#temporal shift

[discordiansamba]

scale of AU Keiths from tallest to shortest, for my own amusement

who you are in the dark > temporal shift + galra prince keith au >>>> area 51 au + assassin au + the stars shine a different shine > abyss of memory > all other AUs >> pidge keith ageswap au

[mwana-wevhu]

“Africa, Give a Name I, 2010-2012″ - Toma Muteba Luntumbue

[tcrmommabear]

Temporal Shift (TCR B-Day Bash)

Hey demons, it’s me, ya girl, coming back from the depths of depression and anxiety to throw this at you for TCR Week. In all seriousness, I’m finally in a really good place. It’s not all sunshine and roses, but for once in my life, I can actually think. I can actually love and enjoy things again.

But with that sappiness over with, I’m back, and better than ever, with some angst that’ll really kill ya ;)

For those familiar with Wolf 359, yes, I am giving you the AU you never knew you wanted, let alone was possible. To those not familiar with W359, it’s a space audio-log style podcast that @catsafarithewriter and I have been in love with lately. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s exciting, it’s brilliant. If you don’t mind the spoilers, take a read down below! If you’re interested in it now, maybe skip this prompt until you get up to episode 47, past Special Episode “Change of Mind”.

For those who don’t care, enjoy down below :)

(Bonus: Here’s the song that Persephone listens to)

The station port creaked open, swinging in to reveal the deep expanse laid out before them. She stepped forward, trusting the heavy boots to hold her steady. There was no hesitation, the feeling of weight settled at her feet, the smell of stale, cycled air familiar.

Comforting.

She glanced back at her companion, watching as they took fearful steps forward, hesitating to lift and step. She laughed, stepping back to offer a hand. The other accepted, grip tight even between the stiff rubber gloves of their suits.

“So-o-o-o-o,” she began, breathless, never letting go of her hand, “how often do you do this?”

She shrugged, glancing back and meeting sapphire eyes. She flushed, nervous laughter tumbling out. “Oh, three or four times a week. Mostly when everyone is asleep.”

“I see,” the other hummed, grip tightening on her hand as they stopped walking.

“Louise,” she watched her jump, a smirk spreading, “is this your first space walk?”

She didn’t need much beyond the immediate silence, the way the taller tried to duck her head and hide.

“You were supposed to do ten hours our first week here!”

“I know, I know-!”

“Shock, scandal, utter betrayal!”

“Please don’t tell-!”

She waved a hand, cutting off Louise’s plea, “Your secret’s safe with me. So, let’s go.”

Louise paused, cocking her head. “Go where? What?”

She grinned, raising her hand to point at the stars. “Let’s go free float for a bit, c’mon.”

She smiled sheepishly, taking a step away from her. “You go ahead, Persephone. I’ll get there just… Not tonight.”

They shared a smile, though looked away when they felt each had stared a moment too long.

“Suit yourself,” she said, deactivating her boots. The sensation took her slowly, creeping upwards. She felt a tug, and realized her and Louise had never let go of each other. She twisted to face her, floating just barely above her. Louise reach her other hand out, which she easily took, their helmets gently knocking against each other.

Even as she was floating in space, she could have never felt so light, so free. She gave a giddy giggle, memorizing the pattern of her freckles, the way one eye looked greener than the other.

“Go on,” Louise breathed, “float with the rest of the stars.”

She could only nod, letting go, turning to face the vast expanse. Wolf 359 glowing, bright, shimmering. There was a crackle of music, her cassette playing through the comms. The only song that felt like home.

“So-o-o… What did we learn, Persephone?” he purred, creeping into the corner of her vision. She stood on her ship, never breaking eyes with the twirling ball of fire.

“You just… Had to ruin the moment, didn’t you, Duke?”

His suit was too finely pressed, the whites sharp enough to kill. He was difficult to look at, his voice really the only clue to who he was. He hummed, “Sorry. Just the way it goes, sometimes.”

She nodded, fists clenching. Let her chest expand, meeting eyes with her star. Fiery, bright, blinding.

