#hunk: WHAT. YOU MEAN KOSMO COULD TELEPORT THE WHOLE TIME | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

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Caramel Skin Under A Purple Rain prt 46 full draft

“Shiro, it’s Marco... We need to talk about Lance” Five simple words shouldn’t have had the effect they did on Shiro’s heart. Having delivered him to Erathus for his appointment, Lance had immediately sought out Marco as the two brothers stood holding each other in the crowded space port. Lance’s mind was all over the place, and if Shiro was honest he was glad Lance hadn’t talked to him since they’d left Krystaal’s cell. The man he saw as his younger brother had trampled all over his feelings with his declaration of Keith’s death, Shiro understanding where Krolia’s anger had come from with how certain Lance was that Keith was now lost to them. He’d hoped once his worry for his twins had been addressed, Lance would see that leaving Keith behind was a mistake. He’d even sat in his pod at the space station, waiting for news of the appointment on the off chance that Lance wanted a lift back to Daibazaal. He hadn’t. He hadn’t even told him that the he’d scheduled surgery in regards to his pregnancy. Maybe hiding the increased bleed from Lance hadn’t been the right call, but the whole situation was mess. Lance had been in and out of it for days as he’d fussed over Keith. Some days better than others until the fire inside of him seemed to fizzle out. That’s why he’d agreed to let him do this. To let him talk to his obstetrician. Krolia losing her temper at him had caused Lance to shut down further, it’d felt almost as if a stranger had been the one declaring Keith was dead. The way Lance carried himself with an air of indifference worried him. Then Daehra had called. Daehra was the one to inform him that Lance was having surgery and would be returning to outpost with them instead of Daibazaal. He’d been so tempted to ask to be there with Lance. He was attached to the two tiny lives growing inside of him, and he was sure he would have been just as attached if Keith hadn’t been the father. Without Keith, Lance seemed to give up far too quickly... and without Keith, Shiro didn’t know what to do for him. He wasn’t his lover, nor was he Lance’s husband. He was no longer sure of how he fitted into Lance’s life, especially when Lance broke contact with them. Now Marco was calling. Calling to inform him that something was wrong... How Shiro wished he hadn’t seen that coming. Kissing his forehead, Curtis gifted him with a soft smile. A smile of understanding. His boyfriend was devastated by what had happened that night. Worrying both for Lance, and for Keith when finally woke. It’d already been a little over a movement and half... no, two movements since Lance had left in the middle of the night. Hunk was devastated to find him gone without saying goodbye, but he also seemed to understand that Lance had only been getting worse in their care. Mouthing at him that he’d wait outside, Curtis’s soothing presence slipped from his side. As far as Shiro knew, Lance’s last contact had been to Curtis instead of him “Sorry, Marco. Curtis was giving us some privacy. How can I help you?” “Can we switch to video? I really need some advice” “Sure” The video connected, Marco looking exhausted as he ran a hand through his hair. When he’d embraced Lance, it’d been with a smile, now his lips were drawn into a thin line with deep black bags under his eyes “Thanks for taking the call. I didn’t know what to do” “What’s wrong?” Tilting the camera on the comms past himself, Shiro could see Kosmo laying next to what had to be Lance “Lance has relapsed hard. Daehra mentioned a similar thing happened when he found out he was pregnant and I was hoping you’d be able to tell me how you convinced him to... take care of himself” “What do you mean relapsed?” “Not the drugs, or alcohol. Not that I know of at any rate. He’s... he’s stopped eating, everything he was eating he was throwing back up, even the allergen free things. His nightmares are out of control. He’s been sleeping walking and having panic attacks when anyone gets too close to him. I walked in on him about a movement ago begging Allura to leave him alone. He was throwing up. I don’t know if he was nauseous or if he was purging. He won’t let anyone touch him, that causes him to panic. He seemed to be doing better when he was working the bar, but something snapped overnight. He won’t talk to any of us, now he just wants to sleep... I found him this morning with bleeding hands and no idea what happened. He was so confused as he stared down at them. It was as if he had no memory of cutting them. Daehra was able to patch him up after he fainted from the blood. We’ve done a clean through of his room. Kosmos been teleporting me in every time he seems to think Lance is upset. He was managing to pull himself back from his panic attacks. We did have to tie him up after he tried to go a customer, not that that did anything. Kosmo. Not Lance. Lance is way too attached to his bar. He won’t listen to anyone other than Lance” Shiro took a slow deep breath through his nose, as he closed his eyes. The outpost was supposed to be good for Lance’s mental health. He’d thought he’d moved past these episodes. Releasing the breath as slowly as he’d drawn it, he opened his eyes again “How long has Lance been with you now? Times different over there” “Just on three and a half weeks... movements. Space time is movements... I think. Like I said, he was doing better, then all at once he relapsed. He’s my little brother. He might be a shit head, but that doesn’t mean I want him like this” “Keith still hasn’t woken. The last time he was like this, Keith was the one who brought him back. Curtis and I have both tried to push back returning to full time active duty, but with incident, the Coalition is still busy reviewing what happened and drawing up new stipulations to prevent it happening again. Have you tried talking to Veronica?” “She’s stuck in a hard place. Acxa agrees that Lance shouldn’t have left Daibazaal. Veronica wasn’t particularly pleased” “I know that much... but I don’t know how to help him. Mami insists he come home... I don’t think that would go over well with Luis and Rachel. Luis is shaken over this, while Rachel doesn’t know what to say. They’re both concerned about him. We’re all concerned about him, but he’s shut us all out” Shiro wasn’t supposed to be taking leave. The Coalition wanted to know his whereabouts at all time, lest he think of getting revenge for Keith’s current status... Still, he didn’t want to fail Lance again. He didn’t want to explain to Keith when he woke that Lance was gone, or that he’d lost the twins after coming so far. For Lance it approached 6 weeks that Keith had been unconscious. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice to let Lance be gone for so long? If he continued to stay at the outpost, they ran the risk of him going into labour before Keith woke. Keith and Lance would both be devastated if that happened. Both of them deserved happiness... “He can’t stay there. Something has obviously happened, and the longer he’s there is the longer he’s waiting for Keith to wake. Can you pack a bag for him. Include some baby clothes, blankets, whatever you think he’ll need, I’m going to organise a safe place for him to go until he gives birth” “Are you... will he...” The guilt on Marco’s face echoed how Shiro felt. Lance had returned “home”, pulled himself together, then suddenly fallen apart. He was hurting and there was no way he was going to let that continue. Marco felt as if he’d failed his brother, ill equipped to deal with Lance’s headspace. Not that anyone other than Keith seemed to be able to do or say the right things “He’ll be safe. I won’t bring him back here. He’d only spend all his time fussing over Keith if I did” Not that he knew where Lance would feel safe and comfortable. Shiro knew he wouldn’t be able to take the time off that Lance needed from him. This was... this was too big of a dilemma for him to handle alone. Curtis was also worried for Lance, and might just have the answer to the issue now at hand “I’ll be there within the varga” “Thanks, Shiro. See you soon” * Laying on his side of the bed he shared with Keith, Lance was sleeping when Shiro walked in to check on him. Talking with Curtis, they’d come to an agreement. Lance needed someone to be with him at all times, in a place that was safe and secure, and not Daibazaal, Erathus, Altea or the Outpost. Taking a leave of absence due to mental health, Curtis would be taking Lance to the cabin they’d intended to spend Christmas at. Curtis was now briefing Lance’s team, leaving him to organise Lance. Squatting down, Shiro’s knees cracked in protest, Kosmo raising his head off Lance’s hip to bare his teeth. Reaching his robotic hand out, Shiro let Kosmo sniff at him “It’s ok, boy. I’m not going to hurt him. He’s not doing so well, so I’m taking him back to Earth” Kosmo continues to stare at him, his black eyes locked firmed on Shiro’s own “Keith hasn’t woken yet. I promise you I would have called if he had” Huffing, Kosmo settled back down against Lance. Over their time apart, Lance’s stomach had swelled rapidly, almost painfully from the look of the size. He wasn’t sure how far long ago, only that it was September on Earth now, where Lance had fallen pregnant in April. With a soft mumble, Lance’s hand slipped to his belly as he woke. Both of them shocked to find each other staring at them “Hey, kiddo. I heard you haven’t been feeling that great” His words overlapped Lance’s rasp, hope filled Lance’s face as he stared across at him “Is Keith awake?” “Sorry, no. Curtis got some time off work and wondered if you’d like to head to Earth for a bit” Shifting with a grunt, Lance slowly went about drawing himself up to sitting, coughing as he did “Whoa. Easy there. There’s no need to rush” “Sorry... hurts to talk” With space cleared, Shiro’s knees protested as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed “Yeah? Marco said you’d been a bit down” “I heard him...” Coughing again, one hand remained on Lance’s stomach as the other moved to massage his throat. For someone unresponsive and panicking at every turn, Lance was much more together than he’d thought “Sorry... my throat’s sore” “Want to tell me about it?” “Meds” Shiro raised an eyebrow “You’re on new medication?” Nodding, Lance released his throat to reach for the glass of water on the bedside table. Wet with condensation it slipped through his fingers, spilling on Lance’s pillow and causing tears to immediately well in Lance’s eyes. Retrieving the half spilt glass, Shiro held it so Lance could take a sip, before shaking his head “No more” “Are you sure?” “Meds make things gross” It clicked into place in his mind. Lance was trying to avoid the things that made the side effects of his medication worse, taking it far enough to avoid eating and drinking because of it “Your medication’s changed how things taste?” “Mmm... so Marco called you because he finally gave up?” “No, Marco called me because he was scared for you. He said you’d been feeling pretty down” “Tired... I feel tired” “He also said you haven’t been eating or talking” “Makes me vomit” “Did you ask Daehra?” “Hurts too much” Shiro wasn’t sure that Lance didn’t mean it physically hurt too much. His voice sounded wrecked, his discomfort clear “We packed a bag for you. If you still want to go. It’s the cabin we were going to spend Christmas in, so it’s quiet. There aren’t any noisy neighbours in the area... Lance, what happened? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to have surgery?” “You had enough to worry about” “I’m still going to worry about you. You’re my friend. Everyone here’s worried about you. Marco mentioned you hurt yourself and that... that you saw Allura again? It all started about a movement ago? Does that sound right?” Lance’s bottom lip quivered, Shiro going to hug the smaller male, only for Lance to flinch away. It hurt. Lance’s rejection hurt, but he knew how unpleasant touch could be when you were struggling “She won’t leave me alone... I keep dreaming of her killing Keith” “Oh” What a stupid thing to say. Lance needed reassurance, not him stupidly uttering vowels. Did that mean Lance wasn’t hallucinating her again, and instead disorientated from his nightmares? With his free hand, Lance started rubbing at his eyes. He looked miserably, he also looked uncomfortably thin and drawn out, as if he’d been fighting non stop since they’d parted “Would it be easier to talk by comms if your throat hurts?” “Headache... screens are bad too” “Lance, if your medication is making you feel this bad, then maybe it’s better you’re not taking it” “Have to... just a little longer...” “If you talked to Daehra...” “Stop it. You’re doing it again. I have to have my meds, my doctor said... I didn’t come home to be smothered” Lance was running out of steam, his already light voice was practically gone again “No. I thought you coming back here would be good for you. Instead you’re sick and refusing help” “Only for a little longer... I can make it a little longer...” Kosmo whined, pawing lightly on Lance’s hand mere ticks before Lance’s nose began bleeding. Both of them reached for the tissues, Lance hissing as Shiro’s hand bumped his, Shiro withdrawing so Lance could grab a couple of tissues to press to his nose “Medication?” Throwing it out there, he mentally sighed as Lance nodded. Whatever Lance was taking wasn’t any good for him. He didn’t understand why he’d be taking it with so many side effects “At least let me see the bottle? Maybe I can find out more?” “Internal dispenser. Dissolves when empty” That sounded alarming. He didn’t know Lance’s obstetrician, and sure, Keith and Lance had both liked them, but they were still a stranger at the end of the day “What do you mean?” Lance opened his mouth, only for nothing to come out. Mopping at his bleeding nose, the light in his eyes seemed to dim again “Alright. But I’m going to need to tell Curtis he’s going to have to monitor your condition. He’s letting the others know you’re coming with us back to Earth” Another nod came. This “drop” wasn’t as bad as the one Lance’d experienced after finding out he was pregnant, yet in some ways it felt worse. Lance was doing whatever it was to himself to keep the twins safe, prioritising them over his own health. Though he didn’t know how, he was going to need to contact Lance’s obstetrician and find out what the quiznak Lance had in his system to make him so ill. Plucking the bloodied tissues out Lance’s hand as he “studied” them, they’d be coming home with him to be analysed. Daehra surely had to have answers too, but whether she’d tell him was another story. He’d shown up from nowhere with his boyfriend to take her team leader away, and not for the first time “It looks your nose has stopped bleeding. Can you walk, or do you need help?” Answered with a firm shake of his head, Shiro sighed to himself. Keith may have thought himself terrible at helping Lance in their daily lives, yet here he was, failing miserably and projecting his worries back onto Lance as he’d done on Daibazaal. He’d had time to think about how all of them had treated Lance, none of them realising how belittling their fussing must have been for him. Lance dressed himself slowly, Shiro watching from the corner of his eye. His gravid stomach crossed with stretch marks, like scratches across his soft brown skin. His breasts heavy, as he struggled with his bra. Lance’s pregnancy was an amazing thing, yet seeing him this heavily pregnant stirred up the same feelings of jealousy he’d felt when he’d first heard Lance was pregnant. Curtis would be spending weeks with him on Earth... He couldn’t give Curtis this... and Keith was missing out on this experience, while he’d been with Lance since the moment he’d found out... He wasn’t sure how to describe what the agitation he felt was, as agitation wasn’t the right word. The twins were his godchildren, Keith trusting him and Curtis to guide them and Lance. He’d had months to adjust to the change, he had no reason to be feeling like this, after all, he wouldn’t change places with Lance, not when his pregnancy had been so hard and complicated... So why did he wonder what it would have been like for him? Why did he feel it would have been easier for him, or Curtis, than for Lance? Though he hadn’t said any of this out loud, he felt as if he was badmouthing Lance mentally. Lance was strong. He knew how strong he was, Shiro had no right to be looking down at him. Tugging his shirt into place, Lance paused then grabbed one of Keith’s jackets from their wardrobe, his voice the same low roughness that he was going to have to adjust to, and remember when he checked in with him in the future “Let’s go” * The cabin was nice for a prison cell. Lance knew he was being a burden on his friends and family, but now he’d been upgraded and evicted, to the middle of nowhere... A nowhere place that was annoyingly nice. Curtis’s family cabin was an hours long hike from the closest campground. The laws and rules governing the forest surrounding the cabin had changed since Curtis was last there. Private vehicles were no longer permitted due to the struggling colonising species. Curtis had apologised, even suggesting they could go elsewhere, but the seclusion sounded heavenly compared to both Daibazaal and Erathus. Slightly in trouble with the coalition, Shiro had been forced to stay at the Garrison while he and Curtis went on ahead, Curtis had gone to hug him, but Shiro had told him not to. When they were finally alone, Curtis had asked, ensuring that Shiro wasn’t overreacting. With Kosmo’s help, Lance tidied up the sofa in the living area of the cabin. It was far bigger than he’d thought it would be, and while “rustic” on the outside, it was “rich rustic” on the inside. Meaning taxidermy on the walls with beady eyes staring down at him from every direction, a ridiculously huge TV over the cobbled fireplace that didn’t pick up standard TV channels. Macrame and bits of fluffy weaving stuff that had long gone out of trend hung in the cabins lone connecting hallway, seeing it was a one level structure with three steps to its name, everything was easily accessible, yet despite the options, he was making himself comfortable in the living area in the hopes of falling asleep before Curtis came back. His medication had been kicking his arse as hard as his depression. At the time he would have agreed to anything, feeling reckless and unwanted, he’d gone through with having the surgery. The first attempted was cancelled before it’d even started. He’d been numbed from the waist down, needing to be awake and talking during the procedure, only his heart rate had spiked and he’d had a massive seizure, postponing the operation until he’d recovered and been cleaned from throwing up across himself during the seizure. Offered a medication that would prevent his seizures and wouldn’t require taking it daily, he’d had a slow release capsule implanted in the back of his neck. The side effects hadn’t kicked in immediately, though the side effects were due to him in their entirety. He’d slipped in a moment of stupidness. When he’d realised that there was now less than a month left until Keith’s birthday, he’d gotten high. Ridiculously and stupidly high. Buckling under the pressure of the rising feeling that Keith wouldn’t wake in time to be there when his sons were born. He’d regretted it the moment he’d reached the peak of his high, purging himself of the pills he’d stolen from storage. He’d been sick ever since, almost as sick from the medication as he was with the shame of slipping up. The next morning, when he’d stood behind his bar, his paranoia had whispered in his ear, telling him they all knew what he’d done. Lance had been sure he’d put on a pretty good performance of a man who had it together until then. He’d hid his tears, his his pain, and hid his instability the best he could. Kosmo kept him grounded when he could, until that seemed to stop helping. Propping himself up with another uncomfortable cushion, Kosmo nosed at Lance’s hand. Physical touch was uncomfortable. A psychosomatic result from being so uncomfortable in his own skin, and the feelings of being dirty and contaminated. As if him being used goods was to blame for Keith not waking up. The worst part was knowing he was being irrational, and knowing he was being so stupid, yet those feelings only grew and drove him to distance himself further. Distancing himself from his friends and family was the only thing he could do for them. Kosmo should have gone to Keith. Shiro could have taken him back, it annoyed him that he hadn’t. He hadn’t given up on Keith waking up. Each morning, or afternoon, he’d woken with the momentary hope that a message would have come through saying his precious husband was finally awake. After movements of waiting, Hope grew thin. When Shiro had woken him, he’d been so sure it was to tell him Keith was awake and that he was taking him to see him... not squirrelling him away to a cabin in the woods. Kosmo would love being able to explore, there was far more for him to explore here than at the outpost. There hadn’t been any campers when they’d arrived for him to terrorise, though there may be a few forest animals out there about to make a friend they didn’t want or need “‘m ok, boy. You go for a run... be ok” Nodding off the on the sofa, Lance was woken to the sound of the fire alarm going off. Curtis was swearing up a storm he didn’t know possible, while Kosmo had come back to the cabin and was now stretched out in front of the fireplace like he owned the place. Pinching his nose at the offending smell, it immediately started bleeding. He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse as he hefted himself to shuffle over to kitchen, ripping a piece of paper towel off the roll that was millimetres from the puddle of water left by half washed dishes Curtis had evicted out the way to drop a very burnt thing into the sink. Shaking his head, Curtis seemed to finally notice he was awake, jumping and smiling as a hand came up to scratch the back of his head “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you... It was going to be soup” Soup didn’t sound great. Nothing sounded appealing, but liquid were easier to get down. Plus, Curtis was making the effort. Lance didn’t... How the quiznak had Curtis managed to cremate soup? It was more embarrassing than Keith’s attempt at scrambled eggs. Soup. You poured it out the tin and heated it. Lance could see the tin sitting on the counter, so absolutely no real effort was required. Dabbing at his nose, the taste of blood was all too familiar “I talked to pharmacist about your throat, I wasn’t sure what to say but they recommended trying something warm to help. I’ve got you some liquid paracetamol too. You don’t need to take it if you don’t want to... I’ll try microwaving it” Coughing to try and clear the persistent lump in his throat, Lance was ready to go back to sleep. Curtis had gone to so much effort for him, he simply didn’t have the choice to say no to the painkiller or the soup. The burning scent in the air was starting to get to his, worsening the headache that continuously plagued him “I can... do it...” “No, no. I know you don’t know what to think of all of this, but I told Shiro I’d take good care of you. I should be able to rustle up dinner” Lance hung his head, feeling like a pet scolded by his master for something trivial. His actions causing Curtis to swear softly, before he turned to face him “That’s not what I meant. It is, in a way. Because I did tell Shiro that I would protect you, and take care of you. But, Lance I’m also here because I want to be. You have enough to worry about, I want to ease the burden on you. I want you to concentrate on working through and figuring out whatever it is that’s eating you up inside. I know it’s hard without Keith. I still can’t believe he hasn’t woken, but you’re not alone, here. You have me” “If I told you the truth, you’d leave me behind... Everyone leaves me behind. Marco couldn’t handle me, so he shoved me off onto Shiro who shoved me off onto you” “Your “truth” isn’t the only truth of the matter, Lance. You haven’t been shoved off onto me. Shiro and I were both looking for a way to take leave as it was. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Otherwise he’d be here with us, or still by Keith’s side. If you’ve made a mistake, we can work on fixing it. If you want to go to Daibazaal, we can do that. I care about you and I care about Keith. I think you need to get whatever’s bothering you off your chest, and I’m not going to judge you for whatever that is. But before you do that, I want you to take some paracetamol for your throat. It sounds painful” “It is...” “Go sit back down. I’ll bring it over while I zap the soup. I’m not usually this bad in the kitchen... I just haven’t used the stove here in a very long time” Lance coughed as his snort stuck in his throat, with a few more words of explanation Lance was feeling less like a house pet, and maybe something more akin to friendship again. Testing his theory, he opted for teasing as he continued to cough “Mark of a true chef there, blaming the appliances” “Shush it, you. I’m not as skilled as Miriam at cooking, but I do know how to make scrambled eggs” A flicker of happiness fluttered through him, before his heart fell again. Although the cabin was nice, if he was going to be on Earth then he’d rather have been at Keith’s shack... There was something kind of nice about the place... even if it was tiny and isolated “That was Keith... He was trying to be romantic” “Ah. Well. I’m sorry, no romance from me, I’m afraid. Apparently no stove top heated soup either” “We’ll work on it...” “Sounds like a plan. Now sit, I can’t imagine being that pregnant is comfortable” “It’s not...” Waddling back to the sofa, Lance bit down his pain as he tried to get comfortable. Back pain while pregnant was a common thing, but his feet were tender and swollen on top of the sharp pain down the back of his left leg. Rubbing his stomach as he raised his legs, the twins were both moving. Their kicks strong against his skin. He’d made such a mess of things when it came to them, that he was sure he deserved them or their innocence. Bringing over the bottle of paracetamol, Curtis was staring at the box intently “It says two to three times a day... but it says nothing about food... if you feel sick from it, we might have to try after you eat something next time” Lance already knew it was fine without food... He didn’t want to take a painkillers if he could help it, but after his monumental fuck up, he was kind of sick of the chronic tenderness in his throat. Pouring out a dose into the small plastic cup that came with the bottle, Curtis sniffed at it “It’s supposed to be strawberry... smells more like cherry. Would orange have been better?” “It’s fine, thank you” Lance doubted it would stay down as it was. Food and water never wanted to. Not that he’d stopped trying. He’d stopped trying in front of the others because of how much they worried. He’d might have given up on himself, yet those constant niggling thoughts of his husband... he still tried, even a little, for the sake of his husband. Taking the medication cup, Lance grimaced at the taste. Not cherry and most certainly not strawberry, not that those flavours particularly went well with blood. Being a good patient, he followed it up with the water Curtis then offered. His sense of taste was completely wrong lately, even the consistency of things in his mouth felt off. Sticking his tongue out as he wrinkled his nose, he was done with the first mouthful of water “That bad? From what I remember as a kid, the tap water here wasn’t awful” “Mouth feels gross” “Has anyone taken a look?” Lance shook his head. Everyone was worried enough about him as it was “I’m no medical professional, but I can work the internet. Show me, and we’ll see if we can’t start working things out” Staring in his opened mouth, Curtis hummed like he knew what he was doing. Lance was sure his breath probably stank worse than coffee breath “It’s oral thrush. Shiro’s had oral thrush before, his was caused by being on antibiotics. I’m guessing it’s been here a while, your mouth looks pretty tender. I’ve got a friend of the family’s I can call. That’s assuming you don’t feel up to trekking back through the forest for a trip to hospital” Oral thrush made sense... he vaguely remembered something about it in Keith’s baby book... Or was that simply normal thrush... The book was somewhat scary. He had no idea you get thrush on your nipples... or in... or in other places other than that one place he didn’t have “Not really” “I don’t blame you. Right, soup’s going to have to wait until after I’ve made the call now. I need to let Shiro know too. He’ll worry if I don’t” “Over thrush?” “Over you. He hasn’t been handling Keith’s coma well. You should have seen him trying to secure permission to stay on Daibazaal longer. It wasn’t happening. The Coalition has been pushing a fair amount of work onto him, as well as Kolivan and Krolia. You should see little Korra... No. I need to make this phone call. With a little bit of luck we can get you something for that thrush tomorrow” Wandering off, Curtis went from the phone call, which he placed outside on the veranda, to cleaning the saucepan in the sink... then the rest of the kitchen. It wasn’t until he went to wipe out the microwave that he remembered he was supposed to be making dinner for both of them. Lance hadn’t minded him forgetting. When Curtis was busy, he hadn’t noticed that he’d crept from the living area to the bathroom to throw up... and pee. Pads had become his best friend in that department. Coughing and sneezing had become a nightmare, and although a catheter was annoying as quiznak, he wasn’t sure that he didn’t miss it. Found sitting on the toilet, prolonging the inevitable of having to get up, they were really going to need to set up some personal boundaries if he was going to survive “Space Dad 2.0”.

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i-write-shakespeare-not-disney · 6 years ago

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25 Days of Heartache- Day 1

The Bursting of a Star

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17675945

It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. That was saying a lot considering how much shit they’d all gone through, and yet Lance stood firmly by it.

When Keith returned from the Blade, he was different. Not a different person, just… changed. Enhanced. He was more mature, a little more level-headed. He was stubborn as hell, of course- Lance didn’t think anything could ever change that about Keith. He still had his temper, but he was more in control of it.

There was more than that, though. He was different for Lance. In his eyes. Maybe it was that stupid saying about distance making the heart grow fonder, or maybe just the amount of times they’d faced death. The fact that if it hadn’t been for Allura, he might have never even seen Keith again. Dying really put things in perspective. Showed you what was important, what wasn’t.

Like the way it wasn’t important that Keith had been better in classes at the Garrison, or that they’d spent the better half of their time bickering over stupid things like who got to eat the last helping of food goo or who could finish a scouting mission quicker, or that they had a juvenile rivalry with no actual basis. How important it was for Lance to feel like he could trust Keith, for Keith to have taken him seriously and encouraged him and depended on him. How important it was that Lance missed Keith, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Naturally, when Keith came back, Lance was highly aware of what he felt. Of how much he felt. It was a comfort to know Keith would still tease him now and then, that they could still challenge each other over stupid things but come around to encouraging each other more than anything.

But after the game show…. Lance had to talk to Keith. They’d chosen each other. Lance chose Keith and Keith chose him. Keith chose to save him. Not even Hunk and Pidge had mutually chosen each other. That had to mean something. It had to say something about how they saw each other, and maybe Keith didn’t feel what Lance felt, but it was something.

Somehow, the universe had decided to be on his side for once. Lance could still remember the day they talked. They weren’t on Earth yet, and it was definitely not a time to talk about romance with everything happening and the world nearly ending- but that was exactly why Lance decided to do it. If the world was going to end, if Allura wasn’t there to bring them back to life again, he wouldn’t forgive himself for never telling Keith the truth. Especially after what he’d said when they were floating out in space on the verge of insanity.

He could relive that perfectly. He did it often.

He’d sent Keith a video call, asking if they could talk. The others were asleep, and honestly, they needed sleep too, but Lance felt like he was going to burst. Within a few minutes, Keith had asked Shiro to take over Black while Kosmo teleported him into Red.

He’d looked so worried with that near permanent furrow of his eyebrows. “Everything okay?”

“Can we… talk about some stuff?” Keith nodded and leaned against Kosmo, absently stroking his fur as he gave Lance the space to talk. “What I said when we were out there… about you running away and-”

“Hey. I know you didn’t…. We were all really messed up out there. I’m not angry with you.”

Lance took a breath and pulled his legs up on the pilot seat. “Just let me try to get this out, okay?” Keith huffed and nodded. “I know you didn’t run away. And when I said you should’ve stayed away… I didn’t mean it, but… I also did?” Keith’s eyes widened, and Lance rushed to explain himself. “I just mean, I was- maybe still am- angry with you for leaving. I said it out of spite, so no, I don’t want you to go again, but I was… hurt by you leaving.” The petting stopped. Kosmo blinked owlishly at them and bent his knees to settle on the floor. Keith’s expression softened. “I thought we were getting somewhere. And then you just decided to leave.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Keith said softly. “I wanted to help. You wanted to step down, I wanted to find my mom, it made sense that I join the Blade. You wouldn’t feel left out, and I could still be useful. But I never meant to….”

“I know.” It was quiet for a while. Lance felt nervous, but he had him here, he had to say it. It wouldn’t be long before they reached Earth and they didn’t know what would happen when they did. “I guess I’m a little glad you did it though. Because it made me realize that….” He let out a long breath, hoping to get a grip on himself. “Why did you choose me?”

“What?”

