Chapter fifteen

Keith's eyes popped open and all that was there was the infinite black void, but there was no window into the outside world; like before. Instead all that was there was blackness, star-like lights, and him. He was alone. He looked for his dad; but he wasn't there like before. Keith ran through the darkness, it seemed to extend for miles. It was almost as though he was running in place.

Looking down he couldn't tell if the ground was moving under him, as he ran. Feeling his attempts were futile, he slowed to a stop and stood there staring at the ground. Suddenly a light below him, made him open his eyes. His eyes instantly glued to his feet, they were glowing and this glow was slowly advancing up his body. As the light continued up his body, he noticed that the light was being replaced with his Paladin armor. When the light had fully dissipated and his armor was there he look at his hands, flexing his hand into a fist; a smile managed to curve his lips up. His smile, however, was short lived, as a wave of excruciating, electrical pain practically burned his armor off his body. The armor burned away, only to be replaced with the charcoal black garments of a prison uniform. He looked at himself in disgust.

'Will I ever escape this?!' He thought. His hands suddenly felt wet and looked at them. Blood,... and it was dripping off them. 'What have I done? What have done to cause this horrible nightmare?' He genuinely hadn't a clue why was being tormented for no apparent reason. It was as if he'd done something, but couldn't remember what it was. He shook away the blood and ran, attempting to escape this nightmare.

"I want to leave!" He called out to no one, hoping desperately that someone was there; keeping him here against his will. "I want to get back to my team!!!" He screamed, his voice cracked dryly, as it echoed away from his body. "Wait!" He gasped to himself. He closed his eyes and remained still, focusing all he had onto one thing...

Shiro flinched and shifted slightly away from the sting, his breaths tense from the sharp pain burning on his skin. Pidge dabbed the cloth in her hand gently, the mark Keith's knife left was incredibly large. she was amazed that it just grazed him. But how he managed to sustain an injury extending all the way from his lower right side to the top his left shoulder; without completely shattering his ribs or puncturing a lung was beyond what, even her massive brain, could handle. She was almost half way up his long gaping wound was Allura brought in another bowl of water to help clean it.

"This can't be happening!!" Allura sneered, blurting out these words and slamming her fists down on the table with the heel of her palms.

"Allura come on." Hunk began, sympathetically. "Keith and Shiro have been through lot today. And they've known each other for a long time. Neither of them would want to hurt the other, and you know that. They're probably just re-experiencing the terrible things the Galra have done to them, and we keep setting them off every time we try to do something about it. We just need to take another approach when dealing with them." He gestured with his hands as he spoke, as he often does. Shiro saw this, but ignored it; knowing that he wasn't talking to him.

"But that's the problem." Allura emphasized. "Every time we do something, someone gets hurt." Allura's heart broke, as though a knife had been stabbing into it. "We keep trying to help, but instead we keep making things worse."

"We're doing our best Princess." Coran told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "But Hunk's right, we need to take a different approach in order to help them. So we don't let it happen again." Allura looked down at Shiro, who was gazing blankly off at eye level, then looked down again.

"Ok." She breathed finally. Coran gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze, then went back to check on Keith again.

Keith kept his eyes closed, he squeezed them a little tighter. His soul reaching out to the One that could possibly help him escaped this endless abyss of a prison. The ground under him began to glow a brilliant red, the light reached up as though trying to escape the shadowy depths; cracking through the ground. As the light bursts brighter, Keith open his arms out; as if accepting a hug. The light beginning to scare away the darkness, the shadows fleeing from the burning red light...

Keith's body suddenly took on a red residual glow, beads of this glowing energy rising off him. Coran jumped at the sight of it. Allura, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge arriving to see what he was currently witnessing. The ground vibrated under them as they heard a distinctly familiar, yet, distant roar, and they thought they were going mad. Keith's eyes open, glowing a strange yellow; then fading to reveal his deep blue eyes again. With one gasping breath Keith gazed around, trying to remember what had happened. The shield went down, and he stumbled forward into the arms of the Blue Paladin and Princess Allura.

"Ugh, what happened?" Keith's voice was groggy, and his body still ached a little; though he felt way better than he had since being on the Galra ship.

"Long story, man." Hunk answered tenderly, ginning happily. Keith glanced around at them.

"Where's Shiro?" Keith's voice cracked from the dryness of his throat.

"He's fine." Allura told him. "Right now let's get you something to eat... and drink." Lance and Allura headed off, leading Keith to the banquet hall so he could sit down and take a load off; especially given all he'd been through. Coran followed, Hunk headed to the kitchen to get something for Keith to eat and drink, and Pidge disappeared again to take care of Shiro.

