Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being on the outskirts of Vegas was horrendous. Plaht City had been demolished, Hunk the most taken aback once he knew where they all were. Their troop went farther in; Lareina leading the front, with her sharp, sniper's eyes at the ready; Keith (blade already out), Shiro, Kosmo, Pidge, and Coran not far behind him; Romelle and Allura at the back, flanking the main group; and Hunk at the rear, holding his canon steady.

Small drones came out of hiding and began attacking the group. Lareina reacted before Keith could even say anything, making sure to cover him, while Hunk was desperately trying to protect the rest of their group. Keith knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up with how big of a unit they all were.

“I'll distract it,” Keith started, looking back at Lareina, “you take the shot.” He moved a hair, then looked at her again, eyes narrowed. “...don't miss...” Keith knew she wouldn't, but she sometimes got too in her head when things were bad. Reminding her how important a particular fight was helped ground her and steady her hand. But there was a tone to it that caught her off guard, but still had the desired effect.

As her blaster shifted to her sniper rifle, Keith slid over the hood of the car they'd been hiding behind, causing the drones to chase him. With a trained finger, she took out the drones above Keith, shrapnel falling to the ground, then spun around to go for the one behind her. Not a single shot was wasted.

Walking up to the downed bot, Keith thought out loud. “I wonder how many of these things they have around here...Pidge, any chance we can see those things before they get to us?” he asked as he looked up at her.

“Already on it,” she replied, screen already up and tracking something. “Looks like we've got four more headed our way.” Four, red spheres flashed on the monitor in front of her, expression panicked as lasers almost immediately began firing at them. They all ducked for cover behind some of the city wreckage.

“It's not drones,” Shiro observed from his hiding spot with Allura. “Look.” Sentries had found them instead, and those were arguably worse than the drones, seeing as they had more firepower and protection. Hunk and Lareina were firing shots, unfortunately not causing much damage to the armor of the robot soldiers and needing multiple hits to do so.

More lasers rained down upon them, Lareina panicking and turning around in a feeble attempt to keep Hunk safe. In her anxiety spiking, she missed them both, and it was enough of a distraction that a sentry was trying to charge at Hunk. He cried out as he was rushed, but an ORV rammed the robot before it could reach him, pinning it against the building directly in front of the vehicle.

After a few beats and the sentry had shorted out, a young man hopped out and began firing as another four wheeler came from seemingly nowhere. Drifting and skidding to a halt, the top opened. Inside was a young woman with a more pistol type of firearm, shooting almost instantly the moment she was out of her seat, though she was still technically inside the truck.

“Stay down! We got this!” She spoke with a finality that dared anyone to go against her. Not long after, she shot down the drone above Keith, Hunk and Lareina.

“Tsk, I had it!” Keith shouted indignantly, frustrated at what seemed like civilians getting involved. The last thing he wanted was for more innocent people to get hurt.

“Drones send distress signals when they're attacked!” the young man barked back, clearly unhappy with anyone taking issue with his and his companion's participation in the fray. “Our weapons neutralize those signals so, unless you want to deal with a SWARM of those things, let us handle it!” Keith stared back, realizing he knew who this man was, surprised at the authority in his voice that hadn't been there when they were kids, relentlessly bullying Keith. “Now, let's get out of here before more show up.”

Being able to drive in the sand was a blessing, as being forced to take the actual roads usually meant double, even tripling in some cases, your time behind the wheel. It was odd coming into Sandy Valley and the first thing they all saw was the orange barrier around the Garrison, keeping it safe from attack. Other than that, it didn't look like it had changed much. Nadia's passengers were Keith, Pidge, Lareina and Hunk, while James had Romelle, Coran, Shiro, Allura and Kosmo.

It had been strange, yet still heartwarming, to see everyone again, especially knowing how long they'd been gone, in addition to the time jumps and dilation they'd endured. Excluding Keith's excursion in the Quantum Abyss, everyone on Earth was quite a bit older now, whereas their own group had barely changed since they had left, with a few exceptions (namely Lareina, but that was more-so only because she was growing out her hair and attempting to look more feminine where she could).

