#leader of voltron

[lidiavidia]

I will never shut up about him!

Keith loves his team so much!!! Look how happy he is to see them again!!!

[skysmadness]

warm up stuff

[torveiglyart]

The true leaders of Voltron!

My lovely attempt at fake official art :D

(Am I allowed to use the logo like that?)

[badsongpetey]

This is one of my fav scenes. "Cargo pilot" Lance takes charge, comes up with a plan, and Keith listens (much to Keith's surprise). It's everything Lance always wanted. I think it was pretty arguable that s1 was setting up BP Lance/RP Keith as endgame. Keith's expressions are top notch here too, too bad they ditched this version of Keith in the end...

[autisticlancemcclain]

The ship was shaking like a kid holding a goldfish bag.

It was not, in case you were wondering, a good time. 

Keith grit his teeth, planting his boots on the ground and half-walking half-climbing over to Allura, who was paler than Keith had ever seen her. The grip she had on her podium was tight enough to drain the blood completely from her knuckles. Despite his own fear, Keith’s heart softened for her. 

“How is it looking?” he asked, shouting over the noise of a thousand asteroids and a million laser strikes. All while their lions sat, drained of quintessence, locked in their hangars

One goddamn thing after another. Jesus. 

“It is looking bad,” Allura shouted, not taking her eyes off the space in front of her. “I can’t – Coran, I can’t hold it on my own!”

Coran looked back at her grimly. He had probably the most success keeping upright – seriously, was it posture or did he have a steel rod anchored to his back at all times – but even he was struggling against the whipping and shuddering of the massive castleship, attention focused on the controls. Trying to keep the shield up as well as possible, trying to get their own defenses running. Trying, as always, to keep the castle going, even when the odds were a million to nothing. 

“You can,” he encouraged. The effect was less encouraging when a massive asteroid hit the side of the bridge point-blank, throwing him right off the controls and splat into the walls. Despite Lance and Allura’s cries of alarm, he made a startlingly dignified crawl back to the deck controls.

Hell of a man, that advisor. 

He continued once he was steady, sweat beading on his brow but gaze soft and assuring. He waited for Allura to meet his eyes, then nodded, once. “Focus, girl. Hands on the spheres. Mind cool on the exhale. However we need to get out of this – you can guide us. Make your decision. Your team is behind you.”

“Yeah!” Pidge cheered, lifting her fist in emphasis from where Shiro held her steady, eyes trained on her computer screen. Blaring red lines of code Keith could not pretend to read flashing rapid speed in front of her, and she typed back at it just as fast, keeping their crackling systems at bay. “You got this!”

Allura breathed out. The tense line of her shoulders softened, just slightly, despite the ongoing chaos. She lifted her hands and rested them, gently, on the podium spheres as Coran instructed. They glowed. 

“We retreat,” she decided, nodding to herself. “We’re already low on quintessence, standing to fight will drain us dangerously. We must get to safety if we are to survive with our home intact.” She bit her lip, eyes opening. “But, uh, full disclosure, I have enough strength in me to open a wormhole and that is About It. I will be out of commission the moment it closes.”

Hunk shrugged. “We’ll catch you, then.”

“Try not to wormhole us into a black hole,” Shiro suggested, smiling slightly. “We’ll manage anything else, Princess.”

She laughed slightly, thankfully, but within seconds called out for everyone to brace themselves. Keith did as she heeded, or he tried to – but the castle got hit as he tried to crawl back to his seat, sprawling him on the floor. He glanced over at Allura, panicked, but her eyes were already glowing, and the space in front of them was already starting to warp. He swallowed roughly, squeezing his eyes shut. The floor was shaking too badly for him to get his bearings. He couldn’t get his feet under him, couldn’t stand, couldn’t dream to crawl to his seat. He stilled, resigning himself – he didn’t know exactly what would happen if he wasn't strapped down and protected during a wormhole jump, but it couldn’t be good. He had to hope for the best.

