The paladins were out on a mission on planet Aqistrum, looking for any sign of primitive life. So far the only thing they had been able to find was a Quad, which Lance thought looked like a tiger, but this one was harmless.
" I'm telling you, it looks like a tiger!" Lance complained, and soon Keith just had enough and stepped up the pace so he was walking in front of the others.
" Hey Keith, come back here," Shiro demanded the red paladin, and Keith came back but he decided to walk behind everyone else this time. An hour had passed and everyone was doing their own thing on the planet like Pidge was collecting dirt samples, and Shiro was inspecting some leaves. Hunk was looking at pictures of the Quads they saw together with Lance, and Keith was checking out a patch of flowers that were growing near his lion. Keith reached his hand down towards the flowers, but before he could process what just happened he screamed out in pain, making his teammates rush over to see what happened.
" Keith!" The rest of the paladins crouched down next to him to make sure he was okay, but Keith was in shock and couldn't utter any words at the moment.
" Keith what happened!?" Hunk asked, shaking the red paladin until he was able to respond.
" I... I don't know, but I was going to reach down towards the flowers and..." Keith stammered but couldn't explain it. Shiro on the other hand yanked Keith's hand forward and to everyone's surprise, there was a tiny red imprint of a bite, right there on his hand.
" Keith, did something bite you?" Shiro asked in concern, while Pidge proceeded to inspect the bite as well. She didn't know what bug could have made the bite so she called Coran via her suit communicator, and told him all that just happened.
" I'm fine, you guys it was just a bug bite..." Keith said and started walking back to his lion, while everyone else followed to make sure he really was fine.
" Stop following me!" Keith snapped and got in his lion. In his lion, that's when Keith really had a chance to inspect the bite himself, and to him, it wasn't such a big deal, the pain would eventually wear off and then he would be fine. In this case, that's not exactly the way things went, and it was because the bug was dangerous but this he didn't know at the point.
Back at the castle Keith immediately went to his room to avoid the other's concern about the bite, but he wasn't alone for long and soon someone decided to come to check on him, and it was Coran. Keith felt he knew this wasn't a good sign.
" Keith, are you in here?" Coran asked, slowly opening the door to Keith's room, finding the red paladin reading a book by the desk in his room. Coran went over to Keith and expected the red paladin to follow him but that's not how that went.
" Coran if this is about the bug bite, then you don't have to worry because I feel fine," Keith assured and continued reading his book, but Coran wasn't going anywhere.
" I need you to come with me so I can tend to the bite." Coran interrupted and yanked the book out of Keith's hands.
" Hey, I was reading that! Keith jumped out of the chair, and looked at Coran with a glare, just to see that he had to find a way to avoid the situation he was in.
" What do you want!?" Keith growled, crossing his arms soon realizing that was a bad idea and Coran took notice.
" I need to check so the bite wasn't dangerous, you're an earthling and this is space. You don't think alien bug can affect you?" Coran growled in frustration until Keith came with him. Soon the red paladin found himself in the infirmary, which was the only place in the castle that he really didn't like.
" Sit down on the bed there," Coran said pointing to the beds at the end of the room. Keith slowly made his way there and sat down not knowing what would happen, but he probably wasn't going to like it.
" Okay, Keith did you see the bug that bit you?" Coran asked. Keith answered no because when he reached down the pain was so quick he didn't have time to see what bit him.
" Okay, that definitely limits that solution, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to extract a tiny amount of blood from the area you were bitten to see if there is venom because if there is, your in trouble." Coran explained. Keith didn't like the sound of this idea at the slightest and started looking for an escape route.
" Coran, how's it going?" Shio asked as he entered the infirmary just as Keith was going to make a run for it.
" Its slowly getting better, I'm just gonna check his blood quickly," Coran answered, as he put out supplies next to him and once again faced Keith.
" Keith lets not remake what happened back on earth, please," Shiro said as he walked over to where Keith was sitting. A few years ago when they were still on earth Keith had made a scene when he was going to have his flu shot, which Shiro had to be a part of, so he now didn't want the same thing to happen again.
