#there's no ground on hunk's team or flying on shiro's but I think it's fine

[discordiansamba]

good morning, decided to make Pokemon teams for the VLD squad out of the blue this morning so now I am sharing them all with you.

Keith's team. his mom left the Ultra Beast behind for him. I'm sure there's no need to read into that any. Ceruledge because it's the most painfully obvious Keith Pokemon to exist. Liepard bc well. it's a purple cat. Beheeyem is an alien. Don't question that one either. It's fine. It doesn't mean anything.

allura's team. cute, girly, and can definitely kill you. a Primarina as a nod to her becoming the blue paladin. Clefable because it's very cute and also has ties to space. don't worry about the paradox pokemon I'm sure it doesn't mean anything.

hunk's team. Pom-Pom Oricorio is literally the perfect Pokemon for him. It too, wants to cheer everyone on. Alolan Raichu instead of regular Raichu bc Alolan Raichu apparently gained that form bc it ate a bunch of pancakes. this is a very Hunk vibe.

the Pidge squad. She would have a Porygon2 instead of a Porygon-Z, I think. Ferrothorn bc it's a grass/steel type that connects both to her love of computers and the fact that she's the green paladin. look me in the eye and tell me Pidge wouldn't have a Vikavolt. You can't.

lance has a LOT of water, but also an Armarouge to contrast Keith. But also all but one of these Pokemon rotates around guns/cannons somehow! Swanna bc it's a graceful and pretty Pokemon that also isn't super difficult to obtain. I think Lance doing some contests with it is a good fit.

coran's theme was mustaches and silly little guys. don't worry about the paradox pokemon here either, it still definitely doesn't mean anything. Sealeo is unevolved bc it is the superior goofy little guy over Walrein.

finally Shiro, who was the hardest one to pin down for some reason. I think he'd have a pretty strong squad, and then the Mightyena he caught in the grass near where he grew up back when it was just a little Poochyena.

[aspenmissing]

𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑 (𝙿𝚝 𝟷)

On the Belmera, Voltron stands in wait for the transport ship to open.

"Oh, no!" Pidge says.

"Please tell m ethere's not a giant monster in there. Please tell me it's empty! Or full of space candy. One of those two. Either one is fine"

"I don't think it's a pinata, Hunk" Y/N says.

"If it's the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it" Keith ises the Red Bayard to summon a saber for Voltron; Pidge readies Voltron's shield"

"Hold your ground!" Shiro shouts. The Robeast, Drazil, emerges from its transport ship and attacks Voltron with its chest cannon. The Paladins defends themselves with their shield, but are pushed back.

"It's not candy!"

"And it's not the same monster!" Frantically, Voltron dodges the chest cannon blasts.

"We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera's surface!" The Paladins try fighting Drazil while flying around to avoid getting the Balmera hit. They defend with their shield, but the Robeast's chest cannon is too strong.

"We can't hold out!"

"My Lion's weakining! If the shield sustains structual damage, we're done for!"

"Pidge is right!" Keithe says.

"Oh Pidge is right. I'm the one that say, "We can't hold out!"

"Lance, watch your footing!" Y/N says. The Blue lion trips, and Voltron falls over, losing its shield. The Paladins groan from the fall.

"Okay, Team Voltron, disband" The Lions split apart "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can't shoot us all at once!" Unfortunately, Drazil spreads its arms, which are covered in laser cannons, and fires all of them to assult the Paladins with laser fire.

"Okay, it can do that too" Y/N says. The Paladins scramble to avoide being hit; the Castle of Lions suddenly appears to blast Drazil with a laser. Drazil responds with laser fire.

"Where does Zarkon get these beasts from? And how do they keep finding us?" Allura asks herself.

"Princess, the particle barrier won't sustan much longer. It's still not a full strength after the blast from the Galra ship.

"Keith, try to draw its fire! I'm coming in from above!" Keith uses the Red Lion's head ray to draw the Robeast's attention while Shiro sneaks in from behind with the Black Lion, prepared to fire its mouth cannon. Drazil is able to rotate an eye cannon around and blast the Black Lion. Shiro pulls away at the last second to avoid being hit.

"We need to find its blind spot!" Lance says.

"I don't think this thing has a blind spot. It had a thousand eyes" Pidge says. Hunk is frantically dodging the laser in the Yellow Lion.

"Laser eyes. Laser eyes!" Hunk says. Y/N dodges an incoming laser in the Purple Lion.

"What do we do?" Y/N asks "Fighting this thing is like fighting an entre fleet at once!"

"I think we've got to aim for those laser eyes and take them out"

"We'll cover you from up here!" The Castle of Lions fires lasers at Drazil; the Robeast retaliates with an onslaught of laser fire against the Castleship's particle barrier. Soul whines and curles into a tight ball (Like a hedgehog) under Coran's console.

"We've lost the spectral generator! Goint to reserve! There's a fire in VIN bay three! Suppressors on!" Coran looks to another screen "Supressors out! Princess, the ship is being torn apart!" Coran panicks.

"We're taking heavy fire up here! We're in trouble!"

"Princess, pull back! Get out of its range, now!" Shiro says.

"We will not abandon you!"

"You're not abandining us. We're about to pull back anyway"

"We are?" Hunk asks.

"We can't hold out. We have to. Lions, to the mine shafts! It's the only place the monster can't get us"

"Roger that!" Y/N says.

"Heading into orbit!" The Paladins fly the Lions into the mine shafts while Castle of Lions flie into Space.

==

Shiro, Keith and Hunk meets Shay's family at the bottom of a mine shaft. Lance, Y/N and Pidge are in a different mine shaft.

"What is happening?" Rax asks.

"There's a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us" Keith says.

"A monster?" Shay asks "Will Zarkon's savagery never abate? Perhaps our people were never meant to be free"

"Shay, don't give up. Zarkon's power grows with every planet he conquers, but he's weakened by every being that fights back"

"Fight back? Against a monster like that? How?"

"I don't know, but we can beat it. Tell her, Keith"

"Can we?" Keith asks/

"Yes, we can. This is out first mission and we're not going to fail. We can beat it. We just neeed some time to come up with a plan"

"See? Told you we can. Thanks, Shiro" The Balmera groans and the planet rumbles "Do you guys feel that over there?" Lance, Y/N and Pidge are in a rumbling mine shaft.

"Yeah, we feel it" Y/N says.

"It's that sound again" Pidge says.

"What is that?" Lance asks. Shay's grandmother places her hand on the ground cracking apart. The Balmera stills.

"The great noise comes from the Balmera itself. Our home crumbles beneath out feet. The Balmera is dying" Shiro speaks to Allura and Coran over the communication channel.

"Coran, Allura, are you there?"

"Shiro, we're here"

"The Balmera-"

"We already know. Our scanners are showing the life energy draining from the Balmera" Coran brings up a scan of the Balmera on screen of the Castle of Lions. In the mine shaft, Pidge activated her armour to veiw the scan.

"How does that happen?" Coran speaks to the Paladins through the communication channel as Pidge and Shiro show the other Paladins the scan of the Balmera.

"Removing crystals from a Balmera is like removing a vital part of the might beast. the Belmera needs time to regenerate itselt to stay healthy, but the Galra's greed may have cost this noble Balmera its life"

"Poor thing" Y/N says.

"So, what's gonna happen?" Hunk asks.

"It's core will collapse, destabilizing the entire skeletal structure. Anything or anyone remaining on the Balmera at that point will be crushed into dust"

"How long before its core collapses?" Shiro asks.

"Probably a matter of hours. The mighty organism willingly gives itself to all, but not all return its kindness" On the Castle of Lions, Allura stands at the bridge.

"Then our time is short. We'll evacuate the planet. We need to get all the Balmerans to the Castle of Lions before the planet implodes" Shiro and Hunk appear on the Castle Screen.

"Okay, that sounds like a good plan, but how on Earth do you plan on landing the Castle with that monster-thingy on the surface?" Pidge and Y/N appears on the Castleships's screen.

"You'll need a distraction" Y/N says.

"We'll engage the beast in our Lionw. With it distracted, Allura and Coran will land the Caslt and load all of its citizens" Lance then appears on the screen.

"Or we could load Balmerans into out Lions a few at a time and shuttle them to the ship. No engaging ferocious laser-eye guys" Lance suggests "How long would that take?"

"Days? Weeks?" Keith appears on the screen.

"We only have hours"

"Look, we don't need to beat this think. We just need to bait it away from the ship" Shiro says "Provoke and evade"

"Okay, here's the thing. I'm worried that we're going to be really, really good at the provoking part, and then like really bad at the evading part" Hunk says "But if- if this is what is takes to save Shay and everyone on the planet, then I'm in" Keith turns to Shay.

"Can you contact the other Balmerans?" He asks.

"I can, but I know not what they'll say" She says "Leave the planet? Our home?"

"It's the only optionn" Allura says "I'm coming down"

"Princess, no! It's too dangerous" Coran says. Soul nods her head in agreement.

"Someone has to be there to lead these people out" Y/N speaks to Allura through their video transmission.

"You're coming down?" She asks.

"That thing will spot your pod and blow it to pieces" Pidge says.

"Let me worry about that. You just focus on keeping the creature distracted"

==

The Paladins launch their Lions from the mine shafts and attacks Drazil, who gives chase.

"Okay, we're provokes. Time to envade!" Hunk says. Allura is preparing to launch from the Castle of Lions on a drop-sled. Shiro speaks over their communication channel.

"Princess, we've lured the monsters away. It's time"

"I'll contact you all when I'm on the ground" Coran speaks over the Castle intercom.

"Be careful out there" Coran says. Allura launches from the Castleship. Coran looks to Soul "Well, its just you and me" She mades a noise and looks at the screen. Lance sees her descent.

"Is that Allura?" Lance asks. The Robeast Drazil tries to attack Allura with laser fire.

"We gotta protect the Princess!" Y/N says. She shields Allura with the Purple Lion and is badly hit. The other Paladins distract Drazil so Allura reaches the mine shaft safely. Shiro speaks to her over the communication channel.

"I'm on the ground"

"Hurry! I don't know how long we can hold this thing off" Allura runs over to Shay and her family.

"Shay, I'm going to need your help"

"Princess?" Shay asks. Allura places her hand on the tunnel wall.

"Have you contacted the other Balmerans?" Shay and her family look dejected "What is it? What's going on?"

"All Balmerans give thanks for the kindness you and the Paladins bestowed upon is, but, alas, we cannot take leave of our home"

"What?"

"If our great Balmera's life cycle is over because of us, then our desire is to stay with it until the end"

"But you'll never survive"

"We contacted the others, and all agree" Rax says "It's not right that you risk your lives for us. Please, away. We ask for no more guilt and shame upon us"

"It is out wish. The wish of all Balmerans"

"No. I won't give up on you. I won't give up on any of you, no matter the circumstances"

"But we do not ask this of you. Please!"

"I have heard your words. Now let me speak for you. I want to talk to the Balmerans. Can you get a message to them from me?"

"There is no need to speed for you. You have a unique power within. The Balmera will carry your words" Shay's grandmother points to Allura's hand on the wall, which is glowing. Allura recoils and speaks "Speak your heart, child. All can hear you" Shay's Grandmother takes Allura's hand and places it back on the wall. Allura focuses and speaks aloud, but her words are transmitted to all Balmerans.

"Balmerans, this is Princess Allura. You don't know me, but I am here to help. I know what it's like to watch your home planet die. For I come from planet Altea , a planet that has long been destroyed by the Galra. But I refuse to give up. And now, you all have the same choice. You can decide now to devote your lives to making sure this never happens to another planet. I am eternally sorry for what has happened to the Balmera, but I beg you, do not let its dying be in vain. Honour the Balmera's death by refusing to give up. Join me in my fight against the Galra" Shay's grandmother places her own hand on the wall to hear the response.

"Your words have touched out hearts"

"Thank you"

"No, thank you. You've given us reason to hope again"

"Everyone, head to the caves just under the surface. Coran and Soul are looking at the map of the Balmera on the Castle of Lions showing Balmerans moving.

"Princess, your speech must have worked. The Balmerans are moving towards the surface" Coran says.

"Coran, we're just beneath the surface. Triangular my position. This is your landing zone"

"Yes, Allura. Readying ship. Castle of Lions, coming in! Paladins, how are you holding up?" Y/N is fighting Drazil.

"I think we've got him pretty distracted. Are the Balmerans in position?" She asks.

"They're making their way to the top" All the Balmerans slowly climb towards the surface. The Castle of Lions lands just outside a mine shaft. Coran descends to the surface in a transport pod, Soul beside him, and motions for Balmerans to enter.

"Bring them out! Hurry, now!" Coran says. Soul makes a gesture to come in. The Balmera suddenly rumbles violently, causing the mine shaft to start crumbling and rock slides to occure.

"No!" Balmerans are in a panic but not injured.

"It's on the verge of collapsing! We have to go!"

"But the Balmerans!"

"They're trapped! What can be done? Time is short!" Rax says. The Paladins are dodging Drazil's lasers in their Lions; the lasers are hitting the Balmera.

"Every hit weakens the Balmera. Have you evacuated yet? What's happening?" Coran speaks over the communication channel.

"The Balmerans are trapped. Just keep distracting that beast!" He says.

"Uh, do you want us to distract it by dying? Because that's what's going to happen"

"Guys, remember when I said we didn't have to beat it?" Shiro says.

"Yes, I remember that" Hunk says.

"Well, we might have to beat it" Allura looks over the mine shaft.

"We're lost! All are trapped with no chance for escape!"

"We can't give up"

"But what can be done?" Shay notices the ground undertenath the Castle of Lions "The Balmera...The ground beneath your mighty ship appears healed. Its essence thrives. But how?"

"The Castle!"

"Not just the castle, but you as well"

"It's true. Your Altean energy combined with the snips Crystal has revitalized this part of the Balmera" Coran says.

"That's it! Maybe we can perform the ceremony you spoke about. We can save the Balmera"

"What ceremony?" Rax asks.

"In the days of old, when Alteans were given the gift of Crystals from a , we would repay its sacrifice by performing a ceremony. A sacred Altean would re-infuse the with . In this way, we had a symbiotic relationship"

"The Galra have only been taking. It's time we give back" Allura says. Soul jumps up and down in agreement "I can connect with the Crystal in the Bridge and use the Castle's power as an amplifier"

"When your father performed the ceremony, it was on a smaller scale. I beg you. To heal an entire planet, it could take more energy than you possess. You may not...live through it"

"I know you're scared for me, Coran, but I must try" Allura begins the ceremony with Shay's family and the other Balmerans.

==

The Paladins are scrambling to avoid Drazil's laser fire.

"Guys, this isn't working. We'll never take this beast down in our Lions" Keith says.

"Well, forming Voltron didn't work, either"

"Not without some way to shoot all those laser eyes at once" The Yellow Lion displays the keyhole console for Hunk's bayard.

"That's weird. What are you trying to tell me?" Hunk summons his Bayard "Guys! Guys, something's happening here! I-I think there is a way to take down all those laser eyes at once"

"Well, what is it?"

"Do you remember how Voltron formed that sword with Keith's Bayard? I think my Lions telling me I can do the same thing with my bayard?"

"Are you sure?" Y/N asks.

"Let's find out. Form thingy!" Hunk inserts his bayard into the console; nothing happens "It didn't work!"

"Because we didn't form Voltron yet"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I know"

"Guys, whatever we're planning, let's hurry up and do it" Pidge says. The Robeast notices the Castle of Lions and moves in to attack.

"We're got to defent the Castle of Lions! Everyone, follow me. Form Voltron!" After forming, Voltron, Hunk's Bayard summons a shoulder cannon to counterattack Drazil's energy blast "It's not enough!"

"We'll have to try something else!" Hunk is able to deflect the blast away from the Castle of Lions. Voltron takes flight, drawing Drazil's attacks away from the Castleship. Hunk's computer shows Voltron has locked on to all of the Robeast's laser eyes "Are you guys seeing this?"

"Roger that?"

"Let's see what this thing can do. Engage!" The shoulder cannon fires a shower of energy bullets at once, hitting all of Drazil's eyes and rendering it still. Meanwhile, Allura performs the rejuvenation ceremony and Quintessense spreadys across the Balmera.

"Guys, look!" Y/N says. The Quintessence is absorbed. Drazil suddenly begins attacking Voltron again. Keith punches Drazil using the Red Lion. The Robeast falls to the ground in a heap, lying still. Allura is released from the energy of the Castleship. Shay gathers Allura in her arms. Soul puts her hands on Allura's arm, shaking her slightly.

"Princess, are you all right?" Allura appears unconscious, but wakes up.

"Did it work?" Rax has his hand on the ground.

"Yes. The Balmera lives. It thanks you" The Paladins leave their Lions and arrive to check on Allura. Soul runs up to Y/N and climbs up her legs and into her arms. Drazil suddenly reawakens a second time, preparing to attack them.

"No!" The Balmera suddenly courses its Crystals through the Monster, destroying it and encasing its body.

"Wow"

"No. Way"

"The Balmera just saved us"

"Look at the Crystals!" Crystals begin forming across the Balmera. Hunk begins petting the planet's surface.

"Oh, who's a good Balmera? You are. Who ate the big monster? You did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did" Shiro, Keith and Lance look unamused.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Keith asks.

"What? It's alive, and it wuvs my scwatches" Keith facepalms and Y/N laughs.

[justheretobreakthings]

Whumpmas in July: Day 9

@whumpmasinjuly

“Look at me.”

Read on AO3 My house, my rules, my ko-fi

Even through his paladin armor, the fire was far too hot. Shiro could swear he could feel the flames of the burning walls licking against his skin as he raced by them, and was certain he would be covered in blisters by the time he got back to the castle. His helmet – especially the crackling in his ear reminding him that the comm hadn’t been working since they’d entered Viuter’s atmosphere and would be no help to him now – was irritating him, making him feel trapped and claustrophobic and plastering his sweaty hair against his skull and preventing him from wiping his bangs out of his eyes. Still, it was protection, enough protection to keep him upright and moving, and even though smoke clouded his line of sight, the visor of his helmet kept it out of his eyes, and the oxygen actuator mostly kept him from breathing in the ash.

Which meant Keith’s armor was giving him that same protection. Which meant he was fine. Wherever he was.

Keith shouldn’t have been in the building in the first place. He’d been blocks away when the explosion had occurred, the paladins all having separated to confer with different members of the Viuteran council. It had made sense, getting more done in less time and everyone getting to stick to their specialties, and it had resulted in Keith being all the way in the infantry armory building at the time of the blast. Shiro, though, had been right near the explosion, in the next building over where he and Allura were meeting with a group of military strategists. As he’d been wearing armor and Allura hadn’t, it was only natural that Shiro was the one to take the initiative of running into the building and taking charge of evacuating as many Viuterans as he could.

Sure, it would have been better if the comms had been working and the paladins could all coordinate together, but that wasn’t really any more than a flickering and quickly dismissed thought in Shiro’s mind. He would focus on rescue now, find his teammates when he was done.

It took longer than he would have liked to reach the point when he could look for them, but it came eventually. Once the building was deeply engulfed in flames and there was too much risk of it collapsing in on itself for it to be safe for Shiro to go back in and keep up the rescue efforts. He handed off an unconscious Viuteran to an emergency worker and looked around to find himself in the midst of a dizzying scene. Sirens were wailing, soldiers and civilians alike were running amok, some trying to escape, some trying to help contain the spreading fire. And all of it cast in an eerie red, the thick smoke in the sky blocking out all light except for that of the fire.

Pidge was the paladin he spotted, her green armor sticking out boldly against all the red and gray, and her face flooded with relief when spotted him approaching. “Oh thank fuck!” she cried, rushing to meet him. “When Allura said you were in there I – I didn’t know if – God, kept hoping the comms would magically start working and I could make sure you were – ”

“Is Allura okay?” Shiro hated to interrupt, but now that he’d found one of his teammates, he was more than eager to find the rest, make sure everyone was okay.

“Right, right, follow me,” Pidge said, and she hurried to lead the way, winding through the chaos. “Allura’s this way, they’ve got first aid stuff going so that was the first place I looked, to see who was hurt. Lance and Coran – they left ages ago. Before this bomb, apparently a different one went off on the other side of the city. Like, one minute difference. My guess is they were planned to go off at the same time, but they weren’t coordinated quite right. Anyway, they went to get Blue and they were heading that way, so I don’t know when they’re gonna be – ”

“Shiro! Shiro, you’re okay!” A voice cut across Pidge’s rapid speech as they approached what appeared to be a makeshift triage center in the square, and Shiro turned to see Hunk clambering in their direction as fast as the armful of medical supplies he was carrying would allow. Behind him, Allura looked up from where she had been bent over an injured Viuteran, her glowing hands pressed against his leg. Relief washed over her face, and she started in their direction too the moment she had finished.

Shiro nodded in acknowledgment to Hunk. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Hunk asked. “You’re not hurt at all? Your armor’s looking kinda beat up, you might be hurt and not even realize it because of adrenaline! Do you feel dizzy at all? Do you need water? Do you need to sit down?”

“Hunk, I’m fine, really,” Shiro reassured him, turning his attention to Allura as she joined them. “How’s everything holding up here?”

“As well as we can hope for,” Allura said. “Everyone’s been too busy trying to get people to safety to investigate, so I don’t know where the bombs were, who may have been behind it, what the intent was – I take Keith was able to reach you? Where is he now?”

Shiro frowned. “What?”

“I thought – surely by now he would’ve – ”

“Allura,” Shiro said, voice tight. “What do you mean? Where’s Keith?”

“He was here, but he – I told him where you’d gone, and he took off, didn’t even let me finish the sentence. I thought he was going to help you with the evacuation.”

Keith had gone after him. Shiro had gone into the heart of the fire, and Keith had followed him in, and he hadn’t even realized. It hadn’t even occurred to him until Allura mentioned his name that he hadn’t yet seen Keith anywhere, but now…

Shit.

“I’m going after him,” he said, turning on his heel.

“What?” Pidge said. “Hang on, you think he’s still looking for you in there?”

“I know he is.”

“Wait, Shiro,” Allura said, “It’s certainly not safe! Surely Keith would have had the sense to get out of there by this point, we ought to – ”

“No.” Shiro shook his head. “No, he’s – I gotta get him. I’ll meet you all here when I’ve found him.”

One of them called his name again, as he took off running, but he ignored it. All his focus was on moving forward, his feet pounding the ground as he raced faster than he could ever remember having moved in his life, back toward the flames.

In any other circumstances, Shiro would agree that, yes, Keith had the sense to get out. He could be rash and stubborn and even foolish at times, but Shiro at least liked to think that Keith had been getting better about knowing when it was better to retreat than to dive headlong into danger. His failed battle with Zarkon, at least, had knocked that lesson into his head.

But he knew Keith, and more importantly, he knew Keith’s past. As little as Keith liked to open up about his life, he had at least let Shiro in on a bit about his dad. And how he’d lost him. Shiro had seen the look in Keith’s face whenever his dad had come up, the emptiness and desolation when he’d explained how that fire had taken him.

And he had seen the desperation and determination in his little brother’s eyes whenever Keith made it clear that he couldn’t go through a loss like that again. Whenever he insisted that he’d never have to take on the role of team leader because Shiro wasn’t going anywhere. He’d heard about Keith’s expulsion from the Garrison, the explosive lengths he went to in order to get Shiro out to his shack.

When it came to family – when it came to Shiro – all logic and reason was out the window.

And now Keith might very well meet his end because of it.

Making his way through the burning building required him to shut out all of his natural instincts pointing him to safety, screaming at him to get out of there before he wound up seriously hurt, or worse. He had to turn on the shade of his visor to keep the brightness of the flames from blinding him, and even then it was hard to be certain where he was going. Halls were blocked by burning debris, pieces of the building falling around him and some coming dangerously close to taking him out with them. Shiro jetpacked through a singed hole in the ceiling when the hall behind him folded in on itself, blocking his route to the main entrance, and every step on the second floor was accompanied by creaks and crackles that had him bracing himself to fall right through at any second.

Still, he kept going. Pushing through the heat and the sparks and the roar of the flames, yelling Keith’s name over the noise and through the billowing smoke. None of that was important. All that mattered was finding Keith.

He had to find Keith. Had to find him. Had to find him. Had to –

A crack sounded above him, and around the corner and along the hall, flaming shards of ceiling toppled down, and that’s when he spotted it: the distinct blue light that accompanied a shield activating from a paladin’s armor.

Keith. Ducked under his shield, fire and rubble tumbling around him, the red and white of his suit gray with ash. Alive, and moving, and okay.

He was okay.

Shiro dived into the wreck, knocking falling debris aside with his sword hand and, voice breaking in sheer release, shouting out, “Keith!”

Keith’s head shot up at the sound of his name, and although for a brief moment he stumbled from the battering against his shield, there was no mistaking the way his exhausted eyes widened the moment he spotted Shiro across the hall, as if he were seeing a ghost, only for his face to light up in stunned relief.

He may have shouted something in reply that was drowned out by the fire raging around them, or he may have sprung up from his crouch without a word. Either way, Shiro got no warning before Keith was practically flying across the hall to tackle him in a hug.

Shiro stumbled back, startled. It wasn’t as though hugging was completely out of Keith’s character – once he knew and trusted the person giving them, he practically reveled in them – but he was never the one to initiate the embrace. A means of preemptively shielding himself from being turned away, perhaps; a fear that the gesture may be misinterpreted, may be mistaken as something romantic or even sexual; maybe simply a matter of making sure he never set off any discomfort related to touch that Keith was often prone to himself. Shiro had never known for certain which was the case, but it all made Keith a distinctly non-touchy person. Even when they had first been reunited after Shiro’s disastrous return from Kerberos, Keith hadn’t hugged him with this much fervor.

It all spoke to just how terrified Keith had been, how desperately he’d been searching for Shiro. The embrace was a grounding one. He was pressing himself so firmly against Shiro, gripping his brother so tightly. As though reassuring himself that Shiro was really there. Like if he dared to let go, Shiro would vanish back into the smoke and flame.

“Hey,” Shiro said, trying to keep his voice soothing despite needing to practically shout to ensure he could be heard, arm wrapping around Keith’s trembling back. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here.”

“I thought – ” Keith choked out through his helmet’s speaker. “Allura said – she said you – you’d gone into – into – ”

“I know. I know.”

“You went into the fire. Shiro, you went into the fire, I thought you – I was going to lose you, I had to find you, I couldn’t – I couldn’t just let – ”

“It’s all right, Keith, I promise. I’m okay.”

“You could’ve died! You almost died, you almost burned up and never said goodbye, I thought you were dead, I – ”

“Hey. Keith. Look at me.” Keith kept his face buried in Shiro’s chest, so he pulled back to hold him by the shoulders. “Look at me, okay? I’m right here, see? I’m not dying on you yet. Swear it.”

“Y-yeah. I see you.” His voice shook, and this close up, Shiro could see the redness of his face, the way his eyes seemed to be struggling to stay focused. As hot-blooded as Keith ran, even he was susceptible to fire like this. “Sorry. Sorry, I’m – I was just…”

“Scared?” Shiro finished for him, and Keith nodded weakly. “That’s okay. I get it. And hey, you found me. You found me, I’m here, and we’re okay. And now – ” A crackling sounded from above, and Shiro yanked Keith aside without a second thought, throwing up a shield as a beam collapsed right where the latter had been standing, showering the two of them in sparks. “Now we gotta get outta here, okay? We gotta run.”

“Yeah.” Keith took a trembling breath and straightened as Shiro let his shield fizzle away. “Got it, let’s go. Just – ” Shiro looked down to see Keith’s gloved hand wrapping around the gauntlet of Shiro’s armor. “No splitting up. Please.”

Shiro smiled. “Deal. We won’t let each other out of our sights. Come on.”

He activated his sword hand, and beside him, Keith did the same with his shield. Ready to race back through the flames, side by side.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Scattered Blue (Part 1)

Written for the Kidge Spring Event!

Prompt 3: Forget-me-nots | True Love, Memories, Remembrance 

Summary: Alternate Universe. From the moment the first blue petal passed her lips, Pidge knew what was happening to her.

