#if we keep this up we’ll get through the whole deca | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tttinytrash · 3 years

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Ok fine, I caved again. Originally I said I’d at least attempt to not kidnap @shamedump‘s boys again, but their boys are so sweet (and also have to convenient distinction of not actually wanting to hurt their little reader buddy). Dumpling gave me the green light so with their blessing I’m going ahead with Shy’s final prompt for spoopy hide-and-eat with the Bad Sans Gang using Dumpling’s version of the spooky boyos. I hope I channel their personalities adequately, and I hope you guys enjoy!

Movie night with they guys was always a highlight of your week.

You all met as Archer’s castle on a regular basis to just hang out, piling into one room. Thank goodness this was a whole freaking castle, because your gang was pretty big. Despite the size of the room, the couch really wasn’t big enough for your whole group. As per usual Chain, Mage, Dusty, and Mason were crammed on the couch leaving Deca and you to nest on the floor. The plethora of cushions strewn about made that a non issue, luckily. Crash had made himself a hammock out of his own strings overhead, knitting a scarf absently as the movies served as background noise. This week, the reason the seven of you were sprawled over the couch in the first place was the horror movie marathon going on the TV across the room.

You turned away as the blood curdling screams shrieked from the speakers, the delightful sounds of the hot blonde being torn apart by the feral werewolf on screen acting as your backing track as you cried “Oh come on! That’s just gratuitous!” You laughed, entertained by the campiness buried in the gore but still refraining from watching until the wet squelches subsided.

“you ok?” Chain asked, looking you over. (You didn’t miss Mage glancing over at you either.)

“I’m good. Having a good time, but so not looking forward to the nightmares tonight.” you respond, flapping a hand as if to waft away the concern.

“scared of horrible monsters coming to get you in the night?” Mason teased, abandoning his spot on the couch to push at your shoulder and attempt to loom.

Despite the blank sockets and black tears, the goof didn’t scare you so you laughed easily. “Not like that, and you know it. Stoppit.” You started to push him off, which made him double down on the game and try to knock you over into the pillow pile.

Mage broke up the game before it turned into proper rough housing, wrapping one tendril around your waist and another around Mason’s ankle. He yanked you both off the floor, chiding “enough, you two.”

Mason ended up limply hanging upside down, clearly unabashed and jokingly making grabby hands at you.

To prevent further childishness, Mage dumped you into Chain’s lap and dropped Mason into the thickest portion of the pillow pile.

You giggled when Chain wrapped himself around you, setting his chin on the crown of your head and purring about the newfound proximity.

Deca spun around to look at you, “you get nightmares after scary movies?”

“I mean yeah, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay for a good time.” You shrug, as best you can while wrapped up in Chain’s arms.

“Y-y-you know you’re just about the best guarded human-n in the multiverse, right?” Crashed asked, setting hit knitting aside.

“Yeah, I’m well aware that anyone who wanted to get me would have to go through you guys. My brain is just dumb.” You pat the skeleton wrapped around you as best you could, which in your position was patting the thick ecto on his middle since that’s all you could reach.

His belly reacted to the attention by growling, which you could feel while being pressed into it. You could practically feel the mischief coming off Chain as he said “well, i’m plenty willing to make that more literal if you want.” To emphasize, he licked your head.

You pulled away from the intruding tongue, and Chain let you tumble away from him and back onto the floor, laughing as you squealed about him being gross and trying to fix your hair from the huge cowlick Chain had gifted you.

You noticed Dusty quietly saying something to Mason, which was a pleasant surprise as Dusty usually preferred not to speak much if at all. You asked Mason what was up, curious what made the reserved skeleton speak up.

“he’s asking if i think you being taken in would help with the nightmares. so, would it?”

“Uh... dunno. Never tried it before.” You said truthfully.

“why don’t we try it out, then. but make it a game?” Mage asked, grin quirking predatorily.

“Game?” You asked, curious to see where this went.

“yes. you run, we chase. winner gets to keep you for the night.”

“Hah! Am I player or the prize?”

Mage shrugged, “both.”

You glanced around the room and saw several hopeful gazes and a few curious ones. Crash rolled his eyes and went back to his knitting, but you couldn’t deny the puppy dog eyes you were getting from some of the others.

“Alright, game on.”

-----

Crash made a seat for himself and another for Deca high up in the canopy of the woods by the castle, which would serve as your arena for the game. (Thematically appropriate, plus no one could tumble down unforgiving stone stairs.) Crash and Deca tapped out before the game began, neither of them really wanting a guest your size. The others still seemed gung ho, so they were on the forest floor with you.

You waved your flashlight around the area, already scoping out routes, as Mage explained that a victory meant catching you, no shortcuts allowed, and stipulations about magic to keep you from getting hurt during the chase. You kinda tuned it out, instead strategizing. Not like you had to worry about limiting spells you couldn’t cast in the first place.

You got a minute head start, and your heart was pounding as you ran. 60 seconds had gone by in your mental countdown, which meant you were officially being hunted.

You were mildly nervous, but far from afraid. You did try to tamp down on the nervous feeling and instead focus on your excitement about a new game. Hopefully a more positive feeling would be harder for Mage to track.

You weren’t left alone too terribly long, as Dusty had a habit of popping up randomly, forcing you to run away with him snickering behind you. You quickly caught on that he was just there for jumpscares, which made you laugh. You weren’t totally positive where the others were for now, though. That made you more paranoid.

The first time you actually felt the game was afoot was when Mason suddenly appeared on your right and made a grab for you. You dodged the grab, and darted in the opposite direction. Being chased by Mason, you almost missed the dark chuckle in front of you. Luckily you didn’t, as your quick turn saved you from Mage’s tendril’s snapping out towards you. The realization that the tendrils were significantly harder to dodge than Mason had been made you realize Mason wasn’t actually trying to catch you, instead herding you towards Mage.

The realization that Mason was helping Mage rather than himself wasn’t surprising, but definitely amusing. You had to dodge plenty more of Mason’s divebombs, and Mage quickly caught on that you knew what was going on and actually had to chase after you now as well, rather than waiting for Mason to bring you close enough for a grab. You heard Deca laughing from high above when Mason lunged at you but missed, ending in a face plant. Good to know the two non participants were still entertained. Given this opening, you took off yet again only to be stopped by Dusty springing from a shrub.

It was no effort to get away from him, as per usual. But how did he keep finding you so easily?!

Oh, Delta. It was the freaking flashlight! You realized the bright light was all but a beacon in the dark woods. Mason had given it to you, hadn’t he? Ooh, that cheeky little-!

Fine, you could use their trick against them. You jammed the light in the crook of a tree and took of running, leaving the bulb alight. The laughter from both Mason and Mage meant they’d found your trick, but you were far from your boobytrap and felt a sense of victory.

Your skeleton sightings became fewer now, and your night vision had finally adjusted to the dim light of the moon. But it also heightened the nerves instinctual for humans in the dark. You actually screamed the next time Dusty caught you by surprise, and while you backpedalled you didn’t miss the surprised look on Dusty’s face before you felt two solid somethings wrap around from behind you and lock you in place.

You wriggled with all your might out of a pure fear reaction but stilled when you realized two things. 1) The things holding you were big, thick arms. 2) The plushness of the body you were being held to meant it was Chain.

You looked up, breathy laughter tinging your words as you said “I only saw you once this whole game, but wow did you make it count!”

Deca shortcutted to the ground beside you, while Dusty and Chain chuckled at your outburst.

“figured ambush was the way to go. picked a spot and waited for the right moment, and dusty gave me the perfect window.” Chain explained.

“did you even know he was there, dusty?” Deca asked.

He shook his head, smiling wide.

Crash seems to have been the one who called Mason and Mage that the game was over, as all three approached in a group.

“well played, chain. and you did pretty well too, human.” Mage said as he approached.

Once the trio joined, the group was left in a loose ring and you still being held by the large skeleton who’d caught you. Conversation was immediate and comfortable, reliving some of the more lively moments and near misses with glee and laughing over mistakes made. After a bit, the chatter was cut by a rolling growl from Chain’s stomach which served as a reminder as to what victory entailed.

“well, the wager was already set. we’ll go set up the sleeping arrangements and meet you back at the castle. see you later, human.” Mage said, leading the others away and leaving just you and Chain out in the cool night air.

“you ready to get in your sleeping bag?” Chain asked, adjusting his grip on you at last to a more bridal style.

“Hah, yeah. Sounds pretty comfy to me.”

Chain smiled before gently fitting your head into his mouth while you went limp to make the next few moments easier on your host. Chain started swallowing with an easy, steady rhythm and you felt yourself relax in response. This was far from your first time being taken in by one of your skeletal companions so you knew the drill. It was with a happy sigh from Chain that you finished your downward journey and slid into the more open space of his stomach. The magic around you was mildly cool but comfortable, and the softness let you sink in a bit and feel cradled and safe.

Chain’s hand pressed in from outside to steady his newly added weight and you felt the light sway as he began to walk back into the castle. You began to rub at the surrounding walls in a successful attempt to get the monster to purr, and he even started rubbing back at you with your free hand.

He did you the favor of turning his magic transparent for you once you were back in the castle. He knew you preferred being able to see people if conversations were happening, and knowing how these nights went sleep wasn’t on the itinerary just yet despite the bedding being set up and pajamas being on.

Once you host had settled where he’d be sleeping, conversations flowed and jokes were made amongst the group with little difference from before despite your seating arrangements. Eventually, Mason approached and started to lightly pester you through the barrier of magic between you two. Chain seemed more entertained by the banter than bothered, but you hadn’t missed the black puddle that formed on the floor behind Mason.

A tendril emerged, wrapped around Mason’s ribs, and dragged him in. The satisfied look on Mage’s face would have clued anyone in the group in to where the troublemaker had ended up even without seeing him be puddled. Any nonexistent doubts also would have been dashed by Mage’s hand remaining on his belly the rest of the evening.

After a while, sleep was imminent and everyone settled comfortably strewn about Mage’s room. Mage and his internal guest were of course veiled on Mage’s four poster bed while everyone else was on various cots and cushions. Even without the luxury of a king sized mattress you felt exceedingly comfortable.

“doin ok in there?” Chain asked quietly.

“Oh, peachy on my end. How ‘bout you?” You kneaded at the wall the way you knew he liked.

He purred at your attentions, rubbing back as best he could from outside. “just wondering if this nightmare cure will do you any good, but i’m feeling pretty peachy too.”

“I will say, pretty hard to feel vulnerable in here. I’ll let you know come morning.”

“good. night, y/n.”

“Goodnight, big guy.”

You both settled in, and it felt like Chain falling asleep took mere seconds. You smiled fondly at the soft sounds of his slowed breathing and his body working around you.

As you drifted off, you couldn’t help but wonder if the chasing game would be played again at some point.

...

Maybe next week you could watch the sequel to tonight’s movie.

#extreme cuddling #safe vore #soft vore #undertail vore

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pheita · 3 years

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A Victorious Christmas - Part 3

You can find Part 1 over here and Part 2 over here And we reach the last part for this little fic. @yourocsbackstory Minor warnings for mentions of sex, alcohol, being drunk.

A little drunk and skeptical Rodrigo looked around. Everyone had arrived by now and the buffet had really taken on the expected multi-cultural coloring after Molly arrived with Irish soda bread and smoked salmon and a bag full of whiskey and ingredients for a whiskey punch; Odette, quite the Frenchwoman she was, had brought everything for a cheese platter and chestnuts; Makrov in the kitchen was about to make fresh blinis and immediately made friends with Molly about the large amount of smoked salmon; Lillianne and Violetta arrived with the ingredients for mulled wine and a felt dozen different Christmas cookies; Zaima and Elif added a lot of pickled vegetables and an unexpected amount of homemade bread and dips; and he himself with an armada of tamales that he had prepared with his grandmother the day before. However, the amount of various alcoholic beverages was beginning to worry him. It wouldn't surprise him anymore if Makrov were to take vodka out of his pocket at some point or if Liz had anything in stock. After Makrov and Odette had joined the group, it quickly became clear that he and Liz were clearly the booze throttles of the group. "A penny for your thoughts," appeared Molly next to him. "I'm worried that we'll all end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, or be so stuffed up we'll lie around like Christmas geese." She started to laugh and held up her glass. "That's the whole point. Being with the family, enjoying good food, singing crooked songs. I give Liz half an hour, then she starts karaoke." He had to laugh at that thought too. " Unfortunately, it's a possibility, and that's true." "But there's something else, isn't there?"

"You know, I had no idea who my family was until this year." "Yeah, I know. Christmas must have sucked for you as a kid." His gaze went through the living room, stopped for a moment at Deca and Tamika, as she was sitting on his lap amazingly, and then looked at Liz. "That was it. I mean, Liz can only complain that it was boring, just like Lillianne and Violette. Makrov, Odette and Sandra love Christmas. Tamika only whines because she always gains at least 10 pounds..." "As good as her mother's cooking..." Molly rolled her eyes with a meaningful look. "I know, everybody wants to get stuffed stupid." "Stupid, fat and happy. And I was okay. I always thought it was kind of cool, but that's why it's such a mess." "Mess?" he turned more to her, asking. "You know. Stress because of presents, everybody coming over, everybody playing nice..." It dawned on him what she meant. "Yeah, that pisses me off, too. It's really weird that this year is the first year that Christmas is really... great?" "You can't ask me." She pulled her shoulders up defensively. "I know it's different with you." "Who wants blinis? Fresh from the original Russian recipe," stood Makrov in the kitchen door, praising his food. "Keep coming," called Molly over and moved through the crowd like a snake. Liz's small apartment was clearly a little crowded with so many people, the slightly exaggerated Christmas decoration and the buffet. He took a deep breath once with a smile. "What are you smiling at?" Liz had taken Molly's place. "I think this is the first time I've looked forward to Christmas. I've finally found a home." "I hope so." She snuggled into his side and looked sideways at him. "What is it this time?" He had seen that look too many times before. "Deca had an early Christmas present for us." "Did he?" Skeptically, he raised his eyebrows and looked for Deca in the crowd. The latter just wiggled his eyebrows and then turned back to Tamika. "Yeah, this one." A little awkwardly, Liz rummaged around in her pocket and took out a note. Rodrigo picked it up and just skimmed over it, but quickly realized that it was not only a spell circle, but that the spell circle came with instructions. "Wait, is that what I think it is?" "It is." "That pervert." Laughing, she fell into his chest. "But it helps us this time." "This looks like a lot of preparation." "I know, but after the last few months..." "I know," he kissed her nose, "but then it won't matter if I wait a little bit. And today, nobody can do anything anymore. Most of them are already drunk." "Except for Molly and Makrov, and I don't know if it's because of where they're from, or if they're cheating." With an angry look she looked over at Molly, who was about to praise the blinis to Zaima and Makrov, who was shouting over the music that he had changed the recipe to make it halal. "I think they just got the better of not drinking so much at once." "That might be it." Rodrigo pulled them closer. "Absurdly enough, this is the closest thing we have to a family." "It is not absurd. After all we've been through, it's normal." Maybe Liz was right. But he hoped that this day would not lead to a new tradition, because no one could stand it in the long run. Or maybe next time they would just have to coordinate better. "I just have one question." "What is it?" "What role does Deca play in this found family," Rodrigo asked, somewhat irritated. "The perverted older cousin." "Why do I feel the spell wasn't everything?" "Because it's Deca," Liz mumbled. "I don't want to know, do I?" "Better not, I know how you and Deca are together .... can be bitches. Seriously, there were times when I wondered if there was something going on between you two." Rodrigo started to laugh. He had an inkling of what Liz was alluding to and had to admit that to outsiders it looked certain that it was a gay couple fighting, not that Deca was trying to nudge him to finally ask Liz out. "The only thing that's going on is Deca's unbridled energy in trying to bring us together. Plus, my taste in men is clearly different." "Oh, yeah? Well, we're gonna have to talk about that again, sunshine." "Oh, do we, my queen? I think we still have a lot to talk about." Liz pulled her forehead together questioningly. He nodded over to Lillianne, who was just about to get a little bit offside of everyone with whiskey punch. Both sighed depressed. "We can't let her go like this." "No, that would be irresponsible," Rodrigo agreed with her, "She still blames herself for everything. I'm afraid it will take a long time for her to understand that her father was just using her." "I fear she will never get over it completely, I know her too well for that. She's always been the kind of person who blames herself." "Seems familiar, I'm afraid." "That's why you got through to her." Liz kissed him on the nose and then disappeared towards Lillianne. Rodrigo was holding Deca's note in his hand. If the spell circle worked, it would be a very memorable Christmas.

#writblr #writing #guiding star #yourocsbackstory #christmas special #part 3 #rodrigos pov

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

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Caramel Skin Under a Vanilla Sky prt 32 full draft

