#the holt monitor and then the echo will help a lot

[pastafossa]

I got my stress test and had the holt monitor put on today! The good news is my weird heart issues don't seem to be triggered solely by physical exertion (heart was still weird and was dizzy on sitting/standing up just like in previous tests, but my heart didn't get MORE weird when my heart rate increased). Which makes sense since half the time I'll literally just be laying in bed falling asleep or sitting at my PC when I feel it go through a little episode, so it's clearly happening ALL the time and not just when moving around. So that rules a few things out! Now I've got the heart monitor on, and I'll wear it for 5 days (meaning it can consistently catch what's going on) and I have to keep a little diary of what I'm doing whenever I have symptoms. It's progress!

[izlaria]

Someone you like (part 4)

This is the fourth chapter of my “Someone you like” inspired fic. It’s also available on AO3 in case you prefer that platform. Please hit me up to talk about Plance!

Summary: In the days following their arrival on Earth, Pidge finds that conflicting feelings don't just disappear because there are more people around. On the contrary, with the approach of the final battle, they seem to get worse.

FYI, we’re still on Pidge pining hour.

18 and 16 years old

Life was not easy when you were a soldier fighting against an evil, intergalactic empire, but Pidge had found a sort of balance to it all. Now that they were back on Earth and she knew her family was relatively safe, much of the sorrow she’d carried had dissolved into hopefulness.

Much, but not all.

Pidge leaned her head against the wall, hugging the papers to her chest. Being on the Garrison made it easier for her to ignore her erratic heartbeats, because she could just avoid Lance most of the time, but it also sent her into overdrive when she accidentally met him in the hallways. She could usually depend on her mother to be there – Pidge was grounded, after all –, but there were times when not even Colleen could protect her.

She wanted to talk to Lance, of course. He was one of her best friends and no crush could ever change that, but it took a lot out of Pidge to hear him drone on about Allura and all the places he wanted to show her on Earth.

Maybe her evasiveness wasn’t the most mature of Pidge’s choices, but she was tired and lovesick and feeling neglected. She would have to be excused a little pettiness.

“Do you want to tell me why I just saw you ignore Lance?” Matt raised his brows at her, an expression that Pidge herself often mimicked and that was especially irritating to be the target of. He was standing off to the side of her station, gloves still on.

Pidge pushed away from the wall, feeling flustered. She hadn’t realized her brother had witnessed the scene.

“Did I ignore Lance?” Pidge opted to feign innocence. “I was so lost in thought I didn’t really see him there. Or you.” This last bit she said with a touch of hostility.

Matt crossed his arms and hummed, sounding disbelieving. “You always were the worst liar out of the two of us, Pidge.”

She shouldered past Matt with a glare. There was a lot of work to do until the Atlas was completed and the last thing she needed were distractions like her feelings for Lance or a fight with her brother.

“When did you land on Earth, anyway?” Pidge put the papers down on her table and moved to one of the computer screens, where she’d left a new code running. It was an improved version of her and Matt’s previous software for predicting Galra presence. “I could use your eyes on this.”

Matt stood at her back, looking over her shoulder at the lines that lit up the computer.

“This is interesting…” He squinted down at Pidge. “Don’t think for a second that a new challenge will make me forget what I just saw.”

She took advantage of Matt’s positioning to elbow him in the gut.

Truthfully, Pidge knew her brother wouldn’t tease her too much about her circumstances. Matt was caring and even protective when it came to her well-being, so he would never rat her out to Lance or any of the others, even if he disagreed with her actions.

Despite that, she struggled with being vulnerable around him.

Pidge didn’t want to think about it, but the years they’d spent apart had certainly affected their relationship. Before going to space, Matt was more than her brother, he had been her closest friend. But now she had Hunk, Lance, and even Keith and Allura. If she needed guidance, Coran and Shiro were only a call away.

She would always be close to Matt, but he was no longer the only person whose company she valued.

“We should finish this up before mom comes around,” Pidge said, trying to refocus. “She comes to collect me at the end of the day.” She rolled her eyes.

“That still going on?” Matt chuckled as he pulled a chair over to her station. He scanned the reports she had just brought in.

“I can’t even go out to eat with the team. We’ve had to meet in the cafeteria, of all places.”

“I’m just glad the cooking staff changed since I was a student.” Matt wrinkled his nose. “That was just nasty.”

“Except for the burgers.” And here Pidge smiled, suddenly reminded of all the times Hunk and Lance had dragged her to lunch and how they always ended up making a mess of their table.

“On Mondays, that’s right!” Matt glanced at her and Pidge couldn’t quite read the look in his eyes. “Until when are you grounded, anyway?”

“Let’s see, I was fifteen when I was whisked into space, so…” She pretended to do the calculations. “Until my twenty-first birthday, unless dad intervenes.”

Matt snorted. “Good luck with that. He doesn’t really have any weight with mom right now. She’s still upset about the whole being-pronounced-dead thing.”

Pidge groaned, burying her face into her hands. “I’ll be going to war in a month, but I still have no freedom here.” She raised her eyes to look at him. “Can’t you talk to mom?”

“And risk my newfound position as the favorite? You’re on your own, kiddo.” He continued to stare down at the papers for a moment, before turning to face her properly. “You know why she’s doing this, right? You spent three years MIA. We thought you were dead.” He exhaled forcefully. “I thought you were dead.”

Pidge didn’t really know how to respond. Since her arrival on Earth, she’d had versions of this conversation with several people, but her brother had always stood back and given her a little space. He probably knew better than most how overwhelming such a welcome could be. “I am sorry, Matt.”

He gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Turnaround is fair play, I guess.”

“Stop.” Pidge put a hand on his arm. She worked her jaw, trying to figure out what to say. “I never wanted you to find out how that felt.”

Matt nodded once, swallowing hard. Pidge could tell that he was putting his emotions back in check.

“I’m proud of what you’ve done, Katie. Mom might act like you’re still a kid, but I was out there before you came along.” It reminded Pidge that, though he hadn’t been present for her battles, Matt had seen his own share of horrors. “Voltron turned the tide, in no small part because of you.”

“Thank you.” She tried to blink away the tears. Matt smiled and brought his hands up to cup her face.

“My little sister is a badass, so I don’t want to see you hiding behind corners because of some stupid boy.” When she tried to protest, he just squished her cheeks. “Who does not deserve you, by the way.”

Pidge couldn’t help but laugh. She could always count on Matt to make her smile through her tears.

“I thought you liked Lance,” she said once Matt had let go of her face. He grimaced.

“He’s eighteen and a flirt.” Her brother didn’t even try to go back to work, he merely kicked his legs up onto a workbench and crossed his arms. “I would feel better about Keith, even.”

“You say that because Shiro would be just as bad of a protective older brother as you.” She pushed at his chair, making Matt almost lose his balance.

“You would never be alone unchaperoned, it would be great,” he confirmed, still pulling himself back into position.

“You realize that I’m technically nineteen?” She aimed a sharp look at him.

“You realize you look twelve?” Matt shot back, looking unbearably satisfied with himself. This time Pidge had no mercy for him; she sent his chair rolling down the aisle and Matt with it.

“Honestly, you have nothing to worry about.” She wrapped an arm around her middle. “Lance is so enamored with Allura that I could yell in his ear that I like him and the goofball would think I meant it platonically.”

Matt wheeled himself back to her. “Then he’s a fool.”

“You’re just saying that,” Pidge scoffed. “You were just as bad as him when meeting Allura.”

“Look, Allura is beautiful, that’s true, but it doesn’t diminish your qualities.” He put a hand on her shoulder, leaning in close so that their voices didn’t echo in the empty laboratory. “You are funny and witty and smarter than anyone in this damn complex. Don’t you dare compare yourself to Allura.”

Pidge dragged her chair until she was resting against Matt’s shoulder.

“It’s sort of inevitable. She’s the one he likes and I have to accept it.” She looked at the computer, where lines of code kept appearing and disappearing. “It’s just hard to be near him. I feel like I’ll do something and everyone will… know.”

“You spent almost a year pretending to be someone else, I think your acting skills are a little better than that.”

“Didn’t you criticize my lying just a few minutes ago?” she deadpanned.

“Well…” Matt gave her a cheeky grin. “I’ve known you your entire life, so I’m a Katie Holt expert.”

“Of course,” she drawled out, rolling her eyes.

Pidge felt her brother put an arm over her shoulder, squeezing her to his side.

“You’re perfect, okay?” he murmured into her hair. “Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”

She closed her eyes and let herself fall into his embrace. It was something she had missed, even now that the team was back on Earth. Everything had changed since the Kerberos mission and, while a lot of it was good, Pidge couldn’t deny that she wished Matt would stay with them more often.

“Okay.” Her voice trembled, but Matt didn’t mention it, choosing to tighten his hold on her.

“Knock, knock! Anyone in here?” As soon as the voice sounded, Pidge scrambled to hide her face. She got up and pretended to check a different monitor, turning her back to the door. She heard Lance approach their station. “Oh, hey, guys!” Then, seeming to notice the mood of the room. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, man.” Matt was the first to recover. Pidge felt him move, probably trying to keep Lance from getting any closer. “We were just discussing some Holt secret coding.” She almost snickered at this, despite the heartbeat that still hammered in her ears. It was the sort of thing that only a non-techie would believe.

“And I thought us McClains were bad with our ropa vieja recipe.” She chanced a look over her shoulder to catch Lance’s smile. He was always at his brightest when talking about his family.

“You needed something, Lance?” Matt was being a bit more brusque than normal, but his expression was thankfully still amenable. Pidge would have hit him if he just started being a jerk to Lance.

“Not really,” the other boy responded. He looked around Matt to smile at Pidge. “I was just hoping to catch up with Pidge before your mother comes around.” He shuddered. “Let me tell you, that’s a scary lady. She could almost beat mami with that I’m-not-mad-just-disappointed face.”

“You tell me?” Matt sighed. “That’s one thing I don’t look forward to when touching down at the Garrison.”

“You wanted to talk to me?” Pidge interrupted before they could keep going. Putting two of the friendliest people she knew in the same room was only a good idea if she had the patience for a long conversation. Which she didn’t.

“Ah, are you done ignoring me, Pidgeon?” Lance cocked his hip to one side, looking too sure of himself for his own good.

“I’m working, Lance, something you should be doing as well.” She pretended to fix her glasses, if only to have something to do.

The boy waved a dismissive hand at her. “I’m done for the day and I know for a fact that you’re just working on pet projects until Colleen comes to get you.” When he tried to lean down towards her, Matt moved to stand between them. Lance hesitated, before letting the strange behavior go. “Matt can keep your mom busy if she shows up, right?”

It was difficult to say no to Lance. He was jovial and charming, in particular when he wasn’t actually trying to impress anyone.

“Can you, Matt?” Pidge found herself asking. Her brother frowned at her with uncertainty.

“If that’s what you want, Pidge,” he yielded, when she didn’t back down.

“Let’s go before you get me in trouble, McClain.” Pidge gave a long-suffering sigh and moved past the two boys, who were saying their goodbyes.

Lance caught up to her at the door, opening it with an exaggerated bow.

She walked briskly down the hallway, but Lance had the advantage of his height. For every two, quick steps Pidge took, he only had to take one long stride.

“In a rush to get away?” There was laughter in his voice.

“You’ve seen how mom gets,” she replied, peaking around corners as they moved. “If she doesn’t know where I am for more than five minutes, she seems to think I’ll jump into a ship and disappear for another four years.”

“As if I had it any better.” He gestured to a hallway Pidge knew led to the analytics department. “I’m just lucky Veronica is the only one in my family with clearance to come into the Garrison.”

Pidge snorted. “I should sic my mom on you and Hunk, to make things even.”

Though she’d spent so much of their time on Earth making up excuses not to see Lance, the conversation between them flowed naturally. He had an easy-going energy that calmed Pidge’s more tense nature. While they were in the castle-ship, he had been able to soothe the worst of her worries, until Pidge could actually have fun, despite the fears that troubled her mind.

She didn’t know what would have become of her in this war, if Lance hadn’t been there.

“On the subject of your family…” Lance sent her an anxious look. “Is everything really alright with your brother?”

Pidge could tell he was actually worried, which sent a wave of affection and pain through her chest. She struggled to keep her expression blank.

“We were just talking about the war.” She allowed apprehension to seep into her tone. “I know he has a role to perform out there, but I wish he could stay longer.”

Lance twisted his mouth to the side, an unhappy expression he often adopted when trying to look empathetic. “What has Matt said about it?”

“He misses home, but he can’t really ignore what’s going on with the rebel forces.” Pidge rubbed at her temple. “If we are actually able to end the war, then things might be different, but for now…” she trailed off.

Communications from all around the universe told them Voltron wasn’t the only force preparing for battle. There were a lot of moving parts to consider, especially with the still unknown variable of whose influence had been affecting the Altean colony.

“I know what you mean. After this is all over, I think I’ll take a long vacation to just enjoy good, old Earth.”

This surprised Pidge, startling her from her previous line of thought.

“What, is the Tailor going to retire?” She knocked Lance lightly on the arm, trying for a playful mood.

“No,” he objected. He bent at the waist to look her in the eye and winked. “You know I can’t deny the rest of the universe the beauty of my presence.”

Pidge pushed his face away. It was easy to pretend to be annoyed at Lance when he insisted on acting like this. He was most dangerous when he was genuine. “Be real, man.”

“I am!” He laughed as he stood upright. “It’s just… We’ve been off-planet for so long, I kinda want some time to spend with my family, maybe travel around. I’ve only ever been to Cuba and the US, can you believe it? I’ve seen more of space than of my own planet.”

“Yeah, me too.” Pidge frowned. She hadn’t thought about the situation in these terms before. “I’ve been to Italy and England, but that’s it.”

“We should come up with a plan, get the others in on it.” Lance shot her a smile.

They had walked all the way to the MFE taxiway and Pidge focused her attention on the aircraft that Ryan Kinkade maneuvered across from them. She didn’t want to think of Lance’s warmth so close to her, nor of the future he described.

It didn’t matter how long she avoided him, Lance always found a way back into her life and into her heart. This awareness was painful, when Pidge knew he would never look at her as more than a best friend or a younger sister.

She felt something hit her cheek and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds gathered over them and soon there was another drop.

“Oh, it’s raining,” Pidge commented offhandedly. By her side, Lance let out a laugh. He sounded so joyful that she couldn’t stop herself from staring.

Lance had opened his arms and raised his face to the rain. It reminded her of something he had said months ago, about the aspects of Earth he missed while in space. She was once again struck by how attracted she was to Lance: his cheerfulness, his stupid humor, the curve of his Adam’s apple and the way his uniform clung to him in the rain.

“I really missed this!” he exclaimed mid-laugh.

Pidge stood still, admiring his delight even as her hands closed to fists at her sides. “Yeah,” she breathed out, “me too.”

--

After they left the mall, there was still some time for Allura to kill before her date and it was decided that she, Romelle and Pidge would stop to grab something to eat. Rizavi and Ina had previous plans, but they encouraged the girls to have some fun together, leaving unsaid that it might be their last chance to do so.

“I cannot emphasize how thankful I am, Pidge.” Allura reached across the table to grab her hand. She and Romelle had insisted on going into a coffeeshop that had recently reopened; the design was minimalist but cozy, a step-up from anything else they’d seen outside downtown.

“And I’ve said it a hundred times already, princess, I don’t mind.” Pidge let her hand go slack in Allura’s, trying not to snap at her friend. While she appreciated the gratitude, the constant touching was starting to grate on her nerves.

“You do mind,” Allura contested, with the kind of serious but diplomatic tone she used when arguing with Garrison officers. “I could see your hesitance when the vendor first offered the trade. None would have denied your right to keep the item.”

Allura pulled back into herself as she spoke. It was strange to see her uncomfortable, since the princess usually kept either a tranquil or a powerful front in the face of adversity. Free from her touch, Pidge suddenly felt bad for not responding more fervently to Allura’s efforts towards a closer bond. In the castle-ship, she had pretended they were simply too different and, on Earth, too busy.

The truth was much less dignified: Allura had seemed like an unapproachable ideal, made solid only to remind Pidge of all that she could not be. She was prim and beautiful and feminine. Once upon a time, before the complexities of her multiple identities, Katie had aspired to this image, to some degree.

“You’re more important to me than a video game.” Pidge tried to be casual with the way she said this, but the knowing glint that shone in Allura’s eyes told her it was unsuccessful. “I’ll have plenty of time to find it again after the war is over.”

“Perhaps you could teach me these games once we are back.” Allura smiled at her, the picture of earnestness. “I was always curious about the time you and the other paladins dedicated to them.”

“It can be pretty frustrating,” Pidge warned, thinking of the hours she’d wasted with Hunk and Lance just to get past some particularly difficult levels.

“I have noticed that you scream a lot while playing,” the other commented thoughtfully, “but that appears to be part of the bonding experience.”

“You can say that again.” She scoffed.

“Why would I say it again?” Allura tilted her head to the side in confusion and Pidge had to disguise her laughter.

“I’m just agreeing with you.” She sometimes forgot that the Alteans weren’t completely used to Earth culture. In the Castle of Lions, the paladins were the ones to adhere to new patterns. Now, Allura and Coran had to slowly learn their customs, like with this date.

“I suppose we did have something similar in Altea,” Allura mused. “Activities like the maze we had in the Castle were quite popular among the youth.” She leaned over the table to speak in a lower voice. “The element of danger was a point of interest, though I couldn’t quite comprehend why.”

“That’s a lie and you know it!” Pidge pointed accusingly at Allura. “You’re almost as bad as Keith with throwing yourself into dangerous situations.”

“Am not!” It was always funny to rile her up like this. Allura was so calm and collected that getting her to sound immature was a reward in itself. The other shook her head and settled back into her seat, straightening her posture. “Oh, I know what you are doing.”

Pidge continued to grin at her. “What am I doing?”

The princess narrowed her eyes at Pidge, but her mouth struggled with a smile. “You and Lance have such a way of getting me to lose my cool.” She tapped a rhythm on the table. “I must admit it is endearing.”

There it was again, the shock of warmth and sadness that had troubled Pidge the entire day. She loved Allura and was even happy for her, but her heart was conflicted by the news of her new-found interest in Lance.

It just seemed so sudden, Pidge hadn’t had the opportunity to prepare herself. Or maybe those two had grown closer in the Garrison, while she tried her best not to see them, and this was simply the outcome of her bad choices.

Pidge was saved from responding by the arrival of Romelle, her arms full of napkins.

“What a bargain!” She proclaimed as the packages fell from her hands and bounced across the tabletop. “They have agreed to serve us their best delicacies in trade of Pidge’s autographs, a video of her endorsement and an appearance once every phoeb for the next five moons!” The blonde beamed down at them. “On that regard, what is an endorsement?”

Allura and Pidge shared a dismayed look over the piles of napkins.

“Surely they do not expect Pidge to autograph all of these.” Allura gave Romelle an hesitant smile, as if her politeness could change the answer they all knew was coming.

Romelle blinked at them. “The cook assured me it was an amazing deal.”

Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, calling on any patience she could muster. She had nothing against Romelle and the Altean was nice and cheerful most of the time, but her naivete when dealing with human conventions never failed to amaze.

“Oh dear,” Allura fretted. “I should go deal with that.”

“Think you can convince them to give us food without getting me stuck here for the near future?” Pidge teased, to disguise her vexation.

Her friend slid off the booth. “I have reasoned with beings from several galaxies, I cannot fathom a Terran entrepreneur will be more stubborn than certain members of the coalition.” Allura straightened her spine and clasped her hands over her stomach, looking every bit the princess she was. The determination in her expression made Pidge smile.

“I can autograph one pile of napkins and I agree to do a video endorsement, but I’m not changing back into costume.” She turned to look at Romelle, who seemed to be accompanying the conversation with good-humored confusion. There was something almost sly about the look in her eyes. “I’m going into space tomorrow, how was I supposed to come back? Besides, I’m grounded. If mom found out we were finished shopping, she’d already be here to drag me home.”

“I might have been swayed by the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen,” the other admitted in a manner that could pass for sheepish. She eyed the napkins, before picking up a package. “I suppose these are a little excessive.”

Allura sighed. “I will be right back.”

They watched the princess move towards the front of the coffeeshop, where the human owner was talking to another set of customers. Romelle sat down where Allura had previously been.

“Alone at last.” She clapped her hands together and faced Pidge with a seriousness that contrasted with her usual vibrancy.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at Romelle. “I knew you were plotting something.”

The blonde shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you privately and I didn’t think we would get the chance in the Garrison.” She glanced back to where Allura stood waiting for the other customers to leave. “The owner was a darling, but he was a tremendous flirt, so Allura won’t be here any time soon.”

“Do I even have to sign anything?” Pidge rested her chin on her hand.

“He wants a picture with you and the princess and an autograph to hang on the wall, but that’s it.” Romelle winked at her.

“So what do you want?” Pidge tapped a finger against her cheek. She didn’t mean to sound so suspicious, but the girl’s orchestrations made the situation feel a little like a trap.

“To thank you.” The emotion in her voice sounded almost like pity. “For your sacrifice today.”

Pidge groaned. “I already told Allura that the video game wasn’t that much of a loss.”

“I am not talking about the game.” There was a moment of silence, during which Pidge kept very still. “I saw your reaction when we told you about the date. It was only then that I realized: you like pointy chin.”

“What makes you think that?” She raised a brow at Romelle, doing her best to appear natural.

“It makes sense.” Romelle looked up at the sparse decorations that adorned the coffeeshop, her expression pensive. “He’s the one you spend the most time with, after Hunk. I didn’t think you were interested in romance, given your almost complete lack of sentimentality,” and here she made a face at Pidge, “but I suppose we’re all dealing with high emotions right now.”

Pidge didn’t know how to reply. So far, Matt was the only one who had realized her crush on Lance and he’d been thankfully quiet since. The whole day left her feeling off-center, especially with what Romelle now wanted her to confess. Pidge didn’t want to talk about her feelings. She wanted to take her bayard and carve the jealousy and affection and misery right out of her chest.

Romelle took her silence as a sign to go on. “Look, I know we are not close, but you can talk to me.” The expression on her face was so eager that Pidge didn’t immediately protest. “You are… not kind. Not always, at least, but genuine.” Romelle hurried through her words. “Which is more than can be said about others I’ve met since arriving on Earth. And I can see how much you care for Allura, though you hide it beneath your sarcasm and reluctance.”

“Has anyone on Earth given you trouble?” Pidge chose to focus on the subject that was easier to approach. Romelle clearly knew what she was doing, because the blonde gave her a very annoyed look. “The team and I have tried to shield you from the politics of having non-humans around, but it’s not always possible.”

“I grew up worshipping a man who turned out to be harvesting quintessence from the bodies of my family and friends,” Romelle stated coolly. “I can handle the Terrans.”

“Well, this thing has to go both ways.” Pidge leaned back against the booth to gesture forcefully in the other’s direction. “If you want me to talk to you, then you need to talk to me.”

Romelle seemed to consider this, her eyes narrowed. “Fair enough.” She glanced quickly over her shoulder, then leaned forward. “I know we both want what’s best for Allura, but I hope you will be happy, too.”

Her eagerness brought a small smile to Pidge’s lips, even as her chest constricted with the acknowledgement of her feelings.

There were many things in the universe that she valued more than romance: her family, her intellect and ability to continue learning, and now her friends. Pidge would do anything to keep them safe and content, regardless of how she felt about Lance. She would eventually get over him, of this Pidge was sure.

She loved Lance, but she loved herself more.

“I don’t need a boy to be happy, Romelle. I just want this war to be over.”

The blonde nodded at her response. “You have already done so much for me by going against Lotor.” She sighed. “You will always have my loyalty for that.”

Pidge took a moment to study her. Romelle could be energetic and joyful, but she had also suffered more loss than Pidge could really comprehend. She had never believed Matt and her father were dead, even on the early days of the Garrison’s declaration. Hope had moved her forward, but Romelle hadn’t had that privilege.

“Have I ever told you how I became a paladin?” she asked, much to Romelle’s surprise.

“I don’t believe so, no.” The other furrowed her brows in puzzlement. “Are you changing the subject again?”

“I was just thinking that we have more in common than you know.” Pidge lowered her eyes to the tabletop, tracing a series of scratches with the tip of her fingers. “You have met my brother Matt, haven’t you?”

Allura approached as she said this, a tray of food balanced on her hand. “Oh, has Romelle heard of your search for Matt?”

Pidge stood up to help Allura place the coffee without spilling it and grinned at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I was just about to tell her.”

The princess sat down next to Romelle and put her hands to her chest in a show of sympathy. “It is a lovely story, please go on.”

With a laugh, she did.

[maple-writes]

WHG: 13 Heist Part Two

tagging @concealeddarkness13 @onmywaytobe @nightskywriter and @ratracechronicler (let me know if you’d like to change anything!)

