Glimmer's POV
Dread. That's the only word to describe what's coursing through me right now. Well, that and the static from Shadow Weaver's curse on me.
The sky is dark, a massive black cloud hanging over the entire horizon. It's coming from the direction of the Fright Zone…
"Is this… what She-Ra is?" Bow asks, in awe. We're standing outside the castle entrance. Him, my mom, Spinnerella, Netossa, and I. Perfuma had just gone home an hour ago. Talk about timing.
"The elements are out of harmony… I don't know what this has to do with She-Ra, but it's taking nearly everything I have to keep my connection with the Moon Stone. It's weaker, fighting against the darkness."
"And it's losing," I whisper, watching as the cloud continues moving over the horizon, closer and closer to Bright Moon.
We hear footsteps, running up besides all of us. "Your majesty," General Julliet pants slightly, "We just got a report from our scouts of a Horde convoy en route through the woods. They're freezing over as we speak!"
"They're coming for Bright Moon…" Spinnerella whispers.
"For the Moon Stone," Angella adds. "If this goes down, the balance of Etheria will be irreparably lost."
"I've already sounded the distress beacon, but Perfuma's already gone and I don't know how long it'll be before Mermista gets here," Bow adds.
I raise my hand up, summoning my dad's staff. "This is going to be really difficult."
"Glimmer," Bow walks over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder, "you don't have to fight."
"It doesn't matter, Bow. They've interfered with the runestones, and it's not a coincidence that it's after Adora and Catra went to that castle. I don't need magic to fight. You don't."
"I know, I just… be careful?"
"Please, we're never careful," I half-joke, mostly because we actually are almost never careful.
"I've already given the orders to the royal guard to evacuate the castle and the surrounding houses out by the water and the edge of the woods," Juliet reports to Angella.
"Good. Get that evacuation underway and prepare the guard for a full assault," she responds.
"Um… I don't think we're going to have time for that," Bow says, pointing out towards the woods. We look over, seeing the smog from the Horde Vehicles trailing above the trees.
"That's a lot of movement…" I add.
There's a short pause, and Spinnerella and Netossa share a quick look. "Ready, Spinny?" Netossa asks. Spinnerella nods, and the two begin moving down to the bay.
"I guess we should follow," I say to Bow.
"Glimmer, everyone… be careful." Angella adds. "I am going to head up to the Moon Stone and attempt to boost its protective barrier."
Bow and I nod, and turn to follow the other two princesses who were already moving.
"I want to meet them out in the Bay, come one," he shouts, motioning for me to follow him.
"What? Like, the two of us out in the middle of the waterfront? The others just look like they're heading to the base of the bridge!"
"Trust me," Bow says, and we take a turn down to the stables.
"Bow, I'm not sure-"
"He'll be fine, I'll send him away as we get out there. We just need to meet them further out to buy more time for Mermsita, she'll be our heaviest hitter down at the water."
"Mmm…" I grumble, but keep following regardless. We make it to the stables, the horses have already been saddled up by the workers to aid in the evacuation. Bow says greetings to the worker at the door, and we head in to get on the horse.
"Go, go!" Bow says, moving the reins as soon as we're on, and we take off. We race out onto the trail, heading back for the shoreline. The bay around Bright Moon is shallow, knee deep at the deepest spots on this side of the mountain Bright Moon castle is built into, which means we're able to ride straight into the bay with our horse, which Bow has actually called Horsey a few times now thanks to Adora.
Adora. She-Ra. She's almost certainly going to be here. Princesses vs Princess. I hope all of Perfuma's stories aren't true, or we're in a lot of trouble.
We see Spinnerella and Netossa, definitely waiting at the base of the bridge. I can see the look of horror on Spinnerella's face as we ride past them. I hope Bow knows what he's doing.
As we make it out to the center of the bay, I can actually see as the trees closest to the edge start freezing over. Any moment now.
We get off the horse, and I take a moment to force out as much of the static that resides in me as I can.
"You okay?" Bow asks, but he knows by now I am, he doesn't even look over as he pulls his bow off of his back.
"Nervous. You?"
"Nervous."
Bow checks something on his weapon, before holding it down at his side. I look down at the staff in my own hands. It isn't going to be much, but I'll need to do something. Besides, just because I rely on my powers doesn't mean I'm helpless without them, just as Bow doesn't need his arrows-for-every-occasion mentality. Which is definitely good, because he only has so many of them in one quiver.
The first of the Horde vehicles break the tree lines. Tanks. Armored Personnel Carriers. Skiffs. All things Etheria didn't know before Hordak touched down sometime before my birth. There's lots of them, probably five times the amount used during the invasion of Thaymor. What's strange though is that as all the trucks begin to pause at the tree line, one of them stops closer. I watch as Adora's team steps out around the back. The girl, the boy, the reptile… I think I've heard some of their names before, like Lonnie? Then Catra and Scorpia. Then finally, Adora.
She's holding the sword. Adora, Catra, and Scorpia all step forward, the rest of their team follows close behind. Meanwhile, the other dozen or so trucks start having soldiers pour out of them, all along the shore at the edge of the bay.
"Alright Horsey, you did, good, get out of here," Bow says, lightly tapping the rear of the horse twice. He neighs in response, and starts slowly trotting back to the stables.
Adora steps up towards us, Catra to her right and Scorpia to her left. Scorpia and Adora look focused, and with Adora I know it isn't an act. Catra is smirking… It's actually unsettling.
"So, Princess," Adora starts speaking, looking directly at me, "how do you like the spectacle of this?"
"Everytime I see you you manage to outdo yourself. Thaymor was one thing, a swift victory against an unguarded town-"
"You were literally guarding it."
"We went there after we heard of the convoy, we went for an evacuation mission. Regardless, you really outdid yourself destroying one of Etheria's most recognizable locations."
"And I still haven't seen Mermista since then. How'd she handle it?"
"And then you blew up an 11 year-olds home to kidnap me."
"She immediately repaired it, that was only a distraction anyway."
"But this? I'm impressed. How did She-Ra manage to do this?"
Adora pauses for a moment, and smirks slightly. "You know, I forgot that you princesses probably know nothing about her," this throws me for a loop. Does she not have the sword unlocked after all? Then what's doing this to the sky?
"We know enough," Bow says. "We spoke to Light Hope, we know who She-Ra is supposed to be." I don't know for sure, but it looks like Catra's expression just shifted a little bit.
"I know, I know. She begged me to do her bidding, she wanted to use me. But I won't be used."
"We don't have to do this," Bow keeps going. I'm starting to feel frustrated with it, I know what she knows. That she is going to do this. "Too many innocent people are going to get hurt."
"I'm not here for the people. I'm here for the Moon Stone, her," she points the sword at me, and I grit my teeth, "and her mother. I'm here to do a job. And if you stand with them, that means you're in my way." Catra and Scorpia both glance over at Adora for a second, it's unclear what their thoughts are.
"Then stop talking and fight us!" I shout, fed up with her ego, as for a quick second the static overwhelms me. I push it down, it's not the time.
"Are you still glitching, Sparkles?" Catra asks, flexing her claws.
"Oh I am just waiting to finally wipe that smirk off your face!"
"Go ahead and try, princess!"
Adora looks down at the sword, "I'm going to make this simple, because this is happening anyway. You have one chance to surrender."
"Never!" I shout, and Bow finally draws an arrow from his quiver, readying for the fight. The rest of Adora's team start moving too, moving to flank us.
