#voltronfic

Apologies for being so late to the party.  I hope that my very patient giftee enjoys this story :)  @superfandomdqueensnook

Chapter 1

It didn't hurt.  He stared down at the arm in his gut and the first thing he thought was that it didn't hurt.  It seemed like it should, but he couldn't feel anything at all.  He was numb.  He looked up past the glow of purple into stone hard eyes, eyes that were cold - unforgiving.  Shiro stared back at him, nothing but anger in his face.

 "How could you?  It's all your fault.  It's your fault that they're dead."  Shiro's voice was like ice and it sent shivers through his body.  The shivers turned into waves of cold nausea washing out from the arm in his gut.  The waves brought the smell of burnt flesh and the copper of blood.  The smell was followed by the sounds - the sizzle of the arm burned into him, the squelch of blood and torn flesh when it was pulled from him, the splatter of blood as it hit the floor in front of him. 

There still wasn't any pain.  There wasn't any pain as his eyes closed, as his body tipped forward, or when he hit the ground.  It wasn't until he tried to push himself back up that the pain blazed through him like an inferno ignited in his gut.  He stopped moving his arms and laid his cheek on the cold floor, gasping for breath.

Three quintants earlier…

Keith was being dragged to yet another meeting on Altea with his father, ever since he became of age to go to these things he has been dragged to them. What's even worse then sitting through some boring meetings was having to deal with the Altean prince Lance. Don't get it wrong Keith didn't mind the prince to much, they had their get along moments but they would more then often butt heads. Following his father to the meeting room and took the usual seat he would always take. Sitting there Keith frowned crossing his arms over his chest, he did his best to get out of this one but it failed him yet again. Keith looked to the door as Lance and his father came in and he rolled his eyes as he got up to greet them alongside his father.

Lance sighed heavily as his father lead him into the grand room they held meetings in, his arms crossed in front of him until he had to shake the Galrans hands, putting on a fake smile and sitting down in his usual spot across from the prince. Keith was pleasant. . . most of the time. Sometimes he was a bit grumpy. And he could tell Keith wasn't a very big fan of Lance. But they didn't have to put up with each other very long. Only during meetings and the occasional dinner. They got the pleasantries out of the way and then Lance's father cleared his throat. He looked at Lance directly, who was actually surprised by this, before speaking. "We've got an announcement for the both of you. One that will not be disputed and is final," he said,and Lance frowned. It was odd that his father was actually speaking to him during one of these meetings. Keith blinked looking at Lance's father a bit surprised and shocked he was even addressing his son at one of these. It was not a usual thing for any of them to be spoken to during their parents meetings, during dinners sure but in this room never. Something wasn't right he could feel it and he wasn't sure if he should be on the attack or not. Keith's father turned to look at his son with one of the most serious looks ever "Not to be disputed at all Keith or so help me" Keith blinked shocked he was now being addressed and looked up to the man next to him. "Boy's we have been discussing this between the two of us and I believe this will choice will do both of our kingdoms well. We have agreed that you both will be getting married"

Lance looked over at the other King when he began to speak, feeling very uneasy about the situation. As soon as the words left Keith's father's mouth, his stomach practically dropped out of existence. His eyes grew wide and he looked over at his father like he had just been slapped in the face. This couldn't be real. . . They were surely joking! Lance was always open to the idea of marrying, but this early? And to Keith of all people? He and Keith barely knew each other beyond these meetings! How could Lance be expected to marry a man who was mostly a stranger? He had no clue how to respond or what to say, looking over at Keith to gauge his reaction. Keith's eyes went huge as he stared at his father shocked as can be, him married? Sure it's something he had wanted but if he was honest he didn't expect it to happen especially this early and with Lance of all people. He didn't know anything about Lance besides the few things from meetings or dinners was that really enough to honestly marry anyone. Looking to Lance he raised a brow not sure what he should say about this and it seems. that Lance was feeling the same way about this. "Y...you guys aren't being serious are you?" He mumbled as he looked up at both the men

