Horde Prime's battalion of spaceships encircle Etheria's atmosphere, a control spire lands with a boom in a forested area, branches creaking and breaking under its mass.
The spire's door hisses open for multiple Horde bots and drones to fly out. One drone scans the forest in a hum, a young Etherian runs into view followed by another, both panting fearfully. Both suddenly gasp in fear and attempt to run from several drones that surround them, both girls whimper as the drones begin to scan them.
Adora quickly runs and leaps, spinning and crashing her staff down on a drone as they scatter while shouting,
"For Etheria!" the drone begins to fly away, but Adora spins her staff again and impales it, making it buzz with electricity.
"Babe, don't be so extra. It's... How do I say this without sounding mean? It's... cringy." I tell the onde beside me.
"Oh, please. You're just mad you're not She-Ra's helper anymore." she rolls her eyes.
The two etherians cry out in fear as another drone flies toward us, but thankfully an arrow pierces and knocks down the drone.
Bow leaps over a rock, landing next to me and Adora confidently.
"Two down." he smirks.
A third drone flies upward and away before Swift Wind kicks it with a grunt, knocking it down.
"And a whole Galactic Horde to go." the Pegasus states.
The drone falls and Perfuma grabs it with a vine as Frosta punches it with an ice fist, both grunting.
Mermista, standing next to Frosta, says,
"I'll get the next one, I guess."
Adora pulls her staff out of the first drone with a metal shing as Swift Wind lands next to the crew.
Adora speaks to the Etherian civilians,
"It's okay, you can come out now."
Several civilians come out of the woods to cross a river, whilst protected by the princesses, Swift Wind, and Bow. Adora looks up at a control spire just before a laser blast fires past, causing the civilians to scream.
Adora shouts,
"Run!"
A tree explodes nearby as Horde bots run toward the group. As the last of the civilians run across, Frosta gasps to follow them, Perfuma removes her vine bridge, Swift Wind neighs, and everyone except Mermista and Adora stay with the civilians.
Mermista quietly, yet confidently says,
"My turn." she shouts with effort, throwing a huge wave of water from the river at the bots, pushing them all away except one which gets pinned against a tree.
Bow calls out,
"Come on, let's go before they--"
Adora gives a prolonged shout, running at the bot; reprimanding.
"--Adora!" I shout, clearly frustrated at her childish behavior.
Adora shouts again as she leaps at the bot, grunting as she dodges its swipes, metal clangs as Adora's staff connects with the bot's arm. The bots laser arm charges and fires, Adora barely avoiding the blast and gasping. They continue to fight until Adora jabs the bot in the laser arm and electricity buzzes along its exterior until it explodes, more bots and drones rush in.
Adora raises her staff and shouts,
"For the honor of--" she realizes and cuts herself off while looking at her staff. Her tone falters, as she lets out a prolonged,
"Ooooh..."
Adora gasps as she barely dodges a laser blast, a bot runs in and clamps its arms onto her staff, metal clanging. Adora grunts as she is lifted into the air by the staff, then thrown into a tree.
Bow fires an arrow into a drone making it explode. I then start calling out in concern,
"Adora!"
The blonde is holding her side, slowly getting up, she quickly yells,
"I'm okay! I'm okay--ow!" collapses back into the tree holding her side.
"You're not okay!" I yell back.
A bot approaches her and raises its arm to attack as Adora grunts and holds her staff up in defense, but a wave of water blasts the bot away, making a loud thud in the distance.
"Thanks, Sea-Ra!" I shout to the water princess.
Mermista runs up to put her hands on Adora's shoulders.
"Adora, chill." Mermista quietly reminds her, with empathy,
"You're not...She-Ra anymore, remember?"
Adora, as another bot runs past, says "I'm on iiit!"
Mermista groans,
"Ugh, I just said..."
Adora hums angrily as she runs at the bot; the bot fires and explodes nearby forest as Adora grunts and slides into its feet, knocking it down.
"Gotcha!" the blonde happily states.
The bot beeps as its camera records Adora grunting and destroying the bot's feed.
As I'm getting dressed I start to hear whimpering coming from the bed Adora was still sleeping on. I walk over to the side and slightly nudge her shoulder to wake her up.
Adora gasps as she jolts awake. She sits up from her cot in a Rebellion encampment, somewhere in the Whispering Woods.
Adora gasps for air and pants, finally calming and exhaling, holding her head in her hands, she looks over at the broken shards of the Sword of Protection laying nearby and sighs. The blonde gets up from the bed and looks at me.
"You okay?" I ask, already knowing the answer, but wanting to let her know I care.
