Where Do We Go From Here?
Kitatanya
Chapter 32
A/N: Thank you so much for your support! You guys are awesome! Important note at the end!
Read on, loves!
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Almost the moment the world returned around them, Adora heard and felt the rumble of a huge explosion and felt the heat of it wash over her like an almost physical force as the ground beneath her feet rocked and trembled. Panic replaced her determination in an instant and bodies were slamming into her, knocking her against Glimmer and Frosta and all but tearing her hands from Catra's and Frosta's. It was only by the barest reflex on Catra's part that managed to keep herself from falling and let her jerk Frosta closer to her protectively as they were all but swept up in a tide of what she now realized were fleeing people. Shrieks and cries of terror and agony and the roaring of battle filled the air. More explosions were rocking the world around her as she fought with everything she was not to lose hold of her friends or her footing.
Melog let out a thunderous roar and the confusing tide of bodies parted around them enough for them all to stand freely again and let her finally see the rest of the world around her. In a fraction of a moment, she registered that Barkos was not a town like they'd suspected. It was a city. Men, women, and children of all ages were running madly through the stone lined streets, carrying items and some carrying each other and most were surging in a frantic tide all in one direction. All of them were running from a tide of clones and the destruction they wrought in their wake.
The numbers she saw were at least an equal to what they'd faced in Chrytsalyis and the clones armed with projectiles were firing indiscriminately, taking out building, clone, innocent civilain, and some of the soldiers and mages of their own forces she registered appearing in bursts of magic in every hue amid the chaos. Catra's fingers convulsed in hers and her panic receded in an instant, to be replaced by fury as she knew what they had to do.
They let go and their voices rang together as they cried their words of power. "For the honor of Greyskull!"
She-Ra's power surged forth in a burst, shifting those furious flames inside her to that white-hot hue that had changed her very soul and she screamed with all of that fury and with the power and the assurity of triumph over darkness in She-Ra's spirit and that blazing righteous promise of one. Catra and Melog's roars sounded more ferocious than ever as they echoed that cry. The kaleidoscopic burst of pure light that surged from them and their echoed cries of power had stilled every single person and clone in the city in shock all at once.
They saw at once that their transformation had steadied Bow, Glimmer, and Frosta and Glimmer threw back her head with a scream. "For Etheria!"
She and Catra echoed it at the same moment Frosta and Bow did too. The mages and soldiers of their forces still standing, echoed it in a widening circle of voices, so that it rippled over the besieged city like a booming cry of power all its own. Heart filled to bursting with pride, fury, and a deadly determination, Adora dropped Frosta's hand and leaped toward that tide of stilled enemies with a surge of energy, sword already winking into existence in her hand. Catra and Melog were almost abreast with her in the air and she saw a huge crackling storm of Glimmer's magic, smaller explosions from Bow's fired arrows and a bristling array of icy lances from Frosta, proceed them into that tide by barely a second before they reached them, wreaking havoc on the enemies to either side of the ones they faced.
The only thing she wanted, as all of those surging emotions inside her tightened and sharped into the ruthless, adrenaline-fueled edge of battle, was to separate that tide of whitened forms from her fleeing people. Her sword was already arcing through the air as she landed, so that the momentum of her crashing decent lent even more force to the surge of power she slashed forth as she crashed it into the buckling ground before her. Right alongside it, Catra's whip decimated another line. Out of her peripherals, she saw Melog leaping, charging into the helpless people in that front line, the force of their charge gathering them over their shoulders before they leaped away in a burst of magic. They could not carry many, but as she kept slashing down clones beside her mate, amidst blasts from their guns and magic from Frosta and Glimmer, she knew that Melog would keep going until everyone they could save was beyond the line they'd just set in their defense and that Bow would be getting all that he could to safety, just like he and Swift Wind had done in Chrytsalyis. But they could not save all and death and broken bodies of the innocent surrounded her even more than in that crystal city.
This was the gruesome part of battle they'd missed in that Chrytsalyis. The back of her mind registered somewhere that even if it was the very first time her mate and Melog had fought together with her like this, they moved like a well-oiled machine of war, because their thoughts were almost always one. Catra could read her and Melog could read Catra and for all that they were three, they were one in life and She-Ra's power; Melog as their guiding point and they as souls bound by love and a unbreakable promise of righteous devotion, brought to life by the selfsame magic they were using to defend their home.
As that awful battle raged on and on against a seemingly never-ending tide of their enemies, time quickly lost any sort of meaning. The explosions of magic and the blasts from their enemies and their forces own weapons of destruction and the screams of war, all muted into the static in her head. Her eyes were blinded to the death surrounding her, the awful amount of lives being lost, even as a part of her registered that some of those slack faces on the decimated and bloodstained ground around them as some of the very soldiers she and Catra had spent days among in the forest and in the town. Faces she'd last seen smiling and happy, now reduced to an awful statistic of loss in war.
