Kangst for the Soul

4

I don't own Voltron.
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"That's enough for now, he's learned his lesson I think. We'll come back later." The galran guard smirked, looking down at the bloody, beaten form at his feet. His partner snickered and kicked the prisoner again, forcing a grunt from him. The smaller galra then danced away, giggling madly after his taller compainion. Solid yellow eyes locked onto dull indigo ones as the door to the small cell was closed and locked from the outside.

Keith didn't move for a while afterwards, keeping a hazy eye on the door as his mind wandered. He no longer had a clue how long he'd been on the cruiser, due to him being dragged too a new cell some time ago, nor did he know how many beatings he'd had, they all seemed to blend into each other. He tried to take a deep breath, his chest rattling as he coughed painfully. He blinked sluggishly when their was a loud scream and tried to raise his head, to sit up and look around but his body had no strength and he couldn't resist closing his eyes as pain jabbed at his chest and stole his consciousness.

He woke up to guns firing and shouts of pain, blinking when when his cell door was thrown open, a large figure hiding the hallway. It stepped into the room and closer to the teen, yanking him up by his throat and bellowing in his face. He tried to move, to shake his head and explain that he didn't know what was going on but the galra slammed his head against the wall, causing black spots to dance across his vision. He coughed weakly, a warm, metallic liquid collecting in the corner of his mouth as he was choked. His vision began drifting  and his hearing faded into white noise. A weak whine was the only noise he could make, a final plea for the guard to just let him breathe. His eyes slid close, and his body went limp, the little fight he had left draining with the little strength he had. Before he passed out again, he muttered three words, barely audible over the sound of fighting.

"Kashi... help... me..."

Keith blacked out.

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He wakes up in stages, first feeling the cold of the stone floor (his paladin armour being removed when he was first captured) then, the burning thats coming from his chest and neck. It hurt's. Trying to gasp out a breath hurts more.

The next thing Keith becomes aware of is the smell, mint and ozone - a weird combination, but not unpleasant. His sluggish brain struggles to grasp the important meaning on the smell but it remains just out of his reach. He screams in his head because he can't really remember anything other than his identity and that horrible all-consuming pain that seems to be everywhere. He just wants it to end.

The third thing is the horrible taste in his mouth, it's warm, and the slightly metallic taste had him gagging slightly and he coughed as more of the horrible stuff pooled in his mouth. What was going on?

Both hearing and sight arrived at once, all fractured sounds and blurry shapes with pretty colours. The main thing that drew his attention was the black and white blob that seemed to talk to him. He could make out half word's something that sounded vaguely like his name. He coughed wetly and the metallic stuff started to fall out of his mouth, it's iron scent overpowing the mint and ozone.

'Shiro.... thats who's in here with me...'
He realised dazedly. He could hear Shiro saying something that sounded suspiciously like his name, and he tried to concentrate on what his older brother was saying.

"- eith! You - eed t- lm dow-" He frowned at the jumbled mess and tried harder, relaxing slightly as his hearing came back into focus, with it his sight. He tried to say Shiro's name but coughed up more blood, only managing to whimper his adopted brother's nickname after he'd stopped gagging. Shiro looked frozen, raw fear shining in his eyes but he then growled softly and shook his head, quickly sitting next to the injured boy's head and running his hand through his hair, serving to calm both of them down and check too see if Keith had a head injury. Keith just watched Shiro with dull, half open eyes as he struggled to breathe properly without coughing blood all over the floor.