#unless an allura wants to jump in or something

[xochitai]

So, I’ve been scrolling through people’s blogs for way too long, and I saw a bunch of posts talking about season 6—specifically the colony plotline and the issues with it—and it reminded me of what I thought was going to happen when the show was still airing.

I had a theory: what if it was Haggar all along?

Let me explain:

Just to get this out of the way, I came up with this either in the space between s6 and s7 when we were getting clips from s7 or after s7 aired. My memory of certain scenes are very fuzzy and I don’t remember the specific episodes where things I am going to be refencing happened so apologies in advance if I misplace things in the timeline or remember certain details incorrectly.

So this all began with the clip where Haggar remembers herself and she reverts back to her Altean appearance. We see her remove her hood and get a clear view of her full face, which looks very similar to Lotor’s. And this isn’t just the angle or a character being off-model one time, it’s just how she looks [besides, they wouldn’t be the first parent-child combo to share a face]. She also has white hair, roughly the same length, that is a bit choppy and gets fluffier on the bottom.

We know from the scene were Allura disguises herself as a Galra soldier that Alteans with the ability to shapeshift can change their height, build, and color. Would it be so difficult to believe that someone like Haggar, who is very gifted with quintessence, could modify things like their vocal cords as well? She knows how Lotor speaks well enough. And if it is beyond her abilities, she could use a voice modifier. 

He always wears the same thing and styles his hair the same way whenever we see him as an adult, which adds to how easy it would be for her to copy his appearance. Her markings would show, but she can cover those.

It would also explain how he got that big Galran ship to transport Alteans to the second colony and how he was working with Galra scientists so nonchalantly.

The Ship

Lotor doesn’t seem to have much of his own stuff. In his introductory episode, somebody says something along the lines of, ”he fights on the front lines with his men,” but we don’t see him with any troops. At most, it’s just him and his generals. He has those smaller personal ships in the beginning [which could technically count as a fleet] and later the sincline ships, but that’s about it. So where does he get this large Galran ship from, and how did he move it around without drawing attention?

The Scientists

[I’m not sure if they count more as doctors or medical assistants or lab assistants, but for simplicity’s sake, I'm calling them scientists]

We see people in uniforms similar to the one Ulaz wears in Shiro’s flashback. Lotor is incredibly secretive and paranoid, to the point where he killed Narti, the person he entrusted with Kova, in an instant when he figured out Haggar was spying on them through her. He didn’t tell Allura about the colony, even when they were both alone in Orionde. He has been trying to keep Haggar and/or Zarkon from finding out about this for thousands of years. So why would he work with multiple Galra scientists that work under Haggar and bring them to the very place he has been trying to hide?

For Haggar though? Obtaining a ship would be simple. She has Zarkon’s favor and it’s implied he gives her whatever she wants most of the time. As for the scientists, they work for her and with her abilities, she could easily keep them quiet.

And now, for the thing that kickstarted this whole colony plot in the first place: the harvested quintessence. Why would Lotor be harvesting it this way in the first place? From his time on Ven’tar’s planet, we know he found a better way to harvest that both increased yields and didn’t damage the planet. So why would he make the jump straight to harvesting from people, Alteans no less? Unless he was forced, it seems strange. But for Haggar, who is obsessed with quintessence, and who we later see has no problem manipulating and sacrificing other Alteans, it seems like something she would have no qualms about.

The generals might be a problem, but we don’t know how much they know. Besides those scientists, it seems like he goes there by himself or with sentries most of the time. [Perhaps he brought Narti once and when Haggar took over her mind, that is how she found out?]

Also the visual parallel of the Alteans all lined up in the pods and the clone Shiros all lined up in theirs.

Obviously, my theory turned out to be Incorrect and it definitely had some holes [though so did the show], but I thought it would be fun to share and finally let it see the light of day :-)

[velkynkarma]

I finished premium pandemonium recently and I just... <3

I still don't wanna let it go like after you finish a really good book! So is there any little fun facts about that universe that you didn't get to mention before that you wanna share now?

I feel the same way, anon! I’ve been having a hard time letting it go too, which is why I’m writing more fics for it :) There’s one in the works, and since I’m reading the latest book in the series it’s based off of, I’ve been getting even more ideas :)

Facts, though! There are definitely some interesting facts I can share. I also suggest digging through my Premium Pandemonium tag, where I answered questions after I finished posting the original fic. 

Some other tidbits and behind-the-scenes:

Before fleeing the Covenant, Shiro was set up for an arranged marriage, since the Covenant likes to ensure they will always have a new generation of skilled agents and the Shirogane lineage is highly coveted. Presumably his fiancée-to-be was let off the hook once he was presumed dead. Of course, this was all arranged before he even started questioning his sexuality, so he never actually questioned the plan to marry him off. None of the others know about this or they’d probably all be horrified, but it’s not something he ever thought to mention.

Along those lines, when I was originally writing up the first draft notes for this story, Shiro’s encounter with Nyma was originally intended to make him look crazy prepared, by just always having lilu charms on him. Then the series officially recognized him as gay, at which point I just shrugged and made him immune to succubi instead. (This meant I also had to ensure he was crazy prepared to fight Macidus later, but it worked out better that way anyway). 

Shiro is a bit of an unreliable narrator in Premium Pandemonium. There’s hints about it in Keith’s 2 chapters, but he’s a lot more paranoid than his narration would let on, sometimes to the exasperation of others. He has no social media presence and almost never lets anyone take photographs of him unless it’s secured. This also goes for any of his alias roles, including ‘Ryou Tanaka,’ leading most of his self-defense students to share increasingly wild and highly inaccurate conspiracy theories as to why their friendly self defense teacher is not in touch with the internet world at all.

Unlike his canon counterpart, Shiro can’t pilot most aircraft. He does know how to operate some helicopters, but it’s been a while since he’s had to and his skills are a bit rusty. That said, he would probably jump at the chance to learn to fly a plane. (Since PP is set in the modern era, spacecraft will pretty much never be a thing he can learn).

Since they’re both cosmic forces, Crossroads!Lotor has met Bob at least once. They don’t terribly care for each other, or the other’s methods of dealing with mortals.

Lotor was also not intended to show up in the final battle in the initial rough draft, but while on a walk I had such a spark of inspiration for how to include him that I reworked half the ending. That’s actually what this post was about. 

There are a lot of scenarios where I would’ve loved to write the POV of other characters but had to stick with Shiro. Other scenes that would’ve been fun to write would include:

Lance and Hunk moving suncoma!Keith during the Sanda incident

The team breaking in to find and rescue Shiro when he’d been captured

Lance and Keith rescuing people on the campus when they split from Hunk and Shiro

Allura’s POV when she first discovered a Shirogane in her city, or during the fight at the end

The Aeslin mouse religion was altered a little to be different from the book series. In that series, ‘gods’ and ‘priestesses’ are based on either being born into the main family or marrying into it. Since I wanted to write a platonic, found-family story, but I also wanted the aeslin dynamics, I restructured their religious beliefs to be centered around those Allura’s lineage considers ‘family.’ 

Thanks for reading anon. I’m glad you enjoyed the fic :) And if you still can’t let go, I highly recommend picking up the InCryptid series, which is excellent!

[avidbeader]

CW: Voltron S8 talk, VLD S8 talk, Shiro’s marriage, ship wars

I’ve been seeing an influx of new VLD fans in the last several months – guess people have more time to watch shows – and it’s brought in a new wave of Sheith fans. And that’s lovely – having more people to create and cheer is a good thing. I know I’ve pointed a lot of people at “Sheith the Movie” so they can have just the Sheith (all 3.5 hours of their scenes with some context) if they want.

However, even if the new fans have been aware of how toxic the klanti shippers were (Klance fans who resorted to slander, harassment, and threats to both other fans and the show’s cast and crew in an attempt to force the studio to make their ship canon), I’m seeing some conflict crop up because some new fans aren’t aware of just how ugly things got in 2018, that most of the people who embraced Shiro and the random groom as a ship were the same people who had spent the previous two years attacking Sheith fans.

In June, we had Season 6. Keith and Lance interaction was at an all-time low. Keith said “I love you” to Shiro in what he thought was a dying confession. Yes, it was preceded by “You’re my brother (in arms)”, but interviews with showrunners like story editor Josh Hamilton made it clear that Keith was trying his best to encapsulate just how important Shiro was to him (without saying that they almost certainly had to include the “brother” line to give DW executives plausible deniability).

In July, we had the SDCC showing of Season 7’s first episode and the confirmation that Shiro is an LGBT character. Klance fans jumped all over the character of Shiro’s ex-boyfriend Adam, because in their minds he would be the key to invalidating Sheith. The media properly observed that Shiro and Adam had broken up over very profound issues and drew the conclusion that if Shiro were to get an on-screen romance in the remainder of the series, Keith was the obvious choice.

In August, we had Season 7. Instead of the heartfelt Shiro/Adam reunion klantis were salivating for, we saw Adam get killed in the Galra invasion. And the klantis rose up, hurling so many unjustified accusations of “fridging” or “bury your gays” over a minor character with a total of maybe three minutes of screen time, that JDS actually had to put his name to an unnecessary apology from the studio.

We also had Keith and Shiro’s backstory, showing just how close of friends they became after Shiro helped Keith join the Garrison, AND Keith saving Shiro yet again. While Lance and Allura continued to grow closer. Because it was clear that the producers had never once considered making Keith and Lance a thing, klanti fans went ballistic with their slander, accusing Sheith of being pedophilic and incestuous when neither accusation has any canon basis at all.

And in December, we got Season 8. Season 8 with a mostly new set of writers who didn’t do their research. Season 8 that tried to cram in too much excess content while finishing up a major plotline. Season 8 that finally showed that the producers had never fully thought through or sought input for handling Shiro, a character they’d originally planned to kill off, decided to make their LGBT rep when told to keep him, and then failed to pick up the strong story arcs he had in the first seasons. And because studio execs gave JDS and LM a single day to change their epilogue cards from minor characters to the main team, we got the very bad decision to marry Shiro off to a random character.

(And the character was random. Stills were leaked that showed Shiro kissing a character that had been seen once in the very first episode, but was too obviously a reference to a character in another series. It clearly didn’t matter to JDS/LM or the people above them who Shiro married as long as it wasn’t another main character. Because we’ve barely passed the point where we can have more than one character of a certain race in the main cast, much less multiple LGBT characters.)

Like they did with Adam, klantis jumped all over “Curtis” as their savior, because to them this should have killed Sheith fandom. And a great many Sheith fans did leave, angry and hurt, not because their ship wasn’t canon (very few Sheith fans expected more than an open ending) but because the concept of Shiro marrying some random character with absolutely no buildup undercut the notion of Shiro as a strong example of LGBT rep. Because those endcards erased every single character’s growth through the series, not just Shiro’s.

Media saw the ploy for what it was, a clumsy attempt to try and reach for a historic milestone when today’s audiences aren’t looking for milestones anymore. Today’s audiences want to be included in the entire narrative. No one talks about Shiro’s wedding as a good example of rep. In mainstream pop media, no one talks about Shiro at all, in contrast to the celebrations post-SDCC. When articles are written about progress in children’s media, Shiro is never included on the list. It’s only this past June, 2020, that DreamWorks shoved Shiro into the background of a collage of LGBT characters from their cartoons, WITHOUT his desultory groom.

LGBT fans, especially gay men, saw the ploy for what it was. Just as the media collectively set Shiro’s wedding aside when talking about positive LGBT rep, gay men spoke out against it. Too bad they didn’t get any kind of apology from DW and the best JDS/LM could say on their one appearance on an “Afterbuzz” was “But we tried! Something was better than nothing!”

And the majority of Sheith fans who remained in the fandom collectively jettisoned Season 8 and began producing even more content. There have been schisms and fallouts, mainly over whether/how carefully to tag for content that includes Adam or “Curtis”, but the fandom as a whole has continued to produce fic, art, vids, and merch. There’s a reason people outside the fandom groan “Sheith in 2020?” There’s a reason antis continue to push their lies about the ship. We haven’t let go of what we love, we continue to create, and we continue to attract new fans.

But most of us do not want to engage in any way with “Curtis” content unless a fix-it is involved (and sometimes not even then – for many of us, Season 8 does not exist). We don’t care about a character who had zero interaction with Shiro before the endcard, whose name isn’t even spoken once in the show’s dialogue – the only reasons we know it are the IMDB credits and one reference in the close-captions identifying who is speaking (and there’s stronger evidence to show that “Curtis” is a last name, not a first name).

If other people find enough of an attachment to this character to ship him, fine. You do you. But most Sheith fans expect those who support Shiro’s wedding to be klantis and therefore look to avoid conflict by minimizing contact. We do not forget. We do not forgive. We just want to be left alone to enjoy our ship in peace.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 105 prt 1

105

Lance felt as if he’d died all over again. He and Keith had spent the night under the stars after the opera, feeling like he’d died of happiness with Keith, before his boyfriend suggested they head home for the night as the first rays of morning started to creep across the sky. This was not the same kind of happy pleasant death thanks to Keith’s love. The Blades had had a successful mission, according to his boyfriend, but Lance felt too sick to care. This was the “Death warmed up” kind of death that really, really sucked balls. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, only able to reason it was a batch of bad blood, because it was definitely not the nice new slow release birth control capsule that sat in his arm. Keith had held his hand as he’d had it done, Coran springing it on the pair of them the day after the opera. Flushing the toilet, he was in the process of pushing himself off the floor when Matt came to his aid. Pulling him up on his feet, Lance nearly fainted at the change in sudden position

“You need to see Coran. It’s been a week, Lance. Keith is worried”

A whole week without Keith. After spending the night he’d spent the day with his Mami, then headed home. Keith was off desk duty, onto helping in the labs, between surveillance missions . His boyfriend could do anything he put his mind to... apart from be there with him.

“Mmm... I’m fine. Coran said there were side effects”

He was lying poorly. He wasn’t fine. Matt knew it. He’d been on his case about his scent being wrong when he’d come back home

“There’s side effects and then there’s this!”

“Just back off! Go fuck something or... something! Just get off my back!”

Starting to cry, he felt awful for what he’d said to Matt. He didn’t like his moodiness being directed so outward-sly when Matt only wanted to help

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that... I’m sorry...”

“Lance, you’re being stupid. You need to talk to Coran”

“I’ll... I... this was supposed to work...”

“And it’s not. You’re miserable. You’re barely eating and barely leaving your room”

“I’m sorry... I... I need to lay down for a bit... Can I call him once I’ve taken a nap?”

“Can I talk to him when you call him?”

Lance nodded, regretting doing so. He felt faint, but worse still was fact he threw up in his mouth as he nodded. His stomach was so fucking sore from all the vomiting he’d been doing

“Alright. Two hours. If you’re not up in two hours, I’m calling Coran”

“Okay... I’m sorry... This was supposed to work!”

Matt tried to hug him, Lance feeling sicker at the touch, forcing himself back from him. It wasn’t just with Matt. Anyone, other than Keith, made him feel physically revolted

“Coran might need to adjust the dose. It might be something as simple as that”

“I can’t think... I’m really... I need to lay down”

“Do you need me to get you anything? A bucket? You look pale as fuck, man”

“No... I need my bed... and my soil”

“That’s already on your bed, isn’t it?”

“Yeah... I’ll be okay... just give me a bit”

Lance left Matt for the safety of his bed. Blue had been by his side almost nonstop, as if she knew he really needed her and her toe beans. Crawling under the covers, he was buried under his blankets. Barely able to function, he’d been limited to messaging Keith, or falling asleep with Keith on the other end of the phone. His boyfriend was stressed over the side effects, that Lance was hoping would kindly go away before Keith’s birthday weekend. Keith’s present had finally arrived, the blade looked incredible, and well worth it’s price tag. He was super excited about giving it to Keith, knowing his boyfriend would love it.

Sleeping fitfully, Lance woke in a sweat. His clothes clinging to him as his stomach rolled and cramped. Downstairs he could hear Rieva scolding Matt, Curtis laughing at the pair of them. He must have come back from seeing Shiro in Platt. Curtis had been keeping a record of Lance’s condition, and reaction to the medication in his system. As far as they knew this was the kind of reaction to be expected initially. When his body got its shit together, they’d know more. He simply had to hang on until then.

Climbing out of bed, Lance held his stomach as he shuffled from his room. He’d promised Matt two hours, but now he was feeling even worse. The world was spinning. Everything stank like mould and dust. The light in the house was too bright... and his skin was itchy. Making it to the stairs, the room swayed heavily to the right, Lance going to the left to correct the feeling, foot missing the top stair...

*

“Keith, it’s Lance. Matt’s just rushed him in from Garrison. Something’s happens”

Whipping around to where Allura stood in the doorway of the lab, Keith was signing off on the trace reports from their clothes. The Blades had no use for them now that all trace had been collected. They were set for disposal, unless he wanted them, which he did. Not Lotor’s pet get up, no. These were clothes he’d worn as Lance’s pet. Letting the datapad slip through his fingers, his body started moving without thinking, until he was grabbing Allura by the shoulders

“What do you mean something happened to him? Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Coran’s rushed him through for emergency treatment. You’d been come”

Jogging through the halls, VOLTRON’s main infirmary was on the same level as the labs. What was only a few minutes walking felt somehow longer as Keith panicked hard. Lance had only just started on the contraceptive Coran designed for him, and somehow he couldn’t help but feel it was related to that. Reaching Matt, the werewolf was sitting on the floor crying. He’d never seen Matt cry like this... his alarm at the blood over Matt’s hands sent goosebumps across his skin. Whipping his head around, he found blood on the doorframe a little past Matt, feet carrying him towards it, before he was bursting into the medical room.

Laying limp on the bed, Coran and two others worked around Lance. The inside of Lance’s sweats dyed a deep red, blood smeared across his feet

“Allura, get him out of here!”

Keith flinched, pulled backwards from Lance at Coran’s command. His legs giving out in the hall, as the door between him and Lance was snapped closed. What was happening?! He could smell Lance’s blood. His stomach rolled. His lover was far sicker than he’d let on. Anger flaring, he wanted to move to Matt. To grab him by the shoulders and shake the truth out of him. He couldn’t. Allura draping herself around him, softly asking as she sniffled

“Matt, what happened?”

“I don’t know. He’s been sick for days. Throwing up nonstop. Barely eating. I... he wanted to take a nap. He promised we’d call Coran when he woke up... He... This is all my fault. I... I left him to nap... because he needed rest, and I... I heard him get up and then... then he fell down the stairs... There was so much blood. He wasn’t bleeding before. He was just feeling sick. I knew that... he... he smelt different lately... and I... I should have made him come sooner... this is my fault”

Matt started crying harder again, his hands in his hair as he curled in on himself. Keith shaking. He knew there were side effects. He knew it. Lance had been so happy, that he’d agreed. So happy that finally Coran had good news for them. He felt like he was finally going to be in control of his body, despite Keith not minding how he was already... unless there were vampires close to him.

It was a sickening long wait in the hallway. He and Allura curled up waiting with Matt, and Allura had taken Matt to clean the blood off him. There’d been so much... too fucking much. Bringing back watching Lance dive across to save them when Matt wolfed out. Finally the door opened, the three of them looking to Coran who stepped out with a weary sigh

“He’s going to be okay”

Coran was haggard, as if years had been stripped off of him, or his long life had finally caught up with him. Relief flooded through his body, as Keith used the wall to push himself up

“Can I see him?”

“He’s groggy, but awake, yes he’s stable. I’ve removed the capsule from his arm, and I have to warn you, he is extremely weak. I’ll analyse the capsule. I was sure the dosage was correct... Keith, can I speak with you for a moment?”

That didn’t sound good. Looking to Allura and Matt, they both nodded, Matt smiling through his tears

“We’ll wait here, man. Go see him, he’s been missing you”

Heading into medical room, the nurses finished up with Lance, before excusing themselves and closing the door behind them. The bed moved from the middle of the room, to jut out from the right side, Lance hooked up to too many machines. Rushing to his boyfriend side, Keith buried his face in Lance’s hair, wrapping his arm around his chest as he did

“Hey... mullet”

Slurring the words out, Lance was conscious enough to know it was him. Keith couldn’t help but hug him tighter

“You scared the fuck out of me you, dick”

Laughing weakly, Lance’s laughter broke off with a hiss of pain.

“I’m afraid he’s going to be staying with us for the next week. I have something very important to talk to you about”

Keith didn’t particularly care, as long as Lance was alright

“You said he was going to be okay”

“He is. But... I still need to monitor him closely. You see... how should I put this...”

Keith forced himself off Lance, hand sliding down to grip his boyfriend’s hand

“Just spit it out”

“I suppose I should say, I have to monitor them carefully”

What now? He didn’t get it. There was one Lance, not two... He could barely handle one Lance...

“You said you needed to monitor him...”

“Yes, well, you see...”

Lance got there first, slurring again, Keith jumping at his voice. His boyfriend really should be sleeping things off, he was a stubborn little bastard

“I’m pregnant?”

“At this stage. You and Keith are generally quite careful with the use of contraception, though that isn’t always effective. I look the liberty of running the test while the nurses made Lance comfortable”

Keith went wobbly at the knees. Air knocked out of him. Coran sadly continuing

“I can’t say how far along you are, and for today you need rest. I’ll organise an ultrasound for the first thing tomorrow morning so we can get a better view of the situation. I was stupid to accept that you’d been careful and not administer the test before implanting the capsule. For that, I cannot apologise enough”

Hold up. Just. Wait. What? He knew he sounded dumb, but... What?

“How?”

Coran sighed at him tiredly

“I know you know how sex works by now. Pulling out and use of condoms doesn’t guarantee that conception will not occur. In fact, I’d advise against the pull out method entirely, though... I expect you two need a moment to adjust to the news. For now we will keep this amongst ourselves. Lance lost a lot of blood, the pregnancy may no longer be viable. Keith, I’ll leave him in your hands. I want you to monitor him for any bleeding, or unusual behaviour. I need to run tests on the capsule and his blood, but he absolutely needs to stay in bed, no matter what he may say, or how he may act. Matt saved his life today. Had the bleed been sustained, he may have lost control of himself entirely”

Coran was talking a lot at him. The words lodging in brain without processing. They liked them. As them. Babies weren’t a thing they were ready for. That he was ready for. They didn’t even live together and they might as well be on different planets given how much they missed each other when they were apart. Coran moved to fetch over the examination stool, Keith sank heavily on to it. He literally no longer had the strength to remain standing. A baby... They’d been careful. He didn’t know how... He didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll leave you two for now. If anything happens, press the red buzzer above the bed. It’ll alert the staff. Don’t worry, my sweet boys. We’ll work this out together”

What about the fall? What about all the blood? There’d been so much blood? Keith felt numb. Someone had once said that humans only have three main emotions; happiness, anger, and sadness. Every other emotion was like a colour on the spectrum, made from those three emotions. What a load of crap. He didn’t know where his emotions apparently fell, but he did know he wasn’t any of them, and all of them at the same time.

Left alone with his boyfriend, Lance watched him. Keith holding his hand tightly as he had been when he’d first taken it in his

“Babe... dun... worry... ‘m okay”

“How is any of this okay?!”

Lance was hooked up to monitors, two IV’s running into his left arm. His face was bruised, and there was a light weight casting around his left wrist. He looked how Keith had expected him to look after he’d fought Lotor. Not fallen down a set of stairs. Fucking stupid stairs. What was Matt thinking leaving Lance like this?! He’d been so ill. Did Matt not care about Lance?! Was all of this some fucking joke? He should have brought him in sooner. Lance... was having a baby... their baby...

Wearily, Lance squeezed his hand with all the strength of a human, proving how weak he was

“I’m... sorry... I thought... It’d pass... in a few... days”

The words were taking so much effort on Lance’s part. Chest heaving as a machine beeped at them, Keith softly scolding his boyfriend

“You should have told me sooner. You never tell me”

“Got worse today... Keith... I... don’t know what to do... a... baby... I...”

Tears rolled down Lance’s tilted face. His boyfriend sniffling, he didn’t have the strength to wipe them away. Keith knew he probably shouldn’t climb up next to him, but Lance really needed him right now and needed to hold his boyfriend... despite the part of him that wanted to run until his head had cleared and the whole thing had sunk in. It felt so surreal. It wasn’t a near miss. It was the real thing. Letting go of Lance’s hand, his boyfriend whimpered softly at the loss. When he moved the blankets, Lance scrunched his eyes closed, as if he expected Keith to turn on him, or throw him out the bed.

Settling carefully beside Lance, Keith laid on his side, forehead against his boyfriend’s. He knew Lance was trying to work up the strength to apologise again, his hand coming up to cup Lance’s cheek as he rubbed at the tear mark with the pad of his thumb

“You need to rest. Then we can talk about this”

“I’m...”

“You’re exhausted”

And Keith needed to think. He’d been planning on surprising Lance dressed in the same clothes he’d worn as a pet for a laugh. Not having Lance rushed here by Matt, and having to be made to feel useless at the sight of all that blood

“Baby...”

“We’ll work it out”

“I... sorry...”

