Keith turned human again as soon as he lost consciousness and it was enough to awaken the rest of the team. Coran went to the medical wing with a visual jump, brought the stretcher back with him, transported the passed out Keith onto said stretcher, and thereafter transported Keith to his room with Hunk at his side. They, as the most compassionate and soothing people of all the inhabitants in the castle, would explain Keith's Galra heritage to him. Or at least tell him that the wasn't hallucinating since they didn't know a lot about it either. Keith would most likely want to know more about the general situation and what had happened for them to find out in the first place but he would not be told anything about Shiro's attack on him for at least another 20 vargas when he had had a little time to digest being part Galra.

Truth be told, Shiro had expected Allura to want to talk to Keith immediately. That was until just a few ticks had passed and he remembered that Allura didn't want anything to do with anything remotely Galra if it didn't play into how to destroy them. He didn't think Allura actually hated Keith, she just hated the thought that he had Galra blood and seeing Keith in Galra form probably didn't help.

Restless hours passed for everyone in the castle and they didn't stop being restless when Coran and Hunk returned late evening and told them Keith wanted some time alone. No surprise there.

Shiro was walking around the castle late that night. He had been on edge for a long time now, ever since he was taken from Kerberos in fact, and he usually trained or laid in his bed, looking up at the ceiling and tried to convince himself that counted as sleep, but this night he had decided to take a walk to calm himself down. Maybe he would be able to get some actual sleep when he got back to his room. Not very likely but he could pretend to be optimistic for a night.

He passed the lounge, he went down to the training deck, and he looked at the black lion for about half an hour. It was all calming and he didn't meet anyone but he was still too anxious to sleep and decided that for once he would go to the control room and look up at the stars. It was a cliché but Shiro decided that it had to be helpful for it to turn into a cliché in the first place.

He was just about to walk in when he heard idle chatter and was just about to turn around and go back to looking at his bedroom ceiling when he felt how much his heart slowed down at the sound of normality. It was weird and creepy. Not to mention starting to turn into a bad and invasive habit, but he let himself sit down and enjoy the pointless conversation while he looked at nothing in front of him. That was until the conversation turned serious and the guilt weighed him down until he felt like he couldn't have left the hallway if he wanted to.

"Do we have to replace Keith if he never gets better?" Lance asked and Shiro had to close his eyes even though he couldn't see anything in the darkened hallway.

"I guess," Pidge muttered so silently that Shiro barely caught any of the words.

"Can we do that?" Lance wondered.

"You mean ethically or if we have the ability to?" Pidge asked.

"I don't-both I guess," Lance sighed and Shiro had to stop himself from peeking into the control room.

"I don't want to but I think it's what Keith wants. I don't think we really can replace him and Allura said there would be no other paladins while we're alive but…" Pidge hesitated for a moment and Shiro could almost see how her eyebrows were furrowed and how she was probably biting her bottom lip. "Lance, you do know Keith will probably try to kill himself again if we don't find a way to fix him, right?"

There was no sound for a while and Shiro feared on Pidge's behalf that Lance would blow up. Every one of them knew deep down what Pidge had said but Lance had been more emotional ever since Keith was placed into the pod all those weeks ago so there was really no telling how he would react.

"I wish I didn't," Lance confessed at last and Shiro felt relieved that someone felt like he did too. Ignorance would have been a bliss.

"Me too," Pidge mumbled. It was clear for both Lance and Shiro to hear that even though she wanted to seem emotionless, she was upset too.

"Would you replace me?" Lance asked just as Shiro had collected himself enough to stand up and ready himself to leave the hallway considering anyone could find him eavesdropping.

"What is this about?" Pidge asked both annoyed and worried.

"Just answer me," Lance demanded without any real fire.

"I wouldn't want to but Allura would force us to find someone to control your lion," Pidge explained logically.

"You're right, it would be fair to Blue to be all alone," Lance said and something hit the ground. It sounded too soft to be the bottom of a shoe so Shiro guessed Lance's hand was in danger of acquiring a bruise.

At last, Lance sighed before continuing, "I just think it would be really hard to replace Keith. I doubt there's anyone as crazy and skilled as him. I doubt there's anyone else as good at flying, fighting and just having his weird feeling thingy he used to find Blue and just know stuff for no reason." Lance was quiet for only half a tick. "Don't tell him I told you that!"

"He wouldn't believe me if I tried," Pidge told Lance in a lighter tone but with a hint of irritation because she wished she wasn't right about Keith not believing it.

