Archive of Our Own ^beta

The mission was stupidly simple, in hindsight.

Get in, plant the bombs, activate the bombs, get out before the whole place blew to shreds.

Of course, Keith had to go fuck the whole thing up.

Everything had been going according to plan, in Keith's opinion. It really wasn't that hard to place bombs at certain intervals. He was quick on his feet and if he continued at the pace he was at, his group would be done in half the time.

Then, as luck would have it, Keith would alert someone they were there.

It really wasn't his fault that the dust irritated his nose. Wow, he would have thought Galra would clean more often. Guess not.

A string of high-pitched, staccato sneezes ripped past Keith's lips, his body jolting with each one. His eyes squeezed shut and he tried to muffle the sounds into his hands to no avail.

He stiffened up when he heard the clanging of boots against the floor. That certainly was not a blade.

A gloved hand pulled open the door as an alarm blared throughout the building. The hand belonged to a tall, broad Galran Empire soldier, a sword at the ready. Keith didn't think he'd ever seen a Galran soldier with a sword before, but he didn't really mind it.

He morphed his own blade into the curved sword he was so familiar with at that point. He positioned himself to pounce at the soldier before the tell-tale ticking of the bombs alerted him to the fact that the rest of the group was leaving right then.

He wasn't about to be blown to pieces there, so he turned to run after them. The soldier took their chance, slashing at Keith as he ran away.

Keith had to hand it to the soldier, they had managed to slice into the flesh of Keith's calf. It was searing with pain with every step that he took but he couldn't risk stopping. Not when he could so easily die in the explosion that could happen at any second.

He clambered into the pod the group had arrived in, taking a seat to try and take the pain off of his injured leg. How deep did the wound go? Did it need stitches? Keith didn't know. All he felt was relief as they pulled away from the building just as explosions ran throughout it. It felt too eerily familiar to the time he had nearly died sacrifing himself for the paladins.

The ride back toe headquarters was silent, but tension hung heavy in the air. Keith felt as though the pod was running low on oxygen and he was suffocating. But he knew that wasn't the case.

They were all mad at him.

Mad at him for ruining the mission.

He hadn't meant to.

-

The pod landed in the hangar and Keith thought he had never been more grateful for something in his life. His leg was killing him and he yearned for nothing more than his pack's warm embrace.

He stumbled out of the pod last, hoping that the others had found their pack by then. How could he ever face Kolivan knowing that he had ruined yet another mission? He held in a yell of pain as his leg sent shots of pain throughout his body. He looked over and saw his pack waiting patiently for him, all anxious to see him. He was swaying too much to go forward, though. He had really lost that much blood?

Ulaz was incredibly concerned about the swaying. Everyone else had arrived back safe and healthy, why was Keith swaying. He cried out and darted forward as Keith stumbled forward, catching him before he fell flat on his face. He hoisted Keith into his arms and whined a bit as he heard pained whimpers escaping the kit in his unconscious state.

He brushed by everyone he passed as he rushed Keith to the medical bay, the rest of his pack hot on his heels. He felt blood seeping into his clothes, but that didn't bother him.

He entered the medical bay and pulled down a suit made for the healing pods. Thace let out a whine.

"No! We can not put our kit in a pod! He needs comfort!" Thace protested, stepping forward like he was prepared to take Keith away from Ulaz. Ulaz growled a bit out on instinct.

"I would feel more comfortable, as the doctor, putting him in a pod. We do not know what he was injured with or if there was any substance on it. I do not want to risk missing something." He said. "Help me put this suit on him?" He suggested. Thace stepped forward, helping Ulaz strip the Marmora suit off of Keith and wrestle him into a pod suit. From there, Ulaz set him in a pod and sighed.

"He'll be in there for about half a quintant." He informed the rest of the pack members, all of whom let out soft sighs of relief knowing that Keith was going to be okay.

Antok and Kolivan left the room, coming back eith nesting materials. It wasn't uncommon for packs to nest in front of the pod their pack member was healing in, waiting for them to come out. Thace smiled and pulled Ulaz over to help construct the temporary nest.

-

Later that night, Antok woke up to find Regris still wide awake, staring up at Keith with a sad look on his face. He reached forward, setting a hand on Regris' thigh.

"He will be fine, kit. Go to sleep." He said softly. Regris jumped and sighed.

"I know he will be. I just can't helo but think about this conversation me and him had a few weeks ago." He said. Antok perked up and sat up. Kolivan wasn't very happy about his mate leaving his arms, whining quietly until Antok stroked his ears.

"What did he say during that conversation?" He asked. Regris frowned as he stared at Keith.

"Well, he couldn't sleep one night, we we were talking. He said that on Earth, humans don't have healing pods. But he also said that he was always there when any of his friends, the paladins, came out of a pod. But no one was ever there when he came out." He said. Antok bit back a growl.

When you stumbled out of a pod, even the most balanced of people ran the risk of falling flat on their face if no one held them steady. He could hardly imagine how awful it felt to look around and see no one, despite always being there for everyone else.

