Chapter Text
When Lance figured out he’d seen the future, he wanted to tell everyone immediately. It was too much to handle by himself, there were- alien cat monsters who wanted to destroy everyone and everything and there were space lions but those weren't evil they were ok and totally awesome…and then it dawned on him how crazy he was gonna look. And he’d just gotten into the garrison (as a cargo pilot yes but still!) He was gonna make like, no friends if they sent him to a psych ward. And if he got sent to the ward he’d never find the blue lion and they'd all be screwed.
What happened was that last night, he watched a movie-or maybe a show, From his point of view of his life from now until his 30s. It was strange. He was watching everything happen from his body but he couldn't control his body at all, he could only feel things as long as they didn't hurt him. He could feel a cup in the kitchen, but not the pain of being slammed against a wall by a Galran soldier. He saw them fight a war, he saw Allura die, he saw himself fly. He saw Keith with a ponytail. That was irrelevant. It was a happy ending, sort of. He was stuck on a farm and traumatized. He could understand why his future self was so traumatized, he saw what he went through. However, this Lance didn’t feel it, he only saw it. So he was gonna do his best to avoid it. Normally, being told you were going to have to fight in a war for ten years would scare him, and it still did. But this time he was handed an instruction manual. An advantage. And he wasn't going to take it for granted.
Lance got out a notebook he hadn’t used yet and began writing down the major plot points of the years to come. The first thing he wanted to do was become friends with everyone. He had just watched their lives play out and watched them all stick together through thick and thin, Lance had always craved friends like that. And after seeing all of that, how could he not want to get the gang together as soon as possible? Plus that would make paladin bonding much easier moving forward, and maybe Keith would have people to rely on for later when Shiro goes… missing. Right, that was gonna suck. But there was no way a 14 year old like him could stop the kerberos mission. Maybe he could become friends with Shiro too so he could talk him out of it?
Lance sighed. Well, he had to at least try.
First order of business, he just saw himself become an ace pilot over the span of like ten years, and he felt the controls in his hands. Maybe he could apply that to real life. Maybe he could get outta the cargo pilot class and move up to fighter. That’d be cool.
Lance felt weary, he’d just unpacked and moved into his dorm with a random kid. He wasn’t in Lance's dream so Lance supposed he wasn’t too important and that he could move to the fighter class and change dorms over there without anything significantly changing in the future. That was also a danger, that Lance might butterfly affect something and then ruin the whole future, but then again why would some being out there show him the future if he wasn’t supposed to do anything about it?
This was all so confusing. Ok back to focus, the plan was: outfly everyone in the cargo class so hard that they’ll have to let him into fighter class so he can meet Hunk, Pidge and Keith sooner and end the war in five years not ten. Ok, maybe that was a stretch but hey shoot for the moon you’ll land among the stars right?
Wait, what if they didn’ t exist?
He’d never seen any of them before, he knew Shiro was real, there was a poster of him on his wall right there, but the rest of the team…he didn't know. First, he had to make sure that the people he saw in his dream were real. Who’s someone he hadn’t met that he could find today to check if they're real or not? Well, it was his first day of school, maybe he could use the teachers. Lance pulled out his schedule and saw that he had a man named Commander Iverson as his 1st period teacher. He knew him from his dream, Lance would have to see if he looked how he did in Lance's mind, that way he’d know for sure if he was crazy or not.
Lance knew himself pretty well, and now he knew his future self pretty well too. It was easy for him to get down in the dumps, so he was gonna try to get this rush of adrenaline to last as long as possible. Things would get better when he met Hunk and he could hang out with him and talk, maybe he’d even tell him about all this. Hunk might believe him. If Hunk was real.
Lance’s roommate’s alarm went off and the blonde haired boy he was sharing a room with woke up. Chris, was his name?
“Oh no, are you one of those early risers? Do not ever wake me up before this alarm goes off, got it?”
Lance chuckled nervously, “Oh no today is an exception, first day jitters!”
Chris groaned and shoved his face in his pillow. Lance decided since he was already up, he might as well be the first one there. That way maybe Commander Iverson wouldn’t hate him this time around. If commander Iverson was real. Lance got ready pretty quickly and shoved his little notebook in his pocket if anything else came to mind. Opening the door and seeing the garrison hallway appear before him made him realize how real it was. How real this was. It would be crazy if the whole ten years he dreamt was actually just a dream and he’s crazy now.
