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prince-toffee · 2 years

Text

Yes And…

@soranis-sunshadow

@metroid963

@glubber

@story-of-the-infinite

Sorry, it took so long. Hope this first chapter is interesting enough for you guys. And I hope you like the big cliff hanger at the end. You guys can do whatever your imagination allows, and I can’t wait to read it. (This chapter is slightly over 5 thousand word limit we agreed on, sorry about that) soranis I believe it’s your turn next. See ya soon!

---

Trenchfoot was a small ‘town’ neighbouring the town of Thaymor, a small agricultural community. To call Trenchfoot a ‘town’ was perhaps overestimating it, a village perhaps, or an encampment. It was a sparse scattering of wooden shed-like houses and tents – that all looked like a gust of wind could push them over. The town was populated by refugee clones. There were several towns/encampments scattered all across Etheria - Trenchfoot was one of the smallest, the biggest was most likely Dryl - since the Queendom of Princess Entrapta was mysteriously abandoned and only populated by her robots, there was plenty of room for clone refugees. Though the clones were still slightly scared and unsure of her.

It certainly did not help that the inhabitants of Thaymor, understandably, were untrusting of clones. And in some cases, even violent – fights often broke out, property damage was caused.

The clones lived in squalor. That was why Hordak and Entrapta were there, to help. The two ex-war-criminals were charged with rebuilding Etheria and all that they had destroyed as dictated by the ‘Community Service Programme’, which forced all ex-Horde (both Etherian and Galactic) to aid with rebuilding efforts as part of their punishment. Dak and En were so busy rebuilding all Etherian cities that they had barely given any attention to the new clone settlements. Hordak wanted to correct that, and so he submitted a request to the Queen for a weekend off. Glimmer begrudgingly allowed it, and so the two mad-scientist went off to their fist stop in need of help, that of course being Trenchfoot.

Entrapta brought her full construction force of builder bots with them, none of which were Emily unfortunately as the spherical sentry drone seemed to have taken a liking to Princess Scorpia and Perfuma and their household. It saddened Entrapta to hear that from her favourite bot, but if Emily was happy, she was happy. And she visited the clumsy robot often. To take her mind off that Hordak attempted a joke (which he was not very good at attempting) and stated that the bots were technically his as they were his designs and manufactured in The Fright Zone. The tech Princess scoffed at that and argued that after The FZ and The Etherian Horde fell, someone had to take care of the poor bots, and Entrapta took that burden apon herself. Plus, she further argued that she improved upon Hordak’s “outdated” designs. Now it was Hordak’s turn to scoff, and the two went into a lengthy debate on the fine arts of robotic engineering. It lasted the whole journey to Trenchfoot, and then some.

Of course, once the neighbouring etherians of Thaymor found out that the clones were having a full town renovation for free, they found it unfair, and outwardly argued that they deserved one as well. Fights broke out once again, and so to calm the etherian citizens The She-Ra herself was sent out by the Queen. The people needed a trusted face. Problem was; The She-Ra hadn’t arrived yet, so everyone was a bit on edge.

En and Dak retreated to their personal tent where they planned out the… well… plan, I suppose. The tent didn’t provide too much privacy, but it was nice to have a wall anyhow when their social anxieties started to kick in.

“[exhausted sign] Yep. The beams are the wrong length. He got it wrong.” Entrapta confirmed as she folded the papers closed and faced palmed. They had been at it for hours by now, the bots were making good progress but like always a problem arose.

“Unbelievable.” Hordak responded, “Can you believe he was a mathematician back on The Velvet Glove? Primedamnit, Charlie.”

“Well, what we can do is send all the beams back to Dryl and wait for replacements, or the quicker option would be to cut them down to the proper size here.” En walked on her hair back and forth as she twirled around in the air and tapped her chin. “What do you think?”

“The second option seems to be more efficient - the drone frontal lasers are strong enough to cut through steel.”

“Yeah, but the increased firepower output could be wildly unfocused and destructive, soooo bots can only do big boom.” En countered.

“Well, they are your ‘improvements’, my previous ‘outdated’ designs would have worked just fine.” Hordak smugly answered.

“Ooooh-kay, fine, don't thank me. I only almost won you the war. Well, I guess we just have to adjust the firing output and then we'll be set.” She said in a playfully dismissive tone with a pout on her face.

