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"Team. Status report. Now.”
Shiro’s panicked yet steady voice rang through the comms as the dust settled. The Galra had given it their all, and had decided to blow up their base at a last ditch attempt to defeat the paladins.
It had been a basic mission, similar to many others team voltron had gone on - go in, neutralize the base, free the planet, and pick up any intel they found along the way. Zarkon and Lotor were long gone, but the Galra still existed in many places, forcefully keeping a hold onto what was left of their empire.
This Galra base, though, appeared to have way too much destructive pride. When on the edge of losing to the paladins, this group of Galra showed that the Blade of Marmora weren’t the only ones who followed the phrase “Victory or Death.” And with that, they set the the building ablaze. It was suicide for them, but it was their last attempt at revenge towards Voltron.
Shiro had been located near the entrance to the base as the walls began to shake around him. Panic ensued within him as he finally heard the massive bang that came with the movement. Time moved slow for a moment as instinct took him over and he found himself crouched down, his arms protecting his head. Shiro’s senses went numb as the rest of the explosion took its course.
Moments passed before he found himself able to open his eyes, blinking harshly as he tried to keep the dust out. Shiro didn’t even take the time to assess his surroundings, or see if he had sustained any injuries. All he knew was that he was at the edge of the building. The edge of the blast. Where were his teammates?
“Team. Status report. Now.” His breath hitched after he spoke into his helmet. He was trying so hard to stay calm.
It felt like he had waited for eternity before his comm started up again, static indicating a response.
“Hunk here.” Hunk sounded out of breath. “I’m okay… A few bumps and scrapes, but I’m fine.”
Shiro was quick in his response. “Is anyone else with you?”
“No-”
Hunk was cut off by another call coming in.
“T-this-s is Keith.” His voice was off, slurred in a way. It didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
“Keith, is everything alright?” Hunk chimed in.
“I… I must’ve hit my head or… something.”
“What’s your location?” Shiro spoke up.
“I… uh…” Keith was struggling to find words, his head clearly in a mess. “I think… I was… the hallway. Leading to the prison rooms?”
Hunk’s voice snapped in quick, alerted by Keith’s report. “I’m right near there.” Hunk was staying rather calm, despite the dire situation. “I’m on my way buddy.”
Shiro sighed to himself, glad that Hunk and Keith were taken care of. He let his relief that they were both alive overcome his worry of Keith’s condition. But he couldn’t calm quite yet.
He rubbed his left arm over his metallic one, finding a new dent in the metal as he returned to speak over the comms. “Lance, Pidge? Are you there?”
Deathly silence filled the airwaves.
“Lance?” He repeated, hopeful. “Pidge?”
A buzz of static came over the comms, but left as quickly as it came. Shiro wanted to call again, but stopped himself, incase he spoke over something.
“I’m here…”
“Lance?” Shiro replied, panic seeping into his voice in response to Lance’s weak call.
“Yeah I’m…” The pause felt way too long. “I’m here.”
“Lance, what’s your status?” Shiro tried his best to keep his voice steady, but it only resulted in him feeling business-like. It was okay though. He said what he needed to without alarm.
“I’m… stuck.”
Shiro didn’t respond, silently urging Lance to keep speaking. He could hear the blue paladin’s breathing grow quicker through the speakers in his helmet.
“I… I… don’t want to look.” Lance panted, tears mixing into his voice. “If I look, I think I’m gonna freak out.” His breathing grew quicker and shallower with every word.
“Lance.” Shiro stood up, ready to take action. “Lance, I need you to tell me where you are.”
“The communications room.” Lance spoke quickly but quietly.
“I’m on my way.”
Hunk had turned off his comms. He realized that it was a bad idea in a broad perspective, but if he continued to listen to Shiro and Lance’s conversation, he knew he’d no longer be able to keep his cool. As he navigated through the crumbling hallways, he kept reminding himself that Shiro would take care of his best friend. Everything would be okay. He had to focus on finding Keith.
It was amazing how much the building had changed within a matter of minutes. Hunk found himself climbing over and around rubble, trying to find some kind of vague resemblance to the hallways that he had patrolled through just moments before. The path to Keith should have just been a right, then a left, but with fallen walls and ceilings, the road was blocked in more ways than one.
