Chapter 154: The Lost Dimension Part 8

Research Station Beta, PU-9623, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

They were back in their home dimension! Finally! Adora almost sighed with relief as she looked around, but she noticed Angella was looking like she was frozen except for her eyes darting back and forth as she took in the room. Oh - Angella had said that…

"According to the scanners, there is no residual extra-dimensional energy," Hordak announced.

"Hordak!" Angella spat, tensing up.

Adora winced. They had told Angella about Hordak, but maybe they should have prepared her a bit better for meeting her old enemy. On the other hand, what if she had refused to come?

"Queen Angella." Hordak nodded at her, then looked at his display. "The data explains several of the readings we got from the dimension. And the timeline checks out. It seems that time isn't amongst the constants affected by the dimension's nature, then."

"Oh?" Entrapta quickly moved to his side. "You managed to get data about the dimension's past?"

"I extrapolated a ripple effect from the divergences in the base readings," Hordak started to explain.

"Oh!"

Both seemed to be ignoring Angella, who was glaring at them. Adora saw that Sam looked like she really wanted to join them but didn't dare to. What a mess! At least the former slaves were taken away by the guards.

"Welcome back, Adora, Jack O'Neill." Beta appeared in front of them and bowed.

"Alpha!" Angella tensed up even more, almost snarling at the projection.

Right - she knew Alpha. Both the base and the bot. And she probably didn't have good memories of either. Adora winced.

But before she could say something, Beta spoke up. "I am not Alpha. I am Beta. Alpha is in charge of biological research. I focus on extradimensional research." She cocked her head sideways. "Are you one of the original test subjects of Alpha? The data I was given seems to indicate that."

Angella's glare intensified, and Adora saw she was clenching her bared teeth.

"What data?" Glimmer asked. "We didn't have any idea… Hordak?"

Hordak looked up. "When I was informed about Queen Angella's presence in the other dimension, I requested all the data we had on her. If it became necessary to extract her in an emergency, the data might have been helpful for calibrating the system."

Extract her… "You planned to kidnap her?" Adora blurted out. Like he had - with Light Hope's help - kidnapped her?

Hodark frowned at her. "Only on your orders as the Supreme Commander of the Alliance."

Ah. Adora nodded, then winced again. That still sounded bad! And now it made her look like she would have kidnapped Angella!

"Not on mine?" Glimmer asked, glaring at Hordak.

He faced her. "Your rank relative to Angella's is a little doubtful at the moment."

"What do you…?" Glimmer blinked. "Oh."

And next to Adora, Catra sighed. "Did you really only realise now that with Angella back, there are two Queens of Bright Moon?"

"I did!" Glimmer protested.

"But you did not consider all the implications," Angella said, in a tone that took Adora back to one of Angella's lessons at the start of her time in the Alliance.

"I was more concerned with getting you back home than politics!" Glimmer spat, and, for a moment, she, too, reminded Adora of that time.

"I see."

And now Glimmer was clenching her teeth. This was all going wrong! They had found Angella, saved her - from Apophis's attack - and were taking her home; they should celebrate instead of fighting!

"Royal family drama!" Jack muttered. "It's a good thing we didn't take any journalists with us!"

"Journalists?" Angella was quick to turn to him, Adora noted.

"People who report the news to the public," Jack explained with a too-innocent smile.

Angella frowned at him for a moment. "You talk as if you would take such people with you on a combat mission."

"Well…" Jack's smile widened. "On Earth, we're used to journalists reporting from war zones. Unlike the Princess Alliance. So, there's a bit of a dispute about the whole thing."

"I thought you liked not having to deal with the press, Jack," Daniel commented. "Did you change your opinion?"

Jack frowned at him. This was just him being contrarian, then, Adora realised.

"I see." Angella didn't scoff, but her expression showed what she thought of that. She turned to Glimmer. "Nevertheless, we should discuss this in private."

Adora suppressed another relieved sigh.

Then Angella continued: "And with Adora, of course."

Oh, no!

