I originally wanted to write this out but I’ve been too tired to do anything these past few weeks. This is the fruit of writing down snippets during breaks throughout my internship.
Massive amounts of angst not just for Lance. Also, major character death that isn’t really one?
so, Lance dies after a mission gone wrong → even worse: he died just as they reached the medbay, breathing his last in Shiro’s arms and with Coran, Hunk and Pidge there to witness it
the team is devastated by the loss
Allura, Hunk and Pidge are out for blood, putting a lot of their time and effort looking for the lieutenant commander that impaled Lance
Keith seems more withdrawn, almost resigned in a way
Shiro is eaten up by guilt, and Coran is sure that a part of him died along with Lance that day
Coran feels the loss heavily, but is determined to take care of the part of the team that is still alive
they all push through. Allura still pilots Blue, because the universe still needs Voltron
it’s about three months later that Coran starts to notice some very odd happenings in the Castle that seem to be related to one another
he finds hallways and common areas – even the private quarters – cleaned up more often. the ship’s log and computer reveal that cleaning bots are being activated more often than he had initially programmed. (he blames it on the algorithm adjusting over time)
room temperature is regulated more efficiently than ever, being just right whenever the team enters a common area, the training room, the bridge, etc. (Coran and both Pidge want to blame it on adjusting algorithms)
Pidge more than once complains about the power cutting out in the middle of the night cycle, and nothing she has tried has ever overridden the sudden shortage. she does find it interesting though that if she leaves immediately, the power is back on sooner the next quintant.
Keith swears that the doors to the training room are faulty because sometimes (usually after a mission) they refuse to open when he wants to train that same night cycle.
Hunk is convinced the kitchen has become sentient, because whenever he leaves it a mess and crashes in his room, he comes back to find it spotless, and all of the tools and ingredients put back in their right places
even Allura and Shiro were experiencing troubles, like the bridge suddenly going dark safe for the essentials or not even getting past the doors. yet the moment it is only Coran left (after shooing both Paladins off to bed), everything functions impeccably
As the frequency of these occurrences increase, Coran and everyone start to get suspicious, but running scans yields no results. They’re just glad that whatever the Castle’s algorithm has spawned is not out to harm them.
But they are all paying closer attention now, in case they have another ‘poisoned castle’ incident
life goes on, the battles continue but Lance is sorely missed, and Coran thinks more than once that they could use one of the boy’s jokes to lighten the increasingly strained mood
One evening, Coran gets pinged by the Castle, telling him Pidge hasn’t moved from the common room in a few vargas, so it’s safe to assume she fell asleep.
he was too tired to consider the message itself suspicious
but once he gets to his destination he is very much awake. and too shocked for words
because, yeah, that is Pidge lying right there on the couch, out cold, but what has Coran staring is not the human girl but the AI pretending to card through her hair
because the is Lance sitting next to her – or his AI at least – staring at her fondly before looking up at Coran.
since Coran’s vocal cords refuse to work, Lance begins rambling self-consciously, saying that Pidge overdid it again and that she really needs to sleep more, etc.
but then Coran makes his way over with trembling legs, kneeling in front of Lance so that they are on the same eye level.
Lance immediately shuts up once Coran spills out the words he had wanted to say ever since that day a few months ago
and before they know it, they are both crying (although all of these things like emotions are now very different for Lance but that is something for another conversation)
Lance apologizes as well, for having kept hidden, because he wanted to spare them any more grief
he also reveals to Coran why he decided to contact him now, showing him his glitching hands
he hadn’t known that AIs required constant maintenance and debugging if in uninterrupted use, and so he needs Coran to help fix him if he wants to further assist in this war
of course Coran, even if it pains him to see Lance this way, agrees .but he has failed him once and he will never do it again
that same night (after having put Pidge to bed first at Lance’s insistence), Coran fixes the issues and talks to Lance about his decision to stay hidden
they are not having a full-blown argument, but Coran does not think that hiding like this will do them any good in the long run
what if Coran is out of commission and cannot help? what if Lance’s AI becomes corrupted or distorted beyond his ken? what if he requires assistance from Hunk or Pidge to fix it?
but Lance stands firm on his wish to let the others grieve and get over it. saying he’s sorry that he took that option from Coran, but he did not want to become like Alfor’s AI
and Coran understands, he really does, but he is not sure that it is the right decision
they keep it under wraps, Coran feeling horrible for lying about it to the Paladins – Shiro especially – and doing his best to spend time with Lance’s AI
because the strange thing is that, while working almost alike, Lance’s AI does seem more refined than Alfor’s in how he acts and processes everything around him
Coran wonders why that is. Lance shrugs, saying he has no idea. he just made sure to do the upload on a regular basis – like Pidge had explained to him, which she in turn had learned from Coran
they leave that mystery be for now. also because Coran cannot process that Lance did this all along. like he was preparing for the eventuality. and it hurts that Lance even had to consider it.
and Coran becomes painfully aware just how lonely Lance must have been in his self-imposed exile, listening to Coran as he hangs out with him while cleaning the lower floors and inner systems where the others rarely venture
and Lance slowly lets out how much he wished he hadn’t put them through this, how strange it is to not be human anymore, because being an intangible projection/algorithm is so different from being a flesh and blood human
there are a few close calls, like that one time when all the Paladins were in the midst of battle and the Castle got infiltrated, only for the intruders to be struck down by training bots
Coran tries hard to convince everyone that he activated the bots, but he is so thankful Lance took the initiative, because he isn’t sure he could have managed both providing cover fire for the Paladins AND stop the Galras to reach him on the bridge
another time, Lance goes rogue on the canons when Keith and the Red Lion are downed by an ion canon
the aggressiveness behind those shots is a lot harder to explain away but Lance will do it again in heartbeat if necessary
their whole secrecy flies out of the window though when the Castle itself is hit and seeing where it hit Coran’s first reaction is crying out Lance’s name in utter terror, carrying over the comms
Lance is as fine as he can be in the situation, since he was smart enough to leave a back-up of his data in another part of the systems just in case
the debriefing after the hasty retreat is painful, mentally and emotionally
because, while everyone is just as shocked as Coran was when he found out, they are hurt. both by the fact that Lance decided to shut them out, and because Coran played along for many months
Allura takes Coran’s decision the hardest
Hunk and Pidge feel betrayed that Lance would think they could not handle seeing him again
Keith, seems unable to uncross his arms as he takes the AI in, his face giving nothing away
Shiro looks like he will need at least one night to process it, seeing Lance’s AI which had been with them all along
Lance softens the blow a little by explaining why he had been doing, and to know that despite this being an AI, he kept this kindness and supportiveness they had started appreciating - Lance is still Lance, even if he isn’t entirely
still Lance will have a talk in private, both with Shiro and Allura, telling the former he never blamed him and the latter that he is proud how far she has come with Blue
there are tears. so many tears. and more relief than both leaders can bear at that moment. but it feels like they can finally breathe again
Hunk and Pidge are seeking Lance out a lot, at least, once they’ve both cooled down, asking all sorts of questions and figuring out how to circumvent the issues with Lance’s debugging and making sure that he has external back-up (Blue)
Keith, while first reluctant to interact with Lance, soon has to face him, since Lance intrudes on the training bots (hearing his voice come out of the speakers of the faceless bots is rather disconcerting) but the more time they spend together, the more Keith starts to familiarize with Lance again
still have a long way to go though, because Keith does not want to get his hopes up again. he doesn’t think he can handle another loss, even that of an AI
This is all for now, might add some more later.
