Ocean Blue

Chapter 52

Lance shot across the water, gunshots still echoing from the cliffs. He zoomed past the barracuda, and towards the bleeding creature. Keith. Splashing around and making himself a big, fat target. Lance heard gunshot followed by a shout of pain, and then Keith went under. Lance grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him to the surface. Shouts came from the top of the cliff.

"It's the mermaid! Don't hit it!"

Lance propelled himself back away from the cliff, still hanging onto Keith. He spared a glance at his friend, and his heart jumped to his throat. Keith was pale, and there was a hole right through his stomach, another one in his shoulder. Lance did a flip in the water, heading back towards shore.

It took him a long time with Keith's weight, far too long for Lance's tastes, but he pushed Keith up on the shore. Keith's sword was glowing brightly, as Hunk had told him it had when Keith had been badly injured by Zarkon.

"Hey! We're down here!"

The guards came running towards them, and Lance swam back, out of their reach. "Get him a doctor, and I'll come with you!"

One of the guards shone a lantern on Keith. "We can try, but he's not going to make it."

"What?!" Lance swam closer. Keith's breathing was rough and ragged, and Lance gulped. "Keith?" There was no answer, only that rough breathing. "Keith?!"

"They're... right..."

Lance swam closer to shore. "What?!"

"Not... going... to make it..."

"No, nope, not an option, you're going to make it, you just have to hold on, and you'll be okay—"

"Lance... shut up. Get out of here. Find Hunk—" Keith broke off, his eyes glassy. "Go." He let out a sigh, and his chest didn't rise again. The glowing of the sword stopped abruptly, leaving the night dark and cold. Lance's heart stopped with it.

"Keith?! Keith, no, talk to me, Keith!"

One of the guards reached down to feel for a pulse, and shook his head. "He's gone."

"NO!" Lance stared in shock. It hadn't seemed real, the idea that Allura was gone. The idea that Pidge and Shiro were gone. But this was horribly, painfully real, undeniable proof in front of him that Keith was dead. He wasn't breathing. He didn't have a pulse. His body was lying there, in front of Lance, still leaking blood into the water.

Go.

Lance turned tail and swam away, making a break for the open ocean.

He didn't make it.

Xxx

Hunk crept onto the moonlit beach, his eyes wide in horror and scenes of violence flashing across his mind. He ran across to Keith's body, tears filling his eyes and dripping down his face.

"No... no, not you too, not Keith, you were supposed to be the tough one! You were supposed to survive!" Hunk closed his eyes. "You weren't- you weren't supposed to- supposed to—" He couldn't finish. He closed Keith's eyes and picked him up, not even minding the blood. He took him away, bringing him to the spot where he and Allura had buried Shiro and Pidge. And where Allura herself was now buried. He worked tirelessly, digging a new grave while tears streamed down his cheeks.

"You'll be together, at least," he choked, as he laid Keith's body in the grave.

When he came up, a gun pressed itself to his head, Sandas cold and hard behind it. "You've broken your banishment, islander."

Hunk closed his eyes. "We'll all be together," he whispered.

A gunshot echoed through the air, destroying the silent night.