Read my post first! - TLDR: I'm releasing unfinished drafts!
Long prologue, fic is under the cut! (sorry about that)
Okay, Iâm not sure if Iâll continue this or not, but it has been sitting on my drafts for literally five years, has gone through many edits, and I just want it out. Will I ever finish it/edit it? Maybe. If I do Iâll put it on AO3. If not, have this unfinished version. Edits were very inspired by my bfâs elbow surgery - things like this always make me wonder if the universe wants to curse me for writing whump, or urge me to keep doing it.
I swear this one will be the death of me. Thereâs fanart and everything. I might post it one day.
Initial goals with this one: This is a fanfic that started out as me just wanting Keith really miserable, and just wanting to grasp the concept of a nearly permanent injury. He broke his arm really badly, he knows how bad this is. In the back of his mind, heâs worrying if his arm will still work after recovering. Then I decided to turn it into angst - Keith living with the blades and ârunning awayâ from voltron, Pidge knowing about his kamikaze moment at the end of S4, Shiro finding out about that, and just putting everyone in a room to deal with their emotional stuff. Just angst in general. Ends with Keith writing to Shiro after a huge fight, sort of apologising and updating on his medical state. This is also the fanfic of Shiro yelling at Kolivan about the Bladeâs protocols, which took me five years to get one single scene that I liked. It plays around with the Bladeâs modus operandi and morals, and Voltronâs own view on that - and how much they might disagree, which I feel could have been something to explore in the show.
Plot: Set during S4 and S5. Double (or triple?) agents screw up with Marmora mission, also interfering with a Voltron mission. Stuff blows up where it wasnât supposed to blow up, and Keith gets badly injured. Shiro wants to get to the bottom of this, so he sort of interrogates Keith soon after he wakes. Meanwhile, Pidge is sulky at Keith, as she knows he was about to off himself a while ago, and a difficult conversation ensues. Mission - it was a small Voltron Coalition outpost - the âblade membersâ had sent a message, warning Blades that the outpost was getting attacked by the Galra (this is an important, strategic outpost, and itâs important that the Galra donât get it). They call specifically for high rank backup - that means Kolivan, their original target. But Keith goes instead, while Kolivan had stayed behind for some reason. When Keith goes in, the outpost is already taken over, and heâs attacked by the double / triple agents. Keith sends a message, but Kolivan doesnât receiveit, because the comms were sabotaged.
Thereâs more, this is part one, I suppose. I have more written, but I need it to be more intelligible before I post it.
Keith feels himself being manhandled in and out of the ship by Kolivan, legs moving on its own accord, and not very efficiently, judging by Kolivanâs arms wrapping around his back tighter to keep him up. Thereâs voices around him, frantic, stressed, but he canât make out the words. His ears are still ringing, and he can still feel the aftershock of his whole arm being twisted backwards, ligaments snapping and bones breaking instantly, making a nasty crunch in his shoulder first, and then in his elbow, when the Galra soldier had twisted more.
That moment, he had looked behind him, making out the Galra uniform, and the expression on the face he stared at wasnât one of kinship. Keithâs hadnât even begun to process his own confusion, when a cybernetic hand grabbed Keith's wrist and crushed it like a couple of twigs in his grasp. A knife had been jammed in his shoulder, and taken off quickly with a downward motion.
What followed was probably half an hour of trying to keep himself alive.
Now, the blood loss was certainly making itself known, with black spots dancing in front of his eyes. Adrenaline cursing through his veins, Keith was barely keeping himself up, even with help, and the pain was so indescribable he was incapable of forming words. His right arm screams with pain, muscles and ligaments throbbing in tandem. His chest aches where they kicked him, making every breath burn.
It briefly goes through his head how badly injured he is, before he finally succumbs to exhaustion.
*
When he wakes up again, it's slow and gradual. His elbow throbs with pain, and all of the other aches make themselves known quick enough. He wants to rub his eyes, but when he attempts to lift his left arm, pain explodes in his shoulder.
