A/n: Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate, here's a little short story I wrote last fall for my Hero's Journey class. We were supposed to write about a villain, so I chose Prince Lotor. It's unedited, so I apologize for any misspellings or grammar errors. Also, it was written before season 5, so some plot stuff may be off here. But overall, I hope you enjoy!

**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!

Many years ago…

"It's a pleasure to finally see you again father. You're looking well…"

Emperor Zarkon's cold, yellow eyes narrowed dangerously and Lotor's words caught in his throat. His gaze flicked fearfully between his father sitting before him and the high priestess, Haggar. The woman he had once called 'mother'—before she had been consumed by darkness and evil magic—wore a an equally displeased glare.

"We did not summon you here to listen to your pretty praise," Zarkon growled, his tone menacing and unloving, and Lotor deflated a bit. Ignoring his son's downcast demeanor, the Emperor turned to the young prince's aide and inquired, "What is the progress of his training?"

As quickly as he had been put down, Lotor brightened almost immediately and he couldn't help but smile to himself. As any child, he was eager to have his success and achievements shared with his parents, even if they were the most feared and evil beings in the universe.

"His swordsmanship skills rival that of any of your top generals, sire," the aide replied. "But his tactical approaches are…"

The aide hesitated nervously and Haggar's scowl deepened in dismay. "Continue, Commander Tenrik," she prodded, her voice like nails on a chalk board. "Do not waste any more of our Emperor's time."

Tenrik stiffened and nodded before hurriedly proceeding. "His tactical approaches do not align with, well…well, with how Lord Zarkon handles issues."

"How so?" Haggar drawled suspiciously and Tenrik flinched slightly under her piercing gaze. But before he could respond, Lotor piped up.

"I've done a lot of thinking, father," he began to explain, grinning excitedly from ear-to-ear. "And I believe that we're wasting our time, energy, and troops trying to keep our subjects down. We should be inspiring loyalty amongst them, not fear. We can—"

BAM!

Lotor winced as his father slammed a heavily armored fist against the armrest of his throne and he immediately pressed his lips together, frowning silently in confusion at the emperor.

"What nonsense have you been filling his head with, Tenrik?" Zarkon addressed the now alarmed aide.

"N-Nothing, M-My Lord!" Tenrik insisted fretfully. "The prince has been conjuring these ridiculous notions all on his own!"

"They're not ridiculous!" Lotor snapped, shooting a nasty glare at his aide. Then turning back to Zarkon and Haggar he pleaded, "Father, just hear me out. Doing it this way, we can gain more allies and the Galra Empire will be stronger than ever befo—"

"SILENCE!" Zarkon ordered sternly, his deep voice echoing off the dark walls of the vast throne room. "I am not interested in listening to the foolish thoughts of a child. Victory or death is all that matters."

"But, father, I—"

"Enough. You are no longer needed."

Present Day.

You are no longer needed.

The meeting Lotor had had with Zarkon and Haggar hours ago had done a lot more damage he'd anticipated. Along with removing him from the throne, Zarkon had spoken those horrible and hurtful words to Lotor for the second time in his life: You are no longer needed. The phrase just kept ringing over and over again inside Lotor's head, and he struggled to keep the other painful memories from long ago at bay as they threatened to flood his mind.

Stopping his ship, Lotor shut off all non-essential support systems and let the spacecraft float listlessly in the darkness of space. He needed to catch his breath, think about his next move. Just minutes ago, he'd just barely escaped being captured by a Galran fleet by flying dangerously close to an unstable star. As Lotor had expected, the heat and intensity of the celestial object's solar flares had eliminated a good chunk of his pursers, but he knew it was only a matter of time before more came after him.

It was still unbelievable, the fact that his own father had labeled him as a criminal of the empire. And Zarkon had specifically ordered the troops to kill him and his comrades no less! Ezor, Axca, and Zethrid immediately came to mind and Lotor wondered how his ex-generals were faring now that they were slated as criminals with death sentences. The three girls only had one comet-ship, the same as him; their chances of evading capture were just as slim as Lotor's, but…at least they had each other. Unlike them, Lotor was all alone.

He silently wished Narti was here; even if she had been mute, Lotor would've appreciated the company. But now he'd never be able to see her again. Haggar had been using Narti as a spy, and just hours ago he had killed her in a desperate attempt to keep his plans hidden from the empire. But Narti had ended up dying in vain anyways as Lotor's entire operation was pulled out from under him. Thinking about it now, Lotor grimly realized that he was no better than his father, slaughtering even close friends to get what he wanted.

What did he want? Lotor couldn't care less about ruling the Galra Empire. Maybe he just craved acknowledgement from his parents? Well, he'd certainly gotten their attention but that only landed him with a death sentence hanging over his head. He had wanted to use the comet ships to travel to a different reality and reap untold amounts of quintessence, but…what then?

Why was he doing all of this? Lotor wasn't sure anymore, and he wasn't sure if he should care at this point. His plans had spiraled too far out of his control by now. He'd been rejected by his family, abandoned by his troops, and betrayed by his generals. He had no one to turn to, no one to depend on. There was no where left to go in the empire where Lotor wouldn't be considered an enemy by either the Voltron forces or the Galra. He hated to admit it, but…he was no longer needed by anyone.

So. What was he to do now?

Sighing, Lotor tapped into the Galran fleet's transmission frequencies and sat back in his chair tiredly. He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the reports being relayed back and forth over the station, frowning to himself whenever a squadron reported on having not yet located the rogue prince.

"No sign of Lotor. Moving to Zone Zebulon 55."

"Negative, Djalg 15, that zone is restricted. I repeat, Zones Zebulon 4 through 69 are off-limits. We expect a massive detonation soon that will wipe out everything in the quadrant. Stay out of the area."

Lotor's eyes flew open. A massive detonation? From what? What exactly was going on in the Zebulon Zones? No doubt it had something to do with the Galra fighting Voltron. He shouldn't have cared less about the paladins and their struggle against Zarkon, especially since he had his own daddy issues to worry about. And yet, something in the back of Lotor's mind desperately urged him to go to this restricted zone.

Hardly hesitating, he punched in the coordinates for the off-limits area. Whatever sort of trouble was going on in Zebulon 55, maybe he would be needed there.

**Please feel free to leave a comment/review down below! They are much appreciated & encourage me to keep writing :D

**Feel free to check out my tumblr too, which is pufftheninja, as well as my other fanfics!