Just wanted to remind everyone that this is an AU. With that said, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is produced by Dreamworks Animation Television, and both She-Ra and He-Man are owned by Mattel. Enjoy.

Chapter 12: The Legacy of Grayskull

(Right where we left off)

Once again, the group was thrown into another sudden scene transition. Only this time what they entered was less like the next scene of a movie and more like a montage of still images.

"Almost one year after Hordeth's defeat, King Grayskull and Captain Veena were married." The Sorceress explained as stills of a beautiful wedding were displayed before them. "And nearly six months after that, a group of Hok Exploration Ships finally stumbled upon Veena's distress beacon and came to 'rescue' her."

"And I'll bet they weren't happy when they got here." Adam chimed in, clearly seeing where this was heading.

"No, not at first. At first they declared the union an abomination and labeled Veena a deviant. But through the power of Hok Dream Sharing, she showed them how noble and selfless an 'outsider' could be, and, in time, they came to understand."

"Yes, and slowly but surely that understanding spread throughout the Hok remnants scattered across the stars. Which brought them all to this system, and their new home." Shadow Weaver added poetically. "But because Eternia was already so overpopulated, Veena suggested that they settle somewhere with a little more elbow room. Namely, on the nearby planet of Etheria."

"I knew it!" Adora proclaimed triumphantly. "The Hok were the First Ones, weren't they!"

"Very good, Adora." The shadow witch said approvingly. "Yes, they were the first to colonize Etheria and they modified it using what little technology they could salvage from their homeworld. Transforming it into a semblance of the Etheria we know today."

Stills of the primordial Etheria slowly being terraformed were shown, before a familiar sensation enveloped the group and they were placed back into a proper scene.

Suddenly, they were all standing within a great stone hall. Castle Grayskull, Adora presumed, though not a part she had seen before. The walls were lined with banners and torches, and there was a long red carpet that ran down the center of the room. Where the carpet ended there were two large, ornate thrones. In one sat Queen Veena, who looked more or less the same as the last time they saw here. In the other sat King Grayskull, who looked nothing like they remembered.

This must've taken place many years later, for the great warrior King looked much, much, much older. He wasn't decrepit, in any sense of the word, although he had clearly lost a bit of the muscle mass he'd had in his youth. His once blonde hair was now snowy white and he had a long scruffy beard that ran down to his stomach. His once sparkling brown eyes had become dull and cloudy; presumably from cataracts. There were a number of strange tubes hooked up to his scarred chest, which were in turn attached to even stranger looking devices off to his side. They were clearly of First One… that is, of Hok design, but similar enough in appearance to certain modern devices that Adora knew almost immediately what they were.

King Grayskull was on life support.

On the opposite end of the room a large door opened and two people entered. Judging by how much they both resembled the King and Queen, it was a safe bet that these were their children.

One was a man, possibly in his mid-thirties. Of the two, he looked the most like Grayskull in his youth; albeit much less muscular. His hair was shorter and neatly trimmed. His clothes were fancier and covered everything. And he wore thick glasses, which from Adora's perspective made him look like a nerd, but all things considered he wasn't a bad looking guy.

The other was a woman, looking more or less the same age as her brother. She was almost the spitting image of her mother. The only major differences being her shorter hair, her pale pink dress, her lack of wings, and the fact that she was clearly a fan of eating. So much so that the young Heroine would've been sorely tempted to take a peek at the plump princess' rather ample posterior, had she not remembered that they were blood related.

At any rate, the two approached their parents' thrones, and after giving them both a respectful bow or curtsy they spoke.

"Is something wrong, Father?" asked the woman, her voice like sugarcoated honey.

"Why have you summoned us?" asked the man, his voice firm but somehow meek at the same time.

"My children." The aging King said calmly, pausing only for a moment to cough. "Come closer. So that I might have a look at you."

Without hesitation, the two obeyed their father's wish and stepped forward. This seemed to please him greatly, for his mouth stretched into the biggest smile his haggard face would allow.

"Atticus, my son." He said, turning to the lanky prince. "Words cannot express how proud I am of you. For in a world so ruled by bloodshed, there is no more a courageous act than to choose the path of peace. If more men were as dedicated to things of beauty and words of love as you are, then Eternia would be a much more pleasant place."

He then turned to look at his other child.

"And you, Angela. My sweet, adorable little flower. You have grown into a fine young woman. Your husband is a very lucky man indeed."

Grayskull then looked up at the ceiling and a single tear ran down his cheek.

"I am truly blessed to have had such wonderful children."

"Father, what is this about? Why are you talking like this?" Atticus asked, though from his tone it was clear he already suspected the answer.

"Always so impatient, but very well. I suppose we have no time to spare." The aged King replied, pausing once again to cough. "Children, I have summoned you here because I am not long for this world. Wheeze. In fact, if the physicians are to be believed, I will likely be dead before sunrise."

