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Red…
There’s red… everywhere.
Normally, Lance would love to admire Keith in red, but this… this is just wrong.
His fiancé’s chest plate is cracked and in pieces. His black jumpsuit is ripped to shreds. And there’s so much blood.
Lance’s hands shake as he tries to staunch the bleeding from the biggest wound in Keith’s side, but the wound keeps gushing—blood painting his ring, the ring Keith had given him, red—and Lance is scared.
“Keith,” he says, voice shaky. “Baby, talk to me.”
Keith groans loudly. “Hurts,” he replies before coughing hard, blood spraying out of his mouth.
“I know, but the team is coming to get us, okay?” He tries to be calm and steady, but tears threaten to spill.
He wants to be mad. Furious. Keith had pushed the red lion into a direct hit from a canon that Lance was going to take down. Lance had only been able to watch in horror as the protective shield in the red lion’s eyes had fractured, glass flying everywhere.
But Lance can’t even be mad. He’s just terrified.
“Why did you do that?” he asks as tears finally fall, running down his nose before landing on Keith’s mangled chest plate.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
“It, it was goin to hit you,” Keith whispers.
Lance pushes harder on the wound. Keith gasps, but Lance can’t stop doing whatever he can to keep Keith’s blood inside his body. “It wasn’t,” he argues. “It was going to be okay. You’d be okay now!”
Keith coughs again, but brings up a weak hand to place it against Lance’s cheek. “They need... you,” he says.
Lance can’t help the sob that rips from his chest. “But I need you more,” he cries. “You’re supposed to marry me, you asshole.”
“I’m—” Keith starts before another cough rips through him. His hand falls from Lance’s face, but Lance brings it back up, holds it to his heart. Feels the bump of the ring he’d given Keith under his glove. “’m s-sorry, sweetheart,” he finally says.
And then, Keith’s eyes close.
And Lance can only see red.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
-oOo-
Blue…
Keith sees blue… everywhere.
He sees blue like the ocean next to Lance’s childhood home where Lance asked Keith to be his forever. Blue, like the color of Lance’s lion, sure and steady when everything was falling apart. Blue, like the Altean pool where Keith first confessed to Lance that he loved him.
Blue, like Lance’s eyes, filled to the brim with love for Keith.
Blue…
Keith’s favorite color.
He’s content to drift here in this color where he feels safe and secure and loved, but a blazing white light is crashing over him again and again. He hears someone calling his name, begging him to come back, come back, come back, baby please.
And then, Keith slams into awareness, gasping for air as the healing pod hisses open.
Before Keith can fall face first, a pair of warm and steady arms catch him, hold him close, protect him when Keith feels like he could fly apart at the seams.
“You’re okay,” Lance whispers into his hair. “I got you. You’re okay.”
Keith brings shaky arms up to wrap around Lance and presses his ear to Lance’s heart, searching for a sign that he’s alive.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
“Lance,” Keith gasps. “Lance, I’m sorry.” Keith pulls Lance impossibly closer to him, needing to be as close as possible to his fiancé.
“It’s okay,” Lance replies. “If it had been me in your position and it was my life or yours, I probably would have made that same choice.
Keith pulls away slightly, brings a hand up to hold Lance’s cheek in his hand, rubs his thumb along his cheekbone. “I remember…” he starts. “I remember you saying you need me more. I hope you know the same goes for me.”
Lance nods. “I know. It’s just hard when we’re constantly in danger, babe.”
“Well,” Keith says. “I promised to marry you. I intend to uphold that promise.”
Lance reaches up, pulls Keith’s hand down from his face and laces their fingers together. He feels their rings catch against each other, and Keith feels warm all over, remembering the promises they’d made to each other.
“You better,” Lance replies as he stares in Keith’s eyes.
And Keith can only see blue.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.