When Stars Align (Shiro x Reader)[Voltron - Legendary Defender]

XVI.

"Lyda." Haggar's voice is grating and too loud, ringing in your head. You squeeze your eyes shut.
"Lyda!" She's under your skin, inside your brain, infecting your blood.
You open your eyes, and your mother is there. She's bleeding and broken and dying and the only person she can't heal is herself.
"Mom," you choke out, and she smiles at you. Her voice is so, so gentle and she whispers your name, your real name, and you start crying.
"I won't do it," you say, "I won't." Haggar smiles, but it's not gentle like your mother. It's all sharp teeth and sharp tongue and sharp voice as she says, "Lyda."

You wake up gasping, face wet with salty tears. When you sit up you're in your bed on the castle-ship that has become your new home, and you're warm and safe and alone. You kick off your blanket and stumble out of bed, grasping onto the nearby dresser for support. Your fingers are shaking.
On top of your dresser, there's a flower that Hunk brought you from the last planet they were sent to for a mission. Its petals are beautiful, almost crystalline, and it smells like sugar. You reach out with trembling hands and pick it up, watch as the petals wither, turning brown and brittle.
You drop the plant and back away, breathing hard. Your heart won't stop racing. It feels like you're stuck in your nightmare as you stagger into the bathroom across the hall and splash water onto your face, gripping the side of the sink for support.
When you finally turn the water off and look up at the mirror, Lyda stares back at you.

***

"We'll be here for about three days," Allura says. Everyone's eating breakfast in the dining hall, except Coran, who's flying the ship down towards a small planet.
"The ship just needs a couple repairs from our last scrape with Zarkon's fighter pilots. This planet is pretty out of the way, so I don't think it's on the Galra's radar right now. Metaphorically. But it's a perfect place to stop; it's very small, but it's commonly used as a place to repair ships and rest. There will probably be other travelers here, so we'll have to be careful. We don't know who's for or against Zarkon," the princess continues her explanation, "The locals, as far as I know, are quietly resistant to Galran rule, although they mostly just try to avoid attracting attention." She pauses for a moment, thinking, and then adds, "You know, you might like it here. If I recall, it's culture is not entirely different from earth's."
"So it's, like, a giant alien truck stop-slash-motel?" Lance asks enthusiastically.
Allura blinks. "Um. Yes?"
"Sweet! Allura, you gotta let us explore this place."
"Well...we'll be landing the ship a mile or so outside of town, but I suppose we will need to go and buy parts...it couldn't hurt if you want to spend some time looking around. You'll have to be very careful, though."
"Yes!" Lance fist pumps, "Alien field trip!" You smile at his enthusiasm, a little excited yourself. It's been ages since you've actually been to a town, however small. You remember going out with friends when you were younger, shopping and finding kitschy cafes and making your parents worry when you got home late...
"I wonder if there'll be any cute alien babes." Lance says, nudging Hunk and wiggling his eyebrows.
"Hunk already has a girlfriend, remember?" Pidge grins, and Hunk groans. "I told you, it's not like that!"
Allura rolls her eyes, and Shiro suppresses a smile. He glances at you from across the table, and you catch his eye, giving him a questioning look.
"It's a long story," He says to you, "I'll tell you about it later."
"Alright," you agree, bemused. Lance and Pidge are saying something about rocks, now, and Hunk keeps protesting, "You guys, stop!" Even Keith is smiling.
You almost forget the nightmare you had just a few hours ago. Almost.