Angela gasped and her eyes began to well up with tears.

Atticus made no outward reaction, but his face suddenly grew very pale.

"Now, now, no tears." Their father insisted. "I have lived a good life. I have loved a good woman and fathered two wonderful children. I have no regrets, save for that I must now disrupt your peaceful lives with one last selfish request. Wheeze. Wheeze. Veena, show them what you have prepared."

"At once, my love." The angelic Queen replied. Then with a wave her hands, a pair of glowing orbs appeared before her children. Seconds later, the spheres exploded; revealing a pair of floating swords. One of silver and white diamond. The other of gold and aquamarine.

The Swords of Power and Protection.

"I… I don't understand." Angela said confusedly "Mother, what's going on?"

"Angela, your father has dedicated the last forty-five years of his life to defending not only our own Kingdom, but also my people on Etheria and anyone else who has come seeking his aid. But now, as the Heirs of Clan Grayskull, that task must fall to the two of you."

"What?" the plump princess exclaimed. "But Mother, I'm a Princess! I don't fight! I bake pies and cakes and throw wonderful dinner parties!"

"She has a point." Her brother chimed in. "I've only read about battles in books. And the only weapons she's ever touched are a knife and fork. We're not warriors."

"Which is exactly why it must be you." King Grayskull interjected, pausing yet again to cough. "A warrior knows only of war and will fight for whatever cause is available. But you and your sister know the value of peace, so you will be willing to fight to preserve it."

"But… But still, we're not fighters." Angela said sadly. "We're not worthy of…"

"Nonsense!" their father roared, causing him to go into another violent coughing fit. "You two are the only ones worthy of this task. Atticus, it is true that you have never once picked up a sword, but you have read more tomes than any other man I have ever met. And not just from our own library, but from all over Eternia. Because you wish to understand the ways of all people and help them understand each other. And as for you, my sweet Angela, both I and your husband have always spoiled you shamelessly, and yet you have never once lost your sense of compassion. You always put the needs of others before yourself and you strive to bring happiness to others in any way you can. No, you two are most definitely not warriors, but I believe, with these swords, you can become heroes."

Grayskull fell into another fit of coughing and wheezing, so his Queen had to takeover from there.

"What your Father means to say is that you are fit to defend our worlds, because you will always seek a peaceful resolution first." Their mother explained before gesturing towards the floating swords. "And with these, you will have the power to fight when that is no longer possible."

"But they're just swords." Atticus agued. "We don't even know how to use them."

"They are more than just swords, my son. They are keys. Keys to unlock the power buried deep within you and your sister. The power born from your Father and I's first union. Your true potential."

"You… You mean these swords can make us as power as Father?" the plump Princess asked tentatively.

"Indeed they can." Their Father answered, apparently catching his second wind. "But they will only work for the two of you. And only if you freely accept them. There is no one else I can trust with this great responsibility, but the choice must be yours."

After that, the two younger royals fell silent. Adora couldn't tell what was going through their minds, but their faces seemed to swap emotions every other second. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they settled on looks of determination and stepped forward.

"Alright Father, I accept this burden." Said Atticus as he took hold of the white diamond sword.

"And I as well." Said Angela, taking the aquamarine blade. "So… how does this work?"

The old King smiled as best he could and explained.

"Simply raise your swords and swear an oath. Nothing too complicated, just speak plainly and from the heart. Declare your willingness to accept this power and promise to uphold the honor of Clan Grayskull."

The two stood in silence once again as they searched their hearts for just the right words. But after a few minutes they seemed to find the ones that fit. And so they raised their swords and shouted.

"By the Power of Grayskull!"

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

Suddenly the two were enveloped in a familiar flash of light and sound effects. Their bodies changed. His grew. Hers shrunk. And within seconds they were transformed into two beings our own group knew all too well.

"And thus two new heroes were born." Said the Sorceress dramatically. "The first He-Man and the first She-Ra."

XXX

(A split second later)

After bearing witness to that historic event, the group was thrown into another montage of stills; once again narrated by the Sorceress and Shadow Weaver.

"And so it was that the great King Grayskull died and his children took on his sacred duty." The dark witch began. "Princess Angela and her husband went to Etheria to become the Hok's defender, while her brother Prince Atticus remained on Eternia to protect his homeland. And when they too grew old and weary, they passed the responsibility onto their children, who then passed it onto their children. And so on, and so on, and so on."

"And as the years passed, the relationship between our two worlds began to change." The ancient goddess took over. "With Queen Veena and her descendants acting as a bridge between themselves and the Eternians, the Hok slowly lost their mistrust of outsiders and even began trading with their new neighbors."

