Happy weekend, my dear friends, and welcome back! 😄
Open Heart Part 1 ended on a wee bit of a tense cliffhanger.
Allow me to finally relieve a bit of that tension.
But first . . . the recap!
Previously in Episode 75:
Catra and Adora share a private conversation, and Adora is attacked by an unknown force in Part One.
Bow and Glimmer enjoy the happy mood, and Double Trouble takes credit in Part Two.
Adora accuses Entrapta to her friends, and Hordak's peace is troubled in Part Three.
My chapter this week is especially dedicated to Malani ( @Kitsune Malani ), a very kind and encouraging friend on our wiki!
She and I share a favorite princess, and I hope she will like this. 😊
It's time we begin to discover the truth about Entrapta -- no matter how painful it may prove to be.
Hold tight.
Within the Chamber of the Heart, the sprawling central console sparkles magnificently, bathed in a comforting white glow that emanates from every surface of the walls, floor, and ceiling. It’s braided tendrils, alive with liquid beams of light, stretch upward into the dizzying heights, and across the expanse of air near their base, images and data stream in ribbony waves of multicolored brightness.
Entrapta stands over the console, gazing upward in awed enchantment, grinning.
Her body seems strangely still within the halo of her hair, as it flutters in the air, divided into a thousand independent strands whose tips interact with the controls of the console in gently precise motions.
At the base of one of the room’s walls, ignored by the princess of science, Wink lies where he collapsed when he was tossed aside like a useless distraction. His body sprawls unconscious, his head lolling, breathing slowly.
All is eerily silent, but for the industrious tapping of Entrapta’s hair.
There is a deep purple glow in her eyes.
And at the center of the glow . . . darkness.
Peering deeply into that dark center, the shadows seem to expand, and they coalesce into a cold echoey nothingness far removed from the outside world.
It is a place deep within, where time and space have been shut out and the calming light can scarcely enter. There is only the darkness.
Yet within the darkness of the inside, something stirs.
It is a life. A piece of consciousness sheltered away.
Trapped and purposely forgotten.
It lifts its head and reveals its countenance in the dimness.
Entrapta, her face blank and fearful, blinks her eyes and slowly shakes her head, as if waking from a nightmare too horrific to contemplate.
She lies pitifully on her hands and knees, struggling to raise herself from the floor of that hollow lonely space. She looks around herself disoriented, shivering, lifting her hand to study it in the strangled gray light, as if checking to see if her body is real.
A dull sickly sheen reflects from the surface of her glove, then fades into flat gray, as the light recedes further.
Entrapta frowns, opening her eyes wider in concentration as she lifts her hand closer to her face.
All at once, a narrow band of bright light falls across the surface of her palm, and Entrapta raises her head, searching hopefully for its source.
She pulls herself painfully to her feet, carefully holding her hand within the beam of light and following an invisible vector toward . . . an opening . . . far over her head!
High above her at a distance impossible to judge in the featureless prison of her mind, there is a small circle of bright, white light. A portal to the outside world. Its light filters bravely through the consuming darkness as a tenuous lifeline.
Gritting her teeth and tensing her body, Entrapta reaches upwards.
Towards the light.
She begins to rise.
In the brightness from the console within the Chamber of the Heart, Entrapta beams unblinking as her hair continues its intricate flurry of activity. There is an elated glow across her features.
Suddenly, Entrapta’s eyes narrow, and she blinks with a pained frown.
She shakes her head a little, as if coming to her senses.
And her eyes focus on the console below her as she observes the activities of her hair with seeming bewilderment.
Entrapta: [woozily] I . . . what?
She shifts her gaze to the fluorescent stream of data and dynamic display images above her, shimmering in the air. On either side of the displays, strong curves of burnt-orange hue, flanked by smaller curves of multiple colors, are growing steadily in size.
Entrapta: [quizzically] Power levels? Rising?
She shifts her attention to a pulsing white symbol, hovering in the air above the rest, which is growing more and more intricate in its shape and form, apparently evolving toward a final state of completion.
Entrapta’s eyes widen in curious horror.
Entrapta: [breathing in awe] The Heart of Etheria! Nearly ready.
For a moment, she is transfixed. Then she frowns, tearing her attention away.
Entrapta: [anxiously] Wink? [turning her head] Wink!
She sees him, silent and motionless.
Entrapta: [sorrowfully] No.
Entrapta turns back, looking around herself, her hair acting beyond her conscious control, and otherwise seemingly paralyzed. She looks down at her hands resting on the edge of the console. Gritting her teeth, she puts forth a mighty effort to lift them.
Entrapta: [groaning with effort] Errrrrgghh!
She manages to disengage one of her hands from the console, lifting it as if it bears enormous weight. It trembles and then sinks back down to rest on the console again.
Entrapta lets out a sigh, as a small purple light glows from the center of her chest. She stares down at it wonderingly.
Entrapta: [intrigued] Huhh? What is that?
On a closer view, the purple glow appears as a small gem, like an exquisite purple teardrop. If it were free, it could easily be held in the palm of a hand.
Entrapta: [haltingly] It’s a . . . runestone?! [awestruck] A seventh runestone?! Inside of . . . me?!?
She looks away, staring into the distance of memory.
Entrapta: [softly] It’s why I’m here, Wink.
Looking upward at the glory of the flashing lights and colors.
Entrapta: This is what I was meant to do.
She smiles a little.
Entrapta: My purpose. I’m . . . activating the Heart of Etheria.
Entrapta shakes her head, still staring.
Entrapta: This can’t be right. What about all of the people in the universe who will . . . die?
She smiles.
Entrapta: [reassuringly] But my people will be safe . . . forever!
She frowns again.
Entrapta: The princesses! My friends. [she hesitates] They are my friends. Right?
Entrapta nods.
Entrapta: They will be safe. I’m saving them! No harm will ever come to them again.
Entrapta’s eyes glow with the fervor of discovery.
Entrapta: And the power! It’s glorious! [in giddy delight] Forces like I have never seen before! [grinning with excitement] Just imagine what they could do! Think what we might discover, Wink! And the result will be--- !!
Entrapta’s face falls, horror-stricken!
Entrapta: [terrified] -- awful!! The most terrible destruction the universe has ever seen!! [with resolve] No. I have to stop this!!
Grimacing with the effort, Entrapta raises her arms from the console.
The runestone within her glows brightly.
Entrapta: [crying in agony] NNGh-eeAaahh!!
Her arms shake as she reaches for the controls on the console.
She grits her teeth angrily and seems to gain control. She touches the controls, and her hands tense. Then she stops.
Slowly, she draws her hands back.
Entrapta: [softly, with regret] I . . . can’t do it.
She stares at her hands, aghast.
Entrapta: [ashamed] How could I?
She looks upward at the displays, marking progress, ever-nearer to full activation.
Entrapta: [dismally] And why can’t I?
Entrapta tenses her jaw in deliberation.
She frowns, turning her attention back to the console.
Slowly, with some effort, but unswerving resolve, she reaches for her tracker pad.
