Work Text
Keith was no stranger to the tugging pull in his gut of being called. He had encountered quite a few Sirens in his life, after all… but Sirens called with a song. This was no song.The strange energy wrapped around him, soothing and gentle, lulling him into drifting peacefully in the small cave he had been exploring when he stumbled across it. With a flick of his tail he rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, allowing the pulsing blue to envelop him. Words, sensations, emotions were all pressed gently into his consciousness,though slowly growing in intensity. Coming, falling, pain, soon, Shiro, Shiro, find him, find him, now now NOW.Keith jolted awake, iolite eyes wide in shock. Shiro! The energy knew where Shiro was!Concentrating, he picked out the tendril of energy leaving the cave, and immediately shot out to follow it. Through the buzz in his head and the slight shimmering of his vision, he propelled himself towards the surface, towards a small shadow against the sky. Towards Shiro.Keith’s momentum caused him to burst out of the water, leaping clean over Shiro’s still form draped over a piece of driftwood. He crashed back into the water, ducking underneath Shiro and pulling the man’s arm over his shoulder. The chill of a metal prosthetic bit into his skin and he shuddered, but didn’t let it stop him from supporting his head above the surface, his powerful tail easily allowing him to tread water.Glancing around for the closest land, his gaze caught on a small, single-mast ship that was too close for comfort. A tanned figure in blue was leaning over her bow, and he called back to his crew. “I see Shiro! There’s somebody else there!”Deciding that he could easily sink the ship if it came to that, Keith met them halfway, allowing them to pull Shiro over the rail and to safety without argument. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t feel immediately anxious as soon as his friend was out of his reach, but he had to think practically. As Shiro always said, patience yields focus, and the best thing for Shiro right now was to be out of the cold water.A small person dressed in green with pointed ears and round, reflective glasses peered over the edge of the ship at Keith. An elf, he recognized. “You coming up or what?”Keith opted to keep his silence, merely gazing up at the girl passively. “Pidge!” A larger copy of the figure at the rail, sans glasses, joined her. “Why haven’t you helped him up yet?”“I’m not sure he understands me, actually.”“Hey!” He called down. “Why don’t you get out of the water and we’ll get you warmed up?”Rather enjoying their confusion, the mer blinked up at them and, without a word, allowed himself to sink under the waves. With their panicked shouts following him, he swam to the bow and searched for some kind of rope or lead, finally locating a chain that had been fasted to two points near the waterline. Grinning to himself with sharp teeth, Keith turned towards the currents that would lead him to the caves where he had met Shiro and began to pull.There were more cries of alarm above him as the ship’s deck jerked beneath her passengers, but he paid them no mind and focused on the undulating movements of his tail and the cold rush of water against his scales. They weren’t far from his intended destination, and the cliffs loomed before them within moments. A large cave mouth marred the wall of rock, large enough that even at high tide there was room for the mast of the ship to clear the entrance with several feet to spare. Carefully navigating the protrusions under the water to avoid damaging his load, Keith towed the strangers into his hideout. Looping the chains around a submerged boulder right where the ground sloped up above water level and next to where an underwater stream trickled into the sea, he spun in place and poked his head above water again. The crew of the ship were already gathered at the rail, gawking at the cavern and at the mer below. The tanned boy who had spotted Keith and Shiro first pumped the air with his fist, blue eyes sparkling, and shouted. “A mer! Holy crow, guys, that’s a mer!”A large, person with shifting, mottled skin and a yellow bandana across his eyes retched over the rail. Keith winced at the foul smell permeating the water and quickly pulled himself up onto the rocks to spare his scales, sealing the gills along his ribs as he did. The queasy boy wheezed and clutched the edge desperately, moaning. “I hate boats.”