Gosh, I feel so bad omg, sorry for the too long wait guys!! I mean it from the bottom of my heart😭❤️

So I hope this chapter will somewhat make up for the long wait. And the next chapter should be quite interesting 👀

۝ ۝ ۝

It only required one exchanged look between me and my sister, before both of us made a run for it to the control room, my heart clonking inside my chest, my breath short and ragged as the strength of my pulse started to triple, until it drowned any other sound around me and were the only thing fillings my ears.

It had been so long, so long since anything like this had happened, where Coran had frantically shouted warnings over the comms, ordering the paladins to report to the control room for an emergency, and me and Allura warily strolled behind, not being able to be to any help, only watching from the sidelines as our family saved the universe.

Was this something like that? A crunch that meant sacrifices? I could only hope not, as I picked up the pace and gripped Allura's arm to pull her with me, Coran voice turning into something remote, until I couldn't hear it at all. Our thumping footsteps was chaotically coordinated, like a beat inside my head of a song that I'd heard before, but had left behind for some time, only to hear its familiar tunes play in my mind again. I could almost hear its lyrics.

Danger, danger waits ahead of you-

All the paladins were already there as me and Allura took that last step, and they all stood in fighting position, as if that boy in the big hologram screen would jump out of it and attack them. Trigel had even activated her bayard, but the rest of her armor remained in its pod.

I was panting, my chest was heaving, and I could already feel how beads of perspiration was forming in the small of my back, my neck, sprinkling like freckles across my nose. I had to catch my breath first, letting my grip on Allura's slim arm loosen, before I could lift my head, look at the owner of the call properly.
My breath hitched.

The first thing I saw was the purple skin. Light purple, how it took on a little tint of lavender color under the dark light around him. How his eyes, ablaze and yellow, shone in the dim atmosphere on the other side of the call. In this fluorescent light, his eyes looked acicular, almost amethyst, eyeing all of us sedately and carefully, making me shiver involuntarily. His hair, long and neat, glistened whenever he made a slight movement, to position himself more comfortably on the dark chair he was sitting in.

"Greetings, paladins", he spoke in a dark, almost guttural voice. It boomed over the speakers in the control room, rumbling and dominant. His hand came to rest under his chin. "I am prince Lotor, general Lotor, if you may, and I think that we have a lot to discuss." An diabolical grin followed right after, baring a couple of fangs that shone in a deadly promise. It reminded me too much of someone I shouldn't have been reminded of, especially not in this kind of situation, where all the paladins and my parents was bracing for battle, almost growling at the sight of a galra in front of them.

But this didn't seem like a regular galra. Not with the way his hair looked, snowbound white, pushed back from his face and reaching longer than just the shoulders. And his skin, purple, yes, but too light, almost like Keith's is, and it immediately made me come to a very hasty conclusion. Half galra. Could that be it? If so, what was his other origin?

"What are your intentions?" my dad spoke in a harsh but modulated voice, his tone just barely overpowering the dominance of the prince in front of us, and he straightened his back, balling his hands into fists. "Why are you calling us? You being a Galra, as such. We wish not to speak with the kinds that betrayed us and our people."

"Half galra", the boy, Lotor, corrected in a calm voice, bringing his head high, looking down at us as if he found us amusing, like miniature people in his little world, making us move just with the flick of his fingers. So... I was very much right, and I didn't know why it terrified me. I could hear dad gasp from meters ahead. "And I think I made it quite clear that I have things to confer with you, things that could mean reconciliation between the galras and all the other species throughout the galaxy." He clutched his one fist, before letting his slender glove-covered finger fall open again, repeating the gesture over and over again. He raised one of his thin, white eyebrows, his grin turning even more smug. "I trust that the paladins of Voltron has got what it takes to defeat my father."

Everyone in the room gasped, and I stilled, shivering with dread but still standing there in utter confusion. Was I missing something here? Had I maybe somehow started to daydream during his talk and had missed when he'd shared some very important information? But no, maybe he would elaborate what he had said, and I would get my questions answered. Or I would have to risk everything and ask him myself; I wouldn't be surprised if my mouth would run that freely, even in this kind of circumstance. 

