This is set in the aftermath of Serpos' attack in Episode 39 of the MYP series. I won't promise not to borrow elements from anything MOTU- related or adjacent, but it will be through the lens of the 200X series and the filter of my own head-canon.
The following is a short story where Zodak asks an obvious question, Adam is tested, and He-Man makes clear who he really is.
…
The hero stood in the late afternoon sunlight, sweat beading on his brow. He strained under the weight of the large marble slab he carried through the courtyard. He'd thrown far larger and heavier objects much, much farther without breaking a sweat. Today was different, somehow.
Perhaps it was because this wasn't some dangerous artifact or random boulder. This slab of wall was clearly broken off from the Eternian palace. He recognized the wall where his favorite portrait of his parents normally hung. The small handprints he'd left beneath it as a child that paint had never fully covered up confirmed for him which part of his home he was resigning to rubble. He stood up after adding the wall to the growing pile. Looking up, he caught sight of the last rays of sunlight gleaming off the palace spire. The one remaining spire amidst the melted towers of the great palace.
The gold-topped building, surrounded now by scaffolding, was centered in a courtyard littered with debris from the attack three days earlier. The snake of Snake Mountain had come alive and cut a path of destruction from the Dark Hemisphere to Eternos. The beast made it all the way to Grayskull before He-Man was able to defeat it.
In the end, He-Man's great strength meant next-to-nothing. Even after He-man destroyed the physical form of the creature, it simply began to reform again from its noncorporeal state. Had the Elders themselves not come out of their sphere and trapped the monster again in the mountain it would have continued to ravage the continent, unstoppable in its devastation.
He-man didn't enjoy the idea of killing anything, even a monster. But he also found himself at a loss as to how to protect people from something that could not actually die. He was grateful that he didn't have to find a way to work that one out. Snake Mountain stood solid again. As evil a place as it was, a living Serpos was so much worse. A fleeting thought ran through He-man's mind-that maybe even the snake was happier now as a mountain-although he had no idea where this absurd and irreverent idea came from.
The immediate danger had passed. King Hiss was helpless and immobilized in Man-at-Arm's strongest prison yet. The snake men that were not yet imprisoned were being hunted down. But unlike previous incidents, this time there was clearly a lot of work left to be done to return the Eternia Palace and the surrounding city to its former glory. Even more, than there had been after Skeletor's first sucker punch to his home, that fateful day the Mystic Wall finally failed. The same day he had been called upon to become Eternia's new champion.
Looking over the damage all around him, He-man thought about his choice to save that little village of thatch-roofed huts in the dark hemisphere from the lava flow let loose by the great serpent's rampage on the day it was brought to life. Could he have prevented the damage to his father's kingdom if he'd only sent others off to evacuate those villagers and continued to pursue the snake himself? As a prince, his responsibility was to Eternos, and the kingdom known as Eternia. As He-man, it was to Eternia, the planet. He had never thought the day would come when there would be a conflict of interest between those two distinct responsibilities. "I should have come here first," He-Man said to himself, his voice full of regret.
"You've got nothing to feel bad about," Randor said from right behind him, startling him out of his reverie. He-man had not meant to speak out loud and turned to the King slowly, schooling his face to give away as little as possible about his current state of mind. "Your Majesty…" He-Man started, "I ap-"
"Those villagers you saved the day that Serpos awoke deserved your help no less than any of my own people," the king interrupted. "They had nowhere near the resources Eternos is so fortunate to have." To He-Man's doubtful look, King Randor continued, "You bought us time. That is what made evacuation possible for the good people of Eternos." The King went on to explain "Buildings can be rebuilt, He-Man. It is the lives that live in them that cannot be replaced."
"King Randor, I appreciate your-," He-Man started, only to be stopped again when the King placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that reminded He-Man/Adam that his father understood all too well the way the hero felt about the devastation all around him. "Even you can't be in two places at once," said Randor.
He meant the words to comfort the forlorn warrior. They did, while they also unintentionally reminded He-Man that Adam had now gone unseen for the entire day. As if he were somehow following his line of thought the king said, "If you happen to see my son, let him know I'm looking for him" Randor said, looking tired and sounding suddenly distant. "I know the boy means well, but sometimes..." Randor shook his head slowly "Thank you, He-Man, for being the role model and inspiration we need at times like these." King Randor then looked the hero up and down and said compassionately but firmly, "Now, go get some rest. That's an order from the King."
