Background Ships Shiro/Matt
Rating Explicit, (possibly) contains explicit sexual content
Tags Amnesia, Insomnia, deadly amounts of coffee, lame pick up lines, cuban Lance, spanish, no angst, literally none, fluff, tooth rotting fluff, pining, they're just nerds falling in love a second time, nb pidge, possible smut idk yet
Summary
“Okay so I can’t remember my middle name or the day we got married but I can remember that that drink has probably enough caffeine to kill you.” Lance shudders. “You said it’s your regular?” He asks incredulously. Keith nods.
(Lance has amnesia. He’s apparently married, and best friends with two geniuses. Love, coffee, and dorky pickup lines ahead, read at your own risk.)
Excerpt
Lance nods and feels a gentle squeeze of his hand, he glances up at Keith. He has a small smile on his face and Lance suddenly has an irresistible urge to kiss him and he knows that they really must be married because his heart should not be beating this hard at a little smiling or hand holding, nor should Lance want to spend the next ten years with his lips pressed against Keith’s.
And suddenly Lance is getting looks from everyone in the room and he realizes he just said all of that outloud. The smile has grown on Keith’s face and Pidge is miming vomiting and Hunk is laughing. Lance can feel the heat rise to his face and then Keith leans down and presses a soft kiss to his lips and Lance swears he ascends right then and there. He lets out a little noise and grabs at Keith’s face to hold him there when he tries to pull back.
Lance wants so badly to remember everything. To remember first dates and kisses and the little things too, holding hands and memorizing eachothers starbucks order and Lance is so mad he can remember what starbucks is but he can’t remember the life he’s made with this gorgeous man in front of him.
Notes
Background Ships one-sided Shiro/Lance, (probably) Shiro/Hunk, (possible) Pidge/Allura
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags TEMPORARY major character death, superhero au, angst, happy ending, canon-typical violence, established relationship kinda, but also slow burn kinda, getting back together, rivals to friends, redemption, demons, amnesia, might be some implied sexy times but probably not
Summary
It's hard enough protecting a city from demons without your team's former nemesis showing up to help, even if he doesn't remember anything he did, but Lance is handling it--at least until his dead ex-boyfriend joins the team.
Excerpt
"Hey, Popsicle!"
Lance closes his eyes and turns with all the attitude he can muster (which is quite a bit). "Icicle. What?"
He expects to find a grinning Pigeon, as usual, when he opens his eyes. He does find Pidge, but she's not grinning.
"Reinforcements," she says, and nods over her shoulder. The building they're in used to be full of offices; now the foyer is a makeshift headquarters, and upstairs a temporary shelter for residents displaced by the crisis. So, the group of civilians walking in isn't unusual--what is, is that they're armed.
"Demon hunters," Lance says with a frown. Right, that was supposed to happen this morning. "Is it one of the official groups, at least?"
Pidge snorts. "As official as they get, yeah. But look who's with them."
Lance looks, as the rest of group files in. He doesn't see him, at first--he's holding the door open for the rest--but when he walks in and the door shuts behind him Lance recognizes him instantly. The white tuft of hair across his forehead, the scar across his nose, the prosthetic arm.
The scar is from Pidge; the hair is Lance's doing. The arm was a team effort.
"Shit," he says.
"Yeah," says Pidge.
"He won't recognize us, will he? Shit, why's he here?" Lance runs a hand through his short hair, undoubtedly making it stand up at an odd angle. He smooths it back down in the same motion.
"He shouldn't recognize us, but he definitely shouldn't be in close proximity this often." Pidge makes a face. "They do background checks, but it's not like they can say anything that'll make him suspicious, and, well. They're desperate."
"Desperate enough to let in fucking Champion?" Lance hisses. The group has spotted them by now, but most seem content to wait and look around at the dusty ruin they stand in, and the staff and civilians within. A few, though, are making their way closer, the man in question included.
"Apparently!" Pidge hisses back. "What do we do!?"
Shit. He doesn't have time to make a plan, the guy'll be in hearing range any second.
"Act civil," he says quickly. "He can't know there's anything wrong."
She purses her lips but there's no time to respond. He's upon them, ready with a friendly smile and a hand out to shake--the real one, Lance notes (and thank god for that).
"Hi there!" says their former nemesis, cheerfully. "I'm Shiro, leader of this little band of demon hunters." He nods over his shoulder--the group has thirty or so members, it's probably one of the larger ones out there, actually. Who the hell put him in charge of so many people? "We're here to help out with the infestation. We're at your disposal, so just point us in the right direction and we'll get to work." He smiles.
Pidge shifts, subtly elbowing Lance's good arm. Lance plasters a grin across his own face and surreptitiously wipes his sweaty palms against his uniform's pants.
"Hey, man," he says. He stiffly lifts his own hand and hesitates a moment--he knows there's nothing the guy can do like this, but the thought of touching him is still viscerally uncomfortable, and he has to use his bad arm besides--before shaking his hand. He lets go quickly, still. "The second floor's been cleared out for you, have your group go ahead and get settled. We'll have something for you to do soon."
"Great! Thanks," says Shiro, and he turns to head back to the group.
"Jesus fuck," Lance mutters.
Notes
Background Ships Shiro/Matt, Hunk/Shay, Lance/Nyma, Lance/Plaxum
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags graphic panic attacks, topics of suicide and mental illness, soulmates, actors, angst, college au, modern au, rivalry, rivals to friends to lovers, underaged drinking, catfishing, revenge, claustrophobia, depression, anxiety, stress
Summary
Aspiring actors with complicated pasts, Lance and Keith utterly hate one another with a stark and burning passion. But, despite their history, they are cast as best friends in their college production of West Side Story and are forced to spent countless hours a week together and must put aside their differences in order to perform their best. Soon, they discover their relationship runs deeper than either could have ever imagined.
Excerpt
The animosity was heavy in the air as Lance's gleaming blue eyes latched onto Keith's steely ones. Lance took several measured steps toward the black-haired boy. “Fuck you, Kogane,” Lance whispered, anger palpable in the air hanging densely between them.
Keith let a haughty laugh pass through his teeth. “Is our little loverboy angry he got cast as the sidekick again?” Rage was beating in Keith's ears as Lance took another step toward him, resentment carved deep into his features.
“Your gay ass is going to have a hell of a time swooning over my girlfriend.”
Keith choked. That was a low blow, even for the asshole he was known to be. He ground his teeth and rolled his shoulders back, trying his best to keep his temper under control. “Excuse me? I can act well no matter my sexual orientation.” He flicked his eyebrows up and sneered, “Unlike you, Lance.”
“You know for a fact I'm a very good actor, isn't that right, Keith?” His voice was low and intimidating, drawing on memories Keith would have preferred to keep stowed away in the outer edges of his mind.
“If you're such a good actor, why did I get the lead role, huh?” Keith shot back, shoving away the thoughts of last year, thoughts he hated dwelling upon and yet whenever his eyes were given the privilege of gazing on Lance they surged up like the sea.
Lance fumbled with his words, his throat closing up as irritation bubbled through his bloodstream, blurting out something stupid. “Just a reminder, buddy, you die in the end.”
“And you die in the middle!”
“Woah, both of you, calm down!” Ezor yelled as she dropped her bag behind her desk and sent an aggravated look to the boys. “I guess since you two are up already, you'll go first in the activity today!” Masking her ire with a sunny tone, Ezor explained the game while Keith crossed his arms and Lance let out a huff.
Basically, the improv game was a challenge of creativity and situational acting. Aptly titled Park Bench, person A would act as an average park-goer while person B would attempt to behave in such a way that person A would be forced to get up, whether it be from fear, embarrassment, or a general sense of uncomfortableness.
Keith plopped himself down on the park bench (two chairs pushed together in the middle of the circle, how imaginative) and re-crossed his arms with a sigh. “Now remember Keith, you're just a regular person, so get up when you think you would in a normal social setting!” Ezor's voice had regained her usual spark, her long braid swinging over her shoulder as she sat atop a desk and gestured for Lance to start.
He took a deep breath, trying to forget about Keith getting in the last word. The anger coiling inside in his stomach wasn't just his, and the burning in his foot was irritating as he shook off his feelings; he couldn’t worry about his soulmate with everyone in class staring at him. Rolling his shoulders back, Lance plastered a grin on his face and shoved some sex into his voice.
