#i love lance he’s a SCHEMER

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith is acting suspicious.

Lance is sure of it. Beyond his usual shiftiness, his awkwardness, his tendency towards privacy. Lance knows his boyfriend, and he knows him well, and as such he knows enough to realise that his boyfriend is acting fuckin’ dubious.

Lance is going to snoop. (Yeah, yeah, ethical schmethical. Snooping fosters distrust in relationships and makes things tense blah blah blah. Lance recognises that. He also grew up with fucking Hunk Garrett and His Entire Family, so he also recognises that snooping is simply the best way to gather information. Fair’s fair.)

He waits until his boyfriend’s snores start to kick up, making the bedroom sound like an illegal motorized lawnmower race, and then carefully starts scooching out of his arms.

It takes a while — Keith likes to hold him. (Lance has to take a moment to calm himself down after the thought, lest he start to giggle giddily to himself, reminded that Keith loves him so much that at his most unguarded, his first instinct is to crush Lance in his arms. It’s exhilarating.) But slowly and steadily he manages to slide out of the arms around his waist, filling the newly hollow space with a pillow, and tumbles to the floor. He takes a moment, crossing his legs and sitting next to the bed, to look up at Keith, at the ratty mess of his bedhead and wide open snoring mouth and the tank top skewed across his torso, the hickeys Lance left all across his chest and collarbones peeking out.

“You are such a shit,” he whispers fondly. “I love you so bad it makes me want to, like, bite you or something. You make me weird.”

He watches Keith’s chest rise and fall until his legs fall asleep, wherein he flops onto the hardwood, wiggling his legs through the pins and needles and screeching silently into his arm (worst feeling in the WORLD) until his legs no longer feel like they’re on fire, and then he inches himself towards the right corner of the room like an inchworm.

(It’s three in the morning. No one is awake to judge him to give him shit or laugh at him or anything. He can do what he likes.)

He pulls himself up to his knees when he finally makes it to the corner, loosening his shoulders in preparation. The room is dark, so it’ll be a challenge, but this is not the first time he’s done this. Hell, it isn’t even the fiftieth. He’s a nosy person. He could do this in his sleep, probably, so in the dark is no problem.

As slowly as he can manage, to make sure it’s silent, he pries off the metal grate covering of the air vent, setting it down gently beside him. Laying down on his stomach again to get a better angle, he reaches down into the wide tube, following the curve of the cool metal, arm buried up to his shoulder, until he’s reached as far as he physically can. He carefully starts brushing his hands along the air vent, searching, feeling. It shouldn’t be too far down since his arms are way longer than Keith’s (Lance enjoys calling him T-Rex, which Keith hates and literally everyone else who knows them loves. It’s great).

Finally, his fingers brush on something small, compact, sturdy, and soft. He wraps his fist around it and slowly drags it out of the vent, keeping it in his fist as he crawls out of the bedroom and down the hall, somersaulting into the kitchen. He heads over to the fridge, figuring that if he uses the fridge light and Keith walks in, he can just pretend he’s getting a snack or something, shoving the thing he found into his pants. Keith’ll be too out of it to question it, anyway.

Laughing quietly and evilly to himself as he pulls open the fridge door, he brings his closed fist up to the light, examining the treasure he found. It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, to take in what’s in front of him.

He gasps sharply when he processes, and the treasure slips out of his hands, clattering loudly to the floor.

He freezes immediately, listening for the telltale signs of his boyfriend snorting awake, noticing Lance’s side of the bed is empty, then the sound of his footsteps as he comes to look for him.

But, fortunately, there’s nothing. The only thing Lance hears are Keith’s continued snores.

Rapidly, Lance scoops up the box and brings it back to the light. It’s unmistakable — there’s only one thing that houses in a small hinged velvet box. It explains the shiftiness over the last few weeks, too, the nervousness that Keith has been disgusting as mysterious intrigue.

Keith is going to propose. Keith is going to propose!

Smiling so widely his face hurts, Lance flicks open the box, bringing his face closer to carefully inspect the ring inside.

It’s difficult to see in the dull blue light of the fridge, but Lance starts to cry when he sees it, because he recognises this ring. This is Keith’s dad’s ring; old, heavy gold, classic princess cut diamond, simple and polished and elegant. This is the ring Keith often wears around his neck, although he rarely has as of late, for now obvious reasons. This is the ring Keith has carried with him for almost two decades. This is, without a doubt, Keith’s most prized Earthly possession, and his intent is to gift it to Lance, as a promise of his love and trust and faithfulness.

Lance has to sit down so he doesn’t pass out. He grabs a dishtowel on the way to the floor, pressing it to his face to muffle his absolutely wailing sobs, the most ugly crying he’s literally ever done in his life.

He’s so glad he snooped. If he had this reaction when Keith finally summoned the balls to ask him, his engagement photos would be so embarrassing.

He paused mid-sniffle.

Actually.

A little embarrassed of himself, he slides up his phone, holding the ring box up to his tear-swollen and smiling face to snap a picture. He looks like a mess, but it’s important to him to have a physical memory of the moment he first learned Keith planned to marry him. He’s sure he’ll cry more over it the next time he’s feeling sappy and emotional.

He doesn’t realise how long he sits, fridge wide open, back to the cabinet doors of the kitchen island, staring in awe at the ring, until his watch starts to beep.

“Fuck,” he curses, scrambling to his feet. It’s six o’clock. Keith’ll be up in fifteen minutes to go on his morning run, Lance has literally been mooning over his ring for two and a half hours.

He runs back to the bedroom, barely remembering at the last second time muffle his footsteps, shoving the ring back into the vent and pressing the grate back onto the hole. Keith stirs slightly at the noise, so Lance abandons any thought of whether or not the ring box is positioned back exactly where he found it and fuckin’ dives for the bed, reburying himself in his boyfriend’s arms and hoping he can pass it off as just having shifted around in his sleep or something. Apparently he squirms and kicks a lot (which is a lie that Keith perpetuates to take attention away from the severity of his snores), so it should be fine. Probably.

“Wh—L’nce?” Keith mumbles, stirring from behind him. He inhales deeply, arms pulling away from Lance’s and stretching out above him. Lance’s heart pounds. He forces himself to stay relaxed, to avoid squeezing his eyes shut. He prays that Keith doesn’t notice how sweaty he is.

Keith leans over to press a lingering kiss to his neck, then chuckles. Lance can feel the imprint of his smile on his skin, and tamping down his own reflexive smile is literally the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his entire life.

“You’re warm as hell,” Keith murmurs, dragging his lips down his neck, across his shoulders. His hand comes to rest in his hip, curling into the hollow there. “Betcha you were squrimin’ around in y’re sleep last night, ya worm. Betcha I’ve got bruises on my shins.” His shoulders, pressed against Lance’s back, shake with his laughter, because he is a shithead who is so lucky that Lance loves him. He presses one final kiss to Lance’s skin and then rolls out of bed. Lance listens carefully as he gets dressed in his jogging clothes and runs a brush through his hair. He falls half asleep listening to the familiar sounds, rousing slightly again when Keith ducks back in to kiss Lance’s head one last time before heading out.

Lance smiles as he falls asleep for real, after the sound of the front door opening and closing.

He’s gonna clown that dumbass so goddamn badly.

———

Lance has a love-hate relationship with pranks. On one hand, the one and only time he was sent into an asthma attack so bad he had to go to the hospital was after he and Hunk wrapped every single thing in Veronica’s room with aluminum foil while she was away on a trip, and upon seeing her reaction laughed so hard his lungs basically collapsed. He still can’t think of that without laughing. On the other hand, he’s had more than enough cruel pranks shoved his way, and never in his life wants anyone to feel humiliated because of something he did.

He can’t not prank Keith, though. He’s literally beat Keith to his own proposal. A prank is in order.

Usually, he’d call Hunk for something like that. They’ve been partners in crimes for most of their lives, after all. Pidge too, honestly. He knows they’d both get a kick out of this whole situation as well.

But…even if those dunderheads were capable of keeping their mouths shut, which they’re not, Lance kind of wants to…well, he wants to keep his proposal to himself. He likes being in on it. He likes being to only one in on it, actually. Honestly, the only thing he wants to do is brag to Keith that he knows, which defeats the whole purpose.

He straightens abruptly. A smirk spreads across his face.

He has an idea.

———

The first step is recon. He needs access to the ring, regularly and long-term, but all will be for naught if Keith realises it’s missing. He needs to know if Keith stashed the ring when he decided to propose and avoided thinking about it, or if he checks on it frequently and stresses himself out about when he’s finally going to go through with it. Both are very Keith options. In fact Lance wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow managed both at the same time, as impossible as that seems.

To get around the issue, Lance goes Spy Barbie. He waits until Keith goes out for his weekly coffee date with Shiro and Adam and then digs through his makeup kit, setting aside what he needs and sitting next to the air vent grate. He spends a good amount of time polishing the metal, making sure it’s as fresh and untouched as it was when it was first put in its package, and then he uses a wide end brush to apply a thin layer of highlighter to the white metal. He takes great care to ensure that no colour is visible, only a slight sheen if one were to look closely. And Keith doesn’t have any reason to look closely, and since Lance knows the universe loves him, he won’t.

The next step is waiting. Lance acts completely normally when Keith gets home, if a little giddy. Keith most certainly notices Lance’s giggles and affection and the way he can’t seem to keep his hands to himself, but he doesn’t seem to mind or question it. Lance does sometimes get like this, after all.

He scored a hot as hell boyfriend. He’s allowed to be a little awed sometimes. He doesn’t feel weird about it.

He does, however, mellow out in the next few days. Keith takes him to a car show, which is fucking wicked, and somehow manages to get himself and Lance behind the wheels of two 200 horsepower Mustangs for them to race, which is so exhilarating that Lance doesn’t have words for it. He just yells and jumps around about it a lot. He doesn’t actually manage to find words for a couple hours after he totally smokes Keith’s ass, but whatever. It’s cool. Keith tried his best and everything, Lance is sure.

A week later, when Keith is out on his coffee date again, Lance gets to work. He cuts a large square of parchment paper and covers it with clear packing tape, careful not to touch the sticky side, overlapping strips so they make one giant tape sheet.

Once the parchment sheet is covered, he peels off the tape, and as planned it comes off in one large sheet, slightly bigger than the air vent grate. Again careful to steer clear of the sticky part, he places the tape sheet sticky side down onto the grate, pressing down hard and rubbing to smooth it out completely flat. Once he’s sure it’s totally stuck down, he picks at one corner until it’s loose, then slowly and meticulously peels the whole sheet back. He holds the tape, now showcasing the concealer-print of the grate, up to the light, examining it with the utmost scrutiny.

Not one single fingerprint in sight. Keith has not touched the grate at all, hasn’t dug into his secret hiding spot. He is taking the refusing to think about it route, then.

Lance smirks. He reaches down and scoops up the ring, placing the grate back where it belongs and skipping out to the living room, humming jovially to himself.

Excellent.

———

The first picture Lance snaps, while biting his lip so hard to keep back his laughter it bleeds, is once again in the dead of night, two weeks after Lance first discovered the ring. Keith is sprawled out on his back this time, arms and legs askew, sheets tangled somewhere around his legs. Lance shifts so they’re both facing the same direction, then holds up his phone camera, trying to figure out how to artfully position himself for utmost devastation upon discovery. He decides eventually on a classic.

He heads over to the dresser to pick out his cutest pajamas, settling on the red spaghetti strap top with lace and short-shorts, debating on accessorizing and deciding at the last minute not to bother except for lip gloss, which is always appropriate. He climbs into bed next to Keith, gently laying his head on his chest and maneuvering one arm to wrap around Lance’s hips. The other he leaves flopped on top of the pillows. He leaves Keith’s mouth wide open because it’s funny, and goes the extra mile to mess up Keith’s hair worse than it already is, because that’s funnier. Finally he flicks open the ring case with his left hand and holds it to his face, grinning widely, and uses his right to snap a picture of the two of them. Once he’s satisfied with it, he untangles himself from the bed again, puts the ring away, presses a sticky lip gloss kiss to Keith’s cheek for funsies, and crawls back into bed for real. His sleep is sound as a baby’s.

———

The next photo doesn’t actually happen for another month. Lance fears overdoing it, and also kind of fears getting caught with the ring, so he leaves it in its hiding spot until the opportunity for another cheeky photo presents itself.

The opportunity in question arrives when Keith announces that he has arranged to drive down to the secluded beach that Lance took him too early in their relationship to spend the day. At first Lance thinks he’s proposing for real, and to check he waits until Keith has the car all packed up and ready to go and then pretends to run inside to go to the washroom. Instead he ducks into their room and tears into the air vent, grasping around until his fingers close around the box.

He scoffs to himself. Wimp.

He quickly shoves the box into his fanny pack (fanny packs are COOL and CONVENIENT and Lance will not hear a word of controversy on the subject, they are absolutely nothing like Keith’s dweeb utility belt) and sprints back to the car. When Keith asks him why he’s smirking, Lance manages to convince him that he’s just excited for the beach.

Lance should have been an actor, honestly.

He mostly forgets about the ring while they’re there. He has enough sense to keep it in the car instead of on the beach so it doesn’t get stolen, unlikely as it is, and just enjoys the day with his boyfriend. He convinces Keith to go jet skiing with him and cackles to himself as he purposely sends Keith flying off the back of it. He screeches at the top of his lungs later when Keith scoops him up from his nap and literally chucks him into the ice cold water. The two of them make really garbage sculptures of their friends in the sand to amuse themselves. They gather ugly seashells and send pictures to their friends asking them if they’ve been turned into mollusks, since there is a resemblance. The whole day was a blast. Lance firmly slots it in his top ten days of all time.

When they go for a long walk to watch the sunset, Lance snaps a picture with the ring and a very teasing grin the second Keith has his back turned. He will bring up how this was a perfect moment to propose, and he will pat Keith’s head condescendingly about it. He can’t wait.

———

The third photo is another dead-of-night-situation. Lance knows it’s repetitive, but it’s easy and it’s funny and Lance can’t resist.

To change things up a bit, he decides not to be in the photo, and also to see just how much he can get away with.

Keith is on his side, this time, one hand tucked under the pillow, one hand held loose and open on top of it. He’s been tired, lately, and when Lance says he fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow, he is not exaggerating. In fact Lance is reasonably certain he passed out in the way down. He is KOed. He’s unconscious. He is absolutely dogged out.

The timing is perfect.

Carefully, aware of the consequences should Lance make a mistake, he removes the ring from its box. He realizes abruptly that it’s the first time he’s ever done that, despite his ridiculous quest, and he finds that he can’t quite let go of the ring just yet. The metal feels cool and smooth on his finger tips; worn, even. It’s shinier than it used to be, which means Keith has probably had it professionally retouched. Resized too, probably, although Lance can’t quite bring himself to check. The diamond catches the minimal light in the room and refracts into rainbows that fall softly on Keith’s lax face, highlighting his sharp jawline, his softly squished cheek, his relaxed brow. He looks so dorky when he sleeps, completely free of the furrow of concentration that usually resides in between his eyebrows, his resting frown. His mouth is always wide open when he’s out, and the echoing of his snores is so comically loud and ridiculous but absolutely something that Lance can’t live without. He has them recorded, actually, for the rare nights they’re not home together, on the rare night Lance has to sleep alone.

Smiling softly to himself, Lance places the ring in Keith’s open palm. He rests his hand on top of Keith’s for a moment, just because he can, just to relish in the scratch of Keith’s callouses on his skin, before pulling back and steadying his phone to snap a picture. He catches it right as Keith inhales heavily, right as his nose scrunches up.

It’s goofy as hell. It’s perfect.

———

The fourth picture is the riskiest, Lance thinks. He’s taken to carrying the ring around with him everywhere, almost as if he is the one planning to propose, just in case he has a moment when Keith’s back is turned. (There really aren’t that many. Keith faces him a lot. He likes to hold Lance hand and kiss his face, neither of which you can do from behind. Lance fucking loves his boyfriend so much.)

They’re at a Thing. Lance’s parents are celebrating their fortieth anniversary, and obviously Lance is bringing Keith, and since Keith is his mother’s favourite he is encouraged to bring his family as well, which means Shiro and Adam are coming, and if Hunk and Pidge weren’t invited then someone would cry and nothing would be right in the world, and of course Veronica is bringing Allura, and Coran comes because Lance’s dad thinks he’s the funniest man to walk the Earth. And of course all Lance’s relatives are there.

The point is that it’s a full house. A couple full houses, actually, since their neighbours are also involved. It’s a lot of people in one place.

As is protocol in crowded places, Keith is essentially glued to Lance’s side. Lance is quite happy with this arrangement, because he gets to show his boyfriend off like the hot piece of ass he is, especially to his rude ass great aunties and uncles who always had something to say about Lance and his single-ness when he was still rocking braces. So.

One thing about Keith, though, is that everyone who meets him is doomed to fall in love with him forever and ever, or so Lance has noticed. His niece and nephew are no exception, and immediately upon catching sight of their uncle — Keith, that is, Lance may as well be dead meat when Tio Keith is available, which, rude — they descend upon him not unlike a vulture may descend upon a recently deceased armadillo. Or whatever. Lance didn’t grow up in the desert, he doesn’t know what happens there.

Occupied as he is, one child hanging off each arm, Keith cannot keep his vice grip on Lance’s hand. Occupied as he is, two children talking at him in a mix of Spanish and English so rapid that Lance himself cannot keep up, which is saying something because his nickname for many years was and aptly so Motormouth, Keith cannot have his full attention on Lance. In fact, even, his back is delightfully turned.

Lance doesn’t hesitate. He flicks open the ring box and snaps a picture. His grin is nothing short of gleeful and he is entirely unapologetic.

When he turns back around, ring box stuffed back into his pocket, he realizes Nadia is staring at him with wide eyes.

“You, shush,” Lance says, and then switches to Spanish so Keith, who is still learning, will miss it, “or I’ll choose a random child to be my flower girl. I swear.”

She glares at him. “This is why Tio Keith is my favourite,” she mutters, because she is a snot who acts as if Lance does not and has not for her whole life taken her on all sorts of cool awesome amazing trips and bought her cool awesome amazing presents. Who was it who bought them recorders when they were seven to terrorize Luis with? Lance. Who was it to take them to a live rocket taking off the summer they turned nine? Lance.

“You’re a brat,” he informs her.

She sticks her tongue out at him, snickering. “Side genes.”

Lance unfortunately has nothing to say to that and also refuses to be roasted by an eleven year old, so he yanks Keith away as penance and takes him to a corner somewhere to make out. He feels very smug about it.

———

The fifth time doesn’t happen.

The fifth time is a clusterfuck.

The fifth time, it’s night again, and Lance honestly doesn’t even plan on taking another picture. He’s just next to the vent, lying on his belly, legs kicking in the air as he inspects the ring for the billionth time. He’s so excited. He can’t wait to wear this on his finger. He can’t wait for Keith to put it there. He’s can’t wait to be Keith’s husband, is the crux of it all. It’s like groundhog day except with literal euphoria. Lance is the luckiest man literally alive, and Keith hasn’t even hinted towards a plan to pop the question yet.

“You are the nosiest motherfucker in the planet, you shithead.”

Lance yelps, startling so bad he almost brains himself on the floor and nearly drops the ring. He manages to catch himself with the grace of God and also probably luck, or neither of those things, but either way Lance heart nearly pounds out of his chest.

“You scared me, you butthead!”

Keith chuckles. His voice is low and raspy from sleep, vowels still rounded from the accent that only comes out when he’s mad or drunk or tired. Lance’s belly swoops. Keith grabs Lance’s ankle and tugs, dragging him over to him, pulling him upright when he’s close enough. Lance goes into him fully, curling up into him, head tucked under his chin. Keith’s hands come to rest on top of his, sliding the ring box from him.

“How long have you known, you snoop?”

“Six months,” Lance answers. “In my defense, you were acting suspicious as all hell.”

Keith kisses his head. “Fair.”

“I need to know everything about everything or I’ll die. You know this.”

Keith snorts. He takes Lance’s left hand and smooths it flat, spreading out his fingers. “Yeah. Ruined my plans, though.”

“Oh, please. You and I both know there were no plans involved. You walked by a shop advertising ring retouching and walked in before you even thought about it.”

Keith says nothing. Lance grins and presses on.

“I bet you cried the whole time, too.”

“Shut up. I’m gonna keep the ring.”

Lance kisses him on the chest, the closest place he can reach, through his sleep shirt. “No, you’re not.”

“Mhm.” Keith plucks the ring out of the box with one hand, setting it on the ground beside them and grabbing Lance’s hand with his other. “You’re right. I’m not.”

He doesn’t move for a while, except to stroke his thumb over the palm of Lance’s hand, over and over again. Lance likes the feeling. He’s always likes the feeling of Keith’s hands in him.

“I know this isn’t a fancy dinner or sunset on the beach or with your whole family present,” he murmurs. “But I’m tired of waiting, if you don’t mind me jumping the gun.”

Lance smiles widely. A tear leaks out of his eye, dripping down his face and onto Keith’s hand.

“I don’t.”

“Good.” Keith holds the ring just above Lance’s finger, poised, ready to slide it on but waiting for permission. “Lance Sanchez, will you marry me?”

“Keith Gyeong, I would want nothing more.”

Unhesitant at last, Keith slides his father’s ring onto Lance’s finger, centring it so the diamond shines brightly in the middle. It fits perfectly.

The tears stream down Lance’s face, and he can’t for the life of him pretend that they’re not, not that he’d bother. He buries his face in his fiancé’s neck and feels Keith’s own tears soaking his hair.

“I took a bunch of sneaky pictures of me holding the ring in front of you,” Lance admits.

Keith laughs. “Of course you did.”

“I carried the ring around for months.”

“Checks out.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Lance.”

“I can’t wait to marry you.”

Keith hums, tilting his head up and kissing him properly, entwining their hands so they can both feel the ring press against skin. “No more waiting for you, sweetheart.”

