Chapter Text
"Of course the one time we go out without Entrapta the ship breaks!" Glimmer shouted as she paced around the cockpit, waving her hands all in the air wildly.
"Yeah well, I'm sure all the fancy maneuvers you were doing weren't helping, Sparkles." Catra snarked with a smirk.
Glimmer rounded on her, her face turning red as the warning lights flashed around them.
"Guys, please stop fighting!" Bow begged, tinkering with the innards of the control panel and looking as exhausted as Adora felt.
Adora could feel a headache coming on, she rubbed her temples and leaned back in the pilot's chair to stare at the ceiling.
It was the Best Friends Squad’s maiden voyage in the supposedly new and improved Darla. Entrapta had been working on the First Ones ship day and night for months, only stopping to eat a worryingly small portion of tiny food, even for Entrapta's standards. She had assured them that there would be no issues, but the second they left Etheria to go help the Star Siblings, it was like Darla was holding a grudge or something and…
Adora took a deep centering breath to calm herself down.
Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself back in her and Catra's room back in Brightmoon, where she and Catra could-
"Adora agrees with me, right, Adora?" Catra purred as she dramatically draped herself across Adora's lap.
Adora jolted up. "What?" She asked
"About stopping to get repairs.” Catra rolled her eyes, albeit playfully. “I mean, they can't make it worse, right?” Catra looked around skeptical at the ancient ship, stretching out further.
“I mean…” Adora hesitated, casting a look around at the chaotic cockpit. It wasn't like any of them besides maybe Bow knew anything about how the ship worked. And he was at a loss for how to even get the alarm to stop.
Her mind wandered back to Entrapta, hopefully she wouldn't mind too much.
“I think it wouldn't hurt?”
“Adora!” Glimmer huffed. “No offense, this ship is ancient! Who would even know how to fix it?” she smacked Bow’s arm to get his attention and when he looked at her rubbing his arm in pain about to protest, she raised her eyebrows in a ‘I’m your girlfriend and also the queen so you better agree with me’ kind of way.
“Yeah, it is really old and ancient.” Bow admitted, still rubbing where Glimmer had hit him. “We’d have to go to the First Ones or something to fix it.”
“Setting course.” Darla’s electronic voice interrupted the conversation.
“Wait, what?” Adora stood up, knocking Catra to the ground who shrieked before recovering quickly.
“Hey!” She dusted off her shirt and hissed.
Adora waved an apology absently towards her. She really was sorry, but she could apologize later. She tried to pull up the star map to no avail before slamming her hand on the console and grumbling. The console was only slightly bent in the shape of her fist now, which was fine .
“Darla, where are you taking us?” She asked the ship’s disembodied voice.
“Course is set for-” Darla's voice dissolved into static. “Estimated arrival, one hour.”
The ship creaked around them, lurching back into motion.
Glimmer reached out to clutch Adora’s arm, both to keep her balance and loudly whisper in her ear.
“Where is she taking us?” She asked.
“Wherever it is, at least we're finally moving,” Catra scoffed. “Better than arguing about it pointlessly.” She had stolen Adora's seat and was lounging looking at her nails.
Typical Catra, blase about everything on the surface but she was hiding real concern there. Which made Adora more concerned. If that was even possible.
“You don't think it's taking us to…” Bow trailed off meaningfully. His meaning hung thick in the air.
Eternia. The Planet of The First Ones.
“It can't be,” Adora reasoned, breaking into a stressed pace. “Horde Prime said he wiped out the First Ones, although he could have been lying, he was an evil space emperor…but surely they can't all be wiped out because I am one of them, so maybe it's just taking us to some shell of a planet in the middle of space and we’ll be even more screwed than we are now!”
Adora ran her hands worriedly through her hair, her ponytail becoming more undone the more frantic she got.
“Adora,” Catra grabbed her hands and brought them down, holding them steady. “Breathe..Wherever this hunk of junk is taking us, it will be fine. You have me.” She whispered the last part, just loud enough for Adora to hear.
Adora smiled as Catra tucked the stray strands of blonde back behind her ears.
“You're right, we should just relax.” Adora took a deep breath again.
It didn't really work. But when has relaxing ever worked for her? Her mind was still going a million miles an hour. Was Darla really taking them to the First Ones Planet? To Eternia? No, it couldn’t be. It probably just picked up on “Planet.”
-
Adora woke up when the ship stopped. More like she was thrown awake as the ship stopped so suddenly she was thrown out of her chair right onto her face.
“Wha?” She mumbled, peeling her face off the ground.
