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loveafterthefact · 4 years ago

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Love After the Fact Chapter 66: On the Road Again

Lance makes a confession and tells Keith a story.

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Lance’s eyes scan the rocky foothills’ landscape. In the past few vargas, they’ve passed kilns, tanneries, quarries, gardens, orchards, and vineyards tumbling over the uneven terrain beneath the terraced mountain civilization. Now, he and Keith find themselves at the edge of the foothills, where the last of the mountainous landscape fades into rocky tundra. This is a more arid part of Daibazaal, though parts of it are temperate, or even tropical. And then there’s the vast grassy marsh at the equator, which filters all the water south until the continent slips into the sea.

Lance has since learned that the large body of water he’d seen from space is in fact salt water, and it’s so large that crossing it takes an entire quintant.

He won’t see the sea on this visit, but he’s already promised himself he’ll come back. The tundra, however, is spellbinding. On either side of the road are flowers in shades of yellow, pink, blue, orange, and white with thick, waxy, bluish-green leaves. Among the flowering hills with twisty-trunked trees, are small mounds, topped with little towers of stacked stones. Some have toppled over. Others have small nests in the gaps. Others are held in place with vines and foliage.

Cairns, marking ancient burials, Keith told him a ways back.

Ahead is a river, one so wide, so deep, and so fast that they need a bridge to cross it. Lance can already hear the water, and given how one of Keith’s ears is rotating in every direction, and the other is fixed on the rushing water, so can he. Every now and then, the ears switch duties, keeping an eye out for the many predators that call Daibazaal home.

It's the cutest thing Lance has ever seen.

Keith halts his bull elk by the river, leads him forward to drink. Lance follows his lead. Rubbing Bruna’s furry neck as she drinks at the river’s edge. They’ve been riding all morning, and it’s time for a rest, and some lunch.

Wrapped in leaves, Lance finds some bread, dried meat, and a soft, somewhat amorphous white substance. He sniffs the substance, finding it has a bit of a stink to it. It also smells… good? Somehow?

“Beloved?”

“Hm?”

“What the quiznak is this?”

“Oh. Cheese.”

“Cheese? What’s in it?”

“Milk. From the elk.” Keith pulls out his blade, slicing a bit off the lump, spreading it on the bread. “Try some. If your body produces lactase. Otherwise, do not.”

“I do. Some plants on Altea have lactose. Milk does, too?” At Keith’s nod, Lance shrugs, taking a bite of the offered food. It’s good. Salty, a bit gamey, a little nutty? No matter how Lance thinks to describe it, cheese sounds absolutely disgusting, but it’s delicious.

Keith hands him a wrinkled red fruit that looks past its prime. “Here, try this purp fruit. I know it looks gross, and I think they’re disgusting, but Lotor likes them a lot, so you probably will too.”

Lance takes a bite, humming as sweet, syrupy juices explode over his tongue. It’s delightful, probably the sweetest thing he’s tasted since arriving on Daibazaal. The taste sours almost instantly as Lance remembers something he’d said earlier. “Hey, Keith? There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Okay?”

“I may have made a deal with my father that we would return to Altea as mates.”

“You what?” Keith stares at his spouse, clearly displeased. His ear pin back against his head, tail twitching back and forth. “That wasn’t your place to say. At all.”

“I know. I thought it was fine, since it’s not like he’d actually do anything if we didn’t, but I also didn’t say anything, so… I got the feeling I was in the wrong.”

Keith stares at him, fur bristled, murmurs, “Did you mean it?”

“No! I-” The Altean’s shoulder sag. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so,” Keith echoes. “So you assumed that we would, and figured that meant it was fine for you to agree to those terms.”

“...I suppose,” Lance mumbles.

Keith shakes his head, disappointed in his spouse. Not that he’d say that. Nothing damages a person like hearing their loved one is disappointed in them. “Why, Lance? Why would you agree to that? You’ve kept me safe all this time. What changed?”

“He made it a stipulation of our trip to Daibazaal. I should have argued the point, but I just wanted to get you here as fast as possible. I wanted to make sure that happened, with as little trouble or wasted energy as possible, and as little stress to you. Still, I was careless, and thoughtless, and I am so. Sorry, Keith.”

The Galra sighs, staring at his mate. “Well, you told me, and I know you wouldn’t have forced yourself on me, so I’ll forgive you. This time. But even though I’m mated to you, you can still lose my respect, and my trust. Just like I can lose yours.”

“I know, I know.” Lance’s ears droop. “The idea that I could have damaged this…” He shakes his head.

“It’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” Keith murmurs, letting the hurt ease away as he gazes over the river, watching the wind move through the tundra flora. “You’re reasoning saved your ass though, just so you know.”

Lance chuckles, still subdued as he picks at the last of his food. “I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m upset, but we’re gonna be okay.” Keith takes Lance’s hand, squeezes it tight. “You haven’t ruined this. Your intentions were good, if a bit careless, and we’re going to be fine.”

“Okay…”

“You need to be careful, though. It’s not like you to make hasty promises like that. We can't rule like that, so it can't become a habit.”

“I know,” Lance groans, carding a hand through his white hair. “The Ancients are going to smite me if I can’t get my shit together!”

Keith licks his lips, anxious. He still trusts Lance, and his intentions, no matter how misguided in practice. And the man clearly recognizes that he’s been an idiot. Now, he just wants to move on. “Hey. Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” The Altean rests his head against Keith’s shoulder. Keith wraps his tail around Lance’s waist.

“What happened to Romelle?”

“Ah. It’s kind of a long story...”

Alfor leaned against the control board of their small craft, shaking. On either side of him, Romelle and Honerva stood in awe as they gazed at the sight before them. A white hole, light pouring in seemingly endless arcs of light.

“I can’t believe it,” the blonde girl breathed. “We’re finally here.”

“Everything we’re searching for, everything we could ever want, is right here before us,” Alfor murmured. They stared a moment longer, then the king gave a cocky grin he’d later dread seeing on his son. “Let’s go get it!”

The women giggled, giddy on new discovery, as they hurried to their control panels, Alfor at the helm. They were here for everything they could possibly get, and the adventure, but also with a specific goal in mind.

Oriande, among other things, reportedly had its own unique flora and fauna, from which Altea’s organic life had evolved. It was possible, perhaps even probable, that they could find a cure for the thing that killed his wife.

“Wait. What exactly happened to your mother ?”

"A fungus. They found a capsule in her reading room. It... It grew up underneath her scales, and made them die and fall off."

"That's... horrific. I can't believe anyone would do that!"

“Mnh.” Lance sighs. “They cut me out of her as soon as they could so I wouldn’t die with her. They put me in a pod for phoebs, until I could breathe on my own and they were sure I didn’t have the same thing.”

“What an awful way to die,” Keith whispers, thinking about watching his power and lifeforce fall away from his body before his very eyes.

“Romelle’s brother died later from the same thing. We still don’t even know where it came from. We couldn’t figure out how to kill it. It kept spreading even when they were put in suspension.”

“Does Romelle know?”

“I’m not sure. We told her, but…”

“I don’t understand!” Romelle clinged to her research console, staring at the apparition formed from the light of the white hole. “Why won’t it let us pass?!”

Alfor glared at the ghostly obstacle, pale blue scales flaring in time with his frustration. “Try again. If it doesn’t let us pass, we’ll pull back and think of a new strategy.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” Honerva did as she was told, wheeling their craft back around, soaring through space, dodging the arcs of light curling from the white hole. The apparition struck again, sending them spiraling into another arc of light. The entire ship shuddered and creaked, threatening to come apart as it was assaulted by pure energy.

Alfor fell to the floor, wrapped his arms around the leg of the console. He heard a crash from behind him and assumed they’d taken some kind of damage. Once the ship settled, however, it became clear that wasn’t the case.

Romelle was on the floor, Honerva leaning over her, dark hair falling from it’s usual bun. “Alfor…”

The girl was bleeding profusely, gray matter visible from a gaping wound in her head.

“Ancients… Pick her up. We have to put her in a pod.”

“Alfor that could kill her!”

“What about her exposed brain? Couldn’t that kill her?”

Honerva grew pale beneath her orange, green-tinted scales. She nodded, scooping the girl into her arms as Alfor rushed to calibrate a pod to preserve her life.

As Honerva prepared to take them home, Alfor turned back to the formidable white hole. He’d been so close. He could practically smell that familiar, unfamiliar atmosphere just beyond these outer limits.

Were it not for the beast that guarded it...

“So what happened to Romelle?”

“My father spent decaphoebs rebuilding her brain. At first, everything seemed fine. That’s when she and Allura got close, and fell in love. But not long after that… She started talking about odd things. Guardians and descendants and glass that is water but also holding water and a blue ember growing cold. Weird stuff. Eventually, that took up more and more of her. I think that’s all that’s left now.

She doesn’t recognize Allura. I don’t think she even knows Allura’s pregnant. I’m not sure she even knows who she is, or that she’s a person. Alfor says that trying to fix her is just doing more damage and causing her pain. As much as I hate it, I think he’s right.”

“I wonder what she means,” he whispers. “I wonder what she’s trying to tell us.”

“I don’t know,” Lance murmurs. “But whatever it is, she’s too far gone to understand it herself, let alone tell us.”

“Right…” Keith frowns, unsure what to make of the story, but he lets it go for now. He’s heard Romelle speak plenty of times before he moved to Altea, Allura having gone out of her way to visit with him and try to ease his anxiety. It always sounded like nonsense.

All the same, he has a nauseous feeling that Romelle’s ramblings aren’t ramblings at all.

Keith stares at Lance’s scales, glittering up and down his arms, exposed by his rolled up sleeves. Blue, shining red in the light. Water and fire.

Suspend the ember in water. Stall its final breath.

The guardian waits for the descendant.

#LoveAftertheFact #LAtF #klance #galtean au #altean lance #galra keith #adashi #altean adam #galra shiro #voltron legendary defender #vld

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goldstonegolem64 · 4 years ago

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epilogue

On the planet of Olkarion Rebels,Queen slayers Mercarnies and Olkair alike were celebrating the Huge Victory they just had against the empire .But above the planet the Castle of lions , Along with several other rebel ships were being repaired by Vanguards cloud of nanobots. An as this was happening inside of the Castle of lions .Lance,Keith, Hunk, Pidge,Jay and Matt Were all sitting around The healing pods that housed Thace and Shiro now both armless seeing as Shiro was rejected do to his metal arm being severally damaged in the fight

“ Hey Jay can you put some music on sitting here in silence is really depressing “Matt asked

“ Alright “ Jay replied as he tapped on his wrist computer and let his music start play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccRif2DaGs

“ Thank you “Matt said

“ Your welcome “ Jay said before the room return to the semi silence it was before just with music playing in the background They all sat there for a few minutes until Allura,Coran, Ezra,Shay and Kolivan walked in

“ So how's everyone doing ?” Coran asked But no one answered” Oh that bad uh” Coran rubbed the back of his head as Ezra and Shay walked to their respective Boyfriends

“ Well after everything they have gone through it makes sense that they would be tried and well worried “Allura looked towards The healing Thace and Shiro

“ So Allura what is are next move?” Keith asked

“ Well I wanted to talk to you about that. After learning Zarkon’s plan to capture your families and use them as a bargaining chip against us. I believe we should go back to your homeworld and make sure your families are alright and to well recruit Earth to the coalition along with recruiting Mars if that’s ok with you jay ” Allura looked over to jay to see his reaction

“ Yeah it’s fine we would have to go there eventually” Jay said as he leaned his head on Ezra’s shoulder

“ An the rest of you ?” Allura turned her head towards the other

“ Yeah going home sounds nice” Lance said

“ Same here it would be nice to show Shay around my hometown “ Hunk said

“ I would like that” Shay add

“ I wouldn’t mind going home after a year of fighting see mom again would be a breath of fresh air.Right Katie “ Matt said as he elbow bumped his sister

“ Yeah it would be nice to see mom again. I just hope see doesn’t loss it when she sees what happened to my leg “ Pidge said as she tapped on her right foot

‘ Yeah that’s going to be a pain explain also she might want you to stop being a Paladin after seeing your foot” Matt replied

“ Keith what’s your opinion on this ?” Lance asked

“ I mean where am i going to go. I live on this ship and my brother brother in law and Nephew also live here.So where they go i go” Keith said Bluntly

“ Alright it looks like were all in agreement So when are we heading out?” Jay asked

“Once Adam and your kids are back on board and the repair are done will be heading out to your home system“ Allura said

“ Alright with that out of the way is there anything else we need to take about?” Lance asked

“ Well i think K-7 could be useful he was made to be pilot so having more mech pilots on are sie would be nice.Once we start make are own V-types. As for the twins “

“ They did help us fight Zarkon” Pidge add

“ But they almost kill us the first time we meet them” Hunk said he felt Shay’s grip around his arm tighten a bit

“ Yeh i don’t trust them to much after that “ Shay added

“ But they also worried us about zarkon plan to kidnap are families “Pidge countered

“ But they helped kill entire rebel outpost” Matt add

“ Ok but they helped us and can pilot Robeasts and i firmly believe that they can help us in the long run and i mean if the do betray us we can just end them without a second thought “ Jay said

“ Not to interrupt your discussion” Everyone turned to look at the speaker who was Kolivan “ but i believe the Twins should go with us seeing as they are children of are former members “ Kolivan said

“ Well Before we make a concrete decision let have Adam be here and see what the twins want to do.” Jay said

“ no i think they Should go with the Blade it would get them out are hands, An they could still help us in th long run”Keith said

“ Yeah that sounds fine but still lets wait for adam to get he so we have a full team decides “ jay replied

“ Well you are third in command so will wait “ Lance said

“ Well Allura’s here and her word trumps mine” Jay turned his head to look at the princess “ So boss what do you want to do with them ?” He asked

“Lets wait til Adam is here and when Shiro wakes up “ Allura said she then turn to look towards Kolivan “ Will you being willing to wait an few more hours ?”

“ It will be fine i am not need back for a few more day.But if you don’t mind we would like to send Thace back to base with Axtok?”

“ That is fine “Allura replied

“ Thank you “

[ Princess The prometheus is approaching and will be docking soon. ]

“ Well i looks like will get are answer soon “ Matt add

“ So whose going to be the one to tell Adam what happened to Shiro ‘ Hunk said

“ I will i’m a doctor intraining and i was the one who had promised to Shiro home alive” Jay got to his feet helped Erza up to their feet ” lets get this over with “ Jay said as he walked out of the room followed by Ezra

Elsewhere

in his peranol chamber of his Capital Ship Lotor looked at The badly damaged Command center with thousands of plasma impact burneds ,Bullet holes, and a long gash that lay their like an open wound on the side of the command center. “ I wish i could have seen it. Most have been a beautiful fight “ Lotor said to himself as he starred at the carnage caused by the Rebel army. As he looked the door to his chamber.Lotor turn to see a Women with lite blue skin dark purple and blue hair. Blue eyes with yellow sclera She also had four small horn sticking out of the side of her head and they wore the armor of his generals

“ Lord lotor we have collected the fragments of those cubes “ The woman said

“ Good have are top researchers on in i want to know what they're made of and where they came from “

“ Yes my lord”

“ Then once your done with that bring me the man named skyver followed by Contacting are spies in the rebellion and tell them to watch this Jay person closely i want any and all information on them. He is are only lead to this second Altean Colony and we must find it before my mother does . I will not let her kill of what is left of my people. “ Lotor ordered

“ Yes my lord”

“ one last have we found where bandor disappeared to ?” Lotor asked

“ Yes we have “

“ Where “

“ Back i the first colony we was found by guard barely alive. He is currently being treated there and is said to make a full recovery in the come months. We also did a head count after the crash and found that we are now missing one other person”

“ Who is it ?” Lotor asked

“ Bandors older sister Romelle Silva ‘

“ Do we any idea on her current whereabouts ?”

