Chapter Text
Lance drummed his fingers on the dashboard of the car. He had gotten the “privilege” of being the getaway driver for this operation. Under different circumstances, this would really be a rare honor, since Keith usually got that job, but Lance knew that he only got the job this time because Keith had been chosen to go have the real fun, infiltrating a high-society party. Not that Lance would have been able to truly have fun – it was a high-society party in the Galra Empire, after all – but still, it was unfair that Keith got nearly all of the infiltration jobs for stuff like this. He got to have all the fun.
As he waited, Lance checked the time. Keith wasn’t supposed to stay for the whole party, but he still had a good hour to go unless something went wrong, so that meant that Lance would be sitting out here – out here, in the car, parked in front of an important Galra building, on a street in Daibazaal, the capital of the Galra Empire – for the next hour. Lance wasn’t sure whether it was the potential of being discovered as a foreign spy or the potential of being bored to death that scared him more. Maybe a little of both. But there was no chance in—
Just then, he felt and heard a loud explosion from the building, and Lance immediately started up the car. That was a sign to leave if Lance had ever seen one. Had Keith set that off? It was unlikely, but who else would have? Terrorists? Rebels within the empire? Lance had no clue, and right now, he frankly didn’t care. He just needed to get Keith and get out of there.
From Lance’s comms, he could hear Keith’s voice accompanied by a crackle of static, and Lance hoped that Keith wasn’t injured. He turned on the outgoing communications. “Keith? Are you okay?”
“I’m uninjured,” Keith answered, to Lance’s relief. “I don’t know who set off the bomb or why. We need to get out—”
“Car’s already started up. Just waiting for you.”
“ETA 3 minutes. I have to get past rubble, guards trying to evacuate guests, and some fires that have broken out.”
“Copy that. I’ll be here.” Lance bounced his leg anxiously, worrying as he waited. Keith would be fine, right? Right. Not that Lance was particularly close with the guy or anything, but still, they were teammates. Besides, Lance was not looking forward to Shiro’s reaction if Lance had to break the news to him that he’d lost his soulmate. Shiro was nearly as protective of Keith as Keith was of Shiro, and an angry Shiro was a scary Shiro.
A figure hurried toward the car, and Lance felt relieved for a second before he realized that this person was far too tall to be Keith. Still, the figure headed straight toward the car, walking with purposeful speed, and Lance felt an anxious sense of foreboding. Then the figure stepped into the range of the streetlamps, giving Lance a good look at his face, and Lance froze. Was that…??
The man tapped on the window of Lance’s car, and Lance rolled it down. With an apologetic expression, the man said, “I am Prince Lotor. My apologies to your scheduled client, but I need to get out of here now . Either drive me out of here or allow me to commandeer your car.”
Lance stammered, stunned. “U-uh, sure, I’ll drive you.” Was his outgoing comm still on? He hoped so. Keith needed to hear this. “I mean, yes, sir.” He unlocked the doors, and Lotor quickly opened the rear door and slid in directly behind Lance.
“Thank you. Drive south. We need to get out of Daibazaal as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.” Lance immediately took off. “Is speed or subtlety more important?”
Lotor seemed to hesitate before answering, “Both are vital. Go as fast as you think you can get away with, and if you see imperial police, take off.”
“Understood.” Lance followed the prince’s instructions, heading off to the south as quickly as he dared. He wondered why imperial police would pose a problem, though. This was Prince Lotor, right? Surely imperial police would have to listen to his commands… right? Still, Lance was slightly too focused on the task at hand. He had to do a good enough job for Lotor to not be mad at him while also not doing so good of a job that Lotor figured out that he was actually a rebel spy who acted as a getaway driver often. What an odd situation. How was he going to explain this to the other rebels? How was Keith going to get back to the rebel base? How was Lance going to get back to the rebel base? Lance was half-scared that Lotor was going to kill him as soon as he was no longer directly useful to Lotor.
From behind Lance, Lotor softly cursed. “Your car has been outfitted with a tracker, likely from your company. We need to switch cars as soon as reasonably possible, or else we will be tracked down and caught for sure.”