She didn't remember having fallen asleep, but with all the issues Darla was having her ETA of an hour had come and went about two hours ago.
Making it 3 long hours full of overthinking for Adora and Catra borderline having to hold her down to even get her to eat the cold rations Bow and Glimmer had gotten from the kitchen. When she finally did sit down, she guessed her brain had just given up and she had fallen asleep.
In front of her, Bow, Glimmer, and Catra stared wordlessly out the front of the ship.
“Adora,” Bow breathed, not even looking back at her. “You need to see this.”
“I’m fine by the way, in case anyone was worried.” She said sarcastically.
Adora got up off the ground and dusted herself off, before looking up to see what they were all staring at and… wow.
At first glance, it looked like a giant meteor, but as Adora looked and it got closer , she could see it was a huge chunk of a planet and a city underneath a glowing transparent dome that gleamed of gold and red.
Four glowing blue engine thrusters bigger than Darla were attached to the bottom and they were propelling it through the massive expanse of stars. The city itself took Adora’s breath away. Everywhere she looked there was more to see, and the sheer scale made her dizzy.
It was comprised of outlandishly tall towering buildings and smaller domed buildings all made of blindingly white marble and a blue crystal that seemed to glow when the stars reflected off of it, hundreds of flying ships flew in between the buildings in organized patterns and off in the distance underneath the dome, Adora could see farmland and even more smaller buildings.
It looked peaceful and idyllic like the entire war and conquest of Horde Prime had never reached it.
In the very center of the city was its tallest and grandest building, a castle raised above the rest of the city on a platform of the greenest grass Adora had ever seen, huge waterfalls cascaded into the city below from the platform and the castle itself was a domed building as well, but it was larger and more magnificent than the other similar ones in the city. The roof was made of the same crystal, but it was starkly red in comparison. An imposing tower was built to the back of it, with several smaller towers and additions surrounding it. A grand staircase of steps led up to the city, with other staircases branching off to the sides of the platform like the grand palace continued into the ground it was built on.
Out of the dome, it seemed like ships were constantly going in and out of what she guessed was the SpacePort, some looked streamlined and expensive, some were massive cargo ships, while others looked more like ones she had seen before and like what the Star Siblings traveled in, small and functional.
“You don't think that's..” Bow finally spoke, breaking their revelry and pointing, very pointlessly, to the glittering civilization below them.
“It can't be, Horde Prime would have known about something like this.” Catra reasoned with a shudder. “It’s gotta be just where this piece of junk finally gave out and it's just a coincidence.”
Adora pressed her lips together in a fine line and hesitated.
Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe Darla just navigated to the nearest landmass for repairs, but they’d passed dozens of planets on their way here, and Darla hadn't stopped, so...
Adora decided to compartmentalize the part of her brain that said it was the First Ones. It could shut up for a while.
“Whatever it is, Darla still needs repairs.” Adora decided, clapping her hands together. “Bow, do you think you can get us moving?”
“Uhh…” Bow looked between Adora and the console.
“Great!” Adora exclaimed just a little too loudly.
“Adora,” Glimmer spoke up. “You can't be serious, we don't know who these people are, or even if it's another branch of Horde Prime’s army!”
“It'll be fine!” Adora sat down in the captain’s chair again and stared out the window ahead.
Yeah, that was totally casual-like. Adora ignored Glimmer and Catra’s silent argument, at least it was silent this time.
Eventually, Bow did manage to get Darla moving very slowly into line at the Spaceport, only narrowly avoiding hitting the ship in front of them as the line moved. The closer they got to entering, the more Adora fidgeted in her chair, alternating between leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and backward with her leg crossed over one knee. She could tell her nervous energy was getting to everyone, but she couldn't help it.
A chime sounded throughout the cockpit and Adora nearly jumped ten feet into the air.
“State your business.” A woman’s bored voice echoed statically over comms.
“Uh,” Glimmer made an encouraging gesture to Adora like ‘You say something!’
Adora could say something. If she ever remembered where Entrapta had put the comms button. She pressed a few buttons experimentally but she only managed to activate the windshield wiper and turn the lights in the cockpit off.
“State your business.” The woman’s voice again, sounding more annoyed.
“Adora!” Catra hissed, annoyed.
“Sorry, sorry!” Adora pressed the button to turn the lights back on and finally found the right button. She cleared her throat before speaking again and hitting the button. “Ah, yes uh, our ship needs repairs.”
“Duration of stay?” The woman’s voice asked.
Adora looked up to Bow this time, who shrugged, very unhelpfully.