"Have it your way…" Adora sighs, I can't for the life of me begin to understand why. "For the honor of Grayskull!" She shouts, moving her sword up into the air. It must've been a signal, because suddenly all the tanks start firing shells towards the castle. But even worse, the sword… glows. So they did get it unlocked? There's a blinding flash of light, and when I'm able to look again…
Adora is different. It's still her, it's the same face, but that's about all that's the same. Her hair is longer, lighter, more wavy; not in a ponytail. She's taller, her muscles are absolutely huge. Literally glowing. And wearing about the last thing I ever expected to see her wearing, a white and gold costume that looks similar to the mural Bow and I saw in the Crystal Castle. I stare in shock. It's really her. She's really She-Ra.
"I hate when I'm right," Bow mutters, instantly firing an arrow towards her, and all at once everything falls apart. Adora moves fast, too fast, Catra close behind. The rest of her team are normal, closing the distance as well.
There's loud noises as the tank shots start raining down on the castle behind us. I hear a weird noise, almost like- our horse! The explosions must've spooked him, he's galloping rampantly through the bay.
Adora takes a shot from Bow's bow, a gray foam one. She rips through it instantly, and two things become immediately clear. One, she's strong. Really strong. Two, I don't think she knows how strong she is given by how she over-exerts the force and goes off balance momentarily.
Catra reaches me, and I move the staff to block her hit. The jerk has the gaul to hiss at me! She grabs the staff, and a short game of tug of war takes place as we both push and pull to break the others' grip. She jumps quickly, flipping over me. My arms are still holding the staff though, and for a second there's an awkward angle as she lifts my arms up with the staff, and as she's above me and my balance is dislodged, she twists in the air and drives her feet into my back, and I go down.
"Glimmer!" Bow shouts, drawing an air to fire at Catra, when She-Ra reaches him He draws, and her sword swings down into the front of the arrow, and it falls uselessly down to the ground. Bow doesn't have a moment before the sword swings at him. He goes to block with his bow, holding it at both ends to use almost as a staff. But the force of the swing immediately breaks the grip his top grip has, knocking the bow downwards. The blade misses, thankfully.
I get back up, Catra having let go of the staff as I fell, and turn to drive the end of it towards her, as she backs up, dodging. This thing isn't a spear, I don't even know how to use a spear, but I haven't had the time to learn any spells so a spear it'll do. It's better than trying to hit people with sparkle-less punches.
As Catra steps back, keeps dodging the thrusts, another of Adora's team gets to me. The Girl. She drives a stun-baton forward, and I have to turn my attention to parry it, managing to get a strike off on Lonnie's head. She doesn't go down, but she is dazed. I turn back to Bow.
Adora is almost toying with him, swinging over and over again, as if trying to break his weapon. But it holds strong. I move forward, there's enough distance between Catra and I that I can get close to She-Ra.
As Adora is focused on Bow, he actually manages to figure out a strong enough stance to block a hit.
"Adora, please, you can't want this!" He pleads. I groan internally, always the first to see the best in people even when there's a sword inches from her face.
I drive my staff forward, into She-Ra's knee. She actually stumbles slightly, and it gives Bow a chance to quickly push her back. He draws an arrow and fires instantly, and She-Ra takes a stun arrow to her shoulder.
"Enough!" I hear Catra snarl, she caught up as quickly as I expected her to, and I turn to block. But Catra is too fast with her reflexes, and she manages to push into me. I go down into the water, but pull her with me, and she shrieks.
Bow fires a net arrow at Catra, and she goes over into the water. I can see her pupils contract, this magicat, in fact, does not like water it seems.
Bow instantly fires another arrow at the boy, who finally closes in on us. He goes down, and Scorpia is next. She lashes out at me with her tail, but I manage to block it.
"you've accessorized. Not that it's going to help you!" She boasts, wrapping her tail around the staff. A strange feeling flows through me as my staff connects with Scorpia, like the static has been momentarily lifted, but I don't have the time to focus on that as she pushes me back.
Because She-Ra is back up, pulling the stun arrow off of her. She looks ticked.
Scorpia uses her pincers to cut through the net on Catra, helping her up.
"You two really are stubborn!" Catra chokes out.
She-Ra steps forward, and slams the sword into the ground in front of Bow and I. We feel the ground shake. She's… she's strong strong.
Bow loses his balance from the shockwave, falling back, and She-Ra steps over him. She raises the sword up, "no more tricks!"
I move as fast as she does. As her arm moves down, my staff connects with her sword arm. But she's too strong, too fast.
It's a miracle then, that she wasn't aiming to kill. The sword barely misses his neck, instead slicing straight through half the arrows in his quiver. As She-Ra realizes my staff is digging into her arm, she turns to face me, readying the sword for another swing.
Bow moves quickly, scooting back out from under She-Ra as he pulls a broken arrow out from his quiver, but he doesn't fire it. He presses a button instead, tossing it up towards her, and it goes off in a small flash in front of her eyes.
"Ah!"
I help Bow up, and Scorpia moves for us. It's too much… there's no moment. I block her tail with my staff again, and Adora's sword swings down onto it after she rubs her eyes, knocking the staff from my grip.
Scorpia and She-Ra look smug, both of them, and Catra even moves up now to lunge for Bow, when suddenly Bow and I get hit by a massive gust of wind, sending us rolling through the bay.
When we stop moving, I look up to see that Spinnerella and Netossa finally made it over to us. I guess we did go pretty far out into the water. I look around for a second, looking at the damage so far. Bright Moon took too many hits from the tanks. While we're out here dealing with She-Ra, they're going to tear us apart.
And our horse is still running in a circle not far from us.
Worse yet, the shells are focusing around the Moon Stone, and I can see Angella's barrier getting weaker. Oh no, it's going to fall!
"Bow, I need to get up to Angella!" I shout, wondering if I should go get Horsey and move him away from the field.
Bow is drawing another arrow, aiming it back for She-Ra as there's now a lot of distance between us. We're both soaked from being pushed this far through the water, but we're still alive, and both still fighting.
I turn back as he's watching the fight. Spinnerella is trying desperately to push everyone back. Scorpia's dug in, holding Catra's wrist to keep her steady, as She-Ra has her sword in the ground to steady herself. As she catches her balance, Adora lifts her sword and swings wildly at Spinnerella, and a massive beam of energy shoots out of it.
How does that work?
Spinnerella looks frightened for a moment, but is quickly covered in a defensive net from Spinnerella, who throws another at She-Ra. But as the beam bounces off the net, it turns. Bow and I watch in horror as it heads straight for our horse-
But something even stranger happens as it seems to focus in on him, and the Horse suddenly changes colors into the bright white She-Ra's clothes have, as his mane grows into a myriad of orange-hued colors. It gets even weirder as a horn protrudes out from his forehead, and two massive colorful wings sprout from his back.
"Our horse!" Bow shouts, as the horse stops in his tracks in apparent… confusion? And horror? He starts freaking out, making frenzied horse noises. There goes getting him out of here. The horse starts flapping the wings, and in another moment, is not half flying half galloping away. I'm too stunned to even form a reaction as I turn back to She-Ra and the others.
She-Ra is trapped. Under a net, swinging her sword desperately to break through the netting, as Scorpia and Catra regain their balance. The lizard person is there too, I see him getting out of the water. I don't see the boy or girl, which is interesting because I didn't see Lonnie go down.
"Get to your mom, now!" Bow shouts at me, firing an arrow towards Scorpia. I nod, and start moving.
She-Ra sees this. "Scorpia, Catra, don't let her get away!" As she finally breaks through the netting, she adds, "these two are mine!"
