"I finally found a water source," Keith said as he climbed back into the Green Lion, holding two seemingly heavy canteens. He didn't find any water on his round yesterday – all he saw was desert, miles upon miles of orange sand under dusty skies – but that was probably because he didn't manage to get too far before the sun set. The days on this planet seemed to be a bit shorter compared to Earth, so he went out again first thing in the morning. Now, judging by the position of the sun in the sky (as much as he could see through the haze covering it; the particle storm has yet to show signs of subsiding), it was almost midday and Keith rushed back to Green as he started to feel like a boiled egg, despite having his armor to regulate his body's temperature. Apparently there was a limit even to Altean technology when you were trapped on such a hot planet. "I already threw in the purification tablets, so we should be able to drink from it soon."

"Awesome. Did you find any food?" Pidge sat with her legs crossed on the pilot chair, tampering with the controls in another attempt to wake Green up. So far, she had no success.

"Nope." Keith took his helmet off and wiped his sweaty face. "We'll have to live on nutrition bars for now. How's Lance?"

"Still sleeping, last time I checked."

Keith quirked an eyebrow. "He's still sleeping? It's almost noon!"

Pidge shrugged. "He was really tired yesterday, don't you remember? And it's not like I can blame him."

Oh, Keith remembered. Lance was already half-asleep when he came back yesterday, and they both had to half-drag, half-carry him to the small cot in Green's back cabin, figuring it would be a tad more comfortable than staying on the floor. They tried to coax him into eating a nutrition bar before bed, but Lance insisted he was still nauseous, and it would a waste of food if he vomited it right away. They didn't like it, considering he hadn't eaten in several days, but they also couldn't quite argue with that logic, so they decided to just let him sleep. Hopefully his appetite would come back after he was rested properly.

But there was a limit to everything. "Well, I'm going to wake him up. He needs to eat something, even if I have to shove it down his throat," Keith announced and headed to the cabin.

"Oh, I'd like to see that," Pidge called from her seat.

Lance was lying on the cot in the same position they'd left him yesterday – curled on his left side, brow slightly furrowed, probably from the pain in his arm. All three blankets were tucked around him, and Keith wondered how come he hadn't kicked them off yet. Although the heat from outside didn't quite penetrate the Lion's isolating armor, these blankets were designed to keep them warm in the most extreme cold temperatures – he imagined covering oneself with three of them would be like sleeping inside a furnace.

Keith sat on the edge of the bed. "Wake up," he said unceremoniously. "You need to eat, whether you like it or not."

Lance showed no sign of hearing him.

Keith rolled his eyes. He hated playing the babysitter. "Lance, wake up," he repeated, louder, adding a shake to the boy's uninjured shoulder.

Lance didn't move.

Keith frowned. Lance often slept in back at the Castle, but when they came to wake him up, it always took no more than a couple of seconds before he shot up from bed, spattering and whining for having his beauty sleep disturbed. It wasn't like him to be so still, so… unresponsive.

Keith's stomach knotted in uneasiness he couldn't quite explain, and he took a deep breath to shake it off. He lowered his mouth to the Blue Paladin's ear. "Lance!" he yelled. "Wake the fuck up!"

Lance finally stirred and groaned, and Keith carried his gaze to the ceiling, sighing with relief. Lance blinked owlishly, looking at him with pale, unfocused eyes. He still seemed rather disoriented, but at least he was awake.

"Good afternoon," Keith said and shoved the nutrition bar in his face. "Eat this. Now. Then drink some water."

Lance turned his head away, closing his eyes again. "Not hungry," he moaned.

"I don't care." Keith now realized a light blush on Lance's cheeks under all the bruises – probably from being wrapped in all these blankets for so long. Well, it was time to do something about it. He grabbed the edge of the blanket plie and pulled it away from Lance, exposing his upper body. But instead of protesting and yelling profanities at him, Lance only whimpered and curled back into himself, shivering violently.

Okay, that was just wrong. The foreboding feeling returned to Keith's guts. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked hesitantly. "It isn't that cold in here." A thought crossed his mind then, and he took off one of his gloves, pressing the back of his hand to the other boy's forehead.

It was like touching white-hot iron.

Keith froze for a moment. Then, he shouted, "Pidge! Get in here, now!"

