Catra's POV
"No! I told you to stop asking about it!"
"Sorry! I just, you seem upset. And we're all friends, so I thought-"
"Kyle, drop it… I told you, nothing happened."
"But, you came out for patrol. You never do."
I turn to glare at him. He doesn't understand a single thing I say, does he?
He doesn't take the hint, "and then you pulled me away from Lonnie and Rogelio, I just thought you wanted to talk."
"Well, I don't. I'm here to patrol, and I didn't want to do it in one big group," I've never been a fan of Lonnie, really. But I also didn't want to patrol on my own. I have no idea why Adora likes her so much.
"Well, if you didn't want to talk, why didn't you grab Rogelio?"
"Kyle, I'm really trying to be patient here. Stop speaking to me."
"Okay Catra. Understood." He says, continuing as we patrol the outskirts of the complex.
It is way too late for this. I'm cold, tired, and fed up with whatever is going on with Adora. I make empty threats all the time, but she's starting to sound like me, like Shadow Weaver. I'm starting to think her becoming a Force Captain was the worst thing for her. The amount of work she took on… But the worst part wasn't even that she snapped at Glimmer, it was that she sent me off. As if I was getting in her way.
Ugh. "Fine. I'm worried about Adora."
Kyle picks his head up, seeming surprised. "Really? Lonnie said she's doing better than ever."
"I- she isn't. There's a lot going on with her, stuff I don't think she's talking to anyone about."
"Is this… about that sword?"
"You- Kyle, you don't know anything about any sword, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess. Is it about the… thing you wanted to get for her?"
I sigh at this, he isn't as clueless as I thought, "I don't know, maybe. We… We snuck out a few weeks ago, went into the woods. She saw this 'thing,' but I made us go home. The next day, she said she… I don't know. She saw it on that Arrow Boy at Thaymor, and has been beating herself up about not grabbing it in the first place."
"Oh… wow. So it's like, important to her?"
"I don't know what it is to her. But between that, and her promotion… she's acting confused."
"She's probably just stressed. She's had to talk a lot more with Shadow Weaver since the whole Thaymor thing. I don't really know her, but she creeps me out."
"Yeah… you're lucky she never paid you much attention. I'm not sure though, Adora hasn't exactly seemed stressed."
"I know, that's what Lonnie said. That Adora has everything under control. Do you think it's an act?"
"I don't know… I feel like I don't get to talk to her much anymore outside of helping her with her work. She uh… told me to come out here. She didn't want me bothering her or something."
"What? But you two are like, best friends?"
"Yeah, I guess…"
"I'm sorry. I hope you figure it out. And Adora."
"Thanks Kyle. And just so you know-"
"If I tell anyone, you'll make me do all your chores for a month, I know."
"Well, yes; but… thank you."
"It's no problem, Catra. I know you're like, Adora's friend, and she's our friend, but that makes us friends, too."
I stop walking. I… really needed this. I never was one to talk much, especially not with anyone other than Adora. So why won't she talk to me? She acts like she needs to be there for everyone else, but will never let anyone be there for her. I'm starting to think she knows something about this sword that she isn't-
*BOOM*
"What was that?" Kyle asks, jumping.
My left ear twitches- that hurt- trying to source what was left to the noise. "The south shore. Must be the Rebellion making their move."
A lot of alarms start sounding, you can almost hear everyone move as the Fright Zone goes into lock down.
"But… we just came from that way, which means Lonnie-" *Thunk* "- and Rogelio-"
"Shhh!" I hush him. That noise was behind us, a lot closer.
"What?"
"There's something else." I'm looking out over the various heaps of scrap, tubing, a parked skiff, and who knows what else. I don't see anything.
"What, more of them? Oh, we're in trouble… what if they get-"
"ADVENTURE!" Some guy hops out from behind a pile of rubble, holding a gold rapier sword and posing as if he was some sort of action hero.