Shiro had surprisingly stayed put where he was when Pidge arrived. She as she drew near, she didn't say anything about Keith. She knew if she gave him any indication that Keith was awake, he'd be out there in no time. She wanted to be sure that Shiro's wound was properly taken care of, and covered before he saw Keith. Finishing the cleaning part, she went on to smothering an ointment on the gauze and pressing it gently over the wound. Shiro drew in a pained breath upon feeling the sting, and clenched his eyes closed at it. Carefully holding the long strip of gauze in place with her left hand, she slid her other hand behind Shiro's arm and back encouraging him to sit up. She tapped him on the shoulder, letting him know to hold still, and she began to wrap the gauze with bandages to keep it there. They ran around his abdomen and up his left shoulder. When she had finished, she helped him get his shirts back on; and led him through the Castle to see Keith.

"All that happened?" Keith asked, after Hunk, Lance, Allura, and Coran had very briefly recounted the events since his rescue.

"It's definitely a lot to process." Allura told him. The other information, to which they withheld from him, eating away at her from the back of her mind.

"But Pidge looked fine? How-"

"Well we'd finally figured out the problem and fixed it." Hunk interrupted the Red Paladin quickly. "The antidote didn't take as long to cure her, since she had been experiencing the symptoms quite as much as you and Shiro."

"So how is Shiro now?" Keith wondered. The awkward atmosphere in the air laid thick on them all.

"The infection seems to have gone down," Allura finally piped up. "But we have him resting a little while longer... just to be sure." Keith's gaze dropped to the food on his plate.

"Oh.. ok." His disappointment fairly evident in his tone. The sound of a throat being cleared behind him, caused him to look up and around the back of the chair. Only to see Pidge and Shiro standing there, Shiro's gaze blankly downcast. Keith stood up immediately at the sight of them, but remained where he stood. Pidge turned to Shiro tapped his right arm, then pointed at Keith when he looked at her. When Shiro followed her gazed, his face lit up at the sight of Keith standing there. Wasting no time, Shiro closed the gap between them; embracing Keith as soon as he reached him. The Black Paladin ignored the pain that erupted from his chest, as nothing else mattered to him; other than his immense relief to see Keith alive and looking well again. Keith returned the hug gently and they pulled apart.

"It's so good to know you're alright, Keith." Shiro signed, the relief he felt flooding out of him. Keith smiled tenderly back.

"Same for you." Keith responded, his lips keeping that smile, as he motioned back. As Keith looked closer at Shiro, he couldn't help but notice something peeking out from under Shiro's collar on the left side. He stepped closer and touch near the area and Shiro flinched and back up a pace.

"Shiro, what's wrong?" Keith gestured, speaking as he signed, suspicion growing. Shiro stepped up to him again.

"Nothing Keith, everything's fine." But Shiro's eyes telling a different story, as a memory seemed to reflect itself off them...

Keith lay there still not stirring from his, seemingly, endless slumber. His head turned away from them, as the pulsations his monitors slowly changed. Shiro placed a hand on the younger man's right shoulder, Keith's eyes shot open and he quickly lunged blindly swinging his knife in his direction. Shiro backed away, but not far enough; as the blade nailed him across the chest. Shiro cried out in pain and fell backwards to the ground. Lance and Hunk lunged at Keith and held their arms between him and Shiro lying on the ground. Allura and Pidge knelt down to help him. Coran pulled out another needle and stuck it into his left upper arm. And as Keith faded from consciousness, Lance and Hunk caught hold of him once again...

Keith's eyes widened, as the memory ended, Shiro's eyes practically telling him all he wanted to know. The young man's heart began to pound and race in his chest, he thought it might leap out of his body. A stabbing twisting feeling in his gut made him sick, as his stomach dropped.

"Keith! It's ok." Shiro signed to him quickly, seeing that he was about to panic.

"No, how can you say that?!?!?!" Keith screamed, as he gestured this to the Black Paladin. "Everything is not fine!! I hurt you!!"

"You didn't mean it!" Shiro responded keeping himself as calm as he possibly could. "You were probably having a nightmare, and didn't realize what you were doing. It's happened to me lots of times." Shiro attempted to place a hand on his shoulder, but Keith back away and pushed his hand away.

"No. I... I can't do this! I can't-... just say it's ok, cause it's not!" Keith retreated out of the room as fast as he could, nudging past Shiro's right shoulder. Shiro stared after him and silently kicked himself for Keith's reaction.

This was SUCH a fun chapter to write!!! I'm still not sure how I'll end this story, but for the time being in having fun with it! ;D Anyway hope you're still enjoying this story. Oh! And btw, there are no ships here, other than friend ships. So...sorry Sheith fans. / But, again, hope you're still annoying it. Thx!!! ;) :)