"...and the readings here indicate that the other dimension - we really need to find a good name for it, I think, but we probably should ask Angella what she wants it called since she basically created its most distinct area. It would be rude to name it ourselves, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." Samantha Carter nodded at Entrapta's question, even though she doubted that Angella really cared about the dimension she had been trapped in. Although she could be mistaken - she hadn't met Angella before this, and any second-hand information had obviously been voided by the changes being stranded in another dimension had inflicted on the woman. In any case, it wouldn't hurt to be polite. And it could hurt to be rude, a small voice added in the back of her mind. Angella had wiped out the Horde in the other dimension, after all. To a man.

"OK! Anyway, the data indicates that the other dimension is free from foreign influences now - we haven't picked up any changes induced by travellers. Unfortunately, we can't tell yet if the area that forms Etheria is stable or if it's started to fade but at such a slow rate that we cannot detect it at this point. And unless the fading rate is growing exponentially, it will be a while until we can detect it. It's not helping that we lack a solid base rate since it was in constant but minimal flux before this. Actually, this might be the first time the dimension hasn't been influenced by a sapient mind from another dimension since Angella appeared there, so this might possibly be totally unprecedented! And given how malleable the entire dimension is, it's theoretically possible that by creating a second Angella, and the desire to stabilise the dimension, we might have changed the constants of the dimension so that's actually possible - a sort of self-sustaining change lasting past out departure. We might not have created a new dimension, but we might have irrevocably altered one!" Entrapta beamed.

Sam blinked, sorting out the relevant points from her friend's slightly rambling talk. "In theory, it might be possible." Mainly because anything was possible in the other dimension.

"We lack the data to tell for certain. And barring positive proof that the affected area is reverting to its basic, undefined state, we will not be able to exclude the possibility that the decay rate is too low to be detected by our scanners," Hordak pointed out.

"If the rate of decay is so low that we can't detect it, then for all practical purposes, the dimension would be stable," Sam retorted. Civilisations could rise and fall - alien civilisations - in such a timespan.

"Unless there are trigger points after which the rate sharply rises. Or cascading effects," Hordak said. "Just because a system looks stable for a long time does not mean that it actually is stable."

"Yes!" Entrapta nodded. "But we can probably improve our scanners if it takes so long!"

"Even that still would not provide us with proof but merely increase the probability that the dimension's changes are stable," Hordak said.

They were mincing words and technicalities now. Sam was familiar with that kind of argument - and she didn't like it. "We should focus on the practical side."

Entrapta nodded. "Yes! Who knows, maybe we'll detect changes soon - although that would be bad, of course."

"If that turns out to be the case, would Angella be available to return to the dimension to restore it?" Beta asked. "That would result in far more useable data, I believe."

"Oh… We can ask her, I think," Entrapta said. "But Glimmer was kind of mad at the idea." She bit her lower lip. "So… I'm not sure?"

"She might mistake such a request for an attempt to banish her again, especially in light of the current crisis of succession," Hordak said. "It would remove her as a claimant to Bright Moon's throne."

Entrapta frowned. "I don't think Glimmer wants her mom gone so she can be queen."

Sam shook her head. "I don't think so either." Sam was sure Glimmer wouldn't want that. A number of kings and queens, historical royalty on Earth, at least, would have jumped at such a ploy, but not Glimmer. Sam might not know Angella, but she knew Glimmer.

Hordak nodded, but Sam couldn't tell if he agreed or merely acknowledged the statement. "It would be better if they could come to an agreement supported by both," he said. "Disputes over the succession often have a disruptive effect on a kingdom, and since Bright Moon is the leading kingdom in the Princess Alliance, with proportionate influence in the Alliance against the Goa'uld, any such disruption would negatively affect the war effort."

Sam tried really hard not to answer that statement with a comment the General would have made about 'realpolitik'. Hordak might not be a warlord anymore, but while he might have lost the ambition, he hadn't lost the cold calculating views fitting the position. He wasn't wrong, though - if Angella replaced Glimmer as Queen of Bright Moon, who knew how that would influence the Alliance? Her actions in the other dimension might lead to a push for a much harsher way to wage war - something many people on Earth and in the Alliance would agree with, Sam knew. Maybe even the General.

