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kingdomoftyto · 3 years

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OKAY, HELL, I’m reading through another old unpublished fic document and goddammit, there’s SO MUCH GOOD STUFF in here, I NEED to share this before it gets lost to the void entirely.

So okay LOOK, a few years ago when Voltron was briefly my main fandom obsession, I had an idea for an AU... a Phantom of the Opera AU. Galra!Keith as the Opera Ghost and Lance as the dancer-turned-famous-singer.

And I got INTO it. This concept CONSUMED me for several weeks. I listened to nothing but PotO soundtracks, I rambled about it to my friends and family (none of whom had ever seen Voltron), I got all flustered thinking about potential dialogue.

However, I’m chronically incapable of finishing a proper story outline, which was this fic’s ultimate downfall. I would start by trying to outline the basic roles and plot points and quickly devolve into describing specific scenes and character interactions. On the one hand, this means I never got enough of a cohesive plot figured out to actually start writing the damn thing properly.

...But on the OTHER hand, in the end I was left with a fairly thorough--if chaotically organized--collection of ideas and scenes that come together to still present a really fun and interesting premise.

In the time since writing all of this up in 2018, I’ve mentally moved on from Voltron and the finer details of its characters, etc, enough that the thought of ever going back and actually FINISHING this beast moves past “daunting” and into “impossible” if not outright “laughable”. THEREFORE, I hereby present to you, dear readers, the extremely haphazard, pre-alpha version, never-going-to-be-written-so-I-might-as-well-share-what-I’ve-got, Icarus-ian pseudo-fic that is....

......THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA KLANCE AU THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED:

[The setting is roughly the same as in PotO. The characters’ names and races and all that are the same as in VLD and it doesn’t affect anything, shhh, don’t think too hard about the details, it’s just one of those vague Victorian-flavored Gothic Romance versions of Paris... except all the Voltron characters are there instead.]

[I’m going to basically stitch this together into a semblance of chronological order from the jumble of stuff in my notes document. There’s literally a section header in there that reads, “Outline Reboot 9/2/18″, so yeah, buckle up lmao]

Keith is half-Galra, born with partial Galra features--like, purple fur over half his body, pointed ears, a glowing yellow eye, fangs, claws, the works--and thus, after his parents are out of the picture, he’s seen as a monster and treated as an outcast.

His dad dies when he’s very young, and he ends up paraded around Europe as a freakshow. He runs away and teenage Shiro finds him scrounging for food, befriends him. They learn that his “deformity” invites violence and agree to keep his existence a secret, with Shiro eventually helping him build a sanctuary inside the theater and serving as his one lifeline to the outside world. Mostly, though, Keith ends up fending for himself in the catacombs beneath the opera house, becoming a sort of terrifying ninja hermit not afraid to steal what he needs to survive.

Shiro, of course, becomes a famous singer—the primo uomo of the premier opera house in Paris. Keith watches his career from within the walls and secret passages, growing to love the art and music and quietly learning the lives and habits of the theater’s inhabitants, from the jovial but hard-working stagehands to the fussy but kind prima donna [i.e. Allura. potentially.]. He learns the sounds of the instruments, the mechanisms of the machinery, and the plots of the operas. The habits and personalities of the workers, the performers, and the regular patrons. He watches each little triumph in the lives of the theater inhabitants, as well as dramas spanning years.

He sings to himself in the darkness, and finds he has a natural talent for it.

Meanwhile--because the fandom seems to love making Lance a dancer in AUs anyway for some reason???--Lance is a danseur in the opera house. He tells people he got into it for all the beautiful women, but secretly he’s super into the art. The dancing, the music, the spectacle... He keeps up with his dancing career, good but not the best at it, and starts singing songs he’s picked up from the productions--over-the-top, off-key goofiness to his peers, but soft and hesitant in the privacy of his rooms...

Keith notices him, from behind the vents and mirrors. Lance has a good voice but secretly lacks the confidence to go out and be a leader star. Keith sees the quiet, more sentimental side to Lance that the dancer tries to keep hidden, and Keith is... enamored. Smitten. Maybe a little obsessed.

One night when Lance is drunk and half-asleep, Keith sings to him. Lance thinks it’s a dream, but then it happens again and he demands answers. Keith hesitates but realizes how desperately he craves companionship (especially with Shiro’s career increasingly preventing them from spending time together), so he relents and has an evasive conversation. Lance, unable to pry a name out of Keith, starts calling him his “Angel of Music”.

- -

[This is one of the bits where the “outline” devolved into disembodied dialogue and back before I could stop myself ghahgjsdhgf. Observe: ]

Eventually he can’t stand just observing anymore. He summons his courage and, when Lance is alone one evening, dozing in a secluded dressing room after finishing off a bottle of wine he’d snuck off with, Keith starts softly singing to him.

Lance is too tipsy to think properly about what’s going on, convinces himself that the voice is just a dream. A lovely, pleasant dream.

Except Lance hears the voice again the next night, too, and he gets the chills. “Who are you?” he asks, feeling exposed. Some kind of prankster? he asks. One of the stagehands trying to freak him out?

A long, long silence. Then, “No.”

“You don’t expect me to believe you’re some kind of ghost?” But he sounds uncertain.

“I’m no one.”

“Tell me what’s going on or I’m bringing the others--we’ll find you and deal with you--”

“No!” the voice interrupts, then more calmly: “Do not tell them about me.” A pause. “Lance--”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know all about you,” the voice says, and Lance shivers, from cold or fear or something else. “I have watched you for a long time.”

When the owner of the voice refuses to give his name, Lance settles on calling him “the angel”, initially as a joke. (Over time, he might briefly question if there could be more truth to it than he’d expected, and of course eventually the title would morph into a genuine endearment: “my angel”)

- -

Keith has observed the bustle of the opera house for years but has virtually no experience interacting with people, so his first conversations with Lance are brief and neutrally formal. He tells Lance that his voice is good, and that, with some practice, his skills would be better suited for the leading role than a random dancer. Lance scoffs at this of course, but Keith offers to tutor him.

Side Note: For the sake of this AU, we pretend that the primo uomo--a phrase I just found out even existed--has an equivalent role/connotation to the prima donna. i.e. adored by fans, bit of a narcissist, theater desperate to keep him happy. Male diva, basically

So they begin lessons. Lance still half-believes Keith is just some sort of hallucination and falls head-over-heels for his mysterious new friend almost immediately. Though, on the off-chance Keith is not a figment of his imagination, he keeps his feelings (mostly) to himself.

Keith, likewise, has been in love with Lance since nearly the very beginning, though initially he’d mistaken it for some sort of disturbing, dark obsession from the depths of his “monster” soul. He continues to believe this on some level throughout the story, though little epiphanies like the way his heart lifts at Lance’s smile make him question his own inner darkness.

The two continue this mentor/student dynamic for a while, growing used to each other’s company and their new shared routine. Keith encourages Lance to let others hear him sing, and eventually Lance summons the courage to try it. His friends and fellow dancers are impressed, not to mention surprised. His popularity is now growing at the same rate as his skill in singing, and he’s eventually chosen to play a major role in a production as the Blue Lion. His performance is met with instant acclaim.

- -

[another VERY EARLY dialogue snippet that probably wouldn’t have even ended up in the final fic, for your consideration: ]

“Angel, are you there?” Lance stage-whispered to the empty room.

The corner of Keith’s mouth twitched upward. “Of course.”

Lance bounced giddily on his toes, “And?”

“The play was amazing. The ballerinas were in top form tonight.”

Lance’s expression soured instantly. “Oh, they were, were they?”

Keith couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, and he thought he saw Lance’s eyes widen slightly at the sound. “You were incredible,” he admitted, his voice dropping all teasing edge. “Bravo!”

It was difficult to tell from this distance, but Keith thought he could see the dancer’s cheeks darken.

“The Blue Lion suits you,” he continued automatically, his mouth apparently speaking on its own accord. “It’s a fine debut role for a man of your looks and talent.”

Lance’s face was definitely flushed now. He cleared his throat. “Right. Right, I knew I’d blown them away with my amazing skills. I just wanted to make sure my otherworldly tutor approved, too.”

“More than approve. I’m very proud of how far you’ve come.”

“Thank you,” Lance said softly, his shoulders relaxing. “Figment of my imagination or not, hearing you say as much means a lot.”

Keith blinked, watching his student’s face. The man who just moments ago had burst into the room full of bluster and excitement was now slumped against the wall, looking tired and relieved and… vulnerable. Why did he trust Keith so much?

“Why should my approval matter more than your audience’s?” he asked instead.

“Because they’re not in this for me,” Lance said easily. “They just want to hear the pretty music and see the pretty dancing. But you’re always helping me. You, owner of the most beautiful voice in Heaven or Earth, spend time with ME, a poor upstart dancer with no training, and patiently mold my pathetic skills into something even the clueless managers of the theater can recognize as worthy of respect. You’re the one who’s incredible.”

Keith’s face grew hot.

- -

[Here, I was having a bit of trouble with the actual plot. I waffled a LOT on what Shiro’s ultimate role in the story was going to be. I wanted to keep at least somewhat true to the overarching plot of PotO, but I’d written myself into a bit of a corner by making Shiro a kind of fusion of Carlotta and the Daroga’s/Madame Giry’s roles. :U My reasoning was that the Black Lion/leadership role in VLD translated best in this AU to the lead performer in the theater, right? Especially with that being Lance’s ultimate ambition. (Lance deserved to pilot Black in VLD and yes even after all this time I WILL die on this hill.) Therefore, even though being a celebrity vocalist seems kind of strange and out of character for Shiro, it could be worked around as a necessary side-effect of the AU as long as his personality and relationships stayed more or less intact. HOWEVER, Carlotta’s only real purpose in PotO is to be a rival/obstacle to Christine, and Shiro’s just?? too kind and good to want to hold Lance back like that??? Even contriving a reason for Lance to be given the initial Blue Lion role instead of Shiro was giving me some trouble. I was working on it and had some ideas--Shiro seeing the signs of Keith’s activity and voluntarily resigning his role in this production to keep an eye on him? Then when Lance becomes such an instant success, he grows even more suspicious and worried, because it’s not like Keith to get involved with the outside world--but it was a fairly big stumbling block and one of many reasons this project ultimately sputtered out... v_v Anyway, continuing on.]

