#justice for kuron

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe, the ignorance of this "analysis" is melting my brain.

What are your thoughts?

[discordiansamba]

I don't know what's more frustrating, honestly- the fact that the writers were clearly building up Kuron to indicate that he wasn't spying on Voltron by choice, that he was sort of subtly sensing that something was wrong about him and that it was something he should be worried about, that he ultimately didn't fight against them out of his own will to just nonchalantly write him off as an 'evil clone'...

...or that there's sections of the fandom that still think he was a generic evil clone.

like. we all (rightfully) talk about how badly Allura got shafted in the last season of VLD but man. Kuron got shafted hard.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Lance/hunk/shiro for character opinion bingo :3?

Hi!! Thanks for asking!!!!

Lance-

Everyone but me is wrong about them<3- Source: trust me bro. But ok seriously, everyone is going to have their own opinions and interpretations and they are more or less valid. I get that! And i also get that people are just having fun! I really do! I am not trying to be fun police! But also there is so much in the fandom that is Just......plain wrong whether it's coming from Lance stans or Lance haters or Keith stans who ship kl, i don't even know where to begin with. And even if i did know, if i started listing all of them we'll be here all day. Ok i think my biggest gripe is this insistence that if kl (or any Keith ship really) had became canon it could have saved vld, cause just no. No it won't. The writers hate their characters of colour and the Love Keith, if kl had became canon Lance would have just been reduced to being Keith's eye candy. Neither would making him Black paladin. Just look at what happened to Shiro and Kuron

They got done dirty by the fans- Kl shippers insisting that their fanon 'fixed' Lance and said fanon is Lance having every nuance or complexity removed with only things remaining is either his insecurities and him having a crush on Keith my beloathed. Please i need most fans (especially Keith stans) away from him, doesn't matter what their feelings about Lance are, all of them somehow come up with worse fanon

They got done dirty by the creators- Everyone and their mother has talked about this in great detail but still. Just. A farmer?!?! A FARMER?!?!?!!? Also apparently him moving to Altea even though he spent so much time missing Earth like?!??! I would have accepted that if it's because he is Allura's Prince Consort or a diplomat or something but this is just bullshit

Wasted Potential- Lance could have had such a great arc about being support and humility and finding his own place with his own strength but noOooOoo it's instead about how he'll only ever be second choice to fucking Keith

I am constantly going insane rotating him in my brain like a fork in a microwave- this fucker has been in my brain for 7 goddamn years and he is neither planning to leave nor planning to pay rent

Popular ships for this character suck- i actually like most of his ships except klance, the blight that it is (i enjoy it too occasionally but it's so everywhere it's getting on my nerves, free my boy i am tired of Keith)

Overrated- I love him. He is my most favorite character ever, but people need to shut up about him forever <333, especially because that fanon guy is not my son

Constantly listening to songs and mentally holding them up like paint swatches- i have. So. Many animatic ideas around Lance. So many of them

I WANT TO STUDY THEM LIKE COCKROACH- He's my little labrat and i am an unethical scientist about to have fun experimenting. He's just so intriguing, i think what's intriguing to me about is how much messy, contradictory and human he is as a character

FREE SPACE- Maybe i am bit biased here but in my opinion vld should have had three main focal points. Shiro, as he has connection with galra empire and the horrors they were committing in the present and the universe that needs to be rescued, saved and healed. Allura, as she has connection with the lions and their legend as well as the past of the galran empire and what was destroyed in their wake and seeks justice, healing, and remembrance. And finally, Lance, as he's connected to every member of the new team, no matter how uncertain and one sided those bonds were, to Earth and his family who never even knew about those dangers and are unprepared, what's at stake and the future that needs to be defended and protected.

What's wrong with him (affectionate)- He's so goddamn annoying<33333

Not Enough ScreenTime- Or atleast he definitely he needed more focus

My opinions would be received by most fans as akin to hitting a wasps nest with baseball bat- other than my dislike for kl? I think allurance was fine, yes the relationship needed better writing. But so did every relationship in this goddamn show buddy, as a matter al is one of the only ones that actually had some development for both the characters.

Also Lance should have stayed the blue paladin "He deserved to be someone's first choice" HE WAS ALREADY SOMEONE'S FIRST CHOICE!!! HE WAS BLUE'S FIRST CHOICE!!!! BLUE WAITED FOR HIM FOR 10,000 YEARS!!! SHE CHOSE HIM OVER THE BEST PILOTS, THE BEST ENGINEERS, THE BEST SCIENTIST AND SO MANY OTHERS!!!!! *rattling and gnawing on my cage bars*

BITING AND KILLING AND MAIMING THEM AND DEATH AND VIOLENCE- I am definitely Normal™ about him. Yup. Just don't look at my blog

Hunk-

i have answered him here!

Shiro-

They got done dirty by the fans- I do not get this opinion that Shiro staying dead would have fixed the narrative. Like Shiro had been dead since s2 and only came back at the end of s6 to be a side character. Him staying alive was not the reason behind the quality of the show decreasing. Also the entire "who should be the Black Paladin" debate is pointless the answer will always be the guy who fought Zarkon in the Astral Plane for it.

They got done dirty by the creators- Literally so fucking dirty, Shiro really goes from one of the most interesting character with compelling backstory integral to the plot, to a side character who may as well just not be there. The absolute bs of it all

Wasted Potential- Shiro had So Much going for him as a character, but alas

They work better as a part of a dynamic- Shiro and Black Lion parallel mirrored dynamic my beloved they'll never make me hate you <333. Cause seriously it's the most Lion-Paladin bond in the whole show, their shared similar trauma and that too from same people!!! How can you not???

