AN: Countdown to Glimbow Week starts now! This is my fic for it, but since this first chapter has very little Glimbow in it, I figured I'd post it as a little teaser for you guys. I love this AU a lot and I'm excited to share it with the masses. This one segment turned into an absolute 3.5k monster, so it should satisfy you guys until later in the month.
Enjoy!
Glimmer wasn't happy when Bow got promoted. It got worse when he wanted to throw it all away and join the Rebellion.
"Tell me again what you saw." Glimmer rubbed the bridge of her nose with a sigh. Bow shifted in their shared bunk, although she had her own, and started over.
"I saw a sword,"
"Which, again, I didn't."
"And when I touched it,"
"That wasn't a smart move."
"It told me that I was the chosen one who had to balance the planet." Bow finished, despite Glimmer's helpful commentary.
"You realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?" Glimmer threw her hands in the air. "You're the chosen one? Sounds like Light Spinner really got into your head."
"Light Spinner doesn't have anything to do with this, Glimmer." Bow said firmly.
"I think you hit your head and had a hallucination where your brain just repeated what she's always telling you. She never shuts up about how special you are." Glimmer crossed her arms.
"It wasn't a hallucination. I know what I saw." He could still see it so clearly in his head like it was right in front of him. He could even hear those cryptic words ringing in his ears.
Balance the planet. What did that even mean? He was already doing that by working in the Horde. Soon, the whole world would be balanced under Hordak's rule, and things would be better than ever before. What if that sword was a way to achieve that goal even faster?
"Even if you did see a sword, it's gone now. The Woods are completely impenetrable." Glimmer shrugged.
"We found it once." Bow rebuked.
"And we won't again, because it isn't real!"
"But-"
"No buts. Bow, there's no weird magical sword that only you can see. In the morning, I can take you down to the infirmary and they can get a look at your noggin. Until then, we should get to bed."
"Please!" someone shouted from across the room.
"Shut up, Lonnie!" Glimmer yelled back.
"Right. Bed." Bow nodded, still a little lost in thought. Glimmer laid down at the end of the bunk and nodded off quickly, but Bow couldn't. His mind raced as he squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to sleep like he had so many times after a long day of training.
He was a Force Captain now. He needed his rest.
Still, a small nagging voice reminded him, You're a Force Captain now. You have access to skiffs.
Eventually, Bow sat up with an internal sigh. The only way to put this behind him was to go to the Woods and see for himself that there was no sword waiting for him. Glimmer was right, of course, but he needed the assurance.
Quietly, Bow climbed out of bed and headed toward the skiff deck. This would be an easy mission, there and back before roll call. Glimmer didn't even have to know he was gone. It could be his little secret.
"There's something out here, Catra." Adora insisted, looking down at her pad. Catra glanced over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't know how you understand that thing. It's just bright lights to me." Catra shrugged.
"Well actually, this trackerpad is made of assembled pixels, which together change colors to coordinate and form a picture, like the one you see here. So technically, it is just bright lights attached to a motherboard that tells which lights what image to produce." Adora explained.
"I can relate. I've got a motherboard of my own who's pretty bossy."
"C'yra's not that bossy, Catra."
"She's a queen. Bossy is her job, and she's great at it."
"She likes me."
"Everyone likes you, Adora."
"I can't help my natural charm." Adora said smugly. "I made you like me. I even convinced you to come all the way out to the Woods with me. You hate the Woods."
"They smell, and this is not because I like you. I'm just sticking it to my mother by sneaking out after she grounded me." Catra defended.
"Sure."
"It's not!" Catra shoved Adora, and the two stumbled through a bush into a small clearing. There, the two girls stopped roughhousing. "What is that?" Catra asked with wide eyes. Before them, a massive sword was impaled in the ground, wrapped in vines.
"It looks like a sword."
"I knew that. But why is it here, of all places?" Catra reframed. "And why is it… glowing?"
"That must be what I'm tracking." Adora pointed at her pad and looked between it and the blade. "It's First One's tech!"
"Seriously?" Catra turned to Adora in disbelief.
"This is incredible! I assumed it was a massive cache with this kind of reading, but it's just one piece! This thing must be inordinately powerful." Adora said excitedly, facing her friend. "We have to get it back to Halfmoon."
"Is it even safe to touch? It's glowing an awful lot."
