A/N: I, uh, started another project and...wow. I'm taking on four October contests. I'm either insane, or...insane. This was based off a roleplay that I did with a friend, who...heh, left me and stopped talking to me out of nowhere. That's fine. Not like I need friends...
But find me on Voltron amino anyway! I always change my name, so be aware of the date, but as of currently, my user on there is 3xc3zx14rz.
PART ONE OF ONE
Warning: gore, blood, death, adult themes, violence, swearing
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in these stories or the plots or anything used, but the ideas for the shorts are mine. I use the characters without permission, but for no gain, only for fun to share with everyone.
Gloomy clouds floated through calm, cool nights skies awash with blues, greens, pinks, purples, and greys, making for a beautiful evening sky.
Down below, the beautiful, glistening city was bustling with people coming out of work from the long day or going into their graveyard shifts ahead, with people shopping-talking and gossiping as they held big, bulky bags of clothes or purses or trinkets or accessories in their arms.
Others sat down at a restaurant here or there for a bite to eat, but one building, in particular, was awash with a light gathering, standing out over the rest of the beautiful city with lust for such a sight.
Adam let out a sigh through his nose, enjoying the scene before him to the fullest extent he could from the newly-refurbished balcony of his penthouse before his fiancé came out to persuade him back inside.
The chilled glass of champagne in his hand bubbled and trickled against the glass, sending vibrations through Adam's fingers to remind him he was holding something so he wouldn't drop it in distraction of the view.
"Adam," a voice called from behind him, but Adam didn't respond. He closed his eyes instead and let the wind blow back the hair from his face. It was such a soothing feeling, as if the gorgeous spirit of the earth was caressing his cheeks and petting his head with such a love for her child.
"Adam," Shiro called again and wrapped his toned, strong arms around his fiancé.
"Let's go inside, love. You have forever to gaze at this view of the city. We don't have a lot of time left before our friends have to leave the city," he said.
'Your friends,' Adam corrected in his mind.
Adam turned his head from the image before him and instead walked inside with Shiro, but he felt some sort of strange urge behind him. He glanced back behind him, and oddly, found a strange-shaped cloud formed in the sky. It disappeared when he blinked, though, so he just dismissed it to his imagination.
Inside, low music played, and the group standing together in the living room of the penthouse got louder when they saw Adam walk up.
"Why don't we move to the table?" Shiro suggested, attempting too hard to play the gracious host. "I'll get more champagne from the kitchen and we can talk."
It worked, though, and the group migrated to the long, thick cherry oak table to sit and talk. Shiro came back from his trip to the kitchen and filled emptied glasses with sparkling strawberry champagne as the conversation picked up again.
"So, Adam," Lance started to speak at him first, and Adam nervously clutched his fiancé's hand under the table for comfort. Shiro smiled and gave Adam a gentle squeeze back to reassure him as Lance continued. "It's about time one of you finally up and proposed. What's it been, like 20 years?" By his playful tone, Adam could tell he was joking, but he had to lick his nervous, dry lips wet again before he replied.
"Six," he said, surprisingly smooth and without a stutter this time. Shiro used his free hand to massage Adam's thigh under the table, and Adam relaxed under the calming touch of his fiancé.
"Wow, six years. Hey, that's almost as old as you, Mullet," Lance teased Keith with a playful punch in the arm, to which Keith returned, but not so playfully. Keith's fist landed square on Lance's arm and nearly knocked him out of his seat at that.
In doing so, however, it landed Keith a sharp smack upside the head from Allura, who also glared at Lance to warn him he was next if he dared misbehave again.
A second later, she smiled politely at Adam and Shiro though and then asked to use the restroom.
"I don't mean to be a bother, but might I use your lavatory to freshen up?" She asked, and Shiro got up to show her.
"Yeah," he said with a nod, "this way. I'll show you."
The two left the room silently after that, but the group wasn't quiet for long. pidge was the first one to speak after that.
"Seems like you guys have a pretty nice view of the city," she said to break the building tension coming from Keith's hard glare at Lance.
Lance hid the small smirk wanting to form on his lips, knowing full and well how to piss Keith off.
"Y-yeah, we were really lucky to get this complex," he stuttered out, then mentally cursed himself for the stupid trip of his tongue.
The room went silent for a minute, and the only sounds in the penthouse were coming from the footsteps of Shiro's padded feet down the hall.
Seemingly out of nowhere though, Keith snarled some unheard threat to Lance, and the next thing Adam knew, the two were in a tangled heap on the floor, with Keith's hands around Lance's neck.
"Keith-!" Shiro's enraged voice echoed in the room a bit as he ran to separate the two from each other. Adam helped, and as Shiro pried Keith off of Lance and into his lap, Adam pulled Lance into his arms and turned his body to stand between Keith and Lance.
Shiro, however, was obviously pissed. He detained Keith and pressed his bulging arms tight against Keith's chest to keep him from getting free and attacking Lance again. He couldn't believe how his best friend could act like this at a moment like this, in front of his fiancé. It wasn't unlike Keith, but it wasn't exactly like him either. Something had to have really provoked him.
