A/N: This is my fic for the Voltron Gen Reverse Mini Bang 2018 event on tumblr, where artists and authors are partnered up to create gen content based off the artist's sketches! My partner was LittleWhiteTie ( www .fanfiction u /491705/LittleWhiteTie) (remove spaces)!

Note: This takes place between season three and season four of the canon show. It was written before season six was released, and thus (spoiler!) the Shiro in this fic is the real one. Allura's in Blue, Keith's in Black (but isn't happy about it), and Shiro is along for the ride because it's a diplomacy mission.

Also: Shiro gets the most whump, as prescribed by my artist partner, but Keith and Allura definitely get their time to shine!

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defenders.

"Allura?" Keith asked. No response.

Shiro glanced at the panels. "Something's wrong with the Black Lion."

"Allura? Can you hear me?" Keith grunted in frustration. "Arghh, comms are down. I can't contact the Castle either."

Shiro gripped the back of Keith's seat. His stomach lurched. "We're dropping."

"We've lost visuals now. What is going on," Keith growled.

"Don't know. Try to reach out to the Black Lion, Keith. Maybe you can fix it."

Keith squeezed his eyes shut. Shiro's feet left the ground as Black's gravity generator failed. He clenched the back of the pilot seat and bit his tongue to keep from breaking Keith's concentration.

"Shiro," Keith let out a whoosh of frustrated defeat, "I can't do it. I can't reach the Black Lion."

"There isn't time to doubt yourself, Keith, just do it!"

"Shiro, I can't."

The ground was rushing up to meet them. "Do it, Keith!"

"You don't understand, Shiro, the connection's gone. The Black Lion isn't responding to me— at all!"

The view-screens flashed red in warning and then cut out. Shiro swallowed. "You have to keep trying."

"Oh, like you did?!"

That stung.

"We don't have time for this, Keith."

"No, we don't. We're gonna die like this, fighting each other." Keith clenched the controls tighter. "I hate arguing with you all the time, Shiro. I can't keep going like this."

"We don't argue all the ti—"

"Yeah, we do! Just like we're doing now! And I am sick and tired of it!"

The view-screens were gone, but Shiro could feel the Black Lion hurtling down to meet the ground of the foreign planet. At the altitude they'd started, the crash would probably kill them. The Black Lion wasn't responding, and there was no emergency power they could access without it. They were going to die.

Shiro couldn't keep going like this either. Whatever rift had formed between them, it had to end today.

"Keith—"

"What?" he snapped.

"I… Keith, I'm sorr—"

There was a loud crash, and then darkness.

0o0o0

"Allura—"

The communication line shorted out. Warning signals flashed a harsh red across the Blue Lion's screens.

"What's happening?" Allura shrieked. Her fingers dashed across the hologram keyboard on her left, her other hand gripping the control yoke with a death hold. Blue emitted a soft groan in her head.

She stared through the flickering view-screens and watched the ground rushing up to greet her. We're falling too fast.

"Blue? What's wrong?" Allura tugged at the right yoke, but Blue didn't alter their descent. The lion only moaned in response.

A large black object— the Black Lion, she realized— hurtled down beside her, just off to the right. Keith and Shiro must have lost power too. What kind of weapon could render the lions useless without a blow?

She closed her eyes and focused on the Blue Lion. She felt that familiar wave of Blue's quintessence washing over her, but the connection was weak and filled with turmoil. She concentrated, focusing her spirit on that tiny little stream between them.

"Please, Blue, let me help."

The Blue Lion allowed her inside its mind. In her mind's eye, she placed a hand on Blue's nose and willed her quintessence to imitate the lion's. Suddenly her own quintessence bubbled and ebbed like water within her, and she poured it out into Blue. Their shared quintessence churned and flowed freely as it mixed, calming the lion and steadying the link between them. The Blue Lion flickered back to life.

Allura smiled, and as one they pulled to a halt right before they hit the ground. Blue settled awkwardly on the planet's sand dunes. Allura felt Blue grunt with the effort to stay upright.

She twisted in her seat, peering through the staticky view-screens. "Where is the Black Lion?" Had Keith been able to stop their fall as she had? Blue turned, and she saw the dark mass in the distance. The Black Lion laid on its side, half-buried in sand. It didn't move.

"Oh no," she breathed. The Blue Lion seemed to understand and stumbled forward by itself. When it reached the larger lion, Blue shuddered to a halt and collapsed.

The view-screens disappeared. The emergency lights inside the cockpit turned on. Allura traced her fingers across one of the control yokes. "Blue?"

She could feel their link fading again, and she realized there was nothing more she could do. Right now, she needed to check on Keith and Shiro. Then they could try to fix their lions.

Allura pried open the cockpit door and raced down the jaw ramp. Blue had just enough energy to open its mouth for her, but as soon as she was outside, it slid shut. Their link cut off completely, and the glow in Blue's yellow eyes faded. A pang of concern washed over her.

Don't worry, Blue, we'll fix this. I'll be back for you.

"Keith!" she called, running to the Black Lion's half-buried head. Both exits were blocked. Black's mouth was in the sand and the exit on top of its head was buried deep in the sand hill. She ran toward the massive belly, mentally going through each possible exit. Collarbone entry; not manual. Without power it would be nonfunctional. Neck entry; buried. Lower chest exit, maybe?

She ducked underneath the lion's foreleg and stopped. The chest exit was also buried, but there was a concave area above it where the sand had dipped down. It wasn't buried as deep as it had been.

"Shiro?" she called, getting on her knees by the sunken area above the exit. She pulled off her helmet and used it to start scooping out sand. "Keith? Can either of you hear me?"

There was a muffled sound, and then the sand sunk further as if sucked from below. Had they managed to leverage open the exit manually? She dug faster.

There was a muffled sound that sounded like,"-lura?"

Her heart leapt. "Yes!" She couldn't tell which paladin had spoke, but someone had, and that was what mattered. "Yes, I'm here! I'm digging you out!"

The planet's sun beat hard on her exposed neck. The air was dry and utterly hot. She was thankful she had her gloves on, otherwise she probably would have acquired blisters from the heat and friction. But she kept digging, and she could tell the others were too. The sand shifted and sunk from their efforts. Soon she could see just beneath the rim of the exit.

