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btsmosphere · 3 years

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Across the Tracks | KTH

~summary: Don’t cross the tracks. Never once did you question what you had been told your whole life – at least not until a certain boy makes that a bit more difficult...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | drabble

~pairing: taehyung x reader (she/her) ~word count: 7.1k ~dystopian au, strangers to lovers, angst, fluff, inspired by lady and the tramp ~rating: pg15 ~warnings: adoption, dystopia, violence, breaking and entering, arrest, electric shocks, burns, scars, swearing, probable overuse of the nickname ‘pidge’ oop

~a/n: hi guys, and thank you to everyone being so kind about the first part!! Again, cr to the wonderful, amazing @un2-verse for the initial idea, ilyy! Now, to everyone, enjoy the fic and don’t hesitate to come chat with me about it🥰

You weren’t exactly aware of moving. The moment you came to your senses was the same that your thick plastic bracelet connected with the back of a skull.

Still staring in shock at the figure that crumpled to all fours before you, you didn’t spare a moment to see as the other assailant was thrown off. The man was weakly moving, but the remnants of your fear mingling with the horror of your situation left a nasty taste in your mouth.

Meanwhile, your rescuer had turned their attention to you.

“Hey,” the familiarity of the voice was still lost on you, “hey, pidge?”

A hand landing on your shoulder finally forced your eyes to drift away from the man on the floor, currently stirring and groaning. When you faced Taehyung, it was to find soft, dark eyes watching you with a hint of concern.

Glancing back at the two men on the ground, Taehyung showed you his side profile for a second.

“Let’s get out of here, yeah?” his voice remained low, cautious.

He waited for you to go first, so you carefully stepped around the men, staying as far away from them as possible. Back in the connecting alley, you had to wait for Taehyung to reach your side to know where to go.

“What are you doing out here, huh, pidge?” he eyed you as you set off beside him.

Since you had started moving again, your hand had naturally gravitated over your shocker again, and you glanced down at it now.

“I… got lost,” your voice was small.

“You don’t strike me as the type to be anywhere near here, cub,” he spoke, deep voice cutting off for a moment as he peered around a corner before leading you down it, “so how’d you get lost?”

“I, um…” trailing off, you turned your eyes to the ground. How to tell him that you had run off like a child?

But he was alerted by your silence, looking back down at you.

“Pidge?”

“I- it was my fault-“ you started, throwing your hands out in defeat.

Taehyung stopped in his tracks beside you, startling you to halt as well. Though his hand began to reach out, slowly, he seemed to think twice and dropped it. Either way, you realised what he had noticed, the cause for his shock.

“They didn’t…” his head shook almost imperceptibly.

But you had already drawn back, pulling your handicapped wrist firmly into your chest, somehow self conscious under his sad stare.

Barely a blink, however, and the agonising stinging was shooting through you again. Involuntary cry leaving your lips, your knees seemed to give up as the electricity burned you.

But instead of meeting the stony ground, your body fell against another, two hands hurriedly pulling you against him by your upper arms. As the shock subsided, the ground returning to your feet, you pulled away. Your form still shook.

Gulping back the tears that had been startled to your eyes, you avoided his captivating gaze.

“You were right,” you sniffed

In the corner of your eye, you saw his hand lift. One finger brushed gently up your cheek, clearing back the hair that had fallen across it.

“I didn’t want to be, pidge,” his deep voice was like velvet, coating something so sad. “Let me see?”

Patiently, he waited until you eased the arm away from your chest. As you held it out, his fingers ghosted against your skin, just to hold the hand in place. Training his eyes intently on the device, he rotated your wrist.

At the same moment as him, you spotted the crack running up the plastic. A short laugh escaping as he looked up at you, Taehyung’s breath blew onto your skin, raising goosebumps in their wake.

“You did good, little cub,” he chuckled, “his head’s gonna hurt. But we gotta get this off.”

“Do you know how?”

Tilting his head, he seemed to give it some thought. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he looked down the alleyway, although when you followed his gaze you saw nothing.

“…yeah, I might have an idea,” he eventually nodded.

In a flash, a grin lit up his face, erasing the seriousness of before. Setting off again, your eyes widened as his hand slipped down from your wrist to grip your own.

Swallowing, you hurried after him, trying not to think too much about it.

In the end, you were quite glad for his touch. The neighbourhood he led you through made you uneasy; even more delapidated houses lined the streets, water splashing at each corner where the pipes were invariably broken, more graffiti littering the brickwork.

So although your eyes couldn’t help but wander, peering down every turn and darting to any small sound, you stuck close to his grounding presence.

Winding further through this unknown part of the city, the drizzle never ceased. Thankful for the brisk pace you were travelling at, you tried to control your shivering, clamping your jaw shut to stop your teeth chattering. Your blouse was all that protected you from the air, and it was being plastered against your skin.

However, Tae’s eyes missed nothing. Between checking the streets around you, he periodically looked back to you at his side.

When his hand first pulled away from yours, your fingers chased desperately after his, not wanting to lose a fraction of warmth.

“Hey,” he laughed, “don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Instead, he shook his arms from his black coat. Not waiting for you to take it, he dropped it directly onto your shoulders. As you shoved your arms inside, the warmth made you sigh.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” he grinned, hand landing on your shoulder as he turned to look ahead. “We’re here.”

In front of you stood an enormous building. Large chimneys rose from its roof towards the sky. The dark of the walls seemed even blacker than the night, floodlights positioned periodically along its large perimeter fence doing little to illuminate the place.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” Tae stood in front of you, throwing his arms out, inviting you to admire the place.

But you only eyed the man in front of you, his midnight hair dripping a little onto his black clothes. Not that he seemed to care, equally dark eyes glittering as he grabbed your hand again and practically jogged onwards.

“What are we doing?” you hissed.

Tracking his way along the fence, he suddenly stopped in front of you, not bothering to answer.

“After you.”

The way he bowed, twirling his hands, made him seem like a butler. However, there was no fancy entrance to match; he was ushering you through a narrow hole in the fence, raw ends of wire snaking inwards.

You looked back and forth at the boy, those eyes watching you hopefully, and the tear in the fence.

Sighing, you slipped through, only catching the hem of your trousers before safely emerging.

“Where are we?” you whispered as Tae joined your side.

“This is the car factory,” he said, “it’s going to get that shocker off.”

“Oh,” you frowned stepping forwards-

Only to have a hand stop you.

“Stay close to the fence,” he warned, easing you back so you walked between him and the perimeter.

Although your feet trailed after him, your heartbeat near enough doubled when you noticed his secrecy. This was not something you should be doing.

“We’re- we’re breaking in?!” you exclaimed, wary of your volume.

A smirk met you as Tae looked over his shoulder.

“Why, does that scare you, pidge?”

But as you spluttered for a response, another jolt of electricity shot down your arm.

Yelping, you clutched at the fence beside you. When you opened your eyes, all traces of playfulness had disappeared from Taehyung’s face – instead, he was closer, hands reaching for you as he lowered to your eye level, searching for your gaze.

Finding you staring back, his eyes darted down to the heavy shocker on your arm.

“You wanna get that off, don’t you?”

A shaky breath left you.

“Yes…”

“Then follow me.”

Taehyung had promised to be back.

Still nestled in his coat, your fingers fidgeted as you kept your eyes on the patch of darkness he had faded into. Maybe he’s going to leave you, your mind spun in circles, he’ll steal something and leave you to take the blame.

Your heart knocked steadily against your ribs, no sound louder than your breathing and the light spatter of drizzle.

You already knew he had a history with the controllers, and this didn’t look good for you. But, glancing nervously behind you at the gaping blackness that lay down every alley, you knew you would fare no better if you left either.

Teeth trapping your lower lip, you hunched your shoulders and kept waiting.

It wasn’t too long untill a loud wail cut through the night. Practically leaping with fright, you whipped around, trying to identify what was happening.

The moment you turned back, Taehyung was right in front of you-

And getting closer still.

“Run!” he called over the siren.

With no time to ask questions, you quickly spurred your feet into action, racing away from the building Tae had just come from.

“Did you get caught?” you panted.

“No,” somehow he managed to send you a grin, “that’s not where we were aiming for.”

Bewildered, you opened your mouth again, but a shout rung out. Across the yard, nearer to the factory, several figures were running towards the source of the alarm.

Luckily the far edge of the factory was finally drawing near, and with aching limbs you pushed forwards, falling against the bricks the moment you rounded out of sight. Taehyung was right beside you, exhilirated grin still fixed in place even as his chest heaved.

“What now?” you breathed.

“In here.”

Shoving himself away from the wall, Tae moved to the base of a long window. Bars ran the whole way up, slicing your view of the factory inside.

As you watched on with alarm, he reached for the lowest bar and used one small hop to boost himself up. Eyeing him as he clung onto the bars and looked down to you, you shook your head.

“This is crazy.”

For some reason that only seemed to make him smile wider.

“Come on then cub, what are you waiting for?”

“We’ll- we’ll get caught..” you punctuated your unease with a glance behind you.

“Not if we’re quick.”

Chewing at your lip, you reminded yourself of the weight on your wrist, the uncomfortable burn still lingering there. You were just about ready to give in when he spoke again, those big eyes fixing themselves on yours once again.

“You can trust me, pidge.”

With only a small huff, you stepped forwards and hoisted yourself up behind him.

Maybe you were a little crazy, too, to be doing this. But despite the slight slick of drizzle on the cold metal, the climbing wasn’t too hard, more like climbing a ladder. You were well practiced in maneuvering your way up trees in the park, so you made quick work of the window.

At the top, you were met with another window, this time without bars. Presumably they didn’t expect anyone to reach it, as there was no lock apart from a latch that broke with enough force from Taehyung.

With his hands off the bars and shoving the pane up to let you in, however, your heart leapt once again to your mouth, this time spurring you on rather than causing hesitation.

Ducking inside, you quickly dropped onto wooden floor. The window scraped shut behind you, Tae’s hand finding yours again and pulling you to the right. Your footsteps fell softly within the shadows that climbed the walls, the dust drifting within slivers of moonlight that filtered through the windows.

Rows upon rows of abandoned workbenches stretched through the long, thin space. The next room was the same, though with more bits of machinery you couldn’t recognise also lined up on the countertops.

Slowing, Taehyung observed every one as you went past, but quickly tsked and sped up again, onto the next room.

“Aha!” he breathed in elation.

Though you could barely see a difference between this room and the last, you obliged as he led you, squeezing between benches, towards a machine that was bolted to the wall. Letting your hand fall from his, he investigated, closely examining every edge of the metal until he found a button.

As he pressed it down, a rumbling, though quiet, seemed to blare through the space.

Tae glanced back, but not at you, his eyes travelling to the doorways first.

“Come here,” he beckoned you.

Catching your wrist as you moved closer, he lifted it and placed it at the edge of a metal plate in the centre of the thing, illuminated by a dull yellow light that had flickered into life.

“What are you-“

“Stay still.”

Another button and the grating of metal made you both wince. At the firm grip on your wrist, you realised your hand had jolted from its place.

A metal column was steadily descending. Heading resolutely for your arm.

Just as your eyes widened in slight panic, Tae piped up-

“You know they use these things to shape the doors and stuff? This whole room, just for car doors! They use steel, it’s easy to mould-“

A gasp left your lips as you felt a small but definite tug on your arm. The metal had met with your bracelet, avoiding your wrist. Its pace barely slowed as it ploughed through the plastic as if it was butter, soon falling uselessly away from your wrist.

A gasp of joy left you as you were finally free to carress the irritated skin.

Cradling it, you rubbed gently to loosen your silver bracelet that had imprinted onto your skin when it was clamped underneath the shocker.

“Shit-“

You saw it at the same moment as Taehyung. A blazing red line was etched on your skin, winding around your wrist like another piece of jewellery.

“What’s this?” he was asking, fingers easing the gifted bracelet away from your skin.

“My parents gave it to me,” your eyes didn’t leave it, “when my papers came.”

“It’s silver.”

Blinking, you finally looked up at him.

“I think so.”

He drew his lip between his teeth.

But before either of you could speak again, a muffled shout broke you apart. Stepping in front of you, Taehyung moved forwards until he could see down from the window, jaw set.

With a curse, he spun around and grabbed your unharmed wrist, kicking the remnants of the shocker away under a bench.

“We need to go.”

Instantly alerted, your feet were already heading back the way you came, to the window, but you barely made it one stride before Taehyung was pulling you back. Eyes fixed ahead, he never returned your questioning stare as you flew through more doorways, past rows and rows until you were dizzy.

Somewhere below, a heavy clunk sounded as the main door to the building was opened.

And beyond the doorways you had passed through, at the other end of the building, footsteps could be heard echoing throught the space.

Shooting a look back in alarm, you thankfully found no one on your tail yet. The moment you looked forwards again, Tae was leading you down a rickety metal staircase, not caring about the din as you tore down it.

Feet landing on the ground floor, your eyes searched fruitlessly for a door.

“Tae, how do we-?”

The question froze in your throat as you turned around to him wrenching a grill off the wall.

“Quick, pidge,” he ushered you urgently forwards, “this vent comes out at the back, go!”

Both above and on this floor, footsteps were getting closer as you stared into the dark vent.

“What-“

“Just go, quick!” his hands pushed you gently forwards, but you could sense their jitteriness and took a deep breath, diving in headfirst.

There was enough room to get on your hands and knees, so you shuffled forwards as fast as you could, rounding a bend almost straight away. At the scraping of metal, you looked back to assure yourself Tae was behind you.

Only you were met with empty space.

Gaping, your mouth opened and closed in panic, knowing it unwise to speak up. Desperation was clawing at you however, the heavy footfalls of the guards audible even within the vent.

“Evening, gentlemen,” Taehyung’s voice floated through the grate, tone easy.

You gulped nonetheless.

“Lovely night we’re having,” he continued, oblivious to the way your heart was squeezing its way up your throat.

A bang rattled the metal covering just around the corner, Tae’s body slamming against it as you jumped away, hand flying to clamp over your mouth.

“What are you doing in here?” a voice you didn’t recognise snarled.

“Ah, well you see“ – how Tae was so calm you had no idea – “I was walking my dog and he saw this rabbit and chased it through the fence! I didn’t see where he went, I thought it might have been here, but as you can see, he’s not-“

“You think you’re funny, huh?” a new, equally unfriendly voice, interrupted.

“Well, I wouldn’t-“

Tae’s words were once again cut off with a harsh clatter of metal against brick. Jostling and scuffling was all you could hear for a moment, retreating further down the dark vent until the sounds grew fainter.

Eventually, near silence returned.

Sucking in a steadying breath, you inched back towards the grate, peering through a gap.

Taehyung was nowhere to be seen.

He was probably among the small gaggle of people walking away from you, but you couldn’t see well. Chest suddenly feeling tighter, you shrank back.

Glancing down the vent Tae had sent you into, it looked a lot smaller now. It felt like forever that you hesitated, the people in the factory disappearing completely from view while you grappled with the obvious conclusion.

If you were to follow Tae, nothing good could come of it except that two of you would be in trouble rather than one.

As much as you wanted him, it was perhaps a selfish part of you that knew you never wanted to cross paths with the controllers. It would surely destroy your conscience, your reputation.

So, with Tae’s words echoing in your head, you turned away.

This vent should come out at the back… okay, getting out shouldn’t be too hard. If you just got to the other side of the fence… but then, what would you do? You barely knew left from right in this area, how would you ever find your way back?

What if more people found you, tried to catch you like they had before?

A small voice reminded you that Taehyung wasn’t exactly a model citizen either, but at least he had helped you.

Not long later, you came face to face with another metal grate. Though it took you minute to shimmy it open, the metal rusty and screeching all the while, no one seemed to be alerted by the time you clambered out.

Fixing it back in place, you came to a stop.

The fence was only feet away from you, unlit as this was the back of the property. Beyond, you couldn’t make out much more than sparse bushes in the darkness.

Even the drizzle was dying now, forcing you to wallow in complete quiet as you remained frozen. The burning skin around your wrist still tingled, not allowing your pain to be forgotten.

You swallowed hard.

If you had felt alone before, you felt much more deserted now with the absence of Taehyung.

Wringing your hands, you glanced left as if it would bring you answers. With a sigh, you looked the other way down the building – only to jump out of your skin.

As you choked on a gasp, Taehyung’s grin only grew on his face, laughing at your fright.

“Taehyung! When did you get there? How did you-?”

“Didn’t think I’d leave you alone, did you, pidge?”

Still reeling in your shock, you merely blinked, prompting another deep laugh from him. Slinging an arm around your shoulder, he strode towards the fence, tilting his head to look down at you.

“Now, let’s get out of here, yeah? There’s a lot more to do.”

“But- Tae, what happened to you? How did you get away?”

Slipping through the fence first, you squinted at a cut on his head. It certainly hadn’t been there before.

“Plenty of practise, pidge,” he said, returning to your side. He offered up nothing more than a smile, but there was nothing behind it this time.

Sighing, you dropped the matter and fell into step beside him. Where his feet steered, you would follow, still none the wiser about exactly where you were. Though your fingers hovered over your wounded wrist, they dared not even skim the tender skin there.

After the fourth time it slipped down, making you wince, you quietly slipped your bracelet off and into your pocket.

“You hungry, pidge?” Tae nudged you after a few more minutes.

“I- I guess…” you shrugged, “I don’t want to trouble you-“

Tae actually laughed out loud then, throwing his head back. His arm landed across your shoulders, squeezing lightly.

“You’re no trouble, pidge. Never think that.”

“O-okay,” you returned, perplexed as he fixed you with a stare.

“First stop,” he announced then.

On reaching a run-down door, not even as tall as his shoulders, he clicked his heels, hands behind his back. When you laughed at him, he seemed satisfied and reached forward to rap on the door.

For a few moments, nothing happened, your eyes sliding between Tae and the door as he stood epectantly.

Eventually, the door – which was more like a plank – squeaked open, revealing a platinum-haired man. Poking his head out, a gummy grin lit up his face.

“Tae!”

“Hey Yoongi,” he greeted, stepping back so that you were visible, “I was hoping we could see Joon?”

Shuffling your feet, you watched Yoongi’s face darken slightly, casting his eyes over you.

“Yeah, sure,” he nodded, though his eyes never left you.

Melting away into the darkness inside, Yoongi was soon replaced by a taller man who hit his head on the doorframe as he came to meet you.

“Hi, I’m Namjoon,” he smiled at you, still rubbing his crown, “Tae, what can I do for you?”

“This is Y/N, she’s had a rough night,” Tae ushered you forward, “do you have anything for burns?”

Carefullly, he raised your wrist to Namjoon. Pushing his glasses onto his head, Joon leant forwards, squinting at the damage with a low hiss.

“Yeah, I should have something,” he stood back, “how did that happen?”

“Shocker. Silver bracelet,” was all Tae offered in explanation.

“Gods, those disciplinariums ought to be shut down,” Joon shook his head, then, “I’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t long before he returned with the promised treatment, helping you apply a cream that instantly soothed your skin.

“Okay, we’d better be off,” Tae rubbed a hand over your back as he said farewell.

Thanking Namjoon, you nervously took the small tub of cream he pressed into your hand. Waving as you walked away, you found the shabby door had already closed.

“Did we pay him?” you muttered.

“Don’t you worry about that, pidge,” he just grinned.

“B-but mother and father told me-“

“Things are different here, cub,” he explained, “if you have the money for something, great. But this side of the tracks, dunno if you can tell, but we’re not exactly well-off.”

“Did we- did we steal?” you whispered, scandalised

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he chuckled. You only gaped.

“Stealing is wrong!”

“Some people on your side of the tracks ought to be told that, pidge,” he quirked his head, bitterness creeping onto his face, “they take everything from us, and then pretend to make it better by stealing our children too.”

Stunned into silence, you merely blinked up at him. His mouth was set in a grim line as he turned to you.

“I’m sorry, pidge, but you gotta understand. You’re from round here too, when it comes down to it. It’s not ‘lucky’ that you got picked up by some rich couple, it’s a damn shame you have to be on the other side to have a shot at a decent life.”

“I- I think I understand,” you swallowed, “but don’t the people here work? Like father does? Then you shouldn’t have to steal.”

Tae chewed on his lip as he led you into a small alley, still moving slowly.

“It’s a bit different for us, pidge,” he spoke, “we make stuff in the factories, it gets sold on the other side. We work for them, and they don’t pay us enough to buy the stuff we’re making.”

Letting his words sink in, turning them over in your mind as you tried to make sense of them, you broke the silence as you came towards the end of the alley. Your voice was quiet, uncertain. Tae made everything you had been taught seem… unfair.