"We can throw a rock at it or something and see if it- Hey!" Adora cut off, turning to find a Horde soldier in the clearing with them, approaching the sword. "Horde soldier!" the soldier stopped and looked at them with panic in his eyes.
"He's going for the sword!" Catra growled. She yelled out and changed to her cat form, shredding her clothes. Adora pulled her staff out of her pocket and extended it to full-length.
"Wait-" he held up his hands, but Catra charged him with Adora close behind. Before they could reach him, the soldier pulled the sword from the ground and the whole clearing lit up.
Balance the world. Do not resist.
This power is not meant for you.
You must use it wisely.
You are not her!
Bow snapped awake with a start.
He expected to be bound; the Rebels were cruel like that. He didn't expect the massive cat-creature looming over him.
The creature, its face just above his, snarled as he opened his eyes. He was pinned to the ground, its paws over his limbs and open jaws heading towards his throat. "Catra, no!" a voice yelled. The creature paused, open jaw over his face as someone yelled at her. "No biting."
Bow risked moving his head slightly and saw a blonde girl off to the side, wildly gesturing at the giant cat. It was clearly the girl, the Rebel, he had noticed upon first seeing the sword, but now she seemed to be protecting him. Why?
"Catra, we've been over this." the girl said exasperatedly. She smacked her hand against her face and the cat, Catra, paused where she was. She didn't close her mouth, but her eyes went from Bow's throat to the girl and fixed on her with an annoyed glare. "We don't break people's necks before finding out their intentions." At least the creature seemed to be partially listening to the girl. Of course, the Rebels would employ giant beasts.
"Please tell your cat to get off me." Bow strained. Catra smacked the side of his head with one of her giant paws but closed her mouth and pulled her head up.
"She's not my cat." The girl corrected. "If anything, I'm her Sapien. She's the Princess of Halfmoon."
"A Princess?" Bow gulped. "Is that why she's trying to kill me?" were they both Princesses? That would be just his luck.
"She's not trying to kill you. We don't do that." The Rebel's eyes strayed to the Horde symbol emblazoned on his chest as she spoke. "Get off him. He probably has intel we can use." Catra snorted but jumped off him to return to the blonde.
"I wouldn't act so high and might." He reminded her, propping up on his elbows. "Princesses are killing this planet. Plus, your leader is a big furball." Catra narrowed her eyes, but the girl scratched at one of her ears with ease since it was the height of her chest, and she calmed slightly.
"That's it. Get up. We're taking you prisoner." she ordered. She pressed a button her staff and a handcuff attachment came out the end.
"I am not-"
"Yes, you are. Or maybe I can rescind the no-biting rule." She raised an eyebrow. Bow cut off, and his gaze drifted back to Catra. "She has the jaw strength to chomp right through a tree, you know." Catra grinned as best she could and Bow held out his wrists reluctantly.
"Glimmer will kill me if I let some massive cat eat me after I promised not to go into the Woods." He muttered under his breath as the blonde headed over to cuff him.
"I don't know who that is." She pulled him up with her staff and grabbed the sword off the ground where it lay a few feet away.
"Look, Rebel, I just came here for the sword. If you let me have it, I can be out of your hair in no time." Bow tried reasoning, though he knew it was no good. The Rebels were notoriously illogical.
"It's Adora, and I don't think so. I've been tracking this signal for a week, and I don't know what this does besides glow, but I know you can't have it. It would be way too dangerous in Horde hands. Plus, we were here first." She tucked the sword into her pack. "Catra, change back." She pulled out a set of clothes and placed them on Catra's back as she bounded up to them.
The cat took the clothes in her mouth and slunk off behind a tree.
"Did she rip off her clothes when she changed?" Bow asked quizzically. Adora blushed a little.
"She can't control her powers very well. Sometimes if she's just recharged, she can shift her clothes too, but that's a new ability for her."
"She has to charge her powers?" the Princesses might be less intimidating than he thought.
"Oh yeah. If she doesn't charge regularly, she can get stuck in beast-mode. It's kind of adorable but pretty dangerous since she could get stuck permanently if we aren't careful."
"Don't tell the Horde spy that!" Catra reappeared, adjusting the strange helmet on her head. Her appearance this time was only part cat, but Bow wondered why she didn't return to her full-Sapien state.
