"Glimmer…"
"Uh huh…Giant Princess, I see it."
Both Kai and Princess Glimmer could barely believe that the last few seconds had happened; In the brief moment that they heard her battle cry, Adora had turned from a stereotypical Horde soldier into a drastically bigger and ethereal looking woman clad in white, holding the sword up defensively like she had been using it forever.
"AH!" The large woman screamed in shock as she dropped the sword and began to panic; "What did you do to me?!" She yelled to the two as she then transformed back into Adora in the shock.
"Me?! I had nothing to do with this!" Glimmer yelled back as she was still processing that Adora had transformed into an 8 foot tall Princess. "Princesses aren't contagious! You can't just catch it!"
"If it was, I would've been one already." Kai joked as he then saw the bug monster regain it's focus back on the three of them with it's angered roar; "So how about we try to get out alive before we get eaten?!" He yelled as he saw the bug monster come back around to attack them.
"Don't bother with it! I'll teleport us out of here." Glimmer said as she wrapped her arm around their arms to hold on before focusing incredibly hard to gather up as much magic as she could.
Kai held on for dear life as he, Adora and Glimmer were then teleported out of the way of the forest and over the side of a nearby cliff. "Glimmer wa-" There was no time for him to warn her as they vanished from the snapping jaws of the monster, the next thing that the trio realised was that they were falling through open air and towards the ground.
Adora was lucky enough to think of cushioning herself with the landing by using the flat side of the sword to stop her from hitting anything on the way down, though the sword ended up slipping from her hands when a branch knocked at her fingers..
Kai on the other hand grabbed onto the barely conscious Glimmer and used himself as a shield against the branches all the way down, grunting in pain when he finally hit the ground. "Ow…You okay Glimmer?" He asked in between a soft groan from trying to crane his neck.
It may have been a rogue branch hitting him on the head but right now he found himself oddly at ease and comfortable, that quickly changed to him trying to not freak out when he saw why; In his attempt to shield Glimmer from getting hurt in the fall, she was currently on top of him and her head was resting on his chest. He didn't quite register this until he felt her soft body shift and rub against him, bringing about a whole new worry for what could come about.
Glimmer grumbled in response as she was still barely conscious from the mix of her depleted magic and the softness from under her, so much so that in a moment of misplaced muscle memory; She held onto him like she was hugging onto a pillow back home and nestled into it, his attempt to keep his heartbeat steady had acted as a soft lull that didn't help as she nuzzled her head against his chest. "This nice…" She mumbled sleepily and then had a smile form on her face…Though once she woke up enough, she started trying to sit up.
"Hey, you two still around?" Adora called out from behind a bush as she had gotten to her feet and started looking for them, smirking a little as she saw Glimmer sitting and unintentionally straddling Kai's waist. "Wow Princess, I didn't know you guys were THAT close…You sure that's proper behaviour?"
Glimmer blinked and looked at Adora in confusion, then her gaze lowered down met Kai's and suddenly it clicked for the both of them.
Kai couldn't exactly move but he could feel everything right now thanks to the "episode" earlier, her hand resting on his chest and he was certain she could feel his heart hammering against her palm, his throat dried out but Glimmer was the one to move first as she teleported off of him to a standing position in a burst of bright pink sparkles. "Thank god…" He thought to himself as he was worried that he was unlucky enough to say or do something else embarrassing.
"You….You mind your business, Horde Soldier!" Glimmer snapped with a beet red face as she turned away to focus on the trees. "Just keep a watch for that bug monster…" She added and then froze when she saw the aforementioned beast glowering down at them from the cliffside. "Kai…You gotta have a way out of this….Don't you?"
"Sorry Glimmer…All I can suggest is run." Kai said with a distinct lack of confidence as he noticed the sword having stuck in the ground, quickly grabbing it before Adora noticed.
Angered at being made to chase them, the bug monster letting out a screech as it looked for a way down to get them, settling on digging it's legs into the rocky face and skittering down.