She could not afford to see them now, but she knew a part of her would remember, just like a hidden part of her remembered every face like that before. A part of her even registered those slack faces of those evil clones, because they had been alive too for all that they'd been her enemies. They would join that place of nightmares and the desolate wasteland deep inside her and the deep and broken places still alive in her mate beside her and those broken places she knew were in Melog and all of the people, soldiers and citizen alike, who would survive to live on and to fight on another day.
That was all that they could do. Keep fighting on so that they survived and that the lives already lost would not have been lost in vain. It was a kind of static she realized she hadn't felt in a long time, but this blank space had been a part of her since she'd begun her training under Hordak and registered the reality of war in her young mind. She was a soldier, through and through, for all that she was a warrior now of good and light. Her pride for her people, now all of Etheria and not just the Horde Army she'd been honed to be a tool of, also stemmed in part from this place, because the men and women around her, soldiers just like her, all fought this same battle without this magic she'd been blessed to be chosen by.
She knew it was her destiny and she had hated a part of it openly in the beginning and had felt the utter loss of control as the reality of it had set in. The despair of being a tool of power for minds twisted by time and the cruelties war to their own righteous ends that had not been hers. But now, there was none of that inside her. She was one with She-Ra's sprit now because now she understood. This call of battle, this awful reality surrounding her, the circumstances that had led her here to stand beside her mate in battle, all spiraled towards that great looming darkness in the universe that was Catalyst. As awful as it was, this destruction was nothing to what she and Catra had felt upon seeing the reality of what that tide of darkness in the universe was doing.
She knew this strange and grim headspace now taking her over was exhaustion and it was almost terrifyingly reminiscent to that awful soul-weariness of her time in that broken wasteland in her mind. But she was not broken anymore and this exhaustion she felt was offset by these flames of righteous fury of She-Ra's spirit and the fierce and burning love for her mate facing every part of this terrible experience right beside her. And now again, as that tide finally slowly began to still, she felt that grim cloud that had taken her over finally begin to lift.
It was only then that she registered why they tide had begun to still as she saw their enemies turning with an almost terrifying new ferocity in their eyes on another threat from the rear. The marked clones had arrived and as she and Catra had suspected, that comparably small force of them they'd seen were not the only ones now arriving. Their greater numbers did not equal even the now half slain force of Blood's tide and like most of Blood's forces, almost all of them were unarmed, but they threw themselves into battle all one in the same.
The ferocity in which they fought clone against clone was almost primitive in its ruthlessness and it stilled her. All of her fury and adrenaline and determination was gone in an instant. Catra was all but frozen at her side too and even though they were not touching, she knew her mate was trembling just as much as she and that, like hers, that trembling was only in part of because of her exhaustion. In her peripherals, she saw other the soldiers around her and Scorpia and Perfuma who she hadn't realized were there until now, all stilling too. Their horrified expressions equaled the sickness now taking root in her soul, because seeing those clones beating each other down, it felt somehow so very wrong. It was a wrong to equal how she'd felt seeing the Horde Army versing the Rebellion when her eyes had been opened to the truth of Hordak's evil. They were the same people, just like the Etherians of the Horde and the Rebellion had been, and seeing brother fighting brother made her sick in almost the same way.
She understood now at once with a part of her, why Dak and his people tended the injured instead of fighting physically in the war and a part of her heart was instantly weeping for them and for Ramel, who she had not even considered once as she fought against this tide. Hordak stood apart from his brothers, but Dak, those peaceful clones, and now Ramel still did not. Dak had wanted to enlighten his brethren and lead them into a life of peace and Ramel had spoken that wish openly to them only the day before.
As if her heart had called him forth, she heard Ramel's voice screaming a wordless agonized denial over the roar of the battling clones and looked in shock and horror to see him standing on a rise of rubble above this broken battlefield on which they stood. His face was twisted in a mask of agony and grief and he was weeping openly as he watched his brothers beating each other down beyond the broken wall of the city. She wished now with everything she was that he'd stayed behind in the town. If she'd known, or even had stopped to consider it, she'd have asked her friends to leave him behind to spare him of this.
To him, these were all his brothers still. He'd fought once beside them in a battle just like the clones she had been striking down without discrimination. Another sudden thought, made her soul lurch even more. What if he had been one of those clones she and Catra or their friends and forces had laid waste to on the shattered crystalline ground in Chrytsalyis?