“Let's do it then.” Hordak agreed as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

The two scientists dared to get out of their tents and ventured along the town watching the progress their bots were making. The houses were coming along quite well, the beams of metal that were halting progress were for the larger buildings, like the library, town hall, and clock tower which were all planned. The clones living in the town were slightly spooked by the ant army of bots which swarmed their sleepy town. But Entrapta had the foresight to encode a desire in the bots’ programming to be pet as well as a sign saying ‘I love pets, please pet me’. Many of the clones quickly took a liking to the spherical drones, many more kept their distance.

The bots had the ability to spread new information and orders between each other so En only had to adjust one bot and then that bot would go off and inform another and then those two would go off and so on. And that was exactly what she did, she flipped open the dome of a drone and practically dove in, and began to tinker around.

Hordak couldn't help but smile ear to ear. Her purple hair twisted and twirled like a miniature cyclone, her genius mind disassembled, upgraded and reassembled robotic components within seconds. Even Hordak had trouble keeping up with her at times. She was truly unequalled, a miracle in motion. Her mind was a gateway into astounding wonders. She could accomplish anything she put her mind to. The Portal, his greatest scientific feet could have never been completed without her.

Hordak broke his gaze for a moment from his beloved lab partner, and his gaze landed at the source of a noise of wood hitting against ground. The defect found another clone not far away behind them, they were struggling with picking up a wooden crate. Hordak immediately notice that the clone was a defect as well, or at least currently going through the process of defection - as their eyes had an odd case of heterochromia, one red, one green, same with his teeth - the right side of their body also was thinner, lacking wait, sickly, it was most apparent in their boney right arm.

Hordak’s immediate instinct was to get over to them and aid made them as quickly as possible, and he did just that in a couple of long strides Hordak was next to the struggling clone and towering over them. It was obvious the clone was shocked to say the least by the sudden appearance of the ex-Top General.

“Greetings, brother. Allow me to help.” Hordak offered. But the clone seemed... afraid of him? Maybe- Maybe even angry.

“Yeah, no, thanks, I got it.” The clone grunted and lifted the crate and walked back into his home. It was at that moment that Hordak noticed every clone nearby was looking at him and once he looked around at them they all avoided his gaze.

“Beloved, can we take a break for a moment?”

“Sure! Sounds good! Wanna eat something? I had chef bot make us those turkey sandwiches you like.”

“Sounds lovely. I'll be back in a couple of minutes.”

Hordak went off on a tour of the town. Once again his fellow clones seemed to turn away and distanced themselves from him. That is until a certain drunk noticed the dark caped figure march past the front porch of his saloon. The drunk finished the sip he drew out of his green bottle and stood up, his friend attempted to stop him by placing a hand on his shoulder, but the drunk just shoved it off. He slowly staggered towards Hordak and called out, “Hey, Top-General!” As he threw the green bottle at Hordak. It shattered into tiny pieces as it collided with Hordak’s shoulder. Hordak was armoured up, so he remained unharmed, but his cape was drenched and his heart sunk. Hordak turned to face the drunk. “You got the audacity to show your face around here.”

“I’m here to help. To rebuild what I had destroyed.”

“We don’t need you. As you can plainly see no one here wants your help. Why don’t you take your new minions and leave.” The drunk was now face to face with Hordak, his breath smelled of booze.

One of the drunk’s friends, a defect, walked up to him and pleaded with him, “Kase come on, you're making a scene. Let's help DoubleTwo with restocking the bar.” Kase remained in place staring down Hordak with a gaze that could kill. Kase had nothing but hatred on his face, Hordak had nothing but regret.

“My friend, he served under you once. After the Fall of Prime he wore your symbol with pride. And these savages you work for, tore him apart for that.”

Hordak was taken aback by that, he didn't know what to say, he knew anything he said would only enrage the drunken clone more. “I'm so sorry.” Hordak remarked genuinely. “What- what was their name?”

The clone that Hordak now knew as Kase grit his teeth, “His ‘designation’ was HTK337, 883... And his name was ‘Hordak..." Our Hordak remained silent, "These people hate us, hate our face, because of you...” Hordak was ready for Kase to punch him, or for some other act of violence, but no hit came. Kase’s friend took hold of his arm and slowly managed to lead his friend back to the saloon. As he stumbled back he drunkenly exclaimed, “HTK 337, 883! HTK 337, 883! Remember it, Top-General!” He slithered back into the saloon and disappeared behind the doors.

