#vld s5

[mushed-kid]

okay im rewatching voltron right and im on like s5 i think, and why have they been lowkey building up lance’s black lion arc without letting him ever get it. it pisses me off so bad that he doesnt become the black paladin because i think he should’ve been, with his development, why didnt he take the black lion and idk keith could get red back? all that development and just for him to not be the black paladin😒

[askmeanjudge]

[awhoreintheory]

Keith | Lance

Shut up its still May don't look at the date

My final mermaid art for mermay!! The elusive, the gorgeous, Krolia!!

Yall words cannot even begin to describe tje massive fucking crush I have on Keith's mom. Krolia is so fucking hot. So is Texas. I'd pay so much money just to be able to stare at them. God they're a power couple. So hot.

And yes! Krolia retains her alienness :) all the characters (in my eventual fic lol) are basically more evolved versions of preexisting marine life. Krolia is just straight up an alien.

[ethereance]

In the mood for some secret relationship allurance.

When they get together after some intervention from the mice—the tiniest wingmen you ever did see—they don’t even mean to keep it secret, they just. Don’t make a big deal about it. Because this is a them thing, and they’re content with that. They’re not even very secret about it and it’s a wonder no one catches them kissing in the castle halls. But Lance is his normal enamoured-with-Allura self, dating her has not changed that, and they’ve been subtly gravitating towards each other since long before they made things official. So them continuously opting to sit next to each other, hands intertwining beneath the table, slipping into each other’s room at night for face masks, it all goes unnoticed. Except by Coran because Lance let it slip when he came to him asking about ideas for a meaningful ‘month-aversary’ gift. It had taken a moment for protective father mode to disengage, and a few words from Allura, but Coran is pretty supportive (and Coran maaay have a soft spot for Lance out of all of the paladins, not that he’s picking favourites or anything).

So here they are. At some fancy ball-like event to improve diplomatic relations, each of the paladins dressed in whatever altean formalwear Coran and Allura could pull up out of the castle ship’s storage. Even with several washes, the outfits are still a bit musty smelling, but are otherwise in pretty good condition for 10,000 decaphoeb old clothes (both the material, and the airtight storage helping with that). And Allura is starting to believe this was a terrible, terrible, terrible idea, oh so incredibly distracted by Lance in altean formalwear. Maybe he doesn’t have the ears, but it suits him well, blue quite simply his colour. In fact, she’s starting to wonder what she even found hideous about his ears when first they met.

“You look beautiful,” he whispers to her, something shy in his smile. He looks at her with the utmost adoration, such an open expression that sends a cosy wave of warmth through her heart. Allura never wants to lose this feeling, never wants to lose him.

She hopes, this once, the universe will be kind.

“So do you,” she whispers back, watching as red begins to lightly dust his cheeks, his eyes widening.

“You think I—” He grins, boyish and giddy. “Holy crow. Sweet. Think I can keep the suit when this is all over?”

Again, a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. And yet. “Well I hardly see this being our last event.”

They spend the vast majority of the night away from each other, never far, but always caught up in conversation with the people of Cobraqua—their reptilian-skinned hosts for this evening—many curious about the exploits of Voltron, and some, more well versed in diplomacy, wanting to know what being a part of the coalition would mean for their home. Though he clearly hasn’t had the thousands of lessons of etiquette that have been drilled into Allura’s brain through the castle’s somewhat violent projections, Lance has always been good with people. An event like this brings that out in him.

So good, in fact, that the Cobraquelien Prince Bokar decides to make an announcement in the midst of the festivities.

“Father,” he says, directed at the planet’s king. “I believe it is in our best interest to accept their offer and join the coalition.”

And for that, Allura is thankful. The next part, less so.

“And you, paladins. Allow me to thank you for protecting our planet with the most prestigious gift my people can offer. If I may.”

He motions to one of the service staff who presses a small, black box into his hand. The prince clicks it open, revealing what from this distance appears to be some kind of ornamental trinket, a blue sapphire sitting at its centre.

“Blue paladin, I extend my hand to you, and ask that we bind our lives together with a romantic union.”

Now, it’s not like Allura is unfamiliar with being proposed to, once a princess of a planet of diplomats. A future throne to a planet with that much influence was enticing to many, despite it being common knowledge those of her lineage often found partnership with other alteans, and so it wasn’t unknown for nobles to nudge suitors her way during visits with her father. Often, she was left unimpressed, none of them matching up to the prince—or princess—her inner romantic heart had envisioned, captivated by the idea of a love so true, so magical, she’d fall for them the moment they met eyes.