All of those whitened faces on the ground that a part of her had been seeing and registering as lost, now saw them fully like the broken bodies of her people, innocent and soldier alike. Bile rose in her throat, even as a part of her was trying to steel against it. She had done what she'd done to protect her people and to avenge the loss of innocent life. These clones had betrayed her people's trust when they had granted them refuge and freedom from Horde Prime here on her home. She knew that, she knew that it had to be done, but even the knowledge did not make that soul-sick part of her steady.
"Brothers!" Ramel cried, his voice portraying all of that agonized grief on his face. "Please! You must stop this madness!"
Then, there was another horror as a few of Blood's clones turned and saw him there among her people and that terrifying and primitive ferocity was directed at him now too. Cries of 'traitor' and 'liberator scum' rang from them and she saw more than a few of the remaining clones still holding blast guns leveling them now in his direction. All but choking with panic and terror for him, she was already leaping towards him, Catra right beside her, when she suddenly saw Rogelio scrambling up the side of the rubble with an almost stunning alacrity. Below him, Lonnie was restraining a struggling and terrified Kyle, but Adora saw her own terror knew she wanted to go after their third as much as he did.
Just as they reached Lonnie and Kyle, blasts rang out and she saw Rogelio leap into Ramel in a blur of motion. The force of his tackle sent the both of them careening out of sight on the other side. All four of them let out cries of agonized denial and she heard Melog's roaring and their other friends and more than a few soldiers echoing that cry. All of her wanted to rush around the building after Lonnie and Kyle, needing to know if they'd survived, but the rest of her was again all but drowning in fury as she turned to face those still firing clones. She turned to them because she knew that if they had survived, those blasts would inevitably finish the job they'd started.
Ramel's agonized expression saw through her mind's eye and it granted her a strange moment of clarity as she leaped towards them. IN that clarity, she saw more than a few of Blood's clones looking just as horrified by those blasting clones as she had been a moment ago and one of those selfsame gunners actually looked down at his weapon with shock before dropping it to the ground, as if only just then realizing what he was doing. That little burst of clarity made her direct her next slash of power away from him and on his other side Catra's whip slashed down onto the other still firing clones. He was frozen with shock, unable to look away from either of them and his face was still swimming in her mind as she and her mate leaped past him and left him standing.
Catra's whip was gone now and her sword was swinging with same discrimination as her mate's flaming claws now were and the only clones they touched were the ones still moving in battle against the marked forces they'd abandoned their own people for. She saw their shock as they were left standing while all around their battling brothers fell. More than one of them was weeping, a lost looking wonder in their eyes as they realized what was happening, and the soul-sick feeling still lingering through everything in her heart finally began to still. She exchanged a fierce glance with her mate, full of righteous fire once more and Catra was echoing it all right back at her with another ferocious smile. To their left and to their right, she saw their friends now joining them beyond that line they'd helped to set. She felt a fierce burst of pride as she saw Scorpia, Perfuma, Glimmer, Mermista, and Frosta the soldiers that had followed them all doing the same, leaving those still clones standing like they were.
As they surged closer to that tangled line of clones, a few of the marked clones began turning to flee in terror. As they did, more of Blood's clones turned back to see their approach and she found herself fighting again towards that new line as she'd fought to that line to rescue her people before. The marked clones that remained paid them no heed and she actually found herself standing beside more than one of them as she lashed more of Blood's clones down. The last of Blood's battling forces were now sandwiched between their now intermingling armies and realized what was happening just a little too late. They were trying to flee now, towards more of those vehicles they'd used before and more than one of them was already manned and speeding away.
She let them, focusing on the ones still putting herself and her friends and people still in danger, but a part of her wanted to go after them and cut them down all the same. Finally, the last fighting clone had either surrendered to be left standing or had fallen still on the ground and the marked clones and their forces immediately parted as if on instinct. Now, she found herself facing the reality of being face to face with the potentially aggressive force of these marked clones. For a moment, dread surged for herself and her mate and their friends and forces, wondering now whether or not now that their common enemy was gone if they would strike.
Then, that dread faded almost as soon as it had come, as she saw that same tense defensive dread among them. As she relaxed a fraction, two of them stepped forward and she recognized him as the leader and that anointing clone from before, by the set of one of their jaws and that ethereal, almost fanatical glint in the other's eyes. "Liberators!" The leader boomed in his authoritative voice. "Our quarrel is not with you, but we will fight you if we must!"
Automatically, she turned to Glimmer and saw almost everyone else looking to her too. She was grim-faced and weary from the battle, just like they all were. But when she took a step forward, she was standing tall and her eyes were flashing with that imperial force of the Queen of Brightmoon. "Why do you and your brothers stand against Blood?" She asked, not even attempting to veil the suspicious edge to the question.
