#voltron fanfiction

[mothmanavenue]

In conjuntion with this art piece here

...

The war doesn’t end with a crash or a bang. Nothing explodes in a fiery shower the way he’d read about in books as a kid. There's no rocking of the ground as the world shifts under their feet, and a curling anxiety in his gut as he desperately reaches out in the link for a glimmer of one just one of his teammates, his family, his lover.

There’s just the dead drop of a falling lion as a ceasefire is called. It’s just the feeling of his fingers relaxing from a white knuckled grip on Red’s controls and his head falling back with a dull thud against the headrest of the pilot’s chair. It’s the unwinding of his spine as he slumps, all his strength and exhaustion collapsing in on him as he surrenders flight back to his lion, her battle roar softening to a gentle rumble in the back of his mind. It’s the gasps of relief and whispered gratitude of his family echoing in his ears, letting him know they’re safe, they’ve made it, it’s finally done.

Keith is completely unsurprised to note which one he prefers. 

Red’s purr is a constant source of comfort in his mind as he curls his legs toward his chest, eyes squinted in lazy, bone deep weariness, brain barely processing Shiro and Allura from their respective command stations outlining the conditions of ceasefire. He can barely think about anything outside the cramping in his fingers and the bleariness of his eyes from entire successive days spent raising Voltron’s sword, pouring his energy and willpower into convincing the strongest weapons in the universe to bend to his will.  

It’s ok if he misses something. The team will catch him up. They always have, when the tiredness consumes him, and he checks out of conversations and discussion, slumping against the nearest comforting shoulder. 

Allura’s voice is as sharp and clear as the crown that adorns her head; the queen of Altea in all her glory commands her troops from the midst of battle. Keith’s attention had been laser focused on ensuring Voltron’s continued presence, but nothing in the world could keep him from watching for Allura’s flashing blue light as she approached Haggar, now withered and raging, and knelt in front of her. Keith missed what was said, the words exchanged. But he saw the tightening of his Queen, his sister’s, shoulders, and the hand wrapping tight around the witch’s neck. 

It’s been a long eight days on this earth of his.

His brain clocks out in that moment, and he rides the warm haze he’s in, letting the satisfaction of success settle into his bones. It’s not time for celebration just yet. It will come later once the dead is counted and the shrouds are laid. Keith knows better than most the toll of war, and he dreads the time that will come when the lists of the dead will be handed to them, and he will need hours, days, weeks, to grieve people he did and didn’t know and names he’s cherished and ones he’s never heard, and each loss will still hit like a blow to the ribs. After that, the celebration will come. The ballrooms of the castle will glow with life and Hunk will dress in gold, Shiro’s white hair will gleam in the light, and Pidge will protest that she just won a war, she deserves a drink. Allura will stand regal at their side, and her shoulders will be light, free from the burden of an avenger, and she will turn to them with a gleaming grin and they won’t have any choice but to smile back at her. 

And lance.

Lance will be so handsome in his blue suit, golden and silver threaded in painstaking embroidery in the bed of deep sky. His hair will fall loose and natural in his eyes, heavenly blues, and earthy brown under the string set of his eyebrows, and he’ll gleam like a freshly lit candle. 

He’ll take Keith’s breath away and Keith will never want it back. 

But that comes after.

Right now, here, Red lands on dusty earth and grumbles in his head about doing all the work. He’s sure none of the other lions give their other halves this much shit. He loves her so fiercely it burns his throat and eyes. He can’t believe he ever spent a day outside of her. Can’t believe he wasn’t raised alongside this wonderful, temperamental, protective, grouchy cat, who bossed him and fussed him, and purred and cooed when he screamed in his dreams. Can’t believe there ever was a time he resigned himself to not having this. What a fool he was. 

The wave of emotion fills the cockpit in a lilting hum, and she lights up around him, Voltron blue piercing through the chunks in his armour. Red is as alive as a blaze and warm as a hearth in his head. 

Her mouth drops open with one final swell of affection, as she releases her paladin to his home ground. 

Keith murmurs a breathy thank you i love you you’re everything to me, as he stumbles out, hand grasping the cool metal as he comes to a rest on the shifting sands. The sand is warm from fire and fighting and it hits him all at one.

He crouches down, head hanging as he pants and gasps for breath. The emotion of the past few days shutter his eyesight till all he sees in the grains of sand sticking to his gauntlets. His head spins and his hair is falling out of the ponytail he’d tied it back in, and his breath is coming hard now. 

Something is missing. Somethings not quite right.

The swords have fallen, the helmets tossed to the side, red looms protective behind him. The shields are down the guards are dropped and he can feel the press of the Voltron bond that lets him know his team is landing nearby, drawn together with a gravitational pull.

He draws in breath, cool and refreshing and tinged with the scent of burning. Around him the sand is interspersed with freshly formed glass. 

He raises his head, expecting to see the heavens above him. He wants to take in the freshly healed scar of the newly collapsed Rigel star system. Wants to know how the blazing lights of thousands of planets worth of warfare look set against the familiar earth sky. He think he might look at the constellations, like he did not far from here a hundred years ago, tucked into his dad's strong, solid arms, the scratch of a stubbly chin accompanying a moving mouth as it named Orion, Cassiopeia, Gemini. 

He looks up expecting to see stars, and instead, he sees the sun.

Lance's smile is crooked, and his breath comes fast, like he ran, as he hovers over him. Their faces are so close he can count each individual freckle on this boy’s face, as precious to him as the gleam of moonlight cutting paths across the castle hallways. Oh this boy, this absolute death of him. 

“Hey lover,” the words leave Lance’s mouth with ease and anticipation, years of pent-up adoration spilling out with every vowel, “we did it.”

Keith feels his own smile steal across his face, “yeah, we did.” 

