I don't own Voltron.
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"That's enough for now, he's learned his lesson I think. We'll come back later." The galran guard smirked, looking down at the bloody, beaten form at his feet. His partner snickered and kicked the prisoner again, forcing a grunt from him. The smaller galra then danced away, giggling madly after his taller compainion. Solid yellow eyes locked onto dull indigo ones as the door to the small cell was closed and locked from the outside.
Keith didn't move for a while afterwards, keeping a hazy eye on the door as his mind wandered. He no longer had a clue how long he'd been on the cruiser, due to him being dragged too a new cell some time ago, nor did he know how many beatings he'd had, they all seemed to blend into each other. He tried to take a deep breath, his chest rattling as he coughed painfully. He blinked sluggishly when their was a loud scream and tried to raise his head, to sit up and look around but his body had no strength and he couldn't resist closing his eyes as pain jabbed at his chest and stole his consciousness.
He woke up to guns firing and shouts of pain, blinking when when his cell door was thrown open, a large figure hiding the hallway. It stepped into the room and closer to the teen, yanking him up by his throat and bellowing in his face. He tried to move, to shake his head and explain that he didn't know what was going on but the galra slammed his head against the wall, causing black spots to dance across his vision. He coughed weakly, a warm, metallic liquid collecting in the corner of his mouth as he was choked. His vision began drifting and his hearing faded into white noise. A weak whine was the only noise he could make, a final plea for the guard to just let him breathe. His eyes slid close, and his body went limp, the little fight he had left draining with the little strength he had. Before he passed out again, he muttered three words, barely audible over the sound of fighting.
"Kashi... help... me..."
Keith blacked out.
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He wakes up in stages, first feeling the cold of the stone floor (his paladin armour being removed when he was first captured) then, the burning thats coming from his chest and neck. It hurt's. Trying to gasp out a breath hurts more.
The next thing Keith becomes aware of is the smell, mint and ozone - a weird combination, but not unpleasant. His sluggish brain struggles to grasp the important meaning on the smell but it remains just out of his reach. He screams in his head because he can't really remember anything other than his identity and that horrible all-consuming pain that seems to be everywhere. He just wants it to end.
The third thing is the horrible taste in his mouth, it's warm, and the slightly metallic taste had him gagging slightly and he coughed as more of the horrible stuff pooled in his mouth. What was going on?
Both hearing and sight arrived at once, all fractured sounds and blurry shapes with pretty colours. The main thing that drew his attention was the black and white blob that seemed to talk to him. He could make out half word's something that sounded vaguely like his name. He coughed wetly and the metallic stuff started to fall out of his mouth, it's iron scent overpowing the mint and ozone.
'Shiro.... thats who's in here with me...'
He realised dazedly. He could hear Shiro saying something that sounded suspiciously like his name, and he tried to concentrate on what his older brother was saying.
"- eith! You - eed t- lm dow-" He frowned at the jumbled mess and tried harder, relaxing slightly as his hearing came back into focus, with it his sight. He tried to say Shiro's name but coughed up more blood, only managing to whimper his adopted brother's nickname after he'd stopped gagging. Shiro looked frozen, raw fear shining in his eyes but he then growled softly and shook his head, quickly sitting next to the injured boy's head and running his hand through his hair, serving to calm both of them down and check too see if Keith had a head injury. Keith just watched Shiro with dull, half open eyes as he struggled to breathe properly without coughing blood all over the floor.
"I'm going to have to get you out, Pidge is gonna blow this place up soon ok? Once your out we can get you straight to a pod." Shiro murmured after a minute. Keith nodded slightly, eyes fighting to stay open and jaw clenching against noises of pain as Shiro gently picked him up. He continued to try and stay conscious as Shiro stood up and started walking, but he quickly lost the fight, his head falling limply against the older boy's shoulder as everything faded.
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The next time he was dragged from consciousness, it wasn't slow like last time, this time he was suddenly in agony, and aware of everything, meaning he was aware of the taller teen trying to hold him still as he struggled to sit up.
"Keith! Calm down!" Lance yelled and he tried to, telling himself that Lance wasn't going to hurt him and taking a deep breath. A breath that he didn't finish as he started coughing heavily, body shaking with the force and throat lighting up with each cough.
