My pilot, Red growled, who did this to you?

Keith winced suddenly at the volume of the voice inside his head. He tried to answer, but hissed in sudden pain as Allura began wrapping a bandage around his injured leg. Coran and the other Paladins were now all standing in a protective half-circle around him and Allura, weapons out and ready to fire at anyone who approached.

Red growled then, but it was a sound of concern and rising anger - not at the Princess, but at the cause of the pain to his Paladin.

Deep breaths, Keith told himself. Deep breaths. Oh, quiznak, everything hurt.

"The - the natives," Keith managed between clenched teeth. He couldn't manage a purely mental link with Red, not at this distance, but maybe this half-spoken, half- thought connection would work. It had before, on the way back from Haggar's ship. "They - didn't like - it when - they found out - I'm - part-Galra."

He broke off then, unable to completely suppress a cry of pain when Allura tied off the bandage over his leg. Briefly, he saw Lance look back over his shoulder, down at Keith, and his expression was -

Well, Keith knew Lance would never be scary to him. But he wouldn't bet money on that being the case for the blue-skinned alien race. Then Red's voice was sounding again in Keith's head, and it drowned out all other thoughts.

I will rip them to shreds, Red snarled, and Keith felt the anger of his Lion as if it were a palpable thing, a rising, rippling heat of anger so intense, it could melt through a continent of ice.

"NO!" Keith said, panic making his voice louder than he'd intended. He tried to get up - but he moved too quickly. Suddenly his sense of balance was off - his shattered eardrum probably had something to do with it - and he felt sick, almost nauseous. His head spun, and he shut his eyes.

"Keith - just - stay down - " Pidge's voice said, and although Keith couldn't see her, he could picture her eyes narrowed in worried exasperation. "-we got this -"

Someone was grabbing hold of his shoulder, leaning him back against the wall - probably Allura - and she was saying something, but of course he couldn't hear out of that ear. And Red's furious snarls were so loud in Keith's mind, he couldn't spare any thought for anything else right now.

Quiznak - unless he did something, Red was going to burn this planet to the ground. Or would that be through the ground, since everyone lived in the tunnels?

Keith forced his wandering mind to focus. "RED!" he shouted, trying to ignore the churning, awful sensation in his gut, the pain in his right side, the feeling of blood beginning to trickle down the left side of his face again. "RED - LISTEN TO ME!"

The cold in the cave had slowed the bleeding, but now that he was back on the surface, it had started up again. Sensation was beginning to return, and with that came more pain, but he couldn't focus on that now, he had to keep Red from going on a rampage that would cost lives. He forced himself to keep talking, to make Red listen.

"Red - don't - " he started, but then he felt something tremble underneath the earth, right by his left foot. Keith forced his eyes open once more, looked down towards where the earth was starting to move - and saw something glint off -

One of the time-delay traps he'd seen when he was on patrol with Shiro.

Oh shit.

"ALLURA - MOVE!" he shouted. Using every last ounce of his strength, he shoved her away from him, out of the line of fire, just as his good ear heard the snap of a mechanism releasing, a hiss as a cross-bolt flew through the air.

Then something hit him - hard. He felt his head rock backwards, slamming against the wall of the tunnel.

Whatever had hit him had taken his breath away. He tried to breathe, found it was harder then it should have been.

Oh, come on. He'd been wounded already today - like, four times. Couldn't he catch a br-

Then he looked down at his chest and felt confused. There was a bolt sticking out of his left side, right - by the ribcage -

Oh, that wasn't good.

He looked up in time to Allura looking back at him, her face pale and horrified, but then Red was roaring in his mind, and it drowned everything else out. It was a roar without words - a roar of fear, terror, and a blinding rage, and it almost drove Keith mad.

He could only close his eyes and scream.

"KEITH!" Hunk shouted. He'd turned just as he heard Keith scream, saw Allura getting back to her knees from where she'd fallen, reaching out towards the Red Paladin, her face pale and horrified. Coran shouted to Hunk, Lance, and Pidge to maintain covering fire even as he raced to Keith's side.

Shiro was at Keith's side even before either Allura or Coran reached him. Pidge had never seen the Black Paladin move so fast. Within half a second, he dropped the weapon he held at Pidge's feet and raced over to the wall where Keith was. Then he was on his knees by his friend, his face as white as paper.

Keith groaned, his head rolling forwards, huffing out a breath. His face was tight with pain, but he brought one hand to his side, fumbling at the missile lodged there. Shiro grabbed hold of Keith's wrist and held it away from the injury, trying to keep Keith from pulling the bolt out of his side.