Also posted on AO3 under the username Kishirokitsune

❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀

Part One: Pidge

The small blue petal haunted her from the time she woke up to the time she laid her head down to go back to sleep. There was a part of her that desperately wanted to ignore it and what it meant, hoping it would go away if she just wished hard enough for it.

But as with all things in life, wishing did nothing without her also taking action.

Pidge covered her mouth as she coughed hard, feeling something slide up through her throat until it splattered out into her hand. She caught a glimpse of blue as she shoved that hand into her pocket to hide the evidence.

“Is everything okay?” Hunk asked in concern. He and Lance sat across from her at the cafe table they'd snagged for their weekly lunch.

“Everything's great!” she lied with a smile. “How was your flight, Lance? You transported some heavy cargo to the east coast base, right?”

Lance shrugged. “It was just a normal, boring flight. No issues.”

“Which is a good thing,” Hunk said, his tone long-suffering.

Lance agreed with a grumble that spoke strongly of his true feelings. He'd always dreamed of being more than a “simple” cargo pilot, no matter how often Pidge and Hunk tried to remind him that he was the backbone of the Garrison and served a pivotal role in keeping everything running smoothly.

“What about you?” Hunk asked Pidge. “You and Keith have been testing the new jets. That must be fun.”

Pidge's heart fluttered at the mention of Keith's name and she swallowed to try and stop the cough that threatened to overtake her. “Um, y-yeah. Yeah, it's been a ton of fun.”

Hunk and Lance exchanged alarmed looks at her unusually lackluster response and Pidge wanted to swear, but instead, she reached for her water and took several swallows until her throat was clear.

“Keith giving you problems? I could kick his butt for you,” Lance volunteered.

“We're fine, so please don't get yourself suspended trying to fight him,” Pidge said with a roll of her eyes. She set down her drink. “Our test flight went great! We're just waiting for the technical report to come back before we can go up again and there were a few minor tweaks the ground crew wanted to make to improve how responsive the controls are. Shiro's been coaching us through new drills while we wait.”

“Ugh, you're so lucky. You get Shiro as a mentor and you get to test fly the new jets. Can we trade lives for one day?” Lance asked.

“That means you'd have to work with Keith,” Pidge reminded him.

“Good point. I'd much rather trade with Keith and have you as my partner,” Lance said, sitting back in his chair as the waitress arrived with their meals.

Pidge rolled her eyes as he went about his usual routine of flirting with their waitress. She briefly considered apologizing on his behalf but figured it would only encourage him to keep going. At least he wasn't making a complete fool of himself and thus, by extension, of her and Hunk as well.

They didn't do much talking as they enjoyed their food and it was only as they got down to the last few bites and were contemplating dessert that Pidge asked Hunk how he was doing in the engineering department. His eyes lit up as he began describing their experiments with a new lightspeed engine that they hoped would be capable of drastically reducing the amount of time it took to get to the farthest planets in their solar system.

“Pretty soon you and Keith will be preparing to fly one of these! Well, uh, if everything goes the way we hope,” Hunk said, rapidly backpedaling in an attempt to curb his own enthusiasm.

“That sounds incredible, Hunk! You'll have to keep me updated,” Pidge said.

Hunk grinned back at her. “I will.”

In the end, they decided against ordering dessert at the cafe and instead walked a few blocks down to Lance's favorite gelato place where they each got a scoop in a little paper cup so they could walk and eat at the same time.

Every now and then, Pidge had to turn away and cough, though thankfully she didn't end up with any fresh petals. For the rest of the night, she didn't find a single speck of blue when she pulled her hand away and she went to bed with a smile on her face and no worry lingering in her mind.

She danced around her room with a spring in her step when morning came, taking a little extra time on her hair and putting a little bit of color on her eyelids, which she normally saved for special occasions. By some miracle, she didn't drip any of her breakfast onto her uniform and was able to leave the house soon after by catching a ride with her brother, who was also on his way to the Galaxy Garrison.

They split up after he parked in the Garrison's garage, with Matt heading over to the labs where they were analyzing new plugs taken from Saturn's moon, Enceladus, while Pidge went to the gym to meet up with her flight partner and get started on their training for the day.

Keith was already there warming up when she arrived. His black hair was tied back out of his face and he had swapped out of the heavy uniform in favor of a pair of gray shorts and a black tank top.

Pidge caught his attention with a wave before gesturing towards the locker room, silently indicating that she was going to get changed and would be out soon. Once she was dressed in her own gray shorts and Garrison-provided orange shirt she jogged out to Keith, dodging around the others who were taking advantage of the open gym.

“Hey, did you get the itinerary Shiro sent?” Keith asked the moment she was close enough to be heard.

Pidge had to take a moment to think about it. She's woken up to two messages from Shiro that morning – one was a note regarding a slight change in their schedule and the other was a list of what they'd be covering that week. She assumed he was talking about the week-long one. “I glanced it over. It looks like it's mostly what we do every week.”

“Yeah, except for Friday. Do you think I can convince Shiro to give me a pass to skip out on the annual health screening after what they pulled last year?” Keith asked.

“Doubt it, though I bet he'd go with you if you're really worried about it,” Pidge said as dread began to creep in her chest.

At their last screening, the nurse helping Keith found something “odd” in his blood and ordered him into quarantine for two weeks while they tried to puzzle it out. The Garrison medical team ran test after test, asking Keith all kinds of invasive questions, until Shiro, with the help of Commander Iverson, put an end to it all. Keith was let go, but he then had to suffer through several months of resurgent rumors about his parentage and whether or not his abilities were because he wasn't fully human.

Keith was anti-social and a little awkward, which when coupled with his innate sense of how to pilot and the fact that he out-flew even seasoned pilots on the simulator on his first try, led to a number of rumors that one of his parents weren't human or even that Keith himself was born somewhere far beyond their solar system. It was all nonsense, of course.

Pidge had her own reasons for being worried about the screening. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they would find out about her affliction.

Hanahaki.

Just putting a name to it made it feel all the more real and terrifying.

“Hey,” Keith said, nudging her gently. “It'll be alright. I'm really not worried about anything happening again this year. They wouldn't dare.”

Pidge did her best to smile and try to reassure him that she'd also be there to stop them if they tried anything, but the weight of what was happening to her dragged her down, threatening to drown her if she didn't wrestle back control of her emotions. Her breath stuttered in her chest, a cough building even as she cleared her throat to try and chase it off. Her eyes watered.

“Pidge?” Keith's tone turned concerned and he placed one hand on her back to keep her steady.

She couldn't hold it back any longer.

Once her coughing started, it was nearly impossible to stop as something thick and slightly scratched traveled up through her throat, threatening to block her breathing, until it finally began to slide out. Pidge gagged and coughed even harder, forcing a long stem and the accompanying blooms out of her mouth and into her hands.

All she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. Dark spots danced across her vision and she swayed, nominally aware of Keith holding her up. Pidge closed her eyes.

❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀

She woke in the medical wing.

Or at least, she thought that was where she was at first glance, but closer inspection of the wall next to her and the lack of orange décor told her that she was most likely at the Plaht City Memorial Hospital. Pidge stared at the wall for a moment and then slowly, stiffly turned her head to look around the room, which was when she realized Keith was sitting at her bedside and staring at her with a worried expression on his face.

“Wh... what happened?” Pidge groggily asked.

“You passed out,” Keith told her. “Pidge, why didn't you say anything sooner?”

She looked away from him. “Didn't want to. S'fine, Keith. I can handle it.”

“You can handle it? Pidge, this isn't going to go away on its own!” Keith's voice raised to a near shout. He blanched and ran a hand through his hair, clearly struggling to calm down. “You... Will you at least tell me who it is? I could go get them and... and then everything would be fine, right? Unless... you've already told them?”

Pidge swallowed thickly and glanced to the bedside table, hoping to see a glass of water there, but there was nothing. “It doesn't matter.”

“Of course it matters!”

“They don't feel the same way,” Pidge said, refusing to meet his eyes. “I don't need to ask them in order to know that.”

Keith growled in frustration and stood up. “I don't buy that for a second! Who wouldn't like you?”

“Keith...”

“Just tell me who it is and I'll go talk to them,” he said fiercely. “Or I'll bring them here, whichever works best for you. Please, Pidge, I just want to help. You're my best friend.”

Her chest clenched painfully at those words and Pidge wondered for a moment if she were about to be launched into another coughing fit, but after a moment or two, the pain subsided to mere discomfort, which allowed her to speak again.

Not that she really wanted to speak, since that meant revealing the truth: she was in love with him.

That was the cause of the Hanahaki Disease. Flowers would take root in the lungs, growing until there was no place left for them to go. The body naturally tried to rid itself of the invasion by coughing them up but there was only so long that could keep the disease at bay before it became too much for the body to handle. Sometimes, the person afflicted could “cure” themselves by falling out of love before the disease progressed too far. Otherwise, there were three ways it could end: in the death of the infected, by surgical removal, or by having their love reciprocated.

The last of those was the best-case scenario – the one that was often used in the plots of movies or cheesy romance novels. Having one's love returned would effectively shrink the flowers until they were gone completely.

Surgery was a more recent option, though one that some still chose to reject even if it meant their death. Choosing to surgically remove the flowers meant also removing any feelings they had for that person and often resulted in the complete loss of memory of them as well. No one could pinpoint why it was like that and all attempts to improve on the surgery fell flat.

Those were the options sitting before Pidge.

She didn't want to die. That much was for certain. There was still so much she wanted to see and do in the world, and though it broke her heart to think of needing to do it all without Keith, her partner, steadfast by her side, she wasn't going to give it all up. Besides, there was still the chance that she wouldn't forget about him. She was too stubborn for that. And if she could remember, maybe they could rebuild their friendship as well.

But what if she didn't remember?

Pidge slowly met his eyes.

He was her best friend too; the first person her own age that she'd ever truly gotten along with and felt comfortable around. Life without him wouldn't be nearly as vibrant. She couldn't lose him.

“Don't leave me,” she begged, her chest constricting as she forced the words out. She tried to sit up, her arms trembling from the effort, but gave up as Keith moved to help her. She shook her head and blinked back tears as she caught a whiff of his cologne, which usually inspired warm and fuzzy feelings, but instead dredged up an intense need to cough.

She swallowed, trying to force it away. She needed to talk first.

“Of course I'm not going to leave,” Keith tried to reassure her.

Pidge shook her head. “If... If I forget you, please don't leave me.”

Keith made a confused sound. “Why would you forget...?”

She could hear the exact moment he put the pieces together. The way his voice cracked was a dead giveaway just before his expression crumbled in distress. She reached out and grasped his hand. “It's okay, Keith. I know.”

He sucked in a shuddering breath. “It's not okay! Pidge, I-”

“You're not allowed to blame yourself,” she cut in. “This isn't your fault. You can't help who you like. Or who you don't like.”

While it wasn't something they'd exclusively talked about, she'd gotten the gist from past conversations that he wasn't someone interested in any kind of romance. He preferred focusing on his career and studies, which was something they'd always had in common right up until she went and fell for him.

She had to look away from him for a moment. “It's just... you're my best friend too and I don't want to forget that, but if I do then I need you to be there and make sure we stick together. I know that's a lot to ask.”

“No, it isn't,” Keith heatedly denied. “Of course I'll stay with you.”

Though Pidge mostly felt relieved by his agreeing to stay with her, there was still that sliver of worry that things could go wrong for them. But what choice did they really have?

She was saved from needing to talk about it more by the arrival of Shiro and her family, who crowded around her bed to ask if she was alright and if there was anything they could do to help. Matt seemed particularly stricken that he hadn't noticed anything wrong when he spent the most time with her, though her mom was a close second.

Once he was sure Pidge would be okay, her dad took charge of the situation and arranged for her surgery to take place that evening by calling on a few favors and using his influence as a Commander at the Galaxy Garrison. It took a little more convincing on Pidge's part, as well as some hefty backup from Shiro, to make an allowance for Keith to stay with her outside of surgery. It all happened so fast that she didn't have time to think about everything else she wanted to say to Keith, just in case she wouldn't get the chance later.

Her family stayed until the last few minutes until Shiro was able to direct them out into the waiting room so she and Keith could have one last moment alone.

And it was in those last few minutes that genuine fear struck Pidge.

She didn't want to forget him.

She didn't want to lose his friendship.

Heavy tears flooded her eyes, dripping down her cheeks without her fully realizing it. She choked back a sob as she looked at Keith. “I-I-...”

She couldn't get the words out.

Keith didn't need her to say anything. He got up so he could sit on the edge of her bed instead, cradling her against him and offering physical comfort. He refused to budge as the anesthesiologist entered and began prepping her arm for the IV which would administer the anesthetic directly into her bloodstream.

“Count backward from one-hundred, dear.”

Pidge tried, but she was still too choked up to speak and had to settle for mouthing it instead. Rather quickly, Keith's soft reassurances faded and she dropped off to sleep.

❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀

There was an annoying beeping sound that cut through her dreams, dragging Pidge back into the realm of consciousness. It was a strange, rhythmic sound – wholly different from the obnoxious screeching of her alarm clock. She groaned as she opened her eyes and had to squint against the sudden, harsh light that reflected off of crisp white sheets and plain white walls. The only spot of color near her was a single stem of purplish flowers that was placed in a water glass on the bedside table.

“Pidge?” an unfamiliar voice called her name, relief present in their tone.

Her head felt heavy as she turned it to face whoever was speaking to her. She figured it was a nurse or something – she had to be in a hospital of some kind – but instead, she found a young man with dark hair sitting in a chair at her bedside.

“You're awake!” he said, a smile blossoming across his face. “How do you feel?”

“M'okay,” she said thickly. She stared at him for a moment and watched as his smile faded. “Sorry, but who are you?”

He reeled back as though he'd been slapped, his expression dropping into something close to pure anguish. “I...” He paused and took a deep breath. “I'm Keith.”

[toxxicsky]

Avatar and team Voltron. Chapter 4

Keith was rather surprised. This wasn’t supposed to be a formal Agni Kai but somehow he managed to get quite a crowd in the battle arena. Though he shouldn’t be too surprised, word does seem to travel fast. Especially when you live in a castle where there is only gossip to keep you going.

He took a firm step into the arena and heard a small roar of people which only made him chuckle a little. Keith looked over to see Pidge and Hunk give him a thumbs up and shook his head, of course, they were the culprit for this multitude of people in such a short time. He kept walking and started to feel the glare of a certain one armed man who was glaring daggers in his back. 

Keith finally strolled to the middle of the arena, “Welcome everyone! I see many of you gathered to witness this fight today. I’m sure you are aware this will be a non exile Agni Kai, and there will be no permanent damage done to either party. I’m wanting to test the capability of Lance McClain, If he is to win I’m granting his freedom, but if he is to lose everyone in the palace will welcome him with open arms, and will be working here.”

 He looked over when the gate opened as Lance walked into the arena now fully dressed looking much more refreshed. “Lance, we will be fighting with swords, if need be we will use bending. But do your best to refrain. We do not want to accidentally hit the people here speculating.”

Lance reached out to grab the sword that was handed to him. “Sounds good to me, your highness,” He swung the sword in a figure eight then threw himself into a sloppy bow. Coming up from the bow he faltered a little when he caught a glimpse of dark chocolate skin, long silver hair, with the most beautiful blue eyes woman staring at him. 

He shook his head and looked back to Keith, and took a stance. Keith did the same following suit, but Lance could tell his stance looked much sturdier. They slowly started to circle each other but Lance started to lose his patience, and couldn’t wait any longer and charge after him. Keith easily blocked the sword pushing the sword towards Lance’s chest forcing him to jump back into a roll. Barely making it to his feet in time to see dust fly towards his face followed by a sword nearly slicing his face. 

“Oh wow, the great Fire Lord throwing cheap tricks.” He chuckled jumping back into the fight. 

“Never said this was going to be a fair fight!” and Lance felt his face go completely red with the way Keith smirked at him. 

The two went back and forth for a while, but Lance felt like he was going downhill. He was starting to struggle, and the more he struggled the more frustrated he got. He was losing his temper and what was once a simple back and forth was now starting to come out as snarls and yells, and was starting to feel heat in his hands.  

“Could you just, slow down!” He shouted then looked over to the crowd and caught the eye of Allura, and he was confused for a moment, she looked worried. That angered him; he knew she didn’t really care for him. He looked over at Keith with a snarl and rushed at him with such conviction that he left himself wide open that Keith easily knocked his sword right out of his hand, causing him to fall on the ground.

His brain blanked while fear suddenly filled his body. Images of water and ice rushing towards him. He backed on the snow, no dirt, crawling back. He was shaking as ice was charging at him like a spear. He did the only thing he could think to do was bring up a thick wall of fire that moved like water to protect himself. 

He then shot fire at the person to protect himself and was shocked to see the fire separate in a delicate arch and a hand reach out and grab his wrist pulling it back in one swift motion. Lance let out a low shriek in a panic expecting his arm to be turned into ice. 

“Calm down, say I win.” He heard the voice, Male. Then he remembered. He was fighting in an Agni Kai… with Keith. He took a breath looking around with a grunt and was happy to realize the crowd didn’t seem to notice his panic. 

“I admit defeat.” He said as loud as he could hoping his voice didn’t crack with the effort. 

The strong arm slowly released him, and Lance stumbled to all fours and looked up to see Keith walk in front of him. “As everyone can see, I am the victor and everyone will now welcome Lance with open arms in this castle. Now, Get out of here and back to work.” and Lance was surprised to see the people pout and sigh as they walked away seeming to go back to work without much of a fuss at all.”Pidge, Hunk, come with me to help Lance to your dorm house. He will be taking one last room in the house.”

  Lance would have chuckled seeing the girl with the chestnut hair, and the large man with the headband whine a little saying they had been using it for storage and a workshop, and Lance could swear they froze up for a moment as Keith stared daggers at them.. 

“I can get up on my own.” He replied before they got completely over, not wanting to bother them. Frustrated that his legs seemed to shake and his arms were a little sore, and before he realized it those same strong arms were already helping him to his feet.  

“Let me help you. I wasn’t expecting you to firebend like that, but you seemed frightened. Are you okay?” He looked up to see Keith stare at him with such concern. 

Lance knew his face was heating up quickly and looked away pulling his arms out of Keith’s grasp. "I’m fine, your highness.” 

Keith sighs but didn’t say anything as Pidge and Hunk walk up to them. 

“Welcome to the team.”  The curly chestnut hair girl bounced up and stretched out her hand. ”I’m Katie Holt, but you can just call me Pidge, and this large, soft guy is Hunk!”

Hunk came in for a hug which surprised Lance and froze up for a moment still in shock from his fight with Keith. “Um, nice to meet you Hunk, Pidge, as you guys know I’m Lance.” He said shyly. He gently pulled himself out of Hunks grasp and brushed his pants off. “Alright to the dorms I guess.” he smiled.

“Of course follow us. See you later Keith!” Pidge Pointed at Keith. “Don’t forget we got a trip soon!” 

“Ya, ya. And Don’t make Lance clean that room!” Keith chuckled as he waved them away, watching them pull Lance around. When they got out of his sight he let out a long and tired sigh. “I know you're still there, Allura Come out. 

“So how did you know?” She asked, walking out from behind the pillar. 

“Come on now. I could see you looking so upset through the whole fight. You look like you were about to cry.” He turned around to look at her. “You thought it was going to be worse didn’t you?” He walked up to her. “So you could tell. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, but you handled it quite well.” She let out her own sigh that seemed to rival his own. “I guess I need to get going. Thank you for talking to me.”

“You’re welcome, have a good night avatar,” Keith said calmly not wanting to deal with Shiro now that this was all over and quickly made himself scarce. 

[otterknowbynow]

Gotcha Day (3/3)

The catalyst for Team Voltron adopting a dog might be an offhand demand from Lance, but let’s be real: several of them are very much on board with this plan.

Written as part of Gentron Week 2020 as a combination of the prompts “Adopting a Pet Together” and “Cultural Exchange”, in two three parts.

Part 1 Here | Part 2 Here | Also on ao3

Keith sleeps terribly, of course. She’s warm, for one thing, so temperature regulation is next to impossible. And any time he moves she moves too -- at one point ending up draped over his legs, which would maybe be fine, if it didn’t mean they were trapped. When she starts whining around fourth varga, he supposes he must have fallen asleep at some point, since that’s the only explanation for the groggy way he’s dragging himself into consciousness now. 

“Yeah, alright,” he grumbles when she steps her front paws onto his back and sticks a very cold nose against his ear to whine directly into it. “I get it.” He carefully extracts himself from under her, moving her to the side of his bunk that’s against the wall, and sits up, scrubbing at sleep-heavy eyes. Folding his legs under him, he turns to look back at her. “I guess you probably need to pee, huh.” As if in answer, the hyrassie leaps over his lap and to the door to his quarters, whining again. Before she can escalate to anywhere near the shrieking sound they had to contend with last night, he makes a gesture at the control panel so the door will slide open, and she dashes out. “Oh, shit,” he mutters -- right. A leash would have probably been a good idea. 

He follows the faint sound of whining and catches up to her at the entrance to her deck -- thankfully on the same level of the castle as the paladins’ quarters; they made a good choice there -- where she’s scratching at the door with two hoofed feet and the whining is threatening to grow again. 

“Shh, shh,” Keith mutters at her, and activates the panel to let her in, grateful that she came straight here when the entire castle could theoretically have been accessible. The first thing he does once he follows her into the deck -- Turnip practically flying to the patch of grass -- is go to the chest of essentials they’ve set up by the door and stick a lead in his pocket. Sure, he can probably just carry her to the lounge to hang out until the others get up, but if there’s any hope of not being stuck there until someone comes to take over, he should probably try to get a leash on her. Keith is musing over the harness and collar options that Coran seems to have dug up from the castle’s recesses when he hears the door swish open again and looks up to see Shiro standing in it, looking a little too casually curious. 

“How’s she doing?” he asks immediately, and not at all casually.

“See for yourself,” Keith says with a shrug, trying to work out how the straps of the harness he’s holding are supposed to go around a six-legged animal. He may as well have not said anything, though, since Shiro is already halfway across the room and kneeling on the ground, with both hands outstretched. Turnip, seeing him and having apparently taken care of any business she needed to attend to, races over joyfully, before stopping abruptly and jerking her head back slightly from his right arm. Slowly, she moves her nose closer to it, investigating. Shiro waits, not moving, whispering reassurances to her until her tails give a low wag, and then scratching her under the chin with his hand. She tentatively licks at the metal fingers of it, and he grins down at her. Keith is surprised to find he’s grinning, also, given how crappy he feels overall. 

--

They try keeping her in Shiro’s quarters that night. He’s adamant that they should crate train her -- everything he’s read says it’s best practice, apparently, and Keith can’t help but support that option given the uncomfortable sleepless hours when she was on his bed. He’s a bit surprised that Lance doesn’t demand she stay with him, but apparently even just hearing about the fit she threw in the middle of the night is enough to deter him. He does volunteer to go with Coran to find something suitable for the pup to sleep in, though, which Keith hopes means he feels at least a bit responsible. 

“Looks like we’re all set,” Shiro says as Coran clicks the last support of the crate into place. It looks remarkably like an ordinary dog crate, to Keith at least, and they’ve put one of the cushions in it to try to make it more homey.

“Sure hope so,” he says, shooting Coran a look he hopes will be interpreted correctly as a reminder that he’s not going to take sole responsibility for the hyrassie pup overnight again. The Altean gives him the tiniest of nods in response and stands, dusting off his hands and looking over at Shiro. 

“It should be just fine, I think, especially if you give her a couple of those treats Hunk whipped up this afternoon -- the boy’s a wizard in the kitchen, especially with baking -- reminds me of my cousin Ira.” Lance, who Keith would normally expect to be annoyed at too much commentary from Coran, just smiles instead. 

“He sure is,” he says, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket and leaning against the wall by the door back out to the hallway. “You know he’s this close to figuring out sourdough biscuits? Like, perfect ones, I mean, since obviously even the quote-unquote failed attempts --” he’s mercifully cut off from continuing by a tone announcing there’s someone at the door. 

“That’ll be him and Pidge,” says Shiro, gesturing at the door panel to let them in, one sleepy hyrassie pup in tow. They coax her toward the crate, Hunk pulling out a couple of crunchy-looking treats that smell good enough that Keith almost wants to eat them himself. Almost. Luckily, they seem to smell even better to Turnip since she extends her head as far as she can to sniff at them as Hunk moves them toward her crate. When she walks in, she settles down almost immediately to demolish the treats, which sound as crunchy as they look, Keith lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and Shiro grins at all of them. 

“Well, that’s settled,” he says, waving them toward the door. “Goodnight, everyone.” 

And Keith is relieved to find himself in his quarters with no wriggly puppy and no shrieking, just peace and quiet. He climbs into bed, grateful that at least if his sleep is disturbed tonight, it’ll be by the usual suspects, rather than an all-too-present animal. 

Or so he thinks. Instead, he nearly knocks his head against the wall next to his bunk when he’s awakened again by that same shrieking sound. Looking at the timekeeper by his bed, he sees that at least it’s a bit after fourth varga instead of first, but he’s still not exactly thrilled. Where is Shiro that he’s not already handling this? Keith shoves his face into his pillow, pulling his blankets up around his head to block out the noise as best he can. Shiro will take care of it, he thinks. He probably got woken up just now, also, so it’ll just take him a second to get the crate open and get Turnip to her deck...but the sound keeps going on, and when he can’t take it anymore, he rolls out of bed, grabs his jacket from its hook, and shakes his head a bit to clear it before heading down the hall to Shiro’s quarters. 

Weirdly, he’s the only one of the paladins who seems to have noticed the sound. He can understand how it happened the first night -- since his room is closest to the deck they’ve set up for Turnip, with the Alteans’ quarters on the other side -- but shouldn’t at least Pidge have heard something? When he gets to Shiro’s door, he pokes a hand at the panel irritably. She’s still just keening away in there, which -- he notes as the door slides open -- doesn’t seem like something Shiro would just let continue. 

“Keith, what’s up?” Shiro’s voice comes from his bunk, where -- Keith can see from the light spilling in from the hallway -- he’s still at least half-asleep. 

“What do you mean, what’s up?” he asks, frowning. “Can I -- please --” he doesn’t wait for an answer, going straight to the crate in the corner of the room and opening it to release a highly relieved puppy. He picks her up quickly, before she can dart out of the room or -- worse -- pee on the floor. “She’s been screaming for like, ten minutes.” 

“She has?” 

“Did you not...did you not hear her?” 

“I haven’t heard anything.” Shiro sits up, picking up the timekeeper next to his bed and squinting at it, frowning in the dim light. “I’d be up in like half a varga anyway, but..” He trails off, and Keith is still a bit too stunned by a new realization to say anything for a moment. It’s just his luck that the new puppy -- a puppy he did not ask for, important to note -- apparently cries at some frequency full humans can’t hear. 

“Just another joy of being part-galra, I guess,” he mutters, as Turnip happily nuzzles at his hand before licking it. He grimaces, wishing he’d grabbed his gloves. “I’m gonna take her to her deck.” 

“Yeah, go for it -- I’ll meet you there in a couple minutes -- dobashes -- whatever.” 

She’ll have to sleep in his room, Keith realizes as he walks her down to the door to her deck. Allura has the mice, and Coran has already said no once. He draws a bit of comfort from knowing that at least she’ll be in a crate from now on, even if it does mean he’ll be getting up a couple vargas earlier than he usually would. 

“You’re lucky you’re this cute,” he mutters as he gestures the door open and lets her down to race over to the miniature Altean field. 

--

Lance helps him move the crate later that morning, once the rest of the castle residents are up. They don’t bother folding it up again, carrying it between the two of them down the hallway. It’s awkward and heavy, and Keith is grateful for his gloves keeping it from digging into his hands too uncomfortably. 

“Can’t believe you’re stealing my puppy,” Lance says, a hint of a whine creeping into his voice. Keith can see the corners of his mouth twitching too, though, and he lets out a small huff of amusement. 

“Stealing, my ass,” he says. He gestures at the control panel as they approach his door, and adds, “I didn’t ask for any of this.” 

“Stealing her right out from under me,” Lance continues dramatically as they put the crate down in the corner of the room. He opens the door to it and resettles the cushion inside. “Like some kind of...puppy-smuggler. Thief.” 

