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Lance falls backwards and hits the floor hard, knocking the wind out of him. He’s been sparring for an hour and has already lost count of how many times his shoulders have been pinned to the mat. It takes him longer than usual to catch his breath between falling and the weight of another body on top of him. He manages to squeak out the word yield before feeling his sparring partner stand.
“What’s wrong Sharpshooter? Can’t handle a little sparring?” Keith taunts as he watches Lance stand up and shake the cobwebs out of his head.
Lance asked for help with sparring, not to be humiliated. For all the time they’ve been training, Keith has barely even broken a sweat.
“Screw you Mullet.” Lance growls as he lunges for Keith, hoping to gain the element of surprise. It somehow worked and he manages to spear Keith in the stomach with his shoulder, taking them both to the ground. In a mess of limbs, Lance scrambles to try to pin Keith’s shoulders to the mat. Just as he thinks he’s successful, he finds himself airborne and upside down. Lance groans as he feels the familiar weight of Keith pinning his shoulders to the mat.
“Fuck!” Lance yells as he hits the ground. “Yield.”
Keith stands and holds out his hand to help Lance up. “Wanna call it a day?”
Lance grabs Keith’s hand and climbs to his feet. “Not yet. How about you put your money where your mouth is?” A sly grin makes its way across his tired face.
“What do you mean?” Keith tilts his head, confused by what Lance is asking.
“I mean, we both know you can kick my ass in hand to hand. But what if we spar with our bayards? There’s no way you can beat me then.” Lance knows that if he can keep his distance from Keith he can win. How hard can it be to do that?
“You’re on.” Keith laughs.
Not knowing how the training session was going to go, both men had already brought their armour and bayards with them. They walk over to the corner that their equipment is piled in and begin to change for the next challenge. Once they’re both changed, they make their way to opposite ends of the training room. Activating their bayards, they both get into a fighting stance to prepare themselves. All it takes is a nod from each of them to signal they’re ready before they both start moving.
Keith of course makes the first move as he charges Lance with his sword ready to strike. Lance laughs to himself at how predictable Keith can be. He lifts his rifle and starts shooting at Keith, trying to make sure this doesn’t go longer than it needs to. Keith is able to dodge Lance’s shots easily, but it causes him to have to slow down in his approach. There’s nothing to hide behind so Keith takes advantage of what little he does have. He ducks and rolls around Lance’s shots and uses the walls to help him change directions quickly. Soon, Lance is in the center of the room and still mostly successful in keeping Keith at a distance. At best, he’s grazed Keith with a couple of shots, but nothing to celebrate about. There’s been a few close calls where Keith’s sword almost hits Lance, but he’s able to use his longer limbs as an advantage and get away.
Getting frustrated, Keith can feel fatigue start to set in. His movements are becoming slower the more he dodges Lance’s attacks. Due to the lack of movement on his part, Lance has his second wind and is able to move like they had never sparred before this. He can see Lance slowly starting to close in on him and try to corner him. Not paying attention to his surroundings, Keith trips over his own feet and stumbles. Seeing the opportunity, Lance is able to shoot Keith in the chest before he hits the ground. The shot causes Keith to fall to the ground and drop his bayard.
As the impact of the shot and the ground hit him, Keith can feel something changing. He recognizes the sensation and quickly realizes that his Galra side is starting to take over him. Normally it’s only happened in high stress situations, but never while training. As his body starts getting warmer, Keith kneels on the ground and throws off his helmet. He curls into a ball with his forehead on the cool floor. The heat in his blood is overwhelming and the violent disposition that Galra are so known for takes over his head. “Fuck….not now. I have to stop this. I could really hurt Lance.”
“Gotcha Mullet!” Lance start celebrating when his shot makes contact with Keith. Before he can continue, he sees Keith rip his helmet off and toss it across the room. He notices that it looks like Keith is in pain as he’s walking towards him. “Keith? You ok man? Are you hurt?” He knows his rifle isn’t powerful enough to cause that much damage to the Paladin armour with just one shot. Deactivating his bayard, Lance continues to check on Keith.
The sounds of Lance’s footsteps make it to Keith’s ears. “Lance stop! Don’t come near me!” Keith can’t have Lance getting too close to him right now. He’s still not able to control himself when this happens. “Go get Shiro! Now!” He knows that Shiro is the only one strong enough to keep him from hurting anyone.