“Hey man,” Lance cooed, sliding into the chair next to Keith, totally man-spreading, one eyebrow lifted, gazing at the jackass from under his eyelashes.
And Keith immediately stood up. No fanfare, no reaction, nothing belying his emotional state, nothing illustrating why on earth he suddenly exited the game. Lance had his mouth open to spit out a pick-up line and it was like he was left at the altar, disgust and ire building in his blood. God how he loathed Keith Kogane.
Notes
Background Ships Hunk/Lance, Shiro/Allura
Rating Explicit, no explicit sexual content
Tags Time Travel, Groundhogs Day Time Loop Trope, Major Character Death, Temporary Character Death, Angst, Major Angst, Suicide, Depression, Blood and Gore, Explicit Gore, Explicit Violence, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Murder, Torture, Poisoning, Zombies, Cannibalism, Zombie AU, Medieval Times/Magic AU, Mermaid AU, Magic, Mer!Lance, Mer!Keith, Poaching, Kidnapping, Drowning/Near Drowning, Mutual Pining, Season 4 Spoilers, Panic Attacks/Graphic Description of Panic Attacks, Vomiting, Spontaneous Combustion, Suicidal Tendencies, and Slow Burn, This is an angst fest and I’m not really sorry
Summary
Death is an unavoidable consequence of war. However, it doesn’t make light of Lance’s sacrifice or the way it shakes the very heart of the team in the aftermath of the battle and their victory over the empire. Lance’s absence weighs heavy on their minds - an unforgettable presence lost, but Keith looks to the future for ways that they can continue on.
With the feeling of nightmares crawling under his skin, he wakes to Lance’s familiar face and laugh and the overwhelming influence of Zarkon, alive and well. But when Lance dies again as a casualty in the battle, Keith realizes that this may be a nightmare he’s tapped within until he saves Lance or dies trying.
Excerpt
Hunk sat perched outside of the torn open face of the blue lion. Her eyes were dull. Allura stood with a single hand on a twisted paw, steadying herself. Her features were pale, and not simply from the exhaustion of opening a gigantic wormhole.
Pidge huddled close to Allura’s side, almost afraid to take a step closer to Blue or to Hunk.
Shiro took several steps forward, placing a cool metal hand on Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk snapped his head to the side, the person in his arms flailing slightly at the sharp movement. “Don’t you fucking tell me it’ll be okay, Shiro!” Hunk cried, arms shaking.
Lance’s head lulled over Hunk’s arm, his chest pressed tightly against Hunk’s. His legs were haphazardly draped over an arm as if Hunk had given up halfway after pulling him out of the cockpit. The smear of blood across the white tiled floor showed Hunk’s previous actions.
Keith’s eyes focused on a droplet of blood that fell from the gnarled metal of Blue’s mouth to the growing puddle on the floor. He took a small step forward. His feet stuttered, and his throat clenched. “The last of the Galran forces have been eliminated, Princess.”
The group flinched at Keith’s steady voice. Allura turned wary eyes on Keith, nodding firmly. She removed her hands from Blue and folded them in front of her, “Thank you, Keith.”
Keith nodded sharply, clenching the piece of Blue’s hide in his hand.
“How are you so calm, Keith?” Hunk’s voice cut through the uneasy silence that had settled over them. He stood up, still cradling Lance in his arms. Keith watched the way Lance’s limbs swung lifelessly against Hunk’s armor. “Do you not care about the fact that Lance just fucking died out there?”
Keith squeezed the helmet under his arm tighter, hearing the already fractured plastic creak, “I thought it would be comforting to know that we won the battle. To know that Lance’s sacrifice wasn’t for nothing.” Keith exhaled, trying to find any form of patience in this scenario.
“Lance wouldn’t have had to sacrifice,” Hunk spit out the word like venom on his tongue, “If you had just thought about what you were doing for once in your fucking life before diving into things. If you weren’t just as bloodthirsty as all of the other Galra, this -”
“That’s enough!” Shiro’s announced, voice firm and authoritative. Hunk turned a scathing glare on Shiro, and Keith looked at Lance for the first time. He noticed the matted hair on the side of his head, thick with coagulated blood. The way Lance’s suit dribbled blood down the front of Hunk’s armor and onto the ground. How Lance’s arms shook slightly with the trembling of Hunk’s arms.
Notes
Background Ships Possible Allura/Lance, Possible Hunk/Lance
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags Alternative Universe - Marvel, Period Appropriate Homophobia (1930-40), World War 2, (more or less) Graphic Depictions of Violence, Temporary Major Character Death, Mind Control, Comicbook Science, Talks about depression and PTSD. POSSIBLE TAGS (aka things that might happen but I'm not sure): Graphic Panic Attacks, Suicide discussions
Summary
The future that Keith lives in is very different from what he had always imagined and dreamed of. Namely, Shiro’s absence by his side haunts him like a waking dream.
He watched him fall to his death a hour and seventy years ago. There’s a statue of him, a monument of hope and a symbol of freedom, commemorating the Black Paladin’s sacrifice and the end of the first Galra Invasion.
But Keith had never been anything if not a fighter and he’s moving on, putting memories to rest with the help of his new team and his job as a superhero.
At least until his memories come to haunt him with a vengeance in the form of Project Kuron.
[AKA The Winter Soldier!AU someone has to write]
Excerpt
The thing is, after years, Keith has become accustomed to the void in his chest, the pain that never really leaves him. It’s a friend that stayed at his side the day he had first held the Quintessence in his hands, the day he had woken up in the twenty-first century and even while he had learned to like his new life.
It has become a companion in the long days —when not even the team can do anything to make this century seem less alien, less frightening— and a bittersweet memory the rest of the time.
Keith thinks he’s doing better at working with it, at being the person he knows Shiro wanted him to be, and he’s proud of himself most of the time. He thinks destiny has dealt him a bullshit hand, but he has done his best to overcome it.
He also thinks he has done good with his life, and while he will never move on, while this century will always be a little strange and unnatural to him —alien in a way not even the Galra were sometimes— he has built a home. He wishes still for the other home he wanted, for the crappy heater that never worked and the way Shiro laughed and held him closer, but it’s a memory he can think about with fondness now, rather than with despair.
Which is probably why he stops dead on the street, his flames dancing on his skin, when he sees the mask fall down from the person they are fighting.
He knows no one realizes, because he has changed very much from the war, in ways that make Keith’s heart ache: there is a scar on his nose, his eyes are yellow and cold, there is a turf of white hair where before it was all black and his arm isn’t made of flesh and bones anymore. And yet it’s Shiro, indisputably.
Keith stays stock-still while Allura punches Shiro and the man avoids the hit, delivering a blow to her side where the kidney would be; he stays frozen while Shiro avoids Lance’s shot and then punches Pidge with his mechanical arm, piercing the outside of her armor; he watches in horror as Pidge blasts a laser at Shiro’s back, hitting him.
He sees Hunk, transformed, running towards Shiro and that’s when he acts, flying towards the group and scorching the asphalt in front of Hunk, stopping him from coming any closer. “Stop!” he orders, and he hopes his voice trembles less than his body, but it might be a losing battle.
“Keith! What are you doing?” he hears Pidge ask, while he puts himself between Shiro and the rest of his team.
The realization that he’s ready to hurt them if they get closer is chilling, but not enough to make him hesitate. “Stay back!” he repeats, while his flames extend towards them as a warning.
Allura hesitates, looking at him, and soon the rest of the team stops as well, uncertain. He knows they still haven’t realized, but he’s glad they trust him enough to stop when he asks them to.
He turns back, looking at the man that’s standing up again, holding his shoulder a little tighter than before —is he hurt? What has happened to him — and banishes the flame away, not caring about the Blade of Marmora agents around.
“Shiro?” he asks, taking a step towards him “how…?” he stops, his voice trembling again.
This doesn’t make sense, he has seen Shiro die, watched him pummel to his death and yet… he takes another step, hating the space separating them.
“Who is Shiro?”