Lance looked at him. “In the game show. You chose me. And I know it wasn’t just because you didn’t want to end up stuck in that place with me for eternity.”

Keith turned red and started pacing slowly. It took him a long time to speak. Each passing second left Lance more and more anxious, more and more unsure. Then he said, “I didn’t even have to think about it.” Lance kept his eyes on him. He’d been standing still by then, his eyes flitting around, but always coming to rest on Lance. “Yeah, Allura’s the princess, and Pidge is probably smarter than all of us put together, and Hunk is the nicest, probably the best person to bring people together, but…. Lance, I don’t think you realize how….” His face turned redder. “You don’t realize how amazing you are.

“Yeah, you can be a goofball sometimes, but sometimes that’s what we need. We need a laugh, we need relief, we need a moment of normalcy. And when it comes down to it, you’ve worked harder than any of us to get better at practically anything. Diplomacy, combat, training, helping, flying, leading.” Keith shook his head and chuckled. “You’re a balance of all of us, you know? Hunk’s charisma, Pidge’s intelligence, my determination, Shiro’s leadership. But you’re better because.... Because you’re you! Because you care so much and you listen and you help and have a big heart and you think things through and you’re funny and….” He took a deep breath and stepped closer to Lance, arms crossed stubbornly. “I chose you because aside from Shiro, you’re the best person I know. Because I knew you wanted to see your family again. Because I truly thought you’d have the best shot out of all of us.” He kicked at the ground and shrugged. “And honestly…. Eternity without ever seeing you again would have sucked.”

The words had left Lance frozen. His heart had been pounding obnoxiously, his mind unable to fathom everything Keith was saying. It didn’t make sense to him. He thought he was preparing to accept an unrequited affection, not… this. His heart took control of his body as his mind short circuited. Because while his mind had no idea what to do or think, his heart was very set on reacting.

And that reaction was a kiss.

He’d crashed against Keith so suddenly, so quickly, so harshly that Keith stumbled and Kosmo got up from where he’d been laying down, ready to defend Keith.

Lance hadn’t actually caught up to his own actions until Keith was holding him back by the shoulders, staring at him in shock with cheeks a bright, crimson red.

“What are you doing?” he’d asked.

Lance shrugged, his body shaking with the adrenaline, the intensity of emotions, the need. “I nearly lost my chance once, I don’t want to do it again.”

Keith stared at him with wide eyes that looked more afraid than shocked by then. “I… I don’t know how to kiss someone.”

The response was so… vulnerable, it had made Lance laugh away the tears threatening behind his eyes. “Oh quiznak, Keith, just shut up.”

And he had. And he did not know how to kiss someone. But Lance was fine with that, because Keith was kissing him. With every awkward little bump of their teeth and the way Keith wouldn’t open his mouth much with every hesitant placement of hands, it was their kiss.

“Hey,” Lance whispered, his hands splayed along the side of Keith’s neck, his thumbs reaching his cheeks. “Relax. Let me try something.” Keith shut his eyes and waited, and Lance kissed him again, this time working his mouth open gently, licking his lips softly before he tested if Keith would let him slip into his mouth. But when his tongue dipped past Keith’s lips, he grunted and moved back. “Okay, okay, not yet,” Lance said with a chuckle. “Don’t think about it too much. Just do what I did.”

It had never been stated. They never actually clarified what it meant for them. It felt like it spoke for itself. That whole night spoke for itself. With shared kisses that slowly became more comfortable, more intense. The way they sat together on the floor near Kosmo, touching, always touching wherever they could. Their hands playing with each other’s, a hand on his knee, touch on the cheek. The way they kept coming back for more kisses between murmured apologies and reassurances and new confessions.

It was new for them both. Each kiss and each whisper was a little more of Lance letting himself be honest. Each kiss and each whisper was Keith being a little more vulnerable. Vulnerable to Lance.

There was a clear image in Lance’s head of the way Keith slowly became used to the kisses, the way he hummed when Lance licked into his mouth, the way he managed to mirror each movement himself, and managed to leave Lance’s lips swollen and sore in the best possible way. Lance still thought of the way he’d slowly managed to kiss along his jawline, down to his neck, licking and sucking the skin until it bruised under the graze of his teeth, splotched like a bursting star. The way Keith gasped and his breaths came faster the rougher Lance was on the sensitive skin, the ways his hands gripped onto his shoulders and tugged him closer.

It was no secret to the others either. Two paladins didn’t just wake up with hickeys and matching dopey grins without it being painfully obvious why. The others hadn’t said anything though. They just exchanged smug smirks after a few surprised raised eyebrows.

Maybe they should have said something. Maybe they should have said it aloud. Maybe they should have stated it instead of playing a game of brushing hands and hooked pinkies and playful kisses and blushing gazes.

The problem was Lance. And he knew it. He only took too long to realize it. He liked unspoken. He liked uncertain certainty. He liked the flustered flirting and the lack of an official term. He didn’t think it mattered so much. He didn’t know Keith wanted it. He didn’t know that his preference of not labeling what they had would be a blow to Keith.

It wasn’t because he didn’t like Keith enough. Or because he wouldn’t have loved to be known as Keith’s boyfriend or for Keith to be known as his. It wasn’t because Keith wasn’t worth it. It was because he was terrified of the label, of the pressure it would put on him. He was fairly sure he’d be a good boyfriend, but the term carried so much weight. Lance thought he would have time to build up to the courage for it. He thought Keith was his.

At first he blamed the war. He blamed the chaos of trying to figure out their places around the Garrison and the battles and the exhaustion. That was why Keith was getting distant. That was why their unnamed thing practically disappeared.

Their friends had noticed, but again hadn’t said anything, figuring it was best to let it settle between them. Keith’s distance lessened, he became amicable again in that way a leader is.

Lance should have seen it coming. He should have noticed it sooner, when he could have done something about it.

He’d been miserable when he realized how distant Keith had become, how completely turned around their relationship or dynamic had become. Something about the way Keith looked at him made it sink in that whatever they could have had was gone, and Lance was on the verge of falling apart.

That was when one of the MFE pilots found him, sitting alone, barely holding himself together in an empty conference room. He felt the hand on his shoulder and flinched, then he looked up and saw the one with good hair. James. He looked worried, maybe a little suspicious.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lance muttered. “Just needed to rest my eyes.” James frowned and sat beside him. “Did you need something?”

“No. I just like to work here.” James set out some folders and cast him a look. “You can pretend I’m not here. Or you can talk to me.”

Lance huffed and shook his head. This guy was just being nice, he didn’t need Lance’s bad attitude. “No, it’s okay. Thanks though. I’m probably gonna find some food.” James nodded and gave him a meager smile. “Good luck with whatever you’re working on.”

“Thanks,” he answered with a more genuine smile.

Lance left the room and started down the hall to sulk in his room, but because the universe was against him again, he ran into Keith. They didn’t talk. Lance didn’t think Keith would’ve even acknowledged him if he hadn’t looked up to see his face. When he did, Keith just gave him an automatic smile and kept walking.

Lance stared after him, trying to muster the courage to talk, to say something, to make their encounters more than insincere smiles.

Then Keith turned the hallway. Toward the conference room. It spiked Lance’s curiosity, but he couldn’t bring himself to follow. He wasn’t sure how he’d explain himself, or what he would do if he found something he didn’t want to find.

He began trying to figure out ways to ask if anyone had seen Keith with James. He knew there was some beef with them from their earlier years in the Garrison, and he knew they’d had to work together often during their Earth battles. But he’d never seen them actually together. Of course, they could well have been meeting for business, and not whatever Lance’s mind was trying to conjure up. The one time he did ask Shiro, Shiro only told him he didn’t think anything was going on, but even if it was Lance didn’t have a right to demand to know. It shouldn’t have stung as much as it did, especially with the gentle way Shiro managed to say it. But it did.

Lance’s brain began to fuck with him after that. Every time Keith and James were in the same room, Lance was hyper aware of any interaction. He noticed each time one pulled the other aside to say something after a meeting or each time they seemed to be eating lunch together, even with some kind of documents between them. Lance wanted to resort to hating James, even without a solid foundation on which to claim the feeling.

But he couldn’t. Because each time James saw him, he was smiling and offering to help him, asking him if how he was feeling, asking if he was holding up, or even asking about his family after they reunited. James was nice. And that didn’t make any sense. If he was with Keith, then he should have hated Lance. He should have wanted to stay away from him, or given him stink eyes, or literally anything except what he was doing.

That’s what gave Lance the hope that maybe nothing was even going on. That maybe it was really all in his head, and maybe it was time that he got his shit together and fixed what he ruined. If Keith was willing to give him a second chance, he’d do it right. He’d take him on dates, he’d introduce him to his family, he’d ask him to be his boyfriend, and he’d say everything that needed to be said. He wouldn’t fuck it up again.

It’d been four months since they returned to Earth, and about two since Keith began to keep his distance. Two months since they’d… broken up without having been together. Lance couldn’t keep things going the way they were. Even if they just went back to their normal bickering, he would take it over this awkward arrangement of half smiles when they ran into each other and two worded answers when they had to speak to each other.

During their next meeting, Lance tore off a sheet of his overview and wrote, can we talk after the meeting? He slid the torn piece toward Keith who was sitting beside him, and nudged his leg to get his attention. Keith looked over and saw the paper, then slid it closer to himself. He turned it over and scribbled a response:ok

The meeting seemed to last an eternity after that. Lance couldn’t even focus. His stomach twisted more with each passing minute, and he just kept repeating what he wanted to say to Keith in his head.

I messed up. I know I did, and I’m sorry. We should have talked about it, I should have taken you more seriously. I shouldn’t have been so scared. But I want to try again. I want to do it right. Just give me one more chance.

Then suddenly, everyone was getting up and gathering their things to head over to the cafeteria for food or to the workout room or to their beds. Except Keith. They waited for everyone to file out and Keith turned to Lance, that same concern from the night they met in Red in his eyes.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

Lance felt a knot in his throat. He hadn’t let himself cry about any of it. “No,” he admitted. Keith leaned forward, concerned and unsure. “Keith, what…? We’re….” He sighed and put his head in his hands. “Keith, I…. The idea of dating someone… I know I talked a big game all the time, but that official label scared me. And when you brought it up…. Look, I don’t know where you’re at anymore. I know you were angry with me, and now things are okay but they’re not. I don’t know if you’ve maybe moved on or if…. I just feel like…. I know, I know, I could have done things better. Handled things better.”

“Hey, come on. It’s okay. We’re in the middle of a war, I get if that wasn’t exactly a priority.” Keith pulled Lance’s hands away, unshielding his face. “You don’t need to apologize. Personally, I’ve moved on-”

Keith continued saying something, but Lance didn’t hear it. He was busy echoing those words. Busy trying not to let them break him. I’ve moved on. I’ve moved on. He moved on.

“Lance? What are you thinking?”

Lance stared at the table, forcing himself to stay composed. “I’m thinking,” he said in a voice that wasn’t even loud enough to be a whisper. “That I’m an idiot.” He scoffed, swearing he was about to laugh, but he could feel three hot tears sliding down his face against his will. He wanted to say more, but it was like those three tears had managed to trigger the flood.

Suddenly the tears were streaming down his face silently. His face felt hot. He felt like he couldn’t even breathe because if he did, he would make a sound and then he’d be sobbing. It was bad enough he was crying in front of Keith, he didn’t want to lose his dignity too. He couldn’t form the rest of the words he’d meant to say. They were all pointless now.

“Lance, don’t… don’t cry. You’re not an idiot.” Keith seemed hesitant about what to do, his hands moving to touch Lance’s, then retreating, his body tilting forward like he wanted to offer a hug, but he was unsure if it would help. And that made it hurt more. “I fucked up too, Lance. I should’ve talked to you more, explained what I was thinking. Maybe we should’ve waited until things were a little calmer down here instead of rushing into something we never even named. But hey.” Lance lifted his blurry, tear-filled gaze toward him. “Now you’ll know what to do when you fall for someone new. And it can be good for you.”

I don’t want anyone else but you.

More tears fell, faster, hotter, there was a physical pain in his chest that he wanted to claw out. He still couldn’t speak.

He had to pull himself together. He had to. He needed to stop crying in front of him, smile, and leave. Then he could fall apart. He wiped at his eyes half-angry, half-desperate. He took a deep breath and nodded. “Guess so. Thanks for talking to me. I should probably get some food.”

“Of course. No matter what, we’re still teammates, Lance. We’re friends. We’ve gotten through a lot together, and nothing’s gonna change that. We’ve got each other’s backs, right?”

Jesus, please stop talking. He nodded and stood up. “Of course.”

His body shook as he walked out. He had to think of each step he took until he reached the door to a room that wasn’t even his. He knocked, almost desperately. He was seconds from completely losing it.

The door opened and Hunk looked at him in confusion that quickly faded to anxious concern. “Lance, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Lance walked in, not trusting his voice. He waited for Hunk to shut the door before he collapsed into his best friends arms and let out a pained sob against his chest.

“Lance! Lance, buddy, what is it? What happened?” Hunk asked, hugging him tightly, his voice panicked.

“He moved on, Hunk. I fucked it all up.”

“What are you…? Oh, Lance.” Hunk hugged him tighter and led him to the bed. Lance laid down, using Hunk’s legs as a pillow. Hunk waited for the sobs to stop racking Lance’s body before he asked, “You want to tell me what happened? Or do you not wanna talk about it? Should I call Pidge in here too?”

Lance hesitated before nodding. Hunk told him to wait and left the room, returning a few minutes later with the third member of their trio. She looked concerned and slightly ready to hit someone.

“Lance? What happened?” She sat beside him, running her fingers through his hair as he leaned against her.

When Hunk sat on his other side, he sighed and recounted with a hoarse voice the gist of the conversation, adding the lines that tore him up the most, voicing to Hunk and Pidge what he hadn’t voiced to Keith. And then he cried some more as they hugged and comforted him.

“You’re going to be okay, Lance. It’ll take a while, but I promise you will,” Pidge whispered, sounding as broken as Lance felt.

“I know it hurts, buddy, but we’ve got you. And you’re one of the most resilient people we know,” Hunk added. Lance tried to believe them, but he couldn’t at that moment. Not with the way his heart felt irreparably broken. It might have been stupid to cry over a heartbreak in the middle of the war they were in, but Lance couldn’t help it. He was human, and he’d lost his chance at something that could have been beautiful.

He couldn’t stop wondering in his head how Keith had moved on so quickly, or if it had been easy for him, was Lance just replaceable, who was it, was Keith kissing him the way Lance taught him to, were they hearing the soft gasps when they kissed his neck, were they making him laugh by kissing that sensitive spot just under his ear, did Keith think of Lance when he kissed him?

But most of all, he wanted to know when this pain would finally go away.

#25 days of heartache #day 1 #klangst #klance #angst #one shot

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therecusant · 6 years ago

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VLD: I Will Always Find You (1/?)

Author’s Note: So I just kinda felt like doing a little writing practice by doing a post-VLD finale Kallura story, as that was my personal pairing of choice during the show’s run. The “1/?” is because I don’t know how long this story will be, most likely 3 parts total as it’s not meant to be a whole fanfiction adventure. Let me know what you think, hope you enjoy :)

“When I learned you were Galra...”

“Keith, you can do this. The Black Lion has chosen you.”

“The Blade of Marmora can go on without you, but Voltron cannot. We cannot.”

“I’ll always be with you Keith and I’ll always love you.”

Keith shot out of bed with a heavy gasp, his heart racing and his body drenched in sweat. He raised a hand to his head and rubbed his eyes as they strained to make sense of the black that was his room now. It was late enough in the night that even outside the window to his right he could see nothing but darkness. Again, the young man thought, while pushing some of the black hair off to the side of his face. He had been hearing her words in his sleep for the last few weeks, on and off again. They were the words he clung to after she left. It was the only way he could think to describe Allura’s leaving at the time and he remembered the confusion and hurt on Coran’s face as he told him.

Keith always struggled to find the words to explain what they had seen in that realm. Her last moments, giving them all an invaluable lesson to carry with them going forward. She was always teaching them – teaching him – new things. He could never have imagined any sort of diplomacy in his future but here the former paladin was, staying in the guest chambers of a Galra-occupied planet to discuss the next representative of the Galactic Coalition.

Keith did not particularly care this time around, knowing how well Kolivan and Krolia were received by the Galra. They would be re-elected, as expected, and he would fly back to the Blade of Marmora to continue their relief work. He grinned at the realization he was doing exactly what Allura insisted him to do, years ago. Between the three years they jumped ahead to once the Castle of Lions’ entered the Quintessence rift and the two years spent in the Quantum Abyss, it really did feel like a lifetime ago.

She was right when saying he needed to join Voltron’s relief work but of course she was. Allura was always right, even when she was wrong. How much more time he could have spent with her was something often on his mind in recent days. Keith tried to avoid that kind of thinking but since her words started resurfacing it began gnawing at him. Time wasted, time they could have spent together much sooner.

His eyes had finished adjusting to the black, enough to skim over the room and see the framed picture beside his bed on the nightstand. It sat alongside his luxite blade as one of his most cherished belongings. Keith picked the picture up and brought it close to his face to better see it in the darkness. Her arm around him, tight on the red sleeve of the Garrison uniform he wore for the date. She laughed at him when seeing him still in uniform, despite her getting so much more dressed up for the occasion. It was his first and only date and he lacked any real experience in the area but she was so patient with him as he stumbled through the motions.

He originally planned ahead and asked Hunk if he would be willing to help by preparing a meal for the duo but his friend immediately shook his head. At first, Keith felt guilty. It was Hunk’s last day on Earth too, what right did he have to make such a request and take up so much of the Yellow Paladin’s precious time? Of course, he was wrong. Keith misunderstood the meaning behind certain actions often. His mother leaving, his father running back into the burning building, Allura condemning him for joining the Blade of Marmora. He didn’t give himself time to think and understand the why of it. Thankfully, Hunk made a point of it to say it was not his place to be a part of Keith and Allura’s last night together, even as a culinary expert.

It was for that reason the Red Paladin spent the few hours before meeting Allura to find someone capable of helping and ended up doing so through Colleen Holt of all people. Pidge’s mother grinned as she saw him, then glanced over at her husband Sam on the other side of the room, who flashed Keith a similar knowing smile. He knew then that someone had told the Holts about his date and found it then especially annoying when Colleen feigned ignorance to force him to say it himself. She even managed to get him to blurt out he’s liked Allura for a long time and always found a connection to her. His face had never been redder than that moment.

He recalled news of the date reaching Coran and the old man confronting him that afternoon, accusing him of trying to plot a Galra coup once wed to Altea’s princess. He was struck with an initial stutter, confusion and embarrassment overwhelming him, as Keith was hit with the idea of marriage. It was an almost foreign concept given his upbringing. His mother and father had never married and no one ever even knew they were together. He did not even know they were together – or that his mother was an alien – until nearly two decades after and a trip across time and space.

Coran’s usual mixture of silly-stern kept Keith nervous the entire time leading up to the date but he somehow managed to find himself outside Allura’s chambers at the Garrison and calling her name in sync with the knock. The immediate sight of her – white hair usually worn up in a bun let down to the long flowing locks that stretched across the entirety of her back, the earrings in the shape of two leaves, the pink dress that ran only halfway down across her arms and legs, he remembered it all so vividly – left him speechless. He handed her a Juniberry flower that her eyes lit up at as she held the pot close to her chest and smiled back at him before asking how she looked. Keith’s smirk widened in the bed as he repeated the same thing he whispered softly to her back then. “Wonderful.”

They had enough time – thanks to Kosmo – to spend the remainder of the evening watching the sun set on top of the Black Lion. Between them was a single picnic basket and inside a Juniberry pie Keith prided himself on baking, though he did owe the ingredients and preparation to Colleen and Coran respectively.

The spot they watched it from was Keith’s favorite place in the world. It was where his father had taken him as a boy after his first fight, one Keith easily won and was nearly thrown out of school for. He thought his father would be mad – and to an extent he was – but he lifted Keith up over his head so his legs sat on the shoulders and his hands rested on the man’s messy short hair. When Keith transferred to the Garrison, he ended up at this same spot after racing Shiro, a race Shiro easily won. It was his special spot, for the people most important to him. He remembered turning to Allura and seeing the spot of red on her lips that she quickly wiped off with a napkin when he pointed it out and how he snickered when seeing her frantically remove it. He knew he could count Allura among those closest people too.

The night came and they climbed down from the Black Lion this time – Allura was not a fan of using Kosmo’s teleportation, or the wolf itself – before walking back to the Garrison. They stopped by a dead tree and Keith remembered the way Allura walked up and healed it with just her hands before turning to him and telling him that, after all that happened, she was grateful to have met him. It was Keith’s turn to look embarrassed but he managed to compose himself and say the thing that had been on his mind for the longest time, two years too long. He told her that he loved her and she then returned the words before embracing him.

Keith eyed the woman in the picture frame as though he were trying to pull her out of it with his mind to bring her back but he knew it was impossible. Healing all reality was never going to be without a cost. He just found it hard to accept the cost was his entire universe.

The old man smiled gratefully as he took up the jar of food Keith held out and walked out from the front of the line, leading the next in Keith’s column to come up and receive the rations. In each container was a large volume of the same green goop that Keith and the other paladins survived on in the Castle of Lions. He remembered how just a little help from Hunk had enhanced it to the point of something worth looking forward to eating.

“Thank you, sir,” one of the men in Keith’s line said as he took his rations and turned around. Keith nodded, smiling, and then continued offering more until the entire colony had received their share. It was only a day’s worth of food but Keith had only been there to hand it out initially. Behind him was Zethrid, the muscular half-Galra former general, carrying a massive box with even more of the food goo, months of it at the least. She let out a groan as she placed the container down with the loads of others, totally at least three deca-phoebes worth for the group.

The people waved and smiled as he and the others got back on their ship and flew out. Keith normally took the role of pilot but today he was feeling a little under the weather, having had another of the reoccurring dreams. No, dream was not the right word for it. In a dream, you’ll see something. All he had were the sounds. The sounds of Allura’s voice, whispering to him as though she were right up beside him. It reminded him of the aftermath of Nacxella and the hug – more of a tackle, really – that she gave following his attempt to stop Haggar’s bomb.

“You look tired.” The voice brought his eyes off the comet field he had been eyeing from the red-visor window of their ship and towards its origin, Acxa. The blue-skinned, blue-haired woman was staring at him fairly intently, arms crossed and a quizzical look on her face.

Keith gave a small smile as she stepped a little closer. “Some trouble sleeping,” he confessed while turning away. He could feel her eyes on him even sterner than before and with brows raised to further emphasize her skepticism. It was a half-truth and Keith thought it better to give that than the full thing. He was sure mentioning Allura would only draw the others’ concerns unnecessarily. It was just a couple of nights in reflection.

Looking at the reddened reflection of himself coming off the ship’s window, he saw bags under his eyes that told him it was much more than a couple of nights. Acxa seemed to notice them too. “We’ll be meeting up with the Atlas soon, you should get some rest before then.”

“Yeah,” Keith nodded, his gaze back on the comets. He did not notice her leaving but soon Acxa was gone and he was alone in the room.

“Keith, it’s been so long!” Hunk’s hug was so tight that Keith thought he might break under the grip but he managed to squeeze his arms through the vice grip to reciprocate the gesture. “There are so many things I have got to tell you about!” A whimper came from beside Keith and the former pilot of the Yellow Lion released the hold on his friend to greet Kosmo too. “And hello to you too,” he laughed while reaching a hand down to pat its light blue fur. “Man, he’s gotten big.”

“And still wants to jump up on me,” Keith chuckled. The three began walking through the Atlas, passing by halls that contained familiar memories. The former pilot to the Black Lion glanced into the greenhouse Colleen grew the juniberries in and the kitchen unit where Keith learned to bake the pie. Then came the old rooms he and the other members of Voltron stayed in. He froze as they passed Allura’s while Hunk and Kosmo continued on.

“Go have fun,” she told him in that room after the ship docked for Clear Day.

“It wouldn’t be fun without you,” he wished he had said back then. It would have been different had he stayed instead. Could he have stopped her from accessing the entity? Would it have been better that way? Those were two questions he had asked early on after her sacrifice but they soon faded. One still gnawed at him though: what you could you have said to get her to come with you? Not for the entity, not for the war or Honerva or the team. Just to have another night, another memory with her. Why had he not fought harder to have something else?

Kosmo’s whimper pulled him away from the door and he met Hunk’s saddened eyes. “We…we should go meet Shiro and Iverson.” Keith nodded and followed.

At the brig was Iverson, Shiro and another man with dark brown skin and short hair, smiling welcomingly at Keith and Kosmo. “Cadet,” the former Garrison instructor began as he approached, Shiro following close behind.

“How have things been going with the Blade of Marmora?” Shiro asked, though Keith was sure he already knew. They all kept in touch in some way or another, through direct messages using the Coalition’s shared communications or actual video chats. In the case of Pidge, who had often become so consumed with her work she went days without sleeping – which would normally have been a concern, if someone did not know that was just how she was, the group would receive notification logs of her progress. She had gotten something called “CHIP” running apparently, last he heard.

Keith described their latest work while Shiro nodded as though it were all new information and not from the most recent message Keith sent out days prior to their arrival on the Atlas. By the time he was done, Hunk had already left and managed to convince Kosmo to join him with the offer of new treats and Iverson and the man beside Shiro both moved on to other work. Shiro, though, grinned all the while and then placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder when finished. “That’s good work you’ve been doing, I’m proud of you, Keith.” The two former pilots of the Black Lion shared a smile before Shiro then added, “Allura would be proud too.” It stung a bit, the sudden comment. Keith knew he was not the only one thinking about it but he never heard anyone else say it and that helped to lessen the pain slightly.

Shiro seemed to notice the subtle changes in Keith’s expression the same way Acxa did. His brows furrowed and his lip bent a bit, the bags under his eyes making his demeanor all the more noticeable. Rather than comment on the observation though, Shiro simply suggested that he and the rest of Keith’s crew stay the night on the Atlas which Keith accepted.

“I’ll always be with you Keith and I’ll always love you.”

He panted loudly as he shot out of the bed and grasped his head. It stung badly, like there was some pressing against his skull from the inside to try and pry it open. The harsh needling continued as he sat up on the bed and clutched the sides of his head, wincing. Finally, like an explosion, it let out one last jolt of pain before stopping and he grimaced before slowly removing the fingers at his head.

He was in his old room on the Atlas. Kosmo slept close by, at the foot of his bed. He had to be careful not to disturb the wolf’s sleep. Keith was not sure why he was getting out of bed but he left the room and entered the dimly lit hall. He trailed along it until finding himself outside the same room he hovered in front of while touring around with Hunk. His hand moved up to knock before stopping, realizing nobody would answer.

He entered and looked around the empty space, inspecting it as though he were searching for clues. There was nothing to find, he knew. Allura was gone and there was no mystery behind it. All he was doing was wondering what could have been.

His first thought was to leave the room right then and go back to sleep but his eyes fell to the bed they laid in and the thought of having spent another night struck at his heart. He inched closer to it and saw her laying on it with that determined but sullen expression she often had, the one they seemed to share. “It’s okay,” he wanted to tell that face, “you’re going to do it. You’re going to succeed.” Allura seemed to have always been racked with responsibilities and guilt for what had befallen the universe since the destruction of Daibazaal. She was always careful about how she described it though, once she accepted him as half-Galra; to condemn the entire ten thousand years of history meant condemning Keith’s incidental existence, which he already had done enough of himself.

He could feel her hand on his chest, telling him that she was grateful to have met him. That the War, the Galra’s conquest, was able to create something meaningful. Something beautiful. “Something wonderful,” he could hear her whispering again to him.

“I’ll always be with you Keith and I’ll always love you.” Her lips were against his and he could feel her body pressing against his chest, her arms locking around his back and the embrace as he reciprocated.

“I’ll always love you too,” he whispered to the ghost of a memory as the image of Allura in that moment faded from his mind.

#vld kallura #kallura #keith x allura #voltron kallura #kallura fanfic

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greenteafiend · 6 years ago

Note

If you’re still doing the “Bad Things Happen” bingo, how about nightmares + Keith with a side of Klance if you’d like?

@badthingshappenbingo

(Crosses are done)

Hoo boy this one got away from, it is long. Hope you enjoy!

(Read it on Ao3 here if you prefer)

Lance was surprised when Krolia pulled him aside. Alone.

He would have thought that she’d want to spend every second she had left as part of their entourage with Keith, seeing as she was leaving with Kolivan the next morning.

Instead, when everyone else was sufficiently distracted with setting up camp for the night, she grabbed him by the collar, and murmured “come with me,” as if she wasn’t already dragging him anyway. She took him into one of more structurally-sound looking dilapidated buildings.

In the close quarters of a dark room, Krolia looked even more intimidating and formidable than she usually did. Lance felt like a child next to her. For him, it defied all logic that Keith’s mother was this behemoth of a woman, even taller than Shiro, when Keith himself was only just average height by human standards. He wondered what Keith’s father was like…

“Lance,” said Krolia, in her characteristic clipped tone, “as the Red Paladin, you are my son’s second in command, are you not?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me, Keith’s right-hand-man,” confirmed Lance, puzzled and slightly nervous. It occurred to him that he’d never been alone with Krolia before. She seemed to have as much patience for him as Keith had had in the early days of their acquaintance. That was to say, very little.