"Who the he-" I see Arrow Boy next, quickly rolling from behind the skiff with his bow drawn, and fires an arrow that immediately lands square in the middle of Kyle's forehead, electrocuting him, as he drops to the floor. How many of-
I get hit in the side, rolling a few feet over, and turn around to see- I don't know, one of the princesses. She used her hair to swing down into me, kicking me square in the side, and I never even heard her coming.
"Ow…" I mutter, standing back up.
"Sea Hawk, what was that? I said on three," Bow speaks to him, drawing an arrow aimed at me.
"I got excited…"
He seems momentarily confused, or annoyed. I can't read Bow's face. He turns back to me, "Where is she?"
"You're going to have to try harder than that!" I say quickly, looking at the three of them. Looking around, no one else comes out from anywhere. It's just these three? The rest must be where that noise came from. Still, I'm outnumbered, and Kyle is down. They won't hurt him, he'll be okay. I need to get to Adora.
I quickly spin around on my back foot, and start sprinting for the nearest door.
"No, don't let her leave!" The princess shouts, as an arrow narrowly misses my leg. When it lands, it exploded into a gel. I leap over the mess and round a corner.
Thankfully no one in the rebellion seems to be able to give chase without Sparkles there to move them faster than I can run. I reach the door, and open it, noticing the interior warning lights are all blinking red. Then, another arrow flies into me. This time, it's another net arrow, and I'm knocked down immediately.
"Good shot!" Sea Hawk shouts, and the three are quickly on top of me.
"Thanks for getting that!" The princess says rather cheerfully, and she steps inside to plug a tablet into the door's control system. Okay, maybe they aren't as unprepared as I thought they'd be.
I feel Bow's hands on my side as he rolls me onto my back, my senses still disoriented from landing without being able to catch myself.
"Where is Glimmer?" He asks, aiming an arrow straight for my head.
"You don't have the guts!" I hiss.
Surprisingly, this makes him do the one thing I would have never expected him to do: he puts the arrow back in his quiver. "We'll find her either way. Entrapta?"
"Hmm… hey, cat lady, you wouldn't happen to know what cell our friend is in?"
"I meant, 'is the information in the complex system any newer.'"
"Oh! No, no it is not."
I think about my options here. Sure, I could cut through this rope, easily get a good hit off on Arrow Boy before he can react, and make an exit as the other two don't have anything ranged to work with. Or…
I do something far worse. I do something that I'm going to regret, that's going to come back to make my life awful in multiple ways. "You're not going to find her in the prison."
"What?" Bow asks, looking back down at me.
"You heard me."
Bow looks confused, visibly now. He reaches behind his back and pulls out his own tablet. "Where?" He turns it around, showing me a map.
Not like this. I make my move, using what little movement I have to drive my nails through the ropes, freeing myself, as I swipe upwards with my hand. I'm very careful though, very careful that only a bit of my fingers touch the bottom of my target, so I don't break the device. I scramble to my feet, and as Arrow Boy panics to catch his tablet, I take off, easily dodging Sea Hawk's attempt to make contact with me, as Entrapta is too buried in the terminal.
I'm moving again. Not as fast as I could, this needs to be a chase. Either way, I really hope this works.
Glimmer's POV
*boom*
The sound is quiet, muffled, but the fact that we heard it at all means it was big
"What was that?" Adora asks, looking over at the lady that basically confirmed herself to be Light Spinner, but I don't really think the name fits.
"I am unsure. The rebellion no doubt." The imposing figure turns to look at me, floating across the floor just slightly, lowering herself to get closer to me. "Looks like this is the moment of truth, for your petty little rebels."
As she does this, an alarm of some sort starts sounding out through the building, and the lights in the room, as well as probably everywhere else, start flashing.
She backs up again, turning back to Adora, "Stay here, keep your eyes open. I am going to investigate."
With that, the older woman leaves the room, leaving Adora and I alone.
