Chapter 9
Takes place a little before episode 6 aka right after they beat that Gladiator RoboBeast (term isn't coined yet, so it'll be a robot).
Terms:
metranobs = meters
clargnop = a ruder form of dumbass
culinef = a chef that specializes in insect and fruits
Besides the whole sacrificial fire incident, Lance can't help but think these aliens, Arusians, are just cute. They barely come up to his knee and they seem to be some kind of advance snail like creatures with shells on their heads.
The team went back to the Arusian village after they defeated the robot.
'Stupid orb, hitting Voltron's face. At least Shiro remembered how to defeat that thing.' Lance thinks before drawing his attention back onto the shelled aliens.
"You guys are just adorable," he says as he crouches down to shake one of the Arusian's hands.
The alien has a black shell on her—his?—head with light colored horizontal stripes on her—his—back like everyone else. He thinks the alien is female with the coral like clothing she—he—is wearing, but he isn't certain. The alien smiles at him, and asks him in a high pitched voice, "That means fearsome warrior from your planet Lion Guardian, correct?"
"Yeah."
Hunk gives him the Look, one where it appears that he's patronizing others. He gets up to his buddy and whispers, "What? It's true."
"They are cuddly," Hunk admits, "but you shouldn't lie to them."
Technically he isn't lying. Blue was found on Earth, and his gorgeous Lion is the best one there is. He can hear Blue purr in affirmation in the back of his mind. He makes note to complement his buddy more often, maybe polish her up as he verbally praises her as soon as possible.
"Oh come on, just look at them." Lance scoops up a small Arusian who makes a sound of surprise. "You going to be a warrior when you grow up?"
The Arusian in his arms is shorter than the others, "No. I want to be a culinef! Why did you pick me up?"
"Question, what's a culinef? And I picked you up because," Lance struggle to find a reason. He can't say playing around because already everyone is hugging these guys. "I want to congratulate you on whatever you want to do."
"The Yellow Lion Guardian is not asking what we do when we are big." The Arusian boy states, and Lance looks to see Hunk picking up a few and throwing them in the air.
"Sometimes we do this to have fun with friends." The Arusian nods like he spoke words of wisdom. The alien smiles, and is pleased that they are friends.
'They are so cute,' He thinks because just the simple joy of being friends with someone is truly a precious thing.
Lance sets the Arusian down and looks around to see the rest of the team. Keith is being hugged by five Arusian adults, Pidge is crouching down curious about the aliens but is reserved more so than usual, Shiro is sitting down to be eye-level with a group of toddler height aliens chatting with him, Allura is with the chieftain brokering some kind of deal, and Coran is adamantly describing something away from the main group. Coran is moving his arms around, as if he's acting out a story, and he recognizes the movements. It is something from one of his misadventures as a Altean pioneer, exploring new asteroid belts across the galaxies as he learns about new alien species—along with gambling with a few—along the way. He wonders what tale he's reciting to the children and adults.
Curiosity piqued, Lance moves to the crowd of Arusians and sits down. Immediately, a portion of the children go up to him and sit on him. He doesn't mind someone climbing on his shoulders-two someones now-and an alien sitting on him.
As he gets comfortable, the teen starts to listen to the Altean.
"So there I was, surrounded by a dozen of Maolians, they are ten limb dark brown aliens who spit out corrosive acid from their long noses. Apparently they do not like when you take a few of their fruits, helinaors, that are these delectable purple fruits. They are the sweetest thing in the Virgo Stellar Stream galaxy that are like miniature giant power crystals." Coran crouches down and crawls on the ground, "I decided to do the ancient prowl of Alteans. We get inside the earth when we do this," all of the sudden Coran slips into the ground with a bright of blue.
Lance gasps as he leans over and the Arusian kids closest to the front pat the ground where Coran was there a second prior. The children shriek out, "Where is he?!"
"Stomp on the ground!"
"The land god needs his servitude!"
"No you clargnop, he just said that he could do that!"
"I'm not a clargnop! You're a clargnop!"
"I want the soothsayer!"
"No I want the soothsayer!"
"Just stop yelling!"
"What's all of this ruckus?!"
