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Chapter Text

(Alvance's POV)
It was the morning of the Royal twins 19th birthday. When I woke to my personal guard Shia draping himself across me.

"Morning Alvance. I laid out your armour for today, and Allura said she wants you to go to the king's room.” He said while getting up from where he was draped. I reached my hand out and like countless mornings he slowly took my hand helping me to my feet.

“My Prince,” He suddenly dropped to one knee.”I have a birthday present for you, my love." He quickly put his hand into his armour.

"Prince Alvance of Altea, the only son of King Alfor. Will you...marry me?" Shia said pulling a box out and opened it to reveal a blue stone necklace, with beautiful purple flower-like embellishments.

"The stone reminded me so much of your eyes, and the purple flowers around it reminded me of the junabarries you and your sister love so much. What will it be my love, can I stay forever by your side in this life and the next, for eternity?" Shia said taking the necklace gently out of the box.

"Eternity you say? Are you sure you wouldn't get bored of me?" I said through the tears of joy.

"Never," Shia said putting the necklace on me.

"Well, what is your answer, my love?" He said visibly nervous.

"The answer will always be yes. In this life and the next. Now I must go tell Father and Sister. They have been waiting phoebs for you to officially court me." I said and he looked shocked.

"They knew...I was going to ask you to marry me?" He said with a gulp.

"I mean you're like family, well now you are.” I said flashing the necklace a little.

“But even before our courting, ever since we rescued you from those traders. We took you in. That's when you decided you would become my bodyguard. And from childhood I knew I was in love with you." I said giving him a kiss to the forehead because he was still kneeling.

He got up and gave me a proper kiss. We sat there for a while as I took in everything. From his white skin to his steel-grey eyes, to the scar across his nose (a hit that he took for me.) and not to forget that fluffy white hair. The small smiles he gives me when I get nervous, the small gentle touches, and the way he blushes every time I get undressed around him.

"Would you help me get into my armour?" I said with a smirk as he reddened.

"Sure, but you do know where that leads right?" He said with a smirk, and wrapping his arms around my hips.

"No mister, my sister, and father need me to be on time," I said turning around in his arms and pushing his nose back.

I took off my sleeping garments and slipped into my black undersuit, and Shia zipped me up.

"It's a shame that this suit covers up your beautiful markings," Shia said gently touching the mark that lies on my tailbone.

"Silly, I need to protect myself so I have to wear it," I said putting on the leg and arm-guards.

Shia grabbed the chest plate and put it on me fastening the back and pulling me closer to him.

"I meant what I said a few quintants ago, I don't care that you're a prince I…I just want to be by your side." He said with longing in his eyes.

"Shia I wish for that as well," I said giving him a quick peck on the cheek, then dashing out of the room.

"Alvance wait for me!" Shia said running after me.

I stopped in front of Father's room catching my breath. Shia caught up to me shortly after that. He dismissed one of the guards standing next to the door, then took their place.

"Shia you slowpoke. I win again you know what that means" I said sticking my tongue out at him.

He laughed and gestured for me to go inside. But before I could I saw my sister running away from her bodyguard. Unlike Shia and I, ‘Lura hated her bodyguard. She spotted Shia and hid behind him.

"Shia help me, please and tell my bodyguard to go away." She pleaded using him as a shield.

I turned to ‘Lura's bodyguard and dismissed her for Shia.

"Thank you, brother." She said dusting herself off then looked at the necklace around my neck.

"Oh, my gods you finally did it you cowered!" She yelled at Shia and punched him in the shoulder.

"Yes, I did now shh…We haven't told the King yet." He said hushing her.

Father had the same reaction as Allura, but more dramatic.

Shia and I headed back to our room for some alone time after Father gave Allura and me our birthday presents. When…when the sirens started to blare.

"Shia, what's happening?" I said panicked, squeezing his hand.

"Don't worry, I got you Alvance." He said and we started heading to the bridge. That's when we bumped into Uncle Blaytz.

"Shia, Prince come with me. We got to go!" Blaytz said heading for the doors of the Castle.

That's when I saw the city burning, and...and the Galra killing my people. A group surrounded the blue lion and a group rushed us. Shia pulled out his sword and protected me as I pulled out my blaster, and shot clearing a path for us.

However I got blindsided and a Galra swung to cut me down, then everything went in slow motion as Shia jumped in front of it. The sword cut through his armour. His chest. His stomach. I shot the Galra in the head many times as I screamed in agony. I knelt to him and cradled his dying form in my arms as Blaytz screams faded from my ears, everything turning into white noise.

"No, no, please don't leave me, Shia," I said sobbing.

"I love you Alvance. For eternity." He said grabbing my hand, and his eyes slowly closing.

"I love you to Shia, and yes...eternity," I said as he exhaled his last breath with a small fading smile.

Blaytz grabbed me dragging me into the blue lion. I saw the blood on my hands and armour and sobbed, as I heard Blaytz grunt to sit in the chair and the Blue Lion took off.

I watched as my planet fell, my lover Shia dead, and my uncle Blaytz bleeding out in the cockpit of the blue lion, as we fled Altea by Wormhole.

"Alvance get in the pod, your father ordered me to keep you safe." He said coughing up blood.

"No uncle, what about you? There is only one pod. And you're dying." I said tears streaming down my face.

"That doesn't matter I have to pilot us somewhere. So GET IN THE POD!" He said with a grunt. Getting up from his chair he forced And fought me into the pod.

Chapter Text

(Shiro's POV)

Ever since I was a child…I've had these dreams of an alien world. They where disturbing and downright cruel for a child to have, at first. In the dreams, it was like taking every step that he had. I…he got kidnapped from Earth and was forced to do terrible things, but when I was six I…he was rescued by five people. Four men and one woman, the man with pointed ears and white hair took me in. I learned he was a King with twin children one boy, and one girl, Alvance and Allura, and at this point, I started writing the dreams in a journal.

When I was 14 I became the prince's bodyguard after working for years to earn the title. However I think I took the job too seriously. Two years later the Prince started acting weird, ignoring and avoiding me. Then he yelled at me and confessed that he was in love with me. I was shocked because he was crying saying how stupid and reckless Shia had been. That's when I started going by Shiro.

In the dreams, we secretly started dating, and I even called him by his name. Two years passed and I joined the Galaxy Garrison. It felt like I should be in space, so I did everything in my power to make that happen. While I studied and slept Shia and Alvance had very intimate, passionate moments, which could cause problems for me in the morning.

One day I fell asleep in the bath and dreamed of a beautiful bathroom covered in candles and purple flowers. When the prince walked in with a blue and gold robe on. He stepped onto the steps of the bath, slowly taking off the robe. Slowly entering the water with that confident smirk on his face. He climbed into my lap and brushed his warm hands across my chin…I woke up with my face hot and... I decided to get out of the bath.

Many years passed I was now 25 and was walking around the Garrison trying to remember all the corridors. When I saw Keith arguing with a boy. The boy stuck his tongue out at Keith. It reminded me of the nightmare I had, the one that still repeats where Shia died after proposing to Alvance. I felt the pain. The sadness and the hot…hot tears that rained on my face as Alvance was dragged away from me.

Since that nightmare, I haven't had any dreams, none and it left a sense of loss. The boy that reminded me of Alvance dashed away as he spotted me.

"Keith who was that?" I asked him.

"Some kid in my class named Lance, why?" He asked looking back.

"I don't want you to get in any fights while I'm gone alright," I said taking my eyes away from the direction Lance went in.

Then I went to Kerberos where I learned aliens were real.

Chapter Text

(Alvance's POV)

I stumbled out of the pod, my armour weighed heavily on my shoulders as it dragged me to the ground. I felt empty and lost, as I climbed out of the Blue Lion we connected. She showed me pictures of the inhabitants of this planet, so I shifted my form to look like them. While shifting I realised that Altean's can't get rid of their eye colour or the markings on their body.

I lightened my skin and darkened my hair, and rounded my ears like Shia's. Where was I? What planet? What Solar system?

“Blue where did you take us? Where’s Uncle?” I asked her letting tears escape my eyes.

‘Sorry Prince. It far from Altea. To far. So safe. The home of Love.’ Her words swam through my mind it was more like a mere suggestion rather than words

“Blue? My uncle, your Paladin where is he?” I cried dragging myself through the dust and sand.

‘You’re Paladin now, mourned Deca-phoebs!’ Her sadness washed over me.

“Deca-Phoebs, h…how many?” I said trying to regain my composure.

She did not answer. Everything ached, My heart, my soul, my hands. How long had I been kneeling in the sand? I looked to my legs to will them to work when I was startled to see the fresh blood on my armour. Then I remember that I had been holding Shia.

"Oh my love, I miss you, I need you here with me. I'm not strong enough to do this on my own." I said trying to stand, my blood covered hand grasped at my necklace.

Taking off the armour, I left the black suit on for protection. After putting the armour in the Blue Lion hiding it in her compartments. I left Blue again and headed out of the cave. As I was wandering the desert I found a shack. It looked empty for the most part. I went inside and searched for some clothes and water. I found a shirt, pants, shoes, and a jacket. And a half empty bottle of water. I used the water to wash the dried blood off everything.

I left the shack and wondered. I found myself in a city where I saw him, Shia he... He was on a screen in some weird language.

I let my translator get to work to teach me the language. After I had learn the language I took my translator out of my ear and put it in my jacket pocket. I learned that he attended a school called, Galaxy Garrison.

I made my way to a Library where these people hold most of there information. That's how I learned you need a few papers and a good test score to get into the school. So I forged everything with the help of a Cuban family. Which still took a couple of Ph...Months at least.

They gave me the name of Lance…McClain. I became part of their big family. I got enrolled into the Galaxy Garrison, but the time I was there I never built up the nerve to talk to Shia's look alike. As my sister once said I was the weaker one…So I avoided him, but I wish I hadn't. He disappeared five months later.