Lance’s mind raced. He knew exactly what Lotor must be somehow picking up on: the communications line back to the rebel base. “Sir,” he ventured, “perhaps, in that case, I should take you to the place where you can get a new car, and then perhaps I should take off in a different direction to lure anyone tracking me away from you.
In the rearview mirror, Lotor was already shaking his head. “No, if we do that, you will be caught, brought in, and questioned for assisting my escape. Few come out of Galra interrogations with their psyche intact. I will not subject an innocent bystander I dragged into this situation to such horrors.”
Escape?! What exactly was going on here? Lance had known from rebel intelligence that Lotor was not on the best of terms with his father, Emperor Zarkon, but what exactly had Lotor done to need to literally run from the law? Was he responsible for that explosion??
On the other hand, at least Lotor was being considerate and responsible by looking out for Lance’s wellbeing. Lance could appreciate that, even if said concern was misplaced, considering that Lance was just going to shed his false identity and hide out at the rebel base where the Galra authorities wouldn’t be able to find him. Still, he wasn’t about to tell Prince Lotor that little detail, even if the prince was maybe a criminal now…?
All that flashed through Lance’s mind in a matter of seconds. Aloud, he said, “I see. Thank you for your concern, Sir.”
“You’re welcome,” Lotor said easily. “Once this is over, I can have one of my personnel take you back home. My workers move quickly; you should be able to return safely tomorrow morning.”
Tomorrow morning? That was good news to some extent, but it was also somewhat worrying. He sincerely hoped that his outgoing communications line was still working. Otherwise, his fellow rebels would seriously be wondering what had happened to him.
After they had gone down a few more streets, Lotor said, “Pull over here. We’ll take one of these cars.”
“Take?” Lance questioned, but he did as he was told.
“Yes. Leave your phone and any other electronic devices here. We absolutely cannot risk being tracked.” Lotor got out of the car the moment Lance had fully stopped it.
Lance took a second to take a deep breath, whispering quietly on the exhale, “I’ll try to be back by 1200 hours.” He hoped that the communicator was still open, and he hoped that he would make it back by noon, as he had just told them. If he wasn’t back by then, well, some backup might be necessary.
Reluctantly, Lance left all of his electronics and spy gear in the car, along with all of his weapons save for a sizable fighting knife and a small utility knife. He didn’t want Lotor to search him and find all of his weapons. After all, most chauffeurs didn’t carry two guns, a taser, and an assortment of other materials.
“If you’re thinking about running,” Lotor called, “please refrain from doing so. I can’t protect you from Imperial Command unless you come with me.”
Lance stepped out of the car and walked over to the car Lotor was in, which was already running. He was mildly surprised to find that Lotor was in the driver’s seat, but he quickly got into the passenger’s seat without questioning it just yet. Before he had even buckled up, Lotor took off, driving south again at a hurried but unsuspicious pace.
As Lotor drove, Lance realized why Lotor was driving instead of having Lance drive again. Lance wasn’t sure that Lotor was necessarily better than him, but he was suspiciously good at this, especially considering that he was supposed to be pampered royalty, right? Adding that to the fact that Lotor had clearly hijacked this car and had started it without keys, Lance began to seriously wonder just how long the prince had been doing rebellious illegal activities. He certainly seemed to have experience with this.
A long moment passed in silence as the views of the city flew by the windows before the prince finally spoke. “I believe I owe you an explanation.”
Lance looked over at him warily. “I’d like one, yeah.”
Though he hesitated for a moment longer, Lotor took a deep breath and kept his eyes forward as he began to explain. “The explosion was an assassination attempt meant for me. I am almost completely certain of this. That’s why I had to get away as quickly as possible. Though the explosion missed me, if my would-be assassins had gotten a chance to kill me and throw my body into the flames, they would have still been able to claim that the explosion was the cause of my death.” His voice sounded bitter with anger at the attempt on his life.
Pity was not an emotion that Lance had expected to feel for the prince of the Galra, but hearing the way Lotor spoke about the attempt, hearing how bitter he sounded, like he wasn’t surprised at all… Lance could admit that he felt sympathy for the guy. “Do you know who’s after you?” he asked. Of course, such information would be useful to the rebellion, but Lance found that he wanted to ask just for the sake of expressing some kind of empathy toward Lotor.
