A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews (Keith smiles for you guys!), follows, and favorites! I appreciate the support!

So, when I first came to the conclusion that this was NOT going to be a oneshot, I then thought it would have 2 chapters. But I kept finding myself wanting to write the rescue from the other side...so I did. A bit shorter, and not quite as whumpy, but I thought it might be nice to see how everything happened. Next week we'll start the recovery process for Keith.

Enjoy!

"Allura, have you heard anything from Keith yet?"

The princess looked up at Shiro from across the dining table, blinking a bit wearily before schooling her expression into its usual pristine facade. "No, not yet. How many quintants has he been gone now?"

Shiro sighed, trying his best not to feel irritated. He couldn't really blame her, or anyone else, for not having Keith at the forefront of their minds right now. So much was going on. Lance had only gotten out a pod vargas ago, and Hunk had been at his side nonstop. Neither of them had even made it to breakfast yet, still catching up on their sleep. The rest of them hadn't slept much over the last several quintants, either, staying up half the night trying to fix and upgrade the Castle's defenses before they ended up getting attacked again while half-prepared. That was finally coming to a close, though, and his little brother's absence was feeling more and more palpable.

"This one makes five. You and Coran said that it would be four or five at the most."

She nodded slowly and returned her attention to her bowl of goo. "Then we should probably hear from him soon. Hopefully the In'aroans have accepted."

Shiro frowned. "Don't you think he should have contacted us before now? Wouldn't he or the leader of In'aro want to speak to you before finalizing anything?" He knew that Allura wanted them each to be able to handle these types of missions on their own, but he wouldn't expect her to be completely hands-off about it. Especially on Keith's very first solo trip.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Allura shrugged. "It's not concerning to me, but if you'd like to pull up the comms and find out for sure when he's returning, you're welcome to."

Nodding, Shiro dropped his spoon into his bowl and pushed back away from the table. "Yeah. I'm gonna go do that now." He hadn't been concerned before now, either, but for some reason the more he thought about Keith's silence the more uneasy he became. It would be reassuring to hear his voice again.

Fifteen dobashes later, Allura and Coran entered the bridge to find him punching the comms button over and over again. Nothing but the sound of static replied. "He's not answering. I don't know if his comms are turned off, or if he doesn't have his helmet, or...or what." Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

"Hmm." Allura frowned at the console, then pressed another button and paged Pidge. "Perhaps she can at least answer that question for us."

The green paladin arrived shortly, and got to work at her station, typing furiously with the light of the screen glinting off her glasses. After a moment, she paused and looked up at Shiro and Allura. "His comms are fine. They haven't been turned off or destroyed or anything. He must just not have his helmet on."

"Well, the atmosphere of In'aro is breathable for humans," Coran piped up. "And he's there for a diplomatic mission, so there's no real reason why he shouldn't take his helmet off."

"That's very true." Allura looked to Shiro, business-like but at the same time seeming sympathetic to his concerns. "Perhaps we should just give him some more time. I'm sure he'll either contact us or come flying in at any moment."

Shiro furrowed his brow, but before he could say anything the bridge door opened again.

"Hey guys." Hunk interrupted himself with a huge yawn, just barely covering it behind his hand. "You still working on the defenses?"

"No, I think we're finally done with that," Pidge replied, turning to lean one arm onto the back of her seat.

"Lance, it's so good to see you up and about again." Allura smiled, and the blue paladin returned the gesture. "I trust you're feeling better after a good night's rest?"

"Yep, that and a hot shower." Lance stretched his arms up over his head. "So what are you guys doing? And where's Keith? I haven't seen him since I got out last night."

Sighing, Shiro quickly caught Lance up on the situation. "So now, I guess we're just trying to decide whether we should assume something's wrong or not."

Lance scratched his head, seeming to mull it over. "It does seem a little weird not to have heard anything. I mean, we all know Mullet isn't the best at diplomatic stuff. I'd have thought that he would have called for advice or something at some point."

Ignoring the slight jab, Shiro turned back to Allura. "Maybe we should go ahead and contact In'aro, just to be sure." Her nose crinkled, a sure sign that she was about to protest, and he hurried on. "You don't have to start demanding to talk to Keith right away. Just tell them that you wanted to touch base with them personally before he returns, and see what happens."

Allura cut her eyes to the side and considered this for a moment before turning back to the console. "Alright. I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I was planning on speaking to them myself eventually, so it might as well be now."