Hunk rounded a corner, and finally, there he was. Keith was slumped against the wall, eyes open, with dust from the explosion settled on his previously white armour. A dark red found itself streaked down the side of his face.
Hunk quickly maneuvered himself to the boy, and crouched at his side. Only now did Keith slowly turn to look at Hunk. But even that much movement seemed too much for the red paladin. Hunk watched as Keith’s stomach clenched and his eyes went fuzzy. He swung his head to the side way too fast, and vomited. Keith then froze, still hunched over to his side. He was too scared to move again. Movement meant pain.
“Keith, hey.” Hunk spoke as he quietly untied his own headband. Keith was uninjured, except for his head. Hunk was sure it was a concussion. How major, he wasn’t sure how to tell. But he at least needed to deal with the bleeding.
Hunk reached out a gentle hand, and placed it on Keith’s cheek. He slowly urged Keith to move his head towards him.
Keith scrunched up his eyes, attempting to resist the movement. He was too weak to resist for long though. Keith sucked in his breath, his best attempt to stop the dizziness he was feeling. Until, he found his forehead resting on Hunk’s shoulder. The red paladin slowly began to allow himself to breath again, as he was now released from the pain of holding his head up.
Hunk let Keith rest against him, as he needed two hands to wrap the headband around Keith’s head. He gently ran his fingers over Keith’s hair, searching for the actual wound.
Keith let out a small groan and a shiver.
“Sorry.” Hunk whispered, and spent a moment rubbing circles into an uninjured part of Keith’s head. Keith’s breathing became more steady with every moment that passed, which made Hunk calmer in turn.
Hunk slowly wrapped the orange fabric around Keith’s head, and tied it tight, applying just the right amount of pressure to the wound. Finishing, Hunk shifted, getting ready to move. This caused Keith to once again groan out of pain and dizziness.
Hunk started to apologize, but stopped himself. He reminded himself that everything was okay. That Keith’s pain wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t like words were going to fix much. Besides, there were more important things to do.
“Hey, Keith?”
It took a while, but eventually Keith let out a quiet, “yeah?”
“This is going to be uncomfortable for a bit, but I’m gonna have to move you. It’s time we got out of here.”
Hunk slowly pushed Keith up and off his shoulder, and back so he could once again lean against the wall. Keith’s eyes scrunched up at this movement, and his breath quickened once more, doing his best not to spew whatever was left in his stomach. Hunk stared at his teammate for a moment, wondering what the best way to make his next move was. He told himself to stop thinking. He just had to bite the bullet and go for it. He reached under and behind Keith, and scooped him up in his arms before either of them had a chance to prepare. This time, Keith barely made a sound to protest. Hunk assumed he had other things to concentrate on.
It took all of Shiro’s effort to not cry out in shock when he found Lance.
He found the boy lying on his front, wide awake, with legs pinned up to the thigh under rubble. The roof and walls of the room had caved down, crushing whatever was in its path, and, unfortunately, Lance happened to be the victim.
“Shiro?” Lance groaned, a small smile appearing on his lips as he craned his neck to look at his leader.
Shiro took a couple deep breaths before approaching him, and sitting down at Lance’s side. He had to stay calm. Shiro kept telling himself this, trying to push out panicked thoughts. Patience yields focus. He knew what he might have to do. There was no need to brood and become frightened over it.
Lance twisted at his waist so his upper body was laying on its side, making it easier to see Shiro. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His instinct was to make a joke, but nothing was appropriate, not now.
“How are you feeling?” Shiro finally spoke, although, he wasn’t really paying attention to his own words. His hands were moving towards his own helmet, getting ready to open a communication.
“I can’t really feel anything.” Lance’s small grin didn’t match the way his voice quavered.
Shiro reached out and grabbed Lance’s hand. He let himself admit that it was more of a comfort for himself than for the trapped boy in front of him.
“Coran?” Shiro spoke into his helmet, hoping to catch the attention of the man who was somewhere outside of this mess. Only static came in return. The crumbling building must’ve been blocking the signal.
A voice did eventually chime through though. It was Hunk. “Shiro? I have Keith. We’re headed your way.”
“Thanks for the update.” That was all Shiro said before he removed his helmet. He felt it was easier to breathe this way, and he certainly needed the extra breath.
