Chapter Text
The tense atmosphere didn’t let up as Adora trailed behind Adam. Much to Adora’s chagrin, he wasn’t even looking back to make sure she was following, which made keeping up with him difficult.
Sure, it wasn’t like she was in an unfamiliar place or anything where she could easily get lost.
Adora pushed down the sarcastic remark she wanted to say, that wouldn’t help anything right now. But what would? Adora wasn’t any good at comforting anyone, let alone someone she barely knew, be that her brother or not. And what was his deal anyway? He just…Waltzed through life without thinking about anything?
On top of that, she still had so many questions buzzing around in her head, and only one person who could answer them.
If he even could. Adora huffed in frustration.
What was all that? What was Adam thinking when he asked all that stuff about other children? And that he knew she was lying to him?
Her skin felt hot and angry just thinking about it, was he going to reveal her without even talking to her first? And go even more against the plan than they already were? It wasn’t like Adora was any stranger to plans going off course, sure, but this was different. Because she trusted-
Wait. No, she trusted Adam, right? She thought she did, he hadn’t given her any reason not to, but…
Ugh, Catra had gotten in her head.
Catra…Adora felt a pang of regret at how she had left things, but also anger, because…Because this was her chance! To know her family!
But what kind of family was it? Clearly, they kept secrets from each other…
And why had she been kept a secret from Adam anyway?
Why was everything so complicated all the time?
“Why did you ask her all that?” Adora asked before she could stop herself, Adam visibly tensed in front of her. Adora opened her mouth to say something to the effect of ‘Ha, nevermind, let’s just continue walking in silence!”
“That’s Mom for you,” Adam joked, not answering her question in the slightest, which made Adora’s skin prickle with annoyance. He turned around, a lopsided grin on his face. “Wait’ll you meet Dad, he’s a real treat.”
“Wh…” Adora was taken aback to say the least, just a few minutes ago he was acting like he was going to bite her head off, now this?
“Yeah, sorry to say but you got lucky when it comes to brothers, but not parents!” A hint of venom crept it’s way into his voice and his grin faltered into a scowl. “I’m almost positive that whatever adoptive parents you had wherever you came from are leagues better, believe me.”
He waved his hand dismissively.
Oh that is it.
“Oh yeah?” Adora scoffed. Just like that, all the pent up anger Adora was holding bubbled to the surface.
She was angry at him for not being stealthy this whole time, for blowing the plan completely out of the water, she was angry because-
She was angry at him for having the life she didn’t, and he just-just completely didn’t care!
“You don’t even know how good you had it, do you?!” Adora shoved him, sending him stumbling backward. He looked surprised for a brief second, before he started to look just as mad as she felt.
She went to advance on him, but he beat her to it.
“Good I had it?!” He yelled back, shoving her in turn. “The good I had was constantly feeling like everyone was keeping something from me, and woah here look,” He jabbed a finger into Adora’s shoulder. “Guess that something was you!”
“So it's my fault then?” Adora slapped his hand away and jabbed her own finger into his shoulder. “It’s my fault I was kidnapped, raised as a child soldier by a deranged woman and fed constant lies in an evil army?”
She pushed him with each question, not even caring that they were yelling now.
He had no idea, no idea, what she had been through her entire life, and she intended to let him know exactly what the alternative was.
“All the while you’re up in your ivory tower with a silver spoon in your mouth, with parents that love you, and no idea there was even a war to begin with!” Adora threw her hands in the air incredulously, a deranged laugh on her lips.
“Parents that love me?” Adam protested. “You just saw that both my parents have been lying to me my entire life! You’re the proof!” Adam shoved her back. “At least I was a prince, though, right? Expectations galore!”
“Oh, boo-hoo! I was a child soldier in an evil army!” Adora accentuated her words by shoving him again. “I guess being pit against all your peers, being punished for falling out of line and not even knowing when my own birthday is, is way better, huh?”
“You wanna talk about expectations? Don’t forget all the Magical Destiny stuff! You want that too? The pressure of an entire universe on your shoulders?” She was getting a little hysterical now. “You never had to worry about anything, everything is a game to you! This whole time I haven’t seen you take even one thing seriously!”
Before Adora could stop herself, she reeled back and landed a punch, right on his nose.
Adam looked stunned, stumbling back and falling on his back, holding his nose in pain.
Adora breathed heavily.
“Oh my gosh,” Adora went to go help him, but stopped, her hands shaking.