“ No she has disappeared near the Void’s opening she may be dead My lord “

Lotor clenched his fists hearing that “ And what of CenterPoint labs

Axca voice when from her normal stern and militaristic tone to more somber one “ completely destroyed and only a few members of the team survived”

“And what about the few survivors “

“ Off world and in recovery “

“ Alright We'll hold off on the gate project for another few year and keep me posted on the recovery. You are dismissed “Lotor order

“ Yes my lotor “ Axca said as she left Lotors Chamber

Lotor stood there in silence for a few minutes

“ It was not your fault My friend sciences as it’s rises “ Ragna said as he walked out from a shadowy corner of the room

“ Still It was my orders that sealed the fates of all those people “ Lotor said looking at the smokey wolf

“ True but you now know what not to do next time “

“ Not to follow my parents notes and stop trying to tear a hole into the fabric of reality “

“Correct Now what is the next step seeing as your father failed to capture Voltron or the Valkyrie “

“ I still believe conniving Voltron to join us is are best options and to make peace with the rebellion.But i don’t think mother or most of the Generals that were under my fathers rule wouldn’t be happy about it “

“ Then fight for it and make them listen to you” Ragna said

“That is the easy part the hard part is going to be talking to the Paladin in the first place”

“ The worst thing they can do is kill you and fully shatter the empire and bring peace to the universe “ Ragna said

“ They won’t kill me hopefully when they make this new universal government.Now how is my mother doing “

“ She is in grieving still “

“ And of the force that influencing her.”

“ It’s still there stronger now then it was before ”

“ Alright then it’s going to be but we most keep pushing forwards if we are to stop what is coming “ Lotor said as he walked over to a desk in his room and tapped a button on it to reveal a screen that show a crack in the fabric of reality that was slowly getting bigger and had several different energies leaking out of it

Back in the castle of lions

Jay and Ezra walked down the hall way towards the hanger beau had told them to go to meet Adam and Jay’s kids

“So you guys going to stay with the fleet or got back to hunting down Queens?” Jay asked

“ once the repair are done will follow you guys for a few day see what worlds your going to recruit some people then go back to bugs” Ezra replied as They held onto Jay’s arm

“ Good to know ‘Jay replied

“ So have you figured out what your going to tell ADam when you see him ?” ill Ezra asked

“ I’l just tell him the truth we won and Shiro’s in the healing pods and is missing his arm. “ Jay replied as the two entire into the Hanger. As they entered the Hanger they saw several rebel Ships parked along with Seeing the Valkyrie sitting there surrounded by dozens of rebel pilots engineers and ground troops They also saw the Prometheus parked with next to the dragon mech

“ Looks like Val has a little fan club “Ezra said

“ Yeah it looks like it and it looks like Adam’s already he let get this over with then ” Jay replied as the two walked towards the crowd surrounding.

As they got closer to it A female voice Yelled out to them“ Hey Silver lining do you have a moment “Jay stopped in place with Ezra stopping alongside him

Jay didn’t know if the person was referring to him or someone else but he turned his head towards the voice and saw a Coeihns woman with short Green hair, Blue eyes wearing a muscl-t and a open fleet suit with the upper half tied around her waist .she was walking towards them and the only reason he know the women’s race the moment he saw here was because she looked very similar to bastion which made him fell a little uneasy.

“ You talking to me “ Jay said while pointing to himself as his helmet automatically pitch shifted his voice to sound like sound wave

“ Oh my god really” erza asked as they fought back laughter at the stupid voice

“ What i am i suppose to do it just happens “ Jay said as he pulled of his helmet and started to messing with the in working off

“ Well that answer my first question “ The Coeilhn woman said as a carma bot float in front of Jay’s face and was about to take his picture

But if on reflex most of Jay’s facial features disappeared leaving just as the flash when off

‘ OK that one’s new” Ezra said starring at a now faceless jay

The Jay mouth reappeared” Next time ask someone if you want to take their picture” Jay pushed the carma bot away from his face as he put his helmet back “ Now who are you and why are you bothering me “ He said he voice dripping with annoyance and anger following that his face marking glowing brightly

The Coeilhn women stepped back a little scared by the sudden tone shift “ I’m Rey Wellmore I’m photographer working with the Rebels. An i was hoping that i could get a few pictures you and the valkyrie along with Asking you a few question “ REy replied

Jay’s anger faded away ‘ Next time ask a head of time because right now i have some where to be and someone to me wi” JAy was cut off as something slammed into his back nearly knocking him to the floor. Jay’s head did a 180% and looked down to see bastion face pressed against his back followed by him hugging Jay “ Oh hi Bastion”

“ Your back “ BAstion said his voice muffled

“ Yeah i am .What did you think i wasn’t going to comeback ?”

“ Maybe”

“ Why?” He question

“ I don’t know when you didn’t come down with everyone. We thought maybe you had died “

“ You could have called i bought you all phones for that reason”

“ we may have forgotten that “ Bastion replied

“ God you guys really are taking after me “ Jay said as he patted Bastion on his head

“ Excuse me but who are you talking to ? “ Rey asked

Jay’s neck snapped back into place to look at the reporter “ Sorry Ms. Rey This is Bastion one of my Boy . say hi Bastion “

Bastion walked from behind Jay and looked up towards Rey and when their eyes meet Rey He felt like he was looking mirror into a which made him felt a little uncomfortabl.So he step back behind Jay “ Hello Ms.Rey Bastion said “ He said with a wave. and a noticeable hint of nervousness in his voice

“ Hi Bastion “ Rey said but she sounded Distance and a little confused

Jay notice this an made a note of this “ Alright with that out of the way. If you wish for an interview when i’m not working you can find me either living in there “ jjay pointed towards the Prometheus “ or in the med by learn from doctor Ventair or in the training deck ‘ Jay said as he, Ezra and bastion started walking towards the Prometheus

“ Yeah talk to you later “Ray said lose in thought . She watched the three entire into the prometheus and once she knew she would see her she pulled out a her phone and call someone “ HEy Gillmore it’s me Rey can you check check something out for me ?”

In the Prometheus

Jay,Ezra and Bastion walked into the Living room

“ Hey everybody i’m home “ Jay said as he walked in the living room.

The moment his voice rang out in the room Molly head turned around and She scrambled out of Fitz lap crawled up the couch and throw herself at he father. Not noticing the two foot gap between the two of them. Jay with the reflexes that all people get when they become Parents. Quickly grabbed his Daughter out of the air before she even started to fall.Once she was in his hands he quickly pulled her close to him “ God you are going give me a heart attack one of this days” Jay said

“ Papa’s home” Molly said as she wrapped her arms around Jay’s Helmeted Head

“ Yeah i’m home Sweety daddy’s home “ He said sweetly as he hugged his daughter back

“ Hey Jay how was the Mission?” Fitz asked as he looked up toward Jay from his seat

“ Yeah how did the mision go and why did it take you so long to get back ?” Usamu asked

“ Well that’s a long story see ‘ Just stopped mid Sentence as something Grabbed his Leg. So he looked down and saw Clay hugging it “ Hey Clay “

“ Where you go “ She said as she looked up to him with tears in her eyes

Jay felt like he had just been punched in the heart as he looked at his other daughter “ I’m sorry Daddy had to go save the universe “ Jay said felling really bad

“ No leave again “ She said as her grip around Jay’s Leg tightened

“ Yeah no go away again” Moly said as she tried to wiggled out of her father’s arm.Jay didn’t want to drop her. So he place her down .Once she was on floor she grabbed onto Jay’s other leg mimicking her sister

“YOu both know that not going to stop me right.” Jay said as he start walking as he did molly started Giggling while Clay stayed quiet

“ Oh god this is the adorable “ Ezra said as they watched their boyfriend and his kids just goof around as Usamu jumped onto jay back while Bastion and Fitz watched and laughed

“ Yes it is “ Adam said as he walked out of the stairway holding onto a walke and curious Izuku

Jay stopped in place “ Hey bub”

“ Is Shiro alive ?” Adam asked already know what jay was trying to do

“Yes missing his arm but yes “

“ Alright Same medbay as before “

“ Yes “

“ Alright See at lunch and thanks for for keeping your promises man “ Adam said as he patted Jay on the shoulder before walking out of the Prometheus

“ Your welcome man “ Jay replied as he watched adam leave “ Ok tat was easy”

“ Yes it was “ Ezra said

“ Now with that out of the way “ Jay looked to fit then Bastion seeing as the other three were still holding on to him “ Um So there is a chance that were going back to my home world and then to the home of the other Paladins “ Jay said as Usamu jumped off of his back

“ So were going to meet Grandpa then?” Usamu asked as he walked in front of his father with a tone of wonder in his voice

“ Yeah along with my brothers and sister some friends of mine and my mom’s parents an if we're lucky hopefully not my dad’s family “Jay said that last bit with a little bit of venom in his voice

“ Why not you dad’s family ?” Ezra asked

“ it’s along story my dear and my DAd can explain it better . Now who wants hear how the mission when “ Jay said not wanting to talk about his families problems

In what remained of Galra central command

Haggar stood looking over her comatose husband. She had been starring there for the past few hours and wonder how this could have happened . They had taken ever precaution studied every battle that the paladins were in and even equipped the titan with weapon’s tailor made to handle Voltron and the Valkyrie at the same time but when the snap dragon self destructed on top of the Titan it sealed his fate “ Oh my love what have they done to you” She asked herself

“ They butchered him “ A very familiar yet strange disembody voice said right behind her

She quickly turned around and slashed at the person behind her only to swipe at empty air “ Who goes there show yourself ‘ She yelled To the empty room

“ I’m hurt Honvera how could you forget me..I’m the reason that you and your husband are even alive after your little encounter that beast from the void ’ the voice said

“ What “ Haggar thought back to when she and Zarkon had died she remembered hearing a voice talking.But she had put that up to being on death's door. ‘ So it was you i have to thank for our revival “

“ Yes it was me” The Voice said as a faint humanoid being started to form from purple quintessons that was powering the lazuriz chamber that Zarkon was resting in the figure had only defining feature was the two bright soul burning yellow eye “ My name is Deceit and despite my name i’m here to help you again. ”

“ Why “ Haggar asked not trusting this thing but she had to be weary seeing as this thing was just sitting on her husbands healing chamber

“ Because every time you drained a world of it’s quintessens and used it to fue you and your husband.It feed me and i wish to keep that relationship on going. So i’ll help you again by keeping your husband alive. Seeing as this thing “ He tapped on the Lazarus chamber “ Is only postponing the inevitable .” Deceit said as a jagged smile started to appeared on his avatar’s face.

“ What do i have to do for this deal to work?” Haggar asked knowing that it’s not that easy

“ Your a smart one “ Decit pointed the newly formed finger at her “ I want you to find this ship “ Deciet’s hand seemingly grabbed onto reality itself and opened at portal that showed of a massive ship that looked like the castle of lions mixed with her Son’s Capital ship surrounding it it was a massive ring around it “ An destroy it”

“ Why ?”

“ It’s existence has put plans i have had in motion for a long time in jeopardy. and that is all i’m will to tell you at the moment “ Deceit said

Haggar glared at Deceit but she really had no real choice but to follow “ Alright then we have a deal ‘

“ Good i’ll see you in the funny pages Honvera “ Deceit said as he faded out leaving the tear in reality that show off the ship there for a few seconds before it closed up

Haggar stood there starring at the empty space before turning back to her husband and hoped she man the right choice

Back in the Castle of lions

“ So right before Zarkon Die he grabbed on to the black lion’s head with his robeasts remaining arm and tried to electrocute shiro to death but his arm took most of the damage and now he’s healing for the next hour.An once he’s a wakes We’ll be deciding whether or not will be going back home along with the Fates of The twins and K-7 am i correct “ Adam said

“ Yeah that sums it up real well “Matt said

“Alright and thin else i need to know before me and Izuku have to wait another hour just so we can take to him “

“ Uh were going to need a new black paladin for a few months while Shiro new prosthetics are installed from what Jay and that spider said “ Hunk added

“ That spiders name is Ventair and she is one of the best Doctor in the whole rebelion so please show her some respected “Matt said

“ Sorry what Dr.Ventair said “Hunk said

“ Alright when will decided who the next black paladin then ?” Adam as

“ After we decide are next course of action will pick the next Black Paladin and with Shiro still around along with Leonidas it won’t take to long i hope “ Allura said

“ Yeah lets hope “ Lance said

“ It would be funny if Jay was chosen to fly the black lion “ Matt said Jokingly

“ I mean Val’s design was some what based off of the black lion so it could be possible that if we run into trouble we could possibly combined with the Valkyrie to make new version of Voltron “ Pidge added as she grabbed her laptop and started typing away at the possibilities of powers that could come from the union between the two mechs

“ We could run that by Jay and Val before anything happens i know val was against at first but maybe she changer he mind after the fight with Zarkon. I’ll go ask him“ Lance said as he got up.But before could full get on his feet Beau’s voice came over the P.A System

[ Alert Alert A gargantuan class dreadnaught of unknown origin as exited a wormhole 8 kilometer north east from are location ] This was followed by a screen show ff the massive ship

Everyone stood or sat there in stunned silence as the massive ship which was a weird mix between the Castle and That war ship that attacked then before they had left the battle fleet

“ Hey guy is anyone else getting a weird case desaviolooking at this thing ?” Pidge asked

“Yeah i feel it too” Shay said

“ Same here” Hunk add

Allura looked at the ship as she did one name came to mind “kronse” Allura said under her breath.Before hundreds and hundreds of Image flashed right in front of her mind causing her a massive and painful head that caused her to fall to the ground clutching her head

“Princess !!” Everyone yelled in surprise

“ What’s wrong” Coran asked worried as he helped Allura back to her feet

“ I don’t know but something about that ship is causing me to see thin Ah “ She grabbed he head again as another set of flash happened

[were receiving a message from the Ship ]

“Send it through”Adam said taking charge of the situation as he said that a message written in english which surprised everyone.But that’s wasn’t what caught their attention what was write on was

Hello my old friend let us take like the old day :Signed Queen Allura of the Altean/Galrain Empire

To be continued in Book two Time to change History

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metalotaku-da · 5 years ago

Text

GREATEST SHOWMAN VOLTRON

Keith is from a rich upbringing, his parents lotor and axca are of the upper class during the civil war in nyc.shiro is his childhood friend. Shiro’s father did various labor for keith’s family. After shiro’s father dies, he goes off to join the railroad. He meets up with keith whenever he can. Confessing his love to him in an abandoned house as he spins tales to entertain him like he did in their youth. However, Keith's parents try to forbid him from seeing him. Keith finally decided after a harsh evening of words that he has had enough. And runs away from home to be with shiro. The two move into together in the slums. Where they meet two young orphans shortly after named nadia and silvio. They take them in like their own children. When shiro loses his job and banks everything on an ill gotten loan for hsi oddities museum. Keith and th4 kids throw everything they have into helping him make it a success.

From the idea he got from the kids, shiro went to recruit the local conjoined twins matt and pidge holt. It took a lot of persuasion. Next he meets Allura, an albino freed slave and her friend and former master's daughter, Corana, a bearded and mustache red headed woman at the wash house. Then shiro and keith hold open auditions at the museum.