She opened a hailing frequency, and pretty quickly an image appeared in front of them of a green alien with a long snout and wide-set eyes. "I am Princess Allura of Altea, calling on behalf of Voltron."

The alien's expression did not change, but he nodded once. "Ah, yes. We thought we might be hearing from you." Shiro frowned, wondering at the meaning of that statement, but the alien continued. "I am In'ebo, chief of the In'aroans."

Allura smiled her dazzling smile that she had used to win over many an ally. "A pleasure to meet you. I trust that negotiations with our red paladin have been going well?"

Narrowing his eyes, In'ebo sniffed. "Hm. So you did send him."

"Well...yes, of course." Allura's smile had faltered, and her brow was furrowed. "Did he not tell you as much?"

"Yes, he did." For a moment it seemed that was all he would say, but then he lifted his chin and continued. "However, I am not in the habit of believing the word of the Galra."

One of the other paladins squeaked out, "What?" but Shiro hardly heard. He strode forward toward the screen until he was shoulder to shoulder with Allura and glared. I knew something was wrong. I knew it.

"I'm not–" Allura began, but she was interrupted by In'ebo.

"You thought that we would not notice, perhaps? He may not look like a Galra, but the people of In'aro are very perceptive. We can smell Galra blood no matter whose veins it may run through."

"Where is Keith?" Shiro demanded, paying no attention to the look that Allura gave him. "I want to speak to him."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible."

Shiro's heart plummeted. "Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"Calm yourself, paladin." In'ebo's attitude was irritatingly flippant. "Your Galra friend lives. As with all captured enemies, he has been placed under the watch of In'oni, our jailer."

"You imprisoned him." He wasn't sure whether it was a question or a statement. All he knew was that he was furious. Five quintants of thinking that Keith was perfectly safe on a peaceful planet, and he had been in a cell probably the whole time.

Allura spoke at almost the same time as Shiro, and underneath her controlled demeanor sounded almost as furious. "Keith is not your enemy. He came peacefully to negotiate the terms of an alliance between your people and Voltron."

"So he said. But perhaps you should have thought harder before sending a Galra to do your negotiations. Or even before having a Galra be part of your team."

"Or perhaps we should have thought harder before extending our hand to In'aro at all."

Despite his churning worry for Keith, Shiro couldn't help but blink in surprise at Allura at that statement. Giving up a potential ally was no small thing in her eyes. He was sure that she would still fight hard to end up with both Keith and the alliance, but even hearing that she was considering backing out was a shock.

"You will release our paladin at once," she continued, every bit a princess in both stance and tone. "We will arrive within the varga to collect him." With that, she punched a button on the console and In'ebo's image blipped out of existence.

The bridge exploded with the voices of the other paladins. It was mostly a meaningless cacophony of noise as they talked over each other, though Shiro did pick out Lance's voice snarling something like, "Quiznacking lizard people," while Hunk moaned, "Poor Keith, all alone," and Pidge muttered about not being able to trust anyone.

Shiro's mind was a swirl of all three sentiments plus some, though he was with Hunk most of all. He knew Keith was used to being alone. The kid had been alone in his life more than anyone should be. He just hoped that this wouldn't set him back into any of his old, fearful habits. Surely he knew that we would be coming for him...right? Ugh, why didn't I check in on him sooner?

Coran's voice broke into his thoughts. "Do you really think they'll hand him over that easily, Princess?"

"I would be surprised." Allura's lips were drawn into a thin line. "Regardless, we will set out for In'aro immediately and handle any negotiations there. Lance, Hunk, Pidge, you stay here with Coran. Shiro and I will go down, and call you if we require backup."

Lance stepped forward, away from the others. "I wanna go, too."

Shiro shook his head. "Lance, you're just barely out of a pod. You should stay here and rest."

"I feel fine," Lance insisted. "What if it somehow turns violent? You'll need more than two people already there. Besides, I wanna see Allura give In'ebo a piece of her mind."

Pursing her lips, Allura sighed. "Well, that you will definitely see. Alright, fine. We'll take both the black and blue lions."

.o.0.O.0.o.

Despite Allura riding in Black with him, the whole trip down to the surface of In'aro was silent. Shiro spent the time inwardly berating himself for abandoning Keith, and fuming at the In'aroans for their racism. Pidge had been able to track Red's location, and they followed the coordinates to an open area nestled in between a huge forest and a mountain range, landing on either side of the red lion. She was active, golden eyes glowing, but her particle barrier was up.

