For the 'sensory deprivation' square on my Bad Things Happen Bingo card.

Anon requested: Sensory deprivation for Keith with Pidge?

Yes, yes! I hope you enjoy!

Keith's fists were starting to hurt from pounding on the walls.

Water - salty and room-temperature - sloshed around him as he moved. Keith felt numb. These aliens - a strange race with silver fur and four arms - really had a sadistic sense of humor.

They'd known Keith was a half-breed. Keith didn't know how, but they knew. They'd laid cold icy eyes upon him and sized him up and just realized what Keith was. He'd gone out for a breath of fresh air (the coalition party Allura had set up to boost morale was almost stifling, with false smiles and too-polite laughter everywhere) and they had followed. Keith had turned, fists raised to defend himself when everything just went dark.

He awoke floating on his back in some kind of tank. At first, it was soothing. It allowed Keith to escape into his own head, something he didn't know he needed. It allowed him to reflect on everything that had happened these past few months: Shiro's disappearance and subsequent return, becoming the Black Lion's new Paladin, and becoming a part-time agent of the Blade of Marmora. It was all too much. Floating on his back in a dark pool allowed Keith to do something he hadn't been able in the past few weeks: think.

So, with his hair billowing around his head like a cloud, Keith thought. And thought. And thought. Until there was nothing left to think about.

Then, then Keith began to panic.

The water suddenly became too much. Keith swore he saw monsters leering at him from the dark, with yellow eyes and fangs the size of his whole body. The first one he saw had him flailing backward and splashing salty water everywhere. It vanished into the darkness as Keith desperately felt out the walls around him for an escape route.

He was so numb. His fingers had turned into prunes and stung a little where he pressed them to the smooth walls. He didn't know where his clothes were, or even if he was wearing clothes. Everything felt weightless. He felt weightless. Like he wasn't really there.

The thought terrified him.

Another monster bared his fangs at him. Keith let out a strangled yell as it leaped at him and then vanished. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest as he splashed water everywhere.

Hallucinations. He was hallucinating. That's all. The monsters weren't real, they were all in his head.

Somehow, though, the fact that he was hallucinating was scarier than the fact that he was even seeing monsters in the first place.

"Hey!" Keith's scream sounded hoarse, even to him. The usual rasp in his voice had gotten even worse, magnified by the anxiety making rounds in his chest. "Let me outta here! Hey!"

He lunged forward to the nearest wall and pounded against it. He couldn't tell what anything was anymore. Up from down, right from left. Everything was so dark and so cold. He wanted out. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his family.

With all the force he could muster, Keith threw himself at the walls of the tank. It did little more than make a quiet 'thunk' against the side as pain blossomed in Keith's shoulder. He gritted his teeth and ignored it, praying the saltwater would numb it at some point.

God, the tank was tiny. Or was it enormous? Keith really couldn't tell. All he knew was that it was deep enough for him to sit in comfortably with water up to his chest. Which meant there was a lot of water.

Keith felt more panic rise in his throat, squeezing and gripping him. He wanted to cry. He'd never learned how to swim. None of Keith's foster families bothered to teach him (not like they took him to the pool to begin with) and his dad had died before he had the chance to teach him.

It never bothered Keith.

Not until now.

What if the water were to rise? He didn't know where the ceiling was, he could hardly see anything in here. The water could rise and keep rising and Keith wouldn't be able to keep himself afloat. He'd drown.

The rational part of his brain tried to calm him. There was enough salt to keep him afloat, it said, so there was probably no way for him to drown in here. He couldn't listen to himself, though. Not over the panic. Not over the pounding of his fists on every single wall he could reach.

"Let me out!" He said, his voice little more than begging at this point. "Let me out!"

He shut his eyes against another monster that appeared through the dark. He tried to ward it away, praying it'd be gone when he reopened his eyes, but he was too scared. He choked on his own terrified scream as he thought he felt its hot breath whisper across his skin. He scrambled away, the water too loud in his ears. Everything was too much and yet too little at the same time. The noise was loud, but soft at the same time. Everything had too much texture, and yet he was numb to it all.

Keith choked on a sob.

He wanted to go home.

