"Take my lion!" Keith yelled as he jerked out of the pilot's seat. Red obediently hovered over the crevasse as Shiro hurried to do as he said, knowing first hand now what would happen if the lion's weight touched the ground. The Black lion grabbed Red as a mother would take her cub by the scruff of the neck. Keith knew Shiro wasn't happy about what he was doing, which is why he hadn't bothered to ask opinions or permission.

"Keith! What are you doing?" Pidge shouted through his helmet radio. But he wasn't thinking about what he was doing. Not really. "It's not safe. Wait!" No way. There was absolutely no time for anything complicated like a plan, like getting supplies, like sparing a thought for self-preservation. Not one tiny second.

He used the thrusters in his suit to soften the momentum of his drop from the lion. Even that slight pressure broke free several mounds of earth, sending mini-avalanches down into the scar that was torn through this planet. And when he touched down, he immediately felt his footing break loose, but he was expecting that. He spread his arms and hit his thrusters, keeping himself surfing on the wake of the rockslide as it tumbled almost one thousand feet down.

"Keith!" His remaining teammates screamed as he disappeared from their sight. He had his teeth clenched in concentration, trying not to be swallowed by the rocks breaking free above him, trying not to fall and bury himself or have anything knock him unconscious, trying to make anything out in the swirling thickness of dust the slide had kicked up. He had to make it all the way down in one piece. He had to get down there and not need help to break free of any rubble. He had to get down there because Lance had fallen first.

"Fine!" He gritted out, leaning backward against the steepness of the fall, wincing as friction and uneven terrain began to wear doubt and fear into his head. Mostly for Lance who had fallen before they'd understood about this area. Lance who had more than just his own wake to contend with as Blue had crumbled into the crevasse too. Why had it held her weight just long enough for Lance to get out? If he'd stayed inside, he would have been fine. But he needed to get that closer look, had to leave the safety of his lion. And when he put his weight, just there, just that spot, the whole cliff face had disintegrated.

In the case of snow, a victim buried in an avalanche has about fifteen minutes of oxygen. Fifteen minutes before their chances of survival drop by a huge irreconcilable percentage. Keith couldn't wait or plan. So he just jumped. Because, as Allura had succinctly put it, the Red Paladin relies mostly on instinct. Let the others, hovering without touching the ground for fear of causing more trouble, let them come up with something for getting them back to the surface. He only had fifteen minutes to find Lance.

He saw Blue first when he finally reached the bottom, which wasn't a surprise, but even she was hard to pick out through the dust haze. She lay on her side, covered in dirt, rocks, and debris. He didn't waste time going to her. She couldn't help him find Lance. She actually didn't look like she was capable of any function. The best she could do was give him a reference point.

"Lance!" He shouted as he skidded to a stop, running closer to Blue as things settled behind him to avoid being knocked out or down by anything he'd knocked loose. "Where are you? Lance!"

"Keith?" Pidge again, amazingly sounding relieved and worried at the same time. "What's down there? What's happening?"

"Don't talk to me," Keith ordered. "Call to Lance." He switched off his helmet radio so he couldn't hear anything but what was right near him and began to scan the disaster at the bottom of the canyon. The dust of his arrival and the direction of the light made it hard to see anything. How long did he have left? Where should he start?

He stood still, removing his helmet completely, grateful for the oxygen that existed on this planet, how closely it resembled the earth he grew up on, reminding himself that patience yielded focus even when his minutes were so precious. He listened, straining to catch any sound, stifling the urge to cough and clear his throat. He needed to hear. He closed his eyes, turning in a circle, then smiled. He could hear them. Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge. Their voices were faint, coming from a helmet speaker, but not his. He'd turned his off. These sounds were from Lance's helmet.

Keith pivoted to the sound, farther away from Blue than he'd imagined. He scanned the rubble and zeroed in on the patch of white standing out dramatically obvious now. It was also obvious that it had fallen off Lance's head. It was half buried. Keith went to it anyway. It seemed to be the best place to start.

"Lance!" He called, over and over, not even registering that he was doing it anymore. Seeing his hands pawing at the dirt, tearing away the rocks, pushing in as deep as possible to see if he could locate a foot, a hand, anything, but seeing them as though they weren't part of him.

He had to move faster.

Lance's helmet still screamed beside him as he ripped through the scree. His teammates grew louder, more desperate as the silence lengthened. His own hands delved more forcefully into the mounds brought down by the fall, cutting the palms, tearing the nails. "Lance!"

