The Paladins had fought some hard battles and walked away from things most people wouldn't be able to handle emotionally but compared to that, waiting was far harder. Lance and Hunk could do little but pace back and forth as they waited for the castle to make its way to them so they could treat Keith but the ship couldn't jump directly to their location because it was too risky. With the electrical interference it was difficult to exactly pinpoint their location. If they weren't careful the castle could run right into them. So, they were forced to take the slower, more direct route towards the planet. In the meantime they had to closely monitor Keith's condition, but it wasn't going well.
Shiro stayed on the radio talking to Keith for the past forty minutes but Keith's responses were getting quieter and slower. His eyes were struggling to stay open and his breathing had changed.
"Keith?" Shiro called softly, feigning calm. "You still listening?"
Keith's eyes had closed again but fluttered open when Hunk laid a hand on his forehead.
"What…?"
"Shiro asked you a question, buddy."
"Oh… Sorry. I missed it…"
The boys frowned and Shiro asked for another update.
"How's he doing, guys?"
"Not so good." Lance replied, checking the makeshift bandages which Keith was bleeding through again. To his dismay, the end of the dart was barely visible as it was still burrowing into his body. "He's still bleeding and he's looking pale." Grabbing Keith's wrist Lance frowned. "And his pulse rate is high."
"Damnit." Shiro said under his breath, looking back at his worried teammates who were doing all they could to hurry.
"Shiro? …Shiro?"
"I'm here, Keith." Shiro turned back to the communicator. "I'm still here."
"How much longer…?" Shiro wished he could give him an answer. He bit his lip, taking a moment to steady himself before responding.
"We'll be there any minute now."
"You said that…. Any minute ago." That response almost made Shiro laugh.
"Yeah well I mean it this time. We're really close, I promise. We'll get you back on board, take that thing out of you and you'll be—you'll be good as new."
"Don't bother…"
Keith's eyes closed again and his response sent shivers down everyone's spines. Lance tried to smile, shaking Keith's shoulder lightly.
"Hey now, what's that supposed to mean? Keith?" He shook him again until he started to cough. It sounded wet and hoarse but his eyes reopened soon after.
"Lets face it," Keith said softly. "I'm not gonna be here… when they get here."
"Knock it off, Keith." Shiro said in a more commanding tone. His voice was no longer shaking. "That's not true. You're going to be fine, you hear? So don't you dare give up on us!"
"But I'm so tired… and cold…." His body had been shivering for a while but there was only so much they could do to keep him warm. The heating system was one of many that Hunk was unable to restart. Instead, the boys started to rub his arms and legs, trying to warm him.
"We'll get you warmed up again soon, okay? Just hang on."
Shiro looked back at Coran when he made a sound of relief. Finally the planet was coming into view! However, it was still difficult to exactly pinpoint the small ship.
"We're close! Pidge, are you ready to tow them in?"
"Roger that!" Pidge had gone ahead to her lion and was outside of the ship prepared to collect the ship as soon as they found it. Seeing as they were so close, Shiro grabbed a portable communicator and left the bridge, running towards the hangar.
"Guys, we're here! We just need to find you in orbit and then we'll get you on board!" he reported hopefully though out of breath.
"That's great! Hunk, can you scrounge up enough power to boost the signal for them?"
"I'm on it!" Hunk jumped up and ran to the other room to do just that and Lance looked down at Keith who had closed his eyes again.
"Keith?"
"I'm tired…"
"You can't sleep, Keith. If you fall asleep you might not wake back up. Besides, they'll be here any minute!"
"That's not it…" Keith's breathing was becoming more ragged and his coughing fits more frequent.
"I'm tired… o-of always messing up. Always being a disap-pointment. You don't need s…someone like that on the team. Voltron doesn't…"
"Keith… Don't say that! Come on, this team is nothing without you! Yeah you're an impulsive hothead but we kinda like that about you, don't we Shiro?" Lance was trying to be comforting but he was starting to break down, seeing Keith deteriorating.
"Keith, don't you dare think about dying on me!" Shiro picked up the pace. "Pidge! Do you see them?"
"I don't…" She was scanning ahead without any luck until she picked up a low frequency noise. Following it she finally saw the ship come into view, stuck in the planets' gravitational pull. "Yes, I see them! Moving in to make contact!"
"Good! Coran, stop the ship and get to medical! We'll need you there!"
"On it!" The ship finally came to a stop and Lance moved to the front of the ship as the green lion came into view, cheering.
"Woo-hoo! Boy are you a sight for sore eyes!"
"Hey, Lance! Sit tight, okay? I'm going to pull you in so it might get a little rocky!"