One of the first acts they sign are lance also more often known as lucrecia and their sister veronica as trapeze artists. They are escaped former slaves from cuba. Lance/lucrecia and veronica tell their story to shiro and Keith over drinks. The two are twins and they choose to take their chances at escape after their former master sold off their other family members. Lance disguised themself as a woman in their escape to America, and found that most days they prefered to be seen as a woman and choose the name lucrecia when dressed as a woman. Shiro and Keith respond with kindness and acceptance as do the rest of their troupe. Keith even asks Lance/Lucrecia how they’d like to be addressed. And they responded with a shrug and a “i guess whatever i am perceived as, but i don’t think i care much really either way. I am used to being called many things, especially when people find out.” and Shiro and Keith respond with the others to do their best respect whatever choice lance makes with his appearance. And in front of the audience they will never be misgendered.

They are also joined at the auditions by the very large and strongman Hunk. Who is a recently emancipated slave. He and Lance/Lucrecia hit it right off the bat, becoming quick friends. He is the first of the new acts they confide in.

A troupe of four women also joined them, Zenthrid, a giant strong woman, Ezor the tumblist and fire eater, and Narti a blind fortune teller.

Along with many others.

After their first big windfall after the show opens shiro buys his family a huge new house. And enrolls Nadia in ballerina school like she has always wanted. Through the new experience of high society parties, keith introduces him to jame’s family. A rich upper class family who back the north and the abolitionists. James has returned recently with a friend from europe. A famous playwright, whose works are the talk of Europe and america. Many of the guests are shocked when they discover the man they thought to be his servant to be the famous playwright, a black man named Ryan kinkaide. James is drunk and over eager to introduce Ryan to more friendly faces at the party. In a bid to tease keith about his newly reclaimed status by a string or highwire. He drags Ryan over for introduction and eagerly throws him to shiro and keith when neither blanche nor snubs his friend. Speaking to him as equals. Though with a bit more politeness and manners from Keith than the other had been shooting james. Shiro asks the two to meet keith and him at a local bar later.

Once there they discuss the two of them joining their circus. With Ryan helping to right acts and shows. And James helping with behind the scenes things. With the upper class. It takes some haggling and James chooses to enter a business venture as a silent partner. but would like to look around the show before any papers are signed. Who knows he might change his mind after seeing the behind the scenes.

The act performing when they arrive is the trapeze. And Ryan finds himself captivated by one of the twins in a pink wig he comes face to face with. “Who is that?” Ryan asks, still staring out the balcony he had come face to face with them in. Shiro gives a wicked grin knowing he has Ryan there. Keiht gives him a warning glance before he answers the playwright. “Lucrecia. One of our trapeze twins from the exotic cuban plantations of the southernmost ocean to touch this country.”

“Their act is truly captivating isn’t it?” Keith says with a smile.

“Yes, she is.” Ryan responds, eyes still glued till the act is complete. James and Ryan sign on, splitting a 10 percent take. Ryan and James quickly work themselves into the group. The two are later on introduced to lance on day during the week. When he joins them at lunch. Learning he is Veronica's brother. “And lucrecia’s? Will she be joining us today too?” Ryan asked hopefully. Keith looked to the other quickly at Ryan's words. Lance responds with a sad smile. “Afraid not. Just me today. She had other things to do. Maybe another time.”

“Yes, maybe another time. It’s a pleasure to meet you lance. I’m sorry we haven't had a chance to be introduced yet. Hopefully we can get to know each more as we work together.”

“Maybe.” lance responds with a slightly more genuine smile. Taking his lunch to sit by veronica and hunk. The holts check James's shoulder as the other squints in judgment of lance as he sits. The two joining the others.

“Why would you say that?” Keith asked Lance later. The other still dressed as a male. “They are part of the crew now. He’s going to figure it out eventually.”

Lance shrugged headed to his changing area. “Gives me sometime to see if he’s safe. Or if both are. It just gives me some time. When he figures it out it will show how he really feels about lucrecia. Helps to find out if he’s feelings are for me or for the act.”

“You are lucrecia. You are lance. They are the same person because they are you.” Shiro says kindly joining the two. A hand on Keith's shoulder in support.

“The show is the act. Not you.” Keith says strongly. They give him a thankful smile before going behind the screen to change to more feminine clothing. Once again joining the others as Lucrecia.

James and Ryan join the others a few days later with news. They got a response to their letter from the queen of England and they had been granted an audience with the queen. Lucrecia asks if it’s for all of them. James gives a nervous smile, but Ryan is quick to state it’s all of them or none.

When they are leaving via ship Ryan asks where lance is having not seen him board. Lucrecia is quick to tell him not to worry. He is around. It leaves a pleasant smile on her lips as he excuses himself to other tasks. Lance makes a few appearances here or there on the trip. However once again is nowhere to be seen once they reach the shores of england. Which finally starts setting up questions in ryan and james. As they start to notice the two might just be one.

At court they meet the queen and after a small flub that is quickly saved all goes well for the group. James introduces Shiro and Keith to Adam the swedish nightingale. A singer also there to see the queen who is known throughout europe for his amazing singing voice. Shiro is quick to make an offer for an american tour. Not even lying to Adam's question if he had ever heard him sing.

Ryan introduces some of his royal court acquaintances to his friends in the circus. Lucrecia and Corana are quick to leave after some comments about their masculine features. That Ryan chooses not to address more than looking away. Veronica and Allura leave shortly after noticing their missing family.

Back in the states, Ryan James and Shiro work hard on the show for adam.

Adam’s show in new york goes well. However Ryan's still budding feelings for Lucrecia cause a bit of anguish at the show as he chooses to hold Lucrecia's hand during the performance, but drops his hold once he is given a disapproving look from James and his parents from the audience. Who James had told his suspicions on Lance/Lucrecia to. She tries to keep her tears in check for the rest of the evening. Keith’s parents show up to the after party having been to see the show. Lotor and Axca finally meet Nadia and Silvio. Axca seems happy to see them but Lotor and Shiro get into an argument where Lotor before he throws them out. When shiro tries to block them from the after party leaving them in the back once more, sans Ryan, the rest of the group decides they are tired of being treated as background act only to be seen in a tent as an attraction only and not people. Crashing the party despites Shiro's words. After facing the upper class in their own party the group leaves the stares, headed back to the circus. The trip forced them to face an angry mob of protestors on the way. But they perform their evening show without a hitch to a sold out crowd cheering them. Lucrecia uses the opening act to throw shade at ryan. Doing the trapeze number as lance.

Shiro is quick to choose to leave with Adam to do more shows around the states. Which is confusing to James and ryan. As he didn’t consult either on the elaborate plan and the payout is poultry if any as it’s a very risky business venture. James even offers to go on tour in his stead Since he is the one without a family to be away from. His parents worry the least about his travel with the war going on. Where Shiro was leaving behind Keith and the kids. Keith was protesting loudly the choice when he was informed only a day before shiro was to leave But shiro was adamant that it needed to be him to go. Getting more into the day to day shows for when shiro left. Nadia and Silvio chase after the carriage carrying him and Adam as they leave.

Just before shiro left he did a favor for ryan leaving two tickets at the theatre for lucrecia and ryan. Telling lance as he got ready for practice he left one under the name lucrecia. Ryan in his excitement tells the others all about it. Which is good since he needed to be reminded as he was almost late to go meet her.

Lucrecia is confused when the ticket master presents her with two tickets. At first thinking it was a mistake. But is surprised when Ryan shows up. Asking for her to go with him to the play. And he wasn’t sure if she’d have said yes had he asked her directly. Lucrecia is nervous at first, but when Ryan presents his hand, she does take it. He loops her hand in his arm and escorts her up the stairs through the coloreds only entrance. Commenting on always wanting to see the theatre and excitement to do so. As they ascend they run into James and his parents climbing the stairs next to them through the white entrance. Ryan is quick to introduce lucrecia to James's parents. Who snubs her, refusing to address her and ask Ryan if he has any shame. Being seen with something like that. Lucrecia is quick to excuse herself and run off back to the circus. Ryan stays behind to defend lucrecia. Telling James and his family they don’t even know her, before leaving to go after her. James follows grabbing his arm at the bottom of the stairs countering quickly, “do you even know her? Does she even exist? no matter who they are, they have been lying to us. To you this whole time ryan.”

“Lucrecia will tell me when they are ready to tell me.” he states pulling back his own arm.

“And yet, you only keep your eyes for lucrecia. What will you do when they confirm they have been lying to you? Can you bring yourself to choose both if they are truly one in the same or will you choose to only care for them as lucrecia?” Ryan doesn’t respond but leaves James behind to return to the circus.

He finds lucrecia there changed from her evening out wear to her practice outfit. Hair lightly pulled back but down. Ryan is quick to apologize, and says they are small minded people. He will drag James in himself to apologize for his rudeness. But she shouldn’t care what they think of her. And asks why she does. They don’t know her. Lucrecia is quick to inform him it’s not just James or his parents. It is from others too. Everyone outside these walls looks at them the same way.

“They give me dirty looks too. I’ve learned to ignore them.” Ryan states bring himself closer to her.

“We may get the same looks for being of darker complexion ryan, but it’s not the look i’m talking about, and you know it. You're a rich black man from across the ocean who has never been a slave. Before you came here did anyone even look down on you? Treat you as less than an animal? As a freak in need of beating the devil from?” Lucrecia walks away from him to undo the ropes for her practice. “I didn’t think so.”

Ryan chooses to open himself up and lay out his heart. “You know I want you. It’s not a secret I try to hide. I know you want me.” The two go back and forth while lucrecia and him fight over the equipment and she still gets some practice in. Ryan even shows how much attention he has paid to the act, keeping up a little bit with her.

“It doesn’t matter how we feel Ryan because it can not be. You are in love with an act not with me. I can not give you what you want.” lucrecia says in frustration.

“How can you say that? While I stand before you telling you how my heart feels for you Lucrecia?” Ryan pleads, holding her close by the arms.

She jerks back away from him. Frustrated tears clinging to her eyes. As she wipes furiously at her face with her arm, and pulls off her wig in a dramatic fling. “Because Lucrecia is an act! And your heart is only for Lucrecia. You barely have words for me as Lance lest it is to ask of Lucrecia. As Lucrecia I can’t give you a family, a future.'' Lance's chest is heaving at his declaration and reveal. Taking in Ryan's shocked face and silence. “I can’t have you as Lance, I will not have you as Lucrecia.” with those parting words lance turned on his heels and left Ryan alone on the stage.

Keith and the kids try to keep things normal while Shiro is gone. But his absence is noticeable at every recital and around the circus and their large empty house. The rest of the cast members notice and try to step up as much as they can.

On tour with Adam, Shiro is enjoying himself grandly. The same bright smile graces his face at each performance of adams. The two grow close as the tour continues. At around the 30th performance, Shiro gets a little more introspective. Feeling a bit of guilt at the gentle and casual touches between him and adam. Missing Keith and his kids. He tries to set up Adam to continue the tour alone. Bring it up to him in his room. Adam is taken aback and angry. Thinking the feelings he was acting on flirting with Shiro were mutual. Shiro apologizes for the misunderstanding, but shares that he deeply loves keith. Misses him and his kids. But he has everything taken care of for Adam to finish the tour alone without him as a distraction. Adam becomes even more angry at the words. Refusing to continue the tour. Shiro tells him he has ot. To not would ruin him. Adams informs him he ruined himself by playing with others like pawns. He did perform the show that was due to go in mere hours after their argument leaving shiro to think all is well.

Adams' performance is affected greatly by his emotional argument with Shiro prior. But Shiro still takes the stage with him for the final bow. Where Adam sneaks a kiss to his mouth for the camera’s to shiro’s horror. Adam tells him it’s his parting gift before saying goodbye. Leaving shiro to face the fallout alone.

Shiro returns home and Nadia and Silvio come running down the stairs at the sight of him. Throwing their arms around him and asking why he came back early. He tells them because he missed them. He asks them to come with him to see how the circus is doing.

The circus is facing a growing number of protestors. A few buy tickets to the show and stay after the closing act to address them. Led by a local man named sendak. The men throw insults and slurs at them demanding they leave town. James and Ryan confront them together and ask them to leave. James asks them to leave nicely one more time. When sendak throws the first punch zenthrid charges, followed by the others in the circus and the rest of sendak's gang. A fire is started by a brawler intentionally knocking over a lamp and smashing into a store of animal feed.

Once he reaches town they learn the circus is on fire. Shiro wastes no time jumping from the carriage to check on his friends. The fire department works as best they can. Ryarn and James are looking over everyone checking in when shiro joins them. And he asks about the animals looking around at the performers. Hunk informs him they let them out. It was all they could do. Ryan’s eyes go wide at the words. “Where’s lance? Where is lucrecia?” hunk looks back at the burning building. They had been the most adamant about getting all the animals. Without an answer Ryan runs back in the building. Veronica tries to follow but hunk and shiro hold her back. Right after Ryan enters the building Lance runs up from the alley beside the building having been chasing the animals away from the fire and trying to get them to circle back around. Just as Keith and kids break into the crowd. He is told Ryan went in after him and James and Veronica grab him next as he screams. Shiro looks at hias family before running off towards the burning building.

The building collapses with shiro and ryan inside. The crowd is in despair thinking they lost just as shiro comes out carrying an unconscious ryan. Ryan is taken by the paramedics to the hospital. Lance and James follow after them to stay by his side for his stay.

Shiro shows up to the burned circus the next day to see if anything could be salvaged. He is met on the steps by his newspaper critic iverson. They have a little chat. He shares first that the thugs who did this were arrested, and Iverson tells him he hopes he rebuilds. Even if he doesn’t personally enjoy it, he knows others do. And during these times where this very nation is fighting and many of their statesman dying trying to define for the future who is and not worthy of being seen as people and equals, that in this moment in history what shiro is doing portraying all of those performers as people and equals is important for the future. He says well at least we can borrow off the profits from Adam's tour. Iverson cringes, you haven’t heard? Heard what? Iverson shows him the day's paper. Front page is a picture of him and Adam kissing. The story is how Adam nor Shiro appeared at any of the other scheduled show stops. Shiro takes off running for home at the sight. Knowing Keith will have seen it.

Shiro runs into the house to see people removing items from the house. And Keith walked out with the kids in tow to a waiting carriage packed with their personal belongings. Shiro tries to stop them. Keith, wiat, please, just wait. Nothing happened. I swear to you. “Nothing happened shiro! We’ve hidden away our true relationship and you are on the cover of the newspaper kissing that man! For the whole world to see!” “ He set me up for that in a jealous rage. Nothing happened. i don’t love him keith! I love you!” “no shiro, you don’t. You only love yourself and your new found fame.” “please just tell me where you are going?” “home shiro. I’m taking the kids and going home.” “this is our home.” That's when Keith informs him he knows about the risky loan and the bank sent eviction papers over already. They already lost the house. And he was done listening to his excuse and lies. He never had to lie to him. Then he leaves Shiro standing on the stoop alone.

Corana and the holts lead the others to Shiro's favorite bar. Where they find the man drunk and depressed laying half across it. Matt is the first to speak when shiro ignores their entrance. “Should’ve figured we’d find you here feeling sorry for yourself.” Shiro doesn’t even look at them as the others settle around him. Tell them he can’t pay them all the money's gone. They are over. Pidge is next telling him to shut up and taking his drink away. The others take the time to explain what shiro did for them with his show and how much the show means to them. How it didn't feel like work but a family. Family some of them never had the pleasure of having before the circus. He can’t give up because they all want their home back and that includes him and his family too. After a little more pep talk Shiro smiles at them before taking off to Keith's parents house to win the love of his life back.

Shiro is greeted by Lotor at the door, who refuses to give shiro information on his son’s whereabouts. But the kids make it down the stairs and are happy to see him when asked where Keith is. They happily tell him Keith is at the beach. Shiro smiles brightly at his kids, thanking them and takes off towards the beach. Where he apologizes to Keith and fesses up to his mistakes. Telling him he just wanted to do more for them and go bigger and bigger he didn’t mean to let it get to his head or to get so out of control. He loves him, he loves the kids. He loves the family they made with the circus crew. They all miss him and the kids. Keith tells him he will give him another chance. That he always loved him. He didn’t need all the bells and whistles he just wanted shiro.