"We've got to get down there," the helmet said, the voice distorted enough by electronics and distance that Keith couldn't identify who was talking.

"No," another voice, probably Shiro. "Any more weight on the ground and we could bury them both. No, we need another plan."

The sun, or whatever this planet called its light source, was moving on. Shadows deepened in the canyon, cooling it, making it harder and harder for Keith to spot Lance's uniform. He could barely feel his hands, but he could see they were bloody and slowing. Sweat dripped down his face, but he didn't pause to wipe his brow. He moved, pulled the rubble down, coughed, switched to another spot. How far from his helmet had Lance fallen? Or, a dark voice trembled, how deep?

Wait. The shadows covered Blue. His teammates were quiet. His hands were still as he sat on his heels panting. How much time had gone by? He felt himself shiver; the sweat he'd worked up earlier was working against him now that the dark was coming. It was cold down here. He put on his own helmet, switched the communication back on.

"Guys," his voice cracked horribly, his vocal cords coated in dust.

"Keith!" Pidge yelped, and he could tell that she was sitting cross-legged, whether on the bridge or in her room in the castle, but somehow he knew that she was sitting cross-legged just waiting for him to contact them with an update. Outside of her lion. He shivered again. "I'll get Shiro."

Why? Where was Shiro? Keith's shoulder hit the rock pile as he tumbled over, trying to pull the last of the heat from the ground, drained beyond comprehension.

"Keith, what's going on? We're working out how to get you up out of there."

"The whole planet is like a pastry or something," Hunk's voice. "The top layer is all crumbly. We haven't found a safe place to touch down yet so we can come get you."

"Shiro," Keith's voice was still broken. "Shiro, I can't find him. How long has it been? How many minutes?" The answer was in the pause that followed these questions, but Keith had never been one to pick up on subtext. "Shiro?"

"Keith," Shiro began in a tone that very clearly begged not to have to answer this question in words. But Shiro also knew that Keith would need to hear it, clearly. "It's been almost three hours. You switched off your radio; we couldn't reach you. We've been analyzing the terrain to try and get down there, but apparently the best way is the way you did it. Which, for the record, wasn't the brightest idea you've ever had."

"Maybe not," Keith mumbled, clearing his throat, not thinking, shuddering as the temperature continued to drop. Where was Lance? Several hours. So much longer than fifteen minutes. Chances of survival drop to almost nothing after the first quarter hour. Lance. An ache settled into his chest that would have surprised him another time when he wasn't so tired. It would have taken him ages to figure out why, whether because he'd tried and failed or whether the Blue Paladin actually meant something to him. But right now, it was just there, one more hurt.

"What is that? Keith, what's that noise?" Pidge asked suddenly. He pictured her adjusting levels on her computer and squinting as if that would help her hear better.

"Interference in the connection?" Shiro guessed. Hours. How could it have been hours? He couldn't get past it.

"No, the signal is still strong. Geez, Keith, is that your teeth chattering?"

"Keith!" Shiro barked in his ear when he didn't answer. "What's the temperature down there?"

"I'm reading 13 degrees Celsius on the surface, but down where he is it's probably colder."

"Keith, you with me? Listen. Can you get to Blue? She'll make sure you don't freeze to death while we work this out."

"Lance," Keith began, not moving from where he had curled up in the dirt. His muscles were stiff and resisted even the idea of getting up. But he couldn't take cover yet, not when Lance was still out here somewhere. He couldn't just leave him. He heard someone choke, probably Hunk trying to keep his crying quiet.

"I know, we will find him, but we need to keep you safe right now," Shiro explained, his voice equal parts tender and tactical. "Go to Blue. That's an order."

It took more mental energy to stand up than it had to jump off the cliff, but he managed it. Between the cold, the exhaustion, and the loss, it took a while to orient himself enough to even remember where the huge robot lion was. His foot slipped out from under him after only a few steps down the last pile he'd dug through, making him slide the rest of the way on his backside.

"What happened? KEITH!"

"I'm fine," Keith muttered hoarsely, standing up again, knowing that he was hunched over but also knowing that it didn't really matter since he was really, really alone down here. He hadn't thought, jumping out of Red, that this would be where the sunset found him. He'd thought, known, that he could get to Lance before it was too late. That he'd been down here so long without finding anything but the helmet was so confusing that it took up all his attention. He moved to Blue only because Shiro was practically coaxing his every step.