But, just like her mother, she had fallen for someone who wasn’t a prince at all. Not even close.

No love at first sight.

Just Lance being Lance, growing into a person she can trust with her life, who’s so genuine with his faith in her that she knows he feels the same.

And somehow, despite such grandeur fantasies of love, what her and Lance have rests so dearly in her chest she would never have it any other way.

(One quintant, she thinks. One quintant she’ll be the one doing the proposing, when the war is won, and their future assured.

And maybe this can end better than any dream).

So, no. It’s not that Allura is unfamiliar with being proposed to, back then and even now, still, with Lotor having tried talking her into a union of them both.

But this other prince springs this upon her so suddenly, no lead up, that it comes as a shock, putting a dent in her diplomatic persona for just enough time that Lance reacts first, coming to stand defensively at her side like a paladin in shining armour. A very jealous paladin in shining armour.

As if he has anything to worry about.

“Woah, woah! Nu-uh buddy. You can’t marry Allura!”

Off to the side, she hears Pidge snickering. “Oh here we go again.”

“Seconded!” declares Coran, popping up out of absolutely nowhere to stand next to Lance. “As the Princess’ primary guardian, I object! I object I say! … Not that I mean any disrespect to you, Prince Bokar, but I can’t hand Allura over to someone without any notarised certificates of commendation,” Coran pauses, and looks at the prince with renewed interest. “Actually, as a prince, do you have any certificates?”

“Coran,” says Allura in time with a similar protest from Lance.

“Yes, right! Sorry. I just thought it was worth an ask.” And to the prince, Coran says, “Not that it would matter if you did, of course. I cannot in good conscience approve when the princess is already being courted.”

“She is?” asks Shiro. He turns to her. “Is this true, Princess?”

“Yes that’s… correct,” Allura says, realising that this is the first time the matter of her and Lance’s relationship has been brought up in front of the other paladins. “I apologise, Prince Bokar, but I will have to decline your proposal.”

“I knew it!” she hears Hunk say to Pidge, “Her and Lotor really are a thing!”

Allura inwardly winces at the name. She knows they must keep a working relationship with Prince Lotor, but they’ll never become anything more than that. There’s something about the way he speaks, almost as if it’s exactly what you want to hear, charmed words a distraction from his real goal. She may have had a passing attraction, but was all there was to it.

“That’s not…” she tries, only to catch sight of Lance and his pouting face. Allura stifles a laugh.

“I believe there has been a misunderstanding,” says Bokar, this baffled look on his face as he stares Lance up and down. “You’re in blue. Are you not the blue paladin?”

Oh?

Oh?

Lance blinks, his face going blank. He opens his mouth as if to speak, and leaves it like that, speechless, as if trying to catch a Jartulio fly in there, only nothing is caught, and nothing is said. After some pause, he tries again to find his voice, managing a pitchy, “Huh?”

“Hold on, hold on,” says Hunk, stepping forwards from the buffet table in which he and Pidge had been snacking from, their eyes darting back and forth as if watching a live dramatisation of a play. There’s this amused sparkle in his eyes, like he’d full on guffaw if this weren’t a professional setting. “So what you're saying is you want to marry Lance?”

“Yes, I find his company to be delightful. Even if he’s not the blue paladin, red is such dashing colour for a dashing man,” says the prince, taking Lance’s hand in his own to press a kiss to it. If it had been Allura preforming the action, she knows Lance would be a flustered red mess right now. As it is, he isn’t, though there does in fact seem to be a slight trace of red on his cheeks. “Please, paladin Lance, consider my offer.”

“As generous as your offer is, he cannot accept,” says Allura with as much professionalism as she can muster. She’s glad others are able to recognise Lance’s good qualities as she has, but it’s best they shoot down this man’s attempts as courting Lance as soon as.

“Yeah,” agrees Pidge wholeheartedly. “You’re really not his type. I’ve only ever seen him try and flirt with girls before and—”

“Uh, Pidge…” says Hunk, elbowing her in the side. She casts him a quizzical look and Hunk starts whispering in her ear. Nothing that Allura can pick up, even with heightened hearing. A crowded room like this is full of all sorts of muttering.