But she had no doubt that Adora would disagree, quite strongly, with such a push. And that would cause more issues.

If Bright Moon were a democracy… She shook her head. They had to deal with the world as it was, not as they would like it to be. She could only hope that Bright Moon had procedures in place to settle such a situation. If not, things were bound to get messy; history provided countless examples of how monarchies fared in such situations.

Alliance Base 'Gateway', PU-9623, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"Why did we have to leave the research base?"

"Because I am not holding a private talk where Beta can overhear everything we say, Glimmer."

Catra nodded in approval. Angella might be… traumatised, but she wasn't stupid.

Glimmer clenched her teeth and turned to frown at Catra. "And why are you here?"

"Because I'm not letting Adora deal with this by herself," Catra told her with a toothy grin.

Glimmer frowned some more and then looked at her mother.

"She might have some insight to offer about some of the matters we are to discuss." Angella didn't shrug, but she sounded as if she had.

Catra had to give her props for managing to dismiss both Glimmer's unspoken appeal and Catra's presence.

"I'm not sure we should discuss politics here, or now," Adora said. "That seems something we should discuss back home - in Bright Moon." Her expression was bland, but Catra could tell that she was not comfortable here. Well, she shouldn't be.

"Yes!" Glimmer agreed at once, smiling at her. "We need to discuss things with Dad. And we need to look for precedents in the archives."

"There are no precedents," Angella told her. "I founded the kingdom when I became its first queen." 'And you should have considered that before you spoke' was left unsaid, but Catra heard it perfectly anyway - in Shadow Weaver's voice.

She clenched her teeth. Shadow Weaver was dead. And they weren't discussing her and Adora's upbringing here.

Bow nodded. "Yes. A unique situation on Etheria."

"But the coronation we attended after you were gone… that was a tradition," Adora said. "Wasn't it?"

"I set the tradition," Angella told her. "Back when I ascended to the throne. I didn't expect to rule as long as I did. Things were… more dangerous back then. And I wasn't aware of everything Alpha had done to me."

"Oh." Adora closed her mouth before saying anything else.

Glimmer pressed her lips together. "Dad should get a voice anyway."

"We're not deciding anything without him," Angella told her with a sigh so soft, Catra's ears almost missed it. "But we need to discuss the salient points of the matter so that I can consider it properly. I shall not be rushed into such decisions while missing crucial knowledge."

Catra nodded in agreement again. That made sense. A few of her more… questionable decisions would have been different if she'd had better intel.

"What do you want to know?" Glimmer crossed her arms with a slight huff.

"Do you wish to remain queen?"

Glimmer blinked, apparently surprised. "I am willing to do my duty," she replied after a second. "For our kingdom. I have done so ever since you… disappeared."

"That doesn't answer the question," Angella told her. "I've never doubted that you'd do your duty; I have raised you, after all. But do you want to be queen?" Glimmer hesitated, and Angella went on: "Back during the war against the Horde, you preferred commanding and fighting in the field to ruling."

"I can do both - I did both!" Glimmer protested. "That's how things are done. A princess defends their people with her power - you taught me that!"

"It is not about what you can do, or what you should do, but what you want to do," Angella corrected her.

Catra glanced at Adora. Her love was frowning, but probably not because she had realised that this was a lesson she needed to learn as well.

And Glimmer wasn't happy. "Oh, now what I want is suddenly important? Before, it was always duty this, responsibility that, and suddenly, you want to know what I want?" She glared at Angella with bared teeth.

Adora grimaced at that. Bow did as well, and Catra managed not to wince. Maybe she shouldn't have insisted on tagging along. Bow seemed like he wanted to be elsewhere as well - but he stood behind Glimmer, one hand on her shoulder.

Angella pressed her lips together, probably reining in her temper - the similarity between her and Glimmer was quite obvious right then. After a deep breath, she replied: "Based on what I heard so far, you did well as queen, handling both Bright Moon's internal affairs and foreign diplomacy."

"The kingdom's still standing," Catra added. Both of them glared at her, and Adora frowned, but it was worth it.

"We beat the Horde and we'll beat the Goa'uld," Glimmer said.

