IT’S DONE NOW I CAN FOCUS ON FFXIV, SPECIFICALLY ENJOYING SHADOWBRINGERS AND GETTING ACHIYO INTO HEAVENSWARD. Omg Soken is a genius (rockin’ that 10/8 time in the Lakeland area, also can I get a ‘hell yeah’ for the basic fight music (both videos spoiler-free)) and I worship him, also DAMN my children are kick-ass. (Here’s my out-of-game DRK fight song! And I think I’m going to need it because Tam and Vivienne are burning mad. Everyone is, but them especially. WE’RE GOING TO TEAR IT ALL DOWN AND BUILD IT UP AGAIN)
Oh yeah I guess I should also work on travel blogs.
Author’s note: I actually don’t like lasagna. I like pasta, I like cake, pasta-cake does nothing for me. I’m no doubt on Hunk’s “do not trust” list lol. Also Shiro and Matt Holt were always little shits, they just pretend they’re not.
Epilogue: Space Dad, For Real
“Teacher! Teacher! Wait for me!” A desperate wail echoed through the white vaulted halls of New Altea’s Pilot Training Centre as a young Olkari dashed towards the light of the hangar mouth.
“Teacher’s already in the air, so you better hurry up!” an older Altean scolded the youngster.
“Ahhhh! Noooo!” The girl finally reached the crowd of other pilot trainees and squeezed her way to the front – she was short, and if she wasn’t in front, she’d never even catch a glimpse of her beloved teacher!
The fields of New Altea stretched out before her, green and peaceful in the wind, dotted with the pink juniberry flowers that had been resurrected by Colleen Holt. They’d found the planet together five deca-phoebs ago, the Altean remnent and the Olkari refugees, and settled it together, forming two intertwined nations in one city. Perhaps soon they’d have enough people to make two cities! While the Olkari outnumbered the Alteans by magnitudes, there was no denying that the long-lost people pulled their weight. And besides…
The young Olkari snuck a look to her left, since she couldn’t see Teacher yet. There was the new leader of the Olkari, Fellil, and… the beautiful young Altean Queen, Allura, Hero of Voltron. They didn’t always come watch, but today Teacher was flying, and Queen Allura, at least, didn’t miss that if she could. She was wearing pants today, but her hair was down. The young Olkari didn’t understand hair, but Allura’s was really pretty… and she was a hero…
A rumble from the skies drew her attention… There! There was the sleek white fighter-jet, twisting across the teal-blue skies, looping and spinning and pulling stunts she definitely wasn’t capable of just yet. She gasped, as many of the other pilot trainees cheered, and across the PA she heard a long drawn-out “Wahoooooooo!” She giggled. Teacher loved flying. “Okay, pay attention kids, this part’s really tricky!”
The fighter continued its dazzling one-ship-airshow for a while, before coming in for a landing in front of the Queen and the Olkari prime minister. The canopy popped, and the pilot dropped lightly to the ground. Teacher was so skinny, the girl reflected, sneaking a little closer.
“Did ya like it, ‘Llura?” Teacher was asking with a big cocky grin on his face. Altean markings glowed dimly on his face, even though he himself wasn’t Altean. No one could explain how they got there… at least no one who told her.
Allura leaned in to kiss him. “I always like watching you fly, Lance. But you’d better be quick about training your new recruits, Memorial Day is coming quickly.” The most important day of the year, the day they remembered those lost on Old Altea, on Olkari, and also from Daibazal and the war in general, with special notice given to those who died in living memory. They always did an airshow, and Teacher always flew his best that day.
“I know, I know. Hey, Fellil, how’s the fam? Oh hey! Look who it is! Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man, come out of retirement? How’re the yalmor?”
“Not really!” Coran said, heedless of the mice doing a cheerleader routine on his head. “I’m still retired! The yalmor are all doing well, thank you. I came to visit Allura and see how everyone’s getting on.”
Allura wrapped an arm around her husband and dragged him a little closer. “This isn’t the time to catch up now, but I’ve arranged for us to have dinner this evening, if that’s all right?”
Lance kissed her. They were so romantic! “Of course it’s all right. Now… I’ve got a class to teach, so I’ll see you later!”
“Dad, how did Uncle Lance get a cow in space again?” Sylvio asked, mucking out Kaltenecker’s stable.
“Something about a space mall?” Luis answered, really not sure of the answer anymore after all this time.
Kaltenecker chewed thoughtfully.