"Hey guys? I think I found something!" Adora yelled as she shifted foliage away to reveal a large doorway; It was overgrown but from what it looked like, this was a pyramid like structure that had been built ages ago, worn away by age but equally as out of place. "Looks like a temple or something."
"Well, does it have a door?!" Glimmer yelled as she had her hands raised with sparkles around them like cosmic knuckledusters. "Because I'm not above teleporting us through."
Kai then looked back to her with the baton in one hand and the Sword in his other hand, causing Adora to shoot him a dirty look. "Glimmer, don't! You're already using up a ton of Magic and you've not teleported more than two people at a time."
"Then what do you suggest? In case you haven't noticed, we're kinda being chased right now!" Glimmer argued back but then her expression turned to surprise when she saw the structure's doors open. "You know what, forget it…Run for it!" She yelled as both her and Kai sprinted in the opposite direction of the monster.
The monster however was too focused on the trio to give up, letting out a roar before rushing to get at the lagging behind Glimmer and Kai…Swinging it's arm down to at least tag one of them and get itself a meal.
Kai however picked up it's attempt thanks to his now keener hearing and turned his head to see this, without thinking or hesitation; He shoved Glimmer through the door and then followed even faster as the monster clawed into his back like an angry bear and propelled him through the slowly shifting door, thankful that it shut itself afterward.
Glimmer heard Kai's pain and grew worried when she saw him hit the ground with a thud and a ripped up back of his shirt. "KAI! Are you….Oh…" She was about to panic but then stopped when she realised that despite his shirt's back being shredded, he wasn't even bleeding. "Are you okay?"
"I felt that thing knock into me…But it didn't even hurt...Shouldn't it have hurt?" Kai asked as he rolled onto his back, flinching a little when he felt the cold against his bare skin.
"Of course it should have hurt, doofus." Glimmer pointed out as she helped him up. "You just got clawed at by a giant beast." She said as she then helped him to his feet.
Aside from the fact that the guy now had a draught blowing against his back, Adora was confused at the fact that when she glanced at him: There wasn't even so much as a bruise on him. "Weird…Are you sure this guy doesn't have some weird Princess Magic?"
"If I do then I have a lot of questions about myself." Kai snarked as they headed further into the structure, walking alongside Adora as Glimmer was using a little of her Magic to light the way. "Besides, I didn't know they taught that kind of stuff in the Horde."
"What stuff?" Adora asked as she kept watch, sticking close to Kai while he used the glowing sword like a torch, she may have been Patient Zero to what she was starting to think was Princessification but she was gonna use whatever she could to help her get away from the Rebellion soldiers…When she got the chance.
"Hello? The First Ones' writing all over this place…You're telling me that some random soldier in the Horde hellbent on wiping everything out took the time to learn the culture?" Kai pointed out as he walked alongside her, now more curious about this revelation more than anything. "I've done reading on this kind of stuff and I still don't know most of the language."
"Then that says more about you than it does about me, doesn't it?" Adora snarked at him as she followed the light deeper into the ruin.
Glimmer snorted in disbelief as she got between Adora and Kai. "Oh yeah, like we're supposed to believe that you just suddenly became the leading expert because you read some ancient, thousand year old word and the door opened?"
"Hey, don't look at me like that! I could only do this after that whole business with the sword, you might just be pushing me to the next step to becoming a Monster Princess or something." Adora huffed as she crossed her arms, starting to get irritated with Glimmer's constant criticisms.
"Mon-If anyone here is the monster then it's you and the evil Horde you came from!" Glimmer said with a newfound spark of anger towards Adora and then stomped past her to head further in, her ball of light started to flicker with her emotions.
Kai rushed on ahead to catch up with her. "Glimmer, wait! We can't just leave the sword behind with her and we can't just leave her without the sword…Besides, she's not entirely a monster, she did save us earlier when she could've just either left us or taken us out."