And figure out how to deal with Earth afterwards, Catra silently added.

"I'm still waiting for an answer, Glimmer. What do you want?"

Glimmer ground her teeth. "I don't know! I want you back, with me, with Dad! Like it was before!"

For the first time since they had arrived in this room, Angella looked taken aback. "Glimmer…" she whispered, then straightened and nodded.

"And I don't want you to go back to that stupid fake world with the stupid fake copy of me!" Glimmer spat.

Angella frowned in return. Once again, she seemed to struggle with her temper. "I see."

"Do you?" Glimmer scoffed. "You said you might return to this dimension!"

"I said that the possibility shouldn't be excluded," Angella retorted. It sounded like an excuse.

"Always keep an escape route open," Catra said. Angella glared at her again, but Catra met her eyes with a smile. She understood wanting to be able to retreat, to go back to a safe place, where things made sense. And where you didn't have to face your past mistake - or the threat of making new ones.

But she also understood that whether Angella was doing it deliberately or not, she was also threatening to leave Glimmer again. And she knew what that kind of threat did to you.

So she bared her teeth. "But you can't escape this. We won't let you."

Angella kept glaring at her for a moment longer, then looked away.

"So, how are things in Bright Moon? I assume even though the Alliance was victorious, there were significant changes as a result of the war against the Horde."

Catra grinned as Angella changed the subject. She couldn't escape this discussion, but they could continue it later.

Refugee Camp, PU-9623, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"Alright!" Jack O'Neill nodded at the guards stationed at the entrance while the gates swung up before turning to the four former slaves standing behind him. "Sorry for the delay, but checking you for any transdimensional sickness took a while." He smiled. "But your families are in the camp here." With guards placed nearby, both for their security and the Alliance's - these were, after all, former slaves Apophis had picked for being loyal. Not even Adora had argued much against keeping an eye on them in case they were still loyal to their false god.

The men slowly nodded to him - none of them tried to bow, which was good, though a few dipped a bit low - but clearly were already watching for familiar faces amongst the gathering civilians.

And so were the people inside the camp. "Mata!" one cried out. "Mata!"

"Ahak!"

One woman ran toward the group - toward one of the men - Jack had brought, and there came the hugging, crying and babbling. Jack smiled at the display. It was similar to seeing released P.O.W.s reunite with their families.

"Kuni!"

"Sirtak!"

And others found their loved ones thought dead. More tearful reunions with the people they had managed to bring back from the Bizarro Dimension. Which was a fitting name, even if the others disagreed.

But Jack also saw others look around, hopeful smiles fading, turning to grief and tears, when they didn't see their missing loved ones, and his smile turned a little grim. That would hurt the most - realising that your family was dead as you had believed, right after you got your hopes up that you had been wrong. That must feel as if you had lost them twice.

"We should have handled this better," he muttered as he watched dozens - mostly women with children - turn away from the laughing lucky ones. Not that there was a good way to tell people their family member had died. But there were ways that weren't as bad.

"Yes, we should have," Daniel agreed next to him. "I should have predicted this."

"It's not your fault," Jack reassured him. Jack might not be Daniel's official team leader any more, but he was still responsible for him and the others. Especially with Adora and Glimmer distracted by the mess with Angella. This was Jack's fault.

Daniel looked like he disagreed but slowly nodded. "We need more people with the experience and training to handle traumatised victims of the Goa'uld," he said. "And we need to take them with us on such missions."

More people to lift, feed and protect, in other words. But Daniel was right - they needed specialists for that. Combat troops weren't trained for this. On the other hand, Jack wasn't sure if he wanted more civilians on combat missions. That tended to create friction no one needed. The Peace Corps had no place in the Marine Corps. Although… "We'll have to check with the Princess Alliance."

"Oh, yes!" Daniel nodded. "They probably have people with the experience in their forces. And the princesses are expected to handle both combat and such matters. Well, the ruling princesses, at least."

Using heads of state for handling rescued civilians in a combat zone… As much as it made sense, it still felt weird to Jack. Not that he'd mind having another magical powerhouse along on a combat mission.

