Once they'd reached the med bay, Rayzor and Coran left to gather up the guards and to form search parties for Sendak's body.

Allura was declared by the med-techs to be just fine - shaken, but perfectly well. The skin around the cut had bruised, but the injury itself was nothing serious.

"I told you I was fine," she said to Shiro as the med techs moved on to the other Paladins, but although she tried to keep her voice teasing, it still came out a bit shaky.

Shiro made a noncommittal sound and gently pushed her back into the chair she'd started to rise from. "Uh-huh," he said. "Well, how about you just sit for a little while?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but then he said, without heat, "Please, Allura. It would - " he sighed and finally, a half-smile crossed his face. "It would make me feel better," he said, and she allowed herself to sink back into the chair again.

"That was a cheap shot," she grumbled, but he could tell she didn't mean it.

"I don't know what you mean," he replied, and saw a genuine smile cross her face, and it made him feel just a little less frightened, just a little less panicked.

He had thought he wouldn't make it to her in time, and though he did - just barely - he had feared that maybe, when Black caught Allura, her neck had snapped from the force of the fall.

But it had worked. She was safe.

He hadn't lost her. She was fine.

Suddenly Lance was exclaiming about something, and Shiro's attention was pulled back to the other side of the room.

"Dude!" Lance was saying, his eyes huge and his jaw dropping open. He was staring straight at Keith. "Why didn't you say something?"

Lance, along with Hunk and Pidge, were staring goggle-eyed at the bruised and broken skin of Keith's left hand as the med techs applied salve and began splinting and bandaging it with a faintly glowing assembly of web-like splints. Cyber-splints, Pidge had probably called them. Reduced healing time and looking awesome simultaneously.

Keith hissed out a breath then, pain flickering across his features as he answered, "Because we had bigger problems at hand."

Lance threw his hands up into the air. "Dude! Your hand was broken!"

"Yeah," Keith grated out, "but like I said -" he broke off then, swallowing back a sound as the med-techs wrapped another layer of bandages around his broken fingers, and then continued, his voice a little more strained than before. "-we had - to take - immediate action. And - I could still - fight with - one hand-"

The med tech tied off the bandage then, securing the final layer of cyber-splints and bandages, and Keith's voice broke off again. He sat up a little bit straighter in his chair, his face going a few shades paler.

Hunk's face creased with distress at seeing his friend's pain, and he asked the med techs,

"Hey! Uh - do you have anything that might - you know, help him?" He nodded over at Keith. They looked at each other, and one of them shrugged.

"We have something that might help," the head med-tech said. He opened a drawer, took out something that looked like a really thick band-aide, and placed it on the inside of Keith's left wrist, almost like a watch. Then the med tech stepped back, watching Keith's face.

The Red Paladin eyes suddenly seemed less strained, and he visibly relaxed a little. "Th-thanks," he said. He swallowed, and his next words came easier. "That - that's feeling a lot better."

The med tech nodded. "I wasn't sure if it would have an effect," he said, turning back to the left-over bandages and splints, starting to put them away. "We haven't really - well, let's just say that you pose a fascinating question to any usual administration of medicine."

Keith looked over at the med-tech then, blinking as if he were really, really tired. "Huh?" he asked, and then his eyes widened. "Oh, right," he said. "Half-Galra." The pain relief medicine was clearly slowing his reflexes, while at the same time making Keith more likely to voice what he was thinking.

The med tech's fingers twitched a little then, as if he were unused to hearing the word 'Galra' used so easily. "Yes," he said, looking back over his shoulder at Keith then, his red eyes curious, and maybe - very slightly - amused.

Keith wasn't looking at the med tech anymore - he'd fixed his eyes onto his bandaged and splinted hand. "It's still weird," he said, almost as if he were talking to himself. " 'S not like - scary weird - not anymore - but - it's still weird."

He sighed then, rubbing the spot between his eyes with his unbroken hand, almost like he had a headache, and then he muttered, "Purple - is - a - a really weird color."

