A/N: Not much to say here, except that this is chapter was a lot of fun to write, and that a lot of it did NOT appear in my first draft. Most of this came from my imagination as I was typing it up, because the first draft seemed so…bland. I've edited it three or four times now, so I'm going to stop and post it before I edit myself crazy. Thanks again to everyone who reads, reviews, and comments. It means a lot to me and my ego. :)

~ Darcerin 3/7/09


Nightmares, Chapter 5

By Darcerin

The city of Eternos hadn't seen this kind of storm damage in a long time. Nestled in a valley between two mountains, it was usually protected from most of the damage caused by storms year-round, save for some of the more fierce ones, like last night's. The troops were scouting the city already, surveying the worst hit spots, and seeing where He-Man would be needed first.

He-Man was called away almost as soon as the Raider landed. She-Ra intended to follow, but Duncan stopped her. "He-Man told me your sword can change into anything?"

"Almost anything," She-Ra corrected him.

"Good. A few trees fell on some houses near the woods to the east."

She-Ra looked at him wide-eyed with concern for the people inside those houses, and he quickly followed up with, "Thankfully, there were only minor injuries. However, we're going to need your strength, and a saw."

She-Ra turned her sword into a chainsaw and worked on the giant trunks for the majority of the morning and afternoon. She sawed them into pieces that normal people could handle for whatever purposes they could be used for, putting them in a pile next to the last house on the end. At one point, she turned to check her progress, and caught sight of a house up on a high slope that sent a cold chill down her spine. She quickly turned away, but the thought of the house would not leave her.

The major debris was cleared by mid-afternoon, and people began picking through the rubble for possessions they could salvage. She-Ra was hailed by many of the city's inhabitants and received many hugs from the children, especially from one she'd found the teddy bear of, and had clung to She-Ra until her mother gently pried her off apologetically.

"Ready to go home?" He-Man came up to her.

"In a few minutes," she answered her brother, and nodded to the house up on the hill. "First, I want to check that house out."

Puzzled, He-Man followed her up the hill.

They reached the top in moments, and She-Ra turned around to see the view. The landscape below was totally different, but she had definitely been on this hill before. Another chill made her visibly shake.

"What is it?" He-Man asked as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I was here before," She-Ra answered, as if in a trance, "last night, in my dream."

"But you've never been to Eternos City before."

"Tell that to the dream." She turned back to the house. "Something…happened here, something very bad."

I hate cryptic messages, He-Man thought, but he kept his mouth shut, in case she was going to say more.

She-Ra pushed the door, and it opened in for her with a familiar squeak. The energy she'd felt since this morning emanating from the house resonated around her tightly, and she crossed her arms in front of her, as if she were suddenly cold. The weathered floorboards creaked under her weight.

"This doesn't look like a very safe structure; I'm surprised it survived the storm."

"It was waiting for me," She-Ra said knowingly.

He-Man's eyes widened, "What?"

There was the fireplace to the left, just like in the dream, and the wooden dilapidated table and chairs…

"Can't you feel it?" she whispered. "It's been calling to me, asking me to come."

He-Man was more than concerned now. "This isn't one of your powers, Sis. What's going on?"

She-Ra didn't answer, but went over to the picture window, long devoid of any glass. The view from there overlooked a large farm field below, the crops beaten by the storm. She started to reach out to touch the frame, and hesitated. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to touch the wood, and shuddered, throwing her head back and taking in a great breath. "There was a family here. A mother, a father…a little boy. The parents loved each other very much, and they loved their little boy more than anything in the whole world. The father was a soldier in King Randor's army, and fought against the Horde. He came home after the war…but he was not himself afterwards. The days of war had changed him, and he couldn't cope. He took to the drink on a daily basis, beating his wife and child for inconsequential matters. The wife finally took it upon herself to leave him, and take the boy with her, but he found out, and stabbed her to death in a drunken rage in the middle of the night. Realizing what he'd done, and knowing the village would not let him get away with it, he killed himself as well."

He-Man could barely speak, "The little boy?"

"Right here." A male voice came from the doorway, and the door slammed shut behind him, breaking She-Ra's trance-like concentration. The heroes both turned to see a brown-haired man who looked much older than his actual age of 25. "I'm sorry, I saw you come up here. No one has come up here since….the city thinks this place is a bad omen, and everyone has been warned not to visit."

"Brendan." She-Ra simply said.

Brendan nodded. "How do you know my name? How do you know about this place, about my parents?"