"All we fight for is our freedom!" The anointing clone cried. "The false ruler Blood holds the keys to that freedom from this place! We want safe passage to leave this wretched planet and this war! Many of us regret ever setting foot here among you bloodthirsty people!" He spat the words with an obvious disgust, though his face remained that almost expressionless mask that most of the clones she knew still displayed. "We wish to live in peace and fight only for that purpose and once we garner our safe passage through the blood of our unenlightened former brothers, we will be gone from among you, to find a place far away from war! A place where we can belong as ourselves and not as tools to be used by another false ruler who decides our fate for us!" He held up his fist in defiance like she and Catra had seen him do in the forest and the leader and the other clones were mirroring him within moments. That gesture and that stronger, fanatical glint in his eyes had Adora automatically reaching for Catra's glowing hand and they looked around at her friends with tense glances because they knew what was going to happen. "We shall not be oppressed!" He cried.
"We stand free!" The others echoed, all in unison and not divided by tasks like they had been before and louder now because of their greater numbers.
"We fight as one!"
"Once under darkness, but under darkness no more!"
"The shackles of Prime are gone and no longer do we submit!"
"We stand in enlightenment, freed of our sins!"
"Freed of liberation and the blood rule alike!"
"No longer we serve and now do we fight!"
"We know the truth!" And he shook his fist again, looking towards the sky.
All of those smiling and fanatical faces behind him looked up to the sky too to mirror him as they defied the universe along with him with those shaking fists. "We are the Enlightened!" And just like before he and that leader joined in now too.
They were swelling, glowing with that nearly eerie pride as they looked back down to face them again. "This is who we are!" The leader boomed and then he looked beyond and behind them and Adora chanced a glance away from them to look too, to see the clones they'd left standing now all but huddling together, eyes full of terror, amidst the destruction of the city. "Any of you lucky enough to survive this slaughter are more than welcome to step forward and receive the Mark of Enlightenment that we bear with pride! We will be freed of this place one day!" The shout sounded like an oath that rang with his confidence and all behind he and that anointing clone cheered a wordless echo of it in unison.
The anointing clone was looking to him with pride and she felt another shock as she recognized a glint of fierce love in his eyes to join that fanatical sparkling in the etherealness of his gaze. The almost sinister subtle smile the leader directed his way, showed that same mix of emotion in his steely eyes. She had never seen a clone other than Hordak ever look at anyone in a romantic way before and seeing that among these strange, almost cult-like clones shook a part of her and steadied another.
If they were capable of love, then she could not see them as evil, but the fanaticalness of them still set a part of her on edge and she remembered acutely the ferocity they'd been willing to openly display. They might not be their enemies, but a part of her was very glad to hear their wish of wanting to leave Etheria. She did not trust them and Catra's near silent growl as she pressed against her and the tense line of Melog's body now pressing against their backs let her know her mate's thoughts and theirs were along the same lines.
Before the echoes of that cheer faded from the air, she heard another voice ring out from behind her that filled her with a rush of love and relief. "Do not listen to them, brothers!" Ramel cried and as she and Catra and Melog spun in a near exuberant motion to face him, she saw him standing whole and tall in front of Rogelio, also thankfully whole, with Lonnie, and Kyle, who were there behind Ramel, standing tall too in open support. "You know as well as I that our creator's legacy has left its mark across the universe as well as here on this planet of Etheria! This place under the rule of our great Liberators was the only guarantee we had at a peaceful life! That peace was squandered by the false ruler Blood in his betrayal and that betrayal is the only reason our peaceful brothers under our enlightened Brother Dak met opposition! Brother Dak and his people live even now among them and will be here in the helping of the victims of this awful battle very soon as they helped the victims of the battle in the city of crystal in which I myself stood among the false ruler Blood's forces opposing them in my unenlightenment! They help this planet and our Liberators for the same reason as do I! It is what is good and what is right!"
"Lies!" The fierce leader boomed, his tone cutting with anger and disgust, to quell her surging love and amazement at Ramel's strong words. "The enlightenment of which our former Brother Dak spoke was false! He and these Liberators wished for us to fall at their feet and serve them as we served Prime before them and as the atrocity that is Blood wishes for us to serve him too!"
"We will be governed only by the light of our truth!" The anointing clone followed right after. "The true Enlightened will fight this battle and then fly free to find a place to live as ourselves and never again will our hands ever be tainted by blood or battle ever again!" Now, the clones behind them echoed the force of his words in a wordless cry.