"I miss mustache man!"
"Hiyah hiyah cablamo!" Someone moves their arms and children squeal behind Lance.
The two kids on his shoulder are yelling in his ear, telling him to turn around. His ears are slightly ringing and complies. He is surprised to see Coran-looking clean as ever even though he popped out somewhere from the ground-while he is fighting invisible combatants.
'Holy shit where did he come from? I want to do that.' Lance thinks as Coran dusts his hands, as he just finished beating up the Maolins.
"I finished those ruffians off with my secret technique. I heard the cries of other Maolins from five hundred metranobs away, still distant to regular Maolin ears." Coran wiggles his pointed ears, causing the children to laugh.
"I took that as my chance to collect my well earn prize, the sweet helinaor fruits. I collect my bountiful bounty, which was like seventeen of them in my arms. I then went to my pod to go back to the Castle to show King Alfor what I acquired. Too bad it took too long and I ate four of them." Here the children laugh, and Lance cannot help but chuckle.
'Typical Coran,' Lance rolls his eyes as his chuckling dies down.
"They were so sweet, picture the sweetest pastry, but ten times sweeter." The children and adults all lick their lips. Lance cannot lie, he starts to salivate. "I had to restrain myself by tying them behind the ship so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the whole thing." Everyone laughs at his frankness.
Coran walks around the group, going back to the front. He holds his arms outstretched as if he's presenting something to someone. "When I got back to the Castle, I presented the helinaors to King Alfor, Princess Allura's father." At this, everyone chatters and glances at Allura, who is still talking to the chieftain, but there are more Arusians around her.
It's nice seeing Allura looking happy. She's usually serious at the Castle, whenever they are training, and it's nice to see her do something different. She looks more beautiful with a smile on her face, even if it's temporary. Lance wouldn't mind staring at her a little longer when he feels the child on his right tug on his ear.
"Look at the soothsayer." The child whispers.
"Alright alright." He turns to see Coran on his knee and holding his arms across his chest in a x.
"With that we used half to power the games that take place every other year, and the winner of the Biffalono riding gets the remainder of the fruit. Unfortunately I couldn't participate, everyone had to keep me from getting my hands on the fruit." Coran makes a grabbing motion to the air or toward the ground. "They would always move it away from me, which is unfair, I just want another bite or two or three."
With that Coran bows, and looks at them expectantly. Lance starts clapping, signalling to everyone to give an encore. Coran smirks, winks, and brushes his fingers through his fringe.
"That was amazing!"
"Another!"
"I l-loved it."
"Was the Lion Goddess born?!"
"What color was the fruit? Mauve? Amethyst? Tell me!"
Lance cups his hands around his mouth, "That was great Coran! Have you been holding out on me?"
"Now now settle down everyone, thank you for listening to another one of my many grand adventures. Which one did you like, the one about the moon beast or the helinaors?"
"The moon beast was a lot more romantic." The child in his lap whispers.
"But you saw a lot of cool things with the fruit." The child on Lance's left shoulder said.
"Yeah like the disappearance act!" The other child on his shoulders chimes.
"Whoa whoa whoa, if the three of you are going to argue, I need you two off my shoulders." Lance says as he grabs the one on his left and puts him to the ground, before doing the same to the one on his right. "You three play nice, all of Coran's stories are the greatest, he's been to so many places in the universe."
"Even farther than you?" The child who was on his left shoulder, who has a slightly rocky shell on her base asks.
"Yep, I recently started traveling, I've been to so many places."
It's not a full out lie, he did start, but he hasn't gone off planet besides going into a wormhole to find Yellow, and coming to Arus. Places he hasn't been before, hadn't known it even existed during the time they've been up in space, which is a little over a week.
Lance gets up before the three children start asking him about it, and he can't really say how he got to their planet, the poor guys think they are the Lion Warriors of the Lion Goddess aka Allura. He was going to go talk to Coran, just to get the beginning of the tale off of him because he seriously missed out on the backstory. Whenever Coran is telling elaborated stories, there is always something he adds in that is not part of the memory, to paint him in a better light.
"Coran, Paladins, we are leaving. We will be hosting a party for the native guests," Allura calls out to them.