Hordak turned to the other clone, the defect, still there, “I am sorry. Can I help in anyway?” Hordak asked.

“He just needs to cool off a bit... Thanks, [clears throat] for the... stuff... how long are you planning to be here?”

“Well, the bots work fast, our original estimated timeline was two days, but we have encountered a slight set back so the finish date is currently in flux.” Hordak explained. The other defect just nodded with an awkward expression on his face.

“[clears throat] May I give you some advice?”

“Uh, yes, of course.”

“I would not advertise yourself. Maybe drop the cape, and create a more casual look. Your name means a lot of things to a lot of people. And if the Thaymorians see you here; things are just going to get worse. You make things… tensor.”

“I-… I see… thank you.” The clone walked off and left Hordak on his own. The space bat remained silent, and retreated back to the tent, he needed that turkey sandwich.

---

Hordak ate in silence, the taste of his favourite sandwich soured by the experience he just had. Entrapta scanned his face, “What's wrong?” She asked worried. It was obvious, he didn't hide it well. He never wanted to trouble his partner with his own worries, she didn't deserve to be bogged down by his issues, she had plenty on her mind.

“Nothing. I am alright."

“I can clearly see that you are not, would you like me to list off all the factors that led me to that conclusion that I could gather from reading your face?”

“No.”

“Then start talking bat boy.”

“I'm a man!”

“You're a baby.”

“... I'm led to believe that we are not wanted here.”

“Hordikins, we're here for a good cause. This was our weekend off, we could have spent it doing... whatever normal couples do, I don't know; watch a movie or go out to a restaurant or- or have a game night with wine.”

“I enjoy both those things.”

“But we didn't do that. Why? Because we're not a normal couple, sure. But you were the one to tell me you wanted to help out your brothers and you were the one that submitted this project to Glimmer. You're a good person, Hordak. Once they see your good intentions, they'll see that too.”

“Thank you, beloved. You always know what to say to lift my spirits. I only wish I could do the same for you.”

“Aww, you do, everyday." Hordak couldn't hold back a cheesy smile. “Plus, you know what makes me feel better when I'm down? Starting a new project! Experiments always get me in a good mood.”

“Well, that is exactly what I am here to talk about.” A voice announced itself from behind them. It was warm and soft, just like the woman herself. The two scientists turned back to see The She-Ra standing in the entrance of their tent (it was quite a large tent). She-Ra what is a golden and pearl white monument of a woman, towering over even Hordak, she seemed like she was always irradiating light and warmth from her being. Like a pleasant sunny day personified. Wearing that perfect smile is always.

Entrapta practically leapt out of her chair and hugged the young hero, her arms couldn't fully reach around the muscular Valkyrie, but her purple hair could and it wrapped around her twice over. “Aww, My little girl. How are you?!”

“Little?” Adora asked confused as the short woman dangled off her while wrapped around her chest. Adora of course returned the hug.

Once En detached, it was Dak’s turn, his greeting was far more professional – he reached out his hand and Adora firmly shook it with smile. “It is nice to see you, She-Ra Adora.” Entrapta rolled her eyes and nudged the skeleton man, he stammered, “Uhh, and uhm, how are you… Adora?”

“I am doing ay-oh-kay. Thanks for asking.” She replied with a smile. Hordak didn’t know what to do next, so he just stared at the hero awkwardly. En nudged him again.

“I- uh- How are Glimmer and Catra? How are you settling into your new role at BrightMoon? Are- uh- Have you eaten? We have some turkey sandwiches-“

“Now you’re over doing it, Hordikins.” Entrapta said with a smug chuckle.

“What?!”

Adora giggled gleefully, “Thanks for asking.”

“They’re alright. Glim’s busy and stressed with Queen business as always, but Cat and I try to reminder her to rest. Catra’s good too, a new tribe of Magicats has apparently emerged from the underground, she’s having a tough time helping them reintegrate back into surface society, but uhh… I could use a sandwich.”