(Also: Heads up for swearing in this one)

The party was a lot. People everywhere, music playing loud, more food and drinks than he’d ever seen in one place… It was almost too much to take in. How Rat and Absolon were able to immediately jump into their roles as party-goers, he had no idea, and couldn’t help but be just a little jealous. Soon enough though, he started to loosen up. It had been almost eight years since he’d lived in the capitol, speaking and acting like anyone else on this rooftop, but with a little effort he managed the right mannerisms and intonations. Well, besides the swearing and general prickliness whenever someone said something he didn’t like. Which given the crowd, was quite often.

Those bold enough to ask him to dance anyway though seemed to find it charming. Before long he’d had a handful of invitations to return home for the night and a small collection of phone numbers in his pocket.

He didn’t notice Rat come up to him until she clasped him on the shoulder with a sneaky grin. “I could make some very persistent telemarketers very happy with those.”

Skyler dropped the slips of paper into her hand. “Knock yourself out.”

She pocketed the numbers and disappeared back into the crowd, plucking something shiny from someone’s purse as she went.

The sun had all but set now, lights shining bright on the rooftop and drowning out any hint of stars. Skyler swallowed. It probably wouldn’t be long now. Absolon had spread the word the Indigo placed the tracker, and Jaden looked to be almost done with Skylar’s shock device. Skyler picked up what looked like some kind of overly fancy lemon tart from one of the tables and looked back out at the crowd.

Best bet to land the hovercraft would probably be square in the middle of the dance floor. The string lights didn’t look nearly strong enough to cause much trouble. He took a bite of the tart and squinted up at the darkening sky. Other hovercrafts circled, no doubt monitoring from above. He swallowed. He hadn’t expected so many of them up there, and he didn’t know how fast any one of them might have been, or if any of them carried anything that could down their own hovercraft.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Clovis approaching. Neither looked at each other as he stopped beside him and snagged four chocolate covered strawberries.

“Jaden hacked the dog and he’s almost done with Skylar.” Clovis spoke in a whisper.

Skyler pretended to ignore him as he went for another lemon tart. “I want to land in the middle of the dance floor.”

“I’ll let Margot and Logan know.”

He left, passing by the two of them on his way to continue chatting with a group of older ladies on the dance floor, delivering the strawberries to each of them with a friendly smile. Skyler watched for a moment before his eyes wandered to Indigo. She stood up near Snow’s table, laughing with someone he didn’t recognize. Funny. Part of him didn’t realize that she actually knew how to laugh, but he didn’t linger on the thought long. It as probably about time he started to track down Holt anyway.

A shout caught his attention, and Skyler quickly realized he wouldn’t have to look very hard. Holt stood with his hand clenched in a fist as a well dressed man fell to the floor. In seconds, Clovis and Absolon were by his side, ganging up on him for what Holt told them he said about Skylar.

Skyler clenched his teeth in anger, but as much as he also wanted to join in beating the shit out of that asshole, they had to go. He tapped him on the shoulder and turned towards the door. “Lets go.”

He nodded, and the two of them slipped into the stairwell. It wasn’t as fancy as the elevator, but chances were lower anyone would notice their escape, especially not with the full on brawl breaking out on the roof. Their footsteps echoed as they hurried down the stairs, neither daring to speak a word until they’d rushed to where the hovercraft was waiting for them. Just as promised, the door was unlocked and the place was theirs.

Skyler’s heart raced as he led Holt towards their craft and directed them to help slide the door open. He hoped he didn’t notice how much he trembled as he hopped up into the ship, electing not to waste time lowering the ramp.

He turned back to help haul Holt inside before starting to make his way to the front. “We just have to get this craft up in the air and crash that party.”

Holt worked on shutting the door them. “Are you okay? Are you nervous?”

So he had noticed. Skyler paused, and let out a nervous laugh. “I’m the one everyone’s counting on for our escape. It’s hard not to be nervous.” Considering all the ways he alone could get them all killed if he messed anything up. “I’m sorry.”

He decided now wasn’t the best time to reveal he’d never actually pulled off a maneuver as complicated as this one was all on his own and that he was about to break almost every flight rule Volt had ever taught him to follow.

“It makes sense. It’s fine to be nervous.” Holt sounded so sure, and Skyler  couldn’t help but be comforted at least a little bit. Until a booming voice from the mansion came muffled through the walls of the hovercraft. “We probably should get going, though.”

He nodded and slipped into the cockpit. Yesterday he’d gone and adjusted everything for his height, since it turned out that the average capitol pilot was noticeable taller. He took a deep breath and started flipping switches and adjusting settings to power up the hovercraft, muttering the checklist under his breath as he went. It hummed to life, lights glowing on the control panel and flickering on along the outside of the ship. Skyler turned those ones off. Any other day Volt would have had his head for that, but she didn’t have to know he’d flown a hovercraft with no lights at night.

Skyler double checked the system, took a deep breath, threw on the radio headset and brought the hovercraft up and out. It responded wonderfully.

The path was clear as they shot up to the roof of the mansion. Margot and Logan had cleared a spot just big enough to land. Perfect. Ignoring the shaking in his arms, he pushed the control wheel down, dialed back the power in the engines and set it down only a little harder than he would have liked.

Dead ahead through the windshield, a video of Snow put together to make him out to be a fool played, and the president in question couldn’t do much but glare as Skylar and the rest of them ran towards the open door of the hovercraft.

The mutt bounded towards him at the head table, and Skyler could see Indigo duck her head just in time for it to leap, clearing her back and slamming fangs-first into President Snow. He crumpled and his staff rushing to his side as soon as Absolon called the dog back. Indigo barely hid her laughter, twisting around in her chair to face the hovercraft. She met his eyes through the windshield with an expression that almost looked like pride.

“Clear!”

Someone called out from the back and Skyler wasted no time ramping up the thrust to the engines and sending the hovercraft shooting up, scattering anything not bolted down to the rooftop in it’s wake.

“Unknown Hovercraft, land immediately.”

He turned around and pressed the button to respond. “This is Unknown Hovercraft. Go fuck yourself.”

Volt would not have been happy with that radio call.

“Unknown Hovercraft I repeat: land immediately or you will be shot down.”

So those other crafts were weaponized after all. “This is Unknown Hovercraft. I repeat: go fuck yourself.”

He gripped the controls and pushed, sending the hovercraft into a drop, plummeting between buildings and stopping a just short of the roads below before flying forwards, darting down any street wide enough to accommodate them as he put distance between their hovercraft and the president’s mansion. This low to the ground it wasn’t likely they’d show up on radar, and with all exterior lights off they could hide between the buildings like a bird through the trees.

Skyler swallowed. If he managed not to crash straight into a building anyway. He probably should have told everyone in the back to put on seat belts or hold on until they got out of the city, but they’d probably figured that out by now.

Every muscle in his body tensed as he ducked through unfamiliar streets. Ground warnings blared through the cockpit, the warning light flashing only half as quickly as his heartbeat. If it weren’t for the threat of being found he would have slowed down, but they couldn’t get caught or it was all over. Every time a dark shape moved above them in the corner of his eye he darted into another street, more than once coming painfully close to clipping glass windows, close enough to see people staring at the hovercraft with disbelief. His arms shook and his knuckles went white the further out they went, buildings getting lower and lower further form the city center, forcing the craft nearer and nearer to the ground.

He dropped to just barely a metre between the roads and the bottom of the hovercraft. Houses and streetlights flew by on either side of the cockpit window, almost eye level with citizens rushing out of his way in shock. More warnings and more cautions joined the constant scream of the ground warning. Skyler could only imagine what the rest of them in the back must be thinking.

Hopefully they weren’t looking out the windows.

If he didn’t crash before they got out of the capitol Volt was going to kill him herself if she found out he’d flown so low, weaving in and out of increasingly narrow streets. But they were close now, closer with every second to the edge of the city with only the mountains between them and freedom.

What if that’s where they were waiting for them? Right along that mountain ridge. Skyler dared a quick glance up at the dark slopes. He’d be vulnerable, climbing to go over them, easy to see. Easy to shoot down without worrying about carnage landing on any important part of the city.

He veered down a bigger street until it met the train tracks. He pointed the craft towards the tunnel through the mountains and sped along the straight path towards the mouth. The train left for Robin’s district only yesterday. It wouldn’t be back to the capitol for at least a couple days.

Skyler guided the hovercraft straight into the middle of the tunnel. Everything went dark besides the glow of the instrument panel. He didn’t dare look away from the indicators. The tunnel was long, it was narrow, but it was perfectly straight. If he could keep it level, keep it from even the smallest roll left or right, they’d be out in the longest few seconds of his life.

The hovercraft shot out of the tunnel and he immediately pulled into a sharp climb. As soon as he was high enough, he accelerated as fast is it would go. The engines roared to life with the sudden increase in power before settling into an efficient hum. Trees and terrain turned to a blur as the lights grew weaker and weaker behind them.

Slowly, Skyler leaned back in his seat. Tension eased from his shoulders, and his grip on the control column relaxed. No sign of pursuit. No warnings or beeping from the control panel. No threats through the radio.

Stars started to show in the night sky, no longer smothered by the capitol’s lights. They swam in Skyler’s vision as tears welled up in his eyes, sliding hot down his cheeks. He rubbed his face with the cuff of his sleeve. The capitol, the hunger games, everything was behind them now. It didn’t feel real.

But the cheers in the hovercraft behind him were 100% real. So were the jeers towards the capitol and tired laughter. Finally out of danger, Skyler reached for the PA mic and turned it on.

“Is everyone here?” Hopefully they were because he was reluctant to turn around and go back. Probably should have asked that before they left the roof. Oops.

Absolon responded, shouted through the cabin. “Yes, everyone’s here. Thanks”

Skyler grinned. “Glad everyone got on! I was worried I would leave someone behind, but when I heard the doors close, I took off.” He laughed, probably too close to the audio receiver as he held it to his face. “Good job on a successful heist, everyone!

It sounded like Skylar said something in protest, but it quickly broke down to tears. In the back he could hear the others doing their best to comfort them, sharing stories, until they started to sound a little less upset.

“So,” he leaned into the receiver again. “when can I come back there and slap Skylar?”

They laughed, and Skyler smiled. The all of them must have moved a little closer to the flight deck, and he could hear what they were saying better now.

“…what about all of our families?”

This time he just twisted around in his seat and raised his voice instead of going for the intercom. “I’m going to be heading to everyone’s places to get family and friends.” He glanced back through the windshield. All clear. “I just need to stop and get Volt first, since she’ll help me pilot the hovercraft.” By the time they got into the districts he would be well in need of a relief pilot.

The others kept talking, but Skyler slowly tuned them out as he turned back around. This was the closest he’d really been alone since the arena. He glanced down at the map display. Still a decent ways to go to district 8. He yawned, for the first time realizing just how tired he was after all that. After barely sleeping in the capitol, sleeping even less in the arena, getting through the party and completing the most stressful flight of his life. He wouldn’t blame the others for taking the chance to get some rest before they landed, but he would have to wait until Volt could take over.

Skyler stretched his legs out as far as they would go without bumping the controls. Maybe he’d ask Absolon to sit with him later to keep him awake, since it didn’t look like he’d be able to sleep for at least a couple weeks anyway.

[bitchinlyras]

hi!! jake/amy + 44? btw i'm a huge fan of your writing!

ahhh thank you! now this is an idea i’ve had for a while and this prompt is perfect for it.

44. “If you die, I’m gonna kill you.” set during florida. what if amy hadn’t gotten to jake and jimmy figgis in time??

Amy hears the gunshots as she’s running for him, gun in hand, and it’s as if her blood both boils and freezes as she desperately pushes down the unburdened thoughts of what the gunshots could mean.

She stops at the corner of the building, her gun poised, and peeks round the corner, and her breath gets caught in her throat.

Someone. Someone on the ground.

Jake. Jake lying on the ground. No one else to be seen.

She rushes over to him, falling to her knees. He’s been shot just below his collar bone; the bullet has gone all the way through and blood is pooling out fast, his eyes rolling back in his head.

“Jake,” she sobs, hand over mouth. She quickly takes off her own vest and shirt, and presses her shirt to the bullet wound, to stem the bleeding. She carefully lifts his head up, and wraps the shirt around so it presses against the exit wound too. She lets him down gently, and presses against the wound with her hand.

Her chest heaving as she tries to suppress her sobs, she fumbles with her phone, dialling 911. Not far off she hears a crash and a screech of tyres followed by some shouting.

“911 what’s your emergency?” Comes the operator’s voice.

“Uh, a police officer’s been shot, just below his collar bone. It’s gone all the way through so he’s bleeding out fast.” Amy says so quickly that her words tumble over one another. 

“When did this happen?”

“Less than two minutes ago.” She can feel her heart beating in her chest so fast it feels as if it’ll explode.

“And where are you?”

“Coral Palms, The Fun Zone.” Jake’s blood has soaked her shirt, and she can feel his warm blood on her hands. She squeezes her eyes shut and pretends this isn’t happening. She wills it to stop happening.

“We’re sending an ambulance and dispatch out right now. Do you know if the person who shot him has been disarmed?”

“No, I, I don’t know,” Amy stammers, “can you come quick he’s gonna bleed out.” She can’t keep the panic out of her voice.

“We’ll be with you within three minutes, ma’am, okay? Just keep pressure on the wounds.”

“I am, I am,” Amy tells her, her voice strained.

There’s a pause. “I’m going to hang up now ma’am, is that okay?”

“Uhh, I guess,” she says unsurely. “I mean there’s nothing else you can do.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, just stay calm and keep that pressure on until help arrives.”

“Thanks,” Amy murmurs and the woman hangs up, the dial tone beeping rudely.

“C’mon, Jake, just hold on,” she whispers, pressing both hands to the wound, “just two more minutes.”

“Amy?!” It’s Rosa running towards her. “What happened?” She asks, crouching down next to Amy.

“I don’t, I don’t know, I just… he was just like this.”

“Have you called-”

“Yeah, they’re on their way.”

Suddenly Gina comes running from the parking lot. “We got him! We got Figgis!” She’s shouting, and before Amy knows what she’s doing, before she can process the scream Gina lets out at the sight of Jake, she’s telling Rosa to put pressure on Jake’s wound and she’s running, gun in hand, the wind cool against her bare arms. 

Holt has Figgis handcuffed against a wrecked car, sirens echo in the distance, blue and red lights coupling them.

“Figgis,” Amy spits, her blood hot and every inch of her on fire. Holt jumps out of the way and she shoves Figgis against the car, pressing her gun to his neck. Holt protests, but it’s as of he’s far away, and she shake’s off his attempts to pull her away.

Figgis smiles, a wry laugh escaping his lips. “How’s your boy?” He teases.

She pushes the barrel of the gun further into him. “If he dies,” she whispers, her face inches from Figgis, “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” he snarls.

She turns the safety off, digging extra hard into his neck. “Don’t you fucking test me.”

Next thing she knows arms are grabbing her and voices are yelling. They pull her away from him but not before she has the chance to kick Figgis in the balls.

It takes her a moment to realise she’s surrounded by cop cars and ambulances, and people rushing in all directions. Rosa is leading her somewhere and saying words that Amy’s not processing.

“This is Jake’s ambulance,” Rosa says as they reach one of the far ambulances, “we’ll meet you at the hospital, okay?”

She leaves Amy standing cluelessly in front of the ambulance. “Are you Jake Peralta’s wife?” The paramedic asks her.

“I, uh, I’m his… Yeah, I am,” Amy stutters, grabbing the arm offered out to help pull her up into the back of the ambulance.

The doors are pulled shut and they drive off quickly. Jake is lying on the stretcher, connected up to a heart monitor beeping too slow for comfort. The paramedic in the back is holding pressure to the front of the wound and constantly yelling different pieces if medical jargen that Amy doesn’t understand to the driver.

She looks at Jake and feels it all rushing up inside her. The six months of longing, loving, missing, the sudden possibility that Jake, her Jake, was going to die here and now. She reaches out for his hand and squeezes it, letting herself cry.

“If you die,” she tells him, “I’m gonna kill you.”

—-

At the hospital they rush him to surgery, telling a shocked Amy what they’ll be doing who takes in none of it. She’s left alone in the waiting room, feeling cold in only her bloodied singlet. She shivers and wraps her arms around herself, letting out a howl of pain.

The rest of the Nine-Nine arrive not long after, all of them simultaneously embracing Amy and bombarding her with questions she has no ability to answer.

“What condition did they say he was in?” Asks Charles, who looks as of he’s been crying more than Amy.

“Umm, critical, he lost a lot of blood,” Amy replies, on the brink of bursting into tears again.

“Did they say he’d be okay?” Terry asks her.

“I don’t, uhh, I don’t, I dunno know,” her voice breaks and she has to bite her bottom lip and shut her eyes to stop herself from crying.

She feels a hand on her back, guiding her away from the others. She opens her eyes to see Rosa, and once again she lets her lead her away, because anything is easier than thinking right now.

Rosa takes her to a gift shop where she purchases a large t-shirt that says ‘GET BEARY WELL’ with a picture of a teddy bear with a crutcher and a bandage across its face. Then they head to a (thankfully empty) bathroom.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Rosa says, pulling the singlet over Amy’s head and chucking it in the bin. Amy spots herself in the mirror, and it takes her a moment to process that her reflection is indeed her. She has blood everywhere. Jake’s blood. There’s a bit on her face and in her hair, some on her stomach where it had gone through her singlet, a little on her pants; her hands and forearms are covered in it - some of it isn’t even dry, just clinging on in sticky clumps.

Rosa washes her quickly and practically, using warm water and paper towel. She wipes down Amy’s face first, then her stomach, and lastly her red arms and hands. 

Amy just stands there motionless, letting Rosa work around her, surprised at her gentleness, wondering what sounds Jake’s heart monitor might be making right now.

Rosa finally pulls the beary t-shirt over Amy’s head. “You okay?” She asks her, and Amy has never heard so much kindness and vulnerability in Rosa’s voice.

Amy looks down at her feet. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Rosa,” she looks up and meets Rosa’s dark eyes, “I don’t know what I’m going to do if he dies.” 

“He’s not going to die,” Rosa tries to keep her voice steady and firm, but it wavers at the end, and she wills herself to remain strong for Amy, who is crumbling in front of her.

“You don’t know that,” Amy’s face crumples, and tears run down her freshly cleaned face. “I’ve never seen so much blood,” she whispers; she thinks of her shirt, of the complete dark red his blood had turned it. “I didn’t even kiss him tonight, or tell him I love him. It’s been six months and I haven’t.”

For the first time in her life Amy finds herself being hugged by Rosa, and she feels herself completely breakdown in that moment, ragged sobs echoing the bathroom as she cries into Rosa’s dark hair.

Amy’s not sure how long Rosa holds her like that while she cries. “We better go back out there before we miss any news,” Rosa finally says, letting go of Amy.

Amy nods, and they had back out.

—-

It’s been over two hours of waiting when they finally hear Jake’s name being called.

They all rush over to the doctor. “Are you Jake Peralta’s wife?” The doctor asks her.

“I’m his partner, yeah,” Amy replies, “is he okay?”

“Yes,” the doctor confirms, and a sigh of relief echoes throughout the entire squad - with both Charles and Amy letting out more of a sob of relief.

“The operation was success,” the doctor continues, “he lost a lot of blood, and we had to do a massive transfusion as well as stop some internal bleeding in the chest, but we are confident he will make a full recovery, though it may be a while before he has full use of his left shoulder.”

“Can we go see him?!” Charles asks desperately.

“He is in the ICU, and he’s still asleep, so we only allow immediate family to go in.” The doctor nods at Amy.  

“I’ll let you guys know when he’s awake,” she says, turning to the squad, “thank you… for everything.”

“We’ll be here,” Holt tells her, nodding reassuringly.

The doctor leads her to Jake’s room. 

He’s alone and asleep, an oxygen mask on his face and a heart monitor beeping comfortingly next to his IV.

Amy walks over to him, delicately tracing his face with her fingers; with trembling lips she presses a kiss to his forehead. “I love you,” she murmurs, tears dangling from her eyelashes. She closes her eyes and presses her forehead to his, breathing in time with his heart monitor. 

She moves the chair in the corner right next to his bed, and curls up in it, clutching his hand so tight and entwining their fingers.

She watches his chest rise and fall and listens to the sound of the heart monitor. She’s so tired, but everything that’s happened in the past twenty four hours rushes through her mind, and she’s not sure she’d be able to fall asleep even if she tried.

She almost proves that statement wrong twenty minutes later, as her eyelids begin to feel heavy, and they flutter shut, right at the moment that she feels Jake squeeze her hand weakly.

Her eyes snap open. “Jake?!” She exclaims, sitting up excitedly.

His eyes flutter open. “Ames?” Jake slurs, his voiced muffled even more by the oxygen mask.

Her face breaks into a smile, tears back in her eyes. “Oh, I missed you so much, Jake. I’m so glad you’re okay. I let the others know you’re awake.” She quickly pulls out her phone and texts Rosa.

“Figgis?” He mumbles.

“We got him. Well, Holt and Gina did.” Amy tells him, her voice racing. “It’s all over Jake, you can come home.”

He shuts his eyes again, and squeezes Amy’s hand reassuringly. “Home.” Jake murmurs, smiling weakly underneath his oxygen mask; happiness blossoming inside his chest.

that was a bit longer than intended and i havent checked it for typos or anything so i hope it’s okay!

[everythinginslowmotion]

Season 8 Rewrite- Ep1: Launch Date

AO3 |X|

So obviously with everyone hating how basically the entirety of season 8 ended, I have been requested to do a rewrite. Some things from the season will be changed, some will be left, but everything that people were unhappy with will be kept out (i.e. Allura’s death or anything like that). 

Shout out to my girlfriend @imtheonlybeefcow for beta reading this first chapter. She also has an archive account with great fics and her archive is also imtheonlybeefcow. 

Anyway, here is the first chapter, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

(Also the other chapters will not be updated on a specific schedule due to school and other outside commitments, but all 13 episodes will be rewritten). 

~Allura~

The hallway seemed darker than it had been the past several times she had stood outside of this window. From the outside, she could hear the sounds of the monitors and screens hooked up to the Altean girl that lay unconscious on the bed. It all seemed very surreal, the knowledge that her and Coran weren’t the only Alteans left in the universe was still so shocking. So surreal in fact, that it felt like a dream every time she stood behind the glass that separated her and the red headed Altean that seemed as if she would never wake up.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway behind her as they approached her side. Romelle. It was always Romelle. Coran joined her on occasion as she waited outside the patient's room, but she thinks that as more Alteans started showing up in their lives, it began to remind him of a better time. A time when this war wasn’t looming over their heads, determining their very being. So she didn’t ask him to come often.

Romelle, however, became Allura’s most recurring company. All of the paladins were off with their families or in meetings or just enjoying their time that they have left on Earth in general. Romelle didn’t have that. Romelle had lost just as much as Allura had, and now they both were experiencing that loss all over again as one of their own laid stone cold only just out of reach.

“You know, back on the colony, Luca and I didn’t always get along. But despite that, I had always respected her. She had strength and desire that few had. But it was never malicious in intent. She wanted good and fairness among our people. I don’t know what would ever drive her to turn against an innocent planet, especially after what happened to her own home planet.”

Allura remained quiet for a moment, continuing to stare through the glass. She knew all about the strength and determination that ran through Altean veins. She grew up with it. Found it within herself when she was thrown into the war so suddenly. She saw it every day in Coran as she had in her father before he had passed. And even in Lotor, who had a different sort of stubborn determination driving his very life, she felt it within him. He was the only one though that she had ever seen that determination turn into something that worked against itself. That quickly changed into a harmful path that got put above anything else that he may have believed in.

“Desire for something greater than yourself can be dangerous. If she was so desperate for something to believe in, she may have been susceptible to being easily manipulated.”

She didn’t need to say who. She was so sure that he had disappeared for good now, but he was always capable of much more than she had ever imagined.

She was so sure that this desire for a greater good could only stem from the one person who had control over the former colony.

Lotor.

~Lance~

The table was cool against his hands as they rested on the top. He stared down at them as Hunk had gone off to help his family and Sal make a few special request food items before they took off tomorrow. He heard them speaking in the background but their words came and went through his mind like white noise. He couldn’t pay attention to them. He couldn’t pay attention to much of anything really lately. He looked up at Hunk and his parents as they gave him two boxes. Hunk lifted the lid of one releasing the smell of freshly baked banana cake into the room, taking Lance back to the days when he would stay the night at Hunk’s house and his mom would make it for them to eat after dinner. They would always sneak down to the kitchen in the early hours of the morning and get themselves more slices to take back up to Hunk’s room as they talked about anything that their minds could conjure up.  

Hunks parents left the room with a simple “I love you” before Hunk turned and made his way back towards the table where Lance had been sitting the entire time.

“Big day tomorrow, isn’t it. It seems like almost forever ago when we found the Blue lion and piled in just to blasted out into space. Man, we had no idea what we were getting into! And now look at us, defenders of the universe.”