———

based on this post

[shitpostingkats]

Organization XIII, ranked by their titles

Roxas: The Key of Destiny Nice and epic. The good double meaning that he wields the key, yet also is the key to the organization plans, turned and manipulated to unlock a door with no will of his own. The organization sees him as the key to their destiny, but really, Roxas is the key and the bearer, and through his arc, learns to be the keeper of his own fate. 1000/10

Demyx: The Melodious Nocturne Rolls off the tongue in a pleasant way. You might think, “what the heckity is a nocturne? It sounds cool as heck.” Well, a nocturne is (what a surprise), a musical term. But specifically, it is a word used in both art and music, to describe a piece evocative of night. A cool sounding term for a fantasy character that, when you google it, actually means something interesting and thematically relevant? what a rarity/10

Larxene: The Savage Nymph Now, the usage of ‘nymph’ might take some points off this one, being more befitting a character with nature powers, like Marluxia. Or, she could be using nymph in the more entomological definition, meaning young insect, like a wasp or a hornet, something with a bit more ‘sting’ to it. The real confusion of the second part keeps her from the top slot, but the delicious zeugma of the first half makes up for it. #savage/10

Axel: Fury of the Dancing Flames Ooh. What a wonderful epithet. There’s such a nice prose to it, not found in any other members of the evil squad. On top of that, it covers all the bases that we as the audience need to know about Axel. What is he? Angy. How will he express that? Fire. Like, boring, non-dancing fire? Nope. Sick-as-hell dancing fire. Axel should get to dance too tho/10

Xaldin: The Whirlwind Lancer I’ll say, I tried to keep personal opinions of the characters out of this ranking. It’s pure coincidence that some of my favorites have the dopest names. And nothing proves that more than Xaldin’s placement here. Do I like this man? Nah. But, I have to admit, his bossfight in Two is really artful. Someone had to sit down and ask themselves “How do we make the wind intimidating?” And their core concept started with a whirlwind, lances, and terrible sideburns. The sideburns didn’t make it into the name, and thank the stars for that. But the rest is very nicely menacing. 7/10

Xemnas: Superior of the In-Between Another name that says what it does on the tin. Xemnas is constantly getting referred to as “The Superior” instead of everyone just calling him “boss” like a normal person. It’s got more than a hint of over-dramatic edginess to it. But that is one of the reasons we love Kingdom Hearts. Same thing goes for the audacity Xemans has to call him realm “The In-Between”, which sounds way better than “Our neo-neo-gothic nightmare pocket dimension with Escher-esque skyscraper clipping” drama queen/10

Zexion: The Cloaked Schemer “Cloaked” and “Schemer” describe approximately 90% of the organization. It’s like if your job description at the office was “Guy who has hair and opinions”. Zexion isn’t even the schemer-iest egg in the carton! Fine name in most other evil friendgroups, just not this one. come on Zexion you can do better than this/10

Vexen: The Chilly Academic I really appreciate that, despite roughly 4/13ths of this emo dream team having a background in science, Vexen is the academic. No one else. Nope, not even those three other guys who worked in the same lab as you. Nah Vexen, science is your thing, we’re not gonna step on your gimmick. Like we’ve come to expect, 'Chilly’ here pulls double duty as both a literal descriptor of his powers and a more metaphorical adjective about the villains temperament. Though, I don’t know it you can in good faith call someone who spends so much of his screen time either shrieking or giggling “chilly”. 5/10 

Saix: The Luna Diviner You know, I always thought Saix’s title was the lunar diviner, but nope, I’m looking at the wiki right now. It says Luna. Which kinda cuts the pacing of the title right through the gut. I much prefer his japanese title, Demonic Dancing In The Moon, which has the benefit of 1) Matching with Axel, and 2) Being metal as hell. Also, diviner??? When has Saix ever delivered a single prediction in the entirety of the series, other than the usually correct “I am going to go absolutely apeshit now”, which any good scientist will know, is a variable controlled by the tester and thus, suffers greatly from confirmation bias. moon moon/10

Luxord: The Gambler of Fate Most of these epithets follow a very simple pattern; adjective, what-they-bring-to-the-company. Roxas breaks the rules because he’s important, Xemnas does it because he’s the CEO, and Axel does it because he is simply The Best Boy. But nowhere, in any game we have received so far, is there reason to believe Luxord is special enough to similarly defy the mold. We didn’t even know how his regular name was pronounced until kh3!!! Luxord smacks of someone who doesn’t know how much of a background character he really is. I mean, come on, the gambler of fate? Mi amigo, you show up twice and keel over to a child beating you at go-fish. We’re not exactly dealing with the grand machinations of the cosmos here. Nomura, if you give me reason to, I will consider adjusting this rank/10

Xigbar: The Freeshooter Again with shirking conventions! However, I will give credit where credit is due, Xigbar seems to have the narrative weight to deserve it. Which is where my actual complaint comes in: you go out of your way to stand out from the pack, and the best you can come up with is freeshooter? Boring. No pizazzle, no flamboyant adjectives, just blunt as lead and twice as clunky. Man is a hundreds year old ceiling dwelling sniper with an eyepatch and a surfer accent, there’s gotta be something more interesting than freeshooter. Xigbar I had such high hopes for you/10

Marluxia: The Graceful Assassin  Graceful, I’ll give you. No one goes harder on the pastel instagram aesthetic than Marluxia. But ‘assassin’ seems a weird choice. Especially for the guy who was put in charge of hiring new assets (Sora) to the Council of Depressed Queers. That is literally the opposite of assassinating. I mean, Axel’s killed like three of his coworkers, and this femme king gets to be called the assassin? I’m sorry my gay, but pink glitter and a weird mech does not instantly make you a bringer of death. let Marluxia commit homicide/10

Lexaeus: The Silent Hero/The Taciturn Stalwart Dude has a completely different title in Remix and no one noticed because he’s just that Boring. 0/10

[whatthehelliswrongwithme]

Voltron Part 32

Episodes 3+4 from season 7! Let's a go! :

Diversity wins! The girlsquad managed to tie Shiro up, despite him missing an arm

Don’t disrespect moustache man like that. He could probably pull of some sort of stupid heist and break all of you out

Oh my goooosh, Big Gal and colourful Ty Lee are so cute together. I love em!

But also... How long has it been since they got ejaculated into space at the end of S6? Where did they get those clothes from?

Okay, apparently Stone Cold Bitch seperated from the girlsquad

Hunk, don’t question the power of friendship. Just explain it to them ~all casual~

Moustache man and Stone Cold Bitch are such schemers together. Good for them

Lance being protective of Pidge! Yeees! Plance!

Colourful Ty Lee is whipping her hair back and forth~. 

But EW! please don’t ever do that again

It’s lovely that Stone Cold Bitch was able to incorporate her childhood dream of being a circus athlete into her fighting style

I fucking hate these mice being used as a stupid plot-tool

With Shiro being out of the picture right now, Allura turned into the muscle of the group. And honestly. I dig it

Did colourful Ty Lee just imply that Stone Cold Bitch has a crush on Keith?

Keith, how the fuck did you just teleport yor weapon-thingy?

The girlsquad talking about Stone Cold Bitch’s romantic life and Keith asking, why they can’t just fight, was hilarious

A lot of shipping probably sprung forth from this episode. But for me, it just solidifies my brOTP between them

Big Gal is so protective of colourful Ty Lee♡. It’s actually really cute

Team Voltron is really adopting new members into their group, left and right

Okay, Voltron-writers. You messed up the last big timejump with the space whale. Now they did another timejump. I challenge you, to handle it better than the first one

(If you count space whale as a timejump)

.-•-°-•-.-•-°-•-.-•-°-•-.-~☆

What in the fucking hell is this fucking episode?

A gameshow? Really?

Like, seriously. I had to look up, if this was actually the follow-up episode?

ThEy JUST tOlD us tHAt ThReE FuCKINg YearS PaSsEd And NoW ThEy’Re DoiNg A GaMeSHoW?

Keith's mouth got stuffed by a pacifier....

Okay. Spit it out. Who on the Voltron crew had a DDLG kink?

I’ve seen some Artist!Keith tags on AO3, and this round of pictionary just makes this tag so funny

I’m currently 7minutes into the episodes and I’m still wondering what the fuck this is supposed to be

Like, did they seriously get back Zarkon and Lotor’s voice actor for this episode?

Allura, your racist tendencies are showing again

I've got no idea how much of this is canon, simply cus of the vibes of this episode.

But now I really like to imagine, that space witch put up Lotor’s drawings, as a child, up on the fridge

And now they’re doing commercials....

What is wrong with this episode?

Lance is me, not knowing the names of like 40% of the entire cast

Bye Galras. I hope your voice actor were paid enough for this bullshit

yay????? plance moment in this freaky shitshow???? hooray???

and klance??? and punk???

I guess it’s cute to see them appreciate one another

D- Doe- Does this mean that god is a gameshow master?

What in the hell was this thing?

[randomnameless]

I write and write and make comparisons between a swimsuit and themes like tolerance and freedom,

But in this fandom, some people draw more dubious comparisons, especially ones regarding a certain game - and I warned (who?) at the beginning of the FE16 trend that while it wanted to have a Jugdral flair, it obviously failed. You have a sprinkle of Jugdral in FE16, but it’s only a surface image, or even a mirage.

“CrEsT SyStEM”? Holy Blood? No, those comparisons at least were made in good faith and had some merits.

One of the worst comparisons was noted by several friends, a certain someone, wanting to push a certain ship involving a certain character, managed to write :

“Every route makes one villain from Genealogy of the Holy War the hero, Edelgard being Arvis, Dimitri being Eldigan, Claude being Travant and Rhea being Manfroy”

:(

This will not be a post about Manfroy’s hips, you are warned

Who is Eldigan (Eldie)?

A man who is the carrier of Hezul’s holy blood, Hezul being the founder of Augstria, a sovereign state. Everyone loves Eldie, he is good-looking, strong, kind, chivalrous and has the magic blood that makes him able to use his magic sword.

Is he the King of Agustria? No.

The King is a man named Chagall, who has an ugly sprite, doesn’t have Hezul’s magic blood and cannot use the magic sword. He also killed his father, and is really jealous of Eldie.

However, Eldie’s line (House Nodion) has sworn to support the royal line of Augustria (Chagall’s), so even if everyone wants Eldie to ascend to the throne, he will never accept it. Even if Chagall pisses on him, or imprisons him because he felt like it, Eldie will not rebel against his King. Eldie is seen as a Camus, because he will fight and die for Chagall, and his country, when Sigurd is... more or less attacking Chagall (because Sigurd’s forces are occupying Augstria and Sigurd’s orders are to bring peace to the land, Chagall doesn’t want peace and wants to fight to retake his throne). If everything ends well, Eldie will promise Sigurd he will try to talk one last time his king, try to convince him to accept a ceasefire and peace with Granvalle - but Chagall is an ass and beheads Eldie.

Dimitri... isn’t like Eldigan, at all. First of all, Dimitri is supposed to be the crown Prince, instead of being a mere knight sworn to serve the royal family. Secondly, Dimitri doesn’t die because his liege beheads him - Edelgard will never be his liege - he dies either by defending his borders against someone who is bringing war to his lands and wants his head, or he dies because he pursues Edelgard in a three way battle in Gronder.

We do not know what Rufus is like to his nephew, but I am pretty sure he is no Chagall.

The only common points Eldie and Dimitri have is their blond hair, and sometimes, their manner of death. there is also something about bonds with their sisters but we’re not here for that

Who is Travant?

Travant is the King of the Thracian Kingdom, a proto Nohr-like place, where farming is difficult, and the people living there are starving and often turn to banditry or become mercenaries to be able to earn some money.

Thracia’s neighbour, the Manster District (Manster) could export food to Thracia... but they do not, because, well, the people in charge of the Manster District do not like Thracians a lot (and use slurs to talk about them, but Quan is a special character). So Thracians raid the border, with hopes to reunite the peninsula, with the dream that, one day, they will seize the arable lands in the North.

Travant has an infamous line, which more or less went like “I will unite the peninsula for the sake of my people, and if that process dooms me to hell then so be it”.

And to hell he will go, because by Jugdral standards, ambushing Quan and his family in a desert (horses cannot move in sand, another example of gameplay and story integration!) with horseslayers, is despicable, especially since he leaves no one alive, even, apparently, killing Quan’s young daughter Altena.

(Travant ranks pretty high in the douchebag ladder).

With time, Altena grows, unaware that Travant, who adopted her, isn’t her real Father, Quan was. Things happen, Altena discovers the truth, and Travant finally achieves his dream by making a suicidal charge against Seliph’s forces (he doesn’t even bring his magic lance to the fight!), with him dead, finally, the peninsula can be united under one leader.

Claude? Also has a wyvern. And comes from another land than our hero (but which one?). And... that’s all.

If Almyra raids every sunday, it is not because they are starving, but because they are doing it, per Cyril, for funsies. Claude pretends to be a schemer and underhanded, but he never does something on the scale of the Yied Ambush (the moment where Travant pulled out the horseslayers against Quan). Claude never takes a child hostage, and never orders his daughter to punish civilians.

If Claude wants to unite the two countries, it is not because he wants his people to finally leave their life as mercenaries and bandits behind, but because he wants people to understand each other.

Edit because I’m sleeping : Travant will die for his dream. Claude... always survive. Always. I am not saying he doesn’t believe in it, but he is not as desperate as Travant is.

Comparing Claude to Travant is like comparing... Virion to Iago. They are both male with long hair, and pretend to scheme. Bar that? Well... they both have hands...? I guess?

Who is Manfroy?

Manfroy is... both a mastermind and a plothole.

Manfroy was the one in the shadows engineering a war in Jugdral, not because he likes wars, nope, but because he wanted political instability to recreate the Loptyr Empire.

He will help a douchebag to conquer the world, and use him to sire Julius, the only person in Jugdral who can become a host for the dark dragon Loptyr. The last time Loptyr was there... well, apparently it wasn’t roses and sunshines, slavery was rampant and citizens were pitted against each other to make sure the strongest ones would become citizens of the Empire.

Why Manfroy does this? It depends on the sources, but it is heavily implied Manfroy is part of a sect (sect as in group of people practicing a religion, here the Loptyr religion/cult) persecuted by a lot of people in Jugdral - to the point where Agustrians were having witches hunts to chase them. Manfroy and his followers escaped the the Yied desert, touted to be an inhospitable land. His people had no where and no one to turn to, so they prayed to their God Loptyr (who doesn’t give 3 figs about them).

Manfroy is thus the Archbishop of the Loptyr Church. He also killed his son in law, for some reason, and planned to turn his granddaughter in a zombie. Manfroy also supports (and conducts?) the child hunts, basically the plot in the second part of FE4 and FE5 where the Granvalle Empire and the members of the Loptyr Church round up children, take them from their families (sometimes by killing said families) to send them to Granvalle, with the highly suggested goal of sacrificing them one way or another to Loptyr.

On the not-so bright side, Manfroy doesn’t kill Julia - when Loptyr/Julius expressly asking him to do so, because Julia is the only person, story-wise, able to kill him.

What a guy! 

Now, Rhea?

There are some comparisons to be made, unlike Claude and Dimitri, but again, it reinforces how they could be seen as foils.

Rhea? Yes, also engineers the birth of a vessel.

However, unlike Manfroy who “forced” Arvis and Deirdre to marry and have a baby, Byleth’s birth, born from the union of Jeralt and Sitri, was completely unexpected. There is no trace in canon of Rhea arranging Jeralt and Sitri’s meeting, and future wedding.

Rhea? Also wants her granddaughter to “die”?

Well, not this one, since Rhea thinks Billy is actually an amnesiac Sothis. Billy would just recover their memories.

Rhea? Doesn’t start a war to build her Sothis vessel. Hell, the DLC is about her previous experiment to resurrect her mother - it was a failure, but someone supposes she fails because she did not want to bleed dry the Four Apostles. Rhea wishes to resurrect a benevolent Goddess (when Manfroy knows Loptyr is... far from benevolent) but will not kill to do so.

Sitri? Asked her to save Billy, by offering her own life.

The most interesting foil though is... how Rhea and Manfroy both belong to a community that was persecuted by others, the people they are supposed to live with.

Manfroy? Went the “if the world hates me, then I will hate it and burn it down” route.

Rhea? Doesn’t want to kill humans, hell, she and her brother disagreed because she didn’t want to kill children of the people who wronged her! She opens a monastery and offers guidance to anyone who needs it, a shelter for the needy and tries her best to protect peace and the humans living under her care.

They could have followed the same path, but didn’t. Manfroy rounds children to kill them, Rhea offers a new home to children who lost theirs.

They can also be compared with their “welp” points, Rhea gave CF!Billy the means to destroy her, just like Manfroy “forgot” to kill Julia - and yet, again, it is different. Rhea trusted Billy and never wanted to use them as a tool, in the other routes, it is because she trusted Billy with “those means” that Billy is able to save the world. Manfroy? Berserks Julia, wishes to use her as a tool and suffers when she regains some agency and beats her brother. But even without Manfroy, Julia would have recovered the Book of Naga to end Loptyr.

Rhea and Manfroy are definitely not parallels, but foils.

And the best for the end...

Who is Arvis?

Well... to summarise Arvis in a few words...

it’s impossible.

So, Arvis is the descendant of one Jugdral’s God-Crusader, Fjalar. Arvis is very proud of his heritage, but he also bears Loptyr blood, through his Mother. And yet, since the Loptry blood exists thanks to Saint Maira - the brother of the Loptry Host of that time, Emperor Galle, who rebelled and helped the Crusaders - he is also very proud of this heritage and his two brands.

Arvis’s familial history is a mess, his father was a womanizer and his mother abandoned him (which might have fueled his Freudian complex?). When his Father died, he exiled all of his bastard siblings, bar Azelle (his bastard half-brother, sired to his mother’s favorite maid). Arvis apparently wasn’t interested in women before he met Deirdre and fell in love with her...

But he had time to sire a bastard (on his best friend and confidante).

Arvis wants to build a world free of prejudice and oppression, and wants to build it by... associating with Manfroy, who blackmails him about his Loptyr blood (if Arvis is proud of his Loptry blood, sadly the Agustrian witch hunts are still a thing, and it will not be well seen in Granvalle’s nobility); however, he made it clear, to Manfroy himself, that he will never allow another Loptry Empire to be reborn. Arvis thus uses hiw fellow Dukes Reptor and Langobalt to set up a coup against Prince Kurth (the Prince of Granvalle) to kill him. Arvis grows close to Kurth’s father, Azmur and more or lesses takes care of everything in Granvalle, since Kurth has no heir left.

And, by chance, Deirdre, Kurth’s bastard daughter, thus rightful Princess of Granvalle, appears at his door. She bears the mark of Naga (the special blood of the Crusader Heim), so they marry, and if they have a son, their son will rule over Granvalle, Arvis acts as a regent until then.

(women can’t rule shit in Jugdral)

Then what? His plan is set into motion, all Granvalle Dukes die, he and Sigurd (plus his pals) are the only ones left, Sigurd dies after being lured to a welcoming party, and Arvis becomes the last man standing able to rule Granvalle, who became, through his plans and treacheries through the 1st gen, an Empire.

(and then his son becomes a Loptyr host, vaporises his mom and makes his sister disappear, wrestles power from him and he is reduced to a sad state (oldvis). He makes a last stand against Seliph, after delivering him Sigurd’s magic sword, and dies.)

Okay.

So, now, Edel.

Arvis managed to become the ruling... person in Granvalle by eliminating all of his rivals, and securing a nice marriage. Edel becomes Emperor... because Ionius gave her his crown, as her father.

So they do not rise to power the same way.

Edel never talks about her brands, but Arvis is proud to bear them and proud of his ancestors. Judging by how Edel speaks of Wilhelm I as a traitor who sold humanity to creatures, I am not sure she is proud to bear his blood.

Also, while Edelgard is extremely prejudiced against Nabateans, Arvis wishes to create a world... free of prejudice (his actions though...). He does not mind Manfroy preaching his stuff, when Edelgard will not allow anyone to follow the Seiros faith (friends put it better, but in several routes, the people who were followers of the Church of Seiros are missing in Adrestia...).

While both Edel and Arvis think they are making “sacrifices” for the greater good, as pointed out earlier, this greater good is different. They both ally with a death cult, but Arvis is naive enough to think Manfroy will not backstab him - he even wishes for him to preach his nonsense freely. Edelgard has been hell bent since day 1 on getting rid of Thales and friends.

By the time Arvis learns of the child hunts and Julius’s nonsense... he wants to stop it. He is however powerless to do so (or so we think! Apparently he and Ishtar managed to hide every children captured in a castle!) but, at least, he tried to do something.

Crest Beasts... are still used, no matter the path, and even after Edelgard became Emperor.

Now, if Manfroy had to capture children and round them up for execution to make sure Arvis would become Emperor, would Arvis have supported him? I... don’t think so. If children were captured during Arvis’s conquest of the world and it was a “necessary evil”, would Arvis have accepted it? We don’t know. Prideful as he is, I don’t think he would have agreed.

(which is all kinds of wrong, the man can start wars and backstab friends, allies and turn his own brother to ashes, but hunting children is too much? Meh. And yet, Manfroy mentions something about his ways and his pride being an obstacle to the realisation of his dream).

Arvis is... a complicated character. A douchebag through and through, who tries to redeem himself at the end, but ultimately fails. He is rewarded for his actions in the 1st gen by the 2nd gen, where Julius becomes Loptyr and destroys his Empire. He had it coming? Yes. Is it painful to watch? Yes.

Edelgard... does not face any retribution for her actions.

Yes, she can also kill her (step) brother. But either she didn’t remember it, or only cries after it, and ultimately puts the blame on him - so it is not a sacrifice ?

People doubt her words? Well, it doesn’t matter, Linhardt, Yuri and Lysithea are still alive after their... interrogations. Reptor doubted Arvis’s words? Aida was sent as back-up (and... backstabbed him).

Ultimately, Arvis loses Deirdre (whose ghost chills with Sigurd’s), Julia and Julius, whom he loved dearly. Edel loses... Billy, and some randoms.

So, in a way, Edel feels like a discount Arvis, because she misses his ascension to power and his downfall. Arvis doesn’t mow down enemies on the front lines like she is doing, Arvis maneuvers to ensure victory.

Both fight for ideals, but Arvis seems to believe in them when I cannot believe a world for “humanity” involves continuous making of Crest Beasts.

Both betray the main character, but Edelgard is hit with the uwu hammer, thus cannot kill Billy - Thales does it in the non CF-routes.

So... short story, long story, Eldie is not Dimitri, Claude is not Travant, Rhea is a foil to Manfroy and Edelgard is a discount Arvis.

Also, I don’t know what kind of weed the person who wrote this take had, but labeling Eldie as one of FE4′s villain is as dumb as labeling FE7 Karla a villain because she appears as a red unit you have to fight.

where is edel’s bastard son

[thepandapopo]

His Star

This is my first FE fic in over ten years. The last time I wrote anything for FE was back in FE7 which, to this day, is my second favourite game of all time.

I have been on a Claudeth binge lately and since it is our favourite deer’s birthday tomorrow, I thought I would try my hand at a fic.

This is most likely going to be a multi chapter fic as I am spinning the plotline in my head as we speak, but whether or not that plot bunny makes it to paper is a different story.