His vision blacks out, and tears immediately pool in his eyes. He grits his teeth and exhales, trying to get through the worst if it. When it's finally more bearable, he realizes his arm hadn't moved an inch when he'd tried to move it. With his good hand, he fumbles around in the dark, touching his shoulder first, then moving his hand towards his chest, where he feels a stinging sensation. His arm is in a sling, and from the tight sensation, wrapped in many layers of bandages. His breath hitches, and his fingers trail the path down his arm, until he feels a splinter, holding his wrist straight. His chest is bandaged too, and breathing takes a little more effort than usual. And to his dismay, he feels the prick of a needle sticking out the back of his good hand. He tries to ignore that.
Opening his eyes, he winces at the bright lights of the infirmary. A twinge of homesickness hits him when he realizes heâs at the Castle of Lions.
On his left, he hears a rustling sound.
"Keith...?" Shiro voice sounds, echoing a little, traced with exhaustion. "Are you awake?"
"Shiro...?" Keith slurs out, finding his voice not fully responsive. He rolls over carefully in bed, towards where Shiro seems to be, and gasps when his whole arm protests.
"Hey, donât move," Shiro says, much more alert now, and Keith can hear his slow footsteps towards him, before he comes into his field of vision. Heâs wearing his black undersuit, and has deep dark circles around his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Like shit," Keith confesses, with a weak exhale.
Shiroâs hand finds his good shoulder, and rubs soft circles there. Keith closes his eyes and focuses on the motions the best he can.
"My - my arm, " he says, making his best to sound coherent. "How bad?..."
Shiro doesn't answer right away.
"Bad," he finally sighs. "Compound fractures, torn ligaments... Kolivan was hoping to get you here and into a cryopod immediately, but unfortunately one of the big crystals that powers them up is gone. Allura, Hunk, Lance and Pidge went out to get more."
"Bad timing to get this fucked up then," Keith chuckles humourlessly.
âNever a good time,â Shiro chides disapprovingly. âAt least we still had some good painkillers, though theyâve probably worn off by now, huh?â
Keith shivers - if this is whatâs like with painkillers, he doesnât want to imagine without. âUh, yeah, definitely,â he groans.
âYou also lost a lot of blood, so itâs normal if youâre feeling weak. We had to stitch you up too,â Shiro adds. Keith glances at Shiroâs left arm, noticing the bandage peeking from the inside of his elbow. Itâs hard to feel lucky right now, but by now, Keith knows he would be screwed if he had gone to space without an universal donor like him. Heâd hug Shiro right now if he didnât feel this bad. Guilt twinges at the bottom of his stomach. His eyes fill with tears again.
âHey, itâs okay,â Shiro reassures, âyouâll be fine. Iâll go get Coran to give you something for the pain, yeah?â
Keith tries to nod, but heâs still dizzy, so he just grunts in acknowledgement. He knows if he tries to speak heâll probably just start crying.
âIâll be right back,â Shiro says, before walking, well, pretty much running out.
And Keith goes under again.
*
"Do you remember what happened?" Shiro asks.
Itâs a few hours later. The Castle is practically deserted, with pretty much the whole team on the mission to retrieve the cryopod crystals. Coran had stopped by to give him some painkillers and check on him, and Shiro just brought some tea, and the alien equivalent of toast. Keith doesnât eat - even with the painkillers, the pain is bad enough to make him nauseous. He sips the tea carefully, and even just that seems to sap all of his energy.
"I - we received a message from a fellow blade. The Kellan outpost was going to be taken over. We had two Blades stationed there⌠they attacked as soon as we left our ship. I - I don't remember much else."
âThey attacked you? The guys that supposedly belonged to the Blades?â
âYeah. Soon as I showed up.â
"Do you remember getting here? Kolivan brought you."
Keith nods.
âKeith⌠we need to know⌠what were those guys doing? Why were members of the Blade of Marmora blowing up the Kellan base? What did they know?â Shiro asks.
âIt wasnât part of any plan⌠I donât understand. Those guys must have gone rogue, I- I really donât know, Shiro,â Keith sighs, closing his eyes.
