A/N: She-ra and the Princess of power were made by J. Michael Straczynski and Larry DiTillio, I only take credit for my own added character's and storylines. Similarly, any references will be attributed to their original creators when they pop up.
Recommended story: Where the Lonely Ones Roam by glimmerglanger
One of my favourite fics. This Catra is a lot more tired and cynical than canon. It's an AU divergence that starts with the Horde losing. So she chooses to become a farmer (more of a major to a village of farmers) and ends up building a city.
BTW, I also have an A03 account where I'm also publishing, if you prefer reading it there~.
Enjoy!
Book X: Of Time & Concept
Chapter 1 ~ The Weight of the Light
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Content Warning! There will be implied depression, BPD, suicidal thoughts and other similar themes. If any of the above is something you are not comfortable with, then you might want to skip this fic.
If not, welcome to the gem! Enjoy!
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It starts on a rainy day.
Well, there's never a true start, much like there is never a true finish.
But it can start here.
Elena, freshly enlisted in the rebellion, is in the middle of conducting reconnaissance. Her first solo mission as she scans through the territory, a small village at the edge of Etheria, in the middle of mountains far from the major trade routes.
It's not a luxurious role, true. But it is something that will protect the Rebellion if -and when- worse comes to worst.
It's under the downpouring rain, in an alleyway of the shanty-town where it first starts.
And it starts when she offers an umbrella to the half-starved child.
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Elena turned a page, face resting on her hand as she half-heartedly studied for her final exams. It was more out of habit than any actual need to learn the subject. The process calms her mind, allowing her to focus rather than losing herself in the complexity of her emotions.
It was a good thing she already knew the content by heart since she doubted she'd achieve much with the numerous conversations occurring in the library.
"Did you hear? Rumour has it she got herself promoted."
"No way! I thought the council's been opposing any support?"
She turned a page, forcing her attention on its concept as she meticulously took notes.
"And there was a huge argument! They threatened to take her valedictorian position.
"You're kidding. It's Elena!
And she turns to the next page. Her hand tightens at the spine of the book.
"If you think about it, it's kind of obvious."
"How so?"
"Well... I mean, it's the council. They know what they are doing. Isn't it Elena's fault for going against their wisdom?"
Her eye twitches ever so slightly. She turns another page.
"Maybe being called the best went to her head? The council would have intervened if they thought the war was getting out of hand."
And another.
"That's kind of disappointing, I really looked up to her."
Snapping her book closed, she stands, slowly taking some steps towards them as her eyes narrow sharply.
"Excuse me." She smiles, hiding the urge to show her teeth as she meets the most vocal of the groups, "this is a library. If you're going to socialise, then I will have to ask you to do so elsewhere."
"Y-yes Ma'am." They both jump, eyes widening as they realise they'd been badmouthing her while she read right next to them.
Ignoring the sudden silence of the library, she reached for her belongings hoping to find somewhere quieter to read.
Her eyes dart towards the opened letter at the top of her small pile of books. An audience requesting her presence from the Queen of Brightmoon herself. She's still not entirely comfortable with the implication of what that letter means.
After all, she thinks, a frown forming on her features as she walks out of the library, there's no way they would have allowed me to be promoted so fast if they hadn't wanted to pull Mysticor into this war.
It's not like she expected the council to do as she said. And she could even understand why they were wary to participate. She didn't even expect them to agree with her. It's just…
The argument that had come from it had caught her off guard. The sheer venomous way they'd refused to even listen. The council of magic was supposed to be fair, to be wise, to be logical. She'd seen none of that. From people, some of which she knew personally, to completely disregard everything she'd said.
But it wasn't that. Not really.
The argument had been loud and long, true. But it'd also been in a close session, where the student rumour mill should have never heard of it. So… Well, since she hadn't said anything, there was only one reasonable conclusion to be made.
Someone in the council was trying to slander her through rumours.
And if that realisation wasn't damning, she wasn't sure what would be.
A sudden sharp noise catches her attention, eyes darting towards the smaller hallways that reside in the academy.
Her eyes narrow in irritation as she focuses on a darker side of the hallway.
She does not want to deal with this now.
"This side of the academy is already closed." She interrupts sharply, pulling both individuals' attention. "I'll have to ask both of you to leave, now."
"R-Right. Yeah. I-, yes." One says, quickly darting away before Elena can catch a glimpse of their expression.