“Is there… is there really no way? No way out?”

As Tae seemed to chew on his words, his steps slowed. You had come around the corner, warm light seeping into the darkness from the back window of the nearest building. Instead of a cramped alley, this space opened up into a small yard.

A single breath in had your mouth watering – a rich scent was emanating through a vent at the back.

Just as you took another, a shout.

“Hey, looks who’s here!”

The door was thrown open. Tae’s chuckle reverberated in your ears as you startled, stumbling back into his chest.

“Here’s dinner,” he smirked.

“My favourite tramp!” a man greeted as he hurried out, an apron swishing around his knees, “it’s been a while, Tae.”

“Hey, Jimin,” they exchanged a brief hug before Jimin’s eyes fell on you.

Under his keen gaze, you shrank back.

“Who’s this?” he tilted his head towards you, but addressed the question to Taehyung.

“This is Y/N,” Tae fell back to your side, arm falling over your shoulders once again. “We’re kind of hungry.”

“You could at least pretend you want to see me,” Jimin scoffed, but broke into a smile, “but fine, food it is.”

Though Jimin fixed Tae with a stare and a quirked eyebrow, he said nothing else before whipping back inside.

“Hey pidge,” Tae started, “come with me.”

Hand gliding back into place, to intertwine his fingers with yours, he gently pulled you forwards. Reaching the back window of what you now presumed to be a restaurant, a small alcove revealed a narrow set of steps.

“Careful now, pidge,” he warned.

Schooling the curious frown off your face, you obliged, climbing ahead of him.

As you reached the precipice, all the breath was stolen from your lungs.

The stairs opened onto a small roof terrace; nothing to see in itself, a derelict rail running around the edge and a small table perched to the side. But the view…

Never before had you seen your city like this. Sprawled out, vast even in the night that hid away the corners of it, and dotted with flecks of light. Head slowly turning, trying to take it all in, you let your mouth hang open. Behind every prick of light was another family, another life you may never cross over.

It was as if the constellations had landed, just for you.

“Pretty good, right?”

Though you were reluctant to tear you eyes from the city, you were rewarded for your efforts with Tae’s dazzling smile. Perfectly at ease, he basked in the timid glow of night.

When his eyes turned to you, the world stopped moving.

You thought maybe you could forgo all the sparkle of the lights for the burning dark of his eyes.

“Having fun, lovebirds?”

Jumping back from Taehyung at Jimin’s voice, you noticed just how close you had gotten.

Either way, a grateful smile made its way to your lips at the steaming plates of food he bore, carrying with them that heavenly scent from the yard down below. Pausing for a moment before he handed the food over, you saw Jimin’s eyes flick between the two of you.

But as Jimin retreated, Tae pulled out a chair for you, once again bowing as if this was a five star hotel rather than an old roof terrace.

If you were honest, you were a bit uneasy about the chair being able to hold you, but it dutifully remained intact, allowing you to enjoy your meal.

And enjoy it you did.

Senses overwhelmed, you weren’t sure where to look. The awe-inspiring city lay right there, but an equally handsome man was opposite you, the lights sparkling in his eyes even as he slurped at his pasta.

Perhaps it was the fact you were starving hungry, but the meal was just as heavenly as the view, tastebuds gorging on the delicious sauce. Though you longed to dig in as Tae was, your table manners were firmly drilled in, so you persevered with your fork, twirling the spaghetti neatly around.

Somewhere along the way, your manners did devolve. As Tae leant back, stretching with a satisfied sigh, you were scooping the stuff into your mouth.

It wasn’t until you found him staring at you, soft smile curving his lips, that you froze.

“Sorry-“ you mumbled, hastening to wipe at your mouth.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he chuckled, then cleared his throat. “I was – ahem – just wondering if you wouldn’t miss a couple forkfuls of that.”

Ah, so he was making heart eyes at the food. You could hardly blame him and simply nodded, allowing him to take a scoop.

Laughing at his somewhat guilty eyes, you shovelled another mouthful for yourself, still slurping at the pasta in a way mother would surely scold you for, if she could see.

To your alarm, however, you found yourself yanked sideways as you did so. Eyes widening, you found your lips pressed awkwardly to Tae’s, one strand of spaghetti holding you there. It took you a second to react, hurriedly biting down and pulling away the moment you came to your senses. Nervous laughter was startled from you as you averted your gaze, heat rising rapidly in your cheeks.

But Tae’s eyes never dropped.

The barest hint of a smirk still graced his lips, gently sliding away into nothing as he watched you. Eyes lingering, he swallowed.

When you looked up, his lips were parted slightly as he stared at you. If you blinked, you might well have missed it, though, as he hastily pulled his mouth back into a smile. Then he turned away, forcing his gaze back to the city before you.

“It’s a beautiful night.”

His voice was low and raspy, taking him by surprise. Clearing his throat, a short glance at you instilled his hope that you hadn’t noticed.

Each of you obligingly let silence settle, leaving the leftover spaghetti untouched.

Instead, you sat back, content in letting the cool air wrap itself around you. Playing dot-to-dot with the spots of light, you didn’t mind the barest breeze that teased stray strands of your hair. All the while you were aware of the warmth coming from Taehyung at your side.

A deep sigh left him, joining the course of the air as it brushed past you.

“You see that pidge?” his eyes stayed on the city as he sighed. “There’s a world beyond that. Not everywhere is like this. They don’t have this side of the tracks and that side.”

Pulled from your reverie, you gave into his magnetism, finally fixing your gaze on him again. Gesturing at nothing in particular, he continued.

“We could run away… let this place break itself apart and- and just go where we please.”

The sparkle in his eyes was almost enough to spark something in your heart too. But down there among the dark, was your home. Your brother.

“But Tae, my family…” you whispered. As soon as the words left your lips, your teeth clamped around your tongue, some faint wish of having never said those words.

Taehyung shook his head, gaze falling to his hands where they rested in his lap.

“When you aren’t tied down… when you aren’t tied down then you can think these things. They can’t keep you forever, you know. True chidren move out, become people… you shouldn’t have to stay and look pretty on the shelf for them, pidge. Your dreams don’t have to live where you close your eyes.”

He turned to you then. You couldn’t have breathed if you wanted to.

Again, it seemed you had fallen into this man’s magnetic pull, somehow closer than you remembered getting. His eyes were too powerful for you to pull away from, somehow wide and shining while something dark flickered beneath those irises.

It was a slow surge as he moved forwards, his breath falling onto your cheek, your lips.

The darkness of the night, the city, the terrace, blurred at the corners of your vision, unable to look away from the entrancing boy – every fleck of gold in his eyes, each eyelash, sloping down, and now dropping shut-

There was no impact as his lips met yours, feather-soft as they pressed together.

You moved together with ease, slotting into place perfectly as your lips brushed. That was all it took. The moment you confirmed what he was silently asking, he was pressing into your mouth, lips much more than a phantom and very, very real.

Fingers that were resting lightly at your jaw now fervently tugged you closer.

Your head was spinning by the time both his hands were on you. Moulding to his touch, you indulged in his mouth as he pulled you onto his lap, hand gliding over your back. Craving more of him, you eagerly pushed closer, leaving no space for the breeze to weave between your bodies.

Breath fell hot between you as the kiss broke at last, but you found you had been robbed of all words.

“Just stay with me for tonight, pidge.” Tae’s voice was breathy, casting itself to the wind inches from his lips. A hopeful grin spread onto his face. “What’s life without a little adventure?”

Exhaling, you nestled into him once again, casting your eyes back out to the glimmering lights of the city. And he seemed happy with that, arms curling securely around you while they still could.

That night, you both dreamed of running away.

Fingers were trailing winding paths through your hair, rousing you from sleep. It was only slow, the world piecing itself together inch by inch around you, but now you blinked blearily, light filtering through your lashes.

When the hand withdrew from your head, you pried your eyes further open, twisting around.

Taehyung was already looking at you. Soft smile playing on his lips, he ran his hand once more over your head at your pout.

“Sorry, cub, didn’t mean to wake you,” he chuckled.

“No, no,” you shook your head, fidgeting to an upright position as a yawn forced its way out, “wh-what time is it?”

Only a shrug answered, a vague wave towards the sky. Turning, you found the city sprawled out ahead of you, but this time bathed in light as a glow pierced the horizon.

Gnawing at your lip, you kept in your words. It was morning, and you had never been away from home this long, even if it wasn’t your parents waiting for you there. You already missed this moment, knowing you would have to go.

Tae pulled you to his chest again, arms snaking their way around your middle, the ghost of his lips on your neck-

Sighing heavily, you turned back to him, though you didn’t meet his eyes.

“Tae I- thank you, but, I should go home now.”

A moment of silence elapsed, Tae’s arms not budging from where they circled you.

Then, he deflated. Releasing you from his lap, he nodded, more to himself than anything.

“Alright, pidge. Let’s get you home.”

Descending from the terrace, you let the view fade from sight without looking back. The walk was steady, but it seemed to stretch on for hours with the torture of walking beside Tae, unable to give in to your urge to reach out for his hand.

But you couldn’t allow yourself to do that.

Idly observing as the houses you passed became freshly painted, weeds between the paving slabs turning to freshly mown lawns, you tried to reason with yourself. What would Jin and Hoseok think? Not only had you crossed the tracks, but you had broken into a building with the notorious Taehyung.

And then eaten delicious spaghetti with him.

And kissed him.

Resolving never to speak of it again, you cast your eyes down. Why was your common sense betraying you now? Don’t associate with the other side, that was unspoken rule number one. You were better off here, you were lucky to have mother and father.

But that wasn’t what Tae had told you.

And something in you believed him. After your whole life being shooed away from the true children, watching them go to school and learn and do all the things you couldn’t, you wondered why they had taken you in after all.

“What flowers do you like, pidge?”

Double-taking, you were ripped from your thoughts to find Tae calling from behind you.

“I- I don’t know…” you frowned, eyes travelling to the property he had stopped beside.

“Okay pidge, wait here,” he grinned, “gonna need something to remember me by, right?”

He jumped. He jumped, vaulting over the short front wall before you could even utter a sound of warning. Dashing forwards, you watched with wide eyes as you saw him tramp through the garden like it was his own.

“Tae! What are you-?”

Stopping in front of a pristine flower bed, Taehyung’s hands fell on his hips.

“You gotta have a little fun, pidge! It’s harmless, don’t worry! Now do you like yellow or purple best?”

“Uh, um, purple,” you quickly decided, hoping to hurry him along.

Glancing over your shoulder, you scanned the road for anyone watching, bouncing on the balls of your feet as your fingers tapped impatiently on the wall. Finding nothing, you looked back to find Tae focussed intently on the flowers in his fingers, twisting the stems together with his tongue poking out.

Against your better sense, a smile fought its way to the surface.

Then, to your left, voices. Whipping your head around, you searched for the source, which revealed itself as two men emerging around the corner.

Head to toe in black, they sported a small orange stripe on the shoulder of their uniform.

Your heart rocketed in your chest, feet instantly backpedalling, but the controllers already had their eyes on you.

“Tae!” you caught his attention.

As if in slow motion, you watched him find the controllers standing at the corner, watched them locate him, and watched them each start running.

Feet slamming onto the concrete beside you, Tae was already gripping your hand.

“Now’s where we get going,” he panted.

Not hesitating for a second, both of you sped off immediately. Still fairly close to the tracks, despite being on your side, Tae seemed much more familiar with the streets than you. At some point your hands broke apart as he threw himself into a narrow path between houses.

Skidding around the corner after him, you did your best to keep up. The heavy boots thudding close behind were certainly good motivation.

Another turn and a fence stood resolutely in your way. Unfazed, Tae barely slowed down as he hopped over it with ease.

Scrambling after him, your foot slipped, scraping your calf against the wood. Still, you jumped again, struggling to reach the other side. The barrier was nearly as tall as you, only letting you snatch a glimpse of Taehyung disappearing through another garden.

Your eyes stayed on him as a bruising grip pulled your shoulder.

You didn’t struggle as your arms were yanked behind your back, manhandling you against the wall with barely enough time to turn away. Harsh brick scratched at your face while metal dug into your wrists for the second time.

Shoving you forward roughly, your feet nearly lost the ground, but you caught yourself, watery eyes staying on the ground while the hands on your arms marched you away. All you could do was hold in the gasps that constricted your throat.

You couldn’t even look back.

It had been a minute or so since Taehyung last heard the footsteps. Allowing his legs to drag him to a stop, his back fell against a wall, chest heaving. Nonetheless, a wide smile lit up his face with exhilaration.

“You alright, pidge?” he turned, one shoulder staying on the wall as he rolled around to see you.

The street was empty.

Upright in an instant, Tae’s smile vanished in a second.

“Pidge?”

He was already half-yelling but couldn’t bring himself to care when everywhere he looked showed him a distinct lack of you. Spinning in circles, his eyes roamed desperately to no avail.

Breath falling in choppy pants, he set his body in motion again, driving himself to the last corner he turned, then the one before that and the next one… at every empty space, his heart dropped agonisingly.

No no no, he had lost you! He was supposed to be getting you back home, safe and sound.

As much as he didn’t want you to go, this was never in the plan.

Forced to give up, though he must have been running for some time, he dropped his gaze to the flowers still held loosely in his hand.

Petals collided with concrete as Taehyung turned away.

Thanks for reading! Reblogs and comments always welcome and appreciated💜come chat with me!

>comment/message me to be added to the taglist<

Taglist: @aianloveseven @preciouschimine @kb-bangtanenthusiast @un2-verse @taegularities @wheresmymoniat @ttaechwita @dideedoll1996 @ggukkieland @wt-fxck

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calligraphist-artemisia · 3 years

Text

The Butterfly Dome

Written for Kidgeweek 2021!

I won’t be doing all of Kidgeweek this year (though I am writing something for each day of the Kidge Spring Event), but I do have three one-shots written, including this one. (The others will be on the 19th and 22nd.)

This one is the prompt for April 17 - Botanical Gardens/Lake Time. I chose to go with Botanical Gardens.

Also posted on AO3 under the username Kishirokitsune.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

The Butterfly Dome

As part of a deal with her mom, Pidge agreed to work at the Plaht Botanical Garden for one month in their volunteer program. In return, she would be allowed to spend her final month before college on a lengthy road trip with her friends. She thought it was a pretty great deal.

Pidge would be primarily working in the greenhouse to help care for seedlings and saplings alike, as well as to help quarantine everything new that came in until they were sure they weren't carrying unwanted pests or disease. It was hot and humid and Pidge didn't really care for that, but she didn't hate working in the greenhouse and that was all that mattered.

At the end of her first week, she was given a new task: deliver flowering plants to the caretakers of the Butterfly Dome, which was basically an even bigger greenhouse meant to do exactly as it sounded.

“Ask for Keith,” her mother advised as she finished loading up the cart. “He's in charge of accepting new arrivals. And also make sure he reads this-” (Colleen held up a folded letter) “-and don't go anywhere until he does.”

Pidge took the letter and stuck it into the pocket of her apron. “Is it a list of all the plants?”

Colleen shook her head. “No, it's instructions to take you under his wing for the day. We don't have much going on in here this weekend, but the Dome could use the extra hand and I promised them one of our volunteers.”

“Does this happen a lot? Just moving people around without asking if they're okay with it?” Pidge asked, disgruntled by the sudden shift in her routine.

“On occasion,” Colleen replied. “Most of our volunteers are here because they want to do a little bit of everything. I wouldn't send you to the Dome if I thought you would hate it. And just think of how good your experiences will look on your resume!”

“Yeah, I'm sure tech companies will be super impressed with my knowledge of flowers and butterflies,” Pidge said dryly.

Colleen gave her daughter a look. “You know what I mean, Katie.”

She did but she wasn't about to get into that conversation with her mom again. Instead, Pidge just sort of shrugged and grabbed onto the handle of the cart, waiting for the go-ahead to leave. She took it easy as she pushed the cart out of the greenhouse. It seemed pretty sturdy, but she didn't want to go too fast and end up with all of the plants on the floor.

Pidge passed a few people in the halls and offered up simple greetings to most of them until she finally arrived at the Dome. She carefully rolled the cart into the entry chamber and had to wait until the door shut behind her before she was able to enter the main room. Standing near that entrance was the Head of the Department, Takashi Shirogane. He had been a friend of the family for many years and was affectionately nicknamed “Shiro” because of all of the times he started to introduce himself by his surname first, only to correct himself partway through.

“Ah, those are the flowers Colleen was telling me about!” he said, smiling at her.

“I'm supposed to take them to Keith,” Pidge said. “Except, uh, who's Keith?”

Shiro gestured farther into the Dome at another man with black hair who was crouched over one of the flower beds with a hand pruner, carefully removing dead branches or flowers. “My Assistant Head, over there. I'm surprised the two of you haven't met yet. Do you want me to introduce you?”

Pidge shrugged. “Mom sent me with a note. And I'm a big girl, Shiro. I can handle talking to strangers.”

Shiro looked amused by that for some reason, but he nodded and told her that he'd be around if she needed anything before moving aside so she could roll the cart along the path. She made enough noise as she approached for Keith to hear and he stood up when he noticed her coming his way.

And it was then that Pidge wondered if she was in trouble.

Keith was far younger than she expected. She imagined someone a little older – closer to Shiro's age. (Not that Shiro was old.) If she had to guess, Keith was near her own age and also happened to be rather attractive.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“I'm Pidge from the Greenhouse,” she said, startled into an introduction. “I, um, have your plants? And a note from Director Holt.”

Keith held out his hand and Pidge placed the note into it. She continued to stand by the cart while he read the message just like her mother instructed, waiting for him to finish and tell her what she would be doing to help out. (And if she happened to take a moment to check him out, then that was her little secret.)

“Looks like you'll be with me for the day,” he said, tucking the note into his back pocket. “I assume you already know the rules around here, but I'll remind you anyway: watch your step and don't touch the butterflies. They'll probably come pretty close to us while we're doing our planting, so keep that in mind.”

Pidge nodded.

Keith regarded her for a moment, his intense blue-gray eyes meeting her own. “We're replanting the Main Feature bed today. The pipes sprang a leak and ruined everything last month before we could get in and replace them, but that's all fixed now and we just got in the new soil. The locations for the plants have been marked with stakes, however, we will consult the planner before we do any digging. Sound simple enough?”

“So, basically don't do anything until you tell me to,” Pidge summarized, earning herself what was likely a rare smile. It was gone quickly as Keith nodded and gestured for her to follow. She pushed the cart along behind him and, as she promised, kept an eye out for any errant butterflies in her path.

It wasn't hard to tell when they arrived at the Main Feature bed. Not only was the soil smoothed out on top and staked with plant labels, but there was also a magnificent metal butterfly sculpture in the very center. A closer look showed that there were also tiny hoses winding their way throughout the bed, which she assumed was the sprinkler system. Pidge parked her cart where Keith indicated and then walked over to his side to view the planner he picked up from a nearby portable work table. She listened intently as he explained that they would start in the center near the sculpture and work their way out, carefully measuring the width and depth of each hole before placing any plants.

“All of the tools you need are here,” Keith said, gesturing to the top of the table, where there were several trowels, gloves, and measuring devices. “I recommend picking an apron so you can keep everything together. If you want a kneeling pad, we have those too.”

Pidge picked one of the green aprons and slid it over her head before tying it around her waist. She quickly grabbed a pair of matching green gloves and put those on, before sticking one of the trowels and two of the rulers (one wooden and one flexible) into the pockets on the apron. She didn't figure she needed a kneeling pad, though it was nice to know they had them on hand.

Keith briefly quizzed her on everything he'd just said and then they got to work.

It was pleasant to work alongside Keith. He didn't feel the need to constantly talk about whatever came to mind, saving his words for checking in on how her digging was coming along. It allowed plenty of time for Pidge's mind to wander without interruption.

All things considered, she enjoyed her time in the Dome and found herself disappointed when they finished planting everything on the cart.

“Not bad,” Keith remarked as he checked the time. “Really good, actually. We're ahead of schedule for once.” He lifted his gaze to eye her for a long moment. “Director Holt should have the next batch loaded up for us by now.”

“There's more?” Pidge blurted out.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “We'll keep going until the bed is full. Unless you hate being here that much.”

Pidge quickly shook her head. “No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I've only been here for a week but it seems like everyone else tries to take things slow, so I was surprised that we're going to keep going.”

“Ah,” was all Keith said as he turned his back to her and began removing his apron and tools, setting them all back onto the counter.