He was having trouble thinking straight. He’d have to get Lance out of here, and he was all alone without Coran’s guidance. Hunk was on his way with Keith - what was Keith’s condition? Was he doing okay? And what about Pidge? They hadn’t even heard from her yet. Was she okay? He needed to- he needed to…
“Shiro?” Lance croaked, bringing Shiro back into reality. Shiro noticed that he was squeezing Lance’s hand a little too tightly.
“Sorry bud.”
“My legs…” Lance adjusted his head, keeping his lower body out of his eyesight. “They’re goners, aren’t they.”
Shiro glanced at the wreckage that they were pinned under. He surmised that even if there was a way for him to move a piece of concrete that big, Lance’s legs wouldn’t be able to heal from it anyways.
Shiro closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and nodded. Lance’s legs would have to go.
Lance closed his eyes also, a response that let Shiro knew he was aware of what had to happen. Shiro ran his fingers through Lance’s hair for a moment, ignoring the dust and sweat that existed within it. He noted that Lance’s armour was in the way - he’d have to remove it before he’d be able to amputate Lance’s legs. Shiro accepted that idea. It was a way to avoid the inevitable for just a little longer.
“Let’s work on making you more comfortable,” Shiro sighed, as he began to remove Lance’s armour. Lance slowly twisted his body here and there, trying to make it easier.
Soon, Lance was stripped down to just an undershirt and his shorts, the fabric of his armour having been torn to be taken off of his thighs. Lance shivered and adjusted his head. Shiro had given him the majority of his flight suit to use as a makeshift pillow. The rest was being torn up to use as bandages.
Heartbeats stopped as footsteps were heard. But the two paladins quickly relaxed as they saw who was approaching them. It was Hunk, with Keith resting in his arms.
Hunk stopped at the scene, struggling with how to react. He felt his stomach flop at the sight of his best friend, stuck between tonnes of rubble. He slowly moved to the side and set Keith down. Keith had fallen asleep at some point during the journey. It’s okay, Hunk thought. He doesn’t need to see this.
Hunk turned back around to look at Lance and Shiro. He couldn’t find the words. He felt sweat drops form on his forehead, and his breathing grow unsteady. He had to calm down. He had to calm down.
“Hunk-” Shiro started, but was cut off but Hunk’s quick speech.
“Keith’s okay. He’s just asleep. He’s got a real bad concussion, I think.” Hunk opted to force his brain to think about something other than Lance. He had to. And Keith was something he could handle right now. He HAD handled it. He knew Keith was okay.
Shiro went to reply, and was interrupted yet again, although, this time, not by Hunk. He could hear a muffled noise coming from his helmet at his side.
Before he could pick it up and listen, he noticed Hunk’s eyes light up for a second.
“It’s Pidge.” Hunk exclaimed.
Shiro returned his helmet to his head and listened.
“I’m okay you guys!” The green paladin’s voice rang out joyfully. “I think I was in some kind of deadzone or something. I couldn’t get through to you guys until now.”
Hunk took over Shiro’s job of asking questions. “Where are you?”
“Not sure.” Pidge replied. “I had just left the generator room when this place blew. I can’t seem to find myself an exit.”
Silence fell as the uninjured teammates took a moment to think.
“Hunk.” Shiro spoke up. “Do you think you could go search for her?”
Hunk nodded. He understood Shiro’s thinking. He’d get too emotional if he stayed here. As much as he wanted to stay with his friend, he decided that helping Pidge was the better option for everyone.
Hunk nodded, and turned to leave. “Pidge, I’m on my way down there. Keep talking to me.”
Shiro took a look at Keith, propped against a nearby wall, as he removed his own helmet and listened as Hunk’s footsteps grew quieter. He then turned to Lance. There was no more procrastinating. It had to be done.
Shiro brushed his hand through Lance’s hair one last time before positioning himself closer to Lance’s legs. Lance let out what was half humm, half whimper, acknowledging that it was time.
Shiro had torn the fabric of Lance’s armour into long strips. He grabbed one, balled it up, and pressed it into Lance’s hand. “You can bite on this.”
Lance nodded, but didn’t take action on Shiro’s words. Instead, he just squeezed the balled up fabric in his hand.