“You didn’t even like her when we brought her back,” Keith says, trying to keep his amusement out of his voice. It’s creeping in anyway, though, he can hear it. 

“So my judgment slipped for, like, a second!” Lance stands up, dusting off his hands so he can prop them on his hips indignantly. “That’s no reason to steal a man’s dog!” 

“I can’t even steal her long-term, not if I’m getting back to Blades training next week -- movement -- whatever.” He hopes that will settle it. Can’t steal something if you’re not here to keep it. 

“What’s gonna stop you from just taking off to the Blades, puppy in tow, huh? I bet that guy --- Kolivan -- would be all for having a deer-puppy-shark on the team. You’ll raise her up to be her own canine special ops unit, and then where will I be? Puppyless! A broken shell of a man!” 

“God, you’re ridiculous,” Keith says, rolling his eyes as he heads back out into the hallway and starts walking away. “You coming to the lounge to see your dog one last time before I steal her away forever?” He hears Lance slide the door shut behind him, and he catches up a few seconds later. 

“Keith, seriously, you better not monopolize her time now. Like, I was joking back there, you know I was joking, but you can’t just take over, like, she’s all of ours, you know that, right? Just because she’s sleeping in your room doesn’t mean she’s more yours than the rest of us, and --” They’ve reached the lounge, and as he gestures the door open, Keith is incredibly relieved that the rest of Lance’s words are drowned out by a gleefully yipping puppy, who is decidedly not going to be his sole responsibility from now on, as if that would even be a desirable outcome. 

--

“I’m not sure we’re ever going to be able to just give her free run of the castle,” Hunk is saying later that afternoon as he gathers up the pieces of yet another chew toy Turnip has shredded mercilessly with her razor teeth. “Not if this level of destruction is any indication.” 

“I mean, she is a puppy,” Shiro says, grinning from where he’s sitting on the floor against the couch, Turnip curled up napping in his lap. Her middle set of legs jerks every once in a while, and she’s growled at least three times in her sleep so far. Katie wonders idly if there’s a reason it’s the middle set of legs, or if it’s just that the back ones are folded under her and too squished to be a part of it. “She might grow out of some of it.” 

“I don’t know about that.” Hunk shakes his head a little, dropping the pieces in a waste chute at the corner of the lounge and dusting off his hands. “They’re supposed to keep needing to chew, like, forever. And a lot.” 

“It seems like if we give her enough alternatives, we should at least be able to keep the important machinery and stuff safe,” says Katie, grabbing her tablet from beside the couch she’s sitting on and opening a note. “Do we have any toys she hasn’t destroyed?” 

“Uh, a few, but a lot of those even are hanging on by a thread.” Hunk wrinkles his nose, sitting down on the couch next to her so he can see the tablet screen. “Like, the one ring seems like it’s holding up mostly okay, but even that’s got some divots starting from her teeth.” 

“Seems like we should figure out what that’s made of and go from there,” Katie says. “You good here, Shiro? Hunk and I should probably go down to the lab.” 

“Yeah, we’re good,” Shiro says in a tone that suggests it’s a bit absurd to think they’d be anything but. He scratches behind Turnip’s ears gently. “Besides, Lance at least said he’d stop by once they’re done on the training deck. By all means, go do some R&D.” 

--

By the time Keith gets the call from Kolivan that he needs to start a new phase of training, they’ve fallen into a routine. Turnip sleeps through nearly to fifth varga before she starts whining, and he manages to get enough shuteye that that’s not the nightmare it could be. He doesn’t need all that much, anyway, as long as it’s relatively peaceful. 

They’re never alone on her deck for long. Even if he can’t hear Turnip wake up, Shiro can certainly hear Keith, and he usually shows up just as Turnip is finished relieving herself and ready to play, which works out well for everyone involved, especially with the nigh-indestructible toys Hunk and Pidge manage to produce. It’s just a few at first -- a rope toy of extra-strong fibers, a ring with some give in it that she somehow can’t rip through -- but pretty soon it becomes a game of who can come up with and produce the best designs that are also functional. 

One evening, the night before Keith is going to rejoin the Blades for a while, Hunk comes into the lounge holding a nondescript bag. Everyone’s off-duty at the same time, for once, since the bridge is automatically retuning its maintenance protocols, and he stands in front of them looking utterly triumphant. 

“Gotta say, I’m particularly proud of this one,” he says, then makes a dramatic fanfare sound with his mouth as he pulls something out of the bag. 

“Was that supposed to be a trumpet?” Keith asks.

“It’s clearly not a trumpet, Keith. It’s a cow.” Lance manages to sound both dismissive and slightly awestruck at the same time. 

“That’s a pretty incredible likeness, Hunk,” says Shiro, still holding the other end of a rope Turnip is pulling at enthusiastically, seemingly unaware that any conversation they’re having has anything to do with her. 

“Isn’t this a toy for her to chew on?” Allura sounds somewhat baffled. 

“I mean, yeah,” says Hunk, frowning at the cow in his hands. “That’s the idea. I used a new polymer we developed that’s firmer than the first one -- less give, more for dental care than general play -- that’s why there’s this texturing for her teeth.”  He indicates one of the legs of the cow, where he’s shaped ridges and spikes that do seem to approximate a toothbrush. If a toothbrush also kind of resembled a medieval morningstar.

“And it’s made to look like another living creature? One we ideally...don’t want her chewing on? Wasn’t the idea that they might be friends?” 

“Oh, I forgot about that,” says Lance. 

“You forgot you got us all into this by claiming you were some kind of cow-whisperer?” Pidge sounds as amazed by Lance’s lack of recall as Keith is. 

“I never said cow-whisperer!” Lance objects. “I said she needed a puppy friend. All cows need a puppy friend; it’s a fact of life.” 

“Shall we go introduce her to our fair lady Kaltenecker, then?” Coran slaps his knees twice and stands up, stretching. As if in answer, Turnip races over to Hunk and leaps toward the cow toy, snatching it out of his hand and giving it an emphatic shake when she lands back on the ground, growling. 

“Maybe we wait until she’s slightly less puppy,” says Hunk, inspecting his hand carefully for injury. “Maybe what Kaltenecker really needs is a calm adult dog friend.” 

[musicanddancingthroughlife]

Langst/Klance -- Pierrot

Okay guys, I know I forgot to upload something last week but this is like. My longest chapter yet, I guess. It is Klance, which I haven’t written in a while, and it’s probably super rough cause I hate myself and won’t go back and edit, but hey, have. Other than that, I hate myself and that sums up a lot of aspects of my life right now.

------------------------------- 

“Hunk? Hunk, where’d you go? All right, so Coran isn’t as good of a cook as you are, but I think by now we should be used to that, there’s no need to run from it.”

              Lance stopped short when he heard loud sobs and that too quick breathing that signaled Hunk’s anxiety attacks. Lance didn’t hesitate, though. “Hey, Hunk? Can I touch you, buddy?” His friend shifted under his mess of blankets, shivering and shaking. Lance swept him up into a hug, holding close for a few minutes before he grasped one of Hunks’ larger hands in one of his own. He settled their joined hands on Lance’s chest, Hunk instantly using lance’s heartbeat to steady his gasping breath.

              It took several minutes, but Lance sat patiently, whispering reassurance and comfort in both English and Spanish. Once he was sure Hunk was calmed down, he pulled back into a tight hug, letting Hunk weep into his neck, uncaring of how the tears were dampening his clothes and making him uncomfortable. “Wanna talk?” Hunk nodded, but it was still a while before he said anything. And when he did, Lance felt his heart stop.

              “Lance, what am I doing here? I’m not a pilot like you guys; I don’t even like flying. How can I save the universe if I can’t even do basic flight exercises like today’s?” And with that, he burst into a fresh wave of tears.

              Lance contented himself with rubbing Hunk’s back, letting him cry out his insecurities and frustration, but he didn’t let that stop him from trying to assuage those fears. “Come on, man, you’re one of the two smartest people on our team! 50% of our brain power! Maybe something like 33% if we’re really gonna count Coran, but let’s also keep in mind that you’re the reason we’re not dying of starvation or too much exposure to goo, so at the very least, you deserve more credit than that. And you’ve come so far! Yellow is lucky to have you as her pilot! And you’ve got some of the top skills in the training rooms, don’t you? You’re just behind Shiro and Keith!

              “And come on, it’s not like you’re the only making mistakes! Remember last week when I accidentally used those weird pellet gun things and shot Shiro in the ass? And what about when I was racing Keith and wound up making both of us crash into the ground? Was that stupid, or what?” Lance belted out a laugh, cringing inwardly when it sounded just a little too loud, but thankfully Hunk didn’t seem to notice. He just let out a weak giggle, but Lance could see that there were still tears in his eyes. That was fine. He had plenty of stories to entertain Hunk with.

              Keith was annoyed. Why was he always the one having to track down Lance when he wandered off? It’s not like Keith was his keeper or anything. Hell, he didn’t even like Lance!

              …Okay, maybe that was a lie, because what wasn’t to like? Honestly, Keith was just as infatuated as he was irritated, even at that moment, which was impressive because at that moment, Keith felt more horrified at what he was hearing. First, the very idea that Hunk was doubting his worth on the team, was ridiculous, and he wished that he knew what to say in order to make him feel better, but at least Lance was handling that okay. Keith just wished it wasn’t at Lance’s own expense.

              At first, he was just surprised at hearing Lance recount those stories, stories which made Lance look like an idiot who can’t do anything right. He was pleased to hear that Hunk was seeming to cheer up, but he also knew that Lance’s laughter wasn’t completely honest. There was a tinge of pain to it. Lance normally tried to avoid reminders of those moments, and here he was, voluntarily sharing them, just to help a friend.

              More laughter spilled from the room, and Keith bit his lip. Lance’s laughter was sounding more and more broken as he continued sharing stories. Thankfully he had begun reminding Hunk of all the good he had done, both before and after Voltron, but the tears in Lance’s voice were starting to hurt him. Thankfully, it was really only a couple minutes later when Hunk and Lance stepped out of Hunk’s room, arms slung over each other’s shoulders. Keith felt a pang in his chest.

              “Keith!” Hunk’s eyes were rimmed with red, but the beaming smile he gave Keith told him that Lance had succeeded in making his friend feel better. “Did you need something?”

              “Coran and Allura wanted me to tell you guys that we’re ready to have dinner, if you want to join us.” His eyes drifted over to Lance, and found himself amazed by how Lance was able to mask the pain in his eyes. Sure, Keith could still tell, because he was actively looking for it, but no one else would have any idea. How did he do that? Why would he do that?

              Hunk quickly ducked under Lance’s arm to clasp a large hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Well, let’s get to it, man, I’m starving!” And Hunk began to drag Keith away, leaving Lance behind to follow. Keith glanced back, but when he did, he just saw Lance flash a wide grin at him, and then Hunk was pulling him around a corner.

              The next time he saw Lance was a few minutes after he and Hunk had seated themselves, when he quietly slipped into the dining hall. He was just a little too quiet while they ate, but nobody else seemed to notice, and that’s when Keith resolved to keep a closer eye on his sharpshooter.

                “Lance! You’re not nearly fast enough!” Lance’s concentration broken, Pidge managed to catch his foot with her katar. Startled at the unexpected catch, she accidentally shocked him, and Lance yelped in pain, crashing to the ground.

              “Oh my god, Lance, I am so sorry!” Pidge started to rush over, but Allura stopped her before she could.

              “Lance!” she snapped impatiently, “get up, now, and try again!” Lance was amazed. She wanted him to what? He just got shocked with who knows how much electricity! Hunk and Keith stared in shock, first looking at Allura in disbelief, then at Lance, still on the ground, trying to breathe through the pain coursing through him, and finally at Shiro, begging him to do something. He stepped forward.

              “Allura, come on, we’ve all been training for hours. We’re exhausted.”

              “You guys are fine. Go get some rest. Lance still has a lot of work he needs to do, and he’s never going to improve if he doesn’t stop wasting our time!” These last words were focused on Lance, who squeezed his eyes shut, shooting hand rhythmically flexing and relaxing. He felt a stab of shame in his chest. Of course, she was right. He was the weak link. He was behind everybody else in hand-to-hand, hell, even Pidge just took him down! They were never going to get anywhere with him being such a baby about training.

              “Allura—” Shiro began, but Lance cut him off.

              “No, she’s right.” Lance shakily got to his feet, small gasps and grunts escaping him as he forced his wobbly legs to support his weight. “I can do better, just let me go again.”

              Shiro looked less than impressed. “Lance, you can barely stand. Let’s just call it a day and we can hit it hard in the morning.” And hell, Lance wanted nothing more than to be able to take a break. He wasn’t positive how long they had been going so far, but he knew it was at least a couple of hours – usually they train hand-to-hand for two, taking turn so everyone could rest, and so that they could each practice with varying styles and techniques. Then they would take an extra hour in the shooting range, and then move on to team building exercises before finishing for the day. Briefly, he wondered how long Allura wanted him to continue practicing.

              “There, you see? He gets it, at least.” Oh, he got it all right. He was a failure, as usual, and he needed to work harder to catch up, to not bring his friends down. People could die if he wasn’t good enough. Lance gritted his teeth, preparing himself to go again. “Come on, Pidge, I won’t make it as easy on you this time.”

              “Actually, I believe Coran needed both Pidge and Hunk for a project today, so if you two would go get showered and then meet with him, that would be fantastic.” Allura’s face was set, decisive. Pidge and Hunk were done for the day. Lance blinked.

              “Okay… Shiro, will you run through it with me again? I know I can get it.” He really didn’t, but he wasn’t going to stop until he did, so it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

              “Lance, I need Shiro so we can plan our next course of action. Got that, Shiro?” Her voice was hard and unforgiving, but still, Shiro hesitated, looking back at Lance almost questioningly. Lance shook his head. “It’s fine, Shiro, I’m sure Keith will help me?” Keith stepped forward, but Allura spoke up again.

              “Honestly, Lance! Keith spends too much time training as is. You are the only one who needs the extra practice, stop trying to guilt the others into staying behind to help you. Keith, I don’t want to see you anywhere near the training room until tomorrow, when we are in fact scheduled to train.” The look in her eyes dared Keith to argue, and Lance knew him well enough to know that he needed to step in.

              “Don’t worry, Princess, I can do it on my own. More fun to have company, but you’re right. Keith deserves a break.” Lance couldn’t look them in the eye. Not only was he going to struggle with the training itself, but now he was going to be isolated from his friends for who knows how long. What a day.

                Keith clenched his fists, anger rushing through him. Lance was trying just as hard as any of them! In fact, he was trying harder than most of them! This was ridiculous, and he had no idea why Allura was acting the way she was. Like Lance needed a punishment or something! But with Lance agreeing with her, Keith couldn’t see how he could stay behind to help him with the combination.

              “Lance, if you need to see the combo again – though you really shouldn’t, seeing as Shiro and Keith demonstrated it numerous times for you and you would have it if you had been paying attention – you can recall it on the databases here in the training room. You will practice until you get the combo, and until either Shiro or myself can confirm that you know it.” And without another word, she swept out of the room, calling to the other paladins on her way out.

              Slowly, hesitantly, Pidge and Hunk wished Lance good luck, before they left to find Coran. Shiro look sympathetic, but ultimately, there wasn’t much they could do. Especially where Lance was willing to just put in the extra time. Already, he was gulping down some water, shuffling and shifting to allow his feet to find the beginning stance. Keith wanted nothing more than to stay behind, to offer some help or advice or dammit, even just some company! Lance needed people, and to cut him off from everyone like this was unnecessarily cruel. But before he could even offer any encouraging words, Lance was moving his way through the combination, slowly mapping out each step. Keith sighed, but then he followed the rest of their friends out of the training room.

              Hopefully Lance would be okay.

              Of course, none of them saw Lance again until way after dinner. The other paladins had long since headed to bed, but Keith had been unable to sleep and was in the middle of debating whether it was safe to go to the training room or not when Lance came stumbling out of it. Trailing behind Allura, he looked beaten and exhausted. His hair and clothes were soaked through with sweat and Keith suspected he was favoring his leg. Meanwhile Allura looked smug, pleased with the knowledge that her slowest paladin was improving, that they were that much closer to defeating Zarkon. Lance slowly shuffled towards the kitchen, but Allura stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

              “What are you doing?” she questioned.

              Lance frowned. “I haven’t eaten yet…”

              “It’s far too late to be making another mess in the kitchen,” she looked at him disapprovingly, and Keith felt anger rising to the surface. “It’d be best if you slept instead. Eat in the morning.” Keith gaped at her, but he was unnoticed by the two of them. Really, that just meant that once Allura had turned Lance towards the direction of their bedrooms, Keith was in the perfect position to see the pained resignation cross Lance’s face.

              Before he even realized it, Keith had retrieved some light food from the kitchen and was knocking on Lance’s door. He left the foot on the floor, where Lance would hopefully see it, and then scurried around the corner as quickly and quietly as he could. He heard the door open, there was a few seconds of silence and then some rustling before the door shut again. When Keith peeked around the corner, the food was gone.

                Only a couple days later, and Keith was again frustrated about Lance. It looked like he still hadn’t recovered fully from that long night in the training room, and he couldn’t understand why. Shiro had been really careful in making sure that nothing like that happened again, but that didn’t stop Allura from pushing Lance’s limits as hard as she could get away with when Shiro wasn’t looking. But despite this, Lance still looked so tired all the time.

              That night, at dinner, Keith kept a close eye on Lance. He seemed normal, though tired, and it wasn’t until after dinner that he realized Lance wasn’t retiring to his room like most of the rest of the paladins were. Instead, he headed to the training room. Keith camped out outside, bored out of his mind, but more determined to find out if Lance was really okay or not. Lance logged a good three hours before he finally came out of the locker room exit. He was breathing heavily, gasping for air, and muscles loose and trembling, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Keith forced himself to relax as he followed Lance down the hallway from a distance. Lance gulped down a water pouch, and then set off to the Lion Hangar, where Pidge was still absorbed in her latest project.

              “Pidge.” It was quiet, and the reaction was slight, but Keith still recognized how Pidge flinched and her shoulders shot up to her ears. “When are you going to go to bed?”

              “None of your business!” Pidge spat, and Keith was more than surprised at the venom in the girl’s voice. Lance only sighed.

              “Pidge. You need to sleep. Please.” Was this why he was so tired? He was trying to make sure Pidge was getting to bed? Keith looked at Pidge critically. If that was the case, he really wasn’t doing a good job. But, he realized with a pang, that wasn’t his fault. No one else was trying to get Pidge to sleep at all, and it was obvious she desperately needed the rest.

              “Fuck off, Lance, I don’t need a babysitter.” Lance flinched, but refused to back down. “Come on, just one night. You haven’t slept more than a couple of hours in who knows how many days.”

              Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Have you been keeping tabs on me?”

              “I’m worried about you.”

              “Well no one else is and the only people who really care are who knows where and I’m trying to find them, so leave me alone.”

              There were a few moments of silence where Keith wondered if he should intervene. Before he could, Lance spoke up again. “I know you have nightmares, Pidge.” Pidge froze. “Come on, did you really think I wouldn’t notice, kid? You’re pushing yourself too far. Keep it up and you won’t control when you collapse from exhaustion. You’ve gotta sleep at some point. At least this way, you’ll have more control over when and how.”

              Pidge shook her head, but even Keith could tell that her eyes were glazing with tears. “Pidge, come on. I’ll stay with you. You don’t have to worry about nightmares. I chase nightmares for my siblings all the time.” Lance’s hands fisted briefly, then relaxed again. Pidge looked up at Lance pleadingly. “Would you really stay?” she asked hesitantly.

              Lance bent down without another word, scooping her up into his arms. “Of course I will. If Matt can’t be here to do it for you, then I’ll gladly fill in for him until he can, don’t worry.”

              When Keith saw them the next morning, Lance looked even more exhausted than before, but Pidge was obviously more relaxed and clearheaded.

              Everyone expressed their joy at Pidge getting rest, and they praised her for finally taking some time to herself.

              She didn’t mention a single word about how Lance basically had to force her to finally get some sleep, or that he was the whole reason she felt comfortable for doing so in the first place.

              And no one else seemed to notice how Lance was so tired he could barely keep a handle on his emotions during training that day.

                In fact, Keith suspects it was because of that loose grip on his emotions that the disaster that was training really occurred.

              “Lance, come on, really try here! Everyone else is working so hard, and they’re doing great, just try a little harder for us! We’re a team, and we can’t be that if we have to drag you along on missions.”

              Keith knew, okay, he knew that Shiro was under a lot of stress. He was still young, only a little older than them, and he’d suffered a lot of trauma that no one should ever have to go through. But, really? Lance was so tired, and he was trying so hard, and he was doing so much for all of them. He didn’t deserve this.

              Lance, though, merely looked up at Shiro from where he was laying on the floor, eyes bleary and unfocused. Shiro clenched his jaw, visibly willing himself to dredge up some of that incredible patience he’s always preaching at Keith about. “Lance, if you won’t take this seriously, then we have no reason to keep you on as a paladin. I’ve been trying to defend you from Allura, but honestly? She’s right. You need to work harder and take this more seriously, and if you can’t even do that then I don’t know why you’re bothering to stick around.”

              Keith glanced around for help from Pidge and Hunk, but they were far on the other side of the training room, and hadn’t noticed what was happening yet. Keith slowly stepped forward. “Shiro, maybe we should…” Shiro barely glanced at him when he walked past, all but racing out of the training room, leaving Lance an overtired and emotional mess on the floor. At first, they both just sat there in silence, but then Lance visibly steeled himself, taking a deep breath and choking back tears. And when he finally staggered to his feet, wiping his eyes clear of any moisture, Keith felt like his heart might break.

              “He’s right, it’s fine. I’m going to go take a breather, and I’ll come back to try again after dinner, I think. I need to get this right.” For a moment, Keith couldn’t breathe, his heart and soul ached so much for this sad, lost boy in front of him, but before he could gather his thoughts enough to speak, Lance had taken off.

              He didn’t see him again until very late in the night, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective. Keith had been heading to the kitchen to get a water pouch, but instead barely managed to stop himself from walking into Shiro having a panic attack. Keith was more surprised by that than by the fact Lance was talking him down from it. He had Shiro’s hand clutched against his own chest, helping him to time his breaths, and he was gently chattering away about his family, joking with Shiro as if it wasn’t a one-sided conversation during which the other participant was having a full-scale attack. It was impressive, but when you looked closely, it wasn’t hard to see that Lance’s hands were trembling, and there were tears in his eyes.

              Some time later, it was evident that Shiro was too tired to notice any of those things, as he instead broke down into tears once he’d calmed down enough. Lance stayed with him the entire time, and Keith kept a silent vigil over his friend. The two of them didn’t retire until the day castle had begun shifting into its day cycle. And if anyone else noticed that Lance was starting to look a little less vibrant, a little less happy, a little less excited about life, they didn’t say anything. Lance appeared to wish to just brush it off, and Keith was content to bide his time.

                But that wasn’t going to last too long.

                “I don’t know how to help you, okay!” The quiet that followed that outburst was just as loud. Keith couldn’t bear it. Lance should never look this depressed, this dejected. “Lance.”

              There was silence, Lance refused to glance up and acknowledge Keith, so he tried again.

              “Lance. Please. Look at me.” Another few seconds of silence before Lance shook his head weakly. Feeling the pain in his chest tighten, Keith tried again. He had a vision of Lance comforting and coaching Hunk through a panic attack, Lance running himself ragged training for Allura’s peace of mind, Lance’s willingness to sacrifice his own sleep to ensure Pidge slept, the trust and faith he placed in Shiro, despite consistently feeling that Shiro didn’t even like him, forget about trusting him.

              “Just.  Please. I just want you to be honest. Be you. Please, just be selfish for a few minutes. I promise, I’ll still be here. I don’t… I don’t need you to be anything but yourself. Please.” Still silence. “You’ve done so much for all of us, and I need you to know that even if you didn’t stretch yourself so thin for all of us, we would all still love you. We would still value you. You’re our friend. None of us knew what we were getting into, but we do all know that none of us would be here without you. We wouldn’t have even found Blue, we would’ve give up, I don’t know what exactly, I just know that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, and that we can’t do this without you!” Keith’s voice went soft, and Lance stood frozen, looking back at Keith with a shocked expression. “I can’t do this without you, Lance, and I can’t stand to watch you push yourself so hard and get no credit or appreciation or even a thank you. You’re worth more than that to me, and I know you’re worth more than that to the others, too.”

              Lance’s lower lip trembled. “I can’t not help them, Keith.”

              Keith stepped forward, placed gentle hands on Lance’s shoulders, carefully pulled him into a hug. “I know, Lance, I know,” This close, he knew to keep his voice quiet, murmuring directly into Lance’s ear. “I love you for that, but you can’t push too hard too fast. You deserve better, and we want more than that for you. I promise. Just talk to us, we can be there for you, just like you’re there for us. I’ll be there for you, if you’ll let me.” Keith felt his face flush, but he forced himself to stay put. Lance needed him more, right then.

              They stood there for several minutes, no sound save for Lance’s quiet sobs and Keith’s hushed reassurances and promises.

              “I’ll try.”

[kcwcommentary]

VLD7x05 – “The Ruins”

7x05 – “The Ruins”

With the Paladin roster finalized as Keith in Black, Lance in Red, and Allura in Blue, and Shiro in nothing, and with the death of Zarkon, the title sequence for this show is antiquated. It now functions at the start of every episode as a reminder of what the show used to be. The opening title sequence for a show should always be a statement about what the show is, but this sequence is so far from what the show has become. The title sequence not matching the current content of the show highlights how the show has lost its sense of direction.

I like the first shot of this episode in that the nebula is pretty, the smallness of the Lions creates some of a sense of immensity for space. I don’t like the white trails behind the Lions though. They’re not shown to be moving through anything, so what’s creating the white trails behind them?

Hunk’s sleeping, and Keith yells, “Everybody up!”

Pidge is dreaming about getting “only [a] 99 on the test.” I guess some people – I’ll say Mitch Iverson, since he wrote this episode – think grade anxiety is funny. Grade anxiety comes from a lack of parental support. A kid thinks they have to earn the absolute highest grades possible to be able to keep their parent(s) from criticizing them, emotionally abandoning them, or even at the most extreme physically abusing them. Pidge has always had endless support from her family, so having her demonstrate having grade anxiety reveals this show sees intelligence as a caricature. The creators of this show, or at least the writer of this episode, included grade anxiety without having even a basic understanding of what it is. They just thought it’s funny how some clearly intelligent people are scared of not getting perfect grades. They’re mocking people with grade anxiety, not revealing character with Pidge.

Lance and Allura want to sleep some more. Romelle’s sideways on her bed, foot on the wall, head hanging off the side: her posture made me genuinely laugh.

Everyone except for Keith and Krolia have been sleeping. Keith says, “We can’t let this long journey make us soft or dull our skills.” It’s obnoxious for this show to have Keith equate the need for sleep with weakness. They have all been through really stressful events, it makes sense that they need to rest and recover.

Shiro speaks (what? he’s still a character on this show?). “Keith’s right. Routine is what got me through being Zarkon’s prisoner and being in the infinite void of the Black Lion.” What!? Having a routine can be very useful, but neither of Shiro’s citations are instances in which he created a routine for himself. Shiro was a prisoner. Prisoners don’t manage their time, those who imprison them do. If he had a routine while imprisoned, while having to literally fight for his survival, then it was because the routine was imposed on him by the Galra. As for being in the Black Lion’s psychic space, what exactly was that routine? Literally, what actions is he supposed to have done while disembodied and existing in endlessness? This line written for Shiro is ridiculous.

Keith won’t even give the other Paladins a chance to wake up, he’s already calling or them to conduct battle simulations. Krolia has programmed a new one. I still don’t feel that she’s earned the prominence this show is giving her character. She presents the challenge. “You’re on a planet with double gravity—” what does that even mean? double what? double Earth’s gravity? “—dense volcanic fog, and eight [some kind of] raptors are attacking. What do you do?” Keith thinks that “this is a good one.”

What’s the mission objective that’s supposed to be at the center of this simulation? They’re on a planet and local lifeforms are attacking. Okay, why are they on the planet? If the challenge is solely to survive the creatures, then just leave the planet.