“You know you can’t stay here…”

“I know,” she answered, firmly, “I just… Needed to remind myself of something. To see… To see her again.”

“But, humor me here, why this moment? Why here?”

“Maybe because… She was the real star. Because I knew, for sure, here. How much I would do for her.”

He was silent this time, watching as her star, out of focus and blurred, suddenly came into focus, stark and clear. Warping into a deep blue.

“It’s almost time,” he sing-songed, voice grating, tearing her further away from her moment, her precious memory.

“Was any of this real,” she suddenly asked, “Was this… Really mine? Or was this the story I was told so I’d think I-?”

“A question with an answer only you can determine for yourself, Persephone. Ready?”

She sighed, glaring, blurred as her world melted.

“I’m going to mess you-!”

“Clear!” giggled out.

Electricity surged through her, igniting her senses. The entirety of her body washed over her with the shock, washing away as quickly as it came. Another bolt, twice as strong, froze her in a snapshot, memories siphoning into her brain.

Moments of the life she lived.

Young, lips tight, fire in her eyes.

Nose bleeding, fist cocked, army written all over her.

Heart broken, family, friends, all lost, station echoing behind her.

Grim determination, false confidence, curling fear overtaken with frost from cryo.

Ice bathed in flames.

Electricity surged, surged, surged, overloaded her until she was hacking half her lungs out. Her world came to her in puzzle pieces and tsunami waves, understanding far from her mind. Voices called, pressure on her skull that she didn’t know how to process.

“I’d say we’re about… Half way there. After that kids? Training wheels come off.”

***

He locked Machida and Muta separately, hands still shaking as he entered the locking code. He took the long way through the station, working through the damaged and hollow halls until he came back to the medbay.

Persephone slept on the bed, chest rising and falling like it had never stopped. Like a bullet didn’t paint the back wall of the comms room with her grey matter. The shaking returned with fervor, but he sucked in an unsteady breath, digging his nails into the flesh of his palm. Let his chest expand.

No time for fear. No time for fear, for revulsion, for outright grief. He packed the feelings away, stored them in a little box out of sight, and set about to look for Haru. He scoured what remained of the ship, bunks, bathrooms, the mess, only to find her in the first place he thought she’d be, and the last place he wanted to find her.

Even with one less full body bag on the floor, the feeling of death weighed the room down heavy, obscuring the beauty of the stars with the cruelty on man. She didn’t look at him, staring out the observation deck window to the blue star haunting their station. He took a seat beside her, studying her face, following the tear tracks, examining the flecks of blood Persephone coughed onto her.

“Haru…” he began, but what do you say? What do you tell someone, when they’ve witnessed the craziest, most miraculous, most insane thing possible and called it their friend? Nothing. You say their name and sit like a fool with nothing to say. God, they needed to send out a better manual.

She turned to look at him, took in his own mess of an appearance, of a life, and turned away. Tried, measured, and found wanting.

“You can say it, you know…” she mumbled, never breaking eyes with the star.

“Say what?”

She laughed, rubbing her eyes as more tears began to build. “That… That all of this is my fault.”

He froze, heart cracking between his ribs. She watched as she started to cry anew, her hands pressing against her face. He packed everything away, his own sadness, his own guilt, his fiery rage at the world that’d make her feel like that. She was the only one that mattered.

“Haru, none of this is your fault!”

“I was the one who found the signal! The one who didn’t want to kill Toto, the one who got stranded and needed a dumb rescue, bringing the others here! It’s my fault she got shot!”

She wouldn’t- couldn’t- stop shaking, warmth and hope draining out her eyes and down to the floor.

“Stop that, stop that right now,” Yuki commanded, her sweet voice furious, echoing in the makeshift morgue. Haru jumped, looking around for the camera Yuki used to see.

“Yuki?” she called out.

“I won’t have my best friend thinking she’s the sole cause of this hell. It was all of us. It was none of us. It was a chain reaction of horrible decisions and the cruelty of monsters disguised as people. None of us could have prevented, or even predicted this. Not even me. It’s wasn’t you, Haru.”