Lareina had nearly cried seeing Pidge reunite with her mom, dad, and the family dog. She wished the same for herself, but it wasn't meant to be. However, she wasn't the only one, as Hunk's family wasn't there either. Unfortunately, that had been due to a hostage situation with the Garretts, whereas the Garrison couldn't get all of the McClains there on such short notice. According to Admiral Sanda, no one in Lareina or Hunk's families even knew they were home. Even Veronica, Lareina's oldest sister, was working in a different sector of the Garrison currently. It had been decided that, because she was needed quite badly where she was, she would find out once things had settled. Lareina didn't like this, and smelled something fishy about it, but understood that it was all hands on deck at the moment and they'd only JUST returned.

Her biggest tears though, regardless of being happy or sad? Watching Keith get recognition from Commander Iverson. While she did selfishly wish she could receive similar, as Iverson was one of the people that consistently compared her with Keith and made her feel worthless when they were students, she was ecstatic for her boyfriend. He'd come a long way and she was ridiculously proud of him. She planned to tell him as such later, just to drive home that he'd deserved and earned this.

But Keith had been on her mind a lot lately, and not even because she loved him to pieces, floating on Cloud 9 every time his indigo eyes fell upon her. Feeling whole every time he had a break from Blade missions and visited, holding her tightly. Her heart skipping a beat with every warm kiss, tender touch, and honest reassurance. But because he'd been acting odd lately, ever since he'd returned with Kosmo, Romelle, and Krolia. Even the short interaction they'd had in Plaht City was not normal to how he typically treated her.

Sadly, her attention was now being pulled in so many directions. If it wasn't Keith, it was Shiro, trying to hold it together after hearing about the death of his fiancé. Then it was Allura, who was nervous about being on Earth; a place she'd heard so much about from their group, but never thought she'd actually see (not to mention her need to soothe tensions as they arose). Or Hunk, who was losing his absolute shit during the debriefing that his parents were Galra slaves at the moment. Then, of course, the meeting itself, led by Sam and an officer named Curtis. She was thankful to be seated next to at least one person she didn't have to worry about, being nestled between the other female Paladins.

After a heated incident in the MFE hangar about whether or not to just give Voltron to Sendak, in the hopes that doing so would cause him to call off his fleet and relinquish his command of Earth, everyone parted ways. Colleen, Pidge, Allura and Commander Sablan went to the computer archives, hoping to find information about Sendak, Allura and Sablan later going down a hall to talk about prostheses that Sam had designed himself. Inside the Atlas was Coran, Shiro and Sam, trying to figure out how to get the craft up and running.

Lareina was back in the blessedly empty meeting room while she cleared her mind. Pacing around, she tried to work off her keyed-up energy before deciding on what to do. Sometimes, she hated being an empath, soaking up the feelings around her. She wasn't sure if she'd be helpful in the library, knowing she wasn't smart enough to match what Pidge and Allura needed. Maybe Coran could use a hand with the Atlas? That didn't necessarily need brains...though, maybe Romelle could use some girl time?...she IS new to our team...

She was also torn about Hunk. With how distressed he'd been during the meeting, she wasn't sure if he needed space. Her best friend was typically very social, but she'd also never seen him like this before. She stopped for a moment, pensive, before she went back to pacing the room, low ponytail swishing behind her.

It took some time, but Lareina was eventually able to come up with a game plan she was comfortable with. Hyping herself up, preparing for the worst in case she had to fight tears, Lareina left the room and walked like she was on a mission. She was so focused that she didn't realize she was being followed after a moment. Not that she would have necessarily cared, so long as the conversation didn't turn private.

“Keith first, Hunk later,” she reminded herself softly. Even if Hunk didn't need some time, Lareina thought it would benefit him to have a moment to cool down. She didn't want to assume and have it backfire by going to him immediately. If she was going to be snapped at, she only had the mental capacity for it to be one person, and she needed answers from Keith. She didn't want to go into this next part of the war, now that they were home, with confused and hurt feelings. After speaking with her boyfriend, then she'd go to Hunk, hoping he'd be in a slightly better state of mind to talk and want company. Taking a turn and going up a hidden stairwell, she knew exactly where Keith would be.