At least she seems calm. Maybe that means that Keith isn't in any real danger.

The calm didn't last, however. Allura had been correct in her assumption that getting Keith released wouldn't be so easy. In'ebo, flanked by a few soldiers, came to meet them, but he was not at all happy or ready to let his "captured enemy" go. Negotiations – which turned into full-blown arguments rather quickly – stretched on, throughout the afternoon and evening and late into the night. Lance had long ago given up on standing with them and gone back to sit on Blue's big metal paw, though he kept his bayard in hand and his eye on the proceedings.

Several vargas after dark, Allura and In'ebo finally agreed on something. Unfortunately, it was that they should take a break to eat and sleep, and resume first thing in the morning. Shiro was not at all happy. Allura practically dragged him back to the lions by the collar of his armor, depositing him in front of Red.

"We should not be giving up! Keith is waiting for us, has been waiting for us for five quintants!" His hands clenched into fists by his sides as he fought to keep control of his ire. "We cannot just leave him out there! What if he's hurt or something?"

"Shiro, we are not giving up, and we are certainly not going to leave Keith." Allura's shoulders were slumped under an invisible weight. "You know I wouldn't do that. But everyone is hungry and exhausted, and that's only making the arguing worse. We all need a break." Before Shiro could reply to that, she waved a weary hand up at Red. "Besides, you know as well as I do that Keith and the red lion have a strong connection. If she's not trying to get to him, then chances are he's fine."

As if in answer, a low growl rumbled from the depths of Red's body. Both Shiro and Allura looked up at her in surprise.

"She's been doing that," Lance sighed from his perch on Blue's paw. "For quite a while now. She's been shifting around a lot, too, like...like she's agitated."

Shiro shot a glare at Allura, but she ignored him. "There's nothing that we can do about it right now. Everyone should try to get some rest, and we'll somehow work all of this out in the morning."

As much as Shiro hated it, he eventually had to give in and try to sleep, too, though he laid awake for a long time, the hard bench of Black's cargo hold digging into his spine and thoughts of what Keith might be going through plaguing his mind. Please hold on, otouto. We'll be there soon.

Once he did finally fall asleep, it didn't last long. He sat up with a jolt, unsure of what had woken him, and looked over at the bench opposite him to see Lance also awake and frowning.

"Something's going on outside. I think...it might be Red?"

That was all Shiro needed to hear. Jumping up, he threw on the few pieces of armor he had removed for sleeping and ran out through the cockpit and Black's open jaw, with Lance right on his heels. Allura joined them soon after, tumbling out of Blue where Lance had let her sleep for privacy.

The red lion had taken down her particle barrier, presumably so that she could do what she was doing right now – pacing. Back and forth, back and forth behind Black and Blue, her eyes glowing eerily in the dim light of early morning and her giant paws leaving divots in the dusty ground. Every once in a while another low growl would echo through the air.

"It's Keith." Shiro could barely force the words out around the lump in his throat. "Something's wrong."

"What is the meaning of this commotion?" In'ebo's voice called out. He and the other In'aroans with him were spilling out of the mountain caves that they had retreated into a few vargas earlier.

Before Allura could speak up, Shiro marched forward to meet them. "That lion is connected to her paladin, and she's telling us that something is wrong. So I suggest that you take us to him right now, or you're going to seriously regret it."

In'ebo sniffed indignantly. "As I said before, I am not yet convinced that his release is in the best interest of not only the people of In'aro, but the rest of the universe as well."

"And as I said before, the rest of the universe is doomed without him!" Allura insisted. "Without him, we cannot form Voltron, and without Voltron, there is no one to fight the Empire."

They fell right back into their pointless arguing, and Shiro thought he might just lose his mind. Keith was out there, and he was in trouble. If something happened to him while they were sitting out here yelling at each other, he would never forgive himself. Looking back over his shoulder at Red, he was surprised to see Lance walking closer to her, staring up into her face. Shiro took a few steps backwards, away from the group, then turned and jogged over to the lions, ready to ask Lance what he was seeing. Instead, as he came close he heard whispering.

"Show us the way, girl. You know where he is, don't you? Go on. Go. Take us to him."

