#it’s not like there’s a group specifically made up of half-galra right?

[oliveden]

similarly, angst potentials of keith's appearance

looking human vs. looking galran vs. being able to shift

a) he's never been anything else but human his whole life, right? but there are just the small details, the things that don't add up, the blade that Ulaz carries that's just a little too familiar (canon)

b) he's never going to be human, he's never going to fit in. if he's born on earth, he can't be part of it, there is an entire half of his heritage he can never be a part of. he is monstrous, alien to them in the worst sense of the word

c) he tries to pretend he's human on earth and galra in space but both of those are wrong, even though they’re supposed to both be true, and forcing himself into this box is only hurting. no matter where he is, it feels like he's lying and neither human nor galra customs feel right to him. he's an outlier no matter what he does and there’s nothing he can do to change that

angst potential of keith maturing at galra levels, which are way longer than human lifespans

keith, pre-adolescence, realizing his dad isn't going to live long enough to see him as an adult, that he's going to be left alone at the galran equivalent of a teenager

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

The Search for the “Bluest Quintessence” and S6 - The Most Unnecessary Conspiracy In VLD?

Can somebody riddle me this? I’m rewatching Voltron: Legendary Defender, and I just…hm. Am confusion.

I’ve been thinking about the types of quintessence throughout the show, and how the show’s plots always revolve around energy harvesting. According to season 1, totally raw quintessence mined from worlds is yellow, and Haggar’s druids are the ones who filter it into its purple state: 

(Screenshots from Season 1, Episode 10: Collection and Extraction)

I feel safe in assuming that the filtering of raw, mined quintessence into its purple form is what turns it into a usable source of energy. But it also seems that this purple quintessence was still never “as good” as the enriched, concentrated blue quintessence that Alfor and Honerva originally discovered with the comet. Because if the purple version were so perfect, then no one would be desperately trying to get a better grade of quintessence, right?

Which sets the stage for Lotor’s whole arc:

(Screenshot from season 3, episode 7: The Legend Begins)

So here’s where I get confused: How does the need for specifically concentrated quintessence in any way result in the plot twist we got in s6 with the Altean colony? 

Please help me out here. So s6 was about Lotor having this totally secret and horrifying operation to harvest concentrated quintessence from “a few” Alteans, in order to specifically break into the rift. In season 4, Lotor himself even confirms Pidge’s s3 suspicions regarding the purpose of his agenda, that it’s all about getting to the rift using this special quintessence:

(Screenshots from season 4, episode 5: Begin the Blitz)

Lotor also admits to the goals he wants to achieve by piercing the barrier:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 5: Bloodlines)

And throughout these endeavors, the purest, most concentrated quintessence always and specifically appears as blue:

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 2: Razor’s Edge)

In season 6, we see the show building up to this wild connection between Lotor and where he’s getting this secret, concentrated quintessence. Krolia and Keith confirm they’ve been trying to track it down in different ways:

(Screenshots from season 6, episode 2: Razor’s Edge)

And in this episode, Krolia builds this blue, enriched quintessence as being very scarce and from a totally unknown source:

But in rewatching earlier seasons, I get really confused as to why literally anyone was

so amazed

by this blue quintessence as a mystery energy source. Because...it seems to me like the show itself...didn’t even need an all-new secret source via the Alteans? It already had multiple potential sources? Like, everywhere?

So I guess, let’s talk Komar because it heavily affects the potential plot of the show.

Season 4 details Keith and Kolivan’s initial discovery of enriched quintessence. And the enriched quintessence they found wasn’t scarce or from a mysterious ship like Krolia’s experience in season 6. Instead, the Blades found massive vats of it in a major, well-known, and old but active Galra stronghold—with several Galran soldiers still guarding it and even moving the supply around:

(Screenshots from season 4, episode 1: Code of Honor)

Canon tries to excuse Komar tech from being the answer to the existence of this enriched quintessence, given that Voltron destroyed Haggar’s Komar Experiment in season 2. And it has to explain this away, because Komar tech is very, very good at harvesting vast amounts of that precious blue stuff, and we just can’t have a simple answer, can we:

(Screenshots from season 1, episode 6 – Take Flight)

But whether Komar had been destroyed or not, its very existence...never actually goes away in the larger show’s story. For example, Coran describes the Komar in a way that hauntingly reflects exactly what Lotor’s tech in the Altean colony does:

(Screenshots from season 2, episode 13: Blackout)

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 4: The Colony)

Idk if this is a “chicken or the egg” type of situation, but the technology for the Komar and the technology for harvesting Alteans seem to have the same result of procuring concentrated quintessence. Not just the yellow raw stuff or the somewhat better purple. But the enriched, blue quintessence that Lotor coveted so desperately for breaking into the rift.

So, conspiracies aside that Haggar stole Komar tech from Lotor or vice versa, I find it pretty wild that Lotor’s automatic go-to for harvesting energy was the Alteans. Because with the technology he had, he literally could have linked it up to....just about any other form of life on the universe. 

What the Komar, totally destroyed or not, ultimately suggests is that the pure, concentrated quintessence is not actually unique to special Alteans--but that the trick is simply being able to more purely harvest any given life force.

In which case, it makes turning survivors of omnicide of one’s own heritage into cattle and breeding them for more “special” victims seem so...utterly pointless on so many levels. Lotor could have just pointed said tech at plants and fish, and received a similar result. Haggar and Zarkon confirmed within season 1 that it could canonically be done. The show even depicts them taking pure, concentrated quintessence from specifically animals and a large body of water.

I suppose prior to this rewatch of earlier seasons, I did think that, in response to this, VLD was arguing for Alteans as the only beings in the universe who had the “bluest” quintessence. Which would maybe better explain Lotor’s exploitation of them despite the squicky master race/species vibes that such a concept gives off. But this concept also can’t explain the s6 plot twist to me anymore after my rewatch.

In looking back at previous seasons, Alteans originally were dependent on Balmeras for quintessence-based energy:

(Screenshots from season 1, episode 8: Rebirth)

Notice how Coran talks of the Balmera giving of the crystals as a gift, but yet Alteans repaid their “sacrifice” (same language Lotor used for the Alteans) by providing a token of their own pure life force. This episode reveals that Balmera ultimately function as concentrated quintessence generators and storages.

But even then, Alteans were also dependent on the people of the Balmera to complete this transfer of pure, concentrated quintessence, as they could manipulate the Balmera’s energy for symbiotic purposes:

In which case, if Balmeras were the original™ self-replenishing stores of pure, concentrated quintessence, and also so readily found across the universe with entire groups of people capable of transferring its energy, why even need to harvest Alteans? And since Balmeras can be convinced to willingly give of themselves for a good cause, would it not have made sense for Lotor to work alongside these gentle giants and their people, perhaps finding a way to extract its quintessence in a form other than a crystal? Perhaps even using his smaller-scale version of harvesting tech? Because clearly, he had an issue with just wiping out an entire planet or culture:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 1: The Prisoner)

And Lotor is shown as canonically very interested in wanting to work alongside other cultures:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 6: The While Lion)

I think it very likely that Balmera would have worked out some way for him to extract concentrated quintessence in the form he needed—and even better, this would have presented the opportunity to re-initiate the culture and repayment ceremonies of old sacred Alteans.

Because...why wouldn’t he have known about this Altean practice?

(Screenshot from season 5, episode 6: White Lion)

(Screenshot from season 6, episode 4: The Colony)

So despite Balmera being prevalent concentrated quintessence stores throughout the universe, and despite their people still knowing how to enact an Altean repayment ceremony, and despite Lotor having “deep knowledge,” he somehow missed this opportunity??

Lotor would have happily nerded out over being like his Altean ancestors and sustainably and respectfully extracting pure, concentrated energy while also achieving his end goals. And if he’d connected to a Balmera even once, just to try it, he would have discovered that he was a “sacred Altean” as well. Because canon confirms it:

(Screenshots from season 5, episode 6: White Lion)

So Lotor is, canonically, a magical “sacred Altean” with deep cultural knowledge that not even Allura or Coran were aware of. He had generally pretty immediate access to or the ability to find Balmeras across the universe, which are also canonically storages of pure, concentrated life force. And Balmera have canonically deep and respectful relationships with the Alteans who harvest their energy for their own purposes.

Through Balmera and perhaps a simple redesign of his own harvesting tech he was working on, Lotor had an easy way to secretly siphon blue concentrated quintessence in the form he needed, from a willing, self-sustainable source—and afterward, to also give back in thanks in the ways of his mother’s people, without having to actually “sacrifice” anyone.

And yet...malicious Altean harvesting was the only explainable option and the answer this show went with...??

I’m really tempted to just conclude that blue, concentrated quintessence is not as scarce in other life forms as the latter half of the show makes it out to be, that more forms of life can actually interface with it and manipulate it beyond Alteans, and that Lotor had very simple ways to hide and run a sustainable and culturally meaningful quintessence experiment. 

So to me, it seems that the search for the “bluest quintessence” represents just another example of VLD inconsistently manipulating its own inconsistent worldbuilding to arrive at outrageous, universe-contradicting and pointlessly evil plot twists like the s6 colony plot.

But I’m curious what you all think and if I’m just...missing something? 

(Also apologies if someone else has already brought this up somewhere and I’m just lagging behind, haha.)

[delaneytveit]

Satellites Part 14

LOLOL Tumblr really didn’t want me to post this part, first it wouldn’t let me transfer the story, then it completely deleted the post, then it wouldn’t let me copy and paste, then it deleted it again. 

The things I  go through to update on here. 

Well in the original I was super excited to tell you guys that I got a new job but ummm excitement has depleted with this h3llsite’s choice of violence. anywaysss... come say hi to me on twitter! I need new vld friends and also if you’re feeling generous, maybe consider supporting me on ko-fi? 

Twitter - sfw -> @/spacemom_laney | nsfw -> @/15_agentwash

ko-fi - ko-fi.com/delaneym_15

Now lets get back to Lance and the gang! 

(Part 13) (Masterpost) (Part 15) 

It was a few hours before the rest of the team returned. Long after dinner, Keith, Lance and Coran stood on the bridge, ready to welcome the beaten and battered team back.

As much as the three knew about the team’s state, it didn’t dismiss the fact that once they had finally entered the room, they were able to fully relax.

Apparently, the mission had gone well. A good amount of information had been acquired, which though bittersweet for Lance, he felt a swell of pride for his fellow paladins. They had pulled off the mission well.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. His friends had seen where he had been held. Where he had been stripped of himself and put back together. They had seen what had been done to him.

However the longer he heard about the message, the more confused he got. That didn’t sound like a testing facility. It didn’t sound like anything besides a normal ship. That couldn't be right. Project Leo was a research project, an ever going experimentation.

“Hold on, are you sure you went to the right ship?” He asked, interrupting one of Pidge’s rambles.

“Uh, yeah! Don’t you have ears? We literally said that we got the info we needed!” Pidge exclaimed, clearly annoyed.

“Hold on Pidge, let Lance talk.” Lance was grateful for Shiro, statement. As much as he knew Pidge didn’t mean to be cruel, it hurt that she thought she knew more about this project than the literal subject of it.

Pidge huffed, but didn’t say anything else. Instead she along with everyone else looked at Lance expectantly.

“What you’re describing sounds nothing like where I was held. I thought the mission was to infiltrate a testing facility.”

“Hold on, you mean there's more ships?” Keith exclaimed. Of course there were more ships. There’s no way they’d only have one ship, why didn’t anyone even think about that? Keith felt like an idiot and by the look on everyone’s faces, save for Lance, the feeling was shared.

“Well I was held in a testing facility. That was how they were able to do all of the um...experiments.” Lance hated talking about it, but he knew he would have to someday. “So if there was no lab, which you guys definitely would not have been able to miss, then yeah there's more than one ship.”

The team stared at him dumbfounded. No one really knew what to say.

Pidge had been positive that the ship they were infiltrating for the mission was the same one that Lance had been held on. It was clear now heer mistake and she cursed herself for not thinking about it. If Lance had gone with them, he would have known instantly.

“Well, now we know.” Shiro stated simply.

Everyone seemed to agree with that, and the conversation was quickly steered away to focus on the information Pidge and Hunk were able to steal.

Thus began the day of sifting through files.

Shiro had ordered everyone to rest before dinner so that they could talk more about it. They had a lot to work with and apparently a lot more questions to ask Lance.

+

The team was gathered in the lounge room, the sound of various conversations filled the air as Pidge sat on the couch, fully engrossed in her typing. Sure Shiro had said that they needed to rest, the mission wasn’t that hard but it had taken a significant amount of time and it was no doubt that everyone was tired - the Green Paladin could only sit still for so long.

She was searching through some files and attempting to get them translated. It was a long process and she was sure that she would be up until the early hours of the morning and still only have finished half of them.

She was mourning her sleep when a voice startled her. Lance had leaned over, apparently he had questioned what Pidge was doing, though she was too distracted to hear him.

Pidge watched as Lance’s eyes grew wide at the sight on her screen.

“Pidge, are those the files from today?” he asked, the room instantly went quiet.

“I-I was just translating them.” she didn’t know why she was feeling uncomfortable about it, but she did, immensely. Maybe it was the look on Lance’s face, or the unmistakable tenseness of his body.

It was clear his demeanor was seen by everyone as Keith leaned towards the Blue Paladin and placed a hand on his arm. “Lance?”

He took a few more seconds to stare at the screen before pointing at the numbers at the top of the current file.

Subject 7234.

“That’s me.”

+

Pidge had been given the green light to get as much out of the files as possible. She was determined to find out as much as she could out of the information, for Lance’s sake. They needed to know the extent that he went through during his experimentation.

Pidge halted her typing momentarily.

Lance had been experimented on. Her friend, her brother, had gone through this process. Had been treated as nothing more than a lab rat for who knows how long. From the information she had already translated, it was clear that the process was a lengthy one. Lengthy and painful. Lance had been subjected a whole new form of torture for the gain of scientific knowledge.

And he remembered almost all of it.

She didn’t think she would ever get the look on his face out of her mind. The haunted look of realization as he read the numbers. They gave him fucking numbers. Called him by fuckin numbers. They reduced him to those numbers, as if that was all he was.

As if he wasn’t a human being. A person, with a family, dreams, desires.

But none of that mattered to them, and they had made it known.

The more she learned about the process, the more horrified she became. How had Lance endured all of that? How was he still alive?

The next day, the team met on the bridge to discuss Pidge’s findings.

“So, any knews?” Hunk asked. He had been feeling uneasy since the mission. The thought of his best friend having to go through what he did completely alone broke him.

“Well, we know that they were trying to enhance their soldiers. I found out a little bit of their process.” Pidge announced. “Essentially they were testing a serum that enhanced the subject on a genetic level, targeting the DNA specifically.”

“Uhh, Pidge, audience.” Shiro reminded her.

“Right, basically whatever they did, they wanted to make it permanent. So instead of like introducing lab made hormones and stuff, they were making Lance’s genes exhibit extreme versions of themselves.”

Keith had been listening quietly, but something just wasn’t adding up. If he had only paid more attention in biology. “I don’t get it, what exactly did they do?”

Pidge huffed, “Think Captain America, but without the dramatic reveal, and a much, much longer process. The serum at even a low dose would speed up Lance’s genetic metabolism and hormone production to a lethal speed. But too low wouldn’t give any results, so they had to introduce it over time.”

“Over time?” Hunk asked, he had been nervously twiddling and picking at his fingers since the conversation had started.

“Four doses.” It was the first time Lance had spoken that day besides a goodmorning at breakfast. He was sitting on the platform of the consol, his eyes never leaving the floor. “They did four doses over the span of 8 weeks. The first two were separated by five weeks, the last two were only a week apart from each other.”

There was a heavy silence in the room, stretching longer than comfortable but no one seemed able to break it. It seemed that with more answers they only got more questions about the project.

“So, they were trying to make super soldiers, right?” Keith finally asked.

Pidge nodded.

“But something isn’t making sense. If they were trying to enhance their own soldiers, then why use Lance?”

“Why would they test it on their own soldiers?” It was Lance that answered Keith’s question, eyes finally looking up at the group before him. “Think about it, all the other tests failed, why would they risk perfectly good Galra Soldiers.”

“...But yours didn’t.” Keith pointed out.

“It almost.”

[dreamworksconvict]

She-Ra: Racism Problem Pt. 2

Thanks to everyone who said nice things about my earlier post!!!! I like am really invested in representation and media so I’m glad it’s being received well. 

I also want to add a caveat that I’m not trying to cancel She-Ra. I just want to hold media to a high standard and think that we can critique the things we like.

Next I want to talk about some pretty heavy topics: the White Savior trope and colonialism. Again, I’ll be pretty spoiler-heavy here. I also want to warn people that there will be mention of genocide and antisemitism. I’ll be writing about Hordak in the next part.

In the fourth part I want to add an addendum about Catra being coded as Latina, which I think is a valid interpretation. I also want to talk about the ableism present in the show with both Hordak and Entrapta, which is a separate issue so I’ll label it differently. 

Imagine a story like this: 

“I am a white-coded, able-bodied, implied cisgender protagonist who has a Special Trait that makes me Stronger and/or More Unique than other characters. I also have some connection to Some Evil Colonizers from Space. Oh no! Some Evil Colonizers from Space have showed up to threaten me and my Token Diverse friends who get about half as much screentime as I do! Wait a second, “evil?” There’s no such thing! They’re only Misunderstood Colonizers Who Didn’t Mean It, and/or there was More to the Story. Maybe they came from a Dysfunctional Family or were Abused/Bullied! I think the people/places they colonized may have been Secretly Bad or Just As Bad all along, too! Wowee! Let’s all have a Heart-to-Heart and/or sacrifice one of my Token Diverse friends to save the day!”

Which story am I referring to? Well...

Voltron... or She-Ra... or Steven Universe.. and probably others...yeah.

(And for those who claim that Keith isn’t the protagonist of Voltron, well... I mean he is... but that’s an entirely different essay. But notice how Lance and Hunk are actually smaller than the other characters on the screen and are partly transparent, and that Allura gets pushed to the back row and is mostly covered? Yikes...)

(On my previous post, someone also noted that Steven is half-Jewish. I was not aware that Rebecca had confirmed this officially. As I am not Jewish myself, I don’t want to speak over this, but I do want to point out that you can be white and Jewish, as it is a Diaspora identity. There are many Jewish ethnicities, such as Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Mizrahim. I also wish that we had seen more of that in the show--like Steven celebrating Hanukkah, or learning Hebrew, or having a Rosh Hashanah celebration... From what I can tell, Rebecca only confirmed this on a Reddit AMA post. So I don’t know specifically how Steven identifies because that was never clarified in the show, but it seems like he is coded as white. Definitely feel free to disagree, this is just how I’ve interpreted the show, especially given its treatment of colonization.)   

On top of all three of these shows recycling a very similar plotline, they all share the White Savior trope. Teen Vogue has an article talking about how this is linked to colonialism and I highly encourage checking that out. I’m going to pull a large chunk of text from there because I think it’s really important and applies to animation, not just live action films. 

“Many white people in films based on the stories of POC are often subliminally depicted as godlike saviors, heroes who are rational and judicious to the core. They are usually deified men or women — glorified and righteous — like scripture out of a Holy Book. Look at Hillary Swank in Freedom Writers. The white savior somehow always ends up usurping the narrative. And in this centering of whiteness and white characters, the POC characters end up becoming props, which only perpetuates ideas of our otherness and unimportance, which then establishes a status quo of racism. Whiteness is again normalized, and POC are decentralized. This is particularly problematic because whiteness is not only favored in Hollywood but also in society at large; white privilege is ever-present and ubiquitous.”

Look at the center poster for She-Ra: Adora is pictured in white and gold and red as an accent. She’s bathed in a golden light. This color combination is no coincidence, because we already associate that combination with religious iconography, like the Vatican. 

(I also want to make a note that this is specifically associated with Christian/Catholic iconography. A lot of these shows could be classified as antisemitic in their handling of colonialism and genocide. I would argue--and will be arguing in my thesis--that Season 6-8 of Voltron’s plot heavily relied on antisemitic tropes, especially as it related to Lotor and the Alteans. But that’s for another day.) (Also see my discussion of Steven Universe’s Jewish identity above.)

