Chapter Text
It was dark. The only light that was being emitted was from their helmets, the small lights had surprisingly strong power and illuminated a large proportion of the hallway. No one said anything in fear that they might not be alone on this Galra ship, they'd stumbled across it and didn't see any movement on the ship. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they're alone.
Each step was coordinated, making sure to make as little noise as possible. They communicated through hand signals which meant that everyone had to stay focused and watch out for any signals.
The group came to a halt when Shiro lifted his hand which signalled stop, however one person wasn't paying attention. And that was Lance.
He bumped straight into the back of Keith causing him to stumble forward.
"Quiznak! Keith why are you in my way?" Lance argued in a hushed tone
"Me? In you're way? You're the one who bumped into me because you weren't paying attention!" Keith matched Lances tone
"Erm I was paying attention actually. I just couldn't see Shiro's signal because you're big head was blocking me."
"You-" he took a step towards Lance.
"Keith. Lance. Stop it, you two can bicker about this once we get back to the ship. Remember we don't know if we're alone, so be quiet." Shiro cut in to prevent it from escalating
They both grunted in agreement, Keith turned around to face away from Lance, while Lance had a big smile growing on his face.
They continued to make their way through the ship, the deeper into the ship they got, the more Lance noticed Keith dragging his feet. It was only slightly, the odd drag against the floor with every few steps, but it was more noticeable then usual as they were keeping an ear out for any noises. It was out of character for Keith as he was always so stealthy, and never left a trail behind.
The hallway leading up to the control room was weirdly narrow, not the normal width. The group had noticed the slight change in layout than the usual Galra ships, which was another reason they were so alert.
"I'll go in first and check if anyone's in there, once I know it's clear you guys can come in." Shiro whispered, it was barely audible because it was so quiet.
"I'll stand watch out here." Keith added at a slightly louder volume than Shiro.
Shiro paused, he didn't say anything, or let anything on but the way Keith was standing put him off. He was leaning on his arm up against the wall, the others probably didn't notice due to how narrow the hallway was, but Shiro did. It was out of character, usually Keith would be grounded on both his feet ready to take action if needed. He brushed over it for now but made sure to keep a note about it in the back of his mind.
"Ok, Keith and Lance keep watch. Pidge, Hunk wait for my signal."
Lance glanced at Keith expecting a noise of disagreement, a snarky comment or a look that told everyone he hated working with Lance. But nothing came, it was like he didn't care. Again, out of character for him.
Shiro made his way in and then signalled that it was clear, Pidge and Hunk then soon followed behind.
Once the door to the control room shut, Keith sighed but didn't take his eyes of the narrow hallway in front of him.
"So you actually like being paired with me then?" Lance teased, knowing it would get a reaction out of Keith.
"What?"
"You didn't argue when Shiro put me with you."
"Oh just shut up Lance, I'm not in the mood for this."
"Just say you love me, I mean everyone does-"
"Lance. Quit it. You're pissing me off."
It's not the first time Keith had said that, but it's the way he said it which tripped Lance up. He said it with such disgust and pure hatred. Before, you could tell it was just bickering. But this felt raw, like he meant it. Although, Lance was slightly hurt by what he said, he tried to lighten the mood.
"Goshhhh, someone's a party pooper. Way to poop on my party Mr Grumpy pants."
To no surprise, Keith didn't respond. He just stayed arms crossed, eyes shut and leaning on the wall.
"Hey! Open your eyes. We're literally supposed to be keeping watch, you can't do that if your eyes are shut."
Before Keith could respond a crackle came over the comms, it was Shiro.
"Lance, Keith, we need you to bring the lions around the front. There's a piece of tech which Pidge wants to test but we can't lift it."
"Got it. We're on our way." Lance responded and started jogging towards their lions with Keith lacking slightly behind.
Once they got to the lions, Lance already noticed that the knot between Keith's eyebrows was gone.
"Ok. Lance, take blue and go round to pick it up. I'll stay here and wait for the others."
Lance nodded and followed the instructions because he didn't want to piss Keith off again. As much as he usually enjoys doing it.
Lance got back to the ship first, he landed in the docking bay with the large square piece of technology wedged in the blue lions mouth. Lance didn't want to touch it so he used the lion to place the strange square object near where Pidge usually works.
One by one the paladins arrive back in the docking bay.
Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, then Keith.
Lance couldn't wait to tell Shiro how Keith spoke to him, he couldn't wait to see Keith's pissed off face. He quickly ran out of his lion and patiently waited for Shiro to exit his.
Hunk stood next to Lance, he was curious why he was waiting for Shiro so he decided to be nosey. Lance spotted Pidge already working on the square piece of technology, she had barley taken her helmet off yet.
Lances eyes ripped away from Pidge as he heard Shiro speak to him.
"What's happened now Lance?" Shiro already knew why Lance was standing there, he always did it to spite Keith and 'rat' him out for something he said or did. It was childish to say the least.
"Keith was so rude to me when you guys went to the control room!"
"What did he say?" Shiro was already fed up, he dragged a hand down his face.
"He told me to 'quit it because you're pissing me off'"
"He always says that to you." Shiro really didn;t care, he knew this was all to get a reaction out of Keith. He started heading for the door.
"I know but it's the way he said it"
Shiro sighed, stopping in front of the door waiting for it to hiss open "And how exactly did he say it?"
"He was like-"
Lance was cut of by a thud behind him. Everyone snaped their head to follow the sound, they're met with Keith laying on the floor.
"HA! Keith just fell on his face!" Lance laughed excitedly, his comment had caused others the laugh.