“Um…”
“Duration. Of. Stay.” Her voice sounded angrier now, probably because they were holding up the line and they had almost caused at least 10 collisions in the line already.
“Three days!” Adora replied quickly and a little more frantic than she meant to.
“Three days!?” Catra mouthed incredulously, waving her hands.
“Yes, uh...Three days.” Adora affirmed, nodding her head to Catra who crossed her arms and scoffed.
“Okay then…Three days.” The woman said, clicking sounds coming through like she was looking through something. “I didn't see your credentials come through,”
“Credentials?” They didn't have those! Did they? This was a very bad idea, why couldn't they have just gone back to Etheria?
“Sending Credentials.” Darla’s incorporeal voice chimed in.
“Ah, I just got them…?” The woman's voice trailed off in a questioning way before some rustling and more tapping and clicking sounds. “Uh…”
“Should we be worried?” Bow asked, breaking the stressed quiet.
“I’m sure it's fine…” Glimmer warbled nervously.
Was it fine? Adora could feel a rapidly growing lump of dread forming in her stomach.
This was bad. She could feel it, this was some kind of trap and they were all going to die and it would be her fault and-
“You are cleared for entry,” The woman’s voice spoke again. “Welcome to our city, don't cause any trouble.”
The entire cockpit let out a collective sigh of relief. Finally.
Adora couldn’t help but feel a lump of dread form in her throat despite her initial relief.
If they’d had this much trouble just getting in, she could only hope that once they were actually inside, that they would have an easier time. But who was she kidding?
“Bow, watch out!” Adora shouted, jostling as Bow jerked the ship back from almost knocking it into one of the smaller ships trying to land around them.
“This is harder than it looks, Adora!” Bow’s voice cracked as he shouted back.
Meanwhile, Catra was holding onto the pilot's chair so hard her sharp claws were digging into it. She looked like she was going to throw up.
She never was very good on ships, she always got seasick.
Glimmer was back-seat driving Bow, trying to help but only making the poor guy more stressed, and her directions of ‘Your other left, Bow!’ were just confusing him more.
Adora’s lump of dread had temporarily taken a backseat to the headache that had reemerged from all the shouting and the extremely unhelpful alarm that was still going, very unhelpfully! It was quieter now than it was, but it was still annoying.
She didn't know if the headache was because of all the squabbling or because of how much she was going over possible scenarios and strategies.
“Okay,” she mumbled, pacing around unsteadily as Bow tried to get the increasingly broken ship into the hangar as steadily as possible, which was not very steady at all. She spoke louder. “I’ll be the one to do the talking, and hopefully we can just get our repairs and get out as soon as possible.” The last part came out strained.
“Uh, Adora, no offense but-” Catra held back a gag as Bow jolted the ship again, at which everyone flinched. “You're not exactly great at diplomacy.”
“What?” Adora scoffed. “I am great at diplomacy!”
“Ehhh…” Catra waved her hand back and forth uncertainly but quickly put her hand back down to resume her clawing of the chair.
“Catra’s right,” Glimmer chimed in. “Remember those space pirates you tried to talk to? Or those aliens you tried to ask for directions from?”
“To be fair,” Catra reasoned. “I would be scared too if a giant 8ft tall glowing woman tried to ask me where to go.”
“That was-!” Adora protested. “It seemed like a good idea at the time…”
Because at the time, Entrapta had taken apart their space suits and they really needed to find where they were going and She-Ra could breathe in space somehow and-That wasn’t the point!
“I am great at diplomacy.” She muttered.
“Adora,” Glimmer sighed. She walked over and put her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “You as Adora are, but She-Ra? She can be a little…Much the first time.”
“No kidding, Sparkles.” Catra chuckled.
“Just…” Glimmer shot a glare Catra’s way again. “Promise me that while we’re here, we’ll keep She-Ra on the down low.”
Adora opened her mouth to protest but stopped. Maybe they were right, sometimes she used She-Ra a little too much, in situations where she wasn’t really needed. Like if she had a jar she couldn’t open. Which probably wasn’t the best way to use magic handed down for generations.
“Fine.” Adora conceded. “No She-Ra.”
She wasn’t going to lie, it made her nervous not to be able to use She-Ra. What if something went wrong? Oh no, now she was thinking about all the ways things could go wrong.
Too late now to think about that now, Bow had managed to land.
Here we go... Adora could handle this, she saved the whole universe! This was smooth sailing, easy peasy! But then why did she feel as sick as Catra right now?