Pidge, Hunk, and Keith stop messing with the group of squishy Arusians. Shiro stands up from kneeling to one of the warriors near Allura.
Lance winks at the princess as he is the first one into the pod, claiming the back seat to the corner. Of course he gets first pick because he's the closest to the pod. Hunk follows suit, then Pidge, Keith, and Shiro. Allura and Coran take the front seat, and Coran is the one flying them back to the Castle. What irks Lance is that Pidge is sitting on Hunk's lap, and he can't help that he wants to sit there too. It beats being cramped in the back of a small spaceship, and he can attest that Hunk is the best seat. Everyone-his little brother, cousins, Lou, and even Pidge-agrees with him.
What makes Hunk the greatest seat is that he tends to hug the people in his lap, or on the off chance that Hunk is feeling malicious, the poking. With great power of putting people into ease, he can use that power to catch people off guard.
"Trade seats with you," Lance says to Pidge and the brunet male sticks out his tongue.
"No way, Hunk is the best seat."
"Yeah I know. I just want to sit on someone instead of them sitting on me." He whines as he shows the short teen his secret weapon: teary puppy eyes.
They always manage to get what he wants. Heck, they even lightened a grounding sentence when he was younger.
"Sucks to suck." Pidge retorted, crossing his arms and leans into Hunk.
"Guys, you both can share." Hunk says as he moves Pidge to sit on his right thigh and Lance sees the opportunity.
"Hey get your bony ass out! I want to treat myself here," Pidge glares as he tries to push him off. The teen is restrained by Hunk, who is holding Pidge's arms with his own.
"No way I can do that shortstack. It is Lance's time to have exclusive sitting rights on this magnificent person." Lance says as he watches Pidge struggle. "Love you buddy."
"Same."
"Love you too Pidge."
"I hate you."
"You guys are ridiculous," Keith says and Lance leans to the side to glare at the mullet haired teen.
"You have no right to complain, I saw you hugging those Arusians. Seems like everyone was having a blast there." Lance wiggles his eyebrows as he leers.
He keeps his laughter in check when he sees Keith's cheeks turn to rose. Shiro chuckles as Keith explains his reasoning, "It is the nicest thing to do, especially when securing an alliance. They were going to sacrifice themselves for us!"
"Not really, they wanted to sacrifice themselves to the Lion Goddess," Coran inputs as he lands the ship inside the Castle.
"Don't remind me, I don't want poor aliens to die because of me. Luckily we will secure that alliance after the party." Allura says as the door opens.
"Wait a party? Dude that is going to be the sickest thing ever! Space party!" Lance excitedly yells and Pidge plugs in his ears.
Shiro says as he gets out, "If only everyone was near enough to hear the announcement."
"Stop with the ancient lingo, I swear you're worse than…" Pidge starts off annoyed before trailing off, his eyes turning downcast as he moves out of Hunk's lap, following closely behind Keith.
"Pidge has something right." Hunk says and Lance scowls.
"Oh here I thought you were the bee's knees." Lance moves off Hunk's lap, out the ship, and stretches his legs.
Coran and Allura are already gone, no doubt getting things ready for the party that should happen in a few hours. It would suck if the Arusians come in within an hour and nothing is ready.
"Tell me about it, stud." Hunk replies when he steps out of the ship smiling.
Lance immediately turns around, and glomps his best friend. "I love you again."
"I know you do."
"I didn't really think you weren't the bee's knees. You still are."
"What is wrong with them?" Lance hears Keith ask, and he doesn't bother giving the hot head a retort, too overjoy that Hunk quoted one of the musicals he made him and Cicero watch.
"I think he quoted some old thing. Not sure what," Pidge faux whispers, his arms are crossed and he doesn't bother to look at the hugging pair.
"Oh."
"I can hear you!" He turns his head to shout at the two uncultured swine judging him.
Turns out they didn't have to do much work. Just clean the entrance hall of the Castle, and Shiro took care of sweeping the floor, well the entrance way. It's large enough to have the whole entire village in there, so that takes care of that. Coran enlisted Hunk and Pidge to help him do some maintenance for something that looks like a plate, but it is a hovering tray. Pretty sweet in Lance's opinion. That left him and Keith to clean the walls.
