Keith crawled over to Allura, who was clutching her shoulder in agony, shaking and crying but trying to stay strong.

"Allura... what's wrong?"

"I-I think it's d-dislocated... I can't move it."

Keith took a breath, swallowing nervously.

"I know how to relocate it, we learnt in the garrison..."

She turned her arm towards him, shaking harder.

"This will hurt... I'm sorry..."

He placed one hand on Allura's elbow, another on the shoulder, and pushed upwards, popping the joint back into place and enduring the shriek of pain that resonated from the Princess.

"Shit... I'm sorry... can you move it?"

She sucked her teeth, jerkily moving the arm. Jerky and painful, but at least it moved.

She got to her feet, looking sadly at the smashed control panel.

"We need to get the castle back online."

"How are you gonna fix it? It's... smashed. Broken. I don't know how... we can do anything."

"Well, the Alteans aren't stupid, you know. There's a second control panel located deeper in the castle. It doesn't have access to creating wormholes or activating the particle barrier, but it will do."

"Will we be able to fix this one?"

"... perhaps, in a while."

She rushed over to Coran and checked his injuries.

"Keith, can you check Hunk and Pidge? They're injured too."

Keith did as asked and went to Hunk's side, taking in the damage and asking if he was ok.

"No, no Keith I'm not ok because Shiro impaired me with his hand and I am hurt! Deeply hurt!"

"Listen, the wound is cauterised, his weapon does that."

"L-Like a lightsaber or something?"

"... sure. Like a lightsaber. You're not going to lose any blood. Also, thanks for taking his attention off me."

Hunk managed a smile.

"Anytime, buddy. Just... go help Lance, would you?"

"I'm going to. But, I have to check on Pidge-"

"I'll do that. Just... go help him."

"Ok, got it."

Keith met Allura at the door and followed her. She seemed to know where she was going.

"When we get there, we need to override the main system. It's destroyed, but, this secondary one still thinks it's in control. There are a number of security measures to make sure that nobody else can sneak onto the castle and control it at this location."

Keith was already getting out of breath. He didn't know how she managed to keep talking while running.

Perhaps it was because she was Altean. They were decently stronger than Humans. Maybe that was why she had recovered from the dislocation so quickly.

Suddenly, Allura screeched to a halt and Keith almost ran into her.

"... the air locks are open." She said.

She was right. The room in front of them was an air lock, and looking through the small window, it was wide open.

"... how come the doors are closed?"

"The door system is one of the only systems that aren't linked to the mains."

"... what are the other ones?"

"Oxygen Dispersion and Artificial Gravity."

They stared into the airless room.

"We have our helmets. We can propel ourselves over there with our jet packs."

"Let's get going."

They opened the door, air flying out of the corridor behind them before it closed again, leaving them in peace to float over to the next door.

It was reasonably harder, to get through it, as when it opened, they were fighting the flow of the air, but they managed it.

"So... smooth sailing from here?"

"Hopefully."

---

Shiro was gaining on him. He wouldn't be able to keep running for very long, especially in the oxygen deprived atmosphere.

He had to do something, but the moment that he stopped running, he'd be stabbed by Shiro's weaponised hand.

He made a turn, hoping to gain a bit more distance between them but if anything, the distance shortened, and Shiro was showing no signs of slowing down.

Hope was fading.

---

"The secondary control panel is just in here."

They entered a reasonably dusty room, containing a much smaller control panel and lots of switches on the walls.

"... so... what do we need to do?"

"We need to flick the correct combination of switches, enter the password and prove that we are loyal Alteans." She turned to him, "so, you might need to pretend to not exist."

"... can you do it on your own? We need to do it quickly... Lance needs help... who knows how he's doing."

Keith stood back as Allura worked on unlocking it, surprised and impressed as she completed the first requirement in around two minutes.

The second was simple, as she was the princess, and finally, pressed her hand to a pad and it scanned her, recignising her as Princess Allura, and giving her full access to the properties of the control panel, the secondary system taking control of the castle.

---

Lance felt his heart stop as he saw himself running towards a door.

There was no other way. It was a single hallway.

The time in which it would take to stop and press the button for it to open, Shiro would catch up and cut him down.

But... what choice did he have.

He forced his legs to sprint this final stretch, hand outstretched, really to press the button but, there was a sharp, blinding pain in his upper left arm, and he crumpled to his knees, right next to the door.

It felt like his arm was on fire, burning constantly, but his tongue was silenced by shock and fear, as he turned around and stared up at his assailant.

... this was the end.

He closed his eyes and waited for the final blow. He just hoped that the others would find a way to stop him.

But then... a thought entered his head.

This room, just behind the door, was an airlock.

And because all the systems were offline, the airlocks were wide open.

He shot his hand up and pressed down the button to open, clinging onto the doorway to make sure that he didn't go flying out into space.

Shiro though, was caught off guard, and did go flying through.

Lance's already deprived lungs suffered greatly, as the rushing air took away his breath.

His fingers started slipping, and he started panicking as he flew away from the door and frantically reached out for something to grab, anything...

He could have cried from relief when he smashed into a luckily placed pillar, managing to wrap his arms around it and cling on.

Looking backwards, he saw that Shiro had been able to secure a grasp on the small ledge on the floor - which would usually be linked with the first airlock door - with his bionic arm.

He was running out of breath. He couldn't cling on forever, and he was starting to see black dots in his vision.

Now... this was the end.

He was going to lose consciousness and let go... drifting off into space... dying...

But at least he got the danger away from his friends. Shiro wouldn't be able to crawl back to safety due to the air pressure.

He closed his eyes, trying to think of something nice, before it was all over.

---

"Teludav back online, lights back online, Keith, pull that lever!"

He pulled it.

"That's the air locks. They'll close now."

Her face became troubled.

"... the Oxygen systems aren't... they aren't working properly. I think they're physically damaged. We'll need to fix them manually."

"What's the quickest way there?"

"Back the way we came. Through the airlock room and a few corridors left."

"Then let's get going."

---

Lance's eyes widened as the airlock doors began to close.

Shiro noticed too, and seemed to try his hardest to escape from his compromising position, to no avail.

His arm was utterly crushed by the airlock door as it reached its closed position, and as the air pressure went back to normal, Lance slid down to the floor, landing painfully.

Shiro was stuck in the space between the first airlock door and the second. People were safe. His friends were safe... but he wasn't.

The air was still too devoid of oxygen.

Today had really been a rollercoaster. He had thought he would die so many times... but it was now that his time was up.

Was it a good life? Yeah...

It was a good life.

Though... he would have liked to see Keith again...