3rd Person POV
The paladins piled into their Lions after hearing Keith's plan. Although, Lance was stuck in his head during the meeting. He couldn't help realizing that there were bags under Keith's eyes, that his black shirt was just a bit baggier, and that he was pale. Plus, he was having trouble looking anyone in the eye. Lance kicked himself for not realizing sooner.
They flew towards the ship in the lion. "Lance, you're with me, c'mon!" Keith said over the communicator.
This took Lance off guard, as he wasn't listening during the meeting. He found it odd that Keith asked for him to be his partner.
The plan was for allura and Hunk to distract the front of the ship while Pidge, Lance, and Keith infiltrated the inside to search for the quintessence and blade members. Keith was going to release the prisoners while the other two focused on retrieving the quintessence.
The three made it inside. Pidge sent them maps of the ship to their helmets, which also told them where the quintessence and prisoners were. On opposite sides of the ship.
Lance created a private channel with Keith, as soon as they weren't their separate ways.
"You sure you're gonna be okay on your own? You've spent all day training, you're gonna crash eventually." He said to him.
"Yeah. I can handle it." Keith replied.
"Sooo...you sure you're okay?" Lance asked.
"I'm fine, Lance." He said.
Though, Lance knew he wasn't, in fact, fine. Pidge and Lance quickly took down two sentries that were patrolling the halls.
Keith was by himself, headed towards the prison. It was quiet, and he secretly didn't want Lance to stop talking. He hadn't come across any galrans, which he found odd. The point of Hunk and Allura fighting off the ship itself was to distract most of the guards, but there should've been some guards left behind at least.
"Hey, we're at the room with the quintessence. Where are you with the prisoners?" Lance asked.
"I think I'm at the pr--AAAGH!" Keith's line of communication was suddenly cut off. Lance heard the clatter of the helmet falling off, in horror.
"Keith?! Keith, what happened!?!?" Lance yelled, shocked. Pidge looked to Lance, scared. She put down the quintessence containers and ran to Lance.
"He's not answering, something happened!" Lance yelled. "Uh, take the quintessence back to green and I'll head to Keith."
Before Pidge can even reply, he's already running out of the room at full speed. He pulled out the map a couple times to confirm Keith's location. He was so worried that he didn't even realize that he was at the prison. He started running so fast that he skidded to a stop when he saw that Keith was on the ground. He looked around for Galra, but there was no one. Keith didn't look injured, but there had to be a reason that he was unconscious.
Lance fell to his knees beside Keith and started shaking him. Keith stirred awake and tiredly looked at him.
"Keith? Keith, what happened? Are you okay?" Lance asked.
Keith was a bit dizzy and struggled to get to his feet, so Lance helped him up. Keith couldn't stand on his own, so he leaned on Lance.
"I...I'm not sure..." Keith said, confused. He wasn't sure how to describe it.
"Alright, we'll head back to the Lions and regrou--" "AAAH!" Keith yelled.
Keith suddenly shut his eyes, grit his teeth, and covered his ears. It was some kind of sound that made his brain feel like it was on fire. He couldn't even see straight or hear Lance, it was so loud.
Lance put his arm around Keith, to keep him standing. He had no idea what was happening, but he knew that Keith was in pain.
Suddenly, Lance heard footsteps and jerked his head in that direction. He saw a Galra wearing...a blades uniform? He had a remote in one hand and was pressing down on a huge dark purple button. When he let up, Keith suddenly fell limp in Lance's arms.
"What the hell is that?! What did you do?!" Lance angrily yelled. He ignored the yells of the other paladins to explain what was going on.
The Galra smiled. "It's just a little invention our team created just for the red paladin. It emits a painful frequency only audible to Human-Galra half breeds. I'm honestly impressed the paladin is still conscious, even if just barely." He explained.
"You son of a--!" He suddenly presses down on it again, making Keith seize up, again. He backs away from Lance and falls to the ground, back against the cell. He tries covering his ears, but that doesn't stop the sound.
