Crash Landing: A Voltron Story

Chapter 6 (Am I A Disney Princess?)

The world around Lance smelled like salt. 

Why would it smell like salt, when he such a sweet person? He unconsciously grinned at the thought as he seemed to float over nothing.

Lance twitched in discomfort. Had his legs been pressed together while he slept? They felt stiff, and his arms felt as if someone had sprinkled itch powder over them.

He blearily opened his eyes, first wondering why he was underwater.

Wait....

What?!

Lance bolted into the best 'upright' position he could, succeeding in an underwater somersault instead.

When he finally stopped spinning, the memories came back to him. The energy field, the separation of Voltron, and blacking out. 

Though that didn't explain why he was underwater, and not drowning.

A school of brightly colored fish passed by him, unfazed by the boy beside them. Lance looked down towards his legs, or not-legs. They had formed into one giant blue tail, with patches of silver scales. Similar scales traveled up his arms, revealing to him the matching blue fins on his elbows and a large fin traveling down his spine. He felt his head, noticing two more fins behind his ears. They all seemed to extend on will, or as the situations allowed.

Lance screamed.

"Oh my quiznack!" He kicked out his tail and rammed his back into a bright pink coral. The fish around him turned fin and ran from the crazy creature.

The blue paladin's normally carefree smile, was replaced by a look of sheer terror. He had no clue where he was, where Blue was, or where the other paladins were, and to top it all off, he had a merman tail. He wasn't even human.

Lance grabbed onto the remains of the coral and pulled himself against the rocky outcrop. He just needed one minute to feel grounded, and not like the current was moving him around, but even that didn't last as the lower half of him floated upwards.

What was he going to do? He couldn't exactly go out in search of the other paladins, unless they were also confined to the water. Maybe he should start by searching for Blue, but he couldn't pilot her anyway. Not while he was a merman.

He looked around to where he was. Underwater of course, but he floated above a rocky outcrop jutting out the side of a tall rock wall. The wall itself had a small cave, large enough for him to curl into. Above, the wall seemed to slope and hold more sand. A beach?

Below him was a sandy seabed, but the water seemed to turn slightly murky beneath the outcrop, as if there were dangers trying to hide themselves from his gaze.

A flash of emerald appeared below him, but before he could grab onto any other sight, it vanished into the darkness.

It was then that Lance heard a high pitched whine coming from above the water. It seemed sad, as if it was longing for something. Deciding that the surface was a better alternative to the murky deep, Lance swam easily towards the surface.

The whine became louder as his head breached the the water, popping out into the refreshing crisp morning air.

What he spotted was indeed a beach, and to its left, a large rocky cove with perfect perching stones jutting out of the water. What he didn't expect, was to see a large blue colored lioness sitting on the beach staring at him. The whining had stopped, leaving only a tense silence.

Until a sing-song voice interrupted his thoughts. Paladin. You are looking much healthier. I trust you are feeling well? The lion pawed at the edge of the water, looking desperately like she wanted to enter, but couldn't.

Lance cocked his eyebrow. "Wait. Was that you talking?" He swam a little closer to the shore, but not so close as to put himself in danger of being beached.

It is Blue, my dear paladin. Lion of Voltron. Did you think I would abandon you? Her face turned soft as she gazed towards Lance.

Lance's eyes widened. "Blue?" He whispered as a hand lifted to his mouth. He swam into the cove, the blue lion running to meet him there.

The water was deep enough to be comfortable for Lance to lounge in, but not to swim easily. Though the rocky cove provided the perfect spot for those on land to interact with Lance more closely.

Blue came to the edge of the water, nuzzling Lance's head with affection. Oh how I missed you sweet one.

Lance wrapped his arms around Blue's neck, taking in the silkiness of her fur. His wet arms dripped water over her fur, darkening the shade of blue. "I missed you too Blue." His eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he buried his face into her fur. "What happened? To you, to me....the others! Are they ok?"

Blue nuzzled the paladin clutched onto her, and laid down to make him more comfortable. It is unclear to me where the other paladins are currently. I can't sense their presence. As to what happened, I believe the quintessence field affected us and changed us. I came to myself beside you on the beach. You were drying out, so I had to push you into the water. I didn't mean for you to float so far away.

"It's alright girl." Lance murmured into her fur. "What's important is that we're together now. That we're not alone."

Blue hummed in response.

They held onto each other for what felt like minutes, but ultimately was hours. They only broke away when Lance needed to re-wet the top half of himself. He dipped into the water, coming right back out to Blue's loving gaze. 

They looked towards the horizon, where two suns began to lower over the ocean. "It's just like Earth." Lance rested his head against Blue's warm paw. "Except, y'know, with an extra sun."

Blue hummed her satisfaction. Sleep, sweet one. I will protect you.

Lance gave out a huge yawn. "Y'know, that sounds wonderful." Leaning into her soft fur, Lance closed his eyes and drifted off into a silent slumber.