Eyes of glass

by Bob_the_bastard

Summary:

He was so cold.

Numbing fingers grasped at the glass for the umpteenth time, hoping against hope that he’d stumble upon some unseen fault, some way to get out of the cold, cold coffin he’d been trapped in.

 

Or, in other words,
one cryopod malfunction+a weird collision=one not so great time for the team's resident red paladin.

Notes:

Okay, I'm trying very hard to keep to a schedule, from now onward it should be an update every Friday? I mean, obviously it's Thursday now, so the routine isn't going all that well,,, but tomorrow's Christmas so I will be granting myself some leeway aha.

This aged like milk lol

Chapter 1: chapter 1

“I don’t need a pod.”

Shiro didn’t offer Keith the liberty of a response, merely sending a dead-eyed look at the younger boy. He focused back onto where he’d been threading the red paladin’s limp and bloody arm into the pod suit.

Keith’s voice was quieter now, “I’m sorry Shiro.”

The older man sighed quietly, “you don’t need to be sorry Keith.” He smiled, “You do need to get in a pod though.”

Shiro looked over at Coran and nodded in response to the older man’s affirmative thumbs up. Shiro manoeuvred Keith’s uninjured arm over his shoulder and brought them both to their feet, they started towards the pod Coran had been prepping for Keith.

Shiro took a step backwards as Keith became obscured by the translucent blue film of the pod door. He saw the smaller boy shiver slightly as the pod started the cooling process.

Shiro stayed until he saw the younger boy’s eyes flutter shut and heard the affirmative beep of the pod’s initiation sequence. He turned and headed out of the medbay.

***

Everyone -bar Keith- had gathered on the bridge to debrief Allura on what had happened during the mission.

Hunk failed to see the point, if anything this mission had gone better than others. No near-death experiences and/or injuries, and they’d managed to actually gather the intel they’d set out to get!

A success in most regards. Well, Hunk thought, other than Keith’s getting hurt. At least, for once, when their resident red paladin had gotten injured, he hadn’t had to be carried into the castle by either Hunk or Shiro.

A debriefing seemed pointless. But seemed to be happening anyway, because of course it did. Just because they’d avoided injury enough to justify a pod didn’t mean they weren’t bone tired.

Hunk knew that he himself was harbouring more than a comfortable number of scrapes and bruises, and he was certain in the fact he wasn’t the only one.

His eyes ached pleasingly as he blinked, the struggle of opening them becoming more apparent as time went on. Hunk patted Pidge’s hair as her head thumped onto his shoulder.

Lance’s jaw split with a yawn and he stumbled backward into Hunk as he stretched, The yellow paladin smothered a laugh and the trio were sent a disapproving glare from Allura.

Shiro sighed and, looking twice as tired as Hunk felt, lifted his prosthetic arm to pinch the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tightly, “Allura, maybe it’d be better if we held this off until everyone got some sleep.”

Lance seemed to perk up slightly he raised his hand, “I vote to raincheck this.” He looked back at Hunk and Pidge, “I mean, gremlin’s basically asleep, princess.”

Pidge sent a sleepily affronted glare toward him, too sleepy to harbour any real malice, “dude.”

Allura seemed as if she were about to argue when she noticed everyone’s exhausted looks. She looked over at Shiro’s tired smile and nodded in acquiescence, “Right, everyone get some sleep. We can go over this in the morning.”

Allura looked over at Shiro as everyone filed out of the room, “when I said go to bed, I mean it.” Everyone was fully aware of Keith and Shiro’s self-negligence when the other was going through the healing cycle.

He sent tired eyes at her, “yes princess.” And carried on out of the room.

***

Shiro thought he might actually get a good night’s sleep. He was deeply tired, head stuffy with exhaustion. It had been a long mission, and it wasn’t as if he’d exactly been sleeping well prior to it.

He stumbled slightly as he shed himself of his armour and put on the comfier pyjamas Lance had forced Coran to synthesise upon the realisation that they would be on the castle for a long while.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

And jolted awake to the piercing sound of alarms. He fumbled on his undersuit and had nearly all of his armour on by the time he left his bunk. Shiro started to sprint toward the bridge, struggling with his vambrace clasps as he ran.

Keith’s absence at his side was gaping as he lost the last of the mental fog from his abrupt awakening.

Other than Coran, Shiro was the first to the Bridge. Allura walked in soon after him, Hunk, Pidge and finally Lance, followed her.

“What’s happening Coran,” Allura’s voice was regal, despite the fact she was rubbing sleep from her eyes and aimlessly trying to smother a yawn.

“It… well-” The older man smiled humourlessly, “The castles autopiloting technology seems to be a tad out of date. And, well, we seem to have gotten ourselves into quite the debris field.”

Shiro’s brow furrowed, he opened his mouth to speak but Hunk had beat him to it, “Why would that set off the alarms?”

Pidge spoke up at the same time, “Can we not just, y’know… leave?”

Lance yawned beside her, “I can’t believe you woke us all up for space junk.” He glared lazily out of the Bridge window at the assortment of clutter floating around them.

Coran looked as if he were about to say something, an unreadable look on his face, when the floor jolted beneath them and the lights shut off with a muted thump.

“I’ll assume something like this happening is why the alarms triggered.” Hunk’s voice was jarring in the newfound dark silence of the room.

Coran sighed, “yes number two.”

The lights flickered on, dimmer than before. But bright enough for Lance to see Pidge’s face light up as she turned on her gauntlet.

“power’s pretty much out on the whole ship.” She messed around with the display, “whatever we hit packed one helluva punch. Other than emergency light, We’re dead in the water.”

Hunk made a wounded sound.

“Pidge, where were we hit?” Lances voice was quieter than usual.

“The lower decks lad.” Coran answered absently. He had activated his own monitor -apparently also separately powered to the ship- and he stared down at the holographic screen.

Lance looked uneasy, arms crossed over his chest, “Coran the medbays are on the lower levels,” He drummed his fingers on his arm. Coran had stilled where he stood. “Could it’ve- I mean, if it cut out power on the whole ship. Could it have damaged the pods?”

Shiro was first out of the room. The mental image of Keith, unconscious and completely vulnerable clogging his mind. Coran ran alongside him for a moment, before sprinting ahead.

Allura caught up with him part way, staying at his side until they reached the medbay.