Ryan wakes up to the sight of lance with his head draped across his chest half asleep and James passed out in a chair at the foot of the bed. His groaning wakes the two as rayn brings a hand up to the back of Lance's head. The other throws his arms around Ryan's neck in tears of joy at the sight of seeing him awake. He goes to pull back at the looks the nurses were giving him but is instead pulled forward by Ryan to meet him in a deep kiss. James just laughs and grabs his friend's leg, his own happy tears falling down his cheeks as Lance melts into ryans kiss easily with his own.

They all meet up at the steps of the circus. Shiro informs everyone that the bank wouldn’t give him a new loan. Nor any in the nearby towns. And he probably couldn't swindle any other banks in the world to give him a loan. He is sorry to disappoint everyone. Matt is quick to inform him not to worry. Pidge adds on that he was always a disappointment. Shiros gives a sarcastic thanks for that. Lucrecia, Ryan and James join them after being released from the hospital. The others have worked together to get them some clothes to be able to return to presenting as a woman when they so choose to do so. Having lost their own in the fire. James is quick to inform him he had once had an inheritance and connections that could have helped them but now all he had was his friendship with all of them. Oh and his and Ryan's 10 percent share of the door. Which he was smart enough to collect every week to prevent Shiro from causing a disaster with it and Ryan also stated he had some modest savings from his plays. As they were still doing well in Europe.

Shiro tried to protest. Saying he couldn’t let them risk all they had left on him. Corana protesting loudly for him to not turn sensible on them now. James counters with asking them all three to be equal partners. With equal say in everything as they move forward. Shiro quickly agrees to their terms. They discuss logistics as even with their bit of funding they can’t afford to repair the building. Instead they get a tent and some cheap land on the outskirts of town by the docks. One big enough for their entire extended family to safely call home. The group salvaged all they could from the rubble together before leaving it behind. The tent gives them more room to bigger and better shows and bring in even more acts.

#greatest showman #voltron #sheith #kinkance #long post #recap tweek #posted on ao3

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aquaburst3 · 5 years ago

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Ages ago, I read a post saying that characters don’t have to be relatable or likeable to be compelling to the audience. I totally agree with that notion. Characters like Walter White play into that idea. A lot of people who watched that series love him, despite his horrid actions. However, I think characters, no matter their moral alignment, should always be understandable, consistent and believable. There’s a difference. To me, at least, that means...

Believable Characterization is whether or not you see a person with a similar personality existing or acting like that under similar circumstances.

Consistent Characterization is whether or not the character’s actions progress in a logical fashion given their personality. Put it another way, it’s whether or not they have a consistent moral compass and logical character growth. (The exception to this rule is if something tragic happens to the character to change their world view in an instant. Shinobu Sensui is a great example of that.)

Understandable Characterization is whether or not the audience is able to grasp a character’s main goal/motivation.

Bad Examples

Prince Lotor (VLD): He seems like two people shoved into the same body. He whiplashes between being a morally grey man doing what he has to and heartless villain willing to commit genocide. I can’t buy for a second that the same person who saw a planet blow up would turn around and commit genocide not that long after. For the life of me, I still have no idea what his motives are or why he committed the acts that he did, because they are never stated at any point in the show.

(The writers stated during interviews that they wanted to make him a plot twist villain. He was written as a plot twist first and a character second instead of the other way around.)

Kirito (Sword Art Online): Kirito is two conflicting things at once. On one hand, he’s a loner, who has trouble getting close to others. At the same time, he’s a hardcore badass hacker, who is able to hack a popular video game in seconds and is admired by everyone. Every girl in a one mile radius wants to bang him. These sides of him don’t mesh together, making it hard to buy him as a character.

Good Examples

Light Yagami (Death Note): Whether or not you can personally relate to his character or agree with his beliefs, he’s still a believable character. He is a cunning and privileged boy, who’s the top of his class. At the start of the story, he was bored with life. When he gets the Death Note, he wanted to become a god and rid the world of crime. His actions become more and more corrupt over time thanks to the Death Note. He was a monster at the start, but the Death Note brought it out into the open. This all adds up. While Death Notes and other such things are obviously not real, privilege men who abuse their power on others are sadly very real, so it’s easy to buy a character like Light. His motives make sense and he is consistent throughout the series. Overall, a well written character.

Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood): Edward is a smart, caring and witty guy, but can also be a dork and has a short fuse. But there’s an aura of tragedy about him due to his past and struggles with that baggage. He’s not invincible either. He gets fooled and beat up throughout the story.

Ed’s motives are not only relatable, but understandable. He and Al want to get their bodies back. Ed is willing to do anything to protect him like any older brother would. However, he’s unwilling to take lives in order to obtain this goal. This stays constant about this, even after being put in tough situations. (Tanjiro from Demon Slayer is also a great character for similar reasons as Ed.)

Sokka (ATLA): Sokka doesn’t start off as the best person at the beginning of the series. He was boastful, arrogant and rather sexist. The reason why he was like this was because he wanted to be seen as a “man” after his father left to fight in the war. He’s super insecure because of this. Inexcusable, but understandable.

Sokka tags along on the adventure. He quickly stops being sexist, respecting women as equals. Slowly, he overcomes his insecurities and becomes a proud warrior in his own right.

Then again, this is my personal opinion, but that’s my two cents.

#aqua rambles #writing tips #writing advice

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starfaring-princelotor · 5 years ago

Note

If it wouldn't be too much to ask, could I get a tiny soft ficlet with Lotorx shy bi reader? Perhaps cuddly or comfort?

Serial Snuggler

Summary: Cuddle time with Lotor.

★ 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: N/A

“Do you prefer cuddling with a man or a woman?”

“Hm. That’s hard to answer,” you mused as a gentle breeze wisped past the both of you, “Most women I’ve been with were soft. Pudgy in just the right places. Squishy, if you will.”

This he could agree with. Lotor noticed the difference between bodies. Some were warm, some were firm with muscles, some were squishy, and he’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t like getting his claw paws on those tempting pudgy parts. Though, he decided to leave that bit of information out of the conversation for now, least he ruin the peaceful, picnic moment at the park. Wine and cheese and grapes included.

“Then again, most guys are firm. And warm. Very warm. Practically a personal bed heater. I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure men are descendants of the sun,” a slight joking jab at him, since he was from space, “There’s an old saying that guys give off more warmth because they’re still growing, so the heat has to go somewhere.”

“I do not need to be growing anymore considering how tall I am,” he smirked, “Well, maybe your species is just doomed to stay short.”

You playfully poked his side. He tightened his hold on you in retaliation, pulling you to press your body more flushed against his dastardly cuddling session. The little gesture, the closeness, well, now it made your cheeks feel rather warm under the shade. Lotor noticed, of course he did, but chose not to act upon it. Even though he really, really wanted to stroke your cheek and cherish his “shy little lover.”

“I do not suppose I should be concerned about serial snugglers? Those who sneak into beds at night and innocently cuddle unsuspecting victims?”

“You mean, like you?” you quipped immediately.

“Serial snugglers get caught. I will let you know now, I have not been apprehended in my past endeavors,” he paused, “Yet.”

In truth, you were too shy to say anything when you first noticed. Or the second time you felt him sidle up to you. Or even the third time he sleepily pulled you to his chest, fitting you perfectly in his arms at 3 am in the morning. Though, now that you thought about it, the more often he committed such crimes, the more you found comfort in his hold.

“Then I will say, I prefer to cuddle those who keep me safe at night,” you bravely admitted, blushing deeper and instinctively hiding your face in his shirt.

“Well now,” a rumble of a chuckle followed by a chaste kiss to your forehead, “I happen to know a very reliable guy to get the job done. Free of charge. I highly recommend him.”

#lotor x reader #this is the police #ur under arrest for cuddling #spacestories

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arinaco · 5 years ago

Text

The Heroine’s Journey of Lance or The child who drowned in pursuit of a dream.

Warning: Plance

Edited by https://twitter.com/Nadezhda932

Yes, you heard right. The topic sounds the way it sounds, and if you’re confused by the fact that Lance was called the "heroine", I hasten to reassure you. The Heroine’s Journey is in no way connected with the gender of the protagonist, "she" can be both a man and a woman. This expression was accepted, because in the stories of the old times mostly women were sent to such journeys, since men suffering from mental anguish considered not manly enough. Men were usually sent to Hero's Journey, and for a better understanding of the situation I'll spend a little of your time to explain the difference.

The Hero's Journey is a literal journey where the hero is forced to leave his home - a comfort zone - so that he grows up and matures under the influence of literal trials. He must also perform a feat and receive a reward for this feat. Kill the dragon and get the princess (a sword / horse / medicine for a sick mother etc.), as a symbol of the fact that the hero won and received what he set off for.

The Heroine's Journey is a story of spiritual experiences when, under the influence of external factors, a person loses an important part of his personality, and he needs to find himself again - to restore his spiritual balance. Growing up is achieved through rethinking oneself, through finding one's place in this world and through casting away false beliefs that prevent the hero from becoming happy. Moreover, the Heroine's Journey may not have a feat, but the reward is and is always deceiving - having received the reward for his struggle, the hero suddenly realizes that this is not what he wanted. He's disappointed - he put so much effort into achieving the goal, and now realizes that all this time he was wasting himself in vain.

And I can’t help but recall the indignation of some of Lance’s fans that they didn’t let him complete the feat. He learned to wield a sword, and he wasn;t even allowed to demonstrate his skills, for example, in a duel with Lotor, like an Easter egg on an old series (those who watched the old series laughed at this statement, but this is not about that). And some of the men experienced cognitive dissonance - if the hero received the princess, then where is the dead dragon? Zarkon was killed by Lotor. Sendak was defeated by Keith and Shiro. Honevra, in fact, left undefeated. Lance... turned out to be the thief from the game in S6. A cool girl needs a cool guy, not a simple farmer. Guys, really. I understand that Lance is wonderful, but his image in the series is just that. A simple farmer who, for all his good qualities, is not at all the one who is destined to take out the Sword from the Stone.

Because the fact is that in the history of Lance there should not be a “dead dragon” - a feat. Because the feat is accomplished on the Hero's Journey, while Lance has the Heroine's Journey. And yes, the reward he received was false and only led to disappointment.

Lance's story should look something like this:

Starting point:Lance is an altruistic but insecure guy who feels like a "third wheel" in life. But he wants to change this, to become something more than a “simple guy from Cuba”, he wants to be useful and meaningful.

Journey: Lance believes that he'll gain self-confidence and usefulness in the eyes of others if he becomes a hero and becomes famous. He wants to be the knight saving princesses, Hercules of his own story. But at the same time, in the struggle for the title of a hero, he becomes more and more selfish and loses an important part of himself - his compassion and selflessness towards others.

A reward and disappointment in it: Lance receives what, in his opinion, should bring him the title of a hero and self-confidence, but at the same time he doesn't receive self-confidence. The candy, which was so attractive with its wrapper, turned out to be tasteless. In addition, his desire to have this award comes into direct conflict with his desire to help others, and this puts pressure on him.

End:Lance refuses the reward, lets his thirst for fame go and comes to terms with his conscience. Having stopped chasing after fame, like a donkey for a carrot, he finally notices that his friends love him without any fame and appreciate his efforts. Realizing that he doesn't need to become Hercules in order to be respected and loved, Lance finally accepts himself, which allows him to find his place in the world and feel happy.

This is how it should have looked in a normal scenario. But since Mr. B. changed it (I won't swear in the article, though I really want to), the end of the journey was simply deleted from Lance’s story, leaving him in a state of disappointment with the award, which in the description of the Heroine’s Journey is directly called “spiritual aridity, death".

Really. They even showed it in the end, although they finished the ending according to the changed script (you won’t erase words from the song). Lance literally buries himself at 19, disappointed in life. More absurd is only Shiro who was sent to retire at the age of 30. I'm now 30 years old, and it’s just ridiculous for me to say that life ends at 19 (30) years, now it’s only a monastery and a pension. Unhappy love is sad, but life is such a thing that someone constantly dies, and it’s not normal to bury yourself alive. Especially in the series for children. Pathological grief after the loss of a loved one is actually a disorder of adaptation and in psychiatry is considered a disease that must be treated. A person left in a state of psychiatric illness is a so-so happy ending. However, if you consider that the universe after S8 remained in complete disarray, then Lance fits into such a happy ending. By the way, the Heroine's Journeys of Lance and Allura are very similar in the sense that self-doubt becomes their main enemy. They are like brother and sister in this, go hand in hand, and that is why their journeys intersect. But if in the changed S8 Allura still got an invisible “kick in the ass, which allowed her to take a decisive step forward,” Lance remained stagnant in his uncertainty. If Allura commited suicide by her own decision, Lance just got stuck in a quagmire and choked. But let's look at the situation in more detail. And let's start with the Lance's family.

Stage 1 - Separation from the feminine.

Lance is a kind but insecure guy. He sees that his Nice Guy status gives nothing and has no weight in society, and therefore dreams of fame.

Lance grew up in faraway Cuba, in a large provincial family of farmers. Well-off enough to feed a bunch of people without problems during S8 - when the whole Earth was in crisis - but not the great rich. The boss in the house was an active mom, and dad, judging by his behavior and the attitude of others, was a standard quiet henpecked man. You know, a handsome guy, unsure of himself, who in his youth fell into the hands of an energetic girl and spent his whole life in invisible labor on a farm for the benefit of the family. Judging by the words of Lance’s mother, it was from his father that Lance inherited stupid lines and the desire to flirt with girls, which in reality was only a pretense of bravado for both. However, you can understand Lance's father. When you're a provincial farmer, besides socializing there's little entertainment. And the presence of a beautiful girlfriend was probably the only way for a young farmer to raise his authority and gain the respect of his peers. Moreover, Lance wasn't the only beloved child, but rather one of a bunch of children, each of whom probably wanted to win a little attention from their parents. He's the youngest, and the youngest is the one for whom everyone else always decides, the one whom everyone pushes, whose opinion is never asked. And of course, the shadow from more successful older relatives constantly dominated him - the older sister made a career in science, and the older brother, unlike Lance, who resembled his quiet father, clearly inherited mother's self-confidence and constantly teased his younger sibling. And naturally, he wanted to stand out. He wanted his parents to notice him among a bunch of other, older and “more useful” children, to be appreciated and respected - but, alas, it's difficult to gain respect from others by how cool you milk cows. Here, everyone around milks the cows, it's a farm. And a simple Cuban boy, who probably watched cartoons about super-heroes, began to dream. He milked cows and dreamed of how he would break out of this gray life and become cool and famous. Dad will be proud, elder siblings will stop laughing at him. And all the girls will be his. Lance, like his father in his youth, probably sought to establish himself surrounded by other young farm guys as a "Loverboy" - but he was just a quiet, handsome guy with stupid lines, not a brutal cowboy on a powerful stallion. And such guys are loved, I would even say that girls often marry this type of guys, but don't chase them in a crowd. You need to understand that Lance wanted to break out of this life. He dreamed of something completely different. And the fact that he was forced to return to the farm... sorry, but this is a mockery. It would be better if he opened a space tourism company and named his ship "Allura". And, like captain Kirk, remained faithful to his ship, shrugging off the fatal beauties. In general, if not for Veronica, who had shown by her example that there is a way out, then most likely Lance would have finished as his dad. He would fall into the hands of a brisk girl and spent his whole life on a farm under the heel. He would drag a completely prosperous dull existence, like hundreds of other farmers before him. But looking at his sister, Lance got the idea to enter the Garrison and was able to do it. It's a pity that the provincial farmers didn't really appreciate this feat. Alas, in the Cuban hinterland there were no experts who could understand the extent of such an achievement. Only a sister supported Lance.