So how exactly does She-Ra follow the White Savior trope, how is it similar to other stories’ utilization of the trope, and how does this all relate back to colonialism? I would say there are two main factors: setting up Adora as a white heroine with a darker-skinned foil (Catra), and setting up a narrative where Hordak “isn’t that bad of a guy, really.” For this part I’m gonna focus on Adora.

1: Adora as the White Savior

Adora is from the Horde. Keith is half-Galra. Steven’s mom is Pink Diamond. 

All three of these protagonists have some personal tie or connection to a group of colonizing villains. The Diamonds want(ed) to take over earth and suck the life force from it, as they’d done on other planets. They also used a super-weapon to with the intent to kill all the rebel gems. The Galra created an empire and also sucked the life out of planets. They also created a super-weapon that could kill an entire planet, and had already committed genocide against the Alteans. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Big Bad of She-Ra, Horde Prime, has similar goals. Hordak certainly does.

There is an ever-so-slight separation of Adora from the other two protagonists, who, at the start of the series, do not know they are related to the villain group in some way. (Steven doesn’t know he’s a Diamond.) Adora, on the other hand, starts the series as a villain. She’s part of a group that has actively been fighting and destroying the Princesses and the planet. The first episode notes that she is particularly good at her job, with Hordak nominating her for Force Captain. Adora also notes that “this is what [she’s] been working for her entire life.” When Catra and Adora leave the Fright Zone, it is not out of goodwill. They simply want to go for a joyride on a skiff. 

When Adora gains the power of She-Ra, she acts ignorant of the Horde’s actions. The first episode, Adora is completely defensive of Hordak. She even claims that “Hordak says we’re doing what’s best for Etheria.” It is not until the second episode that Adora begins to have any remorse for her actions--but also note that Adora’s main motivation during the first half of this episode is to continue onward with Bow and Glimmer because she wants to know more about herself, not repent for her actions. It is not until the end of the episode that she begins to become a bit more self-aware, but there is a key phrase that Glimmer utters that is very key to the White Savior narrative: “I feel like maybe you’re here to help us.” This line comes after Glimmer apologizes for not trusting Adora. Adora. The Horde soldier. The soldier from the group of colonizers who were responsible for the death of Glimmer’s father. 

Ok sure. 

Consider how realistic this is. (Not that fantasy has to be realistic, but when you’re working with a narrative based on systemic violence, you need to at least be considerate of how this works in reality.) Adora has been trained to fight and kill Princesses and their allies. She’s been trained to take over Etheria and strategically destroy and/or take resources to weaken them. Yet she acts as if this is all news to her. Suddenly meeting the people she’s been trained to destroy causes her to repent, and suddenly the people who have been victimized forgive her and trust her within two episodes. 

Here’s what I think is going on here: given the current hyper-conservative political climate and rampant xenophobia in the world right now, white creators feel the need to put a white person as the hero as if they’re claiming, “See, this character--and subsequently myself--aren’t like those other bad white people!” They want a degree of separation from the reality that they have white privilege and are part of the problem. 

There is no truly “woke” white person. White people have been raised in a society where they benefit off the oppression of the chosen “other,” in this case black and brown people. Even if you do your research like I’m doing, you still will mess up. White people cannot rid themselves of privilege no matter how hard they try, because in this current society, the legacy of colonialism, imperialism, and racism have made it so that white people will ultimately be more successful and have more opportunities for success than others. (Also, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, so even attempts to be considerate about taking advantage of laborers cannot be completely successful.) 

All of this results in a lot of White Guilt. Thus, we end up with narratives where the white colonizer character suddenly has a change of heart and fights against the system without really challenging the core mechanics that put that system in place. But fighting against oppression and violence doesn’t make a white person special--it just makes them decent. 

It also ignores the fact that white people, to be blunt, haven’t done shit to advocate for inclusion and equity compared to literally everyone else. I want to pull another quote from the Teen Vogue article:

[White saviors] perpetuate an idea that is essentially a historical banner of colonialism: People of color need white people to save them. To this day, some people still latently believe what imperialists such as Rudyard Kipling said, that colonialism was important for everyone: the conqueror and, most importantly, the conquered. That without the colonizers, the colonized had no hope of survival. And by constantly churning out movies with plots in which white people "save" people of color, Hollywood reinforces colonialist dictum.

Why does Glimmer think that they NEED Adora to be saved? Why is this white woman the only one who can do it? Sure, Adora has the power of She-Ra, but remember that giving Adora, a white woman, that power was a CHOICE made by the writers. They could have given the sword to someone else, they could have made Adora a PoC... but they didn’t. So suddenly, because Adora, ex-Horde soldier, is there, the Princess alliance can be reformed, people start working together, the rebellion is saved! etc. etc. etc.... 

So then it’s extra ironic (and honestly is pretty predictable given this White Guilt narrative) when the White Savior trope goes right along with The Colonizers Weren’t Actually Evil, Just Misunderstood.

This post is way too long so I’ll continue in the next part. 

[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

First Encounters: II

Word Count: 2702

AN: Sorry for late update. Again. 

The room fell silent. The others stared at Allie without moving. Did she say something wrong?

"Allie, are you sure?" Shiro was frozen in the doorway. 

"It's faint if that's what you mean." She may not understand all of Earth's customs, but freezing at the mention of a lion's roar wasn't normal. "I don't understand what's going on." Shiro made a signal for the teens to follow him to the bridge.

"Allie, can you figure out where the lion is?" Shiro asked, pulling a map on the huge screen. 

The teens still stood, not comfortable in sitting in decades-old seats. Allura knows what's been in them. Allie stepped forward to the map, it's new Altean blue hue matching her eyes. 

"That's the Balmera?" Allie stared at the image on the screen, entranced with the living planet. 

"Allie?" 

"Apologies," Allie shook her head. "I must be exhausted." With quick steps and her head low, Allie walked up the staircase and to her room. No one followed her. 

One by one, each of the teens began retreating to their rooms. Shiro stayed put, lost in deep thought. It had been thirty years since the last time he was on a mission, much less space. He had settled into domestic life. Well, as domestic as life could get as Colonel and Headmaster of the Galaxy Garrison. 

Liz and Cake entered the bridge and made beelines for the rough-looking chairs. Slowly but surely, they removed the gaudy material that was stitched onto the chair. Eventually, every chair was bare. 

Pulling up cameras, Kenny and the teens were stitching fabric together, laughing and enjoying their time. Shiro decided to walk down to check on them, not seeing the dark gray spaceship flying past the window. 

"What's going on here?" Shiro asked, knocking on the frame. With three pairs of eyes on him, Shiro walked over to the stove, where the strange concoction Cake made earlier sat in a pan. 

"We're taking some of the old sheets and making seat covers," Liz was the first to speak. 

"How far are we from the Balmera?" Cake asked, making Shiro look over his shoulder as he dug for a plate. 

"Shouldn't be far." The plates were surprisingly unbroken but covered in a layer of dust. "It would be faster if we had an operating teludav." Washing a plate and serving himself a piece, Shiro sat down next to the teens. Even sitting, he towered over them. The closest to him in size was likely Cake, but he was still shorter. The slouching probably didn't help any. 

Kenny's blank expression made Shiro want to laugh. The grandson and youngest son of the Garrison's most renowned engineers hadn't thought to check. Excusing himself, Kenny rushed down to the engine room, leaving Shiro, Liz, and Cake. 

"Can Cap build a satellite?" Cake asked, and Shiro stopped his chewing in response. 

"Kova?" A nod. "Has she done it before?" Another nod. "Yes." Taking another bite of the food mixture, Shiro considered his next words. "The first one didn't go well, but the others after it wound up going well." 

"There should be a debris nebula around here if Cap wants to go digging." 

"Can we go?" Another voice at the doorway made them all look up from their tasks. It was Kova, who had changed into black pants, combat boots, and a black t-shirt with a lavender sweater on top. Her intense brown eyes met Shiro's dark brown ones. 

"Only if Cake and Kenny join you." Shiro ate another spoonful while Kova nodded her head. She walked back up the hall, heading to her room to change. Before she made it to the mouth of the hallway, however, she was violently thrown against a wall. The alarms on board were flashing red, sirens wailing. "Kova!" Shiro rushed towards the collapsed girl, who was holding her head in her hands. 

"I'm fine, let's go!" She yelled over the sirens, stumbling towards the bridge. 

Allie was thrown out of bed at the impact, Caleb almost impaled himself, and Kenny was currently holding onto the handlebars at the screen in the engine room. Now he knew why they were there. 

Kova still held her head while she stood at the helm, the throbbing never quite subsiding. Caleb and Liz were quick to get to the screens on the sub-floor below her. Allie and Cake followed them in, with Allie's arms firmly around Cake's neck. She was so light, she was afraid she would be on the other side of the side at another impact like that. With the screens closest to Kova already taken, Allie sat below Caleb while Cake sat below Liz. 

"Liz, show me outside feed! Caleb, run diagnostics on running artillery." The large screen appeared at the front before the mysterious ship from before zoomed past again. "Allie, get me a communication link. Cake, help Kenny from here." On Kova's screen at the front, a panicked Kenny was moving around different icons and screens. 

"We have a cannon and small missile blasters!" Caleb had to yell over the noise, the sirens still going off. "Liz, help me!" 

"On it!" The feed showed the tiny aircraft was only the tip of the iceberg. A larger ship stood was out of view of the Coeus's windows, but not out of view of the cameras all over the ship. It wasn't quite as large as the Coeus, but the blast it struck against the Coeus was strong enough to tip it. 

"Communications are down!" Allie yelled, staring at her screen. "How behind was this stupid ship?" Kova couldn't agree more. 

"Ballistas online, cannon is down," Caleb reported. He turned around to look at Kova, whose throbbing head was giving her a rougher time than it should. "Allie, help Kova. Firing ballistas." The sirens shut off but the bridge didn't change from its ominous red hue. The spaceship zoomed past the window again, catching Kova's eyes. 

"Cake, is there a cloak for the windows?" 

"Uh, yeah! Activating it now." The inner windows darkened a shade, but the outer windows were as dark as the space around them. Another blast sent Allie off her feet, landing in Caleb's lap. 

"I'm fine!" Kova yelled, irritation taking over. "Do what you've been told!" Cake and Kenny were busily opening up and closing different channels and screens. The Coeus had taken substantial damage, a few panels flying off. A strike landed on the smaller ship, leaving everyone still. 

A face appeared on the large screen. The mysterious alien was cloaked head to toe in black fabric. It looked like a burka, but for aliens. 

"You are trespassing on Fire territory. Leave now or suffer the consequences." The alien said. Caleb and Kova gave each other a look, turning around to look at their dad. Shiro was in the doorway, staring at the face on the screen. The alien repeated his message, holding a weapon in his hands for emphasis. 

"The Fire?" Liz asked, looking up to Shiro, who was now behind Kova. 

"The Fire of Purification." Shiro stared at the image, moving past Kova, and opening a channel on the helm. "We are headed towards Balmera X-95-Vox. Allow us entry." The eyes of the alien narrowed at the voice. He stood unflinchingly as the larger ship passed in front of the Coeus. 

"To pass through, an individual must be onboard with confirmed half-breed status." Allie, Kova, and Cake made faces, Caleb and Liz looked on in confusion, and Shiro had to make the call. 

"Officer Kovalia Shirogane, second-generation half-galra," Kova said as loudly as she could from behind Shiro's towering frame. 

The alien's eyes went wide, but he had what he wanted. Shutting off the communication link, the ship began to sail away. The throbbing pain inside Kova's skull began to subside a little, while Caleb and Shiro stared at the teen. 

"We aren't officers." Caleb had turned around in his chair to stare at his dad and sister. 

"Yet." Kova was rubbing small circles into her scalp as she moved around Shiro. Shiro knew the situation was bad, but he didn't realize how bad it became. 

"Uh, Colonel Shirogane?" Liz asked, also turning around in her chair. "What's the Fire of Purification?" Shiro met his teens' eyes with a look that said, 'Don't tell your Pops I did this', before descending the staircase. 

"The Fire of Purification was a group dedicated to bringing order and power to purebred Galras." Shiro stood in front of the teens, their seats arranged like an auditorium. "Over the past decade, it has changed from purifying the world of everyone except purebred Galras to an unknown objective. The Garrison has been tracking the movements of the Fire, so it’s nothing to concern you guys with." Liz still looked uneasy, while Caleb's flat stare said nothing. He and Kova thought Shiro was going to reveal the Fire's mission, but I guess not. 

"Debris pile." Kova pointed out the window, already gone before Shiro could call after her. Cake was up the stairs and gone before Shiro could warn him. Allie looked around, eyes darting back and forth. 

"I hear the lion again." Allie left the bridge, leaving Liz and Caleb alone on the ship. 

They both stared at Caleb’s dad, who just shrugged and took Kenny's chair. He still had the earpiece Kova gave him earlier, watching the window as the ship slowed to a halt, and the three teens, now in their Volton outfits, jump onto the nearest pieces of debris. 

Kova was over the moon (bad pun intended), on the verge of going supernova (also horribly intended), and just simply overjoyed at going on her first spacewalk. Allie was looking around the debris for something specific, while Cake was moving smoothly through the debris. 

"Hey Cap, what are we looking for?" Cake asked, watching Allie dig. 

"We're looking for large sheets of metal, wires, and maybe even some decent siblings if we're lucky." Kova began to dig through the debris nebula while Caleb looked on. A faint 'fight me' could be heard from Shiro's earpiece, but Kova didn't seem to mind. 

"We need to repair the ship too, right?" 

"Right. There should be enough to cover both." Slowly but surely, the larger pieces of metal Kova and Cake seemed to find on the nebula made themselves at home in the bay, while Allie was busily looking for something. They had collected almost every piece they needed when they realized Allie was gone. 

"Allie, call in." Silence. "Allie, call in." Caleb and Liz, who found a stash of chocolate chip cookies, leaned forward in their seats. They had been busy playing connect the dots with the stars. "Allura, this isn't funny. Call in." Ooh, we're onto full name. It's serious now. 

"I found something." Her quiet voice didn't seem distressed, but she didn't seem completely okay. Kova and Cake made quick work of the last few pieces and followed Allie's tracker. A huge piece of orange metal was the only thing between the pair and Allie. "It's a lion." With a quick jump, Kova was over the piece of metal. Cake followed behind her. 

In front of them, Allie was on a meteor, but she looked tiny compared to the huge blue, silver, and black lion robot in front of her. It was collapsed on itself, hidden under larger pieces of debris. Much of it was orange, gray, and white. 

"No way." Kova's voice didn't give Shiro, Liz, and Caleb any idea of what the trio was seeing, the debris nebula too dense to see them. "Hey, Caleb? How did the colors go?"

"The Black Lion was as dark as space, the Red Lion was red like fire, the Green Lion was green like trees, the Yellow Lion was yellow like sand, and the Blue Lion was blue like water." Caleb had to shut his eyes to remember the way the teachers taught them the colors of Voltron, as well as their elements. When they were younger, Kova and Caleb used to refer the lions by numbers 1 through 5. It made the '#1 Space Dad' mug that much funnier to them and no one had to know they knew former pilots.

"Allie found number five." Caleb sat up in his chair, dumbfounded. Shiro and Liz looked at him to explain, but Kova did that for them. "She found Blue." 

With steady steps, more steady than either had ever seen her, Allie walked towards the splayed out Blue Lion. Entering its open mouth, Allie made quick work of the empty warship. The head was empty other than the chair and controls in front of it. She sat down in the chair, admiring the leather work for staying together for as long as it did. With her hands on the controls, Allie closed her eyes. 

It felt like a cosmic joke when holo screens appeared over the eyes, standing up to let out a huge roar. 

Kova and Cake watched it all, holding onto each other to keep each other balanced on the thin piece. A video appeared on the screen in front of Allie, and she almost wanted to walk out of the lion to yell at the universe. 

"There's footage of their separation." 

"So, we could potentially be the new paladins." Kova was craning her neck to above the weird lip over her line of sight to look into the lion's yellow eyes. Cake was dashing back to the Coeus as fast as he could go in zero gravity. 

"Potentially." 

"Can we talk about that after I get home?" Cake yelled over the comms, making everyone listening flinch. "I wanna see my mom!" 

"Let's get you in the bay, Allie."

"Uh, actually," Allie stopped Kova in her tracks. "Can I try to get used to Blue? Using the controls and all." Kova was staring so intensely into the Blue Lion's yellow eyes, Allie thought Kova could see her. 

"Allie, you arrived at the Garrison yesterday." Allie sunk into her seat. "Until you're cleared on training, you aren't driving the lion." 

"But—"

"Nope, let's go." Kova had the last word, walking back to the ship. Glumly, Allie motioned Blue to follow. Blue fit comfortably in the bay, surprising for the tall creature. 

Making a beeline for the bridge, Allie gave Kova the video footage Blue was trying to show her. It was the last moments of the lions on Earth, with a younger version of the paladins the teens have come to recognize and know. 

As the lions turned around and shot into space, they exited the Milky Way. They traveled light years until Blue was trapped in the trash nebula. On the screen, a map appeared showing the coordinates of the other lions. 

The Yellow Lion, unsurprisingly to Cake, was on his home Balmera. 

"All for finding the lions?" Kova said, catching everyone's attention. "Say 'I'." With a hand raised over their heads, Kova, Allie, Caleb, and Liz stared into Cake. 

"I just wanna go home and find my sister and hug my mom." Cake moaned, raising a hand for a unanimous decision. 

"C'mon, you can help me repair the ship." 

It took a few days, but the Coeus had new panels protecting its inner workings. Kova hadn't been able to weld in so long due to pilot training, it was refreshing. Caleb had taken to training Allie in the training arena, who was responding in kind. Most of it was reflex from too much time on Altea with pushy guards, but it was beginning to make sense to her. Cake was running low on ingredients to mix, and Liz had finished the seat covers. More often than not, they could be found either in the engine room with Kenny or on the sidelines with Caleb. Shiro agreed to take them to the space mall if they figured out what they wanted to get. 

Of course, he had to figure out how he was getting any sort of currency (seriously, who plans like that?) but he didn't voice it. As long as they stayed on track, everyone was safe and sound until they reached the Balmera.

Of course, no one expected the peaceful Balmerans to attack.

[voyager-into-the-unknown]

This is the next part of my Plance fanfic series. There’s hints of Plance, Kallura, and Hunay in this chapter, plus loads of action!

This is the link to the previous chapter: https://truegryffindorforever2.tumblr.com/post/188911292170/i-had-fun-writing-this-chapter-lance-and-pidge

Chapter 9: The Morning Workout

At 0800 on Monday morning, the Paladins met at the Garrison’s training deck for a mandatory combat simulation. The Altean technology from the Castle of Lions was the foundation of this enormous new training area that the Garrison had built, not just for the Paladins, but for the future trainees of the Defenders Project that the Holts were developing. Even though Pidge had helped her father design the platform, the scenarios were so varied that even she would be surprised by most of them. She had asked Matt to do most of the programming for their training so that she would not know what kind of dangers they would face. Coran and Shiro had also given Matt some suggestions on the specifics.

Keith had arrived early, and was in the control room with Coran, who would be operating today’s simulation. Shiro and Matt had arrived shortly afterwards to observe and evaluate the results of the exercise.

Allura and Pidge were on the deck by 0750, and when Lance and Hunk arrived, Lance saw that the princess was helping Pidge with her unruly long hair, braiding it tightly so that it would fit under her helmet. “Good morning, Ladies!” Lance called cheerfully. Pidge made a little wave and smiled at them.

“Good morning, boys!” Allura replied as she finished helping Pidge with her hair.

“Good morning!” Hunk replied.

“Thanks, Allura. My hair is so much trouble. I am thinking about cutting it again.”

“Aw, don’t do that. Your hair is so pretty, Katie,” Lance said, never taking his eyes off of her. She blushed a little as she averted her gaze and smiled. Hunk gave Allura a knowing glance, and the princess lifted her eyebrows at him, looked at Lance and Pidge, then back towards Hunk. Hunk knew what the princess suspected, and he gave her a little nod. Allura looked happily surprised.

