On occasion, it would become difficult for Shiro to breath, or his entire body would seize up. But those moment were scarce.
Shiro hadn't really thought about his disease lately except for those occasional fits, pegging it down to the magic of the castle holding back the illness.
So, when one day, it acted up worse then it ever had, even on Earth, he panicked.
Breathing tightened in his chest, and his heart seemed to be slowing, his entire body freezing up. He gripped the thin blanket covering his legs, trying to do anything so sooth the pain.
The pain! Oh, the pain! The pain was like little bullets firing outwards from his insides, hitting his central systems hard.
It became harder to move, and there was nothing he could do but sit there, quietly sobbing, inwardly begging God to please just send someone to be there, someone to help.
Shiro usually tried to be in control around the Paladins, didn't want them to see him so helpless, so depressed.
But, right now, in his moment of despair, he couldn't care less of what they thought. He just wanted them to be here.
He should have passed out several times, but he stayed awake, unable to move. He was frozen in a sitting-up position, gripping at the thin tank-top that covered his chest.
He listened as the normal wake-up alarm that Allura broadcasted throughout the castle, and he was able to hear the doors open, the Paladins whizzing out within five seconds.
He wanted to cry out to them, but he couldn't. He could hardly inhale enough to breathe, how could he speak?
As it was, he had to sit, enveloped by pain as it soaked into his figure, for ten more doboshes. He reached out to his lion, but Black didn't seem to understand what to do, horror and confusion enveloping his mind space. He was so worried that he couldn't think straight, not even listening as Shiro begged him to call on Red, to get a message to Keith.
But Shiro was alone.
Finally, a knock on the door sounded, Keith's voice filtering through. "Hey, Shiro. Are you okay in there? You missed the wake-up alarm."
Shiro couldn't respond, staring at the door with hope. Just open up already!
"Shiro…?" Keith persisted.
A louder, more-nerve wracking pounding noise reached Shiro's ears a tick later, the knocker yelling. "Shiro! It's Pidge. Are you alright in there?"
"Shiro?" Keith begged, the normally flat boy beginning to sound worried. "Shiro! Are you in there?"
"Shiro, this isn't funny!" Hunk wailed, pounding as well.
"Maybe he's already at the training room?" Lance suggested, worry lining his tone. "…maybe?"
"We were just there! We would have passed him!" Keith snapped, and a beep reached Shiro's ears, as if Keith was putting his hand on the handprint-scanner. "I'm coming in, Shiro!"
Shiro wanted to beg him to hurry, but the pain was still pressing in on every atom of his body, shaking him.
It seemed like an eternity until the doors opened enough to let Keith in, though it was hardly a couple milli-ticks.
"Oh my gosh!" Lance was right behind the older boy, gapping.
"Shiro? Shiro!" Pidge pressed up beside Lance, eyes widening in terror.
"What's going-?!" Hunk, the last one in, froze, horror building up in his gaze. "Holy crow!"
Keith hurried to Shiro's side, glaring at the other three. "Don't just stand there, idiots! Can't you see he's in pain?"
"What can we do?" Pidge asked running to his side.
"Pidge, I have a metal bracelet in the left cabinet under the sink in my bathroom. I need it." Keith barked, waving her away. "Lance, get Allura and Coran to prepare a pod. Also, while you're at it, get a stretcher. Hunk, go to the infirmary, see if you can find an oxygen mask."
All three of the younger Paladins galloped away the moment they got their errands, and Shiro watched them with terrified eyes. This must be really bad if Keith, of all people, was panicking.
"It's going to be alright, Shiro." Despite how shaken Keith looked, his voice held the tone of a calm, in-control man. "Just try to breathe." Keith's hand rubbed up and down Shiro's back in a circular pattern, persistent and careful. "That's right…" he comforted as Shiro let you a fit of coughs, shuddering from the blow.
"You're okay, Shiro. You're okay." Keith murmured, still rubbing.
Hunk stumbled back in the room a moment later, something that looked suspiciously like a tank of air and a gas mask grasped tightly in his knuckles. The teenager's normally chocolate knuckles were white as they squeezed the appliances, shuddering with worry.
Keith took them from the quavering teen, fastening the mask around the oldest Paladin's mouth and nose, turning the nozzle on the tank three clicks. Shiro felt air gush into his lungs, and he relaxed, closing his eyes.
"Don't fall asleep, Shiro." Keith pleaded, showing Hunk where to rub Shiro's back to allow the man an easier breathing pattern.