"I don't care! You know what the Horde's been doing just as much as I do but you don't seem to be as bothered by it." Glimmer said and poked him in the chest before taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
Kai glanced to the long hallway before turning to Glimmer with a serious expression. "Look, I'm not saying excuse everything…She's still a Horde Soldier, we get out of here and then we go back to Bright Moon quick…We might need to explain ourselves to the Queen but she'll have to listen when you bring back a prisoner."
Glimmer looked to Kai and then to Adora before silently gestured to Kai for him to keep an eye on her, quickly taking the sword from Kai so he could put more focus on guarding as she led the way, part of her concerns being about keeping a cool head...though another part of her still had some major concerns regarding Kai's episode earlier. "I've never seen anyone react that way to magic and he certainly never did that before around the Princesses….I don't care if he says he's okay, I'm dragging him to our doctors when this is all over."
"You know I'm not going to run away…" Adora said as she saw Kai move back to join her. "And for what it's worth: Sorry about that."
Kai glanced to Adora with confusion as he listened to Adora start talking. "About what?"
"Well, that whole...Thing from earlier…But don't get me wrong, I didn't do what I did to save you…I'm sticking with my alibi of dream sword's custody." Adora remarked as she still felt sore about the sword being taken away before she could understand it more.
Kai looked at Adora with a hint of confusion but also with some curiosity. "Maybe that's because you're starting to like us…I did say Glimmer's a lot nicer when you get to know her." He said to try goading Adora into being more honest since he could see some modicum of niceness behind what she attempted at stone cold soldier personality.
Adora let out a small laugh to scoff at the idea. "Really? So why exactly would I like you or your girlfriend? You two are literally my captors."
Kai nearly swallowed his tongue when he heard those words and turned to try stopping Adora from repeating herself. "Glimmer's not my girlfriend!" He said in a hushed whisper, glad that said Princess looked too focused in her dour mood to pick up on that. "We're just friends, okay? That's all there is to it."
"Really? You're gonna say that after the stuff from earlier?" Adora asked him, finding it funny that this was what got to him despite everything else that happened. "Because there is no way that you two are that chummy with each other."
Kai sucked air in through his teeth as he tried to ignore what he could tell was her poking at him. "It's as you said: Glimmer is a Princess and the next in line for Bright Moon's throne, I'm just some guy that her parents took in to be a ward…That's all there is to it, nothing more."
Adora tilted her head as she saw the way Kai talked about himself along with Glimmer and for a moment, she felt like she was right back with her squad. "But you gotta know that the way she acts around you is not how a Princess should act arou-"
"I said that's all there is to it." Kai said with a stiffer tone to his voice, making it clear that he was not going to talk about this anymore, though he did end up speaking up again like he was making sure of no hard feelings as they carried on. "My name's Kai…Glimmer won't say it but thanks for saving us from earlier."
After a few more minutes, the room soon opened up into a larger area as Glimmer stood in the middle with an expression like she was trying to come back from concentrating too hard. "I…I'm trying to light up everything."
"Okay, you need to take it easy for now, Glimmer." Kai said before patting her back. "We're who-knows-how far away from Bright Moon and you still need to recharge."
"Kai!"
"Wait…You actually have to recharge like a battery? Wow…" Adora said with a snarky tone as she then watched a ball of light explode above them and illuminate the entire chamber, showing off the entire walls covered with murals and ancient texts.
"Whoa…" Kai said quietly as he saw the entirety of everything; Since he had very little to do besides read books, he took whatever book he had and read it cover to cover so he knew that this definitely a First Ones ruin. "Man, this is WAY better than the books."
"Kai, focus! We still need to keep an eye on you-know-who." Glimmer said as she pointed to Adora who was currently staring up at a mural…One that seemed to look very familiar to the three of them.
