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kumeko · 1 year

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A/N: For the @mythsofvoltronzine! A companion piece I wrote for “of hopes and doubts”, which both was written later but also got posted two years before I released this piece. I love Mahabharata, so heavily influenced by that. Lotor and Allura had a lot of potential in the series and I’m sad it never got properly explored for political alliance shenanigans or tension angst.

…

Allura walked next to a river of stars, her bare feet squelching in the soft mud. Tightening her shawl around her arms, she tried to ward off the chilly night air but it was of little comfort. Her thin nightwear was made to be slept in and a midnight walk was beyond its capabilities. The moon hid behind the clouds as she followed the river through a field of mustard, the golden flowers brown in the dim light.

Fortunately, she did not have far to go. The White Tiger had brought her here for a reason, and that reason was kneeling just ahead of her, shrouded in the shadows. Cupping water from the river, he caught a star and raised it to his lips.

“Rajkumar Lotor,” she greeted, coming to a stop next to him. Dozens of fireflies flickered around them, their tiny lights lighting up the tips of his ears, the brown of his pants, the rings on her fingers. She imagined this was what the heavens felt like, to be so close to the stars you could just touch them.

“Oriande is beautiful,” Lotor echoed her thoughts as he languidly stood up. His long, braided hair coiled around his neck like a snake. He was a thinly dressed as she was, not a hint of armour in sight. How strange it was to stand next to her mortal enemy, without a weapon, without protection, without malice. Turning to her, he touched his forehead as he greeted her. “Rajkumari Allura.” He appraised her clothing. “I see I am not the only one who was rudely summoned from their sleep.”

He looked slightly put out and Allura tried not to laugh. “The White Tiger was very insistent when he tugged me out of bed.” She gestured at her slightly torn sleeve. “I almost thought he’d bite me instead of my clothes.”

“I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than finding a giant lizard on your face.” Lotor grimaced. Glancing at her sleeve once more, he stroked his chin thoughtfully. “The White Tiger…I heard the generals of your kingdom are all bonded to different tigers. Gods’ messengers, as some call them.”

“Bonded,” Allura mused, scrunching up her nose. It was true, in a way. Multi-coloured tigers were the constant companions of her head generals. Unfortunately, just as the gods were, the tigers were capricious. “I suppose you could call it that.”

“And what would you call it?” Lotor asked. Despite his carefree tone, his eyes were sharp.

Digging for information, was he? Allura smiled politely. “Babysitting.”

His lips quirked, amusement and curiosity warring on his face. When it was clear she wouldn’t add anything, he gave up and changed the subject. “So this is Oriande.”

“I had heard stories as a child.” Grateful for the change, Allura didn’t comment on the abruptness of it all. She cupped her hands around a firefly, bathing her skin in a pale yellow light. “I never thought I’d get the chance to visit it.”

“It is beyond us mortals normally.” Reaching down, he picked up a flat rock off the riverbed. He turned it over in his hands, his thumb brushing over the hard surface. “Though it is more ordinary than I expected.” Expertly, he flicked his wrist. The rock skipped over the river’s surface, bouncing once, twice, thrice, before sinking into its depths.

“What were you expecting?” Shoulders shaking with laughter, Allura let the firefly go. It flew around her before floating off with the rest of its kin. “This may be the land of the gods, but they enjoy the same things we do. Of course there’ll be some similarities.”

“Glowing flowers? Floating fire?” Lotor’s lips quirked as shrugged. All ideas that Allura had as a child and she tried not to look away in embarrassment. “Something extraordinary.”

Lance and Hunk had suggested the same things when she’d left. It seemed unlike people, ideas crossed borders freely. Allura rested a hand on her hip. “I don’t know, flying here was pretty amazing.”

“That’s true—the world is very different to a bird.” Realization crossed Lotor’s face and he turned to her. “Is this an ordinary thing to you? Your mother is a goddess.”

“Not really,” Allura admitted regretfully, rubbing her wrist. “My mother is not one for visiting. All I know are my father’s stories and his are the same as everyone else’s. I had hoped to see her here.”

