VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Keith - Hold on to Me

Somehow the three of them had gotten back to their lions after the witch had suddenly vanished, leaving a crackling laugh in her wake and withering Keith on the floor.

Lance gnashed his teeth together in frustration, pushing the controls harder as Blue groaned in protest with the order, sending her paladin apology after apology that she couldn't go any faster, but she was trying her best to get there as fast as she could.

And that still didn't seem to be enough.

"S-Sh- Shiro, I- I, I can't-"

"You can and you will," Shiro said, fixing Keith with a stare that even Allura couldn't go against, it instantly softening though as Keith let out another wheeze.

Keith couldn't do it. He couldn't hold on, no matter how hard he fought to keep air going through his lungs, he couldn't hold on.

Keith felt Shiro's hands bring him up suddenly as he retched again, this time, it was blood that left his lips and another shudder ran through Keith as he was laid back on the floor.

"Come on, Keith," Shiro whispered the words of encouragement mostly to himself, he could See Keith was getting weaker with every passing moment and it was killing Shiro that he could do nothing but watch as the spell slowly killed him.

Shiro could see the purple glow spread through the wound, the bleeding refusing to cease its continual flow onto the floor.

Keith gave a gurgling cough, the only response to Shiro's words, the boy's violet eyes half-lidded.

At least they weren't closed.

Yet.

But if they didn't get there in time they would be.

"Shiro! The pod's all ready, how's Keith holding up?" Pidge's voice echoed through Shiro's headset.

"Not good," Shiro pushed harder on the wound, earned himself a strangled scream from Keith, even though Shiro knew the boy was trying his best to hold it in.

"Do you- do you think he'll make it?" Pidge's voice was small at that question, and once again Shiro felt the overwhelming guilt crash down on him for ordering Hunk and Pidge to stay behind to help guard the castle. They were missing what might be Keith's final moments, and even though a part of Shiro knew he wouldn't have let them stay in Blue with them if they had gone on the mission, Shiro still wanted them to be there.

Because Keith wasn't going to make it.

"I- I don't know."

He knew it.

He knew he wasn't going to survive this.

Keith moaned again, biting his tongue when Shiro's fingers twitched, aggravating the wound even more, biting back tears of pain.

He wasn't going to make it.

With every breath, he pulled through it felt as if he was inhaling glass into his lungs.

And it hurt.

God, it hurt so bad.

He tried imagining Lance in his situation and failed, the blue paladin would've tried to make the situation not as dark, but gazing at the chair obscuring Lance from view, Keith knew Lance was more focused on getting them to safety.

But it was already too late.

"Keith, look at me."

Keith obeyed, violet eyes meeting chocolate brown.

"You're going to make it; you're going to be fine."

Keith wheezed again, "Shiro, I'm not-"

"No!" Shiro looked a bit shocked at his sudden outburst that left his lips, and out of the corner of Keith's already blurry vision, he saw Lance quickly look back at the both of them, before pulling back to his current task, but only after seeing that Keith was still with them. "No," Shiro repeated again, quieter, "you're going to hold on until we get you to the castle, everything's going to be okay." The black paladin murmured, mostly to himself.

Keith didn't have any strength in him left to argue.

But he didn't need to.

Keith sent up another bloody cough, his limbs growing heavy and his head foggy, he could see dark spots begin to overtake his vision and he tried to suck in more air. He was fighting, he really was, but he couldn't hold on, not anymore.

Shiro knew the moment Keith began to lose his fight.

"Keith! No! Stay with us please, just a little longer!" Shiro grabbed his shoulders, giving him a light shake as if that would get him to hang on. Dammit, just hold on.

Hearing Shiro's pleas, he could hear Pidge and Hunk crying on the comm, and Allura demanding that Shiro tell her how Keith is, but Shiro didn't answer.

The red paladin didn't seem to hear as his eyes slipped shut, his lungs still working to try and get much-needed air to his lungs, but nothing would come.

He was losing.

His world was going dark.

And Keith reluctantly gave in.