“That’s weird,” Sylvio said. “I wonder what else you can get at a space mall?”
“Beats me,” Luis said. “I’m sure you’ll find out someday. But we can head to the mall later and see if they have the new Voltron series on crystal matrix array if you and your sister finish all your chores!”
“Whoo!”
Kaltenecker mooed.
“Well, boss, we got ’em right where we want ’em,” Zethrid proclaimed proudly, hands on her hips.
“Without even killing anyone this time!” her wife said cheerfully.
Lotor considered burying his face in his hands and settled for an affronted sigh. “You really shouldn’t have to clarify. It’s disturbing.” Their time as pirates… their time after he betrayed them… had left them with a harder edge even than they’d had when he found them as angry orphans. He spent a lot of energy directing that edge to not cut anything important. Especially as the Prince of the Galra – they’d had enough of emperors, in his opinion – he needed a dearth of diplomatic incidents during his first decade, to make up for the chaos before it.
“Aww, we just wanna tease you,” Ezor said, sticking out her tongue. “You’re the best boss ever!”
Even now, such proclamations left him feeling awkward and guilty. Also, he wasn’t technically their boss, they were freelance mercenaries that he just happened to employ on a permanent basis… “Er…”
“The normal thing to say in such situations is ‘thank you’, whether you mean it or not,” Acxa said, entering without looking up from her datapad. “Although to these two I can understand…”
“Acxa, you’re so mean!” Ezor pouted.
“I do appreciate their sentiments,” Lotor said, sincere at first, and then dry, “although since their only other comparison is Haggar, I’m not sure how much I should read into it…”
Zethrid snorted. “That’s stupid. Anyway, you’ve even changed since then. For the better, mostly.”
“And so have we,” Acxa said, finally lifting her eyes to his, incredible, gorgeous blue eyes that sent shocks running through him whenever he had the courage to meet them. It seemed today was a good day, and he met her gaze and held it, staring at her until an indigo blush dusted her ice blue cheeks. “W-what are you looking at!?”
“I love you,” he blurted out, then stopped, horrified. He hadn’t meant to say it yet. He’d meant to do all the right things first, invite her out to dinner, bring her flowers, go for a long walk on one of Feyiv’s beaches – as if you’d have the guts to do any of that, the little voice in his head told him. But certainly not randomly in the middle of a strategy meeting.
It was Acxa’s turn to stare, while Zethrid laughed uproariously and Ezor squealed giddily. “W-what!?”
It was too late to take it back. What had Doctor Elslince said about him? He liked to gamble? Nothing but to double down, heart pounding. Try a sexy smirk, though he felt it came out twisted and sickly. “You heard me.” By Daibazal, he couldn’t do anything right.
Acxa’s blush spread all over her face. “You- you sappy idiot beanpole-!!” Wait, was she really angry? Had he made a mistake after all?
She stomped towards him and flung herself bodily at him, knocking him and his office chair over backwards, and her lips were on his, and her hands tangled in his long white hair…
“We’ll be back later!” Ezor yelled, and he heard the office door close.
When she let him go, he was gasping for air and staring, his brain refusing to process what was happening. “W-wha… I… Are you-”
“You’re so stupid,” Acxa whispered, holding him like she was afraid she was going to break him.
Maybe she was. She could if she wanted. And yet… he trusted her. “I didn’t think you loved me back. I was afraid-”
“I didn’t. Until you came back from the dead. Idiot.” She glared at him and kissed him again.
Stars, was this what happiness felt like?
“Order up!” Hunk yelled.
“I got it!” Nyma yelled back, nimbly roller-skating around customers clustered at tables outside the Rusty Rainbow, the ship that Hunk designed, built, and co-captained with his partner-in-crime and fellow ex-Paladin. “Got a personal request from a lovely lady who wants to meet the cook!”
“Nope! Too busy.” If it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t coming out of this kitchen.
“She’s really insistent,” Nyma said, leaning through the order window and grinning mischievously. “Says you’ve outdone yourself this time.”
“This time…” Hunk squinted suspiciously at her. “Okay, just a tick, though! And you better keep serving!”
“She’s at table twelve,” Nyma said with a wink, and skated away with the serving of lasagna – one of Hunk’s goals was to bring human foods to the galaxy, although there was blue alien meat in the omnivorous version and purple alien mushrooms in the vegetarian option. But everybody liked lasagna. Except weird people.
Hunk sighed and rolled his eyes – people were always asking to meet him – and stepped out of the kitchen to see… “Shay! Oh my gosh, she could have mentioned your name!”