They nod, and Catra immediately starts moving for Bow, as Scorpia heads straight for me.
"Go, I got her," Bow shouts, and I don't stop moving. I try to bring the staff back to me, as I left it somewhere in the water near She-Ra, and it's back in my hands. I'm racing for the shoreline. Unfortunately, I am not a very fast runner. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the slowest person out in this bay, just because I never really relied on needing to run. I'm gonna have to actually fix that…
Worse yet, the strain of sprinting through the knee-deep water is starting to wear on the building dark magic that's coursing through me. I debate stopping to let it overflow, but I can't wait. My mom needs help. I know I don't have my powers but I can at least stop that bot, and maybe, just maybe reconnect enough to help keep the barrier afloat.
I make it to the shore, and head for a set of stairs carved out of the cliffside leading up to the bridge. It's a long way, but I couldn't risk heading straight for the Moon Stone pillar with the energy shots that keep hitting it, and I'm pretty sure that's a horde bot climbing up the pillar's side.
But Scorpia actually did go for me. As soon as I make it to the stairs, she climbs up in front of where I'm running, her pincers able to lift herself up surprisingly well.
"Now where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to punch you!" Her boasting isn't overly threatening, in fact it almost makes me take her less seriously, but I can't forget that between the two of us, one of us is not in her usual fighting shape.
Instead, I focus more. I get into a fighting stance as she lashes out with her tail. Princess Prom was a moment I can't let repeat itself. I swipe the tail aside with the staff, and go to swing it at her. Her one pincer catches it, and I get that strange sense of clarity again. Scorpia notices the pause. I decide to try something, and let the static energy flow over.
I grit my teeth slightly, but in shock I can see as the static makes its way up the staff, collecting on the top of it.
"Pretty…" Scorpia's expression softens as she looks at the staff.
Channel it, Light Hope had said. I can see as the static begins to slightly pull towards where Scorpia is touching the staff. I don't have time to think about the implications. I put all the focus I can into the staff, and feel as the static leaves me. And then, with what is an impossibly strong force, I dispel it, straight through the staff into Scorpia, and she's knocked off the stairs back down to the water.
I sigh, and feel my head to be clear for the first time since I was in that containment field. I look down at the staff in my hands. Thanks, dad. Then I turn my attention back to the Moonstone tower. I need to hurry, I should have just enough time…
Catra's POV
My heart has been racing ever since Adora turned on She-Ra. It's been non-stop, and everyone has already taken hits. And neither side has made much progress. Adora is being held off barely, but she's pushing forward just enough to the goal for this to not be a stalemate, and we already drove off Sparkles. I lost sight of her a while ago. Now, my attention is on Bow.
*Swoosh*
One of his arrows flies past my face, barely missing. But I know it was a warning shot. A dumb move to make if you ask me, given Adora rendered half his arsenal barely useful.
I close the distance, wasting no time in trying to get a hit off on him. This isn't like the Fright Zone, I don't need to run, or hold back and play nice, or hold back Adora. As much as I have my qualms with Adora acting how she's been acting, things have clicked just a little bit. It's an act. A front. I get that, no one acts the same way in the field as they do in their personal lives.
Except maybe this guy, right here. My claws keep moving at him, and he just keeps blocking. He's playing so defensively it's obvious he isn't even trying to counter me.
I manage to get my hands wrapped around his Bow, and I hold it there.
"What are you doing!?" I hiss at him, why isn't he fighting back?
"Buying time," he says. Too quickly. An easy excuse.
"Sure. What, waiting for the cavalry?" I snarl at him. There's no way he can buy enough time for that, I've seen Adora handle the spiders in the castle. This is only still going because Adora isn't killing.
"Waiting to talk to her," he exerts, struggling against my grip on his bow.
"You can't be serious!" He already pleaded with her enough, is he not going to learn?
"Catra, I don't know what you heard from Light Hope but-"
"Enough talking!" I shout, trying to pull his weapon from his grasp entirely. The thing is, I only saw Light Hope for a fraction of a moment. The rest… I was asleep for it. Does everyone know what's going on more than I do?
"Light Hope said things aren't right, that this isn't what Adora wants!" He claims, pushing against me with enough force, before stopping, that my grip slips on the bow enough for him to break it. He swings it like a melee weapon at me, and I back up to dodge the swing.
"Stop talking like you know her!" I shout. Flexing my claws and going back for him again.
"I don't, but you do! I saw how you both acted when we met in the woods. Adora dropped her guard."
To be fair, Adora was an idiot for her reaction to seeing a horse. I didn't know you could go your whole life without knowing what a horse was. I knew that the rebellion supply lines were often done with horses and carriages and not trucks and skiffs. "You don't know what you saw!"
I snarl at him, and swing for him with my claws again. He once again blocks, but I'm not dumb, I know that wasn't going to work. A distraction. My leg goes up, I drive my foot along his arm, one solid hit.
Bow momentarily screams in pain, three small lines of blood appearing on his outer forearm. He quickly draws an arrow as he jumps back away from me, firing an arrow at me. But he didn't draw it far enough back, and the shot is slow. I snatch it out of the air.
"Heh, you're going to have to be faster than-" the arrow capsule makes a slight popping noise, and confetti sprays up around me. "Agh!"
Bow smirks, already moving back towards Adora. I can't believe that stunned me! How have we not destroyed these people already!?
I move after him, dropping the used arrow into the water, and give chase to him. I catch up before he's halfway back, tackling him face first into the water.
He rolls pretty quickly, a little stronger than he looks, and I'm moved off him.
"Huh, you are fast…" He thinks aloud, as we both stand up again, him purposefully moving away from me for space and not towards me.
"What?" I try to think about what he's referring to- oh.
He doesn't say anything, he just takes another step back to Adora and two princesses I don't know the names of.
Then he looks behind me, back towards the shoreline. At something. It's a trick, I know it is. He's going to run as soon as I take my eyes off of him. And whatever he was looking at wasn't close, it isn't a threat because I would have heard it. So I step closer to him.
He takes another step towards them, I take another two towards him. I'm waiting for a tell. His plan. It'll show, he's easy to read. Not as easy as Glimmer, but he still has tells. They don't drill them out of you like they do at the horde.
Then I see it. A subtle drift of his eyes towards the ground between us, and he moves his hand. Bingo. I race forward, he draws an arrow. As I get halfway between us, he's already fired, but I know where he was aiming. I leap to the right, as the arrow detonates when it hits the water a foot from where I was, creating a small eruption in the water, and I watch his face shift.
I have him. I move closer, before he can draw fire the second arrow he drew, and once again tackle him down into the water. I'm ready for it this time, he's not going to roll me off now.
"Stay down!" I shout, holding my hand up to my head. I don't have anything against Bow personally, and while I don't share most of the team's qualms about dispatching enemies without needless force, I think for a moment about the kind of example I've set for Adora in the past… Am I part of why she's ending up where she is?
I don't dwell on that thought, as his expression shifts into a satisfied half-smile. I'm instantly more alert as my senses over take my adrenaline. The second arrow… it goes off at my side, the sound of a popping noise heard from where his drawing hand is above the water, and I instantly feel the smoke surrounding us.
I cough slightly as I can't see inches in front of me, as the smoke thickens up, and this means danger. I have him pinned, but I can't see him, and I don't have his hands. My thoughts tell me he isn't going to do anything that can hurt, they're mighty rebels after all.
But I had bad experiences when my sight was removed from me before, and instinct makes me jump back, trying to get out of the smoke.
