[C][AU][Future AU] Messages

"She's a chef over a paladin. Cheffing is a way of life, Red."

This had completely blown Lucas' mind. Fleck found it hilarious. One little game of Monsters and Manas was making Lucas lose his shit.

"Come back here and cuddle me. Don't get upset because she likes me more than you."

One of Fleck's bulky arms wrapped around Lucas, pulling him back down to lie against him.

He flopped easily back down into his lap, not needing a lot of encouragement.

"I can't believe this. I don't think I know who you are anymore."

He jabbed him in the ribs a couple of times as punishment, taking the risk of being accidentally elbowed.

"I'm starting to think I am a lot lower on the hierarchy of people Giacinto likes than I thought."

Fleck jumped and yelped when he was jabbed in the ribs.

Years of intense work as a soldier in the biggest war in the universe, and the man could still be felled by a tickle attack. Thank fuck Zarkon never found out about that weakness.

"I'm pretty sure her hierarchy is herself, Dick, any baby she sees ever, me, you, everyone else.

He was pretty sure that's how the hierarchy went.

"That's pretty low considering how many babies there are out there in the universe. And Ti and Amr seem to be popping on out every couple of years."

He wondered for a moment how Ti's third pregnancy was going.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

"I think that is our uber."

"You're still above everyone else on the ship, pretty much."

That was a good thing, right?

"You actually got us an uber to the garrison? This is gonna be an interesting ride."

Fleck stood, hoisting Lucas up with him.

He was surprisingly stable as he walked towards the doorway.

"Well, technically it's outskirts in the middle of nowhere. But I am sure taxi services at the same everywhere; they won't question. They have seen some shit."

On their way out picked up the shitty cider since more alcohol seemed like the next best step forward.

With the apartment securely locked, they took the uber to the outskirts of the garrison grounds, close to where the lion's cave was.

He was right about the taxi driver. He didn't ask them any questions about their destination. The only thing he gave them was a funny look before driving off with a grunt.

"This is new," he said, looking at the wired and barbed face.

"Of course it is. We haven't been back here since you were still shitting in nappies."

Even despite his fuzziness, Fleck took a couple steps back, then sprung forwards with momentum, flipping gracefully over the eight foot tall fence and landing easily.

He'd jumped and fought over worse terrain, and done much more strenuous things than jump an eight foot fence.

"You coming?"

Armed with just a four pack and without his bayard, he realised he couldn't just take the straightforward option and hack through it.

"That's bad for your knees, old man. We don't have healing pods anymore."

He took a few steps back and copied Fleck, leaping over the fence. He cursed when he snagged his shirt and stumbled on his landing. Stupid alcohol and stupid tolerance.

He brushed himself off and looked around.

"My knees have dealt with worse. This is nothing on metal burn."

He shot Lucas a rogueish grin over his shoulder as he began towards the cave entrance.

He didn't think he'd ever forget where that cave was. Even after a decade.

Lucas snorted and laughed as he followed Fleck.

"Yeah, we all fucking know. You two had no idea how to keep it in your fucking pants."

He gave it some thought.

"Actually, I don't think anyone on that fucking ship knew. You could have cut a knife through the tension during combat training."

"Like you and Nico were any different!"

Not many people on the ship were very... restrained people.

"Ah, here we are." The cave mouth was just the same as it was originally, though it was at the top of a little hill instead of the bottom now. Then cave in they'd caused awakening Blue had really changed the geography of the place.

Fleck slipped into the cave. A good stretch of it was still stable, and filled with those gorgeous cave markings.

At the mention of Nico's name, he felt a sink of sadness. He had been avoiding him - or any thought of him. He didn't to be Fleck, moping about someone who he may never see again.

He was very much the Dick in this, he supposed. He hadn't even checked to see if any messages came through to him on his communicator.

"I can just feel Amr's annoying energy in here," he said as he walked through, looking up at the cave markings. He was no artist or someone that appreciated the arts, but he had to admit they were impressive.

He put his and on the wall to see if they would light up. They didn't.

"You fly the wrong lion to light up the walls, Red."

Still. He'd love to see the walls light up the way they did that first time. To see how it all began again.

He ran his hand over a depiction of the Blue lion reverently. "I miss feeling the controls in my grip. Feeling them in my head."