Pairing: Claude x F!Byleth

In which Byleth falls sick for the first time in her entire life, but those who slither in the dark insist on making her life difficult. 

OR

The one where Claude fears he won’t make it in time.

Chapter List: 1 / 2 / 2.5 

Masterlist

XxXxXxXxX

“Professor, you need to rest!”

For someone so demure and dainty looking, Marianne is deceptively strong. Though, Byleth thinks absently as she lets her former student push her back down onto her large 4 poster bed, she shouldn’t be so surprised since she’s seen even Raphael himself bend to the gentle bishop’s will in the odd instances that he sustains a critical enough injury to land himself in the healer’s tent.

“Don’t worry, Professor. I’m sure Seteth will be able to hold down the fort while you recover.” Leonie says from her place at the foot of the bed. Despite the fact that the war has been over for nearly 6 months, her lance is still clipped neatly to her belt, next to her sword scabbard - close enough within reach to attack on a moment’s notice.

Since the end of the war, Leonie had taken it upon herself to act as the new Queen’s Head of Royal Guard. When Byleth had questioned the orange haired girl about her decision, she was merely met with a grin and a simple “I would be a terrible apprentice to Captain Jeralt if I let anything happen to his only child.”

“I’m... sorry.” Though the words themselves are not strange on her tongue, the unfamiliar dryness of her mouth and stuffed nose make Byleth sound weaker and more hesitant than she would have liked.

Leonie snorts, “you don’t have to apologize for catching a cold, Professor. Especially one due to stress. Despite what I think of you when you’re on the battlefield, you really are just a person like anyone else - of course you’re bound to get sick every now and again.”

Still, Byleth broods silently as she watches the blue haired healer usher her other student out the bedroom door, she has never gotten sick in her entire life until now and it just seems a tad bit unfair.

Fusing with the progenitor goddess has several advantages, but unfortunately it seems like being immune to illnesses is not one of them.

As her eyelids begin to lose the fight against consciousness, Byleth cannot help but let her mind wander longingly until she falls asleep dreaming of beautiful emerald eyes and a crooked grin that shines brighter than the dawn.

----

It only takes one week of being bed ridden before everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

Byleth is finally starting to feel well enough to stand up without feeling like she has ingested a vial of Claude’s infamous dizziness poison, when the scouts return with a report that the remnants of the Imperial army have joined forces with Those who Slither in the Dark and are marching for Derdrui, the country’s new capital.

It does not take a tactical genius to figure out that they are coming for the newly appointed Queen and Archbishop of the United Land of Fodlan.

Urgent messengers are sent out to all the nearby houses, requesting any available troops they can spare without leaving themselves vulnerable. It’s almost laughable the pitiful number of men that show up to help fight, but the arrival of all her golden deer is enough to raise Byleth’s morale and hope that she can conquer this disadvantaged fight without her schemer by her side.

Despite the protests from her students - former students, she corrects herself - Byleth steels herself and leads the meager army at her disposal in a defensive formation. This is her duty, after all. Without her, troop morale would falter and that in itself can be the deciding factor in a battle. Additionally, though she has not used it in several months and truly, she does believe in all her students’ skills, Byleth cannot help the unease that creeps up her throat when she thinks about her precious deer on the battlefield without her Divine Pulse. She has fought so hard to make sure they lived to see the peaceful world Claude and her dreamed of, that it would seem like a cruel joke only for them to fall now.

Even sick, the Ashen Demon earns her reputation. Fells of enemies fall to the Sword of the Creator as it burns with power, whipping around its wielder like a snake striking with deadly precision at the enemy’s weakness. Byleth refuses to let any enemies get close to the city. Her people have already been ravaged by war. They deserve peace, not another battle at their front step.

Hilda is somewhere to her left swinging Freikugel and cleaving through enemies with all the difficulty of a hot knife slicing through butter. Byleth is tempted to relocate the pink haired girl to the back line to act as a final barrier, but she knows that those orders will fall on deaf ears.

“If you insist on going out there Professor, then I have to come and make sure you don’t die. Can you imagine what Claude would say if he came back to find you dead? He would mope for the next century!”

Ignatz and Lysithea are further back providing cover with their long ranged attacks. Arrows and black magic rain from the sky, piercing through unsuspecting enemies and carving a path for Byleth’s battalion to advance and cut through the ranks of the enemy.

Somewhere to her right, she can hear Raphael’s battle cries above the cacophony of sounds. Judging by his sheer volume, Byleth knows that he is doing well despite being far outnumbered. Besides, the brawler is accompanied by Lorenz and Bernadetta, and while Lorenz specializes in black magics, he knows enough healing spells to keep them afloat. Plus, no matter how timid she is off the battlefield, Bernadetta is a force to be reckoned with when protecting her loved ones. Especially her mountain of a husband.

Marianne, Leonie, Felix, Ingrid, Seteth and Flayn are scattered elsewhere to protect against the enemies from crushing them in from both sides, but as the battle wages on, it becomes more and more apparent that their ranks are thinning and those that still stand are beginning to feel the fatigue of being outnumbered three to one.

The battlefield has long since warped into a jigsaw of cracked earth and chasms, courtesy of some nasty earth spells from Those Who Slither In the Dark. Where there should be rolling plains leading out onto the salty water of the ocean, there are now steep cliffs of jagged rocks jutting out of the ground, and despite her best efforts, Byleth eventually finds herself cornered on the precipice of one such cliff.

It can’t end like this.

Another enemy falls to her sword and Byleth barely has time to parry an oncoming arrow before another wave of nausea assaults her body.

She knows she’s probably burning up right now. Mint green strands of hair are matted to her skin with dirt and sweat, and the pounding behind her eyes is growing increasingly difficult to ignore. Byleth is pretty sure that had it not been for her father hammering in years of battle instincts into her, she would have had her head lopped off ages ago.

Despite how much she tries to will herself to stay in that cool, collected mindset that has won her numerous battles, Byleth cannot stop the tightness in her chest that accompanies the tears of frustration accumulating at the corner of her eyes.

She wanted to see Claude again. To feel his arms around her. To fall asleep to the steady pounding of his heart that seemed to inexplicably speed up every time she let her body melt into his. To let herself drown in the scent of pine needles and spices.

She could try using the Divine Pulse, but where would she rewind to? A few minutes would not be enough to make a drastic enough decision to turn the tide in their favor.

It’s not fair.

Goddess. She is so tired. But she cannot give up. Not when she has a promise to keep.

“I love you. With everything I am. And the next time we see each other... it will be at the dawn of a whole new world. A peaceful, happy world.”

Claude...

The ground beneath her feet teeters and he sky is suddenly above her. It is a brilliant blue with fluffy white clouds and even though she knows she is falling, she cannot help but be reminded of the first time Claude invited her out on his wyvern and they spent the afternoon soaring and diving through the air on a beautiful day just like this.

Claude... I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise...

She thinks it is a trick of her mind, but right as Byleth feels her consciousness slipping away, she hears his voice one last time crying out her name with such fear and anguish.

Then, there was nothing.

----

“BYLETH!”

Claude feels his heart stop and clench painfully as the familiar black and green figure tumbles off the edge of a jagged cliff.

He is shooting across the battlefield on his wyvern’s back before he can even spare a thought to how absolutely reckless it is to fly so low in the range of archers.

Behind him, he vaguely registers his generals shouting at him in alarm and Nader barking out orders to support the retreating Fodlan forces.

All he can think about right now is getting to His Star in time.

Later, he will wonder to himself if perhaps he might have the power to pause time as well, because although it was probably less than 4 seconds, Claude swears that the world around him slowed as all of his senses honed in on his one goal.

Please, goddess, let me reach her in time.

---

To those who participated in the Final battle with Those Who Slither in the Dark, they would recall vividly the moment when a loud battle cry rang out from the east heralding the arrival of the Almyran army.

They would also recount the arrow of white and gold that shot across the battlefield towards the Queen whom had made her last stand on the edge of a cliff before fainting from exhaustion and tumbling down to the depths below.

Above the din of weapons clashing and cries of agony rose a single name, cried out with such fear and panic that even those who knew not whom the shout belonged to, felt their hearts clench painfully with the raw emotion.

Although not many could say for certain what happened next, all the surviving Fodlan soldiers would recall shortly thereafter seeing their former leader, Claude von Riegan, atop his white wyvern loosing arrow after arrow on the lingering enemies with such brutal efficiency that reminded everyone exactly how he had ended the war.

When the fighting ceases and casualties are tallied, fear for their Queen runs rampant through the soldiers. For those who have had the privilege of fighting under the combined leadership of Claude, the master tactician, and Byleth, the Ashen Demon, they know how strong the bond is between the two, and although they have their doubts, they allow themselves to let their worries melt away when they see Claude exit the medical tent with a look of such knee wobbling relief that he has to lean on a nearby wall to stop from collapsing.

XxXxXxXxX

Ugh. I hate how this ended. I’ll come back and fix it another day.

Anyhoo, hope you all enjoyed it!

Chapter 1

Next: Chapter 2

[bea-meupscotty]

until you lose the road

He looks at Ferdinand, sagging in his arms, eyes fluttering, and wonders what kind of a man the professor would have let him shape himself into.

The moment Hubert lets himself believe in a different future.

Basically I got really inspired by all the ferdibert week goodness and wrote a little one-shot. Read it on ao3 here. 

The ring of steel on steel peals across the battlefield, a mockery of bells ringing discordant unholy cadence of a hymn to some religion that Hubert lives and breathes and worships. The smell of blood and freshly churned earth and unmistakeable death are all around, even as he lurks in the little copse of trees on his corner of the battlefield, waiting for the enemy’s advance. This is war, glorious war fought in Lady Edelgard’s name, and it sings like the heavy pulse of magic within Hubert’s veins, grounds him and gives him purpose, his path through the dark days that have stretched endlessly from his childhood through today.

The charge, when it comes, makes him hesitate. It is a knight, in gleaming armor atop a dappled grey charger, and while the smears of mud and blood across the horse and its rider can dull the steel, nothing can cover or distract from the tumble of long ginger hair spilling across the rider’s shoulders, and Hubert watches the rest of the ambush, steps ahead of him in the trees, spill out to confront the paladin. It is Ferdinand, it had to be Ferdinand, charging ahead desperate to prove something and protect everyone, like always. Hubert tries desperately to summon the disgust and hatred that had seemed to simmer always shallowly beneath his skin for the red haired knight when he was younger, but he finds it out of reach, his mind grasping blindly in the depths of what passed for his heart these days. As he watches Ferdinand startle only for a moment before he is reoriented, he and his mount nimbly dodging and swinging his great lance, powerful and competent, Hubert realizes that hatred is gone, has sunken into the depths over the past five years—maybe more, if he is willing to admit to himself. Maybe, if he had met Ferdinand on the battlefield in the days right after that great betrayal (because as much as he always sniped at the man, it was a betrayal, he’d let himself think they might stand on either side of Edelgard at the end, Hubert her knife in the darkness and Ferdinand her gleaming diplomatic jewel), when the wound was raw and fresh and Hubert’s mind was clear and confident, filled with the certainty of Lady Edelgard’s path, he would have had the strength to step forward out of the trees and, while Ferdinand was busy with the swordsmen attacking him from all sides, snuff him out in one twist of his hands and surge of the darkness inside of him. Now though—he watches Ferdinand take a hit to the side and grimace in pain before his mount is pulling them out of the swordsman’s reach so that Ferdinand can, with a grunt of effort against the pain, throw a javelin with such strength that it crumples the imperial soldier’s breastplate and leaves him laying unmoving on the ground. He takes a half-step forward in the forest, fighting the tremor that wracks his body—another side effect of the darkest magics, he tells himself, and not a tremor of unnamed unexamined emotion at seeing the man who would have been the prime minister by his side spear another imperial fighter.

Hubert allows himself to shut his eyes against the sight of Ferdinand’s long hair blowing in the wind, the color of the sky over Enbarr at sunset, but all that does is let his mind wander freely over the memories of long nights at Garreg Mach, mornings spent training and nights spent working together in the library that turned into long debates about the future of Adrestia and the best way to serve Edelgard and the people, the smell of Ferdinand’s tea mixing with the familiar scent of his own coffee, and Hubert feels his hand clench into a fist reflexively.  He shakes himself—it won’t do to dwell on useless sentimentality, on futures that could have been—and opens his eyes just in time to watch Ferdinand take a blow to his side as he’s twisted around to slice through the second to last member of the ambush team. For a moment he thinks the sword has struck true and deep, but it must have just been glancing, because Ferdinand barely hesitates before he swivels around and strikes the last man down.

He is turned away from where Hubert stands in the trees, head hanging down and lance slumping downward as he seems to pause to catch his breath. The sounds of his comrades are still far off, and Hubert steps out of the trees at last, for the moment that will be his inevitable triumph, because Ferdinand is still trying to regain his composure, weakened and distracted, and all it will take is one spell. He’s imagined it before, this, the moment of confrontation—more than he’d imagined it with any of the others, Dorothea or Caspar, even the false king Dimitri  or that useless schemer Claude, even more than their professor, faithless in the end (faithful, in the end, a traitorous voice mutters in the back of his mind, to the father whose death your shortcuts and compromises caused)—confronting Ferdinand, the one he’d thought loved Adrestia more than anyone else, but had turned against it in the end. Which is all to say, he has imagined this dramatic speech playing out a thousand and one ways.

“Noble to the end, von Aegir,” he says, stepping into the light from the shadows dappled through the forest, “but I’m afraid that this is, in fact, the end.”

Ferdinand does not move, back still turned, shoulders still slumped. His mount twitches one ear towards him, but Ferdinand himself is still. Hubert wonders if the man even heard him—maybe he’s gone deaf with the ringing of clashing metal. Maybe he’s just too tired to care. Neither will do for what Hubert has in mind—for the end of their erstwhile rivalry, his shining counterpart, killing him with his back turned seems… dull. He wants the moment to gloat, to revel in the triumph of his own ideology against Ferdinand’s faithless optimism, to reassure himself that this is, in fact, a triumph.

This is why he tells himself he stays his hand, steps closer and tries again. “Can’t even bear to turn and face me at the end, von Aegir?”

Nothing.

Ferdinand’s mount shifts uneasily, restlessly, and the lance slides lower, nearly touching the ground now.

“Von Aegir? … Ferdinand?”

The horse takes another nervous sidestep and Hubert finally notices that, with the motion, Ferdinand lists slightly in the saddle. His heart is hammering in his chest in a way that has nothing to do with the thrill of battle and everything to do with what suddenly feels like a pit of aching dread that has opened in his chest. He takes a step closer, tries to soothe the horse with a gentle shushing tone, and when he finally manages to inch close enough to grab the horse by the bridle and spin her around, he realizes with a sudden zip of emotion that feels uncomfortably close to fear, an emotion he thought he’d long stamped out of his heart, that his earlier observation had been true. That last blow had struck true, between the gap in the plates exposed when Ferdinand was turned, and the armor is now stained red, Ferdinand’s breeches are stained red, the coat of the horse beneath him turned dark and sticky—all of it blood, blood, so much blood.

“Ferdinand?” Hubert knows his voice is high now, nervous, for reasons he can’t quite say, but—there’s so much blood. He’s no stranger to death, it has come at his hands more times than he could count if he had a lifetime to try to remember, but he favors poison, magic, death swift and from a distance, as if he is an avenging angel carrying out Lady Edelgard’s divine will. He is woefully unprepared for the sight of Ferdinand’s hands slowly losing their grip on his lance, his aristocratic face, so familiar and delicate and strong, going slack and pale, for the slight tilt in his saddle that leads Hubert to inexplicably lean closer and keep him from falling, for the raspy breath that shudders through Ferdinand and makes Hubert understand with vivid clarity the phrase death rattle.

Hubert feels a heat behind his eyes and realizes that he is fighting back tears. The rush of shame that fills him only makes the sting of tears burn hotter, makes them well up faster no matter how hard and fast he blinks them away. This is not how it was supposed to be, not any of it, a voice roars desperately through his chest. They were supposed to unveil a glorious future together, all of them, and the seed that was planted the moment he’d watched the professor, head shaking in disbelief, whisper no, you… it was… you…. killed my father…., and seen them, one by one, Linhardt and Caspar and scared little Bernadetta and sweet Dorothea and proud Petra and then, the last stab that had clawed whatever light was left in him out of his chest with jagged claws, Ferdinand, fear and disappointment in his eyes as he looked at Hubert, all of them go to the professor—that seed of doubt suddenly bears heavy fruit, sickly sweet with the taste of shame. He looks down at Ferdinand’s blood on his hands—his hands, the hands that have shaped an empire, that have conquered half of Fodlan, filled with a magic that has served him well, and realizes that they are the hands of the man he has always told himself to be, a faithful servant, a blade in the dark, a serpent in the grass, viper and vicious—and for all the power and magic that curls within his veins that man has never learned a single goddess-damned healing spell. He looks at Ferdinand, sagging in his arms, eyes fluttering, and thinks about all of the times his professor tried to convince him to sit through a lecture on faith, the useless riding activities she’d forced him to complete with Ferdinand, and wonders what kind of a man the professor would have let him shape himself into.

A single hot tear finally escapes to slide down his face.

Before he lets himself think about everything he is doing, he pushes Ferdinand up and manages to hoist himself onto the charger’s back, hissing at the mare to stay steady as he dislodges Ferdinand’s feet from the stirrups to slide his own in, wraps an arm around the shorter man’s waist to hold him and spurs the mount forward into a recklessly fast gallop back into the fray of the main battle, where the bulk of the resistance forces—the enemy forces—must lie. A soldier—Hubert can’t tell where the soldier is from, Empire or Kingdom or church—steps into their path, axe raised, and Hubert snuffs his life out with a flash of magic that makes him grit his teeth with effort. The horse startles slightly at the rush of it, the hint of sulfur that hangs in the air, and even Ferdinand in front of him groans slightly before Hubert feels a shudder wrack Ferdinand’s body and hears another of those gasping kind of breaths.

“Do not die on me right now, you useless fool. As you are so fond of reminding me, you are Ferdinand von Aegir, and this is not how you are meant to die,” Hubert hisses into Ferdinand’s ear, hoping the familiar venom hides the creeping panic and desperation in his voice as he spurs the horse on ever faster, dangerously fast across this terrain, but he can see the clash of the main forces now, mostly to his left, and further back, near the safety of a small forest, the flash of healing magic. More importantly, he can feel the familiar rustle of Linhardt’s magic that direction, like a cool stream or a brush of silk or the warmth of the sun’s first rays at dawn, remembered from long ago and so different to the feel of his own magic.

He’s almost to them when someone else makes to step into their path, a lean figure with swords criss-crossing his back, and, more importantly for Hubert’s urgent purposes, lightning crackling at his fingertips.

“Come to play, Vestra?” snarls the familiar voice of the Fraldarius heir, and Hubert curses that that useless goddess just can’t let him have this one.

“Healer—” he yells, slowing the horse as much as he dares into a quick canter, trying to raise the hand that isn’t keeping Ferdinand upright and breathing shallowly against his neck in a show of surrender.

“We’re not falling for your tricks, snake,” Fraldarius says again, and he’s drawn a jagged-looking sword and energy is gathering, stronger now, ready to lash out towards Hubert and Ferdinand.

“For goddess’—I’m trying to—you will not stand in my way,” he roars now, and he knows he sounds unhinged, all trace of the ever smooth, ever unruffled hand of the emperor gone now in the crack of his voice, but there’s another rush of hot blood over the hand wrapped around Ferdinand, and he can hear a pained whimper and Hubert is letting his emotion fuel a rush of magic, anger and doubt and fear, gaping aching fear that Ferdinand will die in his arms steps away from a healer because Hubert has made himself into the kind of man no one can trust for even half a second, and he is seconds from letting that magic swallow Fraldarius in darkness when he feels a soft whisper of another magic against him, slipping around and then tightening—and he twists his hand and nothing happens.

He looks up and sees, a few paces behind Fraldarius, the soft blue hair of the von Edmund girl, head actually held high for the first time he can remember, face serene and confident and not haunted by dark circles. Her voice is still soft, but it rings clear enough that Hubert can hear it across the battlefield as she calls to Fraldarius, “it’s okay, Felix, I’ve bound his magic.”

He’s upon them in an instant and dismounting, and von Edmund is calling for others, eyes widening as her hands already begin working over Ferdinand’s wounds. As soon as he can feel the soothing lightness of healing magic prickling nearby, Hubert sags into the rough grip that Fraldarius has on his arms, twisted behind his back as if the man doesn’t quite believe in the binding magic.

“You’ll be our prisoner. I’ll take you to the professor,” Fraldarius tells him, voice rough. But for all of that, he doesn’t make Hubert begin to walk away, across the battlefield where the last of the imperial forces are being routed, until Linhardt has looked up and told them that Ferdinand will live, and Hubert stores that small kindness in the place inside of him where once he thinks he might have had a heart.

⁂

Death, Ferdinand thinks, should be less painful than this.

He’d always expected to float softly into an afterlife, into the goddess’ warm embrace. As it is, he exists in darkness and pain, flickering between the dark swallow of unconsciousness and a burning that engulfs the entire left side of his torso.

Sometimes he dreams that someone is touching him—a hesitant brush of fingers that seem oddly scarred against his own hand, his forearm, once against his cheek. He knows he must have died, because once he thinks he smells coffee—a scent he’d thought he’d long ago forgotten but that must have been waiting in the deepest recesses of his memory to return, to torment him with memories of late nights shoulder to shoulder with fastidious handwriting and sharp smiles and green eyes he’d fooled himself into thinking he saw an ounce of kindness in, with imagined futures where that kindness was real and they’d been able to sit together and plan a new world, one that was actually kinder and better and not just needlessly forged in blood.

The fact that he realizes this can only be imagined is what convinces him he’s alive—if he were dead, the memory of a future he could never have wouldn’t hurt quite so badly.

After what feels like wading through a never-ending swamp of pain and confusion, he gives an almighty heave of effort—and blinks at the late afternoon sunlight filtering into the familiar infirmary at the monastery. He groans slightly, and his eyes focus enough to see Marianne, sitting in a chair in the corner, giving him a bright, reassuring smile.

“Marianne,” he croaks. It takes two tries, and his voice is rough like sandpaper from what must be long disuse. “What happened? I… I thought…”

“We can talk about it all later,” she says in a soft voice, leaning forward to pat his arm reassuringly, and Ferdinand ignores the pang of disappointment that it must have been Marianne touching him all along, “but you were hurt very badly. There was an ambush, and you would have died if it hadn’t been for—”

He is startled by the sound of the door opening, and then the shattering of what sounds like ceramic against the floor. His nostrils flare as he smells coffee.