" I'm not good with needles..." Keith told Coran bluntly, and this of course didn't please Coran the slightest.
" Well I have to do this, so you don't have a choice." Coran chuckled and grabbed Keith's arm, only feeling the boy be a little resistant and he looked at Shiro for assistance. Shiro grabbed onto Keith's shoulders in case he was going to make a run for it, but Coran managed to draw some blood, and then it was over.
" Can I go now?" Keith asked, getting up from the bed slowly walking towards the door. Shiro looked at the red paladin but the boy didn't care to wait for an answer and left, making Shiro annoyed and so he went to get Keith back.
" Shiro, his blood indicated that there is venom in his blood, which means you have to get Keith back here as soon as you can!" Coran said over the communicator that Shiro had with him, and the black paladin knew that this was gonna get ugly if Keith didn't cooperate with him from now on.
" Keith, the bug was poisonous, come back here!" Shiro shouted once he had chased Keith to the end of the hallway.
" I don't want to go back there, make me!" Keith snorted sarcastically back and ran off, leaving Shiro stranded in the hallway. Not long after though, Shiro had found Keith again and was now dragging him back to the infirmary. Keith on the other hand was dragging back and trying to get loose from Shiro's grip, only to find that he wasn't succeeding and seconds later he was back in the infirmary.
" I'm fine!" Keith snorted and tried once again leaving but this time Shiro had decided that he wasn't gonna just leave. Keith was by the door only to find it locked by Coran's fingerprint, so he really had no way to escape now unless his friends could save him... That's it!
" Guys can one of you come and help me?!" Keith asked on his communicator, not getting any response.
" I turned off your communicator just in case you were gonna call for backup, so... sorry," Coran explained, and Keith, of course, got pissed off and went to sit on the bed again, realizing that there literally wasn't any use to call the others anyway because they knew he was bitten and needed help.
" What are you even gonna do about the venom?" Keith asked, and looked around the room to get any kind of clue but Coran explained it for him.
" Well, I'm going to extract all the venom that is in your body. The reason you haven't started to feel sick yet is that it takes 2 earth hours before the venom starts affecting the body and it has only been one and a half hours." Coran explained. Keith wondered how exactly Coran was going to get the venom out but he felt he didn't want to know the answer to that, because that would only make the situation worse...
" Come here," Coran said, and started walking over to another bed that looked a bit different than the one he currently was sitting on, but he walked after Coran and Shiro followed.
" I'm going to place this pump on the bite and will vacuum out all the venom within one hour, does that sound okay with you?" Coran asked. Keith inspected the pump and didn't see anything on it that possibly could make it more uncomfortable so he sat down on the edge of the bed.
" Is it going to be uncomfortable?" Keith asked, seeing how Coran definitely was sugar-coating his face expression, and Keith knew just from Coran's expression that he wasn't going to like whatever came next. Keith lay down and let Coran strap on the velcro and vacuum around his arm where the bite was, and just with the vacuum on Keith felt uncomfortable.
"It's not gonna hurt that much, but it might be a bit discomforting at times, but you have to bear with it," Coran said, starting the machine and the pain Keith felt wasn't what he had imagined at all, since Coran used the word discomforting.
" Ow! Take it off!" Keith shouted as he started trying to pry the strap off his arm, but Shiro was there to stop him.
" We have to get the venom out of your system, you could die if we don't!" Shiro panicked and had to keep Keiths other hand from taking the strap off.
" Shiro, it hurts!" Keith yelped, but Shiro still didn't let Keith try to take the machine off. Keith still kept trying to take the vacuum off, but Shiro kept his other hand far away from it and he wasn't succeeding, and it hurt so much. He had to get it off no matter what. A few moments passed and the only thing that Keith could do was yell for help, not getting much for an answer until...
" Why is there so much screaming going on in here?" Lance asked entering midway through the infirmary doors.
" LANCE! HELP!" Keith pleaded, but Lance didn't move towards him, he went over to Coran and stood there instead.
" LANCE! WHY WONT YOU HELP ME?!" Keith continued pleading for help, and in the meantime, Shiro's grip had loosened. A perfect chance for Keith to try to take off the vacuum, so with all his strength he ripped the velcro up and the machine fell off.