If possible, Lance's smile grows wider, crinkling the already forming smile lines at his eyes. Keith thinks of the products that line the counter of his bathroom sink, just waiting for a pretty bronzed hand to pick them up when the separation hits, and their resolves are softened by the press of late hours and long silence. 

A silly waste. Keith likes this look on Lance.

Aging.

What a wonderful thing he never thought he’d get to have. 

“You know what that means?” 

Lance's voice is smooth, the tremble that only a practiced ear could pick out masked by the sincerity and anticipation that has dogged their every conversation since that night on the dais. 

“We’ll wait.”

“Until when, Keith?”

“Until it’s done. When it’s done then we can have this. We can’t lose everyone for each other.”

“I’m yours?”

“When it’s done then. And when it’s done, I’m bringing you home with me. I’m putting a ring on your finger and I’m never letting you go. You’re it for me, Keith.”

“I’m not asking you to wait, that’s not fair-“

“I followed you into space Keith. I followed you to the point of no return. You aren’t asking me anything and that’s a damn shame. I’d give you anything you asked for.”

“When it’s done lance, when it’s done, I’ll ask you anything you want me to. I’ll come home with you, I’ll share a bed with you. I’ll be yours as long as you’ll have me.”

“Don’t joke, honey,”

“I’m not. You’re mine, lance”

“And-“

“you’re mine.”

The words reverberate in his head, and oh. This is what it was. The smooth slot of this thing that’s been so long coming.

Lance drops to his knees in front of him, one warm hand coming to rest on his cheek. Keith leans his head into it. He’s too tired for restraint, or shame, or any other useless emotion that would’ve held a younger him back. He’s got nothing to lose. He’s won. There’s no reason left to hold back. What a novel idea. It coats him and leaves him shivering at the feel of a gloved thumb running gently over his cheekbones.

His eyes fall back open from their unconscious close, and Lance is so close.

Honest, sweet, honourable lance. The sandpaper to all his rough edges. The iron that absorbed his burning heat. The shore that meets his rocking tide. 

Keith can hear the thunder of Pidge’s feet as they run across the uneven terrain. Hunk is following after her, his voice a cacophony of relief and joy. Shiro’s laughter is warm and thick as honey, coming easier than it has since aliens were a late-night story. Allura is giggling, high and bright, and a little hysterical. It’s ok. She’ll pull herself back together and they’ll be there to fill the cracks with liquid gold.

(Or glitter. She’d like glitter.)

Lance is watching him, and Keith’s eyes drift back to him. Lance hasn’t looked away in years. Something, some last resistance hidden away so deep he didn’t even know to search for a cure, falls away. 

He leans in and closes the gap.

...

posted on ao3 here

[vldkeith]

millennium born, industry made: a y2k celebrity au klance fanfic 🎥🌐📀🏳️‍🌈📸

read chapter one here!

art by @vldlance

In a world still celebrating that the y2k bug did not, miraculously, instigate the complete collapse of society, Keith Kogane once again finds himself navigating the glittery, plastic world of Hollywood as golden actor Takashi Shirogane's far less likable younger brother. He's become used to the paparazzi, talk shows, and horrifically low-cut denim of his current surroundings, but he can't quite find it in himself to allow annoying newcomer Lance McClain to schmooze his way into mentorship by Shiro as many others have done. Lance is nothing if not persistent, however, and he slowly carves his way into Keith's life and heart despite Keith's best efforts. Keith is well aware of the public scrutiny and cruelty that comes with being openly gay, and has vowed to avoid living through that at all costs—but how can he fall in love when he's not allowed to show it? Can a restricted but safe love be a replacement for an open one? Or is there, just maybe, a chance that this new millennium can hold a space for even an incredibly public relationship between people like Keith and Lance?

finally finally posting this! i've been working on it for a while and have most of the fic planned out :] this is my first chaptered fic like...ever? so i'm really excited and i hope y'all will enjoy this intro to it as much as i enjoyed making it.

please tell me your thoughts if you have any! i embrace the serialized nature of fanfiction, so i'm not against people giving me feedback and ideas even if i have the overarching story planned.

again, i hope you enjoy!! i recommend playing 2000s music while you read :)

[evi-anxiety]

I would like to publicly announce that Voltron is the only piece of media that has made me want to avidly write fanfiction for it

[valyrie630]

My current hyperfixation combo is so odd, like what do you mean all my brainrot is centered around voltron and top gun??? IN 2024

the voltron one makes sense because I started watching the show for the first time (I wasn’t in fandom when the show was airing), BUT TOP GUN?? All I wanted to do was rewatch the movies and suddenly I have icemav and hangster brainrot.

Anyways send help, or fic recs

[kangchinmae-blog1]

Does anyone remember this fic's name?

I read this Klance fanfic a while ago but forgot the name and have been looking for it ever since.....

Keith and Lance are college rivals (for the shortest amount of time). Keith, Lance and Pidge are all in this sexuality theory class?? And Keith is roommates with Shiro, so Lance kind of assume Keith and Shiro are dating when they're not?? And in chapter 2 or 3 I think, both Keith and Lance are in this fraternity party and Keith goes like "Lance, stop me if I'm wrong" and kisses him!! And then they become fuck buddies!! But they start developing feelings and Keith becomes anxious™

(I remember Lance saying something like "contrary to popular belief, my top 1 priority is not getting into your pants")

[burritello3000]

I honestly really wanted a Voltron Christmas episode where the paladins try to celebrate Christmas in space and everyone's singing and everything goes horribly wrong. In a funny way.

Wait... that's a good fanfic idea... Wait a sec... Stay tuned!