And in the Garrison it wasn't easy either. He entered the Garrison, but only as a pilot of cargo vehicles, and when he was transferred to combat pilots the teacher, clearly upset by the loss of a more talented student, couldn't help but recall that Lance was here only because Keith was expelled. The gifted one, but unfortunately for teachers completely undisciplined.

However, with the girls he was a little luckier. Judging by the conversation with Hunk in the first episode, Lance didn't wait for "the only one", but rather actively ran on dates. Apparently, sometimes his "wonderful" lines really worked. Another thing is that the significance of dating girls in the eyes of the population of the Garrison was extremely small - they are not bored farmers, so it remained exclusively a personal affair of Lance, and he didn't gain much respect because of it.

But Lance wanted something completely different. He wanted respect, fame, being accepted. And if Keith went to save Shiro because he was the only close person for him, Lance got in because he was sickened that everyone compared him to Keith. It's he who must save Shiro and become famous, even if it ends badly for him (do you really think that under other circumstances they wouldn't be punished?). The position of the second violin in relation to Keith enraged Lance, especially considering the fact that Keith didn't care about Lance. He couldn't understand why Lance was angry with him, they almost didn't know each other. Keith had his own personal problems, unrelated to Lance. It didn’t even occur to him that he, as it turns out, was competing with Lance for the title of the coolest, since Keith wasn't interested in such competitions.

Such rivals that he didn’t even recognize you...

Looking ahead, I just notice that as soon as Lance stopped seeing an opponent in Keith, all their contradictions vanished. Keith wasn't Lance's adversary, enemy, rival or any kind of aggressor. Keith became one because Lance elevated him to that position. Lance imagined a dragon which must be defeated, but as soon as he stopped demonizing Keith it immediately turned out that there was no dragon at all. There are no external demons in Lance's life, but internal ones. And Keith is a good example. So they find the Blue Lion. Blue sees Lance - a good guy who is ready to support others and who is most in need of support - realizes that "this is my boy" and sends the whole company to the Castle of Lions.

Where Lance meets Allura - the embodiment of his dream of glory. Not just a beautiful girl, but a real princess. Like from a fairy tale where the coolest man - Hercules - gets the princess, becomes her faithful knight, protects her and accomplishes feats in her honor. And she admires him.

Of course, from the first minutes Allura makes it clear that she'll break the neck of any dragon and give the knight a kick, but the dream didn' fade from this - quite the opposite, it became more inaccessible and therefore more desirable.

Then we see the events of the first two seasons. S1 spans several days, S2 - several weeks, or how much it took them to dock with the BoM and complete a plan to get Zarkon out of the game. Lance learns to work together and even begins to gradually feel his usefulness to the team. When Shiro tells him that they need him, because he's their sharpshooter, Lance glows with happiness. Because this is his place - the place of a support fighter - and he's comfortable in it. It's comfortable to be a blue paladin - a "leg" that supports everyone else, who will cover melee fighters.

And here an extremely important event happens. Shiro disappears. Shiro was the only self-confident mature man in the company of literal and mental youngsters (with the exception of Coran, but he preferred to remain in the shadows). Responsible commander, authority, leader who knew exactly what and how to do Under his wing, the kids were like in a kindergarten. And now bang - the kids lost him and left without a kindergartener.

Space Dad is gone, do it yourself. Nobody will insure you anymore, you have no one else to hope for. Everyone feels bewildered, it’s hard for everyone. And it's especially hard for Keith - after all, Shiro was his only close friend, his brother. The rest knew Shiro for about a couple of weeks and treated him like a counselor in a scout camp, and therefore experienced Shiro's loss more easily. But the loss of Shiro himself, not his leadership.

And after the loss of Shiro comes "The Great Transferring"

Stage 2 - Identification with the masculine and gathering of allies

Lance refuses the image of a Nice Guy in favor of the pursuit of status.

You know, I've often met conversations on the topic that everything is not clear with these Lions, what the heck is with replacing paladins, and why they don't change armors.

In the old series, Lions were simply meek machines - anyone could pilot them. But now the Lions are living creatures that even help their paladins (otherwise Hank and Pidge wouldn't be able to learn how to control them so quickly). Each Lion has a specific character and is looking for a “soul mate” in the paladin, which would dock well with it. The black paladin is a cool, stubborn leader. The yellow paladin is a confident strong helping hand foot, Green is a purposeful lover of knowledge. We'll deal with Red and Blue a bit later.

The easiest way is with Hunk and Pidge. The fact is that their characters almost didn't change during the series. Pidge grew up, but nothing more. Hunk was generally quite a mature person and had no moral problems, except for a heightened sense of self-preservation. He was even the first to get the girl without any problems (which is extremely funny comparing to Lance, for whom getting a girlfriend became an obsession).

Shiro, after his resurrection, became the white paladin - but, alas, there is so little evidence on this subject (thanks for the cut S7-8) that I just can’t back up my position with facts, and therefore I won’t force you to listen to my demagoguery.

I’ll give a couple of lines to Allura. Yes, she's pink. More precisely, blue-red. Allura has her father's temper. To act first and then think is her favorite method. In her decisive moments, Allura becomes "red" more than Keith himself. But brought up as the future queen, Allura suffers from hyperresponsibility and constantly thinks whether she did the right thing. She constantly doubts herself, constantly fusses around, asks others, although she must make decisions herself... except for those moments where Alfor's character shows up. One thing that Red doesn't tolerate is uncertainty. Therefore, Red didn't accept Allura. And he didn't care that Allura wanted to be like her father and really wanted to become a red paladin. She even started crying, phew. Keith is quite another case and therefore he's worth of respect.

Perhaps if Blue hadn't intervened, Allura would never have become a paladin. But picking up abandoned kittens is a Blue Lion's favorite pastime. Besides, Allura selflessly sought to help others, she had recently lost her people, her family, and her father even twice. Therefore, Blue took Allura. Don't offend little ones, Red, bad kitty. A little offtopic: the path of Allura - the normal path, not a bit thrown to us - showed the transition of Allura to a full-fledged red paladin. Because the princess, who constantly doubts herself, will never become a queen. She will always depend on the opinions of others and will forever remain a child. Let's move on to Keith. His path is very simple and straightforward, like the very Hero's Journey, which is his story. There is point A - Red Lion, as the embodiment of Kit's self-centered unstable teenage character, there is point B - becoming a black paladin, a mature responsible leader. The reward for the feat is finding a family. Why did Keith stay in a red suit? Because the suit shows that Keith is actually still too “red.” Until the very end of S8 there are too many hasty decisions, too much hope for luck. This is not the behavior of the black paladin; a good leader never relies on chance. I have serious suspicions that Black chose Keith because Shiro’s soul was inside. Black trusted Shiro, trusted his choice and accepted Keith (who made a lot of mess in his new position, to be honest ...). In addition, Black didn’t have much to choose from, but it was necessary to go on the mission. So he chose from what he had. But the most interesting thing is with Lance, the main character of our meta. Because he has a Heroine's Journey (!). Not a Hero's one. And while in Hero's Journey, the path of Keith from Red to Black is the path to maturity and the desired reward, then for Lance the path from Blue to Red leads to a false reward. To the blende. He doesn't gain new, he loses old. Lance's blue suit screams about who he really should be. Just remember. It's not Red who chose Lance. It's Blue who kicked him out(!).

Who told you that becoming Red from Blue is an upgrade? Allura? Allura dreamed all her childhood that she would become a red paladin. This is the dream of her whole life. And Lance always wanted to be needed, but what's easier for you - to live without a hand or without a leg? With one hand, of course, it's hard, but try to walk on one leg. A body without a head will run further. Allura said Red accepted Lance when he accepted Keith's leadership. A really strong step is to step on the throat of your pride. Red appreciated it, because he's a very selfish proud man lion, and for him it's really a feat. The same as Alfor had once done when he lost his leadership to Zarkon. Well done, he's impressed. But... Lance did it like a true blue paladin, not a red one. Everyone was feeling bad, and Keith especially, and Lance did this to support Keith because he saw his worries. He abandoned his ambitions in order to help his neighbor, like a true Blue would do.

The Red Lion, on the contrary, is the team’s main egoist. He listens only to Black, because he respects his authority, and even then not always. First he does, then he thinks, and he makes a decision instantly. Proud, emotional, self-centered in his desires. Just remember Alfor. Remember how he ran into the fight ahead of the team, so Zarkon had to save his butt. How he began to study the unknown crap on Daibazaal, ignoring the danger to his friend’s planet at first. How he succumbed to fear and decided to hide the Lions and not use it. How he "turned off" Allura when she began to argue with him and sent it to the cryocapsule. Only so that later his holographic ghost spread his arms and said: "I'm sorry, daughter, you were right." And that is the Red Lion. Determined, emotional, egocentric. The man of the moment. And yes, Red saw it in Lance. After all, the point is not only that Lance gained respect from Red by his “feat”. There was something in Lance that suited Red. For all his altruism, Lance is a child who craves the attention of his environment. And in this he's very selfish. In addition, despite doubts about his status, his usefulness, when it comes to making decisions, Lance doesn't stomp on the spot but acts. In the series, we often see how Lance doubts his importance, but we have never seen him doubt his actions. When it's time to act, Lance acts resolutely and without hesitation. And the problem here is not only that Red accepted Lance only when Blue drove him away. The problem is how the others reacted to this. It must be remembered that Allura really wanted Red. A lot. And also Allura felt that she must behave like a good boss, that means to praise subordinates for achievements, for hard work for the benefit of all. And of course, she began to praise Lance for becoming a red paladin - he made a real achievement in the eyes of Allura.

For Allura, this sword was the memory of her father. And she really dreamed of getting it.

And this was the first time that Allura personally praised Lance. Repeatedly. Allura in the eyes of Lance embodied all his dreams of status. And he really dreamed about her favor, about becoming her Hercules, her knight. And when she praised him, he felt that having risen in status to the right hand of the black paladin (and, according to Allura, that was exactly so), he became closer to his goal. That is, he saw a direct connection: the higher the status, the closer the dream. Despite the fact that being a red paladin wasn't as comfortable as being a blue one. Because along with having a certain status - so desirable for Lance - came the fear of losing that status. Remember how Lance was upset that he didn't know how to use the main form of red bayard - the traditional Altean sword. Have you ever seen Keith worry about not being able to use the Galra flail, which only Lotor and Zarkon used in the series? The red bayard transformed into the sword simply because Alfor created the bayard to suit the first paladins. However, that doesn't change the fact that, by default, the red paladin is the second melee fighter, while Lance has always positioned himself as a sharpshooter - a support fighter.

Stage 3 - Road of trials, meeting ogres and dragons

Lance asserts his status as a red paladin.

Now, after Zarkon's knockout, the paladins and BoM begin vigorous activity. Lance is increasingly asserting his status as a red paladin - he bathes in the completely legitimate attention and admiration of the rescued civilians. In addition, Allura became very close to him, and he could constantly communicate with her. He also felt important, helping her master the Blue Lion and covering in battles. The defender of the beautiful princess.

Note: guys, I understand that you really want to present the attitude of the paladins to each other in battle as exceptional. But helping a comrade on the battlefield is the thing expected of a soldier. On the contrary, if he doesn't help, he'll be called a traitor. BoM's operations don't count, as they have partisan and espionage activities, where there are other priorities. Mutual assistance on the battlefield isn't an act of goodwill, but an obligation.

Yes, after becoming a red paladin, Lance stopped hitting on Allura. Because now Allura wasn't separate from the others, the abstract mistress of the Castle, she became part of the team. That is, not a princess - a potential damsel in distress - but a comrade with whom they share bread and shelter. And of course, Lance began to treat her in a different way. But he didn' stop wanting her. As soon as Matt (young, attractive rebel) appeared on the horizon, Lance set up an absolutely ugly jealousy scene.

Despite the fact that Allura didn't give any promises to Lance, didn't encourage his actions, wasn't either his bride or a wife, Lance decided that he had exclusive rights to Allura and began to guard her like a dog. Most likely, this attitude appeared as a result of the act of “giving” the Blue Lion. Because Lance continued to consider Blue his property, and at the same time began to consider the pilot of Blue his property too. And if so, then Allura belongs to him, and lines are no longer needed. And then Lotor appeared. I must say that it's unlikely that at the first personal meeting Lotor had matrimonial or at least some personal plans for Allura. When Lotor appeared near the Haggar's ship, he wasn't there because of the paladins. If you remember, Lotor caught the transmission that the sector would be blown up, not a word about the presence of Voltron. Lotor didn't save the paladins; he saved civilians from his mad relatives. And when Lotor talks with Allura, he offers exclusively business relations. Abstract union in the name of universal good.

But as soon as Lotor said the word “union”, Lance not only triggered, he almost exploded. From the mere hint that this obviously successful man is offering his(!) princess some sort of union, Lance sharply felt a surge of jealousy and saw Lotor as his rival. While Lotor completely ignored Lance - he addressed to Allura as the head of this madhouse, and he wasn't interested in the opinion of the “retinue” of the princess. In general, Lothor was always interested only in the opinion of Allura, convinced only her and appealed only to her. As a political leader to a political leader. The remaining paladins were reckoned by Lotor to the retinue of Allura and didn't cause much interest. Doesn’t resemble anything? Remember how Lance reacted towards Keith, although he hardly remembered him? How Lance considered Keith his rival? There's only a small but very important difference: Keith reacted to aggression with his own aggression. That is, Lance received a reaction to his actions. But Lotor didn’t do anything at Lance’s aggression. What difference does it make to an elephant what kind of a dog is barking at it down there? At the first outbreak of jealousy, Lance tried to get Lotor out of the way, like he did with Matt, but he couldn't do anything with such a mastodon. And Allura... Allura has work for the benefit of the universe, and Pidge's father must be saved. And here is the legendary Oriande. She didn’t know that Lance had any rights to her. Lotor shines in front of her eyes like a supernova, so Lance's jealousy was left without any attention.

Confused by the fact that he lost his place near the princess, Lance begins to do what he never did before becoming a red paladin. He begins to feel sorry for himself. Allura lost interest in him, she separated from the other paladins and flew away right in front of his eyes to a brilliant rival. Who is, in fact, like a hero from the legends. The real emperor, handsome, great warrior, leader, diplomat, Allura looks at him with admiration. And any attempt to ridicule him is smashed against the armor of equanimity and true self-confidence. Lotor was someone that Lance had always dreamed of becoming. Lance didn’t think about how hard it was for Lotor to become like this, Lance thought it was cool to be a brilliant space prince, not just a Cuban guy.

Lance envied Lotor, like he once envied Keith. And Lance again felt not needed and began to cling with all his might to the title of savior of the universe, as well as to rush to prove his worth. When Pidge and Hunk distract him from his worries, he's very happy to have fun with them - because he really doesn’t have problems, but in moments of idleness he begins to feel sorry for himself and think about how lonely he is and no one likes him. He even complained to the mice. After all, he likes Allura so much, he dreamed of becoming her knight, but she didn't appreciate it.

If Lance was so easily distracted from his longing for Allura, so maybe this longing wasn't so terrible?