“Calm down, everyone!” The taller elf called. “Let’s get Shiro ashor and try to talk to our new friend.”Keith watched them out of the corner of his eye as he massaged his tail. Boats were not light, and he would never recommend pulling on for any distance. The necessity did not in any way dull the ache.Once the crew were all on the dry side of the cave, opposite him, he finally turned a critical eye on them. The elves were definitely related, he would say brother and sister for sure. There was a sort of fierce intensity to the younger, while he got the sense that the elder would be rather mellow and easy to get along with. The big guy who had thrown up in the water that he swam in thank you very much wasn’t something he’d seen before, but he fit the description Shiro had given him long ago of a quarry sprite. Which was interesting, since quarry sprites were supposed to hate water. The fourth person, the tanned boy, looked like a human. Which was also odd, since humans didn’t seem to like other species in the slightest, Shiro being the only exception he had experienced. The mer made a mental note to keep a cautious watch on him.When his gaze fell on the human at their feet, however, all other thoughts flew out of his mind. Shiro. He was alive, he was safe! It had been a year… Keith had almost stopped looking. Dragging his tale and probably scraping off a copious number of scales, he pulled himself over to the group, ignoring the glances of concern and wonder. The taller elf urged the others to give him space as he approached, and they all stepped back (some with more grace than others) as he leaned over Shiro. Tapping the side of the unconscious man’s face gently, he chirped questioningly. When he didn’t stir, he changed tactics and whispered. “Shiro?”A voice behind him squeaked, “Mers can talk?” but Keith ignored them.He shook Shiro’s arm gently. “Shiro, wake up. Shiro.”Keith’s heart leapt in his chest as grey eyes flew open, staring blankly at the ceiling of the cave for a moment before focusing on his face. His voice was hoarse with disuse, but sounded like music to the mer’s ears. “Keith?”The mer flared his dorsal fin, arching his back as he crowed with joy. Chittering in his own language, he threw his arms around his friend and nuzzled his chest. He felt the rumbled of the man’s laugh under his skin and a metal hand carded through his hair in a familiar gesture that completely relaxed him in an instant.“Shiro?” Another voice called tentatively. “Are you alright?”Reluctantly, Keith rolled off of him, allowing him to push himself up and address the others. “I’m fine, Matt. How did you guys find me?”Flopping onto his stomach, Keith rested his head on crossed arms and observed their interactions through half-lidded eyes, content that his friend was safe and no immediate harm was on the horizon.“Well,” the tall elf, supposedly Matt, started. “You know that water nymph my dad is friends with? Selina? She told us a Galra ship had been torn apart in a storm, and you know us, we had to go check. Then we found you. With him.”Everyone’s heads swiveled to follow Matt’s gesture. Keith shifted under their scrutiny and scowled. He lifted his fluke off the ground and pushed himself up to look bigger in an aggressive display, baring his fangs and hissing in warning. Shiro placed a soothing hand on his shoulder and the mer calmed almost immediately under his touch, sinking back to the ground once again. “Do you know him, Shiro?” The smaller elf called over curiously. The group had slowly inched away from the volatile creature, but she was inching closer once again. “He saved you.”“Yeah,” he smiled down at Keith, causing the mer to preen under the attention. “I know him. Allow me to introduce you to my friend, Keith. Keith, say hello.”He scowled at the man petulantly, but dutifully waved at the crew. “Hello.”“I didn’t know mer could talk.” The elf had not slowed her advance, and now stood barely a foot away. She stuck out her hand. “The name’s Pidge. Where’d you learn the common tongue?”Keith cautiously reached up to grip her hand, and just as quickly released her. “Shiro taught me a few years ago. It’s easier to communicate if we know the same language.”He spoke with a lilting accent that warbled a bit on the long vowels, but otherwise his voice was clear and soothing to listen to. Subconsciously, the young elf had swayed closer into his reach. He pulled back from her slightly, the edge of his mouth quirking up. “You might want to be more careful, little elf. I’m sure you know the stories of songs from the deeps.”Pidge blinked, and hastily took a step back. “But… you don’t look like a Siren?”He blinked back, amused. “I’m not. That doesn’t make me any less dangerous. I can’t enchant you, but I can still cause trouble for the unwary.”She shuddered. “Thanks for the warning, then.”“How did you meet Shiro?”He turned to see that the other human had come close as well, the others trailing behind as he regarded the mer suspiciously.Keith shrugged and offered no answer. Shiro sighed and crossed his legs, taking the story upon himself. “I was exploring when I stumbled upon his cave. He chased me out, but I was curious as to why a mer had a cave that reached above the water in the first place, and especially one who was living without a pod. So I came back, but I brought presents with me: shiny things, food, whatever I thought he would like. It took a few times before he actually warmed up to me, but he didn’t chase me away again. Eventually, in time, we became friends.” He grinned cheekily at the boy. “Why? Are you jealous, Lance?”Lance huffed. “No! It’s just weird, is all. Mers don’t have a reputation of being friendly, and this one is just sitting at your feet like a lazy cat!”“This one can hear you, you know.” Keith snapped, pushing himself up again and glaring at the human. “And he doesn’t appreciate being discussed as if he wasn’t there.”