[legend-of-voltron-rewrite]

Just wanted to explain why Keith pulled up to his dad's grave with a small bottle of wine. In Korean tradition, when visiting someone's grave, you would usually have a glass of wine, which each person visiting would sip from, leaving more than enough to tip the rest over the gravestone. Just thought it'd be neat.

From now on, any post-chapter ramblings, i.e. information you didn't need to know to enjoy the story, will be posted here! I'll always give it at least one hour to avoid any spoilers :)

[yeeiguess]

I'm desperately looking for a fic i was certain I bookmarked. It's a Voltron fic where Keith and Lance get stranded on, basically, a cowboy planet. They have no way to communicate with the team, and they become... cowboys ? Outlaws ? Mercenaries ? Because it's kill or be killed. They get together, and the team finds them after they do their biggest robbery. I think they're called the McClains ? For some reason ? They live at an inn and eat pies. At some point Lance gets up really badly.

Anyway I've looked up every tag I can think of and I still can't find it so please please please if you know what I'm talking about, send me the fic name/link

[aspenmissing]

【Ｓｅａｓｏｎ　１】

ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ - ᴏᴠᴇʀᴡʜᴇʟᴍᴇᴅ ʙᴜᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ, ꜱɪx ᴀꜱᴘɪʀɪɴɢ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ ᴇxᴘʟᴏʀᴇʀꜱ ʟᴇᴀʀɴ ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀꜰᴜʟ ʀᴏʙᴏᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 3 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 4 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 5

ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴀꜱꜱᴇᴍʙʟʏ ʀᴇQᴜɪʀᴇᴅ - ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇꜱꜱ ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ᴘᴜᴛꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇʏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜰᴏᴄᴜꜱ. ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʟʟ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴀʀɴ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴏʀᴍ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ. ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇꜱꜱ ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ᴘᴜᴛꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇʏ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜰᴏᴄᴜꜱ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴀᴅɪᴀᴛᴏʀ - ꜱʜɪʀᴏ ᴍᴜꜱᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴡ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀɪɴꜰᴜʟ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ʜɪꜱ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴀ ᴍᴀꜱꜱɪᴠᴇ ᴇᴠɪʟ ʀᴏʙᴏᴛ ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴛᴇɴꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴀᴄᴇ ɪɴ ᴀʀᴜꜱ, ꜰᴏʀᴄɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴏɴꜱ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ʟɪᴏɴꜱ - ᴀꜱ ᴏɴᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴ ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴛᴇɴꜱ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ, ɪɴᴠᴀᴅᴇʀꜱ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴇꜱᴛʀᴏʏ ɪᴛꜱ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴄʀʏꜱᴛᴀʟ ɪɴ ᴀɴ ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴛᴇᴀʟ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ.ꜰᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ʟɪᴏɴꜱ ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1

ᴛᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ - ʜᴜɴᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏʀᴀɴ ᴛʀʏ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴛʀɪᴇᴠᴇ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴄʀʏꜱᴛᴀʟ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴇᴠᴇɴᴛ ꜱᴇɴᴅᴀ�� ꜰʀᴏᴍ ʟᴇᴀᴠɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ꜰʟɪɢʜᴛ - ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴇᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴍʙᴀʀᴋ ꜰᴏʀ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴜʟꜰɪʟʟ ʜᴜɴᴋ'ꜱ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱʜᴀʏ. ᴇɴ ʀᴏᴜᴛᴇ, ʜᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ, ᴀ ᴅɪꜱᴛʀᴇꜱꜱ ꜱɪɢɴᴀʟ ᴡᴀʏʟᴀʏꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴡ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇʏ ɢᴏ ᴛᴏ ɪɴᴠᴇꜱᴛɪɢᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪɢɴᴀʟ'ꜱ ꜱᴏᴜʀᴄᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴇᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴍʙᴀʀᴋ ꜰᴏʀ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴜʟꜰɪʟʟ ʜᴜɴᴋ'ꜱ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱʜᴀʏ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ - ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ, ᴄᴏʀᴀɴ, ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ ᴛᴏ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴛɪᴠᴇꜱ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʀʀɪᴠᴀʟ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ɢᴀʟʀᴀ ꜱʜɪᴘ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜰᴏʀᴄᴇ ᴠᴏʟᴛʀᴏɴ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1

ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ - ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ꜱᴄʀᴀᴍʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴏꜰꜰ ᴀ ɢᴀʟʀᴀ ᴍᴏɴꜱᴛᴇʀ, ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ʜᴏᴘᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴀɴᴄɪᴇɴᴛ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴇᴀʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʟᴍᴇʀᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ɪᴛꜱ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1

ᴄʀʏꜱᴛᴀʟ ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍ - ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ᴄᴏɴꜱɪᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ꜱᴀᴄʀɪꜰɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴛᴜʀɴꜱ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴇᴇᴍꜱ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ʜᴜʀᴛʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴅᴏᴏᴍ. ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ᴄᴏɴꜱɪᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ꜱᴀᴄʀɪꜰɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴛᴜʀɴꜱ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴇᴇᴍꜱ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ʜᴜʀᴛʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴅᴏᴏᴍ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

ᴄᴏʟʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇxᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ - ᴀꜱ ᴘɪᴅɢᴇ ᴄᴏᴍʙꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ꜱᴇɴᴅᴀᴋ'ꜱ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏᴠᴇʀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ɢᴀʟʀᴀɴ ᴛʀᴀɴꜱᴘᴏʀᴛ ʜᴜʙ. ᴀʟʟᴜʀᴀ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʟᴀᴅɪɴꜱ ɪɴ ɪɴꜰɪʟᴛʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ɪɴ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴅᴇꜱᴘɪᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍꜱ ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ. ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1 ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2

[multi-verse-mania]

Hey everyone! So, I’ve been diving back into Voltron: Legendary Defender lately (especially since it’s leaving Netflix soon 😭), and I’ve been devouring fanfics like it’s 2018 all over again. 🖤

In my nostalgia, I even revisited some of the fics I’ve written—including one I started ages ago that’s very Langst-heavy. It’s been on and off for years because I keep getting pulled back into Voltron, but I’m really tempted to finally finish it this time!