The three sat back down around their small fold out table, the scientists shared what little food they had with the young hungry hero. They talked for a moment, mostly Entrapta and Adora, they talked about anything and everything, while Hordak just sat off to the side in silence. En was the more talkative one out of the two, obviously, Hordak felt far more comfortable with silence. Entrapta finished with, “It’s so lovely to have you here, Adora. Though it is not under best circumstances – you know, calming the Thaymor crowds, if it comes to that.”

Adora’s face seemed to sour with the final comment, she looked down at her own fidgeting hands, “Heh,” she chuckled to herself, never a good sign, “Yeah, I guess my face has kind of become a brand.” The comment saddened her, her shoulders slouched.

It was time for Hordak to speak up, “Well, at least it is a good brand. You’re a hero to the people.” That brought a slight smile to her face. “Thanks, Dak.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“[sigh] But this meeting isn’t all about turkey sandwiches and self-esteem boosts, I’m afraid… I don’t know how to-… [sigh] there has been a break in at your Sanctum, this morning while you were away. We have confirmed that something has been stolen.”

“What?! What was it?! What did they take!?” En asked panicked.

“I don’t know, Glim wouldn’t tell me, it was classified apparently, but from what I could gather from her tone, it was something big, something important and dangerous.”

“Dangerous? We halted all weapons manufacturing, I don’t understand.” Entrapta remarked.

“Me neither.” Hordak concurred.

“Do we know what exactly they stole, or even who stole it?” En asked.

“As for the ‘who’; no. All security cameras were shut down, and all the boobytraps were expertly avoided. As for the ‘what’; again, I don’t know, but apparently you might. Classification: Pink. I looked it up, that means only the Queen and apparently you two know of the item’s existence…” Their eyes widened with recognition, “Item: Halo II. Ring any bells?”

It did.

“How bad is it?” Adora quirked her brow.

‘End of the world’ bad. They both thought but neither of them answered.

“[sigh] I know you can’t tell me anything, but I need to know how bad it is, and how quickly we need to get into gear.”

“As soon as possible.” Entrapta and Hordak replied at the same time. Though normally Adora would find the synchronicity of the couple cute, the hasty response unfortunately confirmed the Valkyrie’s concerns.

“Alright, let’s go then. “ Adora clapped her hands together and brushed off the invisible dust off of them. She stood up and led the way out of the tent.

---

The rebuilding efforts at Trenchfoot were abandoned for the time being, though a handful of bots were left behind to continue the work – most drones were sent out all across Etheria, into every notable civilian settlement, several were sent into the wilds and forests in search of hidden compounds. All in search of ‘Item: Halo II’. The partners luckily knew that the item left a trail, invisible to most if they didn’t know how to look for it, but as bright as daylight to those who could track anti-matter ripples and interdimensional quantum entanglement strings (which are very real things and not nonsense, shush you). The bots were programmed to detect and track these anomalies.

The bots weren’t the only ones out and searching, pretty much the entire BrightMoon Castle Guard was equipped with R’n’S detectors (which stood for ripple and string, because it’s very real science) and were sent out across the Queendoms.

Entrapta had returned back to the Sanctum to look for any additional clues. She went through all of the security cameras – nothing. Nothing, nothing. Like at all. All of the footage wasn’t just scrambled, it was gone. Entrapta racked her brain around it, “Who? How?! Who could have pulled a number on my cameras, my traps?! The traps weren’t avoided, they were deactivated. They were showing off.”

Hordak’s voice came over their communicator, “It’s not that impressive, beloved.”

“Do you know many people that can deactivate my traps? My tech?” En sounded slightly infuriated.

“…No… not many…” Dak responded quietly. En returned to the systems she was dissecting, she was getting more frustrated the more she looked over it, and Hordak knew it. Entrapta was a renowned scientist, controversial, sure, but undoubtably brilliant. She was known across the entire planet. That was partially because there weren’t many scientists on Etheria – The Makers Guild was the only scientific organisation on the planet. Entrapta worked with them until being thrown out for ‘unethical experimentation’. Etheria was a medieval world, heavily reliant on magic. The field of science was unexplored and niche, and Entrapta was on top of it. Science was her thing, she owned science. All her life she had the gift to ‘understand’ machinery, she was good at making things, tech was overlooked like her. But she rose up to prove everyone wrong. In the field of science she was unparalleled, and unequalled.