"I don't suppose you'd know what that was?" She asks, not turning her attention to me.
"So much for your perfect victory," I say with just a little premature gloating.
"It's not like we weren't prepared, this isn't over yet," she says, moving to stand near the door, pulling a Horde stun-baton off of her hip.
"I don't know, you seem really worried all of a sudden."
"I'm not stupid, that noise was loud on purpose. They're drawing our forces out."
"Well, it's not like I would know, given how you have me in whatever this is."
"Your friend, Entrapta, isn't the only one who knows about Runestones"
"That's one of them, then? The Black Garnet?"
She doesn't say anything, only watching the door. I could try to throw her off more, but… I'm not sure this is the right person to poke at.
Adora suddenly seems to tense up as she goes to stand against the wall, out of sight.
"You know, you can't hide too well if I just shout out for them to look right."
"Shh." She says, forcibly. I don't intend to, but the door is already open.
Adora moves forward with the stun-baton, but the person who opened the door isn't anyone from the rebellion, it's Catra, and Adora stops herself just before the stun-baton connects with her.
"Watch it!" Catra shouts, closing the door.
"Catra? What's going on, what did you see?" Adora pulls Catra away from the door, and they step to the middle of the room.
"Something happened down at the docks, but Kyle and I were on the East Side. We were ambushed, I got away."
"Who?"
"Arrow Boy, some guy named Sea Hawk, and the tech princess."
"None of the heavy hitters? They must be down at the docks. What about the team?"
"Only Kyle was with me, he got taken down instantly."
"Were you followed?"
"So many questions, are you kidding? You know I'm way too fast to-"
The door is flung forward, blown open, as a small amount of smoke billows out from what I could only assume was one of Bow's explosive arrows at max charge.
Bow and Sea Hawk pile into the room, Catra and Adora immediately getting ready for the fight. Adora charges straight for Bow, swinging her baton at him as he blocks with his bow. Meanwhile, Catra seems like she's been disoriented from her proximity to the blast, allowing Sea Hawk to close in on her.
It's a strange sight in a way. At Plumeria, Catra was fighting very aggressively while I forced Adora on Defense. Now, Catra is fighting defensively, almost seeming like she isn't even trying to fight Sea Hawk, while Adora is really going for Bow.
"Glimmer! Are you okay?" He asks, as he and Adora have their weapons pressed against each other.
"I'm fine, worry about her!"
Bow manages to push Adora back, and swings his Bow at her like a weapon. Meanwhile, Sea Hawk is continuing to keep Catra busy with multiple swings from his sword.
This isn't going to work… I need to get out and help them… but how? I barely have any magic in me, and everytime I move this thing zaps my whole body.
"Where's Entrapta?" Sea Hawk asks while looking around.
"I thought she was behind us? Bow says, as Adora dodges a quick-drawn arrow and steps into him.
The first real hit is landed as the stun-baton comes into contact with Bow's side, and he screams out slightly as his entire body tenses up. Adora then drives her foot into Bow, and he falls back.
No…
Sea Hawk looks behind him to Bow, and Catra finally goes on the offensive, lunging into him, pushing both of them to the ground. Adora moves to be standing on top of Bow, and crouches down as she charges the baton up again.
No! I pull hard against the electricity-like magic flowing around me. It hurts. I've been shocked before, but never by anything that hurt. This? It's the single worst pain I ever felt.
I put everything I have, trying to picture myself next to Adora. It's so… blurry. So much… pain…
"Glimmer!" Sea Hawk yells, pushing Catra off of her, before looking back to Bow. He moves to get up, and Catra is on top of him again.
I close my eyes and grit my teeth, trying with everything I have to will myself to move despite the pain I feel. It's getting clearer. I can do this.
I feel as my magic starts to course through my body, and can every little piece of me as my body begins trying to phase over to where Adora is, but the energy keeps pulling me back.
It's getting weaker.
