Chapter Text
Alteans were insane, but Lance couldn’t complain about the results.
“I can’t believe all it took for us to form Voltron was a food fight!”
“Yeah…” Hunk frowned. “Wish we’d known that before Allura and Coran programmed the castle to attack us.”
“Yeah. That would have been nice.”
Lance’s muscles ached. His bruises would probably last years, and the resident Alteans already planned for more training the next day. Was it too late to leave Voltron and return home? Could he stay in Voltron without the painful training exercises?
Don’t get him wrong, he loved flying Blue and being a hero and fighting as a team. He loved his team in general – minus Keith – but he also liked relaxing and laying back and enjoying life.
They eventually reached Hunk’s room. His buddy yawned, stretching his arms wide to get out the kinks, before waving to him. “Goodnight. See you tomorrow if the Galra don’t kill us first.”
With that pleasant thought, Hunk slipped away. It took a few seconds for Lance to move on.
“If the Galra don’t kill us first?” It was a legitimate concern, but why had Hunk had to voice it? They really needed to work on optimism. Hunk and Keith both. And Pidge. Maybe that should be their next team bonding exercise. Physical training couldn’t take up all the time. Lance shook that thought from his head and bounded around the corner to his own room.
Lance’s first order of business was his skincare routine. As old as the stuff was, he hadn’t missed his routine in six years, and not even traveling into deep space would stop him. Besides, Coran assured him that Altean technology worked wonders when it came to preservation of healthcare objects. Even after ten thousand years.
After applying the final cream, Lance almost donned his headphones and sleep-mask. Then, he remembered Allura’s lecture after the incident that morning.
“You are not to listen to music at night, Lance. You must always maintain awareness. One day, there will be a true emergency, and you’d best be ready for it. We all must.”
It would take him hours to fall asleep without those security blankets, but he loathed the thought of disappointing the princess.
“I’m too keyed up to sleep anyway.” If he wouldn’t get much sleep anyway, then he may as well get used to the lack of music. The mask would hopefully be unnecessary once the castle got up and running. As long as the lights in his room dimmed enough, he’d be fine without it.
Despite his honest attempts to sleep, however, Lance couldn’t. Even ignoring the lack of music and sleep mask – ignoring the alien environment and daytime lighting – fighting together that day and forming Voltron made him feel complete. For the first time since joining the Garrison, he felt connected to something important. Even if he was just the fifth wheel on a team of stars, he was part of it, and that left him more wired than he could contain.
He groaned and flopped over in bed, wishing his smile would fade so he could relax and focus on sleeping. They had more training the next day, and exhaustion caused skin problems. Why did he have to feel so giddy?
I wish my family could see me.
Rachel would roll her eyes and call him dramatic. The danger involved might concern Veronica, but she’d congratulate him on the accomplishment. Marco and Luís…
Lance rolled onto his other side, minding his skin cream as he faced the wall. His smile finally died.
Thinking of his family made him miss home.
It wasn’t a new sensation. The Garrison boarded all its students, after all, but at least on Earth he had his scheduled calls and Veronica not too far away in the girls’ dorms. Planet Arus was who knew how far out into space. Definitely too far for a call home.
What do they think happened to me? Judging time was difficult in space, but Coran had mentioned hump day. If that meant the same to Alteans as it did to Earthlings, then they’d been gone for two – almost three – days. The Garrison had to have noticed their absence by then, even if no one knew they kidnapped Shiro. What had their families been told happened?
Lance sprang up as he recalled their earlier conversation. He hadn’t been paying too much attention. The princess was so beautiful it was hard to concentrate, and the way the holographic stars illuminated her face and highlighted her Altean markings…She was the perfect distraction.
You’re getting distracted again, he told himself. If he wanted to stay on the team, he’d have to work on that. What had he been thinking about before?
Wait…Allura said the castle got distress signals from all across the galaxies. That meant the castle had communication technology. Lance could try to contact Earth. He could tell his family that he was alright.
Without thinking through his actions, Lance jumped out of bed and made his way through the cold, abandoned hallways. The castle was huge and unfamiliar, but he knew the way to the bridge. That was the only direction he needed.
What should he say if he reached his family? Should he tell them where he was? Would that worry them too much? Maybe he should just say that he was alright and leave it at that. Not that his Mamá would accept that answer.
Lance was passing the common room when he heard a Thud! on the other side of the door.
Someone must still be up. Or a Galra infiltrated. Maybe it was the princess, and Lance could get some alone time with her. Get to know her better and amend their first impression.
Forgetting his original mission, he turned to assess the threat level of whatever he’d uncovered…Allura was probably the worse option, if he outright flirted.
Lance saw no one at first. There were the bright white, blue-streaked walls. The round couch lay untouched in the center, and the window on the opposite side showcased the orange, pearlescent sunset on Arus. All of that, he expected.