Everyone looked at each other than, unsure of what to do. It was clear the medicine was making Keith talk more than he usually did. Lance almost wanted to take advantage of the moment to learn more about his 'rival', but something told him that wouldn't really be fair to Keith. It would be like reading someone's journal when they hadn't given you permission and weren't even in the room - a breach of privacy, a violation of trust.

Lance knew couldn't do that. Not to anyone.

Shiro went over to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder. Keith looked up at him then, and a momentary look of confusion crossed his face. "What's up?" he asked, and his voice was slower than usual. "Whatss-wrong?"

"You're thinking out loud, Keith," Shiro said. "I think you're probably feeling tired. Do you want to lie down?"

Keith shrugged. "Sure…I guess…"

Shiro helped Keith to get up from his chair and walk over to a nearby bed. Keith sat down on the side of the bed, his head already nodding forward, his eyes sliding mostly shut.

"Come on, buddy," Shiro said. "Just lie down, it's okay."

Keith was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow. As Shiro pulled a blanket over his friend, he noted that Keith's breathing was even, and his bandaged hand was laying on top of his chest.

Good.

Shiro turned to face the other Paladins, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, he'll be fine," he said. He walked back over to the med tech who had found the pain relief medicine and held out his hand.

"Thanks," he said. "My friend doesn't really - well, he's never been great about communicating, but he was in a lot of pain. Thanks for helping him."

The med tech shook Shiro's hand. He had a firm grip.

"What's your name?" Lance asked. The med-tech looked over at him.

"It's Aurelis."

"Thanks, Aurelis," Lance said. Pidge and Hunk voiced their thanks as well. The med-tech shrugged, half-smiling despite himself.

"Well - I'm glad to know it is helping," he said, and then he and other med techs finished putting their medical supplies away. As they left the room, the med tech turned back to the group.

"You're all going to be fine," Aurelis said, his manner brisk and efficient. "But I would suggest some rest, if that's possible."

Shiro nodded. "Okay. Do you know when Coran and Rayzor might be back?"

The med tech shrugged. "I would think relatively soon. But for now, I suggest you all get some rest. We'll have food and drink brought to you all shortly."

Once the Paladins and the Princess were alone in the room, Lance hurried over to Keith to look at him again.

"Do you think he'll remember saying those things when he wakes up?" he asked Pidge, who shrugged.

"I dunno," she said, sitting down on the chair Keith had recently vacated. "Pain meds can do weird things to people."

Hunk nodded vigorously. "Remember when I had my wisdom teeth out?" he asked Lance. "Man, I do not remember half of what I said for hours afterwards - was there something about rabbits?"

Lance half-grinned at the memory. "Sort of - we were talking about hamburgers, and I said I liked lettuce on mine. Then - like, half an hour later - you just blurted, right of the blue, that you thought rabbits were cute.'"

Lance shrugged as Hunk laughed at that image. "I figured you weren't completely there, man."

Hunk chuckled. "Yeah - I totally wasn't."

Shiro and Allura had been talking quietly, but now Hunk saw Shiro beckon them all over, and the three of them came over to stand by the chair where Allura sat. She smiled at them all, and Pidge was really glad to see that the Princess was looking much more like her usual self.

They spoke about what had happened in the tunnels, and it was then they learned how Shiro had managed to get back in time to rescue Allura.

Pidge had known that Shiro had been off scouting the planet, searching for Sendak near the pod's crash site. Apparently when he'd received Lance's transmission, he'd flown the Black Lion to Allura's location - and then - when Allura had fallen - Shiro and Black had caught her.

Lance shuddered at the memory of Allura vanishing over the edge of the cliff.

It had been too close. Shiro and Allura both agreed on that. But they made sure the other Paladins did not take on any blame for what had happened.

"It just means," Allura said, her voice strong once more, "that we'll have to be more careful in the future."

Shiro nodded. "Obviously, there's only so much we can do, but - "

Allura's earrings suddenly glowed red, and Coran's voice was heard by all of them.

"Princess," he said, and his voice was distinctly worn and tired, " - we found Sendak-"

Allura inhaled sharply, and Pidge saw Shiro's cybernetic hand clench into a fist. Coran's voice continued, but it had become more satisfied and almost savagely pleased.

