Book Three: Dark Kingdom - One
One year later...
Lotor opened his eyes and as usual, glared at the Alliance doctors hovered around him. He was finally through with therapy and he was now deemed ready for his trial. He was "healed", his bionic and metallic parts had grafted well with his body. He had increased strength, which prompted the doctors to keep him under restraits and under sedation quite a bit. He didn't care. Someday he would kill them all - the devils. Why they had tried to save him only to condemn him to a life like this was beyond him. He remembered the day he saw his face. One part his old self - the other of flexible metal. He wanted to take the nearest person and crush their skull in, but they were ready for his response and he did not carry out his intent. Still even in his rage, he said nothing. The head shrinker on the staff attributed his silence to the trauma of his ship exploding. Lotor let them think that. It would not matter. It wouldn't matter at his trial either. He knew he would be condemned. He knew this.
He wondered if she would be there. He hadn't seen her in so long - her sweet face, so expressive, so kind. What would she do now if she saw him? Would her kiss be as stirring? Would she recoil from him? That didn' t matter either. She was his, and for as long he lived, she would always be his..
As much as he loved Allura, he hated Voltron. That robot and the pilots who flew her were to blame for his downfall. They and his father. Lotor's lips tightened. His father. The doctors had said something about his father turning away from his ways and becoming a man of peace. This Lotor did not believe, could not believe. He could just bet his father was fooling them all.
Well, just let him play his game. Someday, his father would be caught, and he would destroy him. His father had tried to visit him several times, which he refused, of course. He did not want to see his hypocritical face.
Lotor's thoughts were interrupted by one of the doctors ushering in a nervous looking thin man in a Alliance uniform. By the look of him, Lotor guessed that he was to be his lawyer. Lotor suppressed a bitter laugh. Oh yes, he was sure he'd get a fair trial all right..Akira's testimony alone would be damning. He knew how the deck would be stacked against him. As the lawyer sat down a distance from him and rambled about his case, Lotor closed his eyes, tuned out his nasal voice and thought of Allura...she was the only one who kept him from going mad...
Allura brushed her hair, trying to settle her jumbled thoughts. Everything had happend so fast. Zarkon's empire fallen, Lotor defeat. In a span of a day, their world had changed. And now, Lotor was to be on trial. Allura's eyes flashed with anger. Zarkon, in her opinion, should be on trial too - but all he did was stay a short time in prison and then he got out and became a model citizen. Allura sighed. She knew she should give him the benifit of the doubt, but something false about him hit her - she didn't know what. She knew he would be at Lotor's trial, ostenstatiously in support of his son.
Allura would not be there, for she refused to. Her title of princess afforded her this concession. Coran and her teamates agreed as well. They had all the testimony and evidence they needed. Hers would not be needed. They also sensed that the testimony would be traumatic for her, which was true. Allura was afraid to see what he had become. She had heard that the last word he spoke was her name and he hadn't spoken since. Of course this could be a rumor, but somehow, she doubted it. She had wept many tears in secret over him, although she didn't know why. She should be relieved that he would no more be a threat to her and her loved ones, but a part of her had wanted to be with him - even in his pursuit of her. Would she ever feel again? She didn't know. She just knew that she felt for him, despite what everyone said about how he deserved what he got, she felt for him. She couldn't help what her heart felt, no matter what her head said...
The trial was over, and as he had set out to do, he had not uttered a word throughout the whole thing. He remembered that the first thing he searched for was her face. He was both relieved and disappointed that she wasn't there. He did not want her to see him like this - even if they had cleaned him up for the trial. All the testimony - and there was a lot of it, was damning. He knew that already. The idiot lawyer they had appointed for him was of no use, heming and hawing about. Lotor would have gleefully snapped his neck if he had been free.When they pronounced sentence upon him, he wasn't suprised - Life imprisonment with no parole, to Bastille-12, the maximum security prison for the Galaxy's most dangerous immates. He remembered his father's hypocritical response to the verdict and had thought what an actor he had become. He had missed his calling. Already they believed his ruse. Someday they would regret that.
Lotor sighed. He was in his cell, as he always was now. The guards would taunt him about his appearance, which he didn't really care about. What riled him was when they mentioned Allura to him. They encouraged his rage, for quite often, it landed him in solitary for quite awhile, which afforded more abuse by the guards. Lotor was strong. He could take this abuse, for the one person that substained him was still free. ..Allura, his Allura. One day she would be his. He would not be here forever. He would gather forces - for surely there were others who hated the Alliance's hold upon the former Empire - and he would obliterate Voltron. He would then take his beloved to a quiet place and be with her forever. He did not know how she would react to his appearance, but perhaps if Hagar were still alive - perhaps she could help him.
Lotor closed his eyes and thought of her, her face, the last time he kissed her. He thought of the last time he had held her body close to his. How she had been so soft, so feminine. He knew that he was only torturing himself, for he was not all bionic parts - he was still a man where it counted. The explosion that changed his life did not quench his desires - they had only honed them for her. The thought of spending all his life here - watching her marry another, bearing children for another.Becoming an old man and seeing her grandchildren and knowing that had it all been different, they would have been his. She was his. He needed her and he could not live without her. Someday..someday he would escape. He would escape this hellhole and he would live again with her in his arms...
(*Author's note: For the purposes of this fic, I am going to say that the time of Lotor's trial took nearly a year to complete - sort of like OJ's trial!)
Zarkon went back to his new home at the Alliance headquarters. The trial was over and still his son had not spoken. He suspected that Lotor's lack of speech was because he did not want an unforseen "accident" in prison. He did not blame him.The past two years had not been easy, but slowly but surely, he was gaining friends within the Alliance and a reputation for philantrophy and peace. He had friends in high places now and his fortune had made the transistion from his former occupation to this one a little more smooth. Zarkon thanked his stars that he had the foresight to stash away his fortune in the event of an emergency. The thought of being at the mercy of the Alliance's good graces was abhorrent to him. Better to be dead than poor...Zarkon leaned back in his leather padded chair, loosened his uniform collar and shirt. He had had a tiring day - meeting with the Garrison and Alliance movers and shakers. Their meetings were rather boring, but one could gain information from them that was useful. For instance, he was one of the first to hear that they had disbanded the Voltron Force, sending the pilots on their separate ways. Although he knew that two members, Lt.-Commander Francis "Hunk" Galloway and Mark "Pidge" Boone had stayed on Arus, the other two, Commander Keith Akira and Captain Lance D'lattori had left. Akira still in Garrison service and D'lattori in the private sector, pursuing a stunt flyer's career. And Princess Allura? She still ruled Arus as Princess although he had heard that her advisor was trying to secure a marriage for her, which she refused. He was not suprised of course. She did not have long until she was Queen of Arus anyway. A few more years, he thought. Still the pressure would be on her to provide an heir. She would have to concede sometime. Zarkon shook his head. He didn't know whether to envy or pity her husband-to-be. She was so stubborn. Thinking of her led him to thoughts of his son again.
He sensed the anamosity from his son, despite his entreaties and despite his new position here in the Quadrant. Zarkon's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the magnificent view from his window. Lotor may yet be either a problem or a use for him yet. He knew that someday his son would escape. He would only need a reason to - and Zarkon knew that reason...she was in the Castle of Lions - the former pilot of Blue Lion, Princess Allura...Zarkon chuckled at the thought. When his son escaped, he would play the greived father, and he would gain even more of an advantage over his former foes - oh yes, this game would be fun....