Chapter Text
The pain hit Keith slowly, at first. A dull, quiet ache, pulsing through him just enough to be roused from the depths of slumber. The half-Galran’s consciousness drifted back like an ebbing wave, the dark murk over his senses lifting gently. He could hear the faint pattering of fingers on a touch screen; tasted the metal tang of blood on his tongue. Then, as he finally slid all the way awake, the pain rammed into him. The surface of his skin throbbed, as if every pore was being prodded and pried open with a hot needle. His muscles were excruciatingly tender, and each shallow exhale from his bruised lungs felt like it was being forced through a sieve. He’d been hurt plenty of times before, but not like this. Never like this.
Wincing as he rolled onto his side, Keith cautiously peeled one eye open. Even the delicate movement made him twitch with discomfort. Immediately, his gaze was locked with a pair of sallow golden orbs. It was the first time he’d ever seen Azrith’s expression look so vacant; so empty. Her squared jaw hung agape, exposing a mouthful of jagged teeth that glistened with flecks of crimson. Her breath was stale and putrid; it reeked of death.
“Ugh…” Keith groaned, scrunching up his nose in disgust. He gingerly tried to move away from the Galran’s corpse, managing to drag himself a few slow inches back despite the way his body screamed in protest. Struggling so much as to lift his head, the half-Galran’s pupils flitted around the room, feebly trying to orient themselves.
What the hell happened? Keith scowled to himself. His memories were a fragmented blur – he’d definitely blacked out at some point during his fight with Azrith. Yet somehow, a jumble of images from beyond that time drifted through his mind, almost dream-like. Images of flying sparks, the clash of blades; of wet flesh cleaved from bone. Images of Lance, smoothing a comforting hand across his forehead.
“…Lance…?” The ex-Blade rasped, barely louder than a whisper. He couldn’t see the Red Paladin from the ground, but when the gentle thrum of typing halted, his heart swelled just a little. A messy tuft of brown peeped over the edge of the console.
“ Keith!! Thank quiznak, I was worried you weren’t gonna wake up for hours…" The relief in Lance’s voice was palpable. He stared down at the half-Galran, exhaustion evident in the droop of his eyebrows. “How do you feel?”
Keith groaned feebly. “Like I’ve been fed through a trash compactor.”
“Hahah– ow .” Lance’s tinkling laughter was cut short, a hand quickly clutching his side. “…Shoot…”
“What’s wro– mmph!” Keith jerked upright with concern, the swift motion sending angry sparks down his nerves. Gulping back the pain, his wide yellow eyes scanned over the brunette; gaze swiftly drawn to the red splotches that bloomed beneath his bandage. “Y-you’re bleeding…”
“Ugh, yeah,” Lance muttered. “I thought I’d patched it up well enough...” He tugged at the corner of the blood-soaked plaster and gently peeled it from his skin, the sharp smell of iron tainting the air. Thick, dark liquid bubbled lazily from the wound.
Keith frowned. “What do you need? More bandages? I can do that.”
“Huh? No it’s…well I mean, I do , but I don’t think you should be mov–hey!”
Before Lance could finish protesting, Keith had already hauled himself upwards. Every joint and muscle throbbed under the weight of his body; the half-Galran gritted his teeth, trying desperately to ignore the feeling. Dizzy black spots swirled in his vision.
The brunette reached out from his perch on the console, clapping a palm over his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Keith, please – you shouldn’t be pushing yourself after the whole Azrith thing.”
The other boy’s eyes narrowed, halfway between irritation and confusion.
“Don’t give me that face,” Lance groaned. He retracted his hand and began to pull on the bloodied glove, the fabric stretched taut. “I might not be able to walk around at the moment, but I can still look after myself over here. It’s you I’m worried about! You–“ the Red Paladin interrupted himself, using his teeth to tear off the sleeve of his suit. “ Mph! Yuck…” he muttered to himself, reacting to the taste. He wrapped the tattered fabric around his fist, using it to gently dab at his wound. “As I was saying,” he continued; “you could be seriously concussed, for one. You took a lot of blows to the head, y’know!”
“No, I really don’t !” Keith gave an exasperated huff. “I can’t remember what happened with Azrith. Maybe there are a few bits and pieces, but…everything after I took that quintessence is all a messed-up blur!” He paused for a moment, swallowing thickly. “I dunno what it…what it did to me, but I know that it made me feel really g-good.” Admitting as much made Keith’s skin crawl.
“I mean, Azrith talked about it a bit. Said it was called Kee-X or something? Pretty sure it was a ve–ry experimental stimulant. Honestly, you’re pretty lucky a little bit of memory loss is the worst of it. I’d ask what the heck you were thinking, taking some random drug you found, but…” Lance’s words trailed off, his free hand absently reaching for his split earlobe. He ran a fingertip down the torn flesh, feeling how the skin limply sagged away from his head. He knew exactly what Keith was thinking, when he gambled his life on a suspicious syringe…
…He was thinking about him .