“It is all right,” Shay said, picking him up in a big hug. “It is good to see you again, Hunk! I am glad to see your restaurant-ship is taking off – so to speak.”
“It really is. We did catering at a really big Bi-Bi social function a couple phoebs ago, so people are getting to know us! Oh, but I can’t stay out here for long. Lots of people to serve! Will you be around after we close?”
“Yes, I will be here,” Shay said cheerfully.
“Great! You can tell me what you’re up to then. Hey, you should go see Pidge in the meantime, I bet she’s not as busy! Gotta run!”
“I wish you success!” Shay called, then headed over to the main hatch, which was guarded by a man with two prosthetic legs – really nice legs, actually, they looked like Paladin Shiro’s – he might have stopped being a Paladin before the war was over, but she always thought of him as Paladin Shiro.
The man stopped her. “Oi, what business do you have in here?”
“Sorry, I am a friend of Hunk,” Shay said, wondering if he were new. “And of Pidge.”
The man narrowed his eyes at her. “Sure, everyone says that.”
“Rolo!” came an exasperated sigh, and Nyma skated up to them. “Sorry, Shay! He was getting fitted with his new legs last time you were here. Rolo, she’s a friend, really. Let her visit Pidge!”
“Okay, okay,” Rolo said with a shrug and a ‘no skin off my back’ smile. “If you can get the pipsqueak to notice you…”
“I will be fine, thank you,” Shay said, confused. She stepped into the ship, which was a little small and compact for her, though not uncomfortably so, and headed forward for Pidge’s lab. “Hello? Pidge?”
Pidge jumped, turned off her soldering iron, and turned, pushing her goggles up her forehead. She was kind of adorable with them holding her hair back, even though she’d matured into an adult young human woman. “Hey! Shay! How are you?” The robot next to her beeped happily.
“I am very well,” Shay said. “And you?”
“Oh, I’m great. Wasn’t expecting to see you around here, what are you up to?”
“I have been exploring the universe,” Shay said. “I was a little sad when you left Earth a year ago, though my Balmera came to live near your planet. But my brother told me that I did not have to stay if I wanted to go, and he was right, so I went out to be like you – an adventurer!”
“Aww, that’s so awesome!” Pidge said, giving her a hug. Shay hugged her more gently than she’d hugged Hunk. “Did you eat yet?”
“I have already tried Hunk’s food, and it was delicious,” Shay said. “It is even better than when you left. I think now that he has had more time to focus on it, he is even more masterful than before.”
“You’re probably right,” Pidge said reflectively. “I’m used to it, sadly, haha.” And the empty crisp bags scattered around the floor suggested that she sustained herself on other foods as well. Though that was not necessarily an indication of poor taste.
“And what are you working on?” Shay asked, looking at all the circuit boards scattered around.
“A robot,” Pidge said nonchalantly. “Beezer’s great, but he’s not designed for the sort of work I do, right? You remember what I do, right? I write programs for space explorers. Or just whatever the hell I want, because this is a cutting-edge lab, I do what I want.” Shay giggled. “Also Beezer technically belongs to Rolo and Nyma, and they’re hired crew, so if we ever split up, I wouldn’t be able to hang out with him anymore.” The robot beside her made a sad noise and its ears drooped. “So I’m making a little flying office assistant. I’m going to name him Sparky!” The robot beside her perked up and made a triumphant noise. “I think Beezer likes the idea of having a new friend, too.”
“That is wonderful,” Shay said. “You are so clever, Pidge.”
Pidge turned to her with that excited light in her eyes. “Why don’t you come with us? You want to see the universe, right?”
Shay considered that carefully, turning the idea over from all angles. She always took her time, but apparently she took a long time by Pidge’s standards, because well before she was done, the happy look on Pidge’s face faltered. “Shay?”
“Shh,” Shay said. “I am thinking. It may be some time.”
“Okay,” Pidge said. “I’ll be here when you’re done!” And she flipped down her goggles and got back to work.
It was several minutes later that Shay cleared her throat. “I have decided.”
Pidge raised her eyebrows at her over her goggles. “And?”
“I will come with you! But sometimes I will want to go home, so I will not always be with you. But as long as you are willing to have me, I would like to come!”
“That’s great!” Pidge said, gesticulating, then suddenly realizing that was probably a bad idea with a powered soldering iron. “I mean, I’m happy. And Hunk will be really happy. Let’s surprise him when he comes in after the restaurant closes!”
