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Chapter Text

No POV:

Keith blinks slowly as he starts to wake up. There’s a pounding in his head, and he hurts all over. He’s surprised when he realizes that he’s inside the cockpit of the red lion. Why would he be asleep here of all places? Keith shifts with a groan. He looks down at himself and becomes more confused as he sees his paladin gear on. The only thing missing from him is his helmet, lying a few feet away from him on the other side of the cockpit.

“The hell..?” Keith mutters as he looks around in confusion, willing his mind to try and remember what happened.

Then it all comes back to him.

Voltron had been trying to help a planet who had sent out a distress signal, but there had been more Galran ships than they were expecting. Lance went down first, taking a hit that was meant for Pidge. Then Shiro flew down to try and catch Lance because he wasn’t responding, but he was shot down on the way. And Keith got overwhelmed with both Lance and Shiro falling, while trying to stay in battle, that he got hit by too many things and the red lion powered down. From the looks of it, red was back online, but the lions were not built to communicate from the planet.

You see, the planet had a specific type of protection layer, and Pidge had mentioned how it would knock off any of their comms if they went down too close to the planet because they had no time to adjust the communicators to handle it. Keith is pretty sure Pidge and Hunk would be forced to retreat so they can think of a plan to get everyone back without being shot down too, and since they can’t communicate… The three of them were stuck down here with only each other and the life on the planet. And the Galra. This was not good.

Keith crawls over to his helmet and puts it on. He sets a hand over the comm button and calls out to the mutual one, “Lance? Shiro? Anyone?” No one answers him though. Keith sighs and walks to the front of the cockpit and stares out to see his surroundings. He can tell the red lion landed in a bunch of tall trees, and that it’s surrounded by vines that keep it in the air. It probably helped his landing which is why he isn’t as injured as he probably should be. Keith does feel like his whole body is a bruise, and he thinks he hit his back harder on something, but he doesn’t appear to have broken anything. He hasn’t checked his ribs yet though, but he hopes they are only cracked.

He continues looking at his surroundings when he spots something blue and shiny not too far away from him. It looked to be something just peeking out of the lake in front of him, as if something was submerged by the lake wasn’t deep enough to have the whole thing under the water. Keith makes his helmet zoom in onto the object, and he gasps as he realizes it’s a part of the blue lion. The blue lion landed in the water, and Lance wasn’t responding to him. That wasn’t good. An image of Lance passed out in the blue lion’s cockpit as water flows into it comes to Keith’s mind, and his determination and fear spikes.

Red opens the latch and Keith flies out, using his jetpack. He changes between flying and running on the way there, trying to keep his stamina but knowing that running seemed to be faster here. He thinks his jetpack got busted a bit during the fall and it wasn’t letting out the normal amount of boost it usually did. It takes four minutes for Keith to get to the lake, but he hesitates to jump in. He definitely wasn’t the best swimmer. He had gotten lessons in the Garrison, and paladin training had strengthened them and trained him for specific swimming conditions, but he still didn’t trust himself completely.

But right now he was the only thing that could possibly be keeping Lance alive. And he would rather die trying to save one of his teammates than just sitting around because he’s worried about his mediocre swimming.

Keith dives into the water without a second thought.

He squints his eyes, trying to see around the murky water. He turns on the light from his helmet and swims around the lion. The blue lion had absolutely no lights on, meaning it was completely powered off. That wasn’t an amazing sign.. It was hard to tell what side of the lion Keith was on, but he eventually makes his way to an emergency hatch on the top of the lion’s head. All paladins had the passcode to open the emergency hatch from the outside, so Keith puts it in and opens it. He frowns as he sees that the hallway the hatch leads to was already filled to the brim with water, because no bubbles come up when he lifts the door to the hatch. Keith sighs and swims into the lion.

Keith swims around the lion until he gets to the cockpit, which was also filled to the brim with water. He finds Lance just floating around in the water, paladin gear obviously broken because there weren't any of the emergency lights on his armor. Keith also notices the alarming lack of helmet on Lance, and he sees it broken near the control panel. It wouldn’t have been much help either way from the looks of it. But that means Lance has just been swallowing in all the nasty lake water. Keith’s eyes widen and he quickly swims over to Lance, grabbing his arm and beginning to swim back to the emergency hatch and out of the lake.

