My Name is Annabelle
by Alexandra Spears
Chapter 1--Origins


My grandmother, the late Queen Marlena of Eternia, once told me that my name combines two names, Anna and Belle, meaning "graceful" and "beautiful," respectively. And people have told me that it fits.

I guess to some people I have it all. Like my mother, I am a princess. I was Princess of Eternia like she is until I married Prince Micah of Etheria. I have five beautiful children, and two of the girls are identical twins. My children's heritage comes from three different planets--Earth, Eternia, and Etheria.

Maybe I should start at the beginning, to when my maternal grandmother was an astronaut from Earth.

Lieutenant Marlena Glenn, as I have mentioned, was on a space mission for NASA, as the Earth organization is called. Grandmother once told me what the letters stood for, but I think I forgot. Something to do with aeronautics. Anyway, she crash- landed on Eternia, and my grandfather King Randor and his friend Duncan, called Man-at-Arms, found her. Soon after they married, and had twins--my mother, Princess Adora, and her brother, my uncle, Prince Adam.

Right around that time the Horde War started. The Horde attempted to conquer Eternia. Lives were lost during that battle, notably that of the Sorceress' husband, my aunt Teela's father. Lives were also shattered, as Hordak, leader of this attack, abducted my mother and took her to Etheria as revenge for being defeated by my grandfather.

Mother grew up on Etheria under spells of control. A really nice woman, Shakra, was her nursemaid. Better her than Shadow Weaver, I always thought. Years later my uncle Adam was sent to find her, not even knowing that he had a sister. It turns out that the Horde had lied to her and told her that the Horde was good, and they hid all sorts of things from her, the jerks (a word Grandmother taught me).

I can't imagine how Mother felt, a Horde force captain one minute, a princess the next--and the fact that she had a destiny as She-Ra, like Uncle Adam was meant to be He-Man. See, they have these magic swords that transform them, and I love riding on Swift Wind with Mother when she's She-Ra. Anyway, I digress. My mother's life had been turned around drastically, but she's one to roll with the punches, as I've found out.

Not long after my mother became leader of the Rebellion on Etheria, she met a pirate captain--my father, Sea Hawk. A few years later they were married.

Just over a year after they were married, my father was believed to have been killed during the final battle to free Etheria. My mother didn't know it yet but she was pregnant with me at the time. So she went home to Eternia a widow.

I'm told that I was nearly born in Snake Mountain, of all places. The Horde wasn't done with my family yet, and Horde Prime sent Hordak and his bunch to Eternia, to ally with Hordak's erstwhile pupil Skeletor. Hordak and his lackeys came to Eternia the day I was born, kidnapping my mother while she was in labor. I tell you, they have absolutely no conscience whatsoever. Fortunately, my uncle was able to rescue my mother, and I was born in the Palace of Eternia.

Mother, while protective of me, was about to go over the deep end. Soon after I was born my paternal grandfather, the Falcon, died, but not before he got to see me. That, along with the idea that I would grow up without a father, was too much for Mother. Naturally, the Horde tried to take advantage of that by invading her dreams and making her want to kill the man responsible for my father's death. They knew that if she killed, she would have to give up her power as She-Ra. Maybe they weren't as stupid as they let on, but maybe they were. Admiral Scurvy, who was supposed to have killed my father, had killed himself, so my mother, wanting someone to vent her anger on, went to Snake Mountain and would have started a murderous rampage had my uncle not intervened. He managed to convince her that it wasn't worth it.

Right after that I nearly died of pneumonia. I don't know what my mother would have done if I'd died. She always kept me close by. I slept in her room, in the cradle she herself had slept in when she was a baby.

On my first birthday, however, my mother found that my father was alive. Someone had pretended to be him and was killed doing so. My father had had amnesia and had just regained his memory. My parents wasted no time in providing me with a younger brother, Julian, and the year after Julian was born, a sister named Tamara.

