Adora knocked on the door in front of her, only for it to fall off it's hinges onto the floor. She nervously tapped her knuckle against the now open archway as she entered the dusty auditorium.

"Hello?" she called out, "Is anyone there?"

"I'm just backstage!" she heard a smooth voice answer.

Adora walked up the stairway leading up to the raised platform and carefully peaked behind the curtain to see a lizard creature moving around furniture including a familiar fainting couch and big comfy chair. The chameleon took notice of their visitor and gave a wave.

"Oh, hello, Adora!" Double Trouble greeted, "I didn't expect to see you today."

"I'm sorry. You're busy," Adora said, quickly turning away, "I'll come back another time."

"Oh, no, no, no," Double Trouble gasped, running after Adora to grab her hand, "It's no trouble at all. I could use the break. What can I do for you?"

"It's nothing," Adora said, trying to pull away, "I shouldn't have bothered you."

"Nonsense, you're no bother at all," Double Trouble assured her as they wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her to the couch, "Here, just sit down and you can tell me all about it. Coffee?"

"No, thank you," Adora said, sitting down on the couch, "I'm just a little on edge and I don't know who to talk to right now."

"Something happened between you and Catra?" Double Trouble guessed, instinctively sitting down in their chair and pulling out a notepad.

"No!" Adora said loudly, "Well, not exactly. Things are just really weird right now."

"Mmm, hmm?" Double Trouble encouraged.

"I mean, last night she introduces me to this Hordak clone that's supposed to be acting as my bodyguard because the Horde doesn't trust us to look after ourselves after what happened at the birthday party," Adora explained.

"Hmm, interesting," Double Trouble commented, "I'm guessing you feel that is something of an imposition on your privacy and sense of self worth?"

"Well, yeah, kinda," Adora said, "But I kinda figured something like this would happen. The Horde was always going to use this as an excuse to get more hands on with the princesses. No, the weird thing was how Catra decided to spring it onto me. She brings him in our like he's some kind of new pet or something. That's the part I really didn't understand. She was all smiles and excitement like this was a favor she was doing for me, like it wasn't going to be super creepy having him watch our every move. But actually, the creepiest part was when she ordered him to say nice things about us... *as* Hordak. Stuff like 'You were always my favorite Force Captain' or 'I'm so proud of the strong young woman you've become.'"

"I... see..." Double Trouble said, focusing on their notepad as they shuffled uncomfortably in their chair, "What were you doing while all this was happening?"

"I didn't do anything," Adora answered, "I just couldn't believe what was happening, Catra was looking at me like I was supposed to proud of her, like it was a big birthday surprise or something and I should be grateful. I didn't know what to tell her, so I just stood there like an slack jawed idiot. I just wanted to get some sleep, but Catra had other ideas."

"She wanted the two of you to..." Double Trouble suggested coyly.

"While he was still in the room with us..." Adora groaned, "She actually wanted him to watch... That's when I had finally had enough and just said 'No!' Catra finally gets the hint and tells him to buzz off and after he leaves the room, that's when she tells me she's shipping out in the morning to go on a mission for the Horde."

"Did she say what kind of mission?" Double Trouble asked.

"Apparently serious enough that she told me there was a chance she's not coming back," Adora explained, "But I'm pretty sure she's exaggerating to make me feel bad. She didn't tell me, but I'm certain she's headed to the Whispering Woods to go up against Bow's resistance."

"And you don't think they're dangerous?" Double Trouble inferred.

"I mean, you know what Bow was like during the war," Adora said, "He would never hurt anyone if he didn't have to. On every mission we went on together, he always found a way to complete our objectives without a single casualty on either side. I remember when he would spend all his free time in the workshop, building traps and gadgets to incapacitate Horde Soldiers without harming them. Because he cared about everyone, even the people he had to fight."

"You miss him, don't you?" Double Trouble observed.

"Of course I do!" Adora shouted, "I would give anything to be fighting the Horde right along side him! But I have to play nice with the Horde or else the planet gets it!"

Adora sighed wistfully and looks at the broken stage props and costumes that littered the room.

"Catra... Shadow Weaver... even Hordak... they were the only family I had back in the Fright Zone..." Adora whispered, "But Bow and Glimmer? They were my first real friends. Whenever he was around, I felt like I could tell him anything and he would understand, without judgement, without using it against me... That's why I wanted to see you today. Because so much has happened and I need to talk to someone. Anyone. But it can't be Catra or Glimmer or any of the other princesses because, whether they have a choice or not, they are all working for Horde Prime and I can't ask any of them to keep my secrets for me. I need to know that I can trust you with this."