The pair went in to see Coran tapping hurriedly on the monitor beside Keith’s pod. Allura hadn’t seen Shiro move faster than he did on his way across the room, toward the pod.

She frowned, the soft blue glow from the cryopods was absent and the medbay was a mess, all the shelves were empty, contents spread around the room. A dim, red light pulsed throughout the room, casting an almost frightening glow onto Coran and Shiro alike. Her view of Keith had been obstructed by the two’s panicky movements.

Coran was trying to bite back his anger at not thinking about the cryopods once seeing the area of damage.

The monitor remained frustratingly unresponsive; he’d noticed straight-away, however, the fact that everything apart from the emergency lights were logged off.

Shiro didn’t know what to do with himself, he scanned over Keith for the nth time, “Coran his lips are blue?” His voice was low with confusion, which sharpened into concern, “Is there air in there?”

Coran paused in his typing to press a reassuring hand onto Shiro’s shoulder, “Air won’t be an issue lad, there’s plenty of reserves sitting by the pod feeding right in, number four will be fine in that retrospect.” He moved his hand back to the monitor, “however” he continued, “the cryopod’s run by lowering the core temperature and then continuing all basic functions during the healing cycle, but the support system is offline, and the temperature is less than ideal for a human.”

Shiro looked up at him, shocked, “Take him out then!”

“Number one, the pods are offline, I can’t do anything to them.” Coran’s voice was levelled with barely concealed frustration.

Shiro didn’t seem to comprehend Coran’s slightly patronising tone as he activated his arm.

Allura stepped forward, eyeing up the black paladin’s now-glowing prosthetic, “That won’t work Shiro. Cryo-technology was a staple of Altean development, they were built specifically to be resistant to this sort of attack.”

Shiro started to bounce on the balls of his feet as he noticed Keith starting to fidget. Shiro let out a shaky breath as he saw the smaller boy’s eyes flicker open, the younger stared into his brother’s eyes, face blank. Then his face creased into a sleepy frown and he lifted his hands up to the glass of the pod and pushed against it.

Shiro sucked a harsh breath inwards as he saw Keith mouth his name, the red paladin’s face remained a mixture of confusion and exhaustion but Shiro could see the first inklings of panic on his face.

Shiro tried to lock eyes with the smaller boy, the latter stared up at him- chest heaving with the beginnings of panic, ‘Shiro’. They couldn’t hear him from outside the pod, Shiro pressed a hand up to the chilled glass as Keith’s shivering became apparent.

Pidge stepped beside him, Shiro hadn’t seen her come in; he looked behind him and noticed that both Lance, and Hunk had joined them in the room as well. She stepped closer to the pod and held up her monitor toward Keith. The Red paladin gazed at the screen, seemingly without processing what was upon it before focusing more intently on it, reading. Shiro could only focus on the shivering growing all the more aggressive as time went on.

Keith nodded, finally, and seemed to notice everyone had gathered around his pod, he crossed his arms over his chest, He was blatantly attempting to smother his shuddering. Keith spoke again, ‘What’s happening?’ Shiro didn’t know how to answer. Luckily, he didn’t have to. He jumped as Lance made an explosion sound from behind him and mimed a collision- his fist slamming into the palm of his other hand.

Keith sent a dead-eyed stare toward the blue paladin, before sighing and mouthing his thanks.

Keith began to fidget, looking back at Shiro he started to open his mouth. He then, realising no one could hear him, mimed tapping a watch, ‘how long?’. Shiro could only offer a shrug in return, Keith sighed and leant against the back of the pod, irregular shuddering moving his whole body.

Keith was clearly uncomfortable with the whole team around him, Shiro turned toward the three younger paladins, “I don’t think there’s much to be done in here guys, head back to bed.” He saw them all frown, “I’ll wake you if something happens.”

Pidge’s voice was sharp with aggression borne of concern, “I can help, Shiro!”

“I know, I’m not saying you can’t. But you need rest, all of you.” He raised his hand to the green paladin’s shoulder, looking over at Lance and Hunk. “I’ll wake you all if anything happens.”

Pidge shook his hand away angrily and stormed out of the room.

“I’ll go after her.” Lance said, he looked toward Shiro before leaving, “You promise to get us?” Lance left the room in response to Shiro’s sincere nod.

Shiro looked over at Hunk, “Don’t exhaust yourself too much Shiro.” He said, and with that, he left the room

Shiro sent an apologetic look toward Keith and Coran who stood awkwardly behind him, Allura having left quietly at some point before.

“Shiro we need to get him out.” Coran said, a newfound look of confusion taking over his features, “the pod’s internal temperature is still lowering.”

***

Keith had woken up confused, and he hadn’t really gotten any less since noticing Shiro on the other side of the pale blue glass.

There was a moment before he’d opened his eyes, where he’d assumed the pod was just messing up, some weird remnant from the glitch caused by the Galra. He’d realised his arm still hurt next. It had jarred him enough to force him into opening his eyes.

Seeing the pod still being shut around him had been wrong thing number two and had spurred panic enough for him to start pushing against the glass.

“Shiro?” his voice echoed harshly around him, calling out for Shiro had been almost reflexive in its speed.

Wrong thing three, his brother looked more concerned about Keith than normal, which was hard.

Wrong thing four was that the pod was really fucking cold.

He could see Coran to his left, Keith assumed he was doing something to let him out-- or, well, he hoped it was to get him out.

There was a lot going on outside of the pod, Keith had focused on trying to pry his nails between the seam of the metal and glass, he stopped once he realised his attempts were getting him nowhere.

It was probably best he’d stopped anyway; Coran would kill him if he damaged his beloved technology.

He hadn’t realised how small the pods were until then, it had always been in-and-out, too quick to process the pressing claustrophobia of being trapped in a tube too small to move in.

His breathing quickened again as he became all the more conscious of how close all the sides of the pod were to him.

Was there even air in there? He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe and they weren’t letting him out.

He couldn’t think, couldn’t see past the blue of the glass, the glass shutting him in. They probably could open it, they just weren’t, keeping him in there to mock him, to torture him.

He was so cold.

Numbing fingers grasped at the glass for the umpteenth time, hoping against hope that he’d stumble upon some unseen fault, some way to get out of the cold, cold coffin he’d been trapped in.

A bright square of light moved into his view. He forced himself to breath, hands falling back to his sides, eyes staring intently at the aggressive brightness of it. He could see the blurry outline of writing upon it and fought to focus in on the words.

