Crypto Castle, as winding of a labyrinth as it is, abandoned and coated with dust, is thankfully still well lit. Little purple lights hang from the ceiling, illuminating the hall just well enough that each doorway can be easily made out. Shadow Weaver methodically pokes her head inside each one along the left hand wall, drawing an X in the dust whenever it proved pointless. The vast majority of chambers were simply storage, guest rooms, or otherwise mundane. The most interesting thing she’d found thus far was what appeared to either be a small bathhouse or a very large bath. Going by the oily sheen on the water, however, she wasn’t especially tempted to dip her toe in.
“No wonder the Von Dryls fell out of power. This isn’t the most receptive place to host dignitaries.”
Magic and screams had filled the crypt, right after Adora had secured Entrapta. She was aware of Glimmer and Catra holding off the guardian, torn. She could get up again and help, save them. But the both of them - as proven again - were capable warriors. more than capable. The truth of the guardian made her shudder too, of course.
They looked hurt. Entrapta was hurt more, cradled in She-Ra’s arms. This was familiar. She looked down at the prone princess, hair hanging off like a sheet, flowing out in waves of purple. Her eyes were open, red. Red and pained. No wonder. Adora saw her connected with the ground painfully, the snaps and the resulting agony...
Entrapta was not a warrior. Not like the others. They’d been hurt before, but they knew how to deal with it. Adora feared putting her down and helping dispatch the mummified knight, and during the rest of the scuffle eyed the others warily. A low, warning growl vibrating in her chest. Any of the others could come alive at any moment, something else would come from the depths and snatch Entrapta away.
Exercising extreme gentleness, She-Ra’s fingers curled around the back of the other princess’s head, possessively. Protectively. She’s lost her before. Never again.
When things were quieter, Adora had looked back down at her, seeing the pain in those eyes. Red, but weirdly warm and beautiful. Face marred with agonizing sweat. In that agony, in that forced stillness, Entrapta looked so... small. She WAS small. Five foot one, three feet shorter than She-Ra. It was different, now. Still, without her energy and her hair making her appear bigger... She looked so fragile. An egg of glass.
“Entrapta. I got you,” Adora says, and she’s surprised at the lump in her throat, barely able to talk aloud.
Entrapta’s body was betraying her, but it was clear from the look on her face, the light in her eyes, that her mind was still working. Ever present, likely looking for some response.
“Ouch,” she says. Understatement of the year. Adora nearly laughs, but her eyebrows knit together in worry. Worry and concern. Something else surprising the warrior princess is the hand coming up, curiosity trying to override pain, ungloved and clearly broken. Blood was at those finger tips, and almost reverently Entrapta goes to touch She-Ra’s hair poof. “She’s back,” Entrapta tries again. And it’s clear moving, looking, and speaking first. A bit of that blood stains pale gold hair, but Adora doesn’t mind in the slightest. Broken bones, bleeding.
“Hold still. Sshh. Let me...”
This is so familiar. Catra, lying broken and dying in a similar way. Seeming so small, so fragile. She did not know Entrapta the same, but seeing her in this state? That much pain? She-Ra bit down on the urge to pour her life force full stop in the other princess. It was different in space, it was an emergency. No healers, no one else that could help. Healing was... exhausting. Such an amount of healing would force She-Ra to revert, and Adora wants to remain in this form. But she can do something...
“Sshh, Entrapta,” Adora keeps saying, over and over, in different tones. She feels magic surging in her fingertips, and leans into it, feeding off the great pool of energy within her. A golden light surrounds those fingers, one held very gently at Entrapta’s chest, the light going into the broken body. Healing was taxing on the healee, too - She-Ra mainly accelerated the body’s healing rate, and she had no idea how Entrapta would cope with that. The healing is minimal, mostly ache reducing. Adora watched, fighting tears in her own eyes, as a whole slew of emotions went across the other’s face. Sharp pain, curiosity, surprise, heavy eyelids.
Something was working. Even Entrapta’s miind began to relax, or some approximation of it, and her eyes closed. Looking smaller, even more still, the pain eased just enough to let her pass out. She-Ra stands, turns around, looks at the others.
Glimmer looks hurt. Catra is limping, the mummified knight is defeated. Still glowing slightly, the emotion and the urge to save, changes her tone. Hundreds of lifetimes speak through Adora, a slight echo in her words. Aura pulsing, eyes glowing slightly, she approaches them, the unconscious princess in her hands.
