A knock at the door startled Lance, as he finished packing all of the essentials, and all his other non-essential essentials, into his suitcase.
"Lance? You ready to go?"
Lance mentally confirmed that he had packed everything that he could possibly need, before going to answer the door.
Standing in front of the door, snowflakes softly falling around him, Keith stood beaming, a sparkle in his eye, as he was unable to contain his excitement for the holidays.
"All good, I've got everything, let's head out!"
Lance took one last look into his apartment, before heading out of the door, to the car which was waiting for them.
"Maria! You're here!" Lance grinned with as much enthusiasm as he could possibly manage, as he went to greet his sister.
"Lance, chill, it's barely been a Month since I last saw you." Maria raised an eyebrow at her overdramatic brother.
"A whole month! That's like,, 100 days!"
"That's... Not right," Keith mumbled, quietly, receiving a small smile from Maria.
"Hurry up and throw your bags into the trunk, it's freezing out here, and Mika and Adrian are already there, we don't want to keep them waiting too long, Lance."
"Right! Sorry! Let's go!"
For most of the Journey, Lance and Maria had their music playing, and they sang along at the top of their lungs, with the widest smiles gracing their features, with no cares whatsoever about how neither one of them could carry a tune particularly well, or that the high notes completely escaped them.
Keith sat in the back seat, enjoying the experience, but keeping quiet and to himself, uncertain about how to act around Maria. After some coaxing from Lance, he eventually joined in with the singing, but was much more subdued than the other two, restraining himself from singing as intensely as the other two.
Once they finally reached Lance's Grandparents' Lodge, in the forest, two hours later, they were all rather quiet, having taken a break for silence, to rest tired voices.
Ahead of them, the Lodge looked straight out of a painting, with a heavy layering of snow covering the ground, snowflakes falling, but light enough to only coat the snow with an extra layer of glitter. The soft, warm tones of the wood against the stark, white snow brought the Lodge to life, differentiating it from the many, many trees surrounding it. Lance felt his soul fill up with joy, as the Lodge brought back so many happy, childhood memories. He turned to grin at Keith, who was staring at the scene in awe, taking in the beauty.
"Cmon, Keith! Everyone's waiting inside for us; I've still got to introduce you to the rest of my family."
The three went inside, leaving their footsteps in the snow, much deeper than they had expected, all three covered in snow to just above the ankles, dreading the snow melting into their clothing.
"Uncle Lance! Auntie Maria! Keith! You're here!"
Alyse and Thalia appeared at the door instantly, having been waiting at the door since the car pulled up, but holding back as they were told not to go outdoors, since they had just dried off from the snow.
"Hey Kids!" Maria said, smiling down at the two girls, who were beaming with pure glee. "Do you two wanna show me where the tree is, so that I can add all of your gifts to the pile?"
The kids ran off, Maria in tow, leaving the two boys at the door, with their luggage.
"So, I should probably quickly introduce you to my family, since we're gonna be here five days and you probably would rather meet them than awkwardly avoid them and be anonymous for five days, then we can go ditch our stuff and figure out what to do from there."
"Alright, let's go meet your siblings."
"Percy, sweetie, can you put that down? Lana! Get off that! Oh Adrian don't just laugh, help me out! I helped you when Thalia and Alyse were this troublesome!"
"I'll help you out, Mika, since my husband is too busy laughing."
"Hey cmon Kira, she's my little sister, I'm allowed to laugh at her struggles, she laughed at mine!"
Before they even entered the main living room, the two boys could tell that the room was overflowing with chaos, even without the older two troublemakers in the room.
"Hey Mika, need a hand?"
"Uncle Lance!" the two kids chorused, distracted from their mayhem for a few seconds, giving the three adults a chance to grab the kids, putting a stop to their reign of chaos.
"I think we're good, for now. Who's your friend?" Mika raised an eyebrow at her younger brother, glancing to the other boy, who was standing rather close to Lance.
"This is Keith."
"Oh! So you're Keith! Thalia talks about you a lot, how you've been helping her with her magic." Adrian smiled at the dark haired boy.
"You didn't tell me he was cute," Mika whispered to Lance, causing him to blush slightly.
