Here, Lancey Lance

Chapter Fourteen

Lance groaned as his eyes fluttered open. It took a moment for him to process where he was and how he got there but once it all registered in his head, he sat up with a gasp.

"Keith!" He turned in search for him and his eyes landed on his crumpled form a few feet away. "Keith! Oh, my god."

He went to stand but a sharp pain flared up from his ankle and he plopped back down. It hurt like hell and if he didn't know any better, he'd say it was broken. He brushed off his own pain in favor of stumbling over to his friend.

Keith's helmet had come off from the tumble down the cliff and had blood covering the left side of his face. He knew that head injuries could seem way worse than it actually was but the amount of blood made Lance panic.

"No, no, no, no!" He lifted his upper body and leaned him to his own body with shaky hands, careful of any unseen injuries. "Keith? Keith, please! Come on, wake up."

He tried to contact the others but the fall damaged the helmet so the comms wouldn't work. He cursed as he flung his helmet off in frustration before slowly dragging Keith to lean against the side of the cliff's wall. Once he was safely set back, Lance sat on his heels in an almost defeated way. How could he have let this happen? He was at a loss on what to do. He needed to make sure Keith was okay and he needed to find a way to get help.

First, he needed to clean the blood from Keith. He needed to know the extent of his injuries and see if there was a way he could patch him up. He stood up to go find water but immediately hissed in pain, momentarily forgetting his own injuries. Every joint in his body felt sore, his ankle hurt so bad he could barely move it, he was starting to get a headache, and on top of that he was pretty sure a rib was broken but he had to ignore all of that if he wanted to help Keith.

With a shaky breath, he slowly limped a few feet out to listen for any running water. He strained his ears but couldn't hear anything, only ringing. He angrily sighed before shaking his head and trying again. He needed to get water. He focused harder, fighting against the now pounding headache, until he heard something and he zeroed in on the noise.

"Finally!" He turned toward the still unconscious Keith and frowned. "I'll be back."

It took longer than he would have liked to but between his injuries and the rough terrain, he supposed it was the best he could have done. When he got to the small river, he waited for an animal to show up. He knew that the water would most likely be safe if animals drank from it so he sat down. He didn't have to wait for too long for a tiny creature pranced up to the water before drinking it.

He cheered quietly as he stumbled to the water's edge and scooped up the water with his helmet but he wanted to be absolutely certain it would be okay. He didn't hesitate as he splashed water onto his face, waited a second for a reaction, before taking a sip. He waited about five minutes before he came to the conclusion that the water was one hundred percent safe and made his way back to Keith.

It took even longer to get back because the planet's sun was beginning to set and his injuries were definitely starting to get to him. Once he reached him, he nearly fell down at his side, terribly exhausted but he began to use the water to clean the blood. It was messily done with most of the water splashing onto the ground than it touched Keith's face but when most of it was washed away, Keith started to stir. Lance held his breath as his eyes opened and he took a sharp inhale before focusing on Lance.

"Lance?"

"Oh, thank god," Lance whimpered out, dropping his head onto Keith's chest armor. He felt two hands brush against his shoulders and he sighed in relief. "I thought– you wouldn't wake up and– I really thought–"