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ursae-minoris-world · 11 days

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20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @starlightvld- thank you!!! ☺️

1. How many works do you have on A03? 42! (neat!)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 140,503!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly vld. I have a Good Omens fic and always want to write more and a few fandom that I'm tempted to write for, but I'm still very much in vld.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - Breaking point (vld, sheith) ; A little mouse told me (vld, sheith); Flowers and Blood (vld, sheith); A cure to loneliness (Good Omens, ineffable husbands)

This gets long so I'm adding the rest under a read more!!

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I do! Sometimes I can take a little long but I really enjoy talking with my readers!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Just a call... (vld, gen) I think! It's an open ending, but it ends up on a frustrating note (which was the point).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh man, they almost always have a happy or at least hopeful ending. Let's go with A little mouse told me (vld, sheith).

Oh, hey, fun anecdote! Someone commented on Stay with me (vld, sheith) to tell me it was the 200,000th work in the "happy ending" tag! They had just witnessed the tag going up to that number with my fic!

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far, thankfully. (Happened once on fanart though, but it was just one dumb comment by an anti).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I haven't so far, I'm not really interested in writing it (never say never, though!).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Well, I did 2 fairly recently for a crackship event! It was loads of fun. The craziest might be A Mysterious French Chef, which started as a Hunk&Remy idea, but ended up involving Hunk, Allura and the space mice for vld, and Linguini, Colette, and Remy for Ratatouille, and everyone interacting pretty significantly. I really loved mashing the 2 universes, and for something that started as a "crack" idea, it ended up working surprisingly well!!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of. I've had some original (anonymous) poems that I cowrote with a friend plagiarized down to using our actual pseudonym, but that wasn't in fandom or even online!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Five times Shiro broke the rules, and one time Keith did with VirdisDrachen (vld, Shiro&Keith). It's based on a roleplay. Other than that, while it's mostly an artist+writer big bang collaboration, I think Square_Orange and I did discuss the plot a fair amount for Let It Snow! (vld, sheith).

I also have 2 fics that are remixes of other people's work, done for the sheith remix event : When you lived! (the “Enormous, within your small hands” remix) inspired by a fic by @annaofaza, and High Score! (the “I want us forever” remix) inspired by a fic by Tragedy_Machine.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? To no-one's surprise: sheith.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am fairly good at finishing my wips, even if I do have some stuff that has been waiting for a while. I still have my notes about Keith grieving Shiro between s2 and s3 and how the team tried to support him and each other but how things became tense, that I wrote just after s3 aired! I still hope to get to it one day!

There's also the collab with VirdisDrachen tbh because we dropped the rp after a while and I wouldn't finish this alone. So I'm afraid this one will stay as is.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm good with dialogues and characterization? Themes like friendship, found family are my jam, too. Of course it's subjective.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am learning, but action and fight scenes are *hard*. (But I also love them? haha). On the exact opposite side, stories with very low stakes are sometimes hard to write, when it's just 100% fluff and no conflict, unless it's like, a short scene... It's easier with some emotional or romantic build up (ex mutual pining > getting together) but otherwise I really have to *think* to plot the fic. I'm so used to stories centered around conflict (in the literary sense, including inner conflict, not necessarily an actual fight).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I agree with @starlightvld that if it's a language that I'm not personally fluent in, I'd look for a native speaker who might want to help or avoid it. Except maybe for conlangs, like Sindarin or Klingon. Although if I ever write in a fandom with something like that, I would f*cking love to get insight from one of these people who actually studied them and are fluent. In a more general way, I'd be cautious that it actually brings something to the story, that it makes sense to use the language that way, and to do it in a way that doesn't confuse readers too much (unless I am purposefully writing for those who know the language, I guess). I will say that I do love different languages to be aknowledged, like for vld fics that actually dig into the paladins having different languages, and the Galra and Altean also, and so on (ex fics where they have universal translators and then there are issues when they break or they can't rely on them for whatever reason).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Voltron! My first fic was a Hunk-centric gen fic, While some count sheep, and I'm still really fond of it!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh, that's hard, I like them all for different reasons. I do enjoy Carry me away for the sheith saving each other vibes. A little mouse told me (sheith written from the space mice pov) was such a fun exploration! Honestly, the most kudosed ones in question 4 are all fics I am proud of. To chose a lesser known one, I also love A special day , a vld gen Hunk-centric fic!

Tagging... @sodomhipped, @tomatocages, @an-aphorism @museaway @jacqulinetan @levyscripts @annaofaza and whoever wants to do this!

(also no pressure at all if you are tagged!)

#writing #ursae answers #memes #fanfiction #sheith #voltron #good omens #ineffable husbands #vldGen

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eastofthemoon · 2 years

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A Paladin in the Fire Nation

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Rating: PG

Series: Voltron Legendary Defender/Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: After the fight with Zarkon, Shiro accidentally gets tossed into another reality where humans have the ability to bend the elements. His best shot at returning home is with someone called the Avatar, while he waits he might as well take on the job of being the Firelord’s bodyguard.

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Aang was quiet as the group explained the current situation to him and Suki. He had a feeling something was very wrong from the letters Zuko sent him, but assassins attacking him? That was bad. He wished he had been able to come help sooner.

However, when Shiro explained where he came from Aang’s worries were put aside as excitement took over.

“YOU’RE FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE?!” Aang cried as he jumped up and almost knocked over his cup of tea. “That’s amazing! What’s it like there?! How-”

“Lower volume, Tickletoes,” Toph said as she covered her ears. “My ears are going to be ringing all day if you keep that up.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Aang said but was still shaking with glee as he looked at Shiro. This was just incredible. “What’s it like? What kind of animals are there? Can you ride these lions? Is there bending?!” He gasped. “Are there air benders there?!”

Before Shiro could answer his question Zuko and Sokka both seized Aang by his shoulders and shoved him back down.

“Calm down,” Sokka hissed. “And maybe just asking one question at a time?”

Aang blushed as he took a deep breath. “Right, okay, sorry again.” He looked at Shiro. “I just never imagined such a thing was possible.”

“Neither did I,” Shiro replied as he leaned over the table, “but I am hoping you might be able to send me home.”

Aang’s excitement died down as he pointed to himself. “Me?”

“I came here likely through the astral plane which Iroh thinks is similar to the spirit world.”

“Oh, I see,” Aang said as he grasped his chin. Yeah, that made sense. “The best way to get to our spiritual world is to meditate.”

“I have a feeling it’s going to take more than that for me,” Shiro replied with a sad smile.

Aang drummed his fingers on the table. “Well, I am the Avatar, maybe I can help give your spirit a boost?”

Suki raised a hand. “But meditating only sends your spirit to the spirit world, right”

Katara nodded in agreement. “Your physical body stays here. That isn’t exactly going to help Shiro.”

“It’s a place to start,” Shiro said as he crossed his arms. “Maybe if I’m able to get there I can at least send a message to my friends.” He blinked for a moment and chuckled. “Sounds like the Black Lion thinks so too.”

