12

                                    

                                          
Keith's POV
                          
Coran dismisses me so I decide to go back to my room. I haven't had an actual nap in forever. As soon as I get in my room, I flop onto my bed and instantly fall asleep. 
                          
Cold. That's all I can do to describe how I feel, cold. 
                          
Dark. Quiet. Cold. My surroundings, they're dark, quiet, and cold. 
                          
Panic. That's how I feel now that I hear footsteps approaching me. My heart is thudding out of my chest. I try to move but I can't. I'm pinned down. A familiar voice fills the air. 
                          
"Welcome back red paladin."
                          
Haggar. 
                          
She trails her finger down my jaw and tilts my head. "They patched you up pretty well mutt. It's a shame they couldn't fix this little blemish," she mutters as she trails her finger along the path of the purple that covers some of my face. "It's no wonder your parents were ashamed of you."
                          
Suddenly, lights turn on. I wince at the brightness and try to cover my eyes, only to be stopped by the restraints. Laughter fills the air, but it's not joyful. No, it's mocking. When my eyes adjust to the light, I see my dad and the silhouette of a woman. I close my eyes again, as tightly as possible while the taunting persists. 
                          
It goes quiet. 
                          
I open my eyes. I'm back in a cell. The cells around me are occupied by rotting corpses. An overwhelming stench fills the air. A guard walks to my cell and opens the door. I push myself up onto my feet. I'm handcuffed and dragged into that horrid room I spent so much of my time in before. The guard straps me on the table and leaves. 
                          
Haggar enters with her crate, restocked with needles. 
                          
I open my eyes and jolt up. Fuck, where am I? In my bed. I'm on the castle ship. I'm fine. I'm here and I'm fine. I start to do some breathing exercises to even out my breathing.
                          
I won't be able to get back to sleep anytime soon, that's for sure. Just great. 
                          
I get up and walk out of my room. The castle is dark. I meant to take a cat nap, not sleep until midnight. I go to the training room. Maybe a little bit of training will ease my mind, cleanse me of my demons, help me find serenity- no I just want to hit stuff to let my anger out. 
                          
I activate my bayard while standing in the middle of the training deck. "Training level one!" I shout. Level one is just for a warm up. 
                          
While I'm training I start thinking. Would I be able to fight the Galra again? What's to stop me from breaking down out of fear on a mission? 
                          
As these thoughts swarm my head like a pack of girls at Starbucks when the pumpkin spiced latte is released, I begin to imagine the training dummy is a Galra. Not just any Galra, no, it's the Galra that kept me restrained and walked me down to the stupid room with those stupid injections. 
                          
My anger takes over my movements. The bot falls to the ground, shortly after its head. 
                          
"Level two!"
                          
It carries on like this for a while. I only realize the passage of time when, out of the corner of my eye, I see the lights in the hall turn on. I was training through the night. 
                          
"End training sequence!"
                          
"Good thing you stopped. I was worried I'd have to drag you back to the medical bay," A cocky voice says. I turn to see the person I want to see the least, and from the look in his eyes I can see that he's not to fond of this arrangement either. 
                          
Fucking Lance. 
                          
Lance's POV
                          
Fucking Keith. 
                          
That fucking bastard was in the training room for at least an hour. Even longer I bet. He was on training level seven when I decided to peek in so I know he was in there for a while. Keith, Keith, Keith, don't you know how bad pulling an all-nighter is for your complexion? 
                          
I walk in and lean against the wall near the door. "End training sequence!"
                          
"Good thing you stopped. I was worried I'd have to drag you back to the medical bay," I say with a glare. He's still a dickwad. I wasn't pitying him, I was trying to help him.
                          
"Why do I have to go back there?"
                          
"Coran said your results came in, now are you coming or not?"
                          
Keith drops his bayard to his side and deactivates it. He scratches his arm before asking, "Is anyone else awake?"
                          
"Just me and Pidge. Are you coming or not?"
                          
"Fine," he mumbles. 
                          
I walk up to him and grab his wrist before dragging him to the medical bay. Once we're there, Coran leads Keith to see his results. Coran points to stuff on Altean and explains it to Keith. At least, I think that's what he's doing. I can't really hear him and I don't really care enough about the dickhead to get any closer.
                          
I start to care when Keith gains a look of shock and maybe fear. I walk up to Keith and rest my hand on his shoulder. He jumps and pulls himself away from my grasp. "I-I'm fine Lance. I can deal with this on my own," he mumbles. 
                          
"Deal with what?"
                          
"Coran, don't say a word to him about this," he says, and just like that he's gone. I turn my attention to Coran. He obviously wants to say something. 
                          
"You can tell me Coran, I won't let him know that I know if that's what you're worried about," I claim. 
                          
"But he said not to," said Altean squeaks out. 
                          
Okay, time for a different angle. "He said not to? I could've sworn he said to tell me when he was out of the room. I might be wrong though," I trail off. 
                          
Coran just about explodes. "KeithispartGalra!"
                          
"Say that slower," I say to the man who looks like a weight was just lifted off of him. 
                          
"That's as slow as it's going to get my dear boy, now go eat breakfast. I'll join you shortly," he says with a pat to my shoulder. I turn and walk to the dining hall with a scowl on my face. 
                          
A/N 
                          
Is this okay? It feels kind of incomplete...sorry if it feels that way for you too. I'm actually pretty proud of this story. And it's already at 1K reads! I consider that an accomplishment. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and have a nice day or night...depending on your time zone. Peace out!