Lance opened his mouth to argue when a deep rumble shook the cave. A pulse of energy washed over Keith, familiar and tantalizing elusive. He perked up, ignoring the questioning looks of the others, and pulled himself to the edge of the water.“Keith?”Brushing off Shiro’s worried tone, the sleek form of the mer slipped into the water, light flashing off blood-red scales. If he could find the source, this time… He darted upstream, sensing the others hesitate slightly before following on foot. Leading them deeper into the cave system, he found himself in the cavern he had been lounging in just before he was pulled towards Shiro floating in the ocean. With a swipe of his tail he shot farther inside, into a chamber he had, until now, never uncovered. An island rose out of the water, reachable by land over a series of stepping stone, and at the island’s center was a creature that even the mer believed was only a myth.A dragon.Only her blue wings were visible, wrapped around the rest of her like a shield, but there was no mistaking the size and elegance that was spoken of in whispered legends. A chorus of soft gasps alerted Keith to the presence of the others, but he didn’t bother looking back. The dragon didn’t stir. He wondered how he had not seen this dragon before. There was a connection, there, some sort of tug in his gut that felt more familiar to him than the weaker thread still connecting him to his old pod. Closer than relatives, closer than blood.“Shiro, tell me that’s a dragon.” Lance breathed in awe, stepping out onto the first stone.Shiro’s voice was just as breathless. “That’s a dragon.”Slowly swimming forward, Keith kept pace with Lance as the boy stepped lightly from stone to stone towards the island. The strange energy that still fit over him like a second skin hummed contentedly, doubling in strength as he neared the magnificent creature, stealing the air from his lungs and leaving him numb. This felt so right, and yet… he couldn’t help but feel a slow, curling dread pool in his gut.Something was happening here. He didn’t know what it was.Lance had reached the island, blue eyes that were almost the same shade as the dragon blown wide in wonder as he stretched out a hand. Time seemed to slow as his fingers brushed against shimmering scales.The dragon lifted her head.Everyone froze, primal instincts overriding the logical progressions of thought. The majestic beast arched her neck primly, lowering her snout and breathing a hot blast of steam in the human boy’s face. He started from his daze and, cautiously, reached for her once again. She allowed him to stroke her nose, before nuding him gently. Caught off guard, he stumbled and fell on his butt in the shallow water.A low rumble echoed through the cavern as she threw her head back, echoing louder and louder. It took Keith a moment to realize that she was laughing.Lance picked himself up, grumbling under his breath. Keith’s keen ears picked out the words freaking dragon and not funny. The mer raised a hand to hide his own smile. It kind of was funny.“Lance?” Matt called out nervously. “What are you doing?”Lance had stepped back up to the dragon, who in turn had sat up and flared her wings regally, and was now stroking her front leg since he couldn’t reach the rest of her. He glanced back at the elf and basically hugged the dragon, arms spread, with a pleading expression. “Can we keep her?”Keith snorted. “Are you serious? More like, does she want to keep you.”“W-what?” Lance spluttered.Keith would swear the dragon smirked as she reached down and took the back of Lance’s collar between her teeth, lifting him off the ground as he hung limp in shock. She deposited him gently just in front of her wings and climbed to her feet, eyeing the mer with a thoughtful look. Uneasily, he shifted backwards in the water.One of her eyebrow ridges lifted in a facsimile of amusement, but she did not pursue the issue.“Woohoo!” Lance seemed to have recovered from the surprise quite well. “I’m riding a dragon!”“That you are,” Shiro chuckled.“C’mon, Blue,” he patted her side. “Take us for a fly?”“Did he say us?” Matt whispered, though not really doing a good job of keeping his voice down.“Shut up!” Pidge hissed back. “And yes, as a matter of fact, he did.” She raised her voice a little. “Did you name the dragon?”