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fullyrealisedlegend · 7 years

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We Are (Not) Monsters: Ch.4

HOLY SHIT IT’S BEEN A WHILE I’M SO SORRY. Also, this one and ch5 aren’t new, they’re on AO3 but I haven’t put them up here in ages... i’m also about to post ch6 and maybe 7 so there’s actually stuff to read for once!! thank you sm if you’re still reading it. it means so much to me <3

Read on AO3, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3

Setting: Future AU - canon setting, but further in the future and with my signature ‘dark with psychological trauma’ twist on it.

Pairings: Klance is the focus - mentions of Shallura

Rating: Mature - starts out reasonably tame with only mentions of past trauma, death, torture, abuse, etc. Will probably get a bit more explicit later on. Lots of swearing. Like, LOTS.

Summary: Rumours of the Paladins of Voltron jump from planet to planet. Most are good. Freedom Fighters, they’re called. Heroes. Warriors of Peace. But some are darker. Merciless killers, some say. Brainwashed child soldiers say others. Monsters. They hear them all and ignore them all. They have their own reasons for fighting. But when they’re called back to Earth, they realise just how much they’ve changed. Not entirely for the better.

“Hey, Pidge. What're you up to?”

“Yo, Keith. Just examining some new junk. What's up?”

“Can you help me with something real quick?”

“What's in it for me?”

“Blood sample.”

“Done! You know how to woo a girl, Keith. So, what can I do for you?”

“I need help finding Lance. He's hiding from me.”

“And you can't just find him via your mental link? You two are gonna have to let me run some experiments on that at some point…”

“No, he's blocked me out completely. We kind of had an argument.”

“What do you guys even fight about? It's something trivial, isn't it?”

“Yeah. A stupid tiny detail. Nothing you need to know about.”

“He says, like I don't know it's about your sex life.”

“Pidge! Fuck. You're like our baby sister; I refuse to discuss it with you.”

“Was it about who gets to top?”

“Stop. Please. This is all kinds of weird.”

“You are aware that all the Paladins are mentally linked, right? Not just you and Lance? We know when you're going at it. Fortunately, it's easy enough to throw up a wall temporarily.”

“...I am so sorry.”

“For what? Keith, we put our lives on the line every other day, I've killed and been drenched in the blood of both Galra and innocents. We share a psychic connection that means we basically can't hide our emotions from each other. I'm pretty sure knowing that you two get it on is not what destroyed the last remnants of my childhood. Get over it.”

“Yeah, okay. Fair enough. It still wasn't about that, though. It was about food. Don't even ask. It's still stupid and is near impossible to explain. It'll be over as soon as I find him.”

“Mm. Yeah, I'm looking. You guys don't actually have proper fights, do you? I mean, I'm not the most knowledgeable about healthy relationships but that's a good thing, right?”

“It is, Pidge. Honestly, it's hard to be properly mad at someone when you can hear their thoughts. It means we can't lie to each other or miscommunicate, and even if we don't necessarily agree with that the other is doing, we understand why instantly. It's… Complicated but also really simple at the same time? There's no point to fighting. We're too involved in each other’s thought process.”

“That… Actually makes a lot of sense. And, would you look at that. I've found the shithead. Just walked into the training room.”

“Thanks, Pidge. You're amazing.”

“I'm aware. I'll be demanding that sample soon enough. Go, piss off. Leave me be. I want to finish this project.”

She watched as Keith strode out the door to her workshop, her gaze relaxing into a fond expression. She really adored the boys around her. They were all family. Though she was glad she could block them out of her mind sometimes - it could get a bit overwhelming.

She turned back to the screens just in time to see Keith skid into the training bay and start yelling at Lance. She couldn’t hear what was being said but she giggled at Lance’s childish pout before he finally started yelling back, arms flailing. It was of no surprise when Keith’s patience finally snapped and he pulled Lance into a heated kiss. With a roll of her eyes and a quick tap of buttons, the screen went blank. For good measure, she locked them door on them; no one needed to walk in on that. With one last wave of love mentally pushed in their direction, she walled them off and turned back to her computer program.

Even if she was stuck in space, she couldn’t ask for better company.

Pidge smiled slightly at the memory as she watched the people she called her Space Family. She had let her mind wander while Coran set up some equipment that was supposed to act as a projector, and one of her programs worked away on her laptop. It was a good memory; one that reminded her of how strong the connections between all of them were and how deeply they now understood each other. They had come a long way.