“…Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m just…glad you’re awake.”
The half-Galran clicked his tongue. “When you put it like that, I guess it’s hard to argue.” He reached up to rub away the tension in his shoulders, but they were far too tender for the motion to be soothing. “I just hate not knowing what I did to make my body feel like it’s been hit by a truck.”
“I think Azrith could be described as pretty truck-like,” Lance scoffed, peering down at the General’s hulking form. “I mean, I only really saw the end of things. But at the very least, you were slammed into a table hard enough that you bounced , then had said-table thrown at you, then picked up the table, even though that shouldn’t be physically possible for you; what else…oh, you got knocked in the back of the head by Azrith’s blaster cannon, and y–“
“Geez, alright! I get the picture…” Keith groaned, feeling as though he could pinpoint the corresponding pain to each of Lance’s claims. “I guess I’m not so bothered about forgetting having my ass kicked. But I…I wish I could remember things before that. Like, I was in a holding cell – a guarded one, at that. How the hell did I get here?”
“Does it matter?” The brunette shrugged, pressing his glove firmer against his side.
“It does to me!” The half-Galran jerked his head away, ignoring how it made his neck twinge. He hobbled his way across the room, searching for something to stifle his boyfriend’s wound.
“Ugh, are you really–? Fine, hey! I think there should be some patches in a clear bag on the bench there. Try the left-hand side,” he finally conceded. Lance knew there was no point in arguing with Keith’s bullheadedness, and though he didn’t want to admit defeat, his makeshift compress wasn’t quite cutting it.
Keith hunched over the scattered array of tools and torture equipment, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration. He silently begged for something to leap out at him, for any sense of familiarity to return as he scanned the table, but even Lance’s gore-soaked bayard failed to spark more than an uncomfortably familiar pang of bloodlust.
Why do I know…this feeling?
Lance’s gaze lingered over the half-Galran’s bruise-mottled back; noticed the way his tail swished restlessly, the furry tip hovering an inch or two above the floor. It was hard watching Keith agonize like this. But the Red Paladin was becoming better at reading his boyfriend; in fact, he was pretty sure he knew exactly why Keith was so fixated on his lapse of memory.
“…You’re worried you did something bad, aren’t you?”
The ex-Blade’s shoulders twitched.
“Keith…” Lance gave a long sigh. “Even if you did something crazy – hell, even if you took out a guard or two on your way here – that doesn’t make you a bad person! We're literally fighting in a war. How many people do you think’ve died already? On both sides? I don’t really like it either, but…” the brunette fidgeted with his earlobe. “…at the end of the day, I don’t think I’d still be here if it wasn't for whatever you did.”
The half-Galran was quiet for a moment, until his hand slapped down on something thin and plasticky. He scooped it up, shuffling his way back to the other boy. Wordlessly, Keith finally halted a few inches in front of his boyfriend, his fingers twisting and fidgeting around the bag of adhesive strips. Then abruptly, he slumped forward, his head thumping gently against Lance’s collarbone.
“ Oof , hey! Too heav–“
“What about if I liked it…” Keith whispered, his voice nothing more than a thin rasp. “…Would that make me a bad person?”
“Wh-why would you even think that?” Lance stuttered, caught off-guard by the question. “You just said that you couldn’t remember anything!”
“Like I said, it’s bits and pieces…” Keith burrowed his head deeper into the brunette’s shoulder. “But I remember how I felt. I told you, I f-felt good! Really good!
“How many times do I have to say this– Keith, you were high ! I’m not saying that as justification for violence, but what I am saying is that you weren’t your normal self. Thinking you like cracking skulls ‘cuz you got a bit of a buzz from some wacky quintessence doesn’t make you a sadist, alright?
“I liked…feeling strong. Felt like I could…do anything…”
Lance pinched his forehead – this conversation was making his head ache more by the second. “Yeah! That’s literally like, half your personality! Sparring with the castle’s training bot, practicing your blade techniques, working out…you like feeling strong.”
Keith’s head rolled to one side, glaring up at the Red Paladin’s clenched jaw.
“Maybe fighting an absolute beast like Azrith has skewed your perspective, but you are strong. Especially since your Galran side came out – I mean, look at your arms!” The Red Paladin gently patted Keith’s bicep for emphasis. “Pretty sure you could bench-press Pidge with these.”
Warmth quickly rose to the taller boy’s cheeks. “Not right now, I couldn’t – I feel like dogshit.”
“ Hwooooo– hey , don’t make me laugh again!” Lance smiled, suppressing his amusement with a long exhale. “Anyway, if you really feel that bad, you shouldn’t be wasting all that energy on sulking. C’mon, you gonna patch me up or what?”
“Oh, right–“ Keith jolted up from the brunette’s shoulder, fumbling with the clear pouch in his hands. “–I was supposed to be helping you , not the other way around…”
“They don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” Lance replied, watching the half-Galran pluck a handful of packaged white strips from the bag. “Besides, I feel like all you’ve done lately is help me. It’s nice to be able to return the favour a little!”