He took his time, figuring out each letter and imagining himself writing them out with a pen. Stroke by slow stroke he went through all of the short sentence, matching his breathing to the pretend movements. By the time he’d calmed enough to actually read the writing Infront of him he’d realised it was Pidge holding the screen up.

‘hang in there, we’re figuring it out’

He allowed himself one final, stutteringly uneven breath before he forced himself into calm.

They would get him out.

He shivered again. God, he was cold.

***

The temperature was still decreasing, Shiro didn’t want to think about what those words entailed. An image of Keith, pale and still, still trapped in that godforsaken pod flickered through his mind.

He forced himself to look over at Keith, Shiro didn’t realise he was just staring blankly at the younger until he focused in on Keith’s cocked head and questioning glance. He nodded, assuring the red paladin that yes, he was fine.

He dragged his flesh palm down his face, “Coran how- Why, is it still getting colder?”

The older man looked wearier than Shiro could recall seeing him. He shrugged, shaking his head, “I don’t know. Some of the power is still functional in the ship, so one would assume that it’s just a matter of one part of the process being halted, and, well… one not.” Seeing Shiro’s still carefully blank look, he continued, “generally, in case of emergency, the pods are supposed to release their occupant and stop the sequence entirely. I think, perhaps, that lingering effects from when the empire manipulated the castle are causing them to malfunction.”

“Coran, you know this technology. Isn’t there a weakness or something so we can open it?” Shiro’s voice was growing desperate as he begged soundlessly to the advisor for a solution.

Coran’s tone was patronisingly quiet, “Lad if there were any obvious faults, they would have been long since rectified.”

“So, what do we do?” Shiro was horrified at the raw desperation that was oh so apparent in his tone.

Coran looked older than Shiro could recall seeing him. All he could offer the black paladin was a wordless shrug.

Chapter 2: chapter 2

Summary:

"It had started off fine, Shiro’s written ramblings working perfectly well as both a distraction from the claustrophobic tube and as something for him to focus on instead of becoming mind numbingly bored."

Notes:

Hey, it's been a while... Hope you enjoy

Shiro had been sat on the steps Infront of the pod for a while.

He’d started by commandeering Pidge’s tablet and trying to talk to Keith, explaining the situation first and then dissolving into transcribing his own mundane thoughts.

After about five minutes Keith had pretty much been demoted to reading Shiro’s internal monologue, nodding and smiling at any point he thought it necessary.

It had started off fine, Shiro’s written ramblings working perfectly well as both a distraction from the claustrophobic tube and as something for him to focus on instead of becoming mind numbingly bored. Keith hadn’t relaxed at any point, still standing up straight in the centre of the pod. His not leaning against anything told of his lingering panic and anxiety from earlier.

Eventually, Shiro had abandoned the tablet- Keith had been getting antsy, his focus bouncing from the tablet, to Shiro, to the door, to Coran. Shiro had tried, for a moment to draw the red paladin’s attention back on him.

Hunk had come in as soon as the day cycle began. The yellow paladin was armed with two plates of food and had headed straight to Coran, the two talked in hushed toned for a moment, either unaware of, or ignoring Shiro and Keith staring at them both from across the room.

Hunk pushed one of the plates of food into Coran’s hold before ushering the older man out of the room. The yellow paladin turned and headed towards Keith and Shiro, sending a small smile towards a frowning Keith on his way.

“I’ve adopted the role of shift manager!” Hunk said cheerily, eyes alight beneath his bandana.

“What?” Shiro managed to stutter, his eyebrows narrowed into a confused stare at Hunk.

“I dismiss you.”

Shiro’s eyes cleared, “No, I’m staying here.”

Hunk pushed the remaining plate of food at the black paladin, “Nope!” he said, still grinning, “Non-negotiable!” He pointed at himself, “Remember, shift manager.” He pointed at Shiro, “Person who needs food and sleep.”

Hunk looked up at Keith then, concern brushed his features for just a second before he shimmied the plate at Shiro and let go of it with a grin so wide his eyes shut.

Shiro managed to grab the food before it fell, “Hunk, wh-”

Hunk had plucked Pidges tablet from where Shiro had discarded it moments before and was typing with a satisfied smile plastered on his face.

Shiro stood, mouth agape, arms still held stiffly in front of him with the plate as he looked from Hunk to Keith. Keith stared back at him through the glass of the pod, amusement and confusion flitting in equal measures across his face.

Keith’s attention was drawn over to Hunk, who was now wiggling the tablet in front of the pod, ‘Do you think Shiro should go eat and sleep like a normal human being with any self-care skills?’

Keith grinned at both Hunk and Shiro as he nodded, harsh shivering still wracking his slight frame.

Hunk turned to Shiro, his face now hidden from Keith’s view he let the smile drop for a second, “Before you say anything,” He said, “You need to look after yourself too. I promise I’ll get you if anything happens.”

Shiro nodded at the younger boy. He sighed, raking his hand through his hair, “I know you will Hunk.” He looked at the food still being held with his other hand, “Thanks, by the way, it looks great.”

Shiro waved at his younger brother as he left the room, and Keith lifted his hand in a weak imitation as a response.

 

Hunk had managed to barter Keith into several paper games. He’d started with noughts and crosses, holding the tablet up to Keith and letting him point, eventually the game had devolved into constant ties.

“Dude.” Hunk started, making sure to speak slowly and clearly, looking straight at Keith’s face. “You are literally just doing the exact same thing every game.”

Keith’s focus moved from Hunk’s mouth back up to his eyes. “It works.” He said with a shrug.

“There is not point it working if we just draw every time!” Hunk shouted indignantly, trying not to laugh. Hunk’s smile brightened as Keith’s eyes crinkled happily.

Hunk tapped his stylus against the step he was sat on, facing Keith and frowning softly. The yellow paladin huffed, trying to think of something else to do, “Hangman?”

Keith nodded happily, shooting a thumbs up toward the larger boy.

They managed to make it work for a while, Keith managing to guess Hunk’s words most of the time. Hunk was fairly predictable in his selection, after starting with the words, ‘Voltron’, ‘Marmora’ and ‘lion’ it got pretty easy to guess what he’d come up with next, Keith finger signing the letters until mouthing his guesses. Hunk kept choosing the simply themed words despite how badly he was losing, loving the way Keith smiled shyly at each new win. When he used ‘space dad’, Keith had almost laughed.