“I thought we’d see at least one god.” Lotor glanced around. They stood in the middle of a field, able to see as far as the horizon in any direction, but all that was visible was an endless sea of mustard. He glanced up. “Perhaps higher up.”

She followed his gaze. Above them were pink clouds and she caught the briefest glimpse of a white elephant, no doubt filling up its trunk with rain. Higher still were white rocks, glowing serenely despite the lack of light. Jagged lines of bright blue coloured the rocks and she wondered if they were abodes for the gods or just a playing field for one of their games. “A chance for privacy then.”

“Is anything private from the gods?” Lotor asked, raising an eyebrow. Stepping away from the river, he moved to a drier spot and sat down. There was a bitter tang to his tone. “I would say half of our troubles are due to them.”

Blasphemy. Yet, she couldn’t help but agree. There were many issues that would have been resolved if the gods hadn’t interfered. Or if they had just cleared up a simple misunderstanding. Moving back, she sat down next to him and stared ahead. “Even our war?”

His breath hitched and she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. Lotor chuckled, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear. “Even our war.”

An agreement. She wanted to laugh. They had fought each other dozens of times before now. Never had she thought they could simply nod and agree with one another. Turning to him, she said, “Then let’s stop it.”

He snorted derisively. “It’s not that simple.”

She had thought the same before the White Tiger had brought her here. Perhaps it was just the beauty of this place. Perhaps it was the fact that they were able to sit next to each other, side by side, without bloodshed. Either way, she shook her head. “It is.”

“Really?” Crossing his arms, he looked at her scornfully. “You think Raja Zarkon will just give up, after all the years he spent preparing for this?”

A good point. She bit her cheek. “No, but…you can stop him. You are his son.”

“When he chooses to acknowledge that, yes.” His fingers dug into his arm, his lips twisting in distaste. “And even then, he’ll never take my advice.”

“Then.” Allura scrunched her nose. The White Tiger had brought them both here for a reason. There was a solution somewhere. They just weren’t seeing it.

“You could just surrender,” he suggested simply, a smirk on his face. She couldn’t tell if he was being playful or honest. “That would end the war.”

“You can’t be serious.” Allura’s hand curled into a fist. Whatever solution there was, this wasn’t it. “The Galra would destroy us.”

“Just a suggestion.” Lotor held his hands up in surrender, still grinning broadly. Like this discussion was a joke, like she couldn’t see the gleam in his eyes at the possibility. “I promise to keep Altea safe in that case.”

“Didn’t you just say your father wouldn’t listen to you?” Allura growled, digging a hand in the soil. Maybe she could throw it at him. It’d be worth it just to see dirt in his hair.

“No, he won’t.” Lotor’s smile finally fell. Pressing his palms on the ground, he leaned back and stared up at the clouds. “But he will not be emperor forever.”

“Not good enough,” she stated bluntly, her brow furrowed. This option was almost as bad as war. “He will destroy us before then. It’ll be annihilation.”

Lotor shook his head. “No, he doesn’t have long to live. My father is ill. Within a year, perhaps…and whatever you think of me, I am not Zarkon.”

“…no, you are not,” Allura begrudgingly admitted. It felt like a defeat to admit it, to say those words, but she had seen him in battle. Heard of his exploits outside. Whatever else she might say about him, he was a decent man. If a little misguided. “Either way, it’ll never work. We won’t surrender, ever, and even if—and this is a big if— that happened, my people will never submit to a Galran Emperor.”

There was a long, heavy beat, where Lotor didn’t say anything. He stared up at the sky and Allura sighed softly. An impasse. There was nothing to be done, no way to avert the war. The White Tiger had been wrong. Pulling her legs close, she hugged them and rested her cheek on her knees. At least she saw Oriande before she died. Allura closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

“And what if I were half Altean?” Lotor finally said, his voice no more than a whisper. “What then?”

Allura’s eyes flew open. The moon emerged, highlighting his features, and Allura wondered how she had missed it all these years. The silver of his hair, the sharp point of his ears, the marks on his face. Altean and Galra blood mixed alike under his skin and she should have recognized it earlier.