While Lance’s ego seems to inflate massively around his peers, in private he noticeably softens. During their next tutoring session, he thanks Keith for everything he’s done and asks if there’s any way he can repay the kindness. Keith’s heart spasms and he avoids giving a direct answer, knowing that there are many things he’d like to ask of Lance but none that Lance can give.

Meanwhile Lance admits to his friend Hunk, who works in the kitchens, that he’s learned so much so quickly because he’s being taught by an “Angel”. Hunk initially laughs this off as typical Lance silliness (which is what Lance was hoping he’d do anyway), but eventually something in the way Lance talks about the heavenly tutor strikes him as a little too sincere to be a joke. He asks Lance a serious question about it and Lance blatantly backpedals a little, deepening Hunk’s suspicions.

Meanwhile, Keith is sulking and skulking even more than usual. While aimlessly wandering his secret passageways within the theater’s walls, wallowing in his own self-loathing, he stumbles into a small stagehand in the near-darkness. He seizes them and, knife held to their throat, demands to know how they found their way in, before realizing that he recognizes them as the young girl who’d been disguising herself as a boy: Gunderson. He tells her as much, insisting that he’ll expose her secret if she so much as mentions the hidden passages in the walls or how she found her way in. The girl begins apologizing and agreeing to his terms, only to suddenly knock him off-balance and shake free of his hold. She turns on him, her own dagger drawn, and is ready to start demanding her own answers when she sees his glowing yellow eyes. She instantly stills, and Keith thinks she might attack him at any moment. Instead, she simply asks, “Who are you?”

The two have a guarded conversation wherein the girl—Pidge [sort of my take on the Joseph Buquet character, though obviously unlike Buquet, Pidge lives!]—admits that her reason for infiltrating the theater under false pretenses go beyond just needing money. Pidge explains that her family, the Holts, are part of a small underground society of scientists—Cerberus—specialized in the study of “elusive species”, i.e. monsters. (Cerberus: Protecting the Threshold Between Hell and Earth?) Her father and brother had gone missing almost a year ago after following an old but promising lead on a “monster sighting” to this very building. They both come to the same conclusion: that the Holts had been looking for Keith. Pidge goes on to say that she has a hunch Keith didn’t capture or kill them himself, given how he’d not done her immediate harm. He agrees that he has no idea what happened to them, and the pair end on a truce and a promise to investigate the issue together.

[The first version of the outline had a similar first meeting with Pidge, but it also alluded to some dialogue that I really love and would likely have tried to work into the final draft: Pidge sees the purple claws of Keith’s hand and is terrified but fascinated. She admits as much to Keith, and he tells her that he has powers beyond her comprehension, that if she breathes a word of him to another soul, he’ll know and he’ll kill her. She doesn’t quite believe him, points out that the safest thing for him would have been to kill her as soon as she’d given him the information he’d wanted. He growls at her. She agrees to keep his secret if he keeps hers.]

Keith is shaken by the encounter, having assumed his hidden passages were more secure, but he can’t help but also be a a little buoyant because another human being had faced his deformity and not immediately fled or tried to kill him. Maybe there’s hope for a connection with Lance after all.

Keith makes his way to Shiro at the soonest opportunity, asking if he has any information on the Holts. Shiro is shocked by the question and admits that yes, a little over a year ago he’d been approached by someone who seemed to know too much. But he’d misdirected them, giving them a plausible-sounding false lead to get them away from the theater and away from Keith. He’d never mentioned it to Keith because he was afraid it would scare him. He isn’t sure what could have happened to them since. He asks Keith how he’s learned all this, and Keith tells him about Pidge. Shiro is concerned but trusts Keith’s judgement. He reminds him to be cautious—“you know what happened last time we tried letting someone new into our confidence”*—and Keith deflates a bit, chagrined. Shiro reminds him he doesn’t blame him for what happened back then, that he only cares that Keith is safe, and Keith thanks him, assuring Shiro that he’ll keep him updated on the investigation.

(*The incident alluded to here involved Keith, not long after being rescued by Shiro, revealing himself to Shiro’s best friend--and, though Keith didn’t realize it at the time, his romantic interest--Adam. Shiro had been struggling to articulate why he was so suddenly and adamantly leaving their home town to live in Paris. Adam seethed, “You can’t seriously be so intent on throwing away your career, your- your life with me! Takashi, how important am I to you?” Shiro could offer little response. Keith, sick of seeing his brother/guardian tormented so, stepped in and spoke up in his defense. Adam responded with fear and confusion, accusing Keith of being a demon and of manipulating Shiro. Shiro, snapping out of his panic, whirled on Adam at his accusations: “Enough.” He explained to Adam that he’d hoped to introduce the two someday, when things were quieter and more settled. That he’d hoped a man as logical and idealist as Adam would understand and accept Keith, but that that day had taught him otherwise. Shiro led Keith away, voice cracking as he left Adam with one final request**: “If you truly care for me, never reveal what you saw today to another soul.”)

(**Adam comes back into Shiro’s life, of course. Cerberus, following a trail of rumors and stories through the European countryside, had essentially tracked Keith to the small town where he and Shiro had met. There, they’d hit a dead end and spent the next several months trying to find another lead, until finally Adam, in his own personal search for answers, had crossed paths with Sam and Matt Holt. Upon discovering that they were interested in these eerie, yellow-eyed, human-like creatures, but not in harming them, he agreed to share his information with them, on one condition: he must be allowed to tag along on the mission to find it. They happily agreed, and eventually the trio found themselves in Paris. The Holts interviewed Shiro--careful not to reveal their source, per Adam’s wishes--but they were unable to extract many details from him. Shiro refused to provide them with anything but feigned ignorance and a hint that he’d heard tales from his colleagues of a violet-haired monster in the Alps. They skeptically related their findings back to Adam, who dismissed the story outright, lamenting, “Takashi is as terrible a liar as he ever was. Your creature is still here; I’m even more sure of it now.” Before the Cerberus crew could decide on their next plan of attack, however, they were descended upon by cloaked assailants, some with glowing yellow eyes.)

Two weeks pass without any progress in finding more information on the Holts. Having spoken with Pidge multiple times now, he is shocked to find how comfortable their interactions can be. How normal. Since her initial (and understandable) defensiveness, she hasn’t shown any fear or unwarranted caution toward him. They slowly become allies, maybe even friends. Keith has a rare moment of introspection and realizes that—with this major counterexample to his old “humanity will reject you” mindset—he doesn’t have a good reason to hide himself from Lance anymore. He’s still absolutely terrified of the idea, of course, but he also can’t resist the curiosity, the irresistible pull.

He decides to throw caution to the wind and, without allowing himself time to chicken out, admits to Lance that he’s never danced before. He refers back to Lance’s offer of “repaying kindness” and asks Lance to teach him. Lance isn’t sure how to respond. He stutters and asks what Keith means, and Keith manages to say again that he wants to learn to dance. From Lance. In the flesh. “Will you teach me?” Still stunned, Lance squeaks out an affirmative and asks when. Before he can change his mind, Keith blurts, “Tomorrow night?”

This gives Keith enough time to scrounge together a decent outfit, a cloak, and a mask. He knows deep down that Lance still hasn’t considered the depth of what’s happening, and thus Keith can’t spring everything on him at once. However, he steels his nerves and shows up to Lance’s dorm after the evening’s performance has concluded.

Lance returns to the room, visibly giddy in his own anticipation. Keith watches him silently from behind the mirror, torn between exhilaration and dread at what comes next. Lance calls out for him and Keith remains frozen. Lance, expression crumbling, questions his own sanity aloud. Keith can’t bear the sight of his despair and speaks up: “Bravo, again.”

They exchange pleasantries but can’t stall forever, and finally Keith asks if Lance is ready to meet his teacher. Lance, in disbelief, says yes. Keith uncovers a lantern, breaking the illusion of the mirror and revealing himself.

Lance is inwardly disappointed that the disguise obstructs so much of his view, but is still in awe that he can see Keith—can touch him. “I’m either completely sane or even worse than I thought,” he marvels.

Keith leads Lance by the hand into his labyrinth of passageways. Heart pounding, he directs Lance a relatively dry and open part of his lair, lit by a myriad of candles and lanterns, light reflecting off the stones. Lance is completely speechless and clings to Keith’s hand like he expects him to vanish at any moment.

He teaches Keith to dance. It’s exceedingly awkward. When ballet proves to be out of Keith’s reach, he asks if there are any other forms of dance Lance could teach him instead. Lance hesitates, but suggests the waltz. Keith, helpless to his own desire for contact, agrees.

After a long moment, Keith turns to him, and, awkwardly, raises his arms in a shy mimicry of a waltz stance. Lance clears his throat too loudly and takes his hands, launching into a lesson. After several minutes of going over the basics and Keith beginning to practice the movements, Lance breaks a comfortable silence to ask Keith if he has a name. Keith tells him, and they fall silent for several more minutes before Keith abruptly steps away, clearing his throat and avoiding eye contact--the closeness is too good, he wants too much, he needs space... He ends the lesson there, claiming he has other obligations.

