Phantoms of a promise

Untold

Adora...she cried till feeling numb.

Nothing she wasn't new to - living with Miss Weaver had its consequences- but it sucked anytime.
At some point in the night, she dragged herself to the bed of the hotel (since she had already paid for it) and fell asleep.
An unsatisfying sleep.
A dreamless sleep.
A nothing sleep.

The programmed alarm called for Adora from her bag at sunrise.
She hated herself for it, feeling like a car ran over her, but she was also happy she had granted herself time to put her shit together.
A quick shower in the bathroom, a coffe from the kettle, a brush to her hair and she was out, ready to drive back to her place.

She didn't have time to workout, make something good for herself, but she could wear something decent, brush her teeth, put some makeup and drink another mug of strong coffee.

It would do it.

It had to.

Looking at the reflection in her mirror - all neat and ready - she tried to show her most determined face.

No more time to cry.
No more space for self-commiseration.
People needed her.
They needed her to do her job, protect them, do them justice, improve their lives.
Children who had nobody else, but her.
Failure wasn't an option.

Deep breaths - in and out.
No metter where her heart was, She-ra had a mission, she could handle it, she got it.

"Come on She-ra, show time..." she told herself with a last confidence-boost, shooting finger guns to the woman in the mirror with a smirk.

To be nick-named like a goddess, Adora wasn't quite sure of what she did that much remarkable.
It just happened at the beginning of university, when she shared the dorm with Glimmer and the whole Glimbow ship navigated in platonic waters.
College years were a lot, to use an euphemism: she would train for the track team, study like hell to keep her grades high - as the scholarship demanded - and she worked at the library too.
The alliance (as their friends group called themselves) was rather impressed by Adora's energy, especially when she added the tutoring for students of all ages to her timetable.
Glimmer even suspected she was on some prodigious medication to keep up with her workaholic tendencies.
Surprisingly enough, she wasn't: Adora had overscheduled her weeks like that for her entire life, as she studied, worked, trained and helped Catra or the other guys at the foster home with whatever, or just cleaned around to please Miss Weaver.
More then once, Catra had asked how she managed to do it all without tiring herself to death, but she managed.

Honestly, when she started getting her current salary, she went to a clinic and found out her body overproduced a protein - the ferritin - that gave her a lot of energy...along with high pressure, chest pain, stomach ache and joint pain. Adora really only felt tired during period weeks, otherwise she was buzzing.

Anyway, she became Shera to her friends.

Shera was the ancient goddess of protection, matron of those who help and take care.
The legend says her powers were limitless, she balanced the world, could heal any living being just by touching them, destroy the unworthy of her mercy and even talk with animals. In the pictures she is represented in different skin tones, but always tall, buff, with glowing baby blue eyes and shiny, smooth, golden locks.
And she had a sword!

She also seemed to be the Etherian version of the Eternian god He-man, the god of power, although others said they were twins: two faces of the same power.

Fairy tales put aside, Adora still felt a little weird about the nickname, although it almost felt more like a second name by now, as her friends had even introduced her to others by it on accident a couple of times.
Names have weight...so expectations get high when your name is the one of a god: if a guy named Thor came by, you would picture him as a total jerk or a very goodhearted goof.
Same will go for Artemis, Adora's goddaughter and niece, who will be expected to be courageous, strong and just by others someday; thankfully her parents and her family will likely raise her to be a virtuous woman.
Shera...Adora expected Shera to be assertive, resolute, powerful, hopeful, goodhearted and gentle with those who deserved it...so that what she aimed to be everyday, even when she didn't feel like it.