Keith walked out onto the deck. “Good morning, team. Today’s combat training exercise is an infiltration of a Galra pirate vessel. It’s the flagship of a large fleet of destroyer drones that are maneuvered in tandem by a slave circuit, which is controlled by a computer system that Pidge must hack before the flagship’s main reactor goes critical. Our coalition fleet is engaged in battle with the pirates and they have managed to partially disable the flagship, so our time is limited. To complicate things further, we have discovered that there’s also a small group of kidnapped citizens of the coalition worlds that are being held for ransom, and we must find them before we escape. If we fail, the fleet of destroyers will attack one of the coalition colony planets nearby, killing millions of colonists. We will have 25 doboshes to get through the maze of corridors to the brig and the main control room, complete the mission, and escape to our lions before the ship explodes. Reprogrammed Galra sentry bots will be playing the role of the pirates, but there are a few surprises onboard the ship, so expect the unexpected. Ready?”

“Ready!” they all replied. The plain white platform was transformed into the grey corridors of the pirate flagship, dimly lit by an eerie purplish glow. Klaxons blared and there was the sound of running metallic feet as the sentries charged, firing their energy rifles at the Paladins who drew their Bayards and activated their shields as they charged into the onslaught. Lance took out half a dozen sentries with his rifle, and Hunk incapacitated half a dozen more with his canon. Allura and Keith defended Pidge with electro whip and sword as she ran to the nearest terminal to find the location of the kidnapped citizens. When she found them she transmitted a map to everyone’s wrist displays.

“There are three of them. I’ve sent you their locations.”

“Great work, Pidge. Hunk, Allura, come with me to rescue the prisoners. Lance, go on with Pidge to the main control room,” Keith ordered. Lance was the most logical choice to defend Pidge while she worked. He could strike the enemy from a distance with his rifle and defend her in close quarters with his sword.

“Twenty doboshes remaining,” Coran’s voice announced over their helmet coms.

“Let’s move!” Keith shouted, and they went their separate ways.

Keith, Allura, and Hunk had to fight their way through a corridor full of sentries who were dressed in pirate gear and wielding both energy pistols and swords. After making short work of this obstacle, they entered a larger room consisting of several levels of gantries and cells. The area was filled with guards, one of whom was a huge, troll-like creature who carried a massive club. He swiped at Allura just as Keith pushed her out of harm’s way. Hunk opened fire on the creature, distracting him as Keith attacked the sentry guards, slicing the several bots to pieces, but just then even more sentries poured into the detention area brandishing their weapons. The Paladins were vastly outnumbered. Allura rushed to locate the three prisoners and release them from their cells. Romelle, Shay, and Axca soon emerged from the cubicles that Allura had opened. “I think we have some more allies in this fight,” Allura called to the others.

“Shay!” Hunk shouted. “Get her out of here!”

“I want to help,” the Balmeran girl said as she moved toward the battle. Axca and Romelle had already picked up fallen energy pistols and were combating the sentries nearest them. Shay used her size and strength to her advantage in the conflict, hurling sentries left and right, while Allura ran towards the troll-like monstrosity. She leaped onto its back and encircled the creature’s thick neck with her whip. It screamed in agony as she sent electrical currents through its artificial hide and android body. The pirates opened fire on Allura, knocking her down from the monster’s shoulders. Her armor protected her from the worst of the blast, but she fell to the deck, stunned.

“Allura!” Keith screamed. He ran towards her.

The troll-like creature was still disoriented from Allura’s attack. Hunk spotted a row of gantries and empty cells above the monster’s head and opened fire with his most powerful missiles, collapsing the structure on top of the monster.

Keith had lifted Allura’s unconscious body from the deck while Axca and Romelle provided cover for them. “We have to get to the hangar now! We are running out of time!”

“But what about Lance and Pidge?” Hunk asked, running after the others.

The corridor ahead of them was blocked by four pirate sentries with energy swords. Lance shot the first one who changed at them, but dodged as the second attacked with its sword. Lance’s Bayard transformed to its Altean broadsword form and he engaged in a furious duel with the bot. Pidge had managed to short-circuit the third sentry with her Bayard, but the fourth pirate sentry seized her, picking her up from the deck and holding its sword to her throat. She screamed. Lance heard her just as he had just sliced the second sentry in half, and while his sword was still in motion, his Bayard transformed back into a rifle. In one fluid movement, he aimed and fired at the pirate’s head, blasting it off of its shoulders. Pidge jumped down from its embrace as it collapsed. “Way to go, Sharpshooter!” Lance grinned at her.

“Ten doboshes!” Coran announced from the observation deck. Sam and Colleen had come by to watch the training exercise, unbeknownst to the Paladins. They watched as Lance and Pidge ran through the corridor towards the control room.

Keith helped a very groggy Allura down the passageway to the hangar where the lions were protected by their particle barriers. “Will you be able to fly?” He asked.

“I think so,” she straightened to her full height and saw that Hunk was already leading Shay aboard Yellow Lion. Romelle took Allura’s arm and led her towards Blue, and then Axca quickly followed Keith towards Black Lion.

The control room was filled with sentries, but Lance and Pidge took them out in a matter of moments. Pidge ran to the main terminal as Lance opened fire on the sentries that poured through the open doorway. Pidge’s fingers flew over the key pad as row after row of data scrolled up the display screen. “Hurry! Pidge, there’s too many of them!” Lance continued to pick them off.

Pidge didn’t answer him. Even if the flagship was destroyed, she had to send out the signal to disable the destroyer drones, or they would continue on their predetermined plan of attack on the colony. The program that she was trying to hack was one of the most complex she had ever seen. Her brow was damp with nervous perspiration. She began to panic.

The last of the sentries had been taken down by Lance’s sword, just as Pidge yelled, “I’m in!”

“Five doboshes,” Coran announced.

“Red and Green just took off without them, Keith,” Hunk’s voice announced over their comm channel.

“Lance, Pidge, report in. What’s your status?” Keith asked from Black Lion’s cockpit.

“She’s reprogramming the destroyer drones now,” Lance replied.

“Keith, Red and Green have flown away from the battle, far beyond the blast radius. The coalition flight group has disengaged as well. The destroyers are almost to the planet’s surface!” Allura cried, despair in her voice. “They will never make it out in time.”

“Red and Green would never abandon them like that, would they?” Hunk asked. “How will they get to their lions?!”

“Pidge, we have to go now!” Lance yanked her from the terminal pulling her towards the corridor.

“There’s an airlock to the left side of the next corridor,” she said, and they ran towards it.

Just then a sentry opened fire on them from behind. Pidge fell to the deck. Lance turned and blasted the robot to pieces. “Pidge! Are you alright?” He knelt beside her, then helped her to stand.

“My suit’s Okay, But my jetpack isn’t.” Lance opened the airlock and pulled her inside.

“Then you’ll just have to hold onto me. Don’t let go.”

“I won’t.”

Lance opened the door to the hull, and they were pulled into the vacuum of space. Pidge was holding on to him with her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him, and Lance clasped her to his chest with all of his strength. Screaming, they tumbled through the void.

Allura was monitoring the drone attack. “The destroyers...they’ve stopped!”

“Pidge’s hack worked!” Hunk exclaimed. “But where are they?!” Hunk and Allura both had tears streaming down their faces.

“Keith?” Allura called.

Keith didn’t respond. His eyes went blank, and he glowed with quintessence. Black was communicating with him, telling him what he must do. He inserted his Bayard into its port, and suddenly Black Lion was no longer there.

Lance had activated his jetpack and was flying away from the inevitable destruction of the flagship. He held Pidge close to him. She was sobbing. “We aren’t going to make it.”

Just then, Black Lion appeared out of nowhere, his mighty jaws open to catch Lance and Pidge, then teleport away to where Red and Green were waiting for them. The flagship exploded, bright as a nova.

“End simulation,” Coran said, and everyone in the control booth stood in shocked silence. The Paladins, along with their rescued “hostages” were once again standing on the white floor of the training deck: Hunk and Shay, Allura and Romelle, Keith and Axca... But Lance and Pidge were floating in midair, still clinging to each other as the antigravity field lowered them to the deck. They were both breathing heavily, and when they landed, they took off their helmets.

“That was terrifying,” Pidge said weakly. Lance hugged her.

“It was so realistic. I thought we were going to die,” Lance admitted. They were both shaking.

“Well done, team,” said Shiro, who had just come down from the observation deck.

“Keith has unlocked Black Lion’s ability to teleport,” Allura said proudly.

“Hunk and Allura managed to take down the troll by working as a team,” Keith added.

“And Lance’s combat scores are the highest he’s ever earned,” Shiro added. “His Bayard transformed from rifle to sword and back again, and he used those transformations flawlessly. I have never seen him fight like that.”

“I had the right motivation,” Lance said. “My mission was to protect Pidge.” Lance had his arm around her shoulders, and he gave her a little squeeze. She blushed and smiled shyly.

“Pidge, That slave circuit program was designed to be unhackable in the time you were given. What you did was nothing short of astonishing,” Shiro said with admiration for the youngest Paladin.

“She saved the entire colony from the destroyer drone attack,” Hunk added.

“Outstanding work, everyone.” Keith had his arms around Allura and Hunk. He gave them each a side hug, then moved to hug Lance and Pidge. “I’m really proud of you two,” he said while hugging them both simultaneously.

“You saved us, Keith,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, man. You were amazing.” Keith smiled, then gave Lance a little pat on the shoulder.

“The whole team was amazing. Let’s hit the showers and meet up at the Paladins’ lounge for lunch.”

[shirolovesu]

Hello! :) I really love your work, the way you wrote is so captivating, and I was wondering if you would be able to write Shiro (w/ other Paladins if you're willing) With Reader/future S/O who is very short. Like even smaller than Pidge. The impression she gives is really kind and soft, to the point where people jockingly call her an angel. She's pretty shy and awkward, a little clumsy too so they try to keep her as far away from danger as possible- (1/2)

• ngl Shiro’s first impression of you, when he very first caught sight of you in the space mall, was that you were a lost child

• so he came over to you, ready to introduce himself and help you find your parents, but he quickly realized his mistake once he saw your face. His protective instincts toward you are still really strong, but he knows you’re an adult and treats you like one.

• when you were introduced to the rest of the team, there was a bit of teasing at first but you settled in to the Castle happily. Pidge was secretly glad she wasn’t the smallest any more, but if anyone made too many jokes at your expense she was the first one to yell “shortness solidarity!” and take them down

[under a cut for length, not content]

••• specific stuff for when you’re dating Shiro:

• he loves to pick you up and hug you. You’re brushing your teeth and he’ll sneak up and cuddle you from behind. You’re baking cookies with Hunk in the kitchen, and Shiro will pick you up, spin you around, and set you down gently again. It’s a common sight on the Castle for the other paladins to see him walking down the corridor with you in his arms or perched on his shoulders

• you have a feeling Shiro holds back when he bear hugs you, and every time he’s done he asks if he was squeezing too hard. It’s adorable the way he treats you like you’re made of china, but every once in a while you ask him to hug you as hard as he can bc both of you need a good squeeze from time to time

• also he’s super careful when you share a bed with him – if he rolled over on you during the night, he probably wouldn’t squish you but he doesn’t want to take that chance

—-

• one day a group of Galra drones managed to sneak on board the Castle whiel the scanners were down for maintenance. You and Shiro were watching a movie in your room when the alarm went off and Allura shouted for everyone to arm themselves

• Shiro jumped up immediately, but put a hand on your shoulder when you tried to follow him out the door.

“Stay here, you’ll be much safer. Just keep the door locked until it’s all clear. Okay?” Then he kissed you on the forehead and raced off to defend the Castle.

Hide behind a locked door and let everyone else do all the work? No way!

You waited until Shiro was out of sight before heading to the armory and grabbing a chestplate, helmet, and gun. You weren’t some child needing to be protected, dammit! You were a member of this team as much as anyone else!

• When you got to the scene of the action, Keith and Pidge were pinned under fire by half a dozen Galra. Shiro was wrestling with another invader, and Hunk was trying to emergency shut off the airlock so no more troops could come aboard. Things looked to be going okay until another squad of Galra came around the corner, weapons aimed and ready, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

From the viewpoint of everyone else, all they saw was a small murderous blur racing out of the shadows and flinging itself at the approaching troops. The Galra went down like they’d been hit by a tornado -- their guns went one way, they went another with dented helmets and broken armor. The soldiers fighting Keith and Pidge tried to turn and defend themselves, but they weren’t fast enough and ended up joining their comrades in a heap in the corner.

By the time all the enemies were knocked out, the whole team of paladins had their jaws on the floor as they realized that you were the one who’d done it.

“Y/N?!” Shiro gasped. He blinked at you for a moment in total shock. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” You take a deep breath to calm your racing heart. “I didn’t want to leave you guys to fight on your own! Are you all okay? I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner --”

“We’re all fine. No one’s hurt!” Pidge pipes up. “But what about you? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

You wipe your face with the back of your hand and realize that she’s right; tears are rolling down your cheeks and now that he fight’s over, you can’t seem to control yourself.

“I got so worried for all of you. You’re my best friends and I love you, and I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt...” You sniffle and rub your eyes.

“Hey there, it’s all right. We’re fine and you kinda singlehandedly saved the day.” Shiro puts a hand on your head and pulls you into his chest, where he can envelop you in a warm, safe hug. “If I’d had any idea you could fight like that, I never would have asked you to stay behind. And I’m glad you’re safe too, in the end.”

“Me too.” You wrap your arms as far around him as you can reach, and give him the strongest hug you can.

• epilogue: after all the Galra are taken care of, Shiro calls you and the others up to the training deck.

“I think it’s time we learn some new fighting techniques,” he says. “Today, we’re going to have a new instructor show us the best way to knock an enemy right off their feet. Y/N, the floor is yours!”

[rueitae]

Roommates in Disguise

Read the fic on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901668/chapters/47138743

Lance makes a hasty decision that lands him in the clutches of the Green Starling, one of the city’s most notorious super villains. Thankfully she doesn’t seem to know he’s actually her nemesis, the superhero Icebound. His captivity puts him in contact with Katie, a fellow college student. Concerned she may be targeted again, Lance befriends Katie. He doesn’t expect to end up moving in with her. 

Katie will do anything to find her family, that includes becoming a super villain to expose a Galra Corporation that has the city wrapped around its metaphorical finger. When Lance literally falls at her feet, claiming to be friends with Icebound, she jumps at the chance to find the connection between Galra Corp and the sudden appearance of super heroes two years ago, not long after her family went missing... 

Neither anticipate a friendship and a blossoming romance. 

Rated: T

Tags: enemies to friends to lovers, alternate universe - superhero, explosions, comic book level violence, experimentation, human lab rat, domestic fluff, roommates/housemates, Pidge is an anti hero, Galra are still the bad guys, action, secret identities, captured, companionable snark, collaboration

Art by @mybluelionlancylance. Look at it!

https://mybluelionlancylance.tumblr.com/post/186452499757/this-is-art-for-the-plance-mini-bang