Notes
Background Ships N/A
Rating Explicit, contains explicit sexual content
Tags
Canon rewrite, Not canon-compliant after S2, Falling in love the hard way, Non-sexual ABO*, Non-romantic Soulmates**, Worldbuilding, Chosen Family, Matt & Shiro & Keith & Pidge, Genderfluid Pidge, Pining Shiro, Pre-Kerberos backstory, Matt & Keith & Shiro, Friends to Lovers, Soft Sheith, Pilot Error, Grieving, Angst, Amnesia, Shiro doesn’t remember their relationship, Shiro has PTSD, Learning to trust all over again, Falling in love with the same person all over again, BAMF Voltron, Voltron Alliance, Defeating Zarkon, Happy Ending
Atypical ABO*: Not a sexual kink | Omega as protector | Alpha as provider | Beta as caregiver | Non-binary non-nuclear family structures | No heats | No animalistic characteristics
Atypical Soulmates**: Occurs after puberty begins | Not predestined | Changes often during lifetime | A determination of personality compatibility | No romantic connotations | Commonly not reciprocated | Usually familial or platonic | Wrist name tattoos | May take varying amounts of time to manifest
Summary
You know, it’s funny. He’d thought Pilot Error was the worst thing he'd ever hear in his life.
He’s never expected to be so wrong.
“Congrats! Who’s the lucky alpha?” Shiro smiled down at him, eyes blank of recognition, of affection.
Keith clutched at the dogtags around his neck, feeling the cold metal bite into his skin, willing himself not to stagger.
Takashi, whispered the metal against his skin. Takashi.
Excerpt
A darkened room. The shadowed corner of a pillow. The insistent buzz of a phone somewhere on the covers, like an angry wasp.
“Keith Kogane?”
It was an unfamiliar voice.
She stopped typing for a scant moment, checking the phone screen to make sure the call did actually connect, and it wasn’t a hallucination.
Keith turned his head slowly towards the phone.
Seeing nothing wrong with the connection, she resumed typing one-handedly on the nearest keyboard. Code flew past on the screens propped up on her desk.
His finger moved towards the End Call button.
“My name is Katie Holt.”
The finger hesitated, barely hovering over the screen.
“I have reason to believe the Kerberos mission didn’t fail due to a pilot error, and I need to know what happened.”
He could place the voice now. The finger retreated.
“You’re Matt’s little sister.”
She frowned at the hoarse rasp coming across the line, but her typing didn’t slow.
“And you’re Shiro’s psychotic copilot.”
There was a huff of breath, almost like a breath of laughter. He probably hadn’t actually laughed for weeks. She could empathise.
“29th Jul, 0324 hours. Inbound transmission logged. Transmission coordinates: 62’84”00. Coordinates reference: Kerberos, Pluto. Estimated time delay of transmission: 18 hours.” She stabbed angrily at her keyboard. “I tried to pull up similar files, left my search to run overnight, and this morning that file’s gone from the main servers.”
Keith tried to unstick his tongue, to prod the rusty cogs in his brain into turning. “That’s... days before they declared the mission a failure.”
She made an affronted noise. “There has to be a private server not connected to the mainframe. That’s the only reason I can’t hack it from outside. Matt said you’re a damned ninja – I need you to get me into Iverson’s office.”
☆☆☆
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“The last few files are locked behind some kind of alarmed palmprint scanner. Gods damn it! I can’t hack past that!”
Keith glanced at the download bar. 40%, it blinked merrily.
“Can’t you make this thing go any faster?”
“Hang on. Throttling all other systems, diverting all bandwidth to file transfer... what in the name of the stars are these?”
“What?”
“Videos –” Katie broke off, suddenly. “Wait, let me just rewind that – what the fuck, Iverson, you fucking liar, that’s definitely Kerberos, they landed successfully –”
But Keith was no longer paying attention.
He yanked both earbuds out, and – yes. Those were footsteps in the distance.
“Katie,” he barked into the phone, shoving one earbud back in. “There’s someone coming.”
There was a slight pause, and then – “Two guards, ETA one minute.”
He could hear their racing footsteps now, his muscles tensing in preparation. If he wanted to avoid getting caught, he’d have to leave now.
79%.
“How long more do you need?”
“Two minutes!”
He’d already made his decision.
“Find them.”
92%.
The doors to the outer office slammed open.
“What are you –”
No time. Keith ripped out the SIM card from his phone, shoving it into his mouth. And then he vaulted over Iverson’s desk and kicked the first guard square in the sternum right as he came through the door.
Notes
Background Ships (possible) Allura/Lance
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags tragedy, supernatural, fantasy world, time manipulation, major character death, all paladins can use magic, their magical elements is according to their lions,
Summary
Foreign clothes and a dagger that shouldn't exist. This is all that Keith has to his identity after losing his memory. Being rescued by the wind tribe's protege, Shiro, Keith finds himself in a world that feels foreign and bizarre to him. This feeling of unrest is not helped when he learns that the world is on the brink of chaos. Time is ceasing to flow throughout the continent and ancient, old magic begins to fall apart and disappear. Together, Keith and Shiro leave on a journey in the hopes of stopping the collapse and finding out who Keith really is. However, neither know just how tightly bound they are into the the undoing of the world.
Excerpt
“I usually train by the river when I go for water runs, but this is the better place to train.” Shiro grinned at Keith who could only marvel at the clearing. It really did look like the perfect training place for wind magic.
“Do you remember if you know how to fight?” Shiro asked. He set the training bag down.
“I don’t know…” Keith answered truthfully.
“Hmm okay then. I brought some pads so you can help me with my forms.”
Keith nodded and walked over to Shiro. The pads were filled with some sort of wool, which must have been imported from somewhere. He pulled the padding over his for arms and waited for Shiro to finish his warm ups.
“I’ll throw two punches and then a kick okay.” Keith nodded and braced himself. The two punches he easily withstood, but the kick was harsher than expected.
“Sorry about that.” The taller man apologized.
“No, it was my fault I should have had a better stance.” They went through the motions again. Eventually they made it a bit more challenge and Shiro started to mix his attack pattern up so Keith also had something to do besides stand there and block Shiros attacks.
There was something that was bothering Keith. The way shiro fought, it bothered him. It's stiff. He knows that Shiro is only practicing different forms, but they just seem so stiff.
“Have you ever fought before?” Keith blurred out.
Shiro stopped and looked at Keith. He wiped the sweat of his upper lip away with his sleeve and said: “The only fight I fought where matches among other villagers.”
“It shows.”
Shiro raised a eyebrows. “What shows.”
“I don’t know how to explain this but you are too stiff.” Keith shrugged one shoulder. Only one. Because only an idiot shrugs both. He wondered where that thought came from.
“Stiff? I am a member of the wind tribe how could fighting style be stiff?” Shiro didn’t seem offended, rather confused, “Our entire fighting style is based on being fluid and adapt to your opponent's movement.”
Keith really don't want to offend Shiro but here he was.
“Your style definitely is fluid, but you yourself aren’t fluid. Do I make sense?”
Shiro crossed his arms and thought about what Keith said. “None of the villagers have corrected me on my stances and I win almost all of my sparring matches. Maybe you are just looking at it the wrong way.”
That ticked Keith of for whatever reason. That dismissal of his critique, it is important, not heeding advice could cost lives! The strong reaction surprised Keith. Did he really just conclude that someone not listening to his advice be that same as someone potentially dying? He was to absorbed in his thought that he didn't realize Shiro and resumed training and that his foot was coming dangerously close to his face.
Without thinking in one swoop Keith ducked his head evading the kick and spun on his own achse stretching on of his leg out, effectively kicking Shiros foot of the ground, making him fall to the ground.
Both of them looked at each other in surprise.
“That was amazing.” Shiro whispered. His eyes sparkling practically with aw.
Notes
Background Ships N/A
Rating Mature, contains explicit sexual content
Tags Mermaid AU, Sheith, Dismemberment, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Mermaid sex,
Summary
Orphaned at a young age and alone for most of his life, Keith found it hard to make friends, but when aquarium-raised Shiro gets tangled in an open-water fishing net it’s up to Keith to save his life. Their solitary lives are forced together as they work to survive on the reef Keith has always called home.
When their once secluded reef becomes overrun with tourists, Keith and Shiro are forced into open waters in the search for Shiro’s missing shoal among mersharks just like them. Along the way they meet new friends and see new places that neither of them would have ever dreamed of, and together realize that found family can be all you need.
