Jeith/Jaith oneshots and Short Stories

Alone

The MFES trudged back into the ship, taking their helmets off with a relieved sigh. "Thank god that's over." Ina said. "I think we did good." Ryan asserts. "Hey guys." Keith says, going over. He glances around them. "Uh, where's James-er, Griffin?" The group glances around. "He was right behind us." Nadia says.

Keith's eyes widened. "You left him?" He asks. "I swear, he was right there." Nadia says. "You left James out there? By himself? With no weapons or means of defending himself?" They nod glumly. "You idiots!" Keith says. "Let's go." He says summoning his bayard and walking out. "Where are we going?" Ryan asked. "To get James. The other paladins will be joining us shortly." Keith says tapping away at his wrist communicator.

They head back to the abandoned buildings, and find James's parachute in one of them. "Hey Keith! Is this his?" Lance asks. "Fuck. Yeah. But where is he?" "Griffin!" Pidge yells. "Griffin!" The rest of them take up the cry as they walk through the buildings.

"I can't believe you guys left him. He hates being alone." Keith tells the other MFES. "How were we supposed to know that? We've barely talked to him." Nadia says. "Well maybe if you did, you would've noticed when he wasn't with you guys. How do you not notice when an entire ship crashes and a line goes dead? How?" Keith asks, glaring at them ."Why do you care? It's not like you two are friends anyway." Ryan says. Keith frowns and glares at him. "That doesn't mean I don't care."

Hunk stops in front of them, and Pidge crashes into him. "What the hell man?" She asks, "Guys, look." Hunk says. They follow his line of sight, and their own eyes widen.

It's a trail of blood, leading away from the buildings and into the forest.

"No. No no no no." Keith mutters before running in that direction. "JAMES! JAMES!" He yells. The others race after him, calling their leader's name. "GRIFFIN! GRIFFIN!"

"FOUND HIM!" Ina yells, running around a few trees. James is lying on his side in a pool of his own blood, coming from his midsection.

Keith rushes to his side, already taking medical supplies from Hunk. "Holy shit James. What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?" He mutters, wrapping bandages around him. "We can't move him. Someone call the Garrison, we need a team of medics." Holt instructs.

"Come on Jamie, come on. Don't die on me." Keith says, putting pressure on the wound.

The medics arrive and rush him to the ship. After almost six hours of work, they release him into a hospital room, where he lies unconsciously.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Nadia asks. "Yes. But he's been through a lot. The physical and emotional stress on his body is taking up a lot of his energy." Sam reports.

"Emotional?" Keith asks with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. These kind of situations, solo missions, especially unplanned ones, put lots of stress on one's body. Everyone of you has trauma and most probably PTSD from the events of the War. Paladins from the war in space, MFES from the one here. Watching your home planet get destroyed and being able to do almost nothing about it is very stressful. Plus, you paladins are used to fighting in space and on alien planets. The Garrison is still adapting.And given what his charts say, he's been dealing with a lot. And with his current condition, he's most likely going to be comatose for at least another week." "Is it possible for us to find out what exactly it is that's bothering him?" Ina asks.

Sam thinks for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "Yes! Remember those crowns Coran uses in your training exercises?" The paladins nod. "If we put one on James, we should be able to see inside his mind. Come." He leads them to the hospital room, where he places a crown on James's head. He taps some buttons on the tablet, and a holoscreen appears on the wall. "Here. Watch that, and you should see what he sees." With that, he leaves the paladins and MFES in the room.