The Monster in the Sky. Klance AU

Chapter 32: Every Second Counts

Because my brain is great, I'm posting this at 3:35am and I just know I'm not going to sleep. I have to be up at 7:30...

Also fun fact: Every Second Counts was the working title for this book. I always think it's cool to share this stupid information as if someone really does care.

Keith didn't leave James's side until Shiro made a point of coming into the hospital and demanding Keith to go back to his dorm and shower at the very least. Shiro was still a leader to Keith so he obeyed, heading home with only the slightest amount of argument. He managed to make it back to his dorm before he broke down again. Tears streamed down his face as he collapsed onto his bed and remembered what he said to Lance. He had blamed him.

Really, it was his fault. Keith should have noticed. He should have forced James to explain his reluctance to eat and his exhaustion. He should have but he didn't. James was fighting for his life in a hospital bed (because Pidge's healing pods weren't quite passed test runs and she didn't want to risk harming him further). It was his fault.

He grabbed the nearest item to him- his cropped jacket- and launched it across the room with an abrupt yell. It was loud enough to shake the room but he didn't stop. He grabbed his pillows and threw them before moving onto other random items. By the time everything within reach had been launched across the room, his vision was blurry and he was breathing so heavily that it seemed he had ran a marathon. He buried his hands into his hair and pulled at it before screaming until his throat became raw.

He only stopped when the Garrison's alarms began to ring. They blared throughout the room and the corridors, loudly enough to grab everyone's attention. Keith glanced up at the flashing red alarm through wide, teary eyes, muttering, "Please... not now..."

Lance was sat in his own dorm, cross-legged on his bed. He had been staring up at the ceiling whilst different thoughts rushed through his head so rapidly that it was giving him whiplash. The alarm made him jump out of his skin but he was quick to react and jump onto his feet. He wiped his eyes with both fists before racing down the halls to where he knew the lions were being kept. As always, he knew his problems were menial compared to the rest of Earth and the universe.

Shiro leant back, head snapping up to look at the alarm. Adam had had to cut his sentence off halfway so they could react to the alarm. They knew what it meant as a result of Shiro's time in space and Adam's thorough training. They were under attack... but if it wasn't the Galra then who else could it be? They exchanged a look full of determination before jumping up onto their feet and running their separate ways towards where they needed to be.

Volunteering in the school's cafeteria, Hunk was testing out a new dish of his. It was an experiment and he had only just pulled it out of the oven when the alarm sounded. For a second, he wondered whether he had accidentally burned something and triggered the fire alarm but the sound was distinct. It was the attack alarm. He pulled off his oven gloves and suppressed the nausea forming in his chest before taking off without saying another word to the cafeteria staff.

"What?" Pidge mumbled, eyes thinning into slits. "It can't be the Galra, can it?" She spared a glance at her dad who seemed equally as concerned as her before they both took off. They couldn't waste a single moment: every second counted. Each second could be the difference between life and death for someone.

Once they were all seated in their lions, they flew to the skies where a single ship that seemed to be about the same size as Voltron was waiting for them. It hovered in the air like something taken right out of a Transformers movie, fully prepared to crush anything that stood in its way. The thing- whatever it was- was holding two identical swords that glowed in a way that made them appear on the verge of magical. The body of the ship was slim with heavy, thick shoulders that simulated muscles. The lack of thickness clearly made it much more agile than Voltron. Its face was small and it shone a light purple that once may have been Shiro's favourite colour but would soon come to represent an indescribable amount of pain.