My uncle Adam married Teela, and when I was a year old my cousin James was born, and five years after that they had a daughter named Jessalyn.

So that's my background.

on to chapter 2

Chapter 2--Early Years


I enjoy walking through the Hall of Kings, looking at pictures of my relatives and ancestors. There's a picture I especially like, one of me at two years old, being held by my parents. I'm an adorable little toddler in that picture, with my red-gold hair that curls at the bottom just like my mother's does, and my eyes are the same shade of blue as my mother's. I guess Nature couldn't decide whether I'd be a blonde like my mother or a redhead like my father, so I got some of each.

There's also one of those multigenerational pictures up. This one has my great-grandfather, King Miro, at top and center. Standing in front of him are my maternal grandparents King Randor and Queen Marlena. In front of them, from left to right, are Aunt Teela, Uncle Adam, Mother, and Father. I'll always marvel at how much my mother and uncle look alike. Anyway, we five children are in front. My cousins James and Jessalyn are in front of their parents, with me, Julian, and Tamara in front of ours.

It's a good thing photography exists on Eternia. I mean, I was eight years old at that time. My brother was six, my sister five, and my cousins James and Jessalyn seven and two, respectively. A painter would have a nice time with five small children! Especially since Jessalyn was always temperamental like her mother. Not to mention she has the same red hair.

Back to the first picture I mentioned. I believe my earliest memories were at two; I remember the picture being done. My mother was pregnant with my brother at that time, and I can vaguely remember asking when that baby was coming out, because I wanted to see it.

It's also the age where I first predicted my grandparents' deaths. I'd had that dream on and off for close to a decade. As I grew older I understood the dream better. You see, I am one of the most powerful sorceresses on Etheria. When I was a child the Sorceress worked with me, and now that she's gone, Queen Castaspella of Mystacor has been tutoring me, because according to her I'm not up to my full potential yet. Still, I can do lots of things. I'm telekinetic for starters, and I can find things, which comes in handy with five children losing their toys; I sure hope at least one of them inherits this ability. I have visions of the future, as I've already mentioned. I oftentimes wonder if my powers have anything to do with my mother also being She-Ra. My brother, for example, has super-strength, as does my cousin James (his father is also He-Man). My sister has healing powers--and so does She-Ra. My little cousin Jessalyn is a third-generation sorceress; her maternal grandmother was the Sorceress, and that mantle had been passed to her mother Teela.

I digress. I remember that dream because I was screaming bloody murder and my mother thought Hordak must be doing something to me. Next thing I knew she was holding me and rocking me back and forth, while my father tried to get me to talk. My aunt and uncle had also rushed into the room.

My mother also tells me that I first showed signs of telekinesis when I was two. It was my grandmother who witnessed that event. According to Grandmother, my cousin James wanted to see one of my toys and I let him--I made the toy sail through midair into his waiting hands. I barely remember that, though. Of course, it impresses people that I remember anything at all from so early in my existence.

Sometimes I blame myself for my grandparents' deaths. After all, I was the one who dreamed about it. I still have nightmares about it, about when the Horde invaded en masse and caused total chaos. My father tells me that it was future events that caused my precognitive dreams, not the other way around. I'd heard him and my mother talking about me late at night when I sneaked down the hall for a glass of water, on numerous occasions. I would pause by their bedroom door and listen to them worry about me.

When I was three, Horde Prime recalled his flunkies back to Horde World. Skeletor was dead; Hordak had killed him. Still, Hordak was dangerous, and he would do anything to get revenge on my mother. My life from ages three to twelve was pretty uneventful. My siblings and I had the usual squabbles, which I usually won because of my magic. I had tutoring sessions with the Sorceress, James and Jessalyn's maternal grandmother. Our parents would take us to Etheria to visit with Mother's dear friends, Bow and Glimmer, who were then Prince and Princess of Bright Moon, Etheria's ruling kingdom. I was close friends with their son, my husband-to-be Prince Micah, who was only a month older than I. Back then Glimmer's parents, King Micah and Queen Angella, ruled Etheria.