As he walked toward her, the light moved with him, reflecting off different bits of her. The claws, the jawline. She hadn't put up her particle barrier. Maybe she was broken as well as half covered in debris? He took another step and the setting sun flashed over her eye. Another and there was a glimmer off on Keith's left-hand side. He stopped before he knew what he was doing, turning slowly towards the unexpected glare, his brain and his body not in tandem as they should be.

"Lance," his voice said ahead of his recognition. The glare was from the reflective blue stripes on Lance's uniform. He was just lying there, not buried, just right there.

"Keith, I'm serious. You've got to stop and take cover for the night." Shiro, not understanding what Keith meant, not being able to see what Keith could see, still thinking that he had to convince Keith to abandon the search for what was undoubtedly their perished comrade. Adrenaline pricked through Keith's synapses, fired up his muscles. No wonder he hadn't found him in the piles of rubble. He'd somehow been thrown clear, and he was close to Blue. His teammates buzzed in his headpiece, but he could only pay attention to one thing right then.

"I found him," he said, quiet happiness like warm water adding to his adrenaline. "He's here. I got him." How many more ways could he say that? He dropped to his knees at Lance's side, inspecting the scene before touching him. The Blue Paladin lay crumpled on his stomach, his head turned toward Keith and his mouth slightly open. None of his limbs were bent strangely and there weren't any noticeable breaks in his bones. Honestly, he looked like he'd just decided to lie down and enjoy the sunshine only to accidentally fall asleep. Except for the dirt. Keith thought it was all streaks of dirt.

"I've got Lance," he said, quietly, again, disbelief making him repeat himself as he convinced his mind and soul that it was actually true. Here he'd been tearing the mountainside apart and Lance had been just behind him. If he'd taken a few more steps closer to Blue, the last three hours would never have happened.

"Keith," Shiro sounded worried, helpless.

"He's alive," Keith said, determinedly, watching Lance's back lift as he breathed. Hunk's shriek of joy at this news made him tip his head toward his shoulder as if that would help to stifle the noise. Hunk wasn't the only one whooping either. It seemed all the inhabitants of the castle had thrown an impromptu cheering party. But Keith knew better than to be too excited yet.

"Hey, Lance," he called, prodding him just a bit on his shoulder. He might not look injured, but the fact remained that he'd been knocked unconscious and stayed that way for several hours. That meant something was off. "Wake up." He tapped him gently on the face, then again not so gently, coming to the realization that he was going to have to somehow pick him up and carry him to Blue as complete uncooperative dead weight. But considering where he'd just come from, walking toward the lion thinking that he was actually lost, he thought he could live with that. But how to do it without hurting either of them?

"You're going to make me carry you, huh?" Keith continued to talk to his unresponsive teammate, feeling his limbs for unnoticed injuries as he did so. Maybe it would be better not to move him at all. Maybe they should just sit tight until Pidge and Hunk came up with something brilliant to get them back out of this fissure. Keith weighed his options. Should he try moving Lance at the risk of damaging him or should they stay where they are and risk hypothermia? Keith shifted to Lance's head, crouching above him and taking it with both hands. Again, everything seemed sound. He turned Lance's face left and right, his fingertips laced at the place where the vertebrae are the most delicate. Nothing.

"Where are you, Keith?" Shiro asked from where ever the castle rested, high above the atmosphere of the planet. "Are you in? Safe?"

"Almost," Keith answered, equally grateful that his teammates were sort of with him but getting annoyed that he had to keep narrating everything to them. Carefully, he pulled Lance to a sitting position, biting his lip uneasily as Lance's head dropped forward onto his chest. Next came a series of grunts and shoves as he clumsily tugged Lance up and over his shoulders, hunching forward at the strain. He straightened as much as he was able, finding his new center of gravity while balancing an extra human. He shifted his feet, finding it more difficult than he thought to get settled enough to actually walk.

"Keith! You gotta move!" Pidge shouted at him, and he felt a pang of hostility toward her. She could talk, out of sight, clean, fed, and warm. This wasn't as easy as it looked. It was like the ground was moving underneath him. "Keith! Rockslide!"