He-Man nodded, sighed, and resigned himself to do as he was told. He was not looking forward to explaining Adam's "absence" today and already felt far too exhausted to deal with the inevitable questions. As he left the palace courtyard he knew and accepted that it couldn't be helped. After all, it was He-Man's strength that was needed to get the palace and surrounding city back in order. As Prince Adam, he couldn't have completed a small fraction of the work he'd done as He-Man today, even with heavy machinery.
…..
As he pondered these thoughts, he looked for a private place to change back to his teenage form. For once, He-Man was tired, distracted, and emotionally wrung out from the events of the last few days and so he failed to notice his footsteps being followed by someone he did not expect.
In the remains of an outlying building with three walls still standing, He-Man lifted the sword to send the power back to Grayskull. He was too lost in his own thoughts to turn around and notice someone was watching his transformation curiously.
"Prince Adam," the voice said, startling Adam as the light faded and Grayskull's champion was replaced with a 17-year-old. There stood a well-dressed young man who was built sturdy for his age but was at least two feet smaller in stature than the hero. He was certainly no He-Man in comparison.
"Zodak!" Adam exclaimed, nervous that someone snuck up on him like that, and relieved that it was someone already privy to his secret. "What's happened? Is He-Man needed?"
As Adam went to lift the sword again Zodak put out his hand and shook his head. "No, young prince, it is not the champion I came to see, today." Confused, Adam put the now Adam-sized power sword in its scabbard across his back and stared at the Cosmic Enforcer, wondering what on Eternia he would want with him if not for needing He-Man to go fight some villain or monster.
"Um, is everything okay?" Adam queried. Zodak took off his helmet. This made the imposing Zodak appear more human, compared to the unreadable presence he was when his eyes were completely covered.
"You are rather young for this," Zodak said, without condemnation, "there are things that have only just come to light," Zodak began cryptically, "things that you can hardly be expected to understand, young prince." The mystic enforcer paused for a moment and seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "Some of which even I am having difficulty understanding," Zodac said, quietly.
Without further preamble, and quite seriously Zodak said to the prince, "I have a question for you, young man, and I expect a genuine answer." Zodak looked Adam up and down as if the prince were a clumsy horse, a flightless dragon, or some other disappointing and unlikely creature. "Why?" Zodak asked, his voice betraying puzzlement and frustration. "Why of all - why are you ...Prince Adam?" said Zodak, as if perplexed by the incongruency of who He-Man truly was.
Adam stared for a moment and blinked several times. Did he hear the Cosmic Enforcer correctly? Was he really asking him that? How was he supposed to answer a question like that?
Adam shrugged his shoulders and chalked it up to Zodak's general personality -somber, cynical, and utterly humorless, he surmised. Adam thought that the ancient mystic and formidable warrior must be very disappointed that the big hero was, after all, just this average teen with no great strength of his own and only barely-average skill at fighting.
With a sigh, Yeah, me too, Adam thought, thinking of his own shock when he was first told by the Sorceress of his destiny. "It's okay, Zodak. No need to be polite" Adam said, with a chuckle "Go ahead and tell me what you really think!"
Adam started to walk back to the palace "It's not like I ever asked for any of this!" Adam said, shaking his head and throwing his hands up. He didn't have answers for himself. He certainly had none for Zodac's questions. "If that's all, my father's looking for me. I gotta go."
"Prince Adam! I insist you answer!" Zodak said firmly.
Adam paused and glanced over his shoulder at the Mystic Enforcer. "Is He-Man needed, Zodak? I mean right now. is He-Man needed?"
"No" replied Zodak, "Not at this exact moment."
Already concerned about how he would explain not being seen all day, Adam was not about to delay his "return" to the palace for one more minute than necessary.
"Okay. Well, there's your answer," the prince replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Which to him, it was.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to go home now. My father is looking for me" With that, Adam left Zodak to stare after him, throwing over his shoulder at the Cosmic Enforcer, "Try to remember it's a secret, okay?" as Prince Adam hurried back to the palace, leaving Zodak to stare at his back in consternation as he left.
…..
Confused and wondering if he should be insulted by the confrontation with Zodak or not, Adam ran into Man-At-Arms as he approached the palace. "Prince Adam, come with me," said his mentor.
"What's going on?" Adam asked, thinking What now?
"You'll see soon enough," said Man-At-Arms, giving away nothing. Adam's face must have shown just how much he had had quite enough today. His mentor put a hand on Adam's shoulder and said "It's alright, Prince Adam. The Sorceress wants to talk to you. Understand?"