The two of them get to the alien sand and Keith takes off Lance’s broken chestplate. He checks his pulse and grits his teeth when he doesn’t find anything, even though he was already expecting that. He sets his hands over Lance’s chests and begins to do CPR. He counts to thirty and then gives Lance two breaths. Lance doesn’t respond. Keith grits his teeth harder and begins to do a second round of CPR, counting to thirty again. He flinches as he breaks Lance’s ribs, but he keeps going. He gives another set of two breaths and waits just a second before starting the third round of CPR. This time, Keith only gets to number 22 when Lance sputters and coughs out water. Keith lets out a relieved sigh as he helps Lance turn to the side so he can let the water out easier, rubbing his back to soothe him.

Lance groans and curls up. His eyes squeeze shut tightly as he processes how his body feels. Keith lets him have his moment. But then Keith speaks up, “Lance, can you hear me?” The man in question groans again and nods his head. Keith smiles and begins to actually look Lance over for any other injuries. He frowns as he sees how Lance’s leg looks. It’s definitely broken. And Lance’s left shoulder seemed dislocated. Keith sighs softly and asks, “What’s your pain scale?”

“What do you think?!” Lance snaps back. Keith rolls his eyes and pats Lance on the hip, silently telling him to give him a real answer. Lance grunts and shifts a bit, whimpering softly in pain. “A 10/10..” Lance says as he bites his lip. Keith’s gaze softens as he looks at his teammate. He’s not sure what he can do to help Lance, especially without Shiro here. Shiro being here would be better because one person can carry Lance, or just take care of him at a camp, while the other can fight or go look for things. But it was only the two of them until they find him.

“I’m gonna go find something to bind your leg, I’ll be right back. Stay alert.” Keith says, waiting for Lance to nod his head in agreement, and then he rushes away to the forest that was closer to the lake than where the red lion was. Why couldn’t I have just landed there, Keith thinks. He looks around the floor of the forest and finds a few sturdy branches. He also grabs some vines and leaves so he can actually connect the branches to Lance’s leg. He knows he has some rope somewhere in his lion, but it’d be better to just use this for now.

After he grabs everything he needs, he goes back to Lance and kneels down next to him again. He smiles when he sees that Lance was still awake. But he can see that it was taking a lot out of him to try staying aware. “Okay, here we go.. This is gonna hurt.” Keith mentions to Lance, then begins to bind his leg. Lance bites onto his head to try and distract himself. Once Keith is done, he leans back and admires his work. It definitely wasn’t the best thing in the world, but he’s kind of proud of it? “How’re you feelin’?” Keith asks. He just receives a look from Lance that tells him everything he needs to know. Keith looks away, glancing towards Lance’s shoulder instead. “I’ll have to reset your shoulder too.” He says, wincing as he hears Lance let out a mix between a whine and groan.

“Just do it.” Lance says, taking a deep breath. Keith nods his head and helps Lance sit up because he knows it’ll be easier that way. He’s had to reset his shoulder a few times, and he knows the other paladins would have their shoulders reset a few times as well, so they are used to them, but they still hurt like a bitch. It’s war. A dislocated shoulder is actually mild to the injuries they usually get. A dislocated shoulder is like a common cold to Voltron.

Keith starts to count to three, but sets the shoulder slightly after. Lance lets out a yelp of pain and tries to curl up again, but Keith doesn’t let him. “Careful! We don’t want to move your splint. It’s pretty good, but just in case, y’know?” Keith says as he rubs Lance’s arm. Now the next thing they need to do is find Shiro. Easy enough, Keith thinks.

It’s not like they’re on a planet as big as Earth and the lions will just get them captured more easily.

Chapter Text

No POV:

Keith makes sure Lance stays conscious while the two of them trek through the forest. Lance is on Keith’s back in a piggyback hold. He can’t hold onto Keith that tightly because of his broken leg and his one shoulder that was still recovering from being relocated, but Keith makes up for it by holding onto him tightly instead. Keith gave Lance the task of keeping an eye out for anything dangerous, and to keep his bayard in his hands. He didn’t particularly like the fact he was making his injured teammate take on that responsibility, but it would help Lance stay awake, so it’ll have to do.

The forest is thick with vegetation of many different colors. It was as if an imaginative child colored in a forest on Earth. It made it easier to see the different parts though, so they know what to avoid and whether something moves or not. Luckily, nothing harmful has shown up yet. But that might change as soon as it turns to night. At least they’ll have a few more hours until that happens. And if they find Shiro, they can make a camp somewhere easier or even just stay in the black lion for a night if that’s what is best. Depends on where he landed. It can’t be open, or else the Galra would be able to find it easier. And who knows what the locals are like.