Fun fact: the prologue I wrote for this fic is actually a one-shot I posted a while back! If you’re curious, here are the links:

Wattpad

Archive of Our Own (AO3)

I thought maybe having readers might keep me motivated. So, here’s my question: would you be interested in reading a Langst fanfic if I shared it?

Vote below and let me know! 🚀✨

[mania-sama]

feel how the winter succumbs to the spring

Caesar - The Oh Hellos

➼ information ❧ Voltron ❧ Pairing: Keith/Lance, Allura & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro ❧ Tags: episode: s07e04: the feud!, light angst, character study (sort of), hopeful ending, introspection, ptsd in the form of game shows, pining, extended metaphors, keith has issues ❧ Summary: Keith lied about his reason for choosing Lance during Bob’s twisted game show. He comes to some revelations while he contemplates his answer. ❧ Word Count: 3,498 ❧ Cross-posted from Archive of Our Own ❧ Original post date: 18 January 2023

Keith thought he was enjoying himself the least out of everyone on his team.

Their whole situation was a mess. Keith had liked game shows when he was younger, back when he would watch them on the shitty TV his father owned. It wouldn’t receive signals half the time, and when it had managed to show something on the screen, it had only ever been at half volume. Despite the visceral rage it would cause the two of them, they found that watching game shows on the few channels they owned soothed their nerves.

Game shows only served to elicit painful memories for Keith now, so he turned away if he ever saw one playing. He would listen in on a nearby conversation rather than the over-animated host on the screen. The images of his laughing father would be stomped out of his mind with heavy feet.

All in all, he was having a pretty terrible time participating in this alien game show. It actually wasn’t the threat of a lifetime of imprisonment looming over the team’s head that caused him the most anguish. It was Lance.

Emotions weren’t Keith’s strong suit. They hadn’t been when he was a kid before his father died, and they certainly hadn’t gotten better afterwards. When he looked at Lance, he felt frustration and something else—something that he hadn’t been allowed to feel—meld together to create one chaotic mess of heated body parts and cross-eyed stares. This stupid, godforsaken game show was throwing everything for a loop, just as it always did when his emotions started to separate and show their true colors.

Though Lance didn’t say much of anything after his original comment on the liquid, which had something to do with exfoliation, it was obvious that he was beginning to feel true pain. His face was scrunched up and he started to paddle the green acid to keep his head in the air. His encased feet couldn’t be helping the matter since it had a tendency to lean him one way or another. He let out a nearly inaudible hiss of pain that nobody but Keith seemed to recognize.

There was also the fact that there was a missing patch of skin on his exposed hands, the acid having eaten away at the fabric of his gloves. Lance seemed aware of this, too, but he was forced to keep his hands on the liquid to prevent his head from falling under.

As the team leader, he was meant to keep a level head. And he did. For the most part. On the outside, he tried to help as best as he could, staying calm and collected in order to keep the rest of his team the same way. For a second he thought it worked; when Pidge tackled Bob and demanded to let the team leave, he thought he was going to jump from his own skin from elation.

Then everything was set back to rights in less time Keith needed to scream. PIdge was back at his side, her feet encased just like the rest of them. Keith felt hope drain from his body so fast it was as though it had never been there at all. He almost didn’t want to look ahead of him and see Lance drowning in the acid, his face red from eaten flesh.

“It looks like the Paladins have just made it into the final round!”

Only when he did let himself spare a glance, he realized that there wasn’t a tank at all. Lance, in all his confused and pained glory, was carefully touching his face on the other side of Pidge. He appeared just as shocked as Keith felt, his armor fully restored and skin completely untouched.

Keith’s heart was trying to escape his chest, either by beating its way out or by climbing up through his throat. The lights were too bright, the foot restraints were too tight, and there were too many people in the room. Keith liked to be alone. He hated all of these things, and yet they all became a thousand times worse when he came to grips with the fact that they really could just be here, stuck playing this game for an eternity.

‘Final Round’ meant nothing to Keith whenever everything changed and moved so quickly. They could be in this final round for as long as the host wished.

He could be forced to watch Lance drown in acid again, watch him become overheated in the isolation tube as he was forced to sift through his obviously shitty memory, and watch him fail. It was bad enough with their sworn enemies resurrected. It was worse when it was the one person who Keith could never get his heart straight about.

“One of you will now be allowed to leave the game,” Bob said, floating over to them on his UFO. His grin was cocky, and his voice grated against Keith’s brain like chalk against a board. “The rest of you will be staying here with me forever.”

Keith wanted to get them all out of there. He had half a mind to call the host back after he floated away, demanding that he flip the script. One of them has to stay there while the rest get to leave. Of course, he would make sure the one that has to stay be himself. It was fair. However, Bob didn’t seem to be in the business of fairness.

“You have blazzle hoochas to write down your choice for who should get to escape on the screen in front of you.” Blue dividers came up between the Paladins suddenly, scaring Keith more than he’d like to admit. Ever since he’d become a Paladin of Voltron, he’d been jumpy and terrified of almost every step and decision he made.

Not that he’d tell anyone that, though. It felt nice to be able to say it to himself—it meant he wasn’t hiding from the truth as much as Shiro liked to tell him he was.

“Go!”

Music started playing, not too dissimilar from Jeopardy!, one of the game shows that he used to watch with his father.