Beta-ed by @whyamistillhungry

For @planceminibang

Myself and @fallen-angel-nightshade have worked together to provide ten chapters for your enjoyment! We’ll be posting once a day in alternating POV. I have Lance, she has Pidge. Watch for Nightshade’s chapter two tomorrow!

~~~~~

Lance wondered if heroes in comic books ever had bad days like this.

Not for the first time that day, or even week, Lance cursed his horrible luck. Dust gathered on his dress shoes as he ran desperately along the upended street. He loosened his tie for easier breathing, disoriented and light headed as he crashed into a mound of concrete that used to be part of the road. 

The meeting with his boss hadn’t gone well - he was epically failing his internship, though that was no surprise considering his absences and late assignments. There was no way they’d hire him when he graduated. 

If he lived to graduate in the first place. 

Well, at least he could try to save some people from today’s villainous rampage. 

Pausing for a moment's rest against the wall of concrete and pavement, he closed his eyes to construct peace and quiet as streams of shrieking bystanders raced by in the opposite direction of his travel, towards the center of chaos. There was no opportunity for him to hide and transform into his hero persona. Icebound would be able to traverse this trashed landscape with no problem, but he couldn’t give away his secret identity. His enemies wouldn’t give him any peace.

Enemies he never would have had, had he not been delivering lunch (with ice cream dessert, oh does he remember that ice cream well - all that awful stickiness!) to the Galra Corp building when the lab exploded. So of course he had ice powers. 

It wasn’t as easy as comic books made it out to be. Lance extended a wave of sympathy towards Clark Kent - but at least he had convenient telephone booths to work with. Lance liked to see what he would do in the age of cell phones.

A growing chorus of panicked screams rang out in the near distance.

With a deep breath, determination set in. He had to do something, or innocent people would get hurt. 

He heaved, pushing himself up and over a piece of raised road, making Lance grateful for all those years of gym class. He rolled over his back before sitting up on his knees, assessing the situation. 

A group of students from his university were huddled together, surrounded by strings of green-colored energy that emitted from three black poles embedded in the pavement.

His heart dropped into his throat. They were trapped, and the design and coloring of the contraption told him exactly who was behind it. 

A black spire impaled the ground next to him - it may have well struck through his heart with the way it skipped a beat. He screeched as it missed his arm by a hair’s breadth, forcing him to blunder backward. Elbows scraped against the concrete and he hissed in pain, though it was a small price to pay to avoid a head injury.  

Dread grew by the tick, perspiration trickling down his temple as he craned his neck upwards. Towering above him, the cause of the destruction sat atop her prized machine in a half-circle cockpit surrounded on all sides by control panels, the tall legs lifting her a full story above ground level.

“Well, what do we have here?” the Green Starling, or Pidge as he’d grown to know her, mused. Lance scooted backward but another leg of her octopod caught a piece of his nice slacks with precision and purpose, pinning him to the spot. “Not really who I was expecting to be running into danger.”

This was not the most ideal way to face one of the city’s most dangerous villains, Lance fretted. He wasn’t in costume, but he had to do whatever he could. 

Frostbite formed on his fingertips despite his racing heart. His chilly core begged for release to encase his body and unleash his full power. He had some access to his powers while not in disguise, but not enough to defeat the imposing sight before him. Worse, she’d learn his identity and Lance knew she’d take full advantage of it. Her hacking prowess had landed him in hot water before, mostly in the form of turning machinery against him; she’d find his name and address before he could get home. 

He curled in his cold fingers, hiding them on an otherwise warm and sunny day. “Let them go,” he pleaded, “they’re innocent!” He still had his words. She’d listened to him before - well, Icebound anyway - and left civilians alone. Lance was convinced she had a good heart. She just needed a reminder of it from time to time. 

Pidge rested her elbows on the machine’s console, chin sagging into her palm. The slightest of amused smiles teased on her lips and Lance swore there was a sparkle in her eye. “You’re playing hero - that’s cute.”

“Someone has to,” he retorted, perhaps a bit too quickly, though his heart pounded and he swallowed hard. “What are you even after?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, squashing his hope she’d listen to him. “I needed Icebound’s surrender yesterday,” she said. “I figured surely he’d come out with a mess like this. So unless you know where he is, I don’t have any use for you.”

Lance gulped. Oh if she only knew. 

Though, a sense of pride swelled in his heart that she’d focus on his meddling verses the other two heroes in the city. Not that they were a common sight and Lance begrudged the idea that, despite how irritating Flame-o Brain-o always managed to be, he wouldn’t mind a little help with hero work now and then to catch up with his civilian life.  

The attention to him specifically boosted his confidence and a smug grin tugged up the side of his face. Maybe he could use this to his advantage. 

“It’s your lucky day then!” Lance said cockily, despite being pinned down by a giant robot. “Why hold a bunch of people hostage, when you can just take Icebound’s best friend?” 

Pidge raised a critical eyebrow. “You?” she questioned, pointing a lazy finger in his direction. 

“Yes, me,” Lance responded, momentarily annoyed. Why wouldn’t he be a hero’s best friend if he wasn’t already the hero? He was an awesome friend! 

But a shallow argument wasn’t going to free the civilians. Lance closed his eyes and took a calming breath. He needed to swallow his pride and make her take this deal. “Take me hostage and let the others go,” he pleaded as sincerely as he could muster. “It’ll be just as effective, and you’ll only have one body to worry about.” He had no idea how he was going to free himself later, but as long as the students were safe, it was a risk worth taking. 

After a long moment of considering, Pidge pulled down definitively on a lever. Two thick cables snaked down from either side of the machine. Lance fought his instinct to retaliate as they wrapped under his arms and around his chest, pulling him into the air helplessly. He gripped the coils for some sense of security as he was hoisted to the villain’s eye level. 

Without prompting, she released the students. They scattered and scrambled in all directions. Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

“For your own sake, I hope you’re telling the truth,” Pidge said ominously as she turned her vehicle and moved towards the suburbs. “Because if Icebound doesn’t show up for you, I have plenty of use for you in my lab.”

“You actually have a secret lab?” Lance perked up, his voice rising steadily in alarm. The methodical movement of the machine was making his stomach twist about. each step it took jiggled him about in the smooth coils and it felt like he could slip out if he doesn’t hang on with all he had, legs dangling uselessly a story above the ground. 

He forced a laugh that didn’t feel entirely humorous, keeping a weather eye on how far away he was from the ground. “I never pegged you for being the ultimate villain stereotype.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him.“We only just met and I’ve done nothing but hit the super villain checklist.”

Oh right. He couldn’t mention any of their past meetings in costume. He laughed nervously. “Icebound tells me about you all the time. He says you’re the smartest and most creative bad guy he knows.” Add a wink to the compliment, wiggle the raised eyebrow - be irresistible. 

“Flattery won’t save you from my death ray if you’re lying.” Her threat was so monotone that it sent a chill up his spine faster than ever. So much for flirting his way out of this.

Their ride took an extra heavy stomp and he slipped down, scrambling to catch hold of any part of the coils that might offer more grip. His belly button was left exposed, shirt riding up his stomach.

Maybe, if he’s lucky, one of the other two heroes would find him before he’s forced to reveal his identity to Pidge. 

Urgh. Getting saved by Flame-dude would suck. 

[starfaring-princelotor]

For My Family

Summary: The Emperor’s family has a few words with the Paladins of Voltron.

Pairings: Lotor x Half-GalraF!Reader

★ Disclaimer: I do not ship Lotura and I respectfully ask that this story to not be tagged as Lotura. This is a Lotor x Reader/Self-Insert OC story which is in no way related to Allura at all. Please be respectful of my chosen pairing. ★ 

Warnings: Racism. If you like Allura, this is not the fic for you.

Part One___Part Two___Part Three

Extinction (Bad Ending)___ The Giving Tree___Moonlight Path

Evolution (Good Ending)___Breaking the Ice___For My Family___  Priorities

Voltron has been captured.

The Paladins weren’t able to see their enemy’s faces, only that they were tall, intimidating, and dressed in various rugged wear. Nothing like the Galra soldiers they faced before. Their lions were separated from them and it left each Paladin antsy in the confined cell. At least they had each other and, as long as they were level headed, they can get out of this alive. They always did. They were the Paladins of Voltron, Defenders of the Universe.

However, after their recent battle, none of them truly felt like...heroes.

“How long has it been?” Krolia asked, breaking the ominous silence in the group, “There should’ve been someone sent to interrogate us by now.”

“Somehow, that doesn't really make me feel any better,” Lance slumped down the wall, giving up on trying to find a way out, “Shouldn't we, I don’t know, have some power that we can like summon the lions? Or maybe -”

Lance’s sentence was cut off as the door suddenly whizzed open. Everyone’s attention snapped to the three armed wardens before them. Two they recognized immediately as old foes. Ezor and Zethrid flanked the short one’s sides, but they looked different. They looked aged, gruff and battle ready. No longer were they generals, but warriors. They seemed much more...guided.

The third one pulled down the hood, revealing a rather young face framed with silver locks and sharp eyes. A face none of them personally knew, a face that made them all wonder if they were seeing a ghost. And, perhaps, that same ghost was back to haunt them until kingdom come.

Atlas.

Hair tied back with intricate patterns buzzed into the back of his head, a concealed dagger hidden under his coat, and a sword strapped to his shoulder. He was a child soldier, by choice or by force, none of them knew, but they were going to find out fairly soon. Nebulous eyes scanned over each prisoner, studying their wide-eyed expression at seeing what could only be Lotor’s son. From the skin tone, to the shape of his ears, to the eyes, Atlas was well aware he was a splitting image of his father.

At that thought, his nose twitched in a concealed snarl, “Where is he?”

No one said a thing, still reeling at the fact that Lotor, Emperor Lotor, had a family and never told his allies.

“Where is Lotor? Where is my Papa?” he asked again, impatience growing in his voice, “I know he was with you traitors at Daibazaal.”

“Hey, Lotor was the traitor  - “

“He’s gone. Lotor is...he is dead,” Allura interrupted, forcing the truth on him without thinking of her words, “We couldn’t save him.”

After a moment of heavy silence, Atlas frowned then pulled out his dagger from its sheath. It glowed a bright purple along the metal vines, but the meaning behind it was lost to those in the room. He was the only one who knew what that meant, yet the young boy had his own doubts clouding his mind. Lance took a step forward, body guarding the Altean woman from the threat of danger. Of course, that wouldn’t stop Atlas from spitting his words to open ears.

“You’re lying.”

“Look, we tried to save him, but he was too far gone,” Keith tried to explain, the guilt still fresh in all of their hearts, “Your father made his choice - “

“You’re lying!” Atlas yelled, silencing him from speaking any further with dismissive swipe of his hand, “You could’ve saved him. You should’ve saved him. You’re gonna wish you did!”

His brows scrunched in raw anger. The teen pointed his weapon at Allura, knowing damn well she was the most important person of the gang. Yes, his father talked about her, about how her “special powers” would be the key to ending the war. The key to ensuring a safe future for him and Mama and…

What a load of bullshit that was.

“Hurting us won’t bring back your dad,” the green Paladin spoke up, but her words fell on deaf ears, “He’s...he’s gone. You have to believe us.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like Lotor to just be gone,” Ezor argued, “Where is he really?”                                                                                

“Tell me where you left him, or I’ll…” Atlas’ hand started glowing with magic, electrifying magic that Allura knew specific few who were worthy could receive.

He was chosen. This kid was granted the secrets of Oriande, the ancient Altean magic passed down for generations by her people. And now, now Allura felt a sinking mix of feelings stir in her very soul. Zarkon’s grandson was worthy. A boy with Galra blood was worthy. Something akin to betrayal bit her heart. Lotor wasn’t accepted, but this child was? No way. No way was she anything like...like that traitor’s son.

Why would Altean magic be shared with a murderous, blood-thirsty race?

The door opened once more, this time a firm command of “Atlas” breaking the tense situation. Almost immediately, his eyes fell to the floor and his weapon lowered, a motherly hand perching on his stiff shoulders. A gentle squeeze told him to back down. That’s enough, my son. Let me handle it from here. You shouldn’t be here. Not in the condition you were in. You ushered him to your side as you faced the Paladins, the supposed “allies” of the Empire. Of your husband.

“Empress, you shouldn't be up,” Zethrid cautioned, letting you use her elbow for support, “I insist you retreat back to your quarters. We can get the information out of them.”

“I’m sure you can, Zethrid, but we don’t have the time for idle talk,” You felt Atlas shyly wrap his hand around yours, “Besides, I would like to personally face my husband’s attackers.”

And face them you did. Eyes tired and heavy, burdened from forced sleep to ensure your health, and the large, protruding belly telling the Paladins all they needed to know. You were Lotor’s wife. And you were very, very much pregnant. It looks likes the Altean Colony wasn't the only well-kept secret Lotor hid from the Paladins. And rightfully so, too. If his enemies knew about his family, you and your son would be used as a weak spot. With your daughter on the way, it was absolutely critical to keep you and Atlas safely hidden.

Although, after a year of silence, it was you who decided to run. Take your boy with you. Rely on Lotor’s most trusted generals to care for you. That was when you knew something went terribly wrong, when all three of them arrived at your ship tucked away in the far reaches of the universe. You took your son and fled under the protection of Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor. You would have ran beyond the known universe had it not been Atlas demanding otherwise.

“Paladins. I wish I could’ve met you under different circumstances, but considering the situation at hand, I think now is a good of time as any to reveal myself,” you took a deep breath, “I apologize about the restraints, but they are a necessity.” Keith hooded his eyes in suspicion, “Just like it was a necessity you had to capture us?”

“You fled when we sent you a neutral transmission. Then, you attacked us when we gave chase. I would’ve welcomed you as guests if you came peacefully, but Acxa did inform me that Voltron tends to face diplomacy with retaliation.”

So, you knew about...that.

Closing your eyes, you tried to calm that rising irritation from gaining control, “Look. I'm not here to kill you. Why would I do that when I need your help? When the universe needs your help? The Empire needs Lotor to return. His family needs him.”

“We helped put a tyrant on the throne, we will NOT be doing it again.” Allura let that mistake happen once and her naiveness cost her more than she can recover, “Lotor is a murderer. Asking us to bring him back so he can continue his reign would cost innocent lives. He killed my people and lied about it, not just to me, but to all of us.”

“So, you see fit that his people suffer the same fate? People like me? Like my son and unborn?” you questioned icily at her, guiding Atlas behind you to hide from her cruel words, “I know about the Colony. I know that you are all wrong about what took place there. And I will tell you this now, Allura, you no longer have a kingdom to rule.”

“How dare you! You have no right - “

“The Colony has been destroyed, as well as the rest of the Alteans. It’s been three years since the disappearance of Voltron and Emperor Lotor. Both of your absence gave people like Honerva a chance to come crawling out of the hole and gain power,” you kept eye contact with her, seeing her resolve slowly taking in the information, “ She chose to control New Altea, chose to exploit them in Lotor’s name. And those who rejected her, those who were loyal to Lotor, were slaughtered. New Altea is no more. They had no one to protect them.”

Yes, Allura lost more than she could ever recover. She lost the potential of a new home. No. No, she can still save them, save those working with Honerva. Right? Voltron can. They have the power to save them. They were the Defenders of the Universe, defenders of everyone. It just hasn't clicked in her head yet that the title includes protecting Alteans and Galrans, too. The very idea that her Alteans would be so easily swayed to the dark side left her gritting her teeth in anger.

“What did you think would happen after you killed my husband? Did you honestly believe for a second that peace will suddenly wash over the 10,000 years of slavery and everyone will be saved?”

Allura narrowed her eyes. Why should she believe some Galra nobody? You could be lying to her, to them, just like Lotor.

Before she was able to argue against you once more, you raised a hand to silence her. Now, you switched your somber gaze to the humans.

“New Altea was not the only one that fell. Earth has been enslaved by Sendak and the Coalition has gone underground with the Blades of Marmora,” your eyes fell to the ground after hearing the surprised gasps from them, “I’m sorry. I...couldn’t save everyone.”

“Shay? What about Shay? And the Balmera?”

“My father is - no, that can't be. The Olkaris? Are they - is Matt okay? Is my brother safe?”

“Puigians? Taujerians? The Arusians?”

The only answer they received was a shake of your head, “I saved who I could. Gave them refuge on a planet far from anyone's reach.”

“Where? We must gather our forces and keep fighting,” Allura boldly asked, “They need our protection now more than ever.”

“I can’t disclose their location to any of you.”

“You have to tell us, they need to know Voltron has returned - ”

“For their safety, I can and will deny you that information. The universe is not safe enough for them. Their numbers are small and if you understand how the military works in the Galra Empire, you would know that their armed forces are severely limited,” you sent her a look of disapproval, “Paladins, you all seem to be missing the bigger picture here. Lotor needs to be back on the throne to reunite the Empire. Innocent lives will only keep dying as long as warlords like Sendak are free to raze any planet they want to supply their fleet.”

“I will not give Zarkon’s son that power again,” Allura flicked her hateful gaze to Atlas, knowing full well that her threat extended to Zarkon’s grandson as well.

He seethed back at her with his own venomous glare, frowning at this Altean lady his father spoke so highly of.

“...Ezor, take Atlas and wait outside,” the command was laced with hidden contempt, murderous contempt, “Now. Clearly, King Alfor didn’t raise his daughter with proper mannerisms.”

They left at your order, but Atlas’ spite kept brewing deep in his chest. Right when the door closed behind you, the air became chilly with your piercing, judgmental glare aimed at the princess. It was Shiro who sensed it first, sensed that Allura’s words once again got the best of her in times of stress. Keeping a leveled head was not what the heart of Voltron does.

He pushed off the wall, catching your attention, “Empress, I apologize for the misunderstanding - “

“Don’t fucking protect her.”

Shiro recoiled and shut his mouth, all of them did. Not daring to speak out of place when their lives were on the line, when that demand not only spoke of power, but of experience.

“She insulted Lotor and my son in front of me. Don't you dare fucking protect her. Wake up, princess. If you want that title, you better start acting like you were raised to be one,” the words cut deep and you knew how to use your voice to do the right amount of damage, courtesy of Lotor, “Because from what I’ve seen and what generosity I have extended to you and your allies, you are nothing but a sheltered brat with a gun daddy gave you.”

All forms of decorum dropped because, deep down, you weren’t raised in royalty. You weren't raised in the courts or taught the same things Lotor did as a child. You were treated less than average because of the circumstances you were born in. But that was then and now, now you had no reason to take the same bullshit treatment from other people, especially another royal who couldn’t see past the surface of your skin.

“Lotor is not Zarkon. And that tyrant is not Atlas’ grandfather. Do not ever say such a wretched thing about my family again,” you warned without an ounce of regret, “It would help you and your friends in the long run if you can get that through your pretty little head. You should be ashamed of yourself, ashamed of how you speak to me.”

Not as an Empress, but as another person pushing through this war.

This time, it was Coran who came to the princess’ defense, her stunned silence greatly worrying the family adviser. And, he won't lie, the insult you threw about her own upbringing in the court? It rubbed him the wrong way completely. Perhaps she was misguided, but that’s why he was here to help her along the way. Allura was still growing, learning. She was allowed to make mistakes.

“Your Highness, we don’t want any trouble. We want the same goal: universal safety. Surely there is a way to settle this peacefully?”

“That time has come and gone. It’s obvious she sees Lotor as nothing more than an evil monster and, by relation, me as well. Isn’t that right, Allura?” you placed your hand on your belly, feeling a little weak from all these complications, “Your racist views are not the first to be spat in my face. And you all let her get away with this close-minded luxury.”

Now, when you brought up the others in her shame, she finally found the courage to argue back, “The Galra destroyed my home. You have no idea what it was like, knowing everything you grew up with was gone! My mother, my father - “

“Shut up!”

Your voice held an immeasurable amount of sadness, of fury, half towards them and half towards the already deceased Zarkon.

“Zarkon destroyed your home! Zarkon destroyed mine! Zarkon tore families apart for over 10,000 years!” you scolded, not as a mother, but as that angry and scared and isolated person fleeing from being hunted, “It’s time you realize that you were not the only one personally attacked by him. Living through that is not something I plan on going through again, not for me and not for my children. But based on your actions, all of your actions, you are closely following his footsteps.”

Are they going to let Atlas and his sister be ripped apart from their father? Would they condemn Lotor’s family because of the actions of another? Did Allura truly find every life valuable?

That was what did it. Allura bit her bottom lip, shame choking her throat. It was bad enough that this was happening in front of her allies, where she was supposed to be the strong one, the one raised with leadership, but your words were impossible to push out. She couldn't forgive Zarkon. Couldn’t forgive the Galra. It was already too ingrained in her soul. Forgiveness was never an option and she knew this would be her downfall.

“How dare you compare her to him. Allura has done nothing but take down Zarkon from his reign on the throne,” Lance yelled back, “Or did you forget that he destroyed other planets, too?”

“And what was your plan after that, huh? What did you plan on doing for the displaced slaves? The Galra who suffered under his rule as well? Or would you have had them all killed?” you pressured them to answer, dared them to speak what was truly in their hearts, “Would Voltron have slaughtered every Galra they come across because they were associated with Zarkon?”

Krolia stepped in besides her son, knowing the topic of race was getting to the both of them, “That’s not how this works. We would’ve peacefully dismantled the Empire’s regime with as little deaths as possible. The princess trusted the Blades, there’s no reason she would not extend that trust to the innocent Galra.”

“I beg to differ,” you scoffed, “You think you’re safe?”

Krolia faced you, this time as a mother, as a Galran mother protecting her own family.

“You think because you side with them that you would be exempt from suspicion? No. No, I know how the Blades work and I know that after the Empire would’ve been wiped out, your clan would be next. It doesn't take much to pin the stereotypes of the few on the individual. You’d be a downright fool to think otherwise. As long as you have purple skin, you are a potential threat and a target in her eyes.”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it? Then tell me right now, if I looked like her,” you nodded to Romelle, “Would you have treated me and my son with your idiotic hostility?”

