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There was little that Lotor asked for. As a Prince of the Empire, most tended to believe that he was granted anything that he desired, but that could not be further from the truth.
Early on, Lotor learned that if he wanted something, then he needed to take it.
That being said, Lotor had never asked for the Empire, or its favor. He had never asked for his position as Prince, although he would use the advantages that the position gave him with no qualms. There were certain responsibilities granted to him by using those advantages, however. Responsibilities that Lotor honestly had no interest in.
Responsibilities that been irrelevant… until now.
“A civil war, huh?” The Blue Paladin asked. He smiled, although the gesture was more of a threat than a sign of friendship. The whiteness of his teeth flashed in the dying light of the sun of the planet they were on.
A civil war.
Of all the things Lotor had expected to be, a cause of a civil war was at the bottom of the list.
“Looks like you’re a hero these people too if they’re starting a civil war over you.” The Blue Paladin continued, and Lotor mentally cursed him. Was he ever silent? Was his existence some sort of curse for Lotor? Never mind the ‘hero’ comment. He’d heard enough of that after he’d saved the Blue Paladin from his father.
Which he’d not done to stir up insurrection like this. He’d only meant to use the Blue Paladin as a bargaining chip for Voltron to create an alliance to remove his father from play.
He’d expected to be branded a criminal of the Empire, but he hadn’t expected that to have an effect like… this. He hadn’t expected a good portion of the Empire to stand up for him. To follow him into the jaws of the Empire’s fury. He’d hadn’t meant to incite a civil war.
“I tried telling him that his hands off approach to governing was gonna be a problem when he first started doing it.” Ezor sighed.
Lotor set his jaw, refusing to rise to the bait. Not when he suddenly had a couple of planets to take into account with his plans. He supposed he could just ignore them, and let them have their civil war with no interference from him…
But then he’d lose all the resources that they were offering to him. Places to hide, food, water, supplies… No. He couldn’t give that all up. Which meant that he’d need to be involved in this civil war whether he wanted to be or not.
The Blue Paladin physically perked up at Ezor’s words, and looked at Lotor with wide eyes. “You let the planets under your control keep their OG government?” He asked.
Lotor wouldn’t pretend to know what ‘OG government’ meant, but he could infer that it was something along the lines of ‘original government’. “Within reason.” He replied. “It’s easier to let them manage themselves within set guidelines of the Empire than to try to force the Empire’s ways onto them completely.”
“What he means, is that it was less work for him.” Ezor ‘whispered’ to the Blue Paladin. The Blue Paladin laughed, the noise too loud to be properly friendly. Lotor narrowed his eyes, and spun around on his heel, exiting the room.
He needed to see if Acxa had found Voltron yet. The sooner he could get rid of the Blue Paladin and advance his plans, the better.
~
“So, you really don’t want to be emperor?” The Blue Paladin asked.
The Blue Paladin had been with them for longer than Lotor felt comfortable with. They’d tried to find Voltron, to try to tell them to take their chatty sharpshooter back. It was irritating to Lotor that they’d failed.
The Blue Paladin was an irritation. The most irritating thing that Lotor had ever had the displeasure of knowing. He was too loud, too bright, too flashy, and far too pretty. Especially in the light of a dying sun.
A fact Lotor knew only because he made the mistake of glancing at the Paladin as he spoke. Just like he’d made the mistake of giving him a gun and showing him the shooting range. And just like he’d made the mistake of freeing the Blue Paladin from his father’s clutches.
“So… what’s your goal then, hero?” The Blue Paladin’s smile was lopsided, but no less sharp and bright. He tilted his head into the dying sun as he leaned back against the railing of the balcony, which silhouetted him in a golden halo.
If anyone was the hero here, it would be the Paladin of Voltron… not Lotor. “Stop calling me a hero.” Lotor took a sip of his Kanki, and turned his gaze back out to the sunset. The Blue Paladin laughed, the noise loud in the silence of the space between them.
“But you saved me.” The Blue Paladin argued. “That makes you my hero.”
Lotor would be lying if he said that his heart didn’t jump every time the Blue Paladin referred to him as a hero. Which was prosperous since Lotor didn’t even believe in such arbitrary things as ‘hero’ or ‘villain’.
Those were just terms used for people in Wake Angel tales, and for people with tainted perceptions to use. Although, if Lotor were to assign the title to anyone, he would give it to the Paladins of Voltron. They were truly the ‘Heroes of the People’.
“Don’t be silly. You would have been rescued eventually. If not by me, then by your team. It just benefited me to rescue you first.”
The Blue Paladin was quiet, perhaps the most quiet that Lotor had ever known him to be. Startled, Lotor looked over to him to ensure he was still there. The Blue Paladin was looking at him, and Lotor was unnerved at the concentrated gaze.