We children also met Shakra, the woman who raised my mother. She was like a grandmother to us. She's in her seventies now, but she enjoys looking after my five children, Adora's grandchildren. In fact, my husband Micah and I took her on as a nanny. Sometimes we have to go to diplomatic functions with Micah's parents, and Shakra baby-sits my five children. She often says that I remind her of Adora, my mother.

It's hard to believe that my mother is a grandmother. She still looks so young. I think her powers are responsible. Of course, I was married at sixteen and had my first child at seventeen.

While events in my life between ages three and twelve were less than exciting, my life from age twelve to age sixteen was turbulent, and that's what I want to talk about. My uncle's a great advocate of saying what and how you feel. He had to convince my mother of that, as when she was growing up, her opinion didn't really count; in fact, it could lead to another mind-control spell being placed on her.

So here it is.

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back to Chapter 1

on to Chapter 3

Chapter 3--Almost a Teen

It was spring, and with spring came my twelfth birthday. "One more year and you'll be a teenager," my mother told me at my birthday party. She could almost pass for a teen, well, actually someone in her twenties, herself, even at thirty-seven.

It seemed like everyone on two worlds was there, everyone from my great-grandfather to my grandparents, cousins, and other relatives. My special friend from Etheria, Prince Micah, was also there, with all of his relatives, all of whom were good friends of my mother's, back from when the Rebellion fought for freedom for Etheria.

Everyone would be having birthdays throughout the spring and summer. My younger brother Julian would be ten next month, and my younger sister Tamara was going on nine. Cousin James would be eleven soon and the baby of the family, James' sister Jessalyn, would be six. With my siblings' and cousins' birthdays, along with that of my mother and her twin brother (who'd just had theirs a few months ago), and my grandparents and everyone, we always seemed to be having parties. Just last month my family and I had been invited to Micah's twelfth birthday party on Etheria.

Twelve seemed to be that gateway between childhood and womanhood, but my mother said that the gateway was wider than that. I was beginning my journey through adolescence. For some reason I was constantly tripping over everything, something my father was scratching his head about, since normally I was very graceful. "Give it time, Hawk," my mother kept telling him. "It's normal for girls Annabelle's age to go through that."

"What else do you girls go through, Adora?" my father once asked her, looking and sounding amused.

"Let's see...," my mother had said, grinning, as she began ticking items off on her fingers. I think she was making up some of those things just to tease him.

My party was in the form of a royal ball. My grandparents enjoyed throwing balls to mark the birthdays of us children and our parents. The Horde hadn't been bothering us the past nine years, and believe me, we were enjoying it.

I was truly the belle of the ball, as Grandmother would say. My red-gold hair fell down to my waist, and it curled at the ends. I wore a blue dress the same shade as my eyes. My bangs curled over my forehead, and above them sat a tiara. I was a princess, and tonight I looked like one.

I was also looking grown-up, I thought as I quickly glanced down at my chest. Yes, I was definitely filling out there. Girls that age are constantly preoccupied with that, so bear with me. Even girls like me who had magical powers.

Orko, a Trollan who resided in the Palace, held out a blue hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked.

I giggled. Orko looked like not much more than a floating red shirt. Yellow eyes peered out over a purple scarf, and blue ears protruded through the brim of his pointed hat. But he was a lot of fun, and I couldn't count the number of times we got into trouble together. "Sure," I said.

After the dance, I was asked by Micah. Rumor had it at that time that one day we would marry. With my precognitive powers, I knew it to be true, though I didn't tell him that, not wanting to tempt fate.

Next I danced with my father, and after that my grandfather. As I danced with my mother's father, I had one of those flashes that I usually got. A message appeared in my mind saying that this would be the last ball I would have for my birthday for quite a while.

I almost gasped but I managed to stifle it. I pulled my mind back to the present, telling it to enjoy this while it could.