"No!" Ramel cried, throwing a hand over his heart, voice echoing with pride and strength. "My very life is a token of the mercy of my Saviors Three, who shine there before you in their power under our Liberating Queen, who has expressed her regret in their felling openly to even a lowly creature of former darkness such as I once was like you! I swear to you the proof of it with name I chose to honor those saviors! I am Ramel!" He shouted it again like a token of honor. "Follow them and they will lead us on the true path to living free and happy on this home which they were willing to sacrifice a portion of to see us cared for, even after they were so besieged by the crimes of our creator!"
Adora saw with despair to again mute her love and pride and amazement in strength of Ramel's words, that the clones from Blood's forces were looking even more scared now, almost displaying it as openly as the Enlightened clones displayed their ferocity and fanatical faith in their truth, gazing between them and Ramel and the self-proclaimed Enlightened. She looked to Catra as Catra looked up to her and the pain in her eyes echoed the pain in her heart. As one, they looked to Glimmer to see her looking more than a little pained herself. Bow had come forward to join her at her side now and as he reached out to take her hand, squeezing their fingers together, she saw with a rush of relief and affection that it steadied her almost at once.
She looked first to the terrified clones all huddling together. "You can choose to either join us or these Enlightened brothers. We won't stop you either way. But I want you all to know-" She cut a glance back at the Enlightened leaders. "-that everything Ramel said is true. Mistakes, horrible mistakes, were made at the beginning of this war." She let a hint of her grief and regret color the words, but the strength in her eyes didn't falter. "But all we ever wanted was peace and that is all we fight for too. You can choose to leave forever, or you can choose to stay here and live among our people. We will have peace here on Etheria!" She all but shouted the words. "And when that peace comes, if you are here with us then that peace is yours too!"
Then she looked to the Enlightened clone leaders fully. "If you truly don't want to fight against us, then our forces will let you leave in peace. Better yet, whenever our forces meet like they did today, we will fight with you as we just did. When Blood is defeated, you can take the ships you need and take them gladly. But remember that we are more than willing to do whatever it takes to see our people and our home safe." With that barely veiled threat, Adora saw that she didn't trust them or want them here any more than she, Catra, and Melog did, and there were more than a few openly suspicious and nearly hostile faces among their friends and the soldiers surrounding them.
The Enlightened leader's expressions and the different shades of the same steel in their monochromatic eyes showed they understood that veiled threat perfectly. It was the anointing clone that replied. "If standing reluctant allies with you false Liberators is what we must do to be free, then so be it." The reluctance he spoke of was clear in his melodious tone.
"But we stand independent of your forces and make our own decisions, freed of your false rule! We will not be controlled ever again!" The fierce leader all but spat the words.
Glimmer tensed and Adora saw her fighting not to let her sudden anger show. "We don't control anyone on Etheria. What we ask of our people is for the good of our people and that is all we ever asked of any of you when we offered you peace."
"You can speak your false truths to us, but they fall on deafened ears." The anointing clone replied.
The fierce leader stayed still for a moment longer before turning back to his brothers behind him. "Let us leave this place and take up our mission once more!" Then he looked back to the still huddled clones behind him. "If you decide to cast off this false rule, simply come forth and ask for Enlightenment and you may join our fold." He all but growled the words, but there was a truth to them that surprised Adora again.
These clones acted so much differently that she'd come to expect any clones to act and a part of her was reeling with that strangeness, even as the rest of her was still hardened to what was happening. They still showed that selfsame subtleness that she'd come to expect and the emotions they did display were unsettling at best. But, at the same time, they showed honor and truth and faith in their own way. And love. That was the biggest factor in this torn change of opinion.
In a sudden and strange burst of realization, she thought that maybe being so unsettled by them was a wrong in her part, not theirs. They had a right to their beliefs as much as any people did and looking at that belief through eyes of suspicion was beginning to feel more than a little wrong. Just like seeing clone fighting clone had seemed as wrong as Etherian fighting Etherian had.
A sudden flicker of She-Ra inside her was full of pride in her and she understood that that pride was for her attempt at understanding. She got the sense that on her and Catra's mission through the stars with Melog, they would be coming across many peoples and many faiths and many cultures she did not understand. Only through acceptance even in that misunderstanding, could she possibly hope to do that which needed to be done.
She was smiling now as that tiny, prideful flicker faded, watching a small grouping of those huddled clones break free and circle warily around their forces to follow the now departing Enlightened clones while the rest exchanged glances and went to stand before Ramel and their friends. Then, a sudden thought occurred that made her furious again all at once and she looked to Glimmer with a urgent need to speak. They needed to show a united front now more than ever, so she knew she had to openly ask for permission to act on that sudden urge. Glimmer's eyes flashed with a mix of fear and pride as she nodded.