Coming too with a long groan, Keith was startled by Ezor hovering right over his face. Her smile wide as she chewed on her gum "He's awake!" Wincing at her yell, Keith placed his hand against his aching side as he forced himself to sit up, discovering he was back on his ship and back in his quarters "Take it easy, you have bruised ribs and are suffering the effects of the drug in your system" That kind voice and way of speech could only be from Daehra "He's fine. He's had worse than this" "He is still my patient. Rest is important to recovery" "He's part Galra. We're stronger than most" Great. Ezor had upset Daehra and now the two of them were fighting... "Excuse me... I am right here. Daehra, what happened?" Ezor huffed at him, jumping back from his side and crossing her arms with a pout. Coming over to his bed, Daehra sat herself down near his knees "You were left at the base of the space port. Zak said your tracker signal had been in place for the last two doboshes, so Acxa and Lucteal went down to meet you and found you unconscious on a bench in front of the port. Your left side is heavily bruised, and you were affected by which ever drug was in your system. Without my equipment, I was unable to perform an analysis. Do you have any lingering symptoms?" So they beat him up and left him for collection. That was... something. He'd kind of hoped being gassed would lead to a one way ticket out to the outpost "No... I'm just a little stiff" "Any memory loss? Do you remember what happened on Erathus?" Scrunching his brow, Keith nodded. His mind felt foggy, but that would be the gas and would pass once it cleared his system "I met with him... he wouldn't change his mind about Lance... and he said something about... not trusting our allies or something... or them not being who they appeared to be. When he tried to have me escorted out, I kind of..." "He means he got into a fight" Injecting herself back into the conversation, Daehra nodded at Ezor's words "I gathered as much from the state he is in. You have been unconscious for the last 6 vargas now. We have left the orbit of Erathus, and are now in a rather neutral sector for the moment. I have been contacted by Th'al while you slept. She is planning on meeting with Lance next movement" Keith lowered himself back down. His ribs hurt like a damn quiznak "He said something about Lance's bounty status changing. Do you know anything about that?" "No. It has not been updated on the boards. We do not have Th'al's pod signature so we cannot track her ship. All our security systems were designed by Zak. They are designed to be unhackable and he has done his job too well" "Can we contact Th'al?" "She said she will be in contact with us. We have been waiting for you to awaken before deciding our next course of action" That was easy. They'd tried knocking at the front door. Now was time for a side entrance "We're heading to the outpost. Erathus was a bust" "Not necessarily. You did learn that you are associated with those causing the disturbances here" "You mean his cryptic warning? I don't think we can believe anything the chief of police said. Not with how he acted over Lance" Daehra sighed "Alright. For now I will inform Acxa of your decision. Is there anything you wish for the Atlas or your mother to be doing?" Why would she be asking that? The further away they stayed, the better "No?" "Understood. You should try eating something then sleeping off the rest of the drug in your system. Should you present with more systems, please notify immediately. I shall leave you to rest" "Thank you, Daehra" When Daehra left, Ezor didn't follow. Rocking on the balls of her feet, it wasn't like her to be keeping her mouth shut "What is it?" "Acxa called Shiro" Going to shoot up, Keith barely made it a few inches before dropping back down "She did what?!" "Yep. Shiro will be sending a team to deal with the people who handed your arse to you" Shiro is what now? "This isn't funny" "I never said it was. That Daehra is weird. She's so nice it make me sick" "She's a good person" "She's too nice. No one is that nice" "She's an empath. She can feel your feelings. I hope you and Zethrid haven't been making trouble" Popping her gum obnoxiously, Ezor hummed. Never a good sign "What did you do?" "Nothing. I definitely didn't let Acxa call Shiro, and I definitely didn't let her call Krolia" "She called my mum?" "They handed you your arse and left you sitting there like some kind of idiot. What happened, Keith? This isn't like you" "It's not like me?" It probably wasn't... He was acting sloppy and recklessly, driven by his need to see his husband again "Nope. Are you in looooove? Is that why you've been acting all weird since you saw Lance again?" Ezor's tone got under his skin, Keith's anger prickling at him for a tick before fading away, his tone filled with resignation "Yeah. Yeah, I am. I'm serious about him. If you're going to laugh, you can just leave" Ezor sighed "Seriously, we've been working together for over a deca-phoeb. You don't think I can take this seriously?" "I don't know what to think. You all think Lance is some goof-ball. That he wasn't take anything seriously. He's not like that all... He... he's more than that" "We all get it. The Earthling is important to you. I'm sure he's not going to do anything too stupid. That's you're department" "I wish I could agree. Go tell Acxa to call Shiro and tell him not to come. He can't take on Erathus alone, we need to get to that outpost before Lance does" "Roger that! We'll rescue that boyfriend of yours, then demand payment" "No. We're taking a holiday once Lance is safe" "Boo. I'd rather the money" Bounding out the room with far too much energy, Keith let himself relax properly against his bed once Ezor was gone. He wanted more time to mull over what the chief of police had said, but was far too close to falling back to sleep. Daehra had said to eat and rest, yet food meant having to move which felt too much like commitment at that point in time. All he'd gotten out the chief police had been a stupid cryptic clue over who to trust. The man's words were completely pointless given there weren't that many people he trusted to begin with. If it was something big that involved one of their allies, than surely it would have come up by now? They had people who kept in regular contact with their alliances. Kidnapping and killing people would have had to have come to light, meaning what the man had said was a complete load of shit. The quiznakking arsehole didn't need to drug him... though, not that he'd admit it, he probably shouldn't have picked a fight with the police officers even if he was in a right royal arse of a mood. Shiro was probably going to yell at him, while his mother was probably going to be disappointed he hadn't held out for longer... God. He was so ready for all of this to be over. * Unable to justify laying in bed while his team was busy, Keith found himself creeping out of his quarters during what would be the small hours of the morning. With one hand holding his busted ribs protectively, he crept up to the helm of his ship to find Acxa piloting, and Daehra reading a data slate beside her. He didn't know the two of them had gotten so close, or close enough for them to both be doing their own thing without caring about the other. Looking up at him as her attention had been caught by the opening door, Daehra raised an eyebrow, pursing her lips as she prepared to scold him. Holding up his free hand, Keith nodded at her "I know. I'm supposed to be resting" "Yes, you are" "I'll rest when all of this is over. Where are we?" "Skirting close to a safe planet. Acxa and I decided we should wait until you were on your feet again" "I thought I told you to head towards the outpost?" Acxa sighed at him "You're in no condition to be performing a mission right now. We still have no way of approaching the outpost safely, and Shiro has instructed us to wait. He will be wormholing out to this sector once he his finished work at his current location" "We don't have time to wait. Lance's status has changed. For all we know he's already at the outpost..." Growling out the words, Keith gripped his ribs harder before continuing "... I refuse to let him be hurt again. I refuse to believe he's been cut to pieces. We're going after him. I'm going after him" Acxa crossed her arms "What aren't you telling me? Veronica is worried for him. She has no idea what has happened to him, and you're acting strangely. If you expect me to follow your plan, you need to tell me why? Why are you risking your life, and ours, for him?" "Because I fucking love him! I love him and they fucking hurt him. He thinks no one cares enough to be bothered by his death. He lets himself get hurt repeatedly, he throws himself into battle not caring if he dies. He's been fucking hurt, and I made things worse. So we're going after him. We're going to get him back and then he's staying by my side. I'm sorry Acxa, I know he's Veronica's little brother to you, but to me he's my whole damn life!" Yelling didn't help his ribs, the half-Galra wincing as he hunched over. Hearing the engines whirl, Keith's head shot up. Acxa flicking and tapping her way through firing up the engines and plotting their route "Wha... What are you doing?" Acxa continued as she spoke "He's family to you. I understand now. I don't agree with this, but it's better than you finding a way out there alone" "Wait a dobosh, Keith is wounded and your ship is too obvious" Daehra had a point. Limping over to the spare seat she sat in, Keith leaned heavily against it "There's a trash moon out here isn't there? Can we pick up a smaller ship there?" Daehra turned so she could look up at him "Thatus. Perhaps. It is usually used to scrap ships" "Acxa, take us to Thatus. Daehra, do you have anything here that can help heal my ribs faster?" "I'm sorry, I do not. I can rewrap your chest for stability, that may aid you?" Keith gave nod "We'll do that. I should have painkillers in the first aid box..." "I believe the first aid case is in your quarters. You sit here and remain still. I shall return" Nodding his consent, once Daehra had left Keith took her seat. Watching Acxa, he wasn't sure what to tell her. Maybe the truth was the best way to go? "Uh... Acxa. About Lance. We decided we were going to take it slow. It's not that I didn't think you're not trustworthy, but..." "They tortured him?" "Yeah... its awkward and hard to explain what's going on between us. But he's important to me..." "He's always been important to you. It did hurt when you wouldn't say what was happening, but you were trying to protect him. I understand. When we find him, be sure you tell him how much you love him" "He knows... I'm actually the one who confessed my feelings to him first" "Dammit. Now I owe Veronica 500 GAC. We were sure Lance would confess his feelings first" Keith drew his brow "You two talk about Lance?" "Of course we do. She's been very worried over him" "Lance knows, he's not ready to talk though. Things didn't go well with him living on Earth" "She never said anything about that" "It's complicated. Given you're dating Veronica, it's probably best I don't explain it all. I don't want to put you in a position where you need to lie to her" "I understand. He does know he can talk to her, doesn't he?" "Yeah... Lance knows. He just needs more time. How far out from Thatus are we?" "Zac updated our star maps for the area. The nav system is saying it's roughly a varga and a half until we reach them" "That's not too bad..." It was a quiznak of a lot closer than Keith thought "We were already a way from Erathus. Keith, do you still plan on going into the outpost alone" Several long ticks passed, he'd just told himself to be honest with Acxa, and yet, he was wavering in his convictions. If something happened to his team, he could never live with himself. In a new way, he felt like he understood what Lance had been saying all along. This fight wasn't there's... but... at the same time it was. The threat out there threatened to spill further, and it was already too far spread for him to see the full picture. What was the right choice to make? Either choice could end in regret... Lance might be injured. He might need help to extract his lover from the clutches of whoever held him... but leading his team in there might just turn into him leading them to their deaths... he couldn't do that... he couldn't risk his team... even for the love of his life. The realisation threatened to send him into tears. He was choosing his team over the man he'd claimed he loved... "I do" Acxa didn't miss a beat "Then we need a plan" He had a plan. A shaky plan but the start of a plan nonetheless "I'll take a ship to the outpost alone. They've already seen my face" "If you're going in, you're not going in without a backup plan" "No. I can't risk your lives" "Keith..." "Acxa, please. Lance... he could already be dead. If I go in alone, I don't have to worry about you all ending up dead too" Acxa scoffed "Yeah. Right. It's perfectly fine for you to throw your life away, and you expect us to simply comply. No way is that happening" "Look. I don't see another way" "You don't see another way because you have been blinded by your love for Lance" He'd been beaten and bruised, and may have held poor control over his emotions, but he wasn't blind "You have no right throwing that back in my face!" "You want to play hero and rescue him so all will be forgiven" "It isn't like that!" It kind of was... when Acxa's voice reached his ears, he realised that maybe he did. Maybe he did want to be the one who saved Lance so that Lance couldn't run from him again... He just wanted him back... "We're going with you" "You can't..." "Then let us wait close enough to the station to provide backup. Don't send us back to Shiro" Keith opened and closed his mouth, still gored on the horns of dilemma. What was to stop the Erathian police firing on their ship in his absence? What was to stop them from boarding the ship and taking all of them prisoner? The threat of the Atlas and the threat of retaliation from Daibazaal didn't seem to phase the police chief as much as the thought of losing his life by trusting them with the truth "Krolia will be preparing a unit, as will Shiro. If you insist on a solo entry, then we'll be close by. How many enemy soldiers were there last time?" "I don't remember. The base didn't seem to be an overly large complex... maybe... a dozen?" "And do you feel confident over a solo entry? If they are to take you prisoner, do you feel you could gain access to the air ducts, or potentially over throw a guard?" "The guards made up for their lack of experience with numbers..." He'd honestly been too focused on getting Lance out of there. What they'd witnessed still churned his stomach, and now he was going back like some idiot "Then we make a plan. If you don't return within a quintant or contact us, we'll follow you in" "Time works differently in there. Quintants in there are movements out here" Acxa frowned "We're not leaving you for movements" "You'll need to consult with Zac. He calculated the magnetic fields and asteroids. Also, due to the conditions inside the pocket of space, access isn't always available..." "Then that's what we'll do. With our new cloaking technology, we may be able to follow you without detection" "No... I refuse to let you guys follow me when you could end up dead. We have no idea who or what is waiting for us" "Keith. It's either we follow, or I'll shoot out the control panel so we have no choice but to wait for Shiro" "You can't do that!" If his ship wasn't running, he couldn't get to Lance... "I can and I will if I have to. Now, do we have a deal?" He really didn't have a choice. He needed to get to that outpost as soon as possible, and he knew Acxa's threat wasn't an empty one but rather a promise "Fine..." "Good. I'll update Krolia on the situation. You need to rest. Zethrid and Ezor have Kosmo for the night. Lucteal and Daehra both have beds made up in the storage hold. I will pilot us to Thatus" "I'm perfectly capable of piloting" "You know the rules. You're injured, which means you forfeit the right to pilot until healed. Now please go find Daehra... you might not be able to bare it if anything was to happen to us, but we feel the same way about you too, Keith." With freshly strapped ribs, Lucteal and Keith walked through the metallic junk piles that covered Thatus. Ships and ship pieces lay in various stages of salvaging, the towers of parts stretching high, as well as forming trip hazards all over the ground. Out of everyone, Lucteal was the one handling Lance's absence almost as bad as he was. Lucteal however had Daehra to lean on, while Keith just had endless hours of self wallowing and rage. The first movement after the loss of Lance had been the worse when it came to his temper, he'd been unable to calm himself. Now was still plagued with the lingering prickling anger, but moving forward meant he was moving closer to Lance. Moving forward towards the man who loved and the man who made everything better in his life. Lance was always there for him. Whether it be a rough day, or a bad nightmare, Lance would push his problems aside to be there to hold him until he felt better. Perhaps Lucteal could sense all of this, as he hadn't been an insufferable arsehole since coming with them on this scattered adventure to find Lance. Reaching the trade tent, Lucteal held the tent flap open for him. He really must look awful if they'd evolved into Lucteal opening tent flaps for him. It was the same muscled brown alien behind the workbench in the tent that Keith had spoken to over Guile's disappearance. Keith could almost swear they were tinkering with the same device they'd been last time, just to complete the picture of a stereotypical junker. Looking up from their project, the aliens flickered over him before settling on Lucteal with a big smile "I heard you were in trouble" "And I heard you were actually working for a change. Is Baja here?" "You never come to see me. Baja's off planet at the moment. What trouble are you getting into this time?" So apparently Lucteal was here enough to be friendly with them. Keith hadn't expected that... It seemed to him he'd been forgotten in the background "This Keith. Keith, this is Yule. Leandro needs a pick up, so we need a ship" "What about the ship you came in?" "That's his. He's not exactly on Leandro's team" "And the Telula? was it? Did it finally up die?" "I wouldn't let Leandro hear that. No. He's off with her and we need a ride out there" Keith had never seen Lucteal so talkative with someone who wasn't Lance. He didn't know what to make of it... Was Lucteal crushing on this alien now that he knew Lance was permanently off the market? He had no idea what flirting really looked like. He and Lance hadn't gone about things in the traditional sense of dating "That's not what I've heard. I heard he's got a bounty on his head" Lucteal huffed, shuffling his weight semi-awkwardly as hand came up to play with the edge of his hair. This was surely flirting... Lucteal was flirting... "You know Erathus. They're less than honourable. Leandro did nothing wrong" "I never said he did... though I've got not idea why he's in trouble, absolutely none. It's not like he's single handily upset almost everyone on that pretty little planet with all his tampering. Still. He brings in the business and it's all about that GAC at the end of the quintant. If you're after a ship, I think we can help. We've got some pods Baja was supposed to strip, damn imbecile's left them sitting for the last phoeb. Or do you need something bigger like that junker of yours? You know I'll give you a fair price when you finally trade that floating wreck in" "Leandro would sooner die than give up the Telula. We'd all rather die than give up the Telula. She is out home" Yule held... her? hands up. All four of them, as they? sighed at Lucteal "You know I'm only messing with you all" "Then remember that the Telula is our home. We need a ship that's not going to short out when travelling through magnetic fields" "Lemme guess, that idiot commander of yours is heading back out that way again?" "Leandro is not an idiot" "I'm using his own words" Keith's who body felt as if he'd been jump started at the prospect of Lance being on Thatus recently, forgetting he'd been excluded from the conversation, he hurried to ask "Have you seen him? Was he here within the last phoeb? Did he seen alright?" Yule raised a thick dark brown eyebrow at him "How do you expect me to know all that? He doesn't come out this way for anything other than work. I heard he's been bouncing around with Th'al. Friend of a friend and all that quiznak. I ain't seen him about 3 phoebs. Didn't even come back to collect his GAC from his last drop" Keith deflated on the spot. Of course Lance hadn't been here. That would be far too easy and far too safe... Shooting Keith a glare, Lucteal held it for a few ticks before looking back to Yule "Ignore him, Yule. He knows nothing about what it's like out here. We only need a small one man pod, two after we pick Leandro up" "I think we've got an old Galra fighter jet. She might be banged up, but Baja isn't here to say no. Just do us a favour and drop your next ship our way" Lucteal smiled a genuine smile and shocked the heck out of Keith. The man was acting surprisingly human. His English was already far better than when they'd met, and now he was flirting and charming Yule... Lance would have been proud, or would have wiped away pretend tears from the corners of his eyes as he whispered about how "they all grow up so fast". Maybe this was simply Lucteal copying how Lance would have handled the situation. Either way, Keith wouldn't say no to a Galra fighter jet "Sounds good. Where are we looking?" "Follow through the Greenlock cattle ships until you hit the T join, then take it right to the end. You'll find all the Galra jet parts there. Take whichever one you can get fired up. We'll chuck it on the account. Galra aren't to popular so their parts don't move like the used to" "Thanks, Yule. I'll be sure to send Leandro to deal with the account" "You better. Baja's going to throw a fit when he hears I didn't charge you on the spot" "Baja's always throwing a fit" "This is true. He's better now he's got Yuhpee" Giving Yule a wave, that seemed to be how the conversation ended. Lucteal making his way back out the tent with Keith trailing after him. His ribs complaining with every damn step, but he still had more than enough self pride and wasn't about to fall behind Lucteal of all aliens. "Do you know where you're going?" Trying to make conversation as they started walking back through the labyrinth of parts, Keith regretted his question. With how blunt it sounded, he wouldn't have been surprised if Lucteal thought he was insulting his intelligence "Yes. Greenstock ships then right at the T" "Can I ask what all that meant? A drop? And what makes Greenstock ships special?" Lucteal had lost the air of "Lanceness" as he hastened his pace "Greenstock was a planet out past our home world that was renown for its.. You wouldn't have a word for it. It was beast that could travel far on little water. It had much strength and the Galra soon wiped out the entire species of them with their greed. Old ships sometimes randomly turn up in this area of space, with all the magnetic forces, temporal anomalies and time issues... I do not know why I'm bothering to explain things. Any ship with no claim gets taken here. A drop here is a ship we've come across and liberated from its owner or was left abandoned. It's happened a few times here and there. If it's too far away, Baja will take a crew to collect. And because I know you will only hassle me with more questions a "Yuhpee" is a small yipping animal about a third of the size of your wolf. It has brown scales and is raised as a companion according to Zac's data. Now we walk, try not to fall over or Daehra will be more than irritating" Keith kept his mouth shut as he processed. There was nothing usual about the Galra erasing whole species lines... and the owner of the salvage company on the moon was a grumpy old man who'd softened up because he'd gotten a space dog. Keith had thought they didn't do much business here because Lance hadn't been out in this area of space for more than six phoebs when they'd met, but his brain also hadn't thought of all the time stuff happening anywhere other than out near the prison station either. His accidental husband had also mentioned he had trouble with time since being held captive... so maybe while it'd been six phoebs to Lance, it'd been both longer and shorter in other sectors of this space. Trying to work it out, the half-Galra quickly gave up. Time travel and tracking was simply too much to comprehend when you started thinking about how huge space really was. In fact, it was kind of amazing humans even existed. How people figured out television, radio, mobile phone and computers back in the 20th century he'd never know. To make such huge and sudden leaps seemed impossible, and surely people back there had to question if any of it was actually real, and if they'd themselves were real. Everything they took for granted must have made them all question their own tiny existences once. Keith hadn't really stopped to ask himself any of these questions before being hurled into space. Since he'd come to grips with his past, part of him had been trying harder to understand his human side... but the mystery of that kind of wonder still felt foreign to him. The only wonderous thing in the whole universe, to Keith, was that Lance had feelings for him too. Reaching the area of the moon dedicated to Galra technology, Keith was impressed by how much salvage was actually there. Pieces of everything from half dismantled cruisers to scraps of sentries lay before them like bodies strewn across a field, left rotting after some sad battle "What can you fly here?" Most of it? Except for sentries as sentries didn't seem to fly without some external source of propulsion "Pretty much most of it. Those cruisers aren't going anywhere. Do you see any fighter jets?" "Probably further down. They don't exactly sell Galra parts out front" "They carry more than I thought they would..." Lucteal scoffed "Of course they do. They take almost everything. If it can be recycled it is. If it can be rebuilt, it is. They pretty much scrap ships for everyone out here" "I didn't pay that much notice when I was here before" "The great and legendary Keith can think of anything other Lance? I don't know if I can imagine that. Not with the way your emotions have been flooding out" There was the arsehole he knew. Keith ignoring him as he shuffled on. It wasn't like he wasn't sympathetic towards the two empaths, but he couldn't shut down what he felt for Lance. He wouldn't even try. With everything crumbling Lance was the hope that kept him going "That's exactly what I mean. You're thinking of him again. Do you really have so little faith in him? He was doing perfectly well before you came along. Now, please find this jet of yours. I would like to be off this planet as soon as possible" "Lance wasn't fine, you were all too stupid to see that. I thought you and he were close, but you really know nothing about him, do you? If you're so anxious to leave, then go. I'm sure I can find a ship on my own" Grabbing him by the shirt, Lucteal pulled Keith sideways into a towering pile of ship metal. Cringing as his sore chest made contact with something particularly pointed, he then growled as shoved Lucteal back "I know you're fucking mad at me for some shit, but Lance made his choice" "I know he made his choice, but you have no idea what he means to us! We look up to him and respect him. Never has he doubted himself in front of us as he does when with you. You make him doubt himself. You make him question his leadership. He is strong. Stronger than anyone else in this sector, yet you do not even think. He left because of you. Do you not think he would have been able to pull himself back together by now? Is this why we must follow you? He is strong and he has a plan. You have no plan. You're acting reckless. You knew Erathus would hold no leads and you went. Leandro wouldn't have. It was a waste of time. Now find this ship so we might go" The lecture wasn't appreciated. Lucteal had been sheltered all his damn life. A little rich kid who was now running around the universe like he had a clue what it was really like out there. Forcing his aching body to full height, Keith bit back the pain as he pushed past Lucteal, mentally taking back his sympathy towards the man and his sister. Daehra was the only one he was going to make an effort towards, even if it meant pissing Lance off. He didn't understand Lucteal, and he'd simply have to accept that. After all, it was impossible to be friends with everyone in existence. No one was built that way... Keith had almost been cruel enough to mention the fact that thanks to Annla he and Lance were technically married, but the words died on his tongue. Maybe he was still trying to find a way to get along with him for the sake of Lance? Or maybe he didn't feel like being pushed back into the sharp pile of metal? Either way, he didn't so much as glance back at Lucteal. Perhaps that was the answer to everything, simply ignoring what he couldn't handle and focusing on what he could. * The only fighter jet that was capable of flying needed work. There'd been three relatively in shape still, but one of those had blood throughout the cockpit, with lumps of something that looked suspiciously like bits of flesh splattered on the back wall of the space. The other one was missing too much wiring from under the dash, leaving the third option which needed the armour of the left wing replaced. Unable to do the repairs by himself, Keith had called through to his team, Zak banned from coming on the planet due to some past grievance with Yule and Baja, so Daehra stayed on board his ship with him. Lucteal had taken to wandering through the ship parts, with Ezor and Zethrid. Leaving Acxa alone to tinker with the wing of the jet, and Keith to stand and watch on while feeling like a weak idiot. He was tired of everyone else doing what he should be doing. Thanks to jumping in head first, he was left licking his wounds and mulling over what Lucteal had said. He loved Lance. He loved waking up with him. Cuddling into him. Having Lance hold him until he calmed from whatever nightmare reared its ugly head. Things hadn't been perfect. Withdrawal had taken far more than he wanted to admit out of him, and now there was a risk they'd have to go through that all over again... Did Lucteal see going through withdrawal as weakness? Because Keith couldn't see things that way. It took strength to say he needed help. It took strength to let someone in and to let them help. Lucteal was full of shit. Keith already knew Lance was fucking strong. He made an amazing commander for his team, their loyalty proved that, as did his briefing on the Atlas. Lance controlled the whole room, despite the fears and anxieties he'd held. Yes, he doubted himself, but Lance had told him when he'd suffered his own doubts over being Black Paladin that all leaders felt that way. At the time he'd thought them just words to soothe him, now he knew otherwise. Lance was living the words of advice he'd given him so long ago. He trusted and relied on his team, something Keith realised he hadn't done completely with his own. It wasn't like he didn't like Ezor and Zethrid, yet when they were alone he never knew what to say. He'd never moved past whatever they were when they'd formed their team over a deca-phoeb ago... He'd let the girls to organise themselves... Quiznak. He was a terrible leader. He was leading his team into danger without that key trust... no wonder Acxa and Lucteal had both spoken to him as they had. He was still a child... Things were going to change when he got Lance back. He wouldn't be going back to Daibazaal until he'd sat down and done some serious self reflection.

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calligraphist-artemisia · 5 years

Text

I’ll Take Her Place (Chapter 25)

Summary: AU. When Allura breaks the news that she is to wed Prince Lotor in order to continue the peaceful relationship between Altea and Daibazaal, Pidge knows that she has to do something to change that. And so, with a little help, she comes up with a new plan. A better plan

Pairings: Keith/Pidge (main) ; Shiro/Allura (minor) and Hunk/Lance (minor) ; one-sided Lotor/Allura

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

Chapter 25

Katie quietly stood behind Keithir, one hand gripping the back of his chair, as the Red Lion sped through space faster than she'd ever been able to go in the Green Lion. She could hardly believe she was there in the cockpit of the missing Lion and that Keithir was the paladin they'd been searching for.

Keithir was her partner.

The right arm of Voltron, to mirror her left.

A shiver ran down her spine as she thought about the unexpected turn of events. What did it mean for them? She and Keithir were getting married because the Daibazaal council wanted to strengthen their alliance, but Keithir's role as the Red Paladin gave them exactly that. Would the council still wish for a wedding? Or would they be asked to break it off?

And which one of those did Katie want?

She watched Keithir get a feel for the controls, running his hands over the knobs and switches. By the subtle flickers of emotion on his face, she could only guess that he was figuring out how to communicate with his Lion. She knew from experience that was tricky to determine what they were trying to convey, so she stayed quiet so he could concentrate.

After a few minutes, the Red Lion began to slow.

“What? No, don't do that!” Keithir protested, reaching for the throttle to try and speed up again. “Come on!”

Red deliberately slowed more.

Keithir scowled as he sat back in his seat and glared at the controls.

Katie wondered if she should ask what was going on or wait until he told her. He seemed to be in some sort of mental disagreement with Red, which wasn't an altogether uncommon occurrence with the Lions, especially considering how new their bond was.

He took a moment to calm himself after his small outburst and then turned to Katie. “I promised you an explanation.”

“You did,” Katie agreed. Her heartbeat quickened in her chest as all of her questions came rushing back. Where should she start?

Keithir answered that for her.

“What I told you the very first time we spoke – about being half human – that was true,” he told her. “My mom was a member of the Blade of Marmora. She was sent undercover to help find and protect the Lions from anyone who wanted to use them for harm. The group she infiltrated was one determined to overthrow Emperor Zarkon. They never liked that he took an Altean wife. Said that it weakened the empire to have her as Empress and that having Lotor as prince was a threat to the Galra way of life.

“So when they tracked down one of the Lions, she did everything she could to try and keep it a secret. She attacked the others who were scouting the area with her and destroyed their ships, but not before one of them critically damaged hers. She crashed on the planet and that was where she met my father.”

“She crashed on Earth... the Blue Lion!” Katie realized.

Keithir nodded. “She managed to send a message to Kolivan about what happened, but refused a rescue shuttle. She stayed to continue protecting the Lion. And then she fell in love.”

“So how did you end up as a prince? Your parents...” Katie trailed off.

“There were others who came looking for the scouting party and when they found her, they weren't so forgiving.” Keithir looked away and clenched his jaw. “My mom gave her life to protect the Lion and the two people who mattered most to her.

“When he didn't hear from her again, Kolivan traveled to Earth to find out what happened. He found me instead. I didn't know I could shift until I was almost ten, so for most of my childhood I looked like this.” He gestured to his current form. “My dad knew I wouldn't have a life on Earth, so he asked Kolivan to take me. I would have been exclusively raised by the Blade of Marmora, except Kolivan knew the Emperor and Empress wanted a second cub, so they compromised.”

Katie said nothing for a moment, taking the time to process what she'd learned.

Keithir was adopted, which explained his lack of resemblance to Zarkon and Honerva. And while it was surprising that the Galra would accept a prince not of royal blood, she could faintly remember reading something about a challenge that could be issued whenever a new emperor was to be crowned. Bloodlines weren't an all-important factor to the Galra; a strong leader was.

“Do you... do you ever talk to him? Your human dad?” Katie asked.

“Twice a deca-phoeb. We video call on our birthdays. Thace and Ulaz helped me set up a special line just for that,” Keithir said with a soft smile. “We can't always get a clear connection, but it's something.”

“You should visit him while we're on Earth. I bet he'd like that,” Katie suggested.

Keithir chuckled. “You know, I haven't even told him that I'll be there. He's going to be so surprised.”

His father wouldn't be the only one. Katie realized with dawning horror that she hadn't exactly gotten around to sending a message to her mother. “Oh no,” she groaned. “Mom's going to be so mad at me.”

They met each others eyes and broke out into laughter. And from that, Katie could feel a spark of something. An emotion that wasn't her own. A burgeoning connection formed between them.

There was a flicker of guilt there and she wasn't sure which of them it originated from.

“I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to explain earlier,” Katie apologized.

“What? Katie, that's not...” Keithir struggled to get his thoughts together, taken aback by the apology. He stood up and took her hands, keeping her attention solely on him. “Katie, you were right to be mad. The whole reason I went to find you that night was to tell you the truth, and I completely messed it up. I never should have kissed you like that. It wasn't right.”

Katie looked up at him, taking in the sincerity in his voice and expression. She didn't need the subtle nudge from her Lion in order to forgive him. “I think we've both made mistakes, but they're not so big that we can't heal and move on. I know that whatever the future brings, whatever Lotor has waiting for us when we reach the Castle, I still want to face it with you.”

The Red Lion purred in satisfaction and sped up once again.

A smile bloomed across Keithir's face. “Together,” he agreed.

In the end, they couldn't find the slightest hint to where Lotor's ship had gone. No amount of calculations or re-examining the security footage was enough to point them in a clear direction. They had to admit defeat as they flew past Pluto's orbital path and made contact with the Galaxy Garrison on Earth.

“What are we going to tell mom?” Matt worried as he paced on the bridge. There was little else for him to do and if he tried to sit still, he would drive himself crazy.

He knew he should calm down, but after three years of little hope of escape, he thought he deserved to have his whole family together and safe. How could he possibly go home without Pidge, after she refused to do so without him? All that mattered was finding her.

“We'll tell her the truth,” Sam said from where he sat. “That Katie is missing and we're doing everything we can to find her. The real question is, how much will we tell the Garrison?”

Matt looked around the room. Hunk and Lance were still seated at their stations, slumped in defeat. Kolivan stood against a far wall, silent unless one of his subordinates arrived to speak with him. Shiro stood with Allura and Coran at the helm.

“We could tell the Garrison that Pidge and Keithir took on a mission along the way, and we haven't heard back from them yet,” Shiro said.

Allura frowned. “While it is believable, they are expecting someone there to represent Daibazaal. If he truly did leave on a mission, he would have appointed someone to take his place.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Okay, this might sound like a really dumb idea. Like, really dumb. But what if we use Lotor as the representative?” Lance suggested. He was met with noisy protest from nearly everyone in the room, but Allura looked thoughtful rather than outright dismissive.

“It's not a bad idea,” she murmured.

Shiro turned to stare at her in shock. “You're not really considering this, are you? Allura, you know Lotor can't be trusted! He knows Pidge and Keithir are on his ship and not away on mission. He'd never go along with any of our plans.”

“I know, which is why we must plan this carefully,” Allura said. “As much as I loathe to get him involved, I would feel better if he was someplace we can all keep an eye on him. I believe that he still thinks he can use me to get whatever it is that he wants. If he thinks there's still a chance for that, he won't risk turning me against him. Kolivan, you have more experience in matters like this than any of us. What do you suggest?”

Kolivan stepped forward to properly address the room. “We will let Lotor believe that is is his idea to join you. Much of our plan up until now relies on Lotor believing that he has the upper hand and we will continue to reinforce that belief.”

“How will we do that?” Sam asked.

“By letting him know we are aware of their disappearance, I believe Lotor will then come to us. He will offer to take Keithir's place, to act the part of the flawless prince, as he always has. We will let him. It must be done with reluctance-” (“No problem there,” Hunk grumbled.) “-or else he will suspect that something is amiss.”

Shiro crossed his arms over his chest. “A lot of this relies on predicting what his next move is, but that's something we've always struggled with. How can you be so sure that this will work?”

“Because it has already been set in motion. I gave Thace the order fifteen doboshes ago and he reports Lotor has already begun to make his move,” Kolivan said calmly.

Allura opened her mouth to argue that he should have said something sooner, but snapped it shut instead. They didn't have time to spare on bickering among themselves at the moment, but she would be having words with him later.

She breathed in deeply. “This will not be easy for us, but I believe we can get through it. Be diplomatic. Don't let Lotor bait you into losing your temper.”

Taking a moment to look around, Allura began to formulate a plan. For the most part, they would have to wing it, but there were a few things they could do to sway the odds in their favor; to buy more time until Keithir and Pidge returned. “I know what we need to do.”

The closer they got to Earth, the more nervous Keithir began to feel. He wasn't sure if it was his own or Katie's or if their emotions were mixing together to become even stronger. Adding to that, Red's delight at finally being free bled over to him, no matter how much he tried to keep distant until he could adjust to her constant presence.

It was almost too much.

He watched Katie from the corner of his eye, wondering how she was faring with it all. She'd just been reunited with her family, only to be torn away from them again. He couldn't help but feel like he was partly to blame.

“I'm sorry I got you involved in this,” he said.

Katie made a confused sound. “More apologies?”

“Lotor never would have targeted you if it wasn't for me.” He frowned when she shook her head. “It's the truth, Katie.”

“No, it isn't. I put a target on my back the moment I asked to take Allura's place. And honestly, I wouldn't change that for anything in the universe,” Katie said, leaving no room for argument.”The fact that he kept the Red Lion hidden proves that he only sees me and the others as a threat. You heard what he said earlier.”

Keithir knew she had a good point, but couldn't shake his reasoning that he'd only escalated it. At the same time...

“I wish you weren't put in danger like this, but I am glad you're here,” he admitted. “I don't know what I would have done if you weren't.”

Katie's gaze softened. “I know it sounds crazy, but I'm glad we went through this together. As much as we don't understand what Lotor wants, he seems to underestimate us time and time again. If he only had one threat to think about, it would be easier for him, but that's no longer the case. Maybe that's why it's taken us so long, because up until now he's only had to worry about the Blade or the Paladins and now we're working together. Now there are individuals collaborating against him.”

“You've been thinking about this for a while,” Keithir guessed.

“A little. That thought came about while I was working on trying to make sense of of his recent actions. We've proposed so many hypothetical's lately that I think it's clouding our view. I figured if we start over from what we know for certain, maybe we can get a clearer picture,” Katie said.

“Makes sense,” Keithir agreed. “What do you need from me?”

Katie eagerly passed her hand over her bracelet, bringing up the screen from earlier, and with a few practiced swipes revealed the data she'd carefully gathered. “I thought about compiling it into a timeline at first, but then I found that there's a lot I can only guess at chronologically. So instead I put everything in its own little block and drew lines if there was a connection.”

“It's colorful,” Keithir noted with some amusement. He thought it was rather cute, though he was sure she had some logical reason for it.

“Color-coded and tagged for easier reference,” Katie said proudly. “You can see that there are a lot of things that connect together, but I do have a few outliers.” She quickly highlighted the ones she was talking about and zoomed in so Keithir could see them for himself.

Lotor's insistence that he marry Allura was there, as was the attack on the Altean satellite. The unexpected alliance with the pirates who held her family captive. Shiro's first prosthetic arm. (Added on the same day as the pirates, interestingly enough.) Pidge had already added the Red Lion to that list. And the other...

“Oriande?” Keithir asked in confusion. “Lotor is looking for Oriande?”

“He's the reason Allura and Shiro went looking for it. I never told you that?”

Keithir shook his head. “I had wondered what inspired them to go look, but...”

That was strange.

The timing was strange.

Everything about it.

How convenient was it that Shiro and Allura heard of Oriande around the same time that the Blade learned the location of Sam and Matt Holt? Keithir found it hard to believe that it was only coincidence. But how were they connected?

Was Oriande a test, meant to show Lotor who the traitor was? Was it just a distraction, to split the group apart and lessen their strength? Or maybe it had been a trap, and Lotor hoped whoever went would perish in the white hole?

Keithir didn't know how Katie could stand to compile everything without driving herself crazy with theories, but it was yet another thing he admired her for.

Still, there was one connection and he was surprised she didn't see it.

“Princess Allura is the connection,” he told her. “I don't know why it's specifically her, but everything he's done lately revolves around her. It could go back even further than we know.”

