Chapter Text
Lance and Hunk had just caught up with each other after eating together at the cafeteria. Lance had been distracted by this one girl in particular for a while now, but she had always found a way to escape him. Lance would try to talk to her before, but as soon as he got close to her someone would bump him away by accident or a professor would pull him and warn him about wandering off. No matter what, Lance was somehow prevented from ever talking to her by some unknown force. Hunk, realizing his best friend was in deep thought, started a conversation with him.
“Hey, Lance? Earth to Lance? Lance to Earth? Hello?” Hunk started questioning his buddy
“Oh, sorry bud. I was….thinking.” Lance replied.
“Hmmm….well I did see that mystery girl go through the west wing.” Hunk whispered.
Lance sighed. “It feels hopeless trying to talk to this one girl. I think we should just stick to exploring around the Garrison and maybe moving on, don’t you think?”
“Wow….just wow. I’m astonished, really. This is the ever so fearless Lance McClain? The curious beanpole, who is also a big flirt, gives up just like that?” Hunk teased.
“Guess so, Hunk. Guess so. Anyways, let’s go to the restricted area again! Come on, please! Please, Hunk?” Lance, now having his mood brighten up, begged Hunk to accompany him in his little adventure.
“Do I really have a choice?” Hunk asked, even though he knew the answer to his own question.
“Nope!” Lance smiled as he pulled Hunk along with him.
The next day was a big day for Lance, not only did it decide who his team will be, but it will also decide if he would be a fighter pilot. Lance was a bit overwhelmed and anxious while walking towards the placement chart. Hunk caught up to Lance and began improving his mood like always. Hunk has been very special to Lance, he had always been there for him and had always supported him except for times when Lance suggested a really dumb idea. Hunk always knew how Lance felt and Lance appreciated that, every time Lance would fall, Hunk was there to pick him right up. As they approached the chart, Lance began reading where he’d been placed and with who. "Lance McClain….Ohhh Hunk, nice you’re with me too and….Pidge? Pidge Gunderson?" Lance read to himself.
“Our communications office is Pidge….Pidge Gunderson, huh. Who the heck is he, Hunk?” Lance said in confusion.
“Right here.”
Lance and Hunk turned around to see who had just spoken. Before them was a somewhat short male standing awkwardly by the entrance of the hall. He had caramel eyes and freckles behind his absurdly funny glasses, he also had brown hair spiking up in random places. Lance was charmed. Wow, he doesn’t look half bad actually. "Well, let’s get to know this Pidge Gunderson" Lance pondered a bit before being suddenly interrupted by the petite figure.
“Um….Lance and Hunk, right? Great to meet you guys, but I have something urgent to attend to so….see you guys later.” Pidge ran off in the opposite direction.
Lance was a little disheartened because the conversation with Pidge had ended abruptly. Pidge had intrigued him for sure, but now Lance was filled with curiosity . Both Lance and Hunk returned to their dorms to change and begin their little routine of exploring the Garrison. However, their routine halted when Lance’s eyes caught Pidge sneaking about down the hall. After telling Hunk, and possibly forcing him to join, he and Lance began trailing Pidge. They both reached the roof, but decided to wait until Pidge was setting up his gadgets from his bag, which he apparently brought. Lance decided to be the first to sneakily approach Pidge, signaling Hunk to follow after.
“The stars are lovely tonight, Pidge.” Lance cooed as he gently lifted Pidge’s headphones.
“GGGGGAAAAAHHHHH!!!Oh….it's just you, Lance.” Pidge looked away immediately.
“I’m kind of hurt that you didn’t invite me to your little date” Lance winked at Pidge, making him even more flustered.
“Oh,um….I was just….studying the constellations.”
“Pidge, your false words wound me. Oh, whatever shall we do to discipline thee? Honorary Knight of thy Kitchen, please step forward to assist thee!” Lance playfully said.
“Okay, okay. You got me, I’m not really studying the constellations.” Pidge confessed while still smiling at Lance’s previous statement.