Keith hummed in soft assent, placing the plasters next to his boyfriend’s leg. What he’d said was true – he felt absolutely awful right now. Every slight movement or gesture made fresh pain course through his muscles. But being strong was a big part of who he was. Sure, there might always be someone stronger…but it was about who he was fighting for; who he was protecting . If it were up to him, he’d probably still be sprawled out on the floor. But for Lance? He could take on three more Azriths, if he had to.
Picking up one of the thin packets, Keith peeled open the flimsy foil wrapper. Immediately, his acute senses were assaulted by the cloying stench of sedative coating the sheet inside it. “Wait a sec, what the hell are these?” He sniffed the strip cautiously, scrunching up his nose.
“Well technically they’re respiratory tranquilis–“
Keith promptly jerked the sachet as far away from his face as possible. “Geez, you didn’t wanna maybe mention that first?!”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds! The patches don’t actually knock you out or anything. They just, like…” Lance made a vague gesture with his hands. “…mellow you out a bit?”
“…didn’t you just lecture me about how dangerous Galran drugs were?”
“Wh–I’m still not suggesting you breathe them in!” Lance’s eyes bugged out. “Just that it won’t matter if you inhale a little bit. Look, all I know is that the material is pretty thick and sticky, and they’re about the only thing in this room resembling a bandage or plaster.”
Keith gave a sigh of relent. “Fine, as long as you’re sure it’s ok…c’mere.” His clawed hands gently reached for the tattered edge of Lance’s suit, giving it a sharp tug. The fabric tore a little wider, better exposing the deep gouge sitting just below his ribcage.
“Hey, careful!” The Red Paladin gasped, leaning over his wound. “Unlike you, I’d like to keep my top half covered , thank you very much.”
Keith clicked his tongue, moving more delicately as he pried apart another inch and a half of stitching along the suit’s seam. Plink! Plink! His sharp fingernails easily plucked the threads open, revealing more of Lance’s crimson-blotted torso.
“Hmm…Dunno if the plaster’s gonna stick to all this blood. You got anything to wipe it with?”
“Me? ” Lance shook his head. “If I did, I would have offered it to you ages ago.”
The half-Galran’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Can you really not fee– go like this?” The brunette mimed rubbing his face, then holding up his hand in front of him.
Confused, Keith mimicked the action. “…What the–?!” He grimaced, jerking away from his slick red palm. “I thought that was sweat!!”
“Seriously? Isn’t your nose hurting?” Lance scoffed in disbelief. “It’s gotta be broken.”
“ Everything’s hurting,” the ex-Blade whined. “I didn’t think anything of it!” Gingerly, his hand returned to his face, fingertips lightly tracing the bridge of his nose – the way it jutted to one side unexpectedly.
A light chuckle escaped the Red Paladin, but was cut short by a wince. “Oof…this is a bit insane, isn’t it?” He pressed the tattered glove against his wound once more, reapplying pressure.
“Pfft– which part? Infiltrating the cruiser? Escaping capture? Or was it defeating Azrith by the skin of our fucking teeth?” Keith replied sardonically. “There’s gotta be something around here – a towel, a rag…” Hand still ghosting over his nose, he wandered back towards the other side of the examination room. “Oh, maybe it’s the part where we haven’t even disabled the scrambler yet!”
“Yes, okay! All of the above!” The brunette shook his head and shifted slightly, allowing one of his legs to dangle over the edge of the console. “Though on that note, I do have some good news about the last part. Uh, maybe, at least…I hope?”
“Oh yeah?” Keith didn’t turn his head, leaning forward over the metal table of tools again. “You could sound a bit more convincing about it.”
“Well it’s not like I know whether or not it’ll actually work, ” Lance chewed his lip uncertainly. “While you were blacked out, I’ve been trying to figure out what this console can do. Took a while with the 4 digit password, but there wasn’t a limit to how many attempts you could make – I ended up just kinda strong-arming it.”
“Mm-hmm,” Keith gave a distracted hum, as he rummaged through the equipment. It was all sharp, metallic and dangerous; nothing useful for cleaning up blood. But down one side, next to a tall steel cabinet, he spotted something. Was that a blaster case?
“Anyway, maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise considering what’s next door, but this computer controls the quintessence-sucky pods. ‘Course, you need some kinda special clearance code to actually turn them off. I‘ve been trying to guess it for like an hour, but I don’t think it’s the kinda password you can fluke…well anyway, that was just the back-up plan if you didn’t wake up.”
“Right…” the half-Galran frowned sheepishly. “…So uh, what’s the main plan, then?” He continued his search, hoisting the case onto the table and pushing the various tools out of the way. Un-clipping the two tabs along its side, he opened the lid. A deep crevice took up most of the inside, the perfect silhouette of Azrith’s blaster cannon.
