Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Yeah, was never much into Disney movies, that was always Matt’s thing.” Pidge stated as her, Hunk, and Lance were in the castle’s lounge for some downtime after their usual mission of the day.

“You’re kidding! It’s like a childhood staple!” Lance exclaimed while waving a copy of the Tangled movie in his hand he got from the space mall, along with some other Disney princess movies and a few other animated movies that were adapted from fairytales.

Hunk looked down at the stack, “I only watched about half of these movies as a kid and these two I never heard of them, ‘The Swan Princess’ and Don Bluth’s Thumbelina.”

Lance pointed, “They’re lesser known, but trust me, they’re classic!”

The door swooped open then and Keith walked in, saw what the trio was up to and looked at the collection of movies.

“So, Mullet, what’s your favorite Disney movie?” the blue paladin asks.

“Um…” he frowned before pointing to the Little Mermaid with an embarrassed blush spreading on his face.

The three were genuinely shocked by this.

Keith explained, “Growing up in foster care I was forced to watch all of these movies. Tangled was cool and the Princess and the Frog at least tried to be realistic about real life but I couldn’t get into the hype that the other kids had about Disney as they don’t realize happily-ever-after doesn’t exist.”

“Thank you!” Pidge proclaimed, “Someone gets it!”

Lance was sputtering incisively, “You two are just non-believers!”

Hunk motioned, “But then is why the Little Mermaid your favorite?”

Keith rubbed his shoulder, “Well, this is going to sound crazy but I just felt I could relate to Ariel a lot. I don’t know why.”

The trio exchanged looks before Lance snapped his fingers, “Oh! I know! She was half-fish while you’re half-Galra!” he smirked.

Hunk and Pidge guffawed, seeing the connection.

For Keith, he wanted to retort, but found he couldn’t since there was an actual grain of truth that resonated with him at that moment.

Lance noticed the bewildered look on the red paladin’s face and started apologizing, “Aw, geez, man, sorry about that. Of course, you found something in common with a princess that shares certain traits with you even if you didn’t know it at the time. That’s the whole point to the franchise, little girls having a princess they can look up to.”

Pidge crossed her arms, “And you know that, how?”

“Hey, when you have sisters and a niece that makes you play pretend with them to live out their princess fantasies throughout the years you tend to pick this stuff up. And Nadia’s favorite princess is Belle which coincidently is Veronica’s too while Rachel’s is Rapunzel.”

Hunk said, “Aw, no love for Cinderella or Snow White? That’s sad.”

“Cinderella was depressing for me.” Keith held himself, “Too many bad memories…”

Pidge shuddered, “And Snow White gives me the creeps, like no one is that chipper all the time!”

Lance sighed dramatically, “Guess we’re the only ones that can appreciate art for what it is, Hunk.”

Hunk just shrugged in turn.

 It was another diplomatic mission to recruit another planet into the coalition as Allura and Shiro discuss the alliance with the advisors of the young princess that was charge of the planet. And by young, we’re talking young-young. A child if you will. Who according to the advisors won’t be queen until she was of age.

The other paladins were just standing by while their leaders did all the talking.

The princess was sitting on her cushy throne looking bored before moving restlessly and hung upside down, “How much longer is this going to take?!” she groaned.

Lance had to stifle his laughter as she reminded him of his niece and nephew while Pidge grinned, muttering, “Same here…”

One advisor, Omi, called out, “Just a few more moments, your highness, then we can play.”

“But I want to play now!” she got up and stomped her foot down.

“Your highness, this is extremely important…”

“I don’t care! This is too boring and I want to do something!” she stomped again.

Allura and Shiro exchanged uneasy looks, obviously they couldn’t just reason with the princess since she was far too young to understand the seriousness of this visit but they needed to finish speaking to the advisors without interruption and that’s when Allura realized.

“Um, perhaps your highness you would like to play with the paladins in the meantime?” she offered.

“HUH?!” the four teens gapped by this sudden move.

Shiro caught on quick, “Uh, yes! Our paladins would be more than happy to look after the princess!” he stared firmly at his team, “Isn’t that right?”

They could tell from their leader’s tone this was non-negotiable especially when an alliance was at stake and so they had no choice but to obey.

Lance being the best kid expert out of all of them was able to win the princess over easily while Keith and Pidge kept a respectable distance from them while Hunk was able to make snacks for them.

Lance showed her the movie collection the teens went over yesterday and she got very excited of something completely new to her and demanded they watch these right now.

It was a complete movie marathon for the rest of Voltron’s stay and the princess wouldn’t go until she watched all the movies.

Then on the day the Castle of the Lions was supposed to depart from the planet and move on to the next galaxy, they were detained by the planet’s fleet with Omi telling them through the comms that the princess demanded they come before her.

Forced to obey, they were back in the princess’s throne room, but… something was off. The princess was looking composed and serious on her throne, very different from how she acted the other day. The group exchanged strange looks at this.

The princess spoke, “Voltron, I apologize for the deception, but despite my age I am very advanced, why else would I be sitting on a throne running this kingdom if I was not capable to do so?”

Allura spoke on her group’s behalf, voicing what they were all thinking, “Then… why did you behave the way you did? I’m afraid we don’t understand your objective.”

“It’s simple. I have to see if you are truly are allies for us. We are open-hearted people and we cannot trust people that are closed off, some of you come close to being open as I had been able observe for the past few days on your ship. However though, it is still not enough. All of you have a heaviness to your hearts that you haven’t been able to lift. So, I was inspired by those Earth movies you have and decided you needed to be tested further to see if you can overcome this personal challenge.”

The group definitely did not like the sound of that, wondering what kind of test she was taking about.

The princess received a glowing blue and pink flower from Omi, she stated, “Here’s what will happen. You will be transported to different places to play a character and you must relive that character’s life. Lead or supporting. You will have no memory of now but you will remain the core of who you are and fulfill a purpose only you can do and only then you will have your memories returned and you will have to help your other teammates until they can remember again. Then once all of you do, you’ll be returned here. Have I made myself clear?”

Keith shouted, “And what-if we don’t want to play this game of yours?!”

The others agreed with him, shouting their protests.

But the princess just ignored them and lifted the flower to her mouth, blowing the sparkling pollen from it, onto them.

They coughed and slowly they disappeared in a flash.

Omi fretted by his princess’s side, “I don’t know about this, your highness.”

“Trust in the flower, Omi, it knows best of what each of them needs to learn from within.”

“I hope you’re right, princess…”

Chapter Text

Keith yawned toward his wardrobe, grabbing for his yellow waitress uniform, saying, “Good night, Cal’s. Good morning, Duke’s.” getting dressed quickly and ran out of the house to catch the trolley, that would him straight to the heart of New Orleans.

Meanwhile, just off the coast of New Orleans, a ship carrying a special guest was heading for the harbor.

“Hunk, look! We’re almost there!” Lance pointed out from the railing.

Hunk was panting, carrying armfuls of luggage on his person.

“The music! The sights! And the girls! I can’t wait!”

“Um, yeah, except isn’t the goal here that you’re trying to woo and marry Miss Allura Altea?”

“Yeah-yeah, doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun before the wedding!” he wiggled his eyebrows.

Something about that didn’t sit right with Hunk, he knew the prince of Maldonia was a playboy and… he knew it wasn’t his business to butt into the prince’s personal affairs as he was just his manservant but… he knew the prince was better than this somehow. It was bugging him to no end once they had docked in the harbor being greeted by reporters and beautiful women that clung on to Lance before the prince moved on following a band while playing his ukulele.

Hunk tried keeping up to him with bags in hand, managing to catch a glimpse of the prince trying to charm a waitress- even though they were a man- the prince did realize this, yes? Maybe?

Either way they weren’t interested and Lance just shrugged it off and moved on.

The waitress went back inside and Hunk had to take a break in front of the eatery. He saw through the window of the guy-waitress being busy with breakfast orders. For some reason he was familiar and so were the two people that came out of a fancy car that drove up just now.

“Keith!” the woman in pink called out, “I have exciting news!”

“What is it, Allura?” he sighed fondly.

“Prince Lance of Maldonia is coming to New Orleans! Isn’t that wonderful?!”

Coran came in, proclaiming, “And he will be staying in our house as our personal guest!”

“That’s… swell to hear.” Keith forcibly smiled.

“And we are throwing a mask ball in honor of his visit!” Allura exclaimed, “So I am in need of your services to make 500 beignets for tonight.” She took out a wad of cash and put it right into his hand.