“No,” Lance replied primly. “She told me.”Their squabbling was interrupted by the dragon herself, scooping up the elves, much the same as she had Lance, and released them just in front of her rider. When her head swiveled to face Shiro, the human smiled at her, and she allowed him to climb up herself. She turned back to Keith. Pinned under her gaze, he sank as low in the water as he could. Curse this shallow pool! He hissed and thrashed as her claws wrapped around his tail. Dropping him unceremoniously in Shiro’s arms, she warbled in his face, almost chidingly. His scowl didn’t shift, and he clutched tighter to his friend too keep his balance as she stepped through the water to the cave mouth. Heart beating much too fast in his chest, he attempted to wriggle out of Shiro’s arms before it was too late. The traitor merely pulled the mer closer to his chest, trapping him.Blue spread her wings in the large cave, crouched much like a cat, and launched herself into the air.Screaming, some in terror and some in pure joy, the dragon’s six passengers watched the ocean drop away below them as the clouds drew ever-nearer. Blue banked to one side and Lance whooped, throwing his hands up as he tightened his hold with his legs. Pidge’s eyes were sparkling as she glanced around, having no problem with the height. Her brother seemed slightly more uncomfortable, but was holding out well. Even Shiro appeared largely unaffected. At least the quarry sprite was as uncomfortable as Keith felt, hunched over one of Blue’s spines and whining pitifully. His breath hitched when she dipped on a wind current. “Lance!” He wailed. “Tell her to be more careful!”“You think I can tell her anything, Hunk? She’s a dragon!”“She told you her name, right? Maybe she’ll listen to you!”Pidge pressed her glasses to her face to keep them from being blown away. “How did she tell you her name? How does she talk to you?”“Well,” he shifted on her back to a more comfortable position. “This is going to sound crazy, but she pushes the words into my brain, kinda?”“Like telepathy?” She queried with interest, twisting to look back at him.“I don’t know what that is, but yeah, sure.”Keith closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing, shutting out the others’ voices. The energy he had been searching for for years, Blue, attempted to sooth him, wrapping his mind in tranquility and a sort of complacent drowsiness. He shoved back hard, rather more harshly than he had intended, and she obediently pulled back, though reluctantly. Lance cried out. “What the crow was that?”“What the crow was what?” Pidge poked his shoulder. “You kinda blanked out there for a minute.”“It’s like someone set my head on fire for a second…” He paused. “And it wasn’t Blue. It felt different.”Keith’s blood suddenly ran cold. Mentally reaching for the threads of connection twining around his spine, he did not find only the weak connection to his pod and the stronger connection to Blue, but a third as well. Carefully, cautiously, he traced the thread with his mind until he bumped up against another, one he recognized. Lance.How had they become connected? Was it through Blue?“There it is again!” Lance whipped his head around towards the front. “It came from over there.”Blue huffed a laugh and pulled a blanket of calm over both their minds. Later, she whispered. All will be made clear.“If you say so.” The human muttered, pouting, but he did not argue.Keith turned his face so he was no longer looking over Shiro’s shoulder and instead buried it in his chest, trying to breathe slowly and not think about the great expanse of nothingness beneath him. Blue prodded at his mind again, offering sleep, protection while he rested. He considered the offer, turning it over and twisting it in his mind, examining it. He supposed it all came down to trust.And against his better judgement, he trusted Blue.Her laugh echoed inside his skull, like the reverberations of ocean waves in his underground home, and he drifted on the swell of her mind into sleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Keith woke to the unpleasant shock of cold water on his scales. He lashed out reflexively at whoever was nearby, earning a high-pitched yelp from whomever was holding him and causing them to drop him completely into the water. Even though the fading of the dryness was a relief, he hated the cold.Emerging from the pool, he glanced around warily. He was in a mountain pool, probably glacier-fed, which at least explained the freezing temperatures and the fact that his fluke was already too numb to feel. Blue was perched on a rocky outcropping not far away, with Lance and Shiro speaking in low tones at her feet. Pidge and the quarry sprite (Hunk was his name, right?) were poking around at a nearby boulder field at the foot of a high cliff-face. Matt was sitting, half-propped up on one hand, only a few feet away from Keith, nursing his other hand sullenly. The elf’s ear twitched. “You scratched me.” He accused, narrowing his eyes. “I was helping you, and you scratched me.”Raising his upper body out of the icy water after sealing his gills, he crossed his arms, shivering harshly. “You startled me awake. After I was flying on a dragon. In freezing cold water. What made you think that was a good idea?”