Chapter fourteen: Marks of the Unknown

Shiro's eyes remained about half open, the pulsations from the screen remaining as calm as he was. He drew in another audible breath and shifted his head to the other side, away from them.

"How did he get so hurt?" Lance asked openly, crossing his arms loosely in front of him.

"Better question is, where has he been?" Allura corrected grimly.

"Well whatever the case, we have to help him." Pidge decided, unable to take her eyes off him. "Before the infection gets any worse."

"I was.. on a dying planet." Shiro's voice was so low and raspy, it was barely recognizable at all. The team was shocked just to hear it; let alone see his hollow eyes looking back at them now. "The Galra sucked away all its quintessence... *clearing throat* ...they must have detected the pod I had been in and hunted me down several times. I managed to escape but-..."

"Don't try to explain right now." Keith encouraged, drawing closer as he trailed off. "Let's get you stabilized first, okay." Shiro drew in a deep breath and relaxed his tense body once more. The dullness of his expression revealing how tired and uncomfortable he truly was.

"So how do we handle this?" Lance asked.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking." Pidge returned in frustration. "I don't think any sort of plan reliever will be enough to ease the pain while we clean that."

"Then why not just put him in a pod?" Lance put in, his arms still gently crossed.

"Because the safest option would be to clean the wound and treat the infection, so that the pod can activate his body's own ability to heal." Allura explained simply.

"What if we knock him out again for a bit?" Pidge suggested.

"Are you kidding?! No way!" Keith refused, getting in her face. "Do you have any idea what that'll do to him? Every time that has happened he ends up forgetting things that are important."

"What other choice do we have?" Pidge questioned, holding her hands up in the air; wearing an exasperated glare.

"If we put him under... we may never find out what happened to him while he was out there by himself." Keith reiterated firmly. "We need to try something else.

"As much as I hate to admit it..." Allura trailed off unfortunately. "But I agree with Pidge. Shiro has suffered enough."

"Not a chance." Keith refused strongly.

"If we do this, it'll be quick, and Shiro won't feel a thing." Pidge insisted stubbornly.

"But we might not get any answers." Keith protested further.

"Look, do you want him to live or would rather let him die in pain?" Pidge shot back harshly. Keith and Pidge glared into one another's eyes, challenging them relentlessly.

"Come on, guys. We can just sit here and argue about this." Hunk stepped in, trying to bring the team back into perspective. "Shiro needs help and we need to give it to him soon; regardless of how we do it."

"Fine." Keith gave in angrily, turning away from them. "Just get it over with." He leaned his palms onto the table, as he lowered his head toward Shiro lying there. After a moment Pidge stepped forward to Shiro's upper half, nudging Keith's elbow aside; and he stepped down out of her way. Shiro grabbed his forearm before he could fully step out of his reach.

"Keith.." He trailed breathlessly, as Pidge began to set a mask over his face. "Patience... p-patience yields.. y.. yields.. f-.. focus..." he had just barely finished this statement before he fully went under. His grip loosened all the while, as it slid down away from his arm; then went completely limp. The team watched as his strained breaths slowed to barely audible, calm, and steady ones.

XXXX

Allura tweezed the thin sheets of material from the bowl of liquid, and placed it over the exposed wound. They had positioned Shiro on his right side to gain full access to it, in order to treat it.

"This is an old Altean technique that can improve healing for injuries such at this." The Princess told them. "The solution that these cloths are submerged in, possess a healing power only a few Alteans could make. I'd watched my father do it once before..." She looked up from her work to them. "And he showed me how to do it. It probably hasn't been used in over ten-thousand years; but I hope it's still just as effective. And once he's in the pod he should be alright." Smoothing out the last piece, they wrapped it up in dry cloth and secured it in place. "We need to get him into the pod right now." The princess decided finally, Pidge delivered the reversing agent for the anesthesia. The. Keith and Lance worked together to haul Shiro into the pod; stepping back to watch the shield go up around him. "We can assess the rest of his injuries later once he's had a few vargas in here." Allura finished with a sigh, her blue eyes watching his still face.

"It's ok, Allura." Keith told her, looking from the Princess to Shiro. "We'll deal with it when we can."

