Chapter Thirteen

They stood before her, three figures silhouetted against bright light. She could not see their faces, but she knew who they were. She screamed for them to help her, but they looked past her, as if she did not even exist. They turned their backs on her and walked into the light. She could not follow, for she was rooted to cold, barren soil. As the light faded, abandoning her to complete and everlasting darkness, a familiar voice hissed, "You are dead to them!"

Marlena jerked awake, gasping and flailing her arms at invisible demons. Too late she remembered Zolana, sleeping beside her. The child moaned softly, but did not awaken. Marlena sighed, relieved that she would not have to lull the girl back to sleep. She arose and moved away from Zolana, careful not to disturb the rebels and refugees sleeping all around her. The night was warm, but the chill from Marlena's nightmare clung to her like a second skin. She tiptoed to the center of the camp, where a small fire augmented the light of Etheria's two moons, settled a safe distance from the flames, and began rubbing her hands together.

She stared up at the sky. Stars twinkled back, shimmering like tears in the countenance of the night. The former astronaut imagined traveling through space once more, not stopping until she reached Eternia. This would be an impossible feat, and she knew it. For one thing, the Rebellion simply did not possess the technology necessary for such a journey. They did not appear to have any aviation equipment at all, unless one counted the talking broom Marlena had seen a plump, purple-skinned woman flying over the camp. Marlena could have constructed a spaceship on her own, but it would take years, and the materials she would require did not seem to exist outside of the Fright Zone. Not that any of this mattered, of course. Even if Marlena could have somehow procured a spacecraft, she had no idea where Eternia was in relation to Etheria, which meant that she could very well die in space, forever alone and adrift.

So here she was, stranded on an alien world; and here she would stay, bereft of her family. She could no longer deny the full reality of her situation, so she surrendered to it. She hugged her knees to her chest and bowed her head. Tiny tremors of mental and physical fatigue racked her body. Anyone passing by would have thought that she was weeping, but this was not the case, for Marlena was long past tears. Instead, she closed her eyes and forced herself to think about her future. This was not something she had done in a long, long time. Being a Horde prisoner meant living from day to day, never thinking about what could have been, or what might happen. On the few occassions when she did think about life outside of the Fright Zone, Adora was always included in her plans. She had not done one single thing in the last eighteen years without thinking about how her actions might affect her daughter. When Bridden beat her, she bore it, because otherwise he might decide to hurt Adora. When the physician denied her food for days at a time as punishment for some imagined slight or misdeed, she suffered through the hunger pangs, determined that it would be she, and not her child, who starved.

Marlena had imagined many scenarios during the long, bitter years of captivity. Obviously the one where she and Adora escaped, and were then rescued by Eternian forces, was the most prevalent; but she also knew that they might never escape in her lifetime, or might escape but remain on Etheria. She might never see her husband or son again, but she would still have Adora, and that would be enough. The one thing that Marlena had never, not once, envisioned was that her daughter would return to Eternia without her. She was not angry with Adora, of course. How could she be? If Adora had known that Marlena was her mother, she would never have left the Fright Zone without her. She might have been captured then, and punished. Marlena shook her head violently from side to side, trying to physically dislodge the horrid thought. Adora was safe now, and home with her family, and that was all that mattered. Besides, there was always the possibility that someone- probably Randor- would listen closely to any stories Adora might tell of 'Lena', and put two and two together. It was a slim hope, since Marlena had not been a strong presence in her daughter's life ever since Shadow Weaver had cast her spell. But it was hope, and without it, all was lost.

Marlena became aware of people speaking close to her. She pulled back into the shadows and listened carefully. She recognized the voices as those of Queen Angella and Princess Glimmer. Her eyes narrowed, then widened, as their words drifted over to her.

"Perhaps we are finally free!" Princess Glimmer hissed excitedly.

"I would not be too certain of that, daughter." Queen Angella warned, her voice low. "Hordak may have left the planet for now, but something tells me he'll be back."