“Look, I’m really flattered, okay? I am,” says Lance, scratching his neck. He gives the prince an oddly bashful—yet endearing—smile. “It’s not everyday a prince gets charmed by my… me. But I’m going to have to say no. Sorry. And it’s nothing to do with you being a guy or anything, I mean, that’s fine. But I’ve already promised myself to this incredible woman and I really, really want this to work between us. Soooo… we’re cool right? This won’t affect the alliance… will it?”

Two rejections in a row has the prince looking out of sorts. There’s something to his smile, tight, pinched, that makes Allura believe that was less of a proposal and more of a demand.

“You could take us both,” insists Bokar, trying once more. Unsuccessfully, of course, as Lance uncomfortably shifts on his feet, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but here right now.

“Yeah, uh, we’re good.”

“No, I insist,” presses the prince, forgoing any pleasantries. The crowd around them starts muttering even louder, noises of disapproval directed at Bokar. “You can’t refuse a proposal from a prince! I’m me!”

“He said no,” says Allura, sharp, her glare even sharper. She notices Coran is giving him a similar expression, a rare sight indeed.

“But—”

“Enough Bokar,” comes a booming voice, sending an invisible tremor throughout the people in the crowd, guests jumping in their skin. “You cannot treat our guests this way.”

“But father, you said I could have anything I wanted,” protests Bokar, now less charming, more whiny brat. “And I want a lion! He’ll give me his lion.”

The way Lance deflates at that has Allura making mental note to shower him with love and appreciation once this is all done. Right now, she has half the mind to fling this spoiled prince across with room, consequences to the coalition be damned.

“No way man,” says Lance. “I’ve been here before and it involves being tied to a tree.”

Oh how could they forget.

“Your majesty,” says Shiro, addressing the king. “If this is the condition for joining the coalition, we won’t be able to accept. This isn’t right.”

“Hmm, yes. I apologise for my son,” says the king, another glare directed at Bokar. “Worry not, I have every intention to join the coalition. As for Bokar, he has a little more growing up to do before I marry him off, so it seems.”

***

“Eugh. What a jerk,” says Pidge over the lions’ comms. “He could not take no for an answer.”

“Indeed,” agrees Allura. She has absolutely no time for people like that.

“Yeah! I mean, he basically forced Lance into making up a girlfriend to get him to back off,” says Hunk. He narrows his eyes. “… You did make up a girlfriend right? I would know if my best friend was dating someone, wouldn’t I? Are you dating someone? Is it that alien from that planet of mermaids? Did she give you her number?”

A guilty wince. “Well…” Lance says, trailing off.

“No way,” says Pidge, no lack of disbelief.

“Oh my gosh! Lance, Lance,” says Hunk, a flurry of delight. “You’ve gotta spill the beans. First Allura, now you? When did this even happen? I mean, there’s just so much to tell Keith now! Usually all our blade phone calls are like ‘I found some new spices that don’t melt your insides’. And ‘we fought more galra.’ But now this. I mean, talk about a coincidence.”

“Err, about that,” Lance tries again. “See, there’s a reason for that. I was talking about Allura. We’re dating each other. Surprise?”

And with a flourish of his hands, the secret is out.

How this manages to be so exhaustingly dramatic an experience, yet simultaneously underwhelming, Allura doesn’t know.

“Oh!” says Shiro, an amused twitch to his smile. “Congratulations, the both of you.”

Hunk’s eyes are wide, impossibly so. “… Huh?”

“Sorry for not telling you before. It just… never came up.”

”No—it’s just. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.”

“Me neither. Huh, weird. I didn’t think Allura would… yeah,” says Pidge, a strange expression on her face Allura can’t quite distinguish.

“He’s right, Pidge,” Allura admits, looking fondly at Lance on the screen. He returns the look easily.

“Gross,” says Pidge, that expression disappearing like it was never there at all. Pidge rolls her eyes. “Get a lion, guys.”

Lance just laughs, a sound that has Allura wondering just how they managed to hide this relationship at all.

It is truly a beautiful sound.

[autisticlancemcclain]

“I came to help you!”

“I don’t need your help!” Shiro shouts, hoarse, activating his hand and holds it threateningly between them. Keith’s face crumples, betrayed, and it hurts so bad to see that Shiro can feel the ache of it in his chest. “All I need to know is that you’re safe. Far away from all this.”

Kill him kill him kill him end him end Voltron bring victory to the Empire be the Champion I made you to be

Shiro’s voice cracks. “Away from me.”