She could pride herself on that – that was her thing. But now… someone had surpassed her, made her tech look like a joke – at least that was what she told herself as she beat herself up. And it wasn’t just that, not just that the thing that brought her comfort and made her stand out was toyed with – the thief also had the audacity to steal from her, steal her tech, her greatest achievement to date.

En was just stewing in it, she was never this quiet. The Princess always had something to say in that adorable chipper tone, but now she just sat alone in her Sanctum in silence. Hordak had to ask if she was still there, he wasn’t sure if she had hung up, “Entrapta? Beloved? Are you there?”

“[exhausted sigh] Yeah, I’m- I’m here…”

“My love, I know you are upset by this, but there’s nothing to be done about it, we must look onward to the future… is that any good, I am not good at being the optimist?” That got a light chuckle out of her. He always prided himself whenever he managed to make her laugh. She always made him smile and he wished to return the favour.

“You know what it was. It was our way out. The key to ending our contract with Glimmer… we could’ve been free, in space… [dreamy sigh]”

“I know… I know…” Hordak’s words held a sense of melancholy, a sense of knowing and understanding. “If anything new comes up I’ll inform you right away.”

“Kay… love you!”

“I love you more.”

“Ha! Scientifically impossible.”

Adora giggled as she overheard the conversation between the two love birds. Hordak seemed to grow more embarrassed as he realised she was on the same communication frequency. “[Clear throat] Uhm, well, anything on the R’n’S detector?”

Adora and Hordak had set off in search of the thief and the item. They were currently in the small rural Queendom of Plumeria, the Castle Guard had already taken point in searching BrightMoon, and Plumeria was the closest Queendom from there. They asked around if anyone saw anything or anyone suspicious or out of the ordinary, anyone carrying any strange tech with them. Tech wasn't exactly very common amongst their people so a glowing case would rather stick out. But, nothing. Nothing at all.

It turned out that travelling alongst The She-Ra, The Saviour of the Universe, had its advantages. The people of Plumeria practically bend themselves backwards for her, every step of the way people were gifting her with gift baskets and flower necklaces. No one there was fond of Hordak, he got his fair share of glances, but She-Ra seemed to cancel the negativity out. Adora kept up her fake smile as she was continuously weighed down by all the presents. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it, it was just that... it was stressful being herself every day, she didn't enjoy all the attention and being placed upon a pedestal. Sometimes- Most of the time she felt like the world only saw She-Ra, and Adora was unimportant and obsolete.

The Plumerians kindly allowed them to take residence in one of their tree houses, which I suppose was more of a tree-motel (it was a very big tree). The thick long reaching branches acted like balconies, which overlooked the forests of the lush green Queendom. Adora and Hordak both made their way out onto their room’s branch.

Hordak pretty much blended into the night sky, Adora stood out like a star in the void of space. So she depowered and returned to her regular form. Hordak noticed that she was almost relieved to do so. He realised there was yet another time for an awkward conversation, “Do you not enjoy your She-Ra form?” That was a bit blunt, wasn't it? He wanted to bury his face in the ground as soon as he realised what he had said.

Adora had a hard time answering that one, “[huff and puff] I mean...”

“I am sorry, I didn't think- before- I didn't mean to.”

“Nah, it's okay, I actually don't get to talk about it with many people that much. Me complaining about being popular might come off as... entitled to Catra, and Glimmer... well she's been busy a lot... kinda distant lately too.” Hordak might have known something about that. Adora continued, “Can I talk to you about it?”

“Of- Of course.”

“I mean I have everything anyone would ever want, people shower me with gifts, people treat me like a goddess. I don't have the right to complain, right?... But now, now that the war is over, She-Ra feels like She-Ra's no longer a heroine fighting the forces of evil to save the world, and more like a... I don't know- a mascot that you wave in front of people to pacify them, and keep everyone happy and entertained... I feel like She-Ra means something different nowadays. I feel like compared to She-Ra, Adora is obsolete.”

“I understand.”

“Hmm?”

“And I believe it is my fault. You are a child born into war. You have never known anything else.”

“Have you?”

Hordak remained quiet, he supposed she was correct, they both comprehending the world through conflict. Hordak literally couldn't live without his Brother’s holy war so he created a new one to feel purposeful, useful, again. It was what felt normal. And now Adora felt the same thing. Like the only way she could mean something was through conflict.