"Keith, these are my siblings." Lance ignored Mika's comment, moving straight to introductions. Keith looked at the three adults stood before him, noting the resemblance that two had to Lance, assuming the third must be his sister in law.
"Adrian, Kira, Mika." Lance gestured to each sibling, "Keith. And, of course, Lana and Percy."
"Hey, nice to finally meet you guys." Keith smiled sincerely.
"Nice to meet you too, Keith."
"Still don't believe Keith has any friends other than Lance."
"Hey! I have loads of friend's i'll have you know! I probably have more friends than you!"
"Why haven't we met these friends then, huh?"
"They're just busy! And you're busy!"
"Are you sure they're not just imaginary?"
"Boys." The boys went silent as their mother walked into the room, staring disapprovingly at the two of them. "Adrian, stop picking on your brother. Lance, stop falling for it." She turned to Keith with a smile. "You must be Keith. So great to finally meet you."
"You too."
"Alright, ma, Keith and I are gonna go put are things up in our rooms… Where are we staying this year?"
"Since your brother is here this year, you two have to share the twin room."
"Are there not any other rooms spare ma?" Lance complained.
"You and Hunk have been fine in that room in past years, and your brother doesn't visit very often, so he gets priority."
Lance frowned, but led Keith back to where they had left their luggage, before heading upstairs.
"This place is so much bigger than it looks…" Keith said, awed.
"Extension charms, my grandparents were especially good at them, so they're completely stable, and have been for years."
"What's wrong with the room that they offered?"
"Well…" Lance opened a door to his right, and walked in, with Keith in tow. "It's just one room. Usually Hunk and I get our own rooms, en-suite, but when Loki's here, Mika and the twins take one of the singles, and Loki takes the other, rather than Mika taking the twin room, for the girls, and Hunk and I getting a room each. Are you alright with sharing?"
Keith nodded slightly, his composure not faltering at all, despite the faint blush as he looked at the small, twin room. "I shared with Matt and Katie a lot when we were younger, before I got my own place, so I'm used to it."
"I used to have to share with Adrian and Loki, but then the extension charms made our small houses big enough for all of us to have our own room, but even extension charms have limits."
The boys each chose a side of the room, and began to unpack their things, into the empty wardrobes and drawers, before each going to change into some warmer, more appropriate clothes for the snow.
"So, Keith." Lance said, once the two were all sorted. "You wanna go explore the forests?"
"Go out into the dark forests when its covered in snow, freezing outside with no idea where I'm going?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like fun. Let's go."
"Sweet, I wanna show you this clearing I used to hang out at all the time in the past. You're a fan of magic, I'm sure you're gonna love it."
Strings of light ran through the trees, magic particles frozen in ice to form crystalised beams, shining down onto the forest floor, where only a soft layer of frost lay across the ground, tiny snowflake patterns noticeable across the entirety of the forest floor. Sunlight flickered through the canopy, light twinkling as the ice glittered in the sunlight, refracting light like a million tiny diamonds. Tiny shadows flickered through, as small fae flew quickly to their destination, limiting their time in the snow as much as possible, to stay warm.
"This is my place. It's where I grew up. It's much more beautiful on a full moon, when the magic's at its strongest, and there are more fae creatures around when the weather is warmer, but it's especially beautiful when it's cold enough to snow…"
"It's amazing… Thank you, Lance."
A/N
Things are just starting now.
Okay so massive apologies about the fact that my last update was November 15th.. 2017, and that it's November 30th 2018… technically it's still November?
I stopped writing because after reaching the point where I fell asleep in Class, I couldn't keep writing, because my studies were falling apart, and I always throw myself in too deep. I was looking through my emails for once and saw notifications and remembered this story existed.. and decided I kinda want to continue. I apologise if my writing style has changed a lot, but it has been a year, and if continuity is a little messy, please forgive me. I think I remember most of my planning, though, so I'll do my best to continue, and hopefully, it won't be another year until my next update. Voltron Season 8 comes out in a few weeks, which I still can't believe, but I'll still try my best to finish this. Thanks to anyone who decided to read, and once again, I'm so sorry I forgot about this story. It's been a long year. I hope this update makes up for things a little?
