Adrenaline

Keith's End (Part I)

Keith was laying in his bed trying to sleep some of the everlasting exhaustion away. He didn't feel like he was improving enough but that didn't make the rehabilitation training less brutal.

The door swung up and Shiro busted in with a loud gasp. Well, that was unnecessarily dramatic.

"Hello?" Keith asked. It was midday so Shiro couldn't have known that Keith was trying to sleep but that gasp sounded more like he had seen a wild Galra than someone trying to sleep. Keith looked down at his bare arms. No, still human.

"Keith?" Shiro asked in a desperate voice. He stepped into the room and looked down at Keith when he was at the foot of the bed. "Is that really you? Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?" Keith asked and narrowed his eyes. Keith wondered if he had been too naïve in thinking that Coran had been able to help Shiro and not just turn him crazy.

"I thought- The Black Lion said that you-" Shiro's eyes were still taking everything in as they ran up and down Keith's blanket clad body. Keith pulled the blanket a little closer to himself.

"What did your lion say?" Keith grumbled. No, he was not jealous that he could say that to two thirds of the other residents of the castle, excluding the mice, and no one could say that to him anymore.

"That you died, Keith. I thought you were dead," Shiro almost only breathed out. His eyes were wide and anxious but they blanched in light of the words they had accompanied.

"Oh," Keith let out and looked down at his still human hands. Red wasn't responding to him but to complain that he had died was just cruel. Okay, Keith could take a hint. At least until he had thought of a new plan that didn't include senseless bothering the Red Lion. He wanted her to like him again but if that only resulted in her thinking he was as annoying as Lance was at his most obnoxious, then it would only bring negativity to Red's image of him. Because surely that was the only reason that Red would be so cruel to him.

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Keith didn't visit Red that day and instead decided to have a quick meal despite only being slightly hungry. Both because he didn't want the Red Lion to tire of him but also because he needed a new plan so the time he spend with her was more than just being near her. Perhaps that would bring results with it instead of Keith just getting his daily dose of angry, metal lion.

His legs were still numb from the shin down but he was improving and could walk briskly and almost never fall. It also helped that he had gained some weight and his body therefore allowed him to gain some muscles too. He ate a lot of protein at least, it was Coran's recommendation but Keith would have asking for it himself if Coran hadn't recommended it, so Keith's body had the optimal conditions for building itself up again.

That wasn't saying that he wasn't an eyesore. He was better but he could still see his ribs when he removed his shirt and he felt them through the shirt the last time he itched an itchy spot on his left side. Keith honestly didn't know at times how the others could stand to look at him as much as they did because he was still shocked every time he saw himself in the mirror. Sometimes he would see his sunken eyes and shadowed cheeks and he would honestly need a moment to remember that it was himself he was looking at and not a very frail looking intruder. At first, his brain had just refused to acknowledge that it was him and he had to relearn his reflection until he almost never accused himself of being someone else. He didn't learn this with his good will but he did learn it and the pain that brought was enough to send him on a mission to avoid mirrors as much as possible but he still couldn't help looking at his arms. It had only been in disgust and horror before but now he was celebrating the fact that he could see a difference between his wrist and the top of his forearm.