“Even if the motive was self-serving, the action itself was heroic, Lotor.” The Blue Paladin told him before turning on his heel and walking away. Lotor watched him for a tick before realizing that the Blue Paladin wasn’t just attractive on the shooting range or shaded in the light of the sun.
He downed the remaining Kanki in his glass and decided that he needed more.
~
It bothered Lotor that he couldn’t quite place when or how Lance wormed his way into his ranks. It bothered Lotor that if asked, he couldn’t say when the Blue Paladin had become Lance.
It bothered Lotor almost as much as Lance’s unnervingly gorgeous smiles, or his loud startling laughter. It bothered Lotor more than Lance’s talent and skill on the shooting range. It bothered Lotor how he had already started to think of ways to bargain Lance’s continued existence on his team.
The realization of all of this hadn’t been due to some grand moment or anything. It hadn’t occurred in the heat of battle, or at some extravagant event.
He’d been watching Lance as he interacted with his generals while they argued strategies that Lotor should have been listening to when those realizations had hit Lotor like an asteroid to the gut.
He wouldn’t have minded if Lance stayed. He would prefer it, actually.
As if sensing his thoughts, Lance looked up, his eyes bright and his teeth flashing in a smile as he pointed some finger guns in Lotor’s direction. Lotor’s stomach dropped and his heart faltered.
“Lotor agrees with me, don’t cha?”
“Of course.”
Lance crowed, and turned to Zethrid, grinning as he threw Lotor’s agreement in her face. It was around then that Lotor realized that he’d just agreed with Lance without knowing what he was even agreeing to.
Quiznak. That was a problem.
He sighed, turning to Acxa for some measure of comfort only to be disappointed as she deposited a GAC chip into Ezor’s waiting hand.
Quiznak.
~
Lotor wasn’t fond of team Voltron. It’d been a couple of phoebs, and while he appreciated the prolonged experience of Lance on his team, it was annoying that they still hadn’t found Lance’s old team.
Lance clamed up anytime it was brought up, but Lotor could see the pain in his eyes. Was the pain from missing them?
It pained Lotor that there was little he could do ease that pain.
But now Lotor had to wonder if that pain wasn’t from missing the team, but from the news he’d just heard.
It didn’t take long to find Lance. He was sitting down near one of the viewing windows, looking out at the blanket of stars. He was quiet as Lotor approached which was a clear sign that something was wrong.
Lance was friendliest when he was being the most threatening. Finger guns, and flashing teeth, and loud noises. If he wasn’t vying for attention, then he wasn’t alright. Lance remained quiet until Lotor was a few steps away.
“Guess I’m no more use to you as a bargaining chip anymore.”
Well, that answered Lotor’s concern, but best to be sure. “So, you’ve known?”
“That I’ve been replaced?” Lance didn’t look away from the stars, but Lotor noticed his shoulders tensed as he spoke. “Yeah, I knew. Or were you referring to the bargaining chip plan?”
“Both.” Lotor replied. “But this works in my favor.”
Lance laughed, and unlike his normal laughs, this one sounded too fragile and broken to be Lance’s. It hurt Lotor’s heart just to hear it, and he decided that he never wanted to hear it again.
“How so? I’m useless to you.”
“Is that what you think?” Lotor asked, baffled by the idea. Lance had been an invaluable asset. One that Lotor hadn’t realized that he’d needed until it’d been shown to him.
Lotor was a performer. He distracted people from his generals, but he was well known, and while that sometimes worked to his favor, more often than not now, it didn’t. Lance on the other hand, he could work behind the scenes, he could be under the spotlight, he was completely versatile.
Lance was good with people, which Lotor suspected was how Lance had survived for so long – besides his combat and strategy talents. Lance had this uncanny ability to just crawl under people’s skin, and walk in their shoes at the same time. Like some sort of weird conflicting ability to both be the most irksome and sympathetic person at the same time.
It would have been more terrifying if Lance would use those abilities for selfish purposes. But no, not Lance. Once again, Lotor thought of how Lance was the hero between the two of them. Selfless, pretty, talented Lance, who inadvertently always pushed Lotor to do better… to be better.
Even if the scores from the shooting range weren’t to be believed… Lotor definitely had a place on his team for Lance.
Lance didn’t reply, but his silence spoke volumes.
“When did you know?” Lotor asked. His team had only just heard the news, but it seemed Lance had known for a while. “About being replaced.”
“A while back.” Lance replied quietly.
A while back… Well, it would have been nice for Lotor to know this before… although, it wasn’t really important for him to know. He could understand maybe why Lance hadn’t informed him of this, if his comment about being a bargaining chip was anything to go by.
“I felt Blue sever the connection between us, and it only made sense that I’d been replaced…” Lance continued.
