As Keith neared the black blob, it morphed into a humanoid figure wearing black and white. Only one person wore armor in that color, but why he was laying on his stomach was another question entirely. Keith discarded the thought as he called their fearless leader's name in relief.

"Shiro! We found you!"

Said person jerked his head back, staring wide-eyed at his teammates over his shoulder. Never in million years did he think he would see Keith carrying Lance, much less without any bickering between the two. He paused waiting for Keith and Lance to catch up to him, neck straining as he tried to catch Keith's eye as he moved closer to his position. Keith knelt as he neared their leader, still holding Lance on his back.

"Shiro, why are you crawling on the ground?" Keith growled, anger masking his growing concern, before he closed his eyes, eyebrows pinched in frustration.

"Let me guess, you're injured too?" Keith sighed, "Why can't the universe play nice just for once?" This last part was muttered under his breath with clear annoyance

Shiro casted his eyes downward in charging, examining the bronze stone beneath him as if it was the most important thing in the world. Since in fact, he was injured and it wasn't one he could play off as nothing, he couldn't walk for quiznackings sake! Shiro sighed, dragging a hand down the front of his helmet, the other arm keeping him prompted up.

"Sorry Keith, I'm pretty much down for the count this time." His voice was laced with frustration at his helplessness, and not a little pain, "I'm unable to move my legs from the waist down, or feel them for that matter." He admitted with a grimace.

Confusion flashed across Keith's face, marred by the ugly crack in his helmet screen before his eyebrows scrunched together with worry and determination steeled his eyes. Shiro's own eyebrows rose to his hairline as he heard Keith shush Lance, violet eyes trained on trembling tan fingers struggling to sign something. Shiro grew concerned as Keith screamed at Lance,

"Wake up! You've got to hang on!" He laughed sarcastically with a touch of desperation, "Wow! what an accomplishment, you can't even beat me in staying awake!"

He hoped that Lance's competitive nature was still intact and would buy them some time.

"Keith, what's going on?" Shiro asked, sternly. Keith seemingly ignored him in favor of focusing on Lance. Keith sank to his knees, transferring Lance to his lap, arms cradling the Blue Paladin gently.

With growing concern and a little frustrated with Keith's attitude, Shiro shuffled on his stomach closer to the duo, mouth open for a reprimand. He pushed himself up in the cobra position to face Keith eye to eye when he noticed the unhealthy pallor of Lance's face. Then he saw Lance's glassy ocean blue eyes begin to flutter close. Concern for his teammates shot through him, he knew the beginning signs of a concussion and it was imperative that Lance stay awake a little longer, until his brain settled.

"Hey!" He yelped, "Lance you have to keep your eyes open. Come on buddy, listen to me. "

Blue eyes sluggishly blinked, unfazed by the loud voices. Shiro slid his prosthetic closer to his center of gravity, fighting to stay balanced on one arm. With the other he did the only other thing he could think of. He snapped his fingers in front of Lance's nose. Hopefully the noise would rouse the blue paladin's sleepy soul. It worked, startling the poor boy whose ocean blue eyes widened in surprise.

"There you go, Lance. Just stay awake, it's not that difficult, yeah?" Shiro asked, his concerned dad voice in full effect.

Lance's eyes widen a little bit more, showing some white. Quickly he nodded in small, jerky movements, nearly vibrating. He couldn't disappoint Shiro again, not after he screwed up, bringing the team down with his injuries. Shiro drooped, closing his eyes and sighing in relief. Maybe he sounded too strict, but who could blame him? One of his cubs was hurt! Keith's next question yanked Shiro out of his thoughts.

"Where are the others? Have you found them yet?"

"Yeah, Pidge is in a canyon not too far from here. Hunk is currently on route and should be nearing her location."

Shiro cocked his eyebrow at the flash of confusion that graced Keith's features, which disappeared in a scowl as he stared down at Lance in his lap. Shiro swallowed his next question as his gaze followed Keith's to notice Lance's trembling hand movement. Shiro paused, trying to decipher the gestures. He dismissed it a moment later, priorities came first and Shiro was more concerned with Keith's rebellious attitude in ignoring him.

Shiro drew his hand back to tap Keith on the thigh to forcibly gain his attention when Keith spoke, his voice broken and tired, "Lance...please stop translating...I'll figure something out. Just stay awake...please...for me." Keith whimpered the last part, bowing his head. Shocked Shiro suddenly remembered how Pidge had diagnosed Keith's speakers to be broken. Keith wasn't ignoring him, Keith couldn't hear him.

Lance's hands moved once again, but this time meet no protest. His hands trembled terribly, but Lance forced them to be steady after a taxing mental battle, mind over matter, right? One of Lance's hands formed a fist, the other one became a peace sign that was flipped upside down. Then Lance put his fist on top of the upside down peace sign, making sure to show his fingers bowing under the added weight. Then he showed his fingers staggering under the weight of the fist, struggling to move forward.