Off to the side, she can see Hunk and Allura engaged in some conversation, faces relaxed. Shiro is sitting near them, only half listening it seems, more focused on watching Coran and keeping an eye on Lance and Keith. Said, rowdy boys were as loud as they always were, fighting each other on the ground in front of Pidge, each trying to get the upper hand. It wasn't quite serious, more like play-fighting, in the same way lion cubs practice their skills. They were still going to come out with injuries though; they didn’t play gentle. Scratches and bruises were a normal result, but they had gotten especially violent on occasion. Lance had emerged with a broken nose from one session, Keith with a knife in his leg from another. She wondered if Keith was keeping his claws in check today.

Somehow Lance managed to pin Keith’s shoulders down with his knees. He crowed in triumph and Pidge can't help but shake her head and smirk. Lance is good but Keith still trumps them all in hand to hand combat so she has a feeling Lance’s win is only because it was allowed. Now all she can see is a tuft or black hair sticking up from between Lance's bare thighs. He's wearing shorts. He's lost this round and he doesn't even know it yet.

“Pidge!” Lance is now whining at her instead. “Are you done yet? I'm bo-”

He cuts off with a yelp and Pidge snickers at him. Keith has nipped at Lance's inside thigh with his elongated canines which means that Lance is now torn between letting him up or dealing with the torture. Pidge ignores both his tone and his current predicament to answer his question.

“Just about. As soon as Coran’s set up, we should be good to go.”

“You haven't even told us what you've found.”

She raises an eyebrow at him for a moment. Lance is doing his best to shut Keith out and focus on her. He's doing a surprisingly good job, even if she can see him squirming.

“I did. You just weren't listening. I've been compiling news and things from Earth and found some information relevant to our disappearance and stuff. I put some of it into a bit of a compilation video because I figured you'd all want to know what was said about you.”

“Oh. Right. Now I remember. Cool. Is there other stuff too?” A quick intake of breath. “Keith! Can you fucking stop that? What is wrong with you?”

“So many things.” Keith's deadpan voice floated up from under Lance.

“Amen.”

“Pidge, you're not helping."

“And I'll stop if you let me the fuck up!”

They fell into bickering again, Lance accidentally letting up enough for Keith to throw him off and resume their earlier fist fight. She caught sight of Coran indicating he was ready and shot him a thumbs up in return. Shiro got the message as well and alerted the others. Pidge just laughed as Hunk came over to physically separate the arguing boys, picking them up under each arm like they were nothing and carrying them to the couches. They didn't complain, instead just going limp in his grip, knowing it was time to settle and leaning into him once they were all sitting.

Pidge stayed where she long enough to hit play and grab a remote control so she can run everyone through the information as they go. It starts up just as she claims her spot on the other side of Keith, who ruffled her hair. The picture is low quality, grainy and a bit lagging, but it doesn't matter. It's something from Earth, from home, and she can feel the heartache strumming through them all. They've missed it. She'll have to talk to Matt soon and see if he can get some form of connection where he is. He probably misses it more than her. She'd think about that later though, right now she needed to focus on the news clips playing in front of her.

“ -three cadets missing.” The news lady was saying. “Lance Diaz, Hunk Garrett, and Pidge Gunderson- ” Some information about the circumstances were rattled off and it flicked to the next video clip. Pidge glanced at Lance, watching as his eyes went wide and he leaned forward. His mother had come on the screen.

“They need to tell us what happened to our children! My baby has disappeared and they won’t tell us anything!”

There was some more ranting, and the camera zoomed out to reveal Hunk’s mother as well, nodding along to Mrs. Diaz’s words. More questions, more answers, more information about the missing cadets. The camera turned back to Lance’s mother.

“Lance, baby- and Hunk too, and Pidge- please, come home. Please let us know you’re safe, at least. And if you have taken our children, please, for the love of God, please give them back.”

Lance had crawled into Hunk’s lap, who was holding him tightly. Both of them were shaking. Keith was gripping one of Lance’s hands and had it pressed too his lips. They all knew how strong his homesickness was, and this was a painful, if necessary, experience.

The next few clips were more about Pidge. The reports about her had quickly grown to confusion as it came to light that nobody seemed to know who ‘he’ was. And then:

“-breaking news. It has been discovered that the Pidge Gunderson, one of the cadets that went missing three months ago, is actually Katherine ‘Katie’ Holt, daughter of Dr. Samuel Holt and brother of Matthew Holt, who both were lost in the Kerberus Incident along with their pilot Takashi Shirogane-”

That was the only mention of Shiro. His status as ‘missing, presumed dead’ was long since accepted. Nobody except the Garrison knew he had even been back on Earth on the same day they disappeared, and they sure as hell weren’t going to share that bit of information, no matter what else they gave up.

