It's shorter than the previous two? Wow, sorry, I didn't realize before FFnet told me. Just deal with it, it's not like we were going to get far anyway, haha, sob.

Since I totes ship Laith, I have a short side story that is just an excuse to test out the possibility? I mean, I wanna, and I probably should, but can I? Romance is a weak point in my writing because I spent years avoiding it before realizing that I was being childish, so now it's just super awkward to read in my words.

I could just upload the story separately as a one-shot (part of a series in AO3 then?) instead of waiting for the opportunity to present it later in the plot, when things between AU and canon are less confusing (when this officially becomes mine in everything but characters, because I've watched enough seasons to know that the way I wanna take things is not the way the show is going, which is good. I don't really want an AU that is just a copy of the show, but in a different setting and with more attention on Lance — I lied, that's exactly what I want, but it's not what you're gonna get.

Choran for Charming Man. Lance is bad at planning.

1

"Princess, you must eat. It's been 5,000 years." Coran had moved over to princess Allura's side. A caring guardian already (or again, considering they'd only taken a 5000 year nap, not disappeared or anything).

"I'm not hungry..."

"Man," Lance said to the nearest fellow, who happened to be Keith. "5,000 years? That's like one thousand plus 5."

"That's times five," Keith corrected him. How obnoxious. Hunk would have laughed.

"Whatever, dropout." They glared at each other.

"I haven't eaten since breakfast," Hunk complained in front of a tray of weird green goo. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times," Pidge remarked.

"Hmm. Good point." Hunk smiled and dug into the green goo, shoving it into his mouth. Eugh. Fish food.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 5,000 years ago," Shiro said to Coran. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was," Coran was also in mourning of his lost home. "But now it is gone and we're the last Ysians alive."

Join the club, Lance frowned. At least they had each other. At least the ocean wasn't rejecting them whenever they swam.

His continued act of swimming was going to give him a harsh karma, he just knew it. It was never a good idea to mess with things like this.

Coran approached Allura, who threw herself into his chest and sobbed into his shoulder. Tired, bitter, Lance looked away and crossed his legs, letting the water take him where it would.

Allura's ears twitched a moment later, and she looked to the side. She swam to her chamber, and leaned down. "Looks like we're not the last after all," she smiled. Inside the chamber were four seahorses, waving (their entire bodies) back at her.

Toot toot, they went.

I didn't know seahorses made noises, Lance frowned.

But it seemed to comfort her. It was contagious. He almost smiled.

An alarm burst their short bubble of comfort. They all turned to see the screen had turned red. It displayed a Galra ship.

Scrying, Lance mused for a moment breaking away from his ambivalent mood.

"A battleship has set its trackers to us!" Coran exclaimed.

"How is this possible?"

"I'm not sure," Lance crossed his arm. Ha glared at Keith from the side, "but I bet it's Keith's fault."

"Say what you've gotta say to make yourself feel better," he retaliated. He continued, "after getting us stuck on the other side of a magic portal!"

Lance straightened and shoved his face forward, touching his forehead. "I'll stick you in a portal!"

"Stow it, cadets!" Shiro walked over and carefully pulled Lance back. The teen raised his hands, Come at me! "This is no time to place blame," he said, looking at Lance. He turned to Keith, "It's time to work as team." Switching to Coran, he asked, "How long before they arrive?"

"At their speed? Oh, well," he did the math on his fingers, "probably a couple of days."

"Good," Allura looked intent. "Let them come." On that, Lance could agree. He had this girl's back all the way. She went on, "By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy the empire the Galra have built with destruction."

She looked at all of them, taking them in.

Lance was permanently broken from his mood. I'm going to be a Paladin of Voltron, he thought. "Oh Poseidon," he said numbly.

Hunk burped. Hunk was also going to be a Paladin of Voltron. "Sorry! Food goo."

Oh, Poseidon.

"Princess, there are five of these dolphins. How are we going to find the rest?" Shiro asked.

"King Alfor connected the Dolphins to Allura's life force," Coran said. "She alone is key to figuring out their whereabouts."

...

Allura, the key, had placed herself in front of the panel again. He eyes were closed, and they could see her resonate witt he castleroom's surroundings. A soft beam of light rose around her. When she opened her eyes, it dispersed into the rest of the room, forming a map of the ocean.