"Paladins? Are you all right?"

"We're OK," came Shiro's voice. Allura thought she saw movement in the tiny hole, but it was so dark within that she couldn't be sure. "Nothing worse than a few bruises."

The sand sifted a little lower. Allura returned to digging. "And Keith?"

A soft clank. "Yeah, I'm here." He didn't sound particularly happy about it.

She let out a sigh. "That's a relief. The Black Lion took quite a fall."

"Tell me about it," Keith grumbled.

Allura reminded herself that that was sarcasm and not an actual request. She kept silent and continued to scoop out sand. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

"Did you see what hit us, Princess?" Shiro's voice wafted through the tiny opening.

"I don't think we were hit," Keith said. "I would've felt it."

"Well, what else could it've been?"

"I don't know, but we weren't hit with anything." A pause. "At least not physically."

Allura pursed her lips in thought. "I didn't see anything unusual, but whatever it may have been, it affected both of our lions. I only just managed to give the Blue Lion enough power to prevent our crash."

There was silence in the hole for a moment, a strange sort of tension. Keith mumbled to himself. Clearly something was upsetting him, but she decided not to pry. By now the opening had grown to about the size of a royal Altean serving platter.

"Keith, I think the hole is big enough for you to fit through," she said, wiping loose strands of hair out of her face. Already she was covered with dust and sandy grime. How unpleasant.

There was a pause, and then Keith's face appeared in the dark hole. He studied the rim. "I don't think I can fit yet."

"It would be a squeeze, sure enough, but if you give me your hands, I can pull you free."

Keith considered. Strangely enough, Shiro didn't offer his input.

"OK," he finally said, and he fit his arms, then his head, through. She stood, took his wrists, and pulled. It was definitely tight, and at one point his chest plate got stuck, but eventually he made it.

Keith dusted off his armor and stood. He shielded his eyes from the sun, unaccustomed to the sudden light, and surveyed the terrain as Allura resumed her work.

"And I thought Arizona was a desert," Keith said idly. He stared off into the horizon a little longer, thinking, and then knelt to aid Allura.

Shiro's hands came into view as he pulled a large pile of sand down into the Black Lion's interior. They'd have to clean up later. Coran would have a fit. "Arizona's nothing," Shiro said. "You should've seen the Sahara."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Stop rubbing it in, Mr. I-Got-to-See-the-World-Because-I'm-a-Certified-Pilot."

"Actually it was for Kerberos training, but I digress."

Allura had no idea what they were talking about, and they forgot to clue her in. But she was quite used to that by now. Keith just rolled his eyes in response.

Finally, they were able to dig out enough sand for Shiro to crawl through. Thankfully he'd had the good sense to grab Black's emergency kit first, because the Blue Lion was unresponsive by the time they tried to retrieve the other one. Now the trio rested beneath the shade of the Black Lion's giant, limp foreleg while Keith took inventory.

"Bad news or good news first?" he eventually asked, looking up from the single kit.

"The good news," Allura said at the same time that Shiro said, "the bad news."

Keith looked from one to the other and quirked an eyebrow at Shiro. "Why are you always so pessimistic?"

"I'm not." He shrugged. "I'm a realist. In this situation, the bad news would be more profitable to hear."

Allura hid her snort. Keith didn't. "Yeah, sure. Whatever," he said, shaking his head. Shiro opened his mouth to protest, but Keith cut him off.

"So, the good news is: we have food, water, a tent, and the Altean version of a space blanket. We also have the Altean equivalent of a basic first aid kit, which I doubt we'll need, and a weird metal stick." He held up the object.

Allura recognized it immediately. "Oh, that's a vlaxyur."

Shiro made an amusing face as he looked from the vlaxyur to Allura and back. "And that is…?"

"It is like the meat thermometer that Hunk and Coran use in the kitchen, except that it measures the air condition for abnormalities instead of the temperature of an organic surface."

Keith blinked, clearly not understanding a thing she'd said, and put the vlaxyur back in the little box of supplies without asking for further explanation. "And we have a meat tester for the air."

Allura leaned forward and, in an attempt to stop them from looking at her so strangely, said, "The original Black Paladin liked to have one handy on missions. It was his favorite tool." That information didn't seem to help either.

"Anyway," Shiro said, thankfully breaking the silence. "I vote we head for the nearest town. Maybe some of the locals can give us a lift to the captial city."

"I suppose that is best," Allura said, "but I do not know what direction that might be. Blue turned upon landing in order to find you, so her current orientation is useless."

"And the Black Lion spun as she fell," Keith added. He glanced up at the sky. "Doesn't help that the sun's directly overhead, either. No point of reference."

"Whatever affected the lions has also made my armor stop working," Allura said. "The cooling unit is broken and so is everything else."

Keith huffed. "Same."

"So," Allura said, "what do we do?"

Shiro crossed his arms, looking out into the distant horizon. "Then I guess we'll just have to pick a direction and hope for the best." He stood up. "Let's get moving. We don't have time to waste if we're going to make it to that alliance ceremony in the city."

"Wait." Keith closed the lid on the supply kit . "I didn't tell you the bad news."

Allura felt a small twinge of nervousness in the pit of her stomach. "Yes?"

"The kit only has enough food to last about nine meals— three days, for the normal consumption rate of three meals a day."

Shiro cocked his head slightly. "That isn't too bad. If we rationed it, we could make it last for a week or two. We'd miss the ceremony and fail to add another planet to the Coalition, but at least we'd be alive."

"Yeah, under normal circumstances that would work," Keith said.

Allura suddenly understood, and her stomach dropped. "That kit was made to provide for one person only."

Shiro's eyes widened. "…Not three," he finished quietly.

"Right," Keith said. He stood, too, and tucked the kit under one arm. "With three people, we'd be lucky to make the rations last even two days. I'm not Pidge, but even I can do the math, Shiro."

Allura stared at the sandy helmet in her hands. Two days, under favorable circumstances. But stranded in the middle of a huge desert on a planet that is not fond of outsiders? I would say that this is most definitely less-than-favorable.

"Well, then…" Shiro took a breath and squared his shoulders. "I guess our best hope is to get going."

"Why… is the stupid ceremony…," Keith stopped for breath, "…so important… again?"