Excerpt
There was blood in the water, metallic and sweet in the way that made hungry stomachs lurch with need. Instinct yanked Keith out of his shipwreck home, swimming instinct took him out to the open water with the rush of a hunt. From the taste on the current whatever was bleeding wasn't too far. Good. Close enough to swoop in and steal a few bites and rush back before something bigger and stronger came around.
It had been days-- or weeks, since he'd last had a proper meal. Long enough that the prospect of eating both hurt and drove him harder; whatever it was tasted fantastic.
His meal was snagged in the fishing ropes just off the reef. Fortune smiled on the starved; nothing had shown up to claim his meal, and the ropes would keep most fish from bothering him too much. But they were lost on mer. Which meant free reign for Keith to feast.
Drifting closer he found not a thick-bodied fish, but another mer, tangled up in the ropes. Surprised but not unguarded he diverted to instead circle the nets, eyeing his prey anew. "You're bleeding."
The other mer, a strong and healthy looking guy-- definitely too well fed to desperately go for fish in the ropes-- startled and twisted to watch him circle just beyond the trap. It was a convincing ruse, he'll admit, the blood a risky but alluring touch. But Keith wasn't hungry enough to fall for such an obvious trap.
When their eyes met there was real pain there. Real surprise, like he'd expected to be left to bleed in peace. Ha.So he could be stupid enough to get caught, maybe he'd gotten snagged in the dark? Even the possibility was enough to lure him closer; time to decide, and quickly, whether he was easy prey before something else decided for him.
The only thing stalling him was, despite being hooked to the gills, he didn't seem too rushed to get loose. Not that he'd have any trouble: his teeth were razor sharp and the ropes weak with age. "I'm alright. They'll come get me soon. You should leave though; aquariums are a bit smaller than open water.”
Aquariums? Was he sick? "Are you an idiot? You want the fishermen to get you?" Keith snarked.
"Biologists," he corrected, innocently hopeful and patient as a clam. "They probably realized I missed the migration and came back for me."
Delusioned maybe, but Keith decided he was rational enough, healthy enough to eat. Slipping in close he reached out and tugged at one of the lodged hooks, darting out of reach when his meal yelped and jerked away. Away. Huh.
A cloud of blood swelled with the digging of another hook in his arm. At least he knew to still on the ropes lest he cause more damage or, more importantly, more trouble for Keith to work him loose.
Circling back he scowled and drifted even closer. "You're bleeding, and if fishermen don't kill you something else will."
"You mean like you?"
"Or worse. Can't you smell it? This place reeks like death. Rotten, dead fish."
That seemed to be enough to rattle the complacency and had the other mer tracking shadows beyond the ropes. The skin beneath Keith's touch leaped at the contact; a pair of steely grey eyes watching him carefully. Keith bared his teeth in warning; "I'm going to take these hooks out. They're meant to catch and kill you, dumbass. If you bite me I'll leave you to die."
Notes
Background Ships (possible) Keith/Lotor, (possible) Allura/Lance
Rating Explicit, contains explicit sexual content
Tags Silent Hill AU, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Possible Rape/Non-con, Underage, Graphic Panic Attacks, Abuse, Marriage-Problems, Guns, Sharp Objects, Horror, Blood, Gore, Monsters, Ghosts, Psychological Horror, Side-Character Death, Brutality, Loss, Hurt/No Comfort, But Also Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Dark Shiro, Happy End, Love Conquers All In the Far Away End
Summary
'Road to hell is paved with good intentions.'
When he was a teenager, Keith liked that aphorism.He thought it was very fitting, describing the hypocrisy of mankind perfectly. But when he met Shiro, he began to hate it. He realized that it could be understood in a different way -- life was like living hell for people who were too kind. That was what Shiro was; too kind for words and Keith feared the day his love would find himself in a dark pit, no chance to escape."
Keith's life changes for good when his husband goes missing. When even police stop searching for Shiro, stubbornly Keith refuses to become one of those people who wait for their lost loved one their whole life in vain. He swears to do anything to find Shiro and that promise is put to test in ways that he could never have imagined, not even in his worst nightmares. Clues lead him to an eerie, abandoned town, where survival is a privilege and hope means hanging onto every remaining thread of your mentality.
Excerpt
It's the middle of summer. The temperature is 30 degrees and everyone inside the office Keith works in, are sweating like circus piggies. He can't help but feel a bit smug about his ability to stand the heat, he has grown up with it in Texas after all. The past few months have been rainy and everyday he has listened to his co-workers bitch about it, but now when it's finally sunny and warm they bitch about that.
People can never be content. He knows a thing or two about that himself, but he still has never stooped up so low that he'd complain about something so petty as the weather. Instead, he chooses to look at the clock on the wall few meters behind him and scoff at how he still has an hour to spend. He's pretty much done with his work, but because of the policy of their company, they can't leave any earlier than how their work hours say. He doesn't dare to risk opening any websites either, besides from the international news site. Somehow it's appropriate to spent time on net during your work hours if you are looking at the news but everything else is prohibited. He could also look at his phone, see if there are any messages from Shiro, but he knows the answer to that.
Goddammit, this day is a pain.
He decides to entertain himself by playing with his wedding ring, taking it off and rolling it on his desk. After few minutes he hears his supervisor coming into the room, so he quickly snatches the ring back into his hand, only to drop it on the floor in his haste. He hears the melodic sound as it hits the floor and rolls down to his feet, somewhere under his desk. He curses but straightens himself up and tries to look hard-working when his supervisor is close to his seat.
"Shirogane. Are you done with the project?" his supervisor, man with a bleached hair and terrible mustache, asks. He leans himself on the wall beside him, probably trying to play the "cool boss" card, even though Keith knows he's stressed about the slow process they've had for few weeks.
"Sure," Keith answers and leans back so the blonde man has room to look at his computer screen.
"Very good. Just what I expected from you," his supervisor nods his head, a satisfied expression on his face. To Keith, that's enough confirmation that his tardiness this morning is forgiven. Or so he thinks before the blonde man says, ”Since you're ready, you could look at these.” He slams a pile of white papers on his desk. ”You did arrive late today.”
Keith swallows the snarky comment on his tongue, keeping his face neutral. ”Sure,” he says again, with unnatural, chipper voice.
Notes
Background Ships One-sided Pidge/Matt, otherwise undecided/susceptible to change
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Dubious Consent, Suicide/Suicidal Ideation, Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Crossover Elements – Fullmetal Alchemist 03, Hanahaki Disease, Amnesia, Jealousy, Vaguely Described Sex Scenes, Back From The Dead, Body Horror, Plant Gore, Self-Harm, Incest, Panic Attacks
Summary
Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do. Lance feels like everybody’s said that to him lately, and it doesn’t make the headstone with Keith’s name any less of a rock on his chest – and when Shiro returns, scarred and beaten from a place he can’t or won’t name, it’s too little, too late.
Until Shiro does the impossible.
The impossible lands Lance, Shiro and the rest of the paladins with a walking conundrum; a boy who looks like Keith, sounds like Keith, but has only scattered, incomplete memories. A boy who comes back to life over and over again, his wounds knitting together like they never existed. A boy with his hanahaki flower wound deep into his veins, a bud for a heart, sap for blood.
A homunculus.
Excerpt
But, in the end, he couldn’t sleep. He lay in bed next to Keith, over the sheets, watching the older boy breathing. He was coughing in his sleep, too, the muscles in his bare back spasming slightly with each slight retch. Lance rubbed his back gently, but that was all the affection he could tolerate for now – so he got to his feet, buttoning up his jeans (they’d never made it all the way off, which was probably for the best; he could feel himself getting way too attached to Keith as it was without capital S Sex coming into the picture or the murky ethics of drunk sex getting involved) and headed outside for a breath of fresh air.
The desert was much nicer at night, although it was chilly – he hugged his shoulders, shivering slightly as the wind hissed over the expanse. The heat of the sun had nothing to hold it in; when the sun set, its warmth vanished with it. There was a metaphor somewhere in there, Lance thought, but he wasn’t any good with words; admittedly, he wasn’t much good with anything. He was a half-decent pilot. He could hold to that, at least. Besides, being almost as good as Keith Kogane was an achievement in and of itself. Right?
