Remember what I said about Lotor? Yeah here's his VLD Skies chapter. Along with Allura. Yay actual Royalty Skies. also spoiler for Season 4. But then again I expect all of you to have already watched Season 4 at least. Minor mentions to KHR stuff and some world building of the Flame aware society of Earth.

Also I dunno how to write Lotor he was weird this season. So he and Allura may or may not be a bit OOC.

Lotor woke to a white ceiling. He had been expecting to see the endless black of space and perhaps the purple glow that Galra technology gave off, if he was still in his ship. Or perhaps waking to blinding pain, if he had been caught by his father's forces. Not to a blank ceiling and a blue glow. Not to the emptiness he felt.

"Ah, your awake!" a voice exclaimed. Sitting up and looking towards the voice, Lotor was surprised to see what could be amounted to a Galra youngling, at least size wise, having Altean features, but lacked the markings, or the ear shape. Then there were those strange circular pieces set on their face. They looked... strange over all. And oddly familiar. Like that Earthling he met on that prison planet...

"We weren't expecting you to wake up for another quintent or two," the Earthling said, placing down a tray of food.

"How long... have I been asleep?" Lotor asked.

They shrugged, "Around seven quintents. We can't really blame you for that."

That long? Lotor was concerned, "And you haven't locked me up?"

"The coalition have mostly been asking to lock you up or hand you over to Zarkon as a bargaining chip. Allura is on the fence. Team Voltron is divided for their own reasons," They replied.

"And you treat prisoners like guests?"

"You saved us when you didn't have to. And you were still in shock from whatever betrayal you experienced before coming here."

"And where is here?"

They stared at him, "Wow. You must have been really out of it if you don't remember. You're in the Castle of Lions."

Lotor blinked.

A sound of frustration echoed down the halls before he could ask more.

"Why is it so hard to call it forth? I don't find so much difficulty using Quintessence!" Allura struggled.

"Maybe that's the problem. You are using you experience with Quintessence as a base line. While similar, Quintessence and Flames are two different forms of energy," Matt explained. "Now, one more time. I want you to ignore whatever you were taught about drawing on Quintessence and focus."

Allura huffed, before closing her eyes, listening to Matt's instructions.

"I want you to picture a ball of flame, and try and feel the warmth from it," Matt guided. "When you are done with it, I want you to try and imagine feeding that flame with your strongest resolution. What fuels your resolve to fight against the Galra, Allura? Use that and feed your flame."

Eyes still closed, Allura followed Matt's guidance. The ball of flame in mind, she was somehow able to feel the warmth it radiated. Then she thought: why was she fighting the Galra? Revenge? That wasn't it, revenge was the farthest thing from her mind right now. Obligation as the Princess of Altea? No. That wasn't it either. Maybe... her resolve was to bring peace, to prevent what was happening now, what had happened in that alternate universe... from ever happening again. The tiny ball of fire burst into a blaze, the warmth becoming an inferno as her resolve fueled it.

"There we go. Allura, you can open you eyes now."

Slowly opening her eyes, she blinked, staring at the flame wrapped around her hands. The flame was beautiful, a brilliant orange tinged with gold, warm, but not burning her like she expected it to.

Matt smiled, "A Sunny Sky. Sun was definitely expected. From what I've heard from Pidge you've always gone out of your way to support them from the sidelines, be it healing, directing them or giving artillery support, and you've taken up the role of the Blue Paladin, actively helping them in the fights while still giving them the support they need."

"And what about Sky? Why was that not expected?" Allura asked.

"The main reason? Rarity. Of the Seven Flames, Sky is the rarest, with Clouds coming in a close second. Rarer still are pure Skies like Shiro. Skies with secondary flames like you and Lotor? Still rare but a bit more common," Matt stated. "Towards other Flames, Skies are considered royalty. To be accepted into a Sky's Harmony is like being welcomed into a place you can call your home, where no one will judge you. Having a Sky also empowers their bonded Elements... But that's where problems come up."

"Because of how rare Skies are among humans, Flame Active Skies tend to be snatched up very quickly and forced to bond with incompatible elements back on Earth. So Skies are made even rarer due to fear of activating their flames and being bonded to people they didn't want to. Heck, even now, only 30% of Earth's population are Flame Actives. The rest prefer not to activate their Flames, most fearing that their Flame Type would put them in danger," Matt concluded, "And this is why I found your Sky Flame unexpected. I mean, outside of Shiro and Lotor, you are the third Sky I've encountered in my whole life, even more the second of two Skies I've encountered in the past week. Skies are just that rare."

"But..." Allura pondered, "Why was everyone so worried about Lotor if Skies are so powerful?"