The slightly dramatic, cheerful, over-confident front Lance put up to hide how goddam scared and unsure he was all the time irritated her, Lance could tell, but being himself wasn’t an option; he didn’t think she’d like him any better as an emotional wreck.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, shifting his weight hesitantly when Krolia only stared at him, those yellow-tinged eyes glowing slightly even in the darkness of the room.

“I need you to look out for Keith when I am gone,” she intoned. Lance blinked, eyebrows crawling up towards his hairline.

“You want me to–? I mean, of course! That’s my job as his right-hand,” answered Lance, flattered that it was him of all people, and not say Shiro, or Allura, that Krolia had decided to ask this of.

Krolia nodded stoically, accepting his words.

“He has nightmares. About Naxela,” she continued.

“Naxela-?” echoed Lance, tilting his head in confusion.

Sure, Voltron and a huge chunk of the universe had nearly been destroyed, but they’d been through similar situations before, and Keith hadn’t even been in the blast radius when everything went down. Of all the things that had happened to them, why would Keith have nightmares about Naxela?

Krolia stared at him like she couldn’t believe he didn’t get it.

“Keith nearly died,” she said gravely.

“Keith nearly what?!”

This was the first Lance had ever heard of Keith nearly dying on that mission, and just the idea made something constrict painfully in his chest.

Realisation dawned across Krolia’s features as she took in Lance’s confusion.

“He never told…” she murmured, before sighing heavily. Her posture crumpled slightly, and for the first time, Lance could see some motherly softness in her. It was hard to make out around her general fierceness.

“Keith never told what?” asked Lance sharply. His jovial facade was very quickly crumbling away, and the shrewd look Krolia leveled at him made him wonder if he’d ever had her fooled at all.

“Before Lotor destroyed Haggar’s ship, Keith was going to crash into it. On purpose.”

Lance understood immediately.

Keith had tried to die for them. The revelation was like a punch to the gut. All these months had passed - years for Keith - and he’d never breathed a word to any of them.

That… that hurt Lance to know.

“He has nightmares about it,” Krolia repeated.

“Why didn’t he tell us?” asked Lance hoarsely, fists clenched and trembling at his sides.

“I… don’t know,” replied Krolia honestly. “I assumed you all knew… I think I only know because he couldn’t hide it from me in the Quantum abyss. He must have his reasons for not confiding in any of you. Don’t push him.”

“I-I won’t, it’s just…”

He didn’t say anything.

“I need to know that you will look after him,” continued Krolia.

“Why me?” asked Lance, mouth dry.

Krolia just looked at him. She looked right through him, and Lance felt heat bloom in his cheeks.

“Right…” he mumbled awkwardly, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. I promise.”

He must have said something right because Krolia smiled at him. It really drove home the resemblance between mother and son; they both rarely smiled, but when they did… it was sort of dazzling.

“Thank you, Lance. You’re a good boy,” she said, pressing a hand against his shoulder for a moment.

She departed the next morning, leaving Lance crushed underneath the weight of her revelation. He could scarcely think about anything else, leaving him unnaturally subdued as he turned and turned the whole thing over in his head.

He hadn’t spared much thought for Naxela since it had happened. It had been a terrifyingly close call, and it had irked him that they had Lotor to thank for their lives. Except it turned out that they didn’t have Lotor to thank for their lives, they had him to thank for Keith’s.

Lance kept himself up at night wondering just how close it had been, and cursing himself for not getting more detail from Krolia. If Keith was still having nightmares about it, it had to have been a near thing. He wondered why Keith hadn’t said anything. They’d had him on the comms, Lance remembered. Keith could have said something… it’s been an honor, boys…

Lance wanted to bring it up. It felt like the sort of thing that needed to be acknowledged and addressed; Keith had tried to die for them. It felt important to figure out why. Was it because Keith cared a whole lot more than he let on, or was it because he’d spent so long with the Blade of Marmora that the mission over individual rhetoric had stuck? Had he thought they didn’t need him anymore because he wasn’t an acting Paladin?

Lance needed to find out, but finding an appropriate time to do so was proving to be difficult.

Firstly, Lance didn’t think that Keith would appreciate it if he blurted it out in front of everyone. He was notoriously private, and tended to lash out when he was backed into a corner. Lance needed to get him alone so they could speak in private, but there wasn’t much privacy to be had seeing as they were living practically on top of one another in their lions.

A few times he got as far as saying “hey, Keith–” only for his damned wolf to teleport between them, or for them to get interrupted by someone else’s presence.

“What did you want, Lance?” Keith would say, and everytime Lance would shrug it off because it was awkward to bring up with Coran puttering around in the Cargo hold behind them, or Hunk cooking lunch.

But in the end, Lance didn’t need to do anything to get Keith alone, because Keith got them alone for him.

They landed on a habitable planet with lush forests, and unloaded from their lions to spend the night, and stretch their legs.

Keith made off into the underbrush immediately to collect firewood, Kosmo streaking after him like a bright blue shadow.

Lance heaved a deep sigh; Keith had left so fast that he hadn’t even had a chance to volunteer to tag along before he’d disappeared into the green foliage.

“Lance, can you help me with Kalternecker?” called Coran.

“Stubborn cow…” Lance muttered under his breath, before jogging over to help.

After a lot of tugging and cajoling, they managed to get Kalternecker out of the Blue Lion and happily munching on alien grass.

“Why you gotta be so difficult?” said Lance, staring into Kalternecker’s dopey eyes.

Before Kalternecker could offer a reply, Kosmo popped into existence between them.

Lance shouted in surprise, flinging his arms up defensively, and then Kosmo jumped on him, pressing his paws again Lance’s chest.

“Kosmo! What are you-” Lance tipped and started to fall backwards.

Before he could hit the ground, everything seemed to phase out of existence around him. For a split second he was perfectly still, suspended in nothingness. All he could feel was two warm spots on his chest where Kosmo’s paws rested, and then with a rushing roar, the world snapped back into being.

He hit the ground with a painful thud, knocking all the breath from his body.

“-doing,” he wheezed.

Kosmo filled his field of view, licking his cheeks with a sandpapery tongue.

Lance let out an involuntary giggle, it tickled.

“D-d-d-down boy–” he laughed, pushing weakly at Kosmo’s face.

“Kosmo, please, let him up” that was Keith’s voice, sounding put-upon, and there was Keith’s frowny face, looming over him.

It struck Lance as extremely comical that Keith talked to his space wolf like that, seriously like Kosmo was a person that could understand every single word, and he laughed harder. It was endearing, and it shouldn’t have surprised Lance as much as it did; this was the same boy who hadn’t named his wolf for two years because he was waiting for said wolf to tell him his name.

With one last slobbery lick, Kosmo obeyed Keith and teleported himself so he was sitting at Lance’s feet.

“Thanks for bringing him,” Keith said to Kosmo.

Wait, bringing him?

Finally able to sit up, Lance could examine his surrounding. Kalternecker was nowhere to be seen, and neither were any of the Lions.

He was in a clearing in the forest, surrounded by a wall of trees and dappled sunlight.

“Did you just get your space wolf to fetch me?” said Lance incredulously.

“Yeah…” said Keith sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, “I’m surprised it even worked, he never fetches anything else I ask him to get.”

“Right,” said Lance, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. Keith watched him do this, shifting his weight nervously. He’d obviously brought Lance here for a reason, so Lance waited patiently for him to speak. Keith began haltingly, face screwed up like the words were unbearably salty.

“I’ve… I’ve been gone awhile. I guess… things have… changed? Since I’ve been gone?”

“I guess?” answered Lance, puzzled about the direction Keith intended to steer this conversation in. He knew what direction he wanted to steer this in, but it was only polite to hear Keith out first before Lance brought up personal information his alien mother had divulged without his knowledge or permission.

“You seem… down,” said Keith, staring at him with those big expressive eyes.

“What?” said Lance, utterly perturbed. That was the last thing he expected Keith to say.

“You’ve seemed pretty down,” repeated Keith, taking a step closer to him.

“I spoke to Hunk and it sounds like something happened, or well, didn’t happen, with Allura?”

Everything in Lance revolted against those words coming out of Keith’s mouth, and he recoiled as if Keith had struck him.

“Excuse me?”

Grimacing, Keith pressed on.

“Look, I know I’m not the best at-at pep-talks, or comfort, but I’m meant to be the leader again, and I just wanted to say-” Keith took a deep breath, “-just because Allura didn’t choose you doesn’t mean someone else won’t-”

“Oh my God. Keith, I need you to stop talking, like, right now,” groaned Lance, burying his face in his hands. Lance had experienced acute embarrassment many many times in his short life, but Keith of all people trying to comfort him over his failed love life was a whole new category of mortification, even for him.

“Kosmo, take me back to the to others,” Lance begged dramatically. Kosmo tilted his head to the side, gazing at Lance quizzically with those unearthly glowing eyes. Keith was looking at him with much the same expression, complete with the head tilt. Lance would have found it unbearably cute if he weren’t so busy being humiliated.

“I’m just worried about you, you’ve been weird for the past few weeks,” said Keith. He was dripping sincerity which was making it very hard for Lance to be irritated at him like he wanted to be.

“I’m fine,” said Lance shortly.

“Are you sure? You haven’t been acting fine… I mean, there are a lot of other girls out there–“

“Me estás jodiendo– it’s YOU, you numbskull!” Lance snapped, throwing his hands up.

“Me?” it was Keith’s turn to look totally discombobulated. His expression turned pensive, like he was wracking his brains for what he might have done.

“Is this about that weird game show thing with Bob?” he asked slowly, a frown tugging at his lips. “Look,” he continued, “it was a stressful situation, and I was pissed that you said I can’t draw because I’ve seen your drawings, and you have have no business telling me I can’t draw–”

“This is getting off track, we aren’t meant to be talking about whether you can draw for not,” said Lance, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Quit saying I can’t draw!” snapped Keith, bristling like an angry cat.

“It’s about Naxela,” blurted Lance. Keith’s ire melted away, giving way to confusion.

“Naxela?” He repeated. “What about Naxela?”

“UM, you tried to fly straight into Haggar’s ship like a Kamikaze pilot!” Lance cried, waving his arms emphatically.

“So? That was ages ago,” replied Keith, looking at Lance like he was weird for bringing it up. Of all the ways Lance had envisioned this confrontation going down, he hadn’t imagined Keith being so nonchalant.

“Ages ago?” he echoed faintly.

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?!”

“Are you just gonna repeat everything I say?” asked Keith, irritation creeping into his voice.

“Keith, it’s a huge fucking deal,” said Lance. It was the most serious thing he’d ever said to him.

“If it weren’t for Lotor–”

“I know,” interrupted Keith. “I know…” he repeated, quiet and subdued.

“But that didn’t happen, so it doesn’t matter.”

Lance could tell from the mulish expression on Keith’s face that he truly meant that.

“If it’s not a big deal, if it doesn’t matter, then why do you still have nightmares about it?”

Keith’s expression faltered, and crumpled. Lance was standing close enough to him to see the way his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and the way his eyelashes fluttered over his suddenly glassy eyes. Lance hadn’t noticed when, but they’d migrated to stand quite close to each other; both of them seemed to have fallen into the gravity of the conversation.

“That’s why you’ve been acting weird all this time?” asked Keith, clearly trying to change the subject.

“I’ve been trying to bring it up with you since your mom told me about it the day before she left,” confirmed Lance.

“Well, consider it brought up and dealt with. I’m fine,” said Keith hoarsely. He looked anything but fine. He looked haunted, and he was hugging himself like he was trying to keep himself together. Kosmo trotted over and put a paw on Keith’s thigh, letting out a high whine like he was trying to offer comfort.

Lance sighed.

“Keith, what you did, or rather, what you tried to do for us, it’s a big deal. You should have told us. We should have talked about it.”

“What would the point have been? Why does it matter?” asked Keith stubbornly, but his voice was wavering.

“Keith, it matters because you matter,” said Lance, sounding pained.

“I wasn’t a Paladin anymore, then. You guys, the mission, they were both more important than me, I didn’t matter.”

“You don’t… you don’t really believe that, do you?” asked Lance desperately, searching Keith’s face. The stubborn jut of Keith’s chin, the guarded, steely look in his big eyes; Lance only found confirmation that yes, Keith did believe that. It broke Lance’s heart, neatly fractured it in two, that Keith, brilliant, talented, earnest, Keith, didn’t think he mattered.

He didn’t know whether to yell in his face how wrong he was, or pull him into a hug.

“Are we done here?” huffed Keith impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest. Keith’s defensive posture, his hunched shoulders, it was like watching the shutters snap closed on the window to his soul. Lance knew instinctively that whatever he said now, it would fall on deaf ears. He tried anyway.

“Nearly. I just want to say… we all have nightmares, Keith. You don’t have to suffer through them alone, if you need me I’m here for you.”

Keith gave a curt nod, before turning on his heel and disappearing into the forest.

Rather than following Keith, Kosmos trotted forward and nudged Lance’s hand with his head. Lance automatically petted his soft fur, tangling his fingers between the strands, and then the forest dissolved around him, and he was back in front of Kalternecker. Before he could blink, Kosmo was gone again.

Keith stayed gone for a long time, and when he returned his expression was guarded. He avoided being alone with Lance for the rest of their interlude on the forested planet, and then, all too soon, they were loading themselves back into their lions for another long slog to whatever destination Pidge and Coran had routed for them.

This time he had Kalternecker as his travel companion, and he was glad; Kalternecker wouldn’t question how uncharacteristically quiet he was being and how his expression had fixed itself into a thoughtful frown. Kalternecker was content to munch on her alien hay, and leave him to his thoughts of Keith. He hated how they’d left things. Maybe if he’s said or done or said something differently, Keith wouldn’t have run off. Keith would meet his eye, and Keith wouldn’t seem more withdrawn than ever.

He considered bringing up what had happened with Shiro, but ultimately decided not to because Shiro was still recovering, and none of them had any idea what memories he might have retained from his clone. The last thing Lance wanted to do was cause Shiro undue stress, and a very large part of him revolted at running to Shiro for help like a little kid because he was supposed to be Keith’s right hand man now. This was something he was supposed to be able to deal with. Besides, Shiro was in the Black lion with Keith, so he couldn’t exactly radio in and speak to one without the other hearing everything he said. He could radio Pidge, or Hunk, or Allura, but that didn’t feel right either, talking about Keith behind his back like he was a problem.

Keith was prickly and slow to trust, and Lance liked to think he was one of a very select few that Keith actually let in a little. One of the few people who got to see one of his very rare, genuinely joyful smiles. No, he couldn’t risk betraying Keith’s trust, even if he only had his best interests at heart.

With no other recourse, and in very Keith-like fashion, Lance brooded.

He brooded so hard he couldn’t manage to fall asleep that night, so he ended up leaving his pallet bed, padding out of the cargo bay to sit in Red’s pilot seat, and enjoy the view of endless stars. Red’s cockpit was perfectly warm, the temperature kept downright balmy as per Lance’s preference, but he still felt cold.

All of a sudden, his peaceful but somber solitude was disturbed. Kosmos materialised behind him, bringing Keith in tow. Judging by the yelp Keith let out, the way he landed flat on his ass with a thud, Keith hadn’t been brought here of his own volition.

“Keith!” Lance exclaimed, standing and walking around his seat to hover over him. Kosmo was staring at Lance expectantly, while Keith had his face downturned so his eyes were obscured by his bangs.

“What brings you here?” Lance asked after an awkward beat of silence.

“A bad dog,” replied Keith, voice especially gravelly and low, even for him.

Lance didn’t know how he managed it, being a space wolf and all, but Kosmo looked at Keith like a parent might look at their misbehaving child while their teacher recounted their misdeeds; disappointed and exasperated.

Kosmos let out a soft whine, and nudged Keith with his head. Nudged Keith towards Lance…

That was when Lance noticed that Keith was shaking.

“What’s the matter?” asked Lance, approaching Keith and getting down on one knee beside him like he was a skittish cat; slowly and carefully.

He set a hand on Keith’s shoulder, and although Keith’s breathing hitched at the light touch, he didn’t immediately push him away which counted as a win.

Lance ducked his head to peer into Keith’s face, and saw that it was crumpled in misery. Keith’s eyes were glassy and red, his lips pressed into a thin tremulous line. The last time Lance had witnessed Keith this small and vulnerable, he’d been grieving for Shiro. Just like last time, something in Lance’s chest couldn’t help but respond to Keith’s distress. Lance was an empathetic person; seeing others’ sadness made him sad too. Lance needed to soothe him.

“Can I hug you?” he asked.

“I-I don’t need– I’m fine,” protested Keith, voice hitching in a way that belied his words.

“I didn’t ask if you need a hug, or if you’re okay–” it was plainly obvious to Lance that the answer to those questions were respectively yes, and no, “I asked if I can hug you because I want to,” he said simply.

“Why?” asked Keith, finally looking up at Lance with those big eyes. The confusion swimming in them was heartbreaking.

“Because I love hugs, they always make me feel better when I’m sad, and well, you look sorta sad, Keith. I wanna help you feel better.”

Lance opened up his arms in wordless invitation.

Keith just stared at him for a beat, blinking in bewilderment, and then he moved so fast he was a blur as he all but threw himself into Lance’s arms. It was as if he was afraid Lance might change his mind if he took too long.

“Easy, I got you,” murmured Lance, catching Keith against his chest, and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Keith’s hands fisted in the back of Lance’s shirt, and he clung. Folded into Lance’s embrace like this, with only their soft pajamas clothes between them, Keith felt warm and human.

Fragile.

He could feel Keith trembling everywhere they were pressed together. Keith was drawing in short quick breaths like he was trying to calm himself down, ruffling Lance’s hair with every shuddery exhale.

Lance held him tighter, and rubbed his back. It felt like Keith was holding the tension of the world between his shoulder blades, but as Lance idly pressed his fingers into the knots there, Keith slowly relaxed.

Minutes passed, and neither of them let go. Keith’s breathing evened out, and he stopped shaking so badly.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Lance eventually murmured.

Keith nodded, keeping his face tucked into Lance’s neck.

“About Naxela?” That earned him another nod.

“Do you wanna tell me about it?”

Keith shrugged.

“It’s always the same. It’s stupid,” he said gruffly.

“I’ll listen anyway. And I promise I won’t laugh, even if it is stupid.”

Silence fell again, and lasted for so long that Lance didn’t think Keith would speak.

“Um…” murmured Keith, barely above a whisper.

Lance shifted, intending to set Keith back so he could see his face as he spoke, but Keith’s grip on him didn’t let up. Lance got the message and immediately stopped trying to pull away, letting Keith keep hiding his face.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I just think… maybe it could help? Talking things out makes me feel better,” said Lance.

“Along with hugs?”asked Keith.

“Along with hugs,” Lance confirmed, giving Keith a squeeze. “Don’t you feel better?” he joked weakly.

Keith nodded, and Lance’s heart skipped a beat. Keith took a deep breath, and started to speak.

“So… I’m in the Galra fighter,” he began. Lance had never hung on someone’s words so intently.

“This time… Lotor doesn’t come in time and I– I die, I guess.”

“That’s not stupid, Keith. It’s understandable to have nightmares about it–”

“No, that’s not the part– I mean, this is war. I’ve accepted that I might die,” Keith cleared his throat awkwardly.

“What’s the part that is bothering you?” asked Lance, inwardly apprehensive. He’d had plenty of nightmares himself of dying in space and never getting to see his family again, Keith shrugging that off, not being bothered by dying… it twisted something up inside him.

“Um… w-when it happened… Shiro said…” Keith breathing was picking up again, and Lance felt him starting to tense up. Lance didn’t need Keith to finish what he was going to say, Lance remembered.

“Shiro said ‘good job, Keith,’” breathed Lance. Keith nodded.

“He said that and– and y-you guys were all ch-cheering but I’d nearly just– a-and I felt–” Keith was shaking again, and Lance’s heart ached.

“Shh, hey, you’re alright,” soothed Lance desperately, but it was no use; Keith had started to cry. He was obviously trying to to stifle himself, only letting out tiny sniffles, but Lance could feel his tears soaking into the fabric of his nightshirt.

“It’s stupid to feel like this,” Keith choked out vehemently. “It shouldn’t matter, it shouldn’t bother me, but sometimes I dream I-I’m dead a-and y-you’re all cheering and I–I–”

“Listen to me, Keith,” said Lance, low and utterly serious. He pulled back so he could look Keith in the eye, and this time Keith let him. Eyes wet with tears, Keith was the saddest thing Lance had ever seen.

Tutting softly, Lance reached out to brush away the tears with his thumb. “The way you feel isn’t stupid,” he said, “you tried to die for us, and from your perspective, it sounded like we were celebrating. No wonder you have nightmares about it. You know that if we’d known what you were doing, what you tried to do, we wouldn’t have been cheering right? Shiro wouldn’t have said that.”

Keith shrugged.

“I’m serious, Keith. We all really care about you, and not just because you’re the Black Paladin and we need you to form Voltron’s head,” said Lance, unable to help himself when it came to inserting a bit of levity into the heavy conversation.

“I hate that you’ve been dealing with this on your own, and I know the others would too. Anytime you have a nightmare, or just need a hug, any of us would be there for you.”

“I wasn’t totally alone, Krolia helped. I hadn’t had any dream that bad in ages, but since she left…” Keith trailed off.

“How did she help?” asked Lance, genuinely curious. Krolia didn’t seem like the comforting sort. Keith’s cheeks turned pink.

“Um… hugs? And she’d, um… she’d tell me…”

“Tell you what?”

“She’d tell me she loved me,” Keith blurted, ducking his head in embarrassment.

“And that helped?”

Keith nodded, shamefaced.

Lance’s answering smile was fond and indulgent.

“I love you, Keith,” he said easily. Keith’s cheeks turned even redder, and he spluttered indignantly.

“What?! You can’t just–!? You don’t mean– You can’t just say that–” Lance chuckled.

“Why not? You said it helps to hear it, and it’s true,” he replied. “If you asked the others, they’d say the same thing. We all love you. And you love us, too.”

While Keith seemingly wrestled with what Lance had said, Lance got to his feet, wincing at the stiffness in his knee after kneeling on it on the hard floor of Red’s cockpit for so long.

“Keith,” he said to get the other boy’s attention, offering him a hand. With a pinched frown, Keith accepted and let Lance haul him to his feet, only Lance didn’t just haul him to his feet, he also pulled him in for one last hug.

“Do you feel better?” Lance asked, hooking his chin over Keith’s shoulder.

“… yeah,” replied Keith. “Thanks, Lance. I love you, too,” he continued quietly. Something about those words, spoken in Keith’s gruff voice, and with complete sincerity, made a riot of butterflies burst into existence in Lance’s stomach.

Lance drew back and cleared his throat, hoping that the sudden warmth in his cheeks wasn’t visible to Keith.

“Sooo… next time you have a nightmare what are you gonna do?” Lance prompted.

“Um… ask for a hug?” answered Keith hesitantly.

“Atta boy,” said Lance, beaming and clapping Keith on the back. “Now, are you good to try and get some sleep?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. Thanks, Lance. I’ll just go back to– hang on…” Keith made a show of looking around the cockpit.

“What is it?” asked Lance, but Keith didn’t reply, he darted into the cargo hold, looking around with an air of desperation.

“Did you lose something?” Lance asked haltingly, following Keith through the cockpit door.

“My way back to my bed,” replied Keith grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

Oh.

Kosmos was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s fine, I’m sure Kalternecker won’t mind you bunking with her,” joked Lance, waving an arm at her mound of hay.

Keith gave him a flat, unimpressed look, and then his expression turned sly.

“Last one to your bed has to bunk with Kalternecker!” he exclaimed, and then he was off like a shot, flying across the cargo hold.

“Wha-? Hey! No fair! I didn’t agree to this!” cried Lance, scrambling to chase after him.

(In the end, neither of them bunked with Kalternecker, and Lance woke up the next morning with a mop of black hair on his chest, tickling his chin, and Keith’s hand curled into his.)

(Me estás jodiendo means, roughly, you’re fucking with me)

#bad things happen bingo #vld #nightmares #klance #krolia #naxela #talking out feelings #whump #hurt/comfort #my writing #voltron

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blueplanettrash · 6 years ago

Text

Lance Shirogane-West (Part 3)

I hope everyone enjoys this! 💙

“Shiro,” Keith said, turning towards the door. “What’s up?”

I looked him over with concern. He looked a little shaky and definitely pale, well, paler than normal. He shook his head before focusing his attention on Keith.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just need to talk to Lance about something,” he said, before moving his gaze to me. Something in his eyes immediately put me on high alert and I was at his side in an instant. He put his hand on my shoulder and led me out of the room.

“Shiro, what’s wrong?” I asked as soon as we were out of hearing range. He swallowed and opened his mouth but couldn’t seem to get the words out.

He led me to the memorial wall, it was something that Iverson showed us as soon as we got back but ushered us to meeting relatively quickly. It was the first time I really saw the devastation Sendak created on Earth. As my eyes moved across the wall, one face stuck out at me.

“Pa?” I whispered walking slowly over to the wall. Behind me, I could hear Shiro let out a little sob but physically couldn’t make myself turn around. As I brushed my fingers down the plate, my breath caught in my throat. I spun around and threw myself in Shiro’s arms, he wasn’t my father but he was the closest thing I had. He brushed his fingers through my hair and pulled me closer.

“I’m so sorry Lance,” he said regretfully. I knew he meant it and that made it all the harder. I didn’t want him to be sorry, I wanted him and Adam to be together in this universe too. But now, I just didn’t think it was going to happen.

I shook my head and snuggled closer, hoping that some of the horrible truths would go away if I just hid well enough.

“Why don’t we tell everyone else? Maybe they could help us get you home,” Shiro suggested, wiping at his face.

“No, we can’t,” I croaked pulling away. “I know they’re already working on getting me home on the other side; if someone starts on this side the pressure on the rift between could collapse both realities,”

“Oh. Not doing that then,” he said quietly. I gave him a small smile and looked down at the ground.

“I just have to keep believing that they’re looking for me I guess,”

“Of course they’re looking for you, you’re an amazing kid Lance,” Shiro laughed, slapping me on the back.

“Thanks,” I stepped away and looked back at the wall. Tears still pushed against the back of my eyes but this time I wanted to be strong. I had to be strong, for myself and everyone else. I wouldn’t let my feelings hurt the mission and we would rescue Earth.

According to the nurses, it took me three days to wake up after the battle. I wasn’t sure about the rest of the team but I was incredibly rattled and really didn’t know what to think for the whole day afterwards. Then I started seeing the rest of my friend’s families walking down the hall towards their rooms. For some reason, it hurt a lot more than I thought it would. By this point, I thought that I’d gotten used to the fact that my parents weren’t going to show up when I got hurt.

I thought that surely someone would be in to talk to me about the mission or something the first day, but the only people who came in were the nurses assigned to me. I thought that Hunk would wheel himself in and introduce me to his family, or Keith would come in, or maybe even Matt after not seeing us for several years.

But nobody came.

With all that time came a lot of thinking. Thinking about what my future was gonna hold; I wasn’t from their world, I wasn’t where I belonged. I didn’t know anything that was going to happen to me, I’d already been mixed up in a war that wasn’t supposed to be mine. I didn’t know if my parents had made any progress looking for me or if they started trying at all. For all I knew, as soon as I disappeared all time ceased to function and they’re all in the same position all those years ago.

Waiting truly was the worst thing.

After a few days, there was a knock on my door and Shiro stuck his head in. I immediately teared up.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” He asked as he hurried over to my bedside. I just shook my head and reached out to grab a handful of his lapel.

“I was just lonely,” I whimpered, eyes scrunching closed.

“Oh, I’m sorry it took me so long to come and see you, I’ve been really busy with the Atlas up and running now,” he explained, cupping the back of my head and drawing me close.

“It’s okay,” I replied, looping my arms around his neck and burying my face in his neck. We stayed up almost the whole night, he told me everything that was going on with the Atlas and the strides they were making with it. The way Shiro talked about it made it sound like it could be the Castle’s replacement. Really, it’s what we all needed; somewhere safe.

It was a few weeks before everyone was back to fighting shape. It was almost too much of a coincidence that we were better when we got the frantic call from Veronica. They detected a strange anomaly around the Atlas hanger and were sent down to check it out (meaning Voltron and the MFE team)

We stood there, tense, just waiting for something to happen but it was completely silent. I wanted to shoot just to see if there was something invisible in our way.

I’m glad I didn’t.

Moments after the thought went through my mind, there was a bright flash of light and there were three figures standing before us. The two people had their hands raised submissively while the canine at their hips stood resolutely with her ears pressed against her head.

There’s really no glamorous way to say that I felt like throwing up.

My bayard was on the ground and I was running towards them within seconds.