Why did she do that?! She was just so…So mad, and everything just kept piling on.
The regret was really sinking in now. Shame filled her stomach, creating a pit. She shouldn’t have yelled, and she really shouldn’t have punched him, it was unfair of her to diminish his experiences…But at the same time, he had no idea.
But she also hadn’t told him, how was he supposed to know? She opened her mouth to apologize but stopped short when she felt something press against the small of her back.
She recognized it instantly as the cold metal of a combat staff, and no sooner did she move to turn around, she felt burning cold electricity arc from it, sending her crumpling to the ground.
“Adam!” A familiar-ish voice sounded above Adora through her haze.
She felt the heat of some kind of electric cuffs on her wrists and feet, and she saw boots step over her to Adam who had his jaw open in shock. “Thank the stars you’re alright, I heard yelling on my patrol and came as quick as I could.”
Adora’s eyes slid closed, now was a great time for a little nap. She had been working so hard all day, and she had been so angry a second ago…
“Teela?” Adam’s voice now, incredulous.
Wait, Teela? Wasn’t that Adam’s bodyguard? The one they ran from in the market? What was she doing here? Adora’s eyes shot open and she stirred against her restraints. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Come on, before she wakes up, I have to get you somewhere safe.” Teela spoke again, and Adora could see her and Adam’s boots moving away.
Wait, moving away? No! She still needed Adam to take her to this Orko person.
That is, if he even still wanted to, she had been pretty mad before. And he had looked really hurt.
Come on, think!
Okay, all she needed to do was get through to Teela, tell her it was no big deal, and then apologize to Adam! Easy Peasy!
She took a deep breath, and as she exhaled, pushed herself up off the ground, letting the magical energy that was surging through her limbs take over. She was She-Ra again.
She easily broke free of the electric cuffs, looking around before she spotted Adam and Teela a ways away.
“Hey!” She called after them.
Adam spotted her first, a goofy grin spreading over his face at the sight.
Well, at least he couldn’t be that mad at her for yelling at him if he was making that face.
“Don’t worry, Adam, I got th-” Teela turned as she spoke, but as she saw Adora, saw She-Ra, her jaw dropped. She almost had to crane her neck to look up at her, even from a distance.
“Wh…” She sputtered and looked like she was about to drop her combat staff, her hands shaking. “Who-?!”
“Uh,” Adora hadn’t thought this far ahead, she twiddled her thumbs awkwardly. “Long story…Which I can explain if you just let him go.”
Teela, for her part, clenched her teeth, her eyes took on a steely gaze. Her grip on the staff visibly tightened.
“Adam,” She spoke through her teeth. “Stay there.”
“Teela, wait you don’t underst-” Adam tried to say. Teela drew some kind of orb from her belt, and threw it at Adam’s feet, it summoned a forcefield around him that drowned out his protests.
Huh…That looked dangerous, but also useful…Adora shot a glance at Teela’s belt where she had drawn it, it didn’t seem she had any left.
“I think we all just need to uh…” Adora searched for the words, gesturing with her hand. “Talk for a minute, uh, get some misunderstandings cleared u-!”
Teela advanced quicker than Adora thought she could and it was all Adora could do to side-step and block the overhead strike with one of her bracers. In her opposite hand, Adora summoned a combat staff of her own, moving to block with it instead.
Without missing a beat Teela attempted to sweep Adora’s legs out from under her, which Adora jumped over, but that left Teela exposed, it would be easy for Adora to retaliate with her own weapon.
Adora pointedly didn’t take the chance, trying to show Teela she meant no harm.
“Hey, I don’t want to fight you!” She blocked another cross-strike just before it hit her face, shocked at how well Teela was fighting, and how out of practice she was.
Adora pressed with her strength against Teela’s staff at the last block, trying to force her to yield.
“What do you want?!” Teela gnashed her teeth, in her struggle her arms and hands were shaking against Adora’s strength.
Whoops, Adora let up a little but Teela smirked and used that to punch Adora square in the nose.
Adora stumbled back, holding her nose in pain. Geez, this girl was good…
“I just want to talk to you!” Adora grit her teeth in frustration, magic sparked at her fingertips.
Alright fine, she wanted to fight? Adora could fight!
Adora turned her combat staff into a rope and wrapped it quickly around Teela’s staff, wrenching it out of her hands and throwing it away.