To Antok, Keith looked far too small in the large healing pod that has been built with the height and stature of Galra in mind. But Keith was small and lean, not tall and broad, even by human standards. He could see that Keith had muscle definition, but he was nowhere near the broad stance of his friend Shiro. Perhaps it was a human trait to have muscle definition but still be fairly lean. Antok would have to ask about that.

"Well, we will talk to him about it when he comes out. Get some sleep before then, alright? You are still a kit, and you need sleep." He said. Regris nodded and bit his lip.

"Uh..." he mumbled, as if he were nervous to ask something. Antok smiled fondly, he knew exactly what that was about. He moved Regris to lay between himself and Kolivan and the older kit no longer looked so nervous.

Both Regris and Keith enjoyed cuddling between people when they slept. Keith had long since lost the need to ask, for when would he ever be denied? It was a kit instinct to be cuddled like that. Regris, however, still asked nearly every night. It was becoming less frequent now, and it was a long way from when Regris would curl up completely separate from the group when he first joined their pack.

Antok let Kolivan wrap his arm around both of them before wrapping a blanket around the theee of them. He let sleep overtake him, and he could only hope Regris would sleep as well.

-

Everyone woke up when they heard the tell-tale hissing of a pod opening. The cold white vapor spilled out, just before Keoth tumbled out and into everyone's grip. Keith seemed to be extremely disoriented, and surely would have fallen on his face if no one had caught him. Why would no one be there to catch him? Kolivan just couldn't understand it. Keith blinked blearily when he felt Thace's tongue grooming him.

"Was that a pod?" He asked in confusion. Ulaz nodded a bit.

"Yes, kit, it was. I felt more comfortable putting you in there because of the uncertainty surrounding the weapon you were injured by." He said. Keith nodded a bit.

"Get up onto this bed here, kit." Ulaz said, patting a nearby bed. Keith was still a bit wobbly on his feet, so Kolivan made sure he wouldn't fall. Once Keith was seated, Ulaz rolled the fabric of the pod suit up to the knee on the leg that Keith injured.

"This was very deep, kit, what happened?" He asked. Keith blinked steadily. How did he tell them what happened without telling then he had ruined the mission. God, he would never be able to face them again if they found out.

"Um... nothing." Keith said. Antok growled lowly.

"Kit, you passed out from blood loss. This is not nothing. We need to know what happened." He said. Keith stayed defiantly silent. Kolivan sighed softly.

"Antok, back off of him. Kit, you will stay with us for a few days, both to finish recovering and to get you to tell us what exactly happened." He said. Keith tilted his head.

"Aren't I already healed?" He asked. Ulaz nodded.

"Yes. But it is normal to keep an injured pack member around their pack for a few days afterwards to make sure there are no ill side effects of anything." He said. Keith nodded a bit and blushed when his stomach audibly growled. Antok chuckled a bit and scooped Keith up, taking him into the dining hall.

-

The next morning, Keith woke up to Thace shaking his shoulder. He couldn't help but whine a bit. He was tired. Thace smiled fondly and stroked Keith's ears.

"Come on, Keith. You're going to spend the day with me. You can sleep once you're dressed and fed, okay?" He said. Keith shifted and got up, changing into a pair of pants and a loose sweater. He couldn't helo that it was cold in the base.

Thace led him to the dining hall. Keith grabbed a plate and put a bit of food on it. He was never very hungry during breakfast, but he knew he would be later. To remedy this, he shoved a few protein bars into his pockets.

After breakfast, he followed Thace into his office and settled down quietly. The room was buzzing with the bacjground noise of the many computers scattered around. Of course, Keith should have expected it. Thace worked with programs and codes, of course he would work with computers.

"You said something about a school you went to on Earth a while ago. Wanna tell me about that?" Thace suggested. He didn't want Keith to get bored. Keith shrugged and nodded.

"Well, the school I went to was called the Galaxy Garrison. It trains students to fly ships out in space. Some go to be engineers for those ships or communications, too. I was a pilot." He started. "It was great, really. Shiro was one of my closest friends. And his friend Matt was my friend too. They're kind of a.... two for one deal if you will. The teachers were strict but they taught us pretty well. And then Shiro and Matt left on the Kerberos mission." Keith said.

"What is that?" Thace asked. He had heard it many times but he had no clue what it actually was.

"Oh, it was a mission to go to a moon at the edge of Earth's solar system. Humans haven't made further than that. Anyways, the crew of the Kerberos mission were kidnapped and imprisoned by Galra, and the Garrison called it a 'pilot error' and said everyone was dead. And Shiro was my best friend and I knew he wasn't dead. I told one of my teachers, Iverson, this and he said that they were just stupid and it was inevitable that they would die. I couldn't take that, so I punched him. And then I got expelled." Keith said. Thace nodded a bit and patted his head.

"That's unfortunate, but fate works in myserious ways." He said. Keith couldn't help but agree.