âDid you call for backup? When you realized something was wrong?â
âYeah,â Keith rasps out. âI thought theyâd received my message. But our comms were tampered with,â he says, shaking his head, âonly realized that later.â He puts the tea cup back on the tray.
âBut Kolivan knew you were in there,â Shiro insists, âwhy didnât they come in for you?â
âI donât know, Shiro.â Keith grits his teeth, and opens his eyes again to stare pointedly at Shiro. âI havenât really had the time to ask Kolivan what exactly was their strategy after that. Maybe they wanted to play it safe, since a couple of guys we thought we could trust had just managed to sabotage everything.â
Shiro sighs. He knows itâs no use to torture Keith with more questions, especially not in the state he was in. He had to get his answers elsewhere.
âGet some rest,â he says, gently. Keithâs eyes close again, and he grimaces painfully. âAnything I can bring you? Do you want me to stay?â
Keith shakes his head. âJust need to sleep.â
âOkay,â Shiro says, placing his hand carefully on top of Keithâs, avoiding the IV. âIâll be right here.â
*
Shiro is usually proud of his good temper.
How he's able to keep a cold head when things get heated - his good manners and politeness were what conquered the hearts of the Voltron coalition.
And even with the frequent battles they get in, and the stressful days that come with being a defender of the universe, Shiro is able to keep his good spirits.
Not today, though. Screw manners.
"I need more details on the mission Keith was sent today," Shiro demands, with an unwavering tone.
Kolivan doesnât seem to react much. But then again, his usual expression betrays nothing. "Thatâs Marmora intel. We canât simply-â
"He spent almost an hour there before you came in for a rescue!! With your ship hovering around the base!!" Shiro exclaims, waving his hands in the air. "How could you possibly-"
"We had been compromised. We had to make sure-â
"So he was all but lost bait for you? Was that it??"
"I couldn't safely assemble my men for an extraction right away. Under the circumstances, we did the best we could. We had no safe way of getting him out of there so quickly, and we couldnât risk-"
"His right arm is destroyed!! He was alone for forty five minutes fighting rogue blades!! What kind of organization are you running when-"
"Enough!" Kolivan says firmly, enough to make Shiro quiet. "Keith knows the risks of participating in missions with the Blade - the same risks that are implied in any mission as a paladin of Voltron, might I remind you. He made his choice when he agreed to join the mission. We do not take risks. Better one man less than two men less, and he knows it. After a breach in security, we have to be extra careful, and not rush in foolishly."
Shiro stays silent for a moment, before muttering.
"We would have saved him immediately. As soon as we knew."
Kolivan lets out a huff, cold and bitter, more than Shiro has ever seen.
"If thatâs what the Voltron coalition calls strategy, we may have to rethink how we work together."
Kolivan shakes his head, angry and offended, and turns off the comm.
It doesn't leave Shiro any more content. He feels hung up, stressed, like something inside him is wired up. He turns around and leaves the bridge - thereâs someone who needs him right now.
For concussion, maybe Keith? He takes a hit to protect Shiro (or anyone) and gets a really bad concussion. It could also lead into a separate fic for healing pod malfunction. Maybe they put him into the healing pod and itâs focusing on his head. It malfunctions, and he winds up seeing visions from the past, his fears, his fight with Shiro, etc. and he freaks out/is distressed af and Shiro gets him out and comforts him :3
Read my post first! - TLDR: I'm releasing unfinished drafts!
Original draft (written back in 2018): Â heâs alone in a Blades mission, in a really cold snowy place, and gets a really bad concussion. He is rescued by Lance, and ends up in the back of the red lion, with Lance telling him not to fall asleep, like in âthe fallâ. He recovers at the Castle, and winds up seeing visions from the past, his fears, his fight with Shiro, etc. and he freaks out/is distressed af and Shiro gets him out and comforts him
My comments (written now): Okay, so I suppose I should explain myself - âThe Fallâ is a book from the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore. I used to read them when I was young, itâs about a secret unit in the Secret Services where the agents are kids (aged 12-18), they are military trained and go on missions. This collection is pretty cool, and it did feature some great whump here and there. The Fall is the seventh book in the series, and has an amazing scene, in the middle of the mission, where the main character was just rescued but has a concussion and is overall pretty beaten up. The banter is so amazing, and i just really wanted to write something like that for Keith with Lance. Of course, I intended to develop it, and keep going to the part when Keith would have some dreams and visions from the past (induced by the concussion during recovery), but I didnât really get there. At least Iâll leave you this initial snippet from when heâs rescued.
