How Far I've Come (Keith x Reader)

✕ He Returns; Chapter Nineteen ✕

"Paladins!!" Allura's voice cries, wrecked and loud through the castle communication system. You flinch, feeling a secure arm wrap around you, an instinct Keith has always had that isn't new to your relationship. Every time a Garrison alarm went off, it was awkward-side-hug (not real hugs) time.

"We need you at the landing dock immediately! Keep Y/n somewhere safe, Lotor's ship has docked in the Castle of Lions. I repeat,

Lotor's ship has docked in the Castle of Lions."

☆·.¸¸.·'¯'·.¸¸.¤ ☆ ¤.¸¸.·'¯'·.¸¸.· ☆

You've never seen Keith move faster than when he sat up in that moment. Like an unexpected flash strike of lightning, your light was right there, yet within milliseconds it was gone. Only darkness stayed, and until another crackle of lightning returned, in the dark you would remain.

"Keith." You tried to calm him, seeing his chest rise and fall faster and faster with passing silence. He stared at you, seeing the fear you reflected upon each other. "Keith it's-"

"Stay here. Don't move." He commands, pushing you down onto the bed. "I'm going to join the others. Don't move. For the love of god, don't f——-g move."

He covers your body with the bedsheet in a moment of panic, not knowing what else he can do to keep you safe. He's been caught in a true moment of weakness, he has nothing on him but some clothes and a blade. If Lotor thinks he's going to leave this ship with anyone or anything, he's wrong. And, he'd better hope that Keith allows him to leave with his own life at that. Hands hover over your body as Keith shakes, unprepared.

You try to sit up, hands hooking around the edge of the bedsheet- "Don't move!" Is all he repeats.

"Keith!" You sputter back. All that he gives you in return is the shutting sound of doors, and without a doubt, you're stuck in your own room with a life-or-death command to not move an inch.

You're left alone to thoughts, and the memories that tag along with them. Why is Lotor here? Is it selfish to consider that he's here for you? When you first came on board, the team mentioned wanting to have his help in the war against his Father. Maybe he just came to discuss what they had previously talked about. But then, would they turn him down because of what they had learned from you? Could they lose an important piece of help because of a past you can't remember?

Darkness remains.

Solitude is your only comrade for an unrecorded amount of time. Is Lotor really onboard? How did he get his ship in the castle undetected? Is Keith okay? Are the Paladins planning to fall for a trap?

It's like suffocating yourself with your own negative thoughts.

It was so simple an hour ago. No stress, no loneliness, no darkness. Just Keith, Keith's touch, Keith's taste, his presence and his comfort. Seeing him scared, soft, and anything else but calm-faced was an odd luxury. When you see him relinquishing his wall of calmness to let a pure emotion slip through, just for you, it makes you jittery. God, just the thought of him managed to calm you down for a few minutes..

There are too many questions that you can't answer while being under that bedsheet, one of the more terrible disguises you've used. And so the question remains: Do you risk it all and leave, and assist the team in anything you can, or do you stay here and wait possible hours until someone comes to retrieve you from your silky prison? Your breath is getting hot under the sheet, and the need to rip it off of yourself grows.