"Trading led to the construction of teleportation hubs, which facilitated travel between the two worlds." Shadow Weaver took over again. "And in time, they even allowed people to immigrate to Etheria, which helped considerably with Eternia's overpopulation problem."

"And before long, the Hok even began interbreeding with other species, creating powerful hybrids with phenomenal mystic powers." The Sorceress explained. "On Etheria, several of these blended families managed to use their powers to rise through the ranks and become royalty. While on Eternia, those with superior Hok genes banded together to form the Order of Mystics; which worked in tandem with Clan Grayskull protecting the innocent."

"And so our two worlds entered an era of peace and prosperity that lasted for centuries." The dark witch jumped in again to deliver the closing line. "Until one day…"

XXX

(Another split second later)

With the montage completed, the group once again found themselves in a new scene. This time they were in what appeared to be large dinning hall. Judging from the architecture, which seemed to focus heavily on rams for some reason, they were not in Castle Grayskull. And judging from the amount of people who were eating, drinking, and dancing, they had landed in the midst of some kind of party.

"Where… and when are we?" Adam asked inquisitively.

"This is the great feasting hall of Zalesia, roughly one thousand years ago." The Sorceress replied. "Today is the anniversary of the first He-Man and She-Ra's ascension, and all across our two worlds people are celebrating the occasion with feasting and song."

Zalesia. The young Prince remembered that name from his history lessons. It was a once powerful Kingdom of sorcerers that had been wiped out in a single night, along with many others, during the Great Separation. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

Just then, his thoughts were derailed by a blast of loud, obnoxious laughter. A few feet away, sitting at the main table in the back of the hall, was a large muscular man with chestnut hair and bronze armor. His demeanor was, for lack of a nicer word, quite boorish; for in between laughing like a fool with his feet on the table, he was stuffing his face with meat, guzzling down ale and groping the posterior of every attractive woman who walked past him. Whoever he was, he was a pig.

"And that, unfortunately, is your ancestor King Ro. The current He-Man." Shadow Weaver explained, apparently sensing the twins' mutual disgust.

"I'm related to him?" Adora asked. "Gross."

But before either of the narrators could reply, a new figure appeared on the scene. This one looking much more regal and dignified than their ancestor. He was tall and lean and dressed in the most magnificent robes of silver and royal purple. He had long lavender hair that was tied in a ponytail and a face that was, admittedly, quite handsome. In short, he looked exactly how a King should look.

"Greetings, King Ro." Said the regal fellow in a gentlemanly tone. "I trust you are enjoying my hospitality."

"Oh most definitely, King Nikolas." The boorish King replied jovially. "I haven't eaten a meal this fine in weeks. My compliments to your chef."

"Yes, I'll be sure to pass on your regards. Tell me, will your wife be joining us this evening?"

"Who? Mireille? No, she didn't want to come. Said she was sick." Ro answered, pausing briefly to take another bite from his mutton joint. "Or she's sad about something. I don't know. Up to a certain point I just stop listening."

"Hmmm… I see." Nikolas replied, not even attempting to hide the disapproval in his voice. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you in such high spirits. Considering what happened last week."

"What? You mean Salinas? Yes, such a terrible tragedy. Breaks my heart, but I got there as quickly as I could. Not even I can be everywhere at once."

"I suppose that is true." The handsome King admitted. "But you know, I actually spoke with one of the survivors, and he said that you'd arrived in plenty of time to help divert the lava, but that you left them all to burn after the village chief refused to let you have sex with his daughter."

"Pfft. Well of course he said that. He was obviously bitter about me not getting there in time. So he wanted to ruin my reputation with baseless rumors."

"Yes, a number of my fellow Mystics arrived at the same conclusion. But you know, there have been a lot of rumors about you lately. Tales of soliciting sexual favors, public drunkenness, destruction of property…"

"Lies. All lies." Ro said dismissively, before his expression turned uncharacteristically serious. "And even if by some chance there were any truth to these claims, what could you and your fellow Mystics do about it? I'm one of the heirs of Clan Grayskull. I'm the He-Man. You need me."

"Yes, I suppose we do." King Nikolas said derisively before abruptly changing the subject. "By the way, where is your Cousin? I was told she would be coming as well."

"Mara? Oh she'll be along later. You know her, always working." The boorish King answered. "Oh wait, there she is."

Instinctively, the group all turned to where Ro was pointing and, sure enough, there she was. The last She-Ra before Adora. And what a lovely thing she was too; especially with that cute ponytail. But not nearly as lovely as her female companion; an orange skinned feline woman with curiously mismatched eyes.

"I say, who is that woman she's with?" asked King Nikolas confusedly.

"Must be her friend Jade. She's told me about her before." Ro replied casually. "You know, I don't think I'll ever understand Mara. I mean, a pretty girl like her should've been able to find a date."