I try to see if he's coming for me, but then I remember he was only ever trying to make it back towards the middle of the bay, and I can hear that he's already up. I start moving, and allow myself to finally look at the shoreline. A line of Bright Moon guards? That's fine, we have the men moving on foot through the bay at several points away from where the team is fighting those princesses. She-Ra was only ever intended to be a big, flashy diversion here.
I don't even think about what Bow could be planning, all he has are tricks. And he still makes use of them even after Adora made it so he couldn't fire most of them. I need that quiver off his back again, now…
I move fast, again going to catch up with Bow, but he's pretty much already back near the other princesses. They're struggling against Adora and the rest of the team, and we're advancing. Slowly, but it's working.
Bow goes to draw an arrow and fires before I can get to him.
"Adora!" I shout out to warn her. And she turns. She sees Bow, the arrow, and instinctually leans back. The arrow soars past her. Knowing Bow, it wasn't lethal anyway, but Adora still seems frustrated at this.
However, as soon as Adora takes a step forward, the wind princess hits her with another major gust of wind,"Ugh!" Adora grimaces, and she swings her sword at the water in a downward swinging motion, using She-Ra's strength to create a small tidal force towards her. The blast concusses the wind princess, but since it's still water and the distance between the two was enough, she's only phased.
At the same time, I use the opportunity to leap up behind Bow, taking one swing for his quiver. But he turns around at the same time, my claws connecting uselessly against his shoulder guard.
Bow goes to draw an arrow, and I see Lonnie and Rogelio finally making their way back from presumably dragging Kyle out of the water so he wouldn't drown while unconscious. Good, the numbers are back. Bow takes his shot, I duck, his arrow of some sort flying over my head.
Bow hears the footsteps behind him, turning to quickly fire an arrow at Rogelio. I don't see what the damage is, I'm too busy sneaking glances at Adora and the princesses. The net princess has barely been able to do much, and the wind one is getting exhausted.
I watch as Adora is getting closer to the two, still trying their best to slow Adora down, but turn my attention back to the archer.
He's grappling with Lonnie, and I move to get him off of her. It takes all of one second for me to close that distance. However, when Bow sees Lonnie smirk, he turns to see me coming, and I again miss my mark for his quiver strap as he quickly pushes back from Lonnie.
I move for him, but as quick as I am, I'm not fighting with a target. He's guarding his quiver, I need to do something he won't expect. I move to kick him again, it's worked already, but he swings his bow down and slams it into my shin.
I hiss from the stinging, and move against him again with my claws going straight for his face, but I'm letting my anger get to me, he's reading me now. I pause, taking a breath as he steps back and dodges again.
"I'm really starting to dislike this guy," Lonnie says on my left.
"I'm flattered," Bow responds, pulling another damaged arrow out of his quiver. Flat tipped. He throws it towards Lonnie, as if it was a dart, and it's clear he practiced throwing his arrows before, too. I move to smack it out of the air, my reflexes are faster, but apparently he thought of that too. I turn back, my stance compromised, just in time to see as his bow flies towards my face.
Bow's POV
I'm heaving, my muscles are tense, and I'm cold from how the water has so thoroughly soaked into my clothes. I'm tired, running out of arrows, and She-Ra is closing distance through the bay. I spend a few seconds staring at Catra, who's laying dazed against Lonnie's arms. There's a small amount of blood trickling out from under her mask, and it even looks like I chipped a small piece off the right side.
Lonnie is ignoring me, she's keeping Catra standing. The fact that she's standing means I didn't swing too hard, but I needed something. She was playing me the whole time, and I needed to get her off of me in order to help Spinnerella and Netossa slow She-Ra down. If we can't keep her in the bay, away from the Moon Stone… We're not going to stop her if she gets to the queen or destroys the stone.
I turn slowly, Lonnie mumbles something to Catra, and starts moving to close the last of the growing distance between us and them. As I move over, I glare up at the pillar. I hope Glimmer makes it to Angella alright.
I turn back to She-Ra. She's way too close to the princesses, and Netossa's nets and Spinnerella's winds just aren't slowing her down anymore. She started this fight off slow, clumsy, unsure. She's rapidly becoming more confident, and that is dangerous.
I draw another arrow, aiming for She-Ra's arm, when the reptilian slams into my side.
"Ow!" I grunt out, as I'm moved backwards from the impact. The lizard-man roars at me, he wasn't out either? I'm not doing as good a job at watching the field as I usually do, and that needs to change. The reptile moves for me, but this one is slower. Strong, but clunky. As he charges for me again, I easily sidestep him and sweep his leg out from under him with my bow, and he falls to the water. I grab a half-broken net arrow and activate it above him, ensnaring him into the water.
We're performing a full-on retreat back towards our side of the shore, and we're barely holding off a fraction of the Horde army that's actually here. The Bright Moon guard are engaging the Horde Foot soldiers here and there, but we're outnumbered. I don't know if we're going to hold in time for the others… and at this point, the thought of Perfuma and Mermista making the difference seems slim. But if we keep them in the bay, Mermista will be able to completely level the field.
She-Ra is even closer to Spinnerella, and I can see the concern in Netossa's eyes. She's slowing She-Ra down, repeatedly ensaring her legs, but it isn't working. She's too close. I throw myself at She-Ra, practically throwing myself onto her back as I put my bow over her head, and pull it into her neck. I pull, hard, trying to get her off-balance enough. But I manage the distraction.
She-Ra reaches her left arm up and over her head, and I freeze as she grabs my shirt color and pulls. I'm thrown over, and slammed into the ground in front of her, and hard. The air is immediately knocked out of my lungs as the water pools around, holding my head above the line.
I open my eyes after the shock, and she's standing over me, her foot in the air above to drive down. But it's enough of a shift in balance for Spinnerella to knock her back slightly, and Netossa moves forward to help me up.
"You okay?"
"Enough. You?"
"Enough," Netossa looks down into the water, picking my bow back up for me, "don't lose this again," she jokes.
I nod, turning back to Adora who's still moving against Spinnerella's magic.
Adora steps forward, I can almost feel the ground shaking with every step she makes, her feet digging into the mud under the water for support against Spinnerella. Unfortunately, only one of them is getting tired.
I reach my hand into my quiver, and Netossa moves forwards as She-Ra closes the distance, and drives her sword so hard into the ground I can feel as the entire nearby area gets disrupted. My feet go off-balance, Netossa slips, Spinnerella's powers drop as she steadies herself. And She-Ra takes the opportunity. When she lifts her sword, the ground and water swell up in a massive wave of force directed entirely at Spinnerella, and the shockwave sends her flying back.
"Spinny!" Netossa shouts, instantly moving towards her fiance. Finally stable myself, I grab what I feel is my last arrow that wasn't damaged, and this one isn't a trick arrow.
Netossa creates a quick net-bubble around She-Ra, and supports Netossa. She's not unconscious, but she's definitely hurt and dazed.
I step between She-Ra and them, as She-Ra bashes through the net. "Get her out of here!" I shout.
"Are you insane!?" Netossa practically screams. "We need a full retreat back to the shore!"
"We don't have time," I reply calmly. "Go." She nods reluctantly, helping Spinnerella and slowly moving back to the shore.
She nods, I can see the tears in her eyes. I turn back to She-Ra. She's moving closer again, and I see Catra and Lonnie moving up too. Okay, Bow. You got this.
"Adora, look around…" I say, slowly, letting the draw I have go loose. "The sky, the weather, the darkness. If you go through with this, it's over for all of Etheria."
She stops in her tracks, staring at me for a moment. "Why are you trying so hard?"