“Well, something you can do with standard authorisation is power the pods down for maintenance. It gives you about a five-minute window, which unlocks the access control panel too. The scrambler will keep operating on residual energy for 8 minutes or so,” Lance tapped his finger against the monitor, which displayed a status feed of all the synaptic chambers. “But if we can short out their power source, they won’t be able to come back online and the scrambler will shut down.”
Wordlessly, Keith rummaged around inside the blaster case. Tucked neatly into one side of the foam-like lining, a pale sliver of fabric poked out. He eagerly plucked it out, unfurling the material in his hands and inspecting it.
“…Hey, you listening?” Lance tutted.
“Huh?” The half-Galran flipped the case closed again, pivoting back towards the brunette with the microfibre cloth balled up in his fist.
“I said… ” the Red Paladin glanced down at Keith’s hand, lifting his own away from his wound expectantly; “…we can probably shut down the scrambler! All we’ve gotta do is pop open the access panel, break a few components and– ghk !” Lance winced as the cleaning rag was pressed firmly against his side. “Gently, geez!”
“Sorry! But that’s…that’s great! You’re great!” Keith forced a smile; the exhaustion was starting to spread to his brain. It was all he could do to distract himself with tasks, to keep pushing through each moment and stave off the urge to collapse again. “You sounded so unsure earlier, but…I think we can do this. No – I know we can.”
Letting out a determined huff, he refocused himself on the job at hand. He blotted away the stickiness that dribbled from his boyfriend’s wound; with each slow drag of the cloth, Keith could make out just a little bit more of his light brown skin beneath the sanguine. “This sucker really just doesn’t want to clot, huh?” He mused, rubbing more vigorously. Once he was finally satisfied, the half-Galran reached for the opened bandage packet. He peeled away the adhesive backing, scrunching up his nose as the smell wafted from it even more strongly, and smoothed it over Lance’s side. He delicately pressed down the thin white edges, watching the soft red hue bloom underneath. “Hmm…I think this needs two bandages. At least .”
“Hey, thank you , I can do it!” The brunette waved him away with a playful hand. “Why don’t you try and clean up your face instead? I think this corner’s still good.”
Keith hesitated for a moment at the cloth held out towards him, before snatching it relentingly from the smaller boy. He rocked a little on his feet, before leaning in a little closer. “T–thanks,” he mumbled softly, planting a light kiss on the crown of his head. Even under the stench of iron and sweat, his soft brown curls still smelled of the same pine-lime shampoo that was just so inherently him .
“Heh,” the Red Paladin scoffed, peeling open a second plaster from the stack near his leg. “What was that for?”
“Hm, nothing in particular,” Keith gave a soft smile, quickly running the cloth over his face to conceal his rising blush.
“Wait…” Lance hurried to finish applying the bandage to his side, before reaching out towards the other boy with both hands. “…can I have another?”
Keith wordlessly stuffed the used rag into his pocket – he’d gotten off as much blood as he could – and slid his own hands forward, weaving their fingers loosely together.
Lance tugged the half-Galran towards him, craning his neck just enough for his mouth to brush against the bottom of the other boy’s chin. He parted his lips slightly, placing slow, delicate kisses along Keith’s purple jaw.
“Hnnn…” A deep sigh escaped the taller boy, and he tilted his head downwards to meet Lance’s own. His mouth dipped open, beckoning his tongue inside; feeling the familiar way it traced over his fangs. The kiss wasn’t like other times – it was drawn-out, deliberate. Keith could feel the way his boyfriend lingered on each motion, as if trying to savour it.
Lance looped his arms around Keith’s neck, gently pulling him lower. His palms smoothed along his back, travelling up to the nape and gripping the thick hair there.
“Mph!” the half-Galran hissed against Lance’s teeth. “Too tight…” he threaded his fingers between the brunette’s, extracting them from his mullet and pulling himself back upright. “S–sorry, it was just a bit t–ah! What’s wrong?”
A fat teardrop ran down Lance’s cheek. “Huh? Oh–!” His hand flew up to his face, rubbing away the offending droplet. “I–it’s nothing. I’m f-f-fine, really!” His quivering lip betrayed the emotions that threatened to bubble over, and his other hand quickly sprang up to cover his expression.
“Hey, please…please don’t cry.” Keith’s eyebrows creased with concern. He reached out cautiously, placing a gentle palm on the Red Paladin’s shoulder. He flinched slightly, but didn’t move away. “I um, I didn’t mean to upset you! You were just pulling my hair a bit too hard, it was hurting.”
“No, ugh…it’s not that, I just…” Lance pressed his fingertips into his eyelids, as if trying to force the tears back in. “…I’m just so tired, y’know? I wish we could just stay like this for a bit longer; pretend that we weren’t stranded on an enemy ship, without a communicator, or an escape plan…I just wanna kiss you, and hug you, a–and just be with you . I want it so bad it makes my chest hurt.” He paused, giving a quiet sniffle. “But we don’t…we don’t have any more time.”
