Chapter Text
(music I listened to while writing)
...Galra information hub, outer regions of space
The Red and Blue paladins fought side-by-side, dual-blades and bullets coursing through the air as robotic sentries fired from all directions. Their teammates were just down the hall, seconds away from either blowing the Galra base to bits or getting the information they needed to find Takashi.
“Pidge!” The Blue paladin yelled, “If you could please hurry that’d be great! Red and I are struggling out here!”
“I’m trying!” the Green Paladin yelled over the comms, “The command keys the Blade of Marmora gave me aren’t working!”
A hissing noise came from overhead, along with a monotone voice, “KEY CODE INCORRECT. INITIATING SELF-DESTRUCT PROTOCOL.”
“Pidge…” the Red paladin warned.
“Just...one last...GOT IT!”
With a metallic beep the entire base shut down, all the sentries falling to the ground like broken toys.
“Great job Paladins,” the Pink paladin stood, “Let’s get back to the castle immediately. I have a feeling we won’t be alone for long.”
“You got it!” the Yellow Paladin called back, “Let’s go, guys!”
As soon as the team was all back on the castleship they gathered on the bridge, not even bothering to change out of their uniforms. Pidge was already at the control board, downloading the new information they’d all risked their lives to get.
“According to this,” Pidge said as text scrolled down the monitors, “there aren’t any records of Takashi returning to the Galra prison camps, so we can assume that―”
A loud alarm cut off the Green paladin as they all spun around.
“What’s happening?” the Blue paladin yelled.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen these readings!” the Pink paladin responded.
“Your highness,” Red pointed outside, “look.”
There was a large flash of yellow light, and then without warning a ship came flying through the space near the castleship. It was large, and colorful, and looked vaguely like…
“Voltron?”
...one hour earlier, open space.
“Are we so sure this is a good idea? I mean, we don’t really know what we’re getting ourselves into, here!” Pidge said for what felt like the thousandth time as team Voltron flew through open space in their lions.
Lance had to restrain himself from sighing as Keith replied with one of his default responses to Pidge’s questions, “I know, Pidge, but we don’t have much of a choice. If we wanna beat Lotor, this is our only option.”
“But are you sure there’s no other way to find this element? Maybe Slav miscalculated, or you heard him wrong?” Coran suggested over the comms.
“Believe me, Coran, if there was another way to find this element, I’d build whatever contraption I could to do it,” Hunk whimpered from his lion, “But this element simply doesn’t exist on this plane of reality.”
“So you’re just gonna wormhole to a completely different reality? I don’t think this is such a good idea, Keith,” Shiro’s face popped on each of the paladin’s screens.
Lance’s chest tightened in irritation at Shiro’s tone. Ever since they’d found him and he’d returned to the team, something just didn’t seem...right about him, but the Blue paladin couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He tried to brush it off as being hypersensitive, but he had the feeling that it wasn't just that. Shiro had seemed more of a war general than their friend and leader since he came back, and he hoped he wasn’t the only one who thought that.
“Look, do we need this magic thing to take down Lotor or not?” Keith challenged.
“Coran, Shiro, we appreciate your concern,” Allura’s calming voice cut through the tension, “But we can do this.”
There was a brief silence before Shiro relented, “Okay. Just stick to the plan: get in, find the element, get out. No unnecessary risks, no venturing off on your own.”
“You got it, Space Dad!” Lance was eager to get moving, “Now let’s go! Keith, what’s the first step?”
He could almost feel the Red paladin’s relief as he relaxed into mission mode. “First we form Voltron, then we find the right place to open a portal. Pidge, were you able to work with Slav and get the correct coordinates?”
“For the most part,” the young girl chirped, “he kept getting distracted by all of the things the Blade of Marmora was trying to get him to do, but these are the only ones that make logical sense within his ramblings.”
“Then we’ll just have to trust him.” Lance confirmed, “As crazy as he might sound, Slav has always had some sort of method to his madness.”
“I agree with Lance,” Hunk piped up, “even though he’s obnoxious, every reality I’ve met him in, Slav knows his stuff.”
“Then let’s do this,” Keith yelled as they flew in formation.
“FORM VOLTRON!”