Lotor became a dragon which Lance couldn't defeat in an honest battle and was fully aware of it. In addition, it's difficult to save the princess from the clutches of the dragon, when she's already choosing curtains for the cave. Such a princess would kill anyone who dares to hurt her dragon. However, fortunately for Lance, Keith brings Romelle and the paladins defeat Lotor. The path is clear, the dragon was killed. True, not by Lance personally, but it doesn’t matter. In addition, Allura is broken and unhappy, and in need of support. But although Lotor died, his ghost remained. After all, Lotor wasn't a real dragon of Lance, he became one in his mind. And he stayed there even after his physical death. Now Lance will always compare himself with Lotor, because he's only the second, not the first. And when Veronica asks Lance if he's going to date Allura, he begins to torment himself by the fact that he's not worthy of the Altean princess. He's a war veteran, he's the defender of the Earth, he's a red paladin, but this fades in his eyes comparing with Lotor. And this is so unsettling that even the Red Lion doesn't immediately come to the call.

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

Ultimately, instead of supporting Allura in a difficult period, he sits, suffers, and pities himself. But friends will always help, right? Hunk forces Lance to invite Allura on a date, and Rommelle persuades her to agree. And Lance gets what he dreamed of.

Stage 4 - Finding the boon of success

Lance becomes Allura's boyfriend. He was aimed to this from the S1.

Which almost instantly proceeds to the next stage:

Stage 5 - Awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity; death

Lance became Allura's boyfriend, but didn't feel significant.

Because everything went wrong from the very beginning.

You know, during the entire episode Lance looked happy once. When Keith told him how much he appreciated him. For me, the date could be over right here. It’s a very positive note - two comrades are sitting, saying warm words to each other and looking at a beautiful sunset. They would have wine, snacks, and don't leave.

Because the very presence of depression of your girlfriend doesn't tune into a romantic note. Plus Coran with his hysteria about the fact that Lance is a plebeian, not an Altean aristocrat.

In any case, the family dinner wasn't as joyful as Lance had hoped. Allura was far from in a romantic mood and sought to discuss the matters whoch worried her. And the siblings began to please the guest with stories about Lance's childhood. Lance wanted to be cool in the eyes of Allura. And here he's exposed as a fool and a clown. And as a result, Lance felt ashamed. He felt uncomfortable in the walls of his own home, because his beloved relatives didn't want to maintain his authority at all. The status of the red paladin and the presence of a beautiful girl didn't help to shut up the older brother, who continued to mock him as before. The war veteran remained thechild in the eyes of relatives, because there was no one who would tell them in person that they're wrong. Finally, they run away from home and go for a walk. Allura is not in the mood, she is ready to talk about anything except what is usually discussed on dates. Allura says that she feels completely alone looking at friends who have returned to their families.

And Lance, in his aspiration to become significant in the eyes of the princess, is ready to promise her a moon from the sky and follow her even to the edge of the universe. Despite the fact that most of all he always wanted to return home. Lance tells Allura that he loves her, and she sadly nods in response. All his words didn’t really inspire her, because she didn't need anything proposed. And Lance himself feels miserable, because he understands that he can’t help Allura in any way.

Lance isn’t a fool. He realized that Allura didn't reciprocate his feelings. But he walked too long towards his goal and selfishly clutched his reward. And thereby only worsened the situation. He grabs the opportunity to be a knight of Allura, because she's a princess after all. He again turns her in his eyes from a comrade into a virgin in trouble, but as a result only failed. Remember the pirate attack. Lance forgot that Allura was stronger than all of them combined, he forgot that they should meet the enemies shoulder to shoulder, and then he watched with genuine amazement how “the princess saves the knight” - Allura beat the pirates without any problems, having saved both Lance and herself.

Lance, these are pirates who must run away from Allura...

The second attempt to protect Allura also failed. The resurrected "dragon" simply didn't shoot at Allura, and Lance himself fell under the attack of the Alteans. Not to mention the fact that they failed to win the “dragon” - he beat them with his fists. Mad Lotor is a terrible thing by his own, and here he's combined with Sincline... Instead of gaining self-confidence, Lance felt more worthless than ever. Besides Allura, he felt useless. Allura says to him that he doesn't understand her suffering, and all he can do is agree with this and utter banal words of sympathy. Which can't help Allura in her grief. When Allura praised him in the forest just for being able to find the way, Lance beamed as if he had received the Nobel Prize. Allura simply didn't have anything else to praise him for - he did nothing significant in her eyes, and now the red paladin - the right hand of the leader of Voltron - felt joy as if he had accomplished a feat.

You fought with Zarkon, man, and now you consider this an achievement?

No, he pretends that everything is fine, trying to continue to play the role of a knight, which turns out to be frankly bad. At the first opportunity, Allura chases him away, asking to bring "something sparkly", and all he can do is to say a pretentious statement that winning the prizes is his speciality. Although he was only asked to bring a souvenir from the fair.

Such a happy couple...

And then... In the season we got, nothing happens further. Lance remains in this relationship, where he feels completely useless to Allura. Even more: having received a dark entity, Allura wakes up and begins to simply dismiss Lance. And Lance remains a passive observer. He watches her act, he watches her commit suicide. Could he feel guilty after that? After all, he couldn't help her. And he breaks down, leaves everything that he loved, and goes to live on Altea, which Allura missed so much but will never see again. Lance became the mouse that cried, pricked, but continued to eat the cactus. Just because it's a very expensive cactus, and greed didn't allow it to be left. But what was originally planned? If we take as a basis the material that TPL were able to restore, then we can approximately complete the remaining stages of the Heroine’s Journey.

Stage 6 - Initiation and Descent to the Goddess

Lance meets his Anima, and she reminds him of the importance of taking into account the interests of his loved ones, that you cannot build your happiness at someone else's expense. Lance looks at his relationship from a new angle.

And yes, as I spoiled at the beginning of the meta, Pidge became Lance's Anima.

Anima and Animus in the Heroine's Journey always represent opposites, which at the same time have much in common (and this is not always a romantic interest, it just traditionally becomes one). Moreover, even the opposites aren't taken from nowhere - they complement each other. Just compare.

Lance is an ordinary, unremarkable guy from a family of ordinary, unremarkable farmers, who was always burdened by his dullness comparing with more successful older relatives.

Pidge was always special from the family of specials, she stood out among other children, for which she became a white crow in her class. But the family constantly convinced her that this was an advantage, not a disadvantage.

Lance is a selfless, altruistic guy who is worried about someone else’s grief.

Pidge is rather egocentric, has little interest in the good of those who go beyond the circle of her loved ones. It's possible that this is a consequence of her young age - all children are self-centered - but fact is a fact.

Lance is a child who constantly tried to win back at least a little attention of his relatives and suffered the ridicule of his older siblings.

Pidge was always surrounded by attention. Parents adored her, the elder brother adored her and supported in everything. Pidge never doubted the love of her family; for her it was as natural as breathing.

Lance feels important to have attention to his person from relatives. And constantly selfishly demanded this attention as much as possible, because he felt underestimated.

Pidge is ready for anything for those whom she loves, and she's ready to beat anyone who harm her loved ones. She's ready to make any sacrifices for those whom she loves.

Pidge and Lance have always had fun together. Yes, Pidge was teasing him, but only when she felt that Lance's problems were not serious. When Lance really needed support, Pige always flew to the rescue. And Lance was just as ready to stand between Pidge and danger at any moment. For little Pidge, he really was a defender. And with all the differences, they had so many things and activities that they loved equally. At that time, there was nothing for Allura and Lance to talk about, except war and losses.

When Pdige and Lance were asked what they're dreaming of, they said they're dreaming of returning to Earth, weeting with their relatives and having fun together. In addition, Lance didn't perceive Pidge as a girl to drag around. Pidge was a true friend for him, not an object for self-affirmation.

And the situation with the date of Allura. Pidge was very upset when she found out that Lance and Allura were going on a date, but she also knew how Lance wanted it, and therefore even helped Allura to get her dress. And gave the game that she and Lance loved so much. For the sake of which they together completed a quest to collect money at the space mall.

You know, if Pige came to this date, not Allura, it would have gone completely different. Lance wouldn't be ashamed of the childhood stories, because he knew that Pidge had no illusions about him anyway. And Pidge would certainly say that Lance is a real hero with the same fury with which she defended her father and brother. The date didn't happen. But then there was a fair where Lance and Pidge united in an effort to get a gift for Allura. Pidge also sees that Allura is depressed, she wants to please her and is actively helping Lance to get "something sparkly".

Lance very quickly forgets what Allura requested. He decides to give her a blue lion with his autograph as a souvenir. Well, at least he didn’t decide to give his belt statue, otherwise Allura, in his absence, would forget about him for at least five minutes. And how displeased he is when he sees a purple lion. We all know who this color symbolizes. The ghost of a personal dragon doesn't let Lance go even at the fair.

And, in the end, since it was the gift for Allura that was the purpose of their competition, they couldn't help but talk about Allura herself. And you need to understand that Lance feels very bad now. The descent to the Goddess occurs at the time of the most difficult spiritual state of the hero. Literal descent into darkness in order to meet with the Shadow. And although Lance was used to keep his feelings, then he would have shared with Pidge, he'd tell about his sadness, about how useless he feels. And Pidge in response reveals to Lance her view of the relationship between people. She explains to him that in relations with loved ones you need to think not only about yourself, you need to care about those you love. Because if you're truly in love, you're ready to give the last for the sake of the happiness of your beloved. And probably in their conversation the game was mentioned, that Pidge had given so that the date would go smoothly. Pige doesn’t just say beautiful words, she shows that she's ready to take care of Lance even if he - busy with self-pity - doesn't notice it.

"We"? What, or rather who do you mean, Pidge? All the others had time for entertainment...

And here Lance finds out that Pidge really cares about him, and this knowledge encourages him. And he's filled with the desire to take care of Allura in order to prove his love.

Alas, he's not yet ready to let her go.

Stage 7 - Urgent yearning to reconnect with the feminine

Inspired by the words of Pidge, Lance feels the need to take care of Allura, to show his clogged altruistic side. But Allura was also inspired by someone. Having descended into the darkness to her Shadow, Allura cleared her mind and returned to the world of the living to show who's the Space Mom here. She perked up, ready for vigorous activity and Lance's care was met only with irritation. Lance, feeling that his care isn't appreciated, gets angry in response.

Sorry, Lance, but if Red made a decision, then only Black can prevent it...

Moreover, Lance realizes that Allura is starting to move away from him. Upset, sad Allura needed his support, and for an active and self-confident one he became only an obstacle on the way to her goal. And it turned out that the desire to keep Allura close to him came into direct conflict with the desire to make Allura happy. Lance hastily tries to dissuade Allura from active actions, but she doesn't listen to him.

Stage 8 - Healing the mother/daughter split

Lance looks at his relationship with Allura in a new light. He understands that they won't be happy as a couple.

Lance is in ambivalence. Allura’s fighting spirit rose, she ceased to be sad, but Lance doesn't feel happy. And he understands that he really needs to make a choice between what's good for him and what's good for Allura. Because he can't be with happy Allura - he'll always stay behind her.

Stage 9 - Healing the wounded masculine within

Lance refuses the reward for the sake of Allura's happiness and gets rid of the burden of envy and futility.

And now, moment X comes — an honest, open conversation between Allura and Lance. Allura confesses to him that she doesn't love him and wants to save Lotor from Honerva's grasp.

And then Lance finally clears his conscience. He refuses the reward which he desired so much. And at the same time, he's finally freed from the ghost of the dragon, tormenting him all this time. He ceases to demonize Lotor, to consider him his rival, which must be surpassed. And he agrees to help Allura save her significant other.

And he really feels that he has freed himself. He's no longer the second one, who will always lose to the first one. He's a good friend, and Allura needs him to get the other paladins to help save Lotor.

Stage 10 - Integration of masculine and feminine/Union

Lance gains spiritual balance and maturity.

Having lost his spiritual burden, Lance feels that he's important and he remembers that his friends love him. He ceases to feel envy and guilt. He's free from the burden of the red paladin, now for him it's not a yoke, but simply a title. He's again a Nice Guy Lance, who takes care of loved ones. And who feels that loved ones also care about him. He finally felt happy. What does he do after Allura and Lotor set off to restore the universes? He returnes home. He communicates closely with Pidge and comes to see how she makes robots. He probably continues his career in the Garrison. Now he's a famous pilot, he's a veteran. New horizons and respect of colleagues are waiting for him. His dream of stars came true, his desire to be at home also came true. He's where he's needed, and he's where he's loved. And once a year they all come together on Altea to take a photo. Allura will surely be interested in looking at these photos when she returns. In the universe, of course, not everything goes smoothly after the war. But now they have two gods who diligently rake up problems. The gods will cope with them. So, everyone will have that very “happily ever after.”

#voltron #VLD #lance #lance mcclain #Allura #pidge #plance

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voltron-s7-8-rewrite · 5 years ago

Text

The Grudge

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

At the two different sites, Allura and Krolia, and Pidge and Leifsdottir each find the remains of a destroyed Komar Mech. Both machines are in far worse shape than the one the Paladins took down with the Blazing sword, causing Pidge to question the construction of the mech.

As the women search the debris of each one, both teams find an intact cockpit-capsule with a living, Non-Cog Alteans inside.

Allura inspects the one she and Krolia found and realizes the capsule has been set up to act like a stasis pod, keeping the Altean in suspended animation.

Pidge and Leifsdottir scan the Altean they found, and as Pidge looks over the readings, she notices there's something in the readings of the new Hoktril that is familiar, but she can't put her finger on what it is. She informs Allura and says she will have to study it up close when they rendezvous with The Atlas.

Both teams call Lance, Rivavi, Hunk, and Kincade and tell them about what they found. The boys and Rizavi promise to search the Komar remains at their locations for any possible Alteans. Lance then tells them to head back to their bases, as the Blade and Rebels have begun to arrive. The ladies agree and sign off.

A voice calls out, and Lance and Rizavi turn to find Kolivan approaching with Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid. He informs the Paladin and Pilot how the Blade and the Rebels have started treating the injured and preparing them for evacuation, as well as taking any Galran Warlords into custody. Lance thanks him and explains what they know about the Komar Mechs attacking, and the Non-cog Alteans that were found.

Nearby, one of the Galran civilians overhears them and comes over, demanding that the Alteans be handed over to them in order to pay for their crimes.

Lance stands up to the Galra and tells them that there is no way that will be happening. He explains that the Altean is under someone else's control, and shouldn't be punished for something they couldn't stop. The Galra says that innocent citizens were killed, and their deaths need justice. Lance agrees,but firmly states that the right people need to be held accountable for what happened. If they seek revenge on an innocent person, then nothing's going to change. The one who is actually behind this will still be out there, free to harm more innocents. Lance assures him that there will be justice for all who were lost, but it will come from them finding the one who did this to the Galra and Alteans.

Kolivan says he's sure this Galra wouldn't want to be held accountable for acts that the Empire has committed on innocent worlds. The Galra is taken aback by that statement, and Kolivan continues, saying maybe he can begin to understand how the of the rest of the universe sees the Galra, now that he's experienced a fraction of what they have. The Galra is silent at that, moving away to think on their words.

Allura suddenly comms in again, asking if anyone has heard from Keith or Griffin, as she and Krolia can't make contact with them.

The other Paladins and Pilots try their hand at contacting the other two, but received no response. Believing that something is wrong, the Paladins and MFE Pilots want to head to their location, but Lance takes command and says that they are needed here and can't drop what they are doing, Keith wouldn't want that.

Kolivan agrees with Lance that the Paladins are needed and instead tells Axca to take Ezor and Zethrid to go find Keith. The three Blades agree and leave.

Having gotten away from the creature when it found them, Keith and Griffin do their best to keep ahead of it, running as much as they can and hiding where they can.

Keeping his focus on sensing the creature's location and movements, Keith realizes that it's specifically following him.

Coming to a spot to pause and catch their breath, Griffin sees the planet's environment has taken a lot out of Keith. He offers to share his suit's air supply, but Keith refuses; one of them has to have a clear head in order to make the call for help.

