Strange (Keith x Altean!Reader)

¡°£| [14]

Shiro was grunting within his cryostasis pod. His expression was littered with pain, but nobody could see the state of his injury through the undersuit. They all wore them underneath their flight suits. Coran had replaced the ripped one with a fresh one, as it hid his injury from being over-exposed to the quintessence-fueled technology. (Y/N) was placed right next to him.

All of the paladins, and Allura and Coran, stood in front of the pods. Nobody would admit it, but they were all far more worried about Shiro. You had a peaceful, serene expression. All of your visible wounds had healed and it was only a matter of time before you were released from the pod. The man, however, was grunting and flinching, his teeth clenched and eyebrows furrowed in pain. It was hard to be more worried about you when it was certain that you would be fine.

Hunk turned worriedly away from the pod, looking to the Alteans. "Is he okay?"

Coran and Allura stood at the control panel in the cryostasis pod area. The pods were arranged in a circle on an elevated platform, and in the center (five steps down) was the control panel that monitored vitals and tracked healing progress.

"Sometimes, the healing process can cause involuntary brain wave reactions," Allura replied.

"He... looks like he's having a bad dream," Hunk mumbled, looking back to the black paladin.

"He just got blasted by a space witch and mauled by giant lizards," Keith said monotonously. "What dream could be worse than that?"

Everyone looked at him. Lance scoffed, "Dude."

"What?" Keith asked defensively.

"You're so emo," the blue paladin muttered.

"What?! A-am not!" Keith replied, flustered.

"Shut up, look!" Pidge gasped, and they all rushed up to Shiro's pod.

He was groaning, slowly bringing his head up to its normal position. He blinked slowly, taking a moment to compose himself as he realized where he was.

The pod opened and he stumbled, but the paladins quickly caught him. He laughed, looking at them.

"Sorry about that..."

"Don't apologize," Keith mumbled, "we're just glad you're safe."

"Yeah!" Lance chirped, "You had us worried with all the grumbling and groaning you were doing."

Keith punched him in the arm. Lance exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Hunk asked, "It looked like you were having a bad dream."

"I..." Shiro shook his head, removing himself from their grasp. They stood around him expectantly, intrigued by the hesitation and seriousness of his gaze. "I was."

"What do you mean?" Allura asked, handing him his clothes. He put them on over the flight suit, which he did normally to ensure he could quickly get into his flight suit. "Normally, brain activity like dreams is discouraged by the nature of the pods."

"I... was remembering how I escaped Zarkon's captivity," Shiro said. "It came back to me... the person who saved me- Ulaz. He was a Galra scientist- he... he said to..."

He cut himself off, widening his eyes. He turned to Pidge, who widened her eyes in return. He grabbed her, and she started shrieking and kicking her legs.

"Shiro's been compromised!" She yelped, "That creepy witch lady used her magic powers to break into his mind and seduce him-"

"No, what? Ew," Shiro replied, shaking his head. He gripped her shoulders, and she stared up at him, wide-eyed. "He told me to follow the coordinates he programmed into my arm, but I rushed back to Earth to save the blue lion a-and... I must have forgotten about it."