Lance sat down on the steps again with a sigh. The empty bottle was still out here, and he picked it up, staring at it with a growing sense of disease. He didn’t know how much alcohol was normal for an eighteen-year-old to drink, but this seemed… excessive. He could ask for help – but from who? The people who’d kicked Keith out in the first place? He could ask Mami – but she’d tell him to mind his own business. And as far as he knew, Keith’s family was either dead or – well – drifting lost somewhere among the stars.
Lance leant back on his hands with a groan – then his hand met something on the wood. Where Keith had been coughing. His first thought was blood, but it wasn’t that (he was thankful; but at the same time, if he’d been dying, Lance could have called a hospital).
He held it in the palm of his hands. It was a crimson flower petal.
Lance felt his heart drop to his knees. “Oh, Keith,” he sighed. He still could have called the hospital – but it wasn’t his choice to make. It wasn’t his memories at stake.
He’d ask in the morning.
Lance lifted his hand to the sky and let the wind pull the petal from his palm. It spun away on the breeze and into the sky. Maybe Shiro would find it. Maybe it’d be a message to him that it was time to come home already, that this wasn’t funny, that…
“I can’t save him on my own,” Lance whispered into the empty desert, then started at the sound of his own words. They were louder then he expected.
A tear started budding at the corner of his eye, and he scrubbed it away. He was being overdramatic. He just needed to get some sleep.
Notes
Background Ships TBD
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual conent
Tags Autistic Keith, Dissociative Identity Disorder, PTSD, Dark Shiro, Lance (Voltron) has ADHD, Space Pirates, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD, Established Sheith, QPP Hance, Genderfluid Pidge / Katie Holt, Alternate Universe – Treasure Planet Fusion, Alternate Universe – Steampunk, Engineer Hunk, Lotor & Generals, Major Character Death, Black Holes, Space is Scary, potential queer platonic sheith
Summary
Keith and Shiro are given a map by a dying Galran pirate, and with it, a whole world of trouble. With the beloved Benbow Inn burnt to the ground, they set off on an adventure across the Aetherium to find where X marks the spot – but things are never simple or easy when you’re stuck on a ship with a shifty crew, a 300-year-old first mate, and a boy with a smirk on his lips, a gleam in his eyes, and a lot to hide. Treasure Planet AU.
Excerpt
Notes
Main Ship Lance/Lotor, Lance/Matt, Lance/OC (endgame)
Background Ships Allura/Shiro
Rating Explicit, contains explicit sexual content
Tags angst, angst with a happy ending, redemption, torture, emotional manipulation, unhealthy relationships, coercion, dub-con sexual content, evil lance, (non-major) character death, assumed major character death, grief, drug use, drug withdrawal, graphic violence, graphic blood & gore, grey morality, possibly war crimes?
Summary
When a mission goes wrong, the team can only watch as Lance is executed before their eyes. As they grieve and struggle to pick up the pieces, Lotor is planning something which could tear them apart for good.
Excerpt
The galran pilot stepped in front of Lotor, and Keith pulled a face when the Emperor deactivated the shorter galra’s face mask and leaned down to kiss the pilot. PDA was bad enough when it was random people on the street, but in a video call with the literal ruler of the Empire they fought on a near-daily basis? He agreed with Pidge’s exaggerated gagging noise and Shiro’s quiet ‘yuck’. It was good information, though. Lotor was romantically involved with his knockoff Black Paladin, which meant the galra made a promising potential bargaining chip.
“Take off your helmet for them.” Lotor said, something in his tone setting Keith’s skin prickling.
“Of course.” The knockoff Black Paladin gave a salute, then turned to face the camera. His helmet had a faceplate not unlike the druid’s masks, and he reached up as if to remove only that before seeming to rethink it and leaning forwards to pull the whole thing off. He straightened up, and Keith felt like he’d been punched right in the solar plexus. The pilot was supposed to be a galra, was supposed to have purple skin and weird ears and pointed teeth. Not slicked-back brown hair, and tan skin, and dead blue eyes that bored right into him and stole what little breath he still had.
It was Lance. The pilot who had mauled Blue and sent the factory crashing to the planet’s surface and kissed Lotor, was Lance. Hunk was crying, Keith was distantly aware of the sound as he tried to make everything add up. He was pretty sure Pidge had stopped breathing, and Shiro- Shiro was still as stone, his prosthetic arm hanging limp at his side. It couldn’t be Lance. Had to be some- some sort of druid illusion. Like how Shiro had said Zarkon’s witch made herself look like him during that fight before the portal went all screwy. That would explain why his irises were surrounded by gold instead of white, too. Oh, when he met Lotor he was going to knock the fucker’s teeth out one by bloody one.
“Even for the galra, this is cruel.” Keith snarled, hands curling into fists. Not-Lance’s expression shifted, changing from mild irritation to a burning glare, nearly a sneer. It was an expression the real Lance, the one who’d sacrificed himself a few months ago, would never have made.
“Cruel?” Lotor laughed, draping an arm and a good bit of his cape across Not-Lance’s armoured shoulders. “Do you have anything to say to that, my loyal Paladin?”
Not-Lance grinned, the expression so galran it looked wrong on his fake human face. “You want to talk about cruel, Keith?” he asked, his voice losing the deep echo of translated Galran and falling just about perfectly into what Lance had sounded like. “Your hair looks like a particularly cruel and unusual punishment.” he chuckled, and Keith felt like he’d been sucker punched again. How many times had he heard Lance laugh just like that, after cracking a joke so bad it made Hunk groan and Pidge roll their eyes?
“Or, perhaps it’s cruel iro- no, sorry, it’s not ironic at all, just fitting.” the man who looked like Lance sneered, leaning into Lotor’s touch and crossing his arms over the lower set of glowing lines on his breastplate, spinning his helmet to hold it in one hand. “After the way you hauled Blue’s carcass around today, I think it’s safe to say you’re the one who should’ve been a cargo pilot.”
Notes
Main Ship Keith/Regris
Background Ships Kolivan/Antok, Thace/Ulaz
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags Graphic Depictions of Violence, Graphic Panic Attacks, Topics of suicide or mental illness, Topics of abuse of any kind, Death (not major character death), Graphic torture scene later, Dads of Marmora AU, Blade of Marmora-raised Keith, Galra Keith, War, Genocide, Topics of child soldier, Grey morality, Sacrifice
Summary
Every members of the Blade of Marmora understood that the mission was more important than the individual.
Keith was still too young to take the Trials of Marmora, but he was a young Blade still. When Kolivan assigned him and his friends to their own very first mission to pick up rations from one of the Blade’s hideouts, his conviction was being put to test. The hideout somehow managed to secure one of the Voltron Lions from the Galra Empire, and the Empire wanted it back.
Torn between assisting his fellow Blades and securing the Lion, Keith had to make a decision that would change the course of his life. In the end, the needs of the many was more important than the needs of the few— or in this case, Keith’s need to go home.
Excerpt
Keith strapped his blade into the strap behind his back and pulled his hood down, before exiting Thace and Ulaz’ room — the room had became his own permanently now, and his belongings mixed together with Thace and Ulaz’.
So many things had changed since Keith found out about his familial bond with Kolivan ten dralsa ago. He was still a juvenile according to Galran standards, but he already grew so much since then; no longer an awkward half-breed, especially since he hit his growth spurts and grew as tall as his peers. His skin had that purple-bluish tint and the tip of his ears became pointier.
He still didn’t fit between his Galran peers, but he didn’t really mind that much. He was still part-Human, and that was okay.
The Blade of Marmora armor he was wearing was still new, and the lack of the chest light and the blue stripes signified that he hadn’t taken the Trials of Marmora yet. He was still too young to take it yet, but ever since he took his piloting lessons, even Kolivan had to admit that he was too valuable as a pilot and began to train him more rigorously.
And today— today was his first mission with the Blades.
His steps began to quicken as he caught a sight of Regris in the hangar.
“Regs!” Keith shouted and circled his arms around Regris’ shoulders, barely holding his excitement. Regris was also wearing similar armor, though the undersuit was tailored to fit his tail.