Keith tells Griffin that he's realized the creature is tracking him, and he believes it's due to his Galran DNA. He orders Griffin to continue heading to higher ground, while he leads the creature away. Griffin says he's not going to leave him, as that would be suicide for Keith with the condition he's in.

Keith argues that Shiro gave him command over the MFE Pilots and Griffin needs to follow his orders. Griffin says that with all due respect, he refuses. Angry, Keith snaps and says he thought Griffin was a snobby stickler for the rules. Griffin snaps back that Keith's delinquent behavior has already rubbed off on him.

The two glare at each other in a challenge, but Keith is unable to hold his stare, breaking into another coughing fit. Griffin helps stabilize him, and firmly says that he's not going to leave Keith behind, so they need to figure out how to get away or take the creature down. Keith finally relents and accepts the help, thanking Griffin.

The two look around for something to use against the creature, or a way to hide from it. Keith spots a cliff overhanging one of the lava pits, and a hill near it. He looks to Griffin and says he has an idea.

Thanks to the instructions Krolia gave them, The Atlas smoothly makes it through the Quantum Abyss without running into time distortions.

Shiro, Romelle, and Coran take a shuttle over to the colony, while another shuttle heads to Lotor's other base to retrieve the bodies of the harvested Alteans.

Entering the Colony, the three find it too silent. The lighting systems and holographic projections aren't working properly, leaving the place barely lit and allowing the metal roof to show -rather then the false sky it once displayed. Romelle notices that the plants are dying, and Shiro says his scans show that the life support systems are failing.

They make it to the Altean village, and find it abandoned. Romelle rushes from house to house searching for those she knew, calling out their names. Shiro points out to Coran that there are no signs of a struggle, and question if the Alteans left of their own will.

In the second floor window of one of the homes, a figure moves in the shadows, watching the three below.

Shiro and Coran follow Romelle to the market square, where she picks up a toy that had been left behind. She clutches it to herself, as Shiro steps up and places a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turns to him, and he gives her a comforting hug.

Coran looks around mournfully, noticing aspects of old Altean architecture within the colony's buildings and creations. He's both heartbroken and touched at seeing that not all of their culture was lost.

As he passes his flashlight over an open door, he spots movement. Coran calls a warning just as a helmeted figure rushes out to attack.

Shiro grabs Romelle and dodges out of the way of a swing from the person's make-shift staff, before tuning and blocking another attack with his new arm. He grabs the staff in his robotic hand, shattering the wood into splinters. Shiro doesn't give the attacker time to recover before he's on the offensive.

Shiro grabs and flips the person over his shoulder and into one of the abandoned market stalls. However, the person quickly recovers and grabs a torn tarp, throwing it over Shiro before kicking him down. Before Shiro can recover, the person grabs a wooden plank and raises it to strike. Coran calls out Shiro's name in panic, causing the attacker to freeze.

Romelle rushes up and slams into the person from the side, sending them skidding and tumbling down the road. She turns and helps Shiro up and they both stand, fists raised, ready to face the attacker together.

The person calls out for them to wait, raising their hands in a sign of momentary surrender. They ask Shiro if he is the same Shiro who had disappeared, the one the Paladins were looking for. Coran, Shiro, and Romelle are surprised by the person's question, but Shiro says he is and asks who they are, and how they know that.

The person removes his helmet, saying that the Paladins once mistook him for Shiro. The three look on in shock as Shiro's doppelganger, Sven, stands before them.

On the cliffside, Keith waits as the creature teleports in. He grips his bayard, and tries to talk the creature down; hoping there's some semblance of sentience. He says he knows that Ranvig committed horrible acts on it and that the Voltron Coalition can try to help the creature find some peace if it lets them.

The creature roars, unable to understand, or unmoved by his words and rushes to attack. Keith dodges and strikes out at it, but neither his Bayard, or his Marmoran blade do anything against its strong skin, but Keith continues to attack and dodge it's swings.

From up on the nearby hill, Griffin sits, watching the fight through his gun's scope. As Keith fights, he tries to get the creature into the right position where Griffin can shoot and topple it off the cliffside and into the lava.

Though Keith is quickly losing stamina, he is able to finally get the creature into the perfect spot. Without hesitation, Griffin starts shooting, surprising the creature enough to cause it to back up to the ledge. The creature's foot reaches the edge and begins to slip. However, it realizes what's happening and quickly grabs a boulder, throwing it with immense force into the hill where Griffin is.

Keith turns in shock and shouts for Griffin, watching as debris rains down and the gun fire ceases. The creature lashes out while Keith is distracted, slamming him to the ground with his tail before leaping at him.

Keith rolls over, and as he holds his Bayard up in defense, it changes its form into a large canon. The creature only has a moment to realize what's happened before Keith fires. The blast sends the creature off the side of the cliff, and it falls to its death in the lava below.

Keith watches for a moment, making sure the creature is gone for good before turning to see the hillside, where there is still no sign of Griffin. He gets up, rushing as fast as he can in his weakened state. Getting to the bottom of the hill he breathlessly he calls for Griffin in between coughs. He bends over, hands on knees, trying to regain his breath in order to trek up the hill, however a voice calls out asking why he couldn't have formed a canon earlier, as it would have been so much easier.

Keith looks up with a smile as Griffin squeezes out from a small pocket he had been wedged in when the boulders fell. He's banged up, but alive. Relieved, Keith jokingly says he just figured they could use the teamwork. Griffin stares at him flatly and starts to head down, saying that at least now they don't have to worry about having to contact someone; Keith can call the black Lion without a worry.

Keith agrees, looking to the sky to do just that, but startles when Griffin cries out in pain. Keith turns back to see Griffin fall to the ground as a figure steps out behind the boulders.

Keith stares in shock as Lotor, alive and well, stands where Griffin fell, glaring down at Keith with eyes full of hatred.

Keith backs up and asks how he could be here; he had been trapped in the Rift. Lotor says that doesn't matter, all he is here for is justice against Keith for turning Allura and the Paladins against him. Keith says he didn't turn anyone, they heard the truth of Lotor's monstrous actions and made their own choice.

Lotor screams in rage and brandishing his sword, leaps down from the hillside. Keith raises his canon and fires, but he misses, too unstable in his current condition to properly aim. He dodges out of the way as Lotor lands, and transforms his Bayard back into a sword, just in time to block Lotor's attacks.

Keith is barely able to keep up with the relentless strikes, and tries to get enough distance to catch his breath, but Lotor won't give him an inch. Keith's grip slips as his stamina plummets and Lotor strikes him on the chest with his sword, then slams his knee into Keith's gut, throwing him back.

Landing hard, Keith struggles to get up as Lotor mocks his weaker, non-Altean blood. Keith grits his teeth and with a shout, summons the strength to stand, teeth now fanged and his eye's sclera yellow.

Lotor is surprised, but even with his boosted Galran strength, Keith doesn't have much of an advantage. Only getting several hits in before Lotor once again strikes Keith down; this time he can't get back up.

Lotor approaches him, sword ready. He says as soon as Keith is gone things will go back to how they were. Allura and the Paladins will accept him, and they can work to build a peaceful existence with a new Altean Empire. Keith says that he's insane, Lotor killing him would only cause the Paladins to hate him more.

Enraged, Lotor raises his sword and swings, but a Blade jumps in his path just in time, blocking his sword with their own. Two more Blades come up behind Lotor, swords ready. The four stare each other down for a moment before the two behind leap to attack. Lotor kicks the first Blade back and turns to focus on the other two. The Blades work to move Lotor away from Keith as the fight.

Keith watches Lotor and the Blades fight; even through it's three on one, Lotor's strength and speed are greatly increased due to his Quintessence absorption while in the rift and he is able to hold them off. Unwilling to let them fight alone, Keith speaks to Black, asking for strength. His eyes flash as Black responds, and Keith pushes himself up once more.

Just as Lotor is about to land a killing blow on the Blade that protected Keith, he jumps back into the fight, blocking with his Marmoran Blade. Keith's skin is now purple and hos Galran features are fully showing. Lotor scoffs and says it makes no difference, his own Altean genes are superior. Keith then summons his Bayard's Blade, dual wielding his two swords.

Now four on one, Keith and the Blades work in unison, aiding each other and attacking together perfectly. Lotor is still stronger, but he's alone.

The five are eventually pulled into a stalemate, and Keith stands with the Blades behind him.

It's then that the three Blades turn their masks off, revealing themselves to be Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid. For a brief moment Lotor seems to be happy to see them, but then it clicks that they are with Keith.

He rages that Keith has now turned his own Generals against him and prepares to continue the fight once more, but a powerful roar freezes him in place.

Looking to the sky, the five Lions hover above, with the Black Lion in front. Realizing he's vastly out powered now, Lotor throws his sword, aiming it at Ezor, but Keith knocks it off course by throwing his own blade and hitting it off course. The distraction of the attack allows Lotor to get away, but not before he turns and looks to the Blue Lion, seemingly staring through the screens and directly at Allura.

Allura narrows her eyes, as he disappears over a cliff side. Pidge and Lance quickly fly to the side that he dissipated behind, but there's no sign of him.

With Lotor gone, Ezor grabs Keith as he collapses, and Axca goes to get Griffin.

Keith asks how they found them. Zethrid says when they found the downed Galra cruiser, Kosmo teleported into their ship -nearly scaring them all to death- before teleporting back out and leading them here. At this mention of his name, Kosmo walks up. Keith says he wasn't supposed to be teleporting, but pets and thanks him for his help. The ladies get Keith and Griffin into the Lions, and Keith's Galran appearance slowly fades and he returns to his normal appearance.

Regrouping with the The Atlas, The Paladins enter the bridge, questioning how Lotor could have survived and gotten out of the rift. A familiar accented voice says he has the answer to that.

The Paladins freeze in shock as Sven stands on the bridge alongside Shiro, Romelle, and Coran.

Notes:

Soooo, Lotor and Sven are back, hoped you missed them. And look, I made a version of the classic Lotor-Keith rivalry!

I really wanted to show Lance as more of a leader here when Keith isn't around as he's now second in command. He's no longer the guy who wants glory and fame, he takes his role seriously and shows it here. Not only is he a firm and understanding voice to the Galra who wants retribution for their pain, but he understands what Keith would want from the Paladins, and holds them to his orders.

Other then that I don't have a whole lot to say here, as everything to talk about is spoiler filled, so I'll leave that for the upcoming stories!

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Oh, here’s some edits I made so you can see what my version of Galra!Keith looks like.

#keith voltron #James Griffin #Sven Voltron #lotor #voltron #Allura #lance voltron #takashi shirogane #voltron pidge #hunk garrett #MyVoltronSeasonSummary #mywritings

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ptw30 · 6 years ago

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I really dislike how A/L has been written so far (in the romantic sense), their interactions always felt like a slap on the face since we never saw little casual moments with them... but sometimes I wonder, just because I dislike it, does that really mean it's bad writting? Maybe our expectations were too high and we just fooled ourselves?

I’m a fan of romantic comedies. It’s the reason why I loved the first two seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender. It’s why I love sports anime. For all these, I essentially have the same expectations - at the end of the story, the potential lovers get together, Shiro and Black bond and get their bayard, Kuroko is going to win the basketball game, etc.

I get a happy ending.

But Shiro deserved his bayard and lion; Kuroko deserved to win the game, and most of the time, the lovers deserve to get together. They’ve earned it.

Allura and Lance don’t deserve each other for a number of reasons.

I’m not saying I didn’t see it coming. I’m not saying one can’t enjoy the pairing. I’m saying - Lance and Allura aren’t jiving for a variety of reasons. Here’s an amazing post by @sol1056 that sums up all I feel about Lance and Allura. It also goes into Shiro and Allura as a pairing, as well as Lotor and Allura.

In the simplest points - Lotor and Shiro respected Allura, respected her decisions, respected her right to choose - Lance has treated Allura like a possession. He growled at Matt. He addressed Keith in “Ark of Taujeer” - “Is the Princess with you? With-with you or…” not actually addressing Allura, and Lance never actually grew into supporting Allura and her decision of Lotor, but rather just biding his time until Lotor was out of the picture. Heck, Lance even wanted to send Lotor to his death - all because he saw Lotor as a threat in his “quest” for Allura.

Sorry, that’s not romance. That’s the beginning of a stalker film.

But if we look at Allura and Lance’s romance from a writer’s point-of-view, it actually doesn’t follow the typical format, which is why I believe it’s not working for a majority of viewers.

(Below the cut - Lance and Allura’s relationship, as per a romantic comedy format; Lotor and Allura’s, and Lance’s true love - the Blue Lion. You think I’m joking with the last one - I’m really not.)

There are generally seven steps to a happy ending in a romantic comedy (from “Seven Story Beats to Help Outline Your Romantic Comedy”).

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

The unfulfilled desire of the protagonist - Lance is a lady’s man without a lady and now a new paladin of Voltron, insecure in his position; Allura is the princess of a dead planet, tasked with freeing the universe from the one who killed her people.

Hm. That’s unbalanced place to start the romance but all right. What’s life without a few obstacles?

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Lance and the paladins come to the castle; Allura falls into Lance’s arms. He tries all his tricks to get with Allura the first two seasons to no avail. (This was actually sexual harassment. It’s clear that Allura does not feel the same way. She makes it clear, but like many women, she is stuck in her position. Lance is the only one who can fly the Blue Lion, and if Allura wants to save the universe and avenge Altea, she has no choice but to work with Lance.)

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Here’s where Voltron fails. The turning point should have been where Lance gives his bayard to Allura, and it seems to be. He knocks off half of his advances, though he takes three steps back when Matt comes to the castle-ship. Then he wants to send Lotor to his death. Then he starts to hone in on Allura and Lotor’s time. Allura doesn’t start to see him in a new light, and Lance doesn’t stop being an immature teenager. Allura finding out about Lance’s affections via the mice doesn’t help because it happens before she begins to see Lance as a potential love interest.

4. The Hook: Midpoint

Allura is already bound to Lance since they are both paladins, so this part never really happens. They aren’t forced into a new situation where the two of them must work together. Lance and Allura don’t struggle with their affections. Sure, the castle-ship is destroyed, and Allura joins the paladins on Earth - but that’s not a change in Allura and Lance’s situation.

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

Here’s where Lance or Allura’s romantic relationship would jeopardize their goal. So…what goal? Lance is going to impede Allura’s goal. Nope. He’s a paladin. She’s a paladin. They essentially have the same goal, though there’s no stakes here other than death.

One could say that Allura being in Blue impedes on Lance embracing his own strengths. He cannot accept himself while he must still be Keith (i.e. the Red Paladin). But even in this case, Lance isn’t jeopardizing Allura’s chance to succeed - unless Lance refused to take Blue from Allura (cuz she’s just too good as a paladin), and Allura cannot leave Blue in order to run the coalition since they don’t have enough paladins.

Goals must shift. Did any goals shift yet? No? All right. Moving on.

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

I’ll give on this one - Season 8 might touch upon this, as the Allura-crying “leak” might indicate, but…since Allura and Lance haven’t technically done any other sections other than the “meet-cute,” I’m a bit skeptical on this being achieved.

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Skip to the end. Allura and Lance are together. What? You wanted them to go through all the steps? Sorry. Voltron doesn’t do character development.

I will say this - if Lance had come to accept Allura and Lotor, said he wanted her to be happy, and actually supported Allura, then this might have been a different outcome to Allura and Lance’s potential relationship. Lance’s goal of “getting Allura” would shift to “supporting Allura,” fulfilling the swerve part of the plot.

Also, if Lotor and Allura do get back together - and Lance does not end up with Allura, then that actually would be character development. Lance is a lady’s man without a lady - and that’s okay. He’s learned from his time with Allura, and he’ll know how to approach a relationship healthier next time. And then he might actually commit to someone.

