Hey guys! Just a sweet short story! Enjoy!
"I've got you, buddy." Keith remembered those words- he could never forget them. He remembered where he was when he heard them, what he was doing. He could never forget the arm reaching out to catch him as he tripped up the stairs to the Garrison, and looking up to see another student there, saying those words, a bright smile on his face.
Keith could never forget how he first met Shiro.
Those words had been spoken by Shiro many times since, not necessarily to Keith. Shiro once said it to a younger student who was crying after failing an exam. He said it when he and Matt practiced their first flight simulation. He said it to Lance, as they placed his battered body into the healing pods of the castle. Shiro said it so many times, and always differently, and never the same way it had been said to Keith. Those words, spoken to the clumsy loner student at the Garrison, were kind, soft, and inviting.
All Keith wanted was to hear those words.
The building had stopped falling, for now. His team had made it out. That was all that mattered. His team was okay. Keith could still hear their cries as the floor gave out under him, the ceiling chasing him to the ground. He was the last to leave the building. He was the only one who fell.
Keith could hear rock shifting, miles above the cavern where he crashed. He hoped it wasn't his team. The building was unstable, and any shift could send more rubble crashing down. His friends could get trapped, just like he was.
Keith's eyes shifted to where his helmet lay, crushed under a slab or flooring. The shards of the visor glistened with his blood. Sparks jumped from exposed cables where the helmet had been cracked. Keith looked at it with heartbroken eyes; if it were still working then maybe he could call his team, tell them to stop. Maybe he could say goodbye.
Keith couldn't forget why he ended up down on the ground, leg crushed under debris. He couldn't forget the mission he had- that his team had. He couldn't forget that there was an entire universe of beings out there, and he had helped them come closer to freedom.
He couldn't forget that his team could finish the mission without him. It was the only thing keeping him from screaming out for his friends to move faster, to dig deeper, to come save him. Instead, he closed his eyes, and prayed that they would give up and forget about him, and live to stop Zarkon.
The sounds of shifting got closer, dust and debris sprinkling down from the ceiling. Light began to find its way through the cracks, illuminating the cavern below.
Shiro would always remember his decent to Keith. He would always remember scrambling over dust and debris to find the red paladin lifeless on the ground. Shiro would always remember the sight that greeted him as he turned Keith onto his back.
An iron bar was jutting out of Keith's ribs, just under the chest plate of his armor. "Keith, I'm here. Keith, please wake up."
Shiro would always remember the way Keith's voice shook as he cracked open his eyes and whispered, "Shiro?"
"It's me. I've got you, buddy. I've got you."
Shiro would always remember the look in Keith's eyes before they closed, the look of peace that befell his face. He would always remember pulling Keith towards him, feeling the breath leave his lungs. He would always remember his frantic search for a heartbeat, only to find none.
Shiro would always remember holding Keith as he died, and would always remember the final words he spoke to the red paladin.
"I've got you, buddy. I've got you."