Oneshots - VLD

Aftermath

Second oneshot! Let’s goooo…
Requested by Alexandra7132006. I love this idea! I, too, adore sickfics but this is my first time really writing one, so let’s see how this goes!

Keith was always the lone wolf, the introvert, the quiet kid. He was used to being alone and used to silence.

But being alone wasn’t the same thing as being outright ignored. 

It was not, in any way, his fault for having Galran blood running through his veins. However, the team seemed to have a different take on the matter. No one was outright hostile except for Allura, but he almost wished they were. It would be somehow better than the whispers behind his back and the excuses not to hang out with him.

He sat on his bed, head back against the wall, the Marmoran knife resting in his hands. He’d wanted to know about where it came from for as long as he could remember, but now, he wished he could lose the knowledge, somehow pry it from his brain and throw it into the void of space.

Giving a soft sigh, Keith stood shakily, noting the time. It was late, and the paladins would at least be in their rooms if not sleeping. It was safe for him to come out.

The past week had been a rough one. Keith had gotten little sleep and even less food. He knew he shouldn’t go on like this, but Keith managed to ignore even his own voice of reason. Presently, he trudged to the kitchen to get his first meal of the day (though it was nearly eleven at night).

Once he had a bowl of whatever it was that Hunk had cooked up that afternoon, he hopped up onto the counter, eating there silently. After all, there wasn’t really a point in pulling up a chair just for himself. After he finished, he rinsed the bowl, put it away, and went off to the training deck.

At least the Marmoran blade had one use: obliterating the Gladiator.

“Training level eight,” Keith spoke into the empty room and the familiar robot dropped from the ceiling. Keith struggled to keep up with its swings, his entire body feeling sore; odd, considering that just the previous night, he’d made it past level twelve. He brushed it all off as exhaustion, lack of nutrition, the usual. Nothing to be worried about.

He only made it halfway through level nine before he started shaking, unable to still his hands.

“Training level, off!” Keith yelled breathlessly (was he already out of breath?). He dropped to his knees, trying to force his hands to stop shaking. Just low blood sugar, he told himself. Happens to people all the time. He went back for a second bowl of Hunk’s food, which didn’t really seem to solve the problem. After that it was back to his room, just to play it safe. 

He must have fallen asleep at some point in the night, because the next thing he knew, he was being woken up by Hunk’s voice at the door, announcing a group training session. Keith bit back a groan, feeling worse than the previous night. Since when was the castle so cold? And if it was cold, why on earth was he sweating?

Shoving discomfort aside, Keith stood. The room spun around him, but he paid it no mind. He was fine. He pulled on his jacket and made his way to the training deck. Allura gave him a distasteful look, presumably for his tardiness.

The princess explained something, but by this point, Keith wasn’t quite able to process anything that was being said. Something about hand-to-hand combat? Maybe. When had he started swaying?

Something seemed determined to throw him off balance, and Keith caught himself on the nearest solid object, which just happened to be Lance’s shoulder. The Blue Paladin gave him an odd look.

“You good, man?” he asked.

“Tripped,” Keith dismissed.

“You’re standing still,” Lance pointed out. Keith took his hand off of Lance’s shoulder.

“Keith, are you paying attention?” Shiro asked, suddenly standing a bit in front of the group. Keith glanced up with a small hum of confusion and Shiro gave a soft sigh. “Hand-to-hand combat, Keith. You and I are first.” Keith nodded, going over to stand in front of the eldest paladin, nearly tripping over his own feet. Shiro gave a small frown at this, but said nothing.

Keith barely had time to raise his hands before Shiro struck, sending quick punches at him. Keith struggled to keep up, everything blurring and doubling. He managed to put up a fight for about three seconds before a punch (not even a hard one) sent him to the floor, hitting the metal painfully.

He was dimly aware of Shiro holding out a hand to help him up, a look of worry etched across his face. But Keith was too focused on blinking his vision back to normal, trying to get rid of the black spots that danced in his eyes.

He failed; he felt his head hit the floor before everything went black.

Keith stumbled out of a healing pod an unknown stretch of time later. Pidge was waiting in the room, typing away on her laptop. She peered over the screen when she saw the pod was open.

“That,” she said, “was insanely reckless, even for you.” She went back to whatever she was doing on her screen, trying and failing not to show her true amount of concern. Finally, she gave up, slamming the screen shut and looking Keith dead in the eye. She let out a long sigh.

“We’re sorry,” she muttered. “We thought we were doing what was best, y’know, giving you some space and all that. We didn’t realise that it affected you like this.” Keith shrugged dismissively.

“‘S fine,” he said. Pidge glared, eyes beginning to well up with tears.

“No, it’s not, because because of us you’re been feeling like absolute garbage for the past week and you got stuck in a healing pod for two days. So it’s not fine.” She angrily swiped a tear away, then did something very un-Pidge-like.

She threw her arms around Keith, her face buried in his chest (she couldn’t reach much higher). It seemed as if this was a cue for everyone else to suddenly be alerted of Keith’s awakening, because the rest of the team came in right after, turning the embrace into a group hug.

“We care about you, so much,” Shiro said, earning a round of agreement from Lance, Hunk, and Pidge, all three of whom had started crying by this point.

Keith allowed himself a small smile.

“I know.”

Woo, 1086 words! And I got it out the same day it was requested! I’m proud of myself. 

Hope you enjoyed!

Love, 
Alix