Aang frowned. “Black Lion?”

“The giant flying lion ship Shiro has a connection to. It talks to him,” Sokka said while conveying his ‘Yeah, buddy, I know it’s weird’ expression.

“Oh,” Aang said softly as he moved over to Shiro. “Close your eyes and try to clear your mind. I’m going to place my hands on your face while I meditate too. I’ll try to concentrate on my spirit to power yours.”

Aang didn’t know if this was the right method, but he couldn’t think of any other way.

Shiro did as instructed. Aang took a deep breath as he gently held Shiro’s face and breathed slowly.

It took a minute, but he felt the tug on his spirit like he always did when trying to connect to the spirit world.

Except this time he heard a roar.

Aang didn’t have a chance to ponder this difference as he felt his spirit being pulled out of his body. He was weightless and in spirit form, but when he opened his eyes Aang nothing was familiar.

It wasn’t the spirit world. It had trees, and was brimming with life, but here there was nothing except for darkness and stars.

It was strangely beautiful. It reminded Aang of dark nights when he and Appa would fly up into the night sky. Except, he wasn’t used to seeing stars below him either.

“Where am I?” Aang said aloud.

A growl came from behind. Aang froze as he sensed something very large had just appeared. He turned and gasped.

It was a lion as big as a temple with black with white markings and something looking like wings attached to its back. Aang wanted to say it was a statue built out of metal, but considering he could hear growls coming from it Aang had to assume it was indeed alive.

And probably not happy at his sudden arrival.

“Are you the Black Lion?” Aang asked. “The one connected to Shiro?”

The lion growled.

“Okay, I’ll take that as a yes,” Aang said as he clasped his hands together and bowed. “Please forgive my intrusion. I mean no harm.”

The Black Lion was silent, but Aang could feel the powerful being judging him. However, it then bowed its own head in return. Images appeared in his head of strangers, non-human like creatures, being greeted into gatherings.

Aang frowned. Were these images from the Black Lion. He carefully glanced up and saw the giant lion was awaiting a response.

“I’m welcome here?” he asked.

The lion nodded and gave a gentle growl.

“Thank you,” Aang replied with another bow. “So, should I assume I’m in the astral plane?”

The Black Lion gave a nod.

“Huh,” Aang replied as he mulled this over. “I’m not quite sure how that-”

Aang suddenly felt his spirit being pulled and before he could say goodbye to the Black Lion he was back in his own body.

Aang opened his eyes and leaned back. “Well, that was different,” he muttered.

Sokka frowned. “Why? What happened?”

Shiro gave a deep sigh. “Nothing happened. My spirit didn’t go anywhere.”

Aang gave a sheepish smile. “Yours didn’t, but I think mine went to your astral plane.”

All eyes locked onto Aang as Shiro’s eyes widened. “You’re certain.”

“Mostly,” Aang said as he rubbed his neck. “At least that’s what the Black Lion told me.”

Shiro’s jaw nearly dropped, but then paused as if he just heard something.

“Huh,” Shiro muttered softly.

“What?” Zuko asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shiro tapped his head. “Sorry, the Black Lion was just confirming what Aang said.”

Sokka tilted his head. “But this doesn’t make sense. How was Aang able to get to the astral plane, and not Shiro?”

“He is the Avatar,” Toph said.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I feel like crossing into other complete universes is pushing it even for him.”

That did bother Aang as well as he held his chin in thought. Then a thought struck him.

“Wait,” he said and looked at Shiro. “You have a spiritual connection to the Black Lion, right?

“I do,” Shiro replied.

Aang crossed his arms. “Well, since I was trying to boost your spirit to your home maybe I ended up there because I accidentally went through your connection instead.”

Shiro blinked and nodded. “That would make sense.”

“So, what now then?” Zuko asked. “How does Aang being able to get to the Astral Plane help Shiro get home?”

“I do have a question about the Lions,” Aang asked. “Do they all have a connection to the astral plane like the Black Lion?”

Shiro crossed his arms. “They do a bit, but the Black Lion has the strongest connection since that’s her element.”

Aang blinked. “Element?”

Shiro grabbed some paper and an ink brush. “Each of the Voltron lions is connected to a specific element. The Red Lion is connected to fire, the Yellow Lion is connected to Earth, the Green Lion is connected to forests, the Blue Lion is connected to water and the Black Lion’s element iis spirit.”

He lowered the brush as he held up five symbols which Aang could only assume represent the five lions.

Zuko frowned. “But these lions also combine to make this Voltron thing you mentioned before?”

Shiro nodded and an idea sparked in Aang’s head.

He excitedly leaned over the table and held his hands together. “What a second, so together you have the power of all of these elements?”

“Yes,” Shiro replied.

“But when you’re separated, each lion only has the power of the given element?” Aang asked as he pulled his hands apart.

Shiro was starting to look baffled. “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

Aang banged his hands on the table. “That’s it!” He pointed to Shiro. “You’re the Avatar!”

Baffled silence fell upon the room as Aang received several confused expressions from his friends until Suki broke the silence.

“Um, no Aang, YOU’RE the Avatar,” she said while pointing.

Aang shook his head as he waved his hand. “No, I mean, Shiro is the Avatar of his universe or at least part of it.”

Shiro frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You just said when you combine to create this Voltron, you combine all of your elements, right?” He looked around and pointed to himself. “Just like what the Avatar does.”

Aang beamed. Sure it was different but just the idea that another kind Avatar existed was oddly comforting. It made him wonder if other universes had their own Avatars.

Toph sighed. “Okay, I get that’s fascinating, but I don’t get how all of this helps Spaceman get home.”

Sokka frowned as he drummed his fingers on his knee. “No, but if Aang can get there and we know it’s a way back to Shiro’s universe, maybe Aang can deliver a message to Shiro’s friends?”

“Maybe,” Katara said as she grasped her chin as she turned to Shiro, “but you just said none of the other lions have as strong of connection to the astral plane like you and the Black Lion right?”

Shiro sighed as he shut his eyes. “No, it’s just me, but maybe Princess Allura-”

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he gasped. “Wait, no, Keith might!”

“Keith?” Aang asked.

“He’s the Red Paladin,” Shiro quickly explained. “He was able to pilot the Black Lion once in order to save me.” His eyes softened. “And I told him that if anything were to happen to me, I wanted her to take over as leader and fly her.”

Zuko lowered his arms. “Do you think he did that by now?”

Shiro ran a hand through his hair. “I’m honestly not sure. I know he wouldn’t want to give up hope on me coming back, but there’s no Voltron unless someone is piloting her.”

“Hold up,” Sokka said as he raised his hand. “Correct me if I did the math wrong here, but you said there were only five of you paladins guys, right?” He counted on his fingers. “If he flies the Black Lion, who flies the Red Lion?”

“I have wondered that too,” Shiro said. “I guess they probably tried to see if Princess Allura could pilot it.”

