Hello all! First of all, this is NOT the sequel to 'Making It Right'... this is the other story I've been working on. Right now I only have ten chapters written, so I don't know how long it will take me to finish. I hope that you enjoy this and again, this is not much of an action story; I prefer the relational/emotional stories to the action. Sorry if that is not your cup of tea, but you have been warned! I really want to take the time to thank Lanafalcon for her awesome help in giving this story a title! You rock my dear! Please take time to review and let me know what you think, but keep the flames to yourself! Enjoy!
He-Man grabbed a boulder that was easily five times his size and hurled it at Skeletor, watching as it slammed into the villain and sent him sailing backwards into a rock face. Turning, he grabbed hold of Clawful and threw him into Trap-Jaw and Beastman.
Man-at-Arms shot his hand canon in Evil-Lyn's direction, scowling when she deflected the blast with her staff. He rolled quickly to avoid the blast of magic she sent in his direction and came up to try and blast her once more.
"Retreat," Skeletor screamed to his minions and in moments they had been caught up by the griffons that were controlled by Beastman and were flying towards Snake Mountain.
He-Man muttered a curse before he looked around to take stock of the condition everyone else was in. "Everyone all right?" he asked.
As the Masters all gathered around and reported that they were, indeed, all right he looked up and rolled his head to work some of the kinks out.
"I could help you with that," a feminine voice said softly close to him and he looked down to see Teela standing very close.
He blinked and took a step away from her smiling and shaking his head. "Thanks, but I'll be fine."
Teela gave him a tight smile and nodded. "I'm heading back to the palace to see if I can find Adam," she told her father. "Since he disappeared as soon as the fighting started~ as usual~ I assume that's where he's gone."
Duncan looked in He-Man's direction and saw the frown on the Champion's face and he nodded. "All right, but be careful," he told his daughter.
Teela nodded and waved as she mounted her sky sled.
"We'll go with you," Stratos said as he and Buzz-Off took off and followed her when she lifted off the ground.
"I have to be going," He-Man told the rest of the Masters gathered before mounting Battle Cat's saddle and giving them a salute. "Come on, Cat!" he said and Battle Cat reared back and roared before taking off towards the forest.
"I wonder where he goes when he's not saving Eternia," Mekaneck pondered out loud as they watched the hero disappear.
Duncan didn't reply, but instead told the other Masters to head back to the palace as well and make their reports. He was just about to leave himself when he heard the Sorceress' voice in his head calling him into Castle Grayskull. "I'll be there shortly," he told the others. "The Sorceress needs to speak to me."
Mekaneck raised an eyebrow looking at Ram Man, Roboto and Cy-Clone before muttering something and then hopping into the wind raider Ram Man was waiting in.
Man-at-Arms watched them leave and then stood at the end of the stone bridge to wait for the drawbridge of the castle to open for him. The minute it touched the stone bridge, he stepped onto it and walked across into the castle and headed for the Sorceress' throne room.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked the Sorceress.
"Duncan, I've had a very unsettling vision and I am not sure what we should do about it," she told him.
"What is it?" he frowned.
"I have seen that if Prince Adam does not marry within the next month he will die," she told him. "But what's even more disturbing is that he must marry Teela... just simply marrying any young woman will not suffice."
"But I thought you said Teela was supposed to be your successor as the guardian of Grayskull," Duncan said, his frown deepening. "How can she be the queen of Eternia and the sorceress of Grayskull at the same time?"
"I do not know," the Sorceress replied. "Which is why this is so unsettling. Of course I would prefer that she be the queen and be married with lots of children, but I don't understand why all of a sudden her destiny seems to have changed so drastically."
"Are you certain about this new vision?" Duncan asked. "If Teela's destiny has suddenly seemed to change, maybe this new vision isn't set in stone either."
She shook her head. "No… I am sure that Adam will die if he's not married to Teela by the next full moons."
"That doesn't give us a lot of time," Duncan sighed. "How am I supposed to convince Adam, the king and queen and Teela? Especially Teela; she's not exactly been overly fond of him since he's taken on the role of the feckless prince."
"Bring them here and I will speak to them if that is the only alternative," she told him. "He must be married before sunrise after the night of the next full moons or he will die. Before you ask, no, he is not ill in any way; this threat comes from an outside source, though I cannot see exactly what that is at this point in time."
"Of course not," Duncan muttered. "I'll speak to Adam and the king and queen, as well as to Teela and then I'll let you know what they say."
She nodded and watched as he turned and left the throne room before she stood to look into her window and called once more upon the vision that had so unsettled her, trying to get a clearer picture of why the urgency for the prince to marry.
"Adam," he heard Teela call and he hid himself in the shadows to wait until she had passed before stepping out and sighing in relief. He looked down at his companion and reached down to scratch the big cat's ears affectionately.
"I thought she'd found us for sure," he murmured.
"I did find you," a scathing voice said from behind him. "Where have you been?" she demanded angrily. "You took off as soon as the battle started and I've been looking everywhere for you since I got back to the palace."