"Because it's the right thing to do." And because I really don't know how thick She-Ra's skin is and I'm out of tricks, this arrow isn't going to do any good as another warning shot.
Adora actually pauses at my words here more, she looks like she's thinking for a moment. I can see the other two coming up from her right. After a bit, she says, "you know, Shadow Weaver always told me growing up that princesses were violent instigators who couldn't control their own powers. She said it like a mantra, making sure I knew it as if it was fact. She lied about so much… Yet, I do see it, you know?"
I pause, as does Catra, from slightly back, as she and Lonnie slow down near She-Ra. It doesn't look like a single person here expected this. So she thinks she's the hero here?
"She-Ra is strong. Strength that makes her perfect for violence. Power that can enact real change, even if it's dangerous. But that isn't it. I keep thinking about… Glimmer in particular. Violent. Impulsive. Headstrong." She finally looks up at me, from the sword. "Reckless. I know something's still up with her, she wasn't sparkling. Yet here she was, still fighting.. And here you are, alone."
"You wouldn't get it," I say. "This isn't a game for us. This is about Etheria's survival."
"Oh but I do. That's all this has ever been about. Survival… This isn't a game for me either. And I'm done going easy on people who don't deserve it." She moves forward, and I draw the arrow tighter again. "Stand aside, Bow. You can't stop this."
Glimmer's probably right. There's no chance this is really going to work, no way I can get her to just drop everything. I sigh slightly. Maybe… maybe I just take the shot… "Adora. I'm not moving."
She steps even closer, close enough that if my arrow wasn't ready to be fired I wouldn't have the chance. "I respect you, Bow," she says simply. I can see the conflict in her eyes. But she lifts her arm, and the sword, and I release the arrow.
She-Ra is fast. She moves just enough for the arrow to deflect all her sword, and it flies off to the left. And I freeze as it heads straight for the other two.
Thankfully, the arrow doesn't embed itself anywhere. But unfortunately, that doesn't mean it doesn't connect.
Catra lets out a loud hissing noise, as the arrow grazes past the side of her waist. She-Ra turns to see Catra holding her side, the blood pooling slightly around Catra's fingers. I can see as her eyes go wide. I can also see as her eyes travel up a little, to Catra's chipped mask and the blood underneath that.
She-Ra turns back to face me. Her expression is now one raw and pure anger. The conflict is gone entirely. I feel myself swallow nervously, and lower my bow to my side.
"I didn-"
The impact is sudden, quick, I barely even see the motion as she drives her leg up and forward. And as it connects, I'm immediately pushed far, far back. It's similar to when Spinnerella pushed Glimmer and I out of She-Ra's path, but now it hurts.
I land hard a second later, rolling far and fast through the water towards the shore. I think I hear my name, but right now I'm worried about the fact that I'm awake, but can't breathe.
I hope I didn't just have my ribs broken. I'm laying face down in the water, and I feel nothing except this radiating pain across my torso. I could be dead… had I been slammed into something like a wall, I'd be dead. I feel my body barely responding. I feel like it takes all my strength to just lift my head up above the water.
I gasp, feeling like my lungs unlock, and start inhaling air.
I turn my head back towards She-Ra… wow, I really was kicked back far. I slowly try to stand up. I dropped my bow somewhere between her and me. I'm out of usable arrows anyway.
She-Ra is angry, closing the distance fast…
"Sorry, Glimmer…" I whisper to myself, clutching my stomach.
"Why don't you stay down, Bow." She-Ra says to me, coming to stand right in front of me. She's so imposing… that hit took too much out of me.
But I need more time.
"Adora… don't do this to Etheria… whatever you're after, it can't be worth all of Etheria."
Adora pauses for a second. She turns around, looking over towards… her team? The shore? I can't see her eyes. She turns back after a second. "This is worth everything."
She-Ra raises her arm, and sword, and I try to think of something, anything that I could do to buy us more time.
"Bow!" Netossa shouts, and I turn around to see her coming up right behind me. She throws her hands forwards, creating a barrier between She-Ra and me, moving up to my side. She's concentrating hard as She-Ra drives her sword into the barrier. "Are you okay?"
"Where's… where's Spinnerella?"
"Handed her off to General Julliet. She's okay."
She-Ra's sword comes down on the net again, Adora's form is no longer that of a well-trained soldier, but someone who is angry.
"Netossa… we need to go."
"No, I'm buying time, remember?"
Why is Netossa so stubborn? "I'm out, and with Glimmer up at the Moon Stone and sick I can't get my spare quiver, and my bow is somewhere in the bay."
"Then go! I'll keep holding her…"
I grab Netossa's shoulder, she's straining to keep the barrier from breaking. "You can't fight her, we need to move!"
"There's nowhere left to move to!"
I turn around. We really are too close to the pillar…
"We… we can still do this… We can still… we can…" I look down at the water. It's so cold… She-Ra is barely scratched… What can I do? Wait, is the water… lowering?
"I just need to keep holding, Bow. Go!"
She-Ra swings again, and the net barrier breaks. Netossa's stress at holding it so long shows, there's sweat dripping down her forehead and she's breathing heavily, as she moves even closer.
"Why, why are you still fighting?" She shouts, almost frustrated and desperate as I help Netossa steady herself.
I look down at the water one more time. The water is no longer up halfway to my knees, it's almost down around my ankles now. I look up at She-Ra, and I smile. "Just so we're on the same page, you do know where we are, right?"
She'ra looks stunned, glancing over to the Moon Stone pillar and Bright Moon's castle, before looking back down to me. "What?"
I can almost see as the water starts separating from the ground, floating around us, and she finally looks down at the water and her eyes go wide. She turns around, quickly, to the rest of her team, "Catra, Lonnie, get back!"
But you can already hear the sound of the wave that's been building from down the bay.
"Okay, this is our cue," Netossa says, grabbing my arm, and we turn to start moving. Adora steps forward, and Netossa creates one more net around the two of us as a massive wave crashes down around the bubble.
Adora's POV
My head is ringing, my vision is disoriented, I feel myself coughing up water. I look around, watching as the water level slowly starts to recede back to normal. There's a boat, another Salineas boat.
Mermista.
I look around. "Catra? Lonnie? Rogelio?" Where were they?
I keep scanning the water, I see Lonnie first, being pulled up by Rogelio. The wave knocked her out. Rogelio looks at me for a second, before looking back towards the woods. That's fine, we're already down Kyle and no one has seen Scorpia since she went after Glimmer.
How is this going so badly? The woods are frozen over, the princesses should be weaker than normal. Even if She-Ra wasn't at this battle we should be winning!
I look up at the Moon Stone. The spider bot that made it past the Bright Moon guards was supposed to take down that barrier by now. The princess, Glimmer, must've made it.
But still…
"Catra!" I shout, looking around again, as I hear the boat land down beside Bow and Netossa.
Bow… he hurt Catra… where is she? I'm moving through the water, looking for her, when I finally turn and see her just… sitting there. I move over.
"Adora?" She whispers, looking up at me. Her hair is matted behind her, completely soaked. She's sitting up to her ribs in the water, she's clearly still in pain.
I hold my hand out, helping her up. "Get back to the shoreline, you're done here," I say. I can't let her get hurt again.
"What? No, I'm not done! We haven't won yet!"
"That's an order! Go!" I say, pointing towards where Rogelio is carrying Lonnie away.
"Absolutely not," she responds, but I can still see the blood on her face, at her side.
"Then at least go find Scorpia, you're done here," I say, turning around. I can't let her get hurt. I make my way towards Bow when I realize… I don't know where my sword is. Whatever, we'll find it when Bright Moon is ours.