“You may not believe me,” Lotor said slowly, sparing a glance at Lance, “but I know for certain that it was Imperial forces. The official statements that go out about the incident will blame it on rebel forces, but I’m quite certain that the rebels have never made a direct attempt on my life. It’s the Imperial forces that have the capability of making so many attempts in secure locations and have the authority to cover up said attempts afterwards.”
That explained a lot, actually. Lotor was completely correct in his assessment that no rebel faction – at least, not one that Lance’s crew back at the Project VOL-TRN base knew of – was behind this or any of the other strange incidents that had been happening recently that the Galra had blamed on them. Project VOL-TRN had been trying to find the faction responsible for these seemingly random acts of terrorism, hoping that maybe these people would be rebel allies, but so far, they had failed to trace any of these events back to its source. So, if these events had been orchestrated by Imperial forces and covered up by the same forces afterwards, that certainly explained a lot. Except… “But aren’t you the prince? Why are Imperial forces trying to kill you?”
Lotor smiled wryly. “They’re loyal to my father, and my father wants me dead. It’s as simple as that.”
“But…” Lance’s head was spinning. What? Intelligence they had gathered on the royal family had pointed to a rift between Emperor Zarkon and Prince Lotor, and the prince had been exiled in the past, but nothing had indicated cause for government conspiracy assassination attempts or anything of the like. “If he wants you dead so badly, why doesn’t he just have you executed?”
“Because then he would have to explain why, and it would reflect poorly on him if he admitted that his own son was a rebellious traitor who didn’t conform to Galra ideals.” Lotor’s voice was so collected and assured, like the answer was obvious, that Lance nearly winced at the contrast between the tone and the meaning present. “You must be half-Galra, am I right? You don’t really look Galra at all, but then again, I hardly do either. You must know how difficult it is for half Galra to be accepted or to get respect. It is not enough for us to be like the others, we have to be better than the others – stronger, more loyal, more aggressive – in order to be worthy of being called Galra.”
Lance nodded as if he had personal experience with this. He’d experienced some racism due to his ethnicity and home country, but virtually never within his home country. He had a hard time fathoming feeling so unsafe among one’s own people. But of course, he couldn’t express that to Lotor. It was better for the prince to assume that Lance was indeed part Galra.
“Of course,” Lotor acquiesced, “I was insulated from some of that, being royal. My own mother, though Altean, received respect and honor for embodying Galra ideals, so in the eyes of the public, I might as well have been full Galra. But my father was always much harder to please. Truth be told…” He trailed off into silence for a long moment, as if he were lost in thought.
Finally, he broke the silence again and continued, “Truth be told, I don’t embody Galra ideals. I wish I had been given the chance to grow up in and live in Altea before my father invaded and razed it. I believe that what my father is doing is despicable, and I have tried for years now to subvert and undermine him. He accuses me of being a traitor, and he’s completely correct. I am a traitor. But if he publicly executes me as one, he has to admit that he did not raise me to be a proper Galra, and he cannot endure that shame. Better to have me killed via something that looks like an act of terrorism and blame the rebels. Then he can pretend to mourn, and he can use my death as a rallying point for the country in the effort to stamp out the rebellion. Or, better yet, if he can pin the blame on another country, he can demand recompense from them in the form of better treaty conditions or the like. He has a dozen reasons why having me assassinated would benefit him.”
“Oh,” Lance said, because what else could he say? He hadn’t expected Lotor to be so honest with him, and he certainly hadn’t expected this to be the answer to not only the question he had asked, but also a few questions that the rebel forces had been trying to find answers to for a while now. “I see.”
“I’m sorry.” Lotor sounded sincerely regretful. “I should not have burdened you with this information.”
“No, no, it’s fine!” Lance mentally kicked himself. He needed to inspire trust and get more information, not drive the prince away. “I just wasn’t sure what to say without sounding insensitive. Thanks for explaining the situation to me. I just wish there was something I could do to help.”
