Chapter Text
The lower snowfield was in full twilight by the time Lance carefully set the Red Lion down beside the wide rift in which the Black lay sprawled. Lance could see the beams of light that swung from a trio of widely separated figures, sweeping over the snow and rock-strewn surface. He climbed down out of the Red and tapping his wrist COM, called to the searchers.
"Guys, come back in – Coran's sending help." Lance forced calm into his tone. "Come on, it's getting cold out there."
"We haven't found him yet, Lance." One of the swinging lights stopped and turned towards him. "We can't wait until help gets here." Allura's voice was hoarse from the cold and from shouting.
"Princess…"
"No!" He could hear her shout over the snow as well as over the COM. "I am not going to wait! He's out here-"
"Allura! He's...he's not here. He couldn't...be alive...after all this time if he’s under this stuff. Especially if he came over the edge of that cliff! Wherever he is, he's not out here anymore, Princess."
He saw the light drop to the ground, and hurriedly began picking his way across the uneven terrain toward her. He slowed as he heard her muffled sobs over his COM. The discarded light threw her profile into shadow, revealing that she'd fallen to her knees and covered her face with her hands. Finally reaching her, he pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms about her, trying his best to both warm and comfort the distraught woman. She buried her face in his shoulder, weeping.
"He's not dead, Lance – I can…feel… him. He's not…" She pulled away and looked at him imploringly. "He's alive, Lance. He is." Her gloved hands fisted in his survival suit. "You have to believe me," she choked.
His heart breaking for her, Lance smoothed his hands over her back and started to draw her back in the direction of the Lions. "Come on back, Princess. We’ve got to get you warm. Your lips are turning blue."
She resisted the pull of his hands momentarily, and then with another half-sob, capitulated. He bent to retrieve the floodlight, and slowly they walked back where Pidge and Hunk stood waiting for them at the feet of the crouching Lions.
******
He woke to cold and pain – blinding, head-splitting pain.
He lay still, feeling the icy-hot of water – or blood – slip slowly across his left cheek and down the side of his neck. Slowly, deliberately, he moved his arms, trying not to grimace at the sharp stiffness of his left wrist and hand.
His right shoulder and cheek were pressed against something hard and rough, and he tried to push himself up and away from the object, only to gasp with agony as he moved his head. He froze, panting, willing the waves of misery to recede. ~Note to self: Don't do that again! ~
He waited until the sparks on the inside of his eyelids dissipated, and eased his shoulder back again, slowly placed his almost-numb hand on what he now realized was a rough tree trunk and gently peeled himself off the bole of the tree.
The left side of his head was on fire.
Keeping his eyes closed, he tried rolling over to a sitting position and bumped into another rock-hard object almost immediately. He stiffened again as the sudden stop sent him back into an anguish-filled haze.
He squeezed his eyes shut, attempting again to banish the throbbing pain in his head and body, breathing through his mouth. He could feel the warmth of his own breath on his face, and the tingling of his toes, fingers, ears and nose in the cold air.
~Got to move. Can't stay here. ~
Little by little, he opened his eyes to indistinct shadows. He blinked. Imperceptibly, the tree that he'd found himself somewhat wrapped around came into focus.
Part of it did, at least.
The trunk was enormous. The rough, braided surface had ridges at least a fingers-length deep, and it curved off gradually in both directions.
He blinked a few more times at the close-up view of the dark bole and then gingerly turned his body to lean against the massive trunk.
Tilting his head back against the uneven surface, he groaned aloud. He felt as if he'd been run over by a stampede.
~What the hell happened to me, and where am I? ~ he thought, foggily. His head throbbed in time with his heartbeat, sounding loud in his ears. ~Oh, yeah. Mountain. Snow. Why is so dark?~
He worked his right glove off – not an easy task considering that his left hand and wrist were not cooperating with the rest of his arm – and tentatively fingered the left side of his head. His ear seems to still be attached – this was a good thing, but it hurt terribly nonetheless – and his hair was wet and matted above it.
He drew his hand away and squinted at his fingers futilely. ~Too dark to see…but I've got to move before I freeze! ~
By degrees, he rose to his feet, gripping the ridged bark tightly. He felt at a lump on his right hip, and bent his knees one at a time. Everything seemed to be working except for his left wrist, and he didn't want to chance stripping the glove off and not be able to put it back on. There was a line of fire across his left jaw, neck and head, as well as across the left side of his chest where he felt torn fabric but no bare skin. He was able to slowly make out object around him as his eyes adjusted to the near total dark. He blinked.
Bare skin. ~Where is my other glove? ~ He looked blankly at his uncovered right hand.
~On the ground where you left it, idiot. ~
Heedlessly, he bent to retrieve the article and immediately retched. Dropping to his knees, he caught himself before he fell headlong, hands on the cold ground, pain shooting up his left arm as his stomach emptied what little it contained into the invisible undergrowth. After long, excruciating moments, he eased himself back onto his heels, leaning dizzily against the steady trunk of the huge tree.
~Oh my god, I'm going to die. ~
His head felt like it was going to split open, and his eyes watered at the agony. He clutched at the rough surface, his body trembling with reaction and pain. He gulped a lungful of the cold air, desperate for his insides to stop heaving.
After what seemed like an eternity, the anguish eased.