Lance didn’t look up at him, and he certainly didn’t meet his enthusiasm with his simple reply of “Yeah”.

“We are veterans now. We’ve seen it all, man. Going back into battle for the last time. Or hopefully the last time, I guess we could all fail miserably and die horrible deaths out in space. But here we go, back out into the unknown. Guess that makes us real heroes or something, doesn’t it?”

“Hm, yep.”

“Heroes enough that they made a show about us! Already! Can you believe it? Have you seen it yet? It’s not like the Voltron Show that we did to promote the coalition either. It’s like with real characters based on us. None of us really fit though, but it’s still cool. Coran is all serious and Allura isn’t really like Allura. Pidge can do cool flips and stuff but kind of sounds like a gremlin. They mixed up me and Keith pretty bad too! I’m all tough and mean and Keith is friendly! Can you believe it? Keith beling happy all of the time?” Lance had seen it. Everyone had seen it. They had to do some interviews with the writers about themselves. Hunk was right, they had gotten it all wrong. Lance just didn’t bother to stop his friends rambling though. “It’s weird though. I don’t know where they got it from, but I think they are even hinting at a romance between him and Allura.”

Lance’s head snapped up, drawing his attention from his fidgeting hands that had now been slammed down on the table to his friends shocked expression. He hadn’t meant to react like that- so abruptly. But it was reflex. Somehow this conversation went from being about absolutely nothing to everything that he had been thinking about since they were on that dumb space game show.

“What?! Allura and Keith . Nonononono, that’s not how it’s supposed to be!”

“Woah, a love triangle forming. I like where you are taking that.”

“Wh- what? A long triangle? What do you mean a love triangle… that would imply…”

“Well it would be perfect for that story. Obviously Keith has no real interest in Allura and you clearly do so it would work with you guys’ whole dynamic of going against each other and all.”

Lance looked down. So that was what he meant. Not about him…

“Oh wait dude, you said you were going to ask Allura on a date! Oh no, she didn’t say no did she buddy? Oh, oh man. I’m so sorry. That’s rough, I shouldn’t have said any…”

“She didn’t say no, Hunk. I just… I haven't gotten around to asking her yet, I guess. I’ve just had a lot on my mind about some stuff and she has been really busy with the new Altean girl that I don’t know if I should anymore. Maybe it just isn’t the right time.” He sat back down in his seat completely and folded his hands again, staring down at his fingers as they rubbed nervously together.

“No, Lance. It’s the only time. We leave tomorrow. It’s now or never dude, literally,” his brows furrowed as he put on his serious face. It was a face that Lance didn’t see often from his friend, mainly from when he was giving orders in the kitchen or protecting the ones he loved. Lance knew that Hunk figured out something was wrong. It isn’t like Lance was really trying to hide it. But he didn’t think Hunk knew the real reason why… Lancedidn’t even know completely why. “You are asking her tonight, and thats final,” he completed as he hit his palm gently on the table.

Lance didn’t say anything in protest.

~Shiro~

Never in a million years would he have thought he would be standing at the head of a table in the Galaxy Garrison giving orders to a room full of people. Not just any people, but commanders, officers, people of major importance. And he was their head. Their leader. Even when he wasn’t technically a part of team Voltron anymore he still formed the head. The person in charge. The leader and the one who knows exactly what to do and say in the exact moment that it is needed.

He didn’t particularly enjoy the position but he believed in duty and honor and even though in an ideal world he would be off exploring the unknown corners of the galaxy, this was what he was meant to do. And he was going to do it.

He took a breath in as the last people made their way into the large room and got settled.

“Everyone, welcome to our final Earth briefing. We’ve made a lot of progress over the past few months, but our work is not close to being done. Tomorrow we launch to continue the liberation efforts. There are several planets still under galra control and in order for this war to finally come to an end, we need to free those planets and their people.” He looked over at Sam, the man he once looked up to as his hero, but who was now looking up to him as if he had all the answers. “Commander Holt, what is the latest from your team?”

“We know there is no Galra activity in galaxies near the milky way. Sendak appeared to only have targeted Earth. However, we do have a new development. The Altean girl had several devices on her, one of them appearing to be a communication device. Earlier today it activated itself in what seemed to be a distress signal. It may just be a trap, but if not then then some of the pilots that we thought we lost when Earth was first invaded may still be alive.”

Shiro’s breath caught in his throat. Pilots still alive. But that could mean that he… Adam… could be out there. Somewhere.

He pulled himself back into the situation, turning his attention away from Sam to Keith.

Every time Shiro looked in the mirror, he doesn’t recognize the man that he sees. He remembers seeing a young man with dark black hair and a face filled with hope for the future. Now his age is showing at only 25, he is missing an arm, has white hair, and a scar that runs the width of his face as a constant reminder of what he went through and what all he has lost. But his transformation over the past couple of years will never shock him more than Keith’s.

Keith. The kid who stole his car. The pilot prodigy and genius. Turned from a delinquent, to his student, to his brother, to a leader. Before, when he would look at Keith, he would still see the 12 year old kid with messy hair and a scowl always on his face. Ready to fight and ready for adventure. Now he sees the scar that runs across his cheek. Sees how long his hair has gotten. Hears the change in pitch and even tone in his voice when he talks. It used to be so in the moment, sparse with quick decisions. Now he is all seriousness and strength. He isn’t the kid that Shiro took under his wing so many years ago. He is Keith, paladin of the Black lion.

“How are Earth’s defenses?” He said turning his focus to Keith as he brought his attention back to the meeting.

“All of the Garrison facilities around the globe have checked in. Everything is in place and they are ready to keep Earth safe.”

“Good. And the Atlas?” He said turning to Veronica who was standing behind him.

“All repairs have been made, and all tests have been passed. The IGF-Atlas is good to go.”

“And updates on the Altean pilot?” Allura’s face turned down when he mentioned it.

“Maybe if we had a couple of more days, she would wake and we can find out who sent her.”

Keith turned to face her next to him, “There is no telling how long it will take her to wake, or even if she will tell us anything when she does wake up. There are too many risks and we can’t wait any longer. Especially if those pilots really are out there somewhere. We need to get back out there.”

“Keith is right Allura. We will make sure to keep constant communication with Earth in case any new developments happen, but tomorrow is the day we have to leave. I’m sorry, I know you were hoping to get to speak to her.” He turned his head away trying to ignore the disappointment that washed over Allura’s face. He knew she didn’t like the decision, but she knew it had to be done. There was no other choice. “I have one more item to discuss. Tonight is the last night we have on Earth. We may not be home for years, so take this as an order. Take time for yourself and be with the ones you love. You have all earned it.”

He himself didn’t even know what that meant for him. He didn’t have any family anymore and the closest thing to family he has now is the paladins and the Holts. Both who will be on the mission with him. Maybe he would go out and do stuff with N-7. Maybe he would just stay home and watch some old movie that he still had in his abandoned apartment. He just needed something. Some distraction to take away from the fact that he might be out there.

That Adam may still be alive.

~Lance~

Be with the ones you love.

His family.

Well he was going to do that anyway. His mom is cooking his favorite meal tonight for him before they take off tomorrow.

He looked over the crowded room of people. All of them had their own ways that they were going to celebrate tonight. Or not really celebrate, but spend the night. All so hopefully in their victory and return.

An elbow nudged its way into his arm. He looked over at Hunk who motioned his head towards the front of the table. He knew what Hunk was thinking.

Be with the ones you love.

Hunk was going to make him ask her out. There was no doubt about it. No time for Lance to back out, for him to stop and think about if this was really what he wanted.

It had seemed like what he wanted for so long. He still remembers their first day in the castle ship when the pod opened and the most beautiful girl he had ever seen fell out and literally into his open arms.

Lance turned his head towards where she was sitting. Her position was very similar to the one he had been in earlier. Slouched over, staring down at her hands. She was upset over the possibility of missing one of her own people wake up when they had come so close. Waited so long.

She was still just as beautiful as she was that first day he met her. Her long white hair was up into its usual bun. Her altean wear replaced with a uniform similar to the very one he had worn as a student here so many years ago. The orange hue didn’t drown out her complexion as it had done with most of the students who had passed through these halls though. She still radiated power and beauty. But somewhere lost out in space, Lance’s childish crush started to be replaced with something else. Her power and beauty stopped making him lose his breath every time he looked at her, but instead he found himself admiring it all in a different way.

Be with the ones you love.

Just beyond Allura, in the chair next to her, sat Keith. Back straight. Face drawn tight in determination. He wasn’t going to let this mission fail. They were going to come back one way or another. Lance knew that. He trusted Keith. The very same Keith who, in the beginning, was all intuition and act-first-think-later, headstrong and who never stopped or slowed down for anything. Lance couldn’t pinpoint when, but as it had with switched with Allura, his own jealousy for Keith changed into something… Respect. Friendship. Trust. Stability. All though those things were true, in Lance’s head there was a pull that told him those emotions weren’t quite fitting .

He watched as Keith rose from his chair and stood next to Shiro. The meeting was now officially dismissed causing everyone else who had been gathered around the table to quietly get up and begin to shuffle out to their own activities.

Lance had barely made it one step out of the room before he felt a big hand on his back pushing him forward. He took one last look into the room, taking his attention towards the very front where Keith and Shiro were in deep conversation with one another. Turning his head to the right where he saw Allura and Romelle walking down the hall, he inhaled deeply before taking a step forward.

“Uh, hey Allura,” he said continuing to walk forward to catch up with them slightly. The two of them stopped and turned around to face him. Suddenly the room had become very warm as he felt his face heat up.

“What is it Lance?”

He turned his head to the floor. Back out. “Oh nothing much. Just wanted to check in. You’ve been spending a lot of time in the med bay and I just wanted to make sure you both were doing alright. So, uh, how are… things?”

“Lance I... I really need to be getting back.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Well… I don’t want to keep you waiting then… so talk to you later I guess.” He began to turn around to walk away as they had also done in front of him. The difference is he was faced with a towering and disappointed looking Hunk who took him by the shoulders, turned him around in one motion and pushed him forward again.

So close.

“Actually, Allura! I was wondering if you, maybe wanted to have dinner. Tonight. Dinner tonight with me? And my family. My, uh, my mom is cooking so I just thought you might join us.”

She looked at the floor. She doesn't want to. “Thank you for the offer Lance, it sounds wonderful. But I… I can’t.”

Romelle put a hand on her shoulder. “I know you are worried about Luca, but everyone else is worried about you. Go spend your last night experiencing Earth and I can take care of watching her. Get away and clear you head before you take off tomorrow.”

“Yeah, everything she just said. Totally. Great idea, Romelle,” Hunk said as he walked up and put one of his hands on each of their shoulders. Allura’s face still looked as unsure as Lance felt.

“Perhaps dinner would be nice… I’d love to Lance.”

Lance brought his head up completely, straightening out his posture. “Woah, really? Uh, awesome. Alright, tonight. Us. Yes.” He started to back up once again. Allura gave him a small smile that made his heart jump before she turned around and started walking in the opposite direction once again with Romelle.

“Yes! Dude! I knew you could do it. Good job, a date… with Allura. It’s only been years that you’ve been wanting this. How do you feel, man?”

He smiled up at his friend, “Great. Thank you for making me do this.” But when he looked back towards the silhouettes disappearing down the hallway towards the med bay, the jump in his heart had gone away.

~Pidge~

She got why her mom was angry with her. But did she think it was fair? No. She was 15 now. And without her, Earth would be destroyed, overrun by Galra, and her mom would have never seen her husband or son ever again. And what does she get for bringing them back and helping save the universe on multiple occasions? Grounded.

Grounded as if she was 7 again and her and Matt had gotten into a stupid fight where she had called him a bad name and she was the one who got in trouble for that, where he didn’t get in trouble for starting the fight in the first place.

But there was no point in fighting her mom. It was always a lost battle. Pidge may be smart but her parents are by far smarter, but her mom is where her stubbornness comes from. So instead she was spending her last night on Earth collecting data on plants species and making sure they had enough food growing to last the entire team out in space.

“Pidge, do you have a moment?” Allura’s voice sounded nervous, something Pidge hadn’t heard more than a handful of times before.

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Anything to take a break from staring at plants.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Allura folded her hands together and looked off to the side. “I uh, I might have a…”

“She has a date tonight with the pointy chinned one!” Romelle butted in excitedly. “She needs your assistance in choosing proper courting attire for the occasion.”

Pidge froze in front of the plants she was looking at, shocked. “Wait, pointy chin as in Lance? You have a date? With Lance?” She turned towards Allura who still wasn’t looking at her. “Ew. Weird,” Pidge said awkwardly as she turned back away from Allura and Romelle.

She had a feeling that she wasn’t the only one who found this weird based on Allura’s actions.

“I was hoping you would be able to accompany me to find appropriate attire for Earth’s custom.”

Pidge heard her mom laugh from behind her, “Katie and clothes? They don’t exactly go hand and hand girls.”

She gave her mom a glare before looking back up at Allura’s face. “The mall I think has finally reopened and I was going to check it out, but I’m grounded meaning I am stuck here until we take off tomorrow.”

Both of the girls looked confused. “Grounded? I wasn’t aware that humans ever floated,” Romelle said.

“Not grounded like stuck on the ground. It’s her punishment for running off into deep space for years and leaving her mother worried and alone. It means she isn’t allowed to leave my supervision for quite some time.”

Pidge turned quickly to stare down her mother. She knew it was no use it fighting, they’d had this conversation multiple occasions before this. But the urge just rose up in her until the words just broke free. “Well sorry! I thought that saving my brother, father and the world would make up for the fact that I didn’t exactly get permission!”

Her mother just stared her down. Allura and Romelle had moved behind Pidge now, obviously scared of the showdown between the two. It wasn’t anything serious. Just a pointless and loud conversation between her and her mother.

“Not on your life would it get you a pass. And you already know that.”

Pidge did know that. She didn’t like being grounded. She hated it. Hated what it meant. Hated what it made her feel like. But while she did think it was unjust because of what all she had accomplished by going into space, she can’t even imagine how her mom had felt on Earth, alone, having lost every member of her family except for their dog.

“Please, Colleen. We could really use the help. I promise we won’t let her out of our sight,” Allura added in. Her mom just stared down at them and then smiled. Pidge knew that look.

“Fine. I’ll let her go with you. But only because Katie hates shopping. But after you get back it is right back in here to work.”

Oh. Shopping. She had been so caught up in thinking of how to get out of being grounded and then caught up by Allura and Lance going out on an actual date. It was still gross. But regardless, she was now stuck shopping which her mom was right, it might just be more of a punishment than it is a break from being grounded.

“Thank you, Colleen. We will have her back as soon as we can!” Allura grabbed her arm and started to drag her out of the room. The last thing she saw before turning the corner was her mom’s smug smile as she typed something into her tablet.

Their next destinations were to the only other girls that Allura could really think of that were around their age. Rizavi and Ina.

They had found them along with James and Kinkade in a room. Rizavi and James were in the middle of an arm wrestling battle when they walked in, Ina and Kinkade just sat at the other end of the table watching as their friends struggled against the others strength. James looked up, taking his focus off of his opponent for a moment when they walked in. Of course, Rizavi took this opportunity to force his arm down on the table.

“Ha! I told you I was stronger!”

James got up from his chair and stood in position. “Princess, how can we help you?” Rizavi turned around, not having realized the three of them had even walked in. She also stood at attention.

“Please, you guys can call me Allura. You don’t need to treat me any different than you treat the others.” They relaxed and sat back down in their seats. “But I do need help from you girls if you aren’t too occupied at the moment,” she said as she looked back and forth between James and Rizavi.

Pidge hadn’t gotten to know any of the MFE pilots well. She mainly stuck with her family and the paladins- well lately she has been just staying by her moms side- and they usually stayed around each other and the occasional other person they knew from the garrison. Outside of training, every one of them had been so caught up in their individual lives here on earth and preparing for the war that it never even crossed her mind to get to know the others better. But regardless, she was grateful that Allura hadn’t come to her as the sole person to get advice from for an outfit choice. For a date. Pidge had never even been on a date before.

“Sure, anything Allura! I’ve already kicked Griffin’s butt in armwrestling so my schedule’s clear for the day. What did you have in mind?”

“I need assistance in choosing proper attire for a date.”

“OOOOH, shopping! But a date? With who? Keith? That show that got made about you guys I think is starting to hint at something between the two of you.”

Ew. The only thing that could be worse than Allura going on a date with Lance would be Allura going on a date with Keith. That show had gotten everything so wrong about them. She wasn’t even sure if Keith actually interested in girls.

She looked up at Allura as her face twisted unintentionally into a slightly disgusted look. “No, um, with Lance. We are eating dinner with his family tonight.”

Pidge looked back over to where the others were sitting across the room. Rizavi was already out of her seat again gathering up her things and encouraging Ina to follow along. She seemed less excited about the idea of spending the afternoon shopping on their last day on Earth. Kinkade appeared uninterested in the entire topic of conversation. But James looked somewhat… relieved? Hmm, that could be interesting.

Rizavi made her way with Ina being dragged closely behind her by the wrist over to where they were standing in the doorway.

“So ladies, where to first?”

---

The location of the mall is exactly where it was when she was a little girl. Her dad would give her and Matt each a certain amount of money and while their parents shopped, the two of them would run off into store after store trying to find something that they could get for themselves.

Other than the location and the general appearance of the outside, that was the only similar thing about the mall she knew from her childhood. Inside, a lot of the stores had been replaced with individuals booths selling various items from all over space. Human retail workers had been replaced by shopkeepers and traders of every alien race that had joined the alliance and made their way to Earth.

“Okay girls, operation Date Dress is a go! We will scour every store if we have to, but we will not come out of this mission unsuccessful, team! Oh, I just love shopping,” Rizavi said before grabbing a bored looking Ina by the wrist and pulling her off into a direction of a clothing shop. Romelle did the same to Allura, following closely behind them. Pidge just crossed her arms and walked as the two groups of girls walked towards a store front.

They went on like this for a while. Walk into clothing store, try on several unsuccessful outfits, walk out towards the next one. Each time Rizavi and Romelle excitedly moving from store to store as if they couldn’t get enough of this.

Pidge, however, has had enough of it.

Shopping was all waiting. And while Ina looked like she was having some fun with going from store to store with her friends, Allura only looked excited while choosing clothes and trying them on. As soon as Lance was mentioned, her smile turned into something else. Something nervous. Something that seemed like she didn’t think this date was going to turn out like the rest of them seemed to. But that look didn’t last for long before she smiled again and politely turned down the option and they moved onto the next outfit or location.

~Allura~

Shopping had been rather enjoyable. It made her feel free, something that she hadn’t gotten to experience since before she was put into the pod thousands of years ago. Why Pidge didn’t find this enjoyable, she didn’t quite understand, but at the same time she knew Pidge was never one to enjoy what typical teenage Earth girls seemed to.

They had gone through store after store, trying on piles of clothes for the date, but none of them seemed right. Everytime she remembered what the occasion was, her vision turned against her and tainted the dress.While she was having fun,she could admit that this was absolutely exhausting and was coming close to giving up. Part of her felt like she should give up.

“No no no no. We can’t give up! We still have like 3 more stores that we can go to! We have to find you a dress for tonight. It’s your first date! Your first impression on his family! You look good all of the time Allura, but tonight you have to make that boy speechless.”

“It really will be fine Nadia if we can’t find anything. I really appreciate everything you all are doing for me but we have been at this for a while. Maybe it is just time to go back.”

“Nope, not happening Princess. I’ll tell you what, we try one more store. Each of us pick out one entire outfit for you and you pick the one that you like the absolute best. That’s the one we get. Sound good?”

Allura just nodded in reply. Really, she would rather just go. She didn’t feel like she even needed to dress up as much as she originally thought in the first place. It was simply just dinner with his family. But Nadia, Romelle and Ina all seemed to be enjoying themselves and Pidge pretend to be enjoying it simply for the sake of not going back and being “grounded” again.

They made their way across the mall to what Nadia claimed would be their last store.

“Oh, do I have a good feeling about this place,” she looked back and forth between all of them standing around her before crouching down slightly, her face suddenly turning extremely serious. “Allura, leave this to us. Ladies, divide and conquer.”

The store was the largest one they had been to so far, which is probably why Nadia had picked it as their last in the first place. Each of them went their own separate ways within the store, off to find their own version of her outfit for tonight.

I guess I should also start looking.

She walked around the store for quite sometime by herself. On occasion she would come across one of the other girls looking through a rack of clothing items. She would run her hands through a rack every so often, looking mindlessly for options that may be suitable for the date.

By the time Pidge had come over to find her to ask if she was ready to try anything on, she had yet to pick up more than a single item of actual clothing. She looked down in her hand at the only item she had picked up, a pair of earrings. They were golden but their shape was similar to that of a juniberry flower. She had decided once she saw them that they would be leaving this store with her regardless of whether they found an actual out fit or not.

“I… I haven’t had much luck in finding clothing,” she said looking back up at Pidge.

“Allura, is everything alright?” Pidge asked. She seemed concerned and Allura understood why. Nothing about her today really seemed to hint that she was okay. But truthfully, other than being worried about Luca, she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.

“Yes, Pidge. It’s just nerves, and with everything going on with Luca, I just feel like I’m not…” She didn’t really know where to finish that sentence. She wasn’t doing what? Waiting outside a glass window for one of her people to wake up? Not spending her time doing something productive to help out before they launch tomorrow?

Shiro had told them to be with the ones they love tonight and as of this moment she felt that was what she was doing. But it still felt wrong.

“Well Romelle, Rizavi and Ina are waiting by the dressing room, so unless you want to keep looking a little longer than the rest of us are ready for you to try on these outfits.” She nodded along and followed Pidge to the room by where the others were waiting. Nadia and Romelle were excitedly bouncing up and down as they had at every other store prior to this when they got to where she would actually try the outfits on.

“Okay, Princess. This is it. Here try on mine first,” Nadia said quickly as she shoved the large pile of clothing into her arms. She walked into the little room and pulled the curtain shut behind her before putting the pile on the bench.

She pulled up the clothing item in front of her. It was soft and light blue and as she pulled it up it just continued to pull up into what appeared to be an outfit similar to what she wore normally. Just looser rather than tight fitting, but it was certainly not a dress.

Carefully, she placed her legs through their each individual hole and pulled it up the rest of the way over her shoulders. It was a comfortable piece of clothing, probably one of the better ones that they had tried on today. She examined her reflexion in the mirror.

No.

She didn’t want this blue. She felt out of place in it. Other than the color, she loved almost everything else about this piece. But her mind just kept telling her no, no, no. Wrong.

She opened the curtain to show the others anyway, they all stared for a moment before shaking their heads back and forth in a silent agreement with her own thoughts.

Ina handed her the outfit she had chosen next. It was already more her color, light pink and white, but even as she held it up just to look at it she could tell it was too stiff. Ina had brought together 3 things for her to try on, and they were very obviously a set that she had found. Pants that went halfway up her midsection but not all the way down to her ankles, a jacket that wrapped all the way around her, covering the rest of her stomach from where the pants stopped, and shoes that had the same colors and pattern as the jacket.

She was right. It was too stiff. The entire ensemble made her feel much older, or as if she was going to a formal meeting with members of the coalition.

When she opened the curtain, everyone's reaction was much more immediate than with the last. This one very clearly wasn’t the right choice, at least not for tonight.

When the last set of clothes was in her hand and she had closed the curtain, Allura had let out a sigh.

Hopefully this one is good enough.

And it was.

The outfit that Pidge had picked out was a simple white dress with white shoes. The material was soft to the touch and the dress hung loosely halfway down her legs. It wasn’t too serious. It wasn’t too formal. It wasn’t too casual.

And from what she had learned in her brief lesson about earthly dating attire, this seemed to be somewhere in the middle of what it needed to be.

So this is it.

She didn’t even go out to show the rest of the girls what it looked like on her.

This is actually happening now.

She took off the dress and folded it quickly before opening up the curtain and stepping back out.

“We did it!” Nadia said, pumping her fist up in the air.

As they checked out and made their way out of the mall and back to the Garrison, Allura couldn’t help but notice the growing feeling inside of her that continued to nag at her thoughts.

Wrong.

~Lance~

Everything was just wrong.

His hands were sweating. His throat felt dry but also as if something was stuck in it- or worse, trying to come up. His clothes felt as if they were clinging to him, making him feel as if he needed to take them off right this very moment or else they were bound to suffocate him any minute.

He had already been pacing up and down the hallway for what had probably been 10 minutes at this point. He just didn’t get why he was so nervous. He had always enjoyed talking to Coran before. It brought an odd sense of calm over him in his worst moments when they were in space. But now the very thought of it made him wish that he could be lost in space right now instead of approaching Coran’s bedroom door.

It’s not like he had never asked for permission to date a girl before. He was old fashioned in that way. Despite his carefree and flirty attitude, he had only ever been out with a handful of girls in his lifetime, and each time he made sure to go to who the girl seemed closest to and get their permission before ever even asking.