They had been walking for what must have been hours, but the alien sun had barely even shifted in the sky. It persisted to bare down on them, relentless, clamping down on the air to prevent even the slightest breeze from easing their suffering. It was like trying to walk through an endless oven. The miles and miles of sand made the trek even slower.

"I think," Shiro panted, "they won't let us ally with them… unless we are formally accepted onto their planet… as guests… I think."

"Oh." Keith wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "Typical, stupid customs…"

"Let's…," Allura sucked in a breath, "…stop, for a moment… if we are going to speak."

"We don't have time," Shiro said, ignoring his tired legs. "We have to keep going."

Allura and Keith continued behind him, silently enduring just as he was. He had underestimated how far they'd go for the mission. They were more like him than he'd thought.

"This is why…" Keith rasped, "...I am not a diplomat."

Allura grinned, and Shiro managed a dry chuckle. He glanced up at the sky to check for any signs of the sun lowering, but for some reason the sky seemed to tilt. His balance was thrown off.

Allura reached out a hand to steady him. "The heat is getting to you, isn't it?"

Dizziness. Was he experiencing heat exhaustion? That wasn't good. He remembered from his Garrison days that heat exhaustion, if left untreated, would lead to heat stroke. And that really wouldn't be good.

Keith pulled out the small water canister from the Black Lion's emergency kit and handed it to him. Shiro waved him off. "We need to save it."

Keith's dusty face scrunched up in what might've been a pout. "Yeah, well, it won't do you any good to save it if you're not alive to drink it later."

Shiro hesitated. His mouth was so dry… and a heat stroke would just make things harder on everyone.

"Fair point," he finally said, and took a tiny sip before handing it to Allura. She barely glanced at it before carefully taking a few swallows. Keith had his turn and then he put it away.

"Perhaps we should leave our armor behind," Allura said. "We won't have as much protection or be able to contact the Castle of Lions if it started working again, but we could travel lighter and cooler."

They agreed and left their outer armor behind, just wearing the dark flight suits underneath. The black color was a little hotter, but the less weight and insulation made up for it.

They kept walking.

…and walking…

…and walking some more.

Even though sweat drenched Shiro's face, it didn't help the heat.

Allura had changed her skin tone in order to better protect from the intense sunlight. Keith's face and hands were as red as his former lion. Shiro felt sick.

He knew it was a heavy onset of heat exhaustion. The dizziness and headache were sure signs, and his left calf had cramped up twice already. He needed to get out of the sun soon, but that was impossible in the middle of a desert. Besides, they all needed to get out of the sun. Complaining wouldn't help any.

The trek dragged on.

0o0o0

The sun had only moved about two inches lower since they'd crashed, yet it felt like they'd been awake for over a day.

What choice did they have? They needed rest, sure, but they needed a lot of things that weren't available right now. Rest would just have to be one of those things.

Sleeping out here in the bare sun would surely mean death.

Their burning feet pushed further along the endless sandy dunes.

0o0o0

Keith stopped passing around the water container as often.

Which was fine with Shiro, really. He didn't think he'd be able to keep it down anyway.

0o0o0

His legs were moving by themselves now. His focus grew hazy. At some point his eyes drifted shut as he continued walking behind Keith.

0o0o0

The next thing he knew, his face was stinging sharply and Keith was ranting angrily about something. He cracked his eyes open, but as he blinked, his grainy lids rubbed his eyeballs raw like sandpaper. Everything ached. His body felt heavy.

"Shiro?" Allura said, cutting off Keith's heated gibberish, her voice slow and clear. "Can you understand me?"

When he tried to move his lips, they were cracked and hard. It was like he had the beak of a bird. He managed a weak, "uh-huh," and squinted up at her.

Her face was in shadow, backlit by the glaring sun. She was so dirty and unkempt that her skin looked like a different color, and he almost didn't recognize her. Keith's head leaned over him and blocked out some of the light. He lightly tapped Shiro's face. "You OK?"

"Wut—," Shiro coughed. It hurt. "What happened?"

"You fainted," Allura said softly. "Can you sit up?"

Keith took his shoulders and helped pull him to a sit. The world spun.

"Woah there, careful," Keith said. He adjusted his position to let Shiro lean on him. Allura stood up, and it took Shiro longer than probably a healthy amount of time to realize that she had grown her form to block the sunlight. It only provided shade for his head, but he was still immensely thankful and tried to show it. "Thanks… but we need… to keep going."

Keith opened his mouth to fire back a retort, but then something changed in his expression and kept him from saying it. He and Allura shared a look. Shiro was too tired to care much.

"You're right," Keith admitted in quiet voice. He opened the kit again. "Drink some water and we'll get going."

"…M'kay," he mumbled. He had to restrain himself from not swallowing too much. He handed it back to Keith and apologized for slowing them down.

"Hey, it's all right," Keith said. "I'm not feeling that great, myself. By this point, it could've happened to any of us. You're doing fine."

It only made him feel worse that they were bad off enough for even Keith to admit weakness.

"Please, Shiro," Allura pleaded, "tell us when you are feeling faint again, and we will rest."

He nodded but doubted he'd remember to say something next time. It's not like he fainted on purpose. Besides, they didn't have time to rest. They didn't have time to sit here waiting on him to toughen up. He struggled to rise.

Together, Keith and Allura helped him to his feet—man, why was the heat affecting him so much more than the others?— and Allura slung his arm over her shoulder. She readjusted her size to better accomodate his height.

"I can take first shift," Keith grabbed Shiro's other wrist, eager to help, before dropping it quickly with a pained yelp. "Quiznak, Shiro! Your arm!" Keith stuck his fingers in his mouth.

Confused, he glanced down at his prosthetic.

Allura's eyes widened. "The metal…"

Realization dawned. The flight suit was keeping the upper part of his Galra arm from being exposed to direct sunlight, thus keeping it at just a low enough temperature to keep from burning his skin at the contact point, but from the wrist down—where it was exposed— the metal was probably past the boiling point of water. Was that why he was feeling so much worse than the others?

"Sorry, Keith, I didn't think—"

Keith stubbornly pulled his fingers out of his mouth to speak. "I didn't either. It'll heal, so don't worry about it."