He shrugged. "Well, we're done here." The crowd was dispersing, splitting up into the different families clustered around the survivors. "We should…" He trailed off as he saw a group walking towards him, Kuta, one of the unofficial leaders - or were they official by now? - amongst them.

"General O'Neill." Kuta addressed him. "As the goddess promised, you brought our missing people back." He bowed deeply. "Thank you."

"Ah, yeah…" Jack grimaced as the others with Kuta bowed as well. "I'm sorry we could not save everyone."

"It is a miracle anyone survived the anger of Apophis," Kuta said. "The goddess brought him low, though."

"She-Ra cut him down," Jack agreed. "Though that wasn't the Apophis you knew - the Apophis here is different." Much weaker, for one.

"Taweret sent your people to another dimension, one filled with people very similar to us yet different," Daniel added. "Their Apophis was defeated, but ours still remains."

Jack didn't think the people surrounding them understood what alternate dimensions were, but they nodded anyway.

"They entered the realms of the gods," Kuta said. "They told us so. And they saw the gods wage war against each other as their carriages clashed."

That was… not quite what had happened. But not entirely wrong, either. "Something like that," Jack said. "It was complicated."

"Divine matters are always such," Kuta said. "Incomprehensible to mortal minds."

"I wouldn't say that," Daniel objected. "Apophis wanted to conquer the dimension - the realm - and he was defeated and slain by its defenders who wanted to protect everyone from him."

"Pretty straightforward," Jack agreed.

"And the ruler of the realm returned to this realm," Kuta went on. "To reunite with her family. As the goddess has reunited our families, she reunited hers. Praise to the divine She-Ra!"

"Praise to the divine She-Ra!"

Jack winced. They needed better opsec on such missions. Just because those people had been raised as slaves of the Goa'uld didn't make them stupid, he reminded himself. Obviously, the freed former slaves had picked up more about the mission's background than Jack and the others had realised. Or wanted them to. This complicated matters.

And that more people were treating Adora as a goddess wasn't helping, either, but Jack was kind of used to that by now. It was Adora's problem, anyway.

PU-9623 Orbit, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"This planet doesn't have a Stargate - Apophis didn't want to risk someone else finding it by accident - so we have to take a spaceship to the closest system with a Stargate," Adora said as their shuttle closed with the Horde frigate in front of them.

"You've explained that already," Angella replied.

Adora pressed her lips together. Yes, she had done that. But the way Angella stared at the frigate, ignoring everything else around her, and the way she had tensed up when she had seen the shuttle itself, it had seemed as a good way to distract her. At least to Adora. They hadn't thought that Angella didn't have good memories of First Ones shuttles. Or First Ones bases. Or First Ones anything.

No, that was unfair - Adora was a First One, and Angella didn't have a problem with that. Or hadn't had a problem with it. Maybe that had changed after her ordeal. Or after she had realised that the portal that had almost destroyed Etheria had been based on Beta's research. Angella hadn't said anything, and she had been more distant than before to everyone, even Glimmer, but Adora couldn't help wondering.

In any case, staying here wasn't helping. Angella wouldn't feel comfortable, much less happy, here, not with Micah on Etheria and Beta's presence bringing up so many bad memories.

"Shuttle D-One requesting permission to land," Bow spoke up from the pilot's seat.

"Permission granted," a Clone's voice answered through the comm, and the frigate's hangar opened up. "We are at Her Divine Highness's command!"

Adora winced.

"So it is true," Angella commented. "Hordak's people revere you as a goddess."

"Not all of them! Only a part," Adora defended herself.

"Technically, Hordak's people don't," Catra cut in with a smirk. "Most of his followers are in First Fleet. It's Third Fleet that's full of her worshippers. Though they proselytise."

Angella frowned but otherwise didn't acknowledge the comment.

"They don't listen to me when I tell them that I am not a goddess," Adora said.

"How can they claim to follow you if they do not heed your command?" Angella asked.

"Earth people do that all the time," Catra said, stretching in her seat as the shuttle entered the frigate. "They claim to follow a religion but only follow the rules that they want to follow anyway. However, to be fair, their gods don't talk to their worshippers. Or do anything. Or appear anywhere. So, it's easy for Earth people to claim anything they want about their gods."