As that boat comes to a halt, I watch as Mermista and Sea Hawk pour out over the top of it.
"ADVEN-" Sea Hawk goes to shout, but is cut off as Mermista casually flings some water onto him, for some reason.
"Don't do that," she responds, before moving over the edge of the boat and landing next to Netossa and Bow.
"Sorry…" Sea Hawk says, following after her.
I'm still walking closer, there's enough distance still that they don't seem to care yet.
"You- you guys actually came," Bow says, sounding like he's still in pain. Good.
"Yeah, sorry it took so long. The sea kinda sucked today," she casually splashes water behind her, for emphasis. She looks down at Bow, as if studying what went on, "Oh, wow, you like, need to get out of here."
I see the glow of my sword in the water, stopping and moving sideways to go pick it up.
"Not until we stop her," Bow says, pointing at me as I lean down and pick up my sword.
"Is that Adora?" She asks, and I turn back to face them, holding the sword.
"That's Adora. And She-Ra," Bow replies. So they did know about She-Ra… I figured they must've learned something from the Crystal Castle.
"Well, here. Can't have you fighting that with nothing," she says, summoning and handing Bow her trident.
"Um… thanks." Sea Hawk starts walking towards me, Mermista and Bow haven't seemed to notice him moving.
"You guys are all talking like I'm not here," I say, watching as Sea Hawk pulls out his golden rapier.
"Engarde," he challenges me. I look down at him. Does this man have a death wish?
"Sea Hawk!" Bow shouts, finally noticing him, and Mermista and Netossa both turn and look over at us.
"I'll have you know I am a master-craft swordsman. Try me if you dare, but I do think that this little battle is-"
I swing my sword hard at his, down near the handle, and it instantly flies out of his hand and is flung through the air, landing in the bay. It sticks into the mud, the handle showing above the water.
"-already… over…"
I can't help but smirk now, turning and walking back towards Bow and the princesses when Mermista moves forward. I don't really know what to expect here, but it wasn't to feel like I'm getting hit with fifty pounds of force, blow after blow, as water crashes into my side, then my back, then in front of me. This one's angry. I am too.
Bow moves forward, thrusting at my sword with the trident, trying to lock the handguards of my weapon with the prongs of his. But him getting close means Mermista needs to calm down, and I twist my sword so the trident Bow is using is immediately forced out of his hands. I'm getting really tired of how this guy is still going. I go drive the pommel of my sword down onto him, when the trident is flung back at me and snares through my cape, pulling my back slightly as the cape is torn.
I look back at Mermista. How did she- she summons it again, moving closer and flinging water up into my face. I blink a few times, and see the trident hurling towards me again. I move my sword fast, blocking it, but Bow catches it out of the air and it drives it back for the sword again. It almost frustrates me, at least Mermista wasn't aiming to subdue with that second throw.
I plant my feet, using the stance to swing the sword out from under the trident, and back down on it after going through a radial arc. The trident snaps in half under the pressure of the sword, and Bow is knocked back, slightly stunned. I smirk, but the trident just dissolves into water.
I look back at Mermista, she's holding it again, unbroken. This is getting old. She drives it forward, not aiming for the sword, so I need to be careful and actually focus my blocks and parries, but it's difficult literally standing in her element. I feel as she keeps flinging water at me, or trying to pull my feet out from under me. I head splashing behind me, too, stealing a glance to see Sea Hawk has retrieved his weapon, and is moving at me from behind.
"You're really mad about Salineas!" I grit out, pushing against her trident to block Sea Hawk's attack, disarming him again instantly. He looks dejected, but again moves off to grab where his sword landed, as I turn back to Mermista.
"No, this is for Entrapta!" She shouts, driving her trident forward again. I Block it once again, driving it into the ground. I need her off of me… I slam my sword into the ground with it, creating another shockwave that knocks her back and Bow further so.
"What?" I ask, before realizing that oh, that's right, they don't know she's alive.
Mermista and Bow both seem dazed, Netossa has fallen back again, and Sea Hawk is still moving for his sword again. I go to walk towards the Moon Stone Pillar, and Mermista stands up to get in my way. But I'm tired of this. She sends water at me, and I block most of the impact off my bracers, before sweeping her legs out from under her and walking towards the pillar.
Then I feel it. It's lighter than it was at Princess Prom, but still there. The feeling of something small but braided wrapping around my ankle. So that's what Bow was waiting for. I turn around when suddenly three more of the vines shoot up and wrap around my legs, trying to hold me in place. I look around. Where is she…
I see as a few of the tanks that weren't destroyed by the wave suddenly get their drivers pulled down or just lifting the tanks to aim upwards, rendering them useless.
I swing my sword down, slicing through most of the vines around me. We're far from the woods, anything reaching me here is coming straight from her… I pull one of the vines, hard, watching as I pull up a strand that shows the direction she's coming from.
There she is, heading closer, clearly prepared to be so far out from the woods with how she's riding on a wave of green mass. She comes to a halt near Bow, helping him up.
"I saw the distress beacon, I turned around as soon as I did, but I was already in Plumeria, I'm sorry, are you all okay?"
"Don't let her get to the Moon Stone…" he whispers, ignoring her question. Is she even going to be able to stop me out here?
She turns to me, stepping closer as her vines move out through the bay. "It's really you, you're really She-Ra…" she says, almost in awe.
"You know about She-Ra?" I ask, narrowing my eyes. That wasn't an explanation of shock, it was one of… adornment?
"The universe has not been kind to you, She-Ra," she says, stepping closer. This immediately puts me on edge. Another princess preaching to me about doing the right thing? No.
I take a few more steps back. I'm so close to the pillar. The tank shots couldn't crack the barrier, but it did make sure the Bright Moon guard were more focused on watching the flanks than assisting the princesses. But if I took the whole pillar down…
"She-Ra is supposed to be Etheria's savior, the one who would come to us in our darkest hour." She motions around, specifically to the darkened sky. "Is your heart really in this?"
Shadow Weaver always said I was destined for greatness… I look down at my sword, still stepping backwards…
"Adora…" Bow's voice calls out, also stepping closer with Perfuma, as he goes to help up a still dazed Mermista, "this isn't how this has to go down."
I feel my hand tighten around the grip of the sword handle. What if… what if Light Hope was right? I look up at the Moon Stone… then back at Bow.
Bow… he hurt Catra. He doesn't care, he just wants to win…
It was a mistake… he was aiming for me.
It was my fault, my sword deflected that arrow.
I wasn't good enough.. I can't be weak now.
And then I see it, something enough to confirm for me everything I need to know. Perfuma's vines, that went everywhere… she hands Bow his bow, they must've scoured the water.
"I'm not who you want me to be," I say, coldly, turning and driving my sword into the base of the Moon Stone tower.
"No!" I hear Bow shout, immediately feeling as vines shoot out, pulling around my arm and trying to pull the sword out of the tower, but I drive it deeper.
Water hits me in the side, hard, a constant stream. It reminds me of the pressure of Hored fire-dousing vehicles.
I let go of the sword momentarily, pulling the vines off my arm, snapping them, and tugging on them to pull Perfuma off her feat. I bring her close, causing Mermista's water pressure to waiver.
I let go of the vines, turning back to the tower. Bow's running up, his bow was useless without his arrows. I grab the sword, and drive it upwards. I watch as cracks form up the length of the tower. Yes!
I pull the sword out, preparing to swing again, when I feel the water around my feet go cold.