âDonât fall asleep back there,â Lance reminds him, head turning to the side to check on Keith.
âI know, Iâm not an idiot,â Keith snaps back, from the bundle of blankets heâs wrapped in.
âJust checking,â Lance answers softly. âWe should be arriving soon. Did you contact Kolivan?â
âNot really.â Keith grits his teeth. His vision swims, and even sitting, with both hands on the ground to steady himself, he feels like heâs about to fall down at any minute. âMy comm was dead when I crashed.â
âAlright. Weâll let him know when we get to the Castle.â
Keith shivers beneath the fabric, hands wrapped around his torso. He desperately wants to lay back and close his eyes, but Lance is right. He most likely has a bad concussion, and his training at the Garrison had taught him to not attempt sleeping like this before he was cleared by a doctor. So he takes a deep breath through his nose and keeps his eyes open.
His body is battered and sore, from the terrible beating he took earlier. His lower jaw is bruised and swollen, courtesy of the heavy armour used by the Galra. His left wrist is probably sprained as well, and most of his chest and back is mottled with bruises cuts. Despite it all, the pain helps him focus, keeping him from falling asleep.
âHey, Shiro, I got him,â Lance says into the comms, glancing behind him to check on Keith, âweâre heading back now.â
âHow is he? Is he okay?â
âBeaten and bruised, but heâs gonna make it.â
âIâll wait for you guys at the hangar.â Shiroâs sigh of relief is heard, even through the comms, and Lance chuckles.
âSo,â Lance starts, âyou want to tell me what the fuck happened?â
Could you do "arm in a sling" with Keith? Insisting he can still fight since he's ambidextrous and can use his sword with his uninjured arm just fine?
Read my post first! - TLDR: I'm releasing unfinished drafts!
Okay, we're starting with a good one! This was one of my favourite prompts, but I guess I never really finished it properly as I wanted.
My original concept (written back in 2018): It was a bad fight, and they come back at night, he's got a dislocated shoulder, broken radius, broken clavicle, cracked humerus, so his arm pretty much destroyed lmao, is in a sling and strapped to his chest. He spends the night in pain, until Coran digs up some painkillers to soothe the pain. Then he's bored and insists on training like that. Shiro says no, but finds him later in the training room, actually doing well. Shiro drags Keith away and sends him to Hunk, who is repairing Keith's lion. They kinda lay there, Hunk fixing the lion, Keith passing him the tools, and they have a heart to heart.
Comments (written now): So with this one my main goal was to have a cute scene with Keith and Hunk hanging out - because it was such a wholesome friendship, and I would have loved to see it more on the show. I have some stuff written with the two of them on other fics, but this one would probably be the more canon-ish setting I ever wrote (or tried to). Sadly, I did not get to write it :( I have a very clear picture of how theyâd interact here - Hunk is repairing Red, and Keith, after breaking his arm, and just being unable to do much in general, feeling kinda groggy from painkillers, and after being dragged there by Shiro, sits with Hunk, helping him out, passing tools, while theyâre both talking. But thatâs the ending scene - of course I wanted to self indulge, and have some injury after care. So this all starts with Keith being treated in the infirmary by Shiro and Coran, and just having a really bad night. All while hating the hassle of recovery in general.
Well... have fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This should keep it stable enough," Coran says, adjusting the strap around Keith's torso.
At times like this, Shiro is immensely glad Coran has some sort of medical training. Cryopods were a blessing, of course, but with a war going on and damage to the ship happening this often, couldn't be operational all the time. Unfortunately, it always seemed like the worst time possible to have them down.