Aang frowned. “In any case, do you think I would be able to get a message to Keith if the Black Lion were able to get him into the astral plane?”

Shiro stroked his chin as he shut his eyes. After a moment, he gave a slow nod.

“Black seems confident we could be able to do that.”

“Great,” Aang exclaimed but then crossed his arms. “With that said, I feel better if we practiced a bit more of me entering the astral plane. I wasn’t able to stay there very long just now and it would be a waste if I wasn’t able to deliver the full message.”

“Agreed,” Shiro replied and sighed.

Aang frowned as Momo climbed his shoulder. He could only imagine how anxious Shiro felt. If Aang was in his shoes he would be dying to at least tell his friends he was okay.

He then thought of something and quickly reached into his pocket.

“Hey, Shiro, want to see a trick?” he asked.

Shiro blinked. “A trick?”

Sokka groaned like Aang expected. “No, I don’t think Shiro needs to see-”

Aang reached across the table with his hands and showed him the ball in his hands.

“Watch this,” Aang cried as he cast air and gleefully watched the small balls twirled around in the air in his hands.

“TA DA!” Aang declared.

Shiro blinked dumbly while Aang grinned brightly at him. Beside, Aang heard Katara and Suki giggled while Zuko and Sokka both groaned as he expected them to.

Toph was the one that sighed.

“Wow, Twinkletoes, NEVER seen that before,” she remarked darkly.

Toph’s comment seemed to break Shiro’s out of this stupor and he started to laugh.

“That’s a nice trick, Aang,” he commented. “Thanks.”

Aang grinned as he handed the balls for Momo to play with. “Let’s start practicing meditation tomorrow. I’m sure it won’t take long.”

Shiro still looked a little anxious, but his smile did seem a bit brighter than before.

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Shiro had been worried about how long it would take for Aang to master entering the astral plane, however after a few days, the Avatar was proven right. With each practice, Aang was able to enter and remain in the astral plane longer and longer each time.

Shiro wished they had made as much progress locating Valrom’s group. Sokka had marked some names off from the list, but it was still taking time. There wasn’t much else they could do until Valrom made a move, and that didn’t sit well with Shiro.

After a week, Aang declared themselves ready.

“I should be able to stay long enough to tell Keith what’s going on,” he stated.

Zuko frowned. “So, what are you going to tell him?”

Aang laughed. “Well, I’ll just explain-”

“No, I mean to get him to believe you,” Zuko said and turned to Shiro. “Keith has never met Aang and if it was me, I’d want proof he was telling me the truth.”

Shiro grasped his chin in thought. “Yeah, Keith’s the same way.” He shut his eyes briefly until a thought came. “Tell Keith that when he and I get back to Earth we should go cliff jumping on our cycles again.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “Cycles?”

“It’s a kind of vehicle back home,” Shiro explained. “Keith will know what it means.”

“Okay,” Suki said from her seat next to Katara and Toph. “Question is when should you do it?”

Shiro was about to speak, but a growl in his head caused him to go silent.

Tonight, tonight, the Black Lion echoed in his head.

“Tonight,” Shiro said.

Katara frowned. “Why tonight? Aang could try it now.”

“The Black Lion is saying tonight would be better,” Shiro said. “I’m willing to bet it’s better to trust her judgement on this.”

Aang nodded. “Tonight then.”

Katara frowned as she turned to Shiro. “Are you certain Keith is going to be there though?”

“Black will make certain,” Shiro replied. “She can be stubborn when she wants to be.”

Shiro just hoped Keith would be willing to listen. --------------------------------------------------------

Far away, in another universe, Keith was in his bed asleep….or at least trying to sleep.

He kept his eyes shut and hugged his pillow, but just when sleep was about to claim him the Black Lion growled in his head.

After the fourth time this happened, Keith snarled and buried his head under his pillow as if it would muffle out the noise.

“Go. Away,” he grumbled.

The Black Lion growled again, although she sounded a bit more annoyed this time.

Keith sighed. It was times like these he missed piloting the Red Lion. They had a strong connection and it was often easy to understand what Red wanted. It was harder with Black and Keith knew it was his fault.

Allura had gently been urging him to strengthen his connection with the Black Lion. The stronger the bond, the better they could communicate, but Keith just couldn’t.

He was meant to be a placeholder. If Keith tried harder to bond with the Black Lion that would mean admitting Shiro was truly gone. He refused to accept that.

To the Black Lion’s credit, she had been respectful of Keith’s decision and hadn’t pestered unless he was piloting her.

At least she had until tonight.

The Black Lion growled again, and this time Keith swore he could feel paws poking his body.

Keith cursed as he flung off the blanket and ran a hand through his hair.

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” he muttered. “What do you want?”

Growl….come…growl…important.

Keith raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue as he slipped on his pair of shoes and headed to the hanger.

Keith stared silently at the Black Lion. He had a brief thought of just going back to bed, but he knew the growls in his head wouldn’t stop.

“Now what?” Keith asked aloud.

The Black Lion’s eyes glowed and lowered her head at Keith.

Keith frowned and slowly entered the Black Lion and sat in his-No, Shiro’s seat.

“I’m here,” Keith said aloud. “And I’m just going to say I doubt Allura would be happy if we went for a midnight joyride.”

If the Black Lion found the comment funny, it didn’t show it and the control panel glowed.

Trust…me.

Keith’s hands tightened into fists. This was frustrating. Part of Keith just wanted to go to the Red Lion and asked if she understood what the Black Lion wanted, but she was Lance’s lion currently. It wouldn’t be fair to Lance, and besides he could feel a tingle at the back of his mind that Red was just as baffled as Keith about this whole thing.

What was this about? The Black Lion hadn’t really been this pushy until now. Was it giving up on Shiro coming back too?

The Black Lion gave a gentle purr to reassure Keith. Trust me.

Keith sighed. “This is really important?”

The Black Lion growled.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Keith sighed and swallowed as he places his hands on the controls.

“Okay, I trust you,” Keith said.

The controls glowed.

Keith felt something tug, but he wasn’t sure where.

“What?”

Trust me, Black repeated.

Keith took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

The tug came and for a moment he felt like he was falling, but when he opened his eyes. He was floating. He wasn’t inside the Black Lion anymore. She was now standing in front of Keith. Except for her, there was nothing else. Just an ocean of stars. It was like he was floating in space, but Keith could breath.

Keith glanced around in confusion, but then a memory twigged in his brain.

“Is this the astral plane?” Keith said aloud.

The Black Lion growled a “Yes” in his head.

“Okay,” Keith said slowly, as he recalled Shiro telling him about this place “but why am I here-”

“Hi!”

Keith yelped and spun around.

The new voice had come from a human boy or at least he seemed human. The robes he wore looked like from a culture he wasn’t familiar with, but the blue arrow tattoos that were on his head and arms were the most striking.

The boy gave a nervous smile and waved again. “Are you Keith? I’m really hoping you’re Keith.”