“DAD! PA!” I screamed, tears already streaming down my cheeks. Their faces morphed into ones of recognition and Dad scooped me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. By that point I was a blubbering mess, clutching their clothes as they hugged me and squishing my face in my dad’s shirt.

I didn’t care that my teammates were staring at me. I hadn’t seen my fathers for years and it just dawned on me how much I missed them. It was like a boulder was lifted off of my shoulders and I was just left with utter relief.

“Is-is that Shiro?” I heard Keith ask, his voice baffled.

“Yeah, or, well, I different version of me?” Shiro stated coming up beside Keith.

“What is happening,” Pidge muttered, lowering her bayard. I pulled away from my parents and turned to face my team.

“These are my parents,” I said simply as Pa wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“Your parents!? B-but those are Shiro and um, some guy I don’t know,” Hunk exclaimed, trailing off as he pointed towards my pa.

“Right, I tell you about that too, I promise,” I replied, looking down at the ground. That’s when I remembered the canine and dropped to my knees.

“Clover!” I cried happily, tangling my hands in her fur. She whined excitedly, her tail wagging madly as she licked my cheek. I felt like crying all over again just having my arms wrapped around my best friend again.

“Do we have time?” I asked looking over my shoulder.

“We have all the time in the world,” Dad assured me with a gentle smile.

I lead them towards the student lounge, not too far away from the Atlas’ hanger and waited until everyone was seated and looking at me before I started.

“Everybody, these are my parents Takashi and Adam Shirogane-West and I’m from a different reality,” I stated simply. My dad snorted at the explanation which my pa quickly smacked him in the head for. He looked over at him with a wobbling lip and I laughed out loud at the display, I’d missed them so much.

“How did you get here?” Pidge asked raising her hand.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. They all looked at me like I was crazy, not that I could blame them.

“How can you not know?” Hunk cried in alarm.

“I woke up in this reality, I was asleep when I was transported. I have no idea what happened,” I said honestly.

“I have a question,” Keith announced gesturing to Clover who was sitting happily at my side. “You have a cosmic wolf too?”

“Yup! Clover is one of Kosmo’s pups!” I explained turning to squish Clover’s face happily. She barked and licked the end of my nose.

“I’m a grandfather,” Keith gasped, staring down at Kosmo.

“Wait, did you use Clover to get here? How?” I asked turning to look at the two of them.

“Well, she can already teleport we just enhanced her ability to teleport,” Pa shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal and gestured at the slim collar around her neck. “Of course everyone’s been working on it; Matt, Pidge, Hunk, they all miss you so much,”

“Wait! There are versions of us in your dimension?” Pidge cried, a smile on her face.

“Yup! There are versions of all of you in our dimension,” Dad stated happily, looking around the room before his smile fell a little bit. “Except for…”

“Where am I?” Pa asked, pointing to himself and glancing around the room as well. Immediately, the energy in the room staled and everyone was looking at the floor, while Dad and Pa looked around in confusion.

“Lance?” Pa asked with concern. I looked up at him and even though he was right in front of me, there were tears welling up in my eyes. He noticed them straight away and gently cupped my face. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re dead,” I admitted in a whisper. “In this reality, you didn’t make it out of the crash,”

Dad gasped and looked over at Shiro. It was almost comical, like that spiderman meme I discovered when I was first transported here. But the thought was almost immediately washed away when Shiro started crying. For him, it must have felt like stitches ripping from a healing wound. When he saw my pa, it would have been just as painful.

I quickly moved across the room and wrapped my arms around his middle. I didn’t know if I was comforting him or I was making the wound hurt more but to me, it felt right.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Dad said quietly, walking over to the two of us. Shiro looked up at him, tears still rolling down his cheeks. Now more than ever I realized the differences between the two of them. Maybe it was the time that passed, my dad was certainly older than Shiro or maybe it was the events they went through. I’d never know what the Galra did to my dad, he’d never tell me. I could only hope that Shiro would find the same happiness that my parents did; he deserved it.

Eventually, though, it was time to say goodbye.

“Thank you. All of you for taking care of me,” I said gratefully.

They wrapped me up in a group hug and said their goodbyes. Hunk, Pidge, and Coran were crying outright and I could see tears glistening in everybody else’s eyes. It was hard to pull away but I looked over at my parents and Clover and I just wanted to go home again. I gave everyone a separate hug as well before joining Dad and Pa. As they prepared Clover’s collar for the dimension hop, I looked back at my team.

My team.

Each of them meant so much to me back home, they were my family from the very beginning and they loved me unconditionally. But here, I had to earn their trust and their friendship. I had to start from the very beginning; I got to watch the transition from stranger to friend, to family. It’s something special that will stick with me for the rest of my life. In some ways, I think it makes our relationship more meaningful than at home. Together we went through thick and thin, they had my back when I needed it and I had theirs. We saved lives countless times; sometimes it was our own lives. We broke apart sometimes but formed back together even stronger. I’ll never forget my life from their reality. I found myself there; I discovered what was important, what I was good at. It’s helped me realize loss and sadness; what it’s like to lose someone close to you.

I thank the Legendary Defenders: Voltron for everything they’ve done for me.

The Green Paladin, Pidge, who taught me to never give up when I believed in something.

The Blue Paladin, Allura, who taught me to help everyone I can.

The Yellow Paladin, Hunk, who taught me that it’s okay to be afraid sometimes.

The Red Paladin, Keith, who taught me that what you are doesn’t define you, it’s what you do that’s important.

The Black Paladin, Shiro, who taught me that you don’t always have to be strong.

I’ll keep these lessons and remember them in my darkest times. I hope one day that I’ll see those people again but until then, I’ll remember.

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girigirizine · 6 years ago

Photo

“Happy Birthday Keith!”

My dear friend @fiery-mullet and I wanted to create something cute and nice for Keith’s birthday. I’m so glad to have met her, her writing always beautify my artworks by 200% ♥ (btw, this one is a tribute to one of my fav anime: Tamako Market)

She writes, I draw, and here is our present to Keith this year, enjoy~

@fiery-mullet : And so Kya had this beautiful idea of drawing Keith looking so soft and genuinely surprised with people celebrating his birthday. And then it just went from there… For what it’s worth enjoy!

To my dear Kya, this fic would not be here if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for being my Keith. For always saving me from sadness and utter lack of faith in myself. As many times as it takes.

Black Forest and a Purple Candle

After a couple of knocks, the door opened and James’ head popped in.

“Hey Keith, have you seen Kosmo?”

Keith, who was in one of the Galaxy Garrison’s conference room with Pidge and Hunk- or rather was pulled into it by said Paladins about a couple of hours ago- frowned.

“No, why?”

“Commander Iverson messaged me just now and said there was drool all over the stuff in his office.”

“What?! Wait, why would he be in Commander Iverson’s office in the first place?”

“Uh… Oh, you know Commander Iverson. He loves the cosmic wolf. Maybe he offered him a treat or something.”

Keith sighed. “But I still-“

“No, it’s okay Keith. Hunk and I still have to make a few adjustments to the upgrades like you suggested. So it’s not really urgent. You should go before Kosmo teleports Iverson somewhere we can’t find him.”

“Yeah! Besides I still have to send the recipe to-“ Pidge elbowed Hunk, fiercely, before he could finish his sentence.”

“To his mom! He wants to teach them how to make food goo.”

“Yeah! My dad’s been dying to try it.”

Keith wondered why anyone would want to try food goo. Maybe because it was an Altean dish? And his dad wanted to try space cooking?

“Okay. I’ll go get the wolf then. Let me know if you guys need anything.”

Keith left the room, following James to Iverson’s office. The automatic doors opened and closed. Keith didn’t have the fondest memories of this place. In fact, the last time he was there became his last day in the Galaxy Garrison as well, which he honestly thought was the end of his piloting dreams. But it was all in the past.

“Commander, I heard the cosmic wolf came here. I hope he didn’t cause any trouble.”

“That little fella was such a good bo-“ Iverson stopped mid sentence and cleared his throat. His fond smile quickly changed into his usual grumpy face. Just as Keith remembered before he was booted from the Garrison. “A troublemaker, cadet!” He yelled. Keith noticed there was something off about his tone. It wasn’t as fierce and loud as he recalled. “He chewed on a lot of my stuff, and I had to wipe them dry. Wasted my time.”

“I’m sorry, commander. He does that when he’s lonely. If you just played with him for a bit.”

“Oh I did! He even let me pet him and-“ For a few seconds Iverson’s face lit up, but as if he had caught himself, he put his stern face back on. “But I have things to do, cadet. I can’t possibly play with him all day. Just remember to watch your wolf from now on. I have business to discuss with Griffin. You may leave.”

“Sir!” Keith saluted and exited the room.

Frowning, Keith still couldn’t understand why the wolf would even go to Iverson’s office. However, before he could ponder on it any longer, his communicator beeped and Allura spoke.

“Keith! Kosmo’s down in the archives! Could you come pick him up before chews any more storage devices?!”

“Why is he down there?!”

“How am I supposed to know?! Come and pick him up this instant!”

“Okay! I’m coming!”

Keith ran down to the other end of the building where the Garrison archives were as fast as he could. However, when he got there, only Allura, Coran, and Matt were there. Matt looked up when he came in.

“Oh, hey Keith!”

“Hey, Matt. Where is he?”

“He just left.” Coran said, twirling his moustache.

“What.” Keith’s eyes drooped. Okay, something wasn’t right here. First, Iverson’s office. Now, the archives. He knew his wolf was a curious little creature. But why was it going to all these places? And what was even weirder, was leaving every time he came to fetch him?

“Wait!!! Kosmo!!! Come back here, you little-!!!”

Keith’s head jerked to the hallway where Lance was chasing after the cosmic wolf. Allura looked on in disbelief as Matt slapped his forehead. Coran sounded thoroughly amused as he said, “Well then young Paladin, I guess you’ve found what you came here for.”

Keith groaned. He dashed out of the archives and saw the cosmic wolf turn at the corner with Lance tailing behind. He ran after them but by the time he caught up to Lance, who was on all fours, panting, the wolf was gone. “That guy’s too fast.”

“Why were you chasing him?”

“I had to… the scarf…” Lance panted.

“What?”

Lance flinched before he got up. He frowned, and seemed to make himself sound annoyed on purpose. “I said your cosmic wolf took my meemaw’s scarf.”

Keith thought back on the bluish-grey scarf with a light streak that was tied on the wolf’s neck. His visual memory is pretty good, and he was sure that was the same scarf Hunk tied around the cosmic creature whenever Hunk had him deliver food to the Voltron pilots and their passengers while they were on the long trip back to Earth. “Wasn’t that Hunk’s?”

“Shut your quiznak, it’s my meemaw’s!”

Keith sighed. This conversation was going nowhere. “Fine. I’ll find the wolf and give it back to your grandmother.”

“No!”

“What?”

“I mean, you don’t know where she lives! Just give it to me, I’ll give it. Hasta la later, Keith!”

And he went on his way

“What’s he talking about. His whole family lives in the Garrison now.” Keith mumbled, watching Lance’s retreating back with a disbelieving face.

“Hey Keith! Kosmo is here at the weapons room. Could you come pick him up?”

And that was Romelle.

Keith’s head drooped. The day just kept getting weirder. He couldn’t decide what was more bizarre, the wolf going to the weapons room or Romelle being there, surrounded by dangerous artillery and there have been no explosions or reports of anyone getting hurt. Yet.

He got there in time just to see Romelle slip something into the scarf tied around the wolf’s neck right before he vanished again. More than that, he noticed another person in the room. “Acxa.”

“Keith.”

Ah. That was the reason why the Garrison was still in one piece despite Romelle and firearms being in the same room. Keith inwardly sighed in relief, grinning at Acxa.

“Romelle, why did-“

Before he could finish his question, his communicator beeped again. This time, it was Shiro.

“Keith, I need you at the hangar.”

“I’ll be right there,” Keith said before dashed out of the weapons room.

“Shiro! What wrong…?” Keith gaped when he saw the cosmic wolf standing beside Shiro.

He crouched down and rubbed his favorite spot just above his nose. The wolf closed his eyes, relishing Keith’s gentle touch. He folded his ears when Keith’s hand moved up to the top of his head.

“What have you been up to, buddy?”

“We asked him to collect a few things. And now we’re down to the last thing on our list.”

Keith got up and looked at Shiro, asking “What’s that?”

With a soft smile, Shiro simply said “You.”

The next moment, Keith’s eyes went wide as Shiro wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. They stayed like that for a long while, until Keith relaxed in his hold, letting his eyes drift close. Resting his head on Shiro’s shoulder, Keith let himself just breathe. For just those few minutes, he wanted to forget all his worries. His responsibilities. His duties.

Shiro finally let him go, and looking down at the cosmic wolf, he said “You know where to take him.”

The cosmic walked towards Keith, and the second they touched, they vanished, leaving only Shiro who could still feel the warmth in his arms.

The place they reappeared in was the new base the Blade of Marmora had set up on Earth. Keith wondered why it was so dark. Worried that there might’ve been an attack, he was about to take out his bayard when a candle was lit. From the dim light, he could see a purple pillar candle stabbed right smack in the middle of what looked like an elaborate Black Forest cake- with all its icing, chocolate shavings, and cherries on top mysteriously intact.

Krolia stood beside him and ushered him in. Voice as gentle as always, she greeted her son. “Happy Birthday, Keith. Now blow your candle and make a wish.”

Keith was speechless. The last time he celebrated his birthday was before his father passed away. He had given up ever having another birthday party since, much less one with his family.

“We didn’t know how humans commemorate the day they are born. So we asked the other Paladins, and they told us to make you a sweet confection with a candle on top.”

“I chose it! I made sure to pick purple to represent our heritage! Do you like it Keith?” The taller Blade beside Kolivan and quite the bubbly Galra, Llaf, proudly declared.

“It’s… a very nice color.” Keith grinned lopsidedly.

Closing his eyes, Keith made a wish. Surrounded by his mother, his wolf, and their Blade family, there was nothing else he could really ask for. All he wanted was to be able to make a lot of new memories with them from now on.

After the party, Keith opened his presents from the other paladins and the Garrison. It turned out that that’s what Kosmo had been collecting from everyone, and it was all Pidge and Hunk’s plan. Inside, there was a note from from Shiro.

Hey Keith, We hope you enjoyed our little surprise. It’s been a long time since you celebrated with your mom, and now you have the Blades. So we figured it was best to let you guys bond for today. Happy Birthday!

At the bottom, there was a hastily scribbled message.

We have something for you at the Garrison as well, so don’t think the celebration’s over just yet! -Pidge

Keith couldn’t help but smile.

Fin

Follow her on Tumblr @fiery-mullet Follow me on Twitter @wonder_kya // Instagram @wonder_kya

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storiesbeyondthestars · 6 years ago

Text

Anonymous request ‘strapped to a bomb’ for @badthingshappenbingo

This takes place in S7 after Krolia leaves, but before they get to Earth.

Lance stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep as still as possible. He couldn’t help but wonder how Shiro, and now Keith dealt with being inside of a lion that was so dark. Could they make the lights brighter? Or turn on something that didn’t look like borderline ultra violet ones?

“Can you make the lights brighter?” Lance asked.

“I can see fine, don’t worry,” Keith replied, his face appearing in Lance’s frame of view briefly before leaning back. “I can make them brighter, but it would probably hurt your eyes to look at.”

That was fair, and oddly thoughtful. He hummed.

There was a loud bang, and both of them grimaced as Black jerked. Keith froze from where he was kneeling beside Lance, holding his breath as if that would stop anything bad from happening. Once the rocking stopped, he let out a breath. “Fuck.”

“Is everything okay?” Lance could hear Pidge’s voice faintly echo from Keith’s helmet too, the worry positively palpable.

“We’re sorry!” Hunk added almost hysterically. “Those pirates stopped following us, but we didn’t see the meteor coming.”

Lance watched Keith huff angrily. “You guys need to watch out for anything. We have nowhere to set down.”

This whole situation was a mess. Blue was dragging Red around, while Yellow was guiding Black. Green was staying in pace by them, though Pidge was rightfully distracted.

“I should come over there,” Pidge spoke up, not for the first time.

“No!” Lance and Keith both immediately said, before their eyes met. Keith had even gotten Kosmo to teleport over to Red to sit with Romelle for now.

Lance got that. It was probably better than having him there, just in case something went wrong.

And by something going wrong, he meant just in case the bomb that had been strapped to his chest by those stupid space pirates exploded.

Lance stared at the ceiling of the Black Lion, something dark and disgusting welling up within him. God, he was so stupid, wasn’t he? Here he thought he was going to get a good deal on some kind of food Hunk might be able to use, only to get attacked. Not only had they taken the money he had on him to barter, but the people were apparently real, nasty space pirates that decided they wanted the lions, so they strapped a bomb to Lance’s chest.

His eyes turned towards Keith, who was working with extremely steady hands, carefully working the top plate off of the bomb. They had no idea if it was timed to go off, or if it was a remote one, or if motion would trigger it. There were no fancy timers or anything like that to warn them. It was very much a bomb though.

Lance had told Keith to leave him somewhere at first, because god, the thought of hurting him – anyone really – made him sick. Keith, naturally, refused point blank, and starting working on a plan to get it off of him.

The best they could come up with was that he’d had to deactivate it first rather than just remove it. There was very likely a pressure plate on the bottom of it that would set it off the second they tried to lift it off of him.

The bomb was right over the blue V on his chest, and a quick scan showed them that it was, in fact, powerful enough to blow him and anything around him sky high. So when he shifted a bit, Keith reached up, putting a bit of pressure on his chest above that.

“Stop moving.” He quickly turned back, his brow furrowing.

“I’m sorry,” Lance muttered. Maybe they should just throw him out and let the bomb explode with him attached. Coran and Romelle were both there with them. Surely one of them would be able to pilot Red in an emergency? They were also heading back to Earth, so they could probably find someone better there.

“It’s fine, just stay still.” If Keith caught on to what he was really apologizing over, he didn’t let on. “Alright, the power plate is gone.” He set the metal down beside him.

“Okay, scan it again for me so I have a clearer image of what we’re working with,” Pidge ordered. Keith held his gauntlet up and scanned it again, sending the 3D render to both Pidge and Hunk.

Maybe it would have been better for one of them to do this, but Keith had steady hands, and they also didn’t want to put anyone else at risk. Hell, Lance didn’t even want Keith to be there, but he couldn’t do this on his own.

“What kind of idiot lets himself get captured and a bomb strapped do it?” Lance blinked when he realized that he said that one out loud.

“The kind that tries to find more food for us,” Keith answered instantly, as if Lance was stupid for questioning that. He met his gaze again. “The kind that cares about everyone else.”

“He’s right,” Pidge agreed instantly. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of it.”

“She’s—look out!” Allura screamed over the coms. Keith’s hands shot away from the bomb, pressing down onto Lance to steady him as something hit them, and they ended up careening until something stopped them.

Both of them breathed heavily, and then they both heard a little beep that sounded so much louder than it really was.

Keith’s eyes went wide, realizing the same thing that Lance did. “Pidge! This thing’s beeping but there’s no timer! Walk me through it now.”

“Okay, okay, work with me here!”

Lance watched with wide eyes as, despite the clear panic in Keith’s eyes, his hands remained steady and he followed Pidge’s instructions word for word. To him though, it sounded like the silence between the beeps was deceasing, and that didn’t sit well with him.

“Keith, just throw me into space,” Lance demanded. God, he didn’t want to die alone, he didn’t want to die at all, but he didn’t want Keith to get hurt because of him.

“What?”

“Better me than you! I’ll be okay. You’ll find a better Red Paladin.”

Keith froze for a split second, eyes meeting Lance as the beeping started getting louder and steadier. A wild look appeared on his face, and Keith tore off Lance’s helmet, grabbing at his armour despite his protests. He pried it off of him and ran.

“Keith!” Lance shrieked when he realized what had just happened. He pushed himself up and tried to leave, but Black slammed the door to the cockpit shut, meaning that Keith had probably opened the airlock (aka Black opened her mouth).

There was a another loud bang and Black shuddered a bit. Lance could hear yelling from over his discarded helmet, his heart pounding in his chest.

Then the door slid open again, and he found himself falling forward right into Keith’s chest. Lance didn’t even completely realize what he was doing, he just found himself scrambling for Keith, hugging him tightly. “You idiot!”

Keith bristled a bit at that. “I wasn’t going to let you blow up!”

“But you almost blew yourself up!” Lance scrambled for Keith’s helmet, pulling it off and tossing it down, cutting out the questions from everyone else. “You idiot!”

“You said that already,” Keith replied. His reached up to where Lance was holding onto the collar of his armour (the same as the armour he had tossed out to save him), and held his hands. “We could never find another Red Paladin that could deal with my shit.”

A shuddering breath escaped Lance’s lips as he leaned his forehead onto Keith’s shoulder, allowing him to hold him close.

#badthingshappenbingo #prompt: strapped to a bomb #lance #keith #my fanfiction

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voltron-s7-8-rewrite · 6 years ago

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“The Way Forward”

This is part of my Voltron Season 7 & 8 re-write. If you are interested start HERE

Teleporting into an unknown cavern, Keith realizes the others are in danger, and tells Kosmo that they need to get back to help them. However, before anything can be done, Macidus teleports nearby. Keith and Kosmo teleport again, hiding from the Druid.

Macidus slowly searches the cavern as Keith and Kosmo hide underneath floorboards. The Druid passes by, and after a moment Keith relaxes. His moment of relief is cut short as Macidus stabs a sword down into the floorboards, just barely missing Keith. The Black Paladin Grabs onto Kosmo and they teleport once more, Macidus smiles and teleports as well.

Back at Macidus's "home", the Druids finish charging up their dark energy, and prepare to unleash their attack against the Paladins when they are suddenly bombarded by laser fire. With the Druids distracted, Allura focuses her power, absorbing the energy keeping her and the others in place, freeing them all.

Once able to move, the Paladins turn to join the fight that's broken out, only to find that their saviors are Galra who are being led by Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid. The Paladins are surprised, but join their fight against the Druids.

As the groups work together, Krolia recognizes some of the Galra in the Ex-General’s group.

On the run through the tunnels, Keith and Kosmo try to hide and stay ahead of Macidus, but the Druid relentlessly chases them down, never allowing them a break.

Eventually Keith and Kosmo come to a cavern where Kolivan is being held. Macidus appears and Keith, unwilling to leave Kolivan, no longer runs. Unsheathing his Blade, and summoning his Bayard, Keith fights the Druid.

As the Paladins and the Ex-general’s forces finish off the Druids, Allura orders Pidge to find Keith’s location. Scanning the area, she discovers that he’s underneath them, Allura uses the energy she absorbed to break through the floor into the caverns below.

The Paladins, Shiro, and Krolia head down into the lower caverns where they find Keith fighting Macidus. The group assists Keith, but the Druid is able to evade their attacks. Seeing Macidus attacking his friends, Keith hesitates; closing his eyes, he senses as the Druid teleports. Throwing his blade he is able to hit Macidus, killing him.

After the fight, the group helps Kolivan, who, despite being in bad shape, is conscious. Keith asks him about the Altean colony, but Kolivan says the Blades were never able to check on it,as they were overwhelmed by attacks from the Druids and Galra factions.

Keith turns to Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid and asks them if they know anything about it, but they say they never even knew of its existence. They had known Lotor had special pilots that he attempted to send into the rift, but they were never told who they were, or where they came from.

Lance asks how they can trust them as they’ve worked against Voltron alongside Lotor, Zarkon, and Haggar. One of the Galra from the Ex-General’s force steps up and defends them, saying they are trustworthy. The Paladins don’t know who this Galra is, but Krolia reveals that this Galra is a Blade, as are many of the others in the Ex-General’s group. Hunk says Macidus said the Druids killed them all, but a Blade says that’s not true, many had been saved by the ex-generals.

Keith asks the three to explain everything and Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid share their story; growing up as half-breeds they were mistreated by Galra for not being being pure blood, and by the other half of their species for being part Galra, causing hatred to form in their hearts. When Lotor came, he used their pain, promising that he would change things for half-breeds. They followed him and his promise to create a universe where they would be accepted, not realizing how Lotor fed their hated by having them believe that only he could bring change for them.

The Ex-Generals lived believing that lie was true, until they saw Keith. Here was another half-breed, embraced by the Blades, by his human friends, and by the Voltron coalition as a whole. At first they could not understand how he did it.

It wasn’t until Lotor admitted in his final battle that he wanted to wipe Galra from the universe, that they realized how they had been nothing but pawns to him this whole time. They had embraced his lies wholeheartedly, blindly following someone just because he was like them and said what they so desperately wanted to hear; rather than working for acceptance and trying to change minds. They ended up rejecting everyone who wasn’t like them in the same way they had been rejected.

After Lotor and the Paladins vanished, they decided that they would no never blindly follow someone again. Instead they decided if they worked at it, maybe they could create a place for themselves in the universe.

Eventually they ended up stumbling upon a damaged Galra cruiser whose surviving crew had been abandoned by their commander. The Ex-Generals took control and worked with the survivors to get the cruiser back up and running. Due to their aid and hard work the Galra crew pledged loyalty to them, not caring that they were half-breeds.

Now, with their ship that they named “The Narti,” they decided to continue doing what they had done for this crew, finding those who needed help and giving aid where they could. Drawing inspiration from the Blade and Voltron coalition, they wanted to change the perception of Galra and half-breeds.

It was then that they started picking up on Blade distress signals and realized the members were being hunted by Druids and other Galra factions. Their mission became finding and aiding any Blade and Rebel call, which caused their crew to grow. Their hope was to find Kolivan, reunite the Blade into a unified force, and continue Voltron’s quest of freeing the universe.

They explain that there are still more Blade distress signals out there, and they plan to continue on their mission. They hope that now, with Kolivan, they can unify the Blade.

Hearing their story, and believing their words, Kolivan asks Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid to assist him in that goal, and offers them an official place in the Blade, which they accept.

The Blade and Paladins decide that while the Paladins continue to Earth, The Narti will find and tell the Rebels of Voltron’s return, and once they finish their mission they will join the Paladins on Earth to form the coalition’s next plans.

Kolivan asks Krolia if she wishes to join them, but she says she is needed more with Voltron. Kolivan accepts this, but gives her his own Blade as a weapon. Kolivan then tells Keith that he is glad to see Keith is back where he belongs, but says that he will always be welcomed in The Blade.

As the Lions of Voltron take off, Kolivan watches from the deck of The Narti. Axca, Ezor and Zethrid join him, all in Blade uniforms.

.::+::.

So, I have Major issues with how all of the General’s stories went, but especially Ezor and Zethrid’s. First off, it's all over the place, ‘We’re loyal to Lotor-, no Zarkon-, wait, now Haggar-, nope, back to Lotor-, Oh, look, we’re pirates now! Guess we can help Voltron? Yay, we’re Blades!’

Like, I get that they were characters who were just trying to survive, but there was no flow to their story, and without getting any of their actual backstory you are just left questioning all their actions.

But even without that, to me their characters were completely derailed and destroyed in season 7. By the end of “The Way Forward” Ezor and Zethrid are just too irredeemable. I mean, they take sadistic glee at the idea of torturing the Paladins, for goodness sake! If they had been permanently killed in that episode I would have been fine*, however they both show back up later with no explanation, do practically nothing, and then are redeemed at the end, despite never showing a genuine change of heart. The fact those two got to live, while Allura died is just beyond comprehensible to me.

*note, I said I would have been fine, that does not mean I would have been happy with their story. I wanted all four generals redeemed since the moment I saw the leaked art of them.

Another thing that felt so wrong was only Axca willingly seek redemption. I had thought that the four generals were close to each other, as in the early seasons Axca came off like a sister to Zethrid and especially Ezor. I thought these ladies were going to have a strong bond, especially after Narti’s death, and Lotor’s treatment of them. But nope, there was nothing there.

So, that’s what I’m giving them. The idea of these three having a strong bond, leaving the empire together, and forging their own path would be such an beautiful story for them. Then through embracing the Paladin’s way of helping others, and gaining respect and loyalty from those who at one time would have rejected them, would be inspiring. Unlike the Empire they grew up in, they didn’t gain power and use that to control others beneath them. They won true loyalty it through their actions and care for others.

As for Krolia staying; she’s just a great character. It’s such a shame that they had her leave in S7, especially after saying she would never leave Keith again. Then to do nothing with her after that is just such a waist! I think it would have been much more interesting if she had stuck around, and we got to see the Garrison react to her...

#voltron #Allura #lance voltron #keith voltron #voltron shiro #voltron pidge #hunk voltron #MyVoltronSeasonSummary #MyWritings

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why-am-i-up-at-4am · 6 years ago

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Full Review of Voltron Season 7

Hey! So people are very, VERY angry at this season of Voltron saying that it was definitely the worst season yet. I’m not so sure. I certainly had mixed feelings about this season, so I’ve decided to scientifically (kinda) figure out if I liked this season!

