#continuation!

Keith nodded, and gripped at Shiro’s hand. “Shiro, hey, can you focus on me a moment?”

Shiro turned his head, and Keith was concerned over how long it took for him to respond.

“Shiro, we need to break the metal bar so we can get you free. It's probably going to hurt.”

Shiro’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“...already hurts.”

“I know, but it’s probably going to hurt worse.”

Shiro paused, looking like he was about to argue, but instead just nodded, closing his eyes and resting back against the rubble; Keith hated the look of resignation on his face, that Shiro seemed to just accept that his suffering was inevitable.

Keith let out an irritated sigh, then looked over to Allura. She nodded, face growing determined.

“Hold onto the bottom, as close to him as you can. Hopefully that will keep it from moving too much.”

Keith leaned over, getting a grip on the metal, trying not to slide in the blood that coated it, and Shiro groaned at the small movement. Allura picked a spot a few inches higher than Keith’s hands, and looked down at Shiro.

“I am sorry, Shiro. Can you take a deep breath for me?”

Shiro took a shuddering breath, and before he could start to exhale, Allura tightened her grip and snapped the top part of the metal bar clean off. Shiro’s breath rushed out as a strangled scream, his hands spasming at his sides and his feet sliding in the rubble. Keith immediately let go of the bar and grabbed onto Shiro’s hand again.

“Shiro- Shiro! Hey, you did good, you’re ok, we’re done. We got it.”

Shiro’s breath was coming in quick, pained-sounding gasps, tears flowing freely down the sides of his face even as his eyes scrunched shut. Keith tried getting his attention again, but it was like Shiro couldn’t hear him.

“Keith.”

Keith glanced up, and Allura looked apologetic. “We have to see if the back is loose or not.”

Shit, Keith hadn’t even thought of that. If the metal was connected to something behind Shiro, they were going to have a really hard time getting him loose without removing the metal. For a brief moment, Keith wished that Shiro would just pass out, and was immediately flooded with guilt. It would be easier on Shiro, yeah, but Keith knew the thought spawned because it would be easier for him, too. Keith was so used to seeing Shiro as being strong, unassailable, even when Keith knew it wasn’t true, that seeing Shiro like this just felt wrong.

“Keith.”

“Yeah, I know, just- can you try to lift him some so I can look under?”

Allura nodded, expression going grim, and slid her arms under Shiro carefully. She looked up at Keith. “Say the word.”

Keith got down onto his stomach so he’d be able to see better, and took a steadying breath before saying, “Now.”

Allura lifted, and the noise Shiro made hurt Keith worse than anything else so far; Keith tried to ignore it, focusing on the task at hand. He could see the metal sticking out behind Shiro, but it terminated a few inches past where it stuck out of his back.

“Ok, Allura.”

She settled Shiro back down, and when Keith checked on Shiro, he was relieved to find Shiro had finally passed out.

“There’s nothing keeping him pinned, you should be able to just pick him up.”

Allura concentrated, growing enough that carrying Shiro wouldn’t be too awkward, and got her arms under him again, lifting him in one smooth movement. Keith ran ahead to get the red lion open and running, and by the time Allura got there, Keith was in the pilot seat, ready to go.

“Set him down and hold him steady. I’m gonna fly fast as I can.”

The moment Allura said they were ready, Keith took off, and he could feel the sense of urgency echoed in Red’s surge of speed towards the Castle.

When they arrived, Coran was waiting anxiously with a hoverbed. His eyes widened when he saw Shiro, but he didn’t slow at all as he helped Allura to get him settled on the bed. Coran took off at a run, Allura by his side, and Keith intended to follow, but to his surprise he ended up dropping to the floor instead, his knees giving out on him. His hands were shaking, and when he looked down at them they were covered in Shiro’s blood. It had dried to a rusty brown, but it was still blatantly visible, and it felt like it was everywhere. He knew in a distant sort of way that he was in shock. Some at the Garrison had called it ‘combat shakes’, though Keith knew that wasn’t the right term for it; knowing what it was and why it was happening did nothing to help stop it.

Keith hadn’t thought much time had passed, but he startled when a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Keith?”

Hunk was crouched down in front of him, looking worried.

“What-?”

“I’ve been calling your name, but you didn’t answer. You ok? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Keith blinked, trying to focus. “I’m not- no. None of the blood’s mine.”

Hunk made a noise that Keith wasn’t with it enough to translate, and before he knew it Hunk had grasped his hands and was pulling him to his feet. Hunk grabbed his shoulder when Keith swayed, not quite steady.

“C’mon, we’re heading to medical.”

The mention of the infirmary made Keith startle again, and would have ground to a stop if Hunk’s hold on him hadn’t propelled him forward. God, Shiro- how had he completely forgotten about Shiro?

“Hunk, Shiro, is he-?”

“Shiro’s fine. Or, well, he will be. He’s in a pod right now. Coran and Allura got the metal out, and man I am so glad it was you that found him because I would not have handled that well at all. But yeah. He’ll be in there a few days, and he’ll be good as new. Or you know, good as he was this morning, anyway.”

The sense of relief that flooded Keith was so strong he went lightheaded, and Hunk had to catch him from slithering to the floor again. Hunk gave him a look, then seemed to come to a decision.

“Please don’t stab me.”

Before Keith could ask Hunk what he meant, Hunk had scooped him up and started down the hall again. Keith wanted to be irritated about it, but he really didn’t have the energy. He’d be irritated later.