Pidge followed suit, hoping he wasn't disappointed in her. Neither of them spoke as Keith grabbed the cart and began to wheel it back to the Greenhouse and it was only when she heard her mother's voice that Pidge realized she'd let her slip into despairing thoughts.

“You're back sooner than I thought,” laughed Colleen, a pleased smile gracing her lips. “I have your next two carts loaded up and ready if you want to take them. At the pace you two are going, we'll have it all cleared out by the end of the day.”

“That's my hope,” Keith said, turning the empty cart over to her. “Thanks for sending Pidge to help, Director Holt. It would take me more than double the amount of time on my own.”

Pidge couldn't stop herself from jerking her head to look at him in surprise.

And there it was again – that soft, fleeting smile, and it was directed towards her. She could feel her cheeks heating up, but she didn't, couldn't, look away. Instead, she offered a small smile of her own and allowed herself to hope that once her weekend in the Dome was over, she would still get to spend time with him.

#voltron #kidge #kidgeweek 2021 #fanfiction #kidgemas

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braincoins · 3 years

Note

I want to see Shiro meeting Allura’s family. You can chose the au/magic to make that happen :)

((My first thought was to go through my various AUs and I’m realizing how rarely Allura gets to keep her family. >_> There’s one, but it stems from a smut ficlet, so... maybe not.))

He groaned as he came to. “What... happened?” He blinked his eyes open and then stared. “That... that can’t be...”

The last thing he remembered was being in battle against a new Galra battle-mech, this one uploaded with a portion of Zarkon’s consciousness (or, at least, that had been Pidge’s best guess, given that there were no life signs in the thing but Shiro was definitely fighting off more of Zarkon’s attempts to take over the Black Lion again). He’d activated Black’s ultimate - as he couldn’t help thinking of it - and then everything went dark.

Until now, and he was staring at...

He double-checked his instrumentation. No, this was right, this was exactly the coordinates that he’d often see Princess Allura staring at in the Castle’s star map. But in the star map, it was dark, a reflection of where something had been. Past tense.

He’d seen what it had looked like, once. She’d shown it to him in what had been the A.I. chamber, back when King Alfor’s A.I. was still with them. And the coordinates confirmed it for him, even if his own memories doubted:

This was Altea.

He shook his head. “It’s not possible.”

That was when his screen lit up. “Lion Fighter, identify yourself,” demanded an Altean guard.

“I’m...” Could he really say he was the Black Paladin of Voltron? Would they think he was in cahoots with Zarkon? He had no idea what was going on here. “I’m Takashi Shirogane, from planet Earth. I mean no harm. I’m... honestly not even sure how I got here. My, uh, lion fighter seems to have malfunctioned.”

Black growled at him in his mind. It wasn’t her fault, and she didn’t like being blamed.

“If you need repairs, stardock 5 is open. All who come in peace are welcome.” And a flight path to stardock 5, he assumed, came up on his screen, replacing the Altean guard.

“W-wait! Who’s in charge?”

“In charge?” the guard asked, voice only now. “Of the stardock?”

“Of the planet.”

“That would be King Alfor and Queen Menelor.”

Holy effing quiznak, I went back in time. “I... I know they must be busy, but I’d like to meet them if I could?”

The guard snorted. “I will pass your request along,” he said in a tone of voice that let Shiro know he shouldn’t hold his breath.

“Uh, thanks. Approaching stardock 5 then.” He set course and let Black handle it, despite her grumpy insistence that she was fine, something had happened to them both. He did his best to reassure her as his brain ran things over and over.

I teleported through time some how and now I’m here and how the quiznak do I get back to my own time?

Black settled into the stardock and lowered herself immediately. The chair yanked itself backwards without warning. “Okay, okay, Miss Grumpy Butt,” he told her.

She growled at him.

“I had to say something.” But he got up and left the cockpit, pulling his helmet off as he walked out of his lion and into the hangar bay.

An Altean with green eye marks came up to him. “Need repairs or you doing ‘em yourself?”

“Uh... at least for the moment, I’d like to see if I can figure out what went wrong. I might need help later.”

“Fair enough. Just go easy on the tools.” The Altean left him.

Shiro leaned against one of Black’s massive paws and thought over what had happened. Maybe Haggar and her accursed magic had intervened again. Maybe Black had unlocked a new ability - though that didn’t seem likely, because she wouldn’t be so defensive about it now if it were something she’d done.

“How are we going to get home?” he asked out loud. Well, if nothing else, he had an assortment of tools close to hand and he at least knew how to do maintenance. Might as well take advantage of it.

He was elbow deep in colloidal nanocrystals when he heard a door open. Not the main hangar gate but the doors into the rest of the stardock. He pulled his head out of Black’s guts and glanced in that direction.

He nearly dropped the spanner when he saw who it was. Who it had to be. Because he hadn’t looked like that before. His A.I. hadn’t. This was a much, much younger King Alfor, and the woman with him could only be Allura’s mother. The resemblance was unmistakable.

We went really far back in time.

Shiro grabbed a towel as he dropped to one knee. “Your Majesties.”

“Bold enough to ask for an audience, but polite enough to kneel,” Alfor murmured thoughtfully. “I’m even more intrigued.”

“Rise,” the queen said, before adding, “slowly.”

“Menelor,” he chided her gently.

“You trust too easily and too much,” she told him.

“Forgive me, King Alfor, but your queen is right,” he said as he stood. “Not about me, specifically, for I mean you no harm. But I can understand how the situation might look. I’m honestly surprised you showed up.”

“Well, you asked,” the king replied, sounding amused. “Which most people... don’t. Unless something important is going on.”

“Oh. Uh... well, it’s important to me, but not to you or Altea. I shouldn’t have... I guess I just... I’m honestly not sure why I asked.”

Alfor laughed. “I’m glad you did; I was able to use you as an excuse to get out of a particularly boring meeting.” He looked over at the Black Lion and whistled. “Very interesting fighter you have here. I’ve never seen one shaped like a lion before.”

Not yet, anyway. It occurred to him he might be mucking with the timeline. I have to be very, very careful. “She’s a fantastic vessel. I’m lucky to have her. Even if we’ve wound up somewhere... far from home.”

“Yes, we’ve never heard of Earth,” the queen observed, staying close to her husband as he inspected the lion.

“Probably not much going on of interest there right now.” Because it was starting to hit home just how far back this really was.

“If your people can build magnificent fighters like this, I’d very much like to visit,” Alfor said.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I’m not even sure how you’d get there. That is, I don’t know how to tell you the way. Something happened and I wound up here, at Al-... your planet. I’m not sure what happened or why or how I’ll get back.”

Queen Menelor frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there any way we can help?”

“Not that I know of. Although... you’re an alchemist, are you not, King Alfor?”

The king looked to him. “I am, though far from the most powerful. Do you also have alchemy on your planet?”

Not that kind and not yet anyway. “No, but I’ve... I think someone used some sort of alchemy on my lion fighter. And that’s what brought me here.”

“Interesting. Do you know what they were trying to accomplish?”

“Uh... probably nothing good,” he admitted. “I was in a battle against an enemy. The one I was fighting didn’t have alchemy, as far as I know, but an ally of his does. Very powerful alchemy. They also know everything my fighter is capable of, and they were probably trying to stop it from executing one of its more powerful actions.”

“Hrm. I know of a few different ways to accomplish that sort of thing. But I don’t know how to send you to a specific place, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“You don’t have to send me back to Earth. Let me worry about my... trajectory, I suppose.”

“I think you’d better explain more fully,” the queen told him. “For clarity’s sake. We are glad to help, but right now...”

He sighed. “The fighter can... teleport, very briefly. It can move through solid objects by shifting into some sort of alternate space and then coming back into ours. At least, that’s the best way I can describe it. I was attempting to activate this ability, last I remember. I’ve done it before, successfully, but this time, I wound up here.”

“The enemy alchemist is aware of this?” Queen Menelor asked.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“So presumably they were trying to stop you from activating this teleportation ability,” King Alfor mused. “Yes, I think I know something that could work. Not as complicated an activation, so it can be used quickly, and it would freeze you in time, effectively.”

“Perhaps I could try to activate my lion’s ability and you could try to prevent me and that might send me home again?” he asked. “If it’s not too much trouble. I don’t know what I could offer in return, but...”

The queen snorted. “He needs the practice anyway; it’ll be good for him.”

The king ignored that comment. “We’re glad to help. And you seem anxious to return.”

Shiro smiled, unable to help himself. “I left the love of my life back there.” The daughter you two may not even have had yet.

“Oooh, ‘the love of your life’, is it?” Menelor smiled. “That’s worth hurrying home to. I thought perhaps it was only duty that was motivating you.”

“Well, that, too,” he agreed. “They need me almost as much as I need her.”

“Take notes,” the queen told her husband. “This is the sort of ‘romantic gibberish’ that women like to hear.” She looked back to Shiro. “If you can help my husband learn how to be romantic, that’d be repayment enough in my book.”

“I’m not that bad, am I?” he asked.

“You have your moments,” was the only answer he got.

He chuckled. “I can try.”

King Alfor came over and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure out how to get you back to your love.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m beyond grateful.”

“You’re welcome... Takashi Shirogane, was it?”

He nodded. “Yes, sir. But most people call me Shiro.”

((And this is why Alfor made the ships from the comet look like Lions in the first place!))

#Socks writes Voltron fanfic #the technobabble is probably gonna hurt Lily's head #mckinlily

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voltrontranscript · 3 years

Text

VLD S8E5: The Grudge

Season 8 Episode 5: The Grudge

Transcript by @dragonofyang

Summary: The Paladins and the crew of the Atlas arrange to rendezvous to discuss how the Altean robeasts are able to wormhole and the destruction of Olkarion. Acxa and the Atlas crew are still getting used to one another.

[Google Doc]

Iverson: Who’s a good girl? You are. I used to have a dog like this years ago. Old Sally would follow me just about everywhere I went. I couldn’t turn around without her being there, smiling her big, drooly smile, which was actually a problem sometimes. I once tripped over her, slipped on her drool, and went shoulder-first into the refrigerator. Yeah, and that’s where this clicking came from.

Veronica: Is that why you were struggling with the pull-ups, sir?

Iverson: No, that’s because I’m old and overweight. And watch your insubordination.

Veronica: Yes, sir!

Curtis: Was the dog alright?

Iverson: She was fine, thank goodness. Yeah, that dog meant the world to me.

Veronica: I know how you feel. My brothers and sisters adopted every stray animal they could find. There was this one cat, “Flash” we called him. He hated everybody except me. Smart cat.

Curtis: What about you, Acxa? Did you have pets where you’re from?

Acxa: I never had a creature companion, but one of my partners, Narti, was bonded to an immortal cat named Kova. That cat gave her the ability to experience the world.

Curtis: Oh. That’s great.

Acxa: Until Lotor killed Narti and we had to abandon the animal on our destroyed ship so we could escape without being tracked.

Shiro, on PA: Crew, report to the bridge immediately.

[Cut to Iverson, Coran, Curtis, and Veronica entering the bridge.]

Shiro: I’ve got an incoming transmission from the paladins. Go ahead, Allura.

Allura: Atlas, we’ve managed to track down an Altean robeast.

Coran: You found one!

Shiro: Where is it? Did you engage the creature?

Allura: Unfortunately, we were too late. It attacked the Olkari and stole the remains of the weaponized cube.

Coran: Is Olkarion okay?

Keith: No. Olkarion is gone.

Coran: No.

Allura: The loss of Olkarion is devastating to us all, but we were able to acquire some vital information.

Keith: We learned from Olkarion that the robeasts have been traveling via wormhole, which leave behind unique energy signatures. Pidge created a program that can identify those signatures and pinpoint their exact locations.

Allura: We’re sending over the readings from Pidge’s program now.

Coran: Are you telling us these are all robeasts?

Pidge: We’re not positive, but they could be.

Allura: There’s more. After studying the map, we noticed the signatures all radiate from a single epicenter: Oriande.

Coran: Wait, so Honerva could be on Oriande? But I thought only worthy Alteans could get there. Could she have the Mark of the Chosen?

Keith: There’s a lot we don’t know. We need to rendezvous to come up with a plan.

Coran: The Baltuf Nebula would make a good rendezvous point for both of us.

Keith: Send us the coordinates, Coran. See you soon.

[Scene transition to the mess hall.]

Veronica: Acxa! Come join us. So, how did you meet the paladins?

Acxa: I met Keith when I was stuck in the third stomach of a Weblum. He saved my life.

Rizavi: What were you doing in a… stomach?

Acxa: Gathering scaultrite to help enable Lotor to conquer the universe.

Rizavi: I once got stuck in a ball pit when I was a kid.

Veronica: Well, what do you think of the crew? It must be a pretty different dynamic being that we don’t try to kill each other, huh?

Acxa: I suppose, but the Galra had an expression: “Combat is the searing light that burns away imperfections.”

Ina: It would appear the mood at this table has become rather awkward. Most likely due to your Galra lineage. Yep. Definitely… awkward.

[Cut to Shiro in the bridge.]

Keith: Atlas, we had some technical difficulties. We’ll be delayed.

Shiro: Copy that. How long?

Keith: We’re still assessing that. Might be a few hours. We’ll keep you updated.

Shiro: Roger that.

[Scene change to the lions approaching a black and red planet.]

Pidge: Coming up on rendezvous point, straight ahead.

Hunk: Anyone else find it odd that Shiro changed the rendezvous point to this place?

Pidge: I’m reading high CO2 and low oxygen in the atmosphere. We’ll need our suits to breathe if we go out there.

Hunk: I’m not going out there.

Keith: They’re here. Atlas, we have a visual. Paladins, get airborne immediately! This is a trap!

Hunk: It’s just like when we were caught by those pirates!

Lance: We’re about to be captured again!

Keith: Emergency ejection!

Allura: Atlas, come in!

Keith: Atlas, we’re under heavy fire!

Pidge: The Atlas isn’t receiving our communications!

Hunk: The beam has the Lions pinned.

Allura: We must have been set up. But by whom?

Pidge: Guys, we have incoming. It’s closing fast.

Hunk: We need to lose it!

Lance: Isn’t there anything we can do to throw it off our scent?

Pidge: Yeah, I’ve got an idea, but I need a minute.

Hunk: I’ll buy you some time.

Pidge: Got it. It shouldn’t be able to detect us anymore.

Lance: Then let’s get out of here!

Hunk: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Keith: I need something to draw its attention!

Allura: I’ve got it!

Lance: Huh, good job, Keith. I mean, I was just about to do that, too, but that’s cool.

Pidge: I might be able to hack into it.

[Scene transition to the Paladins gathered around the drone.]

Pidge: This is Galra tech, but it looks like it’s been infused with Olkari elements. The subatomic microfilament is single modulated before it goes through its attenuator. Wow!

Hunk: So, it’s pretty amazing, huh?

Pidge: Yeah.

Hunk: Oh, look at that, it’s single modulated, not double modulated. Huh.

Pidge: Oh, shut up, Hunk! This thing has been locking onto our key encryption protocol that’s built into our suits and bayards.

Keith: How did they get that?

Pidge: I don’t know. Only a genius could do it.

Lance: Can’t we just turn our suits off?

Pidge: Negative. And if the drone had our encryption protocol, then so does that cruiser and anyone on it. If we want to avoid detection, we need to lose our suits and our bayards.

Allura: Remove our armor? In this place?

Hunk: Has anyone read the atmosphere? Oxygen low, CO2 high. We’re not gonna last long, a few hours, tops. We need our suits to survive.

Keith: Yeah, at this point, we’ll survive longer without them.

Lance: So keep our suits on and risk getting blasted, or take our suits off and live long enough before dying from poisoned air.

[Scene transition to the Galra ship hovering over the planet.]

Olkari Technician: Sending you the drone’s last known coordinates now.

Captain: We’re going after them.

Fentress: Why would we do that? It’ll risk the entire operation. We already have the Lions. The paladins have no value.

Captain: They do to me. We’re going in.

Fentress: But we--

Captain: I am the captain, and my authority will not be questioned! You do as I say, or you will spend the rest of your miserable days right here on this planet. Is that understood?

Fentress: Yes, captain.

Captain: Do not let those lions move. No one takes them until the hunt is over.

Olkari Technician: Yes, captain.

Captain: And make sure the Atlas stays put.

Olkari Technician: Copy that.

Shiro: Keith, any updates on your ETA?

Olkari Technician (as Keith): We’re finishing some repairs and about to get underway. We’ll update our ETA when we’re en route.

[Scene change to a shooting range on the IGF-Atlas.]

Acxa: I know you have little trust for me, but your constant presence is tiresome. If you have a problem, let’s end it now.

Veronica: Acxa, it’s not that I don’t trust you.

Acxa: Then what is it?

Veronica: Honestly, I just wanted to get to know you.

Acxa: By sneaking up on me at a firing range?

Veronica: I didn’t sneak up on you.

Acxa: Only because I’m always aware of my surroundings.

Veronica: Look, I’m sorry that I may have been following you around. It just seems like you could use a friend. I know it can be hard to fit in sometimes.

Acxa: I’ve spent my entire life not fitting in. I’m used to it.

Veronica: Right.

Acxa: I was an outcast, born and bred in war. The only way I survived was to become worse than my enemies.

Veronica: I don’t care about what you may have done in your past. I know there’s more to you than that.

Acxa: But some people only see Galra, and I understand why. Sometimes even I question if my people have the ability to change.

Veronica: By choosing to join the coalition, you’re living proof that it is possible. I guess I wanna get to know the Acxa who turned her life around. I have a feeling everyone would like that person.

[Scene change to the volcanic planet.]

Hawkins: They’ve abandoned their suits. Now how are we gonna track them?

Bounty Hunter: We hunt them the old-fashioned way.

[Scene change to the Paladins walking in their undersuits.]

Pidge: Are we sure the Lions are this way?

Hunk: Every direction looks the same.

Pidge: Oh, what I’d give for a GPS right now.

Allura: We cannot allow ourselves to panic. Clearly, we’ve relied on our tech far too much. We need to focus if we’re going to get out of here. Okay, I’m lost.

Hunk: What do we do?

Lance: Our Lions are that way.

Pidge: How do you know? Do you have a scanner you’ve been hiding?

Lance: No, I just looked at the volcano. It was on our left when we came in, so I put it to our right side, and that’s the way out.

Allura: You’re a genius!

Hunk: Oh, snap. Well done, Lance.

Pidge: Uh, well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Lance: Hey!

Pidge: Ah!

Allura: More drones?

Lance: No, look!

Bounty Hunter: They’ve split up. Stay on their trail. Get them!

[Cut to the Captain and Fentress.]

Hawkins: We’re on the trail of four of the Paladins right now.

Captain: Which four?

Hawkins: The Altean, the big one, the tiny one, and the loud one. They removed their armor to throw us off their scent, but we’ll have them soon.

Captain: Good. The one I really want is this way.

[Scene change to the IGF-Atlas bridge.]

Olkari Technician (as Keith): Apologies for the delay. We experienced a glitch in navigation. I will have to get back to you.

Veronica: Everything okay out there, Keith? Do you need help from the Atlas?

Olkari Technician (as Keith): No assistance required, thank you. Lance will figure it out.

Veronica: Right, Lance, the navigation genius.

Keith: Affirmative.

Veronica: How long have they been delayed?

Iverson: They should have arrived when we did.

Acxa: Something doesn’t seem right.

Curtis: Look at this. It looks like their frequency has been pinging off a decoy. I’m intercepting it now.

Paladins, overlapping: Atlas! This is an emergency! Atlas, come in! Atlas, help! We’re under attack! It was a trap!

Iverson: We need all hands on deck immediately!

[Scene change to Keith jet-packing along the volcanic planet, then the Bounty Hunter and Hawkins as they chase Hunk and Pidge.]

Bounty Hunter: You think I forgot about you, tiny Paladin? I’ll make you pay for what you did to me!

Hunk: We need to hurry. They’re right behind us.

Pidge: The CO2 is poisoning us by the minute, and we don’t know where we’re going. We can’t keep running.

Hunk: Okay. What do we do?

Pidge: We have to make a stand.

Bounty Hunter: Your brother isn’t here to help you this time. And I’ve upgraded since we last met.

Hunk: Woah! Alright, nice work!

Pidge: Found the Lions. This way.

[Scene change to Allura and Lance running through a cave.]

Lance: Okay, if my volcano logic is correct… the Lions should be on the other side of this--[grunts] Allura, get out of here. Go!

Pirate: Looks like she left.

Pirate 2: Don’t worry, we’ll find her for you.