He walked out into the hallway and made his way down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, he was the first one there. The breakfast was simple, radioactive eggs and bacon. Y'know for a multi-million dollar space program, it always seemed like they were outta money for good stuff. Like y’know, real eggs. He finished before the second student even got there. Now he was wondering if he was gonna be too early. So he checked the time, they were supposed to be in class by seven, it was 6:40 right now. Damn, 20 minutes.
So he sat down by the cafeteria window and continued to map out his life. Ten years was a lotta time and he had to make sure he wouldn’t forget anything. Even though he felt like it was seared into his mind, like a brand. He watched for years, it felt like he lived it but not at the same time. When he saw his 30’s as a farmer he wondered if he was going to watch himself die, then it ended.
For right now, Lance had quite a while until the important stuff started happening, he didn’t have to think about what to do about the later stuff yet. But he wanted to. Like about princess Allura. She was amazing, he wouldn't lie, but she ruined him. Not on purpose, but she died. And she might still die, it was her choice. What could he do about that? She was a strong willed woman. She always did what she thought was best. And for nine years she didn’t choose him. And then she did after Lotor. That didn’t sit too well with him. And when they were finally together, she died. He wanted to hide forever after that, he did hide forever. He moved to a farm away from all his friends and for all Lance knew his future self was still there. He might've stayed there until the day he died.
Maybe he could be different this time. He’d seen how a love with Allura would be and no matter how short-lived it was it was still beautiful. Maybe that was all it had to be. A nice possibility. A nice memory.
Lance also had a sneaking suspicion that maybe, his dream came from her. That her magical Altean powers and her connection to him through his future Altean marks is what gave him the Great Dream. It was certainly a possibility.
He glanced at his watch and saw it had been ten minutes. His mind really ran a mile a minute. He closed his notebook, shoved it in his pocket and started walking to his class. He was the first one there. Nice. He took a seat in the front row but in the corner, so as not to seem too eager. That could be annoying. Lo and behold mr. Grumpy-pants himself walked in a little after Lance. So he was real, Lance had never met him before and his dream still knew exactly what he looked like.
So it was real. He expected it truly, he felt it in his bones. His mind couldn't have made all that up.
Well, Lance hated this guy. But Lance needed commander Iverson not to hate him. For his friends. So Lance sucked it up and gave the man a proper salute and sat down when the man nodded his head at Lance.
Soon everyone else arrived, and a few kids were late the first day and got demerits from Iverson. Lance escaped his wrath this time. He was off to a good start. He checked his schedule in his back pack and saw he had flight class at the end of the day. Perfect. Soon Iverson began teaching and Lance took out his notebook and began writing every word he said. The other kids had computers to take notes with, writing it by hand always worked better for Lance. It was not legible, but Lance could decipher it later. He had to do this right this time. Thankfully, writing stuff down actually got him to remember stuff better and when Iverson cold called on him, he got it right.
“Is it choice B sir?” Lance actually thought it could be B also but he knew Iverson would prefer the more “direct pathway” option.
“That's correct cadet. What's your name again?” The man was so huge and imposing. It pissed Lance off. What, do you think you're better than us because you're older? That's bullshit.
“Lance Mclain sir.” Lance said calmly. Iverson turned back to the board and told Lance to ‘keep up the good work’. Jerk.
Ok maybe that was overkill, realistically in the future Iverson actually apologized to Lance when they were both adults, but his prejudice and lack of faith in Lance still stung. He liked obedience more than teaching or helping. Even Keith, the best pilot in the program, objectively the kid with the most potential in the building, was thrown to the side by Iverson because Keith couldn't be controlled. Iverson was so narrow minded he couldn’t see the perspective and drive Keith could offer cause all he cared about was making little obedient soldiers of all of the kids in the building.
Lance gritted his teeth. He had to keep his cool, Iverson was a piece of work, but Lance was just gonna have to deal with it until he could get outta here. Lance went through the rest of his classes in an almost robotic way, don’t mess up and don’t give these teachers a piece of his mind. Really, he probably had more experience than them now due to the entire friggin war he watched in his mind, but he kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t let this all get to his head.