“War is not all there is. Wars are waged to gain peace. Peace has been restored, thanks to you. You should feel pride, Sh- Adora. Let these people love and worship you. People feel the need to have faith in something, anything, and I believe there is no one better to believe in then you.”

“Wow, thanks, Dak.”

“Do not call me that.”

“Heh... well what about you? What do your demons look like?”

“Like a mirror. You are lucky, I would do anything for my name to hold as much meaning as yours does.”

“Talk to me.”

“I have brought upon so much misery and pain, for once- for once I wished to do something good. I wish to help our small society of clones to progress on this small distant world. I wish to watch us prosper. I wanted to be the one to bring upon that prosperity. But... my brothers have decided that they do not need me, they do not want me. I named myself. I redefined myself… But I wonder, was it for the better? I created an identity for myself, but that did not mean my identity meant anything meaningful to anyone but me. What good is claiming a name for oneself if the name is an insult to others.”

“I'm sorry.” Adora replied. “I think what you're doing with Entrapta - helping clones adjust to life on Etheria - is honourable. You just gotta keep it up! The alliance wasn't built in a day you know, it took months for me to get everyone to trust me, I was ex-Horde, they had reasons to doubt me. But I gave them 100%, and when they felt comfortable around me, they gave me 100% back, every time. So, what I'm saying is: Friendship is Magic.”

“Ugh.” He rolled his eyes.

“... So, anything on the detector? Any sign of... whatever we are looking for?”

“No.”

“... Look I know you can’t tell me what it is-“

“I can't. The Queen would have my head.”

“Glim wouldn't do that.” That was an absurd notion too Adora, her friend wasn't capable of such things.

“…”

“Dak, just tell me. She'll never know. You can trust me... I don't like being kept in the dark.” She stated with her newly changed more solemn and serious tone. The woman placed a hand on the clone’s shoulder. The defect attempted to avoid eye contact, but some invisible force forced his blood red eyes to make direct contact. Adora’s determined eyes bore a hole into Hordak’s soul. “What is she not telling me?”

“...I… It’s anoth-” BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP. It was their communicators, Entrapta was attempting to make contact. Hordak opened the line.

“I got a trail! And you won't believe where it is!”

Trenchfoot.

What was that thief playing at?

“Well?” Adora asked as they geared up to leave. Hordak sighed, “Very well, we will tell you, together. Come on.” They set off.

They wanted to get back to Trenchfoot as quickly as possible, that was their objective. But when they happened upon a band of bandits robbing a travelling farmer, will come on, they had to leap into action. The rag tag team of thieves were... surprised to say the least, to see The She-Ra and The Hordak in a team-up.

---

Entrapta had made her way to the township as quickly as possible, her newly constructed hover-carrier turned out to be quite successful. She was the first one to return to Trenchfoot. She sought out the bot who detected the trail, and double checked the readings they received. She grinned to herself, “Ha, gotcha.” Readings: Confirmed. Item: Halo II was definitely here. There was no mistaking it. In fact, the entire area was riddled with anti-matter ripples and interdimensional quantum entanglement strings, the real issue now was pinpointing the exact location of the item.

Adora and Hordak arrived soon after her and watched on as the short purple woman zipped around from bot to bot. Adora assumed that the engineer was too busy to notice them, but Entrapta knew they were there without even looking, “Ah, great! You’re here!” Entrapta often joked about having eyes at the back of her head, Adora wondered if there was some truth to that.

“The R’n’S is off the charts! But that's kind of the problem, I can't fine-focus the instruments. We should split up, and-“

“En, before we go in swords-blazing, I think you should tell me what we're looking for.”

Entrapta’s face had worry written all over it, “I- We can’t say, Adora...” She looked over at Hordak for support.

“[exhausted sigh]... I... I believe we should tell her. She was going to find out sooner or later, Glimmer needs her for the project sooner or later. She deserves to know.”

BEEP. BEEP. Entrapta returned her gaze back to her data-pad. Two energy spikes appeared on her radar. “Two spikes!”

“Then we split up like you said.” Adora stated.

“Very well, Adora you shall take the eastern spike, beloved let us venture to the western spike.” Hordak declared.

“No, Adora cannot go alone, only you and I know how to shutdown the machine if it activates.”

“… Alright. Then you go with Adora.”