One of the raptors latches onto the Yellow Lion, and Krolia yells, “A [whatever kind of] raptor just melted your face off, Hunk!” Krolia has not earned the position of integration into the group that she’s being written to have. It makes her presumptuous. I guess the personalities being demonstrated in this scene are supposed to make Krolia and Keith look like badass personality types, but it doesn’t work for me.

Krolia says, “Now it’s eight-on-four,” and Hunk quietly replies, “That’s fine by me. I’m eating.” If you’ve read much of my commentaries, you’ll know that I usually have a big problem with how this show writes Hunk and food, but I like his response here. I don’t blame him one bit. Hunk, you go get yourself some food.

The planet weirdly shoots like twenty-foot wide columns of lava hundreds of feet up into the air. It looks silly to me. Keith orders everyone to “split up to thin their numbers.” For a story that’s supposed to be about the development of a team, these guys don’t really work as a team often. If you’re being attacked, you have greater safety and defense as a group. That’s why a lot of animals have herds or flocks or schools. Separating from one another makes the group weaker. This is not good leadership or tactics. Keith gets hit by an energy blast from one of the raptors. What is with this show having so many animals that can emit weapons blasts?

For a place that has “thick volcanic fog,” as Krolia said and Pidge now repeats, they all can see really well. Does this show know what the word “fog” means? Pidge says that the raptors “must use some form of thermal vision to see us.” Again, this environment has been depicted as having high visibility, not any kind of fog, so the raptors could see just like the Paladins can. But also, if they use “thermal vision” on this volcanic planet, then the raptors would have a hard time seeing. Unless this show is making up something else with its use of the term “thermal vision,” what is being referenced is the ability to see into the infrared spectrum of light. Things that are warm radiate light in the infrared portion of the spectrum. If we humans could see infrared light, every time we looked at another person, they would be glowing. I like the idea of the show presenting creatures that see more of the spectrum that humans can, but what Pidge says here doesn’t make sense. She’s presenting the idea of the raptors having “thermal vision,” as their natural ability to see, that it’s somehow supposed to be an adaptation to living in “volcanic fog.” But if the raptors see infrared, then the heat of the “volcanic fog” would inhibit that vision. And the heat of the lava on the ground would be blinding. This show really cannot do science.

Lance says, “Maybe I can lure them away with my heat-rays.” Have the raptors been distracted by the large, hot plumes of lava that jet up off the surface? No? Then they wouldn’t care about Red’s fire cannon either. But Lance blasts some rock with his fire cannon, and the raptors fly off to check it out. It’s senseless, and thus contrived.

Allura, Lance, and Pidge all get taken out simultaneously by a lava plume. Krolia chastises them for having “focused too much on the raptors and forgot about the volcano.” I still don’t like Krolia. She says, “I programmed the simulator to be unbeatable. I wanted to see how long you survived.” In other words, Krolia wasn’t trying to help them with training whatsoever. This wasn’t designed for them to learn anything, not new skills, not something about their character, nothing. Krolia was just being a troll. She and Keith woke up people who needed rest in order to mess with them.

Hunk is making burritos. He packages six of them, ties them around the space wolf, who teleports them to the others. Krolia and Keith each get one. The wolf gives Alura, Romelle and Coran each one. Then suddenly, the wolf’s bundle has more than what Hunk put in it. Pidge takes two, one for her and one for Shiro. That leaves one for Lance. I guess this counts as an animation error? Hunk only put six in the bundle, but there are eight given out. Team Voltron kind of discuss the wolf, nothing that explains the wolf’s narrative importance or reason for being included in the show or anything, but his name. Hunk suggests “Cosmo.” Keith objects to the name, “I figure when he’s ready, he’ll tell me his name.” Does Keith actually think the wolf is going to talk? Keith lived with this wolf for two years while in the quantum abyss, and he hasn’t named him yet? Who has a pet for two years and doesn’t name them?

Lance likes the way the burritos taste but doesn’t want to know what’s in them, saying, “I just want to eat it and pretend that it’s my meemaw’s home cooking.” Lance is supposed to be Cuban. Why is he calling his grandmother “meemaw?” The best I can tell, Meemaw is a southern United States thing, and I’ve seen one suggestion that it’s derived from French through Cajun culture. Why is a Cuban guy using Cajun or southern United States slang for his grandmother? As a Cuban guy, wouldn’t Lance call his grandmother Abuela?

Pidge picks up a signal that she only identifies as, “a signal!” Allura reacts with, “How did you get a signal?” Unless the Lions’ communication systems are broken or the rest of the inhabitants of the universe, including all the Galra, ceased to exist, the Lions should be getting more than a few signals. Getting any particular one they’re looking for is different, but the idea that it’s such a surprise for them to have picked up any signal at all is absurd. What is the signal? A television show from Bii-Boh-Bi’s planet. Bii-Boh-Bi is not and never has been funny, can the show please stop using him and his species? Please!? Team Voltron watching the show goes on for far too long.

There is what Pidge thinks is some interference in the signal, but Krolia – because of course it’s Krolia because why have the main characters have any importance in this show when you can instead give the importance and time to a side character like Krolia – can tell that it’s not interference. She has Pidge “amplify that signal.” She then listens to it with her eyes closed. Pidge says that it’s “just deep space interference.” Krolia says that that is “just what it’s supposed to sound like. Listen to the sounds in between the pulses. There’s a unique pattern.” Only after Krolia says this does the sound design for the show actually start including a specific beep to correspond with what Krolia is identifying. That beep did not exist in the sound until after she says so. That seems like bad sound design to me; the beep should have been there the whole time.

Krolia says, “Before the Blades were unified, we would use this crude way of communicating with each other.” Uh, when were the Blades not unified? Is this some undetailed period of the Blades’ history that the show hasn’t ever presented? Why am I expecting this show to have anything be deeper than the shallow instantaneous and fleeting use of anything just because it suits the individual moment of its usage? “Not many Blades know this code,” she says. “It must be a senior member.” I guess that means that she’s also supposed to be a senior member?

She says it’s a distress signal. They trace the signal to a specific area, which Hunk says is “a pretty severe detour from Earth.” So severe that it lasts only this one episode. So, yeah, not severe at all. Dialog like Hunk’s has no meaning, no impact on the story. It’s not like diverting to check out this signal will make them late to Earth and something bad will happen while they’re on this detour. The bad thing that’s happened to Earth has already happened because of the time jump (I’m still significantly annoyed by the time jump’s plot hole).

Cut to the Lions arriving at the planet where the signal’s coming from. That was such a big detour that it happened instantly. The planet is one of the most ludicrous planets this show has done. Like, it’s bad even for this show. It’s maybe the size of an asteroid, but it’s jagged and has weird holes and slopes. This show doesn’t even try, does it? Pidge says there are signs of a former civilization, but no signs of life. There are broken buildings. Team Voltron walks around – remember how the space wolf was injured and that’s why he supposedly couldn’t help Coran two episodes ago, well that’s resolved with no resolution.

Krolia says, “The signs are all around us. There was a massacre here.” This episode is really giving Krolia a disproportionately large amount of the script. It’s just so frustrating for a side character to be given so much screen-time, but main characters, like Shiro are nearly non-existent.

Allura says, “Some of this damage looks like it’s from magic.” What does that even mean? What are the characteristics of building damage that indicate it comes from magic? Ultimately, this line from Allura is leading. The show knows that the villain of the episode is one of Haggar’s Druids, so it has Allura make this comment to foreshadow that. Allura saying this right now though feels totally forced and manufactured.

Krolia says that some of the “strike patterns,” scratches in the rock, “look Mamoran.” If this signal is supposed to be a Mamoran signal, then is it a surprise that they might have gotten into a fight here? I know this episode thinks it’s setting up some mystery, but it doesn’t feel mysterious.

The space wolf growls and runs off and tackles someone to the ground. Keith yells at the guy, asking, “Who are you? Who’s broadcasting the signal?” Why does Keith assume this guy knows anything about the signal? Oh yeah, because characters make whatever assumptions the writers need them to, rather than behaving in a way that’s actually natural.

The guy says that he’s the one who’s broadcasting it, and Keith replies, “Impossible! You’re not Blade of Marmora!” What is Keith basing that on? Keith doesn’t know every Blade in the universe. If he’s basing it solely on the clothing the guy is wearing, then that’s senseless. Keith’s a member of the Blades, but he’s not wearing a Blade uniform currently. Krolia’s a Blade, but she’s not wearing a Blade uniform right now either. Why would Keith assume this guy couldn’t be a Blade? Again, it’s the writer leading the story, rather than the story unfolding in a natural way. The writer knows that this isn’t a Blade, so I guess it’s supposed to be foreshadowing. It gives the writing an unnatural, jerky development.

They let him up, and he takes them to his campfire. Romelle calls the location of what looks like someone struggling to survive “disgusting.” Good to know that her experience hasn’t changed her pampered, privileged mindset. At least she gets called out on her insult. She tries to cover, but it’s obnoxious. “‘Disgusting’ is Altean for lovely. You don’t speak Altean, do you?” She could have been written to recognize her privilege and apologize for her insult, but no. I don’t like Krolia, and I don’t like Romelle either. Ugh.

Pidge confirms the signal is from here. The masked guy reveals he knows they’re the Paladins of Voltron. Shiro asks him what happened here. The masked guy, with an ominous voice, says, “Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here.” I actually kind of like this line and how he sounds saying it. It actually has some creepiness to it. He identifies himself as Macidus and says that this is his home planet and that he’s the only one left alive here.

Krolia finds a not-really concealed set of blades from Blades of Marmora. She immediately turns her gun on him. He says he has them arranged as they are “in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.” Knowing that he’s eventually revealed to be a Druid, he’s not exactly lying in saying that, the Blades were trying to protect the universe from people like him.

Macidus tells them how this all started when Voltron disappeared. He says that the “power vacuum that ensued destabilized much of the universe.” That again makes Voltron’s turn against Lotor look totally short-sighted. The problem I have with this is that, while this does reveal consequences to the Paladins’ actions, I never get a sense of them actually taking responsibility for those consequences.

Allura asks, “what happened to Haggar, the witch,” and Macidus says, “no one knows, but her Druids continued her work.” What work is that? This is a big part of my dislike of Haggar: Whatever she does off-screen that’s supposed to be so villainous is almost never shown. What her goals are for these actions are not revealed. We know that Honerva was obsessed with quintessence, and that drove her to poisoning herself. We know she would create Robeasts to attack Voltron, but that was mostly in support of Zarkon and his dictatorship. We know she used the komar (are we to assume there was ever only one komar?) to extract quintessence from the life on planets, but we only ever see that done once. We know she had a particular interest in Shiro – “You could have been our greatest weapon,” she said to him in 1x13 “The Black Paladin – but we have no idea why she was interested in him or what she was planning in thinking of him as a weapon. Are we supposed to think that she was just accumulating miscellaneous weapons? It’s not like Voltron had reemerged at the point she had started thinking of Shiro as a weapon, so with the Galra dominating the universe, what were the Galra lacking that meant they needed more weapons? We know she oversaw the clone program, but there was never anything that suggested the Druids were involved with that; instead, it seemed more like that was a secret side project she had. And we never are given an explanation as to why she was having so many Shiro clones produced.

So, Voltron has been missing for three years. Haggar hasn’t been seen in that time either. Given season eight, we’re supposed to understand that during these three years, she found Lotor’s colony hidden in the quantum abyss, establishing a relationship with the Alteans there, hyping them up into a vengeful fury against Voltron for killing Lotor, and using whatever powers she gained from killing the White Lion in Oriande searches through all the other realities to find one that she thinks of as being perfect? I guess I’ll get to all that when I get to those episodes, but the topic of who’s the show’s antagonist is a topic relevant to now. Once we get to Earth and dealing with the invasion and occupation there, Sendak becomes the primary antagonist. But Sendak has always only been a secondary antagonist. That’s one of the many weaknesses of the story in season seven. The villains are shallow. Ezor and Zethrid were villains for two episodes because they wanted power. Sendak wants to conquer and dominate. Haggar is off-screen, at best, only slightly coming into play with the Altean-controlled mecha at the end of season. There is no character motivation grounding the antagonism of the conflict of the season. That’s not to say the show has ever been all that great at having compelling villains because it hasn’t, but at least in the first two seasons Zarkon and Haggar worked as foils for Shiro and Allura. There was a character connection there. And as much as I hate that they played the Lotor’s-secretly-been-a-villain-all-along absurdity for seasons three through six, at least he was emotionally connected to Allura. But here in season seven, anyone that can be identified as the antagonist could be easily replaced by any other character and things are really still the same. Consider this season’s story, but instead of Sendak, it’s another Galra like Ranveig or Gnov from back in season five. The story doesn’t change whatsoever. Sendak behaves the same as every other villainous Galra.

Macidus says that Haggar’s final order to the Druids was to destroy the Blades of Marmora. Another problem with this is we don’t know anything about the Druids. Who are they? Why are they Druids? How are they Druids? They all use magic, so do they come by that magic on their own, and in demonstrating magic are recruited by Haggar into the Druids? Or does Haggar teach them magic after they join the Druids? Part of me kind of likes the Druids because they’re differentiated from regular Galra, but I find them frustrating because they don’t feel like characters. They’re masks and magic, and that’s it.

Pidge says, “After Lotor took over the throne, almost every Mamoran agent was exposed.” They were? This supposedly-multiple-millennia old covert organization failed to maintain their cover because Lotor became Emperor? This is a huge deal that’s never come up before. Did the Blades suddenly become incompetent when Lotor became Emperor? I could understand maybe Kolivan became exposed because he was broadcasting his face all over the universe when communicating with the Voltron Coalition, but every other Blade took explicit measures to conceal their identities. How were they exposed? This does not make sense.

Macidus says that “all Blades were called from their assignments and sent to this base. Kolivan knew they were being hunted and wanted to make a stand against them.” Are we to assume that the Druids were just so good at magic that the Blades’ covert methods were no protection? The Blades could conceal their existence for thousands of years, but now for no reason they couldn’t? Maybe this is the problem with all this story being told through exposition. None of the logistics of this have been thought through by the creative team.

Macidus continues, “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base.” So, Kolivan wanted a base for the Blades to be able to defend against Druid attacks, and he chose an inhabited planet? I know Macidus is spinning a tale here, but thinking of it logistically, this planet has been established as having once had a civilization on it. Unfortunately, this means that once again this show reduces the concept of a civilization to a few hundred people and one city – they did it with Arus, they did it with the mermaids, they did it with Taujeerians, it also feels like they did it with the Olkari. The population of planets in this show are unbelievably too low.

“The Druids […] arrived without warning.” How were there no monitoring systems for this planet or from the Blades? Throughout human history, we monitor the borders of our respective territories, but not here.

The conflict was supposedly a long one. Casidus refers to it as “a long battle of attrition.” I guess. “Casualties on both sides were enormous.” There have only ever been a handful of Druids in this show. So, these enormous casualties had to have just been regular Galra. This show has had the Paladins blow up a lot of Galra, so this “both sides” crap feels manipulative. But then, Macidus is being manipulative, but his ruse should be such that he doesn’t care about the Druid+Galra side. Is this supposed to be another hint that Macidus is not who he’s pretending to be? The Druids have never been shown to care about Galra death before; like with Haggar, the Galra have always seemed as nothing more than pawns for them to use. I can’t believe that Macidus now cares about the Galra who died under his command.

“My people were the first to try to escape,” and they’re shown running through the city streets. I thought this was supposed to have been a war of attrition? That would require the Blades and this planet’s people to have hunkered down in a strong defensive situation. That’s antithetical to escaping. Macidus says he stayed behind with Kolivan, who “led those of us who remained to battle the last of the Druids, but for each one we were able to take down, nearly a hundred Blades would fall.” Again, there have only been a handful of Druids in this show. Allura, Kolivan, and Antok – just the three of them – were able to kill two Druids while also fighting Haggar in 2x13 “Blackout.” So, the Druids are more powerful now without Haggar than they were when they literally fought alongside her? I know that Macidus is spinning a tale, but is any of what he’s saying supposed to be considered accurate? And if it’s not, if this is all a total lie, then this episode is giving way too damn much time to his telling this tale. You don’t write a character to tell a tale like this unless most, if not all, of it is true. This conflict between the Druids and the Blades feels totally disproportionate to what we’ve seen of both Druid and Blade in the past.

Krolia can apparently “recognize every one of these blades.” She’s got a really good memory then. “I trained many of them myself.” This makes her character feel even more over-important than she’s felt already. Kolivan’s blade momentarily glows. I thought a blade only glowed for its owner. I guess the way the blades function for the Blades of Marmora is another instance of the show’s magic system never being defined. Krolia concludes that Kolivan must be still alive, and Macidus, with the cliché voice of an 80s villain, says, “Just barely.”

Surprise everyone! Isn’t everyone surprised? Macidus has tricked you all!

“Your hand is looking much better,” Macidus says to Keith, referencing way back to 1x12 “Collection and Extraction,” when Keith’s hand was injured fighting the Druid and was healed when quintessence accidentally splashed on it. That happened so long ago that it feels, not like a long-range plan for the story, but like someone in the writing staff went back and rewatched the first season and realized they never really explained that moment in that episode.

“You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in,” Keith says. Thank you for stating the obvious, Keith. The Druid cackles like an empty, cliché villain. He teleports away, and in his place a grenade falls to the ground. Krolia yells, ��No!” in slow motion as it explodes. It’s silly. The space wolf teleports to Keith and teleports him away from the explosion. The explosion creates a pink bubble of energy, and everyone is stopped inside it. I guess it’s some kind of time-stop bomb?

Keith, the wolf, and the Druid are in some tunnels. Keith and the wolf initially just walk off to the side, but then are suddenly underneath the platform the Druid is walking on. I guess the Druid is just assuming that his bomb took out everyone? Despite the thin, wooden walkway he’s clomping across, the Druid stops because he hears something somehow over his loud footsteps. I guess maybe he magically sensed something since magic is whatever the writers want it to be at any given moment in this show. A canister rolls out of nowhere, and the Druid zaps it with purple lightning and walks away. Keith turns around, and boom, the Druid is behind him and stabs down through the platform. His aim with the stab is not even remotely accurate though. I guess he’s supposed to have teleported to behind Keith after having walked away. It feels more like a fake gotcha moment.

The space wolf teleports Keith away. The Druid follows. Keith slashes at the Druid’s mask, and it breaks and falls away, revealing the Druid’s face. He doesn’t look Galra to me. He has no nose and circular ears. I don’t know if he and/or the Druids are supposed to be Galra or what. He screams and attacks. Keith fights using his Marmoran blade rather than his bayard. It makes me think of how Keith gets two weapons while Shiro gets none.

A ball of energy starts to glow in Allura’s hand, and then that quick piece of a scene cuts back to Keith. The Druid keeps teleporting after Keith, Keith and the wolf run and teleport. By happenstance, Keith and the wolf end up in a room where Kolivan is suspended by ropes from the ceiling.

The Druid arrives, and complains, “Our high priestess Haggar has forsaken us because of your treachery. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return.” Because the show does not show us her “forsak[ing]” the Druids, this is mostly just confusing. We’re not told or shown any specifics of what happened. Did Haggar tell the Druids off? Did she just disappear? Both could be considered her having “forsaken” them, but they’re still very different. Macidus seems to connect, I guess, the Paladins’ killing Lotor to Haggar’s leaving. I guess Haggar’s supposed to have blamed Voltron for it, but we’ve never seen anything to show what Haggar knows about Lotor’s death. The last we saw of Haggar was in 6x05 “The Black Paladins” when Lotor told her off, Axca tried to shoot her, and Haggar teleported away. Is it supposed to be that Haggar irrationally blames the Paladins for the emotional rift she created when she abused Lotor? If Haggar has forsaken the Druids, if they haven’t seen her for years, then how does Macidus think he’ll be able to present his having killed the Paladins to her? I imagine the show would just say, he’s a villain, he’s not thinking clearly, thus nothing has to make sense within the narrative. That’s just lazy writing.

The Keith-wolf-Macidus teleport battle resumes. Allura’s ball of energy glows blue, the air swirls around them, and then poof. The sphere of pink energy disappears and Allura is left glowing pink. I guess she’s supposed to have absorbed the time-stop energy? Allura asks Pidge to “lock on to Keith’s location,” and conveniently, he’s “right directly below us.” Allura slams her hand into the ground, which cracks underneath her. She blasts through to the chamber Keith is in. I guess the blast vaporized all the rock because there’s almost no debris. The other Paladins join Allura in jumping down into the chamber. They fight Macidus, and he knocks them around too easily. Again, I think back to Allura, Kolivan, and Antok killing two Druids while those Druids fought alongside Haggar, and that makes Macidus seem overpowered. He teleports behind Allura and zaps her unconscious.

Macidus looks at Keith and teleports away. Keith then closes his eyes, somehow sees flashes of where Macidus is (if he’s invisible) or will be (if he finishes a teleport to wherever he’s going to appear). Keith throws his blade at where Macidus appears, hitting him. What is this power? Since when does Keith have magic sensing powers?

Macidus has a couple of blue lightning sparks and then he glows and explodes. The other Druids we’ve seen killed didn’t explode like this, so what’s causing this other than inconsistent writing and production?

They get Kolivan down. He’s injured, but alive and will recover. We find out now that Keith gave Kolivan the coordinates of the Altean colony. Why this hasn’t been brought up before now, I don’t know. Kolivan says he “sent a team. There was nothing there, just an empty facility.” Keith would have had to have given Kolivan the coordinates sometime between the end of 6x02 “Razor’s Edge” and the beginning of 6x04 “The Colony” because he was too busy with fighting the clone and Lotor after “The Colony.” Did Kolivan sit on the information until sometime after Voltron was under the effects of the time skip during the battle with Lotor (again, ignoring the plot hole that Coran, Krolia, Romelle, and the clone would have experienced the three years that passed outside the rift since the Castle Ship never went in)? When did Haggar collect the Alteans from the colony?

I know throughout the entirety of this episode’s commentary, I’ve put a lot of work into trying to understand the logistics of events that are only halfway referenced, at best, and take place entirely off-screen. I have probably put more work into understanding this than the creative team did in writing it. I really doubt that any of them cared if any of this really made sense or not. Keith got to have a supposedly exciting fight alongside his magic space wolf, that’s all that mattered to them, really.

Kolivan says that he has to “find the others. The universe needs us now more than ever.” So, did any of the battle that Macidus described in his tale even happen? Or did he only capture Kolivan and lure other Blades to this location one-by-one to kill them? The show is not clear about what has actually happened.

Krolia declares she’ll join Kolivan to help rebuild the Blades of Marmora. At least she won’t be here to take up so much of the story for a while. She goes to Keith and says, “I’m sorry to have to say goodbye to you for a second time.” Yeah, remember when she revealed herself as his mother back in 5x05 “Bloodlines” when she couldn’t control herself in the moment and said, “I left you once. I’ll never leave you again,” remember that? Yeah, that overwhelming amount of emotion that got to her in that moment no longer exists. She’s going to leave Keith. I don’t mind her leaving (beyond my being tired of her character) because they’re both adults and they’re both fighters in a huge conflict. But her leaving here makes her previous proclamation that she would “never leave [him] again” lose meaning. It takes away whatever emotion that part of the story had. It makes her declaration hollow. Once again, this show has flipped a switch narratively, and things are just different now just because. Keith gives her his Marmoran blade, and they hug. “Thanks for everything you taught me, Mom,” Keith says. Of course, we have no idea what any of these supposed things she taught him are since almost all of their relationship has happened off-screen.

“Keith, it’s time to get going,” Shiro says. Oh? Shiro’s still in this show? Of course, the show would have it be Shiro to be the one to interrupt Keith and his mother’s moment. And why are the Paladins so eager to leave right this very minute? I know they want to get to Earth, but they’re all still in the decompression phase of this conflict with Macidus. This separation feels forced.

Krolia and Keith tell each other they love each other then cut to the Lions flying away from the planet.

I like the premise of this episode. I like bringing the Druids back into the story, but that’s mostly because the show has never treated the Druids like characters and I’ve always wanted to learn more about them. While we get a Druid as an actual character in this episode, because of his lying, we have no idea what he says is true and what he says is a lie. We still don’t have any sense of the actual organizational relationship between Haggar and the Druids.

This episode having Macidus be the specific Druid that Keith fought in “Collection and Extraction,” while kind of cool to have a reference back to that early in the show, it reminds me about Keith’s hand seemingly being healed by the quintessence. If quintessence, and not Allura’s generated quintessence, but the refined quintessence ripped from living creatures can heal wounds, then how is quintessence a substance that poisons people so that they lose control of themselves? So, unfortunately, this episode just leaves me with more questions than it answered.

While I spent a lot of time trying to understand the logistics of off-screen events, and I don’t think much of it makes sense, and I know that a lot of my questions have no answers because the show’s creative team never thought to have answers for them, this episode is still way better than the past three.

[greenteafiend]

hi! i'm loving your badthingshappen series!! are you still taking requests? if you are, can I get "human shield" with pidge and keith? maybe this time it could be pidge who protects keith? but i would love it either way, your writing is beautiful

Here you go anon, hope you like it :)

@badthingshappenbingo

And also, a bit late but @keithgenuary for Pidge, day 12.

Even though Pidge only has a split second to make her decision, it is an easy one to make.

These are the facts:

The Galra is aiming for Keith’s head.

If Keith gets shot in the head, he will die.

If Keith doesn’t die, he will most certainly be rendered unconscious at the very least, and will therefore be unable to make it back to his lion under his own power.

Paladin training has made Pidge stronger, but Keith is heavy. It’s doubtful that she’d be able to move him anywhere quickly.

Even if she does manage to outrun their enemies while carrying an unconscious/possibly dead Keith, she can’t pilot Red, the lion that is their ride out of here.

When leads to her justifications:

She can move, and take the shot somewhere that isn’t her head, like her shoulder or something.

She probably won’t immediately die from a blaster wound in the shoulder.

If that renders her unconscious, it won’t matter because—

She is a tiny human—as loathe as she is to admit it—and Keith is strong. She had no doubt that he can carry her and run if necessary.

Keith is the Red Paladin, the Red Lion is his to fly.

So Pidge jumps in front of him, and the world explodes into pain.

—

“Pidge!” Keith screams. Watching her fall feels like slow motion. Her knees hit the ground first, and then she tips forwards, torso following. The thud reverberates through the inside of Keith’s skull, and then Pidge lays still. Dangerously still. Everything inside of Keith contracts in horror and denial.

No—

He barely feels the motions he goes through to end the fight. Slash the sentry in front of him, pivot and hurl his whole fucking bayard at the one across the room that had aimed for him, but hit Pidge. Shot Pidge.

The force of the throw impales the sentry through the chest, right up to the hilt, and it goes down, but Keith doesn’t wait to watch it fall.

He scrambles to Pidge’s side, rolls her over onto her front, and gasps.

His hands curl into fists and he swears viciously under his breath, because this looks bad.

The shot blew clear through her armor, leaving the edges blackened, and blood seeps out of the hole like water out of busted pipe.

Should have been me.

Her eyes are wet and clouded with pain and confusion.

This is my fault.

“K-Keith?” she stammers weakly, trying to raise herself, only to fall back with a pained gasp.

“I’m—I’m gonna get you out of here,” Keith vows.  

Without thinking about it, he raises an arm in the direction of his bayard, and it materializes in his hand. He’s never done that before, but it doesn’t matter. Time is of the essence.

He gathers up Pidge’s limp body, trying to be careful, trying not to jostle her injury, but still, she fights him.

“Ow! Hurts—p-put—lemme down—” she cries, words slurred, squirming weakly.

“I’m sorry,” says Keith, hitching her higher in his arms so that he can run.

She whimpers, a pained sound that reaches directly into Keith’s chest cavity to stab at his heart. But he can’t stop, no matter how much she begs, or tells him it hurts.

“Just stay with me, you’re gonna be okay,” Keith urges.

He runs so fast he’s practically flying.

—

Pidge’s memories after that are fuzzy and indistinct. An outraged growl. Panicked words urging her to keep her eyelids open—they feel so heavy. Being lifted, weightless, as fire and agony assail her shoulder. Struggling against it, trying to push it away.

And then blissful cold, dark, nothing.