Later on it was time for me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake. According to some Earth legend, however many candles are left lit after you try to blow them out indicates how many years it will take for your wish to come true.

Chef Allen, who had been a loyal servant to my grandparents for many years, had baked me a huge birthday cake. I smiled as I noticed Uncle Adam's cowardly tiger Cringer eyeing the cake. The cake had purple icing, and I knew the cake itself would be pink. I loved pink and purple.

Micah had inherited his mother's magical powers and then some, and he surprised me by waving his hand, lighting all twelve candles at once. I beamed at him. "Great, Micah!" his father, Bow, said approvingly.

I sat there and blushed prettily as countless voices began singing "Happy Birthday Annabelle" in perfect unison. I had to keep my mind from wandering into the future.

"Okay, Annabelle, let's see how many you can blow out," my father said, laying a hand on my shoulder.

I took a deep breath and blew as hard as I could. Eight of them went out; four remained lit. Four years until Micah and I would be married! I thought, as that was my wish.

I blew out the four remaining candles.

I spent the next day in my room, admiring all the presents I'd received for my birthday. My brother, sister, and cousins got a little something too, so they wouldn't feel left out.

I was happily leafing through a magic book that Castaspella had given me when Julian burst in without knocking, as usual. I was going to have to demand more privacy, I thought as I looked up. "Julian...," I said, my voice hinting that he should have knocked first.

"Wow, Annie, no wonder you're holed up in here," he breathed. I really wished that he'd quit calling me Annie. No one called my mother Dorrie or something stupid like that. "You going to write your usual thank-you notes?"

"I'm going to sign them," I said, as with a wave of my hand a stack of notes appeared. I'd always felt it polite to write thank-you notes for gifts you've received. Even as a small girl I'd done that. "So what do you want that's so important that you have to just waltz on in here without knocking?"

"Oops...," he said.

"Don't worry about it. Just remember next time."

"Mom said don't forget about your tutoring session with the Sorceress. She's going to fly you there on Swift Wind."

"Whoa...thanks for reminding me!" I was still wearing my nightgown. "I have to get dressed--which means that you have to scram!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going," he said. "Tammy and me are going swimming in the river while you have to study!" I heard his laugh all the way down the corridor.

I poked my head out the door. "Well, I'm the special one!" I shouted at his retreating figure. Children. Honestly. He'd be lucky if he saw his twelfth birthday at this rate.

"Hey, what's all this?" asked a familiar voice.

Looking down the hall in the other direction, I saw Uncle Adam approaching. "Julian's being a pain," I said.

"He's being a boy," Uncle Adam laughed.

"He's lucky I don't turn him into something," I grumbled. Normally I didn't get this annoyed. Tamara always wanted to know how I could be happy one minute, angry the next.

Uncle Adam seemed to recognize what I was going through. He and my mother hadn't grown up together, but he'd grown up with Aunt Teela. He gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. "Don't let it get to you. Just forget about it and get dressed, so your mother can take you to Castle Grayskull."

I could never get angry with my uncle. "Okay, Uncle Adam."

I retreated back into my room. With a wave of my hands everything was put away neatly. I was luckier than most girls. I didn't have to work at keeping my room neat. It saved my mother from yelling at another kid to get their room straightened--mostly Julian. Put simply, he's a slob.

As my bathtub filled up I undressed and scrutinized myself in the full-length mirror on my bathroom door. My hips were starting to widen a little and my breasts, while still small, were developed enough to tell that there was actually something there. I was thin but not too skinny. Right now I was nearly as tall as my mother.

As soon as there was enough water I sank into the tub. Disturbing images appeared in my mind a lot, and I consciously tried to relax, to chase them away. There are some things that even magic can't do.

After relaxing a bit I washed myself and washed my hair. I summoned a mental image of my wardrobe as I dried myself off. Seeing the clothes I wanted, I snapped my fingers, knowing that they'd be lying on my bed.

As soon as I'd finished dressing, there was a knock at my door. "Come in, Mother," I called.