He motions for Lance to follow and begins heading back toward the passages, but Lance wordlessly reaches out and grabs hold of his hand. They both tell themselves it’s for his safety.

When they return to Lance’s room, Keith slips his hand free from Lance’s. Lance, doing his best to hide his rising panic, asks when Keith’s next lesson will take place. Keith says it’s up to his instructor. Lance, disbelieving, grins and says it will be after his own next voice lesson. Keith can’t entirely smother his own answering smile as he returns to the dark recesses of the opera house.

More time passes. They both continue their lessons.

Despite knowing Keith’s name now, Lance continues to call him Angel for the most part (Keith thinks it’s like a title, but it’s 100% an endearment). Keith encounters Pidge in another secret passage. She’s unrepentant but shows him the weakness in his defenses. They’re slowly becoming friends. Keith is baffled.

During one such meeting with Pidge, she asks about the “poltergeist activity” he’s stirring up. He asks what she means. “Objects going missing, ropes swinging by themselves, mysterious noises in the dead of night… People won’t shut up about the theater being haunted. You mean you’re not doing it on purpose?” Worried by this revelation, he tells her no, he must have just been careless. He’s been distracted lately. “But maybe you should be doing it on purpose,” she suggests. The rumor has had long enough to build up now that she’s quite certain even the managers of the opera house are getting superstitious. “Use the paranoia to your advantage. Make some demands.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know—start small, test the waters.” When Keith draws a blank, she chirps, “Make them leave you a vacant seat! If they do it, you can let it sit empty and follow up by saying you appreciated the view during the play—they’ll wet themselves!”

Keith chuckles dismissively but decides to try it. Before long, the Opera Ghost goes from rumor to legend, and Keith has his own undisturbed box from which he can watch performances.

- -

[After that, it’s mostly a few poorly-thought-out ideas (like veering into Keith resenting Shiro over hiding him away instead of giving him a chance at a normal life, which might have ended up getting touched on briefly in the final draft but not to the extent that Keith would come to hate Shiro or want to harm him or anything), and all-caps half-thoughts like “RED LION INSTEAD OF MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH”.]

[However... there was ONE more scene that I did have written, and it was the sappiest, cheesiest, most self-indulgent goddamn thing ever and might have even ended up as the final scene of the entire fic. Re-reading it after all these years still makes me feel some things about these characters and I didn’t want to leave it to rot in the black hole of my computer without at least letting people share in the fun of the AU itself. SO, all that said, I now proudly present to you, LE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE........]

- -

“No more talk of darkness. Forget your wide-eyed fears. I’m here—nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you…”

Keith lets out a strangled sound. He can’t believe his ears.

“Let me be your freedom,” Lance continues, his hand rising to Keith’s face to brush at the wetness there. “Let daylight dry your tears...”

Keith’s breathing hitches and he flinches away, but Lance draws him back in, voice steady and grounding.

“I’m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.”

Here is this beautiful man, this being of pure light, soothing Keith with honey-sweet words, touching him, blue eyes smoldering violet in the firelight as he watches Keith’s face. He’s waiting for Keith to pick up the duet, the silence stretching on a beat too long as Keith shakes his head violently.

“Let me be your shelter, let me be your light,” Lance continues after a moment, undeterred. Keith stares back at him, the image wavering as more tears threaten to spill. “You’re safe. No one will find you. Your fears are far behind you…”

“All I want is freedom,” Keith gasps, his voice sounding distant and strange to his own ears. “A world with no more night. And you,” he clutches the front of Lance’s shirt, ducking his head down and away from Lance’s searching gaze, “always beside me.” His volume drops impossibly lower. “To hold me and to hide me…”

Lance tilts his chin up so that their eyes meet again. He smiles. “Then say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime.” Keith’s heart stops. “Let me lead you from your solitude…”

Lance places his hands on either side of Keith’s face, thumb brushing reverently through the soft fur on his cheek. “Say you need me with you here, beside you.” Lance closes his eyes and brings their foreheads together. He stops singing, desperately whispering instead, “Anywhere you go, let me go, too. Please, Keith… That’s all I ask of you.”

Keith lets out another choked sound, and he’s not sure if it's a sob or a laugh. His fingers shake where he’s still holding onto the taller man’s shirt. He clings to the familiar words of the song like a lifeline, the only refuge in this cyclone of emotions threating to tear him to pieces. He knows what comes next, knows Lance wants him to continue, “Say you love me—"

“You know I do,” the response is so quick it nearly overlaps.

Keith’s heart swells and he suddenly feels weightless and dizzy. “You—” he pulls away to peer up at him. “You do?” he asks, nearly inaudible.

Lance grins, the flash of dazzling white teeth enough to knock the breath out of Keith’s chest once more. His hands fall to Keith’s waist and he spins them both around in a graceful twirl. “You think I’d abandon you after all we’ve been through?”

“That’s not—” Keith clears his throat, head buzzing. “Not leaving is not the same as—”

“Angel,” Lance murmurs, expression softening into something so sincere it makes Keith’s heart stutter. “My angel. I’ve loved you for a long time.”

Keith blinks, sucks in a long, steadying breath. He hesitates only a moment before leaning his full weight into Lance’s chest, fingertips brushing his shoulderblades in what was surely a sorry excuse for a hug. “Anywhere you go, let me go too...”

Lance returns the hug, and Keith can feel Lance’s lips brush the top of his head. He can practically feel the smile tugging at them.

��Love me,” Lance begins.

And their soft voices weave together, muffled by the closeness: “That’s all I ask of you.”

❤💙

#my fic #Voltron #Klance #I've been meaning to go through and organize this into a post for a little while now #because I wanted to share it even if it's a bit of a scattered mess #....man. despite everything. I still love these characters

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velkynkarma · 4 years

Note

merry april fools day! what about a whump fic where Allura and Coran end up taking care of a bundle of sick humans in their paladins (plus whichever else of the humans are present on the Castle at the time)

You got it! This exists in a miraculous AU where Shiro didn’t die/disappear into the void, Keith still stays at the Castle, and the Castle still exists, because I Can. Also Kosmo is here for some reason, even though it doesn’t technically line up with any timeline. It’s silly sickfic, who cares about timelines, amirite?

———

Allura stares down at the box of recipe cards in her hands and wonders, not for the first time, how she got into this mess.

Well, she knows how, in the broad sense, at least. The team had liberated another planet to join the Voltron Coalition, and had taken part in a wonderful celebration the Kazenites had thrown in thanks. It had been a very nice party, actually. The food was positively divine, and the entertainment had been enjoyable. There had even been a parade, which had cheered Lance in particular immensely. Everyone had fun.

But the next day, everyone—well, almost everyone—had been bedridden, complaining of illness. And the symptoms were positively disgusting. Elevated temperature, mucus-filled noses that made breathing difficult, aches and soreness all over, harsh, wet coughs, and the...expunging of their innards.

The discovery had been frankly revolting.

But Allura was fine. Even Coran, who was an older Altean gentleman, and more prone to some illnesses, remained equally unaffected. They aren’t sure what the cause is—food that humans couldn’t handle, or perhaps a local pathogen on Kazenar—but it seemed only those from Earth had been affected.

It at least meant they weren’t helpless. Allura could wormhole them away if they ran into significant Galra opposition, or handle a smaller force with Coran’s assistance, between the Castle and the Blue Lions. But it did leave the two of them with five humans to care for—a daunting prospect at the best of times.

“Chicken soup,” she murmurs, repeating the phrase Hunk had given her. “Chicken soup…” She frowns. “What exactly is a chicken, and why would one make soup out of it?”

She wonders if it’s anything like the ‘cow,’ Kaltenecker. Perhaps they extract a liquid substance from these ‘chickens’ to consume as a health food.

The thought alone makes her feel sick to her stomach. She certainly hopes she won’t need to extract chicken-liquid. She will do it for her friends, if she absolutely must, but she does not look forward to the prospect.

It truly is a pity that whatever this illness is, is resistant to both her healing abilities learned through alchemy, and the healing pods. Those were the first things they’d tried, when they’d realized the situation was serious.

Unfortunately, the box of recipe cards Hunk had directed her to yields no answers. She had found the box in the kitchen easily enough. But the handwriting on each of the cards, presumably belonging to Hunk, is in a language she doesn’t recognize. She assumes this is some variant of Earthese, but she’s not familiar enough with the characters to be able to decode any of it.

She sighs in frustration, and sets the box on the counter, staring at the cards. Sadly, willing them to become legible doesn’t change anything.

“Why must it be chicken soup?” she mutters. “And why me?”

Well...she knows the answers to those questions too, really. Coran had already tried to make a big batch of terskargal for the paladins, the moment he and Allura had discovered they were all sick. The scent brought back fond memories of old dinners, cozy mornings indoors during the cool season on Altea, and moments of comfort when she had been sick ten thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, the humans had not taken to it so kindly. Shiro had reacted the most politely, in that he had simply said, “No thank you, really,” but his face had turned an interesting shade of green that Allura hadn’t thought non-camouflage based humans capable of. Lance and Pidge had been forced to suppress gags that had threatened to bring up whatever else might be in their stomachs. Hunk had thrown up, and asked why one would ever feed something that smelled so revolting to an ill person. Keith, by far the least affected of the group, had still threatened to throw his bowlful of terskargal out the nearest airlock.

Needless to say, it had not gone over well for a number of reasons. Allura is a little offended that something so comforting to her and her culture could be rejected so blatantly out of hand. But then again, they do also drink cow secretion and think it is delicious. Human taste simply cannot be accounted for.

But it did mean the humans blatantly refused to eat anything prepared by Coran, and they did need nutrients while they were ill. Which meant Allura had been recruited for cooking some variant of human food, in addition to her other caretaking tasks. Coran had instead adjusted to laundering fresh bedding for the humans, and working in the infirmary to synthesize a medicinal cure their bodies could actually process safely.