For the next year, I was no longer Alvance prince of Altea, a failure to his people and lover. I was now Lance McClain just a boy from Cuba, a pilot. I met Hunk a nice man that liked to cook, and Pidge they were looking for their family. Snuck in here under a fake name like me.

The only reason I knew that is because I climbed onto the roof one night and heard them say that they would find their family. As I was sneaking out to visit Blue. She reminds me of home, a home I could never go back to. She tries so hard to soothe me. A wave of emotion that are not my own wash over me to often.

The Instructor Iverson was particularly harsh this day, so while I was intending to sneak out to clear my mind Hunk insisted on tagging along. I made an excuse of wooing ladies and partying to try to get him to go away, but it didn't work, so we went for Pidge.

Who headed for the roof. Then things escalated and then Pidge said it "Voltron" I froze. Then Hunk pointed out the ship... The Galra ship.

"No, I'm not ready, no, no," I whispered to myself.

Pidge got up and ran to the ship, and like the stupid person, I am I followed. Then one thing lead to another, we rescued Shia's look-alike, we went back to the shack, I stole these clothes from, and that's when I took a nap to wait for Shia-Shiro to wake up.

I woke up a few minutes later to Pidge shaking me. We all introduced ourselves but I almost stumbled on my name when I saw his white hair and that scar. Tears started to well in my eyes, but I willed them away. I hesitated to shake his Galra prosthetic.

Keith revealed that he has been tracking the Blue Lion all this time, and Hunk built a device to find it, and I left out the fact that I could take them to her. We made it to the cave that she was hidden in, as they marvelled at the drawings and carving I opened the secret passageway. As we landed in the pool below I grabbed onto my necklace.

"Give me strength Shia," I said getting up going to Blue.

I made a silly comment about it watching me and knocking on the particle barrier.

As the particle barrier faded I saw it. The vision my father and Blaytz would talk about back when they first formed Voltron.

"Did anyone else see that?" I asked needing to know that I was not the only one chosen to be a paladin.

"VOLTRON is a HUGE, AWESOME ROBOT!" Hunk said in awe.

"And this is only one part of it-" Pidge said but blue cut them off.

'Paladin come aboard, please.' Blue said in an urgent manner.

She bent down and the others panicked a little, and I entered.

"Here we go," I said as the chair slid forward

Chapter Text

(Alvance's POV)
'Paladin sorry, enemy ship found me again' Blue said as the others climbed aboard.

I tuned into the humans' conversation

"I just want to make it clear to everyone that we are in some weird alien cat head right now." Hunk said.

'Sorry Blue but I have to play along’. " Guys, I think it's talking to me." I said pretending to be confused about how to fly Blue.

I pressed an assortment of buttons to suspend her sleep mode. I activated her thrusters, and we headed for the wall of the cave. Busting through the mountain the humans screamed, as Blue was happy to fly again. She spun around and zig-zagged through the air.

"You're the worst pilot ever!" Keith yelled.

I laughed a little tell her voice raged in my mind, 'Paladin enemy approaches.' Blue took control to exit the atmosphere.

"Where are you going?" Keith asked as we exited the atmosphere.

"It said that there is a ship approaching Earth, I think we have to stop it." I said but I felt wrong calling Blue an 'it'.

Then I saw the Galra cruiser, and all of my anger and grief came flooding back to me. My vision went red.

I screamed, attacking the cruiser. I damaged the haul and slowed the ship. Then Shiro put a hand on my shoulder snapping me out of my rage.

"Let's get this ship away from our planet," Shiro said with a determined look.

I took the Blue lion farther into the system. After we got to the edges of Pluto a wormhole opened up.

"What is that?" Someone asked.

"This may sound crazy but the Lion wants us to go through there," I said informing them what Blue was saying to me.

"Where does it go," Pidge said looking at me.

"I don't know. Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What do we do?" Honestly, I didn't care what the human decided. I just wanted to know what Altean opened that worm-hole.

"Whatever is happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together." Shiro said and they looked at me.

They all nodded at me and that was all I needed. We went into the wormhole and came out on a planet I didn't recognize. Hunk threw up and we all grunted in disgust.

"I'm so sorry." Hunk said throwing up again.

"I'm just surprised it took this long," Pidge said adjusting their glasses.

'Humans fragile things' Blue said ejecting the vomit into space.

As we got closer there was a building I recognized it...it was home.

"The Lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think... It's going Home." I said trying to sound as if I didn't know where we were going.

"Guys personal space. Hunk, your breath is killing me." I said with the smell of his breath wafted into my nose.

"Is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a Robotic Lion anyway?" Hunk said still very much close to me.

‘Rude.’ She huffed.

"It got us away from the gal- that alien warship didn't it?" I said a bit agitated.

"I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship," Keith said.

"Oh, are you scared?" I said trying to get under Keith's skin.

"With you at the helm? Terrified." Keith said as a comeback.

"All right, knock it off. No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together." Shiro said annoyed.

"What do we do?" Pidge said looking to Shiro.

"First we find out where we are going. Lance?" Shiro said and they all turned to me.

"Well, I'm going to guess that we're heading to that castle," I said and slowly landed Blue outside the doors of the castle.

"Wow!" All the humans said.

"Keep your guard up," Shiro said as everyone climbed out of Blue.

"Something wrong?" Pidge asked pushing up their glasses.

"My crew was captured by aliens ones. I'm not going to let that happen again." Shiro said on edge.

'Blue do you mind opening the doors?' I said to her.

'Yes, Paladin.' She said getting up.

"No! I knew it was going to eat us! No!" Hunk yelled going into a ball as Blue roared, and I laughed a little.

"Oh, the door is open. I guess I was wrong about you." Hunk said seeing the door open.

As we entered I got a shiver down my spine. It felt wrong to hear the castle so quiet.

"Hello?" Hunk yelled and the halls echoed back.

"From the size of the lions, I expected these steps to be bigger," Pidge said.

"Hold for identity scan." The castle computer said and I stepped out of the scan.

"Why are we here? What do you want from us?" Shiro said trying to talk to the computer.

The computer shut off, and the hall lights turned on.

"I guess we're going that way," Pidge said as the lights continued down the hall.

"Hello!"Hunk's voice said echoing.

As we followed the hall, we turned to a set of stair's that lead down. I know exactly where we were going.

"Hello!" Hunk yelled once more.

"Will you stop that," I muttered quietly to myself.

"Hello!" He said once more, ignoring me.

"Wow!" They said as we entered the infirmary.

"Where are we?" Keith asked, pushing to get in front of me.

"I think it's some kind of control room?" Pidge said touching the bio-tec.

They all gasped as the life pod raised from the floor. Keith went over an inspected one.

"Are these guys dead?" Hunk said going over to the other one. That's when I heard a faint hiss, and the word Father in a familiar voice. I turn to see my sister in Keith's arms.

Chapter Text

(Alvance's POV)
"Who are you? And where am I?" Allura said trying to stand but got weak.

"I'm Keith, and you just fell out of that pod thing," Keith said helping her stand.

"Your ears... They're hideous what's wrong with them?" She said and I became self-conscience about my human ears.

Allura pushed past Keith and went over to Shiro.

"Shia who are these people, and where is Brother and Father?" Allura asked and something flashed across Shiro's face.

"I'm sorry but you must have me mistaken for someone else? A Blue Lion brought us to this castle." Shiro said.

"How do you have the Blue lion? What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless- How long has it been?" Allura freaked out.

"We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help," Shiro said motioning to all of us.

"I'm Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep," She said rushing to the biotech pad, still a little wobbly on her feet.

"Okay, that's how that works," Pidge said as Allura activated the pad.

Another pod hissed next to Hunk who got scared and hid behind Keith.

"Enemy combatants!" Screamed a familiar voice, then something orange went flying at them.

"Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old sleep chamber knees," Coran said dusting himself off.

"Otherwise, I'd grab head like this, wrap you up like so-- and one, two, three," he snapped his fingers, "sleepy time!" Coran said doing some weird hand movements.

Keith shrugged him off and turned to Allura with Hunk still behind him.

"Man, these guys are good," Hunk said looking at Coran.

"It can't be..." Allura said covering her mouth.

"What is it?" Coran said pushing past Keith and Hunk.

"We've been asleep for 10,000 years. Planet Altea and all the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father and my brother are gone...Our entire civilization... ZARKON!" Allura said and I fell to the ground making everyone look at me.

"Lance, you alright?" Hunk said leaving Keith's side to help me up.

"Sorry, I'm fine just got dizzy for some reason," I said catching Allura's teary gaze.

"Did you say Zarkon?" Shiro said.

"He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people," Allura said with bitterness and hate in her voice.

"He's still alive," Shiro said.

"Impossible!" Allura said shocked.

"I can't explain it, but it's true. I was his prisoner. He's searching for a superweapon called Voltron," Shiro said.

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we need to find it before he does," Allura said, and Coran went over to comfort her and I wanted nothing more than to have Shia by my side again.

"Man 10,000 years that’s like, 100 plus ten," I said trying to sound like Lance.

"That's times ten," Keith said getting on my nerves, human math was hard but he has had all his life to know it.

"Whatever dropout!" I said belittling him, as we got up into each other's faces Shiro broke us up.

"Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years," Coran said bringing out the food rations the castle makes.

"I'm not hungry," Allura said bullheaded as always.

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving," Hunk said and the plate floated to him.

"Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times," Pidge said.

"Hmm, good point," Hunk said and started shovelling food into his mouth.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place," Shiro awed.

"Yes, it was but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans
alive," Allura said letting a tear escape her eye.

She stood there trying to wipe away the tears tell soft squeaking could be heard. Her ears started to twitch, and she headed to the pod that she fell from and gasped.

"looks like we're not the last after all," she wiped away more tears.

Coran and Allura smiled at each other as she picked up some mice, then an alarm started to blare. We all ran to the main deck where Coran pulled up a picture of a Galra Battlecruiser.

"A Galra Battlecruiser has set a tracker to us!" Coran said in a panic.

