Interstellar
"Wormhole is ready when you are Pidge." Allura said professionally, "Thanks princess, we're coming back to the castle now." Pidge swiftly piloted the lion back to the rest of Voltron. "Hey Pidge, you might want to hurry. Lance just passed out. I think he hit his head." Matt spoke quickly as he gently laid Lance’s limp body on the table-like platform towards the back of the cockpit. "You got it Matt." Pidge sped up and managed to get back to the castle within a matter of minutes. "Matt follow me, we'll take him to the healing pods." Pidge ordered, Pidge's father was confused and so he just continued to follow his kids to the healing pods. "Pidge, Matt? Sam… what are you guys doing here, I thought things were going well?" Shiro asked as he turned away from Keith, "It was going mostly to plan but then Lance just passed out just before we left." Matt interjected. "Do we know if he's ok?" Shiro asked carefully, Matt shrugged as he placed Lance to stand in the healing pod Pidge had quickly prepared. "Error! Error! Healing pod cannot begin if the patient is impaled." The pod spoke loudly, "What!?" Pidge scanned the front of Lance's body, no signs of anything penetrating his skin. "What's going on?" Keith asked as he finally walked towards the commotion.
"Lance is injured and the pod won't heal him while he's impaled but I can't find what's wrong." Pidge continued to search Lance's body, "Fuck!" Keith whispered to himself. "Let me see." Keith gently moved Pidge out of the way and lifted Lance out of the pod. Keith practically hugged Lance just to support his body to lie on the floor, as he removed his hands from Lance's back Sam finally spoke. "Blood…" Keith turned his head to see blood stained hands, "Shit!" Keith whispered, he gently moved Lance to lie in his stomach. Blood. There was so much blood, the force of the metal pipe hitting Lance's back had been so great that it had broken his jetpack and armour. The armour had been forced into Lance's back, the sharp edges of the armour pierced Lance's skin in unglamorous ways. Keith carefully used his dagger to slowly pry the wedged armour out of Lance's skin, once the armour was free from the skin Keith removed the rest of the armour. Blood began to pool over Lance's under armour suit, the floor and Keith's hands as he was lifted back into the pod. The pod sealed itself, "Healing in progress. Estimated time left… two movements (two weeks)"
"What. Happened." Keith turned and spoke firmly, almost accusingly. "Woah Keith, calm down. The Intel I had was wrong, the base had actual soldiers not just centuries. Since we couldn't hack the soldiers Lance fought them off so we could find our father. Even then he managed to destroy the control pad for the landing deck so no one could follow us just before passed out." Matt spoke quietly hoping that Keith wouldn't snap back at him. "He's got a lot of determination." Matt smiled sadly, "you can say that again. He woke up from a coma to shoot Sendak's arm off." Keith scoffed out a laugh. "Always the hero." Keith let a small smile form on his face, "I'm afraid your mother can't wait any longer." Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder as a reminder of what responsibilities he has. "What's going on?" Pidge was sceptical of the situation, "I'm going on a blades mission, Krolia and myself are going through the quantum abyss." Keith sighed heavily, "What!" Pidge yelled. "You can't leave now! Look at him! He's still recovering from that electric shock!" Pidge yelled, they were furious. "Look, I don't want to. I really don't want to go, especially not now. But it's my duty as a member of the blades." Keith sighed and looked towards Lance solemnly, "What about Voltron? You are a member of Voltron before the blade." Pidge was sad and defeated. "You better come back alive." Pidge moves out of Keith's path, "You know I will." Keith ruffled Pidge's hair, much to their dismay. "I should be back in two weeks or so." And with that Keith left the room.
— — —
"What happened here?" Keith asked as they flew past large wreckages, ships smashed to pieces. "Something must be out here that doesn't want anyone to get through." Krolia spoke as she looked for anything that looked like it wanted them dead, "We’ll progress as far as we can, just keep an eye out." Keith said as he piloted away from an asteroid. The flight was quiet but not awkward and they were progressing relatively well. "Keith!" Krolia yelled suddenly and pointed to the flying piece of metal that was shooting towards them. Keith managed to avoid getting hit by the metal directly, unfortunately it took out the left wing of the hijacked Galra fighter jet they were flying. "Shit! Hold on!" Keith called out as he started to lose control of the fighter jet, Keith grunted loudly as they crashed into an asteroid. Krolia managed not to get thrown across the cockpit, "we need to get out!" Krolia pointed to the side of the jet. There was a large hole where the wing had once been, the hole ment that oxygen wouldn't last very long. Keith gave Krolia a small nod and followed her out, "Watch out!" Krolia tackled Keith to the ground of the asteroid as a beam of light fell upon them. Keith cowardly fell into his mother's arms as the beam of light brought him into a vivid flashback of him watching his father run into the burning building that eventually killed him. Krolia loosened her grip as she felt her emotions rush in, Keith stood breathing heavily. No. Not now.