Keith raised an eyebrow as he lowered his hands. He didn’t seem like he was a threat, at least not yet.

“Um...yeah, I am,” he said. “What’s it to you?”

The boy’s eyes widened and suddenly he cheered as spun around. “Yes! It worked!”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Who are you and what do you want?”

The boy paused, blushed and laughed as he rubbed his neck. “Sorry about that, my name’s Aang and I’m a friend.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “A friend?”

Aang nodded as his eyes hardened as he placed a hand over his chest. “I have a message from Shiro.”

“Shiro?!” Keith cried as he ran up to Aang, almost startling the boy. “Y-you know where he is?!”

Aang nodded. “The Black Lion accidentally sent him to my universe during your fight with Zarkon.”

Keith’s jaw dropped. Another universe?! That would explain why they couldn’t find him despite the Black Lion’s connection to him.

Then a thought came and Keith’s suspicion came back. “Why are you here instead of him?”

Aang winced as he crossed his arms. “That would take a long time to explain, but the short version is that Shiro is too far away from the Black Lion to make it here.” He pointed to himself. “In my universe I’m the Avatar so I have a more natural connection to the spirits. So I was able to use his connection to the Black Lion to get here.”

Keith frowned as he mulled this over. “And that’s why the Black Lion brought me here?”

“Exactly,” Aang said as he clapped his hands. “I want to send Shiro home, but I don’t know how to do that, so he was hoping you and the rest of Voltron would be able to.”

Keith chewed his bottom lip. He wanted to believe it. It would explain everything and the best part was that it meant Shiro was alive, and yet…

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Keith asked. “For all I know this is some kind of trick.”

Aang blinked and snapped his fingers. “Right, Shiro said you would probably say that.” He cleared his throat. “He told me that when you two get back to Earth he wants to go cliff jumping on your cycles again.” He frowned puzzled as he rubbed his neck. “Although, not quite sure what that means.”

Keith froze and his eyes softened. His memories drifted back to when Shiro taught him how to drive off the cliff. How they both laughed their heads after the first Keith managed finally got it right.

“I do,” he muttered and looked at Aang. “Shiro’s okay? He’s not hurt?”

Aang gave a reassuring smile as he patted Keith’s shoulder. “He’s safe,” he said. “Don’t worry, my friends and I have been taking good care of him.”

Keith gave a sigh of relief. Shiro was alive. He was okay.

Suddenly, Aang flinched. “Uh oh,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

Aang sighed. “Sorry, I can feel the connection slipping. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay much longer.”

A million questions ran through Keith’s head. He wanted to know more about how Shiro had been doing, but he shoved them aside. Now wasn’t the time for it.

“Gotcha,” Keith said. “Tell Shiro not to worry. We’ll find a way to get him home.”

Aang nodded as he started to fade. “I will. Hope to talk to you again soon.”

Keith nodded and another thought crossed his mind. “Wait, Aang!”

Aang looked up. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Keith said quietly.

Aang smiled and gave a bow as he faded. Second later, Ketih felt his spirit leave the astral plane and found himself back in the Black Lion.

Keith didn’t waste a second. With his heart racing, he dashed out of the Black Lion and ran into the hall.

Shiro’s alive! Shiro’s Alive! Shiro’s-

He collided into someone and knocked over. Keith broke out of his stupor as he clued in that Coran was groaning on the floor.

“Sorry,” Keith replied sheepishly as he knelt to help him up.

Coran rubbed his neck as he offered a smile. “I’m quite alright, it takes more than a knock on the noggin to get me.”

“Why are you up?” Keith asked.

Coran dusted himself off. “Couldn’t sleep, so was going for a drink when I saw on the monitors you were in the hangar. I had to check if you were alright-” He then blinked and pointed to Keith’s face. “Are you alright? You seem a bit shaken.”

Keith gave a manic grin as he excitedly shook Coran’s shoulder. “I need you to help wake up the others.”

Coran’s eyes widened. “What for? Are we under attack?”

“No,” Keith said as he let him go. “I know where Shiro is.”

Coran’s jaw dropped and wasn’t able to question further as Keith went to awake Allura. This couldn’t wait until morning. They were going to bring Shiro home.

#a paladin in the fire nation #atla #takashi shirogane #vldgen #vld

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lilacpessimism · 2 years

Text

Chapter 10 is here! I hope you enjoy!

Rating: Teen and up

Fandom: Voltron

Fic Summary: His mother, with her lovely lilac wings, had been in love with the sky. She loved the stars so much that when she left, Keith knew that she had disappeared to dance among them.

His father had been in love with flight. The wind whipping against his cheeks. The speed. The adrenaline. He left before Keith was ready to be alone.

Keith was in love with both. The sky. Flight. But he could never have either. (Or, the Wingfic where, for once, Lance isn’t the wingless one)

TW for this chapter: Brief mentions of blood and injury

Chapter Preview:

Despite Keith’s hopes, however, there was little change the following morning.

When he arrived in the kitchen for the pre-mission meal that had become mandatory after a time when Pidge had forgotten breakfast and fainted during diplomatic talks, Hunk had hardly glanced his way. Though not entirely uncommon—there were days where the Yellow Paladin was slower to smiles as a result of fatigue, or homesickness, or lingering ailment—Hunk’s lack of attention towards him was unusual. Even when he was sick, he typically still offered a small nod in greeting to anyone who walked through the door or a gentle enjoy when he passed them their plate.

Today, though, he handed Keith his breakfast without meeting his eyes, drawing his hand away from the plate the moment Keith touched it—quickly, as though he’d been burned...

#voltron #vld #keith kogane #wingfic #vldgen #fic: Blackbird #hunk garrett #lance mcclain

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justheretobreakthings · 2 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Curtis/Shiro (mentioned), Allura/Lance (mentioned) Characters: Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Aromantic Asexual Keith (Voltron), Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Weddings, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Pidge | Katie Holt is a Good Friend, Dancing, Friendship, Fluff, Fighting Amatonormativity with Friends, Cake Summary:

Sure, Keith is aroace. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to have a wedding of his own someday.

A piece written for the AroAce Pilot Zine.

#aroace keith #keith #vld fic #vldgen #voltron fic #aroace pilot zine #my writing #fic: wedding plans

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wicoppi · 3 years

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what do you head canon as the origins for the blade of marmora ? like all of the lore n stuff. im curious to know your thoughts on all of this :)

In s7 with Macidus, Krolia has some very interesting lines circling around safe houses and old secret communication codes that make me think she and Kolivan are founding members or, at most, second generation leadership. I tend towards them being og because with Keith taking over after them it ties in thematically with other leadership transitions in the show.

In s2, there’s a line from Ulaz while introducing the Blade of Marmora about how their members are Galra who became disillusioned with the empire. Meaning they were at some point on board with Zarkon and his expansion.. probably before the casual, regular decimation of planets- something we know Zarkon started doing early on based on Lotor’s story about colonizing a planet in the name of the Galra Empire.