He might have made it a competition of who can get the most walls done, and technically Keith won, which made him seethe. He did get compensation though; Shiro was still sweeping and he said that he cleaned the walls better than his rival. That is one of the best compliments that he received from Shiro, and that compliment brought Keith to lower spirits. He did perk up when Shiro clamped his shoulder, and he did go back to clean the walls that he thought he finished.
The only reason why he won was a lot of experience with cleaning. There were too many horrifying times where he had to clean his Mamí's or Tías' houses, and they got on him for not cleaning everything up. The threat of the chankla-mostly in jest but sometimes it's hard to tell with his Mamí-made him actually do his work when it counts; however, nothing will change his pigsty of a room unless he is threatened or given a incentive.
It took forever to clean everything in the hall. The moment they did finish the wall, they had to wipe the side of the staircase, but it was worth it since Shiro stepped out when they finished. Lance will never admit this to anyone, even under the threat of torture, but he and Keith were actually on the same wavelength for a minute. He looked at the shorter teen and he did the same, the two nodded, before they raced up the stairs and slid down the banister.
'He really isn't that bad of a guy,' Lance thinks as he takes a sip of nunvil before spitting it out.
He's hacking as Hunk and Keith are standing around him, concerned. He should have listened to Coran. Thumping his chest, he heaves in air and glares at the offending drink.
"Never again," Lance hisses out.
"Well you do know that another Altean delicacy isn't good for humans." Hunk said in a matter of fact voice.
"Why didn't you tell me? You were in the kitchens after fixing those tray bots."
"In my defense, Coran only let me taste the food." Hunk said.
"Well is it good? Better than the slime?" Keith inquires. He points at one of the nearest trays carrying something that appears to be marshmallows on sticks.
Hunk nods. Keith hums, he goes to the nearest hover tray, and Hunk follows after him.
Lance stares at them and he was about to take a sip of his drink, his lips were at the rim, and he pulls it away from him in disgust.
When is he going to learn that most Altean food isn't the best? They may be nutritious, but he cannot even believe that Allura willingly eats the goop. 'Maybe this is good for their skin? Both of them have flawless skin and you can practically see them sparkling.' He looks around. 'I should take a picture of them when it happens. Note to self, grab phone from room. Also, take a selfie with some Arusians.'
Lance looks around, seeing so many happy people. Heck, even the two most stressed out members of Voltron-Allura and Shiro-are relaxing. Well, from the last time he saw Shiro, he was less tense, but he disappeared not even thirty minutes into the party before he became vigilant again. Those two always seem like they have the weight of the universe on their shoulders because of the Galra Empire trying to take down Voltron. A few timed jokes or comments tend to bring them out of their moods, except not in the way he hopes, happiness instead of the annoyance that he keeps getting from the princess's end. Shiro sometimes doesn't get it, but he's considerate at least.
As he is scanning the room, he notices Pidge is carrying his backpack and he is making his way to the middle of the room. He is following the hover trays and taking most of the food on them. Lance rolls his eyes and smirks, classic Pidge. He remembers during the one dance at school and frequent lunch the diminutive teen would steal food from the tables and sneak off to some corner. Staving off the event before he can sneak out because he needs to do something.
'Wonder what he's working on this time?' Lance thinks as he sees the youngest sneak around.
His lips quirk upward, he remembers that Lou would always act like that whenever she was at a party. Despite going to so many with her family or his own, she cannot deal with so many people. She would go off and do her own thing, and he cannot help but be reminded by that because of Pidge's actions.
He quickly ends that thought, he doesn't want to be reminded. Lance goes to Hunk and sees him holding a nunvil cup.
Hunk twirls his cup for aesthetic purposes, the guy rarely drinks anything, and he is not going to take a sip of it. The guy will look the part of any party, but given the slightest excuse when he's uncomfortable, he'll find Lou.
He bites the inside of his cheek. God, he misses Cicero's sister. He misses everyone, he misses the food, he misses his bed, home cooked foods, parties, and even the traffic he finds himself whenever he goes back home.