They were about half an hour into the game when Hunk noticed just how much Keith was shivering, the way his lips were greying slightly and how dark the skin around his eyes and beneath his cheekbones had gotten.

Hunk stood up; his sudden movement made Keith jump slightly. Hunk smiled softly at Keith’s questioning glance, trying to keep the worry off his face.

‘We’re gonna warm up a bit.’ Hunk wrote on the tablet before starting to jump up and down in front of the pod.

Keith raised an eyebrow at him sceptically, hands tucked under his arms as he shivered.

Hunk glared at him playfully until Keith humoured him, the both of them jumping together. Hunk had to fight the urge to laugh at how absurd the situation was, until Keith stopped jumping with him, any humour in the situation evaporated when Keith just shook his head and lent against the back of the pod.

Hunk swore under his breath when he realised that at some point Keith had stopped shaking, eyes blinking sluggishly. He knocked his fist harshly against the glass, smothering the curl of guilt he felt as Keith startled on the other side, eyes flicking open as he glared at Hunk in exaggerated betrayal, the look was somewhat lessened by how sleepy the red paladin looked.

“You need to stay awake bud.” Hunk said, wincing as Keith just looked at him questioningly, he wrote the message down on the tablet instead and smiled when Keith stood up straight in the pod, using his arm to stabilise him as he swayed slightly.

Hunk swallowed back his anxiety and pinged Coran, unsure of when the older man had left. When he looked back, Keith had his eyes shut again and was swaying on the spot. “Shit.” Hunk said as he rapped his fist against the pod again, trying not to panic at how much more sluggish Keith was at opening his eyes this time.

Coran entered the room out of breath, clearly having ran to the medbay from wherever he’d been beforehand. “How is he, my boy?” He panted.

“Not good.” Hunk answered, still facing Keith’s confused and weary face. “He isn’t shivering anymore and he’s looking pretty close to passing out. How close are you to fixing it?”

Coran sighed, “We’re getting there, everyone’s working on repairs, but I can’t guess when the pod’s will be back online.” He walked over to the control panel, muttering under his breath as the pod remained closed despite his efforts.

“Can we try and put something in there?” Hunk asked him. “Like, just to keep him warm a little longer, I mean-” Hunk sighed at Coran’s pitying look. “Right, yeah, stupid suggestion.” Hunk pressed his hands into his eyes until he saw colours. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m thinking straight.”

“You have nothing to apologise for lad, this is an unforeseen situation, I’m not surprised that you’re perhaps a tad panicked.” Coran reassured him. “Try to keep him awake my boy, the princess is trying to find another way to open the pod, but we need him to stay with us until then. Will you be alright in here? I can send in Lance, or perhaps Shiro if you need a break? But I need to get back to the repairs, hopefully some of the castles internal mechanics being repaired may affect the pod sequence.”

“Hopefully.” Hunk agreed, directing his attention back at Keith, he heard Coran leave the room behind him.

Keith was still stood, arms against the side of the pod to support him as he blinked heavily, he looked at Hunk when the taller boy tapped on the glass, but his eyes soon tracked off to the side as he lost focus. Hunk tapped again, awfully aware of the fact that there was very little else he could do.

Keith was far slower to meet his eyes this time, and far quicker to lose focus yet again.

Notes:

Full confession, wrote half of this chapter a while ago, couldn't get it to sound right, tried to fix it, don't know if it worked, I really really hope you enjoyed and well done for getting this far!
I am really sorry actually for taking so long to update this, bit of a mental blockade in terms of any and all recreational activities haha

As always, comments and kudos keep me going so if you have the time, it would mean the world!!
I update on my Tumblr- http://tom-the-tortoise.tumblr.com/

Chapter 3: chapter 3

Summary:

"Hunk didn’t want to think about whether Keith was slurring behind the glass, whether they would be able to understand what he was saying even if they could hear him."

Lance had come into the medbay around noon. He'd told Hunk that he’d felt pretty useless in any efforts to fix the castle, having to ask Coran what to do every five minutes had left him feeling more of a hinderance than a help. (“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad” Hunk had said, Lance had just stayed quiet.)

 

Keith had seemed to perk up some when Lance came in, he’d looked confusedly at the pair outside the pod as they’d spoken but as soon as Lance had looked up at him grinning, the trapped red paladin had smiled back warmly, if not somewhat tensely, seemingly forgetting the cold for a moment.

 

They’d tried playing games again, the same ones Hunk had tried just hours before, Keith seemed to have gained a little energy and played with the two of them for a while, but his eyes were still glazed and movements sluggish as he did so.

 

“Alright, your turn Keith.” Hunk said, pointing up at him. He frowned as Keith traced out the letter ‘D’ on the glass in front of him, the same guess as his last turn, he’d already been told it was wrong. Hunk looked down at the tablet Lance had in front of him, just to check, and saw the small letter ‘D’ with a neat strike through it. He frowned, trying to lock eyes with Lance, but the blue paladin just kept looking up at Keith.

 

Lance pouted in an exaggerated way, shooting Keith a thumbs down and speaking clearly and slow, “No luck buddy.” He said, obviously ignoring Keith’s misstep.

 

Hunk swallowed down his worry and kept playing, he wrote his guess on his own tablet on his lap as he said it, so Keith could read along, “L?”

 

Lance nodded and wrote down on the tablet in front of him, his free hand held into a thumbs up sign now. “You again.” He enunciated, pointing toward Keith.

 

Keith looked at them blankly for a moment, then held a hand up to his head, rubbing at his eyes harshly. He squinted at the tablet, blinking rapidly. His free hand was pressed against the glass as he leaned forward, clearly supporting him.

 

Lance increased the font size quietly.

 

Keith’s brow furrowed as he said something the other two couldn’t quite discern. His mouth was moving much less with every minute that went by and it was getting harder and harder to see, it was part of the reason he’d had to start tracing letters instead of just saying them, well, that and the fact it was hard to lipread individual letters anyway.

 

Hunk didn’t want to think about whether Keith was slurring behind the glass, whether they would be able to understand what he was saying even if they could hear him.

 

Lance leant forward and tapped on the glass, as if to remind Keith to trace.