“God,” sighed a voice to his left, “you’d die without me, Dropout.”

A hand clenched the back of his jacket and yanked, pulling him tumbling onto another body. Quick as lightning a seatbelt was stretched over him, clicking into place just as the space in front of the castle finally warped, bright blue, and the entire bridge lit up so bright Keith was blind with it. 

When the light finally died down, Keith was half-convinced nothing had changed. The castle stopped shaking, but instead it was plummeting, hard and fast, controls dead and energy gone, towards the surface of a planet. 

“Someone catch Allura!” Coran shouted, and on queue the princess’ eyes rolled up in her head and she slumped forward. Luckily, Hunk had been more prepared than the rest of them, seatbelt already off and arms extended to catch her. He carried her back to her seat, buckling her in carefully, and strapping himself in next to her. Wise move – trying to crawl back to his own seat, fighting against the G-forces, would be near impossible.

There was a click, and then a shove, and then Keith got to feel those G-forces firsthand.

“What the hell!” he demanded, barely managing to catch himself on the arm of the blue paladin’s seat. “I coulda brained myself!”

Lance shrugged, playing for innocent, but a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. Keith could’ve strangled him. “What? Thought I’d let you get back to your own chair. You're welcome for saving you, by the way.”

“Some saving, jerk! We're still falling!”

“Yeah. Personally, I would find somewhere to buckle up.”

“You’re so annoying,” Keith growled, and it was by spite alone that he managed to stomp back to his own seat and buckle himself in. He was bright red, anger making him hot – Lance always made him like this, so furious he could barely blink. One day they’d be making progress, working together like a dream, wiping the floor together, and the next it was like a switch was flipped. Like Lance was reminding himself that he and Keith could never get along. It was ridiculous, and Keith couldn’t for the life of him understand it. Was he so bad?

“Incoming!” Pidge shouted, shaking Keith back to himself. Her screen was now linked up with Coran’s, the only two things on in the entire castle – electronics seemed to come alive when Pidge touched them – and diagrams of the castle systems were blaring red, flashing with symbols Keith didn’t know, but recognised as bad. “The nav and power systems are down! It’s not safe to get anyone back there to force them back on manually, but I think I can get steering up in a sec. Shiro, I need your arm for power. Hunk, keep on Allura, make sure she’s upright when we crash, we don’t want a spinal injury. Lance, Keith, I’m turning steering over to you guys. Don’t fuck it up.”

Despite their bickering, both of them nodded. Neither of them particularly wanted to be turned into paladin pancake anytime soon, so they could collaborate for one thing. 

Seconds after Pidge spoke, a screen flickered to life in front of Keith. Stats blinked back up, glitching rapidly as they translated themselves into words and symbols Keith could understand. The hologram shifted and expanded to its usual 3D model, joystick in the middle, thrusters and controls to his left, a screen with Lance’s comm line to his right. In his little screen, Lance met his eyes, eyebrows raised in question. Keith nodded. Together, they wrapped their hands around the joysticks, breathed out, and let their minds fuse.

As always, it was a freaky feeling. Imagine the weird, shuddery feeling you get when you say the same thing as someone at the same time, voices layering, tone mixing, for a moment your own voice and the voice of a stranger synching into one. The weird, deja-vu-but-not of it, the uncanny valley feel of recognising your own voice but…different. 

Then multiply that freakiness by a hundred, and you still won’t quite get it. 

On some levels Keith was aware that he was his own person. He knew his name, knew his hands, knew his history – or well, some of it. Nothing about himself had changed. 

But at the same time, he was also Lance Esposita-McClain. He knew his name, knew his hands, knew his history, more of it than he could ever get from shared stories or mind melds. There’s no telling the way your sister’s arm feels hooked around your neck for the sixth noogie in as many minutes. There’s no explaining the way your breathing only gets calm with your feet in the saltwater. There’s no describing the curve of your mother’s smile. Nothing Keith was seeking out – no memories he would even know to look for – but they were there, simmering, triggered by a smell or the crook of his finger in a particular way. Memories stored in the body and the soul and the senses, not in the brain, shared when two consciousnesses become one. 