She doesn't need to, she already guessed what the discussion must have been about.
They were one of the less talented student's that'd only made it in due to a lack of applicants from the ongoing war. And while it was enough to enter the academy, it wouldn't be enough to graduate.
"Simin." She greets in cold, detached politeness.
It's not particularly difficult to conclude what the man had been offering from that knowledge. What he was trying to achieve.
He'd tried once with her, after all.
Unfortunately, he was one of the more influential nobles that attended Mystacor. Their title, while not the highest, had once been a subject of much discussion. The Shields had built a reputation of 'knights,' caring little for their reputation while focusing on protecting the general population.
They'd once been admirable, truly.
"Elena," He smiles, "as always, it's a pleasure to talk to you. I do apologise for staying so late."
Once had been a long time ago.
"Then perhaps, next time you'll endeavour to abide by the academy's rules." She comments snidely, restraining the urge to throw a rather unpleasant hex at the man.
"Of course, of course." Simin nods happily. "I was simply making sure they were certain with their... refusal to my offer. It's dangerous times we live in. As a Shield, I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror if I didn't offer a helping hand."
"Of course." She echoes as her eyes narrowed. "Similarly, one must know when help is not wanted. I'm so glad you're experienced in that lesson as well."
It'd been around a decade ago, when the Shields previous head had been killed in the war, leaving only their three sons from the once dozens of knights that had carried their title.
The eldest was decent enough, she supposed. The other two on the other hand...
His smile slips, jaw tightening as he slowly walks towards her. "Indeed. And one must also know when help should be accepted. Dangerous times we live in, you'd know." He echoes, stopping at her side as his eyes dart towards her. "And it'd be wise not to make more enemies than one can afford."
"..." She refuses to meet his gaze, glaring at the wall in front of her. As justified as it might be, killing him was an unreasonable response, even if he was a despicable being.
Not for the first time, she worries the war might have turned her too pessimistic.
"I heard there was an argument between yourself and the council." He comments idly, "It caught me by surprise. They did name you valedictorian of light. And they suddenly try to remove you from the position. It's as if they are trying to silence you." Smile returning to his lips, he continues walking through the hallway. "It's times like these where you might want to accept a helping hand. You'd be surprised how much can be achieved through power alone."
Her fist tightens as the footsteps quickly disappear into silence. And her hand slams into the wall, eyes narrowed dangerously as she lets out a low hiss.
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With a swift movement, the spell throws the boulder to another of the enemy soldiers, slamming its entire force on the figure as her eyes darken in vindication.
She shouldn't allow her anger to fuel her, she knows. Shouldn't allow it to flow into her magic, for all it greatly increases its raw power.
You have been deemed unfit as the valedictorian of light. As such, the title shall be removed as of immediately.
She'd dedicated her life to… well, it wasn't for the title itself per see, but more of what the title represented. The one that had started the depths of known magic, who was trusted with leading the next generation and would, without a doubt, one day carry the title of council member.
Granted, she'd attempted to remove herself from politics, cementing her position of neutrality, loyal to none other than Mysticor.
As an outsider from a farming family, with no particular talent of note, it'd required her to put ten times the effort most of her peers had required.
But she'd achieved it anyway.
It'd been a point of pride, that power wasn't the only requirement to get far, that she was just as worthy even when she had no family to speak of and nothing but dirt as a heritage.
But then the war had started, and… and, well. Elena hadn't thought much of it, at first. She'd been saddened by the knowledge of death occurring in the conflict, of course, but… but that was it. Those conflicts were not rare between two or so princesses. If anything, she'd claim it as common, usually lasting between some weeks to two months.
For that matter, the only exception in the past seven centuries that came to mind was the Conflagration War. The conflict between the Fire princess and neighbouring kingdoms had uncharacteristically lasted a near year, and for all nobody knew why it'd happened, there were many theories as to what had happened.
The more likely one being that the Fire princess had been driven mad by power, obsessing to the point that she'd devastated the surrounding lands, leaving nothing but a crimson desert in its surrounding waste.
The Crimson Waste.
Which was ridiculous. There were too many inconsistencies with the story to conclude that she'd suddenly destroyed her kingdom in a fit of rage.
Nonetheless, the moral of the story was to never allow anger -or for that matter, other negative emotions- to flow into one's magic. It corrupted it, slowly twisting it into something unrecognisable and, with it, it's wilder.