This was too much for you. You were weak standing up for so long, talking for so long, stressing for so long. You went through childbirth once without Lotor, you will not do it again. Not without your husband to witness the first cries of his second offspring. For him to hold and cherish and protect. You brought a hand up to rub at the temples of your crown, trying to soothe the headache forming there. You wanted to keep your own views out of this, out of everything that happened in your life and in Lotor’s, but now those views were being forced upon Atlas because of a princess who couldn't control her tongue.

And you knew damn well Atlas had his own misguided opinions when it came to the Galra, to Zarkon, to Alteans, and now, to Voltron.

“Don’t spread your hatred to my son. He already sees Voltron as the enemy, already knows the prejudices that comes with being part Galran,” and, oh, it hurt to speak those words out loud, “I don't care about your views. Any of your views. Whether you agree with me or not is none of my concern. Right now, you are going to prove that you truly, honestly, want that title of Defenders of the Universe by bringing back my husband.”

“We told you, he’s dead. He couldn't have possibly survived in the Rift.”

“He’s alive. I know it,” but did you really? “I leave you with this option to save the future. The Paladins can depart when they are ready, when they all have a clear, unbiased goal in mind.”

Yes. Yes, you were looking at Allura specifically, but you knew your last sentence extended to each and every one of them.

“I would like say this reminder: I am not here to harm any of you, but if you attack my ship and endanger my son, I will not show mercy a second time.”

“Wait...wait, you’re letting us go?” Hunk’s relieved tone mirrored many of the others, “Just like that? No torture, no pain, no nothing? That’s…”

“No. I am letting the Paladins go. Everyone else stays with me,” your eyes drifted over to Shiro, Coran, Krolia, and even Romelle, “We have some political issues to discuss. Unless this is settled, I can not protect you against the laws of the Galra Empire. Not even Voltron is above justice.”

You turned towards the door and glanced once more over your shoulder, taking note of Allura’s tear-streaked face. Oddly enough, with how much Lotor embellished her, put her on a pedestal as the one who can supply endless quintessence to the dying worlds, you truly saw her as nothing more than a pitiful girl who was thrown into a war unprepared. Sadly, she wasn’t the only one. Sadly, she made all the wrong choices.

“And frankly, if you don't ensure Lotor’s return, I am not against the execution of the Emperor’s assassins.”

Swords clashed as Atlas parried against his father’s swing. The broadsword took both of his hands to hold since it was much too big for him now. That wouldn’t hinder him from his lessons, though. His training was important, both for survival and for protecting you should the time come. Atlas had big shoes to fill and he was going to do it right. With a struggling grunt, he used his smaller body to his advantage and slid under Lotor’s spread legs, surprising him for a split second.

That split second was all it took for Atlas to knock his father down onto his front and pull out the moon blade from his sheath. He held it precariously close to his neck, claiming victory over this sparring session.

“Very good, son, very good. Always use everything you have to turn the tide of the battle,” he spoke, smiling proudly despite the sharp knife pressing against his throat, “You are getting stronger every day, warrior.”

Atlas released his Papa, letting him rise to his feet and turn to face his opponent. His approving smile, the matching armor, even the way he clasped his hand in pride all felt real. But he wasn't actually here. Artificial intelligence isn’t a replacement for the actual thing and maybe that thought sitting in the back of Atlas’ mind made him spiteful. Upset. He avoided looking up at Lotor and instead kept his solemn gaze glued to the floor.

The hologram frowned at the despondent expression, “What is wrong, little star?”

Little star. It hurt his chest hearing that since it felt too real when his logical mind told him that, no, that light standing before him wasn’t his father. He was fake. Uploaded to the computer main system just in case something happened to him. And now, that something happened, and Atlas realizes he hates this. He hates sparring with this...this illusion.

He hated it because he felt alone again. Like those days he would ask “Mama, where is Papa?” on Planet Falerd. Like those times he would watch other children run to their father’s open arms with happiness and child-like glee. Like those painful nights he would hear his own mother, hear you, sobbing and whispering for Lotor in grief. Atlas likes to think he knew how to read his own feelings for someone his age, knew he could control himself better than anyone else.

It was something he looked up to about his Papa. But right now, when that illusion knelt down and studied him with concern and worry, Atlas finds that he hates him. Not only did Lotor hurt him by disappearing to fuck knows where, he hurt you. Again. He left his family alone, left them to run and hide like before. Except, this time, this time Atlas wouldn’t let you do it. This time, he wanted his father to be held responsible, whether he vanished of his own free will or not.

“My son, please. Speak to me, I am here for you.”

“But you’re not, are you?” he muttered, “Not really. You’re gone.”

“Oh...Atlas, come here.”

The teen sat cross-legged on the floor as the hologram took his spot behind him, caging his body with a false sense of security. The scenery around them changed then, white powdery snow and tall trees hibernating all around. He remembers this. That cold place, the tree where he got himself stuck at the way top. Atlas recalls the fear he had in his tiny body back then. He recalls the relief he felt when Lotor had carefully carried him down.

He sniffled, the tough warrior facade cracking with every tear threatening to spill down his cheek, “You said you wanted to stay here, with us. With me and Mama. And now you’re gone. You’re such a liar, Papa…I hate you. I hate you so much.”

The hologram stayed silent at those words, those three little words he knew he deserved. This AI was no replacement for a real father. Atlas deserved to hate him for what has transpired these past three years. Three years that the real Lotor, wherever he may be, will never get back. Mistakes were made and, just like before, nothing would excuse a father for leaving his family when they needed him the most.

“Papa is coming back,” Lotor encouraged, “He will always come back for you and your mother.”

“You don't have to lie to me. I know you’re...you’re…”

Dead.

The AI sighed, recognizing where this depression was stemming from, for he himself had gone through it several times before. But this was not about him, this was about Atlas, and if there is anything he can do to raise his son in a life better than his own, then he would do it. Lotor would use his knowledge, his experience with that dark shadow to guide his child to the light.

“Atlas, show me the blade.”

He did as told and still, to this very day, it was strongly glowing. Not once since he had it, since Lotor found them on Planet Falerd, has it flickered or died out. Lethal, sharp, and threatening like any expertly crafted weapon. But to Atlas, it was more than a weapon. It was proof. Evidence that his father was alive somewhere out there. But there was that doubt scratching the back of his mind. Doubt that, well, maybe this was just some glowing chemical that never died out.

“What do you see?”

“It’s glowing…” “And what does that tell you, son?”

“Papa, it’s just a dagger - “

“What does the dagger tell you?”

Atlas sighed, heart heavy and despising all of this. Why did his father always have to be difficult?

“What does the quintessence tell you, Atlas?” Lotor asked once more, “What did I tell you about the quintessence in there?”

“That it’s connected to your life and your love for Mama…”

“Not just your Mama, Atlas. For you, too. For my family.”

Atlas sniffled again, bringing the tip of his cloak up to wipe at his wet tears.

“I love you, Atlas. You and your mother. I found my way to the both of you once, I can do it again. I can do it as many times as needed,  I promise you that. I will be coming back,” Lotor’s voice held that same conviction in them when he agreed to be his father so long ago, “And when I return, you can hate me as much as you want. You can yell and fight and ignore me. Anything for your forgiveness, my son.”

That’s when Atlas realized something. Yes, yes, he does hate his father, but more importantly, he wanted him back in his life. He wanted to be a family again. Was he spoiled to desperately want that small sense of comfort? Was it okay to be angry when it was taken away from him? Was all of this...was it fair for him?

The boy turned around and hugged Lotor, burying his face in his neck and silently cried. He was scared of being alone again. He was scared of his father truly being gone from existence. He was scared of growing up without him. Atlas was just a kid. He wasn’t ready to be anything more than that right now.

“Just come home alive, Papa.”

Lotor hooded his eyes sadly at his trembling son then squeezed him back, hugging him with all the emotions an AI could possibly express.

“I promise, Atlas. I promise.”

[voltron-s7-8-rewrite]

Chrysalis

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

PREVIOUS

Onboard The Atlas, Pidge and her father work together in her lab. The two go over the information and scans they have collected on the Hoktrils, but are unable to figure out how they work.

At her wits end, Pidge lets out a frustrated noise and says she doesn't understand the devices. She's basically been studying them non-stop for days, but they don't match up to anything she knows about Altean tech.

Sam notices the bags under Pidge's eyes and puts the papers he was going over on the desk. He suggests taking a break and coming back to it later when they are fresh.

Tears of frustration build in her eyes, and Pidge says that she can't, every time she rests she thinks of the Alteans. She can't stand the thought of them; of Allura, Romelle, and Coran's people suffering any longer.

Sam sees how desperate his daughter is to help, how much the Hoktril situation is weighing on her. He nods and picks the paperwork back up, happy to stay with her however long she needs. He suggests they step back and think about this from a different perspective and asks if there is any information the Olkair might have that would help them.

Pidge starts to answer, but then pauses and turns, looking back at the Hoktril information in shock. She exclaims in disbelief that she can't believe she didn't see it before.

Her father questions what, and Pidge says the technological pattern within the device; this whole time she's been looking at it as Altean tech, but the craftsmanship is clearly Olkari. That's why it wasn't matching up with anything she knew. Now examining it as Olkari designed, she quickly comes to understand how it works, and realizes that it can easily be removed.

She and Sam stare at each other in joyous disbelief. He tells her to tell the others while he goes to the medbay to start having the doctors prep.

Unable to contain her excitement, she runs out of her lab.

_________________________________

In the training room, the Paladins, Romelle, and Sven are practicing together when Pidge bursts through the door, startling all of them as she shouts about how the Hoktrils can be removed without hurting the Alteans.

The group is stunned at her entrance and proclamation. Romelle, Allura, and Coran recover first, and are overjoyed at the news. The Paladins ask her how it can be done, and Pidge says she'll explain everything, but they need help her dad get things ready, as she wants to get the devices off as soon as possible.

Romelle, Coran, and the Paladins immediately follow her out. As Shiro goes to follow, he pauses and notices Sven standing in a state of shock. Shiro looks at him in understanding and walks over, gently asking if he's alright.

Sven, overwhelmed by the news, says he never thought he would actually live to see a day when Hoktrils could be removed.

Shiro puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and asks him if he wants to go to see if there's anything they can do to help. Sven says absolutely, and the two walk out together.

_________________________________

On Oriande, Hira, having become Honerva's right hand since they joined forces, looks through reports on their advancements towards the eradication of the Galra race and reclaiming lost planetary territory.

As she reads, she notices a drastic increase on how quickly and often the Komar Mechs are being destroyed.

She asks the Alteans soldiers with her if the Galra and Coalition have made improvements on their weapons or defenses. The soldiers say there have been no reports to indicate that.

Suspicious, Hira begins to investigate this further.

_________________________________

  In the Quantum Abyss, Lotor flies the Sincline towards the Altean colony.

Landing on the compound he leaves the mech and enters the base, not seeming to notice the dilapidated state it's in, now that it has completely lost power.

He mindlessly makes his way to the midst of the empty village. Standing there alone in the empty compound, there is nothing for him except darkness and silence.

_________________________________

  Hira goes to Maahox and questions him about the Komar Mechs and why they are being brought down so fast. He explains that he has been using the Olkari to build the Mechs, as they are far faster at it. He has been overseeing every one that they build and they have all been to his exact specifications; he's seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Hira says that while the ships may look the same, the Olkari are this universe's greatest engineers; she suspects that if they wanted to change things without him knowing, they could.

She goes to where the Olkari are imprisoned and questions them about the Mechs. The Olkari blame the mech's quick destruction on to having to complete so many so quickly, while not having enough rest and supplies.

Hira believes this to be a lie asks Maahox why he hasn't implanted Hoktrils on the Olkari to ensure their loyalty. Maahox says he tried, but the Olkari's brains are far too complex for the Hoktrils to work. The only way they have been able to get them to comply is the threats Honerva had made to them.

Hira says fine, if that's the only thing that will get them to obey, then they will see what Honerva thinks about all this. The Olkari watched, worried, as the Alteans leave.

_________________________________

  Hira enters Honeva's study, a room she has rarely left as she's been recovering from the fight with the Guardian and opening the rift.

Hira sees she is once again reading through Lotor's notes. Something that she's become more and more consumed by while alone in this room.

Hira approaches and asks to speak with her, and Honervia distractedly grants her permission. She shares her concerns about the Olkari and Mechs, however Honerva is too wrapped up in her own obsessions to hear. She says if what she has to say is not about Lotor's whereabouts, then she doesn't care.

Hira tries to argue, but Honerva orders her to go away. Hira hesitates, observing Honerva as she finishes one of Lotor's logs, only go back to the beginning and re-read it. She narrows her eyes, unhappy with Honerva's obsession with Lotor.

As she goes to leave, Hira notices one of Lotor's data pads laying on one of the desks; schematics of the Sincline Mech on it. Recognizing it as a Voltron-like ship, she takes the data pad without Honerva noticing and leaves.

_________________________________

  As Hira comes out, Maahox is waiting, and they walk together.

Once alone, Hira says that when she first saw Honerva, she thought she would be the answer to their problems. She appeared to be a leader like Empress Allura and would be someone who would purge the universe of its impurities and build a new Altean Empire, but now she sees Honerva is not that person. She is nothing but a weak woman obsessed with her half-breed son.

Maahox says that if Hira gave the word, their Alteans would support her in taking control. Hira says that it's too soon to do something like that, as there are still many Altean Acolytes devoted to Honerva and Lotor.

Maahox asks what they are to do then, and Hira says she needs to start looking over their options. She hands him Lotor's data pad and says he should start looking into the Sincline Mech as it's made out of the Trans-reality comet they lost to the Paladins. She says perhaps they could use it for their goals.

He points out that the last comet they had was not able to do what they needed, but Hira says she's heard Honerva talk about the Alchemy of Oriande. Perhaps that is their missing key. She says she will try to find a way to lean Oriande's knowledge.

Excited about this prospect, Maahox takes the data pads and resumes his research on using the Trans-reality comet to alter reality.

_________________________________

  In the surgery room on The Atlas, Pidge and Allura assist the ship's medical team as they start the process of removing the Hoktril. They work slowly and carefully, using Pidge's knowledge of Olkari tech alongside Allura's Alchemy. Together they are able to safely remove the first Hoktril from Luca.

Romelle and Sven watch through the surgery window as Luca's vitals are stabilized, and she slowly becomes responsive before drifting into a peaceful sleep, rather than the catatonic state she's been in.

Overwhelmed, Sven and Romelle joyfully embrace as Pidge, Allura, and the doctors move onto helping Tavo and the other Alteans they've recovered.

_________________________________

  Sometime later, having prepared herself, Hira approaches Honerva and asks for a moment of her time. Honerva brushes her off but Hira pushes, saying that she knows Honerva's desire is to create a universe worthy of her son, and that she may have discovered a way to do that. That catches Honerva's attention, she pauses her research and turns to Hira, telling her to explain.

Hira hands Honerva a datapad, which she looks at, and begins to explain Maahox's research on the Trans-reality comet, and his theory about using it to reshape reality. She says they attempted this once, but didn't have the ability to control the comet in order to succeed. She motions to the data pad and says that they have looked into it, and the data supports the theory that using a mech made out of a comet would work. She brings up Lotor's mech, Sincline, and how it was made out of another comet, but at that point Honerva's snaps.

Not having fully trusted Hira from the get go, Honerva now sees her as a potential threat, as the information of Lotor's mech was not something she had shared with anyone. Honerva demands to know how she knows so much about the Sincline, and for the first time in front of Hira, she activates her dark powers. Hira backs up, shocked and terrified of Honerva's fury and power. She quickly explains she saw his notes when she was here attending to Honerva. She pleads with her, saying she only desired to help Honerva craft the perfect universe for her son, and that the Sincline, along with Oriande's Alchemy could do it.

Hearing this, Honerva pauses and looks at the datapad, and scans through Maahox's information. Hira carefully says that if she learns the Alchemy of Oriande, then they could work together to find Lotor's mech and use it to reshape reality to Honerva's and his will.

Honerva says there is no longer a way to learn Oriande's knowledge, she saw to that, but that doesn't matter anyways as Hira is insignificant. She already has all the power is all they need. She takes the datapad over to where Lotor's notes are onscreen and begins to go over the information, dismissing Hira.

_________________________________

  Humiliated at cowering in the face of Honerva's power, and enraged that her chance of learning Alchemy has been lost, Hira goes down to Maahox's lab where the Olkari are working, intending to gain some feeling of power back.

She heads to the control panel and turns to the Olkari. She tells them she knows they have been lying to her, and that they have intentionally weakened the Mechs. She demands they return to building them at full power, and threatens that if they don't, she will start 'deactivating' the Non-cog Alteans.

The Olkari try to plead, saying that it's not a lie, they don't have the resources. Hira immediately pushes a button, and several of the Non-cog Alteans in the lab scream in pain before collapsing lifelessly.

She says she will end every one of the rebellious colonists lives if that's what it takes to get the Olkari to obey. If that's not enough, she will just get another race and start the process over. She says this will continue again, and again, and again, until they do as she says.

Terrified, traumatized, and not willing to let anyone else die, the Olkari quickly get to work.

_________________________________

  Elsewhere in the galaxy, Lotor sits in his Sincline Mech, in a bad state of mind and not knowing where to go.

Allura says he should be taking care of himself. He tells her that it's hard when there is no place to go, and no one to turn to. Allura says that he has her. Lotor turns, asking if she would truly accept him back, only to see that she's not there. Dejected, he turns back to the screen.

Lance says that they shouldn't. After what he did they there's no way they should ever accept him again. However, Hunk argues that they are Paladins, and as such they should offer people another chance if they are truly sorry. He asks Lotor if he is. Lotor says of course, all he was trying to do was find a way to bring peace to the galaxy, he never wanted to take it as far as he did.

Pidge says it doesn't matter what he wanted, he did take it that far; he took innocent Alteans who believed in him and used and murdered them to see his personal goals through. Lotor says they don't understand, when he realized all the empire needed for peace was unlimited quintessence, he did everything he could to try to achieve that without harming anyone; but time after time all his plans were ruined by his father and the other Galra. Every one step he took towards peace, he was slapped back twice as far.

It wasn't until he was banished that the abhorrent thought -using the Alteans to get into the rift- first came to him. He was appalled by it, there was no way he would ever use his people in such a way. They loved him and he adored them; he was to protect and build a universe for them.

However, the more time that went by the more he came back to the thought, and he realized that only a handful of Alteans would be lost. When he saw the numbers, that only a small amount of Alteans' deaths could bring lasting peace to the entire universe, how could that not be the right answer? The sacrifice of a few would ensure everyone would all be free, the universe, the Alteans, the half-breeds-

Zethrid scoffs, cutting him off. She and Ezor sit where Lance, Hunk, and Pidge had been. Ezor says she's surprised he still thinks about half-breeds; she thought he wanted to wipe all Galra out.

Lotor apologizes to them and says it's not what he meant. He hates the Galra for all they did, but he would never harm his Generals, they were the first people to care about him, he would do anything for them.

Axca asks what about Narti. Lotor shakes his head and explains how much Narti's loss affected him, but that she betrayed him. Axca says that's not true, he knew Narti; he knew she was loyal to him, that she would never betray him, that it had to have been Haggar who used her. Yet, despite all that, he didn't bother trying to help her. Killing her was the easiest route to take to get his goals, just like murdering the Alteans.

Confronted by his sins, Lotor breaks down. The Paladins and Generals standing around him all start to vanish as he begs them to say, telling them that he needs them, how they are the only ones who have ever truly cared for him. He pleads for their forgiveness.

When the others are all gone, Lotor turns and realizes Allura is still there. He asks her if she could forgive him. She smiles and gently says of course she can. Lotor holds out his hand to her, but before she takes it, she looks behind him and says that they won't. Lotor turns and screams in terror as nightmarish visions of Keith and Narti attack.

Alone in his mech, Lotor is left broken and sobbing as his own mind continues to torture him.

_________________________________

Notes:

*Ahem* Well…Yeah. Sorry about the pretty depressing story, and seriously depressing ending... but I'm also not sorry because it has to happen for the story.

Anyhow, hopefully this answers most of the questions in terms of villain's current plans, what's up with the weak Mechs, Romelle's Alteans, and Lotor's state of mind.

I know it might be unbelievable that Pidge wouldn't think of Olkari tech when looking at the new Hoktrils, but hey, we all have those 'can't see the forest through the trees' moments now and then, and she is supposed to have been running on fumes and everything after all. We'll just chalk it all up to her exhaustion and call it a day.

Ok, so, let's talk about Lotor!

First off, just to be clear, with the scene of Lotor's warring mind I am in no way trying to justify what he did to the Altean colonists. What he did was despicable and wrong in every way, and no one should try to justify it.

That said, this rewrite is being written from my personal theory on the Rift Creature -that it was the corrupter and instigator in Zarkon and Honerva's turn to evil- that means that creature is also what brought Lotor to this point.

You can go to chapter 13's notes for the full explanation on my theory on the Rift Creature, but as a quick refresher, how I view the creature is that it's corruptive presence slowly influences a person, changing their personality to fit whatever it needs in order to get it's goal. We saw how it started to change Zarkon and Honerva's personalities at first, then later completely flipped their evil switch when physically entered them in the rift.

So, like his parents, Lotor was exposed to and infected by the Rift Creature, as Honerva was pregnant when she was corrupted.