"Hordak left Etheria?"

The two women turned and stared, surprised, at Marlena, who had leapt up and rushed to them.

"Yes." Queen Angella answered cautiously. "That's what our intelligence tells us, anyway." She frowned and scrutinized the woman standing before her. "Do you happen to know where he has gone?"

Marlena nodded. "Eternia." she whispered. She closed her eyes, and her face went pale as scenes from Hordak's last visit to the planet exploded in her mind. "He has gone to Eternia. He has gone to bring back Adora."

Adora had not been to many celebrations in her life. The events that passed for parties in the Fright Zone consisted of soldiers gathering in the mess hall, munching on cold meat and toasting the latest Horde victory with stale wine. These so-called festivities almost always ended in brawls, and Adora had never cared for them; had, in fact, done her best to avoid them. This was easy enough when she was simply another soldier, but her presence was expected once she became a Force Captain. She had spent countless nights breaking up drunken fights, wondering why a superior leader like Hordak would allow such things. Now that she knew how base a creature the Horde leader actually was, she regarded the 'parties' as yet another example of Hordak's depravity.

The gala she was currently attending, however, was another matter altogether. Men and women danced past the table where she sat with her father and brother, smiling into the faces of their partners. The large ballroom was decorated in tones of silver and gold. Gorgeous melodies played in the background, and a goodly portion of Eternos' population laughed and chattered as they glided across the polished floor. The womens' gowns were of colors Adora had never seen before, and their skirts rustled as they moved. She ran her hands across the cloth of her own cobalt-blue gown, made especially for her by the Royal Seamstress. She shook her head ever so gently so that she could feel, once again, how the blonde ringlets of her hair caressed her bare shoulders.

"Having fun?" Adam asked. He sat to her left; her father was to her right. She had worried, at first, that this seating arrangement indicated some sort of strife between her family members. Adam had assured her that this was not the case, that she was sitting between them simply because neither could bear to have her leave their side. Adora had blushed at that. She was unaccustomed to such verbal displays of affection.

She turned and smiled brightly at her twin. "Of course I am." she answered. "In fact, I think this is the most fun I've ever had."

"You didn't take much to eat." Adam observed, looking down at Adora's sparse plate.

"I wanted to save my appetite."

"For what?"

"The cake, of course!" Adora said, and winked.

Adam laughed. "Well, looks like you made the right choice." He nodded toward the door, where a rotund chef was wheeling in an enormous white cake, then turned to sat something to Teela, who sat beside him.

Adora leaned toward her father and whispered, "What is his name?"

Randor chuckled softly. "That's Chef Allen."

"Did he make the cake?"

"Oh, yes. Chef Allen is somewhat proprietary when it comes to events like this, and insists on making every dish himself."

"I'll have to remember to thank him later." Adora murmured, still staring in fascination at the elaborately decorated pastry.

The chef rolled the dessert right in front of the main table, then stepped back a few inches. King Randor squeezed his daughter's hand, stood, and cleared his throat.

"My people-"

He never had the chance to finish, for the cake transformed before their very eyes. Hordak stood in its place, surrounded by a motley crew of mutants. The man Randor had believed to be Chef Allen morphed into Skeletor. The trespassers all carried laser guns. Adora stood, looking to the door. If she could just slip away, she could transform into She-Ra. She felt Adam rise beside her, and knew that he was also planning to transform. She looked toward him just in time to see laser fire strike him in the chest. She cried out in both horror and rage. Turning, she glared indignantly at Hordak, who was now aiming his gun at Randor.

"NO!" she screamed, and desperately threw herself in front of her parent. She was too late. The laser hit Randor, knocking him into the wall.

"You next!" Hordak hissed. Adora reached for her sword. A laser hit her just as her fingers touched the hilt of her weapon. The sound of screaming, sobbing citizens filled her ears. She could feel herself falling. Then darkness fell like a curtain over her eyes, and she knew no more.