___
If the city from a distance looked peaceful, it was anything but inside. Hundreds of people bustled around the streets, and it was everything they could do to stay together through it all.
“I hate this.” Catra hissed next to Adora. “And I don’t think Melog likes it either.”
Adora looked over at her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s cat, Melog. She had almost forgotten they had brought Melog along, but Catra had been sure to bring the cat with them when they left the ship.
“I know,” Adora replied, squeezing Catra’s hand. “We’ll be out of this crowd soon.”
Would they? They’d been walking for thirty minutes since they’d left the ship, and they still hadn’t gotten free of the crowd.
“Guys, over here!” Bow shouted, beckoning them into a side street that looked to be some kind of marketplace.
“Great idea, Bow!” Adora grinned and pulled Catra over who yelped in alarm.
“Why thank you,” Bow mockingly bowed.
“If we’re going to find anyone to fix the ship, a market is the perfect spot.” Glimmer kissed Bow’s cheek in appreciation. “Good thinking, babe.”
“Yeah, yippee.” Catra retorted. “Can we just hurry up? I don’t wanna be here any longer than we already have been.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be,” Adora assured, squeezing Catra’s hand again. She sounded more unsure than she meant to, but if Catra could tell, she didn’t let on.
“We should split up, we’ll cover more ground that way.” Bow strategized. “Glimmer and I can go around the stalls, Catra and Melog can go on the rooftops and try to spot a ship repair shop from there and Adora…” Bow’s finger wavered at her, unsure. Their numbers were uneven, and she couldn’t exactly go with Catra and Melog, they would work faster and quieter without her.
“I can go this way and look through the stalls, and we’ll all meet back here in two hours.” She pointed the other way from where Bow and Glimmer were going.
She didn’t like the idea of splitting up very much, especially with Catra going off with Melog alone. She still felt like she had to protect Catra, even though she knew Catra was perfectly fine, especially with Melog. But that was something she was working on.
“Okay!” Glimmer clapped her hands. “It’s settled then!”
Adora walked through the market alone, looking around in barely contained wonder. In the crowd, she hadn’t gotten the chance to really look around, but now that she did she gawked at everything. The marble buildings around her shone in the simulated sunlight the protective shielding provided, and great columns and archways led inside the multitude of buildings, many of which were open to the street and had more stalls of food.
Her stomach grumbled at the smells around her too, everything smelled fantastic. One stall she passed had some kind of braised shredded meat in a circular piece of bread, adorned with alien vegetables, another had roasted peppers(?) on a stick and yet another had baked fruit that made Adora’s mouth water.
Admittedly, she’d been paying a little too much attention to the food, and not looking for what she was supposed to be looking for, which was someone to fix their ship.
“Is that Prince Adam?!” One of the vendors shouted. Adora ignored it and started walking faster, whoever this “Prince Adam” was, she didn’t want to get in his way.
“Hey!” The vendor shouted again.
Adora looked up and around, was the vendor talking to her? No, it must have been someone behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw no one. She looked back at the vendor, confused.
“Yeah, you!” The vendor pointed at her.
Adora pointed at herself, to which the vendor nodded and beckoned.
“Come, come!” The vendor smiled kindly at her through thick glasses. She was old, with graying black hair and smile lines across her face. Her eyes twinkled behind her glasses. “I always have time to give our dear prince some free samples!”
Adora walked over cautiously, ducking to get under the tent. “Look, I’m not-”
“I know, I know, your majesty,” The woman chided, she had turned her back now and was busying herself making what seemed to be fried dumplings and meat skewers on a grill. “You’re not in charge of who is hired for events, but you can put in a good word for me! Especially because your birthday and the Nonacentennial is coming up!”
Before Adora could protest and insist she wasn’t who this woman was mistaking her for, and she didn’t even know what a Nonacentennial was, the woman thrust a box of food into her hands. The woman reminded her of Razz, who was always mistaking her for the previous She-Ra, Mara.
“Now your majesty,” She smiled up at her. “You’d better run along now! I saw that bodyguard of yours snooping around looking for you, and you don’t want to get caught again!”
“Wait, what?” Adora exclaimed. The woman pushed her out of the tent and turned right back around to the grill, closing the flap behind her.
What was that about a bodyguard? Would this bodyguard mistake her for this Prince Whos-it too?
Adora’s stomach growled again at the smell of food so close and she looked down at the box in her hands. Surely, it couldn’t hurt to eat…It would clear her head a little.