The popular ships for this character suck- maybe this is just me being a Keith hater, but Shiro's dynamic with literally every other character was far more compelling then his dynamic with Keith. Like with Allura? Shared trauma from same people and also shared responsibility. With Pidge? Trying to find the same people they love. With Hunk? Two characters who struggle with their neurodivergency and need stability. With Lance? Character foils. In all these cases Shiro is in an equal position and feels like a character. With Keith however, platonic or romantic, the entire relationship is about how Keith feels about Shiro, and how sad Keith gets when Shiro gets hurt/missing etc etc, and just a completely one sided mess that is less about them equals and more about putting Keith on pedestal, which is just utterly boring nothing burger to me

I want to study them like a cockroach- Tell me your secrets boy <33

Not enough screen time- Yeah </3

My opinions would be received by most fans as akin to hitting a wasps nest with baseball bat- Like i said i find his dynamic with Keith at best boring and at worst detrimental to his character in canon in Doylist perspective way. Which sucks cause like it's fan favorite relationship in both canon and fanon and is also almost everywhere.

Also i know twinganes (Kuron and Shiro being bros) is really popular but i personally cant see them get along. Especially at first. Shiro canonically doesn't like Kuron and refers to him as an evil clone, which understandable, Shiro did spend months dead in astral plane while Kuron (unknowingly) took over his life and then goes on to nearly kill his friends. But it is also so unfair to Kuron who is not only dead but also no one is mourning him AND his body is being used by Shiro. So if Kuron were to survive all That™ i doubt he'll have high opinions about Shiro as well (hence my post s8 au)

And even if all that didn't happen i still think they'll have problems. Like at best they will be civil and friendly but also deeply uncomfortable around each other (Kuron cuz clone trauma and Shiro cuz Haggar trauma). At worst it's just this-

I like them but i don't think about him much- confession i personally found Kuron to be much more compelling as a character. Shiro is a good character! I get why people like him!!! But also if i had to choose between the two it would be Kuron without a doubt. Shiro just doesn't hit the brainrot levels of likability to me

[aeoki]

Blackjack - Gifts Will Not Arrive: Chapter 9

Location: Underground Family Residence  Characters: Shinobu, Mayoi & Hitsugi Season: Autumn

Hitsugi: Putting that aside…

What on earth are you doing here, Anzu-senpai?

Shinobu: (...!? NEGI-dono seems different all of a sudden ~de gozaru!)

(Did she change to Kurone-dono’s personality? No, this Kurone-dono seems different from the one I know…)

(It’s like something feels off about him? He seems intimidating…!)

Mayoi: Chief, Chief, Chief~♪

Shinobu: Um, Mayoi-dono, Chief is trying to think so please don’t bother me ~de gozaru. In fact, you should return to normal now.

Hitsugi: Hehe. Don’t say that – make sure to pay lots of attention to him, alright?

He is my benefactor. Everything I own and everything that I’m about to gain would not nearly be enough to reward him.

I want Ayase-senpai to be super happy…♪

Shinobu: (Hmm? The way he speaks sounds like Hitsugi Kurone-dono but is this a third personality!? Probably not.)

Hitsugi: Anyway, the issue is Anzu-senpai. Actually, that would be the both of you.

Do you two know what you’ve done?

Shinobu: You don’t have to put it that way… We were worried about Mayoi-dono.

Hitsugi: So you came to check on him? In the depths of the earth?

You don’t know how dangerous that is, do you?

Shinobu: ………?

Hitsugi: Huh? You don’t? What should we do!?

Mayoi: Umm, how much do you two know about this place?

Hitsugi: And how much do you know about me?

Shinobu: Almost nothing… Like I mentioned before, we were worried about Mayoi-dono and a lot of people helped us see him ~de gozaru.

He appears to be in surprisingly good health and spirits, so that’s a relief, though.

Hehe. Now that I’ve seen with my own eyes that everyone is safe, it shouldn’t be a problem if we go home now~♪

Hitsugi: You’re leaving!? I thought you’d wanna drag us outta here…!

That would be dangerous so I figured I’d have to resist no matter what.

Shinobu: We don’t have the right to do that ~de gozaru. There’s a reason why you two are holed up here, right?

We don’t have a reason nor the justice to forcibly go against that. We’re not your family or anything in the first place.

We just wanted to confirm your safety with our own eyes. Messages on “Hallhands” can be manipulated so it makes it hard to believe things on there.

And we wanted to tell you this: If you’re in any sort of trouble, we’ll come and help you.

Hitsugi: …………

Shinobu: Putting Mayoi-dono aside, that’s the one thing I can say as your Yumenosaki upperclassman.

Nothing will come out of you shouldering it all at Yumenosaki– no, that would apply in any situation.

Even geniuses, monsters or allies of justice won’t be able to win if they’re alone.

So if you’re in trouble, please tell us that you need help.

“We’ll” come running over straight away once we hear your voice.

We’ll definitely come save you.

Hitsugi: …………

Shinobu: T–That’s all from me ~de gozaru… I’m starting to get a bit embarrassed. I can’t say those lines proudly like Morisawa-dono and the others.

I always jumped on their endlessly cheerful bandwagon and made a fuss with them, but I’m alone right now. Uuu, that was embarrassing.