Granted, she had skipped the princess civil war, which in itself had supposedly lasted for years. The Royal calendar was started at the end of the civil war, so it was unfortunate that much of what'd occurred before had been lost to history.
But she deviated. This hadn't seemed to be much of a different conflict. One princess had been offended by another and a conflict had started over it. Nobody had expected it to last over a month.
But it had. Alliances had formed, and, uncharacteristically for a war. Other kingdoms had joined, offering support and taking sides.
And suddenly, the tiny war in the tiny land had started spreading throughout Etheria, raging through every part of its lands as another civil war started.
So… she'd joined the alliance.
The newly named Horde had become more and more radical, killing indiscriminately as it massacred the people.
Madness, some called it.
Mysticor refused to involve itself.
Because for all it spread through every land, some were less affected than others. Some wanted it to remain as such.
It was foolish, but there were many sayings of old people and ivory towers.
With most of Brightmoons royalty assassinated quickly followed by the Queen's recent death, Angella, at the mere age of sixteen, was left to rule her kingdom.
And as she watched the village fall, leaving little more than debris and fire on the remaining battlefield, she can't help but feel a deep sense of sympathy for the young girl she'd met just some years ago.
She walks through the quiet debris of the town, jaw tightening as nothing but a non-existent ghost wonders its ash.
Perhaps due to the silence, she can hear the faint, dry sound of a cough.
And then there's a barely audible voice.
She's heard that voice before.
She instantly starts running, easily moving the large boulders as she frantically searches for the source of the sound. Her anger and fury dissipate, quickly replaced by fear and desperation.
And then she finds her.
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Her heartbeats, breath hitching as her village comes to sight, the faint traces of embers left as the smoke hides the sun.
She almost trips, horror growing on her features as she spots dead bodies outside one of their neighbour's houses. It only makes her run faster, reaching her half-collapsed home as she slams the door open.
And her voice screams.
Blinking awake, her heart still beating as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes, a grimace of distaste forms on her lips.
She hadn't had that particular dream in years. Perhaps from the recent hell she'd revisited, Eleneas own mind was more disarrayed from its usually more impassive state. This war is starting to wear on me, she can't help but think tiredly, blood and ruins flashing through her mind through so many different memories.
It wasn't rare for a conflict between magical's to have… bystanders killed through stray spells. Her's was just one of many families' deaths, in the end.
It'd been pure luck that her mother had asked her to fetch water from the nearby river. A bit of even greater luck that she'd survived the stray spells from the clashing mages.
And then the newly named Ordu had started its campaign of independence, which had started in the political arena, but had quickly turned violent as different members chose different sides.
The complicated thing was that Elena had kind of agreed with the Ordu when it'd first became outspoken. She was far from alone in her opinion, of course. Far too many people had become dissatisfied with the Alier council, most accusing them of nepotism in a ruling class that could only be entered through birth.
For that matter, the core reason she'd chosen to study in Mysticor -apart from her love of discovering knowledge- was due to its council being the only one that could be entered through merit.
Even then, for all she'd worked hard for her rise, her magic was something she'd been born with.
It's a moot point now, she supposes. The Ordu had become the Horde as it started to kill indiscriminately, killing all that dared oppose them in their goal of conquest.
She's pulled from her musing as the younger woman steers from her sleep.
"Careful," She forces her tone to be calm, "you were burnt pretty severely when the building fell apart. Best you don't move for the next few days." Magic, for all it was something that always left her awestruck, had many limits that couldn't be passed. She'd seen far too many lives slowly die because magic just hadn't been enough to save their life.
She's glad this hadn't added to the far too long list.
"Wha-?" Her voice comes rasped, a pained expression crossing her face as Elena passes her a glass of water.
She quietly watches as the woman rapidly drinks the whole glass down, leaving not a drop as she lowers the cup.
For a prolonged moment, she stares at her bandaged arms, dark bruises under her eyes as she looked up towards Elena.
"...They're going to scar." She finally says, preferring to be honest rather than offer fake comfort. "The healers aren't quite sure what you did, but they're fairly certain you have some enhancing form of magic that protected your organs, which is why you survived a burning building falling on top of you to start with." She's not quite sure how that had happened either. She can only assume it was an instinctual response to a natural form of magic.
Unlike most, she was quite aware of how little she understood magic.
"...Oh." Is all she can say, face oddly blank as she rubs the bandages covering half her face. Because there's nothing to say. Not really. The best Elena can do is stay and offer silent comfort in hopes she'll push through it. "The other children?"