Katie stared hard at the screen. “If that's true, then Allura's in more danger than any of us. And we still don't know why!”

“Maybe we never will. I'm not sure I really want to,” Keithir said honestly. “What we need to focus on is a way to stop him. I think I know a way to do that, but I'll need your help.”

Katie looked away from the screen and met his eyes unflinchingly. “What's your plan?”

Allura stood tall and plastered the most pleasant smile she could muster on her face. Commander Iverson had proven to be surprisingly welcoming as he personally greeted the Castle of Lions and offered a tour of Garrison property. She had no illusions that he was only doing it because she and Lotor were the visiting royalty, but she appreciated it never-the-less.

At least it meant she didn't have to hold a steady conversation with Lotor.

What was that thing Shiro liked to say? Something about patience and focusing? She tried to keep that in mind whenever she felt her ire spike, as well as the fact that her plan to keep Lotor distracted was working.

And when all of that stopped helping, she thought back to the moment they landed and left the Castle. Of the pure joy in Lance's voice when he spotted his sister. Of Hunk, already crying as Lance dragged him along to see her. She remembered a woman shoving her way past Garrison officials to run into Sam's arms. It had been heartwarming to witness.

Allura smiled to herself.

“I'm glad she meets your approval, Princess.” Iverson's rough voice jolted her from her thoughts. “The IGF Atlas is the culmination of everything we've learned so far from the technology that you've allowed us to have. Perhaps she isn't as impressive as your Castle, but we'll get there in time.”

There was a gleam in his eyes that spoke of pride for all that they'd accomplished so far.

“I look forward to the day when she is ready to take to the stars,” Allura said warmly. “If there is anything you'd like my advice on while I'm here, please don't hesitate to ask.”

“I may have a few engineers who'd love to pick your brain, but that can wait for another day,” Iverson said.

And so, it was back to their tour.

Allura tuned out the Commander's chatter once again, her mind straying to thoughts of Keithir and Pidge and why they hadn't heard anything from them yet. Shiro and Coran had remained on the Castle for the express purpose of continuing their search, but so far had maintained radio silence. Allura couldn't help but worry.

She wished Shiro had joined her on the ground. She knew her whole plan of keeping Lotor distracted meant he couldn't find out about the Altean markings on Shiro's face, but she would have felt much better if he was by her side. At least she had Kolivan and Thace with her, as they had tagged along as her protection and to keep an eye on the nameless pretender who had taken the place of a true member of the Blade of Marmora.

And then she felt it.

A rippling of activity across her recent bond with the Black Lion. A wave of concern from Shiro. A flurry of excitement from all of the Lions.

Allura abruptly stopped and turned to look at the Castle of Lions just in time to witness the Green Lion shooting up into the sky. She watched the Lion until she faded from sight, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

She glanced back at Lotor to see his lips pressed in a thin line and his eyes narrowed as he also stared up at the sky.

“Princess, the Green Lion!”

“I saw her, Coran,” Allura said. “Have you found anything? Do you think she can sense Pidge?”

Coran hesitated. “There is something, but... it can't be! We've been looking for so long!”

A shiver ran down her spine. Allura raised her eyes back to the sky, waiting. Kolivan moved closer to her, every muscle tense as he tried to prepare for whatever was coming.

Allura blinked and there was a spot of red in the distance. She watched it closely. Was it just her imagination?

No, it was getting closer.

Her breath lodged in her throat. Everything but the sound of her heartbeat faded away as she watched the unmistakable form of the Red Lion descend with Green following closely behind. As the Lion opened her mouth, all sound returned to Allura with the strength of her roar.

Iverson muttered uneasily and Lotor appeared almost paralyzed, unmoving as Red landed heavily on the ground in front of them. Green flew overhead and set down behind them with a low growl.

Coran and Shiro were both shouting so loudly in her ears that Allura had no choice but to turn off her earrings.

The Red Lion bowed her head and opened her mouth, letting Keithir and Pidge step out into the bright sunlight. Keithir's mouth was set into a hard scowl, his eyes dark with promised retribution, and Pidge's expression wasn't far off from that.

“Brother!” Lotor sounded as though the word pained him to say. “How good to see-”

“Save it, Lotor!” Keithir snapped.

“You can't talk yourself out of this. Not this time,” Pidge added.

Lotor frowned. “I haven't the faintest idea what the two of you are talking about. I merely wished to visit Earth for myself. The two of you are the ones who stole my ship and vanished without a trace!”

Iverson looked taken aback by the new information. “Now wait just a minute, you told me that the two of them took on a mission on the way here!”

“I did, and I apologize for not being truthful,” Allura said soothingly. “If you would give Prince Keithir and Pidge a moment to explain, I'm sure we can clear everything up.”

“We didn't steal Lotor's ship,” Pidge said.

“Lies,” Lotor said dismissively.

Pidge fixed him with a hard glare. “We didn't steal anything. We saw that Lotor's ship was docked on the Castle and got curious, so we boarded it to find him.”

That was a lie, Allura noted. More likely the two sneaked on board to investigate.

“The ship took off on its own while we were inside,” Keithir picked up the story. “No matter what we tried, we couldn't get it to stop or turn around. It was on autopilot and headed straight into a star, but you already knew about all of this, don't you, brother.”

There was a flicker of ugly rage across Lotor's face, but it lasted only a split second before he schooled his features into something more neutral. “I know we have our differences, but for you to blindly accuse me of trying to kill you is ridiculous. Why would I ever want such a thing?”

Pidge smirked and held out her wrist. She waved her hand over the bracelet she wore, pulling up a video of Lotor.

“At last I will be rid of the biggest obstacles to my plans. After this, there will be no hope of ever forming Voltron. There will be nothing in the universe that can stop me. It hardly matters that your precious paladins and Blade of Marmora will blame me for your disappearances. Their word means nothing if they don't have proof...”

Pidge paused it there. “I think they have all of the proof they need.”

Lotor's facade crumbled with his fury. “You cannot do this to me! I am the Crown Prince of Daibazaal!”

“And while aboard the Castle of Lions, you are under my jurisdiction and Altean law,” Allura reminded him. “You will be held in a cell while we investigate these claims against you. Kolivan, if you would?”

Kolivan inclined his head towards her and stepped forward, but Lotor backed away looking for a way out.

“Acxa, it's time!” he said, turning to the nameless pretender for help. Unfortunately for him, Thace was already a step ahead and had his blade pressed to her throat, keeping her in place.

Helplessly, Lotor looked to Allura. “You can't do this to me! We were meant to marry! We could have ruled the universe together!”

“I would never marry a monster like you,” Allura said, watching calmly as Kolivan bound Lotor's hands behind his back. Her gaze slid to Thace, who was a bit more gentle as he did the same to Lotor's associate. “Take them both back to the Castle and put them in separate cells. I will join you shortly.”

As they left, Allura turned her earrings back on, not surprised at all to hear Coran frantically trying to reach her. “Coran,” she said, interrupting whatever he was saying. “I need you to get in touch with Emperor Zarkon and Empress Honerva. Get a call set up at their earliest convenience, but no sooner than one varga. I will explain everything once I get back.”

“Understood, princess.”

Allura took a moment to breathe and then turned to Iverson with an apologetic smile. “I'm truly sorry for all of this. I promise that all of this will be explained to you, but right now there are other things I must take care of.”

Without waiting for a response, she made her way over to Keithir and Pidge.

“I can't believe it. Is it really over?” Pidge asked, sounding faint.

Allura nodded. “You have visual and audio evidence of what he tried to do. No one will be able to deny that.”

“He had the Red Lion this whole time.”

Allura blinked, unsure if she'd heard that correctly. She had assumed they'd just been close enough that the Red Lion could sense that there was a paladin in danger, but to hear that Lotor had dared to keep one of the Lions hidden from them...

“That was why I could never find her like I did the others. I doubt I could have even if we did know who her paladin is,” Allura realized.

“Speaking of,” Pidge said as she looked up at Keithir with a tiny grin. She took his hand and squeezed gently.

“Oh,” Allura breathed out as everything clicked into place. The younger prince was a paladin – the missing piece they'd been looking for. “Well that's...I am glad that there is something good that came from all of this. Welcome to the team, Prince Keithir.”

“Is it awful that I kind of want to thank Lotor for trapping us on his ship and trying to kill us? If not for that, we never would have found her,” Pidge said cheekily.

Her words got Keithir to crack a smile. “He'd hate that.”

Allura let herself relax as the two joked, taking a moment to let her stress ebb away. There was still a lot she had to do, but for a moment she could revel in their safe return and the fact that finally, all of the Lions were together again.

#voltron #fanfiction #kidge #kidgemas #arranged marriage au

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anchoredtether · 6 years

Text

LOTOR AND THE ALTEANS: A SEASON SIX META

[YARRR THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!!! YE HAVE BEEN WARNED]

I WISH NETFLIX WOULD LET ME TAKE SCREENSHOTS!!! So I apologize for the lousy quality because all my pictures I had to either find elsewhere or take with my phone.

Basically I think there’s a lot more to Lotor’s story, and we may find that everything is different than what we are lead to believe. If interested, delve into the madness below the cut. (there’s also a tl;dr at the end)

Let’s start at the beginning - Krolia’s mission.

Kolivan: This base was, until recently, run by a Galra commander named Ranveig, who was developing a super weapon of some sort. We’re not sure of the weapon’s specs, but we do know that it is incredibly powerful.

Keith: How did we learn all this?

Kolivan: We have a spy in Ranveig’s camp who’s managed to acquire high-level security clearance. Since Ranveig’s departure, it’s possible she assumed control of the base, but we can’t be sure.

Keith: Why not?

Kolivan: We’re not the only ones who know of the weapon. Two Galra factions, led by Commanders Trugg and Ladnok, are at war over the territory. Since their fighting began, all communication has been cut off. We need you to infiltrate the base, extract our spy, and destroy Ranveig’s weapon.

Krolia explains further:

Keith: What is the weapon exactly?

Krolia: Warlord Ranveig intercepted an undocumented shipment of quintessence traveling through his territory. He took it for his own and began experimenting with it. It’s more powerful than any quintessence we’ve received from the empire, and it has some very unexpected effects.

Krolia: We’re going after the enriched quintessence that created Ranveig’s super weapon. I was with Ranveig when an unmarked cargo ship passed into his region. When we checked it out there was no crew aboard. The ship had been nearly torn to pieces, but inside, a single vat of quintessence remained. It was unlike any other quintessence we’ve seen.

I’m guessing this was a ship of Alteans who were trying to escape or one of Lotor’s crews that helped with the Altean project (there were other Galra present, at least in Romelle’s recount). I believe the void tore the ship apart, and probably destroyed whoever was on board due to the stretching of space time. This ship could have been from thousands of years ago, or just from a week ago when Krolia discovered it. It’s impossible to tell.

The Altean colony is sketch from the get-go. It’s a synthetic environment (terribly similar looking to Allura’s simulation room where she would speak with her father - who was not real, it was a projection of his memories) within a dusty, abandoned-looking station. If Lotor came to this colony frequently, wouldn’t the station be in better shape? Wouldn’t he have some Galra soldiers stationed there? In Romelle’s flashbacks it shows other Galra assisting Lotor in moving Alteans to the other colony, so we know he didn’t work alone.

Keith also immediately says “What is this place??” When they first enter.

They walk for a little ways (or maybe a good distance? It’s hard to tell) when Keith stops and says he hears something, and it’s Romelle humming. A convenient way to draw them towards her since she wasn’t sitting right next to the door.

The first we see of Romelle she’s cleaning clothes in the river - something that seems very routine and normal in a real environment. But if this is a synthetic environment like it appears to be, Romelle being there is a major red herring. The ONE Altean who doubted Lotor and the ONE Altean who knew the truth (part of the truth?) happened to be the ONE and ONLY Altean that Keith and Krolia see?

Either the writers wanted to get to the point and keep the story concise, or Romelle is a conveniently placed trap.

Also convenient that NO ONE was around the hangar where they took the Altean pod? And again, no one was on the moon colony either. Keith and Krolia make moves to stealthily enter as if they’re expecting guards or alarms or something, but it seems abandoned.

Lance: Once they reach the quintessence field, then what? The last time anyone got in there, it turned Zarkon evil.

Shiro: Zarkon fell prey to his own evil instincts. The quintesence field didn’t create them, it revealed them.

This is important to remember that the first time Lotor went into the quintessence field he didn’t turn evil. He seemed like the normal Lotor we know both when he was in the field and when he returned with Allura. Lotor didn’t snap until his second time in the quintessence field AFTER everyone called him a monster and wouldn’t even pause for one second to hear his side of the story.

In fact, Allura even mentions how quintessence can’t fall into the wrong hands for evil intentions, and Lotor agrees with her.

Lotor: Readings are beyond anything I could’ve imagined. What we do here today will change the course of the universe forever.

Allura: In the hands of the wrong person, this power could easily corrupt.

Lotor: Together, we’ll see that it never does, and continue the work your father started so long ago.

If the quintessence field is supposed to reveal one’s evil intentions, all it did was reveal Lotor’s good intentions. He also brings this back to Altean Alchemy (mentioning Alfor), which I’ll talk about in a bit.

Let’s hear Romelle’s side of the story:

I come from a planet where there are thousands of Alteans. We have lived there since the war with Zarkon began. ... Every Altean child knows the story of how Lotor saved us from destruction. When Zarkon attacked, many were off-planet on trading expeditions. When news spread about the destruction of our home, those of us who remained went into hiding for deca-phoebs. But Lotor, with his deep knowledge of Altean culture, managed to track some of them down. ... To keep the Alteans secure, Lotor hid them on a remote planet beyond the quantum abyss. ... And over time, the Alteans came to worship Lotor as their savior. Generations ago, in an effort to increase our odds of survival, Lotor announced that he was creating another colony far from our own. But in order to do so, he needed to assess which Alteans were viable candidates to survive the journey. One by one, every Altean in the colony was given a series of tests. Those who were deemed fit for the journey were loaded onto a cargo ship and taken to the second colony. It was considered the highest honor. Any communication between the colonies was strictly prohibited for fear it would compromise the other’s location. This was the world I was born into, one of unquestioning devotion to a supposed messiah. My brother Bandor was always faithful, but I had questions. ... Eventually, Bandor grew old enough to be assessed for the journey to the other colony, and he was selected to leave mmediately. ... My brother was dead. I knew the truth, or at least part of it. But I also knew that no one would believe me without proof.

Let’s hear Bandor’s side of the story:

Bandor: Romelle, you were right. Lotor... the other colony... it’s all a lie...

The only thing we can rule out for Bandor’s statement is that the Alteans on the second colony weren’t there/doing things as Lotor explained. What exactly happened with the colony is still a mystery.

Let’s hear Lotor’s side of the story:

Romelle: Lotor is a monster and has been harvesting Altean quintessence for generations!

Allura: An Altean!

Romelle: [Lotor] killed my brother and thousands of others!

Pidge: Lotor has been lying to us the whole time. He’s a murderer, just like his father!

Lotor: You know nothing about what you speak.

Allura: What are they talking about?

Lotor: Allura, listen to me. I’ve dedicated my life to preserving Altean culture. Now that we have unlocked the quintessence field, all of your people, who would have been hunted down long ago had it not been for my intervention, can live in peace. Were some lives lost in the process? Yes. But they were martyrs to a noble cause. I sacrificed a few to preserve the future for millions. Allura, do not let this ruin everything we’ve worked for. Think of what we experienced in the quintessence field.

Lotor doesn’t deny Romelle’s accusations. He admits that lives were lost, but he emphasizes that it was for preserving Altean culture, and preserving the future for millions. It’s also interesting that he says “I sacrificed a few” as opposed to “a few Alteans died” as a result of failed experimentation or whatever. I think if you were trying to preserve a species and ran tests on them and a few died from random variables, I don’t think you would use the word sacrifice.

When Lotor first sees Romelle, it’s a strange look:

He looks more confused than he does shocked. Even a tad fearful. Keith and Krolia didn’t see any other Alteans besides Romelle. The place where they found her looked abandoned, the inside world looked like a simulation. There might not be any living Alteans left, only the ones left in the cryo-tubes that started to resemble Honerva. If this is the case, Lotor would be wondering who the heck Romelle is supposed to be.

Apparently in the 80s version, Haggar disguised herself as Romelle:

And Romelle may not be like Kuron, a puppet so to speak. She could simply be an Altean from this colony as she so claims, but Haggar could have given her false memories the way she did with clone Shiro. Or she might have been preserved via cryotube from back when there WERE Alteans living in the colony, and was just woken up now that the only Alteans left are the ones on the moon in their weakened near-dead state. She could be telling the complete truth as she knows it, but from what we’ve seen I would say there are no Alteans living at the colony. (I’ll address this more further down)

Also interesting that IMMEDIATELY after Romelle confronts Lotor, there is an alert that his generals (who are now working for Haggar) are attacking and then Shiro gets taken over by none other than Haggar.

Again, either the writers wanted to keep the story concise, or somehow Romelle was used to time the attack perfectly.

Honerva: You’ve continued the work I started all that time ago and have indeed seen it to heights I could have only imagined.

Is she referring to his search for knowledge on quintessence, or did she have something to do with the Altean colony as well? This statement is so vague that it opens many possibilities regarding Honerva’s involvement. The conversation that continues is also interesting:

Lotor: My mother ceased to exist when Honerva drew her last breath. Do not believe for a moment that I would ever accept you as kin. You are an abomination. A twisted perversion of what was once so pure and beautiful. The end is near, witch. I know you can sense it. If you beg for your life now, maybe I will take pity on you when the time comes.

Is Lotor being poetic, or did Honerva actually die? What if she was in the same ill-state as Bandor and all the other Alteans and died, and became the “witch” as she is called - and Lotor started or picked up the project of the Altean colony as a way to figure out why Honerva became the way she is? Maybe even as a way to figure out how to return her back to being Altean?

Allura: Then you’re... half Altean?

Lotor: Yes. It was something the Galra considered a weakness, but I consider it a strength. The union between Zarkon and Honerva sparked a technological revolution within the empire. Even back then, Altean culture was remarkably advanced. The kinds of experiments she was conducting she advanced science by eons.

Allura: How did Haggar get her hands on this?

Lotor: She was constantly seeking Altean magical knowledge that she could pervert for her own power. There must have been things that she was unable to access.

I think it’s safe to say that it’s possible Honerva started the Altean colony. Perhaps Lotor was trying to right her wrongs. Allura even asks how she got her hands on scientific knowledge, and I think it may be more than simply she was once Altean 10k years ago. She probably learned more from the Altean colony.

I think the Altean colony somehow ties back to Honerva, in one shape or another. Whether she started it or Lotor started it because of what happened to her. I think we’re going to learn more about her and how she ties into all of this, since they focused greatly on her trip to Oriande and how she’s reverting back to her Altean form (I don’t think they would have focused on this unless it was important - course it could just be symbolic that Honerva is gaining more power).

I think this all ties back to Altean Alchemy.

Lotor: I know you have the power within.

Allura: What if I don’t? ... Coran doesn’t have it, Honerva didn’t have it... The truth is, I may not have his abilities either.

Lotor: You must. There must be a way to carry on the tradition of Altean alchemy.

Allura: That tradition died along with my planet 10,000 years ago. I’ll never be the alchemist my father was.

Why is Lotor so desperate to have Altean Alchemy? I think it ties into the Altean colony, whether he needs the alchemy to save the Alteans or if he needs the alchemy to further his goal, whatever it may be. At the moment it seems Allura is the only hope for there being Altean Alchemy.

Back to the quintessence Krolia discovered.

What if the quintessence Krolia describes as “more powerful than any quintessence we’ve received from the empire [with] some very unexpected effects” is somehow a form of Altean Alchemy? Sounds kind of like Voltron when Alfor created it - Voltron was more powerful than anything in the universe, and it had the unexpected side effects of the Lions each having their own life force of sorts.

What if Lotor figured out how to turn Altean Alchemy into pure quintessence?

He picked out Alteans on the colony based on “certain requirements” - I’m betting it was based on whether the individual had the potential for alchemy. As we’ve seen with Allura and Coran, some Alteans have it while others don’t. Whatever Lotor did with the second colony is still uncertain, but whatever it involved it caused them to have this “Altean sickness” (what I shall call the near-dead state with the elongated markings). I think all the Alteans on the moon colony are still alive, however, merely being preserved.

Romelle is a victim.

I suspect that she doesn’t have the whole story but everything she knows - albeit limited - is truth. I think Honerva is using her to further her agenda. Honerva could have even sought Romelle out, seeing that she had doubts about Lotor and thus would be the perfect one to turn Voltron against Lotor.

I’m speculating that Romelle is the last living Altean from the colony (without the Altean sickness) and that she either:

Was kept in cryosleep and recently woken and placed in the colony for Keith and Krolia to find (Honerva could have tabs on Krolia because she was technically working in the empire).

Is a clone of the original Romelle.

Knowing that Honerva was the one who started project Kuron in the first place, it’s not too much of a stretch to say she cloned Romelle as well.

Considering this was a thing that Voltron deleted shortly after, it may be a hint towards this theory. The binary translated to “Kuron.” Some speculated that this might mean that clone Shiro might come back, or that Lotor might even be cloned (apparently he was in the original), but I think it might relate to Romelle.

TL;DR

In summation, I think that:

The Altean colony is dead (possibly has been for many years now), save for the ones preserved on the moon colony.

There is more to Lotor’s story.

Honerva is tied to all of this.

The quintessence has something to do with Altean alchemy, and both have ties to both Lotor and Honerva’s goals.

Romelle is not a spy, but a victim of Honerva (and possibly a clone).

#voltron #vld #voltron meta #voltron theory #vld meta #vld theory #voltron s7 predictions #vld s7 predictions #my meta #lotor #romelle #alteans #altean colony #quintessence

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crasherfly · 4 years

Text

Been Around

I’ve been working on an iteration of this tumble for a while.

My last one? Well. It was kinda. Sad?

Like, basically, oh hey I’m on the edge of ruin guess we’ll see what happens!

Obvs some time has passed since then. And like, I dunno, maybe people are wondering how things turned out?

So I’m here to talk about that. Oh, and yeah, talk about what I’ve been playing watching and listening to.

Question Corner time!!!

Um did you get fired or what?

Shockingly, no! I kept my job. In fact, kinda got a clean slate- new manager, a new schedule, the works.

What the fuck? How?

Right?

Basically, I kept my mouth shut when I needed to and stuck to one un-sophisticated but outrageously stupid lie about why my “work” wasn’t showing up in the reports.

And the person in charge of calling me on that bullshit just...didn’t.

I don’t know if it was kindness, or laziness, or what, but they basically let me off with a firm warning to not let my abject neglect of my job be so obvious next time around. Around the same time as all this was going down, there was also a big shakeup in management, and I got shifted to a new guy. Along with that, I also got approved to reduce my work week.

So my best guess is amidst all the change they decided to just give me a free pass, cuz firing a union employee in the time of covid would be...a lot of work.

Wow. Sick. So. New schedule?

Yup. My job is having a bit of a budget emergency so they have offered to let us take unpaid time off while retaining our benefits. I’m now working 30 hours a week until the end of the year. I’ll miss the money, but honestly? I’m fucking stoked. I straight up need to be at work less, and while it’s some shit that I have to take a paycut just to stay sane, you better believe I was ON THAT the minute I learned it was an option.

You didn’t get fired. You got a new sup, a new supervisor...so...are you gonna try in the future, to, like, not get in that position again?

Yeah. I’m very okay with not putting myself through any of this ever again.

I’m actually putting in a full day’s honest work. Logging in on time. Staying awake the entire shift. Doing actual work. It’s wild. And exhausting. And repetitive. So...so...so...repetitive.

Actually working my job the way it’s written out on paper is awful and draining. My work is deeply uninteresting and utterly without consequence. I don’t have any actual metrics to work towards because of how the pandemic has impacted things. You’d think that would be good! But actually, it sucks real bad cuz my bosses basically just say “you have no metrics, but you should also be demonstrably productive” which basically means BUSY AS FUCK. So every day is an exercise in how I can convincingly spin my tires for 10 hours a day.

The tradeoff for making a clean go at this whole gainful employment thing is that, presumably, I can forgo the stress of like, you know, having my entire life and sense of financial security implode at a moments notice. I guess it’s a fair trade.

Still, I’m so very, very tired.

So...how are you feeling about things?

Honestly...pretty okay?

Look, you gotta understand that for the past month I was unraveling at the seams. Barely sleeping, drinking way too much, gaining weight back and making zero progress on my creative hobbies. So any improvement at all? In 2020? Feels like a fucking windfall to end all windfalls, even if the job is still shit and the paycut is a bit of a kick in the ass.

Cool cool. You uh...still doin...?

Therapy? I mean you can just say therapy.

Yeah, I’m doing it. Results seem...limited?

I found out my therapist is a anti-vax covid truther so...that’s been an experience. But when she isn’t going on about how big pharma is just mining us for cash money (not totally untrue), she’s...aight?

I dunno. I have to talk a lot. I don’t usually do that, ya know? And sometimes I finish my sentences and I’m like lol that’s literally all I got and then have to wait for a response. And the response is usually something weird like “WELL THAT’S GREAT”.

I guess I was expecting to hear some high concept shit about my brain? And instead...it’s mostly just been affirmations of just how damn functional I am! I’m so functional! Look at me, being functional like I’m all sorts of hot shit.

I thought you were gonna fire her-

Yeah, uh, look. I’m...very bad at confrontation. I’ll fire the truther therapist next week, I promise.

Whatever, so...what are you gonna do now that you only work 3 days a work?

Hopefully more of this! I miss writing for an audience. I miss sharing what excites me with other people! I’ve missed having an online presence. I live my life on the internet these days. Like, yesterday, I had this distinct feeling that I was SO ONLINE that I was like, basically, on the verge of full Matrix. Like, between Spriteclub and Twitter and Youtube and my online games, just stick a fuckin’ needle in the back of my head and get it over with. I’m like fuckin’ Neuromancer over here, 3 monitors at once all day every day.

So...when do we talk about what you’ve been up to?

RIGHT NOW ASSHOLE! That’s right folks, let’s talk about what I’ve been gettin’ into during my free time.

WRITING-

Alice and the Pale Horse

I’m on page 123. Working on some edits. Seriously looking at how I can release my first few pages in an episodic format.

My dream is to someday have an animator for this story. A guy can hope, yeah?

Crash’s Corner

I’m gearing up for another anime post. I’m hoping it’ll be a bit shorter and more focused. Major show candidates include Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, Gleipnir, and Deca-Dence.

Film Journal

I’ve been guest writing for Ryan Sanderson’s year-long film journal the past few weeks. The last entry was about the Alien franchise. Give it a look!

ANIME-

God of High School

Man, this show is so damn lukewarm until it hits these wild action sequences that make your soul just fucking sing. The story feels like total nonsense, even for a shonen, but then you hit moments like this and it just doesn’t matter. It’s so imaginative it just absolutely soars.

Gleipnir

OH MY GOD GLEIPNIR. Look, I can’t recommend this show to you. It’s that batshit off the walls wild. But...if you can handle the absolute of anime bullshit- and if you’re an anime fan, you know what I mean- then you might be able to handle this. I just finished the first season this week and it grabbed me by the neck and didn’t let go. If it doesn’t get renewed, I’ll absolutely find the manga. But just. Like. Holy shit. Yeah. (I said Holy Shit probably at least 2 or 3 times per ep, so be warned).