"How did they find us?" Allura said looking angrier and angrier.

"I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith's fault," I said trying to lighten the mood but was unsuccessful.

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better. After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!" Keith yelled drawing attention to us.

"I'll stick you in a wormhole!" I said provoking him.

"Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?" Shiro said breaking me and Keith up again.

"At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two I'd say probably a couple of days?" Coran said counting on his fingers.

"Good! Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!" Allura said, but was interrupted by Hunk's loud burp.

"Sorry, food goo," he said sucking the food off his fingers.

"Princess, there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?" Shiro said

"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's and her twin brother's life forces. They together are the key to the lions' whereabouts. But since Alvance isn't here with us, so it may be difficult for Allura to pinpoint all the lions," Coron said solemnly looking to Allura.

Allura activated the castle and the star maps, as she assigned the lions she vaguely explained how Voltron worked. She was explaining why everyone matched their lions, but I interrupted her as she got to me, and said something stupid. Then we were off.

I was taking Hunk to go get yellow, and Shia- Shiro was taking Pidge to get green. As soon as Hunk and I came through the wormhole we were being fired at by Galra ships and blasters. I wanted to tear them apart but I had to keep calm, and not lose control of my human form in front of Hunk. Like I did in front of my human sister, Veronica. I broke down in front of her, I didn't mean to I guess it was fate. She took me to her home, where her family took me in as a relative from Cuba.

"I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!" Hunk said snapping me out of my reverie.

"Maybe "peaceful" means something else in Altean!" I know it didn't but I was salty as the humans called it.

"According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion," I said groaning trying to dodge and weave my way through the open fire.

"It's below there, where they're mining for the ore. They don't even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the lion? -What do you think, Lance?" Hunk said as I gritted my teeth.

"Who cares!? Just go get it! I'm dropping you down there," I said.

"Me!? Down there!? NO.No, no, no," Hunk protested.

"Yes, I'll cover you!" I said and took a hit to the side.

"What if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? What if I can't get in the mine? What if I start crying? Too late. I'm already crying!" Hunk said tears leaking out of his eye.

"Sorry, no time for questions," I said spitting him out of the lion and signed in relief as he went into the cave.

Blue and I turned quickly and opened fired on the Galra drones aiming their weapons at the cave entrance.

Chapter Text

(Shiro's POV)

We landed on the planet filled to the brim with plant life, as we got out of the pod Pidge pulled out the map and started walking. I followed them while surveying our surroundings, making sure nothing jumps out at us. We were walking along when we came to a river.

"Look!" Pidge said pointing to a canoe with a lion head carved into the front. We then turned to the left to find a human-sized sloth-like alien standing there. Pidge and I yelled in surprise, and they jumped behind me while I went to protect them.

"It's just a... Whatever that thing is," Pidge said and it started to walk to the canoe when it gestured for us to follow.

"I... I think he wants us to get in his canoe," Pidge said.

"Then I guess we should go," I said shrugging, then Pidge turned and looked at me funny. "I've been locked up by aliens for a year. This... This is nothing," I said in a joking demeanour and walked to the canoe.

While we were going downstream cute little aliens sat on the river bank and watch us go by.

"Hey Shiro, can I ask you something about Lance?" Pidge said concern evident in their voice.

"I don't know much about him but sure go ahead," I said sitting in the back of the canoe.

"Well ever since we left earth Lance has been quieter and more distant," they said thinking for a moment.

"I can try talking to him when everything dies down a bit. He's probably just stressed like we all are about this Voltron thing. The only way to find out is to ask him. No need to worry Pidge, just focus on that lion," I said.

"You're right Shia," Pidge said mixing with Alvance voice.

"What did you say Pidge?" I said shaking my head clear of the memory.

"I said you're right Shiro, and I wonder if Lance and Hunk are having as good of a time as us?" They said as we entered a cave.

It went quiet for a while as we enjoyed the scenery. Then I noticed Pidge getting more and more fidgety.

"Something the matter Pidge?" I said and they grabbed onto their leg.

"I know the Princess said this is supposed to be my lion, but what if she's wrong? I mean she's probably not wrong. She's a princess, but I'm not a pilot, even though I've always wanted to be a pilot. I mean I read all the fighter manuals, but never got in the simulator. But hey I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time. What if I get in there and it doesn't respond? What I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals!?" Pidge said and the alien looked back at me confused but shrugged at him not knowing what to say.

"You're rambling. Listen... Our commander on the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I ever met, and he always said, if you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great," I said and they calm down a bit, then we reached the end of the river.

Pidge and I marvelled and a temple-like structure consumed by giant vines. We got out of the canoe and wave to the alien goodbye as we walked to the temple. We walked along as carvings started to glow green. We stopped at the steps and waited and Pidge looked back at me nervously.

"Go. Be great," I said and they gave me a big smile.

They ran up the steps and climbed over the giant vine tell they reached the top, then jumped into the pail of vines with a loud shout of joy. That's when the ground shook and I almost fell over and heard a roar. They landed and I climbed aboard and we went back to the castle.

Chapter Text

(Alvance's P.O.V.)

I turned back to the mouth of the cave to see a missile hit it.

"No, Hunk!" I cried as the entrance caved in and I got shot at.

I turned to see more fighters heading straight for me and Blue. I lost all focus and was blinded by rage. I started shooting down as many galra fighters and facilities as I could. Next thing I know I was backed into a dead end. Being closed in on. Then the yellow lion jumped in front of me taking an incoming shot that would have taken me and blue down.

"Hunk! You're okay," I said turning on the coms.

Hunk went to say something but went silent instead.

"What do I have something on my face?" I ask confused about why he had gone pale.

Then I looked at my hands and they were darker than normal. I touched my face and felt my markings, I looked up at the mirror my uncle had put in long ago. When I made eye contact with Alvance, I quickly ducked out of the screen and fixed myself. That's when Allura came on the screen.

"Paladins I can't hold the wormhole much longer, please make your way back," Allura said staring at something off-screen.

Hunk and I made our way back in silence. Once we landed, I stopped him from heading back.

"Hey, Hunk can I talk to you about what you saw?" I said stepping in front of him.

"Yeah… What was that? You looked…well like Allura," He said.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone…Hunk? Allura is my twin sister.” I paused studying his reaction. “Hunk please I am begging you… Please don’t tell her I'm here? She doesn't need me right now, not in my state. I'll tell you the full story a little later, but right now let's focus on the task at hand," He nodded.

"Wait, one question why were you not going to tell anyone?" He asked while we walked down the hall.

"Because my sister lost everything and everyone we ever loved, but I lost all of that two years ago. I built a life on earth and every time I think of home or Shia a piece of me brakes. Hunk, I can’t lose myself now that Lance is a paladin. So I just need to stay Lance..." I said with tears stinging my eyes.

"I'm sorry Lance," Hunk said pulling me into a tight hug.

"Thanks, buddy," I said hugging him back.

I put a fake smile back on my face and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Let's join the others alright. And Hunk thank you," I said grabbing the necklace through my shirt and he nodded his head.

We walked into the control room groaning in pain.

"You made it," My sister said with a smile and a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, just barely... That was a nightmare," I said looking at Hunk.

"Yeah. We had a tough time, too," Pidge said with a smug smirk.

"Did we find the red lion yet?" Shiro said talking to Coran and Allura.

"Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion is nearby. The bad news is, it's on-board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!" Coran said proudly.

"They're here already!?" Shiro said as I started to panic.

"Yes. I guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting... It's more of an art than a science. hmm?" Coran said and then the screen started to flicker.

"Princess Allura and Prince Alvance, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet," As the video cut out and I turned to look at the others at the mention of my name Allura and Coran had looks of sorrow, and Shiro. Shiro puzzled me the most he had a look of…shock.

"Alright, let's not panic," Shiro interjected.

"Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four lions," Hunk said his voice a little shaky.

"Technically, only three working lions," Pidge said matter of factly.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working lions and a castle that's, like,10000 years old.," Hunk said looking a little angry.

"Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather--" Coran started.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk said putting his finger on Coran's mouth.

"Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate," Allura piped in.

"Shiro, you've already activated my par--" I said unintentionally.

"Lance!" Shiro yelled a little red-faced, and everyone turned to look at me.

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last," Coran said pulling up the schematics for the galran battlecruiser.

"Panic now?" Hunk said quickly looking over to Shiro.

"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action and figure it out quickly," Shiro interjected keeping a level head.

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day," Pidge said.

"I second that. We tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Pidge, that you were talking about," Hunk said teaming up with Pidge.

"We can't just abandon Arus!" Keith and I said at the same time.

"If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth." Pidge reminded us.

"Okay. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we--" He hissed and form a snake with his arms, "out of here."

"Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option," Keith said staring down at Pidge.

"Here's an option: shut your quiznak," Pidge sneered.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith said annoyed.

"What do you know, Mullet?" Pidge said.

"Like your hair is any better than mine!" Keith yelled.

"-We're staying!" He yelled even louder.

"-Leaving!" Pidge yelled.

"-Snake!" Hunk yelled in the mitts of the arguing.

"Guys, stop! Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?" Shiro said separating them

"I...I don't know," Allura’s voice shook with uncertainty.

"Perhaps your father can help?" Coran said causing Allura and me to freeze.

Chapter Text

(Alvance's P.O.V)

Allura was whisked away by Coran, as the rest of us were left on the main deck. The others turned to each other to talk. Shiro was talking to Kieth and Hunk was talking with Pidge, while I stood back thinking to myself. That was when Shiro walked over to me.

"Hey, Lance you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, why?" I said, not wanting to look at his face.

"You have been looking down ever since we left earth, and I just want you to know you can come to talk to me," He said putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks, Shiro but I'm alright, I'm just stressed like we all are," I said taking his hand off my shoulder.

That was when Allura came back in, her flight gear on.

"You five paladins were brought here for a reason. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my father's error. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope," She said leading us out of the main deck, and into the armoury.