"..." She licks her lips, shaking her head slowly, flinching when the blank expression shatters as the other shrinks into herself.
Her apology dies before it even leaves her tongue. Again left silent as the other's shoulder shake.
Instead, she awkwardly reaches for her hand, gently rubbing her back as the other girl cries.
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She ignores Micah's worried frown, choosing to continue her book as she leans under the shade of the trees.
"They could have at least sent people." He muttered under his breath. "There's only so much use magical crystals can give us."
She makes a sympathetic sound, agreeing with her one-year junior even if she's too tired to actually argue with or about the council. "It's better than nothing," she offers without actually beliving it, "not that long ago they were claiming the Horde wasn't dangerous at all."
"Small miracles," Micah muttered sarcastically. "Speaking of miracles," He blinks, a smirk forming on his lips as he stands, "I think you should look up." He advises, quickly making his escape as she blinks.
"What are- mph."
"Elena!" The blondette cheers, throwing herself towards the older woman in a tight embrace, knocking the two of them into the still damp grass. "Here you are! You weren't avoiding me, right?"
She raises an eyebrow at the younger woman's wide-eyed expression, lips twitching ever so slightly in amusement. "Of course," She nods, "it's not like we were studying three hours ago."
"Three minutes is an eternity. How am I supposed to live for three hours without seeing you?"
"You'll figure something out, I'm sure." She offers, closing her book as she gently pushes the woman away. "Weren't you supposed to be on shift now, Ange?"
"Day off." She shakes her head with a grin. "We're taking part in today's tradition, remember?"
"No." She sends her an unimpressed glance. "For that matter, I remember vividly saying I wouldn't take part. It's a little bit silly if you ask me."
"But it's for morale!" She whines, blue eyes sending her a pleading glance. "Please? It's not like you'll have to keep it if you don't like it."
"Ange, I'm not changing my name. I'm not even good at naming, and the idea is still silly."
"But I like it! Changing one's name to suit one's own choices is so symbolic. Besides," She continues, a smile returning to her expression. "I've already thought of a name you'd like."
"...Let's hear it." Elena sighed, contemplating her prospects of escaping.
"Well it took some thought," She starts, posing proudly as she takes a step back, "but I eventually reached the conclusion that there could be no better name than 'Light-spinner'!"
Elena blinks slowly, staring at Ange's delighted expression with something aching to horror growing.
"No."
"W-what? Why not?"
"...It sounds ridiculous. And it's hardly symbolic. Besides, what's wrong with Elena? I like Elena."
"Elena is a pretty name." She nods sagely. "But Light spinner is also good. After all, you're the light that makes me spin with so many feelings, how can't it be good?"
"...You're absolutely ridiculous," Elena murmurs, looking away as she feels her cheeks heat up from her blush. From the edge of her sight, she can see Ange's silly smile. Her blue eyes sparkling brightly in hopeful expectation.
She really doesn't want to deal with the large crowd that'll undoubtedly attend the first ritual.
She ends up attending it anyway. It's Ange who's dragging her along, after all.
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I sometimes post art of my fanfics here:
Deviantart: sapphireandemeralds
Twitter: SappandEmr
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Before anything else. This is not a Shadow Weaver is forgiven story. Shadow Waver bashing is in the tags because she's very much a messed up character and I intend to write her as such. Thing is, I've found many bashings have... very one-dimensional characters. She's a horrible person, but something had to have happened for her to have got to that point.
But that being said, a big thank you to Hubris Plus for going through this!
This is in world canon-compliant, by the way. Book X is one or two chapters that are outside of the story but still occurring at the side-lines. It's going to be between each book and vary in length.
On that note, you might have noticed that I update every Friday on the second week... you might have noticed that it is not, in fact, Friday. For that matter, it's not two weeks either. I'm changing the schedule somewhat, I can't really guarantee the time between chapters, but it will be every Sunday. Don't worry, if I ever do feel I can't continue 'That You Are Here' I'll post it and give my timeline of planned events.
On a final note, if you thought I should have written something differently, be it personality and/or displays of different states of mentality, a different conversation, or a different story idea, please leave a comment! I always love hearing what people have to say, especially when I get to brainstorm for ways to improve this fic! Any advice is welcome and appreciated! Always.
Anyways, Ill See you next time! Chao!
~ Sapphire and Emeralds