Fire Force

Honestly, season 2 has been a bit of a gas for me. It’s just lacked a certain juice that the first season had. Season 1 had so much wild worldbuilding going on, while season 2 seems to be all about tossing in as many tertiary characters as possible. Curious if the manga handles that better. As it stands, Fire Force still makes it onto my weekly rotation of anime I hit up while biking.

Deca-Dence

I heard hype for this on Twitter, and based on the stills and the trailer, I was kinda so-so. But I jumped in and gave it a couple ep’s and honestly? It kept my attention. It even surprised me several times. It’s deeply imaginative in its own right, and presents a couple of animation styles that play directly into the lore of its world presentation. I’m not resonating with it on an emotional level in the same way as I am with say, Gleipnir, but this is still a really damn good show that I’d have no reservations about recommending to anyone.

A Certain Scientific Railgun T

This one has me deeply conflicted. On the one hand, it is a gif generator, and I have a whole library of reaction gifs to show for it. The action is thrilling, the world gorgeous, the characters endearing and appropriately silly. But, like, also, it is the height of fan-service and there’s not much of a defense for it. So much so that I’ve only watched the first few episodes. I don’t know if I’ll keep on since the story hasn’t got its hooks in me yet. Reminds me a lot of Pandora in the Crimson Urn- deeply imaginative and funny but also full of yikes.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

I’m only a few ep’s into season 1 but I’m intrigued. It’s a rom-com/slice of life type anime, but it plays like a more straight-faced Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, but with the voice of the show centered around a deeply unlikable incel-type character surrounded by a terrifically enjoyable cast of fellow students who each bring their own quirks to the table. I’m interested to see how the plot continues to develop, as I’ve seen fans raving about the most recent season. However, this show has fallen to the wayside as I keep getting distracted by other anime. Kinda reminds me of Food Wars in the sense that I find its premise and characters compelling but also lose my focus on the story quickly.

Samurai Champloo

Finally finished it! Loved it, for the most part. As a guy who has watched his fair share of classic sword films, I deeply appreciated how much reverence the animators and writers had for the genre, while also infusing their own modern sensibilities. It’s not hard to see what this sword story is so well loved, even if its overwrought ending doesn’t come close to touching the charm of its early charm and wanderlust.

Kaguya-Sama: Love is War

The best damn rom-com slice of life anime I’ve ever seen. Season 2 blew me away. I laughed. I cried. I enjoyed the new tertiary characters and was gratefully surprised by how easily the story was able to sustain the pace, brevity and sneaky depth of season 1. This show is special.

Dragon Ball

I want to enjoy this, if only ‘cuz I want to understand the story that is considered so foundational to many other fans. And I LOVE the trademark animation, of course. But...also..there’s a whole lot of moments in this that are just uh...they require explaining in 2020. Maybe I just need to get over my scruples and power through, idk.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

My current shonen project. I’ve been stalled out on the timeskip arc for about...a year now? But I’m not willing to call it quits yet! I need to see this bonkers time-traveling mafia war through to its conclusion.

Gintama

I fucking adore Gintama. I love how it doesn’t give a fuck about skewering anime as a medium until it flips a switch and slaps you upside the head with some weirdly emotional and hopeful message. Every character is both hilarious and yet has this deeply emotional connection to the audience. It is perfect satire.

MANGA

Note: People often ask me where I get my manga. My answer can vary from title to title, but my usual go-to is Epilogue Books, owned and run by my dear friend and writing partner of many years. I have a semi-regular shipment of titles I receive from them depending on how quick I get through a given shipment. If you’re looking for these, or any other manga, give their site a gander or contact them directly. They’ll hook you up, and you’ll have the satisfaction of supporting literally anyone but Amazon.

One Piece

I’m on volume 33 of the Skypiea arc, which has been so-so compared to the previous arcs with Crocodile and the adventures in the Deep Blue. I do find the Kami to be a curious and compelling villain, but none of the Straw Hats have done much in the way of growth beyond “get separated, fight jobber bosses, come back together and let Luffy finish the fight”. I’m toward the end of the arc, however, so we’ll see how it rolls.

Berserk

Holy shit Berserk. A bunch of folks told me to read this when I asked for suggestions on twitter. I saw the cover art and was like “ok guy with big sword in a dark fantasy world, neat”. Wasn’t sure if it said more about the people who suggested it, or more about me that they thought I’d like it. I was also deeply nervous about dark fantasy after my fiasco with Goblin Slayer. But I went with it and gave the first volume a read and HOLY SMOKES. What a damn read. Not only does the story have me hooked, but also, it is GORGEOUS. It is dark. It is moody. It is occasionally humorous. But its STYLE just grabs me in a way that is reminiscent of the old Spawn comics from my youth. I immediately ordered more and I can’t wait.

Fairy Tail

Just finished the lullaby arc and now we are deep into the Deliora arc with the Cold Emperor. It’s really been fun to see how the manga differs from the anime. The anime was my first true shonen experience and a story that I credit with having saved my life, so I had high expectations coming into this. I’m happy to say that thus far, the manga of Fairy Tail is worth every bit of attention that the anime received. Can’t wait to keep going.

Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is fucking precious and if you come at these characters I swear to god I will come back at you. *deep breath* Okay. Settle. This is a positively lovely story, centered in positivity, kindness, and found family. Each character is working through trauma in their own imperfect way, and I adore their journeys. You can tell the story was penned by a deeply vulnerable human and I can’t thank them enough for having the courage to share it. Read this manga- and then go see the equally gorgeous anime.

Eden’s Zero

Written and drawn by the same crew who did Fairy Tail, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call it Fairy Tail In Space. That said, volume 1 gave me just enough to get curious again about where Mashima is heading with his latest creative opus- and whether it will cross over with his wildly successful Fairy Tail universe. And yes, in case the above panel wasn’t enough of a cue- Mashima and co. can still play my heart for tears like no one’s business and it’s damn rude.

Sailor Moon

I love the Sailor Moon anime. I think it’s an adorable show with deeply relatable characters that approaches the monster of the week format with an effectiveness that would make even Buffy the Vampire Slayer jealous. The manga is just as wonderful- not to mention beautifully drawn. Volume 1 also works much, much faster than the show does, and I dare say it is better for it.

VIDYA GAMES

Warzone

I’m just seven levels out from completing my third battlepass straight. I’m going to try the Black Ops alpha this week. I’ve played Warzone a whole lot less lately, dedicating my evenings to reading manga, napping, or watching wrestling with pals instead, but it still remains my favorite shooter at this time.

Cities: Skylines

I started a new city last week. It’s a shithole industrial city on a desert map. I had to set my sewer drainage in a manmade lake outside of town that quickly overflowed. At one point the sewage flood disabled my powerplants which in turn caused my entire town of 8k to flee. I went into 3 million in debt while waiting for the town to rebound. I came out of it eventually, repopulating the town to the tune of well over 11k, and restoring my budget surplus, but it was a huge fucking ordeal. I love this game.

Yakuza 0

After chapter 1 of Yakuza 0 I was ready to write this game off. The camera angles pissed me off. The fight commands felt simplistic. The story was boring. But as I thought back to my experience of chapter 1, I realized that it more closely resembled some of my favorite action film sequences than I had initially realized. Did the button mashing make my wrists beg for mercy? Absolutely. Was it satisfying to overcome an absurd amount of enemies using little more than my x button and my wits? Also yes. And did those fights build on each other to create a sense of violent urgency as I propelled myself toward the “boss”? Definitely yes. And then you leave chapter 1 and get your run of a map that includes karaoke bars, Sega arcades and ramen shops- and yes, you better believe that I spent way too much time playing Sega’s Outrun. While jogging between shops and minigames random mobs of enemies pop up and try to start shit with you- much as they might in a JRPG. In fact, the game itself has a lot of RPG elements in it- stat boosts and inventory management and even a relationship meter. The more time I put in, the more the game opens up. I’m going to keep giving Yakuza 0 a shot for as long as that continues to be the case. Also, it is a perfect option to play as a streamed game on my phone.

Mario 64

Can you believe I’ve never played Mario 64? Seems embarrassing to admit now. So here I am, many, many years late to the party. I’ll let y’all know how I like it. So far...I’m already lost on the first course, so...hopefully things pick up.

Sky

Sky has been a bizarre experience. It’s the latest game from That Game Company, their previous work including Journey and Flower. Sky has that same aimless charm, but I also just can’t get into it to save my life. It’s free-to-play, but abstractly so- I’m not sure what the paid content even really does. I have a few friends on Sky- they typically have to drag me to the places they want to go. There’s nothing at stake in the world of sky- there are spirits you can free and content you can unlock, and occasionally you do encounter foes who pose a danger to you, but for the most part it’s basically a fetch quest with social elements added in. I appreciate those social experiences, and the community seems very chill, but it’s also a bit of a stress to log in and have everyone flock to you demanding your attention and time. Also, this game is only playable on my mobile phone, which I am not used to gaming on, so...focus is limited. I mostly just vibe on the starter island and talk to acquaintances.

Music

Powfu

DJ Blyatman

fawlin x Naits

Josh A

Tekken 7 OST

gothurted

Beast in Black

Battle Beast

Legos

Hey! I’m doing legos! That seems like a totally normal hobby to have at my age...yeah. Totally.

Anyway, I’m working on the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set. It’s about 3k pieces. It’s been a fun build so far! Here’s my progress...

WRASTLIN

Yes, I’m still watching wrestling. I usually get an episode or two in every week with my pals on discord. It’s not as many as I’d like to watch, but it’s for the best. If my viewing wasn’t forcibly tempered I’d have likely lost the past few months entirely to wrestling. And as you might have guessed from above, I’m someone who is happiest when their hobbies are varied and numerous.

I’m in June of 1999 of the WWF storyline. Undertaker is the heavyweight champ, the Acolytes hold the tag belts, Jeff Jarrett has the intercontinental title belt and Owen Hart just died. King of the Ring is less than a week away. My friends and I have filled out brackets. I’m very excited to see who, if any of us, ends up being right about the winner.

SPORTS???

I gave baseball the old college try. I ended up giving up. It just isn’t the escape I need. Something about those empty stadiums and players half-wearing masks and the shortened games just throws me off. I don’t feel at ease watching baseball in 2020. When I first got into baseball back in 2014 or so, it was because I was sick and baseball promised an illusion of normalcy- I could watch the rest of the world function in relative stability and hope that someday I too could join them. Now it’s the rest of the world that’s sick, and I’m relatively well, and all baseball can do for me in 2020 is remind me that I’m damn lucky I’m as well as I am, and that if I’m careless (or just plain unlucky) that I’ll be pretty sick to.

So where did I turn for competitive entertainment?

Well, there was wrestling, to be sure, but the real joy I’ve found is at SpriteClub.

The quick pitch- people just like you or me create fighters in M.U.G.E.N., a 2-D fighting game engine. These fighters, or sprites, are guided by AI, also designed by people like you and I. Think of it like a gundam and its pilot. They’re tossed into a pool with a whole bunch of other community creations and left to duke it out while the viewers bet fake money on the winners.

You would think that the idea might only appeal to gambling junkies and fighting game addicts, but the truth is this eclectic channel has a much wider appeal than one might initially give it credit for.

For one, its catalogue of fighters includes everything from pop culture superheroes to obscure anime characters to widely shared memes. It is almost impossible to not find a character you’ll have some sense of loyalty to.

Beyond that, the crowd that populates the chat is courteous, kind, and downright educational- a remarkable mix for anywhere gamers populate. It’s a relatively small community, so the channel takes the feeling of an intimate corner bar. If you enter the chat respecting the chill and willing to listen, you will learn a great deal not just about the fighters, but about how the genre of 2D fighter works as a whole.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of SpriteClub is the exhibitions feature, which allows you to request custom matches with your favorite characters, which play out on the Twitch stream for others to view and bet on. Although often chaotic, the exhibition mode is home to a number of long-running series set up my stream regulars. These series take on a life and lore of their own that is frankly fascinating. Think of it like a more frenetic video game karaoke. Yes, picking good fighters is a goal, but so is finding a good angle for the match- the right level of humor, the right pairing of unlikely characters, and set-up for matches that are competitive, as opposed to predictable stomps.

I’ve never jumped into a Twitch channel as a regular before. I’ve never subbed to anything on Twitch before. The gamer community as a whole has always been one that’s left a bad taste in my mouth, rightfully so. But SpriteClub has been a lovely brightspot and proof that kind and informative gaming communities can and do continue to exist. I foresee myself being a regular viewer for some time to come.

And that’s it!

That’s pretty much everything I can think of sharing at this time! I hope y’all enjoyed it. As you can tell, I’ve done my best to keep busy. Hopefully I’ll have even more to share with you all in the immediate future. Until then, thanks for reading, and keep well!

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quickwrites · 7 years

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Papa Kitty: The Birthday Party

It wasn’t that his fathers and uncles never celebrated Keith’s existence. They made sure that he knew he was loved and they were glad that he was a welcomed member of their family every deca-phoeb to mark the day he had been taken in. It was more that what humans called a “Birthday Party” was not in line with the Galra celebrations when a kit entered their lives. Keith was alarmed when Lance fell out of his chair when Keith asked what it was that Hunk had made and why it was on fire.

He was quickly educated on the importance of a “Birthday Cake” and all the needed actives of what each paladin deemed a good birthday party. Keith didn’t understand a lot of it since each had different ideas but the main points he gathered was that every party was suppose to have a cake or some preferred sweet food, presents, friends and family, some sort of finger food and a meal, and games or activities that varied greatly between the four. The fact that Keith hadn’t had such a celebration seemed to personally offend the other teens and while Shiro was more understanding, he too seemed off put by the knowledge. Coran and Thace had ended up discussing the differences between the celebration for Galra now verses ten thousand years ago and Lance finally put out the fire on top of the cake by blowing it out but Keith was just glad that the party ended shortly after they had eaten the sweet bread-like food.

By that point he had been around the other teens for two phoebs (four phoebs with Shiro) and it was still upsetting when his gaps in Human culture was pointed out. Thace and Shiro both told him that they did not mean for the harsh reactions and that it was just because they weren’t use to people not knowing about such things but it still hurt. He was getting better at hiding the hurt until he was alone in his room. Antok would still see through his smile and would stop by to talk to him and he was sure that his Papa knew a fake smile but neither would directly bring it up, allowing him to either keep it to himself or come to them to talk about it on his own.

Pheobs passed since Lance’s birthday and Keith almost forgot about the whole thing. In that time, he had noticed the other paladins meeting without him like they use to and them asking weird questions like showing him a picture of a toy or knick knack they found from the Space Mall and asking what he thought of them. There was also a lot of conversations that would suddenly stop when he walked into a room, not just between the humans but with the other Blades and Alteans as well. It was all very strange and off putting to the hybrid and he found that as he noticed more conversations halting or hasty retreats with bad excuses the less he wanted to be around people, including his own family.

So when Antok, who by this point was one of the worse offenders of bad excuses when he asked what people were talking about and leaving, asked Keith to meet him in the Blade’s Lounge, Keith had instead gone to the training deck and took out his energy on battle droids instead.

Antok had tried to call him again, so did Thace and Shiro when he didn’t respond, followed by Pidge, Hunk, Coran and weirdly Allura. He almost picked up for Allura wondering if maybe there was some sort of Voltron emergency then changed his mind. If it was about Voltron they would have sounded an alert through the castle not called him on his personal com. Whatever they wanted he didn’t care and if it was that important then they could come find him.

“You are a real jerk you know that, mullet head,” Lance shouted as he stormed into the training room.

Keith just barely avoided the swipe at his head before pausing the training program and looking around at Lance in shock. “What-” he started. The arm around his neck cut him off as Lance put him into a headlock against his side and started dragging him out of the training deck.

“All this effort and you ignore all our calls and almost ruin everything,” Lance ranted as he walked, not seeming to notice Keith struggling to get himself free. Keith was always surprised by how strong Lance was and how with no formal training before becoming a paladin the other teen managed to keep Keith in a hold so well.

“Lance,” Keith snapped, pushing at the arm holding his head. “Let go!”

“Not happening,” Lance snapped back. “I’m dragging your butt to the Lounge and you’re going to be happy I did!”

“Lance, I’m warning you!”

A casual walk from the training deck Keith had chosen that day to the Blade’s Lounge took about ten dobosh. There was one that was two dobosh away but Keith had picked the further one for that exact reason. The teenage boys took twenty dobosh to reach the door instead, their paced slowed by Keith managing to break free from Lance and Lance finding new ways to drag him along. By the time they were in front of the door, Lance had locked Keith’s arms above his head with a firm grip on his neck and Keith in protest of the whole thing rag dolled himself so Lance was forced to drag him along instead.

“Okay,” Lance said, breathing a bit harder than normal. “We’re here. Now stand up like a normal person and walk inside or I’m going to throw you in there!”

Keith pouted as Lance let him go and he hit the floor on his butt, folding his arms. “Why should I?” he countered. “You’ve all been avoiding me and lying about everything. Why should I do a single thing you want when no one wants me around?”

Lance stared down at Keith as Keith looked up at him, both upside down from the other person’s perspective. The anger melted from Lance’s face, his eyes going wide then pinching closed as he muttered rapidly to himself in Spanish in the same tone Keith would some times speak Galran in when he was swearing. “Keith,” the Cuban said, sitting suddenly on the floor next to him. “I’m sorry. We never meant to make you feel that way.”

Keith looked away, his arms still folded over his chest and refusing to speak.

“You remember my birthday party a few mon- phoebs ago,” Lance asked, pausing long enough to see Keith give a stiff nod. “Well after you left I asked Papa Thace when your birthday was. He told me he wasn’t sure when exactly you were born because of how you came to him and the others but he did give me the date of when you joined his family, the date that you guys usually celebrate together in that Galra way you do.” He paused, looking at the side of Keith’s face. “That’s today you know.”

“Yeah...” Keith said softly, looking towards the ground at his side. “I figured with everything going on...”

“You thought we forgot,” Lance said, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “That we were so busy doing whatever we were doing without you plus the whole war thing that your day was left forgotten.”

Keith swallowed thickly, stubbornly rubbing a hand under one eye when his vision started to blur.

“I’m so sorry, Keith,” Lance said again, squeezing Keith’s shoulder. “That was never suppose to happen. Everyone is inside the Lounge waiting for you. The Blades all felt really bad for keeping everything a secret from you but we thought you’d like your first human birthday party to be a surprise.”

“My what,” Keith said, his voice thick as he looked at Lance.

“Your birthday party, knucklehead,” Lance said, giving him a half smile. “A surprise birthday party. It wasn’t easy and it took a lot of planning but we wanted you to have the full experience. We had to get the Blades to help us to make sure it wasn’t just things we liked but that you’d like too and then we had to swear them to secrecy which they didn’t like at all, particularly Antok. We even got Coran and Allura in on it so we could find things around the castle to use...” The hand on his shoulder moved to the other shoulder and Lance pulled Keith into a sideways hug, tapping his forehead against the side of Keith’s face. “I’m sorry we had you feel unwanted,” he whispered. “I can’t say sorry enough and the others would say the same thing. Nothing will ever excuse that. We all love you, Keith. You’re important to all of us and not just because of the big red cat in the hanger.”

Keith turned his head to press his forehead against Lance’s, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry I was being a jerk,” he muttered, feeling terrible for making Lance drag him down there and ignoring everyone’s calls.

“It’s fine,” Lance said, chuckling softly. “Everyone gets a one jerk pass on their birthday. Now,” he said pushing Keith with his forehead then leaning back. “Are you ready to play party games, open presents and eat cake and ice cream until you throw up?”

“Is throwing up a requirement,” Keith asked, smiling as he and Lance grabbed the other’s hand and pulled themselves up at the same time.

“I suppooooooose it’s optional,” Lance said huffing. “But I bet once you taste Hunk’s cake you won’t stop until you at least want to throw up!”

“We’ll see about that,” Keith said, wiping his face and looking at the door. Lance stepped behind him and gave him a little push.

When the door opened Keith was greeted with a loud cheer from everyone inside as they jumped to their feet. Pidge and Hunk had been standing on either side of the door and threw bits of colorful paper into the air so it would fall on Keith’s head. Shiro and Caron had little horns that they blew loudly. Allura and half the Blades were wearing cone shaped hats. Thace hugged him, purring loudly once he was in the door. Lance retrieved another cone hat that was far more decorative than the others and put it on Keith’s head. The room was covered in streamers and balloons on the ground and in the air. The words “Happy Birthday Keith” were written on a banner in Allura’s fancy handwriting. Two tables had been brought into the room, one covered in different foods including some of Keith’s favorites and the other with colorful packages wrapped in paper.

The other teens had attached themselves to Keith’s side for the party, explaining different games with animated excitement to the room and saying which they liked the best. After a while Hunk left with one of the Blades and returned with a large cake, decorated with a red lion and a hippo made out of icing on the top. Hunk lit the candles and everyone sang the Earth version of a birthday song. Coran and Allura also sang an Altean version that the others tried to follow along with and the Blades finished it all off with the more throaty song of welcome to their kit. Lance made sure Keith didn’t blow out the candles until he made a secret wish that he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone then after everyone ate a slice of the cake, handed Keith his first present.

Suddenly all the pictures made sense to Keith as he found all the ones he had shown interest in inside the colorful wrappings. Then there was more cake and they set up a video game that Pidge had gotten Keith for people to battle each other in. Slowly the Blades left, citing other duties that couldn’t be put off but wishing Keith a good day, as well as Coran until it was just the Paladins, Allura and the mice, taking turns playing the different video games together and eating what remained of the food.

Eventually even that wined down from its fiery competitions to halfhearted trash talking until Shiro insisted they start cleaning up before it go too late and they all headed in their own directions to bed. Keith grabbed Lance’s hand to keep him from getting too far ahead as the others yawned and wished each other a good night and telling Keith happy birthday one last time.

“What’s up, buddy,” Lance asked once they were alone, Keith managing to get them to miss the elevator with Shiro, Pidge and Hunk.

“I just wanted to say thanks,” Keith said, squeezing Lance’s hand. “For all of this. For everything.”

“It’s no big deal,” Lance said, smiling at Keith. He gave a little gasp as Keith’s arms wrapped around him suddenly, their chests pressing together and Keith’s face burying into Lance’s neck.

“It is a big deal,” Keith said, his lips moving against Lance’s skin. “It’s a huge deal. You didn’t have to do all of this and you did and... thank you...”

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s back, holding him tightly. “Everyone deserves an awesome birthday, man,” he said, putting his head into the crook between Keith’s neck and shoulder. “Even mullet headed moody pants.”

Keith just laughed softly.

------

Characters belong to Voltron Legendary Defenders

So as I mentioned in a previous post today’s my birthday! What I didn’t mention is that yesterday was also my best friend @ryysmenkib‘s birthday! We both turned 25 and had an awesome time but she suggested that with our birthdays happening I write a birthday story here. At first I thought of writing one for Lance and one for Keith separately but had people over last night to celebrate (thanks to my fiance for planning an awesome little party!) and decided to kind of combine the stories in a way but focus on Keith since it’s his birthday month this year.

With the very militaristic and caste system culture of the Galra I can’t really see them having birthday celebrations like we would think of them but I can totally see them having small very personal celebrations welcoming members of their family in. Since Thace and Ulaz adopted Keith they would celebrate that day instead of worrying about what day his was actually born. I think Alteans would have birthday parties like what humans throw but in slightly different ways because of their advances in technology and use of alchemy. I’d absolutely love to see either culture be touched on in the series because it would be very cool to see plus they all need to celebrate something that isn’t a war effort! Let these people have some cake and party games!

#keith #lance #pidge #klance #papa kitty #hunk #shiro #thace #antok #allura #caron #keith's birthday #surprise party #dads of marmora #blades of marmora #flash fiction #fanfiction

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cybertronianlovenest · 7 years

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Interfacing

OK, today are going to discuss interfacing. Let’s talk about sex baby, let’s talk about you and me! Get down tonight, get get get down tonight! Ok, with that out of the way, let’s get onto the topic at hand. We’re going to cover 3 main topics that go hand in hand with interfacing. Reproduction of course, everyone could guess that, but there’s also 2 more that are vitaly important. Those are general health of the mech/femme and the ability to form bonds. We’ll kick this off with the standard point of creating more cybertronians. Sparklings. Cybertronians don’t reproduce as you would think, in fact the act of interfacing can be no more than an after notation in the quest to have a tiny little mech or femme scampering about. There are 2 distinct parts of cybertronian reproduction, interfacing and spark merging. Interfacing is accomplished by inducing an overload, either with a partner or by ones self and isn’t always in the hopes to gain a sparkling. It’s usually accompanied with penetration into ones partner but not always. Each mech/femme has a spike and a valve(minus a few who have had one or another sealed/removed for personal reasons). The taker and receiver have little to do with which gender they are though femmes are slightly are likely to be submissive than mechs. Submissives do usually take to carrying better, with less adverse emotional changes durning the process but that’s not 100 percent. It hinges a lot on their coding as well. For instance Iconian aerial bots, or seekers as they’re more commonly know have a base coding that demands the protection of not only sparklings and younglings but also carriers, and in certain conditions Submissives as well. Praxians(Prowl) share about half their coding with seekers, true Praxians. Not to be confused with any mech that carries doors on their back(Bumblebee). Seekers and Praxians differ in their behavior quite a bit. Seekers when confronted with a sparkling in danger will often offline anyone they precive as a threat. The coding completely over rides everything else and they can’t not control their actions until the sparkling is out of danger. Praxians on the other hand have a much more intact set of coding and are better able to control themselves. If they were to find a sparkling in danger they would still fight to protect it, but only until the danger passed. If the perceived threat turned out to be nothing to worry about they would simply leave. Providing the young one had a care taker. Both types of bots would take in any abondoned sparkling/youngling, but seekers are more likely to raise it alone while Praxians will be driven to find a mate should they not already have one until the youngling is grown enough to be on their own. Mechs/femmes that heir from Polyhexian decent(Jazz) are more dominant and twice as likely to undergo harsher reactions to carrying as say an intermediate mech/femme. An intermediate is a bot that lacks any sort of sparkling base coding, they aren’t submissive, but they aren’t dominant either. They will gladly fill either roll durning the interface(not to say all seekers or Praxians wouldn’t) they just have no pull either way. Now with the coding aspect out of the way we can move on to the act of interfacing. During the interface the partner that is supplying Transfluid to a growing sparkling is generally referred to as a Coder. That’s not to say that they were the one to kindle the sprite though. This is where it can get confusing. There’s 3 main terms to describe mech/femmes who have created a sparkling. These are, Sparker, Coder, and Carrier. The sparker is the bot that has helped to kindle a sprite, the carrier is the one who it is growing inside and the Coder is the one who provides Transfluid. Now, having said that, the sparkling can have many creators depending on how much their carrier gets around. Having many different bits of coding can be a good thing though as it creates a more diverse *gene pool* if you will so if any poor coding, viruses, or defects are weeded out by the stronger coding. The sparker is really only needed for the first 5 orns(roughly 10 weeks). Durning that time the sprite can only have contact with its sparker, anyone else would alter the fluctuations of the carries spark resulting in the sprite being destabilized and reabsorbed back into the carries spark. The first 5 orns are critical to not only getting it off to a good start but also to getting rid of it if the carrier doesn’t want it. If that is the case a simple merge with another will sweep it away. After those initial orns it is strongly opposed since trying after that time will cause severe damage to the carries spark, possibly ending with them going offline. A Coder can step in at any time and assist in the process or completely take over should the sparker not wish to be present. This is where seekers are highly sought after. They will stay with the carrier and help along the sparkling through the whole process and depending on the carriers wishes after it has separated as well. Praxians are not usually concerned over carries, unless it is their mate. They will not generally take in one that had been abondoned like a seeker will. In some cases the sparker can be completely absent in the process minus initial spark contact. It isn’t the best case for the sprite but the carrier can be placed on a spark stabilizer until it’s stronge enough to endure the change in fluctuations while it’s carrier mergers with someone else. Though most sparklings brought about that way are weak and about half don’t make it. In the event that the sparker leaves most medics suggest having it destablized but will comply to the carriers wishes in the end. The Coder’s main job(assuming the sparker is present) is to ensure the sparkling has plenty of Transfluid in order to built its frame. Now the Coder and the sparker can be the same mech, but more often than not the carrier will need more Transfluid than one Coder can provide. If only one is used it often causes draw backs to them since they’re frame is losing so much vital metal. Supplements can help but it takes time for them to be processed into usable material and if not given that time can cause more harm than good. Most carriers prefer to have at least 2 Coder’s though many medics would suggest no less than 4 to keep every one in the best health. Besides kindling new sparks interfacing is also widely used as up keep to ones frame. The Transfluid gained from the interface is stored(so long as the mech/femme isn’t carrying) inside their sparking tank and used to repair any damage to their frame. I’ve covered this on my other post about Transfluid so I’ll only touch on this briefly. Interfacing is often suggested by medics in stead of surgery in order to reduce stress. It works just as well if not better than having to spend groons in stasis on a table getting repairs. Interfacing also helps to regulate spark fluctuations and keep systems running smoothly. Ok, on to spark merging. As with interfacing spark merging has a few uses, one obviously being reproduction. It is also used to form bonds and keep ones frame running smoothly. Spark to spark contact is the only way to kindle a new spark, it can’t be kindled from interfacing alone. The contact between the two sparks given the right conditions will branch off and form another spark. It does up the odds of kindling if they are interfacing, the charge the Transfluid carries adds additional charge making it more likely to get a branching of ones spark. Spark contact is very important to keeping up frame health in order to help change fluctuations much like interfacing. Unlike interfacing if spark contact is not keep up the mech/femme can experience a number of side effects. The most common being sparkcalling, there are cases where it can happen while merging but it’s not common. Sparkcalling is by far the lesser of the issues it can cause and only causes the caller to be more charged up than usual. In most cases a few merges and interfaces will clear up the problem. By far the most severe issue is the weakening of ones spark ending in death if not taken care of. The last symptom would be sparksickness and ranges in severity from mild discomfort to near crushing depression. Once things get that bad it usually takes around 2 orns(2 weeks of spark merging) to fully recover, if the process stops early they will fall back into it in just a few cycles. The cycle goes something like this. It starts as sparkcalling and last around 5 deca-cycles, if it’s not taken care of in that time it degrades into sparksickness and can last for several vorns(each vorn is around 90 years) there really is no set time there since it varies for everyone. At the end of that cycle, their spark begins to weaken and if not given help within just a few deca-cycles they will go offline. Spark contact is vital in bondings as well. I’ll probably do a more in depth piece later so here’s the basics. Bonding is when two bots merge sparks and exchange pieces of each forming a connection that remains even after they part. Bonds are an important part of social structure regarding not just mates, but also family ties.