WARNING: The post ahead is LONG (seriously, 6355 words) and PACKED with Spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Each episode will get a point (or points depending on how strongly I felt about it) for a pro and lose a point for a con. The points will go towards the total of the season. I’ll also give each episode a personal rating out of 10 (Just based on how much I enjoyed it :))

ANIMATION (+13)

Voice-Acting (+13)

Points: 26

Episode 1: A Little Adventure

Pros: Younger Shiro accomplishing his dreams (+1) Keith kicking ass instinctively on the simulator (+1) “That emo kid’s doing it!” (+1) Shiro stands up for Keith immediately to his teacher (+1) Keith steals Shiro’s car (+1) Shiro gives Keith a second chance because he sees his potential (+1) Everyone is super concerned and willing to help Shiro (+1) Romelle is adorable, an outsider’s realism and her cute poses (+2) Keith is a tiny space nerd (+1) Shiro sees Keith’s potential and gives him CHOICES (+1) Pidge teasing Lance softly (+1) Lance being friendly to the thing that shrunk them (+1) Romelle mispronouncing “quiznak” (+1) TINY PEANUT LANCE AND HUNK (+2) Shiro is never willing to give up on Keith (+1) Romelle and Hunk are besties in agreement (+1) Lance is a quick thinker and a good shot and it saves the team (+1) Keith and Shiro on hover bikes (+1) Shiro teaches Keith the leap of faith from the first episode! (+1) Keith calling Shiro old timer (+1) Keith LISTENS to Shiro’s advice, but is allowed to make his own decisions (+1) Keith’s dad’s backstory (+1) their similarity (+1) and Keith’s admiration of him (+1) Early introduction of a secondary villain this season (+1) Sam Holt standing up for Shiro (+1) Adam is introduced (+1) Gay representation (+1) Teamwork (+1) Call back to Season 1 “linked at the ears like a pack of Yelmors” (+1) Paladin pile (+1) Keith saves Shiro because their BROTHERS and they LOVE EACH OTHER (+3) “We saved each other” (+1) Lance’s explanation of events (+1)

Cons: The lions, all powerful ships that run on LIFE FORCE, need to be charged? (-1) Lance interrupting Coran’s explanation (-1) Why is it ALWAYS Lance’s fault (-1) Keith is kind of a dick to the other cadets (-1) Voltron makes us automatically strongly dislike Griffin, but they expect us to cheer for him later in the season with no apology or acknowledgement (-1) We still don’t know Keith’s dad’s name (-1) Shiro’s disease is introduced, but never explained or brought up again after this episode (-1) No explicit gay representation (-1) Using Hunk as bait “because he’s the biggest” (-1)

Points: 29

Rating: 10/10 Honestly one of my favorite episodes this season

Episode 2: The Road Home

Pros: Pidge reacting realistically as a child her age to not being about to contact her family (+1) The young paladins are so excited to go home (+1) “I hope I’m not grounded” (+1) Lance’s little ghost (+1) Enthusiasm (+1) Lance’s description of elephants (+1) Allura and Coran’s reaction to elephants (+1) Allura is terrible at drawing (+1) Arguing like a real family over who gets to sit with whom (+1) Learning the Altean alphabet (+1) Romelle wanting to save the day (+1) Literally the worst arrangement possible (+1) Pidge ignoring everyone to play video games (+1) “He’s super drool-y” (+1) Early indicators of the time skip (+1) The wolf teleports between lions and everyone is amazed (+1) Lance using quiznak wrong again (+1) New weapons and formations show something is wrong, namely the pirates and time skip(+1) “It’s super dangerous…it’s perfect” (+1) Keith trusting Lance to help them (+1) “Rodger that, Team Leader!” (+1) Krolia taking care of Shiro (+1) Coran gets trapped which helps in the next episode, thinking ahead (+1) Krolia is a badass (+2) Hunk flipping out of his lion (+1) getting a bayard upgrade (+1) TURRETS (+1) Allura is a badass (+1) Romelle is fearless and also a badass (+1) Pidge talking to the wolf (+1) Wolfie saves Pidge and Lance (+1) Paladins are captured! I love angst (+1)

Cons: The power cores of the lions become a writing crutch (-1) 18 MONTHS (-1) Why is everything ALWAYS Lance’s fault? (-1) Coran being more annoying (immature?) than previous seasons (-1) Power core’s mean the lions can’t fight. It completely negates all their experience (-1) the Lions can’t form Voltron (of course) (-1) Everyone except Pidge and Lance get to have their awesome moment (-2) The wolf is injured saving Pidge and Lance (-1)

Points: 24

Rating: 8/10 I adored the first half of this episode. I struggled to maintain my focus on the second half. There are too many characters moving around the battlefield, and it makes it slightly more difficult to care because I only REALLY care about our originals.

Episode 3: A Way Forward

Pros: Zethrid and Ezor are back (+2) Lance is a dork (+1) Coran’s memoir (+1) The mice to the rescue (+1) The wolf can’t teleport Coran because he’s hurt, thinking ahead (+1) Coran knocked a guy out with his crotch (+1) Getting in disguise (+1) “I will always take care of you Ezor” (+1) They’re gay? Gay?? Are they Gay? (+1) Torture! I LOVE ANGST (+1) Coran tries so hard come up with a story (+1) Acxa is back (+1) Hunk making friends (+1) The power of teamwork (+1) Team Voltron does, in fact, have a soft spot for the small one (+1) LANCE immediately defending Pidge and rushing to her aid despite being handcuffed (+3) Shape shifting Coran (+1) Mice to the rescue AGAIN (+1) Lance taking care of Coran (+1) Coran calling Lance Allura (+1) Keith has flippity hair (+1) Keith summoning his bayard from across the room (+2) “Lance lead the team” (+1) Lance being concerned for Keith (+1) “Can’t we just fight?!” (+1) Paladin campfire (+1)

Cons: Why is Lance always written so stupid! (-1) “Will someone shut him up?!” (-1) No faith in Coran (-1) Zethrid doesn’t listen (-1) Why couldn’t Coran do this alone? (-1) Why couldn’t they show Coran as capable? (-1) Why couldn’t Coran put up a better fight? Let him have a MOMENT (-2) Forced romance between Acxa and Keith (-5) Identifying explosives based on two seconds of observation (-1) Time skip (-10)

*ten points might seem like a lot, but time skips are incredibly lazy writing. An author writes a world and a time period, but suddenly they decide they want something else, so they skip ahead. It undermines all the relationships and events from the first six seasons. The explanation isn’t bad; inter-dimensional travel would certainly cause time dilation, but it leaves the rules of the universe in a float-y and ambiguous. Anything can happen, and at this stage of the show they should really be wrapping up plot lines, not telling us the universe has been thrown BACK into turmoil after SIX SEASONS with only 13 episodes left. This episode also loses the points for it because this is where it is confirmed*

Points: 6

Rating: 6/10 I didn’t dislike this episode. I was glad to see the return of the generals, but I was fairly upset by the demonstration of Coran as this completely bumbling, failing fool. We know Coran is wise, kind, strong, and capable. He deserves better.

Episode 4: The Feud!

Pros: This whole concept (+3) Keith’s soft confused voice (+1) Lance’s pose as his name is called (+1) Bob is genuinely charismatic (+1) the cute boots (+1) the paladin’s cute nods (+1) Keith’s spin (+1) Pineapple Keith (+2) Artist Keith (+1) Keith breaking the pen (+1) Hunk’s cheer (+1) The Galra team (+1) “My lovely wife Haggar” (+1) Grumpy Lotor (+1) Quippy Zarkon (+2) Galra team cheer (+1) Artist Lotor (+1) Lotor smacking Movak (+1) Lance angst (+1) Terra advertisement (+1) Beautiful Lance (+1) More Galra dances (+1) The paladins spelling ROLO (+1) Bii-Boh-Bii (+1) Lance’s babbling is the only one who could have gotten Bii-Boh-Biis game (+2) Sal is still using Hunk’s recipe (+1) Pidge being brainy (+1) Mini golf (+1) Pidge tackling Bob like a badass (+1) The paladins all chose each other, selfless (+1) Each is given compliments and assurances of their importance (+5) Luxia’s kingdom and Plaxum’s bakery (+2)

Cons: WHY THE HELL IS LANCE SO BAD AT EVERYTHING (-1) He isn’t stupid! He knows what these things are! Stop writing him as a MORON (-3) “Lance would you stop talking!” (-1) ….the dumb one? (-10) He’s a social person, why wouldn’t he remember names? (-2) “You’re team is starting to lose faith in you, Lance” (-1) Lance ends up in the Garflator (-1) Lance did say “Bii” (-1) Lance, after giving Keith a GENUINE COMPLIMENT, is told he is too annoying to spend eternity with (-10) Lance is NEVER reassured that he is not stupid by ANYONE on the team (-5)

Points: 7

Rating: 7/10 I enjoyed this episode, I REALLY DID. It was a fun, softer episode after the action-packed start of the season. I LOVED the idea of a game show episode, but everyone was SO MEAN to LANCE? Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy the angst, but no one comforted him or complemented him. It was sad.

Episode 5: The Ruins

Pros: Adorable sleeping paladins (+1) Pidge’s nightmare (+1) 15 more minutes (+1) “Like mother, like son” (+1) Hunk giving up to have breakfast (+1) Keith gets out and is salty (+1) Lance making a plan that works (+1) Hunk is an excellent chef (+1) Using the wolf to deliver food (+1) KOSMO (+1) Keith waiting the dog to tell him his name (+1) Lance acknowledging Hunk is fantastic (+1) MeMaw’s cooking (+1). Knowing the Blade code (+1) Recognizing magic damage (+1) Kosmo knows what’s up (+1) Romelle trying to patch up relationships (+1) The Blade’s sacrifice (+1) Keith refers to himself as a Blade (+1) Surprise druid! (+1) Keith’s wolf saved him from the time grenade (+1) Tension of the under the bridge scene (+1) Using the wolf’s teleportation to your advantage in battle (+1) Kolivan is alive (+1) Allura saves everyone with her magic (+1) Using your Galra ears? (+1) EPIC SWORD THROW (+1) “Good job Keith” (+1) Haggar probably has the Alteans (+1) “I love you too mom” (+3)

Cons: Keith being a bit of a hard ass (-1) unbeatable simulators (-1) hundreds of Blades died (-1) how were two blades and the princess able to kill four druids, but it takes hundreds of blades to take down one druid (-1) Exposition dump (-1) Killing the Blades for almost no reason? (-1) The same druid Keith fought in season 2? (-1) Keith continuing to be a lone wolf, even in battle (-1) Allura’s magic is a plot crutch (-1) The team is free and help Keith, but apparently can’t stop stumbling over each other long enough to be more than a distraction to the druid (-3) I honestly don’t know how Keith saw him, heard him, felt him? (-1) Krolia leaves Keith (-1)

*Krolia’s death is telegraphed SO HARD and I’m glad it didn’t happen*

Points: 17

Rating: 5/10 This episode kind of bored me. We had a good solo Keith fight and some truly wonderful moments between Keith and his mother, but it just didn’t keep my attention as steady as I would have hoped.

Episode 6: The Journey Within

Pros: Shiro and Keith trying to keep the team focused (+1) Lance’s totally right, something tries to kill them (+1) Hunk’s pun (+1) “This is why no one rides with me” (+1) No one letting Allura take the blame (+1) Shiro’s right, the paladin’s have been struggling to find balance for about four seasons now (+1) “We always come back” (+1) The paladins lift each other up (+3) When Keith thought Pidge was asking what flight formations were (+1) Lance using quiznak right (+1) Keith trying to keep them together (+1) Ziplines instead of magic (+1) Hunk keeps his stomach (+1) Paladins holding hands in space (+1) “We have each other” (+1) Lance reassuring Hunk (+1) Sound offs (+3) Keith referring to his time in the quantum abyss (+1) Pidge calculates pi for fun (+1) “Hadoop” (+1) Paladins look freaking awful (+1) The paladins really do be going through it (+1) Not letting go of Keith (+1) Lance initiating sound off (+1) Hunk trying to keep everyone together (+1) Lots of angst (+1) Hunk acknowledging that the paladins are afraid to be afraid (+1) Hunk in general in this episode (+1) Not letting Keith leave (+1) “Are we really even friends?” (+1) Hunk being the voice of reason (+1) Hunk being a good shot (+1) with a MASSIVE energy blast (+1) Hunk being incredibly heroic (+1) Paladins not abandoning him (+1) KEITH APOLOGIZES (+1) The power of friendship (+1) Paladins fighting a huge monster with just their bayards (+1) Lions to the rescue (+1) Forming Voltron (+1) LANCE AND KEITH TEAM BAYARD UPGRADE (+3) “did something try to kill us?” “yup” (+1)

Cons: Four weeks of empty space (-1) Shiro being snappy at Lance (-1) No one goes after Pidge when she flies off (-1) Were the paladins actually hallucinating? Group hallucinations? (-3) Keith snapping at Hunk (-1) Hunk doesn’t want to be a paladin anymore (-1) Keith STARTED the argument (-1) Hitting where it hurts (-1) “Guess I don’t know how to be a coward” (-1) Lance and Allura do not apologize to Keith (-2) No explanation of what exactly the bayard upgrade is (-1) Timeline confusion? Due to Lance and Keith did they get there faster? Not 18 months? How long did the paladins spend in empty space? (-3)

Points: 32

*When I think about this episode after the fact it leaves a bit of a bad feeling in my stomach and a bad taste in my mouth, but that might just be because I abhor the idea of being lost in space*

Rating: 8/10 I think the reason this episode got more points was for interpersonal relationships. People don’t watch this show for the plot, they watch it for the characters. So when you put just the characters in space alone you can really reflect who they are as people. That being said, there was a ton of wasted potential this episode. Liked it, but I could have loved it

Episode 7: The Last Stand Part 1

Pros: Pidge tearing up (+1) The Galra are at EARTH (+1) Appropriate reaction (+1) Colleen Holt (+1) Realistically messy hair, her entire family was missing (+1) Collen knowing where her kids are (+1) “You’ll get me clearance” (+1) Sam Holt throwing shade (+1) Colleen with her short hair (+1) AW Garrison pictures (+1) Sam starting formal and ending with “Pidge, this is dad” (+1) More new characters (+1) Cool new Garrison ships! (+1) Colleen knowing what is best (+1) Informing the world of what’s up (+1) Messages back home (+5) Paladin families! (+3) Iverson isn’t a dick? (+1) Particle barrier that works better than the Castle of Lions’ (+2)

Cons: Evilish military (-1) Sam Holt is a prisoner (-1) More timeline confusion, two years ago? (-1) Exposition dump (-1) We really didn’t need Sam Holt to explain everything, we know, we could have skipped this part (-2) Keeping secrets from Earth (-1) Even more characters (-1) Losing the Voltron Coalition Rebels (-1) I can forgive Iverson for being a dick to Lance…I’ll forgive but I won’t forget (-1)

*Telegraphing the new squadron as the new paladins of Voltron. Don’t know if this is intentional or not, but it makes me nervous. I don’t really want a new generation of pilots, but I also want the paladins to be happy. If the paladins want to stay on Earth I don’t think I would hate the new pilots. *

Points: 16

Rating: 3/10 It was…boring. Not overtly BAD, just really boring. There was a TON of information we didn’t need to hear again. I admire that the show wanted to show that they DID tell the Garrison, but we didn’t need to hear it again. I also don’t really care about any of these new characters, I care about the paladins. This could have been done in one episode, but they stretched it out to two.

Episode 8: The Last Stand Part 2

Pros: Sendak is back (+1) Elephants (+1) Strong particle barrier (+1) Sendak’s strong battle strategy (+1) Veronica! (+1) The paladins do return (+1) Sam Holt making inspirational speeches (+1) Sam Holt using quiznak (+1) Veronica throwing shade (+1) I like her too Rizavi (+1) Veronica is a badass (+1) Self-sacrifice (+1) Leifsdotter remembering the way home (+1) Sam Holt’s unwavering faith in Voltron (+1) “Silence promotes haste” (+1) Recognizing moral (+1) Sam Holt’s ringtone is the Voltron theme (+1) Lance’s family (+1) Smart strategy to contact Voltron (+1) More Sam Holt speeches (+1)

Cons: Tons of human death??? (-5) Killing a ton of Garrison pilots (-1) Killing Adam after barely any screen time (-3) The whole supply run is COMPLETELY unnecessary. This feels so disconnected from the rest of what the show is (-2) Making us think Veronica is dead when we know it’s utter B.S. (-3) Herding up humans. It’s a bit too serious? (-1) Veronica is dead for all of two minutes (-1) The resistance doesn’t really do shit? (-1) Even more time line confusion. Has the Garrison been on its last legs for two years? (-1) Playing the same clip of Voltron 3 times (-1)

Points: 0

Rating: 2/10 The show can’t decide what it wants to be. Is it a children’s show that won’t show blood? Or is a show aimed at older audiences where thousands of people are killed and rounded up to become slaves? This episode was also mostly unnecessary. The time line is also SO HARD to work out. Did Sam send the last communication JUST as Voltron arrived at the Milky Way? Another fairly boring episode to boot.

*This episode also made people angry because of the ‘bury your gays’ trope where people who are canonically gay are usually killed off. However, there is conflicting information about whether Adam and Shiro were really in a relationship. It was just bad marketing on Voltron’s behalf to announce Shiro was gay and then disappoint fans, especially considering what Voltron’s fanbase is like*

Episode 9: Know Your Enemy

Pros: Sam correctly figuring out how Sendak works (+1) Helping the paladins cut off communication (+1) LANCE’S BAYARD UPGRADE (+1) Pidge’s plan is very smart (+1) The mice and Kaltenecker (+1) Throwback to the first episode, being cramped in the Blue Lion (+1) The paladins are home (+1) Lance leading the formation (+1) Hunk bringing up the rear (+1) Keith and Lance working together (+1) “Don’t miss” (+1) Lance nailing the shots (+4) Pidge leaping into her mom’s arms (+1) “Uncle Lance!” (+1) Lance tearing up (+1) Sliding into a family hug and being drowned in people (+3) Hunk family flashback (+1) Hunk’s spaceship noises (+1) Iverson apologizes to Shiro (+1) Coran sticking up for Shiro (+1) Iverson apologizes to Keith (+1) Keith has matured as well (+1) Coran’s explanation of Kosmo’s power (+1) Shiro mourning Adam (+1) Hunk trying to protect people (+1) Sam standing up for Hunk (+1) The Atlas is amazing (+1) Shiro standing strong against the Admiral (+1) Allura knowing her shit (+1) Sam making prosthetics for injured soldiers (+1) Hunk’s flashback to fixing cars (+1) Keith offering help (+1) Hunk opening up (+2) Keith being so impressed with how brave Hunk is (+3) Hunk and Keith hug (+3) Awkward Keith (+1) Keith going with Hunk to get his family (+1) Sendak’s memories coming back is great long term writing (+1) Altea being destroyed because it refused to give up (+1) Flashback to Hunk’s baking (+1) Hunk’s mom (+1) Allura making Shiro a new arm! (+1) Hunk’s determination! (+1)

Cons: What exactly is the bayard upgrade? It’s still unexplained (-1) Why does the Earth team know more about the Galra than the paladins (-3) Griffin is still a dick (-1) Hunk’s family is missing (-1) Weird looks between Griffin and Keith, but no resolution? (-1) Shiro getting literally 30 seconds to mourn Adam (-1) All resistances were wiped out (-1) Griffin yelling at Hunk??? What the Fuck? Are we still supposed to be rooting for this guy? (-3) The Admiral isn’t stupid, why would she think the Galra would stick to this deal (-3) Lance goes missing after the first 3 minutes of the episode, unlike every other paladin (-1) Not saving Hunk’s parents (-1)

Points: 36

Rating: 7/10 I adored the family reunions and the Hunk flashbacks. I felt so sorry that Hunk couldn’t rescue his family, but it really motivates him. Overall not a bad episode. It was another prep and build up episode with a lot of exposition, but it’s setting up for the fight with Sendak.

Episode 10: Heart of the Lion

Pros: Sam being concerned for Shiro (+1) The paladins being concerned for Shiro (+1) Allura gives up the last symbol of her being a princess, her crown, for Shiro (+5) Allura’s epic arm tackle (+1) “I feel great” (+1) Keeping in mind civilian casualties (+1) Lance being concerned for his sister (+1) Hunk making friends (+1) Throwback to the maze guiding scene with COMPLETE trust (+3) Keith trusting Lance to cover them (+1) “It’s a…cosmic wolf” (+1) Lance giving GOOD instruction (+1) Really cool paladin tech, sonar imaging? Awesome (+2) Lance and Kinkade making awesome shots and team work (+3) Sibling teasing (+1) Throwback to the distraction scene on the Balmera, but this time Keith gets it (+3) Pidge thrusting (+1) Pidge’s victory laugh (+1) Bringing back the Zaiforge canons (+1) Chaff makes the people invisible (+1) More sibling teasing (+1) Paladins connecting with their lions! (+3) Lions flying next to their paladins (+1) Lance angst (+1) Concern for Lance (+1) Lance protecting his sister (+3) Red to the rescue (+1) Deferring for Keith for leadership (+1) A traitor! (+1) Some really great music this episode (+1) FORMING VOLTRON (+1) off camera! (+1) Voltron got FUCKED (+1) Paladins are captured. I LOVE angst (+1)

Cons: Shiro’s arm isn’t attached? That’s really weird (-1) As much as I love Cosmo, he’s ANOTHER plot crutch (-1) Why did Allura and Griffin come along? They didn’t really assist (-1) What is with Shiro suddenly being the expert on paladin bonds? (-1) Romelle has been missing for several episodes (-1) Lance and Allura sudden and out of nowhere romance? (-5) Why didn’t Lance and Red connect? (-1) Was Lance connecting with Red or getting ready to die? auditory clue would have been appreciated (-1)

*I just want to make it known that I don’t hate Allurance. I’m really okay with that ship if it does become canon. I just don’t like how out of left field it is. 10 episodes ago Allura was basically in love with Lotor. She has shown no interest in Lance in other seasons at all. If you wanted to give Allura feelings for Lance you could have given her blushies when she knocked him on his ass while sword training, or when he said they were a good team in the Monsters and Mana episode, or when she revived him, or when the mice told her what he said to them. ANYTHING. But there was nothing. They didn’t even bond particularly strongly in the journey home from what we saw. *

Points: 38

Rating: 9/10 I loved the action and teamwork in this episode. The whole sequence of infiltrating the base really shows how much the paladins have grown. Lance and Veronica getting attacked and Lance protecting her really made this episode awesome for me, but we also got the paladins deepening their bonds with the lions and Shiro’s new arm!

Episode 11: Trial by Fire

Pros: The Earth team figures out who the traitor is (+1) Shiro’s concern for the paladins (+1) Keith wakes up to hear who the traitor is (+1) Nunville? (+1) Commander Iverson evacuation (+1) Commander Shirogane (+1) Good intentions, still betrayal (+1) Sendak is a smart and cautious villain (+1) Shiro’s white hair doesn’t look that bad (+1) Kinkade’s awesome maneuver (+1) Leifsdottir is adorable and analytical (+1) The castle crystal comes in handy (+1) Leif continues to be a super cute super computer (+1) Altean magic doesn’t give a damn about engineering (+1) CAPTAIN SHIRO (+1) The Atlas is AWESOME (+2) Hunk reminds the paladins to call the lions (+1) Showing the paladins and their lions from the same angles is EXCELLENT cinematography (+5) Piloting the lions remotely (+1) Admiral is a badass (+1) Shiro’s happy laugh that the Paladins are back (+1) “WAIT! We’re still on that ship!” (+1) Redemption and self-sacrifice (+1) Black Lion saves the day (+1) Hunk tackling his door (+1) Ending on a cool group shot (+1)

Cons: Why aren’t the bayards working? (-1) Again, the Admiral shouldn’t have been so stupid to negotiate with the only hope for the universe (-1) It’s unclear how strong the MFEs are in comparison with the lions (-1) The “connect with your lions thing” is also a bit of a plot crutch (-1) Cheap redemption. Having the Admiral continue to fight while injured and give her life makes her seem deserving of redemption, but it’s a manipulation of pathos. Her intentions were good, but she made the wrong choice at every turn (-2)

Points: 25

Rating: 7/10 Another decent episode. Getting the Atlas in flight was amazing, and it utilized the Chekhov’s Gun that was the Castle of Lions Crystal. The Admiral’s sacrifice was a little cheap to me, but it was a lot of learning for her. The most amazing part BY FAR was when the paladins were trying to connect with their lions. They aren’t just the pilots, they ARE the lions, intertwined with their quintessence.

Episode 12: Lions’ Pride Part 1

Pros: Forming Voltron! (+1) Brutal and cynical replacement of Lieutenant Hepta (+1) Forming sword (+1) and shoulder cannon (+1) Amazing lighting on Sam Holt (+1) They do fire on their own ships! (+1) Leif’s battle strategy (+1) Hunk coming in a clutch AGAIN (+1) Clever solutions (+1) Throwback to pushing the shield plates together in season 6 (+1) WORKING PARTICLE BARRIER (+1) Reflecting the beams works (+1) Shiro is a BADASS (+1) Atlas particle barrier to the rescue (+1) Hunk’s parents (+1) “Wouldn’t be the first time” (+1) Poor Shiro, but he saves the day (+1) Sam’s avatar, just like Pidge (+1) “Victory or death” (+1) Lance saving his sister (+1) Lance starting the counterattack (+1) BADASS LANCE (+1) Paladins using their special weapons! (+1) Shiro versus Sendak again, after all this time (+1) Shiro’s awesome new arm (+1) The lions to the rescue! (+1) minimizing casualties (+1) Keith’s awesome finishing move on Sendak (+1) Lion pride! (+1)

Cons: Sudden base cannons? (-1) Didn’t they say there could be citizens inside those bases? (-1) Couldn’t they angle the plates to make the Ziforge cannons destroy themselves? (-1) Is the cannon blowing up a result of Shiro’s work? That’s a bit confusing (-1) I don’t think Shiro could survive falling through Earth’s atmosphere without a helmet (-1) Shiro doesn’t get to beat Sendak. Keith beats Sendak, but Shiro DOESN’T NEED TO BE SAVED. LET SHIRO STOP BEING A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. Since the moment we MET Shiro he’s had to be saved, let him save HIMSELF. (-5) The season should have ended here, seriously. Or here-ish. The shoved one last battle into this season and it undermines the hard battle they just fought against Sendak (-3)

Points: 16

Rating: 8/10 Every second of this episode was wrapped in tension. Shiro commanding the Atlas is an EXCELLENT way to keep him as part of the action, and he saves the day by taking down Sendak’s ship. The paladins and lions all worked so hard to save the Earth, and the battles were well animated and engaging.

Episode 13: Lions’ Pride Part 2

Pros: Saving Shiro (+1) Yellow Lion to the rescue (+1) Epic new robot weapons (+1) Providing cover for Keith (+1) Atlas to the rescue (+1) Shiro getting back in the fight (+1) Forming Voltron (+1) off camera (+1) Pidge and Lance bayard upgrade! (+3) Sketchy animation! MY FAVORITE (+3) Dual wielding! (+1) Badass sword moves (+1) Pidge bayard upgrade! (+3) MFEs to the rescue (+1) Awesome lighting on the robot (+1) Voltron backflip! (+1) Hunk keeping the people on the ground safe (+1) Atlas mech is huge and badass (+2) Realistically show for a big machine (+1) …Atlas has thicc thighs… I DIDN’T WANT TO SAY IT (+1) Lance and Keith team bayard (+1) EPIC MUSIC (+1) Paladins working together to save the Earth (+1) Self sacrifice (+3) “It’s been an honor to fly with you all” (+3) Fading to white on the paladins, cutting the sound, and the music (+5) Lions crashing in their elements (+1) Shiro’s speech (+1) The paladins live (+1) Paladins healing (+1) with their families (+5) Shay is back! (+1) Rebuilding with help from the universe (+1) Visiting Dad Kogane’s grave (+1) Alteans are back (+1)

Cons: This episode exists! (-3) This new robot is out of nowhere. Thought it was Lotor, thought it was Haggar, was wrong both times (-2) New robot is insanely overpowered (-1) Why is the robot so much more powerful than Voltron? (-1) If Voltron is the most powerful weapon in the universe how does it continually get beaten like this? (-3) How is the Atlas not in pieces? (-1) WHAT??? (-1) How do you ACCIDENTALLY build a giant mech? (-1) I get that the castle of lions gave the ship new abilities, but WHAT??? (-1) Some of the machinery just APPEARS out of NOWHERE (-3) At least Voltron SHOWS us how it’s put together (-1) IT ALSO MAKES ME QUESTION, WHY LIONS? Lion can’t be aerodynamic, or the best armored and now that we see these super powerful humanoid ships it begs the question: why does Voltron have LIONS for HANDS (-5) Of course this robot can change size to fight the Atlas, of course it can (-1) Why didn’t it just get huge to fight Voltron (-1) Last second bomb, but it JUST exploded (-1) Making us believe the paladins are dead (-3) Matt has a girlfriend? (-1)

Points: 24

Rating: 7/10 This episode got a lot of points, but it lost a lot of points, too. I don’t think this episode should have ended the season, but only because it comes out of nowhere. It does set up the next season which I can appreciate. Lots of epic upgrades. I believed for a moment that the paladins had died, and they were setting up the earth team to take their places, but that scene was beautiful. I wish the others had said a little more to each other, just a few lines to say how much they meant to each other, not just Keith. I still think the Earth team might take over for the paladins and they stay on Earth. I REALLY hope that’s not the case.