Keith’s shoulders drooped, his hand trailing gently down the brunette’s arm. “There’ll be more time, I promise. I mean, what about what you told me back on the Castleship?”
“…Huh?” Lance squinted.
“You said that we’d visit your family in Varadero, remember? Something about trying your mum’s – quote – uh-mazing cooking?”
“Tch! I did, didn’t I?” He scoffed with disbelief. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Of course I do,” Keith smiled gently, raising his thumb to wipe away a lingering teardrop from the brunette’s cheek. “So c’mon, let’s hurry up and shut down this scrambler. Then we can go home .”
“Yeah, sorry…you’re right,” Lance nodded. Sniffling away the last of his tears, he leaned around to the computer console again.
Pulling the keyboard into his lap, the Red Paladin began furiously tapping away. Keith watched as various commands popped up on the screen, dense with technical information that didn’t really matter to them.
“And…ok, here we go!”
A warning message appeared on the screen in Galran and common – WARNING: Synaptic chambers will be offline for five minutes. This operation cannot be cancelled. Proceed?
“Now, I don’t know exactly where the control panel is,” Lance looked at Keith expectantly. “You should go to the other room so you can listen for when it unlocks. I’ll give you a countdown!”
“Gotcha,” The half-Galran affirmed, pivoting on the spot. He walked back towards the pods, eyes scanning over the walls for an obvious box or door panel. Towards the back of the room, a faint glint caught his attention.
“You ready?” Lance called, pausing for a few seconds. “Alright…Three! Tw–“
“ Wait ! Just wait a tick!” Keith yelled back frantically, staggering towards the reflective object. Too stiff to bend down for it, the ex-blade allowed his tail to wrap around the Marmoran dagger’s handle, scooping it up from where it had been haphazardly discarded during his battle with Azrith. He slid the bloodied knife into his palms, feeling a slight tension in his shoulders lift at the familiarity.
”Everything alright?” The brunette replied, irritated by his inability to investigate.
Keith ducked his head back through the doorway, waggling his blade towards the other boy. “Yeah, all good. Can’t believe I almost lost this!” He clenched his jaw resolutely. “I’m good now, go ahead.”
“‘Kay,” Lance affirmed, his eyes drawn to the messy flourish of Keith’s hair as he disappeared back into the pod room. “Starting maintenance cycle…now!”
The half-Galran heard the tinny pop! of a metal door unlatching, and the faint amber glow of the pods dimmed with a stutter. His narrow pupils darted about, searching for anything slightly ajar. Keith paced around the backs of the chambers, scanning their bases and inspecting the full length of their steel plated barrels. He traced the grey tubing that ran from their tops, following them right down to where they converged in one corner and disappeared into a vent-like hole just below his knees. He could definitely tell all were components that made the synaptic pods function, but none of them screamed ‘important’ – nor did they look anything remotely like the control panel he was supposed to be looking for.
”Hrghh…” Keith groaned, leaning backwards and dragging his palms down his face. The metallic handle of his dagger was refreshingly cold against his forehead.
“You okay in there?” Lance shouted. “I hear grumbling.”
“I can’t find the stupid panel!” Keith snarled back, his eyes snapping open. “ I mean, it’s for maintenance, right? So why the hell would they make it so difficult t– ah .”
With his head still tipped upwards, he spied a small silver square hanging loose. The only problem was that it was on the ceiling – a good fifteen feet or so above him.
“...Did you…find it?”
“Yeah…” Keith grunted. “Just give me a minute, I have to um…get to it somehow.” He moved towards the third pod in the row, which was closest to the panel.
“Uh, sure! Let me know if I can do anyth–I mean, let me know how it goes!” Lance shifted his hips listlessly, frustrated by how useless he felt. The numb tingle in his legs only seemed to be worsening.
The half-Galran leaned his chest against the metallic barrel, glaring up at the control box as if it were taunting him. He had to assume that the maintenance workers used a ladder to reach it, but he had no such luxury. Keith tucked his knife into the crumpled pocket of his suit, and smoothed his palm across the silvery surface. Then, flexing his fingertips sharply, he sank his claws into the metal with a high-pitched whine. Sucking in a breath through clenched teeth, he twisted his wrist and tugged. The grey sheet warped under his grip, small tears peeling together into one gaping hole in the steel.
Keith rolled his shoulder uncomfortably, before repeating the process a few more times, as high as he was able to reach. After placing a final puncture just below the top of the chamber, he took a few steps back to review his work.
…Maybe Lance had a point, the half-Galran mused. Guess I’ve gotten pretty strong after all.
Not wasting anymore time, Keith wedged a foot into one of the carved slots. His hands each delicately grappled another hole and, bending his elbows, he yanked himself upwards. The sharp movement made his biceps twinge, but he suppressed the feeling. He didn’t have time to slow down or take it easy – after all, the hatch would probably lock itself again in about three minutes.
