The explosion had knocked him right off his feet. There had been no warning, just the deafening roar of the blast. Keith carefully eased himself up on his hands and knees, breathing heavily.

"Kei-what happ-yo-ok?"

The red paladin winced at the sharp static in his ear. He ran a hand over his face, feeling the stickiness as his fingers pulled away. He didn't need to see it to know it was blood. With a cough, he threw off the cracked helmet.

Keith looked around, remembering that he hadn't been alone on the mission. A chill went down his spine when he spotted Pidge a hundred yards away from him, not moving. Keith staggered to his feet. "Pidge-" He nearly doubled over from a coughing fit. He continued onward, struggling to keep himself steady. His vision was doubling, sending the world in two different directions. Definitely a concussion. Another step forward and he lost his footing, landing painfully on his shoulder.

Keith groaned, curling inward. The shards of debris under him dug uncomfortably into his skin.

"Pidge...Pidge" He gritted his teeth. The headache was killing him. "Pidge."

She finally stirred. "What the-" Her eyes roamed over the area taking in the damage.

"Oh my gosh-Keith!" She scrambled over to the red paladin. Her hands hovered over his damaged armor.

"Glad you're ok." He said softly.

"Wh-what happened to your helmet?" She felt a small prick of panic. The air on this planet wasn't the safest to breathe. Pidge was relived was find hers was in tact.

"Busted." Keith struggled to sit up.

"We have to get out of here. The air quality-you need to get to a healing pod." The teen added, seeing his head wound. She helped him to stand and reached for her comm.

"Guys?"

There was a buzz of static. "-idge! Pidge, are you ok? What happend?" Lances voice sounded relieved.

"There was an explosion. I'm fine, but Keith has a head wound. His helmet is busted."

"That air is toxic!" Hunk said worriedly.

Shiro joined the conversation. "How long has he been breathing it in?"

Pidge relayed the question to Keith. "I don't know. Maybe, fifteen minutes?"

"We have to hurry. The effects of the air is subtle, but after long exposure..." Hunk trailed off.

Keith coughed, drawing the green paladins attention.

"Guys..."

"We'll be there in five minuets." Shiro reassured, his voice tense.

Pidge bit her lip, alarmed to see Keith's face had grown a few shades paler.

"Hurry."

"Hes getting worse." Pidge griped Keith's hand.

The red paladin was laying on the floor of the black lion, struggling to breathe. His uneven breathes came out in wheezes. 'Inflamed lungs, slight fever...' Pidge bit her lip. Couldn't the lions get to the castle any faster?

Shiro glanced at Keith, concern in his eyes. "We'll be there soon. Allura."

"We have the pod ready to go as soon as you get here."

"Lance, Hunk."

"We just put out the fire. Were heading back to the castle now." The blue paladin said.

"Good. We're worm holing out as soon as were all in the castle."

As soon as the black lion landed, Keith was whisked away to the healing pods.

Shiro sent Pidge to get checked out by Coran after much protests of "I'm fine."

Soon after, the other paladins landed and they worm holed to a new location.

They were gathered in the med bay, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

"We were checking the files for any new Galra bases, but the whole archive was damaged. I was trying to fix the coding, and that's when the whole place exploded. The next thing I knew, Keith was calling me and I woke up."

"The blast radius wasn't very large. I scanned the debris, but I couldn't figure out what caused the explosion." Hunk said thoughtfully.

Allura looked at the occupied healing pod, frowning.

Shiro followed her gaze. "How long will he need to be in there?"

"Just a few more varga, and then he'll be good as new. " Coran reassured.

"What about the poisonous air?" Lance crossed his arms.

"Were not sure. On Alteans, the effects are not very strong. But based on how it affected Keith in just those fifteen dobash..." A shadow of worry crossed Alluras face.

"Im sure he'll be fine Princess. Nothing a healing pod cant fix." Coran herded with group away from the pod Keith was staying in. "Now it will be a while until he wakes up, and you all need your rest. Off you go."

The team groaned in protest but obliged.

Coran stayed behind. He sat down on the steps in front of the pod, carefully monitoring Keith's vitals. Unease settled into his stomach, even as he reassured himself that he would make a full recovery.