Loving You to the Stars and Back // Keith x OC //

The Unknown Planet

29

The Black Lion hit the side of the wormhole, sending us to a different location in the Universe. I slightly opened my eyes to see the Red Lion in our vicinity, falling through the same tunnel that led to the unknown. It was only in a matter of seconds before both lions made it through the tunnel and into a different atmosphere.

As we were falling, I looked over to Shiro as he groaned. My eyes immediately dropped to his wound, which was looking worse than the last time, "Shiro, your wound!" The lion's alarms were starting to go off as Shiro started to loosen his hand on the lever, "Let me take over."

Suddenly, another chair and set of controls appeared behind Shiro's seat. Was this the Black Lion's doing? Without any time to spare, I immediately hopped onto the chair and took over the controls from where I was, "Come on..." I murmured under my breath as I tried to control the lion, but realizing how difficult it was to get the lion to work, I could only hope that we would still be alive, "Shiro, hang on tight. It's going to be a rough landing."

Seeing that there were large holes in the surface of the planet, I maneuvered the lion there so we would have more air time for us. I pulled back the levers, hoping that the lion would retain some kind of mechanism that would ensure a better landing.

With the gravity of the planet, I closed my eyes as the lion continued to fall faster through those holes and hit the ground with a heavy thud. The Black Lion shook as Shiro and I groaned in response. My head looked up at the ceiling, feeling the ache run throughout my body from the rough landing. I could only think about Shiro at this moment, wondering if he was okay.

Slowly, I got out of my seat and checked on Shiro, seeing that he was still clutching onto his wound, "Shiro, are you okay?" Clearly, he wasn't, but I had to make sure that he could even respond.

Shiro opened his eyes in response, giving me a sense of relief, "We're... still alive?" He asked as he looked at me. I only nodded my head in response, "Good job, Athena. Where's Keith?" Remembering that we came out through the same wormhole, I instantly remembered Keith.

"I have no idea," I replied. "But we better go find him. He went through the same portal," I added on. "But we need to figure out how we're going to tend this wound. We don't have any supplies here." Which we should have done ages ago, but the thought never crossed our minds.

"I guess I'll have to suck it up until we get rescued," Shiro grunted as he slowly got out of his chair. "We need to go find Keith." As much as I wanted to stop him, Shiro looked at me with his grey eyes that were mixed with anxiety and pain. Keith was like a little brother so Shiro could care less about himself.

We headed out the lion as Shiro continued to hold onto his wound. Immediately, I took the arm that wasn't holding over his injury and put that arm over my shoulder for support, "Keith, are you there? Keith?" Shiro asks over the communicator, but all we heard was static on the other end.

"We need to get up to higher ground," I suggested. Shiro nodded as we gradually made our way back to the surface.

We walked up steep hills, carefully making sure we weren't stepping on loose rocks as we were making our way to the surface. I was almost on the verge of losing my breath, feeling the burn on my thighs as we continued to climb. Shiro, too, was panting hard as he continued to bear the pain of his wound while mustering up the strength to keep going.

"We're almost there," Shiro said almost out of breath.

"Shiro --" A voice was heard from our communicators. "Are you there? Athena?" My eyes went wide, hearing the familiar voice come through the communicator. It was from Keith. His voice was cutting in and out as we were getting closer to the top, "Answer me!"