Adora turned at once to the slowly departing clones. "Can we trust your forces to contact ours directly in the future and not through the kidnap and terror of our children?" She did her best to hide her fury at the thought, but the sudden tenseness of that fierce leader and more than a few of those clones showed she hadn't hidden it well enough.
He spun around in a quick motion and the clones following him parted like a tide to either side so that they could see each other without obstruction. "We do what we must." He growled, the ferocity in his eyes nearly the same he and his brothers had faced down Blood's clones with. "We have not harmed a single one of your people since we broke from the false rule of Blood and earlier this same day, released the messenger that bore the information of his forces moving to strike this very city unharmed." She realized his fury had stemmed for her questioning his honor and felt a flicker of dismay at her ill-chosen words.
She looked to Glimmer again at his words, because she knew that if she spoke, she was only going to antagonize he and his people further. Glimmer seemed to understand and nodded sharply, before she took another step forward. There was a sudden and fierce satisfaction in her eyes that confused Adora more than a little as she spoke.
"How about we offer you a token of good will and trust for our reluctant alliance, that will let you have the information you require at your request in the future without the kidnap and traumatization of our messengers?" She asked, her tone still that imperial force, but somehow light at the same time.
Surprise instantly replaced that fierce anger in the leading clone, to be followed swiftly by confusion that was echoed by his anointing partner at his side. They exchanged a glance that seemed to steel them both again almost at once. The anointing clone looked to them then. "And what would this so-called token be?" He asked, his curiosity, barely veiling the suspicion in his melodious voice.
At once, Glimmer dropped Bow's hand and turned to the soldiers and the mages not already moving for the injured, still standing in force behind them. She pointed directly to a grizzled robed mage and he stepped forward through the now parting soldiers to stand before her. "I'd like to take the charm I gave you with a promise to replace it later."
The man instantly reached for his neck and pulled the cord around it over his head, revealing the charm he'd worn hidden beneath his clothes. "Anything for my Queen." He spoke with deep respect and bent in a half bow as he presented it to her.
Glimmer's eyes were full of pride. "Thank you, Yon." She murmured fervently.
She turned back to the Enlightened clones and started walking towards them at once. Adora's heart gave a lurch of denial to see her walking towards those clones alone and Catra let out a near silent hiss at her side. By the barest fraction, she held herself still upon seeing that imperial stride and the fierce set of her jaw and the now open surprise in the Enlightened leaders' eyes. This was the true token of the trust she'd spoken of, not the charm of good will she was taking to them. She was openly testing their truth in front of the entirety of the Alliance Army and the looks in those clone's eyes showed the impact that action was having on each of them. Some of them, especially the newly defected clones of Blood's forces were now openly wary and wavering, but some, very few but still some of them and those marked clones, were looking at Glimmer's approach with almost open awe.
She saw it and she knew that Glimmer was doing something amazing and knew what Glimmer had felt she needed to do was right, but at the same time, the rest of her was all but coiling visibly into a line of tension the closer she got to those clones. In her peripherals, she Bow's fingers were convulsing on his bow, fingers of his other hand twitching as if he wanted to reach for one of his arrows more than anything else in that moment, but he was holding himself still too. His teeth were grinding audibly and he was gazing after her with open fear and a kind of agony that hurt her to see. She got a sense that she and her mate weren't the only ones going to have a very pointed discussion with Glimmer when this tense situation was over with even if somehow nothing happened.
Melog actually took a step around her and Catra, body tensing in a line that let her know Melog was on an even finer hair trigger than she and Catra and Bow and all of their friends and forces now were. The air already thick with tension, thickened further and she knew more than a few of their people and friends were bristling as openly as Catra and Melog were, as she actually stepped into the parted lines of those clones. She knew every single person there was suddenly more than willing to slaughter each and every one of them if so much as a single one moved for their Queen. But Glimmer's pace and that set of her jaw that she could barely see, did not falter in the slightest, and some of those clones were actually stepping further away from her as she passed them like the force of her imperial aura was too much for them to face. Even more of them were looking to her in awe however and there was a distinct gleam of open respect in their leader's eyes.
Again, they were proving that they had a deeply rooted sense of honor and all at once, her tension faded and Catra was relaxing against her side. The Enlightened clones might never be their true allies and a deep part of her would still be glad to see them go, but this one action on Glimmer's part had earned her a true respect now from them. That respect would seal this tentative alliance into something very solid and very real, where moments ago, it had been nebulous at best.
