A/N: Keith gets injured and in a coma, the team tries to help awaken Keith by going into his mind and they see his memories.
*Contains/mentions of child abuse, self harming, and eating disorders.*

All that was heard at first was static. Static than silence.
Shiro didn't like this, no one liked this. They had lost contact with both Pidge and Keith and the mind can always goes to the worst, which made everyone a little scared and worried.

But soon, they could just make out a voice through the coms.

"Sh-Shiro!" yelled the voice and Shiro recognized it right away, he has heard that voice screaming out so many times.

"Keith?!? What's happening? Where's Pidge??" Shiro said but he didn't receive an answer from Keith again, all he got was static.
"Keith!!!" he yelled, fear was painfully crawling up into his chest.

"Guys...any-anyone t-there? Shiro?" called Pidge through the coms and Shiro let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding in.

"Pidge are you alright?!?" questioned Shiro.

"...I-I...am okay but...it's K-Keith...he..." Pidge said but then all he got was static.

Shiro's eyes widened as he shouted back to Pidge asking about Keith but got nothing. Then he heard Allura's voice break through his worry saying that they had a lock on their location. Shiro, Lance and Hunk zoomed over towards the Green and Red Lions coordinates.

"Guys can you hear us?!?" Lance yelled as he felt his hands shaking worried about his friends/teammates.

All that could be heard was static and it put everyone on edge. Their lions came rushing down beside both the Red and Green Lions, the Red Lion appearing to have taken most of the blows. They guys rushed towards where Pidge and Keith where at and was hoping for the best. 
Pidge and Keith were behind a pillar as a few Galra soldiers were firing at them. Pidge had their sheild up with Keith's head in their lap.

Both Lance and Hunk rushed forward and began to fire back at the guards while Shiro went to the others. Shrio skidded to a stop and crashed down upon his knees in front of them.

"What happened?" asked Shiro as he gently removed Keith's helmet from his head.

"We were just getting out when all of a sudden we were ambushed. I didn't notice them at first but K-Keith did. He blocked me from getting hit but....b-but he took the h-hit and got thrown backwards into that metal pillar over there and j-just crumbled to the floor. I-I...I had t-to protect him and...th-then...'' said Pidge with tears slowly escaping their eyes. Shiro reached out and placed a gentle hand upon their shoulder and looked them in the eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. You did good'' said Shiro and shot Pidge a reassuring smile which seemed to calm them down a little bit. 
The sounds of weapons going off alerted Shiro that Lance and Hunk were still out there. He glanced around the corner and could tell that they had the upper hand. Shiro turned back towards Keith and Pidge.

Keith's face and hair was mattered with blood and he looked very pale at the moment and the slow rise and fall of his chest under his armor wasn't making Shiro feel any better.
"Okay, we got to get him out of here and get back to our lions'' Shiro said to Pidge then looked over towards Lance.

"Cover us!" yelled Shiro and Lance nodded his head and began firing more quickly, taking down more Galra soldiers and providing them great cover. 
"Okay we got to go'' said Shiro and Pidge nodded their head. Shiro leaned down and picked Keith up into his arms, his head lobbed to the side and Shiro pulled him tighter towards his chest. They raced off towards their lions with Hunk and Lance not too far behind. They all soon returned to the castle safe for the most part.

The team sat around on the couches as they waited to hear back from Coran. He had to first get Keith stable before putting him into a pod. Knowing that only made things feel worst. He had a pretty bad head injury along with a few broken and cracked ribs. Pidge had fractured their wrist along with a few scraps and cuts but for the most part okay. They all waited in silence for word about Keith.

The doors to the room slid open and everyone looked up. Shiro slowly stood up and he knew right away by Coran's face that something was wrong.

"Coran?" asked Allura.

"Ahh, Yes Princess. Sorry. Keith should be fine but he's in a coma at the time being'' said Coran and glanced over at Shiro who quickly walked towards the doors but Coran reached out and stopped him for a moment.

"I have no time table when he will awaken but there is a possible way to wake him up. You could go into his mind and wake him up from the inside'' said Coran and Shiro turned to look at the others. Shinning within each of their eyes was support and Shiro nodded his head but he just had to Keith first before taking that next step.