As they walked into the infirmary, Coran looked up from the bed he was next to. “Ah! I see you’ve located our lost paladin.”

Keith frowned. “I wasn’t lost.”

“Merely temporarily misplaced, then. Bring him over here, Hunk?”

Hunk brought him over and gently set Keith down on the bed. Keith immediately started to get back up, but Coran firmly pushed him back down.

“I’m fine, Coran, let me up. I need to see Shiro.”

“You say you’re fine, but considering we had to send Hunk to fetch you, I’d rather just double check. Shiro is in a pod, right over there, where he will still be once I’ve had a look at you.”

Keith tried to twist to look over where Coran had pointed, but Hunk moved in to block his line of sight.

“Dude. If you let him look you over for like, a minute, it would be faster.”

Keith huffed in annoyance, but fell back onto the bed and let Coran check him over. There some bruises from the battle, but Coran didn’t linger over them long, applying some salve to them, and spent most of his attention on getting Keith cleaned up. By the time Cpran decided he was finished, Keith thought he was going to vibrate out of his skin, and nearly fell off the table in his hurry once Coran had dismissed him.

Shiro was in a pod, just like Coran had said, all traces of blood cleaned away. He looked like he was sleeping, though the furrow between his brows was still there. Keith missed seeing Shiro without it; with how much stress Shiro was under on a regular basis, Keith thought it might be awhile before that happened. Coran came up to Keith’s side and looked up at Shiro.

“Told you he was alright. He’ll be in there a couple of quintants, but then come out right as rumblax.”

They stood there for another moment, and then Coran put his arm around Keith’s shoulders and started ushering him towards the door. “Now it’s time to get you something to eat, and get you to bed. It’s been a long day for all of us, and Shiro will still be here in the morning. No reason to run yourself into the ground.”

There's a sort of exam taken every few years among young children. 2% of the population are spark-eyed, meaning they're capable of using magic. They get taken and shipped off to the Elemental Colleges to learn how to use that magic.

If you're not spark-eyed, but you score high enough in cognitive and coordination tests, you're sent to the Knightwarden Academy. Generally speaking, the public loves them and the leaders are glad for their services; knightwardens are meant to be cordial, kind, and the heroes that stop the horrors from happening to you.

Oooh that's cool. So by not intermixing is that full stop as in the only way they're interacting is via battle, uneasy truces, and interacting like the other has the plague?

Or is it specifically that they can't have offspring or live in the same house, but could hypothetically live in the same town and work together in a field?

Specifically, they cannot have offspring. They're different species that experienced convergent evolution (it runs a little deeper than that but that gets into historical lore on where everyone came from), so they're genetically incompatible. Nobody cares if you go and marry one, or adopt a handful of different two-foots, but a human can only have a child with another human.

Oh wow. So doppels could be kind little old ladies who give out cookies but will punch your lights out if you try to do the same, as well as horrifying beasts of destruction all based on how they're treated? Damn. What happens if two blank doppels see eachother? How are doppels made?

Doppels that stay in one place for awhile drip silvery liquid onto the ground. Give that puddle enough time undisturbed, and a new doppel will eventually form out of it.

Blank doppels don't generally last long. There's always something around to try to mimic--if not a person, a wild animal. If you were to theoretically leave one in a vacuum for ages, then somehow introduce it to another one without any sort of interference that could be copied, they'd probably endlessly copy each other's ripples and look like watery mannequins until interrupted. They just stare until they find something to copy.

Oh gods, those poor dragons, and potentially dragon riders depending on how they are chosen (i.e. if they choose to be, they're horrid, if they're tricked or just yoinked from the street because the makers of dragon riders are already into the unethical, they also get some pity, though less than the dragons). What do knightwardens think of dragonriders? Are they the one's doing it?

So, back to the knightwardens, remember how I said if you pass high cognitive and coordination tests, you get chosen? If you aren't spark-eyed, you don't pass those tests, but you ARE red-threaded (part of the magic system) AND you pass a very narrow physical margin, you're sent to the Dragonblood Citadel. No choice in the matter.

Knightwardens generally think of dragonbloods either with pity or with disgust--depends on the warden. They aren't scared of them, so it's a tossup between "you're a monster, and I'll kill you the second I'm ordered to" and "you were chosen for your job, just like me. You got the short end of the stick."

Is ocheon the country? Or an entity? Or the name of the people of said planet?

Continent! The planet is Ater, the continent is Ocheon, and the country on the continent I've developed the most is Abrylia. I gave a full rundown here!

How are the now mutant dragonblood riders treated by society? Are they heroes with dark secrets the public doesn't know? Or a viewed necessary evil?

People are generally afraid of them. Dragonbloods are tall, built like brick walls, with claws, patches of scales, draconic eyes, fangs, and the ability to breathe fire. It doesn't matter how they act, society is going to see them as a monster, something to live with to keep the dragons in check, and, if the aggressor is feeling cocky, an easy way to rid the world of another dragon.

The unfortunate thing is, for how imposing dragonbloods are, the mutations were never designed to strengthen them. They've got chronic pains, dehydration, blood that feels like it's on fire, and a general weakness to them; they're seldom ever trained in their own combat, only in how to direct their dragons, so a few two-foots could easily gang up on a dragonblood.

How often are dragon nests raided?