"Well..." Matt hesitated but the option was taken from him as Pidge entered the room.

"We should discuss this with Lotor around guys. He's... awake."

Allura straightened in surprise, while Matt looked at Pidge and asked, "You sure we can trust him with this?"

"He needs to understand what's been happening around him. As well as why he's being treated like a patient rather than a prisoner," Pidge shrugged.

"So..." Lotor stared at the fire in the Earthling's hands. "You are saying I have these Flames?"

"Specifically, yours is Mist and Sky," Matt said.

"And what does this have to do with anything?" Lotor asked.

"I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me," Pidge glanced at him, "When... your team betrayed you, did you feel something change?"

Lotor hesitated. Why was the Earthling asking him this?

"Please answer us. It will give you a better understanding of what happened," Matt coaxed.

Lotor could see the honesty in the young man's eyes, and he sighed, "I felt... cold. Really cold. It started out when Narti... was compromised and our movements were relayed to Zarkon. I had no choice but to kill her."

Pidge and Matt flinched while Allura looked horrified. A Sky being forced to kill his Elements was never a good thing. Misty Skies had it worse, technically being a bit less mentally stable compared to others, which left them a bit more vulnerable than usual.

"Then, after my failed attempt to breach the dimensional gap to gather Quintessence... Apparently they assumed I killed Narti out of cold blood. Axca convinced the others to betray me and hand me over to Zarkon. That was when the cold fully settled in. Like nothing felt right anymore."

Pidge and Matt snarled, startling both Allura and Lotor.

"Those complete and utter idiots! To do that to their Sky. A Sky that trusted them," Pidge hissed.

Matt was in complete agreement, "They purposefully decided that their bond and loyalty to you wasn't worth it and broke it. They really don't deserve you as a Sky."

Allura blinked, "Are Skies really that precious? That you would get angry on their behalf so easily?"

Pidge gave a bitter laugh, "You have no idea do you? Matt told you about their rarity, but here is what a lone Sky is - a Sky without its elements is empty. Unprotected. Vulnerable. And a broken Sky? That is even worse! Unwillingly shattered bonds from any end don't heal easily! Why do you think so many of us were distraught after Shiro went missing?!"

Lotor and Allura couldn't answer that question. But both? Both felt the nagging need to comfort the Green Paladin, but resisted it. Matt had no such qualms however, and they two Skies let him, as it was natural for him to do so as her brother.

Hours later Lotor asked the question he had been wondering for sometime.

"So, what are you going to do with me now?"

Pidge shrugged, "We may confine you for a while, now that you're awake and talking, just to appease some of our allies. But at the same time, we'll be training you and Allura with your flames."

Lotor blinked, gold eyes confused, "Why?"

"Manipulation of your own Flames is a useful skill to have, especially if you plan on one upping Zarkon," Pidge hummed. "And Haggar won't be expecting it. She has no idea about Flames. Mist Flames are particularly useful at creating Illusions."

"Then there's the fact that you may have intel our allies are not able to get," Matt continued. "And I'd rather not risk Keith on missions we can't confirm easily."

Allura hesitated. Was this the right choice? Giving a tentative ally a weapon they could easily use against them? Allura wasn't sure.

Then Lance's voice came through, "Keith gave us the okay to teach him, Princess."

"Lance?" Allura stared at him in surprise, turning to see the Rain standing at the door.

"You aren't asking the Black Paladin for permission?" Lotor pried. It was... strange that the Earthling in front of him wasn't deferring to their leader.

Lance shrugged, "Don't look at me. Keith trusts very few people. But even if Shiro says no, Keith agrees that you need training. Training neither of you had compared to the rest of us."

Allura blinked, before turning to Lotor, hesitant, "I guess... then we'll be training together?"

Lotor sighed, "I guess so."

"Great!" Lance grinned. "Because you two will definitely need to work together in the training room. None of us have the normal training tools since our trip into space was unplanned, but I do know some of the old Vongola training methods. Have to since my cousins often have issues with the normal methods."

Both Lotor and Allura felt a shiver run down their spine. They really didn't like the glint in the Rain's eyes, and they were right not to.

I like the idea that as carefree as Lance is, he's the big brother of his cousins and the one in-charge of their Flame training as children. As stated in The Tranquil Rain, he has a big family. (Heck even Season 5 made mention of this!)

Then there's the world building. Major Flame aware Society stuff. I may or may not make a purely lore post on the VLD Flame Society on my tumblr. As for the mention KHR... well... Reborn's methods are quite effective on Skies. I will not be surprised if a fellow sharpshooter like Lance took after him.

Anyways. This instalment of the VLD Flames series was one of THE HARDEST TO WRITE because our two Skies here were not cooperating for me.