There is just one problem: Allura is not a terribly skilled cook.

In her defense, cooking was never considered to be a necessary skill-set for an Altean princess. By her tutors’ own words, she had excelled in acceptable subjects—history, military tactics, diplomacy, dance, crystal engineering, etiquette, piloting, energy manipulation, and advanced weapons training in multiple disciplines. Cooking had never been one of those important duties. As a princess, she was expected to have cooks for that.

Still, her friends are sickly, and she would like them to feel better. Sometimes, that means learning something new to heal, even if it is a monumental or difficult task. She will attempt to make this chicken soup, or die trying.

Even if it does mean milking a chicken.

She shudders.

She’ll have to interpret the cards, though, before she can do anything. Pidge had a working knowledge of both the Earth language and Altean. But Pidge was also—if Plachu’s recent mental message was accurate—finally dozing after emptying the contents of her stomach into a bucket for the third time in the last varga. Allura doesn’t have the heart to wake her, not until she has some working chicken soup to offer.

So she does the next best thing, and heads to the lounge to bother Keith instead.

Of the five humans, Keith’s illness is comparatively minor. Which is to say that he’s not throwing up as often as the others, and can maintain a coherent conversation without spinning off into delirious ramblings or passing out. Allura suspects his Galra heritage is giving him some degree of resistance to the illness, whatever it is.

It means Keith has also been her and Coran’s on-call expert any time they need to ask a question about human physiology, or their requirements while ill. After the fifth time they’d knocked on his door to inquire about how much hydration was strictly necessary or which remedies were most common on Earth, he’d finally rolled out of bed and muttered, “I’m just gonna sleep on the couch in the lounge. Less walking for you.”

It had, admittedly, made things a little easier for her and Coran in the long run. So there was that.

Allura finds him in the same spot as before in the lounge, sprawled out lengthwise on one of the couches. Coran had supplied him with several extra pillows and blankets, along with the things they’d so far discovered were important for human health when ill: a pouch of water, and a metal basin for when they inevitably threw it up. Allura is thankful to see that the pouch of water is three-quarters gone, and the basin is completely empty. Cleaning those out is...not an entertaining process.

It’s hard to tell if Keith is awake or not, as his head is currently sandwiched between two pillows. A light blanket covers him. So does Kosmo, who is sprawled out at full cosmic wolf length along the couch, wedged against the couch back and half on top of Keith. His long muzzle rests on Keith’s chest and his nose is buried in what is presumably a comforting fashion in the crook of Keith’s neck, just under the edge of the topmost pillow.

Allura can’t even begin to imagine how any of that is comfortable, but to each their own, she supposes.

Kosmo’s ears flick up as she approaches, and the wolf’s gleaming yellow eyes roll to the side to watch her enter the room. “Is he awake?” she whispers.

Kosmo snuffs, and flicks one ear.

She’s not really sure what she expected, really. They’ve had enough evidence to indicate the cosmic wolf is at least as intelligent as the average human being, but communication is not one of his strengths.

She sighs, but approaches slowly and gently nudges Keith’s shoulder. A congested, muffled snort sounds under the pillow, and then one of Keith’s arms slowly raises to peel it back. He stares blearily at Allura. “What’s wrong now?” he mutters, after a long moment.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” she apologizes. “However, Hunk has instructed me to make chicken soup. I’m not sure how to go about doing so, as the cards with the instructions aren’t in Altean.” And then, before she can lose the nerve to ask, “It won’t require me to milk a chicken, will it?”

Keith stares at her blankly for so long that Allura is afraid he’s grown as ill as the others. She’s been reliably informed that when human body temperature surpases a certain level of internal heat, human brain function can become unreliable. She’s already witnessed it in a few instances and can attest that it’s real.

She’s about to feel Keith’s forehead—this is also, she’s been informed, a reliable way to measure human temperature without an instrument on hand—when he shakes his head. “No. No...milking chickens. Ew.”

That offers at least some relief. Allura lets out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Can you find the card for me?” Allura asks, offering him the box of recipe cards. “And translate it? I will do the rest.”

Keith grumbles under his breath, but dutifully starts to sit up after a moment. Kosmo helps by poofing off of his chest, and reappearing behind him, giving him a large cosmic wolf to help him sit upright against. “Alright. Fine.”

“Thank you,” Allura says gratefully. “I really did not wish to disturb your rest, but I did not see any other option.”

“S’fine,” Keith mutters, as he painstakingly opens the box of recipe cards, and starts flicking through them. It takes him longer than it should, which is a mark of the illness’ effect on him; Keith is normally quite dexterous and quick. The way he squints at each of the cards is certainly far from normal, too. “How’s everyone else doing?”

“Let me check.” Allura closes her eyes, and reaches out with her mental connection to her mice companions.

Keeping track of five human beings had proven a difficult task, especially with all of them ill to varying states, and with Allura and Coran required to perform multiple duties. To that end, Allura had come up with an alternative solution: assigning each of her mice friends to one of the paladins. With a mouse stationed in each room, the humans could be monitored consistently. If the mice thought there was a health concern, Allura could focus on that paladin immediately.

Keith was the exception, stationed in the lounge. But he had Kosmo, and Allura figured the cosmic wolf would be intelligent enough to hunt her or Coran down in the event his master took a turn for the worse.

The check in with the mice yields results fairly quickly. Chuchule reports Shiro sleeping fitfully and waking repeatedly from bad dreams. They will need to find something to settle him so he can actually begin to rest and recover.

Platt shares that Hunk is out of water again, which means Allura will need to stop by soon to replenish the fresh water packs. It is imperative the paladins stay as hydrated as possible or risk becoming sicker.

Chulatt is of the opinion that Lance’s temperature has risen, which has been a problem with their sharpshooter all day. Allura will need to prepare another cold compress to try and help bring his temperature down again.

Plachu reports no change from when Allura had checked in five doboshes ago. Pidge at least is thankfully still sleeping, although the basin she had been vomiting into will need to be cleaned out again. Allura can’t help but sigh.

Honestly. Human illness makes no sense. The slipperies make sense. Stomach parasites make sense. Quintessence weakness makes sense. Randomly becoming unable to breathe easily, overheating, and vomiting for this long, because of visiting a planet? Absurd.

“The same as before,” Allura says, as Keith stops slowly flicking through the cards to give her his best attempt at an inquisitive look. “After you find the card and translate it for me, I will bring them new supplies, and then begin cooking.”

Keith nods slowly, and goes back to his task.

It takes him about five doboshes, but towards the back of the box he finally selects one card and tugs it out. “This one,” he says, and reads out loud, “ ‘Mama Hunk’s Homemade Chicken Soup Recipe, space-ified.’”

“Excellent!” Allura claps her hands together once, and regrets it immediately when Keith winces at the noise. “I’m sorry, she says, contrite. “Please...just translate the instructions for me, and I will do the rest.”

She brings up a holographic screen linked to the Castle’s main database. Whatever she types up here she can easily reach back in the kitchen. She waits expectantly as Keith squints at the card, skimming it once.

“Ingredients’re listed first,” he says finally. “One cup of rice or rice equivalent—”

Allura’s heart immediately sinks. “Wait. What?”

Keith blinks at her, then slowly looks back to the card. “One cup of rice or—”

“No, no, I heard you,” Allura says, a little helpless. “But...a cup? As in, a drinking cup, full of a food item? And what is rice?”

Keith stares at her for a long moment. He blinks slowly, and Allura can almost hear his brain trying to process. Finally, he says, “This isn’t going to go as easy as you thought, huh.”

Humans. She is great friends with them, she respects them for their adaptability and survival skills and potential to learn and create so much.

But often, they simply make no sense.

———-

Allura is forced to take a detour from that poor attempt at decoding chicken soup to deal with her patients.

She makes her rounds with the paladins, dragging a hovering tray with her piled with supplies. She plies them with fresh water and herbal teas and little crackers and cajoles them to at least try them, checks everyone’s temperatures (higher than they should be, but not too dangerous), and cleans out the basins. The last is a truly vile task, but a princess should never expect her people to do something she wouldn’t do herself, no matter how abhorrent.

Some are better patients than others. Shiro wearily thanks her for her assistance and does his best to insist she doesn’t need to focus on him, which she politely disregards. Hunk is asleep by the time she arrives, somewhat thankfully, so he doesn’t have to hear what a debacle the chicken soup fiasco is. Pidge is mostly just happy to have the smell of her basin gone. Lance is possibly the worst; it takes Allura a full five doboshes to convince him to let her assist with a new cold compress and to measure his temperature, as he is, in his own words, “too ugly and gross to even look at right now.”

By the time that exhausting task is done and she returns to the kitchen, Keith is there.

He’s bundled up in one of his blankets and sitting haphazardly at one of the stools adjacent to the counter, with a pillow on said counter and his head flopped on the pillow. Kosmo sits dutifully by his side, attentive just in case his chosen human decides to pass out and collapse to the floor.

“I can help you figure out the soup,” he mumbles into the pillow. He sounds half asleep, but his grayish eyes manage to meet Allura’s as she stares at him, bewildered. “Never made it, but I know what it’s supposed to look like. Kinda. It’ll...it’ll look different with space ingredients, but. Yeah.”

This is one of the most talkative moments she’s ever heard out of Keith, and yet simultaneously one of his more jumbled sentences. Still, Allura is impressed.

Impressed, but not so sure this is a good idea. “You should be resting,” she chastises.

“Shiro and the others need the soup,” Keith argues. It’s less heated than his usual arguments to search for or protect Shiro and the others, but this is probably due to the fatigue and the fact that his stuffed nose makes him sound a bit distorted. “It makes you feel better. And you don’t have medicine yet, so we need the soup.”