“Shhh, enough apologising. You can apologise when you’re awake enough to know you don’t need to”

*

Lance fell asleep next to him, Keith unable to sleep. Somehow his hand had found its way to Lance’s belly, his boyfriend whining softly in his sleep when he caught himself and went to move it. A baby was not part of their plans. Not in the middle of all this shit. He wasn’t father material. He didn’t know how that worked. He’d enjoyed having what he had with Lance. He couldn’t be like Krolia. He couldn’t leave Lance with the responsibility of raising a child alone, but he couldn’t turn his back on what was happening.

When Shiro finally arrived, his brother had brought flowers. Keith wondering if Coran hadn’t been able to keep the secret over their news. Matt had probably heard everything. What was he doing now? Telling everyone? Laughing at them for getting themselves into the situation? He couldn’t work out when it would have happened. He prided himself on his ability to take care of Lance through his heats. Carrying the flowers over, Shiro placed them at the end of Lance’s bed near his feet

“Hey, kiddo. Is he going to be okay?”

How was Keith supposed to know? Lance was male, turned breeder because of him. Surely there was bound to be all kinds of complications

“I don’t know”

“Matt told me he drove Lance here. Something about having a bad reaction?”

His brother was probing for information. Keith had the answers but not the desire to disclose them

“Something like that”

Shiro sat on the opposite side of Lance’s bed. Keith nearly slapping his hand away as his brother felt for signs of a fever

“Coran mentioned he’d be here for a few days. Did you know he was sick?”

“A little... Coran said there’d be side effects and Lance just thought it was normal...”

“Krolia’s worried. She got the call before me and left the mission ahead of time. She’s sitting in the hall, no ones allowed in without going past her”

What right did his mother have to be there?

“The flowers are actually from her. She didn’t want to upset you by coming in. She offered to pick up Miriam if Lance was up for visitors”

“Not today. Maybe tomorrow”

Tomorrow when they’d have a clear idea what was going on... hang on

“You saw Matt?”

“Yeah. He said Lance wanted to lay down, then got up again and fell down the stairs. He was burning up, crying for you”

Keith wished Shiro hadn’t told him that. He wasn’t there when Lance needed him... It felt fucking awful. No wonder Lance had made a huge fuss over his accident

“Did he say anything else?”

“Lance was bleeding, and pretty out of it... I know you’re probably angry at him, but right now no one is angrier about it all than Matt. Coran’s got Allura staying with him until Rieva can come up from her shift. Did Coran say anything else?”

More than Shiro could imagine. His brother’s hand had gone from Lance’s forehead to resting on his hair

“We won’t know more until tomorrow”

“Alright. Would you like me to stay?”

No

“Yeah... just... I don’t think I can leave him..”

“You don’t have to. As Lance would say, “I’ll punch anyone in the dick if they try to make you leave””

Keith snorted wetly, appreciative of Shiro’s attempt at humour

“He’s strong, right?”

“Yeah. He’s strong, and he’s going to be okay. The blood bag is a little low, I might let the staff know”

Keith hadn’t noticed. He was supposed to be monitoring Lance’s condition. How could he be a dad if he couldn’t do this one simple thing?!

“Hey, I don’t know what’s going on in your head right now, but this isn’t your fault. Not everyone has extreme reactions to things. Lance is different and he’s special. This won’t keep him down, you know that”

“I’m not so sure”

“I’ll have to be sure for all of then”

Over the night, Keith had too many visitors. Matt came with Allura. Coran popped in like clockwork, insisting he rest or eat. Keith moving off the bed to sit on the stool, falling asleep with his right hand on Lance’s belly and his left holding Lance’s hand, his cheek laying against it. Waking to fingers playing with his hair, he yawned as he blinked, back protesting the awkwardness of his sleeping position. Staring across the room, Lance was the one playing with his hair. Shiro was snoring where he sat against the wall with a blanket up to his shoulders. His brother staying as he said he would

“Babe?”

Shifting his gaze down to him, Lance’s blue eyes hurt to see. He seemed so utterly defeated. Rising from the chair, Keith climbed back into bed beside him, pulling him close. Any other time he’d be making a joke about his coordination without coffee. Yet somehow, he was more awake than he should be. That look in Lance‘s driving away his fatigue

“I’m sorry...”

“Shhh...”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t even suspect. I’ve gone and ruined everything”

“No. No, you haven’t”

“Did... did I lose it?”

How long had Lance been awake wondering that?

“Coran won’t know until he does an ultrasound”

“I’m so fucking scared. I don’t know how... we... were careful”

“I know we were... I know, babe”

“You must hate me... but I didn’t know... I didn’t”

Lance started to weep, drawing his knees up as Keith kissed his hair

“I know. I believe you”

“How could I not know?!”

“Shhh... Stress isn’t good for you...”

Keith swallowed hard, forcing out the words that felt weird in his mouth

“... or the baby”

“I don’t know how to do this”

“You think I do? Fuck. When Allura came to get me... I get how you felt now... not being there. I should have come when you first started feeling sick”

“It... wasn’t... that bad until yesterday...”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I thought it was just the side effects... then I woke up feeling wrong... I went to get Matt...”

So Lance had tried to do the right thing? He’d recognised, all be it late, that something more was going on

“Shhh... okay. I get it”

“I’m sorry...”

“You don’t need to be sorry. Coran’s going to come check on in on you. Allura and Matt visited. Shiro slept here. None of them think you did anything wrong”

“But I still made everyone worry”

“Idiot. We love you. Of course we’re going to worry”

Lance sniffled

“I’m being so selfish. I haven’t even asked if you’re okay”

Keith could lie. He could lie and comfort Lance by pretending to be strong... yet he couldn’t do that. He had to be honest with the man he loved

“I don’t know what I am... other than confused and scared”

“What do we do?”

“We wait. We see what the ultrasound says... and we figure it out”

“And what... if they’re...”

“Either way, we’ll work it out”

Lance clutched up at him, Keith relieved his lover’s strength had started to return

“I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think... I want to lose them”

Keith swallowed down the emotions choking his throat. He didn’t know if Lance meant it or not, and Lance wasn’t in the right frame of mind to question him

“Okay... okay... I’m here. I’m staying. We’ll figure this out”

“I love you... so much... I wanted this in the future... I feel so guilty for it happening now”

“You’re getting worked up again. Coran wants to you stay as calm as you can. We can’t do anything for now”

“I’m still really tired”

“You nap. I’ll be here holding you”

“You really are the best boyfriend ever...”

[moonguilt]

molten gold

(written for a zine application, but I decided I would post it here and on ao3.  it’s short but i had fun with it :) happy holidays, enjoy!)

Pairing: Keith/Lance

Wordcount: 1852

Read on my AO3 here!

--------------

“God, I’m so boooored.”  Lance’s aggravated face popped up on the Black Lion’s main cockpit window, casting a faint red glow over Keith’s dashboard.  Keith couldn’t exactly blame him; this so-called “space road trip” to Earth was taking much longer than they’d hoped, and inhabitable planets where they could take pit stops were few and far between.

A yellow glow appeared soon thereafter.  “It feels like we’ve been flying for quintants,” Hunk groaned in agreement, his body half-way sunken into his chair.  “Have we been flying for quintants?  I definitely think we have.  I pee approximately every five vargas, and since we left Iyethos, I think I’ve peed like...”  He lifted a hand and started counting on his fingers, then sprung up in his seat, eyes wide.  “Ohh, my God, I’m measuring time in intervals of pee.  My sanity has reached a critical low.”

“Good Groggery, do humans really urinate so frequently?”  Blue light entered the mix as Coran’s excited face materialized far too close to the screen, his body gracelessly crammed into the space between the control panel and the chair.  Allura was leaning as far away as she could, her expression torn between annoyance and exhaustion.

Keith heard footsteps behind him, and a moment later Shiro’s robotic hand settled on the chair’s backrest.  “Well, it depends on the—”

“Alright, no, we’re not having this conversation,” Keith interrupted immediately, already feeling the first pricks of a headache.  “I know we’re all bored out of our minds, but I’m not gonna sit through you guys having some kind of pseudo-scientific discussion about the human bladder.”  He dragged a gloved hand down his face.  “There has got to be something better for you guys to entertain yourselves with.”

Finally, a green-tinted video feed flickered to life on his screen.  “Say no more,” Pidge declared, smirking and cockily kicking her legs up onto the dashboard, only to find that she was a bit too short to maintain the position comfortably.  She struggled for a moment before admitting defeat and sitting upright again.  “Guess who just finished installing the latest Monsters and Mana data into our Lions’ shared network?  As well as…”  She adjusted her glasses.  “... a dice bot?”

Lance was the first to react.  “For real?!” he exclaimed, perking up in a way that Keith, at this point, could admit to himself was cute.  “I mean—if you guys wanna play it, you know, I’ll tag along I guess.”  He schooled his expression back into one of neutrality, pretending to examine his fingernails before realizing that he was, in fact, wearing gloves.

Pidge raised an unimpressed eyebrow.  “Oh, you mean you’ll lower yourself to play a nerd game with us humble nerds, huh?”

“I am feeling charitable today, Pidgey.”

Coran was leaping in too close to the screen again before anyone else could get a word out.  “Well what are we waiting for?  I’ve been wanting to try out my newest campaign for longer than a Yarupian Velrod’s first—”

“Hey, hang on, Coran.”  Lance held his hands together in a T shape.  “Keith doesn’t have a character yet.”  He paused, then jolted in his seat a bit.  “Or, uh, Krolia, or Romelle, or Shiro technically since, uh, you know, the last one wasn’t really his…”  The faintest color started to rise to his cheeks, barely visible in the red glow of his lion’s cockpit.

Pretty, Keith’s mind informed him helpfully.

“... Anyway, plus they probably don’t even know how to play—”

“Of course I know how to play!” Romelle interjected, looking affronted as she squeezed past Coran and into the frame.  “I used to play this all the time!”

“It is a highly popular Altean pastime,” Allura admitted.  Only the top of her head was visible over her fellow Alteans.  It seemed she had managed to squeeze far enough away in her seat to give their unpredictable limb movements a wide berth.

“And I do have my… ah… the clone’s memories,” Shiro added, his words coming out somewhat choppy and uncomfortable, “so… I know how it works.  I think.”

“I will admit I am familiar with the game as well.”  Keith nearly jumped out of his skin as his mother’s voice spoke over his shoulder.  When did she get there?  Wasn’t she sleeping?  God, she was silent as the grave.  “It is an excellent way during free time for Blade members to train their strategic skills and team working abilities through intricate problem-solving simulations.”

“... Yeah that sounds fun,” Lance commented in a flat tone, then waved emphatically at Keith.  “Well still, Keith’s got no idea—”

Keith could hear the obnoxious grin on Shiro’s face as he inhaled.  “Well, actually—”

“Shiro, no.”

“Keith’s not really as inexperienced as you might think—”

“Do not.”

“See, the thing about him and Matt and Adam is—”

Keith didn’t even allow himself a moment of pity over the slight hesitation in Shiro’s voice when mentioning Adam.  He was too busy jumping up and clambering over his seat to tackle his adoptive brother.  Try as he might, though, he wasn’t strong enough to get a hand over Shiro’s laughing mouth before—

“—they were total Dungeons and Dragons dorks.”

Keith let out a garbled noise, somewhere between a growl and a wail, and slumped back into his seat, letting his messy hair fall into his face.  He could have sworn he heard a hum of amusement from Krolia’s direction.

He was allowed a moment of silent wallowing, and then:

“WHAT?  Are you serious?!”

“Incredible!  Why, Keith, if you were already fighting dragons at that age—”

“Shiro, my dude, I love and trust you, but you are definitely lying right now—”

“He’s not.”

All attention turned to Pidge, who was now fixing Keith with a knowing look that he did not like one bit.

“Pidge…” he grumbled in warning.  She merely winked in his direction.

“It’s all true.  Matt would come home and ramble about all the wacky quests he would send you guys on.  He always took it easy on you, though, because you were a wittle baby,” she crooned, sticking out her lower lip.  “Keith was like… thirteen, max, when they started.  And he always played an edgy self-insert barbarian named—”

Keith’s irritation turned to absolute dread; a veritable wave of ice rushed down his spine.  He didn’t even have time to protest.

“—Thunderstorm Darkness.”

You could hear a pin drop in the split second silence that followed.

“... No way,” Lance whispered, and like that, the dam broke.

Howling laughter from all around met Keith’s ears.  He hunched down in his chair and shot both Pidge and Shiro absolute death glares as his teammates laughed so hard they cried.  Shiro had the decency to look at least a little apologetic, but Pidge only fell into even louder hysterics.

“What?” Keith demanded hotly, his burning shame urging him to defend himself.  Kosmo wandered over and began snuffling at Keith’s legs, as if sensing his distress.  “I was a kid!  And it’s not even that bad, you guys are overreacting—”

“THUNDERSTORM DARK—PFFFFTTT—”  Lance’s laughing face was beautiful, even when he was laughing at Keith’s expense.  Stupid beautiful Lance.

Keith couldn’t even find it in himself to stay mad when Lance’s bright laughter echoed around the cockpit.  He was really starting to regret this whole “falling in love” thing.  It definitely gave Lance way too much power over him.

Ah, did he say love?  He meant crush.  Stupid little crush.  Keith was just very gay, and Lance was just very handsome.  And nice.  And smart.  And funny.  And heroic.  And—

“Alright, everybody, that’s enough,” Shiro’s voice cut through his spiralling thoughts.  “Why don’t we give everyone a minute to figure out their characters’ attributes and statistics?  I’d like to make a new one too, personally.”

Everyone calmed down a bit after that; it was valid for Shiro to want to create a new character, after all.  It was his own way of moving forward, in a sense.  Starting fresh.

The team rambled about their past Monsters and Mana adventures while Keith, Shiro, Krolia, and Romelle listened quietly and designed their characters.  Krolia’s choice of a basic fighter class was no surprise; neither was Romelle’s choice of druid, given her love of cute little animals.

When Shiro was finished, he cleared his throat and announced with great gusto:

“My character will be named Kiro.  I want him to be a paladin.”

Hunk let out a defeated sigh, but everyone smartly kept their mouths shut.

Lance leaned forward then, his pretty blue eyes on full display.  It took a moment for Keith to realize that his lips were moving too.  Huh, that’s nice.  Keith liked it when Lance’s lips moved.  Oh, but they were frowning now.  Wait, why were they frowning?

“Uh—what?” Keith stammered belatedly, willing his face to remain neutral.  “I… zoned out.”  He could feel his ears burning and quickly adjusted his hair to cover them.

Lance rolled his eyes and scoffed.  “Dude, you were looking right at me while I was speaking to you, I don’t know how you managed to ‘zone out.’  Unless...”  Something else must have occurred to him then, because his brows furrowed, and concern washed over his expression.

Oh no.  No no no—

“Are you alright, man?  You been getting enough sleep?”  Lance’s gaze swept over Keith’s body, which nearly shivered under the attention.  Keith thanked whatever deity out there that he still had some semblance of self control.  “We don’t have to do this right now if you’re not up for it.  You gotta take care of yourself, Keith,” he concluded, his tone far gentler than it had been just moments earlier.

Oh.

Something twisted in Keith’s chest at the way his name sounded coming from Lance’s lips, soft with worry.  It churned and coiled around his sternum for a moment before melting into his very core, creating a hot gooey feeling that climbed to his shoulders and pooled in his stomach simultaneously.  Lance may as well have poured molten gold into his veins, for all the warmth and all the worth with which it filled him.

“... I’m okay,” Keith managed eventually, dragging himself out of his reverie, only to find the rest of the team dead silent and watching him with amused expressions.  “So.  Um.  What were we talking about?”  He was so ready for this conversation to move on to safer territory.

Lance did not seem to catch Keith’s little moment of weakness, if his cheerful demeanor was any indication.  “I was asking what your character is,” he clarified, leaning forward with another one of those devilish grins that drove Keith crazy in the best way.  “Come on, mullet, lay it on us.”

That was enough to draw a hefty sigh from Keith, but he cleared his throat and answered anyway:

“He’s a barbarian, and his name is Thunderstorm Darkness.”

And, sure, Keith knew his teammates’ teasing would be endless.  But it was a necessary sacrifice.  One that paid off, he thought to himself, reveling in the fresh bout of laughter that shook Lance’s form, and the knowledge that he was responsible for it.

[parkkrys]

Kidge #11: Partners in Crime Au

This was requested by @ask-cryle-anytime hopefully you like it! I am also going to tag @danspector Sorry for the long wait! I was inspired from a movie I watched a long time ago, I can't remember the name though.....

They have been working together for five years. Been in a relationship for two of those five years. And now they are about to pull off their biggest heist yet, all because a certain female wants a two million dollar necklace that is going to be wrapped around Empress Allura’s neck. The only problem? It was going to be at a high class party with people wearing to much perfume and expensive dresses and suffocating suits. Or what Keith would like to call it, the snobs get together.

“I’ve got an idea.” Pidge exclaims suddenly causing him to jump. “Jesus Pidge, don’t scare me like that!” He yelps and she blushes. “Sorry.” She says sheepishly. Keith shook his head with a fond smile before he tilts his head, crossing his arms together across his chest. “So what’s your great idea?” He asks, hinting her to get to the point.

“Oh right, anyway so my brother can get me a vial of stuff, that I’m not going to say because it’s Matt’s invention and I promise I wouldn’t tell anyone the brand name not even you. Anyway getting to the point if we can get it into Allura’s drink, it will take about ten minutes before she feels nauseous. I will be great buddies with her while you, my handsome boyfriend, will be dressed up as a waiter and make sure to get that stuff into her drink. Then when she runs to the bathroom to throw up and all that jazz, I will go with her to ‘help’ her and take it off and replace it with a fake while she’s busy puking her guts out.”

Keith blinks in surprise because that was actually a good idea. “Alright then let’s get started.”

Pidge beamed as she picked up her phone to contact her brother and Keith sighed as he walked towards her, bending down quickly to place a gentle but quick kiss on her temple. She looked up smiling wide at him and he couldn’t stop the smile that danced along his lips. She may like this plan until she has to wear a dress, then the dread will show up.

He will admit that she always looked beautiful in a simple gown or even a pretty sundress whenever she was in the mood to wear one.

“Alright! Ready to dress like a waiter!?” Pidge beamed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and he couldn’t help but to roll his eyes.

“I have never been so excited.” He replied, his voice dry and clearly screamed that he didn’t really exactly care because honestly he didn’t care. This isn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last time. He laughed when he heard her groan at his tone. “Let’s just get this done alright?”

He felt her nod against his chest before they pulled apart. It was time to get straight to work and make sure this plan won’t go to shit, and if it does a back up just in case.

~*~

Keith will admit that he hates wearing tux’s of any kind. He hated the multiple layers, the stuffiness is brings and the feeling that you are going to choke and not breath because of the tie or even a bowtie that was wrapped tightly around your neck. He also knew that Pidge was stuck in the same situation he was in so he didn’t feel as miserable as he thought he was going to be.

He has already been at this ridiculous party for three hours, being the waiter that everyone ignored unless they were mad that he didn’t have any champagne on his tray. He still has yet to see Allura and he was starting to get annoyed. He sighed as he paced around with the tray full of o’dourves, watching as grabby hands took each one before he slipped back into the kitchen.

He had just placed the tray onto the table to let the others place more shrimp onto it when his phone buzzed, which was his signal to get to a champagne glass at some point and pour the odd cocktail her brother made into it. It didn’t smell pleasant was all he was going to say about the clear liquid.

“Hey Frank! You want to switch for a bit again!?” Keith decided to call out as he pocketed his phone, turning around as his new friend Frank huffed as he placed the tray onto the table beside him.

“Man yes. These maniacs are freaking stupid crazy about their champagne, no wonder you were about to deck that one guy. He’s had six glasses since we switched an hour ago.” Frank complained as he leaned back against the table, arms crossed his chest as his brown eyes rolled. “You think he will take a hint when I turn and go the other way when I see him coming my way.”

Keith huffed out a small laugh as he handed Frank his tray before he grabbed Franks. “Whatever, not our problem if he makes a fool of himself.”

“Damn right kid.”

Keith couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement as he opened the doors that lead him straight back to the party, spotting Allura making small talk with his girlfriend. Really they both looked beautiful, Pidge with her signature green dress, this time an emerald green that helped her golden eyes pop as Allura was wearing your typical pink dress that hugged every curve of her body. The diamonds sparkled as the light hit them and Keith had to wonder why the hell would she come to a gathering wearing such a stupid necklace.

Pidge always did tell him that he was dumb when it came to female things when he asked her about it earlier. Which still didn’t give him an answer.

The next part of the plan was the easiest to him as he uncapped the viral and dumped the remains inside the drink before he walked over towards them, watching as Allura took the glass with a smile before she went back to her conversation and he was done. Now time for him to slip out and to wait at the safe zone that Pidge deemed safe, which was an old Korean food shop. He didn’t know if she picked it because he was part Korean or if she loved Korean food.

So he sat there and waited, and waited and waited. He frowned once he met the two hour mark of waiting before he saw Pidge come running inside the shop with a huge smile on her lips. “Let’s go home.”

“Wait? I have been waiting here for hours and you don’t want food?”

Pidge shook her head as she leaned up to place a quick kiss on his lips before she grabbed her hand. “We can order something later but come on. I can’t wait to tell Matt that it worked!”

Keith slowed to a stop, watching as Pidge looked up at him with her wide eyes. “You’re beautiful tonight which means I won’t get upset but why are you making it look like we have someone on our tail?”

He watched as Pidge turned a light shade of red before she slapped him lightly on the chest. “We don’t, I just want to get home so we can celebrate.”

Keith blinked as he stared at her as her hand started to fiddle with his tie before it suddenly hit him. Oh, so that’s why she was in such a rush. “Right, let’s get home then.” He choked out as she cackled, he supposed they should do more big hits like this if it put her in such a good mood. He just couldn’t wait to get home.

[sparklebitch]

Shance angst they had a big argument. Length is all up to you my dude.

A/N: I tried a little something different with this one!

Trigger warnings: homophobia, bullying

~   ~   ~

"Why can't we just tell them we're together?" Lance asked as he watched Shiro tug on his t-shirt, covering the scars that littered his back. Shiro stared at the ground as he tugged on the sleeve. He always left well before morning. He was afraid that someone would wake up and see him walking out of Lance's room in the morning.

"Lance..." Lance sat up in his bed, the blanket pooling around his waist. "Can we not talk about this? Not tonight" Shiro asked pleadingly. Lance balled up his fists as he let out a defeated sigh.

"Are you ashamed of me?" his question hung heavy in the air. Shiro paused.

He waited too long to answer.

"I-" Shiro began. Lance shook his head sharply, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"Don't" He snapped. He looked pointedly at the ceiling. He wasn't going to cry in front of him. He wasn't.

"Lance, of course I'm not-" Shiro backtracked frantically. He moved toward the bed but Lance laughed tearfully and shot him an emotion filled look.

"Just go" he said flatly. Shiro deflated. He hadn't meant to pause. Of course he wasn't ashamed of Lance, how could he be? He never knew it was possible to love someone so much until he met Lance. But now here he was, hurting the person he loved most in the world, all because he was too afraid to tell him about his past.

Shiro felt like a coward.

Without another word, he left the room, leaving Lance alone sobbing into his pillow.

~   ~

It had been nearly two week since Lance had really talked to Shiro. Shiro didn't come to his room at night anymore. He stopped looking to Lance when they were training with that secret smile. He stopped subtly brushing his hand against Lance when they passed each other in the hallways alone. Lance was heartbroken.

The others knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what. Shiro was reserved and withdrawn, which he claimed was from tiredness, but no one believed it. Lance was scarily quiet, and it wasn't hard to see the red rim around his eyes each morning. He had obviously been crying, but he wouldn't say why.

Keith cornered Lance immediately after dinner one day. The minute the door to the dining room closed behind him he was there in front of Lance.

"Spill" he said without preamble. Lance blinked in surprise and leaned away from Keith.

"What?" he asked, nervously shifting his weight back and forth. He just wanted to be alone. He had spent the better part of the morning crying. "I'm- I need to go to the bathroom. Can this wait?" Lance asked as he pushed past Keith.

"I know about you and Shiro" Keith said, his voice barely more than a whisper. But Lance heard it. Ice ran through his veins as he came to a sudden halt, nearly toppling himself over.

"Wh- What?" he stuttered, spinning around. Keith had no expression on his face. "I- I don't- We don't- I mean... we're not- We never- What?" Keith rolled his eyes.

"You're not as subtle as you think" he responded. "And besides, I've known Shiro for a long time. I can read him like the back of my hand. I know when he really cares about someone" Lance felt himself flush and the telltale sign of tears was building up behind his eyes. He cleared his throat and kicked his foot against the ground. "Come on. We can talk in my room"

~   ~

"What are you doing?" Pidge asked, pushing her glasses up. Shiro jumped back and put his hand over his pounding heart.

"Jesus! You scared me" Pidge didn't respond to that. Shiro glanced at the broken machine he had been working on and then back at Pidge. "Uh, I was just trying to fix this" he tapped the hunk of metal with the pliers in his hands. "I work on it when I need to- When I need to destress" Pidge hopped onto the table that Shiro was working on and swung her legs.