“Ha!” Adora laughed. She didn’t really expect that to work as well as it had.
Adora turned the rope back into a combat staff and advanced with a spin that turned into an upstrike, knocking Teela off her feet prone.
“Now can we talk?!” Adora dropped her guard, breathing heavily.
Come on, the other girl was barely even half her height as She-Ra, surely she was down by now.
Adora looked up to where Adam was…wasn’t! Where the forcefield had been there was just the device it had emerged from, and no Adam to be seen. She looked around frantically, not seeing him.
Suddenly, two of Teela’s boots whammed into the square of Adora’s chest, knocking her backward, and when she was vulnerable, Teela dashed past her, picking up her staff and with a flourish, now once again electrified, stabbed it right into Adora’s back.
The cold-hot electricity arced through Adora’s body, igniting her nerve endings in pain.
Adora cried out, falling to her knees, She-Ra’s glowing form was flickering, and she was losing her grip on the magic holding her together.
This girl was good, great even, she must’ve used the momentum from her fall to spring up into a kick, a move which Adora herself had a hard time with.
Before Adora could get up, she saw Teela’s weapon leveled at her face.
“Who are you?” Teela demanded. “What do you want with his majesty?”
“His majesty?” Adora looked back at her blankly, before the realization hit. “Oh! You mean Adam!”
She wouldn’t really describe him as a “Majesty.”
“That’s Prince Adam to you!” Teela scoffed, threatening to jab Adora again.
Okay, Adora could work with this. At least the shorter girl wasn’t attacking her anymore…Technically. She just had to explain everything!
“Look,” Adora chuckled nervously, looking between the electrified staff and Teela’s increasingly angry face. “Let’s just…Put our weapons down and talk about this.” She dematerialized her staff, then closed her eyes and let go of She-Ra, turning back into herself. “See? No more weapons!”
Teela’s eyes looked like they were going to bug out of her head, and she growled in frustration, lowering her staff so it was level with Adora’s face again.
“How did you do that?!” She interrogated. Confusion was evident across her whole face. “And…” She looked Adora up and down, "Why do you look just like-!”
Right, she had to explain that too. Where would she even start? She took a deep breath, opening her mouth to speak.
“Stop fighting!” Adam’s voice, he looked like he’d fallen down, leaves and brush in his hair and dirt on his vest, and was now out-of-breath jogging over. “Teela!” He wheezed, arriving in front of them and not lifting his head.
Finally! Now, Adam could help her explain! She looked to him hopefully, but wavered when she saw him still wheezing to catch his breath.
Geez, and Adora thought she was out of shape.
“Teela please, it’s like I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time!” Adam finally raised his head and looked at the scene before him, particularly at Adora. “Uh, weren’t you just-”
Okay, so no relying on Adam then, that’s fine. Teela looks like she calmed down, so she could do this. All she had to do was tell Teela the truth.
“I think what Adam is trying to say-” Adora started to stand, but stopped when Teela jabbed at her shoulder, only slightly shocking her this time. “Ow!” Adora rubbed her shoulder in pain. “Can you please put down the stabby-shocky stick now please?!”
“What is going on?!” Teela demanded, her glare turning to Adam.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!” Adora and Adam both said in unison.
Teela’s eyes got wide, looking between the both of them, her electrified staff wavering to one and then the other. Adora hoped she wouldn’t decide to use it on them, because she really didn’t want to fight this girl again, and she didn’t know how useful Adam would be in a fight.
“Teela,” Adam stepped carefully between Teela and Adora, and placed his hands on Teela’s shoulders, forcing her to lower her weapon.
Teela looked up at him suspiciously, looking like she was about to shock him. “This is Adora, she’s a friend, and she’s my sister.”
“Adam,” Teela huffed. “You cannot be serious.”
“Uhm,” Adora stepped around Adam cautiously and waved. “Yeah, uh-Hi, I’m Adora and he’s telling the truth, at least we’re pretty sure.”
“You’re pretty sure?” Teela raised a suspicious eyebrow.
“Look,” Adora pressed her hands together and took a breath. “It’s kind of a long story, but he’s not lying.”
“And what if I don’t believe you?” Teela challenged, she pointed her staff at Adora’s face, who stepped back warily. “What if you’re just a clone?”
“You have to believe me, we’re just figuring this out ourselves but Teela, Adora is my sister, I just know it.” Adam pleaded.
