"Blue," he whispers, clutching his chest as he folds in on himself, "My heart hurts," he whispered. He inhaled sharply. "I think I broke it."
"Lance?" came Keith's gravelly voice on the other end of the comms. "Lance, what's wrong?"
"I… I can't…." he started heaving for air audibly through the comms unit.
"I'm on my way," Keith said, jumping out of the chair of the Red Lion.
"Keith! Where are you going?" Shiro called.
"Something's wrong with Lance," he said, breathless as he ran to the bay doors. "I gotta get to him."
"We're in the middle of a battle!" Pidge yelled. "You'll be a sitting duck without your Lion!"
Keith ignored him and ejected out of Red with his jet pack.
"Okay… now what?!" Hunk yelled.
"Everybody get over to Red and Blue," Shiro ordered. "We have to get their Lions back to the Castle."
While the others maneuvered around the Galra fleet as the fight came to a close, Keith approached Blue, visibly starting to shut down. Keith felt his stomach crawl up into his throat. "Lance, come on…."
No answer.
Keith approached the bay doors of Blue and slammed into the entrance pad, opening the doors and flying inside. They closed behind him and as the gravity around him settled, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the cockpit.
"Lance!" he yelled as the door to the cockpit slid open. He ran to the chair and saw that Lance's head was lolled to the side as his chest heaved for air.
He looked up through heavily lidded eyes, his skin clammy and pale. "Keith…?"
Keith kneeled down and pulled Lance's helmet off. He put a hand to his head, feeling his glove dampen with sweat from the touch. "Guys, something's wrong with Lance. We need a healing pod, now."
Keith felt a weak grip on his other hand. He looked down – startled – and saw that Lance was trying to grab him. "I… can't… I can't breathe…." he wheezed.
"What happened?" Keith said, his voice strained.
"I don't… I don't know…." Lance said. "I… I couldn't see… I couldn't see Red. I… I thought something happened…." He trailed off.
Keith's eyes widened. "This is my fault," he said through gritted teeth.
"No," Lance said as forcefully as he could muster. His eyes grew wider from the strain and Keith gripped Lance's hand tighter. "I… I think I was… scared."
"Guys?" Hunk called. "What's happening with Lance? Is he okay?"
"I think… I think he's having a panic attack," Keith realized. He pulled his own helmet off as he saw the other Lions approach, pushing Blue back to the Castle of Lions. He looked back down to Lance. "Lance, I… I'm here. What can I do?" he asked, holding Lance's hand firmly in his grip. He had zero idea of what to do. He'd never had to comfort someone else like this.
Lance's breathing started to slow down but his breaths were still shallow. He lolled his head to lean into Keith's shoulder. Keith's chest tightened at the closeness, but Lance seemed to smile. "That's… enough," he said.
Keith held Lance's hand with one of his own with the other smoothing Lance's clammy forehead and pushing his head back with the other. "You're okay…" Keith whispered, "we're okay."