The explosion briefly blinded his senses, and the next he knew, Keith was falling. He could no longer feel the connection with the other paladins, meaning that the blast had split up Voltron. The Black Lion's internal lighting was dark, though Keith still felt a weak connection with his lion.

These were his last thoughts before Black made contact with the Earth, and everything else ceased to exist.


Keith slowly came back to awareness by the sensation of fingers softly combing through his hair. His eyes cracked open to a blurry purple figure.

"You came back."

Krolia smiled softly, the hand not currently running through his hair tightening its hold on his left hand, "I did."

Keith couldn't help but to smile back, it was weak and tinted with exhaustion, but he was happy to see his Mom. Peering over her shoulder, Keith spotted Kolivan sitting on the window sill, a relieved yet proud smirk on his face.

His eyes drifted over the unfamiliar room, "Where?"

"You're in a medical facility, Keith."

Panic bubbled in his chest. His team. Were they ok? Keith turned desperate eyes to Krolia "Mom-" he croaked out.

"They are all fine." Krolia soothed, as if reading his mind, "You were the last to wake up."

Keith hummed tiredly, "Good." A wave of drowsiness hit him full force and he found himself struggling to fight against it.

"It's alright Keith. Get some sleep, you need it."

The wave lapped over him and he drifted once again.


The next he awoke, his hospital room was empty. Dull sunlight cast long shadows around him, and he assumed that it must be late afternoon.

Visiting hours must be over, Keith thought as he sat up, noticing the absence of his mother and Kolivan. He slumped forward as the dizziness hit him full force, his hand propped against his forehead in an effort to stop it. His fingers brushed against the soft cloth bandage. A concussion then, that explained a lot.

It didn't take too long for the dizziness to subside to the point where he was left with a dull headache, and he righted himself again. Slowly, he moved his legs so they dangled over the edge of his hospital bed and he gradually hoisted himself up to stand. The room didn't feel like it was spinning so all good so far. However, that began to change as he moved his way from his bed to the door. He had not moved two steps before it felt like the floor was moving out from under him, and he found himself leaning heavily on the bedside table trying to catch his breath.

"Keith?"

He had barely registered the knock that announced his visitors' entry. Keith looked up at the man that stood in front of him, recognising the familiar hair and eye colour that he shared with the smallest paladin.

"Matt?"

Matt was at his side in the next second, pulling Keith's arm around his shoulders, "Yeah it's me. Come on you should really lie back down."

Keith struggled weakly against him, "No, I want to see them."

Matt chuckled "Yeah, I thought so. Though I never did say your bed." Matt winked, tightening his hold on Keith as he guided him out of his room and into the nearly empty hospital corridor.

Their trek was a short one – heading for the room two doors down – but it was slow going. After all, Keith wasn't used to being upright yet, let alone walking, and he felt himself begin to falter in Matt's hold. "Who's room are we heading to?"

Sensing Keith's struggle, Matt quickened their pace, "Lance's. It seems to be the largest, seeing as it can fit his entire family in there. Also it was the closest to your room and to quote Pidge: 'Your stubborn ass would make an appearance at some point.' You know because you would be up and about when you really need to be resting."

"Like Pidge is any better" Keith grumbled softly, and Matt laughed out loud.

"God, I missed you guys." Matt said, his smile serene, though Keith could see the tinge of sadness that lingered in the expression. For three years Matt had thought them all dead and gone, and Keith thought that he could kind of relate to the feeling. Shiro had been legally dead for 18 months, and the two years he had spent in the quantum abyss had been excruciatingly long for him.

Keith broke out of his thoughts as Matt let go of his arm to swing open the door in front of them. He was greeted by an excited Pidge, Hunk and Lance, who were all perched on Lance's bed. Pidge jumped up from her spot at the foot of the bed and rushed Keith, pulling him into a tight hug. Keith smiled, placing the arm that wasn't being used by Matt to hold him up to wrap around the shorter girls shoulders.

"Woah Pidge, let up a bit and let the poor guy breathe." Matt lightly scolded his sister. Pidge broke the hug, poking her tongue out her brother, and went to support Keith's other side. Really, she was too small to effectively hold him up but it was the gesture that counted.

Matt (and Pidge) shuffled Keith towards the bed, "Shove over Lance, he's still pretty unsteady and really shouldn't be standing." Keith went to protest only to be shot no-nonsense looks from everyone in the room. He sighed in defeat, allowing himself to be settled onto the bed next to Lance, who wrapped his arm around Keith's shoulders as he settled.