He twisted as much as possible without actually turning his body to look at Blue and saw exactly what Pidge was screaming about. No way to know what had triggered it, but another huge piece of the mountain was coming down right on top of him, shaking the entire canyon with the force, rumbling hard enough that he could actually feel the sound. A boulder the size of Blue's paw barreled down, followed by a river of gravel. Keith staggered the first couple steps as he pushed for momentum, then tore through the canyon path as fast as he could with Lance on his back. He could barely see, the light very far gone now and showers of dust pummeling him from every direction, and knew that any second he was going to twist an ankle off a rock or root or something. He couldn't fall, he couldn't slow, and he definitely couldn't stop. The roar of the slide was right behind him now, tearing down the cliff face. He could hear the booms of rocks, followed by haunting echoes, as they crashed into Blue, lying there helpless on her side without her Paladin.

"Keith!" The other paladins clamored in his headset, fearful, panicked. He didn't have the time or attention to answer them. He had to focus and move. There was no clear path down here, everything was at an angle, every step was paved by the remains of previous slides. He held on to Lance's leg and wrist tightly, hating how his head was knocking against his bicep, his back. This couldn't be good for him, but it was better than staying where they were.

"Keith! Keith, are you ok? Come on, answer us!" And then the inevitable happened. Keith's foot slipped on a stone, wrenching his ankle down between where two rocks had settled together. He went down hard on one knee and then the opposite elbow, doing his best to protect Lance as he crashed to a stop. The Blue Paladin slipped from his hold, and Keith twisted up and around to cover him with his body, ready for the avalanche to come down on them, tightening his muscles as if that would help.

But it didn't come. It was startlingly quiet now that he'd stopped, only his own ragged panting and racing heartbeat in his head. He squinted into the shadows behind him. Blue was nowhere to be seen, whether the terrain had curved so she was just out of sight or whether she'd been completely buried, it was hard to tell. But everything was still for the moment. He let himself down, resting his head on Lance's upturned shoulder, bracing himself against his torso, glad that he wasn't awake to know that Keith was practically lying on him gasping for breath.

"Keith, please!" Pidge was crying now; he could hear it.

"It's ok," he panted, gagging a bit on the words. His entire respiratory system felt dusty. "We're ok." Except their shelter for the night was no longer an option. He heard the team breathe in relief, and he rolled off Lance onto his back, gasped twice, then flipped himself over to cough and spit a mouthful of mud onto the ground. The dust was settling, but it was absolutely everywhere. In their hair, on their eyelashes, inside his mouth. Everywhere.

Once he could pay attention to something besides getting enough oxygen into his lungs, he examined Lance again. He remained unresponsive, but he was still breathing. In the last moments of light, Keith dragged him toward a massive fallen boulder. It was as safe as they were going to get tonight. Pidge continued to talk to him, but he couldn't quite make out any specific words she might be saying. He was focused on pushing Lance as close to the stone as possible, and his ears were clogged and distorting the sound. She was saying something about cold, maybe, or dark. Something there was plenty of down in the canyon. Lots of cold and dark. He cleared his throat once more, spitting as much muck out as he could, then scooted himself close to Lance, too tired to think.

"Keith, are you there?" Shiro's tone more than his words woke Keith up enough to struggle to listen.

"Yeah," he croaked, making an attempt to lift his head.

"We're here, too," Shiro assured, and Keith nodded without remembering that his leader couldn't see him. "Do what you can for shelter and get some rest. Someone's going to be monitoring you; we'll take it in shifts. We'll figure this out. How's Lance?"

"He won't wake up," Keith answered, looking at Lance's face, barely being able to make out his features anymore in the dark. "But that's it. I can't tell if there's anything else."

"Ok," Shiro said, and Keith knew he was nodding to himself, thinking hard for some encouraging thing to say in this ridiculous disaster of a situation. "We'll get you. We just need some time."

"I got all night," Keith said, trying to lighten the mood for Shiro, who rewarded his effort with a half-hearted sniff of amusement.

"You did good, Keith," he complimented. Keith allowed himself a smile. He removed his helmet, huddled close to Lance for warmth, and slept.

Pure physical strain wasn't enough to keep him asleep, however. It was still dark when he woke up shivering. There were no stars that he could see from down here, and no moon either. He twisted, checking Lance, who was the same. Eyes closed, breathing steady. He patted his face, just in case that might rouse him. It didn't. Keith pushed up against him, curling his arms like a mummy and tucking his head into Lance's shoulder. It was so cold down here. He wondered who was still awake in the castle, whose turn it was to make sure they were safe. He almost picked up his helmet to find out, but didn't want to move that much in the cold. Trying to get even closer to Lance, he closed his eyes and willed himself back to sleep.