The various news programs played. Some of them separated by mere hours, others by weeks. Mrs. Diaz - Angela - seemed to be at the forefront of any outcry from the public, bringing together the other parents and constantly pressuring for cooperation from the Galaxy Garrison. Pidge had never met her, but she was proud of the strong woman. She was refusing to give up hope. Eventually, something seemed to shift, the news reports that had been dying out returned in force, every stations clattering for new information. A statement had been released by the Garrison. They claimed to have been investigating the matter privately, but were now cooperating with the civilian police force.

The paladins knew it was a lie. They had probably just gotten tired of the bad press. It was amusing watching them try to figure out what had happened, now nearly a year after the fact.

The next clip caused a few intakes of breath. Keith’s desert shack.

“-tracked their movements to this shack in the surrounding desert where personal items were found. Belongings of another former cadet were also found; those of Keith Kogane-” She touched on Keith’s orphan situation, but didn’t stop there. “Keith has a history of antisocial and violent behaviours, including an incident of threats against an instructor at the Galaxy Garrison while he was a cadet. This incident resulted in his expulsion. Police are now discussion the possibility of homicide with Keith as the key suspect-”

Any further accusation was cut off by a furious Lance, shouting both English and Altean obscenities at the screen. Keith simply looked amused as he pulled his boyfriend off Hunk’s lap and into his own, soothing his anger as much as possible. Pidge agreed with Lance though. The morons back on Earth had no idea who Keith was or what had actually happened to him. They had been told the story once. Suffice to say that the instructor had deserved the rough-up and should have been the one booted.

The news clips started to reflect the passing of months on Earth with no further progress in determining their whereabouts. People lost interest. Their families lost hope. They were officially declared ‘missing, presumed dead’. A service is held and televised because their story is a public interest now. Pidge cringed, reminded of the one for Matt and Dad. Remembers how angry and upset she was. Her own mother is in the shot and Pidge knows she feels the same way that her daughter did all that time ago. She probably believes Pidge now; that the Garrison was hiding something.

The information pertaining to the missing cadets peters out; they're forgotten by the world. There's mostly pictures of unrelated things now and Pidge jumps up to talk them through the information. It's simple summaries of world events and technological advances on Earth. She's trying to squeeze six years into a short report. It's hard, but she manages. The videos behind her flare to life once again, but this time they're about the Paladins of Voltron; the announcement of their existence and their plans to visit Earth. Of course, it's a big deal - proper alien contact. Won't they be disappointed when most of them are human. Pidge looks forward to watching their expressions falter.

Eventually, she runs out of information. Or really, doesn't want to continue. It's okay, she's covered all the important stuff so everyone lets her step down. Hunk hands out the communication devices he built and Pidge programmed. They're essentially phones, but very high tech and more features than you'd expect. They're also only linked to each other and heavily encrypted. Safety first. Shiro rises to give a rundown of the plan.

They will land and have initial talks with whatever dignitaries or ambassadors the world puts forward. Two or three days, nothing more. Then Allura and Shiro will stay and they can go home (Keith will accompany Lance, obviously). The earlier they go, the more time they'll probably have. It feels weird knowing they'll get to see their families, especially with the knowledge of the time gap. Pidge misses her mum, but at least she's regularly in contact with Matt these days. No one else has that.

Pidge feels a niggling in the back of her mind. It's Lance, sending vague emotions of concern and comfort down their metaphorical phone line. He's checking that she's okay. Silly Lance, always watching out for the rest of them, far too selfless for his own good. She sent back warm reassurance and he backed off, his lips twitching into a tiny smile. He was probably the most worried, she thought. Not only was he returning to a large family he had missed since the start, he was taking Keith with him. His boyfriend, partner, lover, other half. No wonder he was on edge.

Shiro finally sends them off. They've got about 12 hours to have a rest, gather what they need, and prepare themselves. Pidge isn't sure anyone will get much rest, but that's okay, they're used to that. Still, she can feel the unease thrumming through them all. She had to be strong. For them, for her mother, for Matt, for her dad's memory, for Voltron…

But they were all there to support each other through this.

She could do it. They could all do it. They had been through so much worse.

And as long as they had each other, they could do anything.

Right?

#by mia #voltron #vld fanfics #we are not monsters #WANM fic #klance #my fics #chapter 4

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