—

When proper consciousness returns to her, she is falling out of a cryopod, and into directly into Shiro’s arms. He hugs her tightly, with a desperation that surprises her.

“Is she okay?” That’s Keith, and he sounds impatient.

“She’s fine, number four.” It sounds like that is not the first time Coran had said those words.   

Shiro finally steps back, holding her at arm’s length.

“You gave us a scare,” he says. 

“We’re so glad to see you back on your feet,” says Allura, stepping forward to gently press her glasses back onto her face. 

It lets her see that behind them the whole team is assembled. They were all worried enough to be here, waiting for her to get out… it makes Pidge feel warm.

“I knew Keith had everything under control,” she says, grinning.

To her surprise, her words make Keith’s face crumple in distress, and then he covers his face with both hands as his shoulders start to silently shake.

Pidge can only stare at him in shock, because—is Keith—? Is he crying?  

Hunk sets a hand on Keith’s back, giving him a comforting pat, and Lance says “There, there, mullet, she’s fine,” and they are the first words Pidge has ever heard Lance say to the other boy that contain no hints of meanness or teasing.

Pidge stumbles forward unsteadily until she’s right in front of him.

“Keith?”  

Keith sniffs, and lowers his hands, revealing red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.

“That shot was for me, they were aiming for me, but you—you—” he hides his face in his hands again.

“They were aiming at your head specifically,” Pidge points out, and then she starts to ramble, scratching the back of her head because this is awkward. Keith is their resident emo hotheaded loner, and here he is crying. Over her.

“I’d do it again, you know. I knew a shot to the shoulder wouldn’t kill me, and I knew you’d get me out of there, and I couldn’t fly Red anyways so we’d have—oof.”  

Keith lunges forward and swallows her up in a hug.

“Don’t do that again,’ he growls, squeezing her so tightly she can barely breathe.

More arms pile around them as everyone joins in on the hug.

“But… thank you,” Keith whispers, just to Pidge.

[a-spoopy-bird]

Glowing Eyes

Sorry ubt immean take this langst as tribute for my absence!

We all are stranger creatures than when we all started out as kids. Culture forbid.

The paladins were going to stay on Earth for a while, learning about this new Altean. This gave time for them to chill. Sure, they’d train, and they would strengthen diplomatic connections, but it seems like the Galran threat was gone.

They mourned the lost, and honor ceremonies were given to them, awards and medals for their bravery. Lance let his little relatives put on the badges, laughing as they went around, pretending to use a blaster. He remembered being that young, only five or six, and he would also play games like that, his dad looking on and laughing. His grin widened. These guys were the best.

“Lance, what’s this?” Joseph asked, picking up Lance’s bayard. He hadn’t explained it yet, because, after all, there had been a lot going on with ceremonies and recovering.

“This, is my bayard.” Lance said with a flair of drama. “It’s my weapon. It’s different for everybody.”

“Cool! How does it work?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Something about Altean alchemy. You’d have to ask Coran. It might take a few minutes to get an answer though.” Lance grinned.

“What does it do?” He asked, looking at it.

“It’s different for everyone. Some people, like me,” He grinned, “have several bayard forms. It doesn’t matter which bayard you use, it’ll take the same shape.”

“How do you know?”

“I originally piloted the Blue Lion. She’s pretty great, but Keith left Red to Black, so I got a promotion. Allura took Blue, so I passed on the bayard.” He explained.

“What are your bayards?” Marco asked.

Lance grinned. “I have a blaster, sniper rifle, and I got a sword.”

The was a chorus of woahs and wows. “Show us!”

“Maybe later. I don’t think the nurses would like it very much if I just started activating my bayard.”

They pouted, but then moved on. “Tell us space stories!”

Lance smiled. It was good to be home, however different it was.

We have romantic fantasies about what dying truly is. Fall off the grid.

“You died?” Veronica gasped. Lance was in the middle of telling her a story.

“Yeah, it’s nothing compared to what Shiro went through. He died, was cloned, then his soul was forced into his clone.” Lance said hotly.

“Now you’re just lying.”

“I am not! Anyway, Allura saved me with her crazy Altean magic.”

“A lot seems to happen with you and Allura.” Veronica said. Lance felt the nudge to open up.

“You’re getting sloppy, I felt that one a mile away.” He snorted.

Veronica shrugged. “Worth a shot. Are you two dating or…?”

Lance blushed instantly. “Wh- what, no, we’re just friends. Besides, she just got over Lotor.”

“Space prince?”

Lance’s shoulders tensed ever so slightly. “Yeah. He had us all. He was bad, being Zarkon’s son, then he was on our side, then he went insane from quintessence, like Haggar and Zarkon did. It was hard on Allura. She was in love with him, the version he told us.” Lance’s shoulders fell. “Honestly, I didn’t trust him, but I thought it was just my jealousy. He got so close to Allura so quickly, and I had been with her for several months and made less progress. But, my gut was right. He lied to us all, and that put the universe in jeopardy.” He shrugged. “We left him in the quintessence field.”

“That must’ve been rough.”

Lance laughed. “Understatement of the year.”

Veronica studied Lance, noticing how he didn’t laugh as long, he didn’t make as many jokes. He looked like the same Lance, but the Galra had hardened him into someone almost completely different.

We live for the night’s décor, it reveals what we dream of.

Lance missed looking up at a night sky. After so many nights and days of being in one, it looked so much better being on the ground. The stars, familiar constellations blinked down at him, a comfort from his childhood.

“Lance? Are you down there?” Keith’s voice floated over the little ledge that was washed out by the sea.

Slightly confused, Lance called back, “Yeah, there’s a slight lip.” He watched as Keith got down and sat beside him. “What’s up?”

“I needed to get away from the Garrison and Griffin. He’s such an asshole.”

Lance smirked. “Didn’t you guys fight all the time?”

“Still do.” Keith grunted, looking at the moonlight that bounced off the waves.

Lance looked up at the stars. “I wonder how many of these are planets we visited.” He wondered aloud.

Keith looked at Lance, then the sky. “I don’t know.”

Lance fell silent. He stared at the stars, expression content and a bit sad too. He thought of the countless battles, and of how often he wanted to come home, just too look at his stars again. Slowly, he relaxed, leaning into the embankment, letting out a soft sigh. This was his reward for making it through the war.

He didn’t notice Keith looking at him, wondering why Lance wasn’t trying to pick a fight.

I know there’s someone at the door. They come for help of this I’m sure.

“You wanna talk about it?” Lance heard Keith ask. He had fallen asleep at the embankment and had just jolted awake. He knew instinctively he was pale and clammy. It happened every time he had a nightmare.

The image of Galran sentries bearing down on him flashed through his mind. He suppressed a shudder. “No, it’s fine. I should get home. Don’t want them to think I disappeared again,” Lance joked, grin obviously forced.

Keith watched as Lance got up and left him alone under the stars on Veradero beach.

But do I want to say goodbye to all the glowing eyes?

Lance walked to his hiding spot. He wasn’t even sure if it was there anymore, but it remained intact. Just a tree with a platform in its branches. It was about fifteen feet up, but he had made a small ladder up.

Curling around his knees, he let out a quiet, dry sob. Was he ever going to be free from the Galra? He let the tension slowly leave his body. It’d be fine, he was finally home. He could chill sometimes, not fearing an attack any second.

I’m holding onto what I know, and what I know I must let go.

Having Keith back after a month of him being gone was weird. Lance didn’t really know what to do. Half of him wanted to fight with him, but the other half wanted to drop it. This resulted in some very mixed signals.

“Your hair needs cut,” Mrs. Holt said one day as they chilled in the Garrison lounge.

“I’ve been saying that for months.” Lance snorted.

Keith fingered his hair. “I don’t know, I kinda like it long.”

It doesn’t look half bad. Lance thought, but he didn’t know how to say that. “It’s more of a mullet this way. It’s better.”

Keith glared.

“But it’s so long, just a trim,” Mrs. Holt continued. “It’d be so much easier to manage.”

“Thanks for the offer, Mrs. Holt, but I think I’ll keep it for now.” Keith said politely but continued to glare at Lance.

But I would rather sing a song, for the eyes to sing along.

Lance was getting used to waking up in his own sweat, visions of towering sentries and cruisers and fighters burnt onto his eyelids. He would silently sneak out of his house, or the Garrison, or where ever he had fell asleep at, and go to his hideout, his guitar in a waterproof case. He’d pull it out and sing softly, relaxing into the music.

For now, he would be safe.

We all know somebody who knows somebody’s who’s doing great.

Lance sat politely as Hunk and Pidge talked about how good it was to be on Earth again, even if they didn’t have as advanced of technology. They compared notes as he sat in the background, half listening. They didn’t seem to be haunted by the war.

We all know people who know people who are flying straight.

“Paladins, we have to continue training with out lions.” Allura said. “We can’t let our bonds grow stale.”

Lance climbed into Red, feeling his impatient and violent nature, but also feeling his protectiveness and fierce love for the other paladins. Especially his paladin, Lance.

Lance missed Blue, for sure, but Red was also great. Red wasn’t as chill as Blue. Red wanted Lance to be the best he could be, and so did Blue, but Blue was more maternal about it. Red let Lance make mistakes. When it got out of hand he stepped in. Or fell onto.

They did drills for hours. Red responded well, even occasionally giving Lance tips about his flying form. Red was speedy, so Lance had to take it down a notch. But Red was also temperamental, so when the team got slightly heated at him, Red bristled. Lance soothed him. It was fine. He was fine.

He felt Red questioning how firm his belief was. He knew Red knew he was lying. Red had a direct link with his mind, of course he knew. He knew about the nightmares and the panic attacks and the absolutely, mind numbing, body freezing fear that took him over.

But I’ll kindly enter into rooms of depression, while ceiling fans and idle hands will take my life again.

By this time, Lance knew he should confide in someone besides his giant mechanical cat. It wasn’t getting better on its own, as Lance had hoped. He thought about Hunk or Pidge or Shiro, but none of them seemed right. He wanted to go to his family, but he’s been gone for so long and he didn’t know if they’d be awake right now. It was… three in the morning.

He huffed. This isn’t what he had planned for when they finally came home. Then again, he hadn’t planned on being in some sort of stasis for three years. He sighed, just staring at the ceiling. Shark stickers that glow in the dark dotted his ceiling. He remembered naming them when he got them, but by now he forgot the names. All he knew is that one was Hunk, for his best friend.

He heard a soft knock on his door. Who the hell was awake? He considered grabbing his bayard and snatched it from his dresser. He slowly opened the door, bayard up, but not activated.

“Jesus, Lance, I’m not here to kill you.” Veronica whispered, entering his room. “Why are you up?”

“I could ask the same thing,” he whispered back, putting down the weapon.

“I asked you first.” She said, falling into the familiar pattern of their talks.

“What is this, middle school?” Lance scoffed quietly. “I just couldn’t sleep.”

“Bullshit.” She answered. Lance looked up, ready to defend his claim. “You didn’t sleep at all last night either. When I came in to check, you weren’t even here.” She accused. It was true. He had snuck out to his hideout again.

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” He muttered, looking down. “You should get some rest.”

“I’m not going to bed until you tell me what’s up.”

Lance sat there tired and exasperated. Veronica knew he valued his family’s needs over his own personal ones. He also knew she had his best interest at heart. But he really, really didn’t want to talk about it.

“You know, you don’t have to be Red Paladin, you can just be Lance.” She said, her voice concerned and honest.

He felt his shoulders slump. Those words crashed down on him. He suspected Veronica saw through him, and maybe Keith. “Fine. It just seems silly to me. It just a few bad dreams.”

“Every night?”

“Most nights. So, I leave with my guitar and just softly play. It’s not really a big deal.”

Veronica wasn’t really convinced. “Okay. Try to get some sleep, okay?” Lance nodded, and she left.

Lance bit his lip. He wanted to tell Veronica everything, like they were kids again. Instead, he found himself texting Keith to meet him at the embankment. He snuck out his window, knowing Veronica wasn’t asleep yet, and crept off.

The tide was in, and the water was a few feet below Lance’s feet. He figured it would be a few hours until Keith showed up. After all, it was four in the morning.

We live for the night’s décor, it reveals what we dream of.

“Lance?” Keith called. Lance blinked and sat up. Keith jumped off the embankment and sat down. “It’s four in the morning, why are you up?” Lance felt Keith studying his reaction.

Lance chose his words very carefully. “I just- uh, I haven’t been sleeping well, and you’re the team leader, plus, Pidge and Hunk are busy with Garrison tech things, so I-” He broke off, knowing he had started to ramble.

“Nightmares?” Keith asked quietly.

Lance bit his lip and nodded. “How’d you know?”

“I had the same problem. When the Blade showed up and showed their symbol, I realized I might be part Galra, and I was terrified. I had nightmares about it. It made me moodier and more irritable.” Keith said.

Lance hung his head. “I don’t really hate your mullet.” He muttered.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I don’t actually hate your mullet.” He said a little louder, head almost between his knees. He felt his face heat up. “I hated how you were better. I was kind of jealous. Griffin was your rival, not me.”

“I was always confused about why you’d make fun of my hair and purposely press my buttons.”

Lance looked up at the now waning moon. It was funny how the night air and sky seemed to strip you away until you were left naked, nothing left but your true self. “Yeah I was just extremely jealous. You could fly great, you never had to study, you picked fights when I probably would have cried.”

Keith looked at Lance, obviously confused as to why Lance was opening up to him.  “I didn’t like getting into fights. People just said the wrong stuff.” He paused. “Those people were assholes.” Keith didn’t like how sad it was getting. Lance was the happy-go-lucky guy on the team, being sad didn’t look right on him.

Lance laughed half-heartedly, then looked at Keith. “I want to show you something.” He decided, getting up. He went down the beach until he found his gnarled tree.

I know there’s someone at the door they come for help of this I’m sure.

But do I want to say goodbye to all the glowing eyes?

Lance heaved up onto the platform, waiting for Keith.

“What is this?”

“This,” Lance said with a flair of pride and drama, “is my Quiet Place. When I come here, I just chill. It’s not exactly a panic room, but it’s close.”

“Why are you showing me this?” Keith asked, looking at the carvings on the trunks and the floor.

“Well, you’re our leader, and there’s really no one else right now…” Lance bit his tongue. He wasn’t thinking when he brought Keith here.

I’m holding onto what I know and what I know I must let go.

But I would rather sing a song for the eyes to sing along.

“Lance?” Keith asked softly. “Do you- do you want to talk about it?”

Lance shrugged, rubbing his arm. He sat down, motioning for Keith to do the same. It was kind of cramped, but Lance got out his guitar. “So, when I come up here, I just sort of play until lyrics come to me.” He tuned it. “And since we’ve been home, I’ve written all of these.” Lance brought out a stack of sheet music. “This is seven songs, and it takes a few days, generally, to write one. They aren’t very good.” He added, watching Keith as he read them.

Lance started to play one of his favorites.

This room is far too dark for us to stay around.

Redemption’s not that far and darkness is going down.

Keith listened to the minor key cords and the lyrics that seemed to come effortlessly. The more he listened, the better he understood what Lance was going through. Almost impeccably, it molds into a different song. It was slightly more depressing, Lance strumming harder and more passionately. Keith listened, Lance’s singing just as soft as before, barely escalating over the guitar.

This room is far too dark for us to stay around.

Redemption’s not that far and darkness is going down.

Keith wanted to interrupt but wanted to hear the rest of the song.  Lance didn’t seem to remember Keith was there as he kept playing, getting louder and more passionate, until he stopped, with a slow, sad strum.

Lance didn’t look up.

“Lance, do you- you want to talk?” He asked softly.

Lance shook his head no. He slowly put the guitar away then hugged himself, refusing to look up. He took a shuddering breath. “I- I don’t understand,” He started, voice congested and full of sorrow. “I don’t understand why after- after everything we’ve done, I breakdown when we’re safe.”

“Lance-”

“And it’s not like I’m scared!” Lance said, voice stronger, fueled by anger at his own weakness. “I don’t understand it! I don’t feel scared, I know I’m safe, but there’s still this lingering paranoia and I’m just so, tired, of being afraid.” He ended it with a contained sob.

“After how long in space, it’s okay to feel like this.” Keith said without knowing what he was saying. “How many times were we woken up by the alarms blaring, or a rattling explosion when Coran forgot the proximity alarms? We’ve been through so much. You more. I spent two years on the back of a space whale bonding with my mom.” Keith knew Lance knew the stab at humor was weak. Lance hardly laughed. He just sort of jerked, a weak chuckle that sounded more like a sigh. “You aren’t going to be alright right away. Just give it time.”

“But- what if we don’t have time?” Lance chocked out. “There could be an attack from any of the Galra who are fighting for power.”

“If you keep focusing on the bad, you lose sight of the good.”

Lance’s head bobbed, but his lips quivered, holding back tears.

I’m holding onto what I know and what I know I must let go.

But I would rather sing a song for the eyes to sing along.

They sat in silence. Lance wished Keith would say something to get rid of the despair still welling up inside of him, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. He had to take action. But he was scared. What would happen? Would he start to sob? Get thrown into another panic attack? Even at the thought he felt his chest constricting. He didn’t want to vanish inside a panicked shell in front of Keith.

In front of anyone.

La di da da, la di da di da,

La di da da, la di da di da,

La di da da, la di da da, la di da da, la di da.

Time passes. It’s natural. But other things don’t. Lance didn’t recover. He just got better at hiding it. He got worse. Nothing was alright anymore. He just wanted to leave and never come back, or to be in Blue’s cockpit one last time. He missed her but respected her decision to block him out. She was, after all, a wise Lion of Voltron, and he was just a silly human trying to keep it together.

For the eyes to sing along.

“Lance!” They were calling out his name. He had vanished from the Garrison overnight, leaving a note.

Make them stop.

Lance quivered and shook in his tree house, too tired and panicked to play. He bit his lip so hard it bled. His hands were gripped in his hair, tugging at his scalp. They were too loud, they called so, so loud, he couldn’t ignore the truths.

Make them stop.

“Lance!” Hunk was near tears. Pidge was on his shoulders, hoping to see any sign of him. Keith had gone off on his own. Hunk had lost track of where Allura, Coran, and Veronica had gone. When had this happened? Hours ago? Hunk was going to breakdown.

Pidge realized that. She hopped down from his back. “Hunk look at me.” She said. He didn’t. “Hunk.” She said again, quieter. “We’re going to find him, okay?”

Hunk nodded. Still too close to tears for Pidge to feel safe on his shoulders.

Keith had stalked off on his own. He had a suspicion of where Lance was but didn’t want to tell the others. That was Lance’s call.

Still. Sneaking out at night, while he did it regularly, wasn’t good. He had left a note, which really wasn’t good. The shaky writing and the panicked message was hard to read, but they went out anyways.

Lance quivered. They had passed right in front of his tree. He felt like he was being chocked. He couldn’t breathe. He was sliding out of control. He couldn’t control his body, oh God, he was drowning. His hands were fists, but he couldn’t feel his fingers. He strangled out a gasp, desperate for air.

Make them stop.

Keith stood a bit away from the tree. He could hear Lance strangled breathing. He swallowed. He went forward cautiously.

“Lance?” Lance heard his name from far, far away. He couldn’t look up, he could feel his hand or feet, he was going to throw up, God, this isn’t good God, please-

Suddenly there was a hand on his back. He flinched. He felt someone wipe the tears off his face. The touch was so unexpected, Lance tried to scoot back, his brain yelling to stop but his body continuing.

His hand slid off the edge of the platform. He strangled a gasp, new, fresh fear washing through him. Arms were around him, keeping him on the platform. He struggled to leave. The arms held fast.

The arms of the enemy. He thought, lungs being crushed. He wasn’t getting enough air. He was going to die. He was going to vomit. He was going to die here in the arms of what he’s been running from with its smells of man shampoo and leather in his nose.

Men’s shampoo and leather? Lance took a shuddering sniff. And sweat? Who smelt like th-

Keith.

Lance froze. He couldn’t breathe for a different reason now.

Make them stop.

Keith locked his arms around Lance. If he wasn’t careful, Lance would end up taking both of them out of the tree. He made small shushing noises, no knowing what to do, or what was wrong. Lance kept pushing away, trying to escape, struggling for breath. He pulled him as close as possible, forming a cage with his arms.

Lance froze. Keith hesitantly released some of the tension in his arms. “Lance?”

Lance said something against his chest that Keith couldn’t hear. “What?”

“I’m sorry.” His voice was thick. Keith saw how pale he was. This wasn’t the Lance that he went up to space with. This was a scared teenager needing comfort.

“Why are you sorry?” Keith asked, shifted so that Lance could be in less danger of falling off.

“Because I’m weak, and pathetic, and I’m just-”

“You’re just brave, and funny, and a good friend.” Keith cut in.

“How can you say that? You hardly hang around me.” His voice was thick and muffled by his shirt, but Keith clearly heard the pain in it.

“Just because I don’t hang out with you doesn’t mean that stuff isn’t true.” Keith said, confused about where all this was coming from.  “Just look at you and Hunk. You guys are always there for each other.”

“Yeah, but he has Pidge now. They have technical junk to work on.” Lance sniffed. “I’d just be a third wheel.”

“Lance, they enjoy your company. Both of them are out trying to find you.”

“Oh, man, I just made them worry more, we should go.” Lance pulled back, wiping tears off his face.

“Slow down, don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine.” Keith said. He didn’t want Lance to get worked up. Keith could tell he was tired from the panic attack, and no doubt running from the Garrison base to the tree.

“Keith, just- please. I don’t want to talk about it.” Lance looked away. He could barely think straight. His gay panic and an actual panic attack hadn’t been good on his energy, which was already low form countless nights not sleeping. He just wanted to sleep until he didn’t like Keith.

Lance could feel Keith trying to sort out what to do. He almost heard the click of the last piece, the decision, falling into place.

“When I was with Krolia on the space whale, we had a big blow up.” Keith started. “We were getting a little stir crazy, and there was a really small thing that had escalated far too quickly. We both said some hurtful things. It ended with me yelling that I wished I hadn’t found her and storming off with Kosmo.” Lance looked at Keith. He was looking into his lap. “I could tell Kosmo didn’t like it. I didn’t even like it. But I was too stubborn to walk back to my mom and tell her I was sorry. I didn’t see the moment was right for me to apologize and did it far too late.” Keith looked up. The starts of tears were in his eyes. “I feel like you might be the same way. You apologize way too often, for stuff that isn’t even your fault.”

Lance shook his head. “Keith, I’m just- so, tired, please,” He looked up. It felt like his bones weighed too much for him to support. “I just want to sleep.”

Keith paused forever. Lance was terrified he was going to refuse. Then he nodded. “Where?”

The question caught him off guard. “What?”

“Where do you want to sleep? Here, the Garrison, your house?”

Lance was caught off guard by how considerate Keith was being. “I don’t want to move.” Lance said. “Is it okay if I just, sorta…” He trailed off, too tired to form the sentence. He leaned forward and practically collapsed onto Keith.

Keith rubbed Lance’s back, not knowing what to do. Lance sighed, relaxing until he was in the familiar space between awake and asleep. He was half aware of Keith humming, then singing.

“Make them stop.”

[stuffandnosense]

Seeing Stars

Description: A diplomatic mission gone wrong leaves Lance blind. Post S7, established relationship Plance. Warnings for permanent injury and recovery.

(This is entirely the Pidgance Positivity Discord’s fault. XD Love you guys!)

***

Lance only remembers a few things about the day they told him his eyes would never work again...that it wasn’t just the bandages around his head keeping him in the dark.

He remembers Pidge holding his hand, his mom’s arm around his shoulders, one of his dad’s large hands warming his back, moving in circles.

“We’re right here, son. We’ll be right here for you.”

They’d waited until he wasn’t so out of it, until he was otherwise recovered enough to understand, but it took time for him to get it anyway.

“Wh-what...what do you mean? I mean...there has to be some way to fix it, right? Like...some kind of replacements, o-or…”

Pidge squeezing his fingers, her shoulder bumping his. The waver in her voice is something that’s stayed with him. “I...we’ve been looking, Lance. But the nerves are too damaged for anything like that...for any technology out there right now. But I won’t stop looking. I’ll never…”

Something about the way she sobbed then got through. That was when he knew it was real, and it was like a switch flipped. Part of him went right back under again.

“Lance…? Lance?”

There are only snatches in his memory of the days after. His mother stroking his hair and singing to him. Pidge wrapped around him in his hospital bed, or kissing the new scars on his face. His niece and nephew reading to him. His friends talking at him about anything and everything, just so he wouldn’t be alone.

Maybe the thing he remembers most are the handful of instances waking up to someone’s outburst of anger, or sorrow...the hushing voices and hurried footsteps of one or more someone elses ushering them out into the hallway before he could hear too much. Allura and Coran, Hunk and Pidge, Veronica and Marco, Keith and Shiro…

“They should have told us their planet still had a volatile faction! A key member of my team is compromised, and for what?”

“There are crazy people everywhere...and they didn’t know. This isn’t the Paluvians’ fault.”

“I swear if you try to tell me things just happen...we’re not in a war anymore, Shiro! Not really. That’s not an excuse.”

“Keith...keep it down...of course it’s not. I hate this as much as you do.”

“I know...just…” A tired huff, as the voices faded into the hallway. “He’s my friend.”

“I know…”

It was nice to know they cared enough to feel that way. Not that he hadn’t already known. But sometimes hearing it just made everything hurt more. He didn’t really need everyone else reminding him of the things tumbling over and over in his own head anyway, after all.

But they knew that. That was why they tried so hard not to get upset in front of him. He already knew he couldn’t fly like this. He couldn’t shoot. He couldn’t...be a paladin. Not like this. And maybe that would be easier to come to terms with if there wasn’t the constant hum of Red in the back of his mind, looking for him to let her in.

He didn’t try, those first several days. He didn’t...anything. He didn’t talk. He ignored Red. The most interaction he remembers having with the world was nodding every now and then at whoever was talking to him or forcing himself to swallow food he couldn’t really taste, so whoever sounded worried would stop sounding that way for a little while.

But maybe, if he had to pinpoint when his memory begins to fill in, it’s the night Pidge finally convinced ALL of Lance’s family to go for the night and let her stay with him. She’d been there from the beginning but they’d never really been alone until then. Not that it would have mattered when Lance wasn’t really talking to anyone anyway.

He was facing away from the side of the room he’d determined the door was on, and she laid down behind him. He could feel one shoulder pressed into his back and imagined her staring at the ceiling in the silence until she broke it.

“I’d like to say this isn’t a payback for somehow managing to get Veronica run me off yesterday without saying a word to her, but that would be a lie.”

The bed moved as Pidge turned over and pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades. “Your family thinks you just need more time. They don’t want to force you, and it’s not like I do either but…” She trailed off, and when she started again her voice was tight with unshed tears.

“Lance, you don’t have to be okay. I know that’ll take time.” Her fingers tightened in his shirt. “But I need you to be HERE, not…not wherever you are. Please.”

It felt like swimming up through an ocean of dark water to answer her, but she was crying into his back and how could he not try?

“I’m...I’m sorry…”

The crying behind him abruptly stopped. “Lance…? No…don’t be sorry. That’s not what I meant to—just…” She tugged on his shirt, trying to get him to turn over. “It’s okay. Don’t be sorry.”

But by then he was crying, and once the floodgates had opened it was hard to stop them. “I’m sorry, Pidge. I’m sorry…”

“Hey...hey, just come here. Come on.”

When he buried his face in her shoulder he recognized the feel of the fabric against his face, but it was long minutes after before he’d calmed enough to question it.

“This is my jacket, isn’t it?”

***

The last thing Pidge remembers from the state dinner on Paluvia is the concussion and heat of the explosion and Lance shoving her and the ambassador behind him.

She woke up in a hospital bed back on Earth herself, two days later, with deep scratches and patches of second degree burns along one arm and leg. She learned the Paluvian ambassador sustained similar injuries, but was otherwise fine.

Lance was the one who took glass and shrapnel to the face. And while Allura, Coran, and her father had long since rebuilt a teladuv to make bringing the coalition’s allies to Earth easier, healing pod technology was taking longer to replicate.