At this point, Shiro couldn’t dare to look at Lance’s face. He was already feeling guilty towards the pain he’d cause, even though he’d done nothing yet.
Shiro selected another strip of fabric, and prepared it to tie a tourniquet around Lance’s thigh. Wordlessly, Shiro gave a light squeeze to Lance’s leg, notifying him that the pain was about to begin. He twisted the tourniquet firmly. Lance’s breath hitched, then turned into panting. He groaned as the fabric around his thigh became tighter and tighter.
“Hang in there Lance,” Shiro muttered, not even sure if the injured boy could hear him.
Shiro twisted the tourniquet one last time, ensuring the veins and arteries were as closed as they could be. Lance let out a scream. Shiro panicked to tie off the fabric as quickly as possible, so his hands were free to comfort Lance.
Shiro reached over and grabbed Lance’s hand, allowing his thumb to brush over his knuckles. As Lance’s breathing slowed slightly, Shiro noticed that he himself was holding his breath. He focused on his breath, and counted, taking his time to calm down. This was only the beginning.
The tourniquet on the second leg went just as painfully.
Shiro held his face in his hands, trying to find some grounding. The worst of it was still to come. He wasn’t sure if he could do this. He suddenly felt a hand on his arm, which caused him to pull his hands away from his face.
“Shiro?” Lance’s voice was rough from the screaming and crying. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” It seemed like he wanted to say more, but that was all he was able to think of.
Shiro regrabbed Lance’s hand, but only for a second. He knew he had to do this.
“Please, just go for it.” Lance’s voice peaked up at the end as if it were a question, as if he wasn’t sure what he was saying.
With that, Shiro sunk into himself, into the back of his head. It was all he could do to keep himself sane throughout this process. If he thought about Lance in the moment, they’d never get out of here. All he could do was reassure himself that this was the right thing, and that he’d taken all the measures to ensure Lance wouldn’t die from this.
Shiro activated his mechanical hand, and allowed himself to feel the heat pouring off from it. It was all he had to cut through Lance’s flesh, but it had an advantage - it would cauterize the wound as it cuts. It would be painful, sure, but Shiro just kept reminding himself that Lance wouldn’t bleed out. With this and the tourniquets, he’d be fine.
Shiro all but blacked out for the next few moments. There were loud noises, horrible smells, but anything else, Shiro couldn’t pinpoint. Before he knew it, he sat with Lance curled up in his arms, legless, but free from the rubble.
Lance. He was crying, shivering, whimpering, awake still from the adrenaline that was now slowly leaving his body. Shiro tightened his grip around him, almost scared to let him go. When Hunk and Pidge got back, they’d be able to leave this place. For now though, they were stuck waiting.
Shiro swirled his fingers over Lance’s back, a small attempt at comfort. Lance shivered in response, pressing his head with a tiny bit more pressure into Shiro’s chest. Shiro’s hands stopped when he found a place where he could feel Lance’s heartbeat through his back. He stayed there, timing his breath to the steady beat, and feeling calmer with every one he felt. Everything was going to be okay.
Keith woke up to find himself sleeping in a cot in an unfamiliar room. He attempted to sit up, but that made everything spin. He gave up and stayed down, settling for just rolling his head back and forth to observe his surroundings.
Looking to his right, he saw another bed. In it was Lance. He appeared pale, and was fast asleep.
As the veil of sleep was finally completely disappearing, Keith began to make sense of where he was, and what had happened. He was in some kind of hospital. He found himself able to recall some of the events during the mission - raiding the base. He must’ve gotten hurt at some point. Lance too. But no specifics of the day would come to his mind.
Keith guessed that he was in the care of the locals of the planet they had rescued from the Galra. After all, they no longer had the castle, which meant no healing pods. This would have to suffice.
He knew the others should be around here somewhere. He wanted to go look for them. Keith tried to sit up again, but gave up quickly as he could feel bile rising up his throat. He cursed inwardly. He’d be stuck here until whatever was wrong with his head worked itself out.
But in the end, he didn’t have to go looking for his teammates. They came to him.
Shortly after Keith had woken up, the door to the room opened, and in came Hunk and Pidge. Pidge was carrying a large box that appeared heavy. There was a light, cheerful air surrounding them. They seemed incredibly excited about something, so much so, they nearly missed noticing that Keith was awake.