Noticing her shocked stare, he cocked his head. “Did you not hear me, rajkumari? What then?”

“You’re half Altean?” Allura finally muttered, sitting up. Her hand reached out, brushing the jagged lightning marks under his eyes, identical to those she saw in the mirror. It wasn’t paint. It wasn’t mehndi or kohl. Her other hand reached up to touch her own marks, and they both glowed faintly.

Allowing the touch, Lotor closed his eyes. “On my mother’s side.”

“Oh.” She drew back, still trying to process it all. This didn’t mesh at all with what she knew of the Galra or Raja Zarkon. “Zarkon married an Altean?”

“I know, unbelievable, right? Even that monster found love once.” Lotor chuckled depreciatively. “Before my mother died, she told me stories of Altea, of its white spires and idyllic gardens. I’ve always wanted to see them.”

“Maybe when we have peace,” Allura murmured. She rubbed her ear and frowned. “The Galra are fine with a half-Altean heir?”

“Might makes right,” he shrugged. This close, she could see the gold flecks of his eyes, the shades of purple in his skin. The Galra in the Altean. “And I’m still half Galra. Who better to rule both kingdoms?”

That snapped her back to reality. She rubbed her ears, not sure if she heard right. “This is your plan?”

“Yes.” Confident, Lotor sat up straighter. His hand rose in front of him, gesturing grandly as he spoke. “When I’m crowned king, I’ll allow you to run Altea autonomously. There can be peace between our kingdoms then.”

At this she laughed in disbelief. “You are serious about this. It will never work.”

“Of course it will.” Indignant, Lotor scowled at her. “It’s the only way to minimize bloodshed and allow Altea to survive. You will also keep your independence.”

“You will allow it,” Allura bit out, the word itself showing just how preposterous his idea was. “What independence is that? You’ll keep a collar around our neck, forcing us to pay tithes to the Galra. There is no equality in that.”

“That is the fate of the loser,” Lotor defended, crossing his arms. A fair point, perhaps. It was the rule of the world. “But it won’t be subjugation. It won’t be destruction. My father would rather see you burn to the ground but I don’t want that.”

“My people will fight to the end,” she refuted, her blood boiling. She could feel her marks glow, her god’s blood churning within her, filling her with rage. “We will not be kept.”

“Even if their emperor is Altean?” Lotor asked gently, trying to persuade her. And gods, he thought it was true. He thought the world would work like that. “This is the best solution—don’t let your people die in vain.”

At this she laughed. Scathingly, she asked, “And how are you Altean? You’ve never been to Altea. You’ve never lived with us. You’ve spent your life fighting us. And now you want to rule us?”

Lotor stiffened, his lips curling into a snarl. “I am not entirely ignorant of our people.”

“No, you are if you think this is all it takes,” Allura growled. “Our ideas, our culture, even our clothing is different. They are my people. You are just another outsider.”

It was a blow. She could see him recoil. “I am—”

“No,” she repeated firmly, squaring her jaw. “You are not. You aren’t Altean, anymore than I am Galra.” She paused. “Anymore than I am a god.”

“I am still better than Zarkon,” he insisted. His hand curled into a fist. “And he will win this war.”

“How?” Allura bared her teeth, allowing her powers to flow over her. The power of her mother. The power of the white Tiger. The wind swirled around her. “You’ve seen me fight.”

His eyes glowed and for a brief moment, she wondered if he was like her. A child of the gods. “And you have seen me fight.” Without warning, he shoved her, her back hitting the ground with a thud. Looming over her, he smirked. “Even better, I’ve seen how the other Alteans fight. They’re no match for the Galra.”

Oh that did it. She knocked over his leg and flipped him over. Pressing her hand against his throat, she sneered. “And you’re no match for me. You won’t win.”

From the corner of her eye, she spotted the White Tiger. He loped over the river, leaving faint ripples in his wake. Allura pulled back, quickly standing. Lotor gasped, eyes filled with fury as he struggled to get up. “You,” he hissed, venom in his voice, and this was the man she was used to. The man she had fought up till now.