Final Total: +296

Average: +22.77

Average Rating: 6.7/10

Overall, it seems I did enjoy this season. There are some things that I get simple joy from, like the bayard upgrades, and badass fights, but there are a lot of this that happened that could have been improved. My personal favorite episode is the Feud, despite its flaws. It was very funny and gave more character to the paladins. Plus, the scene at the end where they all chose each other, you could genuinely feel the love they had for each other (except Lance).

I think one of the best parts of this season was Hunk! He was a strong, brave, caring character and thought of his family and friends to give him the fire to fight. He really shone in the second half of the season but had some awesome moments in the first half as well! Seeing the flashbacks to his family warmed my heart, and I’m so, so glad he got to see them and Shay again! He was level-headed, and he was acknowledged for his bravery.

One of the main problems I have is with Keith. I really adore Keith, but he is starting to feel a bit like a Mary Sue to me. He’s good at EVERYTHING, and even when given help from the other paladins, still seems to be on a pedestal above them. I still love Keith as a character, but he’s gotten a bit bland as the show moves forward. One of the episodes where I felt like he had CHARACTER was the Journey Within. I’m not saying I want him to revert back to being angry and lashing out, but he felt more like Keith. I understand that as he develops he changes, but let the guy have a little fun! He felt so stiff and strict this season.

Pidge this season was pretty amazing as usual. Her smarts and tech expertise are always a major help to the paladins. I would have liked to see her succeed in combat a bit more this season. She couldn’t fight because her cannon wasn’t charged, she was pinned against the wall by Zethrid, and she was used as a distraction in the base infiltration. Reuniting her family was fantastic though, and it brings a heartwarming close to her story arc.

Shiro was a hero this season. Even with one arm he is fully willing to throw down, and you gotta admire that. I was a little bothered by Shiro suddenly becoming the encyclopedia on bonding with your lion, but it makes sense. He WAS trapped inside the mind of his lion. Even without a lion, Shiro still guides the team and captaining the Atlas was a good position for him. The biggest disappointment for Shiro is that he was announced as Gay and yet there is little to no explicit evidence. I wish he had more time to grieve Adam. As mentioned earlier, I also wished for Shiro to be his OWN savior, and maybe he will next season.

On to Allura! Allura’s best moment of the season for me was when she broke her crown to give Shiro the power source for his arm. To me, that felt like the culmination of Allura’s arc. She isn’t a PRINCESS to them anymore, she’s a paladin. She’s family. Allura doesn’t see herself as the authority over them anymore, but rather as a part of a whole. It’s also a realization of her dream to fight in the war, to be a part of it. She also showed some amazing strength when fighting for a planet that wasn’t even hers because it was important to her family.

Coran Coran the gorgeous man! They did him a bit dirty this season. Coran was always seen as a bit eccentric, but strong and capable when it came down to it. It felt like a major regression this season, even compared to just season 6! In season 6 when Coran set off the bomb in the engine, it was STILL A FUNNY MOMENT without making Coran seem like a total idiot. I wish he could have had ONE victory this season, but all his victories were given to the mice :/ That being said, he does provide the Atlas with a way to be powered, and he does an excellent job at the helm of the Atlas.

Lance…my best boy…. Speaking of doing characters dirty. Yikes! So from the very first episode, things are usually Lance’s fault. I don’t like that, but I don’t HATE it either. The team is also making fun of him from the first episode onward. And again! I don’t think I mind that, but if you’re going to have a character that is a fuck up (which Lance is, and that’s FINE) then when the character does something right you need to have it acknowledged. For example, it’s Lance’s fault they get shrunk, BUT he saves their asses by thinking fast and making an amazing shot. No one acknowledges that. Another example, when Keith kills the druid Lance says, “Good job, Keith!” When Lance shoots four moving drones within two seconds, Keith says nothing, but he DID give him a shifty look before and said, “Don’t miss”, like he didn’t believe in Lance. You can’t have a character that is exclusively mocked by those around them. In addition to that, Lance is called the dumb one over and over in the game show episode. No one on his team stands up for him. Lance couldn’t even get ONE victory that episode. When they were all complementing and validating each other, Lance was picked by his FRIEND to be the only one to leave because he could not STAND the thought of spending forever with ANNOYING, DUMB LANCE. Aside from all of that, Lance had some amazing action moments this season. He is motivated by his love for his sister and family to save her one the ground and begin the attack on the cannons. His reunion with his family was lovely and heartwarming. Again, I don’t really like the romance, but if it happens I’m okay with it.

I wanted to make this post to get what I was feeling out of my head. Usually, I would talk to my sister or brother (who usually watch the show with me), but I can tell that they are getting bored and annoyed with me. It’s helped me evaluate how I feel about the things I didn’t like and appreciate and remember all the things I did.

If you made it this far, thanks! This was really fun to write.

Additional Lol: This review was twelve pages long :)

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klimpaloon-loves-superwholock · 6 years ago

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I know this is a bit late, and I don’t usually make original posts, but I want to gather my thoughts on VLD s7, even though I literally never participate in fandom discourse lol. So I guess we’ll see how this goes.

There were great parts of this season. Let’s start with that.

First of all, Hunk was incredible and I’m so glad he finally got an arc where he could shine, even if I feel like it was long overdue. Seriously, I feel like Hunk was the best part of this season and I cannot state enough how much effect he had on my overall impression of the season. He basically carried the season singlehandedly and I don’t understand why searching through the tag rn I can hardly find any appreciation for him this season. (yeah jk I know why ha)

Everything they did with the Paladins’ families (from Hunk’s arc about rescuing his parents to Lance reuniting with his family and his relationship with Veronica to freaking Colleen!!!! just straight up stealing the show for two episodes!!! What an icon I love her so much!) was absolutely perfect. (I will say I’ve seen speculation that Hunk’s sister and her kids died since they weren’t there in his hospital room, which I desperately hope is not the case since that really should have been mentioned.)

I also loved seeing Shiro take charge and become Captain of the Atlas without even seeming to realize that he was the man for the job.

Sendak was a formidable and interesting villain who raised the stakes, which made it more satisfying when they defeated him.

I enjoyed getting to know Romelle more and see her in action.

Coran and the mice’s team up to break out the rest of the gang was very good and funny.

KOSMO!!!!!!! A GOOD PUPPY!!!!!! HE HAS A NAME!! I LOVE HIM SO!!!

I enjoyed seeing Lotor’s ex-generals again (because I love them), although I do have some issues which I’ll get to later.

The new characters they introduced, mainly Rizavi, Leifsdottir, Kinkade, Veronica, and Griffin were all great and I loved them! They did a great job of making me care about these new people. (And Kinkade is drawn so pretty what the heck y’all sleepin on this beautiful dude)

Seriously Colleen was so great I cannot stress this enough. I’ve been feeling for this poor woman who thought that she’d lost her whole family since season 1 so I’m so glad to finally see her in action, fighting for her family and her planet.

They did a good job of setting up Admiral Sanda’s inevitable betrayal, even if it was a really stupid thing for her to do.

Ep 5 was great; I was super excited to see what the Druids looked like under their masks, Macidus and Keith’s teleporting fight was awesome, and it’s always great to see Allura’s magic develop more, even when I wish it wasn’t so unclear how/what she’s doing.

Lots of the fights were so cool, from the Voltron team taking down the Galra drones in the cave system in Ep 2 to all the MFE fights to Shiro’s rematch against Sendak to even Voltron’s fight against the Robeast. These fights, I’ve noticed, are always especially cool when they unlock a new ability like Hunk’s turrets and Voltron’s double swords. Also I forgot how strong Alteans are until Romelle just straight up ripped apart a drone.

As much as I overall didn’t like The Feud as an episode, it did have some great moments with Pidge taking down Bob, Allura and Hunk being cute in the background, and the team being overall really supportive and loving of each other.

Shay came to visit Hunk!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, I also have a lot of problems with this season. Ones that, for me, are too serious to ignore. But let’s start with my more minor grievances, then work our way up to the big ones, shall we?

I don’t like Shiro’s new arm. It reminds me too much of Sendak’s and is too bulky/strange looking for for my taste. And for some reason my eyes have a hard time finding it? Like they’re drawn to the light emanating from his shoulder and not the forearm/hand. Idk, but I’m not a fan.

I wish Griffin had apologized to Keith for being such a jerk about his parents. I kept waiting for it since they had all these long glances with each other. I came to like him despite the bad initial impression only because he proved to be a good leader who valued every member of his team and knew when to step aside because someone else was better at a job. But I still kinda needed resolution for his rudeness, especially since he’s obviously grown since then and should want to make amends.

Admiral Sanda’s just so freaking stupid????? Like, how did she get that high in ranking when she consistently makes such bad decisions???? Clearly the dictator who’s controlling earth who comes from a war-mongering culture that enslaves and destroys planets isn’t just gonna let y’all go once he gets Voltron. He’s either gonna continue using you as slaves because nothing’s stopping him or destroy you because you’re no longer useful. Listen to people who know the Galra better than you!!

I saw somewhere that Matt has a girlfriend now???? When did this happen????

They somehow got the ENTIRE BALMERA to Earth?!!!????!!?!?!?!? How did they build a teleduv big enough to do that!?!

Also, where did they get a teleduv? Did the Atlas have one? Or was that something that they built during the epilogue montage??

How did Keith summon his bayard telepathically?? Was that a Galra thing or a new Paladin ability?

How did Shiro manage to survive falling from space to earth on the outside of a ship while fighting Sendak?? I mean I’m really glad he lived, but??? How??

I don’t think we needed so much time dedicated to Sam Holt updating the Garrison and then the rest of earth on what happened in space. I kinda appreciated it since it’s been a long time since I watched the early seasons, but at the same time he didn’t tell them anything that was new information to us as viewers. The only things we gained from those scenes were how others reacted to this info. (And we still didn’t get to see the reaction of the person I was most interested in, Adam, but I’ll get to that later.)

This is a problem I’ve been having with the show since like season 3 or so, but how much time has passed? They actually explicitly said it at a couple of points this season, what with 3 years having gone by for most people but only a few weeks for the Voltron team, but why did that time difference happen? Also, how much time passed between the team leaving Earth and them fighting Lotor in last season’s finale? Because I could believe any time frame between 6 months to a few years for that, which makes a big difference in how old the paladins are. According to the show, Sam landed on earth 4 years before the team gets back to the Milky Way, so I guess Sam left the team a year before they faught Lotor??

I didn’t get the thing with Allura’s crown gem? Since when is that a power source? And I was really struck by the imagery of her literally throwing her crown away to help her friend, but I feel like it would’ve been more powerful if we had been given some information about what exactly that gem is and what it means for her. Just make this more clear for me. Also, Shiro has already lashed out and hurt people against his will, so I really didn’t need that angsty moment for him.

The B-plot in Ep 1 was tonally dissonant from the A-plot of Shiro’s flashbacks, and it ended up being totally useless anyway. As much as I enjoyed Romelle and Hunk’s banter in those parts, they would’ve been better placed somewhere else. They should’ve just dedicated the whole episode to Shiro’s flashbacks and given us more information about him.

If they were going to mention that Shiro had a progressive disease in his flashbacks, then they need to explicitly mention in the show that he doesn’t have it anymore. As it is, people who don’t know about the SDCC announcements are just gonna assume he still has it. If it doesn’t happen in the show, it’s not canon. Also, if he’s had this disease the whole time, then why is s7 the first time it’s mentioned? The way he held his arm in the flashback reminded me of the way he held it when his Galra arm activated for the first time. Did the arm help fight the progression of the disease like that lil wristband did? If so, that should’ve been explained and made clear a long time ago. It just bothers me that this is the first time we’re hearing about this major part of Shiro’s life that he’s been fighting with, and that in show we’re given absolutely no resolution for it.

I guess the gem powering Shiro’s arm and the Castleship diamond powering the Atlas connected somehow?? Which is how Shiro turned it into a giant robot? ??????????????? I’m genuinely very confused on what was going on there. It needed to be made more clear. I was on board for whatever they were doing at first just because Shiro looked so pretty in that lighting, but they took it in the weirdest direction possible. Why would anyone care about Voltron anymore when you’ve got a bigger, stronger robot now? Voltron’s no longer the most powerful weapon in the universe - the Atlas is. And it only became such by coincidence. Which is just. Irritating.

The Feud episode. Oh boy. First of all, I got some serious emotional whiplash from the change to this episode. It just didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the season at all. Second, they just really did not have to spend that much time making fun of Lance for being stupid. Especially when he’s not. Also, the first two of the people he had to identify had masks on, and Lance had only met them briefly. ALSO you’re telling me that Lance, the most social and outgoing of the Voltron team, is the one who’s bad with names/faces????? ALSO spending less time teasing Lance would’ve opened up more time for giving Hunk and Allura their own activities. ALSO everyone else on the team gets a little speech about how they’re valuable, but Lance just gets “I don’t want to be stuck with him forever”?????? That’s so freaking messed up. Third, the whole premise of the episode was strange to me. Like why would an all powerful being who tests heroes do it in this way? It seems to me that that premise fits Ep 6, where they were stranded in space, much better. They were genuinely tested then, and the forces that attacked them and propelled them through lightyears of space were never explained, so saying that Bob did it and propelled them towards their goal as a reward for passing the test could’ve been a satisfying answer to those questions. And fourth, can I also ask why Morvok was the fourth player?? Like he’s a nonentity in terms of villains. And they still didn’t have the same number of players as team Voltron. Haggar’s still alive, so they could’ve put Sendak on there too. And for the fifth player they could’ve put on a fan favorite villain character. One who showed up in more episodes than Morvok did. One who died a while back and who the fans have wanted to see again ever since. Like, I don’t know, NARTI!! Ugh.

The Robeast. I just. This season could’ve ended on a pretty high note if they had just cut that out and just went straight to the lil epilogue after defeating Sendak. As cool as that fight was at parts, it caused a pretty low finale, which is pretty disappointing after last season’s incredible finale. I get that they needed to foreshadow Haggar’s return to this fight or whatever they’re doing for next season and that she’s been working on the lost Alteans, apparently, but it was just a strange note to end on. Especially with the weird addition of Atlas to the Giant Robot Squad. And Allura’s line “Seriously? We just defeated Sendak and now we gotta deal with this?!?!” (I’m paraphrasing) was a MOOD.

Okay, so this post has gotten kinda out of control, so I’m gonna have to save the biggest issue I had (betcha can guess what it is) for another post. So. Look out for Part 2 of this nonsense. Feel free to reblog with your own ideas/input!

#voltron #vld spoilers #vld s7 #vld discourse #criticism

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

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Caramel Skin Under a Vanilla Sky prt 31 full draft

Keith was about to end up in a whole lot of quiznak. He'd honestly tried his hardest to stay in his quarters and behave himself, but Shiro and Krolia were driving him crazy. Concerned for his mental wellbeing, after he'd gone ever so slightly crazy, Krolia refused him access to the information they had on what was happening out in Lance's sector in space. Shiro refused him access to the bridge of the Atlas, telling him he was acting irrationally. He wasn't acting irrationally, it was everyone else who had problems. Keith knew Lance wouldn't be found if he didn't want to be found, so having Zak leaving the long range scanner scanning repeatedly for the a signal from the Telula, or either of Lance's comms seemed slightly pointless. Lance had stopped to send his messages, then quiznakking disappeared. Keith had tried to sit still, and personally he thought he should be commended for making it through the first movement without Lance, without killing anyone, or stabbing them. Ezor had come damn close. Her loud chewing of her pink gum was deeply ingrained in her because she knew how much it pissed everyone off. They'd been sitting eating breakfast in the dining room, where Krolia was trying to make him talk and Acxa kept watching him. She was probably spying on him for Veronica, who by now had to know the full story of Lance vanishing but hadn't actually approached Keith over it so there was only so much the half-Galra could speculate. With Zethrid and Ezor unaware of how intertwined he'd become with Lance, Ezor had made an innocent teasing joke over his brooding ways. Before he knew what was happening, Keith had his blade pulled and the table half upended, and in the next tick Krolia had him pinned against the table, Acxa removing his knife from his hold while Kosmo yipped happily at his family. With his team shaken up, Keith thought it best to put some distance between them. He couldn't help Lance if he was constantly on edge, but it was hard not to be when his dreams were filled with him losing his lover, and the constant battle to keep his head above water was on he was losing in the hardest of ways. If Lance died out there, he'd be the one to blame. Each dobosh of every quintants was filled with worry and fear that Lance had already been chopped to pieces or that he was being tortured over and over again. He'd barely been able to get through to Lance the first time around, a second round of torture would break the Cuban. It wasn't that Lance wasn't strong. He was way beyond strong, but with no face to this invisible enemy... well, Keith couldn't help but feel they were stronger. Stronger, faster, more powerful than one lone human could hope to defeat alone. The start of the second movement brought news from Daehra that Lance was alive and safe. Lance hadn't said where he was, and apparently Zak hadn't been able to get a trace on the Telula's signal despite the fact Lance had gotten word out to one of his friends and would be rendezvousing with them. Daehra insisted the person was trustworthy, yet, the initial excitement and relief of learning Lance was alive soon wore off when no second message from him came. Keith had sent what must have been a hundred messages to Lance's comms, begging him to contact him, or to at least contact Daehra to let her know he was still alright. It'd only been a movement. He'd broken Lance's heart, so it was understandable if Lance didn't want to talk to him... even if it felt like his heart would break each time he checked his comms to find no reply. He adored his husband. He'd adored Lance for so long that he didn't always remember that the love he felt for him hadn't been reciprocated for all that long in the scheme of things. Just because it felt so incredibly right to be with Lance, didn't mean that it felt right to Lance. Lance needed space and time to cool off, that much he got, but Lance could come back to the Atlas and do that. Where he'd be safe and where he wasn't at risk of capture. Keith was the one who'd fucked up, he was the one who would leave if that was the way things needed to be. He'd prayed more than once to whoever or whatever was out there that Lance would come home, yet all his prayers went unanswered, and as word of his quick temper and violent outbursts became common knowledge throughout the Atlas, the half-Galra was filled with a loneliness he hadn't felt in phoebs. People would leave the room whenever he entered. Whispers and stares followed him through the hall. No one knew what had brought about the change in him, only that he was acting like a monster. It was Coran who sought him out. Sitting in his room, away from the prying eyes and awkwardness of ship life, Keith was playing with his holopad when the Altean knocked lightly on his door. Hunk had been trying to get him to talk since the incident with Ezor. Despite being Lance's "best friend", Hunk had only asked him twice if his mood was a reflection of Lance no longer being on board the Atlas. Pidge had already left the ship, taking Lance's family back to Earth a few quintants after Lance had run away. Thinking it was Hunk again, Keith ignored the knocking, focusing on the footage on the holopad. The footage it's self wasn't anything exciting, instead it was a recording of he and Lance walking the halls of the Atlas before everything went to quiznak. Lance was jittery nervous, but every time their eyes would meet, the man would offer him a smile. Keith could have stared at that smile for vargas if it didn't haunt him the way it did. He'd taken Lance's smile from him, causing him to run back into danger. Causing him to choose death over staying safe with him... Keith fucking hurt. Hearing the door to his quarters "whoosh" open, Keith was prepared to ignore Hunk. Sure, the man didn't deserve it, but between him losing his cool with Hunk which was completely uncool, and him upsetting Hunk for a few vargas by ignoring him, he'd choose option b every time "Keith, my boy. I was wondering if we could talk" Nearly dropping the holopad as he rushed to hide the device, Kosmo yipped his unhappiness at his human moving so fast, having to teleport himself off the bed before Keith accidental kicked him off "Coran?!" Smooth. Just yell the man's name. Way to make him think nothing was wrong "Everything alright there?" No. He was frustrated and flustered. Keith could feel the heat in his cheeks as he finally positioned himself to not look as stupid as he felt "Yes. Sorry. You startled me" "I'm sorry, my boy. I did knock..." Which he'd tried to ignore "I was lost in my own thoughts. Do you want to sit?" "Thank you" Oddly polite Coran was weird. Not that Coran wasn't always polite, but something about his manner seemed off as he sat on the edge of Keith's bed just shy of where Keith was sitting "I was hoping to speak to you about Lance" Of course this was about Lance... no one could ask Lance about Lance because Lance wasn't taking anyone's calls "Coran... I don't think that's... appropriate" "You're in love with our young Lance, aren't you?" Keith opened and closed his mouth half a dozen times, trying to find the words before hanging his head and staring at his hands and nodding "Ah! I guessed as much. Might one assume your current distress comes from him not being aboard the ship?" "I... yeah. I'm sorry if I've caused you any problems" "Not at all, my boy. I am however worried about him. He didn't seem himself when he was here, then he dashed off onto that mission faster than a Yerla chasing a Snaggil" "We had a fight... and I broke his trust..." Coran held the same simple smile on his lips, but a dreamy look filled his eyes "I seem to remember that happening frequently in the beginning. Back when you were all so small and innocent..." "It's not the same now. Lance isn't the same now..." Keith didn't want to talk about Lance's pain, but for some reason tears filled his eyes, his mouth moving on its own "... they hurt him so badly, and now I've hurt him just as badly" As the first sniffle left his nose, Keith found himself being hugged by Coran. He and Coran didn't hug. Not like this... Coran and Lance did this. Both of them in tune enough with their emotions for this not to be... whatever this was "Lance isn't one to hold a grudge..." "You don't understand, Coran. They hurt him. They hurt him so badly and he hates himself so much... I don't know if he's coming back from this alive" "They tortured him, didn't that?" Keith tensed. It was still an unsaid thing since the briefing "I could tell when I saw him that he'd changed. When I tried to speak to him of this, he shut down. I thought perhaps it was due to our dear Allura, with his marks being covered" "I'm sorry, Coran" "Why are you sorry?" "Because I know you loved Allura, but she messed Lance up so badly that I can't talk about it" Coran released him, Keith knowing he'd crossed a line "Allura sacrificed herself to save the universe" "I know she did... but... she also changed Lance" "She changed him?" "Did you know Lance died? He took an electrical blast that would have hit Allura, and she brought him back to life" Coran frowned, his left hand moving to tweak his moustache "She never said anything about it to me" "She didn't say anything about it to anyone. Lance thought everyone knew and didn't care. She messed with his head. He said he hasn't felt right since she brought him back..." "That's simply not true. If something that major had happened, the possible impact that could and should have had on Voltron..." "Lance died! And he thought we abandoned him. He was tortured and he thought we abandoned him. Allura ruined his body. She changed him into something he hates. He doesn't understand what she did to him, only that he's not how he used to be, and now he's out there struggling on his own! His life was always more important than Voltron!" Snapping at Coran, Keith came back mid-snap. Breaking off his own yelling with a shake of his head, he buried his face in his hands "I'm sorry. Ok. Yes. I'm not coping without Lance here. No one will let me go look for him and honestly I'm terrified what kind of condition he's going to be in when I do find him" "It's quite alright to be scared. Can I ask you about what you just said? About "Allura ruining his body?" Allura cared deeply for Lance, so if something has happened, perhaps I can help make sense of it" Keith shook his head. Talking was Lance's strength, not his... "It's not my position to talk about" "I understand that... I simply want to help Lance. I wasn't there for him the way I should have been after Allura passed. Now you've said Allura did something to Lance, I need to know what you mean. Lance has always been special to me, and it's plain to see he's special to you... Perhaps you two..." "We... were kind of. It's complicated. He's... they really messed with his head so we've been taking things slowly. He isn't alright... Allura did something to him that didn't show right away. His scent's changed... and his body has changed. He's not exactly human anymore" Coran frowned deeper. Keith had never sat down to have an actual one on one conversation with him like this before... "Has he displayed Atlean physiology?" Looking down to his palm, with everything going on he'd forgotten that Lance had zapped him that one time. Holding his hand out, Coran's eyes widened "What is that?" "Lance zapped me. It only happened once. Is there something in Altean Alchemy that can explain his? Why his body has changed, how he can do this? I don't think he knows he's the one who caused the scar..." "There were no traces of Altean Alchemy in his marks... The scanners read them as purely cosmetic" "Well, its there now. His body has gone through some kind of change. His scent changes with his emotions. He's cold all the time. His body isn't... is no longer like that of a human male" "Why didn't he tell me? If something was wrong, he could have come to me. We could have figured this out together" He couldn't go to anyone because Lance believed no one cared anymore. When Allura had passed, it was all Coran could think or talk about. With the changes in his body, Lance was self conscious enough, throw in a conversation over how Allura had fucked him up... It was understandable why Lance didn't go to Coran over it all "I think he was confused and hurting. It all took a lot of out of us when our lions left. I think he needed time to work everything out... Allura changed something inside of him, and I think it has to do with Altean magic" "I'll do my best to help. What are his other symptoms?" "I don't... I broke his trust. I shouldn't be talking about this. He's going to upset... if he's still alive" "You have reason to believe he's not?" "You saw the briefing, Coran. You saw what they were doing and those people are after him" "Then what are you doing sitting here?" "Shiro won't give me permission to launch, and Krolia... is being difficult" "Keith, I know we haven't been as close as the others, but if you believe Lance is in trouble, then you should be out there helping him. He let you in, and he chose you. Nothing would make me happier to see him happy again" "I don't know if he'll want to see me" "You won't know if you keep sitting here" Keith never expected Coran to be encouraging him to go against Shiro and Krolia. He knew the Altean loved Lance, but now he was telling him to go put himself in danger in order to rescue Lance... Coran was usually more sensible than that, even with his overbearing and perky personality "What if he doesn't want to see me?" "Trust me, Number Four. Number Three is in love with you. He often spoke of you while you were gone. He might not talk of it openly, but he does have the tendency to shut everyone out and put their needs first. Now, do you have any other questions? We Altean's are quite knowledgeable after all" Coran's knowledge had a massive ten thousand year gap in it. Despite being Altean, there were subtle differences in Romelle when compared to the old Alteans due to evolution. Not many of the new Alteans could shape shift like Coran and Allura could... "No... Not that I can think of. If you have some information on basic Altean Alchemy I wouldn't say no... Coran, can you keep this to yourself? Shiro would blame himself if he knew Lance had been suffering for so long. Especially with what Allura meant to him" "Of course my boy. You find Lance and you bring him back. The rest we can work out together" "I'm going to hold you to that. Can you maybe look into Lance's old scans? From when we came back to Earth and after Allura gifted him his marks. Anything changing physically within his body, or changing hormones? Something that would explain why he was able to use Altean magic to zap me..." "Consider it done!" "Thanks... sorry for crying in front of you" "There's no shame in crying, I myself cry 6 times a day" Keith wasn't sure anyone needed to cry that many times a day. He still wasn't completely sure this wasn't a dream, though he was leaning towards it not being a dream given how awkward it all felt. Patting his knee, Coran's knees cracked as he rose, the man muttering about some Altean ailment before sauntering towards the door, apparently not as uncomfortable as Keith was over whatever it was that had just happened. He wasn't even sure if he felt any better for having talked to Coran, but it was nice to have someone on his side, and someone encouraging him to go after Lance. Keith had no idea where Lance would be, so he was going to have to start from the start... and the start of all of this came back to Erathus. Now set on this plan, Keith had everything he needed organised within the next few vargas. His old team was coming with him, as were Lance's team on the pretence of dropping them off. No one was buying it, but Krolia trusted Acxa to keep him in line. Too bad for her that she was on his side given that Lance was her girlfriend's little brother, and they both knew Veronica would be beyond terrifying if something happened to Lance... far more terrifying than a raging Krolia provided the mission turned out smoothly in the end. They were going to get his idiot back in one piece, and then he was tying Lance up so he couldn't up and leave him all over again. With a loaded ship, and ignoring Shiro's "Space Dad" lecture over staying, Keith launched his ship from the Atlas... without technically having secured clearance. He was done sitting and waiting. He was done holding his tongue and only being able to tell half-truths. He was going back to Lance's side as it was only by his side did things seem right. And he was going to spend the rest of his life apologising to his accidental husband. It didn't matter what it took or even if it cost him his life, he was going to save his Lance. * With Daehra's guidance, Keith stopped at half a dozen different rebel camps once they reached Lance's sector of space. No one was prepared to talk to him face to face, so for the most part he and Acxa wore their Blade suits and accompanied Daehra or Lucteal as they did the talking. There was a moment they thought they had a lead on Lance, Zak had said the Telula had appeared for an instant, before he lost the signal again. It wasn't what Keith wanted to hear at all. There was only so much he could as he piloted his ship, and only so much worrying his heart could take. Even when it came to the small hours of the morning, he wouldn't leave his post at the helm of his ship in fear that Lance would reach out and he'd miss it. His mood was all over the place, especially when Daehra would fuss over him resting. As far as he was concerned she had no right to be telling him "Lance wouldn't want this", or "Lance would be worried to see him like this". If Lance was so quiznakking worried for him, then where the hell was he? He sure as hell wasn't out here. No one had seen the damn Telula or her stupid pilot. They'd left Chlo, Edra and Gin on one of the first planets they'd visited, but they proven just as useless as the rest of Lance's team, as their own searching had turned up nothing. The only thing he'd learned since leaving the Atlas was what he'd read about Altean physiology, and he'd never really been great at sitting down and reading page after page so he wasn't sure he'd made progress their either. His vague working theory was the same as it was when he'd learned Lance had a womb and could fall pregnant; Allura had done this as some kind of gift gone wrong and he was clueless. It kind of made sense from an "Altean Shape Shifter" point of view. Same sex couples were able to change their bodies in order to carry young, but he didn't get how the mechanics of holding such an altered state worked. Lance may have awoken to his new Altean side and may be holding his form without even knowing what he was doing. If that was the case, then he should be able to shift back to his original body if he wanted to... All of it were half baked theories, much like the theories that had led him to the Blue Lion, only he didn't have some cool Lance tracking radar. The half-Galra had wanted something more to tell Lance, so it felt like he'd let him down all over again by not having all the answers ready for when they reunited again. It was now three movements since Keith had last saw Lance. Three very long and every empty movements. Hovering in proximity or Erathus, he was about to play the last card he had in his hand. Having Acxa man the comms, she'd called through to the Erathian police department, and organised a meeting with the head of the organisation. Knowing there was a very real risk he would be arrested as an accomplice, they'd decided upon a two part plan. Though Keith was sure the first part, the legal part of asking Lance to be pardoned would probably go over as well as... something not that great. He wouldn't have even bothered trying to do things diplomatically if not for Shiro. Keith would head down to Erathus alone, wearing a tracer in his suit so Zac would be able to trace his movements planet side. Given what he knew, it was more than likely he'd then be shipped out to the outpost to act as bait for Lance, or to be held and ransomed back for silence from Daibazaal and the Atlas. His team were completely against the idea of him ending up out there. Zethrid very much for storming the police centre and taking the chief of police by force. Acxa proposed using the buildings vent system in order to reach their target, before taking him "into protective custody". Zac suggested hacking into the police network and then blackmailing the police into handing Lance over, to which Daehra questioned how well that had worked for him the last time he done so. Keith on the other hand was taking the most direct approach he could by meeting the man face to face. The plan was that once he was "captured", he'd find a way to secure the outpost, then send signal for his team to join him. With the new cloaking technology his team had used when they'd originally rendezvoused with the Telula, his ship would take on the appearance of an Erathian cruiser, allowing them space to move if another cruiser should enter the area. Getting clearance to land at the Erathian space terminal, officers were waiting for Keith as he disembarked his ship and headed into the main terminal where the grav-elevator down to the planet's surface was located. Dressed in their uniforms, all of them looked like his mere presence taxed them to point of snapping. He knew the looks on their faces too well from the times he'd slightly pushed his foster parents too far. The disapproving look came before the yelling, then would come being moved onto the next home because he wasn't worth the trouble or time. Lance knew he still held pain over his time in the foster system, but the Cuban hadn't realised his abandonment issues ran as deeply as Lance's own. He'd never had a proper home until Shiro came into his life, then his memories of his father started to fade. In some ways it'd been easier not to remember his father, and the pain of him never coming home again. Being on the space whale with his mother had allowed him to make peace with his past, but since Lance had left, his old insecurities had been bleeding back to memory. Standing in front of the odd bunch of officers, Keith wasn't sure of their races, and Erathus had no native race. Was he supposed to identify himself? Clearing his throat, Keith went to do just that. His lips barely parting before one of the taller officers beat him to it "Former Black Paladin, Keith?" "Yes" "We will be escorting you. Are you armed?" "No" "Good" Shit. These guys were intimidating. Then again, that was probably why they were sent to greet him. Maybe he should have lied and said he was? As the group moved towards the grav-elevator, they fell in around Keith. Not one to suffer with claustrophobia generally, he felt that if he breathed too deep he'd be dropped before he got the breath out. Quiznak. He might be in further over his head than he thought... No. he had to do this for Lance. He had to get to that outpost and bring all of this to an end before so he could bring Lance home. Waiting at the base of the shuttle centre was a dark tint police car, Keith treated like a prisoner as he nudged in the back to enter the car rather than invited, climbing in and being sandwiched by two officers with muscles the size of ro-beasts. Yep. He definitely wasn't breathing until he got out of this car. How Lance could go toe to toe with them, Keith had no idea. The feeling coming off them was completely differently to any of the Galra on the Blades "You part Galra?" "Yes" Huffing at him, the man sitting across from him looked displeased at his heritage. It wasn't like Keith asked to be half Galra. What was he supposed to say other than "yes"? They damn well knew he was "Here on official business?" "Something like that" Shouldn't they know if they were there to collect him? By some mercy the conversation fell between them. Keith watching the world beyond the windows of the car with disinterest. They should have just hit up the outpost. It wasn't terribly guarded when he and Lance had visited... or rather, it was terribly guarded. His team would easily be able to over power the base provided that reinforcements hadn't been shipped out there... then he would haven't to be dressed in this stupid suit without his weaponry. Lance would be so disappointed, there wasn't a blade hidden in either of his boots, nor up his sleeves or strapped to his back, leaving Keith feeling quite naked without it during the 10 dobosh ride through the city and to the towering police centre. Erathus police station wasn't what Keith expected a police station to be. It was uncomfortably Earth like, yet a world away at the same time. Posters with strange alien text hung on the walls of the reception area, the aliens behind the desk were all as varied as the group who'd escorted him. Lead through the space, Keith felt like a criminal as everyone scattered away from them, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. He had expected this meeting to be in some shady building, like a bad Earth movie where the bad guys were always hiding out at some dingy warehouse, where the goons sat back in the shadows as they waited to attack. Despite what normal people may think, being brought to the station didn't bode well for Keith's mission. There were too many people, too many ears listening, to discuss dodgy things in great depth. He never should have let Shiro get into his head. He wasn't a member of the Atlas, his fondness of Earth was purely second hand. Being a Blade member meant bending the rules, even breaking them when needed... God. Things had gotten far too complicated for him. This right here was why he was more than happy to stand back and let Krolia and Kolivan rule publicly. He simply didn't have the patience for all of this. Shown through to the buildings elevators, two of his guards peeled away without a word. Keith able to breathe again without their hulking presence behind him. Stepping into the elevator it was a stomach churning ride upwards. The elevator far too fast for a building of this size. No elevator should take 15 ticks to go up 30 floors. The speed factor was probably to leave those brought in disorientated, but Keith would have preferred not to leave his stomach on the ground floor of the building when he was there as a "guest" and not as a "criminal". As the cold metal doors slid open, the stark white room space waiting did nothing for Keith's anxieties over the meeting, again, it was probably designed to throw people off especially in contrast to the busy bustling word outside. As Keith's senses sharpened, he realised the space was silent. There was no humming of air conditioning or air recycling. No tapping of anyone working. No whispered voices or presence of staff. Simply a bland room with no evident exits other than the elevator. A hard nudge to the back brought Keith stumbling forward, his boots squeaking against the tiled floors. Getting three or four steps into the room, a section of the wall to the right side slid away "The boss will see you now" Remaining near the elevator, Keith's goon squad left him to cross the threshold alone. His heart starting to hammer harder with each step closer towards the open door. A huge part of his mind was urging him to bolt. To avoid entering the room at any cost. Yet he'd come this far. He only had to go that tiny bit further. One step at a time. Patience yields focus. He could do this. The worse the man could say was "no", which would leave him in the exact same position he was already in. Besides, it wasn't like he was doing this just for himself. He was doing this for the man he loved and the man he wanted back by his side. Feeling braver, or perhaps more reckless at the thought of Lance, Keith walked through the open door. The chief of police wasn't what Keith had expected. The short, squat alien had a very "Bob-esque" feel about him as Keith tried not to stare at the figure waiting for him. Waddling around to the other side of the desk, the man disappeared from sight for a moment before seating himself in a chair high enough for Keith to see his wrinkled face again. Grabbing some kind of thick cigarette from the pack in the desk, he lit it and took a deep draw before gesturing with the cigarette to the two chairs on Keith's side of the desk "Take a seat" Forcing confidence, Keith did as he was told, sitting in the closer of the two orangey coloured chairs that were much more comfortable than they looked "You are Keith?" "Uh... Yes. I am. I want to thank..." Holding his hand up, Keith's words were brought to a halt "I know what you're here about. I don't need the story. He ain't here, and as far as I know his bounty has been marked" Marked? What the quiznak did that mean? "I'm sorry. I don't understand you. Daibazaal is prepared to meet the bounty costs for his return" Stubbing out the cigarette in his fat fingers, the police chief leaned forward "His bounty has been claimed. Delivery pending, that is" "What? When did this happen?" "'bout half a varga ago. Your money would have done you no good anyway" Keith's stomach clenched, his lungs felt as if someone had punched him in the solar plexus "You issued it. Can't you cancel it?" The man drew his brow so heavily his monobrow looked like one huge purple caterpillar "I don't intend to die for someone like him. Best you forget him" "Are you serious? I came all this way to talk to you over legal options, and you're telling me to forget a Paladin of Voltron?!" Yelling wasn't going to solve anything... but fuck if his emotions weren't in control "I'm telling you that there's something's best left lie" "What's that supposed to mean? Look, I already know you're dirty as they come. We have information on your less than legal business practices. Either you cancel that bounty, or you'll have both Daibazaal and Earth to deal with" A flicker of something flashed over the man's face before he hardened his expression "You're messing with things you don't understand" "Then tell me..." "I value my life" "You're life?! What about..." "Look kid, your bluffing with an empty hand. Your friend is gone. If you want to find him, try looking closer to home" "What the hell does that mean?!" "It means the Galra aren't the only ancient evil in the universe. Maybe those you're in bed with aren't as clean as they make out. Now get out of here" Rising to his feet, Keith slammed his hands down on the man's desk "I'm not going anywhere until..." Letting out a whistle, the police chief summoned his men from the elevator "Escort the former Paladin from the precinct. If he isn't off planet within the next half varga, removal by force is approved" What... hold on... what?! "Lance is innocent! You know he didn't have anything to do with those ships disappearing" "He is a known anarchist, in league with those who threaten peace" "No he isn't! He's doing you fucking job for you!" Grabbed on both sides, Keith was dragged back from the desk. He hadn't even gotten the man's name. He didn't know the first thing about him that he could use as leverage. The chief didn't seem to care that Keith knew he was dirty "Daibazaal is going to come for you. They're going to arrest you, and you will be held accountable for you..." A hard gut punch had Keith gurgling. Angered and pushed to the edge, Keith came up for air swinging. He hadn't intended to throw down with two officers, but that was exactly what happened. Or the start of what happened. Thrown into the clean expanse of the white room, some kind of gas hissed up from the floor, blasting him straight in the face as he found his feet, charging the closest man. He knew he was being stupid, but he couldn't stop himself. Every bit of everything he'd felt since Lance left bubbled up to the surface, the look on his face filled with bloodlust... until the gas finally kicked in. Losing his footing, he went down hard, yelping as a rough boot found his ribs. He was going to be feeling that for a while... a long while... stupid humans and their frail ribs. If they weren't broken, they were definitely bruised and either way, it wasn't going to be fun to deal with. All of this was what flittered through his mind as the gas robbed him of his consciousness.