And in s3 during Lotor’s introduction scene Throk says, “We’ve fought be Zarkon’s side forever, and now we are passed over by this exiled brat.” So 1. Lotor, who is approx. 10,000 years old, is relatively young compared to Throk and most high ranking officers and 2. said officers have been doing Zarkon’s work for a long,, long time.. since before Lotor.. since before the rift. Hell, when Honerva jumps realities + back in time to young!Lotor and Zarkon, we see a version of Sendak that supports this. I.e. many of the key Galra we encounter are old, older than this war. And served under Zarkon at some point.

These are the main points that lead me to believe the Blade of Marmora is not that old relative to the Galra Empire or even Zarkon’s reign.

Furthermore, it is interesting that one of the first planets conquered by the Galra Empire, Planet Feyiv, home to the Kral Zera, is shown as kept intact (read: not decimated) and sparse of intelligent life-forms. It reminds me of sayings like “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and “Evil isn’t born, it’s made.”

There’s hints across canon and specifically within Coran’s story about the paladins of old that leads me to believe both Alteans and the Galra were spreading their culture before the destruction of Daibazaal, but after Alfor tried to destroy the rift, the Galra had to be more earnest in their conquest because they needed a new home.

So what’s likely is that as the Galra Empire rose from the ashes and grew beyond expectations and various acceptable limits, blade!Galra hit epiphany moments where they realized how unsustainable Zarkon’s methods/actions were, gained perspective, and felt a call to action to correct things.

And it’s unlikely these epiphanies happened at the same time. What are the chances scores of Galra just woke up one day and said “this must stop” and all set out to find each other?

So for headcanons, I see the Blade of Marmora as having formed quite organically and informally before finally accumulating enough members and independence to pull together in person and establish protocols, bases, chain of command, bitchin’ uniforms, etc.

Going more into personal headcanons:

I would wager the BoM started more as a “we need to course correct” movement before hitting the “oh. oh, no. we gotta stop this shit full tilt” realization and forming a proper organization.

Galra, as a species, are opportunistic as fuck. It’s not unique to empire-loyal, “evil” Galra. Lotor didn’t get all that shit from Honerva. Kolivan and other Galra probably started out as individuals lying in wait, gathering information, maybe making small sabotages, and keeping their ears open for others sympathetic to stopping the empire for the good of the universe (as opposed to Galra who were interested in sabotage in the name of taking control for themselves.)

Basically, there have always been mutinous, self-serving, power-hungry Galra who did not agree with Zarkon’s version of the Galra Empire and felt they could do it better. Just look at how they all behaved at the Kral Zera ffs.

But Zarkon had the respect, fear, and/or admiration of his people despite being a HIGHLY liberal Galra: in the early days he worked with rather than over non-Galra, he allowed Alteans onto Daibazaal and gave them a foothold to do dumbass science on what was destroying their planet. He married a non-Galra for crying out loud.

But Zarkon also ended an endless war that spanned generations (think about how long Galra live), he made peace with their planetary system, he unlocked the secrets of Altean technology in order to advance Galra tech faster than they could have on their own. Zarkon kept his people alive, carved them out home in the universe, lifted and expanded their empire at a time when they were at their lowest. Under Zarkon, the Galra Empire not only survived, but thrived.

Of course his people, blade!Galra included, would learn to look past Zarkon’s liberal oddities, his murderous tendencies, would make him the exception to their prejudices while shaming half-breeds, would find ways to justify his imperialism.

And speaking of half-breeds, let’s talk about a part of the Blade of Marmora’s foundation: recruiting. Yes, the Galra love the fuck out of their pure-bloods. And the BoM had to be in keeping with that culture if they wanted to successfully infiltrate the highest parts of the command chain (see: Thace, Krolia). But Keith is also brought into the mix. Goes on missions with Regris who has a prehensile tail. Kolivan’s right-hand man, Antok, is of atypical, stocky build also with a tail. Clearly the blades did a lot of recruiting within marginalized Galra communities.

Back to origins, I can see a story where the original gambit was to identify the Galra who agreed the empire could be doing things better than straight up destroying planets, enslaving populations, casually committing genocide.. and started spreading doubt and raising concerns through Zarkon’s ranks, found the ones close to Zarkon who could try to sway him with reason. Only for that mission to end with Zarkon condemning those advisors and Haggar creating her first robeasts out of them. Leaving Kolivan, Krolia, and crew to firmly break away and formally gather, creating the Blade of Marmora.

Ultimately, I kind of like that the Blade of Marmora remains shrouded in mystery; it lends to their aesthetic. But I also crave their backstory, even if it were just a comic series or whatever. I want to know who/what “Marmora” was to the Galra; that name has to be tied up in symbolism in a similar manner as “vrepit sa” and “palen bo.” I want to know how Kolivan and Krolia met. See interactions between Krolia, Ulaz, and Thace. How did the BoM operate before they found Slav? How did Kolivan become their leader? What did he do to earn that respect over others? If the empire values strength (Victory or Death) and that’s how they choose their leaders, what does Kolivan know (Knowledge or Death) that put him in the top echelon?

#blade of marmora #bom #galra #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #oh sweet anon thank you for encouraging me to bring my ramblings back on main #i really do have a lot of feelings about the bom #i thought this resonse was going to be just a few paragraph #there's like.. 5 meta that could spin off from this #krolia #kolivan #go loose coppi #vld.schematics #vld.hc #vldgen

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gentronlegendaryfriendships · 4 years

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We all love our Voltron family, and sometimes we wish they had more opportunity to show that love to each other. That is, friend and family love. In a fandom full of romance and ships, these beautiful platonic relationships all too often end up lost in the crowd.

It is for that reason that we bring to you Gentron Week! For seven eight days, we’ll be celebrating everybody’s favorite space dorks with solely platonic fics and art! This event is dedicated to friendship, family, teammates, rivals, and any other platonic relationship you can fathom!

The event will run from August 3rd to August 10th, 2020, and each day will feature two optional prompts for writers and artists to work with:

August 3rd: Cuddle Pile | Literal Sleeping Together

August 4th: Wings AU | Adopting a Pet Together

August 5th: Telepathic Bond | Crying in Front of the Other

August 6th: Meeting the Family | Cultural Exchange

August 7th: Fairy Tales/Fantasy | Protecting the Other’s Honor

August 8th: Taking the Hit for the Other | Injury Aftercare

August 9th: Beach Day | Road Trip

August 10th: FREE DAY

We are super excited for chance to spread some platonic love throughout the Voltron fandom, and we hope you are too! We cannot wait to see what this community can create!

~ Main Blog ~ Ask Page ~ Rules ~ Event Tag ~

#vld event #vld events #voltron event #voltron events #vldgen

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indigo-altean · 4 years

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«Coran, what are we going to do? If we hit the end of the tunnel again, you’ll cease to exist … I’m sorry. You were like a second father to me»

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vldedit #voltronedit #allura #coran #baby coran #vldgen #vld season 2 #my edits #I'm very proud of it!#vld scenes #favourite moments #the feels

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noromojustkeith · 4 years

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An Update on the Fic Masterlist:

So, recently, due to the large number of fics on the Keith Fic Masterlist, I had expand the masterlist from 4 pages to 5 pages. You can see how they’ve been divided up on the master page here.