"Man I'm so glad you're ok." Hunk looked relieved, his hand reaching out to touch Keith's ankle.

"What about you guys?" Keith took stock of his friends more obvious injuries. The bandage that had replaced Hunk's signature headband wrapped around his head. Multiple bruises and small cuts that covered Pidge's arms. The lump hidden under Lance's sheets that could only be a cast covering his lower leg.

"We're ok." Lance squeezed Keith's shoulder as he reassured him, sensing Keith's worry.

"Yeah, we were exhausted more than anything, what with the quintessence drain and everything." Hunk reassured from his place at the foot of the bed "We had a couple of cuts and bruises and I bumped my head when we crashed I guess, hence this…" he pointed to the bandage wrapped around his head, "and Lance really shouldn't be walking around at the moment with his broken ankle-," Hunk threw a pointed glare at the now sheepish looking red paladin "-but overall we're all good."

Keith raised an eyebrow, casting a curious glance at Lance. The Red Paladin cleared his throat before effectively turning the attention away from him, "Allura was the first to recover a few days ago. She's been helping the Garrison build up an alliance between Earth and the rest of the Voltron Coalition."

"That's why this idiot is here." Pidge piped up, elbow digging her older brother in the ribs. The words seemed harsh, as they always did with Pidge, but Keith could see how happy Pidge was to be reunited with her brother, who mirrored the expression.

Matt ruffled his sister's hair, earning him a squawk of protest and another harder elbow to his ribs. "Yep, and speaking of which I should probably get back. You know, help Dad with some stuff."

"Or to go to see your giiiirrlfrrriiiend." Pidge teased playfully.

Matt didn't seem fazed by the teasing remark, "Yep, probably going to do that too." He smirked as Pidge's face fell, shutting the door behind him.

"Matt's no fun anymore." Pidge grumbled, her arms crossed. Hunk and Lance burst out laughing at her expression, though Hunk did reach over to give the Green Paladin a sympathetic pat on the back.

Keith didn't join in, his mind on other things. Or really he was thinking about someone. He wasn't going to admit that he was disappointed that Shiro hadn't been there either time he had woken up. Although Keith was Voltron's team leader, Shiro – along with Allura – were very much the co-leaders of the coalition. Not to mention that as a higher ranking officer with the Galaxy Garrison, Shiro had probably been run off his feet the past couple of days. But still, Keith wondered.

"Where's Shiro?" he asked.

His friends sobered, sharing a look between them Keith couldn't quite place the meaning behind. It seemed serious, wary, one that people usually shared when they weren't sure how to tell him something. He remembered something similar one time before, when he had opened the door to one his dad's co-workers standing with a police officer and Keith had asked where his dad was. Keith's heart shot up into his throat.

Lance was quick to reassure though when Keith looked close to panic. "Wait, hold up there! It's ok man, Shiro's fine. He's just been busy the past couple of days between alliance stuff and making the rounds checking up on us, but he's all good."

Keith still didn't feel convinced. His still drowsy mind racing to conclusions. His team wouldn't lie to him. He knew that, right? But why hadn't Shiro been here.

"Hey," Lance's voice forcefully broke Keith from his panic, his ocean blue eyes meeting Keith's indigo, "Shiro's fine. Exhausted from what I heard but really he was more worried about you than anything."

"Why?" He asked dumbly. It was dumb because of course Shiro worried, it was just what Shiro did. But everyone was ok. Keith was ok...right?

"Keith, you've been barely conscious since the fight." Pidge answered warily. "That was five days ago now."

Keith's mind skidded to a stop, "Oh."

Lance's arm tightened around his shoulder, "You were definitely the worst out of us. Voltron's quintessence was drained straight from Black and you as a result, which combined with the head injury and...dude you really weren't looking good for a bit there." his voice wavered at the last part.

"Yeah man, you had us all worried." Hunk's voice was quiet, dripping with the same emotion in everyone's expressions.

Keith had never seen his friends ever look like this. This worried. Scared even. Not even when Lance was almost killed when Sendak invaded the Castle of Lions.

What the hell happened!

"Shiro nearly worked himself into a panic more than once over the past couple of days. Especially when we all started to recover and you, well, you started looking worse than when you were brought in. I overheard him and my dad talking a couple of days ago and got worried as well." Pidge said.

Keith struggled to find the words to comfort them, his exhausted mind currently reeling with this new information. He had lost five days. Five freaking days!