"The house told me everything," She-Ra answered simply. "It needed to tell someone the truth about what happened that night."

"The official story," Brendan spat with contempt in his voice, "going around town is that my mother was practicing witchcraft, and my father wouldn't allow it, so he killed her to protect me. Then she rose from the dead using her own spell and killed him, and to this day haunts the house. The city just could not fathom that one of Randor's mighty heroes of the Horde war went crazy and killed his wife, and then himself, so they concocted that ridiculous story."

"Of course; they wouldn't believe the word of a five-year-old." She-Ra bowed her head sadly.

He-Man's eyes lit up with realization. "You witnessed it," he said softly.

Brendan nodded. "I relive that night every day of my life. If my mother is haunting anything, it is my memories."

She-Ra put a hand on Brendan's shoulder, and locked gazes with him. "I only wish I'd been there to see you grow up. I know you've had a hard life without me or your poor father around. You have made me proud of your accomplishments, my son."

Both Brendan and He-Man's eyes widened in shock, "What?" Brendan managed to say.

"Live in peace, knowing we will see each other again."

It was then that the house began to creak loudly, in a more disturbing manner than He-Man liked. "I think we should leave. Now."

Brendan broke his stare, and in fright, started to back toward the door.

She-Ra shook her head, and looked up at the ceiling, her eyes widening in horror. "Everyone, out, now!"

Just as She-Ra, the last to leave, made it outside, the house gave a great groan, and inexplicably collapsed, the roof caving and the walls falling after it.

As the three of them came down the hill, the citizens who'd witnessed the house falling, cheered He-Man and She-Ra, thinking they'd brought down that house of ill they feared so much.

"You have spared us from a house full of evil. Thank you!" the mayor cried.

"That house wasn't evil," She-Ra shook her head, tears filling her eyes, to the surprise of the mayor and those around her, "it was full of sorrow, for the family it loved so much and lost."


Adam and Adora arrived back at the palace an hour later, leaving Man-at-Arms and Teela to oversee the rest of the clean-up. They would be along later, hopefully by dinnertime. Obviously upset by the events of the afternoon, Adora had said nothing on the ride home, and Adam didn't push her to talk.

"Princess Adora, where have you been?" Adrina cried in frustration as the twins walked into the main hall. "I have been all over the palace twice looking for you! You're filthy, and…" Adrina sniffed conspicuously, "you smell awful!"

"Oh, I took Adora fishing and she fell in trying to reel in a big one!" Adam stepped in quickly so his sister wouldn't have to answer.

Adrina looked unconvinced, "You look like you've been rolling in the dirt," she pointed to a dirt smudge on Adora's cheek. "Come on, if you want an audience with your parents, you're going to have to look dignified."

"See ya later, Sis!" Adam chuckled as Adora was dragged away.

"Apparently it really does run in the family. I thought Paul had it bad with Prince Adam, but the responsible twin is just as bad!" Adrina could be heard saying on the way back to Adora's quarters.

Adora quickly showered for the second time that day, and jumped into a simple white knee-length dress with short sleeves and a gold belt. She would have done anything for a nice, long, hot soak in the tub, and some time to herself to mull over the day's events, but there was no time. Her parents were in the throne room receiving visitors before dinner, and they wouldn't be there for much longer. They had no idea she was coming in, but that was the whole idea.

Adora so far enjoyed having Adrina around, even when she was playing Mother Hen and scolding her, but she balked at the idea of anyone physically dressing her. That was taking spoiled to the entirely new level of lazy!

She arrived at the doors to the throne room as the second to last visitor, a petitioner from a city on the edge of the Sands of Time seeking funding for a campaign to search for new water supplies hidden in the desert. Surely there had to be some water there with the numerous ruins discoveries out there? Randor rubbed his beard thoughtfully. The idea had merit, but he told the petitioner to give him a week to think about it anyway. The petitioner thanked him, bowed, and left.

The guard at the door announced her, "Our final visitor hails from the planet Etheria." At this, Randor and Marlena straightened up. "Ambassador Adora, from the Kingdom of Bright Moon!"

Adora walked in as "officially" as she could, and dropped to one knee in front of her parents, her head bowed, "The Ambassador of Etheria wishes to apologize for her outrageous and rude behavior yesterday toward the King and Queen of Eternia. It was completely wrong not to consider your point of view before lashing out, and I assure you, it will not happen again."