Lance: Thanks.

Allura: The Atlas!

[Cut to the IGF-Atlas bridge.]

Veronica: That’s where the ghost protocol is emanating from.

Shiro: Hit them with the electromagnetic pulse.

[Cut to the Captain and Fentress walking in the forest.]

Fentress: Squadron Z, come in. Squadron Echo, come in. HQ, come in. HQ is not responding and the other pirates are offline. I never signed up for this!

Captain: Well, you’re in it now.

[Scene change to the loading dock on the IGF-Atlas.]

Olkari Technician: Sophisticated hacking and jamming abilities. Impressive. It’s nice to find others on my level.

Shiro: Yeah, it’s terrific. Now where’s your leader?

Olkari Technician: I don’t know. I lost her signal when you attacked. But she’s out there somewhere, hunting down the Paladin you call “Keith.”

Acxa: And who exactly is your leader?

[Scene change as Fentress gets surprised by Keith, who then stumbles into the Captain.]

Keith: Zethrid?

Zethrid: You took Ezor from me!

Keith: I don’t know what you think I did.

Zethrid: You took away everything. And now my face will be the last one you see!

James: Does anyone have the shot?

Rizavi: It’s too risky!

Acxa: Zethrid, don’t do this!

Zethrid: I knew you’d come. Now you will feel what I felt.

Acxa: It’s over. You’re surrounded.

Zethrid: You think this deters me, Acxa? I welcome death now that Ezor’s gone.

Acxa: Zethrid, I know you hurt. Ezor hurt, too. That’s why she left you. She couldn’t keep holding onto the anger.

Zethrid: Stop!

Acxa: Hear my words. Remember how we first met. We were all so full of hate and rage, half-breeds rejected by the Galra. Lotor used us. He led us down a painful path, a never-ending cycle of destruction and loss. Now’s your chance to break that cycle… with me, with Ezor. She wants you to leave the rage behind.

Zethrid: I’m too far gone. She’ll never take me back!

Acxa: Wait! Please! Don’t let the rage control you.

Zethrid: All I have left… is revenge!

[Scene change to a holding cell on the IGF-Atlas, where Zethrid and the Olkari Technician reside.]

Zethrid: You waste your time, Acxa.

Acxa: I know you’re angry, but I refuse to give up on you. And I know someone else feels the same way.

End.

#vld #voltron #transcript #keith #acxa #lance #shiro #iverson #pidge #hunk #allura #coran #james #rizavi #veronica #fentress #olkari technician #bounty hunter #hawkins #curtis #ina

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loveafterthefact · 4 years

Text

Love After the Fact Chapter 12: Follow Me to the Letter

Keith takes a moment to reflect on his first few movements on Altea.

First Previous Next

Keith fails to show up to court again. Lance isn’t overly surprised. The man (kit?) seems to struggle with patience, and holding court tends to push him to the very precipice of his self-control.

It’s odd, truth be told, that Keith is so lacking patience when he’s always so reserved. Lance would like to see the Galra open up a bit more. Quiznak, he’d just like to see him a bit more! Keith is almost always wandering around somewhere or hiding in his loft. Lance finds it lonely, but he’s not sure if he’s lonely for himself or for Keith.

He doesn’t have time for others anymore, having thrust himself into his adult duties. The duties that have been neglected since tensions rose between Altea and Daibazaal. His sister is gone. He and his two friends are quite busy, and never free at the same time. He only has Keith and maybe Adam, and Keith has only him and maybe Adam, when the other Altean isn’t running around micromanaging everything. That’s all there is for them.

Lance heads for the only place he’d bother to check before returning to their room. If Keith isn’t in the library, then he’s either in their quarters or wandering about. If he’s wandering about, Lance will never find him. He wouldn’t want to. He’s pretty sure Keith goes out to be alone.

Keith is in the library. He's sitting at a desk, stylus in hand, staring vacantly at his datapad. It looks like he’s been there for a while. “Hey. Finished holding court? How many windows are we replacing?”

“Yes, I am finished. None. However, there’s a missing cobblestone that broke the wheel of a wagon yesterday. So, a legitimate minor concern. I’ve issued a decree to have it fixed. I also performed a marriage.”

“Hm. Was it as dry and lifeless as ours?”

“No, they were passionate and full of joy. I’d never performed a marriage before. It was... nice.”

“Hm.” Keith taps listlessly at his datapad.

“So what have you been doing?”

“I… Nevermind. It’s nothing.”

Pfft. Right. Lance pulls over another chair, sitting backwards with his arms crossed over the back.

“Nonsense! What’s the matter?”

“I wanted to write a letter to my mother and brother.” Keith stares at nothing. Perhaps a dust mote or something. “I just can’t think of anything.”

“I thought you wanted to sever ties with your mother? At least temporarily?”

Keith’s ears droop as his body seems to shrink. “I know… I know I did. But…”

“But you miss her.” Keith nods, and Lance reaches over and rubs that spot Keith himself sometimes does. The one behind his ear that releases soothing hormones. Keith leans into the touch, allowing Lance to comfort him. That’s more proof than anything else that Keith is upset; he’s allowing himself to be cared for. It's nice to know the Galra trusts him, though. “Would you like me to help? I can help you get something down if you want.”

Keith nods. “Thank you.”

Lance smiles. Keith usually comes off as lukewarm thanks to his quiet, reserved ways, but Lance has found that if he says something, he means a lot more than the words he uses. 'Thank you' means 'I deeply appreciate your help and compassion. I could probably use some kind of affection later and definitely need some cheering up.'

“Alright. So first give a general greeting. Talk about how you’re feeling, genuinely, but avoid specific incidents.”

“You want me to tell them-”

“That you miss them so much it hurts? That you’re not happy, but not really unhappy either? That you just feel kinda empty? Yes. Tell them. But don't tell them that nobody will let you do anything and that you feel useless and imprisoned.”

Keith swallows hard. His eyes burn quite suddenly. “How-”

“Allura and Romelle. It’s how I feel when I think of them. And how they felt their first few phoebs on Daibazaal. Well that's how Allura felt. Romelle... That's for another time.” Keith glances up to see that Lance looks as vaguely sad as he himself feels. Keith begins to write as Lance gets up, thumbing through tablets and pulling random volumes from the shelves. Adam hustles in moments later, drops his own datapad, and begins to assist Lance with his work.

Mother, Takashi,

It’s been a little while now since I have seen you, and I have not heard from Daibazaal at all, so I assume you are doing well. Life here is fine. I am not happy, but I am not quite unhappy, either. Crown Prince Lancel is the only person I truly interact with, at least for long periods of time. I believe he understands my situation, given how dearly he misses his sister and her lover. He mentions them often.

I made one friend, and Lance wants me to meet someone else, but he’s been busy lately and Pidge is not always available. The guards won’t talk to me. Adam says it’s because I haven’t proven myself yet. He says they’ll warm up to me if I contribute something. I’m not sure I believe him.

“Lance?”

“Hm? Hey, what is it with Lotor and his aversion to water conservation?”

“I’ve finished. Water conservation? What for?”

“Well it’s not like it falls from the sky, or anything!” Lance whines. Keith frowns. Yes, water does fall from the sky. What is Lance talking about? “Okay, so now write about one thing you dislike and one thing you enjoy. Then ask them a question they can respond to so you set up a correspondence.”

Keith sucks on his lip for a moment, continues writing.

Lance holds court every movement. Sometimes twice, if he runs out of time the first day. I find it tedious and frustrating. Alteans live such comfortable lives, they find the most trivial things to complain about. I find myself at the end of my patience more quickly than even you might believe. I don’t know how Lance puts up with it. I think he’d rather do something more useful. But he also doesn’t wish for Alfor to know he is useful. I don’t understand, but Adam expects me to go along with it.

It’s pretty here. The ground is covered in soft moss. There are trees that sound like windchimes, and the garden has little flying creatures called bumblemoths. I like them. I’ve befriended a few. They keep trying to follow me inside. Lance pretends to be mad about it, but he is fond of them too. He’s named them after their colors. There are six.

Keith glances back to where Lance is sitting at his own desk, glaring down at a few different tablets, searching for keywords, typing furiously on his datapad, leaning to whisper something to Adam every now and them. “What about this? Lotor says that the Stone Forest is rife with predators?”

“We also have predators.”

“But not this many! What the utter quiznak?! They turn their prey inside out before eating them?! ”

“Okay, that I don’t like. That’s just too much. Completely unnecessary.”

“Right?!” Lance mutters something under his breath. Keith smiles, tentatively fond.

Oddly, the thing I find myself enjoying most is the Prince himself. Lance is kind, understanding, and does not want to touch me. In fact, I believe he is horrified by my age. He does not look at me while I change.

Or perhaps he simply finds me ugly. I do not know. But still, he is funny, and he treats me well. King Alfor gave him a choice, and he chose to marry me. I can’t help but respect him for that. He loves his people and is working to better their lives. It would seem he also works closely with Lotor, perhaps to break down their fathers’ more archaic policies.

He seems smart, too, despite not appearing to know what rain is. He also did not know what taxes were until Adam told him, but caught on very quickly. I think he will make a good king one day. I am curious to see what he may become, if we might become better friends. Speaking of friends, Takashi, have you spoken to Adam? He says no, but that man lies like I take a drink of water. Mother, how are you and Kolivan? I miss you both, and hope you are well. Are the guards in top form yet?

Has the brush begun to bloom yet? What phases are the moons in? Altea doesn’t have a moon and I miss it, though I can sometimes see Kraav’nik’da during the darkest hours of night.

Love,

Crown Prince Yorak (Keith) of the Kingdom of Altea and of House Kogane of Daibazaal

“I make a potion for that,” Adam says, cutting through Keith’s thoughts of home.

“Really?” Lance raises his eyebrows, seeming only mildly surprised.

“Of course. Impotence cures are one of the most common requests I receive. That and contraception.”

“Well, fortunately for us, there is no question of Crown Prince Lotor’s genetics. His heritage is quite apparent.”

“Thank quiznak for that. With all our other problems, paternity is the last thing I want to deal with. It’s good you look so like both of your parents.”

“Given my father’s proclivities, it’s a miracle he managed to procreate at all.”

“Too true. Too true. Honestly, I like my own chances better. And that’s saying something.”

Keith smirks, deciding to make his way into the conversation. “Shiro’s biology is identical to mine. I’m sure you wouldn’t have too much trouble.”

Lance laughs evilly, grinning ear-to-pointed ear. He picks up quickly.

“Oh not this again,” Adam mutters.

“Is that so? Tell us, Adam. Did you send Shiro off with a ‘going away’ present?” Lance is thoroughly unrepentant, moving to lean against the back of Keith’s chair. Keith hides his laughter behind his hand.

“That would be the ugliest quiznaking kid,” Keith snickered.

“You never know. Lotor turned out okay,” Lance countered. “Pity he can’t bear. Or myself...”

“That’s it. I quit. You’re on your own, your Majesties.” The princes protest, still laughing. “No. I draw the line at listening to His Majesty’s sexual fantasies. I’m not that kind of attendant. Good day.”

Keith giggles, watching his spouse double over with laughter, waving as Adam flees the room. He eyes Lance, wonders what it’s like to look at and be physically attracted to any random person. He brings up another form, typing in Shiro’s comms code. He has things to tell his brother.

Alteans are weird.

#LoveAftertheFact #LAtF #klance #galtean au #galra keith #altean lance #adashi #altean adam #galra shiro #voltron legendary defender #vld

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golddustinourhands · 4 years

Text

Hidge Week 2020 Day Five: Starlight | Earth

The lights above looked like constellations, the starlight shimmering down on each and every one of them as they waited. Chairs had been assigned to them, separating each of the teams from each other. Another scare tactic, he was sure.

The quest for the orb was no joke.

The whole pageant was just as he expected it to be, shortened since there were only four contestants, one from each team. Pidge looked so small compared to the rest of the “ladies” on the stage, but he did have to say she did look like a lady in the dress they had shoved her into.

Since when had he missed her maturation into more of a woman than a girl? Knowing her, she had hid it from them, not wanting to feel like the weakest link.

Still, his heart raced as he waited for the talent portion. She was beautiful under the starlight lights over their heads and he couldn't believe he would get to dance with her sooner rather than later.

“Your granny and I met at a dance,” his grandfather had told him over and over again, to anyone in the family who would listen. “I knew it was true love as soon as she stepped on my toes.”

There had been a lot of toe stepping earlier, but Hunk had known much sooner than that. He had known before the golden doors, before Allura even.

He had known, but had also known better than to say anything.

He was running out of time and had to say something soon.

Then, as soon as she was announced, he mentally prepared himself to get ready. She had told him for the best effect to wait, it had to be her alone to start it, and he followed any direction she told him, or even suggested.

She walked out onto the center of the stage her smile large and warm, but fake. She had definitely done pageants before, by the way she held herself, she looked almost comfortable, or was it the fact that she knew how to fake it?

Pidge started to dance alone, as the music started slow and somber. The way she had done her hair, whatever make up they had been given, the way the dress held her curves and shimmered under the starlights was intoxicating.

Hunk nearly missed his cue, but made it in time.

When she turned around to face him, and they began dancing together in time, he was in awe of how beautiful she looked under the starlights up close. He forced himself to focus on the dance steps, on the music, on anything but Pidge close enough to whisper, to kiss, to dream of something he knew she would never return.

In a flash, their performance was done. They bowed and she let go of his hand.

That was it.

He would have to wait to talk to her until it was all over.

He had missed his chance.

---

“With careful deliberation, the winner is Kathryn Holt of Earth,” the acolyte said to the small crowd of them. “The goddess was very moved by your dance.”

By extension, that meant Team Voltron had won. Hunk let out a sigh of relief. He was sure losing would not be kind, if the last few trials had been any indication.

“As the winners of the pageant, you and your team may request one favor from the goddess that does not include the orb.”

It couldn't be that easy.

“Please follow my sister to the next room.”

Another acolyte beckoned them forward toward a set of double doors. He followed Pidge in and the rest of them followed him.

“The team that did the worst in the pageant is—“ the doors closed behind them and screams of anguish followed.

Hunk didn't want to know.

Sitting in the room, on a throne of gold, the goddess, the same fairy from the flower before, but larger, taking up the whole throne, the orb a mere bobble in her hand. She looked upon the five of them with a smug kind of pride.

“Congratulations on making the final three teams,” She said, spinning the orb in her palm and between her fingers, showing it off as they stared at the prize so close and so far away. “Kathryn Holt, what is your request?”

She looked right at Pidge and Hunk felt a fear surge through him. What would that beautiful brain of hers come up with as a request.

“I want to know how the chamber with the golden doors works,” Pidge said. “Does the ultimatum always come to pass or is it simply a terror tactic?”

The goddess grinned wider. “Beauty and brains, a rare combination, especially in the barren wastelands in this galaxy that were once beauty.”

At least she hadn't killed them yet.

“The double edged chamber is just that,” She said, spinning the orb in wild ways without looking at it. “It shows your greatest dream and your greatest nightmare should you not decide to take your fate into your own hands.” She looked right at each of them. “There is no place for fear in a competition such as this. The chamber removes those unworthy of even the first step of the competition.”

She stared down Pidge. “Does that answer meet your satisfaction?”

“No,” Pidge answered, staring down the goddess while looking like a goddess herself. “It wasn’t an answer at all. What happens if the ultimatum isn’t met?” She asked, refining her question.

Hunk considered pulling her back, for her own good, but the goddess just looked pleased that someone was standing up to her.

“What do you really want to know?” The goddess asked. “Surely the chamber gave you something that upsets you, a balance too great to upset. So tell me: What do you really desire?”

There were a lot of things in the chamber that had upset him, but he stayed focused on Pidge, just as the rest of them were, looking like a princess wearing the shimmering dress, her face pure determination as she looked at the goddess.

“Is there a universe out there among the multiple universes where every single one of the team is happy?” Pidge asked.

What a strange question.

“I can show you,” The goddess said with a short nod as she stood from her chair. “But I warn you, seeing something you can never have plays tricks with the mind and can be dangerous.” She kept her gaze on Pidge. “Shall that be your final challenge in the quest for the orb, seeing if you can find the harsh truth in the beautiful fiction?”

“Yes,” Pidge answered. “Do your worst.”

#hidge week 2020 #hidge #earth #starlight #hello darkness my old friend

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sasuhinasno1fan · 4 years

Text

My starlight- Shallura Week Day 1

I’ve been a big shallura shipper since the start and when it came out that Shiro was gay, it didn’t change as I headcannoned him as pan anyway. I was a bit worried when a lot of people changed their stance and had asked if anyone, his charaecter, creators, anyone had said he was exclusively into guys. If he was, I’d put my ship to rest but still love their very good chemistry as great friends. No one said there was and then I found out through @breezycheezyart blog, when I was looking for her Juniberry art to use as inspo for this space related quest I’m doing that’s gonna be a Sailor Moon au, that @shalluraweek is still happening. Back in like, maybe the first year, maybe after s2 came out, I saw shallura week but didn’t do it because of writers block, so I’m really happy that I can do this and celebrate one of my fav vld ships. When I was looking for insporation on tumblr, I found a lot of Star Wars art so I decided to go with it. I’ll be honest, I found the Star Wars movies kinda boring growing up but Clone Wars was the only thing I’d willingly sit through, so my info might not be totally correct. Probably cause I love Ashoka so much. Anyway, please enjoy. Star/Sky

Shiro moved quietly across the room, heading for the door when he heard someone call his name.

“Shiro? Where are you going?”

he turned to look at his Padawan who’d only come back an hour ago from hanging out with Senator Lance, the two the same age and equally good at fighting and breaking rules. He needed the distraction after coming back from their last war effort. They’d lost a lot of good men and going up against Sendak, who’d run off again, was never fun. Keith had collapsed into bed once he got back and Shiro waited until he knew for sure he was knocked out before getting up to leave, but it seemed Keith wasn’t as knocked out as he thought.

“The Chancalor asked me to do something for him.”

A lie. Not for a second did he trust Chancellor Zarkon, who always seemed to find a way to insert himself into Jedi issues, but also seemed way too interested in him.

Keith thankfully thought the same. “We’re not that guy’s errand boys.”

“I know, but he does hold the power. I’m sure we’ll eventually find a way to get away from his grip and end the war too. I’ll be back soon. We have shore leave and you don’t have classes, why don’t you join Senator Lance for breakfast tomorrow? You can take Pidge with you.” he said, mentioning one of the other Padawans Keith was friends with.

“Alright. Be safe ok?” Keith said before disappearing back into his room.

Shiro didn’t like lying to Keith, he really didn’t. The kid was a special case, being raised by a Sith Lord who didn’t care much about Keith, willing to turn him into an assassin. He was older than most Younglings but as a newly knighted Jedi himself, Shiro insisted Keith could be trained and offered up his own job if he was wrong. So far, he had the Council eating their words that Keith was untrainable. Break rules? Yes, but only the rules he thought didn’t make much sense to him within the code. Keith might be a special case but he was Shiro’s family. It made it so much harder to keep the secret he had.

He took a speeder to the more costly apartments of Coruscant, where a lot of Senators tended to home themselves when not at their home planets. He easily made his way to one apartment, home of someone who was more than just a Senator. He easily typed in the passcode and walked to the balcony when the door opened. Standing outside on it, was a woman. Her long white hair seemed to shine in the city lights, like it was made of the stars he’d fallen in love with.

“Hey.” he called.

The woman turned, her blue purple eyes widening when she saw him.

“Takashi!” she ran over and he swept her up in his arms. “I missed you. Are you ok? I heard what happened.”

“Everything is fine now. I’m with you.”

Poster boy for the Jedi Takashi Shirogane in a secret relationship to Senator Allura Fara? The scandal, but Shiro could care less. He’d still been a Padawan himself when he and his master had gone to Allura’s planet to try and help them stop in invasion from happening. He was instructed to look after the girl, who was practically royalty, but he quickly learned she didn’t like being protected. While they could argue whether or not she was putting herself in danger, in the quieter moments, they grew closer. Even after they grew older, the invasion stopped and their meeting few, the feelings they’d gained never faded. When they could meet again, it was like they hit unpause and doubled up the feelings. He broke the rules of forming attachments and formed the ultimate one, he fell in love. They were going to marry in secret when the war broke out. They wanted to, badly, but they knew a connection that intense would put them both in danger. For now, only sweet kisses and secret meetings could happen. But once this was over, once he was sure Keith was taken care of and a Knight, he’d leave. He’d leave to Order for her. He didn’t even have to think about it. Unless they changed their views on a few things, he would leave to be happy then force to give up something he couldn’t.

