Whump concept: Malfunctioning healing pod. The injuries are healed, but the pain doesn't go away.
"Keith, watch out!" Lance cried. A soldier was running at Keith, his sword aimed at Keith's waist.
Keith turned abruptly, but it was too late. The sword was thrust into Keith's side and then out again, leaving him with a gaping, bleeding hole in his torso. Keith screamed from the pain and fell to the earth.
Lance, amidst the fighting and the chaos going on around him, acted quickly. Using his training, he kicked Keith's attacker in the groin and punched him square in the jaw until he backed off and ran in the opposite direction.
It was obvious their mission had gone sour and they needed to leave. Looking in all directions, Lance decided the coast was clear, at least for now. He turned his attention to the injured paladin, who was whimpering and clutching his side. "Keith, are you okay? Stay with me."
"How bad is it?" Keith asked with a shaky voice.
Without even glancing at his wound just yet, Lance automatically responded with, "You're gonna be just fine, Keith. I'm gonna get you back to the castle."
Keith could feel the life being driven out of him. He could tell he was losing a lot of blood. His heart was pounding, his whole body shaking, and he was starting to feel really cold. Keith shook his head. "Just go. Save yourself. I'll only slow you down."
How could he say such a thing? It angered Lance that he would give up this quickly. "I'll be damned if I leave here without you. Are you kidding me?"
Pain shot through his bleeding wound and he cried out, rocking back and forth on his side. He wasn't one to cry, but the pain was so bad that he felt tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to fall.
"Hold on," Lance said, and he proceeded to pick Keith up from the ground and into a standing position. Keith hunched over and screamed. "I'm sorry, Keith. Just hang onto me, alright? We need to get somewhere safe."
They slowly made their way through a maze of hallways, Keith leaving a trail of blood everywhere they went. They dodged past guards and soldiers until they finally made it outside.
"Coran, Hunk, somebody, come in. Keith's been hurt," Lance said through the radio in his headset.
Coran responded immediately. "Lance, what's your 20? How bad is Keith hurt?"
Lance told him where he was. "Keith's been stabbed by a soldier. It's pretty bad."
Keith didn't like how Lance didn't sugar coat it, not even for Keith's ears. It must be pretty bad then. He found it hard to keep his eyes open. If Lance would have checked him over even more thoroughly, he would have found that he was covered head to toe in cuts and bruises and he was pretty sure his aching wrist was broken, too.
After waiting a few more minutes, Coran landed and he and Allura came outside to help Keith into the castle. They moved quickly and headed towards the healing pods. At the moment, they were all down except for one.
"Quick, get him inside," Coran said, and he opened the door and Lance gave a half-conscious Keith a quick kiss on the cheek before helping him inside the pod. Turning to Lance, Coran said, "His wound seemed really grave. It will take at least a day for him to heal. Come on now, I'm sure you're hungry. How about you go and get some food?"
"No," Lance said too quickly. "I'm staying right here until he gets out."
"I know how much you care for Keith, Lance, but you need to rest," Allura said.
"I said I'm staying," he said more firmly.
"Okay," Coran said. "We'll bring you some food and blankets so you can be more comfortable."
Throughout the next few hours, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro came and supported Lance, giving him some company as they all awaited eagerly to see Keith again. Waiting was agonizing. He thought about the mission and how it had all gone wrong. It was lucky for him that he had seen the soldier attacking Keith or it could have been much worse.
Keith had gotten hurt before on missions, but this was the worst of them all. This was life-threatening. The thought of losing Keith made his stomach churn.
It was finally during the late morning hours of the next day that Keith finally emerged from the pod. The doors sprang open and Keith stumbled out. His clothes were still stained red from the blood, but at least the wound was gone.
Lance smiled and pulled him close into a tight hug. "Hey, how ya feel?"
Keith was cold, but that was expected given how the pods worked and still slightly tired. "I'm fine," he said. "I missed you."
"Good to have you back, Keith," Shiro said, and the others seconded it.
"I've made some soup if you all are hungry," Hunk said.
Keith and Lance followed behind the others to the kitchen. As Keith wondered about what he had missed while he was healing in the pod, a twinge of pain hit his side. That was funny. The pod should have taken care of that. He lifted his shirt, and of course, the wound in his side had healed completely. There was nothing there to show that he had previously been injured, not even any redness. Maybe it was his imagination.
"Hey, did you hear me?" Lance asked, looking at him worriedly. "You okay?"
Keith cleared his throat, embarrassed that he must've been too preoccupied with himself to notice that Lance had been talking to him. "Oh, yeah, sorry."
"It's okay, I was just wondering what you wanted to do today." Lance held out his hand and Keith took it, interlacing their fingers together. They swung their arms out happily as they strolled along, holding hands. It was then that Keith felt a sharp pain run through his wrist.
What was going on here? Worry clouded his thoughts. The pod should have taken care of all his injuries, shouldn't they have? He wanted to take his hand back to save him the pain, but Lance was looking too happy and proud to have him back, alive and well. If he retracted his hand from Lance's, what would Lance think?
"Oh, I don't know," Keith finally answered. "Whatever you want, I guess."
"Well, I was th-"Lance started, but then stopped in his tracks as he stared at Keith. "Wait, do you wanna change out of those bloody clothes first before you have dinner?"
Keith looked down at himself, seeing the blood stains all over his right side. "Yeah, you're probably right. Be right back."
"Okay, I'll just be right out here," Lance said, and waited outside Keith's room.
