https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/voltron/images/4/42/254._Ancient_Altea_as_imagined_by_Allura.png/revision/latest?cb=20161017220031

"Are you sure I shouldn't accompany you?" Lotor asked again. He was looking nervously at the new and improved TRAM in Keith's hands. The Red Paladin shook his head. 

"You have to stay here... and take care of your own reality."

Lotor offered Keith a crooked smile. "Worth a shot," he murmured as he turned to face Red and Blue, who were now out of the cargo hold and sitting majestically on Daibazaal soil. Lotor whistled. "It's a shame we don't have those beauties here. I would love to pilot one."

Lance grinned. "Maybe we'll find a reality where you do." Lotor laughed and Lance made sure to keep the image in his head. He knew that he'd always have a grudge against the lilac prince. It was something ingrained in his heart now. But seeing the prince like this, uncorrupted, happy, carefree... It allowed a small portion of his resentment float away. It felt nice. 

Keith turned from Lotor and Lance, who were chatting comfortably,  to Zarkon and held out his hand. The Emperor shook it firmly, his eyes unreadable but holding emotions that Keith could only guess were gratitude and assurance. 

"Please don't forget what I told you, sir," Keith said quietly, his other hand finding the Blade at his hip.

"I won't," Zarkon promised. Keith said his goodbyes to the Emperor and his family, then had to urge Lance to do the same, as the Blue Paladin had become a little emotional about the whole thing. 

As Keith and Lance walked across the desert sand, side-by-side, Keith looked at his friend with pride in his heart. Already, he could see the Old Lance peeking out from under the facade this new one wore, and he was glowing with a contentedness that Keith basked in. Finally, the blue boy was returning to him. 

After boarding the Lions, Lotor's face lit up, his eyes tracking their movements as the beasts burst to life. Keith retained the pristine grandeur of his "other" home planet, happy and peaceful, in his heart. He knew that many Daibazaal's were destroyed just like his own reality's, but this one was whole and it was beautiful. He only wished that his mom could be with him too. 

Once Keith and Lance were far enough away from Daibazaal, Keith took the TRAM out of his pocket, slumping back in his seat to scrutinize its new update. The TRAM now had a few knobs, buttons, switches, and a small holographic screen that was currently displaying static. 

The two knobs were for number and variation of the reality. The screen would typically show fuzzy nothingness, but Lotor had shown Keith how to 'tune' into a reality with the 'number' knob and then find variations of it, or realities near it, with the 'variation' knob. Lotor had referred to the knobs with more sophisticated names, but they were in Galran and Keith hadn't quite mastered the language yet...

Lotor had explained that if you set the screen on an object, you could find different versions of that object by observing its variations in realities. 

The buttons were simple: 'on/off' (self-explanatory), 'set' (to chose a given reality as a destination), and 'reset' (to display the current reality). And then there were two switches to set coordinates. 

Keith fidgetted with the knobs and switches for a few minutes, trying to find somewhere that might entice the Black Lion. He slowly worked to set the coordinates just to his right, where Lance flew in Blue, zeroing the holographic screen onto Lance's face. The image was grainy, but it matched what showed on his transmission screen. 

Then, carefully, Keith began switching through the 'variation' knob. At first, there was only static. But then, after a few ticks, the screen displayed a different Lance. This one was walking down a hallway, face stoic. Keith raised his eyebrows. This Lance wore a Garrison General uniform. 

A few more ticks and clicks of the 'variation' knob and he landed on anther Lance, or at least what seemed to be Lance- this one was just a little mocha-colored baby swaddled in a blue blanket, sleeping soundly. 

Keith felt a little weird, scrolling through Lances like they were Tinder dates or an Instagram explore page. But as he flicked through the different realities, he realized with a jolt that almost none of these Lances had regular Lance's Altean markings. Did that mean that there weren't many realities where Allura had died? Or... that Lance and Allura weren't together in these realities? Keith felt a nervous shudder shoot down his spine. 

Static took over an image of Lance at the head of his family's table, giving a toast, and switched to one of a stranger. Keith squinted at the gravely image. The face was the same as regular Lance's, but his hair was... white? And this Lance had Altean markings. Keith nudged at the coordinate switches, zooming out of the image. The screen seemed to shiver, then cleared to display a large, blue orb.

Keith felt his breath catch in his throat. "Holy Quiznak..." he choked. "Lance...?" 

His eyes were glued to the TRAM's small screen. 

"What?" came Lance's muffled reply. 

"I know that we just found Daibazaal but... I think I found something even better."

"A planet made of garlic knots?" Lance guessed.

The image was unclear and Keith couldn't know for certain, but...

"Ooh, or even better, a garlic knot the size of a planet?"

But, Keith was certain that what he was seeing was the one and only...

"God, I wish I had brought garlic knots. Yum."

Planet Altea. 

...

hfdaohfdjskal hey yall!! im so sorry for such a wait! i had psats last week and im trying to get all my work done before spring break! i hope all of you are doing well- thank you for being patient with me (:

qotd: are you superstitious? 

aotd: it depends!!

i love yall so much u dont even know<33 more updates coming soon loves