"Yeah," Lance exhaled.

"You would be hard to replace too," Pidge told him in a surprisingly tender and caring voice.

"Thanks," Lance let out another loud exhale. "I just feel like I would be so much easier to replace than everyone else."

"If you ever say something like that again I swear I'll kill you," Pidge growled.

"You couldn't take me," Lance said even though you could hear his uncertainty as clear as day.

"Hunk would help me."

"He wouldn't! Hunk's always there for me and he would never do anything against me!" Lance denied and Shiro opened his eyes wide when Lance let out a sniff.

"Hunk would kill anyone who said something like that about you," Pidge retorted with fury blazing clear and dangerous all the way out to the hallway.

Shiro was still hiding out of sight but he could feel how intensely the two paladins were glaring at each other. It lasted for several ticks but it was finally broken and Shiro could breathe again knowing that there wouldn't be more tension in the castle than there already were.

"Okay," Lance relented to Pidge as soft as a breeze.

"Good," Pidge said as if they both hadn't said that word so many times already.

"Thank, Pidge," Lance said with a smile in his voice.

"I will kill you," Pidge warned so firmly that Shiro felt the hairs stand up from his neck.

"I know," Lance said just as quietly as before but a lot more serene even if there was still a hint of insecurity. Shiro finally found the strength and motivation to leave.

Pidge and Lance would sit in the control room for a while longer but he had already invaded their privacy and he was scared they would lose any lingering respect they had for him if they found out.

He arrived back into his room before long. He wasn't completely calm but he still found himself able to fall asleep and surrounded himself in the deep darkness of sleep feeling a little lighter than when he first went to bed. Things weren't okay. They wouldn't be for a long time but at least he knew that he wasn't the only one scared for what he knew and longed for peaceful ignorance for the harsh realities.

Shiro's slumber lasted for a few vargas. At first, he didn't know exactly what had woken him but then he noticed the hurried footsteps running through the corridor in front of his door and dread filled him. Not because he thought they were being attacked as an intruder would be far more stealthy but because the steps were filled with pure panic and Shiro knew only one person who could currently make such a terror run through anyone.

Shiro threw the blanket off himself and ran out of his room for the first time since he entered the castle right before he became part of Voltron, he didn't care that he was dressed indecently for anything other than lying in bed or that only wearing a pajamas bottom would be cold.

He barely caught a glimpse of Coran's bright, orange hair as he turned a corner but Shiro needed no guidance to know where he was going. Shiro felt it all the way into his bones as they ran through the castle and he stopped in front of the door just over two ticks after it had closed. He could open it. Allura had disabled the feature that made it possible to lock Keith's door and even if it was on again, Coran wouldn't have had time to lock the door. Shiro knew all this but he still felt too paralyzed to open the door between him and Keith. Just the thought of what he would find inside the room was enough to make the hair stand up on his arms and neck.

Keith had been given a device to tell the others if he needed help with anything. It was a necessity with how much time Keith wanted to spend alone all the while being unable to do almost everything without help. Shiro wasn't even sure if there was a panic button or if there only was one for everything between just needing a glass of water or pressing the device with his last breath, but Shiro wouldn't blame Coran for running with full speed either way. Because Keith had had it for nine, maybe ten now, days and he had never used it no matter what. The paladins needed to go up to his room every few hours to see if he needed anything. Hunk had once come back and told the others Keith literally peed for about 4 doboshes and told them again when they forgot just how long a dobosh was that Keith peed for over 5 and a half minutes.

Therefore, whatever had Keith not only calling for help but doing so in the middle of what the castle deemed night had to be serious and Shiro didn't know if he could take seeing Keith in pain anymore. Shiro had been through hell himself. Watched people die, almost dying himself and killing when necessary. Shiro should have been tough and unbreakable at this point. As strong as he tried to seem to the others but he found himself crumbling at the thought of Keith being hurt. Again. For the second time in maybe 7 vargas.

Shiro at last found the power to open the door and stopped for a few ticks when he saw Lance standing there in his blue night robe and lion slippers. He then remembered that Lance had a room right next to Keith and felt like an idiot for forgetting even for a single second why Lance had been the one to bring Keith to breakfast each morning. Of course, Lance would have been able to hear if something happened in Keith's room and come to check on him if it sounded worryingly enough.

