Voltron Final Season REWRITTEN

Episode Sixteen - The Cost

Eight years ago...

A teenage Shiro walks down the Garrison halls. He stands tall, confident in his stride. He receives respectful nods from those he passes, which he returns in stride.

Finally, he arrives at a door with a plaque labeled: "Admiral."
He takes a breath then reaches a hand up to knock.

"Come in, Ensign."

"How does she always do that?" He mutters, opening the door and stepping inside.

Admiral Sanda sits behind the desk, fingers interlaced below her eyes.

"Ensign Shirogane." She greets.

"Admiral." He salutes.

"At ease. I've got an assignment for you."

A smile nearly jumps onto his lips but he quickly suppresses it. "What is it? High-speed transport? Space flight? Showing the new cadets how it's done?"

"You're on the right track with the cadets, just a little off."

Shiro tilts his head in slight confusion.

"There's a cadet in the new batch that's been trouble. Got in a scuffle today. I want you to speak with him. See if you can't talk some sense into the kid."

Shiro sighes. "Admiral...don't you think that's a bit of a waste of my abilities?"

"Oh? And you think just because you're the young new hotshot, you're too good for the grunt work? Think you're better than everyone else just because you know how to fly a shuttle better than your whole class?"

Shiro doesn't reply, though his expression is it's own confirmation.

Sanda chuckles. "Well there's more to being a good pilot than just knowing how to pull tight turns and when to floor the throttle."

"Like nailing targets with the blasters?" Shiro jokes.

Sanda's stern gaze chases the humor out of his face.

"Talk to the boy Shiro. You might learn something." A smile grows on her face. "And you might just find something familiar about him..."

***

Shiro walks into the office, immediately seeing the dark haired boy with the black eye seated off to one side. On the other side of the room are three other boys, all with bruises. None of them meet each other's gazes.

Shiro hesitates, wavering just inside the doorframe. However, after a moment he sighs and walks over to stand in front of the boy.

"Hey. I'm Ensign Shirogane."

The boy doesn't reply, instead he grunts and stares off past Shiro.

Shiro rolls his eyes. "Too cool for that huh? Come on kid, at least tell me your name."

"Why? Not like you really care." The boy mutters.

Shiro opens his mouth to reply then hesitates. He looks at the boy more closely, as if seeing him for the first time. He notes the black eye as well as the other scratches and scraps on him.

"...you're right I don't care." Shiro finally says, shrugging.

The boy looks up at Shiro confused.

"Just being honest." Shiro shrugs. "I was told to come here. Ordered, actually."

"At least you admit it."

"Yeah. I was also told that I might find you a bit familiar. So then, kid. How'd you get so banged up?"

The boy hesitates before responding. "...got in a fight."