"Got it! Keith, we're gonna make it!" Lance felt the ship move and almost lost his balance but he was still smiling. He looked back at Keith but the smile quickly faded from his face as he noticed his companion wasn't moving. "Keith?" Slowly Lance moved back to Keith and knelt down, shaking his shoulder gently.
"Keith? Hey come on. What'd we say about closing your eyes, huh?" He shook him again, tried tapping him on the cheek but Keith didn't respond. "C'mon, Keith, this isn't funny. Open your eyes!" Lance shook him more insistently but when he did he noticed something he hadn't before: the trail of blood leaking from his lips. Lance wiped the trail from his lips, smearing blood across his cheek but more came out. On top of that Keith was no longer moving or speaking.
"K-Keith, this isn't funny…" Hunk reentered the room with a smile but his quickly faded away as he knelt down by them.
Pidge was quick in bringing the small ship back aboard and once the hangar was sealed Shiro rushed aboard the ship.
"Keith?!" Lance looked up at Shiro with a hopeless expression.
"Shiro… He's not…"
Shiro's eyes widened and he fell to the floor by Keith, the others moving away to give him room. Shiro shook Keith by the shoulders, hoping to get a response before pressing an ear to his chest.
"Shit! His heart stopped!" He knew he needed to get Keith to Coran but if he couldn't get his heart started then he wouldn't make it there. As quickly as he could he ripped open Keith's shirt and put his hands in position, pressing down on his chest.
"One of you needs to give him air when I say so!"
"R-right!" Lance was the first to act, following Shiro's instructions to lift his chin before taking a deep breath and blowing into Keith's mouth. Shiro resumed his compressions and Lance continued to breathe for several minutes. Pidge had come on board and took over for Lance when his shaking got too bad that he couldn't breathe deep enough. Shiro knew he was being a bit rough with his compressions but a broken rib or two was better than death. He stopped after another minute and pressed his ear to his chest again. Still nothing so he resumed compressions.
"Come on, Keith! Breathe, damnit! I'm not going to let you die here! Breathe!" In his haste his hands slipped and the group heard a sickening snap followed by a deep gasp. Keith's eyes shot open suddenly and his body lunged forward, letting out a breathless yell before falling backwards again.
"Keith!" Shiro cradled Keith's head as the boy struggled to breathe but he was breathing all the same. "Hold on, Keith. I've got you!"
The boys helped Shiro lift Keith up into Shiro's arms and watched as the older man took off running towards the medical bay. Keith was struggling to breathe, trying desperately to say something but at this point he was only succeeding in sputtering blood all over himself and Shiro.
"Don't talk, Keith! Save your strength! You'll be fine! Just stay with me!"
Keith's eyes closed again but Shiro didn't stop running. He nearly ran into Allura who had come to get them. She stopped dead in her place at Keith's dreadful state and didn't move until the others came running down the hall after Shiro.
Coran was already set up by the time Shiro made it to him, laying Keith's trembling body on the table. The movement had caused the dart to sink completely into Keith's body, moving in an upward motion causing his wound to bleed even more heavily. As a result, Shiro's side was now soaked with his brother's blood. But Coran was thankfully calm and focused, immediately assessing Keith's condition.
"He's lost a lot of blood and it would seem the dart may have punctured one of his major organs." Coran wasn't completely familiar with human anatomy but he was still confident that he could remove the dart without causing further injury. Once that was done they could place Keith in the rapid regenerator to heal.
"I think I broke one of his ribs performing CPR, too."
"This isn't good. We need to act quickly. Do you know his blood type?"
"I can give him my blood! I've done it before."
"Good."
Given the time constraints Coran decided to hook Shiro directly up to Keith to give him blood more quickly. When the other paladins ran in, Coran asked them to restrain Keith. In his condition it was too dangerous to put him under so they had no choice. They worked together, holding down his arms and legs while Shiro positioned himself over his torso. Once he was still, Coran felt carefully around the wound before taking a breath and making an incision. Keith's eyes opened wide and he arched up off the table unexpectedly. The boys had to push him down more forcefully so Coran could get back to his work, deepening the cut before sticking his fingers inside him, manually searching for the dart.
The whole time Keith was screaming and struggling to move. Though it was painful none of them could move a muscle. They were all tearing up, trying to comfort him, as well as themselves as Coran attempted to take hold of the dart. It was slippery from the blood but soon he was able to take hold of it, pulling it back slowly through the hold it had made through Keith's torso, finally dropping the still-spinning dart in a try beside the table.
"That's that. Now to look for damaged organs." His fingers dug back into the wound to feel around but Keith had stopped trying to move away. He was too exhausted to writhe and his whole body hurt but at least his heart kept on beating, albeit weakly. While Coran worked on him, Shiro kept speaking, whispering soft assurances in Keith's ear, his voice soft and low. He never responded so Shiro only hoped Keith could still hear him.