-

Ulaz wakes him the next day, earlier than the day before. Keith knows what he wants but he's simply too tired to walk. He holds up his hands sleepily and Ulaz chuckles, lifting him up. Ulaz is wearing what Keith had come to know as a Galra equivalent of scrubs, carrying Keith through the silent hallways and setting him in an unoccupied bed. Keith can see a few blades that had stayed overnight, their packs restlessly watching them as if they would miraculously get better in an instant.

He wanted to comfort them, to reassure them that everything would turn out fine. But he was never great with people and he was sure he would mess it up and make things worse. Besides, they had their pack to reassure them, didn't they?

He noticed that Ulaz had gone over to a severely injured blade that was residing in a pod, gently rubbing the back of their packmates and murmuring reassurances. Keith noticed that Ulaz did this regularly whenever he wasn't busy.

Keith stayed sitting on the bed quietly, occupying himself by watching what he assumed was a Galran soap opera. He couldn't understand any of it, though. Well, he could pick up a few words, but never full sentences or even phrases.

He spent his day that way until the afternoon, when he felt something trying to climb onto his bed. Looking down, he noticed a young Galra, most definitely an extremely young kit.

"Ulaz? Is touching this kid okay?" Keith called. The kit was crying and Keith wanted so badly to comfort it, but he didn't know if it was allowed. Ulaz glanced over at Keith and smiled when he saw the kit.

"Yes, it it okay to touch her. Her mother was injured, so she probabky wandered in here to see her." He said, gesturing at an pod containing a young woman. "Why wouldn't it be okay to touch a distressed kit?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I didn't know if the mother would be super protective or something like that. Plus, there are spme species on Earth that you can't touch the babies for a certain amount of time after they're born, because if your scent is on it then the mother may reject it. Or something like that." Keith said, scooping the child up onto the bed.

"That is a logical reason for your uncertainty I suppose." Ulaz said. Keith yelped when the kit bit his tail, smiling when she immediately let go at the sound. He switch the soap opera to a more child-appropriate show, but it seemed that the kit was more content to bat at his tail.

So, he spent the rest of his day playing babysitter. He found that he actually enjoyed playing with the kid, it was nice. Perhaps he would consider having children in the future, he never thought he would have children before.

-

It all falls apart that night.

Just like every night since he got injured, Keith stays awake, thinking about how he could have done so much better if he just hadn't sneezed. What a stupid thing to ruin a mission over.

His leg is a bit sore from where Ulaz stretched the skin while ensuring the wound had healed correctly. He stares out of the window that shows the vast expanse of space that is laid out in front of them. It only reminded him of how far away he was from naything he had ever called home. The paladins were off somewhere, they probably didn't even need him. Earth was far away, his shack abandoned and dusty. Really, the Marmorite headquarters had been the first place he had truly called home. He had a family here, who was always willing to listen to his problems and offer advice if they could.

And yet it was so hard to tell them what had happened. He couldn't bear to see the look of disappointment on Kolivan's face.

Keith felt a soft hand on his back.

"Are you okay, bro?" Regris asked. 'Bro' had become a nickname fron the fluffier kit after Pidge had taught hin that the phrase was a shortened version of "brother". It made Keith feel warm and fuzzy to be considered someone's sibling.

"I'm fine, Regris. Why are you awake?" He asked. It was late, and even night owls like Regris were often in bed by that point. Regris sighed softly.

"Keith, I thought we have talked about this. It is okay if you are upset." He said. Keith sighed a bit. He hated that tears welled up in his eyes at the gentle words. Regris hugged him gently.

"Now, tell me, what's wrong?" Regris asked. Keith sniffled a bit. Despite Regris being a goofball a lot of the time, he was a really great big brother.

"I ruined the mission." Keith said, his voice thick with tears. Regris frowned.

"I'm sure you didn't. Just because you were injured doesn't mean you ruined the mission." He said. Keoth shook his head, a small sob escaping him.

"No, that's not it. I sneezed. I fucking sneezed and a soldier heard us. It was my fault we didn't succeed." Keith whimpered.

If there was anything Kolivan could pride himself on, it was how easily he could detect a kit's distress. He supposed it was a natural reaction when the two kits he had were accident prone and emotional. His eyes cracked open when he heard Keith's sob, listened with furrowed brows as Keith explained just how he had supposedly 'ruined' this mission. It pained hin to hear just how much Keith was beating himself up over something so simple.

Kolivan reached forward and placed a hand on Keith's back.

"Come now, Kit. Little things like that happen to the best of us. It is not your fault." He said. Keith jumped in surprise, his shoulders tensing in shock.

"I-I know, but I just... It was stupid." He said. Kolivan pulled Keith onto his lap.

"It is not stupid, kit. You can not help it." He said, wrapping his arms around the small kit. Keith sighed a bit.

"I know I couldn't help it, but..." Keith trailed off.

"But nothing, kit. There is nothing weak or pathetic or whatever negative word you were just about to put in there, about any of that." Kolivan said. He pulled Keith close.

"We will never be angry about something like that. We will never be disappointed about sonething that can't be helped. We care about you, kit." Kolivan said. Keith curled up in Kolivan's lap.

Keith was cared about here, and frankly, that's all that mattered to him.