"This cannot be..." My dad whispered.

"How is this possible?" Gyrgan gasped.

"I'd never think I'd see the quiznacking quintant!" Coran exclaimed.

I looked over at Allura beside me, only to find her gaping, her eyebrows twitching in consternation and dismay, as if she was getting what was happening in front of her. She eyed Lotor in a way that made my chest tighten with a feeling so unpleasant it made it difficult to breathe. Her arms hung slack against her sides, her lips parted in shock. 

"There seems to be a lot that you're missing out, paladins, things you don't know, and is the reason you've shunned for the past movements. You won't vanquish anyone with the little information you have now", Lotor said, and I decided that his voice was honeyed, but is personality not seemingly as sweet. His eyes went piercing. "So let me fill you in on the details."

"You can't be...", dad stuttered out, and I didn't have to see his face to know that he looked frightened. "You... you can't be his... his..."

"Unfortunately, I am the son of the universe's most hated creature, and that is nothing that I can change." The movement of his hand stopped, and a finger lingered up in the air. "However, I will have you know that I am nothing like my father, and don't ever intend on being like him. Don't let my half race fool you." I was gaping at this point, everything finally falling into place. "If there is anything beneficial coming out of this, it's that I have valuable intel on him and his witch that none of you would have been able to gather, without having to sacrifice at least half of your crew, to say. I am willing to share this information with you, if you are willing to work with me to s..."

"YOU ARE ZARKON'S SON?!"

The prince fell silent, and his sharp eyes instantly fell on me, looking at me like he could look right through my soul, and I could feel how everyone held their breathe. I too, held my breathe, cursing at my mouth for always ruining stuff, opening in the worst kinds of situations, situations that could cost our life's, at worst. In this moment, I wanted nothing else but to shrink down into the floor, and to crawl out of this pickle I found myself in. I could feel my dad's hard gaze on my face, but I didn't dare to meet his eyes, instead I focused on the half galra in front of me, hating how clearly I saw the corner of his mouth jiggle, as if his smirk wasn't pompous enough. He lowered his hand completely, leaning closer to the camera.

"Yes, prince Lance, I am sadly the son of the universe's worst enemy. It is nothing I am proud of, but as I mentioned, it is nothing I can change, either. I hope that that statement won't delude you from seeing the truth, and what is right. My intentions won't be bad if you don't make them, so I hope that I can stay on your good side through this journey of defeating Zarkon."

"Non negotiable!" dad roared, and that's when the focus was steered back to him, and I loudly let out my breath that I didn't know I was holding in, gasping as if my head had been under water all this time. "If you think we will pair up with you to take down your own father, you have got yourself all wrong. I am afraid that your arguments are too frail to convince us, seeing as you are very hard to trust."

"If this is a matter of the fact that I am a half-breed - involuntarily, if I may add -, I will have you know that you are the one deeply mistaken here." His grin was gone, and it terrified me, seeing that it was just pure exasperation on his face at this point, his fangs impossibly sharper now as he continued to snarl. "I wish to be judged by my actions, rather than your preconceptions of my race. And right now, there is nothing that implies on my actions being bad."

"That's not what I am suggesting", dad snapped, and I watched as mom lightly clung to his arm, as if her touch would calm him down. It seemed to work, because when dad spoke again, his voice had taken the faintest tint of calm to it. "It is rather who your father is, and how that makes you just a little bit less trustworthy. After how Zarkon betrayed us, how can we trust that his own son won't follow his footsteps?"

Lotor's lips was pressed into a thin, hard line, and his irises went smaller, narrowing into slits, in the way Keith's eyes always did when he was frightened or angry, and it sent a painful twinge in my heart, making me shift. 