“You were drying out! What else was I supposed to do?”“Get Shiro?” The mer suggested sourly, his voice starting to slur. “Not dump me in water that is barely warmer than ice?”He was already feeling the effects, his thoughts becoming sluggish and slow. It was more work than it was worth keeping his even his head above the water now, but he didn’t know how deep the pool was, and if he sank too deep… he might never get out. Laboriously, he pulled himself half onto the edge of the pool, tail hanging limp in the water. His fluke and pelvic fins were already numb, and his torso and dorsal fins were well on their way to joining them. Matt was speaking again, but Keith didn’t have the energy to try and piece together his words. Distantly he was aware of hands on his shoulders, shaking him, before slipping under his arms and pulling. He slid a few inches before the person stopped, breathing hotly on the back of his head. Someone (How close were they? He couldn't tell. Did it matter?) was shouting, panicked.Another person must have lifted his tail out of the water, though he couldn’t feel it, because now he was moving. Something soft was wrapped around him, and something warm pressed up against his side. He leaned into the heat, struggled to slough off the fog clouding his thoughts.Voices intruded in the confusion, words falling into place all at once.“So you’re saying he can’t thermoregulate?” Pidge. That was Pidge.“Mers are cold blooded. It’s how they survive migration and changes in the temperature of currents.” And there was Shiro. But where was he? Why did he sound so far away?Keith curled closer the heat source as he regained power of his limbs, and the conversation around him continued. “What possessed you to put him in a glacier lake then?!” Lance’s voice exclaimed.“I was trying to help,” Matt defended weakly, but it was obvious by his tone that he was wracked with guilt. Shiro intervened smoothly. “You couldn’t have known, Matt. Mer biology isn’t common knowledge, and I think they’d like to keep it that way.”“Damn straight.” Keith muttered, pressing his face against what felt like a furnace covered in scales, breathing carefully.A surprised, snorting giggled escaped from someone behind him. “He’s awake!” Pidge barreled into his shoulder, knocking all the hard-won air from his lungs. “You’re alive!”Keith forced his eyes open with a chuckle, surrounded by blue scales… surrounded by Blue’s scales, apparently. “Yeah.” He pushed himself up on one elbow, shedding a blanket in the process, and blinked at the people surrounding him. “Where are we?”“A cave, in the Arusian Mountains,” Shiro supplied, crouching next to him. “How are you feeling?”Tentatively stretching out his tale and flaring his fins, he assessed his physical state. Still a bit slow, but manageable. His mental state though… “Still kinda foggy. But nothing hurts.” He hurried to reassure him. “Just… slow.”“Not cold?” He pressed.Keith shook his head. “Mm, no. Blue’s warm.”Shiro huffed a laugh. “That’s good.” The mer pushed himself into a sitting position, back pressed against the dragon’s side. “Why did she take us here, anyway? Do you know?”Lance had been hovering off to the side, but now he settled on the ground and crossed his legs. “She says she needs to find someone. She won’t tell me who.”A smile flickered across Keith’s face at Lance’s pout, and he shook his head in bemusement. “Why isn’t she looking now, then?”The boy gave him an odd look. “Because she’s taking care of you.”Glancing at Shiro in confusion, hoping he’d explain, all he saw was a sad shadow playing around his smile. “Don’t stress about it, Keith.”“Okay…” He was still baffled by the whole scenario, and unsure, but he stretched his arms above his head and pushed on anyway. “I’m fine now, though. Does she know where to look?”Giving him another unreadable look, Lance nodded shortly. “Yeah, but it’s a lot higher in the mountains.”“And that’s a problem because…?”