“Yes!”
Krolia opened the door to the office of the Commander of the Blade of Marmora, which was a much longer sentence than she had patience to say normally. “Keith.”
“Yes, mom.”
“Did you drill the new recruits?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Did you remind them that Cosmo can teleport?”
“No, I didn’t think it needed to be said.”
“They saw you and Cosmo teleport after the morning meal. Now they are saying that you can teleport. They are afraid you spy on them at all hours of the day… or that you might if you wished.” She paused, but Keith just stared at her. “How do you wish to deal with it? It could be a distraction.”
Keith blinked for a minute, then grinned. “Let them think that. Can’t hurt. And if they find out it’s Cosmo… well, I never told them it wasn’t.”
Krolia smiled. She’d been a little worried, deep down, when her son succeeded Kolivan as the leader of the Blades. Only a little; he’d more than proven himself as a Blade and as the Black Paladin. But every mother worries a little, deep down, always. Kolivan had gone to Feyiv to advise Prince Lotor, and with the rest of the Blades as junior and disorganized as they were, Keith had been the obvious choice. He hadn’t give either her or Kolivan a moment to regret it, and she knew he never would. “Then I will say nothing, and let them whisper.”
“Is that all you got, Griffin?” Shiro taunted the radio, weaving in and out of asteroids in an MFE.
“You wish, sir!” came the retort, and Shiro grinned as Griffin’s fighter juiced the thrusters, blasting past him. “Bet you wish you’d stayed home, old man!”
“Just because my hair is white, doesn’t mean I’m old,” Shiro said patiently, biding his time. “It just means I’m exotic.”
“That what your wife tells you?”
“That is exactly what she tells me.” There! He slammed the throttle forwards, accelerating just as Griffin was putting on the brake to arc around a particularly large asteroid – but Shiro shot beneath it, taking a space that looked too small for an MFE to fit through. And there was the hangar of the Atlas, just beyond.
Griffin made the trip around the asteroid and tucked in behind his tail, growling. “Grah! You win again! I think you cheated.”
“I’m just that good, Griffin. Good flight, though.”
“Good flight, sir.”
They landed, climbed out, and jogged to meet with Sam Holt. “How is it?” the engineer asked anxiously.
“Flies great,” Shiro said, running a hand through his slightly damp hair. “Nice and smooth on the controls, responsive with the throttle.” He didn’t have to help out with test-flying new fighters… but sometimes it was nice to actually get out there for a change and fly. Since being on a spaceship, being captain of said spaceship, made it nigh-impossible to sneak off with flight-bikes after-hours, and the simulators just weren’t the same.
“A noticeable upgrade over the last-generation MFEs,” Griffin said. “You’re making more, right?”
“Good, good! Yes, of course I am. But I-”
“Daddy!” came a cry. “Daddy Daddy Daddy!”
Shiro turned to scoop up his daughter and spin her around in the air. “Hey, sweetheart! Did you see Daddy fly?”
“Yeah! Daddy flew fast! I wanna fly! On the real spaceship!”
“You will, someday,” Shiro said. Hana was obsessed with the fighters, although she was only allowed in the hangar under strict supervision, and she pestered all the pilots in their off-duty time. She was much too small to reach the controls in the sims, but he let her ride on his lap sometimes.
Griffin grimaced. “I still don’t think a warship is a good place to raise children… sir.”
Shiro shrugged and settled his daughter on his hip. “We’re not technically a warship anymore, if you recall…” Griffin shrugged, unperturbed by the distinction. While the cannons and armour remained, the hangars filled with new MFEs and their wisecracking pilots, much of the ship’s interior had been converted to filling a ‘first-responder’ role. Their shuttle complement rivaled their fighter complement, and Sam had been developing all kinds of shiny new toys to react to any kind of situation: natural disasters, pirates, unexplained cosmic phenomena. Of course, he wasn’t alone – Slav was still on the ship, complaining constantly, happy as a clam, and they were joined by several other engineers. “Well, if you don’t need me anymore, I’ll be off. Let’s go to the bridge, Hana.”
“Go, Daddy, go!”
His daughter was the most precious person in his life, rivaled only by his son. They both had incredible blue eyes and jet black hair, and their skin colour was pink-brown, not green. They looked completely human… unless you were watching their hair in a still room. He could tell they were both going to be heartbreakers when they grew up, but for now they were just precious beans.
He entered the bridge and nodded to the crew, Curtis, Veronica, Iverson still in their old roles, awaiting orders. Hana waved cheerfully to them.