"I shouldn't have awaited more", he muttered under his breath, leaning back in his chair, resting his arm on the armrest so nonchalantly it baffled me. He was staring at a spot below, eyeing it with concentration, before letting his gaze land on my dad again. "Zarkon being my father is lamentably nothing I can change, just as it seems that I can't change your adamant minds at the moment. Such a shame, if I do say so." He snickered, and the low rumble of his little laugh sent the creeps up my back. "A little bit foolish of you, don't you think? With Voltron no longer at your hands, and you deny the help you are offered to defeat him? I had higher thoughts of you, paladins, such a shame that you didn't meet up to my expectancy." He flicked his hang sloppily in the air, and the next tick, the call had ended, and the hologram disappeared in the blink of an eye. The only thing remaining was the trepidation within us all.

Not a words was said for several ticks, and not a single movement was made. It was as if Lotor's call had solidified us all, not only preventing us from moving, but thinking too. I found my head completely locked, and it was impossible for me to form any understandable words. But I decided to seal my lips shut, afraid that if I let them fall open again, I would utter something I would regret, just like before. 

But then dad turned around, and his face was so different from what it usually was. This face was double the tired, double the ghastly. This wasn't dads face I had seen when Zarkon had turned his back on us, not the horror I had watched play on his face before. This was his face after the betrayal, after all this agony, and it had a terrific perseverance, one so strong that I hadn't seen in ages.

He said: "Coran, double the security, make sure that all the fortifications are good to go. Trigel, look for any kind of error in the system." The green paladin immediately bolted out to do as told. "Blaytz, Gyrgan, do a thoroughly check around the area for any kinds of intruders." The two paladins didn't waste any time in exiting the control room. "Melenor, inform the citizens about the situation, make sure to keep them as calm as possible." Dad's eyes landed on me and my sister, and I froze. His eyes hardened.

"Lance, Allura... go be safe."

۝ ۝ ۝ 

Quintants went with us being circumspect, laying on the low, doing everything with caution, always awaiting any kind of attack, at any time, but it increased our worry when it never came.

I spend most of my time in my room, because I had nowhere else I could go, or was allowed to go to, and when I was lying sprawled across my dark covers, staring up at the ceiling, I found myself thinking of things that didn't really make the situation any better. Like the promise I had made to Nyma, and how I was letting it down once again. I could only hope that the assuring call mom had made to the whole Altea would inform her about the situation, and make her understand why I wasn't completing my part of the deal we had. I could only hope she had some kind of decency within her, and that I wouldn't have my neck snapped in half the next time I saw her. Or even worse, that she would out me to me sister, revealing that she was in fact my fake girlfriend, and that I had something else hidden, which would make me have to come up with another lie, which I definitely didn't have in store right now. Maybe I was completely spent of lies now.

So I lied on my bed, quintant in and quintant out, until the lack of physical movement and the many movements my brain made, squeezing out depressed thoughts into my already crammed head, made me tired enough that I feel asleep like this, my teeth unbrushed and my face unface-masked. 

But it was one particular night where a light caress against my bared arm woke me up, seeing as I could barely sleep properly anymore and my consciousness wasn't fully handed over to the sleeping state yet, so anything, even the littlest thing that disturbed the stillness would shake me into alertness. At first I thought that it was just the quilt grazing my skin, but then I cracked my eyes open, just slightly, only to see a shadow over me that could not be my blanket, and for some reason, it didn't make me as scared as I should have been. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, and maybe I was in fact sleeping, but either way, I tried to blink away the blur that glazed over my eyes, like a thin layer that didn't want to disperse. I could almost hear the flutter of my eyelids.

But then, my name, low and hushed, barely there at all, came from the shadow above me, and I stilled, blinking away that remaining blur to see all the dark spots in my room take place in my view, and the contours of a big shape in front of me, moving just slightly. Something bright shone in my eyes, too, blazing purple, and it made me confused as to what it was, and what it belonged to.

"Lance." My name, again, louder this time, as if my ears had been closed and I had finally swallowed to open them again. "Hey, Lance...."