Keith doesn’t stop advancing. Tears leak from his eyes, one after another after another until it’s just steady streams, like a leaking faucet that won’t stop. But his jaw is set, and his shoulders are squared, and he won’t back down.

“I came to help you,” he repeats. He sounds as grown as he’s ever sounded, as he says it. Keith’s voice has only gotten deeper with every year in space, and his voice is already rough with emotion. But that’s not who Shiro hears; this man who is stubborn and strong and resolute. He stumbles forward, clutching his hands to his ears, trying to claw out the sound of Her yelling, screaming, ordering him to kill, to fight, to attack. Her screams are interspersed with flashes of memory; of a young boy with his fringe pulled over his eyes, sneaking into his car as he heads to the grocery store I came to help you; a scrawny teen with knobby knees and ill-fitting gloves he refuses to take off, showing up in his office and grabbing some papers to mark I came to help you; an older teen, hair brushed for once, wearing an old black suit, gently plucking the cuff links from Shiro’s hand before the life-changing question-popping dinner and putting them in himself because Shiro’s hands were too shaky I came to help you. Over and over again Shiro sees him, his brother, following behind, I came to help. I came to help you. Let me help. Rough around the edges but soft and kind and loving. His brother. His brother. His brother.

“Let me help,” Keith begs, closer now that he’s ever been, close enough to push Shiro’s arm down, gently, so it’s not a threat. “I came to help, Takashi, let me help.”

“Help me,” Takashi whispers.

Slaughter him, She orders.

The Champion straightens. His eyes glow purple. The Black Paladin draws away in fear, reaching for his bayard, hesitant.

“Please,” he whispers.

The Champion lunges.

———

based on this post

[vldcanondaily]

Lance ALSO does solo training

Episode: S05E03 - Postmortem Time: 08:33

We all write about Keith spending all his time training alone with the gladiators, but in this episode, we see Lance also does solo training. Allura wanders in at the end, but we don't see her training with him, so either:

She was spotting for him.

She wandered in by chance.

Either way, Lance is doing solo training, and no one ever seems to write him doing that!

[0xy--m0r0n]

more rayllum klance for the soul

again for the amazing @numerous-bees-in-a-skin-suit 's tdp x vld au !! gonna post the link again bc its always great to have new people!!

we discuss both voltron and tdp but also other fandoms and aus in general!! everyone is welcome :D

[localfanbaselurker]

This is definitely what happened

[voltronreference]

The Garrison Trio

[prophecyofgray]

i could fix voltron legendary defender. i could do it i swear. this show is REALLY GOOD at doing a lot of things but also REALLY BAD at doing a lot of other things. she's so close she's sooo close i could fix herrrrrr

[aangarchy]

I am getting vee el dee edits on my fyp on tiktok in the year of our lord 2024 and it's making me want to rewatch it despite every neuron in my brain telling me it's dangerous

[allyouneedisloveyup]

When your comfort series isn't so conforting anymore :(

I'm on season 5 episode 3 and I'm pain 😢

[askmeanjudge]

[autisticlancemcclain]

Truthfully, he should have seen it coming.

He’d anticipated the pain and loneliness for the first week. No signal, Keith had said, but it won’t last too long. Lance had hung onto those words like they were the only thing holding him up from a chasm of frustration. Every longing look at his laptop came with a reminder that he could talk to Keith soon.

And then the second week passed. And the third.

Lance had rationalized it to himself. Keith has a very hectic schedule, after all. It’s not too unusual for him to miss a call, for him to be unavailable. It’s not like he has a set schedule. He gets missions and then he has to go — Lance would rather him be focused, honestly, even if it means he misses his boyfriend worse.

He’s in a weird state of limbo, then, when the call from Kolivan comes. Part of Lance felt dread from the moment the Blade pushed through the call. Another part begged any god who would listen that he was wrong. There had been so much panic and uncertainty swirling through thin, then, that he’d hardly even heard the Galran’s words, hardly heard him confirm Lance’s worst fear: Keith had gone missing. He was assumed dead.

Something cracked in Lance, then. Something wide and sharp and gaping, splitting all the way up from the base of his tailbone to the tip of his head. Something fragmented, as every part of him imploded.

Before he felt the pain, though, before his heart cracked fully in half, his brain went foggy, like he was a panicking horse with a blanket thrown over its head.

This is for your own good, murmured a voice in his head, gentle and cool as a river, and then Lance went blank. He heard his teammates’ outcries, heard the demand for answers and details that Kolivan did not have, saw the confusion and fear and panic in everyone’s expression.