"We're with you, Princess," Shiro said determinedly.

"Your suits of armour," She motioned to the paladin's armour in their respective casing.

We all walked over to our armour. I stepped up to the glass remembering the last moments I had with my Uncle. Now I was meant to replace him? How can I live with myself, I killed him, it's my fault he's gone. I snapped back to the present to see everyone staring at me except Allura and Coran who... were whispering to themselves.

"Lance, you alright?" Shiro asked holding the black paladin armour in his arms.

"Yeah, why," I said grabbing my armour.

"Because you're crying," PIdge pointed out.

I touched my face to find my cheeks are indeed wet. When did I start crying?

"Yeah sorry," I wiped my face. " I was just thinking of my Uncle. When I was six we got into an accident, my uncle died and I got some nasty scars. I don't like to show people. It makes them worry. So I'm going to go change in another room," I lied and quickly left the room, I turned to say bye to see faces full of pity. I went into a vacant room and set on the floor looking at the armour.

"How am I supposed to do this!" I cried shoving my face into my knees.

I sat there for a good minute, tears pouring out my eyes. I must have been there for a lot longer than I thought because Hunk called for me.

"Lance, you alright?" He said knocking on the door.

I quickly put on the armour and hid my puffy eyes with my helmet.

"No, but you know that. You... You look good in that," I said drawing his attention away from me.

"Thanks, I didn't think it would fit at first, but more importantly come here," he said suddenly pulling me into a hug, even know we were both separated by the armour I could feel... His warmth, love and sincerity.

"Thanks, Hunk, but I don't want to cry so... Could you please let me go," I said reluctantly.

"Ah, Lance you're back?" Allura said worry written clearly on her face.

"Yeah sorry I got lost," I said scratching the back of my neck.

"The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron," She said opening the case.

"Whoo! Aw, you got a cute little bayard-" I teased Pidge

"-Yeah, it is pretty cute," They said after zapping me.

"Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin," Allura said and I rolled my eyes knowing full well that Zarkon probably still has it.

"I guess I'll just have to make do," He said making a fist.

Chapter Text

(Alvance’s P.O.V)

"You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship," Allura said as she pulled up the schematics for the cruiser.

"That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asked.

"It's not a matter of "We!" It's a matter of "You!" Pidge answered.

"Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down," Hunk interjected.

"You know how you felt that energy while we were in the desert?" I said keeping up with the others.

"Yeah. You made fun of me for that," Keith said clearly angry.

"And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that," I said keeping up my happy-go-lucky personality.

"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect," My sister said.

"Alright here's our plan of attack. The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green Lion. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up, while Keith and I will find the Red Lion and Pidge will be guarding our exit. While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon," Shiro took charge.

After listening to the plan we all got into the lions. Pidge left first and flew to the backside of the planet. After they were in position, we went to the atmosphere heading to the Galra ship.

"All right. Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We're surrendering our lions. Hope this works," I felt so uneasy.

"Pidge what's your ETA?" I asked starting to feel a pit in my stomach.

"We're in," Pidge affirmed.

"What's that thing?" Hunk almost yelled.

"I think that's our signal to get out of here!" I yelled and we scattered in opposite directions.

"Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!" I said going to distracting the fighters.

“10:4,” Hunk then repeatedly rammed into the particle-barrier(sorry Yellow).

“Come on! Whoa-ho-ho! Yeah, wow! This is way more fun without Hunk's barfing!” I yelled with joy.

”Kitty Rose has left the stage!“ Pidge said leaving the battlecruiser followed by Red.

”Finally! Let's get the heck out of here!” I turned Blue to the planet and followed after Pidge.

”I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it,” Hunk said smashing it one more time.

We flew back to the castle in silence. Once we landed all the Lions gathered in the corridor in front of the Black Lion’s chamber. Green lowered herself down and let Shiro out.

The lions all cheered for their brother. However for me and probably Allura, seeing the black lion again was painful, but we needed him to fight. Then the castle’s alarm went off. We all hurried outside just in time to see the Galra ion Canon fire.

“Those Galra repair things fast!” Hunk said thoroughly exasperated.

“I can cover you with the castle defences for a while but you have to form Voltron now, or we will all be destroyed,” Allura looked week. This battle was taking a toll on her. She has yet to grieve over the loss of our father and people.

“Geez, no pressure,” Hunk said nervously, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Another hit to the castle.

“Listen up team Voltron the only way to succeed is to give it all you got, this looks bad but we can do this are you with me?“ Shiro took charge.

“I’m nodding is everybody else nodding,” Hunk said.

“Yes!” We all said in unison.

“Let’s do this!” Keith said running out of the particle barrier’s protection.

“Uh…how?” I said, following after him along with everyone else.

“Great question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?” Shiro said as we dodged from the oncoming assault of the fighters released from the Galra ship.

“I don’t see a combined into a giant robot button anywhere on my dashboard,” Hunk said taking out two of the fighters, by landing on top of them.

“This is insane! Can’t they just ceasefire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?” Pidge said turning their lion around and fired back at the fights that were following them.

“We’ve got to do something,” Keith said stopping his lion for one second, out of the corner of my eye all I see is Yellow charging full speed at Red.

“Combine!” Hunk yelled as Yellow collided with Red.

“Hey!” Keith yelled back stabilising his lion.

“Okay that didn’t work,” Hunk said also stabilising Yellow from the impact.

“Quickly, paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!” Allura said as another shot hit the castle.

“Maybe if we fly in formation, we’ll just combine. Take off on my cue. One. Two. Three. Voltron!” Shiro said and we all steered our lions into formation and headed for a cliff

“Here we go!” Keith said as we took off.

“Come on, come on!” I said struggling.

“Nothing is happening,“ Shiro said.

“Hey I feel something it’s like we’re all being pulled in the same direction” Hunk said a little confidently.

“Guys I think I know why look up,” Shiro pointed out The Galra cruiser.

“What the cheese!” I said exasperated.

“Sendak’s ship is sucking us in like a black hole!” Pidge commented.

One more shot of the ionic cannon hit the castle's barrier, the barrier shorted leaving the castle defenceless.

“Oh no!” I knew…if I died that would be okay, I'm easy to replace but the others they…are more important.

“I don’t care what you say, Shiro. I’m panicking now!” Hunk started to well to say the less panic.

“It can’t end here!” Pidge remarked.

“This is it!” I escaped death once and Shia is not here to protect me, I won’t be able to escape it again.

“It’s been an honour flying with you boys,” Keith added.

“No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!” Shiro’s voice was shaky but strong-willed, he reminded me so much of Shia.

“Yeah!” The others cried out.

A blinding light surrounded all of us, then we were Voltron.

“I can't believe it!” I said astonished at our peer-dumb-luck.

“We formed Voltron!” Pidge said excitedly

“I'm a leg!” Hunk followed their lead

“How are we doing this?” Keith retorted.

“I don't know, but let's get that cannon!” Shiro said we focused ourselves back on the task at hand.

We moved And ripped the cannon right off the barrel, we tossed it and sent it crashing to the earth. Voltron punched into the cruiser releasing a beam, making the front half of the ship explode. We made our way into the cruiser and released another beam towards the hull. Voltron then lept from the exploding mass. Landing in front of the castle, where Voltron disbanded and each of the Lions flew down to the entry point of the castle. The lions let out their respective paladin.

“Great work paladins,” Allura greeted.

“Thank you,” I said removing my helmet.

“We did it,” Shiro said slapping Keith’s back, who was bending over due to exhaustion.

“Heck yeah we did,” Keith said also removing his helmet.

“How did we do it?” Shiro asked looking at us.

“I was just like screaming the whole time maybe that did it?” Hunk said forcibly pulling off his helmet.

“We’re not gonna stop searching, until we find your family. And where ever they are…I know they’d be proud of you,” Shiro said in a low tone, leaning closer to Pidge.

“We won the battle but the war has only just begun. I’m afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions,” Allura urged us.

“Good thing you paladins know what you’re doing because you’re going to have to form Voltron again and again,” Coran retorted.

“Totally. Wait what!?” Hunk exclaimed, “We barely survive forming Voltron this one time?” He followed up.

“Oh and you only had to fight one ship wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them it’s not going to be easy being the defenders of the universe,” Coran exaggerated.

“Defenders of the universe, huh? That’s got a nice ring to it,” Shiro said looking to the lions.

Chapter Text

Alvance's POV

We docked the lions, and Allura showed us to our rooms. However as I laid down in the small bed I couldn't stop myself from spiralling. Everything here reminded me of Shia. I couldn't focus, maintaining Lance was the last thing on my mind. I reverted my form. The clothes I was wearing were form fitted to me originally. But became quite uncomfortable as soon as I reverted. I don’t know how much time passed, but after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I immediately changed back. I put on my paladin armour and left the room. While roaming the halls I wandered back to my old bedroom. I stopped at the door when I heard weeping. I turned to walk away, however before I could get to far, the door slid open revealing Coran.

“Oh! Lance...my boy you startled me, what are you doing here in the dead of night?” He asked a little choked up.

“Oh you know just getting some excess energy out,” An awkward silence hung in the air.

“You okay? I heard...crying,” I said placing my hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine my boy just...Allura was not my only god-child,” He said crying into my shoulder.

“I am so sorry Coran.” I swallowed down the guilt, and hugged the older man for a minute.

“Oh, my boy.” He took himself off of me and straighten up. “I need my sleep and so do you. So go back to your quarters. You all have a long day tomorrow.” He patted me and turned around on his heel and started walking towards his bedroom.

I didn’t heed the man’s advise and continue to my father’s room. I hesitated for a second as unpleasant memories flashed before me. I opened the door and making a beeline for Father's end table. Where I knew he had a picture of all of us together in the garden.