"Right." Adora winced.
"I have excellent control over my powers. I can change and shift back whenever I want with no consequences." Catra said confidently.
"I wouldn't go that far."
"Adora, don't mock me in front of the prisoner." Catra sighed.
"Wait, about that," Adora started casually, ignoring Bow. He huffed. The two were so busy pseudo-flirting that they forget he was here. She tugged her staff and pulled him forward. "What are we going to do with him?"
"I'm right here." Bow muttered.
"Let's take him back home. That way, I can show my mom just how easy being part of the Rebellion is. She'll have to be impressed and might even rethink her neutral status." Catra put her hands on her hips.
"That's optimistic. She's been neutral for thirty years. I don't think one caught soldier will change her mind." Adora pointed out as the duo started walking. Bow was yanked along haphazardly, stumbling along whenever Adora pulled on her staff. "Besides, to do this, you will have to admit you went out while you were supposed to be grounded."
"It'll be worth it." Catra decided after a minute of thinking. "Now, watch him. I'm going to scout the way a little to make sure he's alone." She jumped up onto a tree and scrambled up it effortlessly, disappearing into the leaves. Adora shook her head with a fond smile.
"You came alone, right? She'll figure it out if you didn't." Adora turned to Bow. "Catra's an excellent tracker."
"I'm not telling my captors whether or not I have backup." Bow said seriously.
"Whatever you prefer, Horde spy. You have the right to remain silent." She shrugged, turning back to face the path.
They walked in silence for a little bit, the occasional rustling above their head the only reminder they weren't alone. Yet, even with the audience, Bow's questions welled up inside. He had never met a Rebel, let alone one as chatty as Adora seemed to be.
"You said she's a Princess?" he asked after some time. Adora glanced behind her at Bow before slowing down a little to walk by his side. "The…. catgirl?"
"Yep. Catra's the Princess of my home, so that kind of makes her my boss. It's a little weird, but we're friends, so that puts us on even ground most of the time." She explained.
"And you're not one?"
"No, I'm a commoner. Well, not a commoner. I'm actually quite rare in our village. Not many Sapiens live in Halfmoon, let alone ones raised there."
"Halfmoon….." Bow racked his brain. "That's the big territory in the Beast kingdom, right?"
"Beast?!" Adora frowned. "We don't say that word, Horde spy. You're lucky Catra's not within earshot."
"What, Beast? It's what non-Sapiens are called." Bow held up his hands, yanking Adora for once.
"Is that what they call Magicats in the Horde?" Adora softened her glare slightly. "Those monsters."
"Hey, don't talk about the Horde like that. You Rebels are the monsters. You took me hostage!" Bow shook his captive wrists.
"The Horde has done so much worse. That's why you're called the Evil Horde!"
"Who calls us that?"
"Everyone!"
"I can't believe this. A Rebel, friends with a Princess, is telling me I'm on the wrong side. Who dumb do you think I am?" Bow laughed.
"I don't know. I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to actually believe the Horde is the good guys, but here you are." Adora rebuked.
"We are the good guys. You just can't see it because your Princess friend has brainwashed you."
"Oh yeah?" a voice in the trees called. Catra dropped in front of them, a surprisingly solemn expression on her face. "You want to see what the Horde really does?" she pushed aside a giant bush, and the trio came upon the ruins of a decimated town. Bow gasped.
"This…. this can't have been us." Even as he spoke, the red symbol of the Horde stuck out, burned into the side of a ruined home. This wasn't right, but the evidence was too significant for his scientific mind to ignore.
"You see what they do to places they 'liberate,' what they want to do to all of Etheria." Catra ran a hand over the Horde symbol, her face unreadable. "You see why we fight them."
"I don't know what to believe." Bow admitted.
"Try believing your own eyes." Catra growled, turning on him. "Look around you at the firestorm the Horde unleashed on this civilian town! If you can stand here and still say you're fighting for the good guys, then you're just as heartless as the soldiers who did this."
"Catra, come on. He's been indoctrinated." Adora chastised. "You can't expect him to just immediately turn around his entire world view."
"No, she's right." Bow lowered his head.
"Or I guess you can."