Lotor looked at him with a touch of wariness, as if trying to determine whether Lance was telling the truth, before he said, “Well, normally I wouldn’t be this candid with a stranger, but—” He stopped suddenly, as if realizing that he wouldn’t normally be this candid and that there was no reason for him to have opened up to Lance all of a sudden.
Lance decided to try something a little risky. “If you oppose your father, why don’t you join the rebellion?”
“As if they would take me.” Lotor almost sounded unaffected, but there was a note of bitterness in his tone. He glanced sideways at Lance. “If you were a rebel, you would have killed me by now, or at least tried.” He took his gaze away from Lance, not searching for Lance’s reaction, which was probably a good thing, because Lance was just then realizing that he hadn’t even thought about trying to assassinate the Galra prince.
Ignorant of Lance’s momentary crisis, Lotor continued. “The rebels are dangerous, impulsive, and foolhardy. As far as I know, they have no long-term plan for this country and its people. They want anarchy , not true revolution, and I refuse to be part of that. I want to end the Galra conquest and restore the colonies to stability and possibly freedom, but I do not want to burn the country to the ground in the process like the rebels do.”
The funny thing? Lotor was absolutely right, as far as Lance was aware of any long-term plans. All the rebels’ plans and schemes were short-term only without any regard for what might happen after the war. And while he didn’t particularly like that he and his friends were being called ‘dangerous, impulsive, and foolhardy’ (except Keith. Keith was all of those things), he could admit that they hadn’t exactly been the most careful either. As for any rebel killing Lotor at the earliest possibility… Lotor wasn’t exactly their biggest target, but yeah , that should have at least crossed Lance’s mind, right? If Lotor tried to join the rebellion, he would probably be shot on the spot. No wonder the prince was taking his chances with Imperial assassination attempts – a bit of information that Lance was still trying to process, because that frankly explained way too much – rather than trying to connect with the rebels.
Instead of voicing any of that, however, Lance said, “I guess that makes sense. But how are you going to do everything alone?”
A hint of a smile appeared on Lotor’s face. “I’m not alone. My team is small, and we will need more support when the time comes to rise up and take my father down for good, but we are fine on our own for now.”
“As long as you manage not to die first.”
“…yes. As long as I manage that.”
Silence stretched between them for a little while longer before Lance finally decided to push his luck and ask, “If you take down your father, what will you do next?”
“Rule, I hope,” Lotor answered without hesitation. “I believe I can lead and guide my people into peace and prosperity.”
“Do you think the rebels have someone they would install on the throne if they could?”
Lotor scoffed. “I doubt it. They likely intend to eventually instate some sort of people-led government, if they have any plans of the sort at all. But imagine the Galra, a people who have known only war for a generation and who have been fed propaganda and lies about the outside world for even longer, allowed to rule themselves. They would continue Zarkon’s work. The only way to bring about true change is by giving them a leader who guide them onto a better path.
“And, even if they did want to put someone on the throne,” he continued, “I highly doubt they have someone qualified. Only someone born of two Galra citizens is qualified for the Kral Zera, and the person must have held sufficient rank in government or military. Since only one person ever in Galra history has been made a Galra citizen despite not having Galra blood at all, my mother Empress Honerva, I am literally the only half-Galra who would qualify, unless you count someone who was the child of two half-Galra who were both citizens as “half-Galra,” but such children tend to face less discrimination in general than the children of a Galra and a true foreigner.”
Lance considered this. By that standard, yeah, Keith wouldn’t qualify. A few of the Galra rebels VOL-TRN was working with were full-blood Galra, but as far as Lance knew, none of them had held high office in the empire before defecting. Some had snuck back in undercover, but he doubted a high-up undercover position would count, since those were under false identities. The rebellion really didn’t have anyone who could take the throne. “So, you’re uniquely qualified to not only lead the Galra, but also to help them reconcile with the rest of the world.”
“Indeed.”