" Keith!" Shiro argued and grabbed the red paladin by the shoulders and held him down.
" What are you doing?!" Keith questioned, but Shiro just gave him a glare that was enough to show that he was in trouble.
" Dude, they are trying to help you!" Lance said, walking over to Keith. The red paladin was now in a situation he felt would end even worse than it started in.
" It hurt a lot for fucks sake..." Keith snapped and tried to get in a sitting position but Shiro's grip held.
" You still have venom left in your body though, so don't think it's over because you took the vacuum off," Coran concluded, seeing Keith's face expression grow steadily angrier by the second.
" Well if this didn't work then you'll just have to sit through something else, that might be more uncomfortable but not hurt as much," Coran said and motioned for Shiro to let go of Keith. Coran went over to a chair, and Keith followed deciding that it would be worse if argued. He sat down and Coran pressed a button on the side of the chair when suddenly there was a little machine that came out from the side of the chair.
" This is a venom extractor as well, but it will take a longer time to extract the venom," Coran explained and held up a needle with a small tube at the end of it.
" Oh, shit..." Keith thought and felt his arms tense up. Coran decided not to give any concern about Keith's fear of needles and pushed in the needle close to where the boy was bitten, only hearing a small wince of pain escape from the boy.
" Now this machine will filter out the venom from your blood, but as i said before, it is going to take a long time so..." Coran explained.
" I will go get you some lunch," Lance said, but Keith didn't want to stay in the infirmary anymore, he had enough so he asked Coran if he could make the machine portable, and to Keith's surprise, it was possible. Soon the four of them were walking to the kitchen, with the machine tagging after Keith like a little dog on a leash.
When they entered the kitchen he was greeted by the rest of the paladins and the princess who had just come back from a mission.
" Hey, Keith how are you feeling?" Hunk asked, handing the boy a plate of food.
" Oh you should have seen him before, he was screaming like a big baby!" Lance teased, getting everyone's attention.
" I was not screaming like a baby, but no shit it hurt like a lot!" Keith responded, and went to sit by the table with the others. Lance, Coran, and Shiro came to sit down to, and everything was going along well, until Keith suddenly hinted signs of pain, so within seconds Coran was there to check on him.
" Are you in pain?" Coran asked, and Keith nodded.
"It seems like the machine isn't as effective as I thought..." Coran admitted, so the two of them were off to the infirmary once again leaving the rest of the paladins with questions. Once back in the infirmary Keith went to sit down on the beds again, and Coran inspected the machine only to find that it didn't extract much venom since Keith had gotten it, which was bad.
" Looks like we'll have to go back to the vacuum because this machine isn't doing much. By the time this is finished your body would have been almost dead from the poison." Coran concluded and proceeded to take the needle out, once again hearing a small sound of pain escape the red paladin.
" If its I either die or have the vacuum again, I'm going to die!" Keith thought, and before Coran could do anything Keith was out the door and on the run.
" Shiro we have a problem," Coran told Shiro over the communicator.
" Everyone, Keith decided to be a bitch about getting help so now he has run off somewhere." Shiro stood up and told everyone at the table. The paladins and princess already knew that this meant they would have to hunt the red paladin through the whole castle, which only would mean work.
" Pidge, Hunk, and the princess you take the top floors, and I and Lance will take the bottom floors," Shiro said, and so the hunt began.
Keith on the other hand wasn't going to get caught and was moving on a constant to avoid his team from catching up to him, and so far he was succeeding. Keiths tactics were the following: If he saw someone he would run the other direction, but if they saw him he would go through the secret passageways that only he knew about. The secret passageways that he used to avoid the others when he wanted to alone.
" There he is!" Pidge had spotted him, and so he had to run. Keith ran up and down through the floors with Pidge and Hunk tailing close after him. Just as he was about to turn to another hallway he bumped right into...