"You never know, maybe Blue fancied a change."

Like Fleck, he also ran his fingers over the markings - some which he now recognised as Altean script. Galran too. There were also possibly the languages of the original paladins too.

His fingers lingered over the head of a lion.

"Same, I miss the connection that we had with our lions. Or that feeling that we had when we formed Voltron."

It was surreal to explain to someone that wasn't a paladin.

"Considering Blue is known as the fickle Lion, he's been the least fickle in terms of paladins." Of all the lions, Blue's been the only one that hasn't jumped from one paladin to another.

Fleck tilted his head, listening to Lucas, and nodding in agreement.

"I miss stretching Black's wings. I miss Yellow's claws."

He wanted one of his Lion's back.

He continued to feel the rough stone under his hand and let himself remember. Beyond the nostalgia of the good times that they had or the horrific fights and incidents that have been, and remember what it was like to be a paladin. A member of Voltron, defenders of the universe.

Lucas let his hand drop and sighed.

"You're right," he turned and slumped against the wall, cracking open a can, "being here isn't where we're supposed to be."

"I'm sorry I'm so weak, Lucas."

He spoke without looking away from the carving of Blue he was tracing with his fingertips.

"If I'd told Dick no. If I'd fought him against coming back here, you wouldn't be here, either. We'd both still be in the castle, and..."

He exhaled heavily.

"Dick was just so adamant, and I hated denying him anything, even if..."

He shook his head. "I failed you as a leader. I failed all the paladins. The universe, by letting Voltron be split up."

He took a sip of his drink. He felt sobered.

"You haven't failed us. At the end of the day I wanted to come back to earth to have - I don't know, a break? And to see my sister. It didn't really occur to me that I may be ten years too late. She had moved on with her life. Married. A kid. Once a year they held a memorial for me, but she wasn't going to let it control her life."

He took another, deeper sip, tipping his head back.

"If we can't get Dick to pick us up to take us home, then we'll get someone with more sense too."

Lucas' attempts didn't do much to lift Flecks mood, or his opinion of his failure.

He was sure many people across the universe would think the same as him. He'd failed Voltron by breaking them all apart like this, even if the biggest threat was now gone.

"Or less sense. Wonder if Blue would like to come back and visit the place she sat for ten thousand years."

"Let's try throwing one of us off a cliff and see if our lion will magically wormhole here and save our ass," he joked.

There had been more than one occasion where their lions had saved their asses.

"Go home, you can dropkick Dick for being the one who heavily pushed you to return to earth and I can patch things up with Nico, and we can be one big happy family again."

"I vote we throw you off a cliff. Either we go home, or I dont have to deal with your punk ass any more. Win-win," he teased.

He would have loved that, though.

Black swooping in to save him and bring him home. He was almost desperate to see Black again.

Lucas found himself wanting to believe his whistful dream would come true. Being back in this cave, he craved being with Red and being able to zip through space and the freedom that he had with it.

"Come on, you don't really think that. I'm like your third favourite. Or at the very least fouth. You would miss this punk-ass."

He grinned up Fleck.

Fleck snorted.

"Third or fourth favourite? Who's been telling you that load of shit?" He finally shifted around, leaning his shoulder against the carved wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

"D'you know where there's a cliff nearby? A nice big one."

"We literally live in a mountainous area, Fleck. I am sure it won't be that hard to find."

His face had split into a wide grin, teasing. He passed up a can.

"Just don't actually die. I don't know how I would explain that to Dick." He cleared his throat and turned his tone serious. "Red to castle. Yeah, your boyfriend had resorted to extreme measures to get Black to pick him up and now he resembles a pancake. Sorry 'bout that. Be less of a dumb cunt next time."

"Nah, I told you. I'm throwing you off first."

He cracked open the can and took a swig, wincing at the shitty taste. It certainly wasn't nunvil, or Ti's tea.

"But if you really want to insult him, istaal is the insult to use. Cunt doesn't even touch that on the insult level. It means..." Fleck hummed, eyes turning up as he tried to translate. "Well, it means a lot depending on what situation it's being used in, but the actual translation is deserter. Nasty, nasty phrase to use. You don't use it on people in good company."