Lance and Hunk then ganged up on Pidge into confessing his whole truth. According to Pidge, the Garrison has been falsifying space reports and the most recent and most important report being the Kerberos mission, involving Samuel and Mathew Holt alongside Takashi Shirogane. Pidge stated that the Garrison announced that there was a ship malfunction, but when he hacked into their computer database, he found out that there was no such malfunction. Hunk was reluctant to believe Pidge’s tale, but Lance immediately believed him. After all, Lance knew that Shirogane was one of the best of the best and paired him up with two of Earth’s brightest minds, then there is no way that the ship had failed. It didn’t sit well that a mere malfunction took down one of Earth’s best built teams. As the conversation ended, something entered the atmosphere. Pidge relayed the message to Lance and Hunk after looking into his binoculars, that the thing that entered the atmosphere was an alien ship.
“LANCE! HUNK! Look, it's an alien ship! We have to go get a closer look. Come on, come on. Hurry up! Pidge excitingly said as he jumped up and down.
Lance never really got a good look at Pidge up close, after all he only recently met him. But the way his eyes gleamed with excitement and how he genuinely smiled made Lance’s heart flutter. His caramel eyes basically pleading Lance to join him, it kind of reminded how he always acted with Hunk, and with his crooked smile at the end just did it for Lance. "Wow….just wow. His eyes are something else. Am I really questioning my sexua- No, no. He’s just someone that shares my passion for exploration." Lance thought as he got up from the ground.
“Right behind you, Pidge! Come on, Hunk. Don’t be a big baby now.” Lance encouraged Hunk to catch up with him and Pidge.
“Blue….Paladin, can you hear me?” A disembodied voice whispered. Lance was caught off guard, but after a few moments of silence he ignored the sudden whisper.
The group escaped Garrison grounds and was now headed towards the crash site. As they began to approach the cliff that was situated over the crash site, Hunk caught Lance staring at Pidge and pulled him aside so Pidge couldn’t hear what he had to say.
“Better watch yourself before you get caught and it gets really embarrassing. I would go to your defense, but this might be really funny, you know. I didn't know you swung that way, and with a person you just met. You usually just do your flirt, then leave. Is this time finally different?” Hunk whispered, but his smirk was very obvious.
“What! No, I’m-. Look, I was just thinking about something, okay? And what do you mean ‘swung that way’?” Lance defended.
“Hmmm, maybe this is the princess that you’ll swoon over, well prince in this case.” Hunk added on.
“I just want to know him better, maybe he’ll be a part of our group. He looks interesting enough and I think it’s time we expand our circle, no?”
Hunk grinned “You don’t usually want to know about someone and add them to our circle of friends immediately after meeting them. Why is this time different?"
“Are you guys talking about me?” Pidge intervened.
“No.” Lance and Hunk said in unison.
“Weird. Anyways, hurry up I can see the cliffside already.”
Lance started to lose consciousness, but as his eyelids began to close he still feels that he’s running with Pidge. He felt his legs moving and the air brushing against his face, but he started to lose view of the ship and his friends. The world became pitch black and Lance only felt fatigue. The scenery changed to a weird alien platform surrounded by what seems to be an aftermath of a space battle. A lot of what appears to be fallen ships causing fires surrounded him, and in the distance behind him, he saw a weird looking structure that resembled a castle. A woman appeared before him with a shed of light behind her, walking ever so slightly towards him almost cautiously. Lance started to realize that this humanoid figure was really tall like really really tall. She stood at six feet and probably eight inches, and her aura just spelled out menacing. Lance was usually one of the tallest and was always on the higher end of the height spectrum, but looking at her he felt very intimidated and quite small. She wore a mostly white armor with hints of blue decorated throughout. The plating, however, looked damaged and traces of blood coming from various wounds dripped down.
“Tell me, short one. Where is Voltron? Where is the Green Paladin? Where is Zarkon and King Alford?” The humanoid began.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have answers to any of those questions. Look, I was just at the Galaxy Garrison with Hunk and Pidge and there was this alien ship that crash landed right outside basically. Hold on a second. What the heck are you talking about? Green Paladin? King?” Lance babbled as he tried to grasp the situation he was in.
