Blue/Broken

Air Catcher{3}

Images of Lance danced across his vision.
Images of him smiling, laughing, dancing around.
Memories of him in the Blue Lion for the first time, memories Lance talking to him about stepping down from the team. And of course that memory of that forgotten bonding moment.
We are a good team.
Then it became the two of them talking in the supply closet.
Then Keith kissed him.

But then the scenes change.

Now it was Lance, getting thrown into Haggar.
Lance fighting her.
Lance crying out.

"Keith." He had said.

Blood on his hands.

Blood on his teeth.

"I'm sorry....thanks for kissing...me."

______________________________

Keith's eyes popped open.
The low hum of the pod's engine almost made him want to fall back to sleep. There was a slight ringing in his ears. He had a dull headache, but not as bad as before. He realized with a heavy sadness that he was still laying on top of Lance, who, to his surprise, actually had gripped his hand. A wave of relief washed over him when he heard a soft whistle come for Lance's nose.
He was still breathing.
It was still slow and quiet, however, and God knows how long he had left. Blood still coated his chest plate on the right side, and now covered Keith.
He sat up slowly, shaking off the sleep.
He saw the castle in the distance.
Almost home.
"We're almost there, Lance. Almost there," He lifted Lance up again and pulled him close to his chest. His skin was feverish, sweating. He remembered with dread that the healing pods weren't working. "We're gonna heal you, and you'll be fine. Just stay alive, okay?"
______________________________

He heard footsteps clammer into the pod once it docked into the castle. He didn't have the heart to let go of Lance, but he looked up slowly to see the rest of the team staring down at him.
"Lance!" Hunk exclaimed.
"I don't have time to explain, we need to heal him." Keith said, trying to bring Lance closer to Hunk. Hunk gathered his friend into his arms before turning on his heel along with Shiro and Allura. Coran and Pidge helped him up.
"Are you alright?" Coran asked. Keith nodded slowly.
"Small concussion, probably. After we settle Lance I'll take a nap." Keith said, trying to keep that despair out of his voice.
"What...?" Pidge mumbled.
"I'll explain once everyone's together." Keith whispered. He didn't mean to whisper, but he was so concerned and sad it just happened.

The healing pods still weren't working. They went with the next best thing. It was a hospital-like bed, and and IV next to it. Hunk set down the feverish Lance carefully. It was almost like an Earth hospital. Allura and Keith started carefully removing his bloodied armor, but each time they moved him, Lance went a bit paler. They succeeded, Lance was so pale and green, he could easily be mistaken for being dead.
"How is he still alive?" Allura muttered under her breath.
"His body went into lockdown, it's doing everything in its limited power to stay alive." Coran grumbled as his tried to patch up Lance's wound.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Keith whispered again.
"What were you guys even doing?" Pidge said, a bit angered. Keith gave a quick glance at Shiro.
"I was going on a solo mission to find some new information."
"What information?" Pidge said, still a bit heated. Keith looked at Shiro again, but he couldn't read his expression.
"It's not important right now. Shiro told me I could go," The team looked a Shiro, who gave a quick nod. "Lance...followed me."
The room was quiet for a moment. 
"I let him go." Allura said mournfully.
"You what?" Keith hissed. Shiro put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"He was contemplating going anyway, but he wasn't sure what to do. He said that...that he was worried," Allura looked down at Lance before looking back up at Keith. "So I told him he should. But now..." She trailed off.
"Just...tell us what happened." Hunk said, tears in his eyes. Hunk had always been sentimental, but Keith could see the despair at the thought of losing Lance. He was hardly keeping it together himself. He took a deep breath and uncrossed his arms.
"We were hiding out in a supply closet...we were trying to get into this room with a computer, but the witch, Haggar, she should up." He left out the part about them kissing. Keith's head was bothering him, and he could tell that they noticed.
"Are you alright?" Shiro asked from behind him.
"I got hit in the head. I'll be alright."
"You sure?"
"Let me finish, then I'll go to bed," Shiro raised his eyebrow at him. "I'll tell you if it gets worse, okay? We need to focus on Lance."
"Fine, but keep me updated." Keith nodded before starting again.
"She had some of her druids, and they were about to kill us, but Lance told me to duck. Whatever....whatever they call it they were going to hit us with, some kind of magic, it hit each other, and it made this huge force, I guess you could call it," Keith looked down at Lance, who was really, really, pale, pale as his darker skin would allow. "Lance got knocked back into Haggar, and I was stuck fighting some robots," Keith felt the dread fill up in his chest. "Then she stabbed him. We got back to the pod I took and he wasn't making since. He said he hadn't felt it, said that she had said something about Altea."
"Altea?" Coran asked. Keith nodded.
"She's Altean right? I don't know, but then..." Keith swallowed down the tears. "He passed out. There was such much blood..."
"He's here now." Shiro said tenderly. Keith wanted to believe Lance would be okay, but somehow he knew he might not.
"Uh guys? Is his wound supposed to be glowing purple?" Pidge said, pointing at Lance. She was right. The blood had suddenly turned glowing and purple, lighting up the room just a bit. Coran jogged over slightly and wiped some of Lance's blood on a small piece of cotton. He entered it in the computer in the infirmary. His face went pale, and then then one of shock.
"What? What is it?" Hunk choked out.
"This...this isn't right!" Coran whispered ferociously.
"Coran?" Allura asked forcefully.
"This blade...what she stabbed him with...."
"Tell us!" Keith shrieked. Coran turned to the group, and then stared at Lance.

"It's only meant to kill those of Altean blood."