Shia was being dragged everywhere by Allura and me, but in this photo, Allura stopped to pick flowers and I was still dragging Shia, who was laughing because I couldn’t catch the feas (butterfly-like creatures but much bigger). My father sat down on the fountain to help Allura pick the Juniberries. And that’s how the picture was taken. A happy little memory sitting all alone. I grabbed the projector disc and put it in my pocket and quickly ran out of the room.

Heading down the hall I made it to the training room, where I stopped and went inside. Picking up one of the staffs I called for one of the Gladiators to come down and spar with me, tell someone hit my staff.

"My Prince? Why were you not in your bed?" Shia said, staff mere inches from my face.

"Shia I told you to call me Alvance!" I huffed, jabbing at him with my staff.

"Okay, what's the matter, Prince Alvance? Is this about what happened at the banquet?" He said solemnly, a bandage wrapped around his face.

"Yes! This is all my fault! I'm so sorry Shia! Yo-you protected me from that-that arrow and now you're hurt be-because of me." I sobbed into his chest.

"Your high-Alvance this isn't your fault. It's my job to protect you. Come on, my prince stop crying and let's go back to bed." He said softly and hugged me tightly.

WHACK!!! The Gladiator landed a hard blow straight to my side making me drop to the floor.

"'Cough' St-stop the simulation 'cough, cough'" I wheezed.

"Wow! Lance are you alright? Where did you learn to fight like that? That looks like that hurts, you okay?" Shiro said from the door then rushed over to me when I tried to stand.

"This 'cough' this is nothing, and I took martial arts classes back home ever since I was a kid," I said getting up off the floor and wiping away my embarrassment.

"Anyways, what are you doing up so early?" I asked.

"Couldn't sleep, you?" He looked away sheepishly.

"Pretty much for the same reason," I said as the room got more awkward.

"Do you want to get some breakfast?" He asked heading to the door.

"Yeah sure, but let me take a shower first. I stink of sweat. Unless you want to join me," I winked at him with a smirk on my face.

"No thanks," He stopped flushed and squeaked.

I exited the room with Shiro and we went our separate ways, the smile on my face disappeared. After my shower, I passed the bridge and saw Allura and Coran fixing it up. Allura said something about testing the new ‘Paladins’, I didn’t care to much and headed to the dining hall. I saw Shiro sitting at the table with two plates and fiddling with his arm.

"You're cute!" He reminded me of Shia messing with his weapon at the table. But I guess I must have startled him, because he almost jumped out of his chair.

"What?" He squawked indignantly

"Nothing, thank you for getting me food," I said and sat on the opposite side of him.

"Hey, Lance?” He looked down cast. “I am sorry for taking you from Earth. It's my fault we're stuck here like this." He poked at his food.

"Hey man, we all chose to go through that wormhole. So none of this is your fault. Plus I was the only one who could drive the Blue lion, so technically it's my fault you're here," I said bluntly and shoved the rest of the food goo into my mouth.

"Also just a warning Allura's going to make us run some drills, I overheard her this morning." Then not even five ticks later the alarms went off.

'Everybody up Zarkon's attacking!' She yelled through the intercoms. Luckily Shiro and I were already in our armour. 'Always with the dramatics' I thought to myself. 'The castle is about to be destroyed! We need Voltron now!' Then Coran took over and I face-palmed as he yelled about my sisters head getting chopped off, and we entered the room to see Coran on the floor.

"Coran that‘s enough. You guys took way too long to get here. And only Shiro and Lance are in uniform. Hunk, Kieth, Pidge where are your bayards? Coran and I have been up for hours getting the castle ready, so we had to test the alarms and decided to test you with them, guess who failed?" At that point, I pretty much zoned out for the rest of the day, until the air drill, everybody else hit the ground, but Shiro and I made it out okay. Then Coran gave us the mind-meld helmets, and I snapped.

"KIETH STOP!" I threw the helmet and stormed out of the room.

"I'll go get him," I heard Hunk say before the door closed.

I slumped against the wall and cried.

"Hey, Lance you alright?" He sat next to me.

"Keith tried to get to that memory of when 'my fiance' died. I can still feel him dying in my arms. Hunk, him pulling at that memory felt like reliving it." I said pulling the betrothal necklace out from under the suit to calm myself down.

"Your fiance?" He asked.

"Yeah, the love of my life Shia." I said with a hiccup.

“How old are you, I mean you look 17 but you were getting married?” He asked

“Um, I think I’m 21 in your earth years. Allura and I were just turning 19 when the attack happened.” I said sadly

"It is a beautiful necklace." He said getting up and extending a hand out to me.

"Thanks, I cried when Shia gave it to me. I can't even look at the portrait of him without crying, it's so hard to even recall the memory. Hunk it hurts, I miss him so much." I cried as I took his hand, and put the necklace away.

"I'm here for you Lance, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. But it's always nice to have someone to talk to, so I'm here for you. Come on let's get back," Hunk said and I put my helmet on as we walked back in, to hide my puffy eyes.

"Hey, Lance I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you?" Kieth ran up to me and bowed his head.

Chapter Text

(Alvance's POV)

"It's time you faced The Gladiator!" She said after yelling at us that we were being lazy.

The second The Gladiator landed, Hunk opened fired, and he shot Keith by accident. Then the robot threw Hunk to the ground and tased him with the end of the staff. Pidge then charged in half-heartily, swinging. It easily dodged them and threw them into Hunk. I ran in, giving Hunk and Pidge time to recover. The Gladiator turned its attention to me. Deflecting my shots, I contemplated turning my weapon into my usual sword, but decided against it. I figured since Allura was watching, she would recognise my fighting style and blocked with my gun. Poor choice since The Gladiator disarmed me, I moved to hand-to-hand. It moved away from me, seeing as how he couldn’t knock me down. The Gladiator went to attack Shiro when Keith blocked it. I knew that look in Shiro’s eyes. I ran over and powered the gladiator off, then ran to Shiro.

“Hey, you’re safe. We got you,” I said calmly and rubbed small circles into his back as I helped him up.

My sister came storming into the room, yelling again. We then left the training hall and headed to the dining room for lunch, where we were chained together. Morale was getting lower by the second. 

“She’s no princess of ours,” Pidge snapped, and I stifled a laugh. 

After the food fiasco, we formed Voltron with relative ease. We had disbanded and docked our Lions. Everyone started relaxing in the lounge. Hunk was babbling about something; however, I was paying more attention to my own thoughts. It took me a year to function as a person on Earth, and now that I am back in this Gods forsaken castle, it was like opening wounds that never finished healing.

"Lance? You there, my guy?" Hunk said, waving a hand in my face.

"Yeah, what's up?" I said a little, startled.

"Everyone is calling it a day. You should get some rest. We all need it." Shiro's voice carried across the room.

Everyone soon left the lounge and headed to their rooms, that is, except for me. Sleep has been virtually impossible. So I went back to my- Alvance’s old room. Looking around, I made sure no one saw me as I entered. It was like a time capsule; everything was right where it had been left. The bedsheets were still in disarray, like someone had just woken up from them. Clothes on the floor, his spare armour hanging in the closet with a bunch of our other clothing. His cologne bottles are on the side table. The only thing missing was him. I dug through the bedside drawer for Alvance’s video journals. I grabbed as many as I could and left the room, knowing that if I were in there much longer... I made it back to my paladin quarters, where I sat down on the bed and started the first video. Halfway through, his voice had put me to sleep. When I woke up again, I looked at the clock only to see that I had slept for less than five hours.I had found it a sufficient amount of sleep and got up out of bed. Waking up in my Altean form has been a common occurrence since I got back to the castle. I sighed a heavy sigh, letting my power to change forms rest before reverting. I headed to the training hall to blow off some steam, but stopped and turned the other direction when I spotted Keith training. I figured bonding with Blue would pass the time. Putting on my paladin uniform, I continue to the hangar. 

‘Paladin!’ Blue’s voice flowed through my mind. 

“Hey, beautiful Blue,” I said out loud. 

‘Oh, Paladin, when be yourself again?’ She asked

“Now isn’t a good time, you know that,” I said, climbing onto Blue.

‘Have not sleeping well? Paladin, should rest,’ She nagged like an overprotective aunt.

A couple of hours passed, Blue and I chatting, when a call from the black lion popped up on her interface.

“Hey, Lance, you're here early? What’s up?” Shiro said, sitting in his pilot chair. 

“Oh, I was just...meditating, is training about to start?” I asked, looking away from the screen. 

“Yeah, I just need to call the team.” Soon after, all the Lions were together in front of the castle. 

After several hours of training, we docked and headed for the dining hall. Pidge split off from us, looking distracted.

“Great job today, guys!” Shiro said loudly.

Everyone started to sit when Coran walked in holding a tray of something, but as soon as he said Paladin Lunch I bolted and headed to take a shower. I passed by the healing pods and saw Pidge. I doubled back and knocked on the doorway.

“Hey, Pidge, you okay, buddy?” I ducked through the door.

“Lance, yeah, I’m alright,” They looked up from their computer. 

“I know you miss your family, but you need to sleep, too. Please make sure you get some more soon, okay? And get something to eat as well,” I said and waited for a nod of confirmation before heading out again. 

“Hey, Lance?” Shiro said as we physically bumped into each other. 

“Sorry, I was just checking on Pidge and making sure they were doing okay. I should have watched where I was going. Got to go. I’m going to take a shower... uh, bye!” I said, awkwardly shuffling past him. 

Then, almost as fate would have it, for me to have no peace, the alarms of the castle started to go off. I ran outside the castle doors and saw my sister leaning over a bush, talking to it. I walked over to the group.

"Coran, what's going on?" I said, leaning into his ear.

"A native of the planet came to investigate," He answered.

"Nobody takes Klaizap's weapon!" They said, pointing the said weapon at Keith.

Klaizap then explained that his tribe has come to think the lion goddess is angry with them, and how they're scared of Voltron. Which was understandable, seeing as it was a giant space robot. Then we followed them back to their people, where they held "The Dance of Apology." Allura and I looked at each other in confusion, then the dance started. A single Arusian came running up and started to dance.