Shiro raised his eyebrows and looked from Lance up to Red. At first she didn't seem to be paying him any mind, which was to be expected since they weren't bonded. But just as this planet's sun burst up over the tops of the trees, she suddenly stopped pacing, faced the mountains, and opened her mouth with a thunderous roar. The ground shook with it, and the sounds of arguing died off completely. Then Red crouched, gathering her legs underneath her and springing into the air, and was disappearing over the tops of the mountains in the next breath.

"Let's go!" Shiro shouted, already racing for Black. "Hurry!"

Allura leapt into Black's jaw just before it closed, and Shiro took off without waiting for her to get into position. He punched a button on the console, and Pidge's face popped up on the screen.

"Pidge, I need you to track Red again, right now."

She leapt into action immediately, not questioning his urgency any more than he questioned why she was up and at her computer at this time of morning. "Got it. Sending you her location...now." A map with red, black, and blue blips on it replaced her image.

"Lance, can you see the tracker?"

Lance's voice came through the speaker at his ear. "Ten-four. Man, that lion is fast."

By the time they arrived at the location where Red had stopped, she had resumed her pacing, but this time round and round in a large circle in the middle of a desert. Hovering just overhead in Black, Shiro could see that she was circling what looked like a metal platform. Various carvings, possibly native letters, just barely peeked through the layer of sand that had settled over the top.

"What is that?" Lance asked as they landed.

"I don't know." Shiro scrambled out of the cockpit and jogged over to the edge of the circle. "Whatever it is, it's clearly out of place here, and it must have something to do with Keith." Stooping down, he brushed sand aside so that the dark grey of the metal showed through more clearly.

"I suppose we'll have to wait for the In'aroans to catch up and tell us," Allura sighed, sounding very done with said aliens.

Shiro busied himself with crisscrossing the platform while they waited, searching the ground intently. For what, he wasn't even sure, but he was desperate for any sign of Keith's whereabouts. He didn't care that he looked much like the red lion with his incessant pacing.

In'ebo was fussing before he even fully exited the mountain pass, his raspy voice really starting to grate on Shiro's nerves. "Princess, I must insist that we return at once–"

"What is this?" Shiro demanded. "And what does it have to do with Keith?"

The alien chief scowled. "I shall explain, but first we must–"

"We're not going anywhere until you tell us where our paladin is." Allura drew herself up to her full height, lifting her chin and looking down on them with as much authority as Shiro had ever seen from her.

The muscles in In'ebo's face twitched as he tried to come up with a response, probably yet another excuse to hold them off. Shiro was sick of it, and apparently, so was Red. Leaping up into the air, she pounced onto the outer edge of the platform, shaking the ground underneath everyone's feet, then let out another roar and began digging.

Shiro watched her giant paws throwing sand out behind her, and it dawned on him. "He's under there isn't he?" Spinning around, he glared at In'ebo. "Is this where your prison is? Underground?"

"Yes," In'ebo finally relented, obviously unhappy. "It is. But we still have not completed negotiations–" He was interrupted by another pounce from Red, barely keeping his footing.

Striding forward, Lance planted himself in front of the chief. "How's this for negotiations? You let us down there right now, or the red lion is going to destroy the entrance to your prison." He glanced back over his shoulder at the lion. "Digging isn't getting her there very fast, so I imagine she'll resort to using her laser cannon pretty soon."

In'ebo gaped openly at him, then turned to Allura. "Princess, surely you do not approve of your paladin's threats."

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "It's not really a threat, it's merely the truth. None of us control the red lion. We can't call her off. She's going to keep at it until she reaches her paladin, or until she knows that we are going to him, ourselves."

There was a moment of silence, broken only by Red's growls and the scraping of her paws on the sand. Finally, though, In'ebo's expression settled into one of resignation. "Fine." He marched forward to the center of the platform, with his soldiers following him and Shiro, Lance, and Allura right on their heels.

When they reached the very center, the circle lit up with green lights all around the edge. Then In'ebo pounded the staff in his hand twice onto the ground, and the whole platform began to rumble before starting its descent.

"Don't worry, Red," Lance whispered up at the lion, who was watching them intently. "We're gonna get him."

.o.0.O.0.o.

The prison was an abyss, stretching on and on, down into the ground further than Shiro could have ever imagined. The lower they went, the darker it got, and the more nauseous he felt. Finally the platform stopped, then slid slowly over to the cells on one side, and another In'aroan appeared from below them on its own, miniature, hovering platform, complete with green lights around the side. The newcomer, In'oni, Shiro presumed, exchanged hushed words with In'ebo before flying over to open one of the cell doors.