Lance cursed and shifted him into the recovery position when he didn't stop, running a trembling hand up through his hair repeatedly. He gagged when he finished and bit back a noise of despair when blood seemed to flood his mouth again.
Lance began moving him slowly, hands careful when touching his body, obviously not wanting to hurt Keith more. He blinked his eyes tiredly when Lance guided his head to rest on his shoulder, with his forehead resting against Lance's neck. Lance rubbed his back, muttering comfortingly as he coughed, and soothing his pathetic attempts to apologise when he ended up coughing up more blood. The only thing he really had the energy to do was let Lance take all of his weight, and try to press his face closer to the Cuban boys neck. Lance didn't say anything about it, he just held him closer and whispered things in spanish. Keith felt his eyes slide close and tried to get closer to Lance, Lance was safe.
The last thing he felt and heard was Lance burying his face in his hair and begging him to be ok.
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When Keith next awoke, it was too panicked mumbling that his frazzled brain couldn't begin to understand. He blinked, realising he was laying on something, so he tried to move but a large hand held his chest down. His breathing became harder and he gasped uselessly for breath, panicking a bit. The mumbling voice was suddenly loud and right above him.
"Keith! Relax! It's me! Hunk!" It, or rather he yelled, and Keith froze as the missing pieces clicked into place. Hunk, he was laying on Hunk. He sighed raggedly and relaxed, even as he fought the urge to cough. Hunk's hovering hands then moved, rubbing his arms as he took shallow breaths. Once Hunk knew he was ok, he went back to fiddling with his com, trying to call the castle.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, Keith laying limply and Hunk fiddling with the wires in the com. He was grateful that Hunk wasn't being too overbearing, only putting a hand on his shoulder when his neck hurt too the point that he couldn't breath, then, when the pain became more manageable, Hunk would carry on fiddling. He opened his mouth to say something and coughed instead, coughed again, and then it was a full blown coughing fit, body jerking with each cough and throat burning. Eventually, he gagged and blood flooded his mouth, gagged again and then spat blood. Hunk cursed behind him and rubbed his back, grabbing something as Keith gagged again. He dimly realised it was a bucket before he was throwing up, bringing up mouthful after mouthful of blood. When he stopped vomiting he slumped weakly, and whimpered when Hunk gently moved the bucket and rubbed his back. His throat was burning, worse than when he had been strangled by that guard. He closed his eyes and tried not to move, tried not to do anything other than breathe. Hunk went back to the com, moving with urgency as he shook, Keith coughed again, and prayed that he wouldn't throw up again, to his relief, he didn't. Not this time.
This time Keith willingly fell into unconsciousness, not hearing Hunk let go of the sob he had been holding back as he gently wiped tears of pain off Keith's cheeks.
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POV CHANGE
Katie kept an eye on the boy in rags as she flew green away from the battle that was still raging. She dodged a blast from a cannon and broke through the atmosphere, setting a course for where the castle was hiding and jumped out of her chair and over to Keith.
He looked dead, if she was honest with herself, and the only way she knew he wasnt was by taking his pulse (from his wrist, she didn't even think about touching the yellowy/green bruises that were pressed into the skin of his neck) and his skin was five shades too pale, creating a eerie contrast from where blood was falling in thin streams from his mouth. His eyes were half lidded, and she could just about see the dull indigo. It was clear that he had no clue what was actually going on.
The red paladin would cough occasionally, a mouthful of blood splattering down his chest. His eyes started to close and Katie panicked, shaking his shoulders.
"No Keith! Don't fall asleep!" She whisper-yelled. His eyes opened slightly wider than before and he looked around, confused. He coughed, body jerking, and Katie watched helplessly as more blood fell from his mouth.
"My paladin, we are now at the castle." Green murmured as they landed, green immediately dropped her ramp so Coran and Allura could run up into the lion. Coran arrived first, taking in the sight of Keith. He sighed and quickly picked Keith up, muttering an apology when the teen cried out slightly in pain. Coran was then quick to get him too the infirmary and into a pod.
Allura guided the shocked paladin into the rec room, sitting her on one of the sofa's and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Katie knew on some level she was shaking and crying, but she couldn't get how bad Keith looked out of her head. She jumped when the door opened, revealing Lance, Hunk and Shiro. All three boys sat next too her and hugged both her and Allura.
"H—He'll be ok... right?" She asked shakily, looking at no one in particular.
" I... I really don't know..."