Shiro's eyes found a slumped form in the bed. Shiro almost wished he couldn't recognize Keith anymore. Maybe it would make it hurt less but almost nothing could make him not recognize Keith anymore now that he knew how Keith looked both as a Galra and as a human. Not even the weak demeanor as he let Coran hold him up through his tremors or the dark sputum Keith had spit up in his lap and down his chin.

Shiro took a step closer and stopped again. That wasn't from their meal it was… blood? Oh, quiznak.

Shiro's eyes followed Keith from top to bottom and found blotchy rashes covering all of his visible skin. No one was saying anything but Keith began to shake his head and made protesting sound from deep into his through. Coran wouldn't let go of his arm and Keith eventually stopped. Not like he decided to do it, but more like he just forgot and it scared Shiro as much as it had when he found Keith laying limp in front of the Red Lion only hours or vargas earlier.

Coran seemed calm but even he stopped for a tick when the absence of protests made way for just how much trouble Keith had breathing. It wasn't really wheezing but it still sounded like there was something trying to strangle him from the inside.

Then for a moment, he just stopped shaking and stopped sounding like every breath was a struggle. Shiro didn't even have time to find out if he should be relieved that some king of miracle had happened when Keith went limp and started to shake. At first, it was small movements like someone dreaming and Coran stood with wide eyes and tried to hold Keith's left arm when the convulsions came so rapidly and strong that the arm found its way out of Coran's grip.

"What's wrong with him!?" Lance demanded to know. Shiro had actually forgotten that Lance was in the room too but he just accepted it and waited for Coran to give some sort of answer.

"It looks like decompression sickness," he answered and Shiro couldn't find it in himself to be relieved that Coran seemed to know what was wrong or just relieved that it was called the same by Alteans as Americans, because when he tried to remember what DCS exactly meant for Keith, he came to a blank.

Why hadn't they learned anything about any Decompression Illnesses? No, Shiro had defiantly been told more than just the name by the Garrison. Probably. Maybe? Shiro suddenly wasn't sure anymore.

Keith woke up again before they had time to maneuver him out of his bed and seeing him look at them confused and with a steady nosebleed was just as bad as seeing him slack mouthed. They both made Keith look so young and vulnerable but unconsciousness made him look sick and weak while conscious but confused about everything happening to and around him held so much pain too.

"Don't swallow the blood," Shiro commanded and Keith looked at him for only a second before his head fell again. It was so short that Shiro didn't know if Keith had passed out for less than a tick or if Keith just forgot to how keep his head up.

Coran wanted to get the stretcher again but agreed with Lance who, with surprising speed that surpassed Shiro's thoughts, pointed out just how far away the medical bay was. Given, Shiro's thoughts were hindered at the moment but it was still impressive that Lance could think so logically so fast.

It wasn't quite a saving grace, but Shiro was happy for Keith that he didn't seem to be in pain as both Lance and Shiro was forced to dig a hand into one of Keith's sides each and firmly hold his arms over their shoulders. There was no question about if it would have left bruises if they weren't in their way to putting Keith in a cryo pod. At least his right shoulder, the one on Shiro's side, should have hurt as it was one step away from dislocating because of the sheer panic in Shiro that stopped him from risking anything by being gentle.

It was a long way through the castle. Keith was short of breath through it all and his right leg was as limp when he was conscious as it was when he was not and Keith would switch between losing consciousness and being hit by tremors. Sometimes both at the same time. He kept drooling a mixture between spittle and blood but Shiro didn't know if it was coming from somewhere in Keith's mouth, lungs, or if it was from the nosebleed and how Keith seemed to forget to not swallow the blood no matter how many times Shiro and eventually Coran and Lance told him not to.

Keith didn't even register it most of the time. He was either looking around with heartbreaking confusion, all wide eyes and furrowed eyebrows, or he was trying to fight Shiro and Lance off and seemed confused when Lance lost his grip and barely got it back before Shiro had dislocated Keith's shoulder with his strong grip.

They had just left the elevator when Keith started protesting again with distressed sound and trying to pull his wrists out of the two other paladin's hands. It sounded more urgent than before but both Lance and Shiro ignored it with stone hard expressions as they moved Keith as fast as they could and tried to convince their minds that it wasn't strong-willed, impulsive and so strong and proud Keith that had been left as this frail and helpless creature they had in their care.

Only two and a half ticks passed from Keith started to protest until another convulsion hit him and it was just different enough from the others that Shiro sent him a look right as Keith let out a worryingly large amount of blood mixed with barely anything else out as he threw up onto the floor and himself.