Wait, but that one wasn't-
I feel the ground almost rumble as the water begins to freeze over, and suddenly a massive tower of ice shoots out up along the entire length of the pillar. I turn around, watching as the eleven-year old princess is creating a floating ice slide along the far shore, taking out what was left of our undamaged tanks with massive ice pillars coming out of the bay.
Why is she here? She wasn't with the rebellion, she wasn't in the alliance…
Fine, this doesn't change anything.
"I hope I'm not too late," Frosta chimes, sliding over next to the others. They're forming a circle around me, blocking me in.
"Right on time, you just saved the war," Bow remarks.
"What do we do?" she asks, looking up at me, "and who is that?"
"She-Ra," Perfuma says.
"Adora," Bow responds.
"I'm… really confused," the child remarks.
"Later. Be careful, she's really strong. Get the sword."
"You know I can hear you, right? This doesn't mean anything!" I shout, turning back around to strike the Moonstone again, but am stopped in the motion as I hear that one noise I really was not expecting to hear.
*Poof*
"Hi," Glimmer smirks, immediately holding both her hands up, and in a dazzling display of light, I'm forced to back up, shielding my eyes.
I swing wildly, missing entirely, as I feel more vines wrap up around my right arm.
I blink the glare out of my eyes, moving to once again remove the vines when water flows up and around my other arm, encasing it in ice. No…
"Move!" Bow shouts, running up to and placing his hands on the sword near my hand, but hey don't know She-Ra's strength. I don't know She-Ra's strength. I pull out of the ice casing, and feel as two sets of arms go around my left arm, holding it back. I turn to see Mermista and Sea Hawk both struggling against me.
"Nnn!"
Glimmer blinks back behind me, and she throws herself onto my back as she places her arm around me in a choke hold..
"Agh!" I let slip.
"Bow, get the sword!" Sea Hawk shouts.
"I'm trying!
"That won't stop me!" I grit, moving to try and see just how much force I can put into the ground with my foot, but the water around my legs immediately freezes, slowly crawling up my body. Thankfully, She-Ra must be temperature resistant, or that would really suck.
But I'm starting to get annoyed.
Perfuma and Mermista are both grunting, Sea Hawk actually barely seems like he's trying. I feel my frustration growing, I can't move, and I'm starting to think I shouldn't have field-tested She-Ra.
I start pulling, hard, against everything. Trying something to break everyone's grips on me. I could probably do it so easily, swing my sword up into Bow, but the man just seems to know he's invincible.
"Hold it, hold it!" Glimmer shouts, tightening her grip around my neck. It still isn't enough to even choke me.
"I'm trying!" Bow shouts back, still pulling on the sword.
"Get! Off!" I shout, trying more against the vine, but I can't get enough movement between them and Bow.
"Um, guys, I- woah!" Perfuma's voice rings out, but she's behind my field of view. A second later, I feel the vines on my arm go slack, as the weight on my back is lifted, there's screams, snarling. A *poof.* A hiss. Catra.
In the panic, I pull my arm, and sword, out of Bow's grasp, and Mermista lets go of my arm as she straight up grabs a large chunk of my hair with her other hand and pulls. Her other hand pulls over a torrent of water, slamming into Catra behind me, and by extension my back. I feel as Catra flies over me from the force. But as Mermista lets go, I break Sea Hawk's grip and immediately knock both of them back.
Bow steps back, and *poof,* and immediately Glimmer is at his side with a literal second quiver. Bow immediately undoes the strap on the one holding the broken arrows, putting the second one on, and drawing, as Catra stands back up.
"What are you doing!?" I shout at her.
"Scorpia's fine," she calls back, moving for Bow. Suddenly, Another wave slams out into Catra, knocking her against the ice pillar holding up the MoonStone tower, and Mermista is keeping her there.
She shrieks, and I turn to Mermista when Glimmer appears beside Catra.
"You in particular, are really starting to get on my nerves!" Glimmer shouts, and more vines begin to form around me.
"Glad I could be of service," I hear Catra snarl as I take a rush of water to the face, and feel something hard and cold slam into my back, turning to see the child.
It's too much, there's too much. I slam the sword against the ice structure Frosta made, shattering it, but careful to avoid her hands, before turning and swinging on Mermista when I hear Catra shriek again. Glimmer has her pinned to the ice, Bow aiming an arrow at her.
Move.
I drive my sword at Mermista, connecting again with a trident, before immediately grabbing it, and pulling it aside. She isn't quick enough to react, and I kick her hard, she falls back into Sea Hawk's arms. Then, I turn around to face Perfuma again. This time, I swing the sword down, and for the second time today, fire a beam of energy out from the blade, frying most of the vines surrounding me.. I really need to learn how this works.
I turn back to Catra, almost gently pushing aside an overly angry Frosta, who musters something about Princess Prom, before I grab Glimmer's cape, and Bow turns to immediately fire an arrow at me.
It's a small explosion, hitting my shoulder guard, and the noise rings loud in my ear. I'm stunned, but still pull Glimmer off of Catra. I move myself between her and the entire princess alliance, in a state between dazed, posed, and a barely conscious Mermista.
Bow draws an arrow, Glimmer fires a ball of magic, and I raise my… shield? What?
The magic is blocked, and when Bow fires, I quickly move the shield down to block that, too. Perfuma and Frosta are back to normal again. I turn to look at a still very dazed Catra, she's pushing herself too hard right now, the small trickle of blood on her face nothing to the wound in her side. She was hit by so much bay water, that needs to get cleaned now.
She's hurt because I wasn't good enough, because I pulled us out here on a whim of the "princesses being weaker." Why did I listen to her idea… She's done, I'm done. It's over.
I look back at the alliance. They're… glowing. Visibly glowing. No wonder Catra hates magic, this is almost too much to even look at.
"It's over, Adora!" Glimmer shouts, charging up more magic.
"Couldn't agree more. You're all lucky I wasn't here for lives!" I shout, and slam my fist into the back of the shield. The resulting shockwave is enough to stun all four of the people still looking at me. I quickly turn around, placing the shield on my back, and grab Catra, a hand under her neck, a hand under her knees.
"Adora, what are you-" she panics, placing her hands around my back.
I don't think. I look back towards the skiffs, and push hard with my legs. The air I achieve almost spooks me, and I feel Catra's claws dig into me as she screams out from the sudden movement. I clear half the bay in one leap, and look back to the alliance. They're standing, watching. No one makes a move. I turn back to the shore, and as I start walking I look down at a still spooked Catra.
"Why are we leaving? Put me down!" She shouts, pushing against me, falling out of my arms as she moves to land properly.
"We lost, the tanks are all gone, half our army was hit hard when Mermista arrived."
"You could've stopped them."
"We're done," I say sternly, grabbing her wrist and moving us towards the shore. I make it another step before I feel She-Ra leave me, pausing momentarily.
I'm frustrated, fed up with these princesses, mad at myself for Catra's pain, mad that Catra isn't listening.
Catra doesn't fight against it, she follows. And soon, what was left of our army was sounding the retreat.
I'm in so much trouble.
Glimmer's POV
The shoreline on either side is decimated. People lay unconscious everywhere along the Bright Moon shore from where the guard and Horde soldiers fought. The destruction of vehicles on the other side is going to take forever to clear. There's ash and smoke along every inch of the castle and surrounding buildings from where the energy shots hit. But the relief everyone collectively feels… is immense.
She-Ra retreated, the Horde is in a worse state than ever, my mom is safe, and the subtle glow beaming off the princesses seemed to have supercharged the Moon Stone, pushing back the cloud of darkness.
There's a myriad of voices, congratulations, a few hugs.