Keith grunts as he steps up onto a log and carefully walks over the water below. It would probably hurt if they fell, but at least it wasn’t a cliff. Lance glances at Keith as he leans against a tree and pants. “Maybe we can stop for a few minutes?” Lance says, a slight frown on his face as he sees how Keith carrying him while traversing the rough terrain was taking a lot out of him. Keith thinks about Lance’s offer for a few seconds and then nods his head.

“Good idea.” Keith agrees as he gets onto his knees and gently sets Lance down, leaning him against the tree. He sits next to Lance once he’s done making sure he’s in the right position. The two of them sit together in silence for around ten minutes. Eventually, Keith was starting to get antsy. He knows the break was good for the both of them, but the sun was going to set in two hours. They didn’t have time to be resting for too long. Keith looks over at Lance, “You ready to continue?”

Lance hums, nodding his head. Keith grunts as he gets up and then crouches down in front of Lance. He gently pulls Lance off of the tree, holding under his knees and then standing up once Lance wraps a single arm around his neck. He waits as Lance gets situated on his back. Once Lance gives him a nod, Keith begins to continue walking through the alien forest.

Around an hour later, Keith glances back at Lance as he sees him swallow for the third time in the past five minutes. “You okay?” Keith questions. He doesn’t stop walking, but he does slow down a bit so he can focus on Lance more than trekking through the dense forest. The sky was starting to darken a bit from the sun lowering, but Keith knows they still have about an hour until he would be forced to begin making a camp for the night. Or continue on in the darkness if Lance was up for it.

Swallowing again before he replies, Lance sets his head against Keith’s helmet. Keith hadn’t bothered to grab Lance’s helmet because he knew it was broken and he was more worried about making sure Lance didn’t die by drowning. “Throat’s dry..” Lance says. Keith hums and looks around the forest to see if there is a water source nearby. He probably should’ve grabbed the emergency water from the red lion before they got too far away from it, but he can wallow in those thoughts once he found Shiro and they were all mostly safe. Mostly just because they’re still stuck on an alien planet where they don’t know any of the locals or predators and the Galra are actively trying to take it over and probably know they’re down here somewhere. So yeah; mostly will be good enough.

Keith sighs as he sees no water nearby. “I’ll stop if I see any water, but we have to continue.” He says, leaving no room for argument. And luckily, Lance knew Keith was right and decided not to try and fight about it. You would think he wouldn’t be thirsty after swallowing a lot of water from the lake, but he is. It confused Lance to no end. He probably should be focusing more on their surroundings and staying awake instead of the logistics of drowning, but here he was.

They continue onwards for about twenty more minutes until Keith hears the sound of rushing water nearby. He looks around and grins as he sees a river between a few trees. He immediately shifts his course and walks over to the river. Once arriving, he frowns as he realizes there isn’t a way for him to continue holding onto Lance while also collecting the water. He looks around the area and finds a big enough rock, setting Lance against it carefully and then grabbing the emergency water pouches on his belt. It has a built-in filter, so he doesn’t need to worry about Lance drinking the purple alien river water. His helmet also automatically scanned it and deemed it safe for them to drink anyway, so anything unsafe like parasites would be purified if the planet had stuff like that in the rivers.

Once Keith collects the water, he goes back to Lance and hands him a pouch. “You can drink this in five minutes, let me know if you need more.” Keith mentions as he picks Lance back up in the piggyback and quickly follows the river until they reach the edge of the forest. By the time they do reach the edge, the sun is only about fifteen minutes until setting. The next biome looked to be fully rock. And about 400 feet away was the black lion. Keith smiles in relief as he sees it. Lance looks up from Keith’s shoulder as he feels him stop randomly, eyes widening as he realizes that they found the black lion.

Keith frowns as he looks at where the lion is. He knows taking Lance over there was a stupid idea, and would just put both him and Shiro at risk, but he also didn’t like the idea of just leaving Lance at the edge of the forest. He looks around and sees a hidden spot near the edge of the forest, but still deep enough to not be classified as the rock biome. He walks over and sets Lance there, covering him up with the foliage and some dirt. He didn’t really want any of Lance’s wounds to get infected, and this definitely might make that chance higher, but it was better than being kidnapped by Galra, locals, or eaten by a predator, so this’ll work.