" Shiro?!" Keith asked, and it was. Pidge and Hunk came from behind and soon his teammates were surrounding him in a circle, but Keith thought he could be smart and quickly half crawled/ran though Pidge and Hunks legs, though he didn't get far. He quickly got yanked back right into Shiro's strong arms, which grabbed on to ensure he wasn't going anywhere.
" Well, shit..." Keith thought and started struggling to get free from Shiro's grip. They were now all walking back to the infirmary, with Keith still struggling, and once he almost got free but Lance was there to quickly grab on to him. Once again Keith found himself in the infirmary, but this time he didn't willingly go to the bed, so he just stood by the entrance quietly.
" Keith come on." Coran requested, but Keith didn't move. Lance on the other hand was fed up with the red paladin and went to him, picked him up, and forcibly sat him down on the edge of the bed.
" What the fuck Lance!" Keith snapped, trying to get back at the blue paladin but Shiro held on to his wrists from behind so he couldn't do that.
" Now let's try this again..." Coran said, but Keith refused to cooperate like literally refused. At this point everyone where so fed up with his behavior, so Shiro took action and pushed the boy down again, calling for the others to help.
" Lance, restraints now!" Shiro demanded and the blue paladin went to get them while the others were helping to hold Keith down.
" Let go of me!" Keith yelled, trying to bite whoever was holding his shoulders down, but it wasn't working. Lance came back with the restraint, and his teammates helped restrain each of his limbs, so now he couldn't do anything about the fact that he was gonna die.
" Let me go!" Keith demanded, but no one did anything. Coran strapped the vacuum on again, and Keith tried to keep calm but the pain was on a whole other level, so soon he couldn't be quiet and yelled at his team for doing this to him.
" Keith will you shut up!" Lance pleaded, after many moments of Keith yelling had passed. Everyone wanted Keith to be quiet because there wasn't any point in him yelling.
" I can't, it hurts a lot and no one is doing anything about it, just go out of here if you wanna be an asshole about it!" Keith responded, and then he continued to whine about the pain. Lance went over to Shiro and asked him something, and Shiro nodded. Keith wondered if lance decided to leave the infirmary, but Lance went over to the cupboard in the room and soon came back with a mask, that was attached to a small box.
" What are you...doing?" Keith asked, but Lance didn't answer, he just proceeded to place the mask on Keiths face. Keith turned his face away since he had no idea what Lance was doing but his teammate wasn't going to give up, so he motioned for Hunk to come to hold his head still, and by this point, he could move his head at all, so the content from the mask proceeded to make him really sleepy, and soon he was out cold...
When Keith woke up again, he noticed his teammates were still by his side. Grunting to keep his eyes open, Shiro noticed that he was waking up and went over to check on the red paladin.
" How are you feeling...?" Shiro asked, but Keith was still a bit foggy so he just growled, clearly giving Shiro a sign to back off.
" Guys he's awake..." Keith heard Shiro say, and he felt people come surround him, as well as the restraints release him. Now when he was fully awake, he looked around to see that he was free, so he sat upon the bed.
" For the record, I absolutely hate all of you." Keith said groggily and jumped off the bed. Before he had the chance to leave he felt someone grab his wrist, so he turned around to see Coran.
" I just need to check so you don't have a fever, hold still," Coran said, holding up a scanner near his forehead. When he heard the beep, he started slowly walking out, and made it to his room a few moments later, realizing no one had stopped him meaning he didn't have a fever.
" They are gonna pay bigtime if they ever attempt to touch me like that again..." Keith thought and fell asleep.
"So he did have a fever, but I will let you guys deal with it I'm tired and need to sleep..." Coran told the paladins, and so he left.
" I'll take of it.." Shiro said and he made his way to Keith's room. Keith woke up once Shiro entered, probably because he had trust issues with him but Shiro didn't really mind that right now.
" What do you want...?!" Keith asked, groaning loudly to show his incredible excitement that his leader was in his room.
" You have a fever, but Coran said that the rest of us could take of it so I'm gonna get you some supplies," Shiro said, but Keith was too annoyed and tired to even care at this point so he just let the rest of the paladins take care of him.
" All that because of a stupid bug bite..." Keith thought and fell asleep once again.
THE END