 

Keith looked down at Lance blankly for a moment before shifting his gaze to Hunk’s tablet and moving his hand to the glass. Still using the other as a support, he slowly traced out an ‘L’. He didn’t even look confused anymore, just tired.

 

Hunk felt his heart sink.

 

“Okay new game!” Lance chimed, clapping his hands together, wide smile plastered firmly onto his face, it hadn’t really dropped the whole time he’d been in the medbay and Hunk may have thought it looked strained if he wasn’t clinging to any ounce of reassurance he could get.

 

Maybe by this point Lance’s pantomime smile would have looked creepy to anyone else but Hunk was just glad to have someone cheery with him, even if it was such a poor layer of pretence. Hunk knew Lance was doing it more for Keith’s benefit than anything else, he didn’t think that really mattered. But he found the longer he looked at Lance’s clearly fake expression, the sicker he felt, a weird kind of paradox- the longer he looked at his friend, the more reassured he felt… and the more he could feel the sob trapped in his chest build in pressure.

 

Hunk drew in a breath when Lance elbowed him, right, concentrate. “What about noughts and crosses?”

 

Lance nodded at him, eyes tired and buggy. He was still smiling.

 

Hunk couldn’t get his face to work right, couldn’t get the tight spike out of his throat, he didn’t want to smile, couldn’t.

 

Hunk watched as Lance drew out the table onto the tablet, as he let Keith have the first go and Keith chose to go in the same place he always chose first. He watched as Lance did the exact same things Hunk would have done. It was a game impossible not to draw once each person had a technique, so Hunk couldn’t help but notice when Lance deliberately messed up, giving Keith an easy win and he definitely saw it when Keith missed the easy opening and the two still drew.

 

Hunk coughed hoarsely when Lance gave him the tablet, again they let Keith go first, it seemed like the guy was just choosing randomly now, pointing at any blank space. Keith didn’t seem to notice when Hunk won, still pointing at the one empty box left on the tablet.

 

Hunk swallowed thickly, looking down at the tablet he’d now placed on the floor. He had to leave, had to get out of the room that was starting to feel so small, had to get away from Keith’s bleary eyes and clumsy movements. He stood quickly, stumbling a little at how cramped his legs had gotten over the hours and left the room, ignoring Lance calling out behind him.

 

He didn’t go far, just walked out the door and leant against the wall, just enough that he wasn’t in the medbay anymore, that he couldn’t see Keith.

 

He didn’t cry, his eyes felt too dry and scratchy, head pounding like a drum, why wasn’t he crying? His arms hung uselessly at his sides as he looked resolutely forward at the sterile white of the castle’s hallway.

 

He grimaced when he heard Lance walk up to him and covered his face with his hands, blocking out the harsh white light that seemed to fill every inch of the castle.

 

“Hey man!” Lance sounded cheery, sounded like he was ignoring all the bullshit going on, Hunk knew better than to believe that. “Are you-“

 

“Just fucking stop Lance.” Hunk’s voice was tired more than it was angry, but he could still see the way Lance’s shoulders slumped in his peripheral. “Don’t pull that with me, we’ve talked about the fake crap!” Hunk was getting louder now and when he turned to face Lance, he hated how the smaller boy had closed his face off, no fake smile, but nothing to replace it either, face carefully blank.

 

“Stop pretending everything is fine!” Hunk finally shouted. He stared at Lance, chest heaving, obviously waiting for him to say something… but the hall stayed oppressively quiet after Hunk’s outburst.

 

Hunk looked at Lance’s sad eyes and shoved him back, he took a tiny bit of pleasure at how angry Lance looked for a second as he stumbled before the blue paladin caught himself against the wall and yet again looked up at Hunk passively.

 

“Take a break Hunk, just… Don’t come back here for a bit, okay?” Lance breathed in deeply, then turned and went back into the medbay.

 

Hunk shut his eyes tight and forced himself to head to the kitchen.

 

---

 

Keith was hyperventilating when Lance got back to him.

 

All thoughts of Hunk fell out of his mind as he ran over to the healing pod and pressed both hands to the glass, chest rising and falling in exaggerated breaths, he tried to catch Keith’s eye and tried to ignore how this time he could clearly read Keith’s lips, how he was just repeating “I’m sorry.” again and again in his panic.

 

Tears dripped down both Keith and Lance’s faces as they breathed, a strange mirror to each other, Keith ever so slowly timing up with Lance. Once the two of them had  calmed down, Lance took a moment to look at his friend: He wasn’t doing good.

 

If he’d looked exhausted before, Lance didn’t even know how to describe the guy now, he was swaying where he stood and it looked like the only thing holding him up were his hands, still pressed against the glass, matching Lance’s and pushing himself into the back of the pod, keeping him upright. His eyes had lost focus again as soon as he’d calmed down, from pinpoint pupils back to foggy and glazed. His eyes tracked lazily across the room, gliding swiftly over Lance, unseeing.

 

“Keith, buddy?” Lance tapped softly on the glass where his hands were still pressed, hoping that the movement, no matter how small, may help Keith to focus. It worked in a sense, Keith had focused, had looked down at Lance’s hands… and then his breathing had picked up again, and that awful look of fear had etched back onto his face.

 

“No, no Keith it’s okay, look at me again buddy.” Lance tried to smile at his friend, guilt twinging deep in his chest. “Everything’s okay.” Lance said, and was promptly followed by Keith slumping where he stood, knees making a muted thump against the glass.

 

Keith was limp against the back of the pod, legs bent as much as they could be in the tiny amount of space he had, his knees were pressed up to the glass and his arms dangled loosely beside him, Lance could see his chest moving softly up and down, alive, Keith was still breathing.

 

This time, tapping on the glass did nothing to wake the red paladin and with every second of him being unresponsive, Lance’s apprehension grew, grew into a big, uncomfortable knot of anxiety in his gut. “C’mon mullet.” He said, still tapping. He choked down a somewhat hysterical laugh at the idea of himself being an impatient child at an aquarium, tapping and tapping at the glass, hoping for something inside to move.

 

He begrudgingly moved away from the pod to the comms unit by the door and started a transmission over the intercom, “Please, Coran, someone, Keith’s passed out and… and I don’t know what to do.”

 

He looked back at Keith’s crumpled form, “I don’t know what to do.”

