A/N: Continuing with a mild headcannon of mine for Keith in this chapter, one that won't fully be explained for some time... hehe
"Paladins! What happened? Is everyone alright?" Coran called over the coms.
Pidge hesitantly removed her arms from where she had wrapped them over her head, and looked around.
Lance was in a similar position beside her, and Hunk was hunched over behind them. Shiro was a little off to the side, crouched protectively over Keith's prone form. Then, standing over them all, was Green, with one paw and her head between the paladins and the explosion.
While Pidge and the others ventured to sit up -Shiro calling Coran to assure him everyone was fine- Green lifted her head and moved her paw.
"Wow," Lance said, wide-eyed.
All that remained where there had originally been a building was a huge, blackened crater. The storage containers had been tossed away into the forest, and the blast had flattened many of the nearby trees. Behind Green's protection was a large section of wall and half a container.
"That's it. Easy."
Shiro's murmur pulled Pidge's attention away from the destruction. Keith was slowly sitting up, holding one hand to his head and staring around in confusion.
"Wha' happened?" Keith mumbled.
Hunk gestured vaguely. "The building blew up. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Keith stood up slowly, waving off Shiro's attempts to help. He wobbled, but still tried to take a step. Predictably, his legs gave out.
"Easy!" Shiro said, hurriedly catching the boy. "You may have a concussion."
Lance gripped his rifle and scanned the demolished woods. "Is anyone else wondering about the Galra at the other base? We should get out of here."
"Good idea." Shiro helped Keith toward Green, ignoring Keith's protests. "Green can take out the other base on our way back."
"Sounds good. I have all the data we need right here," Pidge said, raising her wrist.
Shiro halted and turned back to Pidge with a frown. "Wait. You didn't take Lance's help, and you ran out here just fine."
Pidge smirked, amused at how long it had taken that fact to sink in. Hunk's eyes grew comically wide as he came to the same realization, and Lance was watching her with that same "what in the world?" expression as when she had told the team about being a girl.
"When Keith and I were fighting the Galra, the EVOR was knocked off. I opened my eyes, and…." Pidge lifted a hand to shrug. "I don't know how it happened."
Shiro stared at Pidge for a moment. His gaze didn't waver, even when he reached out to grab a wobbly Keith's shoulder when he tried to walk away.
"We'll figure this out at the Castle," Shiro decided.
"Good idea," Pidge agreed.
Pidge and the others ran into Green, and Pidge took off. They took a moment to destroy the first base -after scans found it to be in actuality an empty building- then flew on to the Castle.
"If you don't take that light out of my eye, I will go blind again," Pidge said drily, struggling to not blink while Hunk peered at her eyes with a tiny light.
"Sorry." Hunk lowered the light. "I don't see anything off in your eyes. The pupils are reacting to light again. It makes no sense."
"Could it be because my eyes weren't exposed to light for so long?" Pidge suggested. "I haven't opened my eyes in almost five months, except for when I was wearing the EVOR."
Hunk shrugged and set the light aside. He stepped back, finally allowing Pidge to slide off the examination table.
"If it was a matter of healing, why wouldn't the cryo-pods have done anything?" Hunk mused.
"It's like I said before," Coran put in while stroking his mustache. "Alteans never had to deal with eye injuries. The cryo-pods can't cure something that, as far as the creators were concerned- didn't exist."
"All I know is, my eyes work. Kinda blurry, but they do. I'm more worried about him," Pidge said, jutting a thumb over her shoulder.
The "him" in question was Keith. He was seated on a table across the infirmary, bearing a stubborn frown as Shiro, Lance, and Allura tried without success to get him into a pod.
Pidge headed over with Hunk and Coran in time to hear Lance threaten to find some cymbals to bang next his ears if he didn't get into the pod.
"That would only make it worse," Keith said. He turned to Shiro, but the older paladin merely watched him with a raised eyebrow. "You wouldn't let him do it, would you?"
"I'm tempted," Shiro said, but smiled as he said it. "Keith, you have a concussion. The cryo-pod will have you back to normal soon enough."
"'Normal' might be a stretch," Lance said.
Keith scowled and tried to stand, but his legs gave out and he fell back. He settled on saying, "I've hit my head a lot harder than that before. Just give me a dobosh."
"You said that…" Allura paused in thought, "Fifty doboshes ago."
"Come on, we've all had our time in the pod. It's your turn," Lance said.
"It would just be for a few vargas," Shiro said, putting hand on Keith's shoulder.
Keith scowled at his hands, but gave a nod. He didn't give any resistance when Shiro helped him stand, and let himself be led to a cryo-pod. Shiro helped him inside, then Allura closed it. Keith's tense frame relaxed as he fell into the healing sleep.
"I'll stay with him," Shiro said, sitting beside the pod.
"I'll scan the surrounding area for more Galra," Allura said. "It would be best if we left here as well. I'll see to it."
Pidge dug out a memory chip from her pocket and handed it to Hunk. "Want to analyze the data I found at the base?"
"Sure. But what are you going to do?"
Pidge beamed up at him. "I haven't seen anything in this castle for six phoebs. I'm going to look at each and every thing in here."
The others laughed at Pidge's words as she dashed from the room. She grinned and shook her head a little. Maybe she had exaggerated with the "every thing," but there was one thing that she definitely needed to see.
Pidge reached her room and came to a panting halt. She squinted and made her way inside. She had once known where everything was, but her blindness had forced her to make her room somewhat more organized. Now, with her eyes open, Pidge realized that she couldn't quite figure out the location of the object she was looking for.
It didn't help that everything was still a bit fuzzy. During Hunk's examination, he had determined that whatever had caused her blindness would probably never fully heal. The result was her blurry vision that she would have to get used to.
Finally, after a bit of haphazard searching, Pidge's hand located the book sitting on the bottom shelf in her room. She pulled out her old journal, flipping through the pages of sketches, thoughts, and math homework, until she found a picture.
Pidge held the picture close to her face to get the clearest view. Regardless, the picture still blurred. Pidge wiped her eyes and told herself it was just her imperfect vision.
The picture was of her family, from the day before the Kerberos mission. Pidge trained her eyes on her brother's and father's face.
Once, she had thought that, even when she found them, she wouldn't be able to actually see them again. Now, Pidge stared long and hard at her family so that, no matter what happened, she would always remember their faces.
A/N: Watch for the short epilogue to follow.