"Keith!" I burst through the doors before Keith could get on the shuttle toward the blade base he will be staying at for now on.
He turns around and puts down his bag before he responds, "Yes princess?"
I quickly walk the few steps of difference between us before I respond, all of a sudden feeling a little shy, "I just-Just wanted to say that..." I trail off, not know what to say.
He doesn't say anything, he just stands there and waits. I take a deep breath and quickly shake my head before I throw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck, as I lay my head on his shoulder. He hesitates for a quick second before he wraps his arms around me, just as tight as I was holding him. The hug wasn't the same as the group hug; I didn't have elbows in my side or hair in my mouth, but it felt nice, and warm, and you could feel the love. This one was different though. Keith didn't hold me too tightly, but I wasn't loose in his hold. And he was warm, warmer than the others, though it might be from his Galran side of his biology.
"Promise me," I start before I shift my head so I was closer to his ear, "Promise me you come back, alive, and not on the brink of death," I plead with him, not wanting to lose him.
He doesn't hesitate, he squeezes me before he answers in the same volume, just above a whisper, "As you wish princess. I promise to come back alive, and not on the brink of death," and I nod my head into his shoulder as I squeeze him one more time before I let go.
I clear my throat as I feel a blush start to creep onto my cheeks. I look up to his violet gaze and almost get swallowed into them before I speak, noticing some red creeping onto his cheeks.
"Good luck," I croak out before I turn around and leave, heading back to the control room.
Six months later, he breaks his promise. He isn't dead, but he is on the brink of it when he comes. We got a transmission, saying that they needed the castle's help with saving two blade's life, one needing a cryo-pod, another needing a strong antidote against a poison that is very bad for out, the Galran that was poisoned was a Halfbreed.
Human-Galran Halfbreed to be exact .
The former black paladin specifically.
Keith.
I don't know much about the mission, but I could care less. It's been two hours since the blade's shuttle has docked, and now we have a Galran in a cryo-pod, and Keith is fighting against the poison with some wounds. Once he safety fought off the poison, he can go in and heal his gashes. He had a dislocated shoulder, but that was already taken care of.
Apparently the poision was something that works against the body's system, harming species that are warmer in body heat than not. The poison uses the body heat that a species has, and uses against them by cranking up the heat, boiling their insides slowly. Galrans are very warm, almost like an electric blanket warm, and the poison hurts them the most.
Keith was lucky he wasn't a full Galran unless he would be in more pain, and would be closer to death than he already is... I shake my head at that thought. He will fight it, he has to. He is on a cot in the med-bay, and I am on his right side as Shiro is on his left. I looked at Keith's face and felt another wave of tears about to spill, but I held it back. He looked awful.
He was much paler than usual, almost as pale as my hair, yet he had a red hue on his cheeks. There was sweat glistening on his face, and he was breathing as if he just got done running laps around the training room. His eyes were clenched shut, his fists switching from being in fists, to gripping the side of the cot. He would make noises similar to whimpers and growls, his face pinched in pain each time. Sometimes he would scream through gritted teeth, and during those times, he would open his eyes. His eyes looked glassy, and sometimes he would just stare before he closed his eyes again. Sometimes, he would look over to me, and say my name.
"'lura," and his voice would crack before he closed his eyes through the pain.
It's been two hours of this torture, and I honestly don't know how much longer Keith can take it. Apparently, the poison isn't even at it's peak, and it looks like Keith...
I grab his hand and squeeze it, hopefully letting him know that I'm here for him, waiting for him to be okay so I could yell at his for breaking his promise. I feel him squeeze back and I sigh in relief. Hopefully he got the message.
Then all of a sudden, Keith arches his back off of the cot as a scream seems to have ripped from Keith's throat. He squeezes my hand hard, but I don't care because I can feel the heat coming off of him in waves. He then falls back onto the cot but he's shaking his head and the hand that is not holding onto mine is around his stomach. I take my unoccupied hand and check his temperature, realizing that Shiro has left to hopefully grab Coran.
He's burning. He's so hot that I'm surprised enough to yank my hand away. I look down at Keith to see him starring up at me, not shaking his head anymore. I look at him and see him in pain as he sheds tears. I squeeze his hand, feeling a twitch of his respond as I try to move his hair off of his face.
"I'm sorry," his voice cracks on the whispered words.
I shake my head in response, "It's okay Keith. Once you recover you can renew your promise," I now have both my hands on his right hand.
He just shakes his head, a single tear escaping his closed eyes before he looks up to me, "I'm sorry pr'ncess," and his eyes slide shut.
"No," I squeeze his hand, this time not feeling any type of response from him, "No," I say again, hoping that's he's just resting he eyes.
I check his pulse. Nothing.
"Keith," tears start rolling down my cheeks now, "come on, you can't die now," I shake him, hoping that he'll open his eyes.
No response.
"You gave your word!" I shouted, but when there's no response from him, I just drop my head down onto his chest, with my arms serving as a pillow as I cry and shout for him to wake up.
There's no response from him, not even a twitch...