The Green Paladin sprinted into the cabin, barely skidding to a stop without falling forward. "What happened?" she asked, eyes widening as she caught the sight of Lance.

"I'm pretty sure there's a thermometer in the first aid kit," Keith barked. "Go get it."

She brought him the thermometer – a gun-like object that could indicate a human's temperature by merely holding it in front of their faces.

The number it showed when he held it near Lance's forehead was 102.5.

Keith and Pidge both cursed.

"But how?" Pidge said, staring at the sick Paladin with disbelief. "He was fine yesterday – I mean, not fine, he was injured and exhausted and all… but he wasn't sick. It-it just came out of nowhere. Maybe one of his wounds got infected?"

"I checked his undersuit yesterday, it was whole – no holes or tears," Keith said, his mind racing. "And since it's impossible to get cut without your clothes getting cut as well… maybe it's something he caught on the Galra ship?"

Pidge paled. "Do you think they… they gave him something…?" she shuddered, and Keith knew she was thinking about Shiro and the experiments the Galra had forced on him during his captivity.

The thought was enough to make him nauseas, but he had to compose himself and think straight. "I didn't see a lab or lab tools back there," he said. "It was a simple cargo ship…" and besides, he had a feeling Lance's captors wouldn't know what to do with a syringe even if they had one. They didn't come across as particularly intelligent during their short encounter.

Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, like she did when she was thinking hard. "Maybe it's something he caught before he was captured, then. Hey, Lance?" she turned to the sick Paladin, who seemed to have fallen asleep again. "What happened on the jungle planet? Before you were captured?"

Lance grunted, clearly annoyed by all the interruptions. "I fell 'nto a swamp," he slurred without opening his eyes. "'s how they got me. I was stuck." Suddenly he scrunched his face as if he was going to cry. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding so miserable it actually made Keith's heart ache.

"It's alright," Pidge said gently, already getting up to fetch her laptop. "I have an idea."

She typed rapidly for a few minutes, her screen filled with all kinds of lists and charts Keith didn't even try to understand. "I mapped that planet before we went there," she explained, "Including all kinds of details on its flora. There it is," she leaned closer to read something on the screen, and her face fell. "Okay, so apparently the jungles on this planet are known for their poisonous swamps. According to my analysis, they have all kinds of parasites living in them that are really not good for humans. This must be the reason he's so sick." Her shoulders sank as she had another realization. "That's why he was so cold yesterday... I thought it was strange, but I guessed he was just tired."

Keith felt a pang of guilt for pulling the blankets off Lance so aggressively earlier. "Whatever he has, it probably took a couple of days to fester," he said quietly. "If we'd gotten him to a pod yesterday, it would have healed him and we wouldn't even know he had it."

"But we can't treat it now, not here!" Pidge looked at him, panic written all over her face. "We don't have antibiotics, or-or any medication other than painkillers! If we don't get to the Castle soon, he's only going to get worse until he's…" her lips trembled and she fell silent.

Keith closed his eyes for a moment, realizing with a heavy heart he was the oldest person in the current situation. Pidge was one of the bravest people he knew, and definitely the smartest; but she was also a young girl who has learned to see her teammates as older brothers. And one of her brothers was currently very, very ill, and there was not much she could do about it.

She was justly scared, and she needed Keith to be strong and tell her everything would be okay.

If only Shiro were here.

But he wasn't, and all the three of them had right now was each other.

He needed to step up.

Keith opened his eyes, squaring his shoulders. "We can't treat the parasite, but we can at least try to get his temperature down. You said there were ice bags here, right? We can use them."

Pidge's eyes widened. "I can't believe I hadn't thought about it until now. Keith, you're a genius!"

Keith looked away, trying to hide the way his cheeks reddened all of a sudden. "Whatever. J-just go get them."

He set about peeling the blankets off the rest of Lance's body while Pidge went for the ice bags. Lance whimpered again, squirming as he tried to find a new position to warm himself up.

"Sorry, man," Keith said, and he truly meant that. "But we need to cool you down. You'll feel better once your fever breaks," he added, doubting it was true.

They had a long couple of hours ahead of them, if not days. There was no way to know how long the particle storm would last and keep them stranded here, unable to contact the outside world and seek help.

He just hoped Lance would last longer.