Don't Forget About Me (Previously, Keith Isn't Dead)

Chapter 13

"It's Keith!"

The paladins were all frozen, Lance was the first person to move. He landed Red and sprinted to Keith.

"No no no no no. Keith, please be okay. C'mon man, we need you." Lance had reached the cage, he was reaching through the bars to Keith's body, desperately trying to check the teen's pulse. Keith looked horrible. He had a metal ring around his waist, and the ring was attached to a chain connected to the ceiling. Keith was hunched over, back facing up. From what Lance could see the teen had gotten a lot smaller, he was covered in bruises and cuts. There were welts underneath his thin shirt. Lance regained his senses and blasted the lock of the cage open with his Bayard. The gunshot also snapped his friends out of their daze. 

They ran over with the same determination as Lance, they all crowed in the cage and Lance had to shout to be heard over their worried voices. "He's okay! He's alive at least." Shiro activated his arm and cut the chain keeping Keith suspended in the air. Keith fell into Lance's arms. 

Lance looked down at Keith. He was in bad shape. Keith's face was bloody and swollen. There was a big gash on his temple, and Keith was just covered in blood. He was shaken out of his stupor by Allura. 

SHe had started to yell, "Coran says there is a Galra fleet heading our way! We can get away undetected if we leave right now!" The group began to move quickly. Shiro scooped Keith up, slinging him over his shoulder.

"Shiro! Don't hold him like that! He has serious injuries that are gonna get worse if you wave him around like a sack of potatoes!" Lance was standing in front of the Black paladin, his face faded from anger to worry as Keith groaned. He was waking up. 

"I'll take him, you cover me." Shiro just shrugged, passing Keith to Lance. They sprinted to Red, and Shiro continued on to Black. 

Lance gently carried Keith bridal style into the cockpit, placing him down carefully on a bench in the back. He secured the safety straps and focused on getting them out of there. He ignored the need to be by Keith, to make sure the teen wasn't scared when he woke up, or to make sure he was comfortable. Lance bit his lip with worry, looking back at Keith constantly. 

Lance was the last to board the ship, and as soon as the hanger doors closed Allura sent them through a wormhole. They made it.

*

This is a small flashback, I just want to show Keith's perspective when the jet crashed.

The jet was taking off. He was going to fly away and he wouldn't ever see his friends again. This was it. Keith went limp, letting the metal ring dig into his stomach. He just stayed that way, listening to the familiar sounds of the jet taking off. It had been only a minute. They had been airborne for a minute before they crashed. Keith sensed it, he could hear another aircraft in the sky with them, and he heard the pilot curse right before impact. 

The crash caused the cargo doors to open, and his cage slid out. The combination of the crash and falling out of a cargo jet in a metal cage made Keith swing back and forth on the chain. He tried to stop himself but his feet slid on the slick metal. Before he hit the ground, Keith's head collided with the metal bars above his head. 

The next thing he remembered was people fighting. His head hurt really bad and he groaned. The voices stopped. He tried desperately to open his eyes and see who found him. He prayed it wasn't Korgon. He bit back a scream as he was roughly passed from one person to another. Keith waited for someone to talk, but no one did. Whoever was carrying him now was much better at it. Keith felt oddly comforted by the arms wrapped around him. He was being carried bridal style, and whoever was carrying him was being careful not to hurt him, and their arms were soft. So it couldn't be a Dweller. 

Whoever it was set Keith down carefully on a bench or something. They strapped Keith in and walked away. Keith started to panic. 'Were they going to leave him there? Were they working for the Dwellers? Were they going to hurt him? Were they going to starve him?' Those thoughts evaporated as soon as Keith heard them talk for the first time.

"I'm on my way, Keith's okay. We need a healing pod ready asap though." Keith could cry of happiness, it was Lance. Lance had saved him. 

Keith was able to let the past fifteen minutes sink in. He was about to be shipped off to someone, as a slave he figured, then the cargo jet crashed, leaving Keith unconscious in a cage in the middle of an alien desert, where his friends found him, and now Lance had rescued him. Keith was still in extreme pain though. He heard Lance talking about landing Red, but it was hard to focus. Keith brought a hand up to scratch his head and it came back bloody. He bit back another groan as Red turned. This was going to be a long ride.

* 

Lance looked back at Keith for the sixth time, he was just so worried. He saw Keith bring his hand to his head. Lance had to turn around again so he wouldn't crash Red, he was almost there. They arrived in the hangers, Lance told Allura they were good to go, and he swiftly made his way to Keith. 

"Hey, mullet." Lance tried to be normal, knowing Keith would probably be embarrassed Lance carried him bridal style and fussed over him earlier. Keith looked up at Lance, his eyes were blank and Keith's normally fluffy hair was dirty and sticky with blood. Lance gulped, "Let's get you to the healing pods, can you walk?" 

Keith was fighting back tears, the pain was almost unbearable. He had a mantra of, 'Don't cry in front of your crush, don't cry n front of your crush' repeating in his head like an alarm. Focusing on the question, Keith simply tried to stand. That didn't work. He managed to sit up but had to stop because his torso was on fire. 

"I'll take that as a no. I can help you walk, or-" Lance trailed off. 'Don't get attached, Keith is not gay. And even if he was, he wouldn't like you.' Lance looked up when he heard Keith suck in a deep breath. The teen had pushed himself up and was swaying on his feet. Lance rushed to help him stand. Keith felt a hand snake around his waist and had to force a smile off his face. The hand moved away quickly and rested just above Keith's waist. 

Keith was exhausted. His body was killing him, he hadn't eaten a proper meal in weeks, and hadn't had a drink of water for two days. He was practically asleep on his feet and accidentally leaned his head on Lance's shoulder. Keith would've moved it away, but Lance's shoulder was warm and Keith was so tired. The Red paladin was blushing furiously after he felt Keith rest his head on his shoulder. Lance continued walking as fast as he could without hurting Keith. They met Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro at the hanger doors.

The group walked together, Hunk went on Keith's other side and the poor kid fell asleep. Lance decided to just carry Keith instead. It was kind of weird, normally Lance wouldn't be able to push Keith over, but now he could carry him with ease. Keith had gotten really light and he had lost some of his muscles from malnutrition and from not working out. It made Lance worried, he didn't like the fact that Keith was so weak. Seeing the normally strong and brooding Keith reduced to sleeping in Lance's arms was unsettling. The group continued walking, asking Lance if Keith said anything during the flight.

*

They had put Keith into a healing pod, Coran said he would need to stay in there for a day maximum.  It was already the middle of the night, so Pidge, Hunk, and Lance decided to camp out in the med bay. Hunk was out like a light, and Pidge was obviously drained. Before she fell asleep she heard Lance say something. "Thanks, Pidge. without you, we would've been too late." She smiled and replied sleepily. "We would've given up hope if it wasn't for you."

Lance heard Pidge's breathes even out, and he knew she was asleep. He couldn't keep his eyes off Keith though. His friend had been through so much, it physically hurt Lance to see him that way. The Red paladin fell asleep propped up against the Healing Pod.