“Did Zarkon win? Am I in the past or future? What happened after….” The humanoid paced as she talked to herself. “Okay, have you seen a relatively short, but quite cute paladin?”
“Well, I don’t know about paladin, but there is someone rather cu-. Wait, Paladin? Zarkon? What are you talking about?” Lance caught himself just in time as he gave her an answer.
“Hmmm….no. It seems that we have lost. Dammit! DAMMIT!!! THAT TRAITOROUS BASTARD!!!” The humanoid sighed. “I’ll need time to think about this. In the meantime you can go back, but I’ll be calling you back once you’re needed again.”
Lance started to regain his consciousness immediately after she had waved her hand. His hands were on an unfamiliar control panel, and he felt someone shaking his shoulders.
“LANCE! LANCE!” A distressed voice yelled.
“Ow….where am I?” Lance said while trying to regain consciousness.
“Lance, what the heck! We’re about to enter this weird structure thing. Come on, I didn’t want to leave you in this lion.” Pidge answered as she led Lance out of the Lion.
The structure had resembled the one in his vision, but the setting around it was more peaceful and less hot. As Lance walked towards the ‘castle’, Pidge distanced himself away from him while Hunk came and made his way to Lance. The group was split up with their own little subgroups: Shiro and Keith taking charge, Pidge in the middle, and Lance and Hunk all the way in the back. Lance told Hunk about what happened and explained that he doesn’t remember a lot after their Garrison escape. Hunk told Lance in great detail about all the things he had ‘missed’. Lance was shocked at how much time had passed when he’d only talked for what seemed like seconds. They had rescued Shiro with Keith, they found a blue lion shaped ship, which he himself had piloted, escaped from a super scary alien shipper, which was also exponentially bigger than the lion one, AND they teleported to a planet far from Earth. Lance had a hard time keeping up.
Eventually, the group made their way inside the Castle and found what seems to be multiple sleeping chambers. The silence annoyed Lance, so he decided to start up a conversation with Pidge, who was very much alone.
“Hey, Pidge. How are you holding up?” Lance started.
“I’m holding up good, Lance. Why do you ask?” Pidge replied, concealing any type of emotion.
“Just wanted to know, I guess. I have a question that’s been lingering in my head ever since Hunk gave me a refresher. Was that really your girlfriend in the photo?” Lance asked.
“No. She’s….an old classmate.”
“She’s kind of cute, don’t you think?” Lance inched ever so forward to see Pidge’s reaction. Realizing that Pidge had always been reserved when it came to emotions, Lance decided that now would be a good opportunity to fish anything out from Pidge.
“You really think so? Why bring this up now? Is there really any importance to this?” Pidge murmured. He looked away from Lance’s face, which was gradually coming closer to his. His heart pounded faster as Lance’s face was just inches away from his own, making Pidge get a really good close to his dark blue eyes.
“What if I told you I was into her? That her eyes charmed me ever since I laid my own eyes on her. That her smile resembles the smile that you showed me last night in addition to those caramel eyes you have. What would you do?” Lance teased with his very best flirty persona.
“I….would….um….I….you. Where did that come from Lance!?!” Pidge stammered as he tried to assemble any type of logic or thought to reply against Lance.
Lance giggled, breaking his character. “Nowhere, just trying to see if you’d react.”
“Yeah….thanks, Lance.” Pidge answered. “Wait, Lance. Was all that you said true? Did you really find my classmate cute?
Before Lance could give an answer, fatigue struck him once again. He said something, but couldn’t remember what he had just said. The setting began to gradually change again, the weird alien corridor dissipated, replaced by a familiar open area platform. Once again, a very tall lady appeared before him and started to converse.
“Alrighty! I came up with a plan to solve our current situation.” The humanoid announced. “You will have to transfer my consciousness from the Blue Lion to one of the fighting dummies, so that I can train and talk to you without you having to become unconscious in order for me to talk. Sounds good?”
“Fighting dummies? Blue Lion? This, this….is kind of a lot to process. Can you at least give me some background information or some context because I don’t even know what you are or where you came from. It’s kind of hard to just put faith into someone intimidating and someone I just met.” Lance replied as respectfully as he can.