Kai seemed to believe so as well as he walked over to the mural next to Adora. "Hey, that looks a lot like you." He remarked as he studied the whole thing.
"What are you talking about? That's nothing like me!"
Kai shook his head. "Nah, not you-you…I mean the OTHER you, you know the tall girl with the cape once you took the sword." He pointed out and gestured to the sword in question."
"No way…I couldn't have changed THAT much, could I?" Adora asked to herself as she gazed to the sword in Glimmer's arms and then back to the mural, noticing one particular word underneath it all. "She-Ra."
Before anyone could question what that meant; The Mural then lit up and shot a pillar of light down in front of them, causing a chorus of shrieks from the girls and a yell of surprise from Kai as a hologram appeared before them.
"Greetings Administrator." The Hologram said with a robotic voice as it stood ready for questioning. "What is your query?"
Adora inspected it from all sides, curious about it more than anything. "What IS this thing?"
"What is your query?"
"I mean, this is a First Ones Temple…I'm gonna guess it's a hologram from back then." Kai said as he then stared up at the holographic woman. "Uh…Hi, what exactly is this place and can you show us an exit from here?"
Silence permeated the already dead quiet as they waited for a response…And waited…And waited…."What is your query?"
"Great, this thing's broken…" Adora sighed as she began to look around the rest of the ruin.
Glimmer rolled her eyes as she examined the hologram a little more closely. "Of course it is, this place is older than dirt…how are you surprised about that, then again I'm surprised any of this can turn on at all."
"Administrator not detected, initiating Lockdown." The Hologram stated as the entire room started to shake, the ceiling cracked and shook as it started to come apart.
"Kai, you know this kind of thing, get it to stop!" Glimmer said frantically as she was starting to panic, she had been feeling the drain on her power despite her insistence that she could handle itself.
"I haven't had the chance to get a look!" Kai said as he was getting panicked too, his options were shrinking to less and less options to the point that he threw everything at the wall. "Uh, stop it! Uh, Eternia! She-Ra! Just turn this off already!"
Adora however seemed to have a more solid idea that she hoped would work better. "Princess, gimme the sword! If it's the Scary Lady on the wall then maybe Scary Lady can stop all this!"
"No! You're a Horde Soldier! I'm not trusting you with this!"
Kai however was starting to lose patience and was far more willing to compromise. "Glimmer! For the love of everything, just give her the Sword!"
Glimmer flinched to the side as a large rock hit the ground by her and realised that this was going to end badly if they wait too long. "Hold on!" She yelled as she grabbed both Adora and Kai before starting to build as much Magic as she could.
There was barely enough time for Kai to even warn her as the trio vanished from the collapsing room and they found themselves in the sky once again.
Adora was screaming as she fell through the air; Going from being nearly hit with falling rocks to becoming something similar to a falling rock was jarring to say the least, however she felt her entire body lurch to the side as she managed to feel Kai grab her along with Glimmer…And then landing into the underbrush where the trio managed to get a somewhat softer landing as they collided into bushes below. While not a completely harmless drop, a few scrapes and bruises were a lot better outcome than anything else.
Kai groaned as he could feel the world stop spinning, though this time he had a lot less of a feeling of ache in his body…Something that confused him all the more especially after that monster's attack barely phased him. "Everyone okay?" He called out to both of them but received groans from Adora as she at least had the training to land properly after a fall. "Okay…Better than last time at least." He thought to himself before deciding to let Adora and Glimmer rest off the recent scare...Though after the recent worries, the Princess wasn't waking up so he had to come up with something until she did.
Glimmer then sat up as she finally came to consciousness a few minutes later, both Adora and Kai sitting nearby to keep watch and to ensure she was okay, though wherever they were currently staying in, it seemed to be a house that looked to be lived in. "What…What happened?"
"You teleported us out of the ruins…And then you fell unconscious after you dropped us out of the sky…Again." Adora explained as she didn't seem as confrontational as she did before, nor as snarky. "But Kai took us to a nearby village so we could rest up, you were pretty out of it."