"Priest and his people do obey me," Adora said, pouting a bit. "They're just… stubborn about their belief in me. And it's not as if I can forbid them from believing in me."

"Why not?" Angella asked. "They lay claim to you and you don't want it."

"That would violate their freedom of religion," Adora explained. "It's an Earth concept," she added. "We cannot force people to believe or not believe in a religion."

"What about your freedom not to be worshipped?"

"Ah…" Adora grimaced. "It's complicated."

"Besides, it's better if they worship Adora than any other god," Catra said. "If they decided to worship Horde Prime again, or picked someone else who would abuse the power such worship granted them…" She shook her head.

"Like a Goa'uld?" Angella asked.

"That would be very bad," Adora said, shuddering a little.

"Or any religion on Earth," Catra added. "Earth's history is full of atrocities committed in the name of their religions - long after they had expelled the Goa'uld who had either founded or taken over most of them."

The shuttle set down, and Bow started to turn the systems off.

"If you consider them atrocities, I assume they were worse than anything that happened on Etheria," Angella said as they rose from their seats.

Adora saw Catra flinch at that, and she clenched her teeth.

"Mom!" Glimmer, who had been quiet so far, hissed.

Angella cocked her head and looked at her without saying anything.

Catra shrugged as she didn't care, but Adora knew she was putting on an act. "As far as I know, yes. Though I don't know what you princesses did when you established your kingdoms, back in the day."

"The history records are a bit spotty," Bow said with a slightly forced smile as they walked to the back of the shuttle. "And Dad always says that the documents we do have were written by people with a hefty interest in legitimising their actions to strengthen their rule."

Angella snorted at that. "Indeed. Our history was not quite as noble as many of your peers proclaim. Though given our creators, that shouldn't come as a surprise, even if many of us tried to be better than them."

Adora pressed her lips together. The First Ones had been planning to sacrifice Etheria to destroy Horde Prime. She wasn't responsible for that - she had stopped it - but they were her people. Had been her people.

But they had reached the aft of the ship, and Adora saw that the clones were waiting for them, lined up on each side in neat rows. Someone had even laid down a red carpet, perfectly aligned with the ramp.

Angella didn't comment, but Adora couldn't help blushing when the other woman glanced at her.

"I didn't ask for this," she muttered as they descended the ramp.

But she still smiled when the ship's captain bowed to her. She might not like being worshipped, but she wouldn't be rude to the clones. They had been raised, created, to be unquestionably loyal by Horde Prime and were still learning how to be free. So, she wouldn't hurt their feelings.

"Your Divine Highness, my ship is at your command! It's an honour to serve you and your companions! Whatever your orders, we will lay down our lives to obey!"

Even if it was hard at times.

Research Station Beta, PU-9623, February 4th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"So… Here is the latest data from our transdimensional sensors!"

Samantha Carter nodded at Entrapta as she skimmed over the readings.

"Still no conclusive results concerning the dimension's stability," Entrapta went on.

"It's only been a few hours," Sam replied. "We can't expect to detect significant changes so soon."

"It was theoretically possible," Hordak disagreed. "If we detected solid signs of the dimension destabilising at this point, it would have facilitated matters, of course."

Sam frowned at him. That was a very cold view.

"But that would have meant that the entire world Angella had created would be fading - including the people!" Entrapta protested.

"Yes." Hordak nodded. "But if it turns out to be stable, the Alliance will have to deal with it and all the ethical questions that will cause. Given the nature of the world Queen Angella created, that could be a distraction we might not be able to afford in the middle of the war."

Those were a bit too many 'might' and 'could' for Sam's taste, even if Hordak was likely correct. It was one thing to be able to reach a parallel universe, it was another to be able to reach a copy of your world and yourself created by one of your own in another dimension. Sam wasn't an expert on Etheria's politics, but she knew enough to know that the princesses wouldn't just shrug off such a development - certainly not the ones in the Alliance. And if Princess Sweet Bee and her allies heard about Angella having copied them - Sam was pretty sure Angella had done that - then things were bound to turn very complicated.