“I can take care of myself, Hordikins.”

“I know. Please, it would make me feel better if you had someone by your side.”

“Fine, fine. Let's go.” She set off.

“We got this.” Adora winked at Hordak and followed En.

---

Where the spike brought Hordak wasn't anywhere in Trenchfoot specifically, but rather to a grassy field just outside of the town. The grassy blades were tall, so Hordak began to sift through them, if anyone caught him doing so they'd probably think he was quite mad.

The bending, breaking, and kicking around like a child eventually resulted in success, he found it, or rather a part of it. Hordak knelt down to the spherical device - it resembled a plasma globe like one you would find at a school science fair. But in truth it was far more dangerous, and far more powerful. The electric power inside the see-through glass-like container was a bright green. Hordak recognised it of course, it was the power generator for the item.

He activated his communicator, “I have found the power source in the west field. I'm going to attempt to depower it. Do you have any luck on your end?”

---

Entrapta and Adora found their way to the new under-construction library. The bots did a splendid job in a remarkably short time – En was so proud of them. Even if the roof and windows were unfinished. Adora replied to Hordak, “We are at the location, still looking.” The two began to sort through piles of building materials, and the dozens of bookshelves that were incorrectly ordered ahead of time before the library could be finished. “So...” Adora began once again.

“[sigh] The Community Service Programme Council assigned us both to various reconstruction efforts. Well, actually they assigned Hordak to that, I just volunteered. I got off easy... I think it was because I was a Princess.”

There was a noise behind one of the bookshelves, something fell or moved or something. Adora drew her broadsword and took point when approaching.

“Show yourself...” Nothing. “I'm She-Ra The Princes of Power. Trust me, I got on good authority that you don't want to mess with this.” Then the shelves began to topple over at Adora. Who easily held up the furniture with one hand. But then again what good was all that cosmic-powered muscle if you couldn't see - the flash bang lit the entire structure like a Princess Prom party, just for a second, but long enough to blind her.

The thief sprinted to the nearest window and lept out. Entrapta had managed to cover her face with her hair just before the flash bang hit. But she couldn't see who the thief was, they were cloaked in shadow. She could however see that they had the item with them - a glowing briefcase.

Entrapta took Adora by the arm and led her after the escaping robber. “Hordak, we've spotted- well- I've spotted the perpetrator. It looks like... Like they're headed your way!”

“Understood.”

“How are you?” Entrapta held Adora’s face in her hands, “Look at me. You ‘kay?”

“Yeah, I'm- I'm alright. Come on, they're getting away!” Adora remarked as she began sprinting. Entrapta kept up, but only barely, taking long strides with her mechanical her.

“…They were never going to let him go. It was a lifelong commitment. The truth was the first Community Service Programme we were assigned to was ‘fixing up Beast Island’. It almost killed us. Heh, but it was fun, at least we were together. Then, The Programme was to rebuild the Salineas. Then it was to remove all Prime technology from the lands. Then it was something else, and then something else, and then, and then, blah, blah, blah... it never ends.”

The two caught a glimpse of the runner, covered in torn cloth and darkness of night, the thief disappeared within the crowds of clones conducting their nightly market. Adora and Entrapta bobbed and weaved between the clones as best they could, “Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me. Excuses. Sorry, coming through!” Entrapta consulted her detector, “Spike’s going that way!” She pointed in a direction and Adora followed.

“We were never going to be finished... But then, Glimmer came to us with a proposal, an offer. Upon the completion of the project we would be free of all charges, and we would be free to leave.”

“Leave? Leave… what? Leave where?”

“Well... Etheria. And as too ‘where’; I don't know, wherever the universe takes us. I always dreamed of- of finding out what lay outside the veil surrounding our planet, and I wanted to learn all there was to learn about it. And then the veil fell, and I could finally go explore. And then… I didn't. I was stuck here, on this world, prevented from leaving...”

“I'm sorry En.”

“The spike’s moving into that field.” Entrapta contacted Hordak, “They're headed for the power supply! They should be there any second now!”

“Understood.”

“…What was Glimmer’s offer?”

“...Glimmer... wanted her mother back...”

“…”

“She commissioned us to construct a new Portal-”

“No-... No, Glim- God no...” Adora couldn't believe what she was hearing.