"What the fu-," Lance exclaimed too panicked to care about how his favorite alien word would have fit perfectly here.

"It's from swallowing the blood," Shiro interrupted before he ordered, "Let him down to his knees."

Keith was let down to his knees and entirely held up by his two teammates, now only keeping him up by the arms over their shoulders, at his side as he let out the last vomit and just sat and breathed heavily for a moment.

"Coran, ready the pod," Shiro half-asked, half-demanded. Coran just sent Keith a last look before he turned around and left them in the hallway so close but still too far away from the bay.

"Oh, Keith, buddy," Lance breathed out with an air of pity and compassion and drew Shiro's attention away from Coran.

Keith breathed even heavier than before and Shiro was ready to panic when he realized Keith was crying. Or as close to crying as he could in his weakened state and with no tears in sight. Just dry and feeble sobbing.

Lance shuffled so he could use his right arm to run a hand up and down Keith's back in an attempt to comfort him and just in time too as Keith let out a small amount of blood-vomit. More of a very large blob of spittle but uncomfortable all the same.

Keith wasn't all there at the moment. There wasn't any way to find out if that helped Keith not reacting worse than he already was or prevented him from stopping his weak sobbing that sounded like fragile hiccups and heavy breathing.

Shiro didn't like to admit it but he could be a very selfish man and he decided to forget about how he didn't deserve to even look at Keith again as he told Lance, "I want to try something to calm him."

"Oh, erm, okay," Lance said uncertainly as he hesitantly pulled his arm back to himself again and let go of Keith's wrist.

Shiro pulled Keith to himself and didn't feel uncertain before he had Keith sitting in his lap with one leg on each side of Shiro and his head resting on Shiro's left shoulder. Keith's right arm was in his lap and his left one was over Shiro's shoulder. Neither Keith nor Lance was doing anything to show they were opposing Shiro's way of trying to comfort Keith but Lance was looking at him with one eyebrow lifted as high as it would go and Keith was almost entirely unresponsive.

Shiro squeezed his cheeks on the top of Keith's head and he had to force down the sob trying to take over.

He had done this to Keith. Shiro had not only tried to kill Keith, he had destroyed him. It didn't matter that Keith didn't remember enough to be mad at him, he was mad enough at himself for both of them. The rest of the castle should have killed him for being a monster or at least send him away for being dangerous. It was all is fault. His fault for being foolhardy and attack what looked like a Galra when there was no way for one to sneak into the castle, much less get into a paladin's uniform in no time. Keith ended up being in a pod for so long and he could have ended up having been there forever because of Shiro. It was Shiro's fault that Keith wanted to end his own life, no matter how impulsive it had seemed and was completely impulsive if there was even a little part of Keith's spirit that Shiro hadn't already killed. That was the only reason he wanted to believe it was spontaneous as Keith planning it sounded just as frightening as spontaneously trying to kill himself, but at least an impulsive Keith was still the Keith he knew.

No matter what it was, Shiro hoped Keith wasn't miserable enough to try again, but he couldn't be sure and could only hope that Keith was without enough hope that anyone to find a solution to keep living for as long as it would take them.

They had to find a solution soon, because even if Zarkon never attacked again, Keith couldn't possibly survive much more. Human or Galra, there had to be a limit to the things a body could go through in such a small amount of time before it just gave up, and Keith wasn't allowed to ever give up even if it wasn't Keith's own doing that ended him.

Keith hadn't creased his unhappy sounds and started throwing up blood again over Shiro's shoulder. Shiro tightened his arms around Keith's trembling body and ignored how warm the liquid felt as it slid down his back.

Keith passed out again as soon as he stopped vomiting. It took Lance and Shiro a while longer to notice that he was in fact unconscious and it took Lance even longer to remind Shiro that he would need at least 3 arms to carry an unconscious person Keith's age in a front piggyback ride. Shiro eventually relented even though he was almost sure he could pull it off if he just leaned back and held his hands under Keith's rump. However, Lance was far more persuasive than Shiro had ever given him credit for and made the small, unsure part of him seem so much bigger and Shiro sighed as he let go of Keith.

He and Lance took their old positions on next to Keith and walked the last distance to the medical bay where Coran was waiting with a readied cryo pod and the suit Keith would be wearing in it.

The rest of the castle woke up later that morning to Shiro, Lance and Coran taking Keith out of a pod while still being in their nightclothes.