No matter how many times they did it, Lance would never tire of being connected to his teammates in Voltron. He loved the feeling of each person’s thoughts nudging against his own, fear and adrenaline and elation soaring through his skin with every movement and turn in battle. It was almost like being home again, being so in-sync with other people and getting things done.
“Alright, Pidge,” Keith said gently as they flew through space, “tell us where we need to be.”
“We’re on the right trajectory, just a little further and...here!”
Voltron stopped in the place Pidge had indicated.
“Great. Now all we need to do is open the portal into the other dimension,” Keith continued, “We ready for this?”
“Following you, team leader!” Lance grinned.
A surge of warmth radiated from Red to Lance at that comment, and Lance had to remind himself to focus. The overwhelming fondness of Red to her former and current paladins always floored Lance, even though he had experienced that kind of love and affirmation from Blue. He wasn’t sure what it was about Red, but her affection felt much more― charged .
“Alright Paladins, just like we practiced,” Coran’s voice interrupted Lance’s thoughts, “focus on the quintessence of your lions. Try and break it down so you can access the ability of the comet from which they were made. Channel that energy, and make a gateway to the other dimension.”
Lance closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting his mind meld with Red’s and the others, brushing kindly against Blue’s and generating the energy needed. Within minutes yellow light began radiating from Voltron’s core.
“It’s working!” Allura gasped excitedly, “Coran, it’s really working!”
“Great job, team,” Shiro’s voice was staticky over the comms, “Now complete the mission. We’ll see you once you re-enter our reality. Good luck out there.”
“Thanks, Shiro,” Keith grunted, “Alright team, let’s find out what this alternate reality is like!”
“Yeah!”
With a flash of light Voltron disappeared through the portal, and when Lance could see again he did a double-take.
“Uhh guys,” Hunk asked uncertainly, “Am I the only one seeing this?”
Right in front of them, floating perfectly in space, was what looked like their Altean castleship, only the colors were inverted. Lance could just make out the outline of the pitch-black ship by the glowing lights of the thrusters and hull surrounded by a particle barrier.
“Woah,” Pidge sighed, “This must be Allura’s castle in this reality!”
“ATTENTION UNIDENTIFIED CRAFT,” a smooth voice commanded from the ship, “THIS IS PRINCE ALASTAIR OF THE REBEL ALLIANCE. PLEASE STATE YOUR ID NUMBER AND PURPOSE IN THIS QUADRANT IMMEDIATELY. REFUSE TO DO SO, AND I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE FORCE.”
“Wow,” Lance whistled, “Allura, this guy even sounds like you!”
“I do not sound that militant and heartless!” Allura argued.
“Rebel Alliance?” Pidge asked, “What does that mean?”
“Could these guys be like Sven and Slav from that other reality?” Hunk added.
“I don’t know,” Keith’s concern weighed heavily in all of their heads, “But let’s try and find out.”
There was a pause as Keith composed himself, and Lance felt a sudden surge of pride at his thinking things through before acting, though whether it was from him or Red, he couldn’t tell.
“Attention Rebel Alliance,” Keith beckoned the black castleship, “This is the Paladin of the Black Lion of Voltron. We come from an alternate reality looking for the―” he trailed off, “Lance, what’s the name of the stuff we’re trying to find?”
“Trifulgarian ore.”
“We’re looking for the Trifulgarian ore, which only exists in your reality.”
There was a pause.
“DID YOU SAY YOU WERE THE BLACK PALADIN?” another, feminine voice called from the craft.
“Well,” Keith stammered, “Not exactly, but―”
“BUT YOU’RE PILOTING THE BLACK LION, THE HEAD OF VOLTRON?”
“Yes.”
There was another pause, and Lance wasn’t sure how he felt about this. There was something way too...familiar with the cadence and speech pattern of the girl’s voice. And how could the people of this reality be so familiar with the concepts of Voltron and how it worked?
“PLEASE,” the first voice said kindly, “COME ABOARD. WE WOULD HOPE TO ASSIST YOU IN YOUR SEARCH.”
The shimmering particle barrier around the castleship vanished, and a hangar door opened under the hull of the ship.
“Is anybody else getting weird vibes?” Lance asked, because it had to be asked.
“Yeah,” Hunk agreed quickly, “But it’s not like...a bad feeling, y’know? It’s like eating mashed potatoes at your friend’s house, only they put garlic in the potatoes instead of cheese. It’s not a bad change, just an unexpected one.”