I–I’ve said what I wanted so I wouldn’t mind heading back now.

Mayoi: Please don’t leave, Chieeeeeef! Please stay with me here for life!

Ahh, you’re always so soft and squishy but that cool expression you had on your face was so surprising! You were the cutest in the entire galaxy…☆

Shinobu: L–Like I’ve been saying, don’t hug me so tightly ~de gozaru! My bones will break!

H–Help me, Anzu-dono… Mayoi-dono is going to eat me up at this point. I’m scared.

Huh? “Heroes are natural enemies of eccentric people”, you say?

I see…?

Mayoi: W–What do you see? I’m not your enemy, Chieeef!

See? I love you thiiiiis much…!

Shinobu: If that’s how you truly feel, then don’t be so wrapped up in mystery and tell me more about yourself. You’re more like an unknown entity to me right now.

I won’t say that you have to share everything with your family and friends.

But it’s sad when even the people closest to you know nothing about you.

I’m sure Anzu-dono feels the same way about you too, Kurone-dono.

Hitsugi: …………

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[queenallura]

IF THAT VLOG DOESN'T MAKE IT CLEAR LET ME SPELL IT OUT

KURON LOVED HIS TEAM

THEY WERE HIS FAMILY

HE WAS TRYING HIS BEST

HE DESERVED BETTER

#JUSTICEFORKURON

[carry692]

When you are absolutely pissed at your teacher, want to draw and have a total Shiro/Kuron addiction... And rewatched "the Black paladins" this morning 😅😅

[justmenoworries]

Kintsugi

A/N: Watch me write a dozen fics where Kuron survives and gets to be more than just ‘the evil clone’ purely out of spite. Baby Clone was precious and deserved better, so if the writers won’t give him a happy ending, I will.

“Transfer successful. Vital signs stabilizing.”

“So this is it? That’s the clone now?”

“Don’t call him that Lance.”

“Geez, sorry. I’m just telling it like I’m seeing it.”

Loud.

Why was everything so loud?

Sound usually didn’t travel that fast in the astral plane. He knew.

It just got swallowed by the all surrounding darkness, until merely faint echoes remained.

But those voices weren’t echoes.

They were as clear as could be.

Weird.

He groaned at the sound attacking his sensitive ears.

“Is he really alright?” someone asked. There was genuine concern in that one.

“His body and mind have been under a lot of stress. If all goes according to our calculations, he’ll awaken in a few ticks. Though it might take him some time to get used to the....circumstances.”

Allura.

The one who’d said that was Allura.

Slowly but steadily it came back to him.

The two voices he’d heard first were Keith and Lance.

And the one who had asked about him being alright was...

A feeling of dread and confusion washed over him.

That had been his voice.

How...?

“Let’s leave him to  come to for a while. There is nothing more we can do at the moment.” he heard Allura say.

“If you say so, princess.”

Again that voice that was his and wasn’t at the same time.

He was dreaming.

Or hallucinating.

It was the only explanation.

The isolation had finally caught up to him.

He felt so heavy all of a sudden. What little awareness he had of his surroundings was slowly drifting away.

The last thing he heard was Keiths voice saying “Don’t worry Shiro. He’ll pull through. You did, remember?”

And he was gone again.

The next time consciousness finds him, he actually manages to open his eyes.

There is glass above him and a grey-white ceiling.

It feels familiar and yet he can’t help the uneasiness the sight of it automatically brings up. It’s all still barely a blurr.

Something is wrong and he doesn’t know what.

He can hear voices again, coming from the under side of whatever the contraption he’s lying in is.

They sound light-hearted, yet stressed, relieved, yet on edge.

Having fought an intergalactic war can cause such interesting dualities, he muses.

Even when there’s no one to be fought, you still find yourself having one hand constantly hovering over the nearest weapon.

He’d always hoped he’d remain the only one out of the Paladins who’d know what that felt like.

His vision finally sets back into focus and he can see clearly. And it takes him roughly half a minute to realize he’s in the black lion again.

He shoots up, only to whack his head on the still closed glass panel of the pod he’s in and lets out a pained groan, clutching his forehead in his hand.

“What was that?”, comes the voice that should belong to him from where he presumes the cockpit is.

A couple of hurried footsteps.

“Shiro! He’s awake!”

He blinks, unsure whether that’s relief or fear he hears in Keith’s voice. And the next thing he knows Keith is standing right above him, bayard in one hand. The red bayard, he notices.

“How is he?” comes the voice from the cockpit again.

Keith frowns and it occurs to him he should probably say something, so they know he’s not brain damaged or anything like that.

“Where am I?” he croaks.

“He’s talking.” Keith answers the voice’s question, completely ignoring him. “What do we do with him?”

Silence. Hesitance? Or just thinking about how to get rid of him best?

“We’ll be on Olkari soon,” the voice finally says. “I....I think we should put him under until then. Just...just to be safe.”

“Wait-!”

But Keith has already pressed a button on the outside of the pod and he can feel his body shut down as it suddenly grows cold around him. The last thing he sees is a look of conflict and pity in Keith’s eyes.

He awakens in an Olkarian jail cell, a plate of food standing near the door. It takes time to get used to eating with one arm, but he manages.

After the meal, he just sits on the mattress and stares at the closed door for a while, not really seeing it. The longer he sits there in silence, the more comes back to him.