"Whoa!"

"These are coordinates," Pidge focused on the scrying ports. "The Black Dolphin looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Dolphin."

"Aww," Coran cooed, "Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage."

"Very observant," Allura praised him. "That is because the Black Dolphin is in the castle."

"Yes. In order to keep stray hands off Voltron, King Alfor locked it in the castle. Only the other four dolphins could release it. Say," Coran twirled his mustache pensively, continuing a line of thought, "what are you?"

"Huh?" Pidge gave him a strange look. "What do you mean? W-what do I look like to you?"

"My first thought was selkie," he informed him, "but the more I look at you all, the less selkie you seem. None of you carry your skin. This big fellow over here," he gestured to Hunk, "is much too big. Everyone else, far too small. Only the white haired man with the cool scar seems selkie to me," he said, eyes closed in confidence. "But, as I said, none of you carry a coat. Perhaps a form of wingless sirens? Nymphs?"

"What?" Lance shrieked. His crew stared at him, and he cleared his throat, blushing. "I mean...I...never mind." I don't even qualify as selkie in his eyes...

Hunk's stare didn't dissuade, even as Shiro walked forward to explain. "We are all humans."

"Humans!" It was Coran's turn to shriek. "In the undersea!? What? What are the dolphins thinking!"

"We cannot question the dolphin's judgement, Coran," Allura scolded him. "It is...strange that they are all humans, but even in a desperate situation, the dolphins will only choose a paladin they can accept. It is a mystical bond that cannot be forced. Their quintessence qualifies."

"Humans," Coran still mouthed desperately.

"Well," Lance said quietly, "actually—"

"What's a selkie, anyway," Pidge talked over him.

"Hmm? Well, tiny human number five," Coran renamed and answered Pidge at the same time, "A selkie looks a lot like a seal. Except they are not. Underneath their seal exterior, their skin, they look rather like yourselves."

Pidge hummed, a little bemused. Seal people?

Hunk choked on a stray piece of goo, and Pidge had no more time to think about selkies before he was forced to step in and slap Hunk's back.

"Selkies aren't all the same shape and size, you know," Lance grumbled. "Probably, I mean," he added when the mermaid gave him a peculiar look.

"Anyway," Allura reclaimed the conversation hurriedly, "the Black Dolphin is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Somebody whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Dolphin.

"The Green Dolphin has an inquisitive personality, and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Dolphin." Pidge smiled at the view he got of his proclaimed dolphin.

"The Blue Lion—"

"Hold up, lemme guesss," Lance smirked at her. "Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" His eyes were nothing for her. Great. Still, she was a girl after his own heart (though not chasing it, sadly).

"The Yellow Dolphin," she continued pointedly, "is caring and kind. It's the pilot who puts the needs of others above his own," she gestured in Hunk's direction. "His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."

Flustered, Hunk looked around for someone else to fill in his shoes. "Me?"

"The Red Dolphin is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It is faster and more agile than the others but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instinct than skill alone."

That was an incredibly flattering description for a paladin, Lance thought. As the image of the Red Dolphin floated toward Keith, he also thought that it didn't suit the other boy at all.

A Paladin of Voltron, one story told, had been an abandoned selkie who refused to wear her skin in the presence of others. Mad at the unjust world, and with the instincts to fight, she had taken command of the Red Dolphin and joined her fellow paladins in battle. If Lance had had to choose, he would have probably wanted to man that one.

Maybe he was bitter. "What, this guy?" he taunted.

Allura ignored him. "Unfortunately, I cannot yet locate the Red Dolphin's coordinates. There must be something wrong with the castle. After fifty hundred years, there might be some maintance required."

"Do not worry!" Coran rose high to the ceiling, putting himself under a nonexistent spotlight. "They don't call me 'The Choran' for nothing!"

"What does that mean?" Pidge asked. Hunk shrugged.

Keith and Lance were giving Coran a disbelieving look when their tiny dolphin holograms started swimming away from them.

"Once all the dolphins are united, you will form Voltron," Allura explained as the dolphins rose to show the crew the image they had seen before entering the Blue Dolphin. "The most powerful warrior ever know, the Defender of the World."

