Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra it is a copyright property of Netflix and Hasbro
Chapter 17: Victory at a Cost Part 3: Caine's Last Stand.
The ruins of Thaymoor spouted smoke and ash, obscuring the destruction that had overtaken the once peaceful town. It was a true war zone. The screams of two people echoed throughout the abandoned village.
Adora, a horde soldier forged into a weapon of war through manipulation, roared angrily. Her only redeeming quality was the love she bore toward the person who was supposed to be her worst enemy. Red lightning crackled all over her body. She swung wildly at building after building, her madness empowered by the red crystal in her sword. Her eyes, which were once a beautiful sky-blue, had turned into an intimidating crimson. Her youthful form was covered in blood and scars. She was angry and no longer had the mental capacity to understand anything beyond her lust for battle.
Caine, the eldest son of the queen and the prince of Bright Moon, was a clever boy whose greatest strength was the value he placed in his family. Regrettably, this also proved to be his most exploitable weakness. In order to reach this point, he had to walk a fine line between protecting the ones he loved and damning the cause he had fought so hard for. He drew power from Shadow Weaver's spell crystals, a process that could ruin him beyond repair. Bulging veins pulsated through the prince's nearly broken body. The crystal's energy ran through his system expanding muscles and tearing tendons. A mixed feeling of ultimate empowerment and incomparable pain enraptured him.
Adora, noticing Caine, finally saw an outlet for her destructive energy. The horde soldier worked herself into a frenzy and charged Caine. When she reached the mage she threw a lightning-quick punch which was stopped instantly by an aura of multicolored light that surrounded the prince. She threw several more blows each blocked by the prismatic barrier.
Caine let out a primordial scream from which emanated a technicolor aura that forced Adora back.
Adora's feet grinded, digging into the loose topsoil as she tried to regain her footing. Her hate-filled eyes stared at her foe as she once again rushed the young prince. She raised her sword aiming to cut the boy in twain.
Caine effortlessly dodged each swipe of her blade. Sticking and moving with an unparalleled speed, his face showed little expression. He looked at Adora with eyes that hid a burning tempest of hatred.
Adora slashed again taking a few hairs off Caine's head.
In response Caine feigned a fall, catching himself with his hands at the last moment, and leveling a kick to Adora's head. A thunderous crack signified that the prince's strike had connected. Caine pressed his advantage forcing Adora back. He sprung forward with a flip and hit the soldier with an ax-kick from the air. Another a loud boom echoed throughout the town.
Adora roared in frustration taking a sudden swipe which barely connected.
If Caine had remained in the air for one second longer he would have lost his head. He managed to parry the bulk of the damage with his magical aura leaving only a fresh cut on his cheek. I'm eating through too much power too quickly. I need to end this, now! he thought, barely dodging another powerful strike from Adora.
The horde soldier grew more bold with each attack. Each time she attempted to slice the prince with her sword she came closer to connecting and ending the fight.
Caine spent his energy mitigating the damage, with several new cuts appearing alongside the first. Suddenly a powerful aura surrounded Caine repelling Adora, sending her flying thirty feet away from the prince.
Adora charged again but was forced back a second time by the mage's raw power.
The Sixth Form of the Dragon multiplied its user's power exponentially, but it had a drawback. Every last ounce of energy used would be turned against the caster after its completion. This made the form the most risky maneuver a mage could take, but Caine had no other choice. If this is how I'm going to die, then so be it! If it is my time to leave this world, then I'm taking her with me!
Adora tried for a third time to push past the barrier, but was sent flying by a shot of force magic. Before her body hit the dirt Caine appeared behind her and soccer kicked her spine causing Adora to gasp for air.
Caine again pressed the attack by slamming Adora to the ground with a forearm smash to the back of her head. He would have followed through but his muscles ached and his blood boiled; he couldn't think straight. He coughed violently, blood shooting out of his mouth. He bent over and fell to his knees retching a sickly red pool in front of him.
Adora recovered and kicked the weakened Caine in the stomach sending him five feet in the air. She grabbed his leg and bashed him into the ground. In the same motion she hurled him higher. Adora surged upward meeting Caine in the sky. Returning the favor, she forearm smashed him back to the ground.
Caine had but a second to recover and narrowly did so. He rolled out of the way of Adora's foot as she crashed into the dirt leaving a small crater. Caine could barely stand; his feet felt like lead as he picked himself up. Barely evading a swipe from Adora's sword, Caine saved his head, but his shirt was sliced open.
Adora took advantage, releasing a flurry of strikes from both sword and fist.
Caine parried most, but one punch smashed into his throat sending him reeling back gagging.
She charged in for the killing strike, but luckily, Caine escaped with a sidestep.
Caine, agile enough to kick the sword out of Adora's hand, decided it was time for a last ditch effort. It's now or never! he thought, blasting Adora with a red beam of hard light which propelled him backwards gaining him some much needed distance. He then summoned three copies of himself. "Charge!" he ordered, his voice hoarse and cracking.
Caine's clones attacked Adora who could barely hold her own against them. Even in her malicious mindset she knew she needed her sword. Adora luckily killed one of the clones by punching a hole in his chest after it made a misstep. Seeing her sword in the distance, Adora rushed across the battlefield.
Caine meanwhile took to the air and prepared one last blast of destructive magic. He watched as Adora went for her sword. He locked eyes with one of his clones and the two Caines nodded in silent agreement. They both understood what had to be done. The clone ran into the suffocating smoke that would burn the eyes of all who were immersed in it.