Lance was too stunned to be insulted by Keith's words, looking over at his own father to hear the answer. "Are you?" he asked, studying his Father's face for any sign of humor. "We are being very serious. With surrounding kingdoms growing in strength, this union will help greatly with our own kingdoms' strength as well. Not just with our armies. But financially and politically as well." Lance looked down at the table in shock, taking a deep breath. Of all the times for his father to not be joking. . . He sighed deeply before speaking up. "How long have you been discussing this? Why are we just hearing about this?" he finally asked. "Why don't we get an opinion in this?" "Lance," his father warned, his eyes narrowed. "I told you that this was not to be disputed." Lance maintained the eye contact for a moment, both of them still fir a moment before Lance heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair. It was apparent that his dad was very serious. "Come on we don’t even know each other, this is not a bright idea at all it wont do any kingdom well if they see the two of us fighting all the time or something because we cant stand something about the other" Keith huffed softly as he looked at his father. "Keith, we are not disputing this. We have discussed this for months now, you both will be spending more time together seeing how you are going to be staying with them until the marriage. It will give you both time to talk and figure each other out do you understand?" Keith’s father glared at his son telling him he was not joking. Keith frowned hearing that he will be staying with Lance and was about to argue it when he looked at his father. He huffed and put his head down on the table keeping his mouth shut.

Lance sat back up, looking at his dad in alarm. "He's staying here?" he asked, a bit louder than he meant to. His father just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "Lance. . ." he hissed, shooting a glare his way that silenced him pretty quickly. "For once in your life do as you're told and do it quietly. . ." Lance clenched his teeth and looked away, not saying anything else. Keith's father shook his head as he listened to Lance and looked back at the boys father. Lance’s father sighed and he looked over at Keith's father, raising his eyebrows. "I think that's enough excitement for this meeting," he said, a tired smile on his face. "How soon should we be expecting Keith?"

"He can stay starting today, I can easily have what he needs sent to you. I feel if I am to take him away from him this boy might just run" Keith huffed glaring up at his father knowing the man was right, if he went back he'd find a way to run from home. He just did not want to marry a prince who clearly hated him and even if they spent time together it wouldn't change things for him.Lance stood when his father did, his hands clasped in front of him as he avoided Keith's eyes. "That works just fine. I'm sure we can accommodate him in the meantime." He looked down at Lance. "Lance, show Keith to your room while we finish up here," he said and Lance begrudgingly obeyed. He waited for Keith silently, opening his mouth to say something but backing out and just heading toward his room. He was sure Keith would just follow. Keith huffed as he got up and looked at his father not liking this to much. He looked to lance and sighed seeing the other boy wasn't to happy about it either, that was a plus he guessed. He startled when he saw that Lance was walking away from them and he looked to his father a bit unsure before following Lance.

A preview of the fic "Sprinkler", a Romelle centered piece written for @summer-lovin-zine!

“Are you guys sure you don’t need any help out there?” Lance asked, skeptical of the team’s plan. Keith would pilot Red, along with the Blade of Marmora members. Allura would pilot Blue.

Which left Lance back in the castle. For pretty much every mission nowadays.

Lance liked being around Coran––in fact, Coran was probably one of his favourite people. But during battle, during missions, even Coran was too busy playing his own role. 

Which left Lance standing alone, watching as everybody else saved the world. Watching, because when he tried to give feedback and work alongside Coran, they told him to stay out of it and not cause any further confusion––let Coran do his job.

The healing pods were glistening now, too, because of how often Lance cleaned them––It really wasn’t a good answer anymore for whenever he was asked about what he had done while they were of doing their jobs.

So Lance stood now, shoulders slumped with exhaustion. “I can help out.” He reminded them. I’m still part of this team.

Aren’t I?

A chill travelled down his spine at the thought.

“We’ll be fine, Lance. I promise.” Shiro said, smiling gently. “This should be an easy mission, won’t take very long, I think.”

“Why don’t you train for a little while?” Asked Allura. “We updated the system and the levels, perhaps you can try it out and get some practice while you’re at it.”

Lance inhaled sharply, mustering whatever mask he could put together today. “Oh. Well, I guess I'll just--yeah.”

I guess I’ll just stay back here again.

Small correction to my log from a few days ago: the swap moon isn’t cool, it’s cold as fuck.

It appears we’ve arrived in time for what they consider their winter season. The whole moon is covered in snow, and it’s getting deeper by the second with all the snow storms swirling around the atmosphere. (Speaking of which, why do all the planets I’ve been landing on recently have this thing with storms and/or snow? Have I become some sort of bad weather magnet?) But well, while the colder weather gives me more of an excuse to bundle up and hide myself, it’s making me wonder whether we’ll get any sort of information at all here.

