Allura turned back towards the pod's doors, realized what he was planning to do. She was calling out to him, her eyes wide in panic, but she couldn't stop him. She was too far away, and he was too determined to accomplish his goal.
"KEITH! NO!"
Panting, dragging himself forward with one arm, trying not to pass out from blood loss and pain, Keith ignored her. With an almost Herculean effort, he managed to rise to one knee, and reaching up with the last of his strength, he slammed his good hand onto the door control mechanism.
Immediately after his fist hit the button, the doors slid shut, cutting off the sounds of his team's desperation and disbelief at his action.
Keith let out a half-stifled hiss of triumph, immediately followed by a groan of pain he couldn't bite back. Suddenly feeling dizzy, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the closed doors of the escape pod, against the only thing that stood between him and his team, the only protection he'd been able to give them in the end.
Someone - probably Hunk, from the violence of the vibrations - began pounding frantically against the door. Keith felt irrationally irritated at the noise. Momentarily regaining a fraction of his usual temperament, he opened his eyes, looked up, and glared half-heartedly through the transparent wall of the escape pod.
It was Hunk, pounding futilely at the wall. His mouth was open - he was shouting something. Pidge had rushed over to the damaged, sparking interior control panel, and from here, Keith could only see the top of the Green Paladin's head, but he could imagine her teeth bared in a furious, desperate expression, swearing and cursing as she tried to re-wire the door's controls, trying to get them to open again. Trying to get to him before it took off.
But Keith know she couldn't manage to open the doors again. Not after the interior controls of the escape pod had taken direct fire from the enemy.
It seemed the alien race they'd encountered had placed snipers around their - 'hidden' - escape pod, and one of them - one of the smarter ones - had managed to hit the pod's automatic launch controls when the doors had been opened by Coran. The courtier had opened the doors to the pod when he saw the group pelting towards him, right after they'd freed Keith and Shiro, all of them running as fast as they could.
Keith had almost made it. He'd almost been able to get onto the escape pod with the others.
Between the four male Paladins - maybe - maybe they could have made a shield wall once they were all inside the pod, given Pidge enough time to hotwire the damaged controls without danger of taking fire - but there was no way - no way in hell that only three shields could have covered Pidge - or anyone inside the pod, for that matter - from the snipers.
But when one of the snipers had gotten him in the right leg, Keith had known he might not make it. He'd been in the back, trying to cover his teammates, so he'd fallen slightly behind, and he guessed the sniper must have had it in for him in particular. Not surprising, really, given what had happened in the caves.
Then, right after he'd stumbled and fallen to the ground - he'd taken another shot, this time to his right side - and then he'd known he wouldn't be able to make it to the pod - so he'd - just decide to initiate the launch sequence from the outside.
At least the enemy had stopped firing once the doors had closed. Their planned kill box was no longer an option. Keith had seen to that.
God, his side hurt. It hurt worse than he'd ever thought anything could hurt. He coughed then, feeling blood come up. He tried to ignore it, spat what he could to the side, but his side had begun to burn in agony, and moving only made it worse.
But - at least - at least the pod's launch sequence was almost complete. His team would make it out, even if he didn't. The only thing he regretted was that he wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye to Red. Not in the way Red deserved.
He half-closed his eyes for an instant, pressed his forehead against the transparent surface, felt his face contort in pain, as much he tried not to show it. His left hand was pressed against his side - not that it would do any good - he could feel the blood pulsing down his side beneath his fingers - but at least his team was safe.
The footsteps behind him got louder, the noises harsher. The enemy was coming to get him. He could hear movement behind him in the undergrowth, and shouted orders to 'Surround him!' and 'Secure him!'
Part of Keith wanted to turn, to face the enemy. He hated not facing an enemy. But it just hurt too much to move.
And anyway, he wanted the last thing he saw to be his friends.
So he just stayed where he was, his right fist pressed up against the glass, bringing his eyes up to face his team, trying not to show the pain. He didn't want their last sight of him to be that of him struggling to breathe, or looking as if he regretted the choice he'd made.
He just - he just wanted to look at each of them, try to see - if they were going to be okay -
Coran had taken a hit too, and Lance was keeping pressure on the wound in Coran's arm. It was a bad one - the bandage Lance had slapped over the wound was already soaked through - and Allura still had hold of Shiro, trying to keep him from putting weight on his injured leg, and Pidge was still working frantically at the controls while Hunk pounded uselessly against the door.
Keith remembered what Hunk had asked him when they were about to go and save Allura..it seemed like it had been years ago.
What if it was me? You wouldn't leave me - would you? … Would you?
No, Keith thought. I wouldn't.
I didn't know - not back then.
But now - now I know I could never leave any of you behind.
But this time - this time I have to stay behind.
Keith's eyes almost slid shut automatically, but he forced them open again. As he did so, he felt another white-hot pulse of pain emanate from his side. He slammed his fist against the door in a sudden surge of frustration, let out a harsh curse as he felt his strength begin to falter.