Being in Lotor from the beginning, the creature sat dormant for many years, as he was a child and was no use to it. I feel that there had to be some sort of desire that the host has to have as well, as There also has to be some sort of drive the creature can latch onto and use and corrupt to take hold, for Honerva it was having a child, for Zarkon, it was creating a strong world for his people. Both of those goals that we saw from them seemed to come from pure intentions at the get go, but then were later twisted and taken to vile extremes.

The breaking point for Lotor came when Zarkon destroyed Ven'tar's world. That event caused the hatred in his heart to blossom, and allowed the creature to begin influencing him. It latched onto his desire to bring peace to the galaxy, and twisted that goal to its' own uses.

It's after the creature got a hold on him that he spiraled, lost his morals and started harvesting the Alteans for his own goals.

Now, that's not to say Lotor was a straight up good guy before that. He still was the son of the emperor, and conquered worlds for his father; and he clearly had no problems with the Alteans looking to him as a god-like figure, but before that turn, he considered people's lives and didn't flippantly end them for his own purposes. And perhaps he could have become good, if he had been given the right chance and guidance.

And you can still see that part of him is actually still alive in this chapter. While part of him tries to justify his own atrocities and crimes, another part knows what he did was evil and he hates himself for it, as we see with his hallucinations of Lance, Pidge, Ezor, Zethrid, and Axca.

We see he wishes for a chance of forgiveness and redemption; his hallucinations of Hunk and Allura.

But knows he should be punished for his crimes instead; the hallucinations of Keith and Narti.

Again, I know it's super depressing, but his story is a super depressing one when you think about it, the poor guy never had a chance at life due to the actions of his parents while he was in the womb.

So, let's see where his story will go...

I think that's all I have to say for now.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day! NEXT

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x13 – “The End is the Beginning” (part 2)

8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”

(This is a continuation from part 1.)

“One Year Later…”

Keith, Cosmo, Kolivan, and Krolia are at the Kral Zera. Keith is being broadcast across the Galra Empire and he gives a speech, “With the return of Planet Daibazaal, the Galra Empire is at a crossroads. For too long, the people of this extraordinary civilization have been manipulated by a dictatorship that placed a misguided sense of self-preservation above all else. It was a tragic, unfortunate series of events that led us down this dark, never-ending path of power and greed. But now, we, the citizens of the Galra Empire have an opportunity to make right all of the injustices set into motion by our forefathers. Because of the sacrifice made by Princess Allura, we have been given a second chance to come together in rebuilding the Galra Empire by joining the Galactic Coalition and ushering in a new era of peace across the universe.” Everyone cheers for him. It’s interesting that he says “we, the citizens of the Galra Empire.” I guess Keith now considers himself to be not just half-Galra but to be part of the Empire.

Cut to the Atlas, who’s hosting some contentious diplomatic talks. Hunk serves them dinner. It’s a satisfying end for Hunk’s character to combine cooking and diplomacy. Hunk is thankful of the diversity of his cooking crew, which includes Shay, Sal from Vrepit Sal’s, Sal’s chef’s hat-looking android (I think it’s an android), and Romelle. Hunk says, “Princess Allura, the very person we celebrate on this day, once said, we are always stronger together. If the people of your planets work together, so much more can be achieved.” Shiro stands up from the table and concurs with Hunk, “Honor her by following in her footsteps and walking the path towards peace.”

Cut to Pidge is working with Matt to build an android. Matt does not look like Matt. I know his hair cut, but his body, the shape of his face does not quite look like him to me. Colleen comes in to tell Pidge that Sam has the teludav is ready for her. Pidge tells Matt to wait until she gets back before initializing the android, who she’s named Chip, because she wants “to witness Chip’s first moments of consciousness” and she places Matt’s old glasses on the android.

Pidge in the Green Lion takes off and travels through a wormhole.

Cut to Altea. Merla tells Coran, “Construction is on course.” They’re building a new castle. He asks her, “How are preparations for tonight’s feast coming? It has to be perfect. It will be the first celebration of Allura, the first of many to come.” Coran is excited. And this just makes me think about how Allura died and we did not get a moment for her to say goodbye to Coran. Coran, who has been there for her more than anyone else, really. The show didn’t even write her to tell the others to say anything to Coran on her behalf. We get nothing to see how Coran reacted to learning that Allura died. Given how Coran has been depicted in this show, it must have broken his heart.

Up the hill, in front of a large statue of Allura, Lance is talking to a bunch of kids. “And had Princess Allura not seen that there was still good left in Honerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today. She grew to understand that there is good in everyone.” I have such a huge problem with this portrayal of Honerva being good. It just feels so offensive. One kid asks, “Even Emperor Zarkon?” and Lance slightly laughs, “Yes, even Emperor Zarkon.” The kid asks, “Do you miss her?” and Lance says, “I do. Very much. But, I’m reminded of her everywhere I look. So in that way, she’s still very much with me. With all of us, actually.”

Another kid asks him what he does now that he doesn’t pilot the Red Lion. Why does he not pilot the Red Lion? I don’t understand the logic behind this show saying that Voltron is no longer needed. Lance answers, “Well, I help run a small farm back on my home planet with my family. It’s a simple life, just the way I like it.” I am torn on this. It does make some sense in that Lance has a history of missing his family, so I could see him wanting to spend a lot of time with them now that he can. I can even understand that he would have something to do with farming since we got that one scene a long time ago wherein Lance milked Kaltenecker. Lance being a farmer does feel like it doesn’t match the core of his character that drove him to want to be a fighter pilot and proud to be a sharpshooter though. I think for me this works because I can still imagine that Lance only working as a farmer with his family for a while, a few years maybe, before he gets an urge to go once more into the universe.

Pidge arrives on Altea.

Coran, Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith have a meal together that night in front of Allura’s statue. Pidge says that Earth has become a hub for alien activity since her father has built a teludav there. What powers it, I wonder. Wormholes were created throughout this show specifically by Allura. So where does the power come from? Shiro is pleased because the teludav will help him in his responsibilities as captain of the Atlas. Hunk comments about his use of food with diplomacy and says, “This diplomacy thing isn’t as easy as Allura made it look.” (I don’t actually think she made it look easy, but okay.) Keith says, “But then she did make everything look easy.”

Shiro asks Keith how things are on Daibazaal. Keith says there’s going to be an election for a Galra representative for the Galactic Coalition. Lance says, “Let me guess, they asked you to be their leader and you said no?” Keith says, “Yeah, pretty much.” The Galra, with their long history and culture that rigidly promotes Galra-supremacism, wanted Keith to be their leader? That does not feel in any way realistic. Lance sarcastically responds, “Classic Keith.” I guess Lance’s comment is supposed to reflect back to when Keith left the group in 4x01 “Code of Honor.” It doesn’t quite feel like an accurate response. In that episode, they weren’t exactly asking Keith to lead them, they were criticizing him for being away on intelligence gathering missions with the Blades while the Paladins were having parades. Whatever.

Coran says, “Allura would be proud of your decision Keith. I think she knew that you would always be the key to the Galra’s future.” But Keith’s decision was to not accept the position of leadership of the Galra, so what is Coran talking about? Also, there is nothing in this show where Allura expresses a thought that Keith would one day be key to the Galra’s future. I mean, Lance in 7x04 “The Fued!” said that he thought that Keith was “the future,” but I can’t think of anything from Allura where she thought Keith would make Galra culture less aggressive.

Coran continues, “Just around this table I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us, she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family.” He stands, holds his glass forth, and toasts, “To Allura!” I really do like Coran. The others join him in the toast.

Later that night, Lance wakes to a light through his window and the sound of a Lion roaring. He goes outside and is followed by the others. Blue is sitting on the ground while the other Lions are floating in the air. There’s a sequence of juxtapositions of Lions and Paladins. Yellow and Hunk. Green and Pidge. Black and Shiro and Keith. Red and Blue with Lance. Lance’s Altean facial marks glow. Why do they glow?

The Lions blast off. The camera zooms out from Altea.

Then cut to two photographs of the group at Allura’s statue. One from this night’s dinner and one from some undefined time later.

Then there’s the infamous epilogue. In one of their interviews earlier this year, JDS and LM said that the epilogue was originally going to be full of silly things about background characters, not about the main characters. If that’s true, then as bothersome as the epilogue is because of the last-minute change to have Shiro marry Curtis, at least it resulted in them changing the epilogue to focus on the show’s main characters.

An image of Pidge, Matt, and members of the Galaxy Garrison in a hangar with the caption, “The Holt family established the next generation of Legendary Defenders.”

An image of Hunk with a large cooking staff of many different species with the caption, “Hunk created a culinary empire, bringing the universe together, one meal at a time.”

An image of Lance on the farm with Altean juniberry flowers and the caption, “Lance continued to spread Allrua’s message while he surrounded himself with the things he loved.”

An image of Kolivan giving a meeting with the caption, “Kolivan and Krolia became the Galra representatives to the Galactic Coalition.”

An image of Keith in a Blade of Marmora outfit with Axca, Zethrid, and Ezor helping him hand out supplies with the caption, “Keith helped to transition The Blade of Marmora to a humanitarian relief organization.”

An image of Shiro and Curtis in white tuxes with friends behind them with the caption, “Shiro found his happiness and finally left the battle behind.” About this caption, I feel I need details. If this means that Shiro retired specifically from military combat service, then I’m okay with that. Shiro wasn’t ever specifically trying to be a soldier. There might have been some military components to his being a member of the Galaxy Garrison, but his goals were always about conducting space exploration missions. So, if his having “left the battle behind” means he’s returned to space exploration specifically and not military leadership, then I’m okay with that. If his having “left the battle behind” is a reference to him being able to feel restored and whole in dealing with PTSD, I can be okay with that too. If this all means that Shiro gave up everything that had made him happy in the past for this relationship, which is what Adam had wanted him to do, then I’m not okay with that.

The image frame opens up, Curtis moves in and he and Shiro kiss while everyone cheers for them. I’m going to admit, watching it now is making me cry. As a gay man from the United States, I actually never thought that I would ever be able to get married. I’m not married, but maybe one day. But that I am legally able to do so now means a lot to me. I am older than this show’s target audience, but I still love animated storytelling. Had I been able to see a male character have a same-sex relationship like this when I was young, it would have had a huge effect on me. Growing up, I was not taught that it was okay to be gay. I was taught the precise opposite, actually. It was really hard for me. I got to the point of suicide over it. So, I think a lot about queer youth, and I don’t want any of them to go through what I went through. This show has had serious flaws in how poorly it has depicted Shiro being gay. But I really hope that if this show could have any positive effect that it has helped and continues to help kids who are like I was, help them feel that it’s okay for them to be who they are.

After the credits, there’s a shot of the Lions flying toward a nebula that looks like Allura.

Thank you to everyone who has read, liked, reblogged, commented, and talked with me about this show while I’ve done this series of commentaries. I really appreciate it.

[kaiayame]

post s8 thoughts

the good, the bad, the mixed. 

the good

the marketplace at the garrison in ep 1! i’m a sucker for a marketplace. and allura got to go shopping!!

romelle was back! her hair was cute. 

i think the tone of the first episode was actually a really smart one to start the season on. i’m glad they jumped a few months (or was it a year?) since the end of last season. 

pidge and allura got some good bonding time in general this season. pidge giving up her game for allura was cute. and then when they were together on that planet where the olkari had lived, that was strong. 

pidge being upset about the loss of the olkari, lamenting over “how much more they had to offer us” was solid. i think they spent too much time on it, but the sentiment of mourning all the good that a people could’ve given the universe if they hadn’t been lost was solid. 

omg listen. keith and lance. literally sat together. just the two of them. watching a FREAKING sunset. and keith, in my opinion, basically said the nicest things anyone has ever said about lance to his face, and it felt like a confession of feelings from keith’s end tbh. the writers did that. they know that they did that. and it happened. it was real and so, so soft. i had to stand up in front of the tv while i was watching, clutching a pillow and screaming a bit. 

i think the amount shiro and coran were utilized throughout the story felt balanced. shiro especially has dominated so much of the story over the seasons, and even tho i love him, it felt nice to kind of have him become somewhat less of a focus. 

i think the episode where they got trapped in the ship with the monster was fun! did you see how crazy lance went when keith got stuck in that room with it?? 

the carnival episode!!! I love a good carnival setting :) i like that they all wanted to get something for allura.

the day 47 episode was also cute, imo. I thought it was clever. I loved kinkade! the overall concept could’ve gone really badly but it felt creative enough to me. I wish it had focused more on just the paladins, but still.

all of the MFE pilots actually didn’t annoy me this season, yay. 

veronica and axca had super gay vibes.

keith and axca didn’t happen! *throws confetti*

lance got called a genius by his fellow paladins! and they meant it! 

we got to see them all in their under suits and out of their paladin armor!

that short bit where Hunk made the recovered alteans food from their home world? I think that was actually more powerful and potent than the writers even intended. I thought that was really well handled and not heavy handed and had a lot of weight to it. 

the bit before the final battle with keith and lance alone at the war room table...................... prime, prime content. THEY HELD. HANDS. there was a CLOSE UP. i’m still living off of it. another “lost my shit” moment. favorite scene of the entire season. 

there was some genuinely good moments of humor. keith had some especially funny moments, i laughed out loud a few times, tho i can’t name anything super specific atm.....

it was nice that they tried to really work in the idea that unity is what’s important, and the best unity is built through love, and differences shouldn’t tear us apart and we are always stronger together, etc etc.... i think that was obviously the writers referencing our society’s current climate to some extent, so i appreciated them at least trying to touch on that, however generic and vague it was. 

they had some good new outfits this season?? it was nice to see the paladins in so many different clothes. and a lot of the garments were really cute!!

i like how often keith urged them to not give up. I think that’s another strong theme that’s existed throughout the series. it just strikes a personal note with me. i like how far keith has come as a character in general.

pidge’s mom making that flower for allura?? very sweet. 

i liked all of lance’s reactions to anyone mentioning someone having an interest in keith, haha. Obviously, i’m projecting, but still. 

i think the concept of ALL realities being threatened was actually great, because otherwise idk why they would’ve brought up there being other realities in the first place. the significant level of what was at stake with that being what the paladins were dealing with was a good choice. 

keith turning down becoming the new head of the galra. phew, thank you @god.

as always, studio mir is the lord’s animation studio and so much of the visuals were so excellent. can’t wait to see their future projects.

and honestly, it’s been fun. it’s been a fun show. it’s had a ton of problems but i cannot deny that i have seriously enjoyed watching a lot of it as a whole. 

i guess technically they did end the show on a gay kiss. 

the bad 

i’m not even that personally upset but it just goes to show how important an ending is. how a story leaves you makes such a significant impression. it’s probably the most important part of a narrative and OMG THESE WRITERS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WRAP THINGS UP AT ALL, IT’S SO FUNNYYYYY.

so anyway, yeah........ episode 13.......................... what. 

like wtf was ep 13. 

what.

what even WAS THAT. PEOPLE got PAID to write THAT. 

lance became... altean? can that.... happen? also........... why???

and a farmer?? a simple life?? where did that even come from??? like sure, lance was homesick and missed rain one time. that doesn’t.... it just..... that doesn’t mean he should just be a random farmer?????? whose gf died, i guess??

speaking of that, OMG they fucking KILLED ALLURA. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. WHAT A DUMB CHOICE. I’M STILL LAUGHING. I HAD NO EXPECTATION THAT THAT WOULD HAPPEN. WOULD NEVER HAVE EXPECTED THAT. AND YET IT DID. WTF. HOW CAN YOU MAKE SUCH A DUMB WRITING CHOICE. HOW???

and the fact that they didn’t even EXPLAIN why honerva & allura had to do whatever it is they did????? criminal. ridiculous. 

and all that aside, allura and coran’s relationship was so important and so special and the fact the she and him didn’t get a goodbye? garbage. unbelievable. 

and to add to that, all of her goodbyes were underwhelming. shiro being like “you don’t have to thank me for anything” umm, what. yes she does. you did a lot. wtf, what was with that?

like i love allura, but also, why was the ending SO FOCUSED on just her?? And by that, i mean including the choice to kill her off. VLD has always been about the group. It just was a weird vibe to end on for many, many reasons. The ending should’ve been about her and the rest of them recognizing how they were more than just friends or paladins. They were family... like ALL THE WRITERS HAD TO DO was have them all together at the end?? I’m not even joking. That needed to be the ending, point blank...... AND THEY COULDN’T EVEN DO THAT. WHYYYY

ok moving on but still related, I HATE slideshow endings like that, in pretty much anything that isn’t a documentary or historical drama. I feel like it’s such a cop out. Writers should find confidence and end their story on a specific note. Not a series of slides.

as i was watching ep 13, tbh, the title got me excited. “the end is the beginning” made me feel like they were somehow going to get thrust back in time for a brief second to the moment they all met at the garrison, or met allura and coran, and somehow that was going to get pulled into the finale as a way they could re-establish all the destroyed realities.... so i guess this is my own fault for just hoping for something that wasn’t there, but whatever.

i think lotor and zarkon also got some really undeserved positive recognition. like, they both killed a LOT of people... some things are just too little too late. 

lotor coming “back” was also like, half assed. it was weird. it would’ve made more sense for honerva to start jumping through different realities earlier in the season “looking” for a version of her son and husband that she could be with. 

too many big robots. like..... so many different kinds of big robots. i couldn’t care less. 

as always, a lot of the fight scenes were repetitive as hell. I wish they’d been more creative and written them taking on different approaches rather than just charging at the bad guys.  

WHERE IS MY FORMAL WEAR EPISODE

sorry to hate on allurance, but like, neither lance or allura felt like their actual selves whenever they were together or trying to be a couple... it was weird and sad. Lance barely ever acted like himself this season. 

I thought they threw krolia around a bit too casually. Like she barely pops up and when she did it almost felt like the writers were like “oh yeah, i guess we should include her every now and then”

i thought allura being like “i don’t have a family” to lance was bullshit. like, hello, coran and romelle are right freaking there. more alteans are showing up every day. girl, what tf do you mean???

allura was also kind of excessively mean on multiple occasions?? she was cutting people off, being unreasonable, reckless, and kind of dark..... i didn’t really understand the sudden downfall of her character when she’d started out as this sort of insecure victim, but season after season became stronger and stronger and an awesome member of voltron. idk, it just felt out of place to make her a part of the problem for the final act. 

i wish i had......... cried. i wish they’d written at least one moment well enough that i actually got to experience at least a little bit of a tear.

adam didn’t magically come back from the dead. 

OMG and the kiss between shiro and random dude???? IT WAS SO SLOPPY, I WAS SO EMBARRASSED. it was obviously thrown in at the very last possible moment because they were trying to cover their own asses about the adam thing. like, what was with that bad animation....

epilogues in general are just........ so bad. no one should do them. stop.

omg they never explained the altean colonies... 

honestly, as we kept getting closer and closer to the last episode, i was like....... they do know this is the LAST season, right??? they’re kind of running out of time??

that black entity thing should’ve been fleshed out more and had more of an actual purpose, especially because they touched on it before with the paladins of old. 

i feel like the writers just threw so many things out there over 8 seasons and didn’t actually.... resolve most of them. like, they needed to edit down sooooo much of what they were trying to do. it would’ve been such a stronger series overall if they’d just FOCUSED on the actual compelling parts of this story and its characters.

i feel zero closure tbh, lol. whatever.

the mixed

overall, i was pretty engaged for the most part from episode to episode, but i did get pretty damn bored a few times.

oh god, the leaks were real. it’s good and bad. 

lance and allura still felt SOOOO forced and awkward but at least they tried to give them some actual substance.

like I said before, yay romelle was back! but boo, she wasn’t as quirky or funny anymore :(

Slav bothering everyone was still quite enjoyable to me. i wish shiro had gotten roped into that more, tho. Missed opportunity.

Atlas didn’t feel quite as dumb... but it was still kind of dumb.

i thought honerva honestly held up as a villain. Maybe not a FINAL season villain, but meh. her motivation seemed legit enough and the lengths she was willing to go after 10k years of pain seemed real. I just..... ugh, i wish they’d stuck to her just being evil. Or revengeful. Lok tried to do the same thing with kuvira right at the end. there just... wasn’t enough time to actually do that right, in either case. Or if they were going to do it, Honerva should’ve sacrificed just herself and allura should’ve left with all the other paladins, and that could’ve redeemed her character if that’s what they were going for.

the 2nd episode that focused just on honerva was... fine i guess, but i thought they didn’t define the mixing of timelines very well. it would jump from one clip to another and i didn’t realize fully that we’d gone back in time, or returned to the present, or were seeing this important thing before moving on to another. idk, the order just didn’t work for me. 

i’m glad allura got so much more focus but i feel like keith had so many important story points throughout every season and it felt weird that he was kind of just in the background for the most part of every episode.... like if vld had a “main” character, i always kind of felt that it was slightly keith.... so i’m sad that he didn’t really get much of an ending.

and that being said, i guess this is just a negative, but i feel like keith and shiro’s relationship just didn’t matter anymore??? that was so weird to me?? it was such a focus for SO LONG, it didn’t feel good to just never address them ever. 

there was this really awesome momentum going in the first half of season 8 for this theme of “not holding on to the past / letting the old give way to the new” and they just….. totally lost it. Like, it just never came up again by the end, lol. But i liked it a lot while it was initially there. Just.... wish these writers knew how to stick a landing, jesus. 