Regris was a new addition to the Blade’s younglings — well, newer. He came to the Headquarters approximately eight dralsa ago. Sub-Leader Antok came back from a dreadful mission bringing a near catatonic half-Galran hatchling around Keith’s age, much to everyone’s surprise— even Kolivan.
“Wow, it’s like I don’t exist”, Chahru gave Keith a teasing smile, and Keith returned it by sticking his tongue at the young Draconian.
“Leader didn’t say that you’re coming too”, Regris said, his tail curling around Keith’s waist to steady him. “I guess it makes more sense for you to pilot for this mission. Who else will be brave enough to navigate the gravitational pull and the solar flare?”
“Ugh, you two are gross”, Chahru scrunched their nose in fake disgust. “Also, pretty sure the Blade flighters can.”
“The flighters need to be ready to pilot evac ships in case of emergency.”
At Kolivan’s voice, the three juveniles turned and stood up straighter. Keith unlatched himself from Regris and followed his friends to salute the Blade Leader. Sub-Leader Antok, of course, was following behind Kolivan, his mask already on and his blade strapped behind his back.
“At ease, trainees”, Kolivan chuckled. “You three will accompany Sub-Leader Antok and Engineer Adhiri to pick up rations from one of our hideouts.”
“You won’t be coming?” Keith couldn’t hide his disappointment. He was looking forward to follow Kolivan’s leadership for this mission.
Kolivan shook his head. “Unfortunately, I am needed for another matter”, they replied, but gave Keith a kind smile. “Perhaps another time, Keith.”
Keith hung his head. Well… Kolivan was a busy person.
“Regris, you will triangulate the hideout’s location based on their transmissions. Chahru, you will protect your crew, though your progenitor is concerned about your safety. Do not shift unless it’s absolutely necessary”, Kolivan warned, before turning to Keith last. “Keith, I guess I can only ask that you bring your crew back to safety. Understood?”
“Yes, Koli— I mean, yes, Leader!” Keith answered. Regris and Chahru offered their affirmations.
Notes
Main Ship Keith/Allura/Lance
Background Ships Alfor/Coran
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags Graphic Depictions of Violence, Keith & Lance, Keith & Allura, Allura & Lance, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High Fantasy, Dragons, Dragons Riders, Fantasy AU, Warlocks, Demons, Gods, Miscommunication, Mates, sorta Soulmates but not really, Reincarnation, Faes, Elves, Dwarves, Pirates, Polyamory, m/m/f, deals with demons, tragic backstories, slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers, panic attacks, domestic violence, sacrifices, family issues, dark family history, deception, betrayal, jealousy, pining, magic, elements of Dragons Riders of Pern, elements of Eragon, fighting demons, quests, don't make deals with demons kids
Summary
Allura and Lance, the Captain and Second of the royal guards, didn't expect everything to go wrong after the royal city's Hatching Ceremony. They are sworn to protect the people of the city, which means preventing potential forest fires outside of the city walls. In the process, they save the life of an injured warlock named Keith and his dragon, but shortly after the fire, outside forces launch a full-scale war into motion.
In the beginnings of chaos, Allura, Lance, and Keith are thrust into a war between demons and gods. Every decision has repercussions that threaten the safety of years—even millennia—into the future. Before balance can be restored to the world, they each must play their part in fighting the demons that caused this turmoil in the first place. The future depends on whether or not they are ready to face the consequences of playing with gods and demons.
Excerpt
"We aren't going to fly; now if you would excuse me, I would like to leave." Allura turned to face him, a mask of neutrality trying to hide the fatigue that fogged her eyes.
The guard's hand rested upon the decorated pommel of her sword, occasionally tightening her grip on it. She had been relaxed a mere second ago, letting him bandage her. Now here he was forcing her to stay at his small cabin, for how long, she didn’t know, but if she had her way, Allura would be back at the castle by the end of the night.
Keith looked unimpressed. He was particularly annoyed that the most stubborn guard landed near his house, but if she was going to be like this... Well, two could play at that game.
"Nereus," he called lightly, maintaining eye contact with the guard, smiling lightly.
His dragon grumbled, but he could hear scales and wings moving, followed by a loud yawn. Mine? Mine, Ner was sleeping…
"You will be able to, but please make sure our visitor's dragon doesn't leave."
Nereus' mind instantly became wide awake. Are they staying, Mine?
"For a little while," Keith answered with a small smirk.
---
Lance knew where Allura was so the search didn't go for very long. His dragon had caught the familiar scent of his girlfriend and followed it to a shack. He found Drexin sleeping beside a larger dragon and dread filled him. Before his dragon could even land, Lance was off his dragon and stomping towards the door.
Inside the shack, Keith had lit a candle in the dwindling light and continued to read. The guard was still fast asleep on the couch, snoring slightly. He knew it would be until morning before she would be awake enough to head back to the palace.
He heard dragons land outside and didn't even bother to look up when someone crashed through his door.
Lance blasted the door wide open with a gust of wind. "Allura?" His eyes scanned the shack before landing on Allura's sleeping form.
A feral like snarl left him, whirling to face the man on the floor reading a book. "What did you do to her?" Hands clenching into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms.
The man looked up from his book with a bland look. "She came crashing out of the woods into my dragon and he stepped on her and her own. I simply gave her some painkillers and wrapped her ribs so they would heal," he explained coolly.
Lance heard various dragons shift outside, hissing and growling lowly. Only one of them sounded distressed and confused. The man looked up from his book and leaned to peer around Lance, concern furrowing his brows.
The man wisped away, black mist lingering in the air. Lance whirled around and stormed out of the doorway to find the man snarling at his guards.
"If you hurt my dragon, you will have a lot more to worry about than your lives," he warned, fangs and eyes flashing.
"That dragon hurt the Second in Command of the Royal Guard." Lance standing off to the side from his guards. An invisible ward flickering to life in front of him. "You are fairly outnumbered."
"And my dragon was defending himself!" Keith snarled.
Notes
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags Platonic Soulmate AU, Ensemble Cast, Canon-Divergent AU, Canon-typical/vague violence, Soulmate Signal - feeling person's emotions, Soulmate Signal - feeling pain, Soulmate Signal - hearing person's thoughts, Soulmate Signal - writing transfers to soulmates, Soulmate Signal - floating star that indicates feelings/thoughts/emotions, various types of soulmate things smashed into one, some bullying, They can feel Shiro's emotions during Kerberos
Summary
Life can be a little rough.
Life can be more rough when you're part of a five person soul system and people usually have one soulmate instead of four.
Life is much more rough when said five person soul system has to deal with disbelief and accidentally breaking the mold for just about their entire lives.
And then they get launched into space.
Excerpt
Shiro walks into the classroom with green letters on his arm and a star trailing behind him, and waits for the inevitable question of you have two soulmates? Though, no one seems to have noticed him yet.
So even though the question is inevitable (because high school intros and what’s the soulmate situation? are both ThingsTM), Shiro lets himself slink to one of the desks in the back corner and avoid it as long as humanly possible.
Of course, that’s when the bell rings and the teacher starts, with talking about how it was going to work and asking them to say their name and age and soulmate status, and it’s a long snake-like curve through the room before it’s Shiro’s turn.
“Uh,” he says at first, because his mind is blank and people are looking and it’s painfully obvious that he has green on his arm and a star by his shoulder and that’s one soulmate more than he’s expected to have. “My name is Takashi Shirogane, though I prefer being called Shiro. I’m fifteen. I haven’t met my soulmates, an—”
The kid right in front of him scoffs, mouth turned up into a sneer. “There’s no way you have more than one. I bet the writing is just something you made up.”
Shiro—Shiro knows that that’s a lie, that whoever Green is (other than young) writes little messages and equations all over their arm, can feel the tingling of letters on his arm of cleaned up handwriting and probably the question of Black smthing wrong? popping up, but somehow the words make a blush rise from his neck and creep onto his cheeks and—
He’s humiliated.
But there is writing inking itself onto his arm, so instead of saying anything, he just pulls back his sleeve (it feels like a betrayal of privacy, of their little system of Black Green Red Yellow Blue) and lets people see green sprawl against his skin.
“I have more than one soulmate,” he says quietly, but he’s always been told that he has a talent for projecting and the sound feels like it bounces off the wall and bounces straight back into him.
