A/N: I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm writing it! This story originally began as one little idea about Adora having a nightmare – and it has exploded into a massive amount of fanfic in only several weeks' time. I am amazed that after years of languishing on dead ends in many, many of my other stories, this one continued to keep me going day after day, writing more and more! I have been using a legal pad to write down the entire story, and when the first one filled up, I moved onto another – and that's partially filled now! I write when I can – and that means on the bus to work, during my lunch break, and on the bus ride home, as well as writing at home after work, or when I have a spare moment on the weekends!
It truly means a lot to me that so many people have read this story, and have been following its progress. I'd love to hear feedback of any type, so keep writing in!
~ Darcerin 3/1/09
Nightmares, Chapter 4
By Darcerin
The next day, Adora took a walk through the Fertile Plains, and found herself climbing up a large grassy hill late in the day. When she got to the top, she found an old, house in front of her that was apparently abandoned. Before going inside to investigate, she took a breather and drank in the scene before her. To the west, was Castle Grayskull, and to the east was the sprawling city of Eternos, and above the city, on a mountainous plain, was the Eternian palace. And she had argued with her parents about staying? The view was breathtaking. No Horde Fright-Zone, no cities in flames or under siege, just peace and every day normalcy.
Could Etheria really be like this as well one day? Adora nodded to herself. Yes, it could be. When she returned home, she was going to start training her troops even harder. It was time to start taking the fight to the Horde.
Satisfied, she walked into the house for a look around. She pushed open the door and realized it was more of a shack, consisting of only one room. She walked in, and found there was a crumbling fireplace to her right and a table and chairs to her left. The shack had obviously not been used in some time, for there were cobwebs floating freely in the slight breeze coming through the picture window opposite the door. Dust danced on the rays of the waning sunlight, and there was water damage to the ceiling, probably from the leaky roof. The wood floor creaked loudly as Adora stepped over to the window.
"What a magnificent view!" Adora leaned against the windowsill. From here, she got a magnificent view of the Evergreen Forest beyond Grayskull, spread out under the setting sun.
"Welcome home, Princess," a familiar male voice snarled as the door slammed shut. Adora whirled around to see Hordak, Shadow Weaver, and Catra standing in front of the fireplace.
"Hordak!" Adora gasped, caught completely off-guard, "Stay away from me!"
"Oh, but Adora," Hordak's voice ringing of a fake simper, "I was hoping you'd come back to the Horde."
"And I'd hoped I'd convinced you that's never going to happen." Adora grabbed at her back, but her sword wasn't there. Adora's eyes widened in panic as she glanced over her shoulder.
"Look for this?" Hordak's voice made her look back at the trio. Shadow Weaver held her honor sword, and passed it to Catra. As Adora watched in horror, Catra held it over a raised knee and broke the blade in half.
Hordak stepped forward, and Adora felt frozen into place. "Oh well," Hordak shrugged. He then held out his gun arm to her. "Catra makes a better Force Captain anyway.
BAM!
Adora actually fell out of bed in terror as the thunder crashed over the castle. She was breathing and shaking hard as she sat up on the rug, attempting to comprehend the last few minutes. She was in the palace, Hordak wasn't here, and she hadn't been shot. She crawled back into bed and lay on her back, hugging one of her pillows. It had only been a dream, although she had a hard time convincing herself. She'd felt his cannon at her chest, she'd felt the heat from it as it powered up to give the killing blow. On some level, that was real. Unbidden, tears sprang to her eyes, and ran down the sides of her face. More thunder crashed and she squeezed her eyes shut, and held the pillow even tighter.
Were these prophetic dreams of some sort? Was this to be her future, then - the loss of her family, her power, and ultimately, her life? Would she in some way be responsible for the downfall of her family's empire?
Ok, Adora, gather your last shreds of sanity together here, she chided herself, and wiped away her tears. Now you're talking crazy. You're just going to have to take control in these dreams and override the negatives with some positive actions.
Her pep talk did little to soothe her agitated soul. She lay awake in her bed, listening to the storm for the rest of the night.
At dawn, the storm finally moved out, and Adora rose and showered. She felt sticky and uncomfortable, and the humidity from the storm hadn't helped at all. The cool water felt wonderful against her skin. She was still tired, but it was too late to go back to sleep, and possibly miss breakfast. Her parents may have understood what she was going through, but after last night, it was probably best not to push things. And she decided even though she was on Eternia, she wasn't going to sit around and let the palace crew baby and spoil her – otherwise she'd never go back to Etheria!
Adrina was opening the shades to the balcony and windows when Adora came out of the bathroom in her robe.
"Good morning, Princess." Adrina bowed and smiled. "It has been decided that I would be your personal aide whenever you are here visiting."
Oh, Ancients, it had started already!
Adora smiled kindly, "Look, it's really sweet of you, Adrina, but I don't need an aide."
"But the Queen asked me yesterday before dinner," Adrina suddenly looked nervous, "she said you'd object, but Prince Adam has one –"
Adora raised an eyebrow in surprise, "He does, does he?"
"Yes'm."
"Well, then, I guess I have no choice than to have a better one than he!" Adora cried gaily, "All right, what's first?"
Adrina looked relieved. "I believe dressing is in order, and then we'll do your hair, then breakfast. Will you eat here, or in the dining room?"
"Will the rest of the family be up?"
"I doubt it. I think your father made it a royal order not to be disturbed until at least ten on weekends."
Adora giggled, but secretly, it was a relief not to have to deal with the rest of her family this early. She had plans for them later.
"Now, your outfit for the day..." Adrina dashed into the closet and emerged with a green pantsuit with gold taffeta sleeves. "I saw it hanging up last night when I was putting out your nightwear. I thought it would look lovely on you."