But that soon faded when Keith didn't get up. He didn't even move.
"Keith?" Shiro called out, starting to walk towards him. When he got no answer he picked up his pace, "Hey!? Keith!?!"
Shiro dropped beside Keith, rolled him on his back and cradled him in his arms, Shiro instantly noticed the amount of pain he seemed to be in, even when unconscious. His eyebrows were in the tightest knot, he could see the tear streaks on his cheeks- subtle but there, his teeth were tightly clenched shut and beads of sweat were rolling down his face.
Soon everyone was crowding around asking questions.
"What happened?" Hunk pressed
"Is he ok?" Pidge frantically asked
"Did he hit his head or something?" It didn;t feel real for Lance
Shiro ignored all the questions and focused on trying to find the cause for Keith's collapse. He checked for any injuries, any blood, scrapes, bruises. But there was nothing.
"Someone go tell Coran to get a healing pod ready!" Shiro commanded
"But we don;t even know what's wrong with him" Hunk responded
"Now!" Shiro was becoming impatient, he couldn't find any physical indication that Keith was injured.
Pidge broke into a fast sprint as she went to go find Coran and Allura
Shiro kept trying to wake Keith up.
"Keith? Hey, wake up. Come on, wake up Keith. Wake up."
Soon Keith's eyes slowly opened, barely. He was squinting, like it hurt to keep them open.
"Keith! Hey what happened?"
Shiro got no response
"Are you in pain?" Lance asked next resting his hands on Keiths arm. Lance could feel the nerves crawling up his back.
This time Keith responded, but it was only a hum of agreement. Keith brought his arm up too hold his head, Lance instantly let go.
"Is it your head?" Shiro gently asked
Keith once again hummed in agreement, only for it to be followed by a scream of pain. It seemed to be getting worse. Keith's back arched and his feet scrambled for some solid footing, you could tell he was panicking.
"Woah, Hey hey hey. Calm down, calm down. You're safe, we'll get you to a healing pod and then you'll feel much better, ok?" Shiro soothed
Keith went still.
"Keith? Hey buddy, can you hear me?" Shiro's strong persona was breaking, you could hear the panic in his voice.
"He's passed out again..." Hunk wanted to throw up,
"We need to get him to a healing pod now!" Shiro yelled, "Lance help me get him up."
Both Shiro and Lance hook an arm underneath one of Keith's and pull him up, Hunk watching with his hand over his mouth. They start quickly heading for the healing pods, Keith's feet dragging along.
Everyone had gathered around Keith's healing pod, Shiro was pacing, Coran and Pidge were looking at his vitals, Allura was asking Hunk what had happened and Lance was staring at Keith frozen in the pod. He was thinking back to all the strange things he'd noticed on the ship.
"Coran, what's wrong with him?" Shiro stopped pacing and faced Coran, he didn't say it but you could tell from just his eyes that he was begging for an answer.
Everyone looked towards Coran waiting to hear his response.
"...umm-well... seemingly nothing." Coran responded confused
"What? I had Keith cradled in my arms while he screamed out in pain, that's not nothing Coran."
"Well whatever it is, the healing pods scanners aren't picking it up." Coran added as he glanced back down at the tablet. "You said it was his head that was causing him the pain?"
"Yes."
"Brain activity is completely normal." Coran scrolled on the tablet "I'll run more tests on him once he's awake."
"And what happens if you can't find anything on those tests?"
"Then we'll have to hope that it's not a reoccurring thing."
The silence in the room after Coran’s words was suffocating.
No one moved.
The soft hum of the healing pod filled the air while pale green light washed over Keith;s face through the glass. He looked calmer now, but only barely. His face was still pinched with pain, fingers twittching every so often like his body couldn’t fully relax.
Lance swallowed hard.
That scream replayed in his head over and over.
He’d never heard Keith sound like that before.
Shiro dragged a hand down his face before speaking again, quieter this time.
“There has to be something wrong.”
Coran sighed uneasily, he looked back down at the tablet again with furrowed eyebrows. He was scanning over everything. “The pod is detecting elevated stress levels and exhaustion, but nothing severe enough to explain… what happened.”
“That;s impossible.” Hunk muttered. “People don’t just collapse screaming for no reason.”
Pidge crossed her arms tightly. “Maybe it’s neurological? Something the pod can’t scan properly?”
Coran frowned. “The Altean technology is extremely advanced, number 5. If there was an injury or infection or internal damage or even neurological, it should appear.”
“Should?” Shiro repeated sharply
Coran hesitated
“That does not mean it always will.”
The room fell silent again.
Lance stared at Keith through the glass, guilt slowly twisting in his stomach.
Dragging his feet. Leaning against the wall. Shutting his eyes while on watchout. Not arguing back when they got paired. Snapping.
The signs had been there the entire mission.
And Lance hadn’t noticed.
No
He had noticed. He just ignored it
Lance rubbed the back of his neck anxiously before quietly speaking up.
“Um… guys?”
Everyone looked at him.
“I think… he was hiding it.”
Shiro’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you mean?”
“On the ship.” Lance shifted uncomfortably. “Keith was acting weird the entire time. At first I thought he was just annoyed at me or something but…” He glanced back at the pod. “He kept slowing down. And leaning on stuff. He closed his eyes at one point too.”
Pidge looked confused. “Why didn’t he say anything?”
“Because it’s Keith. He probably hoped it would stop after a while so he wouldn't have to tell us”
No one argued with that.
Shiro’s shoulders visibly tensed. He looked back at the pod a knot forming between his eyebrows.
“He pushed himself through the entire mission…”