"Please, there's no need for this," Allura said, following the dancer with her eyes.

"Moontow, halt!" The leader said, and Moontow stopped on one leg, which was quite impressive.

"The goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire. We must throw ourselves in!" The leader commanded, and an Arusian with a torch lit the bonfire.

"NO! No sacrifices!" She screamed, and I laughed a little.

To prevent any sacrifices, they continued with the dance. We then cleared up the misconception of the Lion Goddess and Voltron. We then got a signal from Pidge and Shiro that they were taking the Black and Green lion to the Galra wreckage to see if they could extract any information. After about an hour and a half, I got bored and wandered off.

'Paladin! Something bad headed here, feels wrong,' Blue said, alarmed.

"Guys, get the Arusian somewhere safe, Blue said there is something wrong heading for us. I'm heading back to the castle to get the Lions. Pidge and Shiro get somewhere safe," I said in the coms halfway back to the castle.

'Blue, can you come to get me, or are the hangar doors locked?' I asked.

'No, not locked.' A blue streak came from the castle and came barreling towards me.

I used my jets to boost myself into the air, where Blue caught me in her mouth, and I walked to the pilot's seat, taking control of Blue, where I saw a metal box land where Pidge and Shiro were.

"Shiro! Pidge!" I screamed.

"We're okay, the Lions protected us," Shiro said, and I sighed in relief.

"Okay, I'll lay down cover fire while you guys get to your Lions so we can regroup," I said, flying Blue to the box that had just landed.

The walls of the box fell, revealing a humanoid figure the size of Voltron. With one hand, the other arm raised and started to form an energy ball. I aimed at it and unleashed a barrage of bullets, buying Pidge and Shiro enough time to get into their Lions before being hit out of the sky. Pidge tried to take it on, only to get knocked down as well. Shiro hopped onto its back and got thrown. I joined Red and Keith, firing at it when Yellow and Hunk came charging in.

"Battle Lion Head-butt!" He hit the back of it, making it fall to the ground.

A long and gruelling fight ensued; we dodged and weaved; however, the monster was still kicking our ass, and we couldn't figure out why. Soon enough, we found the sword and shield of Voltron, and with Shiro's recovered memories, we managed to beat it with mild injuries. Before I could go and pass out on my bed, we had to send the Gala prisoners back home.

"We gave the universe hope, huh?" I muttered to myself.

'Not satisfied, my paladin, you did well for your first,' Blue said.

"Yeah, I guess we didn't die. But I just want to hear Shia's voice so I can go to sleep, Goodnight Blue!" I said as I approached my door.

'Goodnight, my paladin,' She said softly.

I flopped onto the bed, and the video journal pod bounced and started to play.

"Hey, Shia, tell me one of your Earth stories again," My voice, sickly happy, rang in my ears.

"Anything for you, my Prince. There once was a yokai named Wani-" The story continued on, I released my disguise when there was a knock at my door.

"Hey, Lance, can we talk?" Pidge said from the other side of the locked door.

"Let me get dressed!" I paused the story and ran around. I saw an old plate of food-goo next to the mirror and shoved it on my face to hide my markings. I put on a shower cap to hide my hair, along with my robe to hide my height.

"Yeah, what's up, Pigeon?" I asked as I opened the door.

"What's on your face?" They asked going to touch it, but I swotted their hand away.

"My beauty routine," I said and motioned for us to sit in the hall.

"Anyway, what I wanted to ask was, do you by chance, not like Shiro?" Pidge looked incredulously at me.

"What would make you think that?" I started to fidget.

"Well, he asked me... So I think he has the wrong idea. On another note, how did you know about my family being on the Kerberos mission?" They curled in on themselves.

"Oh, well, I needed fresh air one night and snuck out to the roof. Where I saw and overheard you talking to yourself about it. So...yeah." I explained sheepishly.

"Oh.. well, that is embarrassing. Anyway, goodnight, Lance..." They said getting up.

"Goodnight, Pidge, don't stay up all night working on that computer!" I yelled at them as they walked down the hall.

I washed my face, took off the shower cap, robe, and continued the story and finally fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Alvance's POV

"Your highness, how did you sleep?" Shia said and started to walk beside me.

"Just fine, I hope you weren't guarding me all night, again," I said, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Don't worry, I got the right amount of sleep, I promise,” He said and smiled so brightly I was sure I would go blind if I looked at it directly.

“Alright, that’s good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my classes are about to start. Wait here, or go and do whatever you want,” I said, maybe a little too harshly as I went into the library.

I sighed and locked the door. I crawled into the vents. It took me 20 minutes to make my way to my sister’s room.

“Lura,” I said, popping her vent open.

“What is it, Vance? It’s been a while since you crawled out of my vents. What has you upset this time?” she said in a sarcastic tone.

“First off, rude sister, and second, why do I have to be so in love with him?” I flopped on her bed dramatically.

“I don’t know how to help you, brother. Just tell him how you feel. You know, as Coran says, “bite the laser,” or something like that. By the way, Shia is looking for you. You’re late for Sword practice,” She said, closing her book and stepping away from her vanity, pushing me to the vent.

“Go on, go before I get in trouble for you,” I hopped in and closed the vent.

But before I was able to start making my way back to the library, I heard a knock at Allura’s door.

“Sorry for the intrusion, Princess Allura. As you can see, Prince Alvance dismissed me again and is now missing. Have you seen him?” Shia’s voice sang in my ear.

“No, I have not, Sir Shia. Are you alright? You look disheartened?” She said, and her voice came closer to the vent.

“I’m fine, however, I don’t think the Prince wants me next to him. I’m convinced he hates me, Princess,” He sighed.

“I doubt that he hates you, and if I know my twin, which I do. If you ask him, he'll be honest with you. You said he's missing, I bet he just fell asleep in the library," She said, taking a drink of something.
"I looked in there," He said calmly.

"There is this ledge that we found when we were younger. The only way to get to it is to climb. It's three bookcases to the left of the window, and the second bookcase on that wall. Then you just look up. The ledge is big enough to hold five people. Now go on, I'm trying to memorise the ship's manual," She said, and I scampered back to the library.

"And Shia, people are hard to read sometimes. We are only 13. Give him time-" She was saying, but I had left earshot.

I made it back to the library. Grabbing a couple of books, making it onto the ledge, and reading them before Shia entered the room. I looked at one of the book's title. 'The Accounts Of Voltron Throughout The Universe.' I flipped it over to read the summary on the back. 'With eyewitness accounts and a personal interview with four of the paladins, this book will not disappoint; A brief history of each lion and pilot followed by the interviews. We go into detail about the Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green paladins. The Black Lion's paladin sadly refused to give his story. Maybe in my next book.' I sighed and put the book down. I looked over to see Shia next to me.

"GAH! Shia, when did you get here?!" I was startled.

"Just a few seconds ago, Your Highness. Um, Your Highness, if I may be so bold, can I ask you something?" He stammered out, acting all cute.

"Shia, can we drop the formalities, please. You are free to speak your mind and air any grievances when you have them. Just call me Alvance like a friend," I said, looking at the ceiling.

"Your Highness, I could never!" He shouted.

"Then Prince Alvance in front of others, and Alvance when it's just you and me. That’s an order, no more of the 'Your Highness' drivel," I said, a little sad.

“Yes, your high- Alvance... Is there by chance that you don’t like being around me?” He shyly scratches the back of his neck.

“Are you asking if I dislike you? Of course, I like you, Shia. We’ve been around each other so long, there’s no way I wouldn’t like you. You just make it hard to be around you when you do nothing but call me by my formal title in a casual conversation. I want us to be friends,” (maybe a little more than friends.) I muttered to myself.

“I’m sorry, Alvance. I want us to be friends as well. How can I make it up to you?” He grabbed my hand.

"Well... you can escort me to my birthday banquet,” I said, shying away.

“You don't have to if you don't want to," I waited for his answer.
_________________
"Hey, Lance, you've got to wake up, we are hosting the Arusians tonight!" Hunk yelled from the other side of the door, waking me abruptly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up," I said, getting up from the bed and going to wash my face.

Looking into the mirror, I made sure to change from my Altean form to the human one. I got dressed and walked out of the room.

"Hey, you okay, Lance? You have that look like you know something is about to happen. Like how Iverson would give us a pop quiz out of nowhere," He walked with me to the dining hall.

"I don't know, but maybe I'm just being paranoid?" I brushed it off and sat down at the table.

Hunk is really good at cooking, like better than the chefs back on Altea. Humans value their food as much as Alteaen’s value knowledge. After eating, I felt a little better.

“Thank you, Hunk!” I said to him and went to wash my dishes.

Then I remembered my father's memories are in the Castle, I can go talk to him... or maybe not, he could tell Allura I'm here. I don't want to distract her from the mission. It's best to stay away, plus I came to terms with the death of my family and people a long time ago. But for her, it was like they just died. After hours of moping about the Castle, Allura called us to the main deck.

"Alright, Paladins, go change into your armour, then go meet at the gate to welcome our guests," She said cheerfully.

"Princess, with respect, I think this is a terrible idea," Shiro stepped forward.

"I agree with Shiro. Not because I think the Arusians are going to harm anything. No, it's the Galra I'm worried about. There is no way all of them died when their ship went down. They had escape pods and are most likely on the planet," I said tactfully.

"You have a point, Lance, but I think that the Arusians deserve to see the Castle that their people worshipped like a god. But to ease your worries, I'll activate the perimeter scanners and set it for Galra. Within 16ft(5 meters) of the Castle, any and Galra will be detected. Does that help ease your worry at all?" She asked Shiro and me.

"That could help, but I would still like to perform perimeter checks. If that's alright, Princess?" Shiro reminded me of Shia at this moment; he did the same thing on our 14th birthday.

"Lance, since you were also concerned, would you like to join me... in checking the perimeter?" He said stiffly.