Adam nodded his head "Is He-Man needed" he mouthed, without noise, lest anyone overhear. "No. She specifically said to come to Grayskull as Adam." Duncan answered, smiling to reassure the young man "It's only a conversation. Nothing to be worried over," he said, although he didn't in his heart believe his own words.
Duncan did not want to set the boy up for failure, so he kept his concerns to himself. It was unusual for the Sorceress to contact the inventor instead of calling Adam directly. Even more unexpected was her request that the young man not transform into He-Man but come to the castle in his powerless form.
"Okay, no problem. But let me make sure my dad-I mean my father, knows I'm not missing or anything," said Adam.
"I'm sorry, but there's no time" countered Man-At-Arms, "stop worrying, Adam. I've already told the King that you are running an errand with me."
Adam thanked his mentor for covering for his absence over what he had begun to think of as "Grayskull business" and followed him to the wind-raider to find out what the Sorceress wanted. He didn't understand why she couldn't have simply told him in her usual way. Adam found himself unable to reach her mind, as he had lately become accustomed to doing. As they traveled in the wind-raider Adam mentioned to "Man-At-Arms "Oddly, she reached out to you. Usually, she lets me know when she wants to see me at Grayskull."
Man-At-Arms glanced at Adam quickly for a moment, surprised that the young man was so accustomed to visiting the mystical castle without him. "You've had your mind on a lot of things lately, Prince Adam. Perhaps you were harder to reach today than me."
Adam thought that over for a moment, then said "That's true enough, I guess. First, there was that talk with my father..." Man-At-Arms looked surprised, then Adam tried to explain "I mean, King Randor, since he didn't know it was me-I mean- He-Man- you know what I mean" Adam continued "Then, Zodak snuck up on me while I was changing..."
Man-At-Arms raised one eyebrow high "Back into Adam!" said the young prince, now suddenly embarrassed "You know what I mean!" he repeated. "Asking me something like that," Adam said, his frustration showing through "I mean, who else would I be?" Adam said, quieter, mimicking the Cosmic Enforcer "Why are you, Adam? What kind of question is that to ask anyone?"
Man-At-Arms stared ahead, clearing his throat "He asked you that?" Duncan asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Adam sighed. "Yeah. Weird question, right? Of all the things I would think someone would want to know...and I'm still not clear on when or how he even found out," Adam explained. "I didn't know he knew or cared one way or another who He-Man really was until I came to after getting hit by the snake. There he was, standing over me, with my power sword."
"What do mean, came-to? Adam, what did the snake do to you, exactly?" Man-At-Arms asked, drawing his brows together in concern as the color drained from his face.
"It's no big deal, Man-At-Arms. I'm okay" answered Adam "I just...well, He-Man actually, got hit kinda hard. I sort of woke up as Adam, and Zodak was there. The Sorceress had called him, I think. He got me back on my feet, handed me the sword, and told me He-Man was needed. Then, I changed back and, you know, He-Man finished fighting the snake."
Man-At-Arms's hands clutched the steering device of the wind raider hard "Do you mean you changed back to Adam when you didn't intend to? In the middle of fighting the three-headed god of the snake-men?" the grizzled warrior said, his voice dangerously low.
"It's okay, Duncan!" said Adam "I told you, I'm fine, I was okay! Besides, I didn't do it on purpose!"
"It's alright, Prince Adam," Man-at-Arms assured him, as it wasn't the boy that his ire was directed at. He took a deep breath and told his young charge with all sincerity "I only hope that you know how much we all need you, lad. When you're out there being the hero, try to remember that Eternia is going to need you for a very long time, alright? That's not the kind of hero you need to be!"
"Always" answered the prince, touched by his mentor's show of concern. Adam thought about a common saying among the masters. Don't be a hero about it was something often said when one of the masters wanted to remind their colleague that there was a right way and a wrong way to "hero." One way was putting the needs of others first. The other was taking that message too far. After all, heroes can't save anyone unless they remain alive and in good working order to do so.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be doing this He-Man thing for many years to come, Duncan," Adam said, to reassure his mentor. Adam had no intention of leaving the world without He-man any time soon. He knew better than that!
In his heart, Man-At-Arms feared that the idea of Adam having a long, fulfilling life was not guaranteed. That fate wasn't guaranteed for any of them. Still, he nodded his head in agreement as the wind raider flew toward the ancient fortress of mystery known as Castle Grayskull.
