Dude, clone Shiro makes me so sad. He just wanted to be a paladin. He genuinely thought he was the real deal. He was fighting so hard against Haggar's control right up until the end. And considering Shiro was still alive inside of the black lion, Clone Shiro had to be shiro-enough for Original Shiro and the black lion to let him be the new pilot. I know he calls the clone "that thing" but at that point he had been completely taken over by Haggar. He was just her puppet.
Oh anon, believe me, I know :( I’ve been a member of the Kuron Protection Squad since s3. The poor guy, regardless of his origin, was a real, living, breathing human being. Yes, he had Shiro’s memories planted in him, but in his time he also created his own unique ones. He was his own person starting the moment he woke up in that lab.
And he was in so much pain. I mean, even back in s3, he talks about getting a “weird headache.” How long has he been experiencing some sort of pain? How long has he been pushing it aside and keeping quiet for the sake of the team (which is SUCH a Shirogane thing, btw)? How long has he been fighting?
And then you have when Haggar finally takes over. How much he’s screaming, clutching at his head like he can pry whatever it is out. And he has no idea what is going on. He’s in excruciating pain, and he’s also losing control of his own mind. I just… I can’t even imagine what he was going through.
And yet!! There’s still part of him left!!! He hesitates when Keith tells him he loves him, almost breaking through the control (sidenote: god, can you imagine how much those two mean to each other for that to happen in the first place?), and then at the end, he lets out that final, scared, shaky “Keith…?” Like, no matter what anyone tries to say, the sweet dorky Kuron we’d come to love was still in there and he was absolutely terrifed. He was an unwilling pawn in all of this and he absolutely deserved so much more than he got.
