Lotor smiled at the lovely Princess of Arus. They were in an Arusian freighter, the Princess refusing to allow him entrance to the Castle of Lions. He waited until she sat down at the round conference table before he sat. He listened attentively as she went over the usual welcome and greeting speech that humans seemed to have a penchant for giving. But all he really wanted to do was shoot the angry looking Alliance commander on her right, beside the pretty prince seated next to her. For some reason, the man rubbed Lotor the wrong way.

Seated on the other side of the Princess was her advisor, Coran, and next to him was the lieutenant that Lotor had spoken to earlier. He couldn't even remember the first letter of the man's name, which went to show how inconsequential to the Prince of Doom the lieutenant really was. Lotor's attention was focused on the Princess. She would be his prize when this was over. And her pretty cousin could come along for the ride if she was still alive in the end.

Finally, the Princess stopped talking and it was Lotor's turn. He cleared his throat and arranged his cape so that it fell just right as he stood.

"First, I would like to thank you all for being so gracious to me," he said smoothly, catching each of their gazes. "I am fully aware of the opinions you have of me and I admit that I deserve the worst of it. I have not walked the right path for most of my life and I hope that you will try to keep an open mind about me now. I am a different man and I want to try to fix at least a fraction of the crimes that I've committed against countless others.

"I thank all of you and Princess Romelle for allowing me and my troops to remain on Pollux. I know it must have been difficult to come to that conclusion considering my past and I am fortunate that the Alliance is as merciful as it is. I intend to prove how trustworthy I am and I will not abuse the privilege of the asylum you've granted me."

Princess Allura nodded as he sat down. She didn't smile, though if she'd been one to smile often, Lotor was sure she would have. The placid look on her face was enough for him. He glanced at the lieutenant, with the rather long nose, who was looking at him as if he were an insect to be studied. Lotor smiled at him, thinking, I'm going to have to watch him.

"May I ask you a question, Prince Lotor?" the Commander inquired, the epitome of politeness.

"Of course, Commander..." the hesitation was brief and Lotor was sure no one noticed. "...Porterfield."

"Why have you decided to turn to us? You mentioned to Lieutenant Branegan that you wanted peace, but why? You seemed to be perfectly satisfied with the life you were leading. True, you may have been lacking in triumphs, but you seemed nothing if not determined to change that."

The sharp look the Princess threw the Commander was not lost on Lotor, but he kept his face perfectly blank instead of acting on the impulse to blow Commander Porterfield to the next world.

"You can say I had an epiphany," Lotor replied. "It was during my raid of Tiberian. I'm sure you heard of it."

"You destroyed their outer villages," Porterfield said without missing a beat. "You showed their people no mercy..."

"Thank you, Commander," Princess Allura said through clenched teeth.

Lotor could see she was having difficulty controlling her temper. The Commander only threw her an innocent look as if he'd done nothing wrong. Lotor concluded that he was a stupid man, a man who only saw things as black and white. He would be easy to defeat.

"One of the slaves I took--for I did not kill everyone--was a young woman named Kyra. She was the daughter of a farmer whose home I blew into pieces, with him in it." Lotor winced for good measure and went on. "But she did not act out against me like the other captured people. She was as gentle and kind to me as though I were merely a guest in her father's home. Slowly, I began to warm to her and the time came when my day would not be complete until I saw her smile.

"Somehow, this Tiberianian girl made her way into my most vulnerable side, and I could not stop thinking about her. I began to abuse her badly, thinking that I was getting soft. But she continued acting as she had always been, even while I beat her and belittled her." He paused and collected his thoughts, his mouth trembling. "Now, I know that I would give my life to take back my actions, to give her back her family..."

Lotor looked at them, seeing that even the Commander was captivated by his story. He cleared his throat and continued, "Despite her cheery facade, I was hurting her very much. I realized it one day when one of my men came and told me that Kyra had killed herself. She had hung herself in her room with a cape--my cape. I never felt the way I did at that moment. I was in a fit of rage. I threw dishes, destroyed furniture. Then, I went to her room and took her body down myself. I sat there holding her for countless hours--like a child--and I realized that I loved her. She had touched me in a way that no one else had.

"Finally, I let her go, burying her back on Tiberian by myself. I then locked myself up in her room and put her things away. She did not have much but I kept all of it. And underneath her bed I found a sheaf of papers. She'd written a letter to me.

"She told me that she forgave me for all my sins because I was just a man who had been taught to follow the wrong path. She hoped that one day I would realize that what I was doing was wrong and that I would turn my life around."

He stopped and took a drink of water. His eyes had teared up for dramatic effect and he was pleased to see that the others were visibly affected. Lotor had to stop a smile from curling his lips when he saw how contrite the Commander looked.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Prince Alderain offered. "But her death may have saved thousands of lives."

"How so?" Lotor asked.

"She turned your life around with her letter. She stopped you from your violent ways and in that way, saved the people you might have killed. A stroke of luck, I'd say."

Lotor bowed his head to avoid their eyes. If you only knew how unlucky you really are.

"As you know, this meeting was recorded," the Arusian advisor said. "We will be sharing this information with the Senate."

"Hopefully, they will understand what you went through," the Princess said. "In the meantime, would you like to dine with us, Prince Lotor?"

If anyone was surprised by the invitation, they didn't show it. Lotor certainly was, but he accepted graciously.

And so, cape swirling about his legs, Lotor, Prince of Doom, was welcomed into the Castle of Lions.