Rare illegal market or not, I wouldn’t want to be visiting this moon while this sort of weather is happening. And I don’t think many other creatures would visit it either. We were counting on the crowd to hide and inform us. Now I’m not so sure.

Allura wants us to check it out anyways. “We can’t just assume and pass up the possibility of getting what we need,” she said. “We should at least scope out the situation before making any decisions.”

I see her point. And I’m eager to get Pidge and the lions back as well, so I’m not going to complain. We’ll just have to be a little more cautious than usual, is all. A little more careful in who we approach.

I hope Hunk is the one to come with me for this, to be honest. As much as I appreciate Coran and all his knowledge on alien life, he can sometimes get a little mixed up with his information, landing us all in trouble. And trouble is the very last thing we need right now if we’re going to stay undetected by the Galra and keep our element of surprise. Which we have to. Pidge’s rescue depends on it.

So that’s essentially the plan. Get in, get the information, get out. All while staying off Galra’s radar.

This little drabble is based off of @Jotakorium Galra! Shiro AU on Twitter. Hope its okay ><//

Shiro's ears twitched as he paced along the hallway leading to the docking bay. He had heard that they were expecting a half-Galra former Paladin of Voltron shortly and Kolivan had sent him to welcome the male. His tail twitched in annoyance. Everyone knew that meant Shiro was saddled with babysitting him until Kolivan determined the Paladin was ready to be active on his own.

Keith had decided to leave the paladins behind as he was on his way back to the blades. He wanted to learn more about this life his mother had and he felt he could do more with them then the paladins of voltron. His pod landed a few hours after he had started the trip and he stepped off. Taking a look around, he was informed about being welcomed by someone kolivan choose but he didnt know which blade he was being greeted by it was made harder to figure it out with so many walking about the hanger.

Shiro's ears perked when the bells confirmed the pod was secure. He walked into the docking bay, looking around for the Paladin. What greeted his eyes was a short, pale individual but he saw no Galra. There was to be a Galra here as far as he knew, so what was this small creature. Keith crossed his arms as he looked at a few blades passing him by. He stepped to Shiro seeing he was the only one not moving about and well it would be easy to simply just ask if he was who he was looking for or of not if they could help. So he took a few steps to the man and looked up at him, man he was big "Are you here on out of Kolivans behalf?'

Shiro's eyes followed the small creature until they were close together. "Perhaps. Are you the Paladin?"

"yes I am the paladin, so you are here for me? If not could you just take me where I have to go anyway it was a long trip here"

"You don't look half-Galra..." The blade member said, head tilting as he took in the sight of the smaller... was this a male or female? Kolivan had said the expected Paladin was male but Shiro wasn't sure anymore. Keith huffed "yeah well not all of us look half galra as you put it, if I wasnt I wouldn't have my mother's blade" He glared up at the taller man not happy with that welcome at all

////More to come eventually~ Remember If you donate to my Ko-fi you get priority on your drabble request////

Keith’s father nodded back to the Altean as he reached out to shake the mans hand "I will send some things for him soon, I should head back" Lance's dad shook the others hand with a warm smile. "You can visit any time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith caught up to lance and huffed "You could have waited for me you know, since you are the one who is supposed to be leading me and all" Lance grimaced a bit and kept his hands clasped tightly together. "I um. . . Sorry," he mumbled, still not looking at Keith. Things felt so different between them already and he had no clue what to say to Keith now. . . "Just. . . yeah. . ."

Keith raised a brow as he looked over at Lance not sure why he's suddenly acting differently, did the announcement of their sudden engagement really get to the Altean that badly "Lance I know you're not happy about this and all but....As our dad's said we cant fight against it" Lance sighed as he reached his room, opening the door and standing aside so Keith could come in and look around, which the galra did step in and looked around the room to get a feel of what would be his home for the moment. Lance looked down at the ground, finally responding. "I don't plan on fighting it. . . If- If you don't plan to anyway. I just don't. . . don't know how to react. I don't know how I feel about this yet." He looked up at Keith, studying him. "And for the record I'm not. . . Not happy. Just surprised."