I hear Bow struggling against Adora, he's holding his hands against her wrists, they're in a reverse tug of war challenge over the stun-baton. I need to get out.
I scream now, as the electricity cuts deeper, into my core. I feel every muscle, every tendon and bone, every inch of my skin light up, and finally, I snap through.
In an instant, the pain is gone, and I'm next to Adora. She turns in shock, and Bow gets this opportunity to breathe and actually manages to push the baton off of him, as I put what little magic I have left into a hit that connects with her face.
Adora falls over quickly, to the side, and I help Bow up just as I feel myself collapse, for him to help me up. He quickly picks his Bow back up, and fires a stun arrow at Catra, knocking her down too. Sea Hawk manages to get up on his own, brushing himself off.
"I- um- thanks guys."
"No problem, now let's go!" Bow shouts, putting his Bow over his back. We go to leave the room, and I feel like my body is fighting against me. It's like… I'm still in the field. Bow notices me stumble again, and puts my arm over his back. It doesn't exactly work, given how much taller he is than me, but it's enough. We start moving along, and I turn back slightly to see Adora already getting up.
"What's going on?" I ask, as we start moving as fast as we can.
"We're getting you out, obviously"
"Who else is here?"
"Everyone. Entrapta took off though, probably got left behind. We were moving pretty fast."
"What was that noise?"
"Mermista probably, but let's focus on getting out please?"
"Oh, sorry."
"Uh, not to interrupt, but,"
I turn to look at Sea Hawk, and he's moving with his head over his shoulder, too. Adora and Catra running up to us, I should've known this wasn't going to be easy.
Bow gives me a quick look, and I let myself sit down against the wall as he moves me over to it, and he draws his bow again.
"You're not getting out of here! Half the horde will be any second, it's over!" Adora shouts.
As soon as her sentence finishes, the section of the wall opposite me is suddenly blown open, and a Horde bot rolls through. Bow panics, quickly turning, when the bot turns to get in between us and the Horde soldiers, staring at them.
"Is that a training bot?" Catra asks, confused.
"What is it doing?" I ask.
Entrapta suddenly moves through the hole in the wall, absolutely beaming. "Bow! I tracked your signal!"
"Where were you, where did he go?" He asks, stunned at the Horde bot between us, and Adora and Catra.
"Where did you go?" She asks verbatim, before turning to look down at me. "Oh, hi Glimmer! This is EMILY."
I turn to look at the bot as she gestures to it. I… have never been more confused.
"Catra, we don't have time for this! Move!" Adora shouts, and the two of them move forward as the bot- or, EMILY, fires a beam from its eye that puts a line straight through the floor in front of them, and they both stop, shocked.
"Okay, let's get out of here!" Sea Hawk shouts, him and Bow helping me back up, and the four of us go back to moving, but Entrapta just stands there for a second, looking at her datapad.
"Entrapta, let's go!"
Entrapta doesn't seem to hear me. She just looks up at Adora and says, "It's you…"
Bow pulls off of me, giving full support of me to Sea Hawk. He grabs Entrapta's shoulder, "I said we're leaving, Entrapta, let's go!"
"What?" Adora finally says, staring back at Entrapta as we all start moving down the hallway.
Entrapta doesn't answer, and instead heads to a terminal, pressing a button.
"What was that?" I ask.
"Keep moving, I'm making it so they can't follow us!"
"She turned on the purge sequence, we need to move!" Catra shouts, going for Adora.
"Not yet!" Adora moves forwards quickly, and we're all moving down the hallway.
EMILY seems to panic at how fast Adora runs past… it? Her? Going for the terminal Entrapta activated, as Sea Hawk, Bow, Entrapta and I keep moving down the hall. But I keep my head turned back., watching as EMILY slams into Adora, knocking her down.
The lights in that segment of the room turn on, now. Catra looks at Adora horrified, as Adora gets up readying herself to fight the bot. Similarly, Entrapta turns around, and shouts, "EMILY!"