"Sorry, Shiro, I trust this hunk of junk," I patted the Castle's walls.

"Alright, just keep your guard up," He put his hand on my shoulder and leaned into my ear.

Hours passed as the Arusians played about in the hall. A service drone hovered by with drinks. I grabbed three and made my way to Keith and Hunk, who were chatting in the corner.

"Hey, guys! Drinks?" I asked them and handed them a drink when they nodded.

With one sniff, I knew what it was. As soon as it touched my tongue, I regretted it. Expired Junibarry Wine, or as the elders dubbed it, 'Nunvill'. I immediately turned around and snatched the cups from Kieth's and Hunk's hands.

"Hey!" They squawked.

"Don't drink that, it is so gross! Coran, what is this?" I yell, trying to scrub my tongue clean of the nasty taste.

"Nunvill! It's the nectar of the gods; it also makes a lovely hair tonic," He splashed some into his hair.

"Well, I don't think it's suited for the human stomach?" I shoved the cup in his face and walked away as soon as he took it.

I got tired of socialising and went to the Star-Map to be alone. I was looking at the place Altea used to be. The Nunvill brought back memories of my 15th birthday party, where I tricked Shia into drinking it. His face was priceless, but the next day he had a fever. I felt so bad that I took care of him all week. He kept on saying how a little fever couldn't stop him. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone coming. I turned off the Star-Map and sat on the stairs.

"Mind if I join you?" Coran said, hopping down to my level.

"How far away from Earth do you think we are, Coran?" Earth is the only other place I can call home. The McClain's invited me to live with them. They are such nice people. They took me in, even knowing that I'm not Human.

"Let's take a look?" Coran activated the Star-Map and began scrolling.

Maybe I'm just not meant to have a home. Whenever I have a sliver of hope, it's snatched away from me. Much like right now. Coran had cheered me up a bit, and we were walking out of the main deck when Rover flew in.

"Hey, Rover," I waved as the drone flew by.

"Wait. Where's Pidge?" I turned around to see it start flashing.

"CORAN! LOOK OUT!" I did exactly as Shia did for me all those years ago, and I shielded Coran from the blast.

“Shi-,” I woke to see a familiar figure holding me.

“Lance!” Was it Shiro holding me?

How long was I out? Did I revert? I Have TO STAY AWAKE

Chapter Text

Shiro propped me up and held on to me. I could feel everything and it hurt. It all hurt so much. It was hard to keep my eyes open. I heard something about the Arusian’s village being attacked and Allura and Keith ran off to help. Coran and Hunk went to a balmera nearby to replace the broken crystal. Pidge was helping them load up. Shiro picked me up and laid me down, I could feel a piece of my armour was missing as my bare back made contact with the cold metal. I hissed in pain.

“Alright, Lance you stay here I’ll be right back,” He said in a worried hushed tone.

“Where else could I go…I needed you to carry me here?” I said jokingly.

His worried look said it all. All of this had been planned to the letter. They needed to separate us so they picked a fight with the village because they knew we wouldn’t ignore it. And while our defences were down they blew up the crystal, that way they can just walk right in. All of this was confirmed when Shiro was sent flying. The fighting passed me and I sat up to see Shiro had the Galra commander by the throat. The Commander’s right hand saw me and saw how much pain I was in. He grabbed me and used my life to make Shiro surrender. They dragged us to the Control Deck where they tied Shiro’s hands. They placed a new crystal on the base and plugged it in.

“Make contact with Emperor Zarkon,” The Commander ordered. After a while, a booming voice came from the call.

“Sendak!” Zarkon spoke.

“My mission is complete! I’ve captured the Altean Castle, along with all of the Voltron lions. I am currently preparing for launch and will be delivering them all to you shortly," Sendak boasted.

"This news is most pleasing. You have done your duty. Vrepit Sa!" Zarkon ended the call.

"Vrepit Sa!" Sandek echoed.

"Haxus, ready the Castle for takeoff," He said probably to another Galran.

I started to blackout again and some time passed before I regained consciousness.

"Whoever's in this ship FOUND AND TERMINATED!" Someone yelled.

I tried to move or open my eyes to no avail. The weight of the pain kept me still. More yelling rang in my ears. I couldn't make out the words being said or much of my surroundings. All I know is that I'm in the control room and Shiro is beside me.

"There's not much time- running again- so we can get in," My sister, who was she talking to?

"You got it. tell me what to do," Pidge said as the ringing cleared from my ears.

As my sister gave Pidge directions to shut down the particle barrier Sendek and Haxus listened in.

"Find that room. Kill the Paladin!" Sendek commanded.

I was shoved into the dark once more, hoping Pidge can stand their own, and that they will be okay when I woke again. When I was able to open my eyes for the first time in a while I heard a skirmish.

"Stand back," Sendek said holding Pidge hostage.

With the last bit of strength that I had regained, I raised my bayard and shot at Sendek, causing him to release Pidge. I blinked and Kieth was right beside me offering a hand.

"Lance are you okay?" Kieth asked

"We are a good team," I said taking his hand, Kieth helped me up and guided me to a bench.

"Don't worry Lance we are going to get you fixed up," He reassured me.

"I have been through a lot worse so I'm alright," I said jokingly.

"Lance there is a hole in your armour and your back is burned-" Kieth paused, "Lance what is this? I think a piece of the old crystal is in bedded in your skin," He pressed a finger to the base of my spine.

"Ah! That- that’s my…. Ah Tattoo,” I jerked his hand away.

“We are back is everyone safe?” Hunk yelled from down the corridor.

“We got the crystal!” Coran said having one of the robots set it in place.

“Alright my boy let’s get you to a pod,” Coran reached his hand out.

“Here Lance let me help you,” Hunk gave me a knowing look.

“Thanks, Hunk,” I accepted his help.

Hunk carried me to the changing room and sat me down, he very carefully pulled the armour away from my skin. The black protective suit was the hardest to get off. The zipper of the suit was still intact at the neck. Hunk almost had to cut it off of me.

“Ouch!” I hissed.

“Sorry but it's off now and WHAT ARE THOSE!” Hunk pointed.

“Oh, these are… well since you already know who I am,” a heavy sigh fell from me.

“These are the birthmarks of the Royal Family twins, Alvance and Allura. We have five of them. My mother use to call them the ‘marks of Voltron’ and how ‘Voltron blessed our family'. Now, look where that “blessing” got us,” I heard a soft gasp by the door and saw a flash of green running away.

“Pidge! They heard us, Hunk hand me the suit,” I got dressed and Hunk helped me to the pod.

“Hunk, before I go in tell them not to say anything. Please,” I said quietly begging.

“Don’t worry Lance we got you, I got you,” He reassured me.

We walked out of the room and I walked to the pod.

“Rest up my boy!” Coran said and closed the hatch on me.
__________

“Yes Prince, I’ll happily escort you to your and the princess's birthday banquet,” Shia bowed.

“I can never win with you can I?” I huffed.

"Now let's get to your lesson," I was late for my lesson. My teacher was not pleased that I was so late and made me train with the gladiator for hours as punishment. A couple of weeks passed and the banquet was a day away when a commotion stirred in the castle. I was leaving my room when Shia pushed me back in and covered my mouth.

"Forgive me, Prince. The King asked me to keep you within my eyesight, and not to let you leave this room," Shia was in full armour which was rare. Our Kingdom was safe with Voltron protecting us. What was happening?

"Shia? Why are you in full armour?" I asked, it was less of a question and more of an order for him to tell me.

"My Prince, I... Um, well you see. We believe that there is an assassin," He turned away from me, he couldn't look me in my eyes.

"Then you should go protect my sister? The Crown Princess!? You know the more important person? What are you doing here, go I'll meet you in her room," I said shoving him to the door.

"Prince!? You are just as important and you can't walk around the halls alone right now." I finished pushing him to the door.

“Who said I was using the hallways?” I said with a smirk and climbed into the vents.

“Your Highness! Please come back!” Shia’s shouts faded behind me.

I knew it would take Shia a minute to get to Allura’s room, so…I took a detour and decided to look for this “assassin” Shia and Father was so worried about. As I wondered the vent system I heard soft shouts and crying. I looked through one of the covers and saw blood…and so much of it…SO, so much. Dead maids and guards lying on the floor and standing over them a Galran. He was putting on one of the guard's uniforms. I held my breath and tried to turn away and go to Allura’s room. Thankfully he didn’t notice me and continued on his way.

Why would a Galran be here? We have a treaty with their homeworld. Not to mention that Zarkon is their king and pilots the black lion so…why?

I made it to Allura’s room to find her reading at her desk like nothing was wrong.

“Vance, what’s the matter this time?” She sounded exasperated.

“Lura~” My voice quivered as I spoke.

“Oh, gods! Alvance what happened? Are you okay? You look so pale,” Her chair fell over as she rushed to me.

Then the door slid open and I jumped. I pulled Allura behind me and grabbed her staff. Pointing it at the person coming in.

“Prince and Princess!?” Shia stopped centimetres away from the staff.

I lowered the weapon as soon as I realised it was him.

“Oh thank the gods you are safe!” I hugged him.

“What is happening? Does someone care to explain?” Allura said breaking us apart.

“Your Highness, your Father-“ I cut Shia off

“Allura there is an assassin in the castle. I saw them. They had killed some maids and guards, and now they’re disguising themselves as one of the guards. But we have many Galran guards how would we find them?” I spiralled.

“Alvance, are you saying you saw them?” Shia was grabbing me tightly.

I nodded my head. “That was reckless of you!” He yelled.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to help,” I said solemnly.

“Thank you prince, but please…don’t do anything that reckless when I’m not with you,” he pleaded.

“Now let’s go to the Kings and Queen's room to tell them the situation. That the prince saw,” Shia handed me his second blaster and picked up my sister.

“Alright, my prince you cover our backs while I get us to the King,” he said looking back at me. Gods he is so handsome and strong!