“Hunk’s right,” Allura chimed in, “Though I don’t know what a mashed potato is, there’s something very Altean-feeling about this ship, and I want to find out why.”
There was a general hum of agreement from the team as they broke into lions and made for the open hangar.
As soon as they all had landed and were out of their lions, the door leading to the hangar opened to reveal a small, purple probe not unlike the ones they had on their own ship.
“Hey―” Lance began before the probe started blinking.
“ Follow me, please. ” It said in a sing-song voice and turned away, exiting the door it had entered through.
Everyone turned to look at Keith, who took off his helmet and shook his head, “Just...do what it says, but keep your guard up. We don’t know if this is a trap or not.”
They followed the probe down hallways and corridors, Lance marveling at the structure of the ship and how similar it was to theirs back home. He thought that there might be a few more training decks than he remembered, but it felt about the same.
When they reached the dining room, Lance wasn’t really sure what to expect. But he did know that it wasn’t this.
What he saw in front of him, at first glance, were four women, a boy, and a handsome young man around a table. But the moment he took a second look, he had to refrain from completely losing his marbles.
“No way,” Hunk whispered as all eleven crew members stared at each other in shock.
Lance felt like he was staring into a funhouse mirror, looking at the six figures in front of him. Five of them wore Paladin armor nearly identical to the kind his team wore, down to the different-colored symbols on their chests: blue, red, green, yellow, and pink. Each of the Paladins, too, looked nearly identical to Lance’s teammates, down to the circular glasses the boy in green wore and the golden circlet on the tall, handsome man in pink standing in front of the rest of the group.
“You’re Altean?” Allura was the first to speak, moving forward and inspecting the group, “And so are you?” she turned to the only person in the group not wearing armor, a middle-aged woman with bright orange hair and blue markings under her eyes.
“Yes,” the man in the pink armor said, staring at Allura like he’d seen a ghost, “As are you!”
“Yes!” Allura cried, “We are the Paladins of Voltron, defender of the universe. In our realm, that is.”
“Oh yeah,” the big girl in yellow grinned, “We know all about Voltron.”
“What?” Keith tensed beside Lance, “How―?”
“Cool your jets, mullet,” the girl in the blue armor interrupted, “We’re not going to try and steal your lions. Why would we when already have our own?”
“ What? ”
“Lana, please,” the Pink Paladin sighed, “Forgive us, it seems we’ve gone about this whole ordeal completely wrong.
“Allow me to welcome you aboard. I am Prince Alastair of planet Altea, communications liaison of the Rebel Alliance, and Paladin of the Blue Lion of Voltron. And these people you see before you are the rest of our team Voltron.” he smiled and gestured to the crew members beside him, “This is Cora, my trusted advisor and friend, Pidge Gunderson, Huali, Lana, and Kiera, interim Paladin of the Black Lion and head of Voltron.”
Staring at the six members of this reality, Lance was struck with the realization that, just as they had run into the alternate versions of Slav and Shiro once, this must be the alternate versions of their crew in this reality.
“It is our pleasure,” Allura smiled kindly, “I am Princess Allura of Altea, and pilot of the Blue Lion of Voltron as well. These are the rest of the Paladins: Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Keith.”
The two crews regarded each other for a moment before Keith spoke up, “What do you mean by ‘interim paladin’?” he stared at his counterpart in red armor, Kiera.
The entire crew’s faces fell, and Lance thought he saw the girl in blue, Lana, move imperceptibly closer to Kiera.
“It is...difficult to explain,” Alastair finally said, “the former Black Paladin is missing, and we are doing everything in our power to find her.”
“I know the feeling,” Keith replied quietly.
“We all do,” Lance interjected, reminding Keith that he wasn’t alone, “It took us a long time before we managed without Shiro, too.”
Alastair’s white brows knitted together at that, “It seems our respective timelines are quite similar. I wonder how that can be possible?”
“I do not know,” Allura agreed, “Perhaps we could compare stories while we work on locating the Trifulgarian ore?”
“Certainly,” the prince smiled, “But first, you must be famished from your inter-reality travels. Huali has just finished making a nice meal for our debrief,” as he spoke, platters carrying various types of food floated into the room and down on the table, “We would love for you to join us!”