"What are you 'destressing' from?" Shiro turned and went back to tinkering with the machine in silence. Pidge watched him for a few minutes until Shiro became frustrated and began hammering a cog that wouldn't fit in right with the pliers.

"I cannot even begin to describe how horrified I am right now" Shiro sighed at Pidge's words and tossed the pliers aside, bracing his hands on the table. Pidge lifted the metal box onto her lap and began to work on it while Shiro tried to calm himself. "You can talk" she said absently. "I mean, I can't help you with anything, and I can't promise that I'll listen, but you can talk" Shiro pinched his lips and shook his head before straightening up.

"He thinks I'm ashamed" he said as he leaned up against the table next to Pidge. "He thinks I don't want anyone to know about... about us being together because... because I'm ashamed to be with him. But that's not true! It's not, but I can't even tell him that. Because... because I'm scared. I'm- I'm scared, and I'm coward, and now I'm going to lose him" His voice broke as he said the words. He was terrified of losing Lance.

"So... why don't you tell him?" Pidge asked quietly. Shiro tensed. "You- you don't have to answer that" Pidge pushed the cog into the machine with ease and began fiddling with another piece.

"I-" Shiro crossed his arms tightly over his chest and stared at his feet. "I can't tell him because I want to protect him from all- from everything that I've been through. I can't tell him because... because I love him." Pidge stalled her hands but continued to stare at the device in her hands.

"Who?" she asked softly. Shiro's next word shocked Pidge.

"Lance"

~   ~

"How did you know?" Lance asked as he curled in on himself on Keith's bed. Keith was sitting at the other end with his arms folded in his lap. "About... about us, I mean"

"Like I said, I know Shiro" Keith started gently. "He acts differently when he's in- when he likes someone" Keith shrugged. Lance chewed on his lip and tried not to make a face.

"Yeah, well. I'm not even sure if he likes me" he said bitterly. He felt the telltale signs of tears building up behind his eyes, but he pushed them back. He wasn't going to cry. Not about Shiro, and certainly not in front of Keith.

"He does" Keith said without hesitation. Lance dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands as he hiccuped. Trying to keep the tears at bay was a losing battle.

"But- but-" Lance stammered. Keith sighed.

"Lance, listen. Shiro is a hard person to understand. He's reserved, he doesn't talk about his feelings, he keeps everything bottled up. But once you get to know him you see how he expresses his emotions. And when he's with you? He's the Shiro-equivalent of a goddamn golden retriever. He's so happy when he talks to you, even when we're just at dinner discussing the training we did in the past day. He's so totally enamored by you" Lance raked his nails down his arm. He was feeling so many things at once, it was overwhelming.

"He doesn't show it" Lance said bleakly. "He- He comes into my room late at night and leaves early in the morning so no one sees him. He doesn't touch me unless we're in one of our rooms because he doesn't want to get caught, not even for a high-five after a mission" Keith listened intently as Lance babbled on, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Keith... I don't know what to do" Lance said quietly. "I- I care about him. I care about him so, freaking much and I just- I don't know what to do" An involuntary laugh spilled over his lips. Lance laughed and clutched his chest. It felt like his heart was breaking. "If he cares about me then why is he doing this? Why won't he tell people about us?" A breath caught in Keith's throat. He swiftly moved across the bed and pulled Lance into a hug. Lance dissolved into a puddle of tears at the contact.

"Why, Keith?" Lance wailed. "Tell me why" Keith petted Lance's hair to try and calm him. He'd never seen him this upset before.

"I- It's not my story to tell"

~   ~

"You could've just told us" Pidge said casually. Shiro had spewed out the whole story, despite his reluctance. Keeping it to himself was killing him. He needed someone to understand. "No one was going to judge you"

"I know, I know..." Shiro rested his head against the wall behind him. He had sat down on the floor after talking for a few minutes. Pidge was still perched on the table. "It's just- It's complicated"

"So uncomplicate it" Pidge shrugged.

"It's... not that easy" Shiro sighed. Pidge threw her hands up.

"Why not?" Shiro made a sound of annoyance but didn't reply. "Clearly all he's worried about is the fact that you won't tell people so either give him the reason you won't tell people or... just tell them. Boom. Uncomplicated" Shiro dropped his head into his hands.

"Okay, yeah. It sounds easy when you say it like that but... It's not so simple" Pidge shrugged as she lazily connected the wires to the machine that was still gripped in her hands.

"I dunno. Sounds pretty simple to me"

"It's not so much the telling you guys... I know that it won't bother anyone. You clearly don't care, Hunk will just care that we're happy, Allura and Coran probably already assume we're together, and I'm ninety percent sure that Keith has known since, like, the minute we got together" Shiro said with a huff.

"So what's the problem?" Pidge asked as she leaned over the table to see Shiro's face.

"I- I don't--" Shiro stuttered, shrinking in on himself. "I just- I don't want him to have to go through what I went through back on Earth"

~   ~

Lance went back to his room later that night after he had finished crying on Keith's shoulder. Keith was adamant that he was not going to tell Lance what he knew, just that he should let Shiro tell him in his own time.

The room felt empty without Shiro. It felt colder. Lance tiredly cleaned himself up and changed into his pajamas. He felt like he had been awake for days. His eyelids drooped and his feet dragged as he threw himself onto his bed. His head had barely hit the pillow when there was a knock at his door.

"Lance?" Lance groaned, his face half smushed on the cold fabric of his sheets.

"Go away" Lance grumbled.

The door slid open.

"Can we not talk about this? Not tonight" Lance asked sharply, mimicking what Shiro had said to him that night. Shiro winced.

"Please, Lance. Just let me say something, then I'll- I'll leave you alone" Lance rolled over so he was facing away from Shiro and fell silent. Shiro took that for his signal to say something.

"Lance, I'm not ashamed of you. Not at all. I don't mind if we tell the others, and I'm sorry that I didn't say that before. I was just scared. Not scared of their reactions, I know that they'll all be very supportive and happy for us. Just... I'm scared for what comes after... after this" he gestured to the room, even though Lance couldn't see him.

Lance kept his eyes trained on the wall, trying to keep his face neutral as Shiro spoke. He still didn't understand why he couldn't have said all this to begin with. Why had he gone radio silent for nearly two weeks?

"When I was a student at the garrison I met a boy, Adam" Shiro's voice shook as he spoke. Lance held his breath. "He was my first crush and when I asked him out, he said yes. I was so... I was so excited" he said hollowly. Lance's chest ached at the pain in Shiro's voice. "I was so excited that I ran to tell my roommate, Avery, about it. He- He didn't react well to- to having a 'homo' as his roommate. He pushed me into the wall and then went and asked to change rooms. They let him" His voice cracked. Lance squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his lips.

"I tried not to let his reaction get to me" Shiro continued. "Me and Adam dated for a while. We walked each other to class and ate meals together. One day- one day when we were walking home from dinner a couple of kids from the grade above ours saw us holding hands. They started shouting things, so we started to run. They chased us down and--" Shiro stifled a sob. Lance instantly rolled off the bed and grabbed the back of Shiro's neck, pulling him down to a hug.

"It's okay- It's okay. You don't have to say it" he said softly. Shiro shook his head as he cried into Lance's chest.

"I do" he stated. "I have to tell you. You have to understand why- why I was scared to tell them" Lance nodded and began to run his fingers through Shiro's hair.

"Okay" Shiro took a deep breath and continued.

"They chased us down the street until I tripped. They- knocked Adam down and kicked him. I tried to- to stop them but one of them started punching me. When they finally left I scooped Adam up and ran to the hospital. He had two cracked ribs and I had a concussion. We got suspended for getting back to our rooms after curfew. Those boys didn't even get reprimanded" Lance gently rubbed circles in the nape of Shiro's neck. It had always worked to calm him down before.

"I had no idea" he breathed.

"I- I didn't want anyone to know" he straightened up and sniffed. "Lance, I'm not ashamed of you. I'm not scared of telling the others that we're together. What I'm afraid of is... is what happens when we get back to Earth" he explained. "I don't want what happened to me happen to you. I could never forgive myself for causing you that pain" he said sincerely.

"With all do respect, that's kind of bullshit" Lance said abruptly. Shiro blinked in surprise. "You don't get to decide that for me. And news flash, you didn't make me gay. No one made me gay. That's just... who I am. And I think on some level I've always known that. You can't protect me from the 'horrors of this world' by not being with me. If we didn't get together... I would've realized I was gay sooner or later and it would all still happen to me. The only thing that would be different, is I wouldn't have my knight in shining armor to protect me" Lance said with a charming smile. Shiro laughed softly and looped his arms around Lance, pulling him in close. There were still tears in his eyes, threatening to spill over, but he was relieved that Lance was talking to him.

"I'm sorry, baby" Shiro said, kissing Lance's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. It was wrong for me to--" Lance shook his head lightly.

"We both said stupid things" Lance reassured him. He yawned quietly and smiled when Shiro pressed a kiss to his temple. He had missed this so much. "I know we're still kind of fighting, and I'm definitely not done talking about this yet, but can we do this later for real? I'm exhausted" Shiro chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, we can talk about it later"

~   ~   ~

| Other fics | Ko-fi |

[calligraphist-artemisia]

I’m Not Calling it a Date

Kidgeweek 2019 - Day 1: High School or College AU . 

Summary: Pidge really needed to learn how to say ‘no’ to Allura’s plans, especially when it’s something she doesn’t fully feel comfortable with. But maybe, just that once, it could lead to something good.

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net (under the username kishirokitsune)

I'm Not Calling it a Date

“I had the most brilliant idea,” Allura gushed as she sat down at a table across from Pidge.

Pidge lifted her eyes from her notes without moving her head, raising an eyebrow as Lance plopped down as well, looking much less pleased than Allura. “Am I going to like this idea?”

“No, because it's an awful idea,” Lance grumbled, glaring at Allura.

Allura rolled her eyes. “You're the only one who feels that way. Even Hunk thinks it's a good idea and he never thinks things like this are a good idea!”

Pidge marked where she was in her notes and then set her notebook aside, more interested in finding out what her friends were plotting than continuing to study. The fact that Hunk thought something was a good idea, but Lance didn't was bound to be entertaining.

“Pidge,” Allura began, taking her friend's hands with both of her own. “How would you feel about going on a double date with me and Shiro?”

Scratch that.

Not entertaining.

Pidge was with Lance, for once. It sounded like an awful idea.

“Don't say 'no' yet!” Allura begged.

“Maybe you've forgotten, but I'm not dating anyone and there isn't anyone I'm interested in either. I don't know if either of you remember the last time you tried to set me up on a blind date at Nadia's suggestion, but it didn't end well,” Pidge reminded them. “I'm sorry, Allura, but-”

“Shiro approves of him!” Allura blurted out in a desperate last attempt.

Pidge snapped her mouth shut and narrowed her eyes. “Shiro knows about this plan and approves of it?”

“Well... I wouldn't say he approves exactly, but he did say that he thought it would be nice if you two could meet and be friends,” Allura said. “You don't have to think of this as a date, if you don't want to. Just four friends seeing a movie and getting dinner.”

Curse Allura for being so difficult to say no to.

Pidge swallowed her inclination to agree to Allura's plan and looked to Lance instead, hoping that he would be able to offer her the perfect excuse to stay home. “So why are you against this, Lance?”

“Because Keith's a jerk!”

Allura rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I don't understand what your problem is with him. You just up and decided that he is your rival and haven't bothered to give him a chance beyond that!”

“Wait, rival? You mean the mullet guy he's always ranting about?” Pidge asked, her gaze drifting back to Allura.

That was interesting. She'd always been a little curious about the person Lance ranted on about from time to time. Hearing that Allura wanted to set her up with the mystery rival only increased that curiosity and it was for that reason that she found herself agreeing to a movie and dinner on Friday night.

“But it's not a date! Like you said, it'll just be four friends having fun.”

Allura squealed in delight. “You won't regret it, Pidge! This is going to be great!”

Lance quietly moaned in defeat, disappointed that no one else wanted to listen to him.

Pidge doubted she'd really have as much fun as Allura seemed to think, but it made her friend happy and she could hardly back out a minute after agreeing. She changed the subject before Allura could continue on, and they all sat around and talked for a while longer before Allura had to head off to class, and Lance to meet Nadia for a late lunch. Pidge stuck around to try and get a little more studying done, but found it hard to concentrate and packed up to head home to the apartment she shared with her brother, Matt.

He was friends with Shiro; maybe he could tell her more about Keith.

Sadly, Matt was nowhere to be found when she got home. After poking around in search of him, Pidge settled in at the desk in her room, leaving her bedroom door open so she could hear when he returned.

She lost herself to several rounds of solitaire on her computer, giving her brain an extended break from her studies. It wasn't like she could focus anyway.

At around four o'clock, as if guided by some unseen force, Pidge looked out her window to the park below. She could see children running around, screaming in glee. There was the old man who fed birdseed to the pigeons every Tuesday. A number of couples strolling along, hand-in-hand. An attractive man with dark hair, running with his massive wolf-like dog.

Pidge took a moment to admire him, as she always did. She wasn't sure what it was that drew her to him; if it was his carefully maintained schedule or just the way his dog stood out from all of the others.

“You know, I'm starting to think you have a crush.”

Pidge jumped and flailed her arms before spectacularly falling out of her chair. She glared up at her brother as he laughed. “It's not funny! And I do not!”

“Uh huh,” Matt responded, holding out a hand to help her up. “I brought pizza home, unless you'd rather sit in here and keep watching him.”

Pidge grumbled at him as she accepted his help, but didn't take the bait he dangled in front of her. Instead, she resisted the urge to take one last look and marched out of her room to their tiny kitchen. “Did you bring me any bread sticks?”

“Of course,” Matt said, still sounded amused.

Pidge happily gathered her food, elbowing Matt when she tried to steal a bread stick, and tried to cast aside all thoughts of double dates and attractive joggers. It didn't work very well when Matt kept casting her amused glances.

She finished off the crust of her first slice of pizza and contemplated the best way to distract him. Unfortunately, the only answer she could come up with was one that would lead to another unwanted conversation.

Although, she didn't have to tell him why she was asking about Keith. She could get her answers without revealing that Allura was trying to set her up on a date.

Pidge chomped down on a bread stick as she debated the best way to begin. “You know most of Shiro's friends, right?”

“Some of them,” Matt said as he stopped to take a drink before his next slice. “Why?”

“Allura invited me to hang out with her and Shiro on Friday and apparently Shiro's bringing a friend too. Keith, I think,” Pidge said.

Matt took too deep of a gulp and sputtered as he tried to collect himself. He covered his mouth and cleared his throat a few times, but that wasn't enough to hide the massive grin he was sporting.

Pidge groaned. “You're in on it too!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Matt said, and while he sounded sincere, his grin said otherwise. “I'm just surprised Keith agreed is all. He's more of a social recluse than you are, if you can believe that.”

She didn't fully trust that was the reason for his amusement, but as long as he didn't tease her for her potential date, she'd ignore his shifty behavior. And though she didn't find out anything about Keith, she didn't try to ask about him any more. She was tired and frustrated with herself, and more than a little nervous about Friday night, and didn't want to deal with whatever Matt was keeping secret.

Noticing that she was done with that particular topic, Matt redirected the conversation to classes and the insanity that was trying to follow Professor Slav's lessons, which was always a hot topic in their apartment.

Over the next few days, Pidge tried to find out more about Keith from Lance (which was a Bad Choice), Hunk (who twittered on a bit about how cute they'd be), and Nadia (who didn't personally know Keith, but was fully on board with it). She found nothing but frustration from them, and Allura was especially unhelpful, as she insisted that Pidge find out first hand.

She arrived at the theater with every intention to grill Shiro for information, only to stop short when she saw who was standing with him and Allura. It took her a moment to recognize him without his dog, but he was unmistakably the man she'd spent the past year admiring from her bedroom window.

Suddenly, Matt's amusement made perfect sense.

Allura spotted her through the crowd and waved her over. Pidge lifted a hand to weakly wave back and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Praying that her cheeks weren't turning bright red, she slowly made her way over to them.

It was certainly an interesting turn of events.

But she still wasn't calling it a date.

[avidbeader]

New Sheith Fic

Probably rated T, but we’ll see.

VLD post-S8, but Allura lives and the endcards are thrown on a trash heap where they belong

This is the fic thread I’ve been posting to Twitter for the last few days. Thought I’d share here as well. It’s between 1/3 and 1/2 done at this point. It will get to AO3 eventually once it’s finished and beta’ed.

I just got this idea of something that the Atlas might do in a given situation and ran with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first couple of requests were reasonable. A real-time updated roster of the Atlas crew made sense for both organizational and security purposes. A record of the ship’s known offensive and defensive capabilities was necessary as the admirals and generals developed strategies for any potential threats, minimal though they might be after Voltron’s defeat of Honerva.

The order to have a Garrison official installed as their liaison made Shiro pause, but only for a moment. On the one hand, there were already several crew members on board who performed that role: Sam, Mitch, Veronica, himself. On the other hand, it was not unwarranted for the Garrison to have a point person for communication purposes so as not to add an extra burden to the duties of any one crew member. If Shiro had tried to keep up with every Garrison inquiry or notification on top of his own duties as captain, he probably would have gone to the Black Lion and begged to be taken back to the astral plane. This would take one thing off his plate without pushing more responsibility on any member of the command staff.

But when a General Stone reported to him, demanding both quarters in the same section as the senior bridge crew and an office next to Shiro’s ready room, his hackles rose instinctively. Atlas’ presence in the back of his head, usually a quiet and cheerful sensation, grew wary like a wild animal sensing a predator.

“Given that this was only communicated to us today, you’ll have to make do in guest quarters until we are able to make arrangements, General. I didn’t expect anyone to be appointed, much less arrive so soon.”

Which meant that someone in the Garrison hadn’t wanted to give them time to ask questions or protest the decision. And the fact that a general was assigned to a position that should have gone to a lieutenant at most was unsettling.

Stone growled at him. “This lack of preparedness is the kind of thing that I’m here for. As one of the Garrison’s most valuable assets, the Atlas must be primed and ready for action at any given time.”

It took Atlas a moment to identify what the general meant, but Shiro knew immediately when she understood. There was now an angry cat hissing and spitting in his mind and it was taking everything Shiro had to maintain a polite expression.

“It’s not a lack of preparedness when information is not provided in a timely manner,” he retorted. The general reared back slightly, taken aback that Shiro had not immediately accepted the criticism.

Shiro pressed a button on a small console in his desk for show, but Atlas had already found the ship’s senior steward and asked him through his datapad to report to Shiro’s ready room. Before the general could form a response, he continued. “I’m sure you remember this from your protocol training, General, but bear in mind that aboard a ship, the captain is the ranking officer. You are welcome to observe and advise, but you are not part of the chain of command.”

Stone’s eyes narrowed and he entered something on the datapad in his hand. It beeped and he frowned. “What’s the matter with the connectivity here? My message didn’t go through!”

The malicious giggle that only he could hear was answer enough for Shiro. “I expect your device will need to go through a security clearance. Mention it to—” Shiro paused as his door opened before the steward could signal his presence “—the steward. Lieutenant Rasal, this is General Stone. He’s been assigned to us by the Garrison and will need quarters and an office when you are able to arrange it. In the meantime, could you escort him to an available space in the guest accommodations?”

The lieutenant nodded, the flash of a dimple in his cheek the only sign that he understood what Shiro was not saying. As the officer in charge of organizing lodging, supplies, and maintenance aboard the ship, he knew better than most what the Atlas was capable of. If she cared to, she could have produced everything Stone was demanding within minutes. Shiro was honoring her choice not to, and Rasal followed his captain’s lead. He saluted and held out a guiding hand.

“If you’ll come with me, sir.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stone’s presence had an immediate and negative impact. He began by insisting on a full tour of the ship with Shiro. He complained constantly about the randomness of his datapad connection, too focused to pick up on the fact that Atlas was only letting neutral and positive reports get through. When Shiro convinced her that yes, she had to make him an office and a set of quarters, Atlas’ response was to make an office, not much bigger than a broom closet on the opposite side of the bridge from Shiro’s ready room, and a minimal set of quarters, as far away from Shiro as possible while still in the section for the command staff.

Stone’s next step was to observe, watching the normal routines of the crew. It made everyone nervous and more prone to mistakes. Even the oldest, most seasoned officers like Sam and Mitch were side-eying Stone when he was on the bridge. Shiro made time to circulate through the ship so he could reassure his crew that they had done nothing wrong. He noticed a sharp drop in the number of people hanging out in the common areas or lounges as any socializing shifted to rooms behind closed doors, out of Stone’s sight.

The Taujeerians made a formal request for the Atlas to map a nearby star system for potential relocation sites when their planet next went through its renewal cycle. Keith took advantage of the deep-space mission to run training drills with the lions and the MFEs, improving their teamwork and response times. Stone seemed especially interested in the paladins, having noticed how their quarters were all on the same hall as Shiro’s.

Shiro was in one of the conference rooms, talking with Baujal and his council, when Atlas nudged him, then sounded an alert on his datapad. He quickly excused himself and headed down to the Black Lion’s hangar.

He walked in on a shouting match between Stone, the paladins, and the MFE pilots. As he crossed to where they were gathered, he scanned their faces. Stone and Lance were nose-to-nose, yelling at one another, with Nadia backing up Lance. Keith, Allura, and James were clustered together. The others were watching closely, all in various stages of anger or irritation.

“...and I’ll see all of you court-martialed for this insubordination!”

“As their captain, I would appreciate knowing what your complaint is against Commander Griffin and his squad.” Shiro’s voice cut through the quarrel like a knife.

“These squads are refusing my direct order! I need to observe them in action and Kogane says he won’t permit me to board his ship!”

Shiro glanced at Keith, who cocked an eyebrow at him. He had held onto his temper and let Lance as his second lead the outburst against the general. Shiro’s pride in his best friend surged, knowing that just a few years ago Keith would have been the one shouting first.

“General, it is absolutely within Commander Kogane’s rights to refuse you access to the Black Lion. The Voltron team is not part of the Garrison—”

Stone interrupted him with a squawk of disbelief. “Since when?”

“Since always,” Allura interjected, her voice full of ice. “Voltron represents the Coalition and agreed to use the Atlas as one of our bases for ease of coordinating our efforts to build on the peace we have created. You may not simply demand access to any lion and expect to be obeyed without question.” Shiro noticed that Allura had used her shape-shifting abilities to make herself several inches taller than usual and she used that height advantage to glare down at the general.

“And as today’s drills are a joint exercise with the MFEs, you are not permitted to ride along with Commander Griffin. If he and Captain Shirogane give permission, you can observe the MFEs another time,” Keith added.

“I don’t need permission! I am—”

“Here to facilitate communication between the Atlas and the Garrison, or so I was told,” Shiro interrupted. “Unless there is a secondary agenda that has been kept from me, your remit doesn’t include breathing down the necks of my crew or our allies. You’ve been overstepping your role for days and it ends now.”

Stone drew himself to his full height, which meant he was eye level to Shiro’s collarbones, and snarled, “We’ll just see about this, Captain.”

His attempt at stalking out of the hangar was ruined when Black let out a menacing growl and Stone jumped in alarm.

Once he was gone, everyone began to relax. Shiro noticed that Keith’s stance was still rigid and went over to him, laying a soothing hand on one shoulder. “You okay?”

“We will be. Didn’t expect we’d have a battle before we even got in our ships.” Keith turned to Lance and Nadia. “Thank you both for stepping up.”

“No problem,” Nadia chirped. “He’s a puffed-up toad.”

“And now that he’s gone, we need to get back to work. These joint exercises will continue until further notice since we need to take advantage of our current situation.” Evil grins broke out as everyone understood what Keith was doing. “Do we need to go over today’s plan again?”

“Nah, we got this,” Pidge replied before throwing a glance Shiro’s way. “Thanks for coming, Captain.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took four days for Stone’s message to the Garrison to get through, and another two days of Shiro showing the general his message inbox as proof that he had no instructions to discipline any of the MFEs. Stone’s temper was running high, as he had received a reprimand of his own from the Coalition over his attempt to assert jurisdiction over an ally’s representatives. The fact that that message had been received within hours only added to Stone’s fury.

Once Shiro finally got the orders that he was to punish all four MFE pilots for their insubordination, he met them before their usual workout routine and instructed them to run twenty extra laps around the track in the Atlas’ enormous gym. The squad’s groans turned to glee when they turned around and saw that the length of the track had been shrunk to a fifth of its usual size.

That evening, Keith tapped on the door that connected his quarters to Shiro’s.

Shiro looked up from the reports he was reading and frowned. “You knocked. What’s wrong?”

“Got a message from Kolivan. They found a ship of former Galra soldiers turned mercenary, and they’ve been hired by one side on a planet dealing with a pair of feuding lords. He wants to stop the conflict now before it spreads.”