“Marianne,” he whispers, “I think I have a head injury.”

Turning over to look in the direction of the doorway feels like a monumental effort, a thousand times worse than opening his eyes or speaking, and certainly not worth the pain of turning just to see that his senses are deceiving him and he will find only Manuela or Annette in the doorway, not worth the useless pang of disappointment even after all of these years. He thought he’d shoved that hope deep down inside of him and let it die long ago; the fact that, faced with near-death, this is what his brain has chosen to bring to the surface almost offends him.

“… Ferdinand?”

The voice is unmistakeable, even if he has never quite heard it sound so hesitant, so disbelieving, so far from the cold certainty that had marked their school days.

Ferdinand whips his head around so quickly it sends a deep pulse of nausea through him, forcing his eyes shut as he fights back a groan. Barely moments later, there are hands at his arm, gentle and hesitant.

When he forces his eyes open again, the sight makes him draw in a sharp breath. Hubert is kneeling at the side of his bed. His hair has the tousled look of having had hands run through it repeatedly, he is even paler than Ferdinand remembers, and the bags under his eyes are so deep and dark they look like bruises, but it is unmistakably him.

“What... how?” Ferdinand whispers. Hubert shifts slightly and Ferdinand looks down to realize that there are chains on Hubert’s wrists. He doesn’t know if he’s more surprised at their existence, or at how little they seem to bother Hubert in this moment.

“Von Aegir—Ferdinand,” Hubert breathes, disbelievingly, and then his voice seems to steady somewhat, “There is… much to confess. But first… may I get you some tea?”

[deathshallbethelastenemy]

to all the boys i've loved before x fire emblem three houses

claude x reader

part five

xxx

October

Wyvern Moon

Fake dating, Claude Von Riegan was proving to be more of a chore than you had bargained for, as students bombarded you with questions on how your relationship came to fruition.

It was Hilda, who had to save you from the vultures circling around you that were looking for any reason to tear you apart. You mentally scolded yourself, of course, people would wonder about you and Claude, he is the heir to the leading house of the Lester Alliance. They probably thought you were social climbing, seeing as you're commoner.

You frowned, you'd never stoop so low to use someone just for their status and their crest. The reason you fell for Claude in the first place is because of his sweet personality. He was always supportive of his friends, sure, he'd tease them but it was all in good fun. He was charming, charismatic, and kind.

"Hello? Y/N?" Hilda said.

You focused your attention on Hilda, "Hmm?"

"Claude's looking for you." She said with a smirk playing on her lips, "Something about not being able to breathe without you..."

You blushed, why would he say something like that? He's such an idiot.

"I'll go find him." You mumbled as you went around Hilda.

Hilda giggled, "I always thought you two would look cute together, you know?" She waved at you, "Have fun."

You raised an eyebrow. She never mentioned that before, but before you could question her, Hilda had already left. Marches to her own drum, that one.

You spun on your heel, only to come face to face with Sylvain Gautier.

"S - Sylvain?!" You stuttered.

Now, you were panicking. You haven't seen Claude all day since you've signed the contract and here you are, with Sylvain infront you and will no doubt question you. You had no sweet fake note that Claude had promised to write you.... What would you do to get out of this predicament?

Professor Byleth wanted to see me, bye!

No, that would never work, you idiot!

"Hey, I've been meaning to talk t-" Sylvain stopped talking when he saw Claude envelope you in his arms and spun you around.

You shrieked, "Claude!"

You should've added, 'no manhandling' in the contract.

He winked at you but didn't let you go, if anything, he held you closer. He had also ignored Sylvain, who was watching awkwardly as Claude handed you a small piece of paper with a small heart next to your name.

Sylvain coughed loudly to get your attention and Claude, ever the actor and schemer, feigned innocence.

"Oh, sorry, Sylvain," Claude shifted his stance to be behind you as he laid his chin on top of your head, "Didn't you see you there."

You bit your lip and glanced at Sylvain.

"I wanted to talk to, Y/N -"

Claude interrupted him again, "Ah, well Sylvain, you see," he clicked his tongue, "we need to get to training. Teach's orders, right, sunshine?"

He was so suave when he lied, you couldn't keep up, so you just nodded in agreement.

"But-" Sylvain started.

Claude waved him off, "See ya, Sylvain."

He hooked his arm around your shoulder and led you away from the confused, Gautier.

You fiddled with your hands, "That was a little rude, don't you think?"

Claude leaned his head towards your ear, "I did what any other lover would've done if they saw a womanizer talking to his girlfriend." He whispered, "And last, I checked, sunshine, you wanted me to ward him off, remember?"

He was so undeniably close.

You wrapped your arms around your body, "I did, but I just feel bad for him..."

It's true, you did feel bad for Sylvain, it wasn't his fault the letters got out. It wasn't even your fault, and now, you couldn't fathom who would know about them, much less, send them.

Claude pushed open the door to enter the training ground, his hand sliding down your arm to hold it.

"A little late for cold feet, sunshine."

"It's not cold feet." You said as you entered the training grounds.

There you saw Dimitri, fighting both Felix and Dedue. He was excellent with a lance just as Felix was masterful with a sword while Dedue was incredible with an axe. It was because of this that they seemed so unapproachable, apart from Felix's cruel demeanor and Decide, quite literally telling to stay away from him for your own safety, and Dimitri was a prince that just made you want to keep your distance.

"Did you write them love letters too?" Claude joked when he caught you staring the three blue lions.

"Claude!" You glared at him.

Claude let out a hearty laugh, "Careful, sunshine, you'll make me jealous."

You were debating whether or not to burn him to cinders when he passed you a bow and arrow.

You shook your hands infront you, "I was thinking I'd observe today."

You didn't want to accidentally shoot someone in head.

Claude cocked his head to the side in thought, "Hmm?" Then, shook his head, "No, how will you learn if your learn if you never get hands on hands training?"

Your eye twitched slightly, "I have tried. I'm just not good at it."

Claude clicked his tongue in disapproval, "You'll never get better with that attitude," He pushed gently towards the targets, "Come on, I'm an excellent teacher."

You dug your heels to the ground, in an attempt to stop Claude, only to have him whisper in your ear: "It's in the contract, unless, of course, we're going to break the rules, then I'll kiss you infront of everyone again."

That's all it took for you to grab the bow and arrow out his hands.

Claude chuckled, however, no matter how amused he was with your reaction, he couldn't help but be a little insulted. He followed you, nonetheless with a smile.

You stood infront of the target and raised the bow, but stared at you wide eyed.

"No, no, sunshine." He face palmed.

You cheeks were dusted in a pink hue, "What?"

"Goddess, this is worse than I thought..." He walked up behind you, "Your stance is all wrong, your arm is sticking out, you'll no doubt hurt yourself with the string..." He said to himself in thought.

Claude sighed, "Alright, feet shoulder width apart... His hand rested on your waist as you followed his instructions, "You're right handed, so your left foot will be infront, yeah, just like that, sunshine."

You could your heartbeat slamming against your chest... You wondered if Claude could it hear it also, oh you hope he couldn't.

He could and he reveled at the thought of it; it was adorable.

Claude gently raised your chin, "Above your shoulders," his skimmed down to your spine, "Back straight... Now," He gripped the bow with one hand while the other pulled the string with his hand resting top of yours, "Aim..." He whispered.

You weren't staring at the target anymore, but at Claude, who was focused on the bullseye.

He moved the bow slightly upwards, "And shoot."

You were taken out of your trance when you heard a loud think as the arrow punctured the target.

"See?" Said Claude, "Easy." He then smirked, "You were paying attention, right?"

You blinked at the sight infront you, "Uh huh..." The blush adorning your cheeks brightened and turned deeper, "Of course, I did."

You hadn't, you were too busy staring at him to catch everything he said.

Claude grin widen, "Did you, now?" He said as he towered over you, "Thought it would be hard, since you were staring at me the whole time, but I guess if you say so..."

The idiot was teasing you, he noticed everything from your flushed cheeks to you not wanting be obvious about your affections for, well, anyone for that matter.

"I was not." You denied, you didn't know why, it was clear he saw you.

He chuckled, "Whatever you say, sunshine."

You huffed and averted your eyes from his.

You could feel the arrogance seep off him. Your reaction was stroking his already inflated ego .

"Shall we go, again?"

[aonorunic]

Guilt, Chapter 1 Sad Smiles, Fire Emblem Three Houses

Summary: If she could go back and save Dimitri then there was a chance to fix those terribly sad smiles. The price would only be her precious Golden Deer and their intrepid leader, the man she had promised her love.

Or, in which Byleth goes back and chooses the Blue Lions instead of the Golden Deer.

Pairings: Claude/Byleth

Warnings: Massive spoilers for both Golden Deer and Blue Lions. A lot of angst and inner turmoil on Byleth’s part.

Notes: I had been out lining this idea when I saw someone post that they wanted to make art for a similar idea, and I just really needed it in my life. I have a whole bunch of fluff I’m working on, but apparently the pain and suffering come first. (I can’t find that post anymore, but if someone knows what I am talking about I would be grateful if they let me know.)

Read on AO3.

They were making her Queen.

Byleth took a deep breath as the trumpets sounded, announcing her arrival. Seteth’s unwavering voice called out her titles, but she hardly heard. When the doors opened she moved automatically, feeling as if she had very little control over her body. It simply moved because it knew it was supposed to. 

It was a momentous day. It was supposed to be a happy day. Perhaps she would have let herself feel happiness if he was here, but Claude was off pursuing his dream in Almyra. He had the power to keep her stable, to remind her of all the good they had brought about. But without him, Byleth somehow found those memories fog covered and inaccessible.

As she walked into the throne room the feeling turned into a monster, demanding to be fattened on her suffering and doubt. Her Golden Deer were all there. She had seen them through, but all had scars from the war.

Marianne had grown so strong. The girl could hold her head up with pride. She was quick to step in should anyone need assistance, filled with a confidence born of necessity. 

Ignatz had the courage to tell his parents his dream of becoming a painter. He had seen how short life could be, and no longer wished to waste time not living for what truly made him happy. Leonie had developed a habit of taking a step in front of her friends, always slightly shielding them even though the threat had supposedly ended. 

Lorenz had grown grimmer in way only those close to him would have noticed. Although far from the schemer he chastised Claude for being, he possessed a keen political mind. That mind still believed in the duty of the nobility, but there was little joy in it for him. 

There was a hesitancy to Hilda’s smile that had never been there, not since before Dimitri...

Dorothea caught her eye, standing close to the front with the rest of her former classmates. The songstress had joined the Golden Deer because of the friendship she had formed with Byleth, and it had led her here. She gave Byleth a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. It sent a jolt through Byleth, a screaming echo in her head, turning into a desperate plea of denial.

Ferdie! Please! 

Bernie, I am so sorry.

Petra reached out a gentle hand to intertwine her fingers with Dorothea’s, sensing her need for support.

Byleth turned her head sharply, only to meet the same sad smile from Sylvain. Poor Sylvain stood with the tattered remains of the former Kingdoms representatives.With Annette and Dedue missing, he was the only known surviving member of the Blue Lions house. There was no one to stand beside him and offer him comfort. He had joined her class on a whim, and she had destroyed him.

The sword swung toward Marianne, but Sylvain’s lance caught it, deflecting the blow and knocking Felix off balance. It was pure instinct that drove Sylvain to spear his opponent, and even as the lance pierced Felix’s chest Byleth could see the horror forming on Sylvain’s face. Felix reached up a hand, using the very lance that was still through his body to steady himself. The corners of his mouth turned up in the barest of smiles. Cocky? No, that wasn’t quite right. She could see his lips move, imparting his final words to his friend. Sylvain dropped the lance and dismounted, pulling Felix into his arms.

With a scream of anguish so terrifying it could hardly have come from a human, Ingrid raced toward Sylvain. Claude’s arrow took out her mount, and she crashed to the ground only feet from her from her classmates. 

Mercedes met a similar fate as Lysithea stepped in to stop her from attacking Rapheal. And all the while Sylvain could only cling to Felix’s body.

It was necessary. It had been necessary. Dimitri had not listened. If only he had listened they could have helped each other stop Edelgard.

Edelgard…

I wanted...to walk with you...

Byleth’s foot caught on the lowest stair. She breathed deep, her fists clenched tight. She clung to the weight of her engagement ring on her hand, trying to focus on the good accomplished. The world she and Claude would make would be one of acceptance. She would lead Fódlan to a new dawn. She would break down the centuries of lies Rhea had put in place and open Fódlan to the rest of the world. She had done all she could to save those dear to her.

Or had she?

At Seteth’s soft cough, Byleth was brought back to reality. She forced herself to continue the short climb up the dais, but every step felt her heart continue to sink. 

Byleth turned to face the gathered crowd. It was full of the faithful who were now counting on her, a burden she almost despised Rhea for handing to her. Soldiers of both the Alliance and the Kingdom were intermingled throughout, all still battle worn. Some had stood with her, and some against, but all were ready to lay down their arms now. 

And there again was Sylvain. 

If she could have saved Dimitri would it have also saved Sylvain? Would Felix and Ingrid also be beside him now? No, Dimitri was too far gone, too far into his own darkness to trust any word she said. But if she had chosen the Blue Lions instead of her precious Golden Deer? Perhaps.

It would mean giving up everything that made her her. Her time at Garreg Mach had made her who she was. She had learned joy and pain in equal measure, and come to treasure all of her students there as family. Could she give it all up for a chance that things might be better if she had taken another route? They had won the war and defeated those who slither in the dark after all. What if she could not do it again?

She would have to give up Claude.

Perhaps if he had been there, smiling up at her, she could have held onto all the joy and love her heart held. She did not love him any less, but at the moment it was hard to fathom why her happiness was more important than all of Fódlan’s.

I love you. Please forgive me.

Seteth placed the crown on her head, and the world disappeared, condensing to a single voice. It was a voice Byleth had not heard in years, but had once known so intimately within her own soul. The voice of a very annoyed progenitor god screamed in her head.

What have you done?

But there were other voices as well, the voices of those no longer dead, and they demanded more attention at the moment.

“This will be your first time at the monastery. I’d be happy to show you around.”

[gold-eyes-vengeful-heart]

Recoup

((Sorin ( @aetherstitch ) and Runya go to visit a lake.

Contains 5.2 spoilers! Like every other fic in this series so far lol. Specifically features the Ruby Weapon questline.))

===

Runya leaned heavily on his Garuda-egi as he trudged on in Sorin’s wake.

At the very minimum, the little summons was useful for this; she hovered easily in mid-air without complaint, giving him something to keep his balance with as he walked (and did he need it...even if he didn’t want to admit to it). And at least she was less prone to setting things on fire than Ifrit was, and she didn’t give Sorin a twitch like Ifrit did, either...

But he suddenly looked around, as they crested the ridge near the lake, his ears swiveling. “We’re sure that Baelsar hasn’t been here?”

Sorin paused and looked back over his shoulder with a frown. “Do you...have reason to believe he’s here?”

“I don’t want that man anywhere near Blue, is all,” Runya retorted. “I’m still not particularly convinced he’s on anyone’s side but the Empire’s. No matter how much he insists on Ascian-hunting.”

Sorin waited for Runya to catch up, and then slowed his pace as they descended down the wide shallow crater towards the lake. “You think so?”

Interesting, that. Sorin didn’t immediately write it off as him just being paranoid. Maybe he was on to something more than even he thought?

“Oh, yes, I’m more than convinced,” Runya purred. “I’m amazed that any of you are falling for it, but especially you, Sorin. He was rather invested in what he was doing being correct, wasn’t he? Do any of you really think that he’s so willing to turn his back on all of that for little reason?”

Sorin’s brow furrowed. “...He didn’t...have much reaction to Cid being blunt about what happened to that pilot. It was strange.”

“Well, you did mention that they claimed to be his children, yes?” Runya snorted. “That’s gone rather poorly for everyone else he’s claimed to be daddy over. There was...what was her name? Livia? Then I believe he pitted your Cid friend and Scaeva against one another; even I managed to hear about that one. And even outside of that Werlyt pack that’s being such a nuisance now, he quite deliberately created the Crania Lupii. And how did that turn out?”

Sorin winced. “Yes, he did. There’s no denying what he’s done, and I would never minimize that.”

Runya hummed thoughtfully. “So why everyone is suddenly alright with him, believing that he’s on our side...or believing that such a cold-blooded schemer would ever suddenly grow a set of morals in general...Well, I’m afraid it’s all quite beyond me.”

“‘Cold-blooded schemer’, Runya?”

If Sorin had meant that as an actual insult, however, it went right over Runya’s head and he just smiled lazily over at the other Miqo’te. “Sorin, Sorin, Sorin. Don’t compare him to me. I have this little thing called standards. He doesn’t. I never made slave camps or stole children from their mothers to mold them in my own image like I wanted to pretend to be a deity. Except with more genocide.”

“Says the man who’s keen on killing every resident of the Garlean Empire?”

“Come now, I merely want to see them dead...and possibly torture the people most directly responsible for all of what I am,” he added as a calm afterthought. “But would you really say that death is the worst thing to happen to someone? Or having your entire identity wrenched from you and twisted into something useful for the people that tormented you, knowing full well that you’re just a thing now and not a person?” 

...Yet. While he still believed it, certainly, this debate actually had him a little uneasy for once, saying it to him. (He was going to choose to chalk it up to how the last debate wound up in a magical brawl that he actually lost and that was against Sorin as a Scholar.)

“I object more to the notion of dead civilians, Runya. No matter who’s doing it. I’ll stop them regardless.”

The flat and almost dangerous tone of Sorin’s voice brooked no argument, and for once, Runya didn’t press it...though that was mostly because he thought he saw a ripple at the center of the lake, as something floating up from underneath. “You and your pesky morality, Sorin.” And yet Sorin was still dragging him kicking and screaming into believing at least a little of it anyway, wasn’t he? Even if just out of dislike of the thought of fighting him again and most likely losing terribly once more. Frustrating man. Frustrating, frustrating man.

{Hmph. You’re mean.}

...Right, he was close enough that Blue could eavesdrop without much trouble.

{Only fight to keep them away. Not to destroy them all.}

“Don’t tell me that Sorin’s managed to weasel his morals into your head?”

Sorin was smiling out of the corner of his eye, the infuriating--

{He freed us.} Blue actually sounded a tiny bit defensive. {I listen to him, yes.}

Sorin had heard, judging by how he jumped into the conversation. “I’m glad someone’s deliberately listening to me, anyway. It’s a nice change.”

“Ah, hey--”

{Runya cares.}

But Runya huffed, leaning more heavily on the Garuda-egi. “I care about not getting my shite kicked in again, yes.”

{Hmmmm.}

“...Please cease airing your doubts about me in front of Sorin, dear. One might think you didn’t like me, even after I was instrumental in helping you defeat that other Weapon.”

But now there was a large ripple approaching the shore, and it slowly burst the surface to reveal the long lance-like spikes on Blue’s back, water dripping in rivulets off of the array of bristling scales along his neck and tail. Some of which were rather burned and dented, he noted with a wince, but he sent Sorin a look as his friend raised a brow at him. “Yes, Sorin?”

“You actually care about something that’s not yourself. Don’t you?”

“You make it sound as if it’s a rarity.”

“Because it is.”

Blue reared out of the shallows and thudded towards them, though he at least had the sense to keep a few fulms of distance so he wasn’t dripping all over the two Miqo’te. His head swung slowly as he regarded Sorin, then Runya, and he stared a bit oddly at the latter for wandering over to get a good look at his side.

{It doesn’t hurt.}

“What is that crystal, anyway?” Runya’s keen eyes roved over the light blue substance in question. “I do hope that isn’t permanent. You’ll look like one giant crystal otherwise.”

Blue snorted, and it actually did dampen his hair, making him peevishly reach up to fluff it out once more. {Damage needs fixing. This is how to fix it.} He said it as if he was explaining to a child, and though Runya bristled at the tone, he did settle back down quickly enough. No amount of throwing tantrums at a multi-yalm tall humongous machina-creature was going to change its mind, after all...

“I gathered that, dear.”

Blue cocked his head to one side. {Then it’s not a problem.}

“I was hoping to learn more about it than that.”

{...It’s all we need to know?}

“There is...one thing, Blue, that we want to know.” Sorin interrupted and sidled between Runya and the Weapon. “Though we are both glad that you’re alright.”

Runya could swear that Blue was smiling, despite how his metallic face was more or less locked into its current expression. The feeling bounced around in his head like raindrops, regardless.

“You were very upset, when your opponent reenacted the Calamity.”

That feeling deflated into wariness in an instant, with all the subtlety of a sudden pressure drop ahead of a storm.

“So are you sure you’re alright?” Sorin continued, craning his neck up to look at the Weapon. “None of us would be, in your skin. And if you want to talk...” He let the sentence trail off, but the offer remained.

And much to Runya’s surprise, Blue just crouched, and then flopped, rolling and twisting so his rear legs were splayed out behind him and his forelegs were tucked back against his sides. His wings fluttered uneasily and he even half-buried his snout in the damp earth of the lake bank, his nervousness ticking tersely off of Runya’s own nerves.

{...Remembered something. But didn’t.}

Sorin glanced over at Runya, but Runya was completely lost about the whole thing and just quirked an eyebrow. “I’m afraid I don’t know what it was, either. Some blurry memory of a burning city was all I saw, before he unceremoniously got me locked out of my own body.”

But at that, Sorin went a rather strange color. And Runya frowned. 

“...Sorin? Don’t tell me that you’re about to run wild.”

Sorin shook his head rapidly as if clearing it. “No, no, it’s fine. But...that doesn’t sound familiar to you?”

Well, now he had definitive proof that he was still catching up, mentally, after getting his mind nearly smashed in; he really should have recognized that single image given that he had been running about in a recreation of it just moons ago.

“It does sound familiar, doesn’t it?” He said it but softly, however, looking at Blue with renewed interest, even if Blue didn’t return the favor. “Our friend here is a very interesting friend, indeed.”

Blue just craned his head to one side a little to regard him with a pair of his four red eyes, silent.

“I’m unsure if a Weapon is within your realm of expertise, Sorin,” Runya continued, though distantly as his mind was already whirling with possibilities and plans and things he needed to research. Not that he had wanted to immediately take off again, and leave Sorin out in the open like this when they certainly had Imperials around that he didn’t trust, but...

{He did beat you, you said.}

“Excuse you, I wasn’t asking your input. But Sorin, if you could take a look at him, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“You’re going somewhere?” Sorin’s stare warily locked onto his, but Runya just smiled.