Excruciating, sudden pain. The witch’s voice in his head, telling him to give in. That he is hers. And then his body isn’t his anymore. More and more images keep flooding him, each one more horrifying than the last. He sees himself fighting Keith in a place he does not know but he does. Keith is a worthy opponent, but his arm has received a few upgrades and he’s not holding back.

He hears Keith screaming that he loves him and he stops mid-movement. A little bit of the old him manages to break through after that. It’s just enough for Keith to cut off his arm. He is finally in control again, looking up at Keith, trying to explain, voice pleading.

“Keith....”

I never wanted to, It wasn’t me, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-

And then everything goes black.

His whole body is shaking. He whimpers and curls in on himself, as if that could protect him from the horror of realization.

He is not Takashi Shirogane.

He is not the Black Paladin.

Heck, he isn’t even a person. He’s a thing, an experiment, a walking talking puppet made by the Galra to tear Voltron apart from the inside. The strange voice that sounded so much like him was the real Shiro, returned to his team at last.

After he almost murdered them.

The tears start falling without him realizing it. He doesn’t have the strength or the will to stop them anymore.

Days go by without anyone coming to see him.

Apart from the guards who routinely shove a tray of food into his cell, he has no contact with the outside world. No way of knowing what they’re going to do to him. Once he makes the mistake of asking how the Paladins of Voltron are doing. All he gets are distrustful glares and silence.

He doesn’t blame them. It’s a miracle they even let him live after all he did.

Still, there is a tiny, stubborn part of him that thinks it’s just not....fair.

He never asked to be turned into a living weapon. He never wanted to attack everyone he knew and loved. He never asked to be made.

He knows thinking like this isn’t helpful in any way. But knowing that you deserve to die doesn’t make the thought of actual death easier.

It’s about noon he deduces, looking at the tiny strip of orange light coming from a small window in his jail cell. He isn’t really hungry for dinner. Constantly waiting for your date of execution to be announced will do that. He hears the tell-tale whirr of the prison tracts doors and stands up to receive his meal.

Only to freeze mid-motion.

He’s looking right into a mirror.

Shiro - the real one - is standing right in front of his cell, a tray of food in each hand.

“Um. Hey,” Shiro says, smiling awkwardly. “I,um...convinced the guards to let me bring your rations this time. Mind if I eat with you?”

Does he? He honestly has no idea. On one hand, having company that isn’t constantly giving him the evil eye could be nice. But on the other hand.....

His eyes wander down to the plate on the tray. Could it be poisoned? Is this some sort of mercy - last meal? He immediately dismisses the idea again. Shiro would never do that to someone who is in no position to fight back. He should know. He’s unknowingly pretended to be the guy for months, after all.

Noticing that Shiro is still waiting for an answer, he finally nods slowly. What other option does he have, if he wants clarity about his fate?

Shiro’s gives a relieved smile and hands him the plate through the little trap door-like installation in the cell door.

For a while they just sit there, eating in silence and occasionally throwing glances at each other.

He can’t help but note how different Shiro actually is from him. Not just because of the undercut and the clothing. It’s the way he slumps just a little when he scoops up another spoon of Olkarian porridge, or how relaxed he looks sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the person who basically replaced him, while said person himself is stiff as a rod. They really aren’t the same.

Inevitably, they both reach the bottom of their plates at almost the same time and if the situation was any different, he would have found that funny. It is not, so he doesn’t.

The silence is slowly getting unbearable.

Just as he’s about to say something, anything, Shiro speaks first.

“You know, it’s funny,” he says, looking down on his empty plate. “When I came down here, I had a whole speech laid out in my head. What I was gonna say to you, how I was gonna say it and in what tone....but right now? I can’t remember it at all. Weird, right?”

He supposes it is. Telling a guy you’re going to axe him off doesn’t take so many words, does it?

“I...I guess I’ll just make do then. What....what I wanted to say to you was...” Shiro stops for a second and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, he lifts his head and looks him right in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He might as well have set off a bomb. He stares at him, blinking somewhat dumbfounded. That is...certainly not what he’d expected the guy who’s identity he stole to say to him at their first meeting.

“What are you sorry for?” he blurts out. He can’t stop himself.

Shiro shrugs and gives a lop-sided smirk that is filled to the brim with remorse.

“Everything, basically. You..you didn’t know what...who you were. You’re as much as a victim in this as all of us. And all I’ve been doing so far is treat you like you were the enemy. I....I called you “evil”, a ‘thing’!” At that Shiro looks honestly disgusted with himself for a moment. But he snaps out of it and looks at him with sad eyes. “I of all people should know what it’s like to be turned into a weapon by the Galra without knowing it. And yet here I am, blaming you for something you had absolutely no control over. Back there in the pod when you woke up for the first time, I should have just let you out, I should have talked to you or at least see if you were alright or something. Instead I just....” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “So, yeah. I came here to tell you just how wrong I was to do that to you. And I hope you can forgive me, but if you can’t, that’s completely understandable.”

He doesn’t answer. He just sits there, staring, trying to digest what’s just happened.

“You’re asking me,” he finally says, “to forgive you? Are you quiznaking serious right now?” Shiro seems taken aback by this sudden outburst, but the floodgates have already been opened and he can’t hold himself back anymore. “It’s like you said: I’m a thing! A creature made by the Galra to destroy you and everyone you love! I infiltrated your team! I stole the Black Lion from you, I, I almost got them all killed on Narxela and let’s not forget the time when I almost blew them up! If anything, I should be apologizing to you! You shouldn’t even be here talking to me like, like I’m human or something. What do you get from that? Why haven’t you killed me yet? What do you want from me???”