“Should I—”

“No.” Keith shook his head. “If the Blades go in with stealth and take out the mercs, that puts the two sides at stalemate again and the planetary government might finally contact the Coalition for help. Then we can officially come in to negotiate a settlement.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Shiro reached out a hand and Keith took it, letting Shiro draw him into a tight hug as usual. And as usual, Shiro resisted doing or saying anything more. “Be careful.”

“You, too. I don’t like leaving you with that Garrison watchdog.”

“He’s here as a liaison.”

“He’s here to find a reason to ground Atlas.”

Even as Shiro shook his head at Keith’s statement, he could feel Atlas’ alarm. “No, that would be just about the worst move the Garrison could make. The Coalition planets recognize two major factors right now that ended the Galra Empire: Voltron and the Atlas. Taking one away would make the Garrison the new intergalactic villain.”

“Not forever, but long enough to figure out how to put someone else in command of her. They need you and Coran and Sam—hell, probably Iverson and Veronica, too—off her bridge so they can have complete control of her, including all her battle capability.”

“I mean...we do need to figure that out, if for no other reason because I will have to retire someday, but there’s no rush.” Shiro struggled to keep his expression mild as he dealt with twin reactions. He ran his hands along Keith’s arms to allay the sudden tension there and

mentally tried to soothe Atlas, who was almost screeching in fury as she surrounded him possessively.

Ironically, the strength of her reaction made Shiro stop and wonder if maybe the Garrison didn’t have a point. After all, he couldn’t lead Atlas forever. He might have done the impossible once thanks to Black and Allura, but humans still had limited lifespans. But surely the Garrison brass, if they were considering the options already, would talk to him about possibilities?

“Just keep an eye on your six while I’m gone, okay?” Keith squeezed his shoulder.

“I will.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He swung the sword as wide as he could, trying to hit as many opponents as possible as he forced them back.The roar of the spectators droned like machinery, a persistent buzz in the back of his head as he tried to reduce the impossible odds. Who had decided to punish him this way, with a dozen opponents? Was this the match where he finally died?

He shifted tactics, the sword in his hand shrinking back into a dagger. He took advantage of his smaller stature and dove between the legs of the nearest adversary, using him as a temporary shield against the others and slicing one quick stroke through the thigh above the cuisse. He spared a lightning-quick thought to thank the universe for giving the majority of bipedal beings a femoral artery.

He continued to dodge, eluding their attacks and striking at any weak point he saw. Suddenly there was only one enemy between him and an open path to the door and he dealt a vicious cut across the throat as he made his bid to escape.

Something struck and wrapped around him from behind, dragging him to the floor. He had just enough time to press the communicator at his wrist and signal the others to leave before the cord electrified, ripping screams from him before he blacked out—

Shiro shot upright, gasping for breath and fighting the covers that were tangled around him. There were sounds, the ordinary hum of the dim nightlights, his datapad beeping an alert, a furious pounding coming from somewhere in the next room...and an engine’s roar.

The Atlas was moving at top speed.

Shiro freed himself from the bedclothes and staggered to his feet. He grabbed the datapad and looked at the message, a priority one from the night comms officer—Cullen, Cuddy, something that began with C—stating that the Atlas had changed course about fifteen minutes before and was at full throttle. The bridge crew was locked out of all of the controls.

Shiro reached across the room with his prosthesis and snatched his robe from its hanger before moving into the sitting area. Once there, he identified the pounding as someone knocking furiously on the door to his quarters. Voices were coming from the hallway and they all sounded angry.

He pressed the control and the door slid open. General Stone staggered when his obstacle vanished, wrenching himself back upright from the momentum.

“Shirogane! What’s the meaning of the course change? You weren’t scheduled to be done with the Taujeerians for another forty-eight hours!”

The paladins were behind him, shouting at him for waking them all up. Shiro looked back down at his datapad and noticed a second new message below the one from the bridge. He opened it and felt the blood drain from his face.

It was two brief sentences from Kolivan: Mission a trap. Keith has been taken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean, you can’t stop the ship? It’s a SHIP! You’ve got two Holts right here that can supposedly hack anything that beeps! Break the security codes and set a new course for Earth!”

Shiro had been walking briskly down a hallway, Atlas subtly cutting the distance to the bridge, and trading messages with Kolivan to coordinate a rendezvous point with the remaining Blades on the mission team, Krolia, and a squad of Coalition fighters led by Matt. He stopped short, so abruptly that Hunk ran into him, and stared at the general.

“Earth? What makes you think we’d go to Earth at a time like this? We’re going to rescue Commander Kogane!”

“You said it yourself, Voltron isn’t part of the Garrison!” Stone flapped a hand at the other paladins who had been trailing them. “So let them go take care of the situation! We’ve got to fix this malfunction immediately and since the ship was built by the Garrison, that’s the best place to go to do the repairs!”

Shiro couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such a wave of derision. The mental image of Atlas in robot form and rolling her eyes brought him to the edge of hysterical giggles. It was verging on too much for him to handle.

Allura must have seen something in his face. She grabbed Stone by the collar and yanked him back before he could crowd into Shiro and continue his tirade. “If you are going to be so ridiculously focused on procedure in a situation this urgent, then consider this the formal request from the Coalition to the Atlas for support in a rescue operation!”

Stone tried to twist out of her grip and she hoisted him up until his toes barely touched the deck. His face grew red as he snarled, “Captain, I am ordering you to dismiss this group except for Katie Holt and turn all your efforts to retaking control of your ship!”

Pidge’s expression grew dangerous. Shior shifted and put one hand on her shoulder, willing her to hold her temper.

“As I told you the day you arrived, General, you are not part of the chain of command here. Your role is to keep both us and the Garrison informed of what the other needs to share. And you have not performed that role faithfully.

“The Coalition has every right to call on the Atlas. It was built from plans given to us by the Alteans and is powered by the crystal that houses the remains of their flagship. They have just as much claim to it as the Garrison does. We will lead the operation to recover Commander Kogane and you can inform the Garrison of our status. After that, you have two choices; you can stay in your quarters or be escorted to the brig until this operation is concluded. Which will it be?”

Stone stared at him, open-mouthed. Allura shook him, rattling his teeth with her strength. “You heard the captain. Which will it be? We have more important issues to deal with.”

“I am your superior officer and—”

Before Shiro could even bring up his datapad, much less start a message requesting assistance from security, a faint shimmer formed around Stone and Allura released her hold, skipping back nimbly. The general surged forward and bounced off the force field Atlas had brought up.

The paladins laughed as Stone began pounding his fists against the barrier. Allura smothered her giggles into her hand and looked at Shiro. “Shall we leave him here for the moment?”

Shiro was busy silently arguing with Atlas that, no, she could not open a portal in the floor and jettison the man into space. He gave one more psychic push, adding aloud, “Leave him here for now. We’ll take care of him later.”

They moved quickly to the bridge to find Sam and Coran with their heads together over one of the nav panels and the rest of the bridge crew huddled uneasily in the center. Sam brightened as he saw them enter. “Shiro! The Atlas has locked everyone out—”

Shiro stepped up to his position and laid both hands on the panels. He focused, trying to form a request to let the bridge crew access their stations in as clear and simple of terms as possible. He heard shouts of surprise in the background as the connection solidified and Atlas drew him in.

His hands were cuffed behind him. Two of the “mercenaries” dragged him from a pod into a hangar of a battleship, pausing in front of a Galra commander. The commander seized him by the throat and growled, “You’re almost certainly the right one, judging from your size, but let’s be sure. Drop your mask, Blade.”

He paused, just long enough to spark a reaction. The commander’s grip tightened. “Drop the mask or I tear it off. The druids want you alive, but they didn’t say that you had to be uninjured.”

He let the mask disappear and glared at his captor, who pulled his head up by his hair to study his face carefully.

“It’s him. Put him in a cell and double the guard on it.” The commander raised his wrist comm and opened a channel. “Set course for the Alvega system.”

The scene dissolved around Shiro, melding into the blue circuits that would surround him when the ship morphed into its robot form. Already he could sense Atlas changing course, plotting an intercept of the Galra battle cruiser.

We need to meet with the others. We need the Blades’ intel. We need Krolia and Kosmo. We need the backup from the Coalition.

You need him. Why do you waste time?

We need a plan. We need support. We can’t get him back safely if we just charge in.

Not fast enough.

The ship shuddered around him and Shiro grabbed the console to stay on his feet, his awareness of the bridge and its occupants returning. He rubbed at his temples with his left hand, trying to ground himself in reality once more.

“Shiro, how did you do that?” Coran shouted above the others’ reactions.

“Do what?”

“A wormhole...you took us through a wormhole, Shiro.” Allura spoke slowly, in shock.

The main viewscreen lit up, showing Kolivan and Krolia in two panels. Kolivan nodded, hiding any surprise he might be feeling. “Good, you’re early. Permission to dock our ships, captain?”

Shiro nodded, before remembering he had a voice. “Of course. Then we’ll get the Coalition ships and head for the Alvega system. That’s where they’re taking Keith.”

He closed his eyes and planted his hands on the control panel once more. Atlas, what are you doing?

You need him.

Yes, we need him. He’s the leader of Voltron. He’s a commander in the Blades.

YOU need him.

He...he’s my best friend.

More than need.

Image after image flooded past Shiro, showing him all the stages of his life that included Keith. The Garrison and Keith becoming his best friend there. The long nights as a prisoner, sustained by memories of Keith and the hope to escape and return to him. Reuniting, only to be dragged into the middle of an interstellar war and then killed. Brought back against impossible odds, with faint memories of what it had cost Keith to accomplish that.

He needs you. You need him.

Yes.

Then we get him back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be continued...

[shastelly]

Late Night - March Klance Prompts  from MonthlyKlance

It was late, so very late, Lance worked his shoulders back and forth to ease the tension and headed for the kitchen.  As he suspected Hunk was busy puttering about.

 "Hunk, my man, what is the late-night kitchen serving tonight."  Lance asked sliding into a stool.

 "Oh, hey Lance," Hunk nodded to muffins he was pulling out of a pan and putting into a container. "I just made these ahead for in the morning."

 "Oh."  Lance tried not to look disappointed.

 "Hey, but there's extra, want one?"  Hunk passed one to him.

 "Well, if it's extra."  Lance snatched the muffin and took a big bite.  "Oh wow, now I will not have trouble waking up in the morning, these will be so worth it."

 Hunk smiled proudly as Lance made obscene noises while he finished the muffin.

 "Speaking of getting up, dude, you better head that way, hadn't you?  It's like 1:00 castle time."  Lance added.

 "Oh, oh wow, I didn't realize.  I guess I just got to thinking about today's mission and needed to do something to not think about it."  Hunk muttered looking a little embarrassed.

 "Nah, don't think about that anymore, think about how much we are all going to love these muffins and how you are going to have to make sure you have the ingredients around to keep making them, because they are going to be in demand!" Lance exclaimed dramatically while slipping an arm around Hunk and steering him toward his room.

 "Oh, I can add the ingredients that are new to the stock list for Coran.  He does a really good job keeping the pantry full when he knows what I want.  I'll add the recipe to my file."  Hunk yawned. "I bet I could modify the flavor as well, use it as a base recipe."  Hunk crawled into bed and Lance pulled the cover up over his friend. He could tell how tired the big man already was, because he hardly noticed when Lance yanked his shoes off and turned the light out.

 "Sleep tight."  He murmured and headed off for his next victim.

 "Piiidddggggge?"  Lance called sticking his head into Green's hanger.  The person in question looked up from her laptop, eyes bloodshot and hair sticking out every which way.

 "Go away." She snarled.

 "Pidge, you need sleep.  Come on. You just got out of the cryopod and I know how tired that makes you."

 Pidge's eyes softened a little, reminding herself that Lance had been in the pods too many times already.

 "Sleep, Pidge, you are a genius, but even geniuses work better on sleep. You'll probably go twice as fast." He grinned elbowing her.  

 "Not unless the computer gets faster."  She laughed.

 "Come on, piggy back ride?"  He offered and she jumped at his back.

 "Giddyup!"  She laughed the way she only did when she was really tired and out of it.  Almost like for a moment she forgot everything going on around her and was just a young kid playing.

 By the time Lance got her back to her room she was pretty much drooling on his back. He flopped her onto the bed and tossed the covers over her.  He tried not to think of her floating in the cryopod or the tears she cursed at when she was sitting on the table in the med bay while Coran set her broken leg.  He huffed a sigh and pressed a kiss to her forehead, the thought of something happening to her filled him with icy dread. He shivered and made his way out of her room.  She was too much like one of his sisters, just like Hunk was his brother and they were both as precious to him as his biological family.

 Speaking of family, he saw Shiro wondering the hall, headed toward the bridge.

 "Shiro?"  Lance ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  The older man swung back with an elbow and yelled before falling forward onto the ground.

 "Shit."  Lance flinched at the pain in his cheek where the elbow connected and kneeled in front of Shiro.  His eyes were open, but he really didn't seem to be seeing him.  Must be sleepwalking again, or a flashback, or both somehow, what did he know he wasn't a shrink.  "Hey, Shiro.  Hey man, you're in the castle.  It's just me, Lance.  Hey, it's okay.  I think I'm not supposed to wake you up, but I don't know how else to get you back to bed. So…"  Lance reached out and touched Shiro's hand softly speaking quietly and rhythmically until Shiro's eyes seemed to focus on him.

 "Lance?"

 "Oh, hey Shiro, I think you must have been sleepwalking, ‘cause I just found you out here.  You okay?"

 "Oh, yeah, sorry, I was dreaming."  Shiro blushed.  "Sorry, thanks for waking me.  Guess I should lock the door huh?"  Shiro tried to joke, but he sounded sad and tired.

 "What were you dreaming about?"  Lance asked carefully.

 "I was looking for someone, but I couldn't find them."  Shiro answered eyes averting down and to the left, obviously not something he wanted to give details about.

 "Oh, I can see why you were wondering around then, huh?"

 "Why are you up?"  Shiro asked making note of how late it was.

 "Oh, just getting some water, going to bed now.  Want to walk with me?"

 "Sure, I'll walk you back."  Shiro stood and helped Lance up from the floor.  

 Lance smiled, he'd never get Shiro to just go back to his room, but he would never turn down walking Lance back if he asked.  Of course, Shiro's room was just one down, so it worked out great.  Lance waited at his door until Shiro slipped into his.  He then sat on his bed for a few dobashes to be sure Shiro wouldn't hear him when he went back out.

 He did this almost every night.  It wasn't the same people every night.  Pidge was pretty common and actually was usually a lot harder to get to bed.  Hunk could be found after anything stressful. Shiro was random.  Allura was rare, but he'd found her twice just walking the halls complaining she couldn't sleep.  Coran he'd only found once, after the whole haunting thing, going over code in the pods crying.  There was only one that was there almost every night, the one he still had to go get.

 He took a deep breath and stood, his own weariness weighing him down, but he'd need to shake that off to move this one, especially tonight.  Pidge had gotten hurt when she and Keith had infiltrated a computer hub on a Galra ship.  Keith would be blaming himself, though it was not his fault in any way.  It had been a trap and they'd been caught in a crossfire. Keith was contrary at the best of times, he'd be downright hateful tonight or this morning or whatever it was in the middle of late-night hell.

 He got up from the bed and made his way to the training room.  Sure enough, there was the sound of metal crashing into metal coming from the room.  He slipped in and watched for a few dobashes as Keith destroyed the training bots in front of him.  Lance had no idea what level this was, but he was almost sure Shiro would not approve of Keith doing it on his own.  He'd once made the mistake of stopping him mid simulation and Keith had not spoken to him for three days.  Lance shuddered, how he found out the silent treatment was the best way to torture Lance he had no idea, but it had sucked.

 When the last bot cleared and before the next set could drop Lance called out, "End simulation!"

 Keith whirled on him dark eyes flashing and sword still held in his grip, "I wasn't done."

 "Dude, it's 2:30 castle time, we have to be up at 6:00.  Even you need sleep, Mullet brain."  Lance snarked.  

 "I'm not tired.  Why don't you just leave me alone?!" He snarled.

 "Just go to bed Keith."  Lance sighed yawning.

 "Sounds like you're the one that needs to go to bed.  Just go and leave me alone."  Keith turned back like he was going to have another go.

 "Keith, I can always just go get Shiro."  Lance pulled out the big guns.

 "Why can't you just mind your own business?  Why can't you leave me alone?  I swear, mabye if you did a little more training yourself you wouldn't have to go get Shiro to make me leave."  Keith jabbed.

 "Look, you want to fight fine."  Lance grabbed a staff from the rack behind him and threw one to Keith. "Bring it on, Samurai."

 "Oh you think you can take me?"  Keith growled.

 "I think my little sister could take you right now, you're exhausted and completely unfocused."  Lance snapped back.

 "Like you'd know!"  Keith drove at him and brought the staff down, Lance parried, but the hit jarred his arms.

 "Does that even make sense?"  Lance swung the staff around and blocked Keith's attempt to hit his knee.

 "You are never focused, you never pay attention.  It's like you don't even care!"  Keith spat.

 "I care, just because I don't have a meltdown and smash things doesn't mean I don't care!"  Lance backed up a bit as Keith drove forward hard and his words stung.

 "Whatever!  You care about yourself!  Why are you even here?"  Keith snapped bringing the staff around and connecting with Lance's side.

 Lance hissed and wrapped an arm around his side, dropping his staff.  "Well unless you have another paladin up your sleeve, I guess you’re stuck with me."  Lance choked out the words, “Just go the fuck to bed."  

 "That's not what I…are you okay?"  Keith realized maybe he'd pushed a little too far.  He was angry at himself and he shouldn't have taken it out on Lance.  He'd meant why was Lance trying to get him to go to bed, not why was he here on the team.

 Lance laughed hollowly, "Whatever.  Just go to bed, Mullet.  I'm tired."  Lance left the training room and Keith stared after him for several ticks before heading off to his own room.

 ***

 The next morning, he was sitting at the table enjoying the new muffins Hunk had made when he realized Lance wasn't up yet and it was almost time for training.  The boy in question came tearing around the corner into the kitchen out of breath, hair a mess and marks from his pillow still on his face.

 "Shit, sorry Shiro, I slept through the alarm."  Lance announced looking somewhat embarrassed.

 "Get something quick, Lance then meet us in the training room when you've had a chance to change."  Shiro patted him on the shoulder as he went out.  "I know you were up late."  

 Keith narrowed his eyes.  Usually Shiro would be mad at someone for being late.  Pidge gave Lance a quick hug on the way past and hurried off to change. She seemed more rested than usual.

 Hunk dropped a muffin in Lance's hand, "I know you like them."

 Keith frowned.  Hunk had said they were a new recipe.  

 Lance fell into his chair at the table, Keith looked a little closer and startled.  

 "Do you have a black eye?"  Keith walked over next to him and got in his face.

 "Oh, you noticed that,” Lance gave a nervous laugh, "totally hit myself in the face with a staff yesterday.  Kind of embarrassing, if you don't mind not mentioning it.  I thought I got it covered up."  

 "Oh, okay, well I guess it's pretty hard to see."  Keith wondered how bad it looked without the makeup.  "You sure you don't need Coran to look at it."

 "Nope, fine."  Lance shoved a muffin in his mouth, "Shouldn't you be getting to training?"

 Keith narrowed his eyes and stared at Lance for a good ten ticks before he walked out the door.  He wondered if Lance had even gone to sleep after he'd left the training area.  He cringed remembering some of the stuff he'd said.  He didn't really mean it.  He was just upset about the mission gone wrong and had wanted to take it out on the bots, then Lance had gotten in the way and he'd taken it out on him instead.

 He sighed as he slipped into the training room remembering the hit, he'd given Lance to his side.  He wondered if that had left a bruise, probably.  He felt guilt worm its way around his gut.  Lance'd just been trying to help.

 "Hey Hunk?"  Keith asked.

 "Hmm?"  Hunk turned his head, he was already going through the warm up stretches Shiro usually had them doing.

 "How did you know Lance liked the muffins?  I thought they were new?"

 "Oh, he was up last night when I finished them.  I stress bake and I was a little upset about the mission." Hunk admitted.

 "Yeah, me too."  Keith nodded a suspicion forming in his mind.

 "Pidge?"  He called her over to where he and Hunk were sitting.  "Did you see Lance last night?"

 "Yep, he literally carried me to bed."  She smiled sadly.  "Matt used to do that."  Then gruffly swatted Hunk, "Get moving I want to spare."

 "Great, Keith, now she's going to pretend she's not upset by beating me up." Hunk huffed good naturedly and headed over to Pidge quite willing to take a beating to make her feel better.

 Before Lance slipped in to join the training, Keith had come up with a plan.

 ***

 Later that night, Keith snuck out from his room to the training area as usual.  He wondered why he hadn't noticed before, but almost every time he trained overly late, Lance had showed up to kick him to bed. There were a few exceptions, nights when Lance had been in a pod, nights when Shiro came and got him, nights when he only trained for about an hour and crawled into bed around 1:00.  

 And to be honest, he wasn't usually very gracious about it.  Sure, some nights Lance would say "lights out" or something and Keith would be tired enough to put his bayard down and tromp off to bed, but a lot of nights ended with complaining, arguing or fighting with Lance about him training too much or not sleeping enough.

 Keith sighed and apparently Lance was following up on the others as well.  He'd managed to wheedle out of Shiro that he'd seen Lance up at night too.  Keith knew Shiro had night terrors and had caught him sleep walking a few times himself, so it wasn't hard to imagine the circumstances where Lance might find him and the reasons Shiro really didn't want to discuss it.  It also explained why he knew Lance was tired sometimes, he'd seen him up in the middle of the night and was well aware he hadn't gotten enough sleep.

 Sure enough, around 2:00 the Blue Paladin slipped through the door to the training area.

 "Keith, Samurai hour is over, go to bed."  Lance whined.

 "Okay."  Keith smirked a little at the shocked look on Lance's face when he just agreed. "I was getting ready to quit anyway.  You're up late?"

 "Oh, I um, yeah."  Lance shrugged.  "I guess the clashing of sword on bot woke me up."

 "Can't hear that from our rooms."  Keith pointed out as he walked out of the training area.

 "Well maybe I could."  Lance blustered.

 "Nope." Keith stared at him and waited.

 "Okay, fine I was up anyway.  I was dragging a little gremlin to bed and heard you training."  Lance huffed.

 "You do that a lot?" Keith asked quietly.

 "Not too much, just sometimes, I mean she'd never sleep if she could get away with it."  Lance smiled fondly.

 "And me, you come here a lot and get me, don't you get tired?  I usually take like a nap and then get up and train, you're just staying up?"  Keith frowned.

 "What? No.  I nap."  Lance waved him off but refused to meet his eyes.

 "Okay."  Keith realized they had walked all the way back to their rooms. "Goodnight."

 "Goodnight."  Lance ducked into his door and Keith slipped into his.  

 ***

Even after a shower and dressing in his comfortable sleep pants and a t-shirt, Keith still couldn't relax.  It was like there was something off, missing, he'd missed something.  Lance had been lying about napping, but then how much was he sleeping, and why wasn't he sleeping.  Huffing in annoyance Keith barged out of his door and headed to Lance's. He paused just outside hearing muffled sounds from inside, groans and muttered words, it sounded like a nightmare. He knocked at the door, but when no one came he let himself in.  

 Lance was thrashing in his bed, yelling words he couldn't make out, his face contorted and angry or fearful looking in turn.  The worst were the tears streaming down his face from his closed eyes.

 "Lance?"  Keith rushed to the bed.  He'd learned from Shiro not to startle someone in a night terror.  He tried calling out to him again louder. "Lance!"

 Lance stilled and blinked.  His arms shook and the tears were still falling.  His eyes flashed away, and he scooted away from Keith when he saw him there.

 "Hey, sorry, you were having a nightmare."  Keith offered quietly.

 "Oh."  Lance wiped his face, like maybe Keith hadn't seen the tears.  "Huh."

 Keith reached out a hand and laid it over Lance's hand on the bed, "You okay?"

 "Yeah, totally, fine."  Lance lied really bad.

 Keith bit his lip, he was horrible at comforting people, it's just not a skill he'd really developed as a child.  He wondered what would Hunk do.

 "Um…you want a hug?"  Keith held his arms awkwardly open.

 Lance stared at him for a moment, like he was trying to decide if this was some kind of trap, but something in Keith's face must have reassured him because the next thing he knew he had his arms full of Blue Paladin.  Keith wrapped his arms down around Lance and squeezed gently. Lance was still crying against his shoulder.  Keith scooted up and onto the bed so that it was easier to hold him.

 "You want to talk about it?"  Keith asked calmly.  He'd tried to get Shiro to talk after his nightmares, but he did not want hugs and he did not want to talk.  Mabye though, maybe Lance would.

 "I just miss my family and home and I keep having these dreams that the Galra are there on Earth and they are taking my family.  Sometimes they hurt or kill them, sometimes they take them as slaves, sometimes I'm there and sometimes I get there and just find their graves." Lance sobbed.

 "Oh," Keith tightened his hug and began rubbing what he hoped were calming circles on Lance's back.  "I get it."