“It’s cold, Keith.” Matt informed him shortly, unimpressed. “You think after this,” he gestured to Keith’s prone form. “We’re going to take you up into the mountains?”“You don’t need to take me with you,” he countered, unwilling to be a problem. “In fact, I’d be just as happy if you dropped me in some stream or river that ran to the ocean. I go home, you go… follow a dragon, or whatever. Have a blast. Everyone wins.”A sigh from Shiro as the man put his face in his hands was the only audible answer to Keith’s argument. The others were just staring, as if they couldn’t comprehend what he just said. The awkward standoff had Keith shifting away from Blue, a familiar scowl falling into place like the well-worn mask it was as his dorsal fin flared in agitation. “What, would it be too much work to get me to a river or something?”“No!” Pidge made a sharp crossed gesture with both arms. “No, it’s nothing like that. Geeze, Keith!”Ah, and there was the confusion again, warring with the deep-seated, searing heat that had always lived behind his ribs. “What is it, then?”“It’s just…” She visibly hesitated, but the others don’t say anything, either, and the young elf seems compelled to continue. “You really want us to just… leave you behind?”The honest answer to that question was no, of course not but they weren’t moving on because of him, right? So he should just go, find his way back to the cave he could at least call his and studiously wipe this memory from his mind. With the knowledge that Shiro was alive and safe, he had nothing more to gain from this venture. (That was a lie, of course, but he could pretend. He was good at pretending.)“I’m fine on my own,” is what he said out loud, suppressing the uncomfortable emotions welling up within him. “There’s not much I can do on land, anyway.”“I guess you could say,” Lance smirked and pointed with both hands. “You’re a regular fish out of water.”A chorus of groans greeted that (frankly, terrible) joke, but the tension in the air dissipated. Keith wondered if that was Lance’s intention in the first place. Blue’s presence brushed up against the edge of his mind. I’ll keep you warm. Come with us. There is someone I think you’d like to meet.Lance perked up as well, tilting his head at Blue. “You sure that’s a good idea, girl?”Pidge, still half-wrapped around Keith, twisted to face him. “What did she say?”“She can keep Keith warm farther up, if he comes with us. And she wants him to,” he pouted, betrayed. “Though what she sees in him, I have no idea.”“Can we find another way for her to carry me, then?” Keith interjected, curious about this someone Blue wanted him to meet, despite himself. “Because as much as I like you, Shiro, that’s not going to work for me.”“Why not make a sling?” Matt suggested, already measuring the dragon’s front with a spare blanket. “Tie him to Blue’s underbelly. It’ll be warm, she won’t hurt him with her claws, and he doesn’t have to worry about holding on or being blown off.”“What, and have him cradled like a baby?” Lance wrinkled his nose. “That your best plan?”“Not to mention I won’t have to look at Lance’s face,” Keith added, baring his razor-teeth at the other in an approximation of a grin. If the human was going to be hostile, the mer was going to win.He was certain he had never seen the blue-eyed boy look more offended, but that wasn’t hard. He hadn’t known the boy before today. Or yesterday? He didn’t know how long he had been unconscious.Shiro was pinching the bridge of his nose, muttering some mantra under his breath. Keith wondered how long it would take for his bickering with Lance to make him snap. Probably before they even got to where Blue needed to go. Wherever it was she needed to go.“Hey,” Hunk, who had been helping Matt and Pidge set up a sling for Keith, paused in his work and turned back to them. “Why does Blue need us? Why didn’t she just go… find whoever it is she needs to find, on her own?”Lance opened his mouth as if he was going to give a stinging retort on Blue’s behalf, but instead hesitated, frowning. “You know, that’s actually a good question.”Blue’s rumbling laugh echoed in the cave and in Keith’s head, startling the two elves and the sprite working under her belly. Patience. All will be made clear. In time.If you say so, Keith grumbled, stretching out on the frozen ground and shivering. He tugged the blanket back over his shoulders, for all the good that would do him. He twisted so he was looking up at Matt. “How soon will that sling be ready? The stone is cold.”