We made it to my father’s and mother’s room rather easily. Which made me uneasy. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. We went into mother and father’s room without knocking. This must’ve spooked my mother because we were knocked to our asses seconds after walking in.

“Oh! My children, I’m so sorry!” She scooped the three of us up.

“It’s quite all right Mother we spooked you,” Allura said wiggling out of our mother’s grasp.

Allura and Mother never really got along. She favoured Father a lot more, that was why she was Crown Princess. I on the other hand favoured Mother. She is the world to me, not that I don’t love Father.

“Queen Melenor, we have urgent news to discuss with you and the King!” Shia said composing himself.

“Alfor is in the memory chamber. Come let’s go talk to him there,” Mother said reluctantly letting me go and getting up.

“Alfor, dear our children have something urgent to discuss with us?” Mother said.

I explained everything in detail and everything I could remember about the Galran. The Castle went on lockdown and everyone was searched along with every room. They never found them. So my Father decided to proceed with the banquet tomorrow ‘because Voltron will protect us’. Going against my and my Mother’s wishes. We proceeded to our rooms where I began to pace anxiously.

“Prince Alvance, please calm yourself. I’ll be your escort so you don’t have to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Shia said grabbing my hand.

I tossed and turned all night. That feeling of unease never went away and as the second sun rose a maid came to wake me.

“There’s no need I’m awake, just go get Sir Shia for me,” I said sitting up.

“Yes your highness,” she set the breakfast tray down and left the room.

I took a deep breath and sighed “today’s the day I’m turning fourteen, and there is still an assassin in the castle somewhere. Happy birthday to me I guess?”

Chapter Text

Alvance's POV

I was eating when a knock came at the door.

“Your Highness, it’s Sir Shia. May I enter?” He asked while I finished my food.

“Yes, come in,” I set the tray to the side.

“Happy birthday, Your Highness,” He bowed, Shia was in his royal armour (the one only meant for ceremonies).

“You look as handsome as ever,” I said teasing him but still giving him a genuine compliment.

“Thank you, My Prince. Shall I help you get dressed?” Shia has been helping me get dressed now and then. Recently however he has been doing it a lot more.

Getting me ready takes hours. Hair, makeup, nails, putting on jewellery. All of this is what Mother taught me. She tried teaching ‘Lura as well. However, she did not enjoy any of it. While ‘Lura was taught by Father how to rule. Mother taught me about diplomacy. How to speak, read and write in many different languages, without the help of our translators. How to hold gatherings. How to spend any currency wisely. And many other things. Always saying she wanted me to have everything she couldn’t.

“My Prince, you look wonderful! Shall we go?” Shia offered me his hand to escort me to the banquet hall.

“Yes, everyone is probably waiting for us?” I took hold of his hand.

“One tick, Your Highness. This is for you. I know it’s not much but, I went to the market saw this and thought of you. Happy birthday Prince Alvance,” He handed me a little blue box with a yellow ribbon wrapped around it.

I took it from him and unwrapped it. Inside was a locket necklace decorated with the symbol of Voltron. I opened the locket expecting it to be empty only to find two hologram gems. One showed my family and the other was of me and Shia.

“Oh Shia, I love it! Thank you,” I took it out of the box and put it on.

We made our way to the party. Where we were greeted by the Queen and King.

“‘Vance you are finally here,” ‘Lura complained.

“My Children, come here,” Mother opened her arms and embraced us. Father even joined in.

“Happy 14th birthday my twins!” Father said warmly.

“Now entering, King Alfor and Queen Melenor, Crown Princess Allura and Prince Alvance!” The guards announce to the crowd.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ROYAL TWINS!” The crowd announce back.

“Thank you, my people. Another deca-phoeb has passed and my children continue to grow. I couldn’t be happier than I am now. May this peace continue for many years to come. Now everyone raise your glasses to the air and let us toast to another year of happiness. For the Princess and the Prince!” Father raised his glass.

“To the Princess and Prince!” The crowd followed Father’s lead.

After Father’s speech, we then had to start greeting everyone one by one.

“My children we have gifts for you!” Mother called to us.

We all headed to the gift table. Shia followed behind me. Allura was next to me and her bodyguard was next to Shia. Mother handed both of us a gift.

“Thank you, Mother,” ‘Lura and I said in unison.

Mother was nothing but fair when it came to gifts. She was raised in a non-noble house. She and Father met by chance and fell in love. There were a lot of outcries when Father married her. The Nobles didn’t like Mother at the time. Although thanks to her policies taxes are low and inter-galactic trading is at an all-time high. A Hologram recorder was a practical gift. I looked over at my sister and she looked at it unimpressed.

“My Children, I love you with all my heart,” She pulled us into a tight hug.

“We love you too Mother!” Sister and I said.

“Allura, Alvance! How are my favourite niece and nephew?” Uncle Blaytz said being accompanied by Uncle Gyrgan and Auntie Trigel.

“Uncles, Auntie! Welcome! No Uncle Zarkon or Auntie Honerva this year either,” Lura and I spoke when I suddenly felt a chill go down my spine.

The next moment I was pushed to the ground by someone. I looked up to see who only for blood to start dripping onto my face.

“Protect the King and Queen!” Someone shouted

“Shia?” My words felt so small. I looked at where I was standing only Tiks ago. Only for a blood-covered arrow to be where I was.

“Let’s get you somewhere safe Prince!” He talked a bit loudly. Blood continued to pour from the wound across his nose. But if that arrow was intended for me then what about my…

“Wait what about My Sister, my Mother, my Fath…” as I got up and reached my hand to my Mother another arrow grazed my fingertips. Piercing the Queen, I stared in horror. A pair of hands covered my eyes, but screams rang in my ears.

“The Queen has been hit!… the Queen is Down……” I was dragged away hands still on my eyes. The shouting faded and was muffled.

Chaos…is all I felt and heard.

“It is too chaotic. I can’t… mom…Mother, she’s!” As I was embraced I looked up to see Shia's face one last time.

“Alvance… Lan… Al…”

______________

I couldn’t open my eyes but I could hear people talking.

“-Healthy or not?"

"breathing weird?"

"Oh, come on!" A loud tap came with that one.

"Not yet! A few more ticks?" My sister said a little unsure.

"How much better do you think he's gonna get in a few more ticks?” Keith complained.

"And what exactly is a tick?" Pidge inquired.

"You know, a time slice," Allura said.

"What like a second?” Shiro sounded a little further away.

“What is a ‘second’?” She asked.

“Like this!” Pidge piped up.

“I’m not sure. I think tick's a bigger? Coran, do you have a ticker?” Allura asked.

“R… her…… prin…” He was too far away to hear.

Then I heard footsteps walking away. Why are they talking about this, they’re the same. After a year or deca-phoeb of being on earth, I came to tell as much. I always did hate waking up from the healing pods. It was the worst, your ears would pop and your joints would hurt so much that it was hard to walk.

“Time-measuring competition?” Kieth said harshly

“Yes!” Hunk said defensively.

“We having a clock party?” I said groggily.

“Aw, Lance, you just ruined it! Hey, Lance!” Hunk changed his tune fast and picked me up into a tight hug.

“Ow! So what happened?” I semi-asked and he set me down.

“We will tell you all about it but first let us get you something to eat. Are you able to walk?” Allura asked.

“Nope Hunk, Carry me like a princess,” I said in a joking tone to lighten the mood.

“Yep, he’s alright,” Shiro said somewhat relieved.

“There he is,” Pidge said with a sigh.

“Classic,” Keith groaned.

All though I was joking about Hunk carrying me, to everyone’s surprise, and my own, Hunk lifted me and carried me. It made me laugh… It made me laugh? When was the last time I laughed? Pidge made eye contact with me but they looked away quickly. I leaned into Hunk’s ear.

“Did you get a chance to talk to Pidge?” I asked and he shook his head no.

“I have to fix this,” I whispered to him.

“Here Lance. Your clothes,” Keith handed me my clothes and Hunk put me down.

After getting changed, ‘Lura led us to the dining hall.

“Coran, could you get him some of the emergency food preserves?” She had pulled out a chair for me.

As they explained the Castle's downfall and its prompt return, the memory fog lifted.

"And if it wasn't for Pidge, you three would be Sendak's prisoners right now," Allura said standing behind me as I picked at the food goo.

"Well, Lance you probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Hunk and Coran. Getting that crystal is what saved your life," Pidge said leaning on the table as I feed the mice the rest of my food.

"Wow! Thanks, everyone. However, it sounds like the mice did more than you, Keith," I said jokingly.

"I punched Sendak!" He said defensively.

"Yeah, after I emerged from a coma and shot him, making him let go of Pidge. You know because he was holding them hostage," I bit back.

"We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!" Keith said and I smiled.

"Yeah, whatever makes you feel better. So what happened to Sendak?" I said hoping they didn't keep him alive.

"He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle," Allura told me what I feared.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I questioned her.

"He's too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him," She said slightly annoyed.

"Alright, so what's the plan now?" I said leaving the rest food to the mice.

"We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people," Hunk said assertively

“Wow you are really hung up on this lady?” I teased Hunk.

“It’s not like that! Guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their homes. It changes you, I mean they don’t even know what it is to be free. It’s up to us Paladins of Voltron to set this right! It’s time to man up!” He said with vigour.

“Then let’s get moving. Time to go defend the universe.” Shiro said from behind me.

As we all got up to leave Pidge stopped us.

“Wait, I have something to say first.” As Pidge spoke my heart began to race were they about to tell on me. I began to hold my breath.

“I need to come clean. I’m afraid this might change how you think about me. My dead name is Katie Holt, and it was my family on the Kerberos mission with Shiro…” they started to Ramble on.

“No wonder you were always trying to break into Commander Iverson’s office! You knew he was hiding something!” I exclaimed like I don’t already know.

Pidge yelled being startled by me. Everyone started saying how it was good to come clean.

“That feels good to get off my chest. Now let’s launch this Castle-ship!” Pidge said running in front of everyone.