"This is the dark side of the Horde, the weeds that have to be cleared before new life can flourish. I've known that this kind of thing happens, but I never thought it was like this. I thought villages were dismantled and rebuilt so that the civilians could have better lives. I guess that was naïve of me." This wasn't the process Light Spinner had told him about it. It wasn't the deconstruction he had trained for. But then again, no one had taught him how to rebuild. Only to destroy.
Maybe he should have known this sooner. Maybe he always knew and pushed it down.
"I'm glad you learned your lesson, because when we get back home, you're going in the dungeons, and you're going to pay for your people's crimes for the rest of your life." Catra threatened.
"Now wait a minute! I don't deserve that. I didn't do anything." Bow defended.
"I don't care! You're Horde, and the Horde is bad, so you must be bad."
"That is terrible logic!"
"Catra-" Adora tried.
"I'm royalty. I don't need logic." Catra crossed her arms.
"Um, guys." Adora got between them, but the bickering didn't stop.
"If you want me to make up for my part in all this, have me help you fix it." Bow argued.
"And you think I would trust you to fix things, just because you can light up when you hold up a Bow? You're still the enemy, and nothing is going to change-"
A tree fell right next to the trio, nearly flattening Bow, and giant pincers emerged from the brush, an even bigger bug behind them.
"I was trying to warn you about the monster!" Adora yelled.
"It's just a bug. We can take it." Catra waved her hand dismissively as the creature screeched.
"My staff is attached to him, you really shouldn't transform twice so close together, and that is much bigger than we're used to. I say we run." Adora said. The bug continued to regard them, looking at Bow with huge pupilless eyes. What was it waiting for?
"I can morph and take it myself then." Catra shrugged.
"What did I just say?"
"It's fine, I'll just recharge when we get back." Apparently, the bug didn't like that idea since it chose the moment to attack, both pincers going for Bow. Adora released his handcuffs and smacked the claws away, but the creature also snapped its mandibles at Catra, who couldn't jump out of the way fast enough.
"CATRA!" Adora screamed as the Princess disappeared into the bug's maw. She threw her bag onto the ground and rushed closer to the monster's body, beating at its stomach to get to her friend. Bow realized he had only a second to make his decision.
He could run, go back to the Horde, tuck into his bunk, and ignore everything that happened. The Rebellion would likely be down a Princess, which would be a victory in itself, and his work liberating the planet would be easier than ever.
But, after everything he had seen, could he really go back and pretend to still be a starry-eyed cadet, unaware of the Horde's underbelly of destruction? Could he, with all his training to help Etheria and all its inhabitants, turn his back on two people who would likely die with no assistance? Who would he be if he turned a blind eye?
The golden weapon in Adora's bag glinted as his eyes strayed to it, and he had his answer.
Bow, free of his cuffs, reached into the bag, pulled out the sword, and held it aloft. A flash of light enveloped him and he changed, growing taller and more muscular, his hair flowing well past the required length for cadets. When he finally died down, there was a golden bow in his hand, and he felt a quiver on his back.
The creature stopped fighting Adora and stared transfixed at Bow's new form. Adora turned around and donned a similar expression.
"Who…. who are you?" she asked. The whispering weapon in his hand gave him his answer.
"I am Bow, wielder of the Bow of Protection and Etheria's new She-Ra." He announced. "Though, I would prefer He-Ra, if that's okay with everyone."
Adora was too gobsmacked to answer.
"Great. Now that we've covered that," Bow pulled an arrow out of his quiver, knowing instinctively that it regenerated the second he notched it, and took aim at the bug. "I'm going to need you to cough up the Princess."
AN: Bow-Ra supremacy right here, because my brand is anyone as She-Ra but Adora! I also straight up made Catra a werecat on accident and I'm not ashamed. Well, they're friends now, so with luck, they can teach each other about how to change into larger more unstable forms. That won't backfire at all.
Hope this sets up the fic for you guys. All the next chapters are going to be out of order snippets from the universe, so don't expect a long cohesive narrative like "What You're Worth". They will also be more Glimbow focused, so Catra and Adora get shifted to the background a lot more than in the opener. It's Glimbow week, so the chaotic bisexuals get more screentime than the disaster gays for once.
For some generic info on this AU, please check out the fic notes on my Tumblr (chippedcat) and they should clear up a few things. If you've got a bunch of questions, please ask, responding to comments rules.
Next installment on the 16th and every day after for a week, so look forward to that! Let me know what you think and I'll see you all then!