“I’m not going to do something naughty, don’t worry. I’m just going to look at the records again. I get the feeling I may have missed something, failed to make some connection...” He loosely waved a hand. “I’d love to know what Blue really is, and I’m sure Blue would like that, too. Wouldn’t you?”

{...Yes.}

“Well,” Sorin admitted with some reluctance, “if he’s sure he wants to know, then.”

...Ah, yes, there was that. Sorin never had been comfortable with anything remotely involving Amaurot and the Ancients’ world, had he? Not that Sorin had done more than hint at it so far, but apparently the notion of being a split-up soul bothered him somehow. Made him doubt who or what he was, somehow. And he cleared the distance between them, and lightly prodded Sorin in the forehead with a smug grin. 

“But he’ll still always be Blue to us, won’t he? No matter what the answer. I will always be Runya; it’s far too late for me to be anything else. And you will always be dear Sorin, no matter what.”

But he didn’t give Sorin a chance to answer, or argue the point for right now. (That could come later, when he wasn’t all aflutter with the eagerness to research.) Instead, teleportation magic flared around him, and he quickly disappeared back to where they stored the old Allagan records about their big Weapon friend.

He had some searching to do.

[kyndaris]

Master Tactician

When Fire Emblem: Three Houses was released, I was incredibly eager to pick it up after work. In hindsight, perhaps I should have pre-ordered the Switch game considering that Nintendo hardly ever releases such titles with a good number of copies. Or maybe Nintendo was just a bit too good at marketing the title and so every single person along with their mothers wanted the game. Whatever the cause behind the lack of stock for the game (it appears that Astral Chain has also encountered the same problem), I had to run all around the central business district of Sydney to find myself a copy. In fact, I was desperate enough to sink some money into Nintendo eShop wallet funds (because I was also trading in a couple of games) if it was all sold out.

Lady Luck, though, was on my side and I managed to nab my own personal copy. Once I arrived home, I started up my Switch and began playing in earnest.

Selecting a house proved a difficult affair. While I was drawn to the sexy eye-patch wearing Dimitri (he’s mine Erica Lindbeck Celica! Mine!), I thought to play against type. Fire Emblem Heroes proved to be no help. The only one I managed to summon was Byleth. After discussing the lords of each house, I finally settled on Claude and the Golden Deer. They seemed the most balanced of the three houses and I also thought it would be a good chance to select the lord that was depicted upside down on the box art. Forget Almyra, Claude would be the future king of memes.

Almost immediately, I began to fall in love with the students from the three different houses. Whether it was Caspar’s enthusiasm to Ingrid’s obsession with chivalry and Dorothea’s flirtatious means of survival. As a consequence, throughout the first part of the game, I tried to make everyone like me. I gifted presents, ate plenty of meals, sang with the choir and fished until everyone had been recruited to the Golden Deer. The most difficult one I had was Ferdinand. It was not until Chapter Twelve that I managed the convince the heir of House Aegir to join my noble cause.Even post time-skip, I was striving hard to eat with my students to improve their motivation and ensuring that their goals would allow them to pass their master certification exams. 

Unlike previous Fire Emblem games, units were not promoted along a set path. Instead, depending on their mastery of certain skills, a unit could jump from myrmidon to archer. Or from cavalier to fortress knight. 

For those that have played the handheld entries, the gameplay of Fire Emblem: Three Houses is very much the same. Except, of course, there is no weapon triangle. After years of learning that sword beats axe, lance beats sword, and axe beats lance, it took a while to adjust to the new abilities and combat arts (although once you reach Grade B in the three different weapons skills, units are able to learn axe breaker, sword breaker and lance breaker - a homage, perhaps, to weapon triangle that we had all become conditioned to). Other than these minor changes, every battle involved activating the danger zone and positioning units to maximise their survival. Each round, I’d have my tanks out front with the mages and archers safely out of danger. Most occasions, they would wait as I baited foes. Other times, they would use an item or trade with characters adjacent to them. Once I had unlocked the dancer class, I’d have Dorothea encourage Hilda, Lysithea or Byleth so that I could wreak havoc against the opposing force.

But let’s now return to the story. Fire Emblem: Three Houses borrows much from Genealogy of the Holy War. While I never played the title, my friend would often describe to me the similarities between the Crests and the Holy Blood or the canto ability that the mounted units had. 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses, though, is about the conflict between the three major powers in the land of Fodlan: the Adrestian Empire, the Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance. In the first part of the game, all three future leaders are in attendance at the Officer’s Academy in Garreg Mach. And while there is some healthy competition between the Houses, the students are friends. 

All of this changes when Edelgard reveals herself as the Flame Emperor. The one behind all the troubles that have been plaguing the monastery including the death of Jeralt (your father) and the kidnapping of Flayn (who is actually Saint Cethleann). Her inability to trust proves to be her downfall as she declares war near the end of the first part of the game. In fact, having played through the Verdant Wind path, it was strange to see how similar the goals of both Claude and Edelgard were. The only difference was the means of achieving their dreams. 

As for Dimitri, it saddened me to see the boar prince charge blindly towards Edelgard even though he could have allied with the Leicester Alliance. Haunted by the Tragedy of Duscur, he stubbornly refused to work together - caught up in his need for vengeance. Only by playing through the Azure Moon route can Dimitri be saved from his self-destructive tendencies. 

Consequently, Claude seemed the most balanced of all three lords. With the blood of Almyra and Fodlan running through his veins, he dreams of a world united. Though he is portrayed as a schemer, most of them are merely ploys to ensure that the least amount of blood is shed. Rather than a ‘kill every last one of them’ approach, he is open to discussion. And had Edelgard was not so caught up in her own misguided means of of unifying Fodlan, perhaps the two of them would have been a powerful force.

The ending of Verdant Wind helped prove this point. Claude’s last speech in the fight against Nemesis highlighted the need for teamwork and that only by working together, even the most difficult of obstacles can be overcome.

I’m not sure when I’ll play through the other routes of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but I can say that the thought of heading back to Garreg Mach monastery is a tantalising thought. Unfortunately, there are a ton of other games on my radar and I am only one person with a limited amount of time. While I did have a few gripes about the game, such as its terrible mouth flaps as well as its less than stellar textures (I mean, I’ve never put much stock into having the best graphics, but seriously, even the uniforms didn’t look all that great. Not to mention the background textures. And what was with the warped tables in all the support conversations?), Fire Emblem: Three Houses kept me entertained for almost a hundred hours as I planned out battles and watched as many support conversations as I could.

Hopefully, whenever there’s some downtime between games I’ll play through both Blue Lions and Black Eagles. For now, though, I’ll remain loyal to the Deer and the memes they’ve spawned on the internet.

[theevershipping]

Most Sensible Voltron End Game Ships:

Note: this doesn't mean I don't LIKE other ships, but logically, given that Voltron is a CHILDREN'S CARTOON, these ones make the most sense story-telling wise. Here's why.

Hunk/Romelle:

I start here because I think this will likely be the least controversial. They set up in the first ep of S7 that Romelle and Hunk clearly think alike. They also set up that even though Lance is attracted to Romelle initially, she soon actually annoys him. On the other hand Hunk finds Romelle's thought processes to be so like his own that he acts she's like his own personal God-send ("It's like, I think it, you say it!") Likewise, Romelle seems to rather enjoy her interactions with Hunk, and the way he supports her curiousity. For once Hunk gets to be the one "in the know", and Romelle likes and appreciates the way that he interacts with her.

I know there's a lot of talk about doing right by an LGBTQ+ rep character, but I think the "Nice guy who's really smart and awesome but happens to not be conventionally attractive" rep deserves to get an attractive girl who he really does genuinely like and connect with and who genuinely likes, connects with, and respects him.

Lance/Pidge:

Although we are all understandably wary of trusting anything the writers say at this point, they have pretty much said that they do have an end game for Lance and it's not Allura. While I'd personally love to see a Klance ending, it seems pretty clear that Lance and Keith are both being set up to be straight--Lance shows attraction to basically every conventionally attractive female, and Keith/Acxa is a thing (and a reasonable thing, which I will get to next). So..

Lance and Pidge: first off, Pidge constantly points out and makes fun of Lance's crush on Allura, and at times even seems annoyed by it. She definitely doesn't show any sign of caring about the romantic interests of any of the other characters. Although it's been subtle, as Pidge's priorities have clearly, and rightly, been elsewhere, there's been some hints from the beginning that she's certainly paying attention to Lance's love interests, and is maybe jealous and just covering it up by making fun of him--which is pretty age appropriate, and typical of girls with older brothers: She's more comfortable approaching him on guy level and expressing her annoyances (unconscious jealously) through teasing him and, in the process, attempting to dissuade him from said romantic pursuits.

The writer's stated that Lance would get what he NEEDS in a relationship, not what he WANTS. Pidge is not girly/feminine in an aesthetic sense (what Lance thinks he WANTS), but she's perfectly pretty--it's not like Lance wouldn't be attracted to her once he gets passed his old-school markers of attraction based purely on conventional outer symbols of femininity (I.e. If he saw Pidge a few years older and in a dress, he'd almost certainly have a different reaction to her). Pidge does have an abundance of qualities that Lance NEEDS in a partner.

Pidge and Lance balance and trust each other. They have from the very first episode of Voltron. If you think of the first episode as establishing our main and most relatable characters, we really enter the story through the trio of Lance, Pidge and Hunk. Keith and Shiro--who they are and how they're involved in what's happening--are mostly mysteries to us in the first ep. In the typical trio story set up you have the main male character, who represents ego, in story structure, and you have his two best friends, who represent his ID and Super-ego. Often the Super-Ego character is female, and the ID male. The function of the super-ego is to check, regulate and correct the impulses of the ego, which the ID often supports/supplies. The super-ego, basically, is the one who thinks things through, when the ego doesn't want to, and the ID can't. Pidge is the super-ego.

What Lance NEEDS is someone who he both implicitly trusts and who can be the things he isn't in such a way that it helps him to grow, while still having his partner see him as an equal and having respect for the qualities and strengths he has as an individual and that he contributes to the balance of the relationship.

Allurance shippers will say "Allura can be those things too!" But she can't, because she is not and never will be his equal. She is a 10,000 year old Princess from a race of people that are vastly more evolved than humans. She was raised to rule a planet and take on the burden of the universe. No matter how much she might LIKE Lance and trusts him as an ally and a friend, that quality of equality and challenge that actually attracts confident and capable women to men does not exist between Allura and Lance--which is why she was attracted to Lotor.

The contrast between how Allura reacts to Lotor and how she reacts to Lance is a great representation of what creates actual romantic attraction vs. friendship compatibility: Lotor is her equal in his own right and can challenge her to see and grow beyond her pre-conceived notions, while having enough similarities that he understands and fits into the world she comes from and will return to (that of Galatic leadership and responsibility). Allura and Lance do not have that kind of shared reality and the ability to build together as equals that comes with it.

Pidge and Lance, on the other hand, start from the same place--they're kids who were smart and capable and followed a dream, and who have taken on the unanticipated responsibilities and adventures that came as a consequence of following that dream. They constantly demonstrate that their gut instincts are aligned. They do not have fundemental differences in terms of values and unconscious life expectations, and those things matter when you're talking endgame, because endgame means when two people are grown ups and they have kids and grow old together--that real life stuff.

Allura and Lance might have a minor romantic arch, in fact I suspect they will, because they will need to in order for all both Allura and Lance to fully realize they're not compatible. This will also force Pidge to become conscious of her feelings for Lance. From there we can from there spring board into Pidge/Lance and back into...

Lotor/Allura:

So, I'm not at all surprised we didn't see Lotor or Haggar in Season 7. It would have been too easy. We needed the stakes to be much higher, and the only way to do that was to bring the Galra threat to Earth, which couldn't have happened with Lotor as Emporer, or even with Haggar in charge--she's a much bigger schemer than just blindly chasing those lions across the galaxy like all those dumb male Galra meatheads want to do. Also, it gives her time to realisticly retrieve Lotor, fix him physically, and in the process develop some sort of relationship that would lead to them trusting each other enough to come back (allegedly) on the same side in S8.

I don't want to speculate on the plot of S8, and I won't. But I think that plot stuff aside, Lotor has to come back for the sake of Allura's character development.

ALLURA IS A RACIST. She is not malicious (just like most racists aren't malicious). But she seriously discriminates against the Galra just for them being Galra. She has a reason, no one can deny that--Just like someone who gets beat up by a gang of white guys has a reason to be wary of groups of white men, and they might take the trauma of the experience to the degree that they unconsciously start to demonize white men as a group... The trauma creates predudice because the brain is looking for a way to protect you from the trauma that just occurred. So it notes visual markers associated with the trauma, and when it later sees those markers it gets triggered into a state of flight/fight in order to (ideally) prevent you from reexperiencing the trauma associated with those physical markers. It's an evolutionary imperative--it's why we all jump across the room when we see a spider. But this primal imperative does lead to discrimination against groups of people. In my example, being fearful of groups of white men after being the victim of a gang beating is understandable, but is still a PREJUDICE based on their physical likeness to individuals who committed terrible acts, when in reality those physical traits have nothing to do with the terrible act.

It seemed like Allura was making progress with her predudices because of her relationship with Lotor, but Lotor is half Altean. He had to prove to her several times that he was "civilized" and even more knowledgeable about aspects of Altea than her. She fell in love with the Altean part of him. The literal second that she was given reason (by an ALTEAN stranger) to believe that he'd done something terrible and “GALRAN”, she instantly jumped to betraying him without even listening to his side of the story. This act proves that she didn't ever actually consciously see and acknowledge her predjudice and the irrational assumptions it causes her to make, she just was able to temporarily over look the Galran in Lotor for the Altean. So, Allura still has some major self realization to do in this department.

Next, the rash actions of the Paladins destroyed what could have been peace in the universe. Lotor gave them the option pretty much up until the end to stop and think things through even after they betrayed and attacked him. But at the end of S6 it's pretty clear it's Allura calling the shots on whether or not the team listens to Lotor or fights him. And we all know what happens:

She lets her emotions win. She prioritizes her anger--at herself for trusting a Galra--and she completely fails to care about (and likely think through) the bigger picture. Rather than realizing that the new emperor of a civilization that has been systematically enslaving the Galaxy for 10,000 years is trying to give agency back to planets, to create peace, harmony and a universe that works together to fulfill the needs of the whole, she doesn't even listen to him, she just attacks. With Lotor gone, of course the empire will fall and divide to the various generals of power. If Team Voltron had stopped and thought for 5 seconds about that they maybe would have realized that leaving Lotor in that rift was the most selfish and childish thing they ever could have done, humanitarian principles aside even. How many more worlds besides Earth suffered and will suffer for ALLURA'S emotional reactions that stem most deeply from PREJUDICE?

To be clear:

ALLURA believed the word of an ALTEAN she did not know, over the HALF-GALRAN she had fallen in love with, all because she FEARED she was wrong to trust someone with GALRAN blood: "You're more like Zarkon than I could ever have imagined," she tells Lotor. NOT "You're more like Honerva (AN ALTEAN) who began this whole mess by experimenting on quintessence and what happened when one combines it with their own life force and then became so addicted to it that she went crazy and enabled terrible things to happen to innocent peoples and planets." Nope. Even though in all honesty that comparison would have been more accurate, it didn't occur to Allura to accuse Lotor of being corrupt like his ALTEAN mother. What she says to him is essentially, "You're corrupt (and thus more) like your GALRAN father."

So, in order for Allura to grow into someone who is actually mature and responsible enough to lead the Voltron Colition and bring peace to the Galaxy, she's going to have to see the serious error in her actions, and the root prejudice that actually lead to them. And Lotor will be the one to make her see it.

From the moment the Paladins take Lotor prisoner he points out that Allura is discriminating against him based on species and parentage. It's pretty clear that this is set up to be their arch--Both of them are deeply flawed and magnificently gifted individuals who were born and raised to rule worlds, if not whole galaxies. They both have let their personal fears and flaws get in the way of what they could achieve together. In Allura's case the fatal flaw is predudice. In Lotor's it is lack of trust. He should have told her about the Altean colonies, but, rationally feared that he couldn't trust her to hear him out--irony being, if he'd brought it up privately and volunteered the info she probably would have reacted differently. However, Lotor has never had anyone he's trusted or who has trusted him, so he doesn't know that is how trust works. 😢

These two are designed to point out each other's flaws, and help them to correct them (not to make up for them, but to truly help each other change as people by, essentially, calling each other on their shit.) When they do that--Allura facing her racism; Lotor facing his lack of knowing how to actually trust someone fully--then the fatal flaws that lead to the ending of S6 (and the subsequent inter-galactic crisis that the simultaneous betrayal of these two baby-rulers, has caused) will be obliterated, the fatal flaws cured. Allura and Lotor will then be capable of resuming creating the new era of peace they were attempting before, but this time they will succeed because they will have learned to have real transparency/trust, rather than letting their unconscious fears be reasons to mistrust each other when they need to trust each other the most.

Lotura is a ship that is about real equality combined with real consciousness of self and other in relationships. Neither will be able to mature as characters until they see the flaws in Self that their initial (immature) love brought out in each other; the completion of the circle is then conscious change from seeing these flaws, and then forgiving themselves and each other for them. Only then can they can move into a mature love, which will allow them to bring out the best in each other without being blind to the flaws in each other and themselves.

Real love is seeing and dealing with both the good and bad, not ignoring one in favor of the other (this always backfires, as Lotura's first arch demonstrates). And that is a super valuable relationship lesson, that, in a show for kids, is profound and important. Love is seeing and accepting all of your partner and working together to change the things that need to be changed--not getting mad at each other, refusing to listen to what your partner has to say, deflecting with things like "your just like your dad," and subsequent retaliations that take the couple further away from the real issue, like Lotor does when Allura finally hits his weak spot and his basic response is "oh yeah, well your dad sucked too!" And from there it's all just them both being so hurt that reason is lost. That is the state of immature love.

Lotor and Allura are the only two characters who are each other's equals. They are the only two who can call each other on their shit effectively and who can help the other to change and grow. Their arch is about learning how to do that consciously and maturely. How to trust instead of doubt. How to see through the limitations of ego fears (Allura's prejudice, Lotor's not knowing how to trust) and to consciously choose loyalty to each other and to a fully shared vision. Without doing so, neither of these characters can transform from being in their immature Prince/Princess state to being ready for the mature King/Queen state.

Okay, Next...

Keith/Acxa:

I keep seeing posts where people are saying that this came out of nowhere... frankly, you all need to go back and rewatch the series. Keith and Acxa first meet in season 2 inside the guts of a Weblum. Even though it's clear to them from the start that they're on opposite sides of a war (thank you space suits) they still work together to survive and don't abandon each other even when it might benefit them to do so--they demonstrate immediately that they have a similar honor code/value system.

Every time these two encounter each other, despite remaining on opposite sides, they always help each other in this way that shows they both are in wonder about it--they don't know why, but something, some sort of "I owe you" that can't ever seem to be repaid no matter how often they help each other, is just in affect between them. Obviously, this continues to mount in S7.

So, why can't they just be friends? Well maybe they can, but I don't think that's where this is going...

For one thing, Keith is clearly drawn to his Galran side. He wants to be with the Blades of Mamora more than Team Voltron for a long stretch of time. Then he meets his Galran mom. Keith never got along well with other humans, as is established all over S7. He does get along with all these Galrans.

Those of you who know psychology know, we pretty much always marry some variation of our parents. Keith has a Galran mom who he likes and loves a lot. Acxa fits his mommy archetype. And, she's a half-breed like him--she knows what it's like to not fully belong to any one people.

Plus, as stated and well established in canon, these two just can't help but constantly save each other. I think more than ANY ship possibility, this one is obvious, and would totally make end-game sense.

So...

Shiro/???:

On the one hand, I'd love to see everyone all happy and paired up living happily ever after, but think it completely fits all of Shiro's character development to end up alone.

S7 firmly establishes that as a person, Shiro's ambitions/dreams matter more to him than the emotional needs of his partner, Adam. That's okay, there's nothing wrong with that, but, as a personality trait, it's not going to make for a happy long term relationship. In relationships you need to be willing to sacrifice things for your partner--not everything, not all the time--but you don't have the right to make serious decisions that affect you both without giving weight to the other person's needs. Shiro makes it clear that Adam's feelings don't matter to his decision to go on the Kerberos mission. That's not good partnering.

Adam, on the other hand, demonstrates a much more partner-oriented approach. He knows this is Shiro's dream, and because he loves him, he put his own wants/fears aside to support Shiro going on his first mission. He doesn't want to stop Shiro from being happy, but, when he tells Shiro that if Shiro goes AGAIN, Adam won't be here when he gets back, he's realizing that he's got to let Shiro understand that he can't be the only one in their relationship caring about the other's feelings. Adam needs a partner who will give the relationship serious weight in serious life decisions. Shiro demonstrates through his actions that he does not value the relationship more than his ambitions.

Shiro is a great team leader, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good life partner.

So, if Shiro ends up realizing this about himself and choosing to not have a romantic partnership, there is a really valuable lesson and story line there:

In American culture there is a lot of pressure to pair up. We are taught from childhood that real happiness hinges upon being partnered--at the end of every Disney movie the princess and prince finally get to be together forever and this is how we know they will "live happily every after". But not everyone is suited to relationships--and that has nothing to do with sexuality.

Shiro is gay, but that doesn't make him intrinsically more suited to long-term relationships than being straight makes anyone suited to long term relationships.

The LGBTQ+ community seems to be offended that Shiro isn't being represented in a relationship, but honestly I think they're being done a great service--Shiro is being understood as human rather than as his sexuality. His sexuality doesn't make him who he is. Being honest with himself about whether or not long-term relationships are actually something he is built for, is important for everyone to think about, and it's maybe especially important for LGBTQ+ kids to have a role model who does think about this.

One of the dangers of being LGBTQ+ is that people unconsciously reduce you to being a label--and you are so so much more than that label. Your sexuality is just one facet of Self, just like being straight is just one facet of Self for straight people. The pressure to be in a relationship as "proof" of your "identity" is very real for young LGBTQ+ kids, and the fear of leaving a relationship once you find one is far more intense because you fear your options are limited and you might not find someone else of your sexuality/who accepts your sexual-identity. So, LGBTQ+ kids are more vulnerable to staying in relationships that they've outgrown as a result of semi-conscious societal pressure to both pair up and to "prove" their "identity", and to fear that they might not ever find another relationship.

Shiro being the rep for the LBGTQ+ community teaches kids that you can be any sexuality/sexual-identity, and it doesn't change anything else about you--it doesn't change that you're smart and skilled and capable of being a space pilot, it doesn't change that it's perfectly possible and okay for a relationship (or even long term relationships in general) to not be right for you, it doesn't change your ability to be a good team leader... it doesn't change or mean anything else about you any more than a straight person being straight does. It's a facet of Self, to be weighed against many many other facets of Self.