Notes:

Hey so, all comments mean the absolute world to me! Especially since this is a multi-chap and you can't leave kudos more than once, I don't really know if you guys are liking any of this aha (I really hope so!), so ANY comment whatsoever, whether it be a quote you like, or even just a keyboard smash, gives me the motivation to keep going and I really appreciate any and all comments left on everything!

Cautiously saying I'm gonna upload on Tuesdays from now on haha

Okay so I was looking back at another one of my fics, aka, "take my hand and I go under" in the hopes of completing it... however! I realised my writing has changed a lot since then and i'm really not a fan of how I've done it so... I'm going to properly plan, rewrite and post a re-do of it which I hope I can be a lot more proud of! Please let me know if you'd be interested in that!

Tumblr- http://tom-the-tortoise.tumblr.com/

Chapter 4: chapter 4

Summary:

“He’s hurting and there is nothing I can do to fix it.” Shiro gritted his teeth and hunk could almost see him swallowing down his anger. “I know that I’m no help in there like this, but- but I can’t force myself to do anything except think.”

Notes:

Okay okay look, technically it's like, 3am on Wednesday, HOWEVER! I have not slept yet so in my brain it is still Tuesday and I am not late! The schedule prevails haha

Hunk had spent a good ten minutes in the kitchen, looking down at where his arms were braced on the worktop and not actually doing anything. He sighed, he felt shitty, deserved to feel shitty. Lance was trying to keep Keith happy; he could see that more objectively now. The overexaggerated smiles, the pantomimed movements… they were all done in an effort to get through Keith’s tired and foggy head, to maybe make the trapped paladin a little happier, a little less scared.

 

Hunk slammed his hand into the countertop and sighed again, louder this time. “It’s gonna be okay.” He mumbled, “They’ll get him out.” He stood up straight and closed his eyes, forcing himself to breath regularly. “They’ll get him out. Lance doesn’t hate you.” Hunk finally opened his eyes and headed toward Shiro’s bunk.

 

The black paladin’s door opened almost instantly, even at Hunks quiet knock. “What’s wrong? Has something happened?”

 

“Not really? I mean-“ Hunk trailed off, leaning so he could look past Shiro and into his bunk, the sheets were still tucked in from this morning, they were only wrinkled slightly, as if the older man had maybe sat on them. “Did you sleep at all?”

 

“You were going to say something.” Shiro said, apparently ignoring Hunk’s question. “What were you going to say? What’s happened?” Shiro pushed past Hunk and made to leave the room before Hunk blocked him with a shoulder.

 

“Woah hold up Shiro, everything’s okay, or well… as okay as it can be I guess?” Shiro still looked panicked but had at least stopped moving. “I just came to check up on you man.”

 

“Yeah, well I’m fine.” Shiro replied curtly, avoiding Hunk’s eye.

 

“Right, well, not that that isn’t totally convincing or anything but-“

 

“What do you want me to say Hunk?”

 

Hunk felt his chest tighten at how dejected Shiro sounded, the black paladin was slouched, prosthetic reached up and pinching the bridge of his nose, as if in thought, or in pain.

 

“He’s hurting and there is nothing I can do to fix it.” Shiro gritted his teeth and hunk could almost see him swallowing down his anger. “I know that I’m no help in there like this, but- but I can’t force myself to do anything except think.”

 

“Shiro it’s going to be okay, Allura, or Coran or- or Pidge maybe, they’ll figure it out.” Hunk’s voice was almost pleading, he tried to meet Shiro’s eye.

 

The pair both jumped when the intercom spat out static above them, then Lance’s panicked voice filled the hall, he hadn’t finished his sentence before Shiro was out of Hunk’s sight, well on his way to his brother.

 

---

 

Lance felt trapped, like he was in some kind of time freeze, stuck desperately knocking on the pod door, hoping something, anything might wake Keith up, might make him stand up again, induce any movement other than the slow rise and fall of his chest.

 

He didn’t realise he was crying until Shiro ran up to the pod, Lance hadn’t heard the medbay door open and when he tried to speak, “Shiro.” His voice had cracked and the word turned into a sob halfway through.

 

When he turned to look at the older man, he almost balked, Shiro’s pupils had narrowed to pinpricks and the almost primal fear on his face reminded Lance of whenever the black paladin would freeze up in the training room.

 

Lance jumped as Shiro lifted his prosthetic and slammed it into the front of the pod, over and over he put as much strength as he could into breaking the Altean healing pod. Lance could feel each hit through his body as he stood next to the older man, he’d never feared Shiro before, but now, seeing as he madly struck at the pod, blind to his surroundings, blind to how Keith’s head slammed into the glass on every hit, Lance found himself flinching away from the black paladin.

 

Lance gasped as he noticed just how hard Keith was hitting the front of the pod… and how Shiro wasn’t slowing down. “Sh- Shiro stop.” Lance only realised he was whispering after he’d spoken. “Shiro, you need to stop.” He said, louder this time, but the man wasn’t hearing him.

 

Thump, Keith’s head hit the glass again. Lance could see his forehead reddening, the colour livid against the whiteish-blue of his skin. “Shiro stop it!” Lance was shouting now and without thinking, he reached for Shiro’s human arm, perhaps hoping to bring him out of whatever he was seeing, or maybe to vainly try and pull him away. Whatever he’d hoped to achieve didn’t come to any kind of fruition.

 

As soon as Lance touched his arm, Shiro stopped hitting the pod for just a moment, just long enough to push Lance back, palm slamming into the blue paladins chest and forcing him away. Lance was airborne for a second, eyes wide as he flew backwards, he struggled to catch his breath for a short moment, then his feet hit the floor at the bottom of the small set of stairs, he felt a sharp pulse of pain up his leg as it took the brunt of the fall.

 

“Lance!” Hunk screamed from where he was still stood at the doorway, he’d watched as Lance had fallen onto his back, lying prone on the floor. The dread in his gut lessened slightly as Lance shifted to his side, he wasn’t unconscious at least, but Hunk had no idea whether he was alright.

 

Hunk jumped when Pidge shouted out behind him, apparently just getting to the Medway. “What the fuck is happening?” She looked over at Shiro, paling slightly when she saw Keith’s crumpled form, and gasping quietly when she saw Lance trying to push himself up off the floor.

 

“Check on Lance.” He’d said to Pidge, before Hunk ran over to the black paladin. “Shiro stop!” Hunk stopped moving once he’d gotten to be about 5 feet away from Shiro, who was still hitting the pod, he’d activated his prosthetic now, and was hitting the sides of the pod, maybe trying to melt the metal? Hunk doubted there was much thought going into how to open the pod rather than just a blind desperation to save Keith.

