Chapter Three

"The Heart of the Matter"

"So . . . what kind of freaky-looking, weirdoes am I gonna see?"

Man-At-Arms smiled at Lubic's ignorance of this world. "All sorts."

Lubic grinned. "Hey, whatever. Lock and load, right?" The human cocked his shotgun and followed Man-At-Arms out to the courtyard. The evening sun was beginning to fall beneath the horizon and the winds were starting to pick up. Queen Marlena met with Man-At-Arms out there.

"The King has arrived at Grayskull," she reported. "King Paw and the Cat-People are well on their way, as are the Bears."

"Chicago Bears!?" laughed Lubic.

Much to his surprise, Man-At-Arms saw that had a gotten a good giggle out of Marlena. "No, Sergeant Lubic, these are Bears that are actually GOOD at what they do."

Lubic laughed. "God, it's good to have another human bein' here on this dirtball."

"Yes, it is," Marlena replied. She turned back to Man-At-Arms and put her serious face back on. "Now, as I was saying, Man-At-Arms, the Elves are currently travelling to Castle Grayskull and will be there within the hour."

"Good. Our allies will be arriving before our enemies. We'll be leaving now, then."

Marlena nodded and hugged his old friend. "Good luck, Duncan. Bring home my husband, and watch over my children."

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about Adora. Like I said, she's at a secure location."

Marlena nodded. "Sure she is. But . . . just be careful."

The two released and Man-At-Arms walked with Lubic to the group of Heroic Warriors. "Gentlemen," he began, "I think it's about time we move out. For Eternos! For Grayskull! For Eternia!"

Ram-Man smiled, and it was contagious. The whole cast of them followed Man-At-Arms, all full of hope and pride and strength.

Man-At-Arms did a quick weapons check, and thought briefly with concern for his daughter Teela. Man-E-Faces switched to monster, man and robot to confirm that everything was set. Mekaneck stretched out his neck to double-check his gyros. Ram-Man flexed his leg muscles. Stratos flicked his wings out. Fisto clenched his fist, ready to use in battle. Moss Man spun out a few vines from his hands, prepping them for use. Roboto did a quick systems diagnostic and everything came back clean. Sy-Klone blew some air around. Rio Blast activated his weapons. Extendar readied his growth circuits. Snout Spout lifted his nose. Clamp Champ braced his claw. Rotar spun. Gwildor finished his calculations on the Cosmic Key. Orko rechecked some spells. Battle-Cat wished for He-Man. Lubic rechecked his gun. Stonedar reached for laser. Rokkon tensed his rocky exoskeleton.

They were ready from here. They were set for anything that the enemy would throw at them. They were the Heroic Warriors, the cream of croup of Eternia and beyond. They were the hope of the world and even the universe. Nothing can stop them, nothing. And as they left for Grayskull, this stuck with them.

***

The trees of the Whispering Woods swayed heavily under the stress of the winds and the rain. From her perch on the highest tower of Brightmoon , Queen Angella felt fear grip her heart. The storms that had blown in this morning were increasing. According Madame Razz, they were getting worse and would most likely cover all of Etheria by morning.

Word was spreading fast. The Dark Cloud was responsible for this storm. Surely, its threat was stretching farther and farther from Eternia.

"I'm worried, Mother," said Glimmer simply from behind.

Angella nodded. "Me too, Glimmer."
"Do you think they'll be able to defeat the Dark Cloud?"

"If what we've learned is correct and the peoples of Eternia are gathering together at Grayskull, then there maybe a chance."

Glimmer sighed, and leaned against the doorframe. "Mother . . . if they fail, all of the universe will be in peril."

"I know. And all of this will be for naught. Everything we've done in our lives will be useless and meaningless."

A pregnant pause hung between mother and daughter before Angella turned around.

"Glimmer, gather Madame Razz and Broom, and the rest of the Great Rebellion - including Frosta, if she's serious about joining us."

"What?"

"We're to Eternia."

***

Teela was hoping to talk to Adam while they traveled north in the Talon Fighter. Hoping to, but most definitely didn't have the chance. Adam fell asleep almost twenty minutes after taking off. She held her anger within, keeping it secure inside of her. She wasn't on this trip to yell at him, despite that being exactly what she wanted to do.