Maybe that’s why he felt so wrong right now. That had to be it. He already asked Allura and she said yes before he had even thought to go to Coran first. Yeah. That was the reason. Totally the only reason.

“Come on, McClain. You can do this. It’s just Coran. It’s just a date. Everything will be fine. Just be cool.”

He exhaled completely, letting it all go before lifting his hand and knocking on the metal door that separated himself and the moment he had been dreading since he asked Allura out. The door opened, exposing Coran in his orange Garrison uniform putting away his old clothes.

“Lance! To what do I owe this visit?”

“Hey, Coran,” he said as he took a step in the room. It’s now or never. “I uh, I have a question to ask you about Allura.”

“Well then son, you came to the right place. Would you like to have a seat?”

“No, no. This shouldn’t take long. I just uh, I wanted to let you know that I asked Allura on a date and I…”

“You what?1 You aren’t Altean royalty! Nor are you either of those things separately! What makes you qualified enough to make you think that you can go on a date with Allura!? And you didn’t even ask permission from her primary guardian, which is me!”

This is exactly what he was afraid of. Partly.

“Woah woah, Coran. That’s kind of what I came here to do. I know it was wrong of me to not get your input first, but Hunk kind of made me do it as a spur of the moment kind of thing, and I didn’t have time.”

“Well I demand you ask permission, and if you pass the test then you may take her out tonight. So go back outside and start again.”

“But Allura already…” he started, but Coran was already pushing him out the door. It closed behind him. He slouched over and sighed.

Chickening out of this whole date probably would have just been a better idea. Why did he let Hunk talk him into this?

He took in a couple of breaths to calm himself down before a panic even started to come over him, straightened his back, and knocked on the door again.

As it had before, the door opened right up for him, but instead of revealing a calm and friendly Coran in a standard Garrison room as it had before, the room had been rearranged and he was sitting in a chair underneath a picture of him and Alfor that was now hanging on the wall.

How did he even manage to do that? And where did he get that painting from? Lance figured it was probably one of the few items he rescued from the castle, but regardless, the things that Coran could do in such short amounts of time always amazed Lance.

“Ah, Lance, come in. What brings you to my quarters this evening?”

Well this is definitely a lot harder than he ever could’ve imagined it being.

Lance made his way over to stand in front of Coran’s chair. “I came to ask your permission to take Allura out on a date tonight,” he said. He could hear the nervousness in his voice now.

Coran just looked at Lance up and down as if he was inspecting him for any possible imperfections, which Lance was sure he could find plenty.

“Do you have references of people who can vouch for your character?”

“Uh… no. But I can tell you exactly what we are doing and how long I plan to have her out for…”

“And that would be?”

“Well we are just eating dinner with my family because my mom is cooking for our last night here, and then I was going to take her to the park that I used to walk through when I went to the Garrison. And then I was going to take her back here. The latest she would be out is 10 tops.”

“Hmmm. Well, I can see that you really thought this through. And I guess I do know your character rather well being that you are one of the paladins,” he continued to scan his eyes over Lance. “I guess you have my permission. But, you will have to fix your outfit immediately. And seeing as you earthlings don’t have any Altean courting attire, we will just have to make do.”

Lance didn’t know what was scarier. The fact that Coran has never been more intimidating in his life than in this moment right now or that he had no idea what Coran was about to put him in.

---

When he said he had no idea, he really had no idea. Coran had immediately dragged him out of his room and all throughout the Garrison hallways to find things to replace “Altean courting attire”. Honestly, Lance thought that Coran was just trying to make him look as ridiculous as possible in order to embarrass and scare him out of even going out in public- much less on a date with Allura.

Luckily, just as Coran had found a bucket in a supply closet to place on Lance’s head, they heard footsteps running towards them. Both of them turned to face the Garrison employee that Lance had never seen before coming straight at them. The worker stopped briefly, taking a few short breaths in before pointing at Coran.

“Commander Holt has requested your presence in the med bay immediately sir.”

Lance turned back to look at Coran who’s face had drained of color. The Altean. Coran swallowed before looking at Lance and saying “That’ll do,” before going off with the worker in the direction of the med bay.

Lance just looked down at his new attire and sighed. How did he get into this mess?

He walked down the hallway until he found a clock. He still had quite a bit of time until he had to go back to his house but nothing to do.

Hunk was off with his own family and Shay, Pidge was grounded, he thinks Shiro went out for the night with Matt and his robot girlfriend.

He supposed he could go out to his house early, but his mom would scold him for not spending more of his free time with his friends. He didn’t even really get that because he saw them all of the time but she always told him that fighting a war with them didn’t count as spending time with them. She wouldn’t want him back home until the time that he said he would be home.

Be with the ones you love.

Keith. He would go find Keith. And he is pretty sure he knows exactly where he will be able to find him.

~Keith~

Keith had never realized the small things he missed from Earth while they were out in space. When they all got into the Blue Lion and launched themselves into the mission of a lifetime, he didn’t even think he was capable of missing anything. He had lost his mom before he could even speak, lost his dad at 12 along with his house. Lost Shiro at 16 and his spot as top student in his class at the Garrison only a few months later. He had lost everything in his life, and there is only so much loss a person can take before they stop missing things all together. Or at least, that is, what they convince themselves.

Truthfully, he missed Shiro so much that he was willing to rig up bombs and follow strange signals across the desert to find him. He hadn’t realized how much he missed having a mom he didn’t even know existed until he found her again. After being in the castle for a while, he realized how much he missed belonging to something, being special to people who actually cared about him. But even after realizing all of that, he still never got homesick.

Maybe it was because he never felt quite right at home on Earth. As if he didn’t quite belong. Maybe even because he just felt as if he didn’t have anything left here to miss.

But oh was he wrong.

For instance, the sun setting behind the New Mexico desert mountains was one of those things that he really missed but didn’t realize until he got it back. And now everything was about to be taken away from him again for who knows how long.

The light from the sun was so bright on the horizon, illuminating everything it could reach in its golden glow. But as the light began to fade into the sky, the colors changed from bright yellow to orange to a lilac field with few clouds in sight.

Part of him felt guilty for hiding out on top of Black with Kosmo alone for his last night on Earth. But all of his friends were out doing things with other people they cared about and Kolivan and his mom told him they would meet up with him later. So he decided that until then, this is how he would spend his night and not much could make it better than this.

The sunset was so mesmerizing that he just sat there, lost in his own thoughts. Thinking about how things could have been so different.

There was a clanging and grunting coming from behind him, but he decided that whoever it was was not as important as what he was already looking at.

“Man, you can a real hard guy to find when you wanna be.”

And of course, Keith once again found himself wrong.

“Hey Lance,” he said turning his head as the boy finished climbing to the top of Black’s head. He almost turned his attention back to the horizon, but his eyes did a double take at the sight that had presented itself in front of him. “Woah! W… what are you wearing?”

Lance just sighed, taking a seat next to him as he removed the metal bucket from him head and sat it down beside him. “Coran is making me wear this for my date with Allura.”

Oh.

“A… a date. With Allura? Uh, wow. Well done, Lance,” he said looking down to where their hands were. Just barely apart.

Keep it together.

“ Thanks. But I think it might be our last.”

OH.

“What? Why do you say that? You’ve been wanting this literally since then moment you’ve met her.”

“I don't know, man. I just… I’ve been having this weird feeling about it all day. Well actually for a while. And I don’t even know if she actually likes me. Now I have to worry about all of these Altean customs that I can’t even begin to keep up with. It just doesn't feel right, if that makes sense.”

“Listen, Lance, if she is going out with you, it’s because she likes you,” he looked down and smiled to himself. “The annoying, stupid, earth version of you.” He heard Lance chuckle but neither of them looked up or at each other.

“Thanks, Keith. Still though, I don't know what it is, but there is this feeling that I can’t seem to shake when I start to think about the date.” He paused for a moment, before looking back up at Keith. “Have you… have you ever been in love before.”

He thinks he is in love with her.

Keith just laughed quietly and looked back out at the sunset. “Yeah, surprisingly enough, I think I have.”

“What did it feel like?”

“I’m not sure,” he said as he turned his head back towards Lance. “I’m still trying to figure that out.”

They sat for a moment then, just looking out at the almost set sun.

“So, you watching the sunset?”

“Yeah, I figured it might be awhile before we get to see it again.”

“Man, I’m really going to miss this place. It was hard being gone the first time, but now that we’ve been back again, I think it’ll be so much harder to leave. Especially not really knowing, ya know, what’s going to happen out there…”

“That’s why we have to go out there and win this war. Together. With the Lance that is the Paladin of the Red Lion,” he looked down again, thinking of all that has changed between the two of them. “The Lance that’s always got my back,” he closed his eyes just for a moment before getting the courage to get one last look at him before he has to go chase someone else. “And the Lance who knows exactly who he is and what he has to offer.”

Lance’s expression was stilled, stuck in a moment between shocked and awe. Keith just smiled slightly at him. “You’ll be fine tonight, Lance. I know it.”

Lance’s face softened as the corners of his mouth turned up to smile back at him before turning his attention back to the horizon.

Keith just looked back down to where their hands were only inches apart from the one another. He pulled his back, wrapping it around his knee before following Lance's gaze to watch the final moments as the sun hid behind the shadow of the mountains.

He didn’t feel like he was the type to be wrong often but tonight he had been wrong on quite a few occasions. His biggest mistake was, however, believing even for a moment that surely the sunset was the most beautiful thing he would be seeing that night.

~Sam~

The hallway just seemed to get longer and longer with every single step towards the door.

‘Sir. The Altean has woken up.’

Of course it would be now, with everyone so busy preparing for take off tomorrow and Allura gone for the rest of the night. Even Romelle, who actually knew the Altean- Luca - was gone.

‘Someone go get Coran immediately.’

He put his hand to the palm reader on the wall and the door opened up. The are was just like any other hospital room he had ever been in. The only difference was that in this one was a girl who could absolutely guarantee their success in the war. He heard the door open behind him and footsteps come up beside him.

“She’s awake,” Coran whispered next to him. The two of them just stared in awe at the girl who was being helped up by the workers in the room. More footsteps shuffled up behind them.

“How’s she doing?” Shiro asked quietly.

“She just woke up not long ago. I wanted a familiar face in here when she first woke up, but both of the girls are gone.”

They all watched as Luca sat up, pushing the hands of the men helping her off. Her hair covered her face partly as she looked down. She glanced up at them sadly.

“You. You’re altean,” she said. Her voice was soft and hoarse from being asleep for so long. Her eyes were barely looking at them, but the glare was sharp as a knife.

“It’s alright. We can help you,” Coran said as he held his arms out.

“I don’t want any help from the great destroyers,” she said as she looked down. They waited in the room a little longer to see if she was going to do anything else but anytime someone came towards her or tried to speak she responded only with a glare and flinch and a tightening of her arms around her folded up knees. She wouldn’t be speaking anymore anytime soon.

~Romelle~

It hadn’t been more than thirty ticks that she had been back before she was being rushed off towards the med bay. She had meant to help Allura get ready but people came to get her just before they entered Allura’s quarters.

“What is it Romelle? Is there a problem?”

“No, uh, everything is all good. There… there uh just has been an emergency in the kitchen and Hunk is off and can’t fix it. He had put the trust of the kitchen in my hands before he left the building. Anyway, very important. Gotta go, Princess. Have fun with pointy chin!”

She turned quickly and followed the uniformed Garrison employees down the hallway towards the med bay. Luca was awake. They could finally have their answers. Maybe she could even go home.

She saw how she was curled up in herself on her medical bed through the window before she had even entered the room. Luca was scared. Understandably.

She just smiled and stood at the door, hoping that a familiar face would encourage her to be less frightened by the situation, but didn’t want to invade her space while she was so vulnerable.

“It’s so good to see you all right and awake, Luca.”

Luca’s head shot up, the red hair that had fallen in front of her face while looking down moved itself revealing her pale skin and frightened face. A face that quickly turned sour.

“We want to help you. Where is the colony?”

“Traitor. I would never tell you anything!”

“Traitor? Luca, what are you…”

“She told us what you had done. How you left us for the ones who killed our great leader. How dare you abandon us for them, Romelle, and then come in here to tell me you want to help me.”

Romelle was taken aback with shock. “What? No, you don’t understand! It’s not like that. Luca you…” She tried to take a step towards her.

“Don’t come near me, you traitor! You are with the great destroyers now! She told us all about you and their lies. She is going to fix everything and you won’t even get a glimpse of the new Altea that we will live in. Honerva…” As the name fell from her lips, her body fell back on the bed. Limp. Lifeless- or so it appeared. Romelle didn’t know what to do.

The great destroyers? Honerva… but she had been dead long ago. What did it all mean?

She didn’t move from her spot near the door as people rushed in around her to try and get the monitors connected to Luca’s unresponsive body under control.

“No,” she shook her head. “I’m not… I’m not a traitor. No. What does she mean?” She felt hands grab ahold of her arms on either side. They started to pull her away from the view she had of Luca and out of the room. She struggled in their grip, but they had ahold of her too well.

“I’m not a traitor!” She yelled as she let her body fall to the floor. She looked to the ground as a tear ran down her cheek. She saw one of the bodies of whoever dragged her out kneel down next to her as they placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“You aren’t a traitor, Romelle. She will come around eventually. We just need to give her some time,” Commander Holt said softly. She looked up towards the window where she saw Coran looking sadly through at the men working endlessly to try and figure out how to revive the one shot they have at guaranteeing they win this war.

~Lance~

When he had gotten up from Black to start to make his way to his house, Keith had made him ditch his ridiculous outfit.

-

“You won’t need all of that stuff to impress her.”

“You think? Coran seemed pretty sure…”

“Yeah man, I’m sure. Just be yourself and everything will go fine,” Keith had stood up to follow him down the lion. “It’ll be great Lance. Go have fun.”

-

Now he was stuck standing in front of the small bathroom mirror attempting to fix his hair into a better fashion than what it had been after taking off that helmet.

The doorbell rang below, reminding him of even more of the reality of this situation. He gave himself one last look in the mirror before nodding to himself. As he stepped out into the hallway to make his way down the stairs he straightened out his shirt one last time. He was halfway down the stairs before he actually heard the door open.

“Oh, come in! Allura you look wonderful, my dear.”

Lance looked up, pausing mid step on the stairs. His mom was right. Allura looked wonderful. No, more than that. She was stunning.

Allura was the type of person who no matter what they did, they always looked good. Everything about her radiated beauty, but the only time Lance remembers being this shocked by how she looked was when she fell out of the pod and right into his arms.

“Lance, doesn't she look wonderful?” His mom said opening the door wider to let Allura the rest of the way into the house. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words got caught in the back of his throat.

He made his way down the rest of the stairs, “Wow Allura, you look… amazing,” he said finally as his feet hit the floor.

“Thank you. You look good yourself.”

He laughed to himself, “Well, it’s no Altean vestments, but…”

“You? In a Forlongian brill hat? I can’t even imagine it.” Lance had no idea what that was, but he was pretty sure that the bucket Coran had put on him earlier didn’t compare.

He put his hand on his mom's back, “Allura, you know my mom and Veronica already.” He used his other hand out to gesture to the rest of his family, “That’s my dad, Rachel, my brother Marco, my other brother Luis and his wife Lisa. And those are their kids Silvio and Nadia.”

“Hello, it’s nice to finally meet the rest of you. Lance talked about you all quite a bit when we were up in space,” Allura said as she walked next to Lance more into the living room where the rest of his family was gathered.

“Well we have all certainly heard about you,” Marco said as he walked up to Lance and threw his arm around his shoulder. “Haven’t we little bro?”

Truthfully, no. They haven’t heard much about Allura. Not from him at least. Not anymore than they had heard about the rest of the paladins. The only time Allura had been brought up outside of stories about what they had all done in space was when Veronica teased him about his crush on her. But he knew Marco was only saying this to embarrass him, and it was working. He felt his face start to heat up rather quickly as he heard Allura’s soft laugh towards his brothers comment.

“Who’s hungry? I sure am! Is dinner all ready mom?” He said quickly, trying to change the topic as smoothly as possible. It didn’t really work, Marco just patted him on the back and chuckled as he took a step back.

They all made their way into the dining room where the table was already set and the food was laid out. Lance pulled out the chair Rachel usually was in next to his mom for Allura and then sat down next to her in his usual spot.

The food was passed around and it wasn’t long after they started eating when the embarrassing stories about him started to find their way into the conversation. Lance, having lost his appetite long ago, just sat there pushing around his food listening in only occasionally.

“Oh, there was that time when we were kids and Veronica mixed dirt with water and told Lance it was chocolate milk,” Marco started with his new story.

“Oh really?” Allura said, laughing. “That’s rather interesting. Did he drink it?” Lance looked up from his plate and crossed his arms. This story somehow always managed to make its way into conversations about him when he was a kid. Especially when it was someone he wanted to impress.

“Did he drink it? He practically chugged the whole thing down before he realized what it was!” Veronica said, causing everyone at the table to laugh along with her. “Yeah, I still can’t believe he fell for it!”

“What did he do?”

“Well he told on me of course. Then pop-pop took him out for ice cream while I got put in time out for the day.”

“Yeah, Lance has always been the baby. It took him bringing you over to promote him from the kids table,” Luis said gesturing to the small fold out square table where his kids were. Again, just something said to embarrass him. Rachel only had to sit at the kids table tonight because Allura needed a place at the regular table, but he hasn’t sat at the kids table since he was, well, a kid.

“Okay everyone, stop trying to scare the poor girl off,” his mom cut in. Thank god. “Lance never has brought a girl home before, so you must really mean something to him,” she added. Of course it got worse. Lance just put his face in his hands and continued as the torture kept coming.

“That’s strange. He always gave off the impression that he was rather popular with women.”

“Well, he gets that from his father. But it’s all just talk. If you can get past that show though, you’ll find a good boy with a big heart.”

“Thanks mom,” he said with his face still buried in his hands.

“Hey Lance, speaking of dates,” Veronica said. Lance didn’t think that that starter could go anywhere good. “Maybe you could put in a good word for me with that long-haired friend of yours.”

Lance’s head shot back up as his hands hit the table harder than he meant for them to. He looked at Veronica who was just smiling smugly. “What?! Keith? No, no, no, no! No way. Not in a million deca-pheobes should you go out with Keith! All that guy likes are knives and space wolves. So why would you ever be interested in him. Plus he’s got that stupid mullet. So no. Just… no. No .” He looked up at everyone. They were all staring at him as if he had gone a little crazy.

“Calm down, Lance. I’m just kidding,” Veronica said breaking the silence. He felt his face start to heat up again. Why did I do that. “Anyway, a toast. To family,” Veronica said standing up out of her seat. “Though we may be apart after tomorrow, we will always remain close at heart. Family is forever.”

They all raised their glasses in the air. “To family,” they said in partial unison. Lance looked over at Allura whos smile had turned down. But regardless she lifted her glass and repeated “to family” softly before taking a sip of her water. Lance looked back down at his plate as he felt the odd feeling that had been eating at him begin to crawl back up his throat.

-

He doesn’t know why he decided that walking through the park was his first idea for the rest of their date. He had only ever been here during the day back in his Garrison years with Hunk or with his family when they would come to visit him on certain weekends. So he had really never seen it at night, and it didn’t even occur to him the damage that Sendak’s invasion would’ve done on the whole place.

The trees were bare and dead. Lifeless forms destroyed under the vicious attack. They loomed over the two of them as they walked along the path, the branches appearing as cracks in the clear night sky above them.

Together, they walked side by side, Lance’s hands in his pockets, Allura’s clasped together in front of her. They walked in a silence that Lance couldn’t decide was comfortable or awkward. Or some strange mix between the two as if this situation was both right and wrong at the same time. Like they were supposed to be here, but not like this. Crickets chirped in the background only making silence between Allura and himself that much louder in his mind.

I shouldn’t have brought her here. She probably thinks this date is boring- just walking through a dead park in silence.

They hadn’t talked a lot since they left his house. Just a small conversation about how his family was lovely and how his mom’s food was amazing. He briefly mentioned how his mothers food was great but it didn’t compare to his grandma’s cooking when he was younger and would visit her in Cuba. Allura then mentioned her mom cooking food for them back on Altea when she was younger, but her story faded into silence fast and that was the last of the conversation that they had.

They had approached the tree that marked the center of the park and stopped, sitting on a bench facing it nearby.

Allura looked up to the sky. “The stars are really lovely tonight.”

Lance’s gaze followed her’s upward, “Yeah, when I was a kid you could see them like this all the time where I lived. As I got older though, the world got more and more polluted and they got harder to see at night, even outside of the larger cities. The promise of adventure and the hope that one day I’d be able to see the stars again is what drove me to the Garrison.”

“And you did.”

“Yeah, thanks to you, I did.” He looked back out among the park, “This place, it used to be so beautiful. This tree, it was the oldest tree in the state. That’s why the park was built here, around this tree. Kind of like to make a home for it where it could be properly seen in all of its greatness.”

“It’s all my fault that the Galra did this to your home,” she said as she looked sadly at the dead tree in front of them.

“No. It’s not your fault. Without you, Earth wouldn’t even exist anymore.”

She stood up from the bench and began to walk towards the tree. Lance just watched from where he was as she stopped in front of it and gently placed her hand on the trunk. She closed her eyes and leaned forward as if she was giving herself to the tree.

A white light started to glow from underneath her hand that slowly moved up and wrapped itself around the entirety of the tree.

Lance stood up, amazed at what he was seeing. The entire tree eventually started to glow a bright blue that then traveled along the ground, making its way in all directions outward causing the grass and other trees surrounding them to light up in the same way.

As she started to take her hand down, the light began to fade, revealing a newly revived park filled with bright green grass, blooming flowers, and trees covered in leaves once again.

She put her head down, still keeping her body turned away from Lance. “When we were out there fighting against the Galra, I somehow… I felt like we were a family. And while each of us was alone, we were alone together.”

Lance put his hands back into his pockets and took a few steps towards her. The feeling from before began rising to his throat again, though now he was thinking he was starting to get what it meant.

“But now, being here, back on Earth, I see that everyone already has a family,” she turned around to face him again. “A place to return to once the war is over. Everyone except me and for the first time, I feel completely uncertain about what my future holds.”

“What are you talking about Allura, we are a family now.” They were family.

“It’s silly. I used to think that the entire team relied on me. The I was the one who needed to be strong for everyone else, but now I see that it was I that needed you.”

“Allura, meeting you was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. We- all of us- were all meant to find each other. To be together.” He looked around at the park and then back at her. She was still beautiful. She always had been. But now, he realized that her beauty was just a background thought to a much bigger picture. She was just like any of them. “You are not alone, Allura. And no matter what happens, you will never be alone. Not with us around, your family.”

“Thank you, Lance. I really appreciate that. And all of this, tonight has been great. I just…”

He took a few more steps towards her and held up his hand. He took a breath in and closed his eyes before letting out what has been eating him up inside for a long time.

“I think I already know where you were about to go with that statement. Allura, I know this is our first date, but you are right, we are family. And while I know we are meant to be together, we aren’t meant to be together like this,” he said gesturing between the two of them. She just looked at him and smiled, looking the calmest she has seen all night.

“Yes, I… I know what you mean. Together but not together.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. I can imagine it was a little irritating being hit on by a guy you didn’t even like all of the time.”

“No, Lance, I’m sorry. I feel like recently, ever since… Lotor, ” She paused for a moment to take a breath in, “I haven’t exactly been turning away your attention. That was wrong of me.”

“Everything is okay now. But no matter what,” he reached forward and grabbed her hand, “just remember that we are a family. And that I- or any one of us- would gladly follow you across the universe without hesitation.” She smiled at him and squeezed his hand, “And more importantly, that we will never leave you alone.”

He let go of her hand and looked around the park smiling.

One would think that after years of trying to get a girl to like you that a failed first date with her would be soul crushing. But she was only what he wanted, not what he needed, and her was surprisingly okay with that. Besides, he had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before what he needed would fall right into his arms.

---The Next Day---

~Shiro~

Coran, Allura, and Romelle were already in the meeting room waiting on him when he arrived.

Ever since the girl woke up, he was dreading this moment. What do you even begin to say to the people who have lost everything? The people who thought they were the last of their kind left, only to find out they aren’t just to be called a traitor of their own kind.

He was never meant to be a leader, but now he was one, so it didn’t matter that he didn’t know what to say to them because someone had to say something. And he was the only person who could.

“I still think I should try and talk to her. Maybe she…”

“No, Allura. You didn’t see what she was like. She won’t talk to anyone. Especially not an Altean, she thinks we are all traitors,” Romelle almost whispered that last part. He could tell she was still shaken up from it.

“But we need to find out more of what Honerva has to do with this. If Honerva sent that beast, then the mission has to change.”

Adam.

“No. We have a plan and we are sticking to it. If Honerva is really behind this, then I’m sure we will find her along the way. Also our first mission is to try and find those missing pilots and if she is behind it all then it’ll probably be sooner than we even expect.”