"-but don't worry! He is very, very, very dead. We have nothing more to fear from him."

They all let out a breath of relief then, and Allura smiled at the looks on all their faces. "Thank you, Coran," she said. "Will you be coming back soon, then?"

"Yes, Princess!" he said, and his voice was now pleasantly excited. "We should be back within the hour."

"I'm glad," Allura said. "We're all here in the med bay. We look forward to seeing you."

"As do I," Coran said. "I'll be there soon."

The transmission switched off, and Allura smiled at her Paladins. "Well, that's one enemy we can cross off the list," she said with satisfaction.

Pidge adjusted her glasses, a dark bit of humor dancing through her eyes. "Wow. And none of us ended up in a pod this time. That's got to be a new record."

Lance raised his hands above his head in a silent 'Yay us!' expression, but then he glanced over at Keith and pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the sleeping Red Paladin. "Does it still count if one of us is zonked out on painkillers?"

"Oh, yeah, it still totally counts," Hunk said. "'Cause, Keith will probably wake up in like, an hour? Maybe two? Compared to pod time, that's practically nothing."

Pidge smiled. "Well, I hope he wakes up in time for dinner, because otherwise, I'm taking his dessert."

The rest of the time Keith was asleep was spent in pleasant conversation - such as 'was it really stealing if you took someone's dessert if they weren't going to eat it in the first place.'

Hunk and Lance maintained that it was absolutely stealing. Pidge disagreed. Shiro and Allura just sat back and watched the Paladins interact with each other.

Shiro leaned over to Allura and said, keeping his voice low, "I'm really glad you're okay."

Allura turned to face him, reaching out a hand that he automatically took in his own. "I'm glad too," she said. "But you know…I thought I would be."

Shiro looked into her face then, his eyes intent. "You did?" he asked. It was clear he was trying to keep some skepticism out of his voice.

Allura nodded, smiling. "Well, I was worried," she said, trying to keep her voice light. "But it worked out in the end, didn't it?"

Shiro let out a slow breath then, and his fingers tightened around hers. "It did…" he said. "But it was still too close."

Allura felt the smile on her face fade slightly. "I know," she said. "But - we're fighting a war, Shiro. I - I can't just stay in the castle - "

Shiro looked slightly startled, but said, "Oh - no, Allura, I wouldn't ask you to do anything like that - I just - " He took in another breath, and said, very softly, "I just - I just don't ever want to lose you."

She smiled back at him then, but she knew her eyes were tearing up. "I know," she said. "I don't want to lose you either - I- "

She broke off, unable to continue. She tightened her grasp on Shiro's hand then, just as he did the same.

They both looked over at the others. Keith was still sleeping peacefully, Lance and Hunk were laughing, and Pidge was waving her arms over her head for emphasis as she proclaimed that,

"-If someone were stupid enough to leave a chocolate cake - sliced, out on the table, with forks, plates, and napkins, and without a note - it was absolutely, positively fair game for anyone walking by!"

"Do you think they know?" Allura asked Shiro then, keeping her voice low. "Do you think they know how close we came today?"

He looked back at her and nodded, just once. "Yeah," he said. "I think they do."

Allura saw that Shiro had a small smile on his face. It was both a sad expression, and a proud one.

"But," he said, "I don't think they're dwelling much on it. I think they're trying to - well, they're trying - to - to move past it."

They watched as Lance and Hunk and Pidge all agreed that if the person walking by the cake knew or suspected that the cake had been made for a birthday party, it would be sacrilege to consume a crumb before the candles had been blown out by the birthday person, and the cake served.

"Of course," Allura said to Shiro, "we're here for them if they ever need to - to talk about it."

Shiro looked at her and nodded. "I think they know that too," he said, agreeing with her.

She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her. Their hands fell away from each other as the Paladins turned towards them, asking for their opinions on the matter.

Just then, Coran returned, and dinner was brought in.

Despite her earlier threat, Pidge did not steal Keith's dessert.