...All that said, if they do somehow make it canon that Adam miraculously survived and he and Shiro are end game, that could be a great character development arch too, as long as it involves Shiro acknowledging that if he's going to resume being in a relationship with Adam he has to make decisions WITH Adam, and respect that Adam's emotions and needs matter equally to his own. If Shiro isn't willing to chose the truly rational emotional well-being of his partner (I mean Adam was reasonably scared that Shiro would die in space) over his own ambitions, he's not compatible with Adam. And that's okay too.

And, lastly:

Zethrid/Ezor:

Here's another rep for the LGBTQ+ community. In contrast to Shiro's story line, which may end up with him consciously deciding that committed relationships aren't as important to him as other parts of life and is happy being alone, we are now being introduced to a relationship in which two women who have worked together for a long time are discovering happiness through exploring their romantic connection. From what we've seen in S7, it looks like Zethrid and Ezor are experiencing a deeper trust and intimacy as a result of their new relationship.

I think it's great for two characters who are largely portrayed as villains/secondary shades-of-gray characters to demonstrate to people how relationships can change your priorities. Zethrid and Ezor seem to have made each other the first priority, rather than the ever-convoluted mission. They're still in the middle of this war, but now they care most about looking out for each other, rather than prioritizing the Galra Empire or Lotor. They are finding meaning in what they've fought for through their love for each other. I think they will be taken on an arch that is the opposite of Shiro's, in which they increasingly discover that their relationship and love for each other matters more to them than the military ambitions that may have once fueled them as individuals. ❤️

In conclusion:

While I think this is clear, in case it isn't, I am not bashing on ANY ship in this post, I'm just explaining why I think these ships are the logical end game ships for good story telling.

If you are so inclined, I'd love to hear your thoughts presented in a respectful and legible manner. ❤️

Thanks for reading, I know it's a long one. 😅

[sinnhelmingrmoved]

spoiler-free and fun helsem facts:

her nicknames for him all derive from the fact she thinks his hair makes him look like a fantail pigeon -- pigeon on most occasions, dove when she’s being affectionate/gentle, and fancy ass when he is being a brat.

they met when he jimmied the lock to her long since sealed realm, usurped her throne, and began to work towards corrupting her for his master. she caught on to his game and turned it around on him by... ceasing to give a shit and treating him with respect.

at some point he cornered hel, who still hated him during this time, and gave her his entire sob-story of a defeat at the hands of an adolescent boy. what hel took from this was that shining a light directly in his eyes in imitation of that defeat will shut him up like nothing else. unlike him, she was right about her hypotheses.

he did, in fact, take her on a whole new world inspired tour of various worlds to reacquaint her with the modern age. there was singing involved. don’t believe hel’s lies, there was singing involved.

she has never actually given a damn about making him a better person. her one goal with him was, from the first moment she began to understand him, convincing him to become his own person rather than a pawn of his master. in essence, she engineers a vegeta arc for him.

they spar together often enough, both showing some proficiency with lances. that their sparring sessions often devolve into make-outs is villainous slander bandied by servants who were distracted from their work. that the king backs up these claims is further conspiracy against hel’s good name.

she now has a pet shadow named erfidi courtesy of her beau. he is not too bright, but he wears bows on his antenna and can run very basic errands for his owner. in his own time. it took him a week to bring one of the kids their lunch, but he got it done. speaking of...

they have three kids as of vague future plots that kleffy and i have -- two girls and a boy. they all take heavily after their father physically, but only their eldest daughter really takes after him otherwise. her twin is a more contemplative nice guy and the youngest is a scientifically minded schemer.

the exact trajectory of their relationship looks something like this: enemies > hatred > indifference > erstwhile allies > grudging respect > friends > unconditional love and support > confusion > love > And Then They Make Babies

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #550

Top Ten Queens

So the Queen died. You may have heard.

I don’t want to be glib or flippant about it; a real person has passed away, after all. If it were just that, I’d leave the matter be; after all, I didn’t know her or her family. All death is sad. She lived to a ripe old age, so I don’t think we can stretch to tragedy, but all passings should be mourned. As Gandalf said, not all tears are an evil. However, I think we can all agree, this goes much deeper than that.

This is unquestionably the end of an era. We’ve all lived through the Second Elizabethan Age, and what an age it was; has there ever been such a rapid change in society, in technology? It’s quite mind-boggling. And now it’s over, and we’re in – what are they calling it? – a Carolean Age? That’s going to take some getting used to. So, to commemorate this shifting of epochs if nothing else – and, I suppose, to give a bit of a nod to the passing of a woman who’s life was, I do believe, somewhat remarkable – I’m doing a list of my favourite Queens. Sadly nothing to do with Drag Race; by this I mean people who are/were a queen. And because I’m me, they’re fictional queens. I’m not, like, pitting Mary against Victoria or anything.

And that’s that, really. The old Queen has died, and now we have a new King, so I’m going to be marking the occasion by listing my favourite Queens from the land of fiction. And the fun doesn’t stop there, folks! As this is such a momentous occasion there’ll be at least one more list – two if I can pull my finger out – to commemorate and plant my own little flag (in a metaphorical sense, of course; I’m actually against empires). So do please enjoy, and remember to rule responsibly.

Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings, 1954): full disclosure, I’m not 100% if she’s really a queen. She’s the Lady of Lothlorien, right? Her and Celeborn rule the place. But if she took the Ring, she’d be a QUEEN, BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIBLE AS THE DAWN, ALL SHALL LOVE HER AND DESPAIR. So she counts. And she’s just fab. Mega-powerful, supremely kind, unbelievably badass, and looks a bit like Cate Blanchett sometimes. Everyone should aspire to being her.

The Alien Queen (Aliens, 1986): she’s just a good mum, alright? Some bint with a flamethrower comes in and burns all her eggs, what do you want her to do? Cinema’s Alpha Mama, with her big hairdo, many hands, and glistening sac, sashaying into the picture to just ruin Lance Henrikson’s day.

Queen Amidala (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1999): she’s got the look, she’s got the accent, she’s got a really sweet palace and an even sweeter lakeside getaway. One of Star Wars’ coterie of sexy petite brunettes who kick all kinds of ass, she’s a worthy mother to the supreme Leia, despite getting absolutely shafted by the plot of Episode III. After Natalie Portman came back and redeemed Jane Foster in Love and Thunder, it’s a big shame she can’t do the same for Padme.

Lady Macbeth (Macbeth, 1606): whip-smart Machiavellian super-schemer who’s the power behind her husband’s throne, dancing lockstep with him as he murders his way to the top. Cool and complex, shorthand for all kinds of sexy seductresses, subtextually interesting (did the Macbeths lose a child?), and with hands that just can’t seem to get clean, perfumes of Arabia or no.

The Borg Queen (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996): another creepy alien queen bee, the Borg Queen (memorably played, most of the time, by Alice Krige) is – like her Xenomorph namesake – a real hive mother to a brood of emotionless murder monsters, zombifying their way through the Federation. She’s got a slick, creepy, weird kind of sexuality going on, like a cyberpunk Cenobite, as she seduces Data with the way of the flesh.

Queen Elsa (Frozen, 2013): I suppose if your first act as monarch is condemn your kingdom to an eternal winter then you might not be considered Queen of the Year, but Elsa is a terrific, compelling character in the Disney canon. Wracked by grief, trauma, and years of bottling up her true self, the subtext of her characterisation is very clear and it’s obvious why she’s become a queer icon. She’s also a great examination of the tropes usually assigned to Disney villains (queer-coded characters with a great set of pipes and a sense of sexuality usually not afforded the straighter – in more ways than one – heroes). And, of course, she has several awesome songs.

Queen Ramonda (Black Panther, 2018): to be honest we don’t really get to see a lot of her as queen, as by the time we’re introduced to her in BP, her husband is already dead and her son is king. But Angela Bassett portrays her with such regal grace that she just exudes a queenly authority right from the off. What If…? has shown some more of her badassery in explicit fashion, and Wakanda Forever looks like it’ll do the same as she deals with even more turmoil and grief.

The Wicked Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1938): I thought about having Maleficent, who’s a better character, but I think it’s a big vague as to whether she’s actually a queen (she’s just a bastard fairy, yeah?). But Q-Wicky is the OG baddie; an evil witch with a creepy mirror who tries to murder her stepdaughter. She defines so much of what we consider the tropes of a fairytale bad guy, and she looks great whilst doing it – even when she’s cosplaying as an evil old lady.

The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland, 1951): okay, feels a bit of a cheat to use the Disney version, but I’ve not really read the books properly and it’s the plump, slightly frazzled design of the animated character that sticks in my mind from the ’51 film. However, her petty, vainglorious, furious characterisation owes its origin to Carroll, “off with their heads” and all.

Queen Elinor (Brave, 2012): I’m aware that nearly three quarters of my list are Disney characters but I guess that is what it is. Elinor is an oft-overlooked character in an oft-overlooked film but I think she’s great. Her complicated relationship with her daughter is very believable, a great depiction of the tumult between a mum and a teenager. And she gets to fight a bear, as a bear!

[turtleparadise]

[ ~ One ~ Two ~ Three ~ Four ~ Five ~ Six ~ Seven ~ ]

[ I thought I was pretty much done pouring out my heart for the moment, but... Nope. Enjoy. ]

3. You Run Like A River

"Okay, who's in charge around here?"

Several worn-out adults turned their heads in the direction of the young ninja who had come walking into North Corel like she owned the place.

"We ain't got government around here," one of them said. "But if you're lookin' for some kinda leader, it's me."

"Vaast," Barret greeted, raising his hand in a motionless wave, though he couldn't think of anything else to say. The one called Vaast scoffed, but only addressed Yuffie.

"This guy with you?"

"Haha... Yeah... Hold on." Yuffie turned to Barret. "I thought you said you made up with these guys!"

"You could say that," Vaast nodded. "But we still don't much wanna see 'im."

"Too bad, 'cause he's here to help me!"

"Oh? And what're you here for?"

As if in answer, the trucks began to arrive, large construction machinery. One by one they filled the perimeter, waiting for orders.

"For some remodeling," she said with a lighthearted laugh.

"Wait... You're that Empress Kee-somethin'-or-other that contacted my dad?"

"That's me! Yuffie Kisaragi. But you can call me Yuffie. Your, uh, dad, was it? He got you guys to clear out all your possessions, right?" He stared at her, dumbfounded, not even realizing she had asked a question.

"Some kid is the ruler of a nation?"

"Hey!"

"Do you want our help, or not?" Barret asked, stepping forward, looking about ready to rough someone up.

"Hey, whoa, Barret, it's okay!" Yuffie waved him down. He nodded, but was still irritable.

"Sure," Vaast finally said, turning to walk away. "Do whatever you want. Ain't nobody attached to this trash heap."

"Well, what a regular ray o' sunshine," Cid scoffed. "Alright, let's level this place an' build a town."

"What's the plan, Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"Heehee... I'm glad you asked! Behold the Great Ninja Empress Yuffie's Construction Plan Number Three! ...Mostly drawn up by her fantastic advisor Ayase!" She unrolled a set of large papers, some of them blueprints, some of them compiled data, but one of them was a general map of the town as it currently was, with a red ink overlay of the planned future.

"Oh boy," Reeve laughed. "Well, I'm glad we're working with machinery this time." Yuffie nodded.

"We've got a lot of work to do!"

\\\\\

"Empress?"

"Hm?" Yuffie turned this way and that, before realizing an elderly couple had approached her. She took off her safety goggles and let them rest atop her head. "Ah, Mister Reach? Is that you? We spoke on the phone, so I thought I recognized your voice."

"You can call me Sebastian," he chuckled. "And this is my husband, Morgan."

"It's a pleasure to meet the Empress of Wutai," the other man said, extending his hand, which Yuffie shook energetically.

"Nice to meet both of you in person," she beamed. "But just call me Yuffie, okay?"

"We can do that," Sebastian nodded. "We just wanted to thank you so much for what you're doin'. I know folks around here are rough around the edges, but we've been through a lot, so... I hope you can forgive us."

"Your son is a good person," she said. "I can tell. He's got a chip on his shoulder, but I don't blame him. I don't blame anyone. Shin-Ra... ruined the lives of people all over this planet. We should all come together and build each other up."

"So that's the philosophy?" Morgan asked. "I like it."

"I'll be honest," Sebastian said, glancing around at the ever-changing town of North Corel, mostly level dirt now with many concrete plots being placed, though two buildings had already been completed. "I just thought you were comin' here to build some houses, then you'd be on your merry way. Didn't think you'd clean the whole place up."

"Gotta make a good foundation," she shrugged, wiping sweat from her brow. "Otherwise, you'll have plenty of problems in the long run."

"Too wise for her age," Morgan laughed.

"You're not... just talking about houses, are you, Yuffie?" She grinned at the question.

"I'm a schemer, Sebastian. Always have been. I look a hundred moves ahead. I'm not gonna lie, I will ask for something. But we'll get to that when the time is right. And I think... you'll like it, too."

"But the buildings won't take that long, will they? Looks like your crew is gettin' 'em done in record time."

"We're far from done," she said. "Once we finish with the buildings, we're splitting into two teams; one that's gonna help you guys clear the nearby land and start a new farm, and another that's heading up to the river in the mountains. A little bit of terraforming, and we'll have the Corel River flowing through here."

"Are you serious...?" Both men stared at her, jaws agape.

"Why would you go to all that trouble?" Sebastian asked.

"Because I can," she chuckled.

"She loves saying that," Vincent said as he passed by, carrying fresh lumber to one of the lots.

"Hush, you," Yuffie said, her cheeks flushed. "I'll deal with you later."

"What can we ever do to repay you?" Morgan asked.

"Like I said, we'll work something out," she said with a grin.

\\\\\

"Water!! Water!"

"Water's moving!"

"Look how fast it is!"

The children of North Corel ran to the newly expanded Corel River, some jumping into it, some kicking it up and splashing, but mostly dropping immediately to their knees to take a drink.

"It tastes so good!"

"It's the BEST WATER EVER!"

A sweaty Yuffie, covered in dirt, walked toward the water and knelt down beside them, taking off her gloves, and dipped her cupped hands into the water. She brought the small amount up to her lips and drank, raising her head up to make sure she got every drop.

"Aaah... It really is the best water." She opened her eyes, and...

SPLASH!

The youngsters laughed uncontrollably at their antics, some of them continuing to throw and kick water in her direction, some of them falling into the shallow riverbank.

"Oh yeah?" She laughed, rising to her feet. "Oh yeah?!"

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

The giggling grew louder and louder - they were all soaked within seconds. Her friends, and the citizens of North Corel, had a good laugh at them, some of them even joining in - though several of them only wanted a drink, so they kept their distance from the splashing. Yuffie took one glance at her friends, and a huge grin swept across her face. He was standing just close enough...

"Okay, guys, here's what we're gonna do..." She whispered instructions to the children, who all started laughing once more. They threw handfuls of water toward Vincent, who skillfully and swiftly moved out of the way - right behind Yuffie.

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

Of course, it didn't affect her much, considering she was already soaking wet, but she scowled at him anyway.

"Come here, you...!" She charged directly at Vincent, smacking her head into his abdomen, then grabbed him and threw him into the water, falling down with him. He couldn't resist laughing along with her. She moved in to kiss him...

But he pushed against her shoulder with his right arm.

"All eyes are on you, Empress Kisaragi."

It stung. She felt like he had run her through with a lance. But she nodded, knowing he had made the right choice, grateful that he had more self-control than she did. No one could know... Not yet. She rose to her feet, lightly smacking her cheeks with her palms to get rid of the wounded look on her face, and turned back to the children, putting on her best smile.

"Okay, your turn again!"

"Oh no," the children all screamed, scattering and making a run for it. Yuffie chased after them, splashing away, managing to catch a couple of them and giving them the gentlest version of the neck hold she often caught her father in, before dropping backwards into the water. The two, a girl and a boy, laughed along with her, and moved their limbs around in no particular rhythm, enjoying the feeling of lying in wild water.

"Hey, are you really a princess from across the ocean?" The boy asked, as the rest of the children began to come back.

"Empress," she laughed. "But not to you guys, okay? To you guys, I'm just Yuffie."

"Why?"

"Because, I want to be your friend. When you all grow up, and I have to talk to you about boring adult stuff, then you can call me 'Empress'. But then... After the business part is over, you have to go back to calling me 'Yuffie'."

"You'll still be our friend?" One of the children who had scattered.

"Even when we're older?"

"Of course!"

"And you'll still splash around in the river with us?" asked the girl lying beside her.

"Oh, you know it," she laughed. "I'll come back to visit whenever I can."

"Thanks for the river, Yuffie," the boy next to her said.

"Hey, don't thank me! This is the blessing of Leviathan."

"Leviathan?"

"What, you don't know about them? Ohhh boy, you guys have got a lot to learn. Well, then again, so do I! Nyuk nyuk nyuk... I guess everybody does. You never really stop learning."

"You did the right thing, Vincent," Cloud whispered as his friend walked by, completely drenched, allowing his soaking black mane to hide his face; he couldn't fake a smile at the moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered, walking past him, to the workers' rest house. Cloud pulled Barret and Tifa a bit away from the group, still whispering.

"Barret, go after him."

"What? Why me?"

"I've never been good at the touchy-feely stuff. You give the best hugs, so..."

"Heh, well, when you're right, you're right. I'll try ta' cheer 'im up."

"Tifa, when Yuffie comes back, can you-?"

"Leave it to me," his wife nodded.

"Alright, go team!"

"'Go team'?" Barret couldn't help but laugh as he made his way to the workers' house. "That boy..."

\\\\\

"So, the time has come," Yuffie said, drawing up a contract, while Vaast and his fathers took a seat across the table from her.

"I guess so," Sebastian said, wondering what their benefactor was going to ask of them.

"First of all, Vaast, you know everybody in town, right?"

"Of course," the middle-aged man nodded.

"Then I want you in charge of picking a few people to make a city council."

"What now?"

"Pick people who have the town's best interests at heart, who can make decisions on issues everyone else presents to them. You'll be in charge of the council as the Mayor. Sound like a plan?"

"Wait just a second... What makes you think I wanna be stuck with some dumbass job like that?"

"I think you really want to," she said, not taking her eyes from the parchment. "I think you want what's best for everyone here. And it's clear that everyone here admires and respects you, so I don't think they'll go against your decision. If you don't want the seat, you can pass it to someone else. But in the meantime, I'd really appreciate it if you made that council. Unless you don't think you can handle it..."

"Pshh... Whatever. Not like that's hard t'do."

"Morgan, Sebastian, I'd like you two to be the farm's official Overseers. You don't have to do anything, just check in with the farmers once in a while. Your new house is right by the farm, after all, so I hope you're okay with that."

"Are you sayin' you're payin' us to basically do nothin'?" Morgan chuckled. "I can do that."

"I want their salary to be paid by City Hall," Yuffie said to Vaast.

"What're you talkin' about? Nobody here has any money! I told ya that when you built that damn bank!"

"You will," she said, without elaborating. "By the way, I've already put that woman, Mirabelle, in charge of the bank. I told her she could decide who to hire."

"Mirabelle?" Vaast scoffed, his cheeks flushing just the slightest bit. "She's the clumsiest fool you could find. You put her in charge of a bank?"

"She's someone you can trust with money," Yuffie said, finally looking up from her form to stare into his eyes. "I promise you that."

"How would you know that?"

"I looked into her eyes."

"Bunch'a damn fools," Vaast sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Now, about our business... I understand this was once a mining town."

"All the coal's gone," Morgan said. "Veins dried up years ago."

"That's what I had heard," she nodded. "But I don't want you digging for coal. The Corel Mountains are chock full of gems and minerals. Lots of it gets carried away by the rivers running through the range." All three men stared at her, incredulous.

"You dug the river so we could have...?" Sebastian started laughing, and couldn't even finish his sentence. He leaned on his husband, who patted him on the back and kissed him, pushing his glasses up.

"You should be able to sift through the river and find loads of treasures with ease, without having to mine. And, if you feel the need, the town can be expanded upstream, closer to the mountains, if anyone really wants to go mining. If it were me, I wouldn't expend the energy." she let out a laugh. "Sitting in the water and letting it send all the riches my way sounds a lot better to me."

"What's your game?" Vaast asked. "Why're you doin' all this for us? Wutai's got its own problems, don't it?"

"Again, because I can. This isn't all coming from Wutai's money, Mayor Vaast. I've been exchanging goods and favors for a long time, saving up for projects like this. And now, I can finally make them reality."

"But why, though? What do you get out of it? You have to be after somethin'."

"I am," she said, finally looking up at the three men. "I want a share of those riches."

"'S'cuse me?"

"The minerals and gems that'll be flowing down the river. This town used to be famous for its metalwork, right? Jewelry, armor, all of that? None of the regions of Wutai do much of that, we're mostly wood, stone, clay. We have some excellent smiths, but they're all specialists, and they're few and far between. What I need, is a town rich with metals of all kinds, that can craft exquisite works of art my people will want to buy from you. And in exchange, we'll ship you rice fresh from our fields."

"Waitwaitwaitwait," Vaast said, shaking his hand from side to side. "Hold on a minute here... I thought the metalworkin' was already in exchange for everything you've done here this month. The cleanup, the construction, the farm, the river...? Right?" Yuffie blinked a few times, keeping a straight face, before shaking her head.

"That was a gift."

"A GIFT??" He pounded his fist against the table and jumped up from his seat. Yuffie had to hold back her laughter at this point. "A GIFT! What the ?#@$'s your economy even like? How is your country not bankrupt by now?" At this, she could hold it back no longer - she threw her head back and laughed. Once she calmed down, she apologized.

"I'm so sorry. Look... I have the best team of personal advisors, and the best Imperial Council I could ever have, made up of the best and brightest young minds from each region in the Wutai Empire. We have it well taken care of, I promise. Like I've said before, I've been saving up for this."

"So... You're good with callin' it even, right here and now. You're not gonna ask for any future payment or interest, or anything, on the construction?"

"Not a single Gil."

"Then in that case, I want somethin' better for our metal, than just rice."

"Vaast!" Sebastian spoke up. "How much longer are you going to be rude to the Empress?" Yuffie didn't seem to be fazed at all.

"Why am I even listenin' to a kid?" Vaast asked himself. "How the hell you're an Empress is beyond me. You look like you're nineteen."

"I'm twenty-three, Mayor."

"Still way too damn young," he shook his head. "Shouldn't be in control o' one country, let alone an empire. Bet you don't know the first thing about runnin' a nation."