My mother stood there, in her identity as She-Ra. Some kids thought it was pretty neat, that I was She-Ra's daughter. "Ready to go?" she asked.

I nodded, and we went towards the stables, where Swift Wind was waiting. Moments later, as I rode behind my mother, my arms around her waist, I looked over Eternia's landscape. I saw not the beauty of it, but the destruction that was to come.

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on to chapter 4

Chapter 4--Growing Up Too Fast

Throughout that summer I was twelve I kept having terrible dreams. The worst one came the morning I had my first period. Usually a preteen looks forward to such an event, but this more or less traumatized me.

That morning I woke up, screaming, from the most horrible nightmare, the one that had been haunting me on and off since the age of two. There was a dull pain in my belly and when I looked down at myself I saw that I was bleeding. I don't know why I screamed; I guess I was still half-asleep and thought I'd been injured in my dream.

My screams brought my parents running, as well as my grandmother. I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I only knew that I was frightened as anything and I kept crying and screaming. My grandparents knew nothing about the dream that predicted their deaths; it would do no good to tell them.

My father was even more convinced that the dreams were just nightmares brought on by the onset of puberty. I think he was afraid that I might have dreamed something about him and this was his way of dismissing the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, my father was understanding, but there were things he couldn't or wouldn't understand.

Finally my mother managed to get me cleaned up. With a shaky hand I used my magic to erase the stain from my bed. If only it were possible to erase the future I kept dreaming about. My father was sitting in a chair that was in my room, and I crawled onto his lap and he held me close while my mother and grandmother began talking.

"Adora, what's wrong with Annabelle?" I heard Grandmother ask Mother.

"I'm not sure myself. She keeps having terrible dreams. A lot of them she can't remember, maybe vaguely. Remember, she can dream about the future." Mother stopped there, not wanting to say anymore. I could tell that it hurt her to think about it.

Daddy just held me on his lap, stroking my hair and telling me everything would be all right. But everything would not be all right. I knew it.

"What happened?" Mother asked me after a few minutes had passed. "I'd told you about this kind of thing--I thought you knew what was happening to you."

I shook my head. "I-I did know--but that nightmare, then waking up like that--I don't know...."

"As we would have said on Earth, she just got freaked out," my grandmother put in. "She probably thought it was part of her dream."

"Hawk, would you please make sure Julian and Tamara are up?" my mother asked kindly. She knew that he was uncomfortable talking about the subject, and it gave him an excuse not to discuss it.

"Sure," Daddy said. I got off his lap. He stood up, kissed my mother on the lips, then left the room to wake my brother and sister. He tousled my hair on the way out, giving me a quick but reassuring smile.

"I'll leave you alone with her," my grandmother said as she followed my father out of my room.

Mother sat down on my bed, and I sat down next to her. She looked really worried as she put an arm around me. "I wish I never had these powers," I said after a long while.

"No, you wish you didn't have the ability to see into the future," my mother corrected. "I think I know how you feel. You can see the future but you can't do anything about it."

I crawled back under the blankets. "I don't feel well," I moaned.

"Pain?" she asked.

I nodded.

Mother left the room and not long afterward came back with a heating pad. "This should help," she said.

"Don't you get pain when you go through this?" I asked. I'd never seen my mother complaining about pain.

"I used to...but after you were born it didn't hurt. That happens sometimes."

I managed a weak smile. "Maybe I should hurry up and have a baby of my own...just to get rid of this."

Mother merely laughed. "First of all, it hurts worse to give birth. Secondly, there's no guarantee."

"If we have to go through all this, why are girls called the weaker sex?" I muttered.

"I'll let you know if I ever find out," Mother teased. She adjusted my blankets. "I'll let you sleep. I'll be back in later to check on you." She kissed my cheek and smoothed my hair. She lingered for a while before leaving the room.

The heating pad was working. The pain was easing up. Before long I realized that if I took the pad away the pain would come back, so I left it there.