Entrapta was frowning at Hordak. "Just because something is difficult to handle doesn't mean we should wish for it to disappear!"

"I am not wishing that the second Etheria disappears; I am merely stating that if it did, it would remove potential problems." Hordak sounded more than a little defensive. "In fact, the dimension provides us with a host of interesting data. Losing that would be a blow to several avenues of research."

"Right!" Entrapta smiled again, and Sam suppressed a sigh.

At least, her dealing with the other dimension - she wasn't calling it the funhouse mirror dimension, which was the General's latest proposal - would be limited to the scientific and technical aspects; others would deal with the politics and ethics of it.

And that suited her just fine. Sam was a scientist, not a philosopher or politician.

Gate Area, Near Bright Moon, Etheria, February 5th, 2000 (Earth Time)

Angella had weathered her first trip through the Stargate better than most, Catra noted when they walked down the ramp. She wouldn't have expected that, especially after Angella's experience with the portal that had sent her into her exile. Then again, Angella had kept Bright Moon going during the war against the Horde even after all the first Princess Alliance had fallen apart, so the queen - or former queen; they still hadn't settled that - was tougher than most assumed when they compared her to Glimmer.

Angella looked around, frowning as she took the sight in. "It looks like a Horde base."

"We used their expertise to build the base," Glimmer told her.

"And their style." Angella pressed her lips together.

Catra almost quipped about picking the best people for the job but managed to hold her tongue. This wasn't the time to needle Angella.

"Well… it works well?" Adora smiled weakly. "The Horde prefab elements allow for quick construction and can be customised to many tasks. If was the fastest way to secure the Stargate location."

"It also means that the first thing visitors see of Etheria is a Horde base," Angella retorted.

Catra smirked at that, but Glimmer nodded. "That was actually a point in its favour - no single kingdom can claim precedence this way."

She was leaving out that the Scorpion Kingdom still heavily used Horde structures, Catra knew, but it seemed to mollify Angella - she was frowning slightly less.

"I guess hosting the Stargate in a base built by Bright Moon might have led to grumblings from other kingdoms," Angella said as they passed through the scanners.

"Oh, yes!" Glimmer sighed. "Some of them would have never shut up!"

Angella snorted and started to say something in return, but the door opened, and she trailed off, gasping softly at the man standing there. "Micah."

"Angella."

Angella started to walk towards him, first slowly, hesitatingly. But suddenly, she rushed forward, faster than Catra had ever seen her moving, all but jumping into Micah's arms.

Yeah, that explained where Glimmer got it from.

Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, February 5th, 2000 (Earth Time)

"So. Now that things have settled down, let's talk about politics."

That's a nice, bland way to talk about Micah's and Angella's emotional reunion, Catra thought as she leaned back in her seat in the private meeting room. Although she couldn't help contrasting it with Angella's reunion with Glimmer. Granted, that had been under very stressful circumstances, and Angella had thought for years that Micah had been killed by the Horde, but seeing this - the two were still sitting together very closely, and glancing at each other far more than at anyone else - had to sting Glimmer more than a bit. If someone had done this to Catra… Well, Shadow Weaver would have done this in a heartbeat.

She clenched her teeth. Yeah, she wouldn't want to be in Glimmer's place. But she would ask Angella after this - sometime after this - why Shadow Weaver had been still alive in the other dimension.

"Yes," Micah said after a moment, nodding and smiling widely at Glimmer.

Angella nodded. "There are several questions to be discussed. And the most important one still needs an answer." She inclined her head at Glimmer.

Glimmer pressed her lips together in response, and from her angle, Catra saw Bow place his hand on hers under the table. Yeah, the tension between the two queens hadn't improved at all since their return.

But Glimmer controlled her temper - mostly. "You want to know whether I want to stay queen," she said in a slightly clipped tone.

"Yes." Angella nodded. "We cannot discuss how to handle this without knowing what you want, Glimmer."

"No pressure," Catra muttered under her breath. Only Adora heard her, though - she glanced at Catra with a slight frown.