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

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CSUAVS prt 32 update

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

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Caramel Skin Under A Vanilla Sky - part 7

The Telula Day was not what Keith expected. Lance had been out cold when the massive ship suddenly appeared, seemingly shaking the Earth around them and sending Keith into panic mode as he had no idea that they weren't hostile due to Lance being conveniently unconscious when he needed him. Needless to say, his first impressions of Lance's new team wasn't exactly great. They thought he'd caused the damage to Lance's ship, while Keith thought they'd down the same and come to finished the job. Kosmo proved himself smarter than all of them, as they continued to bicker over how they were both there for Lance's sake while not listening to each other, by teleporting outside the door of Keith's ship with a barely conscious Lance leaning against him. Waving at his team, the strangers joyously cried out for "Leandro", leaving Keith to be pushed to the background. He'd barely done anything other than save Lance's life, then cared for him while he'd been come down sick with fever that morning... no big deal or anything at all. Lance, who couldn't even be bothered to cooperate when Keith had wiped his sweat soaked body down, was acting like he hadn't thrown his guts up and spent most of the day rambling to himself in broken Spanish. Having left his crush to cool down the previous night, after the small incident in the cockpit of his ship, Keith changed his tactics, pulling out an assortment of rations Hunk had bestowed upon him. Lance was ending his call to his team, plastering a smile on his face as he apologised for his moodiness. The conversation following had been awkward and slow, Lance not his usual self as barely three words came out at a time before all chance of actually talking was interrupted by Krolia demanding to know why his tracker signal had suddenly gone offline. Explaining it was his mother, Lance had waved him out the room to continue the conversation in private. Not that it was a real conversation. It was his mother insisting on knowing how his tracking system could suddenly go offline and not buying his lie that he'd been distracted by an over enthusiastic Kosmo. Swearing black and blue that he was perfectly fine, not in trouble, and not courting danger in any form, half a vargas had still passed by the time he was finally freed from the call. Lance had drifted off by the time he got off the call, not surprising given he was probably coming down off his painkiller induced high. Clearing away Lance's barely picked at meal, Keith went about pulling up the blankets, shifting Lance into a more comfortable position as he did. The way Lance mumbled in his sleep as he sought his hand felt oddly domestic in a way that made him smile. Things might be shaky between them. Lance might be hiding a hundred and one things, but when he slept he looked so peaceful that none of that seemed to matter anymore. Furthermore, he'd reached for him. He couldn't leave him when he was being that vulnerable. Throwing caution to the wind, and leaving Kosmo to finish Lance's dinner, Keith slid under the covers with Lance. Pulling the gorgeous Cuban closer, he rested Lance's head on his chest. Knowing he was flirting with fire, Keith couldn't help himself as he breathed in Lance's soft sea salt scent, face buried in his short chocolate locks as his own body relaxed beneath the comforting weight. It wasn't like they'd never shared a bed before, yet this felt different. Lance curled into him, hand clutching Keith's loosely as he mumbled softly. That was the Lance he knew. Lance who didn't know how to shut up. Mumbling slightly louder in his sleep, Keith's heart broke a little more as his ears caught what he wasn't supposed to hear "I'll be good. No more... I'll be good...". Whatever had happened to Lance they'd get through together. Provided Lance finally let him in. Maybe when his "team" arrived, Lance would be willing talk more, or come morning they'd be so close that Lance wouldn't be able to run from him anymore. The following morning was a tangle of limbs and flurry of action as Lance half vaulted over him before throwing up spectacularly over the bedroom floor as he tripped on his own feet. The sound of Lance's knees smacking against the ship floor was loud enough for Keith to cringe. Climbing from the bed up at a much lower speed, Keith caught Lance as he slumped sideways his whole body burning in the half-Galra's hold. Groaning in pain, Lance's blue eyes fluttered open as his Altean marks pulsed for in and out of view. For some reason the smell of juniper berries seemed to swirl around them as their eyes met "Another bonding moment?" Keith nodded forcing a slight smile for Lance's sake as his palm went to sweaty forehead. Vomiting and fever could both be signs of internal bleeding, or an infection... but Lance seemed too far out of it for Keith to ask how pained he was or where. He'd cleaned and dressed all of Lance's wounds that he could see... but with no way of knowing how long Lance had been trapped infection could have set in before he got to his friend "I thought you didn't remember the first one?" Slurring his words, Lance shot him an opened mouth grin of sorts "I don't... and I don't think I'm going to remember this one either... I think I'm sick" Stroking Lance's hair back from his forehead, Lance sighed into his touch as he sought out the coolness of Keith's large hand "Yeah buddy, I think you might be too. You've got a pretty bad fever here, and your marks are showing" With a trembling hand Lance moved to trace his mark on the left side, his already ragged breathing turning into a soft sob "Don't... don't look... don't look at them" "Why not?" "A-Allura..." Allura? Did he think Keith was Allura? Or did Lance not want him to think of Allura when he saw his marks? "She's not here. It's you, me, Kosmo. How about we get you back into bed?" "... don't look at me... Don't... wrong... I'm wrong... Allura... Allura... don't... touch me..." Slurring out the end of his rambling, Lance turned to mumbling random words that made no sense. Too far out of it to take care of himself, Keith tilted him up to wipe a thin trail of drooley vomit from his chin before pressing a kiss to Lance's forehead. Everything Lance did was far too extreme for his heart to keep up, yet he wouldn't have him any other way. Lifting his friend from the floor, he laid him back down on the bed pausing to watch those stupid flickering blue marks. The interval of the pulsing of Lance's marks slowly growing slower until they remained upon his cheeks. It was like a constant reminder that Lance had loved and lost. Those stupid marks were nothing but a cruel burden she'd saddled Lance with for life. * When Lance had said he had a team, Keith had thought maybe two people... three on the very outer, and a ship the size of Black lion. He was very much wrong on all accounts. The Telula Day was easily the size of Voltron when formed, probably twice over when width was included, and it seemed to be Lance's pride and joy once everyone had settled down enough to make it inside the larger ship. Teleporting Lance to his side, the former Red Paladin's team seemed shocked as Keith lifted Lance into his hold. Keith not really thinking anything of it until after Lance was laying in the Telula Day's med bay with a drip in his arm. Each of Lance's team members had seemed ready to rush to the man to hug him at their reunion, yet none of them had moved to touch him. Like it was some kind of unwritten rule. Even the alien woman who'd inserted the drip into Lance's arm had done the absolute bare minimum when it came to touching. She seemed genuinely confused, and maybe a little hurt, that Lance had reached for Keith's hand after he'd laid him on the examination table, despite not being conscious. Keith still holding his hand as a warm yellow light bathed his unconscious friend while said woman looked on. It may have only been doboshes, but it didn't make it feel any less than an eternity as he prayed to whoever was out there that Lance would wake up soon. The few extremely long moments of peace between the four them, Kosmo included, was shattered by a man rushing into the medbay, his eyes widening at the sight of Keith holding Lance's hand as he stumbled to a stop "Who the Quiznak is this?!" Despite the question being directed at Keith, Keith ignored it for the time being. His mind recalling that it was the same strange alien who'd been at Lance's side after he'd sedated the two Galra and had them removed from his room on Erathus "This is Keith. The former Black Paladin of Voltron" So she knew who he was. And the stranger should too given they'd briefly met... but was anyone going to clue him in? "I know that. I mean, what is he doing, Daehra?" The woman must be named Daehra, as she sighed at the man like she was far too familiar with his shit. His tone alone was enough to set Keith on edge to the point he felt the weird sensation to bare his teeth as he growled softly "Leandro reached for his hand. He was the one who carried him into the ship when he collapsed" "For all we know, he's the reason Leandro was hurt" "Lucteal. Leandro contacted us. He told us to rendezvous with him here. It was you who perceived Keith's ship as a threat and caused that scene. Think of how Leandro will feel knowing what nearly happened" Lucteal could Quiznak the hell off. Keith wasn't sure why, but he was certain that the stranger was far too close to Lance for his heart's liking. And there was that name "Leandro" again. Now that this whole team dynamic was in the picture, Keith could only assume it was his code name... but why did Lance need a code name? All their faces had been splashed across the universe. Everyone knew them by name... So having a code name for Lance seemed kind of... pointless? "I was thinking of him. You know as well as I that he doesn't care for physical contact. Yet he sits there holding his hand!" "Lucteal, it was Leandro's choice. Please. They're old friends from long before we met him" "You both realise I am right here?" Jealousy drove the words from Keith's mouth as Lucteal moved to the other side of the examination table. The strangers hand hovering as if he wished to take Lance's other hand in his, before awkwardly moving to rest on the thin blanket beneath Lance instead "I am sorry former Black Paladin. And I am sorry you were met with hostility. I don't know whether or not you know but there have recently been incidents that have lead to... unfavourable conditions for the team. As such, we are operating on heightened security. For Leandro to first leave Erathus, then to have been in a crash is an issue that troubles all of us. I am Daehra, this is my brother Lucteal. He is the closest to Leandro and cares very deeply for him. All those upon the Telula care deeply for Leandro. He brought us all together, and now leads our team" It wasn't surprising for Lance to be in a leadership role. Before Allura had died, Lance had seemed to shed his past worries of worthlessness. Proving himself invaluable again and again. Looking back to Lance's flushed face, Keith squeezed his hand in silent support "We didn't have a chance to talk after the crash. Not about everything happening, or what led to it..." "You led to it. Your interference on Erathus meant he had to leave. He took the punishment for your actions and it nearly led to his death but you wouldn't care about such a thing would you? You would simply use him up and throw him away. I've heard about you Black Paladin. I've heard what you've done. I won't let you come here and force him back into a situation like..." "Lucteal! That's enough. He cared for Leandro after the crash..." "A crash that wouldn't have happened if he didn't decide he needed to hack the clubs security! What happened to Lance is on his shoulders!" "Leandro wouldn't like you using that name. You know that he likes to keep his work life and personal life seperate" "Daehra! You know what they did to him! How can you..." "Will you both stop fighting?" Groaning as he shielded his eyes from the light above the table, Lance brought the argument to an end before Keith could learn anything further. Ignoring the way Lucteal glared daggers at him, Keith rose to his feet in order to cover more of the light blinding Lance "Hey, Sleeping Beauty. It's about time you woke up" Giving a dopey smile, Keith's heart skipped a beat at Lance's genuine affection "You know me... gotta get my beauty sleep" Lucteal let out a huff as he crossed his arms, Keith smug in the knowledge he'd cut off whatever the man was mentally planning upon Lance's waking "I do. I remember quite a few late mornings because of it. How do you feel?" "Like I got hit by a lion" "Daehra here, has only just started her scans. Do you remember them landing?" "I remember yelling... and you yelling. There was a lot of yelling... Aunty Em" "Then you remember everything" Letting his hand drop away, Lance's eyes were glassy as they sought out Keith's "Great. Guys, this is Keith. Keith... these are the guys. Keith's a friend. Keith, these guys are friends..." "We did the introductions while you sleep. How do you feel?" "I'm fine. Daehra rivals Coran on weird medical knowledge. I bet she could even cure his slipperies" Coran with the slipperies was not something he ever wanted to experience again... once had just... no "That's good. You still need to rest. You could have internal bleeding" "Awww. You worried, Mullet?" "Yes" Lance's cheeks reddened slightly further with a blush meant only for him "You're making it all sappy. Aren't you supposed to play it cool?" "I seem to lose all my cool when it comes to you" Lance rolled his eyes at him. Quiznak. He'd missed all this... "Cough. Cough. Gay" "You know it" Groaning at him, Keith was enjoying riling Lance up. He definitely preferred Lance awake and confined to bed, when compared to continually attempting to do things while drifting in and out "God. Remind me why I'm doing you a favour again?" "Because Guile is missing? And you missed me?" "Maybe... Lucteal. We're headed to sector 15. We need to bypass 31 and 47. 19 is kind of dicey, but if we don't fire first we should be fine" Lucteal lit up as he leaned down to invade Keith's space. He was clearly smitten by Lance, leaving Keith wondering where the nearest airlock was. It wouldn't be that hard to make it look like an accident. No, he shouldn't make assumptions until it was confirmed "You were scheduled to pass through 19, instead you went and got yourself in a damn fight again in 22. You know you're not supposed to take on trade ships without support" "I didn't mean to. They recognised my pod from that job we did on Baihzyl. I'm lucky Keith was at the meet early" Ending his sentence with a cough, Lance spluttered hard enough to choke on his own spit "Sit him up" Keith didn't need Daehra to tell him what he already knew. Lance's wet coughs sent a shiver of fear down his spine in fear the infection could have spread to his lungs. Lance waved both he and Lucteal off as he pushed himself up "He has cracked ribs, but the scanner isn't picking up internal bleeding. Despite the impact taken across the lower abdomen. The infection is radiating from his left leg laceration. Severe spraining of the right ankle, no dislocation shown. The medication is stimulating..." "Daehra. I get it" Coughing out the words, Lance winced as he did. Keith tempted to smack him for being so stubborn over it all, and then smack him again for hiding his symptoms with his own personal drug supply "Good. You will be free to move once the drip line has finished. That means no sneaking out of my medway in the mean time" Laughing and coughing, Lance wound up groaning miserably as Daehra left her scanner to move to the end of the examination bed "It's medbay. You're gonna make Keith think I've been teaching you all the wrong words. Why don't you show him around? Or at least to somewhere he can shower and call his mother" "Leandro..." "I'm ok, Dae. Take Luc too. Also assign Keith to BBK on the board and scramble the comms. We can't sit here and we're not fit for a fight. The grav hooks should have connected with Keith's ship by now? If not see to it. My pod's wrecked. Have Zak burn it. Anything that survived was collected by Keith" Daehra didn't argue. Keith wanted too, but was torn. A tour of the ship might lead to an explanation of what was going on, but leaving a vulnerable Lance alone was fucking with everything that made him him. Especially when Lance was still coughing up a storm "I know that look. Leandro often wears the same one. No harm will come to him. Your wolf may stay if that will help ease your worries" "Daehra, we can't just show the prince of Daibazaal our ship. What's to stop him from..." "Lucteal, Leandro trusts him. We owe him a debt we can never hope to repay. So please, brother, let us listen to his wishes. Keith, would you please join us?" "Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Rolling his eyes at him, Lance seemed annoyed. Whatever Lance was up to was most definitely not a bodyguard or security guard kind of job... if anything, he was starting to sound more like some kind of space pirate which was almost laughable if he hadn't seen with his own eyes that Lance was a chronic drug user and most certainly not the friend he'd left on Earth "I'll be fine. I've survived this long without Voltron and Shiro swooping in to magically clean up my mess. Call Krolia and let her know you'll be out of contact for the next movement. We can't make or receive calls where we're going. Magnetic fields fuck with the comms" His mother wouldn't like it. She'd probably already called Shiro to enquire about his every move on the Atlas. He really wouldn't be surprised if Axca showed up with Ezor and Zethrid in tow to bring him back home right about now, or if they were placing the pieces of everything together on their own... "Alright. Thank you. Kosmo, you stay with Lance. You heard Daehra. No letting Lance boss you around because you love him too much" Kosmo looked insulted, though they both knew he was a giant push over. He was supposed to have supervised Lance back on their ship, yet Kosmo had let him do whatever he'd wanted because he'd missed Lance "It's for his own good. If he tries to leave, come get me" Ruffling between Kosmo's ears, his wolf yipped. The traitor was probably already forgetting everything Keith had said in favour for pats from Lance. The pair of them were loveable idiots that drove him crazy, yet he couldn't do without. The fact Lance had been hiding cracked ribs weighed heavily on Keith as he hesitantly followed Daehra from the med bay, Lucteal following after the pair then taking off immediately. Shaking her head at her brother's retreating figure, Daehra sighed softly "I'm sorry. He... takes time to trust. Our species is... a little different. We tend to smell, sense, and feel things people may wish we don't. That's tethered him to Leandro's side, and blinds him to his own foolishness. Let me officially welcome you to the "Telula Day". Leandro named her after we captured her in a skirmish out of sector 6. Normally no one would risk the asteroid belt there, but Leandro..." That sounded just like Lance. Lance "The Tailor" who could thread any needle... Quiznak... that took him back... "He isn't exactly "normal", but that's what makes him special" Daehra smiled prettily, her demeanour picking up as she seem d to realise he wasn't about to bite her head off for making a joke "Yes. But he brought us together. Here, I will show you to your quarters first. The only spare rooms we have are on the same floor as Leandro's. Normally they're used for storage as he likes his space... but you are his personal guest..." Pausing in his stride, Keith was starting to believe this was some kind of alternate reality. Lance didn't like being touched. He didn't like people around him or in his space. He wasn't acting like the loveable goof he was... "Can I ask you a question...?" "You want to know what's going on? Leandro has not explained anything to you, has he? Not about his job or what we do?" Scratching the back of his head, Keith wondered if mind reading was part of Daehra's racial skills "Exactly" "We will walk and talk. You see, Leandro came into our lives around 3 phoebs ago. The daughter of the ruling family of our home planet had been taken. Lucteal and I had devised a plan to retrieve her, but Leandro was already mid mission to free her and the others. He saved her by taking her place, allowing us to take her safety. We couldn't leave him. So when it was over, we took him from that place. Since then, we've followed him. He... cares far more than others than himself" And now there were more questions... That... sounded ominous "He took her place?" "That's not my story to tell. Leandro's job is tough, but necessary. He had been hurt so badly before, but he has never looked as happy as he does when he looks at you" Daehra had said she'd give him answers, Keith wasn't sure he had answers to anything. Lance has traded himself to save another princess? He was drugging himself up like crazy. Not wanting to be touched. Insisting on keeping his personal life personal... And was happy to see him? He'd been a horrible friend who'd neglected him "What is that he does?" "He's what you would call a Bounty Hunter? That's the term he used? Your language was hard to learn. We intercept supplies and appropriate them? I'm sorry. We don't generally explain our jobs. We have 3 Bounty Hunters, and try to facilitate all hunts from here. Leandro wished to bring everyone together to make missions easier, and to prevent us killing each other trying to take down the same bounty. Not everyone agreed, we... had a few close calls. With those he's black listed? You humans have so many words" Keith was momentarily floored. Yes, the Atlas did what they could to keep the peace. Yes, the Blades did to... but there was always rules to this sort of thing. A facade they had to show the public. By being a "Bounty Hunter" Lance was walking a line neither faction could. He could help those smaller people who had worries that others would overstep, and it explained the drugging of both Galra in his room then handing them over to the police... It explained a lot of things... but not the most important thing of all, who'd hurt Lance? He wanted to smile out of pride over his friends life choice to help those he could, yet wanted to scream blue murder and demand to know every moment of Lance being hurt in order to slaughter them. Taking a breath, he calmed himself back down. His rage wasn't with Daehra, but himself for not being by Lance's side for all of this. He should have made the time. He should have pushed harder. Made his feelings known... then maybe... "I... didn't know" Daehra nodded, placing her hand on Keith's arm "That much was obvious. He will be fine. You aren't responsible for the infection forming. The wound care you applied to his scalp should result in minimal scarring. Once the drip has run clean he'll be back on his feet" "So soon?" "Leandro heals fast... Is that not common with your species?" Right. He didn't need to frown for her to know he mentally was, Daehra echoing the internal response on her face "No. Not usually. His injuries would keep him on very light duty and bed rest for the next movement or so. Without the use of an Altean Healing Pod" "A movement? Leandro has never been down for a moment before..." Everyone needs rest. It was something that Lance had drummed into him... All of this was wrong... "No. There was once. He was down for his cycle, but we sorted that out with some fine tuning. He knows he must take his medication and monitor his body carefully" "You drugged him?!" Keith's anger caused Daehra to reel back, her hands up as if surrendering "No! Not like that! Please. He asked for something to help remove his marks!" "His marks?" "Yes. You saw them, those blue marks. He hates those more than anything on his body. Maybe more than himself..." Lance had struggled with his marks at first, but he'd thought he'd made peace with them and what they meant "Did he say why?" "Only that it was a reminder he came back wrong and would never be the person he once was. Lucteal would know more. He's been there for him at his lows. He wouldn't be happy to know that I you, but he's fighting something alone that none of us have been allowed to see. He really looks up to you. Your who he talks of most when asked over Voltron. You're really quite popular with some planets in our routes" "I am?" "Yes. The "Handsome Black Paladin"" "Are you sure they don't mean Shiro?" "Shiro? Oh. Your white haired commander. No. Not him. Leandro designated him "Silver Fox", though I don't know what that means" Keith let out an overly loud snort. Shiro wouldn't be happy to be accepting the title "Silver Fox" so young. Daehra stopped walking in order to stare at him. For an alien who'd only been learning their language an assumedly short time, she was really quite fluid. Though he didn't know if she really needed to know what "Silver Fox" meant "It's an Earth term for someone older than you" "So you would be a "Silver Fox"? As you're older than Leandro" Damned if he hadn't walked into that one. It sobered him up in a heartbeat "Not quite. Anyway, how much further until we reach the guest quarters?" Daehra didn't look pleased that she didn't get the answer she wanted, yet started walking again "They are at the back of the ship. Near the rear thrusters. He says he likes the noise" "The noise?" "Yes. You will see" * Keith had had his fair share of trips on noisy ships, but as to why Lance would choose to sleep so close the rear thrusters had no logical explanation. The sound wasn't harsh as such, just a constant kind of dull buzzing that seemed inclined to be headache inducing when exposed to prolonged exposure, and counter intuitive to sleep. The only time the noise was interrupted when was when a loud rattling thud from the pipes in the walls surrounding the small rooms that could barely be called guest quarters as if trying to burst through the walls to be fed. The cherry on top of the lacklustre quarters was the fact they were only reachable by a rather shaky gangway that swayed alarmingly under each step. Lance clearly didn't want any visitors near his end of the ship. Not at all like the Paladin who couldn't sleep in his own room when no one was close. Though that may have been because the castle could feel like a graveyard in the lonely morning hours. Or at least it'd felt that way to Keith during the nights that his insomnia had decided he didn't need to function the following morning. Still, that loneliness could be remedied by sleeping closer to the team quarters. From the quarters they moved back towards the medbay, taking a set of stairs up that were only accessible once activated by a positive reading on a the palm scanner, rather continuing straight forward to the medbay. Otherwise they moulded into the wall so seamlessly that Keith was impressed. The Telula was past her prime days, but he could see why Lance was so fond of her. She was still running despite her age, and short comings. Others may have scrapped her, yet Lance would have seen the beauty in her. He was always like that, looking past what everyone else could see. Following Daehra up to the bridge of the Telula, Keith found himself very nearly gaping. Across the back "wall" of the area was large older styled map. Various coloured dots flashing seemed to align with a handwritten table pinned to the right of the map. The Atlas. Keith's ship. Krolia and Kolivan. They topped the table list as "Allies not to be approached". Under came a series of abbreviations that could only be Lance's code names for everyone "It's impressive, isn't it? Leandro likes everything organised. You are going up there too while you are travelling with us. BBK" "I'm on the board?" "We all are. If there is a crash or an incident we need to know who is here. Lea is obviously him. Lucteal is under "Electric", as your Earth has something called an "Electric Eel". I'm under "Star", as..." "The sun is a star, and the sun is out during the day?" The words came out in a mumble, Keith impressed that everything was so very Lance. His friend was right there on the board... meaning Lance was still in there somewhere "Yes! He said you were incredibly intelligent, even when you didn't give yourself enough credit. But I must admit, I am not too sure on "BBK"" "I'm not too sure either. "K" for Keith... "BP" would be "Black Paladin", not "BB"" Daehra deflated, Keith sure she was going to continue nutting this out "Ah, well. Perhaps he will inform us. You'll have a code name on here, but then be referred to something different in the field. Leandro... There was an incident. You have bad timing in that respect. None the less, "BBK". I'll list you under an agent. You'll be travelling with us for the next few movements" Right. Wait. Movements? Lance said movement...? He'd barely had Lance back in his life for two and that had been murder on his poor heart. How was he supposed to survive movements on a ship with all of these questions and unspoken whatever it was between them? "Travelling where? He said we need his clearance or something?" "It's an outer prison satellite. It's where the police from Erathus have their criminals transferred to..." Keith and satellites didn't get along together too well. No wonder Lance hadn't told him. He probably thought Keith was run for the hills if he knew "... the prisoners are held in status until their trial dates, unless their clear involvement has been proven. After that, they are either sentenced to hard labour on mining planets, or ethically euthanised. The later has been slowly phased out in favour for simply leaving them in status. Yet to access the facility you need someone affiliated with the police system. Still. It is going to be quite a trip out there. Lucteal will more than likely attempt to drive you from Leandro's side. Since... well..." Keith's heart began to race again, needing confirmation that it'd all amount to personal jealousy and nothing racial "Since he's in love with him?" "Ahh. Yes. You could say that. No. I was going to say we recently had an incident where one of comrades attempted to double cross us. I believe you were actually on a call to him at the time. Leandro was shot, Lucteal took it hard. He blamed himself, and hasn't settled since" "He was shot?!" Why was he only now hearing about this?! His angry growl brought the bridge to silence. The conversation between the 5 team members there had already dipped since they entered "Keith. Please. He is healed. Leandro knows what he's doing" "He was shot! I'm going to strangle him" Daehra grabbed his arm, looking alarmed "It's a joke. An Earth joke. He would laugh if I said such in front of him" Replaying his words in his mind, Keith sighed to himself. Daehra was wearing off on him, as was the adrenaline that came with being "attacked" by these strangers. He wanted to grab Lance by the hand, drag him down to his quarters and curl up with him where they wouldn't be bothered by anyone "You Earth creatures are rather strange. We are all prepared to do everything we can to protect him. Such jokes are best left between you and him" Alright then. Message received. No jokes over Lance's health and wellbeing, no matter what... "Understood. How long before he's up and moving around?" "Within the next varga to two. I can sense you are anxious to return to him, but before you do we need to add you into our system, or you will not be able to access most of the ship" "Thank you. After that, I need to contact my mother" "Yes. No offence to your ruling mother and your Kolivan, but Galra ships still make a lot of us nervous. Lance assures us that she and Kolivan are not likely to attack..." "Not on purpose. We all know the Galra empire has been cruel for thousands of years and that those scars won't fade so easily" "Thank you for understanding. Leandro said you would. But words are just words. It is actions that count. Let us get you set up. I'll allow Leandro to give the rest of the tour. It is not much, but you are welcome to what we have" "Thank you, Daehra. I have some food provisions on my ship that were given to my by the former Yellow Paladin. I can have Kosmo go collect them if you're running low?" "I shall keep that in mind. Leandro is the only one here with any culinary skills, but it is hard to flavour ration packs. Some variety may be nice" "I'll send Kosmo once I've checked back in with Lance. Hunk tends to over cater for everything, so there'll be plenty for everyone" Daehra's cheeks dusted pink, before she coughed to clear her throat "Yes. Well. Yes. Let's get you onto our system" Keith was no expert in women or love, but the look Daehra gave him as they moved over to where a team member was typing away left him wondering if the strange alien women had developed the slightest of a crush on him... He couldn't help it if she had good taste, but she knew damn well he was in love with Lance, so how the quiznak was he supposed to handle whatever this was. He needed Lance. He needed him up and moving so he could fall behind and let Lance lead him wherever they were going, even if it turned out to be the very pits of hell.

