Written for Day 26 of Sheith Month: Nightmares.
Another prompt that fits so well that . . . well, I've done the theme several times before for this ship, really. Took a bit to sort out what I wanted to do with it here.
This story is directly connected to the prior one in this series, titled Capture and Rescue.
Shiro woke to the panic-stricken shriek of a terrified feline and bolted upright, heart racing. Groggy and disoriented, it took him a few long moments of struggling out of the empty bed to realise Keith and Arvenne were crammed into the far corner of the room.
"Love?" Shiro called gently, moving closer with care.
Keith was still sleeping, he realised, though he twitched and tensed, his face scrunched up with his sweaty hair plastered to it. Arvenne was pressed back against his hip, still screaming, all her claws showing and her eyes wide open but not focused on anything.
Shiro swallowed down a sickening lump in his throat as he slowed his steps. "Keith, love. . . Wake up. You're safe." he soothed, distractedly aware of Lena crawling closer on her belly behind him.
Keith keened, the knife held in his hands jerking up a little higher.
Shiro crouched and moved closer, reaching out with his cybernetic hand to catch hold of Keith's wrist. "Keith! Wake up!" he barked.
Keith jolted, his arm twisting to raise the knife, but Shiro's grip arrested the movement before he could hit either of them with the blade. Keith's eyes were wide and shocky, but he quickly focused on Shiro. He dropped one hand to Arvenne's trembling body at his side and shuddered, keening again, more softly this time. Tears spilled down his cheeks.
Shiro released his wrist and stroked the outside of his arm, wanting to pull him into an embrace but not daring to push so far.
Lena stayed belly-down on the floor as she extended her muzzle, tongue flicking out cautiously to brush Arvenne's cheek. Arvenne echoed Keith's keening cry, curling her body up tight and pressing so tightly to Keith's hip it seemed as though she would merge inside him once more if she could.
Shiro stroked Keith's shin lightly, and he choked out Shiro's name, the knife clattering onto the floor as he released it with a jerk and reached out instead. Shiro shoved it aside with a careless flick and pressed himself up close to Keith on the opposite side from Arvenne, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
Lena inched over the remaining distance separating them and curled her body around Arvenne's, blocking the rest of the world out with her larger frame. Keith clung to Arvenne, all but tugging her up into his lap, and didn't turn into Shiro's arms, but he leaned hard into Shiro's body, trembling.
"Tell us we're home." Keith rasped, fingers twitching in Arvenne's fur, the backs of his knuckles brushing Lena's coat. "Safe."
Shiro fought not to crush Keith against him any tighter than he already was. "You are home and safe and with us." he said through the choking feeling in his throat. "You are on the Castle of Lions. Lena and I are here. You're with us. You are where you belong." he repeated firmly, hearing Lena murmuring similar reassurances, almost too quiet for his ears.
Keith reached out for Arvenne with both hands. She sank her claws into him - Shiro winced reflexively; he knew they had to have driven straight through Keith's clothes into his flesh, but he didn't so much as twitch - and hauled herself up into his arms, squeezing between his torso and folded up legs. Keith wrapped himself around her even more tightly as Lena pressed close on one side and Shiro on the other, resting his right hand over one of Keith's on Arvenne's shoulders.
Keith shoved his head up under Shiro's chin like Arvenne had tucked herself under his own, and Shiro closed his arm tighter around his lover, throat aching. Keith's breathing was finally returning to something approaching a normal rhythm, and Shiro could feel Arvenne's trembling had eased as well.
Lena shoved her head into Keith's lap, resting across Arvenne's flank. Arvenne hissed at her, but it was weak and the batting paw that followed softened from a strike to simply rest across Lena's neck just behind her ear.
"You are not locked up in that place." Lena nearly spat the words, a growl flavouring her usually mellow voice. Shiro swallowed hard, remembering finding Keith in a pool of his own blood, Arvenne nowhere in sight, in the place of his own nightmares. Shiro remembered his time there all too well, even through the blank spots in his memory, and remembered the fear in the days leading to his escape, of knowing the witch had decided there was nothing else to be learned and wrung from them, not without breaking them, and set about learning how to do that.
"We'll die before we go back." Arvenne said in a little pain-rough voice. Shiro twitched, barely stifling a cry of denial. "We won't go back there."
"They can't drag us." Keith said, hands gentle but firm as they stroked over Arvenne's thick fur. He bowed his head and she stretched up to bump her nose lightly against his, then rub her cheek against his mouth and chin. "Not if we- if we refuse to go."
Shiro heard what he meant as clearly as if he had simply echoed Arvenne's words - if they fought hard enough they couldn't be taken without being killed, they could not be dragged to the witch's lab to be torn apart, their bond shredded. He fought not to shudder, feeling sick, but-
"Last time we stopped." Arvenne said, her tail tucking closer to her body. "They were strangling you."
"Your body was nearly crushed." Keith murmured, smoothing his hand over the places where Arvenne's ribs had been broken - some of them crushed - when they were taken before.
They had stopped fighting to save each other, before; Shiro had seen Keith fight backed into a corner before, seen Arvenne. Shiro had reprimanded anyone he heard saying it back at the Garrison, but even he had to admit there was a reason there had been whispers calling them monsters, recalling old tales of witchery and wild creatures. They were fierce and damn near fearless in their fury. It was entirely possible that if they hadn't given way the Galra wouldn't have been able to take them. Not alive. Shiro couldn't-
"Keith. . ." Shiro said, his voice wrecked.
Keith looked up and his eyes were hollow. Shiro swallowed painfully.
"If they'd had any longer with us they would have ripped us apart," Keith said, stroking Arvenne's powerful little body with both hands, then squeezing her tight in his arms; she submitted without protest, even as her ribs visibly gave under his hold, "Shiro I love you but we can't. We'll die before- No. No."
Shiro nodded stiffly, and tentatively wrapped his arms around both of them. They snuggled into his embrace easily, settling into his lap, Keith's cheek coming to rest right in the curve of his shoulder. It tore at Shiro's heart, but he couldn't blame them for that fear, that preference - couldn't try and argue it or change their minds.
"Then we won't let them take you." Lena said tightly, sitting up at their sides and leaning in, resting her muzzle against Shiro's other shoulder for a moment. She licked one of Arvenne's tufted ears and then Keith's cheek. "Not ever."
Shiro knew it was a promise that was hardly easy to keep - might even be impossible - but he suspected the others did as well. He tightened his embrace, and Keith let out a soft purr echoed by Arvenne's rougher, louder one, nestling into Shiro's chest and tucking his lower legs under Shiro's bent knees.
"We'll be there with you; we won't let it happen again." Shiro said, knowing there might not be a choice. He rested his jaw against Keith's head, curling a little tighter around the lean, pointy bundle of Keith and Arvenne. They could still be determined to try, and Shiro would be damned before he let them be taken again. He swallowed roughly against the lump in his throat.
Keith snaked one arm around Shiro's neck, the other remaining tight around Arvenne, and butted his brow gently against Shiro's jaw.