Adora bit her tongue, hard. Who was her tailor and why did he hate her?
Adrina must have seen the look on Adora's face. "Princess, you don't approve?"
Adora shook her head, and no longer able to control herself, doubled over laughing. "No, Adrina, I don't. That has to be one of ugliest outfits on Eternia!"
Adrina looked slightly hurt and miffed at the Princess' reaction. "Well then, come into the closet and pick out your own outfit."
Curiousity piqued, Adora looked into the closet. To her complete surprise, the walk-in closet was full of outfits of every color, and on the floor underneath, were boots and shoes of similar shades.
Your mother had them all made for you after you went back to Etheria," Adrina said softly behind Adora.
Adora walked into the closet. "All for me," she whispered in wonderment.
Adam yawned as his aide, Paul, pushed him out of the bedroom with Cringer. "Get to breakfast before your father sees you out in your robe and slippers, or I'll never hear the end of it."
"Yeah, yeah," Adam muttered grumpily. Oh, of course he couldn't have breakfast in bed, could he? Cook would have a fit, because he didn't give him a day's notice. And if Cook had a fit, Chef Allen would be in a bad mood – and it would be a massive domino effect, eventually coming back to him, usually in the form of a stern lecture from his father about upsetting the staff.
"I'm not all that hungry this morning, Adam," Cringer whined.
Adam patted Cringer's head sympathetically. "I know you're not feeling well, buddy, but Paul won't let us back into the bedroom until the bed is made and the room's cleaned."
Cringer whined again, but followed Adam into the breakfast nook off of the kitchen. Large china bowls with steam lids sat on the table, full of delicious breakfast fare. Teela was already there with a full plate, pouring tea for herself, and dressed for the day.
"Morning, Adam," she was already giving him a critical eye. "I see you've dressed for the occasion," she said as he sat down and grabbed a roll from the bread basket in front of him.
"You could have come to breakfast in your pj's too."
"As if my father, let alone your father would let me get away with that! Captain of the Guard running around in her nightgown – I'd be the laughing stock around here!"
"It would be a change from me being one," Adam smirked as he took a bite of his roll.
"Oh, I don't know, I think we should make it a royal order to run around in our pj's once in awhile," a voice said from the door.
Adam and Teela looked over at the door to find Adora standing there in a brown tunic with a white shirt. "Morning, Sis," Adam said between chews.
"Good morning," Adora smiled, and noticed Cringer lying next to the table, looking rather despondent. "Cringer, you're not eating?" She knelt down to him, and Cringer gave a small whine in reply.
"That thunderstorm last night really upset him," Adam explained, "I've tried to tell him that the storm can't hurt him, but…"
"Aw, poor thing." Adora reached down and lifted Cringer's head so he was looking right at her. "The storm frightened me, too," she said in sympathetic tones.
Warning bells went off in Adam's head over that statement. I don't frighten easily, she'd previously said, which meant she'd had another nightmare. He couldn't ask her about it here, though, not in front of Teela.
Adora stood and took her place at the table. "That was a pretty violent storm last night. You think there was a lot of damage, Teela?" She helped herself to some scrambled eggs.
Teela nodded. "It was really wild. I'm waiting to see if there's widespread damage and if any major repairs need to be done. And there it is." A guard came through the door and bowed low. Teela stood up and walked out to talk to him.
Moments later, she opened the door and leaned in. "Adam, there's a lot of damage to Eternos City. Can you tell my father to contact He-Man and meet us there?"
"Sure thing, Teela."
"And Adam," Teela's voice had a warning tone in it, "don't eat my breakfast. I'll be back for it later," she shut the door.
Adam sighed and grabbed Teela's plate, heaping her food on top of his.
Adora looked at her brother wide-eyed. "But Teela –"
"It's code between us, Adora. I eat her leftovers, if she's called away, and then I cook a fabulous dinner for her later. It stems back from the first time I did it – except that she really meant for me not to touch it."
Adora laughed. "How old were you then?"
"Fifteen; and no culinary skills to boot."
"That must have been an interesting meal," Adora said in amusement.
Adam chuckled, "Oh, it was. It burned so badly that we wound up making ice cream sundaes instead. That is, after we put out the fire."
Adora laughed with her brother, as Man-At-Arms stepped into the breakfast nook and locked the door behind him. "Teela just left with the cleanup crew and the medics, and your parents have been apprised of the situation."
Adam took his cue. "Battle Cat is taking a sick day, so I could use your help out there. Up for it?" he asked Adora.
"Absolutely!" Adora stood up and grasped for her sword handle; relief flooded through her as it materialized in her hand.
"For the honor-"
"By the power-"
"Of Grayskull!"
No matter how many times Duncan saw it, the transformation always amazed him. The two of them doing it simultaneously made it even more spectacular.
"I have the power!"
"I am She-Ra!"
"The Wind Raider's charged and ready," Duncan said as he unlocked the door again.
"I'm right behind you. Go on," she urged He-Man.
"Feel better, Cringer," He-Man turned and ran out with Man-At-Arms.
She-Ra knelt down on the plush carpet next to Cringer and lightly touched him on the back. She couldn't do anything for the poor creature's nerves, but she could for his upset stomach.
"For the honor of Grayskull," she whispered emphatically, as she lightly touched his side. Warmth flooded through her fingertips and surrounded Cringer. When she felt him lift his head, she knew he was feeling better. She grabbed the half plate of food she'd left on the table. "Just don't eat too fast," she warned laughingly as Cringer gratefully licked her face. She stood up with a final pat on Cringer's head and headed off to catch up with He-Man and Man-At-Arms.
End Chapter 4