Allura’s face turned down into a scowl. He knew she was upset about not being able to see Luca, but it was for the best. But regardless, she didn’t say anything more on the subject. Instead she stood up and began to walk towards the door.

“We better get going,” she said before she left the room, not even turning to look back at any of them. “It’s almost time for the send off.”

---

The crowd in front of them was huge. Probably the biggest he had seen in a long time. Maybe ever. It was comprised of everyone who was not about to go off into space for an unknown amount of time. Families. Friends. Aliens. Garrison faculty who would be staying on the ground. And anyone in between. All waiting to see if the people standing on the podium in front of them could truly save them all.

And here he was, just a man who had stumbled upon several misfortunate events in a row that led him to standing up here, in front of them all as they looked up to him for hope. For a reason to believe that everything would be okay. He stood tall with his head held high as Sam spoke next to him.

“This will be perhaps the most defining moment in our history. The day humankind reaches out from our world to help the immense universe of which we inhabit such a small part.”

They had rehearsed their speeches quite a bit in the days leading up. Sam first. Keith next.

“In the blink of an eye, the world as we knew it became much larger than we’d ever thought possible. And now we rise up to join the fight alongside so many other different from us, but of like minds, to stand strong against tyranny.”

Allura goes next. All the leaders speak. It’s what the people need to hear.

“For all deserve to decide their own future, as we have decided to spend our’s ensuring the freedom of the universe.”

“Each and every one of you have given something to this fight. We have all lost something, many themselves have been lost, but not in vein. Because through their sacrifice, so many more will live on,” he knew his next line would be his hardest. Simply because it was the only one that nobody could actually be sure of. “I make you this promise now. We will return triumphant!”

The crowd began to cheer as the speech came to a close. Shiro let himself breathe out and relax.

They stayed on the stage for just a little longer before the atlas doors were opened and the ramp to go inside was let out. He watched from the stage as Hunk and Lance said goodbye to their families. As Pidge and Matt gathered around their mom and dad to have a quick word before making their way towards the loading area. He watched as Keith’s mom wrapped him into a hug before they followed the rest of the Blade up the ramp and into the ship.

He looked around as everyone but him said their goodbyes and loaded onto the Atlas. He didn’t have anything here for him. Nothing but those people out in the crowd that were waiting for him to take off. Everyone he needed was aboard that ship now.

Everyone but one.

He turned away from the crowd and made his own way over to the loading dock of the Atlas, his ship, and walked on board. All of the paladins were already standing in the main bridge waiting for him. He took a step up to his place at the captain’s station and looked out the window as they rose up and out of Earth’s atmosphere. He looked down at his own family standing in front of him and all the worries he had during the speech were gone. He was certain now.

All of them would return triumphant.

AO3 |x|

[wftc141]

Voltron: Global Military Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Unit-Chapter 1: Voltron

01/23/2018

1139 Hours

Karachi, Pakistan

In the city of Karachi while on a beautiful morning, there is a Pakistani man with a shaggy beard wearing a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a pakol on his head walking through the crowded streets. He nervously looked around to make sure that he's not being followed. He then came up to a green car and gets into the passenger seat where there is a woman is sitting in the driver seat. She is wearing a Shalwar Kameez with hijab only revealing her face showing she has brown skin and green eyes. When the man entered the car, he was feeling afraid of the woman.

"ٹھیک ہے (Well?)" The woman asked in Urdu.

The man didn't answered as he was still feeling nervous with concerns of the woman.

"خالد؟ (Khalid?)" The woman called out the man to get him to talk.

"دیکھو ... مجھے اپنے خاندان کو دور کرنا پڑا. (Look...I had to move my family away.)" Said the man named Khalid. "چونکہ میں آپ کے بارے میں معلومات جمع کر رہا تھا، بہت سے لوگ میرے بارے میں بہت شبہ گزار رہے تھے. (A lot of people were getting very suspicious about me since I was gathering information for you.)"

"آپ اس کے بارے میں فکر کرنے کی ضرورت نہیں ہے. (You don't need to worry about that right now.)" Said the woman. "آپ سب کو یہ کرنے کی ضرورت ہے کہ مجھے بتاؤ جو لوگ اغوا کرتے ہیں اور ان لوگوں کو عمل کرتے ہیں جو میں جانتا ہوں. (All you need to do is tell me who are the ones kidnapping and executing people that I know.)"

"وہ مجھے مار ڈالیں گے اور میرے خاندان کے بعد جائیں گے. (They will kill me and will go after my family.)"

"اگر آپ جو کچھ کرتے ہیں، اور ہم آپ اور آپ کے خاندان کی حفاظت کر سکتے ہیں. (And we can protect you and your family if you do what I say.)"

There was then a moment of silence as Khalid started to think about his current predicament. After a minute of conversation, Khalid gets out of the car and walks off. The woman then pulls out a phone and starts to text someone. Suddenly a middle eastern man, who is in his thirties, wearing also in an Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has short hair, green eyes and a scruffy beard witnessed khalid walking off. He then received a text from his phone and starts to walk to the car where the woman is. Suddenly a van speeds out from nowhere on to the sidewalk where the man was and four men rush out of the van carrying AK rifles and wearing chest rigs and ski mask to hide their faces and started chasing the man. The man was too slow to react as he was shot in the back of his leg falling like a limp rag doll. The shot echoed around the city's buildings and the onlookers stopped to look at the scene unfolding. The woman in the car was shocked that the man that she knows was shot. The armed men grabbed a hold of the man and started dragging him into the van. He tried to fight back but couldn't and the armed men manage to get him in the van and drove off with him. The woman just couldn't believe that this happened to the man and there was nothing that she couldn't do. Nothing but look at the man's blood left on the dirty city streets from his leg.

"Shit." The woman swore in english and even hit the wheel with her hand.

The woman hit the gas pedal and peeled out of the aria off before more masked men could come after her as well. A few moments passed and the bystanders went back to the daily activities as quickly it all happened as if nothing important happened.

01/24/2018

1400 Hours

London, England

Classified Military Intelligence Headquarters

In a control room of the headquarters building, military intelligence operatives watch the horrific footage on a big screen T.V. monitor in real time. In the footage of armed Middle Eastern men held another middle eastern man who is all bloody and bruised up. The armed me are wearing ski masks to hide their face and are carrying AK rifles. One of the armed men pulls out a pistol and aims it at the hostage and says:

"الله سب سے بڑا ہے. (Allah is the greatest.)"

The man then executed the hostage with a bullet to the head splattering blood everywhere and the hostage dies instantly. The footage then ended but the operatives in the control room couldn't believe that this happened and disgusted.

"Savages" One of the support staff operatives blurted out.

In the room is Commanding Officer Major Allura Brooks, a thirty year old African British woman with dark green eyes, brown skin and long, curly black hair which is tucked into a neat bun and is wearing a military multicam uniform along with the rest of the operatives in the Military Intelligence Headquarters. Next to her is Lieutenant Coran Smythe, a Caucasian British half irish man with black eyes, short orange hair, and a bushy orange mustache and wearing a multicam uniform.

"This is the fifth MI6 operative killed in Pakistan and this time it's our contact." Said Allura. "Amir Tabbal was operating in Pakistan for two years and was even ex-special forces of the British SBS."

"This has to be ISI doing." Said Coran. "There's no bloody way in hell that they managed to find out who those operatives are...they even killed one of my friends' operatives from MI6. His operative was very deep inside Pakistan giving information about ISI and a few terrorist cells operating there."

"Possibly but-"

Suddenly the tv screen change and shows images information of a middle eastern woman with long black hair, green eyes and have brown skin and wearing a suit

"Sergeant Trigel Khan." Allura explained. "One of ours. Ex-Royal Marine Commando and has valuable information about who's really responsible for this and needs to be extracted out of the country before these hostiles get to her."

"We're going to need a covert extraction team to get her out...a team who can get in and get out without drawing attention to the Pakistani government and even ISI."

"I've recruited new lions who can do the job and I'll be leading them."

Coran then turns to Allura with a questionable look on his face curious about her decision.

"You sure about these Yanks?" Coran asked.

"I'm positive." Said Allura. "I'll be joining them at the airfield and brief them on the Hercules. They should already be there."

1630 Hours

Suffolk, England

Royal Air Force Mildenhall

In the airfield next to a C130 is a team in civilian attire checking their gear and waiting for someone to meet with them. They are most likely the new recruits for Allura's Military Intelligence Unit. All of them seem like their still in their twenties. One is Hunk Momoa, a young Samoan American man who is taller than the rest of the recruits and muscular, has medium brown skin, black medium haircut rather short, his bangs reaching just under his eyes, while the rest of his hair barely reaches his neck and has a beard and brown eyes and is wearing a orange long sleeve shirt with a green sleeveless jacket over it, green pants and sneakers. The other is Lance Santo, a young Cuban American man who is built as a athlete, has with light brown skin, short brown hair which has two strands of hair that sprout from the top of his head, thin eyebrows, and blue eyes and even has a scar on his right eyebrow and is wearing a blue button down shirt, white cargo pants and tactical shoes, next is Katie Holt, a young Italian American woman who is a moderate height in her twenties, slightly muscular build, has short light brown hair with two strands of hair that sprout from the top of her head, one slightly longer than the other, brown eyes but also wears glasses, and fair skin and is wearing a blue jean jacket over her green shirt and blue jeans pants and sneakers. The last recruit is Keith Yeun, a young Korean American man who is built as a martial artist athlete, with pale skin, black hair with uneven-cut bangs that tend to sweep to the left of his face, length averaging just under his eyes, but framing his face slightly longer and curled at his cheekbones and the rest of his hair reaches the base of his neck, fairly thick eyebrows, and blue-gray eyes and is wearing a red long sleeve shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

"So...how is it that four Americans like us are working for the Brits?" Questioned Lance.

"It's a Global unit." Pidge replied. "Meaning it's not just British or Americans but everybody in the task force."

"Still feel strange about it."

"You'll get used to it."

"Well...can we introduce ourselves or are we going to be quiet all the time. I'll start first. I'm Lance Santos, former Marine Sniper."

Keith gives out a defeated sigh as he decided to go first.

"Keith Yeun...from the 75th Rangers."

"I'm Hunk Momoa...Rangers and EOD." Hunk introduced himself.

"Momoa? What kind of name is that?" Lance asked.

"It's Hawaiian. I'm half Samoan."

"What about you cutie? I'm guessing Air Force?" Lance asked Pidge who is busy checking her gear.

"Just call me Pidge and I'm Army...CST." Pidge answered.

"What that?"

"Cultural Support Team." Keith answered. "Most likely Rangers for women. Her job is to work with the female locals and children. Me and her served together since three years back."

"Huh...that's cool."

"Yeah but most of the women I was helping tried to kill me and my guys since they were working for Al-qaeda or Taliban." Said Pidge

"Yep woman strap explosives to their children, send then in to the crowded streets and press the detonator killing their children and everyone else."

"How can you reason with someone like that?" Hunk Momoa asked.

"With a 5.56 round to the head." Pidge answered.

Lance was then impressed of what military job that Pidge had and how she can take care of herself. Later a HMMWV drives up to the team and coming out from it is Allura where Keith, Pidge, Hunk and Lance give their full attention to her.

"Good...all of you here and most likely introduced yourselves. My name is Major Allura Brooks and I'm you're commanding officer of Voltron. Our mission today is to retrieve our own operative from Pakistan before she'll get killed by whoever hunting her and other undercover operatives stationed there. Five MI6 operatives were murdered in Pakistan and our operative have information who are responsible for these horrific attacks and we need to extract her."

"And we have to get out quickly before Pakistan government knows we're there." Keith guessed.

"Correct...even from ISI who might be behind these attacks. We get in, get Sergeant Khan and get out. This is a deniable op. Meaning no backup as no one will know that we're there rescuing our own. If the OP goes sideways, we will regroup at the United States Embassy and contact headquarters to figure out what to do."

Allura turns to the C-130 and walks into the plane with her gear.

"Welcome to Voltron, lions."

2258 hours

Karachi, Pakistan

It is now nightfall in the city in Pakistan and about to be midnight. In a apartment building, there is Sergeant Trigel Khan who is gathering her things. She even place some files into her suitcase. She then hears a knock on the which made her pull out her Glock and aims it at the door. Khan may think that it's the same people who kidnapped and executed the MI6 agent from the other day after she met her contact.

"أزرق. أزرق. (Blue. Blue)" Said a female voice on the other side of the door in arabic.

When Khan heard the codewords that's in Arabic, she holstered her pistol and opens the door. On the other side are Major Brooks and her team except for Hunk who is waiting in a car. Allura and her team are wearing robes with hoodies over their heads except for Allura and Pidge who are wearing hijabs over their heads and under their robes they're wearing casual civilian clothing but wearing tactical belts with pouches that holds ammo for their weapons and holsters for their pistols. Also underneath their shirts are their plate carriers. They are with modified AKMs fitted with eotech sights and suppressors and their sidearms are Glock pistols. Khan invited the team in. Allura removed her hijab as she wants to face Khan who was glad to see her.

"Glad to see you here, ma'am." Said Sergeant Khan.

"Glad to see that you're alive, Sergeant." Allura replied. "What can you tell us?"

"Ma'am...my contact told me that ISI are getting "

"Are these guys that good?" Keith asked.

"Yes but...someone has been giving information to ISI for them to snatch the agents and giving them to the people they hired them to kidnap."

Soon the sound of cars pulling up outside drew the attention of the Operators in the building. Even Hunk knew the the cars pulling up and had to ready his rifle.

"Is that more of you guys?" Khan asked as Keith went to the window quickly, looking outside to see who had pulled up outside.

"Shit… we're made we have to go now!" Keith said as he went to the door.

Opening the door, Keith saw two men running up the stairs with black shemagh over their heads and carrying AK rifles. Curse he raised up hid AK and open fired on the two men and killed them as a few bullets pierced into their bodies. After seeing two of their comrades dead, the rest of the attackers sprinted to the building. Keith, Lance and Pidge takes position as they were about to get into a gunfight.

"Time to go now!" Keith yelled to which Trigel nodded as she grabbed her gear.

"Alright. Let's get the fuck out of here." Trigel said drawing Keith's attention after grabbing her things.

As Keith turned his head to look at Trigel, an attacker threw a grenade up to their floor. As the grenade landed and rolled across the floor, the operators watched before some started rushing back into the room. Allura grabbed Khan and dragged her to the ground and into the wall, protecting her with her body, hoping her plate carrier would catch most of the fragmentation.

Outside, Hunk was taking fire as he was getting out from his SUV and had his head down to avoid the bullets flying above him. Coming outside are Lance and Pidge comes out of the building and helps Hunk get into the building providing covering fire.

"MOMOA MOVE!" Yelled Pidge.

"MOVING!" Yelled Hunk.

Hunk gets up and starts climbing up the stairs to get inside the room. Next was Pidge after pat Lance on the should and then rushes back to the apartment building while Lance provides covering fire. Lance was the last person outside taking on the armed men. Keith was next to the door and was providing covering fire to get his comrade in the building.

"SANTOS MOVE!" Yelled Keith.

"MOVING!" Lance yelled back.

Lance rushes back into the apartment building while Keith provides covering fire for him. Lance finally made it back into the building as he joins his teammates to hold off the armed men outside using his impressive marksmanship as he shot down and killed any combatant that is in his sights. More armed attackers keeps coming and soon the team are going to be surrounded and outnumbered.

"We need a way out of here!" Yelled Lance.

"No shit!" Pigde tells back as she ducks down and inserts a fresh magazine into her AK.

Hunk quickly thought of an idea as he quickly starts to dig into his backpack that he was able to pull out from his car and pulled out two Claymores and place them on the wall from the back of the room.

"Yo Hunk whatcha doing?!" Lance asked as he reloads his AK.

"Making an exit!" Hunk answered as he sets the explosives.

After arming the two claymores, Hunk stood back and pulled out a the two triggers that detonates the two explosives. When the team sees what Hunk about to do they starts to make room and cover their head so that they won't get caught in the blast as did the same to Major Brooks and Sergeant Khan.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Hunk yelled.

Hunk triggered the charge and it exploded. After it explode, it created a giant hole in the wall which leads outside of the back of the apartment.

"That'll work!" Said Pidge.

"I got point!" Said Hunk.

Hunk got up and walks into the hole and the rest of the team follows.

"Lets go now!" Allura yelled to Trigel.

Allura helped Khan to their feet while the rest of the operators came out from the room through the hole in the wall, letting Allura and Trigel to trail behind a bit as Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk take point.

"Ma'am I can fight." Said Sergeant Khan.

"I know but we can't risk having you shot or killed." Said Major Brooks.

"Who the hell were those guys?" Lance asked.

"Possibility ISI." Keith answered. "Those guys can fight."

"Doesn't matter who these bastards are just fucking shoot them!" Hunk said as he checked the mag of his AK.

The team are now in the streets which people in the city starts to run for their lives when they saw the operators carrying their rifles. The team then knew that they have to get out of the city immediately before Pakistani police or military arrives.

"Hunk, Pidge." Allura said looking at the two. "Can you split off and find us a car and meet us here?"

"Will do, Major." Pidge excepted with a nod.

Pidge and Hunk starts to break off from the team as they look for a vehicle for the team to evac. As the rest of the team tries to hold off the ensuing onslaught of attackers.

"I swear there's more guys coming at us than the Chinese could throw at us." Said Lance.

"Are you seriously jinxing us right now?!" Keith questioned.

"Dude just shoot the bad guys and have some fun."

Suddenly more fighters who came round a corner and starts shooting at the operators and had to take cover as the four enters a market building. Keith and Lance returns fire on the attackers as they stand their ground until Pidge and Hunk arrives with cars.

"Hey Keith!" Lance called.

"What?!" Keith questioned while focusing on shooting at the attackers.

"Bet $50 I'll get more kills than you!"

"Seriously?!" Keith questioned and giving Lance a confused look on his face as he takes cover as he was getting shot at.

"Yeah seriously!"

"We're already in combat and you're fucking doing this now?! "Yeah starting now! You in?!"

Keith was completely confused that Lance wants to play bets with him while they're in a middle of a gunfight against unknown shooters. He thinks that there is something wrong with him. Before Keith could answered, Keith and Lance sees the attackers shooting at something else that's making their way to the market. It was Hunk and Pidge "commandeered" two cars and drove up to pick up the rest of the operators.

"LET'S GO!" Hunk yelled as he pulled up to the group.

The operators started piling into the cars as rounds flew all around them tearing up the surrounding walls. As the Operators got in Allura and Kahn had gotten separated from the group getting into Hunk's car. Cursing under their breath from the incoming fire the two got into Pidge's car and peeled out behind Hunk. As the two drove off from the area and watched as the attackers disappeared as they turned a corner. In the car the operators let out a small chuckle as they followed Hunk through the eerily quiet streets. Allura looked up to the rooftops of the passing buildings.

"RPG! Rooftop!" Allura yelled as the fighter with the RPG fired.

Pidge swerved off the main road and into an alley to escape the certain death if they continued following Hunk.

"Damn, we have to link up with everyone else." Sergeant Khan said looking out the rear window as the fireball from the RPG died down behind them.

"I'm working on it." Pidge said as she turned onto a street from the alley and started following it. "We'll follow this road and we should…"

As Pidge was explaining her plan to Allura and Khan a car rammed into their side as they drove through the intersection, sending them into the wall. Allura and Trigel slammed into each other in the back seat of the car, Allura laying on the floor groaning in pain, while Khan laid on the seat. Pidge however was slumped over the steering wheel unresponsive. Soon several more cars pulled up and several men with AKs got out, walking over to the car. As they were prying open the door Trigel looked up at them and her heart dropped as the door opened. As she went to grab her pistol, she was grabbed and yanked out of the car, landing on the hard pavement with a thud before one of the men gave her a swift kick to her head. As her vision blurred she watched as Allura was pulled from the car and the two were bound and her vision went dark as a black bag was put over her head. Listening to what was happening she could only assume that the group was put into a car and then drove off from the site of the crash.

[pinkipie100]

Lance and the 25 Days Chapter I: Awake

Welcome to the first installment of Pinkipie’s Fic-cember 2017! This will be a twenty-five chapter fanfiction involving the characters of Voltron and the spirit of the holiday season.

In this chapter, Lance wakes up as if he’s just had a terrorizing nightmare, but perhaps he’s just awakened to a dream come true.

Happy Holidays, and enjoy!

Words: 2048

Category: Gen

Contains: Lance's Christmas boner, inappropriate use of the castle ship’s alarms, tired paladins + Coran, Jewish!Pidge, a dust of subtle angst [because I can’t G*DDAMN HELP MYSELF, CAN I?!]

Takes place during S4, sometime after Keith left, but before Reunion.

Lance’s eyes shot open in a cold sweat. He was panting heavily and felt pinching anxiety in his gut. Something was happening to him, but he couldn’t get himself to move. He did not shift his paralyzed body from the bed in fear, so he only sat there like a log, flat on his back, shaking with anticipation for some reason unseen.

What could possibly be triggering this? Lance panicked, dreading the possibility of sleep paralysis. If had to endure a terrifying vision of a demonic alien, he would never sleep again. The paladin just sunk deeper into his mattress as he pondered what was wrong with him, considering several other equally unnerving options, such as a Galra poisoning him with a nightmarish drug, a previously unnoticed mission injury, an intense alien disease, and the like.

Lance attempted to look over to the day cycle clock built into his wall, and managed to read out of the corner of his eye that it just turned midnight. The boy then gasped, for he knew exactly what this meant- he knew he wouldn’t sleep again, but for an entirely different reason than fear.

Lance spontaneously regained control of his muscles, bounced off of his bed and flopped ungracefully onto the ground whilst gasping breathlessly, “IT’S TIME!” He landed upon the floor in an awkward sprawl of lanky limbs, but quickly regained his composure and launched out of his room like a sprinter at the sound of the handgun.

The boy practically flew through the hallways, zooming all the way to the bridge in just a dobash. When he arrived, shoulders nicking the edges of the doors he burst through before they were even fully open, he tumbled over to the intercom system, pressed the button to turn it on, and then shouted, “CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!”

Hopefully, that would be enough to wake the others to this important occasion. Just to be sure, in all his panting and lightheadedness, Lance turned on the alarm and manually set the day cycle to morning so that the ship was brightly lit and cacophonous. He then waited as patiently as possible, tapping his foot rapidly until the other paladins and Coran had showed up.

The others rushed into the bridge fully-armored and disoriented, and Shiro was the first to speak, inquiring intensely about a Galra attack.

Lance shook his head, shutting off the blaring alarm. When Allura questioned what the emergency was, Lance announced, “Didn’t you hear me in the intercom? It’s CHRISTMAS!” Team Voltron looked unimpressed. When Pidge uttered and irritated ‘what,’ Lance continued further, “It’s Christmas! We’ve got to get to celebrating, stat!”

Coran and the pink paladin looked at one another, totally lost, while Pidge sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Lance, you understand that the ship’s alarm is only for emergencies, right?” Shiro groaned, rubbing the corner of his right eye. The red paladin assented to this, but argued that a holiday should never, ever be missed, so therefore this was and emergency. “How do you even know it’s Christmas?” the black paladin asked, desperately attempting to hold off a yawn.

The boy’s lips formed a guilty-looking squiggle, and he held his breath for a moment before admitting, “Well, technically, it’s not Christmas, but it is December first. So, that means we have a lot of preparation to be doing for Christmas! We have to start right away!”

Pidge groaned loudly. “So, it’s not even Christmas?! Lance, you woke us up for this?” Lance protested that the winter holiday was no joke to him, and it shouldn’t be such to anyone who is associated with him, but Pidge then continued, “Why would you think it’s December?”

Lance responded, “Well, here’s the story: when I was four years old, I was super excited for it to be December. I mean, I was a little kid, right? Of course I was excited for Christmas; anyone would be!” Hunk warned Lance about going on a tangent, so the latter resumed, “Right. Well, my parents won’t tolerate anyone in our family saying anything about Christmas until the month of; they couldn’t stand holiday overexcitement and all that, you know? Anyway, it was November 30th, and I went to sleep like normal, but the next day came- and I mean exactly when the next day came- I woke up so that I could start preparing for Christmas. I woke up at midnight on my own, jumped out of bed, and pulled out all the Christmas decorations with my tiny four-year-old arms, and I started setting them up. When morning came around, my siblings woke up and started helping me, and by the time my parents came down, they found the mess we made with the decorations. Needless to say, they had to clean it all up and make the decorations right. But ever since that night, I’ve always naturally woken up at midnight on the first day of December to decorate the house with my family! I did that same thing just now, and the only explanation is that today is December first!”