"I didn't mean to worry you." His words didn't seem to bring comfort as he had hoped it would, but it manged to break his friends out of their funk.

"You idiot" Lance scoffed and Keith managed to look a little offended. Lance brought Keith in closer to him, "You don't have to feel like you have to apologise or anything, we would have worried regardless. You're family after all, Mr. fearless team leader."


An hour later, a knock on the door announced Allura and Coran's entry. Seeing Keith finally awake, the two of them paused, shocked, before Allura broke out of the trance and quickly crossed the room to envelop him in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're finally awake!" Allura beamed, breaking the hug.

Coran came up beside Allura. "Yes you had us quite worried for a bit there, my boy."

"What about you guys?" Keith asked.

"We're fine." Allura smiled.

"Well actually you need to rest, Princess" Coran interjected "That is why we dropped by. I was going to return Allura to her room but she insisted on checking up on you all first."

Allura definitely looked to have come out of their fight better than her human (and half-human/half-Galra) teammates. And if you didn't know her, the way she held herself gave away no indication of anything being wrong. But they knew her, and they could all see she slight slump of her shoulders that showed her exhaustion. As the only one who could operate the teleduv as well as the acting head of the Voltron Alliance, Allura was probably working around the clock.

"We checked Pidge and Hunks rooms and seeing them empty we assumed that you had met up in here," she said, "Keith was a surprise though." She cast him a relieved look.

"Well I better be off. Said I would be back to help with maintenance on the ATLAS." Coran moved to Keith's side, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm glad to see you're ok my boy."

"I'm glad to see that you're ok too, Coran." Keith smiled up at the older Altean.

It was not long after Coran left that the ward nurse had made her rounds. The poor woman was half panicked as she entered the room, having likely discovering half of the Voltron Paladins rooms empty. She looked as if she were about to scold them but seemed to think twice after looking at them sprawled around the room. Allura had taken up residence on the couch near the window, having fell asleep within ten minutes of Coran dropping her off. Lance and Keith were still lying side by side on the bed with Hunk and Pidge sitting at their feet.

The Nurse ducked out for a couple of minutes, only to return with another nurse, both carrying fold out cots, pillows and blankets. They set up quickly, the second nurse gently rousing Allura to try and coax her onto the much more comfortable cot that was already set up for her – before they left them without a word.

Hunk stared at the door, dazed as the rest of them, "Huh, I thought for sure that they were going to tell us off and make us go back to our own rooms."

Pidge shrugged, shifting from her spot to go lie down on the cot set up at the foot of the bed, "Maybe Coran said something to them when he left."

Hunk yawned, settling himself on the cot closest to Lance and next to Allura's, "Yeah, maybe."

Keith went to move, eyeing the cot next to him, only to find that Lance had him held in an iron grip.

"You're not going anywhere, Mullet. You can barely stand by yourself and I honestly don't mind sharing."

Keith went to protest but could see that Lance was benefiting from the physical contact just as much as Keith had been. He would never admit it though. Being around them, talking to them, reassured him that once again they had beaten the odds and they were all still here to fight the next fight. The feeling of relief when he had first stepped into that room had saw them alive and well had made him feel dizzy. Though Keith also partially blamed the concussion.

"What is it with you and my hair?" Keith scoffed in mock offence.

"What's right with it?" Lance chuckled.

"I like it long."

"Seriously, how does it not get in the way all the time? Like pull it back or something."

"No thanks. I fight with a sword you know, close range, unlike you. Having it pulled back would be an easy target for someone to grab onto."

"You could braid it." Hunk mused quietly, his comment ignored by the two bickering paladins.

"If that's your reasoning then just cut it! Your hair is still long, someone can still grab onto it."

Keith hadn't really though about that, to be honest. They usually wore their helmets in combat (and the Blade of Marmora armour had a mask). He wasn't about to give Lance the satisfaction of knowing he had a point though, "What about your hair?"

"What about my hair?" Lance said defensively, bringing his hand up to worry at the ends.

"You expect me to believe you've cut it since we left Earth? It's starting to get long, it's nearly the length my hair was when we left." Keith smirked, placing the bait.

Lance took it, "I do not have a mullet!" he snapped indignantly, pointing accusingly at him.

"Well at least we know that you two are feeling better." Hunk drawled from where he lay, staring at the ceiling.

"You sure about that Hunk?" Pidge asked tiredly, "At this point I think they would be half dead and still bickering like an old married couple."

