Klance :: Not So Different

Pain

Keith ached. He burned all over when he woke, but he wasn't sure why. He hadn't done any training, he was fully healed; what was wrong with him?

The red paladin tried ignoring the burning sensation as he went about his day, the pain eventually fading. No one questioned him as he walked only slightly slower than usually or when he told them he'd train later because he had to check on Red.

One thing, however, was different. Lance didn't try fighting him, but he didn't speak to him either. The blue paladin seemed rather secluded today.

Keith couldn't help but think about the meaningless events of the day as he battled the gladiator in the training room.

"Yo, Keith!"

Said paladin hesitated at the voice, giving the gladiator an opening.

"Ooh, that looks like it hurt!"

Keith groaned as he shouted for the simulator the end the training sequence. "Shut up, Lance," he muttered as he shakily got to his feet. "What do you want?"

Lance shrugged as he made his way over to Keith, hands in his pockets. "Dunno. I was bored and saw you in here."

Keith gave the blue paladin a blank stare. "So you distracted me so the gladiator could get to me."

"Eh, not what I was going for, but sure!" Lance smirked, rocking back on his heels. He then frowned and stepped closer. "You've been acting strange all day."

"So have you," Keith quipped, crossing his arms over his chest. His head began to pound. "You haven't tried picking a fight."

"Because you looked hurt."

Keith blinked and held his breath. Lance sounded so... Concerned. Keith shook his head, doubling the pain. "I'm not. I'm fine."

Lance raised a brow. "You don't look fine. You're all flushed and shaking. Do you have a fever?" Lance moved closer to touch Keith's forehead, but the red paladin smacked Lance's hand away and stepped back.

"Don't touch me!" Keith snapped, feeling woozy. The room was beginning to slur and spin, the edges of his vision fading to a black. His fingers were numb as he trembled, the agony from that morning coming back full-force.

"Oh, shit! Keith!" Lance caught his fellow paladin before he could hit the metal ground. "Fuck, fuck!" Lance carried Keith over to the doors, the smaller man gasping for breath and sweating profusely. "Shiro!" Lance screamed into the hallways, pulling Keith along with him. "Shiro! Allura! Someone! Coran, even!"

Lance's words sounded far off, despite being so close. Keith felt like he was being crushed, although Lance carefully handled him.

Leith heard muffled footsteps nearing and the words blurred when they reached his ringing ears. He felt more arms grab him and help Lance carry him through the halls.

Keith opened his eyes, straining to look around. Everything was too blurry. It was all blobs of color, swirling in front and around him. He managed to recognize the cryo-chamber as Coran activated it and was promptly pushed in by Lance and a blob of black.

The red paladin sighed softly and closed his eyes as the comforting cold and darkness overtook him and he slipped out of consciousness.

~

"What the quiznak is going on!?" Pidge dashed into the room, Hunk wheezing behind her.

Lance kept his eyes on Keith after the cryo-chamber closed. "He just... Something happened. I dunno what, but he nearly collapsed while I was talking to him."

Shiro carded his prosthetic fingers through his tuft of white hair. "He has a high fever. That's all I can tell for now."

"Well, that's strange," Coran stated, straightening after inspecting the data collected by the cryo-chamber.

Pidge went up beside the red-haired Altean. "What is?"

Coran twisted his mustache between two fingers. "It appears his levels are different from the normal Human's. See how high these levels are compared to the rest of yours?" Coran pulled up the information from when all of them had been in the cryo-chamber at some point. "I thought it was strange when Keith was last in here."

Lance looked over. "What does higher body levels mean?"

"It could mean a number of things," Coran stated, facing the black paladin. "For one, it could mean his body is fighting harder when he's injured, or... He may not be human at all!" The paladin's eyes all widened. "However, I'm going cross that one our because, one: he appears human, and two: most of this information collected by the cryo-chamber is human." The four paladins relaxed, breathing sighs of relief. "So I'm going to replace it with 'half-human!'"

"Coran!" Allura shouted, stepping closer to the paladins. "Keith will be fine if he stays in here for an earth-day or so."

"Alright." Shiro released a deep breath. "We all need some rest. Let's get to bed, and we'll check on Keith in the morning." Everyone nodded and began to exit the room.

All except for Lance. He stayed in place and returned his gaze to the red paladin.

"Lance?"

Said paladin turned his head to look over his shoulder at the paladin of the black lion. "Yeah?"

Shiro took a step closer. "Are you coming to bed?"

Lance waved his hand and turned back to Keith. "Yeah, yeah, dad. I'll be in bed in a minute. I'm just making sure everything a-okay." Shiro stood for a moment, as if processing what Lance said, then left to go to his own room. Lance then sighed, rocking back. "Get well soon, mullet," he murmured, then slowly left, hesitant to leave the resting paladin of the red lion.

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Second Voltron fic! First Klance fic!