Take Over

Chapter 2

Keith P.O.V

"Time for your last injection," Haggar laughs, advancing on me with a syringe. I stay still, knowing any struggling will result in more pain. Haggar brings the syringe up to me, but an alarm blares, making her whip around.

"Intruders! The paladins have infiltrated the base," A guard runs in, relaying the news. Did they come for me? They didn't forget?

"Go! Lead them here, we're done with Keith anyway," she orders, turning back to me, "This has been fun red paladin, we'll meet again," She stabs the syringe into my neck, making me cry out at the sharp pain. She exits through a portal, waving goodbye at my broken body. The liquid burns and I scream louder than I ever have, bucking against the wall as my body burns. My vision starts to blur, my screams drowning out anything else in the room.

"...th! Keith!" Someone yells, gently pulling me off the wall, "Guys, I found him, we're coming your way." I whimper as someone runs out of the room, carrying me like a baby. I close my eyes, letting sleep take me, but something hits my cheek, making me jolt awake.

"You can't sleep yet Keith, stay awake a little longer," Shiro whispers, running into the black lion. He sets me down, jumping onto the controls, "Let's go home guys, Keith is safe!" He speeds away from the ship, the other lions following behind, shooting down enemy ships. My stomach starts to burn and I whimper, causing Shiro to look back at me.

"I'm sorry Keith, I'm sorry you had to go through this," Shiro whispers, pulling into the castle's docking bay. He picks me up, and I cry out when he hits my arm, making me turn to his chest. I cry, soaking his paladin armor, and soon I pass out, Shiro carrying me to the healing pods.

Third Person P.O.V

Shiro rushes into the room with the pods, Allura right behind. She opens the capsule and they set the now unconscious Keith down.

"He has a lot of injuries, so it may take a couple of cycles until he wakes up," Coran explains, "He should be out in about 2 quintents, give him time." Coran pushes them out of the room, leaving only him and Shiro.

"You don't need to stay, it's going to take a while for him to wake up," Coran twirled his mustache, looking at Shiro, "Go take a shower, get some food, you look like you need sleep."

"I will, but," Shiro placed a hand on the healing pod with Keith, "I can't leave him right now, I'll sleep when he wakes up."

"But-"

"Coran, I can't," Shiro whispers, making the Altean quiet. He pats Shiro's shoulder and leaves, leaving him alone with Keith.

"Hey, buddy," Shiro looks up at Keith's unconscious face, "We missed you. Lance was really worried about you, he kept asking Pidge how her scanner was coming along, wanting to be the first to know. He really does like you, but he'd never admit it so don't bring it up, okay?" Shiro asks the sleeping boy. He drops his hand and leaves the room, going to shower.

All the paladins are trying to pretend everything is normal, but two days have passed and Keith still hasn't woken up. Hunk has been stress baking a lot lately, staying in the kitchen for hours at a time. Pidge was trying to take her mind off of it by playing video games in her room, occasionally tinkering with the scanner she made to find her family. Lance was busy bothering everyone, making them feel even tenser. Shiro stayed in the healing room a lot now, waiting to help his friend when he wakes up, while Allura and Coran kept themselves busy maintaining the ship.

Keith P.O.V

My eyes fluttered open and everything was really bright. I looked around and saw Shiro pacing in front of me, his face contorted with worry. I reached my hand out to him, managing to push something open. The door hissed and I fell out, but Shiro caught me before I hit the ground.  

"Sh-Shiro?" I whispered, feeling very weak.

"Yeah, it's me," Shiro helped the red paladin up and set him in a chair. He pushed a button, connecting to the comms throughout the castle, "Guys...he's awake."