He’s breathing heavily. During the time he’s talked he’s been getting closer and closer to the cell door and now Shiro and him are standing right in front of each other. There’s something in Shiro’s eyes he can’t quite place. Something like...shock? Pity? Understanding? All of that?

“Do you remember that time you had to defend a convoy of supply ships and Keith wasn’t there?”, Shiro says suddenly, taking him slightly aback.

“Y-yeah?”

“Well, it’s a little hard to explain, but...when you came to the Black Lion that day...I was there. Kinda.” Shiro pauses, looking hesitant, but then continues: “At first, I was...wary of you. I didn’t know who you were, what your plan was, what you wanted. But...then you actually talked to Black. You were asking her, no, begging her to help you. You sincerely wanted to get out there, you wanted to help the team save lives!” He shakes his head at that as if he still can’t believe it. “I was surprised to say the least. But I could feel you meant everything you said to Black. That’s why we let you pilot in the first place. And that’s why I’m here.” Shiro gives him a warm smile. “You’re not a thing, or a creature. You’re a person. And a pretty great one at that. You watched over them, when I couldn’t. You lead them to the best of your abilities, through good and bad. And you never stopped trying to protect them, even when that witch took over you. You deserve a second chance. Just like I did, when I was in your shoes. And I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. So....if you still want to help us win this war...” Shiro puts his hand on a panel on the cell’s outside and the door deactivates.

He watches the door slowly retreat until there is nothing separating the two of them. He looks up again to see Shiro’s hand extended to him.

“I could really use a co-pilot. A lot of things have happened since we got to Olkari. Only if you want to, of course.”

He stares at Shiro’s hand, not saying a word. What is he supposed to say? Does he have to say anything? His head is a mess and he’s pretty sure Haggar has nothing to do with it this time. Here he was, expecting to be axed off soon and instead Shiro himself is standing right here, in front of him, giving him freedom and, if he wants to, so much more. And he definitely wants to. He wants to so bad. And yet.... “How do you know you can trust me?” he whispers. “What if the witch just...takes over and uses me to hurt you or he others again?”

“She won’t,” Shiro answers, holding his gaze. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure she’ll never be able to do that to you again. I promise.”

He thinks about that for a while. Then he takes a deep breath-and takes Shiro’s hand, giving it a shake.

“I’m in.” He gives a smirk. “But don’t expect me to take over for you during long, boring political meetings again.”

Shiro laughs. “Noted.”

They walk through the prison’s corridors together and he can’t help but think how great the experience of being able to walk more than a few feet without running into a wall really is.

“Hey, I can’t believe I’m only asking this now,” Shiro says,” but what’s your name?”

“My name?”

He tries to remember a time when he wasn’t Shiro. He remembers having flash-backs of Galra scientists, speaking of “Operation Kuron” which he assumes is him, but he comes to the conclusion that that is not what he wants to be called. That’s not who he is anymore.

“If it’s not too forward,” Shiro’s says, tearing him out of his thoughts, “I’ve got an idea for one. Want to hear it?”

He shrugs. “Sure.”

“What do you think of Ryou?”

[yellowmechanicalcat]

fic: true in time and place

Happy Wednesday, have some fix-it fic for Shiro and Kuron with a heavy side of angst, because I like trying to make canon make sense. Takes place between Seasons 5-7. Read it on AO3 or below the cut.

True in Time and Place (part 1 of 4)

Summary: When Lance sacrificed himself for Allura, he saw someone familiar before she brought him back to life.

"You see there may be stories, apparently not consistent with each other, yet all of them true in their time and place, and so far as each actor is concerned." - Joshua Chamberlain

-

“This is all my fault,” Lance sobs over Shiro’s lifeless body, slamming his fist into the ground. It’s not a side of Lance any of them have seen before. He’s always been one to hide his deeper feelings, using jokes and sarcasm to deflect away from what’s really bothering him. It took over a year for him to trust his team enough to show even a hint of a tear at the mention of his family, even though they all knew he was homesick, because how could you not be?

It’s heartbreaking to watch Lance break down like this, but at least Shiro isn’t around to hear him. Because if he was, he’d probably feel kind of bad.

Because– well. The thing is, Lance isn’t exactly wrong.

-

Lance sacrifices himself on a mission to repair a Galra labor colony’s heat shield, throwing the Red Lion in front of a blast that would have taken out two of his (okay, fine, Red! their) favorite ladies, Blue and Princess Allura alike, and that’s the moment two realities diverge:

In one reality, he dies. This is the end of the Tale of Lance, the brave Earthborn paladin who gave himself wholeheartedly to the cause. The people will build statues that never get his nose or chin quite right. Some will tell tales of Lance the Lover while others warble ballads of Lance the Loveless, but either way he lives on as one of the most remembered martyrs of a long, long war.

In another reality, Lance closes his eyes against the bright light of an explosion and opens them to the vast, empty darkness of Space. Instead of seeing metal lion debris and oxygen leaking from a broken helmet in a cinematic disaster movie scenario kind of way, which is sort of what he’d expected, he feels something like gravity holding his feet to the ground. When he turns around, he finds the Red Lion is behind him.

“Red! Are you okay?” Lance asks.