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years ago

Text

CSUAVS prt 7... still plodding

The Telula Day was not what Keith expected. Lance out cold when the massive ship suddenly appeared, seemingly shaking the Earth around them and sending him into panic mode as he had no idea that they weren't hostile. Needless to say, his first impressions of Lance's new team wasn't exactly great. They thought he'd caused the damage to Lance's ship, while Keith thought they'd down the same and come to finished the job. Kosmo proved himself smarter than all of them when he teleported outside the door of Keith's ship with a barely conscious Lance leaning against him. Waving at his team, the strangers joyously cried out for "Leandro", leaving Keith to be pushed to the background. He'd barely done anything other than save Lance's life, then cared for him while he'd been come down sick with fever that morning. Lance couldn't even be bothered to cooperate when Keith had wiped his sweat soaked body down, and now he was acting like he hadn't thrown his guts up and spent most of the day rambling to himself. Having left his crush to cool down the previous night, after the small incident in the cockpit of his ship, Keith changed his tactics, pulling out an assortment of rations Hunk had bestowed upon him. Lance was ending his call to his team, plastering a smile on his face as he apologised for his moodiness. The conversation following had been awkward and slow, Lance not his usual self as barely three words came out at a time before all chance of actually talking was interrupted by Krolia demanding to know why his tracker signal had suddenly gone offline. Explaining it was his mother, Lance had waved him out the room to continue the conversation in private. Not that it was a real conversation. It was his mother insisting on knowing how his tracking system could suddenly go offline and not buying his lie that he'd been distracted by an over enthusiastic Kosmo. Swearing black and blue that he was perfectly fine, not in trouble, and not courting danger in any form, half a vargas had still passed by the time he was finally freed from the call. Lance had drifted off by the time he got off the call, not surprising given he was probably coming down off his painkiller induced high. Clearing away Lance's barely picked at meal, Keith went about pulling up the blankets, shifting Lance into a more comfortable position as he did. The way Lance mumbled in his sleep as he sought his hand felt oddly domestic in a way that made him smile. Things might be shaky between them. Lance might be hiding a hundred and one things, but when he slept he looked so peaceful that none of that seemed to matter anymore. Furthermore, he'd reached for him. He couldn't leave him when he was being that vulnerable. Throwing caution to the wind, and leaving Kosmo to finish Lance's dinner, Keith slid under the covers with Lance. Pulling the gorgeous Cuban closer, he rested Lance's head on his chest. Knowing he was flirting with fire, Keith couldn't help himself as he breathed in Lance's soft sea salt scent, face buried in his short chocolate locks as his own body relaxed beneath the comforting weight. It wasn't like they'd never shared a bed before, yet this felt different. Lance curled into him, hand clutching Keith's loosely as he mumbled softly. That was the Lance he knew. Lance who didn't know how to shut up. Mumbling slightly louder in his sleep, Keith's heart broke a little more as his ears caught what he wasn't supposed to hear "I'll be good. No more... I'll be good...". Whatever had happened to Lance they'd get through together. Provided Lance finally let him in. Maybe when his "team" arrived, Lance would be willing talk more, or come morning they'd be so close that Lance wouldn't be able to run from him anymore. The following morning was a tangle of limbs and flurry of action as Lance half vaulted over him before throwing up spectacularly over the bedroom floor as he tripped on his own feet. The sound of Lance's knees smacking against the ship floor was loud enough for Keith to cringe. Climbing from the bed up at a much lower speed, Keith caught Lance as he slumped sideways his whole body burning in the half-Galra's hold. Groaning in pain, Lance's blue eyes fluttered open as his Altean marks pulsed for in and out of view. For some reason the smell of juniper berries seemed to swirl around them as their eyes met "Another bonding moment?" Keith nodded forcing a slight smile for Lance's sake as his palm went to sweaty forehead. Vomiting and fever could both be signs of internal bleeding, or an infection... but Lance seemed too far out of it for Keith to ask how pained he was or where. He'd cleaned and dressed all of Lance's wounds that he could see... but with no way of knowing how long Lance had been trapped infection could have set in before he got to his friend "I thought you didn't remember the first one?" Slurring his words, Lance shot him an opened mouth grin of sorts "I don't... and I don't think I'm going to remember this one either... I think I'm sick" Stroking Lance's hair back from his forehead, Lance sighed into his touch as he sought out the coolness of Keith's large hand "Yeah buddy, I think you might be too. You've got a pretty bad fever here, and your marks are showing" With a trembling hand Lance moved to trace his mark on the left side, his already ragged breathing turning into a soft sob "Don't... don't look... don't look at them" "Why not?" "A-Allura..." Allura? Did he think Keith was Allura? Or did Lance not want him to think of Allura when he saw his marks? "She's not here. It's you, me, Kosmo. How about we get you back into bed?" "... don't look at me... Don't... wrong... I'm wrong... Allura... Allura... don't... touch me..." Slurring out the end of his rambling, Lance turned to mumbling random words that made no sense. Too far out of it to take care of himself, Keith tilted him up to wipe a thin trail of drooley vomit from his chin before pressing a kiss to Lance's forehead. Everything Lance did was far too extreme for his heart to keep up, yet he wouldn't have him any other way. Lifting his friend from the floor, he laid him back down on the bed pausing to watch those stupid flickering blue marks. The interval of the pulsing of Lance's marks slowly growing slower until they remained upon his cheeks. It was like a constant reminder that Lance had loved and lost. Those stupid marks were nothing but a cruel burden she'd saddled Lance with for life. * When Lance had said he had a team, Keith had thought maybe two people... three on the very outer, and a ship the size of Black lion. He was very much wrong on all accounts. The Telula Day was easily the size of Voltron when formed, and it seemed to be Lance's pride and joy once everyone had settled down enough to make it inside the larger ship. Teleporting Lance to his side, the former Red Paladin's team seemed shocked as Keith lifted Lance into his hold. Keith not really thinking anything of it until after Lance was laying in the Telula Day's med bay with a drip in his arm. Each of Lance's team members had seemed ready to rush to the man to hug him at their reunion, yet none of them had moved to touch him. Like it was some kind of unwritten rule. Even the alien woman who'd inserted the drip into Lance's arm had done the absolute bare minimum when it came to touching. She seemed genuinely confused, and maybe a little hurt, that Lance had reached for Keith's hand after he'd laid him on the examination table. Keith still holding his hand as a warm yellow light bathed his unconscious friend while said woman looked on. The few moments of peace between the four them, Kosmo included, was shattered by a man rushing into the medbay, his eyes widening at the sight of Keith holding Lance's hand as he stumbled to a stop "Who the Quiznak is this?!" Despite the question being directed at Keith, Keith ignored it for the time being. His mind recalling that it was the same strange alien who'd been at Lance's side after he'd sedated the two Galra and had them removed from his room on Erathus "This is Keith. The former Black Paladin of Voltron" So she knew who he was. And the stranger should too given they'd briefly met "I know that. I mean, what is he doing, Daehra?" The woman must be named Daehra, as she sighed at the man like she was far too familiar with his shit. His tone alone was enough to set Keith on edge to the point he felt the weird sensation to bare his teeth as he growled softly "Leandro reached for his hand. He was the one who carried him into the ship when he collapsed" "For all we know, he's the reason Leandro was hurt" "Lucteal. Leandro contacted us. He told us to rendezvous with him here. It was you who perceived Keith's ship as a threat and caused that scene. Think of how Lance will feel knowing what nearly happened" Lucteal could Quiznak the hell off. Keith wasn't sure why, but he was certain that the stranger was far too close to Lance for his heart's liking. And there was that name "Leandro" again. Now that this whole team dynamic was in the picture, Keith could only assume it was his code name... but why did Lance need a code name? All their faces had been splashed across the universe. Everyone knew them by name... So having a code name for Lance seemed kind of... pointless? "I was thinking of him. You know as well as I that he doesn't care for physical contact. Yet he sits there holding his hand!" "Lucteal, it was Leandro's choice. Please. They're old friends from long before we met him" "You both realise I am right here?" Jealousy drove the words from Keith's mouth as Lucteal moved to the other side of the examination table. The strangers hand hovering as if he wished to take Lance's other hand in his, before awkwardly moving to rest on the thin blanket beneath Lance instead "I am sorry former Black Paladin. And I am sorry you were met with hostility. I don't know whether or not you know but there have recently been incidents that have lead to... unfavourable conditions for the team. As such, we are operating on heightened security. For Leandro to first leave Erathus, then to have been in a crash is an issue that troubles all of us. I am Daehra, this is my brother Lucteal. He is the closest to Leandro and cares very deeply for him. All those upon the Telula care deeply for Leandro. He brought us all together, and now leads our team" It wasn't surprising for Lance to be in a leadership role. Before Allura had died, Lance had seemed to shed his past worries of worthlessness. Proving himself invaluable again and again. Looking back to Lance's flushed face, Keith squeezed his hand in silent support "We didn't have a chance to talk after the crash. Not about everything happening, or what lead to it..." "You lead to it. Your interference on Erathus meant he had to leave. He took the punishment for your actions and it nearly lead to his death but you wouldn't care about such a thing would you? You would simply use him up and throw him away. I've heard about you Black Paladin. I've heard what you've done. I won't let you come here and force him back into a situation like..." "Lucteal! That's enough. He cared for Leandro after the crash..." "A crash that wouldn't have happened if he didn't decide he needed to hack the clubs security! What happened to Lance is on his shoulders!" "Leandro wouldn't like you using that name. You know that he likes to keep his work life and personal life seperate" "Daehra! You know what they did to him! How can you..." "Will you both stop fighting?" Groaning as he shielded his eyes from the light above the table, Lance brought the argument to an end before Keith could learn anything further. Ignoring the way Lucteal glared daggers at him, Keith rose to his feet in order to cover more of the light blinding Lance "Hey, Sleeping Beauty. It's about time you woke up" "You know me... gotta get my beauty sleep" Lucteal let out a huff as he crossed his arms, Keith smug in the knowledge he'd cut off whatever the man was mentally planning upon Lance's waking "I do. I remember quite a few late mornings because of it. How do you feel?" "Like I got hit by a lion" "Daehra here, has only just started her scans. Do you remember them landing?" "I remember yelling" "Then you remember everything" Letting his hand drop away, Lance's eyes were glassy as they sought out Keith's face "Great. Guys, this is Keith. Keith... these are the guys. Keith's a friend. Keith, these guys are friends..." "We did the introductions. How do you feel?" "I'm fine. Daehra rivals Coran on weird medical knowledge" "That's good. You still need to rest. You could have internal bleeding" "Awww. You worried, Mullet?" "Yes" Lance's cheeks reddened slightly further with a blush meant only for him "You're making it all sappy. Aren't you supposed to play it cool?" "I seem to loose all my cool when it comes to you" "Cough. Cough. Gay" "You know it" Groaning at him, Keith was enjoying riling Lance up. He definitely preferred Lance awake and confined to bed, when compared to continually attempting to do things while drifting in and out "God. Remind me why I'm doing you a favour again?" "Because Guile is missing? And you missed me?" "Maybe... Lucteal. We're headed to sector 15. We need to bypass 31 and 47. 19 is kind of dicey, but if we don't fire first we should be fine" Lucteal lit up as he leaned down to invade Keith's space. He was clearly smitten by Lance, leaving Keith wondering where the nearest airlock was. It wouldn't be that hard to make it look like an accident "You were scheduled to pass through 19, instead you went and got yourself in a damn fight again in 22. You know you're not supposed to take on trade ships without support" "I didn't mean to. They recognised my pod from that job we did on Baihzyl. I'm lucky Keith was at the meet early" Ending his sentence with a cough, Lance spluttered hard enough to choke on his own spit "Sit him up" Keith didn't need Daehra to tell him what he already knew. Lance's wet coughs sent a shiver of fear down his spine in fear the infection could have spread to his lungs. Lance waved both he and Lucteal off as he pushed himself up "He has cracked ribs, but the scanner isn't picking up internal bleeding. The infection is radiating from his left leg. The medication is stimulating..." "Daehra. I get it" Coughing out the words, Lance winced as he did. Keith tempted to smack him for being so stubborn over it all, and then smack him again for hiding his symptoms with his own personal drug supply "Good. You'll be free to move once the drip line has finished. That means no sneaking out of my medway in the mean time" Laughing and coughing, Lance wound up groaning miserably as Daehra left her scanner to move to the end of the examination bed "It's medbay. You're gonna make Keith think I've been teaching you all the wrong words. Why don't you show him around? Or at least to somewhere he can shower and call his mother" "Leandro..." "I'm ok, Dae. Take Luc too. Also assign Keith to BBK on the board and scramble the comms. We can't sit here and we're not fit for a fight. The grav hooks should have connected with Keith's ship by now? If not see to it. My pod's wrecked. Have Zak burn it" Daehra didn't argue. Keith wanted too, yet was torn. A tour of the ship might lead to an explanation of what was going on, but leaving a vulnerable Lance alone was fucking with everything that made him him. Especially when Lance was still coughing up a storm "I know that look. Leandro often wears the same one. No harm will come to him. Your wolf may stay if that will help ease your worries" "Daehra, we can't just show the prince of Daibazaal our ship. What's to stop him from..." "Lucteal, Leandro trusts him. We owe him a debt we can never hope to repay. So please, brother, let us listen to his wishes. Keith, would you please join us?" "Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Rolling his eyes at him, Lance seemed annoyed. Whatever Lance was up to was most definitely not a bodyguard or security guard kind of job... if anything, he was starting to sound more like some kind of space pirate which was almost laughable if he hadn't seen with his own eyes that Lance was a chronic drug user and most certainly not the friend he'd left on Earth "I'll be fine. I've survived this long without Voltron to magically clean up my mess. Call Krolia and let her know you'll be out of contact for the next movement. We can't make or receive calls where we're going. Magnetic fields fuck with the comms" His mother wouldn't like it. She'd probably already called Shiro to enquire about his every move on the Atlas. He really wouldn't be surprised if Axca showed up with Ezor and Zethrid in tow to bring him back home "Alright. Thank you. Kosmo, you stay with Lance. You heard Daehra. No letting Lance boss you around because you love him too much" Kosmo looked insulted, though they both knew he was a giant push over. He was supposed to have supervised Lance back on their ship, yet Kosmo had let him do whatever he'd wanted because he'd missed Lance "It's for his own good. If he tries to leave, come get me" Ruffling between Kosmo's ears, his wolf yipped. The traitor was probably already forgetting everything Keith had said in favour for pats from Lance. The pair of them were loveable idiots that drove him crazy, yet he couldn't do without. The fact Lance had been hiding cracked ribs weighed heavily on Keith as he hesitantly followed Daehra from the med bay, Lucteal following after the pair then taking off immediately. Shaking her head at her brother's retreating figure, Daehra sighed softly "I'm sorry. He... takes time to trust. Our species is... a little different. We tend to smell and feel things people may wish we don't. That's tethered him to Leandro's side, and blinds him to his own foolishness. Let me officially welcome you to the "Telula Day". Leandro named her after we captured her in a skirmish out of sector 6. Normally no one would risk the asteroid belt there, but Leandro..." That sounded just like Lance. Lance the Tailor who could thread any needle... Quiznak... that took him back... "He isn't exactly "normal", but that's what makes him special" Daehra smiled prettily, her demeanour picking up as she seem d to realise he wasn't about to bite her head off for making a joke "Yes. But he brought us together. Here, I'll show you to your quarters first. The only spare rooms we have are on the same floor as Leandro's. Normally they're used for storage as he likes his space... but you are his personal guest..." Pausing in his stride, Keith was starting to believe this was some kind of alternate reality. Lance didn't like being touched. He didn't like people around him or in his space. He wasn't acting like the loveable goof he was... "Can I ask you a question...?" "You want to know what's going on? Leandro hasn't explained anything to you, has he? Not about his job or what we do?" Scratching the back of his head, Keith wondered if mind reading was part of Daehra's racial skills "Exactly" "We'll walk and talk. You see, Leandro came into our lives around 3 phoebs ago. The daughter of the ruling family of our home planet had been taken. Lucteal and I had devised a plan to retrieve her, but Leandro was already mid mission to free her and the others. He saved her by taking her place. Since then, we've followed him. He... cares far more than others than himself" And now there were more questions "He took her place?" "That's not my story to tell. Leandro's job is tough, but necessary. He'd been hurt so badly before, but he's never looked as happy as he does when he looks at you" Daehra had said she'd give him answers, Keith wasn't sure he had answers to anything "But what is that he does?" "He's what you would call a Bounty Hunter? That's the term he used? Your language was hard to learn. We intercept supplies and appropriate them? I'm sorry. We don't generally explain our jobs. We have 3 Bounty Hunters, and try to facilitate all hunts from here. Leandro wished to bring everyone together to make missions easier, and to prevent us killing each other trying to take down the same bounty. Not everyone agreed, we... had a few close calls. With those he's black listed? You humans have so many words" Keith was momentarily floored. Yes, the Atlas did what they could to keep the peace. Yes, the Blades did to... but there was always rules to this sort of thing. A facade they had to show the public. By being a "Bounty Hunter" Lance was walking a line neither faction could. He could help those smaller people who had worries that others would overstep, and it explained the drugging of both Galra in his room then handing them over to the police... It explained a lot of things... but not the most important thing of all, who'd hurt Lance? "I... didn't know" Daehra nodded, placing her hand on Keith's arm "That much was obvious. He'll be fine. You aren't responsible for the infection forming. The wound care you applied to his scalp should result in minimal scarring. Once the drip has run clean he'll be back on his feet" "So soon?" "Leandro heals fast... Is that not common with your species?" Right he didn't need to frown for her to know he mentally was "No. Not usually. His injuries would keep him on very light duty and bed rest for the next movement or so" "A movement? Leandro has never been down for a moment before..." Everyone needs rest. It was something that Lance had drummed into him... All of this was wrong... "No. There was once. He was down for his cycle, but we sorted that out with some fine tuning. He knows he must take his medication and monitor his body carefully" "You drugged him?!" Keith's anger caused Daehra to real back, her hands up as if surrendering "No! Not like that! Please. He asked for something to help remove his marks!" "His marks?" "Yes. You saw them, those blue marks. He hates those more than anything on his body. Maybe more than himself..." Lance had struggled with his marks at first, but he'd thought he'd made peace with them and what they meant "Did he say why?" "Only that it was a reminder he came back wrong and would never be the person he once was. Lucteal would know more. He's been there for him at his lows. He wouldn't be happy to know that I you, but he's fighting something alone that none of us have been allowed to see. He really looks up to you. Your who he talks of most when asked over Voltron. You're really quite popular with some planets in our routes" "I am?" "Yes. The "Handsome Black Paladin"" "Are you sure they don't mean Shiro?" "Shiro? Oh. Your white haired commander. No. Not him. Leandro designated him "Silver Fox", though I don't know what that means" Keith let out an overly loud snort. Shiro wouldn't be happy to be accepting the title "Silver Fox" so young. Daehra stopped walking in order to stare at him. For an alien who'd only been learning their language an assumedly short time, she was really quite fluid. Though he didn't know if she really needed to know what "Silver Fox" meant "It's an Earth term for someone older than you" "So you would be a "Silver Fox"? As you're older than Leandro" Damned if he hadn't walked into that one "Not quite. Anyway, how much further until we reach the guest quarters?" Daehra didn't look pleased that she didn't get the answer she wanted, yet started walking again "They're at the back of the ship. Near the rear thrusters. He says he likes the noise" "The noise?" "You'll see"

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