Just then, the entire room fell silent. The band stopped playing and the dancers stopped dancing. Everyone was frozen in shock; their eyes wide with disbelief or some cases disgust. At first Adam couldn't imagine what could've possibly broken up such a lively party. But then he followed everyone's gaze and he instantly understood.

Mara and her 'friend' were kissing.

Deeply.

"Oh… dear."

"Oh dear, indeed." Said Shadow Weaver, sounding just as uneasy. "I'm afraid on Eternia, in this age, certain ideas, certain passions, were just not tolerated."

The scene changed abruptly and the group suddenly found themselves in some kind of small study. Ro and Mara were in there too; arguing, for obvious reasons.

"What were you thinking!" the boorish King yelled at his cousin. "Do you have any idea what you've done!"

"I don't see what the big deal is." The former She-Ra scoffed at the accusation. "I thought public displays of affection were alright on Eternia."

"Don't give me that! You knew exactly what you were doing! You disgraced yourself and disrupted a lovely party just so you could make some kind of political statement for Etheria's perverse… girl-love movement!"

"I did no such thing! I was merely sharing a tender moment with the person I love!"

"Oh, you don't even know what love is!"

"I don't know what love is?"

"That's right! Love is meant to be between a man and a woman! Not two men! Not two women! End of description! End of discussion! I'm right! You're disgusting!"

"I'm disgusting? You're calling me disgusting? You? With your table manners?"

"I don't even know why I'm discussing this with you! This is precisely why women should not be allowed to govern a planet! It leads to this kind of lunacy!"

"Well if that's how you feel, maybe I should just go back to my planet of lunacy and never return to your planet of cavemen!"

"Fine by me! At least over there you can't disgrace our family!"

"If anyone's disgracing our family, it's you! You drunken, philandering lout!"

"Oh yeah, well you're a… a… a whore!"

And on that… pleasant note, Mara stormed out of the room in a huff. Leaving her cousin, who was suddenly seeming much less sure of himself, alone with his thoughts.

"Wow… that was just… wow." Said Swift Wind, echoing the feelings everyone else in the group. "Kinda wish I hadn't seen that."

"Me too." Orko added glumly.

"So that was it?" Adora asked, sounding particularly despondent. "That's what drove Mara to send Etheria into Despondos? An argument?"

Adam wanted desperately to hold his sister's hand; just to let her know that everything was going to be alright. But alas, neither of them had hands at the moment.

"Eh… No exactly…" Shadow Weaver answered awkwardly; trigging yet another scene change.

This time they found themselves in a different room. A bedroom, from what little they could see of it, for it was all but pitch black.

Just then, they heard a knock on some unseen door.

"Hello… Mara?" said the voice of Ro, sounding 'deflated' for lack of a better word. "Mara, I know you're in there. Will you please just talk to me?"

Nobody answered, for a variety obvious reasons.

"Look, I… I know what I said was… but I didn't mean it. I don't really want you to go away forever." He pleaded, rather pitifully. "Please, just come out and we can talk about this."

Once again there was no answer. So Ro, apparently, decided this was just cause to barge in uninvited.

Creak.

Went the door as the boorish King forced his way into the darkened room. Even with the light from the hall it was still difficult to see, but both he and the group could just barely make out something moving in the shadows.

"Mara? Mara is that you?" Ro asked, drawing his Sword just in case it wasn't. "Mara, I know you're mad at me, but this isn't funny."

Suddenly, the lights came on, and the boorish King was met with a most alarming sight. There on the bed was Mara's 'friend' Jade; her face frozen in terror and a gaping hole torn right into her chest.

"Amusing, isn't it?" said a familiar voice from somewhere close by. "With a face like this, even a lesbian can't resist letting me into her bedroom."

From out of the shadows stepped King Nikolas; a sinister smirk on his lips and a bloody sword in his right hand.

"King Nikolas?" asked Ro, sounding utterly horrified. "What… What have you done?"

"No, my friend. The real question is, what have you done."

And without another word, the murderous monarch vanished in a puff of smoke; a puff that, undenounced to Ro, stained his clothes and sword with streaks of red.

"Jade." Called Mara's voice from out in the hall. "Come on, grab your things. We have to…"

But the words died in her throat the second she stepped through the door. Her beloved Jade was lying motionless on the bed with a hole in her chest, while her brutish, homophobic cousin was standing over her lifeless form covered in blood. It didn't take a genius to tell what she was thinking.

The fear and sadness in Mara's eyes quickly turned to rage and hatred. She ground her teeth with fury as she drew her Sword of Protection.

"Mara, please, it's not what you think!" Ro pleaded, clearly sensing her intent.

But alas, it fell on deaf ears.

"YOU BASTARD!"

And then everything went black.

End Notes:

Three or four more chapters and I think I'll have reached a good stopping place.

Until then, thanks for reading and see you next time.

Peace.