//------------------------------// // She-Ra: Broken Reflection // Story: Spare Parts // by Crack-Fic Casey //------------------------------// The normal first impression you got from the Bizarre Bazaar was from the merchants. There was the noise as they hawked their wares, trying to find that balance between 'attention-getting' and 'obnoxious.' There were the bright colors that usually just gave up and went for obnoxious, and the smell of fresh produce and baked goods that made you overlook how aggravating everything else could be because it suddenly felt like a good time for lunch.  If you looked left, wrapping around the city were rides and games. The 'authentic' Light Zone experience was hidden behind steep prices inside the city, but general-purpose fun went for cheap out here. To the far right were the docks, and past them was the Ever-Reaching River, which led directly to the Northern Ocean. There was a smaller road connecting the Docks to the Bazaar, but most of their traffic went through smaller loading gates further down the wall.  On a normal occasion, a visitor would see all this and be immediately charmed. Adora mostly focused on all the screaming and fire. Adora stuck close to Scorpia as they pushed into the crowd. Scorpia kept her arm around Adora’s shoulders; a crowd of panicked people with super strength could kill her by accident in a dozen different ways. Adora was trying not to think of the danger, trying not to think of the— “Your people need you.” —The whatever-it-was's words, because it was lying, because it had to be, and even if it wasn't then it still wasn’t important. Her mother was important; it must have done something to her experiment and Adora had to help fix it. Adora squeezed her eyes shut and followed Scorpia, lips mouthing words as she focused completely on the problem at hand. She repeated it to herself, using it to drown out her other thoughts. A haunting, she thought as loudly as she could, just something that happens when you don’t get rid of magic right after you do a spell. Mom— “Your people need you.” --My Mom, Adora thought fiercely, taught me what I needed to know, so I. Can. Handle. This. Magic was influenced incredibly easily, even unintentionally. Sometimes, when students didn’t dismiss their magic correctly, the leftover magic would possess an object; like forcing a vent to freeze over or a window that tended to stick would be impossible to open. It was usually just an inconvenience, but Adora had never seen so much magic used at once before. She could fix it; it was the only tool Adora had that her mother respected. It was a small box that could pull the magic inside itself, but if she wasn’t close then it wouldn’t get all the magic.  Adora kept her glasses on and followed Scorpia, trusting the princess to keep her safe. She could see glimmers of magic here and there, but it wasn't clear where it was going. "I can't see the magic," she reported. "The crowd is too dense." "Grab me around my waist." "O-okay," Adora said. "Why am I-aaAAAH!" She shrieked as Scorpia tightened her own grip and leaped forty feet in the air. Adora and Scorpia landed on the side of a roller coaster; Adora’s stomach remained at ground level. She clutched at Scorpia but the Princess held her weight as easily as she could a baby bird. Adora swore and Scorpia winced; she'd forgotten that some people could be afraid of heights. "Sorry! Should I go back down?" "I'm not scared," Adora said as she clung to Scorpia like a cat to a perch over water, "You just surprised me." She focused on the hysteria below. Everything was muted through her glasses, and it only took a moment to find the errant magic. "There!" Adora shouted. She pointed with one arm, almost slipping and giving herself a heart attack. " By the Ferris Wheel," Adora continued. "That’s where the magic is right now!" "Hang on!" Scorpia coiled her legs and jumped, making Adora shout in panic. Scorpia used her electromagnatism to slow down. She could take a fall like that no problem, but just because she was holding Adora didn’t mean the other girl would survive the force of them hitting the ground.  Scorpia landed and sat Adora down just as the last pieces holding the ferris wheel up shattered. It began to slide down the crowd.  “Get back!” She shouted over her shoulder. She charged forwards, claws and lightning both moving to catch it. Her magic wasn’t strong enough to hold something so heavy, but all she had to do was slow it down enough to catch it with her claws.  As she watched the wheel fall towards her, Scorpia had time to remember a very important fact; this wasn’t a big, heavy thing. This was a big, heavy, spinning thing.  Her claws grabbed the metal. Physics happened. Scorpia spun around as the wheel hit the ground on its side and began to race forwards, throwing up a spray of dirt as it moved. She grabbed herself with her magic and froze herself in place, but the metal under her claws tore away. Scorpia desperately leaped, tackling the wheel and shoving it off the ground. Physics continued to happen.  Scorpia wasn’t quite strong enough to throw the wheel; rather, she’d inadvertently redirected its momentum. It was moving quickly along the ground and she’d given it an excuse to move very quickly across the sky. More of the metal had buckled under her leap and she was near the center of the machine now. Scorpia shoved her way free and searched frantically for a place she could safely crash, as the ground got closer and closer. Everywhere she looked there were people. The Bazaar was huge, the only place nearby without people was— The River! The Reaching River was on the other side of the grounds but it was clear of traffic this time of day. She was moving fast enough to reach it, she was certain, but she couldn’t let it roll over all the things in the way. Scorpia was going to have to throw the wheel over the Bazaar. She did some math in her head and climbed down, towards the rim of the wheel. Her timing had to be perfect; a second early or late and this wouldn't work.  