Entrapta runs up and grabs Emily's arm, as Catra pulls Adora back too, as the door closes behind them. Catra pulls Adora off into a side hall, and I watch in horror as EMILY only now starts to move, but it's too late, and a door comes down between us and Entrapta.
"No!" I shout, urging myself with everything I have to pop in there and pull her out, but I have nothing left.
Bow barely turns around, noticing Entrapta is gone, and we all stop for a second as we hear the flames of the purge sequence activate.
"Entrapta!" He shouts, running up to the door. But as the lights in this section turn on, Sea Hawk quickly grabs Bow's arm.
"We need to move!"
"Sea Hawk manages to start walking back while supporting my weight and with Bow fighting against him, and we barely make it into the next section as another door slams down again.
At this, Bow finally turns around, and we all start moving. We need to get out of here. We keep moving for a bit, and I fight against the tears working into my eyes. No one else says anything. After about a minute or two, with me fighting against my utter exhaustion, we reach an exit door.
As soon as we're outside, Bow immediately fires an arrow up into the air, and after a few seconds, the tip of it explodes, sending a small ball of fire high into the sky.
"We need to move fast now, that just gave us away."
We were already moving fast, but now Bow has my other arm, and he and Sea Hawk are practically running. I have no idea where we are going, or what any of this was about other than getting me out. I try to look back at the maze of corridors we just ran out through, still in shock about everything that happened. I'm not even processing as my legs practically stop working, Sea Hawk and Bow doing everything they can to basically carry me.
And my mind is running on a loop. They got me, but Entrapta…
It feels like we're running through water. Like this isn't real. The only thing holding me to Etheria right now is the constant, aching static I feel, shuddering every now and then as some residual energy surges through me, trying not to let it show how much pain I'm in.
Eventually, I feel myself being shifted wordlessly, Sea Hawk and Bow slow down, and work to actually lift me off the ground entirely. I guess my legs did stop working.
Even later still, my mind still not focusing on anything, I feel as if we're being lifted up off the ground. Are we floating?
I'm set down now, and the whole world is rocking.
"Glimmer! Glimmer, are you there?"
"Perfuma?" I turn my head, pulling myself back into focus. We're… on a boat now…
"You're okay!"
"You actually did it! I mean, good job." Mermista says.
"We took down the whole shipyard, Mermista used a wave with enough force to blow open a fuel silo-" Netossa starts.
"And I made sure to pull the water back off into the sea to avoid any spillage-" Mermista says, the two bouncing the story off of each other.
"And after a little trick with straight up setting the dock on fire-"
"Spinnerella used her powers to create a sort of fire tornado, and we tore apart the entire dockyard."
"It was a little loud, but-"
"Hey," Spinnerella interrupts their story, looking at Bow's defeated expression, "where's Entrapta?"
Sea Hawk hangs his head and turns away, unable to bring himself to be jovial.
"She's… she's gone…" I choke out.
"What? What do you mean she's gone?" Perfuma asks, still in front of me, trying to see if I'm okay. She turns and shouts, "Mermista, turn us around!"
"No, she's… really gone…" Bow whispers, looking down.
The silence that immediately hangs over everyone's heads as they realize exactly what this just cost us brings everything back, and I can't hold back the tears anymore. Perfuma joins me in crying softly, everyone else just seems like they didn't quite get it yet, getting either sad, or in Mermista's case, seeming to get actually angry.
No one else says a word, as we slowly make our way away from the Fright Zone.
Adora's POV
There's an uncomfortable silence. Catra and I are just standing there, off in the side room. That princess… she turned back for that bot… the bot I held up… I didn't want that to happen. I didn't mean it, not like that…
"Adora, come on. We need to go," Catra's voice is in my ear, her hands on my shoulder.
"But- I didn't-"
She puts her other hand on my other shoulder, and turns me so I'm looking at her. "I know, I saw you move for the terminal. That isn't on you. Now let's go."