I was working on making the changes yesterday, but sadly, at some point during the process, page 5 (previously page 4) of the masterlist, which contained all of the fics from Sn-Z in the alphabetical listing, disappeared.

I have tried everything I can to recover the deleted page, but had no luck. So, basically, about a quarter of the archiving work I’ve done over the last few years has just up and vanished without a trace.

It’s definitely frustrating as all get out, and I’ve had myself a good cry about it, of course, but, all that’s left to do now is to try to redo as much as I can.

I’ll be looking through the fic tag on this blog to try and recover as many gen Keith fics with titles from Sn-Z as possible, but of course the fics featured in the tag are only a fraction of the total fics that had been included on the masterlist.

If any of you have written or read any gen Keith fics whose titles start with Sn through Z (or are untitled), to be included on the masterlist, please do not hesitate to send me links to the lost fics.

As this is a lot of work lost, it’s going to take me a very long time to replenish this page of the masterlist, and I doubt I’ll even be able to recover half of the fics that had been featured, since it had consisted of about two and a half years’ worth of searching for fics, but I’m going to do what I can.

It is definitely going to be a long and slow process, so I thank you in advance for your patience while I work to recover what I can.

Edit: Update on the update!

Looks like the work was recover-able after all! A huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge thank you to @potato-and-portal for helping me find a cached copy of the page code that had gone missing; I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever felt so relieved!

#vldgen #vld keith #keith kogane #keith #keith (voltron)

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arkadraws-moved · 4 years

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We Sought A Better Place

Relationship: Gen Keith & Kolivan Rating: G Verse: We Are Wanderers

Warning: N/A

read on ao3 ⭐ buy me a coffee?

–

Excerpt

When Keith was fifteen years old, he learned about a lot of things. Like the fact that there was life beyond Earth, or that there was an alien species called the Galra currently occupying most of the Known Universe — that his mother was one of them, making him Half-Galra.

#vldgen #keith #kolivan #dads of marmora #galra keith #arkawrites #wsabp #wandererverse

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zolanort · 2 years

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@sunshine-hime behold!

(redraw of this post)

#I’m not funny this was all sunshine-hime #twitter quotes #vld shitpost #edit/redraw #vldgen #voltron #vld lance #vld keith #vld #keith kogane #lance mcclain

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ursae-minoris-world · 5 months

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I have your back

vld gen: Keith & Lance | G | Chapters 1/1 | 1.8k words

While they are still searching for Shiro, the Paladins are learning to work as a team with Keith in the lead. After a mission, Lance has something to tell Keith.

A big thank you to Ahria for the graphic illustrating this fic!

Also, check out the lovely playlist @museaway and team fluff created for this fic!

This was created for @ficwip's multifandom match: angst vs. fluff!

Promote this fic on:

pillowfort | bluesky | twitter | read it on AO3

#multifandommatch #mfmteamfluff #Keith #Lance #VldGen #Keith & Lance #Voltron team #fanfiction #Voltron #my fics #my stuff

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rueitae · 4 years

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Rating: T

Gen

Warnings: graphic depictions of violence

Summary: Sendak has captured the Green Paladin after a stroke of luck. Taking advantage of the situation he moves to bring her back to the Empire and regain his command. Pidge is not taking this quietly.

#vld fanfic #voltron legendary defender #vldgen #pidge #sendak #rueitae #after 84 years #heres chapter three if anyone is still interested #feels good to get it off my chest

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eastofthemoon · 3 years

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A Paladin in the Fire Nation

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Rating: PG

Series: Voltron Legendary Defender/Avatar the Last Airbender

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Zuko was silent as Shiro told them his story. He tried to keep an open mind these days and being close friends with the Avatar had caused Zuko to experience very strange things.

However, Zuko did have limits and Shiro’s tale was pushing them to the extreme.

“So you’re from another universe,” Sokka said slowly. “Where you go into space inside ships in the shape of lions, who are sentient and can become on a giant ship shaped like a person called Voltron, and fight an empire run by beings called Garlic.”

“Galra,” Shiro had corrected as Iroh poured himself another cup of tea, “but yes.”

“And you got here because your lion accidentally sent you here while you were fighting the emperor,” Toph added.

“Correct,” Shiro confirmed.

Toph and Sokka turned their faces to Zuko, likely waiting for his reaction. Zuko took a deep breath. “That is an..interesting tale.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as Zuko stood and tucked his hands into his robes. “Toph, Sokka, may I speak with you in private for a moment?”

“You can use my bedroom and shut the door,” his uncle offered and by the sound of his tone had been expecting it.

“Thank you, Uncle, we’ll just be a moment,” Zuko said briskly.

Toph and Sokka followed close behind while Zuko was being very careful to not say a word until they were all inside and he shut the door.

“I’ll be the first to say it,” Zuko said as he turned to his friends, “he is insane, right?”

Much to his shock, neither of them instantly agreed. Instead, Toph was silent and Sokka waved a hand back and forth.

“Ehhhh, maybe but my gut is telling me no,” Sokka replied.

“You’re kidding,” Zuko said in disbelief. “Did you hear what he said? There’s no way for it to be true.”

“But that’s the thing,” Sokka said as he paced. “Look, a real criminal would probably try to come up with a reasonable explanation. Why would Shiro tell us that story unless it is the truth?”

“You’re saying it’s so crazy it has to be true?” Zuko asked.

“Exactly,” Sokka said with a nod. “Why even bother with telling us about giant lion ships if he assumed we wouldn’t believe it.”

“I’m with Sokka,” Toph said. “I monitored the guy’s heart during the whole time he talked, he’s not lying.”

“He could be good at lying,” Zuko argued. “You told me Azula is able to pass it.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “You honestly believe that Shiro guy is at Azula level of lying?”

Zuko opened and shut his mouth. He hadn’t even known Shiro for a day, but he had seemed confused by the interrogation earlier. It was possible the man was a very good actor, but still…

“It would also explain why his armor is so odd,” Sokka added, “and his arm too. Not even Teo and his dad have designs that advanced.”

“Plus, Iroh is taking him seriously,” Toph added. “That should say something too.”

Sokka touched Zuko’s shoulder. “Be honest, what do you feel in your gut about Shiro?”

Zuko shut his eyes. “My common sense is saying he’s delusional,” he sighed, “but my gut says he’s telling the truth.”

“So we are all in agreement then,” said Toph with a shrug. “Now what?”

“How about we start by telling Shiro we believe him?” Sokka offered.

Zuko nodded as he turned around and led them back. Iroh was pouring another cup of tea while Shiro watched them come back with concern in his eyes.

“We believe you,” Zuko stated and sighed. “Although a large part of me is calling me crazy for doing so.”