Finally, it was time to try out the flight simulator. Put his years of dream experience to the test. The mission was simple, deliver the cargo into the ravine, except the ravine was foggy. But Lance could get through that, he’d flown through an ocean at night. But he still couldn’t help the nerves coming up in his stomach. The kids in front of him were averaging at about a 30 percent success rate, and the highest anyone else in front of him got was a 40. He could beat that. It seemed that this simulation wasn't for winning, it was to show kids what they were supposed to be working towards. Finally it was his turn, he sat in the chair and held the controls. He could do this. He’d done this before.
The simulation started, his heart was racing but it seemed like his body and mind were perfectly in tune, his reaction time was perfect, he was shocked, he almost felt as if he was still dreaming. He made it through the whole thing without any extra fancy maneuvers or tricks, he’d seen how Iverson treated ingenuity in the simulation chamber before. He stepped out to a room full of kids clapping for him. It was…totally awesome. He may have seen himself grow to be 30, but he was still 14. And so can you blame him if he felt it was nice to have his peers cheer for him for once instead of being all judgy?
Iverson furrowed his brows at Lance, uh oh, Lance thought to himself.
“Alright, that's enough fuss! whoever's next, come on up!” Iverson shouted over the crowd of excited pre-teens. Lance wanted to come up to him to ask about what he needed to do to get into fighter class but his classmates began to come up to him.
“Lance, right? How did you know the wall was gonna be there? It moves every simulation!” It was a girl, black hair and dark eyes. Very nice.
“Oh uh, I have quick reflexes y’know? Just gotta practice!” And go through a space war but that's not really feasible for you.
“Bro why are you here? you’ve gotta be in fighter class did you even see your score?” Some kid propped his elbow on Lance's shoulder, Lance gave him a light punch in the shoulder before replying to him.
“Oh uh, no? What was it?” Lance peeked over the boy's shoulder and glanced at the scoreboard. “A 96!?”
“I thought these things didn't go above 40!” said the black haired girl again.
“All things are possible through Lance Mcclain, that's a proverb y'know" He was used to his own jokes only really entertaining himself, but today, everyone laughed, some kids even repeated it to those who didn’t hear.
Maybe he could turn all this around. He wouldn’t have to be so behind anymore, he wouldn’t have to be the sixth wheel anymore. He could contribute, be good. Be useful.
After class was over, the other kids made plans to meet for lunch and walk to their next classes together, and Lance agreed but told them he had to talk to Iverson first.
The black haired girl and the boy from earlier told Lance their names were Kathy and Nate, they met earlier in the day and were already gonna sit together when they invited Lance to join them
“Leaving us for the big leagues already huh? Well remember us little people when you make it big!” Nate said as he went out the door.
“You got it!” Lance said. Phew, they were fun but there were so many people talking to him he couldn't keep up. Maybe that's why Keith was such a jerk as a kid, he wasn’t very good with people in the first place so having everyone clamour around him probably didn't go as well for him as it did for Lance today.
Lance turned around to look for Iverson to find the man was already standing in front of him. Lance hid his instinctual flinch, he couldn't wait until he was eye level with this guy.
“Hi commander Iverson, I was wondering if we could have a quick talk?” Lance said.
Iverson shooed the last few kids out of the classroom and turned to Lance.
“Yes I was going to talk to you after class anyway, so what program did you go to before the Garrison?”
Uh oh “Oh well actually I just sort of researched what to look for when flying at the Garrison and did my best to practice with what I knew from the simulator I flew for the entrance exam into the Garrison.”
That should work right? Iverson didn't know anything about who Lance was so he didn't know that was not something Lance would usually be able to pull off. Iverson stared Lance down. Lance smiled nervously.
“Really? That's it? The next highest score next to yours ever on that simulation first try is a 50. Either you're a prodigy or I need to fix up that machine.” Iverson gave Lance a wicked grin. Lance felt disgust seep into his bones. He really hated this man, and he didn't want to be his favorite.
Lance smiled, “I think I’ll take that as a compliment sir, but, what I wanted to discuss with you today was actually about what the Garrison would need me to do to get into fighter class, but I completely understand if that would be complicated right now, given that it's the beginning of the semester and all.”