Something crackled high above him, almost like an intercom. Keith yelped, pressing his back firmly against the smooth wall of the tank. He glared up, trying to see what had made the noise.

"Oh, you are special," a cold voice crooned. Keith's hands curled into fists. He was probably supposed to feel the nails biting into his skin, but he couldn't. "We should have realized there was even more to you than just your heritage when we looked at you."

"Who…" Keith gritted his teeth. "Who the hell are you?! Are you those aliens from the Coalition Party?!"

"Telling you takes the fun out of this!" The voice sang.

"Fuck you! This isn't a game!"

"That's what people say when they don't know how to play," said the voice, their playful tone a facade of the deadly seriousness that hid beneath. Keith suddenly found it very hard to swallow.

"Wh-What?"

"I wonder what kind of things you're seeing," the voice whispered, excitement tangible in every syllable. "What kind of monsters you think you see. The Galra, perhaps? Your own people come to kill you? Or maybe the truth of what you are coming to life. I want more of your reactions, I want to see them all."

Keith didn't know what was more terrifying. The prospect that he was being monitored or the fact that he was going to remain in the tank for God knew how long.

Stay calm, Keith tried to tell himself to no avail. If anything, his heart-rate shot him a spiteful look and sped up.

"You can't do this," Keith tried to keep the tremor out of his voice. He could tell by the voice's amused huff that he failed. "My teammates will realize something's wrong. They'll come for me."

"Ah your teammates," purred the voice. "Such elusive creatures themselves, no? But they're all full-blooded in one species. They are all human or Altean. They are not like you. Why would they want you back?" They chuckled darkly. "After all, it would be easy to replace you. There are only five lions, yet I count six Paladins. They don't need you."

Keith didn't know if it was the anxiety running his nerves raw or the pure exhaustion of the whole situation, but he found himself inexplicably believing this voice. Despair unlike anything he'd ever known began settling on his chest. It made it hard to breathe. It made it hard to think.

Of course. He should have known. Why would they want him? He was the anomaly in the group.

The team wasn't coming. They were already pissed off at him as it were for his constant excursions to attend Blade missions. They didn't care. They weren't coming.

Keith didn't realize he was crying until the voice pointed it out with amusement in their tone. He brushed at his eyes roughly, trying to keep himself together and failing miserably.

"Poor little half-breed," the voice hummed. "Don't fret. We'll take good care of you here."

There was a pause. One thick with tension as the owner of the voice undoubtedly watched Keith curl in the corner with the heels of his palms pressed over his eyes.

"I do so love your reactions. I hope…" they paused. Something new was in their voice now; something that sounded horribly like desire. "I hope you will give us more."

There was another crackle of static.

The silence returned.

Keith didn't know how long he sat there, arms wrapped around himself in the poor imitation of a hug. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't true, that the team would come for him. Shiro had promised to never give up on him, after all, so he couldn't leave Keith to die here.

Right?

Right?

Keith choked.

Oh god, he really was just a fucking half-breed wasn't he? Allura's thinly veiled hatred of him, Coran's tender steps, Lance's jibes becoming more careful, like Keith was a bomb set to go off and they would only speed up that process.

His sobs echoed loudly in the chamber. He threw himself up against the wall, unable to stop himself, pounding against it. His fists hurt, his shoulder ached, but the water sloshing around him didn't go away. Nothing went away. He was trapped.

Another monster leapt at him from the dark. Then another. And another. Creatures of all shapes and sizes, all from Keith's overacting subconscious, leaped at him. Keith wondered briefly if they were a personification of judgement. For all the wrongdoings he'd done in his life, for every fight, every person he'd hurt.

Keith was screaming now, pounding his whole body against the wall. Something in his shoulder went pop and he fell backward into the saltwater with an enormous splash. He gripped it, howling in pain with his eyes squeezed shut. The water numbed it, though. Like it did everything else.

Keith lay there, sobbing and holding his dislocated shoulder. His gut felt heavy with the weight of despair. He could hardly breathe over his own overwhelming emotions. He wished he could shut them all off.

That was why when the first explosion rattled the walls, Keith almost didn't hear it. He was lost in his own thoughts, wallowing in self-hatred and doubt.

It came again, stronger this time. Keith sat up, holding his shoulder still, and listened. Water lapped around his chest.