“I’m going to go get Shiro, you stay quiet and only fire your weapon if you need to. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Keith says, waiting for Lance to nod before rushing off towards the black lion. The lion itself was lying on its side and had a bunch of scrapes on it. There was broken rock around it, and it definitely made a new caved-in area where it landed. Like Earth’s moon. (Idk, please tell me you guys see the vision.)

The red paladin frowns as he thinks about how rough the landing must’ve been. He doesn’t know if Lance’s landing was rough or not, but he assumes it was because of how much water had splashed around the lake. It seemed to fill up quickly though. Keith isn’t sure how that happened. Maybe there were waterfalls, or maybe the locals keep the lake filled on purpose and have like underground water tubes that fill it with water when it runs low? Who knows. Keith didn’t bother checking around the lake to figure out. Maybe he can ask about it once they meet some locals. He’s sure the people in the main kingdom are probably nice enough. He’s more worried about the people who don’t. There’s always some sort of rebel group on planets like these.

Keith turns on his jetpack and jumps into the air, going up until he gets to the top of the lion's head. He had to land on the side of it because the emergency hatch was currently not the top as the lion was on its side. He’s sure he’ll be able to figure it out. Keith jumps down and turns on his jetpack again so he stays next to the hatch, putting in the code and opening it. It’s hard to walk through the lion because of it being on its side, but Keith does end up getting to the cockpit quicker than he did in the blue lion. Probably because of the water or something.

Shiro is unconscious and lying on his side. Keith immediately notices how his human shoulder looks popped out of its socket, like Lance’s was. And there was semi-fresh blood coming out of Shiro’s nose. Keith grimaces as he sees that it’s definitely broken.
Shiro’s helmet appears to have flown off at some point, but it isn’t too far from Shiro’s head, unlike Lance’s. The front visor of Shiro’s helmet also had a crack in it. Keith can see exactly where Shiro hit his nose because of a small splatter of blood near it. It was on the back of Shiro’s chair. That must’ve hurt. If Shiro was even conscious during it, because of the g-forces.

After Keith processes all the injuries he can physically see, he runs up to him and sets a hand onto his injured arm. He doesn’t shake him, knowing that’d probably hurt, but he does call out Shiro’s name multiple times. He takes his hand off of Shiro’s arm and gently slaps his cheeks. Luckily, that seems to be what Shiro needed to wake up. “Hey..” Keith says softly as Shiro sits up and blinks confusedly.

“What happened?” Shiro questions, a slight frown on his face as he looks around.

“You, me, and Lance crash landed onto a planet. Lance is outside. Let me see your injuries.” Keith replies. He sets his hands onto Shiro’s injured arm and gently prods at it, sighing as it confirms his thought of it being dislocated. Shiro hisses in pain and grimaces as he comes to the same conclusion. The two of them look at each other and then nod. Keith braces Shiro’s arm and then quickly sets it into place. Shiro grunts in pain, looking away and taking in deep breaths. Keith lets him have his moment before he talks again, “More bad news, your nose is definitely broken.” Shiro groans again.

Keith brings his hands up to Shiro’s nose and then also sets that back in place. He leans back onto his knees and looks around Shiro’s body, happy to note that there weren’t too many other injuries. Just some cuts. And of course, there will be plenty of bruises, but he has no idea where exactly they would be because the paladin suit pretty much covered all of their body. Keith pats Shiro’s uninjured shoulder, “You ready to go?” Shiro nods his head. Keith wraps Shiro’s uninjured arm around his shoulder and then the two of them use their jetpacks to get out of the black lion.

Lance sits up as the two of them approach his hiding spot. Shiro smiles as he sees Lance, though he does look worried as he sees the splint. “Good cover.” Shiro comments. Keith nods his head in appreciation. Once Shiro is standing he does feel better, but he knows not to overdo it right now because he might need his energy later. Keith frowns as he sees the sun starting to set. They’ll need to make a camp soon. He would’ve liked to stay in the black lion, but it was in too obvious of a spot. Plus, he knows they’ll be able to get the lions back if the Galra take them, and the lions won't let anyone inside of their barrier. Keith isn’t sure they’ll even be able to find the blue lion quickly, and the red lion was in a medium hiding spot. The black lion was terrible though. Right in the open of a rock biome.