When he could, he’d sneak out of the Temple and come to Allura’s apartment. To most, the two were good friends. The only one privy to their relationship was Allura’s Protocol Droid and Shiro’s former master, who he could never lie to. Here, he could relax away from the rules of the Order and just be Takashi.

He pulled away to look at her, the woman who took his heart. “What about you? Any senators who’s heads you want to rip off?”

“The list is ever growing, but let’s forget about that for now.” she said hugging him close again, hiding her face in his chest, where she always felt safe.

Shiro pulled her close, easily hiding his face in her hair. When he’d first seen Allura, he asked if her hair was made from stars. She’d gone red, redder even when he started calling her Starlight. It was a soft as a cloud inn the sky and smelled like the flowers that grew in this special garden they had always gone to on her home planet. She told him that while they looked pretty, they could also be used to make a powerful parallelizing agent. They were Allura in a flower, beautiful with looks and a warrior with her electric whip and blaster. She might be able to quell rising wars with her powerful speeches, but if there was ever a time she needed to fight, you only needed to point her in the direction. She never felt like she needed protecting, even when every part of Shiro screamed to.

This woman, someone he was willing to turn his back on his teaching for, his Starlight, made him feel like a better person. She was his drive to end the war that affected their whole galaxy. And when it was finally over, he would get on his knee and ask for her to finally be his.

#shalluraweek2020 #jedi shiro #jedi padawan keith #senator allura

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rangoatemybabynsfw · 5 years

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I have such a thing for like alternate reality versions of people. Like Lance getting double penetrated by TWO keith's after they get transported to a universe with no Lance. Both Keith's fighting over Lance and giving him the good fucking he deserves. Ugh that shit gets me goinggg

This sounds awesome and hella hot.

They go to another reality and meet the Voltron crew from there. They’re the same but also not. The other reality has a Shiro like theirs does, only he’s half-Galra. Pidge is a full Galra. Hunk is an Altean prince. Both Allura and Keith are humans and barely look any different from the original team. Lance calls them team B for now. No one on team B pilots the same Lions as the original team which makes it all the more interesting.

Lance notices that they don’t have anyone on their Team Voltron that looks like him. Galra, Altean, or otherwise. Alternate Keith seems interested in talking with Lance though the moment he hears Lance has piloted two different Lions of Voltron. He didn’t think that was possible. Team B’s Keith is more than a little impressed and starts chatting him up.

Team A Keith bristles a little. He’s not jealous. Definitely not. It’s not like Lance doesn’t talk to him in their reality like that. It’s not like he leans leisurely on a wall and looks at Keith like that. They’re so casual together that Keith finds himself edging closer and closer just so he can hear their conversation.

“We found the yellow lion on Earth when Pidge and Shiro crashed their ship here,” other-Keith tells him. “Allura’s been piloting it ever since.”

“Earth is where we found the blue lion,” Lance says. “It’s the one I ended up piloting first.”

“That’s the lion I’m in,” other-Keith says proudly. “Prince Hunk says the blue lion is best for a pilot who can adjust to any situation. Someone who can be as fluid as water or hard as ice. Someone who’s flexible,” he nods and then raises a brow at Lance, an interested look. “So are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Flexible,” he smiles insinuatingly and Lance flushes.

“Lance,” Keith interrupts with a huff. “We should join the rest of the team, let’s go.”

Lance turns to go but other-Keith grabs Lance by the wrist.

“Wait!” he says. “You’re not heading back to your reality yet are you?”

“No, I think Allura said something about charging the dimensional rift to go back after she’s rested,” Lance says, eyes darting down to the hand on his.

“So you’ll be sticking around for a bit?” other-Keith clarifies.

“Yeah,” Lance nods, smiling.

“Prince Hunk will probably throw a banquet for you guys while you’re here,” other-Keith says with a smile. “He loves to cook. Afterward, I’ll give you a tour of the castle. You can see if it’s different from the one in your world.”

“Sure,” Lance tells him. “I’d like that.”

“Great,” other-Keith smiles and gives his wrist a squeeze before letting go. “See you then.”

*****

This is so weird, Lance tells himself. Other-Keith is…so different from their Keith and yet he looks exactly the same, right down to the scar on his face. It’s surreal to find the alternate version of the guy he’s been crushing on so interested in him and everything he has to say. In some ways, this Keith is more like Lance. He’s friendly, talkative, and he can’t keep his hands off of Lance in some way or another.

His shoulder, his arm, his hand. He tugs Lance around the castle everywhere, talking about it and their travels. Other-Keith shows him his bayard, a spear that he’s been getting better at wielding. Lance shows off his bayard too. Brags that he’s the only paladin on their team with three forms.

This Keith seems so impressed with him and it’s more than a little obvious that he’s been flirting with Lance all day. Lance is flattered considering he didn’t think there was a Keith in any universe that would ever flirt with him.

“So, is there…anyone back in your world for you?” other-Keith asks with a smile. “A girl? Or a guy?”

“Oh uh, n-not really,” Lance stammers as other-Keith leans in closer.

Other-Keith just catches Keith doubling back to hide behind a corner, like a snoop. It makes him smirk and return his attention to Lance with a slightly louder voice so he can easily be overheard.

“What about other me? He seemed…really protective of you.”

“Our Keith? No way,” Lance snorts but flushes as he looks at his feet. “I uh, I like him, but he’d…he’d never–with me, I mean,” Lance laughs nervously but then stops when other-Keith brushes his hair aside.

“Think so?” other-Keith asks, glancing at Lance’s lips before returning to his eyes. “I would…”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah,” Keith nods, cupping Lance’s jaw and tilting it up. “And if he’s just…another version of me, then it makes sense that he’d want you too right?”

“I…I guess,” Lance supposes and bites back a gasp when other Keith leans in to nuzzle against his pulse. “T-Too bad there’s o-only one of me, r-right?” he tries to joke but ends up gasping when lips press to his neck and a hand squeezes his ass.

“We could take turns,” other-Keith says while looking over Lance’s shoulder to Keith’s viewing spot. “Or share.”

Keith swallows at the display his alternate self is making of them. Groping and kissing and sighing in a castle hallway. Like watching a video of himself doing the things he always wanted to do to Lance but never had the courage to pursue. He didn’t think Lance was interested and yet he’s gasping and sighing his name with a hand down the back on his pants.

“The things we could do to you, Lance. Together,” other-Keith says into his ear. “We’d touch everything. Kiss everything. Taste everything,” he hints and licks a hot wet stripe over his neck making Lance shiver. “One of us could take your pretty mouth and the other–” other-Keith just ghosts a finger over Lance’s hole and he nearly buckles with a whimper.

“K-Keith!” Lance gasps.

“Would you like that?” other-Keith asks. “Tell me,” he says and sucks on Lance’s pulse.

Two Keiths at once. One fucking his ass while the other fucks his mouth. Both saying such delicious things with the same voice. Both pleasuring him over and over again. It’s like a dream come true.

“Yes, yes, I-I’d like th-that,” Lance admits weakly and Keith at the corner’s face erupts with heat.

“Close your eyes,” other-Keith tells him and Lance obeys.

Other-Keith shoots Keith a wink before pulling Lance into a kiss. Keith just stands there stunned before he realizes he’s being signaled to come over already. He’s never even admitted his feelings to Lance before and now he’s about to put his hands on his friend in some pretty intimate places with his doppelganger from another universe. All in days work for Voltron it seems.

It takes Lance a whole thirty seconds to realize there are in fact two sets of hands on him and another mouth on the back of his neck. He was so enraptured in the idea of two Keith’s that he hadn’t realized he wasn’t fantasizing anymore. It’s real. Both Keith’s are here.

“See? Dreams do come true,” other-Keith whispers against his lips. “Want to take this to my room? The three of us?”

Lance nods eagerly and other-Keith grabs his hand and starts tugging him down the hall. Lance grabs original Keith’s hand to pull him along too. Lance can’t believe this is happening. His Keith likes him too? From the blush on Keith’s face, the answer is apparent. It makes Lance’s chest swell with excitement as he’s led into a room for a night of fun.

[And because this is getting long and I’m tired, I’ll wrap it up with: Lance gets boned by both men. Lots of praise. Lots of creampies. And even some fun double penetration with Lance coming multiple times on those cocks. Yay happy ending!]

#Rango answers #Klance #Bottom Lance #Volporn #Volpron

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somekindoftuber · 5 years

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vld youtuber AU

youtuber AUs are really fun so here is my take (with klance):

Shiro runs a channel where he restores/repairs motorcycles. It’s really popular because he has a great on-camera presence and soothing voice, not to mention he’s very good looking. He has the facial scar and white hair and has mentioned that he’s a veteran, hence his prosthetic right arm. Keith works with him, and Shiro always introduces him in the intros of his videos, saying, “And my brother Keith is here to be my right hand.” They have a fairly large following, posting weekly videos. Keith mostly stays quiet, except to answer Shiro.

Lance runs a music channel that’s half comedy and half serious, playing guitar and ukulele. He does acoustic covers of songs that should be impossible to do acoustic versions of, and sometimes does comedy lyrics of popular songs. He also posts blooper videos where his cats interrupt him or knock over the camera. He posts one or two times a week, his videos are usually short. He also streams games on Twitch, usually playing music and making people laugh over the mic.

Shiro sometimes does Q&A videos to answer fan questions. Keith usually doesn’t participate, except in the video about their pets. Shiro introduces their two cats, and Keith’s dog Kosmo (who’s a Blue Bay Shepherd mix and is absolutely massive).

Shiro’s channel pops up on Lance’s recommendations one day, and it’s the pet video. Shiro’s cats are in the thumbnail, a giant black shorthair and a long haired red tabby, so he clicks. He instantly likes this guy, his cats are cute, and the quiet, scowling brother in the background with the giant bear-dog is fun to watch. So he subscribes. He finds out that he really likes their videos, despite knowing absolutely nothing about motorcycles. Shiro makes it easy to follow, and he even learns a thing or two.

Lance hears a song he recognizes in one of Shiro’s videos and gets an idea. He gets his guitar and does a comedy cover of the song, making it about repairing motorcycles. He’s proud of the silly lyrics, not able to keep from snickering a few times, and posts the video. He shoots the link over to Shiro, and crosses his fingers.

Two days later he gets a response. Shiro comments on the video saying that he loves it and it made him laugh. Lance is over the moon, and keeps watching Shiro’s videos and commenting on them. Shiro sometimes comments on his and it’s great. As the months go by, Shiro becomes something of a hero to Lance. He’s cool and confident and everything Lance wishes he could be.

Not to mention that his broody little brother is really, really easy on the eyes. Keith is gaining a fanbase, his wiki page full of what few scraps viewers can find about him - including a blurry screenshot of a moment when his shirt rode up to reveal an nondescript tattoo on his hip. There was a good deal of speculation as to what it was of. Not that Lance read that particular reddit thread. Or commented on it. (“I bet it’s a wolf,” he most certainly did not write. Several people agreed.) Who can blame him? Lance likes puzzles and mysteries. What’s more mysterious than a youtuber who never talks and has all of his social media on lockdown?

Lance gushes about Shiro’s channel one night to Pidge, who’s finishing undergrad. Casually as ever, she says, “Yeah, I know Shiro, he’s an old friend of Matt’s.” and Lance loses it. Demands to know more, demands that Pidge set up a meeting. Pidge rolls her eyes, and says maybe, maybe during spring break.

Lance decides to do a charity stream, like he does often. He asks some of his youtuber friends to help promote, including his best friend Hunk who runs his own casual cooking channel (Hunk never shows his face but his videos are still really fun). He tweets about it, feeling pretty good. His last stream went really well and they hit their donation goal. When Lance checks twitter the next day, he’s absolutely beside himself to see that Shiro has retweeted his stream link, saying “My buddy @LanceyLance is doing a charity stream! Check it out!” He may have bounced in his chair and flapped his hands a little when he read that.

The stream goes super well. They surpass their donation goal by hundreds, and he gets a lot of chat messages from people saying they found it via Shiro. Once it’s over, Lance composes an email to Shiro to thank him. He considers mentioning what Pidge says for several minutes before deciding to just go for it. He finishes his email with “PS - I think we have a friend in common?? My buddy Pidge - Katie Holt - says she knows you. Or are you a different Shiro?”

He sends the email before he can second guess himself.

Two days later, he gets a reply, and Shiro confirms that he knows Pidge since he went to high school with her older brother, commenting that it’s a small world. Lance plays it cool, but doubles his efforts to get Pidge to introduce him to Shiro.

“Spring break,” she repeats, then yells at Lance to let her finish her paper.

It’s almost two months until then, so Lance occupies himself with making videos, streaming, and watching Shiro’s channel. Keeping an eye on where Keith pops up in the videos, silent and intense. When late March finally arrives, Lance packs a bag and piles in the car with Pidge for the five hour drive to her hometown, which is apparently also Shiro’s hometown. Pidge’s parents welcome him, and it takes an entire day of nagging Pidge to get her to call Shiro. He’s free the next day.

They head across town to Shiro’s garage and Lance is stoked. So stoked. And as Shiro comes out to meet them, he’s struck by one thing: Shiro is far taller in person than he looks on camera. He shakes Lance’s left hand and shows him around, the bike they’re working on, the cameras, the editing software he still uses, even though it’s a little outdated.

Lance is halfway to asking Shiro if he can meet his cats when the door opens. “Shiro?” a voice calls. “They’re roping off the west side of the street for something. Do you want me to move your --”

He stops when he spots Lance, and Lance sort of feels his breath stop in his chest at the sight. Running gear, hair pulled back, skin glistening with sweat, and a sleeveless shirt with a pair of earbuds hanging out of the collar.

It’s Keith. And Lance has to remember to breathe, because like his brother, he’s taller in person, but he’s also hot. Like crazy hot, goddamn. Even drenched in sweat with his hair sticking to his face and neck and flushed from a run, he’s stupidly gorgeous. The videos absolutely do not do his eyes justice, not even a little, all sharp and intense and deep blue.

He’s just sort of standing there stuck, but thankfully Pidge rescues him with a loud clearing of her throat. Then Shiro swoops in and introduces Lance to Keith. He’s quiet, like in the videos, and slips away as soon as Lance’s attention is elsewhere.

Once Keith is gone, Shiro asks Lance if he’d like to be in a video on his channel, and holy shit. He agrees before he even knows the details, and Shiro laughs. They agree to have Lance come back in three days to film. Right when they’re leaving, Keith re-emerges, showered and changed. Lance waves goodbye to him and hopes Keith doesn’t notice the way Lance’s eyes sweep up and down his body.

Lance spends the next three nights pouring over his guitar.

When he goes over to Shiro’s to film, he’s almost bouncing with excitement. Shiro goes over what they’ll be doing before they start. Lance is downright giddy as Shiro does his intro and calls Lance a “special guest” before they get started. Lance is mostly holding parts in place or passing Shiro tools as he works on the old bike they’ve been hired to restore, but it’s still fun, even if he’s sweating within the first half hour. Keith hovers in the corner, off camera, playing with his phone and looking bored. By the time they finish, he’s covered in grease and exhausted, but happy. Shiro stops filming and they take a break, cracking open a few beers.

Before it’s time to leave, he gets the okay from Shiro and sets up his own camera, bringing out his guitar. He wasn’t sure if he’d have the guts to do this, but Shiro smiles at him, and it all feels okay. Lance turns on his camera, does an intro, and begins to play. It’s an original song, one he wrote just for the occasion over the last few sleepless nights. It’s about new friends and fresh starts and connecting with others and maybe it’s a little cheesy, but it’s heartfelt, and the acoustics of the garage somehow bring it all together. And when he finishes and shuts off his camera, the awed look on Shiro’s face is absolutely worth it. Even Keith looks a little surprised, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

He says goodnight to them both and goes back to the Holt family home, showers and changes, and goes to sleep feeling like it’s Christmas and his birthday and the first day of summer vacation all at once.

Pidge has to go back to school to resume classes eventually, and Lance is her transportation, so he has to go too. They stop by Shiro’s garage one last time to deliver a tupperware container of fresh baked cookies, courtesy of Mrs. Holt, and Shiro shakes his hand again. When Lance says goodbye to Keith and shakes his hand, he swears he sees the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Something he’s never seen.

He spends the entire five hour drive back with excitement buzzing in his veins. He can’t wait to edit and post that video.

CONTINUED IN PART TWO HERE

#AUs #youtuber AU #text post

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seeds-of-the-garden · 4 years

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My first ask to Seeds! Lance is Hotel Manager, Pidge is a Renowned Travel Journalist who frequents said Hotel. Lance wants her to write a feature on his Hotel, but for some reason, she refuses. Looking forward to what becomes of this idea.

This is a little off topic but imagine this as the beginning of the build up.

Checked Out:

Unspecified Research Trip 3: Week 1: Day 1

It’s a statistically beautiful day here in Varadero, Cuba.

“Varadero again?” You query. “I thought you hated humid weather and too much sun?”

Your observations are indeed correct.

However, if you take into account that the temperature fluctuates roughly 6-10 degrees between winter and summer, and there is a breeze that effectively cools the skin (or provides the illusion), you would begin to understand the appeal of returning to such a destination for research as one’s company tends to direct me.

No, you may not know what my company has me researching here. Yes I will strive to satisfy your every other curiosity regarding my current stay here.

Hotel Esquisita is unlike any other place I’ve been sent these last couple of years. I’m pleased to find you all seem to enjoy my time here as much as I do. For those of you reading my blog for the first time, let me explicate:

I have to dwell here for three months minimum each time I’m sent. This time may be a little longer as I will be leaving periodically to meet back up at the research lab in the States.

As stated before, the temperature is hardly the high end of warm. The breeze blows through my room easily as it faces the ocean. The food (when I remember to eat) is more than sufficient for quelling my hunger in the most satisfying manner. The beds are luxurious, and the couch (which I sleep on more often than not) is of significantly higher quality when compared with the other places I have travelled.

But it is the hotel staff that makes my stay here something to look forward to every time. They are attentive and prompt, anticipating my needs before I do. The hotel manager especially.

Last time I stayed here he provided me with this corner room (of which I am in again), showed up on his day off when he heard I was sick and brought his mom’s (he calls her Mami) farm style soup to cure what ails me. He lives at his family farm, but does stay at the hotel quite frequently, and has also fallen asleep (with my permission of course) in my room after I invited him for a movie watch party on the nights I felt especially homesick. He cannot stay awake through more than one movie no matter what. States he needs his beauty sleep, but I would not let him leave.

I will not go into further detail in the off chance he reads this blog (what is the statistical likelihood of him being into travel and bionanotechnology? That’s about as likely as Hunk double modulating the gendocams.) I will not describe how carmel his skin is or how he is so tall I need to tilt my head all the way back to look at him if we are standing in close proximity. I will not say he has eyes the same color as the ocean outside of my hotel window. I will not remind my readers about how affected I am when he takes his tie off and rolls up his dress shirt sleeves when we are playing a video game together. He is in hospitality and has been very hospitable to me.

I will return tomorrow with day two. However, a knock on the door has reminded me that the manager has offered to take me to dinner tonight off-site. A little hole-in-the-wall with live music and dancing. He said he’s going to teach me to cha-cha and tango if it’s the last thing he does. But first, he’ll show me the sunset from his favorite spot.

This is the outfit I have chosen to wear. Friends, was it a good choice? What will I look like being spun around by Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome? (Don’t tell him I said that).

****Photo***

I know this veered off wildly from the science portion of my travels, but I do believe I will have plenty to analyse with you tomorrow. My date is here. (Maybe I shouldn’t call it that?).

Nos Vemos.

#plance #seeds of the garden #seeds #prompt fill #mod fro #pidge #lance

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aemoglobin · 4 years

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you thought you were free from hearing me yell about my SI/OCs, did you

today’s featured SI is Rhiannon!

rhiannon k*gane: what do you do when you’ve been inserted pre-canon and your older brother is supposed to be the future father of the red paladin?????

once again i am writing a sibling dynamic i have no personal experience with

rhian (heh) is a historian/archaeologist (haven’t decided which one, leaning toward historian) who is....using her knowledge of canon to search for the blue lion. just to make sure it’s okay (and real). this basically means running around the american southwest and praying. also kissing lots of cute park rangers; sometimes they get mad at her for going off-trail without a permit but that’s okay.

now depending on which Kaya AU she’s in (she doesn’t have her own AU), her ending changes

Main Kaya AU (red paladin Keith): rhian marries emilee (aforementioned cute park ranger) and has a daughter named aoife. rhys is the one who finds krolia, etc. aoife is three years old when rhian goes missing, which spurs rhys into abandoning his firefighting job to become...an alien chaser...because he needs to find his alien wife and like, figure out what happened to his little sister, since he thinks she was abducted by aliens.

keith and kaya spend around a year with their aunt emilee when they are ~5.5yos. emilee is very much Not Okay with rhys’s sudden change in career but she adores the twins so she helps take care of them until The Incident, after which the k*ganes move to the Garrison area and lose contact with her. aoife never actually forgets her cousins and keeps looking for them when she gets older, but she doesn’t find them until s1ep1 when they’re announced missing from the Garrison.

