Hi everyone! Yikes, I didn't realize it had been a month since I updated! I was finishing up the first draft of a longer Voltron fic, but now I've got a free queue for fic. More notes at the bottom of the fic if you care to read em. For now, on to the chapter!
Lars knocked on the door to Steven's house a bit nervously. He'd been there before, but that was after Steven had possessed him and walked his body in without his awareness—he had been inside, but never really entered.
"Lars! You're here!" Steven called, and Lars could see him scrambling to open the door through the screen.
"Sure I am," Lars said. "You said there was someone you wanted me to meet?"
Lars didn't have a clue who would be at Steven's house that he'd need to meet; the Off-Colors were staying here, but he already knew them all, and he'd met the Crystal Gems before.
"I wanted you to meet Lion!" Steven beamed, gesturing up to the loft above them, where sure enough, there was a sleeping lion. A lion in a very familiar shade of pink.
"Steven, is this the lion you were talking about on Homeworld? The one with the-" Lars gestured at his own hair, still unsure how exactly to describe exactly what it was now.
"Yep!" Steven said cheerfully. "I don't know anyone else that's, well, been through the same stuff, and since Lion has, I figured you could learn some things from him!"
Lars looked up at Lion, who was sprawled across the floor at the foot of Steven's bed, one back leg twitching in his sleep.
"Steven, he's a lion. He can't talk, can he?"
"No," Steven said, obviously growing a bit dejected. "Or at least if he can talk, he hasn't talked to me yet."
"So what am I supposed to learn from him if he can't talk? You know about all his powers and stuff, right? Why don't you just teach me instead?"
"It's not that simple," Steven sighed. "Lion's always doing things I don't know he can, and even the stuff I do know about, I don't know how he does it. If I tried to tell you about it, I'd probably wind up leaving out something I didn't know was important, or explaining it the wrong way, or something. Lion can't tell you how he does any of this stuff, but I figured you'd probably have a better chance learning it by watching him do it than listening to me tell you about it."
Steven might have a point there. He was a great kid, but not always the best at explaining things. Lars took another look at Lion, at the fur the same shade of pink as his own skin, the mane the same candyfloss color. If there really was no one else on Earth the same as the two of them, he had to give it a try, right?
"Steven, he's asleep," Lars said. Steven, recognizing it as a concession, perked back up.
"Yeah, he naps a lot, but I'm sure he's gonna wake up soon! Wait, there's something we can try, give me a sec!"
Steven pulled away from Lars and ran to the kitchen, and Lars took the chance to walk further into the living room. Lion seemed pretty dead to the world. If he learned nothing else here, at least Lars was pretty sure he'd still be able to sleep if he wanted to. He didn't need sleep anymore, but sometimes it was nice to just block everything out for a few hours. Nice to know he hadn't lost the ability to do it.
"Steven!" a third voice called. Lars turned to see the Crystal Gems emerging from a glowing door in the rock wall, and honestly, if he hadn't seen all kinds of stuff like it on Homeworld already, he'd be freaking out a bit right now.
"Steven are you ready for the mission – oh, hello Lars!" Pearl called, noticing the teen in the living room only at the end of her sentence. Lars nodded in recognition, but didn't talk – Pearl seemed to be a Gem in a hurry right now.
"Oh shoot!" Steven said, a box of those ridiculous Lion Lickers in his hands. "I just invited Lars over! Can't it wait like, an hour?"
"Nope," Garnet said, and Steven sighed. He stuck the box back into the freezer and began walking towards the launch pad.
"Wait, where are you going?" Lars asked, confused.
"On a Gem mission," Steven sighed. "We gotta stabilize some Gem wreckage in the jungle before it crashes with enough force to cause an earthquake. I'm not sure why we're doing it right now though, I thought it was safe for another couple days?"
The last question was directed at the Gems more than it was at Lars.
"Yes, well, we may have been a bit less careful disrupting the wreckage to pull the ship out than I thought," Pearl said. "We were very worried about you, Steven."
Her voice sounded so much like his mother's had, when he'd first made it back to Earth. Quiet and achingly full of sadness.
"So should I come back another day?" Lars asked.
"If you want to, I guess, but this should be pretty quick. You can just, um, sit on the couch and wait! We'll be back really soon." Steven smiled anxiously and patted Lars's shoulder on his way to the warp pad. Before Lars could even figure out what to say to that, the Gems were gone.
"Well, that just happened," Lars said, still trying to figure out how he'd come to be in Steven's living room when Steven wasn't there but a lion was.
Speaking of the lion, Lars took another look up to the loft, where sure enough, Lion was lying in the same position.
But his eyes were open now.
In a flash, Lion jumped down from the loft and landed in front of Lars, eying the teen in what seemed like a curious manner.
"Gah! Geez, don't do that to a guy!" Lars complained. Lion just leaned forward to sniff at him, then sat back on his hind legs and continued eying him.
"Heh, I guess you're a lot like a cat, huh? I guess technically lions are cats. Dunno what Steven was thinking I'd be able to learn from a big fuzzball like you."
Lars reached forward to attempt petting Lion, but as he did, Lion moved faster than he thought was possible and quickly grabbed Lars's shirt collar in his teeth, lifting the teen off the ground as he startled.
"Hey! Put me down!" Lars protested, but Lion swung his head to the side, throwing Lars roughly onto Lion's own back, where Lars clung for dear life. The second Lars seemed to be getting some balance, Lion roared, and something about the roar struck a nerve deep inside Lars. He couldn't put it in words, but some part of him was almost resonating with the roar.
Lars was so busy being confused by this that he didn't notice the glowing pink portal that Lion had opened until the two were already through it.
