Chapter Text
Everyone was screaming over the intercom. Lance could only see blurs from his screen's viewport, spinning around and around, unable to focus on anything. His heart was hammering in his ears as he fought to gain control of the machine, to no avail. Blaring warning sounds roared around him as he maneuvered helplessly towards what constituted as the side of the wormhole.
He didn't want to die here. Lance had no idea what was going to happen, and he slammed into the fold of timespace with his last thoughts being of Earth and his family and the Galra Empire and-
--
"Hey!"
It was almost completely pitch black, and the air all around him felt hot and sticky. Through a haze, Keith struggled to recall what was going on. He could see a faint red glow in his peripheral vision, and unable to collect his thoughts considered going back to sleep. He was so tired.
"Can you hear me?" Open up!"
A muffled voice Keith recognized as Shiro quickly pulled him back into a consciousness he didn't remember slipping out of. "Shiro..?" His voice was dry and scratchy. Keith still couldn't see anything. "W-Where.."
"Keith! It's me, are you alright!?" Loud banging from behind him accompanied Shiro's voice. When he tried to sit up, a sharp pain in his side made him falter and topple over onto the floor from his pilot chair. He shouted in pain, which Shiro overheard. There was more banging on the door. "I'll get you out, just hang on!"
His head felt like it was being split apart, and his thoughts were jumbled. What had he been doing until now? Keith couldn't recall, but he at least knew he couldn't stay here. He had to get up and get moving. That was important. He struggled to find purchase on the ground below him, which was spinning around. A pressure from the front of his helmet pressing against his face told Keith he was currently lying face down on the floor. Why was getting up so hard?
At some point there were sounds of metal crunching, and a faint smell of burning arose in the air. Something runny was in his eyes that obscured his vision, and Keith couldn't tell if it was sweat, blood, or both. It certainly tasted like both. Still on the floor, he tried turning onto his stomach to push himself up, but a searing pain spread through his torso and he cried out as he lowered himself back down. He wasn't going anywhere.
The latch behind him creaked and scraped as it was forced open. Light spilled into the cockpit, and immediately blinded Keith. The white flashing overwhelming his vision forced him to snap his eyes shut, and he tried to focus on not throwing up.
Everything seemed muffled and moved too slowly. Keith wondered if this meant he was going to pass out again.
"..eith! ..... W-....-okay?!" Before he knew what was happening, Keith was being propped up and held against something which was probably Shiro.
There was no way he could keep his eyes open, and everything was so loud. The world around him swam and faded into something more grey and peaceful. On some level Keith knew he shouldn't be falling asleep, but it was so hard staying awake. Everything hurt, and he wanted it to go away. Keith leaned into whoever was cradling him and let himself sink into the grey. He just needed a few minutes.
--
Keith awoke sometime later, screaming out as a terrible pain in his shoulder jolted him back into consciousness. He thrashed wildly against what felt like a red hot poker being jabbed against his skin. "K-Keith!! Stop, don't move around!" Large hands quickly pushed him back on an uncomfortable scratchy surface. "I need you to calm down, it's alright!"
Keith ignored whoever was talking, and frantically strained to pull off the hands holding him down before it clicked that it was Shiro. His grip loosened, but his breathing was still erratic. "What's. What's happening?! Why can't I see?!"
Shiro kept his hands firmly on Keith's shoulders. His prosthetic arm's grip was surprisingly weak. "You're bandaged up right now." He explained, "You have some pretty deep lacerations near your eyes, so we have to keep them covered." From his voice, Keith could hear how exhausted Shiro was, and memories of what had happened instantly flooded his mind.
"Wh-Where are the others, Shiro?" Keith could feel he was laying on top of a surface covered in warm vines. They scratched at his exposed skin, and Keith wanted nothing more than to get up and move. "What happened?!"
"I'll explain everything, just calm down first. Your wounds will reopen if you don't relax. Can you do that for me?" His grip loosened on Keith's shoulders. He was no longer actively pushing him down, but was still gently holding on.
"I-" Keith took a shaky breath. "Yeah.. Just. Gimmie a minute." His breathing evened out, and he focused on relaxing his muscles. Everything ached, so it was difficult. He could hear Shiro settle beside him and flatten his back against what sounded like the outside of some sort of metallic structure. Was it his Lion?
Slowly, Keith reached up and placed his clammy palm across his eyes. Just some bandages. The last thing he could handle right now would be losing his sight on top of everything else. "O-okay. I'm okay." He brought his arm back down and rested it on the ground. "So where are we, and where is everyone else?"
"...I. I don't have an answer to either of those right now." His voice sounded small and fragile, and if Keith could see he would probably see Shiro shrinking forward, gaze downwards, arms crossed. He always did that when he was upset. "We crash landed about half of a mile apart on this planet. It doesn't seem too dangerous, and it has a breathable atmosphere, so we're safe for now."
They had been lucky. Keith thought about the others, and hoped everyone else had the same sort of luck they did.
"I haven't been able to contact Allura or Coran from the ship, and as far as I can tell the others haven't contacted us either. But our lions are.." Shiro paused, looking for the words. "Pretty badly damaged. I'm not even sure they can accept incoming transmissions right now."
Keith felt a slow bubble of panic start to rise in his stomach. His head wouldn't stop pounding as he struggled to take in everything that was happening. Breathing hurt, let alone movement. So Keith knew he wouldn't be able to explore the perimeter to forage for any emergency supplies. He was in the dark, and wasn't sure how long it would be until the injuries around his eyes would be healed enough for them to remove the bandages. Shiro sounded like he was hurt.
"What are we going to do..?" He felt useless. From what he could feel out, he had been stripped of his damaged pilot suit and lay on the sun baked ground in his t-shirt and pilot shorts, bandages wrapped firmly around his right arm, torso, and both legs.