Allura sighs. “I would be grateful for your help,” she admits. “But if you strain yourself too much, I will forcibly drag you back to the couch, if need be.”

“I’ve got a teleporting wolf,” Keith argues, a little petulantly. That is highly unusual, but probably another sign of illness. “I can come back.”

By the way Kosmo flattens his ears and half closes his eyes—an approximate summation of an annoyed expression if Allura has ever seen one—she has a feeling Kosmo will not be compliant with that particular rebellious attempt. She smiles understandingly at him.

“Alright,” Allura says. “Let’s try this again.”

Keith manages to explain, in between sniffles and coughs, that ‘cups’—along with ‘teaspoons’ and ‘tablespoons’—are a measurement system for dry and wet goods from one large country on Earth that Hunk hails from. Allura at least knows not to dump an entire drinking cup of food items into the pot she’s procured, but that doesn’t help her know what to actually measure.

Hunk has saved her in this regard, though. Keith produces a second card from the box. “Found this when I looked through again,” he mumbles. “S’got measurement translations. Like doboshes to minutes. But for food.”

That does help. Allura learns very quickly that it’s two quarzaks to a cup, a tablespoon is three quarters of a sestent, and a teaspoon is half of a glurzark, and after that everything makes a lot more sense. She finds the measuring materials that Coran had pulled out for the terskargal earlier, and from there it’s mostly a matter of translating Hunk’s bizarre recipe into sensible measurements.

Knowing what foods to use is a little trickier. But Keith eventually spots a large piece of paper taped to the fridge, and when Allura brings it to him, it’s a list of food equivalents for easy reference. She now understands, for example, that ‘rice’ is an Earth food, but that Hunk has determined it’s comparable to boiled teslak grain.

After that, it’s just a matter of properly parsing the ingredients, chopping them into smaller pieces, and carefully measuring. That part is simple by comparison. It’s a lot like rudimentary alchemy, and she had always enjoyed her father’s early alchemy books.

In the end, the pot on the stove bubbles merrily with some Earth concoction. It doesn’t smell as comforting as Coran’s terskargal, but it’s not unpleasant, and there was—thankfully—no need to milk any chickens, as Keith had promised. The chicken, as it turned out, was the shredded and boiled meat of the creature on their homeworld. Although it had been replaced with alkecha bird in this case, which Hunk had determined had a similar nutrition content.

Kieth dozes against the counter, face mashed into his pillow, with Kosmo’s muzzle resting gently on his knee. He hasn’t been needed for the last half a varga, now that Allura has an understanding of what she’s doing, but now is the moment of truth. She ladles some of the soup into a bowl, and nudges Keith’s shoulder gently. “I believe it’s done. Would you give it a try?”

Keith blinks awake. Allura places the bowl and spoon on the table. Keith gives it an experimental stuffy sniff before scooping up some of the vegetables, broth, and shredded blue meat, blowing to cool it, and giving it a try.

“Well?”

He considers. “Think it’s okay,” he says, after a moment. “Had to tell with my nose stuffed. It’s not that other stuff Coran tried to feed us, though—”

“—terskargal,” Allura supplies helpfully.

“—so I think the others could stomach it,” Keith finishes.

It’s not exactly glowing praise, but Allura will take it. “Thank you for your help,” she says, smiling. “I’ll leave the bowl for you—please try to eat it, and then go lay down again. Kosmo—make sure he does both of those things. We want him to feel better, too.”

Kosmo takes his muzzle off of Keith’s knee and offers her a flick of the ears and an almost human nod. Keith mutters to himself tiredly, but pulls the bowl closer to eat.

Allura fills several more bowls and sets them on a hovering tray, along with more water and other supplies the team might need. The mice haven’t reported anything alarming, but it never hurts to be proactively prepared. She leaves one of the bowls on the floor for Kosmo, who gives her an appreciative wuff of thanks before sticking his nose in it, and then pulls the tray after her to the paladin’s quarters.

Hunk is the first stop, for the real test of her cooking capabilities. Allura knocks and lets herself in at Hunk’s weak acknowledgement, and smiles sympathetically at the human flopped uncomfortably in bed. “I used your recipe and created some of that chicken soup of yours,” Allura says. “Would you like to try it?”

Hunk’s eyes light up. “Do I!” he says. “Mama Hunk’s recipe is good for the stomach. Keeps you fed and from throwing it up again.” And based on how wan he looks, he certainly needs the nutrients. All of them do—they’ve been throwing up all quintent. Keeping down even a little bit will do them all wonders.

“It’s my first time cooking it,” Allura says, as she sets one of the bowls and a glass of water on a smaller floating tray. “You’ll have to let me know what you think.”

She helps Hunk sit up, propping him with several pillows. Hunk is not at his strongest, but he does manage to take a spoonful of soup, blowing it on it carefully before trying. He swallows, considers, and finally says, “For your first time, it’s not too bad. Way better than that other stuff Coran gave us.”

That does seem to be the general opinion. Why, Allura will never understand. Terskargal has got to be better than this.

“I’m glad it is acceptable,” Allura says, smiling, and keeping her true thoughts to herself. “Will you be okay to eat while I deliver the rest to the others?”

“Sure,” Hunk says. “They should definitely all get some.” He sniffles uncomfortably, but then helps himself to another spoonful of soup. “It’ll definitely help everyone feel better. Good healthy stuff in here.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Allura says. “I’ll be back to collect your dishes in a little bit.”

The next varga is a busy one, as Allura delivers the rest of the soup, helps everyone sit up and get acclimated, and supervises in the cases where her patients are a little too wobbly or disoriented to be left with a hot bowl of liquids alone. The mice, thank the ancients, are invaluable in monitoring the process, keeping her updated on everyone’s status as she rotates room to room. By the time she’s finished making sure everyone has eaten and hydrated, collected the dirty dishes, refilled on water, cleaned out basins again, and made a mental note of which paladins’ sweat-dampened sheets need to be changed by Coran (something that does make sense to her as an Altean), she’s exhausted.

Keith, at least, is no trouble. She swings through the lounge to check on him, on her way back with the dirty dishes. He’s sound asleep again on the couch, with Kosmo once more stretched out atop him, nose snuggled into Keith’s neck. His empty bowl has been left neatly in the sink, and Kosmo’s is out of the way on the floor, licked clean.

Allura wearily collects the dishes and sets them into the automated cleaner. The rest of the soup is still kept warm on the stove, ready if anyone else needs it. She’ll need to check in soon with Coran on his progress, but for now, everyone is as cared for as can be, at least for the moment.

Really, caretaking is so much work. Especially with five humans to look after. She has much more appreciation for her mother, and for Coran, and the servants of ten thousand years ago. But she’s proud of herself, too, for being able to handle it all. Who would have thought looking after five sick paladins would be more exhausting than an entire Voltron battle?

At least she’d done it, and everyone had looked marginally better after the soup. No one can ever say she wouldn’t do anything for her friends. And she hadn’t even been required to milk a chicken.

Thank the ancients for small favors.

#Velkynkarma writes #Voltron #Allura #Keith #Hunk #Kosmo #space mice #the rest are there too but just kinda mentioned #sickfic #April Fools 2020 #Anonymous

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delaneytveit · 3 years

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Satellites Part 13

WHOOOOO we’re halfway thereeee! OOOHHHHH (Actually we’ve been a little bit more than half way for a bit) but don’t worry, there’s still A LOT of story to get through. If you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider buying me a coffee!

Oh and I’m on twitter! if you want to give a follow, or watch me scream into the void about Lance in tactical gear, that’s the place!

Twitter - sfw -> @/spacemom_laney | nsfw -> @/15_agentwash

ko-fi - ko-fi.com/delaneym_15

( Part 12 ) ( Satellites Master Post ) (Part 14)

The team left at 0800 the next morning. Allura had convinced, after quite a long time, Blue to let her pilot. Though it was clear that Blue was not happy about it. The only lion that was missing was the red one.

Keith had chosen to stay behind, to much confusion of the team. Though Lance could vaguely guess why. He felt guilty. Keith had been the one to bring into question Lance’s ability to complete missions, and even though that wasn’t his intention, he knew that it still hurt Lance.

Their relationship was rocky as it was. Neither of them really knew where they stood with the other, what they were to each other, and it seemed that the present situation had complicated things even more so.

Lance was refusing to talk to Keith, and it hurt. He hadn’t meant to indirectly ground the sharpshooter. He had only wanted to voice his concerns to Allura, positive that she would be able to do something for Lance that he couldn’t.

Normally, the only kind of confrontation Keith would be willing to face was violent, but he didn’t want to fight Lance. He wanted to apologize. To take responsibility for what was happening to Lance. He owed him that much at least.

It wasn’t hard to track the Blue Paladin down. He had locked himself in his room since breakfast. It was a good thing Keith knew the code by heart.

Punching in the code, he was relieved when the door whooshed open revealing Lance sitting at his desk. Keith could hear the volume of the headphones from where he stood, which made him cringe. The EDM music that Lance listened to was loud enough, didn’t anyone warn him of blowing out an eardrum?

Keith knocked twice before taking loud steps towards the boy, hoping that they would be loud enough to let Lance know that he was there. Lance’s anxiety had spiked dramatically since his return and it took one accidental sneak up by Pidge to inform the team that it was vital for Lance to know that you were coming, so as to avoid a swift punch to the face out of panic.

“What do you want, Keith?” Lance sighed as he removed his earphones. He swiveled his chair to look at the red paladin, arms crossed as he leaned back in his seat.

This was it, Keith had been rehearsing his apology for hours now, trying to make it sound as genuine and coherent as possible. Though at the very moment, what ever award winning speech he had come up with beforehand had vanished as those hard blue eyes stared into him.