“Almost done,” the tall elf grunted, reaching to tie a final knot around the dragon’s shoulder and loop the rest of the rope over her neck. “There. Done. Come on, Hunk, help me get this guy in there and see if it works.”It took a tremendous amount of willpower for Keith to allow the two to lift him, mentally reminding himself not to attack them and repressing the shudders from their touch. They were helping him, he reminded the animalistic, terrified corner of his mind, or trying to. It wouldn’t do to hurt them.Once he was settled in the sling, pressed up against the scales of the dragon’s underbelly with only a gap near his face to see through, Matt knelt next to him. “How’s that feel?”A small tightness gripped his chest, stealing his air, but it wasn’t overwhelming. His inability to so much as twitch a fin sent dread shooting up his spine, but he could handle it. Being unable to see what was around him caused a tiny voice in the back of his mind to suggest panicking, but he squished it down and buried it in the simmering, ever-present heat. He could do this. He had to. And so he said, “I’m fine.”He really wasn’t, but he couldn’t just tell them that.The others double-checked the bindings on the sling one more time before mounting the dragon, and moments later they were off. Keith did his best to narrow his focus to the tiny strip of sky he could see, instead of the sensation of being pinned and paralyzed hundreds of feet above the ground with only a thin piece of fabric keeping him from falling to the rocks below.He was failing. Miserably. It had been quite some time since he was forced to be alone with his thoughts. Usually he could find some form of distraction in the endless expanse of the ocean, be it teasing sharks, drifting perilously close to human vessels, dancing with dolphins, or exploring deep trenches in the sea floor. The need to focus on whatever reckless action he had chosen to undertake successfully drove out any festering thoughts that would lead him into a spiral, emphasis on ceaseless movement rather than contemplation. He didn’t have that option now. Now he had nowhere to run as the thoughts came bubbling up from where he had suppressed them for so long, sibilant and silver-tongued as always. An echo of a past life.
What are you doing here, Keith? You don’t know these people.
But he knew Shiro! (The defense was feeble, even to himself). Shiro wouldn’t let anything happen to him… right?Shiro? You hardly know him! He’s a human, after all. And yet here you are, trusting their workmanship to keep you from falling. Need I remind you that, if you had any say, you wouldn’t be in this mess at all? Has it occured to you that you’ve basically been kidnapped?Kidnapped? They didn’t… it wasn’t their choice! It wasn’t kidnapping...
Plucked straight from your home, flying off to who-knows-where, to do who-knows-what. What do you call that? Lance was right, in more ways than one, when he called you a fish out of water. You can’t trust these people. One of them almost killed you already! How can you be certain it won’t happen again?
Matt hadn’t meant to! It was a mistake! He didn’t know...
Was it really? Shiro knew you can’t thermoregulate. Him and Matt already were pretty close before he met you, why else would they all be looking for him? How do you know that he hasn’t already told them everything?
Shiro wouldn’t tell. He wouldn’t. He promised.
And you think promises mean anything to humans? A human breaking her promise is exactly what isolated you in the first place! How is Shiro any different?
Keith really wished he had a counterargument, but like always, the voice knew exactly where his weaknesses lie, taking him down in a matter of moments with foreboding efficiency.
You know I’m only trying to help you, Keith. To keep you safe. You can’t trust these people.
He had no reason to believe otherwise. The voice had kept him alive on numerous occasions already… That didn’t mean he had to like it.
Harsh, my friend. I’m hurt.
That was easier to ignore. The voice could only be as hurt as Keith himself was. It was his own voice, after all.Abruptly another presence brushed up against his mind, curious and… concerned?Oh, right. Blue. I’m fine. He assured her. One second thought, he amended. But please hurry.The pace picked up immediately, and she prodded again. Would you like to sleep until we get there?He sighed in relief. Yes. Please. At least in sleep the voice couldn't prod him.And then the peaceful darkness took him away.