“Who?” you ask?

The Blue Lion…but that’s another meta.

I do want to go through these steps one more time, but let’s do it with Lotor.

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

Allura is fighting to save the universe from the empire that slaughtered her people; Lotor is trying to bring peace to the universe by working as the emperor of said empire.

Oh. That’s even footing for goals, and they are in opposition as Allura wants to end the empire. Lotor does want to save it, albeit change it to be better.

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Well, there wasn’t one for them, really, unless you count the fight in “The Hunt.”

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Lotor and Allura begin to work together; Lotor kills Zarkon. Allura begins to see him in a new light.

4. The Hook: Midpoint

“The White Lion” - Allura and Lotor need to work together to procure the secrets of Oriande.

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

This is not as crystal clear as it should be. Allura and Lotor kiss after going into the quintessence field, and then Romelle shows up. Lotor wants to continue to work together, despite his past; Allura can’t move past the fact that he used Alteans to power his ship prior to meeting her.

In a tighter outline, Lotor would be wanting to use the colony Altean still, and Allura would want to free the people.

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

The fight at the rift.

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Season 8?

Do I think the end game with Lotor and Allura? No, I don’t. I’m just saying - the story would be better written if it were.

But…considering Keith’s body and Shiro’s power was used to fly Black, Shiro’s body and Allura’s power was used to fly the Altas, and the clone was tossed aside without the team even contemplating saving him - I don’t see Voltron pulling out a true and satisfying romantic story arc in Season 8.

But you never know. After all, Blue and Lance were MFEO.

…all right. One more time.

1. The Chemical Equation: Setup

Lance is a lady’s man without a lady; Blue is a lion without a paladin.

2. Cute Meet: The Catalyst

Lance falls into water, her element, at Blue’s paws.

3. A Sexy Complication: Turning Point

Blue and Lance get closer. She allows him to use her ice ray.

4. The Hook: Midpoint

Blue and Lance get stuck under water. They become closer, and Lance unlocks the sonic blaster thingie. He also is willing to die to save the universe along with her.

“Let’s go down swinging.”

Blue is happy. She made the right choice. Lance is happy. He has his lady.

5. Swivel: Second Turning Point

Lance wants Black. Blue just wants a paladin.

6. The Dark Moment: Crisis Climax

Blue locks out Lance and takes Allura as her paladin.

7. Joyful Defeat: Resolution

Wait. WHAT?! They never reconciled! What the…?

Sobsobsob

But…they were best buds for life, for real…

#lance #allura #lotor #shipping #blue lion #onetruebluepaladin #meta #anon #answered

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shiroslefttesticle · 6 years ago

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Obviously, this isn’t at all the point of the show, but I can’t help but wonder how Pidge is dealing with this sometimes. But you’re welcome sweetie!~ I hope you enjoy.

Lotor was a scientist, so he would occasionally study other species’ biology

Now that he was involved with the paladins, he would sometimes ask questions about humans

But he never directly asked about female reproductive health

It just never really came up

So when you suddenly leap out of bed in the morning and dash for your bathroom, Lotor is confused

Were you sick?

He’s about to get out of bed after you when he sees it

There’s blood on the sheets where you were laying

Now he’s concerned

He’s at the bathroom door in the blink of an eye, but you locked it

So he’s about to knock and ask if you’re alright, but you come out right then

In a change of clothes, Lotor notes

“You’re bleeding?”

Lotor hadn’t intended to make it sound like a question, it just kind of happened

He knew you were bleeding

He just didn’t know why

You immediately flush, pushing past Lotor to change the sheets

But Lotor stops you, and you can see that he is worried so you give in

As you begin teaching him about human reproduction and what menstruation is, Lotor is shocked

He had no idea human “vagina owner’s”, as you put it, went through so much trouble

And every month?

It seemed pretty inconvenient

When he stated this, you couldn’t help but snort and nod in agreement

Once you explain everything, Lotor is calmer than before

He’s still worried about you, but at least he knows you’re not dying

Typically, Lotor is a little more reserved with his affections for you

You don’t doubt that he cares for you, of course, he just has an image to maintain

However that all flies out the window when you’re on your period

He still keeps his calm demeanor, however, he will drop everything to cater to your needs

He’s in the middle of a meeting but your back hurts? Looks like the meeting’s over, he’s getting you a hot pack

He’s out in timbuktu in the middle of a battle but you’re sad for no reason? He can fight these guys some other time, he’s already halfway back to you to comfort you

If anyone dares to make a snide comment about it, they’re banished to a frozen tundra planet overrun by carnivorous lizards

Obviously, he knows that he can easily just assign a group of nurses and such to tend to you, however he kind of likes being able to take care of you

Due to his strict upbringing, Lotor still isn’t 100% comfortable with outright telling you how much he cares about you

In this situation, he gets to show you how much he cares about you without it being a big deal

If you get embarrassed, Lotor is good at reassuring you that you don’t need to be

After all, it’s natural

Again, he’s a scientist, he’s not going to get embarrassed about it

As time goes on, Lotor gets better at reading your moods and knowing when to give you space or whatever else you might need

To be honest, Lotor has a new level of respect for you

A level he didn’t even know he had

Obviously, he chugged that Respect Women Juice™

Just look at his generals

However, if you can kick ass while you’re on your period??

Lotor wants to marry you on the spot

He thinks you’re the most badass person on the battlefield

#overly concerned alien boy is my favorite #lotor x reader #prince lotor #prince lotor x reader #lotor #vld lotor #voltron #voltron imagines #voltron scenarios #voltron headcanons #voltron x reader #lotor imagines #lotor headcanons #sfwprompt

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anchoredtether · 6 years ago

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Why I think Plance and Kallura as endgames results in the best character development arcs

[THESE ARE JUST MY THOUGHTS, IF YOU DON’T LIKE ONE/BOTH OF THESE SHIPS, YA DON’T HAVE TO READ THIS]

These two ships happen to be my main ships for the fandom (and I’m quickly becoming a Hunelle diehard) and I think the reason why is because of the meaning behind these two ships and how they relate to each other.

There are some gorgeous tropes and symbolism (and overall fantastic messages) in these two relationships, even more so if both ships happen because of their impact upon each other.

Delve into my literary rambling below the cut.

First let’s start with Lance’s obvious crush on Allura.

Lance is immediately in love with Allura, or at least the idea of her. In season 6 we learned that he eventually passed the infatuation stage (at some point) and developed genuine feelings for her. You can see this in the series as he progresses from obnoxious flirting to giving her motivational speeches and being an emotional support.

This scene was huge. Lance’s feelings for Allura were actually addressed in season 6, and yet he treated her as a supportive friend instead of trying to take advantage or capitalize on her broken heart. Season one Lance might have done that, but not the Lance we have now.

If Lance moves on from his crush on Allura, we already know he’ll stay a supportive friend. This is huge. Most shows would approach this situation as Lance matures but he still ends up with the girl of his dreams, or even worse, Lance matures and forgets about Allura entirely (or even WORSE is Lance maturing and Allura coming to him after her breakup with Lotor because “Lance has been there for her all along” *gags* For a good discussion on why Allurance is a disservice to both Lance and Allura, read this post). I’ve seen it happen so many times, and you know what would be incredibly refreshing?

A man and a woman progressing from unrequited love to a strong, platonic, supportive relationship.

Things get even better when you add Keith ending up with Allura.

Lance and Keith may not have a “rivalry” like Lance likes to claim, but it’s clear from episode one of season one that Lance does not like Keith. I don’t think it’s outright hatred, but for whatever reason Keith just gets under Lance’s skin, and he feels the need to always prove himself better than him. (some Garrison flashbacks may better explain why this is, but for now it’s all speculation)

Keith and Lance have both amazingly progressed into the roles they were meant to fulfill. Keith never wanted to be a leader, he was always comfortable being a loner. Lance is a showoff and wanted to get the glory and lead the team. In the end, Keith has become a strong leader and Lance has become a leader in his own right by being Keith’s right-hand man.

That character/relational development in and of itself is incredible.

But it gets even better if Keith ends up with Allura. Why? Because not only would Lance become a great friend/partner to Keith, who used to be his rival, but if Allura ends up with Keith Lance could potentially end up supporting his “rival” who is now dating his “dream girl.” Most shows take such a scenario where Lance would become incredibly jealous and vindictive, and ruin both his relationship with Keith and Allura.

How often do we see someone turn a rival and an infatuation into a brother and a platonic friend? I think that’s an amazing message.

Another fantastic development is Keith and Allura’s relationship.

Honesty time: I really did not like Allura at first. She had to grow on me before I came to like her. When she started hating Keith for NO REASON besides the fact he was Galra, I wanted someone to slap some sense into her. Luckily, Keith did.

Keith and Allura had a definitely rocky start to their relationship, even before Allura started being racist. I feel like Allura had little faith in him since Keith was reckless and a bit of an emotionally loose canon in the beginning (which you can hardly blame her, but still) and never really seemed to understand where he was coming from.

Over time their relationship has progressed, Allura saw the fault in her line of reasoning, and Keith in turn became more patient with her. Keith and Allura’s progression shows that it’s the actions and heart of a person that defines them, not their race (and symbolically can apply this to gender, sexual orientation, appearance, etc.).

Allura falling for Keith breaks the barriers that you can fall in love with someone who shares characteristics of those who have hurt you - that not everyone of a similar characteristic can be “lumped together,” as Keith worded it.

Not only is this an amazing message against racism, but literally every other kind of triggered perception towards people of a certain race, gender, nationality, religion, wealth, or what have you.

Alright, girl power time.

First off, Allura and Pidge are two vastly different yet fantastic role models for all girls. We have Allura, your typical “girly” girl who is gorgeous and likes sparkly things, and Pidge, your typical “tomboy” who doesn’t fall into typical feministic stereotypes and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Two stark contrasts, practically polar opposites for both appearance, quirks, interests, and personality.

But both our girls are strong role models in their own right.

Allura is a leader but she still has her insecurities, she isn’t afraid to sacrifice for the team and she loves everyone dearly, she admits when she’s wrong and works hard to set things right. Pidge is ambitious, pragmatic, brilliant, and although she can have a sharp tongue at times she is basically a force to be reckoned with (which I love considering she’s a very smol human).

At first Pidge is rather savage towards Allura. There were moments where I was thinking “well, you’re not wrong but was that really necessary?” Basically Pidge has no filter. YET, despite the tension between these two at first, Allura never becomes cold towards Pidge (like she did Keith lol). These girls are supportive and loving towards each other and that by itself is a great message because most people would say that two girls with these kinds of personalities would never get along.

And while yes, if Plance and Kallura both become a thing it would show that the two only (lead) female characters end up in relationships (instead of going the “strong independent woman who don’t need no man” route), it would show that whether you’re a girly girl or a tomboy, you can find love. Most shows would only emphasize one of these girls finding true love, while the other is left forever alone. Besides, I think everyone can agree that both Allura and Pidge are VERY MUCH the “strong independent female” trope.

They don’t necessarily need a man, none of us are questioning that. But wouldn’t it be nice to have already established strong and independent women have a man to love and who loves them back? Now THAT, would be refreshing.

Now here’s my favorite part.

Lance and Pidge ending up together covers so many beautiful tropes. With Lance’s Loverboy character you’d expect him to end up with a gorgeous woman, maybe even a girl who is a bit of an airhead. At first we all think he’ll end up with Allura one day, and now there’s speculation he’ll end up with Romelle. Because falling in love with a princess or a beautiful blonde is such a common thing for characters similar to Lance. It’s also a bit expected that Pidge will just end up with Hunk, someone else who is a total nerd. Preps and Jocks marry each other while nerds marry each other, that is just what is stereotypical and to be expected.

But what if the jock and nerd fell in love?

I think this would cover so many strong messages for both boys and girls. Lance has this terrible perception of what makes a girl desirable (at first) but we see him progress (especially in the comics) into digging a girl who is courageous and smart - two amazing qualities to focus on in a partner instead of just looks!! And considering Pidge isn’t exactly “curvy,” it could showcase how Pidge truly IS beautiful in her own way that doesn’t conform to the standard sexualization of women in society. Showing Lance, who had those kinds of societal standards, falling for someone like Pidge, who does not meet those distorted standards, would be completely out of the norm. And I love it.

I also really like the idea of the genius falling for an idiot? I know this is portrayed in the media a lot, but it’s such a good trope. Pidge could easily never pay Lance any attention and write him off as “too stupid for her,” but instead we see her trying to be patient with his limited understanding and explain things in a way he can understand. Lance in turn has progressively shown more interest in science-related things and tries to focus on the things Pidge does/says instead of just saying “I don’t get it” and ignoring her.

Lance also praises Pidge’s brains?? And not in a flirtatious way either, it’s genuine and full of respect. He knows Pidge is the smartest one on the team and he acknowledges her for it. Coming from the “idiot” of the team, that is incredible. You would expect Lance to get frustrated with Pidge being so smart or try to play her down (like the bully calling her out as a nerd) but he doesn’t. Lance does not fall into the toxic trope of men wanting to be smarter than women and becoming frustrated when they’re proven wrong. Instead Lance knows Pidge is smarter than her and is humbly proud of it.

The writers have also said that Lance will end up not with the person he wants, but the person he needs. And I think this covers the trope of marry your best friend. Yes, Lance and Allura are close friends now, but who was he best friends with since episode one? Pidge. Who was someone that was always under his radar but has always been there? Pidge. Who is someone he gets along with so naturally he doesn’t even have to try? Pidge.

Dude, the guy didn’t even know she was a girl till she revealed it.

I also think it’s amazing that Lance has never shown any romantic interest in Pidge (yet). And I think that’s a great message because the best relationships are built on friendship. We know that Lance’s relationship with Pidge isn’t based off of any kind of romantic desire or lust, but instead the simple genuine concern and love one has for a friend. I personally think Lance does have romantic feelings for Pidge, he just hasn’t realized it yet (because Pidge is her best friend, not a crush to flirt after - and that’s currently what he thinks love is).

Likewise, if Pidge falls for Lance it tells the message that people can change. Lance was kind of a terrible, shallow person in the beginning, I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it. Because of this, it would be easy to have Pidge never fall for a guy like him. But Lance has changed (arguably he’s had the most drastic change of all the characters) and you’ve seen it in how Pidge treats him with greater respect now. Especially in the comics, she takes his points into consideration and doesn’t make fun of him (too much).

His character development is what makes Pidge attracted to him, and change for the better is always attractive. (although part of me thinks she was physically attracted to him at first since she always got annoyed with him flirting and whatnot lol)

Ok I’m rambling too much so I’m going to stop here.

Basically Lance and Pidge getting together, Keith and Allura getting together with Lance being supportive of Keith and Allura, and Pidge and Allura forming a stronger friendship - I’m here for that amazing combination and the messages it gives. It breaks stereotypes and tells a fantastic story and gives all the characters the development and growth they deserve.

#voltron #vld #kallura #plance #voltron meta #my meta #mostly rambling though lol #keith #allura #lance #pidge #voltron theory #voltron ships #character development #look at all those notes

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theevershipping · 6 years ago

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Most Sensible Voltron End Game Ships:

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

Hunk/Romelle:

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

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

Lance/Pidge:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lotor/Allura:

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be clear:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, Next...

Keith/Acxa:

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

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

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

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

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

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

So...

Shiro/???:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, lastly:

Zethrid/Ezor:

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

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

In conclusion:

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

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

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

#voltron ships #voltron legendary defender #vld #lotura #plance #kexa #hunk/romelle #vld shiro #vld s7 #vld s6 #voltron #shiro #takashi shirogane #keith/acxa #pidgance

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