"Maybe you are crazy," Adora muttered to herself as she bushwhacked her way through the thick woods. "Searching for weird magic swords in the middle of an enchanted wood crawling with rebels and princesses. That's something out of a horror story. Catra's probably right, I just have brain damage from the speeder crash. I mean, really, what are the odds? What do I honestly expect to find out here?"

She was about to turn back when she heard the sound of something flying overhead. Before she could react something crashed through the canopy above her head. She hit the ground as it whizzed over her, missing her by inches, raining branches and leaves down on her. Adora heard it bounce several more times before it hit something with a loud KLERRACK! and stopped. A dark smoke plume started to rise over the treetops.

It took a few moments for Adora to process what had almost killed her.

It was a box.

A blue box.

A Blue Box.

Adora started to run in the direction of the smoke.

The Doctor staggered back against a tree, clutching his face. "Ow!" He snapped his broken nose back in place and frowned. "What was that for?"

"You know darn well what that was for, Doctor."

The Doctor searched his prodigious memory bank to match the name to the face. " Oh! Adora! Didn't recognize you for a second. You've been stretched taller."

Another sucker-punch. "Ow! Please, stop that!"

"I can't believe it's really you. After all this time." Adora grabbed the Doctor by the collar and pushed him against a tree, pulling him up so his feet were dangling above the grass. " Five. Years."

The Doctor struggled for breath. "What?"

"You said you'd be back in five minutes. You were gone for FIVE YEARS! Where were you?"

"Five years? That's embarrassing, but time travel is very hit and miss."

"Answer the question!"

"Look, for it was five years, for me it was five minutes. Time is wibbly-wobbly like that. I'm sorry, this has happened before, and I'm sorry it happened again."

"You promised us."

"I did, I know I did. I tried to come back. I guess I was just a little off the mark."

"You call five years a little off the mark ?"

"...In a temporal sense, yes."

"Sorry, but that apology is not going to cut it! We spent months in disciplinary therapy because of you!" Adore dropped the Doctor and stepped back.

The Doctor gasped for air. "Why-wh-why were you in therapy?"

"They kept telling us you weren't real, and Catra was... IS very stubborn. She is going to lose her mind when she finds out."

"Oh, how is Catra?"

Adora ignored him. "All those therapy sessions. I was starting to believe you were a dream or some kind of gas-leak hallucination." Adora put her hands on her head and started to laugh wildly. "Maybe I am dreaming. Maybe none of this is happening and you're just an illusion. You and the weird talking sword."

The Doctor perked up. "What sword?" But Adora turned around and disappeared into the trees. "Oi! Wait!"

It took him some effort to catch up: she moved through the vines and undergrowth impressively fast. "You were talking about a sword—

"Go away, Doctor. Don't follow me. Just leave me alone and disappear like a bad dream."

"This sword, was it big and sparkly, stuck in the ground and covered in vines?"

Adora stopped and spun around on her heel. "You've seen it?"

"Yeah, in some sort of dream. I don't know where it is, though." Adora turned around and started to walk. "But I can help you find it!"

Adora stopped again. "How?"

The Doctor flashed his sonic screwdriver. "In the vision it looked like the sword was giving off a lot of energy. If I can find the energy signal, we can trace it to the source."

"What makes you so sure I need your help?"

The Doctor activated the screwdriver and scanned the area. "Because," he said, smugly as the device started to blink. "You're going in the wrong direction."

They found it a half-hour later. Neither of them had spoken much during the hike, except when the Doctor gave course adjustments. He had attempted some small talk, but the icy stare Adora gave him made him think twice.

"Is that the sword you saw in your dream?" The Doctor asked, pointing to the object in the middle of the forest clearing.

Adora stared at it in awe. "Yes. That's it."

"Great! It's the one from my dream, too."

"Why did it show up in both our dreams?"

The Doctor crouched down in front of the sword, studying the blue pearl in the crossguard "That's a good question. There must be something verrry special about this thing." He began to scan it with the screwdriver. It took a while. "Damn thing keeps shorting out," he muttered, smacking the device to keep the light from sputtering out. As he did, Adora stepped forward and reached for the sword's pommel. The Doctor slapped it away. "Don't!"