Lance’s mind was hyperspecific. It complemented Keith’s well, with all his flitting, quick detail-oriented observance. As Keith jumped from angle to angle, noticing the planet’s curve, the pull of its gravity, the heat of its atmosphere, Lance zeroed in on an island, one of the only ones big enough for them to land. While Keith kept their craft in control, steering along the air currents, Lance kept them directed, single-minded focus on a stretch of rocky beach – not exactly a soft landing, but not a lot of living things for them to destroy when they crash. (Keith would’ve chosen to land in the meadow. Crushing frogs and bugs or whatever is never something on his top priority list of things to avoid. But he didn’t argue when Lance nudged them towards what is about to be a very bumpy landing.)

“Brace yourself!” he shouted, not daring to look away to make sure his friends were buckled. Trusting that they were, he held his position, letting them plummet, coming closer and closer to splatting on the planet’s surface before finally yanking on the joystick as hard as he could. He felt Lance’s strength twist and tangle with his own, and together the two of them levelled the castle almost parallel with the ground, letting them glide on their own velocity until they slowed down enough to let the bottom of the craft brush against the rocky outcrop. 

It was the most turbulent landing Keith has ever felt, except maybe that time he and Lance crashed blindfolded into a sand dune, and every bump on the ground gave him whiplash. When the castle finally hit the ground for good, dragging them a gauge in the ground for several miles as friction finally slowed it to a stop, the leftover inertia yanked Keith forward so roughly the buckles of his seatbelt made something crack in his ribcage. When the castle finally stopped he got slammed back into his chair so hard he was almost surprised he didn’t fall right through the impenetrable material. 

It took a minute for everything to hit. His connection with Lance had been severed the second they hit the ground, too focused on being, y’know, crashed to keep holding on. After the shock of being tossed around like dice in a cup wore off, which did not take long, Keith’s body made it very clear that yeah, no, armour actually only does so much, and crash landing is one of those things that’s just bound to hurt. His skull pounded. At least one of his ribs was most definitely cracked. His wristed and knuckles ached from the strain of holding up the entire weight of the castle as he’d steered it. He was alive, obviously, but – Jesus. Being alive sucked.

“Sound off,” croaked Shiro from somewhere left of him.

“Ugh,” groaned Pidge. “Screw you, Keith, I hate it when you drive.”

“Next time I’ll be sure to let us crash,” Keith responded flatly.

“Um, you did, bozo, I asked you to land us –”

“The castle was dead! What did you expect me to –”

“Allura and I are both fine,” Hunk interrupted. Amusement lined his voice. “She’s still out, but she’s breathing fine, and I didn’t let her hit anything on impact. She should still get checked out, though.”

“Roger that,” Coran agreed. “Ease your worries, Number Two, you did well. I will have her in the MedBay as soon as our systems are up and running again.”

“Oh, whew, that’s a relief, because I didn’t want to say anything but she kinda jammed her elbow into my sternum by accident and I’m not blaming her or anything since she’s unconscious but I think my spleen may be a little dead, not a huge deal I’m sure but –”

“Everyone quiet!” barked Shiro. “That’s six accounted for! Who’s missing?”

Immediately, heart pounding, Keith whipped to his right. His stomach dropped. The Blue Lion Command Chair was empty – seatbelt torn somewhere on the shoulder, cracked helmet overturned carelessly on the seat. The crisp blue and white lines were marred by a small splash of red. Panic clawed its way up Keith’s throat, and he was out of his seat before he could register unbuckling his own straps, looking frantically around the bridge. 