“I’m sorry.” he blurted out, cursing himself for his lack of grace.

He immediately dropped his gaze, eyes staring at the floor. There was only a tense silence between them, and Keith begged his mind to come up with something, anything to put an end to this crushing feeling.

But of course, his mind, nor his mouth could seem to work correctly.

It was Lance who broke the silence instead.

“For?” he asked, the question forcing Keith to look up and face the boy. Blue eyes met his once more, a questioning brow raised as Lance waited for Keith to answer.

He could do this.

“I shouldn’t have told Allura about all of this. I- I didn’t know that she would take you off of missions. I should have talked to you and voiced my concerns to you, you didn’t deserve what Allura did to you and it's my fault that it happened. And I am so, so sorry for that.” He was rambling, he knew he was. How did people do this? How did they apologize?

He was only stopped when Lance held up his hand.

“I appreciate the apology, I really do. And to be honest, I’m glad that you told Allura. I don’t think she would have found out if you hadn’t. I’m not mad at you Keith.”

“You’re not?”

Lance chuckled a little, running a hand through his hair.

“I mean, I am a little bit. But I think I’m more pissed at the situation in general.” Lance leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. Looking down at his clasped hands, Lance spoke “You guys are right, I’m not okay. I haven’t been for a while and no matter how much I pretend that I am, I’m just hurting myself. I’m not getting better.” he sounded so...broken. Lance never really talked about himself, at all really. Superficial things, sure. Like how he got barely any sleep, or that he missed his mom’s cooking. But he never really talked about things deeper than that. Keith hadn’t really noticed until now, but Lance had been hiding a big part of himself away this entire time, and it only came out at his most vulnerable times at night.

A year ago, Keith would have thought of the way that Lance talks about himself as vain, but now he knew that it wasn’t really the case. Lance has been putting on a mask this whole time.

“But we don’t have time. The universe doesn’t have time for me to get better. It's a long ass process that Voltron can’t afford.”

He was right, of course he was right. Lance was vital to Voltron, even if he didn’t really see himself that way. He still knew that Voltron needed him. It was even more present today with Blue’s little tantrum about having to take on Allura as a pilot.

“But is the universe really more important than having you here?” That was what Keith was most afraid of. Lance had always been the self-sacrificial type. He couldn’t argue that he himself was any better, but Lance seemed to take it to a whole new level. The paladin would miss sleep and meals to make sure that everyone else was taken care of. He would jump in front of a bullet in a second to spare the others. On one occasion Lance had bounded into a burning building to save a few children stuck on the third floor, that had been the worst as it only reminded Keith of how he lost his father. He couldn’t lose Lance too.

“Keith-”

“No, Lance. Listen to me. The universe is not worth you throwing yourself away like that. What you need time to heal, what you went through was fucking terrible. It's no wonder you have PTSD from it.”

“We are the literal Defenders of the Universe, I can’t just not do my job!”

“I’m not asking you to stop being a paladin! I’m asking to for once in your life put yourself first. We need you, I need you! You need to let yourself heal from all of this because there is no Voltron if you continue to let your own health fall by the wayside!” Keith meant every word of it. They needed Lance. They needed him to come back, to be the best he could be, and as hard as he was trying right now, this wasn’t it.

“I’m worried for you, Lance. I can’t lose you too.” Keith’s voice was so small, he himself almost didn’t hear it. But he knew that Lance did, as the boy stood up from his seat and walked over to Keith, instantly wrapping his arms around the shorter one.

“You won’t Keith, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Keith breathed in the scent of ocean and sandalwood of Lance’s detergent, and thanked whatever higher being was there that Lance had insisted on buying his own detergent all those mall trips ago. The pompous asshole had good taste in soap, and it comforted Keith easily.

“Just promise me you’ll at least try.”

He felt Lance take a deep breath.

“I am trying, Keith. I’m trying every day.” If Keith felt the shaky breaths or the wetness on his shoulder, he said nothing. It was clear that Lance needed this as much as he did, maybe even more. “I never wished I was Shiro, more than I do right now. He’s been through everything and he’s able to handle it all so easily.”

Oh, absolutely not. There was no way in hell Keith would let Lance talk about himself like that.

He pulled away from their hug, to much of his own dismay, and held Lance at arms length. Violet eyes bore into icy blue ones. The eyes that he could get lost in, but now as not the time to think about that, Keith.

“Lance, you said it yourself. WHat Shiro went through and what you went through was completely different.”

“But-”

“No. You really think that Shiro would be in any better of a state than you are now after being treated the way you were? I have no idea the extent of what they did to you, but I do know that it had to have been absolute hell. You don’t get to compare your pain to others, just because they seem to be doing better than you. Your pain is your own, so stop being an idiot and just acknowledge the fact that those guys are assholes!”

Keith was most definitely not expecting a chuckle from the Blue Paladin, but he assumed it would be better than the alternative.

“That was good, Mullet. You come up with all that yourself?”

Keith rolled his eyes. Of course, leave it to Lance to make a joke about a serious conversation.

“As a matter of fact, I did. And I’ll say it again. As many times as I need to for it to get through your tiny brain.”

“Hey! I’ll assure you my brain is of average size. Some may say it's even above average!”

It was Keith’s turn to laugh.

“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” he joked offhandedly, letting his grip on Lance’s arms finally fall.

Lance fixed him with his characteristically famous smirk that Keith knew could only mean trouble.

“Want to know what else is above average size?” Lance waggled his eyebrows knowingly as Keith facepalmed.

“Oh my god, Lance. No!”

#vld lance #lance serrano #lance mcclain #i love two blue bois and lance is one of them #lance getting to joke and be a normal human being for once #it can't all be angst #I mean it can but like #he deserves to be heard and enjoy his life somewhat #also lance and Keith??? oh yeah klance is happening

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fanvoidkeith · 15 days

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sooooo i may have. spent my day binge watching dungeon meshi and here are my Opinions, having never read the manga ever (very MINOR ANIME SPOILERS ahead! nothing too in-depth but, y'know, for laughs):

laios is my autistic blorbo son boy and i love him and i want him to be happy. go find your sister, dude, but also eat monsters for fun and research reasons. this is the one context where i would say "eat monsters" like... ever

laios is also 1,000 percent a freak for wanting to eat monsters and study them the way he does. absolutely insane man. stop trying to be a martyr, you dumbass, and also stop poisoning yourself. both of these opinions coexist at the same time and i don't know how to feel about it because feelings (and social cues) are difficult

marcille is a lady who is so so SO smart and cool, but has absolutely ZERO street smarts. (babygirl you are JUST like me, except for the whole "being a woman" thing.) she's a "gifted" kid who now has burnout and needs to feel useful or else she feels like a failure constantly kinda girlie. she doesn't want to be abandoned. relatable. i'm concerned at how much i relate to her. stop being so relatable, dammit!!

chilchuck is INCREDIBLY emotionally constipated. lmao. he also has chronic young-forever face, which means he probably gets mistaken for a twelve-to-sixteen-year-old constantly, which... same, dude, same. i've heard (from the manga readers) that he's divorced with several children, but i don't know if that's true. i hope it is. i really want that to be where part of his issues come from. i want more angsty moments with his character. he'll be my new emotional punching bag when i finish all those other unrelated one-shots i'm planning on writing :)

senshi is a sweet man who just wants to feed and protect his new friends. i think food and acts of service are his love languages. he has a really fuckin' strong pot and knife for some reason lmao

i love falin. she's kind of a freak too, but she knows social cues better than her brother from what i can tell. sure hope nothing bad happens to her- oh gods. well, i sure hope nothing ELSE bad happens to her- OH GODS OH FUCK-

uhhhh. i like that the kobolds in this anime are dog-people. i love dogs. dogs are cool. very cute. 12/10 decision honestly

this anime made me so hungry but i still forgot to eat for most of today. rip. the food in dungeon meshi looks goddamn delicious though, so it's fine

sometimes these characters act just like a D&D party would. like. damn. this is just like that ONE TIME in dungeons and dragons when our party did [X action] and then [Y consequences] happened-

oh my goddddddssss there's ECOSYSTEMS IN THE DUNGEONS??? DUDE I LOVE THAT. CRAZY CONCEPT. FUCKING LOVE THAT. ADVENTURERS AND MONSTERS AND CREATURES (and senshi, who is his own category) ARE PART OF AN ECOSYSTEM. I'M CLIMBING UP THE WALLS AND GOING INSANE RN

oooohhhh shit politics. oh shit background politics that our main characters ignored. no wonder they focused on this other party lol

OH SHIT OTHER CHARACTERS FROM THEIR BACKSTORIES RRRRRAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

oh yeah i guess this is about whoever gets the big treasure at the bottom of the dungeon or whatever if they defeat the Big Bad or something? okay dude. it's only relevant to me when it's relevant to my New Blorbos honestly. but i WILL jot that down though :eyes emoji:

look. i am NOT calling it "delicious in dungeon". i KNOW that's the creator's intended english translation, but personally i think that title sucks. so DUNGEON MESHI it is, for me personally

PLEASE give me the second season right now i need MORE. i'm slurping up this show like soup and i'm fucking HOMGRY!!!

okay that's it that you for comjng to my ted talk

#void keith talks #dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi anime #delicious in dungeon anime #late night thoughts #late night rambling #void keith rambles #anime stuff #show stuff #tv show stuff

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otterknowbynow · 4 years

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Altean Home Economics (1/?)