The hologram posed and dissuaded behind her, clearing the room and leaving it brightely colored blue again. Again, Lance found himself staring at the legs.

"Awesome!" Hunk breathed. "Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and dolphins on wheels. Got that part. How do dolphins turn into legs?" Exactly! "Is this going to be a long trip? I have to pee. Do mermaids pee?"

Shiro answered, "We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Dolphin. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one."

"It's like I'm a real paladin," Lance grinned.

"You are," Allura said, a confused look in her eyes, as if that had been obvious from the start. Had it been?

It struck Lance that...it might have been obvious, and he was, indeed, a Paladin of Voltron. As Shiro talked to Keith, Lance took a moment to freak out. Just a little. Internally.

"Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Dolphin, go get it."

"I'll get the castle defenses ready in the meantime," Allura said, though she was glancing at Lance with query in her eyes. Was he freaking out to strongly?

"I'll ready a pod so you can reach the Green Dolphin," Coran said.

2

There were deserts even in the undersea. Uninhabitable, of course, not dry.

The Yellow Dolphin was in one, of course.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH," Lance and Hunk screamed as an alarmed blared in the back of the Blue Dolphin's head. Lance paused momentarily to sneeze before taking another breath to finish his scream. When he was done, Lance had some trouble telling words from nouns for a moment.

"Oh no! No, no, no! Oh! Oh no!" Hunk was still screaming, but at least he had words to say. Behind them, two small Galra vessels were chasing them down. The dolphin twisted and turned in the water, avoiding very explosive shots.

"Why is there fire underwater?" Hunk sobbed. They were hit by one shot and the dolphin faltered, its heavy metal sinking without moving forward. "I thougt Coran said these places were peaceful."

"Yeah," Lance bit back his next yell. "Well, maybe peaceful means something else for mermaids!"

Hunk held on for dear life and groaned. The device (a special mirror) Coran had given him to locate the Yellow Dolphin turned on in his hands, showing him their location.

"According to this thing, we're right on top of the Yellow Dolphin. Right below there! Where they're minding for the ore," Hunk said, pointing to the screen on the left. "They don't even realize the dolphin's there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for it? Don't magic creature's have a better way to dig for things?" he asked Lance directly.

Lance glaced back, looking at him strangely. "Why should I know? Who cares! Just go get it! I'm dropping you."

"Me? Down there? No. No, no, no," Hunk smiled nervously. "You're joking right?"

"I'll cover you," Lance said in all seriousness. "Go get that snake, Hunk!"

"What if it doesn't work!? What if I can't get in it," Hunk fretted as Lance made his way as close to the vantage point as he could. "What if I start crying? Too late, I'm already crying!"

"Don't worry," Lance replied, sumoning the ejection button, "No one can tell when you cry underwater."

Hunk was plunged into the deep blue sea, and Lance turned quickly to face his enemy. Because Hunk was smart, he should have gone inside quickly to hide away from the fire. Lance had the feeling he lost some sort of points for this, but he focused on the attack instead.

It wasn't exactly an easy fight. At some point, Lance had to forego the stay away from them and shoot from a distance tactic because he was getting hit far more times than he was hitting. He shot forth at them, ready for melee.

When he got closer to them, the Galra ships were more like tiny crabs pelting the dolphin with rocks and seashells. It still hurt like hell, and they wouldn't. Go. Away.

He aimed to destroy, as if he were in a video game.

A big rocket shot out of a ship before he could destroy it, and it exploded at the entrance of the cave, where he had dropped his brother at.

"Hunk!" Lance yelled, incapacitated for a moment.

The cave entrance didn't even shatter on impact, but the sand around it covered whatever carnage there was behind it. Bubbles escaped the ground, floating to the nonexistent sky above.

My fault, he thought, eyes stinging. This time it's my fault.

He had less time to think about it. A blast from a ship hit his dolphin in the head and he had to force himself to evade it, swimming in the opposite direction.

"Hunk! Come on, please buddy," he begged. The dolphin's response to his sentiments was obvious. His speed slowed, his dodging was distracted by his calling.

He screamed when one shot finally forced them to stop. Another followed and the sank. "Oh, nonononono," he said to no one in particular. He was fairly alone right now. "Going down, going down!"

