(Warning. Self Harm Ahead.)

Lance stumbled out of his room, shaking with sobs and staring down at his arms. He cut too much. He cut too deep.

He made a mistake. He was losing too much blood.

It was streaming out of the injuries, dropping all over him, all over the floor as he walked. He was scared. He didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die.

Death made him so scared, he didn't want it. He didn't look for it.

But now he was staring it in the face.

If he lost more blood then he'd pass out. Maybe more still, and then it would be game over.

He had to find someone, he wasn't going to get to the healing pods or medical supplies in his own. His vision was already blurring, body swaying, dizziness taking over. It was so scary.

He couldn't shout. His mouth seemed to have stopped working.

His ears felt like they were full of liquid, everything he heard was muffled.

Alarms... alarms. Alarms were going off.

Another attack? Now?

Everybody else would quickly make their way to their lions and leave. His legs weren't walking as they were supposed to.

He wouldn't make it to Coran. He wouldn't make it to anybody.

Hope started to slip away, tears started to slip down his cheeks even faster as images of his family flashed across his eyes.

Family... parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, Keith...

Keith...

Keith!

Keith was standing there, at the other end of the passage to him.

He looked worried. He heard him yell his name, before rushing towards him.

Lance managed to whisper the word 'help'... before his eyes flickered shut and his world went black.

---

Keith darted forward, catching Lance just before he hit the ground.

There was so much blood, all over him, all over the floor behind him.

The alarms going off around him almost became silent. Lance was all that mattered.

His forearms were butchered to the extreme, large gaping gashes all up and down. The bandages returned to his mind and they made more sense now. Lance was really hurt... and he was hurting himself.

But this, this was another level.

This looked more like a suicide attempt.

That thought in itself scared him, more than before.

He had to get Lance to the healing pods. With somebody inside, they could heal deep wounds reasonably quickly.

The other Paladins would have to deal with the attack themselves.

He was about to lift Lance over his shoulder when, unluckily, Shiro cane running down the corridor.

"Keith! What are you doing! You need to get to your Lion!"

He stared at him in disbelief. Couldn't he see all the blood?

"... Lance is injured! I have to get him to a pod!"

"We need you in the fight!"

"I'm not doing anything until Lance is in a pod!"

He'd never seen this look on Shiro before. He looked angry enough to kill.

"Keith. Get to your lion. That's an order."

Keith gritted his teeth. Shiro was acting completely out of character.

"I'm not following that order. Fight them on your own."

He started carrying Lance to the healing pods, ignoring Shiro's continued orders and anger.

He didn't understand. He wasn't the person he used to be.

---

It was a slight struggle to lift Lance into a healing pod but he managed it, breathing a sigh of relief as the glass clicked shut.

He'd be ok now. The pod would stop the bleeding and close up the wounds.

Lance was safe.

Keith looked solemnly at his troubled, yet calm expression. He did this to himself on purpose.

He couldn't explain why that hurt him so much.

He didn't realise that he cared for Lance so much.

He wished he could stay, but he had to turn away, speeding into a run and heading to his Lion.

Shiro's behaviour still troubled him. There was something wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

---

By the time Keith got out to fight, the rest of the lions were falling back, pilots exhausted and confused.

Shiro was furious that Keith had chosen Lance over fighting the fleet, but he didn't say a word.

"The particle barrier is heavily damaged. Another attack, and the castle will start taking damage."

All their spirits were crushed. The unexplained situation was baffling and upsetting.

The tension between Keith and Shiro was apparent yet also unexplained.

"... what do we do? They keep finding us. We can't run away forever."

It felt as if the end was nearing.

"Keith... why weren't you out there?" Allura asked, turning to him.

Shiro began explaining with "He decided to chose a mundane task instead of-"

"Lance was bleeding to death so I took him to a healing pod. I wouldn't call that a mundane task."

"... why was he bleeding?"

"... I think he tried to... I... I think he tried to kill himself."

Everyone was silent. Everyone looked to Shiro, not knowing why he'd care so little about something so serious.

"... I just though that the task at hand was-"

"No... Shiro... friends come first."

People walked away and sat around, dreading the next attack, knowing that it was coming.

"Why would Lance... do that?"

"Well, nobody's shown him all that much kindness recently, have they?"

---

"Their barrier is damaged. The signal will go through. Shall we start phase 3?"

Haggar considered, then slowly nodded.

"You have my permission."

It was hard to keep a grin off her face as the prospect of Voltron's downfall grew greater.

---

Switches were flicked. The signal prepared.

The satellite dish was directed.

The whirring in the room grew louder, and louder, code tuning smoothly.

The workers were all silent in anticipation.

The moment that the signal was sent, was a great one for the Galra empire.

"Phase Three of Operation Kuron, commences..."