At Dawn - Klance

2 - Opening Old Wounds

Love when you can, cry when you have to,
be who you must, that's a part of the plan.

Await your arrival with simple survival,
and one day we'll all understand.  

~

Lance's eyes fluttered open... and instantly shut. He instantly was overcome with a dull, throbbing pain from what it seemed to be every part of his body. Not to mention the painfully bright lights shining in his eyes. He reached up to cover his eyes and immediately his hands were pushed back down. Lance squinted in the harsh light and tried to look around. The place seemed familiar and strange all at once. The light kept moving to shine in his eyes. Then Lance realized the light was being held by a dark figure.

"I need to make sure you don't have a concussion, so keep your hands down," the dark figure ordered. Lance groaned. "Oh, come on! Yes it's me now get over it," Keith barked and turned off the flashlight. "Now, do you feel dizzy, nauseous, dazed, or do you have a headache?" Keith asked leaning back against the control board. Lance looked around and realized they were in the Red lion. The cockpit was lined with red lights and had darker lighting than Blue did.

"If I didn't before, I do now!" Lance spoke rubbing his face with his grimy hands and felt a large gash across his cheek. Great, now I will have an awesome scar, too. Keith just scoffed and shook his head. "Where's the others? And on top of that, why are we in Red and not the Castle?" Lance questioned. 

"Do you not remember anything from yesterday?" Keith asked. His indigo eyes were open wide and seemed... quite concerned. 

"The last thing I remember was uh..." Lance didn't want to say the last last thing he remembered was the other paladins almost leaving him behind. "Blue... She fell down the abyss," Lance recalled and looked down at his feet to avoid getting caught with tears in his eyes. 

"I'm sorry. You must be feeling terrible," Keith spoke in a softened tone. Lance looked at Keith. He was scratching the back of his neck and was looking around at anywhere but at Lance. That's when Lance realized he didn't need to hide his tears, Keith understood what losing lion would've felt like. 

"Ah, I'm fine, but do you think we could fly down to her?" Lance asked with hopeful eyes. Keith pondered with his lips slightly pursed. 

"I suppose we could, but maybe we should wait for the others to get back." Lance furrowed his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I forgot to say they left me behind to find and help you. They left to help defend the Castle. And while you were resting, they told me through the comms that they were going to go through a wormhole to lead the Galra away from us. They had suffered severe damage and needed supplies for repairing. So, we are stuck here on this planet until they get back or until we recover Blue," Keith spoke, covering his mouth with his hand as he yawned. As Lance's eyes were adjusting more to the light, he noticed the dark bags underneath Keith's eyes.

"Did you sleep any?" Lance asked, but it was obvious. Keith's movements were sluggish and he seemed merely irritated instead of being sulky and bitter like he usually was around Lance. Though, they have been getting along better lately. Now, Keith would usually roll his eyes at Lance's frivolous nonsense. The only times Keith would get really mad was when he'd make bad pick-up lines to Allura or other aliens. Lance had no clue what that was even about. 

"Not really, I had to make sure you wouldn't stop breathing or something," Keith stated and Lance gave his classic grin. He knew Keith knew exactly what was coming next by how Keith instantly crossed his arms.

"Aw, Keef!" Lance said, elongating the vowels," I didn't know you felt that way about me! You should've told me."

"Oh, shut up, Lance! And please, stop calling me that!" Keith groaned causing Lance to laugh, but his laughter ended quickly with pain. He winced and Keith gave him a worried look.