His tongue is stuck on the roof of his mouth, and Lance gulps. It takes him a moment to loosen his tongue, but the moment he does, words rush out of his mouth. "Do you ever think about Earth?"
"Yeah." Hunk sighs, "But I doubt we'll get back home. Think about it, the war has been going on for ten thousand years, and we just got here."
"Yeah, yeah you're right." Lance says dejectedly, he looks down and gives a small smile. "I think I got some nunvil in my eye, got to wash it out."
He walks away like a coward, facing the truth that he tried to turn away from. He already knew that, but he'd rather stare at the present day-to-day activities rather than thinking about the future. At least he can contact his family and friends, along with Hunk's parents.
Lance goes up the stairs in the foyer. He ignores the people around him, and doesn't attempt to make eye contact with anyone. He heads to the command deck, he'd rather be somewhere alone, and he could mess with the hologram systems after he stares at the stars.
It's funny, he already knew that space was vast, but he isn't even in the same solar system as Earth, and possibly not even the same galaxy. Distance between what he knows, what the whole human team of Voltorn knows, is unknown. Stifling. Chilling. Lonely. Abstract. The void of space, it's remarkable that there is other life, no matter how much ill intent or amiable the life is, that is between it. It's just, the life around him isn't what he's used to surrounding himself with. The only thing to ground them is their Lions, and he is ever thankful of Blue. Blue, to him is closer than a friend, closer than his boyf on a spiritual sense and Hunk. A connection the two of them have, bound by their spirit. He hopes that the others have a bond like that with their Lions.
Oh who is he kidding? Just yesterday Black and Green showed up to get Pidge and Shiro when the robot managed to touch down on Arus. Sure he hasn't done that with Blue yet, but that means that all the paladins has a strong connection from the very start. It might have come from those insane tests that Coran and Allura has put them through earlier that week.
Lance walks through the doors to the command deck and sits himself in front of Allura's station. He looks past the glass, sees just a dark sky, and he sighs. Things are similar on this planet to Earth, there are clouds, trees, and weapons similar to what humans had made thousands of years ago. He didn't spend a lot of time on studying that part of history, he was interested in the social aspects and clothing of predecessor civilizations or nations that collapsed and began anew.
Not to mention he's been thinking about his family and friends back at home. God this is worse than the Garrison, at least then he can chat a few minutes, to hear his Mamí's voice as José is doing something in the background that causes her to laugh or scold him. He just wants to talk to someone, he can't help that pictures and text messages cannot sustain him. He's been washing some stuff to them, he didn't dare tell them they just fought a robot yesterday and almost lost. He doesn't know how everyone is holding up in here. Pidge is doing his own thing, and he and Hunk hang around to hang out or look over messages. He doesn't know how Keith is not homesick, then again there was no one at the shack in Arizona. He's seen that Keith has been around Shiro a lot, so he guesses Shiro staves off the homesickness. Not to mention that Keith helps Shiro since the two do know each other from before Shiro's mission on Kerberos.
He sighs, combing his hair with his fingers as he stares out the window. He cracks a mirthless smile. 'It's funny how I can still see traces of human technology. No, not really. I guess it's evolution. We all have to start somewhere.'
Lance hears the doors open behind him, and he continues to stare at the sky. He turns his head to see the orange haired Altean walk towards him. He walks toward him, and the Altean puts his hand on his shoulder.
"What's the matter Lance?" Coran asks, and he knows the man is serious.
Rarely he would refer to him by name, and in such a serious tone.
"Do you ever think of your home?" Lance inquires Coran as the other male stands by him.
The orange haired Altean is silent. There is a pensive look in his eyes. The man fiddles with the controls, and he sees an image of a planet hologram after a few keystrokes. It is green, purple, and there are white areas on the green that slowly expanded to the purple. He assumes that the green is the land mass while the purple is the equivalent of oceans on the planet.
Coran frowns as he looks at the planet, and he moves the hologram. The man moves to a corner of one of the green masses, and he points at a small white area with blue stripes on it. "That here was my settlement that I lived in. It was brought down early in my life before the Galra attacked," Coran mournfully said. "Despite our advancements, there was some disease prevalent in settlements. Most Alteans perform a pilgrimage to the far reaches of the settlements to get in touch with nature, and feel the natural quintessence on our planet instead of the metal bodies we reside in. We familiarize ourselves with it before going to the stars."