Well, yes. It did make sense. Voltron was needed, and without Lance, there was little way for them to form Voltron without replacing him. If Lotor had been faster, better, at finding Voltron, then perhaps this may not have happened.
But as it were, it happened; and there was little to nothing Lotor could do to help that. The only thing he could do now was try to salvage the situation with Lance. Besides, he wanted Lance to stay on his team… this turn of events was in his favor, for once.
“Lance.” Lotor stepped closer and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “This actually saves me the trouble of trying to bargain your continued presence on my team.”
Lance finally looked up at him, and Lotor mentally cursed all the Paladins of Voltron to a painful death. Lance sniffled and Lotor leaned down to wipe away a tear. “Come now, let’s go get you a uniform. You’re one of us now.”
~
Lance was most beautiful when putting his talents to use. He was gorgeous as he narrowed his eyes, as he concentrated on his target. His movements were so small, but Lotor had no doubt that each one had great effects on the outcome.
Acxa was talented with firearms, but Lance was something else completely. Lotor regretted not giving him a ‘sniper rifle’ earlier. He’d known Lance was talented with firearms, but he hadn’t known to what degree.
But, if the shooting range’s results were true, then this should have been a walk in the park for Lance. No wonder Lance was Voltron’s sharpshooter. The name was true.
Lance breathed in, and adjusted his grip on the weapon. He breathed out, and in the pause before the next breath squeezed the trigger as if it was as natural as breathing.
There was silence over the comms before Ezor’s voice came through in near silent awe. “Was that Lance?”
“Is the target down?” Lotor asked instead. Lance shot him a look, like he was offended that Lotor was even asking – which he probably was if Lotor knew Lance… and by now, he knew Lance just as well as he knew any of his Generals.
“Target is down.” Acxa confirmed.
Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes, but didn’t brag about the kill. Odd, Lotor expected Lance to brag about his talent.
“Lance.” Lotor called out to him, switching off the comm so the others wouldn’t hear him and give him a hard time later. Lance looked up from where he’d been packing up his weapon with a quiet hum of acknowledgement. “Good job.”
Lotor pretended that the pretty flush on Lance’s face was from the exhilaration of a successful kill.
~
“They’re calling us heroes down in town.” Lance laughed freely, spinning around as he walked to look at Lotor. Kanki spilled out of his glass and down Lance’s hand, and Lotor fought the urge to grab his hand and lick if off.
He’d come to terms with his attraction to Lance. It wasn’t going to be going away, and watching Lance’s skills in action… in person… it basically cemented the fact that, yeah, Lotor was interested.
He sighed quietly to himself and took a sip out of his own drink to prevent himself from doing anything stupid, and then once he felt he was collected enough, looked back to Lance.
“No, they’re calling you a hero.” Lotor countered. Just as they should have been from the beginning. Besides, it’d been Lance who had put the final bullet in Sub-Commander Ylek’s head, thereby ending his reign of tyranny on this system and effectively halting his slave trade.
“Pluh-ease.” Lance shook his head. “You’re the hero of the war. You’re the one who moved people to start this war. ” Lotor laughed at Lance’s words, only sobering up when Lance pushed on. “You’re my hero.” The admission was quiet, betraying the truth in those words. Or at least, the truth that Lance believed.
Lotor blinked and suddenly Lance was too close.
Lance was close enough that Lotor could see the individual flecks of blue in Lance’s eyes, and smell the slightly salty scent of his skin and sweat. He opened his mouth to ask Lance to move away, if only so that Lotor wouldn’t do something that he’d probably regret.
Lotor didn’t know if it’d been him who made the first move or if it had been Lance. Perhaps they’d both moved at the same time. Regardless of the instigator, the result was the same: Lotor’s Kanki slipping from Lotor’s hand as his lips met Lance’s.
~
“I’m looking for the leader of the Civil Movement.” Lotor looked up from where he was reviewing some data to look at the source of the words. The first thing he noticed was the prominent Paladin of Voltron uniform, which he supposed explained how they had managed to get to this makeshift command center.
The second thing he noticed was the ‘color’. Or lack thereof, he should say. So the Champion, the Black Paladin himself, was gracing Lotor with his presence.
“That would be me.” Lotor interrupted the stuttering person that the Paladin had been talking to. “I was wondering when our activities would draw the Paladins of Voltron to our door.”
“I am…”
“The Champion and the Black Paladin.” Lotor looked him over. “I know who you are.” The Black Paladin seemed startled by Lotor’s interruption, but he didn’t care. “What drew you here?”
“The Assassination of Sub-Commander Ylek. We wanted to offer our appreciation and thanks for helping to bring that monster down.”
“Anyone with a sharpshooter would have been able to do it.” Lotor replied dismissively. On a whim, he paused, and side-eyed the Black Paladin. “I thought the Paladins of Voltron had such one.”