What made that noise?
Then, it happened again. Thud! followed by the hiss of a sliding door.
But the only other door in the room was in Lance’s direct line of sight, and that hadn't moved.
He frowned. “Hello?”
Thunk! “Ow.”
Threat level: 100.
Lance glared towards the source of the sound to see Keith, on all fours, crawling out from some hole in the wall. Once the Red Paladin fully escaped, the sliding door closed, leaving nothing but an infinitesimal seam in the wall.
“What are you doing?” Lance’s gaze shifted between Keith and the wall. How had Keith even known about that space? The castle was new to all of them.
Wait. He hasn’t had any alone time with Allura, has he? Lance would die before letting Keith win Allura’s heart like he had all of the girls' at the Garrison. Even if she never liked Lance, she deserved so much better than the mullet. The thought of them together…
Keith huffed and stood. He brushed dust off of his clothes, but a few cobwebs coated his hair, too. Feeling vindictive, Lance said nothing about it.
“I saw a weird glow coming from those cracks earlier and decided to investigate.”
“A glow?” Practically the whole castle glowed. Why would that raise Keith’s shackles? Granted, Keith was apparently a paranoid conspiracy theorist who hunted lion signals in his spare time.
“Yeah. I think it came from this.” He held up a wooden figurine.
The figurine did, admittedly, feel weird. A soft, pulsing energy emitted from it every other second, but who said that was abnormal for Altean toys? Maybe there was some craze for radioactive space toys ten thousand years ago.
Lance didn’t say that. Instead, he said, “Why would a toy dog be glowing?”
Keith huffed. “I doubt it’s a dog. It has to be Altean.”
Really? That’s what he stuck on?
“If Alteans have lions, why not dogs?”
For once, Keith had no comeback. Lance grinned in victory. Threat incapacitated. Lance: 1; Keith: 0.
“So, it was glowing?”
Keith shrugged. “Something was. The compartment took awhile to open, and the glow stopped before I could look inside.” He inspected the figurine. “What do you think it does?”
“Let me see it.”
The Red Paladin handed the toy over, and Lance studied it. At first, it appeared like a normal, wooden toy. Upon touching it, however, Lance realized the dog was made of clay.
Newly dried clay.
What?
Surely, ten thousand years in an abandoned castle would roughen the smooth edges and sap all moisture from it. Instead, the dog felt as silky as Lance’s skin, like all he needed was a little water, and he could remold it to his own desires.
Not that he would remold it. Lance loved dogs. They were loyal and energetic, just like him. The dog in his hand reminded him of the ones on Earth, with its floppy-ears and long tail, sitting calmly and happily. Etched into the clay were small details to give certain spots a furry look, but those were the only changes in the otherwise smooth surface. Mostly smooth, Lance realized, looking more closely at the neck.
“Hey, look at this.” Lance flipped the figurine to see that, indeed, the other side of the figurine’s head also had a dip between it and the shoulder. Like someone had pulled a chunk from the neck, intending to add more detail. Or like a hotheaded emo had torn it when digging it out. “I think it’s missing a piece.”
Lance handed the figurine to Keith and bent to investigate the hole he’d initially found the other in. Unfortunately, it was too small for him to comfortably see inside it, and the space was too dark. Left with no other choice, Lance shoved his hand in, feeling for a spare chunk of clay. He instantly regretted that choice when his hand hit something that moved. Please don’t be a bug. Lance refused to give Keith the satisfaction of reacting, though. He could deal with a bug bite. Even a possibly venomous, alien bug bite.
“Lance, there’s nothing-”
After a bit of flailing, his hand hit something solid. “Aha!”
Lance pulled back, taking the small object with him. At first, it just looked like a clay harness, but as Lance watched, the shape morphed, expanding into a half-wreath of several, familiar flowers.
“What the hell?” Keith leaned closer, inspecting the jagged points protruding from the flowers’ centers. “What kind of plants are those?”
“They’re myrtle flowers. They symbolize love or something.”
Keith stared at him, aghast. “And you know that how?”
“My sister-in-law wanted them for their wedding,” Lance defended. He grimaced, remembering all of the wedding magazines and props spread throughout his family home. For months, no one could walk anywhere without slipping over something wedding related. “The flowers weren’t native to the area, though, and she wanted them live and natural…They had orchids instead.”
“That doesn’t explain how you know what ‘myrtle’ flowers look like,” Keith muttered.
Because I helped plan the wedding. Veronica had started calling Lance bridezilla by the end. He pushed away that thought. “I’m a good brother.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”
Annoyed, Lance took the figurine back, but Keith refused to release it. “Hey, let go!”
“No, what are you doing?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you!”
Before Keith could argue, Lance freed the dog from Keith’s hands just enough to bare its neck. He slotted the myrtle wreath into place.