like, that older olkari woman that pidge was trying to call out to? she probably had one of the best speeches of the season when she was telling that little olkari girl to go on and be a part of the future. that’s what i’m saying. it had good momentum. they just didn’t fully realize it :/

i think where they started to lose the narrative was in the two part episode, the knights of light ones. going into honerva’s mind seemed cool and i appreciated them trying to do a few interesting things with it, but bringing back the old paladins didn’t feel right. For some reason, I didn’t enjoy allura reconnecting with like, the spirit of her father. I felt like it was a loss that should’ve remained a loss. and yeah, just in general, having them bring up the idea of the benefits and power behind “the old making way for the new” just wasn’t supported by bringing the old paladins BACK... it felt counterproductive. i didn’t like it.

Anyway. I feel like i’m still forgetting stuff and I’ll probably go back and edit this post but yeah. Enjoyed a decent chunk of the final season. Cannot..... even believe how dumb some of the writing choices were. Will forever be slightly confused. Canon is whatever. I’ve still enjoyed this show and its characters and a lot of the amazing content fans have created for it, and it is what it is and at least it’s over and done with :]

[laallomri]

[fic for keithtober, from these prompts]

[day 7: dual wielding. an au of the end of s6, ft. klance going after kuron together and lance getting to use his “boy from cuba” line in a much diff scenario] 

Keith is tired.

He went on a mission—two fucking years ago—to check up with a blade member, a mission that somehow turned into a family reunion. Then he went right into another mission, then into what felt like an eternity’s worth of camping on a whale, then into the discovery that a supposedly lost race of people is very much not lost, then into a frantic trip back to save his friends from a power-hungry genocidal prince, then into the discovery that something is really wrong with his brother, the person who matters more to him than pretty much anyone else in the entire universe, and now said brother has escaped with said power-hungry genocidal prince into a fucking wormhole.

Actually, Keith is not tired. He’s exhausted, and he’s angry, he’s fucking furious, because he didn’t sign up for this, he didn’t sign up for this at all, he signed up for a basic mission—two fucking years ago—and all he wanted was to come back to this group of people, these people he cares about more than anything, his family, and give them too many hugs and listen to them talk too much and feel stupidly happy.

But he can’t, and that infuriates him, and his fury is so great that he barely feels the spin of the wormhole as he tumbles through it, so great that he feels intensely present as he exits the lion onto a platform, like the colors and sounds around him are heightened, made hyper-specific, like the rushing in his veins and his chest and his head are outlining exactly what he has to do so he can get this over with and finally get his stupidly happy reunion with his friends.

(if he is being honest, he is not—fully angry—about his anger—he is not angry that he is angry, but actually a bit—relieved—because his time at the blade has sapped too many of his feelings, has made him sad at best and empty at worst, and it is refreshing to feel again, even if it isn’t positive)

(it occurs to him in the next second how fucked up that is, how horrible it is that he’s relieved to feel angry. he already has half a mind to leave the blade, but this makes it certain; he can’t go back now, not when he finally remembers what it’s like to feel again, not when he’s finally realized how far gone he was, that anger is a relief rather than a burden)

He looks up and sees Shiro—or not-Shiro, as he’s starting to realize—on the platform, still carrying Lotor. He starts up the platform towards him when he hears a loud roar. He stops, frowning, and turns to see that the wormhole is closing, though not before the red lion zooms through and lands beside Black.

“What?” he mutters, his frown deepening.

Red’s mouth opens. Lance jumps out.

“Hi,” he says, as if they’re meeting at breakfast back at the castle ship. “I’ve come to help.”

Keith blinks at him. It takes him a second to recognize the feelings within him as worry and gratitude. 

“This is dangerous,” he says.

“Yeah,” Lance replies, as if it’s obvious. “That’s why I’ve come to help.” He tilts his head. “Did you hit your head going through the wormhole? That can happen if your helmet’s not on right.”

(worry, and gratitude, and fond irritation, and warmth, warmth at having him here to help, to back him up, to catch him if he falls, and he was relieved to be angry after so many months of feeling empty at the blade, but this is so, so much better, because it’s comfortable, spreads out from the pit of his stomach, makes the cold knot of fury in his chest feel more human)

“If you’re worried about the others, they’ll be fine,” Lance assures him. “They have Allura to lead them. But Shiro—or whoever that is, or whatever’s controlling him—he’s a lot stronger than you, and he has Lotor, and we don’t know who’s behind this. So you need backup.”

How the fuck does he have time to think about this kind of stuff? He didn’t have any more time coming through the wormhole than Keith did, but somehow he’s thought this through a lot better than Keith has.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Keith says finally. He sees Lance’s expression brighten. “Let’s go, he went that way.”

They run along the platform, far enough that they’re out of sight of the lions. For a moment Keith thinks this might actually be straightforward, that they can catch up to not-Shiro and Lotor without difficulty, but then—

“Disappointed but not surprised,” Lance mutters as the first druid appears.

Keith gives him a look. More druids appear, one by one in a circle, closing in like birds of prey. Keith summons his bayard and takes his Galra knife out from his pocket; both melt into their sword forms at the same time. “Is now really the time for memes?”

“There’s always time for memes, mullet!” Lance says. He turns to face the druids behind them, taking a few steps backward so his back hits Keith’s. “Would it really kill these people to just let us win easy for once?”

“Probably,” Keith says. “You ready?”

“Of course,” Lance says, and Keith knows that if he had time he’d probably go on about how he’s always ready, because he’s ready for anything, because he’s Leandro fucking McClain, but right then the last of the druids arrive, and there’s six of them, and there isn’t much time for talking.

(even with how many druids there are, long robes flowing and masks glowing and fingers crackling with deadly magic, Keith isn’t afraid. he is angry, and focused, and determined, but he is not afraid. how can he be, with Lance at his back?)

Keith goes on autopilot for the fight; he’s done this a hundred times in training, a hundred times on blade missions, and his arms move in a rhythm, swinging his bayard one way and his Galra blade in another. The only real break in his focus is when he whirls to avoid a spell a druid shoots at him; when he turns he sees another druid coming at Lance from behind, and he’s about to shout a warning when Lance turns and slices it in half.

Keith blinks, startled—because when the fuck did Lance get a sword, what—but he collects himself quickly and ducks just in time to avoid another spell.

It seems that some of the druids aren’t as experienced as the others; four of them fall relatively quickly, their magic too slow to avoid Keith and Lance’s blows. The remaining two are much harder to beat, disappearing and reappearing so fast that Keith gets almost dizzy trying to keep his eyes on them. 

At one point, both of them disappear in unison. Keith and Lance look round, shoulders tense, on high alert. Several seconds pass, and Keith wonders if they’ve left, if they should keep going after not-Shiro, when suddenly there’s a voice, disembodied and echoing and layered, like both of the druids are speaking at once.

We only require the red paladin, the voice says. The sound of it makes Keith think of a tin cup clanging onto a tile floor. Surrender and we will leave the other one alone.

Keith opens his mouth to answer, but Lance beats him to it.

“NO!” he shouts. “We’re a two for one deal! You fuck with one paladin and the other fucks you up for free!”

Keith’s stomach lurches. Having Lance here when they were equally in danger is one thing; having him here when he has an opportunity to escape unharmed is quite another. 

“You should—” he starts to say, but Lance cuts him off.

“Don’t,” he says, his face twisted. “Don’t even think it. I’m not leaving you.”

“But—”

“I’m not leaving you,” Lance repeats fiercely. “In fact”—he redoubles his grip on his bayard and it shimmers in response—“I’ll hold these two off myself, and you should go get Shiro. It’s been too long; we can’t risk not knowing what’s going on with him and whoever’s controlling him.”

He has a point, and Keith can practically feel the clock ticking, but he can’t leave Lance here, but to stay here any longer would mean more time for not-Shiro and whoever’s controlling him to do something horrible, but—

“Go!” Lance says, and he’s scowling, and there’s a bruise on his cheek, and fire in his eyes, and Keith—

Keith deactivates his bayard, then grabs Lance’s free hand with his own.

(he’s angry again, angry that he has to make this decision, angry that this decision makes sense)

(but he trusts Lance, trusts him to make it out of this safely, trusts that he will come back to him, and make him feel everything but anger, make him feel happiness and contentment and fond irritation)

He squeezes Lance’s hand tight.

“Be careful,” he says quietly. 

“You too,” Lance says, and for the briefest moment there is—something—something in his eyes, in his expression—but then he lets go of Keith’s hand, and the two druids reappear, and he turns away to face them.

Keith watches him for a second, his heart thudding, then turns around and runs down the platform. As he hurries away he hears the druids hiss, hears them say the red paladin, after him!, hears Lance say “I think the fuck not,” hears the clang of his sword as he intercepts the druid’s magic.

Why are you even here? the druid asks, annoyed and alarmed. We were not expecting you. Who even are you?

“Oh, no one special,” Lance says, and Keith can hear the grin in his voice, and despite himself he feels a grin of his own unfurl across his face, and god he’d really rather have no one else at his side for this, because Lance can strategize and tear a druid to pieces and say lines straight out of a fucking action movie with no trouble at all. “I’m just a boy from Cuba.”

(he destroys them, of course, and Keith comes back with not-Shiro to find Lance kneeling on the platform, badly bruised and breathing hard but otherwise safe)

(they have to go back quickly, to help the others defeat Lotor, but as soon as the fight is over, as soon as not-Shiro becomes real Shiro, Keith runs up to Lance, and throws his arms around him, and hugs him as tight as their armor will allow)

(and then Lance lets go, and dramatically tosses off the top part of his armor, and Keith laughs, and does the same, and then they hug again, properly this time, and it’s warm and close and Keith’s heart is full, full, full)

(full, full, full, and he’s not angry anymore, but happy, and content, and, thanks to the raspberry Lance blows in his neck, fondly irritated, and he thinks, for the first time in a long time, that everything will be okay)

[chibiarmygeneral]

The Case of Lotor

I’m trying to do a fix-it fic and have been thinking about a lot of different plot points, keeping a lot of what happened in canon but differing certain situations. When it comes to Lotor, I toss back and forth with him. I liked Lotor and it would be easy for me to just erase the second colony storyline all together and move on. A lot of people enjoyed Lotor because he was abused and still tried for the better. People felt represented and it was understandable they were upset when he was killed as he was deemed ‘just like his father’, his abuser. But I also know people wanted him as a villain and could just write it off as me trying to ignore his wrongdoings by erasing them. Therefore, I’m trying to come up with a middle ground.

The big ‘issue’ is the second colony, where we learn Lotor had siphoned off the remaining Alteans of their quintessence. Now here is the question: why? Why would Lotor do this? To be honest, we are never given an explanation at all about it. In the entire show, quintessence is this mysterious thing that’s supposed to be the soul of all living things, but it’s turned into a power source. In Season 2, Haggar makes the Komar that absorbs a planet’s quintessence, killing the planet of any life. When Lotor is held captive with Voltron and questioned by Allura and Kuron in season 5, he says he didn’t want to destroy planets. If he isn’t getting this energy from planets, where else is he going to get it from? This is where the colony comes in.

Here is my reasoning: destroying planets means the destruction of entire ecosystems and viable living space for people. We are shown a lot of habitable planets but I’m doubting all planets are livable or if it is, it’s to a specific set of aliens that are adapted to it. Where are they supposed to go now? People will eventually get overcrowded in the remaining planets and who knows if they’ll adapt to their new environment. Now when it comes to people, by taking a small set of people and spreading it out over generations, you allow the population to reproduce and grow constantly. You can still get the energy you need by removing a small portion and keep a continuous flow rather than a one and done deal where there is lost of lots of valuable resources and the reformation of planets can take hundreds of thousands of years, plus however many more to make it a suitable place to live.

Now before saying “Cool motive, still murder” and leaving, let me finish. I’ve watched Madoka Magica and small spoilers from that anime because this is where I got the idea from.

Entropy is described in Madoka Magica as the loss of energy. That we consume more than we create and because of this the entire universe is slowly dying out. To combat this, Kyubey, an alien comes to earth to grant wishes of young girls who are candidates and by turning their souls into their powers, it releases a great amount of energy that defies entropy, creating more energy than what is used.

I always viewed Lotor’s second colony as Kyubey taking the energy from the magical girls for the survival of the universe. However, where Lotor differs is where Kyubey is from an alien race that can’t comprehend emotions and view it as a mental disorder of sorts, Lotor we know is a very emotional person. His emotions are part of his drives to make change, he was ostracized for being a half-galra so he employed half-galra, his father tried to hide his Altean heritage, he gathers all that he can about the Alteans. Since it happens so quickly, we never get to see how Lotor felt about the colony and that’s where I think his potential for redemption still lies. If he felt nothing and saw this as purely a way to gain power then that’s that. But I think it stands to reason that he did feel guilty about it. We are given a flashback of when Zarkon destroyed the planet that Lotor, instead of conquering it like he was ordered to, chose to work along side the people. He showed absolute devastation to it and he subsequently got punished further by being banished. How could this person who put himself on the same footing as the inhabitants of this planet that he had no connection to be able to sacrifice his own people? People that he has shown to have a lot of respect and admiration for, considering how he always praised Allura and felt envious of her about being Altean. Why would the staff show us that Lotor felt this way if there wasn’t some sympathy to be gained from it and show that Lotor does feel for the lives that were lost.

Now some may argue that this was them pandering to the fans, but this story was brought up when Allura and Lotor were going to Oriande, seasons prior. Not to mention that there was a short break between seasons and that animation is done months in advance by the time it released to the public, I doubt the crew changed much regarding the fans, if they changed anything. If there is someone on staff saying “we changed x,y, and z for the fans” then feel free to add that but I’d say for the most part that what we were given is what they wanted and decided to show us.

Let’s look at what else Lotor does. He fights Throk who wanted to overthrow him and beats him claiming that they should allow others to join the empire and those that don’t “will be crushed” and the Galra cheer for him. Immediately after, he says to his generals how “the masses are easily swayed” this can come off as him being dishonest to the people but he’s right as he knows what the people want, what they have been doing for thousands of years, if he wants them on his side, he needs to say the things they want to hear. What matters is his actions and the only reference point we have is on Puig. When the generals come in, Lotor specifically ordered that they were contained and not killed, that’s what they do. They talk to the leader of Puig and he says how he doesn’t want his people to be enslaved again and Lotor claims they won’t but be part of the empire.

Now what does that mean? What does being part of the empire entail? Does it mean you support their cause and send in resources when they need it? Do you set up a system of trade between their different aligned factions? If that’s the case, isn’t that the same as being part of the Voltron Alliance/Coalition? We have talks of people joining them and we know from the battle of Naxzela that we had these same people fighting for them. So, what exactly is different other than the name? We are never given any indication from Team Voltron when they work with Lotor that they disagree with his politics. Granted, we aren’t given anything about that in general but if they wanted to show that Lotor was different from them then why not show conflict here? We never see them argue about how Lotor should run the empire, so it stands to reason that his ideas aren’t “bad” or at least our heroes approve of his methods.

We don’t see the Puigs again, so I have no clue if they are with the empire or Voltron or whatever happened to them. We might have seen them in the background in some scenes, but it’s never covered on what they chose, empire or not, and how Lotor reacted to it.

Lotor kills Narti but we know that Haggar was using her to spy on them and Lotor managed to figure out that Narti was a spy. I’ll be honest, I’m still a little miffed how he managed to put 2 and 2 together as he didn’t see Narti look towards Haggar (and I’m not sure how Haggar got control in the first place. Like could she always do that from a distance just by looking at someone? Why not do this on everyone? Can we get an explanation please!). Regardless, he realizes she’s the leak and as far as he knows, she can no longer be trusted and in order to protect himself and his other generals, he had to kill her. We once again aren’t given the time to see his reaction and he clearly doesn’t explain anything as that’s the whole premise on the generals betraying him but I’d like to think that while in the moment there was no hesitation because of fight or flight, he likely did feel remorse for killing what he thought was a comrade or at the very least felt hurt by her betrayal. (No clue if Narti was aware of it happening but given Kuron had no clue, I think it’s safe to say she didn’t and it’s unfortunate it had to happen to her.)

He was willing to allow Voltron to be sucked into that vortex that had the Altean ship stuck in it and that caused them to go to a different reality. We know that people had died trying to pass through, as Zethrid talks about them exploding like fireworks, but Lotor is positive that Voltron, being made from the transreality comet will make it. For him, it’s a win-win. If Voltron gets the comet, he can take it, if they get stuck in the other reality then no more opposition from them. Now, why would Lotor want them gone if they want essentially the same thing? Why hadn’t Lotor simply contact them and say how he wanted to make peace throughout the universe? Well, as far as Lotor knows, Voltron wants to get rid of the Galra empire, regardless of who is in control. He could have tried to extend the olive branch, but he has no clue if they are going to accept or not. To him, they are still an obstacle because who knows if they will listen to his reasoning or not, they could be no better than Zarkon for all he knows. We aren’t given any indication he knows what they do to liberated planets and the only one we see him go to is Puig and he says how Voltron couldn’t save them (they are just one group versus the entirety of an empire that can stretch out it’s resources unlike Voltron).

When Lotor fights Voltron in Season 6, he snaps and claims he’d destroy all the Galra, which causes his generals to bounce again. But as I stated before, he is driven by his emotions to do things and it’s likely that after he was called no better than his father that he was driven to that point because he’s spent his life being degraded by the Galra and in no way has any (shown) close ties to his Galra heritage other than Dayak. But here’s the thing, if he truly was just like Zarkon wanted to destroy everything then what was the entire point of the conflict they had? If he really was just meant to be Zarkon 2.0 then they would have had no reason to fight each other. Sure, Lotor might be ‘pretending’ to be better but if that’s the case, why didn’t he enslave the planet he was meant to conquer after he gained their trust? Why still try and reason with team Voltron if the ‘gig is up’? Lotor’s actions don’t add up to him just being a ruthless killer. I don’t think he was ever meant to be this way. I think it was just the staff trying to up his ‘evil’ factor.

He builds the sincline ships in the hopes of going between realities where there is unlimited quintessence. Why is this needed? Because quintessence is used to power their tech and if it’s like Madoka Magica, it powers the very universe. If he succeeds in doing this, he won’t have to drain anymore Alteans because it won’t be necessary anymore. So his ultimate goal is good in the long run because we are given unlimited energy without any consequences of taking planets or lives away.

His main goal was to obtain the energy needed to power the universe, but I have a question. What were they using before? If they always used quintessence then how did the obtain it? What happened to other resources if they had them and why couldn’t they keep using it? Why use quintessence? We know it’s a pure source of energy as in the flashback in Season 3 with Honerva researching the rift. They had an experiment that this little bit of energy was able to power a device for over a year without any degrade in quality. So we know it’s powerful and Honerva wanted to continue searching for more of this energy while Alfor wanted to look elsewhere.

So was the universe decaying due to the lack of energy or not? Was the search for quintessence necessary or not? I always viewed the universe slowly dying due to entropy as stated in Madoka Magica and that’s why they needed the quintessence (aside from Zarkon and Haggar supposedly using it to stay alive, that’s never really explained on how that works either). If the universe needed more energy, then how did Voltron solve this problem after the fact? They never explain in the final episode when all realities are restored about how they dealt with this lack of energy source because that seems to be the sole reason for Lotor doing what he did with the second colony and getting the sincline ships to be able to move through realities. Was it a problem or not? Because if there was never an issue then there is no reason for Lotor to have set up the second colony because energy was never in need. The sole thing that made him ‘evil’ is called into question because of this inconsistency. The Galra empire used quintessence so what were they using after the war ended? Did their tech just stop working after a while? What did they do to combat this? What exactly happened to the empire anyways? Who knows!

Anyways, I just wanted to get this out there and try to organize my thoughts. I tried my best to explain my reasoning for his actions and while I don’t approve of the second colony (He should have came clean about his intentions but he would have severely depleted his resource if he had done that so he likely felt there was no other choice but to lie about it) I can see why it happened and sort of the idea that was probably intended for it but it just doesn’t make overall sense due to it coming out of nowhere at the end, even though the staff intended him to be a villain all along, they didn’t bother adding in potential conflicts with him amongst team Voltron all for the surprise turn around at the end. Then the entire point for needing the energy, what should be the entire point of the second colony, is never brought up and now uncertain if it was important or not. This destroys the entire ‘reason’ they had him being ‘evil’ for. All I can see he was basically a ‘good guy’ with a heel-face turn all for a ‘gotcha’ moment.

[maandags]

Thank you for answering. Ok, first part (this is set before the disbanding of the group): What will it be like to be to be one of Lotor’s generals and the youngest (around Pidge’s age). Being a half-galra saved from imprisonment, they’re the hacker of the group to return the favor. Morals are in the grey area, doing what’s best for the group. Kinda have a rivalry with Pidge for her hacking skills along with having a crush on her.

Part 2: During the betrayal of Lotor, Reader reluctantly leave the group due to not wanting to be involved and goes into hiding. Later reunite with Lotor as a hacker for the coalition and meet Pidge personally without having to fight each other. Slow burn on regaining and gaining trust. Perhaps after protecting Pidge from a mission gone dicey, they slowly grew closer?