Shiro couldn't help feeling guilty anyway.

Allura looked ahead of them, where a particularly large sand dune stood above them, tall and intimidating. Shiro followed her gaze and immediately dreaded climbing it.

Allura almost seemed to read his mind. "Keith, could you perhaps inspect the route ahead of us? That hill looks rather difficult…"

…For me, Shiro thinks, hearing the unspoken part.

Keith looked up at it and wiped his burned hand on his undersuit. Shiro could tell he wasn't looking forward to that climb either, but before Shiro could tell him not to worry about it, Keith mumbled a "Yeah, I got it," and started up the hill.

"Thank you," Allura called, and began to help Shiro lower himself back to the ground while they waited. She stood over him like before, tactfully blocking out as much sun as she could without being too obvious about it. Shiro noticed, of course, but he was thankful. The shade and a water break helped him regain some of the awareness he'd lost earlier. He sat cross-legged on the sand. His eyelids drooped. Surely it would have been midnight if this was Earth. They'd been here too long for it to be anything but. Yet the sun was still far from setting, even if it was slowly heading that way.

He stifled a yawn. "If the sand wasn't going to burn my skin off, I'd lay down and fall asleep."

Allura glanced at him. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea even if the sand wasn't scorching hot."

"Hm. It'd probably—" he cut off.

A slight tremble rippled through the sand. Then it stopped.

He glanced at Allura. "Did you feel that?"

"I don't think so. What did it feel like?"

"Like…" he trailed off, unsure of how to describe it, and then there came a shout from the distance.

"Guys!" Keith came jogging—what was he thinking?—back down the hill. "I found a shortcut to the other side of this dune!" He reached them and slung Shiro's prosthetic over his shoulder, carefully avoiding the exposed metal. "We're finally getting to my kind of territory," he grinned, glancing at Shiro with a spark of hope in his eyes. Shiro found himself weakly smiling back. Maybe they would make it through this after all.

"Oh? And your kind of territory is a nice one, I hope?" Allura pulled Shiro's natural arm back over her shoulder, and when he stood once more they remained at his side.

"Eh, jury's out on that one," Shiro tried to joke, before belatedly realizing Allura probably didn't even know what a jury was. Keith grinned a little wider, though, and that made it worth it.

Keith steered them toward a little dip in the large dune. Moving was slower than it had been prior to Shiro passing out, but at least they were moving again and now had something to cling to.

"You can see for yourself," Keith replied, and they rounded the bend. On the other side of the large dune stood a beautiful red-orange expanse of canyons.

Keith's territory indeed.

"…Oh," was all Allura said.

0o0o0

The canyons provided a bit of cover now that the planet's sun was finally lower in the sky. Any shade at all was gladly welcomed, but Shiro especially felt the good effects. Thirty minutes or so into the canyons, and Shiro was able to carry more of his own weight. Keith and Allura could take turns helping him walk. They decided to use rock-paper-scissors as the deciding factor of who would take a break first, and after they'd explained the rules to Allura, she was a natural.

Needless to say, she won, and Keith was forced to take the first break. (Shiro wasn't sure how he felt about the winners having to help him- it seemed more logical to have the prize be carrying the med kit, not him, but they'd stubbornly insisted.) At least walking was easier in the canyons since the sand had been replaced with firm, reddish clay.

As they walked, Keith dropped back and lingered behind them. Shiro suspected he was guarding their flank. Had he felt that vibration in the ground earlier, too, or had something else set him on edge?

"Hey, Keith," Shiro called out in a pant. Allura slowed and Keith immediately joined them. He also was looking more refreshed now that the sunlight wasn't as direct.

"Yeah?" he said. "Need a water break?"

Shiro silently noticed how Allura's ears perked at the suggestion. He felt bad. So instead of saying what he originally had in mind, he nodded. Allura's shoulder muscles immediately released some of their tension, and she and Keith helped sit him down underneath a rocky overhang at the base of a canyon.

They went through their normal break routine—or it had been normal, until Keith put the water canteen back in the bag before taking a sip himself.

Shiro called him on it, but Keith shrugged it off.

"Nah, it's fine. I got thirsty earlier and had some while you two were walking ahead of me. I'm good."

Shiro scoffed. "Liar."

Keith's brow knit together. His hands clenched. "Look, we're almost out, okay? Satisfied? I'm not that thirsty yet. You'd do the same—for all I know, you've been pretending this whole time. Maybe that's why you collapsed first. Because you were being the stupid leader that always pulls the stupid stunts like you think we won't notice. You can't give me flak about it, Shiro. I learned it from you."

Shiro squeezed his lips together and remained silent. Keith stood up with a huff and began to storm away, back in the direction they'd come.

Allura, who'd been quietly watching the exchange, glanced between them. "Keith, we need to stay togeth—"

"I'm just going to get a cactus I saw earlier," he interrupted, not even looking at her. "Back later."

Allura bit her lip and slouched a little. She didn't follow him.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Keith disappeared around the bend. Eventually, Allura spoke in a soft voice, "Have you been depriving yourself of water?" She met his eyes.

"Not any more than needed," Shiro said honestly. It didn't seem to soothe Allura's concern. Perhaps he should've worded it differently.

Shiro crossed his arms and laid back against the canyon wall. Sweat dripped down into his eyes. He wiped at his face, feeling the sandy grime rub against his skin. His stomach continued to churn sickly. His head pounded. He forced his eyes to stay open.

Allura sighed deeply, as if resigned to his answers. "How are you feeling?"

Shiro opened his mouth.

"—the truth," she added.

He took a breath and mentally evaluated himself, trying to be honest without causing unnecessary concern. They all felt terrible; how was he any different? He'd just succumbed first, which made them think he was sicker than they surely were.

His stomach twisted with a flash of nausea. He buried his grimace and swallowed before answering. "I'm tired, but I'll live."

"Mmh," Allura hummed, noncommittal. Her hair was a tangled mess, loose curls framing her face and her bun falling down. She looked so worn out.

There was no breeze in the canyons. It was boiling even in the shade of the overhang. Idly he wondered if Keith had found any cacti to beat up.

For the slightest moment, his stomach settled just enough for him to feel like he could actually rest. His eyes seemed to drift shut of their own accord.