He can leave it at that.
Green and Yellow have the visible signs, green writing and the star of Yellow’s thoughts always hovering close by like it’s shy about the rest of the world. Everyone can see them, even though Shiro is the only one who understands what they mean, who can hear Blue’s voice chattering out a reply in Spanish and English and the rapid fire mix of the two, who feels Red’s aches and pains from whatever stunt had been done this time, Shiro’s the only one who knows about the hidden parts.
And he can just pretend that Green and Yellow are it, that even though Shiro’s an abnormality to the soulmate game who came in late and somehow hit the jackpot, he can pretend he’s a bit closer to their ideas than he really is.
It would be nice if he was normal.
But he’s not normal, and apparently his soul signal thing is sending out his emotions, so he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is when Red starts pinching his arm in a matter of listen, listen, when Blue starts babbling worried Spanglish into his brain, when Yellow’s star is flashing colours and growing big small big, when his arm starts to tingle with words.
He can’t leave it at that.
So Shiro pushes down his sleeve, and lets the class stare because he’s staring back and won’t back down anymore.
“I have more than one soulmate,” he repeats. “I have four of them, and I haven’t met a single one.”
And then he resigns himself for another irritating school year.
Notes
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags Gen, Urban Fantasy AU, Roadtrip AU, Dragons AU, magitek, pygmy dragons, random chocobos are a thing, swearing, surprising lack of actual violence, Kerberos is kinda a thing?
Summary
There were some things in the world that were just indisputable facts, the sun rises, Keith’s dragon like to sit in his hair, the Holts run a wildly successful magitek business. These were all facts, nothing would change them.
What would change is that there’s a giant rift in the sky and no one knows how it got there. Keith journeys to find Shiro and the rest of the expedition team and gets a lot more than what he came for.
There are new facts Keith learns, Shiro likes to sneak up on people, Pidge loves peanut butter, dragons can merge with people, and once dead civilizations aren’t as dead as they seemed. It’s going to be one hell of a road trip.
Excerpt
Keith stared at the hole in the sky. He had watched the sudden arrival and development of the hole on the ‘net. The news had taken videos from the still streaming phones and cameras that had been left when the residents of the area under the hole had vanished into thin air. It had started as a strange purple crack in the sky, like some misplaced aurora that was too far south to be natural. For hours it had stayed like that, this purple crack in the sky. People had started live streaming and broadcasting it, but when the crack had suddenly ripped into being a hole big enough to overshadow the entire city, everyone had vanished without a trace.
The videos hadn’t prepared him for the actual reality of being able to see the edge of the rift from so far away. There was the faint purple aurora visible even during the daytime that lurked at the edge of the horizon. Keith finally started walking when Red tugged at his hair like it was reigns. Keith patted the tiny dragon soothingly, “I’m going, I’m going. We’ll be at work soon then you’ll get to see Kuro soon, promise. Ah crap, there’s the bus.”
Keith took off down to the corner and leapt onto the bus before the doors closed; the older man, his normal bus driver, rolled his eyes at Keith’s entrance and gestured at the till that had a dragon perched on it eyeing his hands. “You know how it goes, pay the dragon and take a seat.”
Keith gave a little smile and handed over his change to the tiny dragon who excitedly shoved it into the till, trilling happily at him. Keith ran a finger over the tiny dragon’s head, the dragon trilling happily again, and walked to his normal seat, slid his pack off and collapsed into it. Red pawed at his hair more once Keith had sat down causing Keith to wonder if he should try to teach the dragon to braid if Red was going to keep fiddling with his hair.
The fifteen minute bus ride was just as boring as always, though the radio show spent most of the time speculating where the rift came from and what happened to the people who had vanished. Keith checked his phone as he called for his stop, wandering to the front of the bus. There was a text from Shiro dated hours ago, saying he had gotten called in for an emergency so don’t get him coffee. Keith texted back quickly saying he hoped Shiro would be back soon and Red missed Kuro already. The bus came to a stop and Keith hopped off, giving a two finger salute to the bus driver and took off down the block to get to work, since he didn’t need to get Shiro coffee he could head right in.
Keith entered the huge Holt Tech building, ignored all the front office secretarial stuff, went over to one of the staff doors and used his ID to get in. Red pulled on his hair restlessly, eager to get out to the dragon sanctuary and interact with the other dragons. He stopped at the computer to clock in before heading through the safety scanner into the locker room. He checked the scan and dumped his backpack onto the bench. The scan came back clean, meaning he was cleared for work for the day. Keith opened his locker, changed into his coveralls and headed outside with Red still clinging to his hair and chirping excitedly.
So long as one ignored the vague purple aura in the sky visible even in daylight, it was shaping up to be just another boring day on the job.
Notes
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content (may become Teen)
Tags Graphic Depictions of Violence (to be safe, I'm not sure how far I plan to take it), Torture, Implied/Referenced Torture, Blood, Minor Character Death, Major Character Injury, Blood Loss, Weapons, Coran & Hunk centric
Summary
"Voltron has fallen," the Galra said pridefully. "On this day, we have taken the Voltron Paladins into our custody."
After an unexpected ambush, Hunk and Coran are the only ones standing between the Galra Empire and total universal domination. Without their friends by their side, the two might find that the task laid out for them is extraordinarily difficult. They must learn to trust and rely on each other, on a deeper level than before, if they hope to make it out alive with the rest of their team.
Excerpt
Hunk was terrified. Something had happened to the others, they weren’t responding, and Coran said their sensors had gone offline. What if the Galra killed them? What would they do, then? He wouldn’t put it past them at all, and it was with a heavy heart that he sighed. “Yeah. Right. If they got the Princess, then they’d be inside of the Castle, wouldn’t they?”
“Yes, that is likely,” Coran agreed. “We’ll have to fight our way through. Are you injured at all?”
Hunk shook his head. “No, I’m not. My armor took the blast. I’d say a minor burn if anything.”
“We’ll take a look at it once we get back, then,” Coran responded, leaving no room for Hunk to protest. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Yeah, I’m ready. What’s our strategy?” Hunk asked. “I’m not a melee fighter.”
“Yes,” Coran agreed. “I believe you’re best right where you are. I’ll take the lead on this one.” He put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “Unless you wish to, of course.”
“No, no,” Hunk said quickly. He was much better at following orders than actually giving them, and didn’t want to lead when he could get one of them terribly injured. “I’m cool following you, but can we like, go before more sentries get here?”
Coran nodded, withdrawing his hand. “Of course. I remember the way back to the Yellow Lion.” He opened the door, holding it open for Hunk to get through. “I hope they have not disabled the file transfer, or else we’d have to leave the rig undefended while we tried to get what we came here for.”
“If they cancelled it, that means the others got hurt for nothing,” Hunk muttered, “so let’s hope they didn’t.”
Notes
Ships Potential Shiro/Keith, Potential Keith/Allura, nothing goes anywhere
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags Violence, Panic Attacks, PTSD, off-camera torture, body horror, psychic/mental manipulation, OC’s. (Keith, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, Shiro, Ulaz, Zarkon, Haggar, Sendak, Haxus, Thace, Allura, Coran, Alfor, Space Mice, Lions, canon divergent AU
Summary
Thanks to one half-exiled Galra technician figuring out too much for anyone’s good, Sendak finds a way to locate the Blue Lion early - and manages to find one of the potential paladins while closing in, leading to Keith trying to navigate his way through a “recruitment” that he knows is a trap. Pidge goes to investigate the disturbance, and Lance and Hunk follow not knowing they’re on track to be at ground zero of Sendak’s efforts to claim the Blue Lion on Earth with a half-forgotten Galra outpost caught in the middle of the fight over the lions, while Ulaz and Shiro are stuck trying to survive and navigate an increasingly tense situation under Haggar and Zarkon’s direct watch.
Gathering Voltron and drawing the Galra away from Earth is a lot more complicated when the Empire gets to make the first move.
Excerpt
In the cave, Lance stayed still in the dark until well after the sound of footsteps faded out; he was alone, the aliens had Pidge and Hunk and his sister, he didn’t know what they were going to do to them, all he had was a couple of hunting rifles that did nothing to the alien armor and a weird alien sword.