Heaving his way up his own makeshift ladder, Keith finally reached the top of the pod. He kneeled on the curved silver dome, awkwardly spreading his arms as he searched for a comfortable foothold. A sturdy metal prong stuck out of the centre, and he curled his tail around it like a lifeline. Feeling a bit more settled, the half-Galran’s eyes darted up, focusing intently on the access panel.
Readjusting his feet beneath him, Keith stretched upwards. One, two metres higher; he extended out his arm as far as he could. His shoulder muscles strained, fingernails just scraping against the metal door, but the ex-Blade couldn’t close the difference. He huffed – he was so close . All he needed was a few more centimetres. Reaching down to his waist, he retrieved his dagger, before swinging upwards again like a pendulum. This time, the tip of the blade was long enough to snag the silvery edge, and the door flicked open with a hollow pang.
“Ah–!” Unfortunately, he’d swung with too much vigor, and it was all Keith could do to scowl as his dagger slipped from his grasp and clattered loudly against the concrete floor. His gaze flitted back up to the opened panel, scanning across the thick tangle of cables and tubing. Even if he went and fetched his weapon, the distance was clearly too great for him to do any real damage to the hardware. He needed something more…he needed…
“Lance!” The Galran’s head ducked back around the corner, catching the brunette off-guard.
“H-huh? Did you do it?” His eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I was expecting you to be a bit…louder, maybe?”
Keith shook his head. “N–no, not yet. I need your height.”
“ My height?” Lance tipped his head quizzically. “I’m not sure I’m followi–” The loud click of a latch interrupted him; five minutes had passed with barely a blink. “...Ah. Hold on, I can run the maintenance cycle again.”
“Wait, just let me–let me explain.” The ex-blade waved his palm in front of him. “The panel’s on the ceiling. Like…way up there. If I climb on top of one of the chambers, I can just about reach it, but…”
“...If you can’t reach it, what makes you think I stand a chance? And like this ?” He gestured to the blood-speckled bandage at his side. “There’s no way.”
“...On my shoulders.” Keith’s eyes locked onto Lance’s. “You’re gonna sit on my shoulders.”
“Are you serious?!” The Red Paladin groaned, though he already knew the answer perfectly well. It was just one last push, he told himself. If they shut the scrambler down, the Kalkaran fleet can mobilise. The turrets can start chipping away at the blanket of Galran ships. And maybe whatever was blocking the connection to their Lions would be broken, too. If he could just reach out to Red…they could finally– “…Fine, turn around,” he sighed in relent.
The half-Galran swivelled on his heel, crouching just below the height of the desk. With a soft hiss, Lance slid forward, looping his left leg over his boyfriend’s shoulder. He tried to bring his right leg up the other side, but struggled to lift it high enough, the muscles in his hip twinging painfully.
“I…I can’t. Can you help?”
Keith nodded, pushing Lance’s knee over his collarbone in a swift motion.
“Mmph! Th-thanks…” Lance winced, stifling his discomfort. He knew there was no avoiding the pain, but he at least appreciated Keith’s bandaid-like approach.
“Alright, you good?” His purple irises shot a glance back at the smaller boy, assessing his position. Satisfied, Keith began easing his weight forward. “…Aaand up we go!”
Needle-like fingers suddenly latched around the top of his head, and a meek yelp leapt from the brunette’s throat. Keith hid his smirk, rising back to his full height and giving a small jostle to adjust Lance’s weight on his shoulders.
“B-b-be gentle!!” The brunette stuttered.
“That was gentle,” Keith scoffed. “C’mon, let’s set up another maintenance run. The sooner we do that, the sooner you get to come down.”
“Yeah, yeah…show me the keypad.”
Lance instructed his boyfriend on how to repeat the sequence, bringing them back to the final warning screen with a few quick taps. Exchanging a wordless nod of reassurance, Keith initiated the 5-minute window once more. Now on the clock, he turned away from the console and trudged back to the pod-filled room. Even though his body still felt heavy with fatigue, the half-Galran marvelled at how light and delicate Lance felt against his sloping shoulders.
“Phoooo…” the Red Paladin let out a shaky breath. “I feel so high up – like I’m on one of those drop rides at the carnival.” His whole body wobbled with each of the ex-Blade’s plodding footsteps.
“Would you like it if I dropped you?” Keith smirked darkly, tightening his hold on his boyfriend’s thighs.
“I’m not even dignifying that with an answer,” he scoffed back. Lance gripped Keith’s shoulders tensely as he clambered back up the hole-riddled chamber.
Reaching the top, the taller boy struggled to pull their combined weight over the lip of the pod. He sunk back lower, before surging forward with enough momentum to haul himself past it. Lance cursed under his breath at the sudden jerk.
“We’re up…” Keith exhaled.
“Thank quiznak...” The brunette groaned back. “So it’s that rectangular panel up there, right?”