(rhian actually Died in a hiking accident while looking for Blue and her body was just never found bc it was buried in a rockslide. i know, that’s a serious downer, but not all SIs should end happily)

Secondary Kaya AU (red paladin Kaya, blade Keith): instead of dying in a hiking accident, rhian WAS abducted by aliens. in a series of unfortunate events she ends up in a work station similar to the one captain holt was kept at.

pidge is the one who finds her when she’s looking for her dad+brother. rhian’s face pops up after pidge runs a search and she does a double take bc that’s kaya? that’s adult kaya what the fuck? and kaya’s like ‘no actually i think that’s my aunt who went missing when i was a baby? what the FUCK is she doing out here’ and they have to rescue her, obviously.

which results in there being 3 whole adults on the show!! and rhian takes over doing what main!kaya would have been doing- running an information network and updating the Castle with coran, as well as mothering the team when they need it lol

the first time rhian and kaya meet it’s just the spiderman-pointing-meme.jpg “if i’m me, and you’re me, then who’s flying the plane?!”.

#rose si talk

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goldstonegolem64 · 5 years

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Book 1 Hope returns Chapter 37 Leonidas the prideful By goldstone Golem 64

ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQ820nUujk

At the Galra central commande

Quinn was in the medical bay standing in front of a Healing pod that held his twin sister. Quinn heard the door opened and turned a saw Lady haggar, Root Rot and Skyver standing there quietly looking at him . “Lady Haggar i am sorry for failing in my mission please spare my sister and i will take all the punishment myself” Quinn said a s kneels before her

“Stand Child i don’t intend to punish you for failing this time and to honest i expected you to fail this mission” Haggar said

“ You did” Quinn said as he looked up surprised

“ Yes now get off the ground I have a new mission For the three of you.” Haggar said

“ Yeah boy get up and get ready” Skyver said

“ Yes it’s time to make the red river Run Boy “ Root rot yelled With a smile on his face

Quinn got up from the floor “ What is this Lady Haggar ?”

“We found a rebel listening outpost nearby and i think it will be the perfect testing for cyclone’s turbines and The gravitational field of polares and i get Rot root to stop trying to eating the gaurds and i need you to watch over them “ Haggar said a little Annoyed

“ Sorry i’m so hungry for some fresh meat that i get a little nippy when ever i people’s back turned “ Root said with a predatory growl in his voice

Skyver walked closer towards Quinn and wipered “He ate two guards that thought he had escaped from his cell “

“ How the hell did they think he got out of the cell he’s huge “ Quinn said confused as he followed Haggar out of the medical bay

“ He’s surprisingly stealthy for a big guy “ Skyver said

“ i didn’t get this big by being an idiot. I may act like a simple minded brute but i’m a really a tactical man and before the empire appeared i was the head of my Clans hunting party “ Root rot said as his head turned a full 180 to look at them

Both men looked terrified

“ So what happened to your clan after the empire showed up?” Skyver asked

“ I will never tell that is my secret to keep. Now let’s get to the fun part” Root rot said with a wicked smile as the three of hem Walked into the Hanger bay.

Elsewhere

Shiro found himself in the middle of a weird purple plane. He had been there for a while he didn’t know how long he was here for. It wasn’t the first time he was here but he still didn’t know what this place. He had walked around here for a bit not knowing where to go seeing as this place looked the same no matter where he went but sometimes as he walked he would see Keith just walking around looking confused by what was going on. But when he saw Hunk ,pidge or lance not moving at all which confused him they all were looking up and talking to someone that was just out off his sight. He wonder why he or keith hadn’t see whoever this mysterty person was . He had to ask them later when they woke up.

He keep walking around the empty plane. But as he walked he heard the sound of people Taking and a banging sound echoed throughout the plane .

“ Hey big guy time to walk up “ A familiar voice said as the plane he was in started going dark. Then he walk up and found himself walking out of the healing pod that he had been placed in and fall forward and was caught but someone

“ i got you big guy “The voice said

Shiro’s sight was blurry for a bit and blinked for a few times before looking at the person who had caught him it was Rolo “ Hello Rolo How are you ?” He asked

“ I’m good how bout you” Rolo replied

“ I just walk up and How long was i out for anyway?”

“ You and the others were out for the three Days, Jay went on a solo mission and we found a Trader moon so will be able to replace the cracked disks and we decide to go to a nearby rebel outpost before we head to the main base” Rolo said

“ Ok now how are the others?”

“ Well keith woke up first then followed by Lance,hunk then Came pidge and finally you. Also Adam and Jay have something important to tell you when we get to the bridge “ Rolo said as Shiro got to his feet

“Should I be scared about this ?” Shiro asked looking At rolo

“ No i don’t think so. You should let them explain now get dress and meet up with the other at the bridge” Rolo said

“Alright them “ Shiro said

After getting dressed Rolo explained in more details on what had happened the passed three days. first was how Matt showed off a system that He and pidge had been working that tracked Galra movements. how Most of the crew tried to get the loins to bond with them but no one could make it work and How Adam and Jay got into a wrestling match along with other not to important thing that had happened the passed three days . then they entered the bridge to find everyone talking to each other. Everyone turned to look at at the Shiro and rolo

“ Morning Shiro “ Jay said giving a two finger salute

“ Go to see you up and running again “ Adam said as he walked towards Shiro and kissed him on the check.

“ Yeah it’s good to be up “ shiro returned adams kiss then he looked up to Jay “ So what Happened between you two while i was A sleep anyway” Shiro asked as jay’s face went a little pale as everyone turned to look at him

“ Well it’s a long Story” Jay said taking a few steps back near one of the tube that lead to one of the lions

“Oh No you dont “ Allura yelled as she grabbed Jay by the front of the shirt and pulled him into a headlock

“ Ok Ok I won’t leave “ Jay yelled

“ What is going on?” Shiro asked

“ She stopped me from leave before i told you that your going to be a dad welcome to parent Hood.can you let me go now Allura?” JAy asked as she let him go “ Now let me explain how this happened “ jay said a

Twenty minutes later Shiro was sit on the floor trying his best to process what he just heard.

“So this gain child will have curtain aspects of their parents like a normal kid right ?” Shiro asked as he held the first of his metal arm

“ Yes it will you have two week until it’s born so decide if you want it or not because if you don’t i’ll take care of them in your stead. “ Jay said as he rubbed his upper arm as everyone looked at him.

Shiro looked at Adam then to Jay “ I, We need time to take more about this But i’m not mad about your mistake but i am mad that you keep this for me for a long time.” Shiro said

“ That hurt more then the punch i was expe”Jay was cut off by A punch to the stomach by keith causing Jay to double over

“ Keith what the hell” Lance yelled

“ No lance i earned that one” Jay said as hre place his hand onto keith shoulder using him as leverage

“ Sorry about that i went onto Autopilot for a second there “ Keith said

“ No again it’s fine i eared that one so don’t be sorry . Now to change topics Coran please explain a trade moon please “ Jay said

“ Well Traders moons are dangerous black marks that are own by a race of space pirates called the Unilu. So we need to be very castion of what were doing. So keep one hand on your wallet and the other on your bayard” Coran said Then everyone turned to look at matt and Ace. Matt , Nyma and rolo were all trying to hold back laughter while Ace was smiling While no know what n-7 was doing

“ Oh i can’t while to be there “ Hunk said sarcastically

“ So who is going and who is Staying ?” Pidge Said

“ While Me and my team have dires to go through So were Staying behind” Ace said as the Matt and the other groan a little

“ I’m Going to Stay behind and try to deepen my bond with the black lion “ Shiro said still holding his wrist .

“ Well i’m going “Allura said

“ I’m sorry Princess but it’s to dangerous “ Coran said

Allure frowned A little

“ Don’t worry boss i’ll buy you something Nice “ Jay said as he and others left the bridge.

“ Make sure it’s Sparkly” Allure said

“ can do boss” Jay replied as the door closed behind him

Allura sat down and looked over to Shiro who was still sitting there holding his wrist.

“ Are you Alright Shiro do you want me to bring Jay back here.?” Allura asked

“ No” Shiro said

“ Then what is on your mind then ?” Allura asked as she walked over to him

“ I Just wonder how raising a child in a war zone will affect the child’s development and will they get what i had or what will happen to the child if i die before they are born. Also why would jay not tell me early about this. I mean i get it he has his plate full with three kids of his own to watch over but still this is a huge bomb just to drop on someone. “ Shiro looked like he as about to cry “ i’m not ready to be a parent not yet. But i saw how happy Adam was when i walked in. “ pause for a moment and collected himself “i always had a plan for my life. But now i’m fight a cross Galaxy war with a kid on the way what am i going to do about this. “

“I think you should just see where it leads you life is sometime better when you don’t have a plan. i mean life gave me you give and it’s been going pretty well. But that’s just for me” Allura said

“ Your starting to sound Jay “ Shiro said laughing a little

“ Well he does have that effect on people” Alura replied

“ Well thanks for the pep talk. Princess but i’m still going to need sometime to think this over.” Shiro said as he got up and started to walk out of the room. but he stopped at the door and turned around “ Thanks again Allura i need that “

“ Your welcome Shiro and if you ever need some one to Talk to i’m always he “ She replied

“ I will “ Shiro said as the door opened and he walked out

Allura had a smile on he face as she sat back down “ Now what am i going to do now” Allura wondered as she did this the Altean mice crawled onto to her lap and looked up to her and She looked down to them and then a silent conversion began between the Allura and her pet mice “ Oh dinner and A show that sounds lovely “ Allura said with a smile

Elsewhere

Coran was leading Keith ,Lance, Pidge , Adam Hunk, And Jay towards an Altean pod

“ So why aren’t we taking the Cargo ship that has a huge amount of space has to plasma gun to the front and it has auto defence turrets on it when we’re not there to protect it.See as were going to a black market ?” Lance asked

“ Because there is a warrant out for it and the reason for that because again we are the most want people in the universe lance we now have a combined bounty of over two billion Gac. So i’m not risky us getting caught over a space ok man” Jay said as he was putting on his salvager helmet there were small dents in the helmet from where Fairin had tried to crush his head back on phobos

“I’m guess that’s why you were wearing your salvaging gear before the meeting “adam said Jay turned to look at Adam and gave him a thumbs up. Adam

The team was boarding the Atlaen pod when the sound of Hooves running across the metal floors Everyone turned to See Usamu running towards them with a bag on his back

“Wait for me “ Usamu said as he ran up to Jay looking ready to go “ I heard you were going to a traders moon and i want to tag along “ the young boy said with a smile on his face

“ Ok then little buddy know. But does Bastion know that your here or did you just ghost your brother ?“ JAy asked

“ no when i heard you were going i just grabbed my bags and ran down here as fast as possible. Usamu said with a look of realization followed by two more sets of footsteps running behind him. As Fitz and Bastion ran in both panting

“ they know now “ Usamu said with a awkward smile on his face

jay Shrugged not caring “ Ok now where we’re going is dangerous and i need all three of you if all three of you are coming along. I need you to stay close to me ok” Jay said taking his helmet off to show off the sirius look on his face .Bastion Grabbed Usamu and pulled them close and was talking to him. Jay looked over to Fitz Are you Coming along Bud?” Jay asked

“ ok” Fitz said as he shrugged and walked into the pod

“ Are you two coming or not ?” Jay asked Both Boys

The two Boys looked up at him

“ Sure “ Said Bastion

“ i was coming no matter what “ Usamu Said as he followed his brothers

Jay felt some one starring at him then he turned to look at Coran who was Staring at him for bring kids to A black market. Jay just strugger again and Said “ I will be with then the whole time so don’t worry Coran and i have this “ then Jay showed of his Bayard in it’s holster. Then he walked into the Atlaen pod.

Coran shake his head but didn’t what want to push it. then Sat down in the plot seat and then the Pod took off and flow towards the swap moon.

“ So what do you think will see when we get there?” Hunk Asked

“ I don’t know but i’m ready for anything “ Keith said

“ Hey Jay “ Pidge said

“ Yes pigeon “ Jay said as he looked up from the book he was reading

“ Why did you bring the Boys along?” She asked

“ Yeah it does seems pretty irresponsible of you to bring them to a black market “ Hunk add

Jay Closed his book and looked at them all “ Does anyone remember that Coran is and was a sleep for over ten thousand years right”

“ Right “Keith said confused he looked toward the others. Then to Adam who was listening to Usamu talk about something not paying Attention to what was going on.

“ What do that matter “ Pidge counterd

“ Well when i first heard of a Traders moon from Allura and Coran when i got back from new haven i need to know if they were still around so i asked Matt and the others to see what was different from what coran had told me and it turns out that swap moons are just moo size Swap Hall or what you guys call Mells ”

“ Mells do you mean Malls?”

“ That’s its Thank you Adam. See were just going shopping and i mean how much trouble can we get into at a mall” Jay said with a smile on his face

elsewhere Shiro was walking towards the hanger to the black lion and stopped and took a deep breath and walked into the hanger and saw the black lion standing there intimating to look at and the moment he walked into the room the black lion lowered its head and opened its mouth to let him in. Shiro walked into the lion’s mouth and into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot’s seat “ ok Bud how do i make are bond stronger?” Shiro asked and as he did the black lion started to move on it’s own and it took off into space “ Woah hey stop” Shiro yelled as he tried to stop the black lion to no avail so he just let the black lion fly off into the great unknown

back in the Traders moon Coran and the Other were stand in the entries of the Trader moon’s main aera

“ So this is a traders moon one of the most dangerous places in the universe “ Lance said sarcastically as he looked at the clean beautiful mall plaza

“ Well i feel like i over prepared for this” Jay said as he removed his helmet fix the bun on the back of his head.

“ don’t let the looks fool you this place is a place of scum in villain “ Coran said before leaving the other Paladin as he went off to look for the Skulltire plates

“ So All in of losing these costume all i favor say i” Lance said

“ I” Everyone said

in the sectury room A fat Galra was running on his elliptical

“ I have been giving an the most important job in the universe and i Varkon will defend this Trader moon from all threat and make my Empire proud “ Varkon said as he was run then He looked at the security screens and something caught his eyes. He got off his elliptical and walked over to the screen and watched as Hunk, Keith, Pidge ,Lance and Adam throwing Away their costume ‘ Space pirate trying to disguise themselves as normal civilians. But you won’t fool me Varkon chief of Security”

BAck with the other

“So we meet up back here in an Hour i guess “ Jay Said as he was place his sons costume in to his back

“ Or when ever coran Find those disk” adam said

“ Should someone go after him Just to make sure he dose get in trouble” Hunk said

“ 3-2-1 Not it “ hunk, Lance, Keith, Pidge and Adam said

“ Not i. darn it Come boys lets help Coran not get arrested “ JAy said and started walking Away. But then He turned Around put his hand in his pocket pulled out his wallet and Hand Adam a card “ this Card As Over two hundred thousand gac on it also when a Gain is born they will rapidly grow up and will stop about three weeks after there born so they will as smart and the size of a three to four year old so buy a lot of clothes and make sure it’s unisex just to be on the safe side and the code is 2207 .”

“ Thanks man” Adam said as he

“ Your welcome Now boys lets go” Jay said as he followed coran with the boys in toe

“ Ok Keith can you come with me and help me find a clothing Store “ Adam asked as he started to walk away

“ Alright “ Keith said Following behind his brother in law

“Alright i’m Going to look for a gift for Shay and then the food court See yea “ Hunk said as he went on his Leaving Pidge and Lance Alone together

“ So what do you want to do Pidge ?” Lance asked

“ Don’t know want to just walk around until Coran or someone gets into trouble “ Pigde asked

Back on the black lion

Shiro was just sitting there letting the black lion fly he didn’t where he was going how long they were flying. He couldn’t control it and he couldn’t contact the others. He was just stuck there not know what was going on until he noticed that the darkness of space started turning a dark red which Shiro found weird“ Where the hell are you taking me black “ Shiro said to himself as the black lion stop in front of a destroyed planet. Shiro was confused even more “ So Where are we now “ shiro asked and as he asked everything turned a blinding white and when he opened his eye he saw the planet no longer destroy. But as he stared at the planet he notice two objects flying towards the planet. The Another Flash went off and Shiro saw the two objects and he realized that the two object were massive meteorites . He also saw hundreds of small ships flying towards the two meteorites. Followed by another flash and shiro found himself inside of a building Where both meteorites were being examined by alteans, galra, Olkiar and other races . he looked around the area as saw the blueprints of the lions then another flash went off and Shiro was now looking at a completed Black lion

“ So this is your origin then “ Shiro said to the black lion

“ Yes it is my Paladin “ A voice said from behind Shiro

Shiro quickly turned around in his sat to look behind him and Saw no one and turned back with to what he was looking at and saw that he was no longer in the Altean hanger and Found himself looking into space and saw a small squadron of Fighter shooting at the Black lion. As the Black was being shot at A part of wings Appeared on the back of it and It changer straight at the enemy ship and seemly fased right throw then getting behind the enemy ships. the Black lions quickly turned Around and opened fire on the Enemy ship’s engines. Shiro wonder how he was going to get that Ability and as he wonder this Another flash appeared and shiro found himself no longer in the black lion’s Cockpit e found himself back in the purple plane with the black lion just standing there not doing anything.

“ What did i just see, why am i back here. How do it help Strength are bond please tell me what all that was supposed to tel me ?” Shiro asked to the black lion

“ It was supposed to tell you my Origin Shiro just like you said early ” The same voice as before said behind Shiro again .Shiro quickly turned Around to See a Towering figure in armor that Matched what Voltron looked like when the lions combined it had a helmet in the shape of a lion that covered it’s face it looked down on shiro with a neutral look on it’s eyes.

Shiro felt a little intimidated by the huge figure in front of him. “ My i Ask a question then?” Shiro said

“ Ok then Ask anything you want My paladin “ The figure said

“ Why is Zarkon still connected to black. How come keith can pilot the black lion. how do i strengthen are bond. “ Shiro asked

“ Keith has a fire in him i haven’t felt sense Zarkon or you it just needs time to grow. second My bond with Zarkon is broken he is just forcing the old one to linger much longer then it should. “ the figure said

“ How do we break that bond then ?” Shiro asked

“ That is easy prove your self to Black “ the figure said

Shiro was taken aback by this “ i thought i proved myself to black already?” Shiro asked

“ There is a difference between black letting you pilot him and proving yourself to him” the Figure said as the figure walked over to the black lion ”

“ Ok then how do i do that “ Shiro asked

“ you will find out soon enough” The figure said before disappearing

“ Wait what does that mean ?” Shiro asked and his question was quick answered when Zarkon appeared in front of him

“ So boy you finally come to challenge me here i am impressed by your brave boy” ZArkon said as he readied himself to fight “

“ Alright Black time to prove my worth.” Shiro said as he activied his Arm as both he and Zarkon charged at each other. Shiro and Zarkon clashed

“you Are strong boy “ Zarkon said as he kicked Shiro in the stomach sending Shiro flying backwards Shiro quickly got to his feet and Ran at Zarkon and throw severely punches which zarkon quickly blocked with his massive forearms “ and you are quit peresetain as well i commend you on that “ Zarkon said as he jumped back and Shoulder bashed Shiro in the Chest sending Shiro Flying Again.Shiro hit the Ground and rolled on the ground for a bit before Zarkon Changed at him kick him in the stomach Again “ But you are not strong enough to fight me “ ZArkon said as he grabbed “So just give up i don’t wish to kill such a great warrior ”

“ No i won’t give up as long as i has something to fight for i will never surrender to the likes of you so you better just kill me now “ Shiro said defiantly

“Well then you die with Honor Boy” Zarkon said As he raised his other hand about to punch a hole into Shiro when he was sent flying himself from behind by the black lion. Zarkon hit the ground and looked up to see the black lion Stand there next to Shiro” NOOOO!!!! “ Zarkon Yelled as he got back to hiss feet and charge at Shiro only to be fired upon by the black lion’s mouth beam . Zarkons eye snapped open and he was back in his throne room “NO Noooo NOOOOOOOOOO” zarkon yelled as he no longer could connect to the black lion

Shiro on the other hand was still in the Astar plane getting back to his feet and turned to look at the black lion “ So have i proven myself to you?’ Shiro asked The black lion let out a soft growling sound of approval. “Ok them now how do we get back to the castle” shiro ask and as he did Another flash went of and shiro found himself back in the hanger of the black lion “ So we never left uh that was new” Shiro said

a Few minutes later after running thought what he had just seen Shiro decide to talk to Allura about this. As he made his way out of the black lions he heard a voice in the back of his head

“ My NAme is Leonidas the prideful and the being who live in of Voltron you have earned that much Takashi Shirogane. “ Leonidas said before disappeared again

Shiro smile as he heard this and continued to walk to the bridge and when he arrived the bridge he found that everyone there and a cow. “Hey everyone is that a cow?” Shiro Asked confused

“ Her name is Kaltenecker “ lance said with a smile

“ Ok i will asked about what happened there but right now i need to Tell you all that i” Shiro was cut off When a message appeared on the screen Followed by a video that played

The video showed a Women in rebel gear Bleeding from a gash in Her shoulder “ To Any rebel who Can hear this my Name Is Able whitehorn i am stationed at listening outpost on Eve-on 3.Original we thought it was just a normal sandstorm. “ The Sounds of Gun and blaster fire could be heard outside” But then we lost contact with the other two out post here. “ the Sound of screaming came next “ But then something got in to the base it started killing and eating my squad then more of them started to appear” The sound of the door been banged on “ Shit to any one who could hear” She was cut off be a huge spiked vine that pierced her stomach.the vine pulled out Albe fell lifeless to the floor to show a hole in the door. The paladins watched as the door started to be ripped open and a huge man in Galra armor walked in his face was covered by a huge flower. the figure then began to smash the console causing the video to freeze on the picture of the huge looking right at the paladins with a twisted smile on his face

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hailqiqi · 5 years

Text

Sunshine and Phone Lines

I’m not dead! I wasn’t going to write anything for Valentine’s this year (apart from a gift fic from last year) but then someone was talking about a real life situation and...tada! My first AU was born.