“Let's head a bit more into the forest, make a camp somewhere in there.” Keith says. Shiro nods his head in agreement. Knowing Shiro still needs a bit to heal from his shoulder, Keith decides he’ll continue to carry Lance for now. They’ll probably be able to switch off tomorrow when Shiro’s shoulder is better to carry. Keith gets onto his knees and picks Lance up again. Then, Keith travels back into the forest with Lance on his back and Shiro at his heels.

The three of them continue for about five minutes before they find a suitable spot. Keith sets Lance against a tree and begins to make camp. Shiro helps out a bit here and there, but Keith ultimately makes him rest next to Lance instead. He disguises it as a way to make sure Lance is alright, which Shiro appreciates. He doesn’t like feeling like he can’t do anything to help.

It takes Keith about thirty minutes to finish setting the camp. He doesn’t need to set a fire because the planet is a naturally warm climate, and he doesn’t feel like sweating his skin off. He’s sure Shiro would agree. The good thing was that all three of them were used to warm climates. Keith because he lived in a desert for a while, Lance because he grew up in Cuba, and Shiro because of.. The Galra. Keith decides to let that trail of thought leave his mind. He didn’t want to be reminded of the fact they were stranded and injured.

At least they have each other.

Chapter Text

No POV:

The trio continue walking through the forest, trying to find some sort of path or town. Well, Keith and Shiro are walking through the forest. Lance is currently asleep on Shiro’s back with his head on his shoulder. He would’ve been a nice defense while awake because of his long range, but both Keith and Shiro knew he needed the sleep. Resting always helped injuries heal faster. Especially head injuries. And they know Lance must have a massive headache from all that’s happened to him in the past 24 hours. Hell, Shiro and Keith have headaches and they didn’t have as many things happen to them.

The sun was blaring down on them, and even Lance was sweating while he wasn’t even doing anything but sleeping. That could also be from Shiro’s body heat since he’s on his back though. Shiro was starting to worry that the three of them would get sunburnt somehow. Realistically, most of their body was covered by armor, but there was still the possibility of getting sunburnt on their face because they don’t have their helmets on the whole time. He’s also not sure if they are meant to protect them from sunrays or not. For all they know, the clear front does nothing to protect them from any sort of light. (Idk, I feel like they probably would have that sort of protection, but I just sorta want to make him paranoid about it lol.)

Shiro’s taken out of his thoughts when Keith taps him on the shoulder. He looks over at him and then to where Keith is pointing with his other hand. Through the trees, there looked to be a cleared out area that seemed to be a path? Keith begins walking over to the clearing and Shiro follows after him after he adjusts Lance on his back for a moment. He was both surprised and not surprised by the fact Lance has yet to wake up from all the movement that’s happening. He had only woken up briefly during dusk before they headed out because they needed him awake to get onto Shiro’s back easier, and wanted to make sure he was okay, but since he went asleep since then he hasn’t woken up. It was slightly worrying. But Shiro is also now starting to realize that he just worries over everything in situations like this. He knows that he’s right to worry, but also that he can’t let his worries take over his mind. They were on a dangerous planet with Galra around.

The path wasn’t too large, about the size of two sidewalks put together, but it was pretty cleared out. It seemed to be one of the main paths around here from how put together it was. It was likely made to be a path instead of just naturally occurring from how many people walked there, because there were no trees in the way of it and it was pretty straight.

Keith glances around the area and then back at Shiro. “Looks clear.” Keith says. Shiro nods his head and then the two of them start to walk on the path. It was surprising how there was a path here but no one around. Keith assumes it might be because of the fact the Galra were attacking and the citizens of this planet were hiding or getting ready to defend themselves. But even then, they haven’t seen any towns or houses yet. Maybe they only lived in one specific part of the planet and the other alien creatures ruled the other parts? That was usually the case for climate specific creatures. But it was weird because the database doesn’t say anything about them needing to be in specific climates that the whole planet didn’t provide. And Earth even had towns deep in forests like these. Something didn’t feel right to Keith.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that we haven’t seen any houses yet, and barely any animals?” Keith questions Shiro out of the blue. Shiro looks at Keith and thinks about his question for a bit. He realizes that Keith was right about not seeing any houses. That was sort of strange.