The aroma instantly made Lance’s mouth water, and he heard Hunk make appreciative noises behind him.
“Oh yes!” Hunk cried out excitedly, “Don’t mind if we do!”
“Wonderful!” Cora, the orange-haired Altean clasped her hands together, “Alright, Paladins, take your seats!”
Lance took a seat between Pidge and Keith, right across from Lana, who smirked, “You aren’t going to cuff us together and make us feed each other again, are you, Cora?”
The Altean looked scandalized, “That was one time! And it was only because you and Kiera wouldn’t stop yelling at each other like blabbering Snorflats!”
“Besides,” Huali said in between bites of her food, “We all know that you’d feed Kiera without the cuffs if she asked.”
Lana looked offended, “Be fair, Huali,” she picked up her fork and began stabbing at her plate, “We all know Kiera gets food in her hair unless someone spoon feeds her,” she flashed a shit-eating grin at the girl beside her.
On Lance’s left, Hunk and Pidge shared a look that he couldn’t quite understand while they dug into their food.
“Who made all of this?” Hunk yelled suddenly, “It’s fantastic!”
Huali blushed with pride, “I did! It took me about a week or two, but I finally figured out the best ways to combine the salty nature of the gorniglobfan with the spicy lizzle plant and was able to create this!”
“It’s awesome!” Hunk laughed, “You’ll have to show me how you make that work!”
“I don’t think we’ll have time for that,” Keith gently reminded the big guy, “We have to find that ore and get back to Coran and the others.”
Both Yellow Paladins deflated at that remark, but neither of them objected, turning back to their food.
“So, uh, Pidge, was it?” the kid in green armor piped up. He was a small, squirrelly-looking kid in Lance’s opinion, though he didn’t look all that different from Pidge.
“Yeah,” the small girl replied, “And so is yours?”
“Well,” he smiled sheepishly, “My real name is Kendall Holt, but I needed an alias in the Garrison to keep me from going to prison. I prefer Gunderson now.”
“Are you looking for your family, too?” Pidge asked eagerly, “Because in my reality I lost my father and brother when they were kidnapped during their mission on Kerberos.”
The boy’s eyes lit up, “That’s exactly what happened to my sister and dad!”
“Wow,” Pidge grinned, “Our realities really are parallel, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Gunderson laughed, “The only differences I can really tell is gender, but even then it feels like we’re all the same people, each person with a counterpart.”
“Gender is just a social structure anyway,” Pidge waved her hand, “I pretended to be a guy for nearly 3 months and Lance never noticed.”
“Oh man, that never would’ve worked with me; Takashi and Alastair made sure that we had no secrets between Paladins right off the bat,” the boy smiled, and then his face fell, “I hope we find her.”
“Well, if your Kiera is anywhere close to as determined as our Keith is, you will,” Pidge assured him.
Pretty soon they got back on the topic of alternate realities, quantum physics, and a bunch of other scientific stuff Lance could never hope to understand. He turned to Keith and shrugged, “They lost me.”
Keith shook his head, “I’m just glad this didn’t turn out to be one of Lotor’s traps.”
Kiera’s attention snapped to the two of them, “Prince Lotor?”
Keith and Lance looked at each other, then back to the Red Paladin, “Yeah,” Keith replied, “He’s taken over for Zarkon since Voltron incapacitated him.”
Kiera’s eyebrows furrowed, and it looked like she wanted to say more, but simply nodded.
Lana suddenly reached up and brushed the hair back from the other girl’s face, “I’m going to have to get the mice to braid your hair again. It keeps flopping in your eyes.”
Kiera groaned, “We’ve been over this! Just because you can’t see my eyes doesn’t mean I can’t see!”
“But I like to see your eyes!” Lana pouted.
Kiera scoffed, “Cargo Pilot.”
“Samurai.”
The two girls smiled at each other, and Lance suddenly felt very self-conscious. It was obvious that Lana and Kiera were the Lance and Keith of this reality, and the way Lana looked at Kiera made him want to hide in a hole forever from second-hand embarrassment. There was something intimate about the softness of Lana’s eyes as she gave the classic McClain grin to Kiera. It reminded him of how his Mamá would look at his Papí , and he couldn’t help but admire such love on someone’s face.