"I, uh, remembered something I had to do," he hedged, not looking at her.
"What could you have to do that is more important than protecting Castle Grayskull?" she asked icily. "Adam, I swear I don't know who you are anymore. You used to~"
"Teela," Adam said, glaring down at her. In the four years since he first became He-Man he'd grown quite a bit and now towered over her by more than six inches, even though she had grown a good couple of inches as well. "Just save it; you know I'm not going to answer you and then you're just going to get angrier and say something caustic, and then I'm going to get angry and either we'll end up in a fight or I'll leave and you'll go and complain to your father."
Teela stared up at him and suddenly realized how much taller he'd gotten than her, but she still was angry. "Then why don't you save us all the trouble by telling me what you've been doing while the Masters and I have been fighting off Skeletor?"
Adam sighed in resignation. "If only it were that easy," he muttered, turning away. "I can't tell you and you can't accept that."
Teela's scowl deepened as he stalked away from her with Cringer trailing along behind him. Sighing in exasperation she stomped off across the courtyard and into her father's workshop.
When she didn't see him inside she turned to go find the other Masters to see if they knew where he was, but her com-link beeped and she answered it. "This is Captain Teela," she replied into the device.
"Teela, this is Man-at-Arms," her father's voice said over the com-link. "What's your current location?"
"I'm in your workshop," she replied. "I came to speak to you."
"Meet me in front of the king's office," Man-at-Arms said. "I'm on my way there now. Bring Prince Adam with you."
"If I can find him," Teela ground out through clenched teeth, "Captain Teela out."
She stormed out of her father's workshop and looked about the courtyard, seeing Adam sitting on a wall of the fountain with Cringer sitting beside him, head resting on the prince's legs. She hurried over and stood behind him, placing her hands on her hips. "Prince Adam," she said bracingly. "My father wants us to meet him at your father's office; it sounds important."
Adam looked up and turned so he could see her before sighing. He stood and tilted his head in the direction they needed to go. "After you Captain," he said quietly.
"Oh no," she replied shaking her head. "I'm not letting you out of my sight; you go first."
Adam ground his teeth together to keep from replying and nodded once before moving in the direction they needed to go.
They arrived at the king's office and informed his father's aide that Man-at-Arms had asked to see them there and in a moment they were ushered into the office and into chairs.
Adam raised both eyebrows at Man-at-Arms when he saw his mother was also in attendance of this meeting and he wondered what was going on.
"This isn't going to be easy so I'll just get right to the point," Duncan said to them all. "After the battle today the Sorceress said she needed to speak to me. When I went into Castle Grayskull she told me that she has had a disturbing vision, but that she is absolutely certain that it is accurate. She said that she has seen that if Prince Adam is not married before the sun rises on the day after the next full moons, he will die."
"What?" the king exclaimed jumping to his feet at the same time the queen gasped and moved from her chair to stand beside her son, placing her arms around him. "Is he ill?" the king demanded.
"No," Duncan replied shaking his head. "No; he's not ill. She said that while she has been unable to see the exact cause, she does know that it is an outside threat that will bring this about."
"So I have to pick a wife in the next month?" Adam asked incredulously.
"Actually," Duncan said clearing his throat nervously. "That's the other part of the vision… she has seen that, for whatever reason, Teela is the one you have to marry to keep this from happening."
Teela jumped up at this, eyes flashing. "You've got to be kidding me! I have to marry him?" she asked disdainfully, pointing her finger at the prince. "No; no way."
Adam deflated and looked at the floor, but didn't respond to her outburst.
"Teela," Duncan said scowling in her direction. "The crown prince~ your best friend~ will die if you don't do this."
"How do you know we can even believe what she says anyway?" Teela demanded.
"She's never lied to us before," Duncan told her. "She may not always know the entire situation, but she has never deliberately lied to us."
King Randor looked at his oldest friend and most trusted adviser and saw that there was real concern in his eyes. "Is there some way for us to speak to her and have our questions answered?" he asked. "This has come as a shock to all of us, I'm sure."
Duncan sighed. He had hoped to keep them all from going to Grayskull, but he realized now that it was unavoidable. "She has given me permission to bring you all to Grayskull to speak to her."
"Then let us make all haste and go now," the king insisted.
Duncan nodded, and quickly made the arrangements, and in less than fifteen minutes they were all headed to Castle Grayskull to speak with the Sorceress.
Adam sat in the back of the wind raider with his mother in between him and Teela, refusing to look at any of them. Teela's reaction to being told she had to marry him to save his life was just one more humiliation in a long list and he didn't want to think about it. He would almost rather die than live with a wife who neither loved, nor respected, him and regardless of how he felt about her, it was obvious Teela didn't care about him any longer. He furiously blinked away the hot tears that formed in his eyes and pushed away the ache in his chest.
They landed in front of the ancient castle and disembarked from the wind raider, striding across the open drawbridge to speak to the Sorceress.