Keith was stunned, “Allura… this is…”

She held her hand up, “Save it, you’ve been working hard to make that downpayment for your restaurant, have you not? All I did was enlist your services.”

He slightly smiled, knowing he was now that much closer to his dream…

Hunk carefully followed Keith to an abandoned sugar mill where he was talking to two real estate agents saying he’ll sign the papers at the mask ball tonight. Hunk was hiding close by to overhear another man joining Keith while carrying a large gumbo pot.

“My dad’s old gumbo pot! Shiro, you found it!” Keith exclaimed while hugging his brother.

Shiro smiled, “Word reached me that you were able to finally purchased this place, knew you were going to need this to get started.”

The two started heading inside with Keith going on what his plans for the restaurant were.

Everything about this scene resonated with Hunk because he knew this movie like the back of his hand- wait, movie?

Suddenly everything rushed back to him as if a trunk had hit him and he knew why he was here along with his teammates!

What was it the princess had said again?

You will be transported to different places to play a character and you must relive that character’s life. Lead or supporting. You will have no memory of now but you will remain the core of who you are and fulfill a purpose only you can do and only then you will have your memories returned and you will have to help your other teammates until they can remember again. Then once all of you do, you’ll be returned here.

Hunk blinked in bewilderment, so apparently the princess decided to transport them to one of the Disney movies she was watching on the ship. He got a bad feeling that they were going to be in for a long ride over this. So, he needed to make a plan to help his friends remember, but how?

He knows he is playing the character of Lawrence, and Lawrence ends up double-crossing the prince and Lance was Prince Naveen… he didn’t like that at all… but wait, he was able to reform his memories right now, which means… he could change the story!

That must be what the princess meant by purpose! He has the purpose to fix the story to help his friends! Okay, good, we’re on the right track so now the only thing to do is to just go along with the plot until he had a better grasp of what needs to be done.

Easy as pie, right?

Hunk quickly sought out Lance, finding him in the Quarter with so many people clapping and dancing to the beat. His friend really was a lot like Naveen in so many ways, no wonder he was cast in this role. He does question why he was cast as Lawrence to begin with but then again, he was able to regain his memories because something was off from the beginning of all of this so don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Following the plot, they end up meeting Lotor of all people as the charismatic Dr. Facilier and Narti as his moving shadow.

I guess the villains are played by the villains we have to face with every day in space. Hunk guessed and it was still part of the game the princess forced them in.

Hunk watched in horror of Lance turning into a frog and trapped in a glass jar.

Once they were at the manor and Lotor went to join the festivities at the party, Hunk quickly went to open the glass jar, freeing a bewildered Lance.

“Hunk, wha- I thought you were helping him!”

“Shhh! You need to go before he comes back! I’ll stay behind to undermine his plans!”

“Really? Oh buddy, thanks! I’ll go find a way to break this spell and come back for you!” he hopped to the window and waved.

To say Lotor was upset was an understatement, but Hunk managed to be convincing enough for Lotor to still have a use for him. So he was stuck at the manor pretending to be Lance and was able to propose to Allura before the blood talisman ran out.

He worried for Lance and Keith having seen them in frog form at the ball before the balloons carried them away. On that note, he just realized that the two were playing the main couple and that was both cute and interesting. Hunk knew Lance had a lowkey crush on Keith and that Keith always gave these longing looks toward Lance on the ship. So, it’s like that magical flower just knew these two needed a push in the right direction to get their feelings in order toward the other.

If I’m right on where we are in the movie’s timeline, then they must on the steamboat getting back to New Orleans, man, it’s good thing their memories are gone otherwise they would be totally freaking out.

Later, Allura was checking in and Hunk had to tell her through the door that he was on the way, buying some more time.

Lotor started gripping that they were doomed to fail when the shadows came back with Lance.

With a guilty look on his face, Hunk was forced to draw the blood from Lance’s finger.

They were atop the wedding cake float now and Hunk was back to pretending to be Lance much to his dismay while the real Lance was trapped in a box behind him and Allura in the midst of the preacher performing the ceremony.

Suddenly he heard a familiar voice in his ear, “Lance! What the hell are you doing?!”

It was Pidge! And apparently, she was the firefly! This would be so funny were not for the fact they needed to get out of this situation and fast!

He whispered to her, “He’s in the box, go help him.”

Pidge was naturally confused by that but heeded what he said and she found Lance before freeing him.

Lance bounced out and startled Allura by getting between them, giving Hunk the chance to jump down the float with Lance in hand and they found themselves in the church.

Spotting Pidge he handed her the talisman, “Hurry and get this away from the shadowman!”

Wasting no time, she flew it out of there just before Lotor showed up and he was furious!

“You traitor!” he shouted before summoning his shadows to go after the bug.

Knowing where this was going to go, he set Lance down and told him to stay low and rushed after them.

Pidge was bravely fighting off the shadows and they disappeared when being touched by her light.

Lotor was creeping up close to her and Hunk tackled him. They struggled in the fight. Pidge saw this and got away, finding Keith and saving him from the shadows that were surrounding him.

Keith hopped onto a gravestone, witnessing the fight between Hunk and Lotor.

“Hey! Shadowman! Looking for this? Whoops!” he purposefully dropped the talisman, and it broke into several little pieces.

Lotor yelled out in anguish and Hunk quickly moved away as Lotor’s friends on the other side came to collect his debt and soul.

Hunk watched from the sidelines with Pidge right on his shoulder as Lance and Keith was with Allura and the clock was ticking above them with the big hand almost on the twelve.

Keith was telling Lance, “But my dream wouldn’t be complete without you in it!”

Lance looked back, happily surprised, “Really?”

“Yes.”

Lance went back to him, pulling him close, “Even as frogs?”

“Even as frogs…”

The two were about to kiss and Hunk saw a bright flash, making all of them disappear.

Chapter Text

Hunk was momentarily distorted before his head cleared up to realize he was in some kind of a cottage being next to Allura and Pidge at a table with a book before them.

“Oh, he’ll love this one!” Allura pointed to one of the gowns on the page.

“Yeah, but you better make it blue, you know that’s his favorite color.” Pidge motioned.

Now I remember this movie, we’re in Sleeping Beauty. Hunk thought.

Allura sighed, “You’re right, but red looks good on him too.”

Hunk turned to see Lance in a gray dress with a cleaning rag and broom coming down the stairs and quickly told the girls as such and they hid the book out of sight.

Lance saw them, raising his brow, “What’s up?”

Pidge looked up, “There’s nothing there.” And Hunk almost snorted.

Lance rolled his eyes, “You know what I meant.”

Allura acted quick, grabbing a basket, “As long as you’re here, we need you to get some more berries!” shoving the basket to his chest.

“But I just picked those yesterday!” he complained.

“And that’s why I said we need more!” practically shoving him out the door, “There wasn’t enough!”

Lance groaned and grumbled but he was on his way to the woods.

Hunk began brainstorming, this was his best chance to convince either Pidge or Allura to come to their senses. As they started with birthday preparations, it was up to him to make the cake and Allura was busy making the dress from the book with Pidge acting as the model much to her displeasure.

Hunk slowly voiced out, “So um, this will sound a little strange but does the Castle of the Lions ring a bell to you?”

“Huh? What are you talking about Hunk?” Pidge inquired.

Allura however had a funny look on her face like it did sound familiar to her, but she shook her head.

Hunk saw that and felt a glimmer of hope, it’s likely he could reach Allura but for now he was stuck following the story.

He said to Pidge, “Sorry, guess it was from a dream I had last night.”

Pidge nodded, “Must’ve been, and you must be pretty upset over Lance leaving us that you would get confused like that.”

“Yeah, that must be it.”

“I don’t blame you.” Her lips wobbled, “We had him here for sixteen years, ever since he was a baby.”

“Saving him from that horrible curse. Yeah.” Hunk uttered.

Allura said, “Yes, that dreadful curse… I will never forgive that horrid witch for doing that to him.” Then she cleared her throat, “Anyway, we must hurry, he won’t be gone for long after all.”

The trio immediately went back to preparations, as Hunk let everything play out as it should until he had a better idea of swaying Allura.

Lance made it back to the cottage with a skip in his step, humming away. Meeting that strange man in the woods should have scared him, but… deep in his heart he somehow knew he could trust him as if he already knew him before. He shook his head, that was probably due to the shared dream they had and when they had danced together, it just felt right being in the dark-haired man’s arms.