“Fair point, human. I am Fzetia, former Blue Paladin of Voltron. My last memory before talking to you was fighting with the resistance after Zarkon had betrayed the Altean Empire. The battle between Zarkon and I was a clear victory for me, he was never a match for me in combat until he held the Green Paladin as a hostage. After giving up my bayard the bastar-” Fzetia trailed off. Her aura from the beginning had disappeared, she was no longer bright and happy, she gave off a pained look. The drastic change in character had thrown Lance off. Lance could see the pain in her scarlet eyes, tears ran down her cheeks as she finally gave in. “the bastard stabbed him through the chest anyways. I fought Zarkon until he had dealt a lethal blow to me. I remember laying down next to….next to the Green Paladin, bleeding out, telling me his last words. He said that he’ll be working on our vengeance, one way or the other Zarkon will pay in full. His fading eyes, his dying smile, that’s what fuels my determination for our vengeance.” Fzetia concluded with a whisper.
“Vengeance? Wait a second. Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seemed to me that you died in your story. Also, how exactly are you going to pull off this ‘vengeance’ of yours?” Lance questioned. To be honest, Lance was speechless, this had seemed like a tragic ending to a romance movie he had watched back home. Alien romance, space warfare, creepy castle structure, it all began to make his brain go haywire.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll train you when you transfer my consciousness to the dummy, though be warned I am very strict about technique and stances. I can’t answer your questions completely, all I remember are bits and pieces of my memories. It’s like I have the whole picture, but some of the information is blurred or crossed out. To be honest, it might be something my….m- the Green Paladin did.” Fzetia answered with a happier tone.
“So you’re gonna be my teacher? Nice, I can finally get ahead of that Keith! Wait a second, I have a question about your story.” Lance asked.
“Hmmm?”
“Why did you keep focusing on the Green Paladin? Is he your boyfriend?” Lance jested, which brightened up the mood even more.
“Whaa-! NOO!!!! He is not my boyfriend!!!” Fzetia said while being flustered. The question had caught her off guard, she expected something more serious or less personal, not something about her love life.
“I think you’re lying, he has to be something special to you. You know, you even asked me if I’ve seen a cute paladin around.” Lance giggled as he made a stupid face.
Lance knows she must have had it tough, having to deal with a death experience then suddenly thrusted into the future where your killer is the most powerful and influential being. Being able to have times like this would be good for her and him, times that will brighten even the dimmest of rooms. It would balance out all the gritty and harsh times that would come ahead. Maybe she can help him with his own problems, give advice on his own problems, maybe even be there as a supportive figure. That’s not so bad, someone who can listen to me without me being a bother to anyone.
“Husband….He’s my husband.” Fzetia murmured as her cheeks began to pink up.
“HAHA!!! I knew it! Tell me how you did it. How did you guys get together? Is it like some fantasy romance? Were any of you royalty? Who approached who? How did you guys get together?” Lance proceeded to bombard Fzetia with questions.
“Nope, not telling! Anyways, you have to go back already.” Fzetia ordered.
“Wait, don’t leave me on a cliffhanger! That’s also just an excuse to avoid the question.”
“Oops, too late.” Fzetia smirked.
Fzetia waved her hand, returning Lance back to the Castle. Lance had felt fatigue once more, then a surge of energy as he opened his eyes. He can see everyone was staring at him, except Pidge. The awkward silence had gone over for a couple seconds, making Lance feel uncomfortable and confused. Why were they all looking at him? Did he mutter something weird?
“Ahem, Lance. Do you know what you’re doing?” Shiro asked in an authoritative tone.
“Um, can you guys repeat what’s happening?” Lance asked sheepishly.
“Dummy” Pidge whispered to himself, looking away from Lance.
Shiro sighed. “Lance, were you even paying attention to the conversation? You’ve been acting strange lately and I want to know that this isn’t a recurring thing. Do I need to inform you about everything from the start?
“Yes, please.” Lance replied with his hand scratching the back of his head.