Pidge scoffed and rolled her eyes, deeming it impossible for Lance’s biological clock to work like that, until she was interrupted by Hunk concurring with Lance. The yellow paladin had been fiddling with some calculations on his armor device, and he confirmed, “Lance is right; I just calculated the amount of quintants we’ve been here according to my logs, converted that to Earth days, and then added them to the date that we left Earth. It came out to be December first. Besides, Lance’s biological calendar is never wrong when it comes to Christmas the First. Right, buddy?” Lance high-fived his companion, and Pidge stared at Lance in shock, asking him if she could monitor his sleep patterns from now on, for science.

Coran joined in that he was very lost as to what was going on, and Allura’s expression echoed this.

Shiro took it upon himself to explain the holiday to the Alteans; the trees, the stockings, the strange white-bearded man who broke into your house at night and made out with your mom, the carols, the mistletoes, and especially the gifts. The two aliens listened intently, ears twitching with fascination.

“That’s so odd!” Allura exclaimed when Shiro finished. “And you do this every decafeeb?” Shiro answered, ‘yes,’ adding that there are other December holidays, which surprised Allura even more. “Other celebrations? Unbelievable! That seems like so much work!”

“Indeed,” Coran agreed. “Well, at least it’s only an end-of-decafeeb rush.”

Hunk shook his head at that, delineating that not all people celebrated the same holidays in December as Pidge nodded in agreement, and also that there were other holidays throughout the year, like Halloween and Easter. The Alteans were taken aback, and when the yellow paladin asked if Alteans even had holidays, they shook their heads, claiming they had nothing of the ilk, only celebrations for recent events or ceremonies.

Lance’s foot-tapping evolved into thumping until his impatience grew too much, and he interjected, “Alright, that’s enough exposition! We’ve got work to do! We need to decorate the castle with lights, find something resembling a pine tree, maybe get a mistletoe or two,” Lance said this waggling his eyebrows in Allura’s direction, “Oh! and some ugly Christmas sweaters…”

“Lance.”

“What, Pidge?”

“I’m Jewish,” the youngest paladin stated with an eyebrow raised.

Lance’s jaw dropped while he gawked at Pidge. Hunk recalled that he noticed a clay dreidel amongst her stuff back at the Garrison, but he’d since forgotten about it. Shiro had this countenance that suggested that he was berating himself for forgetting about the Holts being Jewish, and he promptly facepalmed. Coran and Allura just looked at one another and shrugged.

“W-wait, you’re Jewish?!” Lance piped out, just before Shiro spoke over him.

“Pidge, I’m so sorry- I should have made the connection that you’re Jewish just like the rest of your family,” Shiro apologized in a You’re-An-Idiot-Shiro tone.

Pidge reassured everyone that it was fine, but she laced her fingers and twiddled her thumbs bashfully. Upon noticing this, Lance ran up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and began apologizing profusely. Pidge dismissed the grovelling, “Lance, it’s not a big deal! I never told you, how could you have known?! You can stop!” Lance still expressed his regret for assuming, but Pidge just grabbed the older teen’s arms and pushed him away, firmly telling him to quit it.

“Pidge, let me make it up to you! I’ll do anything, just tell me!” Lance persisted, and Hunk sighed fondly at his friend’s antics. Hunk vociferated that Pidge probably did want something, and he nodded her way, whilst she scrunched up her face and looked back at Lance’s begging eyes.

Pidge reluctantly began drawling that there was, indeed, something she wanted Lance and the others to do for her. Lance perked up, as did the other paladins. The green paladin drooped her head, and a slight blush could just be identified by Lance. Then, she slowly mumbled out, “I… I want you… Umm…” Pidge looked up through her brow to make eye contact with Shiro, who smiled warmly, and Allura held an eager and supportive gesture behind him. The paladin sighed, finally spitting out, “I want you all the play the dreidel with me!” Everyone stared at her for a half second, then stalwartly agreed to do so, especially Lance, who was enthusiastic enough to kneel before her and shake on it.

Hunk questioned, “Do you have the dreidel from the Garrison to play with?”

Pidge cleared her throat slightly, then answered, “No, I left it at the Garrison. Can we find one?”

Coran speculated that they could certainly look for something similar at the Space Mall, along with the Christmas décor. Pidge added that she also wouldn’t feel comfortable this Hanukkah without a menorah with her, and Shiro confirmed that they could look for one at Terra in the Space Mall.

Lance cheekily inquired if this meant that they were going to go to the Space Mall to decorate for Christmas, which was met by a firm, ‘Lance!’ from Shiro. When the red paladin turned to their leader guiltily, the latter spoke with a stern face, “If we went to the Space Mall…” Lance waited in anticipation, “…does that mean we can get peppermint bark?!” Shiro finished giddily.

Lance answered with a hearty, ‘Absolutely!’ and Shiro pumped his fist with a constricted ‘yus,’ followed by him high-fiving Lance animatedly.

This exchange gave Hunk an idea, so he turned to Lance and excitedly asked if he could do all the preparations for the Christmas dinner and Hanukkah dinners as well, to which his best friend pretended to shed a single tear, then declared that it would be an honor to be served by Hunk the Master Chef. Hunk responded melodramatically, “Oh, no no… It’s my pleasure to serve Lord Lance and the Paladins of Voltron! Pidge, you can teach me the basics of making latke and sufganiyot, right?”

“I… can… try?” Pidge shrugged.

“Also, Lance! We should totally go to the Balmera for ingredients and new recipes!” Hunk suggested enthusiastically. Pidge and Lance made eye contact, wordlessly concurring to the true intentions of said suggestion.

“Sure, Hunk,” Pidge jibed smugly.

“For recipes,” Lance mocked.

Pidge and Lance’s snickers went right over Hunk’s head as he started jotting down ideas for the dinners in his log.

Lance finally announced, “Alright! It’s all settled, then- Princess, Coran, would you like to experience your first Christmas, Hanukkah, holiday season, and holiday in general?”

“Yes!” Allura and Coran firmly endorsed, pumping their fists.

“Okay! Get ready for the holiday shopping, because we’re going to the Space Mall!” Lance declared, wrapping his arms around each Altean.

“…Yeah, can we go back to bed first?” Hunk muttered in the distance.

Shiro grinned fondly as the others laughed and joked around with one another. He stood silently in his spot for a moment, looking to his feet gradually, then shifting his gaze out the window to the stars. His mood lowered a little at the thought of the little brother missing out on the holiday festivities. What broke Shiro’s heart, however, was that this wasn’t even close to the first time the aforementioned person had missed Christmas.

[starryeyed-char]

Close Call ~PART 4 (final)

Read these first!!!!!! Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Catch this fic on AO3

It’s about Lance and Keith getting captured and separated, with an injured Lance. For a better summary go to the first part… I’m lazy.

Finally! The last part!

…pssst @dogsahoy @voltronpaella @taylor-tut I can now stop sliding these across the table- this is the end!

I wanted to try doing something with multiple parts to celebrate VLD’s anniversary (the first part went up on the 10th)… and I can’t believe how well received this was! Thanks so much to everyone who’s given me such kind feedback!! I’ve got lots of plans for future writing, so hopefully you can look forward to that and not be too sad that this is over now? I hope you like the way I ended it… enjoy!!

Lance tumbled out of the healing pod like he did so many other things; without warning. The others were sat around the room when suddenly the walls of the pod disappeared, and the blue paladin fell forward. He would’ve face-planted into the floor of the infirmary if Hunk hadn’t been there to catch him.

He looked around in confusion for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the bright lights, and met the gaze of his best friend.

“Hey, Hunk,” he smiled, voice raspy and uneven. “Miss me?”

Hunk sighed with relief, giving Lance a shaky grin of his own. “You know I did,” he admitted. “Don’t you dare scare me like that again. I was worried sick!”

Lance laughed, and let himself be wrapped up in one of Hunk’s signature, bone-crushing hugs. “Sorry,” he shrugged. “Guess I should be more careful. So, what’d I miss?” He looked around at the others with an expectant smile on his face, but it wavered quickly. The rest of the team all looked worse for the wear themselves.

Pidge’s eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, while Shiro looked even more worn down than usual. Allura and Coran both stood off to the side, with strained expressions of relief. Keith was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, stoic and silent as usual, but Lance could see the bags under his eyes. In short, they all looked exhausted.

“Um… you guys?” Lance asked uncertainly, voice catching. “Why all the grim looks? What’s wrong?”

Allura and Shiro exchanged a nervous look. “How much do you remember?” asked the princess.

“I remember…” Lance trailed off, eyes scanning the room for the person he’d missed. His gaze caught on Matt, who was standing in his periphery, in front of another pod. A wave of relief washed over him. “Matt. Sorry I missed the Holt sibling reunion, but it’s good to see you’re okay, dude.”

Matt gave Lance his own small smile, though he looked tired, too. “Right back at you.”

Lance turned back to Allura. “I remember being in the cell with Matt, and… not much else, if I’m honest,” he confessed. “Why? How long was I out for?”

“Not long, all things considered” Coran assured him. “About two weeks.”

“Two weeks?!” Lance practically shrieked. “Last time I was only in the pod for… what? A day or two, right?”

“Well,” Pidge piped up, adjusting her glasses. “Your injuries were pretty severe. You needed a lot of time to heal.” She cleared her throat, averting her eyes. “We were all pretty worried.”

“You’re lucky my blood’s O-negative,” Hunk muttered under his breath.

“Oh,” Lance said softly, momentarily at a loss for words. His grin returned quickly, though. “But I’m fine now! We can get back to business as usual. I bet I have a lot of training to catch up on, right, Allura?”

Despite his efforts to return things to normal, the team just exchanged looks full of thinly veiled concern. Lance couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something they weren’t telling him.

“We’re glad you’re feeling better Lance,” Shiro finally spoke. “But I think it’s best we get food in your system, first. Then you should probably rest.”

Lance laughed, trying to hide his discomfort. “Yeah, right. I just spent two weeks getting a ton of rest, and that green space goop? Disgusting. I think I might take Blue for a spin,” Lance declared, stretching his arms over his head. The others said nothing, just glanced anywhere but at him. “Jeez, what’s with all the moping? This must’ve been a pretty close call, huh?”

There was a beat of heavy silence.

“You were dead.”

Lance turned to face Keith in shock. The red paladin stood with his arms at his sides, fists clenched and shaking. Lance fidgeted under his glare. “Wh-what?”

“You died,” Keith repeated. “Your heart stopped beating.”

Shiro started towards him. “Keith, let’s just—”

“No!” Keith’s loud voice echoed in the empty infirmary. “I’m not going to just go back to pretending everything’s normal. I— I won’t! Nothing is normal! I… he could’ve…” Keith trailed off, looking at Lance. The mask of a smile on his face had given way to surprise, and hurt.

“Never mind,” Keith growled, whirling around. He stormed out of the room, and Lance watched him go.

Keith paced around his room, completely lost in thought.

He’d always been a man of action. Hopeless at voicing his thoughts, he tried to convey what he felt through doing. And most of the time, it blew up in his face. Sometimes literally.

Keith also prided himself on his ability to hide emotions. He had a habit of burying his feelings deep down inside himself, and not addressing them until he was ready to deal with them.

When he’d seen Lance bleeding out on the floor of that cell… he’d only allowed himself one second of panic. One second to be absolutely terrified, and then it was as if his body had been switched onto autopilot.

He’d picked Lance up off the floor, and began sprinting towards the red lion. He was vaguely aware of Hunk’s sobbing as he helped Matt up, saying to Keith that he’d get them both to the yellow lion. The yellow paladin always wore his emotions on his sleeve, for everybody to see. His cries echoed in the ears of the entire team, even as he said they should prep a pod.

Keith did his best to numb everything he felt, resolving to be upset later. To cry when Lance was safe. There was no time to waste. He flew back to the castle as fast as possible, and got Lance into the medbay before he could even fully process the situation. He watched as Allura used some complex Altean device, attempting to restart Lance’s pulse, and he helped get Lance into the pod after the heart-rate monitor finally started beeping again.

They all stood around the pod, and it was when Allura announced that Lance was going to live that Keith allowed himself to break down.

He collapsed onto the floor in front of the pod, sobbing. Lance would be okay. He’d live. And yet Keith couldn’t stop thinking of everything that could’ve gone differently. What he could’ve done to prevent Lance from getting injured in the first place. Or if he’d been even a minute later in finding him…

These were the thoughts that plagued his mind as he walked back and forth in his small room, and had stuck with him for the past two weeks. Keith couldn’t sleep, could barely eat. The image of Lance surrounded by a pool of his own blood, motionless and seeming devoid of life, refused to leave Keith’s head. He just kept… seeing it. Even though he knew Lance was okay, probably sleeping in his own room right now, Keith couldn’t help thinking what if he wasn’t.

Keith couldn’t help remembering that moment after putting Lance in the pod, when he realized that he was covered in the blue paladin’s blood.

He shook his head to clear it, resolving to go to the training deck. It wouldn’t get rid of the problem, but it would be a welcome distraction. He opened the door, only to reel back in surprise.

Lance stood before him, a fist raised and poised to knock. His eyes widened when he saw Keith, and immediately took several steps backwards into the hall. “Uh… hi,” he said, with a small wave.

Keith crossed his arms, instantly guarded. “What do you want, Lance?”

Lance flinched at the words, casting his gaze towards the floor. “I… came here to apologize. To you.”

Keith raised an eyebrow.

“You know… for messing up the mission,” he continued. “My actions got both of us captured, and I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. I know you’re super mad at me, and I already told Shiro he shouldn’t send us on missions together anymore. The Galra wouldn’t have caught either of us if I’d just been paying attention. I should've—”

“Shut up.”

Lance winced, rubbing the back of his neck, then continued. “Look, it’s fine if you don’t want to speak to me, like, ever again. I just needed you to know that I know I really messed up, and that I’m really sor—”

“I said, shut up,” Keith repeated. “Stop talking.”

Lance clamped his mouth shut in surprise. Keith tried to ignore the hurt written across his face.

“You think…” Keith mentally cursed himself, unable to find the right words. “You think that I’m mad at you because we got captured?”

Lance shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly. “I… yeah?”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Are you serious? You think I’m mad at you for ‘messing up the mission?'”

Lance sighed, looking mildly irritated. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

“I’m mad because you almost died, you idiot!” Keith practically shouted. “You nearly got yourself killed!”

“Oh,” was all Lance seemed capable of saying. “Right. That. Uh, sorry.”

“Stop apologizing!”

Lance stared back at Keith in shocked silence. Keith huffed.

“Look, I’m just… you saved my life, back there. You got hurt because you were too busy keeping me safe. You’re always keeping the rest of us safe, and putting yourself in danger because of it!” Keith ran a hand through his hair, looking away. “And it scares the hell out of me. You could’ve really died, Lance! You almost did! And it would’ve… it would’ve been all my fault.”

Keith looked back up, only to find Lance still staring at him, floored. He abruptly went back to looking at his feet.

“I also came here to thank you,” Lance said softly. “The others told me what you did. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it. You’ve saved me countless times, too, Keith.You know that, don’t you?”

Keith let out a short laugh, and Lance’s eyes brightened at the sound. “Guess we’re both too reckless for our own good, huh?”

“True,” Lance agreed, with a grin. “But it’s part of what makes us such a good team.”

Keith was once again reminded of how much he preferred actions to words, because he had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.

So instead, he just kissed Lance.

It was slightly awkward, or at least until Lance took control, which he did almost immediately, after the initial shock wore off. Keith had also accidentally pushed Lance up against the wall in the process, but he didn’t seem to mind. The immediate reaction from Lance made Keith think that he’d probably been waiting for this for ages. Then again, they both had.

“Jesus,” Lance muttered, once they’d broken apart, short of breath. “I should die more often.”

“If you do,” Keith threatened. “I’ll kill you myself.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Lance laughed. “You know you’d miss me too much.”

Keith seemed to ponder this for a second. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Yeah, I would.” And the two of them were kissing again.

The End

[ethanalter]

Emmys: The Women of ‘Mr. Robot’

Portia Doubleday as Angela Moss, Carly Chaikin as Darlene, and Grace Gummer as Dominique “Dom” DiPierro in USA’s ‘Mr. Robot’ (Credit: USA Network)

As we enter Emmy season — nomination voting runs June 12 to June 26 — Yahoo TV will be spotlighting performances and other contributions that we feel deserve recognition.

The first season of USA’s cult drama Mr. Robot was mostly about the men in our anti-hero Elliot Alderson’s (Rami Malek) life. One man in particular: the titular leader (Christian Slater) of the anarchy-minded hacker enclave fsociety, who was revealed to be a Tyler Durden-esque figment of Elliot’s addled imagination in the Season 1 finale. For the show’s sophomore year, creator Sam Esmail (who also directed each of the 12 episodes), broadened the scope beyond Mr. Robot to focus on the women in Elliot’s life. Both his sister, Darlene (Carly Chaikin), and his childhood friend, Angela (Portia Doubleday), became driving forces in the narrative, as did a new face, FBI field agent Dom DiPierro (Grace Gummer), who is getting close — too close — to piecing together what happened on 5/9, the day that fsociety’s hack changed the world forever (and not necessarily for the better).

At the same time, Mr. Robot fans would likely agree that the increased focus on the show’s female cast has been a positive development for the show. “Season 2 was jam-packed with the ladies,” Doubleday tells Yahoo TV. “We were all really excited when we saw those scripts. It’s not as rare these days to see strong female characters that have arcs that aren’t dependent on the direction of a male counterpart, which I’m very happy about.” Gummer concurs: “Sam is so great at storytelling, and interested in the complexity of each character on the show individually. He’s not worried about anyone being likable or not likable or good or bad.”

We spoke with Mr. Robot‘s three female leads in separate interviews to break down their characters’ standout sequences from Season 2 — and learn how they might hint at what lies ahead for Season 3.

Dom ducks and covers in the one-shot shootout from ‘Mr. Robot’ (Credit: USA Network )

Dom’s Big Moment: The China Shootout (Episode 5, “eps2.3_logic-b0mb.hc”) With an FBI agent now in the mix, it stands to reason that things are going to get a lot more physical than they were in Season 1. And Dom was certainly at the center of Mr. Robot‘s two major forays into action-movie territory. In the fifth episode, she survives a firefight while working abroad in China that claims the lives of her fellow agents. Making the sequence all the more impressive is the fact that it unfolds in a single, unbroken shot — an approach Esmail repeated for another shootout in Episode 10, when Dom and Darlene are attacked by the Dark Army in a restaurant. Both sequences are strong examples of the “show, don’t tell” school of characterization: we see Dom’s personality expressed through action, rather than dialogue.  

Grace Gummer: The shootout was a single shot, and I watched playback every time to make sure I was doing all of the actions right, especially grabbing the gun on the ground and shooting it. I had no bullets or ammo or sound to shoot it with; all I had was somebody off-camera going, “Boom!” I had to react to the backfire of a gun based on someone going “Boom!” You know, it was just those little things that you have to imagine in an incredibly chaotic and insane situation.

It was a very technically choreographed thing. I had to go behind the monitor between every take, and Sam would say, “I want you right here to grab the gun sooner,” because the camera was right behind me, kneeling where I was kneeling. It was all through my perspective as soon as I went down, so it had to be very specific. Physically it was really hard on my body; I turned my back out that day because of all the bending, crawling around, and twisting and everything. I ended up on the floor for a couple days with a bad back.

(Credit: USA Network)

There weren’t that many takes of that one; I think it was maybe the fourth take that we did where we got it. You only get a certain number of takes — you can’t really do that 20 times! I remember that I wanted to do more to make it look more realistic on my end, but you just have to trust Sam. When he says he’s got it, you know that he definitely has it. I forget the movie he referenced, but he wanted it to be very raw. I had never been able to do that [kind of scene] before, but if anybody is going to do it on the show, it had to be Dom.

What I think is so cool about her is that she’s aggressive and impulsive, tough and feminine. Deep down she’s incredibly lonely and isolated, and I think she uses her job as a cover-up for all of that. I think that’s how she’s related to every character on the show, because they all have that element to them. I thought of her as Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs or Frances McDormand in Fargo — that weirdo that somehow ends up being the one that gets the case and actually solves it. The one that cares the most, and the least likely person you would think would be able to do the job.

You can see that in the shootout [in Episode 10]. She takes it upon herself; she doesn’t have any backup. No one is going to stop her, and her whole mentality is based on that. That scene was an adrenaline rush for me every time, because I knew that if I didn’t get it right, we would have to set it up and do it all again. It was a really hard, long night, one of the hardest shots I’ve ever shot in my career. I’d do 20 jumping jacks between each take to get me into the mindset of having been running. I’d have to think about all the props that I’m going to use, at what point do I open the door, how loud should I say “FBI,” how hard should I kick the guy on the ground to make sure he’s dead. It was insane, but really fun.

I can’t really say what’s going to happen to Dom in Season 3, but she’s definitely going to be at the center of the action. The action finds her, and she finds the action.

Darlene fulfills an act of childhood vengeance by killing Susan Jacobs (Credit: USA Network )

Darlene’s Big Moment: Killing Susan Jacobs (Episode 8, “eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12”) Season 2’s eighth episode was a major departure for Mr. Robot in that Elliot didn’t appear on camera at all. Instead, Darlene was the central character in this particular hour, as the plan she had orchestrated with her brother started to unravel in spectacular fashion. The trouble started when Susan Jacobs (Sandrine Holt) — E Corp’s General Counsel, who helped absolve the corporation from any guilt in the deaths of Elliot and Darlene’s father — returned home to discover that fsociety had transformed her house into their command center. Darlene proceeds to take her hostage and, driven by the memory of Susan’s triumphant laugh when E Corp’s “innocent” verdict was handed down, kills her with a taser. That half-accidental, half-intentional act of vengeance splinters her fsociety cell, and eventually leads her to discover that her ex-boyfriend, Cisco, is a Dark Army operative.     

Carly Chaikin: When we were talking about Season 2, Sam told me that I killed someone, and I was like, “What are you talking about? I’m a murderer now?” Reading it, it was one of those situations that most of us have [experienced]. We’ve had that personal moment where we think, “If I ever see that person again, I’ll kill them.” The hope is that 99.9% of us wouldn’t actually kill them. Darlene is put in that position thinking there would be something to stop her. But there wasn’t! And I don’t think it was a premeditated thing either. She obviously went down there with a taser, but it was more of an in-the-moment decision to actually do it.

Because she’s not a killer, I didn’t want it to be some kind of crazy lunge. That’s not real. The crazy thing is how easy it was; just one quick move. I came to set and talked to Sam about it, but he was like, “I don’t want to know anything. I just want to see what you do.” And so the performance that you saw was kind of just what I went in and did. We honed it in a little at the end, but he really liked what I came in with. Afterwards he came over and gave me a big hug and all the guys on set were like, “That was really good.”

I’m not sure who chose the swimming pool, but I assume that once they saw the location, that was the area where it made the most sense to lock Susan up and keep her isolated. It was such a great environment, because it was so echo-y. Every sound you made was bouncing off the walls. It was an enclosed area, so you couldn’t just scream and have someone hear you.

One of the things that I really held on to while doing that scene was thinking about Darlene saying, “Nobody else saw but me.” That lonely isolated feeling of seeing this woman [laugh], and everyone else being like, “What are you talking about?” Having that be embedded in her, and with all of the s**t that has happened to her family as a result of E Corp. She has a face to put to that, which is Susan’s face. Susan encompasses all the evil that happened, and being able to put a face to that incident helps her. It provides a feeling that getting revenge on this one person would somehow make everything better.

All the characters on the show do things where we think we know how they’re going to turn out, and then things obviously go very differently than what we expected. Like the way fsociety thought that we’re going to start a revolution and change the world, and now we’re seeing what actually came of that. We’re going to see what comes of killing Susan. Coming into Season 3, I had to think about taking in everything Darlene went through from her brother being in jail, to destroying the world, to killing Susan. Where is she going to go from here?

Angela almost sheds tears while singing Tears For Fears (Credit: USA Network)

Angela’s Big Moment: The Karaoke Meltdown (Episode 8, “eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12”) Welcome to your life, there’s no turning back. Those prophetic words were first sung by Tears For Fears in their immortal 1985 ballad “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and they become the anthem of Angela’s long-overdue emotional breakdown. Since accepting a gig at E Corp, she’s been compromising, and compartmentalizing, her feelings about working for the enemy, even as she also attempts to use her status as an “inside woman” to help Darlene. Pulled in so many directions, she’s teetering on the edge of sanity and, on that karaoke stage, she appears to plunge over. The person that winds up pulling her back is Whiterose (B.D. Wong), leader of the Dark Army, who gives Angela a unique test that she winds up passing.

Portia Doubleday: There’s a certain honesty that comes out when you sing that you can’t hide as an actor, even if you’re in character. I sing for fun, but I didn’t think that Angela was the singing type. It was a moment for her to finally break this veneer that she’s been holding together the entire show — this necessity for control. That moment was atypical of something that you would see her do, so I was really excited to see what would happen.