He makes a move to help Keith out of the infirmary bed, but Keith looks down, not wanting to go just yet, and frowns, tugging on the sling, eyeing it with discomfort.
And as much as Shiro agrees that yes, it does totally suck to wear a sling, this time it's undiscussable.
Keith had managed to break his collarbone, dislocate his shoulder, and break just about every bone you could break in an arm. A hairline fracture on his humerus, and a clean one right across his ulna and radius were enough to grant him some time in a sling by themselves, much more with his shoulder and clavicle in the state they were in.
And Keith surely understands the necessity, of course. The list of injuries was far more than usual, and all of it on his left arm.
That doesn't make him less grouchy.
"How long do I have to keep it like this?" He asks, his right hand pointing to the sling. It's dark blue, similar to the ones on earth, and goes over his shoulder, with an additional strap around his ribs, effectively restricting any kind of movement.
Shiro takes in how tired and dishevelled he looks, the pent up energy from the battle long gone, making him appear smaller and more fragile than usual.
"Not long if the cryopods go online soon," Coran says, back turned to them, as he tidies up the medical box.
"But without cryopods, a couple of weeks at the very least," Shiro warns him, apologetically.
Keith groans, as Shiro helps him out of the bed.
He's in pain, despite not wanting to admit it. He keeps his head down, and tries his best not to jostle his left side.
"I can get to my room alright, Shiro," Keith points out, with no real bite in his voice. He's too tired for it.
"I know," Shiro says, with a friendly (and careful) pat on his back, "just keeping you company on the way."
Keith doesn't say anything else until they get to his room.
His red jacket is still thrown across his bed, like he left it this afternoon, before the emergency beacon activated and he had to change into his armour with a half unusual rush.
Fortunately Shiro had brought one of his comfy t-shirts to the infirmary before Coran fitted his sling, or else the painful process would have to be repeated so he could change. But he was still using his under suit, the top part falling around his waist.
Shiro picks up his red paladin pyjama pants and gently asks if he needs help.
âIâm fine,â Keith mumbles, trying to push his under suit down. The stretchy material doesnât move much, and Keith only manages to push it down to his mid thigh, before giving up with a frustrated sigh.
Shiro places the pair of pants in Keith's lap, and kneels in front of him, to pull at the ankles of the suit, letting it come out like a snake shedding skin.
Keith lets him put each of his legs in the red pyjama pants, and stands to pull them up clumsily.
"Thanks," he says, stifled and low.
"Try to get some sleep," Shiro advises as he tucks the sheets around him, "you need to rest. And call if you need anything."
Keith nods, shifting to the side a little to find a somewhat comfortable position.
He supposes it's in vain.
The first few hours go by in a haze. It's dark and silent, only the noise of rustling sheets as he moves. His arm aches, through his shoulder and collarbone, flaring up with pain every time he rolls over. He doesn't know what time it is, but it really makes no difference. It's not like he feels capable of getting up for anything either. The others are probably asleep by now, there are no cryopods available, and whatever medicine there is out there would probably kill him.
He tries counting sheep, breathing exercises, laying really still - but his body doesn't want to sleep.
Keith almost doesn't believe it when his clock reaches seven AM, Earth time, and he hasn't slept at all.
Shiro comes to check on him, before his morning workout. He's still in his sweatpants, the black ones with the lion slippers, and from his face, wasn't expecting to see him awake.
"You woke up early," he comments with a half smile, stepping inside, and sits on the bed, next to Keith. "How did you sleep?"
Keith chuckles, humourlessly, and he's so glad it's Shiro here and that he's able to be honest. "I didn't."
Shiro grimaces. "At all?"
"No."
Shiro moves closer, and sits on the edge of the mattress.
"How bad is the pain?" he asks, taking in the dark circles around Keith's eyes and the careful way he moves.
"Worse than usual," Keith admits. At this point, there's no point in hiding it. He feels terrible. His vision swims with exhaustion, and his arm throbs. Hell, he needs sleep, but how is he supposed to with his arm hurting like this?