Adora scoffs slightly before replying,
"No." she then leans her head in the crook of my neck, I embrace her to let her know I'm okay with it. A few seconds later she returns it.
"Don't worry about the whole Mara situation. We're gonna figure it out." I try to reassure her as I rub circles on her back.
"Now come on. Go get dressed, we have to meet up with Bow." I tell Adora.
The blonde lets out a sigh before pulling away from me and standing up.
She puts on her usual attire, then ties up her hair, grabs her staff, and looks at me for reassurance before exiting the tent, I give her a warm smile as I leave the tent, holding up the curtain so she can walk out as well.
Adora walks through the camp beside me, glancing up at where a sorcerer from Mystacor is channeling a shield spell over the encampment, magic circle humming. Another sorcerer steps up to replace the first, patting them on the shoulder and making them gasp, then stepping forward and sealing a hole in the shield.
Adora looks around at the people in the camp, a low murmur of conversation happening, and Sea Hawk sits nearby cleaning his sword with a leaf and then greeting Adora with a semi-salute as she passes by. The blonde and I walk up behind Bow and Entrapta as Entrapta taps away at a tablet, making beeping noises.
Bow finally notices Adora and in a concerned tone he asks,
"Adora. Did you get any sleep?"
Entrapta pulls her mask back off her face to look at Adora.
Adora, after a slight pause, replies with,
"...Have you guys finished the updates to Mara's ship yet? How soon can we take off to rescue Glimmer?"
I answer for Bow, knowing he doesn't really wanna tell her.
"It's a little, not even a little, it's way more complicated since--" I get cut off by Entrapta.
Entrapta has her hair grab Bow's tracker pad from his hands as she excitedly speaks,
"SPACE!"
She moves away from us to spin around happily.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited!" she starts alternating using her hair and hands to tap at the pad, beeping, she continues to move about erratically as she types.
"In order to achieve maximum velocity for lift-off, the necessary repairs and upgrades to the shields, the engines, and the life support should take us approximately..." she intakes a small breath.
"Oh. ...A very long time." the purple haired girl nervously chuckles slightly.
Adora urgently replies,
"We don't have time. Glimmer's up there, somewhere, waiting for us."
She somberly adds,
"...We just have to figure out where."
Bow places a hand on Adora's shoulder, and in a reassuring tone he tells her,
"We'll find her. I know we will."
Entrapta pops up very close to the two of them, enunciating with her hair excitedly,
"This isn't just a little update. Space has a lot more dangers and variables..."
She starts using her hair to mimic bodily positions representing her examples,
"crushing pressure, freezing temperatures, vaporization... All it takes is one little hull breach, and then WHOOSH!" she thrusts the tablet showing a simulation of Adora and Bow dying into their faces.
"That's it!"
A slight pause as Adora and Bow look at each other nervously. I can't help but chuckle at their reactions. I mean, it's common knowledge, how can they not know this?
"Besides, there's no telling where Glimmer could be." Entrapta, yet again, uses her hair to enunciate.
"Space is always expanding, always getting bigger and bigger!" she laughs manically for a moment.
Another slight pause as Entrapta stops to look at Bow and Adora, Bow whimpering nervously and Adora looking annoyed.
Entrapta attempts at reassurance,
"...But don't worry, I'm sure we'll determine her precise location..."
"soon..."
Adora sits back against a table and pinches her nose.
*That's hot.*
The sound of Mermista groaning and Frosta's voice coming from a different tent is heard.
Frosta, sounding upset, yells,
"Are you kidding me?!"
I enter the tent, Adora following from behind me. Adora brushes the tent flap open and the fabric rustles, revealing Mermista, Frosta, Shadow Weaver, Perfuma, the Bright Moon General, and Micah standing in front of a map.
Shadow Weaver frustratedly explains,
"The sorcerer's spells will only keep us hidden for so long. Then what? This is the only way." she thrusts a finger and taps Micah's chest.
"Your daughter understood well enough--"
Micah swats her hand away and angrily replies,
"You don't get to talk to me about my daughter."
"She would've never had us abandon Bright Moon..." Shadow Weaver places a hand on the map.
Micah turns toward our group, clearly frustrated,
"We couldn't hold Bright Moon with the Galactic Horde attacking us from overhead, we need cover!"
Shadow Weaver, also turning toward our group, ALSO aggravated,
"Which is precisely why we should use the Heart of Etheria!"
Frosta speaks as Mermista groans long and loud,
"Come on!"
Perfuma sighs exasperatedly,
"I can't, I just can't."
Mermista states,
"Okay, so we're not doing that because, A) without Glimmer, and more importantly, without She-Ra"
I look over at the blonde, but Adora just glances away dejectedly.