Originally, Sam and I were thinking about a couple of songs, including “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore. But there were a couple of covers that had come out, and we thought, “Let’s pick something that might not be out there currently.” And that song is also just very on the nose about Angela’s journey, and how she feels about working in that environment of E Corp. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” speaks to all of the characters on the show, although they go about it in very different ways. It was so much to do with what Darlene wants in her rebellion, and what Elliot struggles with constantly. That’s a perfect song to demonstrate the struggles of all the characters, and Angela has a taste of it herself. If she’s in an executive position in that company, how do people become like Terry Colby? It’s not like he started out that way. Perhaps he was very similar to Angela, but inevitably, he made that decision that completely compromised her life, and Elliot and Darlene’s.

(Credit: USA Network)

That scene was actually more difficult than I expected it to be, because you’re acting. I sing karaoke, and it’s fun, but it’s a lot different when you’re interpreting the language. We also didn’t want it to become a performance, if that makes sense. There was one take where I was like, “I need to sing it worse than this!” It was awkward for me to sing off-key at certain points, but also interesting because I was able to say these things with conviction, with where they’re actually coming from as opposed to singing a perfect song.

I don’t remember how many times I performed the song. Maybe seven times or something? Around there. I’m not sure if he cut different ones together. It sounds like they used one take, because I remember messing up at one point and I can hear it [in the episode]. I’ve never quite done a scene like that. The song is your master, in a way. You kind of have to just keep going and tell the truth to do the song justice. And the song is great! I was so obsessed with it.

I will say that’s a turning point for Angela. She thinks that her life is over, and what a perfect moment for Whiterose to kind of swoop in and say something to her. She has no idea what’s going to happen to her; everything is broken at that point, and she has everything to lose. I don’t think the audience will predict what inevitably happens with her in Season 3 in any way. It’s going to open up into a completely different version of Angela. Angela 3.0!

Season 3 of Mr. Robot premieres in October on USA.

Read more from Yahoo TV:

Emmys: ‘This Is Us’ Star Mandy Moore on Prosthetics, Those Infamous Texts From Her Parents

Emmys: ‘Westworld’ Star Thandie Newton on Embodying the ‘Daring and Vicious’ Maeve

Emmys: ‘This Is Us’ Star Milo Ventimiglia Gets Misty Revisiting ‘The Pool’

Emmys: ‘Gilmore Girls’ Star Lauren Graham Revisits Her ‘Scariest’ Scene

Emmys: ‘Stranger Things’ Star David Harbour Revisits Sheriff Hopper’s Tough-Guy Moment

Emmys: ‘Feud’ Star Susan Sarandon on ‘The First Time I Really Felt Like Bette’

Emmys: ‘Westworld’ Star Jeffrey Wright Revisits That Reveal

Emmys: ‘Legion’ Star Aubrey Plaza on ‘Trying to Act Like Beyoncé’ in Dance Scene

Emmys: Alexander Skarsgård Revisits His ‘Big Little Lies’ Therapy Session

Emmys: ‘OITNB’ Star Laverne Cox Revisits Sophia’s Brave Pushback Against Solitary Confinement

[thetimeladyswan]

If The Sky Comes Falling Down

Title: If The Sky Comes Falling Down

Summary: He needed to know – he needed to find his brother. The Saviour who could break the curse that enveloped the town. The one who could prove that Keith’s memories of him were real. Once Upon a Time AU.

Rating: T

Read it here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12392777/1/If-The-Sky-Comes-Falling-Down

                      http://archiveofourown.org/works/9914768

one.

Shiro could not remember what his life was before sixteen years of age. He had been found, wandering with no memory. He had retained a name – Shiro – whether it was his first or last he did not know, but he knew it was his. His age had been the only other nugget of information he had remembered; his birthday had become the day he was found.

 He had ended up in the foster system – his parents nowhere to be found. He had emerged fairly well-rounded, found a job and an apartment, continued his life.

 A life that was normal, despite the void where the memories of the first fifteen years of his life should have been.

 two.

Keith’s life was anything but normal. Cursed to be separated from his family, to live his days not quite knowing if his memories were real or dreams of an existence better than the one he currently lead.

 He needed to know – he needed to find his brother. The Saviour who could break the curse that enveloped the town. The one who could prove that Keith’s memories of him were real.

 three.

The town was odd – that was all Shiro could say about it. Keith was silent, as he had been for most of the journey, hunched against the window. He offered no commentary on his hometown, merely staring at the familiar (to him, not to Shiro) buildings as they passed by.

 “Okay,” said Shiro, breaking the silence. “Where do your parents live?”

 “Our parents,” Keith began, still gazing out the window, “aren’t together. They haven’t even met here, and they don’t know who I am. It’s a part of the curse.”

 Shiro frowned, trying to meet his apparent brother’s eye. “So where do you live?”

 He shrugged. “Wherever I can.”

 “You’re homeless?”

 Keith sighed, finally twisting around in his seat to face him. “The curse, it’s supposed to make us miserable. Taking us away from our families, check one. Making us forget our past lives, check two.”

 “You remember.”

 His mouth curled into a thoughtful expression. “It doesn’t work on me the same was as everyone else. My theory is that some of your Saviour magic worked on me too.”

 “How long have you been cursed?” asked Shiro next.

 “Nine years, I think. I’m seventeen now. You’re … twenty-five.”

 He blinked. “How do you know that?”

 “I’m your brother.”

 “I suppose you are. Okay, where can we stay the night?”

 Keith brightened at the use of ‘we’. “Take a left at the top of the street …”

 .

 Across town, in a hospital bed, a woman who had spent the last nine years in a coma opened her eyes.

 four.

When Shiro awoke the next morning, the bed and breakfast room he had rented to share with Keith showed no sign of his roommate. Resolved to the worst case scenario, he dressed quickly, wondering just how difficult it would be to find Keith in a town this small, even if it was unfamiliar to him.

 He was collecting the keys to the room and his car when the door opened.

 “You’re awake,” said Keith, shutting the door before he continued. “I thought you’d still be asleep when I got back. I go to the hospital every morning to check on a friend of mine, Allura.”

 The way he paused made Shiro uneasy, as though he were supposed to remember who Allura was.

 “She’s awake,” he finished eventually. “She’s been in a coma for as long as the curse, I think it’s a good sign.”

 “The curse can be broken that easily?” asked Shiro, frowning.

 Keith shook his head empathically. “No, it’s gonna take more than you being here. But this is a start. Do you want to go for breakfast? There’s a diner downstairs.”

 five.

She could not remember her name, nor anything else about herself. Allura, the boy who had visited her that morning had called her. It settled somewhere under her skin. Perhaps it was her name.

 But how could the boy know?

 She asked the nurses. “The boy who visited me this morning, Keith, did I know him?”

 “He never talked to us. Comes to visit you every day, though.”

 If that was the case, she could ask him tomorrow.

 “Eleanor, thank god! I thought I’d never see you again.” A man burst into the room, immediately restrained by hospital orderlies. The nurse addressed him.

 “Sir, this patient is an amnesiac, if you would please—”

 “Eleanor,” he said again, “you don’t remember me?”

 Eleanor, was that her name? Or was Allura? She could not remember.

 “I don’t know who you are,” she said. I don’t know who I am.

 six.

Keith provided a running commentary over breakfast, telling Shiro about the people who came into the diner – who they were, what the curse had done to them.

 “That’s Pidge – Katie under the curse. We were friends before the curse was cast.”

 Shiro listened without complaint, though Keith was sure that the info-dump was likely grating on his brother’s nerves.

 “Are you okay?”

 “It’s just—” he gestured in an encompassing circle with a fork. “This is a lot to take in. A few hours ago I didn’t have a family. Now I’ve got to break a curse? I don’t even know how.”

 “I’m sorry,” said Keith, voice soft as he tried to think of the best thing to say. “I’m going to help you as much as I can. It’s okay that you don’t know how to break the curse. We’ll figure it out.”

 Shiro nodded. “Thanks, Keith.”

 seven.

Keith left for school after breakfast, giving Shiro his number and making it clear that he had no problems with ditching if he was needed. Shiro, who was surprised that Keith even attended school given that he had nowhere to call home, insisted that he go.

 He decided that he would use the time alone to familiarise himself with the town. Breaking the curse was not going to be a quick task, if there was even a curse to break. He would likely have to stay in Storybrooke for a while.

 It was a quaint town, much smaller than any Shiro had ever visited. People went about their business, some pausing to look at him when they realised he was not one of their own townspeople. On a street corner, he met the Sheriff.

 “You’re new,” said the man, with an easy smile.

 “Is it a crime to visit the town?” he replied, earning a laugh.

 “No, no, not at all. Sam Holt, nice to meet you.”

 They shook hands. “Shiro, I’m Keith’s brother. I’m going to be here for a while.”

 “Keith …” Sheriff Holt paused as he seemed to remember who Shiro was talking about. “It’s good that he has family. He’s a good kid.”

 Shiro nodded, bidding the sheriff goodbye and continuing on his way.

 The layout of the town was fairly simple, and Shiro was confident that he could find his way around it. He sent a text to his brother, asking what time he would finish school at. They had things to discuss; if Shiro was going to stick around for a while, he’d need a job, and they’d need somewhere to live. Staying at Sal’s B&B forever was not an option.

 eight.

In her dreams, she knew who she was; a princess, a warrior.

 Her father told her to run, to get to safety, and she had no choice but to obey him. She heard the sing of metal on metal as she made her escape, the grunts and cries of battle, and she forced herself not to turn her head.

 The younger prince ran to her, trying to tell her everything that had happened, his words emerging a jumbled mess. His parents were trying to hold off the witch so that his brother could escape, the curse was approaching on the horizon, he was scared.

 She tried to console the prince, but eventually left him to rush to where she heard commotion echoing down the halls.

 The elder prince was still there, risking his life when he should have been long gone. She called to him.

 “Takashi, go!”

 After looking between her and his frantically nodding parents, he did.

 “Where are you sending him?” asked the witch menacingly. She stretched out a hand and the princess found herself trapped by magic, unable to move.

 “Somewhere you can’t find him,” said the queen, voice strong though she trembled. “It’s over, Haggar. Your curse will be broken. We will defeat you and Zarkon.”

 A menacing smile. “We’ll see about that.”

 She disappeared, reappearing before the princess. Still paralysed, she could do nothing as the witch plunged a blade into her stomach.

 She fell, like a puppet with its strings cut, and …

 Awoke in her hospital bed.

 Once she had slowed her breathing, and the heart monitor at her bedside sounded less like it would explode, she felt her stomach. There was a scar there, consistent with the injury she had sustained in her dream. She knew it was a dream; there were no witches in the real world, and she was not a princess.

 A knock on the door startled her. She looked up to see Keith, the boy who had visited her yesterday – everyday, according to the nurse she had talked to.

 “Hey, Allura. Did I wake you?”

 She shook her head. “No, come in.”

 He did, settling into the chair by her bed. “How are you feeling?”

 “All right, I think,” she replied truthfully. “I don’t remember anything.”

 “I think that’s normal.”

“Keith? Why do you call me Allura? Did you know me before this happened?”

 It took him a moment to reply. “No, I didn’t. You never had any visitors here, so I started to come in to see you. No one knew your name, so I called you Allura. I can stop?”

 “No … it feels right. Like it belongs to me.”

 Keith smiled.

 nine.

Knowing this time that Keith would pay a visit to the hospital before breakfast, Shiro was unworried when he woke to find the other bed empty.

 He ordered breakfast for himself and Keith (hoping that his brother would be all right with the same thing he’d had the morning before) and asked the waitress, a girl called Shay, where he could buy a newspaper.

 “Here, you can have this one,” she smiled, passing him one from the edge of the counter. “We’re finished with it.”

 “Thank you,” he replied, unfurling the Storybrooke Daily Mirror as the waitress moved onto her next customer. He found the listings for work and apartments, scanning both.

 “Looking for jobs?” asked Keith in greeting, sliding onto a stool beside Shiro. He looked cheerful.

 “Can’t use up all my savings. Got any recommendations?”

 “You could try the Sheriff’s Station,” Keith suggested, “Samuel Holt was our—” he paused as Shay delivered their food, “our master-at-arms. He’s Pidge’s dad. Not here, I don’t think they’ve ever even met.”

 “I met him yesterday,” said Shiro, thoughtful as he took a sip of his coffee. Keith dumped an obscene amount of sugar into his before he did the same. “He seemed like a good person.”

 He nodded. “So, you could try that. Or – what did you do in New York?”

 “Whatever work I could pick up.”

 “Or you could do whatever work you can pick up.”

 “I’ll check out the Sheriff’s Station,” said Shiro, laying down the newspaper in favour of his breakfast.H

 ten.

Sheriff Holt turned out to be more than happy to hire him at the station, so much so that Shiro was suspicious. He explained, however, that he was good at reading people and had known almost instantly that Shiro was trustworthy. Shiro wasn’t exactly sure what to make of that.

 He declined the offer of a Deputy uniform, knowing that it would make him stand out even more than he did as the stranger in town.

 When he clipped the Deputy badge to his jacket, the ground shook with tremors. He looked worryingly at Sam, but the Sheriff grinned.

 “Ready for your first day on the job?”

 .

 Arriving on the scene, they discovered that one of the mining tunnels that ran underneath the town had collapsed.

 “Who is this?” asked the mayor, a woman by the name of Helena, who Shiro had not met. She was clearly suspicious of him.

 “My name is Shiro,” he replied, smiling as genuinely as he dared. “I’m Keith’s brother, and the new Deputy.”

 “Deputy?” she repeated, turning to Sam.

 “It’s in my budget,” he defended.

 “Indeed. Well, Deputy, why don’t you make yourself useful by helping calm down the crowds?”

 She turned to face the townspeople, clearly intent on giving a speech, but was cut off by a woman rushing towards the collapsed mine entrance, yelling intelligibly.

 “Katie! Please, my daughter is down there!”

 Katie? Shiro was sure he had heard that name somewhere before … Pidge, Keith’s friend.

 If she was Pidge’s real mother, and not a family connection made by the curse, she didn’t recognise Sam. Shiro understood now, more than he had by merely listening to Keith’s stories, what the curse had done.

 “You have to help her!” she implored the Sheriff, who may have been her husband in another life.

 So it was that Shiro ended up being hoisted down an air shaft, torch in hand, calling for Katie.

 He found her stowing rock samples away in her backpack. She was a scientist, she explained, and had not expected the tunnel to collapse.

 “All that matters is that you’re safe,” he told her, relieved to have found her unharmed. “Your mother is worried about you.”

 Katie sighed at this. “She always does. But I’m fine.”

 “Still, I’d be more careful in the future if I were you.”

 After checking the security of the harness, Shiro switched on his walkie talkie. “Sheriff? I’ve found her.”

 There was some static, and then a reply. “Are you ready to come back up?”

 Katie took this as her cue to approach him. When she was in position, he gave an answer. “Ready now.”

 The ascent was a little bumpy, but otherwise uneventful. Katie took the opportunity to quiz him.

 “Who are you, anyway?”

 Shiro laughed. “You let a stranger rescue you?”

 “You're trustworthy, I could tell,” she replied matter-of-factly. A trait she shared with her father, apparently. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

 “Name’s Shiro, I’m new in town. I just started at the Sheriff’s Station; you’re my first rescue.”

 She seemed unimpressed by his attempt at humour. “What brought you here? We don’t see new people very often.”

 “My brother, Keith, he’s from here. He came to find me.”

 Katie pursed her lips. “The homeless kid?”

 “Not for much longer, if I have anything to do with it.”

 eleven.

The news that she would be released from the hospital was not a surprise, but yet Allura did not know what she would do outside of these walls. The town, it's people were strangers to her. Her only friend was a teenage boy.

 She had been told her history by her so-called fiancé, Liam.  After his initial outburst, he had returned and explained himself. Her name was Eleanor, she had been eighteen when they had gotten engaged, young but sure of their love. After argument, however, she had left for a walk in the woods to clear her head, and had somehow ended up in a coma. He had thought she’d moved, and never connected the Jane Doe in the hospital with her. She had never been identified.

 Keith visited her that morning, as he did every morning. They walked around the outdoor gardens together, and Allura told him the news that she would be discharged later that day.

 “Do you have a place to stay?” he asked.

 She bit her lip. “Yes, I do actually. With my … fiancé. I don’t remember him, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Maybe it’ll jog my memory.”

 Liam still called her Eleanor, which she had decided against accepting as her name, but it was clear that he cared about her. She would make a go of things, for the sake of the Eleanor that was.

 “I hope it works out for you,” he smiled, but it was obviously forced.

 “We can still have our meet ups,” she said, in an effort to cheer him up. “How about at Sal's? I heard they do a mean breakfast.”

 “Sounds good,” he smiled.

 .

 After the mine collapse and the subsequent casualties, Allura’s bed was needed by the hospital more than ever. So, she packed up her meagre belongings and left the relative safety of the hospital.

 twelve.

His conversation with Allura weighed on him over the following days. The curse was not above giving people different families and relationships, if that was what would make them miserable. When it came to Allura, however, Keith was sure that the plan had been for her to remain in a coma. She’d only woken up due to Shiro’s arrival.

 Keith needed to find out who Liam was. Allura had only had one fiancé – Shiro. This engagement was a fabrication of the curse, something that furthered Haggar or Zarkon’s goals.

 The mayor’s office was easy to break into. Finding what he was looking for, not so much. Haggar – or Mayor Helena, as she was known in Storybrooke – did not keep a handy chart of real- to cursed-names.

 He searched instead for records of meetings and dealings the mayor had had over the course of the curse. Lots with Mr. Z, of course – Haggar and Zarkon had always worked together. Finally, he came across the name he was looking for: Liam Zimbel. Reading about the meetings he’d had with Haggar, Keith realised who it was.

 “Lotor,” he said aloud.

 Just as he had made his discovery, he was bathed in light.

 thirteen.

It was a slow evening at the station. Shiro was on his fifth cup of coffee of the day, looking over case files when the phone rang, signalling the first interesting thing to have happened since lunch.

 “Sheriff’s Station,” Sam answered. “Madam Mayor, what seems to be the problem? … I understand … I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

 When he hung up the phone, he was grinning. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

 “Your little brother finds himself on the wrong side of the law,” the Sheriff explained. “Would you like to handle it or sit here and look disappointed?”

 Shiro laughed. “I’ll stay here.”

 He returned with Keith in tow (thankfully not cuffed) not long after. Keith sighed as Shiro, arms folded, nodded towards a chair.

 “Why did you break into the mayor’s office?” asked Sam.

 “You broke into the mayor’s office?”

 “She’s keeping things from us,” said Keith. “Secret meetings, under the table deals.”

 “That’s politics, kid. It’s not nice, but it’s nothing we can arrest the mayor for. Now, she’s going to want some evidence of punishment. Shiro, I’ll leave that up to you.”

 With a smile to the two of them, Sam retreated to his office.

 Shiro raised an eyebrow at his brother. “What were you thinking?”

 “Allura has a fiancé. She shouldn’t, unless it serves some purpose to Haggar and Zarkon.”

 “It can’t the just a part of the curse?”

 “No.” He shook his head. “They’d want her to be miserable.”

 “Right. So, for your sentence.” His brother raised an eyebrow at the choice of word. “Community service? No, I have just the thing for you.”

 He retrieved the keys from his desk, unlocking one of the holding cells.

 “Seriously?” asked Keith.

 “Seriously. In you go.”

 Begrudgingly, Keith stood from the chair he had been sitting on and entered the cell. Shiro locked it behind him.

 “Wait, you’re leaving me in here?”

 “Time to think about what you’ve done,” said Shiro with a grin. “Plus, I’ll get a much better night’s sleep.”

 fourteen.

Shiro was gracious enough to release Keith before breakfast. He was met with a scowl, and ruffled his brother’s hair in retaliation.

 “Have you learned your lesson?” Shiro joked.

 “Don’t try to help you break the curse? Yeah.”

 After a shower, change of clothes and the promise of breakfast, Keith appeared to feel much better. His mood only improved when he and Shiro entered the diner.

 “Allura!” he said, approaching a blonde woman at the counter.

 “Keith!” she beamed, accepting his hug. She glanced over his shoulder. “And you must be Shiro?”

 “That’s me,” Shiro smiled, offering a hand to her. “Nice to meet you.”

 They shook hands, and Shiro felt a shock of electricity. Allura had probably picked up some static from Keith’s jacket. She seemed not to notice, but something shifted in her eyes, a slight frown creasing her brow.

 “How have you been?” asked Keith, and she turned back to him, shaking her head slightly.

 fifteen.

Allura continued to meet with Keith (and occasionally Shiro) for breakfast at Sal’s over the following weeks, dodging any and all questions about her fiancé. Keith was suspicious, she knew, but he never pushed the issue.

 None of her memories had returned to her, and nothing about Liam made her feel as though she had fallen in love with him as a teenager. Perhaps it had been madness, and they’d been too young to know better.

 She knew now; she had to leave. She could stay at Sal’s B&B until she found somewhere to live.

 Liam did not take well to the news. “Eleanor—”

 “My name is Allura, now,” she told him. “Maybe it wasn’t always, and maybe I loved you, once, but I think I deserve the chance to start over. Maybe this happened to me for a reason. A clean slate.”

 .

 The door to the pawn shop swung open with an almighty ring of the bell. Its proprietor, known only as Mr. Z to the townspeople, was unperturbed, and continued to polish the brass ornament formed a part of his display.

 “Father,” said Liam, knocking his first on the countertop to further illustrate his impatience.

 “What is it, Lotor?”

 “You promised that under the curse Princess Allura would be mine.”

 “I did,” replied Mr. Z, laying down the rag he had been polishing with. “And then Haggar stabbed her so that she would sleep. Her little way of denying you what you want.”

 “She’s awake now, and still she is not mine.”

 “There is nothing I can do to change that, my dear son. It is the Saviour’s doing.”

 “We need to do something about him.”

 Mr. Z smiled. “I couldn’t agree more.”

 sixteen.

“Looking for a place?”

 Shiro looked up at the familiar voice to find Allura smiling at him. She sat across from him in the diner booth.

 “Yeah,” he answered. “Keith and I can’t stay here forever.”

 She nodded. “A B&B isn’t a great long-term arrangement.”

 He remembered Keith telling him that Allura had left her fiancé. “You’re in the market for a place too, aren’t you?”

 “Yes,” she sighed, though she smiled at Shay when the waitress arrived with the coffee she must have ordered, thanking her. “Not so much luck so far. Wait—” her eyes lit up. “Why don’t we look for somewhere together, you me and Keith? It’d be a lot easier to find one apartment than two, and the rent would be less … towering.”

 Shiro considered her words. She and Keith were firm friends, and Shiro couldn’t foresee any problems with living with her. It was a good idea.

 “As long as Keith doesn’t have any issues with it, sounds like a plan.”

 Allura beamed.

 seventeen.

They found a two-bedroom loft apartment in the centre of town. Shiro and Keith were by then accustomed to sharing a room, so continuing to do so wasn’t an issue. It was a step up from staying in the bed and breakfast, in any rate. Keith was delighted with the change, but Shiro had the distinct feeling that he was hiding something.

 “There’s something you should know,” said Keith, finally, as he and Shiro unpacked the boxes that had arrived from Shiro’s old apartment. “You and Allura knew each other, back home. You were … betrothed to each other.”

 Shiro gripped the mug he'd taken out of its box a little tighter than was strictly necessary. “We were engaged?”

 “Betrothed,” Keith corrected. “It’s not like you proposed to her. It was set up between our parents and hers. It’s the way things are back home.”

 “And we were okay with it?”

 Keith shrugged. “I think so. You were friends, at least. If you did have feelings for her, you weren’t going to tell your kid brother. I just thought you might want to know, now that we're living with her.”

 “Yeah, it’s – good to know. Thanks.”

 eighteen.

There was something about having a place to live – a place that did not scream 'temporary' as the B&B and the places he had been able to find shelter had – that settled him. It made him more hopeful, even confident that Shiro could break the curse. He allowed himself to imagine seeing his parents again, his friends.

 All he could see at that present moment was a boy blocking his way.

 It was no one Keith had known at home, but he thought he had seen the boy somewhere in Storybrooke before. Around his own age, and arrogant, if Keith’s instinct was anything to go by.

 He grinned at Keith’s scowl. “Lance McClain, a pleasure.”

 “Keith Kogane. Wish I could say the same. If you’d excuse me …”

 “The Deputy’s baby brother, right?” asked Lance, infuriating grin still in place. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

 “That’s nice,” replied Keith, deadpan. “Now—”

 “If I’d excuse you? No problem.” He made an over exaggerated sweeping bow, stepping aside to let Keith pass.

 He felt a profound relief that he hadn’t known Lance before the curse.

 nineteen.

“Sam?” asked Shiro, tossing his keys onto his desk. It was rare that he had to open the Sheriff’s Station, and he hadn’t heard from his boss since the previous day.

 There was no sign of him at the station. Shiro frowned, trying his cell again. It went straight to voicemail, this time. It must have gone dead.

 Shiro considered his options. If Sam was missing, he was now Acting Sheriff, and it was his responsibility to find him.