0o0o0

A rumble vibrated through the rocky ground. Shiro opened his eyes. Allura was getting to her feet. "Did you feel that?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, that's what I felt earlier." He moved to stand, but dizziness knocked him back down. His stomach flopped unhappily.

"I think we should go find Keith," Allura said quietly, continuing to keep an eye on their surroundings. She reached down to help him up—boy, this was getting old quick—and they began to retrace their footsteps from earlier that day, going back the way Keith had. Shiro wished he could walk on his own.

They started to reach sandy soil again before Allura stopped. Shiro looked around, careful not to make his head spin too much. The dunes stood tall and unwelcoming in front of them, and the canyons were behind. Keith was nowhere to be seen, and neither were any cacti.

"I would call for him," Allura whispered, "but I fear that may not be wise." She peered over her free shoulder, behind them.

Suddenly a crab-like creature the size of a couch morphed out of the rocks, coming straight for them. Allura's head whipped around at the scurrying noise, and she picked Shiro up like a rag doll and jumped out of the creature's path. It stampeded past, came to a stop, and turned around. There were three scorpion-like tails whipping around above the crab's head, each with a deadly-looking hook.

Allura set Shiro down beside a boulder— she even was kind enough to put him in the canyon's shade— and placed herself in front of him, between him and the creature. Shiro's back was to the canyon wall; Allura probably hoped it would protect him while she guarded his front.

She reached down to her side, mid-thigh, just where the top of her leg armor would be— had she been wearing it— for her bayard. Her hand gripped thin air. It didn't materialize because they'd left their unusable armor with the lions.

The creature rushed toward her. She was unarmed. Shiro scrambled ungracefully to his feet, barely caught his balance, and jumped in front of her with his prosthetic activated. The purple glow sliced through the creature's torso, splitting it in half. A sickly yellow liquid splattered everywhere like blood. His prosthetic turned off almost immediately and he panted hard. How could one strike drain him so?

Allura whirled on him. "Shiro! Why did you do that? I had it under control; you can't fight in this heat."

Shiro leaned over, out of breath. "I just saved your life, and you're giving me a hard time?"

"If you die, Keith will kill me. And yes, believe it or not, Shiro, we do care about you. You need to let us help you for once."

"You help me all the time," he said, and tried to focus on her face. It was a little blurry for some reason. Probably just sweat in his eye.

She looked worried. "You need to sit down. Come o—oh no," Allura's eyes widened as she stared behind him. She grabbed his shoulders and fell to the side, pulling them both to the ground. A larger crab scuttled past, faster and angrier this time. Allura jumped to her feet and looked around for some kind of weapon. Shiro knew his arm was the best defense; he tried to get up.

Suddenly there were two gigantic claws around his arms, and he was staring up into the dark silhouette of the beast. It opened its mouth, revealing two jagged sets of teeth. It plunged down. Shiro crunched his body into a ball, pulling his knees up to block its mouth from his face. He could feel the teeth begin to sink into the tough fabric of the flight suit, but before it pierced his flesh, Allura grunted and hurled a rock at the creature, knocking it off him.

"Are you all right?" Allura called. He rolled over to his hands and knees and glanced at her. It looked like there were two of her. His vision was wobbling. Blinking did nothing to fix it. Wait, were there three of her now?

Nope, the third blurry shape was another crab— where did they all come from?— and it was racing toward Allura from behind. He barely managed to call out a warning.

She turned and instinctively raised her hands to block, but she was weaponless and didn't have time to move. The alien's hooked tail lunged forward.

The talon was sliced off at the trunk mid-strike. The tail fell, limp. The creature screamed and raised its smaller claws to stirke Allura's legs. It had given her enough time to jump out of the way, and the creature missed. Shiro saw Keith standing behind it, his Marmora sword in hand, the yellow goo dripping from the edge of its blade.

The crab was hurtling toward Shiro again. He less-than-gracefully rolled to his side, just barely dodging the attack. The crab ran straight into a boulder. There was a loud crack as the force pierced its hide, and the creature stilled. The yellow liquid slowly oozed out of its back.

Shiro stared at the carcass— why he stared, and didn't go do something about it, he didn't know— and eventually his ears registered the sounds of Keith and Allura fighting the other creatures behind him. It shouldn't have taken him this long to realize the fight wasn't over.

He knew he was out of it, that this wasn't a good sign, but really, what could he do?

He pushed himself to his feet and leaned against the canyon wall for support as he tried to examine the fight. It was hard to get his eyes to focus with all the chaos, and his brain felt fuzzy.

Keith had kept his Marmora blade unsheathed, which was good, because then they at least had two weapons instead of just his Galra arm between the three of the paladins. A very taxing Galra arm, at that.

Four more of the crab-scorpion-creatures had appeared and were attacking Allura and Keith from various directions. Allura used her wits and her strength to make up for lack of a weapon. She threw boulders at the creatures, strategically dodged their attacks so they hit the canyon wall, and sometimes threw the creatures Keith finished off at the others.

The jumble of movement was both mesmerizing and dizzying. The ground rumbled, but he barely registered it.

Out of the corner of his eye, the dune shifted and morphed into yet another beast. Shiro didn't have time to duck before it launched itself at him. He was only saved by Allura throwing a dead creature at it to knock it off-course. Shiro looked back at Keith and Allura.

"Go!" she shouted. "Get back to the canyons, we'll meet you there!"

Shiro pointed. "Behind you!"

Allura threw herself to the side. Keith jumped in her place and braced for impact, sword in hand. The creature impaled itself and knocked him over. Allura was back on her feet and running toward him. He was pinned underneath the large, dying creature. Shiro wanted to run over too, but if he tried, he knew he would fall over. He resigned himself to an uneasy, fast walk.

By the time he reached them, Allura was already trying to lift the creature off Keith, but for some reason she was having difficulty. Normally she would be able to lift things the size of a couch by herself, no problem. It was odd.

"Need some help?" Shiro asked. Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the yellow-splattered abdomen and pulled it up. With his cybernetic arm and Allura's (oddly subdued?) natural strength, they easily pulled it off of Keith. Thankfully he'd fallen into a little ledge near the canyon floor, so that when the creature fell on top, it didn't crush him, only pinned him down.

