In another reality, both the steps leading up to Lance finding the mechanical lion sleeping in Earth's desert and his reaction would have been different— but this was not that reality.
In this story, Lance hears the call of the lion himself.
It dreams of danger, it dreams of him finding it. So he goes after it, half afraid if its real and half afraid that he is simply delusional; Lance is quite unsure which he wants.
He still tells his family about it, after a long hesitation— they seem to have the same fears as him.
If the lion of their long dead ancestor's ancient lore is crying out once again… what could it mean? Will they have to flee this blue-gem planet and settle somewhere else, just as their fleeing Altean ancestors did once before…?
They help Lance find the lion, hoping to defend their livelihood; at this point, they are more Earth-creatures than bound to Altea. Even if their blood lies in the stars, they've been here for 10,000 years— they will not leave. They will fight.
xXx
The lion's mythicality had fallen into such a realm of belief within Lance's family (and, unbeknownst to them, the rest of the universe). It was easy to see why, considering Lance's family had lived with stories and records passed down from ancestors who fled to earth in the Galra's takeover; they found somewhere to live where they could innocuously fit in with the locals, and soon enough each generation cared less and less about the life of those first Alteans. Their Altean blood became diluted and slowly, they became bound to earth; humans in every sense except a little blood— culturally, they were simply people, merely people with a bit odder family history than most.
Despite this, the thing was real… and Lance found it. It had dreamed of him, called him there— and without hesitation, it scooped the part-Altean boy up and flew away, leaving his stunned family behind.
xXx
What followed next was also familiar-yet-not: Lance, panicking and attempting to put his Garrison training into practice while the lion didn't follow controlled orders nor even listen to his pleaded begs to return him to his family. The difference: he was alone in the cockpit in this story, and his Altean eye marks were glowing with full panic.
xXx
"Please," he gulped as the thing approached a sparkling planet, quickly zeroing in on the white castle. "I know I'm like, part-Alt-whatever, and we're the ones who created you or whatever— but, ah, I just kind of want to go home?" The lion jolted, slowing down in preparation of landing. Lance continued to babble— "I have a nice life, and I'm not even the best pilot, but the Garrison training is fun, and I have friends and sisters and—" he was cut off upon the lion's rough plop onto the ground of the white castle's apparent landing bay. "I'm not getting out 'til you take me home," he groused at it.
And thus he sat there, tucked up in the pilot's seat with his arms folded defiantly.
After five minutes, the lion had enough, and launched the boy out of the seat with the emergency eject.
"Fine!" Lance snapped. "Stupid tin can. Why'd you even call to me, anyways? I'm barely even Altean and I just crashed my flight simulator today— I know you defend the universe and whatever, so why me?"
It had no answer.
xXx
Lance could pretty easily tell that this castle was Altean tech; he was no tech wizard by any means, but it looked similar to the ancient artifacts his mom hung onto. Despite being so old they still mostly worked, parceling out boring holographic historical records.
A short walk revealed to him the cryopods.
...Needless to say, Allura was surprised at being awakened by another Altean. Or at least… something that looked vaguely like an Altean…?
"Your ears are too round," she told him bluntly in Altean— naturally, he didn't understand her that well; Altean was a language he was rust at the very least in. Indeed, Lance's ears were a bit sharper than an average human's, but nowhere near the elf like length Allura's were; his primary Altean feature were the blue cheek-marks below his eyes.
Lance blinked down at her, surprised— another Altean emerged, one with a ridiculous mustache, and informed the first that they'd been sleeping for 10,000 years.
Lance just watched on, confused at their too-fast gibberish as Allura and Coran mourned their lost culture.
Eventually, Allura sighed, turning her attention towards him— "I suppose we should get him a translator collar, shouldn't we?"
"That would be a good idea, princess," Coran agreed.
xXx
From there, Allura explained the lions, Voltron, Lance's new mission. Lance in turn explained why he looked vaguely like an Altean ("but smaller and uglier," in Allura's kind words) and capped it off with a depressed, "guess I don't get to go home just yet then, huh?" Hurriedly he added a formal, "princess," since he technically was a subject (right…? Lance was unsure).
"No. We must locate the other paladins, and you must server as a knight of Voltron," Allura informed authoritatively.
"Defender of the universe!" Coran cawed grandly, throwing one arm around Lance and the other gesturing wildly.
"Great," Lance huffed.
xXx
this is my first vld fic. i had this idea a while ago and now im kinda late to the party but eh? who cares tbh…
I didnt even watch the last season because of all the negativity and god knows if i will but this is an au so screw canon. it's probably going to be more slice of lifey jazz since it follows canon RELATIVELY well…
Anyways….
yeah…
I'm looking for a name for this. Suggestions are open!