Even if there had been a healing pod to put him in, his eyes were too damaged for even Allura’s alchemy to heal. Like she couldn’t grow Shiro a new arm, she couldn’t grow Lance new eyes. It didn’t work like that. And Allura had been at that dinner, too. She’d been a little farther away from the blast and mostly unhurt, but still too weak to use her alchemy for days after.

By then scars had set. Pidge was left with discolored skin from a more severe burn on her leg and lines from deeper wounds on her right arm that scarred. Lance would carry scars around his eyes and across one cheek from the shrapnel that took his vision and burn scars across his left arm and side.

She remembers being in Lance’s room one day, maybe a week or two after she’d woken up. Lance was still comatose and somehow Matt, Shiro, and Keith were all there at once. Lance’s mother had gone to find something to eat, and it was just the four of them at the moment. Matt looked at Lance, then around at the rest of them, and tried to lighten the mood.

“Well...we could start a club.”

Shiro actually snorted from his seat in the corner with a book.

Keith just crossed his arms and leaned into the wall with a huff. “Somehow I don’t think that’s gonna make him feel better.”

Matt winced and shrugged. “Hey, eventually maybe. We’ll wait a while on that one though…”

Pidge smiled at him for trying.

They tried everything before Lance even woke up. Ryner tried to help, too. Pidge and Shiro went to her with Lance’s medical scans, but in the end there was nothing to be done.

“Okay, so there’s not enough to work with for any of your standard replacements...but...Ryner, your technology works off of interfacing with the mind. Isn’t there anything else...?”

“I am sorry, Pidge. Being able to interface with our biotechnology using thought and finding a way to feed visual information directly back into the brain without a working optic nerve are two very different things. I’m afraid we don’t have that capability yet.”

“But—”

“Even Galra technology can’t do that. Our replacements are meant to compensate for standard birth defects or more superficial injuries, and when the Galra replace body parts they do it purposefully and carefully, despite how brutal it seems.” She blinked at Shiro. “I apologize for bringing it up, but…”

Shiro shook his head. “It’s all right; it’s the truth. Thank you for looking at the scans.”

“Of course.”

Shiro rested hand on Pidge’s shoulder then. “Katie...I think we’re coming to the point where we have to face facts.”

She isn’t proud of how she jerked away from him. “No! We have to keep looking! There has to be something we can do. I...W-we can’t let him wake up and not have an answer for him. We CAN’T…” She isn’t sure when she started crying, but the next thing she knew she was outside on a bench on the Garrison grounds sobbing into Shiro’s uniform jacket.

“There has to be answer…”

“Pidge, sometimes there’s NOT an answer; at least not the kind we want to hear. I know that’s not what you want me to tell you, and I’m sorry. But I think this time the answer is he’ll have us.”

Maybe that was why it hurt so much when Lance wouldn’t let her or anyone else do the one thing they could do, those first few days after they told him. They still did it - they all took turns keeping him company, reading to him, talking to him - but there wasn’t much response. Not until the night she managed to get him to herself. When he finally cried.

As much as it hurt listening to him sob, it was a sort of relief, too.

“This is my jacket, isn’t it?” he mumbled finally.

“And?”

He snorted. Pidge kissed his cheek. “You were in a coma for weeks; I missed you.”

“I’m so sorry, Pidge,” he whispered.

“Stop saying that.”

He shifted back enough just enough to let his head rest on the pillow beside her. So she could see his face. It was still strange to look at his eyes expecting that bright blue that used to cut straight through her. Now there were only faded gray circles in slightly shrunken white orbs.

When Lance didn’t answer her soft rebuke she reached up to his face to trace the new discolored lines across his face.

“I don’t know what you’ve been thinking the last few days, or if you’ve been listening to us at all.” She let her thumbs brush gently over his half-dropped eyelids. “But you need to know that you’re MORE than this. More than what you can do, or your pretty face.” She kissed his nose. “And it IS still a pretty face, by the way.”

Lance huffed in surprise, but he did laugh. A little. Once. It was something.

He swallowed and reached carefully for her face, to trace its features in return. “What about your pretty face? I-I...I can’t see it anymore.”

Pidge wiped away the fresh tears from his cheeks as they fell. “I told you...I’ll never stop looking for a way, okay? And until then I’ll be right here.”

“...and what am I supposed to do?” It came out so quietly, broken. It hurt her heart.

“Lance...be you.”

But the look on his face said Who am I? He didn't even have to say it aloud. She wondered if those were the thoughts that had tormented him when he shut down, as she leaned in slowly and brushed his lips with a thumb so he knew she wanted to kiss him.

He let her, leaning in just slightly himself and stopping, maybe afraid he’d bump into her. He held on so tightly as she kissed him she almost felt guilty stopping.

“I fell in love with you for your heart,” she reminded him. “THAT’S what makes you, you. And I can’t even tell you all the things you could do with it.”

She pulled him back into her chest and wrapped her arms around him. “But we don’t have to figure it all out tonight.”

***

Lance remembers much more from after that night. Things changed, if slowly.

He started to eat more because he actually started to feel hungry again. He got out of bed. Everyone seemed more at ease because at least he was talking back to them.

It took longer to get to where he is now - tackling rehabilitation willingly and trying to figure out where to go from here. Shiro has been another much-needed voice of reason.

“I know what it feels like, Lance...for your whole life to go upside down on you. I was younger than you when doctors sat me down and told me I wouldn’t live past 30 or 35 maybe; that most of my muscles would be useless long before then. Everything changed. I know it wasn’t exactly the same as what you’re going through right now, but I know it’s not easy. I also know you can still do whatever you want to do.”

“Not whatever...I can’t do what I really want to do, can I? I could learn to fight hand-to-hand like this, but I can’t shoot. I can’t fly…”

“You and Hunk were already planning to train with Allura for diplomatic work; what happened to that?” Shiro asked gently.

“That turned out great, didn’t it? That’s why I went to that dinner. Besides...I was doing that because it would help the coalition to have paladins on the diplomatic team. If I’m not a paladin anymore, what’s the point?”

A huff. “The point is that you’d be good at it.”

Pidge agreed. So did Allura. So between training to live with his blindness, his tablet is loaded with audio books full of things to read - about the planets in the coalition, about diplomacy in general...anything Allura, Shiro, or Coran can think to give him. So he’s ready to start training in earnest once he’s able to manage relatively on his own.

Hunk studies with him as often as he can, but something feels off until Lance asks asks him what’s wrong and latches onto his arm to keep his friend from leaving until he answers.

“I just...I should have been there that night too, man. If that thing hadn’t come up with the Balmerans, I—”

“Stop it, Hunk. I don’t want to hear you or anybody else feeling guilty, okay? I mean it.”

That’s when he realizes that Pidge hasn’t talked to him about any of the paladins’ missions since he woke up. Not once. The others will sometimes, but she hasn’t said a word. She’ll talk to him about anything else, but not that.

Pidge comes most days to his family’s makeshift apartment near the Garrison - in a few blocks or so of homes that have been cleaned up and partitioned off into living spaces, the streets cleared of rubble from the Galra occupation. His parents determined they would stay here to be close to him while he recovered, and when they made that decision his brothers and sisters decided they weren’t going anywhere, either.

Once he was released from the hospital, he came here. He could have stayed at the Garrison - and maybe that would have been easier, getting back and forth to therapy - but he wanted to be with his family and no one had complained.

Pidge snuggles close to him on the worn couch that he’s been informed is hideous. When he runs his hands through her hair he realizes it reaches past her shoulders now. Lance moves on to her face, tracing every curve and shape of it. She doesn’t question what he’s doing; she knows it’s how he sees her now.

“I don’t want to forget…” he told her the first couple of times. After that he didn’t have to. She just leaned into his touch.

This time, when his fingers brush against the corners of her eyes, he finds dampness there. “Pidge...Pidge, this isn’t your fault.” He knew it. Quiznak. “Nothing that happened is your fault, do you hear me?”

She ducks into his chest. “You were protecting ME…”

“Pidge...it’s...it’s been...please tell me you haven’t been thinking that this whole time.” Her sobs are his answer. “Pidge, no.” He squeezes her tightly. “No no no no, you can’t, don’t do that; please don’t think that. It’s not.”

“But I can’t just magically stop feeling like it!”

“Pidge…”

She pushes up, out of his arms and off of the couch. Lance gets to his feet to reach for her, but he ends up swiping at empty air.

“Pidge, wait! Katie!”

Her voice comes from almost to the front door; he can hear the tears still in it. “I-I’m sorry. I should go for now.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Later, Lance, okay? I’m sorry.”

The door opens and closes and he almost goes after her. But he remembers the days after he found out. When no one pressured him to accept it. When they just let him be. Even Pidge gave him those few days before trying to bring him back into the world.

But had anyone given her that kind of time?

***

He tries to sleep that night, but the pressure in the back of his mind eats at him; the presence that’s never gone away. Like Red is trying harder tonight, and more annoyed than usual to be coming up against his walls.

He wonders if she can sense his distress over Pidge. Maybe that’s it.

But why is she still in his head at all?

After hours of tossing and turning he throws a pillow across the room. Something clatters to the floor as he clutches at his aching head.

“Don’t you get it! I’m not your paladin anymore!”

He thought he was angry. He thought it was just frustration, but there are tears on his cheeks again. He thought he was all right. When will he be done crying?

“I can’t be your paladin anymore. Find somebody else,” he sniffs. “One of the MFE pilots or something. What about James? You know what? You should go with James. Keith would hate it. You have my entire blessing or whatever on that one.”

Silent annoyance from Red.

“No, I don’t hate Keith! It’s old habits die hard at this point. Inside joke. Whatever.”

How was Red supposed to know he was joking when Lance hasn’t talked to her in months?

“That was true before what happened; you’re just being salty. And you’re the one who won’t get it through your thick metal head that it’s over!”

He slams the door in his head that he’d cracked ever so slightly to say it. Red deserves better than this. He knows that. If he knew what else to say, he would.

But it hurts too much. Maybe if he makes her angry enough she’ll leave him alone.

Lance still can’t sleep. His mind still feels like a metal door being scratched at. So he gets up, and dressed, and takes his cane out into the brisk night air.

The streets here are cleared enough to practice, and even if they weren't that’s what the cane is for, anyway. He’s getting the hang of it, and being out here with the fresh air is better than being cooped up inside, anyway. Granted, he hasn’t actually been out here much by himself yet, but he’s got to do it sometime.

He isn’t sure where he’s going until he turns up a driveway a couple of streets over, following a mental map he didn’t know he remembered. Shiro lives in a converted garage apartment here, with its own entrance, the rest of the house is split into two other apartments - Hunk and his parents, and Keith and Cosmo with the addition, sometimes, of Krolia. All of them could have stayed at the Garrison too, if they’d wanted, but it’s nice to feel just a little bit normal.

Lance is relatively sure it’s Shiro’s door he finds his way to, if he’s even at the right house. He hopes so as he knocks on the door before he can stop himself.

When the door opens within ten seconds or so he’s pretty sure he has it right; Shiro’s been a light sleeper as long as he’s known him.

“Lance? What are you doing out here by yourse—” A sound like a hand running through hair. “I shouldn’t say that, I’m sorry, this is probably good practice for you, but in the middle of the night…?”

Lance winces. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, come in. Are you okay?” Shiro shuffles back to let him through the door, and guides him by the elbow to a seat once he’s inside. Something that feels like some sort of futon; he doesn’t know what it looks like. He’d never been inside here before. He’d mostly been to Hunk’s place, before.

“I don’t know, I just needed some air. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

“It’s really okay, Lance. Besides, I don’t sleep much as it is. You’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks…” He fiddles with his cane as he folds it back up, not sure why he came.

“You uh...you want some tea or something?’ Shiro asks. “Still can’t cook to save my life, but I can make a decent cup of tea.”

Lance chuckles weakly. “Yeah...sure, thanks.”

A few minutes later Shiro has handed him a warm mug and settled on the other end of the futon with his own. He doesn’t say anything and Lance is sort of grateful for that. There have been a lot of people talking with him and at him in the last few short months he’s had so far to adjust, and it’s nice to just sit. He gets through the entire cup of tea before either of them says a word.

“Shiro...why won’t Red let me go?” he whispers.

A beat of silence. “What?”

Lance swallows hard. “Red won’t stop trying to talk to me. Like she doesn’t get it. I don’t know what to do anymore; this would all be a lot easier if she’d just...stop.”

Shiro shifting in his seat, clearing his throat. “Lance...the lions aren’t stupid. If she’s still there, there’s a reason.”

“Like what? I don’t understand.”

“Then maybe you should let her in.”

***

Shiro folds out the futon for him and lets him stay for the rest of the night instead of having to go back home. Lance leaves his parents a message and tries to get some rest. His head still hurts, but at least some of his thoughts are quieter now, after talking to someone, even if he doesn’t really have an answer.

Maybe it’s drifting closer to sleep and the idea that he should try harder to let himself really talk to Red running through his mind that nudges the door open again. He falls asleep groggily thinking something like I’m sorry in her general direction, and then he’s dreaming of flying. Back at Red’s controls like nothing happened.

It can’t be like that ever again, but it’s nice. He’s had this dream so maybe times - flying through the stars. Remembering what they look like. What it was like to be up there. And if Red herself has something to do with it this time, he isn’t angry anymore. Maybe this was what she wanted. Just...to say goodbye.

But if he’s dreaming, how can he be thinking this clearly about it?

Lance sits up with a harsh intake of air. His eyes are definitely open, but instead of dark murky nothing he’s still seeing sky. Dark, starry sky but...sky. Through Red’s viewport. Through her eyes.

He almost sobs as the presence nudges at his mind again, warmer and more gentle than earlier in the night. He can almost make out words in the feelings. I am sorry too, Paladin. Come fly with me.

The view sweeps down, sending him stumbling as he tries to climb out of the futon. Clouds parting, the Garrison, houses, THIS house. He can feel the vibrations as Red sweeps near the ground in the street outside. He can see her floodlights sweeping the house from her point of view.

Lance forgets his cane as he makes his way quickly to the door and bursts out into the yard. His cheeks are already wet again, but this time he doesn’t care.

He stops when he sees...himself. The bright lights show him the scars he’s never seen before. The nearly colorless eyes Pidge and the others have to look into now. His stomach clenches, but...Pidge was right. It’s not so bad. Maybe he, Shiro, Matt, and Keith should start that club after all. Might be fun.

He hears the door bang open again behind him before he remembers to focus again on what Red is showing him. Himself, the house...Shiro.

“Lance! What…?” But after a moment of shock-wide eyes, he’s grinning.

And Lance can see it.

He sobs. “You’re smiling.”

Shiro reaches out to squeeze his shoulder, not needing to question how Lance knows that and still grinning as other doors slam open.

Red shifts her gaze just enough to take in Keith and Krolia rushing out onto the lawn fully clothed and ready for a fight if there is one. Hunk is stumbling groggily out his own door beyond them in his pajamas.

Keith looks back and forth between Lance and Red several times before he starts smiling, too. “Lance, you…?”

Hunk whoops behind him. “Dude! I knew it!”

Red drifts lower and opens her mouth; Lance can see the top of her jaw coming up in front of her eyes. Shiro squeezes his shoulder again. “Go on; what are you waiting for?”

Good question. Lance only hesitates a moment before bounding inside. He doesn’t need any help finding his way up into the cockpit he remembers so well, and when he sits down in his seat it really is like nothing happened. Almost. It’s the same view he always had from here; he just can’t see his hands reaching for the sticks. He realizes he doesn’t really need them anyway, but it feels better to take hold of them.

On the ground his friends are still watching; he lets Red hover for a moment, just looking at them until they start waving for him to go.

Lance laughs. “Okay, okay.”

The stars seem brighter than ever as they make it above the clouds. Lance finds himself shouting with joy as he and Red go through maneuvers, just to get used to each other again. Just for fun. They fly for themselves, and no one else. Until dawn breaks and pink and orange light sweeps the sky.

“I’m sorry, girl,” he tells Red again. “I should have listened.”

It’s all right, she tells him. He wasn’t ready. He needed time.

Because this doesn’t fix everything. Far from it. But that’s all right. Maybe he needed to accept the rest first before he could be happy to have this.

Later he’ll go home. Red will be able to show him the rest of his family, and part of him aches for that. But right now, there’s one person he desperately needs to see first.

Red seems to purr an affirmative in his mind, and Lance chuckles.

“Let’s go get her.”

***

Pidge wakes to Green nudging gently at her mind, telling her she might want to look out her window soon. She groans and rolls over, pulling the cover over her head. Her head hurts; emotional hangover is definitely a thing.

“Can we fly tomorrow, girl? We don’t have drills scheduled and today’s just...not good.”

But seconds later bright floodlights are cutting into her room between the dark curtains that had otherwise been doing a decent job of staving off the early morning sun.

“Geez, are you that eager?” Pidge climbs out of bed and fumbles to the window, her eyes still squinting as she reaches to tug open the curtains. “Seriously, just go back to the...hangar…”

It isn’t Green hovering outside her second-story window. It’s Red.

“What…?” She rubs at her eyes, just to be sure she isn’t crazy. As she focuses Red’s mouth opens, and Lance is...right there. On the ramp. Smiling at her.

“Lance…?” Her voice goes up a few pitches.

She doesn’t ask how. She knows how. They’ve all done it before. But not this...casually. Not this easily. None of them would be as comfortable as Lance looks right now, just standing there in his lion’s mouth flying her without being anywhere near the controls.

“Hey, Pidge.” He’s trying to be cool, but it slips after only a second or two. He blinks once and he’s crying. “You’re so beautiful...I-I thought I remembered...you’re more beautiful than I remembered.”

Not just flying his lion. Seeing through her eyes.

Pidge swipes at her eyes, and she’s not sure whether she’s laughing or crying. “I-I’ll come down, hang on.”

“Wait! Just stay right there for a minute. Where I can see you.”

In the end she just throws pants and sandals on with the shirt she’d been sleeping in and sweeps her hair into a short ponytail, and Red hovers closer to the window to let her hop onto the ramp. Lance stumbles back and lands on his rear when she launches herself at him, but they’re both laughing and it doesn’t matter.

“I’m sorry I ran off yesterday,” she says after he kisses her.

He smiles as he caresses her face; she realizes they’re inside Red now and he can’t see her anymore. But that doesn’t hurt as badly as it did yesterday.

“Don’t be,” he says. “I’m sorry; I know it’s going to take time for you to be okay, too. If you ever need time or...space or anything, just let me know. We’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you...and I guess we have more to figure out now; somebody can still fly.”

Lance gives her a dopey grin. “Yeah, how about that.”

Pidge giggles as Red’s mouth closes behind them, giving them more privacy as the lion takes off into the clouds. She tugs Lance forward by his shirt to kiss him again.

“But we don’t have to figure it all out right now.”

Lance just hums against her lips, content.

[sol1056]

I keep finding new salt about s7, like: Sendak has 5 warships, which is less than Voltron destroyed in s1 when they went to save Allura. They also had fully recharged the Lion Energy to form Voltron again through the power of friendship. Why why WHY didn't they just fly in, form Voltron, destroy all the ships, and then help sweep up the pieces/defeat Sendak's final ground assault?

My family has a long-running gag about Haley’s Comet. If there’s only one cookie left on the plate, someone will point off in a direction behind everyone and shout, “Oh my god! Haley’s Comet!” and when someone (because someone always does) turns to look, the person who shouted grabs the last cookie for themselves. 

One of the hardest parts of a large-scope story is the final set piece. You need the antagonist (or obstacle) to be big enough that it’ll appear unbeatable, with the odds stacked against the heroes. And you don’t want the heroes coming up with something out of left field (*koff* magic *koff*); the solution is most satisfying when it’s an ingenious extrapolation of some skill or knowledge you’d planted earlier in the story. 

The strategy — defeat the Big Bad — is almost never in doubt. The tension lies in how the heroes will manage that, the tactics they’ll use. Unfortunately, when you dissect most of VLD’s finales, they consist of Attack of the Haley’s Comets. 

S1, they went in with no plan except a frontal attack against an opponent with a thousand times their resources. Good thing they all had plot armor. 

S2, the finale involved getting Zarkon to come to them, so they could shut down his servers to implant a virus (that did what, exactly?) while the rest of the lions dog-fought (lion-fought?) a bunch of sentries for the nth time, then Allura forced the entire station-ship-whatever to go through The Universe’s Largest Teladuv to send Zarkon, uh, far away, for some reason. Then they formed Voltron and sliced at the big station that was again a thousand times larger, fought Zarkon in a Voltron-sized suit of armor and, uh, lastly left the scene via wormhole. Like the station was back online, clearly not destroyed, and besides, Zarkon spent most of S2 easily able to catch up with them, once he knew where they were, so not sure why ‘sending him far away’ had any purpose. 

(This makes Star Wars’ “shoot at this tiny duct on the surface of the Death Star” look downright brilliantly efficient in comparison.) 

S3 had no finale, and S4 involved, uh, Voltron going up against a planet. And almost getting blown up. While two other teams tackled super cannons a system away. Shutting down the relay station to leave a gap for those teams to capture the cannons was possibly the only tactically smart move I’ve seen in a VLD finale, tbh. 

S5′s finale… uh, Oriande, right. S6′s finale was… well, we had the copy-paste Winter Soldier fight between Keith and not-Shiro, followed by Sincline and Voltron facing off. The latter of which seemed to mostly involve a lot of yelling. *yawn*

S6′s finale, well, you already summed it up. I guess ‘just go right for the warships with the cannons’ would’ve ended the battle too soon, so they had to run around for an episode or so. Y’know, make sure we’re suitably distracted from the Haley’s Comet gambit and not realize until too late VLD had stolen yet another cookie.

When it comes to prepping for the finale, Star Wars is a great example of a simple finale that works, because it laid a solid foundation. From very early, the story drives home two things: the plans to the Death Star contain major intel, and Luke’s an amazing and intuitive pilot. We get early chatter about Luke racing, with reminders like his crack about shooting womp rats. Both elements are made credible by the story never contradicting these setups, so when you put together teeny duct + amazing pilot + tunnel-shot cinematography, you get a marvelous heart-pounding finale.  

With the exception of S7 using the shields (a callback to S6E1), VLD has been pretty weak at hinting at skills or knowledge ahead of time. And that’s ignoring that the EPs/writers don’t seem to understand battle tactics vs a solid and efficient strategy. 

They do manage to give Lance consistent tactical smarts (despite fen calling him the best strategist, which he’s not), but otherwise the EPs/writers seem fuzzy on how the two perspectives impact characterization. So right there, they don’t even have a solid sense of how a team would split duties to play to each person’s strength, and that means we end up with battle scenes where Shiro is focused on A, Keith zooms off for B, Lance yells at Keith, while Pidge and Hunk just scream a lot in the background.

A strategy is the big-picture objective: “We need to retrieve Allura.” It’s what must be achieved to consider any action complete: capture that hill, rescue the princess, block the reinforcements. “We come from this direction, move fast, hit here, and hit hard” are tactics: the steps to achieve that objective. Against an enemy with 1000x more resources and size, it’s also a damn stupid tactic. 

The commander sets the strategy, the tactician figures out how the army will manage that. The team’s arrival at the Balmera is one of the few times VLD uses the concepts properly. As the general, Allura defines the main strategic goal. As the field commander, Shiro divides up the labor. Keith and Lance are tasked with blocking reinforcements, and Lance figures out the most efficient tactic: lock the barn doors before the horses get out. 

For the most part, Keith is a strategic thinker, not a tactical one, and that makes him a less useful second-in-command compared to Lance’s pragmatic tactical approach. In fact, those two would be a powerful pair if the writers understood the differences to highlight the two approaches, and how each is crucial for a successful outcome.

What most insults me, as a viewer (and yes, I would’ve said the same at age 10, thanks to reading plenty of history with battle strategies), is that the EPs/writers seem to have decided complicated is a synonym for smart. The result is a series of finales that are actually… pretty stupid. 

I mean, have these people never even read Lao Tzu? Just as a bare minimum. 

What about subterfuge? Like, say, a cloaking mechanism. Wouldn’t that be handy. That got used once for all of Voltron, and it was never mentioned again. Sure, copilot to assist Pidge with the cloaking mechanism? Take your pick: Shiro, Coran, Romelle, I’m sure at least one of them could’ve managed it. Hell, as much effort VLD put into making Kosmo the smartest plot device ever, the damn wolf could’ve done it. 

All warfare is based on deception. It’s not a dishonorable thing to pull one over on the enemy. Wormholing in is only half the sneakage, people. 

Avoid striking at what is strong; hit the enemy’s weak points. Instead, Voltron just goes head-on, over and over, and the only reason it wins is because that’s what’s in the script. Take advantage of chaos: with Zarkon absent in S3, threre should’ve been tremendous opportunities (mostly from previously strong areas now weakened by the internal turmoil), but instead Voltron’s on the outskirts freeing planets like Puig. Well, sure, fine, but is that really the best use of the team’s limited resources? 

Don’t move until you have the advantage, or something to be gained. Aim for what the enemy holds most precious. When the enemy fights blindly and desperately, use their blindness against them to lure them into an ambush (which is possibly the one maxim at use in S2′s finale). Related to that, Lotor does act on at least one principle: rousing and forcing the lions to reveal themselves, so Lotor can determine their vulnerabilities. 

In a war story, I’d look to the uses of strategy and tactics as a way to reveal characterization (of which Lotor circa S3 is the best, if not only, example). But specifically this quote from Sun Tzu: 

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

It’s a classic trope in war stories to have the strategist insist that knowing the enemy — thinking like them, understanding them — is key to victory. Thing is, it’s true. If you don’t understand the enemy’s assumptions, biases, desires, and dislikes, you won’t know how to use those against the enemy. You won’t be able to divine strength from weakness. 

In S1/S2, Allura (and Coran) was the best-placed to understand Zarkon’s objectives, the way he thought, the reactions he’d have to any action. Shiro was a distant second for strategist, with more immediate (if fuzzy) experiences of the empire. In S3, with Lotor as the new antagonist and a completely unknown variable, this really would’ve been the best time for Keith to come to the forefront as a strategic thinker. Allura or Shiro might assume their understanding of Zarkon could be applied to Lotor, while Keith’s lack of firsthand knowledge meant a lack of bias for seeing Lotor as, well, Lotor. 

There could’ve been some interesting contrasts to play with, there, in terms of the different strategic minds on the team. Especially when places against the differing tactical brains on the team (Lance, Hunk, Pidge). But I guess we’ll have to leave that for fandom to fix, along with that mess of a finale in S7.

[brittysaucefanfic]

Teachings of the Heart

Part 6

@shattbigbang @pastellipastels

(First)(Previous)(Next)(Last)(AO3)(Art)

“Hold the elevator!” A very familiar voice calls out behind Shiro as he steps into the school elevator. This one is for teacher’s only, so at least it isn’t a student trying to accost him again. Lately they’ve become a lot more shameless in questioning him on his love life with Mr. Holt. Shiro turns and chokes on air as he sees Matt rushing at him from across the halls.

It’s a sight to see, truly.

Matt has his shoulder length hair whipping in out of his face, a thick gold lock of hair caught in his mouth. He’s practically sprinting, which is very unlike Matt. As much as he and Matt have been working out together, Matt absolutely loathes running. As in, start running if you see him doing so, because surely nothing but the most horrendous of monsters could be chasing him. That is how much he hates running.

Shiro smiles in amusement as he holds the elevator doors open open with his free hand, the other one carrying his paperwork for the day and his workout bag. School’s out, and all that is left of the students are those with extracurriculars. Matt comes barreling towards him at top speed, with a look of horror on his face.

Shiro realizes too late that Matt is moving too fast to slow down.

They crash into one another, Matt on top of Shiro, flattening them both to the ground. Shiro lands with a thud, the breath knocked out him, then chokes as it’s knocked out of him again right after with Matt’s weight. Papers go flying around the elevator as the doors slip close, and they lay there groaning for a decent minute.

“Well,” Shiro coughs out as he looks down his chest and into Matt’s sheepish face. “Hello to you too.”

Matt blushes with a high pitched giggle, and Shiro’s heart melts. Matt’s hair is wild, a mass of tangles on top of his head that makes him look a hell of a lot like male Pidge. He’d had it in a ponytail, which is usually a look that tests every ounce of Shiro’s self control, but the hair tie is barely hanging onto his remaining tied locks. His eyes, like liquid amber, are bright with joy. A dimpled smile spreads coyly across Matt’s face as they stay like that, lying on the ground.