Keith sat up and spat. He tried to wipe his face off, but he ended up only smearing more yellow goo all over him. "That thing's blood is disgusting."

Allura heartily agreed.

Oh. So that was why she was coated with an unusual amount of sand. She was covered with goo, as well, making the sand stick to her. She was obviously trying to avoid looking at herself or acknowledging her own condition. Shiro didn't blame her in the slightest.

That's when he noticed her arm.

"You're bleeding," he said, ignoring the urge to sit down. Why was his head so foggy?

Keith was attempting to brush himself off as he stood, but he looked at her too. Allura glanced down at the cut. "It's just a scratch. We have bigger matters at hand."

"That's from when I cut off the talon, isn't it?" Keith asked. "Do you think it was poisoned?"

"I doubt it." She shook her head and blew a strand of slime-covered hair out of her face. "I feel fine. Well, considering the circumstances, at least. But is difficult, if not impossible, to poison an Altean of the royal lineage. My grandfather made sure of that."

Shiro tried to listen, but nausea coiled in his gut like an angry snake. He attempted to cross his arms over his chest with an air of nonchalance to put pressure on his stomach, hoping to relieve some of the twisting ache.

Keith's eyes flew wide. For a moment, Shiro was afraid that he'd noticed.

"Oh no," he said, looking at the ground. "Where's the canister?"

Allura glanced at their surroundings. "You took it with you to fill with water from the cactus, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I had it with me when I heard the commotion and hurried back. I must've dropped it without thinking during the fight." They began to search around the dead creatures.

Shiro struggled to think as he watched them. There was something else missing, something on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't remember it. C'mon, Shiro, think.

Allura was kneeling by a boulder when she sighed. "I found something else we lost during the skirmish," she said, and held up the emergency kit.

That was it.

The case had been trampled over at least once. It was dented and dirty, and the latch was broken. The contents were in pieces and scattered around the site.

"While some of them fought us, the others must have found our food," Allura said with dismay. She sifted through the remains. "All of our rations are gone. The medical supplies are damaged, some were torn open and are now useless to us. They even broke the vlaxyur."

Shiro surveyed the scene, panting though he hadn't really helped fight. For some reason the air felt thicker over here, harder to breathe. The sun continued to beat down on his neck. He glanced around from where he stood, trying to help look while retaining as much energy as possible. He spotted something metallic half-buried in sand.

"Hey, Keith," he said, carefully getting down on his knees, "I think I found the canister."

Keith looked up, but the hope in his eyes was dashed as Shiro held up the dented metal. It was cracked, and when he turned it over, only sand came out. Keith's shoulders sagged as he came to Shiro's side to inspect it further.

"That was the only water I could find," he said quietly.

Shiro didn't know what to say. Normally, he'd be able to dredge up some encouraging words, but his head was too foggy and he felt too drained to think of anything. The two just sat there on the sand, in silence.

A few seconds later, Allura joined them. She held up the remains of the kit. "I managed to salvage a few unsoiled bandages and a small vial of antiseptic." Her eyes found the canister in Shiro's hand. "Is that…?" she trailed off, realization dawning. There was a fleeting look of despair, but then a determined expression set her shoulders back and her chin high.

"We can still make it," she said, the hard edge of a queen in her voice. She made eye contact with first Shiro and then Keith, individually. "Do not give up hope. We will keep fighting. The day is not over yet." And with that, she gave the broken kit to Keith. She took Shiro's arm and slung it over her shoulder as usual and gave him the strength to stand.

"Keith," she said, "you said that this was your territory. How should we proceed?"

Her faith in him rekindled the fire in his eyes. His determination burned, and together, his and Allura's fiery passion broke through the doubtful haze shrouding Shiro's mind. Their fire burned the fog in his own determination and gave him courage.

Keith wiped his sword off best he could on some of the dirty, unusable bandages, and it shrunk down to knife-size. He sheathed it. Then he glanced from Allura to Shiro to the broken medkit in his hands.

"The garrison taught us the rule of three," he said, shifting the kit to one hand and pulling Shiro's other arm over his shoulder as well. "Humans can live three weeks without food, three days without water, and three hours without shelter in a harsh environment."

"Well, I'd say this constitutes as 'harsh,'" Shiro said, making a poor attempt at humor. And he knew that they they'd been out here a lot longer than three hours.

Keith raised a brow, as if to say, Seriously? and continued. "Humans can also stay alive for three minutes without air, although it could cause brain damage, but thankfully that one is irrelevant right now."

"Why would they call it the rule of three, and then have four different circumstances?" Allura asked.

Keith lifted his fingers—he couldn't lift his hands without dropping Shiro— in an "I know, right?!" fashion. "Exactly! It drives me crazy!"

The corner of Shiro's mouth quirked up at that. He remembered Keith's rants about the Threes. "Find shelter, then?"

Keith nodded. "Yeah. Let's go back to where we were earlier, maybe we can find a cave or two like how we found the Blue Lion."

The trio began walking, and Allura cocked her head. "You found the Blue Lion in a cave?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Blaytz, the original Blue Paladin, was always fond of pampering his lion like royalty. It surprises me, that's all."

"It was a nice cave," Shiro offered. "Had a nice, tall waterfall that we became well acquainted with."

Keith chuckled before a wicked grin took over his face. "Lance screamed."

"Heh, I think we all did."

"He screamed the loudest, though."

"True."

"When he tried to open the Blue Lion's barrier for the first time," Shiro grinned, "I almost thought he was going to try, 'Open Sesame.'"

Allura smiled too, even if she didn't get the joke. Her tired eyes glinted with bemused humor. "Humans still perplex me."

Keith raised his brows. "Yeah, believe me—I know."

"Hey," Shiro protested half-heartedly. "You're still at least part-human! Don't treat me like I'm the only 'Earthling' here."

"You still make zero sense sometimes, dude."

"I'm not the one who tried to take down Zarkon all by himself and, as such, almost ended up as a red-colored crater on his ship."

"That was quite foolish," Allura cut in.

"Fine, it was pretty stupid. But what if that was the human side of me since it didn't make sense?"

Shiro felt an odd chill sweep over him. It wasn't refreshing. "I'm pretty sure aliens are the ones that aren't supposed to make sense. No offense, Allura."

