Author's note: There is something I would like to make clear; as long as they are polite and respectful all reviews are more than welcome and entitled to express their opinion, I am grateful for all the reviews, no exceptions.
Is this story OOC? Maybe, I never pondered much about it but if it is, it is not irrational about the emotions it expresses. I believe Adam behaving this way does make sense, considering this is 2002 cannon when he did express his resentment over hiding his secret (courage of Adam). In fact there are many fanfiction stories portraying him as suicidal and I don't think that fits into the original character, yet no one complaint about it being OOC.
…..
Under the snow, chapter 2.
Nadir surveyed the small kingdom of Ishteurea from the main combat ship, he was forced to attack and occupy a peaceful kingdom because of his father's whim. No warrior in that fleet wanted to fight either but if they refused King Samir would probably ruin and kill their families since that was technically treason.
The only thing Nadir could do was order his men to contain instead of attack; he would quickly enter the palace so he could talk to the royal family and explain the situation, which would at least buy them some time.
He gave orders to his men to shoot lasers at the periphery of the castle; it would serve as a warning sign so the citizens could find refuge. If everything went according to plan his army would merely scare them and when he met face to face with king Kristoff they would find a way to solve the situation, perhaps he could find a way to marry Lena after all. Nadir merely hoped the ruler of Ishteurea was as peaceful and reasonable as everyone thought.
Then his plan went to hell as an explosion shook within the castle's ground and the entire structure begun to crumble. Before his eyes the construction was turned into rubble.
-"WHO MADE THE ORDER TO BLOW UP THE CASTLE?"- Nadir yelled at the intercom shaking with rage. The shocked response from his main general was:
-"It wasn't us my liege! We don't even have a bomb that powerful, it seems to have been detonated from below the castle not from our aircrafts"-
…
Randor was heading to talk with the young couple in order to give them his blessing, he had a few doubts surrounding Ariadne, but as soon as Adam was born he and his Queen vowed not to subject him to the injustice of an arranged marriage. That meant the choice of a bride was Adam's alone and all he and Marlena could do was to guide them through the decision and hope for the best.
As he came near them he heard the distinct sound of laser blast in the distance, what happened later felt to Randor as in slow motion, his combat reflexes made his brain process the information at twice the usual speed.
He took his son, who drew his sword and took a combat position, by the shoulders and dragged him as far from the lasers as possible. But then a deafening sound disoriented him and he watched in horror how the roof of the castle fell over the people around them, looking up he saw the large chunks of stone falling at them. He tried to get them out of the way but they were trapped by the huge debris blocking their path, out of sheer instinct he tried to shield his son's body with his own but Adam tackled him, throwing the king to the ground next to Ariadne.
What he saw next would change his life forever, in a fast swing motion Adam raised his sword and a blast of white light surrounded him. The power of the blast was enough to stall the force of the impact as the large rock came close, but it was the powerful He-man who absorbed the rest of the impact. Catching the large debris and throwing it away from Randor and Ariadne.
The warrior saw at his father and fiancé and asked:-"Are you okay?"-
He-man noticed that Ariadne had been knocked unconscious and was slowly awakening but Randor was fully alert and he saw the warrior with large, unbelieving eyes. Later on he would focus on the fact that his secretly guarded alter ego had been exposed to the king, now it was time to help the survivors.
He surveyed the area and saw the gravity of the situation, what moments ago was a beautiful palace was now turned into a disassembled pile of rocks. Little by little some lucky victims were trying to help the others to get out from below the debris. He knew just by surveying the area that there had been many casualties, at the thought of how many innocents were killed his rage took over him, he would avenge every single one of them.
When the king found his voice he muttered –"Adam what is all of this?"- referring to his new appearance.
-"No sire I am He-man"- He muttered back –"We can discuss this later but now we have to help the victims and find the culprit for this atrocity!"- He said taking Ariadne in his arms, the king could only nod chafing under common sense.