"No-" Shiro was saying, and his voice was trying to be steady, but there was a tightness to it that Keith had never heard before. "No - Keith - don't - we can't - "

"Shiro-" Keith said, "-it-hurts- Shiro -" he broke off, coughing.

"I know - I know - " Shiro said, and Pidge saw that his face had gone even paler. "I know - Keith, but w- "

Suddenly there was a roaring sound that shook the very earth - and then Red was there, his giant red muzzle thrust into the tunnel's opening, his body and front legs surrounding the small group. Other time delay bolts fired then, but the bolts didn't even graze the Red Lion's metal hide. Every one was deflected, every one missed its intended mark.

Red leaned his head down towards Keith, still roaring, a sound that somehow managed to be terrifying and vulnerable all at the same time, and even though Allura knew Red would never, ever harm her, she flinched at the horrible sense of terror, pain, and fear of loss the sound conveyed.

Keith half-smiled up at Red then, and it was somehow confident and uncertain at the same time.

"Don't worry - I'm - not - going to-" he began, but coughed again, his body tensing, and he suddenly looked - almost scared. Red snarled again.

"Red - " Keith said, and he spat blood to the side before continuing. "Red - listen - don't - don't do anything - stupid - "

Red shook his head minutely from side to side, growling, and Keith looked up at Shiro and Allura. "Not - to rush you - or anything - " he said, and his voice was so faint Lance could barely catch it, his words coming harsh now, "But - uh - Red - Red's - saying he's not - going to let - the natives - get away - with…."

He cut off, his body suddenly going rigid, his eyes staring at nothing.

"Keith?" Shiro asked, his voice worried. "Keith?!"

Keith's head rolled backwards then, his eyes remaining eerily half-open. Without a second's delay, Coran and Allura began working on taking care of the new injury.

Shiro stayed by Keith's side while Lance, Pidge, and Hunk remained on guard, their weapons out and ready. Pidge was biting her lip so hard that blood had begun to trickle down her chin, while Hunk's face had gone strangely steady. Not cold - exactly - but harder, and he looked nothing like his usual, gentler self.

Lance had never seen his kind friend this way before. It was like all of Hunk's heart and empathy had just - condensed into a 'gotta get this done' sort of attitude, and it meant serious shit for whoever tried to come up against the Yellow Paladin right now.

With an effort, Lance turned his gaze away from where Keith sat, back to where he had to keep guard, looking down into the dark tunnels. He swallowed and felt tears prick at his eyes again. Keith was going to be okay. He had to be. He was family.

Keith's awareness of what was going around him was fading, but he made a last effort to reach out to Red. He had to make sure Red didn't - well - see red.

Hah-ha - oh, hell - agh - yeah, pain was hilarious. Ow.

Red?

My pilot!

"Yeah, that's me," Keith said. He was really starting to loose track of what he was saying, and what he was thinking.

Red - just - don't do anything stupid - okay?

Red growled again, and it was a rumbling snarl of rebellious intent.

I cannot promise that.

Well - tough, Keith said. You can't just - go and - wipe out - people - because they're jerks-

Another growl from Red, this one deep enough to rattle stones on the ground.

WHY?!

Despite himself, Keith laughed, then snarled against the new wave of pain that crested over him. Damn, that hurt.

Because - because - hell, Red - don't make me think so loud at you right now!

It's keeping you awake, isn't it?

Red sounded like he was still just two short steps shy of blood rage, but now he also sounded…smug?

Keith's eyes shot open again, and he glared up at his Lion for a second. The next words he thought of telling Red were not PG-13, but instead, he settled for,

Yeah - well - thanks. You're - so - g-giving -

He broke off then, suddenly feeling sick. He looked down at his side and realized that Coran and Allura had just removed the bolt from his side, and were now trying to suppress the bleeding. Shiro had been at his other side, holding Keith's shoulders in place against the wall. Keith bit back a curse, trying to keep his mind from processing everything his body was telling him. I get it. I'm in agony. Shut up already.

Someone - Shiro? - was telling him it was going to be okay - and Keith wanted to believe him - but he had to tell Red…

Red…

My pilot?

Take care of them, okay?

Another growl from Red rumbled the stones around them, but this time it was a grudging agreement to Keith's command.

I will.

Great… Keith thought back.

Or maybe he said it. He'd completely lost track now. Everything was fading.

He felt his eyes slide shut again.

He wasn't alone.

At least in the end, he wasn't alone.