Shiro’s eyebrows furrow as he replies to Keith’s question, “You’re right, that is weird. Especially because we’re on the trail now.” The two of them continue walking in silence, stuck in their thoughts and theories about why they haven’t seen much of anything besides plants and the few small animals here and there. It was also strange that there hadn’t been any dangerous animals yet, especially during night. They’ve only seen insects and creatures that remind Keith of bunnies or squirrels. Everything around them was harmless. Lance said earlier that maybe the planet was just fully harmless, but both Keith and Shiro have their doubts. Especially because Coran had told them to be careful when they talk to the leaders on this planet because of how many dangerous things were here. Things were just not adding up.

Keith sighs as he looks around. He needed to keep his guard up to make sure Shiro and Lance weren’t put into anymore danger, even if they haven’t seen anything dangerous yet. Besides the planet’s creatures, they also had to worry about the Galra. They’ve likely already taken over the main city here because of Voltron failing to beat them while in the air. And the Galra were definitely going around the planet to try and search for them. They’ve probably already found the black lion, and that concerned Keith. He knows Zarkon is still connected to the lion, and that there was a chance the black lion could be taken easily, but he also knows that the black lion is strong and will resist Zarkon. But the black lion can only resist so much. And if they brought the lion away from Shiro, and maybe even used magic on it, there was only a matter of time before… Keith shakes his head and tries to think about something else.

Like the two Galra who are also on the path and walking towards them. Keith gasps and stops Shiro, pointing at the Galra, but it was too late. The Galra already saw them. Shiro’s eyes widen as he sees the two Galran soldiers who were now running towards them. He quickly moves to the edge of the trees and sets Lance down in a semi-hidden spot. He would only be in the way in the fight because of his injuries and the fact he was sleeping. Plus, neither Shiro nor Keith wanted him to get more injured.

The two of them get into a battle stance. Keith brings out his bayard and turns it into his sword, while Shiro activates his arm. They glance at each other for a second and then back at the two Galra. Keith was worried about Shiro because of his injuries, despite not having as many as Lance. He’ll have to keep an eye on him during the battle just in case something happens. Especially because he knows that Shiro will be keeping an eye on Lance and not as focused on the battle as he should be. He doesn’t blame him for that though, knowing he’d likely do the same thing.

Both of the Galrans split between the duo. The smaller one goes over to Shiro, and the bigger one goes to Keith. The Galran fighting with Keith snarls as he sees the red paladin waiting for the first move. He brings his hammer up and then brings it down as hard as he can where Keith is, but doesn't hit anything. He looks over to the right side and his eyes widen as the only thing he sees is a blade coming towards his face. He quickly dodged backwards and lands onto his back. The Galran has to roll onto his side as Keith tries to stab him again, and then he gets up onto his feet once more. Keith and the Galran have a stare down for a few seconds before the Galran rushes in and the fight continues.

Over with Shiro, the fight was going well. The smaller Galran had specifically gone to him because he knows that his speed will be able to confuse Shiro and he’ll get more hits in. Shiro’s only saving grace was actually because of being the Champion. The arena had a lot of different types of aliens and fighters, so Shiro has fought with many fast and agile opponents. He stands still as the Galran runs around him. Then, as he finds the right moment, punches the Galran in the face and knocks him out. He sighs and glances at Lance, who was still sleeping, and then over to Keith. The larger Galra and Keith were still fighting together. Shiro wants to join in and help Keith finish the battle, but his injuries are starting to hurt a lot more again from his fight with the smaller Galran. Plus, it looks like Keith can handle himself.

Shiro crouches down next to Lance and watches the battle continue. He smiles as Keith finally gets the last hit in and knocks out the Galran, panting softly. Keith looks over at the two of them and then jogs over. He puts his bayard away as he stands next to the two on the ground. “We need to keep moving.” Keith says seriously. Shiro nods his head, but hesitates to put Lance on his back. Keith notices the hesitance and realizes how Shiro must be feeling after the battle because of his injuries that were still healing. Keith speaks up before Shiro tries putting Lance onto his back, “I’ll carry him for a while, to give you a break.” Shiro looks up at Keith and opens his mouth to argue, but just nods his head in agreement after Keith gives him a look.

With some help from Shiro, Keith successfully gets Lance onto his back in a piggyback hold like earlier. Both Shiro and Keith figured it was the best possible hold to not hurt Lance any further. Though it did leave a strain on their arms and backs, they didn’t mind. This is why they do weight training back in the castle. Funny enough, Lance was usually used as the standard weight of someone they save. They used everyone at least a few times, depending on the person who needs to carry, but Lance was the standard. He was the perfect middle weight, along with Keith.