Both men helped remove the large stones in search for survivals, as soon as Ariadne regained consciousness she gave what little medical aid she could. Sadly most of the heavy rocks merely uncovered dead bodies, so when one small mountain of rubble surrounded a piece of Man at arm's armor and Teela's silk dress father and son were horrified.
It didn't take long for He-man to release them from their stone prison; Duncan had obviously managed to throw himself on top of Teela to buffer the impact. Randor sighed in relief when he found their pulse, thanks to Duncan's insistence to always wear his armor (even when it is not appropriate) the hard metal protected him from the impact and that in turn protected Teela as she was cocooned below her father. As the pair regained conscience Teela said worried –"What the hell happened?"- Then she saw Randor's grim expression –"Where's Adam?"-
-"I sent him away from the castle for a gift to his future father in law, a magical dagger hid deep within the mountains. He is probably out of harm's way"- Duncan said reassuring.
*No he is not, that is a lie! Adam transformed into He-man a few moments ago!* Randor thought while He-man gave him a warning look *He knows! Man at arms knows, he knew it all the time and he lied to my face.* The king had never felt so betrayed in his life, He-man must have known what was going through the monarch's head so he told him: -"I know you have your inquiries sire but not is not the time for words we have to take action"-
-"That is true but keep in mind that there will be words as soon as possible"- He sounded angry.
He –man turned to look for Ariadne, what he saw broke his heart in little pieces, she was staring numbly at the battered corpses of the Ishteurean King and Queen.
-"I can't wake them up"- She said in a hollow voice, her eyes lost and shallow.
The hero was left frozen in place not knowing what to do; luckily Teela sprung into action and went immediately to the poor princess. The former warrior knew too well how awful it was to lose her parents. He –man realized he was more useful recuing survivors.
Ariadne was shaken off her reverie when He-man and Randor removed more debris from a far corner –"We found Lena! She seems wounded but is still alive!"- Quickly both girls rushed over there to offer their help, the princess was in bad shape but with the right medical treatment she might live.
In the middle of the awful chaos an army swept into the remains of the palace. The emblem on the warriors' chest was recognizable.
-"Efestians!"- He man said enraged drawing his sword; Randor and Duncan did the same while Teela stood defensively in front of Ariadne.
Nadir could not believe his bad luck, first a mission that was supposed to be a relatively harmless attack turned into a massacre and now the king of the most powerful nation in Eternia believed he was the enemy and worse of all: He-man the He-man was looking at him with the clear desire to turn him into shreds.
All Nadir could do was raise his arms in an act of surrender and hope the stronger warrior in the planet could be reasoned with.
-"I am not responsible for this, and I do not pose any threat towards you"- The prince said.
-"So you just happen to arrive with an army the moment the castle is blown away?"- Man at arms said ready for attack –"You deceitful rats!"-
-"Yes I was ordered to attack your kingdom by my insane father against my wishes but we did not bomb the castle, we don't even have that kind of weapon"- Nadir could not hide the tremble in his voice.
-"He's right"- Teela said –"Efesto's national treasure is basically non-existent; in fact they are on severe debt. To construct a device powerful enough to cause this much damage costs more than the entire wealth of many nations combined. They could not do it"- Her eyes turned into slits –"At least not alone"-
He-man was awestruck at Teela's brilliance and knowledge, being a diplomat was more useful than he thought. He stood in front of the prince, who was doing a great effort not to shake in fear at the overwhelming sight of He-man.
The warrior saw evenly at Nadir and said: -"You say you only came here against your wish and that you are innocent of this horror"- He said pointing at the tragedy scene behind him –"Now you have a choice: Help to rescue and save the victims and fight by my side against the true culprit or do your father's wish and face my wrath"-
Needless to say, the choice was not hard for Nadir and soon the soldiers organized a rescue party and supplied medical aid at the wounded.
The small group of warriors had one question in mind, if the Efestians weren't responsible for the bomb…. Who was it?