"No, I fully agree with that statement. By definition, you are also an alien." She laughed softly. "And we are all aliens on this planet."

Shiro opened his mouth to say something else, but a flash of nausea gripped his stomach and his legs gave out, pulling Allura and Keith down with him.

"Shiro? Are you okay?" Keith gripped his prosthetic.

"I'm—"he squeezed his lips together as bile rose in his throat. His stomach swirled, and his head felt heavy. He struggled to get his arms free from their shoulders. He was going to throw up.

Thankfully they let go of his arms once he started struggling, just in time for him to keel over. They politely gave him some space as his stomach tried to turn inside out.

Eventually he was only dry heaving, having thrown up what little was left in his stomach, but his body continued to convulse like it believed it wasn't finished. When the heaving stopped, Shiro was out of breath and his throat was raw. He spat a few times to try to get the nasty taste out of his mouth.

"I would offer you some water, but…" Keith trailed off with a helpless shrug. "I'm sorry."

Shiro shook his head. "Not your fault." He spat again.

Allura pursed her lips. "This isn't the 'heat stroke' you were referring to earlier, is it, Keith?"

Shiro wiped his mouth off on a sleeve. "I sure hope not."

Keith considered, glancing at the canyon walls around them. "No. His symptoms are different."

"'Heat exhaustion,' then?" Allura tried.

"I used to think so, but… not everything matches up."

Shiro didn't bother lifting his head. He was too tired. "Is it another one of your gut-feelings?"

"Yeah." Keith looked back at Shiro. "I think something else is affecting you, and I think it might go into what we were just joking about."

"What do you mean?" Allura said. "Has he been poisoned somehow?"

"I didn't get hit by one of those scorpion-creatures," Shiro went ahead and answered. "Honest."

"Well, good," Keith said, making a face that said he definitely wasn't over their earlier conversation. He continued, "But I think something else on this planet must affect only humans. I don't know what, or why, but I've been feeling a little sick, too."

Allura looked at him. "I see what you mean. You're only partially human, so perhaps you aren't affected as much as Shiro, who is completely human."

"As far as you know," Shiro tried to tease. "I might just not have met my Blade of Marmora yet."

Keith deadpanned. Shiro attempted a half-grin at him, and then proceeded to put an arm around his stomach as it churned again.

"I think I might see a crevice large enough to rest in, up ahead," Allura said. "It might provide some shelter."

Shiro didn't bother trying to stand, or even attempting to look. Instead, he stared at the rocky ground beneath his knees and tried to ignore the vomit splattered in front of him. His jaw clenched. He hated being so sick and weak.

"Let's try it," Keith said. "Shiro? Are you up to walking?"

He gave his consent even though his stomach was still very unhappy. They each took an arm and lifted him off the ground. Once he was on his feet, and after the dizziness had passed, he was able to take most of his own weight again, and they started toward whatever "crevice" Allura had found. Shiro kept his eyes trained on the uneven ground to watch his footing.

0o0o0

They walked the hundred yards or so in shade. Shiro slowed them down and he hated it, but Allura and Keith would never admit it. They were unrelentingly hard-headed.

They reached the area eventually. It took so much longer than it should have that Shiro was definitely considering telling them to go check it out first— to make sure it was actually usable before they spent all that time and energy on nothing. But they reached it, and it turned out that Allura was right—the spot was nothing more than a huge crack in the canyon wall. It was maybe two feet across at the widest section.

"Um..." Keith grimaced. "Allura, I don't think this is going to work."

"Why not?"

Shiro raised his brows. "It isn't big enough for one person to fit, let alone three."

"Oh!" Allura said. "You thought—I wasn't talking about staying inside this part." She laughed. "That would be rather tight. No, what I meant was, the caves on Altea always had entrances like this; you would have to walk sideways to enter, but once inside, they were quite spacious. I presume Earth caves are not the same?"

"Eh, sometimes," Keith said. "But even if it is like that, how are we going to get Shiro inside? We're too wide, carrying him like this."

"I can walk," Shiro said.

Keith's expression said he doubted it. "And even if you could, how can we be sure it leads to a cave?"

Shiro internally shuddered at the thought of getting stuck in there if it led to nothing.

"I'll go in first and investigate," Allura offered. "Besides, I have the least chance of having trouble."

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but soon realized she had a point. Her ability to change her size would definitely be an advantage. Allura slid into the crevice and began to shimmy her way inside. She made it look easy.

Eager to demonstrate he was still capable of independence, Shiro slowly took back his own bodyweight until he was simply standing with his arm resting on Keith's shoulder. The latter noticed.

"Stop trying to prove you're okay when you clearly aren't."

"I'm feeling better now." True, even if the "better" was only slight.

Keith suddenly let go of his arm and stopped supporting him. Shiro wavered only a little before regaining his balance. He stood on his own and smiled. "See?"

Keith crossed his arms with a quiet humph. "Fine. But I'm going right behind you in case you fall again."

Shiro hated being babysat, but he consented.

While waiting, they leaned against the canyon beside the crevice and enjoyed the shade. It felt like it was at least five degrees cooler, and they were thankful. Still no breeze, though, which Shiro missed. Some kind of small gnat buzzed around his head briefly before getting bored and deciding to annoy Keith instead. Bad choice. It had a quick death.

"Can you hear me?" Allura's voice echoed from deep within the crevice. "Hello?"

Keith straightened. "Yeah, we hear you."

"I reached the cave. I think, if you are careful, you can make it inside. Just do not look down."

"Why?"

"The crack is long and varies in width throughout the path. If either of you fell near the deepest section, I doubt you would fare well."

Keith and Shiro glanced at each other.

"I can do it."

"Shiro, this is no time to be playing macho."

"I'm serious, Keith. I'll press against the walls if I need to keep my balance. Okay? And I really am feeling a little better now."

Keith took a deep breath. He weighed their options.

"Okay," he said, letting out a whoosh of air. "I'm trusting you. Allura, we're coming in."

And so began their precarious squeeze through the canyon's depths. It was incredibly tight in some places—so tight that Shiro consciously had to fight off his claustrophobia—and in others, it was so wide that Shiro couldn't reach both walls if he laid out flat between them.