~~~

Hey! I’m sorry it took a while for me to get to your request, I haven’t been very active lately ack :/ i’m working on it, I promise :) Here you go! (this was really specific, and i realise that it’s not exactly what you asked for–but i still hope you like it :) )

~Water

—-

“Y/N, report to the bridge. Lotor wants to see us.” Acxa’s voice startled you back to reality and you jumped, blinking a few times to shake the grogginess from your mind. Sitting with your laptop on your lap, the screen only inches from your face, and dicking around with the ship’s system (and improving it–you didn’t want any unwanted visitors) was one of your favourite pastimes, but duty called, and you had a debt to pay off.

You uncurled from your position on the sofa and darted out of your room, snapping your laptop shut and pulling up your hood, slipping on your armour plates as you briskly walked over to the bridge.

Ezor, Acxa, Zethrid and Narti were already there when you took your place, and Lotor gave you a small nod and a cold smile. “Thank you for joining us, Y/N.”

You crossed your arms, waiting for orders. Lotor usually left you alone to basically do what you want, only calling upon your presence for missions or when you’re needed elsewhere–though you knew he didn’t like sending you on a mission he had no control over. You didn’t mind very much. You did what you were told.

“Today, we’re receiving some special guests,” Lotor began, threading his fingers together and leaning back in his seat, a glint in his eye you haven’t seen much before.

Beside you, Zethrid groaned. “Not those Voltron folks, right?”

Lotor shot her a glare over his shoulder as he got up from his chair and paced in front of his generals. “Good guess, Zethrid. Princess Allura and I have… things to work on, and I’m sure the Paladins would enjoy having a look around the ship. After all, we’re allies now.”

You perked up, standing up a bit straighter. The Paladins of Voltron were coming here. They were coming here.

“Uh, Lotor?” Ezor piped up, “do you really think that’s a good idea? I mean, we haven’t exactly been the kindest to the Paladins. There’s no way we’ll get them to trust us.” When Lotor didn’t respond, she clarified, “We tried to kill them? Multiple times?”

“Well, then this is our chance to earn their trust, isn’t it?” Lotor said. “This is the perfect opportunity to show them that we have their best interests at heart.”

Up till now, you had wisely kept your mouth shut. You didn’t really know what to say. Keeping your eyes down and your shoulders bunched up, you listened intently to the conversation happening around you. Melting into the shadows–making people forget you were even there–had always been something you were good at.

When Lotor dismissed his generals, and you turned around to swiftly disappear into your room again, Lotor raised his voice slightly and said, “Y/N. A word, please?”

Ezor coughed under her breath, trying and failing to mask her giggle. “Good luck,” she murmured as she passed you, giving your side a squeeze. You merely shook your head at her. Drama queen.

Walking up to stand beside Lotor as he stared out of the window, you clasped your hands behind your back and waited, curiosity slowly building in your mind. After a few minutes of silence, he cleared his throat.

“Y/N, I have a request.” He took a step back, facing you. “I would like you to keep aside when the Paladins are here, maybe… keep tabs on them. Their activities. Their conversations.”

“I thought we were supposed to earn their trust, or whatever? You want me to spy on them?” you said, an eyebrow raised. “If I get caught, we’re screwed.”

“Then make damn sure you don’t get caught,” Lotor said with a matter-of-fact tone, inclining his head towards you. “Maybe don’t show yourself at all. They might ask questions if they see you once, and then not anymore for the rest of the day… but they won’t miss you if they never even know you’re here.”

The comment stung more than it should have. It was what you’re good at, what Lotor had plucked you out of prison for: you were good with computers, good at getting the information you wanted and good at disappearing. The perfect spy. But Lotor was the reason you were free again, and you owed him. Besides, a little spying wasn’t anything you hadn’t done before.

“Sure,” you muttered. “No problem.”

Holed up in your room, you curled up in a blanket and start up your laptop, connecting it to the numerous screens littering one of the walls. You had exactly fifty-six cameras to keep an eye on, and you crack your shoulders as you tear open a bag of snacks. You were going to be here a while.

The paladins had arrived. The Princess, Allura, had soon after her arrival disappeared with Lotor doing Lions-know-what. You were tempted to sneak into a camera and watch for a while what they were up to–but refrained from doing so, as Lotor would probably murder you if he found out.

You casually switched between cameras with rhythmic taps of your middle finger, munching on your snacks. A sigh made its way past your lips. Of course Ezor and Acxa got to have all the fun, you thought bitterly as you zoomed in on their faces and watched them shoot at a mannequin wearing a dress made out of scrap metal for a while, before switching back to another camera. So far, nothing suspicious.

After about thirty minutes, you finally got something worth watching. You perked up, narrowing your eyes. Pressing a button, you moved the scene to the middle, bigger screen. The blue, yellow and green Paladins were sitting on the floor of a room, a deactivated sentry connected to a laptop by what looked like at least twenty wires. The Green Paladin sat in front of the laptop, fingers tapping away at the keyboard with a speed that impressed even you.

The green one. The hacker. Your rival, as Ezor had sweetly put it with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. You were surprised that you still remembered her name, even though you’d only heard it a couple of times–Pidge. You zoomed in on her face, studying the concentrated frown on her face, the hunch of her shoulders and the intense glint in her eyes. You were so lost in your observation that, at first, you didn’t even realise what she was doing.

But when you did, you laughed and sat back, feeling, despite herself, impressed. Reprogramming a sentry–especially when you hadn’t done it before–wasn’t easy. You moved the frame to the tech and the wiring, sweeping a critical eye over everything. The laptop, along with some of the pieces of technology you hadn’t seen before, seemed to be handmade. You didn’t know of a place selling that kind of stuff. Your admiration for Pidge grew by the second. But she was in your territory, and without knowing it she’d just given you free access to her computer.

Getting past the security Pidge had set up in her laptop unseen was the hardest part, and it took a solid twenty minutes of struggling for you to finally figure it out. You couldn’t help the burst of pride swelling in your chest when you heard the telltale ping that announced success. As you scrolled through the files stored in her memory, leaving alone the ones that looked too confidential but poking your nose in the ones that looked relatively harmless, you counted in your mind the minutes until she would figure out you were there.

It turned out to take Pidge nine minutes before she narrowed her eyes at her screen and tapped a few keys. Then her expression morphed into one of bewilderment and she barked a surprised laugh. “How the hell–”

You activated the webcam, filling the screen in front of you with Pidge’s baffled face and resting your chin in your hand. Pidge opened her mouth. “How did you–” But you cut her off with a wink and a mock salute, grinning as you deactivated the webcam and left Pidge’s computer, leaving her utterly speechless and typing frantically on her keyboard, trying to lock you in, but it was too late, and you were already safely out of her systems and popping another snack in your mouth.

The rest of the day, you pretended not to notice how you spent more time on Pidge’s screen than anyone else’s.

–

That had been months ago. It still stung to think about the way Lotor betrayed you and the rest of his generals, the team he was supposed to trust above everyone else. The team that would risk their lives for him. After what his father had put him through, you had never thought that Lotor would pull something like this.

You had spent a few months on your own, getting your supplies from the Galra ships you encountered before you managed to get your hands on a small pod of your own. Eventually, you’d mustered up the courage to join a group of rebels. They had been suspicious of you at first, and you hadn’t expected anything else–you were part Galra, and even though you didn’t look Galra you were well-known as one of Lotor’s former generals, but they had accepted you as one of their own over time. Your hacking skills definitely came in handy, as did your knowledge of Galra ships and technology. Quite a few missions would have taken months longer if you hadn’t been there.

You pulled the shawl over your face and tapped the ceiling plate you were laying against, shoving it aside and letting yourself drop into the room below, tucking into a roll and coming up standing before you were sprinting towards the small figure hunched over the monitor and frantically typing away at the keyboards. When you laid a hand on her shoulder, Pidge whirled around and took a swing at you with her bayard, that you only just managed to avoid, jumping back with a yelp. She swung at you again, but you grabbed her wrist and yanked off the piece of cloth covering your face.

“Pidge! Calm down, it’s me!” you screamed, blocking her next punch. Pidge’s eyes widened. “Y/N? What happened to you?” She reached out for the fresh scar that carved through your left eyebrow all the way to your jaw.

You shook your head, flinching at the sound of alarms blaring and shots firing from what seemed like all around you. There wasn’t any time. Digging in your pocket, your fingers found what they were looking for and closed around the little drive, shoving it into Pidge’s hands. She looked at it, then looked at you, panic clear on her features.

“You can’t get past the firewall, right? Plug that in. It’ll destroy the security systems.”

Pidge’s fingers closed around the drive until her knuckles turned white. “How do you know it’ll work?”

You yanked your gun from its holster. “Because I built the firewall.” You took your spot as lookout in the doorway, shooting sentries and Galra soldiers alike and giving Pidge the time she needed to plug in the drive and get the information she needed. Setting your jaw, you started taking out more and more soldiers: at this point, they’d realised that there was something going on in the control room, and soon they were coming in waves.

“Look, Pidge, no pressure or anything, but could you hurry up?” you yelled through gritted teeth.

“Working on it,” she shouted back, her fingers moving over the keyboard at a lightning-fast speed. So you turned around and kept fighting, determined to protect Pidge. And then your gun stopped working, and you yelped when a blaster grazed your arm, white-hot pain searing through your entire right side. Shaking out your arm, you chucked your gun to the side and grabbed your staff, pressing a button to light the ends up with crackling electricity.

As you fought, the sole thought in your head was that you needed to protect Pidge. She needed to have the time to get the information she wanted, and she needed to make it out alive. Preferably unharmed. But you wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever: your arms were already aching, your strikes came slower, your footwork got sloppy, your breathing heavier. But Pidge needed to make it out alive.

And then she was there, fighting by your side,  her bayard in her hand and the other grabbing your arm and pulling you through the corridors, shouting in her comms about an unexpected guest. You couldn’t resist a grin. Falling into step next to her, the two of you sprinted through the corridors and made your way to Pidge’s Lion.

As soon as you set foot into the Green Lion, you collapsed. Breathing heavily, you leaned your head against the wall and stretched out your legs, rolling your right shoulder to get some feeling back into your arm. Pidge immediately crashed into her seat, grabbing the steering handles and flying the lion into open space, slapping a button on her dashboard that popped up the Black paladin’s face onto her screen. While they talked and exchanged information, you zoned out and wrapped a hand around the wound in your shoulder. Now that the adrenaline of the fight had left your body, the pain increased by the minute, a burning sensation spreading from your shoulder to the tips of your fingers.

“Is-is that–” you heard the Black Paladin’s voice ask. You cracked open one eye and raised your good arm, giving a weak wave to signal your presence. Pidge whipped around.

“Oh, god, Y/N–I’d forgotten you were here. I’m so sorry.” She scrambled over to where you were sitting and crouched next to you.

“’S okay. Don’t sweat it,” you muttered. “You got what you needed?” You sure hoped so, and heaved a relieved sigh when Pidge nodded. Would have been a shame if you’d got yourself shot for nothing.

“But–Y/N, why are you even here?” Pidge flinched as soon as the words left her mouth. “I meant–I’m glad you’re here, I just–how did you know we were here?”

“Been working with a couple of rebel groups,” you said. “They said you would be doing that mission to get intel, but I knew you’d never get past the firewall in time. The mission would fail, and you might get yourself in serious trouble.”

When Pidge rolled her eyes, they shone with a twinkle you recognised as the one you’d grown so fond of. “I would have gotten past it. In time.”

You laughed, grabbing Pidge’s hand and pressing a sloppy kiss to her knuckles. You blame the sudden bravery on blood loss. “I know.”

[blayzez]

I'm sorry, I know I don't usually post discourse on my blog. I'm just... really hurt right now.

At the age of 24, after spending my entire childhood forcing myself to believe I was straight because that's what my family and religion said I was supposed to be, I finally acknowledged that I was bisexual. Even then, I was still second-guessing myself: What if I only think I'm bisexual because the internet/social media makes it seem like the "In" thing? What if my sexuality is just a mask and not who I really am? What if, what if, what if. It was hard.

Then I saw Voltron. Lance seemed to have a bisexuality arc laid out for him, and it was obvious that he didn't quite know he was bi and/or wasn't emotionally ready to acknowledge it.

That was just so validating. It made me happy to know that being confused about your sexuality -- not being sure if you're the sexuality you think you might be -- was common enough to include it in a kid's show and it made me feel so much better! I was so happy, and with Lance's help (and the help of my friends and therapist), I was able to finally accept my sexuality for what it was. And I'm an adult. Think about how many kids his arc could have helped! Kids who were questioning, kids who were unsure, kids that might not being surrounded by a good support system and have to hide who they are. Lance was shaping up to be someone kids could really look up, admire, and in turn accept themselves for they are because of him.

And now that's washed down the drain. It meant so much to me, perhaps meant so much to a lot of kids that needed that role model, but it clearly meant nothing to the writers and that is just so disheartening.

This isn't even about shipping. I love K/ance with all my heart, but I would be okay with any endgame ship so long as it was written well. This includes keeping the characters in-character and allowing the romance to help in their character development. Keith was the most likely candidate -- he really did make Lance a better person and vice versa -- but if someone else filled that role and filled it well, I would have been perfectly fine with that! But that's not what we got. Instead, the boy who has been insecure ALL SERIES has to spend his only romance building up his partner and have that not be reciprocated. That most-likely-candidate boosted him up more than Lance's actual romantic partner, and that is just bad writing. That's not a good relationship. Relationships are two-way streets; you can't have only one of the partners be supportive -- they have to be EQUALLY supportive. And A//urance was not that. A//urance was rushed, did not help the characters develop in the slightest, and took away TWO great role models.

I don't like Allura. I think I've made this clear before, but I really don't like her. I was neutral to her in s1, then the whole Not-All-Galra arc happened in s2 and my opinion of her started going down at that point.

But she didn't deserve the hand she was dealt. She was the only woman of color in the main cast, and they KILL HER??? WHY????? I may not have liked her, but that doesn't mean she was a bad character! On the contrary, she was a great role model and I'm sure many girls of color looked up to her. And then they just kill her? First they take away the great role model Lance could have been as a confused bisexual character, and then they take away the only woman of color on the main cast. WHAT. THE. FUCK. You can't just do that! I feel so horrible for the kids who looked up to those characters only to have it all ripped out from under their feet.

Oh, but there was a random gay wedding at the end, so that makes it alllllllll better~

Except it doesn't. Adding in a gay wedding/kiss with little-to-no build-up is more likely to cause confusion than anything else. And it doesn't erase how dirty they did Lance and Allura. Both characters deserved better.

On the topic of shipping, yes, it was queerbait. I refused to believe the showrunners were doing that -- I absolutely refused because I trusted the showrunners completely. Surely they wouldn't have ALL OF THESE ROMANTIC PARALLELS between K/L with other canon romantic couples for nothing. Surely they wouldn't have developed K/L's relationship more than any other relationship unless there was a really good reason for it. SURELY THEY WOULDN'T BE OKAY WITH VAGUING ABOUT THE SHIP MULTIPLE TIMES AND BEING OKAY WITH DW USING K/L FOR MARKETING PURPOSES IF IT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN.

But nope. All of the media techniques to subtly hint at a romance used specifically for K/L meant nothing. It was just bros being bros nothing gay here.

And that is BULLSHIT.

Honestly, the whole season just screams, "SHOCK VALUE," to me. They wanted to shock people, but I don't think they really considered the repercussions of how they were doing it. I get shock value, bringing up the interest and encouraging audiences to rewatch the series to understand why the shock was actually built-up from the beginning, but there's right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Voltron took the wrong way and screwed it up royally.

To be clear, I am not against straight ships. Far from it, some of my favorite ships are heterosexual. Nor do I fetishize mlm relationships -- K/L is only the second mlm relationship I've come to really love (the first being Hau and Gladion from Pokemon Sun & Moon). It's just that K/L really struck a chord with me and with so many other people, and to take that away for the sake of a straight ship and some shitty shock value? Dirty thing to do to the show's audience. Don't build up proper LGBT+ rep UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY FUCKING HAVE IT. The only rep? Shiro, and a hastily-added Zethrid/Ezor ship. Blaytz, too, but that was glossed over tbh and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the audience (not on tumblr because we analyze everything to death lol) completely forgot about Blaytz's interaction with that make Galra. That's not proper rep. That's throwing it in and thinking, "It exists so our job is done."

Media in general has being doing LGBT+ rep dirty for SO LONG. Even when we had positive LGBT+ characters in media, they were still characters based off of gay stereotypes. They were good positive characters, but were still perpetuating a certain bias against LGBT+ by displaying these stereotypes as fact. Times are supposed to be different now. We're supposed to be progressing, making it BETTER. I really thought Voltron was going to be part of that progress, that it would give us a well-written, well-developed, well-loved LGBT+ representation for kids of this generation to look up to and admire and learn acceptance -- about themselves and about others -- from. Instead, the showrunners three half-assed, tacked on LGBT+ reps and called it a day.

THAT'S NOT COOL.

This isn't about ships. This is about proper media representation for the LGBT+ community -- something that is really scarce, even now -- and how it affects the LGBT+ community when it's done badly. This also goes for racial rep. You can take two misrepresented groups and treat them horribly and then call it good rep. IT ISN'T. The poor representation of the LGBT+ community has proved to be detrimental in society's view of them. THIS DOESN'T HELP.

*sigh*

Off the topic of that, can we talk about how shit the writing was? Because it was really shit.

I'll admit that while I like s7, it wasn't written amazingly-well. Still, it wasn't bad and did have plenty of interesting episodes. Even with all of the asspulls we got in the last episode, it was still awesome because we got to see Shiro back in his element after losing almost everything in prior seasons. It was a mix of good writing and bad writing, but the good writing made up for the bad.

The seasons previous to that were well-done. Maybe not s4, but the other seasons were well-written and really enjoyable! There's a reason the show took off; the plot maybe standard, but the characters, character dynamics, and relationships were fantastic and were the true driving force behind the series and its success.

So why was s8 so all over the place? Why were plot threads that had been hinted at or outright confirmed left hanging or tied together hastily? So many things were alluded to in previous seasons only to lead to NOTHING. WHY???

Why did everyone BUT Lance get an arc?

What was the point of Lance getting a sword if it was never going to be brought up again?

Why was Keith's arc suddenly thrown to the wayside?

Why did Allura have to DIE for her arc to reach its conclusion?

WHY?

So many people complained about bad writing in Voltron, but I had always believed that the writing in Voltron was relatively good. Sure, it had its problems (like the entirety of s4, and the MFEs being boring as shit), but it was mostly a well-rounded show with well-rounded characters.

And s8... just threw all of that away.

All of that potential, all of those good arcs -- wasted.

The writing went downhill SO fast, and it's just such a shame. Something that meant so much to me has dissolved into the mess s8 was. It's disheartening.

I also want to apologize to all of my followers who followed me because my K/L optimism and metas. I'm sorry if I got your hopes up; I really thought K/L was the logical conclusion -- everything was building up to it, right from the first episode and even continuing in s7 (hell, even s8 added to it) -- and I truly thought the writers were going to follow through with all of the logical conclusions the previous seasons built up. I had faith in them, but I was wrong. For that, I apologize. I know it's just a cartoon show, but I also know how influential and meaningful media can be -- especially for marginalized groups -- so if my hype bringing you up made your fall harder when s8 was released, I am so sorry. You didn't deserve that; nobody in the fandom did.

I'm so jaded and disillusioned right now. Voltron has been a major inspiration for me; I originally decided to be a cartoonist to bring LGBT+ representation to children's media because of Steven Universe, but it was Voltron that really motivated me to reach that goal. I looked up to Voltron -- it was my muse, my main inspiration. I've learned so much about writing -- writing character arcs, relationships, etc. -- from Voltron and all of the analyzing people did. Seeing it devolve into what it did is upsetting. Something I loved so much has let me down, and I'm hurt and disappointed.

But more than ever, I want to create cartoons that don't do this; cartoons that tie up its loose ends, follow through with obvious character relationships, puts the main characters through complete arcs, and give proper development to them all. Cartoons that have proper LGBT+ and racial representation -- with LGBT+/characters of color that can be admired, that won't fall flat, that will teach the children of the generation about acceptance of others and acceptance of yourself regardless of sexuality, skin color, gender identity, etc. Voltron failed in that aspect; it was a compelling show that failed in everything it needed to succeed in. I refuse to make that same mistake.

With that, let's all look ahead to future and enjoy the fanworks that do these wonderful characters justice. Let Voltron's failure inspire you to create and make something better, something that will be much more impactful, much more meaningful.

Don't let it get you down; let it bring you up.