Work Text:
“Keith, please. Hang in there.”
Lance wrapped his arms tighter around the red paladin, trying to give him as much warmth as he could muster. Keith let out a weak shiver, and nuzzled his head into the crook of Lance’s neck, welcoming in Lance’s body heat.
Lance slipped his hands up and under Keith’s shirt, trying not to think too much about how cold the skin of Keith’s back was.
Keith groaned in response to the added physical contact.
“Hey.” Lance started, his voice in a low whisper. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.”
Lance slowly shifted his position, leaning back onto the wall of his lion, and pulling Keith even closer to him as he did so. He then adjusted the thin blanket that lay over the boy in his arms, tightening the cocoon. Lance cursed to himself. When the other’s found them, he’d make sure there were more supplies in the lions to handle this kind of situation. One measly blanket wasn’t enough.
Lance instinctively looked up to view the outside world, but it was no use. Everything was down. From the crash landing to the storm raging outside, Lance doubted the red lion would be up and running anytime soon.
“Keith? Keith!? Can you hear me?” Lance began to panic. He had witnessed his teammate crash on this planet along with him, but he couldn’t contact him. Were the comms even working? “Keith?! Are you there?”
Lance decided that shouting into his helmet wasn’t going to solve anything anymore. So he went to action. He pressed the button to seal the face of his helmet, and headed down towards the gangway. He’d have to face the storm.
The wind hit him like bricks as he opened his lion’s mouth. The cold went straight through his armour and into his bones. He knew he couldn’t last long in this weather. He’d have to move fast.
Lance pressed into the piece of armor that protected his lower arm, activating his radar. In this moment, he thanked Pidge for installing it. He needed to look for heat signals - for signs of life - for Keith.
The beep of the radar was painfully slow, not yet finding anything. Lance started to move despite this. He needed to find him. Suddenly, a small light appeared on his radar. Lance’s heartbeat rose, eager to get going. He knew where Keith was now. He just had to get through this storm.
The walk wasn’t easy. The wind was stronger than Lance had ever experienced, and nearly knocked him over a few times. But he couldn’t fall over. For if he did, he feared he’d be engulfed by the powdery snow, unable to ever get up again.
He walked, trusting the radar was giving him the right directions. He saw nothing but white, until, a glimpse of a darker color appeared before him. The black lion. As Lance got closer, he could see that it was worse for wear. The glass windows of the cockpit were broken, allowing all the elements in. Lance’s breath hitched. He had to get to Keith. Fast.
Inside the cockpit was a sight to see. Keith lay there, surrounded by the snow soaking through his suit. He was unmoving.
Panicked, Lance moved close to him. “Keith?” He lay a hand against his teammate’s cheek. It was ice cold. Thoughts began to swirl around Lance’s mind. He couldn’t be too late. He couldn't. He’d never forgive himself.
Movement against his hand, followed by a small mumble took Lance back from out of his head.
“Keith?”
Keith’s eyes fluttered open, looking up sleepily at the boy in blue. “Lance?” He responded, his voice hoarse.
“Oh thank god.” Lance spoke to himself. Keith was okay, but not for much longer. He needed to get him back to the red lion, away from the elements.
Keith hadn’t said or even moved much since that moment. It was obvious he needed to conserve all the energy he had left. Lance wished for the others to find them fast. Keith was still losing heat, despite all Lance had done to conserve it. He had to strip Keith down to just his undershirt and shorts, removing his armour, which was soaked cold and wet by the snow. He’d wrapped him up in a blanket and hugged him tight, but without his lion working, there wasn’t much else he could do.
He knew the others were coming. They had to be. All of them were together before he and Keith took their crash landings. They must’ve seen the two lions go down. But who knows how long it would take them to locate them. With the battle possibly still going on up above, and the storm going on down below, luck wasn’t exactly in their favour today.
Lance moved his hands to Keith’s upper arms and shoulders, rubbing them up and down, generating a measly amount of heat. “You still with me buddy?” Lance murmured, hoping Keith hadn’t fallen into sleep or unconciousness.
A small hum of acknowledgment came from the freezing boy. Lance smiled down at Keith, happy to know he’s still there.
“M’cold.”
Lance felt a slight pang of surprise at Keith’s words. It was the first thing he had said since uttering Lance’s name back in the black lion.
“I know.” Lance said, not sure how else to reply. He began to move his hands slightly faster, creating more friction and heat.
Lance wasn’t quite sure of any specific details as to how cold affected the body. He wanted to take Keith’s words as a sign that he was slowly getting better, but Keith was still barely even shivering. He lacked the energy to even attempt to generate his own heat. Lance instead found himself shivering. The cold had been slowly but surely making its way into the powerless lion, and Lance was giving away much of his body heat to Keith. Lance promised himself that he’d be fine. He could survive a little bit of cold. It wasn’t anything near as bad as what Keith was feeling right now. He did begin to worry though. The colder he got, the less body heat he had to share.