“There, now it’s-”
A burst of purple light exploded out of the figurine, interrupting Lance’s admiration. Energy poured through their bodies, making it impossible to release the figurine even if they wanted to. It was like nothing Lance had ever felt before. Every nerve in his body sang, and his hair stood on end. Even the castle’s lights – which had remained in day mode despite all of Coran and Allura’s attempts to fix them – surged. He’d never felt so aware, even as his mind went blank with wonder and pure overstimulation.
Several, long moments later, Keith gasped, “What the hell did you do?”
“Me?” Lance stared at Keith incredulously, blinking blissful stars from his eyes and ignoring how the other’s hair defied every law of gravity. Ignoring how Keith’s eyes had never looked a more vibrant indigo. Had Keith always looked so pretty? “You’re the one that found this thing in the first place!”
The doors behind them opened to admit their friends, all of whom seemed to have rushed from bed. Again, only Shiro was battle-ready, but Hunk had haphazardly donned his armor over his pajamas. Pidge hadn’t even tried.
“What is going on in here?” Allura demanded, staring between them in shock.
Lance hoped his hair wasn’t as bad as Keith’s. He suddenly became aware that his face mask may have also been affected by the odd energy. Was there a good way to check how he looked?
He was torn from his embarrassment by Coran’s gleeful giggles. “Oh, princess. I believe congratulations are in order for our Red and Blue Paladins.”
Congratulations?
Lance looked to Keith. Maybe he knew what Coran was talking about, but the confused shrug the other sent him proved otherwise.
Even Allura seemed uncertain, the edge of tiredness in her tone belying her previous eons of rest. “Whatever for, Coran?”
The engineer’s joy increased. “Don’t you see what they are holding?” he demanded.
The princess turned her gaze to their hands, which also brought Lance’s attention to the fact that, in their earlier fight to hold the figurine, his and Keith’s hands had entwined around it. They simultaneously jerked back, ripping their hands apart, and the figurine fell to the floor with a soft, Thunk!
Allura’s eyes followed the descent, wide with disbelief. “Is that what I think it is?”
“What is it?”
Shiro moved closer to inspect it, but Coran hurried to stop him. “Don’t touch it! If you do, you’ll be caught up in its magic!”
The Black Paladin froze. “Magic?” He stared at Coran in horror. “What kind of magic?”
Lance would like to know that as well.
“And why did you say congratulations are in order?” Keith demanded.
“Because you two have just married, of course.”
“What?!”
The little power Lance’s brain had gathered since the energy surge evaporated when he heard those words. Married? Lance was seventeen! Too young to be married at all, let alone to his mullet-headed rival. And he wasn’t into guys! He definitely wasn’t into Keith, of all people.
Didn’t you call him pretty earlier?
Shut up, Lance told his brain. He was too in shock to think about that. If he did, he might slip into a coma.
Coran’s enthusiasm died in the face of their horror. “Do you not have Olrensel clay on your planet?”
Shiro took the reins, which was good because Keith and Lance would probably be mute for weeks. “Coran, what’s Olrensel clay?”
“It’s a clay that is – was – formed in the core of planet Altea where the planet’s quintessence – life-giving energy – is highest,” the engineer explained, frowning between them all. “Due to that, the clay easily molds to the sculptor’s will, bonding to him or her for the time it takes to complete the process and settle. Since its discovery, Olrensel clay has been highly sought after across the system. Any who touch the clay after it has been molded are given a brief boost to their energy and access to psychic abilities. The longest such an event has lasted was a week when the Alchemist Ferudar made her adventure across-”
Allura cut over him, taking up the explanation before he could get side-tracked. “If two people touch the Olrensel clay within a short amount of time of its molding, the power binds their quintessence and that of the clay itself. Permanently. The only known way to break the bond is to break the Olrensel object that binds it.”
Lance stared at her in horror. So, his and Keith’s ‘quintessence’ or whatever had been…He’d never drank alcohol in his life, but right then, he needed a drink. Or several.
“What are we waiting for, then?” Keith reached down to break the dog, but Allura stopped him.
“No! Keith, you don’t understand. Breaking the bond would kill you. Your and Lance’s very life forces are now connected to this statue. And to each other.”
Maybe Coran could find him something. Altean alcohol probably didn’t have an expiration date. Besides, the more fermented, the better, right?
“Where did this clay even come from?” Shiro demanded, glaring at the Alteans.
It’s not their fault, Lance wanted to say. He was still too in shock.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.” The princess turned to her advisor. “Coran?”
“I suppose it could be your parents’,” Coran said thoughtfully. “It has been the royal tradition for centuries to pass the clay to the next generation once the previous couple passed, and they wished for you and your husband to have it. They hid it somewhere in the castle to prevent anyone from stealing it.”
If only someone had.