#transformers

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

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Caramel Skin Under a Vanilla Sky prt 25 full draft

Running up to the command room of the Telula, Lance had no idea what was going. One moment he'd been trying to get dressed, the next the ship lurched and he was sent falling face first into his wardrobe. Dressing as he ran, he threw himself up the stairs while trying to straighten out the long sleeve shirt he'd finally got on around the right way "Leandro! We're under attack" "Have they hailed us? Shields on full!" Swaying as he tried to reach the closest desk, Lucteal was acting far too reckless with his Telula "It's a small ship. The only one we've come across in the sector. There seems to be some hull damage according to the scans" "Us or them?!" He was going to kill them if they'd damaged his baby. There were less than a quintant out from the Atlas. His symptoms were finally dying down, enough that he was planning on trying coming off the red pills, though each time he thought of the pills he did finding him craving them so maybe it wasn't quite time yet... and not in the middle of being attacked "Them. First strike was a glancing blow. Shields on full. Not getting a response on comms" "Bring us in closer. If they need help, they may be firing out of fear" "Are you sure?" "It wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Keep trying their comms. I'm going to prep to embark" "Leandro, we don't know..." "Look, they either need help, or they want to kill me. Either way, I want a line open to them" Leaving Zak and Lucteal, yelling at him, barreling down the stairs he smacked right into Daehra "Leandro! Slow down" "Sorry, Star. I have to go get dressed" "What is happening?" "There's a ship firing at us. We don't know if it needs help yet. Electric's at the helm... and I need to change" All that effort for clothes he now needed to swap out of everything. He liked this shirt. Keith had gotten it for him, the khaki the same as the old jacket he used to wear on the castle. It even had orange bands on the arms. His wardrobe was now their wardrobe, so he was glad there was enough variety in there that Keith wasn't always brooding in black... though if Keith "accidentally" wore his jeans again, he might have to toss him out the air lock for torturing him. Sliding past Daehra, she grabbed his arm "Does K-Meteor know?" "He was sleeping. He had a rough night" "You cannot leave without notifying him" Shit. She had a point. And his comms were still beside their bed... Hopefully Lucteal hadn't just patched it through and Keith was listening to a whole lot of yelling with no explanation "Ok. I need to hit up the armoury. He had some pretty bad nightmares last night, so might be a bit jumpy. Let him know to meet me there. We might need the medbay too" "Right..." Whatever Daehra wanted to say was lost by Lance jogging away. They didn't have time for this. The hull was damaged, oxygen could be haemorrhaging as they wasted time. Dressed in his Blade's outfit, Keith came into the armoury as Lance was lacing up his boots. It felt good to be in his full uniform, even if he didn't cut as an impressive figure as Keith did "What's happening?" "We were fired up. Electric's taking us closer while Zak's on the comms" "Taking us closer? If they're firing, shouldn't we be moving away?" "Their hull's damaged. They're probably firing in fear. I'll be performing a manual entry. I assume you were coming" "There's no way in quiznak I'm letting you go alone" "Good. We might need Kosmo. Star's prepping the medbay" "Are you sure about this?" "About what?" "About this? What if it's a trap?" "Then we blow their ship" They couldn't trust anyone to take prisoners in. If there were people on board, they'd need to adjust on this feet. He had cuffs, and tranqu guns on his belt "I can't talk you out of this, can I?" "Not when someone fires at my team. Do you have my comms?" "Yeah" Holding his hand out, Keith tossed him his communicator. Manipulating the screen, he connected himself to the Telula's comms "Electric, you read?" "Read you" "Patch Meteor in. Anything from them?" "Not yet. We'll be on them in 246 ticks" "Right. Meteor and I will attempt manual entry. Keep scanning the sector. I don't want any nasty surprises" "Already on it" "I know you are. We'll drop from lock 4" "Understood. Requesting access to Meteor's comms" "Right. Meteor, accept the call already" Lance was sure Keith was frowning as he accepted the incoming call "Connected. You're good to go" "Right. Taking discs. Keep an ear on out" "Will keep you appraised" "Thanks" Heading towards the airlock, Lance paused when Lucteal's voice came through his comms "Leandro, we raised them on the comms. You better come up here" "What's going on?" "They will only speak with the commander, and that would be you" "Who are they?" "Two Galra and another. All female" The groan that Keith gave was filled with annoyance "Does one have pink ears, two pink marks on her forehead and green lips?" There was a tick of silence "How did you know?" "Because they're my team. Dammit. I told Zethrid to stop pulling this bullshit. Guys you can all relax. Leandro, why don't you get changed? They probably flew out to meet us before we hit the Atlas. For quiznak's sake..." Cutting his comms, Lance felt like a kicked puppy. He was happy that there wasn't an emergency, but had sort of forgotten Keith had his own team... A team which he'd probably want to go back to once they'd reunited. It wasn't a great feeling. Jealousy turning to self hatred over such thoughts as he trudged back to the armoury to drop his weaponry off. Keith hadn't tried to say anything to him before they'd separated, Lance left feeling like invisible walls were already forming between them. They still hadn't had that talk, about what they were to everyone else... and maybe it was for the best now that Keith had his team back. He had people could rely on. Not some random guy from Cuba was never meant for great things. Leaving his bodysuit and mask on, the pain only got worse when he caught the sound of Keith's laughing as he trudged up the steps to the command room. He wanted to be the one to make Keith laugh like that. To make him smile and make him happy. Keith hadn't had that much to laugh about since he'd come back into Lance's life. Grateful his scent and self disgust were hidden by his armour, Lance forced himself to walk over to where Keith was standing. Zethrid took up most of the screen space, but Ezor was by her side. The pair seemed happy, or at least happy enough for Ezor to laugh at him "Is that Lance in there? He looks better like that!" Nudging her girlfriend, Zethrid growled "You're not supposed to be looking at him" "But he's on the screen! How can I not look at him?" Chewing her gum loudly, Ezor blew a large pink bubble, the gum popping and causing him to jump "We're only here for Keith" "You're no fuuuun" Yeah. The pair of them were happy. Happy reminding him no one wanted him. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to made to feel like the seventh wheel on his own ship "You can let them on board. It's better than them floating in that ship. I'll go make up a room for them" Keith shook his head without looking at him "They've got rooms on my ship. Kosmo can teleport them down there. It's only for a few vargas. We'll hit the Atlas tomorrow" "Right. I guess I'll go do something else then..." Finding something else to do involved emptying out their combined wardrobe. From what he could see and what he could remember Ezor liked to snoop, so he'd rather not have snooping through his private things only for her to find Keith's stuff. It's been like he barely existed when he'd been on the bridge... He'd known this was going to happen. Keith had so many options that weren't him. And now it was all going to be over before anything got better. Before he got better... It felt like packing up Allura's things all over again. Each little item held some stupid memory. The blankets on their bed came from Keith, so soft that he never wanted to climb out of them again. The clothes that actually fitted him, without being two sizes too big, Keith had had him "model" for him. The beauty products in the top drawer of the bedside table were bought to help with his itchy skin. The book under Keith's pillow made sense to neither of them, but it had pictures so they made up their own stories... there wouldn't be any more of that. Swearing it was the dust in the air, Lance wiped down Keith's room for him. Placing Keith's clothes in the closet, he supposed that he should have had Kosmo take them down to Keith's ship for him. Making Keith's bed for him, it again seemed pointless when he'd sleep on his ship. All of it'd been pointless. He should have run when Keith came walking back into his life. Keith was probably laughing with him team. Probably telling them how pathetic he'd become... and yet, he'd still walk through hell to help Keith. All Keith had to do was call and he'd come running. But Keith wouldn't call him now... * Standing in the command room of the Telula, Lance had avoided Keith since his team had come together to meet Zethrid, Acxa, and Ezor. Lucteal didn't like having them on the Telula, Daehra was cautious, not that he could blame them but they were learning that there were good Galra and making the effort for all their sakes. Zethrid had the vibe of a big bad Galra, her sense of humour didn't always translate, yet Tobias seemed to like her. Tobias also didn't realise that Zethrid and Ezor were a couple... he was a bit backwards in social interactions. Keeping the mask of Leandro in place, he could handle the jokes between Keith and the others. He could handle having Galra so close. He couldn't hate the whole race because of the actions of a few, and god knew everyone deserved a second chance. He didn't want to hate people because of his own insecurities. Keith shared a deca-phoeb's worth of memories with his team, so it was natural they had their own inside jokes. It was like Keith coming aboard the Telula and playing catch up all this craziness. He'd tried to join in during dinner, the official meet and greet, but he couldn't do it. Axca kept looking in his direction, Ezor kept teasing everyone, and Keith had his hands filled keeping the peace. Kosmo had come to his side, then left him for Acxa. Daehra had lied to help him, asking for his assistance then letting him be. He'd retreated to the bridge to watch the stars alone. Watching the Atlas come into view, they never did have that conversation. Lance had told Daehra to tell him to go ahead, Keith's ship was smaller after all. It was faster with better manoeuvring... plus, he couldn't look Keith in the face, feeling what he felt and knowing everything he was feeling was one sided "Hail the Atlas" God. He was about to talk to Shiro alone... Thank fuck for his mask. Keith was supposed to be by his side for this. In his mind they'd hook their little fingers together off screen, silently supporting each other. Not standing on the opposite sides of the screen on two different ships. Coming up on the monitors, Keith was already standing by Shiro. Veronica just behind and off to the side of both of them "Hey, Lance!" "Hey, Shiro. Long time and all that" Giving him a patented dad smile, Shiro looked good. He looked happy. Love must do that "Yeah, it has been. Where am I landing my girl?" "We're going to open hangar bay 5 for you" Pulling up a schematic map on his end, Lance nodded with some idea of where the hell he was going "Right. Thanks. Lucteal, take us in. ETA 4 doboshes" "I'll send Keith down to meet you there" "It's fine. We have things to do on our end. Shall we meet in the conference room in 20 doboshes" "I'm sorry Lance. We can't have unknown people walking around the Atlas..." Yeah. Sure. Shiro knew his fucking team was coming with him, what kind of bullshit was this?! They were with him. He wasn't about to endanger the Atlas, or not anymore than having a wanted criminal with 1.5 billion GAC bounty on his head would. Shifting his weight and standing taller, Lance glared at Shiro beneath his mask "Right. Hangar Bay 5. Got it" Landing in said hangar, Lance was completely done with the Atlas, despite the Telula only just touching down. Hangar bay 5 was only barely big enough for his girl to squeeze into with all the other shit down there. He'd thought Keith's ship would be close, but it just seemed to be prototype pods, or a whole lot of junk. It was nice to know he was so highly thought after... not. Coming to his side, Daehra shyly took his hand "It's Lance now, right?" "Yeah, Dae. Sorry. Can you feel my emotions?" "Yes. You are scared, but we will be by your side" "I know, Dae. It's just... all these people used to be my family and now I feel like I don't belong here" "It is only for a few quintants..." "I know..." "And Keith will be here for you too" God. He didn't want to think about Keith, or rather, he didn't want to keep thinking about Keith... He'd probably told Shiro all about how he was tortured and raped. He'd probably warned them all that Lance was dirt "Stop. I can feel what you are thinking. He cares for you more than that" "Look Dae, I know he says he does. But the moment his team came back, I ceased to exist. He and Shiro are practically on the same wave length. And I know it's really stupid, but standing before Shiro, I felt like I was back being a Paladin who was worthless. Voltron wasn't all team happiness. It was hard. Really hard towards the end. I don't feel like this place is where I should be, especially after we had to take such a long break. I want to get back out there and help other people, instead of hanging out here and... I'm sorry, I'm venting" "Maybe a little. You are our leader. You are strong. Is that not why you sent the others to revel camps to form an army?" "Not quite. I sent them to sure up support if we move against the outpost and prison facility... We need to know if they have lost people too" And because he didn't want them seeing him as the spineless coward he was. He didn't want them to see how lacking he was when compared to the great Shiro. He'd also sent them away because they weren't on board permanent. Two of them had come with Lasandi, so he wasn't sure why they'd still want to follow him around, and Th'al was lying low until the bounty on his head passed, so her support crew was moving to her location in the rebel camps. He wouldn't blame Lasandi or Th'al if they came after him. 1.5 billion wasn't anything to sneeze at "Come. The more we delay this, the worst your anxieties will be" Daehra holding his hand prevented him from scratching at his arms, or screaming his head off. Both options would be fine right about now "I know... God. I really wish I had my pills" "You have come so far. Do not let these people push you back" Smiling fondly at Dae, Lance nodded "When did you get so wise?" "I have always been wise" "That's true. Lucteal, Tobias, Zac, Gin, Chlo, Edra, let's go meet the commander" Lance was surprised that Shiro had come down to meet him with Keith. Smiling at him, Shiro seemed even taller than he'd remembered "Lance, its great to see you again" Sensing Shiro was going for a hug, Lance held out his hand for a handshake instead. Smoothly transitioning from the not-hug, Shiro shook his hand firmly "We've missed having you around. Keith's filled me on some of what's happened" "Keith has a big mouth" Shiro's lips twitches, Lance pulling back from the handshake before he made things worse or Shiro tried to hug him "This is some of my team. This is Daehra, and her brother Lucteal. My seconds in command. Then we have Zak and Tobias, and finally our support crew Gin, Edra and Chlo" Faint lines appeared on Shiro's brow as he drew it slightly "Is this everyone?" "The rest of my team are out running a mission for me. They'll rendezvous with us when we've left and cleared the sector" "Oh, right. I was expecting... never mind, I don't know what I was expecting. Let me show you up to your rooms. Pidge has already been here for a few quintants, and Matt arrives tonight. Coran tomorrow. He said he something special he had to finish up. Shay obviously suspects something is going on, Hunk keeps turning into a mess each time he explains why everyone is coming..." Paying polite attention, Lance fell into step behind Shiro. He might be the leader of his own team, but he still felt like he didn't deserve to walk beside him. As he moved, Keith went to place his hand on Lance's arm, Lance tearing his arm away before the touch landed. He had no idea what Keith wanted from him, but it was taking all he had not to flee as it was. He didn't have time for Keith to ask him if he was ok, when he obviously wasn't. He didn't want to hear about Shiro's concerns over what he was doing with his life. He was flooded with enough emotions and feelings as it was. If he lashed out, that would be it... His feelings were wavering again. He wanted to fall into Keith's arms, but the previous quintant still fucking stung. For the sake of his own mental health, Keith had to stay away from him, and he from Keith. He'd mentally allocated three quintants to this castle trip, and once that was over, he wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone ever again. The pain of his broken heart was affecting every aspect of his being, and he only had himself to blame. "Oi! Ugly!" Startled by the familiar voice, Lance span round with wide eyes. Standing down the end of the hall they'd been walking down, Rachel was waving like a lunatic. Veronica was standing by her side "Rachel...?" "Lance, do you know this person?" Sidestepping in front of him, Lucteal had gone on the guard "That's my sister. They both are..." "Your sisters?" "Yeah..." This was an unplanned hiccup in his plan. Swallowing hard, he knew he had to act "normal". Veronica would pry, but Rachel... Rachel was on a who other level... "Rachel and Veronica..." Flinching as a large hand landed on his shoulder, Lance didn't need to turn back to know it was Shiro "Your whole family came out for the party" Whole... family... oh... fuck... Jogging down the hall towards him, Lance pushed Lucteal aside at the last moment, catching an armful of his sister. Veronica much more calmly coming up behind to wrap her arms around both of them "Where have you been you idiot? Mami said you were on some mission with Keith, but you never like call anymore! Do you know how many times she's complained to me about how much of an idiot you are?" "Leave him alone, Rach. You're both idiots" Breaking the awkward sibling hug, Veronica looked to him expectantly. If she wanted him to the lose the face mask, that wasn't happening, but he could introduce them to his team "Rachel. Veronica. This is some of my team..." "I don't care about that, take the ridiculous mask off your stupid face" Making grabbing hands for it, Lance grabbed Rachel by the wrists "It's not ridiculous. It's for work. You that thing that some of us actually do" "Mhmm. You look like an imitation blade" "It does its job. Unless you want your poor brother shot to death" "Right. Like you do anything that dangerous. Take it off already..." Pulling Rachel off of him, Veronica sighed "You two never grow up. Mami and Papi are here, so is Marco. Luis stayed home with Lisa and the kids. Sylvio broke his arm playing soccer. He wasn't happy to be benched" "Is he alright?" "Yeah. More upset he can't play. Doesn't mean he doesn't try to" God... Lance had no idea. He'd been too caught up in himself. Why hadn't his mother messaged? It might be a simple break, but it didn't mean he didn't care... maybe they didn't want him making contact with the kids after all his breakdowns on Earth? Lance would always be a loser like that "Anyway, what took you so long?" "I don't come over to this sector, my work is like galaxies in the other direction" Looking Daehra, Rachel sighed deeply "Does he actually work? Or does he fly around pretending he does?" Daehra was the wrong person to ask. The poor woman could feel everything "Rachel, leave Daehra alone. She's my team's medical officer. She knows all kinds of fun things to drug you up with" "Pffft. Yeah, Right. Even thousands of miles from home, you're still a douche" "And you're still a bitch. V, where's mami?" "They're having lunch in the dining area. Shiro was supposed to surprise you down there, but Rachel couldn't wait" "That sounds about right. Shiro, were are our rooms?" "Just along the hall here. We didn't know how many you were bringing so most of this hall is empty" "Right. We'll decide rooms later. Apparently I have a family I need to see" His own false bravado was surprising himself. Walking back the way they came, his team were all curious over his sisters, except for Zak who hated walking on the best of days and would rather be down in the Telula. If he'd known his family would be waiting, he would have worn something over his suit. Now he'd have to live with Rachel teasing him over being a fake blade... which she did as she poked at him the whole back through the Atlas. * Keith had no idea what he'd done, only that Lance refused to look at him. Each time he reached out, Lance moved away, and each time he caught Daehra's gaze she'd give him a sad smile before looking away. He didn't get what had suddenly changed so abruptly for Lance. He'd had Kosmo teleport him to their room, only to find Lance had cleared all his stuff out. When he'd tried to include Lance in the discussion they were having during dinner on the Telula, Lance had left with Daehra. He hadn't even had the balls to tell him to take his ship ahead to the Atlas. That too was left to Daehra. He got that no one had expected his old team to show up showcasing new tech, but Lance wasn't even trying and that pissed him off. Watching Lance reunite with his family was bittersweet. They were over joyed to see him, while Lance looked ready to run. Each hug was tense, each facial expression lost to the mask Lance wore over his face. A mask that didn't come off until Lance's mother got ahold of him. His eyes were red rimmed, tears rolling down his cheeks as his mother gushed over him. None of sat right. None of it felt right. And the only person to care he was quietly shaking with anger was Shiro. Having chosen not to sit with the others, Keith was sitting a few tables away watching. Zethrid, Ezor and Axca were all down in the training room. Ezor had been causing trouble with her bubbly personality and Zethrid wanted to hurt anyone who looked at her the wrong way. From what Axca had said, his mother would be arriving tomorrow. Which meant he was now stuck with whatever this was. Sitting down across from him, Shiro crossed his arms and gave him his best "spill" look. Glaring back, his adoptive brother laughed softly "What's going on with you?" "What do you think's going on with me?" "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say a certain Cuban?" Grinding his teeth, Keith replied sourly "Wow. Your powers of observation never fail to amaze me" "Hey, no need to take it out on me. I thought things were better between you two" "So did I. I don't even know what I did. He won't talk to me" "You said that already" He may have slightly vented to Shiro about Lance... but only because he couldn't understand what the quiznak was happening. He knew Lance was scared of reconnecting. Casting another glance at Daehra, Daehra was laughing softly at something Lance was saying "They're not what I was expecting" Looking back to Shiro, Keith frowned "What were you expecting?" "I don't know. I did see the way that one stepped in front of him" "That's Lucteal. He's an arsehole" "He seems to like Lance" "They all like "Leandro". He doesn't go by Lance out there anymore" "Careful Keith, you're letting your jealousy show" "I'm not fucking jealous" The pout on his lips ruined his argument. Shiro only smiling wider "Don't give me that. How's he really going?" "Better than he was. Still having panic attacks and nightmares. Still doing stupid shit... so still being Lance" "That's not what I'm asking" "I know what you're asking but it's not my place to say it" "Are you two..." Keith groaned "Don't even go there. I don't know. I thought we were moving that way but when I went to get my stuff from our room, he'd already moved me out" Shiro's smile dropped "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything that happened that might explain it?" "He was fine. He was getting better, then my team showed up and he shut down again. He didn't even try, Shiro. I tried to include him but he ran off. God. It makes me so mad. I tried for him. I still don't know all the names of his team members, but I tried. I put up with all his bullshit stunts and he