~Okay, okay, okay....this is bad. I need to....what? ~
Walking was not going to be an option for a while, but freezing to death was not on the agenda, either.
~Shelter? Let's try that. One thing at a time. ~
Opening his eyes, he very slowly checked out his surroundings. Aside from the giant tree he'd almost been crushed against, the area was littered with chunks of snow, rocks varying in size from pebbles to the size of a horse, and shrub and tree branches, some bare, some still bearing thin needle-like leaves. He could smell the sharp, almost astringent tang of what he thought was maybe…pine?
~Wonder what it's called here...~ his mind wandered. ~Hey! Focus! You can dabble in botany later. ~
Slowly, carefully, and this time with his glove in hand, he dragged himself to his feet.
~I can use the branches as cover until dawn, I guess, but where? ~
He pulled himself around the giant tree, and discovered that it was set on an incline. The down-slope side of the trunk had a sizable gap between where the roots split that was fairly lined with a spongy growth.
~Not a lion's den, but good enough for tonight. ~
That thought brought him up short. ~Lions! Stars, the rest of the team! They're probably looking for me and the Black! ~ He looked skyward, dizzied again, but could barely make out the canopy in the near total dark.
~No way they'd be able to see me through the trees, and no way I can stay out in the open overnight. Need to rest first. No, need shelter first. Branches.~
He gingerly gathered some of the shorter needleleaf branches and set them beside the gap in the tree. Working slowly, he stacked them across the roots of the tree, creating a shelf, and then crawled under them as well as he could, carefully curling up to help sustain what little body temperature he could.
Even that small effort was exhausting, and he leaned against the tree root, drained.
~Early to bed, early to rise...~ he thought, groggily, as the darkness finally overtook him.
******
A loud chhhhirrrp just above his head finally broke through the dark fog wrapping about his senses.
Blinking, Keith peered toward the shape perched on the branch above him. The loose shelter he’d tried to put together the night (?) before had mostly slid down the roots and lay scattered on the ground before him.
The form khraaaa-khraaa’d at him again, and hopped a few inches to one side.
“Why are you yelling at me? I didn’t make this mess.” He groaned as he slowly stretched, unfolding himself from his relatively warm hollow against the tree. The light looked – strange. How long had he slept? Was it morning?
The bird eyed him from its branch and flapped its wings.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Is this your tree?” He felt at his left wrist with his right hand and winced as pain shot up his arm. ~Oh yeah, that’s got to be broken.~ The lower part of his flight suit sleeve and the glove felt almost solid, the flesh underneath was swollen to the point that his fingers tingled as if asleep. Carefully feeling the side of his head and jaw, his hand came away with dark brown flakes of dried blood as he skirted the wounds there. ~Nothing to bind that up with, anyway.~
“At least I only see one of you. No double vision is a good thing, right?” Grasping the long line of the trunk split, he pulled himself to his feet, startling his alarm clock into flight.
“Bye…”
~Not much of a conversationalist, I guess.~ He grimaced as his stomach growled. ~If you were looking for food, I guess I better do the same.~
Steadying himself against his giant guardian, he finally took a look at his surroundings. The tree he’s used as a shelter cast a wide shadow around him, with a few smaller trees and shrubs a few paces away. Littering the space between them were fallen branches, tumbled rocks, scruffy brown grasses, and slushy ice, glittering in the dappled sunlight streaming through the canopy above him.
~It doesn’t feel like morning. How long was I out??~
He let go of the tree, and stood for a moment, taking a deep breath of the thin air. His head still pounded – even blinking hurt – but his legs seemed steady. He stepped out of the shade and peered toward the sun. ~Pretty low angle, I probably slept all day. Great.~ The only sound he heard was birdsong – more of the khraaaa and intermittent cracking. ~Probably nutcrackers. Hmm…nuts…~
He realized that he wasn’t hearing anything but birdsong. No contrails crisscrossed the skies above him. He squinted at the bright blue. Were they looking for him?
~Let’s not think about that. Basics first.~
He noticed that many of the smaller shrubs were actually stunted trees. Most were leafless, or had small green buds starting to erupt along their branches. Here and there was a leafless tree with small, light orange fruit with yellowish spots. Some looked as if they’d been stripped of their fruit, but others still held a few in bunches. ~Rowan? Edible on Earth, don’t know about Arus, though.~
The giant tree he’d sheltered against was one of several within view, and more were growing down slope from his location, and in greater numbers as he expanded his survey. He’d come down in a shallow glen, almost a small bowl gouged out of the side of the mountain about a kilometer across at its widest point, ringed almost all the way around by a high ridge that angled down into a boulder-filled notch at the lower side of the bowl. The floor of the bowl was entirely covered with brown-green plants interspersed with massive firs that reached their dark green branches skyward. Birds flitted from one tall tree to another.
Turning to look upslope, he eyed the broken white and grey terrain. ~I’ll have to go that way to get out.~ He sighed. ~No lack of water here. Ice and snow everywhere.~
He took a step and his knees suddenly wobbled. ~Yikes! Okay, maybe now would not be a good time to walk. Let’s get some snow, and maybe a fruit, and some shade.~
Gathering his ‘meal’, he tottered back to his tree and sank back down against the trunk. ~I’ll just sit here for a minute and close my eyes.~
A moment later, he was asleep again.