He really should have asked for his name, but it’s not like he gave his name either so they were both in the dark of who the other was.

Hopefully by him coming here tonight, they’ll have each other’s names at last and that his guardians give their approval of letting Lance court him.

He called out, “Allura, Hunk, Pidge! I’m back!” he got in and gasped seeing the cake and dress as the three called out, “Surprise!”

“So that’s why you wanted me out of the house! You little sneaks!” he chuckled and twirled, “Man, this is the best birthday ever! First, I meet the man of my dreams and now this!”

Pidge voiced out, “Wait what? You met someone?!”

Allura and Hunk exchanged side-glances letting Pidge do the talking.

Lance was confused, “Uh, yeah, I asked him to come over tonight so you guys can meet him.”

Pidge pointed, “But we won’t be here tonight! We have to take you back to the castle!”

His eyes widen, “Castle?! What does that mean?!”

Hunk stepped in, “It means you’re the prince, Lance.” Letting him fill in the blanks.

“WHAT?! And you kept this from me all this time?!”

“It was necessary!” Allura added in, “We had to protect you!”

“From what?!”

Pidge motioned, “We’ll tell you once you’re back at the castle, by then you’ll know everything, promise.”

Lance was visibly upset by the whole thing and ran straight upstairs to his room to cry.

Hunk hated seeing his best friend like that, but he was stuck between a rock and a hard place and he could tell the girls were thinking same thing, looking just as sad as he felt.

While being distracted by all this, he didn’t see the crow by the door listening in before flying away.

Lance was moping while wearing the dark blue cloak around his body, walking with his friends/guardians as he was being taken straight to the castle. Hunk and the girls were wearing the fairy outfits that matched their movie counterparts.

As the group was getting ever so close to the castle, Allura suddenly stopped and stared up at the impressive towering architecture.

Hunk questioned, “Allura?”

She blinked and expressed, “Ah. Apologies, I was lost in thought.” She shook her head like she did back in the cottage and Hunk was growing ever more hopeful that she was getting her memories back.

All four of them finally made their way into the castle and into a chamber that obviously was meant for the long-lost prince.

Allura gently guided Lance to the vanity to sit in front of the mirror.

“Dear Lance, I know this all so new for you but soon you will realize that this was always meant to be.” She summoned up a golden crown with her wand and slowly placed it on his head. “Take this one last gift from us, a symbol of thy royalty, a crown to wear in grace and beauty, as is thy right and… royal duty…” she faltered with the last part.

Lance however began to cry and held his head down.

Allura rapidly blinked in confusion and Hunk knew that was the moment she remembered, he quickly ushered the girls out of the room and once Pidge was settled on a bench, he took Allura to another room.

Once he was sure it was safe to talk, Hunk completely went in for a hug, “Thank god you remembered! I’m not the only one anymore!”

“I… I remembered what happened in the last place, but I was not in control of my actions.” She voiced in a daze, “Just what is that young girl trying to accomplish here?”

“I have no idea, all I know is we were in The Princess and the Frog in that last place and it was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up and now we’re in Sleeping Beauty, another Disney movie.”

“Oh! I think I briefly recall Lance watching it with the princess after Shiro and I got back from the meeting but I’m afraid I don’t understand whole thing.”

Hunk was about to help her with a quick recap of the movie when suddenly they heard Pidge cry out, “Oh-no! Lance!”

Hunk slapped his forehead, “Shit! I forgot this part!” he grabbed Allura’s hand and they rushed back to the chamber where they saw Lance disappearing into the fireplace.

Using their wands they went after him and called out his name.

But by the time they got to the tower… it was too late. Hagger was there standing above a comatose Lance and gloated out her victory before cackling and teleporting away.

Lance laid peacefully on the periwinkle bed. Pidge was silently weeping over her friend. Hunk had motioned Allura out to the tower’s balcony as they secretly conversed about what needed to be done with their situation.

Hunk was able finish his movie recap as Allura nodded along, agreeing they must follow along to the plot until Lance could be saved.

He voiced, “So if I’m right, with Lance as Aurora then Keith has to be Philip, they were the main couple last time so it’s likely the same here.”

“Can we be sure about that? While I understand why you think so given how they refuse to acknowledge their feelings-“

“You see it too?! Pidge and I noticed it ever since the Garrison with Lance being obsessive around Keith!” he inhaled, “But you’re right we should be checking to see if that is the case.”

“Alas I can tell I am unable to use my magic here as we’re all under a deep spell that’s under the whims of one little girl.”

He looked down at the wand he was holding and his eyes lit up, “Maybe you can’t use your own magic personally, but you can use the magic that’s in this world! As here we’re cast as the good fairies!”

She gasps, “Yes of course! Why didn’t I realize that sooner?!” she takes hold of her wand and moves it in a circle creating a projection of Keith on a white stallion trotting through in the woods.

“I knew it!” Hunk rejoiced.

“Yes, your theory was correct, but now the question is, why them in these roles?”

He shrugged, “That is the mystery, but when they almost kissed that was when we ended up here.” His eyes widen, “Wait… all the movies she saw were all about fairytale romances… and she was inspired by them… oh gods…” he face-palmed.

“What? What is it?”

“I think I know where this is going, but we’re going to need to wake up the others first before we can get there. For now, we’re stuck following the story.” He glumly told her.

“Oh dear…” she sighed.

Hunk went back in and told Pidge they were planning on putting the whole castle to sleep until Lance will wake up.

Doing so, Allura and Hunk saw Shiro and Coran as the kings while in the throne room and felt bad they couldn’t talk to them.

As Shiro was slowly falling asleep against the throne, he was drowsily talking about how Keith wanted to marry a peasant boy he met in the woods that day.

Realizing they needed to hurry to get back to the cottage before Keith gets into trouble.

But just like what happened with Lance, they were too late as Hagger’s goons had already taken him to the Forbidden Mountain.

The rescue was simple enough. They gifted Keith a sword and a shield, used their magic to stop direct harm from coming their way and got away from the mountain. But now they were dealing with a wall of thorns and a fire-breathing dragon!

Keith being Keith was still too reckless when it comes to fights and a giant monster was no different. Hunk and Allura had to rein him in by climbing the cliff and from there he kept waving his sword around trying to kill the dragon.

When his shield was blasted away, the dragon-Hagger laughed.

Allura -remembering what Hunk told her- pointed her wand on Keith’s sword, making it glow blue, as she shouted, “Now Keith! Throw it straight to her heart!”

The red paladin heeded her words and threw that sword with all his might, striking the beast’s chest!

The dragon screeched and shrilled as she collapsed downward into the abyss. Dead.

Hunk and Allura exchanged sighs of relief.

The prince and fairies made their way through the sleepy courtyard. Keith followed the three glowing balls up to the tower where his sleeping prince was at. The dark-haired man slowly approached him and kneeled down to give him a sweet and chaste kiss.

That did the trick as Lance slowly woke up and saw who was before him, making him smile happily.

Shortly afterwards the entire castle woke up and with it, Shiro and Coran as they witnessed in joy of their boys coming down the grand staircase together and began to dance away in the large ballroom.

Allura, Hunk, and Pidge were on a balcony overlooking the scene.

Hunk whispered to Allura, “It’s going to happen soon, so whatever movie we end up next, make sure we try to find each other.”

“Yes. I agree.”

And it was right there and then that Keith and Lance were about to kiss when that bright flash happened again.

Chapter Text

Allura opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by nothing but forest. She took a step forward, only to realize something was off. She felt taller than she should be and when she looked down to see a stream by her, she knew exactly why that was.

She was a horse!

Allura was shocked and mortified all at once, having no idea that that young princess was this powerful!

Once the shock wore off, she told herself she needed to stay calm and to find Hunk, for he was the only one she could rely on that knew anything about these Earth fantasy movies they were all stuck in.

She started walking around to get use to her new form, suddenly there were voices to her left and was able to follow them. She carefully hid behind some foliage as she witnessed much to her relief that it was Keith and Lance walking up to a pub called the Snuggly Duckling.

Although Keith had much, much longer hair than he usually did. And she was able to spot Pidge on his shoulder as an animal too. Making her glad it wasn’t just her that had been transformed.

Still though, without their memories, she could not go to them especially when she had no idea how this story went. She needed to find Hunk as soon as possible.