I closed my eyes and managed to fall back asleep.

For the next couple of months the dreams came relentlessly. I was getting to be as jumpy as Cringer. My eyes constantly had circles under them from lack of sleep and my parents and my other relatives were getting worried.

I couldn't sleep because I'd always be awakened by those nightmares. Not even Man-at-Arms' inventions could help. There was nothing anyone could do. Not even the Sorceress, whom we'd just found out was Aunt Teela's real mother. My mother came in from time to time and lay down beside me in my bed, and that helped a little. I'd always felt safe when my mother held me.

My powers were a blessing and a curse. I got the lion's share of powers. My brother had only super-strength; my sister only her healing power. I could do just about anything with my powers except get rid of these dreams. The dreams hadn't bothered me that much the past ten years, but now they were back with a vengeance.

I preferred to lie huddled in bed much of the time and my mother and aunt got after me every so often to bathe and wash my hair, since I didn't feel like doing that. My brother and sister knew to steer clear, since I was in a perpetual bad mood from being so tired all the time and worrying when my prophecies would come to pass. That was another thing--I knew events would happen but I didn't often know when they would happen. I only got a general idea.

One morning my mother woke me up. "Annabelle, it's time you got out of bed and got outside for once," she said firmly. "Look, I know that you don't feel like it, but it's not good for you to stay in here day in day out. I'm worried, your father's worried, everyone is worried."

"I get the picture," I muttered as I rolled over and saw my mother standing near my bed.

"It's a beautiful day outside," Mother added. "It's time you enjoyed it, before winter comes. I know that something bad is going to happen, but worrying about it is not going to change what's to be. Enjoy life while you can."

"Mother, it's your parents that are going to die," I blurted.

Her expression darkened. She would have slapped me, except she'd never struck me or Julian or Tamara in our lives and she wasn't going to start now. "Don't you think I know that?" she said. "I'm well aware of that. In fact, this has made me appreciate them more. Each night before I go to bed I make sure to hug them and tell them I love them."

"I'm sorry I'm such a burden!" I snapped, sitting up. I felt like picking a fight and Mother happened to be the person standing there. "I'm sorry I have these dreams! I'm sorry that because of me, you're wondering how Grandma and Grandpa are going to die!"

Mother just stood there and listened. I could tell that she was a bit angry with me, but she was very good at keeping her temper in check. She sat down on my bed. "Annabelle, I came to the conclusion long ago that whether you'd dreamed about it or not, it's going to happen. Who knows--I might have thought that my parents would live forever and I would have taken them for granted."

That's my mother the optimist. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," I said, leaning over and putting my arms around her.

"Apology accepted," she said, hugging me back. I had such a great mother. "Now please get dressed and come outside with the rest of us."

A while later I was sitting with my parents, working with my sister's long red hair. She had our father's hair and our mother's eyes. Julian was the opposite; he had our mother's blond hair and our father's green eyes. Right now he was trying to get Cringer to play with him.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Teela had taken their children for a ride in a Wind Raider, something they thoroughly enjoyed. I could see the vehicle sailing through the air. My cousin Jessalyn's red hair streamed out behind her. From a distance I could tell how much my cousin James and my uncle Adam looked alike, with their blond hair. Both my cousins had blue eyes; both their parents were blue-eyed. I was sure that those eyes were sparkling with excitement, while mine looked tired.

As I braided Tamara's hair, I watched as Cringer ran from Julian. Now Julian and Orko were engaged in a game of tag.

Finally I was finished with my sister's hair, which went down to her waist. "I'm tired, Tammy," I said.

"Okay. I'm going to go play tag with Julian," she informed me as she got up and ran off to join Julian and Orko.

I laid my head on my father's lap and before long I was asleep. Half of me didn't want to sleep because of the nightmares, while the other half was just crying out for sleep; the latter half was the half that won out.