Keith turned away from his mother and placed a hand on his chest, his panic was rising. Keith had forced that memory down wishing he never had to feel that pain again. The memories sent Keith into a deep panic attack, this was not good. His oxygen levels were decreasing quickly. "Keith, it's ok." Krolia gently embraced her son, "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to help." Keith let a few tears fall. His mother's embrace calmed him. "Let's go, we only have so much oxygen." Keith looked back at his mother. After 10 more minutes the oxygen levels were almost critically low. "What the hell is that?" Keith pointed to a giant… Space whale? "It looks like our ride through, it's practically got an entire ecosystem on its back. It has to have oxygen." Krolia commented, "get down!" Keith called out calmly. The light flashes past them, this time it wasn't a memory. It was Keith playing along with a little girl, Lance was recording him. Why was Lance in a wheelchair? "Agh!" The light beam affected Keith more than it did Krolia, the glances into the future were giving Keith a massive headache. Keith used his jet pack to propel himself towards the space whale, Krolia wasn't far behind. They landed on the space whale and took a few moments to appreciate the wild beauty of the ecosystem. "What. Is. That." Krolia took a few steps back from the blue fuzz she pointed towards, Keith tilted his head slightly and saw a face. "It's a… it's a wolf cub. What are you doing out here all by yourself?” Keith asked the bundle on blue fuzz, the wolf cub slowly shifted towards Keith. Keith had always liked animals but was never allowed to have any, he wasn’t sure if he had any pets while Krolia lived on earth. However none of his foster homes wanted or liked animals and well, Shiro is allergic to almost every damned animal with fur or feathers. The blue ball of fuzz crept forward slowly, Keith leaned down a little more to get a proper look at the wolf's eyes. “Oh- Oh, hey.” Keith giggled quietly when the blue fuzz ball started to lick his face.
— — —
“Shiro? Any news about Keith?” Lance asked as he walked up to the front of the bridge, everyone was starting to get worried. Keith had been gone almost an entire month, his mission was only supposed to be 2 weeks. “Hello? Castle of Lions, can you hear this message?” a stupidly familiar voice asked through a hailing frequency, “Yes we can hear you. Why have you contacted us?” Shiro responded professionally. “Shiro, it’s me, Keith. Krolia and myself managed to salvage a jet from the quantum abyss, our mission has finished. We are heading to you now, can you send us your location?” Keith asked. “Keith! Is that really you?” Lance asked excitedly, the energetic, bubbly personality made Keith feel a warmth in his chest. Did he miss Lance? Surely not, I mean it’s not like Lance had a cute personality or a positive way to look at things or a nice face or a smile. Nah, that sounded nothing like Lance. “Yeah it’s me, how’s your back?” Keith responded absent mindedly as he plotted a course for the Castle of Lions from the location Shiro had sent him. “Yeah, not horrible. Still pretty bruised but it’s getting better, the healing pod can only do so much.” Lance shrugged casually, “Speaking of the healing pods. You and I need to have a talk.” Lance was stern and almost scary, “Uhm, am I in trouble or somethin’?” Keith questioned cautiously. “Usted es de hecho (You are indeed)” Lance responded plainly, Keith wouldn't lie if someone asked, he was a little scared of Lance at that moment. He was genuinely terrified. Lance had a special talent where he could light up the room almost instantly, but he could also just look at a person and they would immediately think they've stuffed up. It wasn’t the ‘dad’ look or voice that Shiro did but Keith couldn’t place what it was, all he knew was that Lance could be scary sometimes.
“Hey Keith.” Lance said with a smile, but it wasn't his regular happy smile. It was more of a ‘You’ve fucked up’ kind of smile. “Let’s talk.” Lance kept the smile as he walked to a private area. “Wish me luck.” Keith whispered to Shiro as he followed Lance. Keith looked down when he entered the private area with Lance. “I’m glad your back safe.” Lance whispered gently as he embraced Keith tightly, Lance squeezed Keith tighter just before he let go. “Ouch-” Keith held his palm to his cheek, Lance had just slapped him. “That’s for leaving without saying goodbye.” Lance crossed his arms and pouted, Keith wasn’t sure if Lance was aware of the pout or not but it made him smile. “Look, I'm sorry. I tried to stay longer but I wasn’t allowed and then the mission didn’t go according to plan. Plus all I really did was remove the armour that was stabbing you. Have you even asked how scared Pidge was when they found out you were bleeding?” Keith spoke. “You saved them, their brother and father.” Keith continued defensively. “Are you suggesting that I wouldn’t have tried to save you?” Lance instigated. “Because, I'd catch a grenade for ya, Throw my hand on a blade for ya, I'd jump in front of a train for ya, You know I'd do anything for ya, Oh, I would go through all this pain, Take a bullet straight through my brain, Yes, I would die for ya, baby!” Lance sang playfully. “Did you just Bruno Mars me…” Keith sighed, Lance laughed. “It’s true though!” Lance laughed. Then Lance flinched wildly back when there was a small spark. “What the hell!” Lance called out in shock when his eyes rested on a blue wolf. “Several questions. How did that wolf just appear? Why is the wolf blue? And why do you have a wolf!” Lance questioned not even looking at Keith, “Well uhh, teleporting wolf, i'm guessing it’s blue because it's a space wolf. And I found him in the quantum abyss.” Keith spoke casually as he stroked the wolf’s head. The wolf leaned into the touch, Does… He? Have a name?” Lance asked, taking a small step back. “Not yet, I just figure he’ll tell me when he’s ready.” Keith shrugged, “Dude… I don’t think that's how that works. I’m pretty sure only the lions work that way, you being made of a dimension travelling comet and all.” Lance said calmly while keeping an eye on the mysterious blue wolf. “What about Cosmo?” Lance asked, “What? He will tell me his name when he’s ready.” Keith argued. “Cosmo.” Lance called out happily and the wolf teleported next to Lance rubbing his head on his thigh. “Ugh, Cosmo it is, I guess.” Keith sighed.