So, she carefully watched on as they went inside the building. A few minutes later, she spotted Coran running out the pub, saying something about needing to find the guards. She kept waiting and started hearing music coming inside the tavern and then saw Hagger making her appearance by skulking around the building.

Allura inwardly groaned, So we have to deal with her again, are we?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Shiro in a guard’s uniform, called out to her, “Allura! There you are girl! I’ve been looking all over for you.” He patted her head and muzzle.

She tried to speak but instead a whiny came out, startling herself, realizing she wasn’t able to speak!

Needing to tell herself, Stay calm Allura, you are trapped in another body after all so changes like these is not out of the ordinary. Stick to the plan!

Shiro lead her straight into the pub just as Coran announced he found the guards.

Allura looked around and was happy to find Hunk amongst the crowd and judging from his happy albeit shocked expression, he was glad to see her too.

By then Shiro and the rest of the guards had found a secret passageway behind the bar and quickly went down it.

Allura however stayed behind and Hunk nodded his head as they went out of the pub and into the woods to talk (or at least for Hunk talk).

She let out another whiny to show him as such.

Hunk voiced, “Uh-oh, I guess that’s to be expected since Max doesn’t talk either in the movie. Okay, just nod yes or no as I ask these questions. You saw Keith, Lance, and Pidge?”

She nodded; she wanted to tell him she saw Hagger too but obviously couldn’t.

“Okay, so yeah, we’re obviously in Tangled now with Keith having that 70-feet of hair and Pidge is now a chameleon. So, listen, a big part of Max’s role was that he was right there helping Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.  But with Lance as Flynn, he’s now called The Tailor. See?” pointing to a nearby wanted poster with Lance’s image on it but his nose was all wrong.

“So, the best thing we can do is for you to go find them and stick with them until the story gets completed, sound good?”

She nodded her head in agreement and nuzzled him behind the head, making him chuckle. “You got this.” He held a thumbs-up.

Allura was finally able to track down the trio by morning’s light. There was some tension between her and Lance as he pointed out she was a palace horse and that she was here to arrest him but Keith was able to calm him down and acknowledged that Allura was willing to behave around them.

They set out for the kingdom’s capital and Allura watched in amusement of how Lance was simping hard around Keith and the two were getting ever more closer to the other. Guess it was a good thing that their memories were currently gone otherwise they would freaking out so much over this.

They made their way to the boats and Allura was force to stay on the dock until they return.

But… something went wrong, about an hour or so later, she saw Lance getting dragged off by some guards while he was desperately crying out for Keith!

Allura had to hurry to go find Hunk again so they could rescue Lance!

Allura galloped hard across the forest floor with Lance right on her back, he told her where they needed to go and soon, she found herself in a hidden glen with a single tower in the middle of the area.

Lance hopped off of her and cried, “Keith! I’m here! Let down your hair!”

He was met with silence until in a whoosh, Keith’s hair went out the window and Lance climbed it frantically.

Once he made it to the top, she heard a commotion up there and then she watched in amazement of Hagger falling out the window while eroding away until there was nothing left of her.

She waited to see if Keith and Lance would come down soon, but there was an eerie silence that she did not like and then… suddenly there was a bright ethereal glow that shimmed out the tower windows, stunning her.

When the glow died down, she could hear joyful laughter and then the two finally made their appearance by apparently going down another way out of the tower and Keith’s hair was returned to what it usually was in their world.

Pidge was on Keith’s shoulder again but she looked very uneasy. Allura was intrigued by that.

Once they were all back at the capital, Keith and Lance went off to the palace but Pidge stayed behind and looked at Allura before writing in the dirt with her small pawlike finger.

Do you remember?

Allura nodded her head fervently and motioned her to where Hunk was. He saw them coming over and Pidge immediately jumped on him and started rapidly squeaking.

Hunk’s eyes bulged out, “You remember!”

She kept on angrily squeaking.

“I know, I know, this all very messed up.” He sighed.

She jumped down back to the ground and drew pictures in the dirt of how she got her memories back when she used Keith’s hair to trip Hagger out the tower window and with Lance almost dying it all clicked into place.

It was so upsetting watching her friends in that moment that never was she so grateful she had watched this movie as a kid to remember that Rapunzel saved Eugene with her tears just as Keith had to do the same for Lance.

Allura gently nudged Pidge and the she-chameleon patted Allura’s nose in return.

Three down, four to go.

Moments later, the entire kingdom was celebrating the lost prince’s return and the trio watched as Keith and Lance were playing around with the crown before Keith grabbed and dipped Lance and as they were about to share a kiss, the flash happened again.

Chapter Text

The three of them found themselves in a castle bedroom. Hunk was now an enchanted wardrobe, Allura- a teapot, and Pidge was a teacup with a chip on it.

They blinked in bewilderment before they heard crying and saw Lance in a blue dress with his head down on the side of the bed, yelling out, “That horrible beast! How could he do that?! Not letting me say goodbye!” he wailed into the mattress.

Pidge whispered out to her equally trapped companions, “Well we’re obviously in Beauty and the Beast.”

Hunk nodded and Allura slowly made her way to Lance clearing her throat.

Lance stopped crying and slowly turned to find living objects! He was startled and bumped into Hunk.

“Whoa! Easy there man!”

Lance shouted, “This is impossible!”

Pidge rolled her eyes, “And yet we’re standing right here in front of you.” She knows his memories were gone but she was still annoyed by the fact that he was absolutely clueless to their current surroundings.

Allura gently voiced out, “Now, now, there is no need to panic, we are here to help you in any way we can, Lance.”

“How do you know my name?!”

“Um…” the three visibly sweated realizing they were making things worst and had to fix this, fast.

But thankfully all attention was drawn away from them when an enchanted clock bobbled in. The trio knew immediately it was Coran.

He bowed, “Dinner is served!”

Lance was affronted and shook his head and hands furiously, “Oh no! No way am I going down there!”

Coran gasped, “But sir! The master is expecting you!”

“You can tell that furry purple monster that I won’t go anywhere near him after what he’s done! So, I’m staying right here!” he flopped onto the bed to empathize his point, crossing his arms and legs.

Coran fretted, “Oh dear…” before he raced out.

Allura and Pidge followed after him, finding the dining hall of where Keith now in beast form, looking more reminiscent to his Galra heritage then he did back in their world- was talking to Shiro as an enchanted candlestick before Coran had to deliver the bad news.

Predictability, Keith lost his temper and roughly left the dining hall to get to his prisoner’s room, knocking hard on the door.

“I told you to come down to dinner!”

“I’m not hungry!” was Lance’s defiant reply.

Keith bristled, “You come out or I’ll break down the door!”

“Keith!” Shiro scolded, “That’s enough! Remember what I said.”

The beast took a deep breath, “Patience yields focus…”

“That’s right, now… calmly ask him.”

Keith gnashed his fangs but muttered out, “Will you… please come down to dinner?”

“No thank you!”

Keith growled, “You can’t stay in there forever!”

“Oh yes I can!”

“Fine then! Go ahead and starve!” he turned back to his servants, “If he doesn’t eat with me then he doesn’t eat at all!” he growled once more and left in a huff, slamming a door that nearly made the ceiling collapse behind him.

Shiro sighed deeply, “It’s like his younger days again but so much worse…”

Pidge and Allura exchanged looks, hoping that was a sign that Shiro had already regained his memories.

Shiro had noticed them doing this and he gave a slight nod.

Coran then ordered for Shiro to stand guard in front of their guest’s room and asked for Allura to help him clean things downstairs.

Pidge stayed right with Shiro, inquiring, “So you remember?”

“Yup, it was when Keith started losing his temper and everything just came flooding back to me. Is it just you and Allura then that knows?”

“And Hunk, I just regained my own memories in the last movie. Glad to have you back, Space Dad.” She quipped.

He groaned before saying, “So… only Coran, Keith, and Lance are left?”

“Right. And I’m sure you’ve noticed the pattern of two of those friends being the main couple in all the stories so far?”

Shiro sighed again, “That I have. I got a bad feeling about that.”

“I know, right? It’s obviously up to us to get those two knuckleheads to finally fall in love with each other!”

“Pretty sure that’s exactly where this is going.” He conceded.

“So far those of us that got our memories back have been following the story as much as they can, guess we’re going to have to do the same thing here.”

“Sounds about right, with Coran still having no memories we have to stay low until he does remember.”

She nodded in agreement.