--------------------------------------------------

The team sat around Keith's pod with headsets on and their eyes closed.

"Alright now guys, now you will being seeing Keith's memories and feeling his emotions but you have to find Keith buried in there and get him awake or he will remain stuck within his own mind'' said Coran and quickly hit a switch taking all of the paladins into Keith's mind.

The paladins all opened their eyes and blinked around their surroundings. They were all standing in a small room of a home.

"Where are we?" asked Lance and Pidge nudged his side.

"In Keith's mind, duh'' said Pidge and Lance narrowed his eyes at them while rubbing his side.

"KEITH!" yelled someone and everyone turned around with a huge amount of fear rising within their chests. They were feeling what Keith was feeling at the moment. Just then, a small boy was thrown down the stairs. All the paladins eyes widen at this and watched as the small boy pushed himself off the ground but then was kicked in his side, everyone winced at this. Shiro's eyes widen and he took a step forward noticing who the small boy was.

"Keith?" whispered Shiro but Keith didn't respond as they watched helplessly as the man kept hitting and kicking little Keith.

"D-Dad...st-stop please!" cried out Keith as his dad hit him once more then marched up the steps and slammed the door shut. Keith jumped hearing the door being slammed then he curled up into a tiny ball and cried. 

All the paladins had tears in their eyes and an ache in their chest. Then suddenly there room and Keith faded away and they were pulled to another memory. They could hear screaming and felt a feeling of helplessness. They looked around and saw that they were all standing in a bathroom. 

"What the-'' but before Lance could finish his sentence, Keith rushed into the bathroom with tears streaming down his face. He shut the door and locked it, his chest was rising and falling very quickly and the others could feel panic rising inside them. Keith paced around the bathroom, running his hands through his hair before he shook his head and rushed over towards the toilet. He fell to the ground and lifted the seat up and inhaled sharply. 

"No!" yelled Hunk but it had no effect on this because it was a memory.

Keith then shoved his fingers into his mouth and down his throat forcing up the meal he just ate. He continued until he felt lightheaded, which all the paladins felt but then a feeling of guilt washed over them and Keith moved away from the toilet and grabbed the blade that they have seen Keith with so many times. He rolled up his sleeve and brought his blade down upon his wrist and drew it across quickly. Keith continued to cut and cut, blood running and falling onto the floor, painting it red. 
All of them so badly wanted to give Keith a hug and to let him know that he wasn't alone or worthless as he thought and felt, that he mattered and was cared about. Keith made one more cut before everything faded away and where now in the small hut that was in the desert. 

Keith was sitting on the floor, in his hands was his blade and sitting next to him was his red paladin helmet.

"Keith?" questioned Pidge and Keith turned around quickly to look at them. His eyes were slightly puffy and red. He glanced over at all of them and they could see a confused look cross his face.

"Wh-What are you doing h-here?" asked Keith as he slowly stood up.

"Where here to wake you up, to bring you back with us'' said Lance who smiled at Keith but Keith shook his head 'no'.

"Why?'' said Keith, ''Why would you want me back?"

"Keith, you're our teammate. We are family and we need you'' said Hunk who slowly made his way over and wrapped Keith up in his arms and gave him a tight hug. At first Keith was frozen but then he melted into the hug and hugged back with fresh tears falling from his purple eyes.

Soon everything turned white.

Everyone opened their eyes and glanced around the room, removing their helmets and looking over towards the pod that held Keith inside. The door opened and Keith's eyes fluttered open and then he fell forward but Shiro caught him.

"I got you buddy'' said Shiro who smiled when Keith looked up at him.

"T-thanks'' whispered Keith.

They helped Keith towards his room to rest a little bit more. Keith didn't seem like he remembered anything about them being in his mind but no matter if he remembered or not, whether he wanted to say it or not he was glad that the others knew and where there for him when he really needed it, helping him get passed the buried pain he has buried for so long now.

For he just didn't have friends and teammates but he also had a family, a real one for the first time ever.