Randor, attempting to take this in normal stride, and pretend this wasn't his daughter in front of him, replied, "Well, uh, Ambassador, I understand that you are under a great deal of stress with the ongoing war with the Horde, so I think Marlena and I can forgive you," he winked at his wife.

Internally, Adora breathed a sigh of relief, and dared to stop looking at carpet and up at her parents.

"And I think negotiations can continue as planned?" Marlena asked in a hopeful voice.

"I believe so, perhaps for a full two weeks with a small celebration at its conclusion as originally suggested." Adora answered with a smile.

Randor smiled broadly. "Excellent! This concludes our meeting for the day, so we will see you at dinner, Ambassador Adora."

"Thank you, Your Majesties." Adora stood up, bowed, and walked back the way she'd arrived. She knew there would be no public displays of affection in the throne room, but hopefully hugs at dinner.

Adora walked back down to her room, and saw Adam standing in front of her door, resting one leg against it, admiring his nails. "Apologies around here usually don't come with that much flair, but I think Mother and Father liked it," he flashed a grin. "I'm going to have to do that the next time I goof up, which will probably be in the next hour or so."

Adora smiled. "I was going to go to them privately, but by the time I'd gotten cleaned up, they were already in the throne room. If I hadn't gone to them then, I probably wouldn't have seen them until dinner, and that would have been…awkward," she answered as they started walking down the hall toward the dining room.

"Mhm, agreed," Adam nodded, "it might have turned into a royal food fight. We haven't had one of those since Teela and I were kids."

Adora chuckled, "I can only imagine the mischief you and Teela could get into."

"Oh, I think I could give you some idea." King Randor came up behind the twins and clapped them on the shoulder. Adam groaned audibly. "And I'm sure Man-At-Arms has even more stories. He and Teela will be joining us for dinner as soon as they clean themselves up."

"Ancients, save me!" Adam's chagrin made Adora giggle.

"Did they finish cleaning up Eternos City?" Adora asked. "Teela said there was a lot of damage to it before she left breakfast this morning."

Randor nodded, "Yes, and it's mainly thanks to He-Man and his friend, She-Ra. Without their help, our troops would still be out there right now cleaning up. I wish they would have come back to the palace, I wanted to thank them personally for all their hard work."

"I'm sure they know, Father." Adam winked at Adora, "I doubt they would have helped an ungrateful king."

"What about people who lost their homes?"

Immediately, Adora regretted asking, as Randor looked at his daughter curiously, "How did you know houses were lost?"

Adam's glare forced her quick-thinking to come into action. "Look at the damage around the palace. I saw that tree down in the courtyard when Adam and I were coming back from fishing. You can't tell me homes weren't damaged if wind knocked down that one."

Randor sighed sadly, "I proposed to your mother under that tree. She loved sitting under when it bloomed in the spring."

Adora cringed. Foot, meet mouth. Nice going, Adora, make your father upset all over again, she chided herself. She quickly piped up, "Maybe we can plant a new one when the debris is cleared."

"Perhaps," he answered her, not sounding particularly enthused with the idea at the moment. "But to answer your question, the ones that lost homes are staying with neighbors until new homes can be built for them. I'm going out with a group of contractors and surveyors tomorrow morning to start work on them."

Adora sighed internally with relief as they entered the dining room. The people were re-homed temporarily by their good neighbors, and Adam's secret and hers was safe, still. She realized she was going to have to be much more careful on Eternia about revealing her whereabouts when She-Ra was on the scene.

By the time dinner was over, the table was fully engulfed in mirth, and Adora soon forgot about the day's troubles.

"And then, Cringer dove into the pile, thinking it was a good place to hide!" Man-At-Arms chortled.

The table burst into more laughter. "Feathers everywhere." Queen Marlena added, "My best feather down pillows and Cringer was covered in them!"

The image of cub Cringer covered in white feathers sent Adora into gales of laughter.

"Then we had to pick them up." Adam said to Teela. "What did that take? Weeks?"

"Heavens, a month, at least. I think we still have some flitting about here," Teela answered.

"Maybe we should re-create the scene," Adora laughed.

"Only if you're willing to clean up the mess!" Adam and Teela said together.

"It's so good to see you smiling, Adora," Randor said, smiling himself, "it makes me a very happy father."

"I agree. I'm glad you've decided to stay for a while. Are you finding everything to your comfort?" Marlena asked.

"Yes, and having Adrina help me out with various duties is a big plus. You're spoiling me far too much."

"I hardly think having a personal attendant while you're here is spoiling," Marlena answered in amusement.