Glimmer frowned as well. "Shouldn't we focus on what's best for Bright Moon and the Alliance?" she asked, raising her chin.

"You're the current Queen of Bright Moon," Angella replied. "Forcing you to serve against your will would be as detrimental to either cause as trying to oust you against your will."

Putting Angella back in charge would definitely be worse, in Catra's opinion. Even if the woman was stable - Catra wasn't sure about that - how she handled the Horde in the world she had made showed that she shouldn't be ruling Bright Moon or anyone else right now. The inevitable conflict with Adora, the meddling by Earth and Etherian rulers trying to exploit that… No, that wouldn't be a good thing. But Catra saying so, at this point, would likely not be productive.

"I wouldn't be so petty as to sabotage our efforts just because I didn't get my way!" Glimmer protested. "I didn't do so during the Horde War, either!"

"You did not," Angella agreed - although after hesitating a moment. "And yet, there was a lot of friction caused by our differences, friction which hampered the Alliance's efforts."

"Is that why you created my copy to be so obedient?" Glimmer blurted out. She drew back right afterwards, looking almost as if she were surprised at herself, but Angella flinched as if she had been struck.

"I believe every parent wishes at some point that their children would follow their advice," Angella said with a very bland expression.

"I don't think they want mindless bots that follow orders to the letters," Glimmer spat.

Catra pressed her lips together and glanced at Adora. Her love was biting her lower lip and looking from Glimmer to Angella and back. And Bow was useless as well.

Damn. It looked like Catra had to step in between the two queens. She'd rather charge through a minefield. But needs must, and…

Micah spoke up before she could think of the best way to intervene. "When I was on Beast Island, I was… all alone." He wasn't looking at anyone in the room, Catra noted. "There were no other prisoners on the island I could have talked to. Only monsters that wanted to kill me. And the island itself." He took a deep breath. "I had to struggle to survive. Other prisoners arrived after me, but not many, and none of them lived long enough for me to meet them - I only found their remains. After a while, I don't know how long it took, I stopped looking for them. Or for anyone." He sighed. "I only had my memories - and I could really trust them either. I don't know what I would have done if I had had the opportunity to change things." Now he looked at Glimmer and then Angella. "I wasn't myself."

Angella slowly nodded, reaching out to hold his hand.

And Glimmer was still pressing her lips together, but she looked less angry.

Then Angella started talking. "I expected to die when I stepped through the portal. I hoped to die since the alternative was… being doomed to be lost forever. And I thought of you." She glanced at Glimmer, then turned away. "And then I found myself in a void. Floating in nothing. The fate I had feared the most. I don't remember how long it took for things to change - but I know the first things changed, appeared, without me realising I was doing it. Flowers and grass, a patch to sit down. For some time, I thought I was seeing things - that I had gone mad. And I… didn't mind so much. It was better than just floating in the void." She snorted but without any humour. It sounded more like a sob. "I was a coward. I chose to live in a dream rather than face reality. And in a dream, there are no consequences. Why not indulge yourself? So I did." She was staring at the desk in front of her. "I could have everything I wanted. My kingdom. My friends. My daughter. My revenge. As long as I was fooling myself." Another almost-sob. "I knew - thought - that Micah was dead, but in a few years, maybe I would have fooled myself that I had only dreamt his death."

That was far too personal for Catra. This should have been between Glimmer, Angella and Micah. Catra wasn't part of their family. And she didn't want to be reminded of her own attempt to fool herself into having a perfect world. Her failures. Her crimes. Her…

Adora's hand squeezing her thigh made her look up. Her love shook her head.

With a wry grin, Catra slowly nodded.

"Mom…" Glimmer's voice cut through the sudden silence. A sob followed. "I didn't… I didn't think." She sobbed once. "Sorry!"

"I should be sorry," Angella replied. "I made so many mistakes, even after I realised you had found me."

"I should have known that. After the war, after Dad had returned…" Glimmer shook her head. "I'm sorry."

Catra clenched her teeth and grabbed Adora's hand. She really wanted to be anywhere else. Especially when Glimmer and Angella got up and hugged each other, and Adora, Bow and Micah beamed at them.