Chapter Text

It felt like an anime cliché that her bad boy of a partner was on the rooftop of the Garrison. She was quiet, tapping into her ninja sharpshooter status, as Lareina gently shut the door behind her and made her footfalls silent. Not wanting to startle Keith, part of her behavior was also noticing how he was acting as well.

Much like how she had just been in the conference room, Keith was pacing along the fence, looking distracted and nervous. Where Lareina had been monologuing in her head, Keith was actively talking to himself, though she wasn't close enough to hear him. He also appeared to be fidgeting with something in his uniform pocket, but she had no idea what it could have been.

A bright light and a wooshing noise to her left didn't faze Lareina in the slightest, as she'd gotten so used to it over the time they'd been traveling back to Earth. Hearing a whine and a damp nudge to her hand, she looked down and smiled at Kosmo, scratching his ear after booping his nose. She sighed and crouched in front of the space wolf, vigorously playing with his neck floof.

“I'm worried about your daddy, Kosmo.” Leaning forward, Lareina wrapped her arms around the creature, Kosmo licking her cheek a couple times. “I don't know what happened but he's different and...I'm scared...” She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. “...terrified that, somewhere down the line, that he stopped loving me and I actually AM disgusting...but I just want him to be happy and all right...” She pulled away with a sniffle.

Kosmo stared at her and, as if he understood every word, he peered behind her to look at Keith. Standing up and shaking the Cuban's arms off him, Kosmo dodged around her and went right for the half Galran. Straightening her posture, Lareina heard Keith squawk as the alien animal bit his sleeve, dragging him to where Lareina was.

He had skidded to such an intense, grinding halt, it had thrown Keith down to his knees. He looked mortified as he looked up at his girlfriend, but his expression softened as he noticed she'd been crying. Keith glanced over at Kosmo when the canine sat down beside him, huffing as he did so. It was almost as if he was annoyed and forcing Keith to do something.

“...hey, babe...”

“...hi, Keithy...” she replied with another sniffle, this time actually taking her arm to rub against her nose.

“What's wrong?” He took her hands as he stood up.

“...” She bit her bottom lip, unsure how or even if she should answer truthfully. “...I should be asking you that...”

“Huh?” His indigo eyes blinked owlishly, dumbfounded. He really was bad at reading the room sometimes. Or, in this case, reading the roof.

“...ever since that weird dream with the game show we all had...” She pulled her hands out of his to hug herself and turn away from him slightly. “...you've been weird...distant...” Lareina looked back at him out of her peripheral. “Did...d-did I do something wrong?”

Her tone was so broken that it shattered his heart. Keith hadn't meant to hurt Lareina while he sorted his feelings out. He loved her with everything in him and always would. It was that having a relationship in the middle of a war was bad timing, and he wasn't sure where to go next with things or just leave them how they were until they, hopefully, made it out alive.

“I'm sorry if my attitude has seemed cold. That wasn't my intention and I've been doing a lot of thinking...” Lareina tilted her head in confusion, not understanding his meaning. With a sigh, Keith smiled fondly, reaching out to turn her to face him directly. “I, initially, had planned this to be...well...not here...but I suppose I've waited long enough,” he said with a slight glare at Kosmo.

“Keith, what are yo-”

“We knew what we were doing by starting this when we did. Not the best scenario, but we both knew we couldn't wait. Now? I've been debating where I wanted this to go, especially with this entire situation being more serious and dangerous for our lives. And I realized something…

It's okay for us to be happy AND help the universe. To be a little selfish and have each other in those harder moments. Yeah, we have the team, but we have something different than neither of us can get from them, and that's totally fine. Honestly? If we don't make it out of this, I'd rather we got to experience something before it's over, than to have never had it at all. Or even had gotten so close and wonder 'what if' in the possible outcome it's just one of us that survives this war.

Lareina McClain,” he continued, getting back down to kneel. Instead of both knees, it was just one. “My sharpshooter. You are more than just my right hand of Voltron; you are my right hand in life. Didn't you say yourself 'he's, like, the future'?” He watched the Blue Paladin try to hold back tears and failing miserably. “Will you marry me?” He dug into his pocket to pull out a small, velvet, navy blue box. Opening it, inside was a thin, silver band, adorned with blue and red gemstones.