He had to stay upright. He didn't want his team to see him fall - to see him -
Shiro was looking up at him from where Allura had managed to sit him against the wall of the escape pod, pale and bleeding from the cuts he'd taken from the enemy. His face was ashen, but it wasn't from physical pain. His eyes were locked onto Keith's face, and they were -
Keith suddenly felt dizzy again, and realized he was falling just as he finally collapsed onto his side, limp as a rag doll. He felt his head hit the ground, but he tried to keep his eyes locked onto what little he could see of the escape pod's window. He could still see part of Hunk's face, but even that was lost from sight as the pod began to rise.
He hadn't been able to say goodbye. Not to Shiro, not to Lance - not to any of them.
He just hoped they would be all right.
Keith watched the pod lift off from the planet's surface just as the enemy surrounded him, their heads and shoulders blocking his view of the sky - and, more importantly to Keith - the rapidly disappearing pod.
Typical, he thought. Just typical.
Deciding he didn't need to see anymore, Keith finally let his eyes drift shut. Then again, maybe it was just that he couldn't keep them open any longer.
Either way, he'd accomplished his goal.
When someone nudged his wounded side with a rough foot, he almost didn't react.
It was painful, sure. Excruciating, even. But dammit, couldn't they just let him die in peace?
Then someone kicked him in the side, hard - and he felt his eyes shoot open in a reaction that was sheer reflex. Someone had just screamed, too - a horrible, choking sound -
Oh. That was him. Great.
The leader of the guards was standing over him, his foot raised back for another kick, but when he saw Keith's expression, he leaned over and gripped Keith by the throat, lifting him up as easily as he might a kitten.
"Still alive?" he asked, sneeringly, and Keith couldn't answer.
He wanted to, but he just couldn't spare the breath or the energy. His feet dangled two feet from the ground, and he tried - without success - to pry the leader's grip from his throat. He only had the one good arm to work with, so all he could attempt was to loosen a few of the leader's fingers.
He couldn't even manage that.
The leader grinned at him then and hurled him backwards, into two soldiers standing nearby. They caught Keith by the arms, and he felt them secure both of his wrists behind his back.
Not that they needed to - his left arm had been pulled out of its socket earlier, during the escape, so it wasn't like he could really use it. And as for trying to run-
His side. God, his side. He didn't want to look down. He didn't want to see the red stain spreading across his torso, or the way his right leg buckled every time he put weight on it.
"Get him back to the caves," the leader said. "It's time we put an end to this Galra scum once and for all."
The soldiers began to drag Keith back with them, but he tried to resist by digging in his heels. He had no illusions about being able to keep them from moving him for long - he just wanted to look back at the sky long enough to see if the escape pod had made it out of the atmosphere.
The leader saw where Keith was looking, and he smiled at Keith in a knowing manner. It was a cruel smile - self-satisfied and completely pitiless.
"Don't bother," he said. "Nothing makes it off this planet unless the Council permits it."
Even as the words left his mouth, there a flash of red light across the sky, followed by the sound of an explosion.
Keith saw something - something on fire - saw it tumble out of the sky to crash into the ground, many miles away. The leader shrugged and turned away from the sight.
Keith felt his heart lurch and stutter in sudden terror.
His team - his friends - his family.
No, that couldn't have been - that couldn't have been the escape pod - they were all right, they had to be.
They had to be.
The guards holding him tried to make him move, but Keith resisted. He tried to pull back, to break away, to go to where someone might have survived the crash, but then one of the guards slammed a fist into his wounded side.
The leader turned back to see the prisoner fall to his knees, retching. The guard saw the leader's look and shrugged. "He was trying to-"
The leader cut him off with an impatient look. "Just get him to his feet - or carry him, I don't care which."
The guard nodded, said 'Yes sir,' and turned to the prisoner. "Come on, let's go," he said.
The prisoner - the half-Galran prisoner - didn't move.
He was staring off towards the site of the crash, his eyes glazed, his face pale. He seemed to be made completely of stone.
The guard made an impatient sound, reaching out to haul him to his feet, but then the prisoner turned his eyes towards him, and something was different.
The boy had looked like the others. But now -
His eyes - his eyes weren't that strange purple color now. The irises were completely yellow. Galra yellow.
The boy spoke then, and his voice was frightening low.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you all."
Suddenly, deeply unnerved, the guard almost took a step back. His leader came over again and, without any preamble, struck the prisoner across the face.
"You won't kill anyone, Galra scum," he said. "You're going to die in the ice caves, just as the Council ordered. You Galra left countless people to die on the cold and barren plains of drained planets. So now you'll die too - surrounded by cold and silence. It's a fitting punishment for someone of your heritage."
The boy raised his head to look at the leader then, and the rage in his eyes was terrifying to behold.
"You're first," he said. His voice had somehow gained a raspy edge. The rest of the guards shifted their weight from one foot to the other, unnerved. They'd been expecting him to beg, to bargain, to do something that the other races that had come to their planet had done. But he didn't.
The leader glared right back into the yellow eyes. "You're practically dying now," he said. "What makes you think you'll manage to kill me?"
When the boy spoke again, his teeth were stained red with his own blood.
"I've got nothing left to lose."