can't even try for one quiznakking night" "Did you try messaging him?" Nodding, Shiro had to be stupid if he thought Keith wouldn't have been messaging Lance's stupid arse all damn night "He was in the Telula's command room all night. He couldn't even come down and tell me he wanted me off his ship. He sent Daehra down to tell us to go ahead" "Well this is a big thing for him. He hasn't had time for us since he started this job" Scoffing in disgust, Keith felt the need to bare his teeth at that comment "Hasn't had time for you? Seriously, Shiro. I expected better from you. I saw his messages, no one calls or messages him. We called Hunk back about all of this, and Hunk spent more time talking to me than he did Lance. I got stuck lying and trying to soothe him back down because he's convinced no one wants him around. They fucked up his head, and having been "dumped" from the team was the final nail" "We all get busy... I know it wasn't malicious" "And I told you what happened. I've spent movements trying to get him through what happened. And now he won't even look at me" "It's probably hard for him..." "It is hard for him" "... to readjust. It's been you, him and his team. When your team came back, he probably convinced himself you're going to leave him. You did say he's suffering from abandonment issues" "He wasn't fucking abandoned, Allura threw him away. She fucked his body. He doesn't even know if that is his body, because he went and died and no one ever said a damn thing about it. He thought we all knew didn't care. He spent years thinking that..." Running his hands through his hair, he was ready to explode, or at least flip the table or something. Lance was right there. They shouldn't be talking about him like this. It felt like he was betraying him. "Keith, calm down. You're getting loud enough that everyone is going to hear you. We can't change the past. I wish we could..." "Shiro, honestly, don't. Right now I want to grab him by the collar and shake the fuck out of him, or drag him off the ship. He didn't want to see his family. He wasn't ready yet. Now he's laughing and forcing himself to be physical, when touching still sets off panic attacks" "Keith, it's not your job to decide what Lance does. I know you said he was tortured, that's why I called his family and invited them. I'm not saying your no good for him or haven't helped him, but he needs his family too" Lance had called him "home", and called him his "family". Shiro was making it sound like something like that could never exist between the pair of them "Lance won't be happy" "Maybe not now, but I think it'll be good for him. Tell me more about his team" Sighing at him, Keith was still slightly miffed Shiro hadn't trusted Lance over his team. Keith had told him he trusted him, but Shiro was still a dick to Lance "They're good people. We were staying on Lucteal, and Daehra's planet. Lucteal has a major crush on Lance, they had a kind of moment but it seems like that's settled down. I want to introduce Daehra to Colleen. She's never received proper medical training, but she's got a first rare mind for it all. Zak. Is like Pidge 2.0. Tobias is kind of useless. I don't know what the other three do. There were supposed to be more joining us, but apparently Lance sent them away. I don't know. I haven't had that much contact in the way of them. Lance let's the come and go as they please. I do know his team used to be bigger, but now he's down two bounty hunters" Shaking his head, Shiro leaned back in his chair "I can't picture it" "You should. He's actually pretty well known out that way. I wouldn't mention anything about Erathus to him though..." "It didn't end well?" "Shiro, they tried to kill him more than once. Now he's being accused of all the disappearances out near Ghazex. They put a fucking bounty on his head. So no. It didn't end well" Looking to his hands, Shiro was about to impart some "wisdom" he didn't want "Keith..." "Don't Shiro" "If Erathus is that dangerous, maybe..." "Don't. Involving the Atlas will only make it worse" "You don't know that for sure" "You can't go to war over one person. It's the same with the Blade's. It'll be seen as Earth and Daibazaal sticking their nose in. I wanted to. Believe me, but he wants to do this his own way" "Then he's not going to be too happy. Your mother's coming to discuss strategy over the prison moon" "It wasn't a prison moon. It was a satellite. The Atlas is too big to take in. Not just because of the asteroids, but the magnetic fields too" "We've already decided to move against it. Whether we have his permission or not" "He's not going to be happy" "I can't afford to think of his happiness. These disappearances need to stop" "Shiro..." "Keith. I saw those photos. People are being butchered. We cannot allow this to continue" "Maybe some of them deserved it" Mumbling bitterly, Shiro definitely heard him, his adoptive brother looked less than thrilled that Keith was suddenly pro-murder. The half-Galra was so close to telling Shiro everything. It was right there one the tip of his tongue. Shiro was making all these plans, when Lance was the one who'd been out there aware of all it far longer than the pair of them "I'm just saying, tread carefully. They fucking broke him, and I'm sorry but I don't know if I can forgive you if you send him back to where he was" "Do you really think I would?" "Not on purpose. But if he tries to kill himself again, I will never speak to you again" Leaving the conversation on such a bitter tone didn't sit well with Keith. He loved Shiro, and he'd left things up to Shiro's discretion, but not including Lance while making plans... it wasn't just wrong morally. Lance was a brilliant strategist when he wanted to be. His questions weren't just dumb and pointless, even if he made it sound that way so whoever was listening would come to the conclusion he already had under their own steam. The Atlas didn't own space. Daibazaal was still on shaky ground on that respect. A show of force could be interrupted as the empire trying to rise again. Why couldn't Shiro understand that? Keith didn't want people ending up cut into pieces like a grotesque jigsaw. Not at all. It was the whole powerlessness of the situation that was getting to him. He was acting too emotionally over Lance. Which wasn't a big shock. Not like finding out he'd been moved out. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, Keith stalked from the dining room. He didn't know where he was going, only that he didn't want to see Lance's stupid face or Shiro's concern. He really should have expected better than to think he could walk away feeling so quiznak when there were two empaths in the room "Keith!" Hearing Daehra call, Keith kept walking. If Lance had another message for him, he could tell himself. Listening as her pace turned to a walking-jog, Daehra caught up him "Keith. Please, can we speak?" "Did Lance ask you deliver another message?" "No. No. It is about him though" Of course it bloody was "What is it, Daehra?" "Please will you stop. I do not like this between both of you" Stopping as requested, Keith turned in Daehra "You think I do? I don't even know what the hell I did wrong" "You did not do anything wrong per se. Other than ignore Lance once your team arrived" Shaking his head, Keith wasn't having it all pinned on him "I didn't ignore him. I tried to include him at dinner" "What about before dinner? And after dinner? You know of his fears and yes, I do understand you were happy to be reunited with your team, but think about when you came to us. You were on the outside. You did not understand our jokes and ways. Lance suffered at the hands of the Galra and while he does not hold that against your race, he was quite scared. I could feel the panic on him, though he tried to hide it. Your Acxa was watching him quite closely, while your Ezor teased him, yet you said nothing. He is quite sure you mean to return to them, given how happy you were to be with them again. I feel his emotions Keith, and he feels that you would prefer them to him. Like with your Shiro. I know Lance pulled his arm away, but he was barely keeping down one of you attack panics when we landed. He is scared. That is why he tried to keep his mask on. He does not know how to interact with these friends and family. He wanted his pills. It has been quintants since he asked. He chose to go off them because of what you mean to him, now he is in that room without you" Keith let Daehra's words sink in. He hadn't even realised he'd turned all his attention to his old team. He knew how they could be, and was trying to keep the situation under control. He didn't think about Lance's anxieties over having part Galra aboard because Lance was so ok with having him close. Plus, Zethrid had thought it funny to fire at the Telula... "Keith. I do not tell you this to hurt you. You two have been working so hard to communicate, and Lance feels he has no right to now that you are back where you came from. I am simply scared that he'll fall back into numbing himself. When his two sisters came, he wanted to run, and he still he faced them. I am not sure if he was even aware of the extent his emotions were flooding from him. It was so strong that Lucteal acted because Lance perceived them as a threat. He feels inferior to your Shiro. He described it as being back in Voltron" "I can't just walk back in there" "You can" "I don't know what I should do" "Be there" "He doesn't want anyone knowing anything about what happened between us" "Then be his friend" "I don't know what to say... I don't know his family that well" "So you feel as he did, on the outside?" She got him there. Taking a deep breath, he released it slowly "When did you get so wise?" Laughing Daehra nodded "That is twice today I have heard it. He says you and Shiro are on the same wavelength, but I feel it is more like you two are of the same mind. You are both idiots, and both my friends" "You know, I think Lance really shouldn't be teaching you to talk like that" "Maybe. Maybe not. Someone has to be the wise one between the two of you. Now come. I am finding the conversation most fascinating" What Daehra found interesting was mostly likely fuelling Lance's anxieties "Are they picking on him?" "A little. He is not ready to open up to them, and his mother has told many stories of young Lance" Lance wouldn't be loving that. Trying to seem the confident space pilot didn't hold up well against a mother's embarrassing stories... "No wonder he's upset. He doesn't handle embarrassment very well" "No, he does not. Though he does not grow as flustered as you do" "That's not my fault. Lance would say I'm socially awkward" "Both of you and your excuses. Honestly. It is tiring. Now quit stalling, Mullet" Gaping at Daehra, Keith was going to kill Lance "That's it. He's banned from teaching you English. Banned" "I am sorry. Lance is my commander, not you" First she called him "Mullet" then she sasses him. Daehra was spending far too much time with Lance. * Ignored at dinner by Lance, Keith had tried to talk to him. He tried to talk to him when they all separated from the dining area. He'd tried to talk to him before they all came together at dinner. It'd been chaotic. Almost like that night on the castle before it'd dissolved into a food fight... without the food fight. Everyone was trying to catch up with everyone else. Lance introduced Zak to Pidge by slandering some tech that had them both jumping down his throat before realising their arguments were completely different, and turning on each other. Then Matt and his girlfriend got involved... followed by Hunk... When he'd tried to sit near Lance at dinner, he was pulled away by Curtis to sit with him and Shiro. The Lance had left almost as soon as dinner was done, having barely eaten anything at all. With that invisible wall up between them, and Lance running away, desperate times called for desperate measures... with a little bit of help from Kosmo. Messaging Daehra, Daehra let him know Lance was back in the room Shiro had assigned him. First he tried sending Kosmo in, standing slightly down the hall, he watched Lance wrestle Kosmo out his room. So he sent him in again, only for the same thing to happen. The third time Lance actually seemed livid with the wolf, Kosmo whining pathetically in a way that would normally have Lance showering him with affection. With his first plan failing, Keith called Kosmo to his side, praising his wolf for doing what he'd wanted, despite Lance not keeping to his end of the plan. If Lance was going to be a little shit, Keith could play that game. And that was how he ended up in the Atlas's air vents. With no access in the corridor that Lance's room connected to, Keith was forced to go the long way. He could have had Kosmo teleport him in, but he wanted to show Lance he was actually sorry. He wanted to make the effort... even if the effort involved sneaking around on Shiro's ship. He hadn't made it far before his comms started beeping. Already feeling stalkerish enough, he didn't need someone reporting a strange beeping and clanging from the vent above his room. Detangling himself, Keith accepted the call, Shiro's expression wasn't too happy "Keith. Why are you in the air vent of my ship?" "Hey, Shiro. I can't really talk at the moment..." "Keith... What did you do?" "I may have upset Lance by accident and he may or may not be talking to me?" "So you're in the vents because..." "Because I want to talk to Lance and he's not talking to me" Groaning, Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose "You couldn't knock on his door?" "I tried sending Kosmo in, and Lance just kicked him out..." "That doesn't answer the question Keith" "Look. You do what you do. I'm just going to climb over to Lance's room and drop in for a quick visit" "If he doesn't want to talk to you..." "It doesn't work like that. Ok. You have no idea what you're talking about. I messed up. I need to show him that I know that" "I don't think you climbing through the air ducts is what he would want" "I don't care about what he wants. Now, I'm going back to borrowing your vents. I feel like a stalker as it is" "You are a stalker. Don't let me catching you in the vents again. And I expect you and Lance both on time for breakfast tomorrow" "You worry about walking down to breakfast tomorrow. Don't think I didn't see the looks you two were giving each other" "Alright. Message receive. I'll stay out of your love life" "That'll make a first. Now, I have some very dusty vents to acquaint myself with" Ending the call, Keith cursed whoever was listening. Couldn't a guy do something romantic, not at all creepy or stalkerish, for his not-boyfriend, without his adopted brother getting testy about him being in his ship's vents? Seeing things he didn't want to think about, Keith finally made it to Lance's room. Sitting on his bed, Lance was staring out his window, completely oblivious to Keith spying down on him as he tried to work his way through the four bolts. Shiro could have at least warned him about the bolts. He'd come so far, and now four shitty bolts weren't going to stop him. He really would have been screwed if the grates had been welded in place... Working the bolts took longer than he thought he would. Lance catching the sounds of dropping bolts as he looked up to the vent in fear. Getting up, Keith felt pretty foolish as Lance moved to stare up at him "Uh, hi?" "What... why... nope. Nope" Walking back over to his bed, Lance turned his back on him "Lance..." "I don't want to know what you're doing" "I'm trying to talk to you" "Really? I thought you were stuck in the air vent" "I'm not stuck. I'm just not executing this plan as smoothly as I thought I would" "Right. Well, you can back yourself up and go away" "Lance..." "I don't want to hear it Keith" Pushing against the vent grate, it didn't move "Look. I just want to talk" "Sure you do" "I'm serious. I want to talk to you" "And you didn't think about maybe knocking?" "Would you have answered?" "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means you haven't talked to me since my old team showed up" "Oh. That. Whatever..." "Lance, I'm trying to apologise to you" "Thanks. You can go now" The quiznakking vent cover wouldn't move. Climbing up closer to put more weight on it, one tick he was pushing against it, the next he was on his back staring up at Lance's ceiling, feeling slightly confused over what had happened in between. "What the hell!? You can't just break into my room!" Keith was definitely going to be feeling this tomorrow. His body protesting as he climbed up off the floor "I can when you're not talking to me" "Get out!" "Lance..." "Get out and go back to your team, Keith!" "Why are you yelling at me?!" "Because you made things clear!" "I didn't do anything on purpose!" "Right. You didn't purposely ignore me. You didn't purposely exclude me. I get it. You don't have to apologise for enjoying the company of other people. You can leave, Keith. I'm not upset" "If you weren't upset over it, you wouldn't be so mad at me right now" "God. Not everything is about you" Curling into the corner of his bed, Lance wasn't shutting him out. The little shit might be mad at him, but with how much had happened that day, there was probably a lot Lance needed to work out. Neither of them expected Lance's family to be there. Dinner had been too noisy to catch up. It would make some kind of twisted sense if Lance was feeling even lonelier than when he was on the Telula. Walking over to Lance's bed, Keith sat on the edge, hovering for a moment before shifting to reach for Lance. Resisting his hold, Lance's body began to tremble until Keith finally managed to coax him into his lap "You didn't do anything wrong..." "I did and I didn't even realise it... I didn't mean to ignore you. I didn't even realise that I'd hurt you. Until I talked to Daehra, I thought... I don't know, that you didn't want me around anymore. You packed up and moved all my stuff out... I... thought that you'd changed your mind and wanted me gone. I was mad at you for not even trying, but you couldn't try because I didn't give you a chance" "I'm sorry..." "Lance..." Lance's breathing hitched, the Cuban climbing out his lap to stride across the room, starting to pace "I can't... ok. I don't know what to do... they weren't supposed to be here. I didn't know my family was going to be here. I don't know what to tell them. I couldn't even look at the others. Mum knows something's wrong. Marco and papi kept looking at me like I wasn't right. Rachel is being a bitch, but that's just her. Veronica kept trying to pry. I can't... I can't deal with that and with you. You didn't talk to me at all about your old team. I know Zethrid is loud and Ezor is annoying as hell when she gets in a mood... and every single time everyone looks at me, I feel like shit... like they fucking know I'm dirty" Crumpling onto his knees, Lance buried his face in his hands "I don't want to go back... but I really can't fucking handle this... I can't... I can't take my pills... and I can't bring my doses up here. I don't want to remember... I want to go... No one wants me here. Pidge... she looked at me like... She asked me where my marks were, so I panicked and set Zak on her. Hunk... he didn't even ask... He just asked how work was and said he saw that my old boss had died... Shiro... He keeps looking at me like he knows... Like he can see right through me. When he talks to me... I feel like I haven't moved from being the useless Red Paladin... ugh... ugh..." When Lance started gagging, Keith rushed to help him into the bathroom. Rubbing his back as he gagged, Keith nuzzled into Lance's hair, the pair of them a tangle of limbs from Keith's haste to get Lance into the bathroom. Hushing the Cuban softly, he rocked Lance until he started to calm. One had forced to over Lance's arm as he tried to scratch. Since starting to detox, Lance's scratching had gone worse due to his irritated skin "You haven't gone backwards... You haven't. No one knows what you've been through... mum's got the video, but it's edited. Shiro knows someone hurt you, but I never said what they did to you... I never told him that..." "I was... it hurt to be outside... I was mad at you, but more mad at me. I don't know what we are to each other. Like... to other people... I didn't want the others to find your things. Ezor likes to snoop..." "You were worried about what they'd say?" "To you. I don't know what to do now. How do I keep my head up when I'm this?" "You're more than you think you are, you idiot. I don't go crawling through vents for anyone and everyone" Sighing softly, Lance nuzzled against his chest "I know. I'm sorry I ignored you. I couldn't cope with everything at once. I thought if you wanted to leave if it'd be easier" "I keep telling you I'm not leaving" "I know... you seemed so happy though. If you want to go, I get it" "I don't want to go. I swear Shiro didn't tell me he invited your family. I don't know if he's said anything to them..." "Mami would have said if he had. It's so stupid. I have my own team..." "It's not stupid. Do you want to head back to the Telula? You feel safer there, don't you?" "I don't feel safe anywhere on the Atlas... I feel like I shouldn't be here" "You have as much right as anyone does to be here. Your sister works here. Your family is here" "But they don't understand" "They can't because they don't know. I'm not going to force you to tell them" "I can't" "I know. You're doing really well. You didn't have a panic attack in front of them. You didn't jump or scream when someone touched you..." "It didn't feel good. Mami's hug... it didn't feel like I remember" With the door of the shower pressing into his back, the position wasn't very comfortable "You're not used to being held by someone other than me, or Daehra. There's nothing wrong with your mother's hugs" Lance sniffled and coughed, his voice dripping with guilt as he mumbled out "I thought it'd feel nice. I thought when I was ready I'd go back to Earth, she'd be waiting on the front step of the house, waiting for me... She'd open her arms and she'd feel so warm as he called her "her baby boy". They were always so warm. It didn't feel warm... I don't feel warm" Rubbing Lance's arm, he did feel pretty cold beneath his fingers "They'll feel good again. I know how much your family means to you. Let's get you up and into bed?" "I don't want to sleep" "We can train? We can explore the whole Atlas, if you want to?" "I can't. I didn't... let's just say you reminded me people can fit through air vents around here" Lance didn't need something else to be paranoid over. Anxiety fed on paranoia, or paranoia fed on anxiety. Keith was no expert. He could only make conclusions over what he'd seen. Lance was still detoxing, still struggling. He didn't need added stress or fears "I don't think anyone much bigger than me could. It was a pretty tight squeeze" "But they can still get through..." His grand romantic gesture of the vent was now back firing "Ok. I'm going to make the call. I know you don't want to head all the way back to the Telula. And you've come so far, so far, babe. But you need rest. Proper rest. We're going back to the Telula. You can take your dose down there" "I don't think I can sleep. My head won't shut up" "I'm not asking you to sleep, I'm asking you to rest. Tomorrow is going to be much of the same again. Everyone loud and everywhere. Plus the actual party. Did you hear Hunk say it was going to be a sit down dinner?" "No. It was awkward" Quiznakking hell. When was Lance going to get a break? Maybe he needed to arrange a Paladin only lunch? Let Lance see that the others didn't hate him, didn't find him dirty, and had missed him. He could kind of see how Lance trying to reach out might be missed in the chaos. Not that that made it ok. Lance wasn't as loud or boisterous as he'd once been. He wouldn't cut in in a conversation unless it was to defend someone "He did. It's semi formal. You can wear one of those new outfits? Put some make up on your cheeks?" "You sound like me. I must be bad" "No. Coming back to being around so many people... it was a lot. Even I wanted to grab you and take off as soon as possible" "Don't tease me like that man. I was thinking of handing my arse over to Erathus and letting them deal with instead. I actually feel like it will be easier" Clutching Lance tightly, Keith never wanted to let him go. Even with his scent being so pungent "Don't you dare even joke about that. I can't lose you, Lance" "I'm doing the best I can" "I know. I know you are. Nothing makes me prouder. Now, this shower door isn't that comfortable and the floor is pretty cold. Let's head down, back to our bed" "Yeah... I like the sound of that"