I made a low sound from deep inside my throat, like a rumble of protest, even if I would never plan to go back to sleep, not before taking at good look at what was above me.

No, who was above of me.

"Lance", he whispered, and his breath hit me in a sweet kind of smell that I had never smelled before, not from him, at least, and it was something that made all my tense muscles soften to a point where it felt like I was just a big mush on the bed. His glove covered hand rested on my cheek, fingers lightly coming to touch the hair that curled around my ear, tugging gingerly, as if to wake me up more. But I was already awake, more than ever now, but if only I could blink away the vestigial blur in my eyes...

"Keith?" Now I could see it, those yellow eyes, glowing brighter than I had ever seen them glow, probably because it was almost pitch black in my room, and the purple light of his suit highlighted the lower half of his face in a faint glow, showing up how his lips just barely curled up to a tiny smile. I started to sit up, trying to reach for him, trying to find out if this was just my mind playing sick games on me or if he was in fact here, after all this time, after disappearing without a trace after, nor any augury of his actions. "K-Keith, is that... you...?" I was afraid to believe so, but still I did, still I clung to that inadequate hope that I had clutched since I last saw the empty cave. 

"It's me, Lance", he whispered, pressed the words out through a smile that was only growing, and some part of my consciousness must have still been corrupted by sleep because his words sounded muffled, like they were somewhere far away, but he was here, so it didn't matter to me at all. He moved slightly to give me space to sit up properly, but his hands on my face lingered, coming to stroke my marks just under my eyes, and I trembled, my breath coming out in short sputters, my heart banging almost painfully against my ribcage. I couldn't be sure if it was because of his touch or his presence, or maybe both of them.

"Keith", I whispered, almost hissed out because it hurt so good in my chest and my throat was starting to close up, like it had given up in working and it hurt to speak but I still did. "Keith, it's really you... You're h-here... You're really here, Keith..." My voice was taking on another octave, despite the ache, and I found myself lifting up a quivering arm, trying for my fingers to come in contact with his face, just to feel if it was there, just to make sure one more time that I wasn't dreaming, but before I could, Keith captured my hand and closed it in his, pressing my knuckles tenderly against his lips to place light kisses over my skin, and I unraveled in his touch, my whole body going through a heatwave, making my face flush deeply. For a tick, I didn't think I would be able to speak again from here on, but eventually I managed to press out a feeble: "Keith, you're finally here... How did you... how did you manage to sneak in? W-where have you been? Where did you g....

"Shh, Lance", he hushed me, talking against my skin, making my palms damp, and I was grateful that his hands were covered with the gloves so he couldn't feel it - that was the only good thing coming out of the fabric. "Not so loud. I managed to lead the guards astray, but only for so long. It's not safe to talk here. Follow me outside, and I'll explain everything." He said all of this in between kisses, and his pecks was distracting enough for me to find it hard to listen to what he was saying, and just his whole aura was distractions in itself. He smelled so sweet..., why did he smell so fragrant? Had he been bathing in sugar before he came here, or what? But either way, it was so pleasant, and like a medication to the soul. I found myself inhaling deeply, letting his smell fill me up.

"Yeah, of course..." I stuttered, letting him start pulling me up, out of my bed, his touch quickly replacing the loss of warmth from stepping aside from my blankets, his hands immediately coming to support my back and arms when my legs that I had barely used for quintants gave out and almost fell face first on the floor. I felt groggy, and I started to question how tired I actually was. Maybe I had overestimated my readiness, and maybe I was actually not alert at all and I was still dreaming, letting myself be pulled by just my imagination of Keith, sleep walking to nothing. 

But no, my imagination couldn't be this creative, not creating such a tangible touch, not creating this apparent and potent smell, couldn't create this authentic picture of him pulling me towards the door of my room, his strong fingers firmly gripping my wrist, watching as the doors quietly hissed open to reveal the blue lit up corridor behind. It was completely quite, save for the constant buzz of the machines running nonstop, and my erratic breathing, of course. If I listened closely, I could almost hear how my heart fluttered in my chest, like the flap of hummingbird wings in reverse. I gulped as Keith quickly checked for any danger outside, poking his head around the corner before nodding once and looking over his shoulder at me, beckoning to me to follow him. I'd let you take me anywhere, I thought to myself, and gasped when he pulled on my arm and dragged me outside. 