“I don’t blame you,” Shiro said with a nervous chuckle. “I would have a hard time in your position.”

“So then spaceman,” Toph said as she sat next to him, “how do you think you can get back home?”

“Yeah, if this Black Lion sent you here by accident can she just take care of it,” Sokka said as he and Zuko took their seats.

“I wish it were that easy,” Shiro said, “but I’m too far away for her to help even though I can still hear her.”

Zuko froze as he tilted his head. “You can..hear her?”

“In my head,” Shiro said as he tapped forehead. “We paladins form a connection with our lions and it allows us to communicate them with our minds.”

“I see,” Zuko said, trying to keep his voice calm while he felt his common sense glaring at him. What have I gotten myself into?

“Right, okay,” said Sokka who also sounded unsure as he crossed his arms. “Only person I can think of to help you is Aang.”

“That is what I was suggesting when you three entered,” Iroh said as he sipped his tea. “Since it sounds like at least some form of the Spirit World is parly how you came to be here.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call the Astral Plane a spirit world,” Shiro replied as he rubbed his neck, “but I can’t deny it isn’t that either.”

It certainly felt like a place where spirits could dwell.

Toph sucked the air between her teeth. “Yeah, well, you’re going to have to wait awhile since Aang is dealing with settling some disputes over in the Earth Kingdom.”

Zuko sighed but nodded. Some of the towns had been former Fire Nation colonies that had been given back, but the previous Lord it had belonged to had died and so his twin sons were currently arguing on who the towns now belonged to.

“He is supposed to come straight here when he’s finished,” Zuko replied firmly, “but it’s hard to tell how long as it takes.”

“I see,” Shiro said with a sigh. “If you can recommend where I can stay I would greatly appreciate it.” His frown tightened. “Also possibly where I can make some money since I have nothing to pay-”

“No need for either since you’ll stay here as our guest,” Iroh said.

Zuko choked slightly as he shot his uncle a look. We barely know him and you want him to stay in the palace?

Iroh slightly glanced at Zuko before sipping his tea. “Given your circumstance, I’m sure our GENEROUS Firelord would be more than happy to accommodate you until we can figure out how to get you home.”

Zuko twitched an eye and wanted to argue, but Sokka grabbed his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

“I get your concern, but it’s probably better if he stays here since I doubt we want a ton of people finding out we got a person from another world just dropped into our laps,” Sokka muttered.

Zuko frowned, but gave a slow nod. A lot of people would dismiss it, but there were a few that would probably try to use it to their advantage and there were a few former FIre Nation nobles he rather kept that information away from.

“Alright,” Zuko said as he tucked his hands into his sleeves, “although we’ll have to think of an explanation as to why I’m suddenly treating the intruder as a guest.”

“Just say it was a prank I pulled that went wrong,” Toph said with a shrug.

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “You expect the guards to believe that a mysterious intruder was all just a prank pulled by you?”

Zuko narrowed his eyes before sighing and massaging his forehead. “After the Badgermole and Groundpecker incident, they would.”

Shiro blinked. “The what?”

Sokka sighed. “Don’t ask, trust me.”

Zuko nodded in agreement.

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

Once Zuko had announced Shiro was a guest, he and Sokka escorted Shiro to a guest chamber. It wasn’t nearly as big as Iroh’s room, but Shiro was just grateful to not have to return to his cell.

The rest of the day passed by rather quickly. Iroh told Shiro he would get him some more clothes in the meantime, and Zuko had his armour returned to Shiro. He assumed it was a lost cause, but Shiro attempted to see if he could contact the paladins through his helmet. Much to his chagrin, all he heard was static.

It was killing Shiro to not be there with his team. They were probably all worried if he was dead, Keith especially. Shiro hated that he was putting him through this again, but it wasn’t as if he had a choice.

He briefly wondered if the Black Lion could just send a message that he was still alive, but Keith’s connection with the Black Lion wasn’t deep enough for that yet. Which meant, all Shiro could do was wait and hope this Avatar would be able to get him home.

Shiro tried not to dwell on this as he ate dinner. Zuko and Iroh had other duties to attend to, but Sokka and Toph joined him. They were energetic, but they seemed to be good kids. Truth be told, Sokka reminded him a lot of Lance, and he wasn’t sure if the two met if they would get along or butt heads as a result.

Shiro didn’t stay with them long. He was exhausted both from the day, and it hadn’t even been a full 24 hours since his life or death battle with Zarkon. So, Shiro went to bed early.

It hadn’t taken long for him to sleep, and it would have been restful if not for the nightmare.

Shiro was back at the Castle of Lion. He wasn’t sure how, but it was wrong.

The lights were off and everywhere there was nothing except darkness.

And no sign of any of his friends.

Shiro ran through the halls. “KEITH! PIDGE! ALLURA!”

He called out but no one responded.

“HUNK! LANCE! CORAN!” Shiro ran through the endless hall. “ SOMEONE ANSWER ME!”

He reached the control room and barged inside.

Shiro froze.

Allura, Coran, and all of the paladins lay motionless on the ground.

The only one who was standing was Zarkon as he wiped the blood off his sword.

“You took too long to come home, Paladin,” Zarkon scoffed as he slowly approached.

Shiro told his feet to run, but they remained planted. His body wouldn’t move.

“Your friends are dead because of you,” Zarkon continued as he raised his sword. “Now you shall share their fate.”

The sword lowered for his head.

Shiro gasped for air as he sprang up in his bed. Sweat dripped off his forehead as Shiro felt his heart pounding in his chest.

“Just a dream,” he muttered to himself. “Just a dream. They’re alright.”

For now, he thought darkly. But they could get killed tomorrow while you're stuck here all nice and safe.

Shiro grip tight on his bed sheets. Once he felt his heart calm down, he scrubbed his hand over his face.

“No way I’m going back to sleep,” he muttered.

If he was back at the castle, he would do some reading or go to the training room for practice. Shiro sighed as he tossed off the sheets.

I’ll go for a walk, Shiro thought. Maybe I can find a quiet place to do some training exercises.

He threw on some clothes and went out into the hall. Shiro headed towards the gardens. Iroh had said he would be free to go there and it seemed the most likely place where Shiro could be alone. He couldn’t see anyone being there this early.

The sun was just starting to rise as Shiro ventured outside. He didn’t see anyone in the garden, except for the ducks in the pond.

At least Shiro thought they were ducks.

The creatures certainly had heads and bodies of ducks, but upon closer inspection they seemed to have turtle shells on their backs.

“Turtle ducks?” Shiro muttered as he kneeled.

A small turtle duck glanced up curiously at him and quacked.

“You are actually not the weirdest creature I’ve ever seen,” Shiro admitted.

The turtle duck tilted it’s head, and then quacked once more before swimming away.

“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” Shiro said with a grin.

“What are you doing here?”

Shiro jumped slightly, and rose back up as he turned around to see Zuko.