 "It's just, I mean, I want to be out here saving people and the universe and I feel like I'm doing good, but part of me really wants to know they are okay and that Galra ship was there and so close to Earth.  What if they go back and we're out here?  Earth wouldn't have anything to stop them or anyway to contact us."  Lance shook in Keith's arms.

 "Hey, you know Allura and Coran are monitoring movements in that area.  If the Galra even get close, we'll know, and we'll stop them before they even get there."  Keith whispered fiercely.  "We won't let them hurt Earth as long as we're here."

 Lance's tears had slowed and some of the tension had drained away. "Thanks."  He sat up then, pulling away from Keith.  "I'm sorry I went all blubbery on you."

 "You don't have to say sorry.  Lance, you've been taking care of us, of me, for weeks.  I'm the one that should be saying thanks to you."  Keith managed to catch Lance's eyes to be sure he understood he meant what he was saying.

 "Oh, I mean, it's not the big of a deal.  I was up anyway, and I just noticed you guys weren't taking care of your selves and you particularly are crap at it."  Lance elbowed Keith with a little smile.

 "Hmm…am I?  And I'm going to say you're not that hot at it either.  Already up?  How long have you been having these nightmares?"  Keith frowned.

 Lance muttered something.

 "What?"

 "Um…since we got here?"  Lance blushed and looked down.

 Keith cringed.  How had he not noticed that, that many weeks without sleeping properly, chasing after everyone else.  

 "That how you got the shiner?  Fall asleep and fall or something?"  Keith asked trying to lighten the tone.

 "Oh, no, but I don't recommend touching Shiro when he's sleep walking." Lance frowned.

 "Oh, oh shit, does he know?"  Keith asked concerned.

 "No."  Lance glared, "What am I a jerk?  It's not his fault."

 "Yeah, well, don't startle him awake if he's having a bad dream either.  Other side of the room and call his name is best."  Keith warned.

 "Duly noted."  Lance nodded.

 "Now, back to your issue.  You need to get some sleep."  

 Lance sighed, "It's not like I wasn't trying."

 "Would it, um, would it help if I stayed?"  Keith offered.  He figured he was already there and comfy and Lance hadn't exactly let go of him yet, just sat up.

 "You don't have to do that."  Lance blushed.

 "But it would help?"  Keith was pleased, what he was doing was working.

 "Yes, probably."  Lance admitted.

 "Good."  Keith snuggled down into Lance's bed and looked up to where the other boy was still sitting staring at him.  "I mean, if that's okay?"  Suddenly Keith was a little concerned he'd gone too far with the whole what would Hunk do thing.

 "No, yes, I mean, it's fine."  Lance was still staring at him a little as he eased himself into the bed and laid his head on the pillow.  "I…thank you."

 "Someone has to take care of the guy that's taking care of everyone else." Keith whispered eyes falling shut already.

 Lance smiled softly watching Keith's breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.

[real-fakedoors]

star-crossed just hit 1,000 kudos!

(klance / cinderella AU / fantasy & medieval elements)

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR AMAZING LOVE AND SUPPORT.

like, just, wow.

I never thought this story would amass such a loving audience and im humbled everyday when i log into AO3 and see the steady uptick in kudos, comments, bookmarks all of it. I check the stats on this fic religiously and I promise if you’ve even VIEWED the fic I’ve noticed, I watch it that closely. thank you, from the very bottom of my heart; there aren’t adequate words to express my gratitude.

I wanted to at least share something to mark this milestone, so here is the working introduction to the second installment. I’m so excited to get some of my other projects finished so I can dive back into this. :)

Lance had heard his fair share of folk tales from his Mamá, about people who rise above the station of their birth, about triumphing against bitter odds, about falling in love and living happily ever after. He remembered a lot of awfully convenient montages, glossing over the finer details of consequences. What happened to the villains? Did they get thrown in jail? Executed? Or what about the hero’s best friend, ex-lover, family—do they miss the hero once they go on to live their big, exciting lives, or is it always a happily ever after?

Maybe those are just the stories people like to tell. The stories people like to remember, where everyone is happy and the bad things only happen to bad people.

Most of the tales Lance knew didn’t tell him what happened when people are stuck living in the poverty they were born into, no matter how hard they try to get out of it; or what happens when the odds are not in the hero’s favor; or how love is so painfully unconditional, and impossible to explain, and that it could kill you much faster than any magical weapon or poisoned apple if you let it.

He was staring at the pages of an old tome, thick but well-maintained, the pages all in decent shape. It had been pulled from the archives by Sir Coran before he and the others returned to Altea, and Lance had found himself zoning out on the image of a pretty blonde human in the arms of her pretty human Prince Charming.

A weird thought occurred to him: would stories be written about Keith, like this one? It was easy to forget that Keith was indeed a figure of legends, would be memorialized like all the Princes and Queens and rulers that came before him.

Would people make up harrowing things to say about them?

Lance almost laughed out loud before turning the page. “Pfft. No.”

Because, first of all, Prince Charming? Out of the long list of words Lance would use to describe his fiancé, charming was not really one of them. Irritable, thoughtful, and just mullet, to name a few.

 and, a few other small things to share in celebration, I’ve included two scenes beneath the cut

deleted scene from epilogue pt. 2 untitled dream sequence from the second installment

deleted scene from epilogue, pt. 2 conversation between paladins, Allura and Coran keith POV

[Allura continued.] “I want to give you the best answer available, I need to have all the information surrounding this whole mess first. For that to happen…” she sighed, a sound of abrupt sadness slipping through a clearly, if not expertly, worn façade. “I need to ask you all a favor, but once again, unfairly, much of the burden for this falls to Lance. It is of paramount importance that you tell me exactly what transpired between you and Lotor, starting from the first night he approached you.”

The tan-skinned teenager blinked a few times, and Keith thought he looked paler than when he and Shiro first arrived. Gently, he gave Lance’s hand a little squeeze. “Oh. Umm. I mean, I can, I just -- what do you need to know?”

Fingers steepled in front of her nose, the Princess sighed. “As much as you feel you’re comfortable sharing, I suppose, but I would say the more the better. I just don’t know enough of what the Galra have planned, or if this is connected to Zarkon, Lotor, the witch -- none of them, all of them?” she sounded unusually frustrated, a fist coming down on the table. The mouses scurried towards different paladins, leaving the two Alteans to stare at each other. Keith didn’t mind the mouse, but he did glower at Allura -- she didn’t mean anything by it, he knew, but perhaps the nonverbal warning would be enough to have her compose herself. No need to project her anger towards Keith’s fiancé.

“I — I mean, I can try, some of the stuff Lotor said was really…” he paused to bite his lip, and Keith felt a strange twist in his stomach when Lance’s eyes darted anxiously towards him. “It was sort of… personal. I was kind of trying to forget about it, to be honest. Thinking about it makes me… I don’t know, I can tell you if you think it’s important, but it might...make you mad?”

By the end, Lance wasn’t talking to Allura anymore, and Keith’s hand was moving before he could really think about it.

“Hey, stop that,” the Prince said, brushing his thumb over the abused skin of Lance’s bottom lip so he might stop with the self-harming habit. “Don’t bottle things up for my benefit. If you have something you want to say, say it. I can’t promise I won’t get mad, but I can promise I’ll get over it.”

Shiro barely concealed his snort with a cough. “Wow, Keith, that might be the most mature thing you’ve ever said.”

Keith attempted to kick Shiro under the table. “Fuck you, old man.”

That made Lance laugh, and while Pidge made a point to do a loud gagging demonstration, it did little to distract from the simple pleasure Keith felt at being responsible for eliciting such a pretty sound from his fiancé.

Lance’s shoulders were still visibly tense, but he didn’t look quite as uneasy about the subject when he met Allura’s steely, blue-soulfire gaze. “Okay. I guess, what, start from the third night of the ball? That’s when I really interacted with Lotor. A little on the second night, but he was mostly just being a dick.”

Nodding, the Princess gestured for Coran to take a seat beside her. A writing utensil and fresh piece of parchment seemed to materialize in the advisors’ hand.

“Queen Krolia has managed to supply some basic information on what happened when you and Lotor spoke privately in the infirmary, but due to the nature of your healing, the resources expended on gathering testimony, and all the other din of these past few quintant, it doesn’t appear you’ve given any sort of statement about what you and Lotor talked about -- the night of the peace summit, and then explicitly what was discussed that night in the infirmary. I know this is asking a lot, but it’s important that we’re all on the same page if we’re to try to fight whatever this is.”

“I — well — I guess I just hadn’t thought about, like, talking to anyone about it, like in a reporting-way.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before choosing a place to begin. “The night of the peace accord thing, he said I had to dance with him, or he was going to tell the realm that I was in a relationship with Keith. In retrospect, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but he had… framed it… in a sort of shitty way.”

“Meaning?”

Lance swallowed, his hold on Keith’s hand slipping away as his complexion took on a rosy tint. “Uhh… well, he said, um… like, it was insulting to me to, ya know, sleep with Keith. He said I could do a lot better… and obviously implied that he was the better option. Like, it would have been a big scandal or something for both Keith and you, since, like, both of you were still supposed to be getting married at the time? That’s about when Coran showed up. Oh, and er, he also saiiiiiid…” his voice turned sing-songy, face even redder. “That I was special, and uh, that he would find a way to ‘make me his,’ basically no matter what. He said ‘Keith is your price’, which like, I don’t know if I’m super okay with the idea of talking about myself in those terms, but… I didn’t really have a good comeback that wouldn’t put both your reputations in jeopardy, so I just didn’t answer.”

From the side of the table, Hunk looked like he wanted to reach over and scoop Lance up like a baby. “Buddy...”

Lance cleared his throat, staring at Coran’s hand as it flew over the page, not meeting anyone’s eye. “I’m fine, Hunk. The next time I saw him was after everything, I was in that private room Sir Adam let me use. I woke up, and I was just like, bam, on the ground. It was sort of dizzying and I hadn’t been sleeping super well so I guess, I just didn’t know how to react at first. He told me back talk wasn’t —” A pause, and Lance pursed his lips. “He told me not to talk and to just listen. So, ya know, I wasn’t in a position to fight him, so I did as he said. I mean, my back was exposed and he basically was standing on me so I didn’t have a choice.”

Lance sat up, back arching a bit as he ran his hands through his hair. Keith noticed his fingers were shaking when he pulled them back down and into his lap again. Silently, the Prince was simmering beneath the surface, his blood hot and roaring in his ears. The edge of his vision had tinted red.

“And then there was a lot of the same stuff again. He was super fixated on the fact that I was with Keith. I don’t know, I feel like he jumped around a lot, because after that there was this big monologue about how the realm was about to go to war. And that no matter what happened, as long as... I was alive, there would be a war… unless I became one of his ‘consorts.’ I know, it was really fucked up.” Lance added the last sentence quickly, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Um. He went through this whole list, pretty much. He said Daibaazal would absorb Olkarion, and then Altea would be next or something. And that his dad is on some super fucked up power trip, feeling like he’s not important anymore with Marmora and Altea around. And that the guy who had the bomb, he asked me if I saw him -- I did. He looked… Olkari, but Lotor seemed like he expected that? Like, he said it was probably an Altean shape-shifted as an Olkari. Um… what else… oh, yeah. Um. He gave me an ultimatum, and said if I didn’t go along with him, my choices were:” Lance began ticking them off on his fingers, one by one. “Let Zarkon kill me, like, I think he said make an example or maybe a martyr of me or something; make a statement that I was the one who set off the bomb so I might not get literally murdered by his Dad, instead, I would, hah --” he let out a humorless chuckle -- “I could just fucking hang for it instead. How messed up is that? Or I could let the realm go to war if I stayed in Marmora. Or, lastly, I could agree to be his -- his personal bitch, basically. I don’t know what goes into being a consort but I have an idea, and I -- yeah. I didn’t have much of a choice, though I told him to fuck off and that I’d rather let Zarkon kill me with his bare hands than spend another second with him.”

Keith had never in his life tried so hard to control the devastatingly violent impulse of his Galra heritage, but his gums tingled with the insistent pressure of fangs pushing against his mouth. Even the skin of his fingers felt strange, like he could so easily just let go of his control and the tips could sharpen into claws in seconds if he let them.

Breaking Lotor’s wrist now felt pathetically underwhelming. He should have just killed him. The realm would have been better for it.

“Anyway... Lotor wasn’t super happy about that, I know, shocker. And he basically said he would buy my family, you know, since we’re all fucking slaves or whatever, if I didn’t do what he said. I didn’t -- I didn’t know what to do. I want to say I would never agree to that but just, f-fuck, I’m sorry.” Lance’s voice cracked at the end, the sound of tears edging into his tone. His arms, already folded over his chest, tightened. “So, yeah. That’s when the Queen showed up.”

“Stars above, I’m so… sorry. I had no idea it was that severe.” Allura sounded disturbed, and both Hunk and Pidge were exchanging nervous glances with each other. Keith couldn’t see Shiro, seeing as he was turned to face Lance, who was staring down at the box on the table in front of him with a clenched jaw and dry eyes.

“I’m okay,” Lance said for the second time, and some of the immediate emotion had drained from his voice. “Keith’s mom showed up before I had to agree to anything. That’s all that happened with Lotor, though. The only other thing was the vision-dream thing I had with Blue… I told you guys about that while Keith was getting his stitches, right?”

Various people nodded, and Keith vaguely remembered hearing Lance’s voice, too-loud to be speaking to people nearby but that was just how Lance was, somewhere off to his side. He made a mental note to ask him to re-explain the details to that later.

“...So, yeah. That’s all I can really remember. I don’t remember Lotor mentioning anything about Oriande or any of this stuff.”

“Yes, well,” the Princess laid out both her hands on the table, and as if a silent call, all four mice returned to her in a sudden rush of paws and squeaks. “I’m not sure of anything at this point, but I am near certain that this is the witch’s doing at minimum. Whether it is Zarkon or Lotor who she is aiding, we will still have to consider all of this information. The fact that Lotor seemed to find it unacceptable that you die, so much so that he was willing to blackmail you, leads me to believe he might be more invested in this than I had previously thought. It could have been his pathetic attempt at courtship, but I’m not sure. Whatever it is, the reality is the same: something is happening to the realm, and if more corruption like that we saw earlier from that Beast spread, I fear the whole realm may be in danger. For now, we will have to continue to gather information, try to understand what exactly they’re planning.”

unpublished from part 2:

untitled dream sequence

lance POV

His legs weren’t working properly.

Lance felt them buckling, like his torso and arms and head and heart were weighed down by the entire universe. Why? Why couldn’t he use his legs? He wasn’t even standing, so the fact that his dumb legs weren’t working seemed especially frustrating to him. Laying on his stomach, Lance pushed himself up to a sit-up, the bottom half of his body utterly useless at the moment. Ugh.

Someone was calling his name, but the voice was warbled and hard to place, like he’d been trapped beneath the ice of a lake and there was someone pounding on the other side, trying to find him.

Craning his neck, it was with a small start that he realized he knew this place, dark and infinite and magnificent in every direction, but he couldn’t move. What was it called? Why couldn’t he remember? Blue told him about it...

“Blue? Blue, are you here?” He turned, annoyed by his lack of motion, but blinked in surprise at the sight of something much, much bigger than the little kitten he was expecting.

Lance’s mouth dropped open, but no sound came out.

It was the single most beautiful, overwhelming things he’d ever seen.

About fifteen paces away, a massive tree sprouted from the ground, crowded by iridescent leaves. There was no breeze that he could feel on his face or brushing through his hair, but the leaves danced and shimmered anyway. A million colors, reds and blues and greens and whites and yellows -- and every color in between, peach and cream and mahogany and turquoise and blush and lavender -- colors that he didn’t even have names for, was pretty sure weren’t even on the real spectrum of light, all glittering crystal-bright in the dark expanse of the empty space around him. In every direction, the ground was the black surface of an endless ocean, rippling when Lance moved but otherwise flawlessly reflective. It sent back an inversion of the same sight, an overwhelming sense of purity, of flawlessness, of flowing sublimity with the roots at the center.

Lance couldn’t breathe, awestruck.

What was it? Why was it here?

Oh, gods. Lance used to believe people had always been dramatic when they heard a song or saw a painting so beautiful that they were brought to tears, but this was his comeuppance for that attitude, evidently. His cheeks were wet, and the corners of his eyes were pulsing light blue.

This was definitely some sort of… something otherworldly. Magical.

Shit. Shit, shit, uhhh, fuck, this was probably important, wasn’t it? Was this some sort of dream-vision thing? In his stream of consciousness, dream-Lance tried to will himself to summon a dream-roll-of-parchment and a dream-inkpot, but all that amounted to was making him strangely dizzy.

After attempting to summon things, and dealing with the subsequent disappointment, Lance hauled himself up as best as he could with his hands, sort of like a mix between a push-up and an army crawl.

Chewing his lip, Lance eyed the immaculate branches, overlapping but never touching, a faultless flow of leaves brushing back in forth, almost lazily.  It was a sort of breathtaking, heart-stopping, gun-wrenching sort of beauty.

Blinding, almost.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.58

Lance left him hanging until the weekend to wake up properly. His boyfriend had woken sporadically over the last few days, only really long enough to express his relief that Keith was okay, then fall back to sleep. His external wounds had healed within the first 48 hours, all of them breathing easier for it. Coran had said Lance would wake when he felt, probably run down emotionally from Miriam being ill and neglecting himself because he worried too much for other. Matt’s wounds took about the same time, the bottom of his face swollen and bruised, teeth missing and a few hair line fractures in his lower jaw. Matt had tried talking to Pidge, but she wasn’t ready. Keith had more luck talking to Hunk, who’d called demanding to know why Pidge wasn’t making sense and what had had happened to Lance. Telling him there’s been an accident in the tunnels and that both Matt and Lance had been hurt, Hunk demanded answer, Shiro plucking the phone from his hold, and reassuring Hunk on the way to Platt to get them both looked at, before hanging up. Keith had tried messaging group chat to say both Matt and Lance were okay, but had gotten no reply. He couldn’t help but empathise with Pidge, probably understanding her feelings better than everyone right about now. He wanted to reach out, but was scared of the rejection he might face.

While Lance had slept, Keith had done everything he was suppose to. Eaten. Showered. Slept. Trained. Training helped him vent his anger. He wasn’t even sure who he was angry at any more. Kosmo was eager to follow him everywhere he went, Blue preferring to stay with her human, curled up on Lance’s chest except for the times the door opened and closed. Keith didn’t understand cats with doors. They knew what was on the other side, but every time a door opened they seemed curious as if seeing it all again for the first time. Keith didn’t have the time to be curious... despite being on a whole new floor at Voltron. It made sense there was more to the place than what he could see, but now they were further under ground, Coran having his access card over the elevator panel, bringing up a whole panel of underground levels. They were using rooms normally reserved for hunter. Keith and Lance sharing a room, Curtis had his old room back, Shiro between VOLTRON and their apartment, with Matt and Rieva returning to Garrison. They were all worried about Lance, but things needed to be done. Plus Matt was majorly depressed overly hurting Lance, Coran suggesting he visit once Lance woke so they could talk. The incident in the tunnels had to be reported, Coran had promised he’d take any all blame “for the blunder”.

It was some ungodly hour Saturday morning that Lance woke. Keith wasn’t sleeping, instead he was playing with his camera, brought by Shiro to distract him. Kosmo sleeping curled up against his side after a hard day of being adorable. When his boyfriend spoke, Keith nearly jumped out of his skin

“Hey there, come here often?”

Fumbling his camera, Keith rushed out of his bed and to Lance’s. There were two singles in the room, not quite able to fit two fully grown men when Keith was paranoid about hurting Lance in his sleep. Catching an armful of him, Lance held him tightly

“I see I was missed”

“You fucking idiot. You had me worried”

“I know... God, that hurt. Are you still okay? I know I was out of it, but you didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Keith deflated a little, this was how their brief conversations had been going

“I’m okay. Shit hit the fan, but I’m okay”

Lance nuzzled into his chest, poor Blue was now stuck between Lance and the wall thanks to Keith

“Good. I would have to punch you in the dick if you weren’t”

“You wouldn’t”

“No. I feel like I’ve slept for a month”

“Only since Tuesday”

“What’s today?”

“Saturday”

Lance groaned, his boyfriend trying to sit up while simultaneously not let him go. Keith moved to be less in Lance’s lap, Lance nearly squashing Blue as he pulled himself up to sit. Blue jumping on Lance’s shoulder before bolting off the bed

“Fuck... hold on... fuck...”

Keith wasn’t going anywhere. Lance’s words falling time with Blue’s leaps. Sitting back against the wall, Lance covered his mouth as he yawned. This was the most progress he’d made in days

“Babe? You okay? You had a huge shock to the system

Lance slid his hands up, rubbing at his eyes before sliding his hands back down to cover his cheek and nose

“Please tell me I didn’t bite you and tell me I don’t remember Pidge being there”

It’d be nice if Lance didn’t remember. He’d barely woken up and there he was making more sense than he should

“I’m sorry”

Keith didn’t know what to do other than apologise. He’d messed up... Lance swearing softly

“Babe. It’s okay...”

It wasn’t okay, because this was Pidge

“Is she okay? Have you heard from her?”

“Not really. Matt tried to talk to her, but she didn’t want to talk. She talked to Hunk, and Hunk was kind of freaking out...”

“Fuck... God... I didn’t want to her find out. What did you guys tell her?”

“I said there was an incident in the tunnels...”

“Couldn’t you have lied and said a prank gone wrong?”

That would have been the smart people’s approach to things. His brain unfortunately decided he need to try and tell the truth because he cared about Pidge and Hunk. Lowering his gaze, he mumbled

“Rieva turned too...”

Lance started to draw his knees up. Keith tearing up. He’d ruined everything for Lance

“Lance, I’m so sorry. This is my fault... if I hadn’t let you go... this wouldn’t have...”

“Stop it. Stop right there. Right now I can’t... You didn’t do anything”

“I should have...”

Hauled up from sitting beside Lance, Keith was manhandled into Lance’s lap like Lance was picking up Blue. Wrapping his arms around him, the vampire rested his forehead against Keith’s arm

“Keith. Just stop. Stop it. No. You didn’t know. You had no idea. Coran wanted to see the tunnels, and we would have been stuffed without him”

“I fucked up. Pidge saw. Hunk and Shay won’t talk to me. Pidge saw Rieva as a damn wolf. You got hurt. Matt got hurt. Curtis popped a fucking horn. Why didn’t I say something?”

“You did. You told me we could totally blow it off. It was fine until Coran poked at the magic”

“He said it was some kind of spell to stop supernatural things from living down there”

“If I had to feel that every day, I wouldn’t want to live down there either. But anyway, how are you?”

“You already asked me that. I haven’t even asked how you feel”

“I’m okayish. My arm’s not broken anymore, so that nice. What happened to Matt?”

“Busted jaw. Coran did some kind of fae magic on him. I feel like you’re changing the topic”

Lance sighed at him. Neither of them were not thinking about Pidge. Nosing at his arm, Lance was no doubt beating himself up internally

“I’ve never... I didn’t want Pidge to find out like this. What I want to do is call her, but she probably won’t answer me. I know there’s magic in the tunnels now, and that’s why we snapped, but I feel like a douche for being mad at Coran for touching it”

“Coran’s been here a bit. Allura too. I didn’t want to leave, but Shiro said you’d be disappointed if I didn’t try to take care of myself”

“I think I would have been angry, but I would have understood. You needed time to process things. I get it. I’m sorry I scared you, but I’m not sorry that you didn’t get hurt”

It clicked in Keith. Part of that anger was because Lance had been hurt. That Lance willingly let himself be hurt

“You can’t just do that to me. I was covered in your blood. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know if you’d make it through. You can’t do that to me. I swear I really will punch you in the dick as hard as I can if you ever let yourself get hurt like that again”

“I know... but... God. When Matt turned, I thought... I didn’t even think. It was all instinctual. I just wanted you to be safe”

“You’re still an idiot and I’m still mad at you”

“Join the club. I guess this is it for me. Pidge and Hunk know. I’m going to have to start all over again”

“Pidge might come round...”

“Or she might be at home researching every known way to kill a vampire. She’s going to think I was using her... but... I really loved her... I love her, Keith... she was family and now she hates me”

Keith knew this was coming. His heart broke all over again to hear Lance say it. He’d heard all his boyfriend’s fears before. Turning in Lance’s hold, Keith straddled his boyfriend’s lap. Cupping Lance’s face, Lance shook as he cried

“Hey. We don’t know that. She could just need time. I know I needed time when I found out. Shiro can tell you about it. I didn’t know anything... and Pidge... she’s not like me. She was open to the idea before she saw”

“I lied to her for years”

“So did my mum. She... she left me behind. She knew everything and she left me behind. Pidge... Pidge knows now, but you... You two... You two are tight. Pidge needs to calm down and work her own thoughts out”

“But... but now Hunk knows. They... I’ve had friends before, but never like them. I love them so much. I know pushing her now will only make her mad, but when I think about how much she’s hurting... This is why... why I shouldn’t...”