Shiro shakes his head. "Well I'm gonna get Coran. You need painkillers and rest. You look terrible."
Keith doesn't argue this time, and lets Shiro cover him back with his blankets and tuck him in. The prospect of being able to sleep soon and having some pain relief brings him some comfort. He lays back and relishes in it.
Shiro doesnât take long to come back, with two pills and a glass of water.
âHere,â Shiro says, âCoran said these donât have many side effects, youâll just feel a little lightheaded when you wake up. Just try to sleep, and call me if you need anything.â
âThanks Shiro,â Keith mumbles tiredly, head back to the pillow. Shiro dims the lights and closes the door.
Itâs four hours later when Keith wakes up again, confused and groggy, but his arm doesnât hurt anymore. He sits up slowly, his balance a little thrown off with only one able arm, and rubs his eyes.
He shuffles slowly to the lounge, not caring about his hair probably sticking a various directions. He's not as tired anymore, but he still feels pretty off.
So itâs now 2023, and I know I left Tumblr back in mid 2020 without an explanation, right when I was fully deep into writing VLD fanfic all the time. Truth is, during the pandemic, my writing just⌠stopped. I was sad, uninspired, and frankly, just like everyone, having a not good⢠time.
I left a lot of things unfinished, and thatâs what I regret the most. I hate leaving stories without an end, hanging in the void, a sad draft on my draft box - and I have a few of those here to haunt me.
So Iâm releasing them.
Iâll give each of them a chance and try to finish them, though I probably wonât be able to. I now have a full time job, way too many freelance projects, and honestly, Iâm just not as passionate about VLD as I once was (I doubt pretty much anyone is). If Iâm not able to finish it, Iâll publish it as it is, and try to explain the best I can where I was going with it. I hope thatâs at least entertaining.
As for coming back to Tumblr, I cannot promise my previous dedication, but I do occasionally like to draw boys suffering, so Iâll try to pop in from time to time to post that.
I want to thank @feverflushed for being an awesome friend and encouraging me to do this. And also thank every one of you who sent me ideas, liked and reblogged my posts and interacted back then. I really did have an amazing time, and even though I may not ever write VLD fanfic again, Iâll always remember it and this community fondly.
*Crawls back of hole 3 years later to drop SK8 fanart* *goes back to hole*
Uh so this is Cherry and Joe, but like really young? Even before the flashbacks in the show. When they were sort of getting started with skating and tumbled around a lot. Hence cherryâs broken leg.
*Crawls back of hole 3 years later to drop SK8 fanart* *goes back to hole*
Uh so this is Cherry and Joe, but like really young? Even before the flashbacks in the show. When they were sort of getting started with skating and tumbled around a lot. Hence cherryâs broken leg.
those artists that draw those âthe whole cast is just taking a nap together for some reasonâ fanarts that exist in pretty much every fandom are doing the lordâs work
Thereâs nothing more validating in the whump community than seeing others complain about the same lack of injury follow-through đ If we canât get our canon wish fulfillment at least we can all be annoyed about it together
Ok but a team being mad at a whumpee for some reason and not knowing the whumpee is hurt is just gold.
Like there are so many possibilities for this.
Team leader giving the whumpee an order and the whumpee following it to the letter even when itâs literally killing them.
The whumpee trying to get help or permission to go to the hospital but the team is avoiding them.
âAre you drunk?! Seriously? I know youâre a fuck up but are you really this stupid?!â
âWhat do you think youâre doing sleeping on the job? Back to work! Letâs go!â
The whumpee telling their leader that theyâre hurt or donât feel well and the leader scoffing and saying that A is hurt because of them and they should suck it up.
âI thought I told you to do X! Why isnât it done?â âIâm sorry, I really donât feel well.â âEnough with the excuses! Just get it done!â
And of course all the angst when they realize they fucked up.
fans of characters that hate vulnerability will be like âi cant wait until they cry đ cant wait until the weight of their emotions breaks them đâ