“He’s here somewhere,” Pidge fretted, “he couldn’t’ve just disappeared –” 

Coran had a gloved hand clenched in his hair. “The windows and walls should be almost impenetrable, there is no way the crash broke them enough to let someone in –”

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck –”

“Guys,” a soft voice interrupted, and Keith could’ve collapsed with relief. The castle has been flipped sideways during the fall, floor suddenly now 90 degrees, and standing at the side of the control board, now the very high top, was Lance. For whatever reason he had climbed it while they bickered, and now stood very still, gloved hand pressed to the glass of the windshield. Blood trickled from his temple, tracing a line down the side of his face, disappearing in the neckline of his armour. “We got company.”

Shifting gears – Keith was about to tear him a new one, when Shiro says sound off you sound off – but froze when he looked out the window, following Lance’s gaze.

Marching towards them, in numbers Keith couldn’t pretend to count, was an army.

— — —

part two

[trivojol]

Black paladin? Red paladin? Both..both are good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEST BOY ❤❤🎉

[a-rareperson]

HOLAAA, SOLO PASO A DEJAR ESTO POR AQUÍ JSJSJ

[pocket-goat]

i finally made proper designs for all five of my...... very original slugcat oc's!

[callmelyc]

I'll just never get over how despite wanting to be the leader himself, Lance still helped Keith be a Leader and see he was capable of doing so after being stuck in his own grief.

And it's canon like?!?!?

They work so well together when it's time to be genuine I'm so ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

It always makes me so sad when ppl erase or leave out that part of their journey. That Lance helped. Bc it's just so important to Keiths character.

It doesn't make Keith weaker or less capable that he needed it but he needed someone to get through to him/support him and Lance did just that without even being asked.

It showed their growth and maturity, it's so pivotal and not even from a shipper standpoint.

For Keith to be able to admit he messed up/was stressed?

HUGE

For Lance to listen? HUGE

"This is all my fault. I followed him right into this trap. Everyone warned me, but I didn't listen. I put the entire team in jeopardy."

"Yeah, you kinda did. But now we gotta fix it."

That "we" is so important bc it's not even referencing just them two but the whole team coming together bc Keith was acting too radical he missed they were all there for him if allowed to be. They may have looked towards Lance to approach Keith (though Lance didn't notice nor need it he did so voluntarily) but they followed Keith as a leader from the start.

They were all willing to follow him, they all trusted him.

Lances voice was just loud enough and persistent enough to get through to him bc lance knew without shiro someone needed to try. Lance was so insanely supportive and so insanely important to Keiths rise to true leadership.

Keith accepting the help, the role, as himself and not as a replacement for shiro bc of that is always so powerful. He finally realized he didn't have to stand on a pedestal to be a leader, he could use his team as his pillars just as they could use him as one too.

"You're right. Let's go."

He's no Shiro but that doesn't mean he can't be their leader too.

Screaming

Then later it's Keith reassuring Lance he's more than a replacement or a placeholder. They grow so much bc of that initial support being built up the trust they have in one another is immeasurable.

They understand eachothers positions more than anyone else could bc they're in similar shoes.

Two ppl taken from their lions to another.

Two ppl changing rank in ways they didn't want.

And that unyielding support for eachother is just so so satisfying. This is why I adore their bp Keith and red lance dynamic. Ok it's not as popular but it really shows how they grow as a unit and I wish they'd utilized that so much more.

[queengeni]

Allura should have been the black paladin and I'll stand on my opnion till the day I DIE

[bluebugjay]

Here's why Lance should have become the black paladin in the lion swap,

Firstly, Keith didn't want to lead one bit, his character is very right-hand-man, not leadership material and the show actively shows us this. His fight style is impulsive and fast-thinking and generally good for solo work, not leadership qualities! I understand the appeal of him taking Shiro's place because they were the closest and the angst of it all, (Keith feeling like he's accepting Shiro is gone, and replacing him by taking his place) but I think there's actually more sense in Lance taking up the mantel.