“She’s right,” he jumped in, taking her hands between his, pulling her attention, “None of this is your fault. Persephone… Persephone made her choice. Machida, Muta, Hiromi… Toto… They all made their choices. You are not responsible for the actions of monsters.”

Haru hiccuped, gasping for breath to find an argument between their truths, but he wouldn’t have it.

“Haru, you are the bravest, the smartest, the kindest person I had the joy to meet. A regular, golden-orange sun will shine on us, one day.”

She nodded, and kept nodding, until he pulled her tight against his chest. He reached a hand, pressed it against the wall, hoping to do something to include Yuki in their human matters.

“I’ll get us all home safe,” he promised, “I’ll make Goddard pay for everything.”

She shook her head, pulling away. He saw the fury burning beneath her skin, jaw set in determination, “No, not before I burn them all to the ground.”

He nodded, rubbing his other hand down her back. She leaned back against him, warm and hurt and vulnerable.

“I’ll take care of you, Haru. And you, Yuki,” he said, confused when Haru pulled away again. Her hands found his cheeks, holding him in place, forcing him to look at her.

“Commander Baron, you can’t carry all of this yourself,” Yuki said, worry laced in her words. He sputtered, tried to reel back, prove he was fine, assure them that he could, but Haru stopped him.

“Baron,” she pleaded, soft, gentle, “let yourself grieve. Let it all process- Besides, I know about you and Toto.”

He jerked, glaring at Yuki’s camera accusingly. Her voice came out nervous, but not regretful.

“My duty is to protect my crew. And, according to my code that I had to bend for a loophole, that means spilling secrets to my best friend to keep her heart from breaking.”

“I pressed her for it, Baron,” she told him, tilting her head with a rueful smile. He didn’t like that look, that train of thought that’d keep him from… A wonderful chance, one day.

“Once, in the beginning, Haru. There was something, a wonderful and… Strange something. But that ended a long time ago. Died, when he hurt you and Yuki.”

She gave a shuddering sigh, shoulders sagging. She pulled him down, arms tight around her neck, his face buried in the crook of her neck.

“It’s okay, Baron,” she soothed, nervous laughter freezing in his throat. His breath hitched, lost in brown hair, the smell of metal and… That damn seaweed shampoo Toto made. The tears fell, Haru whispering kindly in his ear.

“Just let go.”

[discordiansamba]

still on temporal shift, but on the deeply humorous note that when Keith starts suspecting he might be half-Galra, he actually turns to someone to talk about it.

Unfortunately, that person is Kiev.

Kiev was not ready for this. What the hell. Why is his past self consulting him about this. Shouldn't he be talking to Shiro, if anyone? He sure didn't consult with anyone when he was angsting over his heritage. He just did that all in secret and put all of his walls back up again. He's pretty sure that's what happened. So why is this past version of himself talking to him of all people about it?

...also why is he giving him that look. He knows that look. It's the same look they both give- gave- Shiro. Wait. No, no, no. This can't be happening. Don't you dare start thinking of me as a mentor. Stop that. I can't be your mentor. I'm you.

...wait, fuck. That's why his past self trusts him. He always had a keen sense for this sort of thing, so of course he senses a literal future version of himself to be a person he can trust. This was NOT a complication he saw coming.

(Keith, meanwhile, just thinks he had a very productive talk with the Blade. He does not know.)

[discordiansamba]

spitballing some facts about temporal shift today!!!!

future!Keith came up with his alias on the spot, because he very abruptly realized he couldn't use his own name for. obvious reasons.

he would rather avoid anyone making a connection between him and his past self, especially before it's widely know that his past self is half Galra. After all, with his mask up, he looks indistinguishable from any other Galra, and with his mask down... well, he'd have to explain the yellow sclera. and the fangs. and the claws. and how he's like. seven feet tall now and has Galra proportions.

(the other reason is so that his past self doesn't have to deal with the early realization that he's going to outlive all of the other paladins)

Kiev shows up at the Galaxy Garrison like, a day after the blue lion launches. The best chance Earth has at repelling Sendak is for them to learn about the threat of the Galra Empire even earlier. Turns out that having an extra few hundred years on him does not make dealing with the Garrison high command any less of a headache though, but at least he gets the message through that they HAVE to start preparing.