"Well.. The lions send out some sort of an automatic distress signal to the castle when they've sustained too much damage, so we'll have to sit tight and hope they pick up the signal soon."
The castle was a fortress, so Allura and Coran would be safe. But even with his quick maneuvering and expert piloting, Keith was still severely injured from his crash. He couldn't tell exactly how bad it was for Shiro, but he certainly sounded worse for wear. If they were arguably the best pilots on the team, and they had been lucky to survive the crash onto a hospitable planet, how were Pidge, Hunk, and Lance going to..
"We can't just.. sit around and do nothing!" He tried to sit up despite his body's protest, but only barely managed. He shook and scraped his palms against the vines and the rocks. Shiro quickly moved over and held onto him, lowering him back down and consoling him in a quiet voice.
"I know. But we don't have a choice. You can't move in your condition, and.. I don't think I can carry us both." Keith felt guilty. He didn't want Shiro to have to take care of him, and groaned in frustration.
"Then leave without me! Maybe the others are on the planet somewhere, and need our help!"
"No!" Shiro raised his voice. "I'm not leaving you. We'll just have to wait until Allura and Coran track us down, and hope everyone else made it out alright."
"That's not--" Shiro cut him off.
"I know that isn't what you want to hear." His voice cracked slightly. " But that's our only option. We have to stick together."
Keith for the first time since they joined the Voltron team, did not agree with Shiro's plan. There was no time to wait for him to recover enough to look for the others. They had to get back to the castle. They had to get everyone back together. "I can't lose you, Keith." Keith took in a sharp breath.
Shifting back against the metallic surface when he was sure Keith would stop moving around, Shiro stared up at the alien trees towering above them. "When I found you in your lion.. It was bad. I didn't think you were going to make it, and I was so afraid. It was like I was back on my mission to Kerboros again." Memories of news stories covering the tragedy flashed in Keith's mind. Something inside of him ached. He thought about how Shiro must have felt back when they were attacked.
"I already lost one team. And if I'm going to lose the other one, I..." His voice wavered for a moment, then solidified into something more resolute. "I need to focus on saving whoever I can. Even if it's just one person."
Keith was quiet for a moment. "...That sounds like something I would say, not you."
Shiro gave him a tired laugh. "Maybe so."
--
It took three weeks before they had any radio activity. It was a difficult three weeks leading up to that point. Keith insisted his bandages come off of his eyes so he could at least see a few days in, but in the end he almost wishes he had kept them on.
Neither he nor Shiro got through the crash anywhere close to unscathed. Keith was well aware of his injuries having spent the first few days in the dark, feeling every bump and movement against his cuts and bruises. Some of his ribs were definitely broken. He was also sporting a fairly nasty concussion. Most of his waking hours were spent in a confused state, throwing up any of the rations or alien food Shiro managed to scavenge. His arm and legs were covered in bruising and open wounds from where the metal had pierced through his pilot suit, and the overly humid and warm temperature of the planet even made lying there incredibly uncomfortable.
Shiro was almost no better. His prosthetic arm had nearly been crushed in the crash under a sheet of plating, and was practically useless. A sizeable gash running along his thigh down behind his knee made putting any weight on it painful, and his chest was littered with deep wounds from shrapnel. Taking it out was vital when he had patched himself up, and Keith would probably hear Shiro's screams echoing in his memories for a long time.
He tried to keep both of their spirits up after that, but Keith knew Shiro was only putting on a brave face for him. The emergency medical kits in both lions helped with survival, but neither of them would have lasted very long on that planet had they not been rescued.
On the day of the rescue, The two of them were resting next to the black lion, using the shade from both it and the strange alien trees clustered around the beast before the intercom buzzed to life. Shiro had fallen asleep some time ago, and Keith floated back and forth between an awake and asleep state. At first the noise didn't register as anything important, but it was persistent enough that he eventually focused on what it was.
"..hear me?.... - respond!" Allura's voice pushed through the static. Keith realized who it was and called out to Shiro, nudging him with his unbandaged arm.
"Hey, wake up! Shiro!" After a moment, Shiro shot up and wildly looked around. The sudden motion jostled his injuries, and he groaned as he nearly pitched forward, a tight hand holding his chest. "S-Shiro! I hear Allura coming from the Lion!" Keith slowly pushed himself up, and offered a hand to Shiro. The two made their way inside as quickly as they could. Ducking into the damaged cockpit first and fumbling with the few systems he had managed to get up and running, Shiro could see the incoming transmission.
"Allura?! Allura we hear you!!" He called out desperately. There were some low voices heard, and then a very relieved Allura spoke again.
"Thank the stars you're alright... Shiro, who else is with you?" Coran was blubbering in the background behind her. "Coran- please! I cannot hear them."
"Keith and I are here. Can you track our location?" Leaning heavily on the damaged walls, Keith followed after Shiro into the cockpit.
"Yes. We've located both of your lions and are on our way," came her reply. Keith moved towards the cracked intercom.
"How long until you can get here?"
Coran's teary voice boomed over the speakers. "Now don't you worry, we'll have the two of you picked up and rescued in one of those Earth jiffies! Sit there like ducks and we'll be there to get you in a couple ticks!"
Shiro cracked a smile and chuckled. "Alright, thanks Coran." The transmission ended and the panel disappeared, leaving the two of them in the dim room. Sunlight from small breaches in the Lion poked through, and Shiro lowered himself onto his pilot seat with a sigh of relief. They were going to make it. They were going to be alright.
Keith didn't have the energy to move anywhere, and slumped down onto the floor. He shook his head. "Sit like ducks? That's not even how the saying goes.."