XXXX

Barely any light defined the room, but an obvious lump on the steps remained there. His jet-black locks covered his face, due to a solemnly lowered head. All the Red Paladin could think about was the moment his fingers gave out. The moment the pod sank away from view.. The moment he lost his best friend once again... and all he felt about it was grief. Almost like he'd actually lost him. Keith could imagine Shiro being all alone in the dangerous world, which they all lived to risk their lives for. The tearing feeling in his chest nagged at him, as though his heart would leap out of his chest; if he'd let it. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of Shiro dying. And couldn't help but glance up over his shoulder to the pod, silently humming behind him; as if to check if he was still alive inside it. Resuming his earlier position(elbows braced to his knees; hucnching over them), he sighed and relaxed into it more; lowering his head a bit further. All he could think about, was the various failures that seemed to be boldly stamped across his forehead; or rather, knit into his clothing. Like a cloak of shame, he could never take off. And even with all the self-pity and guilt that weighed down on him; he could still imagine Shiro coming to him and saying that is wasn't his fault. And encouraging him to keep trying. Patience Yields Focus.. he thought; almost able to hear Shiro's voice saying it in his head. He acquired the urge to look back again, but resisted this time; for fear of jinxing the situation into taking a turn for the worst. It seemed, to him, that anytime things were good; they would always go wrong somehow. Like everything he liked, enjoyed, or cared about could never be endulged in for very long; because of some bout of unluckiness that seemed to have raided his whole life and robbed him of those good things. It seemed to be only a twist of fate, that he ever received anything good. But would again be taken away; as if he were being punished for a crime he didn't know he'd committed. Anger and frustration ran through his blood like water; boiling through him as fast as the speed of light; or faster if that was possible. He held his hands together loosely, but the more anger he felt, the harder they clenched into fists. Sweat from the pressure of waiting poured down his face, dripping off his nose; and even off his chin, he was so nervous. Each minute that passed seemed to become longer and longer; a larger and larger slice of eternity. He feared he'd crack under the pressure, the longer he remained under it; and he desperately begged for it to cease.

"Keith? ...arree you ok?" Keith looked up quickly toward Pidge's soft voice. She cautiously left the door post to enter the room, as the other Paladins peeked in to join them.

"Yeah.. I guess so." Keith sighed, letting his guard down to drop his gaze to the floor with his shoulders; shifting his elbow back to his knee.

"He's gonna be ok, ya know." Lance encouraged gently after they stopped to stand before him. "He'll just have a lot of recovering to do once he gets out of there." He finished, as they all looked up at Shiro for a moment.

"I know." Keith sighed, resuming his position.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." Allura assured him, stepping forward determinedly. "Shiro must have answers for us. We'll just have to remain hopeful of that, until he is well enough to tell us."

"Yeah, I know." Keith said, almost numb to their words. The short silence amongst them was interrupted by a red light beyond them and an alarm sounding. Keith whipped around immediately. Shiro groaned and doubled over as best he could, inside the pod. The red light replacing the normal light blue.

"Shiro!!" Keith scrambled up quickly for the pod.

"Keith wait!!.." Allura cried, but Keith had already placed his palm to the pod; opening it. Shiro fell forward out of it and Keith was there to catch him. The Black Paladin seemed to stir, but his legs could not support him; and Keith carefully lowered them down to their knees. Keith could feel Shiro's grip on him the moment he touched him. His right arm latched onto Keith's elbow, and he seemed to brace his left shoulder against him; his left hand shakily grabbing his shoulder, wrapping up around his back to it. And when they were down on the floor, Shiro simply lay limp against him; his left hand dropping to his side. Shiro grimaced and opened his eyes, realizing, now, whose chest his forehead was pressed against. He shifted his head up to lean on his shoulder to see Keith's face.

"Thank you." He breathed, with grateful, distant eyes.

Hi guys!! Been a little while since I added to this story, but this chapter and the next one will be well worth it I hope!! I'll post chapter fifteen in a couple days or so. And hopefully I'll finish chapter sixteen soon so you can read that as well. The creativity was substantially high for these next few chapters and I'm sooooo proud of them!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on them. Thx!!!