"We had them… We had her…"
"Yeah, Shadow Weaver is going to be mad, we'll deal with it. Let's get back there before she comes for us."
I look back at the door she pulled me through for a second, and nod. We start moving, heading back for the Black Garnet chamber, and I'm left wondering about how exactly we go about explaining this.
My thoughts are racing, as Catra practically pulls me by my wrist through the halls, back to where we'll meet Shadow Weaver. I… am I at fault for that? I shake my head, she activated the purge sequence, she turned around for that stupid faulty bot. I can't blame myself… right? Besides, it's war…
We make it back to the chamber and unsurprisingly, Shadow Weaver is already there. She wasn't gone very wrong.
"Catra, Adora. Why is it that I leave for only a moment to inspect the damage caused by that explosion, only to find the princesses tore apart our naval dockyard, and come back to find an empty princess when I specifically told you to stand guard."
"We did," I say, "we were ambushed, they blew open the door."
"Ambushed? And how did they find this room, we would have assumed they would have fought for the prison, but they knew where to look."
"I- I don't know." I look at Catra, she says nothing. She led them here? She was followed? Shadow Weaver doesn't know that… she can't.
"I see. Catra, what happened when you were on the perimeter?"
"There was an ambush, I took off and lost them."
"Clearly not. Sloppy, ridiculous work Catra." No… "There will be consequences for this."
"Are you kidding me?" Catra finally speaks up, "I did everything that was asked of me and more! We wouldn't even have had this chance without me!"
Shadow Weaver says nothing, only glaring back at Catra behind her unmoving mask.
"Screw this," she lets go of my wrist, which I didn't even realize she was still holding, and she storms back out through the hall.
I just stare… I don't-
"Adora, come with me. We are going to- explain- this entire situation to Hordak." She moves past me, motioning for me to follow her out into the halls.
"Hordak?" I say, tensing up. None of my team has ever seen him, he's been this imposing threat our whole lives, a threat of what we would face if we ever screwed up. And I guess… I just screwed up…
"Don't worry. You are not the one in trouble here, Catra will be dealt with-"
"No!" I shout. I can't let her get in trouble for this, "it isn't her fault, I let my guard down and they got the best of me, and Glimmer teleported right out of your field and knocked me down."
She just turns to look at me, as if I also tried to pass the blame onto her, and I think it worked. "Adora, you know better than to raise your voice at me... Consider this her final warning, after Plumeria and everything else before now."
"I… okay," I say, not wanting to push it. We keep moving, getting closer and closer to a room I've never been in before.
"I expect you know how to conduct yourself?"
"Yes, Shadow Weaver," I take a deep breath and push down the nerves that are currently telling me to not go in this room, but I don't exactly have a choice. Shadow Weaver opens the door, and we walk in.
Hordak's sanctum is dark, so dark that I don't see him, I don't know where he is. So when Shadow Weaver stops moving at a certain spot, I just move up next to her and wait.
"Shadow Weaver. Force Captain Adora." I hear the booming voice echo across the room, and feel myself gulp. His tone is emotionless. "What exactly just happened out there?"
"The princess I told you about has been rescued," Shadow Weaver answers.
"How? You know how this works. They were always going to make an attempt, did you really think that one life in a cell would end this war in a surrender? No."
"Lord Hordak," I speak up, "They must have interfaced with our systems. Have you read any reports from my team? They have an archer, Bow. He and the princess, Entrapta, had their own tablets they were using for navigation."
"Our network is a closed system, where could they have interfaced to learn such information?"
"I don't know, I'll have my team open up an investigation."
"Hmm… But why were our complex and detailed operations not enough to stop a few intruders? Our shipping yards are decimated, squandering the advantage Force Captain Adora had achieved for us at Salineas. Our high value prisoner is free, despite Force Captain Adora's mission in the Kingdom of Snows. These two attacks have put us into direct conflict with every kingdom on Etheria, only for our advances to be pushed back months."