"ADVENTURE!"
"It's over! Bright Moon is saved!"
"That is how it's done in the sea! Really good job."
"Yeah! We did things Together!"
"Isn't it wonderful!" Perfuma's laughter rings out, everyone is just… happy.
Wait. "Bow, where's Netossa? And Spinnerella?"
"Spinnerella got hit hard, she'll be okay. I'm sure Netossa just went to check on her."
"Oh, okay," I say, looking down at the water we're all standing in. That was too close. She-Ra is… definitely going to be an issue moving forward. But I won't take this moment away from everyone. "What about our horse?"
"Yeah… I have literally no idea what that was about. I hope he's okay…"
"Glimmer?" I hear my mom's voice behind me.
I freeze slightly, before turning around and throwing my arms around her. She really struggles to hold the barrier up, but I was able to get up there before anything really bad could happen with that Horde Bot, and my staff was able to deal with it, but I was so afraid… she looked so hurt before she could recharge me.
"Thank you," she whispers, pulling me into a hug.
"So," Bow says, walking up to us, "there's going to be a lot of cleaning up to do."
"And a lot to figure out with that She-Ra person," Mermista mutters. "I threw pretty much everything I could at her without drowning her."
"Spinnerella did too…" Bow says, quietly.
"That… that isn't She-Ra…" Perfuma sighs.
"It sure looked like her, she definitely didn't look like the side she was fighting for," Bow says, looking up at the Moon Stone support tower.
"We're not going to be able to reason with her," I say, walking up to Bow, "she's clearly too far into the mission."
"No," Bow responds, "she hesitated. She isn't sure of anything."
"Regardless, the rebellion has a major issue on their hands," my mom chimes in, "She-Ra has undoubtedly been shown to be a real threat to everything we are fighting for, threatening to wipe out our livelihoods for the sake of the Horde. Regardless of the course you all decide to take in dealing with this threat… be diligent."
I nod, placing a hand on my best friend's shoulder. "We'll figure out, either way."
"I hope we do. If the others were any later…" he looks down, holding his hand to his midsection.
"They weren't, we'll figure something out."
"We're going to need to be careful, the clouds are gone but the woods…" my mom points out, and everyone looks at the ice still covering the trees along the far shore.
"Good thing you have us," Mermista says, and Sea Hawk walks up supportively, placing his arm around her back, causing Mermista to slightly freak out by pushing Sea Hawk down into the water.
"Yeah, I wish to… assist in the matter of reaching the She-Ra," Perfuma says, looking at Bow.
"Yeah, this is gonna be a whole thing, isn't it," Mermista says, "since I definitely agree with Glimmer that she isn't going to listen to reason."
"We'll worry about that later!" Frosta shouts, "For now, I want to beat up more Horde soldiers!" Okay then, Frosta… sure…
"Um, so, are you part of the alliance now?"
"Yeah, I guess. The Kingdom of Snows was brought into your war, but now we can continue this fight as allies instead of separate individuals. If Bright Moon had fallen… you were right. The Kingdom of Snows would've been isolated."
She isn't wrong. Salineas is fine, for a bit again, but without Bright Moon, we would lose Plumeria in a matter of weeks. We already are worried about a conquest of Dryl, but, there's enough for us to worry about right now.
I look around at the princesses, at a very tired Bow… I'm going to need to take him straight to the medics after this. "Then we'll fight the Horde, and She-Ra… together."
"For the rebellion!" Bow shouts, standing up straight, before immediately leaning back over to clutch his torso.
"For the rebellion!" A few other people chant, as Perfuma finishes it off with, "For Entrapta!"
Adora's POV
"You didn't have to retreat…" Catra mutters, as she walks out of the infirmary.
"Are you okay?" I ask, standing up and walking over to her.
She lifts the edge of her shirt, showing the bandage covering her side, "It's fine, I was more worried about you.
I sigh, relieved that she seems okay. "I'm fine, too. But um, we have an issue."
"Oh?"
"Hordak. He wants us at his Sanctum, as well as Entrapta and Scorpia, having been more involved than the rest of our team."
"Great…" She again mutters, clearly not in the best of moods.
We made our way through the halls, the sanctum thankfully wasn't far, but I have to know. "Why did you turn back around?"
"To make sure you got out of there."
"You didn't trust I can handle it?"
"You didn't trust I could…"
There's a slightly tense tone to both our voices, we're both frustrated with the way that battle went. I assume she's mad at me for telling her to go, but if she just would've listened she wouldn't have taken that other hit when she was slammed into the ice, it's a miracle she didn't get a concussion.
"Oh, hey, you're here, great! We can, uh, go head in and most of us will… meet the Horde Lord for the first time," Scorpia says, as we turn the last corner through the halls.
"Entrapta," I immediately single her out, "I thought the Princesses were supposed to be weaker, they mopped the floor with our troops and weaponry."
"Hmm… Well, I did notice in my readings that as the fight went on, all the other runestones actually started… harmonizing off each other, which further pushed down yours and started to slowly draw energy back out of the Black Garnet."
"Farther weakened mine?"
"Well, you are a princess, you went into that battle weakened, too. And since you're a stronger princess, the proportionality of it must've meant you lost more total strength overall… Ooh, that's fascinating, I can't wait to run more tests on-"
"No, we're done messing with the runestones, if we even survive heading in there," I say, acknowledging the door.
"We'll be fine, Hordak doesn't actually do anything," Catra mutters quietly.
I hope she's right. We head inside, making our way towards the throne that Hordak is residing on. He's sitting there with his head in his hand, resting over the chair. He waits until we reach nearly the base of the chair before he starts speaking.
"Force Captain Adora, it would seem your experiment with he Black Garnet has failed, and I am disappointed in your inability to accomplish what was promised."
"On the Contrary!" Entrapta shouts, standing forward, and I feel myself freak out at what she is possibly going to say. "The experiment was a huge success, I know more about First One's tech than ever before! This is just the beginning. More power drawn from Runestones, She-Ra, the potential for nearly unlimited power and weapons capabilities! This is just the beginning!"
She… actually said something helpful.
"Lord Hordak," Catra says, also stepping forward, "Our plan, and She-Ra's raw magical abilities got us closer to conquering Bright Moon than anyone ever has before." And then, in an utterly bold move, she adds, "far closer than Shadow Weaver was ever able to accomplish."
Hordak pauses, looking back between Entrapta and Catra. Then, his eyes move over to me.
"Force Captain Adora. I do not approve of your use of a magic likened only to yourself, if what my Imp recorded is true. But you can use this magic to crush the rebellion, and bring order to the chaos that the princesses cause?"
"Yes, Lord Hordak. Give me time to learn how this sword works, and I promise, I will deliver you Etheria myself." I have to be careful in how I phrase everything, and have to play to what he wants.
Hordak again pauses, thinking for a moment. "I am… not blind to the exceptional performance your team provides when on the field. Your failures are unacceptable, but are less common than any other field operators we have. Very well then. You will have other opportunities to prove yourself to me." Then, he looks back at Catra, as if considered something, before he adds, "and you are right about Shadow Weaver. I was displeased with her.. Interruption, earlier. Force Captain Adora, you will serve me more… directly. As my second in command."
The words ring through everyone. Scorpia looks shocked, Catra looks… honestly terrified, as she glances at me. Entrapta has no idea what it means and just smiles at me. I- Second in command? He really did notice everything I put into this mission… And this is exactly what I need to keep my team safe, to ensure our future in this world.
I smile, looking back at Catra. Climb the ranks, outpace Shadow Weaver…
Achieve our dream.