Chapter Text
“Are we supposed to be taking Lotor seriously?” Hunk asked, tugging off his helmet as he walked into the lounge. “Because like, if we are taking him seriously, what are we gonna do?”
“We’re obviously not going to take him seriously, Hunk,” Allura said. She was unclipping the armoured plates from around her arms – she was always complaining about how uncomfortable they made her feel. “It’s probably a trap.”
“But we don’t know that for sure,” Pidge said. She wasn’t removing any of her uniform – Lance was beginning to think that she was enjoying showing off her Paladin status to her brother. “Objectively speaking, the benefits of an alliance with Lotor far outweigh the potential risks.”
“Right,” Lance said. “I mean, he’s already starting to benefit the team – if it wasn’t for Lotor, Keith would be dead right now. Not to mention the broadcast we overheard saying that Lotor is a fugitive now – he must have done something to piss Zarkon off, and I think we can agree that anyone who can piss Zarkon off is a perfectly worthy point of alliance.”
“No,” Shiro said, “Allura is right. We can’t trust Lotor not to be luring us into a trap.”
“Why?” Lance asked. “Because he’s made some mistakes in the past?”
“The amount of damage he has caused to us and our cause cannot be considered minor mistakes, Lance,” Allura said. “He’s hurt us in so many ways-”
“That isn’t to say that he couldn’t change, with time.”
“I dunno, Lance,” Hunk said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I mean, it does seem like a bit of a risk.”
“Well, of course it’s a risk,” Lance said, “but if it pays off, think about how much good we could do!”
“Statistically speaking,” Pidge chimed in again, “Lotor would be an amazing asset to the rebellion. He was the Leader of the Galra Empire for months, guys – think about all the inside knowledge he must have. He would know every supply route, every nuance in their computer system. And those ships he built! Think about what we could do if we had access to some of those.”
“It does seem worth a shot,” Coran said. “But, as always Princess, I defer to you.”
Allura hummed. She said, “My family loved Zarkon once – my father treated him with respect and trust. And Zarkon betrayed that trust. I will not let Lotor do to me what his father did to mine.”
“But Lotor isn’t his father!” Lance yelled. He stood up from his seat, face growing warm when the others in the room all turned to look at him. Lance said, “Look, guys, my dad was one of the worst men I have ever met – he hurt my mother and he hurt my brothers and he hurt me, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be anything like him.”
“But Lotor-”
“Lotor was raised to believe that we were the bad guys," Lance said. "It’s just like- it's like, okay, this is going to sound a little off topic, but just hear me out, all right?
“When I was a kid, my mother told me that she met my father in the military. She had joined the army because her whole family had joined the army, and at that point is seemed like there was little else she could do. She bonded with my father because his story was exactly the same – both of his parents were captains, and his brothers were all soldiers, and so he had joined the army because it was the family business. Both of them had been taught how to use a gun when they were kids, both of them had learned to take care of themselves like soldiers.
“So anyway, when I was a kid, I watched my brothers join the army and I thought that I wanted to be just like them – my whole family, all of my cousins and my aunties and my uncles were soldiers, and it made sense that I would be, too. But then, one day, I saw someone talking on TV – a man from the Garrison, professor Gunderson – and I knew right then that I wasn’t like the rest of my family, that I didn’t want to join the army and fight wars on earth. I wanted to join the Garrison.”
“But what does this have to do with Lotor?” Allura asked. “I don’t understand.”
Lance said, “Lotor’s whole family has been fighting Voltron for years – it makes sense that Lotor would think that that was what he had to do, too. But he’s change his mind now, and I think that we should at least let him try to prove himself before we send him away.”
All around him, the team was quiet. Pidge looked contemplative, as did Shiro and Allura. Hunk was looking at Lance like he wanted to hug him and cry, and Coran was twirling his moustache like he was trying to figure out what, exactly, a ‘military’ was.
But eventually, Shiro said, “Lance is right. If Lotor is serious about wanting to join us, we should let him. And if it does turn out to be some sort of trap, we can figure it out then.”
Allura was nodding along with him. She said, “I don’t want to be known as the kind of Princess who would refuse to give someone a second chance. Lance-” Lance looked in her direction, “-Hunk-” Hunk stood at Allura’s side, “-please welcome Prince Lotor aboard.”