He tried forcing a stop, but instead crashed into a barren wall of rock. Unlike the first time he's crashed the dolphin into a rock wall, the stone didn't give under the force. Instead, the force hit Lance and Blue almost completely. They continued to scrape their way to the bottom of the wasteland.

At least Blue was awake now, but obviously failing under the turmolic pressure. Lance himself had passed out after a final hit.

Blaring alarms woke him up less than a moment later, the flashing red tellling him that Blue was not okay. He himself felt the tingles of failing mechanics in his body. Buzz, they went. Bzzt.

He looked up in time to see two turbos had been shot at them. He wasn't going to make it.

So much for saving the world, he thought, closing his eyes and facing away from his certain demise.

BLAM!

He heard the explosion more than felt it. As a matter of fact, Lance had barely felt anything. A quake in the water. A few rock debris fell on the Blue Dolphin, but they were fine—as fine as they could be after getting sunk.

He looked up to see a Yellow Dolphin, bulky and heroic, taking care of the job.

"Hunk!" Lance cried. "I-I thought you were dead! You jumped n front of those shots to save my life!"

"Actually," a screen popped up, displaying Hunk inside his dolphin, "I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what this thing lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in armor! Man, can it take a beating! Oof," the background shook as he took another hit, and they looked to the side.

"We've got incoming!"

Allura appeared on their right. "Paladins, please hurry back. I cannot hold the portals for much longer."

"Of course, princess," Lance replied. "Let's get outta here, Hunk!"

They acted like nothing was wrong when they got back to the castle, but to Lance, it all felt wrong.

3

The Red Dolphin was on the Galra ship. The ship was very close to the Ysian castle, yes, but it was also an enemy ship. Which they would have to board to steal back the Red Dolphin.

"We'll show that shark-face who's boss," Lance growled. He repeated the words he'd once heard his uncle say, "Who the quiznak do they think they are!"

Coran covered his mouth, as if he'd been the one to curse. He started using the word first, though! Lance had barely remembered it after public school had thought him some words that were far more satisfying to yell.

"No need to panic," Shiro tried to dissuade the tension in the room.

"Not panic? The shark dude is driving his battleship toward us! We only have four dolphins—"

"Technically, only three working dolphins," Pidge corrected.

A little tired, Hunk said, "Right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working dolphins and a castle that's, like, 5,000 years old?"

"It's actually 5,300 years old," Coran interrupted. "See, it was built by my grandather—"

"This just keeps getting better," Hunk almost shrieked. "Thank you, Coran. See? It's the perfect time to be panicking!"

Allura indeed looked panicked, but she tried to remain calm despite herself. "Wait. This castle has a refractive barrier we can activate. It should buy us time while you obtain the Red Dolphin."

"My lady," Lance smirked, "You already activate my refractive ba—"

"Lance," Shiro berated. Whoops.

"It won't hold long against their weapons," Coran said. "Weaponry sure has advanced since we were last in war."

"Panic now?" Hunk suggested.

"No," said Shiro. "We just have to figure out our plan of action. And figure it out quickly," he added worriedly.

Lance looked at the Galra ship and then he looked at Hunk.

Hunk was family. As much as Lance had convinced himself that he didn't belong on land with the Garrett family, it didn't mean he didn't love all of them. Hunk especially. That boy had picked him up in his worst moments and even committed to do crimes with him (against his will, mostly, but commitment is commitment).

Hunk was the best brother Lance could have ever had, and he didn't even have to feel guilty about thinking that because neither of them had any other brother.

I want to beat them, he growled in his mind, the thought of siblings reminding him of his sisters. I want to beat them so badly, but...

Hunk is so much more important right now.

"I say we pop up another portal and live to fight another day," Lance said roughly. He forced himself to smile when Hunk joined him anxiously.

"I second that! Yes. We tried to find all the dolphins, right?" he tried to reason with the rest of the crew and the mermaids. "We gave them the ol' college try. Couldn't do it," he shrugged, "we only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake." Now he turned to Lance for a discussion. "Or a worm? Worms like holes, right? And portals aren't that much different."

"Then it's settled," Lance made his way to the princess. "Princess Allura, you'll ride with me. One of you guys can take the old guy."

