#vldgen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aang frowned. “Black Lion?”

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

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

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

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

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

Except this time he heard a roar.

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

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

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

“Where am I?” Aang said aloud.

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

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

And probably not happy at his sudden arrival.

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

The lion growled.

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

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

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

“I’m welcome here?” he asked.

The lion nodded and gave a gentle growl.

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

The Black Lion gave a nod.

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

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

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

Sokka frowned. “Why? What happened?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Huh,” Shiro muttered softly.

“What?” Zuko asked with a raised eyebrow.

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

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

“He is the Avatar,” Toph said.

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

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

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

“I do,” Shiro replied.

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

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

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

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

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

Aang blinked. “Element?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes,” Shiro replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shiro frowned. “What do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Keith?” Aang asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Agreed,” Shiro replied and sighed.

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

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

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

Shiro blinked. “A trick?”

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

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

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

“TA DA!” Aang declared.

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

Toph was the one that sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After a week, Aang declared themselves ready.

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

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

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

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

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

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “Cycles?”

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

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

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

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

“Tonight,” Shiro said.

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

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

Aang nodded. “Tonight then.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Go. Away,” he grumbled.

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

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

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

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

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

At least she had until tonight.

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

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

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

Growl….come…growl…important.

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

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

“Now what?” Keith asked aloud.

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

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

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

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

Trust…me.

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

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

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

Keith sighed. “This is really important?”

The Black Lion growled.

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

“Okay, I trust you,” Keith said.

The controls glowed.

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

“What?”

Trust me, Black repeated.

Keith took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

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

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

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

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

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

“Hi!”

Keith yelped and spun around.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith raised an eyebrow. “A friend?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

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

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

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

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

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

Aang looked up. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Keith said quietly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why are you up?” Keith asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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