Unfortunately, Lana caught him staring.
“The name’s Lana, by the way; I'm the Blue Paladin and pilot of the Red Lion,” she winked at him, and Lance couldn’t suppress his grin. Even in this reality the Blue Paladin was as smooth as ever.
“And I’m Lance; Blue Paladin, sharpshooter, ladies’ man, though I guess you already knew that,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
The Blue Paladin glanced at Kiera and giggled like they were sharing some inside joke, “Oh don’t worry,” Kiera laughed, “We do.” She looked at Keith and mouthed something at him.
Keith choked on his drink and started coughing, his face nearly as red as his armor.
“Whoa buddy, you good?” Lance thumped him on the back as he continued to cough.
“Yeah,” the boy croaked, finally catching his breath, “Just went down the wrong pipe.”
“So, Keith,” Huali called across the table, “It is Keith, right? If our universes are basically the same, does that mean you’re part Galra too?”
“Oh my Groggery, Huali, you can’t just ask people if they’re Galra!” Lana yelled.
“Thanks, Regina,” Gunderson smirked as he eyed his teammates.
Huali scoffed, “Oh we all know that I’m the Gretchen Weiners on this castleship.”
“Pa-lease!” Lana rebuffed, “If anyone’s Gretchen, it’d be Kiera. Her hair is endless and she’s full of secrets.”
“Enough with my hair already!”
Gunderson laughed, “So then would that make me the Cady in this scenario?” he asked.
“Nah,” Huali waved her hand, “You’re Janice.”
The Green Paladin nodded, “True.”
Lance watched this entire display of camaraderie with bewilderment and bliss. It felt like he was at home again with his older sisters and cousins, and he suddenly felt much more at ease around these alternate versions of his friends.
“I’m not entirely sure what just happened,” Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance, “But yeah, I’m part Galra.”
“Do you know how much?” Kiera asked.
Keith looked down at his plate, “No.”
“Have you met her yet?” Lana blurted.
Lance was as confused as Keith looked, “Who?”
“That girl…” Lana tried to elaborate, “the one you found in the Weblum. Do you know her?”
“You mean Prince Lotor’s top general?” Hunk asked, “That Galra?”
“Yeah. Do you know her?”
“Do you?” Allura asked, leaning across the table.
Lana looked a little uncomfortable with the sudden attention she was receiving. Allura, Cora, and Alastair had been having their own conversation this whole time, and Lance knew the feeling of being pinned by Allura’s gaze.
“I―” the tan girl stammered, “Well, we―” she looked hopelessly at the Altean prince.
“We have run into Lotor’s generals several times in the short amount of time that he’s been taking care of the empire for Zarkon while Honerva strives to heal him,” Alastair explained, “These altercations have been intense and quite challenging for our team.”
“I understand,” Allura said solemnly, “It must not be easy with the Black Paladin gone.”
Kiera’s brows knitted together, “I’m not giving up hope that she’s out there,” she looked at Allura, “Takashi believed in me when no one else did, and I will always do the same for her. She’s the closest thing I have to blood.”
“And we’re not giving up, either,” Lana smiled softly at her teammate, “We’re a team, remember?”
Kiera rolled her eyes, “Only when you remember our bonding moments.”
“I remember plenty!”
“Oh my gosh,” Pidge guffawed from beside Lance, “They’re even worse than you two!”
“Paladins, please,” Alastair looked exasperated, but Lance thought he saw a semblance of a smile on the young prince’s face, “Now that we’ve mostly gotten through the meal, I think it’s time we make a plan on how to get that ore. Pidge―”
“Yeah?” both Green Paladins responded.
“Sorry, Gunderson,” Alastair corrected himself, “can you look up the Trifulgarian ore on the mainframe in the control room from here? It might take a few ticks to download.”
“Sure thing, highness,” Gunderson nodded and began tapping at his holoscreen, “But what information would take so long to download?”
Alastair sighed, “There’s a reason the Trifulgarian ore can only be found in some realities, and most of it has to do with the messy, convoluted history of the ore.”
“Wait, what’s the history?” Hunk asked, “Is it some sort of trade secret?”
The prince closed his eyes, “Trifulgarian ore can only be found in this reality because the ore itself
is
a pocket reality.”