Glimmer stopped within easy reaching distance of the leaders and held out the charm. "The magic in this crystal will let you contact me or at least one of Etheria's Princesses or our highly-ranking officials at any time by touching this indentation here." She pressed her thumb into the indentation as she spoke and tiny runes appeared on the surface, some dim and some brightly shining in different hues of color.
Each and every single clone among those forces gasped at their appearance and Adora remembered that seeing magic was still new to all of them in this way. The childlike curiosity in their eyes was acutely familiar and she felt even more secure now that as strange as these clones acted, they were still all brothers in a way. They were a people, just like Etheria's regardless of their origins, and it made her happy in a strange way she couldn't quite describe. She tokened a part of it to the exhaustion she could feel again now that her mind was no longer so tangled and tense, but the rest of her knew it was a part of the love in her heart and the magic of She-Ra still coursing through her. The wish to protect all living things in this universe, no matter what it took.
"I know it seems strange to you, but this a part of Etheria too." Glimmer was speaking now in more reassuring tone, but was still as imperial as before. "Each of these runes is connected to a crystal that will allow you contact the one you choose at any time the rune is bright. The dark ones are not actively being used. This one-" She pointed at a larger, brightly pink rune as she reached into her pocket with her other hand, withdrawing a pink crystal to hold out to them. "-is connected directly to mine and will almost always be available for you to contact at any time." She pressed it and then turned it to them and they watched with no small amount of astonishment as their own faces appeared on the small, polished surface of the crystal and Adora could make out a tiny reflection of the sky above it through the charm. "The window in the charm is small, but you can see how you will be able to see and hear and be seen and heard by whoever is facing it like this." As she spoke, her voice echoed from the crystal and the charm and she lifted the crystal and pointed it at herself. The leaders were looking back and forth between the crystal and her reflection in the charm and a sudden comprehension entered their eyes.
The anointing clone held out a tentative hand and Glimmer dropped the charm in it at once. He held it between he and his partner, turning it to and fro as they studied it. The fierce one lifted a hand and pressed a finger to the indentation and the runes blinked out at once, severing the connection between it and the crystal. A moment later, he pressed it again and they watched the runes reappear on the surface with no small amount of wonder.
Then, they shared a glance and they both shook their heads. "We still wish to leave this place and be freed of your people to live a life free in our truth." The anointing clone said slowly as he looked again to Glimmer. "But this token we will treat with respect for our alliance until it is time to be severed." As he said it, his thumb brushed over the indentation to dispel the runes.
His partner was once again the fierce and steely eyed leader as he looked to her too. "This changes nothing of our plans to move in independence of your forces, but perhaps there will be times when a collaborated effort is needed in order for us to achieve our goals." For all that his tone was cutting, the offer in them was loud and clear.
She could see Glimmer smiling now and she nodded sharply. "Your forces are your own, just like mine are mine, but working together will make all of our goals all that much easier to obtain."
The clones exchanged another glance and then they both smiled at Glimmer too. It wasn't quite the full smile she knew Glimmer was directing at them, but it was by far the warmest expression she'd seen on their faces yet. Again, it made a part of her deeply happy to see the evidence of their humanity.
Then, those leaders looked again to their brothers. "Let us depart now in peace from our new allies." The fierce one ordered sharply. At once, the marked clones turned and began walking, the newly joined clones falling in line to match them with only the slightest of hesitations.
He looked then to his partner and his partner looked to Glimmer. "Go in peace, false Liberator Queen." There was a strange affection to the respect In his melodious tone and he and his partner both nodded their heads in subtle bows.
Glimmer seemed to swell and Adora could see her cheek dimpling with a bigger smile, before she nodded in a bow to match. "Go in peace, Enlightened Brothers."
This time, their responding smile was a hint brighter at the open respect in her tone, then they turned as one to follow their forces into the forest surrounding the city. Their whitened forms seemed to fade like ghosts among the foliage, showing once again that almost uncanny comfort some of the clones seemed to have in almost any terrain. She supposed a part of it must be that more than a few of these clones had been to many worlds on Horde Prime's rampage of destruction throughout the universe. The musing thought left her as Glimmer turned back to face them all, still wearing a huge and fiercely smile.
"Today, we made history!" She cried, voice ringing with happiness and pride and victory. "We have new allies, more forces, and more evidence that good will always rise in some form or fashion to strike down the evil of our enemies! This day, I swear to all of you, marks the turning of the tide in our favor! We will defeat Blood and we will defend our home! Etheria stands together!" She shouted. "For Etheria!"
"For Etheria!" She and Catra and all of their friends and the forces surrounding them echoed the cry and all at once, there was celebration on that victorious field of battle.