“Hmm…” Lance couldn’t help but think that if only he could convince Lotor to join the rebellion, both Lotor and the rebellion would benefit from working together in that way. But it wasn’t like Lance could just say ‘Hey Lotor, guess what, I’m a rebel, and I can put in a good word with our leader for you!’ without quite possibly getting shot. Not that he found Lotor threatening, but Lotor was definitely defensive, and he seemed like the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to cut down a friend if he thought it was absolutely necessary for survival. If he suddenly learned that he’d told all of this to a rebel… yeah, that might not end so well for Lance. It would be best to play this smart, keep quiet for now, and then maybe slowly plant the idea in Lotor’s mind to follow up on later. Maybe once Lance got back to the rebel base, he could convince the others that they needed Lotor, and the rebellion as a whole could extend an invitation to Lotor. Maybe. Lance wasn’t sure, but it sounded like as good a plan as any at the moment.
“What are you thinking?”
Lance startled slightly. “Ah, um, I was just thinking about how cool it would be to have you as emperor instead,” he said, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “Like you said, I’ve been through a lot as a half-blood Galra, so I like the idea of having someone who gets it as my leader, you know? And I like what you said about ending the Galra conquest and restoring the colonies and setting them free.” Lance was aware that Lotor hadn’t promised to set them free, but perhaps Lance could give a little encouragement… “I think you’d be a great emperor.”
Lotor smiled softly, looking almost flustered. “Thank you. It’s good to know that I have some support from the common people.”
“Yeah. You seem like a great guy, honestly.”
The soft smile took on even more of a flustered appearance. “Really?”
“Yeah! You’re thoughtful, and you’re being really nice to me even though we don’t know each other, and you’re protecting me so I don’t take the fall for your situation, and I think a lot of what you said is really good, and you just seem kind of charming in general, so…”
“Charming?” Lotor raised an eyebrow.
Now it was Lance’s turn to look flustered. “I mean, um… not in like a romantic way, I mean, you’re hot, but like… damnit, wait, I meant to say, um…” He felt his face grow hot, and he hid it behind his hands. Seriously, Lance? He wanted to punch himself squarely in the face.
Lotor chuckled, not unkindly. “I’m flattered that you find me so interesting and attractive.”
Lance grumbled from behind his hands.
“I think you’re rather cute, especially right now, as flustered as you are.”
Immediately, Lance looked up at Lotor, shocked by what Lotor just said. “Me? Cute?”
There was a hint of pink dusting Lotor’s cheeks, and wow, Lance wanted to see him blush more. Still, Lotor’s voice was steady as he said, “Yes, I think so. You’re attractive, and you’re rather sweet, in your own way. I find you quite interesting.”
Lance slumped back in his chair, trying to process this. AAAHHHHH. The Galra prince thought he was cute. He thought the Galra prince was hot. Gods of Altea, this couldn’t be happening.
“I don’t often find people so attractive right away,” Lotor continued, “yet I feel strangely drawn to you.”
“I, um… I’ll find people attractive, yeah, but something about you… you’re different. I’m not sure why, but you are.”
Lotor hummed lightly, thinking. “Perhaps we could spend a little time together when we reach the safe house. It could take my team all night to erase any trace of your involvement in this incident. In the meantime, we could… get to know each other a little better?”
If some of the heat had been starting to fade from Lance’s face, it was back in full force. “Like, just talking, or…?
“Talking first, and dinner. After that, well…” Lotor gave a mischievous and sexy smirk, and Lance felt like he wanted to melt into his seat. “We can see where things lead, can’t we?”
Was Lance seriously about to agree to a spontaneous dinner date, possibly followed up by ‘more,’ with the Galra prince? …yes, yes he was. “Ah, sure, okay! That sounds great.” Again, he kind of wanted to kick himself for agreeing to this when this was clearly a bad idea, but he also kind of wanted to shut off that part of his brain and just focus on the fact that he was about to spend the night with a really hot guy whom he was really attracted to for whatever reason.
“Perfect.” Lotor looked all-too-pleased with himself, and somehow that smug look made him look even hotter. “So, my dear companion, do you have a name? I presume you already know mine.”
Oh. He hadn’t even realized that he’d never told Lotor his name. “Yeah. I’m Lance.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Lance.” Oh stars , his name sounded so good in Lotor’s voice.