Careful Lance you're bootlicking. But it seemed like his over the top understanding and politeness was working. Iverson shook his head in disbelief with a smile on his face. So creepy.
“Well kid, what this class was going to teach this semester you already know, so I’m not sure there's much left for this class to offer you. I know you’ve already paid your tuition so I actually don’t have much of a choice except to bump you up to fighter class. Or some kind of accelerated course here since the fighter class is full. This is going to be a lot of paperwork” The man said the words in a sigh, and began to sort through the student files on his desk.
Lance was beaming, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He was doing it, he was gonna make it. He was gonna be good, maybe even great. Maybe even worthy of his position as a paladin of Voltron. He felt emotion rise in his chest and he fought hard to keep it down.
“I’m not sure if I can get you in before the first semester is over so you might be stuck here a while. But, I’m positive we can get you in the second semester. There's always one kid in fighter who decides they want to switch out and do something else. You’ll get that spot. Until then keep up the good work, I’ll set up different simulations for you in class alright?” Iverson pulled out a folder titled “Mclain, Lance” and began writing on it. Lance could almost not hate the man. Almost.
“Thank you commander Iverson, I really appreciate it. I’ll continue working at it, I promise. May I go eat lunch now?”
“Sure thing, see you in class tomorrow.” Iverson gestured to Lance towards the door.
Lance saluted and left the room. And then he bolted towards the lunch hall. He wasn’t in any rush, he just had to get the excitement out of his body. When he made it to the lunch hall he slowed his pace and slipped into the lunch-line. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind him.
“Yeah?” Lance said.
“Are you Lance?” The guy behind him was short with big round glasses, he reminded him of Pidge.
“Oh yeah I am what's up?”
“How in the world did you pass the simulation? I got a 20. The kids in the class above us told me it’s not even for learning, it's just to intimidate people to see what they're made of. How’d you do it on the first try?” The kid said softly.
And that's how Lance's table became full of kids asking for tips on flying. He had an answer for most of them actually, given the whole space war. He’d seen a lotta wacky things. Nate and Kathy sat next to him on either side acting like bodyguards. It was kind of funny.
“One at a time!” Nate shouted.
“He already answered that, next question!” Kathy shouted at one particular kid.
Lance was a little overwhelmed but he tried to answer the questions as best he could. He understood what it was like to watch something you thought was impossible be done by someone else like it was nothing. It wasn’t great. And even with everyone treating him like some kinda celebrity, he didn't feel like one. All the things he knew was because of his dream, he’d be just like them if not worse without the dream.
You didn’t earn this. His mind whispered to him. Shut up. He told himself.
Then the lunch bell rang, and it was time for their last few classes, they were more research oriented, more about what the ship does and how it works. Not really his forte. But he wouldn’t have to worry about those classes for long, he was getting into fighter class soon anyway.
He got to his room to find his roommate already in pajamas and lying in his bed, seemingly asleep.
“How’d you get back already? Class just ended?” Lance said, plopping his backpack by his bed.
The kid groaned, “I bolted here, I am so tired. I’m from Norway and the time difference is killing me so do you mind getting to bed quietly? Thanks”
Lance shook his head at the kid “Alright man, I’ll try not to keep you up”
Lance got ready for bed quickly and went under his covers with a little flashlight and began writing in his notebook. Get into fighter class? Check! He couldn’t wait to tell his family. That he wasn’t going to see for ten years.
He had to come home for Christmas this year, He had to come back for thanksgiving even though they didn't really celebrate it. He had to find a way to get the money to afford the trip back to see his family as much as possible. Before he couldn't anymore. He’d have to ask around for jobs to pick up around here, too bad the Garrison was in the middle of nowhere! He hadn’t seen a single student working around here. He picked up his pillow and held it to his chest.
It's gonna be fine, I’ll see them after the war for sure. I survive, I know how to survive it. I’m gonna do even better than survive it. I’m gonna win it. We’re going to win it. I’ll have a team, an amazing team. We’ll do it, we already have.
Lance took a breath and pulled the blankets over his head. He wondered if he’d have the dream again, hopefully it wouldn’t be a nightly thing, it took forever. He had to get some rest, it was gonna be an interesting year.