"Well, my prince!" Haggar entered Lotor's hangar-sized workshop with half a dozen scrolls under her arm. "I still have a couple of evil ideas in me, but these plans will work for sure."

"You've said that before," Lotor said quietly. He was standing at the holographic near one end of the huge room, Allura's hologram floating before him.

Hagar bowed. "We have had setbacks, my prince, but I am sure-"

"That's not the point. We do this over and over again. And for what?" He paused. "*I* do this over and over again."

Lotor touched a control and Allura's image vanished. As he shambled to the throne at the end of the room and picked up a goblet from a nearby table, Haggar put the scrolls down on the holographic table and wondered at Lotor's melancholy. She'd never seen him like this.

She prompted, "My prince?"

Lotor mounted his throne and sipped his drink. "Haggar, if I ask you an straightforward question, will you give me an honest answer?"

"Uh…"

"I ask you to speak your mind, without fear of sanction." Lotor smiled wryly. "After all these years, if you can't act like a friend to me, who can?"

"All right."

"Have I made a complete fool of myself in pursuing Allura?"

"Ooh."

"Say what you will, witch, whatever it is."

"You have been mocked, Prince Lotor, that is true, but honestly, I wouldn't." She smiled. "Some believe evil people shouldn't feel love or affection. I think that's poppycock, like saying a flower should never bloom in a desert. For beings like us to feel love is a beautiful thing, and we shouldn't be ashamed to admit it." She stepped closer. "She's young, pretty, occasionally ruthless though not too much, and she's become a decent fighter and pilot considering that she was raised in seclusion. Definitely a force to be reckoned with. No one can fault you for feeling attracted to her. If anything, in some ways, she is a good match for you."

"But," Lotor prompted.

"But," Haggar said. "You've assumed that she would see your assaults on people close to her as the strong culling the weak and ultimately come around to you."

Lotor nodded. "Of course."

"Yes, and if it was any evil princess, that would certainly work. But, my prince, the simple truth of the matter is Allura's mind doesn't work that way. She's motivated by compassion for the weak, and would empathize with them. So by hurting or killing those close to her…"

"I've achieved the exact opposite of what I've wanted. Instead of loving me, she hates me."

Haggar nodded.

"I know," Lotor said. "Intellectually, I've always known. But I thought I could get around it. I thought if I pressed hard enough, sooner or later, she'd come around. She's still a princess, after all; that's a powerful position by its nature. She can't ignore power, anymore than a fish can ignore water.

"But this last fight…I saved her life, and she left me to die."

"My prince…Lotor, I think you're being too harsh in your judgment. I'm certain Allura didn't intend to betray you. They were probably responding to the approach of the robeast-"

"I know, but the fact that even in that circumstance, abandoning me was even an option for her, that gave me a moment of clarity. I realized that I have been keeping myself in denial all this time. The truth has been right in front of me all along, and that truth is this: Not only do I not have a chance with her, not only have I never had one in the first place, but everything I've done has only steeled her resolve against me."

"I'm afraid so."

"And realizing that makes it all so pointless. If there's no chance of winning Allura over, why bother attacking Arus again? I'll admit, Voltron is very cool. Don't deny it; you think so, too. But there has to be a benefit for all the costs we've incurred in one failed attack after another. If I can't even have the personal payoff of Allura loving me, then there doesn't seem much point to it; there are only nine angles the blazing swords can cut or thrust from in blowing up a robeast, and we exhausted them seventeen robeasts ago."

"You could always destroy Arus in retaliation for her rejecting you, Prince Lotor."

"The thought occurred to me, Haggar, but apart from the question of whether that would work any better than our other plans, in truth, right now, I want nothing to do with Arus, or her. It's….painful to think about it. Yet the thought of turning away is also disconcerting. For the first time in my life, I don't know what to do."

"Well now," Haggar said, "I think it's a good sign that you're evaluating the situation. An honest assessment of your personal relationship will allow you to go forward politically. And you do have a relationship with her, Lotor, even if it's not what you wanted. Hatred counts as a type of emotional bond. That you are beginning to recognize that, I think this is a sign of maturity. Beyond that…You know what? Those plans I brought? I may want a few days to refine them. So why don't you take some time off?"

"Time off?"

"Yes. Why don't you go to Hedonia for a few days? Gamble in the cassino, take in the slave gladiators, amuse yourself in their brothels. Arus isn't going anywhere, and we can look at this when you get back."

Lotor smiled. "All right, Haggar. Thank you."