He looked different. Zuko’s hair was loose and not as neatly tied up like earlier, and he seemed to be wearing more casual robes.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Shiro said as he rubbed his neck. “I couldn’t get back to sleep and was looking for a place to train.” He then gave a frown. “Why are you up so early?”

Zuko’s eyes narrowed. “I am a firebender, and thus the optimal time to train is when the sun rises.”

“QUACK!”

Zuko froze.

Shiro glanced downward.

A small turtle duck quacked again before using its beak to tug on Zuko’s pant leg. It was only then Shiro noticed a small piece of bread in the Firelord’s hand.

Zuko sighed as he kneeled and tore off a piece of the bread.

“It..is also the best time to feed the turtle ducks,” Zuko muttered while blushing.

Another quack was heard when the turtle duck snatched the bread, gobbled it up and spirited towards the pond.

“I see,” Shiro said as he did his best to repress a smile, but couldn’t resist a small chuckle.

Zuko glared. “You find this funny do you?”

Shiro shook. “No, no, sorry,” he said quickly. “It’s just you look like my friend Keith when I caught him feeding some squirrels.”

He thought back to it. It had been Keith’s birthday, and Shiro had taken him into town to celebrate. They had ended up wandering into a park. Shiro had gone to get them some ice cream, only to discover Keith had been tossing some peanuts towards a squirrel.

Shiro may have quietly taken a photo on his phone before Keith realized he had been caught and blushed bright red.

Zuko frowned in response. “You mean rabbit squirrels?”

Shiro’s chuckles paused as he tilted his head. “Um..no squirrels.”

Zuko raised an eyebrow as the turtle duck finished the rest of the bread. “Your world must be very weird.”

Shiro held up his hands. “Look, I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I’ll just leave.”

Zuko tossed the rest of the bread to a nearby duck and dusted the crumbs off his hands.

“It’s fine,” Zuko said as he stood. “I was about to leave anyway. There’s paperwork I wanted to get taken care of. You can use the garden if you like.”

“Um, thank you,” Shiro said, “and not just for the garden, but for also letting me stay here.”

“I’m not the one you should be thanking,” Zuko said as he crossed his arms. “That should go towards Uncle, Sokka and Toph for convincing me.”

“But it was still your decision in the end,” Shiro replied. “I realize it can’t be easy letting a stranger into your home.”

“It’s not,” Zuko said as he crossed his arms. “Frankly, I’m still suspicious of you.”

Shiro suddenly thought of Keith, who he knew would have had the same response as Zuko.

“Why are you smiling?” Zuko asked.

“Sorry,” Shiro replied. “You just remind me a lot of my friend Keith. He would have agreed with you.”

He couldn’t resist wondering if the two would get along.

“Then your friend is smart,” Zuko said as he turned his back to Shiro. “I’ll send a servant to fetch you when it’s time for breakfast.”

“You don’t have to-” Shiro began, but paused.

There was a metallic glint shone in the bushes. Why would there be-

Adrenaline and panic struck as Shiro dashed forward. “GET DOWN!”

He shoved Zuko to the ground and remained on top of him as an arrow flew over their heads.

“You okay?” Shiro asked as he and Zuko scrambled back to their feet.

“Ask our attackers that,” Zuko snapped and launched a ball of flame at the bushes.

There was a yelp and two men with scorched clothing tumbled out, one of them holding a bow.

“I don’t know who you are,” Zuko declared, “but surrender now and I promise you’ll be treated fairly.”

The archer snarled and prepared to launch another arrow.

“Oh no you don’t,” Zuko said as he charged and with fire burning in both his fists. The archer dropped the bow and pulled out a sword.

Shiro could only assume Zuko could handle it as the other attacker decided to rush at Shiro with a dagger. He dodged, grabbed the dagger with his cybernetic arm and twisted it out of the man’s hand before kicking him away.

The man stumbled, but quickly regained his balance. He glared at Shiro, and then stomped his foot to the ground. Instantly, spikes popped from the ground and headed straight towards him.

Shiro jumped and rolled on the ground just barely avoiding the spikes. He panted as he leaned on his knees.

“Wild guess, but I take it you’re an earth bender?” he shouted.

“Oh gee, aren’t you smart,” the man sneered as he raised his arm.

A small spike rose out of the dirt, only for it to harden as the man reached for it and snapped it off the ground.

The earth bender charged again.

Shiro sprang to his feet in time to block and flip the man, but not before he felt the spike cut at his normal arm.

He hissed as blood dripped slightly.

Really wish I had my armor on right now, Shiro grumbled.

Flashes came from fighting hand to hand. Having to ignore every cut, every broken bone and keep fighting.

No, no, not now, Shiro thought as he shook his head at the memories. It wasn’t the time.

Shiro looked up. The man had crashed against a tree, but was already getting back up. A battle cry caused Shiro to look over to Zuko. The young Firelord was holding his own, but the archer wasn’t slowing down with each swipe of the sword.

“Do the world a favor and die with your father!” the archer snapped as he tried to slice at Zuko’s head, but missed as the boy ducked.

Shiro heard movement and managed to block the earth bender by gripping his wrists stopping the spike just inches away towards his face.

Shiro grunted and realized Zuko was closer to him now as an idea came.

“Zuko,” Shiro called out, “I think these two should face each other instead!”

Zuko abruptly turned, frowned and gave a nod signaling he got the meaning. Swiftly, Zuko yanked the archer’s arm, and tossed him over just as Shiro did the same with the earth bender.

It was satisfying watching the pair collide into each other and fall into the pond.

Shiro dashed to Zuko’s side. “You alright?”

Zuko brushed the hair from his eyes and gestured to Shiro’s arm. “I should be asking you that.”

Shiro glanced at his arm and gripped the wound. “I’ve had worse.”

Zuko looked ready to say something, until the attackers climbed out of the pond. Both of them were dripping wet and eyes full of fury.

Shiro and Zuko got into fighting position, but suddenly mounds of earth sprang up and trapped the attackers with only their heads poking out.

Shiro blinked, but saw Zuko glanced over and spotted Toph who was now retracting her hand.

“You guys got into a fight and didn’t invite me?” she shouted.

“It was hardly planned,” Zuko snapped.

“Whatever,” Toph muttered as she walked over to them. “Everyone okay?”

“Shiro’s injured,” Zuko replied and sighed, “and he also saved me from getting an arrow through my head.” He slowly looked up and rubbed his neck. “Thanks for that.”

“Welcome,” Shiro said as he gripped his arm, “and it’s not that bad.”

“I think a doctor will be a better judge of that,” Toph replied as she crossed her arms.

Shiro opened his mouth but was cut off by a yawn.

“Okay,” Sokka muttered as he stumbled out, “why was there such a ruckus-”

He spotted the trapped angry men, blinked and then looked to the group. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing good,” Zuko muttered grimly.

Shiro nodded. He might not be in a war, but he had landed right in the middle of a lot of trouble.

#vldgen #atla #a paladin in the fire nation #vld #takashi shirogane #my writing

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