She tore into the meat skewers and dumplings as she walked, contemplating what the woman could have meant. First, she was mistaken for some guy, a Prince at that, and then something about a Nonacentennial…Now that she thought about it, hanging on the lamp posts around her were red banners with a gold design inlay of the city itself, maybe that was related somehow?
Adora threw the now empty box away in a trash can underneath one of the lampposts and climbed atop the trash can to inspect the banner closer. There weren’t any words on it, just the gold design, but the fabric was surprisingly nice for a street banner. She climbed down, deep in thought.
If there was some kind of event going on soon, then it might take even longer to get the ship fixed than she originally thought. Ughhghghhh! This was a nightmare, they were never gonna get out of here.
Adora stopped to lean against a wall and rubbed her face, she was getting tired of all the walking. Maybe she was in the wrong part of town for ship repair, and the others were having more luck than she was. Like she was in the tempting food district, and just the other way that Bow and Glimmer had gone, there was a whole street of people begging to fix their ship. It would be just her luck at this point.
She looked around to see townspeople walking the market around her, occasionally someone would look at her funny and quickly look away, or they’d hurriedly whisper to their friend walking with them. Did she really look that out of place? Come to think of it, a lot of people had been staring at her and whispering, which she guessed she kind of just tuned out because not to brag or anything, but people whispered about her a lot when she was walking around somewhere like Thaymor back home because…You know, she was the She-Ra.
Adora looked down at herself, she wasn’t glowing or anything, sometimes she would glow and not notice. And she didn’t get any of the sauce from the meat skewers on her shirt, so then why was everyone looking at her like that?
She decided to start walking back to their meeting spot, maybe everyone else was already there waiting on her, and she didn’t know how much more staring she could take. It had been almost an hour at this point, and she just hoped she could find where they said they would meet in time. This place was weird, and the sooner they could leave, the better.
“Hey, hey, HEY!!!” What sounded like a young man’s voice yelled off to her right.
Adora turned around quickly to find the source of the voice and saw a blur of what looked like a cart barrelling down the sloped street towards her, it was a blur of flying feathers and small birds that screamed in alarm.
“Get out of the way!” He yelled again.
Oh no, she should get out of the way. Like now, like right now! But her feet were firmly planted to the stones beneath.
She was frozen.
“Oh for-!” The young man’s voice again.
Adora felt what she could only describe as a giant mass hit her from the side, tackling her to the ground and out of the way.
“Oh, ow…” Adora hissed in pain as she tried to sit up to no avail. At first, she thought the cart had hit her, and with the stabbing pain in her ribs, after she realized it wasn’t the cart, she thought the cart would have hurt a little bit less.
She had been tackled into a small alleyway, roofed by red fabric that bathed it in otherworldly light.
“You’re telling me,” The young man grunted. He was on top of her, clearly he was the mass that had hit her. “What were you thinking just standing there like that?”
Adora pushed him off of her and scooted back, rubbing the back of her head where it had hit the cobblestone. Her vision was still blurry, and she blinked to try to get things back in focus.
“What was I thinking?” Adora scoffed. “I would have been fine, you didn’t need to do that.”
“Sure,” He scoffed right back, getting to his feet. He dusted himself off and almost nonchalantly strolled over to her, offering his hand, which she took begrudgingly.
Finally, her vision came back into focus and she got a good look at her “Savior.”
“Woah,” Both he and Adora said in unison as they locked identical blue eyes.
It was uncanny, like looking in a mirror. The young man had the same straw-colored hair as hers, shaggy and shaved on the sides, but pulled back in a loose ponytail. His nose had the same upturn as hers that Catra used to make fun of, his cheekbones the same high arch, his chin came to the same point, and even his confused expression she’s sure matched her own down to the wrinkle between his furrowed eyebrows.
“Wh..What?” Adora dropped his hand like it burned her and stepped back.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times in shock, but no words came out.
“Are you…” The young man pointed at her shakily. “Some kind of clone sent to kill me? I’m not that valuable, honest! I don't even get to decide what's for dinner!”
“I’m not a clone!” Adora protested. Unless she was…and she didn't know it…but no! She wasn't a clone! “How do I know you're not a clone?” She quipped back.
“Because…Because I would know if I were a clone!” He shouted.
“Then I would know if I was too, and I’m not a clone either!” Adora argued.
He waggled his finger and rubbed his chin in thought.
“You got me there…” He pondered. Even his thinking face was the same as hers. This was creepy.
As he thought, which didn't seem like something he did very often, Adora looked him over more closely.