"Vaast!" Morgan scolded him. Yuffie shook her head and made a downward wave of her hand, before addressing the new mayor.

"I really don't. That's what I have my council for. I picked each member for specific reasons. Because I don't have experience as a leader... I didn't even have experience in architecture, farming, or construction before I gave it a shot. But I know what it's like to be human..." She trailed off for a moment, before discarding the subject altogether. "Have you ever had Wutaian rice, Mayor?" He shook his head and shrugged. "Once you've had rice from Wutai, especially from the Jeijyuu Region, all other rice will be bland and coarse to you. I guarantee it."

"All rice is bland n' coarse, yers can't be much different." She smiled at this.

"You've obviously never had ours. What do you say? One trial shipment, free of charge? And if you're not satisfied, I guess we'll have to throw something else into the deal... But... If you eat your words, along with our rice, then we'll set up a trade route and have a regular exchange."

"Pssh, I can win that bet. You're on," he smiled, shaking her hand. "Lemme sign that damn paper."

\\\\\

"You're really on a roll, hon," Tifa said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. "What's the next project?"

"Well, I'm not sure just yet. I need to save up a bit more before we get started on South Corel..."

"South Corel," half of the group exclaimed.

"When Ruby Weapon demolished the Gold Saucer, it made the prison even worse than it had been. I know we got everyone out, but there used to be a town there, right? Barret, that's where you were born?"

"I don't know if it's possible," he shook his head. "The Saucer smashed everything... And it'd take more money than you could imagine, t'move those giant hunks o' metal."

"Still... I'd like to travel there to just look at things, assess the damage. Vinnie, you'll keep traveling with me, right?"

"Of course." Their friends gave them looks, some of them hooting and hollering, and Yuffie yelled at them all to hush.

"We'd better get out of here," Tifa said, giving Yuffie a wink. The younger woman was not entertained. "Yuffie, let us know when it's time for the next project."

"We'll be there," Cait Sith said from his place on his "father"'s head as they followed Cloud and Tifa outside.

"You kids behave, now," Cid chuckled on his way out.

"Until next time," Nanaki said with a short bow.

"You alright, buddy?" Barret asked. Vincent nodded.

"I'm fine now. Thank you, Barret."

"Alright, I'm outta here, then." He turned to Yuffie. "You be good to him, now." She nodded, blushing.

"See you later, guys!" Yuffie waved goodbye to all of their friends.

She closed the door, locked it, and turned around to stare at her boyfriend for only a few seconds, before running at him.

"Wait, wait-"

"YAAAH!" She jumped onto him, clinging with her arms and legs, and stole the kisses she had been longing for, for far too long now. "Hom... mmm... ohmm.."

"Do you... have to... make it... sound... like you're eating?" Vincent finally got out between passionate kisses. The two couldn't keep their hands - or lips - off of each other.

"You like it," she declared boldly. "I like eating your face. Mmmm, dear Leviathan, it's been so long!"

"It's been a few weeks," he said, and she immediately shushed him. "But I know what you mean." It had been an agonizing, slow two weeks, not allowed to touch, not allowed to give their secret away - not that their friends didn't know, at this point. Forcing himself not to kiss her in the river had been torture. But now his lips were hers again, to glide over her body, to taste her cheek, her hair, her arms, her neck, her shoulders...

"Okay," Yuffie sighed, letting herself fall back to her feet, before grabbing almost violently at his black shirt. "I wanna take this off. Is that okay?"

"I... Well... Yes, I'd... be okay with that."

"Ahhh I love making you blush!" She sprang for another kiss, before pulling up on his shirt, getting it stuck around his head.

"Hold on... Let me... Okay, now pull..." The shirt came off, and Yuffie felt blood rush to her cheeks as she stared at him.

"Collarbone..."

"Collarbone?" Without another word, she leaped at him once again, practically biting down on his clavicle. Feeling the brush of her lips against his bare skin, Vincent sharply inhaled, and fell to the floor; Yuffie came crashing down on top of him.

"Paralyzed again?" She asked. He nodded. "Are you okay with me, uh..." She wriggled her fingers excitedly. "Well, I don't know what I'm gonna do, I just know I wanna touch all of this." Another nod. And then, more sounds of shock and delight as she ran her fingers over his chest, his ribs, his abdomen - not excluding the parts of his body she had already conquered, either. "Oh man, you're so much fun, Vinnie." Vincent couldn't quite articulate a response at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep.

\\\\\

"...'And so, he steeled up his courage and began to walk once again. The tears were fresh on his cheeks, and he was still so very, very afraid. But he knew that if he followed the fireflies' glow, followed the river, he would make it back home somehow. But it would be a long journey.

'Unfortunately, he couldn't keep going all through the night. His legs begged for rest, his eyelids grew heavy, and he knew he would have to sleep. Of course, the many unknown dangers of the forest filled his mind, but at this point, he didn't have a choice. He looked around...' Oh, hey."

Yuffie let out a gentle laugh as she felt Vincent sit up and wrap his arms around her from behind, his long legs encompassing her, bent at the knees, and his mouth pressed against her shoulder. She reached a hand over to pet him and run her fingers through his shining black hair, but kept the other hand's hold on her book.

"Hey. I was going for soft and romantic, not possessive and sensual. What do you think? Did I do it right?"

"You did perfect," she smiled. "But what's up? I thought you wanted to take a nap."

"I did, but..." He sighed, pressing his cheek against the back of her head. "You know those moments when you're just... overcome?"

"Overcome by...?"

"Emotion. Romantic fluff. The desire to pour out your heart because it's overflowing."

"Oh..."

"I just had one of those, listening to you read to me. That's all."

"I'm glad you like it. It's one of my favorite books."

"I haven't caught all of it," he admitted. "I've dozed off from time to time. Which was the point in the first place, but..." He didn't know where he was going from here. "Thank you. I'll ask you to do this again in the future, if that's okay."

"Sure... You mean my reading style isn't boring or annoying to you?" In response to this, he touched his fingers to her chin, then moved them down her jawline, and under.

"Your voice... is like a river running through a dry, harsh mountain range. Bringing life and color to everything around it. I have never heard a more beautiful sound." Yuffie's face went red.

"You'd better cut that poetry crap out if you want me to keep reading. 'Cause it's making me wanna throw you on the bed."

"I'm already on the bed," he pointed out.

"I'll pick you up and throw you back on it!"

"Keep reading," he chuckled, planting one more kiss just below her left eye. "There will be plenty of time for that later. But... I hope you don't mind if I stay like this." He embraced her once again.

"Of course not," she smiled.

"Let me know if I start to get too heavy." Yuffie shook her head in response to this.

"I can hold you up."

\\\\\

He woke up in the middle of the night, and smiled at the woman he was falling more and more in love with every day. He kissed her ever so gently on the tip of one of her closed eyes, before moving to get up.

"No..." Yuffie clamped her hand around his arm, fiercely. "You can't go. You can't..." A loud yawn. "You belong here."

"Are you dreaming?"

"I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss," she sang slowly, before snoring. He chuckled, and made to pry her hand off, but her grip tightened. "No! I'm awake! And you can't go!"

"I'm just going to get some water."

"Come back in ten seconds."

"I'll try."

"I'll accept that," she mumbled, relinquishing her hold on him. He went about his business, and came back, placing his new glass of water on the sidetable after a few sips. "That was more than ten seconds."

"I said I'd try."

"Whatever." She yanked him back into bed, pulling him closer until her heart beat against his bare back. "I want..." More snoring sounds.

"You want?" Vincent asked, rolling over and caressing her cheek as he squeezed under the covers.

"I crave..."

"You crave...?" She opened her eyes again, and clawed at his chest.

"Skin... Your heart against mine... Vinnie... I wanna feel it. Why did you moooove?"

"I'm coming back," he promised, scooching closer to her, wrapping one of his arms around her. "That better?"

"Yes." She pressed her lips against the bridge of his nose. "I want... to take you... Have you..."

"I'm yours."

"Mmm... Say that again."

"I'm yours," he repeated, kissing her knuckles. "I'm yours. I'm yours."

"Mine..."

\\\\\

"I think I'll make a road here."

"Tell me all about it."

"It'll stretch from North Corel, then split! One side of the fork will go left to South Corel - if we can make that impossible dream come true - and the other will go to Gongaga. That way they can all trade amongst themselves, and visit easier. This old road is... Well... Almost non-existent."

"Sounds like we have our next project."

A Techno song suddenly filled the air, and she reached for her phone.

"Whoops, sounds like Cloud's calling... Hello?"

"Yuffie, I've got some bad news."

"You ran out of hair gel?"

"This isn't the time for that," Cloud said over the phone. His tone made Yuffie blink, wondering what could have happened. "Hana was attacked. It was arson. We caught the culprits."

"Wait, what, what?!"

"They're not talking. We can't get any answers out of them, on why they did it, or who they're working for. But I'd like you to come down here and make a public statement."

"What? Why me?"

"You funded the construction of this city. You helped build it. Everyone knows your face. If you come by and make a confident statement, it'll help soothe the tension in the air. The townspeople are all on edge."

"Wait, wait, back up! Slow down! I don't even... I don't even know if I can be confident! The place we spent so long securing..."

"It doesn't matter if you can or not," he said, raising his voice just a tad. "They need you to."

CLICK.

"Well... Um..."

"What's going on?" Vincent asked.

"Come here. Please." He nodded, and made his way over to sit behind her. She leaned back against him, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Hana... Hana was attacked..." He said nothing, allowing her to process everything and form her words in her own time, but he did begin to play with her hair, running his fingers along the strands a bunch at a time. "I can't... They want me to go make a statement. In front of the whole city. ME!" She dropped her phone, leaving it opened for the time being. She had made public statements before, but he wasn't going to bring it up. Not in a situation like this.

"Let's go."

"I..." She turned around and threw her arms around him. "Vinnie! I can't..."

"This is a shocking moment for you," he said plainly. "Hana is more than just a city to you, it was a months-long project you oversaw personally. And the chance that someone could hurt it was obviously always there, but it actually happening has unnerved you. And in this state, you've forgotten how strong you are, even if just temporarily."

"Vince..."

"And I understand. And I won't ask you to be strong all the time. But I will see you to your duty, even if I have to carry you across the ocean myself. So... Be strong when the time comes, but until then, allow yourself this moment. Just make sure to lean on me in the process."

"I will, if you're sure," she said, the shadow of a smile creeping onto her face. "Just warning you, my feelings right now are pretty heavy." He shook his head and kissed her on the brow.

"Nothing that I can't hold on to."

\\\\\

[ ~ One ~ Two ~ Three ~ Four ~ Five ~ Six ~ Seven ~ ]

[falaffles-mywaffles]

That 1890s Arranged Marriage Voltron Au Outline no one Asked for

So I normally keep my AUs to myself but because I got REALLY carried away with this one and I feel the need to dump it somewhere I’m just gonna leave it here under the read more.

Fair warning, it’s long and just a really informal outline because I can’t write worth for shit and I don’t got the patience or attention span for that

contains: Kidge, Plance, Allurance, Kallura

(set during mid 1890s)

Lance and Katie are childhood bffs.  Their families have a long history with each other due to business, friendships, marriages and so forth.

Both harbor a crush on each other but are too in denial, embarrassed, and worried to ruin their friendship by admitting it, so they spend their time causing havoc in their neighboring homes and enjoying each other’s presence as they usually do.

Both Lance and Katie are in the ripe age for marriage in the eyes of their families.  In fact, Lance has been set up on more marriage meetings than he can count (being two years older than Katie and having reached marring age earlier). However, his over the top flirtation and dankness tends to turn off any potential suitors.  Their daughters absolutely refuse to marry such a boy. And, it’s not like Lance’s family is the wealthiest family so the ex-suitors’ parents opt out to appease their daughters and seek a good marriage elsewhere.  It’s happened so often that it’s become like a running gag and inside joke for Lance and Katie.  But soon, Katie is set up on her first marriage meeting as well.

Lance tells her not to worry about it.  The meetings aren’t ever THAT serious.  I mean look he’s still single after two years!  In fact, he has one coming up in like a week.  Huh.  That’s a little coincidental.

Anyway, soon it’ll be over and then Lance can laugh at her failed love life like she does his and they can start sharing more marriage meeting nightmare stories like they usually do!  Katie hopes that what Lance says is true. Lance really hopes so too.  Both won’t ever admit to how dreadfully nervous each are for Katie’s upcoming meeting.

In fact, Lance becomes so worried that he keeps zoning out during HIS marriage meeting.  Of course, the times when he’s in the zone he’s his usual over the top, flirty self. But huh….this girl seems different. For one she’s like one of the hottest chicks Lance has ever seen.  Her names Allura apparently.  She’s the daughter to Alfor, the head of an aristocratic family living in some place called Altea that Lance has never heard of.  She has a funny and cute accent and also did he mention she was hot because like she’s really REALLY hot.  So Lance ups his ante and is even flirtier and dankier than usual.  And, unlike all other suitors before, Allura doesn’t seem out right repulsed by it.  Sure she is noticeably off put, but she sure knows how to maintain her manners. Good for her.  For a moment, Lance forgets about his worry over Katie’s marriage meeting, but soon his comes to an end and he’s back to his worrying and nervous self.

  On the day of Katie’s meeting Lance is sure that he’s going to throw up at some point due to his non-stop fretting.  He’s anxious.  Sure it barely just started about half an hour ago, but ANYTHING can happen in just half an hour!  Like a murder! Or worse.  An arranged marriage!  He’s so worried that he’s taken completely off guard when his mother wraps him in a bone crushing hug.  Needless to say, she’s very very excited to share some news with Lance, but she can’t do it here oh no, no, NO!  Absolutely not!  So she leads him to his father’s study where, upon entering, Lance is startled and greeted by the throwing of confetti on his face and congratulations from a couple members of his large family.  His father envelopes him in a hug and Lance is very confused as to what is going on. At this his father explains he’s just received a letter from Alfor—yknow the man from the marriage meeting? Allura’s father?  Yes him.  Well Lance’s father just received a letter regarding the outcome of the meeting and…

They have accepted to go through with the arranged marriage! Lance is officially off of the bachelor’s list now and his family couldn’t be happier (and very very relieved that Lance managed to pull it off this time).

Lance…..Lance needs to process this.

  Meanwhile, Katie’s meeting is going by smoothly.  I mean she hasn’t really said a word since entering and it’s mostly her father doing the talking, but uh hey maybe that’s a good thing ykno look disinterested and uninteresting maybe Keith will take a pass. Keith.  Keith, was the possible future fiancé.  I mean, soon to be ex-suitor.  Yes.  Optimism Katie, optimism.  Except….maybe he won’t mind the fact that she’s silent.  I mean, she hasn’t said much but compared to Keith, she may as well be a parrot.  The boy didn’t even verbally greet her but just did so with gestures.  She thought perhaps he was mute, but no he did speak exactly two words and that was to tell her father thank you for his invitation. Perhaps he’s selectively mute, who knows, Katie isn’t really inclined to find out.  The more distant she appears the better.  So when Katie’s father and a representative of Keith’s family momentarily leave to retrieve something from Mr. Holt’s office the short lone time between Katie and Keith is filled with awkward silence, vague attempts at light conversation, followed by even more prolonged awkward silence.  Well at least he’s handsome Katie will give him that.

Soon the meeting is over and Katie is finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.  She hopes that this meeting was as nerve wrecking and terrible for Keith as it was for her.  She needed to relax.  She needed to talk to Lance.

Upon exiting her house on her way to the McClain residence, Katie was surprised to see Lance on his way to hers.  Seems she’s not the only one needing a distraction.  They hang out as they usually do.  Katie talks to Lance about her marriage, mentions how awkward it was and how she thinks Keith will call it off if he knew what was good for him, and Lance laughs but can’t hide the distant look in his eyes. After a lot of prodding Lance finally tells Katie what’s on his mind.  He tells her that his last marriage meeting wasn’t as terrible as he thought and by this time next year Lance will be a married man.  Katie….Katie needs to process this.

Yes, a lot can happened within a half hour.

  The pair’s sodden feelings over Lance’s engagement only heighten when, within the next week, the Holt’s receive a similar letter in regards to Katie’s meeting.  It seems Keith wasn’t off put by the awkward silence after all.  Now Lance and Katie are engaged to be married.  To other people that is.  And their families couldn’t be happier.  So happy that they had a get-together to celebrate their children’s upcoming alliances.  Yes, it was a festive night.  All but for the two it was meant for.

Try as they might (which they really didn’t do) Lance and Katie couldn’t hide their personal displeasure to their current situation from each other. Neither wanted to get married, but no one else but them knew about that.  They couldn’t exactly call off their weddings themselves (they’ve had to have had a REALLY good reason seeing as the families they were marrying into were kinda important and would really help establish further security for both the McClain and Holts and they know it means a lot to their respective parents) (also, neither was about to admit their feelings for the other so can’t use the whole “but we’re in LOVE” trope to try to get their parents to end the engagement).  So Lance and Katie were in a sticky situation.  Unless they somehow found a way for Allura and Keith to call off the wedding without making it obvious by deliberately being rude or annoying to them--gotta maintain good relationships after all--they’ll be saying vows in the months to come.  But what lowkey way could Lance and Katie get rid of Allura and Keith? I mean it’s not like they could make them fall in love and end up marrying each other instead!

Oh wait….

That…..that wasn’t a half bad idea…..

Or so Lance and Katie thought.  And once these two schemers set their mind on something it was going to happen. So began Lance and Katie’s not-so-subtle-but-kinda-subtle attempt to bring Allura and Keith together, make them find love, and weasel out of any future marriages.

  Somewhat surprisingly, they don’t do a half bad job. Though it got tricky sometimes, convincing Allura and Keith to visit often at the exact same time wasn’t as hard as they thought it would be.  And once Lance and Katie started noticing that Allura and Keith were getting along swimmingly it became that much easier to hang out altogether.  So good was their plan that within three months Allura had fallen deeply for Keith and Keith seemingly had a crush on her too, much to the delight of Katie and……Lance?

Lance…….Lance didn’t look as happy as he should have been. And he had a sinking feeling he knew why.

  You see, though Katie and Lance managed a lot of get-togethers so that their fiancés could spend some time with each other, Lance and Katie were still expected to spend some alone time with their fiancés as well to get to know each other, ykno because they were supposed to be getting married and all. So while Allura and Keith got to have some moments to themselves, so too did Lance and Allura and Keith and Katie.

Katie, determined to make their plan work, tried to avoid having much alone time with Keith in order to keep his emotions focused on Allura and also to establish distance with her relationship with him.  And she’s been rather successful.  Keith knows more about her dog rover than he does of Katie herself.

Lance on the other hand, was a lover boy.  He’s friendly and likes to be friendly with everyone!  And it would be rude of him to ignore Allura while she’s visiting, after all she comes from a long ways away.  So during their moments alone, Lance is friendly with Allura and the two start to become close.  Allura finds that Lance isn’t as gross as she originally thought and is quite the contrary.  He’s funny, thoughtful, and kinda smart.  Lance well….he already thought Allura was a very attractive person, but it takes more than looks to have him falling all over himself. And well……Allura had a really kind personality, she could be snarky sometimes but was also very thoughtful, and she was super tall and her eyes would crinkle in the most cutest way when she tried to not laugh at one of his corny jokes and don’t get him started on her VOICE-

Fuck.

Lance might have actually fallen in love with is fiancé.

Way to ruin the plan, Lance.

  But he couldn’t say anything to Katie about his feelings.  I mean, just a couple weeks ago he was SURE that Katie was the ONE and yet…here he is….not….in love with Katie anymore. Or at least, not as deeply as he is with Allura.  But Katie really wants out.  He can tell by how excited she gets when she sees their plan working, how she talks about all the stuff she and Lance will do after this is all over, how much she hates going over marriage details and schedules with her parents.

Lance can’t do that to Katie.  He can’t actually MARRY his FIANCE.  That’ll be selfish of him.  So as Katie continues to make more situations where Allura and Keith can be alone together Lance merely smiles, plays along, and looks the other way.

  But this is Lance.

And Katie’s known him since they were in diapers. She could read him better than she could read herself.

So it doesn���t take long for her to notice that something’s wrong. Lance won’t budge which worries her more because that means something’s REALLY wrong.  She hasn’t had had to resort to snooping and becoming extra alert to her surroundings and of what Lance is doing since she was seven and Lance accidentally let her old dog out of the house, and it got hit by a fast moving carriage.

So Katie paid extra attention and…..she really hoped she was just imaging most of the absurd conclusions she was coming up with.  But after seeing Lance’s yearning and somber eyes while he watched Allura stroll through the McClain’s garden she couldn’t ignore her denial anymore.  Lance was in love.  And not with her.

But a part of her still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.  And maybe, she hoped that he could dissuade her fears.  But when she confronted Lance with her conclusion, and Lance made a horrible attempt at pretending it wasn’t true, it was all that Katie needed to know just how correct she was.

 She cried herself to sleep that night.

  The thought of an arranged marriage was truly something Katie never seriously saw herself doing in her future.  Sure she knew that when the time came there was a high chance of it happening, but somehow she thought that…perhaps things would work out for her and she and Lance would get married and life wouldn’t be as soul crushing as it truly is.  Of course she knows now that that was a foolish thing to believe.  And finding herself engaged while her heart was in love with another was something very real and very much happening to her in the current moment.

Well. This sucks.

But what sucks even more is seeing Lance in misery.

You see, while Katie wasn’t feeling much better herself, she reasoned that there was still something she could do so that this mess could be slightly less messy for at least one of them.

  It came as a big surprise to Keith when Katie suddenly started to want to spend some more time with him—and no, she wasn’t just going to find a way to keep their talks short, they were going to have a honest and good ole’ fashion conversational bonding.

Though Katie might not be head over heels for Keith she can still give Lance the opportunity to end up with the person he truly loves if she lets Allura and Lance spend more time together instead of arranging for group outings.

That being said, Katie can’t help but feel sorry for Keith who seemed like he might have had a crush on Allura (though in all honesty she couldn’t really tell—he doesn’t exactly wear his emotions on his sleeves). Keith had the misfortune to get roped into this scheme and now Katie’s trying to take away whatever chance he had with Allura in hopes that Allura can come to love Lance as he does her.

God Katie’s a horrible person.  The least she could do is actually try to get to know Keith and I don’t know act friendly with him like a decent human being would do.  I mean they are still engaged.

So during their outing together Katie takes the chance to clean the slate and apologize to Keith.  Keith’s confused as to why she’s apologizing and though she doesn’t say the full truth (well you see I’m ruining your chances with Allura because I want Lance to be happy and this was not how our original plan of getting you guys to cancel the engagement was supposed to turn out but yknow that’s how life works apparently) she does apologize for not trying to get to know him and being distant.