Lance is silent. He cannot believe that a race that can practically do anything with technology. It was so advanced ten thousand years ago, and he wonders what it would have been like if Zarkon didn't destroy Altea.
"Already my home was gone, but I hate that I couldn't keep a memento. It was taken from me, just like everything else." Coran exhales as he takes a step back and just stares at the dot. He smiles, "I still have Allura and the Castle. The mice too, those mischievous little buggers." He twirls his mustache before gasping.
Lance wraps his arms around Coran, squeezing him tightly. "Hey you have us too. I mean we might not have those gorgeous ears, but us humans are definitely here for you." He doesn't know what to do with him, he hasn't comforted someone like this before.
What do you say to someone who lost a home before losing their planet?
"Aw Lance I know that," Coran puts his hand on his hair, ruffling it. "Now what do you tell me what's got you bothered from the celebration?"
"But but it's nothing!"
It is. Worrying about his family and friends back at home pales in comparison to Coran. He's the happiest guy he knows in the whole Castle, and sometimes the connection that he lost a planet as well. It's easier to equate Allura as losing her home, and not Coran from how lighthearted he acts. He cannot imagine how this man managed to keep a smile on his face despite his settlement being destroyed, and then his planet.
"If it causes you distress then it isn't nothing."
"I just miss the little things back home. The rain, garlic knots, eating watermelon after swimming in Varadero Beach." Lance blurts out. "I shouldn't, especially from what you guys experienced, and that I can still get in contact with them. It's weird, a little connection makes me miss them a lot more than I should. Is it because it's limited or…" He trails off, holding his head.
"Chin up, you're just having separation anxiety. Every pilot feels it." Coran says and claps his shoulder. Lance doesn't brighten up, and the man frowns before his eyes widen. "Ah, you mean that."
"Lance. You're feelings matter. Loss of a planet is the same as never going back. Your messaging is like recorded memories, or Alfor's A.I. in the Castle. Everything matters." Coran states and hugs the distressed teen.
Lance hangs limp in Coran's hold, his mind not computing about what happened. He is immobile for a second before wrapping his arms around Coran.
"Thank you Coran."
"No problem Lance."
They stay there for a minute before Lance slides out of Coran's hold.
"You want to meet my family? I have some pictures in my phone, I'll show you later on, after this party is over." Lance says as he looks up at the taller male.
"Righto. Come on then, let's head back down to the party, those Arusians sure are a lively bunch. Hope they didn't destroy the banisters just yet." Coran snaps back into attention.
He follows Coran to the door, but before they could reach it, Rover came through it.
'Strange,' he thought, 'Pidge never lets the little guy out of his sight.' He notices that the drone is beeping red rapidly as the drone goes to the control panel, and his eyes widen.
"Look out!" He covers Coran and he feels something burning on his back before hitting the ground.
A/N: Lance does have contemporary clothing for our year, so I'm going to say he just loves old stuff, when it is about the lingo or movies/musicals he manages to get his hands on. I like to believe he loves history as he is interested in what cultures did in their past time.
Any thoughts about the angst? Langst part at the end is something I believe he would think, or really any character. It was progressive, he thought a lot more about people back home here than any other chapter, so you guys would know what is happening. Also, the fall of the Castle is a sad episode, despite it starting off happy the first five minutes.
I picture that Alteans respect a lot of their planet which is why they have sparse settlements, and most of them travel by teleportation pad. There is some disease in a utopian like society, and settlements do fail on occasion, most are on what people consider the outskirts, where Alteans journey to get closer to the largest quantity of quintessence. As we saw from the Balmera episode, Alteans do respect planets/living beings, and I want to incorporate that into this story.
The next "chapter" is not going to be in Lance's POV because the guy got himself knocked out. It came to life weeks ago when I answered a reviewer's question, and it sort of spiraled there. Fair warning, it's a cliffhanger.
If anyone has any questions, or comments about this fic leave a review. I'll answer it asap on my end.
