"Come Back..."

Chapter 2

"I gotta take my mind off Lance." Keith thought to himself as he walked into the training room. The gladiator was standing in the middle of the room, motionless. He walked over and turned it on, setting it to hard level. Then something weird happened. The gladiator started talking! Well, not actually, but an automated voice turned on. "Welcome back, who is playing today?" Said the gladiator. Keith was so confused, this had never been a setting before, a setting he didn't know about at least. He decided to just roll with it. "Um...Keith?" "Hello Keith. Please choose a difficulty setting." Keith, of course choose level 9, and the gladiator finally started. "Finally." He thought. Keith picked up his sword as the gladiator charged at him. He dodged blow after blow, and the gladiator was taking hit after hit after hit. Finally, the gladiator stopped. "Game over." It said "You have a high score of 9000. You are in 2nd place." Keith was a little surprised at this. He trains so hard with the gladiator, who could possibly have a higher score? "Gladiator, show me the rankings for this game, who's in first place?" He assumed that Shiro would probably have first, he did train the most out of everyone. "First place..."

"Lance McClain..."

Keith's eyes widened. Lance. His name sent every kind of emotion to his head. He screamed, holding his face in his hands. "Lance..." Keith whispered to himself. He looked at the gladiator, a look of anger washing over his face, as he ran up to it and sliced it's head off. That made him feel a little better, but it was short lived as all the castle's alarms went off. "Did Hunk set the kitchen on fire again?" Keith thought. But no, this was way worse.

"Attention. Attention. Person in healing pod #3 has reached critical condition. Person in healing pod #3 is at critical condition."

Keith's eyes widened. "Lance..." he whispered. Dropping his bayard, he rocketed out of the training room and down the hall. As the red paladin turned the corner, he met up with Allura and Pidge. "What's going on?" He said, half angry half freaking the fuck out. "Lance's vitals have reached a critical level." Responded Pidge. "No shit, Captain Obvious." "Damn Keith, what's got your mullet in a mess?" Pidge asked, laughing slightly. "Sorry, I'm just really fricken worried." Allura shot Keith a semi-annoyed look as the door to the med bay open. The healing pod Lance was in, which was usually blue, was now red. The three gasped as they approached the pod. Lance's shirt was covered in red splotches. Allura pressed a button as the pod went horizontal, turning into a medical table. The med bay doors burst open as Coran, Hunk, and Shiro ran in. "Pidge, Keith, move out of the way. Yelled Coran as he put on surgical gloves and handed a pair to Allura. He grabbed a pair of medical scissors and cut Lance's shirt open, right down the middle. Keith's eyes widened. The stitches that had been sewn into Lance's chest had come undone, and were all leaking. "How'd Lance get stitches?" Asked Pidge, looking over Coran's shoulder. "When Lance was shot, his armor chest plate took the most damage. Shards of the chest plate sliced in his skin, cutting his lung." Coran replied. "So, you're telling me that Lance's armor cut his chest open, and punctured holes in his lungs?" Said Keith, hands shaking. "Precisely." Responded Allura. Keith's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. And Lance just being in a coma had shaken him up enough. He ran out of the med bay just as tears were falling from his eyes.

Shiro found Keith a little while later. He was in the main section of the castle, staring out the windows, at the thousands upon thousands of stars. As Shiro walked closer, he heard shaky mumbling. "T-That's the Big Dipper, a-and that's O-Orion's Belt." "You sure know a lot of constellations." Shiro smiled, sitting down next to Keith. "L-Lance told m-me." He responded, trying to wipe the tears off his face. But it was hopeless, just the mention of Lance made him break down. Waterfalls were coming from his eyes. Shiro pulled him into a hug. "H-he's s-so mu-ch w-w-worse th-than I thought, Shiro." Keith sobbed. "I know. But Allura and Coran know how to fix him. Don't worry." "It's my job to worry." Said Keith.

Hey all, Heicho here. So, yeah, here's chapter 2. I hope you like it. I know the ending kinda sucks, but I tried my best, and isn't that what matters? I feel like I'm speeding through the events of this story, if that makes sense. I don't know, lemme know in the comments. Thanks to @novakairos for editing this. Bye all~

~Heicho✨