Voltron: Galaxies Apart

Chapter 20

It had been about two hours by the time they were let back in. Allura and Coran were sitting on the couch, tired from working nonstop to patch him up. 

Shiro explained that Lance's leg and fingers were set in splints, then wrapped, and his wound was all stitched up. He said that they gave him some medicine for the pain, so he might be out for a couple of days as well, and that he just needed time to rest before anything else. 

Keith looked at Lance, who was still laying on the table. They had put a blanket on him, and a cold rag on his head for the fever. Keith sat on the couch, watching his chest rise and fall with his breaths. He looks really pale, Keith noticed. They stayed there the rest of the day, and into the night, cleaning up. 

During all hours, someone had to be watching him in case something happened, good or bad. Since they didn't have much medical technology in space besides the healing pods, they were limited to what they could do. 

Shiro took the first watch while everyone else ate some space goop and went to bed. Shiro, Coran, and Allura would take the shifts until morning just in case Lance started to have trouble breathing or something. 

In the morning, Keith immediately went to check on Lance. When he opened the door he spotted Allura, sitting down next to Lance's makeshift bed. "How's he doing?" Keith called softly.

"Better, I think." Allura replied. She seemed pretty tired.

"I can take over watching him if you want to get some rest." Keith offered.

"You sure?" Allura asked, looking up at him. It was about six thirty in the morning. 

"Yea-" Keith started. Lance had started mumbling. Keith glanced at Allura, who was a little more focused than before. "Is he okay?"

"He's probably just having a dream." Allura suggested. 

Then Lance started moving. It wasn't quite like he woke up, more like he was flinching away from something. His eyes sort of fluttered open a little as he tried to get up. "Woah, Keith hold him down." Allura instructed, getting up. "If he moves around too much he could open is wounds again." 

"Kay.." Keith responded, moving to grasp Lance's shoulders. He pushed Lance back onto the makeshift bed, holding him down. Allura held his left arm, but his right arm was clenched in pain. 

"S-s..ttop..." Lance pleaded. "Dont....I..don't want....no...." 

"Allura, what now?" Keith called.

"Keep him still." Allura directed as she let go of his arm to go fetch something. 

Lance had stopped struggling had started coughing now. His whole body shook with each breath. "Quickly, turn him on his side." Allura called. 

Keith did as instructed, careful not to hurt any of his broken bones. Once on his side, Lance had continued coughing until he coughed up blood. "Allura!" Keith called, panicking.

"Im coming." Allura rushed over and stuck a needle in his arm, injecting something into him. 

It seemed to calm him down, and Lance was back to being unconscious. The door opened and Shiro ran in."Is everything okay?" 

"Yeah, he was just having a little trouble breathing." Allura explained. She turned to Keith. "You can lay him back on his back, I think that when he was trying to speak, it caused him to start coughing. "

"okay, but why was there blood?" Keith said, laying him back down. He pulled the covers back on him and rinsed another cold rag to put on his head.

"One of his organs were bruised, it was probably just that." Allura sighed. "He'll be fine."

"Blood?" Shiro asked worriedly.

"No, it's alright now." Allura sighed, sitting back down. Shiro sat on the couch, worried about what had happened. 

During the day, almost nothing new happened. No good or bad news to speak of. It was Keith's turn to watch Lance for about three hours, and then it was Pidge's turn. Everyone was around the castle, doing small tasks to keep their mind off Lance. Hunk visited Lance almost nonstop, telling him stories and things. 

Keith was now all alone with Lance. He wasn't much for telling stories, so he just sat in silence. Every so often Lance's hand would twitch, and Lance couldn't help but stare at the bandages wrapped around his wrist. 

Keith reached over and put his hand over Lance's. His skin felt warm to the touch. Must be the fever, Keith reasoned. He traced his fingers over Lance's hand, moving softly against his skin.

During that time Keith was holding his hand, Lance's hand stopped twitching.