Why was he asleep anyway? It wasn't as if he had been He-Man, off fighting in a war for Ancients-knows-how-long. He was just bunkered down in some sort of base in some secure location with Adora for a few days, probably sleeping there, too. All this guy ever did was sleep. How could she have fallen in love with some like that?

"Because he's damn cute when he sleeps," she muttered under her breath.

"Hmmm? What's that?" asked Adam, lazily waking up.

"Uh, nothing."

"Nah, come on, what'd you say?"

Teela sighed and rolled her eyes. "I said there's no good reason why you should be asleep. It's not like you've been fighting a war or anything. I mean, come on, I don't think He-Man would even sleep this much."

"Oh, I beg to differ."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Me and the big guy . . . we're tight. He sleeps all the time."

"Whatever, Adam."

Adam paused and watched as the stars began to come out from darkness. "Hey, why don't you let me drive?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just better if I do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Trust me, you know how bad of a passenger I am."

Adam smiled. "Yeah . . ." He paused and looked at her gentle features. His smile faded from his face, and formed into a frown. She almost died. She WAS dead for a little bit, and would still be if not for the Sorceress. "I almost lost you."

"What?"

Adam's face turned red when he realized he said that out loud. "Huh?"

"What did you say?"

"Oh, er, nothing."

"'I almost lost' what? What did you almost lose?"

"Nothing. I didn't almost lose anything . . ."

"Adam - "

"No. It was nothing."

"Adam, what did you almost lose? What did you say?"

"I . . . it's stupid, I was just muttering."

She looked away from the window and straight at him. "Adam . . . just tell me what you said."

"Nah, it's nothing, Teela. Don't worry about - "

"Fine, fine," she replied shortly, turning back to the window.

He sighed and hung his head back. "I said . . . gosh . . . I said . . ."

"What?"

"I said 'I almost lost you.'"

Silence filled the cabin of the Talon Fighter for a second. The second began a quick eternity as they both registered the impact of those words.

"Oh," Teela answered. "Um, yeah . . ."

"Yeah. I guess I just . . . yeah . . . you know . . ."

"Yeah. I know."

"Do you?"

Teela shook her head. "No. No, I don't know."

"It's just . . . well, I mean, Skeletor blasted you pretty hard. You were . . . yeah . . . and I thought . . ."

"You thought I was going to die?"

"You WERE dead."

"I don't remember that part, but that's what everyone said."

"Well . . . it was a shock . . . I mean, you were a . . . you looked . . ."

Teela nodded. "Kentucky Fried Teela."

"Huh? What the hell?"

"Restaurant on Earth," Teela answered. "It's name was Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't know what that means. Kentucky is probably some sort of wood or something, but they fried this food called chicken - "

"Yeah, Mom's mentioned that once or twice."

"- And, um, anyways, when I saw that sign, it made me think of what everyone said my condition was. I mean . . ."

"Teela . . ."

"It's just that I can't even picture what I looked like. I can't."

"Teela . . ."

"What?"

"You're not food. You didn't look like fried food . . . you looked like . . . well . . ."

She looked at him, maintaining her composure and looking strong. But inside, she was quite upset. Her eyes exposed that part and Adam shook his head and laid back in his chair.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I shouldn't have said - "

She shook her head, her small ponytail bobbing behind her. "No, Adam, it's alright."

There was a small pause and Adam studied her pretty face and glistening eyes. He placed a hand on hers and mustered a smile. She looked to his hand, then to him and they looked eyes.

"I'm just happy you're alive," he said straightforwardly.

She smiled in return and noticed that his brightened when she did so. "Me too, Adam. Me too."

An hour passed and they made small talk, basically Teela asking Adam about what he and Adora did during their 'stay' in the secure location. Adam was having a hard time coming up with little lies to tell Teela - and hoped she wouldn't ask Adora any similar questions and mess up their stories.