Bow took a shaking step forward and then broke out in a run towards Glimmer, lifting her in an exuberant embrace and spinning her around even as they were kissing. Pride for Glimmer and her people and love for her mate and Melog and all of her friends and her people all but stole her remaining strength. Catra steadied her as she stumbled and her mate was purring with happiness as Adora looked into her tired, but flashing, sparking eyes full of that happiness and love and the triumph of their victory. She was turning as Catra was and their arms were winding about each other as She-Ra's spirit drifted from their drained forms.
They pressed their foreheads together and Adora was lost in the universe swirling in that storming heterochromatic gaze. They'd done it. They'd really done it. Her exhausted mind kept repeating the words and Catra's eyes were echoing it back even as Adora felt a tug on their soul-bond and felt it ringing through their minds as she followed it into that tumbling space of their nearly one mind. All of those emotions surged in a tide within them and they both let it sweep them away for a long, indulgent moment as their lips met in a firm and loving kiss.
They couldn't stay like this long, for there was still so much to be done. Even more here than in Chrytsalyis for Barkos had not had a way to quickly call for help like they had. They knew now that the mission Glimmer had let them take was as acutely as important as she'd said. Etheria needed those communications and they needed them now. Swift Wind's mission to contact Huntara and hopefully Seahawk as well was more imperative to them too, even as they worried for him out there in the skies over this raging war all alone. He was safe, they knew, but not knowing more was an ache that would not fade no matter how they tried.
Ramel deserved so much praise for his bravery and the clarity he'd granted to they and their forces in his denial of the atrocity of seeing brother fighting brother. And over again, he deserved it for those words that had helped them to gain the allegiance of the clones they'd spared in that moment of clarity. Each would have to be debriefed for information and they both agreed at once that they wanted to be there and wanted Ramel to be with them and Dak if he had time amid his duties.
For all that Ramel they knew would remain with their forces and that Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle would be with him, supporting him as his friend wherever the war took them without them and Melog in the future, he deserved a chance to at least meet and speak with Dak who's teachings he followed in this amazing way that he did. And all of their new clones deserved the choice between the one Ramel had made or to join Dak and his brothers or to be sent somewhere safe to begin living free if they wished.
They needed to meet with Glimmer and their friends and see if they agreed with all of these wishes they wanted for these new clones, but a part of them already knew that most of them would agree without hesitation. There was so much to do and what felt like no time at all with which to do it. But these few moments before their work began again, these moments of being whole with one another, bound and devoured by this flaming promise of one, were all they wanted right now.
0o0o0o0o0
And there we go! Thank you so much for reading!
Well, my loves, my feeble excuses for delays have run out and now, I feel a need to reveal the truth. This new and greater battle in my life that I have been facing is taking a definite toll. I'm again not asking for sympathy and I'm still fighting and will continue to do so, but… I'm tired, loves. I'm very tired. Our journey is nowhere near over and I will not abandon it, but I can no longer keep to the pace of near daily updates. I just can't.
The amount of time between chapters will now probably be a few days and I'll be trying to be strict in the length of them so that they are all around at least this length if not longer. I am going to fight to upload twice a week at least, but, to be frankly honest, there is no true schedule. Some may be quick, some may take longer. I'll be writing when I can and releasing chapters as they're finished like always, just less efficiently than I've been able to so far.
I won't blame you if you jump ship because of this, because I know that for this month I've been posting, it's been back to back chapters. And with so very much happening in this plot and between Adora and Catra and all of these special characters and the sheer amount of ground I am having to cover in order to bring this journey to the destination I will reach with all of you, I know that some of the chapters may be unsatisfying in some ways. For this, I can only say that this is unavoidable. Maybe one day I'll go back and compress some of the shorter chapters into one where I can to make it possibly a little less tedious to read. But at the same time, it'd break the chain I've only had to break so far once, so I may not.
But I swear to you this one thing is nothing but the truth. Every single step we are taking is necessary. I don't like loose ends and my delivery of my muses' flow might be flawed and imperfect, but even in that imperfection, there is a plan. I hate spoilers, I've said it a thousand times if I've said it once, but this one I'm okay with spilling, because this one is a promise to myself as much as it is to all of you, even in the vagueness of its delivery: You have no idea how big this journey in my head that they are guiding me on really is and how much I myself cannot wait to finish it.
This is the biggest project I have ever tackled in my life and, come heckin' heck or high water, I will finish it if I have to dictate it from my deathbed! (lol) I don't care if it is just a fanfiction, it's important to me, dangit! So bear with me and stick around if you have the inclination, because, once again, we have a long way to go. I hope you continue to enjoy and I hope to see at least some of you along as we keep pressing on one step at a time towards the future!
Until next time, loves! Stay safe and read on! Ja!