 Checking the files found him a landline and home address. Sam Holt lived alone in Storybrooke, cut off from his previous family by the curse. He knew that Katie lived with her mother, and Matt lived alone, and none of them had any inkling of the connection they shared. That was par for the course, but it would be much easier if Shiro had someone to question.

 The landline rang out, Shiro hanging up before he was asked to leave a message. His next move was visiting the house. He debated whether to lock up the station or not for a moment, before deciding that the townspeople might panic if they saw the station locked up and learned that the Sheriff was missing.

 The front door of the house swung open when he touched it, and the place was empty. There were minor signs of a struggle. A kitchen chair was overturned, a glass smashed.

 Sam was gone, that much was clear. And it seemed as though he had been abducted.

 .

 He called a meeting at the town hall, with some help from Keith as to what the protocol was.

 “Sam Holt has disappeared,” he announced to the gathered crowd, allowing time for the gasps and murmurs of disbelief. “As his Deputy, I accept the responsibility of Acting Sheriff and promise to do anything I can to bring him home safely. If anyone has any information, please contact the Sheriff’s Station. Thank you.”

 Keith looked despondent when Shiro approached him. He looked up at him. “This isn’t good.”

 “No,” Shiro sighed. “It’s not.”

 twenty.

It was at the edge of sleep that memories flooded his mind – a jumble, not many of them tangible, but all of them real. He knew which one to share.

 “Keith?” he asked into the darkness of the room he shared with his brother.

 “Yeah?” came the sleepy reply.

 “I remember when you were born.”

 There was a sharp intake of breath, but no reply, leaving him room to continue.

 “There were celebrations everywhere, the people were delighted to have another prince. Mom and Dad were so happy. They were always happy; I guess that’s what true love is.”

 “If you’re remembering stuff,” said Keith, slowly, “it means that the curse is weakening. And I think I know how to break it.”

 “How?”

 “True love’s kiss,” he answered, a smile in his voice, clearly thinking of their parents. “It can break any curse.”

 “So, we need to get Mom and Dad together? How are we going to do that?”

 “Sleep now, plan later.”

 Shiro couldn’t argue with that, and settled back into sleep. In his dreams, he remembered further. Keith’s birth had been the first time he’d met Allura – she and her father had come to congratulate them. Perhaps that had been when their betrothal had been arranged. He could not know, unless he remembered more.

 He hoped he did.

 twenty-one.

Living with Keith and Shiro had calmed Allura, slightly. The overwhelming feeling of not knowing who she was had abated; she knew enough. She was Allura, she worked at the animal shelter (where she had taken a particular shine to a trio of mice and was considering adopting them). She was Shiro and Keith’s housemate, their friend.

 She was always the first to wake in their apartment. The first to shuffle into the kitchen and the one who prodded their coffee machine into submission. It was calming to sit at the kitchen island with her coffee, a slice of peace before the other two got up.

 Keith was the first of the brothers to rise, usually. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Allura had brewed, thanking her with a yawn. Three spoons of sugar later, it was drinkable to him. He joined her at the island, sipping at his sweetened drink.

 By the time Allura had finished her coffee, Shiro had completed their trio. He brought with him conversation – Allura and Keith were happy to sit in silence, but Shiro liked to talk with them.

 They decided, then, whether they would make breakfast or go to Sal’s. It was a healthy mix of both, by Allura’s estimation. Wherever they ate, once they had finished they trickled away in reverse the order they had arrived. Shiro first, to the Sheriff’s Station; then Keith, to school; lastly Allura, to the shelter.

 Her boss, Coran, was a little on the eccentric side, but she got along well with him. They both cared about the animals they were looking after, which was the most important thing.

 Lunch was usually shared with someone; whether that was Keith, Shiro or Coran varied from day to day. Dinner was always with the brothers, and they spent the evening together watching television or talking.

 She was content with her new life.

 twenty-two.

There had been no break-throughs on the Sam Holt case. People had come forward to share the last time they had seen him, but none of the information had been useful to Shiro.

 That was until he received a phone call telling him that Sam had been spotted in the woods on the night of his disappearance. He set off on a wilderness search, leaving a note on his desk for Keith or Allura came to invite him to lunch.

 He found the Sheriff’s badge along a path in the forest, and felt more confidence in his search. He came across a man standing on the crest of a hill. He smiled at Shiro.

 “Lovely view, isn’t it? I think some people forget the beauty of their own town, always wanting to travel. I don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is Mr. Z. You must be Shiro, of course. Our new Deputy.”

 “Acting Sheriff until we can find Sam Holt,” he corrected, trying not to let his uneasiness show on his face. This was Zarkon; the mastermind of the curse, according to Keith.

 “Of course. What a shame that he disappeared like that.”

 Shiro, whose uneasiness had morphed into fear, turned to leave, and was met by three men, blocking his way.

 “What is going—?” he began to ask, but had fallen to the ground before he could finish the question.

 twenty-three.

“Shiro?” asked Keith, as he entered the Sheriff’s Station. His after-lunch class had been cancelled, leaving him the freedom to share a long lunch at Sal’s with his brother … if he could find him.

 “Shiro?” he tried again, looking around. He found a note on the desk; Gone to follow a tip in the woods, will probably miss lunch. He picked up his phone to call his brother, before realising that Shiro had left his cell on the desk along with the note.

 He went to Allura for lunch instead, telling her about what he’d seen at the station.

 “Maybe he found something about the Sheriff,” she suggested. “We should go and see after we eat.”

 They did so, only to find the station just as deserted as it had been earlier.

 Allura bit her lip. “I’ll go and see if there’s any sign of him in the forest. You should go back to school.”

 Ignoring the instinct that told him to protest; to insist Allura let him accompany him. “Okay, text me when you find him.”

 .

 “I made some coffee,” mumbled Allura, offering him a mug. He took it, whispering his gratitude. He didn’t think she had heard it, but she nodded as though she had. She sat on the sofa beside him, tugging gently on the blanket – a request to share.

 He granted it, pulling the blanket over so that Allura could cover her feet with it.

 They did not speak, merely sitting there in silent solidarity. They were both worried about Shiro, and they knew there was no point in speaking reassurances. “I’m sure he’ll turn up” and “he’ll be fine” would fall flat.

 They were just … there for each other.

 twenty-four.

He and Lance had fallen into some form of a friendship, but the sight of him still made Keith sigh.

 “Hey, Mullet,” Lance grinned, using the infuriating nickname he had given him on their second meeting.

 “I don’t have time for this right now, I’m busy.”

 “Looking for your brother?” asked Lance, lips curling into a smile when he realised it was true. “Being Sheriff is a dangerous occupation, huh?”

 “It’s in the job description.”

 “Hmm,” Lance looked thoughtful. “Do you want some help?”

 “Help?” Keith frowned.

 “Yeah, what sort of clues are you looking for?”

 “I don’t know,” he admitted with a sigh. “I just want to do something, so I don’t feel useless.”

 Lance nodded. “I get it. I’ll help you, come on.”

 Still bewildered, Keith had no choice but to follow him.

 twenty-five.

He was at school when he received the call. Knowing that it had to be about his brother, he ducked out of the class with a mumbled apology.

 “Hello?”

 “Keith Kogane?” asked the voice on the other end.

 “Yes, speaking.”

 “Your brother has been found. He’s in the hospital, in a stable condition.”

 “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” said Keith, hanging up. His heart hammered in his chest. Shiro’s disappearance had been no accident, he knew, and he wondered what had facilitated his return. Had he been imbued with a cursed identity? Tortured?

 School forgotten, he set off for the hospital, calling Allura on the way. He was Shiro’s emergency contact, but they had no reason to get in touch with her.

 “Keith,” she answered, sounding confused. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

 “They found Shiro, he’s in the hospital. I’m on my way there now.”

 There was a clatter. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

 .

 There was a doctor present in Shiro’s room when he burst into it.

 “What happened?” Keith asked her.

 “He was found in the woods by a jogger, unconscious. He’s in a coma, but his condition is stable.”

 “Do you know what caused it?”

 “We’re still running tests,” said the doctor, her voice soft and soothing. She had evidently had a lot of practice delivering bad news about her patients. “I’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”

 “Thank you,” murmured Keith, trying to ignore the rising panic. He was sure he knew what had happened to Shiro. He had heard the tales as a child, after all; the poisoned apple his mother had bitten into to save his father from certain death, the sleeping curse, the true love’s kiss that had awoken her from it.

 It seemed that Shiro had been cursed in the same way as his mother once had.

 twenty-six.

Allura rested a hand on Keith’s shoulder when she arrived at the hospital. He looked back at her, and she smiled reassuringly.

 “He’ll be all right, Keith.”

 He frowned, focusing on his brother’s form. He was more and more convinced that Shiro could not be helped by medicine.

 “Can we talk?”

 He led her to a supply closet where they could talk without anyone overhearing.

 “I know this might sound crazy, but I need you to kiss Shiro.”

 Allura was silent for several seconds. “What? He’s in a coma. You can’t just kiss someone without their consent like that.”

 “It doesn’t have to be on the lips,” Keith pleaded. “Allura, do you trust me?”

 “I—” she looked conflicted.

 “Please, just try it.”

 “Keith.” She spoke his name softly, as though trying to calm a wounded animal. “You’re worried about your brother; you’re not thinking straight. I think you should go home and get some sleep. Shiro’s in good hands here, I promise. The doctors will do everything they can for him.”

 He sighed in defeat. This was not the way the curse would be broken. “You’re – you’re right, Allura. I’ll see you at home.”

 zero.

He knew what he had to do, even as the fear that it would not work threatened to crush him.

 Zarkon had tried to eliminate the Saviour, but Keith would not let that happen.

 He bent down, pressing a light kiss to his brother’s head, praying that it would work.

 Noise returned to the heart monitor – the most wonderful sound he had ever heard, and Keith’s entire body collapsed with relief, falling into the chair by Shiro’s bedside. He opened his eyes.

 “Keith,” he murmured, voice scratchy. “I – I remember.”

 “The curse,” the doctor said, her voice carrying from the doorway. “It’s broken.”

 + one.

Pidge (as everyone had thankfully returned to calling them, once the memories had returned), found their brother quite easily. He was among the group that had spilled onto main street, searching for families, friends, loved ones.

 Takashi – Shiro, he hadn’t been Takashi in a long time – was at the centre of attention, begrudgingly accepting the thanks from the townspeople, saying, “it wasn’t me, it was—”, turning to look for his own brother, and finding that he had disappeared.

 Pidge could talk to Shiro later; they had plenty of time. For now, they wanted the comfort of their brother’s arms, the delusion that everything was all right, for a moment.

 “We need to find dad.”

 + two.

Keith had never respected peace so much as the moments of quiet he was able to find at Granny’s. Everyone who had been in the diner had left, joining the throngs of people gathering in the streets, reuniting with each other. It was easy to pour himself a cup of coffee and to sit in one of the hastily vacated booths.

 The bell jingled to signal that someone else had entered the diner. Keith did not turn around, hoping that it was a stranger, or if it was someone that he knew, that they would respect his evident desire to be alone.

 “Shiro says it was you who broke the curse.”

 Keith repressed a sigh – it was Lance, who fit neither of the criteria. “It depends on how you look at it.”

 The other boy approached the booth, standing by the table rather than sitting down. He looked more uneasy than Keith had ever seen him.

 “Thank you,” he said, blue eyes earnest. “I have a family – if I can find them, and I thought I didn’t. And that’s because of you – or Shiro, whatever.”

 “Why aren’t you looking for your family?” asked Keith, curious. As someone who had lost them during the curse, it stood to reason that Lance would be searching for them. Instead, he was here with Keith.

 “I wanted to apologise, too. For how I acted during the curse. I was a jerk. Maybe we can start over?”

 Keith looked at him, taking him in, and becoming more and more sure about the thought that had burst into his head weeks ago. “Yeah, we can start over. Would you like to go on a date with me?”

 Lance blinked, struck dumb for a moment. Keith bit back a laugh as he waited for a reply. “Um, sure. I mean, yes, I’d love to go on a date with you. Are you sure you want to go on a date with me?”

 Keith reached out, tugging the other boy down to his level. “Lance, I’m sure.”

 And he kissed him. Lance flailed for a second before relaxing against Keith’s lips, kissing him back.

 They smiled at each other for a moment after they broke apart, faces still close to each other.

 The bell rang again, and the peace was disturbed, but, somehow, Keith couldn’t find it in himself to mind.

 fin.

[avidbeader]

Voltron fanfic: “Scattered” Chapter 8

Season 2 AU. No ships, K+ to T rating. Begin at the beginning here. 

Darzi practically danced with rage as the monitors’ rhythm slowed noticeably.

 “Not again! Did you give him the adrenaline yet? Add more!”

 Perkins looked at the monitors, evaluating the information they provided. He then took a long look at the youth on the gurney. Bruises were already starting to form on his face, making the wound from a previous split lip even darker. Perkins reached over and opened one of the boy’s eyes. The eye, an unusual dark violet color, was badly bloodshot from the strain of fighting for air.

 “Do you realize how close you came to killing him?”

“All I did was stop him from making noise! Wake him now! Add more adrenaline!”

 Perkins took another look around, this time focusing on his colleague sprawled on the floor, unconscious from a drugged cup of coffee. “I haven’t started the amotrazephine yet.”

 “What? But his vitals slowed, just like before!”

 Perkins shook his head. “That reaction didn’t happen until the second dose, according to the report I read. There’s something else going on here, like he’s found a way to withdraw physically and mentally from the situation. I’ve read about catatonia, but I’ve never witnessed a case personally and I’ve never heard of anyone being able to control it like this.”

 “Well, then, use the adrenaline first! Or another stimulant! Or get the defibrillator and run some volts through him!”

 Perkins moved to stand between Darzi and the boy. “Sir, you are out of control. I understand that you want answers, but you are overstepping a line here.”

 “Now you listen here—”

 “No, you listen.” Perkins used his height advantage to advance and tower over the older man. “I will summon backup from security guards who aren’t in your squad and press for a tribunal in which I will testify unless you back off now.”

 Darzi opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the floor trembling under his feet. A growl thundered, echoing through the entire building. Perkins swallowed uneasily, but held his ground. “Seems like someone agrees with me. Now, you get those two guards of yours to carry Desai to her quarters. I am going to do a full blood workup and cellular scan for Mr. Kogane, which should have been done in the first place. I will stay with him until he returns. You will stay the hell away from him and I will share any information I am able to obtain.”

 “But—”

 “Lieutenant General, you are being handed the perfect bad-cop-good-cop opportunity here, not to mention the chance to hide how close you came to murdering a defenseless civilian. I suggest you use them.”

 Darzi gulped and backed out of the room.

 Once he was alone, Perkins pulled out his personal mobile and sent a quick text: YOUR SUSPICIONS CORRECT. SUBJECT NEARLY LOST. PROBLEM HEADED OFF FOR NOW.

 <> <> <> <> <>

 On approach to the far side of the planet, Hunk racked his brain furiously for ideas. Shiro and Keith were the best combat strategists of the team. Pidge was the tech-head and Lance just tried whatever came into his head, which worked more often than it should. Hunk was the nuts-and-bolts guy, the one who could build it. Everything he knew from flight combat training at the Garrison involved teams working together. And right now he was very much alone.

 He felt a growl in his head.

 Okay, not alone, exactly. But severely lacking in the support personnel department.

 That earned him a purr that was almost a chuckle.

 The display showed one warship near the southern pole of New Metrea, as Hunk sometimes called it in his head, while the other two were much farther north. After a brief debate, he decided to spend his coin of surprise on the two ships together. If he were very lucky, he might be able to disable the ion cannon on one of the ships with his first strike. And it was much better if any immediate reinforcements consisted of one ship rather than two.

 We have got to get those cloaking devices of Pidge’s on the rest of the Lions.

 Agreed.

 As they cleared the horizon, Hunk brought up the Lion’s jaw blades and put on as much speed as possible. The Galra clearly were not expecting any problems and their weapons did not start firing until he was well within visual range. Flying straight and true, they went for the ion cannon of the near ship, scoring into its side up the entire length.

 The ion cannon exploded behind them. Hunk whooped and banked, trying for the same strategy on the other ship. But someone on that ship had quicker reflexes and the Yellow Lion bounced off a particle barrier.

 “Have I ever mentioned how much I hate quiznaking FORCE FIELDS?” Hunk’s voice rose in frustration.

 Both warships had launched fighters and now Hunk had to concentrate on staying out of the way and letting as few energy bolts hit him as possible. He tried to imitate some of the evasive tactics he had seen Shiro and Keith use, but the Yellow Lion was just too slow for some of the pinpoint maneuvers. After a lot of shoving fighters into each other, he found some success in flying between the warships, causing havoc when the attacks started taking each other out in ‘friendly fire’. The close quarters made it easier to drive fighters into the hull of a warship and the numbers started going down steadily.

 Beware! The other ship is on the way!

 He was distracted just enough as he tried to think of a way to compensate for the new aggression that he slowed momentum. And those damnably clever Galra took the opportunity and moved closer to one another, catching Yellow and pinning him between them. Hunk felt the Lion shudder as they closed in.

 “NO! Come on, work loose!” Hunk pulled the steering poles, trying to break the pincer hold, but the only response was an ominous groaning of metal. He opened the communications screen.

 “Hunk to Voltron Team, I need help! Galra attack at my location!”

 “We read you, Hunk! On our way!” Shiro’s voice was the most beautiful thing Hunk had ever heard.

 He braced himself in the cockpit as more metal creaked. “Come on, come on, come on, we can do this! I won’t let you die this way!”

 As he spoke, he felt a flood of warm, yellow-gold energy surge through him and something seemed to break through a barrier he hadn’t known existed. A new strength filled him and he pushed with that strength.

 And the Yellow Lion braced inside a new layer of heavy armor, massive claws slashing at the warships holding him in place.

 “Oh, hell yes!”

 <> <> <> <> <>

 He was safe here. Here there were no attacks, no questions, no probing. Here only held himself and his Other. She surrounded him with soft warmth, soothing and comforting him.

 I have you, my Paladin. I can protect you for a little while. But you need to let me help you.

 There was a reason…what was it? His Other could indeed protect his physical body as well as his true self, but there was a reason. She protected him, but he also protected her. What was he protecting her from?

 I can be careful, Paladin.

 That was it. Fear that if she caused unnecessary casualties that she would be captured and possibly destroyed. He had to prevent that.

 I have to protect you, too.

 The enemy was afraid. Fear was a poor basis for making a rational decision. She had pointed that out herself. It made her unhappy that he was using her words against her, but she conceded the point.

 Go back, my Paladin. I think you are safe for the moment.

 He trusted her. He trusted her more than any entity in the universe. But he still asked, because it was his nature to ask: Are you sure?

 Yes. You are safe for the moment, my cub.

 <> <> <> <> <>

 Allura stepped between the steering poles of the Castle-ship and began entering the coordinates for Arus. Part of her was almost giddy in anticipation of reuniting Pidge with her family. Another part of her was already planning arguments to leave the Holts there while they retrieved Hunk and Keith. Pidge’s father was a master organizer and would be able to begin the process of either assisting former slaves home or helping them settle with the Arusians. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a communication screen popped up, showing a frantic Hunk.

 “Hunk to Voltron Team, I need help! Galra attack at my location!”

 “We read you, Hunk! On our way!” Shiro shot to his feet and moved to his elevator. “Lance, tell Dr. Holt to pass the word for everyone to stay in place and get to your Lion!”

 “Copy!”

 Allura quickly switched gears and focused her willpower on the Yellow Lion. Coordinates sprang up on the screen and her fingers dashed over the controls before moving to the steering poles. “Ready for wormhole!”

 Coran set his controls. “Go!”

 The Castle-ship dove through the ring into the inky purple void.

 <> <> <> <> <>

 The warships had sprung apart enough with the appearance of the Yellow Lion’s super-armor that they were free again. Hunk guided the front paws gleefully, the new enormous claws positively shredding the hull of the nearer ship.

 “Oh, let’s see what these can do to a force field!” They shot over to the ion cannon and swiped. A gratifying series of cracks appeared. Hunk shifted the controls and tried driving the outstretched claws into the field. The web of cracks widened and Hunk backed up and fired his lasers at the weak spot.

 The force field popped like a soap bubble.

 “Yeah! That was so much easier! Let’s slice and dice this cannon!”

 The Lion’s claws penetrated and ripped, tearing the cannon loose from its base, and Hunk whooped with triumph.

 PALADIN!

 The blast from the newly-arrived third ion cannon sent him spinning out of control.

 <> <> <> <> <>

 The second they exited the wormhole, Allura brought the particle barrier up. Two Lions shot out of their hangars and made straight for the cluster of Galra ships.

 “Hunk, where are you?”

 “SSSHHHIIIIIRRRRROOOOOOOO!!!”

 “There he is! He just crashed into the bridge of the near ship!”

 “Good job, Lance! Let’s see if we can run those two ships together. Princess, can you keep the third ship busy for just a few minutes?”

 “On it!”

 “Hunk, do you copy? We’re going to try and ram the two ships together! Can you maneuver?”

 “Yeah…yeah, we’re okay!”

 “Whoa, Hunk! What happened to your Lion? It’s like, mecha-zoided!”

 Hunk steered the Yellow Lion over toward Lance’s side. “It’s great, isn’t it? It just kind of happened when I needed it most.”

 “Okay, you two! Push!”

 With Black on one side and Blue and Yellow on the other, they gripped edges of the ship hulls with their teeth and fired thrusters. Slowly, the two ships ground together and explosions erupted all over them. As a particularly large firecloud erupted over the propulsion system of one ship and leapt to the other, Shiro disengaged.

 “That’s got those taken care of. Let’s get the third!”

 The three Lions flew to where the Castle-ship was in a standoff, slowly losing the protection of the particle barrier with repeated blasts from the Galra ion cannon. The strikes from the Castle-ship had done some damage, but not landed a crippling blow.

“Jawblades, everyone! Start with weapons systems and engines!”

 It was a matter of minutes to disable the final ship. As Hunk relaxed, the heavy armor on the Yellow Lion winked out of existence and he patted the handles of his steering columns. “You really came through. Thanks.”

 <> <> <> <> <>

 Back at the village, Pidge settled into the partially rebuilt hut that the Arusians had assigned her. She pulled off her helmet and outer layer of armor, debating whether she could borrow the Arusians’ bathhouse before going to sleep and possibly find some spare clothing and try to clean her under-armor. Someone had left a plate of snacks for her and she was touched to see that whoever it was had paid attention and assembled her favorite examples of Arusian cuisine.

 She began pulling out some of the equipment she would need to start the Galra glove project. She set her repaired power source out and dug around for a solar cell she had spotted before. She jury-rigged a connection and quickly verified that the setup was compatible. Now she would be able to keep the Galra power source charged as she worked on other things. She pulled out a disembodied sentry hand and began dismantling it.

 In her concentration, Pidge completely missed that there were voices coming from her helmet on the other side of the room. She felt a nudge in her head. “Huh? What is it, girl? Is something happening?”

 She retrieved her helmet and put it on. She blinked in surprise at hearing Shiro direct Lance and Hunk in mopping up some stray fighters. “Wait, what happened?”

 Allura replied, “Hunk ran into some Galra warships and we had to go help him. Is everything all right with you?”

 “Yeah, no problems at all.”

 “Good. I think we’re going to have to arrange for these refugees to go elsewhere. We have to assume someone reported their presence.”

 “It’s okay. I’ve got plenty here to keep me busy.” And the longer you take to get here is more time I can use to go through the prisoner database.

 “Thank you, Pidge. Allura out.”

 Pidge removed the helmet and frowned. Surely there was a better way to maintain communication between them than wearing the helmets all the time? Allura used those earrings of hers, but Pidge expected at least one of the boys would object to that.

 Maybe an earpiece analog? But if it’s something we wear all the time, we’d have to find a way to make it detect when we have our helmets on so we don’t get double audio when we wear them. Maybe a wrist mount would be better.

 She felt the Green Lion’s curiosity at the idea and smiled, mentally shuffling her project list.

 <> <> <> <> <>

 Keith returned to himself and as was now habit, kept his eyes closed and body still while he listened and assessed. He was still immobilized. The room was quiet, but at least one person was shuffling around. While he waited, he heard glass clinking against metal and the sound of fingers on a keyboard.

 Someone approached and Keith couldn’t prevent himself from flinching when they made contact with his arm. A hand touched his forehead, smoothing his hair back.

 “Easy, son. Everything’s okay for the moment. Just putting this bandage in place. Drew a bit of blood to run an analysis, make sure there aren’t any nasty alien bugs hiding in there.”

 Keith held rigid and still. He opened his eyes to see the medtech that had entered with Darzi and recoiled from him again. The man leaned over, examining his face.

 “I’ll get something for your eyes and that mark on your mouth. Can’t really do anything for the bruising, but it’ll fade in a few days. My name’s Perkins, by the way. I’ll be keeping an eye on you for a while.”

Next chapter