Shiro stared wide-eyed at the display, his raised hand coming to rest under his torso at some point during Lance's gesturing. Shiro narrowed his black eyes in thought, if he had to take a wild guess, he would say that it looked like a person struggling to uphold a massive boulder. The fist represented the boulder and his fingers represented a person's legs. Lance then separated his hands, but he wasn't done signing. He uncurled his thumb from his fist and allowed it to fall to his chest, thumb digging into his chest plate. With his other tan hand, he curled his middle finger, but left his pointer, instead straightening it. With some difficulty and hand shaking almost uncontrollably with fatigue, Lance managed to tap Keith's breastplate once before his hand stilled and fell limply onto his chest with a dull thud.

Shiro cocked his head, sign language wasn't his forte but he thought he figured out Lance's meaning. From what he witnessed, it looked like Lance was referring to the boulder as himself and Keith was the...struggling legs underneath it. His eyes widen in shock. Did Lance truly think of himself that way? Shiro opened his mouth to set the record straight, but Keith beat him to the punch.

"Lance, you are not a burden."

Lance shot him quizzical look and Keith immediately responded. "You are the glue that holds our band of misfits together. You lighten the mood with your terrible jokes and ill-timed flirting when we're all being crushed by the weight of our responsibilities. Without you we would never have even made it to space, let alone lasted this long in the fight against the Galra."

Keith internally panicked as Lance's eyes dimmed a fraction. "And the best sharpshooter in the universe, you are the reason I can recklessly charge into battle, knowing that you've got our backs. Lance, the team needs you. I need you, so please don't say you're a burden. You aren't and never will be a burden to us. "

Keith stated almost pleadingly, begging Lance to believe him. Shiro emphatically nodding beside him. A small smile crawled onto Lance's lips, but only his lips. His blue eyes full of doubt, he clearly wanted his teammates to feel better. Shiro sighed, he wanted to do more, but arguing would only make things worse. It would waste time and energy and Lance would become more guarded of his feelings and insecurities. As much as both the red and black paladins wanted to banish the doubts that their blue paladin had, for now, they were helpless.

Though that didn't mean they were giving up on their teammate, quite the contrary, they were going to try harder than ever to convince the blue paladin of his worth. Now they would just have to find other ways to show it, such as verbal encouragement or a pat on the back. Shiro grimaced as he realized that he never individually praised Lance. He'd praise the group, but never Lance alone. Shiro's eyes jerked to attention when Keith's too loud voice sliced through his self-deprecating thoughts, he winced at the harsh volume.

"Which direction, Shiro?" Keith asked, decidedly ignoring the doubt flooding Lance's eyes. Right now they needed Lance to trust them. He gathered Lance in his arms and stood facing Shiro, who responded immediately, momentarily forgetting Keith's lack of hearing.

"South East."

"Point, please."

At those words, Shiro wanted to facepalm, thankfully he refrained, instead pointing to the left towards a black haze. Keith glanced down at the precious cargo in his arms, a smile tugging at the edge of his lips. He hoped it was a reassuring smile. They didn't need Lance to realize that they saw through the crack in his mask or he'd clam up even more.

"Alright, let's go." Keith turned to Shiro who nodded in confirmation.

The trio set off, one dragging himself along the limestone type rock, one fighting to stay awake, and the last one marching along, cradling his teammate to his chest. They went on like this for a good fifteen minutes. Sweat trickled down Shiro's forehead and his ragged breathing filled the air. They had been keeping this pace since the group started off. Frankly, it was a little too fast for Shiro's current abilities. Had he been walking, the pace would have been fine, if a little slow. Shiro paused a moment, gasping for breath, arms aching from the strain, fingertips burning from scraping against the hard earth-like stone.

Keith, oblivious to Shiro's struggles continued at his breakneck pace. But a tap and a point from Lance caused him to turn around. He raised an incredulous eyebrow at the distance, but he simply made his way back to their leader. Upon closer inspection, Keith could see the sweat dripping down Shiro's forehead in waves and saliva escaping his chapped lips in long sticky strains. Keith groaned, time was escaping them, but they couldn't keep pushing Shiro at their current speed. Keith crouched down, back turned toward Shiro, arms still cradling Lance.

"Get on." He said bluntly. "Come on, Shiro."

He continued as he knew their leader's stubborn tendencies to refuse help. "You can't stand and we need to make better time. Don't worry about me, I'm strong enough." One could never say that Keith was tactful, but he was right in this instance.

Keith missed the sigh, but he soon enough he felt the older man clamber onto his back, latching on with one arm over Keith's left shoulder and one under Keith's right armpit, curling his fingers around each other. The red paladin rose somewhat unsteadily as his body tried to compensate for the added weight. Then he pushed forward, ignoring his body's calls for attention and rest, it was just mind over matter.

As Keith returned to his death march pace, he felt a little bit of resistance as Shiro's feet dragged uselessly behind them, leaving little skid marks in their wake. Keith huffed, little beads of sweat rolling down his pale skin. The once gooey snot dripping out of his nose had hardened, leaving behind crusty dried boogers in its place. Keith pushed his body to its limits, with Shiro gently guiding him when he veered off their path and talking to Lance, forcing him to stay awake.