Panic was setting in; they hadn’t been able to do that much as a group, what was he going to do? There wasn’t even any sign that any outside response had left a dent in these things, he wasn’t even graduated, he was a cadet with apparent delusions of grandeur.
He sat up and leaned on the wall; one of the carvings glowed faintly blue under his shoulder.
“What do you want from me?”, he whispered at it, barely more than mouthing. One of the rifles was sitting next to him, the other dropped where Hunk had left it; Hunk’s crowbar was on the ground against the wall, there were scorchmarks all over the walls damaging some of the carvings, and the ruined alien rifle was where his sister had dropped it, a couple feet from the dead alien.
Everyone else had at least managed to do <I>something</i> in that skirmish, and they had pinned everything on him.
He didn’t have any confidence that he could do anything here, but he did have a lot of guilt at the idea of giving up without doing something; he might not make it, but he could at least try to not disappoint whatever confidence his sister had in him, and he couldn’t go back to his mother and father without her, or Hunk.
Or Pidge, for that matter, whose family was missing and not there to worry about her.
He crept over to the dead alien, planting a foot on it to pull the sword out, trying not to think too hard about it; the blade had a sheen of red that smeared dark on his jeans as he fumbled to tie it onto his belt so that he could carry it.
He walked back, picking up Pidge’s backpack that had her computer and everything really incriminating in it; they were probably just going to have to sacrifice most of their supplies, since he couldn’t afford to be weighed down. He managed to shift it to keep his sister’s bag with her camera and lenses hanging awkwardly beside it, clipping Pidge’s to it partly. He paused over the rest of the discarded mess, picking up one of the rifles - the more battered one, which meant it’d been Keith’s - and crept for the exit.
The alien that’d been watching the entrance was being held at gunpoint by an armored soldier, with a drone on the other side. The rifle wouldn’t do anything to a drone, and wouldn’t get through the armor, but there was a partly open throat and part of the face.
It might be enough, if they were anything like any other living thing with a brain in the skull and a lot of vital things packed into the neck. The alien was intent enough on its captive to not be looking at the cave, and the drone’s back was angled toward him.
He settled into finding some kind of stable stance, lining up his aim; he’d only get one shot, and if he was lucky, he’d be able to grab the alien soldier’s rifle to bring down the drone.
They had his family, and one way or another, he wasn’t going to let that stand.
Notes
Ships Matt Holt/Shiro, Keith/Lance
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags Superhero AU, Coffee Shop AU, conspiracies, implied non-consensual human experimentation, not delved into too deeply, corrupt businesses, lots of decimated robots
Summary
One little trip outside the Garrison, just to clear his head after a bad day. One little break to keep himself from going crazy in his lonely dorm room. One little chance to have a breather before going back in and continuing life as normal.
One little breather was enough time for his entire world to turn upside down, and for him to be dragged into a conspiracy that encompassed all of the city of Warden.
Fuck.
Excerpt
Lance noticed Red stop and immediately slowed down, skating behind a rock formation and doing his best to control his breathing despite how fucking hard it was to keep up and how tired he was.
They had stopped near some weird shack, which looked as though someone had abandoned it decades ago. Lance could barely see Warden at this distance. Unlike the simulated desert earlier, this place was warm and dry, and there was a breeze that would have been pleasant if Lance hadn’t been wearing a hoodie. He could clearly see the wide expanse of stars here, where they had been washed out by the lights of the city in Warden. This would be a nice camping trip when he wasn’t chasing a fugitive, though the shack itself was an eyesore.
He wondered vaguely if this is where Red lived, and for a moment felt sympathy for them, then scowled at himself. Right, well-known and potentially dangerous fugitive here, not some poor person squatting in a shack. Hard to feel sympathy for someone who was possibly violent and might not hesitate to kill Lance if they spotted him.
He peeked over the rock, remaining as still as possible as Red looked around themself, making sure there was no one nearby. They looked at the rock formation for a moment, and Lance quickly moved back behind it, holding his breath in panic. He waited several seconds before peeking again, seeing their gaze pointed to the shack.
The armored person seemed to slump a little, looking relieved that no one had followed them, before removing their helmet.
Lance barely avoided gasping. He quickly ducked behind the rock feature in case they had heard his surprise, pressing his hand over his mouth to keep himself from making any sound to indicate that he was there. He blinked, half-certain he had hallucinated the whole thing, before silently taking another peek to confirm what he had just seen.
There, in red armor with a sword on their belt, looking as dead tired and winded as Lance did in that moment, was fucking Keith.
Notes
Ships Keith/Lance, Shiro/Allura, Hunk/Shay
Rating Teen and Up, no explicit sexual content
Tags minor character death, small violence, war, au, ptsd, war trauma, fight scenes
Summary
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. But then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed her most, she vanished. 100 have passed and in that time the fire nation’s rule has only extended, causing many to lose hope as it was only a matter of time before the bigger cities like Ba Sing Se fell under the fire nation’s reign. But I believe that the avatar is still out there, and that soon she will return to take down the fire nation once and for all.
An avatar au where the Galra are the fire nation, Allura is the Avatar, and Lance is the narrator a water tribe diplomat. The two banding together along with monk Coran and spirit seer Shiro who escaped Galra custody. As they help Allura reach her potential, with the help of a few friends along the way.
Excerpt
“Keith!” I called out as I raced after the edgy fire bender, “stop!”
“No!” Keith yelled back as he whirled around, freezing me in my place with his death glare, “this is your fault!”
“My fault!” I couldn’t help but yell back at him, “how was I supposed to know your mom was a part of a rebellion? That wasn’t even why we came here.”
“That’s the problem! We came here because you wanted an ally for your tribe! And you used me as a bargaining chip!” Keith spit at me, his anger causing me to take a step back despite myself.
“That was not my intention,” I argued, trying to calm him down.
“Then what was your intention?” Keith questioned me, though through the anger I was able to distinguish genuine hurt from my actions.
“My intention was to gain an ally for my tribe but you were not meant to be a bargaining chip, just a way to get in contact with them at all,” I began, hurrying on before Keith could try and interrupt, “you see the Blade of Mamoura is such a secretive group that they only allow meeting with either the avatar herself or fellow firebenders who oppose the galra.”
“Why didn’t you just ask Allura to come then, I’m sure she would’ve been more understanding,” Keith pointed out.
“But she would’ve asked more questions than you, and I don’t think she would’ve seen protecting my tribe further as a valuable use of time,” I reasoned.
“And I would?” Keith questioned me, a skeptical look on his face.
“Yes, if Allura had come she would have tried to persuade the Blade help her against the Fire Nation, and while I’m all for it my tribe needs more looking out for them than just the Northern Tribe,” I explained myself.
“How is a rebel group of firebenders better than a tribe of waterbenders?” Keith spoke.
“Fight fire with fire,” I spoke with a sly grin.
Notes
Ships Potential Pidge/Lance, not really romantic, background klance, background thulaz
Rating Mature, no explicit sexual content
Tags Graphic Depictions of Violence, Fake Major Character Death, Graphic Panic Attacks, Topics of suicide or mental illness, Topics of abuse, Rebel Lance AU
Summary
Lance leaves the team and becomes a badass rebel who helps Pidge find her brother.
Excerpt
Against all odds, when Lance was offered a weapon to fight with, being given the option of any of the weapons they had, he chose the set of throwing daggers. A set of eight, the seventh slot empty, each with a unique but familiar brandishing. Kolivan, who was standing behind him, moved closer. “Which is your favourite?” He questioned gently, a sense of despair in his voice, and a large hand placed on Lance’s shoulder. Lance looked at each of them.
The first one was a triangular knife, almost like the tip of a spear. The second was curved, almost like an ocean wave. The third resembled a waning crescent moon, smooth curve appealing to the eye. The fourth was a normal looking kitchen knife, but the where the knife was supposed to raise to a tip, curving down to the serrated side, it broke off into a second, smaller knife, with a thin triangular tip. The fifth was similar to the third but not as curved and with separate smaller crescents forming a dangerous looking petal shape around the sharpened edge. The sixth was simpler, vaguely resembling a small katana. The last one looked like a regular member’s dagger. The seventh remained a mystery.
Notes