Lance moved to adjust the thin blanket once again, this time, partially covering himself with it too, a sorrowful attempt to keep his body heat from escaping him and his teammate.
Lance looked down to see that Keith had closed his eyes, and he could feel his breath as it blew across his neck in tiny puffs. It wasn’t warm. He also noticed how pale Keith was in this moment. Lance could almost see the chill in Keith’s cheeks, and prayed that he was just imagining the hint of blue in his skin.
Lance slowly raised a hand out from under the blanket, and placed it over the side of Keith’s face that was open to the air. He could feel Keith twitch under the contact, wishing to push into the warmth of Lance’s hand, but not having the energy to do so. Lance reveled at the tiny movement. It was a sign that Keith was still fighting.
Time passed of the two just sitting there in silence, cold and waiting.
Lance opened his eyes. I didn’t know how long he and Keith had been sitting there. He hoped he hadn’t actually sleeped, but the tiredness he felt was real. Some kind of rest must’ve forced itself upon him. He tightened his grip around Keith and shut his eyes again, silently wishing for time to pass quicker, for their rescue to arrive faster, and for Keith to be away from this pain as soon as possible.
He drew his attention to Keith. He could feel his breath, quicker and shallower than it had been before. He forced himself to once again open his eyes, and examine the boy before him. He was sweating. Profusely. Lance reached up out of instinct, and wiped some of Keith’s sweat matted hair off of his face. This couldn’t be good.
“Keith?” Lance’s voice echoed ominously throughout the lion’s bay, the first sound in what felt like forever.
Keith didn’t respond.
Lance’s mind began to wander. Keith shouldn’t be sweating, right? He’s supposed to be cold right now.
It was almost out of nowhere that Keith swung his arm out, pulling the blanket off of himself.
“Keith?” Lance once again called out his name.
“It’s too hot.” Keith groaned as he struggled to pull himself into a seated position, creating space between him and Lance.
“You-” Lance stumbled over his words, not exactly sure what was happening. “You know that’s not true.”
Lance reached out to touch Keith’s forehead, wanting to fell for his temperature. Keith jerked back, reacting to Lance’s hand as if it was made of hot coals. He gave in quickly though, allowing the space to disappear between forehead and hand.
Lance shivered at the touch. Keith was still ice cold. “Keith,” he started, “you need to wrap yourself back up. You’re still-”
“BUT I’M NOT!” Keith suddenly burst out, starting into tears. “I’m burning- I-I’m burning up.” Keith’s frame shook with every breath he took. Each and every heave in and out seemed to take something out of him. His tears, while clearly there, were few and far between.
Lance leaned forward, wanting to somehow help Keith. He wasn’t sure what to do. His usually closed off teammate was now pouring out emotions, and was obviously not healthy either.
“Fuck.” Lance muttered, and then went to wrap his arms around Keith. “C’mere.”
Keith struggled for a short moment, then gave in. He was too weak. There was nothing he could do to stop Lance’s warm embrace.
Lance held Keith there as tight as he could, almost as if he let go, the world would crumble around him. He could feel Keith’s shuddered breath under his arms and against his chest. He reached up and laced his fingers through the long ends of Keith’s hair, hoping to provide some kind of stability - emotional, warmth, whatever that may be.
“Too hot…” Keith let out, but it was almost a whisper.
Lance leaned down, burying his nose into the top of Keith’s head. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.”
Keith let out one final shudder, and then, almost as quickly as it came, his tears and ragged breath subsided, replaced by small, barely there, shallow pants.
Lance lifted his head in a light panic. “Keith?” he whispered. He gently nudged the side of Keith’s cheek, hoping it would elicit a response. But there was none. Keith was out cold.
Lance froze, not sure what to make of this new event, or what his next moves would be. All he could really do was continue what he was doing - keep Keith warm and wait. He reached over and grabbed the blanket that Keith had strewn aside, and brought it back over the red paladin’s shoulders. Lance then wrapped his arms back around Keith, and pulled him as close as he could. Keith’s breath and heartbeat were quiet, but at this vicinity, Lance new that Keith was still there - was still alive. They’d just have to wait it out.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too much longer before Lance heard a rumble from outside the lion, and through the storm. His helmet, left on the pilot’s seat, surged to life as static sounded through the comms.
“L-nce? -eith? Can - -ear me?”
It was a messy signal, but Lance new the voice. It was Allura. Their rescue was here.
Lance didn’t even bother getting his helmet to reply. He needed to stay with Keith. He needed to keep him warm. Only for just a little while longer.
And then, everything would be okay.
Lance turned his head back down to Keith, and whispered to unhearing ears. “Everything’s gonna be okay. We’re okay.”