Lance had been rescued by Keith from the pack of wolves that currently dwelled outside the castle and was trying to tend to the wound Keith received from one of the wolves.

Keith roared, “That hurts!”

“If you hold still, it won’t!” Lance retorted.

“If you hadn’t run away this wouldn’t had happened!”

“If you hadn’t frightened me, I wouldn’t had!”

“Well, you shouldn’t have been in the West Wing!”

“Well, you need to learn to control your temper!”

“He’s right, Keith.” Shiro called out from the side.

Keith pouted and grumbled, being momentarily distracted as Lance started cleaning the wound again, making him grunt in pain.

Lance softly uttered, “By the way… I should thank you, for saving my life…” looking on with his big blue eyes.

Keith was stunned, uttering back, “You’re… welcome.”

Pidge and Allura sighed in exasperation, the former saying, “I swear, they’re such idiots.”

Allura just giggled in response.

Pidge witnessed the entire plot of the movie unfold before her eyes, her two friends really were blind to not realize how much they care about each other back home and should they ever finally confess their feelings for each other it would go exactly like this for when they start dating.

Once Keith had gifted Lance the library, they had meals together and played out in the snow-covered courtyard. She, Shiro, and Allura would watch them from a window whenever they had snowball fights. Even while under a spell their rivalry was still strong as ever.

Then afterwards they would come in to warm up by the fireplace and read a book together.

Then finally came the iconic ballroom scene as they all watched Lance dressed in that bright yellow ballgown and Keith in that blue and gold suit as they danced the night away with love shining in their eyes before making their way for the balcony.

Then later that same night, Pidge remembered she would need to stow away in Lance’s bag as the movie will have the bad guy carry out his devious plans.

It was no surprise to her that Lotor was playing Gaston in this as she listened on to the exchange he was having with Lance after using the magic mirror.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you have ‘feelings’ for this monster…”

“He’s no monster, Lotor, you are!”

That rightfully pissed off the Galra prince and he gathered the townspeople up to go storm the castle to go kill the beast.

Pidge made quick work of rescuing Lance from the cellar and they hurried off to get back to the castle.

Keith was in the midst of fighting Lotor from the castle rooftops as Lance rushed in to get to Keith.

Lotor was defeated but Keith had been stabbed and Lance had to gently lay him onto the balcony, to Pidge it was déjà vu as she was getting flashbacks from the last story they were in of Lance being the one that had been stabbed and Keith had been trying to heal him with his hair before it got cut away.

Keith weakly said, “You… you came back?”

Lance quickly said, “Of course I came back! I couldn’t let them- this is all my fault; I should have gotten here sooner!”

Keith carefully lifted his paw up to Lance’s face, “At least… I was able to see you one last time…” before his eyes shut and his paw fell away.

Lance cried out, “No! No please!” he sobbed into his chest, “You mean the world to me… please don’t leave me…”

The last petal in the bell jar fell and magical sparkles rained down around them then Keith was lifted up and was magically transformed back to his usual self!

Shiro, Allura, and Pidge felt so exhausted while Coran cheered on as the lovebirds were about to exchange a kiss but that bright flash happened again before they could.

Chapter Text

Shiro found himself underwater now in an undersea palace throne room. He noticed he was a crab while nearby him, Hunk was a yellow and blue fish, and Keith was a merman with a bright red tail and fins currently being scolded by Kolivan also in merman form while wearing a crown atop his head.

The man-turned-crab knew exactly where he was, it was Keith’s only favorite Disney film after all.

Keith protested to Kolivan that humans weren’t barbarians but was shot down and was forbidden to go up to the surface again.

Keith swam away after that and Hunk eyed Shiro, who nodded in turn, before following after him.

Shiro tentatively approached Kolivan, “Don’t worry, your majesty, he just needs a guiding hand right now, he is a teenager after all.”

“Are you volunteering for the job then?” the older Galra demanded.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, keep watch over him so he can’t get into more trouble.”

Easier said than done… Shiro thinks, after all he knows where this movie was going to go and no matter where they were, Keith was always going to be impulsive.

He swam out of the throne room and spotted Keith and Hunk just in time of leaving the sea palace and heading for the hidden grotto.

Keith was in the middle of the small cavern putting away the fork with the rest of the human collection that surrounded the entire grotto.

While Keith was busy moping, Hunk swam back to the entrance to talk quietly with Shiro.

“The ship should be here soon, think Lance will be on it?”

“Should be, they’ve been the main couple for the last four movies, don’t know why that would suddenly change.”

“Hope we’ll find Pidge and Allura too, so we can move on to the next story faster.”

“Assuming we can get Coran to remember too, then we can finally make a good game plan to help Keith and Lance out.”

Hunk nodded just as a large shadow of a ship overcast them.

On cue Keith left the grotto to go investigate and the two human-turned-sea creatures followed after him.

Everything went as it played out from the movie, Keith climbed onto the ship and noticed Lance playing around with the crew, becoming instantly smitten by the human prince.

Just above him a white bird was flying on by till it spotted Shiro and Hunk in the water and flew down to them.

“Thank god I found you guys!”

Hunk exclaimed, “Hey Pidge!” before smirking, “so you’re Scuttle now? How is you always end up with the wacky side characters?”

She scoffed, “Like you’re one to talk!”

“But Flounder is a loveable favorite!”

“So was Chip!”

Shiro sighed, “Alright you two, enough, let’s just focus on where Allura and Coran could be.”

Pidge mentioned, “Well I saw Coran on the ship with Lance so my best guess is that Allura is at the prince’s castle.”

“That’s a good lead, why don’t you head on over there to avoid the incoming storm and find her and tell her we’re on our way we just need to get through the rest of the plot first.”

She nodded, “You got it!” she flew away just as the clouds were starting to darken and gather.

It was a tumultuous night to get through but the sun was coming out that bright dawn. Keith had rescued Lance from drowning and now they were lying on a beach with Keith hoping the prince wasn’t dead.

Shiro and Hunk were stuck sprawled near the shoreline, witnessing all this as Keith realized Lance was breathing and slowly, he began singing.

The duo was stunned by his voice as Hunk whispered, “Is this part of the spell or can he actually sing like that?”

“I don’t know. I never heard Keith sing before.”

Slowly Lance woke up and caught a glimpse of a handsome man singing to him before a voice called his name in the distance and the man quickly vanished from view.

Coran rushed to him, “There you are my boy! You had us worried sick!”

“Coran! There was a guy! He rescued me and he had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard!”

“Oh dear, sounds like you swallowed too much sea water.” The older man helped the younger onto his feet.

“But-but-but…! He was real! I know he was!” he tried to say as they walked away from the beach.

Keith, Shiro, and Hunk had watched the exchange from behind a rock, knowing that was too close of a call for Keith to be caught by humans.

Shiro turns to the side and finds two eels- one that was pink, and the other, purple- spying on them before they disappeared into the water.

Throughout the next day, Keith was lovesick. Humming and twirling underwater as Kolivan watched on in confusion. Thrace as one of Keith’s mer siblings had to point out the obvious that their youngest brother had become smitten by someone.

Shiro had been summoned to the throne room as Kolivan began his questioning and Shiro knew he had to be careful about this particular scene, remembering the character he’s playing now cracked under the pressure which led to the mer-king destroying the grotto.

When watching the movie, around the time Keith first came to live with him under his new guardianship, Keith would always turn away from that scene. No doubt it reminded him of past foster parents that mistreated him and Keith admitted as much that he had to stay guarded with his sexuality around those so-called caregivers. As a gay man himself, he understood that pain far too well.

Obviously the real Kolivan would never do anything to hurt Keith like this as Triton had done to Ariel but they were under a strange spell right now and the plot will follow through if he doesn’t change it now.

“If I may sire, Keith is too shy to come out with who he has fallen in love with, we need to give it more time.”

Kolivan sighed, “I suppose you’re right. Still, I am thrilled he has finally found a reason to stay under the sea and won’t be going to the surface anytime soon.”

Shiro forcibly smiled, “Right… Please excuse me.” He swam out and made his way for the grotto where Keith was mooning over a statue of Lance.

“He looks just like him and it even has his eyes!” Keith gently caresses the stone cheek.

Shiro made a small smile, he knew Keith had a big crush on their sharpshooter back in their world even when he thinks he’s hiding it from everyone. He couldn’t blame him given without knowing for sure Lance was attracted to men too his little brother needed to keep his distance.