“Keith!” Hunk cheered, eager to pull the red paladin into a hug, but knew better than to do so. “How’re you doing?”
“Annoyed.” Keith muttered, thinking about how his head was essentially glued to his pillow.
Pidge gave out a small laugh. She had since placed her box down next to Lance’s bed, and had joined the other two paladins. “Well, someone’s a ray of sunshine.”
Keith ignored her and instead looked to Hunk. “What happened?”
Hunk worked to make his explanation casual. “You hit your head kinda hard. But now, the awesome people who live on this planet are helping us out and letting you guys recover.”
Keith rolled his head back to look at the ceiling. “Is Shiro around?”
“Yeah!” Pidge smiled. “He should be here in just a moment. Hunk and I wanna show him our finished product.” Her words trailed off as she realized that Keith didn’t know what she was talking about. Keith didn’t know about any of it.
Pidge looked at the box she brought in, and then to Hunk. The two exchanged glances, agreeing that they both weren’t sure how to tell Keith about this. About Lance.
Hunk backed up and sat on Lance’s bed. The jostle of the mattress moving awoke the sleeping boy.
“Hey Hunk.” Lance groggily spoke.
Pidge and Keith both turned to look at Lance after hearing he was awake.
“Hey bud.” Hunk smiled back.
It had been nearly a week since the events that caused their injuries. Keith had fallen into a long slumber as the swelling in his head went down. Lance, on the other hand, had been awake on and off the whole time. Mostly waking up due to pain.
Everyone’s attentions shifted again as Shiro, followed by Allura and Coran, strolled into the room.
“Looks like the gangs all here!” Coran beamed.
“Alright, how’s it looking?” Shiro asked Pidge as he strolled towards Keith. Shiro sat down on Keith’s bed, sending a smile towards his ‘adoptive’ brother, glad to see him finally awake.
Pidge leaned over, rambling as she removed the contents of the box. “Well, Hunk and I have been working on these all week. Well, since the connectors were installed. Couldn’t design them before we knew how’ they’d be hooking up and all.” She eventually stood up, eager to show everyone what she and Hunk had engineered.
Keith’s eyes widened with confusion and shock when he saw what Pidge was holding up - a bionic leg. By her use of plural pronouns, Keith was sure that a second one also existed.
The legs were gorgeous, solid pieces of engineering, that any amputee would be proud to have. Yet, Keith couldn’t appreciate them for what they were. He needed to know why they were made.
His eyes drifted over to Lance, who was still lying down, a sad smile on his face. Oh no , Keith thought. They were for Lance.
Lance had had his new legs for a while now, but he was only just healed enough to begin walking.
Keith stood next to his bed, ready to provide stability and support. Lance sat at the edge of his bed, feeling more nervous than he thought he should.
“Need some help up?” Keith grinned, adding his usual slightly teasing tone to his words.
“Uh… yeah.” Lance couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed. These were his legs. He should be able to use them just fine.
He looked up to see a hand out in front of him, eager to be held. Lance grabbed Keith’s hand, then changed his mind, reaching up to hold onto his shoulder. Then, with all his might, he pushed himself up into a standing position.
He winced. It hurt. He’d practiced putting weight on his new legs before, but not like this. Lance felt his cheeks become wet. Was he crying? Why?
“Woah, Lance. Easy.” Keith had noticed Lance began to wobble as he started to cry. Keith swung Lance’s arm over his own shoulder, and encouraged Lance to use it for stability.
Despite this, Lance started to become even less unstable.
Keith took the initiative, and guided Lance down to sit back on his bed. Lance began to cry harder, his whole body shaking with each and every breath.
Keith sat down next to him. He felt awkward, not quite sure how to comfort Lance. He silently hoped that either Shiro or Hunk would walk into the room at that moment, and take the responsibility away from him. But alas, no one came.
Keith hesitantly wrapped an arm around Lance, and pulled him into a loose side hug. “Hey, you’re fine. It’s gonna be okay. Give it a little while and you’ll be running around like ever before. You just gotta be patient. It’s gonna take a while but… You’re strong. I know you can do it.”
Lance looked up at Keith through teary eyes, and let out a small smile. “Thank you.”