Keith’s words make Lance stop in his tracks. “What’s going on Keith? Do you need a healing pod?” Letting his concern and curiosity get the better of him, Lance takes a few more steps towards Keith. He hears a low growl rumble in the air and Keith slowly lifts his head to glare at him. Keith’s skin has a purple tinge to it and his pupils are two black slits with the rest his eyes glowing an eerie shade of yellow. Lance has seen from a distance what can happen when Keith’s Galra side takes over like this. He’s never been this close and knows why Keith told him to get Shiro. Knowing it’s too late to run, Lance starts backing away slowly and hopes that Keith won’t see him as a threat.
“Keith. It’s me Lance. Come on, I know you’re still in there.” Lance’s voice quivers, not being able to hide his fear.
His hopes are dashed as Keith is unable to control himself and lunges at Lance. Luckily Lance is able to dodge and put a bit of distance between them. This doesn’t last long since the transformation causes Keith to be faster than normal. Keith is able to close the distance between them quickly and is able to grab hold of Lance’s chest plate and push him into the nearest wall.
Knowing that strength isn’t his strong suit, Lance falls back to what is, talking. “I know you’re still in there Keith. You can fight this.” He tries to talk Keith down, hoping that human Keith is able to hear him. Lance breathes a sigh of relief when he feels Keith’s grip start to loosen. Before he can react, Keith is able to activate his bayard and holds the tip of the sword to Lance’s throat. Trying to stay calm, Lance keeps talking to Keith. “Keith, this isn’t you. I know you’re still in there. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
Keith tightens his grip and touches the tip of his sword to Lance’s neck. At first, he can’t understand what Lance is telling him, anything that’s said just sounds garbled to his ears. But the longer he looks at Lance, the more he starts to understand what he’s saying. First, he can see the fear in Lance’s eyes, then he hears the concern in his voice. Soon he can distinguish the voice as Lance’s and hears him pleading with Keith to fight his Galra side, to not let it consume him. Hearing Lance speak gives him something to focus on as he fights to regain control. Keith closes his eyes and lowers his head so he can better concentrate on Lance’s voice.
Lance isn’t sure if talking is even working, he stays silent for a moment, not wanting to make things worse. Keith can feel himself start to slip when Lance stops talking. “Don’t stop. Keep talking.” He manages to growl as he tries to keep fighting.
Lance smiles, knowing that Keith can hear him. “You can do this Keith. I refuse to hurt you and I know that you won’t hurt me.” The more Lance talks, he can see the purple tint leave Keith’s skin, slowly letting his normal pale skin come through. Lance wants nothing more than to touch Keith, to let him know he’s still here, but he knows it’s still too dangerous to try. Lance drops his voice to a whisper, “Please Keith. Please come back to me.”
Keith lets out a low growl as he keeps trying to lessen the amount of power his Galra side has over him. He can hear Lance whispering to him, encouraging him to keep fighting. He can feel his body start to cool down, knowing that means his skin colour is returning to normal. Once he feels like he’s in control again he opens his eyes and looks at Lance. Their eyes lock instantly as Lance never took his eyes off Keith.
The first thing that Lance can see are Keith’s eyes slowly returning to normal. His pupils are back to their round shape and the yellow is starting to disappear, returning back to their purple hue. “That’s it Keith. Keep fighting. You’re almost there.”
Keith is silent until he can feel himself return to normal. “Lance. I-I…” He’s so focused on Lance’s face that he doesn’t realize that he’s still holding his sword to Lance’s throat.
Lance smiles when he sees that Keith is back in control of himself again. “Before you continue, let’s take care of this first.” He carefully pinches the blade of Keith’s sword between his fingers and moves it away from his throat.
His eyes grow wide as he watches Lance move his sword away. “What the fuck? Oh my god.” Keith drops his sword and it clatters to the ground. He lets go of Lance and steps away from him quickly. Dropping to his knees, Keith realizes what could have happened if Lance wasn’t able to help him. “Lance, I’m sorry. I couldn’t control it.”
Without warning, Lance is on the ground with Keith and hugging him. “Shh. It’s ok. I know you weren’t in control.” The only response Lance gets is a small whimper and Keith gripping him tighter.
“Why didn’t you leave when I told you to? I could’ve killed you.” Keith asks with his face still buried in Lance’s shoulder. “Shiro is the only one strong enough to hold me down and make sure I don’t hurt anyone.”
“I didn’t leave because I know you’d never hurt me.” Lance tells him. “I knew you were still in there and I had to help you fight. Shiro’s not always going to be around, I need to know that I can help you when he’s not around.”
Keith holds on to Lance and can’t imagine anyone else being able to talk him through what he just went through. “Thank you.”