Whatever Lance was going to say was cut off as he dissolved back into tears

“Don’t give up on Pidge before you jump to to the worst. Okay. This is Pidge. She’s probably going to storm in here and start kicking everyone’s arse”

Lance sniffled wetly, Keith wiping away his tears as he attempted a wobbly smile

“She... she would”

“Damn straight. Our little gremlin is a force to be reckoned with”

“I’m sorry... for... she’s your friend too...”

“You don’t have to be sorry. Unless it’s sorry for getting snot everywhere”

Lance barked a laugh before sniffling again

“I’m sorry about that... Hey... thanks... I know I slept a lot... but thanks...”

“I would say anytime, but I don’t want to see that ever again. I was a mess. Hell, Shiro had to bath me because I was so out of it”

“Should I be worried?”

“About Shiro seeing me naked? Nah. About the other stuff, we’ll figure it out”

“I don’t deserve you”

“My boyfriend thinks I’m a catch”

“Your boyfriend would be right. Seeing I don’t see him here, would he be mad if we cuddled?”

“I think I can convince him it’s okay. He’s got this thing where he’s like ridiculously nice to people”

“I heard it’s only to people he cares about that”

“I heard that too... but I think he just cares about everyone”

Lance snorted, but it wasn’t a happy snort. It was a “I’m now beating myself up about something else”

“Babe?”

“I haven’t even asked about Mami...”

Oh...

“I think Coran’s been to visit her. And we can totally go see her too”

“I left her alone again...”

Keith bit back telling Lance that his siblings had probably been with her so she hadn’t been alone, but that would probably be taken wrongly

“She’ll understand. I know you spent the last few days sleeping, but you still need to rest”

“Yeah... probably... you’re probably right... Can I hold you?”

Keith should be the one holding Lance, not the other way around

“I think I can manage that”

“Good... I still... I’m still scared... that I’m going to wake up and find...”

“And find me snoring? That’s more than likely”

“You know what I mean”

“I do. I’m okay, you know. Matt didn’t hurt me, and no signs or symptoms of suddenly turning”

“My blood is dangerous... you should have left me”

His boyfriend was so stupid. He wasn’t leaving him

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not going to leave you when you’re torn to shreds”

“If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself”

“Then it’s a good thing nothing’s going to happen to me”

“You can’t make promises like that”

“I can for the rest of the night. Let’s get some rest and talk about this in the morning”

*

Lance still felt the lingering tenderness of being a werewolf chew toy. When Keith fell asleep in his arms, Lance laid awake for hours processing. Pidge knew his secret, and he really couldn’t blame her for not wanting to see him. He remembered biting Keith, he felt his face all wrinkle up as he showed her his vampire face. Matt and Pidge would be fighting. Matt as stubborn as Pidge was. He’d be trying to talk to her, while she shut them all out as she processed. If she hadn’t approached Matt, asking what was happening, then that was a bad sign. Pidge had waited months for Matt to come home. She would have been glued to his side if this was some rumour she was checking out.

Ever since they’d met, Pidge had been Hunk’s best friend. Lance adored the pair of them, and never wanted to be in the way of that friendship. Giving Hunk the “choice”, Lance wanted him to choose Pidge. But Hunk was the greatest and most forgiving man to ever walk the Earth. He’d talk to Lance, upsetting Pidge, and possibly causing a rift between them. If that was the outcome then it was better he left Garrison. Pidge might come around, but if he was in town there was always that chance of upsetting them. He couldn’t go home. He didn’t have a home to go back to... Not until... not until Pidge had had enough time and space to make her mind up without pressure.

And then there was Keith. He was dating Keith... yet... Pidge and Hunk were so good for his boyfriend. Keith was making friends, starting to see he was worthy of love. And god if Keith didn’t deserve love. He was awkward as fuck, had a low people threshold, and completely hopeless on recent events... He fitted in. He filled the gap and Shay smoothed the edges. Shiro was stuck in this too. He was best friends with Matt. Curtis had a horn! Curtis and Shiro were on the cusps of becoming more and now his curse had been ramped up.

Then there was Coran. He loved Coran. Coran had shown him such unconditional love. Coran couldn’t have know the magic would... but... he... Surely Coran had felt the magic. He should have said something earlier... If he suspected. If he cared... Coran did care. Lance just didn’t understand how one afternoon could turn things upside down. They were lucky that it hadn’t happened on the weekend. Not when Coran hadn’t been there to subdue Matt. He... But if it was in front of Pidge, Shay, and Hunk, then... He didn’t know. He couldn’t have protected all of them. Matt had the jump on him. He’d acted without thinking. Proper thought went out the window when Matt’s claws raked down his back. And Matt... he hoped he was okay. He wanted to talk to him. He wanted to see he was okay. Matt hadn’t been in control, so he couldn’t blame him.

And then he was back to Keith again. He adored Keith, but Keith could have turned. Keith was covered in his blood. That must have been so traumatic for him. Then he’d left him alone to mentally abuse himself as he buried himself in the waves of misplaced guilt. Lance was glad they got Keith out the room and doing things. He had the time to sit by his boyfriend’s side, but Keith didn’t. Keith was human.

So where did that leave him now? Coran hadn’t wanted him coming here thanks to the new vampire in town... but he couldn’t go back to Garrison. He could work from anywhere, provided he had his phone and laptop. Coran kind of owed him... so maybe he could live here until the dust settled. Blue and Kosmo were already here. There was no way he was asking to stay with Keith and Shiro. That wasn’t even a question, and if it was, he’d say no. He wouldn’t put them in danger, nor drive a wedge between them. Shiro probably had a few choice words over him biting Keith. If he could, he’d punch himself in the mouth for that. Keith was precious to him. Moving to the step of having sex was right for them. He felt closer when Keith was buried inside of him, and not just proximity wise. He felt accepted by his boyfriend, and while sex might have happened, he still wanted to take things slow with Keith. He wanted to build a real relationship with him. He wanted to support him. Not financially or anything like that. He wanted to support him the way his boyfriend always supported him. He’d been awake a little while before initiating conversation, trying to process all that happened. But he couldn’t do that when he had so many questions. Keith was stupid enough to think that they could just go see Miriam. He loved that in Keith. He was broody, hot headed, and he’d grown since Lance met him. Or maybe he’d finally been able to open up? To be himself? When morning came, he’d message Pidge. He’d apologise and let her know he’d be staying in Platt, and he’d be ready to talk when she was. That was the only solution to the situation. Until then, all he could do, was bask in the feel of his boyfriend against him.

[violethowler]

No News is Good News: Dissecting the timeline of the Second Colony

With Lotor’s role in the second half of season 8 edited out, we are left with many unanswered questions about the Altean Colony and what Lotor was doing at the lunar outpost. Two rather significant ones are the questions of when and why the facility was shut down before Keith and Krolia’s arrival.

Romelle’s flashbacks are vague about the timing of when these events took place in relation to the series timeline, but what we were initially presented with on the surface in Season 6 seems to suggest that Lotor shut down the second colony several years before the return of Voltron. I’d argue that the shuttering of the Second Colony happened more recently than that. Much more recently.

Let’s rewind things to Season 3, Episode 6 “Tailing a Comet”.

In this episode, Team Voltron attempts to track the trans reality comet Lotor stole at the end of S3E4 Hole in the Sky. In the course of their search, they find Lotor’s generals attacking a Galra base under the command of Throk. The base contains a fragment of the large Teludav the heroes used as part of their plan to defeat Zarkon in S2E12 “Best Laid Plans”. Lotor’s generals attempt to steal the Teludav, but Team Voltron is able to trick Acxa into destroying it. Lotor is angred by the loss of the Teludav, but expresses satisfaction when Throk takes the fall from Haggar for failing to protect his base.

There are two details I want to point out:

First, while Allura’s mind immediately jumps to Haggar at the revelation that Lotor is after the Teludav, we know already from Season 3 that Lotor wants nothing to do with Haggar, even before Seasons 4-6 confirm he actively despises her. The only explanation, then, is that Lotor was stealing the Teludav fragment from Haggar for his own purposes. But his surprise at having the Mark of the Chosen in S536 White Lion confirms that Lotor was unaware of his own potential for Altean Alchemy. This means that whatever Lotor was going to do with the Teludav, he wasn’t going to be using it himself.

Second, while Lotor is angry at Acxa for inadvertently destroying the Teludav, there is no evidence it was ever relevant to his plans to construct Sincline and access the Quintessence Field. There is nothing in his endeavors that even partially required the use of a Teludav, which means that he had a different purpose in mind for it.

But there is one facility that Lotor controlled that housed Alteans that – going by various comments in S6 and S7 – were there because of their high levels of Quintessence, and therefore, potential for Altean alchemy. Who – based on AJ Locascio’s post-S7 tweets, Sam Holt’s last line of S7E13, and Bandor’s ability to fly a shuttle pod back to the main colony even though none of the Alteans on the main colony knew how to fly one – fans have theorized were being taught to fly ships that used the pilot’s own Quintessence as a power source.  

All these details point to the Teludav fragment stolen in Tailing a Comet being intended for delivery to the second colony to be studied and reverse engineered.

But Lotor doesn’t seem like the type of person to leave something like a Teludav, or a piece of one, in storage, so if the Second Colony had already been shut down at this point, why was Lotor so furious with Acxa when the Teludav is destroyed?

Unless it wasn’t shut down.

Now, let’s look at the second thing that’s connected to the Colony: the Blue Quintessence introduced in Season 4.

Kolivan and Keith’s dialogue indicates that this type of Quintessence has never been seen in the empire before. While Season 6 would have us believe this was taken directly from the Alteans, the visuals of the series don’t agree on that:

Season 1 established in Collection and Excraction that raw Quintessence taken directly from a living being is colored Yellow.

Quintessence that has been processed into a concentrated form by Haggar and the Druids’ magic into imperial fuel is pinkish-purple.

And Quintessence that has been concentrated by Altean Alchemy is blue, as shown in The Legend Begins.

Lotor was not directly draining Alteans at the Second Colony because if he was, then the batches being exported would be the same yellow Quintessence seen in Collection and Extraction, and we’d be seeing Keith and Kolivan raid one of those bases to watch it all be processed.

But when discussing where the new Quintessence is coming from, Kolivan specifically mentions something that is capable of purifying raw quintessence directly into its pure blue-white form: The Komar, which Kolivan points out has already been destroyed. But the last thing Haggar used it to drain Quintessence from before Allura destroyed it…

Was Voltron. Which is so full of Quintessence that it overloaded the Komar and resulted in glowing blue-white orbs emanating from the device that look exactly like those seen when Allura and Lotor go into the Quintessence Field in S6E4.

As @leakinghate speculated, Lotor was trying to use Quintessence extracted directly from Voltron itself to power his plan to enter the Rift Gate in “Begin the Blitz”. The ship Ranveig and Krolia recovered carrying a vat of Quintessence through the Quantum Abyss was heading into it, to see if the new Quintessence could be used to heal the drained test pilots. When explaining how Ranveig got his hands on the vat of Quintessence, Krolia says only that the destroyed ship had passed through the Quantum Abyss, she did not specify which direction it had been traveling in. It’s all but stated that the same creatures that destroyed Keith and Krolia’s ship in “Razor’s Edge” are responsible for the cargo ship’s destruction.

Based on the time that appears to have elapsed between seasons, Ranveig would have captured the shipment travelling through the Quantum Abyss sometime between seasons 3 and 4, as the shipments are implied to have stopped after Lotor goes on the run in Black Site, leaving him with only the amounts stockpiled in the Sincline Ships when he and the generals escape.

But that raises the question: if the covert shipping network that Kolivan and Keith discovered was secretly funneling the blue Quintessence from Central Command to Lotor’s cruiser and the Second Colony, who was flying the ships?

While Hate suggested that none of the ships had crews past a certain point on the journey, someone had to pilot the ships through the Quantum Abyss or else the ships would have taken forever to get to the Colony. Like with his (false) claim of conspiring with Acxa, there are too many variables in the Quantum Abyss to believe that Lotor trusted autopilot to get the Quintessence to its destination.

So, who was flying the ships to and from the Second Colony?

In Romelle’s flashbacks where the Alteans are being tested for the second colony, Lotor is always accompanied by Galra medical/research officers. Previous seasons have established through shots of standard Galra troops working on constructing Sincline Ship #2 in S4E3 “Black Site” that there are Galra outside of his generals who Lotor trusts with his secret projects. This would make the medics who helped him oversee the Second Colony the ideal candidates to pilot the Quintessence shipments through the Quantum Abyss. And the medics are conspicuously absent when Keith and Krolia go to investigate the second colony.

Here’s what I think happened:

At some point between Seasons 3 and 4, the Altean pilots training at the Second Colony being testing the first Pilot-Quintessence-fueled ships. Due to faulty research, the energy demands of the ships are too much for their pilots, who are drained to the point of near death. The test pilots are quickly placed into stasis to keep them alive until Lotor has access to the resources for proper healing. One of the pilots, Bandor, panics. He steals a pod and manages to fly back to the main colony where he gives a cryptic statement about the second colony being a lie before dying in his sister’s arms. 

As has been theorized by others, Lotor gets ahold of the Quintessence Haggar extracted from Voltron. Thinking he can use it for his Sincline project, he ships it out a little bit at a time through a network of secret shipping routes, using decoy ships like the one Keith, Kolivan, and Regriss encounter in “Code of Honor” to throw Haggar off his trail and keep her from finding out what he’s up to.

The majority of the Quintessence is being delivered to his personal cruiser to be used by his Sincline ships, but he thinks he might be able to use it to heal the drained Alteans and has a shipment set aside to be taken to the Colony.

The medics take a cargo ship from the Second Colony through the Quantum Abyss to collect the shipment. Since all of them are going to ensure the security of the shipment (we don’t have a confirmed number, but the maximum seen on screen at once was 5), they leave the lunar outpost running on low power, shutting down everything but the stasis pods and whatever systems are necessary to keep those running.

They collect the shipment just fine, notify Lotor that the package has been received, and start their return journey back to the colony.

On their way back through the Quantum abyss, something goes wrong. The same creatures that attack Keith and Krolia arrive and attack the cargo ship. The medics are armed and start opening fire on the creatures, but their hits don’t land, and they end up damaging the ship themselves. Between the creatures and the misfires, the ship is torn to pieces and the medics are either killed, or they ejected, only to be sucked into a gravity well and lost forever.

Given the nature of the Quantum Abyss, communication between one party inside the abyss and one party outside would be spotty at best, impossible at worst. And given his paranoia over keeping his plans secret from Haggar, it would be plausible that Lotor would order the medics to only contact him in the event of an emergency. Even after becoming emperor, Lotor assumes that the colony is still secure since the medics haven’t called to tell him that the secrecy of the Alteans has been compromised.  

But then suddenly one of the Alteans from the Colony – worse, Bandor’s sister – arrives on the Castle of Lions, accusing him of murdering Alteans in cold blood, and he realizes that the medics are dead. That the shipment of Quintessence never made it to the Second Colony. That with the base running on minimal power there would have been no way for Keith and Krolia to access the computer files and verify what was really going on. That all they would have seen was an abandoned facility full of desiccated Alteans and assumed the worst.

TL;DR: The failure of the second colony happened sometime between Tailing a Comet and Code of Honor. The reason the facility was abandoned was because the medics had left to collect a shipment of the blue Quintessence only to be killed on their return journey by the same creatures which later attack Keith and Krolia.

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 11: Confessions and Revelations

The twenty-four hours (vargas?) that Rivalz needed in the pod came and went. The whole team, now in regular clothing, was gathered around, anxiously waiting for him to come out.

"I can't tell if looks healthy… or not," Shirley said.

"I think he's breathing weird," Rai observed.

"Oh, come on!" Kallen exclaimed about to open the pod herself.

"Not yet!" Allura batted Kallen's hand away, "A few more ticks."

"How much better do you think he's gonna get in a few more ticks?" Kallen argued.

"What exactly is a tick anyway?" Milly asked.

"You know, a time-slice," Allura said as if expecting it to be noticeable.

"What, like a second?" Lelouch asked.

"What is a… 'second'?" Allura asked, intrigued.

Rai pulled a device out of his pocket, looking like an advanced stopwatch, "Like this." The watch started counting up in Earth's time.

"I'm not sure," Allura said after listening to a few of them, "I think ticks are bigger. Coran," she asked the advisor, who was at the central control monitoring Rivalz's condition, "do you have a ticker?"

"Right here, Princess," he said, holding up his device. It ticked slowly around a circular direction.

"I think ticks are a little slower," Suzaku said, squinting at the ticker.

Rai furrowed his eyebrows, looking between the two, "I can't tell. We have to start them at the same time."

"Okay," agreed the advisor, restarting his, "Ready, go!" The two held the timers out in front of them. At first, it seemed they were evenly matched, but each click from the Earth timer soon made it jump ahead of the Altean timer.

Everyone gathered around, so engrossed in this competition that no one noticed that Rivalz's pod opened, and the Blue Paladin in question had stumbled out.

"Yes! I think we're winning!" Milly cheered.

"Winning what?" C.C. raised an eyebrow, "The intergalactic time-measuring competition?"

"Um, yes!" Milly said as if it was apparent.

Rivalz soon was able to stumble over on his own towards the group, eyes still droopy, "You guys having a clock party?"

"Aw, Rivalz, you just ruined it. Uh-Hey, Rivalz!" Milly shrieked, before pulling him into a bear hug, lifting him off the ground.

Under normal circumstances, Rivalz would have blushed, considering where his face was pressed against. However, he still felt half asleep after coming out of the pod. He blinked his eyes to stay awake as he was lowered back down. "What happened?"

Allura placed a hand on his back, "We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?"

"Talking? Eating? Are you asking out on a date or something?" Rivalz asked, only hearing half of what was said with his foggy brain.

While Allura looked a little annoyed, the rest of the group shared some snickers. They were all happy that their friend was alive and healthy again, though.

o~o

Rivalz honestly thought the food goo in front of him was the most delicious thing he'd ever eaten at the moment. He had finished almost the entire plate when Platt scampered in front of him, loopy-looping around before sitting impatiently in front of the bowl, begging for a bite. Smiling, the Blue Paladin scooped a clump up and held it out to the mouse, who nibbled at it almost greedily.

"You'd be Sendak's prisoner right now, if not for Kallen and Lelouch," Allura said.

"Well, you wouldn't have survived the explosion if Shirley, C.C., and Coran hadn't gotten a new Crystal," Kallen added.

"Wow. Thanks, everybody. It sounds like the mice did more than you, though," Rivalz said, and the mice straightened in pride at the praise, smirks on their little faces.

"Hey! I punched Sendak!" Suzaku protested.

"Yeah!" Rivalz laughed, "Apparently, after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off."

"We had a bonding moment! I cradled you in my arms!" the Honorary Britannian exclaimed, throwing his arms up.

"Nope!" Rivalz shook his head, "Don't remember! It didn't happen! So, anyway, what happened to Sendak?"

"He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle," Allura answered.

"...Is that really a good idea?" Rivalz asked.

"He's too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him."

"That's the plan anyway… if he'll even talk," Lelouch said with a frown.

"So… what's the plan now?" the Blue Paladin inquired.

"We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people," Shirley declared with a determined frown.

"Made a new friend have we?" Milly asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Prez, you know it's not like that!" Shirley scowled with a small blush, "Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home—They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't even know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a Paladin of Voltron is all about."

'Not much different from how we treat other countries, though…' Shirley regrettably added silently.

"Let's get going then!" Rai cried, "Time to go defend the universe!"

"Wait," Lelouch said, standing up, "before we do anything else, I have something to say first. A confession. A few of them actually, and I might not get another chance like this. Some of them might change the way that you all think of me as well."

Lelouch now had the full, rapt attention of everyone in the room. The ex-prince took a deep breath. Now or never.

"First, what I'm about to say must not exit this Castle unless I say so. Is that clear?"

Milly quickly caught on to what he was implying and began to protest before Lelouch silenced her with a stern glare.

"No, Milly, if we're going to be doing this, they have a right to know."

Milly looked like she still wanted to protest but ultimately stepped back with a sigh before crossing her arms.

"Before that, though, I owe all of you an explanation. About why I wanted to go back to Earth."

"You said it was because of Nunnally, right?" Shirley asked, confused.

"Yes, but that's only part of the reason. You see, I'm apart of something back on Earth. A special group of people that I have responsibility for… The Black Knights."

There was shocked silence within the room. Suzaku's eyes widened into saucers along with Rivalz and Shirley's. Kallen's arms dropped to her sides in shock, jaw slack.

"Y-You're apart of the Black Knights, Lelouch?!" Suzaku exclaimed, "Why?!"

Suddenly, Rivalz and Milly started laughing!

"Oh! Good one, Lelouch! You? In the Black Knights?" the Blue Paladin giggled hysterically, "That's a real knee slapper right there! Haha!"

"Man, and here I didn't think you even had a sense of humor!" Milly guffawed, "You had me worried there for a second!"

It took the two of them five seconds to register that Lelouch wasn't laughing with them, or the offended and enraged l look on Kallen's face.

"Wha-What wait, you're serious?!" Rivalz asked, shocked as his hands also fell to his sides.

"Oh… my…" Milly muttered, realizing just how real this was.

"I'm not just apart of them," Lelouch said, sighing before taking a deep breath, "...I'm their leader. I'm Zero."

There was silence for a solid twenty seconds in the room. The only ones who didn't look in shock were the two Alteans, who only looked mildly confused at the situation. Even C.C.'s eyes widened at Lelouch's revelation, quite baffled that Lelouch told them.

"Y-yo-Lelouch, please tell me that's a lie! It can't be true!" Suzaku begged desperately.

"You've known me since childhood Suzaku," Lelouch frowns, "why on Earth would I lie about something like-"

The Black Paladin was cut short when he was nearly bowled over by Shirley, who had thrown herself forward and engulfed him in a hug.

"It was you then," she whispered, "you were the one that saved Milly, Nina, and I at the hotel!"

"Um…" Lelouch blushed, embarrassed while awkwardly patting her back. "Yes, that was me."

"...Now that I think about it, so much makes sense now!" Suzaku suddenly exclaimed, causing Shirley to let go and back away, "I can't believe I didn't suspect you even once Lelouch. But…"

"I swear Suzaku, so help me. I will one day, obliterate Britannia!"

"...To think that you went through with it?! Don't you realize how many people you're endangering just to achieve this selfish goal of yours?! Your methods aren't going to change anything!"

"Endangering people?! Suzaku, did you not hear the goal of the Black Knights? Our mission is to defend the weak; those who can't do it for themselves!"

"The police force can do that just fine too! There are plenty of ways to work within the system for it! If you, Zero, continue this way, how many others will die in the process?! A goal is worth nothing if the means of achieving it are wrong! Rebellion isn't the way to do it!"

Lelouch froze, before throwing his head back and laughed almost hysterically.

"What's so funny?!" Suzaku spat in disgust. The rest of the room, the Alteans especially, were watching this play out like a tennis match, heads shooting from one side to the other.

"What's so funny?!" Lelouch gasped, before glaring venomously at Suzaku, "What's funny is that you're spouting out nonsense and degrading rebellions when you're practically participating in one right this very moment!"

Now it was Suzaku's turn to freeze, his eyes widening in shock.

"Don't give me that look, Suzaku, you know it's true! Voltron is rebelling against the Galra. We're the only known force at this moment that has any hope of defeating them! We're 'Defenders of the Universe,' ones that are destined to defeat Zarkon and the Galra. Tell me, how are mine and the Black Knight's vision and goal for Japan and the rest of the world any different?!"

Suzaku clenched his fists and looked like he was about to make a comeback statement when Shirley interrupted, "He has a point Suzaku…"

"Wha-Shirley, what are you saying?!"

"Well-it's just-Lulu is right! We're doing the same thing as the Black Knights right now. We're a rebellion. If you think it's so wrong… are you saying we just hand Voltron over to Zarkon and surrender?"

"We-well no but-!"

"If we do that Suzaku, people will just keep suffering!" Shirley interrupted, "When I was on the Balmera and talking to Shay, she didn't even know what the word 'free' meant! The Galra have been there for so long; they don't see any other future for them! Just as slaves living in those mines. She hasn't even seen what the sky looks like! They're all kept in those mines. If they don't obey, they're taken from their family, and who knows what happens to them?!"

'Sounds familiar,' thought Kallen. Upon the revelation of Zero's identity, a plethora of feelings and thoughts raced through the Red Paladin's head. There was confusion as to why a Britannian of all people was fighting for Japan. Anger and rage for his deception. But also… acceptance, and even a little peace. The fact that Lelouch trusted them enough to reveal himself to them. Not to mention the way he acted when Sendak still had the Castle. He was utterly focused on saving others. So, Lelouch wasn't being selfish on those terms, and because of that, she was at least willing to hear Lelouch out on his reasons.

"Suzaku… I want you to be honest with me, please," Shirley said, turning to the Purple Paladin, "...the Ele-the Japanese, the ones still living in the ghetto. Is it the same for them?"

"YES!" Kallen exclaimed before Suzaku could even open his mouth, "That's exactly what it's like for them! In Shinjuku, the military slaughtered everyone, even those not involved with the terrorism happening. Men, women, and children! All of them!"