Someone was carrying me somewhere. When I opened my eyes, Daddy was laying me down on my bed. He was taking off my shoes. "Daddy, why are you putting me to bed?" I asked.

"You need a nap. You haven't been sleeping well," he replied.

I immediately sat up. "No!" I protested. "I don't want to sleep! I'll only have those dreams again! I wish I never had these powers!"

My father sat down on the edge of the bed, clearly wondering what to do about me. Before either of us could say anything else, we heard loud explosions. That was it. It was happening, and it was happening now.

"The Horde is attacking!" I shrieked. "Just like in my dreams!"

My father grabbed me and held me just as the room started to cave in. I held my hand out and managed to generate a protective shield to guard me and my father.

After what seemed to be an eternity the walls stopped collapsing. I was panting in fear. We were in no more immediate danger, so I removed the shield. "I know where Grandma and Grandpa are," I informed my father tonelessly. "And Great-Grandpa."

"Where?" my father asked gently.

Hand in hand, we began picking our way through the wreckage. My telekinetic powers came in handy. Pieces of debris and rubble flew out of the way at my mental command. I could sense how apprehensive my father was as we made our way to what remained of the throne room.

We entered the devastation that used to be the throne room. "They're here," I whispered. "Just like in my dream."

My father started digging and I helped by using my powers. There, in front of the dais, locked in an embrace, were my beloved grandparents, King Randor and Queen Marlena. "No...," my father moaned.

I could understand how he felt. They were like parents to him.

I started to cry.

After a long while, my mother found us. She was in her She-Ra identity. "What's happened?" she asked, in a tone that suggested that she didn't want to know.

My father touched her cheek. "Your parents are dead," he said quietly. Mother knelt beside her parents and touched them. Her hands gave off a pink glow as she attempted to use her healing power. But she could only heal the injured; she could not resurrect the dead.

Mother was silent for a while. I could almost sense the anger and hurt building up inside her. I was shocked when she finally let out a scream of rage then hurried away from the scene without another word.

Daddy's words pulled me out of my shock. "Come on, Annabelle. Your mother may do something foolish. We have to go after her."

I knew what he was talking about. Shortly after I was born, Mother had nearly gone insane. She'd had to deal with losses. Daddy was afraid she would go off the deep end again.

I teleported my father and myself from the horrific scene to a place outside the Palace. We saw my mother and ran to her.

"She-Ra, you're not going to try to...um...kill anyone, are you?"

Mother shook her head, obviously knowing what he was referring to. "No. I can take it out on those troopers that are coming toward us."

The battle raged for hours on end. My mother, on Swift Wind, was teamed up with Stratos, one of the bird people from Avion. My father and I fought on the ground. Daddy used the magical weapons his father, my paternal grandfather the Falcon, had given him. I used my powers.

My uncle, as He-Man, was fighting elsewhere on the Palace grounds, and he reluctantly let my cousins fight with him, as they had nowhere safe to go and would be useful with their powers; James had super-strength and Jessalyn had her magic.

After the battle, Uncle Adam was given the news that his parents had died. He and Mother, along with Man-at-Arms, removed my grandparents' bodies from the rubble and covered them with sheets.

"Where's Great-Grandpa?" my brother wanted to know.

"I-I don't know," Mother admitted. I could tell that she was worried about her grandfather. I knew that he was safe, but right now there were more pressing matters at hand.

"I'm now King of Eternia," Uncle Adam said in disbelief. "And since the Palace is destroyed, we will have to move to Castle Grayskull, where we will be safest."

I looked at the ruins of my home. I had been born and raised there. All my belongings were gone, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that my grandparents were gone.

I would be able to sleep peacefully, but it just wasn't worth it.

"Let's go to Grayskull," said one of the guards. A vast majority of the guards had survived thanks to my sister's healing power.

My mother put her arm around my shoulders as we journeyed to Castle Grayskull, leaving behind my home. I was surprised I didn't turn into a pillar of salt like that one woman in a story Grandmother had told me, the way I kept looking back.

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