"Just don't go back to Etheria with a swelled head; they'll just kick you right back here!" Adam laughed.

Adora's thoughts dwelled momentarily back to Etheria. Was everyone all right? Hopefully Hordak hadn't managed to organize a retaliation attack for the Rebellion freeing another town. But then, someone would have contacted her by now. There were evacuation plans, assault plans, and even magic plans in place for any given situation Adora had been able to think of that Hordak would have ever been able to conjure up. They could handle two weeks with her and She-Ra gone, right?

"The tailor was delayed by the storm, so he'll be here tomorrow, Adora," Marlena said, "Adora?"

"Hmm?" Adora was brought back to Eternia, "Oh, that's wonderful."

"How wonderful is it to be standing on a box in front of a mirror for hours while a sadistic man pokes you with pins?" Teela huffed.

"Oh, I didn't tell you, Teela? You're getting fitted as well," the Queen smiled sweetly.

Teela opened her mouth, but quickly shut it at her father's stern look. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Ah, the price of beauty," Adam grinned devilishly at Teela, "And for the Captain of the Guard, that's one expensive purchase."

Teela's eyes widened and she was about to snap out a retort, but Adora, whom she was sitting next to, quickly grabbed her hand, and squeezed.

Two can play this game, Brother dearest, Adora thought. "Isn't it time Adam got some new formal wear, too?"

Teela took up the slack immediately, "Yes, I think you're right, Adora. Paul said he saw giant moth holes in the last set he was wearing."

This time it was Adam's turn to look shocked. The girls just grinned at him in response.

"Adam you're going to run the Eternian treasury into a depression the way you go through clothes," his father sighed. "Very well, sign him up for new formals as well."

Teela and Adora squeezed each others' hands under the table in victory and continued smiling at Adam.

Adam put his head in his hands. "Women are nothing but trouble."

"Don't tell me, Son, I married one." Randor said as Marlena gave him a mock glare.

"Well, I certainly had to lower my standards, didn't I?" Marlena's tone sounded harsh, enough to have Adora shoot Adam a look of distress across the table. Adam simply just sat back in his chair and smiled.

"And you've never been happier since you did, my dear," Randor said as he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. The head waiter came in then with a rolling cart full of desserts, and began clearing the table. "And neither have I."

"Awww," Teela and Adora cooed. Adam just shook his head in exasperation.

"Mush," he muttered, "I'm never getting married."

"Wise boy, Adam." Duncan said gruffly. "As you say, nothing but trouble."

"Oh, I don't know, Princess Roberta came pretty close to winning your heart." Teela pointed out.

"Teela, I was seven, with a broken leg! I was her captive audience when you weren't playing with her!"

"You were such a cute couple!" Marlena chimed in, "I believe I still have the pictures." The rest of the table laughed at Adam's moan of anguish.

As the laughter died down, Adora said, "Wait, wait, you broke your leg when you were seven? So did I!"

The table grew quiet at the revelation. "When?" Marlena asked.

"Summer." Adora answered. Adam nodded in agreement.

"Which leg?" Randor asked.

"Right leg," both twins answered.

"How?" Marlena asked quietly.

Adora and Adam looked at each other. Even for being twins, this was a little disturbing.

"Horseback –"

"riding." Adam finished. "The horse got spooked, ran, and bucked me. I'd forgotten all about that."

Teela didn't seem to take any notice at the eerie similarities in the twins' story, and continued on. "Well, at least you got a summer girlfriend out of it. You'd think the way Roberta carried on by the time she left, that you two were married."

"We should invite her to the ball; I wonder what she's doing now?" Marlena mused.

"She's married, has six kids, and isn't the least bit interested in coming," Adam said immediately.

Randor raised an eyebrow as he ate his slice of cake. "Wasn't Roberta your age?"

"Yes," Adam said meekly.

"So how could she have six children by now?"

"She got an early start?" Adam offered weakly.

"Really Adam, spreading lies about other royalty is downright absurd and irresponsible of a future king," Randor scolded his son, "besides I heard she had eight," he winked.

"Adora, what did you get to do after you broke your leg?" Teela asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Adora said sharply, "excuse me." She stood up from the table and left the dining room.

"Uh oh," Adam rose to follow his sister.

Teela looked down at the table, feeling hurt and confused. "I guess I said something to offend her."

Marlena stopped Adam from leaving as she got up herself. "Let her go. I think it's my turn now."

End Chapter 5