“You wound me Takashi. Who would I be without my dramatic flare for entrances?” Matt simpers, and Shiro chuckles, letting his head thump onto the ground.

“Probably Pidge if I’m being honest.” Shiro fires back. Matt sounds a gasp of outrage and smacks his chest lightly.

“You take that back, I am nothing like that little demon.” Matt grumbles. Shiro peeks into Matt’s face again with a raised eyebrow. They still lie prone on the floor of the elevator.

“What did she do this time?” Shiro says, remembering seeing the headband on her this afternoon at lunch before she disappeared to wherever it is she spends her free time. Matt pouted and sat up, not quite leaving Shiro on the floor, but sitting in his lap. Matt crosses his arms indignantly and doesn’t seem to notice Shiro’s new found predicament.

“She didn’t wake me up for school! I got here three hours late, then had to spend another hour getting chewed out by Allura, then,” Matt’s voice raises in volume. “I realized I left all my paperwork at home!” He ranted. Shiro sort of tunes it out since Matt is sitting in his lap, straddling his hips. Shiro feels himself start to blush, but it’s gone as the elevator jolts to a hard stop. The jolt is so strong it sends Matt back to being flat on top of Shiro’s chest.

“Uh,” Matt mumbles into his neck, and Shiro shivers with breath that washes over his heated skin. “What was that?”

They both quickly stand after that, and while Matt examines the elevator, Shiro takes the chance to calm his racing heart. This crush is starting to become a little problematic. Doesn’t help, not a single bit, that his students have no shame in trying to hook them up. God, how embarrassing would it be if his students managed what he didn’t have the nerve to do for over twenty years?

“I don’t think this box is moving anytime soon Shiro. And since most everyone is gone or handling their extracurricular supervising, we probably won’t get any response anytime soon.” Matt says, and Shiro’s heart rate spikes all over again. Stuck? In a tiny space? With Matt? For who knows how long?

God be willing, let him survive this encounter. Matt in public is hard to deal with as it is.

For the first hour things are fine. Matt keeps up a steady stream of small talk, gushing over his newest project. Something sciency with a bunch of related sciency words that Shiro doesn’t even try to translate. Shiro listens all the same, because this is Matt. He would be hard pressed not to hang onto the man’s every word.

The second hour falls much into the same category. Except it’s Shiro talking about football and his team and his brother’s way of handling practice. Matt looks just as clueless as Shiro felt when listening to him, but he still listens dutifully. He even asks questions to try and understand Shiro’s favorite game. It’s the same questions he asks every time they talk about football practice, and every single time Matt seems to forget everything he had learned.

Shiro wonders if it’s really confusion, or just Matt being Matt.

In the third hour, they spend it picking up papers and sorting them into a stack for each of them. It takes a while, because there are a lot of papers. In the last part of the third hour, they just start doing paperwork like originally planned. That’s where they both were headed when stepping into the elevator.

It's when they have nothing else to occupy themselves with that Shiro starts to panic.

His breathing gradually becomes erratIc and his heartbeat refuses to slow down. Matt keeps looking at Shiro with worry greasing his smile as he tries again and again to contact someone on the other side. Their cells get horrible service in the elevator so it isn't like they could have just called someone to let them know.

Shiro's chest keeps getting tighter with every second.

"Hey buddy," Matt says, sitting back down next to Shiro after trying again with the emergency telephone. Maybe if they had gotten stuck during the day they could have gotten their resident electrician specialist (Hunk) to get them out of here.

"It's alright Takashi. We'll get out of here soon I promise." Matt says, but Shiro can't really focus on him very well. His breaths are coming out in wheezes now. God, this is so embarrassing. He hates looking weak, even in front of his brother.

"I have an idea." Matt says a few seconds later, a smile strained on his lips. Shiro starts sweating now, his body trembling as he tries to force himself to calm down. It isn't working very well.

"Tell me about your happiest memory Takashi." Matt says, sitting just far away enough that no part of their bodies are touching. It helps a little, not feeling smothered. Matt sets his hand on the floor, fingers splayed wide. It takes a moment for Shiro to realize what he wants from him, and he sets his own hand next to Matt's. Their fingers overlap each other's, settled in the spaces between their hands.

Shiro closes his eyes and finds his happiest memory.

He tells Matt of a memory they share. It was of one of their mini golf nights. Sometimes not everyone can make it, but for this one time, everyone had shown up. Even Pidge. He talks about the argument Keith and Lance got into. It was about something stupid like who had the better score, when they both lost hard to Pidge and Matt perfect scores.

They all agreed that Pidge won though, because she performed shots that would be impossible for anyone else. After a few minutes of reminiscing with Matt his chest feels lighter and less constricting.

The elevator suddenly jolts into movement and when the doors open Shiro practically launches out. He collapses to his knees as he sucks in as much air as he possibly could. His body starts shaking and he jumps out of his skin when a hand grazes his shoulder without warning. Then suddenly Matt is in his vision, and Shiro latches onto his arms.

Perhaps if he wasn't still sucking in air like he had been drowning he could have truly appreciated just how big Matt's muscles really are.

"Hey, we're free Kashi. It's okay. I've got you. It's going to be okay." Matt starts saying to him, but even still the words are distorted in Shiro's ears. Liked he's still theoretically under water.

"Oh my god. Shiro are you alright?" Says another voice. Shiro realizes there's someone standing in front of him. Hide eyes quickly travel up thick legs and a large chest and into Hunk's worried face. Shiro immediately tries to school his face into something neutral, but he gets the feeling it doesn't work. He doesn't speak until the shaking stops, which takes a moment.

"I'm fine Hunk. I'll be fine." Shiro replies. Even he can hear how slurred and drunk he sounds. Matt murmurs something but Shiro doesn't catch it as he starts counting to Matt's heartbeat which he can feel through that wrist Shiro has a death grip on. He stands up slowly and a little bit wobbly. Matt doesn't let go and Shiro appreciates the physical support as much as he appreciates the emotional support Matt gave him in the elevator.

"Want me to take you home Takashi?" Matt asks. His voice is strangely right next to his ear and Shiro quickly realizes how close they are standing. Shiro is practically cradled in Matt's armed at this point. He wants to tell Matt no, to tell him he'll be fine on his own. But he knows better than to drive when there's still tremors in his hands.

"Please?" Shiro says and he finally looks at Matt in the face. Matt's eyes are creased at the corners in worry and they sag in exhaustion. Matt smiles though, and although Shiro's body is still reacting to the claustrophobia, his mind settles a little.

"Okay. Let's go. Thanks for letting us out Hunk." Matt says. Shiro looks at Hunk who is on the verge of tears with a look of guilt in his eyes. Shiro feels bad for upsetting him.

"Later Hunk." Shiro says. Then Matt leads him out of the school and to Matt's house for the night.

******

(First)(Previous)(Next)(Last)(AO3)(Art)

[lancelovely]

trinkets from the worst days of our lives

here’s my newest fic: you can read it on ao3 as well

-

Sometimes fucked up things happen.

Once, months ago, Lance wandered through what used to be a city. The counsellors had taken the time to show the Paladins photos (Lance doesn't know if they were called photos, it didn't matter anyway) of what the city looked like before - vibrant trees, moulded to be towers and whose leaves touched the clouds. The photos betrayed the sort of bustle to the city that it seems all cities share, with the people in bright clothes, yellows and oranges and reds - people who called the sunset the start of each new day.

The counsellors spoke through translators, and they said the city used to be great and to please come and help. They spoke with a wistfulness that betrayed a deep, profound grief.

Lance spends much of his time visiting planets and deciding what and what not to trust. He trusted the grief of the counsellors.

It was hot when the Paladins first entered into the planet's atmosphere. Hot enough that Blue had begun to malfunction as they'd neared the city. She was never meant for the scorching heat of a dying star, and so Lance had landed her a short distance away from the city, and a long distance from his team. He'd joked about it, said he didn't mind and that the walk would do him some good.

Lance was drenched in his own sweat within minutes of exiting his lion. Pidge said something about Lance needing exercise. He'd laughed about that. Shiro hadn't, and that felt like consolation.

The walk was, in fact, alright. He never minded the heat, but growing up somewhere hot didn't diminish the way that the ground bled warmth. It wasn't bad - or perhaps it just wasn't the worst.

(It occasionally becomes difficult to distinguish between good things and bad things and things that aren't the best and things that aren't the worst. Lance made peace with death just days after meeting Allura, it messes things up, to have good and death in a life that is very much just black and white.)

Lance walked into what used to be the city alone. There was just one road, with just one tree at its end. Shiro had told him in a private message that the rest of the team was waiting for him with the remaining counsellors at the end of the road, and that the walk should only be ten minutes more. Shiro's voice got lower, then, and he said not to look around too much.

Charcoal stood tall like towers. The sun had begun to set since Lance had landed Blue, the new day beginning, and yet the charcoal once-trees stood tall still, black lines cut against the yellows and oranges and reds of the sky.

His boots click-clacked against the black stone.

Lance felt distinctly alone. And then he felt less alone after walking further into the charcoal forest. Metal pieces decorated the landscape and the sun picked out the glints of silver from yellow and orange and red sand. A particularly large silver piece of metal pointed Lance toward a picture frame, though perhaps not by that name, with the digital photo still intact. It lay amongst other charred belongings just at the foot of a charcoal tower, as if it had been tossed from windows and on to the street. The people in the photo were smiling and the ground was covered in green foliage.

There was something distinctly sad about it. He put the frame in his backpack. Looking back, that could have gone badly but it seemed like such a misdeed to let the memory of those three, happy people waste away into the heat of a dying sun. He couldn't help but to want the planet to live on in some fashion, even while walking towards a meeting discussing its end.

He drank a bit of water and then continued on his way.

A strong gust of wind blew over a charcoal tower. It fell with a sharp crack. Lance was forced to climb over it. His suit was drenched in ashes, more black than blue.

Lance smiled at the counsellors, dripping in sweat. It had felt artificial, and when the counsellors had smiled back Lance was forced to blink back tears.

And so, fucked up things happen. Lance keeps reminders of those fucked up things on his desk, picture frames and rocks and bracelets and pressed plants and one, very alive plant. The trinkets are pressure to do good, and more than just not-bad, and they're the reason that he can feel not-bad about so callously throwing his teenage years into the wind in service of the universe.

Some days he lies on his bed and looks at the photograph with green foliage and thinks that he has the weight of universes on his shoulders, and he's already let more than a couple worlds slip off the edge.

Lance still sometimes wishes he could have gone to prom, or something. Not that it matters, because he's pretty sure that time passes differently so far away from earth - which is something he refuses to think about with any real depth - but that doesn't stop Lance from wishing about it occasionally. Things probably could have been different and better, but everything could have been different, and dwelling on it only ever worsens the bitter knowledge of everything that could have been.

Over the coms Hunk says, "You alright, Lance?"

Lance hums noncommittally. He thinks his ribs are broken, it's not that bad.

There are some wins that feel more like loses.

This is one.

"Are you hurt?" asks Shiro.

Lance shakes his head, offers his screen a small smile. Then, "I'm fine."

"Right," says Pidge. "You're fine. Okay."

The people of this planet dress in green. They stand outside their homes, far removed from the wreckage, and from above they create fields of homelessness, and sway like grass in the wind. And Lance knows that sometimes, it's better to let one or two or twenty-something houses perish than to sacrifice people, but that doesn't diminish the cries of an anguished populous. Homes a

Then Lance says, "I want to go down and meet the people."

Allura sighs. "Lance," she says. "These people have just gone through war."

"I need to," he presses on. "I can go alone."

Allura's face pops up on his screen. She shakes her head and says, "No, you can't go alone. We can't risk-"

"I'll go with him," says Keith. "Tonight, after we've been in the healing pods."

The coms fall silent.

"Thanks," says Lance.

"Right," says Keith.

Lance's mouth twists. He turns off his camera, puts his head in his hands, and lets Blue fly.

[goldstonegolem64]

sorry I was busy reading the rising of the shield hero and playing tale of vasperia and forgot about this one Book 1 Chapter 32  a little  bit of doubt

Sometimes in life you greet death with open arms sometimes you run from it but in the end it death always wins. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun running from it “ That’s what Lance’s grandfather would say saying and He didn’t know why it popped up it just did as hundreds of  Galra war ship appeared in front of them

“ ALLURA GET US OUT OF HERE” Shiro yelled 

“ On It” Allura replied as she Turned the Castle of lions Away from The fleet and Sent The Castle fly at full speed away from the fleet of ships before they started firing on them

“ How did they find us again?” Allura asked

“ I Wonder HOW” Jay said as he pointed to shiro with his free hand while the other was holding onto his boys as they were all scared by the sudden appeared of the galra home fleet  

“ Sorry I forgot for a second” Allura said as she turned the ships sharply turned the ship while  using the gravity of a near by moon to sling shoot the ship into a wormhole that she had crated.  The team felt the sudden turn and Lost their balance. after a few a few second of being in the wormhole The team got back to there feet. Followed by the castle of lions exiting the wormhole to a planet that had a ring of ice around it 

“ Ok that hurt” Lance said as he got up from the floor “So La-Sai How do you like your first day on the job?” Lance asked with a half smile on his face 

“ I’m starting to regret my Decisions now” La-sai said as he just laid on the floor.

“  Don’t worry we all did at one point “Matt said as he rude the back of his head after he hit the console he was next too.

“ I don’t regret coming here her” Shay said  as Hunk and Rax were helping her up 

“ We Know Shay and it a pleaser to have you” Jay said as here reattached his Arm.

“ Thank you” Shay said 

As the team started to get back on her feet. Allura collapsed  

“Allura!?!?” Everyone said 

“ I’m Fine I’m Just a little tried after making that long distance Jump. It always takes all out if I don’ t get any sleep.” Allura said as she struggled to get back up

“ You’ve been Pushing yourself to much as of late You need to rest”

“ I will I just need Help Getting up” She said as Coran helped her to her feet before handing her off to Nyma 

“ Ok I will be heading to the flux gerator and see how the Plates are holding uuupp” coran said as he slipped on something and slammed into a wall.

“ Are you alright coran? Wait why are you cover in sweat?” Jay asked confused

“ Why is he sweating So must?” bastion asked in a whispered tone to Allura

“  It’s Called the slipperys. It’s a common Altean Disease that occurs later in life “Allura said as Nyma helped her sit down on the pilot podium 

“ I do not have the slipperys. Now I have work to do”  Coran said as he started to walk out of the room But as he did he slipped on his sweat and slid down the Hall way 

“ Ok that Just happened” Adam sais as he yawned “  

“ Don’t Start Yawning or well all start YAaaaa” Matt let a huge Yawned

“ I think we all need to rest after Today’s Battle”  Shiro said as he started to rube his eyes

“ That’s true but we still have the empire on are Backs So not everyone one should rest”  Jay said as he looked towards his kids as they were showing signs of sleep

“ Well we’ll just take shifts then” Ace said 

“ Ok Then I will Take the fist “ Shiro was cut off By Adam, Keith, Matt And Pidge   Saying “NOOO

“ Sorry Love but Your a workaholic and tend to work yourself into a coma” Adam said as he started to Drag Shiro to their room

“ Yeah bro you need to rest.” Keith said as he helped Adam by pushing Shiro out of the room   

“ Yeah We can handle this” Lance said 

“ Ok Guys I’m trusting you not to get us all killed” Shiro said as he yawned

“ Ok So who is taking the first Shift then?” Allura said as she started to get up but fell back down 

“ Not it” Jay said as he shepherd his sons out of the room

“ You all know I’m an AI Right so I don’t need to sleep or food Or anything you guys need to live right “ Beau said from the ship itself 

“Oh yeah we forget that sometime because you act so human most of the time” Matt said as he started following Jay to the hanger bay turned workshop/play ground and dragon’s den.

“ Ok then Everyone Get some rest and but be righted at a moments notice if the Empire shows back up”  Allura said as everyone started to leave the room

“Ok Allura lets get you to your room” nyma said as she helped Allura back up

“ Thank you Nyma “

In Shiro and Adam’s room the two were changing into the new clothes Jay bought all of them back on haven.

Adam looked over to the corner that the Planet that he and Shiro had put there blood in on there wedding day it was quickly growing into a beautiful bright pink and green leafed tree. As he starred at it he felt hands rap around his waist then lips on the side of his neck. He let out a small moan before turning around to look at his husband who had the most loving look in his eyes. The two silently looked at each other lovingly 

“ God how I missed looking into your Eyes” Shiro said as he rasied his metal hand to Adam’s faces and used his thumb to rube adam’s cheek

“ And I’ve missed just being with you” Adam said as he leaned into to shiro’ s hand and wrapped his arms around shiro

The two when silent again and just stood there hold each other before heading to their bed

“ Hey Adam”

“ Yes love”

“ Do you think we can did that tonight?” Shiro asked as he tapped his pointer fingers together

Adam couldn’t help but smile after hearing that. Even after a year of fight nd killing to survive he was still the same man he fell in love with. “ Your lucky I brought some before I when to test out that new ship for the garrison and Jay had a few that I borrowed” Adam said 

“ yes” Shiro had a smile on his face

On the Prometheus Jay was taking a Hot shower he stood there thinking about how he got to where he was now. He closed his eyes and moved his head under the hot water for a few second  before turning off the water. Jays wiped his hair out of his face then grabbed his towel and rapped it around himself. after a few minutes he got dressed he walked out of his room with no arm. As he left his room he heard  heard the sound of the down stairs TV playing. He had put the boys to bed before he took his shower.So he walked over too the balcony to see that the he hadn’t turned it off. That was no problem for him but before he could do that he was going to check on the boys before walking down stairs 

He first went to check on Bastion and Usamu room.The opened the door and the lights turned on automatically. He flinched thinking he just wake them up. But then he notice that both beds were empty and stripped of their sheets and pillows. That didn’t bother him much seeing as the two tended to hide away from everyone when they’re not really feeling social. He stepped over the trip wires he could see and walked over to bastion bed and looked under it and saw the two boys curled up and holding each other . It was a sweet thing to see. He wish his family could see this. After a few second of starring he quietly walked out of the room. He next moved to Fitz room and lucky the lights didn’t turn on . He walked over to Fitz bed and saw him holding on to his pillow and was talking in his sleep about some crazy dream or something. So he turned back about to leave the room but stopped when he heard Fitz talking out loud

“ Dad I miss you a lot. I wish you could have meet Jay, Bastion, Usamu and the other There real nice and are taking good care of me.” Jay turned and saw that Fitz had  turned around facing him still a sleep. Jay felt a knot in his chest as he heard that. He quickly moved out of the room and as the door closed behind him he slumped and slid down the wall and sat on the floor. He fought back a small amount of tears. Has he sat there for a few minutes his personal comms went off in the living room 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKf8cHlT4cs

He walked down the stairs. First he turned off the TV then picked on the comms to see who was calling. The call was unknown same as the number. Saw he Answered the call

“ Hello this is Joseph speaking Whose this?” Jay asked using his full name just in case it was some one he didn’t know 

“ OH Sorry can I please talk to Jay please It’s Ezra”

A smile appeared on his face the moment he heard their voice “ Hi Ezzy it’s me”  He said

“ Oh Hi jay you sound tried Is everything Alright”

“ Yeah everything is finnnneee” He said tying to not sound lke he was on the verge of have a mental break down over how much danger he put three kids in.

Ezra Went quite for seconds before talking again  “What’s wrong?”

“ It’s along story “ Jay said

In the kitchen Hunk and Pidge were just  hanging out .

“ So what are you cooking today?” pidge asked as she sat on the counter 

“Cookies” Hunk said as he pulled out a tray from the oven.

pidge picked up one of the containers that hunk had on the counter next to her.“Are you sure your this are the right thing to use” She asked looking at the writing on the container which was clearly Altean.

“ I’m pretty sure. Everything here were inside of the cabinets here.” Hunk thought for a second. Then he looked down at the tray of cookie and saw clear blue plates on the tray “ I might have messed up” Hunk said as he picked up one of the cookies an took a test bite just in case he didn’t make a mistake. As he took the bite .Both he and pidge heard as small tink sound came out. it sounded like a small rock hitting a window. Hunk let out a sigh of annoyance. “  Great and cooking is suppose to help me distress now i’m even more stress”  hunk throw the cookie back on the tray

“Why are you so stressed out any way?“ Pidge asked 

“ I’m Stressed out  because i’m in some random galaxy far from home my parents might think i’m dead. I’m fighting a war even though i’m only seventeen And i’m supposed to be some legendary defender but ever mission I’m sarred shitless. I‘m an engineer not a soldier” Hunk said as he buried his face in his hands.

Pidge didn’t know how to react But she tried her best to lifted her friend’s spirits“  Look  Matt and I are techies. Jay is a cargo pilot turned dad ,Keith is a runaway, Lance is a failed Fighter pilot, Adam and Shiro are shuttle pilots and Shay, Rax and La-Sai were basically Slaves before we showed up and I think at this point all of are parents might think were dead or missing.” pidge said as she went quite for a few seconds before taking again. “None of us are soldiers were just kids give a whole lot of power and responsibility to save the universe this is probably is the most stressful job anyone could have . But look at the bright side you got a girlfriend. Jay adopted a few kids in return the boys got a dad a new home and get to see the universe. Adam and shiro got married, I found my brother. Shay, Rax And La-sai homes were saved. Allura and coran found a new family. “  Pidge had a smile on her face 

“ And Lance has two people pinning over him.”  Hunk said smiling as well.

“ Yeah that’s true “ pidge replied pointing a finger gun to hunk 

“ Thanks for that I really needed it “ Hunk said.

“ Your welcome” Pidge said as she hopped off the counter and hugged her friend

“ So what do you think these thing are made of anyway?” Hunk asked

“ No clue but let’s find out” pidge said 

Else where in the castle Lance was waiting for the elevator to open. He was wearing a pair of swim trunks a towel over his shoulders. He was dead tired after the fight on Olkarion with the cube. He didn’t quite understand the whole shared pain thing with his lion. But hey it kept him alive when the bomb when off that and the Healing unite in the armor just remembering the explosion made his back hurt and his right arm hurt. He got nasty burns on his back and arm from that they were both small but still it was a pain to look at the scars. But then again he was alive. The elevator door open and he walked in still thinking about how crazy the passed few weeks were. he turned around to hit the button to the for the floor he was going to. As the door was closing A hand appeared to stop it. Then Keith appeared in the door way wearing a red pair of swim trunks a towel over his shoulder. Lance noticed that Keith body had a few scars across his body. He guess those were from the training bots  

“  Hey” Keith said tried as he walked into the elevator 

“ Hey” Lance replied 

“So where are you going?” Keith asked 

“ Same place your going I guess the pool that Allura told me about.” Lance replied as the door closed

“ Ok” Keith said 

The two of then stood there in silent. Hopping the other would start the convertion

“ So how are you?” Lance asked trying to break the silences

“ Tried” Keith replied 

“Same here” Lance replied

“ So how’s your arm and back?” Keith asked

“ It’s fine but it hurts every so often. But I’m getting used to it. How is your training going?” Lance asked

“ It’s going well just started on the harder levels. I’ve received a few scars here and there but I’m getting better with my blade how’s your training going?” Keith asked 

“ Adam says i’m getting better as a pilot and that my aim is getting better and Jay said that my Galra and Altean is getting better and with a  few more lessons and I can speak and read the languages fluently.”   Lance said with a smile on his face

“ Wait your learning two different languages at once”  Keith couldn’t help but sound surprised

“ Yeah I’m a linguist I take pride in that fact .I’m a better translator then pilot if I’m honest. Some times I wonder … never mind ” Lance when quiet  

“You wonder what?” Keith asked turning to face  Lance

lance looked down to the floor “ Some times I wonder why the blue lion picked me.”  lance said a little upset

“Well It picked you because you meet the lions requirement” Keith said 

“ But what are the requirements remember I cut Allura off right before she could tell me them.” Lance said waving his arms around

“ Well from what I’ve seen your kind you put everyone before yourself most of the time. You nearly died twice trying to save coran even though one was a trap.Your always joking and smiling. Maybe that the requirement.”   Keith said 

“ So just being myself got me here I guess that makes scenes” Lance said

“ Yeah that makes more scene then me being the next black paladins” Keith said 

“Wait you the next black paladins” Lance said as the elevator lost power and turned the space they ever in a pitch black 

In Allura’s room 

Allura was being helped into her bed by Nyma and Shay 

“ Thank you Double for the help” Allura said as she sat on the edge of the bed followed by the mice crawling onto her lap 

“ No problem princess” Nyma said sitting next to Allura

“ Anything to help” Shay said following suit

“  So princess care to explains how far did we jump any way?”  Nyma asked

Allura closed her eyes and thought for a few seconds before talking again “ We are Eight galaxies always from  Olkarion.”

Nyma had a look of surprise on her face.” Eight galaxies in under an hour How powerful is this ship” She looked to

Shay stand there not understand the magnitude how far they just jumped “  Sorry but i’m still new to this whole space travel thing. is it a good thing that we jumped that far that fast ?”  She asked just confused by Nyma’s surprised face

The two girls laughed a little before Nyma spoke again “yes it’s the best thing for us in this current problem”

“ Oh Ok” Shay said with a smile

Allura sat on the edge of the bed petting the mice before talking” Can I ask you two something and be honest with me” 

“ Ok ” Shay said

“ Shot princess” Nyma said 

“ Am I a good leader?” Allura asked looking at the two girls

“ Of course “ Shay said

Allura looked over to Nyma who was looking for a good was to fraise what she was going to said “  Ok Shay  don’t hate me for this but if i’m being honest. No your not the best but your not the worst. “  Nyma said trying not to hurt her friends feeling. But when she looked towards allura who had a disheartened look on her face “ But hey you’ve only been up for about a month dealing while with the lost of your home world, family and close friends. I’m not helping am I.

“ No your not “ Allura said as she wiped away a tear from her eye 

Shay sat down next to Allura and pulled her into a hug And Shot Nyma a death glair. 

“Ok what i’m trying to say is that it’s fine to make mistake . Hell ace nearly got me and My team killed numerous times.” Nyma said as she sat down next to Allura 

Allura looked up an turned to look at nyma some what confused by what she just said “ But my last mistake nearly cost the universe it’s last hope “

“And i tried to steal the blue lion when we first me thing happen no bodies perfect.” 

Allura’s eyes widen when she heard that “ You tried to steal the blue lion!!! Jay and lance said that you guys just left after hunk repaired your ship”

“ Oh Shit I didn’t know they didn’t tell you about  that. While hey it’s water under the bridge now right?” Nyma said looking over to Allura 

“ Yes but I’m going to talk to those two tomorrow”  She said as she let go of Shay and laid on her bed 

Back with Shiro and Adam the two were lying on there bed reading a crappy Galra’s Romanics novel that Jay had given Adam when they had first meet while he was being healed from the crash.