 

“Shiro, I need you to listen to me, we are in the castle, you need to stop and you need to let us help Keith.” Hunk was careful to keep his voice level. He tried to ignore Lance gasping behind him, ignore how Keith looked like a corpse because of the blue tint of the pod, god he hoped it was because of the pod. He repeated himself again, “Please Shiro, Keith needs you to stop.”

 

Hunk could hear Coran come into the medbay behind him, he had a spare thought of gratitude at the Altean staying away from Shiro and just standing, quiet and still by the door.

 

Hunk just kept talking, he spoke to Shiro about Keith, about their latest mission, about the simulator back at the garrison, anything he could possibly think of. Eventually the bang of Shiro’s prosthetic tapered out and the room was filled with Shiro sobbing desperately, “I’m sorry, please… please help him, I’m sorry.” Shiro was mumbling, breathing still fast. Hunk didn’t think he was apologising about Lance, he suspected the older man wasn’t a hundred percent sure what he was doing it for either, just repeating apologies and begs like prayers.

 

Hunk didn’t stop talking, he was vaguely aware that Lance didn’t seem to be gasping anymore.

 

Shiro finally looked away from Keith and toward Hunk, he still looked terrified, face crumpled and wet with tears, he looked broken. He stumbled away from the pod and from Hunk until he hit the far wall, it looked as though he were holding himself up against it.

 

Hunk changed what he was saying, electing to try and calm Shiro’s breathing now that the black paladin seemed like he was at least aware of Hunk’s existence. “In for four, hold four and out four Shiro okay? Just try and follow along with me, in, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four-“

 

Hunk ignored it as Coran walked calmly over to the pod, glad to see that Shiro seemed not to be paying the Altean any mind either.

 

He spoke until his voice was hoarse, until Shiro had fallen into a sit against the wall, staring hollowly at the pod, Hunk let him be, he was breathing normally now. Hunk took the moment after he finally stopped talking to just breathe. He looked back at the green and blue paladins, Lance looked back at him, offering a tentative smile. “Are you-“

 

“I’m fine Hunk.” Lance said as Pidge helped him over to a chair.

 

“You’re limping.” Hunk stated simply.

 

“I think he’s okay.” Pidge interjected before Lance could respond. “I mean, he’s hurt his leg, obviously but I’m pretty sure it’s a sprain, or maybe he pulled something?” Pidge bit her lip. “He’ll be alright without the pods for the moment I think, just… just make sure to stay off it for the moment,” She said, now looking at Lance. “Just until Coran has a look and we know how bad it is.”

 

Lance nodded at the green paladin then looked sadly at the pod, “Anything Coran?”

 

The older man sighed; forehead pressed up to the glass.

 

Coran had spent most of his day doing repairs barely good enough to get the castle running, it was now a matter of speed over quality and as much as his grandfather may have been turning in his grave, Coran could properly repair the castle later, once number four was safe and warm.

 

He’d also been periodically checking in on both Keith and the princess, he could begrudgingly admit he wasn’t much help to the former at the moment, he still wasn’t particularly versed in the physiological responses of humans so without a readout or anything of the sort, he was somewhat lost. He was much more help trying to get the castle into running order again.

 

There had been an issue with his plan however, one he was achingly aware of, it was a failsafe for the pods to open if there was significant damage to the castle… a complete loss of power was certainly significant, so why hadn’t the pods opened? Coran could only assume what he had told Shiro mere vargas before to be true, that the pods had stayed shut due to the crystal corruption, in which case, the repairs he was doing wouldn’t matter at all. Even if he got the castle into tip-top working condition, that was no guarantee that the pod number four was stuck in would open.

 

So, most of his hope lay with Allura, who had been as hectic as the rest of the paladins and himself in trying to find a solution. Most of Coran’s hope lay with the princess trying to connect with the castle.

 

As much as he doubted his use, Coran had still ran to the medbay when number three asked him to, hearing the worry in the blue paladin’s tone hadn’t left him with much of a choice

 

Coran backed away from the pod for a moment, he didn't look back at the team spread through the room. He held the side of the pod with one of his hands and looked at number four’s crumpled form before opening a transmission to the princess, “Anything?”

 

---

 

Allura’s hands had not left the Balmeran crystal since she’d started working on it in the night, she was exhausted beyond belief, but she was getting there. Slowly sealing and repairing the tiny fissures and cracks in the crystal, remnants from its corruption phoebs prior.

 

She was angry at herself for not doing it sooner, she should have checked as soon as they’d purged the infection out of the castle that there were no weak points or remaining issues. But she hadn’t, and now one of her teammates, her family was suffering for it, she bit back an angry yell and instead focussed back in on the crystal, on how the quintessence flowed and where it didn’t, fixing it, little by little. She was so very very close.

 

She could only hope Keith could hold on just a little longer.

Notes:

Thank you so much to everyone who commented last chapter! really made me excited to write this and to fully plan out the rewrite of 'take my hand and I go under'! yay! comments mean the world y'all and I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter cause i'm a little worried we've ventured into veerry OOC, then again I haven't watched Voltron in literal years now, so what even IS 'in character'?

Please leave a comment if you have the time, I'd really really appreciate it!

Tumblr- http://tom-the-tortoise.tumblr.com/

Chapter 5: chapter 5

Summary:

"He took a hollow sort of solace in the still present judder of Keith’s chest against his own before snapping back into action."

Sensing quintessence was normal, well… had always been normal to Allura when she was growing up. Knowledge of it had been as standard as breathing. Quintessence, both the manipulation of it, and the thing itself had been commonplace, so, those who had the ability to influence it weren’t revered, no, they were respected. All Alteans had varying sensitivity to quintessence so the ability to play with that sensitivity really wasn't anything special, Alteans who worked with quintessence were viewed in a similar way to healers, or mechanics, just citizens... but citizens on whom society relied.

 

Allura had never had that more grounded view of it, her younger years had revolved around the lions of Voltron and they had taken the idea of influencing quintessence to another level. Besides that, Allura had been a member of the royal family and as humble as her father had been, there would always be a disconnect between her and her people, namely, the fact that to any other Altean quintessence was necessary, but in the castle, it was everything.