Kai then handed her a pouch filled with water. "You're okay though, right?" He asked her as he felt a little more at ease since Glimmer was awake now.
"Uh huh…I think I overdid it there…" Glimmer said tiredly as she drank down the water before handing it back to Kai.
"Yeah, biggest understatement of the day." Adora said with a snort as she felt a little better knowing that neither of them were hostile to her.
"Yeah, I wonder who could've predicted that would happen." Kai said with an equal level of sarcasm as he looked to Glimmer with a knowing grin.
"Kai…"
"I think it was me…The first time you teleported all of us." Kai said with a faint snark as he saw Glimmer turning pink with embarrassment.
"Kai!"
"I know, I know…But just take it easy for now, okay?" Kai said as he looked at her seriously. "You've already pushed yourself way too hard and any more could make you hurt yourself."
"Really? YOU had a seizure, got clawed at by a monster, fell out of a tree twice and she's getting the lecture?" Adora asked rhetorically as she crossed her arms, confused that these two were like this. "Still…You saved our butts out there and all but are you sure you're okay, Princess?"
"Glimmer…And I'm fine, just need to rest." Glimmer said with more mellow tone with how she normally interacted with Adora, though she did look more curious as she had her next question. "Though…How come you haven't tried to run off? I know we're not exactly the most expert security team but you could've bailed at any time."
Adora's expression changed from her usual confidence into one that looked less sure of herself. "I just…I wanna figure out what's happening to me and I'll never know for sure if I just went back to the Fright Zone, I never knew where I came from or who my family was before all that." She began explaining, letting the thoughts that were circling her mind finally see the light of day. "Shadow Weaver said it didn't matter who I was before, that…that I was nothing before Hordak took me in. There's always been a part of me that I don't know anything about and all of this? It feels familiar yet I don't know how else to explain it properly."
Sympathy began to show on their faces; Kai understood better than anyone about what it was like to know nothing about who they are besides what other people told them, Glimmer did too when it came to knowing that there was more to a person but never having the chance to show…which was why both of them came to a decision.
"Glimmer's mom…The Queen of Bright Moon, she knows more about First Ones stuff than anyone else." Kai started as he decided to try extending outward to her. "She'll have an answer about you or about why the sword reacted to you…So come with us back to Bright Moon and we can help you get answers."
Adora was shocked to say the least; Evil things, corrupt power and a lack of control were the only things that she linked to the Rebellion since she was old enough to learn about the word Princess. "I…Okay…But only for answers."
Kai chuckled a little. "Until then, we can show you stuff outside of the Fright Zone until we get back to Bright Moon, the Village that we found has a festival so hopefully that can convince you that there's nicer stuff." He said before heading out of the door, leaving Glimmer and Adora to talk.
Adora could see that Glimmer looked like she had something to say but the silence left in the room was far more unnerving than anything else that happened today. "So…He certainly knows how to get into people's business." She said to try joking with Glimmer, hoping that trying to get into the Princess's good side would be as successful.
Unfortunately, Glimmer didn't seem as open like Kai had been. "He does…But that's what also makes him a good person." She said with a terseness to her voice that could only rival her mother's. "I don't know what exactly made the sword pick you or why Kai is choosing to help you despite all of my warnings…But he's putting trust in you that you're not going to try anything, so that's why I'm putting MY trust in his judgement."
"Thanks…Look, I know you have your reasons t-"
"Don't, okay?" Glimmer stopped her. "We're not at Bright Moon yet and you have questions just like we do…But you're still a Horde Soldier, just like I'm a Princess so until I can guarantee that you're not going to turn on us at any moment…I'm watching you…And if you dare take advantage of my friend's trust then forget worrying about the Horde, you'll be worrying about me." She warned before the two headed out to take a look at the festival taking place.
