Chapter Text
James stared down the Druid, fumbling with his rifle. Of all the times for it to jam... The figure raised its hand to strike. Time slowed for James as the realization that he wasn’t going to be rearmed by the time the strike left the Druid and crashed over him. A frantic glance around the hallway confirmed there was nowhere for him to run or hide.
“James!” Keith shouted, colliding into him as he pushed James out of the way.
His reaction time was a millisecond too slow. Keith raised his shield just enough to shield the men from the brunt of the blast, but not enough to stop it from glancing off onto his helmet. The purple lightning connected with the side of Keith’s head, shattering the armor around it with a crack. Keith instantly saw double from the blinding pain.
James unjammed his rifle just in time to land a killing blow on the distracted druid, who slumped to the floor. He rushed to Keith’s side. There was so much blood, even for a head wound. James’ eyes drifted across his lover to see the gash across his neck. Shaking hands removed what was left of the helmet. It had saved most of Keith’s face, even if it failed to protect the rest of its wearer.
Keith raised an uncoordinated hand to try and give James’s face one last caress. He missed and it landed on his shoulder. James ripped the glove and his own helmet off and held the hand to his bare cheek. Tears squeezed their way out of his eyes and blood continued to drain from Keith onto the floor below the men. If he closed his eyes, the tears felt the same as if it was crimson trailing down his own face.
This was it. These weren’t the kind of wounds you walked away from and both men knew it.
The blow had seriously compromised Keith’s ability to think and the blood loss wasn’t helping. “J-James…J…I…l….lo…”
James squeezed Keith’s hand in his own, still holding it fast to his cheek. “Shhhh, baby, I know. I know. Fuck. I love you too. I’m sorry… I-“
A rasping noise, the sound of a dead man, came from Keith’s lungs and the light drained from his eyes. James sat there for what felt like an eternity, a vice grip on Keith’s cooling hand to his face as all he could do was let the tears fall and mingle with Keith’s blood on the floor.
His team found him like that. Kinkade had to wrestle him off Keith’s corpse, shove him back into his helmet, and drag him back to the Atlas. Ina had the good sense to retrieve Keith’s dog tags.