He was wearing a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar under a red and gold vest which was open. On his lapel, he brandished a small pin of a golden crown, and at his belt was what Adora guessed was an ornamental dagger, the handle inlaid with precious gems.
It suddenly dawned on her, that this was the Prince that the vendor had mistaken her for.
“You're Prince Adam!” She blurted out suddenly.
“That's me!” He replied proudly as if he had forgotten all about their previous conversation. “Wait, how do you know my name…?”
“Some food stall lady confused me for you and gave me free food.”
“What?!” He shouted, way too loud, almost attracting attention from the street behind him. “Viola gave you free food? I was gonna get that free food…”
“Uh…okay.” Adora looked around for any escape route. She only had an hour or so to meet back with everyone else, and she didn't know how long it would take to get back. “It was nice meeting you and everything, Your Majesty but-”
“Are you leaving?” He asked, he almost looked sad and she felt bad for a second. “If you aren't a clone, and you aren't sent to kill me, this is a crazy coincidence!”
“Coincidence?”
“Yeah!” He agreed enthusiastically. “I mean how often do you meet your doppelganger?”
He had kind of a point, stuff like this didn’t just happen. But with Adora’s track record, it really wasn’t that shocking.
“At least let me show you around, we can see how much more free food we can get!” He pleaded.
She wasn't going to lie, free food was good…but no! She had to get back. Then again, someone like the Prince probably knew where they could get their ship repaired. And she could probably get him to tell her if she just had a little bit more time.
“Uh,” She hesitated, thinking back to her friends. Surely she would be back in plenty of time and they wouldn't be too worried about her. Yeah, it was fine. Plus, she was accomplishing the mission! “Sure, okay.”
“Great!” He cheered, grabbing her around the shoulders and shaking her, which made Adora's head spin. “I’m Prince Adam! But you knew that already, what's your name?”
“I’m Adora,” She responded automatically. Should she have given her real name to this guy she just met? Too late now.
“Cool!” He breathed. “Our names are even alike!”
They were really alike. Maybe he had a point, it was a pretty crazy coincidence.
___
Adora was more pulled around by Adam than shown around. His arms were beefier than she thought underneath his sleeves and he was surprisingly strong. Adam showed her around the entire market, rambling on about the different wares being sold and what seemed to be the most exciting to him, the food.
“-And this is my favorite pastry shop! It's closed right now for the Nonacentennial celebration later this week, but usually, the whole street smells like Constellation cakes!” He rambled on. He wasn't letting her even get a word in to ask him about where to get a ship repaired, and he was making her hungry.
“Oh, oh!” He gushed and pulled her off to another stall. “This is my favorite too, they have the best savory Mammoth Fish that just melts in your mouth, you have to try it!”
“Okay!” Adora smiled back at him, she couldn't help it. Even though the nagging thought of getting back and asking him about ship repair lingered in the back of her head.
It was weird, she felt like she had known him for a long time, even though they had just met. His easy-going grin and enthusiasm for everything was infectious, and
The line was long, and Adam kept peeking above the people in front of them to see how many people were waiting like it would change every 5 seconds, but once he got bored of that, he turned to Adora.
“So, what brings you to our city? It isn't the Nonacentennial is it?” He asked. “This time of year there's so many tourists.”
“No, I didn't even know it was happening,” Adora replied, “What is that anyway?”
Adora was curious about the festival, there did seem to be an excitement in the air for it, even though from what she could tell it was still a week away.
“Oh right, you wouldn't know,” He chuckled. “The Nonacentennial is the anniversary or whatever of when we launched the city! Ten thousand really long years ago, and it's also a big deal because it's my Birthday! All my tutors and my parents say it's really lucky I was born when I was like it's a good omen or something.”
Adora thought over what he said. Ten thousand years? That was when Mara had sent Etheria into Despondos.
Adora mulled over the puzzle pieces, first Darla took them to a random-floating city after Bow said something about the First-Ones, and come to think of it, the blue crystal that adorned the marble buildings did remind her of the Crystal Castle back on Etheria, and a lot of the other First Ones Ruins littering the planet. And now this about ten thousand years?
Maybe this was Eternia, at least, some of it. But she had to make sure, she couldn’t just jump to a conclusion.
“And um, just out of curiosity, even though I totally already know,” Adora started awkwardly. “What’s the name of this city anyway?”
“Oh, we’re at the front!” Adam ignored her question. “Get ready for the best fish you've ever had!”
Adora deflated in annoyance. This boy was distractible as a squirrel, but she could wait, it was fine. She would just ask him again after.