Meanwhile, Keith found a clean shirt and began taking the other one off. His wrist pained him every time he bent it. It was starting to become more and more painful as the minutes went by. He studied it, rotating it this way and that, and each movement ached his sore joint.
His side was throbbing where the wound had been. He tugged off his bloody shirt and tossed it aside. He felt the area where he had previously been stabbed with his fingers and flinched. It hurt, to his surprise. Pressing on it hurt a lot more.
Strangely enough, by the time he and Lance had finished dinner with the rest of the gang, his whole body felt almost as bad as when they first brought him to the castle to get into the pod. Keith was having a hard time making conversation, the pain becoming harder to bear. His side was starting to sting as if it were on fire, just like how it felt after he was stabbed.
As they got up to leave the table, Lance put his arm around his waist and pulled him in closely, and the contact on his side from Lance's hand had him yelling out in pain and pushing away from Lance as he gripped his side with his good hand.
"Keith, did I hurt you? What's wrong?" Lance said, giving him some space.
Keith scrunched up his face in agony. "I don't know. The pod didn't heal my injuries or something. It hurts as bad as before."
"What?" Lance asked in disbelief. "I thought you were okay?"
"I thought I was, too, but apparently not. Not long after getting out of the pod, it all hit me again."
"Can I see?" Lance asked.
Keith moved his hand from his side so Lance could examine him. Sure enough, there was nothing there. It was nothing but soft, smooth, uninjured skin. "Keith, you're healed. I don't understand. Are you still sore?" Lance pressed down on the place where the old wound was and Keith shouted, "Ow, don't!" Keith then slid to the floor while Lance tried to catch him.
"And my wrist hurts, too," Keith murmured through the pain.
Lance took Keith's wrist gently in his hands and examined it. It looked just fine to him, but the second he started turning it, Keith immediately took it back. "Something's wrong."
"Coran should know what to do," Lance said. "Wait right here. I'm gonna go—" Then Pidge appeared on her way to her room. "Pidge, can you get Coran? Something's wrong with Keith."
"What do you mean?" she asked, and then she saw Keith on the floor, his face moist with sweat, a look of pain on his face.
"The pod apparently healed his wounds but he's still hurting. We've gotta figure out what's wrong with him."
"Okay, I'm on it. Hang in there, Keith."
Lance stayed by Keith's side on the floor as they waited. Lance gave him his hand to squeeze when he felt he needed an outlet for the pain, and Keith used it, too. Keith had his hand in a death grip a couple times and Lance was sure he was going to come out of it with a few bruised knuckles at best.
When Coran came a few minutes later, Lance explained their situation.
"Hmm, well, this has never happened before. I'm not so sure what's going on," Coran said.
"Can you fix it?" Lance asked hopefully.
"I'll take a look at it right now and see. I'll hurry, Keith," Coran said, and then went quickly down the castle hall towards the pods.
Apparently, news had traveled fast, and Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk were all hovering over them within seconds.
"How's he holding up?" Shiro asked.
As if in response to his question, Keith felt a sharp wave of pain come over his side and he screamed, crushing Lance's fingers with his hand. Lance did his best to stifle his own cries of pain. "Do we have any pain relievers in sick bay?" Lance asked. He used his other hand to play with Keith's hair in hopes of calming him down. "You're okay, Keith. You're okay."
"I'll go check," Hunk said, and went to find some medicine. He returned later with a pill bottle and some water. "Here you go."
Lance put a couple pills in Keith's mouth and helped him swallow some water.
"It burns!" Keith cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Lance wiped the tears away with his fingers. "I know, love. The medicine should help and Coran is gonna fix up the pod. You're gonna be alright."
"Good news!" said a voice from down the hall. "I think I've fixed it," Coran said as he ran to them, out of breath. "The pod must have malfunctioned whenever Keith was in it, so it only took away the signs of injury, but didn't heal him completely."
"So, can we put him back in?" Lance asked.
"I believe so. Come on then!" Coran said.
Lance helped Keith up, careful to not touch his side or his wrist and picked him up in his arms. Keith moaned from the jarring of his body, but at least he wasn't screaming. Lance just hoped the medicine had kicked in.
Lance put him in the pod gently. "There you go, Keith. When you come out, you should be as good as new."
At least, that's what he hoped.
Hours passed until the clicking of the door opening was heard. Everyone was gathered around, wondering how Keith was going to fare this time.
Keith stepped out on his own, which was a good sign. He looked healthy and his cheeks were glowing.
"Keith, how do you feel?" Lance asked hopefully.
Keith moved his wrist and felt no pain. He rubbed at the spot on his side, and didn't feel anything wrong. "I feel. . . good, I think."
Everyone smiled.
"Are you sure?" Lance asked. He stepped closer to him until they were inches apart, face to face. Lance put his arms around his waist and pulled him close to his body.
"I'm sure." Keith smiled, and Lance couldn't help but give him a slow, passionate kiss on the lips.
Shiro cleared his throat. "Well, Keith, I'm glad you're okay. You scared us for a while."
"Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to."
"Don't worry about it," Hunk said.
"We're just glad you're alive," Pidge added.
Throughout the rest of the day, Lance kept asking him how he felt. "You okay, Keith?" Lance asked for the millionth time.
"Lance, I'm fine," Keith said. "Nothing hurts."
"No headaches, back aches, side p—"
Keith grinned widely and grabbed Lance's neck, pulling him in for one heck of a kiss. "Stop." Kiss. "Worrying."
Lance laughed and kissed him back.