Shiro shoved past the In'aroans and was the first to enter the black hole of a cell. "Keith?" He blinked and squinted, trying to adjust his eyes to the even dimmer lighting inside. On the wall across from him, he could just barely make out what looked like a bed, but there didn't seem to be anyone on it. Then the tiniest of whimpers came from his left, and he whipped his head around to see a figure curled up on the floor close to his feet.

"Keith!" He dove down to his knees, the faint glow from his armor illuminating the boy just enough to see that his face was buried in the floor and his arms were wrenched behind his back. "Keith, can you hear me?"

Lance hovered over his shoulder, muttering what were probably expletives under his breath in Spanish. "I can't believe they left his arms like that this whole time."

"Is he alright?" Allura asked from further behind them.

"I'm not sure if he's conscious or not." Reaching forward, Shiro placed his flesh hand on the back of Keith's head. He wasn't sure what made him jerk back away harder – Keith's violent flinch, or the heat that assaulted his hand. "He's burning up." It seemed like he was conscious, at least, but the obviously high fever was even more concerning.

Lance knelt down next to him, by Keith's feet. "Look. His leg's injured." He pointed, finger trembling slightly, and Shiro could see then the hole ripped through the flightsuit just above his knee. "Do you think it might be infected?"

Allura must have been listening in, because she immediately went off on In'ebo and In'oni again, berating them for Keith's condition. Shiro could barely hear her, though, over the roar of fear and anger in his ears.

"Let's just get him back to the Castle." Moving around behind Keith, he bent low and spoke softly in his ear, trying to keep from startling him again. "It's alright, otouto, I'm here. You're safe now. I've got you." He worked his hands underneath Keith's body as gently as possible, being especially careful of his knee, and lifted him off the ground, wincing at the involuntary whimper that accompanied the motion. He wasn't sure which was worse – the sounds of pain, or the fact that they were much more subdued than they should have been.

As Keith's head fell against his chest, Shiro got his first look at the boy's face, and his heart seemed to stop beating altogether. They muzzled him. Those...quiznacking... That was as far as conscious thought took him, his mind suddenly thrown back into some far-off memory that he hadn't even known existed until then.

Cold metal against his skin.

Unrelenting pressure across his nose.

Not enough air. Can't breathe...can't...

He was forced back to the present by a groan from Keith and a horrified gasp from Lance.

"Oh, quiznack, what is that on his face?" The blue paladin slapped a hand over his own mouth and gulped before pulling it back to speak again. "I think I'm gonna be sick. Shiro, we've got to get that thing off him."

It took a moment for Shiro to gather back enough strength to reply. "We will." He raised his voice to be heard over Allura's renewed righteous tantrum behind them. "But he's too sick to linger here. Getting him back to the Castle is our first priority, we'll have to remove his..." His voice caught on the word. "...restraints...later."

With a nod to Allura, he moved back out onto the platform, grateful for the little bit of sunlight that made it down into the main shaft of the prison. Keith, however, didn't seem to agree. He let out the loudest cry that they had heard from him yet, though it was still horribly muffled behind the muzzle, and frantically tried to dig his face down into Shiro's armored chest.

"What's the matter? What's wrong with him?" Lance's eyes had gone wide with panic.

"I think it's his eyes. He's not used to the light; it's too bright for him."

"Here." Allura approached, untying the ribbon from her hair. "Perhaps this will help."

Keith's immediate response to the ribbon on his face was to jump, but between Shiro's reassurances and the makeshift blindfold doing its job, he eventually relaxed, allowing her to tie it in the back.

"Take us back up immediately," Allura ordered. In'ebo acquiesced, seeming to have finally given up this fight, and the platform jolted into motion. "We will take our lions and leave, and you should not expect to ever hear from Voltron again."

Shiro glanced over at Lance and saw that the younger boy looked as surprised as he felt. He couldn't say that he wasn't pleased with her decision, after what they had done to Keith. But Allura put a lot of emphasis on the importance of allies, and despite her threat the day before, he had not expected that to be overridden by the treatment of the paladin that she had shunned herself not that long ago. Maybe he didn't give her as much credit as she deserved.