But thankfully one night in the kitchen Hunk told him in confidence that he thinks his best friend was bisexual especially given how hung up he was about Keith while at the Garrison. So, it wasn’t a complete confirmation but it gave him hope and if what they were experiencing right now is any indication then it has to be a sign that the feeling is definitely mutual on Lance’s part.

Shiro asks Hunk if he saw the eels hanging around while Keith was too busy flirting with the stone Lance.

Hunk nodded and pointed toward out of the grotto where two eel-like silhouettes were.

Shiro took a deep breath, “Keith, I think we’re being watched.”

Keith stopped twirling around. “It’s not my father, is it?!”

“No, it’s two eels, I think they’re spies for the sea witch.”

“What should we do?”

“That’s a good question. I think they know that you’re in love with a human and might be trying to convince you to go to the witch to become human too.”

Keith gasps before thinking about it.

In any other situation, Shiro would never put an idea like this into Keith’s head but as it is they were stuck and needed to move forward in order to regroup with the rest of the team as soon as they can.

Keith then swam out of the grotto to find the eels.

“Thanks for coming with me…” Keith uttered to Shiro and Hunk as they followed Ezor and Zethid to a creepy structure of a giant dead sea monster that served as the sea witch’s home.

Shiro said, “I don’t like it but I knew there would be no stopping you.” Hunk nodded in agreement.

“This way.” Zethid grunted out.

They made their way through the mouth of the entrance, going pass a garden of living writhing polyps, spooking the crap out of all three outsiders.

A tenor voice called from deep within the cavern, “Come in! Come in my friends!”

Hunk muttered, “Oh-no… not again.”

Lotor made his appearance with black tenacles surrounding his waist, leaving him completely bare from the waist up with his long silky hair flowing from behind him.

This image of a sexy Lotor should never exist and yet here they are.

Shiro suddenly remembered that Ursula gave out major lesbian vibes toward Ariel in the movie and sadly with Keith currently in the latter’s role this would be tantalizing scene for him since the sea witch was now a sexy man in this context.

Lotor went on the ‘poor unfortunate souls’ vomit until finally he summoned up the contract and Keith exchanged an unsure look with his friends before taking the fishbone pen and signed his name.

His voice was taken in a sickly green whirlpool and the transformation happened, splitting his fins into legs and Hunk and Shiro had to quickly grab on to Keith once the magical bubble burst and he was struggling in the water.

Lotor manically laughed as they floated up, up until they finally broke the ocean’s surface.

Keith was gasping for air and once he could breathe normally, they swam to the nearest land.

Pidge had been flying overhead when she spotted them that morning on the beach, sprawled in exhaustion.

Keith then gained back his energy to begin examining himself and lifted one of his legs to wiggle his toes.

Pidge landed next to Shiro and Hunk, “About time you got here.”

Hunk replied, “Sorry, had to wait until we got to the sea witch, whom by the way is Lotor.”

“Again?” she raised her brow. Hunk could only shrug.

Shiro questioned, “So everyone else is here?”

“Yes, I got into contact with Allura at the castle and told her we had to wait for you guys.” She then noticed Keith was about stand up from the shallow water and quickly grabbed for an old sail next to them to help cover him up, “Here, Keith, you can’t go anywhere without this.”

Keith tried to say thank you before realizing he couldn’t speak anymore and just nodded and wrapped the sail around his chest and waist. He carefully stood up and wobbled a little before getting the hang of it.

Pidge then told her follow animal companions, “I saw Lance not far from here, I’ll lure him here and then he’ll take Keith back to the castle.”

Hunk sighed, “Too bad I can’t come with you guys.” He splashed about to prove his point.

Pidge mentioned, “No worries, once Keith and Shiro are at the castle, I’ll keep you company. Team Punk for the win, am I right?”

Hunk smiled, “Yeah!” doing a high-fin and she used her wing as a way to them doing a high-five.

Pidge then took off, finding Lance moping about near the rocky cliffs and she was able to catch his attention by pecking him on the head, forcing him to chase after the bird. When he rounded the corner, he was taken by surprise by a beautiful man before him that one would think he was one of those gods from legend that came down to woo over mortals.

Keith in turn was thrilled to see the prince he had rescued just a day before.

Lance got out of his daze and gently questioned, “Are you alright? Were you shipwrecked?”

Keith tried to speak again before disappointingly remembering he couldn’t.

“What’s wrong? You can’t speak?” Lance questioned in concern.

Keith slowly nodded sadly.

“Oh… that’s a shame… I was hoping maybe you were…” he shook his head, “Well, never mind, do you need any help?”

Keith started to walk forward but wobbled and began falling, Lance quickly caught him.

Within close proximity the two were face to face staring at each other, cheeks tainting pink.

Lance voiced, “Um,” before clearing his throat, “You must have been through a lot, don’t worry my staff will take care of you.” Helping him walk all the way to the castle.

Everything went as the movie had played with the exception that Allura was able to talk to Shiro privately while Keith was taking a bath. She told him that Coran was still in the dark but was keeping an eye out for any signs that he could snap out of it like they did and Shiro had to explain to her they were so close to getting this story done they just needed to wait out the major plot points first.

Now it was close to bedtime and Shiro witnessed Keith watching someone from his balcony, Lance was out there walking around on the grounds before noticing Keith and gave him a wave. Keith was slightly startled but timidly waved back and went back inside shyly, not seeing the fond smile on Lance’s face.

Shiro watched as Keith got into bed, sometimes he wonders had he and Adam actually got married and found Keith while he was still a young boy, they could have raised him like their own son. Of course, the reality of their ages made that impossible and Shiro had to take on a big brother role instead and he was happy with that!

He blew out the candle while Keith was sound asleep and moved to the pillow caressing the younger man’s bangs.

“Oh, little brother… what’s going to happen when you do remember? Will you try to deny this feeling you have or… will you be brave enough to finally pursue it?” on that note he fell asleep too.

Shiro watched the sequence of events as it had happened in the film. Lance and Keith went throughout the entire seaside village and were clearly having a good time together. Eventually they made it to the lagoon and were now in a rowboat.

“You know I feel bad for not knowing your name…” Lance said, “Maybe I can guess, is it… James?”

Keith immediately made a disgusted face and for some strange reason he was fuming at the idea of being called that.

Lance held his hands up, “Oof, sorry, clearly, I touched a nerve there. Okay, how about, Robert?”

Keith shook his head as Lance kept making his guesses until Shiro had to whisper from the side of the boat, “Keith. His name is Keith.”

“Keith?” he uttered.

The other nodded his head fervently.

“Oh! That is your name?”

Keith nodded once more.

Lance tenderly smiled and slowly took the other man’s hands, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Keith…”

Keith shook his head fondly and smiled happily.

Sadly, the romantic moment didn’t last long and Ezor and Zethid ruined it by tipping the boat over.

Later back at the castle, Lance was blowing through a flute to the tune of his mystery man’s song while overlooking the ocean.

Coran slowly approached him, “Lance my boy!”

“Oh, hey Coran…”

“Now, now, no need to feel sad about your phantom lover, instead perhaps maybe you should look in a different direction.” He moved Lance’s face up to look at the guest bedroom window where Keith was staying in and though the dimly lilted panels he could see the raven-headed man getting ready for bed before disappearing from his sight.

“Quite a curious lad, but still very charming and remarkable, wouldn’t you say?”

Lance turned to his mentor and rubbed the back of his head, “I… I know what you’re getting at… but… how can I let go of someone who rescued me so bravely? I feel like I would be disloyal to that person.”

“Ah, that’s fair, but consider this, wouldn’t your rescuer have come by now? As you are a prince, they would know who are and could come to the castle to make their case. But they have not. So… perhaps you should take it as a sign it is time to move on…”

“I… I know you’re right. But… Keith… there’s something holding me back from fully giving my heart to him and that’s stupid I know, but there’s this odd feeling in my chest that’s telling me I know him somehow even though I’ve only known him for two days!”

Coran found that odd but then something seems to click in his brain that something was off about this whole thing and suddenly it was like a light switch flipped on and just like that, all his memories came flooding back and he had to hold his head to disperse the dizziness.

Lance noticed in concern, “You okay?”

 “Oh yes, my boy! No need to worry! Just the night air getting to me! I better get back inside!” he proclaimed as he rushed inside before Lance could say anything else.

From there, Coran accidently bumped into Allura, “Apologies princess!”

Allura gasps, “Coran! You remember?!”