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

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CSUAVS update. I'm not actually dead

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

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CSUAVS prt 32 start

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

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CSUAVS prt 25 update

Running up to the command room of the Telula, Lance had no idea what was going. One moment he'd been trying to get dressed, the next the ship lurched and he was sent falling face first into his wardrobe. Dressing as he ran, he threw himself up the stairs while trying to straighten out the long sleeve shirt he'd finally got on around the right way "Leandro! We're under attack" "Have they hailed us? Shields on full!" Swaying as he tried to reach the closest desk, Lucteal was acting far too reckless with his Telula "It's a small ship. The only one we've come across in the sector. There seems to be some hull damage according to the scans" "Us or them?!" He was going to kill them if they'd damaged his baby. There were less than a quintant out from the Atlas. His symptoms were finally dying down, enough that he was planning on trying coming off the red pills, though each time he thought of the pills he did finding him craving them so maybe it wasn't quite time yet... and not in the middle of being attacked "Them. First strike was a glancing blow. Shields on full. Not getting a response on comms" "Bring us in closer. If they need help, they may be firing out of fear" "Are you sure?" "It wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Keep trying their comms. I'm going to prep to embark" "Leandro, we don't know..." "Look, they either need help, or they want to kill me. Either way, I want a line open to them" Leaving Zak and Lucteal, yelling at him, barreling down the stairs he smacked right into Daehra "Leandro! Slow down" "Sorry, Star. I have to go get dressed" "What is happening?" "There's a ship firing at us. We don't know if it needs help yet. Electric's at the helm... and I need to change" All that effort for clothes he now needed to swap out of everything. He liked this shirt. Keith had gotten it for him, the khaki the same as the old jacket he used to wear on the castle. It even had orange bands on the arms. His wardrobe was now their wardrobe, so he was glad there was enough variety in there that Keith wasn't always brooding in black... though if Keith "accidentally" wore his jeans again, he might have to toss him out the air lock for torturing him. Sliding past Daehra, she grabbed his arm "Does K-Meteor know?" "He was sleeping. He had a rough night" "You cannot leave without notifying him" Shit. She had a point. And his comms were still beside their bed... Hopefully Lucteal hadn't just patched it through and Keith was listening to a whole lot of yelling with no explanation "Ok. I need to hit up the armoury. He had some pretty bad nightmares last night, so might be a bit jumpy. Let him know to meet me there. We might need the medbay too" "Right..." Whatever Daehra wanted to say was lost by Lance jogging away. They didn't have time for this. The hull was damaged, oxygen could be haemorrhaging as they wasted time. Dressed in his Blade's outfit, Keith came into the armoury as Lance was lacing up his boots. It felt good to be in his full uniform, even if he didn't cut as an impressive figure as Keith did "What's happening?" "We were fired up. Electric's taking us closer while Zak's on the comms" "Taking us closer? If they're firing, shouldn't we be moving away?" "Their hull's damaged. They're probably firing in fear. I'll be performing a manual entry. I assume you were coming" "There's no way in quiznak I'm letting you go alone" "Good. We might need Kosmo. Star's prepping the medbay" "Are you sure about this?" "About what?" "About this? What if it's a trap?" "Then we blow their ship" They couldn't trust anyone to take prisoners in. If there were people on board, they'd need to adjust on this feet. He had cuffs, and tranqu guns on his belt "I can't talk you out of this, can I?" "Not when someone fires at my team. Do you have my comms?" "Yeah" Holding his hand out, Keith tossed him his communicator. Manipulating the screen, he connected himself to the Telula's comms "Electric, you read?" "Read you" "Patch Meteor in. Anything from them?" "Not yet. We'll be on them in 246 ticks" "Right. Meteor and I will attempt manual entry. Keep scanning the sector. I don't want any nasty surprises" "Already on it" "I know you are. We'll drop from lock 4" "Understood. Requesting access to Meteor's comms" "Right. Meteor, accept the call already" Lance was sure Keith was frowning as he accepted the incoming call "Connected. You're good to go" "Right. Taking discs. Keep an ear on out" "Will keep you appraised" "Thanks" Heading towards the airlock, Lance paused when Lucteal's voice came through his comms "Leandro, we raised them on the comms. You better come up here" "What's going on?" "They will only speak with the commander, and that would be you" "Who are they?" "Two Galra and another. All female" The groan that Keith gave was filled with annoyance "Does one have pink ears, two pink marks on her forehead and green lips?" There was a tick of silence "How did you know?" "Because they're my team. Dammit. I told Zethrid to stop pulling this bullshit. Guys you can all relax. Leandro, why don't you get changed? They probably flew out to meet us before we hit the Atlas. For quiznak's sake..." Cutting his comms, Lance felt like a kicked puppy. He was happy that there wasn't an emergency, but had sort of forgotten Keith had his own team... A team which he'd probably want to go back to once they'd reunited. It wasn't a great feeling. Jealousy turning to self hatred over such thoughts as he trudged back to the armoury to drop his weaponry off. Keith hadn't tried to say anything to him before they'd separated, Lance left feeling like invisible walls were already forming between them. They still hadn't had that talk, about what they were to everyone else... and maybe it was for the best now that Keith had his team back. He had people could rely on. Not some random guy from Cuba was never meant for great things. Leaving his bodysuit and mask on, the pain only got worse when he caught the sound of Keith's laughing as he trudged up the steps to the command room. He wanted to be the one to make Keith laugh like that. To make him smile and make him happy. Keith hadn't had that much to laugh about since he'd come back into Lance's life. Grateful his scent and self disgust were hidden by his armour, Lance forced himself to walk over to where Keith was standing. Zethrid took up most of the screen space, but Ezor was by her side. The pair seemed happy, or at least happy enough for Ezor to laugh at him "Is that Lance in there? He looks better like that!" Nudging her girlfriend, Zethrid growled "You're not supposed to be looking at him" "But he's on the screen! How can I not look at him?" Chewing her gum loudly, Ezor blew a large pink bubble, the gum popping and causing him to jump "We're only here for Keith" "You're no fuuuun" Yeah. The pair of them were happy. Happy reminding him no one wanted him. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to made to feel like the seventh wheel on his own ship "You can let them on board. It's better than them floating in that ship. I'll go make up a room for them" Keith shook his head without looking at him "They've got rooms on my ship. Kosmo can teleport them down there. It's only for a few vargas. We'll hit the Atlas tomorrow" "Right. I guess I'll go do something else then..." Finding something else to do involved emptying out their combined wardrobe. From what he could see and what he could remember Ezor liked to snoop, so he'd rather not have snooping through his private things only for her to find Keith's stuff. It's been like he barely existed when he'd been on the bridge... He'd known this was going to happen. Keith had so many options that weren't him. And now it was all going to be over before anything got better. Before he got better... It felt like packing up Allura's things all over again. Each little item held some stupid memory. The blankets on their bed came from Keith, so soft that he never wanted to climb out of them again. The clothes that actually fitted him, without being two sizes too big, Keith had had him "model" for him. The beauty products in the top drawer of the bedside table were bought to help with his itchy skin. The book under Keith's pillow made sense to neither of them, but it had pictures so they made up their own stories... there wouldn't be any more of that. Swearing it was the dust in the air, Lance wiped down Keith's room for him. Placing Keith's clothes in the closet, he supposed that he should have had Kosmo take them down to Keith's ship for him. Making Keith's bed for him, it again seemed pointless when he'd sleep on his ship. All of it'd been pointless. He should have run when Keith came walking back into his life. Keith was probably laughing with him team. Probably telling them how pathetic he'd become... and yet, he'd still walk through hell to help Keith. All Keith had to do was call and he'd come running. But Keith wouldn't call him now... * Standing in the command room of the Telula, Lance had avoided Keith since his team had come together to meet Zethrid, Acxa, and Ezor. Lucteal didn't like having them on the Telula, Daehra was cautious, not that he could blame them but they were learning that there were good Galra and making the effort for all their sakes. Zethrid had the vibe of a big bad Galra, her sense of humour didn't always translate, yet Tobias seemed to like her. Tobias also didn't realise that Zethrid and Ezor were a couple... he was a bit backwards in social interactions. Keeping the mask of Leandro in place, he could handle the jokes between Keith and the others. He could handle having Galra so close. He couldn't hate the whole race because of the actions of a few, and god knew everyone deserved a second chance. He didn't want to hate people because of his own insecurities. Keith shared a deca-phoeb's worth of memories with his team, so it was natural they had their own inside jokes. It was like Keith coming aboard the Telula and playing catch up all this craziness. He'd tried to join in during dinner, the official meet and greet, but he couldn't do it. Axca kept looking in his direction, Ezor kept teasing everyone, and Keith had his hands filled keeping the peace. Kosmo had come to his side, then left him for Acxa. Daehra had lied to help him, asking for his assistance then letting him be. He'd retreated to the bridge to watch the stars alone. Watching the Atlas come into view, they never did have that conversation. Lance had told Daehra to tell him to go ahead, Keith's ship was smaller after all. It was faster with better manoeuvring... plus, he couldn't look Keith in the face, feeling what he felt and knowing everything he was feeling was one sided "Hail the Atlas" God. He was about to talk to Shiro alone... Thank fuck for his mask. Keith was supposed to be by his side for this. In his mind they'd hook their little fingers together off screen, silently supporting each other. Not standing on the opposite sides of the screen on two different ships. Coming up on the monitors, Keith was already standing by Shiro. Veronica just behind and off to the side of both of them "Hey, Lance!" "Hey, Shiro. Long time and all that" Giving him a patented dad smile, Shiro looked good. He looked happy. Love must do that "Yeah, it has been. Where am I landing my girl?" "We're going to open hangar bay 5 for you" Pulling up a schematic map on his end, Lance nodded with some idea of where the hell he was going "Right. Thanks. Lucteal, take us in. ETA 4 doboshes" "I'll send Keith down to meet you there" "It's fine. We have things to do on our end. Shall we meet in the conference room in 20 doboshes" "I'm sorry Lance. We can't have unknown people walking around the Atlas..." Yeah. Sure. Shiro knew his fucking team was coming with him, what kind of bullshit was this?! They were with him. He wasn't about to endanger the Atlas, or not anymore than having a wanted criminal with 1.5 billion GAC bounty on his head would. Shifting his weight and standing taller, Lance glared at Shiro beneath his mask "Right. Hangar Bay 5. Got it" Landing in said hangar, Lance was completely done with the Atlas, despite the Telula only just touching down. Hangar bay 5 was only barely big enough for his girl to squeeze into with all the other shit down there. He'd thought Keith's ship would be close, but it just seemed to be prototype pods, or a whole lot of junk. It was nice to know he was so highly thought after... not. Coming to his side, Daehra shyly took his hand "It's Lance now, right?" "Yeah, Dae. Sorry. Can you feel my emotions?" "Yes. You are scared, but we will be by your side" "I know, Dae. It's just... all these people used to be my family and now I feel like I don't belong here" "It is only for a few quintants..." "I know..." "And Keith will be here for you too" God. He didn't want to think about Keith, or rather, he didn't want to keep thinking about Keith... He'd probably told Shiro all about how he was tortured and raped. He'd probably warned them all that Lance was dirt "Stop. I can feel what you are thinking. He cares for you more than that" "Look Dae, I know he says he does. But the moment his team came back, I ceased to exist. He and Shiro are practically on the same wave length. And I know it's really stupid, but standing before Shiro, I felt like I was back being a Paladin who was worthless. Voltron wasn't all team happiness. It was hard. Really hard towards the end. I don't feel like this place is where I should be, especially after we had to take such a long break. I want to get back out there and help other people, instead of hanging out here and... I'm sorry, I'm venting" "Maybe a little. You are our leader. You are strong. Is that not why you sent the others to revel camps to form an army?" "Not quite. I sent them to sure up support if we move against the outpost and prison facility... We need to know if they have lost people too" And because he didn't want them seeing him as the spineless coward he was. He didn't want them to see how lacking he was when compared to the great Shiro. He'd also sent them away because they weren't on board permanent. Two of them had come with Lasandi, so he wasn't sure why they'd still want to follow him around, and Th'al was lying low until the bounty on his head passed, so her support crew was moving to her location in the rebel camps. He wouldn't blame Lasandi or Th'al if they came after him. 1.5 billion wasn't anything to sneeze at "Come. The more we delay this, the worst your anxieties will be" Daehra holding his hand prevented him from scratching at his arms, or screaming his head off. Both options would be fine right about now "I know... God. I really wish I had my pills" "You have come so far. Do not let these people push you back" Smiling fondly at Dae, Lance nodded "When did you get so wise?" "I have always been wise" "That's true. Lucteal, Tobias, Zac, Gin, Chlo, Edra, let's go meet the commander" Lance was surprised that Shiro had come down to meet him with Keith. Smiling at him, Shiro seemed even taller than he'd remembered "Lance, its great to see you again" Sensing Shiro was going for a hug, Lance held out his hand for a handshake instead. Smoothly transitioning from the not-hug, Shiro shook his hand firmly "We've missed having you around. Keith's filled me on some of what's happened" "Keith has a big mouth" Shiro's lips twitches, Lance pulling back from the handshake before he made things worse or Shiro tried to hug him "This is some of my team. This is Daehra, and her brother Lucteal. My seconds in command. Then we have Zak and Tobias, and finally our support crew Gin, Edra and Chlo" Faint lines appeared on Shiro's brow as he drew it slightly "Is this everyone?" "The rest of my team are out running a mission for me. They'll rendezvous with us when we've left and cleared the sector" "Oh, right. I was expecting... never mind, I don't know what I was expecting. Let me show you up to your rooms. Pidge has already been here for a few quintants, and Matt arrives tonight. Coran tomorrow. He said he something special he had to finish up. Shay obviously suspects something is going on, Hunk keeps turning into a mess each time he explains why everyone is coming..." Paying polite attention, Lance fell into step behind Shiro. He might be the leader of his own team, but he still felt like he didn't deserve to walk beside him. As he moved, Keith went to place his hand on Lance's arm, Lance tearing his arm away before the touch landed. He had no idea what Keith wanted from him, but it was taking all he had not to flee as it was. He didn't have time for Keith to ask him if he was ok, when he obviously wasn't. He didn't want to hear about Shiro's concerns over what he was doing with his life. He was flooded with enough emotions and feelings as it was. If he lashed out, that would be it... His feelings were wavering again. He wanted to fall into Keith's arms, but the previous quintant still fucking stung. For the sake of his own mental health, Keith had to stay away from him, and he from Keith. He'd mentally allocated three quintants to this castle trip, and once that was over, he wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone ever again. The pain of his broken heart was affecting every aspect of his being, and he only had himself to blame. "Oi! Ugly!" Startled by the familiar voice, Lance span round with wide eyes. Standing down the end of the hall they'd been walking down, Rachel was waving like a lunatic. Veronica was standing by her side "Rachel...?" "Lance, do you know this person?" Sidestepping in front of him, Lucteal had gone on the guard "That's my sister. They both are..." "Your sisters?" "Yeah..." This was an unplanned hiccup in his plan. Swallowing hard, he knew he had to act "normal". Veronica would pry, but Rachel... Rachel was on a who other level... "Rachel and Veronica..." Flinching as a large hand landed on his shoulder, Lance didn't need to turn back to know it was Shiro "Your whole family came out for the party" Whole... family... oh... fuck... Jogging down the hall towards him, Lance pushed Lucteal aside at the last moment, catching an armful of his sister. Veronica much more calmly coming up behind to wrap her arms around both of them "Where have you been you idiot? Mami said you were on some mission with Keith, but you never like call anymore! Do you know how many times she's complained to me about how much of an idiot you are?" "Leave him alone, Rach. You're both idiots" Breaking the awkward sibling hug, Veronica looked to him expectantly. If she wanted him to the lose the face mask, that wasn't happening, but he could introduce them to his team "Rachel. Veronica. This is some of my team..." "I don't care about that, take the ridiculous mask off your stupid face" Making grabbing hands for it, Lance grabbed Rachel by the wrists "It's not ridiculous. It's for work. You that thing that some of us actually do" "Mhmm. You look like an imitation blade" "It does its job. Unless you want your poor brother shot to death" "Right. Like you do anything that dangerous. Take it off already..." Pulling Rachel off of him, Veronica sighed "You two never grow up. Mami and Papi are here, so is Marco. Luis stayed home with Lisa and the kids. Sylvio broke his arm playing soccer. He wasn't happy to be benched" "Is he alright?" "Yeah. More upset he can't play. Doesn't mean he doesn't try to" God... Lance had no idea. He'd been too caught up in himself. Why hadn't his mother messaged? It might be a simple break, but it didn't mean he didn't care... maybe they didn't want him making contact with the kids after all his breakdowns on Earth? Lance would always be a loser like that "Anyway, what took you so long?" "I don't come over to this sector, my work is like galaxies in the other direction" Looking Daehra, Rachel sighed deeply "Does he actually work? Or does he fly around pretending he does?" Daehra was the wrong person to ask. The poor woman could feel everything "Rachel, leave Daehra alone. She's my team's medical officer. She knows all kinds of fun things to drug you up with" "Pffft. Yeah, Right. Even thousands of miles from home, you're still a douche" "And you're still a bitch. V, where's mami?" "They're having lunch in the dining area. Shiro was supposed to surprise you down there, but Rachel couldn't wait" "That sounds about right. Shiro, were are our rooms?" "Just along the hall here. We didn't know how many you were bringing so most of this hall is empty" "Right. We'll decide rooms later. Apparently I have a family I need to see" His own false bravado was surprising himself. Walking back the way they came, his team were all curious over his sisters, except for Zak who hated walking on the best of days and would rather be down in the Telula. If he'd known his family would be waiting, he would have worn something over his suit. Now he'd have to live with Rachel teasing him over being a fake blade... which she did as she poked at him the whole back through the Atlas. * Keith had no idea what he'd done, only that Lance refused to look at him. Each time he reached out, Lance moved away, and each time he caught Daehra's gaze she'd give him a sad smile before looking away. He didn't get what had suddenly changed so abruptly for Lance. He'd had Kosmo teleport him to their room, only to find Lance had cleared all his stuff out. When he'd tried to include Lance in the discussion they were having during dinner on the Telula, Lance had left with Daehra. He hadn't even had the balls to tell him to take his ship ahead to the Atlas. That too was left to Daehra. He got that no one had expected his old team to show up showcasing new tech, but Lance wasn't even trying and that pissed him off. Watching Lance reunite with his family was bittersweet. They were over joyed to see him, while Lance looked ready to run. Each hug was tense, each facial expression lost to the mask Lance wore over his face. A mask that didn't come off until Lance's mother got ahold of him. His eyes were red rimmed, tears rolling down his cheeks as his mother gushed over him. None of sat right. None of it felt right. And the only person to care he was quietly shaking with anger was Shiro. Having chosen not to sit with the others, Keith was sitting a few tables away watching. Zethrid, Ezor and Axca were all down in the training room. Ezor had been causing trouble with her bubbly personality and Zethrid wanted to hurt anyone who looked at her the wrong way. From what Axca had said, his mother would be arriving tomorrow. Which meant he was now stuck with whatever this was. Sitting down across from him, Shiro crossed his arms and gave him his best "spill" look. Glaring back, his adoptive brother laughed softly "What's going on with you?" "What do you think's going on with me?" "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say a certain Cuban?" Grinding his teeth, Keith replied sourly "Wow. Your powers of observation never fail to amaze me" "Hey, no need to take it out on me. I thought things were better between you two" "So did I. I don't even know what I did. He won't talk to me" "You said that already" He may have slightly vented to Shiro about Lance... but only because he couldn't understand what the quiznak was happening. He knew Lance was scared of reconnecting. Casting another glance at Daehra, Daehra was laughing softly at something Lance was saying "They're not what I was expecting" Looking back to Shiro, Keith frowned "What were you expecting?" "I don't know. I did see the way that one stepped in front of him" "That's Lucteal. He's an arsehole" "He seems to like Lance" "They all like "Leandro". He doesn't go by Lance out there anymore" "Careful Keith, you're letting your jealousy show" "I'm not fucking jealous" The pout on his lips ruined his argument. Shiro only smiling wider "Don't give me that. How's he really going?" "Better than he was. Still having panic attacks and nightmares. Still doing stupid shit... so still being Lance" "That's not what I'm asking" "I know what you're asking but it's not my place to say it" "Are you two..." Keith groaned "Don't even go there. I don't know. I thought we were moving that way but when I went to get my stuff from our room, he'd already moved me out" Shiro's smile dropped "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything that happened that might explain it?" "He was fine. He was getting better, then my team showed up and he shut down again. He didn't even try, Shiro. I tried to include him but he ran off. God. It makes me so mad. I tried for him. I still don't know all the names of his team members, but I tried. I put up with all his bullshit stunts and he can't even try for one quiznakking night" "Did you try messaging him?" Nodding, Shiro had to be stupid if he thought Keith wouldn't have been messaging Lance's stupid arse all damn night "He was in the Telula's command room all night. He couldn't even come down and tell me he wanted me off his ship. He sent Daehra down to tell us to go ahead" "Well this is a big thing for him. He hasn't had time for us since he started this job" Scoffing in disgust, Keith felt the need to bare his teeth at that comment "Hasn't had time for you? Seriously, Shiro. I expected better from you. I saw his messages, no one calls or messages him. We called Hunk back about all of this, and Hunk spent more time talking to me than he did Lance. I got stuck lying and trying to soothe him back down because he's convinced no one wants him around. They fucked up his head, and having been "dumped" from the team was the final nail" "We all get busy... I know it wasn't malicious" "And I told you what happened. I've spent movements trying to get him through what happened. And now he won't even look at me" "It's probably hard for him..." "It is hard for him" "... to readjust. It's been you, him and his team. When your team came back, he probably convinced himself you're going to leave him. You did say he's suffering from abandonment issues" "He wasn't fucking abandoned, Allura threw him away. She fucked his body. He doesn't even know if that is his body, because he went and died and no one ever said a damn thing about it. He thought we all knew didn't care. He spent years thinking that..." Running his hands through his hair, he was ready to explode, or at least flip the table or something. Lance was right there. They shouldn't be talking about him like this. It felt like he was betraying him. "Keith, calm down. You're getting loud enough that everyone is going to hear you. We can't change the past. I wish we could..." "Shiro, honestly, don't. Right now I want to grab him by the collar and shake the fuck out of him. He didn't want to see his family. He wasn't ready yet. Now he's laughing and forcing himself to be physical, when touching still sets off panic attacks" "Keith, it's not your job to decide what Lance does. I know you said he was tortured, that's why I called his family and invited them. I'm not saying your no good for him or haven't helped him, but he needs his family too" Lance had called him "home", and called him his "family". Shiro was making it sound like something like that could never exist between the pair of them "Lance won't be happy" "Maybe not now, but I think it'll be good for him. Tell me more about his team" Sighing at him, Keith was still slightly miffed Shiro hadn't trusted Lance over his team. Keith had told him he trusted him, but Shiro was still a dick to Lance "They're good people. We were staying on Lucteal, and Daehra's planet. Lucteal has a major crush on Lance, they had a kind of moment but it seems like that's settled down. I want to introduce Daehra to Colleen. She's never received proper medical training, but she's got a first rare mind for it all. Zak. Is like Pidge 2.0. Tobias is kind of useless. I don't know what the other three do. There were supposed to be more joining us, but apparently Lance sent them away. I don't know. I haven't had that much contact in the way of them. Lance let's the come and go as they please. I do know his team used to be bigger, but now he's down two bounty hunters" Shaking his head, Shiro leaned back in his chair "I can't picture it" "You should. He's actually pretty well known out that way. I wouldn't mention anything about Erathus to him though..." "It didn't end well?" "Shiro, they tried to kill him more than once. Now he's being accused of all the disappearances out near Ghazex. They put a fucking bounty on his head. So no. It didn't end well" Looking to his hands, Shiro was about to impart some "wisdom" he didn't want "Keith..." "Don't Shiro" "If Erathus is that dangerous, maybe..." "Don't. Involving the Atlas will only make it worse" "You don't know that for sure" "You can't go to war over one person. It's the same with the Blade's. It'll be seen as Earth and Daibazaal sticking their nose in. I wanted to. Believe me, but he wants to do this his own way" "Then he's not going to be too happy. Your mother's coming to discuss strategy over the prison moon" "It wasn't a prison moon. It was a satellite. The Atlas is too big to take in. Not just because of the asteroids, but the magnetic fields too" "We've already decided to move against it. Whether we have his permission or not" "He's not going to be happy" "I can't afford to think of his happiness. These disappearances need to stop" "Shiro..." "Keith. I saw those photos. People are being butchered. We cannot allow this to continue" "Maybe some of them deserved it" Mumbling bitterly, Shiro definitely heard him, his adoptive brother looked less than thrilled that Keith was suddenly pro-murder. The half-Galra was so close to telling Shiro everything. It was right there one the tip of his tongue. Shiro was making all these plans, when Lance was the one who'd been out there aware of all it far longer than the pair of them "I'm just saying, tread carefully. They fucking broke him, and I'm sorry but I don't know if I can forgive you if you send him back to where he was" "Do you really think I would?" "Not on purpose. But if he tries to kill himself again, I will never speak to you again" Leaving the conversation on such a bitter tone didn't sit well with Keith. He loved Shiro, and he'd left things up to Shiro's discretion, but not including Lance while making plans... it wasn't just wrong morally. Lance was a brilliant strategist when he wanted to be. His questions weren't just dumb and pointless, even if he made it sound that way so whoever was listening would come to the conclusion he already had under their own steam. The Atlas didn't own space. Daibazaal was still on shaky ground on that respect. A show of force could be interrupted as the empire trying to rise again. Why couldn't Shiro understand that? Keith didn't want people ending up cut into pieces like a grotesque jigsaw. Not at all. It was the whole powerlessness of the situation that was getting to him. He was acting too emotionally over Lance. Which wasn't a big shock. Not like finding out he'd been moved out. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, Keith stalked from the dining room. He didn't know where he was going, only that he didn't want to see Lance's stupid face or Shiro's concern. He really should have expected better than to think he could walk away feeling so quiznak when there were two empaths in the room "Keith!" Hearing Daehra call, Keith kept walking. If Lance had another message for him, he could tell himself. Listening as her pace turned to a walking-jog, Daehra caught up him "Keith. Please, can we speak?" "Did Lance ask you deliver another message?" "No. No. It is about him though" Of course it bloody was "What is it, Daehra?" "Please will you stop. I do not like this between both of you" Stopping as requested, Keith turned in Daehra "You think I do? I don't even know what the hell I did wrong" "You did not do anything wrong per say. Other than ignore Lance once your team arrived" Shaking his head, Keith wasn't having it all pinned on him "I didn't ignore him. I tried to include him at dinner" "What about before dinner? And after dinner? You know of his fears and yes, I do understand you were happy to be reunited with your team, but think about when you came to us. You were on the outside. You did not understand our jokes and ways. Lance suffered at the hands of the Galra and while he does not hold that against your race, he was quite scared. I could feel the panic on him, though he tried to hide it. Your Acxa was watching him quite closely, while your Ezor teased him, yet you said nothing. He is quite sure you mean to return to them, given how happy you were to be with them again. I feel his emotions Keith, and he feels that you would prefer them to him. Like with your Shiro. I know Lance pulled his arm away, but he was barely keeping down one of you attack panics when we landed. He is scared. That is why he tried to keep his mask on. He does not know how to interact with these friends and family. He wanted his pills. It has been quintants since he asked. He chose to go off them because of what you mean to him, now he is in that room without you" Keith let Daehra's words sink in. He hadn't even realised he'd turned all his attention to his old team. He knew how they could be, and was trying to keep the situation under control. He didn't think about Lance's anxieties over having part Galra aboard because Lance was so ok with having him close. Plus, Zethrid had thought it funny to fire at the Telula... "Keith. I do not tell you this to hurt you. You two have been working so hard to communicate, and Lance feels he has no right to now that you are back where you came from. I am simply scared that he'll fall back into numbing himself. When his two sisters came, he wanted to run, and he still he faced them. I am not sure if he was even aware of the extent his emotions were flooding from him. It was so strong that Lucteal acted because Lance perceived them as a threat. He feels inferior to your Shiro. He described it as being back in Voltron" "I can't just walk back in there" "You can" "I don't know what I should do" "Be there" "He doesn't want anyone knowing anything about what happened between us" "Then be his friend" "I don't know what to say... I don't know his family that well" "So you feel as he did, on the outside?" She got him there. Taking a deep breath, he released it slowly "When did you get so wise?" Laughing Daehra nodded "That is twice today I have heard it. He says you and Shiro are on the same wavelength, but I feel it is more like you two are of the same mind. You are both idiots, and both my friends" "You know, I think Lance really shouldn't be teaching you to talk like that" "Maybe. Maybe not. Someone has to be the wise one between the two of you. Now come. I am finding the conversation most fascinating" What Daehra found interesting was mostly likely fuelling Lance's anxieties "Are they picking on him?" "A little. He is not ready to open up to them, and his mother has told many stories of young Lance" Lance wouldn't be loving that. Trying to seem the confident space pilot didn't hold up well against a mother's embarrassing stories... "No wonder he's upset. He doesn't handle embarrassment very well" "No, he does not. Though he does not grow as flustered as you do" "That's not my fault. Lance would say I'm socially awkward" "Both of you and your excuses. Honestly. It is tiring. Now quit stalling, Mullet" Gaping at Daehra, Keith was going to kill Lance "That's it. He's banned from teaching you English. Banned" "I'm sorry. Lance is my commander, not you" First she called him "Mullet" then she sasses him. Daehra was spending far too much time with Lance. * Ignored at dinner by Lance, Keith had tried to talk to him. He tried to talk to him when they all separated from the dining area. He'd tried to talk to him before they all came together at dinner. It'd been chaotic. Almost like that night on the castle before it'd dissolved into a food fight... without the food fight. Everyone was trying to catch up with everyone else. Lance introduced Zak to Pidge by slandering some tech that had them both jumping down his throat before realising their arguments were completely different, and turning on each other. Then Matt and his girlfriend got involved... followed by Hunk... When he'd tried to sit near Lance at dinner, he was pulled away by Curtis to sit with him and Shiro. The Lance had left almost as soon as dinner was done, having barely eaten anything at all. With that invisible wall up between them, and Lance running away, desperate times called for desperate measures... with a little bit of help from Kosmo. Messaging Daehra, Daehra let him know Lance was back in the room Shiro had assigned him. First he tried sending Kosmo in, standing slightly down the hall, he watched Lance wrestle Kosmo out his room. So he sent him in again, only for the same thing to happen. The third time Lance actually seemed livid with the wolf, Kosmo whining pathetically in a way that would normally have Lance showering him with affection. With his first plan failing, Keith called Kosmo to his side, praising his wolf for doing what he'd wanted, despite Lance not keeping to his end of the plan. If Lance was going to be a little shit, Keith could play that game. And that was how he ended up in the Atlas's air vents. With no access in the corridor that Lance's room connected to, Keith was forced to go the long way. He could have had Kosmo teleport him in, but he wanted to show Lance he was actually sorry. He wanted to make the effort... even if the effort involved sneaking around on Shiro's ship. He hadn't made it far before his comms started beeping. Already feeling stalkerish enough, he didn't need someone reporting a strange beeping and clanging from the vent above his room. Detangling himself, Keith accepted the call, Shiro's expression wasn't too happy "Keith. Why are you in the air vent of my ship?" "Hey, Shiro. I can't really talk at the moment..." "Keith... What did you do?" "I may have upset Lance by accident and he may or may not be talking to me?" "So you're in the vents because..." "Because I want to talk to Lance and he's not talking to me" Groaning, Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose "You couldn't knock on his door?" "I tried sending Kosmo in, and Lance just kicked him out..." "That doesn't answer the question Keith" "Look. You do what you do. I'm just going to climb over to Lance's room and drop in for a quick visit" "If he doesn't want to talk to you..." "It doesn't work like that. Ok. You have no idea what you're talking about. I messed up. I need to show him that I know that" "I don't think you climbing through the air ducts is what he would want" "I don't care about what he wants. Now, I'm going back to borrowing your vents. I feel like a stalker as it is" "You are a stalker. Don't let me catching you in the vents again. And I expect you and Lance both on time for breakfast tomorrow" "You worry about walking down to breakfast tomorrow. Don't think I didn't see the looks you two were giving each other" "Alright. Message receive. I'll stay out of your love life" "That'll make a first. Now, I have some very dusty vents to acquaint myself with" Ending the call, Keith cursed whoever was listening. Couldn't a guy do something romantic for his not-boyfriend, without his adopted brother getting testy about him being in ship's ventS?

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 6 years

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WAD 105

Keith had a gut feeling something was wrong the moment he woke. He'd spent the last few days trying to give Lance some space, as he was deeply ashamed of how he'd treated Hunk. Things between them were tense, the whole team dragged down by his bad mood and stubborn pride. He needed to fix things before the slipped even further out of control, but the avalanche he'd caused just seemed to snowball out. He didn't want to admit to Lance how badly he'd messed up, yet Hunk was now taking it out on the omega and that wasn't ok. Sliding from the bed, he left boys sleeping. First he'd stop in and check on Lance, make sure he was sleeping peacefully, and then... then he'd head up and find Hunk.

It didn't take a genius to realised Lance wasn't in his nest. When the bedroom door opened, Keith's heart sunk at the lack of omega. He hated it, but he was now twice as sure that Lance was the cause of the bad feeling he was carrying around. The knowledge sending a fine layer of goosebumps forming across his skin, while the hair on the back of his neck rose. Jogging to the bathroom, he found it just as empty as the bedroom. Quiznak. Lance was in no state to be wandering around. He shouldn't have left him alone. He shouldn't have promised not to leave and then actually leave because he was disgusted with himself. He shouldn't have taken out his fight with Hunk on his husband. Running back to the nursery, Keith snatched up his communicator, requesting a group call as he tried to pull his boots on "Keith?" "Pidge. This is very important. Is Lance with you?" "What? Why? Do you have any idea how early it is?" "Pidge!" "No, god. Keith, I don't have time for this" "Pidge, I can't find him! Is Hunk with you? Have you seen him?!" "Hunk's still asleep... oh, hey Allura" "Pidge? What's going on?" "Lance is missing. I mean, I don't know where he is" Allura yawned "Have you checked the bridge?" "No... but, he's... he hasn't been himself lately. He could have taken off. We need to find him" "Keith, calm down. I'm sure he's just milking Kaltenecker" "How many times do I have to tell you?! He's missing!" "Keith, do you have any proof he's missing?" "No, but something in my gut tells me something is wrong! Something has happened. I know it has and I need your help to find him!" "Ok, I'm getting Hunk up. I swear, if he's just fallen asleep somewhere else, and there's nothing wrong, you'll be washing dishes for the next deca-phoeb" "Fine. Just... call me if you find him" "Ill start at the bridge. Keith, you start with Kaltenecker and we'll work our way up"

Keith had barely made it to Kaltenecker's room when his communicator beeped. Accepting the transmission, Allura sounded breathless as she spoke "Keith, he's ok. He and Shiro went to check on Toral and Krolia found them. She's guided them out the device, and the three of them are currently in medical room" "Lance did what?!" "He's fine. He and Toral are curled up against each other, while Shiro and Krolia are talking about what they saw in Toral's mind" "Did... did he say anything?" "No. He says he'll only explain everything once everyone is here" "I'm on my way" "Oh, he asks that you bring the boys" That meant backtracking, and he was less than thrilled at the idea. He needed to see Lance and ask him what the hell he'd been thinking? Did Krolia put him up to this? And why hadn't Shiro stopped him?!

Marching into the medical room, Keith put both boys down before walking straight up to Lance. His mate didn't even seem to care he was standing in front of him. Never in his life did he feel like punching Lance as badly as he did right now, but moving to stand between them, Toral stated him straight in the eyes "If you so much a raise your little finger at him, I will kill you" "Toral" "No. Lance tried to save me! He took everything that happened and he still tried to save me! I will not let him be hurt ever again" "Toral, that's enough" Lance's voice was rough, his pain causing silence to fall. Turning her back on him, Toral wrapped her arms around Lance, only for Lance to push her aside as he shook his head "Not now" "I... I'm sorry" "No. It's thanks to you that I remember everything. I should have come back for you sooner" "Don't say that! You did all you could!" "We both know that's not true..." "Lance, this is my fault. If you hadn't protected me, you could have escaped" "I chose to protect you. I knew it was all in my head, but I didn't tell you. I knew it couldn't be real" "No..." "Will someone please explain what's going on here?" Plonking herself down on the second examination bed, Pidge pulled on Hunk's hand until he did the same, before wrapping her arms around his waist, looking incredibly tired as she did "Lance and Shiro decided it was a good idea to wake Toral" "And it's a good thing we did. We've been lied to and manipulated" "What do you mean we've been lied to? By who? By Lance?" "No... well, not intentionally. I honestly didn't remember what happened until I went back into Toral's mind..." "Lance, will you just spit it out already" "Lotor. We've been lied to by Lotor. He killed Sendak and took both Toral and I..." Keith wanted to groan. Everyone knew how the memory device worked and Lotor was clearly Toral's greatest fear. It wasn't hard to make the leap in logic "Keith, it's true" "I didn't say anything" "I'm your husband. I know when you're annoyed and you clearly don't believe us. We were first taken by Sendak, who planned to use us as bait to lure Lotor to his. He intended to kill him, and to kill us. Only Lotor killed him and took Toral and I. He separated us initially. He wanted to know more about our bond, and how to break one. He also wanted to know how my body worked... he... he wanted to create a child who could use quintessence like I could, but... I told him it wasn't possible... that didn't stop him from trying to breed me. He laughed over it all. Laughed about how stupid we all were and how I was going to be the key to whatever he has planned. He pumped my body full of quintessence and black goop, cutting me open to try and watch my body processing it. When I stopped screaming, he'd have one of his assistants down me, revive me and stick me in a pod. Over and over... I think... I think he was testing he much a human body could take... And then, one day, he moved me to a room. I think that's when he reunited us. Toral was there and I was pregnant. I helped her escape, but I knew it was in my head because everything was just so easy. A bucket handle that fitted my cuffs. The door opening after barely being jimmied. I sent to Toral ahead in the ventilation system. That's when I told Lotor I knew what he was doing... he was mad. He kept asking for information on my bond with Keith, he even tried cutting off my bonding mark and remarking me as his, purely to see how it worked. I think the only reason he let me keep the baby is because he thought it was his... his to do with as he pleased. After that, each time I kept figuring out what he was up to. That we were trapped inside our own minds... I told him things... I told him about the goop and quintessence and about how it holds everything together, but he doesn't care. Toral came through to this world with a necklace given to her by Alfor. It holds gold quintessence and with it, he can access as much quintessence as he needs..."

