#imma post these in chunks so maybe you can get semi frequent updates?

[mckinlily]

Voltron post-s2 AU pt. 2

So what is going on with Lotor? Is he the True Black Paladin?

(Spoiler: Of course not. Who do you take me for?!)

BUT he is the son of two very powerful individual, and while he hates his father, this Lotor is plenty close to his mother. Close enough to be aware the arm she stole from her Favorite Prisoner and has been using for experimental quintessence extraction—particularly Black Paladin quintessence. Hagar’s original plan was to use this human’s surprisingly potent and robust quintessence to bolster an ever-zombifying Zarkon. But she is nothing if not flexible and opportunistic. With Zarkon down for the count and the new Black Paladin mysteriously absent, she is more than happy to enable her son’s on his own power quest.

So Lotor injects himself with stolen Shiro quintessence and flies off to Team Voltron. He finds he was right—the new Black Paladin is missing. And even better, no one can get the Black Lion to work. The timing is perfect.

Lotor, with his stolen and wrongly appropriated quintessence, makes his attempt.

And it almost works.

Black recognizes her paladin’s quintessence, though somewhat decayed and corrupted, and perks up. She immediately realizes that this is NOT her paladin though and shuts down in disgust.

But the damage is done. Although Black knows Lotor is a lying imposter who lies, she has no good way of communicating that without her true paladin. To everyone else, it really looks like Lotor is their best chance at connecting with the Black Lion at all.

And Lotor, clever and slippery as he is, uses that. He sympathizes with their worry. Comments on how tragic it is that it is not Allura who could wake the Black Lion. Even demonstrates patience with Keith spitting at him like a rabid raccoon. He understands, Allura. What a hard spot she has been put in, perhaps he can help?

Lotor oh so carefully suggests that maybe the Black Lion is damaged and he just so happens to have a possible solution.

Except the Black Lion isn’t damaged. At least not the way Lotor describes. And the ritual spell Lotor convinces Allura to try doesn’t fix Black. Instead, it uses that tiny portion of Shiro’s old quintessence he injected to force a bond between himself and the Black Lion.

Allura doesn’t know this is what she’s done. She doesn't have any way to know. But the Black Lion is FURIOUS. As if she wasn’t already angry with them for trying to create a new bond instead of finding her paladin. Now THIS?! After she JUST got free of her corrupted bond with Zarkon? Black is so angry with Allura and despises Lotor with a heat that makes Keith look chill.

She can't break the bond though. Allura's spell is too powerful. She makes her feelings very clear to Lotor, but since he never cared about the Lion's feelings in the first place, he finds it annoying but ultimately doesn't change anything. He can force the Black Lion to work for him, and that's all that matters.

In addition to forcing a bond Black does not want, the spell also interferes with her bond with Shiro. It doesn't break it (nothing can break Black's bond with her paladin besides Shiro himself), but it's blocked significantly. There's enough there for Black to know Shiro is alive, but she can't pin point where he is to bring him back or communicate with him in any way. And Black aches. Her paladin is all alone and thinks she abandoned him. She can just barely feel him, but it's so clear he can't feel her.

She's helpless to fix it. She can't break the bonding spell Allura created, not without the help of her paladin, and she can't reach her paladin because of the spell.

Needless to say, Black is very angry at everyone and is NOT playing nice in whatever way she can.

Unfortunately, what she can do isn't enough to tip off the humans and Allura to what's wrong.

With Lotor in the Black Lion, the team is able to start fighting again. And just in time because the Galra sharks are circling.

There's just one problem: they can't form Voltron.

And Lotor is about to learn there's a lot more to being the Black Paladin than controlling the Black Lion.

[part 1]

[Where is Shiro?]

#vld fic #vld fix it #post s2 au #alternate realities crossover au #imma post these in chunks so maybe you can get semi frequent updates? #mckinlily writes: vld fic