The two Alteans rejoiced at their reunion as they went over their experiences so far with the strange spell that the young princess had trapped them in. With Allura adding on Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro’s theory about Lance and Keith.

“My goodness! It would seem that we have our work cut out for us!” the older altean exclaimed.

Allura sighed, “Tell me about it. According to our paladins, humans love their fairytale stories very much, that they hope to find such happiness and love through them though Pidge and Shiro acknowledge that causes more harm than good since many humans apparently end up divorcing over unrealistic expectations about their partner but Hunk argues that there are certain standards that human mates should follow from these stories such as chivalry and grand gestures.”

“That’s exactly what we Alteans do during courtship! We’re all about expressing our affection and love through gestures that express our seriousness toward a longtime coupling.”

“And you’re right but sadly a lot of humans don’t seem to grasp that concept. For Keith and Lance though… there’s a reason they haven’t woken up yet so to speak, as they are in complete denial over their feelings for each other.”

Coran nodded along, “That certainly makes a lot of sense. The tension between them always been very obvious especially on Lance’s part.”

Shiro voiced out, “Keith hasn’t been subtle either.” He was up by the staircase, he had been watching the whole time as after Keith went to bed, he went to seek out Allura again when he saw Coran had officially gained back his memories and let Allura do the talking.

Coran exclaimed, “Goodness! We really are under a spell if you look like that!”

Shiro sighed wearily, “Unfortunately…”

Suddenly there was tap at a window, they saw it was Pidge using her beak to get their attention.

Allura quickly opened the window and she flew in.

“Guys! Lance is under Lotor’s control!”

Shiro cursed before declaring, “I totally forgot about this part!”

“Yeah! Hunk and I saw the whole thing by the beach! Lotor took on a more human form and used the shell to spellbound Lance! I wanted to warn you sooner but without knowing for sure Coran was in the loop now I couldn’t risk it.”

“Not to worry, green paladin! I am very much in the know now! So, we can work together to finally break this spell we’re under!”

Pidge sighed in relief, “About time. Let’s get those two dummies together already.”

Shiro motioned, “First things first, we have to wait until the wedding to free Lance from Lotor’s mind control.”

“And then?” Allura inquires.

“It’s going to be tricky but we have to make them kiss before the sun sets.”

Pidge sighed, “That’s going to be long shot, considering how the movie goes.”

“I know, but it’s the only option we have.”

“I’ll go tell Hunk this.” And she flew out.

By morning, the upcoming wedding of Prince Lance to the mysterious Lotor was already underway and it pained Shiro to watch Keith look so heartbroken when he witnessed the couple get on that wedding ship and Keith held his legs to his face and started crying.

Pidge then swooped in and whispered to him that Allura and Coran were in place and will help to stall the wedding once she joins the fray.

“Good all that leaves now is getting Keith on that ship.”

“On it!” she flew up, shouting, “Keith! It’s the sea witch! They’re tricking Lance to marry them!”

Keith was startled by this proclamation before scowling and made a jump for the water, forgetting he couldn’t swim as a human.

Hunk quickly came in with the barrel and helped to pull him in the water. Trying to swim as much as he could with his small fins.

Remembering how this goes, Shiro knew he had to warn the sea king in case their plan for the kiss didn’t happen.

The wedding was officially ruined and Pidge was able to knock off the shell pendant Lotor was wearing as it crashed into pieces that landed by Keith’s feet, freeing his voice and breaking Lance’s spell on him.

When Keith’s voice returned to him, Lance was gobsmacked, “You- you can talk!” he rushed to him, “It was you! This whole time!”

Lotor tried to protest but Allura and Coran were quick to keep him down.

Keith held Lance’s hands, “Yes, I wanted to tell you so badly!”

“You saved my life… and apparently saved me from a horrible mistake too.” Looking at the disgruntled tan-colored man by the altar.

Keith frowned suddenly feeling guilt-ridden, “You wouldn’t have been in that mess if it wasn’t for me… I’m not who you think I am Lance…”

Lance furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”

Keith saw the sun was setting in the horizon and moved out of Lance’s arms, confusing the poor man further.

“I think it’s best I show you…”

Pidge was stunned as were Allura and Coran, according to their paladins, the main couple was supposed to be kissing by now according to the media source but something had shifted.

The sun had set and Keith jumped off the boat as his tail began to reform on his body, shocking Lance.

Lotor then let out a maniacal laugh, forcing the Alteans to get off of him as lightning was surrounding him and changing him back to his sea creature form. He too was about to jump off the boat but not before facing Lance with a cruel smirk.

“What a shame all he had to do was kiss you and then he could have been human forever, instead he doubted your love for him. Can’t blame him, you were willing to marry for just a voice you heard once after all.”

Lance retorted, “You were the one that tricked me! I was going to go to him before you casted your damn spell on me!” he then called out to the ocean, “Keith! Please come back! I can’t lose you again!”

“Sorry Loverboy, but I got big plans and I need him for them.” And he jumps right off the rail.

Shiro and Kolivan had found Keith back in merman form in despair, he explained what happened which surprised Shiro, this was not was what was supposed to happened according to the movie and yet it gave cause for hope that they were that much closer to lifting the princess’s spell if they were taking sudden turns like this.

Lotor then made his appearance and showed off the contract which Kolivan blasted at but unsurprisingly it did not break, then the contract started to swirl around Keith and Lotor started to bargain for a switch between the sea-king and the young prince which also unsurprisingly happened.

Keith cried out in anguish of the king changing into a polyp and tried to fight Lotor but the sea witch threw him into a rock with one of his tentacles and held him down and the trident was pointed at him.

“Don’t fool with me brat. Contract or no, I can still…”

Lotor was cut off as a harpoon grazed his arm, leaving a deep cut. Keith stared up in amazement of seeing it was Lance who threw it and was floating above them. He was happy to see him but he knew he was in danger now and shouted, “Lance! You have to get out of here! Go please!” hoping that his prince would take the hint.

Lance looked defiant but he quickly began swimming towards the surface. No doubt because he was running out of air. Lotor fumed and summoned his eels, “After him!”

Lance made it to the surface and tried to get into his boat, sucking in a deep breath. But then he felt something wrap around his ankles and in an instant, he was back under water. He struggled trying to break free of the eels’ grips, but it was too tight. He was getting pulled too deep when he noticed a crab and a yellow fish swim over and start fighting the eels. Confused, but glad for the help, he was able to begin to slip free, heading back towards the surface.

Lotor was taking aim at Lance with the trident, “Say goodbye to your precious prince.” Keith’s eyes widened and with a battle cry, he was finally able to pull free. He grabbed Lotor’s hair pulling him back. The beam that was going to hit Lance missed and hit the eels instead being blasted into pieces, dead.

Lotor screamed and swam over to the remaining bits of his loyal servants. He seethed, turning back to see the flip of a red tail close to the surface. His eyes were wild and his grip on the trident tightened. The ocean darkened around him and soon he was lost in its depths.

It was a long and hard battle, but they did it, the giant sea monster that Lotor became was stabbed by Lance by the use of an old sea wrecked ship, saving Keith in the process from being blasted and now the prince was laying in the sand while a certain merman was on a rock watching him in forlorn.

Shiro was next to Kolivan as they witnessed this sad sight.

The king sighed, “He really does love him, doesn’t he?”

Shiro beamed, “That he does your majesty.” Knowing firsthand how back in their world the two always had each other’s backs. Memory loss or not it would have happened exactly like this.

The king sighed again, “Then I guess there is no other choice…” he charged up his trident and a magical flow on the water reached Keith.

The boy looked down and was utterly thrilled by what was happening!

Lance woke up in time to see Keith emerging from the water wearing a sparkling cloth around his body, and ran to him before grabbing hold of him and twirling him around.

The two exchanged longing looks and were about to kiss when the bright flash happened once more.

Chapter Text

Coran opened his eyes; the last thing he remembered was being on a ship and now he was in a castle room with a large desk in the middle of it and Shiro wearing regal black attire with golden buttons was sitting in it. Himself was in a blue formal suit, not too unalike to his own clothing back in the Castle of Lions, telling him he was reprising his role as a royal advisor.

Shiro looked around and motioned, “I know exactly where we are now. We’re in Cinderella.” Seeing the large portraits on the wall that showed Keith as the royal prince along with him as the king.