Keith stared at his blank screen, willing his mind to become clear. But now that the music was blasting in his ears, and all he could see were the contestants on the quiz show writing down their final answer. They would take a calculated risk with their current scores, putting hundreds to thousands of dollars on their answer. Some would risk nothing, and others would risk it all.

His father would grumble and talk to Keith about what he thought the answer to the big question was. He was never right, and neither was Keith, but it was always fun to try. They would cringe when the contestants wagered their entire worth on their score, only to get it wrong. Or they would gawk at the ones that did the same and got it right.

Keith hadn’t been able to properly keep track of their scores during this game show. It was in currency that he didn’t have a strong grasp of, and they didn’t have any individual scores themselves. There was nothing for Keith to wager outside of freedom.

The thought came to his mind only once to put himself down as the answer. He could find a way to save the rest of his team. Or maybe he would abandon them all and choose to live with his mother, finishing off their loose ends with the Blade of Marmora instead of returning permanently to Earth with Shiro.

His dad had loved Krolia. Keith didn’t have as strong feelings, despite the time they’d spent on the giant space worm. For once, he actually did want to sort out his emotions concerning his mother. He liked her as a person, but the strong warmth of a mother-son relationship was only a flame to him. It should be a burning bonfire. It could be, if he fostered it with proper ventilation and tinder.

His own wants didn’t matter as much as his teammates did. They had families they lived with their entire lives, goals they strived to achieve. The reasons for them to leave severely outweighed his own, so he let the selfish thought of writing his own name down leave his mind with the grace of a crook getting thrown into jail.

He leaned over the blue dividers for a second, letting himself spare a glance at all of his teammates. He knew them all like the back of his hand; it was a requirement of him for being not only a leader, but a friend.  

He never thought that he’d actually ever manage to get one. He’d spent so long in the desert with only his dad that he’d fundamentally lacked the social skills to make friends. Then, as the anger seeped in to replace any other emotions he could feel after his parent died, any potential ability to develop a sociable persona went down the drain.

Shiro helped, but he didn’t make Keith sociable. He made Keith tolerable. Then Shiro disappeared and everything they’d built fell apart. 

He didn’t know how the Voltron Paladins became his friends with him, and he didn’t know why they still liked him after he practically abandoned him. However, that wasn’t something he had to understand. What he did need to sort out was why, when he put his alien pen to the screen in front of him, he was spelling out Lance’s name on autopilot.

At first, he only allowed himself to think the obvious: he wrote down Lance’s name because he was Keith’s right hand man. As the new Red Paladin, he took over all responsibilities the current Black Paladin handed down to him. They’d built a trust that only they could have as the roles they filled in the team.

However, as he stared at his quivering hand, he knew that wasn’t the case. It would ultimately make more sense to have Allura leave the game. She could reassemble the Voltron Coalition again, and probably make it better than it was before.. She was a diplomacy master. Between her and Coran, they would ensure peace for the entire universe. She was a natural-born leader.

Both Pidge and Hunk made sense to choose to leave the game. Hunk could make friends with anyone. Even if he wasn’t a diplomat like Allura, he could certainly lead a squadron or army with efficiency. If he couldn’t do that, it wouldn’t take him long to find someone who could. He had an innate ability to sense who was and wasn’t trustworthy, even when the rest of the team was being led blind.

Pidge was the smartest of them all. She could probably dismantle this game show’s entire security system before the first hour of their doomed eternity was over. She would find her way back to Earth now that she didn’t have the weight of her team holding her back, and she would build a new world with her family.

So why, why did he write down Lance’s name?

Keith never had a waking moment since they’d rescued Shiro that he wasn’t frustrated at Lance. Either the other Paladin was mocking his hair or trying to one-up him in whatever they were doing. For a long time, they hadn’t been compatible at all, despite the way their Lions had always complimented each other’s abilities, or the way their bayards were made to have one another’s backs in battle.

It was always one competition to another, one insult to the next. Keith was prone to anger, and Lance thrived off of conflict.

And yet.

Keith was ready to jump over his contestant stand as Lance continued to shout out horribly incorrect answers to his drawings. He knew that they didn’t look that bad, and that Lance’s art comprehension was at the same level as a toddler. Hell, a toddler would’ve done better at guessing than Lance had done.

In the next moment, he was ready to tear out his hair as Lance struggled to name the people they’d met in their time in Voltron. It wasn’t his fault, not really; they had met a lot of aliens since they’d become Paladins, and Lance was already known to not have the best memory out of all of them. It was terrible luck that he’d been picked out of all of them.

It wasn’t the same frustration as before. He knew this because he wasn’t angry at Lance, he was scared for what was to come if he couldn’t answer the questions correctly. Then the worst did happen, and Keith was frustrated because he could only watch as his friend was slowly burnt in acid.

Frustration wasn’t the right word anymore. He knew that because his hands were shaking, his vision was blurry, and his handwriting was all crooked and wrong.

Lance was the hardest for Keith to get along with out of everyone in Voltron, but perhaps that made the most sense for why he wanted Lance to be able to escape shackled eternity the most.

He had trouble with his father in the past. From what he could remember, he wasn’t the happiest child, constantly upset at one thing or another, switching moods left and right. It must’ve been a living hell for his dad. Yet, Keith found that there was no-one else he would’ve chosen to be his father.

For a while, it had been an uphill battle with Shiro. He’d stolen his car, fought with him, screamed at him, and definitely tried to physically assault him on a few occasions. There was no-one Keith would’ve picked to be his mentor and older brother.

He had to work for those relationships. He didn’t click immediately with anyone, but it hadn't been hard to get along with Pidge, Hunk, and Allura. They had their ups and downs, sure, and the whole half-Galra thing certainly threw a wrench between him and Allura for some time, but they had come out with a stronger friendship.