He held his breath and waited.

The tank creaked dangerously, water sloshing to the left. Someone swore on the other side of the tank walls before a lid opened up a few feet away. It flooded the chamber with light as a familiar figure in green armor and auburn hair popped into view.

"Keith!"

Keith stared in stunned disbelief. He blinked a few times, just to ensure it wasn't another hallucination. When she was still there, Keith allowed his heart to swell with hope.

"P-Pidge?" He whispered, hardly daring to believe his own eyes.

"Oh Jesus," Pidge looked around. Keith did the same at the tank which was much smaller than he thought it was. The water was murky, thick with salt. Keith looked down at his wrinkled skin, taking in his appearance. Mercifully, he was still clothed in a pair of white sweatpants that were not his. He had no idea what happened to the Paladin armor he was wearing. He wasn't sure he really cared.

"Holy fuck," Pidge breathed. She reached into the tank and grabbed Keith firmly by the hand, lifting him out of the tank. "Holy fuck, Keith, are you okay?"

Keith tumbled out of the tank, falling to the white tiled floor with a wet splat. His soaked pants stuck to his legs, and everything about the room he was in felt foreign and cold. He shivered, wet hair plastered to the back of his neck.

"Y-Yeah," he shivered, still gripping his dislocated arm. Stabs of pain were starting to throb from it. "Pidge, how-?"

"Remember that one time I joked about getting you a tracker?" Pidge asked. She was looking around the room for some kind of towel to warm Keith, her forehead creased in concentration.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I did it," Pidge said. "I got tired of you walking in and out of places without being heard. You kept scaring the shit out of me. So I implanted one in every single one of your clothes, including your armor." She laughed breathlessly, digging in a cupboard. "Sure came in handy, huh?"

Keith stared at her, mouth falling open. He shivered violently. "You put a tracker in all of my clothes?"

"Yeah," Pidge finally pulled out something fluffy from within the depths of the closet. It didn't look anything like a towel, but it was warm and dry. It would do wonders. "Sorry, I probably should have asked, but god...I don't want to think about what might have happened if we hadn't found you." She raised a hand to her helmet, activating her comms as Keith wrapped the blanket around himself as best he could. "Guys? Yeah, I found him." She paused. "Oh great. Save a piece of them for me, 'kay?"

There was a response Keith couldn't hear and then Pidge had her attention back on him.

"Th-Thank you," Keith felt pretty foolish now for doubting everyone now. Of course they would come for him. He was a part of the team - of the family. They wouldn't just leave him to die, half-breed or no.

"Of course," Pidge reached over to rub his good shoulder. "The others just found the aliens that took you. They're with Shiro and Allura now. Ten bucks they beat them to death. I hope they let me take a swing at them too." Her lips quirked into a smile. "You should have seen Shiro. He went ballistic when we couldn't find you after the party. I was kind of worried he'd like...blow up and turn out to be a robot clone or something."

Keith snorted. "Pidge."

Pidge laughed, relief emanating from her in waves. "Can you stand?"

Keith nodded, pulling himself to his feet. The world spun and he found himself half-leaning on Pidge for support. She didn't complain, despite being smaller than him, and wrapped a tiny arm around his waist.

"Careful," she murmured. A pause, and then- "Let's get out of here."

The fear and despair that had made a home in Keith's gut was finally dissipating. He felt free - literally and metaphorically - with Pidge by his side and the knowledge that he was never ever going to be left for dead.

He was more than what those aliens said. He was a part of the team, irreplaceable and, more importantly, part of the family.

After all...

"Yeah," Keith murmured. "Yeah, let's go home." He let Pidge support him as they half-walked half-stumbled through the hallways.

Half-breed was just a title.

And Keith decided then to wear it with pride.

Kudos to you if you spotted my Kuron reference! Although, it was hardly hidden, let's be real here :p

Anyways, this is from a lovely anon on tumblr! I hope this was in line with your expectations. I had a lot of fun writing this! The research especially was weird. I now know more about sensory deprivation tanks than I really ever needed to. Don't stay in them for long periods of time, folks. And go into one willingly. That shit sucks.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Drop a comment if you did, I'd love to hear from you!