The half-Galran nodded. “I barely managed to flick the door open last time, but with you up here to help, I think we’ll be able to gut the whole console. We wanna do enough damage that it’ll be impossible to get the scrambler up and running again.”
Widening his gait for stability, Keith gingerly rose to his maximum height. He felt Lance’s ankles clamp around his waist nervously. “ Ow ,” the ex-Blade grunted.
“Sorry,” the Red Paladin loosened his legs slightly. “I know I said I was high up before, but that was nothing! I’m gonna crack my skull open if I fall from here.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not gonna fall,” Keith patted his boyfriend’s knee reassuringly. “Now, d’you wanna borrow my blade or what?”
“N-nah, I think my fingers are enough.” Lance refocused himself, eyes darting back to the silvery access door. He stretched out his arm, tracing the sharp edge of the panel with his fingernails. Pressing his other palm against the ceiling for stability, the brunette hooked beneath the lip of the door, flicking it open with a twist of his digits. The thin sheet of metal rattled loudly, piercing the anxious hush that had settled over the two.
Lance’s sharp eyes scanned over the inside of the control box, taking in the complex tangle of switches, wires and nodes – several of them blinked softly, like the digital pulse of the scrambler. He ran a careful thumb along one of the connector strips, picking at its edges. He could already tell that everything was bolted in tightly.
“I think we’re gonna need a bit more destructive power to take the pods offline,” the Red Paladin mumbled.
Keith gazed up as best he could, taking in the smaller boy’s observations. However, before he could reach down for the Marmoran dagger he’d collected earlier, a red light flashed across his vision.
Lance squeezed his summoned weapon firmly, a small smile pinching at the corners of his mouth. It felt good to hold his bayard again. His grip shifted slightly, giving way as it transformed into a chunky ion pistol.
“‘Kay, so after I shoot the control box…well, I expect the Galra will come running,” the Red Paladin gnawed at his lip. “We just need somewhere to hide for a few minutes – long enough for the Lions to reach us.”
Keith nodded warily – would the other Paladins even realise how dire their situation was? No, surely Pidge and Hunk would realise that much. So long as the Lions came back online fast enough… “…We can hide in one of the pods. I’m sure they won’t think to check inside straight away.”
“Yeah, that’s good. Just um…sorry, you gonna be ok carrying me?”
“‘Course,” the half-Galran squeezed Lance’s thigh reassuringly. “I’m ready when you are.”
The brunette took a deep breath to steel himself, then carefully wedged his gun between the tangled electrical cables. His trigger finger twitched with anticipation and then – cautiously, apprehensively – he squeezed.
K–TAAAANG!!
The entire ceiling shook from the blast. A hailstorm of sparks sprayed over the two, and Keith felt his footing wobble. Suddenly, there was a sharp hiss. Thick white smoke poured out of the control box, and the ex-Blade was thrown backwards. He felt the smaller boy slip from his shoulders.
Fuck! Fuck!!! Keith contorted himself in the air, desperately grabbing at Lance’s ankles. His clawed fingertips scraped along his leather boot, failing to latch on. He felt his stomach lurch with panic.
Lance’s back hit the floor first. It made a deep slapping sound, like a wet paintbrush on cement. Keith barely caught the way his head threw itself dangerously backwards before he felt his own body collide with the ground, legs crumpling in on themselves like tin cans. The half-Galran did all he could to suppress a scream as he felt something pop in his hip.
Pain flooded into Keith, surpassing the capacity he thought he’d already reached. His leg wasn’t broken, but twisted strangely, out of place. No – dammit, he didn’t have time for this. He balled up his fist, grinding it against the joint until he felt something slip back into place. He wheezed, but finally felt the stabbing sensation cease. Then, he finally glanced over towards his boyfriend. Lance was sprawled out flat on his back, his chest rising and falling at a concerning rate.
“C’mon…Lance,” Keith crawled closer, his eyes scanning up and down nervously. “We’ve gotta hide…the Galran soldiers are gonna know we broke their machine.”
The brunette didn’t acknowledge him; eyes scrunched tightly closed, his lips twitched slightly as if mouthing something. The half-Galran leaned in closer, just barely making out a single-word mantra.
“… Please….Please…Please...”
He sighed flatly – while it was a relief that Lance was conscious, Keith had his concerns for his current cognitive state. He wedged his arms under the Red Paladin, his elbow quickly becoming sticky with blood as it supported the brunette’s limp head. Distantly, the patter of feet rumbled through the halls.
“ Laaaance ,” he groaned. “I just need you to- to sit up a bit…” The last of Keith’s energy had finally been sapped away. His limbs were heavy. But he had to keep going – the footsteps were growing closer.
Keith dragged his boyfriend towards the nearest pod, his trailing feet smearing two bloody lines from the puddle behind them. The half-Galran scrunched up his nose, hoping it had already been there from his fight with Azrith. Reaching the amber-tinted door, Keith propped Lance against his knee. He used his free hand to reach across and tug at the handle.