“How was the MFE test, sir?” Iverson asked.
“It was great,” Shiro said, unable to hide a grin, not that he tried very hard, and stepped up to the captain’s console. “Romelle, set course for the Hallas Nebula.”
Romelle, the new helmswoman now that Coran had retired, stared wide-eyed at him in concern. “But that’s dangerous territory, Captain. It’s never been properly charted, and it’s highly likely to be inhabited by pirates.”
“All the more reason to go there,” Shiro said. “It’s awfully close to Ussaron, and those people don’t need any more trouble after the tsunamis. And if we’re afraid to go in the Atlas, who else is going to go? We’ll just check it out, eliminate any hostiles, identify any potential scientific issues, and report back to them.” Easier said than done, but he hadn’t signed up for this to be easy.
“Yes, sir. Laying in course now.”
When he was off-shift, he headed down to the Medbay, which was a regular traveling space hospital at this point, and renowned for the gardens that Elslince, Colleen, two other Telerans and a Balmeran tended there. Elslince’s office alone was half-jungle by this point. He had to admit it smelled great, and it was very soothing, even if he was slightly concerned about dirt getting where it really wasn’t supposed to be. The trauma centres were certainly plant-free; Elslince was as strict on that as any other doctor on board. But so far, the gardeners had been reasonably careful, and her favourite pink flowers – the ones he’d given her years ago – now spilled sweetly from the pot on the shelf closest to her.
He sat with her on her consulting couch, and told her about their next destination as the children played with blocks on the floor. “It’s so upsetting that people still turn to piracy even now,” Elslince said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“There are always cruel and selfish people in the universe,” he said, putting his arm around his beautiful, vibrant, green wife and letting her snuggle closer. He loved feeling her body against him, her curves, the texture of her skin, the sinuous coils of her hair. “We got rid of a huge amount of conflict in ending Zarkon and those who followed him most closely, but new people get bad ideas every day.” Their work was never done, and it never would be, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he hoped. He had a couple new scars to attest to that. It was the worst part of his job, as it always had been – to see those starry eyes filled with worry and fear as he bled all over her emergency room. But he didn’t mind how she fluttered over him while he recovered, how she tenderly traced his scars old and new, how she would lean her forehead against his. And he had the luxury to actually heal properly between missions… usually.
“At least with pirates, we have a better chance of solving things without loss of life…” Elslince turned those starry eyes on him, the light in them indicating she was changing the subject. “Neh, neh, Takashi, when are we going back to Earth?” It had been three years, the same age as Telscar, their younger child, and she had a point. They’d visited Teler the year before, and though her great-grandfather had passed away since their wedding, the planet was reviving swiftly from their 50-year oppression and resistance. She’d been stunned by the changes, and he’d almost left her and the kids there to live quietly – more quietly than on a spaceship, at least – but she’d followed him still, and he was grateful.
“Uh… soon, I guess, if I can find a responsible reason to? Why?”
“Your mother has been asking after the kids, and we need to unload a bunch of cuttings that would be invasive species on any other planet.”
“And you miss it too,” he teased her. “Don’t deny it!”
“Don’t you?” she retorted.
“I wanna see Earf,” Telscar said around his thumb, looking up at them.
“Me too, Daddy!” Hana said. “Mommy, I wanna go to Earth!”
He smiled. “But I have all of you. I’m all set.” Elslince swatted at him for being cheesy, yellow rising to her cheeks. “Look, El, kids, we’ll do it right after we’re done the next mission, okay?”
“Yay!” came the delighted chorus from the floor.
“Maybe we’ll see Matt,” he mused. “Haven’t seen him since he got married couple years ago.” Matt Holt had married his space-girlfriend and gone off with her to live an incredibly busy life similar to Pidge, as a traveling mercenary scientist. Shiro didn’t understand it, but Matt knew there was always a place on the Atlas if he got tired of it.
“That would be nice,” Elslince said peacefully.
He watched the children play for a while. Hana was the noisier of the two verbally, narrating her tower construction to herself, but Telscar liked to knock over towers of blocks and make crashing noises.
“Credit for your thoughts?” Elslince asked.
“My thoughts are all sappy,” Shiro said. “I have the perfect life, you know?”
“Shut up, I have the perfect life.”
“No, I have the perfect life.”
“No, I have- mmph.”
Shiro had kissed her. “I win.”
“Cheater!” But she was smiling, and kissed him again.