Lance calls Shiro his hero in episode 1, Lance is the most passionate about actually being a pilot and around this time, Lance's insecurities about not having a place in the team surface. Allowing Lance to follow in Shiro's footsteps by piloting the black lion, actively stepping into an inarguably important role in the team and being accepted as that role would be huge for him! He has plenty of leadership qualities, significantly more than Keith. Even when Keith is the leader in the show, Lance takes the right-hand-man role but is actually doing more of the correct decision making, leadership, mediating. Plus, it would make a great parallel to episode 1 of Pidge, Hunk and Lance in the training simulator where Lance is acting as the leader of their team, and even a call back to Lance being the one to pilot them all in the blue lion into space in the first place.

A great way for it to play out would be to have the team find out Keith was Shiro's choice to lead them in his absence and Keith to refuse as he does in the show, but have him reject the idea of anyone else trying to pilot it either because he doesn't want to replace Shiro. Eventually, Keith is pushed to giving in and trying to pilot the black lion, again as happens in the show. Everyone, both the characters and audience are expecting it to work but it doesn't. Keith is pleading with the lion for it not to awaken and it actually doesn't. Maybe Allura tries next but it still doesn't awaken. Everyone else thinks because they have their lions already and with the track record, there's no point in trying. The team is crushed because now it really seems like there's no hope. Later, a moment of Lance walking around the empty castle hallways, he comes to a stop at the black lions hangar, maybe he's with the mice and we get a moment of him talking about how he's always looked up to Shiro and how he wants to do him proud. Lance takes a chance and enters the black lion, he sits in the chair mostly expecting nothing to happen but then, the lion awakens and roars. Lance is in shock and the rest of the team come rushing at the sound to see that the black lion has accepted Lance. There's probably doubt from the team at the start because Lance is goofy and easily distracted, can he really lead them? But he promises he'll take it seriously and shows just that in the next few missions, etc. The team readily accept him as leader all except for Keith. At least at first.

At this moment in the show, Keith and Lance's rivalry has mostly simmered out, we get the 'leave the math to Pidge' moment and a couple others that come around because Keith is leader and Lance goes to him. With Lance instead being leader, I think it would go in the opposite direction. Keith doesn't want a new leader or a new black paladin, he doesn't want a new Shiro. He's unfairly angry at Lance for taking his place and actively restarts their rivalry by not listening to orders and questioning Lance's skills. He's in mourning for his older brother so as much as Lance bickers with him, it never gets too antagonistic because it's obvious Keith is just struggling. They have some big blow up where Keith spits out the real reason he's not accepting Lance as the leader, because he doesn't want to have to accept Shiro's really gone, and Lance responds with his own struggles of really wanting to prove himself to the team and he was afraid he was holding them back and didn't have a proper place before becoming the leader. They both get reassurance in this moment, Keith apologises and admits that Lance is a good leader and definitely always had a place on the team and Lance insists he isnt trying to take Shiro's place but the team needs a leader and he's so honoured it's him. It's their new 'leave the math to Pidge' moment.

After that, Keith falls back into being a good right-hand-man, the team work together super well which then makes Shiro's return and taking back of the leader role more jarring, which hints at something being off around this Shiro without making it obvious what. Which would also make Keith leaving for the blade even more shattering. The team would be taken off guard because they were doing so well, why would he want to leave? And it would be a huge betrayal as it leaves the red lion with no pilot meaning they can't form voltron. It would all cause Lance to doubt his place in the team again when he's left with no lion to pilot as he can't take blue from Allura. They struggle in that moment for a while because the red lion is classically picky with it's pilots, they assume it won't accept anyone new so suddenly. Now I think this could go two ways, either Allura bonds with the red lion because it was her fathers and moves from blue to red, leaving Lance back with blue, it's familiar, in his comfort zone and I think would make him fall happily back into not being a leader anymore because Blue is fun and his strongest bond of the lions. Or, Lance tries the red lion and it does accepts him and it's either implied Keith meant for Lance to be the next red paladin, he convinced Red and knew Lance could do it, or have an actual scene of Keith subtly urging Lance to be the red paladin when he leaves, because Keith knows about Lance's insecurities about not having a place in the team. Not sure which works best.