The Galra was a bit shocked to hear that especially from someone he thought didn’t care much for him. "Oh...I just...you know I just thought you weren't happy about it especially since we really don't know each other and all" he messed with his own hands a bit nervous. "No! I'm not angry or upset. . . we don't know each other well but it doesn't mean we can't get to know each other eventually. . ." he said as he looked at the man noticing how he fussed with his hands finding it a bit strange. "Why aren’t you angry or upset?....wouldn’t you want to marry someone else? " Keith mumbled as he awkwardly stood there not sure what else to do at the moment. Lance smiled, even though it was probably a bit awkward, shrugging. "Arranged marriages are kind of a tradition in this family. I'm just glad it's somebody I kind of know rather than a complete stranger. And c'mon, you're not that bad."

Keith bit the inside of his cheek as he looked around the room not sure how to respond to Lance’s last statement just then. He noticed there was really only one bed in the room and looked back at the altean "Do you think they expect us to share a bed?....its just....again we really don't know each other outside of the meetings and dinner..." Lance glanced back at his bed. "And, yeah. . . Um, we can talk to my dad about that if you want. I'm sure once we explain that we don't plan to do anything wild he can get you you're own room if you'd like."

“Well if our parents announce it we'd have to act like we really are to be married don’t we?....it would be weird if I had my own room and didn't stay in yours....isn’t that how marriages go?" Keith really wasn’t sure if that was something in every marriage or not, but he knew it was apart of his father and mothers. Lance thought about it for a moment, looking around his room. "Well, it isn't announced yet so my father would probably be fine with it. And if he for some reason isn't then one of us can take the floor or something. I don't want to force you to sleep in the same bed as me if you don't want to. . . I'm sure we can come up with something. . ." Keith shook his head some "I mean I am fine with it....i have shared beds before with family so...it shouldn’t be to different right?" He looked around the room a bit more taking it in "...didn’t expect you to have a room like this...its a bit plan and you're so...loud all the time"

Lance blinked in surprise when Keith just accepted sleeping in the same bed, was that normal for their culture. He looked around his room while the Keith did, for some reason worried about whether or not he would like it. He blushed a bit at the comment, not sure why, and frowning. "It's not plain," he argued, looking around again. "I just. . . don't have a lot of stuff. . ." He looked back at Keith, smiling a bit. "What were you expecting?"

"A room full of something....flowers or something bright and flashy" he shrugged crossing his arms over his chest "its not what I expected especially from someone like you..." He turned his hands over in the fabric at his sides as he  peeked at Lance not sure what else he should say "so...um...what now?" Lance looked around again, suddenly thinking that flowers would look nice. He thought for a few moments before sighing and shrugging. "I have no idea. . . um. . . we could go on a walk?" he asked, looking down at his hands. He had never had so much free time with Keith before, what would a Galran like to do for fun. "I guess so....probably best i get to learn this place seeing how I am going to be here now" he sighed a bit. Keith had no idea what to do or say he's never been alone like this with Lance especially for this long. He barely knew what to say to just anyone besides his family he isn’t someone who knows how to make friends.

"Yeah. . . it's not too hard to get the hang of though," Lance said, hesitating for a moment before awkwardly holding his arm out for Keith to take if he wanted. He'd seen his father do it for his mother, so maybe he was supposed to do it. Keith blinked as he looked at Lance's arm and then back up at Lance confused as to what he was supposed to do here "Um...I guess it isn’t hard to get the hang of the place...but doesn't hurt to be shown around either, You okay?...is this some...strange handshake for you guys?" Lance stared at him for a moment and then laughed a bit, dropping his arm. "No, it's not. I guess it's a something you do to be polite or something. It's like holding hands but. . . you're holding onto my arm." he said, trying to explain but probably failing. He smiled anyway, stepping outside of his room and waiting for Keith this time.

"If that is the case why not just hold hands instead wouldn’t it be a bit more comfortable?" he asked as he stepped past lance and waited for him to start showing him around "just seems like your arm would get tired with having to hold it up for that long or something..." Lance couldn't help but smile at the comment, shrugging as he closed his door. "I don't know. I never thought about it." He gestured down one end of the long hallway, looking at Keith. "You have seen the dining room and conference room," he said, leading Keith the opposite way. "This way is the throne room, some extra bedrooms, the maids quarters and whatnot. We also have a pretty big library this way, which is where I spend most of my time, actually."