No response, but also no particle barrier, which is good. Maybe. Red is seated with its head held high and mouth closed, its eyes dark and empty. As far as he can tell, the Lion’s offline. Getting back into the cockpit won’t be easy, but that’s a problem for Future Lance to deal with. Present Lance just has to find a way up there.

He tries his jetpacks but they’re unresponsive, so he figures he must have taken a hit. What’s weird is that the rest of his armor looks fine. Actually, as far as he can tell, there’s not a scratch on him.

He taps his helmet to activate the comms and doesn’t even get static on the line. It’s just–

Quiet.

“Guys?” Lance calls, and his voice echoes strangely through the comms, coming back to him in waves. He does his best to squash his rising panic and ends up cramming it all into a hacky sack-sized lump in the pit of his stomach. “Can you read me? Is anyone there?”

No one is there.

He breathes: in, out, repeat. It’s just him and the Red Lion, alone in this strange space with whole galaxies wheeling above his head and a pale light coming from somewhere that makes his armor glow faintly and gives him familiar vibes (quintessence? his mind whispers) and his thoughts drift to Allura’s magic; finding the Blue Lion; connecting with the others and calling for Shiro to join them, watching his silhouette flicker into view and straining to hear him saying—

“Lance?” “Shiro,” Lance murmurs, lost in memory. A beat. Then: “What are you doing here?” Lance’s breath catches. That’s not how it went. Jeez, he’s only been lost in space for, what, five minutes? and he’s already losing his mind.

He jerks his head up and is startled to see Shiro himself standing right in front of him in full armor, except that he’s missing his helmet. Shiro looks just as startled and kind of pale in the weird glowing light, although maybe startled isn’t the right word because it’s more like someone’s just walked over Shiro’s grave.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!” Lance demands shrilly. “I thought you were with Pidge!”

Shiro doesn’t respond. Instead, he turns to face the Red Lion, reaching up to put his left hand on its metal paw. The Lions are big enough that it should be like watching a tourist pose with the Sphinx but instead it’s kind of like he’s petting a cat. A really, really big cat. There’s something else about him that’s just seems kind of off, but Lance can’t place it.

Eventually, Shiro says, “No, I’ve been here.”

Something about the way he says it makes it sound almost like an apology, but that doesn’t make any sense, either. Impatiently, Lance waits for him to explain, but all Shiro does is ask more questions, still focusing on the Red Lion.

“What happened, Lance? How did you get here?” “I don’t know!” Lance snaps. “Last thing I remember was knocking Allura out of the way when the shield blew. But we’ve gotta get out of here, Shiro! Too many people are counting on us, we can’t just go and disappear on them now.”

Shiro finally looks over at him.

“I’m not going to let you disappear, Lance. I’ll get you back, I promise.”

Is there something wrong with his ears? “Me?” Lance says incredulously. “Why are you saying that like we aren’t both getting out of here? I’m not just gonna leave you here. That’s not how we roll, you know that!”

Shiro doesn’t say anything. He just looks weirdly sad, and Lance can’t shake the feeling that there’s something incredibly wrong about this whole situation.

That’s when he realizes why Shiro doesn’t look right. His hair’s different. It’s styled the way it used to be, with the shaved undercut and the narrow fringe over his forehead. When did Shiro have time to cut his hair? Lance wonders, as his stomach kicks up the hacky sack of panic again. And where is his helmet?

His gut tells him he needs some answers, so Lance asks, “Hey, Shiro? When was the last time you saw me?”

Part of him expects Shiro to make a short-tempered comment about having no time for stupid questions, Lance, you know this is a serious situation, because that’s the kind of thing Shiro does these days, but that isn’t what happens.

“The last time I saw all of you,” Shiro says easily. Lance relaxes a hair because at least that makes sense, but Shiro’s not done yet. “Voltron was trapped, and you were all working to free him. You hung around longer than the others and I tried calling to you, but…”

Lance nods and does his best to ignore the fact that his stomach’s playing hacky sack for real. “And, uh, before that?”

“… a while ago,” Shiro says.

I thought you were with Pidge!

No, I’ve been here.

“After we fought Zarkon, the Black Lion tried to save me by bringing me to the astral plane, but my body… well, it didn’t make it. So I’m still connected to Black, but that’s about it,” Shiro says.

I’ve been here.

“I don’t know how long it’s been. This place can really mess with your head, and time passes differently here,” Shiro says.

I’ve been–

“But I’m pretty sure I’m dead,” Shiro says.

He gives Lance a small smile, then pats Red with a quick double tap, and pulls his hand away as the Lion’s eyes abruptly light up a brilliant gold.

Lance gapes at them both.

“You, on the other hand, aren’t dead yet,” Shiro says just a little too cheerfully. “Neither is your Lion, looks like. Just needed a little energy boost is all, and that much I can do for you.”

That’s when the not-quite ground below their feet rumbles and Red roars deafeningly. Behind Shiro, there’s a light on the horizon that’s slowly getting brighter, and he feels the familiar rush of quintessence coming towards him. Lance! calls Allura’s voice, and she sounds– afraid? Worried? Something must be going wrong back there for her to sound like that. It’d be the easiest thing in the world to run to her now and he can feel Red urging him on.

Lance digs in his heels and stays put.

“But we found you,” he insists. “It took a while, sure, but you’ve been back for months. You’ve been flying the Black Lion. Why would you– This is crazy, I mean, I just saw you! You can’t be–”

He chokes on the word. Dead. It’s so– permanent.