1,291 words of pointless fluff.

Dedicated to @cgf-kat. She knows why.

BTW, this is what my fics and titles look like when I’ve had no beta help or title help whatsoever, and only a vague notion of a fic with no ending in mind. Just a warning.

One…

Was the drumming of her fingertips on her desk bothering Nadia? A quick peek showed it wasn’t. Good. Then she could focus on trying not to bite her lip and being, y’know, normal.

Two…

For crying out loud. Her breath was in her throat, her heart was racing, and her deodorant was fighting a losing battle as the seconds dragged on. Why?!

Three…

What was taking him so long?

At twenty-five, she was way too old for this. All this heart-pounding, weak-kneed, teenage bull could go back to high school where it belonged. Katie was a professional, dammit.

Four…

She’d never even met the guy. All she had to go on was his stupid voice and it wasn’t like it was particularly sexy. Now, if he’d sounded more like Matt Mercer, Katie would be more okay with it, and at least—

“Good afternoon, Precision Assay, Accounts Division. Lance speaking.”

She did not squeak, though Nadia raised an eyebrow at the sound of her chair hitting the desk.

“Good afternoon! This is Katie from Altea R&D, how are you?”

“Katie!” The professionalism in his tone melted immediately into something that warmed her cheeks and had her sitting up straighter. “I’m doing great! Better now I’ve heard your lovely voice. How are things with you?”

“Good, good!” she replied, leaning back as the butterflies cartwheeled through her stomach. “It’s uh…—” her eyes flicked to the window across the room— “it’s nice weather we’ve been having!”

A snort from her deskmate, and Katie wanted to die. Nice weather? What the heck am I, fifty? No, even fifty-year-olds have more game than that.

Lance chuckled. “Yeah, it’s nice not to be freezing to death in February for once.”

“Right!” she agreed, much too enthusiastically, then immediately lowered her forehead to her desk as quietly as she could. What the heck was she doing?

An awkward silence followed, and Katie prayed briefly for the weather to turn so she could freeze to death on the walk home. Anything to help her forget this stupid, stupid—

“So, uh, how can I help you? Not that I don’t mind you calling to talk about the weather, but…”

“Oh! Oh, right!” Right, she was a research lead with a schedule and requirements and was calling for a reason other than talking to the stupid friendly guy from accounts. Lance waited patiently as she took a deep breath to centre herself (he was probably used to it. Ugh. He must have thought she was the world’s biggest airhead), and Katie was impressed with her professional tone when she finally spoke.

“I was just calling to inquire about our last order for the radiation chromometer. Do you have a confirmed dispatch date that you can give me?”

See? I’m an adult. Look at me being all business and not a stupid teenager with a crush.

Lance’s reply was equally business-like.

“I believe we do, but I’ll need to double-check. Hold on a moment…” The sound of tapping travelled down the line. “Ah, here we go! Everything’s confirmed on our end; you’re scheduled to receive it on the 14th February. Valentine’s Day!” He laughed, and Katie smiled weakly, even though he wouldn’t see it. “I’ll put a note for the delivery driver to call you once they’ve left the depot, so we won’t have a repeat of last time. Unless you’re taking that day off...?”

“No, no, I’ll be here,” she answered quickly, waving a hand at the phone. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

There was that blind date Hunk had set her up on with one of his friends, but she had half a mind to cancel anyway. He was probably some buff guy in a suit who sounded like Matt Mercer and Katie apparently only liked ridiculously hot men who were way too old for her (and gay) or faceless phone guys who used emojis in their business emails and sounded like they huffed helium on a daily basis.

(Apart from that one time in the morning where his voice had been all gruff and husky and oh my God—)

“So, uh,” Lance started, thankfully cutting in before she could go too far down memory lane, “I know it’s really unprofessional, and please don’t feel like you have any obligation to say yes, but, um, if you’re not doing anything that night, would you mind, uh…”

He trailed off, voice hesitant, and the realisation hit Katie like a tonne of bricks.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

Her stunned whisper was met with a shriek from across the table.

“Oh my God, is your phone crush asking you out on a date?! No way!”

Her gaze whipped up, cheeks burning, only to find her co-worker leaning across her desk, screen pushed aside and eyes bright with glee as she unashamedly focused all of her attention on Katie’s conversation.

“Phone crush, huh?” Lance chuckled low, drawing her attention back to the phone. There was an unfamiliar smoothness to his tone, and Katie frowned. “Well if that’s the case, shouldn’t you be asking me?”

She really wanted to throttle Nadia. “I will hang up on you, Lance.”

“No! No, don’t do that!” Panic shot through his voice and she had to bite back a laugh. “But does that mean you’ll say yes? Because I gotta admit I’d really like to get to know the woman behind the snarky wit and clever e-mails.”

“Snarky wit and clever e-mails, huh?” Katie repeated, unable to keep the smile from her features. “I mean, I was meant to go out on a blind date—”

“—Oh, me too—”

“—but if it’s between a guy I don’t know or a guy I’ve never met but who’s e-mails always make me smile, I’d rather take the latter.”

“Yeah?”

Katie could hear the smile in his voice and it made her duck her head, cheeks warming. “Yeah.”

“Great! Great! So um, I guess I better give you my actual number…”

-----

Twenty minutes later and it turned out that Lance used more emojis in his text than in his emails and was, in fact, a decently buff guy in a suit (helium-huffing notwithstanding). Even Nadia had approved, and had taken it upon herself to help Katie pick a decent photo to send back when Katie’s phone buzzed again.

Nadia made a sound of delight and Katie lunged for the phone, swearing when the older woman side-stepped just out of her reach. “Ah-hah-hah, let’s see what Loverboy has sent… Aww, it’s from some guy named Hunk.”

Katie blinked. “Hunk? What does he say?”

“Sorry Pidge — who the heck is Pidge? — but my friend just cancelled for V-Day. I’ll see if I can set you guys up next time, and if you don’t have a date I’ll make you dinner for Galentine’s Day, ok?”

“Oh,” Katie said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Good, that means I don’t have to think of an excuse to cancel.”

She gestured for the phone and Nadia handed it over, rolling her eyes as she said, “Still. Don’t you feel like you got dumped?”

“By a guy I haven’t even met?” she asked, tabbing back to Lance’s texts, selecting the photo and hitting ‘Send’.

“Yeah! You should be cancelling on him, not the other way round.”

“It doesn’t bother me.” Her phone buzzed with his reply: can’t decide if u’re cute or beautiful or sexy or all 3. Can’t wait to meet u, either way.

Lance was cheesy, dorky and was definitely not a master of written communication, but none of that could stop the smile from stealing across her face as she re-read their short conversation. “I like the one I’ve got.”

#plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #pance #lidge #my writing #voltron fanfiction #and then on Feb 15th Hunk was like #are you fucking kidding me?!?!#do you know how bad I felt?!?!#could you like not?!?!#also i claim godparent dibs this is non-negotiable

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justheretobreakthings · 5 years

Text

Welcome to the Family - Chapter 1

(Next Chapter)

A Voltron: Legendary Defender fic Central Characters: Keith, Lance Word Count: 1,976 Modern Day/High School AU Read on AO3

Summary: Lance had been excited about his family taking in a foster kid, eager to get to meet his brand new little brother or sister, who would surely adore and idolize their super cool Big Brother Lance. What he got instead was a sullen, quiet, temperamental teenage housemate with a criminal record and a disastrous haircut.

“He’s our age,” Lance said the moment Pidge and Hunk had connected to the Skype call, his voice coming out in practically a whine. “I cannot fucking believe it. Our age.”

“Okay, yeah, we’re gonna need context here,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “Who’s our age, and why do you sound distraught about it?”

Lance huffed out a breath. “Remember when I told you about how Mom and Pop-pop were planning on becoming foster parents since everyone in the house keeps growing up and moving out? And they did those interviews and home visits and stuff?”

“Vaguely,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, not like you mentioned how excited you were to be a big brother, what, forty times a day? Fifty?” Hunk added.

“A conservative estimate if I ever heard one,” Pidge said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” said Lance. “Well, apparently they got their foster kid assignment, told me and Rachel about it today. He’s gonna be moving in on Wednesday and guess what? Guess fucking what?”

“He’s our age,” Hunk said flatly.

“He’s our age! Hell, he’s older, technically. Same grade, but he’s got a fall birthday. I just - God, I had plans, you know? I was getting ready for some cute little eight-year-old to move in and be in awe of their amazing big brother Lance. I was gonna teach them how to dive and help them with their homework and, like, go kite-flying and give piggyback rides and - ”

“I’m sorry, time out,” Pidge interrupted. “Do you even know how to fly a kite?”

“I was going to learn!” Lance snapped. “Point is, I was finally, finally going to not be the goddamn baby of the family for once, I was finally going to get to do all those big-brother things that Marco and Luis got to do. And what happens? I get assigned a guy who’s our age.”

“Well, your age,” Pidge said.

“Our grade, whatever. How am I supposed to do all that with someone my age, huh? How am I supposed to get him excited about genius brother Lance helping him with his homework if he’s in the same grade as me? I can barely help myself with homework!”

“Aw, Lance,” Hunk said, reaching up to pat his webcam as if he were patting Lance on the head. “Maybe he’ll want to do the kite-flying and piggyback rides anyway.”

“Believe it or not, Hunk, I don’t want to give a piggyback ride to someone who’s months older than me.”

“Bummer.”

“I just - gah!” Lance set his elbow onto his desk hard enough for a thunk to echo through it and began kneading the heel of his hand into his forehead. “I wish my parents would’ve given me some warning, you know? Let me know ahead of time that they were planning on fostering a teenager.”

“Quick question,” said Pidge. “Did your parents ever actually say, specifically, that they were going to be fostering a little kid, or did you just assume?”

Lance grimaced. “Okay, no, they didn’t specify. But come on! When you hear the words ‘foster kid’, you don’t picture some fifteen-going-on-sixteen-year-old, right? You picture, like, a little orphan Annie type age range.”

Pidge laughed. “Oh my God, you were fully prepared for your life to become a musical, weren’t you? Did I not warn you that joining drama club was going to end up screwing with your brain?”

“Oh, hush up, I wasn’t being literal about the Annie thing. Just the age.”

“What else do you know about this guy?” Hunk asked.

“Like, next to nothing? His name’s Keith, he’s going into sophomore year like we are, and I’m supposed to be nice and make him feel welcome. That’s all the information I’ve got.”

“Well, then, for all you know, this could still be fun, right? Sure, you’re not getting a little brother or sister like you wanted, but you’re still getting a new brother, yeah? So, make the most of it. Maybe he’ll still want to do a bunch of fun stuff with you and still let you teach him things and all that. You can still do some of that stuff with someone your own age, can’t you?”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “But it’s not the same. And plus, I dunno, just… the whole thing about having someone the same grade as me living in my house, it’s kinda…”

“Kinda what?” Pidge asked.

“Well, like, okay, we’re probably going to be in some of the same classes right? So what if he’s the type of person who comes home and immediately reports to Mamá every time I bomb a quiz or something? Or what if he’s one of those slackers who will be copying all my work?”

“If you’re bombing quizzes, it’d be pretty stupid of him to copy off of you,” Pidge pointed out.

“Maybe he’s just not that bright, you don’t know. Or, God, even worse, what if he’s one of those perfect student, straight-A, never-does-anything-wrong types and I end up having to deal with a bunch of, ‘oh, Lance, your brother’s such a good student, why can’t you be more like him?’ And also, like, what if he’s hot?”

“Lance,” Hunk said, face suddenly grave, “Please promise me you’re not going to try hitting on your foster brother.”

“No, God, that’s not what I meant. But I mean, there are only so many dateable people at our school as is. The last thing I need is for someone from my own home to swoop in and start taking up all the good ones for himself.”

“Ever the romantic, aren’t you?” Pidge said.

“I’ve got a lot of love to give, Pidge. I just - I don’t need that, you know? I don’t need someone moving into my house and just suddenly becoming my competition for everything. That sort of thing wouldn’t be a problem if it was going to be a little kid, but now - ”

“Lance,” Hunk said, “Are you hearing yourself right now?”

“It’s Lance, of course he is,” Pidge remarked. “If ever there was a person who loved hearing the sound of his own voice - ”

Hunk pressed on as if he hadn’t heard her. “You haven’t even met this guy, and already you’re declaring him to be some sort of rival for you or something.”

Lance sighed. “Fine, yes, you caught me Doctor Hunk, I’m jumping to conclusions. It’s much more likely that this Keith guy is going to show up, decide I’m his role model, never quite measure up to me but be delighted to learn the ways of life at my feet, isn’t it?”

“You didn’t seriously expect your imaginary little brother to do that, did you?” Pidge asked. “I mean, dude, you are a little brother, and you sure as hell didn’t do that with any of your siblings. Or have you suddenly blocked off all your childhood memories? I was there for a bunch of them, you can’t fool me, McClain.”

“Well, yeah, but we’ve been siblings since birth. It’s different when it’s a foster kid, right? Like, getting to be all excited and happy about having a new family and a better life and stuff?”

“Is there a way I can get a transcript of this whole conversation? Because I want to show it to Keith when he gets here, give him a warning about what kind of nonsense he’s in for.” Lance rolled his eyes.

“For the record,” Hunk said, “I think it sounds really cool, getting a foster brother your own age.”

“How do you figure?” asked Lance.

“Well, like, you’re going to get to know this guy well and share classes with him and all, so he could end up being, you know, a really close friend for you, like me and Pidge. Except in this case, you don’t go off to your separate homes at the end of the day, you can just keep hanging out, like, on and on and on. It’d be like having a sleepover with a friend every single night. Oh, and you can partner up for group projects at school and you never have to worry about arranging times and places to meet up. And you can share your clothes with each other and you guys can go on double dates and wear pairs costumes on Halloween and - ”

“Hunk,” Pidge interrupted him, “You are going to be in for such a rude awakening when you go to college and get a roommate for the first time.”

“Come on, it could happen!” Hunk insisted. “Like Lance said, we don’t know anything about Keith. He could very well be a super friendly, fun, cool guy that Lance would love to spend time with! Sometimes it’s good to think best-case scenario when you’re anxious about something.”

“I’m not anxious about Keith,” said Lance. “I’m just… I dunno, I’m not anything!”

“Besides disappointed that he’s not an eight-year-old,” Pidge said.

“Right, besides that. It’s all up in the air right now, is the thing. I could be getting the greatest brother ever or the worst, could go either way. Can’t find out ‘til Wednesday.”

“Do your parents have any more info on him?” Hunk asked. “It’s not like a social worker just came up to them and told them, ‘Hey, you’re getting a kid, his name’s Keith, incoming sophomore, pick him up on Wednesday, the rest is a surprise.’”

“They don’t know anything that would matter to me,” Lance answered. “Mamá got this binder on him, but I’m pretty sure it’s all just case history and medical stuff. Wouldn’t do me a whole lot of good to know his former addresses and his blood type.”

“In that case,” said Pidge, “Guess all that’s left to do is wait.”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “I guess.”

“Hey, be excited,” Hunk said. “You’re getting a new brother. And odds are, you’re getting a new person to add to our group, so I guess Pidge and I get to be excited too.”

“Good point,” Pidge said with a nod. “What would the Three Musketeers be without their d’Artagnan?”

Lance blinked at her. “What would what?”

“What would the Three Stooges be without Shemp?”

“Ah. Well, you’ll get to meet him soon too, seeing as he’s gonna be our classmate and all. So if he’s horrible, you guys get to suffer with me, okay?”

“Sounds great.”

“Let us know when he gets in, okay?” Hunk said. “Text us your first impressions, get a picture, stuff like that.”

“Aw, isn’t it cute?” Pidge said. “Hunk’s even more excited about your new brother than you are.” Hunk just shrugged.

“Sure, fine, I’ll give you all the live coverage,” Lance said. “And Hunk, if he shows up and he’s not the mega-friendly new best friend you promised me, you owe me recompense for getting my hopes up.”

“Ooh, look at Lance, pulling out the SAT words,” Pidge laughed.

“Fine, deal,” said Hunk. “I’ll place my bet now.”

“And I’ll join that betting pool,” said Pidge. “My money’s on him being a hellspawn maniac who tries to murder you in your sleep.”

“Pidge,” Lance said, “Why the hell would you say that?”

“To mess with you.”

“Great. So my options are ‘crazy murderer’ and ‘angel who was crafted specifically to be my perfect friend’.”

“As a group, we’re really not that great at considering the middle ground, are we?” Pidge said.

“Keeps life interesting. All right, signing off now, I’ll keep both of you updated on the Keith situation, okay?”

At the confirmations from his friends, Lance ended the Skype call and pushed his swivel chair back from his desk with a long, slow breath.

Wednesday. Keith would be coming on Wednesday. Today was Monday, so he had two days to prepare. Two days before he got his brand new brother.

“Damn it, Hunk,” he muttered to himself, “You’d be better be right about him.”

#lance #keith #vld fic #voltron fic #high school au #my writing #fic: welcome to the family

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alluratron · 5 years

Text

What’s wrong with VLD?

PART 1

This is a continuation of a long post discussing everything I feel went wrong with Voltron: Legendary Defender. If you haven't read part 1, I would suggest doing that before coming back to this one.

(once again, apologies to those on mobile.)

Pidge never fucking learned a single solitary damn thing. In the first season she supposedly learned to value her new team and recognise that they need her. But going forward, she still prioritised her blood family over everything, yelling at everyone and just generally being a brat when they were discussing how to negotiate exchanging Lotor for Sam (Blood Duel, S5E2). I mean seriously, nobody ever said they wouldn’t get Sam back?? They were just saying they needed to be smart because Zarkon could pull the rug out from under them (which he did). But Pidge acts like a brat that must get her way. And that’s fine because she’s 15, but can the narrative acknowledge her brattiness? Can she grow from that? Nope. They go right back to genius Pidge who is always right about everything and can never be wrong on even the smallest of things because they will combust and die. Even something as stupid as the double modulation argument (Kral Zera, S5E4). They couldn’t just let Hunk win that one argument? Nope. Pidge has to be a know it all and come out on top. I initially loved Pidge because, as a woman in STEM, I related to her strongly. But she quickly grew boring and stale for me.