***
"Lyda, look!" Lance says. He's run a little ways ahead of where you're walking with Hunk and Keith. Pidge and Shiro stayed back to help Coran find parts for the ship. Allura decided not to even come into town, saying someone needed to stay back and watch the castle. She told everyone to be back by sunset.
"What is it?" You ask, catching up to where Lance has stopped. He's pointing at a small restaurant with a fluorescent sign written in a language you don't recgonize.
"Fast food." Lance tells you reverently, staring at a picture of a food that you don't recognize.
Keith scoffs. "That could be anything. We're light years away from fast food restaurants."
"Dude, that's a hamburger." Lance insists, pointing at the picture. You don't know what a hamburger is, but it sounds gross.
"They don't have cows here!" Keith says, rolling his eyes.
"It's a hamburger." Hunk agrees. Lance nods decisively. "We're going in!"
Five minutes later, you find yourself in line, staring at a list of pictures with unrecognizable words. Allura gave all of you translators that you can use to talk to people, but unforunately, the little earpieces don't work on text. You have to rely on the pictures to order, and end up selecting a pink, frothy drink and handing over a fistful of the small coins Coran provided you with.
Once your entire group has ordered, the four of you sit down at the counter, since every booth is taken.
"Guess this place is pretty popular," Hunk comments, staring at all the different aliens chattering as they eat their food.
"That's a good thing!" Lance responds, "It means the food is good!"
Keith hunches over on his stool, muttering, "It's too crowded." You smile. It almost feels like you're sixteen again, out with friends.
When your group's order number is called, you start to stand up, but Lance stops you.
"I'll get it," He says, glancing over your shoulder. He rushes over to the order counter without waiting for you to respond.
You spin around on your stool to see why he rushed off, and Hunk and Keith do the same. Once you see who's behind you, it isn't hard to figure out. There are two aliens waiting at the counter for their food who look vaguely human. They have more feline faces, with pointed teeth, and there are long tails protruding from their space suits. Beneath their helmets, you can see that each one has four eyes, glittering and jewel-like, and ears pointed like Allura's. To you, they look feminine, but gender doesn't mean much in outerspace.
Lance wastes no time in striking up a conversation as he collects your food. You watch, amused, as the aliens stare at him.
"Hi, I'm Lance," Hunk says behind you in a husky imitation of the flirtatious voice the blue paladin so often employs, "I'm super-awesome. You've probably heard of me."
You laugh. "You sound just like him!"
The aliens seem to be warming up to Lance's advances, which surprises you. They're smiling and nodding as he speaks, and one seems to be talking to him, too, batting all four sets of eyelashes.
"Great," Keith groans, "He's never bringing back our food."
"Hey, look on the bright side," you smile, "Dinner and a show." Hunk laughs.
"Yeah..." Keith mutters, still watching Lance, "I'd better go drag him back." He hops up and walks over to his fellow paladin quickly.
"Okay..." you murmur. You turn to look at Hunk, but he just shrugs at you as if to say, 'Don't ask me.'
You watch as Keith interrupts the conversation and smile to yourself. You can almost see Lance whining from across the restaurant. Finally, though, the two of them walk back with your food. The aliens wave at Lance, giggling.
"Man, why do you always have to butt in?" Lance complains as he and Keith sit back down. Keith hands you your drink, and you take a hesitant sip. It's sweet, and surprisingly airy.
"I'm hungry." Keith mutters, taking a bite of his food. Lance rolls his eyes and sighs dramatically.
"This almost tastes like coriander." Hunk comments, eating long strips of something fried--at least, it looks like fried food.
"Well, luckily for you, I can be incredibly charming incredibly quickly. Those chicks invited us to a party tonight." Lance says, ignoring Hunk.
"How do you know they were girls?" Keith asks.
"I don't--that's not the point!" Lance grumbles, exasperated, "Did you not hear what I just said? Alien. Party. Tonight."
"That's a stupid idea." Keith says through a bite of his food. Lance throws his hands in the air, disgusted.
"You're impossible!" He turns to you and Hunk.
"Hunk? Lyda? I know you guys aren't as lame as this loser."
Hunk scratches the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know...Allura did want us back for the night. And she told us to be careful, with all the different aliens around..."
"We could sneak out!" Lance whispers conspirationally, "It would be, like, the coolest thing ever!"
"Hunk's right, dipshit," Keith interrupts, "We're supposed to be careful."
"I would be careful!" Lance pouts, turning to you, "Lyda?"
On one hand, you know Keith and Hunk are being more reasonable. Allura does want you back at night, and going to an alien party isn't exactly cautious. Who knows what you'd encounter there? But on the other hand, a party sounds...really fun. And this planet has been safe so far. It couldn't hurt that much, right?
"I guess...I'll go if you go." You say slowly, smiling guiltily. Hunk and Keith groan.
"Yes!" Lance fist pumps enthusiastically, then turns back to you and wiggles his eyebrows, "Sounds like a date."
This time, you groan with Hunk and Keith.