“We used to, but I don’t believe even he could have made that shot.”
No wonder Lance never bragged about his skills. His previous team didn’t even know what he was capable of. Insult upon injury, as far as Lotor was concerned.
“Used to?” Lotor asked innocently, like he didn’t know exactly where Lance was at that moment. “What happened?”
“He was captured by Zarkon. We’ve been unable to recover him.”
Well, at least the Black Paladin sounded sad by that fact. Good. Let him be guilty. Perhaps if they had been easier to get ahold of… but then Lotor wouldn’t have Lance on his team. And to be completely honest, Lotor preferred Lance with him.
“We were hoping to actually strike an alliance…” The Black Paladin trailed off, and Lotor frowned, ready to dismiss him before pausing.
“My team is currently undergoing a mission at these coordinates.” Lotor pulled up the coordinates and saved them on a data chip which he tossed to the Black Paladin. “Give us a hand there, and maybe we can talk further.”
The Black Paladin caught the chip and nodded before leaving. Lotor sighed, and pulled up a communication window. “Team… you’re about to have some friendly company.”
~
“I can rip them apart.” Zethrid offered, crossing her arms.
Her ears were squished under the helmet that she had yet to remove. All of Lotor’s team had yet to remove their helmets, but that was probably because they’d only just finished the mission and brought the Voltron Paladins back to the proper Central Command where Lotor was waiting.
“Please don’t.” Lance was uncharacteristically quiet as he spoke, a true sign which betrayed Lance’s mental and emotional state.
Ezor and Acxa both flanked him, although Ezor leaned over and bumped up against him.
“Their sharpshooter was unbelievable!” Lotor heard before the door opened. “That was just so awesome! I owe them one.”
Behind Zethrid, Lance stiffened as the Paladins of Voltron filed into the real Central Command that Lotor was using as a ‘home base’. The Black Paladin nodded at him, and the… Pink? Paladin stepped forward, removing her helmet to reveal…
“Princess Allura of Altea.” Lotor inclined his head. “The rumors are true.”
Of course, he already knew of her existence from Lance. But it was good to know that the rumors that she’d replaced his sharpshooter as the Paladin of the Blue Lion were true.
“You seem to know who we are, but we do not know your identity.” She replied, her eyes flashing in the light as she stepped forward.
Ah. Lotor saw now. The Black Paladin may have been the head of Voltron, but this princess was the true leader of the group. He smiled thinly.
“My apologies, Princess. I am Lotor, the former prince of the Galra Empire and the son of Zarkon.”
It was almost comedic how the Paladins gasped and stepped back in unison. “You’re fighting against your father?” The Yellow Paladin asked.
“Times are changing.” Lotor replied. “The people want change, and I can be that change.”
“So, you started a civil war?” Princess Allura asked. “That does not seem very different from Zarkon’s methods.”
“It was never my intentions to start this war, but I do intend to see it through.”
“How did it start then?” The Black Paladin asked. “Wars don’t just happen.”
“My father and I had a bit of a disagreement which resulted in my banishment and new position as a wanted fugitive of the Empire. The planets loyal to me succeeded from the Empire.”
“Wow. Some disagreement if it resulted in that.” The Green Paladin commented. She was the one who evidently owed Lance. How delightful.
“It was.” Lotor replied. “But worth it in the end.” She hmphed, and crossed her arms, glaring a hole through him.
“If you’d like, we can talk further in the morning. I have already prepared accommodations for you all.” Lotor gestured to the door, except the green one held up her hand.
“Hold up. I want to meet your sharp shooter. I owe him. I wouldn’t have found my brother if he hadn’t collapsed Sub-Commander Ylek’s slave trade, and he saved my life earlier.”
Lotor frowned, not even sure if Lance wanted to be revealed to his former team. He wasn’t sure he wanted to revel Lance to his former team. His stomach twisted with worry and doubt. What if Lance returned to them?
No. No, Lotor trusted Lance. He trusted Lance quite a bit more than he probably should, but that was just one of Lance’s many charms and talents. Besides, in the end, if Lance truly wanted to return, then there would be little that Lotor could do to stop that.
If Team Voltron, on the other hand, demanded Lance back, then Lotor would fight tooth and claw to keep him. Lance was part of Lotor’s team now, and unless Lance himself asked to leave, then part of Lotor’s team he’d remain.
Lance stepped forward, and Lotor felt his heart jump into his throat until Lance was at his side. His fingers wrapped around Lotor’s and he squeezed. A quiet reassurance that Lotor understood immediately.
Lance would be staying with him.
His frown fell away as he turned from Lance to the Voltron Team who’d watched the exchange in silence. “Alright then,” Lotor grinned. “I present to you my sharpshooter.” Their joined hands fell apart as Lotor gestured to Lance, and as Lance removed his helmet.