In fact, all of the Holts grew boring and stale to me. There was so much time and focus dedicated to this basic white family when, for 5 seasons, we didn’t even know Lance’s family’s names despite him supposedly being terribly homesick. And nothing for Hunk! For a long time all we knew was that Hunk had a mom (now we know he also has a dad, an aunt and a niece and nephew but still no names). But the Holts were all perfect. Somehow, both Matt and Sam survived the Galra more or less unscathed. And, though we were told that Sam, Matt and Shiro were like family as a crew, we never see any familial overtures from them towards him and Shiro continues to not have any loved ones.

Seriously, why is Shiro so isolated? Where is his family? Does he just not have one? Did he crawl out of a rock fully formed and ready to mentor Keith? The one episode we have to explore Shiro’s pre-Kerberos past (I really don’t know season 7 names, S7E1) focuses almost entirely on Keith and not Shiro himself. The episode, where Shiro’s quintessence struggles to merge with the clone’s body (more YIKES on that later) would’ve been a perfect opportunity to delve into Shiro’s childhood, show us his family (if he had any or if he was an orphan), show us the onset of his disease, show us what drove him to join the Garrison, show us him meeting and getting together with Adam (or just meeting and befriending if they were really limited), show us him taking Keith under his wing, show us the decline of Shiro and Adam’s relationship and eventual breakup, and then show us how he never gave up on Keith and why Keith will never give up on him. This would’ve given us so much more insight into Shiro’s character, but the episode was never about Shiro, not really anyway. It was about Keith.

In fact, Shiro is rarely allowed to have something for himself. His relationship with the black lion? Apparently he was just a seat warmer until Keith was ready to take up the mantle. Even his confrontation with Sendak was set up to make Keith look cooler. In their first confrontation (Fall of the Castle Of Lions, S1E4) Shiro fights Sendak to a standstill. He only loses because Haxus threatens Lance’s unconscious body. Then when Sendak is in the holding pod, he taunts Shiro and asks him “do you really think a monster like you could be a paladin of voltron?” causing Shiro to panic and eject Sendak from the Castle. Aside from the fact that the show answers that question with a decisive “NO” by not allowing Shiro to return to the black lion (even though he did everything right but okay!), they also don’t even let him win the confrontation with Sendak. As they fight a rematch (pls forgive me I have no episode name or number season 7 really was a nightmare for me and I blacked it out mostly) Shiro takes hit after hit after hit, barely landing any himself. By far the worst moment, in my opinion, comes when Shiro lands a hit squarely on Sendak’s jaw with his human hand and yet it does nothing! Sendak doesn’t even flinch, he just laughs and sends Shiro flying. What kind of awful implication is that? It very strongly implies that Shiro’s humanness is WEAK and inferior. That’s extremely fucked up. On top of this, Shiro was able to fight Sendak to a standstill with a galra prosthetic, but not with the one Allura made for him, powered by her crown jewel. Remember when Sendak said Shiro’s galra arm was the strongest part of him? Yeah, this just confirmed that. Not only is Galra tech is superior to Altean, but Shiro is weak without it.

Finally, when Shiro is battered and bruised, on the ground just waiting for death, Keith jumps out of the black lion and kills Sendak in one slice, holding dramatic pose for effect, despite having no emotional stake with Sendak. Why this needed to happen, I will never understand. Why could the writers not bear to allow Shiro win his battle? Why couldn’t he have his victory? Why Keith and nobody else? Because Shiro’s character is treated as an accessory to Keith. He was never meant to be a main character in his own right. He was always just intended as a mentor and prop for Keith. He’s hardly allowed to bond with the other paladins. For example, despite the focus placed on his handshake with Lance the pilot, their relationship never grows. They barely talk at all, with Lance probably being closer to the clone than the original. Also of note is how Shiro never thanks Allura when she saves his life (Defenders Of All Universes, S6E7; that episode in season 7 where she puts the jewel in his arm). In both cases, Keith appears in front of her, taking up Shiro’s vision despite Allura actually being the one solving the problem. I don’t even think Shiro and Hunk have a single one-on-one interaction, clone or original.

Despite Shiro’s. Well. Everything. Being given to Keith, the latter still suffers dreadful writing. He is stagnant for 5 seasons, relearning the same lesson of relying on your team over and over again, until he meets his mother and in the space of two minutes, a montage on the back of a space whale in S6E2 solves all of his problems by ageing him up two years. Seriously. He spends two years on a whale with his mom and his dog and suddenly he’s ok now. At least that’s what the story wants us to believe, except he really doesn’t change at all. He comes back and promptly goes off on his own again, this time chasing Clone Shiro. He’s still snappy and impatient. The only thing that changes is that he doesn’t hate the prospect of flying the black lion anymore. And he has longer hair. Seriously, that’s it. He even still shows ambivalence to Allura’s safety. Which brings me to my next point:

Why is Keith so ambivalent to Allura’s safety??? Seriously, throughout the entire show he just really does not care for her and it shows. When she sacrifices herself to save Shiro and they are all brainstorming ideas to rescue her (The Black Paladin, S1E11) Keith suggests they don’t rescue her at all. He’s called out on this by the others and I’m willing to let this one slide because I thought he was just overly pragmatic and would eventually grow to love his team so much that he would never consider leaving anyone behind. The next time this happens is when Keith is piloting the black lion and chasing after Lotor (The Hunted, S3E3). Allura is struggling with flying the blue lion and takes a hit (due to low visibility in the gas planet that Keith rushed them into) and Hunk declares that he is going back for her. Keith actually gets annoyed by this! They can barely communicate with each other and can’t detect each other outside of view so the only way they’re going to find Allura is if they go after her immediately, but Keith is angry that Hunk does this??? Would he prefer they just leave her to die??? His disregard for her safety comes up again in when she’s in the quintessence field with Lotor and Keith returns. Pidge informs him that Lotor is in the quintessence field with Allura, to which Keith responds “can’t we fly in there and attack?” He is willing to attack Lotor even with Allura there. Once is excusable. Twice may be coincidence. But 3 times? That’s a pattern emerging.

It’s worse still because Keith isn’t ambivalent to other people’s safety. We know he saves Shiro time and time again, but he also saves Acxa in BotW and Lotor at the Kral Zera, despite only just meeting Acxa at the time and not even interacting with Lotor at all. So what sense does it make that he will happily save random Galra that he comes across, but not his own teammate? Really not selling me on the found family aspect.

In fact the found family completely breaks down. Pidge’s entire motivation is her blood family and she remains closer to them than her team. Keith never actually bonds with the team and all his problems are solved when he reconnects with his birth mother. Hunk and Pidge spend seasons 3 to 7 taking cheap shots at Lance’s intelligence and mocking his feelings for Allura (they don’t do this in season 8 but that’s more because Lance barely talks to anyone that isn’t Allura in season 8). Shiro isn’t allowed to talk to people that aren’t Keith. Keith insults Allura’s DEAD FATHER (lost in space? is that what it’s called? idk please I really don’t know anything about s7) and is rude to Lance even when the latter is trying to be sweet (The Feud, S7E4). Coran is usually forgotten. Nothing about this team feels even remotely familial. Pidge and Hunk are best friends. Allura and Lance are dating. Shiro and Keith have history. Allura has a decent enough rapport with everyone that isn’t Keith but that’s about it. Keith himself questions whether they’re even friends (lost in space episode again idk the number) and the truth is they’re not! They’re co-workers that occasionally have a laugh together but they are not a group of friends by a long shot. Their relationships are superficial and, when push comes to shove, they don’t look out for each other.

This brings me to the clone arc. God, I mean. Where to even start. The entire arc was a hot mess and only existed because they were forced to bring Shiro back earlier, but they didn’t want Shiro back so they made him a clone. There are several theories and meta out there discussing how Shiro was pasted over Keith and the personality mismatch handwaved as “he’s a clone” so I’m not gonna go into all that here. Believe them if you want, or don’t. What I will point out, is how shoddily the arc was handled. First of all, there was no real need for it. Haggar didn’t do anything with the clone that she couldn’t have done with Shiro. After all, she did tamper with his mind for a whole year so she could easily mind control him somehow. She didn’t need a Narti clone to see through her eyes, so why would she need a Shiro clone to do the same? Moreover, Shiro’s arm had been a blatant fucking Chekhov’s Gun for seasons so we absolutely could’ve had Haggar controlling the real Shiro through his arm, just as she did with the clone. The only reason I think a clone would be of ANY use to the story, is to give Shiro some family by having this clone become VLD’s version of Shiro’s historical twin brother, Ryou. But they didn’t do that. They didn’t do anything with the clone except torture him and kill him. And this is my biggest gripe with the arc.

POOR KURON!!!! What the hell was all that???? They introduced Kuron with a whole episode showing us how desperate he was to get back to his team and, in what were almost his final moments, his thoughts were on all the moments he (believed that he) shared with his teammates (The Journey, S3E5). Throughout his entire period with the team, he suffered from chronic headaches and is more short tempered than the Shiro we’re used to, but he ultimately has the best intentions. He apologises for losing his temper (Post Mortem, S5E3) and reaches out to Lance for help when he begins to suspect that something isn’t right with him (White Lion, S5E6). He plays monsters and mana with his teammates and has a grand old time with them (Monsters and Mana, S6E3). He convinces the black lion (and, let’s not forget, original Shiro whose quintessence is in the lion at this point) to allow him fly black because his friends are in danger and he can’t stand not helping (Code of Honor, S4E1). He cares deeply for this team. And yet, when push comes to shove, they don’t care for him.

As soon as Haggar activates the final stage, the paladins all give up on him (except for Keith, but Keith doesn’t even really count because he doesn’t go after Kuron for Kuron, he does it because of the history he shares with original Shiro. He has no relationship with Kuron) with Hunk stating “but Shiro’s not Shiro anymore”. Hunk - and implicitly the rest of the team save Keith - is willing to give up on him in a heartbeat, despite the moments they’ve shared since he stepped onto the bridge all freshened up (Tailing a Comet, S3E6). Even the original Shiro - who must have known Kuron only ever had good intentions for him (and black) to have allowed Kuron pilot black at all - calls Kuron a “thing” with disgust (All Good Things, S6E6) and an “evil clone” (you know the season 7 drill by now).

When Kuron is revealed to have been a clone, even Keith ceases to care for the person inside, referring to him as “this body” (Defender of All Universes, S6E7) instead of treating him as a person. The team of supposed heroes all watch as Allura takes Shiro’s quintessence from the black lion and superimposes it over Kuron’s existence. And it’s not like Kuron was dead. Keith says the body is “barely living” so he was definitely alive. But this was of no consequence to our heroes and they kill him without remorse. EPs tried to remedy this a little by saying in an interview that Kuron and Shiro were merged into one person, with Shiro absorbing all of Kuron’s memories. But extra-canonical explanations already hold little weight (on account of not being deemed relevant enough to be included in canon) and that little is reduced to nothing when canon directly contradicts it. If Shiro had truly absorbed Kuron’s memories, he would have seen how tortured Kuron was by Haggar’s control, how confused and afraid and in pain he was, and how he only ever wanted to do the right thing. If Shiro has absorbed Kuron’s memories - including those of delighting in playing M&M or reaching out to Lance for help - there is no way he would still call Kuron evil. It makes no sense at all.

In the end, Kuron was brought into existence to suffer and die unceremoniously at the hands of the people he called friends. Charming.

Want to know a flop of a character? Romelle. I mean, really now. She was only relevant for one episode! Her entire purpose was exposition on what Lotor was really doing and then she never again did anything of consequence but hung around for two full seasons after. More character flops include ALL of the MFE pilots. Seriously, why did we need them at all? The most relevant of them is James LastNameICantRemember (and of course in a perfect parallel to team voltron, the white boy is the leader) yet he even is a waste of a character. We first see him in a flashback in the black paladins as the kid Keith got in a fight with. All well and good. Now why, pray tell, did we need any more information about this kid? All we ever needed to know was that Keith clashed with his classmates, period. He suddenly becomes Keith’s rival except not really? Because they aren’t really competing. Keith is of course a far superior pilot to the rest of his class so he’s rather untouchable and he knows it. He’s a show off and gets all his classmates (including Lance and Hunk) in trouble for it. James makes a nasty comment about Keith’s parents and the fight is on. Given all of this, I still fail to see why James requires any fleshing out or recurrence in the show. Hell, I fail to see why he even requires a last name!

It also bothers me that we see this whole rivalry with a brand spanking new character yet we never see when or why Lance decided to see Keith as his rival. But that would require acknowledging Lance’s insecurities - that never actually get addressed - and recognising him as a character whose purpose isn’t solely to be in love with Allura, so I can see why they skimped on that. Lance is also the only main character (save Coran) that doesn’t get a flashback during which they are the focus. Pidge gets all the Holt stuff and sneaking into the Garrison, Allura gets the first recollection to Zarkon’s final attack when she is put in stasis, Hunk gets the scenes with his family when they’re taken hostage, Keith gets the events leading up to his birth and the whole background on why he never gives up in Shiro. Even Shiro at least gets his breakup with Adam where he’s the focus. But Lance? Lance is always a side character in someone else’s story.

The entire Earth arc was stupid and boring to be frank. Voltron has never required more than a single episode to save one planet. In fact, it only took them 2 episodes to liberate a third of the Galra’s conquered territory (Begin the Blitz, S4E5; A New Defender, S4E6) so why do we spend so much time planning for an attack on Earth? It feels like wasted time to me. All those episodes of military nonsense could have been spent on developing characters and relationships further. In fact, the atlas needn’t even have been built by the time voltron arrived (it doesn’t even make sense that it was conveniently built anyway because why was Sam making that monster of a ship???). They could’ve have reached earth, found it colonised by some fringe general, freed it and then spent some time building a replacement castle, but word of voltron’s arrival on earth eventually reaches Sendak and that’s why he comes and attacks with his full fleet. With some time spent on Earth not doing military stuff, we could’ve met Hunk and Lance’s families properly in s7. We could’ve seen Shiro and the Holts interact.

Allura’s alchemy (lbr it’s just magic) is also just so wishy washy. We are never told what exactly she can or cannot do and sometimes she saves the day by hubsfjz. Sometimes she can’t save the day by hubsfjz. When she can and can’t? Who knows! That’s up to plot. Once we get to Oriande I have zero clue what is even going on with her alchemy anymore. What are sacred alteans anyway? Are they connected to the mark of the chosen? And what does she even gain from Oriande that she didn’t have before? By the time we get to the season 6 finale there is no tension at all because sure, there are several rips in the fabric of reality, but can’t Allura just fix it? No? She can’t? She doesn’t possess this level of alchemic knowledge? Then what the fresh hell was the point of going to Oriande! I thought Oriande was supposed to be the source of all alchemic knowledge!

Everything about Lotor made no sense. Until this day, I still have no idea why he did anything he did. He wanted to get quintessence from the quintessence field, but for what? For the empire? He never seemed to actually care for the empire so that’s unlikely. What was his motivation for anything? And why was he treated as worse than Zarkon and Honerva? I mean, I personally always saw him as a villain and expected him and team voltron’s alliance to fall apart because he was never actually redeemed from his position in s3 and s4. In HitS he expressly states that if the paladins never return from the other reality then it's a win for him, and he kills Narti with no hesitation (Black Site, S4E3) so he was very much meant to be a villainous character, but surely not worse than his parents? All of Zarkon’s misdeeds were wiped away as quintessence poisoning (or dark entity possession, the show is never quite sure what it’s doing here) but by that logic, shouldn’t Lotor’s be as well? He was literally born of the rift, so wouldn’t he also be somewhat possessed? And Honerva tried to destroy all realities just because she couldn’t have her happy ending (I mean, relatable. I didn’t want any endgame ships because it became clear I wasn’t getting any of mine bc yeah I’m that petty when I’m upset, but still) and she did this in her right mind, clear of all influence yet she was still redeemed in a second. And yet Lotor received none of this grace, despite actually being the most sympathetic of the three.

Voltron itself became so useless. As in the robot. All the power ups that were crammed into the final two seasons (especially season 7) and yet the robot never won a fight on its own. They always needed some interference to save their asses. How did voltron remain the most powerful weapon in the universe for TEN THOUSAND YEARS without being used, and yet the paladins disappear for just three years and suddenly technology has moved past them completely??? Doesn’t add up. And yet Keith is still telling us (to Shiro’s face haha YIKES) that voltron is more powerful than ever when it’s really not. Voltron gets its ass kicked on the daily. More still, the power ups were so much more impactful in the first two seasons because they were earned. They were spaced out and actually effective and were an obvious result of earned bonding between paladin and lion. The entire second arc has very little lion-Paladin bonding (mainly just Allura and blue in season 3) and then suddenly a bunch of them are rushed in the final arc. It doesn’t feel natural. And each paladin should have gotten a bayard weapon in voltron but they don’t. Keith forms the sword, Hunk forms the cannon with multiple target ability, Pidge forms the rocket thing(?) but Lance never forms anything. Neither do Shiro or Allura (they both form the blazing sword I suppose, but that’s only in conjunction with Keith as neither of them actually form the sword). All the weapons we see formed with multiple bayards are also very random. Look at Steven Universe, where the fusions form weapons that are combinations of the individuals’ gem weapons. Does voltron make that much sense? No! Lance and Pidge form dual swords, despite neither of them actually forming the single sword! Keith and Lance form...big wings I guess, despite Keith’s weapon being the sword and Lance not having a weapon at all. Allura and Hunk forming rocket blasters at least somewhat makes sense because Hunk’s single weapon is the multiple target cannon, but seeing as Pidge forms rockets shouldn’t it be Pidge and Hunk?

Keith and Lance’s relationship was set up to be an important one (I don’t mean romantic, but important). In a show about found family, characters within the team that are at odds are always going to have receive focus on their relationship growth until they reach an understanding (this is why Keith and Allura were also set up to have one of the most important dynamics). This focus is always going to happen with “rivals”. That doesn’t mean they end up dating (although sometimes they do) but it means their dynamic has to develop and change and improve a lot more than others. Like I said before, conflict begets growth and Keith and Lance had conflict in spades. They initially bickered incessantly but worked well together (Return to the Balmera, S1E7; Eye of the Storm, S2E5). In season 3, Lance supports Keith early in his tenure as pilot of the black lion, and Keith attempts to reassure Lance of his place on the team in TAC. They have each other’s backs, although Keith is still unaware as to why Lance pinned him as a rival in the first place. And then Keith leaves and their friendship never picks up again. They never discuss the origin of the rivalry and can hardly be considered friends until season 8, where they randomly have two Deep Meaningful Conversations (Launch Date, S8E1; the one where Allura is in a coma) despite doing none of the work to get to the stage where they have such conversations. It’s not convincing at all. And the reason any positive development between them was scrapped after season 3 is most likely to discourage shippers, which is frankly a terrible reason to mess with your characters and relationships.

The sheer number of dropped plots and threads. What a waste of story time. Team Sincline being a perfect mirror of team Voltron? Nothing happened with that because we never even get to see them form Sincline together (Narti is dead before the final ship is even built so uhh). Keith having future vision or quintessence detecting or whatever? Who knows why or what that is. It’s certainly never explained. It existed entirely to make him cool and spicy. Lance’s altean broadsword? Even Jeremy Shada wasn’t aware if he ever used it because it only shows up for like two seconds and was obviously used as an afterthought. Alternate reality alteans? HA! They were only there to make us ever so thankful that our reality altea was destroyed because look, they’re even worse than the galra, at least the galra left people with their free will. And Zarkon was only as bad as he was because of the rift (he’s suddenly a good guy in Honerva’s mind in s8), whereas empress Allura did all this rift-free. Why was Acxa in the weblum? Who knows, who cares. Why did she and Keith keep saving each other? Who knows who cares! Even the lion goddess stuff never makes a return.

The entirety of the eighth season made no sense. Allura’s death was pointless. Seriously. We don’t even know how she fixed anything. She just walked towards the light and died and somehow? Everything is okay now? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Was it her quintessence? Her hair? What exactly fixed all realities? And how did Altea and Daibazaal return? They were both destroyed by being blown up, they weren’t eaten by the rift of anything. So how did they come back? And did they come back with all the people or just as ghost planets? Did all the other planets that were destroyed during the war (like the one Lotor colonised but in a ~friendly~ way that made Zarkon angry enough to blow it up) also reappear? Voltron doesn’t care to say.

So this is all I can remember for now. There’s probably a ton more things that are either problematic or senseless but I’m all vented out so I’ll leave it here for now. Peace out.

#BIG SIGH #i really needed to write this #shit show #taken to the extreme #vld critical #a pinch of salt #whats wrong with vld #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #voltron legendary disaster #voltron legendary disappointment #long post #if anything else comes to me ill make a part 3 lol

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