“Pleasure to meet you too…” He hesitated. Should he use the title? “…Lotor.”
Lotor smiled a little more, and Lance silently congratulated himself on making the right choice. “You’re rather bold, aren’t you, presuming that you can drop my title when addressing me. I like that.”
“I can be a pretty bold person,” Lance bragged, trying to sound impressive.
“Good. Doormats bore me. You are far more interesting.”
Lance wasn’t sure what to say next, but he kind of didn’t mind, still riding on the high of knowing that Lotor found him interesting and attractive. He felt tempted to reach out to Lotor, to touch him, but Lotor was still driving, so that would be distracting at best and intrusive at worst. He settled for holding his hand out, low, hovering over the shifter with his palm up. A moment later, Lotor smiled softly and dropped his hand into Lance’s. Though Lotor was wearing gloves, preventing their skin from touching, Lance still felt thrilled by the contact.
The rest of the ride passed in silence. Lance thought about sparking more conversation, but he didn’t want to mess this up now, and Lotor seemed perfectly content to hold hands and let the silence stand. Lance could only guess that Lotor was an introvert, which was fine by Lance, though he was getting increasingly nervous as the silence continued.
Finally, Lotor stopped the car in front of a small house out in the middle of practically-nowhere. Lance was mildly disappointed when Lotor let go of his hand, but he was little more focused on taking in the sight of the house and the area. There were other little houses scattered around the region, but the area was clearly rural and out-of-the-way. It seemed like a sensible location for a hideout safe-house – just removed enough that no one would expect the prince to be there, but not so far removed that it would be an obvious hiding place. Even if someone figured out that Lotor was in the region, they’d have to search dozens of little houses before finding the one he was actually in.
Both stepped out of the car, and Lotor came around to Lance’s side. Lance felt nervousness buzz through his veins like excitement as Lotor approached and gently took Lance’s hands in his gloved ones. “Ready to come inside?” Lotor asked.
Lance, feeling a little reckless despite his nervousness, let go of Lotor’s hands and brought his own hands up to Lotor’s shoulders. “Sounds good… maybe in just a moment.”
Lotor’s hands moved to Lance’s waist, drawing him closer. “Really now?” Gods, his voice was sinfully smooth. “And what do you want to do in this moment?”
Taking a little half-step forward, Lance started to close the space between them. “I’m not sure,” he said, with an airy and unconcerned tone. He brought his hands up toward Lotor’s face to stroke his cheekbones. “Maybe—”
In that moment, Lance’s thumbs touched Lotor’s face, trailing across his skin in an arched motion, and both thumbs left behind curved, glowing, lavender marks on Lotor’s cheekbones. Lotor’s rich blue eyes suddenly glowed also with light that made his irises look lavender instead of blue. Lance, in shock, let his hands trail weakly down the sides of Lotor’s face, and glowing trails followed his fingertips, though they faded quickly.
“Lance?” Lotor asked gently, not yet realizing what had happened.
“Soulmates…” Lance had seen soulmate bonds form before. He remembered watching when Shiro and Keith – two people Lance had barely known at the time – reunited for the first time since Keith had turned 18, and he remembered the glowing red-orange mark that had appeared when Shiro had stroked Keith’s cheek affectionately. Everyone knew what soulmate bonds looked like. But this moment still felt so surreal that Lance almost questioned it. Lotor was his soulmate? How??
Lotor brought a hand up to his own cheek, lightly touching the permanent mark and trying to look at it out of the corner of his eye. “I…” He pulled his other hand away from Lance as well, then removed both gloves, extending his hands hesitantly toward Lance. “May I?”
Not trusting his voice, Lance nodded. Lotor reached forward, brushing his thumbs in arced paths on Lance’s cheekbones, and Lance could see the wonder in Lotor’s expression. He looked so beautiful like that, eyes wide open and shimmering with magic and wonder, lips slightly parted, soulmarks glowing softly, and Lance couldn’t resist. He reached up and moved closer, hesitating only when their lips were inches apart, and he closed his eyes as Lotor closed the gap between them at last.
Soulmates. They were soulmates.
Gods of Altea, what was Lance going to tell his team?