The White Tiger softly padded up to her, his lips curled back to reveal his teeth. He glowed faintly in the moonlight—no, to be exact, it was more like he was moonlight. Her hand sunk into his fur as she stroked his head, a sensation that was more like a warm fire than fur. She glanced at Lotor one last time. His hair was mussed from their fight, stray hairs falling out of his usually neat braid.

If not for the vicious glare, he looked like an ordinary man. And she an ordinary woman. A sense of rue filled her—in a time of peace, perhaps they could have been friends. Maybe that was the real tragedy of war, the relationship that were lost.

Not that it made a difference now. The gods were wrong. There was no way to avoid this war, to avoid this clash. Sitting astride on the White Tiger, she turned away. “I’ll see you in battle.”

With that, her mount bounded forward and with a powerful leap, she left him and her doubts behind.

#lotura #vld allura #vld lotor #allura x lotor #voltron legendary defender #fanfic #i think they could have been really interesting together #like a political alliance #a hatemace #or even begrudging allies that did end up falling #the show put such an interesting idea forth #and then wasted it

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humanitieswalkingredflag · 1 year

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confession headcanons with lotor, acxa and allura

notes: first post on this account, figured I'd start off with something pretty simple tags: friends to lovers, confessions, first kisses, hugs, overall just fluff lmfao, claustrophobia, tight spaces, being locked into a closet word count: 1.5k

[ lotor ]

okay so first of all Lotor would act one of two ways if he had feelings for you

either he'd be extremely suave around you (and of course a blushing mess the second you acted even close to similar)

or he'd be almost mean? like I feel like he would ignore you if you were someone he really cared about and/or someone he was enemies with

in the latter case its a situation where he doesn't want you knowing

I feel like, if you two went from friends to lovers, it would more be the second option, so we're going to go with that

so you've been noticing for a while that Lotor's been ignoring you for a while

and you're like hey bitch what gives, so you go and ask him why

poor lotor is an absolute mess. he has no clue what to say

cause like obviously he can't say, "Yeah I was ignoring you because you're super hot and I'm in love with you." So he just kinda stands there like 🧍 "How can I help you?"

but now ur like lowkey pissed so you just force answers out of him by like getting super mad

and he's just like 😒 "why do u care?"

hehe you just yell out "Cause I love you fucking idiot."

and then you realize what you just said and storm off lmfao

poor man has a panic attack and then just chases you into the hallway, grabbing you and pinning you against a wall as gently as he can.

"did you... mean that?" lotor forces out, cradling your cheek in his large hand. his cheeks are red, you notice with some satisfaction, and as you revel in this affection after weeks of being starved of it you realize that the likelihood of lotor feeling the same way is really quite large.

so, after working up insane amounts of courage, you go on your tippy toes, guide lotor's head down to a height where you can reach him, and peck him gently on the lips, pulling away quickly, cheeks dusted red. "uh... sorry," you look away, not wanting to make eye contact with him, "If you don't feel the same way... you can just ign-"

"- I do feel the same way," he coughs out, also not meeting your gaze.

"Oh."

Lotor steels himself, then leans down, tilting your head up with his warm hand as he gently meets your lips, deepening the kiss as you smile into it.

After some time he breaks away, smiling.

the man is emotionally stunted but you can fix that *winks*

[ a/n that was shit lmfao he's quite ooc i hope y'all don't mind ]

[ acxa ]

acxa would be really subtle if she had feelings for you

if you guys go from strangers to lovers, then she'll probably just subtly do things for you

she's going to get a coffee, she'll ask if you want one as well

just the little things

if it's a friends to lovers scenario, she might leave lingering touches along your arms or hands