K-thnk.
K-thnk.
K-K-K-K-K-!
He rattled the door aggressively, but it refused to budge. Keith’s lilac cheeks flushed a dark and angry shade of red. It seemed like destroying the control box hadn’t actually disengaged any of the locks on the chambers. Their only option was one that had already been opened.
…The ground shuddered dangerously.
“Come…on…” The ex-Blade rasped, hooking his hands beneath the smaller boy’s armpits. He mustered just enough strength to hoist Lance upright, slinging the brunette’s arms around his own neck. “Lance, please…I just need you to hang on, ok?”
Although the Red Paladin’s mutterings continued, Keith felt biceps clench a little tighter around his collar. Hugging his own arms around his boyfriend’s waist, he awkwardly staggered back towards the one pod he knew wasn’t locked – rather, he knew the lock had been irreparably mangled in the chaos of his recent fight. He felt his hip click slightly with each plodding step, but pressed on with urgency as Galran chatter echoed through the steely walls. Keith knew that the guards had to practically be on top of them now, each stride becoming a little more desperate, more strained, until–
“ Ghk! ” Keith gasped painfully between gritted teeth, pain sparking up his nerves. His knee buckled under the sudden weight, and both he and Lance tumbled forward. The spattering of orange-tinted glass crunched beneath them, but the sound was swiftly drowned out by the mechanical slide of a door.
At least half a dozen broad-shouldered soldiers stomped into the room, yelling amongst each other in a blend of Galran and common. Keith struggled to catch the few words he knew – ‘intruder’, ‘found’, ‘Commander’…none of it boded particularly well for them.
“… Ah! ” Lance’s eyes jolted open, though one of them remained forced into a half-droop by the bruise blooming from his eyebrow.
Keith hurriedly pressed a finger to the brunette’s lips, shushing him. He barely reacted, murmuring around the digit.
“She heard me…she’s coming– ” Lance’s eyelids fluttered groggily. “–‘s gonna be…o…kay…”
“Wh–hey, don’t pass out on me!” The half-Galran hissed, grasping the boy’s cheeks between his palms and shaking. He felt something cold press against his temple.
“So you’re the ones who’ve been causing all this trouble…” the voice behind him spoke in an unnervingly calm manner, but it couldn’t mask the venom with which he ground the gun stock against Keith’s skull.
Not daring to turn his head, Keith’s slit-like pupils darted to one side. He couldn’t quite make out the figure behind him, but he knew . There was no mistaking the imposing aura pouring off the deep-voiced Galran – this had to be Commander Tharys himself.
“To think two pathetic little gresh like you could wreck the synaptic units so spectacularly – hah!” The Commander scoffed menacingly. “The engineering department have a lot to answer for. Patrol, too…though it looks like you were nice enough to reprimand the General for me already.”
Keith’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. He remained frozen in fear, hands still loosely pressed against Lance’s skin. He felt powerless – he was powerless…was there anything left that he could do? He swallowed dryly. “What…what about us then?” Keith daren’t look the gun-wielding Galran in the eye, squaring his jaw as he continued. “The Kalkarans will be here soon. So will the Paladins of Voltron – you…you won’t get away.”
“Heh, maybe…maybe not,” Commander Tharys snorted, seemingly unfazed by the threats. “Unfortunately you won’t get to find out, what with your brain matter decorating the walls.”
The gun stock was drilled deeper into Keith’s head, and he heard the telltale whistle of an energy beam growing inside the barrel. He clamped his eyes shut and squeezed Lance tighter.
—GWOOOOAAARRRRR…!!
The entire room shook as a distant howl reverberated through the metal walls. The soldiers all turned their heads about in confusion. Even Tharys paused, his brow creased with concern.
“…What on Daibazaal was th–“
A high-pitched screech rippled through Keith’s bones, and the silver panels surrounding him suddenly began to warp and twist. He felt the weapon lift from his temple, the Galran Commander pivoting at the commotion. The half-Galran jerked his head backwards, watching the ceiling bow abruptly inward. Before any of the soldiers could react, the far left wall was punctured by long, silvery claws that effortlessly tore through steel and sentry alike. Orange glass sprayed in every direction as the synaptic chambers were reduced to shrapnel.
As the claws withdrew, a purple-tinted bubble bulged over the gashes – some sort of atmospheric safeguard, Keith assumed, though he still felt the ship’s stuffy air being replaced by the frigid vacuum of space. Goosebumps prickled down his bare skin, but it wasn’t for long – the mystery assailant rammed its paw back into the pod room and swiped blindly at the Galran soldiers.
Lance jolted suddenly in Keith’s arms, causing the ex-Blade to drag his gaze back downwards. As if in total opposition to the carnage before them, the Red Paladin beamed. A frail rasp escaped his lips, barely audible over the pattering gunfire and scraping of metal.
“ Red…”