The place where Lars now found himself was like a place from a kid's storybook, or a dream. It was an enormous field of strawberry plants—huge strawberry plants. In between the enormous leaves, Lars could see flashes and glints of other colors reflecting the sunlight: swords, spears, an enormous mace.
"What is this place?" Lars asked Lion, who only began running through the field. This time, Lars could tell Lion was about to roar a split second before he did: that strange buzzing, pulling, singing sensation fizzled in his core as Lion roared again, and this time Lars watched as a portal sprang into existence in the direction Lion had roared.
This was the kind of thing Lion could do? Was this a power Lars could learn somehow? And if so, how? There was no noise a human could make with the same power as a lion's roar.
Lars watched in rapt attention as Lion opened a handful more portals to incredible locations (including the island where he and Steven and Sadie had been 'stranded' for some time, where he swore he saw a person made of watermelon), finally portalling the two of them back to Beach City.
Several hundred meters from the shore.
Lars flinched and covered his face with his arms, bracing for the impact of salt water, but it never came. Lion continued running, and Lars opened his eyes to see what the deal was.
They were still far from the shore. And Lion was still running. On top of the water.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Lars cried. "You can freaking walk on water and Steven didn't think to even mention it?"
With the pace Lion was running, the two reached the shore quickly, and Lion plopped down onto the sand. Lars took the opportunity to slide off Lion's back and onto the sand before Lion could decide to drag him through another portal and stay there instead, but he didn't head home yet.
Steven had been right. Lars wanted desperately to learn how to do the incredible things that Lion was able to do. He'd been useful mostly as one end of a doorway so far; he wanted to be able to be helpful even when Steven wasn't there to access his hair-dimension.
Lion blinked at Lars, looking at the teen expectantly.
"What?" Lars asked.
Lion turned his head to look out at the ocean, in the direction they'd just come from. Where Lion had just run on top of the water.
Did he want Lars to try it, too?
Lars glanced around the beach—old habits die hard, and being self-conscious was a tough one to break. The sun was beginning to set, and there was hardly anyone around. No one seemed to have noticed Lion arriving, either. Even if Lars made a spectacle of himself, there was no one around to gawk.
"Worth a try, I guess," Lars said, walking nervously toward the edge of the water. He placed one foot forward, as if he was just taking another step, and cautiously brought it down.
His foot slipped below the surface of the water, as anyone else would have expected it to, and Lars stumbled back as seawater soaked through his shoe and into his sock. Homeworld had some nasty things to offer, but wearing a cold, wet sock was still extremely unpleasant.
Lars heard shuffling in the sand beside him, and Lion came to stand next to him. Lion fixed his gaze on Lars for a few moments, and then walked forward to the edge of the water and carefully dipped a paw in. It, too, breached the surface of the water and got wet. Lion backed up and shook the water off of his paw, then took off running without warning, bounding straight for the water, and this time he stayed on the surface. Lion ran in a small circle before coming back into shore, and only a moment after Lion's feet hit the shore, Lars could feel his nose digging into Lars's back, pushing him towards the water.
"So, what? I just . . . gotta go fast?" Lars asked. Lion nudged his back again.
"Okay," Lars said, shifting into a running position. "Let's try this again."
Lars took off for the water, taking a few running strides before he reached the waterline again, and he forced himself not to flinch or alter his pace as he reached the water that should have slowed him.
Instead, he was able to keep running, the waves underneath his feet. The feeling of running on water was strange—the ground was constantly shifting, and there was so much give to the surface, like walking on the top of one of those foam pits at a gymnastics studio. It was surreal, and Lars had to force himself to concentrate on keeping his legs moving instead of on the feeling of the surface of the water. He had reached a deeper part of the water, now, and it would be pretty bad if he fell in and had to swim back to shore.
With that thought, Lars turned and started running back towards the shore, carving a wide arc. Back on the beach, Lion was watching him with what he'd call satisfaction, if he had to guess at a lion's emotions.
He was really doing this. He was running on water.
"LARS!" came a gleeful shout from the beach, and Lars stumbled and splashed into the water—thankfully shallow, only a foot or so deep. He turned to see Steven rushing down to the water from the direction of the Temple, wearing a grin that threatened to split his face in half.
Lars got to his feet and made it to shore by the time Steven reached him and swept him into a practically bone-crushing hug.
"Oh, Lars! I knew you'd be able to learn something!" Steven said, and Lars couldn't help but smile and feel a little proud of himself. After all, he'd just been able to do something that, as far as he knew, no other human had ever accomplished.
"So what else did he show you? Did you learn anything else?" Steven asked, pulling back to watch Lars's face, glee clearly spread across his own. Lars nervously ruffled his hair. He could feel the soft heat of a blush spreading across his face, though he wasn't sure if it was visible given how pink the rest of him already was.
"Well, he did make a whole bunch of portals by roaring," Lars said. "But I think it's gonna take me a while to figure that one out."
"Don't worry! I know you'll be able to figure it out!" Steven beamed.
"Yeah," Lars said. He didn't doubt the younger boy; this was just the start of what he'd be able to do, he was certain of it.
Just wanted to give a heads up that there's a good chance that this fic won't update in the month of July-I'm giving myself that month to write out a bunch of shorter fics in fandoms I don't usually write for that I've been thinking of for a while. If you haven't seen fic for another one of your fandoms among my fics yet, maybe keep an eye out: I'll be writing for Miraculous Ladybug for the first time, and it'll likely be the first time I post Voltron fic. I might start messing around with Animorphs again too, who knows?
Anyway, the next update should be a pretty big one about Lars getting off of Homeworld and how that happened, so definitely follow the story if that interests you! Also coming up we have Lars and Sadie discussing immortality, the Off-Colors finding their place on Earth, and Lars learning how to make portals!