Shadow Weaver speaks up now, "Adora knows very well what she is doing. I am going to look into the possibility of them having- someone- on the inside, and will make sure to increase the intensity of cadet training programs so our soldiers will be less of an embarrassment."
I glance over to Shadow Weaver. She really is just going to throw everyone under the bus except the two of us here, isn't she?
"The embarrassment here is that you weren't training your proteges well enough in the first place. Do not let anything like this happen again."
"Yes, my lord," Shadow says, bowing.
"Sorry, Lord Hodak," I add.
"Is there any good news to come out of this fiasco?"
I pause. The sword is good news, right? No, it isn't time for that. I think, trying to make this better, "The tech princess is gone." I say. Shadow Weaver looks down at me, and I really wish I could see how she reacted to that. Hordak just stares at me, his glowing red eyes piercing through my skull.
"I… suppose that will put a damper on their technological capabilities. This is not an even trade, however, expect much more direct intervention from my part from now on. Now get out. It is far too late for this headache. Force Captain Adora, your team will be responsible for the damages within the Fright Zone walls. I will have Octavia's team begin cleanup at the docks."
"Yes, Lord Hordak," I say again, and Shadow Weaver turns and exits the room. As soon as the door closes, I breathe out a huge sigh of relief. He… didn't do anything, not really. But Shadow Weaver is going to set Catra up… this is going to get bad.
I wordlessly split off from her, and head for my room. I'm exhausted, we've probably been up for nearly 20 hours. I move through the halls, and find myself thinking back to Entrapta. They're going to think I… I shake my head, pushing down the thought. But others fill the spots left behind just as quickly. Entrapta's words when she looked up at me. "It's you…" her voice twisting into pure shock. What could that have meant? She saw something on her tablet before she looked up… maybe she was just surprised to see me again after Princess Prom? No, of course they'd know I'd be there. So… that means she must be referring to something her tablet told her… something…
Oh no. I start sprinting through the halls, trying to get to my room as soon as possible. The visions… the voices when I sleep… no, no no no. Catra was supposed to be joking!
I turn the corner, quickly, into the Force Captain hall, and I actually see Catra waiting against my door. "Hey, Adora, what took- Adora?"
I'm up to my door in a heartbeat, pulling it open, taking a quick second to glance at Catra, but I can't form any words. I run into my room, Catra following me, which almost surprises me given how she's avoided being here.
"Adora, what happened? What did she say to you?"
"Nothing," I say, picking the mattress up and pushing it, as it slides off the bed, and look down at the sword.
"Adora…"
I say nothing again, and I reach out and touch the sword. Sure enough, just like the first night, the gem on the sword shines brilliantly, blindingly so, and-
I'm not in my room. I'm standing on nothing. Did it knock me out again, that fast? Am I dreaming?
"Hello, Adora," a voice says behind me, and I turn around in shock. It's a woman… but definitely not a real one. A robot? Some magic creature? Nothing actually real? The room is suddenly lit up, the walls a spectacular arrangement of blues and purples and pinks, and reflective like Crystals, and there's a floating image of the sword in between us.
"Who are you? What's going on?" I demand, suddenly feeling as a little bit of panic surges through me. It's her voice… the one who whispers Adora!
"My name is Light Hope. The sword is meant for you. Etheria has need of you, Adora. Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?"
I'm so confused. She definitely speaks like a robot, but this doesn't tell me anything. "What are you talking about? What's Grayskull? I don't understand!"
"You will," she says cryptically, as her form begins to fade into nothingness.
"Wait!" I shout out. This doesn't explain anything! Oh no, I really am crazy, aren't I? The void I'm standing in slowly appears to be getting darker, despite having already been nothing, and in a moment, I can't even see myself as everything goes black. Then, from behind Light Hope, there's a blinding flash of light again, in a sort of explosion that instantly knocks me off my feet, and everything fades away.