It had taken so long for him to go just one day without arguing with Lance over one thing or another. They had been terrible teammates, and it had brought the whole team down. It was either get along or fail as Voltron Paladins. Somehow, Keith thought, that didn’t make them progress any better.

Keith and Lance built a castle. It was made of sand with a water moat running around and through the middle. It often became mud, and their clumsiness knocked over their hard work constantly. Even now, as they continued to build something grander than it was, they continued to mess up certain portions.

Keith often yelled at Lance to put some sand somewhere else on the castle. Lance would tell Keith to stop stepping on the moat. Their arguments made their castle strong. They saw what was damaged easily by their stomping and waving hands, and they replaced it with different sand. They made little people to defend the castle and to live in it.

It wasn’t finished. It had potential, but Keith was holding them back from finishing it. He was scared of what would happen when they put a flag on top of it, when they added the final touches to the swords the defenders held and the curtains on the windows. He was scared that it would all come tumbling down, and Lance would never attempt another sand castle with him again.

Hunk had chosen Allura to leave the game. His explanation made sense; it was nothing Keith disagreed with.

Keith thought that Lance was becoming a better leader than Keith was now. Perhaps they’d always been at the same level; when Keith was hot-headed and couldn’t make decisions, Lance couldn’t formulate a plan and didn’t take anything seriously enough. Now, though, Keith would leave Voltron in the hands of Lance in a heartbeat.

It was trust, he realized. He had trusted Allura with the Castle of Lions and the Voltron Coalition. But now, the castle was disintegrated and the Galra Empire’s leaders had been overthrown. Keith trusted Lance to take care of what was left, not lead something new.

Allura selected Pidge. Her reasoning had been more personal—she wanted to savor the legacy of her father. Keith thought that his personal reasons for choosing Lance were different.

No-one else could tell Shiro what happened to the team, what happened to Keith. There was no-one else that could tell his own mother what happened to her son. Lance was the only person that could deliver the message, because he was the only person in the room that knew Keith because they’d become each other’s backs. When they failed, they turned to each other as though they were the only two that mattered.

Keith trusted Lance with guiding Shiro back to Earth and bringing Krolia wherever she wanted to go. He trusted Lance to fix what Keith couldn’t, to accomplish what Keith couldn’t. Perhaps his and Allura’s reasonings weren’t so different after all.

“I voted for Keith,” Lance said, his voice the strongest it had been the entire night. Keith thought he was going to explode from where he was standing. He failed to hear most of what Lance said, thought he did manage to catch the last part. “He’s like the future.”

Maybe that was where they differed. Where Lance thought Keith was the future of the universe, Keith knew that Lance was the future of Keith’s world. There would always be an argument between them, and if they somehow made it out of the game alive, Keith planned to start a disagreement over why he would ever consider sending Keith out of the game instead of anyone else.

Although, he couldn't truly say they argued anymore. They would bicker, but nothing heated like they used to. The heat Keith when he so much as looked at Lance wasn’t from frustration, then.

Bob turned to Keith. “Keith, the leader, who do you think deserves to make it out of here, huh?”

Keith hated the way the host sounded, like he knew everything about everyone. Like how he enjoyed torturing Lance and stressing Keith out. The pedestal pinged in front of Keith, and the surprise on Bob’s face sent a wave of anger down his spine.

“Lance? Why Lance?”

There were a thousand things he could say. He had come to the sudden, horrible realization that he wasn’t frustrated at Lance like he always assumed he was. Keith was in love, and that was horrifying.

Lance didn’t deserve to be trapped in the game show for eternity. He deserved to go back to Earth and live with his family. Perhaps he could finish off his schooling in the Garrison and finally put out his middle finger to Keith and say, ‘See, I am the best fighter pilot of our class!’

Lance deserved happiness, and he knew that he wouldn’t get that staying in this game show for the rest of their lives. The revelation was a little too much for him to comprehend, and he did the one thing he always did: fall back to familiarity of red, hot anger.

“I just don’t wanna be stuck here for eternity with Lance,” he said with ire, upset at Bob and upset that he could never say what he meant because his ability to handle his own emotions was embarrassingly terrible. One could say a toddler could do better than him.

They’d voted for each other. They’d always had each other’s backs, becoming almost one and the same. He hated the way Lance looked at him dejectedly for the reason that Keith voted for him, knowing full well that he had lied through his teeth. It was almost too much to bear.

Pidge had chosen Hunk. Her reasoning went deaf to Keith’s ears as he stared at his hands. His emotions were splayed out in front of him, bleeding out of his heart and staining his gloves.

Bob crowned them winners and not a second later, Keith was waking up in the Black Lion. Groggily, he thought that maybe it was all just a dream. One hell of a dream, but at least he hadn’t said that terribly untrue thing to Lance.

Then Hunk started talking. Keith watched a piece of the castle crumble away, and he knew he would have to patch it up. What he said to Lance was heard. Lance would think that Keith meant his until he would finally replace the missing sand in their castle.

Keith looked out at the beach that housed their castle. It was all-too much for his heart, and he knew that he didn’t have the capacity to ask Lance about finishing it off yet. So, he settled for a compromise.

When we get back to Earth, he thought, I’ll tell him everything. The fate of their castle would come. Keith was done holding back.

[yoongikapi]

𝓿𝓸𝓵𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽ᡣ𐭩

┌──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────────┐

shiroᡣ𐭩

keithᡣ𐭩

lanceᡣ𐭩

hunkᡣ𐭩

pidgeᡣ𐭩

└──────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────────┘

[ocdeeznut]

You remember that fanfiction i started writing and forgot about for like a month?

Yeah, so do I. I’m writing it again o7

[evi-anxiety]

Does anyone know any good villain Keith fics?