The trip back up seemed to take even longer than the trip down. In this new lighting, Shiro could get a much better look at Keith, and he didn't like what he saw. His normally pale face had taken on almost a grey pallor, though his cheeks – what he could see of them, anyway, past the ugly leather straps – were flushed a bright, feverish red. That wasn't surprising, considering he felt like a furnace in Shiro's arms. His greasy black hair was plastered to his forehead with dried sweat, and the areas around the muzzle and straps were reddened and even bloody in some places. Shiro wondered, with a churning stomach, if Keith had tried to rip it off of himself. The injured knee still couldn't be seen from this angle, and he wasn't sure whether it would make him feel better or worse to know for sure what had happened to it.

They reached the surface once more, and Shiro immediately headed for Black. Allura was on comms, telling Coran to have a pod ready for their arrival, then trotted to catch up with him on the ramp. As he set Keith carefully down onto the floor of Black's cargo hold, Shiro couldn't help but glance down at his leg. Blaster wound. It had to be. It was definitely the source of the fever, too, judging by its oozing, inflamed appearance. Shiro clenched his jaw, trying to control his anger at the In'aroans who had shot him and then thrown him in a prison cell with zero medical treatment.

Allura settled down on the floor next to Keith and looked up at Shiro expectantly. "Just go drive. I'll take care of him." She produced a strangely shaped key from somewhere on her person and held it up for Shiro to see.

Drawing in a deep breath, he nodded slowly. Where and when she had gotten that key, he didn't know, but knowing that Keith would soon be completely free made him feel the slightest bit better about leaving him to fly back home.

That didn't stop him from fretting for the entire flight, though, or from barging back into the cargo hold as soon as they had landed. "How is he?" he demanded before even fully out of the cockpit. To his surprise, Keith was leaning fully against Allura, his head resting on her shoulder, and she was running a hand through his hair.

"Unrestrained now, at least." The muzzle had indeed left painful-looking marks behind, but it was still infinitely better to see the hideous thing abandoned at Allura's feet. "But he's a bit delirious, and I discovered a broken wrist, as well."

At her gesture, Shiro dropped his gaze to Keith's freed hands in his lap, wincing at the black and purple that ringed his misshapen right wrist. We're home now, he kept having to tell himself. We're home, he's going straight into a pod, and everything will be okay. He's going to be okay. He moved to take Keith back out of Allura's arms, but she shook her head and began standing up with him.

"No, let me, Shiro. I can get him to the infirmary faster than you."

That was most likely true, as she automatically set out at a jog that Shiro would not have been able to keep up with a person in his arms. Lance was already waiting for them and fell into stride, and the other paladins that had started to pour into the hangar quickly scattered out of the way before running after them.

"How is he, is he okay?" Lance panted, worry etched into his features.

Shiro gave a curt nod. "We just need to get him into that pod as soon as possible."

.o.0.O.0.o.

Coran was waiting for them in the infirmary next to a table he had prepared. As soon as Allura had laid Keith down, he got to work scanning the boy and humming to himself as he surveyed the results. Shiro stayed right by the table, holding onto Keith's good hand. The other paladins stayed back out of the way, though he could tell from their anxious voices that they'd rather be where he was.

"What's going on? What did they do to Keith?" Pidge's voice carried the loudest of all of them, Lance's response almost a whisper in comparison.

"He's sick. He's got a wound on his leg and we think it's infected."

"What's with the blindfold?" That was Hunk, a tremor in his words.

Lance's voice grew deeper and undeniably angry. "Their prison is underground, and there's no lights down there at all. Imagine the darkest room you've ever been in, and I guarantee you it wasn't as dark as this place was. He freaked out as soon as the tiniest bit of sunlight hit him."

Pidge let out a growl. "Did you kill them? Please tell me you killed them."

"No, Pidge." Allura sent a sympathetic smile over the table in her direction. "We didn't harm them. However, there will be no alliance with In'aro. Not after what they've done."

"Good," Hunk replied.

Pidge huffed. "Yeah, though I mean, that seems pretty tame compared to what they deserve."

Coran cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright then. The good news is that there's no damage to his eyes. They'll just need time to adjust back to the light, which they should get in the pod. He does have some minor lacerations on his face, a few minor bruises here and there, minor nerve damage in his arms, a broken right wrist, and of course the blaster wound above his left knee. Also a bit of dehydration and undernourishment."

Pidge growled again. "Are you sure we can't go kill them?"