"Wait, hold on a moment! What is this all about?!" Allura suddenly exclaimed. All of the Paladins turned to the Alteans, who they realized probably had no idea what they were even talking about.

"Apologies, Princess," Lelouch said, "Can I assume that you two don't understand the situation?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Coran admitted, "but, are you saying that this is happening on your home planet?"

"Yes, it is. It's why I was so eager to return there. We're currently in the middle of what you may call… a planetary conflict."

"I'm afraid I still don't follow…" Allura confessed, feeling embarrassed for sounding naive.

C.C. suddenly stepped in, and everyone saw that she had one of the mind meld machines on. A screen appeared in front of her, showing Earth's world map. "Currently, our planet Earth is separated into three major superpowers, each with different laws and ideals for its people. They are the Chinese Federation, the European Union, or the EU, and the Holy Britannian Empire, which is where a majority of us are from." China and it's allying nations lit up in red, the EU appeared in green, and the rest of the map lit up in blue for Brittania. "Each group is fighting and negotiating for territory and resources," the colors started shifting back and forth across the differing lands. However, the blue area seemed to continue to expand. "From what we've heard of your planet, Altea, it seems that your planet has reached a unity under one centralized government. Our planet has yet to make it that far."

Allura just nodded, though inwardly, she was quite surprised how primitive Earth was compared to other planets.

"As you can see, the Britannian Empire currently holds the majority of Earth's territory, and they're still pushing forward, taking more and more countries into the fold. Whether it's willingly or not," Lelouch concluded.

"I suppose I am still struggling to understand why you've turned against your nation," Allura tried to explain. Never in a million years would she think to betray her people.

"Because," Lelouch seethed, "Britannia is no different from the Galra!"

Coran and Allura both looked taken aback. Could this be true?

"As I mentioned before, Britannia, even as we speak, is continually conquering more and more territory. They crush any and all they see as 'weak.' Are either of you aware of the term 'Social Darwinism'?"

"I don't believe so, no," Coran said, holding his chin in intrigue.

"To put it simply, Social Darwinism is the belief that all living things are subject to the natural selection of nature. Basically, 'strong survive and the weak die.' Kind of like the food chain," Kallen explained.

"That's very similar to what the Galra believe," Allura observed with a look of disgust on her face.

"Precisely!" Lelouch said, "What Britannia does is no different. They invade other countries, take what they want, and because the country 'lost,'" he made quotation marks with his hands, "to them, they strip the nation of their freedom, rights, and even name. All countries that come into the Empire are replaced with just a number. All the previous citizens of that country suffer the same fate."

"Now, hold on!" Suzaku protested, "That's not completely true! If they become Honorary Britannians, they can live in the settlement as well!"

"Oh, so now you're saying they need to earn their rights back?" Kallen shot back, angrily, "Rights that never should've been taken from them in the first place?!"

"It's better than resorting to violence!"

"So are you saying that our home, Altea, should have simply surrendered the Galra? Even if we did that, they would've destroyed Altea anyway!" Allura said.

"No! Princess, you have a right to be angry. I get it! But Britannia didn't destroy Japan-"

"They sure as hell did!" Kallen practically screamed, "The people, the Elevens," she emphasized furiously, "they have nothing now! Last I checked the Britannians don't even see them as human beings!"

Suzaku stuttered, wracking his brain to come up with a defense when Lelouch spoke again.

"What floors me the most Suzaku is that you're even considering defending that nation when they, themselves, tried to murder you in cold blood!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" a drop of sweat slowly descended Suzaku's brow.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! They falsely blamed you for Prince Clovis's murder, even though you had an obvious alibi! They didn't bother to launch a real investigation; they just threw all the blame on you because you happened to be the same area!"

"These people would do that?!" an astounded Allura demanded. She was starting to understand why Lelouch hated these people. She was appalled. If her father had heard that an Altean had done this, he would've charged them with treason and conspiracy immediately.

"Yes, there was zero evidence against him. A sect within the military, known as the Purebloods, decided to use the Viceroy's, similar to a Regent's status," he quickly informed the Alteans, "death to accuse Suzaku of it. And if he was found guilty, what do you think would have happened? An Honorary Britannian, the son of the late Prime Minister even, is found guilty of the murder of Viceroy Clovis. Please, humor me."

There was silence for about twenty seconds before Rai's head shot up in horror, "No…"

"That's correct. The Pureblood's ultimate goal is to abolish the Honorary Britannian system. And they would've used that incident to begin that process. If Suzaku were found guilty, I wouldn't've been surprised if the entire system was toppled overnight. That means that all numbers, not just Japanese, would've had their rights stripped from them all over again. They would have been forced to return to the ghetto, like lambs to the slaughter."

"But that didn't end up happening obviously," Milly said, "Suzaku was found innocent."

"Yeah, it was after Zero showed up and…" Rivalz trailed off before looking at Lelouch again.

"Wait," Suzaku said, realizing the same thing, "then that means-you killed Prince Clovis!"

"Yes, you're right, Suzaku, I did kill Clovis la Britannia," Lelouch sneered, "after he gave the order to slaughter hundreds of innocents in Shinjuku ghetto! They were your own people Suzaku; most had nothing to do with the terrorism!"

"Wait, Prince Clovis ordered that?!" Shirley asked, horror in her tone, "But the news said it was poison gas that the terrorists had stolen!"

"That was a lie," C.C. said, calmly, "it wasn't poison gas that the terrorists stole. It was me."

"C.C.-"

"We might as well tell them, Lelouch. I'm stuck here just as much as the rest of you are," the immortal rationalized. "So, to answer all of you as to why I was inside that capsule, your precious Clovis la Britannia was running illegal human experiments on me." Most of the room's occupants made noises of shock and disbelief. "So, when the terrorists unknowingly took me, he feared if anyone outside his inner circle found out what he was doing and it went public, he would be disowned by the royal family. So to cover his tracks, he ordered the massacre. That's also where I first met Lelouch."

"I had fallen into one of the vehicles that the terrorists were using to transport C.C. I also ran into Suzaku, who was already a soldier. We both saw the canister open with C.C. inside."

Despite all of the firm, furious emotions within him, Suzaku couldn't deny this as he nodded in confirmation. No one noticed that Kallen had made a slightly disturbed and guilty face at the mention of the vehicle.

"With a little of his help," Lelouch decided to leave out the part that the captain shot Suzaku as he had already dragged Britannia's reputation through the dirt enough, "C.C. and I made a run for it. But, we were eventually cornered by some of the royal guards. They were going shoot me; they thought I was a fellow terrorist despite it being obvious I was a Britannian student." Coran's eyes widened at that before grimacing in disgust. They even would kill one of their own?! "C.C. then leaped in front of me, and took a headshot in my place."

"A headshot?!" Rai exclaimed, most of the others having similar reactions.

"That's impossible!/You should be dead then!/Are you sure it was a headshot?!"

"Not many alien species can survive a wound to the head like that, but as far as I tell Miss, you seem very human…" Coran observed, "...unless-"

"I'm/-you're immortal," the two of them said together.

Everyone was shocked into silence again. None of them made a move to question whether or not C.C. was making it up or not. Plus, after everything that's happened so far, nothing really surprised them anymore.

"Wait, if you're really immortal, then how old are you?" Milly asked, leaning forward.

C.C. shrugged, "You tell me; I stopped counting about a century ago."

"When I thought C.C. was dead, she suddenly grabbed onto my arm and… well, I'm not one hundred percent sure what exactly happened. I saw a bunch of images," Shirley gasped a little, "and when it was all over, I felt different. I realized that C.C. had given me something. A power known as Geass. The ability to compel anyone to do what I want."

"Wait! So that's what happened with Haxus. You just looked at him, and whatever you asked him, he answered you," Kallen said.

Lelouch nodded as C.C. continued, "Lelouch and I formed a contract. I would give him the power of Geass, the Power of the King, and in exchange, he must grant me a single wish of my choosing."

"What kind of a wish?" Rivalz curiously.

C.C. shrugged, "Don't know, haven't thought of one yet."

"Wait! That's what you said to me on the Balmera. We formed a contract too!" Shirley said.

"You made a contract with Shirley?" Lelouch asked, quite surprised.

"Don't act too shocked; I can decide who I form contracts with or not," C.C. said.

"So… you can control people now too?" Rivalz asked.

"No," C.C. said as Shirley shook her head, "Geass manifests differently from person to person. It usually depends and is based on strong personal desires. It can be anything from mind control to mind reading to even rewriting the memories of another person."

"So then… what can you do, Shirley?"

"Perhaps seeing these abilities up close could give some insight," Coran suggested. "That way, we all see how they work and how to use them in battle."

"Ladies first," Lelouch said to Shirley.

"Um… okay," Shirley activated her Geass and a blink later, she was gone.

"WOAH! Where'd you go?" Rivalz exclaimed.

"Nowhere, guys! I'm right here!" the Orange Paladin said.

"You're invisible! That's so cool!" Milly squealed.

"Hmmm… I think invisible is the wrong term," Lelouch said, "Shirley, turn it off for a second, Rai, go to the opposite end of the room. I want to try something."

The Green Paladin shrugged and obeyed, stopping at the far wall.

"Okay, try it again, Shirley."

Shirley turned it on again. Once again, the Lelouch and the others close by; they couldn't see her. But Rai…

"Did you do it? I can still see you!"

"You can?" Shirley asked, shocked.

"As I suspected. You're not becoming invisible with your Geass. Rather, it seems you're projecting an energy field that affects people and creatures a certain distance away from you. It likely distorts our vision so that you simply look invisible to us. But because Rai's out of range, it didn't affect him. I bet if he came closer, you'd eventually disappear to him as well," Lelouch deduced.

"It seems we'll have some extra training to do," Allura said, "to find its limits and capabilities."

"I think I can make others invisible too," Shirley said, "on the Balmera Coran, Shay, C.C., and I were all invisible to the sentries."

"I believe all three of us were in some form of physical contact with you when that happened," C.C. said. "So it's assumed that that's how it can be done. The Geass recognizes anyone touching you as an extension of your own body, and therefore will act to hide that as well."

"Cool!" Kallen said, mildly impressed with the ability. She could already see the advantages that this gave.

"And you, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked, narrowing his eyes. He didn't know why, but something about this 'Geass' power rubbed him the wrong way.

"...Alright," Lelouch turned to Coran, activating his Geass with a small grin, "Tell us the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you."

Coran's eyes lit up with a familiar red ring around them. "When I was just beginning my training as the royal family's advisor, I do recall tripping down the staircase, losing my pants and shirt in the process and lying square eagle on at the bottom… with the entire royal court there to witness it."

There was silence for a solid ten seconds before most of the Paladins out laughing. Even Lelouch had thrown his head back in guffaw and deactivated his Geass in the process. Allura was attempting to hide a couple of giggles as well. C.C. was also shaking her head in amusement.

"Huh? Wha-what happened? Why are you all laughing at me?" the advisor asked.

"Oh," Allura coughed to cover her next snicker, "nothing that you must concern yourself with Coran."

"My Geass originally was the ability to compel anyone to obey when I make eye contact with them. The drawbacks that I've noticed so far are that I can only do it once per person. So now that I just used it on Coran, it won't affect him again. Also…"

Lelouch activated his Geass again and held his fist to the side, which was charging up with lightning. A blast then shot out, completely obliterating the cup Rivalz was using at the table.

"I can do that."

"Woah! That was like that one superhero movie! You know, the one where the chick was kidnapped by aliens?" Rivalz asked.

Lelouch smiled and shook his head slightly. He knew what Rivalz meant, but it was hilarious that that was the first thing that his friend thought of to compare it to.

"Strange, no one I've made contracts with was able to do that…" C.C. muttered, inwardly quite shocked.

"I wasn't able to do that until we infiltrated Sendak's ship. Something just… snapped inside me. I don't know how else to describe it."

"Hey yeah! Both you and Rai totally destroyed the sentries that came after us," Milly remembered.

"Come to think of it," Rai said softly, rejoining the group, "whenever I fight, I get this weird feeling. Like my senses are heightened or something. When I was fighting Sendak the other day, he mentioned a group of people. The Druids? He said I must have paid a visit to them or something. So if I do have this Geass thing too, it seems to activate when I'm physically in battle."

"I see. We'll see what can be done about it. Sendak did say something similar to me as well," Lelouch said, "Princess, Coran, does that name ring a bell at all? The Druids?"

"Not that I recall no," Allura shook her head.

"It could be the division's name," Coran suggested, "a group of Galra that specialize in science and the like."

"Perhaps…"

"Okay… but why you, Lulu?" Shirley suddenly asked. "You get this weird power and decide to use it to fight Britannia? Why go so far? Why does it have to be you that does this?"

That was the big burning question, wasn't it? Well, time to finally answer it.

"Do you remember the story of how my parents died?"

Shirley and Rivalz winced. The official story that was spun about Lelouch and Nunnally's past was that their father was a scientist and their mother a businesswoman. Both were also very well versed in Britannia's politics. They had moved to Japan to help settle the disputes about the Sakuradite mineral. But shortly after, the Pacific War broke out, and both of them lost their lives.

"Yeah, you said that they were killed during the first days of the Pacific War, right?" Rivalz said.

Lelouch nodded and grimaced.

"That's the story that I came up with, with some help from the Ashfords. But in reality, my mother was murdered while we were still living in the homeland."

"Wait, what? But, I don't get it..." Shirley stuttered. All of these revelations today was starting to make her head feel dizzy.

"Yeah, what Shirley said. I know that Milly's grandfather owed you guys a favor, but..."

"My mother and the Ashfords were close friends up until she died. That incident stripped them of their status as nobles. If it weren't for the Ashfords, my mother would never have become the Knight of Six. Or Two for that matter."

As he expected, their eyes widened to the size of softballs. Even Kallen and Rai looked surprised.

"Whoa, hold on, back up! Your mother was a Knight of the Round?!"

"Let me put it to you this way, Rivalz. Lamperouge is mine and Nunnally's mother's maiden name. When she was married, she was renamed Marianne vi Britannia."

It was nothing but silence. Milly and Suzaku were the only two not showing signs of shock, having known about this beforehand.

Rivalz's jaw was on the floor, Shirley was a stuttering mess, Kallen was stock still, and just stood there dumbfounded. Coran was also quite shocked, and Allura seemed to relax slightly, her suspicions of him being a prince being confirmed. Still, Lelouch felt somewhat relieved to finally have that off of his chest. Now they knew his identity. Now they had to understand his reasons.

"W-w-what... S-so then, you and Nunnally are..." Kallen stammered.

"Correct. Officially, Lelouch vi Britannia and Nunnally vi Britannia both died near the end of the Pacific War. After we were exiled, we were sent under the care of the Kururugi family. That's how Suzaku and I knew each other before."

The word 'exiled' caught Allura's attention, but Coran beat her to the question, "Wait, why would you and your sister have been exiled?"

No one expected to hear Lelouch's tone go cold and icy. The air in the room seemed to turn several degrees colder.

"Because my father, Charles zi Britannia, doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself, not even his own children. After our mother was killed, I barged into the throne room, and demanded that justice be carried out on the murderer."

Lelouch took the mind-meld device from C.C. and placed it on his own head. He figured showing them would help them understand better than merely telling them.

The screen in front of him fizzled out before clearing. It showed a set of elegant grand doors in front, and after a few moments, they opened up.

"Announcing Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, Seventeenth Heir to the Royal Britannian Imperial Throne!" someone announced to the side. At the other end of the room was a large throne with the Emperor himself seated on it. To both sides were nobles and other people dressed in fancy gowns and elegant jewelry. The women all had their hair styled beautifully.

The screen slowly began to approach the ruler of Britannia, walking at a steady pace and with purpose, ignoring the whispers circling. However, some of the comments shocked the majority of the audience.

"I heard Empress Marianne was killed inside of the Britannian Palace."

"There's no way terrorists could've gotten in there."

"Which means that the real assassins must have been…"

"Shhh. Beware, my friend. You'll regret it if anyone hears that kind of talk around the Palace."

"And yet the boy remains… even though his mother is dead."

"It's over. And the Ashford family who stood behind them is finished as well."

"And his sister, the Princess?"

"We understand she was shot in the legs."

"And that she lost her sight."

"Blindness caused by trauma, though, isn't it?"

"No difference. Now she can't even be married off for political gain."

The screen came to a stop at the foot of the throne, "Hail, your Majesty! My mother, the Empress, is dead!" A young voice was heard, which they realized must be Lelouch's when he was younger.

"Old news. What of it?" the Emperor replied in a bored tone.

"What of it?!" younger Lelouch exclaimed in disbelief.

"You sought an audience with the Emperor of Britannia simply to inform me of that? Send the next one in. I have no time for these childish games."

"Father!" the screen approached the throne closer. Two guards standing by the throne rushed to intercept but were stopped when the Emperor raised his hand.

The guards straightened and secured their weapons. "Yes! Your Majesty!"

"Why didn't you keep mother out of harm's way? You're the Emperor, the greatest man in this nation, if not the world. You should have protected her, and now you don't even visit Nunnally?!"

"I've no use for that weakling."

This reply drew a large variety of reactions from the group watching. Shirley had gasped and covered her mouth her hands. Rivalz and Rai were both standing with duplicate looks of horror. Even Coran looked taken aback and a little ill. Milly grimaced and looked away, while Suzaku scowled. He had heard stories about the Emperor, but witnessing this firsthand… it paled to anything else he was aware of. Kallen and Allura, on the other hand, weren't horrified. They were both livid. Kallen gnashed her teeth, and Allura was clenching her fists so hard they almost turned white.

"That weakling?" Lelouch gasped.

"That is what it means to be royalty." Allura honestly never thought she'd meet someone she'd hold in as much contempt as she did Zarkon, but it seems she had. Lelouch's father was certainly one of the most despicable beings she'd ever laid eyes on as she stared at his face in disgust.

The screen shifted downward for a moment, before rising again, "Then I don't want to be your heir. I give up my claim to the throne!"

There were shouts and noises of bewilderment and shock that followed. The vassals that were there to watch were all astounded at the proclamation.

"I'm sick of the fighting and scheming over who will succeed you, Father. I've had enough!"

"You are dead." They heard the young Lelouch gasp.

"You have always been dead to me, dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the fine clothes you wear, a comfortable home, the food you eat, and your very life? All of those I have given to you. In short, you are nothing to me because you have never existed. Yet you dare to speak such foolishness to me?!" the Emperor rose threateningly from his throne, and the young Lelouch stumbled back as the screen shook with his cry.

"Lelouch! You are dead. Therefore, you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan. As Prince and Princess, you will serve well as bargaining tools."

The screen shorted out, and the Black Paladin pulled the device from his head, his hands shaking slightly.

"The image you saw when I messed up the mind-meld was of the assassination. Not a day goes by that it doesn't haunt me… After that, we went to Japan and were taken in by Suzaku and his family. The Pacific War started not long after that. We were staying at the Kururugi Shrine during that time, and it was one of the first places to get bombed by Britannian forces. Nunnally and I wouldn't have survived had Suzaku not helped us escape. During this time, Britannia had developed a new weapon. They're Knightmare Frames. War machines that work in a very similar fashion to the Lions though not nearly as advanced to be used within the military ranks. The country fell less than a month later, and not once did anyone come even to try and rescue us. In other words, it didn't matter to them if their prince and princess were still there. They attacked anyway, knowing that there was a huge possibility that we would die, and officially that's exactly what happened. Lelouch vi Britannia and Nunnally vi Britannia's deaths were marked among the casualties of that war. It's only thanks to Milly and her family that Nunnally and I have a place to stay at all."

"...That's horrifying!" Coran said.

"All this time…" Rivalz said, clenching his fists and scowling in disgust.

"Lelouch I…" Shirley started before stopping as tears trailed her face.

Rai also was scowling. Though he still didn't remember much, everyone knew about the war. And to hear how it happened in another point of view was terrifying, and immediately regretted ever calling Lelouch a coward, or selfish.

"Lelouch, I knew that you were a prince, but… I didn't expect your father to be such a cruel individual."

"Wait, you knew Allura? How? When?" Rivalz asked.

"Apparently, the mice don't know when to keep certain pieces of information to themselves," C.C. said, eyeing the mice. Platt had the decency to look a little guilty, but the other three just shrugged aloofly.

"The Emperor... my father... he's a monster. Now, do you understand? This is why I have Geass, why I became Zero. Though I'll admit there is personal motivation behind this, it's not about revenge, not to me. The Britannian Empire is nothing more than a plague upon the Earth. I swore I would do what it takes to create a world where Nunnally, and all those less fortunate like her, can find happiness. But to do that... I have to... I will obliterate Britannia!"

"And you will!" Allura agreed, looking right at the prince, "Because you'll have Voltron with you!"

"Princess, not that I disagree in the slightest, but are you sure this is a good idea?" Coran inquired.

"Absolutely!" she proclaimed, "They may not be the Galra, but I can not just sit by and let other people suffer like this. Lelouch, you have my support in this endeavor."

"I thank you, Princess, but I only fly the Black Lion, and though she may be powerful, I doubt we can do it alone."

"You won't be!" Kallen said, stepping forward, "The Red Lion is right next to you! Can't leave a fellow Black Knight behind now, can I?"

"Wait, Kallen?" Rivalz exclaimed, "You're in the Black Knights too?"

"That's right! Even if I weren't half Japanese, I wouldn't be standing by and letting innocent people die!"

"You're half Japanese?" Suzaku asked, shocked.

"Yes. My real name is Kallen Kouzuki, and I'm half Japanese, half Britannian."

"Why did you choose to do this then?" Shirley asked, "I mean, it's pretty obvious by now that you're not the sickly Kallen Stadtfeld we know."

"Yeah! By the way, please keep that look. It suits you way better than before," Rivalz said with a grin.

She shot Rivalz a slightly annoyed look, "...Because Lelouch isn't the only person who's lost someone to Britannia." At everyone's concerned inquiring faces, Kallen grimaced, tears pricking her eyes, "Britannia killed my brother, Naoto. He never hurt anyone! When Japan was overtaken, my brother and some of his friends made a small group. They weren't terrorists, though. I guess the best way to describe them is like Robin Hood and his gang, you know? Anyway, they never let me go with them, said it was too dangerous." She growled a little before continuing, "Anyway, all they technically did was find and get food and medicine, whether from an overly rich house, hospital, or whatever. Then they would hand it out to people in the ghetto. Sure, they may have stolen the stuff, but that's all they did. They were never violent, though! Naoto even insisted they not carry guns! Anyway…" Kallen had to take a breath to gain control of her emotions, tears nearly spilling from her eyes. "Anyway, one time they went out on one of their raids. Nothing special, just another nobleman house that had more food than he knew what to do with, and as they were leaving, they got caught by some soldiers in Knightmare Frames. Naoto distracted them while the others got away… They publicly executed three days later."

Lelouch and the other Paladins looked in shock; even he didn't know about this. It was no wonder Kallen showed her distaste for Britannia so strongly.

"They killed my brother when all he was trying to do was help others! No, not because he was helping 'others,' but because he was helping 'Elevens'! What kind of logic is that?! Even they charged him for theft that shouldn't warrant the death penalty!" she screamed, tears falling. Coran stepped forward a placed a hand on Kallen's shoulder. The Red Paladin instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and broke down in sobs, and they both were lowered to the floor. Allura also comforted her, running her hand up and down her back.

"I-I'm sorry that happened," Lelouch tried to sound comforting. He knew that Kallen's brother was dead, but he never knew anything about the circumstances. Her attitude towards Britannians explained a lot now.

Kallen sniffled, before wiping away the rest of her tears, "Either way, I'm with you too, Lelouch, Zero, or whatever you want to call yourself."

Lelouch smiled graciously, "I thank you… Q1," he finished with a smirk. Kallen snorted and shook her head as she slowly stood back up.

"I'm in too!" Shirley said, shocking Lelouch again. He honestly was expecting to get scorned and even kicked off the team for revealing all this to them, but everyone was suddenly proving him wrong, "Besides, I already told Shay we'd be saving everyone, that includes our own planet! The Orange Lion will stand with you too!"

"So is the Green Lion," Rai said, stepping forward, "Lelouch, I'm sorry I called you a coward before. You're anything but that!"

"Me too! If that's really what the Emperor is like, I don't want anything to do with that monster! I mean, what kind of a parent does that to their own kids?! What the hell?!" Rivalz ranted.

"Don't count me out," Milly smiled, "who else is supposed to keep an eye on you, Lulu?" Everyone laughed a little at that.

Suzaku just stood there, still in semi-shock. What amazed him most was how fast everyone in the room was suddenly against their own country. How could they not see the consequences that could occur from this?

"Suzaku," the Purple Paladin jumped, startled his thoughts, "I know we don't agree on many things, but I think we can agree on one. The Galra is the bigger threat, and if they reach Earth, the entire planet is in jeopardy, including Britannia. I believe it's in both of our best interests to work together in this."

Suzaku grimaced, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, Lelouch did have a point there. But still…

"Lelouch, you realize if Earth wants a chance to stand against the Galra, then we'll need Britannia with us. Despite what you might think, Britannia has the strongest military power at the moment, and we'll need that to defend the planet! W-Why don't we just tell him?" Suzaku suggested.