It wasn't too much later that they arrived at the Ridges of Spires - marking the changes between the Mystic Mountains and Ice Mountains. A large valley lay between the two regions, and then there were the Ridges, and beyond that, the Ice Mountains.

Teela spotted a clear - and hidden - area to set down and she did so. After the Talon Fighter landed on one of the Ridges, she and Adam hopped out.

"Man, your father must have thought we were going to be gone years," Adam huffed, pulling on his backpack.

"You know Father. Always prepared."

"Yeah . . . but still."

"I don't think he knew where we were going. I'm thinking Granamyr just told him to pack some rations and the basics."

Teela pulled on her coat, then put the backpack on. She then closed the cockpit of the Talon Fighter and activated its environmental control systems (to keep it from overheating/cooling in this weather) and then the homing device.

She placed the homing device into the her pocket and pulled out the map. "Okay, from here, we head keep heading North."

"To where?"

Teela shrugged. "I don't know. It just says to head North from here."

Adam nodded. "Well, we better get moving then."

"I suppose so, although I wish I was better prepared for this."

"Heh. You sound like your father."

"Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

***

Randor never thought he'd see such a sight. The kingdoms of Men all stood in position around Castle Grayskull - Eternos, North Eternos, West Eternos, Targa, Ahberron, Arcadia, the Golden Isles, South Eternos - all of their forces armed to the teeth, awaiting the arrival of the ultimate enemy.

In the skies above, Dragons flew side-by-side with Avions and Insectoids. To the west, an army of Elves stood ready. Widgets stood next to them and the Bears beside the Widgets. Batros and his Bats stood to the east, and stood next to the Goblins. Trolls stood between the Bats and the Goblins. Kobloids stood there, as well, and the Ikorts held a small position. The Cats stood before the Men.

Once just about everyone was in position, the leaders of each army approached the gates. Buzz-Off of Insectia.

Stratos of Avion.

Queen Johanna of North Eternos, King Stephan of West Eternos.

Counsuler Ari of the Golden Isles.

Queen Valena of Anberron.

Queen Sumara of Arcadia.

Princesses Raya and Rana of Targa.

King Marianius of Moriana.

King Randor of Eternos.

General Tartaran of the Goblins.

Batros of the Bats.

King Paw of the Cats.

King Jade of the Bears.

Lodar of the Kobloids.

Shorn of the Elves and Widgets.

Haramesh of the Ilkorts.

Granamyr of the Dragons and Trolls.

Enemies, allies - all of them. But it was now that Eternia must stand together. With the Dark Cloud a mere twenty-four hours away, there was no time for feuding or scrabbling or hating. This was a time for war. A greater, stronger threat has been unleashed and only by working together can they hope to stop it.

She-Ra stood at the balcony while the leaders worked out a strategy and couldn't help but be surprised by all of this. "This is incredible."

The Sorceress took a stance next to her. "Incredible? Yes. But even I have my doubts."

She-Ra looked at her with surprise. "Doubts? With an army this size? Sorceress . . . there are 200,000 people out there!"

"Yes. But the Dark Cloud . . . it will stop at nothing to take the power of Grayskull. Twenty-four hours, She-Ra. That is all the time we have left."

She-Ra closed her eyes and tried to block out the words that the Sorceress spoke, but she couldn't shake them from her mind. Could something - someone - truly be that mighty? That strong? Impossible! It had to be!

She sighed and leaned against the balcony, suddenly wishing that she could renew her confidence.

***

"I'm tired," Adam complained.

Teela rolled her eyes. "So? You're always tired."

The two were marching through a very rocky trail heading North, as per the map instructions. Just north. Cold winds were beginning to come down upon them from the north, which meant, obviously - they were heading into the cold. Which made sense, as it was the Ice Mountains.

"Teela, come on, Granamyr told us to take an hour break. This is the perfect spot," he said, waving his hands around the area. They were a few large, hanging rocks that held off the cold winds.

"No, Adam . . . we should keep moving."

"Teela," Adam said honestly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Teela, you look exhausted. For a few minutes. Come on, coma girl."

She shook head, sighed and then nodded. The pair walked over to a large group of rocks and sat down, leaning back on the rocks. Adam pulled out a canister, poped it open and started a fire. They didn't say anything, just warmed themselves by the fire.