"We can't just abandon this turf," Pidge argued. "The Galra will just take over anything in and surrounding it before moving on to the next ocean! They won't stop until we stop them." He emphasized the last three words pointedly.

"Okay, if we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave the city alone," Hunk said. "Like when we left Earth. We form that snake I was talking about and then," he hissed, "out of here!"

Lance hit his shoulder lightly and leaned in to whisper into his ear. Hunk lowered himself to listen and made a confused noise. "What sound do eels make?"

"Never mind," Lance waved him off. Not the issue. The real problem here was that Hunk's plan?

It was the worst escape plan Lance had ever heard. Kogane also seemed to think so.

"Sendak could destroy the turf and then come after us anyway," Keith uttered. "Staying is out only option."

"How about you shut your mouth, lipless," Lance leaned forward tauntingly. Behind him, Coran gasped at the term.

Huh, Lance thought, I guess there's always been sharks in the sea.

Lipless was a derogotory name for anyone related to sharks. A throwback to the times when it was thought to be a bad thing to be related to them. His uncle Lot had used the word quite a bit. It meant almost nothing to Lance, however. He didn't like Galra, the thought of playing war games with their children long ago still upset his stomach, but he disliked those kids as much as he disliked Kogane.

Probably a little less.

"What does that even mean?" Keith asked, insulted despite himself. "Are you even trying to make sense anymore?"

"What do you know, Mullet?" Lance half-yelled.

Keith also shot forward, unwilling to step down from a fight. "We're staying."

"Leaving," Lance said.

"Staying!" screamed Pidge, joining their fight in a high pitched voice.

"Eel!" Hunk took on his respective opponent, looking down at Pidge, unlike the red and blue paladins, who were quite literally butting heads.

"Guys, stop," Shiro ordered. They all stepped away from each other. No one was facing the other, but they glared from their peripheral vision. "Princess Allura, these are your dolphins. You've dealt with wars like this before. What do you think is the best course of action?"

Allura glanced at Lance momentarily, catching his attention. "I-I don't know," she stuttered. "But..." She looked like she wanted to ask him for advice. That would be a stupid move, even if she knew he was a selkie.

So why was she looking at him?

She knows, Lance realized. She definitely knows.

"Perhaps your father can help," Coran suggested, taking her attention off him.

How could she have known when Hunk had yet to figure it out!? Hunk was so smart, the clues were everywhere, and even Lance was keeping track of them!

Lance was going to tell them. He was. The opportunity had yet to present itself to him again, though. There was no use in not telling them he was a selkie, after all. Nothing would change. Heck, maybe Hunk would even remember the day he lost Lance's skin, officially giving Lance a date to mourn it.

Hunk...would probably feel terrible if he remembered the day he lost Lance's skin, shit.

Maybe Lance didn't want to tell them after all, he thought, grimacing. Why did he never think these things through!?

"My father?" Allura asked Coran. Lance was no longer paying attention.

He was too busy wondering how to keep a secret for the rest of his life.

I like to think I take my lore seriously, but I really just do a half-assed google search (or ecosia) for cool legends, mythologies, and folk tales. As I've states, I'm making this up as I go. We have barely even touched the topic of Uncle Lot and Lance's family yet, and I thought that would come into play big time as soon as Lance reached the ocean - or the undersea anyway.

I've also already got the reveal of Lance's species written down? It's a little lame, only like 2,000 words, I'm sorry. And it's pretty early on, so sorry to those who wanted it to really reach a boiling point too. That's not the point.

The point is actually to see how much lore I can fit in and crossover into this disgustingly magical alternate universe I have created.

Where the heck did Hunk hide Lance's selkie skin?
I never said this would be a happy story about a selkie boy who found his skin and returned to the sea after seven miserable years, did I? I just wanted angst, comfort was not in the deal! I cannot say if Hunk hid it or lost it, tbh. I've got the reveal down (sorta) but Hunk doesn't realize Lance's skin meant so much.

How is Ys pronounced? Is it like "yeez" or is it like the "whys"?
I have no idea :0 I've been pronouncing it "yis" this whole time, but I should have probably looked it up. Wikipedia (don't believe what they tell you, it's a legit source of info and where I got the city's name from) says it's sometimes spelled Is and pronounced EESS, actually. Huh.