The red paladin looks at the two Galrans, eyebrows furrowing. “We should continue along the path, but through the trees surrounding it to provide some cover.” Keith mentions. Shiro nods his head in agreement and then the two of them begin walking. Keith keeps his gaze on the path, making sure there aren’t anymore Galras passing by that could potentially see or hear them.

As the sky begins to darken, Keith steers them away from the path and finds a small area that can hold a camp. They wouldn’t want to make their camp too close to the path. He sets a land marker to remind the trio of where to go to find the path again. It was just a small carving in one of the trees around them. He was surprised to find that the inside of the trees were a pale purple for some reason. Maybe he can ask Coran about that later.

Shiro sets Lance down against a tree and pokes his cheek to try and wake him up. Thankfully, it only takes about two minutes for Lance to open his eyes. “Keith found us some berries we can eat, and you should drink some water.” Shiro says softly, his hand full of berries for Lance to take. Lance blinks for a bit and then grabs a berry. It was a dark blue and in a triangle shape.

Lance raises an eyebrow, “How do we know it’s safe?”

Keith walks over to the duo and answers before Shiro can, “My helmet scanned it, and the two of us have already eaten some, you’ll be alright." Lance waits a few more seconds and then shrugs, eating the berry. Keith walks away and begins setting up the area to be a bit more secure than it is. They’ll have someone on watch, but it’s better to be extra careful on a planet like this, especially with Galra around. He’s sure the Galrans they fought earlier have already reported them to be on the planet and walking around in this area.

Shiro walks over to Keith and sets a hand onto his shoulder. Lance was already back asleep by then, which was only weird because he’s been sleeping all day. Maybe he’ll be able to be fully alert by tomorrow. “I’ll take first watch.” Shiro says quietly. He felt guilty that Keith had to carry Lance after they fought the two Galran soldiers. Realistically he knows that the two of them had already agreed to shifting between who carries lance throughout the day, but that didn’t do much to take away his guilt because he saw how tired Keith was after the fight. All three of them were exhausted because of this situation.

“You sure?” Keith questions, eyebrows furrowed in worry. He knew Shiro was capable of watching, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned for him.

Shiro nods his head, “Definitely.”

He needs to repay Keith for taking care of him and Lance somehow anyway.

Chapter Text

No POV:

Shiro’s head snaps to the side as he hears voices approaching them. He and Keith had already swapped watches twice, and it was nearing four in the morning. But the sun got up much later here than it did back on Earth, so they’d have to wait until nine until they’ll be able to see well. Of course they wouldn’t have too much of a problem because they have night vision in their helmets, but it certainly helped to have real sun. It also made sure their suits didn’t run out of battery while they were stuck on this planet.

But they wouldn’t have to worry about their suits if Shiro didn’t quickly get them out of here. If they were captured, they’d likely be stripped down to their undersuit or anything their kidnappers give them to wear. Shiro’s fist clenches as his mind drifts to when he was captured by the Galra. Waking up in a completely different outfit wasn’t pleasant… he almost would’ve preferred him being awake and forced to change clothes than having them change his clothes while he’s asleep. Shiro snaps out of his thoughts as he hears another noise. Now was not the time to get lost in memories and things that could’ve or should’ve happened. He had to keep Lance and Keith safe.

He crawls over to Keith and shakes his shoulder. He backs away as Keith shoots up and draws his bayard. Keith relaxes as he sees it’s just Shiro, but then frowns as he sees the look on his face and the nearing noises that sounded like muffled voices and heavy footsteps accompanied by lighter ones. He doesn’t say anything, knowing it would just give away their position quicker, and he quietly begins to gather all of the supplies he can carry without it becoming inconvenient. Shiro goes over to Lance and begins to get him onto his back again in another piggyback carry. There was no use to waking Lance up for this anyway.

Keith walks over to Shiro once he’s gathered all the supplies that he can. The two of them maintain eye contact for a few moments before nodding their heads and leaving the camp without another thought. There are things they would’ve done in the morning to make the camp less lived in so the Galra don’t have as much of a trail to follow, but they no longer have time to do that. And honestly, the two of them would rather have Galra have a clue to where they might be going rather than being caught trying to get rid of the clue. They’re sure Lance would want that too, but they don’t wake him up to ask.