And then Adam looked up and stared at Teela's face. The light from fire illuminated her soft face, bringing a beautiful glow to woman next to him. Adam had known Teela for years, and throughout that time, he had felt a special bond with her. They had grown up together and Adam - who developed a crush on Teela when she 14 and he was 13 - was now falling in love with her all over again.

A stern cold went crossed against them, and Teela shivered a bit. Adam took a risk and reached his arm around her. She looked over at him defensively at first, but softened. Much to his surprise, she scooted next to Adam and laid her head on his shoulder.

"So," Adam said after a long silence, "He-Man told me there was something you wanted to talk to me about."

Teela gulped and lifted her head from his shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah. There is." She was so close him, their faces within mere inches. Both felt their lips perk in anticipation.

Adam's heart pounded in his chest. "Well . . . what is it?"

Teela looked away, her face blushing a bit. "I . . . um . . . something happened while I was in that coma. A vision . . . a dream . . . or something . . ."

"Yeah. I heard about that. Do you remember any of it?"

She looked at him, their eyes meeting. "Not a lot, only bits a pieces. But . . . I do remember something . . . something I learned . . ."

"What do you mean?"

Teela inched closer to him, and he could feel her warm breath. He held her a little tighter. "Well, I remember waking up and it was like a rush, you know."

"Yeah . . ."

"And it was like revelation. I died, Adam. I was declared dead. He-Man held me in his arms. My body was burnt. The Sorceress helped me along, but I was dead. I was dead and I didn't really tell anyone how I felt about them."

Adam's heart skipped. "Okay," was all he could manage to say.

"Like my mother. I never knew my mother. I want to find her, Adam. That dream had something to do with her. I want to find her."

"That's . . . a good idea."

She looked away again and looked off into the distance. "There's so much of this life that I haven't experienced. Having that near-death incident really showed me that. There's . . ." She turned back to Adam, closer than before. "There's so much more that I want to say. To my father. To your parents. To . . . He-Man. To . . . well . . ."

"To who?" Adam replied, heart leaping from his chest.

"To you," Teela said, blushing. "It's hard . . . you'll have to forgive me . . ."

"It's okay. Take your time."

Teela shivered, but not from the cold. She was nervous. Adam, thinking different, pulled out a blanket from his backpack around wrapped it around her. "Thank you," she returned and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. "Um . . . I've said anything like this before to anyone, so you're going to have to forgive me."

"Yeah. It's okay."

She smiled at him and snuggled against him. "I'm cold, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Go ahead, though. Talk."

"Um., listen, Adam. We've known each other our entire lives."

"Yeah . . ."

"And I just feel there's this bond, you know? Like your father and my father. Both warriors and all we're their children. And all these years, we've always had each other . . . to be with and to be around. Does that make sense?"

Adam nodded and held her a bit tighter. "Yeah. It does. I've felt a bond between us, too, Teela."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder again, taking comfort in his warm body. Adam found himself laying his head against hers, soaking in the smell of her hair.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is . . . and Adam please . . . just listen to me."

Teela looked up at him with honest eyes. Adam held her tighter, and leaned in. She looked into his blue eyes and matched them with her green ones. "Go ahead."

She smiled nervously and reached in for a hug. The pair held each other, embraced in the warm of their hold. Teela closed her eyes, pursed her lips. She could feel Adam's heart pounding against hers. It was like it was telling her to do it. To say it.

"All these years," she whispered into his ear. "Adam . . . I've fallen in love with you."

A second lasted an eternity, and then Adam hugged her harder. They pulled back from the hug and were separated. Adam stared at her, aglow in the flames of the fire.

Adam leaned forward, so did Teela. Slowly, their lips quivered and their warm breaths ran towards each other. And then, their lips met. It was such an amazing feeling, the kiss. Lips pressed, and moved and opened and closed.

Teela pulled away and opened her eyes.

Adam did the same. He saw the flushed look of shock and surprise on her face. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I guess that was a little - "

Teela moved forward again and they kissed once more under the night sky.