Lance takes out his sword and begins running towards the Galran at full speed. But, before he can land a hit, he finds himself with his back to the floor, with a seething burn on his shoulder that had ripped through his armor. Two other galrans, one in a blades uniform, stepped out and pointed their guns to him.
Lance couldn't find a way to fight them all off, whilst protecting Keith. So, his only option was to run. He looked to keep, who didn't seem to be able to run let alone stand.
"We don't need you. We only need him. Let us take him and we'll let you go." That same Galran said.
There was no way Lance would abandon him.
"Guys. Back up." He whispered into the communicator.
"Already on our way." Pidge replied.
Lance slowly got back up. He begrudgingly reverted his bayard and raised his hands. "Okay. Just...take your hand off the button and I'll get out of your way." Lance said.
The Galra looked at him skeptically, but then took his finger off the button. Lance glanced behind him to see that Keith wasn't looking too good. His hands were still covering his ears, only looser. He was trying to stand, but kept sliding down. Lance slowly stepped behind him, alerting the other galrans to intimidate him. Though, Lance was determined to get out of this situation. He wasn't sure why he was so interested in Keith, but he didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
So, Lance hurriedly turned around and sprinted towards Keith. He quickly grabbed Keith's hand and pulled as hard as he could in the opposite direction. The Galra began firing, hitting Keith in the back and Lance in the shoulder. Keith was stumbling and Lance was mostly dragging him, but he was determined.
Then, something no one could foreseen happened.
"Lance...I can't...keep...eyes...o...pe..." Keith mumbled, as he was struggling to stay conscious.
"Just a little longer, Keith! You can sleep when you get into a pod--"
Lance's reassurance was cut short when suddenly felt light. He was holding onto Keith's hand tightly, but it was like Keith...wasn't there. Lance stumbled, from the sudden lightness. It took him a moment to process what had happened. He heard Keith's body thud, but he was still holding onto his hand.
He knew that he would regret looking behind him, but he had to.
Lance slowly turned his head around. At first, he looked straight ahead, down the hall, where the galrans were running with their guns drawn. Then, his eyes pan down to the floor. There, Keith was lying unconscious. Beside him, was a pool of blood. Lance realized that he couldn't be holding Keith's hand, if Keith was on the ground a couple feet in front of him.
So who's hand was he holding?
He ignored the Galran to the left of him, holding a bloody machete, and he slowly lifted up what he had been holding in his hand to his line of sight.
There in his hand was Keith's hand.
Completely detached from his body. Cut a bit below the elbow.
Lance couldn't process it for a moment. He didn't know how to accept it. He couldn't. By that time, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura, could be heard running down the hall behind Lance.
The Galran that held the frequency remote walked up to Keith.
"I really didn't want to break him, but it was the only way. Oh well." He said.
Lance would've gotten angry, but everything around him was muffled. His breathing picked up, as it was finally clicking to him.
He let go of the hand and tears slowly began to fall from his eyes. He felt like he was going to puke.
The galran picked up Keith in his arms, as the others finally reached the scene.
"What? Keith! No!" Pidge yelled, seeing Keith being taken away. A couple other Galrans came out and formed a wall in between them. Hunk began blasting, along with Allura, but Pidge was looking to Lance, who had just been standing in the same spot in complete silence.
"Lance...?" Pidge asked.
That's when she looked to see what was by his feet. Her eyes widened in shock. "No...U-Uh, it's okay, uh, Shiro lost an arm and it turned out okay...we'll get him a new arm and it'll be even...b-better..." Pidge said. She was trying to get Lance to feel better even if just for a little while. Just so he could fight them long enough to retreat.
But, Lance was already too far gone.
He dropped to his knees , unintentionally forcing him to look at the arm. Tears began to fall faster as he closed his eyes tight and let out the loudest and most heart wrenching horrific scream anyone had ever heard.
They say no one can hear you scream in space, but the paladins would tell you without a shadow of a doubt that the entire universe felt that.