“-And to rescue Angella from the Inbetween. We didn't know how to. I mean we could build a Portal, heh, we were plenty good at that. It was probably too easy... But saving Angella, well, that's a completely different science. It was her sacrificed that closed the rift, if we remove her from the Inbetween... someone else would have to replace her or you know; it's the end of the world.”

“Why?! Why would you do it, Entrapta!? You knew it was dangerous!”

“I- We couldn't say no! She’s the Queen!... And, if it meant freedom, true freedom... We- I decided it would be worth it. I'm sorry, Adora. But I won't grow old and die here.”

Adora was disappointed with En’s answer. She truly believed that Entrapta had changed, learned from her mistakes. She had hoped that all the amoral experimentation was a thing of the past. “I- I'm disappointed Entrapta. I thought you'd be better.”

They arrived at Hordak’s location, the alien man awaited their arrival. No sign of the thief. “We lost them?” Adora said in disbelief.

Entrapta scratched her head, “That can't be right. We were right on them.”

“I have seen no one.” Hordak replied.

“You sure?” Adora asked.

“Doesn't make sense. The R’n’S says we’re right on top of them.” En remarked as she waved the device in the air as if trying to get signal for a TV.

“You sure you saw no one? What about the power thingy? Where is it?” Adora questioned.

“Right here.” Hordak pulled out a device.

“I don't get it.” En mumbled to herself, she slapped her machine, which she never did. She was circling Adora and Hordak, walking back and forth. It was unfortunate that she hadn't noticed that what ‘Hordak’ pulled out was not the power generator, and that under those torn and tattered robes he wasn't wearing his armour.

She did however notice the real Hordak tided up and gagged in the tall grass underneath her as she stumbled upon him. His eyes wide, he was trying to warn her. A grey dulled out orb laid next to him; drained of its power, The Portal was already powered up.

“Adora!” En yelled as she tried to warn the young hero. But it was too late. ‘Hordak’ clamped onto She-Ra’s wrist Item: Halo II – the newly upgraded compact interdimensional Portal. Adora’s yelp was drowned out by the deafening BOOM of The Portal activating. The compact ring around Adora’s wrist broke up into multiple pieces which floated up into the air and created a large circle, with Adora at the centre.

Adora’s energy was fuelling The Portal, her cosmic magic would make it possible for the gateway to pierce the fabric of space-time (or time-space). En freed Dak from his bonds. They knew they needed to stop it, but they had no idea how to separate Adora from The Portal’s gravitational field. She screamed as blue and green energy began swirling around her, The Portal was forming around her- no- she was becoming The Portal.

The Portal began to emit bright white light, the thief in front of The Portal simply looked on at the blinding light. The white light would have blinded Entrapta and Hordak if they hadn't turned away. Hordak held Entrapta tightly. The fabric of reality might have been unravelling in front of them. That could have been the end. And somehow, they said nothing. They would have died in silence. There was so much they wanted to say to each other that they didn't know how to start. So they just hugged each other.

---

Light absorbed them and they felt... Nothing. They weren't dead. They were alive! And!... And… they were in... A museum?

Hordak and Entrapta looked around, people were staring at them. Etherians and clones. People were gasping and whispering amongst each other, most were taking pictures. “Is this a part of the exhibit?” “Is this real?” “Is that him?” En and Dak’s eyes darted from exhibit to exhibit. Neither of them recognised the events they were representing, except for the Fall of Prime.

En and Dak finally broke their embrace, they were still hunched down, bracing for the end. It took a while for them to realise they were safe.

“Where- Where are we?” En asked.

Hordak did not answer. He followed the tourists’ gaze, which shifted between looking at Hordak and at something above and behind him. Hordak followed their gaze up to three massive banners hanging from the glass dome roof, which was letting in the daylight. Wasn’t it just night?

Hordak’s eyes widened, his mouth agap – he could not believe what his blood red eyes were seeing. Put together the banners said: ‘Welcome To The Hordak Day Exhibit’. Each banner presented a different figure, each with the ‘title’ of ‘Hordak’ over them. They could only recognise one Hordak, the first one, the one on the left, our Hordak. The other two remained a mystery.

Hordak turned to one of the visitors who approached him, “Hey, great costume, can we take a picture?”

“…………………………………………………….sure.”

To Be Continued

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#entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #adora

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