"Tell him?" Lelouch asked as if Suzaku just spoke to him in an ancient Roman dialect.

"Yeah! If-if the leader of a country knows there's a threat coming, and is provided with legitimate proof, wh-why wouldn't he help?!"

Lelouch let out a sigh; he then approached the Purple Paladin before he almost nose to nose with him. Suzaku leaned back, looking very uncomfortable.

"Let me make something very clear, Suzaku," Lelouch almost whispered in his ear, "you do not know that man the way I do. And I can guarantee that when I say he won't help. He. Won't. Help."

Suzaku had to take a couple of steps back. He had never heard Lelouch use that tone of voice before. It terrified him.

"However, you are correct about one thing," he said a little louder, walking back to the center of the room. "Britannia's military might trumps any on Earth at this very moment. Therefore, if the Galra were to attack at this very moment, this the outcome I see. Due to their superior firepower, Britannia would likely try to shoot them out of the sky immediately. They wouldn't even take the time to ask who they are or what they want. This course of action would only provoke the Galra further. They would retaliate with their own weapons. Ones that Britannia would never even dream of inventing. They would wipe out their troops and the rest of the Empire overnight. When that happens, other countries will move in to claim the power void that has appeared. I have no doubt this will ultimately lead to conflict between these other countries. The Galra will immediately take advantage of the wars and chaos that follow. The rest of Earth's forces will be destroyed within days. Any other resistance would be hunted down and annihilated along with the rest of the planet."

"Are you sure that's what will happen?" Rivalz asked in a shaky tone.

"Well, in theory, considering it hasn't yet, but that's the most likely outcome. This also means that to defeat the Galra, we will need Britannia's forces on our side."

"Wha-but you just said-"

"Kallen, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out, please," Lelouch said calmly. "I know I spoke of my desire to obliterate Britannia, but you misunderstand what I mean by that. What I want to obliterate isn't Britannia itself, but their ideology. Their belief in Social Darwinism. I will honestly say that I believe that most people within the Britannian military are good people. They're simply following orders given by racist officers and are just too scared to disobey."

"...Lelouch, say you're wrong," Suzaku suddenly said. "Say we do manage to convince your dad-sorry," he quickly apologized at Lelouch's glare. "The Emperor, say we do convince him, and he agrees to help. That should merit something, right?"

Lelouch shook his head, "This is what I see happening if by the tiniest percent that happens. If the Emperor, along with every other world leader not under his thumb yet, agrees to work together, I do see us defeating the Galra. But once that threat is eliminated, the very second it's confirmed that we beat them, Britannia will just go right back to what it does best. And that is oppressing other countries for its own personal gain. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to use what remains of the Galra tech to advance their own, making them even more difficult to defeat in the future. You know that Lloyd Asplund certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity to do so, Suzaku."

"Sure, I know some people might be interested in it, but the Emperor-"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT CHARLES ZI BRITANNIA WOULD DO!"

Suzaku jumped back. For a brief moment, Allura, still standing to the side watching this showdown, saw something different. It wasn't Suzaku and Lelouch arguing anymore. It was Alfor, her father… and somebody else.

"If we want to save Earth, if we want to stop the Galra from taking it, if we want our world to have a peaceful future, it has to be united. Not under Britannia rule, but where all nations, all people stand as equals regardless of their race, status, gender, or ideology. But to do that, we can't have Britannia's beliefs on Social Darwinism be active anywhere, and that means removing Charles zi Britannia from his throne. Otherwise, Earth will just go right back to fighting itself, and nothing will have changed. I can think of maybe two or three people from the Royal Family who might listen to us and cooperate willingly." Euphemia, Odysseus, Marrybell, even Cornelia and Schneizel flashed through Lelouch's head. However, he didn't utter their names, "But not Charles."

"Suzaku, we are looking at a man that exiled his own kids just because Lelouch wanted to know why his mom died," Rai pointed out.

Suzaku still looked unsure, and Lelouch inwardly sighed. Suzaku usually meant well, but he was also one of the most stubborn people that Lelouch had ever met.

"I'm not going to force you Suzaku, that's one of the few things I'll never do. But right now, I need you. Nunnally needs you. The Earth needs you. Voltron needs you. So please, fight with us now," Lelouch held out his hand to his comrade in arms.

Suzaku was silent for a few moments. He admitted Lelouch's responses were almost all logical, even his explanation on Britannia's 'obliteration.' Not to mention that Lelouch came out and told them that he and Zero were the same being. That probably took a lot of courage on his friend's part, considering how hard it came to him to trust others, even when they were still kids. And both he and Lelouch at least agreed that Britannia needed to stop what they were doing for peace to come about. So, because of that…

Suzaku clutched Lelouch's hand back, "I'll help you, Lelouch. But there are lines I will not cross, you can guarantee that."

Lelouch grinned, "Of course, I think we can all agree to that."

"Alright! Team group hug!" Milly proclaimed as everyone crowded around the two Paladins in a tight embrace. Even C.C. had been dragged into it.

Lelouch was so relieved that it had turned out this way. His first fear had been that once they knew who he was, both Zero and a Britannian Prince, that they would turn away and abandon him too. That, fortunately, wasn't the case. Now that everything was off his chest, he felt lighter and happier.

"Thanks, everyone, for everything…"

"No problem./Anytime!/Of course, you idiot!" came the responses.

"Right," Lelouch said after everyone backed away, "then I think it's time we launch this Castleship. Princess, we ready?"

"Absolutely!" Allura nodded.

"Then let's go, we have a Balmera to save."

"Yes, yes, let's go!" Shirley eagerly responded, leading the way to the bridge.

After changing into their Paladin uniforms, everyone arrived at the bridge, Allura stood underneath the crystal once again. As it glowed, seven large colored seats that circled the edge of the room rose from the floor. Each matched the color of their respective Paladin. Lelouch at the front, Kallen, and Rai behind him to the right and left, followed by Suzaku and Milly, and Rivalz and Shirley taking up the back. Each seat was conveniently located next to each of the elevators that could take them down to their Lions. As everyone took their seats, transparent screens appeared in front of them, each showing a different function of the Castle.

Coran and C.C. were close to the front of the bridge as well, just behind Lelouch's chair. The green-haired witch was adorning a new outfit of her own as well. It looked identical to Allura's but was gold where pink should be, and the blue was much darker.

Two pillars rose to Allura's side, where she placed her hands gently on top of them. "Activate interlock," Allura said.

"Dynotherms connected," Coran confirmed from below.

From outside, the Castleship's windows glowed a brilliant blue as the ship prepared for launch after 10,000 years of inactivity.

"Mega-thrusters are go," Allura said.

"We are ready to depart Planet Arus," Coran said.

"Whenever you're ready," C.C. added.

The dark windows that initially surrounded the bridge opened up to reveal the clear Arusian sky, "Firing main engines for launch," the Castle soon began to shake.

The six spires surrounding the center moved outward as the engines roared to life. At last, the Castle of Lions detached itself from its rocky outpost and rose into the sky. From the Arusian village, the king and his subjects watched as the Lion Goddess and her warriors vanished into the atmosphere.

o~o

Omake:

Shirley Fennette never had used a bow in her entire life. If her friends from Ashford Academy and the Swimming Club asked why she was using a bow right now, it would be because of a hobby. Not because she was trying to fight an alien tyrant that reminded her of the Emperor of Britannia. And now she was practicing again at the training deck alone from prying eyes.

At first, she was skeptical using a bow as her primary weapon, but in time it felt natural, like swimming, as she quickly hit the targets.

'I guess Allura was right, the bayard morphs to fit the Paladin,' she thought as she shot another arrow. It hit the target straight in the center.

It definitely helped when Suzaku gave her pointers on Japanese archery known as Kyūdō that Suzaku learned from his former teacher Todoh. It was taught as a form of meditation in action.

"To shoot correctly will result inevitably in hitting the desired target. Seisha hitchū. That means 'true shooting, certain hitting.'"

Shirley didn't know what it meant, but in time she understood.

If her swimming club members saw her and how good she was at using the bow, they wouldn't believe it.

She decided to practice when no one was looking at the training deck to concentrate. She hit another target in the center from about 50 yards away.

"I'm getting really good at this. I might reconsider joining the Archery Club when this is over," she said as she continued onto another set of targets.

Unbeknownst to her, Rivalz was walking by and saw her practicing, and just so happened to catch her as she shot a target just a little bigger than a quarter.

She continued her practice. The targets started hitting targets that bounced like tennis balls and quickly shot them down easily. She then shot the targets while running, sliding, and jumping while avoiding obstacles.

Finally, she shot a holographic apple (or the Altean equivalent) that was balanced on top of another target. It shot right through and fizzed out.

As she took a breath, preparing to hit the showers when a clapping sound caught her attention. She turned and the other Paladins, along with Allura, Coran, and C.C. applauding her.

She blushed. She didn't realize people were watching her.

How many of those trick shots did they see?

[blueplanettrash]

Eastside

This a story suggested by @2windowpanes where Lance and Keith met earlier in their lives and didn’t realise who they were until they did a mind meld exercise. I’m gonna have a few parts after as well. I hope everyone enjoys! 💙

They met one year at summer camp. They had a crush on the same guy and caught each other staring at him. At first, they fought for his attention and fought each other in the process. When they both realized that he was dumb as a stick and didn’t realize they were both crushing on him, they became best friends.

Their names were Akira and Leandro.

Usually, Leandro had no problem with getting along with people, no matter what but when he saw another boy looking at Dillon (the boy he had a crush on), he wouldn’t stand for it. He ended up calling the boy out behind the meal hall right after dinner.

“Stop looking at Dillon,” he said, crossing his arms trying to come off as threatening in some way. Surprisingly (at least to him), the boy just raised his eyebrow at him.

“No,”

“W-what!!? Why!?” He demanded.

“Because I like Dillon too!”

“So, stop liking him!”

“No!”

“Fine! I guess I’ll just have to get him to like me first!”

“Good luck with that!”

“You too!” With that Leandro, turned and stomped away, shoulders tense. Akira looked after him, his eyes narrowed.

And so their rivalry began. They were constantly working against each other, whether it be by bringing Dillon gifts or demanding their attention, or damaging each other’s chances in some way. One day, Leandro would shove a bug down the back of Akira’s shirt, making him hop around the camp, shrieking as he tried to get it off. Another, Akira would sneak under the table and tie Leandro’s shoelaces together.

Was it juvenile? Yes.

Did it work three times? Also yes.

In the grand scope of things, it wasn’t a very sophisticated “prank war” by any means but the word of their “battle” spread across the camp and it became something to look forward to. Almost everybody knew about the war and who it was about, except for one person;

Dillon.

Now, people would look at this situation and think Dillon is dumb as a stump and you’re absolutely right. He was, but they didn’t see it that way, in fact, they saw it as kind of adorable that he was so innocent. At first at least. Then one day after a wilderness survival session, they sat with Dillon as he studied the small map they were given.

“Is the blue part, water or the sky?” He asked, pointing at the coloured parts of the map. The rose coloured glasses over both of their eyes shattered. As candidates for the Galaxy Garrison and prodigy students, there's only so much they can take.

“Uuhhh, yeah, sorry Dillon, we gotta go,” Leandro said, pulling Akira up and bolting away.

Thankfully all of this happened in the first few weeks of the summer and for the rest of it, they spent together. Honestly, if they had to describe it, it was every summer teen movie filmed by Disney ever. You know, the typical enemies become friends and save the day or whatever. They never had a final boss battle but you get the point. Unless you count when their parents came to get them.

The night before they left, they snuck out of their cabin and to the fire pit. With the fire extinguished and the light from the camp almost completely blacked out, they could see the stars stretching across the entire sky.

“Wow, the whole summer passed and there wasn’t a single, other cute guy,” Leandro mused.

“If this is any inclination to the rest of my life, I’m gonna be disappointed,” Akira agreed, chuckling.

“What about Dylan, he’s kind of cute,” Akira suggested.

“Ehh, he’s okay I guess but man I thought this was gonna be my summer for romance,”  he sat up quickly before sighing. “What am I even talking about? No one would want to date me anyway,” Leandro huffed, pressing his face into his knees.

“What’d you mean?” Akira asked with concern. So far this summer, he hadn’t shown this side to Akira. He was usually confident in himself and in turn boosted Akira’s confidence.

“Dude, just look at my face, no guy would ever ask me out,” he peeked back at Akira.

“Well, at least you’ve got perfect teeth,” he shot back crossing his arms and lifting his lip to flash metal lined teeth at him.

“The braces are gonna come off eventually, my skin is gonna look like this forever!” Leandro whined.

“You’re being dramatic Leandro,”

“Obviously!”

“Come on, we’re only fourteen, we’ve got forever to find boyfriends!”

“When have you been this upbeat?” Leandro said with mock suspicion.  

“Since I saw my best friend upset,” He scoffed, crossing his arms triumphantly.

“Man, why can’t I have friends like you at home?” Leandro sighed, laying back and looking at the stars.

“Because I’m irreplaceable,” Akira teased, laying beside Leandro.

“True,” he sighed. “I’m gonna miss you Akira,” he said quietly after a beat.

“Me too,” he sighed, looking over at Leandro.

“Promise you’ll come back next summer?” Leandro asked, his eyes suspiciously glassy. He held out his pinky, Akira sniffed and nodded his head latching his pinky to his.

“Pinky promise,”

“You’re not going back this summer,” his mama informed him as she pulled out his suitcase from the closet.

He’d just gotten off school for the summer break and brought the camp application to his mother to sign so he could back. He couldn’t wait to see Akira again and catch up. Unfortunately, his mama had other plans.

“What!?” Lance cried, his eyes wide. “Why not!?”

“We’re going to Cuba for the summer,” she said shortly, handing the case off to her son. Normally Lance would be excited to be spending his summer away from home but he’d been waiting for camp the entire year. He’d even been counting down on his calendar.

“But-but, I want to go back!” He cried, desperately. “I promised Akira!”

“Akira?” She questioned in confusion. “Was that the boy you hung out with last year?”

“Yeah, and I promised that I’d be there this year,”

For a second, there was a look of sympathy on her face before she sighed and rubbed her hand down her face.

“I was going to tell everyone together but your grandmother is sick and the doctors don’t think she’s going to make it through the summer,”

“What?” The colour drained from his face and shock overtook his senses. He felt arms wrap around him and he sank into the comfort, he didn’t even realize that he was sobbing. While he looked out the window of the plane, he hoped that Akira would forgive him for breaking their promise and more than anything wished that they would meet again someday.

The first time Lance saw Keith, he didn’t know what he was feeling. It was a weird mix of familiarity, but also competitiveness? In simple terms, it was confusing as hell and he didn’t know what it meant. When he found out who he was, he thought he figured it out. Keith Kogane: one of the most talented pilots of their generation, almost as great as Takashi Shirogane, or so everyone was saying. So he chalked it up to him wanting to compete with Keith, prove who was the better pilot.

“Dude, why are you always staring at Keith?” Hunk asked one day, while they were eating in the mess hall. Lance chewed thoughtfully for a second, still burning holes in the side of Keith’s head.

“I don’t know… I’m pretty sure I hate him?” He questioned with a tilt of his head.

“You don’t know?” Hunk deadpanned. Lance hummed and shrugged.

He really didn’t know, but nothing else made sense.

He thought that maybe that weird feeling would go away after a week or two in Voltron. Team bonding and all that, but it just kept getting stronger. To be perfectly honest, it was interfering in their team dynamic and everyone was starting to notice. Surprisingly, Keith was acting strange around him as well. At times he would look around and catch Keith just staring at him with narrowed eyes. At first, he thought he was glaring at him but then he’d tilt his head as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

Allura and Shiro finally had enough of their behaviour and she and Coran organized a second bonding session with the mind meld headbands. But this time they weren’t trying to form Voltron, they were just trying to get to know one another.

They sat in their circle thinking of happy memories or things that would help their teammates know more about them. Things were going smoothly until for just a second Lance thought of Akira. Keith gasped, his mind suddenly racing with thoughts. He pulled the headband off and dropped it on the floor. The others pulled their’s off as soon as they lost Keith’s connection and watched him with concern.

“Keith?” Shiro reached out to grab his shoulder but Keith was too busy studying Lance, who had narrowed his eyes at him.

“What’s with you?” Keith’s eyes widened.

“No. Fucking. Way… Leandro?” Keith asked, staring across the semi-circle to Lance. His mouth dropped open in shock. There was only one person his age who knew that name.

“Akira?”

There was a beat of silence before they both jumped up and leapt at each other with excited shrieks of “HOLY SHIT!” They collided in a hug and started squeezing the life out of the other.

“Man, you had some glow up,” Lance whistled, pulling his bottom lip down. “Look at those beautiful teeth!” He whistled.

“Me!? Look at you! I’ve never seen clearer skin!” Keith said, with a wide grin, reaching out to pinch Lance’s cheek.

“Wait. You guys knew each other?” Pidge deadpanned, pointing between them.

“Yeah! Oh my god, it’s been so long!” Lance laughed, hugging Keith again. “We have to catch up, we’re doing a spa night right now!” He cheered dragging a smiling Keith out of the training room.

“Wait! How do you know each other!?” Hunk yelled.

“Later! We’re having a best friend night!” Lance laughed back.

In case you’re wondering why they didn’t recognize each other:

Keith has braces, his hair is short, and he has glasses.

Lance has pretty bad acne (why he’s so careful with his skin now, glasses, and he was really short.

[the-inept-artist]

A Small Correction - PART 2

Originally posted: 11/05/2018

~oOo~

The rules were simple: keep an eye on the two paladins. Light teasing was accepted, so long as it didn't turn into forcing fate.

Pidge had bet fifteen on a month, and Hunk had placed five on the same. "Because," he reasoned as Pidge introduced the newest gambler, "unless I have a solid reason, I never go against Pidge's instinct. And on the off chance she's wrong, I don't want to lose too much."

"Coward," Pidge said jokingly as she wrote down Veronica's offer.

"I'm smart, not a coward. Trying to minimize possible losses here."

Coran had bet thirteen gak on two weeks, which roughly translated to forty dollars, so he and Veronica had unofficially teamed up, the two having the most to lose.

Shiro and Allura weren't betting. Nobody had told Shiro because they were afraid he would shut down the operation. Allura, on the other hand, would probably be too enthusiastic, giving the game away. "She went a little overboard when she found out I was a girl back when we saved the Arusians." Pidge explained.

"Wait, Allura knew before we did?" Hunk asked. "I mean, I get Shiro, he knows your family, he would figure it out. But Allura?"

"The space mice are huge snitches."

Now, the day after Pidge had set her straight, Veronica was on her way to her little brother's room in the Garrison. With new knowledge in mind, she wanted to see the crush firsthand. Reaching the door, she knocked sharply. "Just a sec!" a muffled voice called.

The door opened. "Hey, sis," Lance said in surprise. "Sorry, I was expecting Keith. We're going to race over the desert. It's been a while since we did anything just for fun."

Veronica hid a smile. "Don't worry, I won't stay long. I just want to catch up. We never really got a chance to talk, all things considered."

Lance chuckled. "Yeah. Things were pretty nuts." He opened the door wider. "C'mon in."

"Thanks." Veronica cast a quick glance around the room as she walked in. Sparsely decorated, with just a few books on the night table and blue bed covers. A stark contrast to the room covered with posters and clutter back in Cuba. But she was willing to bet twenty more dollars the amount of skin care products in the bathroom were the same.

"So, how was life in space?" Veronica asked as she sat on the bed. Lance shut the door and moved to sit beside her.

"Honestly, not all it's cracked up to be. I nearly died in an airlock failure once."

Veronica's eyes widened. "How?"

Lance went on to explain of how the castleship had been corrupted, and many other stories. Some had his big sister laughing, others had her wide-eyed and in awe, and a few caused her to tightly hug him, just to confirm he was still alive and not a cruel apparition.

"Just how many times have you nearly sacrificed yourself?" Veronica demanded, not angrily. Lance had just told her about when he knocked Allura's lion out of the way of an electric shock, taking it himself.

"Ah…" Lance thought for a moment, then gave a sheepish smile. "Lost count?"

Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. To Lance, she probably looked exasperated, but in reality, she was trying to hold back tears. "You idiot. You heroic, selfless idiot."

Lance laughed. "Sorry. I guess it's, like, ingrained in me now. If I see someone about to get hurt, I automatically run to take the hit. Paladin code, y'know?"

"Still." The siblings sat in comfortable silence. Then Veronica spoke up. "So what do you think of the others?"

"Hm?"

"The others. Your team. How close are you all?"

"Pretty close. To form Voltron, we need to have a really strong bond, not just with our lions, but also with each other."

"Yeah, so what do you think of them after living for a year in space with them?"

Lance sighed thoughtfully, zoning out, probably remembering dozens more adventures and little moments that meant so much. "Well, Shiro is always looking out for us. Not just as a leader, but also like a father. We actually gave him the nickname Space Dad after he shut Pidge out of the castle's computers to force her to get some sleep. There was a mix-up with a clone, but we eventually got the real Shiro back. The team wouldn't have been the same otherwise. We can always go to him, no matter what the problem.

"Hunk is my best friend; has been since before we found the blue lion. He's an amazing cook, which is great, since Coran sucks at making food that's actually edible. You can always trust him to point you in the right moral direction. He might get scared at times, but he won't back down. In my opinion, that makes Hunk even braver.

"Pidge is our tech genius. She can crack any code, given enough time. She also has an uncanny ability to get to the source of a problem. She notices things most of us don't, and that makes her really valuable to the team. You don't want to cross her, though. Her bayard is both cute and deadly.

"Princess Allura is somehow both delicate and kick-butt. She certainly knows more about the universe than any of us, including Coran. She took over the blue lion for me when I moved to the red lion, which honestly takes guts. It's not easy to fly into battle knowing there's a chance you won't return. The rules for Pidge apply to her as well, though; don't get her mad unless you want to be judo-flipped.

"If Shiro's our Space Dad, then Coran's our Space Uncle. At least, that's how I think of him. He's like the guy who isn't actually related to anyone, but we keep him around because he's fun and weird, in a good way. Coran sometimes has strange ways of doing things, but he certainly comes through in a pinch. Back when we had the castleship, if things got rough, we could always count on a few blasts from Coran."

Lance fell silent. Veronica gazed at him, touched. It was clear her little brother had forged incredible friendships with his teammates. But—whether intentionally or accidentally, she didn't know—he had left out the one she most wanted to hear him describe. "And…what about Keith?"

"Hang on, I'm thinking. Mullet's a tough nut to crack." Lance fell back on the bed with a fwump, arms splayed, staring intensely at the ceiling. Veronica giggled at his expression, then immediately felt like crying. She didn't think she'd ever get to see him do that again.

"All right, I got it. Keith is like a flame. He can be calm and collected, but then turn around and flare up if he feels something isn't right. He prefers to follow his instincts, which are sometimes pretty spot on. Out of all of us, he's had the roughest time. His mom is part Galra, which caused Allura to be cautious of him for a while, but she came around. He lost his dad when he was a kid, so he's had to fend for himself. Keith has some trust issues, which is understandable, but we, especially Shiro, are helping him to move on. He's got a strong sense of justice, and while his views sometimes seem selfish, he really only wants to do the best he can for the universe. And I'd say he's doing a pretty darn good job. Y'know, despite the mullet."

Veronica didn't know if it was the light playing tricks, but she could've sworn there was a faint blush on Lance's cheeks. Either way, she had never heard Lance speak so fondly of someone. "Sounds like you care for him."

Lance jerked at the sound of her voice, as if suddenly awakening from a deep sleep. "Wha—no! I don't have a crush on him!"

Veronica smirked. Gotcha. "I just said that it's sounds like you care for him. Not that you have a crush. Although, the fact that that's what your mind immediately jumped to…"

Lance paused, then narrowed his eyes at his sister. "That's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

The redness on Lance's ears and neck had nothing to do with the light this time as he whirled to face Keith, nearly falling off the bed. "Nothing!"

Veronica stifled her laughter. "Hello, Keith."

Keith nodded at her, leaning against the doorframe. "Hey, Veronica. Lance, I've been waiting by the hovercrafts for half an hour."

"O-Oh, sorry! I'll be right there." Lance said. Veronica smiled inside as she noticed the stutter. Oh, little brother. You've got it bad.

Keith looked at him curiously but left without asking questions. Lance turned to his sister, the blush fading, but not completely going away. "This does not reach Keith."

Veronica shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay."

Lance pointed a finger threateningly at her. "I mean it. If Mullet hears about any of this, I will personally sic Kosmo on you. Understand?"

"Lance, I get it. I promise I won't tell Keith." Veronica held up a hand, getting off the bed and moving toward the door. "I swear."

Her little brother stared at her for another moment before relaxing some. "All right." He left the room, presumably to catch up with Keith.

Veronica exited behind him, closing the door. Turning in the opposite direction, she set off to find the other gamblers. Lance never said I couldn't tell anyone other than Keith. Pidge'll want to hear this.