As the sun begins to rise, and the air no longer turns their fingers and noses cold, the trio stumbles upon a small village. There was a surprising amount of aliens here who were not panicked or injured in any way. They must be the residences of the planet, and one of the villages outside of the main kingdom. Keith seemed on edge as they walked through the village and got to something that looked to be some sort of eating place? It wasn’t like anything they’d seen before, but they could smell food, so they assumed that’s what it was.

Once they sit down at a table, Shiro shifts Lance between him and Keith. Lance’s head lolls onto Keith’s shoulder as he continues to sleep. Shiro was beginning to get worried about how much he was sleeping again, mentally noting that he should make sure Lance wakes up at some point so they can check on his state better. The sooner the better.

One of the aliens walks over to the trio and eyes them questioningly. They all were tall and thin, with blue and pink features. Keith remembers Coran not knowing much about this planet, but he believes they are called Kalans. Their planet wasn’t one the Alteans interacted with much. “Are you those Voltron paladins?” The Kalan asks. (Also, thank you to the Voltron Discord server I’m in for helping me choose what to call the aliens.)

“Yes, that’s us. We got stranded on your planet trying to fight the Galra, and we’re just trying to get to the main kingdom so we can try and contact the rest of our team.” Shiro replies to the Kalan. Keith could tell he was also on edge, but he seemed less on edge than he was feeling. He’s not sure whether that’s a good thing or not. The Kalan eyes them up and down a few more times before their gaze drifts to Lance, who is still unconscious.

“Is he alright?” The Kalan questions. Keith was starting to wonder if the questions were because of the situation or if Kalans are just naturally curious.

Shiro glances at Lance and then looks back at the Kalan, “He’s injured, but should be okay once we get better medical supplies for him.”

The Kalan makes a sound that almost resembles a hum, looking back at the other Kalan where Keith assumes they make the food. They exchange a few noises before the Kalan in front of them turns back to the trio. “We have a doctor here, would you like to meet him? We’ll bring your food to you there.” The Kalan says. Keith glances at Shiro, who looks back at him. They don’t know much about the Kalans, but they’ve proven at least to be a bit trustworthy. Shiro switches his gaze back at the Kalan and nods his head.

Keith decides to carry Lance this time, because it helped calm down his nerves. The duo follows after the Kalan and into one of the bigger houses of the village. As soon as they walk in, they are hit with the scent of chemicals and nature at the same time. There’s another Kalan sitting at a desk. The new Kalan turns around to look at them when they hear the door open. But the Kalan didn’t seem surprised to see the three of them. That only made Keith’s nerves skyrocket.

“Ylu, the Voltron paladins need medical attention, please treat them well.” The Kalan that lead them hear said, then leaves once Ylu nods their head. Keith frowns as he looks at the doctor. At least he had a name to remember in case things go south. He sets down Lance onto one of the beds in the room as Shiro talks to Ylu. He cups Lance’s cheek and starts gently trying to wake him up.

Lance wakes up after a few tries, blinking open his eyes and groaning softly in pain. Keith smiles down at him as Lance meets his gaze. “Hey there, sleepyhead. We found a village, and we’re at a doctor.” Keith says so Lance is caught up to speed. It’s what they did every time Lance woke up, just so he wasn’t confused about what was happening. It also helped that Lance didn’t have to use his brain to think about what was happening, because that was overwhelming right now.

After Lance nods his head as a reply to Keith’s words, Keith moves away so the doctor can examine him. Ylu mumbles to themselves as they look Lance over. Keith realizes that they were speaking in their own native tongue, which wasn’t being translated by their helmets because the Alteans never bothered putting in their language. Must be why Keith didn’t know what the Kalans were speaking about earlier while in the place that served food.

It isn’t too long until another Kalan comes into the house, holding three trays of food. It looked surprisingly appetizing for alien food. The Kalan sets down the three trays on a clear table near them, then the Kalan bows and leaves. Shiro passes one of the trays to Keith and then grabs one for himself. He would give one to Lance, but he was still being examined. Ylu walks over and grabs one of the food items that resembles a burrito, then brings it over to Lance and helps him take a bite. Shiro smiles gratefully at Ylu before beginning to eat his own food. Keith takes a few more seconds of examining the tray before he starts to eat as well.

But it’s only five minutes later when Shiro and Keith start to feel woozy and lightheaded. And it’s too late when Keith realizes that the food was drugged with something. Shiro’s head lands onto Keith’s shoulder, and the two of them topple onto the ground, unconscious. Lance sees them fall out of the corner of his eye, but barely processes it as he too passes out.