“Okay, Voltron is assembled by five lions. We have one of them operational now, one in the Castle and we have the location of the other two. The one in the Castle cannot be used unless all of the other four are present here. So our plan is to achieve the other two and work our way on finding the Red Lion. You and Pidge will be retrieving the Green Lion and make your way towards the Yellow Lion’s location. Keith will be staying behind, waiting for any signs of the Red Lion. Me and Hunk will be on our way towards the Yellow Lion for recon, but we might need the firepower of two lions for an easy retrieval. Got that?” Shiro concluded his summary of the past few minutes.
“Okay, Paladins move out. Time is not on our side and the portal will not last forever.” Allura added on.
The paladins split up to their respective groups, making their way towards the hangar bay. The four paladins gave each other an affirmative nod before departing to their ships and exiting the Castle. Pidge and Lance made their way towards one of the portals aboard the Blue Lion and exited out to a peace planet that resembled Earth. The Blue Lion had landed and the two paladins were escorted towards the location of the Green Lion. As they sat on the boat, Pidge and Lance sat far from each other and silence dawned between them again.
“Hey, Pidge? Wasn’t she hot? You know, the one with bright blue eyes. Don’t tell me you didn’t find her hot? Who was that attractive figure from before?”
“She’s a space princess of a fallen empire.” Pidge replied while rolling his eyes.
Is there a problem between us? I can feel some sort of tension in the air. Is it something I’ve said before?” Lance genuinely asked, straying from the topic he wanted to talk about.
“No, I’m just….worried. Worried about my family, worried about this whole thing, this whole this is kind of scary and I just want this over with. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can get back to our normal lives.” Pidge explained.
“Yeah, same here. I want my family to be safe, but this is also kind of my dream here. To explore space and see all the types of things it has to offer is truly a gift. Of course I want everyone to be safe, but you know this is a once in a lifetime chance. I have mixed feelings about this is what I’m really saying.” Lance confessed.
“Hey, Lance? About that conversation we had before, are you really serious about my classmate?” Pidge blurted out.
“That’s a good question, Pidge. Hmmmm. I don’t know yet, really. She’s- wait a second, I know what this is about. You’re worried that I’ll take her away from you. Well, I’ll have you know that I am a formidable foe. ” Lance grinned at his ‘realization’.
“What, no! Why would I-? I was just….curious to know what you think, okay?” Pidge was dumbstruck.
“It’s okay if you fell for my charm, that just means tha-”
“I did NOT fall for your charm, Lance. You just caught me off guard in a field I’m not too confident in. Why do you have to be like this?” Pidge affirmed as he fixed his glasses.
“You have arrived at your destination, Paladins.” The ferryman announced in a manner of some annoyance as well. He muttered something as they left and it seemed to be that Lance was the only one who heard it clearly. Pidge asked about what the ferryman had said, but Lance assured Pidge was nothing important. Pidge paid no attention to the ferryman’s remark and continued to walk away.
Pidge and Lance walked on the barely pathed road and headed towards the supposed Green Lion’s location. The air around them was calm and inviting, the moisture and vegetation made up most of the smell of the patchy forest they entered. The leaves on the trees rustled as the wind whistled. The heat from the sunlight barely passed through the green trees above them, making the air around them cool. A perfect dating place Lance thought. Breathtaking, quiet and above all peaceful, untouched by warfare that has apparently been going on for some time now. The forest was peaceful with little to no noises from its inhabitants, making it very soothing. Pidge was fascinated about the scenery, his caramel eyes sparked once again with curiosity and Lance couldn’t help but observe his partner.
“What? Is there something in my hair?” Pidge questioned, still keeping his enthusiastic character.
“Nope, nothing. Your hair is perfectly fine, Pidge. Anyways, I think that vine covered thing is oddly suspicious, don’t you think?” Lance smiled.
Pidge was able to get her Lion out with ease. Before long, the Green Lion had sprung out of the vines and placed itself in front of Pidge. They entered the Lion and headed for Lance’s lion, so they could meet up with the rest of their crew. Once Lance had gotten back to his lion, both flew up to the portal from which they had come from, leaving behind the ever so peaceful planet.