Suddenly there was bright sparkles that formed into a person in the middle of the room, to the men’s relief, it was Allura in blue robes with a red bow close to her neck.

Shiro smiled, “Makes sense that you would be the fairy godmother.”

“Indeed, and by being in this role I’ve been given foresight of how everything must go. I have to watch over Lance until I am a position to help him.”

“Do you know where Hunk and Pidge are?”

“They were transformed into cute mice, and are trying to help Lance with chores he must do for Hagger of all people.”

Shiro sighed, “Figures she would be the wicked stepmother, who are the stepsisters?”

“Ezor and Zethid.”

“That sadly tracks too.”

Coran motioned, “Well Number One how shall we go about this? You know this story better than us.”

Shiro replies, “Well it’s pretty clear now that the goal is to get Keith and Lance together, because every time we’re about to finish a story they almost kiss and that is the reason we move on to the next one. So, we need them to finally snap out of it and confront their feelings head-on.”

Allura sighed, “But they are too damn stubborn to come to terms with their feelings! I’m sure the reason it’s taking this long to remember is because they don’t want to face the truth.”

Shiro nodded, “I agree. From what happened in the last movie the cracks were beginning to show of how Keith deeply feels about Lance and that’s why he didn’t try to kiss him before the sun set.”

Coran pointed, “So it’s up to us to play matchmaker!”

Shiro nodded, “Yup, and luckily, we’re in an ideal spot to do that, by now in the movie the king makes a proclamation for the prince to have a ball tonight and that every eligible maiden is to attend though in this case we’ll have to make sure that it’s every single person that can attend. Leave nothing up to chance so that Lance can be here.”

“An excellent idea, Shiro! And I will rely this information to Pidge and Hunk so we can do just that!” Allura exclaimed before teleporting away in sparkles.

Coran cracked his knuckles out, “In the meantime, we have a ball to prepare for!” going out of the room to start giving out orders to passing servants.

“Is this really necessary?” Keith groused as the three of them made their way to the ballroom that night where crowds of people were starting to file in. “I just came back today, and it was a long trip.”

Shiro slightly smiled, “Humor me, little brother, we’re just celebrating your safe return and if it just so happens we invited everyone in the kingdom… Well, what’s the harm in that?”

Coran motioned, “All single women and men mind you.” While winking.

Keith groaned and face-palmed, “I already told you! I’ll find someone when I’m good and ready!”

His brother chuckled, “Like I said, humor me, besides who knows you might meet someone after all~”

Keith scoffed, “Yeah sure…” as he reluctantly headed for the platform where the herald was, getting ready to announce the line of people he was about to meet. While Shiro and Coran headed up to the balcony overseeing the event.

Sometime went on, and Keith was getting tired of bowing left and right to people he knew nothing of no matter how impressive their background was, causing him to yawn and glare up to Shiro.

The older could only shrug while mouthing, ‘Hang in there’ before turning to Coran, “Lance should have been here already, I hope nothing bad happened.”

“Allura would have popped in by now if that were true.”

Shiro sighed, “I guess you’re right, then again Cinderella did show up late in the story too so I’m worrying over nothing.”

The old Altean patted his back, “It’s alright to be anxious, we are after all under the influence of a strange magic I’ve never encountered before. The sooner we can solve the problem, the sooner we can get out.”

By then, the herald announced, “The mademoiselles Ezor and Zethid, daughters of Lady Hagger.”

The two half-Galra women dressed in elegant gowns bobbled up to Keith and curtsied, or at least were trying to.

Shiro felt bad his little brother had to endure that but out in the corner of his eye he noticed a person in a beautiful blue gown looking around the room instead of the prince.

Below, Keith noticed the same thing and moved right pass the girls to get to the person.

Coran saw this and commented, “And there he stands, the boy of his dreams.”

Shiro beamed, “You got that right.”

From their perspective, Lance was making an elegant curtsy as Keith took his gloved hand and kissed it before gesturing that they move to the dance floor.

Shiro quickly ordered for a waltz to play and Coran ordered for the lights to be lowered to set the mood.

The prince and the mysterious person began to waltz in the middle of the ballroom as onlookers watched on.

Coran motioned, “Best to get down there to make sure all goes well.” As he set off.

Keith and Lance waltzed all the way into the palace gardens and Hagger tried to follow when Coran lowered down a curtain, stopping her in her tracks and sat down in a chair, letting the boys have their romantic moment alone.

About an hour later, Lance rushed past him and Keith was shouting, “Wait! Please!” but then he got swarmed by young women vying for his attention. Coran picked up the pace and tried to stop Lance when he noticed a glass slipper on the step and picked it up.

The carriage Lance got in was now long gone, and Keith rushed up to Coran.

“Is he…?”

Coran sadly nodded, “Gone your highness, but he did leave this.” Showing off the glass slipper.

Keith gently took it and held it close to his chest before rushing inside and found Shiro.

“Shiro! Please you have to help me find him!”

The older took hold of the younger’s arms, “Calm down, Keith, we’ll find him, don’t worry.” He pointed to the slipper, “We have a clue after all, Coran can go around the kingdom tomorrow and try this slipper on every person that was at the ball.”

That did calm down his little brother and he slowly went down the hall, “I’m going to bed and I’m keeping this with me.” Possessively keeping the slipper in his arms.

Shiro knowingly smirked, “Whatever makes you happy.”

The slipper was on a fancy pillow as Coran traveled in the royal coach with Allura popping in to help give him directions on where he needed to go since obviously there was no need for him to go door to door when they already know who the slipper belongs to.

They make it to a manor on the hill and the herald announced his presence.

Ezor and Zethid of course fought over who was going first to try on the slipper as Hagger scolded them. Coran noticed in the corner of his eye of two familiar-looking mice were trying to reach for a key that Hagger had in her dress pocket which miraculously they managed to achieve while the woman was distracted.

He lowered himself inconspicuously and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Pidge whispered back as Hunk carried the key as best as he can with his small size, “That witch locked Lance up in his attic room so he can’t try on the slipper!”

Hunk uttered in, “Stall as long as you can until we can get him out!”

Coran saluted, “You got it!” turning his attention back to the women and helped the herald keep the slipper from being harmed.

They proceeded on with the fitting and Ezor went first, insisting that the slipper belonged to her and the herald was trying to help her make it fit.

Coran looked to the staircase seeing his little friends were making headway on the stairs, it was impressive they were able to do so with such a large key. Still though, that didn’t leave much for timing because once Zethid tries the slipper on he will have to go.

Thankfully Ezor was taking her sweet time to make sure the slipper could fit her.

He checked the staircase again and it would seem they made it to the top and are now heading to where Lance is.

Hagger then shouted, “That’s enough Ezor! Let Zethid have her turn!”

“Oh, but Mother I was so close!” the pink galra whined and took her foot out of the slipper.

Coran wished he could allow Ezor to keep trying but it would make things far too suspicious if he did and was forced to watch Zethid to try the slipper, grunting to make it fit on her foot.

It took about another good ten minutes before the galra woman conceded that the slipper won’t fit. Coran looked to the staircase again, praying that Lance would show up soon as the herald put the slipper back on the pillow, getting ready to leave.

“Are you certain there is no one else to try on the slipper?” hoping this will buy some time.

Hagger was quick to response, “No one, your grace.”

Coran bit his lip and put his hat on, slowly going out the door when a tenor voice shouted from the stairway.

“Your grace, wait! May I try it on?!”

Coran beamed at the sight while the women started protesting.

Hagger quickly moved between them, “Lance is just an imaginative boy, he can’t be possibly who you’re looking for!”

Coran firmly said, “Madam, my orders was that anyone can try on the slipper!” going past her to get to Lance, “Here we go my boy,” having him sit on a nearby chair and motioned for the herald to come back with the slipper.

As they do so however, Hagger purposely used her cane to trip him forcing the glass slipper to go flying and it shattered to pieces which caused Coran to panic a little until Lance said.

“It’s okay! I have the other one!” showing it off as Hagger looked on in horror.

Coran beamed and helped slipped the glass shoe on Lance’s foot making it a perfect fit.

After that, Coran brought Lance back to the castle where Keith and Shiro were waiting in the throne room.

“Prince Keith! May I present your future spouse to be!”

The couple stared at each other for the longest moment until Keith slowly approached the other and gently took Lance’s hands, smiling, “It is you…”

Lance smiled back, “It is… thank you for finding me…”

Slowly the two leaned in and were about to kiss when that bright flash came back.