Lance had poised himself to retaliate, but at the 'married' comment made a squeaking noise and promptly shut his mouth.

Keith laughed though it was more of a quiet huff, betraying his exhaustion. Lance turned on him, pouting, and Keith nearly doubled over with silent laughter; Pidge, Hunk and eventually Lance joining in.


Keith woke to a dark room. A sliver of light from the slightly ajar door hit his face, making his headache throb slightly behind his eyes.

He was confused to where he was at first but was quickly reminded when he felt the bed shift next to him. He looked over his shoulder to see the top of Lance's head as the Red Paladin snuggled against Keith's back. The snores coming from Hunk and quiet mumbles from Pidge told him that it was likely late at night or early morning and at some point they had all fallen asleep.

A rustle of movement brought Keith's attention to the foot of the bed, and he noted a dark figure moving from cot to cot, adjusting the blankets on each of the sleeping paladins. The dark figure turned, revealing a soft glow of aquamarine light.

"Shiro?"

Shiro made his way to sit on the side of the bed. "Sorry Keith, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"'s ok" Keith mumbled quietly, smiling tiredly up at his brother. The small amount of light drifting into the room allowed Keith to see the relived smile that Shiro was giving him. But, he could also see the worry lines that gathered at the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Shiro shook his head, "Don't be sorr-"

"Pidge said that I wasn't waking up, and that you were a mess."

Shiro scoffed quietly, "Yeah, I probably seemed that way a couple of days ago."

He didn't elaborate, his expression closed off and Keith knew that he wasn't going to be given anymore information at the moment. Keith saw Shiro's eyes glaze over, and he knew that his brother was caught up in another memory.

Shiro wasn't a paladin anymore. He was the commander of the ATLAS, and whilst that meant he was still in the fight, it also meant that if Voltron were to go down, Shiro would have to helplessly watch on, not being able to do anything to stop it.

Keith knew how it felt. That feeling of helplessness. He had listened to his teams cries over the comms after he fought the clone. With Voltron down one lion, Lotor was overpowering them, and Keith could do nothing but duck his head down, listen to the screams, and pray to go faster.

Keith reached out and grasped Shiro's hand. Dazedly, Shiro looked down at their hands, before meeting Keith's eyes.

"We're alive, Shiro. And we are all going to walk away from this." Keith wasn't quite sure himself if he meant the battle they had just fought or the war in general, but his words had gotten through, as the remnant's of fog cleared from Shiro's eyes.

The corners of Shiro's mouth twitched up into a smile, before he cast a look around the room. "I should go. Let you guys sleep." He went to stand only to be forced to sit again as Keith tugged on their still intertwined hands. Shiro looked at him confused.

"Stay. Please?" Shiro looked ready to object but Keith continued "Have you even slept since the fight?"

Shiro looked away from him guilty. Keith sighed, he though as much.

"Take the spare cot. The nurse's brought in one extra. Probably for me."

Shiro lay down on the empty cot next to Keith's side of the bed, sighing into the comfort of the pillow. He turned himself so he faced Keith, "If it's for you, why are you sharing a bed with Lance." Shiro looked at him slyly.

"He wouldn't let me leave." Keith deadpanned.

Shiro almost barked with laughter, barely catching himself before he woke any of the sleeping paladins. He looked at the two occupants of the hospital bed, that sly, knowing smile still gracing his features that Keith could just barely make out with the low lighting of the room.

Keith could feel the flush on his cheeks, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Shiro cocked an eyebrow, "When did the tables turn and you started parenting me?"

"When your stubborn ass refused to sleep for five days."

"Pot calling kettle black." Shiro said around a yawn.

"Good night, Shiro." Keith said forcefully, making a show of ignoring him by rolling over so that his back was to him.

Shiro laughed; a quiet, tired sounding, but ultimately relieved, laugh, "Night, Keith."

It was only a few minutes after Shiro's snores joined the rest that Keith's eyes began to droop. He shifted himself to get comfortable, Lance unconsciously loosening his hold on him to allow for the movement. Keith took it as his opportunity to try and wriggle out of his hold, only for Lance to re-tighten his grip, a quiet whine escaping him.

Keith rolled him eyes, though his mouth ticked up at the corner with fond exasperation at the Red Paladin's antics. He stopped trying to escape, allowing himself to get comfortable as Lance's new teddy bear.

Keith's eyes slid shut, the quiet mumbles and snores of his family lulling him to sleep.