Shiro obeyed Keith the best he was able, clinging on to consciousness.
"How is he?" Pidge's voice broke the silence of the room, and she entered, gripping the metal bracelet. "And what should I do with-"
Keith plucked it from her hands, fastening it onto Shiro's wrist.
Shiro felt electric pulses travel up his arm, reaching his heart and speeding up and stabilizing its out-of-sink pulses.
"Keith…?" Hunk asked as Shiro began to relax, dazed and very tired.
"Yeah?"
"He'll be alright." Keith assured him, humming. "I'm sure he will be." His voice broke at the last word, not adding to the illusion of Shiro's wellness very well.
Lance rushed in, wheeling a stretcher into the room. "Here you go. Is he…?"
"He's fine." Keith, with Hunk's help, got Shiro onto the stretcher, the two and beginning to wheel him down the hallways in a quick jog.
Pidge was running with all her might to keep up with the hurrying boys, her usually pale face flushed with worry.
Lance was easily keeping up with the parade of worried faces, his lanky fingers touching Shiro's wrist as he felt for a pulse.
Shiro watched these things, urging his body to keep a grip on reality, and not to slip into the unknown.
Finally, Allura's face appeared above him, gazing at him with worry. "It'll be alright. Just hold on." She assured him, smiling. "Rest."
The last thing Shiro saw before he began was Hunk's worried face as the large boy lifted him into a pod.
Shiro woke up with a start to the beeping of a heartbeat monitor.
He blinked his eyes open, taking a moment to gather his wits about him.
He wasn't in the healing pod, so he must not have woken up when it had opened. He was also laying down, but the ceiling above him was way too tall for it to be his bedroom. He must be in the infirmary. There was a pressure on his right hand that he began to notice.
His eyes went to the side, searching until they found the source. Pidge was squeezing his robotic hand tightly, her forehead resting against the back of his hand. She was more likely then not asleep.
Behind her, Hunk and Lance were curled up in a mix of blankets and pillows, their heads pressed together.
Adorable, Shiro noted to himself teasingly. He noticed a similar pressure on his flesh hand, and he turned to look, finding himself looking at Keith.
The Red Paladin was obviously awake, his hand resting on top of Shiro's, his gaze distant as he stared into nothing. Shiro wondered just how long he had been awake.
"Hey." Shiro greeted him, smiling.
Keith blinked, starting slightly as his eyes swung around to look at Shiro. "You're awake."
Shiro nodded simply, the movement ruffling his pillow slightly. "I am."
"Yeah." Keith agreed, and they went into silence.
They say for a moment, Shiro finding comfort in being alive.
"You gave as all a big fright back there, you know?" Keith murmured, brow furrowing.
"Yeah." Shiro sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, be thankful." Keith argued, squeezing his hand. "Scans from the cryopod confirmed that your brain hadn't been given enough oxygen and was on the brink of beginning to decay. When you came out, your brain was still on shut-down mode, and so we got you into this infirmary bed. Even though the eltrcro magnetic pulses are helping your lungs not to seize up, we thought it better to be safe then sorry." Keith tapped on the oxygen mask covering Shiro's lower face; how didn't he notice that before?
"How…why…" Shiro lifted his flesh arm pointedly, nodding to the metal bracelet. "How did you get this?"
"After you left for Kerberos I snuck it out of your dorm."
Shiro pondered this for a moment. He had forgotten that he had left one behind by accident, and had actually panicked a week into the flight because he couldn't find it.
Despite that, he was relieved that Keith had it with him this entire time.
Without it, Shiro would have certainly -!
"Thank you, Keith." Shiro smiled, exhaustion weighing him down. "Without it, I would have certainly died."
Keith, who had been smiling, faltered in his cheerfulness. "It's still not…Shiro, you're not out of the woods yet."
Shiro nodded, sighing. "Okay. And Keith…if anything happens to me, if anything at all happens… you gotta be ready to take a step up. Like you did today. You have to be ready to lead them."
"I…I don't know if I can." Keith hiccuped, closing his eyes as tears welled up in them.
"You can. I believe in you." Shiro smiled, squeezing his hand. "No matter what happens, I'll always be with you. You and everyone else. Forever, alright?"
Keith hesitated, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.
"Keith?"
"Do you promise Shiro? That you'll try to never leave us?"
"I promise." Shiro assured him, smiling lightly.
"…alright. Then I believe you." Keith nodded, wrapping his arms around Shiro. "Just…if you're never okay again, be okay this one time."
Shiro paused, but finally nodded. "You have my word."