 

The normalcy of a thing will always be stripped away when it becomes paramount to everyone around you.

 

Quintessence was energy, it was everything and was part of every being, it was life and Allura knew what the smallest kink in a flow could do, and she knew how to smooth it out.

 

When she shifted quintessence she felt both powerful and so very insignificant all at once, the ability to alter something so grand… and yet whenever she was working with it, she was wholly aware of how small she was and how big the universe in comparison.

 

Such was how she felt now, the amount of quintessence in just the small Balmeran crystal between her hands was immense, which was part of the reason she was being so cautious with her manipulations, she wouldn’t, no, couldn’t make an error. She would not allow the corruption to snake its way along the flow of quintessence, she kept untangling and unknotting and working.

 

She was not in the castle, there was no floor beneath where she was sat, no ceiling above her head, just her hands and the pulsing tubules and tendrils of quintessence between them. Tiny black strings had wound their way around gold, but Allura had been purging them out, and she was nearly done, the crystal was nearly pure again.

 

She gasped when the last of the rot left the crystal and she could feel her hair fall down her back from where it had been floating up behind her, it felt like the first breath she’d taken in vargas. She blinked back the disorientation from her focus leaving the pinpoint it had been narrowed onto and snapped back into action, ignoring the weariness weighing on her bones she leant forward, crystal gently cupped in her hands she looked down at where the mice had been patiently sat.

 

“Be careful.” She said, knowing they understood what to do. She gave the crystal to the group, Platt taking the majority of the weight, she trusted them to put the crystal into its rightful place.

 

She stumbled as soon as she stood, exhaustion at how far she’d pushed herself making itself known. She’d hoped to run to the medbay as soon as she’d finished but only realised how unrealistic that was when she was having to support herself against the wall just to stay upright as she walked. Still, she made her way, painstakingly slowly, to see if it had worked.

 

---

 

Coran nearly jumped out of his skin when the glass in front of him dissolved, but he managed to cling onto his resolve and catch the poor boy as he fell forward. He heard the rest of the paladins clamouring over one another behind him and ignored them in favour of calling out to Hunk over his shoulder, “Go check on Allura.”

 

Keith was freezing, and completely boneless where he was now leant up against Coran’s chest, he took a hollow sort of solace in the still present judder of Keith’s chest against his own before snapping back into action.

 

“Number five, get the IV packs ready.” He was thankful that they’d had the foresight to gather anything they might need to warm the red paladin up. He’d had to ask the other paladins if there were any methods they were aware of, and Pidge had been more than happy to recite anything that came to mind. Hooking him up to warm saline bags had been the one he’d been the most enamoured at, taking a moment to marvel at how canny humans were before realising how truly starved of choice they were and admitting they really had no other choice.

 

They’d only managed to gather two heat packs, Coran wasn't entirely sure where any others had gone, but held the fact that it had been over ten thousand years since supplies had been restocked as reason for the measly amount. They'd also placed the IV packs in warm water ready for when they got Keith out of the pod. He could see Number five rushing around, trying to move everything into the right place as Coran lifted Keith up into his arms. “There there lad, we have you now.” He whispered, despite the fact Keith had yet to move at all.

 

“Coran is he…?” Lance spoke up tentatively, he was stood on one leg now, and leaning heavily on the chair he’d just been sat in. Coran could almost see how hard he was fighting himself not to try and walk over and help.

 

“He’s still unconscious my boy.” He replied as he lay Keith gently down onto the cot they’d gotten ready for him. “Number one?” He questioned as Shiro moved past him and stood at the head of the bed next to Keith. Shiro crouched so his face was level with Keith’s and Coran could hear him whispering something to the smaller boy, but couldn’t make out what it was. He instead focused on inserting the thick needle into the crook of Keith’s elbow, he would have warned Shiro to be careful of the newly inserted IV line if he wasn’t wholly sure Shiro wouldn’t really hear him, too focused on Keith’s lax face.

 

The only time Shiro broke out of his almost reverent whispering was when Pidge dragged a chair over to him so he wouldn’t have to hold himself in his awkward looking half-squat/half-crouch, he didn’t acknowledge her at all, just moved quickly into the chair and shifted it closer to Keith’s side.

 

“I have the heat packs ready?” Pidge said quietly, now stood at Coran’s side.

 

“You gotta be careful though right?” Lance said, he’d been limping closer to the bed without the two of them realising.

 

Pidge swore, then rushed over to support him again. “What the hell Lance!”

 

He waved her protests away and ignored her. “We can’t warm him up too quick right, so just be careful with the heat packs, not too hot.”

 

“What do you mean number three?” Coran questioned, new worry for the fragility of humans filling his mind.

 

Pidge interrupted Lance before he could get a word out, “We just can’t let him get too hot too quick Coran.” She furrowed her brow at the cot again. “But he still needs warming up so…” She trailed off, looking dubiously down at the two small heat packs in her hands, they’d been all they could find in such a hurry and Pidge was clearly worrying about it now. “I don’t even know if this will be enough-“

 

Lance shoved her away from him and stumbled the last few steps to the cot. Frowning as he did so, he cursed under his breath and hauled himself up onto the bed on the opposite side from where Shiro was sat and very gently moved Keith onto his side so his back was pressed up against Lance’s chest. Coran could see how careful Lance was to make sure Keith’s neck was in a comfortable position and that he hadn’t messed up the IV drip.

 

Shiro was still talking, now stroking Keith’s hair gently as he did so and staring intently at Keith’s closed eyes. The way Lance had positioned them, Keith was now facing his older brother.

 

Coran sighed and walked over to the pile of blankets and started laying them over the red and blue paladins, as he did so, Pidge attached the heat packs to the drip bag so it would remain warm as it did its job.

 

“Is there anything else we can do?”

 

“I don’t think so number five, we’ll just have to keep him warm and wait.”

Notes:

I'm not all that proud of this chapter, both in length and quality. I'm really sorry but I've got a bunch of exams for uni this week and my brain has not been cooperating with any sense of human functioning!

I really hope you're all having a good week, I finish on Friday so I'm hoping to make up for this chapter next Tuesday, I'll have a lot more time after that.

Notes:

I hope you all have/had/are having a brilliant Christmas.

I know I'm not brilliant at writing but I'm trying aha,,, I mean, practice makes perfect no?

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of Keith hurt/comfort