I feel like her main love language is acts of service, considering she's relatively closed off due to her military history, so she will do more things for you, as I already mentioned. however if she has feelings for you beyond just friendship, she might also cave to your love language as well

physical touch? she's letting you hug her, which leads to ezor teasing her so fucking much because usually acxa will just step back if someone tries something like that

if its gift giving, expect small, practical things likes knives or omnitools. she won't give elaborate gifts all willy-nilly, but she does know what you like for, for example, your birthday

anyway back to the confession (I got a bit off track there lmfao)

so acxa will be realllll subtle, and you'll just be blushing your ass off lmfao

like she'll gently adjust some hair so that it's again behind your ear and you will just go red as a tomato

the issue here is that ACXA IS FUCKING OBLIVIOUS

doesn't notice a thing

this means ezor (best wingman fr) and zethrid (their exhausted gf) have to play cupid and get you two together, because ofc only ezor sees the signs and has to act on them

anyway, the actual confession is relatively simple, because ezor dedicates so much of their time into getting you two into the closet together that zethrid swears she hasn't slept all week

(the sheer amount of failed attempts... is astounding)

so ezor is like, hey, [reader] wanted to meet you here for something top secret and pushes acxa into the closest, meanwhile zethrid just picks you up and drops you inside, closing and locking the door as soon as you two are in there

ofc they're both outside listening in

anyway acxa starts off by trying to break down the door, like the night in shining armor she is, but as soon as she realizes that it's futile she just slumps against the wall and accepts defeat

i mean ofc she knows why ezor is doing this

doesn't mean she has to like it

"so..." you blurt out, awkwardly rubbing the back of your head with your palm. internally, you're panicing at being locked inside a tight space with none other than acxa, the object of your affections, but you hope that you can at least display some composure around her.

you wouldn't want her to think you a complete fool.

acxa raises an eyebrow, "yeah?"

"how are we going to get out of here?" you ask, saying the first thing that comes to mind.

"they'll let us out eventually."

"hopefully. why do you think they locked us in here?" of course you know why the locked you in here. you should never have told ezor about your feelings for acxa, the general always was far too eager to play matchmaker to trust properly with sensitive emotions.

acxa doesn't reply for a while, simply tilting her head at you. she supposes it's now or never. the quicker she confesses the quicker you're both out of here; you've mentioned hating tight spaces before and she doesn't want to inconvenience you any further.

"they locked us in here because of my feelings for you, [reader]."

your eyes widen and your cheeks go red at the implication in her words. "do you-"

"they're romantic, yes, before you ask."

you swallow, "okay. um. I uh-"

"you feel the same way?"

"yes."

acxa sighs, in relief, and stands. as she steps towards you, you reach a hand out so that she may help you up. yet instead of staying standing up she kneels before you, her face at level with yours. as she takes your face in her warm hands, you smile, and she lends you one in return, right before your lips meet hers. the kiss is warm, nice, gentle, soft. you seperate, but before you can lean back against the wall, she grabs your collar, whispers, "may I?", waits for your nod then clashes your lips against her own, this one much hungrier.

ezor tugs the door open right then, but acxa just keeps kissing you.

[ a/n i am so gay. so. so gay ]

[ allura ]

THE SWEETEST

so obvious tho

but to everyone but you

again you are both oblivious to each other's blushing messes

"you look really pretty/handsome today," you are SCREAMING

in reply: "may I braid your hair, princess?" allura perishes on the spot and is so unbelievably red the entire time-

coran is, in this case, playing wingman

SHE STARTS WRITING LOVE LETTERS

they're always signed:

- from your sky princess

you only catch on at dinner one evening and you have that AHA! moment right next to coran

oh allura is so embarassed when you just stand up, tug out a letter and point at her while jumping up and down

but coran is smirking so hard lmfao

"you wrote the letters! princess you should have told me in person!" you're overjoyed; she returns your feelings! but why didn't she just tell you?

"I was scared you didn't feel the same way, love," allura replies.

you hands down leap towards her, hugging her so hard that she has to tell you to losen your grip a bit, lest you strangle her and you just cover her face in kisses. as you realize what you're doing though you jump away and blush hard, "sorry, I should have asked."

she shuts you up by tugging you back onto her lap and kissing you softly. "It is not an issue, my love."

you legitimately short circuit.

meanwhile the paladins: 😃 what the fuck 😃

cr: @humanitieswalkingredflag 2022 - by reading this you are agreeing to the following - this is my content and you will not copy it to any other websites - I do not own any of the characters, however I do own the work I write - I do not profit off of this content

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