All in all, I think it would be a great twist to have Keith not be the leader and a great bit of development for Lance for him to be the leader. As well as open the door for a lot more cooler character interactions, and why not make the lion swapping more confusing while we're at it!

[robylovi]

lowkey shiro should’ve stayed dead- WHAAT WHO SAID THAT

[currentlyinflames]

klance season 1 vs klance season 3

[amiharana]

totk should have been about reviving the champions and then finding the secret fifth divine beast that link & zelda pilot together in order to create an overpowered sheikah voltron and then they battle against ganondorf's demise voltron to save hyrule

[fandomination666-blog]

On my train of somewhat spanish speaking Keith posts...

Lance starts listening to the song Mayores by Becky G and Bad Bunny.

Keith knows damn well what's going on in the song.

And now he can't stop thinking about the new age difference between him and Lance.... and how Lance probably WOULD like someone to bring him flowers and whisper poetry in his ear when they.... NO KEITH FOCUS ON TRAINING

[autisticlancemcclain]

prev

———

“See! There it is again! It is going to attack us, we must act immediately!”

Keith wonders how badly it will make everything worse if he feigns a heart attack. He thinks he could be pretty convincing.

“Animals make noises,” Keith says tiredly. “The roars are not getting any closer. How did the previous attacks go? Was there some sort of roar-increase?”

The dignitary hesitates. “Well, no. The first time it happened the beast seemed startled, and then it was angry.”

“Shocking, that,” Lance says, and this time no one fights him.

The longer this debate has been going on, the clearer and clever it has become that Lance was correct.

Before they decided to go after the beast, the team decided it would be best to get as much information from the dignitary, security team, and royal family of the planet as possible. They expected it would take maybe half a varga to go over a couple reports, make a plan, and go after the beast – and hopefully manage to subdue it rather than kill it, to solve the problem on as many fronts and please as many people as possible.

Of course, because the universe finds their endless struggle amusing, it did not go that way. Instead, they’ve been here for the past four vargas at least, trying to get as much information as possible from the scattered reports and eye-witness accounts they could gather, all while half-watching Lance in tense silence (who, to be fair, has mostly stayed in one place and ignored everyone except for making the occasional bitchy comment).

They are getting nowhere.

It turns out the royal family and many community leaders are not nearly as fond as the dignitary and the soldiers of killing the beast. No one can agree on anything, not a plan of attack, not a plan to avoid attack, nothing. Keith has been listening to the same circular arguments ever since he got here, and as the not-black-paladin, he’s expected to contribute, so he has to pay attention. And usually that’s tolerable – it’s not the first time he’s expected to participate in a meeting that has gone on forever and done nothing productive, nor will it be the last – because he’s got Lance next to him, with a running commentary and joke stream that makes the whole thing easier to bear, along with a steady hand on his arm when he gets mad and often even a solution to wrap the whole thing up.

But, obviously, Lance is furious with him and everyone, right now, and is sitting as far away from Keith as he can manage, doodling on his holopad.

It’s miserable.

“I simply feel like there are more options that we should consider,” someone says diplomatically. Since that is literally the ninth time that exact sentence in that exact tone has been said in this meeting, Keith does not get his hopes up. He’s honestly half prepared to die and be buried in this stupid meeting room.

