence painted on her face. Lilith didn't see Shiros face after she left.

"Sailor Moon!" calls out Veronica and Pidge.

"Supreme Thunder!" Axca shouts attacking him. Her attack goes right on his shield and absorbed the attack. Everyone gasps. "IT DIDN'T WORK!" Lilith lands by Pidge watching closely. "He just sucked up the electric energy?!"

"Keep giving me your energy and I'll give it one hundred times over!" Lilith gasps, getting in front of the other Scouts. "I will blow Tokyo off the map!"

"Run! Hurry!!" Lilith commands her team looking back at them. Lilith summons her Moon Stick putting them in a barrier ready to take the hit.

"Sailor Moon!!" Allura calls out worriedly while looking at everyone else. "We have to protect Sailor Moon! Now!"

Lilith gasps when she sees Shiro in front of her taking the hit. Silence filled her ears, Lilith caught Shiro in her arms as he was knocked out. Shaking her head while tears spilled from her eyes.

"Tuxedo Mask..." whispers the young girl holding his head in her lap staring down at him. She touched his cheekbones gently trying to wake him up. "Wake up, Tuxedo Mask... Tuxedo Mask!"

He opened his eyes gently, bringing his hand to her cheek making her gasp. "Serenity?" Leaning down gently, her bangs brushed lightly against his cheeks, his hand fell down as he closed his eyes once more.

"No!"

"SAILOR MOON!"

A bright light shined around Lilith as a golden crescent moon appeared on her forehead, when the light was disappearing, Liliths appearance changed. Instead of her wearing her Sailor Fuku dress. It was beautiful dress that was a brilliant light blue, it was strapless and it flowed down to her ankles, it wasn't poofy nor was it hugging her legs, her once loosely braided hair was now in perfect ringlets surrounding her body and it touched the end of her back. Her bangs swept to the left side of her face, the golden moon still apparent on her forehead.

Her eyes were closed as she held Shiros cheeks in her hands. She opened her right hand gently seeing his pocket watch that was shaped like a star. Frowning at the object.

"His watch is broken..." Lilith whispers to herself. She ignored what everyone was saying behind her. She looks down at Shiro letting out a small smile. "I... I remember you, my beloved." Liliths eyes gathered tears and they lightly fell. "My memories are coming back, one by one. The same deepness as the blue world in which was hidden all our possibilities and hopes."

"... Endymion!"

She tilts her head gently as she keeps whispering to her beloved. Her eyes close as her mouth keeps a small smile on her face.

"Long ago, I looked at that blue planet from the Moon. And I loved it." She continues whispering quietly. "And this was my secret... watching Earths prince and heir... that matchless strength... that marvel..." she opens her eyes looking at her prince once more. "I descended to the planet time and time again... hoping to catch a glimpse of him..."

Closing her eyes, she remembered him finally spotting her, they started talking and then they began building a relationship, she remembers their first kiss, their first intimate moment. Their everything.

"But we mustn't meet like this anymore..."

"Why?"

"Denizens of the Earth and Moon are forbidden to fraternize."

"... That is god's law"

"I mustn't fall in love... but it's too late..."

Lilith remembered the pointless war, how it killed her and her beloved after sharing their last kiss. And then she looks at Shiro.

"Endymion..." she speaks to him. "Talk to me... open your eyes... Please!"

"I remember... we were reborn again, and I've finally seen you again... is this our fate? Endymion!"

"Tuxedo Mask!" Lilith calls out one more time, gently pushing against his cheek.

Shaking her head gently. "I haven't been able to tell you about myself. About how I love you...!! About how you're my one and only love!!" A tear escapes her eyes and that one single tear forms into a crystal but it blinds everyone.

Taking her hand, Lilith takes a piece of it and begins to put it in Shiro. After setting it in him, she faintly heard a voice tell Lance, to grab the Silver Crystal. But he grabbed Shiro instead.

"TUXEDO MASK!" shouts Lilith trying to reach for him. Axca and Allura keep Lilith back.

"No!" Axca shouts to her. "We can't compete with them in this state!"

"We have to retreat, Princess!" Allura adds to her.

Lilith frantically shakes her head. "No! Let me go!" Lilith begs them. "He's taking Tuxedo Mask!" After saying that, Lance disappears with - "Shiro-kun!!" After yelling that, she passes out from using so much power.