Lance panted heavily and coughed at the rasp he found in his throat, but otherwise, he was just shaken up. Adam checked his throat for bruising; there'd surely be some after how hard Keith throttled him.
But none of the group expected the blood-curdling scream that came from Allura's throat.
The group all followed Allura's shaking finger to the living-room window of the penthouse, and there, on the horizon, was the strange cloud Adam had gotten a glance of earlier in the evening, but this time, it was pitch black. It was massive, too-so big it took up half the upper north side of town where it sat.
Words failed Adam, and he didn't know who, but someone screamed "get down", and the next thing he knew, Adam was on the floor under the cherry oak table with something thick and heavy above him, shielding his body from the impending events. A bright, white light like they speak about when you die blinded him then, even though his eyes were shut tight and a sonic-like sound unlike anything Adam had ever heard in his life blew out his eardrums and everything within a 30-mile radius of the strange cloud.
Once the ringing in Adam's ears subsided and faded away, he could hear his fiancé's friends coughing desperately around him, and Hunk and Lance were panicking.
"What was that!?" Hunk cried out, looking like he was about to throw up once more from how queasy the blast made him.
"I don't know, pero carájo, it can't be good," he said, and Pidge muttered something.
"What, Pidge?" Adam asked, and he was horrified when she answered.
"Aliens," she whimpered, her whole body trembling. "Aliens..."
The large, strange black cloud in the distance suddenly shifted another 16 miles to the northeast in the blink of an eye, and another white light emerged to boom in the distance, but this time, was a bit less severe and didn't leave Adam deaf and blind and reeling from the intensity. He was pretty sure the last blast made his heart skip a beat.
Entire buildings below shook and rumbled and some unlucky few that were too close to the object were completely incinerated in less than a second. The group currently in the penthouse entire blocks away collapsed to their feet from the shake that erupted through the building just then-and PIdge explained just a moment later.
"We must be sitting on a tectonic plate," she said, "and the sonic blasts from whatever the hell that giant thing in the sky is is shifting it and rocking it out of place. It's only a matter of minutes before that thing causes an earthquake big enough to sink the entire city underground or causes a tsunami big enough to submerge us, or both."
"Then running very very far away is presumably the best thing to do, right?" Hunk asked, and Pidge nodded rapidly. "It may have only been a minute, but I think it's safe to assume that this thing only wants the largely populated areas with the most people. If we jump in the car and all go to the country area, we're less likely to be attacked."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Shiro asked rhetorically, and then the group was on their feet and out the door in seconds.
Shiro made sure to grab his car keys first as they hurried out the door, but as they were leaving, another ear-deafening blast shook and rumbled the building hard enough to throw the group off their feet. Adam, however, fell over the railing down the fire escape they used and felt the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground below hard. His head spun and his vision blurred out of focus, and something warm and wet stung his eye horribly.
"Adam!" Lance cried out, and when the shaking stopped, Lance raced down the stairs to help him, urging Shiro to follow. Shiro was currently preoccupied, however, as during the shaking of the building, Keith was thrown into his arms and they both up against the wall, leaning so that Keith had Shiro pressed by his back against the wall. Keith's hands slid slowly up Shiro's tight, muscular chest, and for a brief moment, sparkling amethyst met cloudy grey, and the two's lips were mere centimeters apart.
Adam hid the pang of jealousy he felt at watching the way Shiro looked at Keith at that moment, and instead accepted Lance's generous hand to get to his feet. Adam was just about to clear his throat then, but the black cloud had gotten closer because the fourth blast from said object threw them all on the ground and had the group of friends covering their ears and closing their eyes tightly. As soon as it stopped, though, Shiro fought to get back on his feet and started yelling over the ringing of everyone's ears from the loud blast.
"Everyone, start moving! We gotta go; this thing is getting closer! Stay close together!" he shouted, and this time, when the ringing cleared away, they could hear the loud sounds of people screaming in the apartments below them, most desperately trying to get out of the building before it gave way. "Find a partner to hold hands with, so if you get lost, you're not alone!"
Keith instantly snatched up Shiro's hand just then, feeling unsteady and queasy himself until Shiro smiled down at him reassuringly and squeezed his hand back. Keith calmed visibly, his expression softening and going lax at Shiro's smile. Keith's eyes fell once more on Shiro's lips, then, and lingered for only a moment until there was another, shorter blast. This one, though, was thankfully far enough away that it didn't disturb the nearby area too much. Shiro snapped out of it when he heard Lance shouting about Adam being hurt, however.
"Shiro!" Lance called, "Adam's bleeding; we need to get him help, right away!"
Shiro let go of Keith's hand then to rush over to Adam's side and scoop his fiancee into his arms easily. "Hey," Shiro whispered into his ear, "you're okay. I'm right here. It's okay."
The group immediately heard another blast, but this one was way in the distance, and Hunk spoke up for the first time that night. "We gotta go," he said, "we gotta run and get out of here if we're going to get to safety, much less to safety. We can't take a car. We'll get stuck in traffic or blown up by that...thing in the sky. What's the nearest, safest place to hide for now while we're under attack?"