“So, Keith and Lance are married now?” Hunk asked, confused.
Coran moved forward, kneeling to eye the statue while making sure not to touch it. “Not quite, going by the energy it’s giving off.” He glanced to Keith and Lance. “Have you kissed yet?”
Have we-
Lance jumped away from his rival in disgust. “Hell no!”
“Why would you ask that?” Keith demanded.
“Because that is how the bond is sealed.”
Pidge cleared his throat, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “What happens if they don’t seal the bond?”
Hopefully, the next words out of Coran’s mouth would be: ‘Then the magic resets, and they’ll live happily ever after. Far away from each other.’
That, of course, didn’t happen. Coran actually shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t know. Olrensel clay on its own is rare enough. I don’t think there’s been a case in eons where two people haven’t wanted to bond.”
“Is there any way to undo it?” Shiro asked.
“Yeah. There has to be, right?” Lance was never more grateful to Shiro than right then. The Black Paladin was the voice of reason in a ridiculous mess of a conflict.
“No. By design, the clay is meant to mold to the wielders’ will and bond their essences into one. That effect is what makes it so sought after. If only one of them had touched it, then they’d be fine, but now, both of their life forces are too intertwined to separate without causing unparalleled harm.” Coran speared Lance with a warning look that he didn’t appreciate. Keith was the hothead. If anyone tried to break the figurine, it would be him. “Any attempt and they will die.”
“What does this bond do, exactly?” Pidge asked.
Allura sighed. “When completed, it gives the bonded a psychic connection and awareness of each other. If one of them dies, so does the other. That sort of thing.”
“So, a soul bond.” Shiro looked far from happy.
“No, no. Solband is a brand of skin protectant.”
They ignored Coran.
Shiro turned to face Lance and Keith for the first time since the conversation started. For the first time in his life, Lance wished his hero’s attention was anywhere else. The entire situation was both horrifying and embarrassing. They wouldn’t see James Griffin accidentally soul-bonded to his rival.
“I’m sorry, you two, but there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do,” Shiro said.
“Well I’m not sealing the bond,” Lance argued, pushing down his embarrassment. If he had control over anything, it was his reaction. The others couldn’t realize how upset he was. He’d wanted to settle down with a nice girl one day. Be a father and provider and call his wife his soulmate. Keith had to go and ruin that. “Nothing on Earth could get me to kiss Mullet.”
“Yeah, ditto.”
“You’d be lucky to have me, dropout.”
They both ignored Pidge’s, “We’re not on Earth.”
“Come on, guys,” Hunk pleaded. “What if not sealing the bond causes something bad to happen? What if it kills you?”
“I’m not kissing him!” The universe had to give Lance that much dignity, at least.
“We’ll monitor them,” Coran compromised. “Do weekly checks to make sure there are no adverse effects. Let us know if you notice anything strange.” He giggled to himself. “This will actually be quite the interesting experiment.”
Lance stamped down the anger that crawled up his throat. He wasn’t some lab rat for Coran to poke at with a stick. He was a human being that had just had his dreams crushed and freedom stolen from him.
No one said anything else, so Shiro sighed. “I guess that settles that. What should we do with the clay?”
“Well, only Lance and Keith can touch it,” Pidge pointed out.
Keith scowled. “I’m not keeping it!”
“I’ll take it.” Before they could ask how Coran meant to do that, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully scooped up the figurine. “Ooh. It feels quite warm. Still saturated with quintessence, I expect.”
Shiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just get it out of here, Coran. Keith, Lance, we need to talk.”
Lance crossed his arms and glared. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Yeah,” Keith agreed. “We’re not married. We never sealed the bond or whatever. Everything can go back to how it was before.”
Frowning, Hunk asked, “What were you even doing in here?”
That was the last thing Lance wanted anyone to ask. He couldn’t let them know how homesick he was. What would Shiro think? Pidge would never let him live it down. “Mullet woke me up with all of his thumping.”
Luckily, Keith’s hotheaded nature prevented anyone from pointing out how far the common room was from the sleeping quarters. “Hey! The closet just started glowing. It could have been a threat, so I found a way to open it. I didn’t know what it would do!”
“And you touched it anyway.”
Before the argument could worsen, Shiro stepped between them. “Alright. Break it up, you two. This is no one’s fault, and you’re right. We should just move on.”
“Besides.” Hunk sent them an uncertain smile. “Altean marriages would hardly hold up on other planets. You’re both still single and free to mingle, right?”
Lance couldn’t feel more relieved. That was right. Altea had been destroyed. An ancient marriage ritual couldn’t legally hold them on any other planet, and even if it did, it definitely couldn’t do so on Earth. No one had to know what had happened.
He ignored the lingering doubt that seeped past his denial as they all said their goodnights and went to bed. Come the next morning, everything would be back to normal, and they could forget that night had ever happened.