"You like to read?...I wouldn't take you for someone to like read" he mumbled as he followed the man down the hall. Keith brightened slightly when he heard of the library he liked to read and this would probably be the one place he spends all his time at, he found it was easier to escape with books then trying to escape his home. Lance smiled a bit, looking over at Keith and leading him toward the library.  "I guess I'm pretty surprising then," he joked, opening the door for him once they got there. "I've read quite a few of these. My father has a pretty large collection. All kinds of different things."

Keith's eyes light up at the library, it was so big and seemed to have so many different books around a smile formed on his face "wow...this is up for anyone to read?...I.I’d love to get a look at everything" Lance couldn't help but smile when Keith did,finding his excitement contagious. "Yes! It's for everyone. We can come here whenever we want to" Keith turned to look at Lance ignoring his joke "what is it you like reading the most?" The question made Lance's grin even bigger. He lightly grabbed a hold of Keith's hand, pulling him toward the back of the library where the fantasy books were. "My favorites are the stories about adventure. . ." he said, letting go of Keith's hand to run his finger over the spines of each book. "This is my favorite one. . ." he pulled the book out, handing it to Keith. If Lance had known Keith was a reader, he would have been much nicer before now.

Keith’s smile grew when he learned the room was for anyone to join. He blinked when Lances hand touched his own and followed him with a small blush he wasn’t to use to normal touch like this. Looking over the books Keith hummed softly "I...like those stories as well... It always makes me want to go out and have a adventure....though dad would never let me" Lance sighed happily. "Yeah. My dad won't let me do that either. Sometimes I do manage to get to the town though. I've made friends with a man who works at the inn on the outside of town and he is very good at cooking. And then there's siblings that build things. Some time you'll have to meet them." Keith smiled. "You were able to get out?..... I'd like to meet them...maybe...sneak out with you to...see the town have a adventure of our own" he chuckled softly taking the book he was handed. Lance blinked in surprise when Keith called it their adventure but pretended it didn't effect him. "Yeah. . . I would like that. . ."

Keith smiled a little and opened the book reading a bit "d....do the books have to...um stay in here?" Lace smiled. "of course not, Bring it with you if you want." Keith brought the book to his chest "I'd like to read this.... I might end up here a lot" Lance smiled a little "You can come here whenever you want to." He looked around the room in wonder before glancing back to Lance "you always seemed like a bit of a jerk to me...at times" Lance’s cheeks grew a bit warmer when Keith pointed out his rudeness, and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Oh. . . um. I was just. . . pretending, I guess. You never seemed interested in friendship or whatever so I just. . . Yeah. Sorry. . ." he stammered, clearing his throat. "Didn't actually mean it."

Keith looked over at Lance as he spoke and shifted from foot to foot "I didn't seem interested? You have to be interested in a friendship?" Keith mumbled a little confused. "I...have never had friends before so I guess... I didn’t know I have to look interested. Sorry I didn't seem interested....the only friend i have I guess would be my father. It's part of why he has always brought me to the meetings he wanted me to try and make friends with someone" He looked back down at his book "I mostly spend my time at home reading or sword training with my uncle's” Lance shrugged. "I guess this is one way to make a friend," he joked. "I'm not super close to my dad. . . So I guess if I didn't sneak out all the time then I wouldn't have friends. Unless book characters count as friends. . ." His face lit up and he turned away from the books to look at Keith in excitement. "Sword training?" he hissed. "That's so cool! Much cooler than archery!"

Keith blushed a little as he looked up at Lance "it is fun, I have been learning it since i could hold one. Dad says it helps sooth some of my anger to when I get to worked up" Keith messed with the book in his arms looking at the floor for a second before looking back up to the Altean "you do archery?....why archery? Not that its a bad thing to learn its just....isn’t it safer to learn up close combat in case someone is to get close enough to you?" Lance shrugged, looking to the side shyly. "I don't know. My father doesn't let me leave the palace grounds so he didn't think I would need that." Keith frowned a little "Just because you don't leave palace grounds doesn’t mean someone cant just somehow get in here to attack you....archery is good but close combat would help you out more in that case"