Adora ran toward her sword with Caine's other clone in hot pursuit, both unflinching in their resolve. Adora and the clone ignored the pain. The clone was driven by duty and Adora by pure unyielding rage. The horde soldier reached her sword and with one swipe beheaded the impertinent double.
Caine was almost done with his spell's charge. He knew that there was a possibility that the entire village and the Whispering Wood surrounding it would be no more. But, with any luck, Adora would be erased. Caine stared down and saw Adora decapitate his clone. She turned her eyes upward and saw him. Caine assumed she would prepare another leap and knew it was time, "Now!"
Adora prepped her jump but was surprised by a clone popping out of the fog behind her. She was grabbed and lifted by the empowered clone. She struggled and fought, her grunts of anger sounding more and more beast-like.
"It ends now!," the prince shouted, shooting a beam of indigo light out of his hands. It was bigger than any Caine had cast before. It collided with Thaymoor's town center with Adora in point-blank range of the blast. The beam devastated the village, expanding in all directions. Caine pushed out all his energy, continuing for a whole minute more until he was barely conscious. He looked down and released his concentration on the Form of the Dragon.
Caine floated down to the ground toward the huge polished crater that was once Thaymoor. The land was replenished by a macabre rain of red drops that poured from over a hundred freshly cut wounds. They were the price he had to pay for his spell casting. Now I can die in peace. Mom, I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise… take care of Glimmer… Dad I finally did something worth remembering. I'll be with you soon.
As Caine came to rest, his last thoughts filled him with joy, but his final moments were put on hold when he saw Adora, back in her horde uniform, badly damaged. Her body broken, she lied face down in the dirt a mere sixty feet from Caine. Her sword lied only a few feet from her. That damn blade! This whole situation is its fault! Well if I'm going to die then I'll be damned if it was for nothing. Caine struggled to force himself back up. He had to fight to get back on his knees and would have rather slit his own wrists than suffer the strain of standing. But, fueled purely by spite, he dragged his limping feet to Adora. On his way to the horde soldier he picked up her sword. "It's your fault that all this happened, you and your creators. I think it is only fair that you fix your mistake," Caine said to the blade as he drew near to Adora's corpse. He kicked her over so that he could look upon her scarred face one last time.
It was then that Adora opened her eyes and weakly looked back at Caine standing over her, sword readied to cut her down. She seemed confused and tears started to well in her eyes. "Owwiiiee!"
"Wh-What?" Caine was confused. What game is she playing? he thought
Adora began ugly crying, her sobs were broken up by heaves of breath.
She's crying! Oh my god she is really crying! Caine thought. Seriously, what is she trying to pull? "What are you doing? Stop it! Whatever this is, it won't work!"
"Y-y-y-you do-do-don't like me anymore! Yo-yo-you hit me! Yo-yo-you said m-m-mean th-things to me! I loved you! Why!," she bawled.
"Oh my god. You're really crying aren't you?"
"Of c-course I-I-I a-am. Yo-o-you h-hate me!"
"D-do you remember why we were fighting?"
"No! But I'm s-sorry. P-please forgive me."
Caine sat down next to Adora and tried to wrap his arm around her. She flinched at his touch, quivering in fear. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you anymore."
"Yo-yo-you don't hate me?"
"No I don't hate you." Caine had guessed that either through magic, the red crystal, or sheer trauma Adora had suffered a mental breakdown. He rubbed her shoulders and shushed her soothingly.
"I l-l-l-love yo-you!," Adora cried.
"I know Adora. I'm sorry I couldn't be the one you deserved. Maybe if I was smarter or less arrogant I could have saved you. But now we're both going to die."
"Wh-what's d-d-dying?" Adora asked looking like a child.
Her words shook Caine to his core. He hated that this all had to be done. The weight of his guilt crushed what little strength he had left. "I-its when someone goes to sleep… forever."
"Sounds scary. I d-d-don't want to die!," she screamed flailing in his arms.
"Adora. Adora! Calm down, it's okay. When you go to sleep you'll wake up in a better place and live forever in a life of joy."
"Really? Will you be there?"
"Adora, I don't know. I've done a lot of bad things. But I can promise you that you're gonna make it."
Adora leaned back and cuddled into Caine preparing to close her eyes. "You promise when I wake up you'll be with me in the happy place, right?"
"I promise Adora."
"I love you," Adora said, a sigh of relief followed her as she breathed her final breath.
"I know and I'm sorry." Caine held Adora's lifeless hand feeling her pulse fade and her skin grow cold.
Soon thereafter, he felt his own body give out. He was close to death. All the hatred he bore toward his enemies was gone, made inconsequential in lieu of all that he had experienced in his short life.
"Dad, I don't know if you can hear me. But, I want you to know that I am glad to be your son, even though I will never be as good as you. Dad I hope to see you when I close my eyes for the last time, because if I am being honest… I'm scared. I don't wanna die. I haven't done all that I wanted to do in life. Father I-I am afraid of what waits for me. I'm sorry I couldn't save Glimmer. I-I will see you soon."
Caine watched the sun go down, the crater that was once Thaymoor now blanketed in darkness. Caine held Adora protectively as he prepared to take his last breath. He began to pray to whoever would listen. Closing his eyes he relaxed his sore muscles. He was fading into and out of consciousness. He knew this was it. He was going to die. He could swear he saw a light and when he opened his eyes an angel was holding him lovingly.
"Heaven? Am I in heaven?"
That was a crazy final fight, but I wish to say it was a hell of a good time writing it. Wish to make it clear that there are still two chapters left one of them being the epilogue. I want to once again thank SlowCreep for being the editor to my illegible madness, and of course all my readers; I would never had the chance to finish this story If it wasn't for you.