Lance gripped his pants, tears dripping and soaking into the dark grey fabric "I'm so sorry. I... I tried to protect Toral. I tried and I failed! If only I could have gotten her out of there sooner" "Lance, your leg was broken! You gave me your helmet when Red stopped responding! You're the only reason I'm alive!" "It wasn't enough! I couldn't defeat Sendak! I thought Lotor's hand would be forced and he'd have to help us because I was a Paladin! I thought he wouldn't make his move, but he killed everyone! And he looked so happy as he did! I couldn't save them..."

Keith's breath was stuck in his chest. His lungs felt like they were filled with cement, and he couldn't take another breath to save his life. Lotor. He'd known it. He knew Lotor was behind it! Snarling, Lance jumped and flinched back "I'm going to kill him" "Wait. We need to be sensible about this" "Didn't you fucking hear what he did?! I don't care what was in Lance's mind and what was in reality! I'm going to string him up with his guts!" "You can't... you can't touch him" "Lance?" "He can teleport. He can jump from spot to spot. He can target any of us at any time and we won't know about it until too late" "Allura, you've spoken to Lotor. Did he have anything to say?" "N-no... he was relieved Lance and Toral were found, and upset over Lance's memory loss, but now I see, this alliance never meant anything to him..." "Allura, we were all fooled" "That's right. We all were" "I need to inform the Blade of Marmora" "We need to inform out allies" "You can't" All eyes went back to Lance "He could be monitoring our communication. If he suspects anything, he'll be forced to implying his plan early" "Did he give you any kind of idea?" "No... he mentioned his mum, but not much... I... I was kind of giving him a hard time. That's why he cut my throat. He said I wasn't covered in enough blood..." Keith had heard enough. Stepping forward, he grabbed Lance hand and hauled him off the bed "Keith!" "No one is to disturb us" "Put me down" "I am not putting you down" "P-please. I feel sick"

Striding through the halls, Keith carried Lance to the first room available, throwing his mate down on the bed and climbing to straddle his lap as he pinned Lance's arms down. Pushing his lips to Lance's, Lance trembled as he cried softly "Keith... I'm dirty" "You are not dirty" "I am! Lotor... every time... every time I was thinking of you" "I will not let him hurt my mate and act like he can get away with it! You are mine! You are my omega! My partner!" "But..." "Don't you dare deny it! How fucking stupid were you!? Just going into Toral's head like that! Do you have any idea how I felt!? Do you?! I am your alpha! I am the one you're supposed to depend on!" "I knew you were going to say no!" "Of course I would! I am so sick of people hurting you! And I'm so sick of you hurting!" Releasing Lance's hands, Keith tore his shirt off, before hastily fumbling the button of his jeans undone "Keith?!" "You're mine. You're mine and I am the only one who gets to do this to you" "He.." "I know what he did. So let me show you how much better the real thing is, when it's with someone who loves you more than this whole fucking universe"

Lance was already slick as Keith pushed inside. His husband so warm and wet as he rippled around him. Normally he'd be gentle, but his anger and need to claim Lance again won out. His pace hard and brutal as Lance mewed underneath him. Capturing his lips, Keith kept his lips to Lance's, panting into his mouth as he drove each thrust in as deeply as he could. Cumming without warning, Lance clenched around him, his knot popping before he could stop himself, and both of them moaned as his seed pulsed into Lance "Alpha?" "Baby. This is us. It's fights. It's screaming. It's yelling. It's love. It's happiness. It's us. You're mine. You're the only one I love and the only one I could every love" Wrapping his arms around him, Keith lifted Lance into his lap as he sat back, his husband wrapping his legs around him as he let out a howl "I've got you" "He... it hurt so much. It hurt, but I told myself if I could just get through it, I could come home again" "You're home. You're home and you're safe" "He tried to take everything from me!" "He didn't take anything. You're still you. You're still the same stubborn omega I fell in love with" "Keith..." Rolling his hips, slick squelched between them deliciously, Keith was still cumming inside his mate. He understood all Lance's fears and hesitation. He understood why he was so cold and why he was so scared. Lotor had done this to him, and Keith wasn't going to let it slide by, but right now, Lance needed the physical connection a whole lot more, he needed to see that nothing changed between them, that he still wanted him, no matter what Lance's mind was telling him "I'm here. I never should have tried to give you space, but I was scared of just how much I love you" "I thought you hated me" "No. I had a fight with Hunk. You were upset and I lost it at him, after having a fight with mum. I lost my head and I didn't want to disappoint you again" "You're stupid. You should have just told me" "You're dealing with so much" "I... it hurts to know, but... I feel better..." "Because I fucked your brains out?" "No... because I understand why I didn't want to remember. I understand what happened and why... It was movements of my life, just gone" "Lance, I know I just... but it's not enough" "I feel it too. I feel so dirty that nothing will ever make me clean" "No. You're not dirty and I will always love you" Laying Lance back down, his husband even managed to smile for him. With his knot still caught, he couldn't do much, but each time he rocked his hips, Lance's hands gripped the sheets as he moaned, his back arching, his Adam's apple bobbing. This was his. This sight of his mates swollen stomach belonged to him alone. Sliding his hands over the swell, Lance turned to face away from him "Baby?" "I... I don't understand how she survived? I had pure quintessence flowing through my veins... for days Keith" "I don't know, but she's here. She's ok, and I know you like having your belly rubbed" "It's the only thing that settles her" "Mmm. Our little princess" "We still don't know for sure" "I trust you and I trust your feelings. Even when I don't understand" "That's why you were ready to hit me before" "No... maybe. Ok. Yes. I just, I didn't understand why you'd stupidly put yourself in danger and do that... but, I get it now. You, you're different. You even smell different" "Keith, it was killing me not knowing. I didn't know what to do or say. I tried my hardest and then everything fell apart and I felt it was my fault. Now... now I understand why I wanted to forget because it... he tried to break me. He tried to break me each and every quintant... every time... I just kept thinking of coming home" "And you're home" "With you" "Yeah baby"

So the emotionally mature thing would have probably been not to spend the night between his husband's legs, but Lance was only hungry for more. Falling together, they seemed to melt into one, over and over until they both laid sated, Lance purring a rumbling purr as he laid along his chest, exhausted and drooling against Keith's salty skin, both of them uncomfortably warm, yet neither of them wanting to let go while the stink of sex hung in the air, leaving their second dynamics drunk off sex, stripped of all reasoning.

No one invaded their space, both of them managing to get 8 solid vargas. Keith woke feeling like absolutely nothing was wrong in the world, and Lance... he seemed ok. A little jumpy when Keith came up behind him in the shower, but even the way he carried himself was different. Smiling shyly, Keith peppered Lance's lips with soft kisses, as Lance washed his hair. Small laughs fell between them, mostly at Keith's expense due to his impatience and copping shampoo to his eyes. Everything was so perfect, so much like a dream "What are you thinking about? You've got this smug look on your face" "I would hardly call it smug. I was thinking about you" "Really? And just what were you thinking about me?" "That you're here and you're doing better" "I couldn't be doing worse" "You could be and we both know it. Right now, if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up" "Don't say things like that... not yet... I'm ok, and I'm sleepy, but... you're my anchor to reality... I can't have my anchor thinking this is all a dream" Taking Lance's face in his hands, Keith nodded, his thumbs gently rubbing the marks on his husband's face "I'm sorry. I'll probably say and do a lot of things that will upset you, without even realising" "You usually do anyway. So what's the difference?" "That's not funny" "Who said I was trying to be?" "You always think you're funny" "Isn't that why you're with me? For my sharp wit and humour?" "And the amazing sex" "Yeah, I'm pretty good at that too" "More than pretty good..." Lance groaned, taking his hands and shaking his head, his hair spending droplets of water flying like a wet dog "We have to go talk to the others" "I know" "I don't know what to say" "Just tell the truth... and if you can somehow find a way to get Hunk to forgive me..." "Nope. You hurt his feelings, so you need to be the one to apologise" "I don't know what to say" "How about you just tell him you're an arse?" "He knows that" "Then you're half way there. We need to get out of here, I'm ready to fall asleep again" "Ok... but give me a kiss?" "Come here you big sooky alpha, I'll give you all the kisses you want" Making kissy noises like he did with the twins, Lance kissed his cheeks sloppily "Enough. You can stop" "Nope. You wanted kisses" "Lance, I'm not a pup" "I know... now, hurry up and get out the shower. Or we're going to make them even madder" "Fiiiine. God. Why do I love you?"

* Wearing the same clothes they'd worn the day before, Lance held Keith's hand firmly as they walked through the castle. His mate had lead him up to the kitchen, but Hunk wasn't there, now he was trailing half a step behind Lance as they headed to the bridge. Despite his outwards happy appearance, the hold on Keith's hand was growing steadily tighter with each step closer to the bridge, leaving him to wonder if they had been in some kind of dream. Reaching the bridge, Lance opened the door, before darting behind him to propel him forward, though Keith was 90 percent sure that his husband's bravery had failed him at the last second and he found himself scared of everyone's reactions.

Sitting on the floor rather than in their chairs, Hunk, Pidge, Allura and Toral were all whispering about something, while Shiro talked to Coran, a star map pulled up on the holograph screens. Elbowing him in the back, Keith stumbled slightly, his boots squeaking against the floor, and drawing their attention to the pair of them "Lance, Keith! How are you both feeling this morning?" "We're alright Allura. Sorry we took off, we needed some space" "I would say that's fair given what you've been through..." Nodding his head, Lance hid the left side of his face against Keith's arm, though he did half step out of hiding as he did "So, what have we missed?" "Coran and Shiro are collecting information on the planets where Galra activity has been sighted. As we don't know what of lies hold a glimmer of truth, we've been making notes on everything. Toral has been filling us in on her own experiences while connected to the memory device" "Um... why don't you just watch it?" "Lance?" "We can do that. You know we can. Shiro did it before, he watched my memories. If... if we're watching things from Toral's view, then they shouldn't be that bad" "Toral would prefer we didn't. For both her sake and yours" "But it might hold some clue" "Lance, no. I'm not going to let him hurt you again. We're going to figure out how to stop him" "How do you plan to do that? He has a device that allows him to access as much quintessence as he wants. He could easily execute whatever he has planned, whenever he wants" "We don't think that is the case" "What do you mean?" Stepping out from behind the holoscreen, Shiro crossed his arms, looking completely exhausted as he did "Well. Lotor said Lance is the key to all of this" "That's because he's a nutjob" "Keith, maybe we should let Shiro talk? He did some see some of it" "Thinking about what Toral has said, what Lance has said and what I saw first hand, it's clear Lotor was targeting Lance all along. He both being an omega and his unusual relationship with quintessence, are something he hadn't encountered in his ten thousand plus years. For him, Lance was an unknown variable, but with our hope for peace blinding us, we allowed Lotor access to Lance and the secrets of the Castle. Lance being pregnant, is probably the reason Lotor is yet to make a move" "I doubt it. He didn't care anything for Toral, even knowing somewhere out there, another one of him was her father. He just wanted a pup that could be used for quintessence experimentation..." "Yet, you did fall pregnant, and almost immediately you were moved away from the lab. If he believes the child is his, he could be waiting for its birth before taking it" "But she's not his! Coran did a scan. She's Keith's!" "Lance, no one is disagreeing. We're trying to figure out Lotor's end game" "He wants quintessence! He needs quintessence. Whatever he has planned, he needs a ton of the stuff. But we know the universe can't take it being harvest! We can't stop him, because he come and go as he pleases. He slaughtered everyone one Sendak's ship, with a smile on his face. How are we supposed to stop the unstoppable!?" "Ok baby, it's ok. Come here" "She's ours..." "I know" Gathering his omega against him, Lance shook, his scent screaming he was exhausted, and also maybe a little hungry. In the aftermath of Lance's yelling, the whole bridge was silent. No one sure what to say, especially when Lance had just yelled what they were all thinking. Pidge looked to Hunk, her eyes filled with sadness as she did, and in turn, Hunk looked to him "You guys haven't eaten, why don't we go get something to eat?" Lance nodded against him, while Keith felt like a dick. Hunk was being the bigger man here, when he should have stepped up instead.

Sitting down in the kitchen, Lance nudge him. The walk had been stiff and silent, his mate was now telling him this way the time. Taking a breath, he nodded to himself "Uh. Hunk. I have something I want to say to you" "Go on..." Smacking Lance lightly, Keith took another breath "I'm sorry for the other day. I... I lost my head over Lance. I let my jealousy get the better of me" "Keith, bud. We all know you lose it over Lance, but that wasn't cool" "I know..." "See, don't you feel better now?" "Kind of... but he didn't have to ignore you over it too" Lance sighed, looking less than impressed "Don't give me that. You thought we all hated you" "It was kind of hard not to. No one knows what to do..." "I wasn't ignoring Lance because of you..." "Dude, I tried to hold your hand and you moved away. You've barely looked me in the eye and I can't for the life of me figure out what I've done wrong" "Every time we take our eyes off you, you come back hurt. You lost your eye and I didn't even know. And now you're pregnant again... Lance, we're all worried about you. We know how you feel, but you take it too far. It's like you don't even trust us" "I do... I would do anything to protect you all. All I could think about was coming home to you all... and all I could do was wait for you... wait for you to rescue me" "Then don't make us worry like this! You didn't even talk to us before going to Toral" "I talked to Shiro. He said he didn't agree to how she was being treated... after quintants of not talking, he reached out..." "You didn't talk to the rest of us" "Because no one wanted to talk to me..." "Lance, you've just got to be more careful. That's all we want" "How am I supposed to be careful when we know what's happening? When we know Lotor is playing us?" "For now, you need to think about your boys and your pup... you said it's a girl?" "It's just a feeling... Coran says he knows what they are, but I didn't want to have the scan without Keith being there" "Another girl..." "And they're healthy?" "By some miracle" "Your mums going to die of shock when you come back home with a whole brood" "She wasn't planned. Keith and I did everything we were supposed to. We used the ring... and I never took it off. Coran said she was conceived after my heat, so even if we weren't thinking right, that's not to blame" "I didn't say... I didn't mean..." Hunk looked flustered, his pointer fingers inching together "Hunk, she's ok... and I don't... I have no intention of seeing Lotor anytime soon. Right Keith?" "If he ends up on my sword anytime soon..." Lance scowled and made to elbow him again "I mean. None of us will be getting close to Lotor. We will be distancing ourselves from him as much as possible, before we sever this alliance. We also need to prepare for whoever takes over" "Well you guys half destroyed the Kral Zera... we could finish it off? That's what the Blade of Marmora wanted to do" "You remember that?" "Of course I remember that! I nearly killed you" "You were pregnant with the boys" "And I was certain you were going to freak out and leave me... good times" "Guys, that's enough being gross. Are we having a baby shower for this one?" "No... not just yet. She's already moving, but I'd rather be further along... and I've decided, I want to give birth on Olkarion... it's as close to home as we're going to get out here..." "Olkarion..." "Yeah. The castle has too many memories. I... I want to be in our house, in our bed... with you there" Keith paled. His mind flashing back to all the blood from the birth of the boys... "I think you scared him" "I think I did too. Keith, you don't have to be there if you don't want to be" "No... I'm just... there was so much blood" "Because there was two of them. I only have our little girl this time. But it's a lot..." "I... I'll be there" "Her daddy delivering her. Nothing could be more right" "I don't know about delivering her. I've got no idea how to deliver a baby" "I do. We can get through this together" And with the help of someone actually trained, and medical staff nearby and clear access to the castle in case something went wrong... was Lance even going to be help him? No. He was the alpha. He should know what he was doing, before Lance went into labour... suddenly 17 movements seemed way too close to full term. Closing his eyes, he felt Lance take his hand "I definitely broke him" "Keith, I've made food" "I don't think he's thinking about anything other than our girl right now" "I'm right here" "He lives. You're food has revived him!" "I'm fine" "Keith, if this baby thing is too much..." "Lance, its fine. Its movements away" "Exactly. So there's no point glaring your breakfast" "I'm not glaring" "No, you're huffy and pouty. Thanks for breakfast" "It's more like lunch. You guys were gone for vargas" "It was Keith's fault" "Don't pin that on me. It's your fault just as much as mine" "You're the one who didn't want to get the shower" "And you're the one who didn't want to get out of bed" "I was warm, and you're really comfortable... any my hips are sore" "I do not need to hear this. Eat your breakfast, then go find Krolia. She's got the boys" "Mmm, thanks Hunk. You and Keith are definitely ok now, right? Because he's going to keep brooding over it" "Yeah bud, we're ok" "Thanks Hunk..."

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cybertronianlovenest · 7 years

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The bitch named Karma: Section 11

Jazz arched up higher as my spike hit the top of his valve. It was a tight fit and he needed plenty of coaxing but it was worth it to see him so lost. "Primus Prowl, ah don't see how anything like this could feel bad! My whole frame feels like it's on fire with the best feeling I've ever felt!" A smirk curled my lips and I pecked a kiss to his that he deepened instantly. "And we have not even really began. Believe it or not, this can cause far worse pain than pleasure. I hope you never find that out first hand Jazz, I want this to stay good for you. Once it's bad one time, you never look at it the same." I really wished I could shake that, before this whole plan had been hatched Jazz had spent sometime coaxing me through a bad one. It'd been worse than what he did this time, it took me vorns to allow him to even look at my valve, and much longer than that to touch. Now all that pain and fear came rushing back and focused itself on him. I didn't know if I'd ever be able to convince myself to let him top me again. "Please move, Prowl! Yer driving meh crazy!" His gruff voice drug me from my thoughts, back to the present where my partner was rocking and grinding down on my spike. My hips bucked forward and he keened. "Sorry, I got lost in thought. You'll be very well taken care of by the time I'm done with you." Jazz POV: I groaned as I came online once more feeling really light helmed and dizzy. Everything seemed really hard to do and something was moving around inside me. "Lay down Jazz. Your systems are going to take a while to catch up. Enjoy these few breems. It'll be the only time you'll get in the next few deca-cycles your frame isn't demanding an overload." That was Prowl. Fingers ran over my back as I turned my helm to look at him. "What happened?... Feel really weird..." "Your protocols came online and I assisted you. You're going to need fuel and try not to move around too much for a few moments. I just applied a numbing cream to your valve so you don't have the after effects. Lay still while I get your fuel." He pushed me down gently into the bed as I tried to piece together what the hell happened..... My helm swam as Prowl's lips found mine once more as thick spurts of charged fluid snapped at the inside of my valve. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how I could have hurt him if he was making me feel this good. My fingers clung into his back as he groaned into my audio. A strangled growl escaped as I tumbled over the edge of another release. "Frag! Ah! Prowl!" Lips traced hot kisses over my neck and cheeks as he pulled out of me with a wet pop, letting lose all the pent up fluid. "Not ready to stop! Please!" "After you cool down and fuel. Your frame is the verge of over heating and your valve needs a break. You'll need a few groons for your self repairs to strengthen your valve again. You don't want it to rip, trust me. Come on, I'll take you to the lake for a while, you can run off some of that charge." The door opened suddenly and I looked up to see my carrier as I stood from the bed. "I will accompany you down, to ensure nothing happens." Prowl's door twitched some. "I don't foresee any issues, thank you though. I believe that after nearly losing me Jazz understands that he should not continue after being told to stop." I cringed as they both looked at me. "Yeah... Prowl won't even let meh catch a glimpse of his valve now..." "And I do not blame him. You very nearly offlined him and what you did caused excruciating pain. His valve was scraped raw, torn, and sliced by sharp pieces of your armor. His frame was so over heated his protoform was being scorched and he screamed so loudly for you to stop he glitched out his vocalizer. That was tourchor and in his place I wouldn't ever allow you close again. Mistake or not, what you did caused unimaginable pain. Prowl, are you certain that you won't need me there?" He nodded his helm. "Yes, I had Soundwave place an over ride on my valve cover that only he and the twins have the codes to after finding out Jazz's protocols came online. My optics brightened, jerking to Prowl. "Ya locked up yer valve just so ah couldn't get into it?!" "Yes, I told you Jazz, I don't intend to feel that pain again. If you want a valve then you look elsewhere." I swallowed hard as his optics hardened. I hated that look, it was been etched into mind from before and it meant he was closing me out. If I didn't nip this now he was going to go right back to.- My mouth fell open suddenly as a horrible waves of memories invaded my mind. They were Prowl's, and they were worse than what I had done to him. 3 mechs had caught him and used him for over 5 groons. It had nearly offlined him and his frame had been torn so badly his whole interface unit had needed replaced. It had taken me 500 vorns to convince him to let me in and I'd just fucked up everything. Another thick swallow parted my throat before tears trickled down my face. I hated acting so weak but I couldn't help it. He'd been through so much and I'd done the one thing I swore to him I never would. He was closing me out for it and I couldn't blame him a bit. "Ah Prowler..." All my old memories came rushing back in a dizzying wave along with no small amount of self loathing for the pain I'd inflicted. The hardness in his optics cracked some, before he turned away from me. "Please leave Sir..." "Prowl you don't-" "Go." My carrier gave me look before turning and leaving the room. I was left standing there trying to figure out how I could have left things get this far. "Come here Jazz." A knot tightened in my chest as my peds shuffled forward. "If its that important to you then I don't care what you do. I got to used to the way things used to be. When I was more important to you than my valve was." His hand slipped down and he grabbed the cover, nearly ripping it off before I caught him. "Don't! Please Prowl just stop and listen to meh!" His fingers were still curled tightly into the panel as I caught him. "I am giving you what you want." "Thats not what ah want! Stop being a fragging glitch!" There was no emotion at all behind his optics and I hated it. "You were fine until I made the fact my valve was out of your reach known." "Yeah because ah didn't realize ya were that fragging scared ya tried to lock meh out! Ahm not upset ah can't have yer valve! Ahm upset because ah know yer that scared of letting meh have it! Ahm upset because ah know how much ah hurt ya! Ahm upset because ah remember what those other mechs did! Ah can't stand the thought that ah hurt ya just like they did and made ya trust meh so little! Frag Prowl! Ah love ya more than ah've ever loved anyone and ah need ya to trust meh!" He just looked at me with those blank optics I hated so much for several long kliks before finally letting me pull his hand away from his panel. "You remember?..." My helm nodded slowly and I pushed myself higher into his arms, taking comfort in the fact that he pulled me closer. "Remember everything... Ah don't want yer valve, ah want yer trust. Ahm gonna get it back, ah don't care if it takes meh five hundred THOUSAND vorns! By the way, if ah really wanted in there, how long do ya think ya could keep meh out?" I smirked but instead of lightning the mood it sparked a flicker of fear in his optics. I blew out a shuddering vent and buried my face in his neck. "Ahm so sorry Prowl... Ah'll go now." His arms tightened long before I got one ped on the floor and his optics locked with mine. "Don't leave me alone...? That's when I hurt myself..." My optics brightened as I looked at him. This was the first time he'd ask for help. He used to get angry when I caught him and tried to get him to stop. I knew if I denied him now he'd never ask for help again. "OK Prowler. Ah'll always stay right here whenever ya need meh. We'll get through this together." He nodded his helm and I finally saw some emotion peek through that blank mask he wore. "Thank you. I'm sorry Jazz. It is hard to get through the past memories of what happened..." He looked so distraught and I'd give anything to help him. "Prowl... Spark merge with meh. It'll be good for ya after getting out of the medbay and sharing yer feelings will take a huge weight off yer chest. Ah know very well ya wouldn't open up to anyone else." For a second he just looked at me before slowly opening his spark so I could mesh them together. *Hey meh love... Been far too long since ah've felt ya.* He pushed along agreement as he buried himself just as far into my spark as he could get. The urge to hurt himself was as strong as I'd ever felt it and it went a long way in calming my mind to know he was turning to me for help. *Ah got ya, not gone anywhere until ya feel better. Ahm just glad ya finally trust meh enough to let meh help. Ah love ya so much, don't ever doubt that.* He nodded rapidly and I could already feel his frame starting to heat up. His valve cover was really hot against my leg but I wasn't going to make the first move. If he wanted that he'd have to tell me and I pushed that along. Under me, Prowl seemed to struggle with himself for a few moments. *You really remember? Remember everything?* I sighed and nodded my helm, the unspoken, everything, he was talking about was all I could think about right now. "Ah remember everything ah forgot about interfacing, Prowl. Not gonna fuck up again." Slowly his helm nodded as he swallowed thickly. *I'm still scared Jazz... Even though I know that only happened because you didn't know how to interface...* Our optics meet mine and a single tear ran down his cheek that I cleared away with a kiss. "Yer choice. Ah never cared more about yer valve than ya, don't forget it." That got a light smile that was more fear than anything. "I want my last experience with you to be a good one, I don't want to keep thinking about the pain." I smiled and sank into his system, the lock was easy enough to find and I had it erased in just a few seconds. The cover slid to the side and he flinched away like the first time I touched him. 'Looks like he'll need lots of coaxing.'... Prowl POV: My vents hitched painfully as Jazz's fingers brushed over my valve and he caught me in a kiss. About now I wished he still had his mechapire coding to calm me down. "Shh babe. Gonna be just fine." He ran the backs of his fingers down my face as two on the other hand slipped into me. As much as I tried to remember that Jazz would never hurt me now that he remembered what he was doing I was still near panic. "Would ya like to stop Prowl?" My helm shook side to side. "If I back out now it could be well be a few THOUSAND vorns until you get in me." He smiled softly and kissed me. "So be it love. Besides, ahm sure ah could make it boring enough ya'd be begging meh to frag ya." An optic ridge arched up, giving him a look. "And just how do you plan to do that?" He smirked. "Well, ah'd just lay there until interfacing got so boring ya let meh in just to make meh move." I snorted. "I don't think you'd be able." "Prowl, ah nearly starved mehself to deactivation just to see ya. Ya don't think ah could play dead through a few interfaces? Ah'd just turn down meh sensor net to all but mute." My optics narrowed at him. "You're a cheater." "Alls fair in love and war. Now, ya wanna do this the easy way? Or ya wanna miss out on seeing meh lose meh charge while ya pound into meh until ya pack meh valve so full of yer fluid it gushes down meh legs?" That thought alone had my frame heating up. I loved being buried to the hilt inside him, he always gave the best responses when I was top. "As soon as this is settled I'm cuffing YOU to the bed." His engine growled and he gave a sharp twist of his fingers, scraping over a patch of nodes that he was so good at finding. It was enough to drag a sharp cry from me that made Jazz chuckle. "Love to hear ya made such sweet sounds. Let's see if ah can overload ya before ah ever get meh spike inside ya." Oh there was no doubt in my mind he could. Jazz was far too good at that game before. I just hoped he was as good now. His fingers slipped from my valve and pushed the panel closed. "Primus what are you doing Jazz?!" He was going to drive me crazy. "Well, ya know the rules. Would be cheating if ah kept playing with yer valve. An ah'd hate to think ah might have lost meh touch..." A hand slid up my frame and tugged our hips flush together as he smirked. My vents caught as daft fingers traced over my legs ever so gently. "Yer gonna like this." "You're going to tease me until I'm not even able to think clearly aren't you!?"

#Jazz #Prowl #Megatron #Transformers #The bitch named Karma

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