The Fright Zone was home to the Horde and to a now questioning Adora; While the Rebellion sought to fight back against the Horde and stop Hordak's corruption of the world they live in, Hordak and a lesser extent Shadow weaver desired nothing more than the power of the Princesses to corrupt for their own agenda.
Only it was Shadow Weaver who noticed that something was out of place; It wasn't uncommon for soldiers in the Horde to go AWOL, she could tolerate that as she could terrify them all when they came back, Adora on the other hand: She was the sorcerer's ward, her apprentice and more specifically, a daughter that she could use in return for a few words of praise. "I've asked you this once already but I will ask you again…Where. Is. Adora?" Shadow Weaver asked as she loomed over her other would-be apprentice/follower in the form of Catra.
"And I've answered you: I don't know! If I did then I'd bring her back here for answers!" Catra bit back at Shadow Weaver with an equal level of disdain; While Adora and Catra were practically inseparable, Shadow Weaver never saw it that way and any problems that she had whether it was Adora's fault or not….It all fell on Catra to blame whether she thought it was fair or not.
Shadow Weaver tilted her head at this; Unconvinced that Catra wouldn't know a thing about her, though more importantly that Adora would just up and leave without any notice. "Then you are either too incompetent to notice one of your own squadmates...Who is a Force Captain on top of that, missing in the Fright Zone or you simply do not care about Adora as much as you beli-"
"Don't you DARE!" Catra snapped as she felt a nerve touched when Shadow Weaver brought it up. "We're friends! She wouldn't leave without a reason and more importantly, I respect her feelings enough to not snoop in her business like you do…Then again, I'm not a clingy old bat like you!"
"Oh, Catra..." Shadow Weaver muttered as she silently watched her, her pale grey hands then gently cupped Catra's cheeks, though the silence that followed seemed worse than her usual routine and Catra was the first one to know why; Without so much as a word and almost at a frightening speed, the magic wielder quickly grabbed the sides of Catra's head and then began releasing red electricity into her as one of her patented "Corrective Catra Measures" whenever the girl got too out of hand. "I despise that you make me do this."
The cries of pain that followed quickly reminded anyone that could hear them of two things; That Shadow Weaver was the one in control and that while Catra could talk smack all she wanted…She'd be stuck like this until something changed, whether that was by her or by something else.
"Fine, I will let you have your way." Shadow Weaver said in a calm voice once she let go of Catra and then looked to her. "I've been tracking Adora ever since she left and I have called you here for more reasons than to…Remind you of your behaviour problems."
"And you couldn't have done that without zapping a hundred whippings into me?!" Catra snapped as she felt more indignant at Shadow Weaver's lack of care moreso than being punished again…That part was something she had to get used to.
"I have to give you a significant reminder, you have an irritatingly bad habit of forgetting who you talk to, Catra." Shadow Weaver said as she craned her body down to look at her, acting like Catra was a child who failed to do chores properly instead of what she had just done. "Regardless, it is fortunate that I am willing to entertain such measures for you…They will make you stronger and more resilient in the face of enemies, I would have thought you'd be grateful I take such consideration for you."
"Yeah, grateful…" Catra growled quietly after shaking off the pounding headache that had subsided, mostly thanks to years of Shadow Weaver's "Practice Tests" with the spell along with her being used to such outbursts. "So what exactly do you need me for if you kept me here instead of just telling me to get out."
"Luckily for you, Catra…I am kind enough to give you a chance to turn this significant failure of your's around…I think it's suitable that's why YOU bring her back."
"That right? And what if Adora doesn't wanna come back to you…Or If I say that I don't want to." Catra said with a toothy smirk on her face, though the crackling volts in Shadow Weaver's hands emphasised her point.
"Your insolence won't protect her, in fact it'll make things worse for you…And then you'll be suffering HER punishments alongside your own." Shadow Weaver warned her with a dark tone that made it clear that she wholly intended to back up that claim.