Adora felt a warm feeling in her heart. This boy who she barely knew, believed in her, and he was putting his neck on the line even though Adora had just punched him-really hard-in the face. Was this what having a brother was like? Having family?
Teela squinted her eyes suspiciously, still wavering between them until she finally sighed deeply and collapsed her staff, storing it on her belt.
“Fine,” She admitted. “But you’re still on thin ice.” She pointed her finger at Adora’s nose, which probably would have been more threatening if she wasn’t a head shorter than her. Then Adora remembered that just minutes ago, this girl had almost beaten her when she was She-Ra, then it was threatening again.
“So what now?” Adam asked, turning to Adora. “Find Orko?”
Right, that.
“The others are probably waiting,” Adora reasoned. “We should get going quick.”
“Others?” Teela questioned.
“Yeah,” Adam grinned. “There’s Bow, Glimmer, and Catra! Oh, and Melog, but they wouldn’t let me pet them.”
“What?”
Adora tapped her foot impatiently. She couldn’t communicate with the others, this wasn’t supposed to be taking so long and she didn’t want to confirm Catra’s fears even more than they probably already were.
“Hey,” Adora interjected. “We can explain on the way, those are my friends and we really need Orko to look at our ship.”
“Right,” Adam put on a serious face, it wasn’t as effective as he probably thought it was but Adora appreciated the effort. “Let’s go.”
Finally, they started walking again, heading back toward the palace itself.
“I’m Teela by the way,” Teela walked in front of Adora, not looking back at her.
“Adora,” She responded, internally she face-palmed. “But you already knew that…”
“Stars,” Teela looked back with a chuckle. “Maybe you two really are related, you sound exactly like him.”
Adora cracked a smile at that.
She was thankful to have Teela, it would probably be a strategic advantage, and it helped to have someone that seemed to have more credibility than Adam, especially if Orko needed convincing to repair the ship.
But even though they were finally heading toward the goal, the fight she had with Adam still bothered her. Even though he seemed to have forgiven her, the pit that had formed in her stomach was still there.
“Hey, Adam?” Adora spoke up. She had to apologize, and thank him for not letting Teela kill her.
“Yeah?” He replied. He was walking beside her, she hadn’t even noticed until he spoke up.
Before Adora could say anything, she heard a beeping noise and stopped, putting her hand up.
“What is that?” She looked around for the source to see Teela scrambling with something on her armor, a insignia of some kind. Adora hadn’t paid it much mind before, but now it was glowing red and flashing.
“No, no!” Teela tapped it frantically.
“Teela?!” Adam took a step away from her. “Are you going to explode?!”
Adora was wondering the same thing and took a step back too.
“No, I’m not going to explo-” Teela finally hit a button that stopped the flashing and beeping, breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s my stupid dad, he gave me this armor to-” Her eyes got wide. “To keep track of me! The guards, they’re coming.”
“What?!” Adora snapped to attention. Guards? “How do you know?”
“You don’t know her Dad,” Adam’s face was suddenly pale, he grabbed Adora’s arms and shook her. “Adora you have to hi-”
“Stop!” A new voice, a man’s voice, and the sound of boots pounding on the grass.
Oh great! Just what they needed! Another setback! They didn’t have time for this!
Adora weighed their options. They could try to explain everything, but there’s no guarantee that would work, it had barely worked on Teela. Adora could only see one way out.
“Adam, you have to get to Orko,” She broke free of his grasp. “You have to meet the others, tell them I’ve been captured.”
“Adora, what?!” Adam tried to grab her again, but Adora ignored him and turned to Teela.
“You have to chase me, say I’m an intruder,”
“Uh,” Teela hesitated, but nodded. “Got it, I can do that.”
“Adora, think about this,” Adam begged. “You don’t know what will happen!”
“It will be fine, I promise!” Adora didn’t know if she could keep that promise. But she trusted Adam to get the mission done. She broke into a sprint, the guards could see her now, and were rushing toward her, and she could hear Teela hot on her heels.
She glimpsed Adam trying to follow her over her shoulder but he stopped, slipping behind a column that was part of the gardens to hide.
The guards had surrounded her now, and she felt the now familiar sting of Teela’s electric staff at her back, knocking her forward onto her knees. At least it felt like Teela had turned down the voltage. One of the guards grabbed her harshly and cuffed her, a little too tightly and she made a pained sound.
Okay, this would be fine. Right?
Right?