"Actually," Pidge answered, "there are multiple 'safe zones' the government built in case of emergencies like this-"
"Don't they just go underground in the movies?" Keith interrupted, and Pidge shrugged. "I guess we could, but-"
"Then let's go. We're wasting time here," he interrupted again, and Allura chimed in. "Let's hurry then. To the subways? Is that the safest underground place?: she asked, and PIdge tapped her lip. "I don't know," she said. "It's bound to be overcrowded with people.
"5th street," Shiro said, "5th street and central is crossways that's been shut down for some time. It's dangerous, but will likely be empty. It's been abandoned."
Shiro kissed Adam's lips softly, then his forehead softly, and his cheeks and nose with just as much care. Keith looked away, trying to supress the urge to fantasize what it might be like to be in Adam's shoes right then and be kissed by Shiro so tentatively.
Keith then tensed up. He didn't register how they all started quickly migrating downstairs to get out of the building and find the subways, he felt too guilty. It was his fault that Shiro got distracted and now Adam was probably seriously injured. The fact that Shiro didn't point it out or rub it in his face, though, made the pain of the guilt even worse for Keith.
Keith unconsciously squeezed Lance's hand, craving comfort from his friend in that moment more than he ever felt he might need from Lance, only because he needed reassurance that everything was going to be okay.
Hunk glanced over at Shiro and Adam, then back at Pidge worriedly, and spoke again for the second time that night. "You think we'll be alright?" he asked Pidge. "What are our chances of getting out of this...if it is, a...y'know…" He hinted at the words, not exactly wanting to say the word "aliens". He didn't want to seem crazy, and saying that they were being attacked by aliens sounded outright crazy.
Shiro held Adam close to him as they hurried down the stairs, careful not to move too much too quickly so as not to make Adam uncomfortable.
"Baby," Shiro whispered softly into Adam's ear, "come here. Follow my voice. Stay with me, please, my love. Stay with me. It's gonna be okay."
Keith moved closer to Lance, a gesture to show he was grateful for Lance's support when he needed it. He felt like utter shit for being so selfish with Shiro.
Shiro kissed Adam again. "Stop,": he smiled, "it's not your fault. We'll get you help, okay? Just hang tight."
Soon, the group was able to make it outside of the building, but when they did, the streets were an utter disaster. Cars were upturned and horns were shrieking desperately in alarm, begging their drivers to return to reassure them. The ground rumbled lightly beneath their feet, causing the group to possibly believe the ground might actually crumble underneath them any second now. People ahead of them ran and screamed for their lives, while others looted and ran wild to take cover and find decent shelter.
Allura turned to vomit into the gutter just then, and Keith let go of Lance for a split second to catch Allura and comfort her before she could fall over, but it was a split second too long. Behind them, a black Lexus growled to life, and screeched in agony as its' tires burned rubber to jet off in the group's direction.
Hunk grabbed Pidge out of the way just in time, and Shiro managed to jump to the curb and narrowly avoid being hit or risking Adam getting hit or risking Adam getting hit, but Lance wasn't so lucky. The car swerved and drifted out of control, knocking Lance with the driver's side hard enough to throw him off his feet and scrape up his feet and leg bad enough that he couldn't stand. Keith froze in horror, and couldn't believe what he'd just seen. As if the guilt with Shiro wasn't bad enough, he just HAD to let go of Lance's hand. He just had to.
Had he not, had Keith actually held onto Lance like he was supposed to, he could've yanked Lance out of the way of the oncoming car in time, but he hadn't. He'd fucking let go.
Lance's body went flying as if he weighed nothing, throwing him on the floor like he was a rag doll. He laid on the asphalt for a moment, the adrenaline leaving his body only to be replaced instantly with pain. It was absolutely excruciating, bleeding him of all of his nerves and senses and flooding his brain with the registering of the hurt. He would have fainted by now in any other situation, but he needed to live here. He wasn't going to die in an alien invasion to a car. That'd be just pathetic.
Lance lay on the road, tears freely rolling down his cheeks now as he forced himself to sut up, letting out a cry of bloody murder at the realization of how badly his leg was really messed up. Adam, however, was quick to hop out of Shiro's arms and run to Lance's side, the adrenaline from the shock now blocking any pain or blurriness Adam was previously feeling. "We need to get someplace safe, now! No more mucking around! Lance needs help!"
Keith held Allura in his arms, making sure she'd be okay to get up and run on her own when they took off into the street towards the subways, and she reassured him she was fine. Shiro, though, wasn't too happy about Adam about being up on his feet and running around stressing over others like the selfless person he was. "No, Adam, come here. You need to relax. Calm down. You're injured, too, and you need to settle down before you pass out and I lose you for good. Please."
Hunk picked up Lance easily from Adam's arms, making sure to hold him with care since Lance had obvious road rash. Shiro extended his arms to Adam then, looking at him with a desperate, silent plea on his lips.
Keith suddenly gasped and pulled his phone out. "I know someone!" he said rapidly, "a paramedic. He'll help patch Lance up and figure out how to help Adam. He can meet us in the subway, but we have to move fast."
Shiro nodded then, and the group got ready to run. "Let's go, then. We'll meet him there, and make it to the subway together to wait this thing out until we can get to the country."