"Ow! What the heck?"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with strange glowing swords?"

"The topic never came up, for some reason."

The Doctor finished his scan and inspected the readout. "Interesting." He then reached out and gingerly tapped the sword before jumping back. Nothing happened. "Ah! Okay."

"You just told me not to touch it!"

"I'm the Doctor, I'm an exception to the rules. This thing is a brilliant little piece of tech."

"So what is it, exactly?"

The Doctor clapped his hands together and grinned. "To put it simple, it's a sword—"

"Well, obviously it's a sword."

"—Your sword."

Adora stopped dead in her tracks. She was breathless. Her eyes drifted back to the sword. The blue pearl glinted in the light. It was singing to her. "My sword?"

"I was wondering where I'd seen that energy reading before, and now I've remembered." He scanned the sword with his screwdriver, then hurried over and scanned Adora. "Bingo!"

Adora slapped the Doctor's hand away. "Get that wand out of my face."

"That strange energy pattern I picked up when I first met you—"

"The what?"

"The weird glow I told you about, Miss Funny-Looking-One." He clicked his heels and laughed. "It's a match!"

"What does that mean, Doctor?" Adora asked.

"I'll show you." He buzzed her with the screwdriver, adjusting the settings. A spark of electricity shot from the blue light at its end and transferred to her. "Look down."

Adora did. Her body was glowing. "What did you do to me?"

"I boosted your energy pattern so it's visible to the naked human eye. Now look." He pointed to the sword. It was glowing, too. "It's responding to your signal."

"I don't understand,

"The sword has a biometric lock on it. Only the correct energy signature can activate it, your signature. You are the key. This sword is made for you, and you were made for it."

"So, what should I do?"

The Doctor stepped back and made a grandiose gesture to the sword. "Take it, of course! I said it's yours, didn't I?"

Adora walked over to the sword. It's glow seemed to get brighter the close she got to it. The singing was getting louder. "And then what, Doctor?" Adora asked. "What happens next?"

The Doctor grinned. "No idea. Why don't we find out?"

Adora swallowed her courage and reached for the sword. This was her moment.

Or it was supposed to be. Then a fairy girl and Robin Hood charged in out of nowhere and absolutely ruined it.

"HORDE SOLDIERS!"

"I see them!" The second was a boy, or a young man, dark-skinned with a crop top haircut. He wore a double-sashed vest that exposed his midriff, and had a bow and quiver slung over his back.

"Glimmer, get the sword!"

The girl vanished in the blink of an eye, rematerializing next to the Doctor. She grabbed the sword and dematerialized just as Adora swiped for them. The boy drew his bow and fired an arrow at Adora. She dodged it, but the Doctor didn't. It struck him in the face and knocked him down with a grunt.

"Bow, catch!" the girl appeared near the archer and threw the sword to him.

"Give it!" Adora ran for him. Bow squeaked and turned to run. Before Adora could catch him, the purple girl materialized on her back and pulled at her ponytail.

The Doctor opened his eyes and sat up. "Okay, oww! What is it with my nose?" He popped his nose back in place, again, and picked something up from beside him. "And who fires a boxing glove at someone?" he asked, inspecting the strange arrow in his hand.

Robin Hood had Adora restrained in a headlock while the purple girl had her arms around her torso. "Doctor!" Adora shouted. "Throw me the sword!"

"I'd rather not," the Doctor replied, standing up. "Bringing a sword to a fist fight only escalates the situation."

Adora pushed, sending all three of them out of balance. She landed on her stomach, her hand inches away from the sword. She stretched out her arm as far as she could, ignoring the groaning pain of her muscles. Almost. There.

On her touch the sword lit up in a flash of blue light. A shockwave burst out from the jewel in the crossguard, throwing everyone back. Adora conked her head on a rock. As the world went dark around her, she heard a voice:

"Adora…"