I continue listening to Mermista,
"the Heart of Etheria won't work. And, B) when it did "work", it nearly destroyed everyone. So," she hums slightly,
"no, thanks."
Frosta cuts in quickly, crossing her arms aggravatedly,
"Oh, and also, C) we don't like you, and we don't want your help."
I tune everybody out until Adora speaks up and brushes past me.
Adora cuts in quickly, walking to the center of the group,
"Arguing is not going to help us. We need information on Horde Prime if we're going to find Glimmer, and we won't get any of that sitting around here."
Micah agrees with her statement, "Adora's right. The best thing we can do now is focus on evacuations, scouting missions, and keeping everyone safe until we can learn more of Horde Prime's plans." he starts walking over to tap at the map.
"Our scouts report that another one of his spires has been spotted near Thaymor."
Mermista asks,
"Wait, wait, wait, didn't we just save Thaymor?"
Frosta answers her question,
"No, you're thinking of Elberon."
I groan, then flop onto a beanbag chair,
"Ugh, can everywhere stop getting invaded for, like, five seconds?"
Adora confidently states,
"I'll do it. I'll bring them back here."
Perfuma places her hands on Adora's shoulders. In a concerned way, she tries to talk her out of it.
"Alone? Adora, you really ought to bring backup, you're not..." she whispers softly, cupping her mouth,
"You-Know-Who anymore."
Adora, slightly irritated, says,
"...Fine. I'll take a team."
All of us but Adora and Micah begin to leave. I stay outside of the tent, waiting for Adora.
Micah places his hands on Adora's shoulders. He slowly, yet reassuringly tells her,
"I still believe in you, Adora. You saved me...and I know...you're gonna save my little girl."
Adora, after a slight pause, replies in a determined way,
"...I promise I'll find Glimmer, Your Majesty. Wherever she is..."
"we'll get her back."
Micah smiles, he slides his hands off her shoulders, and walks away. Adora looks dejectedly at the floor and pinches the bridge of her nose. She then heaves a sigh and begins to leave.
"Hey." I greet her as she walks out.
"Oh. Hey." Adora looks at me weirdly.
"What's up with you? Are you angry at me or something?" I ask with a weirded out tone.
"I... Well. It's not the right time to say it. I'll tell you a different time." the blonde tries to walk away form me, but I grab onto her arm and turn her around so she's facing me.
I hold her hand with my own, gently caressing the back of it with my thumb. I look her in the eyes and ask again,
"What did I do for you to ignore me? I thought we were a team."
"It's not you, Y/N." she sighs, not even bothering to hold eye contact.
"No, you're going to look me in the eyes and tell me what you were going to say." I firmly tell her.
"If I tell you now, you'll think about it till the day you die. You'll ask me questions that I won't be able to answer." Adora tries to explain.
"Don't you trust me? Come on, just tell me. At this point I don't care what it is because I know I don't have a lot of time left before I get used by someone or get skewered by Horde Prime." I reassure her.
"Fine." she sighs.
Adora takes a moment. A few seconds later she looks at me and starts explaining and telling me everything,
"It's about Catra. I haven't seen her around and I'm starting to get worried. Maybe Prime took her. What if she's dead? I mean, I know she's our enemy and all, but like... She's was my childhood best friend and a very special person to me."
She looks away and moves away from me to face away, and doesn't hold eye contact anymore, even though I know she always does. At this point I know something is wrong because she always holds eye contact with me no matter what.
Her voice starts to sound wobbly and her breath hitches,
"A-and it's... Scary. I'm scared to lose her even though I know I shouldn't."
I turn her around by spinning her around by her shoulder. I look at her and start to calm her down.
"Hey, calm down. It's okay. I understand. It's scary losing someone you care about. I'm not going to be angry at you for having emotions."
"Oh thank the gods. I thought you were going to lash out on me or something." Adora chuckles in relief.
"You thought I'd do what? Adora, please tell me you're not scared of me."
"I... I don't know. I hate that I don't know, but it's just... I've been through so much, I already expect the worst." her voice breaks.
"I'm sorry." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and kiss her cheek gently. I feel her relax under my touch, which makes me smile.
I lean on her shoulder and hug her. She returns it immediately, like always, she hides her face in the crook of my neck. I can't help but let out a slight chuckle.
"Are you laughing at me?" she asks in a muffled voice.
"No, of course not. I just find it cute how you always hug me and hide your face in my neck." I reply, smiling softly.
Word Count
2713 words in total.
(A/N: i didn't want this chapter to be too long because when I checked the words it was originally over 5k, so I split it into 2 parts :) I hope yall will be patient for the 2nd part.)