As the room descends into arguing once again, with absolutely zero new conclusions or changes, Keith finally gives up on paying any further attention. There’s nothing he’s missing, there’s nothing he’s contributing, and, he will admit it, doing meetings without Lance on his team is genuinely more than he can handle. He has no idea when he reached this level of codependency – because he can distinctly recall a point in time where doing meetings with Lance so much as in the same room would have them at each other’s throats in seconds – but he is in no place to handle it now. He lets himself drift, staring out the window across the table from him and deliberately thinking of anything except the flash of hurt in Lance’s eyes before it settled into fury, last night during the call.

As he observes the pretty scenery in front of him, rolling hills of yellow grass and an off-blue sky, he notices something strange along the backdrop of a pretty countryside. Along the edge of the far-off forest, there is a dark spot, out of place from its surroundings. He squints his eyes, leaning forward to try and figure out what it is. His posture piques the curiosity of the others at the table, and soon everyone is looking at the spot, watching with growing concern as it seems to get bigger, significantly bigger, and starts even to take shape.

“It has come again,” the dignitary says, hushed. They have genuine fear reflected in their eyes, which softens Keith slightly towards them. Maybe they aren’t just being a stubborn dick.

It takes a second to process, but soon the room descends into chaos, because for all that they have been discussing for hours, no plans have been made. Time is up, though. The beast as come to them, and now they must plan on the fly.

“Ready the guards,” says the queen. “Be vigilant and prepared. I would have appreciated more time, but there is none. We must be prepared to protect ourselves and our people. Last time we managed to scare it off with –”

“Wait!” Pidge shouts, the only one still sitting and facing the window. There is command in her voice, the likes Keith rarely hears from her, and her fingers twitch like they do when she’s calculating something in her head, solving a problem none of them even considered. “Nobody move!”

All the gathered officials in the room stand in tense silence, half watching Pidge and half watching the rapidly approaching beast. As it gets closer, it becomes apparent that it’s not approaching on its own. The beast, which Keith can now see resembles a truly gigantic bear, has a carefully bandaged leg, more than is capable for an animal, and is guided forward but someone sitting on its back, tiny in comparison to its head but visibly determined from even this distance.

“I knew it!” Pidge crows, springing up from her seat and pointing at Lance with manic glee in her eyes. “I fucking knew it! Your posture is way too good!”

Lance stares at her for several moments, eyebrow raised, and then sighs. Keith watches with a dropped jaw as he grows several inches taller, as his hair gets redder and his face gets bushier, until Coran sits in the place where Lance just was.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Shiro mutters, dragging his hand down his face. “I’m going back to the astral plane.”

Coran shrugs. “Lance’s plan simply had more research and direction. Also, I’ve not been out on a mission in too long. I will admit that played a role in my decision.”

“Well, Jesus, Coran, do you think we maybe could have –”

“Hey, guys, not to interrupt, but the giant beast is getting closer, people are aiming fire at it, and my dumbass best friend is currently riding on its back, so,” Hunk says. “Can we maybe worry about that first?”

The seriousness of the situation hits them all pretty quickly, and they adjust their attitudes accordingly. Lance is approaching faster by the second, no longer a shadow in the distance but a distinct figure, waving his hands like a dumbass and either completely oblivious or completely apathetic to the myriad of weapons, poised to fire, pointed in his direction by a horde of soldiers. The team rush outside with the rest of the officials, calling out for people to hold their fire, although it doesn’t do much, and the great beast swerves several times to avoid getting blasted.

“Stop! Stop! Don’t shoot! That’s a paladin!”

“Fire away!” the dignitary shouts over them, fury lighting their features and stubborn set to their jaw. “The insolence of their paladin does not negate the risk the beast poses!”

The paladins and the dignitary, along with several others on their side, glare at each other. The team may not approve of Lance’s methods, and there will be some serious discussion later, but that doesn’t change the fact that their fucking friend is out there being shot at, and they’re not going to stand back and let it happen.

“I swear, if you hurt him –”

“If he wasn’t trying to be hurt he shouldn’t have –”

“Hold on!” Lance shouts, finally close enough to hear. “Everyone – cool it for a sec! Hold on!”

———

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