"The most concerning thing is the infection," Coran continued. "The sooner we can get him into the pod, the better, because it's starting to affect his internal organs and before long the damage may become irreversible."

"Are...are you saying he's dying?" Hunk gulped. "He's dying, isn't he?"

Coran gave him a gentle smile. "Well, Number Two, I'm saying that he could, if we didn't take care of him right away. But we are, so there's no need to fret." He turned to Shiro, who had become a bit numb over the last couple of dobashes and was just staring down at Keith's pale face. "Number One, we'll need to get him into a pod suit."

Shiro shook himself back to the present. "Right. Guys, you mind...giving him a little privacy?"

The other paladins dragged themselves reluctantly out of the room, ushered by Allura, with assurances that they'd be let right back in as soon as Keith was in the pod. Working together, Shiro and Coran peeled away Keith's flightsuit as carefully as possible and dressed him in the soft white pod suit. Keith remained limp throughout the process, only responding with little grunts and whimpers here and there.

"Alright now, let's get him into the pod."

Shiro was already in the process of scooping him up off the table, but suddenly Keith went ballistic. He kicked and flailed with an energy that he hadn't shown the whole time, making himself extremely difficult to hold onto.

"Whoa! Keith, it's alright, calm down! It's just me!" He hadn't been able to lift him up yet, but he stayed close, hoping the familiar presence would soothe the frightened boy. It didn't seem to help.

"No! No, no pod, no no!" His voice was raspy from disuse, but that didn't make the plea any less heart-wrenching.

"Keith, you have to go in a pod. I'm sorry." He reached out to try to lift him again, afraid to continue delaying, but received a punch to the jaw for his efforts.

"No, don't make me! I can't, I can't! Please, no!" He was nearing the point of sobbing now, and Shiro's heart clenched in his chest. It had been a very long time since he had seen Keith this upset.

With effort, he was able to latch onto each of Keith's arms and pull them down by his sides to keep from getting punched again. "Listen to me. I'm sorry, I know you don't want to go in a pod, and I have a feeling I understand why." After all, he figured if it had been him who had spent nearly six quintants locked up in the dark, he wouldn't be too keen on the idea, either. "But Coran did a scan, and this infection is shutting your body down. We don't have a choice." He looked to Coran for confirmation of that, and the man nodded sadly. "If you don't go into the pod now, we might not be able to fight it ourselves. You may die."

None of what he said seemed to even register with Keith. He never stopped struggling the whole time, his whole body squirming and his legs kicking against the table. Gritting his teeth, Shiro sighed and turned back to Coran.

"He won't stay still. I can't lift him like this. We've gotta get him in there now."

"Well, we could sedate him..."

Coran looked reluctant, but it was nothing compared to the guilt that assaulted Shiro's gut at even listening to the suggestion. Do I even have a choice, though? His gaze traveled back down to Keith's face, twisted in pain and fear. We're running out of time. I'm going to lose him.

"Okay, let's do it." His reply was so soft that he wasn't even sure Coran would be able to hear it, but the clatter of medical instruments that followed told him he must have. A moment later, the man appeared on the other side of the table with a syringe in his hand.

"Alright now, Number Four. Don't worry. You'll feel better very soon."

The needle pricked Keith's neck, and his mouth fell open as the rest of his body froze in place. Shiro could perfectly imagine the look of betrayal that would have been in his eyes had they been visible. Blinking back the tears that burned at his eyelids, he leaned down and rested his forehead against Keith's fiery, sweaty one.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I'm so sorry."

The sedative took effect quickly. Within a dobash, Keith's breathing had slowed, and his legs, still poised to kick, slid back down onto the table. As soon as it was safe, Shiro grabbed him up into his arms – has he always been this light? – and practically ran to the pod with him. Coran helped get him settled inside, and the last thing they did before shutting the door was to take off the makeshift blindfold.

"I'll be right here waiting when you wake up, okay, buddy? I'll see you soon."

The glass fogged over, and Coran tapped away on the tablet. "He'll be just fine," he announced after a tense moment. "He'll just need several quintants to heal."

Shiro let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding, still staring up at Keith's barely visible face. He'll be fine. He clenched his jaw. Physically, at least. We'll just have to hope that he'll eventually be okay in all other ways.

A/N: This time anyone who reviews gets to punch an In'aroan in the face.

Pidge would want you to. Do it for Pidge.