It was chilly outside in the corridor, probably because the heating system outside was nothing like my room, but also because I had stayed in my habitat for so long that my body temperature must have filled every quarter of the bedroom, and I didn't even have time to shudder properly, because Keith immediately yanked me through the wide corridor, moving with supple, silent legs, almost making no sound, unlike me, who stepped lazily and loudly, my footsteps echoing around us. I could only hope that Keith had lured the guards that was on nightshift far enough that they wouldn't be hearing my ridiculously loud steps. If we were to get busted, I didn't doubt for a tick that Keith would be fast enough to hide, but then I would have to come up with an explanation as to why I was awake at this hour. Maybe I could lie and say that I needed a night snack?

It didn't take long before we reached the exit that led to the garden, and there was no sign of anyone but us, nor that we had been seen by the guards that patrolled in the castle. I was just about to ask how Keith had managed to clear the area when he stopped, forcing me halt to a stop too, almost colliding right into him. We stood in the middle of the field, the juniberries surrounding us, like pink dots on a dark canvas, but the smell of them was nothing compared to the sweetness that Keith was emitting, nothing as mesmerizing as his eyes looked in this darkness, how the yellow shine of his eyes lit up the purple within, how his lips parted to breathe out, but said nothing. I wanted to hug him, wanted to wrap my arms around his broad shoulders, wanted to get the aromatic smell as close to me as possible, wanted to feel his brawny arms embrace me back, his fingers entangling in my hair, stroking the hollow of my back, holding me like this for eternity. 

I was just about to lean forward and hopefully get myself contented, but he pulled back, and I fell forward into the ghost of where his body once stood. I whipped my head up in despair, a outdrawn whine escaping my mouth, irritated at the loss of his contact. I tried to reach for him again, but he simply backed away again, leaving a good two meters between us. I groaned in question, frustrated that I couldn't reach for him.

Keith looked solemn, and I wondered why. Was someone creeping up behind me? Had we been exposed? He looked me dead in the eyes, and spoke in an undertone, which made it hard for me to hear it from this distance:

"Do your trust me, Lance?" he asked me, his facial expression unmoving, which confounded me. But despite it, I instantly replied.

"Of course I trust you. I always trust you. But what is going on? Is there something wr..."

"Good", he interrupted, and I slammed my mouth shut, my arms falling limp against my sides. The saccharine smell couldn't reach my nose anymore, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded distorted, like a broken voice record. I blinked in puzzlement, wondering what was happening. "Then stay there, right there..."

I yelped, because something else was happening. The next tick, me and Keith were separated by a purple barricade, enveloping me in a cylinder shape, like swirling neon water that gave intense electric shocks whenever I tried to touch it. I winced in pain, gripping my hand as I looked at Keith in despondency, but something happened to him to. I watched in horror as what was once him now crumbled into sparkling dust, illuminating in the dark, whirling up into the air as the last image of him faded away into grit-like powder, like sprinkles of stars that twirled in the wind. I made a wounded kind of sound, but it had nothing to do with the pain in my hand. Keith was nowhere to be seen, and my chest hurt of it.

"Don't worry", came a throaty voice from behind me, and I stilled, all my functions freezing into ice cubes. I couldn't move, let alone turn my head around to see if it was really who I thought the owner of the voice was, but I didn't have to, because he stepped up into my view himself. That same grin was on his face, and the shine of the barrier between us lit his face up in an eerie purple. "The lockup you will be staying in won't be as painful as this cage. I don't treat my prisoners completely ruthlessly."

