Author's Note: Well I'm glad everyone liked the last chapter, said the author in a cynical tone.

Disclaimer: Mattel owns the characters and I am but a leech borrowing the characters for my own story...muhahaha!

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Ordained Pathways

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Adora awoke, knowing something was different. She sat up quickly which proved to be a mistake as pain shot to her head. Her head throbbed from the concussion she received from Catra's assault, some time ago. She rubbed her temples and allowed the blood to flow through, still pain resided but was less than it originally was. So to help the pain a little more she laid back down, closing her eyes a moment.

It was then that she noticed that someone was sitting next to her she didn't recognize. She quickly got up, off the bed. That was her second mistake. The room began spinning so she gripped the side of the bed.

The person she saw was a man, older with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and a mustache. Odd, as she took another look at him she began to recognize him. A memory of a man fifteen or sixteen years younger without a mustache but obviously the same man held her. She was an infant in his arms and he smiled down at her. Happiness filled her insides as she giggled at the caring man who held her. The memory faded.

"Adora, it's all right," he said.

Narrowing her eyebrows she looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you?" she questioned, not knowing what had happened, why she was wherever she was.

"I am Duncan, a Master on Eternia."

"Eternia?" she repeated, that brought a chain reaction of memories up to betrayal from Catra.

The spinning became too much as her body numbed forcing her to lean her weight on the bed, though she was barely able to that.

Duncan reached out to help her before she fell onto the floor. He aided her back onto the bed. "Am I a prisoner here?" she asked weakly, looking up at Duncan.

"Of course not, we found you unconscious and gave you medical attention. Once you are well enough you are free to go."

With an offer like that Adora graciously accepted, convincing him after a second attempt of standing that she was better.

From there Duncan escorted her out of the medical bay.

Once they were off the grounds Duncan turned to leave but Adora called out to him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Sorry," he said, turning to face her again.

"Why are you doing this? You know if there's one thing I've learned is that you can't trust anyone, especially your enemies. What is this an ambush? Or are you trying to get me to feel something for your side so that I won't fight with Skeletor?"

"No. Look, I know this may seem a little far fetched but you were born here Adora. The king and queen, they're yours parents. You see when you were an infant..." he began, but she cut him off.

"Please, spare me the story. My parents worked for the horde and died in the line of duty. Besides, I've never been off of the planet Etheria. I was born and raised there." She said, leaving expecting him to follow, which he didn't.

"Man-At-Arms did you do as I asked of you?" the Sorceress asked, telepathically.

"Yes. She has left the palace." He answered.

"Good, I will take it from here."

"Let's just hope she remembers and doesn't think it to be some sort of trick."

"Yes, let's hope."

Adora walked cautiously, entering a forestry area. Snake Mountain was a good day's journey on foot from the palace, so she needed to make the best of her time while she still had daylight. Since her communicator had been destroyed from something that happened either right before or right after she was betrayed by Catra she wasn't sure.

She looked up at the sun, it was close to sundown. There, she definitely had to hurry to get some distance from the palace. A rather refreshing breeze swept her hair up. She slowed her pace to enjoy the peaceful element. In that breeze she caught the scent of something that forced another memory into her mind.

In her cradle she lay, looking up at her father who smiled down at the little baby. In her father's hand he held a blue flower, blue as her eyes. She could smell the flower from that distance. Adora remembered her father used to bring a blue flower in and placed it on the cradle when she had trouble sleeping. She used to fall asleep to the smell.

Adora was back in her present state, but the smell was still there. She followed the scent to a patch of those very same blue flowers. Behind them a tall man stood with brown hair and beard, she recognized him from the memory. "Father?" she asked.

He turned. "Adora," he said, sounding like it was the first time in so long he said the name that it hurt him. She went to hug him but stopped.

"Wait, is this a trick?" she demanded.

"What?" he said, sounding confused.

She glared at him, as if he was playing some sort of trick on her. Then she ran, deep into the forest she ran, away from the man from her memories she ran. Then it hit her, that witch or woman earlier that turned from a falcon to a woman, she was the Sorceress, she heard Skeletor say, of Grayskull.

Adora decided she was using magic to mess with memories and emotions. She stopped running and glared up at the skies.

"What sort of magic is this?" Adora demanded. Her voice echoed across the forest.

"Magic can do a lot of things, Adora, but it can't restore memories and emotions that are already in your mind. It can help the memories to rise but it can't fill you with that natural emotion you feel when you remember a forgotten memory. It's you who knows deep down inside what is true." The Sorceress answered.

In the distance Adora heard a woman singing. It was the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. Adora followed the voice until she saw the woman the voice belonged to. Standing behind a tree Adora watched as the woman sat in the sand near a lake. The sunlight glinted from the water to illuminate the woman's face. She listened.

"You look at me and I smile at you. You are the light of my day. As I hold you, smiling into your baby blue eyes," Adora stepped out from behind the tree, finding herself singing the rest of her mother's lullaby she used to sing to them all the time. "I find myself falling in love, once again."

"Adora," Marlana said, standing up she didn't have to move a step as Adora ran over and hugged her mother she'd lived so long without.

"Mother," Adora said for the first time in her life. Marlana felt her heart melt, for so many years the one thing she had wanted to hear her daughter say to her.

Randor walked up to the two. When Adora saw him she turned and hugged him. "Oh father, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, daddy's here." He assured, tears spilling from his eyes.

The three hugged an embrace all had waited for years to give. Behind them Adam approached, the memories despite how few there were of he and his twin brought a smile to his face when he saw her now. He never knew he could miss someone so much he had only known for a short time. Some had said that twins had a physic bond. At this very moment he truly believed that.

"Adam," Randor called out to him, offering a hand for him to join the others. Without so much as a hesitation he took his father's hand and filled the circle. "After all these years, the royal family is whole once more and there is nothing that will ever break it again,"

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And there's one of my tributes to 'the secret of the sword' with that last line.

I'd say twenty bucks that the next chapter will take a while since everything is eating up my spare time that I use to write and since this story isn't at the top of my inspiration list and I got about four other stories ahead of this one that aren't even set on fanfiction yet, yep twenty bucks!