True to his word, Keith was behind him the entire time, and though Shiro mostly made it through the space on his own, there were a few heart-stopping moments where he almost fell.

Allura was right; the crevice was long and deep. Enough light flickered in from behind them, outside, to let them pick out their footing, but it was steadily getting darker. Shiro began to fear he'd miss a step. He hadn't realized how much light their paladin armor had provided until now, without it.

Finally, Shiro stepped into the open expanse of the cave. Right off the bat, he was shocked to see that the walls were glowing and casting a blue light over Allura. Keith stepped through behind him a moment later.

"I'm glad you made it." Allura looked with surprise at Shiro, who was still standing on his own. "You're looking better. Perhaps it was only the heat."

"Perhaps." Shiro didn't think so. He still felt pretty sick, even if the caves were cooler.

"Come," Allura beckoned them, "I've located something I think you will like."

"Please tell me it isn't a giant glow-worm," Keith said with a shudder. "I hate those things."

Allura gave him a bemused look as she led the way. "Keith, you are definitely a bit human. I haven't the slightest idea what a glow-worm is or why it would be helpful to show you one."

Keith turned a little green—or was it red, since everything looked bluer in here?—and said, "Never mind."

Shiro chuckled. "I still don't get why you don't like glow-worms. I think they're neat."

"They're just… weird."

Allura stopped and gestured ahead of them. "What do you think?"

There, in front of them, underneath the glowing rocks of the cavern ceiling, was a small pool of sparkling blue water. A stalactite released water droplets into the pool. Around the water's circumference were patches of green moss; it looked so soft, and the air was so cool, that it was like a cavern oasis. The pleasant sound of dripping water almost beckoned him. His exhaustion seemed to physically weigh him down.

"Woah," Keith said. Apparently it had the same effect on him. Allura beamed.

Shiro walked over to the pool and plopped down on the soft moss. Immediately a yawn came over him. Keith knelt by the pool and cupped his hands to drink.

"Now I wish we'd kept the canister," he said, an actual smile in his voice. "Man, this is good."

Shiro's thirst overpowered his exhaustion, and he joined Keith by the water's edge. They drank and drank until their stomachs felt like they would burst. Even then, their dry mouths ached for more. Shiro couldn't get enough. Keith jumped right in, the spray soaking Shiro. Allura laughed. Shiro splashed him back and started a water war. All three were laughing and splashing and attacking each other good-naturedly. It felt good. Really good.

By the time they crawled back onto the mossy shore, Allura's hair looked like a soaked mop, Keith's dark mullet stuck to his neck like a mane, and Shiro's white tuft of hair clung to his forehead and wouldn't stop dripping water into his eyes. Their flight suits felt more like wetsuits now, but at least they were finally clean of the desert's sandy grime. Shiro was ready to sack out.

Allura found herself a comfortable spot to lay down on the moss, while Keith and Shiro plopped down on the opposite side of the pool. Keith exhaled loudly, tired and content. Shiro appreciated the sentiment.

Soon the trio's quiet breaths evened out, and they succumbed to some much-needed rest.

With a heavy reluctance, Shiro aroused some time later, needing to relieve himself. He slowly clambered to his feet, fought off the normal bout of dizziness, and quietly left the group to find a suitable area. Drowsiness clung to his mind like Earth's morning dew.

By the time he'd finished and started his way back, hunger pains were beginning to ward off the remaining haze in his mind. With disappointment, he remembered that their rations had been eaten by the desert alien-scorpions. At least they had water.

Shiro stopped and blinked. Their cave was different than he remembered. Had the pool grown? He didn't remember there being more than one, either. And where were Keith and Allura?

Belatedly it dawned on him that this wasn't the right cave. He chuckled at himself and turned around to retrace his footsteps.

Except… that wasn't familiar, either. He looked back at the cavern filled with numerous pools. Which way had he come?

Shiro huffed with irritation. How could he have been so foolish? He hadn't even left any markers on his way out, or left any indication of which way he'd gone for the others to find him. Well, maybe if he just kept walking in one direction, he'd recognize something. Because the larger cave was better lit and more inviting than the dark tunnel behind him, he chose that direction and began to traverse the edge of the cavern.

The room was larger than he'd thought it was. When he finally reached the other side, to his dismay, there were several more exits available, not just one like he'd thought. Was his eyesight going bad?

He chose the opening on the far left. After a few minutes, he saw that it was a dead end and made his way back.

He tried the second opening. This tunnel was a lot longer. After what felt like an hour of trekking and still no sign of any result, he began to consider turning around when something moved out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks, watching, waiting.

He didn't see anything else, nor did anything attack him. He moved on, ears attentive and muscles taut. This tunnel was also a dead end. He sighed and turned around, stumbling out to the larger cave. Exhaustion pulled at him.

0o0o0

Shiro plopped down by one of the pools, his legs eager to rest even though he hadn't walked very far. His eyelids grew heavy. He blinked rapidly to stay awake, to keep his guard up. But it was growing more difficult by the second.

He leaned back on his hands as he sat there, staring up at the cavern ceiling. Glowing blue stones speckled the rocks like stars in the night sky. I wish there was a breeze. He glanced down at the pool beside him and wondered if it had grown murky or if that was just the way it appeared after looking at such a bright, beautiful ceiling. Probably was. He was just on edge. That was all.

Something launched out of the water and grabbed his left arm. It yanked him underwater before he could blink.

A blur of bubbles escaped his mouth in surprise. He clamped his mouth shut before he lost more air. Whatever had grabbed him was pulling him deeper and deeper. His ears began to hurt. His brain scrambled to catch up. He thrashed against his captor.

He opened his eyes under the water. The blue light from the surface was fading rapidly. The thing grabbing his arm was like an octopus' tentacle with the strength of an anaconda. The water got darker as he was pulled into the depths. He hadn't realized the little pool was this deep.

Finally, his mind snapped into reaction. He powered up his Galra hand and swiped at the creature's tentacle. A direct blow. His human arm was free, but a swirl of dark purple puffed up into the waters around him. Soon it would block out the surface's light and leave him underwater, blind.

With powerful strokes, he swam toward the surface. His lungs were burning. He was almost there.

A/N: Thanks for reading!