#sorry to people following me for lok stuff I promise I'm writing for lok still

[fangirlauthor]

A Rip in Time Chapter Three

Here’s chapter three! I got tired of writing (future) Matt every time he did something so pre-kerberos Matt is not included in this chapter. Link to post with link to the work on ao3 is in my pinned post/master post. 

Matt Holt knew they didn’t believe him. Not all of them, not on everything. Honestly, he couldn’t blame them - it’s all a little crazy, even to him. He wouldn’t have believed himself if he had been himself before he’d been kidnapped and eventually traveled back in time. All of which brings him to the other problem - his head is killing him. He’s not sure if there’s some sort of time-sickness occurring, or if it’s all this thinking about himself in several different time periods, or what, but he’s in dire need of an ibuprofen, and it doesn’t seem like anyone has one to spare. 

Preparations began properly… yesterday? He’s pretty sure it was yesterday. Like he said, his head is having trouble, what with the...time difference and all. Anyway, preparations began recently, but things are going slowly. The people who don’t believe him, even though they’re keeping quiet, are causing trouble - if people aren’t willing to help, they’re not going to, and they’ll certainly try to get others to not help either. 

“So far, we’ve put everyone on high alert, armed them with knives and the knowledge that guns won’t save them, set up patrols, and had the pilots be ready to fly, also with the knowledge that the onboard weapons won’t save them, sir.”

“All right,” said Iverson, turning away from the lower-ranking officer reporting to him to look at Matt. “What else can we do?”

Matt shook his head. “Not much. We don’t have the time - or the resources - to build weapons capable of breaching Galra defenses. Basically, just get everyone ready to fight.”

Iverson’s eyes narrowed, his face scrunching as he scrutinized Matt. “We’ve already done that. What can we do that we haven’t already done?”

“Nothing I can think of.” Matt turned around, body facing the fence they were standing by, and looked up at the clear sky. “Actually,” he said as Iverson was preparing to walk away angrily. “We can hope and pray that Voltron shows up in time. Otherwise, we won’t last long.”

Iverson sighed. Two days ago was supposed to have been the launch marking the pinnacle of human achievement - having a future version of one of the crew members show up and inform them that they weren’t as ahead as they thought they were was disarming, to say the least. 

Matt turned back to the sky and said, “Commander?”

“Yes, Holt?”

Matt grinned like an imp. “Shiro found it dis-arming as well.”

“Wait, you said that like it was a  pun. Why did you say that like it was a pun?” Matt turned around to see Shiro, with a full head of dark hair and no scar walking up, Adam walking next to him. This didn’t quite fit the events Matt remembered - he was certain Adam had broken up with Shiro. Huh. Maybe the extra time given to them after he appeared was helping them heal their relationship - helping them understand each other and each other’s reasons for doing certain things better. 

Matt glanced at the three people staring at him expectantly and nearly peed a little. This was not going to be fun to explain. 

Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to. Unfortunately for him and literally everyone else, it was because the Galra had arrived. 

----

“Sir, your orders?” Shiro and Adam had headed off to who knows where the minute the ships appeared in the sky and had been replaced by a random lady in a gray uniform. 

Iverson was too busy gaping at the fleet of Galra - he assumed they were Galra, anyway; he’d never seen any before - cruisers that had just appeared out of nowhere to respond, so Matt said, “Tell the pilots to get ready, and make sure everyone can see what’s going on.”

The lady blinked. “You want me to livestream an alien invasion?”

Matt nodded excessively. “Yes, that. And make sure not to fire on them, that won’t do anything besides make them angry.”

The lady glanced at Commander Iverson, nodded, turned on her heel, and headed inside the building - presumably to set up a live stream. 

Iverson was still staring at the cruisers when he waved to unseen people. Matt started to walk up next to him when two pairs of hands grabbed him from behind. “What-” Matt paused, then started again, “I’m sorry, watt is going on?

“Look, kid.” Iverson finally turned around. “It’s nothing personal, but you’re under arrest for hindering government activities and interfering illegally on private property. You’ve convinced the entire Galaxy Garrison that there’s some mechanical hope for them to survive this, and you haven’t given them any way to defend themselves.”

“But- there isn’t one! There was only the time and the resources to do what we already have, and like I said, if you fire on them, you’re going to provoke them.”

Iverson shook his head. “We’ve got this from here.” He jerked his head at one of the people holding him back. “Take him to a cell. And make sure to put a screen displaying the livestream in his line of sight. Wouldn’t want anyone to be clued out.”

Matt let the guards drag him several feet towards the building before he decided to remind everyone that he’s not as weak as he was when he left for Kerberos. He jabbed his elbow into one guard’s solar plexus and kneed the other in the crotch, instinctively wincing in sympathy. 

“Wha-” The next guard didn’t even have time to get a single word out before Matt knocked him down too. 

“Oh, man,” Matt panted. “This is a lot harder in Earth gravity.” Unfolding from his crouched position, Matt sprinted over to the main building of the Garrison Complex where a crowd of people had gathered; his original plan had been to talk to Iverson and get him to see reason, but he was nowhere to be found - besides, something about the last time Matt had seen Iverson was bugging him, but he wasn’t sure what. Not yet, anyway. 

“Everyone, get down!” he yelled, still heading for the crowd as a small Galra fighter plane opened fire. Not many people listened to him, but there were approximately two good reasons for that. 

1. People were too busy running from the Galra fighter plane (wings not included, apparently) that was heading straight for the crowd. 

2. Apparently a crashing jet makes a lot of noise on the way down. 

It didn’t matter anyway; most people didn’t need to be told to get out of the way. Unfortunately, some did - Commander Iverson included. For whatever reason, he was standing directly in the falling ship’s path as dozens of other people ran away. 

On the other hand, Matt Holt wasn’t exactly running away either. Iverson - annoying as he was - wasn’t about to die if there was something he could do about it. So he gave a final burst of concentrated effort, tripped, fell onto Iverson, knocked him down, and proceeded to roll away - dragging Iverson with him - like a five year-old on a grass hill in the summer. 

They didn’t get very far. Rolling on flat concrete when one person is dead weight - for whatever reason - isn’t easy. And the plane is still coming, falling faster as gravity continues to pull. 

It’s close enough to read the identification number on the side, now, and Iverson still isn’t moving. There’s nowhere for Matt to go - he wouldn’t be able to outrun the ship at this point - and Matt isn’t leaving Iverson behind. 

He closes his eyes, unable to watch the ship continue to fall - not much farther now - and he lies there, on cold cement with an unmoving but still breathing Iverson next to him. 

He’s still lying there when the sound of scraping metal and a small explosion sound. 

And he’s still lying there two minutes later, when people have started to gather nearby to gawk. 

And he’s still there three minutes after that, when he realized he isn’t dead. 

And when he opened his eyes, he smiled; he knows what all the people are gawking at. 

Landed on a large open space on Garrison property, the remains of a Galra fighter in its paws, was a giant green lion. 

And inside was his sister.