My legs trembled, and they almost gave out, but I didn't want to risk falling and touching the barrier again and worsen the situation. My fingers felt numb, just as my tongue did, so I couldn't speak, couldn't even begin to form any kind of sound. Instead I just scrutinize the terror in front of me, watched as he popped open a canister, letting my eyes move to watch as the dust that used to be an image of Keith twirled in to the dark capsule, and Lotor carefully put on the cap again, letting the cylinder object dangle from the side of his very big and dark suit from a hook and it was now I realized how tall he actually was, how the bumps of his armor made him look more robust than he probably was, and it shouldn't have intimidated me, but it did. I could feel how my teeth rattled.

"I'm deeply sorry that the person you thought you saw wasn't in fact real", he started to say, tapping the side of the canister with a long, lanky finger. "But it's quite a grandiose innovation, don't you think? This is the result of when you amalgamate magic with technology. You get a palpable hallucination, and it's purpose is programmed by the owner itself, that case, being myself." Now he tapped all his fingers on the container that consisted of what was something I had started to believe so bad that it was true, and I felt sick to my stomach, felt like I would throw up. "And that redolent smell is quite calming, don't you think? It's sole meaning is to allay you, and to whisk any trace of doubt from your body." Lotor chuckled, deeply and lowly, and it vibrated in my chest, shook my senses. "It must have really worked. You didn't seem to even hesitate in going out. Or the illusion was maybe just that cogent." The tapping stopped and he took one step closer to me, almost touching the barricade. "I'm curious now, who did you see? We'll pray that whoever they are, they can help you out of this. And let's see if your family will change their minds now."

As he stepped back again, my whole body was starting to wobble, and I tried to say anything, to shout for help, or do anything to get me out, to punch that smirk off of his purple lips, but I couldn't.

"You actually made this a lot easier", the grape prince said, starting to pull up his helmet that dangled from his other hip from the same kind of hook, and he plopped it down on his head, his next words coming out muffled. "You came out here so fast, and it all just made this so much smoother. Wouldn't want the spell over your family to wear off before you had time to get out."

I recoiled in a sudden emotion, by blood crackling form something that had drastically turned from fear into something more sharp, something more intense, and I blinked furiously, suddenly seeing in red, everything taking on a crimson tint. My throat pulsated, my stomach bubbled, and I was afraid that if I opened my mouth I would puke right here, right now, but I couldn't care, couldn't care when the words he had uttered settled in my head, made sense in my mind, formed into a big picture of my biggest fear that I didn't even know was my biggest fear until now. It was one thing kidnapping me, torturing me and doing anything to me that meant harm, but when it came to my family, to all the other paladins and the guards doing everything for my safety, I felt disgusted, wanting to harm somebody the way they were harming my dearest ones, and it frustrated me so much that I couldn't, not now, not like this. I reacted without reflecting, and punched my hand right into the barrier, only to flinch back again, but my acrimony lingered, my arms still shuddering. 

"What did you do?" I bawled, my voice shaking with each syllable. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"

Lotor seemed unfazed by my outburst, and he dismissively whisked his hand in the air, shaking his head. "Nothing but put them to a good sleep. Don't worry, they'll wake up soon."

He ignored as I continued to scream at him, to pound the obstacle that kept sending shock after shock through me, until it felt like my whole body tingled, and through my cries I could hear how when he turned slightly around he muttered "Hiss us up."

And I continued to shout, even as he clung to the metal part of my little cage, and a dark shadow fell over us. When I glanced up, I saw a ship, about half the size of the castle, and it blended almost perfectly with the obsidian night sky, almost soundless as a patch from under opened, and a force started to pull us up, slowly, having so much energy that my ears closed, and it felt like my body parts would be ripped off brutally. 

I had stopped wailing now, and I could only now watch in stunned silence as I was being further pulled into hazard.

۝ ۝ ۝

The angst is not over, guys, but just wait until the next chapter. I think you'll be in for a big treat 😏

Ok so,  this is my first time including Lotor in my stories! I just had to, and I can't help but to fall more and more in love with him, especially after season 8. Like, he deserved so much better, wtf? But you'll see if I'll make him evil or not in this book, tho