As they got up to the front of the line, the shopkeeper leered up at Adam with a suspicious sneer. He was a small creature, with wrinkled green skin and four gangly arms, two were working the grill and the other two were counting money in the register. He had a chef’s hat and white stained clothes under a dirty brown apron.
On his face was what Adora guessed passed for a mustache in his species.
“Prince Adam!” His voice was just as suspicious as his sneer. “Do you have money this time to settle your tab?”. He jabbed the middle of Adam’s chest to illustrate his point, inspecting him with beady black eyes as if he could see the money in Adam's pockets, or more likely, the lack thereof.
“Come on, Kazin!” Adam beamed down at him, as if oblivious to the small alien’s chagrin. “Can't you just forgive my debt? As a birthday present?”
“Your birthday isn't until next week, your majesty.” Kazin’s frown deepened and he swatted at Adam with his spatula. “No money, no fish!”
“Oh, come on!” Adam groaned. He borderline stomped his foot like a toddler, pouting his lips. “You know I’m good for it, Kazin! I’ll have it next time, honest!”
“No, no, no!” Kazin shook his head and hands profusely. “You said that last time, then that cat of yours stole even more fish than you did! Not this time, no money, no fish!”
Before Adam could protest again, a girl behind them cleared her throat.
“Yeah, one second,” Adam said without looking back. “What if I said I met my doppelganger today? And it was her birthday?” He elbowed Adora sharply in the ribs.
“Ow!” Adora rubbed her arm where he had hit her and looked over at him. He was pleading with his eyes and wiggling his eyebrows.
“Uh, yes!” She raised her finger in the air and exaggerated. “It's my birthday!”. She lied. She was a terrible liar, and Kazin could clearly tell.
“Sure it is, girlie.” He grumbled, fixing his stare on her now and his eyes widened. “Say, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you two were rel-”
Behind them, the girl cleared her throat again.
“I said, one second, I’m bargaining-!” Adam began and he turned around and his face went pale. “Here…” he trailed off.
Adora turned to see what, or who had made him go so pale and looked down to see a girl. At first glance, Adora thought some teenager was mad at them for holding up the line but looking further, she couldn't have been older than Adora, but she stood a good six inches shorter than her which made her look younger, and she was even shorter than Adam who was already taller than Adora by a good three inches.
She was dressed in a practical gold chest plate that was adorned with red ornamentation and held together with practical leather straps, under the chest piece she wore a white collared shirt similar to Adam’s and gold half-greave boots that went up to her knees covered gray practical pants.
Long red hair braided in a tight bun contrasted with her dark skin, and piercing blue-green eyes stared up at Adam with annoyance.
“Where. Have. You. Been?!” She zeroed in on Adam, who looked intimidated despite her short stature. She pushed him, and he stumbled back almost hitting Adora.
“Who, me?” Adam chuckled nervously. “I was..er…Looking for Cringer, he got out of my room back at the palace!”
“Ha, ha!” The girl laughed mockingly back. “Nice try Adam, Cringer has been curled up on the same pillow he has been since last night! You snuck out again!”
“Snuck out?” Adam balked mockingly. “Why, Teela. I would never. ”
“You are the most impossible boy,” The girl, now identified as Teela threw her hands up in exasperation. “If your father found out you snuck out so close to the holiday-”
“But he won't find out!” Adam argued.
“Oh, yeah?” Teela put her hands on her hips. “Why’s that?”
“Because…” Adam trailed off again, thinking.
Adora did not want to be in the middle of this, especially when she was getting caught with the Prince who apparently wasn't even supposed to be out and about! What did she get herself into? From what Adora could tell, this was clearly something he did a lot.
“Uh, I really should be going now…” Adora chimed in, stepping away.
“And you looped some girl into your-” Teela stopped mid-sentence. “Wh-” she stared at Adora blankly, alternating between Adam and Adora, like she couldn't believe her eyes. She blinked as if trying to clear her double-vision.
Adora shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and opened her mouth to say something. Probably along the lines of ‘Crazy, right? Anyway, gotta go!’ and then make a break for it.
“Run!” Adam shouted suddenly. He beat Adora to the punch and grabbed her by the wrist, he pulled her along roughly and Adora felt like he was going to dislocate her shoulder before she shook free and made to run alongside him. They left Teela standing in the street, clearly still confused, but Adora got the feeling she wouldn’t stay that way very long and she’d be hot on their heels soon enough.
Adam weaved through stalls and merchants, down side streets and under covered alleys, it was all Adora could do to keep track of him and not trip and fall.