Shiro tightens his jaw, and Lance can’t help noticing he looks even paler than he did before. “We look the same, but he isn’t me. That’s what I was trying to tell you last time. I think Haggar’s using him for something, but I don’t know what. I can only see him when he’s in the Black Lion, and it takes a lot out of me.”

The light’s getting brighter. Lance can barely even see Shiro anymore, just an outline of broad shoulders, the faint glow of Paladin armor. He can hear Allura calling his name again as Red growls insistently, already lumbering to its feet, and vaguely registers that Shiro’s still trying to tell him something with increasing urgency.

“–go now! Don’t– don’t worry about all that stuff I said. Just look after the team. Keep them safe. Will you do that for me?”

“But you’re part of the team too,” Lance tries to say, but he can feel himself slipping away and he’s not sure the words make it out. It’s hard to resist the familiar pull of Allura’s magic, warm and bright, just like her, but all he needs is just a little more time as he tries to draw in another breath–

“Hang on, Shiro!” Lance shouts into the void. “I’ll talk to Allura, there’s gotta be something she can do. I’ll fix this, I promise, and you won’t be alone here anymore–” and he’s babbling but he can’t help it, he doesn’t even know if Shiro can hear him, “I’ll bring you home! You’ve gotta believe me–”

-

That’s the moment another two realities diverge:

In one reality, Lance wakes up and immediately tells Allura about what happened on the astral plane, how she and Shiro saved him, how they need to get him back. It takes some time, but they manage to rescue Shiro’s soul and free the clone from Haggar’s control, setting into motion a chain of events where everything turns out fine.

But in this reality, Lance forgets. When he opens his eyes, he’s so overwhelmed by the way Allura is looking at him that he ends up saying something very obvious (and, he later laments, not smooth at all): “You saved me.” There’s something else he wants to say and it’s right on the tip of his tongue, but he’s still kind of fuzzy-headed from almost dying, so he decides that whatever it is can probably wait. It’ll be fine.

-

“I believe you, Lance,” Shiro says.

[discordiansamba]

I mean, if you think about it, Lotor's claim that the Galra Empire needs quintessence to continue to function just... isn't true? The Galra Empire seems to be the only civilization that actually uses quintessence as a fuel/power source. Everyone else seems to get along just fine without it.

I mean sure, they'll probably still have some dependence on it as they adjust to using new energy sources. They can't just convert a massive Empire's fuel supply overnight. But trying to argue that they NEED quintessence is the same as people trying to argue that we NEED fossil fuels and that it's silly to look into alternative power sources.

anyways that's why human lotor would be a young Republican. thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Lance, Kuron, and allura for the blorbo bingo? and uhh willow if youre up for more:)

Sure thing bestie <3

Lance- I have said this before and i'll say it again, Lance as a character is filled with contradictions, and i find it a genuinely interesting thing. However i also know that this was not the writers or eps intentions and entirely me being Insane™. He's also very tragedy coded to me <3. Most favourite blorbo ever, literally creating Situations™ to put him in.

Kuron- My poorest little meow meow. Did not deserve any of That™. I love Shiro but Kuron is much more interesting to me than him. His character had so much potential but with everything in vld it was squashed.

Allura- My sweetheart! My love! I am so sorry! I am so sorry for everything you went through, oh my god! Let her have a Nap! From which she can wake up rested and happy and then let her go to therapy! But seriously the amount of demonization and bashing she has faced, just why? And she has gone through SO MUCH, only to die like THAT!! LIKE!!! I am actually going to lose it!

Willow- the bingo doesnt do justice on how much i love her! Definately the only one in this list whose character arc i am mostly satisfied with. That being said this i do think she should have had more focus and buildup, since she was one of Luz's first friends and part of the og trio, and is just genuinely a good character, and i mostly blame disney for this not happening. I am not That into toh fandom so i wouldnt know any bad takes about her, but the most i have seen is they are mostly chill!

Basically-

[miss-melody-24]

All Shiro's are good Shiro's.

Did I make a difference?

[fantastic-nonsense]

the comments from people who’re just now watching Young Justice Season 1 for the first time and don’t get the context that the Clone!Roy arc was written under (aka, the show was TV-Y7 on Cartoon Network and the writers weren’t allowed to do the whole ‘Roy gets addicted to heroin’ arc but they still wanted Arsenal to be A Thing) are kind of unintentionally hilarious

[carry692]

OK... He definitely has a totally different vibe... I'm happy that I colored him.

That's how he looked yesterday 😂😂

[wuekka]

Voltron fans salty of it's handling of Kuron/Shiro clone...

Watch Young justice. It could be worse. It could be characters telling us "oh right, he is a clone." Without any sort of foreshadowing :'D

[carry692]

Absolutely!! Kuron deserved so much better!!

The canary in the coal mine

I hear people saying that Voltron became terrible in S7 and S8. If I may, I’d like to expose my own theory.

Kuron, and specifically the treatment he was subjected to, was the canary in the coal mine.

That is to say, the ending of the much beloved S6 foreshadowed what would come to pass. Let’s review, shall we?