Preferably not like an AU where he grows up with the Empire or smth. More like he's with Voltron and then smth happens that turns him into a villain?

Not being picky tho, I'll take anything.

[sonekwi]

☆ ⸻ the white paladin, keith x reader

chapter four: discoveries

characters/pairings: keith, female reader

genre: fanfiction

summary: the red lion is in the possession of a ruthless galra general and taking it back is no small feat. although, you never expected to find another lion.

word count: 2,216

links: previous, next, wattpad, masterlist

a/n: i'm sorry about the shorter chapter. i just couldn't find the right flow for this one no matter how many times i rewrote it. i still hope you enjoy!

You, Pidge, Shiro, and Keith sneak inside the Galra ship, crawling through the hole in the metal hull Pidge had cut out. As you look around, you notice that you're inside some sort of engine control room. Pillars of raw electricity arch from floor to ceiling along the entire length of the room, crackling and buzzing. You nervously keep your distance.

"Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asks over the intercom.

"We're in," Pidge responds.

"We shouldn't stay in one spot for long," you say.

Shiro nods. "You're right, let's get moving."

The group sneaks throughout the ship, carefully avoiding the Galra soldiers patrolling around. The purple lights illuminating your path seem to pulse with an eerie and malicious energy, constantly reminding you of the danger you're in.

Shiro stops as the group comes up to an intersection, staring down each of the two halls that stretch out before you. For a moment he tenses up, almost as if he's paralyzed. You reach out and grab his arm, and he flinches away from you.

"Are you okay?" you ask.

"I've been here before," Shiro says, his voice barely above a whisper. "When the Galra had taken us, they– they brought us here."

Pidge perks up, "That means the rest of your crew might still be here. We have to rescue them!" he exclaims.

Shiro shakes his head, "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion back to Arus.

"But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge shouts. You hiss at him to keep his voice down, but he glares at you instead.

Shiro steps closer to Pidge, "Look, no one understands that more than me, but in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving," he says and begins to walk down one of the halls.

"No!" Pidge shouts again and Shiro stops. "Commander Holt is my father... He and my brother were the ones on Kerberos mission with you."

You give Pidge a quizzical look. That doesn't make sense. Commander Holt only had one son, Matt, and as Pidge said, he was on the Kerberos mission. So how the heck is Pidge his child?

Your eyes go wide, the dots finally connecting. No freaking way! You're his daughter Katie!? You're the kid that was blacklisted from the Garrison!

The only thing different is the glasses and short hair. How did Iverson not see it? How did you not see it? You met Commander Holt's children before the Kerberos crew left Earth. You were there with Keith to say goodbye to Shiro. You literally shook Pidge's hand that day!

     Wow, that is freaking embarrassing.

"Commander Holt is your father?" Shiro repeats.

"Yes! I have been searching everywhere for my family and I am not going to give up when I am this close!" Pidge says.

"We can split up," you blurt out, still caught up in your revelation. "Keith and I can go look for the Red Lion while you guys go look for the prisoners."

"Alright," Shrio says, agreeing with your idea. "Let's go then, I remember where they are held."

Keith glances between you and Shiro. "Are you sure that's a good idea? There are Galra soldiers everywhere."

Shiro places a hand on his shoulder. "Minor change of plans, but you'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus-"

     A door down one of the halls opens, the sound of footsteps echoing along the walls. The group splits frantically, and you and Keith sprint down one of the halls. You skid to a stop as you quickly come upon another intersection. But you don't have time to think as the Galra soldiers are heading in your direction. You grab Keith's arm and run in a random direction.

     When you can't hear any footsteps other than your own, you slow down and eventually come upon another intersection of halls. You hum, wondering if you can feel the same pulsing energy you did when searching for the Blue Lion, but you have nothing.

     "Where do we even go?" Keith says, pacing between the two available directions. You can't feel the Red Lion, but you can definitely feel his growing impatience. "We don't even know where we are."

     You grab his hand to force his attention on you, "Hey, remember what Shiro said? Patience yields focus," you say. "Try feeling the Red Lion's energy. You'll find it."

     "Right," Keith huffs and closes his eyes. You watch his expression shift, his brows furrowing as he focuses. As he stands there, your eyes slowly begin to wander around his face. They drift from his eyes, to his nose, to his cheeks... to his mouth. You've never been able to keep yourself from admiring him when he wasn't looking.

     It's something you've come to do subconsciously.

     "I can feel it..." Keith says softly and his voice snaps you out of your trance. You frantically drop his hand and look away, your heart pounding wildly in your chest. For a split second, you thought he was talking about you staring at him.

     You mentally cuss at yourself and feel your cheeks heat up with embarrassment. You're supposed to be mad at him, not hopelessly crushing on him. You seriously need to get out of your head.

     Keith opens his eyes, "I got it. This way!" he says and you follow him.

     The two of you avoid the patrolling soldiers as Keith tracks down the Red Lion, and eventually, you enter a large hangar. Cargo boxes and supplies are scattered about, but what's in the center is what catches your attention.

     "What the heck?" Keith mutters.

You pause, "Allura? Are you seeing this?" you ask over the intercom.

"Hold on, (y/n), let me pull up your feed," she says and then there's a very long silence.

Not one, but two Voltron Lions sit in the middle of the hangar, protected by their force fields. The Red Lion is there, as expected, but you stare at the other. Its metal body is entirely white, save for the few crystal blue and yellow accents consistent with Altean architecture and design.

The strange Lion's bright eyes seem to eagerly lock onto you as you approach it.

     "I don't understand," Allura's voice barely crackles through the speakers in your helmet. "There's only five Lions..."

     "Do you think the Galra built it?" Keith asks, running up to his Lion. As surprised as he is, he needs to focus on bonding with the Red Lion.