The goo is great, but Hunk sure would feel better if they had kitchen access.

all chapters in this tag | ao3 link in reblogs

The first time he tries the food goo, it's incredible, and Hunk has neither the time nor the brain space to analyze it any further than that. The second time, it's still amazing, and he spends some time marveling at it -- tastes good, filling, and literally no one objects to the texture? He looks around the table surreptitiously at the others. Pidge is talking animatedly to Coran at the far end. As far as Hunk can tell, she's enthusing about the ship's bridge interface in between nearly equally enthusiastic bites. Across the way, Lance appears to be racing Keith to finish his bowl, though Keith -- sitting next to Hunk and humming quietly to himself -- hasn't noticed.

"So, it's entirely nonperishable?" Shiro's voice comes from his other side, and Hunk turns to listen as Allura answers.

"The food goo was designed to sustain the paladins for however long they needed to be traveling, and it regenerates within the castle -- it can't expire, since it's constantly being recreated and reabsorbed by the kitchen if it's not eaten." She smiles. "Plus, it's formulated to cover all the nutritional parameters necessary for Alteans, Olkari, Galra --"

"Why Galra?" Keith has stopped his humming.

"Oh," Allura looks slightly taken aback, but the smile returns quickly. "They wanted to be thorough, of course. And it's not as if we were always at war with the Galra Empire."

"Hm," Keith says, and goes back to his goo.

"Yeah, Keith, maybe the Alteans and the Galra were all chummy back then," Hunk says. "Like, hey purple cat man, love what you've done with your armor spikes."

"Galra don't have armor spikes."

"I know, I know, I'm saying that this Galra, you know -- theoretically --" Hunk gestures across the table.

"Are you calling me Galra?" Lance snaps, putting down his spoon in his empty bowl.

"No no no -- I'm indicating a pretend Galra from ten thousand years ago whose armor spikes --" he drops his hand. "It doesn't matter."

"I notice humans were not on that list," says Shiro, which is not a bad point, though by this time they would have realized if it weren't fit for human consumption.

"Well, there were no human paladins ten thousand years ago!" Allura laughs, and Hunk has to admit it would be a bit absurd for space travel to have even been on the menu for Earth back then. "But rest assured it is free of all toxins and potential toxins --the recipe can't even include karlak, since some life forms never evolved a proper resistance." She looks down at her bowl and sighs. "Shame. I love karlak." Hunk makes a mental note to stay away from anything labeled 'karlak' in the future.

"Can't go feeding the humans karlak, Allura," Coran says emphatically. "Number five was just saying how some of the fungi on their own planet are toxic to them."

“I just think we'd have to run some tests," Pidge says, shrugging.

"Just as long as the 'tests,' aren't the same as the ones we ran for the food goo," says Hunk pointedly. "Pretty sure those 'tests' just consisted of, 'let's eat it and see what happens.'"

***

The third time they have the goo, it's routine. By what Hunk feels like is probably the hundredth time, it's starting to get boring.

"I miss food," he says with a sigh, looking down at his empty bowl. It was good. Delicious, even. The texture decidedly appealing. And yet.

"You can get more!" says Lance, sounding much too upbeat. "It never runs out." He pulls one of the goo hoses out of the wall panel and refills his own bowl with a squelch. "See?" he says, turning back and redeploying that smug half-smile that hardly ever seems to leave his face.

"I mean real food," Hunk says, giving Lance a pointed look. "You know, like pasta? sandwiches? fruit?"

"Pizza, bagels, tamales..." Lance is looking over Hunk's shoulder now, though he's clearly not seeing the plain white wall behind him.

"Yeah, exactly," Hunk says, waving his hand a bit to bring Lance back to the current reality. "Do you think they have anything here besides goo?"

"Coran," says Lance, his eyes sliding back to Hunk's face.

"Not Coran.""No, Coran would know," Lance says, shaking his head. "He made us that Altean slug thing --" his entire face wrinkles up so severely at this that Hunk wishes he could take a picture "-- on our first big training day. If there's a real kitchen on this thing, he’s used it. Haven’t you, also? You made Keith and me those little bowls of mashed and sauteed whatever."“I did that with the hotplates they have in the galley kitchens, but I can’t even do that if I don’t have any ingredients in the first place. I can’t exactly walk out the front door and find anything while we’re floating through the void.” “Are you sure?” Hunk can’t decide if this is an earnest question or not. He blinks. “Of course I’m sure,” he says after a moment, and Lance nods seriously. “Coran, then,” he says, tapping his spoon lightly against his bowl of goo.

"Great, let's go ask him," Hunk claps his hands on his thighs and stands up.

"Oh no," says Lance, and he sits down on the nearest chair with a decisive thump. "I'm not getting dragged into another conversation that ends with him rambling about the time of King Bleegblorp and how he revolutionized Altean military training. I've gotten enough of that to last a lifetime, thank you very much."

"Alright, then stay here and finish that," Hunk jabs his chin toward Lance's refilled bowl. "And I'll go ask him."

#voltron #scribbles #is my writing tag I think it has been. so long.#el watches voltron #this is part one of my brain is telling me three even though there is #no real justification for thinking it will take three (3) parts #also I don't know what any official tags are and tbh don't...Really care that much so

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katel-fire-demon · 4 years

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Well, while I have absolutely no motivation to write, I might as well just ramble into the tumblr void all of the Klance aus I want to write but probably never will:

- Scarlet Pimpernel

- Literally any and all Studio Ghibli movies but especially Nausicaa

- The Last Unicorn

- Ella Enchanted

- Sleeping Beauty (I actually have some plot stuff written out for this one but I have like three different ways I could take it and I can’t decide)

- Winx Club

- Fairy Tail

- Aida (oh my gosh this one would be soooo good)

- Mushishi

- Hogwarts

- Percy Jackson

- Wicked (Keith would be the perfect Elphaba)

- Newsies!!!

#klance #klance aus #I’ll add more when i think of them #voltron #keith #lance #theres gonna be so many musicals on this list #does anyone else in this fandom love musicals?#i need me some good musical au buddies

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browniepokemon · 11 months

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rottmnt changed my damn life

i need to learn how to draw turtles

(also i'm downloading all these gifs i'm finding lol)

#emberian solunaria #void keith #voidkeith #emberian talks #voidkeith talks #void keith talks #these turtles... theyre my sons #i love them 🧡💙❤️💜#the animation... the character bonds... the family of it all.........#[New Special Interest Unlocked]#emberian rambles #voidkeith rambles #rambling in the tags #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise tmnt

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ratsoh-writes · 10 months

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yeah!! my boyfriend's wonderful *i start rambling about how great jasper is while grimbley looks slightly annoyed lol*

-void keith

Lol let’s leave it here since I’m running out of topics for lens and Pluto

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void-tiger · 5 years

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...screw it. I’ll *maybe* write an AU that’s from the point Takashi first crash lands back to Earth.

You know, one that has him having a twin and a preKerb friendgroup made up of Ryou, Lisa, Matt, Veronica, and Ginger (in my fanon she’s Hunk’s sister)? You know...Shiro actually having family and friends that then includes the Paladins? (Oh...and people actually at his launch other than Keith and the Holts. Well, the ones who weren’t currently deployed on their own missions at that time.)

Lots of rambling and thought-dumping as to how that might look plot-wise in a broader sense under the cut (along with other fixits)

Veronica’s seen ribbing her younger brother but also trying to cheer him and his assigned team back up before carrying on with her Garrison Job.

The Trio still sneaks out and runs into Keith causing not-well-thought-out shenanigans beyond a successful diversion.

The Trio+Keith run headlong into Ryou, Lisa, Veronica, and Ginger who had the exact same idea as their younger siblings/the idiot (former) cadet. They ARE Shiro’s friends, afterall. Only, they’re the “scientists” and stick Iverson and the REAL scientists with the sedatives instead of Shiro. (They also made more of an effort to keep an eye on Keith than Adam ever did. They’re also well-aware that Pidge is actually Katie and keep an eye on her, too, but decided not to push her about the shoddy disguise. They *might* be covering for her regarding Iverson&Co, though.)

(Also, the Shack belonged to Ryou and Shiro. But Keith’s staying there, too. Ryou’s not happy about Keith trying to bust Shiro out without him.)

After the initial confusion, the Actual Adults (barely!) TM take over and have everyone pile into their cars while they try to shake off the Garrison and eventually regroup back at the Shack. (Keith’s driving Shiro’s old bike back since he’s the one who took it out. Shiro’s placed in the back of Ryou’s car with the seats laid flat. Ryou’s back there trying to keep him restrained until they can do triage, with Lisa taking over as the driver. Everyone else is with Veronica and Ginger. Or, they all took a ScoobyDoo van from the start vs several cars.)

Shiro actually recognizes the entire Trio, but introduces himself, anyway. (He’s a pilot, not an engineer or analyst. And although Veronica and Ginger bragged about their baby brothers and Matt about his genius gremlin sister, and Ryou definitely bragged about Hunk’s progress, it just didn’t quite work out for him to meet the cadets personally, save maybe Pidge—PR, aviation instruction, and Kerberos prep kinda ate away at his time. He did keep an eye on Lance’s progress, but...any remnants of time kinda went to Adam before the breakup and mentoring Keith. (Ryou kinda just insisted on crashing in Shiro’s post-breakup issued room until the twins finally pooled their resources to buy the Shack.))

The hunt for the Blue Lion goes about the same, only the group’s larger. Blue still picks Lance, kidnaps everyone else like a box of kittens, and goes for a joyride before getting serious. (“YEP. That’s definitely your Lion, Lance,” Veronica snarks.) The same Paladins experience the Vision as before, with the others giving them strange looks when they all randomly zonked out in tandem for half a second.