But he was blank. He felt nothing. Red had dragged Blue to him, and had her blanket his mind and soul, protect him from his own destruction.

He spent the next two months increasingly numb. He felt things happening, logged them in his brain, interacted as normally as he could, but it almost felt like he was tethered on a string a few feet away from his body, like he was watching himself live from behind.

It was nauseating.

Watching the team fall apart, struggle to even interact as a group; watching everyone branch off and grow more irritable, watching Shiro crack under his own pressure and turn into someone Lance couldn’t recognise…it was difficult to watch. It felt like watching two trains approach each other at full speed only for you it was in slow motion; you knew it was coming, could see all the damage it was doing, but you were powerless to stop it.

I can’t do this anymore, he begged his lions. He felt both of their apprehension in his mind, their fear; of him splintering where he stands. He’s never been very good at handling heartbreak. He can barely handle the pain of being so far away from home, from what he knows. Losing people haunts him in ways that never leave. He knows that.

But he also knows that he is capable. He has made it this far. Grief is all-encompassing, it always is, but he has grown around the pain every time, and he will again.

This time, also, he has no choice. He is the Red Paladin of Voltron. Whether Shiro wants him or not, he is the right hand. He has a responsibility, and he can hide from it no longer.

It will hurt, Blue warns softly.

Lance closes his eyes, shuddering. His hands clutch tighter on the shirt he has of Keith’s, soft with use, no longer smelling of him but comforting anyway.

“I know,” he whispers.

Hesitation blooms from both lions, but Lance’s resolve is stronger. Nothing happens for a moment, the anticipation of the pain worse than any muted emotion he’s felt in weeks. Then, suddenly, like the blanket was ripped off his mind, he lights up with pain.

He gasps out in the shock of it — it’s more than he expected, everywhere, like months of grief is hitting him at once. Sobs bubble up his throat and explode out of him, violent in how they tear out of his throat, his mouth, and the heaving turns his stomach so greatly that he barely makes it to the bathroom before throwing up. He clutches the icy porcelain of the toilet seat, like the grip can help the splitting ache in his head, the burning of his eyes, the bitter taste overflowing his mouth.

“God, no,” he moans, and he’s not sure if he’s protesting the pain of a trillion suppressed neutrons firing at once or the abstract pain of knowing he will feel this ache every day for the rest of his life. “God, please, no.”

He’s not sure how long he sits like that. How long he suffers. Long enough that he runs out of tears, long enough that his voice grows hoarse. Both Blue and Red howl in pain inside his mind, frantic to watch him but unable to intervene. He mourns until he physically cannot mourn any longer, and falls asleep crumpled where he sits, clutching himself tightly to try and hold his pieces together.

He wakes suddenly to the castle’s blaring morning alarm, muscles cramped from their night-long tense positions and eyes burning. He straightens as carefully as he can, rising to wash his face and dress as quickly as he can manage. He’s going to be late regardless. And Shiro is going to be angry with him, and this time he’s just going to have to deal with it. The ache in him has not lessened. He just no longer has time to cater it.

He is the Paladin of the Red and Blue Lions, the Right Hand of Voltron.

He has a job to do.

———

fics in the same universe: before after

[vldcanondaily]

Lance becomes the dedicated team morale

Episode: S05E02 - Blood Duel Time: 21:09

The team finishes the battle with Zarkon to get Sam Holt back, and Lance is the one to do the whole, "Nice job, team" afterward. Before we get clone Shiro, it seems like Shiro's our main guy congratulating the team after wins, but Lance takes up that role by this season even though we also see him dealing with not feeling supported as a team member himself.

tl;dr Even when Lance isn't getting enough individual support from the team, he's still there to feed the support to everyone else.

[angstandhappiness]

FASCINATING

Hi, do you have any more thoughts on Kolivan recognizing keith// his parent's (mom kogane's) blade?? I'm intrigued by that angle of perspective and would love if you could divulge further! Thank you very much!

Honestly something I think about, if Kolivan and the other Blade members do recognize the Blade is… there’s an element of their own grief probably tied up in this?

From the start we’ve seen the Blade acting weirdly personal about Keith’s knife. Several members, especially Antok, were incredibly angry at him having it in a way that’s more personal than just “that’s not yours to have”. But Thace was seemingly greatly reassured by it, in the sense that even going to his death, he seemed strangely hopeful and happy to know Keith was out there with that specific weapon.

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