Probably some of you know that I write several He-Man stories that have Adora/She-Ra in them (Noticing Adam, Noticing Adam: The Uprising, and Where the Heart Is). Regardless, I've decided to write another story and put it over here in the She-Ra section, despite having several ongoing pieces on the He-Man page.

Yes, for those of you who know me, this story does have Adam in it. What can I say? LOL I love the Twins of Power! Haha! Anyway, I'm just throwing this out there and seeing if anyone wants to join me for the ride. I hope some of you do. Just know that this story will be very different from the three that I mentioned above, for those of you who have read them, so I hope it will be of some interest to you, also! (Also, don't worry about me having to write yet another story-one of my He-Man fics will be ending very soon.)

The Sacrifice

Music and laughter filled the night air surrounding the Whispering Woods. The people were in good spirits that night and it was a marvelous thing to behold. Children were running around playing with one another while the adults socialized merrily and acted like they didn't have a care in the world.

She wished it was like this every day, but tonight marked a special occasion that lowered everyone's inhibitions. The entire planet—besides the Horde—wished to celebrate.

The people called it the Etherian Freedom Festival. For three nights, the people of Etheria gathered in the Whispering Woods to play games, to socialize freely with one another without fear of the Horde listening, and to celebrate the actions of He-Man and She-Ra a year ago: they had helped the Great Rebellion to drive the Horde out of Kingdom Brightmoon! Even though everyone present was not a member of the Rebellion, they were all supporters of the cause and believed that the actions of He-Man and She-Ra that day were to be commemorated and celebrated.

Far be it from her to take away a reason for them to be happy, so she allowed it to happen without much complaint. Adora smiled as she watched her friends drop their stern facades as warriors of the Great Rebellion and just act like everyday people.

She wished she could forget about things as easily as her friends could for a short while, but she couldn't. She was never without her worries ever since she had discovered the truth about the Horde. Now that she knew they were evil, all the things she had once admired about the Horde were now the things that she hated.

One such thing was that the Horde never took any breaks—they never celebrated anything. She now knew that all the Horde cared about was destruction and invasions. They loved to take what didn't belong to them and they loved to cause chaos. Because the Horde was always prepared for whatever whim Hordak could have at any given time, she had to be ready, as well, and she knew the festival would give Hordak the very excuse to try something devious. And, unfortunately, the people around the planet weren't exactly keeping the festival a secret—they believed that their attendance was a small way of showing defiance to the Horde. Because of this—even though she had preferred for the celebration to be a quiet affair—she hadn't been able to stop the entire planet from talking. She knew Hordak was aware of the festivities.

And, she knew he would retaliate.

She just wished she knew how he would do it and when. Then, she would know how to prepare for the inevitable fallout. Unfortunately, since she didn't know anything, all she could do was wait.

"Adora!" Bow called out from far below.

She had stationed herself in one of the many lookout posts that surrounded the rebel camp. She was high in the air and sitting amongst the treetops. In her location, she could see the Fright Zone in the distance and that brought her a little comfort. She would see Hordak if he decided to leave his lair with his army to deliver a little payback to those who had decided to celebrate with the Rebellion once they returned home. That's what she was expecting and she was prepared to run and turn into She-Ra at any given moment.

She hoped Hordak wouldn't think of any other way to retaliate, because she knew if he did, it would probably be something that she wouldn't know about until it was too late.

She heard Bow call her name again before she turned her attention towards him.

"Come down, Adora!" he shouted. "You shouldn't spend the entire night up there. This is a time for you to celebrate, as well. Not only did He-Man and She-Ra help liberate Brightmoon a year ago, you also defected from the Horde and reunited with your brother around that time."

Yes, it was a time to celebrate and she might have considered it if Adam were on the planet with her. She would have had someone else to help her if things suddenly took a turn for the worst tonight, but since he was on Eternia, she knew she had to remain vigilant.

"I'm afraid I can't, Bow!" she replied. "Someone has to keep his or her eyes on the Horde and that might as well be me!"

"What makes you think Hordak will do anything tonight, anyway?"

She didn't bother to look down at him. She simply shrugged. She knew Bow could see her actions, so she didn't add anything else. Instead, she simply mumbled to herself as she turned her attention back to the Fright Zone, "Because I know Hordak."

=)=)=)

Deep within the Fright Zone, Hordak's laughter resonated throughout the halls. "Those Rebels," he snapped almost amusedly, "think they can get away with celebrating their single victory against the Horde! They will soon learn their mistake!"

Shadow Weaver floated ahead of the group Hordak had assembled to talk to. "Oh, that's wonderful, Hordak!" she exclaimed in mock excitement. She had learned a long time ago how to stay in Hordak's good graces…for the most part, anyway. Once in a while, they had their spats, but overall, she had secured a place as one of Hordak's favorites. "Do you have a plan?"

Hordak laughed a little more and replied, "Don't I usually?" He punched a button on his chair's arm and a picture of Adora floated beside him. "It has been some time since Adora defected to the Rebellion. When I first learned of their festival, I knew Adora probably had something to do with it, so I want to make her pay. I want her to remember that no one—and I mean no one—tries to belittle or underestimate the Horde."

Catra meowed loudly and asked excitedly, "What do you have planned? I have been waiting for a long time to make Adora suffer."

Hordak punched a different button on the arm of his chair and said, "My plan has already begun. Last night with the help of a few of Horde Prime's best men, I have taken something that will bring Adora to us, and once she comes, we will capture her and make her our prisoner forever!" He laughed sadistically as he pumped his fists up and down eagerly.

At that moment, several guards marched into the room. Everyone could tell the Troopers were surrounding a prisoner, but no one could see who it was. "Let us see him," he demanded.

The Troopers who were in front of the prisoner dispersed, and Catra, Scorpia, Mantenna, Shadow Weaver, and Leech began to laugh when they saw who they had and what state he was in. Their prisoner was in his nightwear and he looked angry as he glared at all of them, especially Hordak.

"Welcome to the Fright Zone again, Prince Adam!" Hordak called out cheerfully. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay. After all, it is you who is going to give me what I want!"

Adam moved towards Hordak but several Troopers grabbed his arms. "I'm not going to give you anything, so you're wasting your time!"

Hordak laughed and countered, "I'm afraid you don't have a choice." He turned to some guards off to the side and commanded, "Bring me a message cube. We are going to send a message to Adam's sister, Adora! If she ever wants to see her brother alive again, she will turn herself over to the Horde. If she doesn't, then her brother will remain with us and I will do with him as I wish!"

As the Horde commander laughed again excitedly, Adam yelled out, "It'll never work! It never works!"

Hordak stopped laughing and stood abruptly. He morphed his arm into his cannon blaster and shot a statue that was right behind Adam. When he saw that his prisoner got the message not to speak loud and clear, he replied, "This time it will, Prince Adam. You'll see, even though you might not like what we have in store for you to ensure that it does!" He chuckled again and said, "Take him to the Plunder Room."

As the Horde Troopers took the struggling prince out of the room, Hordak rubbed his chin and stated to himself, "Yes, Adora will be mine again, and then all of Etheria will soon follow!"

=)=)=)

Usually my chapters are a lot longer than this, but since this is the very first chapter, I wanted to see if anyone was interested. Let me know one way or another, please! It would be greatly appreciated!

(And, yes, you will see how Adam was captured and how all of this came about in future chapters very soon.)