He knows the best way to ensure Earth isn't destroyed is to kill Sendak, but his only chance to do that would be during the Castle invasion... and if he doesn't let that happen, then the Balmera will be destroyed. There's no way he can let that happen either.

(He wants to gain the trust of Allura and the paladins, so killing Sendak while he's in cryosleep isn't an option either.)

Kiev looking at Krolia like. fuck. I'm older than my mom now. That is so weird.

Before he departed, future!Kolivan gave Kiev a recording that he was meant to pass along to Kolivan's past self. He knows that he will need the aid of the Blade of Marmora, but he also knows that he would not trust Kiev at his word- so he opts to take countermeasures to ensure his past self does not make that mistake.

Sometimes Kiev unintentionally babies all of the paladins. They're just so young to him now- especially Lance, who he never actually got to know as an adult in his reality because he died young. Understandably, this can be very frustrating for the paladins who do not know what Kiev's whole deal is.

[discordiansamba]

thinking about temporal shift, and about how the black lion of the past acknowledges future!Keith, but it's been so long since he's been the red lion's paladin that it doesn't acknowledge him. It doesn't help that in his future, the red lion was destroyed relatively early on, so its simply been non-existent for hundreds of years.

seeing the red lion again stirs something in Keith, though. So is seeing Black, whole and intact, and not just the wrecked remains of it that they managed to salvage and eventually repurposed into the ship he used to slip through time. He didn't think he'd still have a link to this time's black lion, especially since his past self hasn't connected with it yet.

He mostly keeps his head down. Tries not to call attention to it. The paladins of the past probably wouldn't react well if they learned their mysterious time traveler had a connection to the black lion, especially not with Shiro still fighting with Zarkon for full control over it. Besides, Shiro needs to bond with black on his own. He can't help with that.

(Which is... weird to think about. The Shiro in his memory is always older than him, but now he's the older one and Shiro just seems so young.)

But when the time comes, and Voltron has their climatic showdown with Zarkon, just once does Keith intervene. As Zarkon drags Shiro into the astral plane to finish him once and for all, his killing blow is stopped by a third party. The Galran Emperor is forced from the astral plane, though he escapes with his life.

But more importantly, so does Shiro.

[discordiansamba]

future!Keith rolls up the Altean colony early even though he knows he really shouldn't, but he's still not early enough to save Bandor. at least Romelle agrees to help him in his efforts to establish contact with the Castle of Lions, something that would be a bit... difficult considering he really grew into being Galra in his later years, and it's not like he can just remove his mask to show them his otherwise generally pretty human face since. you know.

there's another person on that ship who also has that same face.

also oh god he was so young.

oh god. SHIRO was so young.

OH GOD HE'S OLD.

[discordiansamba]

10 and all of the paladins about a decade post-canon, all grown up and adult war veterans who can just. regularly go to space? canon- or your really old keith time travel-compliant ?

10. Physical appearance headcanon

I mean, I think we do sort of know what (most) of the paladins look like ten years on down the road bc we see that in the epilogue. I will say that I don't think Allura changes much even in an AU where she survives, other than the slight change in appearance that comes with leaving the 'technically an adult but also still a teen' phase and entering the 'definitely an adult' phase.

As for Kiev, I've mentioned bits of his appearance in passing, but with his Marmora armor and mask on, it's easy to mistake him for being a full-blooded Galra in terms of his height and proportions. He's probably just a little under Kolivan's size, and has those same longer arm proportions that a lot of Galra have. It makes passing himself off as a full human impossible, even without the other ways he's sort of aged into being more visibly Galra.

His hair is two-toned now, with the hair that frames his face being his usual black, but the rest being a dark purple that he keeps in a braid. His eyes are thin and cat-like with yellow sclera, much like the brief flash we see in canon. He has fangs and claws now, but his skin is still pale. And of course, he has the burn scar from the Kuron fight, less raw with age but still very much there.

He overall looks like he's in his late thirties, though the bags under his eyes hint that he's much older than that.