The ground rushed towards her. Aw, Scorpia winced to herself. This is gonna hurt. Pain shouted over every other sense. Scorpia was driven into the ground, sinking to her waist before she had enough leverage to push back. She pressed forward with her magic and up with her muscles, throwing the multi-ton monstrosity in the air again. Spots swam in front of her eyes as she lay there a moment, trying to blink them away so she could see. The wheel looked like it was barely moving against the sky, but it began to come down much sooner than she'd had hoped. Scorpia hadn't pressed forward correctly with her magic. It smashed against the banks of the river, flying apart. None of the shrapnel reached the fair, but the ride was trashed. Scorpia sighed. Replacing the thing was going to be expensive, and she wasn’t sure what other damage the fair had sustained. Aches and pain began to harass her back and shoulders now that there was nothing distracting her. She groaned, deciding to rest a moment before she'd have to pull herself out of the hole. At least everyone is safe. "SOMEONE HELP US!" Adora was distantly aware of the panicked shouting as she charged ahead. She pushed and shoved her way through the thinning crowd; wincing as some of the crowd jostled her right back. With one hand holding her glasses firmly to her face, Adora knocked one person off his feet, shouting “Sorry!” over her shoulder.  I got this, she told herself. I can do this. Everything is under control and I got this! Up ahead, the magic lingered over a booth that had you use a slingshot to throw balls into a small hoop. The slings began to glow and move on their own. Tiny glowing balls formed in its sling and it threw them in every direction. Adora was the only one running towards the thing as everyone screamed.  She wasn’t as scared as she'd thought she'd be. She was only focusing on one thought; I’m not gonna be useless, over and over again. As she got closer, the slings swiveled towards her and she remembered she also had to live. Adora broke away almost too late, ducking into a next-door tent. The magic followed, cutting through the canvas and forcing Adora to a panicked pseudo-dance as she avoided them. She dug into her bag for a card and slapped it against the wall. The wall shimmered as the magic strengthened it and the rocks stopped. Adora sighed with relief but panicked when the card failed to stay stuck to the wall. She frantically pressed it against the fabric.  She reached into her backpack with her free arm, wincing at the odd angle, and pulled out a worn-out box. It was heavier than it should have been and was the opposite of the uncanny realness most magic had, looking more like a rough pencil sketch in 3D. She wasn’t close enough to use it to catch all the magic, but she was also stuck and couldn’t get closer.  Adora dropped the box and scooted it against the side of the tent with her foot. She nudged the lid off with her foot, and immediately everything seemed to lose a little bit of color. Her card flashed a bright yellow before it was sucked down into the box. Something tore through the canvas and hit Adora in the shoulder, spinning her around and knocking her off her feet. Another rock hit her in the back, and then she was scrambling over boxes and out of the way.  She was bleeding, but they weren’t following her. A storm of reality and unreality was flowing towards the tent, weird energy currents that made it possible to see each molecule of air mixed with smudges of greyness that made everything look like it was covered in a dense fog. She put her glasses back on her face and confirmed that about half of the magic was going into her box. Another third were settling on the crates inside the tent; and since boxes were made to hold things, that just made them stronger than normal. That didn’t leave very much left to possess what was in the boxes themselves. What’s in the tent, anyway? She wondered. Probably just spare parts for the rides or something… She took off her glasses. Right in front of her, a very prominent sign read: Danger! Fireworks! Do Not Enter! Adora just stared at the sign for a second. “Um,” she said, “I can fix this!” She ducked back into the tent, wincing as the explosions started. The magic strengthening the boxes was already being overcome, as splinters flew and smoke filled the air. Adora coughed and ducked, wincing as bangs went off over and over again. She dove for her box and closed the lid; it was done and it’d get in the way of her other spellcraft. Adora reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal tin with a glyph resembling a snowflake scratched into it. She pulled the top off and dumped several mints into her mouth. It was something she’d made when she was studying Sympathetic magic, or how disparate things could be linked together if they shared a common theme. Mints were associated with cold, so… The mints began to evaporate in her mouth, leaving her with the kind of hurt you got in your lungs from breathing the cold mountain air. She opened her mouth and blew, releasing a freezing gust of wind. Everything was immediately covered in a thin sheet of ice, but it cracked as the fireworks went off. Adora kept the wind going, even as tiny shrapnel peppered her body. She didn’t have time to register pain. She was getting short of breath, she thought she might be on fire ever so slightly, but Adora kept it going until she’d used every bit of her ice.  Adora fell to her knees, trying to breathe. Smoke attacked her throat, and she fell over coughing. She couldn’t see and she didn’t know if it was because of the smoke or because she was going to pass out.  Eventually, she could breathe again. She blinked, her eyes smeared with tears, and looked up. The crates were covered in a grimy tower of ice, broken in places and smudged with soot. It was melting and some steam was mixed with smoke, but if Adora was alive then that meant she’d won. She tried to laugh and ended up hacking and coughing. Castaspella hadn’t thought that the mints would even work, the connection was so tenuous. And Adora had used them to stop an explosion. She’d been right next to the explosion and she wasn’t even dead. She tried to stand and then found herself waking up again on the ground, blinking away stars. Her shoulder was on fire and there was some kind of cut across her back that felt like someone had taken a brand to it. Her ears were ringing and everything was sore. Maybe I’ll just rest a moment.