"Adora, I know we didn't get off on the right foot," Double Trouble said, reaching over to place a caring hand over hers, "But I'm very proud that, of everyone else in Etheria, you chose to come to me. And I want you to know that you can trust me to keep everything you tell me during our sessions completely confidential. Now then is there anything else you wanted to talk about before we end our first session?"

"Oh..." Adora gasped, "I'm sorry, I rambled a bit there, didn't I? No, I didn't come here because of all the weird stuff with Catra. I can handle weird. No, I wanted to talk to someone about this."

Adora reached in her pocket and pulled out a small black cube with blue and purple lines of light emanating from inside.

"A box?" Double Trouble guessed.

"Entrapta gave this to me..." Adora explained, "It's a tiny computer that holds whatever was left of Light Hope when I destroyed the sword."

"I'm sorry," Double Trouble apologized, "What's a Light Hope?"

"She's the one who brought me to Etheria," Adora told them, "Light Hope is the one who made me She-Ra."

"You've... just... ," Double Trouble stuttered, "Completely lost me."

"Riiight... I never told you about Light Hope before..." Adora said, rubbing her temples, "This is going to take some explaining. You see, it all started when I first made Force Captain and me and Catra-"

"Look, I'm really sorry, Adora," Double Trouble interrupted, "But to tell you the truth, I just can't get into this right now. I'm going to need to get ready for my next appointment. If you would please, we can schedule a proper time for us to see each other and then, I promise... We will have plenty of time to go over your computer box problems. Would tommorrow afternoon work for you?"

"Uggh..." groaned Adora, getting up from their couch, "Alright, then... see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Good," Double Trouble said, "In the meantime, there's something happening tonight that I think would be right up your alley."

Double Trouble fished through her bag and pulled out a flyer printed out on purple colored paper. They stood up to hand it to Adora, who held it up to her face to look. Double Trouble's amateur drawing and handwriting skills could be easily recognized on it.

"Heroes of the Horde: A Support Group for Veterans of the Etherian Horde War," Adora read aloud, "Come and share your stories to your fellow siblings in arms."

"It's just this thing I'm starting," Double Trouble explained, "It's a space where you're free to talk about what you did during the war to the people who can really understand what your going through, what it meant to grow up in the Horde. Without judgement or using your past against you?"

Adora looked up at her therapist and then back down at the flyer.

"I don't know..." Adora groaned, "I think She-Ra is the last person those guys would want to talk to."

"It's supposed to be anonymous, so you don't have to be 'She-Ra'," Double Trouble suggested, "You can just be Adora, the Force Captain for the Horde who got out. You don't even have to say anything at the meeting, if you don't want to. You could just sit in and listen. To be honest, it's our first meeting tonight and I want to make sure there's enough bodies to make a good first impression. It would be really helping me if you showed up. Just for the first day, and you can see if it might be a good fit for you. There's free coffee and doughnuts?"

Adora stared silently at the flyer for a few moments before handing it back to Double Trouble.

"Yeah, okay," Adora finally said, "It's not like I've got a lot going on right now, anyway."

~*~

DT's Notes

Adora, Session 1

-Adora came into my... "office"..? while I was cleaning up today... A lovely little ball of Body Dismorphia, Martyr and Inferiority Complexities and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
-Really reluctant in seeking help, needs encouragement
-Relationship Troubles with Catra, things took a turn for the weird
-It seems Catra's Nihlism has morphed into existential hedonism since I've been gone, doing whatever is personally gratifying in the moment, damn the consequences
-Sidenote: I should really go over Catra's 'Daddy' issues next time I see her, if I do get a chance to see her again.
-Conversation turned to Bow, apparently, Adora was using him as her own 'therapist' before I came along
-Feels alone, distrustful of Glimmer, abandoned by Bow and Catra, I think she just needs someone to talk to in a friendly setting
-Light Hope? Is this some kind of religious thing?
-Come on DT, you've had this poor girl spilling her entire life story for you and you say you *don't* want to listen to her right now? What is wrong with me?
-Suggested Adora join the group therapy tonight, fingers crossed that things go well for it