     "That would be impossible," Allura says. "The blueprints died with my father."

You suddenly feel a pulse of energy, but not in the same way as you did with the Blue Lion. It's as if the strange Lion's very essence is tethered to you, and you can feel that tether tug throughout your whole body, urging you. You stop right in front of it and place your hands against the force field. The material ripples at your touch, but it doesn't open. The Lion purrs deeply.

"It's me! Keith!"

     You look over at your friend, wondering what's going on. He stands in front of the Red Lion, who doesn't let him in either. His hands push against the force field.

      "I am your Paladin!" he shouts, but the Red Lion continues to ignore him. "I'm bonding with you! Hey, we're connected–"

     A group of soldiers burst into the hangar and begin shooting at the two of you. You raise your arm in front of you, activating your shield.

     "Why did you have to be so loud?" you snap at Keith and run over to him.

     "Why weren't you watching our backs?" Keith says to you. He transforms his bayard into a sword and rushes at the Galra soldiers.

"Oh, well I'm sorry!" you sneer at him and activate your bayard. You stop for a small moment as it materializes into a double-bladed scythe, the weapon feeling balanced and weighted in your hand. "This is new–"

A Galra soldier shoots at you, interrupting your gawking. You brace yourself behind your shield, the lasers dispersing in bright flashes upon impact. Then, for a small moment, there's a pause. You take the opportunity to charge the Galra soldier.

As you join the battle, you try your best to remember what you learned at the Garrison. students were required to take a hand-to-hand combat class, but you're much more used to the small batons and wooden knives they provided rather than a lengthy scythe.

You swing the blade at the feet of a Galra soldier, knocking it down on its back. You swiftly bring the other blade down right on its chest. It penetrates the armor, exposing a bundle of wires and computers.

     "Robots?" you mutter, then grunt when another Galra soldier body slams you.

     You stumble and catch yourself on one of the cargo boxes. The soldier doesn't waste a second and swings its fist. You manage to move just in time, its knuckles slamming right next to your head. As you side-step, you raise your scythe and swing at the soldier. The blade pierces through its back and it falls limp to the ground.

     "(y/n)!" Keith calls out. "Hold onto something!"

     "What?" you look over at him and see him standing at a control panel. You grab onto the cargo box, your fingers wrapping around the rope strapped across it.

     Keith presses a button and the hangar door opens. Your body jerks as everything gets sucked out into space. You cuss under your breath and you fight to hold on.

     Keith holds onto the panel. He struggles to reach the button and close the doors, the vacuum of space overpowering him. You watch as his grip slips and your heart leaps into your throat.

     "Keith!" you scream when he gets sucked into space. You let go of the cargo box and follow after him. As your body is thrown out of the hangar, you reach out for your friend.

     "What are you doing!?" he shouts.

     "What do you think I'm doing?" you shout back. You're almost to him. Just a little more and you can grab onto him.

In a flash of red and white, Keith is gone. You scream, terrified of what space monster could have eaten him. But you stop when you see the Red Lion circle back around. It saved him.

A fearsome roar rattles throughout you and you turn to see the other Lion heading right for you. Its jaw opens and it scoops you up into the safety of its mouth.

You lay on the floor for a moment, panting as you try to gather your bearings. When the inside of the Lion lights up, you scramble to your feet and dust off your armor.

"Uh, thank you!" you call out and get a purr in response. You look around and the inside layout is nothing like the Blue Lion's. Granted, everything about this Lion seems different, either subtly or majorly.

"(y/n), are you okay?" Keith asks over the intercom.

"Yeah," you say, quickly finding your way to the cockpit. "Let's get back to the castle."

"Copy that."

⁀➷

     Your feet hit the solid concrete of the courtyard. Behind you, the sixth Voltron Lion sits down on its metal haunches, its eyes watching you. As the others return with their Lions, Allura and Coran come running out into the courtyard.

The two Alteans stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the sixth Lion. Allura remains as stunned as she was when you found it, but now she seems to truly believe it's real now that it's right in front of her. Coran, however, doesn't seem as surprised.

"After all these years..." he says, moving closer to the Lion.

"There's another one?" Pidge gawks as she steps out of her Lion.

"Holy crow!" Lance exclaims, running up to you.

"Can anyone explain what's going on?" Hunk asks. "Why is there a sixth Lion?"

Coran looks to everyone, then gestures to the robotic feline sitting behind you, "When King Alfor was constructing the Lions, the White Lion was the first," he says. "It was... an experimental design."

"How come I never knew of this?" Allura asks.

"Your father had swept its existence under the rug," Coran continues explaining. "Although it was powerful, the White Lion was deemed too flawed to be fit for the battlefield. It was stashed away to be used for scraps... but King Alfor couldn't get himself to take it apart."

"That doesn't explain how Zarkon had it, seeing as he didn't know about it," Shiro notes.

"King Alfor knew the White Lion would still be dangerous in the wrong hands and sent it away with the other Lions," Coran says. "Zarkon simply must have found it."

"Did it have a Paladin before... everything?" you ask, feeling a slight tug on the invisible tether between you and the White Lion. Deep down, you hope it means something, that it's real. You hope you aren't imagining things.

Coran shakes his head, "No."

"Well, it sure doesn't hurt to have some extra firepower," Shiro says. "Sendak is still coming for the Lions and we'll want all the help we can get to defeat him."

"Right, and now that we have the other Lions, let's go get the Black Lion," Allura says.

[dawnrider]

Happy Monday everyone! I am so happy to share this one-shot I wrote for the lovely @flannelfangirl , inspired somewhat by a song she shared some time ago.

Put Me in My Place (Next to You) on AO3

I hope you have a lovely day, my dear!