They eventually end up in Arus’s solar system. (The adults are very, very glad that they didn’t ever have time for pets. (And in this version, Ginger isn’t already a mother, and the Adults are all about 23-26, give or take.) Then internally freaking out about kidnapping a bunch of kids by accident, and kicking themselves about not having any sort of letters ready for everyone’s family. That...could’ve been thought out better (and moves to the top of their priority list. Galaxies away or not, mean purple aliens kinda implies they’ll be gone for awhile. With...a bunch of kids.)

They wake up Allura, but Ryou’s the one to catch her. Veronica twists Lance’s ear before he ever opens her mouth. (“Yeah yeah I know. She’s gorgeous. But not the time.”) (RIP, Lance’s ears...they’re not safe in any reality.) Allura and Coran pull up their starcharts...and discover the same, awful news. The adults herd everybody out to give the Alteans some space to grieve in private.

Allura starts to describe the Lions, but the group interrupts her. (“Uh...we kinda saw a big giant robot in our heads?” “Yeah, and it was freaky watching them all look like zombies for half a second, so hard pass.”) The rest of it goes on as usual, only Lance gets whacked for self-postulating, and Blue actually gets a description this time.

The soon-to-be Paladins split up to look for their Lions, with Keith still at the Castle. Ryou and Ginger set to work helping Coran get the Castle operational again, while Lisa and Veronica take on the task of helping Allura sift through 10,000 years of data backlogged.

Obviously certain events like Sendak capturing the Castle and Crystal Venom would play out somewhat differently. For one, neither Ryou or Lisa would leave Shiro alone. And at least one of them would probably stand with Coran about the ethics about all of it, even if they reluctantly agree that it’s the best option they have.

As far as Shiro’s disappearance, they catch on a LOT sooner that Black’s damaged and actually curling protectively around Shiro. (You know. Like Toothless and Hiccup. Just sayin’.) (As well as an explanation as to why Shiro ended up stored within BlackLion during the fight to protect him, while the other Paladins were not by their own Lions.)

Jiro still shows up thinking he’s Shiro, but has the others gently inform him that no, no he’s not. (Shiro may or may not be already out of BlackLion and recovering.) Jiro consents to having extensive tests done. They find all of Haggar’s implants (and discover that Shiro actually got stuck with a few of his own that Black separated from him when they extracted him out...now that they know what they’re looking at. Oh, and the Blacktashi Bond’s still well and good, but Shiro does have more trauma to work through. At best Shiro’s unconscious the entire time he was stored as energy particle. At worst? Sensory deprivation and FullBody Amputation. Nothing about Shiro being suspended in the Void could’ve been pleasant, even though Black was well-intentioned.) Once free from her control, Jiro’s more determined than ever to take her and the Galra empire down. (As well as freeing the other clones. The others share that sentiment, but especially the Shirogane Twin, who decide to accept Jiro as their “triplet from another mother”.)

Jiro still longs to be a Paladin, though. Allura and Lisa gradually over time begin to share that same longing. Eventually they feel a sort of phantom bond that mimics the one Jiro has with Black not just with the OG Lions, but also an even stronger one they can’t quite pinpoint. They eventually learn that they’re being Called by the second meteor.

Lotor’s still a rival right about the same time. However, by the time he tricks the Paladins into going after the meteor for him, the Castle’s a better match for his ship vs him getting away. (Because, you know. The OG Paladins are still with their Lions. And although Allura went with them to explore the distress call, Coran had Jiro&Co to help him man the Castle.) They fight to a standstill, then eventually call a ceasefire. They’re better about uncovering WHY Lotor wants the meteor/quintessence. Also the surviving Alteans are members of his crew, albeit still disguised to protect them from the Empire. They evacuate the colony vs sticking around. Lotor wants the quintessence first to end balmera mining and komar stripping, but also to have a second attempt at making the colony work.

Allura and Coran are shocked to learn that they’re not the last of their race, but eventually Lotor agrees to carefully continue checking Honerva’s research with Team Voltron&Co before deciding what to do with the comet, and if Lotor’s idea for “unlimited quintessence” is even possible...which eventually leads them to Orionde. (*drops better explanation about that pocket dimension HERE*) Also, the other Paladins probably make it through with both Allura and Lotor in-tow once they stop fighting the Lion and instead evade or request permission to enter (hey, it’d be a nice callback to A Bond Cannot Be Forced), but only Allura and Lotor make it all the way to the end.

When Allura and Lotor rejoin the Paladins and the rest of their crews, Lotor agrees to abandon his attempts to reopen the Quintessence Rift on the remains of Daibazaal--at best Haggar could then seize it and do unspeakable damage. At worst, all of Reality folds in on itself and collapses. There are no shortcuts.

Team Voltron press to know why the Galra covet so much quintessence in the first place:if it’s just to power their technology, then surely it’s past time to discover other means of energy. Lotor reluctantly reveals that the Galra are essentially extinct: what started as a way to extend their lifespans gradually mutated them overtime into no longer being genetically compatible with other members of their own race. They either continue taking the quintessence, or die off. Team Voltron then questions if Lotor and his Generals have that same problem--turns out, yes and no. The Galra are somehow still able to reproduce with other races (which he, Keith, and the generals are the proof of), but there are often complications with those pregnancies. In addition, Lotor and his generals spent enough of their early lives eating quintessence-enriched foods to have developed that same addiction they’re still struggling to ween themselves off of, if it’s even possible at all.

Jiro then casually waves as proof that the Galra have successful cloning...so why not just genetically engineer the next generation to NOT have quintessence dependencies and whatever other genetic mutations that are dooming the Galra. Lotor stares at the clone dumbfounded--he hadn’t even considered that. (Aka, sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to find plausible solutions to problems.) (*cue Save the Galra subplot mixed in around Typical Campy and Main Plot Adventures*)

The meteor is also used to create three new Lions, who immediately Bond with Allura, Jiro, and Lisa.

(For continuity’s sake? Let’s just say Lotor was never declared Emperor Pro-Tem, but always remained exiled/an outlaw.)

(*campy episodes*)

Pidge and Shiro finally find Matt. However, Matt now needs a brace for the leg Shiro injured while posing as “preChampion” to be able to support him. Shiro’s extremely guilt-ridden over it, but Matt assures him that ultimately it did save his life, and instead of having him transferred to a mining penal colony, he actually got transferred as a researcher after fixing the transport. After that, he bid his time for a chance to escape...which he eventually did when his scheme serendipitously coincided with a rebel attack. Unfortunately, Sam didn’t survive, Matt learned post-escape. The stress killed him well before his transport ever took him to a penal colony.

Voltron’s allies continue to grow. However, Zarkon finally recovers right about the time the Blades discover a quintessence supply chain of a new kind of quintessence...which eventually leads to the discovery of SEVERAL cloning fascilities where BlackPaladin Grade Quintessence is being harvested from hundreds of thousands of Shirogane Clones. Takashi, Ryou, and Jiro are all understandably outraged and physically sick at the revelation. Jiro also questions if his quintessence mimicking Shiro’s is the only reason why the BlackLion saved him at all [despite knowing where/having back her Paladin.] Shiro and Ryou try to reassure Jiro that that can’t be the reason/that he has his own value/etc, but Jiro’s unable to quite believe them.

The clones are finally freed (*cue tense battle here*), and like Jiro, many of them are pissed and choose to join the Rebels’ Ranks in various fields as both payback and a genuine desire to help and explore.

(*cue MORE SciFi Camp and Diplomacy etc*)

Eventually there’s another showdown with Zarkon, Haggar, and Company, spanning either into one massive battle or several smaller ones happening at once. Zarkon’s more powerful than ever thanks to the stolen Shirogane Quintessence Haggar used to revive him (that he continued to nom on up until the clones were rescued, although he still had his stockpile to ration)...but his attempts to seize the BlackLion/bust apart Voltron that way fail spectacularly. The Bond cannot be forced, and blacktashi healed eachother.

Zarkon then summons his anti-voltron made from finally successful robeasts with living pilots. (it’s...a work in progress. as in, how does Sendak fit in, or prolly instead Sendak’s Clone, etc etc. But ultimately some of the previous antagonists return, after they got much more backstory etc in Campy TM stuff) (*cue mech battle*)

Allura finally has her match against Haggar and wins.

(Lotor&Co have their own role, but idk what)

At last...Zarkon and Haggar are defeated, with the bulk of their forces either killed, in custody, or on the run.

Lotor fights his way to the top of the Kral Zera to light his flame. However, his rule and insistence on change isn’t popular with the bulk of the remaining empire after 10,000 years under Zarkon. The remnants of Zarkon’s forces also try to cause trouble. There’s also tension with Voltron and the former Rebel Coalition as the universe attempts to rebuild their societies after being subjugated for so long.

The surviving Alteans also long for their own planet and begin to rebuild their culture now that the Galran threat is finally gone, but they’re still vulnerable.

(Earth’s solar system also may or may not have been destroyed near the end of the 10,000 year war, with the surviving humans mainly being the former Galaxy Garrison, so they’re looking for their own planet/system, too.)

(*cue MORE Save the Galra...and The Galra Have Entered The Planet Race!*)

So, you know. Basically an adaptation of Vehicle Voltron as a “post game”.

Aaand, yet more smatterings of SciFi Camp as they rebuild/are Really Really finally at peace, and they finally just get to explore and experience the sort of Paladinship their predecessors did before Zarkon dragged everyone into the 10,000 year war. Because exploration/campy vld stories are always fun.

#long post #read more #vld au #take it back to the start #fixit fic #plot bunny corral #I wanna know what shiro having his own friendgroup would look like...and them being just as dorky and stubborn as he is alright?#except them actually being on earth when Shiro crashes (oh and actually being at his launch? or some of them?)#(vs...them being already deployed in space. which is my excuse for VeeLaDeeFixit)#then of course taking the same elements and past voltron elements and hopefully making a better fusion. or at least less grimdark

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