“Where are we going?!” Adora stole a glance toward him as they ran, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“I don’t know!” He laughed. “Just far away from boring old Teela! She always catches me when I sneak out, but she was quick this time!”
“Do you sneak out often?” Adora shouted back. What kind of Prince was always sneaking out of his own castle? Then again, Glimmer had snuck out of the palace back at Bright Moon a lot too, maybe it was some kind of weird royalty thing.
“Come on, through here!” Adam ignored her question again and beckoned her into another alleyway, this one was shielded from outside view by a wooden fence that was covered in old posters and newer ones for the upcoming Nonacentential.
Adam finally stopped once they were out of sight, panting but still grinning.
“That was fun,” Adam breathe-laughed.
“That’s what you call fun?” Adora wheezed. She hadn’t run like that in ages, and she was a little out of practice.
“Hey, not a lot happens around here!” He protested. “Come on, I wanna show you something.”
Now what?
Even though this guy had led her on a wild goose chase through what felt like the entire city, she still felt like she could trust him, but she still hesitated. It had been two hours, and the others would be looking for her by now, and she was no closer to getting information from him than she had been.
“It’ll be cool, promise!” He added quickly.
“Okay, sure,” Adora gave in.
He led her up a ladder to the adjacent building's domed roof. The building itself was on the small crest of a hill, which made it slightly higher than the surrounding homes, from here, Adora could see the palace’s raised dias closer, and it was even more breath-taking than it was from afar, and she could see people bustling around on the lawns, probably getting ready for the upcoming festival.
“Pretty cool, right?” Adam sat down on the edge of the roof, patting next to him encouragingly. Adora sat next to him and looked over, he looked sadder now, bathed in the light of the setting artificial sun. They sat in silence for a moment as the sun sank. Around them, the dome’s simulated sunset faded away revealing the stars all around the city in space, glittering and beautiful. Adora thought she would never get tired of seeing stars.
“I know you probably have to get back to whoever you came with,” He began. “It’s just…” He hesitated. “I’ve never really had a lot of friends besides Teela, and you saw how she is.”
“I know how you feel,” Adora huffed. “I only had my best friend Catra growing up, until I met my friends Bow and Glimmer.”
“Is that who you came here with?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, and they’re probably waiting…” She trailed off.
“Listen, thanks for letting me drag you around,” Adam laughed. “I know I’m not easy to deal with sometimes.”
“It was fine.” Adora laughed back and realized their laughs were almost the same too. “I had fun too, but I have a couple of things I wanted to ask you.”
“Sure,” He leaned back, admiring the starry sky.
“My friends and I, we came here on a ship,” Adora began. “And it’s broken right now, and we really need to get home so we stopped here for repairs, which is why we separated to look for somewhere, and clearly I got side-tracked so I didn’t find anywhere and I was hoping you would know someplace?”
“I know just the guy!” He took a small piece of paper out of his vest and scrawled something on it with a pen he got from another pocket. He folded the piece of paper and handed it to her. “This is the name and location of the best tech-wiz I know, if he can’t help you, no one can. Tell him I sent you and he’d probably do it for free too!”
“Wow,” Adora tucked the piece of paper in her pocket. That was more than she expected.
But another question burned her mind, and it had been bothering her since they arrived. The small part of her brain that she had compartmentalized reared its ugly head and she had to know.
“So this city, you said it was launched ten thousand years ago?” She implored. “Do you know why?”
“Yeah, we used to be a whole planet, one of the most advanced in the galaxy, but our old leaders mined out everything in the core, and the planet became unstable, so they came up with the idea of this,” Adam explained. “It used to be called Eternia, but now we’re just Eternos because Etnernians are Eternal.” He said the last part like it was rehearsed, like some kind of motto.
Adora’s blood ran cold. So this was Eternia, where the First Ones were from. The ones who created the Heart of Etheria. The ones who harnessed She-Ra. The place she was more than likely from.
Which meant it probably wasn’t a coincidence she and Adam looked so similar. Which meant that she and Adam were…And she was…
“Adora?” Adam waved his hand in front of her face.
Adora grabbed him by the shoulders tightly to steady herself. Her mind was reeling. This was insane, this was-
“Let her go!” Out of nowhere, Adora suddenly heard Catra’s voice and felt herself be yanked back onto the roof, a bag being draped over her head and claws digging into her arm.
She was knocked prone onto her back, the wind knocked out of her lungs, wheezing she struggled to sit back up to no avail.
“Yeah!” Bow!
“Get your hands off our friend!” Glimmer!
Wait, what?