We have this character who repeatedly showed that he truly loved his family, to the point that a mind-reading entity probed his mind twice and both time found him sincere. To the point that, while about to suffocate to death after spending seven days with no food and no water in the freezing silent dark void of space after setting his leg on fire, all he could focus on were the moments he (believed he) spent with them. This character:

-suffered from constant painful headaches because an evil witch was fucking with his head

-was starting to suspect that his memories had been tampered with and everything he knew about himself was a lie, thus lived in constant fear and confusion

-believed he suffered from a degenerative disease that would cripple him, and possibly kill him, within a few months

-felt guilty over accidentally getting a bunch of kids involved in a war, thus was desperate to bring them home safely. And, as stated above, by S5 he believed that he only had a few short months left to do it, so was starting to get bullheaded and reckless over his franticness to win the war quickly for their sake. He let his upset get the better of him one (1) time, when he yelled at Lance, but immediately looked away in shame, and by the end of the day apologized to Lance and praised his good work.

Over the course of a year, this character suffered in silence and did his best to save as many people as possible. His hard work resulted in the salvation of 1/3 of the universe. He cared, and he tried, so very hard.

Then this characters gets possessed by the aforementioned evil witch, and mind-controlled against his will into trying to kill his family. As a result:

-Shiro, a man defined by his compassion, labels him “that thing.”

-The team takes Kuron out of the healing pod while he is injured but explicitly stated to be still alive. In addition, we are shown that he was still alive because he groaned when he was unconscious in the Black Lion.

-Keith refers to him as just a body. Again, this while Kuron is explicitly stated to be still alive.

-Lance, the kind-hearted emotional support of the team, cries that the real Shiro tried to warn them from the Astral Plane, but doesn’t even mention the time Kuron reached out to him for help in the hallway.

-Allura never even tries to use her powers to heal him, despite the fact that just a couple of episodes before she showed the ability to heal mortally-wounded people. Instead, she forces Shiro’s soul into Kuron’s body.

-When the guy who wakes up identifies himself as the real Shiro, nobody asks what happened to Kuron. Nobody grieves, nobody mourns, nobody cares. Kuron either died during the soul transfer or immediately before it after being taken out of the healing pod, and both the characters and the narrative treat it as a happy ending.

Can we agree that this is terrible? All the listed canon facts indicate that our heroes let their teammate die by withholding medical care so they could use his corpse as a vessel to save somebody else. The Paladins fought Lotor because they claimed that harvesting people is the worst possible crime, then turned around and did the exact same thing to one of their own. And it’s supposed to be okay because we are apparently not meant to think of a clone as a person, but rather as a “thing,” despite the fact that he was sentient and compassionate.

Post S6, interviews clearly showed that the EPs never expected anybody to care for Kuron. They gleefully recounted how they planned “to put the [real Shiro’s] proper essence into the Shiro husk.” Why supposedly professional writers did not expect people to care for the character who had been leading the heroes for 4 Seasons, I have no idea. After a couple of interviews, and realizing that people were sad for the clone and disturbed by his fate, they introduced the Word Of God that Kuron and Shiro merged together. Whether the heroes intentionally merged the two men together to save them both or it was just an unintended side-effect of saving the real Shiro, and whether that involves an actual soul merge or just Shiro getting the clone’s memories, is left vague.

(By the way, if it’s the latter, it’s worthless. Kuron had Shiro’s memories, that didn’t make Shiro any less dead. For that matter, Alfor’s AI had Alfor’s memories. Hell, at one point the heroes extract Sendak’s memories, and presumably could put them into anybody. Memories are not substitutes for the soul, and keeping somebody’s memories doesn’t mean that the person did not die, so they should still be mourned).

Unfortunately this Word Of God is never, ever even hinted at in canon. No indication whatsoever. The team freaks out when “Shiro’s consciousness is being rejected by the clone’s body,” but they never acknowledge the clone’s consciousness at all. White-haired Shiro only ever talks about stuff the original Shiro did, and doesn’t show any recognition when people talk about stuff the clone did, like the Voltron Show. The official books describe the process of reviving Shiro as simply putting his soul into the clone body, no mention of any merge anywhere. Finally and most damningly, canon directly contraddicts the WOG when Shiro outright states that the clone died. Thus I can only assume that the EPs lied, as they have many times before.

(For the record, there is also no canon indication that Shiro is cured of the disease. It’s never brought up even once in the show, they only say he is cured in interviews. As far as canon is concerned, Shiro “left the battle behind” because his disease finally caught up with him).

After S6, Kuron is brought up once in the entire rest of the series: in S7, when Shiro talks about “the dead body of an evil clone of myself.” Kuron’s family has written him off as evil, and his death as a joke, because they victim-blame him for the things he was forced to do against his will while under mind-control, and it’s supposed to be a happy ending.

So. When people ask “how could S7 and S8 be so cruel and heartless to Allura? How could they treat Lance so badly? How could they mess with Shiro’s character like that? How could they be so brutal to Lotor? What happened to the theme of found family?

Kuron was the canary in the coal mine. S6 took this well-meaning victimized character and had the family he loved throw him away like a piece of garbage, while acting like everything was fine and dandy. Having shown that much lack of empathy, it was just a matter of time before the series did the other characters dirty. It never stops at one.

[taracel]

So I’ve heard, Winter season 6 is coming, and there is going to be a larp episode which I’m very hyped about because man, I love drawing myself a handsome paladin with a cape, but as you see, I couldn’t refrain from the urge to design a fitting gauntlet for our hero, that forged at the devil’s den which is galra. Cause why give him a normal gauntlet?? I’m looking at you Mir

I also listened to the whole Ost of GoT over and over again while going through this, so I might as well mesh an AU with it in the future!

☆ Ko-fi ☆

Please do not repost, thanks!