“ How can anyone not think a knife is a good way to propose?” Shiro asked

“I don’t know but i’m happy to get a ring because if you pulled a knife on me in the middle of a hotel bathroom I would be very worried.” Adam said laughing a little 

“While I think making a knife is pretty romantic or maybe I’ve been hearing Jay talk about is home town to much but still making some thing for the one you love beats send over six hundred dollars for a ring that could be lost in ten second the moment it comes off”  Shiro said thinking about how he lost his ring the first week after he proposed to Adam 

“ That is true but still a knife is a pretty extreme way of saying I love you to some one”. Adam said

“ Ok mister I stole a fighter jet and flew all the way to Switzerland just to see how I was doing after my third surgery. “ Shiro said looked At Adam with a sly smile on his face 

Adam was fluster by Shiro’s comment “ Well maybe if some one told me in the first place that he was getting surgery on his arm a week after are two year anniversary I would have need to worry so much would I ” Adam said

“ Sorry love it just kind of happened not my fault. But again I’m sorry for worrying that time and for the last year when I was gone” Shiro said as he held Adam a little tighter as Adam continued to read 

Back with Jay 

“And that is my current situation.?” Jay said as he lay on the couch

“ Well that sounds like you have a lot on your plate too day” Ezra said 

“ just a normal day on the castle of lions I guess”  

“Hey at least the boys are ok right “

“Yeah they are but for how long till their not. What if I’m fighting and the castle gets hit and they re hurt or worse. What if I don’t come back from a mission there are so many unknows and I just made things worse for my self ,the team and the boy” Jay said 

“ Well you see the problems and your worrying about all the right things. But why are you focusing on the bad?” Ezra asked 

“ Because nothing good is happening right now.” Jay said 

“ That’s not true your talking to me you saved a planet an your alive among other things” 

That’s true but still I put this kids in to danger what parent does that “

“ mine did most of the crew’s families did and are doing it with their kids . this is the norm of the universe at this point.” Ezra said 

“ That is horrible. “ Jay said as he sat up  

“ But that’s just how things are now a days “ Ezra responded AS the sound of Alarms started going off” Well it looks like were heading to another infested planet take to you later love yea “ 

“ Love you too bye “ Jay said as his commutator turned off. Jay sat there look at his commutator thinking about what was going on. as the sound of a door open followed by it closing. Jay looked up to the second floor to see a blanked walking towards his room . Then the door opened followed by the sound of it closing a few seconds later the door opened again as the blanket came out of the room an moved towards the stairs. Jay couldn’t help but smile as he head the sound of foot steps coming from the stair well and the door the separated the living room and the second floor open as the blanket that was covering Fitz walked out and moved towards him climbed on the couch and placed his head on Jay’s lap . “ Can’t sleep little buddy?” Jay asked looking down at his son

“ Yeah “

“ Bad dream little?” Jay asked

“ No just can’t sleep in bed so I’m sleeping here ” Fitz said starting to fall a sleep

“Alright dude  “ Jay said. he might not be a the best parent but he was not going to stop trying to be the best parents he could be   

in the Elevator shaft 

“ Ok Now move your right foot”  Keith said 

“ok” Lance replied as he followed Keith’s leads 

The two were back to back as they climbed up the elevator shaft. 

“ How long until we get there?” Lance asked

“ just a few more steps until we make it towards that vent”  Keith said as He looked at the vent above him after a few more minutes of struggling to climb came to an end as they made it there to the vent Keith push up against Lance and started kicking the vent cover 

“ Hey be careful i’m starting to slip over here” Lance said 

“ Sorry” Keith said before he landed a strong kick to the vent cover knocking it out of place and down the vent shafted .” Ok were in” 

“ Ok how are we going to get in without me falling?” Lance asked 

“ Like this” Keith said as he start to put his feet in to the vents. As he did that Lance felt the shift in balance followed by Keith suddenly unhooked his arms him his and lance felt himself free falling before he felt a hand grab his wrist. lance hit the elevator shaft wall. Lance looked up to see Keith  was hanging out of the vent entries looking down at him  with a sheepish smile on his face

“ Warn me next time your going to suddenly disappear on me” Lance said 

“ Sorry about that” Keith said as he pulled Lance in to the vent.

“So where to next samuri ?”  Lance asked 

“ down there “ Keith said as he pointed towards a slide like shaft 

“Are you sure about that Keith ?”  Lance asked looking a little skeptical of what keith was pointing towards

“  See any where else to go lance” Keith replied as he crawled toward the slide as lance followed behind him. The two slide down the shaft  for a few second before Keith slammed into another Vent cover knocking it out of place and fell into a new room quickly followed by lance. The two slammed into the floor of the room. They both stayed on the floor for a few minutes as the recover from the fall. Lance got up first and looked around the room trying to figure out where they are. The room was empty and was as big as a football field . As he was looking around the empty room he felt something wet hit his shoulder So he looked up and saw a huge pool above he

“  What the hell is up with Alteans and their upside down pools “  Lance said as he stared at the pool

“ What are you talking about” Keith followed lance’s gaze and saw the pool “How are we support to get up there?” As Keith asked that the castle shuck violently causing the pool to lurch for down wards and scooped them both up and dragged them upward

”Ok that’s how “ Lance said as he breached the waters surface 

“ Yeah that was one way of doing “ Keith replied 

In the bridge Beau was standing on the pilot’s pedestal running diagnostic checks of the ships  while trying to directed his bodies to areas of the castle that needed to be urgent repaired. It was quite no warning of in coming ships no distress signals from other planets that need help it was just quite out there. Even though he was an ai beau felt unnerved by this. As he stood there the bridge door opened and La-sai walked in

“ Hello La-sai What brings you here ?” Beau asked not turning to face the newcomer

“  I just wanted to talk to some one “ la-sai

“ Then why did you come talk to me then. I’m not much of a talker “

“ I know but seeing as everyone else is sleeping “ 

Beau cut in “ Pidge and hunk are in the kitchen. Lance and Keith are at the pool and Coran is in the engine room” 

La-sai looked annoyed but continued talking “  Well I want to talk to you Seeing as your the most interesting member of the team to me”  

Beau turned to look at La-sai surprised by what he said. “ Wait I’m interesting to you?” Beau asked puzzled 

“ Well yes I’ve never see an Ai like you before. Your The most Advanced Ai i’ve seen”

“ i’m not that Advanced I’m just a ship Ai “Beau replied 

“ Really just a ship Ai You can control multiply bodies at once and you can hack into Galra tech with eases how are you just a ship ai “ LA-sai said 

“ Well it’s just how I was born to help the crew in anyway possible” Beau said not thinking that what he could do was interesting at all.

“ Wait did you Say born?” La-sai asked 

“ Yes just like most Human Ai we are born from the memories of the people were based on.” 

 “Who are you based on then ?”

“I’m based off Leon A. Ballston. He was a cargo pilot that flow during the battle of Lunar one. He saved hundreds of life’s from both sides they were on. He was a good man i’m happy to be base off of him .” 

“ Well I’m happy that your based on him too. Can you tell me more about yourself and other Ai like yourself?’   

“Ok What do you wish to know “

“Everything” La-sai Said with wonder and curiosity in his eyes But befre Anything Could Happen between the two of them A warning Appeared on the bridge Screen warning them about something coming  out of Warp “ Ah beau what is that?”

“ Oh Shit That’s not “ beau said as he started to move the Castle as fast as it could Away from the Area as fast as possible. Beau then opened the Castle comms “ Everyone to the bridge now we have company “ As he said that The entire Galra central command appeared be hide them 

in the Central command bridge Stood Empire Zarkon with Haggar next to him.” To all Warships make sure to disable that ship before they can jump again and bring me those lions” He yelled as each warship was readying their ion cannons.

[thingsenjoyed]

Final Developments

So. Here it is. The super long plance fic I got carried away with. :)

(this is really scary)

Here it is on AO3.

I was inspired by all the theories about how Lance and Pidge gotta complete their character arcs together, I mean like thats adorable, so I had to write it.

Also. Keep in mind I haven’t written in FOREVER, plus I was writing this until 2 in the morning sooooo. This could be very bad.

But.

I SERIOUSLY HOPE YOU ENJOY.

     Flashes of red fill her vision, black to red, then black again. Even with her eyes closed she can still see the lights, like when you close your eyes and face the sun and it suddenly isn't dark anymore.

     Pidge opens her eyes for the first time in what feels like days - although it couldn't have been more than one at most. She squints at the beams of light blinking on and off in her hospital room. The alarm doesn't do her any better, and she can already feel a headache coming on at the sound. Ignoring the wave of dizziness that washes over her body at the sudden movement, she lifts herself up, scanning the room around her.

    The once bustling area is now unoccupied, save for the groaning girl swinging her legs out of bed and treading towards the closed door. Her feet are bare, and the cold tile floor sends shivers up her spine at each step, but, again, the feeling is pushed aside as more important thoughts invade her mind.

    It had only been a couple of days since the paladins were admitted into the Garrison's hospital. They were under strict orders to stay in bed, and although Pidge had been itching to get her hands on something to do, a part of her was grateful for the rest (after she'd already been caught trying to sneak out and threatened to be tied down by her mother, of course). But now, standing in the door way to her room, she knew she had bigger things to worry about than getting a scolding from her mom.

    A man clothed in the familiar grey suit of the Garrison nearly runs her over before she can take two steps into the hallway, screaming into his headset about a Galra cruiser spotted heading towards Earth.

    As if everyone hadn't gone through enough this past week.

    "Paladins! We need you in your lions, hurry!" Is all that comes over the intercom, gone by too fast to determine who it was who'd spoken.

    Pidge doesn't think twice before sprinting down the hall as fast as her recovering body would take her. She passes door after door, the hallway growing empty as every Garrison personnel has retreated to their workstations. Her lion feels miles away and her pace just doesn't seem fast enough as her legs grow weaker each step. It's too late to stop when a figure darts out from an open doorway, colliding with her and knocking her onto the floor. She struggles to breathe for a moment, angry when she begins to cough, as it prevents her from telling off the culprit.

    "Pidge?"

    She can only groan in response.

    Lance lifts himself off of her and onto his feet, holding out a hand for her to take. Pidge takes it, blushing at the feeling of his warm hand encompassing her own. He doesn't let go right away - something she would never admit to be happy about - looking down at her with worry in his eyes and the edges of his lips tilted downwards.

    "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you? Are you okay?" He asks, tilting her head from side to side, looking for any signs of bruising.

    She shakes her head, pulling away before her face can get any redder. "It's fine. I'm fine. We need to go."

    Lance nods, releasing her hand, and Pidge is left wondering when she'd get to hold it again. They run side by side to where their lions are stored.

    "What's going on?" He questions.

    "Galra. What else?" She almost smirks at the joke.

    Lance, on the other hand, doesn't hold back a smile, "You're right, what was I thinking?"

    They chuckle at that, rounding the corner to see Keith, Hunk, and Allura already there and putting on their armor. Lance and Pidge follow suit, throwing on their armor as quickly as possible. Shiro, Matt, and Sam enter soon after.

    "A Galra cruiser has been spotted near Earth, but it's much bigger than we've ever seen before. The MFE fighters are already in their planes, ready to launch when necessary." Sam pauses, his eyebrows lowering even further, "I know you're all still recovering from the last battle, do you think you're ready to pilot the lions again in such short time?"

    The paladins each share a look before returning their gaze to the three men before them, nodding.

    "Earth needs us. We must keep fighting until we can be sure everyone is safe," Allura assures.

    "Unfortunately, we don't know when that is, are you sure you guys are ready for this?" Shiro rests his new hand on Keith's shoulder, his eyes scanning over the group of teens.

    "It doesn't matter. You said this ship was unlike anything we've seen before. We don't know what it can do, or what the Galra have planned next," Keith argues.

    "And after the last robeast we faced, Voltron is needed more than ever," Pidge adds, crossing her arms.

    "Okay, but, we could barely beat the last robeast. We almost died." Hunk's expression is full of worry and doubt as he says this, "Plus it was being controlled by an Altean. What if this new ship is being run by thousands of angry Alteans just waiting to rip us apart?"

    Hunks words did nothing to ease the group, though Pidge figured he had a point. Nobody had any idea what they were up against. They could be throwing themselves into a fight they could never win.

    Keith takes a deep breath, "You're right, Hunk. We have plenty of reasons to be afraid, but our fear is what drives us to make it through. If we give up now, everything we've worked for would be for nothing. The only thing we can do now is try." His eyes survey each of his teammates, almost as if pleading with them.

    "Lets do this." Lance says, eyes flashing with determination. Everyone agrees, slipping on their helmets and departing for their lions.

    After a series of shoulder squeezes and reluctant smiles from her team (no hugs, as hugs meant goodbye), Pidge pauses outside Green's open jaws, watching Lance's departing figure and silently praying that this won't be the last time she sees him in person.

    "Good luck out there, Katie." She turns her head, finding Matt and her dad standing side by side, arms outstretched. Tears she'd been holding in for too long finally fall from her eyes, leaving behind tracks she can't wipe away without removing her helmet. Pidge throws her arms around their shoulders, pulling them close.

    "Stay safe, Pidge," Matt whispers. She returns the order with a sniff and pulls away before she changes her mind and never lets go. How many more times do they have to put themselves in danger before she can go to sleep at night without wondering if the next day would allow her to live or die? She tries not to think about it.

    She settles in her lion, preparing for takeoff when Shiro's face appears on the screen in front of her.

    "The MFE fighters, and the rebels will be right behind you, let us know if you need anything, okay?" A chorus of agreements sound through her headset, and in the echoes lies a silent promise to make it out alive.

    An empty promise, but a promise.

    She pulls out of Atlas, hovering just over the Garrison with the rest of her team. The Galra haven't arrived just yet, so Pidge allows herself time to think.

    And the first person to appear in her mind, is Lance.

    It'd been a couple days since she'd seen him or any of the others, and it was safe to say she missed them. Missed him. Pidge hated when they were separated, especially after a battle. She disliked not knowing if her friends were okay, often trying to think of the last thing she'd said to them and hoping it wasn't something she'd come to regret.

    Her mind returns to the image of Lance and Allura, something that's been bothering her ever since it happened. Allura, it seems, has come to return Lance's feelings, and just the thought of it brings angry tears to Pidge's eyes. The slight tickle of the tears trickling down her cheeks only serve to make her angrier, digging her nails into her palms and biting her lip until it hurts.

    She hated Allura for changing her mind. For recognizing how amazing Lance is after getting screwed over by Lotor. She hated how easy it was for Lance to fall for Allura. She hated how effortlessly perfect she was in every way.

    And most of all, she hated herself for hating Allura. Because Allura didn't do anything wrong. Neither did Lance and -

    "Incoming!"

    An explosion hits the particle barrier surrounding the Garrison. Luckily, they'd repaired it since the last fight.

    Pidge flies her lion towards the small hole in the barrier, soon finding herself out in the open.

    She dodges a blast from an oncoming fighter jet, quickly shooting it down, only for more to appear. A shot just barely grazes her lion, and in return she hurtles towards the group. The fighters veer left, but Pidge had snatched on to the wing of one before it could escape. She spins around and flings the fighter towards the rest, taking out two in the process. Pidge smirks, happy for the distraction.

    Well, as happy as she could be fighting the Galra.

    "Paladins, try to focus on the main ship, it doesn't seem to be stopping. I think it's trying to land!" Shiro calls out over the comms. Pidge takes out a couple more fighters before heading towards the ship. She and Allura fly side by side.

    "Pidge! Cover me while I freeze over their ion cannons!" Allura yells.

    "You got it!"

    Already, a fighter hooks onto Blue, which Pidge takes out with a shot from Green's tail.

    Pidge grunts as she is flung forward onto the dashboard. She doesn't take time to recover from the blow before retaliating. Vines shoot out from the interior of the fighter and it goes down, plummeting towards the ground like a meteor. She checks back on Allura, who had just finished freezing over the ship's ion cannons.

    "Good work, Allura!" Keith praises, "Now lets -" His sentence is cut off with a scream coming from Lance's end.

    "A little help over here!" He grunts, taking down another fighter.

    "I got you, Buddy!" Hunk rams through the group of fighters on Lance's tail as Pidge shoots one down with her vines.

    "That seems to be the last of the fighters... Does anyone else think that was a little too easy?" Hunk's suspicious tone is lost when Keith flies in between them.

    "We can't worry about that now, lets just take out the main ship and get it done."

    Pidge drives her lion into formation, opening her mind to her team and allowing herself to become the left arm of Voltron. She can feel Green's energy radiating through her body, mixing in with her own, and their minds becoming one. When she reopens her eyes, she is no longer in a single lion, but a single body.

    She can feel Hunk's fear driven strength, Allura's pure willpower, Keith's anger, and Lance's courage, all meshing with her own to create one movement, one swipe of the arm. They form their sword, cutting through the side of the ship with little effort, slicing through their defenses and earning no retaliation. It was as if...

    "Guys, we need to stop!"

    But it was too late, the ship was going down. The thrusters were no longer operating and the cruiser landed on the ground with a loud bang.

    And it was silent, like it was over.

    Pidge had a bad feeling this battle had only just begun.

    "Pidge? Is something wrong?" Lance's face appeared on her screen.

    It was too easy. The Galra wouldn't just come back with a big-ass ship that didn't work and a couple of fighters, no way.

    "We didn't win," She mumbles, mostly to herself. They Galra stole their idea, and they'd taken the bait.

    This time Hunk appears next to Lance's, "What are you talking about, we took down the whole thing!" He cheers, "Man, am I ready for a nap."

    "Hunk, you said it yourself, it was too easy."

    "Uh, yeah, but I never said it was a bad thing."

    "What do you think we should do, Pidge?" Lance asks.

    "We should -"

    "Move!" Allura screams.

    Pidge clears her screen just in time to see an enormous, purple laser heading towards them from the destroyed ship. Before Voltron can move, it strikes them right in the torso, where the heart would be.

    The shock spreads throughout each of the limbs, and Pidge can feel herself being ripped apart from her friends, their minds being forcefully separated. She screams, and so does the others, the pain from the lions being transferred partially to them. Green's power plummets, falling to the ground, and, suddenly, Pidge can't feel her in her mind.

    The shock disconnected them completely from their lions.

    Pidge opens her eyes, her body pulsing from the impact. Her heartbeat echoes through her brain.

    She reaches towards her head, touching only hair and realizing she'd lost her helmet in the crash. Her ears ring, but the longer she concentrates she begins to hear more.

    Screams. Rage.

    Blasts.

    Death.

    She had to get out there.

    Her head pounds with dizziness for the second time today as she lifts herself off the floor of her lion. Closing her eyes, she places a palm on her forehead at an attempt to stop her mind from spinning.

    The feeling reminds her of a carousel she rode when she was younger, spinning and spinning, buildings passing by. She missed that carousel... She'd have to go with Lance one day...

    Pidge gasps.

    Lance.

    Keith, Allura, Hunk.

    She opens her eyes, searching frantically now for her helmet.

    When she finds it, she shoves it on and turns on the comms.

    "- hundreds. No, thousands."

    "They must've known we're less equipped to fight on ground than in the sky!"

    "Get the rebels out here, now!"

    "We're on our way!"

    Pidge summons her bayard and crawls out of Green's slightly open jaw. The scene around her is chaos, hundreds of sentries and thousands more Galra go hand to hand with the rebels and whatever coalition members decided to stay on Earth. The MFE fighters shoot down from above, but are limited as to avoid shooting someone on their side.

    Shiro was right. They were more prepared to fight in the sky rather than on foot, and unless they got Atlas back up and working again, their chances of winning grew smaller by the second.

    A shot whizzes past her head, followed by the fist of an approaching sentry. Pidge ducks, only narrowly missing the blow, before shoving her foot into the machine's chest, slicing off it's head with her bayard. She continues with this method, making her way through the endless mob of Galra to search for her friends.

    She comes across a fallen fighter jet, climbing onto the wing for a better vantage point. She spots Hunk, then Allura, then Keith... But no Lance. Where is Lance?

    She feels a hand wrap around her ankle. She aims at the arm with her bayard, but the Galra tugs. She loses her footing, hitting her back against the metal wing. Pidge uses her other foot and kicks her heel into the Galra's eye. He looses his grip, but the action only served to him angrier. He pulls her off the wing, wrapping a hand around her neck and slamming her against the side.

    Her vision begins to fade when the hand around her throat releases her and she falls to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

    "Come on, we need to find a better spot!"

    Lance.

    Thank God.

    She takes his hand and they run. He shoots down sentry after sentry with his rifle, but for every one he takes down it's like another five appear in its place. It doesn't take long for them to find themselves surrounded, fighting non-stop, taking down Galra after Galra. Pidge's energy quickly deteriorates, and she knows she's running on pure fear and adrenaline at this point. Who knows how much more she can take?

    "Ugh! This isn't working!" Lance exclaims from over the noise around them. They're back to back at this point, protecting not only themselves, but each other.

    "Don't you have like, a super handy Altean sword that'd be super helpful right now?" Pidge remarks, her usual sass leaking into her tone.

    "I haven't gotten it to work again! I don't know how!"

    "What do you mean you don't know how?"

    "I mean, it just happened! I didn't make it do anything!"

    Pidge wraps her tether around a sentry, swinging it into another, "Are you kidding me? You're saying not even being in the midst of a war can bring out the fucking sword?" She was getting angry now, she didn't understand what exactly the problem was, and she hated not knowing how to solve it.

    "I'm as upset as you are, Pidge, but there's not much I can do about it right now!" His tone was angry as well, and now they were having an argument in the middle of a fight. She would laugh at the stupidity later.

    "Just try, Lance!"

    "I can't!"

    "Lance!" She elbows another sentry in the head, shooting another with her bayard over it's shoulder.

    "I said, I can't! I'm not good enough!"

    "What?" She screams, disbelief in her voice.

    "I'm not good enough! I'm not good enough for Red, and I'm not good enough for the sword, okay?"

    "Lance -"

    "I don't belong here, Pidge! I'm just a dumb kid who failed most of his classes, gets rejected by every girl, and can't keep up with his lion's needs because I'm. Not. Good. Enough! I can't do this..." His voice trails off as he shoots down another Galra. The circle has definitely closed in on them, and they don't have as much room to maneuver as they did before. Pidge should be focusing on the fight, but she makes the split second decision to focus on something else.

    The guy she loved.

    "Shut up, Lance."

    "What?"

    "Just shut up and listen to me!" She takes a deep breath. Her movements are automated, and she tries not to think too hard about his back against hers. "Lance, you're not the same guy I met at the Garrison. You're not the dumb, flirty, egotistical asshole who only ever wanted to have fun."

    "Hey!"

    "Lance. I know I've never said this before, or even really showed it. I've never been good at that. But, I admire you a lot. You're strong, and brave, and you put everyone else before yourself and as stupid as I think that is, I also think it makes you the most selfless person I've ever met. And the truth is? You're actually really smart, just in your own way. And I'm sorry for making fun of you all the time, and I'm sorry for making you feel like less than you actually are. Because you're amazing, Lance. And I know you can do this because you can do things nobody else can. You just have to believe that!"

    And in that moment, she'd let her guard down, just for the moment, but it meant everything.

    She'd messed up her shot, aiming a little too high, just barely missing the sentry's head. It raised it's gun, pointed it right at her,

    and shot.

    It feels like everything that comes next happens in slow motion.

    He hears her scream first, then watches her fall from the corner of his eye. He hadn't even been able to process Pidge's words after they'd been said, but Lance knows three things.

    He trusts her.

    He loves her.

    And she is dying.

    His hand tingles, but he never stops moving, not when a flash of white surrounds his being, and not when his weapon stops firing off lasers and instead slices through his enemies almost effortlessly. He kicks and he punches and he swings, reaching his limit and going further still. He receives cuts and bruises of his own, but they don't matter.

    Only one thing matters.

    And he fights for her.

    Eventually, by some miracle, the Galra stop coming, even if just for a couple minutes. Not much time, but enough.

    She lies on her back, her breathing shallow, but she's alive, if barely. She doesn't have much time.

    He dismisses his bayard and rushes to her side, sliding one arm under her legs and the other around the back of her neck. He lifts her, gently, so gently, but that doesn't stop her from crying out at the sudden movement.

    "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna run now. It's gonna hurt, but I have to get you somewhere safe." He tells her.

    He runs as fast as he can, trying his hardest not to jostle her, but to no avail. He dodges so many Galra, keeping her still is impossible, and he the whimpers that escape her lips feel like knives in his heart. Every time he looks up, the edge of the particle barrier seems no closer than before, and Lance is beginning to lose hope.

    The girl in his arms is growing paler by the second, she doesn't have much time.

    "No, no, no."

    "Lance!"

    He turns toward the voice, smiling at the sight.

    His sister Veronica barrels towards him in one of the Garrison vehicles, driving over piles of bodies without complication. Allura sits in the passenger seat, and he can see Keith and Hunk through the window. A wave of relief washes over him knowing his friends were okay.

    Veronica pulls up next to him, "Get in, we're evacuating! We're gonna try and get Atlas up and running again, but until then then, the MFE's are gonna try and take care of them from above." She explains the current plan while Lance climbs in the vehicle, Hunk and Keith assisting with Pidge. They lay her across the back seat and Lance takes a seat on the ground, holding one of her hands with his.

    It takes about five minutes getting through the particle barrier and to the front doors of the Garrison, and the paladins waste no time in getting their friend help.

    "Get a gurney and a med-team down here, now!" Veronica begins yelling out orders before she even gets out of the vehicle, Keith gets out first, taking Pidge from Lance's arms so he can get out next, Hunk and Allura follow suit. The others are each sporting injuries of their own, but they pay them no attention, their eyes never leaving Pidge.

    All at once, the adrenaline wears off and Lance's injuries make themselves known. He becomes fully aware of the bleeding shot in his thigh, an injury he didn't even realize he'd gotten, and his head begins to spin. He can't tell how many figures are running down the hall at this point.

    He begins to lose his footing, leaning a hand on Hunk's shoulder to steady himself.

    "Hey, Buddy. You okay?"

    Lance moans in response, focusing - or trying to focus - on the red figure placing the green on one of the gurneys.

    It's okay...

    He sways.

    She's safe now...

    He falls.

    This time, when Pidge opens her eyes, there are no red lights to blind her, only the light coming from her window.

    This pleases her. She feels sleep pulling her back in until a slight pain in her abdomen sends recent memories flooding into her mind.

    She groans, sitting in an upward position, only to be nudged back down.

    "I don't think so. You were shot with a laser, not given a paper cut. You need to rest."

    "How long has it been?"

    "Mm... About a day. You woke up earlier than expected though, probably something to do with Allura's magic hands. Mom and Dad are taking care of some stuff, but they're excited to see you."

    "Matt?"

    "Hmm?"

    "Where's Lance?"

    Matt's expression softens, a teasing smile making its way onto his face, "He's gonna be okay. He won't stop asking for you and hobbling around on his injured leg trying to come see you, but they won't let him until you're awake."

    Pidge giggles at that, rubbing her tired eyes with her hand, "I'm awake now."

    Matt laughs, "Yeah, yeah, I'll let them know. Don't get up, though," He orders, heading towards the door.

    "I won't. And, Matt?"

    He pauses halfway through the doorway to look back at her, "Yeah?"

    "I love you."

    "I love you too, Katie."

    Silent minutes pass after Matt leaves, letting Pidge be alone with her thoughts. For once, she doesn't think about anything in particular. She thinks about how heavy her eyelids feel as she watches the soft movement of the curtains. She thinks about her breathing, listening to the gentle hum of the air conditioner.

    For the first time, Pidge feels completely peacef -

    A loud thump sounds from the hall, followed by the jiggling of the doorknob and the click of the door, startling her.

    "Heh, I'm okay, don't worry about me." Lance assures, slipping inside her room before closing the door on an angry looking nurse. He turns around, leaning against the door with a dramatic sigh, "Gosh, all these ladies won't leave me alone. I know I'm famous now but a guy needs his space."

    Pidge scoffs, "They're only hanging around you because they have to."

    Lance smirks, placing a hand over his heart, "Ouch. What happened to nice Pidge?"

    She rolls her eyes, "She was shot, so she's not being nice anymore."

    Lance's smile disappears when he sits in the chair next to her bed, "Did you really mean all those things you said back there?"

    "Of course I did. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

    Lance's smile returns, making her heart melt. He grabs her hand, entwining his fingers with hers, "Thank you. I really needed to hear that. From you."

    Pidge frowns, "Why me?"

    He squeezes her hand, "Because you're insanely smart, and brutally honest. You're always right." He looks her right in the eye, "And I trust you, everything you say."

    He climbs up next to her on the bed, still holding her hand, "And I need you, Pidge, because you make me a better person, you're everything that I'm not and I love that about you." He leans down, his forehead touching hers, "I love you, Pidge."

    The room is silent as she takes in his words. He seems almost as surprised as her when he says it, as if he'd been relying on pure...

    Instinct.

    She'd waited so long to hear him say those words to her, even wondering if they'd ever be directed towards her at all, a thought that never failed to break her heart. But here it was, happening in her Garrison hospital room, wearing the same orange and white outfit as him, and feeling so completely... Happy.

    "Hm, took you long enough," Pidge teases. A smirk present on her face.

    "Are you kidding me?" Lance leans back.

    The nurse opens the door, "Times up, you two."

    "Alright, alright." Lance slides out of bed, limping towards the open door.

    "Hey, Lance?"

    He turns, "Yeah?"

    "I love you too."