Keith is a lot more understanding and forgiving than Katie gave him credit for.  But as she gets to know him more with each outing she realizes there’s a lot about Keith that she was really wrong about.  Sure he may not be the most approachable guy but once he starts opening up he truly is a caring, awkward, but very lovable dork.  Katie finds herself really enjoying their outings together and Keith…..Keith does too.

In fact, he didn’t think he’d enjoy spending this much time with Katie.  He figured that perhaps they just weren’t meant to have a close relationship, and their marriage was going to be strictly business, and he was…okay with that.

But my GOD is he happy that that is FAR from the truth, and that he and Katie can actually become close friends.  Really close friends.

They share a lot of interest, can talk for hours on the most absurd topics, both have a snarky sense of humor and for someone so small she really doesn’t back down from any sort of challenge.  And if Keith was completely honest with himself, Katie is a sight for sore eyes as well.  The way her eyes sparkle when she talks about something she really likes, her brown fluffy hair that he imagined felt like soft alpaca fur, the freckles that sprinkled her skin like constellations, God Katie was incredible.

And just like that Keith realized he’s fallen in love with is soon-to-be-wife.

Wow…..life…could actually be kinda nice sometimes….Wow….

  But while Keith is happy in his engagement the same could not be said for Lance and Allura.  While Lance has taken the opportunity of the sudden lack of group outings to get closer to Allura, try as he might it’s evident that the girl is still longing for Keith.

Knowing what he has to do, Lance feels he needs to have a meeting with Katie to discuss the current situation of their plan.

  However, with every growing moment Keith spends with Katie, Keith becomes more embolden to fully express how much he cares for her.  Until, finally, he does it.  It’s not as romantic as he’d hoped it would be but his emotions get across and now Katie knows that Keith only has eyes for her. Which makes the meeting with Lance so much more agonizingly painful for Katie.

Because, you see, Lance wants to continue their plan and finish it soon.  He wants Allura to be happy and he knows that could only happen if she’s with Keith. Lance finally comes clean about his feelings for Allura and tells Katie of all his reasoning.  While Katie admires Lance’s selflessness and tries to calm her heart down for believing that perhaps there may still be a chance for her to be with Lance (her feelings have yet to change), Katie knows Keith does not reciprocate Allura’s feelings.  And Katie has already meddled with Keith’s emotions as it is.  How cruel would it be for her to try to pair him up with Allura after he’s been so open of his love for Katie?

  It’s then that Katie realizes she’s reached an ultimatum: continue with the plan and HOPE that somehow Keith returns Allura’s feelings before any wedding dates come up in time to cancel them OR stay with Keith and get married to someone she deeply cares for but does not love….OR

…..break off her wedding herself, disappoint her family, and break Keith’s heart.

Katie finds herself thinking back upon how much life could really suck sometimes.

  She takes a few days to think about it….truly analyze ALL her options and various outcomes of each.  Then does it three more times for safe measure.  

But it’s only during one of her alone outings with Keith that Katie finally decides upon what she will do.

  Lance asks her why.  Simple. Keith loves her and she does not want to break his heart.  But does she love Keith back?

…..of course…..

Lance admits that he’s a little sad that Allura won’t have the chance to be with Keith, but he’s incredibly happy that at least Katie and Keith will have a joyful and loving marriage.  Lance wishes them nothing but happiness.

Katie feels a little numb.

  Katie wonders how Lance became so selfless.  He broke off the engagement with Allura, but offered his family’s help with her family and continued connection regardless of marriage.  Katie heard it whispered by a few workers that overheard the whole ordeal.  Apparently Lance would rather let Allura go to do and be with whomever she wanted to be with than stay and be unhappy.  Just because she couldn’t be with the one she loved (Keith) didn’t mean she had no other option.  Lance would always love her, he said, and if one day she finds herself to truly feel the same she’ll always know where to find him.  How beautiful.  It made Katie want to vomit.

  But now she finds herself in a wedding dress and it’s the most magnificent thing she’s ever seen.  She sure it outshines her in beauty, but perhaps that is for the best.  And the wedding.  OH the wedding!  It was AMAZING!  Though Keith’s family was small and the McClain’s and Holt’s external connections were limited there was no shortage in extended family members showing up along with their guests.  Never had Katie seen so many people packed into her backyard.  She was sure the food wouldn’t last beyond an hour.  The cooks were doing the Lord’s work.

Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.  Lance was there of course, being his usual dorky self.  And even Allura paid a visit to give the happy couple her congratulations (though she didn’t stay long, both Katie and Lance noted).

But the happiest person the whole day was undoubtedly the groom himself.  For a man who tends to repress his feelings, Keith’s happiness was quite easy to read for even a complete stranger.  Not exactly bursting at the seams but enough to know that this marriage was more than just an arrangement to him.  Even his family, who were all quite reserved in their own right, seemed quite content with the wedding.

  Yes, everyone was pleased.

As was Katie.

For when she saw the ones she cared for be happy then she was happy.

  And after the festivities were over and the newlyweds were enjoying some time together, Katie thought optimistically to herself that perhaps one day she could learn to love Keith as well.  That maybe this marriage will be more than an arranged marriage.  

And that maybe she’ll truly be happy one day too.

  Extra facts:

The reason why Lance and Katie haven’t been set up in an arranged marriage between themselves is because their families want to branch out and establish more connections to other families.  Though they deeply treasure the bond and history between the Holts and McClains and will always be the closest of allies the times have been hard on both families.  Businesses falling through, political tension, shaky economic status.  So, both families agreed it’d be best to try to establish connections outside of each other to further strengthen themselves and, in turn, their closest ally as well.  It’s a win/win for everybody.  Except Lance and Katie.

That’s not to say that their families would out right refuse a union between the two if they were to passionately be upfront with it, but seeing as neither Lance nor Katie seem to show anything beyond family love for the other (read: do a really go job hiding their feeling for each other), Lance’s overzealousness when it comes to marriage meetings, and neither’s refusal to do marriage meetings (they know of their families positions and wish to make outside connections so they feel a little obligated to do these meetings even if they hope none of them ever take ((and maybe someday they’ll be able to admit their feelings to the other and hopefully those feelings will be returned and they can get married and do away with all these silly meetings)) Lance and Katie’s families just assume their feelings are platonic, viewing each other more as siblings than anything else.

Katie is referred to as Pidge by Lance and her brother Matt.

The reason Allura accepts the arranged marriage is due mostly for her families’ financial crisis at the moment.  Though the McClains are not the richest folk they ARE still well off (at least doing much better than Allura’s family).  Coupled with the fact that this will give Allura’s family connections to an area in which they have none, Allura felt it be the right thing for her to do.

Keith’s acceptance of the marriage stems from the pressure his family puts on him to bear offspring to carry on the family name.  The number of members in his family has been dwindling and has reached critically low levels.

[etcwrites]

Missing & Unknown

Lancelot Week Day 2 @lancelotweek

Prompt: love/hate

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed

Summary:

Lotor is still new to the alliance and Paladins of Voltron are a touch distrustful. But no worries, Lancey Lance has the perfect solution: A party! (Post S04)

AO3 Link

“Regretfully, I must decline.”

A line appears between Lance’s eyebrows, confusion bleeding into his expression and creasing his otherwise perfect skin.

His immediate response is to ask why?! Why would Lotor decline his proposal?

From every viewpoint, attending a party should make perfect sense. Besides being extremely fun, (because, please Lancey Lance knows how to throw a fabulous party) it creates the perfect opportunity to socialize with allies, solidifying their newly formed alliance and allowing Lotor to gain a little bit of trust.

“Decline?!” he exclaims, voice going high before he could control it. “You realize that half of the alliance distrusts you and the other half hates you, right?”

Lotor doesn’t even blink but still Lance can see how his words hit at the core. The prince must realize his situation as well. With his strategical thinking and innate need to analyze, Lance knows that Lotor perfectly understands the delicate situation that he faces. With barely a month under his belt as the new ally of Voltron (and with the fact that he is Emperor Zarkon’s freaking son) he stands on thin ice.

“I’m aware, Paladin of Voltron.” Lotor replies, voice soft but his chin up, looking almost adorably stubborn.

“No, no,no, no, no stop right there!”

“I apologize-“

“No, it’s fine. Just call me Lance. Not-” Lance grimaces at the formal words. “Paladin of Voltron”

For a second confusion passes through Lotor’s face, elegant brows rising before tension bleeds out his shoulders, slowly transforming into a smile. Albeit not a nice smile, but still a smile.

“Lance…” he repeats, voice pleased, commanding, testing…

A shiver runs down Lance’s spine before he can understand what is happening.

“Uh-“ he stammers, already feeling the color rising to his cheeks. “Yes, so…the party! Uh- I think you should attend, you-”

Lotor leans back on his chair, eyes travelling up and down Lance’s body to finally settle on his face. “I realize this is a personal party, a celebration of a birth date.”

“Yes, a birthday.” He replies, trying and failing to keep the color away from his face. Why does Lotor have to be this pretty and have such a perfect hair?! “But it is hardly an exclusive event. We’ll have ambassadors from the coalition, even a few people from the Blades. And there will be cake and decorations! Oh man, you know Hunk makes a mean chocolate and chocolate chips cake that you can’t even believe your taste buds! And music! Pidge found a way to download songs from her archive so things might get pretty wild, if you catch my drift!”

Lotor makes a contemplative noise at the back of his throat, head leaning against his fist, and a small smile settling across his face as he regards Lance and his nervous rambling. This time the smile looks softer…

“You seem quite excited for this event.”

“Well…yeah.” Lance sobers up and focuses on Lotor. “I want this to work. To achieve peace throughout the universe, we must first get to know each other.”

“Get to know each other?... Indeed…”

“Uh-“ Lance blinks, heart leaping to his throat at Lotor’s suggestive tone. He must be dreaming… “I mean! We must try to understand each other! And, what better way than a party, right?!”

For a second silence hangs between them, time stretching out and filling space. Lance prepares himself for another rejection, the amused smile on prince’s face unhelpful at easing his suspicion. However, when Lotor uncrosses his legs and leans forward into Lance’s space, he is entirely unprepared.

“Such a compelling case,” Lotor murmurs, long hair brushing against Lance’s knees. Then fixing his gaze on the other, he smirks. “Count me in…Lance”

Heat suddenly burns inside his stomach, sucker punching and rendering him speechless for a few seconds. As Lance takes a sharp breath, eyes fleeting across Lotor’s face, the other leans back with fingers linking and a knowing smirk settling across his lips.

“Uh…good! Sure thing!” He mentally shakes himself, rising to his feet in a smooth motion and turning to leave. “I’ll let you know about the details.”

With an affirmative nod from the prince, Lance turns back and moves out, all the while feeling Lotor’s burning gaze down his back.

Strange…

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“You did WHAT?!”

Lance can see a vine popping across Keith’s temple and wow, does it look malicious, much like Keith’s entire aura right now.

“Hey!” Lance retaliates, indignant and high pitched, because he has pride (and really believes this might help them secure another alliance, but that’s beside the point and it has absolutely nothing to do with how pretty Lotor looked just minutes ago! No! Nope! NOT happening! )

“There is nothing harmful about it, so keep your hackles under control, huh, mullet!”

“We don’t even know his intentions or his agenda!” Keith continues.

“Ahh, yes… I side with Keith on this one, man.  I mean, this is Lotor we are talking about, you know evil crown prince of Galra, massive planner, schemer, because he looks like a schemer… You guys remember how he was always one step ahead of us, right?!”

Lance swallows down his sigh. Of course he knows what Hunk is talking about and he loves his best bud but sometimes the big guy worries too much.

“Guys, relax!” he gestures with his hands, palms turned towards them. “Everything is gonna be just fine. C’mon, it is just a party!”

Keith still looks like he is ready to give him another piece of his mind but Lance swiftly turns towards the mostly silent occupant in the room. “Besides, Pidge is okay with it, and it is her birthday!”

Promptly every other face turns to the girl, who is typing on the transparent tablet. “It’s fine.” she replies nonchalantly, eyes never leaving the screen. Lance opens his arms towards her and gestures as if he is presenting something. “See!”

Now Keith looks constipated and Hunk looks quite a bit sick but Lance is almost convinced he can turn this around and stop the team from harassing Lotor when a shadow lands on four of them, causing every head to turn towards the source.

Over the seats of the common room Shiro stands, looking down at them and for a second Lance thinks he is going to be reprimanded for taking liberties, only to relax as Shiro shares his opinion. “I think we all should try to see this as an opportunity to get acquainted with Prince Lotor and introduce ourselves as well.”

“I agree” As Allura moves to stand next to Shiro, Lance feels a warm feeling settle across his chest. He can only guess what it means to lose all of your family, all of your people and yet, find the strength to overcome your pain and even accept the race that caused such a tragedy.

She is amazing, Lance thinks. More than amazing…

“This is a chance to gain new allies such as Prince Lotor and strengthen our relationships with our existing ones”

“Also,” Lance intervenes, plopping beside Pidge and pulling her close with an arm around her shoulder “to have fun!” Turning to wink at Allura, he smiles brightly. “It is a birthday after all!”

At the corner of his eye Lance can see Pidge sending him a look but up close he also notices the corner of her lips turning up.

“Ah-“ Allura says, suddenly embarrassed. “Yes, you are absolutely right, Lance.” Her voice has gone soft. “It is to have fun as well.”

Across the room Keith’s scowl has no rival. Lance suspects, it is because he is allergic to having fun.

But finally, he thinks ignoring all of that. Something is going right!

Turning back to Pidge, he grins.

“Just leave it to me!”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The party is… a disaster!

Well, probably that is an overstatement but where is the joy if it is not an overstatement!

Still…it is going pretty rocky for Lance.

And, don’t get him wrong, it is not the countless clueless aliens and their preferences towards juuust the right music. It is not the weird, weird gifts gathered around Pidge (seriously who gets a human being a purple acid bomb!).  Strangely… it is not Keith, with his stupid frown and sulking tense expression. It is not even Lotor, who is for the most part calmly nursing his drink beside the bar and basically keeping a low profile.

No! It is Matt and his stupid sibling love!

Lance grits his teeth as Matt once again hugs Pidge close, wide grins plastered across their faces and it is great to see them as happy as this, because a) cute, b) happiness is a treasure in vast freaking space and c) it means the party is amazing and Lance is proud of himself.

But…

It hurts.

Sighing Lance turns his eyes away and quickly excuses himself from the company of a few Balmerans. He seriously needs a drink to take the edge of, fingers clenching into tight fists as he desperately tries to control his feelings.

As he passes through the crowd he can feel longing settling across his chest, a sudden feeling of loss pulling at his heart. For a second his sister flashes in the shadow of Allura, in the way she flicks her hair over her shoulder , the next moment he can see his brother’s smile on Hunk’s face and –

Lance catches sight of Matt and Pidge -

-that warm feeling that surrounds his heart whenever his little cousin hugs him…

Lance turns his eyes away, heart squeezing painfully.

I miss-

No! He can’t deal with this right now. Not in front of all these people, not when it is Pidge’s birthday!

Moving towards the bar, he bypasses the various snacks and immediately reaches for the spiked punch.

Vaguely he is aware of another set of eyes watching him but at this point, he can’t find it in himself to care about anything. Pouring a generous portion, Lance turns towards the exit, the sudden need to be alone almost choking him. He needs space; he needs to be away from happy families, away from reunions, reminders and most certainly birthday parties.

Giving a fake half smile to one of the Olkari representatives, Lance pushes through the crowd, his eyes momentarily catching Lotor’s before turning away.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

In the silence of an empty corridor, Lance leans against the wall, knees folded and eyes focused on the flickering lights scattered across the vast space. He wonders if he will ever get the opportunity to see his family again, to feel his mother’s warm arms, to hear his dad’s joyful laugh…

Space is too large, Lance thinks, pushing at now the empty cup. And Earth is so far away.

The sudden forlorn footsteps pull him out of his thoughts, head reluctantly turning towards the intruder. He really doesn’t want to explain himself to the team, their faces too familiar, too close… And he doesn’t have the strength to pretend for a member of the coali-

As Lotor turns the corner, Lance can feel his brows rising in surprise. In the low light of the corridor Lotor looks divine, regal with perfect skin and piercing eyes…. and entirely out of place.

“Uhm-“ Lance stammers intelligently. “What- why- why are you here?”

One of Lotor’s eyebrows rises, an amused sly expression replacing his neutral one. “As one of your guests, can’t I enjoy the various corridors of your castle?”

Lance can’t help his frown. “That doesn’t even make sense. There is nothing interesting here-“

“You seemed upset”

Lance’s voice hitches at his throat, a lump settling right at the center.

“I’m fine,” he tries, avoiding the other’s gaze and turning his head towards the stars. “Just needed some space.”

Lotor stays silent but takes one more step towards Lance. “Would you mind if I stay here for a while?” Before Lance can complain, the other leans against the wall beside him. “It was getting rather…tense surrounded by coalition forces.”

Sneaking a look, Lance pushes down his sigh. “Sure,” he says. “Though I find that hard to believe. And you should be trying to make friends, not hide in a corridor.”

“Ah!” Lotor murmurs, amusement clear in his voice. “Such a sound advice.”

This time Lance turns to glare up at the prince. “Hey!” he complains “I’m fine! This is just tempor-“

“You were excited for this party, were you not?” Lotor diverts, looking away from Lance and focusing on the stars. “ What changed?”

“Uh- nothing!” Lance exclaims, voice suddenly spiking. “Nothing changed… It is just-“

I miss-

Swallowing he stops, words choking him and his heart breaking under the weight of space, of distance, of endless war. He doesn’t know if he will ever be back, if he will ever see his cousins, his aunts and uncles, his siblings, parents… mom…

Before he can stop himself words tumble between his lips.

“My family…” Lance starts, vision blurring “when I was back home…”

He tightly closes his eyes for a few seconds, forcing himself to calm down, to gain control of his voice. When he reopens them, they are shinning with a new force. “We used to have these huge birthday parties.” He pushes on, voice getting stronger with each word, memories providing strength instead of causing pain, as he continues to share.

“And, ah- everyone came in. The house would be full! My cousins, all of them! They are all younger than me and oh, you should have seen it! When it comes to parties the first year is always the best one!”

Vaguely Lance can feel Lotor sliding down the wall to settle beside him.

“I remember Phillipa! She took her first steps on her birthday, that little rascal! She was adorable, trying to stay upright with her chubby hands grabbing onto the sofa-“

Suddenly stopping Lance bites his lip. Why was he even talking about these things?!...

“I guess…” he admits, voice small and low but finally ready.  “I- I miss them. There is only somethings you can share with your family”

Beside him Lotor hums, though Lance isn’t sure if he understands.

Silence stretches between them, filling up the space and almost becoming deafening.

“Where are your Generals?”

At the sudden question, Lotor’s jaw clenches, his fingers growing tense then gradually, deliberately relaxing.

Lance bites his lip. Abort, abort!, his brain screams at him. “You,” he starts, nervously cleaning his throat. “You don’t have to tell me. I just thought…it was odd.”

As Lance watches, Lotor looks away, eyes searching the endless space. This time the silence that comes between them is oppressive, restricting, almost making it impossible to breathe.

“It was me,” Lotor says, in the end, successfully throwing Lance into a loop.

“You? How so?” Leaning forward Lance rests his head on his palm.

For a second Lotor looks like he might give an honest answer, eyes thoughtful and fingers linked, before his face closes off. “Galra do not have the sentiments you have described.”

“Pffft! I don’t know what you are talking about” Lance argues, letting it go and trying to keep things light. “Keith is half Galra and he is such a ball of sunshine when it comes to friendship.”

Lotor looks unconvinced but soon his features relax as he catches up to the joke.

“But,” Lance continues. “ He still cares…”

The other turns towards the window once again. “I understand he is no longer a paladin.”

A sudden anger rises inside Lance, disappointment squeezing around his heart. Vaguely he realizes this might be a ploy by Lotor to gather more information, to identify their weaknesses and divide the team, but sometimes you gotta give in to get something in return. “He wanted to go another way, yes. But that doesn’t mean-“ A sudden lump clogs up his throat. And he knows he had agreed with the others when Keith asked to join the Blades of Marmora, he knows they had this giant group hug, showing their support and acceptance but still…the thought of Keith leaving -  It still hurts…

“-that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the team.”

Lotor hums once again, voice soft and contemplative. “Perhaps.” Then turning towards Lance he fixes his gaze on the other. “For Galra, loyalty and sincerity don’t come naturally. We-“  He pauses for a second, expression staying forcefully neutral, before continuing. “Survive… and do anything to ensure our goals, whatever they may be.”

Oh-

“It sounds lonely.”

That wasn’t what Lance had meant to say but once he says it, he can see how true it is. Beside him, Lotor looks surprised and even though it only lasts for a few seconds, it is enough.

Lance pulls his knees towards his chest, linking his long arms around his bent legs. “Whether in the shape of kin, relatives or friends, family is important.” He murmurs, looking at the floor. “They love you and stay with you even though you are not at your best. They are there to support you, to keep you in line, to show you what can be better, how you can be better. And-“

He pushes his lips together, fingers biting into his arms.

“- and I’m sorry you didn’t have the chance to find yours yet.”

When he looks up there is confusion on Lotor’s face as if Lance is an alien life form, hatching right before his eyes and once again Lance waits for that look to turn calculative, even turn into something similar to how he had regarded Lance before the party, amused, flirty, manipulative… But it stays the same.

Cleaning his throat Lance then leans back and shoves Lotor’ arm slightly. “Besides,” he points out, trying to lighten the mood. “You can’t really do worse than Zarkon. The guy literally tried to kill you.” Smiling Lance gives the prince a wink. “You can only go up from there.”

Shock is evident on Lotor’s face, brows raised and eyes wide open but before Lance can try something else to pacify the situation, the other speaks.

“You are a peculiar one, aren’t you?”

“What?! Peculiar? I’m peculiar?! I’ll tell you what Prince Lotor-“

Then suddenly there is a laugh, barely and short but it is a laugh, from Lotor nonetheless.

Lance grows silent, his eyes fixed on the other.

“I apologize” Lotor says his voice loaded with amusement, eyes soft. Then…

“Thank you…Lance.”

A new exciting energy passes through Lance, the way his name sounds in Lotor’s voice causing a shiver to run down his back. However, it is different than before. Now it feels warmer… better.

Lance cleans his throat, feeling color spreading across his cheeks.

The other gives him a half smile, a second later his face slowly closing off and smile turning into a calculating smirk.

But Lance can tell a first step when he sees one.

And for now, he’ll take what he can.